Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy St Patrick's Day to all of you. Although the St Paul parade will be passing by the building where I get my daily radiation treatment, I'll be in and out of there early, so I'll miss being caught by the bands and marchers. We've had wonderful weather - it's been warm and sunny. It's currently 36 degrees, so a bit colder, but it's still going to be a great day for the Irish celebration. 

The Luck of the Irish be with you today. St Paul always 
has a big celebration for St Patrick's Day, we have a large 
Irish population. 

We had corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes for dinner yesterday. A fairly good sized corned beef cooked down into a much smaller end product than Hubby had thought it would. If he wanted any sandwiches from the left-overs, he was totally out of luck. There are no leftovers at all, but it was a lovely meal. 

We had a typical USA St Patrick's Day dinner - 
corned beef, carrots, potatoes and cabbage. It 
was lovely and very tasty. 

We also spent yesterday dealing with a lot of financial stuff - pulling invoices and printing out bank statements for our income tax appointment later this week. I'll need to postpone that meeting by a day because we need to attend the wake of an acquaintance - the older brother of our landlord. We've known all three brothers and their parents for decades and feel we can't miss attending the "celebration of life" that will be held on Wednesday night. So we'll move our tax appointment over a day - either a day earlier or a day later. We have everything together, so a change of schedule isn't an issue for us. I'll contact our accountant later today and get that shifted. 

We're not the most expensive state, but we're not one 
of the least expensive for income taxes either. Oh well, 
it's an evil that has to be borne and dealt with every 
year. 

I'm off to radiation this morning, and I'll have a meeting with the radiation Doctor afterward, so I warned DH that I would possibly be a bit late for work today. That means he actually has to be at the shop on time and get everything ready for the public. It's rare that he has to uncover the cases and get the counter top displays put up. I'll have to see how he did when I arrive - LOL. 

It'll be really nice to see Doc Wilson again. 
He's my fellow New Mexican doctor, and I 
just get along with him really well. We're both 
transplants into the state of Minnesota, and we 
both like this state quite a lot. 

So, I had a lovely "run" this morning, and I'm ready to start my day. I hope you have a great Monday and a good St Patrick's Day if you're celebrating today. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

I LOVE My Newest Doctor! Updates and Cooking Plans

Wrapping up the week, means bringing everyone up to date on the newest in my cancer stuff, but this time it's a lot of good things. I spent a good part of the day at the various clinics yesterday. I had my radiation therapy at 9:00 am, then checked at the hospital for my lost vest and hat (no luck there, unfortunately), and then I wandered over to the Breast Center for my 11:00 am meeting with Dr Perez. He was running right on time, so I sat in the waiting room on my phone with a lovely cup of chamomile tea to drink. At 11:00 I was called back into the consulting side of the complex. 

Dr Domingo Perez was fabulous. I feel so 
very fortunate in my cancer team members. 
I have complete confidence in each of them. 

Dr Perez was fabulous, I liked him immediately. It turns out he knows my little pharmacy, and the coffee shop that is next door to my shop. He lives in my suburb! I do hope I run into him at the grocery store or some such time/place. He was an absolutely lovely man who spent a solid hour with me explaining why I don't need chemo therapy and what type of cancer I really have. 

He was using the white board extensively during 
his discussion with me. The information he gave 
started in the upper right corner, went down 
the board to the full bottom, then worked up 
to the graph on the upper left. His assistant was 
typing a summary of everything he said to be 
attached to My Chart, and I've got that printout 
plus the photo of the white board to refer to. 

It was his decision, based on my various test results that the usual sequence of (1) Surgery, (2) Chemo, (3) Radiation and (4) Endocrine Therapy would not work. We've crossed Chemo off the list because my tests say with my "ovotype" it is not needed. Therefore, we're concentrating on the Radiation, which I'm currently doing and Endocrine Therapy, i.e., medication/drugs. 

Tamoxifen (on the right) actually blocks the cells 
from accepting cancer. It can increase the chances of 
uterine cancer, but since I have had a hysterectomy, 
that won't come into play at all. It might cause 
cataracts and a fatty liver. I can take it for five years 
before being reassessed. 

