Sunday, November 26, 2006

Applesauce

Friday and Saturday were the last two days I enjoyed the help of E. Now she's off to Oregon for five months. Before she left, she helped bring the sweet smell of simmering Granny Smith apples into our warm kitchen.

Granny Smith apples are the apples of choice for our low sugar diet and the low Fall prices enticed me to buy a case to store up for the winter.



We canned 13 quarts.






Mmmm... chunky sauce with cinnamon and nutmeg.


It's possible!

A Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free Thanksgiving Feast

Menu:

Fresh Turkey
Gravy
Stovetop Holiday Dressing
Green Beans with Pine Nuts
Sweet Yam Casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Coleslaw
Dinner Roll
Chocolate Cookies with Rice Dream Ice-Cream (We made pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin and butternut squash a few days later.)

Delicious!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day celebration thanks to my helper, who worked hard helping me to prepare these yummy dishes, and to our friends, who invited us into their home to eat and celebrate with the fun crowd they had gathered. God is very kind. So thankful!




Thursday, November 23, 2006




Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm most thankful for God's Word that teaches me such things as these:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered." Joel 2:32a

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Hebrews 13:8

Sunday, November 19, 2006

November Beauty

I love the colors that branches show after their leaves are gone. This is at the edge of our neighborhood. Can you find the winter wheat?













I spotted this old farm implement (rake) at the edge of a field a mile or so down the rode from our neighborhood. The only sound to be heard while taking the picture was the croak of a frog.


Isn't winter wheat grand? To think we catch glimpses of green in the fall and winter... That just didn't happen in the Midwest.



Our ornamental pear tree in our front yard was full of glory this year. And what makes its shine all the more appealing is that it waits until the maples across the street are all dull and drab before it gives the neighborhood the *grand finale*.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Friday Potpourri

  • Went to a wedding and felt like Cinderella: Did I dance? No. Did I get ready instantly with the help of a fairy godmother? No, but with three days rest, a helper to make dessert for it, and my dh in charge of obtaining the wedding gift, I did. Why like Cinderella? Because I was transported out of the everyday realities of our current world (sickness and survival) and given a few hours in the fantastical world of beautiful celebration and feasting.
  • Giving blood again: Just me this time. Have to drive 90 miles to a lab for a huge blood draw on Monday. Lord willing, it will make it safely to a Health Institute in Colorado on Tuesday or I'll be doing it all over again. We're hoping to get some more help in gaining better health.
  • Looking for a kitchen helper once more: My current helper has some unfinished business in Oregon for the next 4 or 5 months. She leaves after Thanksgiving. Big sigh.
  • Books, books, wherever I look: Erin has another job in which she gets paid in books. Books arrive daily by mail, UPS, and FedEx from publishers all over the country. She's on a nominating committee of the Cybil awards. These awards are the first blogger awards for children's/young adult books of the year. Articles about the awards have been featured in a Chicago press release, a Publishers Weekly newsletter, and this week in the Idaho Statesman. (She's loving the job, by the way!)
  • All of us had really good treatments this week: A first!
  • I'm currently reading Sir Walter Raleigh by John Buchan: Enjoying it lots.
  • The sun has been shining this week: *SMILES*

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Our Trip to the Doctor

Our trip to the doctor in CA had a couple of detours along the way. One was intentional. We stopped in SLC for a few days to meet our new nephew, Reese. Isn't he a cutie? The first morning there, however, my sister and I received a call telling us our 93 year old grandpa had died. We were very close to Grandpa so we immediately started trying to figure out how to get to the funeral in South Dakota.




We all managed to take a break from our planning and packing to take the train to downtown SLC that night, Friday, the 13th, in which we went to a "The End" party at Barnes and Noble. For those of you in the dark, this was the release day of the last Lemony Snicket Beaudalaire series books.

Grandpa's picture is taken just a few weeks before he died. He's celebrating his 75th class reunion at the homecoming Alumni Banquet! Earlier in the summer he was honored to be the Grand Marshall of the parade celebrating our hometown's 125th birthday. Grandpa went out in style, I'd say. I already miss him, but am grateful that he is not battling old age any longer and is enjoying the streets of glory in Heaven.

Brady started being in a lot of pain while we were in S.D. and we actually cut that visit shorter than planned as well and got to the doctor in California. Thankfully, Brady felt relief soon after his treatment and Erin and I didn't need a treatment. Yahoo! We ended up being in California two full days longer than we needed to be (due to all of our crazy flight schedule changes) so we were able to get out a few afternoons for short jaunts.
We stayed with dh's Aunt Dorothy and she treated us to a couple of parks that were really close to her and didn't require an all day commitment: Legoland and the Wild Animal Park.



Legoland amazed us. In Miniatureland, USA, five cities were represented with buildings (all of Legos) 1/20th of the original buildings size.



Pictured here, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, and a life size elephant spouting water.






The paragliding was near my dh's cousin's gift shop.





At the Wild Animal Park, the baby elephant said "hi" to us, flapping his ears. He was born September 11th.

Part of the fun of being in California is seeing all the exotic plants. I just love "Birds of Paradise."






The surfers were at a beach near Aunt Dorothy's. My original picture turned out rather dark, as smoke had swept in from the bad fire near Palm Springs that afternoon. Brady to the rescue! Thanks to his creative abilities with Photoshop, this picture turned out quite cool!

Let us also give tribute to another highlight of our trip: following the Cardinals to and through the World Series. Gotta love those Cards, World Series Champions!

And one last highlight, go to Erin's blog to read about another fun event we went to in CA.

We were gone 17 days. That's a lot for three invalids! I can't give enough thanks to all of our relatives that helped us in so many ways on this trip - in Utah, South Dakota and California. We didn't eat out once, can you believe it? (Which is great, because right now, as you may know, with our allergies it isn't safe for us to.) Thanks a million for the grocery shopping, washing the dishes, the wonderful hospitality, the rides to and from airports, the entertainment treats, the cars, etc. Also thanks to friends back at home who prayed for us and "held down the fort." We were truly blessed by your faithful love in action.