Well.... I did it again.

I never wanted to write anything negative on my blog only because I think there is enough "out there" to fulfill that. But I can't help it. Things change. My life is different right now. and I need and want to write on here. It comforts me. It makes me feel close to people who are far away from me.
I "skipped" a few doses of my pain medication the other day and threw myself for a loop. I did the same thing last knee surgery, and would have hoped I would have learned from that. I hate being on narcotics, I hate the way it messes with my thought processes. I do not like being confined to my house and couch. I have so many things I want to be doing. But... For now this is it... I need to stay on the medication until my body is healed enough to go off it. Chronic pain is a very difficult thing to live with, and depression sucks, but I am blessed to be able to have gone through this so I understand other peoples walks through this life a bit better. And so I will continue to concentrate on the good things, of which there are MANY, in my life and I will win. I have two good knees now. The pain I am feeling is healing pain, not degeneration of my knee joints like before. Ahhhhhhh thanks for listening.... I feel better already!!!!! :)

We had an interesting "Holiday season" this year. We knew that it would be different going into it. And it was good. Carlye and Matt came to visit for a week and they joined in talking care of and spoiling me rotten!!!!

Jennifer and Carlye took me to Jo Anns to look around and on the way home we stopped at Baskin Robbins to enjoy some yummy cones. Mmmmm mmm mmmmmmm!!!!

Do you remember Henry and Pearl? well they fill my morning and pretty much most of my day with entertainment. Each morning they are so happy to be alive and they fill my house with the sweetest songs. I have found so much pleasure in these two little creatures. I put some wool and natural fibers into their cage and they have been busy making their nest ready for eggs. this will be their 2nd try actually, we lost three eggs before this. I think it was because they were to young. But they are busy, busy again.

I have been finding much pleasure in knitting this baby blanket.There is prayer and love in every single stitch!Its sunshine yellow and pebble grey. Its challenging enough to keep me interested but not to difficult that I have to rip out alot!I'm really looking forward to spinning!!!

and this is our dear little Christmas tree. I have wanted to get a small tree to put on the little round table for years and "they" all talk me out of it. But this year..... I WON!!!. Of course i had nothing to do with it actually.. hahahahahaahhaah Jennifer and Allison went to Wal-Mart and bought everything. So we had none of our usual Christmas decorations this year. I enjoyed the beautiful lights and yummy smell every single day!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!!! I feel so much better now!!!!! Talk to you again soon!!!!

Blessings, Sue

Glad it's the New Year

I have been wanting to write now for awhile but haven't been able to settle down to any particular subject to share. This has been a rough year for me. I have had 3 knee surgeries, along with all the other living experiences. When I think about this literally its easy for me to understand why I feel the way I do. Add to that, the fact that I am still on narcotic pain medication and its easy to see why I have been on such a mental roller coaster.

Don't get me wrong I have had many blessings thrown in as well but I am glad to see the new year roll around this time. I"m excited to see where this year will take me.

And so I'm beginning again... I have taken lots of pictures and had them taken for me. I will start sharing now!!!

Thanks for sticking with me... Come back again really soon.

Blessings, Sue

Okeedokee Im back again!!!!

Of course, once again, these pictures didn't come out in order.. but that's ok. I'm just going to give you a quick rundown to get us all caught up on whats been happening in my little corner of this big ol' world!! In fact these pictures are exactly backwards. I began this new project, which is very dear to my heart, as soon as I got acclimated to the drugs. hahaha

This is my couch companion. she is pretty much always beside me. Sassy.

As you can see the drugs are very strong. so strong in fact that this picture was downloaded twice. hahahahah No this was really a test to see if you were paying attention and you passed!!!

I'm using a beautiful pattern I found online called Lucille. Very vintage!! There is a bonnet that goes along with it . I bought my yarn from Knit Picks. 100% organic cotton. It is soooo soft, just right for a bring me home from the hospital, close to the tender new baby skin.

Again, progress in reverse.

And the beginning!!!

My first outing when I got out of the hospital was of course back to the Lab to get more blood drawn. I am on cumiden ( a blood thinner) to help keep my blood, clot free during my recovery. its a pain but worth it. After first said visit to lab, Seth drove me to Lindo Lake Park to watch the sunset. This is looking East.
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This is looking West.

This is looking to my left.... At my wonderful husband and bestest friend in the whole wide world!!!

Oops see what narcotics can do...sorry

And this is my Banana Cream Pie Blizzard that I absolutely enjoyed almost to the last bite!!!! I was soooooooo good!

I have been eating rather well this time around. this is one of the dinners that Allison has made for me. Oven baked tilapia, mashed potato and steamed corn. Giant green salads!!! I'm being treated like a queen.

These are the flowers Jennifer and Allison brought to me in the hospital. These especially touch my heart as I had to have an emergency procedure done and had to lay flat on my back for an entire night. Every time I woke up these were all I could see. What a blessing !!!!

My feet's are under these yummy warm blankets. hee hee

A
And yuck, the tubes and wires protruding from me this time was double. Glad to be able to sign and seal this chapter of my book of life!! Onward to the healing!!!!

Blessings, Sue

Turkey and Fat Noodles

So besides feeling rather clever for figuring out how to (finally) download the pictures in proper order. I feel quite happy with the fact that I just finished up an entire turkey on dinners and not one bite went "to waste" hahahahah. I was standing in the kitchen, actually sitting on a stool, picking the last of the turkey off the bones I had boiled down for broth and thinking out loud. " I wonder just how many turkeys and chickens I have done this too" when I decided to, instead of hand rolling these noodles, I"d break out my ever faithful kitchen aide attachment and make them this way instead.

