The Holidays Are Here!

It has been a while since I’ve been able to post, but it really hasn’t been my fault [in my whining voice]. 😉 I have been super busy and had my hands in a lot of different projects. But one of the most important has been keeping Rock happy and excited about the dinners I prepare.

We have been unable to attend Bible services and worship services for a few Sundays but our church family has not forgotten us, has been outstandingly loving and I am so very thankful Rock decided to make this our home. No one is perfect but every person I know is doing their best to reach the goal; live as God commanded. I have a lot of little projects, like making bookmarks for the welcome packets, and I will be updating the website, as soon as it is finished. Also, my faithful friend and woman of God has wanted to start a prayer group and it has been on my heart a lot, so I helped her get it started. We had our first planning meeting and my heart is swelling with love for God and what this ladies group can mean for His Kingdom.

Kenneth, my caregivers and I have been preparing some fantastic dishes and meals. We continued making different pastas, I give them some of it to take home and everyone in our families love it. Sometimes it’s plain and other times we add herbs to bump those pasta dishes up. However we do it, it’s a hit. I made beef filet and a spinach salad with beets, pistachios and goat cheese. The inspiration came from http://www.macheesmo.com/2009/12/a-meat-and-potatoes-date/. I also watched a few episodes of The Chew and one of the guests made their Mother’s recipe for Egg Nog Sweet Potato Pie. I made a few of them and everyone loved them. I found some gems for recipes on this site, Food 52, like the yummy sounding Croissant French Toast here http://food52.com/recipes/12907-croissant-french-toast

Our oldest son brought his family here for Thanksgiving. The youngest twin was unable to bring his family this year and our youngest son couldn’t come from San Diego. We decided many years ago, that our family would meet at Thanksgiving Day every year and they would be free to stay at home or visit their in-laws at the Christmas Holiday. We went to a large hotel for our Holiday meal because we did that for many years and enjoyed the spread. But this was the first year I had thoughts of making the meal at home, ahead of time, little by little and make the meal for everyone. With the help of my daughters in law, it should be a breeze.

One daughter-in-law is resigning from her job in a medical facility and do what she really loves, genealogy work. My other daughter-in-law wrote and published her book, Cryptid Girl on Amazon and it is really, really good. It’s not expensive, so I hope people download it and give it a chance because it’s a fantastic book. I have requested that the VA give me back the GI education benefits I lost during the time I was hospitalized and in recovery so that I can finish my degree. I was less than a year from getting my Business degree and want to have it before I die. I hope and pray they approve my request. All of us are working from home now and I hope we can encourage and support each other more than ever. Our oldest son is graduating with his accounting degree on Sunday and we will be there, Lord willing. He has done a wonderful job putting God first, taking care of his family, working part-time and going to school. We are proud!

I strived to continue exercising about 10 minutes, twice a day. I did a great job on it until all the Christmas card orders started rolling in and the Holiday seemed to be running toward me. But I will pick it back up as soon as we return from our trip to Augusta, Ga. But I’ve been really good about continuing my daily Scripture reading and studying. I’m following two different Bible reading plans; one is a chronological reading of the Old and New Testament along with reading the New Testament through digging deeper this time.

Recently, I felt compelled to put my thoughts about politics on Facebook. So I put this commentary on my timeline and got some positive feedback on it “Contrary to a recent phone conversation I had, we don’t need to rewrite the Constitution to get rid of political corruption and inaction of our representatives. We just need to run the system the way it was meant to run. IMO, at a minimum, we need to – (1) get rid of the political party system. (2) ensure politicians can only run for one term every ten years. (3) give politicians a salary and no retirement; they must pay for the healthcare of their family members. (4) create clear cut, strict political financial reform. (5) create a law that says politicians must live by all the laws they pass. (6) hold politicians to at least minimum established standards of workplace accountability.”

I found a cute costume jewelry bracelet with different color pearls designating birthdays of loved ones. I selected the colors for my mother’s grand and great-grand children, purchased a bracelet and sent it to my Mom. I found this bracelet long before my Mother’s birthday but ended up sending her the bracelet in a box with her recent greeting card order and framed birthday card. She enjoyed the box even though she doesn’t like getting birthday gifts from me. I want her to think of her legacy each time she looks at this bracelet.

I designed different cards and used some Holiday pastels this year. I was happy that customers got their orders in early this year. I sent out the order forms and requests for orders in mid September. Most customers responded by mid October, which enabled me to respond easily when I received orders after that. I worked hard every day, sometimes until dinner time and midday break, to get them all out. With everyone’s help, we got everyone their orders on time this year. Now I have one personal Holiday card order to do that actually has no due date and more cards that go to the flower and convenience shop. Then it will be time to start designing Valentine’s Day cards and that’s exciting!

Through all this, I feel like my health is being propped up…………….but barely. At times I feel like I’m not going to make it out of bed the next day. But I’m able to get up when my caregiver gets here at nine. I feel badly that I have to take medication but I realize there are many people worse off than I am. There are times (like what happened a few days ago) when my food gets stuck in my throat and someone has to help me get it down. Most of the time it’s something soft am I can’t understand why I’m having a problem. Then there are mysteries like the need to stay in bed for a day after I bathe or get wet in a rain shower. Why? I understand why I cannot go out when temperatures go below freezing (32 degrees) but it is frustrating when I have to postpones important appointments. I am going to turn in a specimen early next week because I am having some problems with my stomach and I can’t figure out why. My hives are doing pretty well, even though I have to take additional medicines to keep them under control. But I will do that until I get better or until I have to take the allergy shots. I am trusting God, not giving up, just doing everything I can and doing the best I can with my health; until I cannot do it anymore.

Thank you for spending a little time here with me. Please remember that God loves you and that is why we say 🎄Merry Christmas! Also, I hope you have a happy and safe 🎉 Happy New Year!