blogger friends #7

Our Blogger Friends School from Training Hearts this week is to share anything related to pumpkins. We are not big fans of pumpkins around here ~ none of my family cares for pumpkin foods. We do have one soup that we will eat occasionally, so here I will share the recipe with you.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

• 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 Cup (1 small) chopped onion
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 3 Cups chicken broth
• 1 can (15oz) Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) Carnation Evaporated Milk

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in curry powder, salt and pepper; cook for 1 minute.

Add broth and pumpkin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in evaporated milk. Transfer mixture to food processor or blender (in batches, if necessary); cover. Blend until smooth. Serve warm.

Notes: Serve with hot, crusty bread and a pear and walnut salad ~ yum!

Be sure you use 100% pumpkin and not pumpkin pie mix ~ there’s a big difference between them , and your soup will be inedible (trust me, I know this from experience).

When the kids were little, we would begin a unit study on Thanksgiving right around this time of year. We don’t do Halloween, which seems to be the biggest focus as far as pumpkins are concerned. So, rather than focus on the “harvest festivals” and such that occur during this time of year, we turned our focus completely on God and how He worked in the lives of the Pilgrims. Our unit study would carry us through the month until Thanksgiving Day. It was a wonderful way to keep our focus on God and build up to a lovely day of thanking Him, worshiping Him, and fellowshiping with others who love Him.

We would make turkeys out of pumpkins ~ brightly colored feathers glued to popsicle sticks and stuck into the pumpkin, and a turkey face with a little black pilgrim hat also on a popsicle stick and stuck into the pumpkin. We made hand turkey name place cards for the table (draw around your hand, color it in like a turkey). This one isn’t pumpkin related, but it’s so cute and fun I wanted to share it. On our wall we would have a large sheet of white butcher paper with a bare tree drawn on it. Throughout the month we would draw and cut out different colored leaves, then write something we were thankful for on it and paste it to the tree. By the time Thanksgiving came along, we would have the funniest looking tree ~ who knew tress could grow leaves out of the bark on their trunk?! We always filled up the branches with leaves and would have to find creative ways to add more leaves ~ on the trunk, on the ground under the tree, even floating down from a branch. We really enjoyed this project. You know, you could draw a couple of pumpkins out of construction paper and place them on the wall under the tree ~ there you go, I included pumpkins in that project!

The verse that popped into my head as I was writing this post is:

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 106

Have a wonderful, blessed week!

Christmas Wish List

Well, I didn’t win The Taste of Home Cookbook in Molly-Coddled’s contest, so I am officially adding it to my Christmas wish list.

The Urban Homemaker has several items I’ve added to my Christmas list ~ like this, this, and this.

I already have this DVD on making the perfect pizza (although I haven’t had the time to sit down and watch it yet). De’Etta wrote a great post on making homemade pizza here. I figure I should probably have a couple of pizza screens to make my homemade pizzas perfect, so they’re on my list too.

It seems this year my list is made of a lot of cooking accoutrements. When we were first married, I threatened Roger within an inch of his life if he ever bought me appliances or cooking doodads for my birthday, Mother’s Day, our anniversary, Christmas or any other occasion on which he is expected to give me a gift. Appliances are NOT my idea of great gifts, but for some reason this year I’ve decided I actually want a few new play-things.

Poor Roger ~ I am not shy (to say the least) about making my gift wish list known. He complains that I don’t give him the opportunity to buy something for me that HE actually wants to give me. I beg to differ ~ he has in the past bought me some lovely gifts he came up with all on his own (then again, no man can ever go wrong when he buys jewelry!).

This year Roger gets a pass on the “no appliance gifts” rule ~I’m not sure exactly how thrilled he is about that, since the appliances I’m asking for aren’t cheap. They’re probably less expensive than jewelry though!

bad news, good news x 2, great news

The bad news is that the Colorado Rockies lost in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. The good news (#1) is that the Red Sox won the World Series! I know, I know ~ it’s a contradiction of the bad news, but honestly I didn’t know who to root for! So, I guess part (b) of the first good news is that I no longer have to agonize over who is going to win the World Series.

Good news #2 is that the weather here is absolutely gorgeous. Sunny days, highs right around 70 degrees and lows in the 40’s. Perfect.

