Still eating the elephant...

I am making headway in my preparation for surgery.  I have been cleaning and sorting and throwing out and rearranging the stuff in the house.  I needed to do an un-clutter, at least of the floor, so I can get around with a walker or a cane without tripping over stuff.

It was a daunting task.  I had (and still have) 20 years of things that I brought up from the Maryland house.  For quite a while, it was everywhere.  I am down to the last few boxes in the back of the truck and in the garage.  I will go through them one at a time from now on until they are all done.

But since scheduling the surgery, I have been working very hard to get rid of the clutter.  I am not completely done.  I still have things in piles, but they are smaller and you can see large areas of floor and the doors open so you can go outside both front and back.  I am working now to be company clean.

Brian will be arriving on the 21st, and chances are I may not be getting home too much before that.  So I am trying to get things as ready as I can for the holidays.  That way, when I come limping home, I will not have to do anything more than welcome Brian home.

So, while the elephant is not as big, I am still doing a bite at a time.  I would recommend the one bite at a time routine.  You do not have the overwhelming feeling of drowning.  And the progress, even though slow, makes one feel like a success!

Schedule for Monday....

I had a really hard time falling asleep last night.  It was after 2:00 AM before I finally fell asleep.  My knee was really hurting and since I cannot take any Ibuprofen right now.

The doctor's office called this morning.  I did manage to sleep in some and the office called while I was still in bed but awake.

So, I have to check into the hospital at 7:30 AM on Monday morning.  Surgery scheduled for 9:30 AM!

Prayers appreciated.

No such thing as a small turkey dinner.....

I am here to tell you that having a Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey dinner for a large number of people only take a couple of hours longer to make than a tiny, small, "quick" turkey dinner for one!

I had made the decision to stay at home alone this Thanksgiving so as not to run the risk of running into a person/child with a bug, this close to my surgery.  I bought a little 6 pound turkey breast.  It cooked in a little over 2 hours.  I made stuffing.  Still took as long to make a smaller batch as to do the larger batch.  The only difference is that it cooked faster.... which also threw off my timing.  I made mashed potatoes from scratch.  I used the pressure cooker, so it did take a shorter time to cook and the potatoes were not soggy, but I still had to mash them.

So, there is no such thing as a homemade turkey dinner that is less complicated than a big one.  Next time I want a fast turkey dinner I will buy a TV dinner or have it catered.

Happy Thanksgiving

Good Morning... and Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family who follow me on my blog.  I was able to sleep in until almost 10:00 AM and have talked to my BFF Marji already.  She was preparing to head to Baltimore to be with her family.  I am sure she will enjoy being with her family today.  Family is always important to her and she and her sisters are very close to each other.

I will be at home alone.  I made the decision that I did not want to go out and be with any of the friends who had invited me to join them this day or to the family members who also extended invitations to me to join them.  But I will be having surgery on Monday to replace a very painful right knee and the last thing I need is to come down with a bug this close to that day.  Next year it will be a totally different holiday.

I have not posted for a while as I have been helping my son and his wife begin to deal with cancer.  She has been diagnosed with a form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  They have been going through the testing and determination of the stage of the cancer and the plan to battle the disease.  I am not sure what I will be able to do from so far away, but having walked the journey with my late husband almost three years ago, I can guide them through the pitfalls of dealing with some of the things they will be facing.  Fortunately for them, her cancer is one of the most curable so we have high hopes that they will be able to eradicate it from her body.  Prayers offered for that.

My friends are all upset that I am alone.  But I am trying to get my house ready for visitors and Christmas.  I am sure that some of the things that need to be done will be more difficult with a healing artificial knee.  I am also hoping to get some sewing time in before I head to Lancaster on Monday.  I will have a turkey dinner here at home.  There is a "Castle" Marathon TNT, so I am a happy camper.

Enjoy your day... I know I will.

I will try to post here as I go through recovery, but I am not sure I will be able to during the hospital stay.  But once I am back to being connected, I will update my recovery and rehab.

Work is a many splendored thing.....

Yesterday was a get my butt in gear day so I was not pressured to get the job done for Hershey Motors.  I got the art work on the same day that I picked up the jackets.  I immediately set about determining the size I would need for the jackets and sent it off to my digitizer.  I had the design back within 24 hours and it was perfect.  The design was the company name around an outline of an antique car.  The car design had small, intricate lines that do not always translate from line drawing to sewing with thread, but ti stitched out beautifully.

