Routine Procedure turned out to be not so routine......

It all started when I got a letter from my insurance company telling me it was time to get my very first colonoscopy. They also reminded me I didn't get my mammogram last year. Since Dad died from complications of GI disturbances (they removed his colon about 6 weeks before he died) I knew it would be important for me to get this screening.

I did the prep, which was not easy, if you ever have to take the multiple bottles of liquids they give you to clean out your colon, you'll know what I mean.....I am a huge drinker to begin with, not alcohol, but of all liquids, I don't discriminate, I love them all. So, two days before I started the prep, I worried I would dehydrate, so I drank glass after glass of water, juice, broth, and warm sugar free jello water. All to no avail. The first bottle of prep I took knocked me into the bed for 2 hours, my energy was completely knocked out of me. I laid down for 2 hours until Steve came home from work. Then I took the next bottle around 7pm. When it started to work, I felt dizzy and nauseous. The next morning I woke early to take the last prep, it was supposed to be at 6, but because we live so far from the hospital where the exam was to take place, I thought I better take it early, giving it a chance to be 'done' working by the time we had to hop in the car to drive the 35 minute drive to Jennie. When I took it, I laid back down on the bed, feeling dizzy and oh so weak. I got up to shower before we left, and ended up not only nauseous, but vomitting quite a bit. This left my knees weak and me dizzier and shakier.

When we arrived at the hospital the nurses were concerned that I was late, so I explained the reason. When the nurse was doing her intake questionnaire and initial physical assessment, she spend an inordinate amount of time taking my pulse peripherally (on my wrist) and also listening to my heart with her stethoscope. I thought that was very strange. She looked at me and told me she thought I should be taken to the exam room (where they do the procedures)stat to have the monitor hooked up just as a 'precaution'. Being a nurse, I began to wonder what was going on. Then the nurse anesthesist came to check the monitor. He told them I might be dehydrated, so give me a bolus of 500CC of fluid. They ran the fluid, but my heart continued to beat at 148-168-186 beats a minute. Next thing I knew, I was admitted to ICU, on a telemetry monitor, and seeing a cardiologist. LORD!!! They gave me a shot of IV Digoxin, my heart converted in about 10 minutes. I was kept overnight for observation, dismissed yesterday to home. Without any other issues. However, I will need an ECHO of my heart in the next week or two, probably before Steve and I go on our cruise to Hawaii.

Poor Steve was a basket case during the whole thing wondering if I was going to be OK. I was certain the prep made me deplete my potassium reserves, which caused the irregular heart rate, but it was a little concerning. However, I am OK today and good to go.

Steve and Isaac took off to the wooodcarving store to spend their holiday gift certificates. I have been left home with orders to not do anything, no cooking, cleaning, dusting, sweeping or vaccuuming. They never said I couldn't take the tree down, so I think I will.

I love photos of Isaac and Miss O:

One More Day!!!

The little ones will be here tomorrow, I can hardly wait!

Here they are hugging in front of the tree. Karen and Brian took them to the hotel where Karen works to see Santa:



Noah has that 'look' on his face, "OK, MOM, I will stop and smile for the camera.....there! That's done!"



Here is one of Miss O, she is so funny! She hasn't gotten tired of the camera so much. But, Noah has had one more year of it than she has. Wait until they get here, Grandma has loads of camera batteries and SD cards ready to go!



I love the little trees in their bedrooms. Noah has a blue one, Olivia a purple one and Karen has a pink one. I think that is so neat, the kids love them!

Her cup Runs Over!