Before my surgery, my levels of adrenal fat were extremely high, but after the surgery they've dropped precipitously, to extremely low. That indicates to him, that I would be better served with a drug that isn't an Aronatase Inhibitor. That means I wouldn't be well served by Anastrozole, Letrozole or Exemestane (and I can eliminate the joint pain that usually accompanies those drugs). 

He recommended that I go onto Tamoxifen - a receptor blocker which is a bit easier on my body. One of the major drawbacks of Tamoxifen is possible blood clots during periods of inactivity, so I need to remain active. I'll have to take breaks from the computer now and again and move around, but I can easily do that. He did warn me that if I was taking any LONG flights (like to Hawaii, or Europe, or Egypt) that I contact him first and he'd prescribe a blood thinner for me to take for the flight to and from. He would go over the specific instructions for that when I needed it. 

There is a distinct link between breast cancer and bone 
density, and my bone density is crap. We'll be keeping 
a close eye on it while I'm dealing with the cancer 
and afterward, when I'm on the Tamoxifen. 

On the plus side, Tamoxifen is excellent for bone density, so my Endocrinologist will be delighted to team it up with the Prolia I'm already taking twice annually. The tumor iteslf had a 5% Ki-67 rating, which is excellent for the treatment he recommended, and played into his choice strongly. So, I'm picking up my Tamoxifen on Monday and will be starting that as soon as I'm finished with Radiation therapy. I'm actually thrilled with this turn of events. If I had to have a tumor, at least it is a type that will allow and encourage me to live the active life I prefer. 

I'm actually looking forward to my corned beef 
and cabbage tomorrow. I enjoy cabbage, and I 
love corned beef (if it's cooked well). I'm sure 
we'll have a lovely meal or two. 

So, have a great weekend. I have my "Irish" dinner to prepare, and I'm looking forward to it. All in all, things are looking up. I'll be back on Monday. Be kind, hug your friends and pets, and have a great weekend. Slava Ukraini. 

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

I've been missing my battery powered vest and a knit cap since my surgery, and there's one place I haven't checked yet. It occurred to me (while I was in the shower where all the best ideas come from) that I had worn both items for as long as possible while in the pre-operating area waiting for my IV and doctor and to be the star of a show I never really wanted to star in. (LOL) I think they set up a third bag for me, but I only remember bringing two bags back home. It might still be at the hospital. 

I ordered two of these for Christmas - one 
for me and one for DH. He hasn't even 
opened his yet (it hasn't been a super cold 
winter yet), but I opened and started using 
mine immediately because I'm 
ALWAYS cold. I miss my vest. I have 
ordered another one, but I'm hoping I might 
find my original one and my hat. I really 
miss my hat a lot. 

So, after I'm finished with today's radiation treatment, I'll pop across the street to the hospital and see if I can track down my missing bag of personal belongings. It's been a while, and maybe it's gone forever, but I'm really hoping that's not the case. I had a couple of things in the pocket that I'd like to have back, and I really miss my hat - a lot. 

I have a tube of this at home and one at the shop. I'm 
supposed to apply it 2-4 times a day to help mitigate 
any radiation burns I might receive. They say 
it's rather like a mild sunburn. So, I have it at hand 
so that I can easily apply it when needed. 

As for radiation ... after two days, everything seems pretty good. Of course, that's not a large database for that decision. I have two tubes of the skin cream they provide so that I have one at the shop and one at home. I'm supposed to be putting the cream on 3-4 times a day to mitigate any radiation burns I might receive. They liken it to a mild sunburn, and of course, it's very localized. But I have no problem following doctor recommendations on something like this. 

It seems that cooking the corned beef in the slow 
cooker is the best way to cook it. Times range from 
8-10 hours, though, so that means an early start for the 
crock pot and it'll have to be on the floor, at least until 
after we've finished breakfast. I have limited counter 
space and limited electric outlets available. 