I stitched out a test design and then headed to meet Evan at the Morgantown office.  He approved the design and he wanted it all in white, rather than the two color design in the file.  I also got the approval to stitch the design on the right as the jacket had a nifty zippered pocket on the left hand side where the design would normally go.

So, yesterday I got the machine set up, found a way to use my clamping system which makes hooping for the design super-simple.  I had to test sew a couple of additional designs to make sure the tension was right and that the thread was the right one.  White thread and red thread are the hardest ones to work with.  They both take some intense processing to get to the color just right, but it makes the thread more vulnerable to breakage.  But I found a white that would go through the machine easily and gave a beautiful, smooth design.  So I started with the first jacket.  I sat and stared at the machine to make sure there were no hiccups.

It stitched out beautifully.  So I put in jacket number 2.  Again, it stitched out beautifully.  So I put in jacket number 3 and began going through the piles of stuff that had begun to grow in the office.  So, not only was I working on an actual paying job, I was clearing up piles and piles of clothing blanks and papers and catalogs that had grown into an unyielding amount of clutter.  Can you say "two birds with one stone"?

By 1:00 AM, I had finished 9 jackets and had two trash bags of junk ready to head out to the garbage can for Wednesday.

I also found that by the end of the day I felt as though I had really accomplished a great deal and did not have time to fall asleep in my recliner.  I guess, once I get back on my feet after my knee replacement surgery, I should get back into doing more embroidery.  The extra money coming in would be nice and keeping busy will make the time go by better than just doing nothing.

So happy that I have this business to keep me busy!!!

Benefits of small town America.....

I have lived in this area since my first husband moved us here in 1976.  It is a basically rural community.  For the first few years I lived in town.  When my ex and I divorced, I bought the house I am living in now.  It is a mile or so outside of the town, so I really have not gotten to know local people until Rudy died.  Living here full-time and not going away on weekends to play in Maryland, I have joined in classes, organizations and become involved in business groups.  I have also kept going to local businesses to take care of my cars, lawn, trees, etc. so I have kept the friendships and acquaintances from before I became a widow.

Today, that paid off.

I have surgery coming up on December 2nd.  I also need to be preparing for winter.  One of those things is to get the pickup truck set up with the snow plow so that when the bad weather comes, I can plow out the driveway to become mobile as quickly as possible.

The pickup truck is a 2004 Ford F150 4-wheel drive.  It was the only vehicle that Rudy ever had as a brand, new vehicle.  He custom ordered everything he wanted on this truck and was his pride and joy.  He trained me on how to plow snow just before he died and the first two years after his death there was so little snow, that the truck did more sitting than plowing.  But during the good weather I did drive the truck to Maryland from time to time and after selling the house in Maryland, it was the main transportation of 20 years of stuff that needed to come north.  In fact, there is still stuff in the back of the truck that I have just not been able to go through.  Perhaps over the winter....

This year, I bought a van to help me carry stuff around and on trips that gets better mileage than the truck.  As a result, the truck has not moved from the driveway since the snow plow went on last December.

This summer, after I got home from my trip to Chicago & Minneapolis, I decided I should really start up the truck.  The battery was so dead, it would not even let the remote open the door.  I charged the battery and it started.  I ran it, sitting still, for several hours and it would start every week until I got lazy.  I have charged the battery for the last several months and the truck has still not moved out of the driveway.  I really love my van and my Elantra, so the truck has been sorely neglected.

I had to add air to my van tires a few weeks ago, when it first turned chilly.  I noticed that the truck tires were also low.  I pumped up the front tires and went to turn the truck around only to find the battery dead, again.  I began thinking that when I had the truck in for inspection in December, I would get a new battery installed.  I also noticed that the column shifter was very, very stiff.  I realized that my not driving it had been a really bad thing.  And now with the surgery scheduled, I was not going to be able to get the work done in the usual time frame as the earliest I could normally get it inspected was December 1st.

I have stewed about it and worried about it.  I have relied on Danny and Marji so much over the last couple of years, I really hate to be a burden for stupid stuff.  But sometimes you need to ask for help.

