(11 miles, sort of...)

Today I wussed out. I got to the 10+ portion of the walk and called my husband for some water. (Bless his heart, he loves to bring me things as I walk.) He drove to meet me and the Car called out loudly to me, screaming, "Get in. Do not get out. Go home." I listened.

(15 miles)

I am definitely old. I mean, whew, poooped. I even took a two hour nap after the walk, today. Jeez, what a geezer.

I have been a busy little girl. Not only am I using up a large portion of my days walking, but I have been working on mini quilts for months, preparing for several quilt/art shows that run almost back-to-back. Since Thursday I have been involved with the Jonesboro Heritage Quilt Festival. These small festivals are often my favorites because everyone is so helpful and and pleasant. Also, this time I ad an entire room to display and decorate. What fun. Too bad I am still too dumb to remember to take pictures!

Perhaps this weekend when I do the Red River Festival I can get my head on straight. In the meantime, I am spending my "spare" time trying my best to get the rug completed for a canvas company who wanted me to test their cloth. Of this I will definitely take photos since it will probably be the last time I get to see it. What a ton of work to "give" away and not even know if they will like the end result.....

Still nothing new to report on Brandy's condition. We are apparently going to have to go to New Orleans to see a doctor. Fingers crossed, prayers said.....

Here is the story: I should just say, "Ditto," to my last blog. Talk about things changing with one phone call. We are reeling in a state of....what, shock?, disbelief? relief? A couple of days after the car accident where the emergency room doctors did every test they could think of to check for injuries, we received another call. This call was from one of the doctors who treated Brandy after the accident. He called to say that the complete results of the tests were in and it was discovered that Brandy has over 90% blockage in one of her arteries. This is totally unrelated to her accident. It apparently has been going on for quite some time and was never discovered even with all the tests for her liver surgery, her hysterectomy, her....whatever. Left untreated, as it has been, it is a death sentence. The reason I mentioned "relief" earlier is that we still have time to do something about this because it was discovered at all. I repeat, miracles do happen--who would have thought that a car accident could save a life??? Now, we have to get her to a vascular surgeon. The problem now is no one will treat her because she was not working long enough at her new job for her new insurance to kick in. What has happened to the doctors who are in it for the humanity aspect? not just for the money?

(10 miles)

Cannot even talk. Too worried to write. Perhaps tomorrow.

(14 miles)

Just proud to say I made it. I am pooped.

(5 miles)

Whew. Lives can change with the speed of only one phone call. Around 5:00 yesterday evening we received a call letting us know that our daughter, Brandy, had been in a car accident and was in the emergency room in Minden. Yet, again, she proves that miracles happen and some folks are granted 9 lives. She is down several of those, definitely one was added to the "used" column after this incident. The doctor kept running tests, an MRI, CAT scans, X-Rays, etc. She had seen a photo of the car and just simply could not believe that anyone could have survived the impact let alone have survived it without major problems. The car Brandy was driving was rear-ended by a truck to the extent that the rear of her car was forced into the front of the car with part of it wrapping around the driver's side of the vehicle. She had on a seat belt and was still thrown into the passenger side of the car, tennis shoes torn off her feet. She was knocked out for several minutes and came to only to see the driver of the other car lighting up a cigarette. She screamed at him to put the cigarette out because there could be gas fumes. It seems pretty obvious that this guy was not running on all cylinders! She is lucky, we are lucky. Brandy received only soreness and bruises. More evidence, Miracles do happen. Whew.......

(4 miles)

I am a good girl. Today it was misty and I still did my walk. O.K., so I did it out of guilt
because I did not walk the nine mile one on Sunday. I just could not handle two days
of guilt. Should I mention that I was also trying to undo the damage of my dinner from
the night before???

Last night for my birthday dinner, my husband had plans to take me to some fancy
restaurant. I changed those plans. I asked for a hamburger with bleu cheese. He
had to call all over town to find someone who made those. Success was ours. We
had a huge hamburger loaded with cheese on a jalapeno bun and it was joined by
some wonderful sweet potato chips. Of course, I burped all night long from
indigestion but that is why God gave us Alka Seltzer ! Bring on the bread pudding.....


Oh, here is the picture of the winner of the Quilt Raffle. TADA.

Congratulations to Candace Bartmess of West Monroe, LA. She is the winner of the drawing for the "Very Pink" quilt. She told us that she had lost a grandmother and an aunt to breast cancer so she was very grateful that she not only had won the quilt in honor of her loved ones but was pleased that she was able to help.

I want to thank not only Candace but all the other wonderful folks out there who helped us reach our goal. Without your kindness and generosity we would never have completed this phase of our "project." We are appreciative of every penny that you guys gave. Now, pray for our feet. We have lots and lots more walking to do before the big event the weekend of November 20.

By the way, today is my Birthday!! I told my husband that I feel like a banana. It takes so long to get to the ripe stage, the perfect time to enjoy, then, boom, in only a very short time, it is too ripe, age spots and squishy flesh......hmmmm. Think I should change my name to Chiquita?