The great news is that we’re going to have visitors this week. Long-time friends of ours are passing through on their way to Colorado, and they’re going to stop and spend a day or two with us. Our friends, Brian and Cheri, are driving from North Carolina where Brian is stationed in the Army, to Colorado where their family live. Brian has an assignment to Germany, and the Army was kind enough to give him a couple of weeks of leave before they have to head overseas. We haven’t seen them since 2002, so it will be great to have them here! Cheri and I fully plan on getting next to zero sleep since we’ll be up all night talking. I can’t wait to see her, Brian, and their two kids!

the computer

Yippee! I finally fixed the problems with our computer! Well, it was a group effort (thank you Roger and Sawyer!)……..but the silly thing seems to be working correctly now.

It started a few months ago with a Microsoft automatic update. There was a conflict between one of the updates and our wireless network. It really messed thing up. The internet wouldn’t work at all. Really frustrating. Roger and I tried several different things ~ eventually we found that if we turned off our virus protection we could access the internet. Not the most advisable way to access the internet, but it was the only way.

We worked with it for a while. Finally it got to the point where every time we visited AccuWeather or some innocuous site like that a browser hijacker would take over and we’d be stuck forever waiting for the silly thing to run through whatever it was hijacking. Extremely frustrating, especially for someone like me who thinks computers should work in the blink of an eye!

Eventually we got sick of it. We tossed around the idea of just chucking this computer ~ after all, it IS 6 years old. It’s an antique as far as technology is concerned. But honestly, we don’t need a bigger, better, kinder computer. The one we have still have oodles of free space ~ even with all of my pictures and all of my graphics we’ve only ever used about 30% of its capacity. So, we decided to try something daring. We decided to wipe the hard drive and start over.

Now, before you run from the room screaming, "No! No! Nooooooo!!!!", hear me out. We already had an external hard drive that was just sitting on the credenza waiting to be used. Roger went through all of our files and saved the things we wanted to keep ~ things like all of my pictures and all of my graphics. The silly external hard drive holds MORE than the internal hard drive of the computer (does THAT tell you how old our computer is? LOL).

Then Roger chickened out and passed the Drivers, Operating System and Applications CDs to me. He just couldn’t bring himself to erase all the files and folders we have accumulated over the past 6 years. I, however, had no problems doing it since A) everything we wanted to keep was already loaded onto the external hard drive, and B) wiping the hard drive and started over could only be an improvement to having to deal with those frustrating browser hijackers.

It has taken hours and hours, but I think I have the computer back into decent running shape. I have updated anything and everything that can possibly be updated from Microsoft, and we have a nifty brand-spankin’-new virus protection! There’s still a few more hours of work to be done as far as moving all of the transfered files back onto the hard drive in some sort of organized fashion. But that’s ok ~ and that’s for another day. I have my internet working in tip-top condition ~ I can wait on the photos and graphics.

That, my friends, has been the majority of my day since coming home from church this morning. But, since we don’t have to spend $1200 on a new computer, I might be able to talk Roger into getting me that new monitor I’ve been wanting. The old computer can be updated, but the old monitor has definitely seen better days.

fun stuff

The Rockies are in the World Series!

Hockey has finally started in earnest!

It has been cool enough here to open the windows in the evenings!

I only spent and hour and a half at the commissary (military grocery store) today ~ and I got the majority of my 2-week’s worth of shopping done!

Sawyer’s finally on antibiotics for the cough and congestion (ended up being an ear infection and bronchitis) he has had for the past two weeks!

I got 5 weeks of menu plans done ~ all I have left to do is the shopping list for each menu!

We’re having a pot luck supper tonight at home team (church small group) so I don’t have to cook!

I’m getting caught up with my reading and posting reviews!

Patrick has been getting some absolutely incredible offers from colleges ~ he may go to college for free after all!

more free books

There’s a great offer from Brandilyn Collins, author of Violet Dawn, Coral Moon, and Crimson Eve (the Kanner Lake Series) on my book review blog. If you haven’t read any of her books, you owe it to yourself to check out this free offer!

mosaic

I’ve posted my review of Amy Grant’s new book, Mosaic, here.