I'm also mulling recipes over in my head. DH wants to celebrate St Patrick's Day in American fashion with a corned beef, along with various other dishes and cabbage. I have no problem with that - corned beef basically cooks itself, and the baby potatoes he purchased are ADORABLE! I've decided on using the crock pot for this one, but I might have to start it on the floor until we're finished with breakfast. It'll take eight hours to cook, and I'd like to eat in the late afternoon. I only have one outlet available, and that will be used for coffee and toast for breakfast, so I'll have to use the outlet across from the table instead of on the counter. 

I'll need to pick up a head of cabbage for the corned 
beef on Sunday, but that's easy. I have a 2-pound 
head in the refrigerator now, but that's for a recipe 
I'm making today. I'll be busy in the kitchen for 
most of today. 

I'll figure out the logistics later today when I am at the grocery store. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Cookies and Laundry and Phone Ghosts - My St Patrick's Day

I hope all of you had a lovely St Patrick's Day. I spent the day cleaning and dealing with cell phone issues. After I was finished with my baking for the day (I just made a quick batch of "Breakfast Cookies" to stick in the refrigerator and freezer - they turned out quite tasty), I had almost the full afternoon ahead of me. So I decided, on the spur, to tackle the bedroom draperies. 

My breakfast cookies didn't look this 
good, but they're quite tasty. I'll eat my 
way through this batch, then try it again, 
maybe with some of the garnishes they 
have in the photo. If you're interested in 
the recipe, you can find it here: 
https://thebigmansworld.com/breakfast-cookie-recipe/

Now, we moved into the house in 1984 and bought these drapes when we moved in. There are two windows - the western double window, and the southern single one. I've shaken the draperies out over the years, even vacuumed them, but I wanted to actually get them clean. I pulled the drapes down from the single window. They were quite clearly marked "Dry Clean Only" but I didn't really give a damn about the signage, I wanted them clean. So I took them down to the washer and dryer, put them into a gentle cold water wash, and hoped for the best. 

Isn't this just the cutest sign? I adore penguins - LOL. But 
normally, I'm not a fan of cold water washing. I choose 
the temperature by what clothes I need clean and how 
sanitized I want to get them. 

After the wash and an hour on a cool dry, I removed them and they were almost perfect. One small area had a pulled thread, and of course the pleats were no longer crisp. I could have taken them over to the iron and put the pleats back in, but I really didn't give a damn about the pleats. Softer curves are just fine, so I put the drapery hardware back into them and rehung them. They look just fine, and I'm much happier with clean drapes on one window. The longer window will be more of a chore to do, but I'll try to tackle that within a few weeks. No real rush, but I'd like to get it done. 

Since DH had vetoed the corned beef choice, I decided 
to have sushi for my meal and let him do his fish tacos. 
I do love sushi, and got a nice assortment of salmon, 
tuna and mackerel at a really good price. Score! 

Although I told DH I would make corned beef for him if he wanted, he said no, since it was a Friday during Lent. As it turned out, the Archbishop of Minneapolis actually issued a dispensation for Catholics who would normally have been eating fish on St Patrick's Day, to have corned beef and cabbage if they so desired. So, he could have had his corned beef, but he was fine with his fish tacos instead. 

Suddenly, after about 5:00 pm, the texts that DH and 
Chickie were sending were not being received by 
my phone. (I assume other texts also were not being 
received, but since I only had those two texting me, 
I can only state the fact of the two of them MIA). 

However ... I had texted him asking if he wanted me to pre-heat the oven for him, and I had never gotten a response. So, when he came home asking why I hadn't responded to his text, I showed him my phone, which showed NO TEXT from him. Even though he had sent several to me. I then texted Chickie asking her to text me anything to see if it would come through on my phone, and hers also was lost in cyberspace. This was NOT good. 

I tried everything. I went onto websites and cleared 
caches. I turned the phone on and off, I practically 
jumped through hoops backwards, but the texts 
simply weren't showing up. 

I went through everything in the book, checked all of the various on-line sources, etc., and nothing was working. When I awakened this morning, I noticed that ALL of DH's texts from 5:00 pm onward had appeared on my phone at 12:34 am. Chickie's text also had appeared at that time. Weird, right! Phone ghosts. I really don't need this happening, so this had better only be a one-off and not occur again. 

