Saturday Briday Shower - Part Two

Hey, Y'all,

We had the bridal shower and had a wonderful time. I am posting pictures so that those who would like to see them can feel like they were actually there. I just got home a few minutes ago, and gave Gramps some of the sandwiches that Judy made.

The bride-to-be, Rachael, is Mark and Allie's daughter and is getting married in January.

You will probably notice the little girl who is in most of the pictures. She is the delightful 5 year old daughter of Karen, at whose home we had the bridal shower. The party was hosted by Karen, Judy, and me.

Pictures posted are:

1. Rachael and Lauren; 2. Karen, me, Rachael, and Judy.

3. Rachael and Lauren opening a gift 4. Lauren and Jennifer at the table

5. Gift from Marion, a crocheted doily made by Marion. 6. Rachael and Lauren

7. Jessie, sister of bride, and Charlene, friend of families 8. Rachael and gift

9. Allie, Rachael, and Lauren 10. Allie, Rachael, and Draema, mother of groom to be

11. Draema, Judy and Rachael 12. Lauren and Jennifer

13. Marion, Judy's Mom

I took more pictures but thought this would be a good representation of them. It was a lot of fun and we ate well (of course).

This is the last of the posting for today; it is late (nearly 11 p.m.) and my eyes are telling me it is time to close down and crawl into my bed. May you have a good night's rest, and I hope you will have a chance to go to worship tomorrow with your church family. God's blessings on each of you. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off. More tomorrow. Bye for now.

Saturday Bridal Shower - Part One

Hey, Y'all,

This morning was a perfect time to be up early and ice cupcakes, which I did. I also mixed up the dip for the crackers to be spread with or dipped into, or whatever they want to do with it. It tasted absolutely Yummy..MMMMM.

Recipe for the spread: 1 cup blueberry flavored Philly Cheese, 1 cup light sour cream, 1 cup Miracle Whip Spread, 1 package of Raven's Original Garden Party Spice Mix.

Mix all together until thoroughly mixed and then refrigerate until ready to serve.

The Party Spice Mix I bought at some kind of place where they were selling it and they had a spread prepared which I tasted, and I just had to buy some of it. They have a website at:

http://www.ravensoriginal.com/

and you go there and look under Gourmet Products for more recipes. I just went there to check and make sure that you could purchase products there, and you can. I also found out that the product I used costs $3.50. Not bad for a party use, hmmmm?

One can also use the mix to sprinkle on baked potatoes, fish, chicken, por roast, and can also mix it into hamburgers, meat loaf, rice, soup, cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, vegetables. BTW, I am not trying to sell anyone on this product. I just like to share information with my friends and family. It does not contain salt, sugar, MSG or preservatives.

At the top of the posting you will see pictures of the mini cupcakes I made and iced. The white icing is on the carrot cake cupcakes and the lavendar is on the yellow layer cupcakes. I put the tiny flower decorations on to make them more partylike.

The recipe for the icing is the one I was using to make the pitiful petit fours, and I saved it and used it for the cupcakes. It hardens immediately upon being placed on the cool cupcakes. I put them into the fridge last night after finishing baking them. This morning, I took them out and they were nice and cold.

Recipe for the icing:

Into the top of a double boiler place:

1/2 c (1/4 c) {1/8 c} light corn syrup (these amounts are cut in half for making less of a recipe)

1/2 c (1/4 c) {1/8 c) water ( I used the smallest measurements for the 40 minis)

9 c. (4 and 1/2 c) {2 and 1/4 c} confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Place top of double boiler into the bottom part (with some water in the bottom part) and turn on heat to low heat. Combine the ingredients and stir them until thoroughly mixed and the mixture becomes liquidy and heat until lukewarm. Then simply apply small amount to top of cupcake. Put the cupcake to one side, Do the next one.....It hardens on top of cupcake quickly. If the mixture gets too warm, simply take it off the bottom kettle and continue to ice cupcakes.

Well, I need to stop now and get ready to go after while. More later. Shower pictures to follow later today or in the morning. Love to all of you. Blabbin' Grammy signing off for right now. Bye.