Don’t forget, I have some copies of Mosaic to give away. If you would like one, please send me an email using the email address in the left hand sidebar!

week #2

In my quest to be organized and avoid the holiday frenzy, I have been using The 12-Week Holiday Planner for the Christian Family. This week is “Browse Week”. Actually, this “week” ends Wednesday, but we’ll just go with the flow.

Browse week means this week I have been developing gift ideas, thinking about decorations (both Christmas and Thanksgiving), and doing a holiday self-evaluation. The decorations part is a breeze ~ I have what I have, and I’m not planning on adding anything to it this holiday season. I wish I was one of those people who can hit the day-after Christmas sales and buy up Christmas decorations for a song. Alas, I’m not ~ I don’t like the crowds, and the frenzied pace makes my head hurt. As a rule I avoid after-Christmas sales like the plague. That being the situation, my Christmas decorations are a hodge-podge of items I have collected over the years. Some things have been given to me (the beautiful ceramic Christmas tree that lights up that Norma made for her mother and gave to me last Christmas; the Christmas ornaments that adorned the Christmas tree when I was a child, given to me by my mom; the rocking horse and Christmas doll given to me by one of my bosses way back when when I was working outside of my home…….). Others have been picked up here and there when we really felt the need to add Christmas decorations or when we needed to replace something (like the Christmas tree skirt that just completely disintegrated one year while stored in the attic).

Coming up with Christmas gift ideas has been a bit of a stickler. We’re making homemade gifts for our friends and neighbors ~ that’s not too hard. We like to make some sort of homemade gift ~ muffins, a quick bread, cake, flavored butter, etc. ~ with a nice recipe card or gift card that has the instructions for making that gift. It’s the gifts for family members that always get us. Why is it that parents, when faced with the question of what they would like for their birthday or Christmas, always respond with something like, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really need anything.” Or, better yet, “Don’t get me a present. There’s nothing I need or want.” How in the WORLD do you respond to THAT?! It’s a bit frustrating. I mean, if I actually don’t get them anything, because they said not to, their feelings get hurt because they think we forgot them or didn’t care enough to get them something. On the other hand, I don’t want to get them something they don’t like, or even worse, something they stick in a closet somewhere and never use.

So, what do we do? I don’t know ~ Roger and I are still mulling that one over. The thing is, we go through this every single Christmas. You’d think somewhere along the way we’d come up with some ideas!

Next “week” ~ October 17-23 ~ is supplies week. I’m supposed to inventory what I have, make shopping lists, and go shopping for what I need. That should be easy enough as far as the baking and homemade gifts go.

I’m going to continue to browse catalogs and troll online stores until I find good gifts for each of our parents. I like to give gifts that are meaningful and useful to the receiver ~ if worse comes to worst, all of the parents will be getting a box from Harry David’s or Hickory Farms!

week #2

In my quest to be organized and avoid the holiday frenzy, I have been using The 12-Week Holiday Planner for the Christian Family. This week is "Browse Week". Actually, this "week" ends Wednesday, but we’ll just go with the flow.

Browse week means this week I have been developing gift ideas, thinking about decorations (both Christmas and Thanksgiving), and doing a holiday self-evaluation. The decorations part is a breeze ~ I have what I have, and I’m not planning on adding anything to it this holiday season. I wish I was one of those people who can hit the day-after Christmas sales and buy up Christmas decorations for a song. Alas, I’m not ~ I don’t like the crowds, and the frenzied pace makes my head hurt. As a rule I avoid after-Christmas sales like the plague. That being the situation, my Christmas decorations are a hodge-podge of items I have collected over the years. Some things have been given to me (the beautiful ceramic Christmas tree that lights up that Norma made for her mother and gave to me last Christmas; the Christmas ornaments that adorned the Christmas tree when I was a child, given to me by my mom; the rocking horse and Christmas doll given to me by one of my bosses way back when when I was working outside of my home…….). Others have been picked up here and there when we really felt the need to add Christmas decorations or when we needed to replace something (like the Christmas tree skirt that just completely disintegrated one year while stored in the attic).