I guess I have phone ghosts. That's not pleasing me 
very much, but I'll just keep an eye on it. I really 
don't want to have to do a factory reset. I'd have 
to make sure so many things were protected so they 
could be reinstalled after bringing the phone back 
from the dead. 

I'm out of here. I need to find a specialized fluorescent bulb for my kitchen ceiling fixture at the hardware store on my way in to the shop today. Hopefully they'll have it, even though it is a fluorescent bulb. It's a double-ring style, and I really don't want to have to rewire my kitchen ceiling fixture for a different style of bulb. Wish me luck - LOL. Have an excellent weekend and Slava Ukraini. I'll be back on Monday morning. 

St Patrick's Day - St Paul Paints Itself Green to Celebrate

Happy St Patrick's Day to all of you. May your road be smooth and filled with joy. I live in a city that has, or at least used to have, a heavily-Irish population, so St Patrick's Day is a BIG DEAL here in the Frozen Northlands where I live. We don't dye the river green, like they do in Chicago. But we do have a huge St Patrick's Day parade every year. It was truncated during Covid, but it pulls people from all over the area for most years. 

St Paul MN has a large Irish population - one of the larger 
population centers in the nation. And, of course, on St Patrick's 
Day, everyone who wants to be Irish, is Irish - LOL. We 
always have a large parade in Downtown St Paul, on 
down towards the Mississippi River. Even the street 
crossings are permanently colored green on the parade 
route. We take our celebrations seriously up here in the 
Frozen Northlands - LOL. 

This year, it's COLD. Very cold. So people will still come and still watch and still celebrate and pack the bars and pubs, but it won't be as freewheeling nor as enjoyable as in other years. I remember sitting at lunch sharing corned beef and cabbage with my mother-in-law (and yes, I realize that's only a traditional meal here in the USA, not in Ireland), when it was 64 Fahrenheit (17.7 C). Unfortunately, today it's 10 F (-12.2 C) so it's COLD. 

This photo is from last year's St Patrick's Day. It was still 
cold, but not AS cold as it is today. Notice there aren't 
huge snow piles along the streets? That's most certainly 
NOT the case this year. I hope everyone bundles up well. 

I allowed myself a sleep-in today. Not intentionally. I turned off my 3:00 am alarm intending to set it to 5:00 am instead, and then actually forgot to set it. But, I awakened shortly after 5:00 anyway, so it wasn't a horrible thing. I had a lovely hour of meditation and waking my brain, decided to get a quick blog post in, and I'll have a busy "day off" today with a variety of errands, etc. I really am not in the mood for a fish dinner, so I think I'll pick up some sushi for my dinner tonight instead. DH is going to pan-fry some whitefish for himself, so we're set. 

All of the photos I've shared today were from the 2022 
St Patrick's Day Parade here in St Paul, Minnesota. 
When we're cut on St Patrick's Day up here, we don't 
bleed red, we bleed green! LOL Have a joyous St 
Patrick's Day in your area and be safe. 

So, cutting this off here. Have an excellent St Patrick's Day, celebrate if you choose, watch out for that green beer, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Running On A Wheel - Is Etsy Resolved? Please Let Me Know

OMG, yesterday was a VERY busy day. I started by swimming, then grocery shopping, and then cooking and cooking, and more cooking, finally ending up with uploading documents to Etsy (hopefully that will work) and relaxing with a long chat with Aearwen. 

There are just some days that seem as if I'm just 
running in place. Yesterday was one of those days. 
I got a LOT accomplished, but I was doing this 
and that all day. 

I baked my corned been, so DH is certain that it will be horrible because corned beef needs to be boiled along with potatoes and cabbage. Well, I don't do potatoes, and the only cabbage I do is shredded red cabbage on my salads. I'm of the belief that boiling corned beef takes all of the flavor out and just puts it into the water. I'll be happy to eat my corned beef if he wants to buy one for himself today and boil it. Otherwise, he's stuck with what I made, and it looked lovely when I moved it to the refrigerator yesterday. 

