Happy Sunday, come in and share a cup of coffee or tea or hot chocolate with me. If we were having coffee today I think we would talk about the New Year. How is it going so far? The weather, it is cold and rainy here. Although I do see a bit of sunshine starting to peep through the clouds. I absolutely love a cold bright sunny day. There is something about seeing the sun shining off of the cold ground that makes me feel renewed. I know it’s weird but I do.
This morning I am drinking coffee from my Cat People mug. It’s actually my second cup of coffee. I got up early this morning and fixed a nice breakfast for my husband. I don’t get to do that a lot because we often have different days off. I will probably fix dinner for us later on.
What I am reading: I am actually reading two books. One is fiction and one is not. I like to do this a lot so that I can go from one to the other if I get bored.
The first one is What Comes Next and How to Like It. I am only about a third of the way through it. I read Abigail Thomas’ book A Three Dog Life and really liked it. This one is a little slow right now.
I am also reading, Reading People. It is pretty good so far. This book talks about a lot of different types of personalities, and how those differences cause people to act in different ways. I just started it so I really don’t know what it will be like just yet
What I am Wearing: In the winter my job is much more laid back. We have lots of different hoodies and jackets with our logo and I am able to wear them to work. I really take advantage of them. And they are so warm
What I am working on: Putting away all of my Christmas decorations. The hubs and I worked on that yesterday. I still haven’t packed away all of my Santas but I will do that later today. I have also been working on my heart cross stitch and I am planning to finish it so I can display it before Valentine’s Day.
What I am watching: I am still watching Grey’s Anatomy. I am just finishing the 12th season. I am pretty hooked on this right now. It takes me a while to get through all of the season because there were so many. I don’t watch TV a lot. But I do watch it more in the winter.
What I am listening to: Stevie Wonder. I have always loved his music. But I heard a song or two on a recent movie and I had to add some to my music library I can’t believe I didn’t have any already.
What I am looking forward to: I am looking forward to doing some new things this year. I’m not sure just what all of those things will be but I think that is part of the fun. I know I am going to the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas in August. We have been before and it is a lot of fun. I think we will stay a few extra days and go into Utah, we have never been there, and explore some of the National Forests.
I hope you have enjoyed our time together and we must catch up again soon. Have a wonderful week.
Happy Friday everyone. I will get to the French Butter Press in Just a moment. It was one of my favorite Christmas presents. But let me show you a few other favorites for this week.
You have probably heard me talk about my Kitty Gus and that he is a very large boy. Probably about 17 pounds. He and Kitty Kitty share a litter box. At one time they each had their own box but they completely stopped using one of them so I took it up. Their box is pretty much the standard size with a domed top. We noticed that Gus was having issues turning around and getting in and out. We bought him this jumbo litter box. It is for both of them. And they love it!!! It is a few extra inches on the sides and the length and the opening is bigger. It was $49.99 from Amazon and totally worth it for their comfort. Especially Gus since he is such a big boy.
Last week a coworker’s mom sent us some leftover treats from Christmas. We love it when she bakes a lot around the holidays. She always sends us the yummiest treats. We call her Martha Stewart. She always packages everything so nicely.
My orchid Zsa Zsa has now become two orchids. Well she really was two all along. She was a gift when my sister passed away almost two years ago. I always suspected that Zsa Zsa might be two orchids but I didn’t find out for sure until I repotted her last night. The repotting was not pleasant and I will tell you more about that in a future post. But now that she is two I have decided to name her after another Gabor sister. I named her Ava.
This was Zsa Zsa before I repotted her. One reason I hadn’t repotted her since I had her was because she had bloomed continuously. Some ofthe base leaves seemed to be crowded together and in distress.
This isn’t the best picture but you can see they are now in two smaller pots. I will tell you there was a lot of root rot at the bottom. I am not sure if they will survive but I feel like this is the only chance they had. ( I still haven’t gotten all of my Christmas decorations put away yet)
I looked out the window this morning and I saw the most beautiful sunrise. I have probably taken pictures of the sunrise in this same spot a million times but it always makes me catch my breath when I see these beautiful colors.
And now for the French Butter Press. I had never heard of one. My nephew and his wife gave it to me for Christmas. I opened the gift and just thought it was a cute urn of some type with a lid. My niece said “do you know what it is?” I didn’t. She told me and explained how it works. You may have one and use it all the time. It is new to me and quite wonderful.
Isn’t it adorable?
