Day 9, Thankfulness

Today I'm thankful for my daughter and granddaughters, and the chance to spend time together. I'm wishing my sweet daughter-in-love and other two granddaughters were here with us. It's baking day. Spending time together in the kitchen is such joy!

Right now, the girls have all gone to the gym for a quick workout. I'm sitting by the fireplace in my daughter Laura's house, having a cup of Chai latte and waiting for the oven timer. The peach crisp, from this year's crop of Green Bluff's peaches that I'd frozen and brought along in the motorhome, is baking. I have to admit, it's easier to cook in Laura's kitchen, even with three of us working. 

With working full time, fixing good meals gets difficult, so Laura tries to cook up a month's worth of main dishes at a time. Today we made chicken divan, chicken and rice casseroles, chicken pot pies and burritos. They are packaged, labeled and stacked in the refrigerator, ready for the freezer.

Then for quick snacks, there's pizza crescents. Cheese and pepperoni rolled in crescent rolls. Looks yummy enough to eat!

Spending time with teenaged girls is always a treat. They showed me hilarious You Tube videos. What Does the Fox Say, and It's a Dad's Life. Now I'm "in the know." It's nice to be able to understand when they giggle at those "inside jokes." I also got a full preview of the prom dress wish list. So fun! Now that all my kids and granddaughters live so far away, I feel extra blessed to be able to share these moments.

Thankful, Day 8

Yesterday I posted that it was a hard day to be thankful, and I had to turn to the Psalms, specifically Psalm 66. The outpouring of prayers and compassion from so many friends blew me away.

Today I am thankful for friends and family, and for the amazing technology of the Internet that allows us to be part of each others' lives daily and to hold each other up in prayer. Your prayers were felt. And appreciated!

I'm thankful that a nun lived over a hundred years ago. Born in 1856, she became Sister Mary Joseph Dempsey, then she became a nurse. She worked as the surgical assistant to Dr. William James Mayo from 1890 until 1915. She has many great accomplishments, but she observed that patients who had a particular nodule, or node in the area of the umbilicus (belly button) had cancer that had metastasized from another organ in the abdominal region. http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2984.html

Yesterday we met Dr. Dustan Osborn, Gary's new oncologist. He talked to us in terms we could understand. He's the one who introduced us to Sister Mary Joseph and that background on the node on Gary's abdomen. In a nutshell (and not particularly scientifically stated) while a baby is still developing in the womb, the umbilical cord supplies all the nutrients needed from the mother to the baby. Various tubes run from the umbilicus to the digestive organs in the body that then distribute it to the blood stream and the rest of the body. Those tubes are no longer used after a baby is born, and the umbilical cord is cut, but they are still there. As I understand it, cancer cells can migrate along those unused tubes back to the umbilicus, where they form a nodule. That is Sister Mary Joseph's Nodule.

Today, I am thankful that Gary's surgery was delayed. It seemed frustrating that things weren't moving faster. We all wanted the doctors to get in there and fix it. But then Gary felt a lump near his belly button. He almost didn't tell the doctor. He thought it seemed insignificant. I am thankful that he did tell his primary doctor. That led to a hernia repair surgery and a biopsy. And that changed how his cancer will be treated. No more surgery. Now the focus will be radiation and chemotherapy. I am thankful for advances in medical research that make treatment available and easier on the patient than it was twenty-five years ago when my mother-in-law went through treatment. And for the prayers of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who haven't even met Gary, and that God hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Day 5, 30 Days of Thankfulness

Today I am thankful for a new day. New starts. New opportunities. Yesterday was one of those days when nothing seemed to go right. First thing was a dead battery in the Jeep. Jim put it into neutral and pushed it close to the motorhome battery, so he could jumpstart it. It didn't want to start or stay running. The old  Jeep (1998 with 160,000+ miles) has a new battery, so we feared it had serious electrical issues. Finally got it running. We figured out, the seatbelt got stuck in the door when it closed, and it kept the overhead light on all night. Blessing - the car charged up and is running fine.

