Recipe alert! Mom made me my favorite childhood cake.



After posting a recipe in my grandmother's handwriting, I have a true appreciation for seeing a recipe in original writing.  Yes, I did add NO EGGS and the bit about applesauce.  I do recall calling Mom to say, "Um, applesauce squares have applesauce, right?"  "Yes, of course."  "You forgot to add it."  Oops. 

Things to remember.  Mom uses margarine.  She also uses real vanilla and made today's batch with apple pie spice instead.  She seems to like that substitute better than the original called for pumpkin pie spice.  Oh, and with mine, she left out the offending nuts and raisins.  Just FYI.

 Because of schedules flying in 12,000 directions this year, we were unable to do family birthday cake for my sister and me this year.  Mom decided that she wanted to take us each out to breakfast.  I'm kind of a low level girl (so is my sister) and told Mom to just make me breakfast at her house.  She made me French toast (a favorite) and brought my cake out of the freezer.  She made me applesauce squares.  :)

We were poor kids, but I remember applesauce squares a fair amount.  My mom is still an avid user of margarine and shortening, so I know her recipe to be using at least one or both.  They are delightful.  They are delicious.  I have a take home box awaiting my nibbles.  Pardon me as I go indulge in the calling of the box.

Enjoy!

39 and holding.

That's what I'm supposed to say right now, right?

My peeps got up at 6:30 AM to wish me a happy birthday and to lavish lovely gifts upon me.  Hubs and K- bought me a giant telescoping butterfly net so that I will never again risk leaping through the air after a butterfly and result in breakage of bones.  They found a butterfly shirt for me at "the little museum" and a butterfly book that I didn't have.  I collect the 70's Holly Hobbie cylindrical Coke glasses and Hubs actually found the one I didn't have, despite my thinking that I had them all (and extras, too.)  Hubs found an enameled Holly Hobbie piece that he placed in a frame.  He said he didn't know what it was or what it was intended to be (my thought was a small tray or plate, but it wasn't stamped) and since American Greetings is a Cleveland company, he thought it was probably a cast-off from an employee.  No matter, it is framed and hanging in my kitchen above the glasses. 

Hubs got the annual Dairy Queen cake and we had that for breakfast.  Yum!  He and K- are taking me out to dinner tonight.  Hooray!

We went to a local county fair with my sister and she paid my admission as a birthday gift, as well as making me chocolate zucchini bread (I don't have the recipe, but she said that she'll pass it along).

Mom is having me and K- over tomorrow morning for breakfast after our hair cuts. 

Julia, my co-worker, brought me breakfast yesterday and roses in a little vintage medicine bottle. 

So here I am, 39 and holding.  That's good I think.

:)

Mom- The Update

Mom is okay.  She is groggy and in pain, but the surgery took only 1/2 the time that it was scheduled for.  The growth that they thought was a fibroid turned out to be a solid NON-CANCEROUS tumor and we are praising God to the end of the earth for that. 

When I told her that the doctor told us that her insides were beautiful and that she did a great job, all she said was, "Yoga." 

:) 

Thanks for praying for mom.  If you would like to continue to pray for her regarding her recovery, that would be much appreciated.  I'll let y'all know how she is doing.

Mom's date with a knife.

My mom is due to have a hysterectomy at 11 AM.  By everything that I hear, it is expected to be routine.  She does have a fibroid that is growing by leaps and bounds each day.  Good news is that she had whatever cancer blood screen test that you need to have and her count came back fabulous.  She's spent the day prepping as you would for a colonoscopy, since the surgery is very nearby all the digestiveness.  It's a routine thing to do is what mom said. 

Her surgery is to take a few hours.  I'll be at the hospital all day with my dad and brother.  I'll pop on in the evening to give y'all the scoop. 

Until then, prayers for mom, please.

Thanks.

Smiles in my day:
-  My prayer warriors.

A bit of a mom update

Mom is scheduled to have her hysterectomy on August 26 at 11 AM.  If you could keep that in your prayers, it would be great.

I was concerned about mom over doing it.  She's a mom and she was talking about not wanting to spoil anyone's plans of coming down to the river property (basically a big family campsite).  There are a couple of big weekends coming up and the likelihood that mom will be able to participate is pretty much gone.  Hopefully, family can understand that.  I fear that one family member wanted mom to have her surgery held off until after a big river weekend in September.  Argh.