I had to drive to Morgantowm today to get approval of an embroidery design and settle on thread color.  While I was out, I decided to head to L C Autibody to see about getting the truck fixed and ready for winter.  I have know Larry Constanble through a business association and have always been impressed by his wonderful spirit and ethical dealings.  He also hired a really wonderful gentleman to help his shop, after locating to a new location, become stronger in the mechanical area in addition to fixing up auto bodies.  John had worked at Hershey Motors for years and I have used them for local repairs over the years.

John knew exactly what vehicle I was talking about.  He understood the basic neglect I had given the poor truck and he helped me decide that I should change the inspection period (which one can do in Pennsylvania) so I could have the work done the rest of this week and into next week.  This way the truck would be back in the driveway, ready for the plow to be installed and set for the winter season while I was having my surgery and going through rehab.  What a relief it was to have that one loose end taken care of.

Not only that, but John suggested that one of his guys go back with me to the house, make sure the truck would start and then he could drive the truck back to the shop, saving me the trip.  I am equally sure that they will deliver the truck back to me, should I need that to happen.  Only in a small town, could I have been comfortable turning over my truck to a stranger, knowing that it will be lovingly cared for and fixed up at a reasonable cost... by friends I trust.

I am blessed!

Random thoughts late at night.....

I am not sure.... am I depressed or bored or just trying to forget what is coming in the next week or so?  I find myself falling asleep in my recliner and sleeping soundly for an hour or so.  I had started doing it before Rudy died and I attributed it to just getting older and not being as active as I once was.  That could still be the case.  My doctor even asked me if I was depressed when I mentioned to her the loss of Miss Molly.  I told her no as I really do not want to begin thinking about taking medication to 'feel better'.  I took an anti-depressant once to combat hot flashes.  The hot flashes went away, but so did every emotion that I ever had.  I did not feel bad, I did not feel good.... I felt nothing and I hated it.  So no pills for me.  If I am depressed, it comes and goes, which to me is normal living.

Anyway, I had one of my longer naps than normal yesterday which had me awake well beyond the 2AM hour this morning.  I was reclined in my lovely bed, watching some mindless TV and thinking about stuff.

In those random thoughts I came to the realization that my life is pretty much as far afield from where I thought it would be as it could possibly be.  My ideal world would be to have my two sons, grown and living on their own. They are doing that, but they are so far away that they cannot "be there" for their mother.  I had imagined them sticking a bit closer to home.

My immediate family, locally, were all my husband's family.  His sister died in the spring of 2006.  Marcy was always planning family outings and Rudy and I were generally included.  We could always count on who we would be with on Thanksgiving, sometime around Christmas and Easter.  There were also numerous gatherings to celebrate birthdays, weddings, births, etc.  It kept us busy and connected.  When she died, little by little, over the years, the Boylan side of the family has become more and more fractured with family gatherings on important holidays becoming smaller and smaller.  It was not an immediate thing, but little by little in the last 7 years.

I lost my father in 2007.  While making sure he was not left out in the cold and being alone since he moved to the are in 1997, I was thrilled to have him around and get to hear the stories of the things he remembered about my youth that even I did not remember.  His passing moved the torch of the oldest generation in my family to me.

In addition to my kids being far away, my only sibling is my brother, Andy, who is about 4 hours (give or take an hour depending on traffic around D. C.) away with his wife and kids.  He married later in his life, so his kids are just finishing their educations and are still living at home.  He and his wife are just at different places in life.  So, while we get together over Christmas, we have not spent a lot of time together.  I am hoping that now that he had retired and I am semi-retired, that we might find a few more things that we can do together.

Rudy died in 2011 after battling cancer for a year.  It has really left me at loose ends.  I had a wonderful vision of the two of us traveling and finding a lovely retirement home and just enjoying doing leisurely things together.  We were robbed of that chance with his untimely death and I am still working very hard to find a new path for me that will satisfy me.  I was a loner as a teen, but it is not all it is cracked up to be as an aging widow.

Rudy's niece, Nancy, was the one family member who kept some of the fragments of the family together.  This summer she suffered some medical setbacks of her own.  Uncontrolled high blood pressure had her in and out of the hospital most of the summer.  She is back at work but still suffering from dizziness.  She is trying hard to keep her life simple and will not be getting the family together for the first time since her mother died.

