The Right Knee & Me, Week 2; Updates and Sundry Observations

Either I'm getting used to being poked in the knee or this week was exceptionally less painful.  I'm not sure which, but week 2 for the right knee is in the books.
I left the doctor's office with a sense of relief, and a handicap sticker form to take to City Hall.  It is only good for six months which leads me to believe that things will be much better by summer.  One can only hope.
Next week is the last of the series for the right knee.  The doctor warned me that this knee may not react the way the left did.  I was pain free from the first day.  This knee, not so much.  The pain is there.  The instability when I first attempt to walk is still there.  I guess he his right.

We in western New York were spared the "storm of the century" that paralized the east coast.
It was a glorious day.  Blue skies, sun, and a few flakes of snow. 
The snow sparkled as it fell.  True Christmas time snow. 

UPDATES:
Alaska son and grandson are in California waiting for a flight back to Anchorage.  Flights are backed up across the country.  I hope they don't have too long a wait.
Alaska Deb and her daughter are in New Jersey.  I understand that she is 'maintaining' and busy with her family. 

Soon to be born great grandson gave us a scare Christmas Eve when his mom had contractions seven weeks too soon.  Everything is back to normal now.  Crystal is home and resting.  Baby will just have to wait until it is his turn to join us.

OBSERVATIONS:
The Buffalo Bills need to take a page out of New England's playbook and learn how to strip the ball.
We had our usual tailgate party as we watched the disappointing game.  The best part of the afternoon was spending it with friends.

I will never understand how people can eat ice cream in the dead of winter.  I have no desire for something cold when the temperature is below freezing.  I will make an exception.  Yesterday, one of the tailgaters brought pistachio gelato.  I only had a taste.  The gelato was outrageously good.

Did you ever wonder why people will ask for a recipe and then begin changing it even before they try it?  A friend of mine received a venison roast.  He had no idea how to cook it, so I suggested my tried and true "drunk steak" recipe.  This works with any roast.
Place the roast in a crockpot.  Cover the entire roast with thinly sliced onions.  In a small bowl, mix 1 cup chili sauce, one cup brown sugar and one can of beer; pour over the onions.  Cover and let cook for about 8 hours. 
How hard is that?
"How many onions?", he asked.
"Until you can't see the roast anymore", was the simple answer.
"The last time I used chli sauce, it was too spicy for me.  I'll leave that out!", he decided.
"Why not use ketchup.", I suggested. 
"I don't think I have any brown sugar.  Can I use white sugar?". 
This is NOT someone who knows his way around the kitchen.
I recommended that he get brown sugar if he wanted this to turn out edible.
I can't wait to hear how it turned out.
Now, if he doesn't like it, he will claim it is the recipe I gave him and not the changes he made to it.
Ya just can't win!

A Typical Sunday, Sort of.

I've waited all day for something momentus to happen to chronicle.  It never happened.
I went shopping for the tailgating party this morning and then we stopped at Denny's for breakfast.
Their Holiday Slam looked appealing.  Two of the items were orange/cranberry pancakes and gingerbread french toast.  How could one resist?
Hint, if you decide to try them together.  Eat all of the orange/cranberry pancakes first. 
I tried the pancakes and you could certainly taste the orange juice and the cranberries.   But, then I tasted the gingerbread french toast.  I love gingerbread.  It didn't need the warm maple syrup that came with it.
Ginger is a strong spice with an after taste that lasts quite some time.  Going back to the pancakes after tasting the french toast was a let down.  While I know the flavors were still there, they were overpowered by a ginger taste that wouldn't go away.

Got back home just in time to put the finishing touches on the food and get it down to the community room to watch the Bill's/Miami game.  Florida son was at the game to cheer on the Bills'.  I had everyone in the room looking for Bills' fans but we never did catch a glimpse of him.  I figured it wouldn't be hard to spot red, white, and blue in a sea of Dolphin colors, but it was.
I thought the Bills' played like contenders today.  It was a fun game to watch, even knowing that they were eliminated from any playoff hope weeks ago.  Congrats to the Bills' for the win today!

I have an invitation for coffee tomorrow morning from one of the posters on thebatavian.com.  John and I rarely see eye to eye on anything, and this coffee meeting is to see if we can find common ground.
I think we have on the issue of seven people being displaced by the Town of Batavia with less that 24 hours notice.
This story has many facets.  An out of state slum lord.  A motel that was turned into apartments but has fallen on hard times and disrepair.  The Town of Batavia that wants that land to expand a neighboring park.  The Town of Batavia's building inspector who condemned the building.  The slumlord who didn't let the tenants know that they would be evicted a week before Christmas.  The tenants who had less than a day to find another place to live and who are unable to get their belongings out of their apartments.  One couple has a 10 month old baby. 
That couple was placed in another motel by the Department of Social Services.
The rest found that they couldn't get help from DSS; the Salvation Army or the Red Cross.
This is a story of a Town of Batavia official who never took the plight of the tenants into consideration when he visted them and told them they had 17 hours to evacuate their apartments.
Perhaps, at this 'summit' meeting, we can work together to help out these families.

Wii bowling/golf had quite a turnout tonight.  My only claim to the evening was the 224 I bowled.

Tomorrow, I start off with coffee with my protaganist.  I staff the shop from 9am-Noon.  I hope to make the Euchre tournament at 1pm.  The first injection for the right knee is scheduled for 4pm.  The Girl Scouts are coming to carol at 6:30pm  I am going to try to make it down to listen to them, but it will depend on how the knee feels.

The Bills' Win

With a record of 3-10, the Bills are losing their draft picks. 
Not that I don't like to see a W in the win column, but at this stage of the game, it would be better to have the draft picks.
At arny rate, congrats to the Bills.  I hope they learn to win, at home, when the game isn't blacked out.
Perhaps, they are camera shy?  Ya think?

The days of simple gifts.

Another Buffalo Bills' Blackout :(

Even though we can't watch the game, we'll certainly be tailgating in the community room this afternoon.
We can keep track of the Bills' beating the Browns' through the ten minute ticker.
The treats for this afternoon will be the usual pizza and wings.  I'm thinking a platter of cheese and crackers will round it out.
I have a friend who is a life long Browns' fan.  At one time I called her the Browns' only fan.  She has teased me all week long about today.  It will be interesting to see who comes out on top.  Barb and I both play Family Feud online.  All week long we have passed the torch of top winner back and forth.  She said she feels that it is an omen for the game.  We'll see.

It's almost here!
13 days to Christmas
12 Shopping Days

The Buffalo Bills Take the Bengals. Wheeeehoooooo!

Sunday morning came way too fast and sped like a locomotive to 1pm kick off time.
The Snack Shop sponsors the tailgate party in the community room.  Consequently, I have to be there at kick off in order to learn how many people are watching the game and how much pizza and wings to order for half time.  Die hard fans will show up every week, but when the outlook is dismal, the number of people coming for the game drops.  Food seems to be the key to getting people out of their apartments and to the game.  After trailing by 21 in the first half, the folks were ready to turn their attention to the food. It was going to be another same old game.

The second half was a different story.  You would think, from the whooping and hollering coming from the community room, that we were watching the Bills playing in the Super Bowl. 

The change in the dynamics of the room was incredible.

Suffice to say that the Bills outscored the Bengals 35-0 in the second half and won the game 49-31.  Life, as we know it, was good at 400 Towers.  The crowd, dressed in their Bills' colors left with big smiles on their faces.