slidergirl

My condolences to you and Les and family. I'm really bad at trying to say something. Just know my heart dropped when I read your message. Take care 😿

If you have Armando al Pantheon on your list, be sure you make your reservation as soon as possible. This is definitely NOT a walk-in place.

Being part of a publicly traded company, the primary loyalty is to the stock holders.

Afternoon all! I'm embarrassed to say I went to take a nap at 4pm last night and woke up at 7am this morning!!! I think it's my leftover Long Covid. Every once in awhile I really crash. Cynthia - I think there was a pro-Palestine demonstration in Istanbul. I think I caught a blip on TV that mentioned a bunch of cities that had demonstrations. Melody - nice homecoming pics. The date looks like some of the dates my grand-nieces had - the right jeans, the buckle, the hat. I mean, their high school actually has a "Drive your Tractor to School" day and the kids all bring it. Well, after The Big Sleep, I'm not worth doing much today. I did go out to the market to buy 1/2&1/2, milk and yogurt first thing since I had none of it to use for breakfast. So, my OOTD is jeans, long sleeve Tshirt, Cotopaxi Hybrid vest and a baseball hat. I blended right in with everyone - we all must have had a bad night!!

I am a kitchenware freak, I think, That's what got me started at C&B. Then I got an IKEA nearby and started there, too. I'm kind of eclectic in my stuff (I think the old Hippie Lady in me). I really got into IKEA when the now-ex and I bought the vacation house in Scottsdale, AZ. The prices were right for vacation furniture. Except I did get the dining table at C&B: a fantastic table that is 3x6 of pecan top with flat black painted legs. BUT, it opens up to become a 6x6 table on it's own, no leaves. It was perfect for the house - small 80% of the time, but could open it up when family showed up. I still have it here at home - my very small dining area fits it as 6x6 perfectly. I did buy a bag of meatballs and potatoes at IKEA, too. Had to swear off the lingonberries (too much sugar). They were out of the gravy, though. Always good to toss a few in the microwave for a dinner.

Lois - I've bought furniture to potato peelers at IKEA. I call it a poor man's Crate & Barrel. Some things I don't want to spend a lot of money on so I'll check IKEA. My kitchen island and chairs are from IKEA. But, my dining room table & chairs are from C&B. Storage & organization things I'll get at IKEA. What can I say?? Toblerone - chili crunch should be available in Australia. It's an Asian condiment. It really is good. Cynthia - all those people dumping off those ships to a little port are what scares me most about cruising. At least you could just relax on the ship and avoid the herd! It's cold and rainy today. Just getting up to mid 40s today. Will probably see a little snow tonight. ugh. I'm just not ready for it. OOTD: jeans and a sweatshirt and, when I go to the Post Office, I'll add my Patagonia rain shell. I knew when I bought it in April before my Alaska cruise that I'd be getting use out of it at home!

My vax card is just inside my passport wallet, just like my yellow fever/malaria card. Not a big deal to have it.

Be sure to hit up the Prime Days sale today and tomorrow. Some good things for travel are there on sale. Went down to Ikea yesterday. Man, that place is like TJ's to me!!! I got the wooden crates I wanted to organize the top of my kitchen island. There was a wine rack that works in the spot on my kitchen floor that I bought. A new bathroom mat for in front of my sink. Another pillow for my bed. New oven mitts. Batteries. Bag clips. A Christmas Gnome. Meatballs. I had to stop myself!!! I suddenly remembered why I don't go there often!!! To add to the shopping "pain", since I was down in the Valley, I stopped by TJ's and picked up more Lobster Bisque, cranberry goat cheese, some pre-made salads. Probably the first time I left under $100. Weather was wild - it was upper 40s here when I left and when I left the Valley it was 82 down there. Tomorrow we have a Winter Storm Advisory!!!!!

Sparta!!! Exciting!! The chili crunch is made by all sorts of folks. The first one I knew about was by Momofuku But the one from TJ's is excellent, too, and easily half the price. I need to put some in my eggs sometime, but I'm in love with putting Chipotle sauce on them! OOTD: long sleeve Tshirt under my overalls, pink hightops. My Sweaty Betty cammo pink/green fleece jacket is on top until it warms up into the 50s.

