Food blog is up and I'm cautiously optimistic

It's almost Christmas and the San Diego Flower of December is still going off like fireworks.

Beginning of the month (a little before actually) we got our usual glut of chicken and hamburter, pluc a chuck roast and various other things. Then we cooked the turkey. Needless to say here it is, just past the middle of the month and we still have a freezer full of meats! There's still turkey in the fridge, a few leftovers from other things as well so as far as food is concerned, we're flush right now! I just used a pound of hamburger today for some pasta sauce, we had teriyaki chicken and rice with veggies the other day and in the next day or two we'll have chicken strips with potatoes hopefully. Then it will be Christmas week and I have no idea what kind of food there will be, probably snacky type stuff. I am low on a few things like salted and unsalted butter a few veggies and random other food but for the most part, we're going to be flush for food and money going into the new year. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic as I titled this post. Oh and I have a full tank of gas going into two and a half weeks off of shuttle duty and two weeks from monthly money deposit.

Jon had is first appointment with the doctor and came out very impressed with her (she's my doctor as well). He mentioned that he had been going to the local Medicaid clinic to the nurse and she knew exactly what he was talking about. She had been a nurser/receptionist there for three weeks then quit due to the run around and double handed back and forth they did to make it look like they are doing their job but in fact weren't. It really was as bad as Jon had felt it was. That's one of the reasons why I insisted he use Sharp for his doctor because I've not had a bad experience yet with them.  His breathing is so much better, he's sleeping better with his new inhalers and pills. Something else that shocked the nurse and the doctor is it was pointed out that he was due for a couple of shots and vaccines and he said, 'go for it, let's get them'. The nurses reaction was 'say what?' Apparently that is the first time in a YEAR they have had someone who wanted all the shots they needed. She even had to go tell the doctor he was on board with getting everything going (including a colonoscopy even though he's been clean for the last two home tests). So it was a very good visit on both sides. It's a good feeling to have good care like that and so sad that it may not be that way in a few years (referring to the current political situation grrrumble) Knowing Jon, he's not too keen on the whole 'diet and exercise' routine and says he doesn't want to die stupid by getting the vaccines and yet... doesn't want to do the hard work. Maybe this time he'll feel differently but it depends on what the doctor says after his next appointment.

We had sandwiches after his appointment and the sweetest thing happened. We sat at a small table across from each other, he was enjoying the food as usual then looked at me and said, 'I'm really happy for the first time in a long while.' I knew it was the food and the doctor appointment that had him feeling more optimistic but then he said, 'It's you'.  I am sure I blushed and smiled, swallowed the food in my mouth and looked at him and said, 'It's you for me also'. He did that little pursed lip smile when he's shy or embarrassed and basically had the same reaction I did. We truly have found our soul mate and only wish it had happened sooner. He's been off his antidepressants for close to six years.... since he met me. I remember him saying something about it after we started dating.

The doctor ordered a chest x-ray as well as a baseline blood test draw after his visit. A chest xray, which no one else other than the emergency room has ever done. Making sure there's nothing else that is causing his asthma like symptoms.  Then do another draw after he's been on one of the new meds. He's pre-diabetic as we knew and cholesterol was a bit high, as I figured it would be with both of us.  So, he's got a follow up appointment on Monday after he got loaded up with new meds and continuing inhalers.  He is experiencing quality medical care for the first time in years (I'm talking going before when we met but mostly from the treatment he got from the stupid community medical he had to go to) which is a mood lifter in itself. He was able to enter his current perscriptions in his medical record/pre check in form and then no sooner did we get out of the doctors office, his phone pinged and his perscriptions were ready. Most of them, the rest were ready the next day. No fuss, no back and forth, no waiting. BAM there you go!

In other news, my knee is back to being cranky after I walked around for two days without my brace. So I haven't been walking as much but am hoping that by the beginning of the year we can both be doing some more walking around. The boys have two weeks off for the holidays so I don't have shuttle duty after tomorrow and then in February it all changes due to Amber's new class schedule.  I'm planning on getting my new glasses next month, using our spare money for that and the car registration and see where we are then. SDGE was small this time thankfully not sure what it's going to be like next month but hoping it's just as low. Projected high amount is $79 which is still manageable. 

