an oldie....

I might be hit or miss in blogging the next few days...my nephew, who is the same age as me passed away yesterday unexpectedly.    He is the one who spent at least two or three summers with us.  So we were all extra close to him.

A bit of a mix-up

We waited around all day and went down to our hospital to get the scan this evening and they had scheduled it for the main hospital in Terre Haute.  I had specifically ask for the one here, and she had said okay.  But when they gave me the time of the appt....I did not double check that they had scheduled for here.  It is now rescheduled for here for Thursday.  They kept apologizing down here, but as I told them, they had nothing to do with it.  I was so upset for a while...just wanted it over...wanted the stress of wait over with...wanted to have the rest of the week where we didn't have an appt to go to....  But it is just a bump on the highway of life...

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I took Roger to have blood drawn today...I forget what all she is having checked but a lot.  Then took him to McDonald's...came home and  gathered up towels.  They look like a motley crew, don't they?  I have a hard time finding towels that I really like.  I bought two of the one in the middle but I don't like them, but Roger is fine with it, so always put one of them out for him.

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Tomorrow is a new day.  I haven't made plans for it...but there are things I should do.  But I would love to go fishing for a while.  I have threw my line in a couple times but that is it.

That is it for now...I hope you have a good week ahead.

One good day...

Tom brought our lawn mower back this afternoon...he had put Sea-foam in the engine/gas...and had replaced the blade for us.  It started with one pull.

I quick ran and got some fresh gas, though it was full...then changed to old jeans and shoes and started mowing.  Roger came out and would mow a little, then I would take it from him and I would mow a little...and I pulled weeds.  He gets so dizzy if he bends over I hate for him to even attempt to pick up sticks but he just will do things.  He does not like to sit while I work like that. So it felt wonderful to be able to do something.

And our neighbor just would not take any money for the work...barely took enough to pay for the blade.   But how do you pay for time anyway...it is worth a fortune just cause we know he is completely trustworthy.  If he says he will do something, he will do it.  And honest as the day is long.

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My BFF, my sister (she is married to my brother) had told me about these clothespins and I had almost ordered some, and was planning on it while in St. Louis, but was waiting to time it so we would be home about the time they came.  Well, she up and ordered some for me, and they came yesterday!  I love them...they have a good strong grip.  They are pretty, too!

I had planned on getting a load out early today, but it was so overcast the first half of the day, and I swore I felt a drip of rain a few times.  Finally the day started brightening up and I quick threw in this old blanket, and a throw for the couch, and what I call my 'neck towels.'  They are hand towels, but I keep them in my chair and roll them up to fit behind my neck.

The wind was blowing so hard they stood straight out a big percentage of the time and the clothespins kept everything in place.  The towels had a bit of a damp feeling in the ends but both the big blanket and the couch throw were dry within two hours.  I just laid the towels on my drying rack...

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This month marked the 15th year since my brother had a brain tumor and had it removed.  He was given 6 months to a year to live...maybe a year and a half if lucky..but I think they stressed the 6 months to a year.  But God had other plans.  He is 10 years older than me, still raises a big garden, still climbs up and trims the trees back when they need it, still traps every winter....stays busy all the time.

So it has been a good week...

A bit of this and that...and GOOD.

More salsa from another year...I sure would enjoy some of it right now!

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You know sometimes life is a bit challenging.  Sometimes I am a big wuss...no courage or backbone at all.  To say it has been a bit challenging for us is putting it lightly.

Roger was always able to make about anything or fix anything.  And though I was not Mrs. Fix-it, I could work and accomplish things.

Last year because of my accident, we paid to have the yard mowed.  In the previous years Roger had used the riding mower and I did certain parts of the yard with push mower.

It is not a big yard, so thought it would be good for me to mow it this year.  Or at least try to mow it.  I thought it would help get me back to walking normal because I would be concentrating on mowing rather than worrying about hurting my foot.  Well, we went out there the other day and the mower would not start.  It had always been easy to start.

