Tuesday, Nov. 28th, Sheila, Margie, Bea (new to our tournament player list) and I played in a golf tournament at Canyon Creek Country Club. It was a charity tournament benefiting Christina's (Margie's grand daughter) school. It was mainly men, a couple of teams actually had one woman in them, then there was us and one other all female team. We figured it would be like all other mixed teams, and the men would shoot like 30 under and no woman teams would win.
We did a side bet with the other woman only team, $5 a head, and the losers had to donate the money to the school. We just played to have fun, not worrying about anything. Low and behold, we actually shot like 5 under par, and we beat the other woman team... they were like 3 over par. We were really proud of ourselves. One thing I didn't mention, Margie paid our $135 entry fees as a gift. Bea bought us each a mulligan ball ($20 per person) as a gift. Well, so much for Sheila and I impressing the team. Well, I won one of the raffle prizes with the mulligan ball ticket that Bea bought me. I had a choice of a few items, but I selected a dozen golf balls. Sheila won a closest to the hole, and she won a tote thingy for tupperware or a casserole dish. Margie won on the mullligan ball ticket and she got a Pizza Party gift certificate.
Now for the real shocker, they actually flighted the tournament. We ended up with a net 66, and we came in second in our flight. For that, we won a waterproof mat... like a picnic blanket. It is cool in that it folds up within itself and ends up being about the size of a brief case with a shoulder strap. Since it's waterproof, it will make a nice item to have in my RV. I must say, we were in the second flight, and 65 was first place in our flight. In the other flight, the winning team came in with a net 54 or something like that about 17 under. MEN! Not only that, one guy was complaining that his team had a 64 and thought that his team should have won instead of the 65 and 66. Get this.... he is the soccer coach of the school, or something like that. Go figger....
I had to have a squamous cell carcinoma removed from my face. I am not really what I'd call a vain person..... but so far, I am disgusted with the results of having it removed. Look at a few pictures...
I now have 4 dermatologists. My regular one, Dr. Mandy (her first name), Dr. Wickless at UTSW Medical Center, Dr. Molly (her first name and a sister of Dr. Mandy) who does MOH's procedures (what I just had done), and Dr. Selkin. I haven't seen Dr. Selkin, but I will see him next Tuesday. He is a specialist in UV light therapy, which UTSW says I need to help with some skin issues I'm having. I am going to ask him if he thinks it is normal. I do see the one that did the removal of the carcinoma next Friday.
I now have to coordinate all medical and skin issues through Dr. Wickless until I have finished my skin therapy. She is directing everything because of side affects. I have MANY kerotosis (sp? pre-cancerous skin spots) that they are waiting to remove until I check with Dr. Selkin, and then he will discuss that issue with Dr. Wickless, who will give Dr. Mandy permission to remove them. What a bunch of crap. Moving on....
AT&T shafted all of us retired managers on our health care. I (the same is true for Gary, but we are required by AT&T to stay on separate policies) used to pay for my Medicare Part A & B. Not really overly expensive, just a couple hundred dollars a month, but AT&T gave me a check for $49 because of the expenses it was costing me. (For you non-USA people, Medicare A & B are health insurance for hospital and doctors).
AT&T was my secondary insurance, and they always made sure I never had to pay more than 20% of the costs (Medicare doesn't always pay 80%) AFTER meeting my deductible, which was a few thousand dollars. They provided this at no cost to us, plus RX insurance at no cost, and we got vision and dental care for $1 a month each. We also got catastrophic insurance for $1 a year. We got special rates on our RX, and everything we spent on RX applied to our medical deductible. Once we me our out of pocket maximum, which was like $3500 on expenses, they paid 100% of our medical. I then only had to pay for my RX.
THANK YOU FRIGGIN OBAMA. The stupid Health Care Act brought us under that umbrella, and it also changed how we get medical care from Medicare. Example... I used to be able to go to the Dermatologist and get a full body check for cancer, etc. Now, Medicare will only pay for an upper check or a lower check. If you want both done, you must make two separate appointments. Now.... that means I am paying double for what I got before. Not only that, I used to be able to get 11 separate bad spots removed in one visit. Now, there is a limit to 2. You can figure that one out. It's sooooo screwed up for us now. It has gotten really expensive. Poor people can go to the doctor and have insurance (required) but I doubt that most of them can afford to go and pay the co-pays.
AT&T has now dropped supplying us with insurance. They now give us $2700 a year and tell us to go buy everything for ourselves. My premiums for insurance are now almost $300 a month ($3600 a year), I will now have to pay for my twice yearly teeth cleaning, now zip on eyeglasses and dental work. IF I spend $5000 out of pocket on RX, they will pay 100% of that cost up to $100,000. Most of my RX's were cheaper thru my AT&T provided insurance than they will be under my new RX insurance. I am sooooo screwed. I am also sooooo pissed off at AT&T. I won't even tell you what I think of O'Bama care. I am pretty sure you know what I think of him. I better change the subject.
Last Tuesday, Sheila, Mark, Margie, Ralph, Carlos, Sue ( that is his wife, and since Sue Dunsmore is no long here, in all future posts "Sue" will be referring to Carlos' wife Sue), Gary and I all met for dinner at TGI Friday's, then went to the movies. While at TGI Friday's, Margie surprised us by having Gary a cake delivered and also giving Gary a belated B-day present.... a 6 pack of Seasonal Sam Adams Beer. Embarrassed Gary, but I enjoyed it. We all got to sample the birthday cake. It was like a spice cake, and very good.
MARGIE AND RALPH
SHEILA AND MARK
BIRTHDAY BOY GARY AND ME
After our great dinner, we went to see Interstellar at the IMAX theater. Sorry about the picture, but I couldn't enlarge it without distorting it.