Oh! My new food blog is started. Well food/cooking blog. Much like this and my garden ones but I'm posting what I cook and the recipes I use with very little monologue and no ads whatsoever. It's not a website it's just a cut and dried blog like this one. Only thing left to do is trying to upload or list it on pinterest.  I've told all my friends and most of my family it's Big Heart Little Kitchen.

I am trying to post there on a daily basis with pictures and recipes past and present of what I'm cooking, showing just how small my kitchen is with my sous chef in attendance.

Rockée, le sous chef de petite cuisine or in Spanish Asistente de cocina pequeña.. I discovered that the word cuisine does not mean food of something it translates as kitchen. So if you see a book on kitchen cuisine, it's as redundant as the Sahara Desert or Mount Fuji. And yes, he does lay on the counter like that when I'm cooking, cat hair is everywhere no matter where he is and he knows not to go past the sink when I'm cooking, though he tries. Especially if there's meat being worked.

Merry Christmas!

So that's all for now, will do a post Christmas entry in a week.

Today was... a long frustrating day.

 Food was not being friendly today, neither was traffic. So this is a long, long description of my day.

So, it all started with me wanting to fix my favorite little quesadilla snack (full recipe on my food blog). Nothing complicated but it started with having to grate more cheese to use. That was a chore right there.

Had to find the cheese first, then Rocky interrupted so I took him out for a walk, leaving the cheese on the counter which got a little too soft but was still okay. Not perfect but just minorly frustrating. Okay so I get that straightened out and then tried to use one of the small pans to warm up the tortilla and it was too big for the pan, it's fit before then realized I bought 'king size' tortillas this time. Okay so in the process of trying to move the tortilla to another pan it pulled apart as it stuck to the pan. SIGH! Okay so chuck that one in the sink and pull out another one.

Okay so while I was cooking the quesadilla, my hands not being very nimble any longer somehow managed to flip the spatula and it ended up on the floor. Not the first time, not the last time but just another checkbox of frustration for trying to get my damn food fixed! FINALLY I was able to get it all together and have my food! We planned on having pizza for a treat from Costco and that brings me to the second half of the fiasco day.

I left as usual to go pick up the boys, traffic was usual, a few idiots on the road but nothing out of the ordinary. Amber said she was going to give them money for gas to give me and one good thing is, I was able to actually go for my usual walk without any problems from my knee. One small twinge but I wasn't over extending or walking too fast. It was a good work out and I feel better about it recovering.

Warning sign number one: the boys were later out of the school than usual which meant that more people were on the same street we take to head away from school. We had to wait a good extra ten minutes for cars to dissipate and of course, the boys were being boys and I had to warn them I could put one of them in the front seat. Second sign, Amber forgot to give them my gas money. Aarrrgh... I messaged her before we even left the school and she answered back Wellman would have it and send one of the boys down when I dropped them off. Okay... only annoying thing on the way to their house was the boys being a bit noisier than usual but that's typical on a Friday. Traffic was light because the university was already off for semester break so no traffic issues there.

My usual route when I have to get gas is, drive to the bank, deposit money, go to costco get gas and the pizza and head for home. Except my brain was working in reverse by this time. I called ahead to the food court while I waited for one of the boys to return with the money which gave me a 20 minute window to pick up. Oops. My brain was stuck on just those two things, pizza and gas so luckily I had enough money in the bank to get both before putting the extra cash in the bank. But what a nightmare!

It had to be because it's Friday and people were going crazy doing last minute shopping even though Christmas isn't for another two weeks. Every turn I made was the wrong one, I had to park further from the food court than ever because every single person that wanted to be at Costco was there. Zero parking within the first two ranks of parking, ridiculous. Never been that busy, so I had to park almost to the gas station on one of the worst rows to park as it's the main aisle to the gas station.

