Sometimes there is Joy

As many of you already know this last year and a half has been difficult for our family. Having said that there have been moments of real joy. A daughter and son-in-law who have stepped up and stepped forward to help in every way possible. Joy! A son who when he was convinced his dad was not going to die stepped up to care for the hero in his life. Joy! A grandchild by family who rarely gives a hug who always hugs her papa coming and going. Joy! Grand daughters by marriage who visit by choice and have conversations with papa that make him laugh. Joy! And then there is LuLu at the top of this story. It would take all day to tell you about LuLu so I will share a few highlights. She is a precious, smart little girl. She is the fifteen month old who walked down the hallway of the skilled nursing facility calling "papa, papa, where are you papa?" Upon entering the room she would head for the electronics which in this case meant the panel of buttons that operated the hospital bed! She is the little girl, who, when she sees you will run across the room and throw herself into your arms. Often she will tell you how happy she is to see you, her words not mine. Did I mention she is only two? There is also a rumor that she sings gospel. Oh Joy! As it turns out she is also a world class Christmas package opener as the photo above attests. I think the Hello Kitty on that gift bag really had a ride!! Such Joy. I am so grateful for my family. Even in the midst of chaos one still needs the Joy. Thank you for mine.

Remember Him?

You have seen this guy before. This is my youngest child, Daniel when in trouble, Dan when he is acting like a grown up and Danny when the sweetness of his nature comes to the surface. He is an adult with developmental disabilities and always struggling to be seen as an sdult with his act together. I have always worried about Dan and what would become of him as he grew older. I am the most fortunate of mom's as both my children have grown up to be good caring adults who often put others ahead of themselves. Danny will call to let me know there is an Amber alert for a lost child and continue to update me until the problem is resolved. When he was a little guy he began to look forward to the day when he would have a car of his own. Since I am always looking ahead I worried what might happen when the magical age of sixteen came around and he did not get that car he was dreaming about. That day came and went and he simply continued to speak of someday.......

His dad had several strokes over the last year and a half and it was quite awhile before Danny stopped asking me if his dad was going to die. Like his older sister he began to be one of the care givers in the family. He fetches for dad, wheels him in to dinner or to the bathroom, watches over him outside and endlessly uses dad's laptop to search out the web sight of his high school or any new news of his beloved "Dukes of Hazard"
I have not had as much time as I would have to attend to Danny's needs over the last year and counting, much to my sorrow. I often feel guilty about that. His sister and "brother" have been amazing. I don't know what I would have done without them. However, it seems that without even trying I have hit a home run with the boy in my dreams. The shoes above look a lot like the ones we bought for Dad to use during the months of therapy and beyond.

A friend of Dan's at the apartment complex shared with us a sweet little thing he had observed about Danny since the new shoes arrived. Danny does not walk on the grass because he doesn't want to get his new shoes dirty. Oh that makes me smile! Those of you in my situation will understand how I felt. As Danny grew up and older I remember hoping, perhaps praying that I could always see that little boy inside the man struggling to be a grown up. The little guy who could always make me smile. It has been a long year Danny but you did it.

Sometimes I cook

I do cook although these days I am not sure just why. I suspect that with so much going on in our lives it has had a real impact on my concentration and therefore on my success in the kitchen. My pot roast is not as tender as I remember. These days everything also seems a little off. But a girl has to eat. So when I received a really pretty red pie pan with a ruffled edge from two of my favorite nephews, I knew I had to try again. There was a recipe inside!



This recipe has quickly become a favorite around here so I am going to share. I think this is a first for me as I usually write about quilting with family and friends scattered in as well. However this is an easy and tasty dish and I have decided you need to try this for a quick, popular dish.

Easy Taco Pie

Ingredients:

One can of crescent rolls.
One pound lean ground beef.
One eight ounce container of sour cream.
One eight ounce package of finely shredded mild cheddar cheese.
One package taco seasoning (dry).
1/2 pkg water. Use taco seasoning package.
1/2 bag crushed tortilla chips. ( I used really thin chips)

Spray a pie plate with cooking spray.Line the pie plate with the crescent Rolls, making sure to overlap. Fill any gaps and bring up to the edge.sprinkle with half of the tortilla chips. Brown and drain beef. Add taco seasoning and water. Simmer for ten minutes. Top crescent rolls with the meat mixture. Top with sour cream, shredded cheese and remaining tortilla chips. bake in a 350* oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with extra sour cream, salsa, or salsa con queso or other toppings of your choice. It has a casual look and tasted really good.

Thanks for dropping by. I promise to get back to regular quilt related posts very soon. I will post progress on Aunty Green in a day or so.

I know it has been awhile

This young lady has graced the Thompson tree tops for 49 years. For the the majority of those years our oldest child has been the one to set it in place atop the tree. Our very first Christmas we had a tree with blue balls that my husband wired up with tiny lights inside. We thought we were very cool! However the very next year we found this pretty little angel in a local florist shop and we never looked back. Early on she sat on daddy's shoulder, graduated to a step stool and finally for about nine years she placed the angel on top by climbing upstairs and reaching down to put her in place. We have a lot of sentiment for this piece. tattered though she is we can't bring ourselves to replace her. We tried for a few years to get another so we could preserve the original with no luck. So she will probably fall completely apart some day but she has had a good run.

