Looking Back, December 2022

 

On the 2nd we had quality time with Isaac and Logan during Daniel's basketball game.  D made 4 points!  

On Saturday evening the 3rd, all the kids were here to celebrate Bekah and Nicole's birthdays.  We had vegetable soup and a charcuterie tray!  

On the 4th I was still ordering more Christmas gifts.  Every day I say I am going to scale back, and every year, I don't.  

On the 6th, Daniel came down with Influenza A and a red ear.  I made and delivered my usual: herb-infused, prayed-over, chicken soup with homemade noodles.  

We spent the evening of the 9th with our dear friends, Jim and Myrna, and exchanged Christmas gifts with them.  

On the 15th, Nicole was very sick with the flu and Rebekah had it as well.  Nic was very sick which was worrisome and we prayed hard for her and for Kathryn.  By the 17th Jonathan had also tested positive for influenza.  

Throughout the month I made and froze food for our Christmas celebrations including brown sugar bacon, ham sliders, soup for Christmas night, homemade meatballs with sauce.  Other food listed this month were two meatloaves, baked sirloin, hamburger for freezer, (I use this for weeknight meals such as spaghetti, sloppy joe, or chili), and a batch of cheesey potatoes for a funeral dinner.  Our regular Christmas morning brunch menu was, as always:  

Corn pancakes with maple syrup

Cinnamon rolls 

Bacon and sausage

Biscuits and gravy

Hot spiced fruit

Coffee and juice

Afternoon

Christmas cookies and treats

Cheeseballs, summer sausage and crackers

Sugared cranberries

Punch

Evening

Chicken noodle or Vegetable soup

Bread sticks & crackers

Charcuterie tray

Vegie tray

Treats from the snack table

This was a beautiful, scary, and blessed year.  My exhaustion was from being low thyroid, not from something worse. My eye seems to be gradually improving. No one has had lasting ill effects from Covid or influenza. Baby Kathryn was born healthy and safe.  The Lord has been with us through many frights (including a tornado and a hurricane for Nicole and Jonathan respectively, while each was on a business trip far from home) and has brought us safely through.  

This favorite quote by Matthew Henry seems right for our 2022 and for our future:  

The Lord shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and sanctify, remove, or lighten the evil thou feelest. He will preserve the soul, that it be not defiled by sin, and disturbed by affliction; he will preserve it from perishing eternally. He will keep thee in life and death; going out to thy labor in the morning of thy days, and coming home to thy rest when the evening of old age calls thee in. It is a protection for life.

Matthew Henry 

Looking Back November 2022

 

 

I worked really hard to change the decor from October to November.....

At left, Rebekah is dressed as Fancy Nancy and on her way to school (everyone was to dress as their favorite book character).  The Garnett Borns were busy in November finishing Rebekah's beautiful new sea-themed room (get a load of the closet shelves and drawers custom built by Jonathan).

Grandpa Johnnie's 96th birthday, November 26, 2022

When I go for walks I must protect my face and be careful not to get overheated because of rosacea and ocular rosacea and a bunch of other weird things with my eyes.  So, I look like the invisible woman.  

Atypically for me I did not take photos of our Thanksgiving food or table.  We had a pleasant day but missed the rest of the family (Covid strikes again).  

Isaac donned this Santa hat sometime in November and to my knowledge, did not remove it until mid-January.  

We got our flu shots on November 3. I chose to get the "under 65" dose because of my overreaction to some vaccinations.  

Grandson, Daniel came down with Covid November 7.  I made chicken noodle soup and homemade bread for him.  

Son Jonathan flew to Orlando on a business trip on November 6.  While he was there a hurricane approached his location (ironically it was hurricane Nicole...).   He got out just ahead of the hurricane and arrived home to find his wife, Nicole, very sick with a stomach virus.  And then the very next day, the 10th, Jonathan closed on a major purchase. They kept my prayer list active this month!

On the 11th I ande a big pot of stew and took supper to the Rausch family.  

On the 14th I had a well checkup and blood tests found I was low thyroid and high cholesterol.  I upped my dose of Thyroid meds which ought to help the cholesterol reading also; here's hoping.  It took awhile for the higher dose to help but by the beginning of December, the debilitating exhaustion had lifted.  

The Rausch family recovered from Covid in time for Thanksgiving but the Garnett Borns were going down one at a time with that stomach virus.  So it was a nice but quiet Thanksgiving.  

On the 25th I put up not one, but TWO Christmas trees.  

We attended a 96th birthday celebration for Johnnie on November 26th; Irma and Amy hosted a breakfast for him.  Sweet photo ops.  

