Good Morning Jeannie and OFF,

Sorry I've been AWOL.  I was in Pennsylvania for a few weeks, and my laptop wouldn't connect to my sis-in-law's Wifi, even though it connected before.  I kept getting bumped off.  

I helped Mom and my sister, and we finally got the power of attorney signed by Mom, Sis and me.  I also talked with Mom's doctor and learned she has mild dementia.  I am trying to arrange for her to come stay here for awhile.  My Sis' place is a disaster, and it's the house Mom raised us in.  Mom already has Bipolar depression, and that dump is depressing more so.  Mom and Dad didn't have much money, but the house was always in good repair, and clean.  Not anymore.

I got Mom out of the house a lot, and she had fun.  I also went to a Phillies game with my son, Chris.  It was at the height of a horrific heatwave, but we had tickets in the Hall of Fame Club, where we  could go into air conditioning when we needed.  

My food has been off, but I've set a goal I'll share later.  I have to get to an appointment.

Jeannie, your cooking club sounded fun.  I've done that before.  

Hugs,

Trish

My friends came over yesterday evening and we made vegetarian and regular egg rolls.  We made 250 egg rolls--don't laugh.  The friends are three guys who are gay and are in my "Hooker" Club or crochet club. They wanted me to teach them how to make egg rolls and as it turns out, I have a ton of fresh cabbage and carrots and the guys brought all the other ingredients (I used my own shrimp).  Anyway, in spite of my very small kitchen, it didn't take us long to get an assembly line going.  We did them in batches and after we ate a few, I lined all my cookie sheets with parchment paper and we gently placed the cooked egg rolls for flash freezing.  Around midnight, we had all of the egg rolls cooked and frozen and bagged for each of us to have about 58 each cause you know we ate some. I have never cooked and frozen that many of anything ever.  The good thing about group cooking is after the guys got the hang of it, I sat nearby, told them canning stories, and let them do the hard work.  They are planning on us doing other group cooking, freezing projects.   I told them to bring a bunch of vegetables over and I'll make teach them how to can vegetable soup.  Before they left, I made them shred 4 large cabbages for my crock so that I could salt, squeeze, and start the fermenting.  This morning at 6:00 AM, one of the guys texted me to see if the cabbage had started fermented. LOL...I think I have created monsters...

Okay, on my agenda today is to go through all of my clothes...every single closet, drawer, shelf, etc. and if I have not worn it in the last year, it's going to the Salvation Army.  I've done that with my husband's stuff and now I am doing mine. 

Breakfast: scrambled eggs (about 1 cup)

Lunch: I think I'll eat one of my egg rolls

Dinner: Shrimp and vegetables

Snacks: we got another watermelon and it's good so that's what I'll be snacking on today. 

Ladies, post, tell me something...tell me what you are doing today. 

Hi Ladies,

I'm participating in the RNY forum their all meat or all meat critter challenge this week. I'm doing the all meat critter because I can't go without my milk in my coffee and I have yogurt that has to be eaten before they expired. Not much going on here.

B hamburger patty

L tuna salad ( just tuna with mayo and mustard)

D chicken. I'm roasting a whole chicken today.

S Greek yogurt, Turkey sausage meat sticks and sliced of horseradish cheddar cheese.

Everyone have a good day.

I've already swept and mopped the floor.  Today I have to meet with my investment person and discuss future investments. Later this evening, my gays are coming by for high tea or as I like to call it, catching up on the gossip.  We are also going to make some vegetarian egg rolls for me and meat egg rolls for the guys....enough to freeze.  It's always fun to do group cooking. LOL.  

Breakfast: loaded oatmeal

Lunch: fries

Dinner: Egg Rolls

Snacks: cucumbers and bell peppers.  

So....ladies, what's up. 

One of the most difficult things about moving out on my own, away from family and friends, were the holidays. I always spent holidays with my family. Growing up, we'd go first to my dad's family on Christmas Eve for a short visit, but the big visit was at Grandma Delort's (my mom's mom).

The Delorts were a large clan; my mom had eight surviving siblings (twins died before age 1), so Christmas Eve was loud and crowded in Grandma's upstairs flat. Dad's family was smaller; just his parents and two siblings. But it was always important to spend those holidays with family.

But suddenly, I didn't have that family near. What was I going to do?

Wally and Margie immediately stepped in. First, I decided that with the curious kittens already having destroyed a Christmas decoration, there was no way I was bringing a live tree into the house I now was renting (I had moved to a small house where I could put a washer-dryer). Wally wanted me to come with him on the Big Brother-Big Sister tree cutting outing to the forest but I knew the tree was not going in my house with the kittens.

First, however, there was Thanksgiving. I was immediately invited to the Mundstocks' feast. Margie was busy making dinner when I got there; I had brought a video of "A Christmas Carol" with George C. Scott that had been on TV Wally wanted to see. Lori Jo and JoNae came out later and helped with dinner.

Sometime while we were watching the video, Wally said, "Margie, I'm thirsty." She asked what he wanted to drink. I looked at him and asked if broke his legs. He said no. I said, "Well, your wife is busy. Can't you get it yourself?" Margie, who was standing there with Wally's drink, started laughing.

I loved Wally for many things, but sometimes he exasperated me. Still, he and his family became my family over the years.

I had to go cover a girls' basketball state tournament that year. Margie was going to take care of the house and my cats. She had a spare set of my keys. One afternoon in December, I came home to a ceramic Christmas tree sitting on my kitchen table. A couple of the little plastic lights had fallen out, telling me the kitties, Kittle and Cinnamon, already had been checking out the newcomer. Margie left a note saying she hoped this would be a Christmas tree the kitties couldn't destroy.

Over the years, I had holidays at the Mundstocks often. But others also invited me. When Carol Davison learned of the Christmas Eve tradition, she invited me over to spend that evening with her two girls and her husband, Jim, who was the Anaconda Local Development Corp. director. I was happy to include them in my family for a few years.

The Anaconda Leader's publisher, Dean Neitz, also invited me for one Christmas dinner after the Mundstocks bought a newspaper in Redfield, S.D., and moved away. His Doberman pinscher, Peaches, greeted me at the door, putting her big paws on my shoulders. As big as she was, Peaches was true to her name: She was soft and fuzzy. Dean used to bring her into the office all the time. I think Puff would have been a better watchdog.

And eventually, I would move on from Anaconda, also to South Dakota. It was strange I would find I find a job 40 miles away from Wally's newspaper, in Aberdeen, S.D. Our friendship continued there and the holiday celebration also continued. But more about South Dakota later.

Christmas was a special time in Anaconda. A giant tree was put in the commons, and the area was flooded to make a giant skating rink. The picture sticks in my mind always. I took a photo of that at night and sold some at the art shows, some in Christmas cards, some in note cards. The Anacondans loved the commons area with the tree. It was as iconic as the stack.

These things made being 1,500 miles away less lonely. Anacondans were warm and welcoming all the time, but especially during the holidays. I never had a single holiday that I spent by myself.