I get my pizza with little incident other than cars and people and all that. By now I realized I was hungry again. I managed to back out of my spot without incident but had to wait a good couple of minutes for traffic to make a break. All right! I was at least close to the gas station. One minor hiccup there, a car in my line, at the pump finished, passenger got in and nothing happened. No tail lights saying they turned on the car... like they were doing something. Luckily another pump opened and I zipped ahead to take it. I looked back at the car and it had the hazard lights on. Huh? Then they turned off and the sound of the engine turning over for like ten seconds and then nothing. Ruh roh.... dead car at the pump. Got my gas, ($35 on the dot) and then get back on the road to the bank.

 Forgot to mention the traffic on the surface street between Costco and the bank. It was even more backed up than usual. I mean.. it's only 3:45 and it's never been this bad. Normal five minute run and it's now going on ten minutes and not even close to the bank. My only hurry was because of the pizza on the back seat of the car. Get to the bank finally, thanks to needing to turn off a side street to take the back way to the bank, put the money in (Thank you Amber!) and on the way home, pizza was definitely cold by now.  I took the wrong direction in the parking lot after the deposit thinking I was going to take the back road and realized my error, turned down an aisle and some ambling shamble of a man stepped out on the other side of a parked van so I didn't see him and had to honk at him. He gestured to me, I gestured back and I went on my way. Grrumble.

Then I remembered the heinous traffic on the main road to the freeway which was only two blocks from me. Oh gods.... okay I know what lane I need to be in, there's no other way to get on that onramp so I managed to get to a stop light and put my signal on so I could shift to the left lane ahead of everyone else. Luckily, it all went smoothly and even the traffic light at the on ramp changed just as I got to it. 

Now for the relatively short freeway ride home and..... I could see the tail lights backing up way, way before my exit. This is like 5 or 6 pm traffic at almost 4 pm, so thankful I know every which way to get from Point A to Point B in my end of town. Got off near the mall and took the main road all the way home. There was traffic. Still. 

By now the pizza is cold, I was hungry and finally got upstairs with it. Ever try to pull apart cold pizza that isn't cut through all the way in the first place? We don't have a pizza cutter, that's on the list of kitchen utensils we need, had to use my big knife and be careful not to cut through the box to the wood table underneath.

I think I had six slices, heating them up in the microwave for 20 seconds was perfect and advised Jon to do the same. 

I treated myself to a third coke. I have to stay up later tonight for something going online I'm involved in directly.

I had to write all this down for posterity because I already vented to Jon about my trials and tribulations on the way home. He was witness to my food fiascos before I left.

Whoooof.

Not much to report, but turkey was had.

 It's a Friday night, the neighborhood has the occasional sounds of racing cars and motorcycles running down the main streets. There are houses with some decorations and lights in the area and on the hill in the distance from my window.

Just a picture of a green female mantis on the bird of paradise flower. Before I get to the food, finances are the usual shortage but the bills are getting paid at least. SDGE is under $100 again this month it looks like, thankfully. My phone sort of got fixed. The guy was paying more attention talking to Jon about stuff than explaining why the sim card wouldn't be recognized. He mentioned that it was an older model and they had some comparable ones for sale, I told him I do not have money for a new phone. I bought a new sim card (for $10) and it still doesn't work. At least I've got roaming internet again. 

The salmon cooked up very well using a recipe I found on Pinterest involving butter herbs, paprika and brown sugar. Bought a head of broccoli and cooked that up for a side instead of fixing potatoes. So that was a lovely break from the usual chicken and beef.

Then there's the turkey. Another excellent meal tonight with tons of food left over. Jon handled the turkey getting it in and out of the oven twice so it was cooked evenly and I could see the little pop up thingy. He also did the potatoes, added a bit too much milk, and the gravy was not up to par unfortunately, despite using the butter/fat drippings from the turkey. 