Coming up with Christmas gift ideas has been a bit of a stickler. We’re making homemade gifts for our friends and neighbors ~ that’s not too hard. We like to make some sort of homemade gift ~ muffins, a quick bread, cake, flavored butter, etc. ~ with a nice recipe card or gift card that has the instructions for making that gift. It’s the gifts for family members that always get us. Why is it that parents, when faced with the question of what they would like for their birthday or Christmas, always respond with something like, "Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really need anything." Or, better yet, "Don’t get me a present. There’s nothing I need or want." How in the WORLD do you respond to THAT?! It’s a bit frustrating. I mean, if I actually don’t get them anything, because they said not to, their feelings get hurt because they think we forgot them or didn’t care enough to get them something. On the other hand, I don’t want to get them something they don’t like, or even worse, something they stick in a closet somewhere and never use.

So, what do we do? I don’t know ~ Roger and I are still mulling that one over. The thing is, we go through this every single Christmas. You’d think somewhere along the way we’d come up with some ideas!

Next "week" ~ October 17-23 ~ is supplies week. I’m supposed to inventory what I have, make shopping lists, and go shopping for what I need. That should be easy enough as far as the baking and homemade gifts go.

I’m going to continue to browse catalogs and troll online stores until I find good gifts for each of our parents. I like to give gifts that are meaningful and useful to the receiver ~ if worse comes to worst, all of the parents will be getting a box from Harry David’s or Hickory Farms!

the one I don’t have

My mom has a picture in her office of me when I was a little girl. It’s one that I don’t have a copy of, so I took a picture of it. Sorry about the glare ~ the picture is framed and under glass, and I couldn’t get a good angle where the sunlight coming through the window wouldn’t interfere.

there she is…….

In two months, we will celebrate my mom’s 78th birthday. I’m so glad I was able to spend a few days with her at her home recently. She told me lots of stories I hadn’t heard before, and showed me pictures and paintings I didn’t know she had.

My mom has Alzheimer’s ~ at least we think it may be Alzheimer’s. She definitely has a form of dementia disease. She has a short term memory of about 3 to 5 minutes at best, becomes confused and/or frustrated very easily, and really isn’t able to function well enough to take care of herself. She still has her sense of humor, and her personality is still mostly intact. She forgot who I was a couple of times during my visit, but Glenda said Mom forgets who she (Glenda) is sometimes, too. It’s hard living so far away from Mom, especially now that her health is declining and the disease is advancing.

I found a picture hanging in Mom’s office that I didn’t know she had.

This photo was taken when Mom was in high school ~ the photographer was a guy she dated named D.L. My grandmother hand-tinted the black and white photo ~ she did a beautiful job! Mom also had a small photo of herself and her sister Pat when they were young acrobats. Mickey (my grandmother) hand-tinted that one, too. I wasn’t able to get a picture of that one ~ maybe next time.

Here’s a picture of my mom that I took last week:

Don’t you just love her cowgirl hat? I think it’s adorable.

The necklace she has on is sort of a miniature "dog tag." Glenda had 2 small gold dog tags made up ~ one for Mom, one for herself. Mom’s tag includes her name, address, phone number, and emergency contact information. It’s a great idea, especially done in dainty little gold tags on gold necklaces.

Glenda learned a lot at the Alzheimer’s Wyoming seminar. We sat down and went over some of the things she learned before I had to leave to go back to Arkansas. Glenda said now that she has had a number of different dementias explained to her, she really feels that Mom does have Alzheimer’s. Mom has an appointment with the neurologist soon, and Glenda is planning on asking him exactly what he thinks Mom has.

My mom has had at least 3 serious closed-head injuries. She dove into the shallow end of a pool once and dove smack into the bottom of the pool. When I was 8 or 9 Mom fell down the basement stairs and landed on her head on the concrete. And while Mom and Glenda were still touring with their storytelling gig, Mom fell off the tailgate of a truck (in a parade) and landed on the top of her head on the asphalt. She has cronked her head more times that I can possibly total ~ most were minor injuries, but I really think all of that head cronking has contributed to (if not caused) her memory loss and dementia symptoms. She had an MRI of her head done a while ago, and the doctor pointed out several areas where scar tissue exists. He also pointed out several areas in Mom’s head where there has been tissue death.

Mom and I had a nice visit while I was there. We went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and walked through the Buffalo Bill wing. We had lunch at a cute little cafe at the back of her town’s drug store (it reminded me of a modern-day version of the old-time general stores). We had an amazingly delicious dinner at a restaruant in Cody. We talked about whatever came to mind, and she told me lots of stories about when she was a girl. She has had an incredible, full life.