Miscellaneou Matters

Hey, Y'all,

Lots of different stuff to talk about today. I was up this morning with the notion of getting all the mini cupcakes baked before my eye doctor's appointment at 10:30. HA!

It didn't happen. I did get the first cake mix mixed up and made 24 of the mini cupcakes. But then I had to get Gramps up and fed and get his insulin shot ready for him to take. I put the rest of the batter in the fridge after covering the bowl with press n' seal plastic. (Wonderful stuff, you know).

I left at 10:00 a.m. and got there with 10 minutes to spare before my appointment. Unfortunately, I didn't see past the receptionist's desk until close to 11 a.m. They were really busy this morning. The doctor had some bad news for me, that we had discussed in a manner of passing the last time, that I have corneal dystrophy and he is sending me to a specialist in December, so that he can examine my eyes.

I left my eye doctor's office at about 12:30 p.m. and headed on out to the local Walmart for some things I needed. When I arrived home, I saw a package waiting for me at the back door. Shazam! It was a package that I had been looking for, a gift from my niece, Andrea. She had alerted me to be looking for it, but was very mysterious about the contents.

When I got inside, I quickly put the things I bought at Walmart on the kitchen table and picked up the scissors that I had been using to clip threads on the quilt pieces with. I carefully slit open the package, and read the card. It brought tears to my eyes, and with a choke in my voice read it to Gramps. It was so sweet. I reached into the package then to bring out the rest of the contents. It was a tube of Tangee Lipstick. Andrea had read the story of how I had "borrowed" my mother's tube of Tangee to take to school when I was only a second grader.

For those of you who are not familiar with Tangee, it has been around for longer than I have. It was the only lipstick my mom ever used. It is orange in color and is transparent and changes color so that it is suited to your complexion regardless of what shade your skin is. I immediately opened the tube and smelled the aroma. It smells just the same as it did so long ago. The aroma transported me back in memory to those days. I went into the bathroom and applied it to my lips, then I smiled. Thank you, thank you, dear Andrea. You have pleased me no end. How very thoughtful you are!

Later this afternoon, (after lunch), I took the rest of the cake batter from the fridge and continued my baking. Did you know that one cake mix will produce about 50 mini cupcakes? In case you ever need to know, that could be helpful information. I finally finished up the minicupcakes. Hallelujah! They are yet to be frosted. That will come early in the morning.

It is now a little after 5 p.m. and I have just turned off the oven and am resting up from my labors. It wasn't difficult, just time consuming and a little wearing on a bad back. It was, however, a labor of love. I look forward to the bridal shower and spending time with friends and loved ones.

I am posting a picture of my new baker's rack in the kitchen near my washer and dryer, oops, which by the way, I need to remember to take the clothes out of the dryer and put some things into it that I washed this morning.

When I came home from the eye doctor, Gramps had changed out of his sweats in which he sleeps and has been wearing during the day time, and was in his daily wear clothing, which also lets me know that he is really thinking of himself as getting better.That is wonderful visual news to me. I thank the Lord that he is seeing himself as getting well.

I am going to have to head back into the kitchen and see what he would like for his supper after while. Also, there ia a need to clean up my kitchen mess from baking cupcakes.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the evening. May God bless each of you and keep you in HIs care. Love to you all. Bye for now.

Night Gown Morning

Hey, Y'all,
Yeah, I'm telling you what---we really had a full day today. I was up at 7 a.m. as most usually I am and after I took my first medication for the day, I came in here to my computer room and checked my e-mail and my blog to see if there had been any activity on either. Then I went into the kitchen and started picking stuff up and kind of putting it to rights. I decided to trim out the snowflakes that I had laminated yesterday afternoon.

About 8:30, I started pushing Gramps to get out of bed to get ready for the day, and so he did, and we had breakfast. About 9 a.m. we went into the bathroom to get his shower so he could look good and smell sweet for the therapists who were scheduled to visit us today.

So, upon finishing that, I decided to put together the baker's rack that I purchased the other day. We got it out of the box, after a big struggle to get the end of the box open.
Then it was another struggle to get the contents pulled out, because they were really packed in there. When I finally got the pieces out of the box, I turned it up to get the directions out. The only directions that fell out were in Spanish. I said, "Whoa! Madre Mia! Que Pasa! Me no hablar Espanol. How can this be?"