I had to go out and buy a foil roasting pan because none of my pans were big enough. Camera skewed the pictures a bit unfortunately but the pan on the right is a 9x12 baking pan I was using to hold the wings and thighs as I dismembered the carcass. That yellow container is about the same size and is one that Katy left behind for me. It's been used for leftover meats as well as packing cookies. It is filled to the top with meat two inches deep. Another flat container from our plastic collection from Ikea has the bone in meat and a few other tidbits and then we saved out the potatoes as well. Jon just got finished cleaning up the kitchen and we finished eating an hour and a half ago. Seriously, he is a cleaning machine and gets the kitchen spotless without a complaint.

I have one idea for the leftovers since I only made potatoes but still have two boxes of boxed corn bread stuffing. Going to make a casserole of it hopefully. I have all the veggies for adding to the dressing plus mushrooms, and either layer turkey with the dressing and packaged gravy or make fresh gravy again. Should get some swiss cheese or something to go on it too.... maybe. But dressing casserole sounds like a plan. Ooooh or the equivalent of shepherds pie but with the potatoes or stuffing, I just need the veggies. Will get on that likely Sunday or Monday.

My knee is better, sitting around not doing anything is helping it but not the rest of me. It's not as swollen, doesn't hurt as much when I go up and down the stairs. Been getting some knitting done and Amber has my and Jon's wish list as best we could do. 

Now my teeth are causing issues. That's next on the list of things to get taken care of, hopefully the new regime doesn't cut anything out in the next four years.

I have another cut on my left thumb on the right side of the pad, you know, the side that you use a lot to do things. It's healing well and the other cut I got on the back of my finger from a knife is completely healed and barely a scar. The thumb injury is once again from the julienne blades cutting an onion. Jon was so sweet, he's offering to cut things up and I'm stubbornly letting him help  as much as he can (in) the kitchen. Oh...if we had a big enough kitchen..... he could do one thing I could do another and there would still be counter space for other things. Or just counter space. And a stove big enough I could have the big frying pan, a pot AND the dutch oven all working at the same time!

Those are the real dreams right there. Room to be creative.

Another month, end of the year.

This is going to be a personal run down of my situation physically/medically for some reason.

Doesn't feel like the end of the year but here we are, December. The last month has not been good  on a physical level although without the generosity of friends and family, we would not be doing as well with food and money to pay bills.. Another big thank you to everyone who has helped us.

Not much in the way of pictures so this is one of the cool cloud photos from yesterday. The other day I was using the julienne cutter again to dice up a red onion and my thumb got in the way. Sliced the side of my left thumb pretty good but not bad enough to go to urgent care. Wearing a band aid on that now and had to get new band aids because we were getting low. So that is a constant frustration again on top of having exceedingly dry air so my hands feel like parchment. Going through lotion quickly between the two of us.

My eyes are really getting annoying now, blurry vision at a distance, and have a hard time focusing. Which is why I wanted to stop at the optometrist to figure out how much my glasses will cost. Also something odd, the last few days I'll eat a good size meal but about two hours later I hungry again. Not raging hungry but noticeable, that hasn't happened in a while and it's kind of worrisome. Then there's occasional dizzy spells which have only happened today. Ever since my major surgery I don't get sleepy I get woozy. So have to remember that's possibly what it's from but it seems to be tied into my eye problem.

 I was not in a good mood today for some reason. I had two scrambled eggs and a piece of hearty wheat toast for breakfast but was in a foul mood for some reason. Could have been low sugar or something but I ended up snapping at Jon during our Costco run (mostly because he walked away from where I left him when I went back to get something we forgot). So I think today was just an odd hormone day.

My knee is still bothering me, wearing the brace helps and haven't called the doctor yet. I finally got to a Cricket store and got my phone figured out. Had to buy a new sim card, which was only $10 so that wasn't too bad. Small price to pay but he did note that it was an older phone and I tried to explain why but he kept interrupting so I let it go. He and Jon connected over a ring the guy was wearing so after that he would look at Jon while explaining what was going on with the phone or whatever. When the guy walked away to get the sim card I whispered to Jon what was happening and he smirked with a nod and then walked away so they guy would focus on me. Phone still doesn't think there's a sim card inserted so I might have call/chat somehow to see if that can be fixed. He said something about it being an older phone and maybe need to call. I told him I swapped out my sim card for a new one and it still didn't work. So whatever.