The top comes off and you pack butter into the top, the lid. It will hold an entire stick of butter. The bottom of the press is filled about 1/3 full of water. Then you put the top back and it forms an airtight seal. The butter stays soft without becoming rancid. I love real butter. None of that margarine stuff for me. So this keeps the butter nice and spreadable.
It is only about 4in. High.
Here are some great tips when using the French Butter Press taken from the Facebook page of James Sloss Pottery.
How much water and how often do I need to change The water should at least cover the little hole in the cone. Water should be as close to or touching the butter as possible. The water should be changed at least once a week.Do you pack the butter into the crock right out of the refrigerator, or do you wait until the butter reaches room temperature? Also, is there a problem with water getting into the butter, thus onto the bread, etc.? Let the butter warm up a little before packing it in to the lid, but not so long that it is completely soft. Sometime, if I do not have the time to wait, I’ll pack it in right out of the refrigerator. Water and butter (oil) will not mix so there is no problem with water getting into the butter.Put a small amount of salt in the water to stop mold A long time ago a customer bought two butter dishes, one as a present for his sister and one for his himself. He wrote, asking me about mold in his butter dish. He then asked his sister if she had the same problem. She did not, but she was using a different brand of butter. He switched to her brand and the problem went away. I have talked with a woman from the Alsace region in France. She told me her family always added salt to the water in their butter dishes. It came to me that the salt in the butter keeps the mold away. I ran an experiment with two butter dishes using unsalted butter. I put salt in the water of one and not in the other. There was no mold in the butter dish with salted water! There was mold in the other dish! I now always put salt in the water, even with salted butter. So low salt and unsalted butter is causing this problem. A process of evaporation takes place through the pottery (helping to keep the inside slightly cooler). This happens more with some glazes then others, and if adding too much salt it may precipitate to the outside leaving a floury powder.Also, French butter dish user Julie sent this in: I find that if you aren’t careful to keep bread particles out of the butter (kids!), you get mold. HTH–JulieThe butter in my French butter dish started falling into the base, is there something wrong? When the temperature approaches 90′ F the butter will become to soft to stay in the lid. If you do not have air conditioning you will need to put the butter dish in the refrigerator or add ice to the water in the base. Butter mixtures like “Land of Lakes spreadable” have margarine blended into the butter. This makes the butter to oily to stay in the lid. Only pure butter will work in a French Butter Dish. (butter bell)What is the difference between Porcelain and Stoneware?:Stoneware is a little stronger then porcelain but that is only relevant if the pottery is used for cooking. Porcelain is a finer clay body with less impurities then stoneware. The porcelain clay body I use is white when fired and therefore the glazes can be more vibrant and colorful. I use two stoneware clays, a buff white and a high iron red. I use the high iron red for the stony gray (I also sometimes us it for copper red and the odd one of a kind piece. The iron bleeds through the glaze to its surface for the stony effect. I use the same glaze over the buff white stoneware for the stony white butter dishes. To sum it up: the stoneware clay is for earthy colors, the porcelain for brighter and shinier colors.What is the difference between a French Butter Dish and a butter crock or bell There are numerous manufactured versions of the French Butter Dish that use copyrighted names like the “Butter Bell”. The difference is that manufactured versions can not create a cone shaped lid like our hand made butter dishes therefore they must be smaller or the butter will fall out. Is the French butter dish dishwasher safe? Yes, it is dishwasher safeCan I use margarine (or other spreads) in a French Butter Dish? French Butter Dish works best when real butter is used. Margarine does not have a spreadability problem and is then butter s will not stay in the lid very easily. Do not store other processed spreads for any length of time. Processed spreads like cream cheese need refrigeration to stay fresh for extended periods of time. You can use a French Butter Dish for special spreads if you do not plan to store it for long. For example use a French Butter Dish a serving piece at an evening dinner party for a special dip or spread that you create. It also works for Coconut oil.What is the size of your butter dishes They are about 4 1/2″ round by 4″ high. Since they are handmade they are not exactly the same size.
So those are some of my favorites for the week. What have you been enjoying this week?
Hello and Happy New Year!!! I have gotten complete permission from my sister Sandy to share this post with you. I know that this is an inspiring story to me. We never know what trials we might face. I have seen first hand how faith, prayer, family love, and determination can change so many things.
Since the day after Christmas my mind keeps wandering back to last year at this very time. My sister Sandy was sick. Very sick. We knew it. We knew things weren’t right and hadn’t been for a long time. For months she had barely been able to get off of the couch. A trip to the grocery store was out of the question. She was weak and just plain didn’t have the strength to do anything. It was scary. She had always been the energizer bunny and could do anything.
