Merry, Merry Christmas 2021!

This week, I finished two Christmas paint-by-numbers that turned out pretty well.  It was relaxing to have some time to paint again.

Steve took a vacation day from work on Thursday so that we could spend the whole day together.  We headed out in the late morning and did some fun bargain shopping at Crazy Cazboys…his first visit.  Then we stopped for a yummy drink and snack at Royal Tea in Arlington.  Then we headed off to Six Flags Over Texas!  We used to be quite the coaster junkies before we had kids, but we haven’t gotten to go like that without the kids is so very long.  We had a fabulous time, and the weather was 74 and breezy…perfect park weather!  We rode 4 rides, 2 of which were new to both of us, and had a great time.  After it got dark and we realized they weren’t serving any yummy hot beverages or making any bonfires for Christmas, we decided to cut it short.  We shared some chicken fajita soup before leaving the park and then decided on a whim to go see a movie before heading home.  We stopped at the Eastchase AMC and saw Nightmare Alley.  It was 2.5 hours long, but it had such a great ending that we laughed.  We got home at about 11 PM…a long and crazy fun day!  So relaxing, and no stress at all…just how we like it!

On Christmas Eve, Haylee went to see the downtown Christmas tree and lights with her boyfriend.  They ran into his aunt there, who took this cute photo of them.

On Christmas Day, I got to have all of my kids at home until mid-afternoon for Christmas this year, so that was just lovely.  I even grabbed a sneaky shot of each of them opening gifts.

Then we enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner together, and I even made tiramisu for dessert from scratch…a first for me!  It was actually pretty easy to make but was rather expensive for the ingredients.  It was yummy, though!  And I also made dinner rolls from scratch, which turned out really well (unlike Thanksgiving) because I bought a fresh sack of flour.

After dinner, Hayden headed out to see his girlfriend and her family, so we stopped for a family photo in front of the Christmas tree before he left.  Nice picture!

We did a bunch of cleaning up around the house and some cleaning out and rearranging in the kids’ bedrooms, and then Haylee and I popped up some popcorn and went driving around town looking at neighborhood Christmas lights.  We found a couple of unique displays that were written about in the paper this year, including this one at Luther Lake that reflected off the water.  That was a fun way to end the night.

Merry Christmas from the Burgesses!

Mariah Carey’s 12 Days of Christmas Food Freebies at McDonald’s

Get Free Daily Deals, Only in the App*

Kick off the holidays on a high note with Mariah Carey. Get a free McDonald’s favorite every day from December 13th-24th with $1 minimum purchase, only in the app.

Deals in the Wendy’s App in December

If you use the Wendy’s app this month, you’ll find special offers available each week of December, each for one time use during the applicable time period.

• December 6-12: Buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) Spicy Chicken Sandwich
  December 6-12: Free any-size fry order with any purchase
  
• December 13-19: BOGO Dave's Single
  December 13-19: Free any-size fry order with any purchase
  
• December 20-26: Free small Chili with any purchase
  December 20-26: Free Baconator Fries with a purchase
  
• December 27-January 2: Free six-piece order of nuggets with a purchase
  December 27-January 2: Free Baconator Fries with a purchase

If you’re out doing your holiday shopping and find yourself hungry, feel free to swing by and take advantage of these app deals at Wendy’s.

Happy Holidays!

Holiday Baking Recipes

Now that December is here, I wanted to share a few of my favorite holiday baking recipes with you.

First, give these wonderful Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles a try!  They are perfect to take to a holiday cookie exchange.  I like to make sure they don’t overbake so they stay nice and soft in the middle.  Yum!  The recipe and photo are courtesy of Sally’s Baking Addiction.

 

Second, try these wonderful Simple Pecan Pie Bars.  The recipe and photo originally came from Taste of Home, but it appears the recipe is no longer there, so I’ll share it with you here.