We were out doing second round of groceries at Costco and stopped at the optometrist to ask about my glasses...and they were closed for lunch for another ten minutes. I didn't want to stick around since we had so much other stuff to do. So that didn't get checked off the list. So we got hamburger and more chicken breasts, then I spied.... salmon. Single salmon side fillet for about $10 and snatched it up. Jon grabbed a Chocolate Tuxedo bar cake and two selections of muffins for treats and of course the always needed paper goods. Picked up sandwiches on the way home and we were done.

Rent is paid, or at least the check was dropped off yesterday. Tried not to spend more than necessary but had to get gas, the sim card and the sandwich out of my money. Oil change will have to wait until next month and hoping between the two of us and the small boost from the COLA we'll be able to pay for the car registration.

I have the turkey in the fridge thawing, hope that will be ready by Thursday or Friday so we can cook it on Saturday. Looking forward to having that fill the apartment with deliciousness. We have tons of meat to last the month, plenty of canned goods and veggies as well as a few snacky things. So we're doing okay for the beginning of the month as usual. Will see where we are in three weeks.

You know what luxury is? Having enough money to see something for sale (or on sale) and you think, 'I know who would like to have that!' and be able to buy it. The ability to make others happy is something I rarely get to do.  All of the Black Friday deals and stuff or just random things for sale I wish I could buy for my kids or sweetie or friends. That is a luxury. Making others happy.

We are doing okay and are thankful to all

 Seriously, without the influx of extra money from people we would not survive as well. We got SS money yesterday so Jon of course wants to spend spend spend and I have to tell him no no no. But too late, he insisted on buying a few groceries we needed and a sandwich that we split and had to take advantage of the sale on cokes that ended yesterday.

 (cloud looks like a ghost which is how I feel my phone is acting)

My phone is still being funky but am trying not to get out and drive this weekend. I have reset it and turned it on and off again at least twice and still no internet. I get a message when I turn off wifi that I may be out of data and cricket turned off my internet. I have an unlimited plan. So the only message they have is I don't have a plan with Cricket and need to have it activated. So that means I have to go into a storefront and not only get them to turn it back on but figure out why my sim card isn't registering.

 And on the cooking channel.... a most delicious one pan chicken and rice meal. I followed the directions for the rice to the letter but added a can of Rotel because it didn't seem like it had any depth of flavor. I thawed four chicken thighs because I couldn't separate them but it's all good, still have another four in the freezer. 

We have three servings of hamburger left, three packs of chicken breasts and the one bag of four thighs. Then there's the turkey. Not leftovers from Amber's. That was another lovely dinner that Wellman slaved over in a stuffy hot kitchen. Everything was delicious, he fixed a version of green bean casserole which I had never had before and it was rather tasty! The only thing that was not up to par was the gravy which he said he had added lemon juice to. Not a fan. It was not a savory sage flavor gravy at all sadly.

We were gifted a huge 20# turkey and some sodas and pantry items from a very good friend locally She had asked me what size I would want and I said ten or twelve pounds. Unfortunately that monster was the smallest turkey she could find. It is now thawing in the fridge for a few days so we can have it next weekend. I don't know if it's going to fit in our oven.

A bit of excitement again in the complex this morning as one of the other residents in the big black Cadillac did some damage.

 

As Jon says, 'his perceptions are extremely flawed'. He was having issues parking apparently and I never got the whole story of what happened. He may have rolled backward to correct his angle (that corner where he parks is sloped to a drainage dip in the cement) and then when he tried to move his behemoth car to clear that AFTER hitting the pole he gunned it too hard and hit the fence. Luckily the new 'assistant manager' was in his car (the other black one next to ours) and saw the whole thing. Jon was in the shower at the time so I had to pull my pants and house shoes on to go see what the damage was. Seriously. All I heard was a crunch that sounded like something metal being crushed then the engine and crunch of the fence. At that point I looked out the window and was barely able to make out what had happened but then saw the fence. At least it wasn't the Mexican guy again.