Our neighbor saw us and came over and tried to pull start it and couldn't.  Today I looked at Amazon trying to decide on a new mower.  Even though I thought it was something simple with the old, it is just beyond Roger.  That is why I was thinking about a new one.  I set and looked at Amazon while we ate breakfast this morn, came home with the intentions of ordering a certain one.

But it has a bag, and it is self propelled....I have not used a self propelled in years and years and years, but I didn't enjoy it when younger and was afraid I wouldn't now.  And it had the bag, and we had one one time with a bag and didn't like.  So, got to looking more.  I spent a good two hours looking, reading reviews, etc and still could not make up my mind.  Just so indecisive I drive my crazy.  But it actually might have been a good thing this time.

This evening, I had given Roger his meds and we had set down for the night.   I thought I heard someone at the back door...went in there and it was our neighbor...he came to get the mower and is going to see if he can fix it.  And he is good at stuff like that so it will probably be fixed fairly soon.

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Roger has his allergy shots tomorrow...Friday is a doctor's visit.  He has to go to get prescriptions renewed.  But also has nodules on his thyroid and we have to see our family doctor to see about getting them checked.  He had a CT scan a while back to check that the spot on his lung had not changed and they seen those nodules.

Plus they seen 'something' on his kidney...the previous year's scan did not go far down enough to see it.  So we don't know how long it has been there.  It may just be a cyst.  And the girl said that 99% of the time the nodules on the thyroid are nothing to worry about.

Monday I take him to have a CT scan without and with dye to check the kidney thing.

Just a little note

We have been gone since last Thursday....I will try to catch up with your posts in the next day or two, plus I plan to try to resume posting.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and that this week is a good one for you all.  Even though I love to visit my daughter in St. Louis, I am always relieved when I get there and back and haven't forgotten something major.  LOL

I plan to make myself a list on this computer that I can print off whenever we go anywhere.  I will print a couple copies and that way be more sure of taking what he/we need and also check it off when I get it packed to come back home.

Remembering fun times...

A lot of my blog friends are thinking about the coming growing season.  It makes me itch to get out and dig in the soil.  Feel the ground in my hand...get my fingernails so dirty they don't look like they will ever come clean again.  Anyway, the talk of the coming growing season spurred me to look back at photos of the past.

I don't recall what kind of bell peppers these were...

I think the above was taken the same day....

This is from a couple years later.   I sure have missed having my own bell peppers to freeze the past couple or three years.  They are so handy to have to add to chili, or spaghetti sauce or whatever else you use them in.  Instead of making stuffed bell peppers, I slice up a couple bell peppers in the bottom of a casserole dish,  add my browned ground beef which I have also added onions too, cover with tomato juice and bake in 325º oven for about an hour and a half.  (I don't like to eat big chunks of cooked bell pepper, so I came up with doing this.)  Roger still gets the bell pepper, and I get the flavor...I used to add a bit of rice and cheese, but we like it simple the best. 

And this is one of those dishes that I love better the second time around.  If I have enough to have it the second time around.  Both girls loved it, and I served it to one of Roger's friends one time and he loved it.  I want it with mashed potatoes of course.

Though I love to add a few red bell peppers to things...I add red ones for the color.  But I want to add lots of green ones for the flavor.

One of my loves is salsa...

but above all else, I love home canned tomato juice.   It is like sunshine from a jar!  In the winter if I am sick with a cold, etc. there is nothing like it.  The stuff you buy in the store does not compare.

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The last time we had tomatoes was not good.  I had 16-20 plants and only ate one whole tomato...the flavor was not good and all the tomatoes were all messed up...you can see samples HERE.   It states that they did not all look like that.  The thing was, I would pick a pretty one and cut into it and it would have a mess inside...

The next year I bought a couple of the tomato plants they have in huge containers, thinking maybe I could at least have some to snack on, but they did not grow good either.  I messed around and did not try anything in 2016....and that August is when Roger had his stroke.  So I have not tried any since.  But I would love to try some this year...just to have a few to eat fresh from the garden.

Do you grow your own tomatoes and if so, how do you grow them, specially if not directly in the ground?

