Goodies

Training went well. I think I can handle it. Preacher's wife made a confession our last day together. After which I thumped her on her arm and said, "I don't like you." After the first of the year, she had updated forms, brochures, etc. with the new year...2010. She DELETED them! So that I would have 'something' to do!! Argghhh. I have never heard of that! Whenever I left a job, I made certain I had everything up to date before leaving so that my replacement could just step in and take over without having to wonder about what I left unfinished. eyeroll

But...I have a plan. She did make the statement that she never empties the recycle bin. Guess what I'm doing first thing Monday morning?!

Changing gears:
After changing sheets on Mama's bed last week, she said, "Come here." Ever the obedient daughter (PLEASE don't tell her I typed that!), I followed her. She handed me the epergne first. It was one of the goodies she hung on to during her antique buying and selling career. (The metal looks like a tree trunk.) I've stopped asking her if she's sure she wants to part with things. I find that she's generally thought it over, and her mind is made up. See the two thimbles? Those were Daddy's mama's thimbles. The hankies and the red scarf? They belonged to Mama's mama. I looked and looked at that scarf. Something was tugging at me. I opened it up. Examined the hemming. Not very good work. The reason? I hemmed that piece of sheer material and gave it to her! I don't know how old I was, but the hand work isn't that great. I used one stitch part of the way around, swapped to another, back to the first way. LOL It's come full circle! I HAVE to wear it with something...around my neck though, not holding my hair down. LOL

Oh goodie, goodie. GOODIE!!!

Baking

Finally got the apple pie photos downloaded to my computer. I love pie dough. And biscuit dough. A former co-worker yucked me one time when I mentioned tasting dough. There's no raw eggs - I don't lick cake batter off the beaters. THAT is a yuck-o for me. But I do taste dough. That way, I can make certain that I remembered the salt. Yes. I have forgotten before.

I made a double crust recipe of pie pastry. I cut off 1/3 of the dough and set it aside. Then I rolled out the remaining 2/3 in one big sorta circle; placed it in the pie pan. Filled it with sliced Granny Smith apples that had been tossed with sugar and a bit of flour and cinnamon. Almost forgot to sprinkle it with brown sugar! Dotted it with butter. Pulled the dough up over the apples. Occasionally I will make a regular 2-crust fruit pie or a lattice topped pie. That's when I forget to do it this way. With this style "presentation" I have never had the pie juices to leak out. There's no seal to break.

While the pie was baking, I rolled out that remaining 1/3 piece of dough. Buttered it and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Rolled it up like cinnamon rolls, sliced it, and baked it for about 10 minutes. I like baked dough too. ;o) Here's the pie after it has baked on the bottom shelf. Yes, it is as good as it looks! If you want recipes, scroll down the sidebar on the right. Look for apple pie and pie crust.

Remember those gorgeous bluebonnets? There's a downside. You can not mow them down until after they have seeded. Sam barely bears it. ;o) Our neighbor, Dorothy, who owned this property two deeds back likes it even less. LOL She thinks the bluebonnets are gorgeous, but can't stand the seedy/weedy look. I know her. She would have bluebonnets only the first season.

Here's some blooming pretties. Sigh...another pretty. And what about these pretties?! Our cruise photo. Nancy, Beckle, Me, Earlene.

Long Day

Mama had a doctor's appointment in Tyler today. The x-ray was at 11:30. We saw the doctor about 3:30. Not good news. Her back (disc fusing) is not healing properly. The original fusion is just fine. The additional disc added in October...not. He's done all he can do from the backside without serious risk to nerve damage and...and of course I had to ask, "Paralysis?" The answer was yes. If it doesn't look better in three months...Mama is facing another surgery to install a larger "cage" from the front. I just about started crying. I mean. Enough is enough. How much more...

She can't take the 'good' pain killers. My mother would not have made a good addict. She throws up the good stuff. I would type "LOL" except it's not funny when the strongest thing that you can take after surgery is Darvocet. And in case you didn't know...she had triple by-pass in 1997 and a hip replacement in 2002. She's had back surgery in 2000, 2003, 2005, and 2009. Darvocet. That's it. They try the harder stuff and give her something for her stomach...it might work once but don't give her a second dose.

The doctor told her that she was one tough lady. She started chattering and he said, "You're cute." She said, "I used to be when I had lots of dark naturally curly hair." He started laughing and said, "I meant your attitude." Then she talked about me being her only child without naturally curly hair but had the least gray. He looked at me. "Your hair color is natural?" "Yes. I don't have to buy it in a bottle." ;o)

As we left, Mama told him, "You take good care of yourself. If I have to have another surgery, I want you. I don't trust anyone else." He was genuinely pleased and thanked her profusely.

Pray for a miracle! My mama needs one.

First Day

The first day of new job training went real well. I've got today off to take Mama to the doctor, and we'll start again tomorrow. We spent quite a bit of time yesterday after lunch on the web pages. One page has a glitch in it that throws the spacing off. Preacher's wife said that she has deleted all the typing and started all over before...the bad code is still in there somewhere. We printed a section, changed some codes...it threw other sections off. ???? eye-roll So we had to retype it as it was before we started. That's minor...another day.

We touched on the biggest event of the year, Daingerfield Days. And will work on it more extensively tomorrow...along with the other events.

I baked a pie over the weekend and took photos. But I'm having trouble downloading them from the camera card for some reason. The anticipation will give you something to look forward to. ;o)

Mother's Day

Here we are in 1953. My mother and me. Happy Mothers Day to EVERYONE who ever held a child's hand.