Doing a spoof on our boss for the holidays. Our department is 13 people. Each year we do something cool for our boss, she is a neat lady! This year we are individually buying her a bottle of holiday 'Spirits.' It has been great fun to see how the bottle are growing as the day moves on:



Here is my grandbaby in her dress, she went to the Chrirstmas program with her brother. She sat perfectly still and was good as gold. Her mom told her the teacher would be watching her to be sure she would be ready to come next year to school. Karen put a post on her blog about the difficulties of toilet training her, my sis-in-law told her about the problems she had with her little girl. The secret to Katie (411) was she wanted to wear her brother's undies. She so wanted to be like him! When Brandy let her wear his undies, her problems ceased, and she was trained. Lo and behold, after her nap 2 days ago Olivia asked if she could wear Noah's undies. Karen put them on her and her 'accidents' stopped. She is now wearing Bob the Builder pull ups, but she is dry and using the potty. Here is our little princess:



My Noah is not allowing many photos this year, so no pics of him to share. He did great at his program doing all the hand gestures to go with the song, but he didn't sing. He was there with both girlfriends, Eliana and Dakotah. Quite the li'l schmoozer! Merry Christmas all of you!

This, That and the Other

This morning Steve and I tore out of bed to go eat breakfast for the Volunteer Fire Dept. We had a choice of: omellettes, french toast, sausage, toast, coffee, juice and milk were our choices. My brother in law cooked, he did a good job! We ordered like in a cafe, and they firemen brought it out to our tables.

We went back home where I started to clean and organize the kitchen for my annual Christmas baking. I had some leftover pretzel sticks from the open house I helped do last weekend. Isaac was hanging out talking to me, so I put him to work. His first challenge was to bet me $2 he could hold 4 pretzel rods together without touching them so they could drip over a bowl. I of course fell for that, he held all 4 without any trouble. His hands are HUGE:




I continued to up the challenge to see if I could earn my money back, so he did 5:



Then 6, he got hand cramps and I won, but it was after I lost double or nothing, so I still owe him, should quit when I am ahead, which is something I am sure you hear at most Gambler's Anonymous meetings:



Karen sent pictures of Little Miss Olivia in the dress I got her, I have been dying to see her in it, but she is not inclined to jump into a dress on a whim, so there was a little bribing involved:



Here are the shoes, they are so darn cute, soft brown ballet slipper type shoes, she loves them, they are nice and soft. I couldn't resist, I got 3 pairs of shoes for her, along with 3 dresses. I had to force myself to leave the store and not buy anymore. Noah is not a clothes person, I had a terrible time finding him anything, so he was left out on clothes, but scored in the Transformer dept. Secretly I am sure he was relieved!:



Here is a black and white image for Grandma Thuy, I am not crazy about them, but she likes them:



I also made a HUGE pan of homemade vegetable soup for dinner, it is sooooooo good when the weather is all foggy, with ice pebbles and sleet coming down. THe house is all warm from the boiling stew. The boys are just hanging out, Steve sleeping in his chair, Isaac has been sick with a cold. He is finally starting to feel a little better. Have a good week!

The natives are restless today!

We arrived safe and sound to see the grandbabies around 11pm on Thanksgiving day. Noah and Miss "O" were awake to greet us. We visited until midnight, then all turned in for the night. There was an immediate disruption, both babies wanted to sleep with Grandma, since it is polite for girls to be first, Miss O slept with me. The spare room is chilly, I purchased a mattress warmer to stick on the bed, due to the late hour, we waited until last night to put it on the bed. Wow, what a nice, cozy sleep I had last night.

Noah slept with me, he is customarily a very light sleeper, waking 4-5 times a night to wiggle, squirm, sit up, look around, maybe wander, he kicks, gets sideways in the bed, and makes it difficult to sleep. Last night he must have been extremely tired, he didn't move much at all. When I got up at 5:30 to go visit the powder room, I came back to find him awake and sitting up in bed. I pretended to not notice, or we would have been up for the day. He got his little face right up to mine, and looked really hard to see my eyes, but I kept them shut, he finally laid back down and fell asleep, only to wake at 9am. He was totally tired, but he will never give in!

We are sure enjoying our time with them, they so love their uncle Isaac, he is playing with them, there is plenty of giggling and laughter to go around.