We tried to do a short shopping trip before Christmas last year and it turned into a huge challenge of finding somewhere for her to sit before she literally fell out.
She had been to so many doctors because her blood work was off. One doctor would say this and another would order more bloodwork. Another doctor would ask if she had reported this to her regular doctor and the cycle continued day after day and nothing was being done. We were quite frantic as we watched her get weaker and weaker.
On the good advice, given by a retired doctor friend, the day after Christmas 2022 her husband and son took her to Knoxville to University of Tennessee hospital and took her through the Emergency Room. They started running a series of tests. Within a couple of hours they had discovered she had a mass in her spleen. They thought it was probably cancer. Why this couldn’t have been done before I don’t know.
She was admitted to the hospital for more tests. Her oncologist was a doctor that we had seen many years ago when my dad had cancer. At that time we were not very fond of him. But he came highly rated and several people that we knew praised him for the things he had done for their friends and family. We would put our faith in him.
My sister was in the hospital for several days. She was dehydrated so she was given fluids and protein. Her body was very run down. Because she was so susceptible to infection only two people could be with her during her stay. My brother in law and I took turns staying day and night with her at the hospital.
On Friday, the day before she was released from the hospital, we sat in her hospital room and waited for the doctor, the oncologist, to come in. We heard him outside the door speaking with someone in the hallway. It was as if we were holding our breath waiting for the verdict. We knew it was cancer, but we had no idea how bad it was or how much it may have spread.
The doctor came into the room with his assistant. He told my sister that she had large b-cell lymphoma. He also said she had some small spots in her upper rib cage. He told us he thought, with treatment, she could make a full recovery. She would need 6 chemo treatments, three weeks apart. Halfway through the treatments they would do more scans to see if the chemo was working. He seemed upset that she would lose her hair. She said “I’m not worried about my hair I’m more worried about getting rid of this” To us this was news that we could work with. Cancer in our family is not new to us. We know the drill. We had a plan. We love planning no matter what it may be.
Her first appointment after getting out of the hospital was to get more blood work and set up the schedule for the chemo and the scans that would be done at the halfway point. The doctor and his assistant tried to prepare us. They said it would get worse before it got any better at all. We didn’t think it was possible. It was.
My sister is a 35 year cancer survivor to start with. She had colon cancer at the age of 35. She is a tough cookie. She had had radiation in the past but never chemo.
The treatments were bad. We fought right along with her but let’s face it. We didn’t have cancer and she was the one going through hell. But this was a family commitment and we were all there to help. We brought her anything she could and would eat. Her son shopped continuously to search for high protein food, shakes whatever she could keep down. The fact that she had already lost weight and was very weak when she started the chemo made things much worse. Some people do not go into chemo like this.
In the picture below my sister was at one of her lowest points. She told me she could not eat, or sleep, or walk and she didn’t think she was going to make it. But she didn’t give up. I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do but what I was doing.
She was already so far down it took a lot to get back. But she did. She started physical therapy to help her balance. She had been traveling everywhere by wheelchair and she was soon able to get rid of that. As the chemo shrunk the mass in her spleen, it allowed good blood to circulate through her body. She was getting stronger every day. Her hair came out, and she got a wig and some scarves. She dealt with it.
Mid March and it was time for the first set of scans to see just how well the treatments were working. The scans showed that the cancer had pretty much shrunk to NOTHING!!!! What???? We were in shock. It was everything we had prayed for. Prayers were definitely answered. She still had 2 more treatments and her doctor wanted to finish those.
She finished all of the treatments and on May 5th she rang the bell that signaled the end of treatments and that she was cancer free
This picture was taken during the summer. What a difference those months have made. She is the energizer bunny again. I can barely keep up with her. I lost two of my sisters and she is my only sister I have left. I would do anything for her. She is the backbone of our family. We just can’t imagine life without her and we are so glad that she is here with us. We thank God every day for that.
Again, I tell you this story because it gives me hope that if I, or another loved one, should go through something like this I will remember my sister. I will tell this story. She fought such a battle because she wanted to be here. I asked her if she minded me sharing this on my blog. She said No!!! If this can give someone hope that means everything. She continues with check ups and blood work and scans and so far everything is great!!!! She is my hero.
So you never know just what a difference a year can make.
Southern Patches 