I'm currently using a Ninja 1100 Professional Blender 
for my Ogre Juice, and it does a good job. The carafe 
that it came with cracked after three batches and they 
sent me a new one. Now, this one has developed a 
crack. It's always at the base, near where the blades 
attach to the spindle, and it starts to leak fluid 
from the carafe into the motor housing which is 
NOT a good thing. Time to look into a professional 
level blender *sigh*. 

Another blender is biting the dust. Again, it's not the motor - that's in great shape. It's the carafe, which developed it's first crack yesterday. I know from experience that's a death knell. I'll look into whether I can order another carafe for it, but I'm also starting to look at a more professional grade blender - either a Wolf or a Vitamix. I'm not fond of how much they cost, but they have top level ratings because they are the best in the industry. There are two different models I'm looking at. But, I'll see how long my carafe can survive with the clear Gorilla Tape I placed on it yesterday, and I'll look into a new carafe first - a considerable cost savings if one is available. 

I'm looking into one of these - a Vitamix 3300 Ascent 
series blender. It's one of the few they carry that has 
the 64 oz carafe, which is a necessity for me. I blend 
four batches of Ogre Juice at a time, and that requires 
me to have my materials all the way to the top of 
a 64 oz carafe. 

I fully admit that my Ogre Juice is harsh on a blender, but you would think it would be the motor that would be having the issue, not the carafe. The carafe just sits there and keeps everything contained while the blades and motor do the actual work. But, this seems to be an endemic problem, at least with the two Ninja brand blenders I've purchased so far, and once a crack develops, it can easily snowball into a series of them in a short time, rendering the blender completely unusable. 

The other blender I'm looking at is the 
Wolf Pro-Performance (or their Hi-Performance) 
blender. Both the Wolf and the Vitamix have 
great reviews and a dedicated following. I'll 
have to research this one carefully, because it's 
a major expense and I don't want to choose the 
wrong one. I expect it to last for years. 

I uploaded my corporate documentation to Etsy again yesterday (and again this morning). I'm still not 100% sure it's completely resolved, but I think it is. I'll continue to work on it, but it's hard for me to tell 100% because it automatically brings me to my own pages, rather than allowing me to look at the website from afar. I'd love to know if it's functional, so please check out Stormcloud Trading (I'm not sure if the "Co" is part of the name or not) and let me know if you can access the site. Email or post and let me know. Thanks. 

d

I'm off and running, the pool is calling me for my last swim of the week. Happy St Patrick's Day to all of you, and please, pray for Ukraine. Peace! I'll be back tomorrow. 

Green Thoughts for a St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day to one and all. I'll be busy with laundry today (once again a trip to the laundromat to use the dryers and then lugging everything back home again *sigh*), as well as a zoom call at noon which I may or may not make, and the usual grocery shopping, workshop lessons and household chores. Tonight we'll go to out accountant's for a meeting to hand over the stuff for our personal taxes. That's always fun *not*, but it's usually fairly easy. The stumbling block will be one 1099 statement that I've been having difficulty accessing. Getting that printed out is my #1 priority, organizing my charitable donations for the year is my #2 priority. I pretty much have everything else nailed. 

Although Chicago still dyed the river green, they cancelled 
the annual St Patrick's Day parade. I'm quite sure almost 
all parades for the day have been cancelled. We usually have 
quite the celebrations here in the Twin Cities, with two 
different parades and a lot of green beer. That's not happening 
today either. Maybe in 2022. 

Last year's appointment was just after Covid shut down the state. I remember we practiced social distancing and wore masks, but I think we all thought it would be something relatively fast and our lives would return to "normal" in a month or two. Now, here we are a year later and life has returned ... but to a new normal. I'm not sure if we'll ever have a true "normal" again. 

Nothing emphasizes the change in our world more than 
celebrations where we would normally have been out 
there dancing or drinking, or would have been looking 
over in that direction thinking about other years. This year, 
however, we're still returning to normalcy. The last time 
we wanted to Return to Normalcy was in 1920 after 
the flu epidemic. At that time, the Republican, 
Warren G Harding, won the election. 