The kids like to build 'houses' by piling pillows next to furniture to make walls, here they have the table Grandpa Carnes built them piled with pillows and blankets:


I tried to get pictures of them under the stack of things, the only one that would cooperate was Miss O:




Here is another angle, Mr. Noah Benoah's 'backside', lucky to get that:

Only one more day

Then I get to go see Miss 'O' and Noah BeNoah. They called yesterday and told me how excited they are that I am coming, but you should have heard them when I told them UNCLE ISAAC was coming, too.

How easily they throw me aside for him, how cool is that?

I love the holidays

I anticipate the time spent with family. Steve's brother Scott has Thanksgiving at his house every year now that he is married. His house is huge, with a very nice finished basement. His wife has her family in to stay, they are such a lovely group of people. I really like her sisters and her Mom, we all mesh so well together, it is really neat to see Scott embraced by her family as if he has always been a part of her life. Even her sons treat him as though he is family. Their father must have been something.

I make the pies each year to take to the celebration, Deb is not comfortable making them, she can't make a decent crust (her words, not mine). I don't mind making the pies, it is soothing work for me, something I have done since I was a teen in my mother's restaurant. I'll make a couple pumpkin, a pecan for Isaac, a chocolate cream for Steve, and an apple raspberry. I made this pie only once, but it was a huge hit. I'd love to make another pie, but not sure what to make, any suggestions?

Isaac and I are taking off right after dinner on Thursday and heading out to see the grandbabies. I can hardly wait, it will be so fun. I'm taking my girl a pumpkin pie and cranberry muffins. They are a family favorite, a tradition for 30 years, I found the recipe in a magazine years ago in a Dr. office. We have had them every year since for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Scary late Night Calls

I just got a call from karen, Miss O is headed to the Emergency Room, she isn't breathing well. She had pneumonia last year, with outpatient antibiotics given to get her healed up. Tonight she had trouble sleeping because of her cold. Bryan heard her struggling to breathe, Karen called me shortly after to let me know she is not breathing well, they are on the way into the Er. Interesting thing is, their only hospital ER is not on their network of ER's insurance will cover.

What is wrong with employers that they do not make sure their employee's are covered with providers right there in their own town? The next nearest town with a hospital that will take care of my grandchildren is 100+ miles away for them.

Menard's sucks at taking care of their employees. I no longer shop there!

Another Book

I get the opportunity to read a book each week on Monday and Wednesday while waiting in an office. My life is too busy to take the time to sit and read, most books are consumed on my commute to work each day, I listen to them on CD while driving. It's a great way to catch up on the latest authors. However, we have a 'library' of books at work, we all bring them to share. It gives me a chance to try authors I would never give a second glance. THe book I am reading right now is by a very new author,"The Measure of a Lady" by Deeanne Gist.

It is the story of 3 children orphaned during a trip to San Francisco in 1849, their father wanted to settle there when he herd of the gold rush, but died of cholera enroute on the city. The children are left behind to make their way in the camps outside the city. There are no boarding houses or hotels for them to stay in, the oldest, a 20 year old beauty (aren't they all?) makes a deal with the 'hotel' owner in town to cook and clean for him in exchange for a place to live for her and her siblings. (Hotel owner is a loose term, he actually owned a saloon and gambling house, but for some reason only known to the author, he called it a hotel.)

Anyway, I am not finished with the book, but it has kept me interested, I like a book that does that.

Nothing new to tell

I have a bead open house at my friend Sandy's tomorrow. I have been sick all week, haven't been able to torch and make beads or jewelry, but I will go and take what I have on hand. I didn't sleep much last night. Couldn't quit coughing.

I sat up and read 1,000 White Women, you have got to read this book! The premise of the story regards a proposal in 1854 by the Cheyenne tribe. Cheyenne's culture dictated all offspring would be raised under the 'tribe' of the mother. To ensure peaceful relation between the white people and the indians, they requested 1,000 white women to take as brides. This was indeed a proposal made during the course of our history, but never came to fruition. Jim Fergus writes this book as though it did indeed happen. It is a real page turner. My interest in historical fiction is generally from the times of Lords and Ladies. I enjoyed this book immenseley, nobody is more surprised than I am.