Mom's friend was very honest with her.  She was honest with her in a way we couldn't be.  Mom needs to rest.  She needs to take it easy to let her body properly heal.  I'm thankful that Brenda talked with her about it. 

Mom will be having the full blown surgery as opposed to the laparoscopic option.  Though laparoscopic is less invasive, it renders the tissue fairly unusable regarding biopsies.  That isn't what we want.

That's what we have.  I'll let you know more when I more to tell.

Smiles in my day:
-  K- and Hubs had a second Happy Daddy Day this week.  They were able to go to a farm, hiking and play miniature golf.  They had a great day!
-  When they got home, they saw that the chrysalis that we had brought in a few days ago had turned into a beautiful butterfly. 
-  I was able to make it through the rest of the store today with my boss who has been having some health issues.  I wiped her out and had to drive her home!  She was okay, though.  She said that she was going to go in to take a nap in her La-z-boy chair. 

Have a great day!

Tales from the Trenches: Hornworms and a hysterectomy

I've grown tomatoes for years.  I've never once had a problem with tomato hornworms, but noticed a green caterpillar on my tomato plant about 2 weeks back.  Deciding to give it the benefit of the doubt, I had K- relocate it to a plant out back. 

It came back and brought some of it's sumo wrestler sized caterpillar friends.  They were having a Thanksgiving feast on the leaves of the plants.  Believe me, they were working fast.

Don't know if you are familiar with the hornworm, but I've heard tales for years about my organic chicken farmer friend having battles with them.  She picks them and feeds them to her chickens.  We don't have chickens to feed them to, but I did confirm with Hubs that they are one of his approved bugs that can go.  (We love all creatures and really do our best not to spray or deter them from coming to visit.)  I suggested the next best thing. 

The neighbor's koi pond. 

The neighbor wasn't completely convinced, but complied when I promised to dig dead worms out of his pond if they remained.

Later he reported that they loved them.

Hornworms,

Be gone from my tomato plants or the lovely cardinals and koi will enjoy you for supper. 

Thank you.

Now for the hysterectomy part. The end story to my mom's bit is that she called to announce that she has to have a hysterectomy. I told her that I wasn't a bit surprised and I was fine with her going in and having it taken care of before something like chemotherapy would need to be done. She said that Billy told her the same. Actually, it seems that each of us (4 in all) basically told mom the same thing.

So the hollowing out of mom is to be done soon. She wants it out now because of the amount that the fibroid grew in just the three months. Her consultation with the surgeon/specialist want swimmingly. She really liked him and loved that he told her that he wasn't as concerned about the tale of the lost ovary. Apparently, after menopause, they can just shrink up. Who knew? He talked to my mom about the hysterectomy and told her that she hasn't used the parts in years, so why would she want bad stuff hanging around anyhow?  He stated that she has a thickening of the wall which could be a precursor to troubles later. 

Mom already started fretting about my birthday and my sister's birthday. She said that she's afraid that we're going to have to bake our own cakes. I told her that Hubs buys me a Dairy Queen cake every year anyhow, so this year he can just buy a bigger one. I told her not to sweat it. I told her that I would rather have her okay and a birthday cake is something that I can handle.

"But I'm going to be off 6 weeks and what am I going to do about Christmas presents? You might end up with something from Goodwill!" "I don't care. I've given you things from the thrift and you didn't know it." (A beautiful tart burner from Yankee Candle for Easter one year.)

I should pause to remind that in my house, the gift doesn't have to be new. Hubs buys used CD's and DVD's. He bought me a beautiful sweater and toasty fleece from the thrift once. K- has gotten gently loved games from Santa (though they looked brand new.) New is certainly not a requirement in any way. It is the love and thoughtfulness behind the gift that is important to us.

At any rate, I believe that we've confirmed to mom that her presence is way more important than her worrying about what gifts she'll be passing on or what camping weekends we may or may not be able to have together for this season. She's mama. We want her. The rest of the stuff can be done at a different time.

