Category: My Life

I was challenged today. First I had promised Hubby an apple pie, thinking I had two pre-made crusts in the other fridge. However, when I opened them, they appeared to be bad. I don’t know for sure, but they certainly smelled funny.

Since I didn’t want to go to the grocery store, I got out my Crisco shortening, flour and ice water, and started to work on making a pie crust. Do you know how long it has been since I have made a pie crust?

No, me either, so you can see, I was really challenged!

Note to self: find a good pie crust recipe.

Carefully I followed the recipe and then rolled it out. I put the bottom one in the pie pan, filled it with the seasoned apples, and then put the top crust on. Well, it looked okay, but…

The next thing to challenged me was Arnie. Or should I say, Arnie and Hubby. Mr. Arnie wanted to go out to do his business, but it was almost train time. I wanted to walk him on the leash, but Hubby hollered at me to let him go. So, I did let him go, but I walked outside with him.

The next thing I knew Arnie ran up the hill, (away from the train tracks) sniffed hard and before I could get to him, he had rolled in some smelly, sticky, deer poop!!!

I clicked the leash on him, dragged him into the house and into the bath tub! Where he promptly had a full bath!

Then I told Hubby that I wanted to have leftovers for dinner. Simple, easy, leftovers. Nope, he wanted spaghetti! So I went down to the freezer, got out a container and thawed it out. Challenge number three!

My cough came back again tonight and Hubby isn’t really thrilled with that either. His comment was, “Don’t you have any cough syrup?” made me feel a little bad. So, I’m sucking down cough drops trying to stifle my cough! I know that feeling. When he is coughing at night disturbing my sleep I get annoyed. So, I can’t say I blame him for feeling this way.

At least of all my challenges, the apple pie turned out okay. Not my favorite crust, but certainly not the worst I have had either.

Yes, some days are more challenging than others!

During the time that I have been fighting this cold/bronchitis/pneumonia, I have slept and awoken at strange times.

Sometimes in the middle of the night I’ve been coughing so hard  that I wake up and cannot get back to sleep. So I turn on the TV to watch something, and I have discovered something I long ago suspected, but wasn’t quite sure of.

There is nothing on the TV in the middle of the night! I click around and around and nothing at all!

I have watched documentaries on frogs, reruns of the Tonight show and even Conan O’Brien, who I really can’t stand, but at 2 AM, it’s any port in the storm!

Fritz loves it. He enjoys the TV and will actually jump around the bedroom while I click through the channels. The dackels are never bothered!

I was awake coughing so much Tuesday night, that I kept falling asleep during the day on Wednesday. I just have felt so run down and so tired.

And I wonder how much longer until I feel well? Have you ever had a virus that seemed to go on and on?

• I’ll be off to the doctor today at one o’clock. I woke on Thursday sick all over again. And quite frankly, I am sick of being sick! This has got to end!
• Hubby got me one of my favorite vegetables yesterday and I am cooking it for dinner Thursday night. It is rutabaga! How many of you know this vegetable and like it?



• I cook mine by peeling it, cutting into cubes and boiling until soft, then mashing with salt, pepper and butter!
• It’s been a while since I have had any because the price was a dollar a pound! Crazy. This week it was on sale for 59 cents a pound.
• I have started wearing my turtlenecks again. Autumn is here!
• I have started a new book. “The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty. It is quite gripping and I am only in the first chapter!
• I go back to the Plastic Surgeon on Monday. I can see where I still need work done, but we will see what he says.
• Please pray for my recovery before then!
• Hubby is picking apples now every day. Oh, they sure do taste good!
• I think this weekend I will clean my closet out leaving just a few short sleeve shirts inside and packing up the rest for next year.
• I need to break out some of my sweaters and get ready for cooler temperatures!
• Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Ever have one of those years? You know, the ones where you sort of feel challenged all year long?

Eighth grade was like that for me. I mean all those new classes, and the fact that my body developed and I started having all those wild and crazy feelings about boys, brought on by hormones!

Wait! Looking back now, that was a good year compared to 2013! This year has been really…well…challenging!

I’m actually looking forward to New Years this year. I am planning a big celebration with Hubby, as we ring out 2013 and ring in 2014!

I just have a feeling that 2014 is going to be so much better!

A few times during the year I sat myself down and did the old pep talk. “Life is good!”, “Happiness is just around the corner!”, “The glass is half full!”. But then, it seems like no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t run fast enough to get away from all the stuff descending on me this year.

Woops, before I start to fuss and whine, let me just say that I was doing really well until this virus hit and then I just said, “Forget about it!” I just give up!

I am going to try to slide through the rest of 2013 unscathed. And yes, I’m starting today to plan that New Years party!

Come on 2014!

After nearly a week of doing nothing but coughing and sleeping, I decided to actually cook a real meal. Oh nothing fancy, mind you, but something that is not a frozen TV dinner.

