When You Look Fear In The Eyes

Hello friends, I know I start every post like this but man what another crazy week in our household. Actually a couple of crazy weeks.

About two weeks ago my husband told me he thought he had pulled a muscle in his lower back and abdomen. He thought he had done this from working out. After a few days he had such pain that he couldn’t sleep and had spasms along the front of his stomach. A few days later a rash broke out around his abdomen. If you have ever had the dreaded “shingles virus” you know where this is going. I am not going to bore you with the details of shingles. You can google them yourself. But having them is freaking horrible. Last Saturday night he finally came clean and told me how bad it was. He lifted his shirt and showed me the blisters and rash and I freaked the F out!!!!

Having a transplanted kidney does not make any situation that Mark has an easy one. Having shingles is no exception. I finally got him to go to the doctor on Monday morning. Well I practically had to haul his butt to the doctor but he was feeling so bad by that time he was willing to go. The doctor said it was the worst case of shingles she had ever seen. Of course. She said if he had come in the week before when the break out first started it would have been easier to deal with. Yep that’s my husband. At this point all I could do was glare at him. However, I am scared shitless. Could this affect the kidney? definitely if infection occurs. Could this lead to other issues with the kidney function? It could. Could the meds he will have to take interfere with the anti rejection drugs? They could. Add in the very fact it makes me feel ill to watch him go through the pain he is in. Of course it is never easy watching a loved one suffer, you know that. Why would he wait this long before seeing a doctor or letting me know how bad it was. I don’t know.

The local doctors were a little wary about prescribing a lot of meds until we heard from Vanderbilt. They were not nephrologists and they didn’t want to make that call. A trip to Vanderbilt may still be in our immediate future. I know the four hour trip each way would be hard on Mark but all of our doctors are there. Finally Vanderbilt called in meds to our local pharmacy and Mark started them today. Please pray for healing and comfort during the healing process. The next forty eight hours should tell us some things that we need to know.

So other than dealing with all of this and working between the doctor and pharmacy visits, things are as well as they can be. I try to stay busy when I am worried so that is what I am doing. My husband is my first priority. The babies still need to be cared for but taking care of the house and my job still has to be done also. But in the back of my mind I have a back up plan if we do have to go to Nashville and maybe plan a stay there. I have a plan for the babies, that is the most important part, and other than that we just have to take it as it comes. Did you notice I mentioned plan like three times. GEESH!!!! This is one of the hardest things for me. I want everything fixed before I realize there is a problem. That is not always possible. I think times like this humble us and make us realize just how precious life is and how the day to day boring is not always boring it is something we can cherish. We must take things one day at a time!!!!

**This sweet girl loves being on my lap and I love having the snuggles.**

A few years ago when my brother Allen was sick, he had leukemia, he told me that he hated hearing bad news from his doctor. Not just for himself but because he could see the fear in his wife, my sister in law’s, eyes. He said that scared him more than anything the doctor could say. WOW!!! those are some powerful words.

What do you look like when you look fear in the eyes? Are you positive? hopeful? scared? the person looking back may need you to be their only courage.

Friends, always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Making Madeleines

A Madeleine is a cookie or wait is it a little cake? No matter what they are, I have been wanting to make some of these forever. I bought a special Madelines pan. I think you could use a muffin pan but then they won’t have those adorable little ridges. So they won’t be the same. Sorry but they won’t. I actually bought the pan several months ago and just haven’t gotten around to making any until now. I searched the internet and put several recipes together and came up with one I thought looked really good. There are a lot of rules to making Madeleines so don’t get discouraged. I am sharing my experience with you as I go. I made these last Sunday.

These are some of my finished ones and I will tell you I was pretty proud of them.

***This is a Madeleine pan don’t you love the little fan ridges?***

Here is the recipe I used:

Pre heat oven to 375

Bake time about 10-12 minutes.
2 large eggs at room temperature ( Room temperature is very important)
1/2 cup of butter (I used salted but you can use unsalted)
2 Tbs. of melted butter for oiling the pan
1 cup of plain flour sifted
1/2 tsp. of baking powder
1/8 tsp. of salt
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 tsp. of lemon zest
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Mix eggs and sugar together and mix them with an electric mixer for 8 minutes. This is a long time but it makes the eggs inflate and that is what makes the Madeleines so light and airy almost spongy. This will make the eggs and sugar frothy and pale.

