Chemo and Shopping

It's a little after 6:00 in the a.m. and I've been awake for quite some time. Some nights are like that, especially when I've had caffeine during the day. My own blasted fault I suppose. I make poor choices when I'm away from home. Well, I make poor choices at home too... anyway....

Yesterday was a long day away from home. Sister #2 went with me to take Mom to her monthly chemo. There was a moment or two of agony, as they accessed her new port for the first time since it was installed. She said it hurt worse than them digging in her arm for veins. So, the nurse, (who by the way was mortified it hurt so badly) suggested we contact the doctor for numbing cream. Which I promptly did. Next time Mom is to rub the cream into her port area 30 minutes prior to being stabbed. This time Mom got just a little woozy headed for some reason. But, she never got nauseas and was able to go with us to do a bit of shopping afterward.

While she was in the lab with the IV, Sister and I ran out to West Little Rock to J.C. Penney's. I am in such desperate need of clothing, that I decided to bite the bullet and grab a few things. I almost had my Penney's card paid off. Oh well. I bought a pale pink simple pullover sweater with quarter sized while polka dots, a white and bright aqua blue cardigan with a matching shell,

and a v-necked tunic top with a white shell to hide the girls, because it was very low cut. 

Since I haven't needed work clothes, and since the last work clothes I had were scrubs, I've been living in stretchy knit clothes that are comfortable for yard work, house work and gym workouts. I've been wearing the same dress outfit to everything. Funerals, church, showers... so I thought I'd best find something else before that one outfit bit the dust.

After that, we went to Hobby Lobby, Garden Ridge, Walmart and Sam's. Sister is in charge of the policemen's charity ball next weekend, and we were looking for supplies and ideas. I'm scheduled to help her with the floral arrangements and decorating. Wish me luck!

It was late when we finally made it home and I was a tired puppy. But it was a good day all things considered.

Age is Relative

A very sweet thing happened to me today, and it made me think. It made me think a lot. I attended the funeral of an uncle this morning with my mother and one of my sisters.  It was my mother's brother-in-law, and although I knew him, he never really participated in any family functions over the years.  As we were going down the line, speaking with my aunt and her in-laws, my uncle's sister overheard my mother introduce my sister and me to someone else. I hugged my aunt and spoke to her, and then turned to this sister. I held out my hand to shake hers, but she grabbed me, hugged me and then looked up at me with a beautiful smile and said, "You are a pretty girl."  As I was driving back home, smelling her old lady perfume on myself, I thought that age really is relative.

Sometimes I feel young, but I'm not.

I'm 51 years old. Sometimes I want to look younger, but I can't. I can see the wrinkles adding up in the mirror.  Sometimes I want to have the energy and life I had when I was younger, but it has slowly seeped out like air from a balloon.

One of my uncle's sisters had to be in her 70s, but she looked like a picture in a magazine. She was absolutely gorgeous, and my mother told us she had been a model in her youth. She was tall and very graceful. Oh, how I wish I could be like that when I'm that age. (Ha! I'll sure never be tall at only 5')

Time marches on, and it takes its toll on all of us. To me, I feel I am beginning to age pretty quickly. To my children, I'm just Mama and one day they will all of a sudden look at me and wonder when I became old.

I wonder how my grandson will see me. I was thinking of my grandmother today too. I made the comment to my sister that she was a pretty woman. If she'd had help with her makeup, she could have been striking. I'd never had that thought before.

Aging is a part of life. As a matter of fact, if you aren't aging, you are dead. Right? Or you have a cracker jack plastic surgeon.

This isn't just about how you look when you age, but how you feel. I'm trying to come to grips with the age thing. It's hard, but there's nothing you can do but accept it and live. If you dwell on it, you make yourself miserable. Today, I was a girl again. And those kind of days are priceless.

The Birds

During the last ice-capade, I had ample opportunity to birdwatch. I suppose any wild berries would have been covered in ice, so my bird feeders got a good workout. 

It really doesn't look to cosy with the icicles hanging, but it was a very popular place.  I kept trying to catch a chicadee, but they flit in and out so quickly, I had a very hard time being fast enough. I finally got one this morning.

The Goldfinches must be migrating, because I haven't seen them since last fall. It's all or nothing with them. Lots at one time, then they disappear.  We have house finches all year round though, and they are a pretty dark red and brown.

It's very dark, but you can see the red one on the right and the gold one on the left.

Can you find the snowbird in the following photo??

He's hard to spot among all the gum balls. We've swept them up twice so far, but they keep a-coming. Yesterday as I was returning from Little Rock, the sun was shining at times, and the ice on the hardwood trees was glistening like crazy. I wished I had my camera so I could catch that. It looked like a picture on a calendar.  Almost all the ice is gone now, and it's a slushy mess in my back yard. We have a lot of work to do now, since all the limbs have fallen.