And then there is Molly.  She was my sweet little dog, who frustrated me daily but gave me a reason to have a normal day.  I am still looking for her little tail to be racing me to the couch when I come from the kitchen to the living room.  It hurts not to see that.

So, I am looking around, and my life is completely different from where it was in 2006.  The last seven years has completely derailed all of my hopes and dreams.  I can completely understand why the elderly can get so lonely and adopt hoards of cats.  I can understand why they are pictured in their favorite chairs, snoring.  I can understand why they are not eating well.  It sucks cooking for one.  I can understand being up late at night, as the naps and lack of schedule really make a regular sleeping routine pretty much a mute point.

Just the random thoughts on a late night.....

The good news is I have taken on an embroidery job which is keeping my mind busy and giving me structure for my time heading up to my surgery.

Seems I am all set to go....

Monday was a getting settled day and final steps to prepare for my knee replacement.  I enjoyed sleeping in my own bed on Sunday evening.  While the Amish View Inn has wonderful facilities, it is always nice to get home to your own sleeping accommodations. My 'amusement park bed' does have qualities that are generally not found in a hotel, and I did not really miss the vibrate feature of my bed until I no longer had it.

I have also realized that I can head into bed at just about anytime.  I generally headed to bed around 11:00 PM as I wanted to let Molly go out as late in the evening as I could with the hope for a good sleep throughout the night.  (Molly always had trouble making it all night.  It was like having a baby for 15 years!)  But now, with Molly no longer around, I can actually close, lock the back door and throw on the alarm once the kitchen is cleaned up after dinner.  So, Sunday night, I curled in bed early and watched TV, drifting off to sleep during one of the Netflix programs.

I had a phone interview from the Anesthesia group.  I answered all of the questions that they had and was informed about the need to wash my body with a special soap the evening before and the morning of my surgery.  The lady on the phone indicated that there should have been a paper in my packet, but I could not find one.  I am happy that she mentioned it.

I also had a physical with my family doctor to clear me for the surgery.  I had a chance to ask about the suspect EKG.  I am glad I did not totally freak out about it, as my doctor indicated that it was once again, something that was not unexpected in someone of my age, weight and physical fitness (not).  So I know I am going into this with risks, but I run those same risks just getting up in the morning.

The rest of the day was spent waiting for Hershey Motors to call.  I am going to be embroidering jackets for them.  They are providing the jackets and the young man who had them was going to being them to the store, but I was not able to get them until today.  I still do not have the artwork for digitizing.  It is the last, but most important part of the puzzle.  I will hopefully have it later today.  They want them done before I head for my surgery.

In the mail, yesterday, I got two sets of remote controlled outlets for lights.  I installed three of them in my bedroom and two in the living room, with one to spare.  It will give me control over the lights in both rooms without having to get up.  Just something to make recovery from the surgery.  Still have some cleaning to do.  But I could manage, should the surgery happen tomorrow.

Still no idea if I am cooking or visiting for Thanksgiving.  Yikes!!!

As the Dust Settles....

After a really sucky week last week, I am happy to say that the dust has settled for me and I am once again on a forward march.

I have just returned from my final Quilting Retreat of the year.  This is a group of ladies that I have retreated with off and on for 6 years.  It may have been the final time I am going to this particular retreat as the prices that are being posted are just a bit above my comfort zone.  Next year it would cost just about twice what it costs me to put together a retreat on the Outer Banks for a full week.  I would much rather do that.

It was a very nice time, however, with some exceptionally talented ladies who are more than willing to share their extensive knowledge of quilting.  This time I actually shared a non-quilting craft with them all.  Marji (my roommate this time) and I had made up a large bunch of button flowers and we put them together in some small vases and salt shakers so we could give every lady at the retreat a bouquet of button flowers.  I was able to give those ladies who were interested in learning the instructions on how to make their own.  I would imagine that there will be an explosion of button flowers in many cities around the area.

I was able to really make progress on a quilt called "You've Got Mail" that was in a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I had started it when I was in the Outer Banks in October.  I finished the first step this weekend and began to assemble the basic blocks.  It is going to be a very fresh looking quilt.  It has even inspired me to unload the car and get my sewing center set up again so I can continue working on this quilt.  I would love to have it finished before my surgery.