It has been awhile what with life and now Christmas. I don't have much in the way of quilting to speak about but what I do have is awesome. My daughter gifted me with the book, "The Quilter's Hall of Fame" It is beautiful. The images take my breathe away. There are stories about some of our favorite quilters. Go look, you are going to want this book too.

The photo above is my Christmas tree this year. It is four feet tall, the smallest tree I ever remember having. I have taken a number of pictures during the day, morning and afternoon, even at night but no matter what it looks like a Charley Brown tree. Now I admit this is not my usual style. My trees are usually very sentimental, with ornaments I made myself perhaps, often ornaments made especially for me by dear friends and family. I usually begin decorating the day after Thanksgiving. But things have not been usual for awhile. My time to get ready for Christmas is not the same anymore. So I did most of my shopping online and haunted the mail box everyday because I was so worried someone would be slighted if their gift was late in coming.

That day after Thanksgiving when I decided to begin sprucing up for the holiday it hit me. There was no way I could put a tree on the floor. Never mind that two year old Lulu would be here but a big tree would get in the way of home therapy which we do every day seven days a week. Wheel chairs, hemi-canes, splints, towel slides, braces, OT, PT and ST rule the day in this house. So, move over Charley Brown, we are here.
I bought this tree last year. This tree is seven feet tall and decorated more in my style. Dale was not home yet. He had spent a month in the hospital and was transferred to Quail Creek, a skilled nursing facility to spend his 100 days. We celebrated Thanksgiving in the hospital and Christmas in the care center. He came home in late March and the tree and decorations were there for him to see.

Now this tree was our first tree in Missouri. Nine feet with a lot of room to spare. Loved it, but they last only so long. There were some wonderful as well as sad times. This is the only tree we had that actually was not decorated that first year. Bare. Fifty years together and one undecorated tree. Depression can be a very bad thing. However we weathered that storm and moved on. As I write this I realize it is probably boring to all of you. I have come to believe that boring can be a good thing. I hope that you have had a wonderful holiday and if not that you are able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope you are surrounded by those you love and those who love you back,

Something to Think About

If you look to the left you will see the book I recently added to my collection. The Help is one of those books you cannot put down. Today I saw the movie and have to say it was amazing. My stomach actually clinched in the same places it did while reading the book. I promise, I am not starting a book club here. I am after all a quilter!!! however, I would love to hear from those of you who also read this book, and what your feelings are. It took my breath away.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello everyone. I hope you have had a great day filled with family and friends. I almost forgot to send best wishes early enough for you to know I am thinking of you on this special family day so here I am. Our family sometimes has a hard time gathering everyone together so this year we will sit down to turkey, dressing, Aunt Bee's yummy jello salad, Kelly's pumpkin pie and grandma's bread which Kelly converted from hand kneading to bread machine perfection, Carrie's sweet potato casserole, my own apple and chocolate pies and so much more to celebrate on Saturday. It is so worth it to have almost everyone we love and care for in one room. We learned a long time ago that is is not the day or the time of day but the people that counts. My children could tell you that it was really hard to wait for daddy to get home on Christmas morning. For many years he worked third shift and weekends. Poor guy, he managed to stay awake but when the festivities were over look out! So if you celebrated today I hope it was a good one. You deserve it.
I am doing very little quilting right now because home therapy rules the day for now. I promise, if I do add something I will share it instantly!!

Today I am Seventy

Well, the days get away from us all at times but I must say this is a big one for me. When, how did I become seventy years old and have it turn out to be a surprise to me? I knew it was coming, as it is one of those inevitable things for all of us. So here it is and I find myself wondering where fifty went! I suppose we all had moms that told us year after year that they were only 29, again. I know mine did. Over time as I grew older I realized that perhaps my generation really was younger than the one that came before. I can certainly see that in my children's lives . They are younger seeming and also more attuned to technology. That doesn't even address the grandchildren. Our thirteen year old has been able to do a power point for years, me not so much. She keeps Mimi and papa in line for the most part.

This last year and a half has been difficult, and I do feel I have aged more than I might have under different circumstances but nevertheless I still wake up most mornings thinking initially once more that I am fifty. It could be denial I suppose but I don't think so. I am grateful to be as healthy as I am. Life could be so much more difficult.

Life does go on and so I share the flower above. I didn't plant it, I don't know where it came from, but it made me feel better that day. I passed the planter almost every day and saw the stem and leaves evolve and would often think that the next time I come out here I should pull that weed. Understand that in addition to losing a large number of my perenials last winter due to really cold weather, I have not had time to garden a whole lot so confined what I did do to the front garden. This pretty yellow bloom was the only color in the back yard this year. So happy I did not pull it in it's infancy.