Melt the butter and let it sit for about 8 minutes while you are beating the egg mixture. This way the butter won’t be hot.

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside.

When you finish mixing the eggs and sugar, gently, and I do mean gently, fold the flour mixture into your bowl. The reason you want to do this gently is because your eggs are light and airy and you don’t want to deflate them. Next add the lemon zest and the vanilla flavoring. You don’t have to add lemon zest you can use orange zest or only vanilla flavoring. I loved the lemony flavor the lemon zest gave them.

The next step is letting the batter rest in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes.

After you have brushed your pan with butter put about a tablespoon into each little Madeline form and bake for about 10-12 minutes. You won’t believe how they just pop out of the pans. Brushing the pan with butter is best because it tends to make the ridges on the other side of the Madeleines browner and crispier.

***They will slide right out of the pan when they are done***.

I sprinkled half of mine with powdered sugar and left the rest of them plain. This recipe makes about 2 dozen. They dry out really quick so you might want to eat them really fast. I took mine to work and everyone made short work of them.

I hope you get a chance to make them. Let me know if you have any questions.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

What Happened to the Weekend!!!???

Last Saturday morning I had to be at the Nissan dealership to get a few things done to my car. I had to get a software update, an oil change and my tires rotated. My car is still under warranty so I make the one hour drive to the dealership when I need it done. Plus I had the software update so I had to go to the dealership. The last time I was at the dealership they told me it would take about two hours for the update and oil change. So I had to schedule accordingly.

I am probably the only person who doesn’t mind sitting in a waiting room at the car dealership waiting for my car to be serviced. I take something to read, some knitting and coffee and I am in heaven.

When I arrived on Saturday at 8:00 AM the tech told me that it would be an hour and a half, two hours max. I said ” don’t you worry about me I am good” I settled into the waiting room with my coffee and knitting and ear buds for my phone. This is one of the few places where I have uninterrupted time to knit and read or whatever. I so enjoyed it!!! It only took about an hour and a half and they were finished.

I decided to make at least one stop while I was in Knoxville so I chose Target. It has been about six or seven months since I have been to Target. It was still pretty early only about 9:30 so there were not a lot of people there. I found some really neat things:

This is one of my favorite spots at Target. There are some super cute things here and really cheap. Just some little things that you wouldn’t find in a lot of places. I found these little cloth pumpkins here and they were only $1.00. I bought seven of them although I now wish I had bought more because I needed a few more to fill my bowl and I don’t know when I will be back. I didn’t have any luck finding them online.

I love these colors and the way everything is put together but I found most of the items a little pricey for Target. Like this large wooden tray below. I love trays and I have a lot of them. I have to bring them out a few at a time and keep the others stored or I would have them all over my house. This was was about $40.00!! Ouch!!

I am sort of on the fence about these shirts with the really large puffy sleeves. I am a bit top heavy and I think these sleeves would make me look even more so. I wasn’t able to try it on because Target still has their dressing rooms closed. I will have to think about this ***one. I love the look on other people but not sure for me.***

***I absolutely loved this little purse but little was the key word. It just would not accommodate everything I carry day to day. I do love the color and design though.***

I did grab this little brow pencil and brush by elf. Elf has gotten a bad rap on some of their products because they have been known to scrimp on some of their sizes and content. But people come on this was $2.00. I mainly bought it for the brush but after I got it home I noticed that the pencil has quite a lot in it as well. I love it!!!

And last but certainly not least I just had to stop by Starbucks and try this iced coffee I heard about. You may have tried this combination but if not you need to. This was a Venti iced white mocha with sweet cream cold foam and extra caramel drizzle. A splurge but definitely worth it.