Water

I was watching tv and the Brita Water filter commercial caught my attention. I watched as scenes of water flashed and I remarked to SR about how amazing it is, that to us water is so beautiful. All of God’s creations are awesome, but I think water is one of the most lovely. The way the tide flows back and forth, and the undulating waves of light and dark.

www.transportcafe.co.uk

 The fizz of a cascade, and the flow of the stream as it tumbles to the edge.

picture coutesy of Brian Kelley

The deep blue of island waters, and the amazing amount of marine life in tide pools.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/

The lazy flow of a small river, winding its way through the rise and fall of banks and trees.  The soothing sound of rain falling and the reflection of clouds in a small pond.


Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Gen. 1:2

…but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Gen. 2:6


A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. Gen. 2:10

And I remembered how God chose to describe the Holy Spirit as “Living Water”…

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. John 7:38

http://www.walksydneystreets.net/

Water is beautiful because water is life.

Thursday....Three?

No, couldn't come up with thirteen things, so I cut it to three. Not much going on around here lately.

1. I entered a Pottery Barn giveaway sweepstakes. I never win anything, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway.

2. I've been pestering LeLe with questions about the baby's room this week and searching for the perfect fabric to use for window treatments and accessories.

3. I only lasted 25 minutes at the gym today. I normally stay at least 30 and often 40 and 50. Just didn't have the get up and go today, plus the weight machines were overtaken by all the men today. By the way, why aren't they at work????

This and That and Rambling

I haven't come up with a good post topic, but hated to let the time go on and on without posting something.

Finally got over the illness that plagued me all last week. Thank you Lord. It was not fun.

SR and I ran up to Russellville Sunday to check on the boy child. I say child, but he's 26 years old. He will always be a boy to me though.  His hot water tank ruptured and his floors were flooded, so we went to see if we could be of any help. He wanted to replace his flooring anyway, so this was not the catastrophy it might have been. Still, he has a $1000.00 deductible so he may not get much from insurance.

I've had so many projects in my head that I can't focus on any one of them. The biggest problem right now, is not having the supplies I need to actually do them. J decided he wants Mama to sew a quilt for him. And she's all for that, but has nothing to do it with. Nada. I did take some graph paper and draw out three block patterns I want to do. I love old quilts, but the creative part of me won't settle for the simple beginners quilt blocks.

Yes, it's crooked, but I cut them out and taped them together to see how I wanted to place them. And I may have to create three more to make it work. I hope not. I may fall on my face, but I'm going to give it my best shot.  I know I won't get it the perfect size, because my blocks are not the norm, so that may be an issue. But, if it's large enough to cover him up when it's cold, that's good enough for me. I made a new friend through Erin, and she is helping me get started on this. I'm so grateful.

I was looking through old photos, because he also wanted one of himself as a little boy. And I found these.

Poor baby had just been through a lot to get here.

He was a beautiful child.

Couldn't post those without one of LeLe....

Ohhh, the memories........ So there is my rambling post.

A New Recipe

I was cleaning out some clutter from my computer station the other day and came across a little recipe book I bought one day at Walmart. It's Mr. Food Quick & Easy Diabetic Cooking and I thought I'd see if there was anything in there I(we) might actually eat. I found one for a chocolate pie that looked promising, so I tried it yesterday afternoon.

Creamy Chocolate Pie

¼ cup unsweetened coca powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup low-fat (1)% milk (I used fat free evaporated)
4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, softened (I'll try fat free next time)
1 container (12 ounces) frozen light whipped topping, thawed (I used 8 oz.)
1 9 inch reduced-fat graham cracker pie crust

1. In a large bowl, combine the cocoa powder and oil. Add the sugar and milk; mix with a spoon until smooth.

2. Add the cream cheese and beat with electric mixer on medium until smooth. With a spoon, fold in the whipped topping until well blended.

3. Pour into pie crust, cover loosely and freeze for 4 hours, or until firm.

Servings: 8
Calories: 302
Fat: 15 g
Carb: 35
Sugars: 19

Let me add here that I wasn’t able to find a low fat graham cracker crust at my local Walmart. and that mixing the cocoa until smooth was a job. We all know how it likes to clot up when it gets wet. But, I was very pleased with the outcome. SR and I both think it tastes a lot like chocolate ice cream. Serving suggestion was to add more whipped topping and sprinkles, but I think it was great just like it was. It wasn’t too rich and had just enough zing to it. As you can see below, we took a big chunk out of it last night....well, SR did. I only took a small wedge. He got a good sized wedge and took some for his lunch today.

I can actually catagorize this one as a success! There are some other interesting sounding recipes in this little book, and I'll try them soon. There are also some that I would like, but after living with SR for almost 33 years, I know I would be wasting my time cooking them.

If you try this, let me know how you like it. It's a quick and easy dessert to take somewhere or keep in the freezer for anytime you want a quick chocolate fix.