I didn't want to go to bed, but I finally gave in, still coughed, but not as bad. Today I am dragging around with a nasty cough. I need to keep my PTO hours to go on my trip in January. It is unusual for me to get even 1 good cold per winter, this year I have already had 2 bad ones, I suppose it is because I am trying to hoard hours for my vacation.

I WON, and I don't remember entering

This weekend the weather was so pretty, I opened the whole house up to let it air out while I cleaned like a maniac. When opening the front door, I discovered a package that had been delivered via FEDEX. I couldn't remember ordering anything, I listened carefully for ticking sounds, it seemed to be safe, so I opened it. Much to my surprise, I found a pair of walking tennis shoes. I didn't know why, I signed up online to do the 60 mile breast cancer walk, so I thought maybe they sent me a good pair of walking shoes.

I called my daughter to tell her what I found, she told me we had signed up to win a free pair of shoes months ago. She won a t-shirt, I won shoes!




They are pretty comfy, I can feel the difference when we walk around the lake, I like them, they would have cost around $80/pair if I had purchased them. This is a great treat, I would never pay that much for a pair of tennis shoes for myself. I really never win anything, so was quite thrilled to get them......I am such a weirdo, so easy to thrill with a pair of tennies! Oh, they can be found at www.ryka.com

1977 Revisited

I love when things fall out of the sky and remind you of years gone past. We thought we were so creative in 1977, the clothes, hair, furniture, etc. I got these pictures from a friend at work, it is amazing what we thought was 'innovative and stylish.'

I wonder how many languages I can say GAG in?

This was a great year for Steve and I, our daughter was born in April 1977.

JP Penney catalog cover:


Latest in Dining room furniture:


Not to mention the latest colors to decorate the bathroom:


Clothing left a little to be desired:


I am pretty sure even MONK would not wear this:



When you want to look like a total pussy:


I think this would be a good way to get your ass kicked on the play ground. Excuse my language, but I am pretty sure that this would get it done:





We didn't know about going 'green' then, but it looks like we were recycling old tablecloths:



I am so amazed that we thought this was good. I remember a powder blue suit I bought to leave the church when Steve and I got married in 1975, it was polyester, and the day was as HOT as ever. That fabric could not breathe, I was so miserable in that thing, but I thought I looked good.

It's good to be an Ogre!

One of my co-worker's and his wife dress up as a matching something every year, I love him and Trish as Shrek and Fiona





Here they are with the kids, Puss and Boots:

I miss my grandkids on holidays

Even though I really am not that big of a Halloween fan, I miss the babies being here. We never did go all out for this one, but the kids did dress up and 'go out' around the neighborhood. We carved a pumpkin and put it out, but didn't decorate and go crazy like so many other people do.

I sent the kids an outfit this year, I thought they fit their personalities perfectly. Olivia put hers on so Karen could send grandma a picture, but Noah wouldn't, he doesn't like pictures all that much. Here she is, such sweetie.



This one she looks like she's tugging on her pants, I got her some of those legging type pants to go under her skirt. I thought they could wear their outfits to daybreak today. This is a 3 hour break that Karen and Bryan enroll the kids in, it is set up in a church, the kids go for 3 hours while Karen does her grocery shopping or whatever she wants or needs to do, it has made a huge difference in her home life. It is difficult at best to get all things done with the kids, they are pretty active. Steve and I had them for a week while the kids went to Disney, we were worn out completely at the end of that week, but had so much fun!



Karen will try to get Noah's outfit on him for a photo today. He is my shy one, Olivia runs to the camera to ham it up, esp. if Karen tells her it is coming to Grandma. I'm her favorite, you know how much I hate that????