I have money to get gas at least but other than going to the store and to Amber's we haven't used very much. I will fill it at the halfway mark when it gets there and then see how finances are after bills are paid.

Excuse me I need to go look for the knitting needle parcel that was supposedly delivered at 11:11 today. It is now 2:25.

 

 

Cooking because that's all the fun I can have

 So I was gifted extra foodstuffs for the holiday and now have a 20# turkey in the freezer. That will be for later as it takes about 4 or 5 days to thaw in the fridge. We have chiken galore and hamburger to last until we get food money on the weekend. So first off I present, 'Poor Man's Salisbury Steak'.

Mushrooms and gravy mix from the food gift and potatoes from our cupboard. That was a lot more involved than it would seem, since I can only cook on one burner at a time when I have the big pan out. Salt and peppered four hamburger patties and fried those up, then boiled the potato bits (I over boiled them and were a bit watery but still good), then fried up the mushrooms in the pan the burgers cooked in, saucepan for the gravy and tossed those in, voila! Yummy dinner. Vanilla ice cream for desert as well.

Oh and phone still has no internet on it's own right now, I'm restarting it just now to see if that connects with Cricket. If not, will have to drive over to the store. Which I hate doing.

Now I have posted pictures about the chicken fingers I have made in the past and this was a slightly different take on it since I don't have eggs at the moment. Hmmmmmm.....

Here's the recipe:

Cut 2 chicken breasts into strips and pieces as you see fit. No longer than 3 inches and if they are too thick slice them so they're about a half inch thick. 

Whatever seasoning you want to use on them is variable, I have a 'Country Chicken' seasoning that is salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and paprika. Thoroughly coated the pieces in that in a large zip bag then put it in the fridge for about an hour.

Meanwhile, do some other things but also mix: 

1/2 cup each Bisquick and AP flour

1/2 tsp each baking soda and baking powder

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

1tsp salt.

Mix well in a small rectangle baking dish or whatever you have that's convenient to give enough depth for dredging.

I don't have an expansive kitchen so I used two of my baking sheets to put the pieces on after dredging them. I think I ended up with almost two dozen pieces big and small for the chicken. Dredge in the flour mix then lay them in a single layer. When you finish with them all the way through, heat up about two inches of oil in the dutch oven or pot (if you are lucky enough to have a deep fryer, go for it as per directions for that). While that is heating, dredge the pieces again, patting them a bit with tongs or a back of a fork to set the flower and shake off excess to put them back on the sheet. 

 

The oil is about 3 inches deep, probably about a cup and a half or 2 of oil. Heat oil on medium high heat (again, no thermometer to check temp, medium high for me is about 7 on the dial) if you have some tiny bits of chicken drop them in the oil, if they start bubbling immediately, the oil is ready.  Cook the chicken until lightly golden and set on paper towels or a rack to drain. Serve with Ranch dressing and a side salad. Lunch is served! Normally I would have an Italian dressing for the salad but we ran out so Ranch dressing was it.

I have also marinated the chicken in Italian dressing which turns out excellent as well. The breading on this version is light but fluffy considering the extra 'floof powder' that I put in. Wonderfully light and filling, I was also tempted to try my hand at frying some potatoes but that was an extra step I didn't feel up to.

So that's what I've been doing, not much else really. Conserving gas this week since the boys have the week off from school, turkey day is Thursday and we should get our monthly money early (possibly Thursday or Friday) since the first is on Sunday. The cycle continues. Will be attempting to pay for car registration this month or at least save out half to pay it at the beginning of January.  So many things that are needed this month and next, new bras, some non food stuffs for the kitchen and an oil change (although the car functioned fine with having a year between oil changes). We will survive eating fewer times out. 

Yay for cooking!

Fun Day Pt 2

 Another thing I didn't mention was that I realized the day before that I did not have an actual ticket. I had the reservation but no e-ticket. I emailed WDW by accident about the problem then did it again to Disneyland. I then waited a few hours and decided to call. Good thing, there was a little extension button on the bottom of the app screen on my phone that I needed to hit. So because I knew I wouldn't have internet, I took screen captures as the nice cast member suggested. So entrance to the park and parking was a breeze.