(oops, a few too many clouds -- skipped the walk)

O.K. so I am a wuss. I did not do the 9 mile walk that was scheduled for today. The only way I am going to walk in the rain is during the actual event, itself. Otherwise, I am in the studio having fun. Hopefully you are doing something on your weekend that brings a smile, too.

Tomorrow we go down to the local newspaper office for the drawing of the winner of my quilt. Good luck all of you wonderful folks who helped us reach our personal goal as well as helping bring us all closer to the goal of beating cancer!

(13 miles)

Amazing what things thrill me these days. Take today for instance--it was a cloudy day. When a person is walking for three and a half hours, it is a big deal when there are clouds to block the sun. And, yes, I was definitely thrilled.

The rest of our day was same ol' same 'ol, except for the fact that our son was in from Houston and we went to dinner at a terrific new Bistro here in town to celebrate our birthdays. Yummy.

This is always a day tinged with sadness and reflection. It will be that way for many years to come.

Luckily for me, it turned into a lovely day. Not only did we get some much needed rain, but my friend, Jan, invited me to go with her to Monroe to have a birthday lunch for MOI. It is not actually my birthday until Monday, the 14th, but it definitely does not hurt my feelings any to start the celebration early. At this age it helps to stretch out the good parts for as long as possible. My son, Chris, is driving in from Houston for a late celebration of his birthday, and an early celebration of mine. From the beginning I have considered him my own personal birthday present. He was "unwrapped" just 6 days before my birthday and is very likely the only time my husband gave me my present early. Doll that my husband is, he usually does his shopping and giving at the last second. To think that little gift just grew and turned into this wonderful young man. Some gifts are hard to top.

(5 miles)

Warning: Time for one of those snooze reports. Boring days, boring nights. For "normal" folks, my life is probably too smushed up with too many things to do in too little time. Unfortunately, for me, that is normal. Once I read that there are folks who believe that if a person stayed busy and had a lot of projects going, they would never die because there were too many projects that needed to be completed. Based on that theory, I will outlive Methuselah.

I am actually back to my plan where I need to invent a longer day. It has to be that or give up sleeping altogether.... Of course, this is probably not a problem for anyone reading this Thread, today, as you are probably already asleep.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAR SWEET CHRIS.
I LOVE YOU AND HOPE YOU HAVE MANY
MANY MORE WONDERFUL YEARS TO CELEBRATE

(7 mile)

Got a little smarter; started a little bit earlier. Therefore, the walk was not only shorter, it was much more pleasant than yesterday with its cooler morning temperature. Can anyone be looking forward to cooler weather more than my daughter and I are? One would think that I would be losing weight just in sweat, alone. HA. Not happening.

Guess I had better go make more samples for Festival. Houston is quickly rearing its head. Of course, par for the course, I stopped and worked on the least important project that I had, the comforters for Mother's beach house. Dumb. They sure are cute, though....

Have a safe and fun Labor Day tomorrow.

(12 miles)

Too hot and too exhausted to add more than, "What was I thinking!!!!!????

(5 miles)

September 2, 2009

Wow, have I ever created an awesome recipe!! If you like a sweet-tart dish, make the dish below and you will be forever indebted to
ME.

Raspberry Custard

1. Scald 3 cups of milk (that means heat the milk just to the point where it would start to boil)
2. Lightly beat 4 eggs, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl just until mixed.
3. Gradually add the milk to the egg mixture.
4. Put 6-8 raspberries into each of 8 custard cups. Pour custard mixture into these cups. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
5. Place the custard cups in a larger baking dish. Surround the cups with very hot water.
6. "Bake in 325 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.
7. Call or write me and tell me what you think!!! I take cash, checks, credit cards and babies ( I want a grandbaby!!)

(4 miles)

Well, the craziness of dealing with my mother is demonstrated with her latest idea. If you read my previous Thread from Aug. 25, you saw where my mother was planning to come for a visit. Take this scenario: It takes about five hours to drive from her house to her beach house in south Alabama. She called the other day saying she wanted to come for a visit. It takes about 8 hours to drive to our house from hers. Her plan: drive to our house, then leave the next day for the beach house. By the way, it takes 9 hours to drive to the beach from here. Have you noticed anything wrong here? Drive 8 hours, then 9 hours to get to the same place she could get in FIVE? No amount of reasoning could convince her what a crazy idea she had. Finally, when we got through to her that our air conditioning was broken and we had no idea when it was going to be repaired did she decide to meet us at the beach house. (We actually stretched the truth about the air conditioner not being repaired just so she would NOT do this insane driving.)

It actually turned out beautifully. Tom and I drove down Wednesday, met my sister for a wonderful dinner in Ocean Springs, and then rove on to the beach. Mother was already there, sleeping peacefully. My sister joined us for the weekend and a lovely time was had by all. The only bad part is the heavy suntan. I mean, every time I go to the beach and get a tan, I find I have gained at least two pounds. Isn't the only reasonable explanation that tans are heavy?