For a few minutes I scanned the instructions, looking to see if perchance there was any English in them. Nope! Nada! I thought, well, there are pictures and numbers and letters, perhaps I can do it with these. Then I checked inside the box again, and lo, there were more papers in the bottom. I reached in and tried to get them, but, alas! my arms were too short. So, I called on the man in the chair observing my efforts and asked him to reach in and see if he could get them. Yep! Thank Heavens, he could and did.

I was sitting in the floor wrestling the pieces of the rack and trying to figure out putting it together and had already put two pieces of it together, when we heard a knock at the front door. It was Gramps' first therapist of the day and she was here about 45 minutes earlier than she was supposed to be. (I was still in my nightgown, by the way)
She came in and saw me sitting there and said, "Oh, I put one just like that together a while back. Walmart?" I replied, "Yep". I had planned on working until 10 a.m, and then stopping to take my shower.

So, she went on with treatment of Gramps and I kept on sitting there in the kitchen floor in my gown and working on the baker's rack. She worked on Gramps' neck, loosening the tension and muscles in his neck, and when she was finished and left, I just had a little left to do, so I kept on working, and became quite frustrated because I couldn't get the last four little screws into the wooden shelf in the center of the rack.
The screws were only about a half inch long at most and I didn't have a Phillips head screw driver that was small enough on the point.

I finally got my cordless drill out and managed to get them into the shelf bottom about the time that Carol, the speech therapist arrived. And of course, there I was, still in the kitchen floor in my night gown. We always sit at the kitchen table to do his speech therapy, so I picked up the empty box and the wrappings that were on the pieces of the baker's rack, and straightened up everything, put away the tools, etc. and decided I would just stay in my gown and wait until after Carol left to do my shower, which was perfectly all right with her

After Carol left, about 12:30, we went ahead and had lunch, and then I had my shower. Whew! The day was just half over...

We left the house about 2 p.m. and went for Gramps' doctor's visit which had been scheduled earlier during the week. The doctor was pleased with his progress and when they weighed him, he weighed 159. She said that apparently the physical therapist who weighed him must have looked at the scales wrong. The reason I wanted her to see him was because I thought he had been losing a lot of weight and was concerned. Thank Goodness that he isn't!

She did schedule him to have a new CT scan to check his head because he is still having some pain in it, although not as much as he was a couple of months ago. We will be doing that on Monday morning. More on that later.

After we left the doctor's office, i had some paperback books to trade, so we went on to Morristown to a paper back trading place and I now have a new supply of books to read. I guess I must read close to 30 books a month. I am addicted to reading and have been ever since I learned to read 69 years ago.

We stopped in Jefferson City for supper at the Gondolier Restaurant and shared a salad and an individual pizza. Then on to home and here we are at 6:30 p.m. Long day, and we'll be glad to be in bed by 10:30 or 11 p.m.

Well, I have other stuff to do, and so, this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for tonight. Hope you all have happy dreams, and a great day tomorrow. Much love to each of you. Bye for now.

Lazy Bones Day= Yawn!

Hey, Y'all,
Ever have a sleepless night? Well, last night was like Sleepless in New Market (instead of Seattle). ha. Gramps did not seem to be able to go to sleep, and so I was awake off and on, as well. Consequently, I finally got up at 2 a.m. and sewed for about two hours and then went back to bed and was able to sleep some then between 2 and 6. Then that was the end of that. Gramps did not get up until 2 p.m.

But at least, that gave me the opportunity to do some things I wanted to do. I looked online for patterns for making snowflakes, and found some instructions that were suitable. Yesterday, I had bought a pack of colored paper that has some of the right color of blue in it. After I made six snowflakes, I got out the small laminator that I bought a year or so ago, and laminated the cutout snowflakes. I love doing craft type stuff, you know. I have yet to cut the plastic laminate from the flakes, but it won't take long.