I’m thankful for the time I was able to spend with my mom. We’re planning a trip to Denver this coming late February/early March. Denver is still quite a ways from Powell, Wyoming, but it’s closer than Little Rock, Arkansas! We’re going to try to work a quick trip up to Powell during our trip to Denver. I would like to see my mom as often as possible before this horrible disease completely takes "her" away.

location, location, location

While I was visiting my mom, I had the opportunity to drive around the "town" I grew up in. Actually, Billings, Montana isn’t what most people think of as a town, but it doesn’t really qualify as a city, either. Anyway, I flew in and out of Billings, and I was able to go check out the old neighborhoods (both mine and Roger’s).

Billings is surrounded by rimrocks. The rims can present some challenges when it comes to building homes at their base, but while I was driving around the area where I used to live I found that builders aren’t afraid to get right up close to the base of the rims. My house was across the street from the base of the rims, so we didn’t usually have things like rattlesnakes in our yard, while our neighbors whose backyards butted up against the rims found rattlesnakes fairly often (they like to lie on top of the rocks and sunbathe). The rattlesnakes aren’t the only critters who inhabit the rims, but they’re bad enough!

In one of the neighborhoods between my old house and Roger’s old house, I found this:

I just HAD to stop and take a picture. I mean, WOW! The picture doesn’t do it justice. This house is massive, and it sits about as close to the base of the rims as you could get. It towers over the other houses in the neighborhood ~ can you imagine getting in and out of that driveway during the winter?!

By the way, this house is for sale ~ if for some reason you’re moving to the Billings area and want to look at this house, let me know. I’ll give you the realtor information.

I wasn’t able to stop and take a picture of my all-time favorite house in Billings. It’s in one of the oldest neighborhoods, and the street is quite narrow. The morning I drove down there the street was pretty crowded with cars, and there wasn’t anywhere for me to pull over and snap a picture. Bummer. My all-time favorite house in Billings is near downtown, and it’s a lovely two-storey Arts & Crafts style house. It was remodeled a few years ago ~ the plumbing and electric were updated, and a gourmet kitchen was put in. They did manage to keep the original wood flooring, stairs, bannister, and crown molding intact, though. The house was built in the early 1900’s ~ it has a wonderful front porch with a porch swing, lots of mature trees, and a small but well-landscaped yard. The house was for sale a few years ago ~ 1996 I think ~ and it was listed for around $180,000. I about jumped out of my skin! I seriously wanted to buy that house, but Roger still had a long time to go in the Air Force. Buying it then would not have been a smart move, even though I wanted to own it with every fiber of my being. I keep hoping that someday we’ll be able to buy that house, or one like it somewhere where it’s not so blasted hot and humid.

Being in Montana and Wyoming really made me long for the mountains. I miss them. I miss small towns, and living in the part of the country where it’s not hot and humid all year long. The air was dry, but it didn’t bother me a bit. The temperatures were nice ~ high-60’s to low-70’s during the day, and mid-40’s to low-50’s at night. Perfect. The cool nights were fantastic ~ I was a little concerned that the cooler weather would bother my fibro, but it was just the opposite. The humidity was so low that I actually felt better there than I do at home in Arkansas.

Someday, Lord willing, I’m going to move back to where there are mountains, dry air, small towns, and really big houses (or really old, well-preserved houses). It just feels right ~ it’s where I belong.

location, location, location

While I was visiting my mom, I had the opportunity to drive around the “town” I grew up in. Actually, Billings, Montana isn’t what most people think of as a town, but it doesn’t really qualify as a city, either. Anyway, I flew in and out of Billings, and I was able to go check out the old neighborhoods (both mine and Roger’s).

Billings is surrounded by rimrocks. The rims can present some challenges when it comes to building homes at their base, but while I was driving around the area where I used to live I found that builders aren’t afraid to get right up close to the base of the rims. My house was across the street from the base of the rims, so we didn’t usually have things like rattlesnakes in our yard, while our neighbors whose backyards butted up against the rims found rattlesnakes fairly often (they like to lie on top of the rocks and sunbathe). The rattlesnakes aren’t the only critters who inhabit the rims, but they’re bad enough!