I chopped up an onion, and a green pepper and sauteed some sweet Italian sausage. I tossed that into a pot with a bunch of chopped up garden tomatoes, and now I have that simmering on the stove for dinner.

Not the best meal I have made, for sure, but not the worst either!

I got two loads of laundry done and I am actually feeling better, despite the fact that my voice is non-existent. I think Hubby is actually happy about that because it has remained quiet around here all day.

In fact, while he was picking fruit, I turned the TV down and just let my ears and head rest.

I checked out the TV schedule for tonight and there is NOTHING on. So I am thinking about just watching a movie or two in the bedroom. I’m sure Hubby will want to watch football.

Slowly but surely, I am getting back in the saddle!

Well somehow I managed to live through the week! I actually think I am doing a little better, despite not having any voice. I have done a little laundry and prepared a couple of easy meals, and even took a long hot shower, allowing for some sense of normality to return to my life.

Hubby even went out for me and bought more Nyquil, Halls Cough Drops and honey for my chamomile tea. What a guy!

I did have plans for the weekend. I’d wanted to go to the Highland Games, just north of us, but alas, that will have to wait until next year.

I had put a couple of chicken breasts in to marinate a couple of weeks ago, and when I couldn’t use them right off, I tossed them in the freezer. Today I pulled them out, and I will roast them along with some sweet potato fries for dinner. I hope I can eat some of it. If not, it will be a good lunch for Hubby tomorrow.

I am simply loving my new gas range and find that cooking is once again a pleasure for me!

Hubby is busy picking apples and soon we will make up some applesauce for the winter! I want to look for some canning recipes and see how a batch or two of that goes.

Someone also mentioned seeing a recipe for apple pie filling that you can. Must look for that.

Well, have a nice weekend everyone!

Have you ever had a high fever, where even you hair roots hurt? How about coughing so much and so hard, that you feel like your head will actually explode?

How about being so sick with an unknown virus that you actually start to think your significant other should bring you to the Emergency Room, because you simply might die on the spot?

Well the last 24 hours have been like this for me, and after actually getting up this morning, I found myself crawling back into bed right after breakfast and sleeping well past lunch.

I got up to have a little soup, but mostly toast and tea. And in the hours since lunch, I’ve been counting down the time until I can go back to bed.

I think it will be tea and toast again, but I somehow think if I can live until the morning, I may just, finally, be over the worst of this!

I just would rather be doing anything in the world, other than coughing so hard that my head pops off!

Monday started out about 6 AM, when I woke in a haze. The dogs had all come to bed with me at 7:30 on Sunday night, needless to say they all had to commune with mother nature at that early hour. Even in the rain.

I went back to bed, not even stopping to make coffee, and slept with the TV on until they broke in with the news about the shootings in Washington, DC at the Naval Base.

By then it was 9 o’clock and Hubby was just stirring from the guest room. Feeling as sick as I do, I sent him straight to the guest room to keep him from getting my germs.

We sipped coffee, and just listened to the news until well after 10:30, when Hubby announced he was hungry. An easy breakfast was made, and then I settled into my recliner.

The day seemed to slip away and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. Hubby ran out to get hamburgers and Still I slept on.

Later in the day, Hubby brought in three and a half pounds of Concord Grapes. This meant I needed to mash them up, and cook them down and now they are in a jelly bag. I can let it rest until tomorrow.

I’m planning another early night, to see if I can kick start a resolution to my illness. Trust me, in the morning, if I am not much better, I will be calling the doctor.

And I will tell you, it was not fun!

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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I woke at 3 AM on Sunday with a burning throat, and the inability to swallow without pain. I was also freezing cold and shaking, which told me that I probably had a fever. My muscles and joints ached (even my fingers) and my neck is swollen and it hurts to move it.

I got up and made coffee and breakfast, and I knew I needed to go get the last few things to make stuffing for the turkey, and turkey soup tomorrow.

As I walked through the store, my body began to ache. I could feel the sickness coming on.

I got home, knowing I needed to make stuffing for the turkey and then get the turkey in my new oven.

Have I mentioned how much I love my new stove? It works so well, and the temperature is right on every time I check!

Once I got the turkey in, I sat down with a thermometer! Not to take the turkey’s temperature, but to take my own!

102.6! Yeah, I’d say that is a bit of a temperature! I was quiet in the afternoon, watching a movie, and then in the end, I stumbled around and got the meal cooked.

Now the bones are simmering in my crock pot. Tomorrow I will try to make a turkey soup, but I need to see how I am feeling. I didn’t even finish the dishes tonight. Just too darn sick!

The turkey was nice, the Brussel Sprouts too, but in the end, I had no appetite.

So I will be busy tomorrow making the soup, if I feel better. If I don’t, then it’s off to the doctor’s office.