I also have finished stitching the flowers on to the quilt squares and am tying and clipping the threads so the stitches won't pull out during its use. My eyelids are drooping right now, and I hope I can finish and post this

While Gramps was still in bed this morning, I went to my favorite (one of them, that is) store, Wally World. While there, I saw a good friend that I had not seen in some time, and it was wonderful to catch up on what had been happening in our lives. My only blood sister, Margaret, passed away in December of 07, and her only sister, Becky, passed away in February of this year. The passing of my sister was not such a surprise to us, but the passing of Carolyn's sister, Becky, was entirely unexpected and quite devastating to her family. I am hoping to reestablish more permanent contact with Carolyn. We taught together for many years in the same school and are dear friends.

Gramps is doing so much better over the past few days, it is quite heartening to see him walking around the house with out complaining about his head or neck hurting. It is humorous to hear him tell people about his accident with the shower curtain rod, because it is quite different from how it really happened. Of course, he has the details of where it happened, and why we were where he says we were, quite mixed up and his faulty reasoning is what makes it so humorous.
But, that doesn't matter at all.

I cooked a whole pork tenderloin in the crock pot yesterday, and when it was finished, I took it out and put it into the refrigerator. Today, I had a sandwich of it (cold) on bread with mayo, and spread a bit of barbeque sauce on it.That was my lunch. YUM! It was really tasty. I am going to give Gramps some of it in a little while for supper, and I may have a bit more when he has his.

Well, I don't know if I put this on yesterday's blog or not, but this is for those people who don't live in Tennessee and are followers of UT Football. The other day, Phillip Fulmer announced his resignation as coach. It seems they don't suffer a losing season We are sorry to see him go. He provided a lot or color for the games.

This is Blabbin' Grammy trying to keep her eyes open for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow is a busy day, with Carol, the speech therapist, and Sarah, the occupational therapist, coming in the morning, and then we have an appointment with Gramps's dr. in the mid afternoon. May God's blessings rest on each of you. We know that although Barack Obama won the presidential election yesterday, that God is in control and He is the One who guides our lives. More tomorrow. Love to all my friends and family out there in "Blogland". Bye for now.

Election Day Activiities

Hey, Y'all,
Gettin' up time came a little early this morning (7 a.m.) because we wanted to get to the polls when they opened (9 a.m.) and we wanted to eat breakfast out at Hardee's as well. Last night I had checked online to find out for sure when the polls were due to open here in our county. Isn't the internet wonderful? I certainly think so.

We got to the voting place and went in to see that there were quite a few people ahead of us, even though we got there a couple of minutes before 9. When we got through with the first part of the process (signing the book and showing our identifications) the officials let us get to the head of the line to vote because Gramps was using his walker. We knew he would need it to stand for a long time. So we got out a little earlier than we would have otherwise. They also let me help him vote since he can not see well.

After leaving the voting place we proceeded to the Walmart, so that I could get some things I needed and then we went home. Gramps therapist, Sarah, was waiting for us when we got here and worked on his neck and shoulders for a while. He is improving greatly in the motion of his neck and can turn it more easily. He was actually able to turn his head to look up the road to make sure nothing was coming over the hill when we went out this morning to vote.
That is a very important role for him and me, since it is very difficult for me to see through his head, when I come to the intersection. Ha.

A little while after Sarah left, I received a call from another therapist with the same group, and he is filling in for the physical therapist, Sharon, who has been helping Gramps for the past few weeks. His name is Stuart and he said he would be here in about 40 minutes. In the meantime, I put a tenderloin in the crock pot to cook for tomorrow (I can smell it even now, as it is cooking). Stu came and worked with Gramps for about thirty minutes and promised to call Friday morning to let us know what time he would be here.

It seems tomorrow is a "free" day, with no therapists scheduled to come, so I have promised Gramps he can sleep in till 10 a.m. if he wishes.

We decided to go to Captain Dee's for a late lunch/early supper and so we left here about 2 p.m. and went to Morristown for that. On our way home, I wanted to make another stop at Walmart and buy the corner baker's rack that I saw there earlier, so that I can put it in the kitchen next to the washer and dryer and use it for my laundry products and a few "pretty" knick knacks to dress up that corner of the kitchen.