In one of the neighborhoods between my old house and Roger’s old house, I found this:

I just HAD to stop and take a picture. I mean, WOW! The picture doesn’t do it justice. This house is massive, and it sits about as close to the base of the rims as you could get. It towers over the other houses in the neighborhood ~ can you imagine getting in and out of that driveway during the winter?!

By the way, this house is for sale ~ if for some reason you’re moving to the Billings area and want to look at this house, let me know. I’ll give you the realtor information.

I wasn’t able to stop and take a picture of my all-time favorite house in Billings. It’s in one of the oldest neighborhoods, and the street is quite narrow. The morning I drove down there the street was pretty crowded with cars, and there wasn’t anywhere for me to pull over and snap a picture. Bummer. My all-time favorite house in Billings is near downtown, and it’s a lovely two-storey Arts & Crafts style house. It was remodeled a few years ago ~ the plumbing and electric were updated, and a gourmet kitchen was put in. They did manage to keep the original wood flooring, stairs, bannister, and crown molding intact, though. The house was built in the early 1900’s ~ it has a wonderful front porch with a porch swing, lots of mature trees, and a small but well-landscaped yard. The house was for sale a few years ago ~ 1996 I think ~ and it was listed for around $180,000. I about jumped out of my skin! I seriously wanted to buy that house, but Roger still had a long time to go in the Air Force. Buying it then would not have been a smart move, even though I wanted to own it with every fiber of my being. I keep hoping that someday we’ll be able to buy that house, or one like it somewhere where it’s not so blasted hot and humid.

Being in Montana and Wyoming really made me long for the mountains. I miss them. I miss small towns, and living in the part of the country where it’s not hot and humid all year long. The air was dry, but it didn’t bother me a bit. The temperatures were nice ~ high-60’s to low-70’s during the day, and mid-40’s to low-50’s at night. Perfect. The cool nights were fantastic ~ I was a little concerned that the cooler weather would bother my fibro, but it was just the opposite. The humidity was so low that I actually felt better there than I do at home in Arkansas.

Someday, Lord willing, I’m going to move back to where there are mountains, dry air, small towns, and really big houses (or really old, well-preserved houses). It just feels right ~ it’s where I belong.

never look back & mosaic ~ two book giveaways!

I have posted a new book review on my book site. The book is Never Look Back by Kathy Herman. You can read the review here.

I also have 2 extra copies of Never Look Back (brand new from the publisher) AND a copy of Ever Present Danger (slightly used ~ read ~ by me) which is the first book in the series. If you would like a copy of either of these books, please send me an email using the email link in the left hand sidebar. The first 2 people to request Never Look Back will receive a copy, and the first person to request Ever Present Danger will receive that copy. If you would like a copy of Never Look Back AND the copy of Ever Present Danger, that’s fine too. Just let me know!

The books will be shipped to you from my home, so I will need your shipping address. They’re FREE to you ~ you won’t pay a single penny. However, since I am paying the shipping, I need to limit the giveaway to residents of the contiguous US (the lower 48 states). Thank you for understanding!

Now, you know you want to read these books, so send me an email!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This week I will be posting a review of Amy Grant’s new book, Mosaic. And whatta you know ~ I also have three brand new copies of Mosaic to give away! Even though I haven’t had a chance to write up my review yet, if you know you would like a copy of Mosaic, just send me an email using the email address in the left hand sidebar. The first 3 people to request a copy of Mosaic will receive a brand new copy!

(The publisher has sent me postage-paid envelopes to ship these books in. The postage seems to be enough to send the books media mail within the contiguous US. Due to that, I will have to limit this give away to those who live in the US lower 48 states. Thank you for understanding!)

home again

I made it home safely from Wyoming. Mom and I had a good visit. I’m exhausted, so I’ll write more in a couple of days (need some time to rest first!). Thank you again to all who committed to praying for me and my mom while I was away. I really do appreciate your prayers!

Out of Town…

Trish is currently out of town (through the end of this week) visiting her mom in northern Wyoming. To everyone who’s being praying for both of them, she asked me to say a “Big Thanks”–your prayers are greatly appreciated!

To all who are anxiously awaiting their new books–they’re on the way. I mailed them for her last week via Media Mail, so you should be getting them any day now!

Blessings,

Trish’s Hubby…

too many choices!