Toward the end of the month I was wrapping presents and filling the freezer for December gatherings.  

Food prepped this month (I see I need to branch out with my soup varieties--I seem to stick pretty close to the basics):  

• Stew
• Chicken noodle soup
• homemade bread
• Thanksgiving food--turkey, sausage/cranberry stuffing, and mashed potatoes were made ahead and frozen.  If you cover the sliced turkey with broth and thaw it gently, it is better after having been frozen than it was straight out of the oven.  It is a little like brining/marinating after the meat is cooked rather than before.  Moist and tender.  
• Vegetable soup
• Breadsticks
• "Grammy" cupcakes--egg and dairy free, double chocolate, somehow they are moist and yummy (recipe follows).  
• Mel's birthday peach cobbler

****

Dairy and Egg Free Cupcakes

 Chocolate, Spice, or Lemon 

 

·      1 and 2/3 cups all purpose flour

·      1 cup brown sugar or granulated sugar (for lemon, use granulated)

·      ¼ cup cocoa (for lemon or spice, substitute ¼ c. vanilla instant pudding)

·      1 teaspoon baking soda

·      ½ teaspoon salt

·      1 cup water (for lemon, use 2 Tablespoons lemon juice, then enough water to make 1 cup)

·      1/3 cup vegetable oil

·      1 teaspoon white vinegar (omit for lemon)

·      ½ teaspoon vanilla (omit for lemon, add ½ teaspoon lemon zest)

·      ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips (omit in lemon or spice)

·      For spice only: add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 

 

Frosting ingredients are approximate.  

 

Chocolate frosting:  

½ cup earth balance or less, softened

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

Enough water to make spreading consistency, whip with electric mixer until fluffy.  

 

Spice frosting:  

½ cup earth balance or less, softened

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla or ½ teaspoon vanilla and ½ teaspoon maple flavoring

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

Enough water to make spreading consistency, whip with electric mixer until fluffy.  

 

 

Lemon glaze:  

¼ cup. instant vanilla pudding, dry mix

Juice from 1 lemon

About 2 cups powdered sugar

About ½ cup Earth Balance, melted

About 2 Tbsp. H20, stir by hand to bring to thick glaze consistency.  

Looking Back October 2022

 

Blast from the past--three year old Daniel in one of my all time favorite October photos.  

On October 1 I made a huge pot of stew to share and John worked on the brakes of the truck we call "The Trilobyte" (because when we bought it, used, there was a sticker of a fossil on the back window that I said was a trilobyte).  

We watched the Chief's game with the Rausch family on the 2nd, and that was an experience!  So much fun--the boys jumped up and played football at every commercial break, and there were touchdown dances!  

John began hauling cattle to the Emporia sale on October 4th.  

October 15th was cattle moving day.  I had the kids here for chili and cinnamon rolls. I had a migraine aura and then a headache and so couldn't participate in the cattle drive.  

I made a Pioneer woman gift basket for the UMW auction.,  

The little boys were here for lunch on the 26th.  

Had my annual physical in Topeka on the 27th.  

We celebrated Isaac and Jonathan's birthdays on October 22 with the very last roast in the freezer until we butcher in March.  

Jon and Nic here for lunch on the 29th on their way to see Lyle Lyle Crocodile!  

I made chili and cinnamon rolls and took to Brian and Melinda's for Halloween.  Jon and Nic did Trunk or Treat at their church with truly amazing costumes (see above).  

October food, in part:  

• Stew
• Apple pie
• Meatloaf
• 2 batches cookies
• 2 batches of chili
• Cinnamon swirl bread
• Cinnamon rolls
• Homemade pizza
• 5 pounds of seasoned hamburger for the freezer
• Made cookies
• 2 gallons (!) of vegetable soup 
• 2 loaves homemade bread

Looking Back, September 2023

 

A favorite flashback photo of Nicole with Rebekah in her K-State cheer uniform, above right.  

The Fillmores had gatherings at the beginning of this month.  John attended alone as I'm no longer up to date with Covid vaccinations because of my response to the booster last April.  The Rausch family went down with another round of colds and so I sent meatloaf, melon, rolls and cookies for supper for them on the 6th.  

Our new grandchild is a baby girl named Kathryn Rose, due in February.  I made her Christmas stocking on the 15th!  

We had a family supper here on the 10th and Bekah spent the afternoon on the 14th.  Nicole flew to L.A. via a Phoneix layover on the 20th.  Everyone but Nic was here to celebrate Brian's birthday on the 24th.  Jon and Bekah spent the night and attended church with Bri & Mel.  Nic arrived home from CA on the afternoon of the 24th.  