The problem for me was, the people were not speaking loud enough to be heard, and then that damned noisy background made it almost impossible for me to keep up with what was going on. Gary (he has hearing on one ear only, and he wears a hearing aid) also had trouble. Anyway.... I would give Gravity a 5 out of 5 stars, and Interstellar a 4 out of 5 stars. NOT "All right, all right, all right" as Matthew McConaughey would say.
Since my kitchen is still a mess, Sheila had Thanksgiving at her house. I did the turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, gravy, and also pumpkin, pecan (my only store bought pie... Marie Callendar brand) and sweet potato pies. Chloe and I also made a Chocolate-Mocha Cream Pie with Expresso Whipped Cream. Most of us didn't like the sweet potato pie. The pumpkin was OK, but nothing to write home about. I am here to tell you the cream pie was to die for. The whipped cream just put it over the top... in my opinion.
The turkey was moist as usual, and I am assuming it was really good because every said it was delicious. Of course they say that every year. I started using Lee Drummond's brine recipe in 2010 and haven't found anything better. My gravy was fine, but the cornbread stuffing was not my favorite. I followed the recipe to a tee.... made home made cornbread, etc. But, it didn't stay together like my previous recipe did. It was moist, but fell apart once it hit the plate. Weird for me.
I also made my cranberry sauce. This year, I decided to quit buying the canned type cause everyone just eats the homemade sauce. I do like it better, I decided. Angie brought brussel sprout chips (gag....) which Mark asked for seconds on (don't even ask me why), brussel sprout slaw which was honestly good, and green bean casserole. Sheila made bread, and provided wine. Needless to say, for 8 people we had way too much food.
I took a ton of pictures... but with Sheila's camera. Here are a few that were taken with my iPhone. I wasn't able to find my camera and Angie didn't take hers. So, I just used Sheila's. When she forwards me the pictures, I'll add them to the blog. Sheila decorated with her stuff and with some of Angie's stuff. It looked so pretty. We also used Sheila's antique silverware which was so beautiful.
Turkey Tea and desserts.
Mark has always been responsible for carving the turkey.
Last minute check by Sheila
Look at the silverware. Beautiful isn't it?
My sweet grand daughter, Morgan, insisted that Angie get Sheila flowers. This is the first time any of us has seen flowers at our Thanksgiving Table, but now I wonder why we didn't do it before. It made it soooo special.
Ok, the rest of the food pictures will have to wait on Sheila, After dinner, Mark, Angie, Chloe and I stayed downstairs and read the Black Friday ads, and everyone else went upstairs to watch the football game and play pool and darts. After that, we all played Pass the Ace and another new game where you get 4 cards and some other weird rules, again we played for money. My grand daughters LOVE to play for money. We all love to play cards together.
Morgan wanted to play GOLF POOL, but Sheila said no. DANG IT!
Cards were acceptable, so....
Here are the ads we had to read before we could do any Black Friday shopping.
I swear, once we got to Sheila's house, I relaxed and had one of the easiest Thanksgivings ever. My cooking? Well, I have a new range top and new oven. Both gave me fits. I am just not used to them. The stove is either super hot or super cool... I am having trouble getting it to "simmer" like my old one. The over is a convection oven, and I tend to burn things. Oh well, I just need to practice on both.
My fiasco involved letting my cranberry sauce boil over, leaving the house to go to Angie's and coming home to a timer beeping because I left without thinking about cooking the giblets, burning my hand, burning one batch of pecans instead of toasting them, falling in the garage and hurting my left ankle while carrying the 19 pound turkey and 3 gallons of brine into the garage, spilling turkey stock all over the floor.... and I cannot remember what else. It was NOT one of my better cooking years. Oh well, I will just have to improve next year.
Here is one sale we had to miss, cause we were in the right place and the wrong time.
That's it for Thanksgiving.... and now so much for BLACK FRIDAY.... it has turned into Green Friday.
I just want to add a little about the fiasco in Ferguson, Mo.
I am pretty sure most of you have heard about the fiasco in Ferguson, Mo. My hubby and I lived in the St. Louis, MO area for about 6 long, LONG years. Not quite our cup of tea. We lived in a suburb named Manchester, but Gary worked out of Ferguson. I personally, believe 99% of what the DA presented to the grand jury. They proved that most of the "eye witnesses" changed their stories as the events unfolded. The lab tests proved that the policeman did NOT shoot him in the back, which is what a lot of the witnesses said happened.
I do agree with the grand jury's decision to NOT prosecute the policeman, based on what was presented to them. Does everyone have to agree with me? NO, of course not. But rioting and burning down businesses in their own area is stupid. People cannot work if their business is burned down. Were the business owners involved in the shooting? Of course not. Were all of the people that were involved in the riot residents of Ferguson? Of course not. Even people here in Dallas protested and shut down part of the interstate. What did Walmart have to do with the shooting? Not a damned thing yet they chose to picket there to stop sales.
That is part of the problem. The people involved in the rioting cannot seem to figure out that is does not do ANYONE any good. What does stealing from a local business accomplish? It makes me think even less of the people involved and what they stand for. Those people need to get educations and learn the proper way to protest, vote to make changes, and look at who you are defending. The person that was shot (who cares about color) was previously involved in a robbery. He was someones child, but man, he was 18 years old. That is a MAN in my books. He should have known the difference between right and wrong. When you are involved in a crime and get shot, well that is a really strong possibility of happening.
I just don't get where they are coming from. Here is a photo that impressed me a long time ago. Again, I saw it re-surface during the rioting.
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