Either today or Friday (probably Friday since today is pretty packed) I'll need to get more organized in my menu planning. I get home from the shop and I'm too tired to deal with any meal, but I have to eat something. Since my go-to frozen dinners or prepared food have been eliminated on my nutrition program, I really need to think a bit harder about what I'm going to eat. Last night's dinner was a three-egg omelette with three pork sausages and pesto and a side salad. Not unhealthy at all, but actually more prep work than I want at that time of the night. If I have everything pre-prepped and packaged, ready to be tossed into the pot with sauce or into the oven, it will be much easier. 

I found it VERY interesting to look at the election map for 
the 1920 campaign. The deep South, an area we think of 
as conservative Republican, voted Democratic. The states 
in red, all voted Republican. Things have certainly 
changed, haven't they? 

I also have to do more prep work on my fruits. Getting this morning's portion of Champagne Mango open and scooped into my bowl took far more time than necessary. The kiwi was easy, the mandarin orange was a breeze, and bananas are earth's perfect take-away fruit. I still have a mango in the fridge that needs to be peeled and cut up. I should probably get that done today. I think I might get some storage bins for my veggies - I'm having too many of them wilt a bit between my Wednesday and my Sunday batches of my veggie smoothies. I love my smoothies, but want my veggies to be super fresh and happy. 

My vegetable smoothies might not be shamrock green, but 
they seem an appropriate green for St Patrick's Day. Shame 
on the Saint for driving all of those innocent snakes out of 
Ireland anyway! LOL

Well, I've got to get my act together and get the trash cans out to the curb for today's pick-up. I'll wrap this up here and head on out to my chores. I hope all of you have a wonderfully fantastic St Patrick's Day and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, please be kind, stay safe, and wear your masks. 

Happy St Patrick's Day and the Runway Reveal - SPOILERS

Happy St Patrick's Day to all of you. Not Irish? That's OK, celebrate anyway. I always look at St Patrick's Day as one of those days that sit atop the seasonal changes up here in the Frozen Northlands. There have been years when snow accompanied the two St Patrick's Day parades, and other times when those who walked and celebrated were quite comfortable. Today will be cool, not ice cold, and the snow will only be patchy, the large piles left by snow removal. It's a good day to celebrate the Irish. Now - on to Project Runway. 

Yesterday I explained the premise of Week 10's competition - creating performance wear for three genres in the music industry - pop, rock and country. Each designer was pitted in a mini head-to-head competition with another designer sharing the same musical genre. Alyssa said that Project Runway had never designed clothing for the musical performance industry before. Given what walked the Runway, there may have been a reason for that. Although the clothing was fun, I don't think the designers had a good handle on the performance requirements for each of the musical types. Let's take a look. 

Starting things off, is Anthony. It's short and
sassy and it actually walked the Runway well. 

Anthony was paired against Ken in the Pop music category. He said that he wanted to make something "festive" ala Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas. Georgiana loved the design, and Isaac loved the front, but not the back. (He called the back "hilarious".) The guest judge, Olivia hated the embroidery at the model's crotch. I was unimpressed - it wasn't horrible, but it also wasn't great. 

Ken created this translucent jumpsuit with just
enough paneling under it to protect the modesty
of the model. It was an interesting fabric concept. 

Ken designed a jumpsuit and a slouch coat for his head-to-head against Anthony. Georgiana called it "chic" and "beautiful", Olivia gushed over it, saying that it "gave her life: - whatever the hell that means. Alyssa loved it, calling it "forward" and Isaac adored the jumpsuit but really hated the coat which he kept calling a bathrobe. 

The winner of the head-to-head for pop was Ken. 

Stanley created another beautifully tailored outfit,
but does it scream "Rock" to you? No? Well it
didn't do much for me either. 

Stanley did beauty in stripes, making this rather stiff short skirt that stands out from the model's body. He said he was inspired by rock legends. I wondered if he had ever attended a rock concert. Hmmm. Georgiana called his look "contrived" and too matchy-matchy. Isaac said that Stanley didn't get it "at all", and Alyssa wanted more. Olivia called it "too cute". Ouch! I just thought Stanley missed the mark for his genre completely. 