I am still missing Molly very much.  But I have to admit that I enjoyed not having to close all of the doors as I unloaded the van and could immediately set about getting my sewing machine set up instead of reclining to give her some lap time.  But the house is very quiet and I still long to have her warm, furry body curled up in my lap, but I am doing fine.  It is really going to make my surgery next month much easier.  If it is decided that I should go to rehab, I no longer have to worry about what to do with the dog!  So there are positives!

Over the weekend I got notification from my son that his wife (my daughter-in-law) has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (B-cell type).  They are still in the early stages of discovery, so lots of things being put together.  The retreat I was at has primary fund-raising effort for cancer research and I found many comforting words from retreaters who had also had the same cancer and recovered nicely.  So I am hopeful and praying for the same result for my DIL.

I had to leave today and head to the gun range.  Today was training for the "Range Masters" which allows me to enter the range when no one is there and shoot on my own.  So I wandered around with many others, learned about what being a Range Master is all about and am ready now to get some good practice in with my newest weapons.

So, as you can see, I am back into a good routine.  I am sure I will have some down times, but I think I will be OK.... until the next time Life Happens!  No, getting ready for surgery!

Life Piles On....

To say there have been some significant hiccups in my life over the last several days would be considered an understatement.  I have never felt so devastated and helpless and alone as I have since last Wednesday.  I really have had a fairly level playing field in my life since my husband passed away.  There were emotional ups and downs, but overall things have been fairly good.  That ended on Wednesday.

I had scheduled the van for it's first inspection since I bought it.  I figured that it would not og without some additional work.  My guess had been brakes, which was the only thing that I had not looked at when I bought it.  I was right, but in addition to brakes on all four wheels, they suggested that I also buy new rotors.  Not knowing how the previous owners had used the van, I decided that for a bit less than $400.00, it was a good investment to make sure I could stop when I press the pedal.  One Hiccup.

Thursday morning, I was on the phone with my brother catching up on the goings on in his life and bringing him up-to-date on my life.  During that call he heard his cell phone ringing in the basement.  As we continued our conversation he walked to the basement to check his cell.  He picked it up and commented that it had been a call from his wife's boss at work.  Carol works in the school system and this year is an aide for a special needs student.  Unlike the lovely boy she had last year, this year her student tends to run away, kick, it and is much more difficult to deal with.  He listened to the voice mail, he found out that he was being summoned to the school to pick up his wife and take her to the hospital.  So our conversation ended and he departed to see what was going on.  Two Hiccup!

While waiting to find out what had happened and how she was, I received an email from my son Rob, who lives in Alaska.  He was taking her to the hospital that day for a procedure to take a biopsy of a lymph node that was significantly enlarged.  The exact description is three very long and difficult to spell, much less pronounce.  The internet describes the enlargement of this node as an indicator of lung cancer.  Rob & Kate were in good spirits but concerned.  Three Hiccup!

I had a dinner with some of the ladies that I had bonded with through GriefShare.  I was gone only a couple of hours, but when I got back I found that Molly had peed all over the back of the couch.  She had been drinking water like crazy as well as eating me out of house and home.  I scrubbed the couch and washed the rubber sheet and regular sheet that I had on it to protect the cushions, I never imagined that she would pee on the top of the couch.  I knew then that we were about to make another trip to the vet.

I made the appointment for the next day and Dr, Frame discussed Molly's un-diagnosed Cushings Disease.  We decided to run some bloodwork to rule out any other possible issues before moving on.  She would call me on Saturday morning.  Hiccup #4.

I spoke to Rob and the biopsy had been successful in getting what they needed.  They had been able to get to the node with going through any other vital organs.  They had done a couple of needle biopsies and checked them somewhat before taking, what Rob described as a core.  Evidently the needles showed something that required more detailed analysis.  Not the best news, but they are still waiting to hear the results.  Hiccup #5.