Daniel didn't have school on the 26th and so I had Mel and the boys out for spaghetti and meatballs.  Gorgeous fall morning; 47 degrees out when I got up.  

On the 28th we learned of multiple health problems for our kids including cataracts and high cholesterol, and that Nicole has placenta previa.  Prayers begin going up!  

My eye remained painful and exhaustion was constant (it improved in November with adjustment of thyroid meds).  

John finished combining corn on September 29.  I had my last appointment with Dr. Rettig on September 30.  The vitreous has detached further, but the back of my eye is A.O.K.  

Some of the food made for the freezer and for family meals this month:  

• Homemade ketchup
• Homemade pizza
• Salisbury steaks
• Froze and ate lots of pesto
• Brisket
• Meatballs
• Browned 2 lbs seasoned hamburger for freezer (I actually boil it with chopped onion, garlic, salt, and pepper.  A higher amount of the fat drains away with the water, and the seasonings add flavor.  We can't tell the difference from skillet-browned).  
• Meatloaf
• Brisket
• Potato casserole
• 1 peach pie
• 1 cherry pie
• Birthday cake for Brian

Looking Back: August, 2022

All the Rausch family except Brian were very sick with colds the first week of August but not with Covid, so soup and a baked chicken went to them.  They were better by Friday the 5th and headed to a Royals game.  

John was all about making hay this month.  

I got a new tracfone for Johnnie and Irma and programmed it, and sanded and repainted the island drawers.  I continued with reading lessons for Isaac and resumed writing devotions for Daniel as he prepared for his freshman year of high school. 

I made trips to the dentist struggling to get my bridge to stay and fit.  Headaches and eye aches most days. Profound exhaustion. Dental work may have aggravated migraine-like pain.  Bright and hot days are not my friends.  (However, we learned in November that my TSH had risen nearly 3 points in the wake of slowing my metabolism by beginning Atenolol. And so adjusting my thyroid meds sure helped everything--energy levels as well as headaches).  

Meals and food mentioned this month:

• cherry sheet pan pie
• 2 dozen rolls
• roast
• Taco bar
• Sent cookies to Denise and Todd. 
• Multiple batches of pesto to eat and for freezer. 
• 4 dozen cookies for Gould funeral.  
• Flank steak over noodles.

Looking Back: July 2022

 

Our Logan turned ten in July.  

July 2 at 2 a.m. lightning storm brought two inches of rain.  

Irma's birthday float was a winner this year, a train with Logan and Isaac as engineers.  The Rausch family came for supper and fireworks on the 4th.  

I spilled a cup of tea on my old computer and ordered a new one this month. 

On the 9th we put up 14 pints of sweet corn, 15 pints on the 10thm and another 15 pints on the 11th.  

Our "new" swather arrived on July 18th.  Jonathan and John busy spraying and mowing hay.  

I painted a cute "leaner" for a front porch decoration.  

Grandson Daniel really helped us out this month by weed eating, mowing, and cleaning out my flower bed.  We did battle with the power washer against wasp nests.  He was valiant! 

Lots of prayers for the Garnett Borns this month as they all, including momma to be Nicole, had Covid.  

• 2 cherry pies
• sheeet pan meal
• Another birthday cake for John! 
• Prepped 5 lbs carrots and 6 pks celery for a funeral dinner
• Froze 84 pints of sweet corn
• Roast beef and fixins for a family meal on the 17th.  
• Browned 4 lbs hamburger and froze
• Multiple batches of fresh pesto
• Vegetable soup for Jon and Nic as they were sick
• Put up 6 pints zucchini relish
• Made cookies and played aggravation with Logan
• Sweet and sour chicken and rice
• Cowboy cookies

25,185 Days and Counting

Weather statistics show that residents of Kansas City, Missouri enjoyed unseasonably mild temperatures on December 21, 1953. The afternoon's high temperature reached nearly 50° F.  That night, a cold front brought plummeting temperatures and snow. 

At midnight, my dad drove my mother to the hospital in a blizzard.  Entrusting his wife into the capable hands of the medical staff and knowing her doctor had arrived safely at the hospital, he breathed a premature sigh of relief.  

I was a transverse presentation and the doctor was unable to turn me for a normal birth. My mother needed an emergency C-section, and a surgeon was called. Winds gusting to 25 mph and blowing snow kept the surgeon from arriving at the hospital in time.  

The doctor somehow delivered me at about 5 a.m., breaking my right arm in the process. He told my father, "Your wife will be ok but I don't know about the baby."  My dad had to be helped to a chair.  The doctor felt certain I had breathed amniotic fluid.  