Let's make it a triple on the tuna! Seared tuna! Yes! For Israel, I just hope that the innocent civilians in Gaza can make it to the beach/shoreline in time. There really isn't any other place for them to try to evacuate there. No power, gas, food - it's going to be rough for them. Now, please note I said "innocent civilians". Been doing some more work in the kitchen. Clearing out the very old spices, trying to make some room for other things. Moving my cookware that I've had since the 90s into storage in the garage so I have room for my new My Place stuff that currently just sits on the stove. I really love that stuff. I just need to buy a small vertical storage rack for the few bottles of wine that I keep in the kitchen to take them off the counter (they lay down, not standing up, to keep the cork moist). There's a system on Amazon that I like: I'm going to wait until the Prime Member days this week to see if there's a discount before I buy. And, I may go to Ikea this week down in the South End of the Valley to buy some storage things to put on my little island to make all the food stuff I keep on there looking a little more neat. It's hard to dress right now - 40s in the morning to 70s in the afternoon. Still not cold enough to be comfortable wearing one of my sweatshirts when I go out for the day. Have to go with Tshirt and then a zip jacket to start. House is in the low 50s when I wake up and maybe 61 when I go to bed at night so it's definitely sweatshirt time in the house all day. Food thing: if you like hummus and you like spicy, I have something new for you. TJ's have a hummus that has a big dollop of Chili Onion Crunch in the middle of the container. Soooo good!!! I don't mix it up, but I put a scoop of the hummus on my Pita chip then dip it into the Crunch. I'll be able to make this at home myself with plain hummus and add some from my jar of Chili Onion Crunch. The Crunch you can find just about everywhere now. I like to use it on my potstickers and rice noodles.

Always good insurance!! As for the leg - after surgery in the US and a year of rehab, I can do everything but ski. The lower leg and ankle ended up a little skewed to the left. Made trying to ski a little tough because it wouldn't go straight. But otherwise, it's workable. Bad experiences - nothing worth mentioning. I'm a no real hard plans kind of traveler and I just roll with the flow. Poor people this past week who had issues due to that little earthquake around Naples...

Lois - good to hear the water culprit has been found and fixed! Keep that box fan on! I see leaks at the condos all the time - we bring in ServePro and they use those big fans. I wonder if a Damp Rid would help - I see them advertised to help get rid of mustiness. I think they sell at stores with cleaners and such. Cynthia - yay for reaching Venice. You had nice looking dessert there! Did you pay a "premium" for eating on the Piazza? My power went out last night around 11pm and didn't come on until 4am!! Most of us in the neighborhood didn't care since it was bedtime. Just in case, I brought out my headlamp and camping lights. My iPhone had enough juice to use for some soothing music to fall asleep. Woke up to snow on the hills a mile away. OOTD: an Athleta sweatshirt hoodie and an old pair of sweatpants,

Gee, I was going to say my one bad experience in Italy was when I shattered my leg while hiking the vineyard trails in Montalcino. At least my window view from my hospital room in Siena was pretty...

Lois - the leak could be on the sprinkler line and is affecting both coming into your closet and eventually dripping out the sprinkler. I've seen a bunch of different leaks happen at my work condos. Good luck with getting fixed! A very gray and rainy day here today. Clouds really low, too - I couldn't see the hills a mile away. I actually had to have some lights on in the house still at 9am. At least it's cooled off to the mid-40s today and tomorrow. No chili for me today. I bought a pack of seasoned chicken thighs at TJs that I need to bake off. I will use them several ways over the next few days.

recovery is a b!tch. One moment you're up and the next you're on the floor. Patience for both of you! Lois thank you for mentioning switching out the box!! I would probably be still watching on my MacBook.

remember: tonight is Jose Andreś and Family on CNN. So happy my TV is working again for this. I'm off to my kitchen to make some gazpacho to eat while watching 😸

Really good pictures! You both do look relaxed and happy. Never heard of a car on a ship before!