Saturday morning, just before noon, Dr. Frame called.  The bloodwork showed nothing that did not point to Cushings Disease.  We discussed the possibility of medication.  The prescription for the disease would cost $85 from the vet.  I could find it online for about half that.  BUT, we would have to have blood tests once a month for the first several months and then every so often during the year and anytime a dosage change was made.  The hospital stay for the test and cost of all of the other tests would be close to $350.00 each time.  Needless to say, I could not afford to do that.  Just not in the budget of a retired person.  So, the decision was made that it would be prudent to put Molly to sleep.  The blood test that had been run already showing that some of her systems were becoming compromised.  For all of the water she was drinking, the test had showed her to be dehydrated.  So it was time.  Hiccup #6.

Sooooooooo, after a weekend of saying Goodbye, I took her back to the vet this morning.  She received the injection and with less than a minute, she relaxed and passed away quietly with no more suffering.  Hiccup #7.

So, I am once again in mourning.  This time it is my little companion who gave me a reason to get up everyday and kept me focused on life after Rudy died.  I am not sure I would be doing so well if it were not for her.  I am going to be missing her so much!  At the same time, when I have my knee replacement in December, should I need to go to rehab, I will not have to find someone to take care of her while I am gone.  Still, it will be a very quiet and lonely house.

In Loving Memory!!!!!

A Few Days Off...

I have not posted in a couple of days.  Sometimes there is just nothing worth blogging about.

I did vote yesterday.  I was among the few in our area and that does not bode well for our future elections.  Honestly, though, even though there have been tons of those annoying little lawn signs all over the place, when I got up yesterday there was nothing that had happened in the past few weeks that so much as reminded me that it was election day.  I was reminded by a neighbor who had called me to see if I could take him to his barber this morning (Thanks Lion Dave) when he reminded me it was election day in our conversation.

We have many basic rights, but one of the most sacred, to me, is our ability to select those people who represent us in various public offices.  It does not always go our way, the majority rules, but it is by far the best process we have in place.  I think if the general public would get their heads out of their butts and realize the awesome power that we do have, we could change the direction that this country seems to be heading.  We can remove the idiots who are throwing the American people under the bus to further their own selfish gains if we just look at the people who are running and get more quality people into the race and remove the jerks who hold our lives hostage for their own agendas.

I had a chance to talk to my youngest son this week.  I have two very independent sons who live in distant parts of the country.  Brian is in Minneapolis and Rob and his wife, Kate, live in Fairbanks.  I had noticed that Brian was slated for a significant snowfall this week and thought I would give him a call.  We chatted for close to an hour.  He was unaware of the forecast, so I think I may have helped him get ready.  We chatted about cooking (he is an excellent chef) and guns (he is the one that inspired me to take up shooting.) and other things in our lives.  I enjoyed talking to him and really wish they would call more often, but they are normal men, they do not think to call their mother very often.  But, they do not.  I raised them to be independent... and they are!

I had a delightful dinner on Monday with my friend, Annette.  She had me over for dinner.  I brought dessert, making my fluffy key lime pie.  We talked and talked and talked.  She is a widow, too, and we talked about things that concern us both.  We even talked about the need to be better prepared for the demise of our peaceful world.  I thought I might have been the only one to think about it, but I am not.  I will be sharing with her the info about the gun course I took.  I will be seeing her Thursday at our GriefShare dinner at Anna & Roccos.  And we are going to a comedy club Saturday night.  I figure I had better be doing some things while I can still walk!

So, nothing other than just living life, but living is the key!

I hurt and it is quite taxing...

My right knee is really hurting.  Everyday it is deteriorating a bit more.  I am no longer able to sleep through the night.  even taking ibuprofen at night, within a couple of hours, I am awakened.  Most nights I can squirm around a little and fall back to sleep.  Last night, I slept about 2 hours before the aching woke me up but I could not fall back to sleep.

It is not helping me in my moods.  One is never in a good frame of mind when hurting.  So I found Saturday to be a really down day.  I spent the day playing Holiday movies on Hallmark and crying as the girl got the guy or Santa saved the day.  Just one of those days and in one of those moods.

Today was a little better.  I had to go to Walmart to get dog food for Molly.  So I got  that and some laundry stuff so I might have enough to do laundry once I get home from the hospital.  I made oven friend chicken for dinner and made a bunch of button flowers.  But I still had a down day.  It was a short trip to Walmart and once I was done, I wanted to cry.  I took the Elantra and getting back down into the car after a short trip to Walmart was painful.  It took me a bit to get the knee bent to allow me into the car.  I may have to travel in the van until the surgery.