 

Third, splurge on some of these delicious Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies.  I just made a batch of these recently, and they are always a hit.  They are also great right after the holidays when you can buy up bags of Christmas red and green Hershey’s Kisses for half price when all the holiday baking supplies get marked down.  This recipe was taken from the Everyday Cooking cookbook, and the photo is of my own platter of finished cookies.

 

I hope you have time to enjoy some of these fabulous holiday treats.  They are all very easy to make and require pretty basic ingredients.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2021 and My Long Awaited Booster Shot

I had my COVID booster shot on Monday morning, and everything seemed to go downhill from there.  Apparently, I had an hyper immune response to the booster shot, and I spent the entire week feeling absolutely miserable!  It started that day with diarrhea, shaking chills followed by burning up and sweating, fitful sleep, and all-over body aches, in addition to the usual intense pain in the injected arm.  I expected most of that, as it was like that for me after the second dose. 

The next day, I started with a sore throat, continued the all-over body aches, and had a headache.  I still had chills, but I wasn’t shaking…I just couldn’t get warm.  As time went on, though, the sore throat only got worse.  By Wednesday night, my throat hurt so badly that I could barely swallow my own saliva.  I was terrified of being stuck so ill over Thanksgiving when nothing would be open, so at about 7 PM, I headed off to the urgent care center that I knew would be closing at 8.  I figured that gave me just enough time to be seen and to fill whatever prescriptions I might need before everything shut down for the holiday.  I was convinced at this point that I must have strep throat, as I have never had such difficulty swallowing unless it was strep. 

The nurse practitioner checked me out while waiting for rapid lab tests for COVID, flu, and strep.  She said I had tons of wax in my ears (nothing unusual there), my nose and throat were very red and inflamed, and I had a lot of sinus drainage.  But she did not find any swollen lymph nodes, fever, or any other signs of any type of bacterial of viral infection.  And while we were chatting, the lab results showed up and indicated I was negative for everything.  She concluded that I wasn’t actually sick, but instead, I was having a hyper immune response to the booster shot.  She said I’m lucky that my immune system is so reactive and is learning to do the job of defending me against COVID. She said she could give me a steroid shot to get rid of all the inflammation, but it would also suppress that lovely immune response to the booster, which would defeat its purpose.  So instead, she gave me Flonase for my nose, which she said contained a steroid that would keep the treatment localized instead of systemic, and she gave me a lidocaine gargling solution to numb my throat so I’d be able to eat my turkey dinner on Thursday.  I filled the prescriptions on the way home.

I was thankfully able to eat on Thursday and prepare all the food without fear of infecting anyone with any germs.  I was very hoarse that day, but still able to speak and be heard.  By Friday, though, it was a different story.  The chills and body aches were long gone, but I got up with complete laryngitis.  Not a peep was to be heard from me the entire day.  All I could get out was a whisper.  I did, however, manage to finally finish my Christmas decorations, which I’d attempted to do on Monday before I was stricken so ill.

I looked up how to treat laryngitis, and the Mayo Clinic website said the best remedy was to breathe in steam, drink plenty of fluids to keep the throat moist, and rest the vocal cords.  It said whispering was worse than talking.  So I was a bump on a log on Friday.  I didn’t do any Black Friday shopping at all.  That night, we started up the spa outside, and I made a special point to breathe in as much of the steam as possible.  I could feel the tightness in my throat beginning to ease.  By Saturday morning, my voice had returned! 

My husband and I do 6 podcast shows a week.  The poor fella got stuck recording most of them without me because I just couldn’t squeak anything out of my raw, irritated throat.  I felt bad for him.  But we did have one guest on Thanksgiving day…my daughter’s boyfriend…and all of my kids were home long enough for dinner, so that was nice.  No one would assemble for a family photo, so I had to snap a quick shot of just the two of us instead.

Despite feeling lousy, I felt very thankful this Thanksgiving.  It was so nice to have all of my kids around me as well as an honored guest, and my husband was so sweet to help me manage the cleanup and some help throughout the day.  He’s a keeper.

