My weekend so far

My daughter had a really busy week, since it was the grand climax of her company's busy season. To celebrate the end of all that work, I made one of her favorite comfort dishes, potato soup... with corn bread on the side, of course. Her mother-in-law and nephew came visiting from Carthage, so they joined us for dinner (that's the noon meal around here).

Cliff's youngest sister and her husband came Friday night, in order to be in the area for his family Christmas gathering yesterday. They brought their dog, Mindy, and she stayed with us while they went to their gift exchange. She's a well-behaved dog, and she and Sadie, being of similar size, love to frolic and wrestle around the house. Since both dogs are prolific shedders, I shudder to think how much hair we've consumed in our food this weekend... but that's just fiber, right?

Cliff's oldest sister lives next door in our old house. She's working twelve-hour days all weekend, and her mini-Dachshund, Angel, gets lonely; so we bring her over here for two or three hours, a couple times a day.

Then yesterday my oldest granddaughter, Amber, called and asked if was OK to come out and spend the night. She knows she'll get more computer time here than she would at home sharing Internet hours with her mom. She brought her mini-pin, Sophie, who presented me with a Yule log on the floor as soon as she came in the house. It's nice to know that even a dog can get in the spirit of the season. We enjoy our granddaughter and our granddog too, in spite of the occasional accident.

I honestly planned to fix some sort of healthy, low-fat meals today, to make up for the cream in the potato soup yesterday (Cliff's older sister finished off the soup when she got home from her long workday). Unfortunately, I have such a stiff neck I can't turn my head without great pain, so I'm going to plan B: Great Northern Beans cooked with a remnant of our Thanksgiving ham and plenty of onion. With, you guessed it, corn bread on the side.

I'd cook our usual oatmeal or cream-of-wheat for breakfast, but granddaughter Amber really loves pancakes, so I'll cater to her. To go with the pancakes, I have some totally unhealthy, salt-laden sausage ready to cook.

I'll make sure Cliff takes his Lipitor; it's all I can do for his heart in times like these. That, and limit his portions.