One Down...

And a few hundred to go...Recipes, that is. Good Recipes, Diabetic ones....

ok I was writing that to the theme song of the Beverly Hillbillies, and it was a lot funnier in my head....anyhow,
Explanation.....

We are on a Diabetic Diet. Which is harder than you can imagine, not that I ever imagined what it would be, but lemme tell ya, this is hard. Especially when you have more to feed in a dinner meal than just the one diabetic dude. But I am making it my mission to not let it seem like we are making too much of a fuss. LOL, fuss? who am I kidding, I have an online calorie/carb counting journal, Print them out each day to go over, went to the bookstore and bought 2 books, have spent literally days on the computer googling information and am getting advice out the wazoo from all kinds of experts, (the ones you don't pay for, you know, the free kind) & I thank you all, and I think I am even dreaming about what to and what not to eat each day. But its all good, we are getting it and doing a pretty good job at it I might add, for a couple of newbies. We have on the second week lowered it considerably and have maintained it for a week. So now just have to work on getting it down more to the desirable goal.

One of the books I got was a Fix it and Forget it Cookbook for diabetics. I love it. Hundreds and hundreds of recipes for the crock pot. (the fix it and forget it part) And since I have a NEW and Larger Crock Pot, I am loving it even more! The best part I found in this cookbook is that you can pick up the book open it to a recipe and chances are good that you have all the ingredients in your kitchen....no need to run out and spend more money on something you normally don't ever buy. So double loving that part.

So far I have fixed 2 recipes from the book, loved them both but today got to use my new Crock Pot. Today we had Pork and Cabbage Dinner. Total Carbs only 9gm! The ingredients sounded iffy at best to me as it called for slicing up an apple & placing beef broth in with it, but whoa momma, it was delish.


Well now its time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin.
And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin' in.
You're all invited back next week to this locality
To have a heapin' helpin' of their hospitality

Hillybilly that is. Set a spell, Take your shoes off.

Y'all come back now, y'hear


Yes, it is official, I am an idiot.

Older Age Brings to Me....

More wisdom perhaps? More happiness? More weaknesses or strengths?

I have been in the mindset of when I get older I will NOT be like my mom or dad, I will be Different, Independent, Cool.... able to leap off tall buildings with a single bound....................Yeah, who am I kidding, I find I am EXACTLY like my mother and I can see my dad in there lurking around.

Help me, somebody, Please!!!!!

I was reading recently how when you are in your 20's its like anything is possible, in your 30's your weaknesses and strengths are confronted and a depression comes round that continues to your 40's and in the mid 40's you are unhappy...then in the 50's/60's you get on an upward trend towards contentment and happiness and things turn around for the better.

WHAT? Better? Better than what?

Ok I dunno who these guys researched but this is how I see my life. I have always felt like I am twenty something, in my mind....(after I was actually 20 something) I have always felt like anything was possible and still do. I don't feel like a depression came round or that I was unhappy or got suddenly happier inside of 10 or so years. I feel the same. Always in a good mood, always happy. Now since turning 50 I can say I am trying things I maybe would not have tried in earlier years....(mindset thing)

Which brings me to this post...(which I think I have detoured from considerably) (but I couldn't figure out what to title this post so this is where it took me)

I bought me some Crocs. Yes Anna, you read correct. I not only bought them I am wearing them some days, all day, and out to KFC once! The Shankster left me alone shopping one day recently and I was feeling like I needed to do something for ME, (yes Sandi you read correct also) I looked the entire store over looking for something for me only.....then, I did it, I found me some Crocs and I tried them on and carried them around the store for about 30 minutes and thought what the heck......

Crocs? I am so surprised at how much I love them. I have never liked them but for some reason over the last couple of years look at them when I see them out and about. I have even tried one or two pair on, and always was sure I could NEVER wear them....even around the house. I don't like them. They are not for me. Anyone who knows me, knows I only wear tennies and they have to be supportive and I wear them from the time my feet hit the floor to the time I go to bed. And I always get white and they are always the same ones until they discontinue them and ....see a pattern yet?

So maybe older age does bring wisdom? Or just the privilege to change my mind whenever I see fit. Yeah, that's it.

But now, Thankfully, My tennies are getting a rest!





Don't ya just love em? And they are MY color. :)

Ask, and Ye Shall Receive.....