And all the while of feeling so bad, my faithful rescue dog, Pepper, was right by my side taking care of me, as she always does.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  And although I’m still recovering from that booster shot, I’m still thankful I was able to get it.  It had been nearly 10 months since my 2nd dose, and it was really making me nervous with the new strains that have emerged and continue to do so.

New COVID Booster Eligibility!!!!

In case you missed yesterday’s news, the COVID booster shots have now been approved and recommended by the FDA for ALL adults 18+ who had their 2nd vaccination at least 6 months ago.  No underlying conditions are required to be eligible!  I AM SO HAPPY!!! 

I got my first shot on January 15th.  I met the early eligibility requirements because I was on immune-suppressant medication and repeated rounds of oral steroids for the chronic inflammation in my frozen shoulder.  I had a second surgery on that shoulder on February 5th and then showed up with my arm in a sling for my 2nd dose on February 9th.  So it’s been nearly 10 months since my last COVID vaccination.  I would have been eligible except that once I was released from therapy and treatment for my shoulder, I was finally able to get off the immune-suppressant meds after a year and a half of taking them.  So I’m no longer in a high risk group, and I’m not even 50 until January.  I don’t work outside the home, so I didn’t meet any of the special circumstances to qualify for the booster.  As a result, I have been all kinds of nervous about being out around groups of people, and I always wear a mask in public.  But I’ve been particularly nervous about church, where people were singing and hardly anyone but us was wearing a mask, and also about eating in restaurants where people who do wear masks take them off to eat.

I was out doing some volunteer work on Friday morning, and while I was doing that, the FDA was meeting to discuss boosters for all adults.  When I got home, I was greeted with the news that it had been approved!  I was SO happy.  I immediately got online to see where and how soon I could get an appointment.  I ended up scheduling myself for Monday, November 22nd @ 11:30 AM at my local Kroger pharmacy.  Now I wouldn’t normally be willing to get a shot at a pharmacy, but I could get an appointment right away, and I really trust this particular pharmacist who has been very helpful and knowledgeable in the past.  I’ve seen him administering vaccines to people in recent months.  I believe I can trust him to give it to me correctly.  I just hope he is working tomorrow morning! 

So if you hadn’t heard the news and it’s been 6 months for you, then go ahead and sign up now!  If it hasn’t been long enough for you yet, then set yourself a reminder to schedule your appointment when the time comes.  This is GREAT news for EVERYone.

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!  We’ll be closing on the refinancing of our house that morning, and I’m excited about that, too.  We’re getting 2.5% and 15 years, so we’re shaving 10.5 years off our existing mortgage.  Now we should be able to retire here and stay in this house that I love so much.

Have a great week and stay safe!

The Great Turkey Hunt 2021

Has anyone noticed how high turkey prices are this Thanksgiving?  I’m shocked.  I can’t seem to find a deal anywhere.  In previous years, I’ve paid about 37 cents per pound for a whole turkey, and I maybe had to spend $35 on other stuff to get that price.  No problem!  But not so this year.  I actually only eat white meat and prefer to just get a whole turkey breast.  But I can’t even find those this year!  I tried Kroger and Winco, and there just weren’t any deals to be had.  So I broke down and went to Walmart and ended up getting a smaller 13 pound whole turkey for 97 cents a pound.  That was the best deal I could find anywhere in town!

Between milk, meat, and gas prices, I think everyone is taking a hit.  Inflation’s on a runaway train at the moment.

I also noticed that the supply of turkeys was running a little thin in some stores, so don’t wait too long to get what you need to celebrate your holiday.  I wrapped up my food shopping on Friday.

Veteran’s Day Deals on November 11th

Here are just a few highlights of food deals our military and veterans can get this Thursday, November 11th in honor of Veteran’s Day:

Applebee's -- Veterans and active-duty military receive a free meal when dining in from a special menu on November 11. And when dining in on November 11, military guests will receive a $5 bounce back card to redeem for dine-in, To Go or delivery within three weeks.

Buffalo Wild Wings -- Veterans and active-duty service members get a free order of 10 boneless wings and fries on November 11. The offer is available for dine-in or takeout.