Edmond's look for Rock was flowing, with movement
in all directions. It was offset enough to be edgy and
had the ability to survive a concert night under
the lights. 

Edmond's outfit didn't walk the runway, it dominated it as his model strutted down. Georgiana thought the outfit screamed rock & roll, and Isaac thought the outfit screamed glam. Alyssa loved it and Olivia said that Edmond did a great job. I have to agree. I could see this on stage. 

The winner of the head-to-head for rock & roll was Edmond. 

Fabio created this shining mini-jumpsuit for
his country assigment. I have to wonder if
he's ever actually seen a country star on stage. 

Fabio's outfit, although it looks like a two-piece, was actually a one-piece romper separated visually by the belting. It was a really cute design, but I didn't feel that it met the criteria for country music. One of the many blog commentators after the show aired remembered Taylor Swift at an awards show in something similar. All good and fine, but Taylor Swift is not country. Fabio said his romper combined Carrie Underwood and Dolly Parton. Really? No - don't see it. Isaac didn't like the jumpsuit, Georgiana thought the look was cute, but too "on the nose". Olivia liked the color - not a glowing positive. 

Helen used sequins to give shine to her prairie-style
country music gown. The judges found a lot of
problems, though. 

Helen's gown walked the Runway and I wished she had used the sequins as an accent instead of the entire dress. It was country in concept, but stumbled in a lot of the smaller details. Alyssa felt her dress was like a costume - the kiss of death on this Runway. Isaac thought her design looked like country going to a Bar Mitzvah - ouch! I felt that both designers really missed their target for this genre, although I leaned towards Helen for the win. 

The winner of the head-to-head for country music was Fabio. I didn't agree with that choice at all. 

So, remember what I said. Each group of two had a winner and a loser. That left us with Ken, Edmond and Fabio vying for the win, and Anthony, Stanley and Helen standing on the edge of elimination. Can you guess who won and who was sent home? 

The winner of the Hard Rock Cafe competition and four days at the Hard Rock Resort in Cancun, Mexico was Edmond! I really liked his outfit, so I approved. 

Who was sent home? Unfortunately, this time it came down to Helen and Stanley and the judges sent Helen home. I totally disagree with this decision, and think it should have been reversed. But, I'm not a judge. 

That leaves us with five guys fighting it out for the Season 6 win. Since the men were outnumbered by the women when the season began, I'm surprised it came down to guys only. Now the gloves have to come off. 

Have a wonderful weekend, be safe and happy for your St Patrick's Day. DH and I are taking an early morning on Sunday, going out to breakfast and then on to the movies to see "Black Panther". Yippee! I'll be back on Monday! 

Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day! Today millions of people world-wide will be celebrating the life and times of one abused slave who managed to escape, got educated and converted, and then came back to spread the good word and convert the rest of the heathen to Christianity. Booyah! Lots of green will be worn, parades will be marched in, and green beer will be served. People will party hearty, and Lent? Well, Lent will be dealt with tomorrow - LOL.

Have a wonderful St Patrick's Day. Have fun and stay safe! 

Unless ... you're a resident of most of the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis. You see, the Archbishop of this area, Bernard Hebda, is allowing our 800,000+ area Catholics to eat their corned beef and cabbage on St Patrick's Day. BUT (because there's always a but) they "must undertake a work of charity, an exercise of piety, or an act of comparable penance on a different day" during the 2nd week of Lent. Oh ... and nearby city New Ulm has refused to allow the breaking of Lenten tradition. Of course, New Ulm is a German and mostly Lutheran city, so it's rather moot.

I'm not really sure why there's all this fuss about corned beef and
cabbage. It's really not even a traditional Irish meal. But it is
tasty, so I do make it on occasion just because it's easy to cook
and tastes wonderful. 