Oh dear ~ what’s a household full of all-around sports fan to do? Do we watch baseball or hockey? Hockey or baseball? And let’s not forget the college football and NFL games to choose from. This constitutes a conundrum around our house!!!

why i’m going to wyoming

This Sunday I will fly to Wyoming to see my mom. I haven’t seen her in over a year, and since the last time I saw her she has moved from Colorado to Wyoming. I haven’t seen her new house yet, so that will be fun ~ and I can’t wait to see some mountains again!

I don’t talk about it very often ~ I don’t think I’ve ever posted about it, either ~ but my mom’s health is declining very quickly. She will turn 78 in December. When I was a kid my mom was always very physically active; she was a runner and a PE teacher. In the past few years she has had to have both of her hips and both of her knees worked on (replaced). Painful surgeries, to be sure, but necessary in order for Mom to maintain independent mobility.

In 1988 (or maybe it was 1989?) my mom became a professional storyteller. She and her friend Glenda traveled all over the country telling stories about Calamity Jane. It was a very unique act ~ Glenda put on the persona of Calamity Jane and told stories about Calamity’s life in first person. My mom, with the stage name "BarbWire", was Calamity’s sidekick. They even had an authentic chuckwagon they hauled around with them as part of their show. They became very popular "Old West Entertainers" ~ so popular, in fact, that at the height of their storytelling careers they were turning down engagements just so they could go home more than once a quarter!

Glenda started noticing my mom was having problems remembering her lines during their show in 2001. Then Mom started having difficulty with some regular everyday activities ~ things like writing checks and balancing her checkbook. Her mental abilities and activities began to slow down significantly. She would forget to take her medications, or get mixed up about what medications she was supposed to take when. She became easily confused and flustered with what were once simple things for her, like counting back change. My mom has always been an avid news junkie ~ one of her favorite activities used to be reading at least 2 newspapers everyday (the local newspaper and USA Today), completing the crossword puzzles and cutting out articles she found interesting. By 2005 she was no longer able to do those things.

One time my mom got out the snowblower to mow the lawn!

In the past 2 years Mom’s memory, mental sharpness, and physical coordination have deteriorated. She is no longer able to cook meals, do the dishes, manage her time or maintain any kind of concentration. More recently she has begun having hallucinations and difficulty in sequencing (i.e. doing things in proper order, like putting on socks then putting on shoes ~ Mom will put on her shoes then try to put on her socks); she’s having flashes of anger and/or juvenile types of behavior (my mom has always been a very non-confrontational person, and she very rarely got angry ~ now she will get angry in a heartbeat over things that are completely inappropriate to become angry over). She has become obsessive about things like cleaning the sink, or lint on her dark clothing, yet she refuses to not wear that particular clothing. Her balance is sketchy at best, even with a cane ~ she falls down frequently. She has difficulty with short term memory, forgets words, and sometimes will forget what she’s saying in the middle of her sentence.

I have massive amounts of guilt that I can’t be there with her all the time. I know she’s being well taken care of ~ I have no doubts about that. I just feel awful that I’m not there to help.

While I’m staying with Mom, Glenda will make a quick trip to Casper, Wyoming, to attend an Alzheimer’s Wyoming conference. She’ll learn more about how to take care of Mom. My mom doesn’t have Alzheimer’s ~ she has a form of dementia, which is very, very similar to the dementia that affected my grandmother (my mom’s mom).

If you think about it over the next few days, please pray for me and my mom. I have been told to expect that this visit may be difficult for me (emotionally), but that it’s very important that I come NOW. I have some idea as to what to expect ~ which is causing no small amount of mixed feelings on my part. So please pray for strength, compassion, patience and understanding for me. And pray that Mom and I will have a lovely visit together. 

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…and we have hockey!!!

WOOHOO! The first regular season NHL games tonight on Versus ~ Anaheim Ducks @ Detriot Red Wings, and best of all ~ Dallas Stars @ Colorado Avalanche. Oh my ~ how will I ever choose who to root for?!

homeschool t-shirts

Just look what I found ~ the cutest homeschool apparel and accessories from Homeschool Boutique.com. Just check out these Homeschool Chick Handbags ~ the perfect size for carrying a small knitting or crochet project, a book, wallet and cell phone. What else does a girl really need to carry with her?! So, so, SO cute!!!