Tomorrow I am making a couple of desserts.  Annette has invited me to lunch.  I am going to make an Eggnog Custard.  It seems easy and if it is good, I will make it for the Holidays.  If it does not turn out, I will make my fluffy key lime pie to take to the dinner.

Off to clean up the kitchen and then more button flowers.....

Fresh Baked Bread

One of my favorite memories growing up was when my mother would set about making her own, fresh bread.  She did not do it often, but much more than I do.  This makes it particularly interesting as my youngest son, Brian, makes all of his own bread as well as pasta and sauces.  So I guess things do skip a generation.

I finally, after a year or more, have uncovered my kitchen.  I have been sorting through twenty years of stuff from the house that my late husband and I had for 20 years.  I still have boxes of things to go through, but I have determined that the stuff in the house has to be dealt with first, as the clutter was getting me down.  I am not the neatest person, but what I was dealing with was overwhelming.

This morning I found a recipe for homemade bread.  It sounded really good and brought back such memories, I decided to try the recipe in my newly cleaned up kitchen.  I carefully followed the recipe as yeast breads and rising can be an issue.  But the dough doubled nicely.  It rose in the pans and cooked beautifully.  I think I may have had a tad too much flour, so next time the last cup will go in more slowly.

But the house is filled with the wonderful smell of fresh baked bread.  I have already had four slices.  It was still warm and I used real butter, so the first bites took me bake to my childhood with my mother in her apron and smiling as we enjoyed hot bread, fresh out of the oven.

Funny how nice it is to cook in a clean kitchen.  I am looking forward to living in a clean living room shortly.  I made big strides this week in that direction.  I should be ready for my walker after surgery.

Here are a couple of pictures of my yummy loaves.

Dreary and Dull

Yesterday was a dull and dreary day.  It was cloudy outside.  I talked to a friend of mine in Maryland and she told me the the sun had come out there.  Her house is only about 25 miles from here.  But the sun never came up this far.

It was one of those days when I just did not want to do anything.  So, I did not!  It is nice to be able to have that option.  I am finding that I am not sleeping as well as I would like to.  I think it is due to the upcoming surgery, but I find that I wake up during the night more than I used to.  Could also be the knee pain.... hmmmm!

I have been in the process of watching the entire TV series of The West Wing.  In 2011 I got my first Roku Box (I now have three!) and I have been enjoying watching movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime.  The West Wing series is on Netflix.  I also have it on DVD.  But I like watching it on Netflix as once you have finished an episode, the next one is automatically queued up.  Yesterday I watched the last episodes in the final year.  I really enjoyed the program when it was being produced and it  has never failed to entertain.

I made a delicious dinner.  I used my Crockpot to make the 3 envelope roast, then I used my new pressure cooker to make a spicy eggplant dish that turned out yummy.  I also made come cornbread using a mix I had gotten at the restaurant store that was not so good.  I still prefer good, old Jiffy Mix.

I also worked on some button flowers.  I am planning to take some to the upcoming quilting retreat, plus I just want to have them around for quick gifts.

Molly and I headed to bed at our normal time, but falling asleep eluded me.  So, I opened up my Roku box and looked through some of the movies and TV shows for something new.  I came across a TV series that I had never heard of called "Hart of Dixie" and it looked like a cute, fun little show.  So I watched the pilot and the first couple of shows and it is delightful.  I had no idea where it could be found or if it is even still being produced.  But I was determined to find out.

This morning, I slept in (Molly and I were up several times in the night for potty breaks and a windy, thunderstorm that dumped close to a quarter of an inch of rain) so my first show this morning was on Hallmark, The Home & Family show.  Oddly enough, the first segment featured Tim Matheson talking about his series "Hart of Dixie".  So, one question answered.  It is still being produced.  Then I went to my cable menu and found it is being aired on a local CW station that I had omitted from my favorite channel listing, so I have added it and will try to add it into my regular TV watching schedule.  So, my insomnia last night was actually very productive.

Hopefully, I will be more productive today.  I would really love to do some sewing tomorrow.