Noah turned 4 yesterday, karen offered him a pizza party, or she would make him an orange dinner. He picked the orange dinner, I think she got pretty creative. You can buy bread from grocery store bakeries tinted in different colors. I have had them tint the bread purple for Olivia and orange for Noah before. Karen had her store do orange for Noah, she made grilled cheese, there are pictures on her blog.

Halloween Spooktacular is making me TIRED!

Just finished up with the last of the Creepy Witch's Fingers. It is late, around midnight. My little sister, Michelle came over to help me get my treats made for the party. I can't make just one thing, of course, I find all these neat things on the internet,then I overdo it and go crazy. HA! Here are the Witch's fingers, no self respecting witch would be caught dead without her nails properly painted. Recipes for Halloween can be found HERE.



My favorite thing is the Chocolate Mice I found on All Recipes.com, I thought it would be great, there is no baking to do, so it would go easy..........HAHA, they weren't easy, but worth the effort. If I could find an easy way to get the tails and the eyes to stick on, it would have been a cake walk, but the eyes kept falling out, and the tails did, too. We thought they were cute, and worth sharing:



I made eyeballs last year, they are neat, a little work, but so fun when they are all done. I didn't get as anal with the painting this year, it is so late and I am so tired, but they are OK.



The last thing I will make is Mummy Toes, they are cocktail wieners wrapped in breadsticks, with a little almond slice sticking on the end of the wienie to make it look like a toenail. I think they will be neat, but they have to be done right before the party. We'll see, if I do, I promise a photo.

Bead Rendezvous in Omaha

I did the bead Rendezvous in Omaha a little over a week ago. THe beads will go to the Hope Bracelet Project, and Beads of Courage, a program for children with cancer. Here is a very small portion of the beads that were made:



I have photos at home of some of the girls, I'll put them up when I get time. We had such a fun time, we decided to do it every 3 months.

My grandkids are growing

Noah will be 4 Oct. 30th. Olivia is 3 in January.....time sure flies! Here's one of Olivia:



They love to play in the leaves:



Noah likes to have his picture taken only occasionally, so this is rare:





One of them together, they are so close, I hope they stay that way. Each morning when they get out of bed, they ask where the other one is, it is really neat:


Hope you all are having a good day, tonight I am making a new pasta dish, Asiago Sun Dried Tomato Pasta from allrecipes.com. I'll let you know how it turned out.

Busy Weekend

Steve and I decided we were going to stay home this weeeknd and relax on Saturday. On friday night I zoomed home, did all of my cleaning, laundry, dusting, etc. so it would not loom over my head for the coming weekend. We stopped by the coffee shop to visit Charles and Cindy, had a little dinner, then came home.

Steve was browsing his Chips and Chats woodcarving magazine while I folded laundry, he found there was a carving show in Omaha on Saturday. The plans to relax flew out the window. Instead, Saturday we jumped out of bed in the rain, drove into Omaha, clear out West to see the show. One of the gals I graduated with used to do the show, her work is known all over the world. Tammy Wynette used to collect Desiree's pieces. Desi wasn't at the show, so we browsed around and left. Steve had a gift certificate to the Woodcarving shop, so we headed up there so he could spend it. I love the store, I look all over at the wood, the pen kits, the power tools, the books, etc. HE made his choices, we got Isaac a few things for his birthday next month, and left.

We stopped at Applebee's for lunch. They have this new Quesadilla Burger, we had that and it is great, a LOT greasy, but it was OK, I couldn't eat it all anyway.

Next we had to go get the groceries, my least favorite thing, and off to get a new toilet seat and a new blind for the living room. We fell into our chair about 5pm. I started to bake chicken for soup on Sunday. We had a steak on the grill for supper later.

I was planning on torching all day at Sandy's for the two projects mentioned in my last post, so I had to go pack all my tools and glass into the car. that took me an hour or so, the toolbox was full of glass that had to be put back onto the shelves, and then I had to pack glass for the different beads we were making for the children.