Chili's -- Veterans and active-duty service members get a free meal from a select menu on November 11. Available for in-restaurant only.

Dunkin' Donuts -- On November 11, veterans and active-duty military receive a free donut at participating locations. Offer available in-store only.

Hooters -- Active-duty military and veterans get a free entrée from the Hooters Veterans Day Menu with purchase of a beverage on November 11. Dine-in only.

IHOP -- Veterans and active-duty military get free Red, White & Blueberry Pancakes at participating locations on November 11. Dine-in only.

Little Caesars -- Veterans and active military get a free HOT-N-READY Lunch Combo at participating stores on November 11, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Red Robin – Veterans and active-duty military who are Red Robin Royalty members can redeem a free Red's Tavern Double Burger with Bottomless Steak Fries November 1 through November 14 for dine-in or to-go. You must register for Red Robin's Royalty Program with military designation by Monday, November 1st.

Smoothie King -- On November 11, veterans and active-duty military members get a free 20 oz. smoothie.

Starbucks -- Veterans, military service members and military spouses get a free tall (12-oz) hot brewed coffee at participating stores on November 11.

Texas Roadhouse -- Texas Roadhouse will hand out dinner vouchers at the stores’ parking lots on November 11, from 11am to 2pm. Veterans and active-duty military can redeem their dinner vouchers when the restaurant opens for dinner, through May 30, 2022.

Torchy's Tacos -- On November 11, veterans and active-duty military get a complimentary taco and beverage from a special menu. Dine-in and pick-up orders placed by phone or in-person only.

Wendy’s -- Active-duty military and veterans get a free breakfast combo on November 11 at participating locations from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m.

***************************************************************************************

My late father served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Civil Service.  I have three brothers who served in the Army or Navy.  They have children who went on to do the same.  My husband served in the Army and in the Naval Reserves. 

To all those who have served, thank you for your service!

Celebrate National Sandwich Day @ Schlotzsky’s!!!

On Wednesday, November 3rd, you can use the Schlotzsky’s app to order up to 5 medium sandwiches for just $5 each!  Take advantage of this deal…sandwich deals at Schlotzsky’s don’t come around very often.

My personal favorite is the Smoked Turkey Reuben.  It used to be on the menu as a specialty sandwich.  It’s no longer on there, but you can still order it by asking for it in person or by ordering the Pastrami Stacker in the app and substituting smoked turkey for the pastrami in the comments.  I do it whenever I order there.  So good!  My only disappointment is that they dropped the brown bread during the pandemic.  Too bad!

Enjoy your deal!

Annual Checkup…Turning 50 is No Joke!!!

I had my annual checkup on Friday.  I will be 50 in just about 2 months or so, and this checkup was really, really thorough!  I had to get a pap smear, fast for cholesterol test, and get a blood draw for all the usual tests in addition to a battery of hormone tests.  I also got a referral for a mammogram since I’ve only ever had one, and that was in VA.  I also got a referral for a colonoscopy.  I had one of those when I was 40 due to my family history (my grandfather died of colon cancer, and my mother had polyps removed 3 times that are the hereditary type that develop into colon cancer).  I got that scheduled for April (the first available appointment!), and I have to call this week to schedule the mammogram.  In addition, I also had a pap smear for the first time in 5 years!  I’ve had cervical dysplasia in the past and had to have a LEEP surgery to remove the abnormal tissue, so I’m anxious to get the results this time.  I’ve been used to getting tested every year in the past.  Oh!  And let’s not forget the urine sample, too.  And while I was hoping I could get a Moderna COVID booster, I’m not yet eligible since I’m no longer on immune-suppressant medication.  I did, however, get my annual flu shot.

Photo Credit to PharmEasy website

So far, I’ve only gotten my CBC blood test (normal) and my hormone tests back (normal).  I guess the rest will trickle in next week. I have to admit that I’m not really looking forward to the colonoscopy!  At least they said they use a pill form of prep now.  I had to drink a whole bottle of liquid laxative last time.  Ugh! 