I talked with my sister this evening about each one of us taking a night in the week on an every other night basis to provide a two night meal for my mom and dad. In rotation, it would only be once a week for each of us. One night would give my dad some leftovers for lunch, too. LeAnne, Dumpy and I live closer. It won't be an issue for us. For Billy, he lives about 20 minutes out, works about 25 minutes out and he and his girlfriend share a car. We'll figure it out, but at least I put a bug in my sister's ear.

Speaking of my sister, she's on deck to watch K- for the day tomorrow.  My mother-in-law is unable to watch her (a rare thing), so my sister is trading me child care for a back pack.  (I insisted that she be compensated somehow for a full day of childcare.)  In the AM, they'll be stacking wood at someones house, so K- will be dropped off there.  After, there will be swimming (the pool is only filled to about 3 feet and no one is permitted in without an adult in direct supervision) and playing and much fun to be had by all.  K- is very excited and has been counting down the days.  I also made a batch of granola to take. 

With that, I have towels to fold.  They are my only dryer item, as the rest gets the line dry treatment.  I was standing outside, folding my laundry this evening and chuckling at what the neighbors must have thought when there was still snow on the ground in March and my sheets were flapping in the wind.  Oh how I love to line dry the clothes.  I miss the outside lines in the winter.  I still have the inside, but they don't have the same ozone-y type smell. 

Smiles in my day:
-  My mom finding a surgeon that she likes.  It was nice that the surgeon confirmed that everything that my mother's practice did was correct. 
-  Hubs got to have a nice Happy Daddy Day with K-.  They went to the Prehistoric Dinosaur Park and to Marblehead to the beach to swim.  It's a bit of a hoof and a haul, but they had a great time.
-  K- has started getting our gentle reminders that she needs to use her words and not flip out.  Some day the flip outs will end, right?
-  Hearing K- reading to herself.  Walking through the house, doing chores, and listening to her sounding words out.  Since I'm not standing right over her, I don't know if all the words are correct, but the important thing is that she is choosing to read on her own and is truly working on it.  That right there is good stuff.

Have a great day!

My mama.

My mom went this past week for an ultrasound of the fibroid that they found this past spring.  When she went, they found that not only is it 3 times the size that it was three months ago, but that they are having issues "finding her ovary." 

Um, it is there-- somewhere.

So, the ultrasound tech seemed to be cool.  Mom was okay. 

Then the doctor called.

He's scheduled mom for an MRI and a full blood work-up this week.  She's scared to death.  You see, my grandmother and my aunt (Mom's sister) were both diagnosed with cancer in their early to mid sixties.  Both died as a result of the cancers that they had. 

My grandmother died of colon cancer.  She had complained to her doctor on numerous occasions, and she put her on anxiety meds.  It was only after it was too late-- an ovary and spots on her liver-- that the colon cancer was diagnosed.  Grandma lived for 2 years.  I will say that she definitely did not have quality of life.

My aunt died of brain cancer.  She was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, walnut-sized when removed, but also her brain was cancered.  She participated in a study and extended her life from 6-15 months tops to 3 years.  She did have quality of life up until about the last 6 weeks.  However, in her case, the cancer caused swelling and her brain stem actually twisted as a result.  My aunt passed away not even two years ago.

Now back in the spring, they did a biopsy of the uterine wall.  Everything was just fine.  If this is an ovarian tumor or a fibroid that has consumed the ovary, the likelihood that it is benign is about 78%.  Most certainly, my mother will need to have her ovary removed.  At this point, she would be happy to go under the knife tomorrow.  She just wants it out.

This is an important lesson to all of us.  My mother has passed menopause.  She still goes for yearly exams and her midwife told her that since she no longer menstruated, it was important to know that no bleeding whatsoever was acceptable.  If she had bleeding AT ALL, there was something wrong and it needed to be investigated immediately. 

Thank God she told my mom that.  Most women would have ignored the extremely scant appearance that she experienced and would have gone on with their day.

My mother is a wreck about the MRI.  I'm cut from the same cloth-- we're both extremely claustrophobic.  Just talking about the MRI puts my mom into a near panic attack.  She asked me how it was and I accidentally freaked her out more.  I told her to ask for drugs.  She said that she won't and she doesn't think that they would give them to her. 