Sandy had a DVD for us to watch regarding the Beads of Courage project. It brought tears to my eyes, and all the other girls that were there. The kids get a purple glass heart bead when they complete their Chemo, so I spent the day working on them. I stink at using the little thin pieces of glass to draw designs on the beads, so I focused on making designs all day. It was a ton of fun. The food was great, Sandy's son works at Newman's Pasta Cafe in Omaha located in Lakeside Plaza. He made us a dish from there, it was bow tie pasta (my favorite) with a creamy pesto sauce, with mushrooms and chicken. It's called Italian Basil Pesto. Deelish!

The session lasted until 6pm, after we cleaned up our glass shards and benches, we visited for an hour or so. I got home at 8pm, (I left our house) at 7:30 in the morning. It was rainy and drizzly, so I took a hot whirlpool bath to warm up before I got comfortable. Watched "Brothers and Sisters" and turned in, the weekend was over before I knew it. Next weekend I will practice making meringue bones for the Halloween Spooktacular at Michelle's.

Beer Bread Recipe

WOW, two posts in one day, I rock!

I discovered this beer bread recipe when we were making all the breads to sell for our Halloween Spooktacular. I'd like to share it with you. I love it, it's great with and without the spices.

Easy Beer Bread

INGREDIENTS
• 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can beer
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch baking pan.
2. In a bowl, mix the self-rising flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, onion powder, and Italian seasoning. Pour in the beer, and mix just until moistened. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Top with the melted butter.
3. Bake 45 to 55 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

There are pictures of the bread on the site where I got the recipe.

Not much to tell

I have been pretty busy with many things, but seem to have nothing to show for my efforts. This Sunday I will go to the Flameworx design Studio in Omaha to make beads for the Hope Bracelet Project and Beads of Courage Approximately 8 of us from the Omaha area will make beads all day on Sunday, donating to the projects whatever we are able to create in one day. It will be a fun time. Sandy's son is a Chef in the Omaha area, he's worked at restaurants such as Mahogany Prime. He won first place in the Taste of Omaha competition last year with pork medallions in an apricot sauce. He's also a cutie, with big dimples in each cheek, he looks like he's about 12, but is married with 3 adorable little boys that look just like him.

All of my sisters are discussing a trip to San Diego in the early part of 2008 to visit an Aunt of ours. Wilma lives in Oceanside, a retired teacher. Since our dad passed, we have only been able to see her twice, she's such a neat person, but her health is failing.

During a trip to Phoenix 2 years ago, the group of beadmakers I was traveling with scheduled a trip into Del Mar to see Cirque Du Soleil. We drove over from Phoenix, then flew out of San Diego. Such a beautiful area. We stayed right on the beach in a little hotel.I really enjoyed watching the surfers, I mean the dolphins while visiting. There was a great little shopping area just up the road from where we stayed. Matt and I ran up each morning to get coffee and scones. There was a neat little cigar place there. Aimee collects cigar boxes. We ended up with quite a few unique ones to bring back home. Imagine dragging along 12 or maybe 15 cigar boxes in your luggage, along with the piles of beads and crystals we managed to amass during our trips to the gem shows. We kill us, it was too funny.

I haven't mentioned it until now, but Steve and I are taking a cruise in January, compliments of his mother. We haven't had much contact with her over the years, I first met her when Steve and I were married. She came around a little when Karen was small. Didn't see much of her the last 20 years. Steve was raised by his grandmother and grandfather since he was 3 years old.

We are surprised and interested that she invited us on this trip. (It's not as thought we are the Walton's or anything) We are very grateful she thought of us, we didn't feel comfortable accepting, it took a long time to make the decision to go. We were not going to go, but Karen talked us into it. Margie is aging, I think she is the same age as Steve's dad, which would be 73. You never know about the health of your parents, this may be his last time Steve will get to see her. I think the last time he saw her was a couple years ago when we took a trip to see Karen. I haven't seen her since his brother died from a heart attack, I don't even know what year that was, but it has been a long time ago.