Have you reached this milestone yet?  I felt like I had a bad case of old!  LOL.

Update on My Carvana Saga

I haven’t heard from my Executive Resolution Agent since September 5th when he said he’d have an update for me in 2 days.  I never heard from him again.  I’ve written to him at least twice since then, and I’ve gotten no response or acknowledgement whatsoever.  I have one more renewal left on my TX temporary plates, and that will take me through November 25th.  After that, I have no recourse.  I will again be unable to drive my car until they provide my permanent registration. 

This week, I heard from the investigator at TX DMV where I filed a formal complaint against Carvana for violating TX dealer laws.  They only had 60 days to file for a permanent registration, which they did not do, and in fact, still have not done to this day.  The investigator informed me that Carvana is still waiting for a duplicate title from CA, which is notoriously slow, and Carvana won’t even be able to apply for a registration until they obtain the title.  Obviously, they should not have waited so many months to start that process.  That was begun less than 2 months ago.  December 11th will be one YEAR since I purchased the vehicle.  It’s beyond ridiculous.  Anyway, the investigator said he determined that Carvana DID violate TX law and CONTINUES to be in violation to this day.  He said his findings and recommendation have been forwarded to their attorney to determine disciplinary action.  Now that does not help ME…but it gets Carvana in trouble with TX, which is where it all starts.  I don’t want other people to go through this ordeal.  I’ll have to seek my own legal help if it gets to the point that I can’t drive the car any more. 

Here is the letter I got from TX DMV on 10-14-21:

Dear Kelly Burgess,

I have completed my investigation regarding your complaint against the above named licensee filed with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles - Enforcement Division. My investigation revealed evidence of a violation(s) related to the laws and/or rules which we regulate.

The dealer is having to obtain a duplicate title from the State of California, which is notorious for taking an extended period of time.  The dealer is still in violation. 

Your complaint, and my recommendation, have been forwarded to the attorney assigned to this case. The attorney will make the final determination on what disciplinary action, if any, will be taken.

You may have other claims or avenues of redress that can be pursued. You may wish to consult with a private attorney to discuss your options.

Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the Enforcement Division.

Justin White, Investigator
Enforcement Division-Motor Vehicle
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

 

So that’s that.  I hope they stick them with a fine, which they most definitely earned.  I certainly hope that Carvana resolves this issue before my final temporary registration expires next month, but time is running out fast.

In the meantime, the reporter from the Wall Street Journal that I’ve been working with, Ben Holdy, tells me that he is close to publishing his exposé article about all of the problems clients have encountered in transacting with Carvana.  I’m obviously among them, and I continue to keep him in the loop about the status of my issue.

Stay tuned!

Planning a Trip to Six Flags Over Texas

 

We’ve had passes to Six Flags Over Texas and Hurricane Harbor for all the years we’ve lived here in TX.  But we have not been for the last 2 years, despite being pass holders!  Between my 2 shoulder surgeries (11/2019 and 02/2021) and subsequent activity restrictions, the pandemic and the long wait for vaccine availability, we just haven’t been able to go at all…not even one time!  We decided to go ahead and renew our passes again, now that we are all vaccinated and able to get out a bit more.  I don’t have any restrictions with my shoulder for the first time in a couple of years!

Photo Credit:  Six Flags website

Schools are closed on Monday for fall break, so Steve and Haylee took the day off from work so that we could all go together!  The only one missing will be Hayden, as he does have to work until about 3 PM.  He has an early start, too, so I’m not sure that he will want to join us so late in the day when we plan to leave by 8 PM.

Photo Credit:  Six Flags website

I’m so excited!  I absolutely love roller coasters, and it’s been over 2 years since I’ve been on one.  Holden wouldn’t ride anything the last time we went, but he’s older now and MUCH taller than he was.  He is only an inch shorter than me, so he can ride anything he wants to, and I’m hoping he will finally have the guts to get on something and try it!  We’re all really looking forward to it, so I hope it goes well.  Woo-hoo!