Morning light revealed 8 inches of new snow and an inexplicably healthy baby girl who was breathing normally, albeit with a broken right arm taped to her chest and a left arm that was lifeless because of birth injuries.  

Several days later, I moved my left arm for the first time, inspiring tears from an entire shift of nurses. They gathered in my mother's room, taking turns holding a baby whose Christmas miracle was to be that she would go through life with two working arms.  

Today I am humbled by the fact of God's love and grace. Apart from events termed "miraculous" by the doctor who delivered me, I would never have had one day of life. Instead, as of today, I have enjoyed 25,185 days and counting.   

Dear Lord, thank You for life.  Thank You for my mother's prayers. Thank You for Your grace and mercy, that cover us. Thank You for loving us so much.  

June, 2022

 

We celebrated our July birthday boys in late June this year.  Logan is 10, John is 70!  

We (even me) attended some of Isaac's t-ball games, Rebekah's soccer games, and Logan's baseball games this month.  We attended Rebekah's dance recital on June 4, so cute.  

Some folks had extensive crop damage from a hailstorm on the tenth but we did not. 

Kathy Vickery came for lunch on the 17th and we had a nice visit.  John and Jonathan stayed busy spraying and planting all month.  

On the 19th we had a wonderful family meal celebrating Logan, age 10; John, age 70,;  and Baby Born, 2 months gestation!  We are to be grandparents again!  

The partial vitreous detachment in my right eye was diagnosed June 24 by Esther Rettig.  

List of cooking projects mentioned this month:  

• potato casserole and I baked my first ever Texas chocolate sheet cake for a funeral dinner--they sent part of that cake home and oh my.  No wonder that is a famous recipe. 
• fried fish
• snickerdoodles and chocolate crinkles for Johnnie for Father's Day
• Chicken casserole for lunch with Kathy
• enchilada casserole
• 2 pans cinnamon rolls
• meatloaf
• 2 roasts

John had his final follow up colonoscopy after his health ordeal last year, and all was well.  Praise God.  

May, 2022

 

Jonathan roofed our house a year ago but for the porch roof, which did not show! But it bothered him and he came over and finished that little job this month.  

Upper left, Mom's beautiful peach colored iris.  Glad if I have only succeeded in saving a couple of her iris, this was one of them!  

Mother's day was blessed!  I accidentally placed Mindy's family's photo from Daniel's 8th grade graduation in this collage, but have ended this post with a photo of her and her boys on Mother's day.  

I decorated my folks' grave for Memorial day.  I always like the reflection of the oak tree in the center of their stone--and I feel sure those are oak trees on either side of our family name.  

Our Daniel graduated from 8th grade in May.  He is about four inches taller than me and still growing!  

Hard to believe I've been out of high school for 50 years!!  Even 68 year old ladies are concerned about their appearance at a class reunion and try out several different outfits ahead of time...well..at least this 68 year old gal did!  Out of 21 original class members, 4 are deceased. We had 13 people present for the gathering, an excellent attendance percentage.  

 And here is our beautiful daughter with her three boys in the photo snapped on Mother's Day.   

On the 1st I made baked cube steaks for Bri & Mel.  Nicole, Bekah and Jonathan stopped in after laying Addy the beloved corgi to rest on their land, then they headed to Topeka.  

We had a wonderful Mother's day on the 8th with a roast beef dinner for lunch and a carry out pizza for supper. 

 I planted an herb garden and zinnias.  We attended Daniel's 8th grade graduation on the 14th and a nice gathering for him at Bri and Mel's.  

On the 12th the film over my right eye was bothersome and the eye and right side of face ached.  I saw Joan Grother (Nurse practitioner) on May 16th, and Esther Rettig (Ophthalmologist) on the 18th.  I returned to her on the 24th and she inserted a punctal plug in my right eye, thinking the blurriness might be from dry eye.  (I'm recording this after the fact--at this time she hadn't yet diagnosed the partial vitreous detachment that we decided was responsible for increased floaters.  The pain in the right eye was never explained, and gradually abated.  By February of 2023 the pain is mostly gone, though the film remains).  

On the 21st Jonathan, Brian, and a friend of Jon's finished roofing our porch and deck windows. Melinda watched Bekah and I fed lunch to the roofers and family members that were here (10).  

John got all the corn sprayed on the 22nd.  

I had a migraine with aura on May 28th and felt concern over ongoing chronic migraine-like pain since my last rosacea attack.  I suffered migraine or eye pain constantly for months.  It was made worse by exercise.  (At this writing, February 2023, the constant pain is mostly gone but the film, light sensitivity, and increased numbers of floaters remain).