Oh, and I added a link to my favorite blogs, I love the Pioneer Woman!

WHEW! That stunk!

I had a bad cold last week, while the kids were here. The grand babies are growing like little weeds. They played hard all week in Omaha at their other grandparents house with their cousins. They paid for it at Vala's Pumpkin Patch. They played so hard, jumping on the new pillows they have there. The pillows are installed in the ground surrounded by sand. The kids were all excited when they saw them, they couldn't wait to get their shoes off and jump all over them. They ran up the sides and back and forth, not to mention jumping up and down, and running all over. When we were done, Noah looked like he was a wet noodle. Poor guy.

I will try to post photos when I can, the new camera is not making it easy to do this.

Sick with a cold

I stayed home sick today from work, I have a cold that just popped up. I was fine one minute, then woke up Monday morning with a terrible scratchy throat. I felt worse yesterday, and last night I started to run a fever. Since the babies are due to visit, I thought I better make a huge effort to get better, fast. I took Nyquil, Zicam, sudafed and anything else I could find. I woke up around noon today. I finally started to feel human around 3pm. So, I decided to make a pie I have been dying to try:


Here is the recipe:
Crust:
Crust for 1 10 inch pie

Filling:
4 cups thinly sliced apples
1/2 C. sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 c. fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed and drained if frozen)
1/2 c. cubed or crumbled pure almond paste (from 7-8 oz. can)

Topping:
1/2 c. all flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350. Place crust in pie. Flute edges. In large bowl, mix apples, flour, sugar and cinnamon. Stir together, pour into prepared crust. Sprinkle with raspberries. Sprinkle almond paste over raspberries. In a medium bowl, mix 1/2 c. flour, 1/4.c sugar. Cut in butter or margarine until small pea sized pieces. Stir in sliced almonds. Sprinkle evely over almond paste. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, covering crust edges with foil after 30 minutes of baking. Bake until apples are tender in center and topping is golden brown. Serve warm or cool.

I found some picture on the camera of the kids, here is Noah mimicking his dad:



Here is one of Steve's Uncle Jerry, this was taken the night of the Karaoke contest that Michelle came in 2nd place:


We carved a ton of pumpkins for the Halloween party last year, here they are, with a picture that is kind of blurry, but I like how it turned out:



I have been quite the Betty Crocker lately, I wanted to make a New York Cheesecake, and I found a recipe for Apple Bread, I made these a few weeks ago:



I came home one night to find this laying by the back door. Steve thinks it got hit by a car on the highway above the house, it was really creepy having it lay there:



Here is a picture of my little Miss O with her Mom. This is the day we picked them up at the Airport when they took a trip to Disneyworld in Florida, we kept the kids for the week, it was so much fun!:

This is my little sister Wendy taking my picture Karaoke night:

EDIT: "REAL" Grandma & Grandpa

I have heard this term twice this past week in reference to Steve and I. Olivia asked her mom last week if she was coming to see her 'real' grandma. Karen had to dig a little deeper into this little girl's psyche to grasp what she was asking. Upon investigation, she discovered Olivia was referring to me. She wanted to come visit, but only if she could see her 'real' grandma.

Last night, Noah asked his dad if they were coming to see his 'real' grandparents. When Brian asked him what he meant, he told Brian he wanted to come to Iowa to see those grandparents.

I feel bad for the little tykes. They are struggling with grandparents that are less than attentive when they visit. When in my home, as you can guess, they are the only thing I am interested in, their antics just tickle me and I can't get enough. I often wonder if it is because they are so far away?

I would love it if Brian could get closer. He is thinking about LOWES. Wouldn't that be grand?

I had to take these from Karen's blog. Since Olivia is only around Noah, it has been hard to get her interested in 'girl' things. Imagine our surprise when she discovered the tutus I got her are kind of "NEAT". We couldn't be happier. She always wants a purple car, or a pair of spider man socks, or Cars socks when I send things to Noah. Here she is in all her glory, my sweet princess girl:


Noah, my little gentleman, asks if he 'Can have this dance." How sweet is that.