NOT what I am doing

Since I am not working on much right at the present time, I thought I would show a couple things my daughter is working on...

She has all the blocks above made and has them set aside while she experiments with a design she made.

This doesn't show as good as in person in ways.  She is going to do it in a different colorway.  Right now she is trying to make up her mind to finish this one before she starts the new colorway. 

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This is what I see lots of the time when I look down at my lap at night.  He thinks he owns me and that all I should be at his command.  He does bring a lot of joy.

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I have no plans for the next few days.  I should sit and make a list of what needs to be done.  I never was one for making lists, except in my head.  That doesn't work too well any more, so I should start writing a physical list that I can check off.

I have so much I need to take care of...besides all I want to do.   I am slower than Christmas and cannot get used to that.   Have you slowed down as you have gotten older?  My mom did not slow down at my age.  She could get down in the floor to do things and get back up with ease.   It is a real struggle for me to get up, and I cannot get on my knees on a hard surface for love nor money.  So always have a pad to go under them.

I hope your weekend is a good one. 

Look!

This is Sarah, along with Otto aka Otti when he was a young boy...in April of 2008.

And here he is as an old man...still loving...never grumpy...I wish I were like him.

And this is little Rosie...she thinks she is the boss and Otti just lets her.

These were not what I had planned to talk about, but for the life of me I can't remember what I had wanted to write about last night, and the night just slipped away and I thought I would do it today.  Well, it is almost tomorrow and I just can't recall.  So thought I would share these.

I may slow to visit tomorrow, but I will eventually get to it...hope you have a good rest of the week.

Smile!

Lorelei, along with a friend helped Sarah babysit a little one for a friend of theirs...can you see the joy on Lorelei's face?  (Don't you like my artwork in hiding the face?)

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Roger is pretty much back to normal...or what passes for normal for us any more.     It is a real relief to have him want something to eat.

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Bubbie sleeps like this quite often...would you believe he is almost 12 years old.  and was the runt of the litter?  He is just the lovingest boy.  A happy cat.

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Is anyone else watching/or have you watched this season of Call The Midwife?   It is wonderful as always. 

How about Mrs. Wilson?  Have you seen either season of it?  I watched the 2018 season I think, but didn't recall it being based on real people.  I highly recommend it. 

My hyacinths are in full bloom...the trillium is about 6 inches tall but no blooms yet.  But I don't think it will be long.  And the blue bells have buds but no blooms....

Hope you all have a good week ahead...

Enchiladas, Roger.....

I made these yesterday afternoon...it is the recipe for enchiladas off the back of the enchilada sauces can...Old El Paso is the brand I use.  I don't fix them very often and I don't know why.  They are easy to do, and they heat up nicely in the microwave.  Some foods I don't like to re-heat in the microwave, but I like these just as good from the microwave as when they come out of the oven.  I always add more cheese than the recipe calls for.  And to really enjoy them, I need chopped tomatoes.
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Roger has had 3 or 4 days of just not being himself.  He was good when the kids were here last Saturday, but starting Sunday he just was not himself.  He would eat breakfast, and then hardly another bite the rest of the day on Sun and Monday...and just wanted to sleep.  It is hard for him to explain how he feels since his stroke.  Tuesday evening he had a couple strips of bacon and a slice of toast.  Yesterday evening, he had half of one of the above enchiladas...and he enjoyed it.  Up until that, it was almost as if he had to make himself eat every bite.  And he stayed up till his normal bedtime...about 10:30-10:45.


Needless to say, I am glad to see him getting back to what is normal for him.  That stroke really did a number on him.  And when he has those off days, it is hard for me to do anything.
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I have been sewing a little bit in minutes here and there.  I have sewed 6 rows of my string blocks together.  I have at least 4 more rows to sew together.  10 blocks are in each row.  I thought I would have to sew more string blocks to have enough but if I counted correctly, I will have a few lefter over.  LOL

That is all for now...think I am going to sew a few more blocks together, and maybe do a load or two of laundry.  I hope you are having a good week.