The entire idea of eating meat on Friday during Lent (and being able to get his annual treat of corned beef and cabbage) was quite exciting to DH who likes his fish on Fridays during the Season. I just laughed, told him to eat whatever he wants, and am still planning on fish tonight because I happen to love fish and it's a nice, healthy alternative in my diet. DH can get his cabbage for lunch if he wants, but he probably won't bother. He's thinking sushi, which sounds really good.

We both love sushi and have it quite often. I'll envy him lunch if
he has sushi, but that's OK, because I always gain weight with
all of the rice and salt. 

I always find it very amusing that a Catholic who never attends church always holds to the "eat no meat" rule for Lent, and that I, a pagan/Jewish-heritage total non-believer walk right along with him and eat fish too. Of course, I'll still have my normal breakfast and there's bacon there, but I do enjoy my fish for dinner during Lent.

I'm not really sure why, but one Minneapolis bar consistently has the
top sales of Jameson in the nation - year after year! Of course, we
have a heavy Irish population, but there are actually more Irish
in St Paul than in Minneapolis. Oh well, it gets awards from the
distillery every year. 

So, wear your green, parade in your parades, drink your green beer and Jameson Irish Whiskey (responsibly, please) and celebrate along with the Irish. Why not! Happy Friday to all!

Happy St Patrick's Day

Thank goodness our tax appointment went quickly and smoothly and, miracle of miracles, we actually had all of the information needed! We should know how bad (or good) the final numbers are by the end of the month. It's most definitely NOT my favorite time of the year.

But there are very good things at this time of the year too - most specifically ... today is St Patrick's Day. So Happy Day to everyone and Irish blessings on all!

A photo of the St Paul St Patrick's Day Parade through the downtown
skyway area of St Paul. Certainly in a warmer month than we'll have
today. Bundle up if you're going to walk or celebrate, it's a crisp one today. 

We celebrate the "wearin' of the green" in our house because DH's mother was Scotch/Irish. We've never marched in our St Patrick's Day Parade, but that's more because we're weather wusses. Up here in the frozen northlands, marching on St Patrick's Day can be dreary, snow-filled, and very cold. Today, actually, won't be too bad, but there will probably be some light snow in the morning pulling back to light rain in the afternoon, and the wind might make things colder. I'll be back to my winter coat today. I remember a few rare St Patrick's Days where the temps were in the 50's and the sun was shining. Unfortunately, today won't be one of those days.

I'm quite sure the slave become priest named Patrick would
never have imagined anything quite like our celebrations of
St Patrick's Day. Go ahead, wear your green, count the leaves
on a clover and raise a toast to Patrick. 

But I wish all of you a very happy St Patrick's Day. I'd wish you the "luck of the Irish", but I'm not so sure that historically, the "luck of the Irish" has been all that good. So instead, I'll wish for a green day of great love and happiness for all and we'll leave it at that. Spring will be here at the end of the week, and Easter is less than two weeks away. Lots of things coming up to celebrate with friends and family. Happy Thursday!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Today is post #1901 in my blog and it happens to coincide with St Patrick's Day. How cool is that? I'm dressed in green, because I might as well celebrate my Mother-by-Marriage's heritage. But, unfortunately, I'm still not feeling well enough to go to the gym today. I'm hoping to make it there tomorrow for a Drowning Guppy day, but I don't want to go back to the Y until I'm over this spring cold. Today I'm still coughing too much and my nose just won't stop running, so I'm a poor candidate for a place where I want good germs, not bad ones.

I adore Kermit. It's good to be green. 

But my brain is non-functional right now and I'm just hoping I can coast through today until it's time to go home. I have no energy to do much of anything, just eat dinner, watch The Voice, and go to sleep. I actually tried to get an additional hour's sleep this morning, but managed only ten minutes before my coughing drove me out of bed and back to my computer chair. But I think I am actually getting better, and I haven't heard DH cough much this morning yet, so hopefully he is also doing a bit better.

Once again the Chicago River running through downtown Chicago, Illinois
will be colored green in celebration of St Patrick's Day. Here in the US, we
enjoy our parties :-)

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. Have a wonderful Tuesday, a green St Patrick's Day, and a year of luck ahead of you.