The mighty matterhorn in  morning light is spectacular. Always love seeing that landmark even when we were a kid it was the one thing in the landscape while driving there that was taller than anything else. We had a contest to see who could spot it first.

One of the fabulous ships in Galaxy's Edge, never get tired of seeing them. The whole set up, for a fan at least, is so incredibly magical. Sounds of all kinds are playing everywhere, ships, droids, odd animals just incredible. Since Jon didn't grow up on the west coast and only has been to Disneyland a few times I told him about the set up of Tomorrowland wasn't like this at all originally. I then filled him in when they were filming Saving Mr. Banks (Disney biopic about the trouble getting the rights to Mary Poppins). They wanted a sequence of Walt walking around Disneyland with P.L. Travers. They had to green screen a LOT of areas because it looked completely different than it does in 2013. Somewhere in storage I have the 25th anniversary book (that my kids almost trashed) and has tons of pictures and stories.

 

I had no clue about this tree but am sure I had seen it before. I don't know if it's a real tree or not because it is a type of oak that doesn't typically grow here, and those clumps of leaves look suspicious. 

"On the night of Halloween 2007 This stately Oak officially became 'The Halloween Tree'.

Realizing famed author Ray Bradbury's dream of having his symbol for the Holiday become a part of Disneyland"

I had absolutely no clue about that story that was turned into a short film. Will have to go look it up, but it's in Frontierland oddly enough.

 

Not only did we get to see Rey and Asohka but also Chewbacca (pictures from a distance and not so good). I am too shy and not really one to get pictures with stars, even though that's what they are there for. I was tempted to stop Asohka and say 'Greetings my lady, could I get a photo with you?' but chickened out.

 Jon and his spirit animal, Goofy. I had stopped on our way out to get a picture of the castle, but it was still light out so it wasn't all lit up yet. Some of the lights were on though in New Orleans Square, that's the new Tiana's restaurant that used to be something else, don't remember what. For some reason it just didn't seem as festive as previous years. Maybe it was due to the much bigger crowd or distractions of being in pain most of the time.

The sign is not an original layout for Disneyland as it has Space Mountain but the text is from Walt's original speech on opening day. Of course I had to take pictures of the plants. I had wanted to get a Dole Whip but just always walked by because my feet were killing me and if I stopped for too long I would need to sit down.

The views on our way out. Sun had just set around 5 so at least the trees in Downtown Disney near the tram area were lit up. The decoration over the entry gates were lit up but...it's still too bright out to really see it well. The Haunted Mansion queue finally came up while we were on the tram to the parking lot. I wasn't able to cancel it due to phone being stupid.

It was an exciting day and am hoping that by next year this time I will be in better shape and so will Jon. But like all things, life has a habit of throwing curves you didn't see coming. We are both very sore and stiff today and I told him that if we want to do that kind of a day we both need to get into shape. He worried me at one point when I wanted to go on Space Mountain and I could tell he wasn't feeling good. Long past his nap time but thankfully he brought his second inhaler. He went to go do that and sit down while I went on the ride which, as much as I used to love it, my eyes and body can no longer tolerate the flashing lights and tight space. 

We both need to lose about 40 lbs and improve our stamina. We have a good chunk of the funds left over even though I tried to spend it, everything was SO expensive! $40 for a tee shirt? No thank you! We had plenty of money to be able to do that but me being of frugal mind and broken body, still couldn't find anything to spend the money on. None of the mugs I saw really appealed to me and I totally forgot to go look for earrings so we ended up buying a pin for each of us. I really had to convince Jon to find something he would like.

Sorry for the rotated picture. The Batuu pin is mie and the Mando pin is Jon's and we of course, bought two pickles. Oh! They had an Avatar pin but it was the only one and I decided not to get it because whenever Avatar land comes I want to be able to go and buy it then.

So yes, we had fun, wished we were 20 years younger but a fun time was had by all no matter what. Thank you, thank you.