(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!!)