I have been making some kind of something and ''fat noodles" for about as long as I can remember.

In fact I look forward to making a turkey just for this meal.

My girls have always loved them and Seth is crazy about them. I made them for my new son and he loved them too. yay.

There really is no set recipe for the noodles themselves, My mom taught me, the way her mom taught her and my grama learned the way her mom taught her and so on and so on and so on....

A couple cups of flour, a couple of eggs, some baking powder (that's the fat part haha) and some cold water. I have tried different recipes, using seminola flour and different types of flours but...

This is the one I always come back too. The older I get, the less reason I see for fiddling around with things that already work just fine!!!!

When roll them out by hand I use my pizza cutter to cut them and they come out much "fatter"
Almost like a dumpling, but not as dumpy...

This pasta attachment is cool. At first I got really stressed out using it because the noodles seem to come out really fast... But with time I figured it out. Set it on a lower speed and have a glass of wine. The combo seems to work great.

Hmmmm well so much for feeling clever since I downloaded the same darn picture...twice. hahaha

These noodles come out really long and I'll have to remember next time to cut them with the scissors half way through.

After I pick the meat off the bones, strain and remove the fat from the broth, I start adding back into the pot. Most always carrots, celery and onion... that's just poultry soup to me...

Tonight I had some mushrooms so I threw those in.
Then everybody gets just the bowl they want. I like more noodles and broth....

Seth like alot of turkey in his bowl. Anyway you have it, enjoy a green salad with it and it will fill your tummy and warm your soul with love.

Blessings Sue

Sunday trip to Julian

Once again I messed up the order that these are in but oh well... It took so darn long I'm simply NOT re- doing it now!!! We decided that since I'm locked into this whole 2nd knee replacement thing. hahaha We may as well get me out of the house while I can.... Of course you will recognise the trip sequence in reverse and all mixed up.. Bear with me.... I bought my two favorite things at the Cider Mill. Pumpkin Butter and Butter Toffee nuts. Oh Yeah!!

We stopped at Inaja, for a really yummy lunch. Allison made herself a custom ham, cheese, spinach and homemade pickle sandwich.... It was huge, but she worked it off with a hike all the way down to the creek, you know through all the bob wire fence and no trespassing signs... Ya that one!!

Of course we had entertainment with our dining experience.....

The birdwatcher is one of my favorite stores up there. I love to walk around inside slowly and think about all the cute things I would love to have in my yard and on my patio.

Of course we got the coveted Carmel Apple. Honestly, we have been getting these all my girls lives. I remember letting them eat them before lunch, this being one of my first parental decisions I felt sort of guilty about!!!! They would make a giant sticky mess and I loved watching them eat them as much as they enjoyed eating them. ( I made Daddy hold that apple just so, for the picture. I really wanted to take a picture of his cute little facial expression..but passed... can't press my luck hee hee)

I miss spinning so much!!! One of the things I'm looking forward to the most is getting back into this beloved art. These sheep belong to Janet and we actually buy Allison's goat for her FFA project from her every year.

This is an oak tree that I have loved for years. I wait to see it and look for it each time we go. Its just the perfect tree, in the perfect meadow..always, no matter what the day or what the weather.

and of course we stopped at Dudley's. I got a loaf of Apple Walnut bread. Its in the freezer right this minute. Awaiting my recovery mornings. To be served toasted and slathered in pumpkin butter. Oh yeah!!!

I always love seeing Smokey!!!! When Seth and I were dating he worked for the US Forest Service. He dressed up in the Smokey the Bear costume for a parade in my small town. I fell in love with him even more as I watched him walk around the park holding the hand of this cute little girl who was just in love with Smokey.

And where else except Southern California would there be extreme fire danger in November...I'm sure there are plenty of places but... These Santa Ana winds are killing me right now.

This is the spread we had for lunch. Custom made sandwiches, veggies and dip, grapes, apples and crackers... all made with love and care by Jennifer. What a wonderful, wonderful day we had. Carlye and Matt weren't there physically but they were in our hearts the entire time... as always!!!
Thanks for sharing my day with me..... More soon... Blessings, Sue

Rainy Monday Morning

I finally got my donut pan!!! I have been wanting one for quite awhile now and Jennifer and I stopped by Cost Plus Sunday, one of my FAVORITE stores, and there it was just waiting for me. And on sale too..... So this morning I awoke to the soft patter of rain..Do you really believe that??????.. I really awoke to the sound of Allison's stereo blaring something like this...Billy Bob loves Charlene... In letters three foot high and the whole town said the fool should of used red but it looked good to Charlene....blah blah blah.... and dogs barking and the girls laughing and all the lights on etc. you get the idea..but I regress... I'M TELLING THE STORYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

So I really did look outside and see it was raining and thought to myself...Perfect... I'm making donuts. They turned out perfect. After the girls left, I put a log on the fire, lit some candles and mixed up some blueberry batter. While still hot from the oven I put them into a baggie with powdered sugar, and brewed a pot of coffee.

Seth came home just in time. We sat and talked and enjoyed our coffee and donuts and fire. Best start to the day ever!!!!!

Now he is jogging, Henry and Pearl are singing their sweet songs to me, I took a darvocet, and I'm going to do some stitching. In front of the fire, with the candles, and maybe ...just....one....more... donut.... they are baked remember!!!

Blessings, Sue