Matthew 7:7// Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:


I believe it is true that you if you ask for it, you shall receive it. I have always known these words, even say them every now and again....its just that most of the time the things I ask for I don't receive....or at least I don't think I have, as I don't actually see that I have received anything.



Recently I have been using the 1970's crock pot for several meals a week. Been dreaming of a new one that is bigger and more easy to use (and clean). Look at them everywhere I go.
The Shankster, wanting me to have everything I dream of, jokingly asked my dad yesterday to get me a new crock pot.........today I received it. And yes from dad. Wow. Miracles do happen.





Now I do remember asking for some other things, most notably for my ship to come in.........oh well... for me, I guess the crock pot is a start. :)

Thanks Homie!

Who Knew?

Apparently, it DOES pay to go to the carwash and wash your car periodically. :)





And yes....I am laundering it.

It is a Small World

As I said in the previous post, we had a rotten year. Filled with lots of things that is just reality, but not fun reality and it just seemed never ending.

I have an online friend that I have "known" for 14 years, give or take. I said "known" as I never met her physically until 2007, as she lives around 9,000 miles away.

She collects all kinds of things and is in a lot of groups for such collections. She knows a lot of people all around the world. She is my best friend. She took the time to inform some of her online community collector group of friends how our life was going in the last several months.

Long story short, around the holidays, we received over 30 cards from folks we don't know from adam. In each card, in which some were handmade, from these people who know not who we are either, were notes/words of comfort to us. I couldn't believe it, that people you don't know can be so concerned they would take the time to not only send a card, but to actually take more time to write a note just to hopefully put a smile on our face.

We received cards/notes from Oregon, Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Canada, Wisconsin, Washington, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana, Holland/The Netherlands to name a few.







And, with each card we got, we smiled. Thanks to all of you from the Pathtag Community. And Thanks to Gemma.

Mama said there'll be days like this.....

Wow, I have been away since June. A lot has happened since then.

I started this blog to keep track of my feelings as a good friend passed away and I was full of things I thought I wanted to say or even write down, and maybe to keep some family posted on my life through pictures...and sometimes to just amuse myself by keeping a log of the days events, as it seems as though some days my life is a bit amusing to say the least. And so it turned out that I liked to write mostly about just that, my life, whether it was amusing/boring or just down right sad, that is what this blog has turned out to be.....stories about my life.

2011 started out with an ice storm that rocked our back porch and then some. It also brought down more pine trees around here than I care to remember. (cuz we had to clean them up) The Shankster and I slowly but surely got it all cleaned up and in the process the Shankster paid for it and ended up in surgery.
He went through several surgeries/procedures and a bunch of tests. A tree fell on our car while we were driving. We welcomed a new grandson....we lost a brother & best friend.

The Shankster was recovering from his June surgery and then in late July we both went on a journey with the Shanksters brother in the last days of his life.

I want to say that 2011 was the worst year the Shankster and I have ever spent together. Not just because he went through a number of surgeries and physical pain. Not because of all the mess we had to clean up from the pine trees. And Not because of his brother going through shear hell on this earth for about 3 months.

I want to say I never want to go through something such as that again. But I can't, what I have to say is this, I can't remember a time in my life I have ever spent so much time with family praying. We woke up praying holding hands and listening to Freddie sing the Lords praises. We went to bed doing the same. We laughed, we cried, we sang gospel songs, we prayed. We would spend most of every day listening to Freddie praise the Lord and NOT asking... "why me"? one time.

I can't say it was the best time I ever spent, but I have to say it was nurturing to have gone through it with Freddie. He kept going when most would have faltered, he smiled when others would have cried, he even told jokes where others would have been angry. Even on his worst days, he joked & sang. We saw him kicking up his heals walking down the hospital hall while holding onto an IV pole. We listened and laughed as we wheeled him in a wheelchair on yet another bad day all the while he sung Mama said there'll be days like this, There'll be days like this My Mama said (Mama said, mama said).......

It was the longest 3 months of my life, yet it went by too fast. I can't know why he was taken so early, but I do know he was ready. I only can hope I can have even half the grace this man had if I am ever faced with even a tiny bit of what he had to endure, and trust me, he had to endure more than any one I have known, but all he had to say about that was that it was not as much as Jesus Suffered.

I feel honored to have known such a man and more honored to have gotten to be with him to the end.

So here we are, 2012, and the story continues, without a very good man I might add, but it still continues.......Mama said Mama said....








Frederick Leonard Doerr
10/23/1951 ~ 10/28/2011
May He Rest In Peace