Family Time

Next weekend my daughter, son-in-law and the babies are coming to visit. They spend the first 4 days in Omaha at Brian's folks'. Then we meet at Vala's Pumpkin Patch to have a quick little party for Noah. He'll turn 4 next month, it hardly seems possible. Miss O will turn 3 in January, they are growing so fast, I can't believe it. Isaac turns 20 in November. WOW, the years just fly by when you keep busy.

Hopefully I can get some pictures while they are all here to post. I used to run around with a camera all the time, but lately I forget it or leave it at home. Sad, I miss quite a few photo ops doing that.

My sis just called last night to say my Aunt from California is coming to visit next weekend, too. She's from California, a retired school teacher. she purchased a HUGE motor home, she and her husband travel around the U.S. It is great to see her, she is such a pleasant person. I can't wait, it has been a couple years since she has been here.

Fundraiser is over

We did really well selling the breads, fudge, cream puffs and homemade noodles. It will be fun to do it again next year, we learned a little bit about how to organize it a little better. The homemade beef and chicken and noodles went over really well in the park. The wind blew, it was pretty chilly, people were really buying it that day. I was surprised.

The most popular items were the beer bread, banana bread, pumpkin bread, butterscotch bread and tropical bread. Cream puffs were popular after people ate the noodles.

The fudge went over really well, we expect it to do extremely well during the Holiday Bake Shoppe. My plan is to make up sample platters to send to work with Michelle so she can let all of her co-workers taste it prior to ordering. The platter will have peanut brittle added, it is my favorite thing at Christmastime. I don't need it, and manage to get rid of it each year after tasting a piece or two.

Today it was official, they posted the winners of the school supply drive, they put the photo of Kim and I in the hospital newspaper. I hate photos of ME!

Pics of Baking

Here are some photos of the bake-a-thon.
Deanne has no children, her and Mike have a home with a huge kitchen, long counters and a couple small ones that have plug ins to put all the kitchen aid mixers and allow us space to spread out and make a big mess. We use 8 foot tables, 2-3, one houses all the ingredients, the other two have the cooling racks for the breads, cookies, or whatever we need to put on them. They also have 2 chest freezers, one upright freezer, and 3 refrigerators. It makes it nice to have all that space available.

Here is Michelle at her finest. She is just a goof, we love her, the happiest one of all, joking and pretty laid back. She was born when I was 15 years old, her and her twin brother Michael. I bonded to them, carried them everywhere I went, they slept in my room with me, I really doted on them. No wonder they turned out so strange, I may have been a bad influence............NAHHHHHHHHHHH!:


THis is a fair shot of one of the counters, Brandy, my brother Mike's wife sticking another batch of mini loaves into the oven:


The last one is a partial photo of the table with the ingredients, I am at the sink in the black top, Deanne is to the left of me, and the one walking away on my right is my baby sister Wendy. The kitchen aid is on the counter, it's black, a huge industrial sized one. When we all bring ours, they are lined up everywhere in the kitchen. There is 30# of flour left, and we had been baking for 6 hours by this time. Not to exclude the 7 gallon bags or so of noodles I made while everyone else slaved over making bread. It was a ton of fun!


Tonight we are making cream puffs from scratch to serve at the park tomorrow. We'll be set up next to the group selling the beef and noodles and chicken and noodles we made a week or so ago for that event. I guess there is a car show, we will be in that area. It should be fun, and make enough for us to finish with the items we need for the Halloween party. This has been a great time for us to all bond together. When you get 6 strong minded, opinionated women together, it can sometimes be a treacherous gathering, but eveybody managed to behave and get along. That has not always been something that we have done well, I am impressed. After 3 weeks of non-stop 'togetherness', none of us are dead, not one bandaid, or scars! We are good!