Lois - it seems that when it rains it pours when it comes to our residences lately. I can't do my stucco fix until next week because we're getting a nice big rain for a few days. ugh. On the upside, after you said Xfinity told you to get a new box, I went in and got a new one. My sound is back!! I won't have to watch TV on my MacBook now. Went to TJ's today and got my goodies. Didn't go crazy. I stayed away from the pumpkin Kringle (very bad for me but oh, so good) and some other things. I did get some coffee (yay) and soups. I went to another store that one of my owners drives down to shop and looked to see if they had a specific French butter that I've been searching for. Nope. BUT, they had some different flavors of Sprindrift sparkling water - Mojito (really good) and Mango Black Tea (haven't tried yet). A nice store but not worth driving down the mountain to shop at. One funny thing - the street to get there was a construction mess so I tried to get around it, Went past Namedroppers - it's a upscale consigment store that the Real Housewives go to. Decided to play it upscale and went in. If I wanted a used $1500 bag or a used $3500 coat, it's where I'd go. They did have some actual decently priced things and I ended up buying, A belt that I've seen in Sundance for around $150 for $20. A nice cashmere Vneck cardigan for $69 that I can wear with jeans or leggings for work. A button up sweater vest for $49 that I can wear with jeans or leggings, I had been looking for those 3 things anyway so I'm happy. The place will also take some of my old things that I can't wear anymore - the person said they are always looking for some larger sizes... maybe I can make a little money. If I ever need a chi chi dress to wear, that'll be where I go! OOTD: Ralph Lauren jeans (from my owner), gray Woolx short sleeve shirt, Madewell jean jacket, Olu kai pink high tops and my tan Gigi Pip hat. At least I looked like I fit in at Namedroppers 😸

Cynthia - have a wonderful trip! Have a Spritz for me (whatever kind you want)!!! It was sad to see the passing of Sen, Feinstein. I have memories of her as far back as when she was on the San Francisco County Council when the terrible murder of Harvey Milk and George Moscone happened in City Hall. She became Mayor and moved up the political ladder to Senator. I always admired her. Yesterday I made a trip over to Whole Foods to buy some things and especially my favorite local coffee beans. I was totally out at home. Came home, unpacked my groceries and then it dawned on me - I FORGOT THE COFFEE!! Had a pack of my instant coffee from my camping kitchen this morning.

Cynthia - I just saw a post on one of the FB pages I look at that mentioned a nationwide baggage handler strike at airports on Friday. Hope it is just all day Friday and doesn't morph into your arrival. I know they are pretty good about it, but just be aware.

Yay on the kidney checkup! Hm. the sound. Exactly what has happened to me. I've done the unplugging thing multiple times and nada. Maybe I'll go to the Xfinity office and change it out.

I've had a couple of those type of rooms 😸 I had recomendations from some others for H10 properties. Ah, the Continental. Yep, lots of comments on CC. If you want to be on Las Ramblas, it's perfect. If you want to feed from a constant cafeteria, free bad beer and wine, it's your place. Hopefully it's been extensively remodeled since I was there - the pinks and reds and the flocked wallpaper in the rooms reminded me of what you'd see in an old Western "bordello" on TV... Toblerone - the Yurrban hotels look great, but unfortunately about 100EU a night over my budget ☹️ Speaking of TV: if you can sit through all the drama, Below Deck Med is porting out of Genoa and traveling as far as Cinque Terre.

I am currently reading his World Central Kitchen book 😸 I could probably cook one of those better than I could one the ones I've had at his restaurants!! At least the food to cook before watching Stanley was pretty easy and already known to me. I know Jose's next episode is Andalucia - I did some searching and see that gazpacho is the big thing. I can definitely make gazpacho. And, of course, they have meats & cheeses. And a wonderful post-meal sherry of Pedro Ximinez (I was turned on to this back in the 90s at a cooking class). Fried fish, sardines, shrimp. I guess I can come up with something.

At the top of this forum, you 'll see a sticky thread about food & wine. Cruise through it and do a search on a map to see if any are close. That's the best thing to do. We all put our restaurant recommendations on that thread.

Cynthia - give me a hint about where you stayed in Barcelona. And is there a way to give a clue about where you look for cruises without angering the CC police??? I have to go to the State Liquor Store before Sunday and pick up a bottle of Cava!!! I don't know how to cook any Spanish food so I guess I'll just drink that lovely Spanish sparkling beverage 😸