The rest of the weekend went by pretty quick as weekends and days off normally do. I did some baking and some knitting and I made Madeleines. Have you ever made Madeleines ? I have been wanting to make some for quite a while. You have to have a special pan. I will have a full post on those in a couple of days. They dry out pretty quick so I took the entire batch to work and everyone loved them and ate them all up.

Watch for the blog post about making Madelines you just have to try them.

Have a great rest of the week and always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Driving Miss Molly

Hello friends, how are you?

Last week was really a full week for me. I will catch you up on it with a couple of different posts. I worked most of Labor Day weekend. That was our last big hurrah for the year as far as tourism goes but you know what? I may not be so sure about that. I feel like people, some people, are traveling and getting out there because they are sick and tired of being at home. In this respect I think we will still have some very busy weekends at work.

Since I worked last Saturday, Labor Day weekend, I took Wednesday off. It always feels a little decadent to be off during the week when most people are at work. I had a few errands to run and then I planned to have Sister Lunch with the sisters. It was fun sleeping a little later than usual and lingering over my coffee.

Molly has been having some terrible allergy problems, she does every summer. She usually winds up getting two or three shots during the course of the spring and summer. Her eye has been swollen and red and she rubs her face against the floor or the ground or whatever to scratch it. I tried a few home remedies but it didn’t improve much. When I got up on Wednesday morning, my day off, and saw how bad her eye looked I called the vet’s office as soon as they opened. They told me they could see her at 9:30 because they had had a cancellation. Mark was at work and I don’t usually take her by myself but I knew she had to be seen. She was starting to have some hair loss around her eye. I was actually expecting to have to wait a few days to get her in so I was a little surprised when they told me to bring her in.

I put a couple of old blankets and some old towels down in the back seat of my mother in law’s car. I picked her car because it is very low to the ground. Mark usually takes her in a crate in the back of his truck. I knew there was no way I could get Molly in the truck or even in my SUV. She is a very old girl and can’t jump very well. She’s also a big girl and trying to lug her in or out just wouldn’t work. She climbed right into the back seat and sat back there like a little queen. She looked out the window and over my shoulder. She was the perfect little angel.

We live only about ten minutes from the vet. Once we arrived, because of the COVID regulations, they had to come out to the car and get Molly. We called to let them know that we were there. We took a little walk around the grassy areas around the clinic. She was so easy going and sweet. The vet tech came out to get her. She wasn’t in with them very long. They just loved her and told me what a sweet girl she was. The vet said she had noticed how bad Molly’s eyesight had gotten and she said the hearing loss was worse. This is just a couple of reasons we won’t leave her out at night or really even during the day. She couldn’t hear a coyote or person come up to her.

Molly got an allergy shot and some eye drops and we were back home within an hour. Do you ever take care of a problem that is bothering you and it makes you feel virtuous? I had been worried about Molly and how we were going to get her to the vet with both mine and Mark’s schedules and then just like that it was done. Our girl was taken care of. I felt like I could conquer the world. You know it doesn’t take much for me. HA HA. I did a post once about taking care of your most bothersome problem first thing in the morning it was based on a book called Eat That Frog. Check out the post here if you haven’t read it.

I later had lunch with the sisters and then dropped some things off for my mother in law at the assisted living center. I went to her back door and talked with her for a few minutes through the glass. This is a bit of a challenge because she doesn’t hear very well. But at least it gives us a little face to face time. I think it perked her up a little bit.

I came home, took a short nap with Scruffy on my lap. Molly was a little sluggish from her shot so she napped in the laundry room where it was cool. Who knows where Kitty Kitty was. She is very independent.

I don’t cook dinner when Mark works. He doesn’t get home until later and I usually just grab a snack. Before you know it the day was just about over and it was time to get ready for the rest of the week.

Thursday and Friday passed uneventfully and then the weekend was upon me again. Yay!!! Although I scheduled an oil change and a software update for my car in Knoxville on Saturday morning at 8:00 AM!!! Oh well I will get it over with. I will Eat That Frog!!!

***This is a barn I pass on my way to work everyday. I have taken pictures of it during every season. I love these purple flowers.***

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!