I am planning on making some mini cupcakes of carrot cake and yellow cake for Rachael's shower on Saturday. I will decorate them with tinted frosting and little decorative flowers. O hope I can do them with a minimum of mess. ha. Also I am making some snowflakes (paper) to decorate the room where we are giving the shower at a friend's (Karen"s) home. I will be making the cupcakes on Friday afternoon. Since tomorrow is a "free" day, I plan to do the snowflakes and laminate them then.

Hopefully, my arising time tomorrow will be early (around 7 or 7:30). I have a lot planned to do then. I know I will probably be working on Matt's quilt some more. I still need to cut the strips for the backing and also the batting strips need to be cut. I only lack stitching the flowers onto 8 more squares, before I will have that part of the quilt finished. I may do some of that this evening.

Fortunately, this afternoon while we were waiting for Stu to arrive, I got the two loads of clothes folded and put away that I had washed and dried yesterday. I haven't talked to Hugh and Imazo since we saw them on Friday, but will be checking with them tomorrow.

I would like those of you who read my blog to remember my friend, Dot, who had bypass surgery a few weeks ago, when you speak to the Lord. She has healed nicely from the surgery and is doing better, but she has to undergo dialysis several times a week, and I know it is a difficult thing to do, because it takes a lot of energy. Thank you so very much for doing that in her behalf. Thank you for your continued prayers in behalf of Gramps and myself, as well.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the night. May God's love and peace be in your heart as you reflect on your day. Bye for now.

Catch-up

Hey, Y'all,
I know it has been a couple of days since I last posted, but not a whole lot has been going on here. We kind of took it easy yesterday, and the weather has been soooo gorgeously warm here. Today it was up in the seventies and tomorrow is supposed to be very nice. Tomorrow is the day we get out to vote for the new President of the United States and we will be going out to cast our votes.

The leaves are at their height of color here, and the maples and other trees are showing their very best right now. It is so wonderful to drive along the roads and see all the scarlet, orange, and yellow leaves. The trees look like they are ablaze.

I took advantage of the warm weather to vacuum out my little red Yaris automobile, so now it is clean on the inside and I may get around to driving it through a car wash tomorrow while we are out. I carried off the trash today after Carol, the speech therapist, did her visit with us, then came back and did the vacuuming. I know the warm weather can't last long. I believe rain is on its way in on Thursday.

BTW, speaking of Thursday, the doctor will be seeing Gramps on that day, after we have had Sarah, the occupational therapist, and Carol, the speech therapist. So I guess Thursday may be a very busy day.

We got up this morning and I helped Gramps to take his shower, and asked him, "now, don't you feel so much better?" and he said, jokingly, "Oh, yeah." I think he does not really like doing the shower, but it does make him look and smell so much better. It just really takes a lot of effort on both our parts. I always have to sit down soon after we get through.

We are planning on going to Hardee's for breakfast in the morning and then head to the polls to vote. (If I can drag the man out of bed, that is). We have two therapists coming to see him tomorrow. We are hoping to be back home by 11 a.m. for the first one.

I sat in here a few minutes ago (before I started this posting) and went to sleep in my computer chair. Sometimes I just kind of run out of juice. ha. I have been sewing quite a bit today on the quilt squares. Dancing With The Stars is going on in my left ear from my little TV. It doesn't really demand a lot of attention, you know. Watching them does kind of make me wonder how the women dancing keep on the scanty clothes they are wearing. The clothes they almost are wearing may be why so many guys seem to enjoy watching the show.

You should hear the noise in this little four/five room house (kitchen is combined with dining room by having a table in it). My TV is blaring and I can hear Gramps' TV in the living room.

Ooops, Gramps is on his way to bed and it is just now 9 p.m. So I guess I will be up alone for the next hour or so. It is difficult for me to go to bed early and sleep all night.
I just gave him his nighttime medication and took mine. We just switched tv channels to watch the Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash.

Well, it is time to sign off for the night and I'll go watch with Gramps till we get sleepy enough to go to sleep. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off and I'll see you tomorrow, God willing. Love to you all. Bye for now.

Gramps is getting around the house now most of the time without a cane, and is almost back to his pre=Illinois trip condition, (when he thinks he got hit on the head with the shower curtain rod).