Knowing what I know, if ever I have to go back in, I need drugs.

So if you will, please pray for my mom.  She's a wreck.  I feel God's peace about this, but it still doesn't hurt to put some folks on a direct party line to Him, eh?

Smiles in my weekend:
-  We attended a beautiful wedding.  It was in an church without air and a picnic reception in an old barn in the 93+ degree heat.  Other than that, it was lovely.
-  It rained this evening for the first time in, well, a long time.  The grass is a lovely shade of brown and is crunchy to the toes. 
-  The kitchen ceiling got painted today.  It was no small feat, but I got it done.  Tune in tomorrow when I vent just a little.
-  Laundry washed dried and ALL! put away.  Ooo!  It was so blasted hot that I ran my tennis shoes through the wash and they dried lickety split outside. 
-  K- has science camp all week at her school, so that means that we'll get our walking feet back on!  Oh, I can definitely tell that I haven't been walking like we were. 
-  Being able to take advantage of some lovely sales and coupons this week.  Hubs took K- out while I was painting.  He called to see if I wanted anything and I asked him to stop by our little home owned grocery chain to pick up some sale items.  He was able to get a dozen of corn for $2.00 and a case of Star Kist tuna for 50 cents a can.  We got other good stuff, too.  :)

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom! I know that you never deal with those big round numbers very well. Keep in mind that you look wonderful. You exercise more than anyone that I know! And yes, we are impressed with your ability to do yoga so well.

You are a spastic middle child like me, which is why both of us get each other so well. You ramble, another trait that I've gotten from you, as well as your inability to remember anyone's name. (Thanks for that one, too.)

You are very caring, loving and a hard worker. Hardly a day goes by without your calling me at least once, but often several times in one hour. You apologize and say, "do you have a second" or "but anyway" and launch on from the moment that we dropped off. It's like you never hung up! :)

We love you very much and don't know what we would do without you and your quirks! Have a wonderful day!

My Mama: The Diagnosis

Mom will be okay! Turns out that she is Anemic and has a Urinary Tract Infection. The doctor also told her that her blood work showed that she was having an allergic reaction to something. He said, "What's with that?" She said that she told him that she was going to wait until he was done, but since he asked she pulled out the paper of information that I told her and started reading. He said that I was very right and that she had "a very rare and serious allergic reaction to Tetracycline." Um, HOW DID HE NOT KNOW?! What he did say was that my mother's blood pressure of 140/110 was very, very concerning on Friday. But, her cholesterol after having had egg pie last week? A solid 130. God bless her. She at least has me on that.

So, my internet detective work wins today. I'm glad it helped my Mom out. I was so worried about her and am so very thankful that all of you belted out a prayer for her.

Thanks for the love!

My Mama

My mom is such a hard worker. Mom cleans houses as a job, runs around, bakes and whatnot but right now my mom is not feeling well. Initially, they thought it was the flu. She ended up back at the doctor today and what they suspect might be wrong is a hyperactive thyroid. She has a raging headache, fever, her heart is racing and overall just does not feel well. My mom isn't one to lie in bed. She worked on Monday, but has been in bed the rest of the week. My mom may make mention of not feeling well, but she doesn't harbor on it. She is to go tomorrow for blood work and to have a chest x-ray. She has a doctor's appointment on Monday to go over results, then will have a CAT scan if the results don't tell the doctor what he needs to know. By everything that my mom has told to me, her doctor spent much time with her today (about an hour) going over everything, talking about her head pain and that he truly does believe that all of this is a thyroid gone wrong. What's in the back of my mom's mind? The fact that my aunt, her sister, died in September as a result of brain cancer-- a glioblastoma of the temporal lobe. That is exactly where my mom's headache is centralized. (Again, the doctor said it is my mom's blood pressure causing it and not brain cancer.) He has found that she also has a goiter on her neck that he knows to be a goiter, but mom is concerned as she has had a few people that she has worked for in the past few years die of cancer that was located in the neck. Poor mom. I told her that I know where I get it.

Please consider praying for my mom. She is a spaz middle child like me. My mom does have a heart of gold though. She can drive you crazy, but loves you to the end of the earth and back.

I'll bring all of you up to date on Monday when I find out more.