Then we'd lost a nut on Jim's bike fender, so the fender fell off. Blessing - it didn't fall off while we traveled. It waited until he took it off the bike rack.

Can't get cable TV working. As Jim tried to hook it up, he discovered an antenna wire was very hot. Blessing - he discovered it before it started a fire. Porch light not working. Hot water heater won't work on AC. Blessing - it does work on propane, so we have hot water. Leak on accessory hose for toilet. Refrigerator suddenly quit working on AC. Blessing - it came back on when we turned off a heater. Both key fobs stopped working on motorhome. Blessing - new batteries fixed them. Jim forgot to pack a box of my books. Oh well. They'll still be there when we get home in the spring.

And the topper - we got a parking ticket in Olympia because we didn't have enough change. Gary's insurance appointment took 50 minutes, and we only had 35 minutes on the meter. Oops. So we are making a $15.00 donation to the City of Olympia. A dollar a minute. Pretty expensive parking. There must be a blessing there somewhere.

Today, we get to see Laura. Tonight, we get to watch a Tumwater High soccer game. They are playing District Playoffs. Kathryn is on the team. She shares the goalie position with another player, so I hope she gets to play tonight. Go Thunderbirds!!!

Wendy Beeghley Photography

Thankful, Day Four

Today I'm thankful for reaching our destination safely. And for a great ending to the day - being with family. Three of our favorite people, Kathryn, Madie and Gary, went to dinner with us last night. Buffalo Wild Wings, in Olympia, Washington. Yum! Then we met the girls at Dairy Queen for a hot fudge sundae. Double yum!

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving

Day Three: I'm grateful for so many things, but forget to be thankful. I saw someone else post 30 days of Thanksgiving, so I decided to do the same.

Today, the third day of November, and the second day of our trip, I am thankful for a country where we can travel freely state to state, and for diesel costing less than $4 a gallon (however temporary). I am  thankful for RV parks with electricity to hook up to, even if the trucks parked in the next lot in back of the truck stop ran their generators all night, and the trains ran hourly across the interstate, which is only a stone's throw away.

Jim didn't believe me, but I swear the bed vibrated all night from the rumble of the generators. I'm very sensitive that way, like the Princess and the Pea. A reminder that truck drivers have to sleep too, but they spend their days transporting our food and clothing, our fuel and automobiles and every imaginable necessity and convenience from factories to stores, also for our convenience. I'm happy to share the roads with them. One more thing to be thankful for.

It was dark when we pulled in last night, but finding the Pilot RV Park was no problem. Just turn into the Pilot Gas Station and go past the McDonalds. With their bright signs, we couldn't miss it.

Those thoughts and the gentle background hum lulled me to sleep.

Here are my previous posts, Day One and Day Two, just to keep them all together.

Day Two: I'm thankful that in spite of the PC crowd trying to take Christ out of Christmas, the tree from our forest is still officially the Capitol Christmas Tree.

Day One: Love the 30 Days of Thankfulness idea. I'm thankful for living in a small town in the amazing Northwest, where everyone you know gathers to celebrate the cutting of the Capitol Christmas Tree, that will bring joy to multitudes of people.https://www.facebook.com/capitolchristmastree2013

Chocolate Granola - Gluten Free

Getting ready for a trip takes planning and lots of preparations. We are moving into our motorhome indefinitely -- at least 6 months -- with someone living in our house, so the moving and packing is more extensive. As I've recently discovered that gluten doesn't agree with me, I'm including a lot of gluten free foods in our move. I love Kashi Crunch, but it contains gluten, so I decided to make my own crunchy cereal. I looked up some GF granola recipes online, then tweaked them, as usual. I just can't leave a recipe alone. I've never been a fan of chocolate cereal. Just doesn't seem like breakfast. But this turned out amazing. I will make another batch, only without the chocolate this time. This recipe can be adjusted in so many yummy ways. Next time, I will use vanilla protein powder, leave out the chocolate, and add dried fruits. For a snack mix, I'll add some yogurt and chocolate covered fruits and nuts.

Chocolate Granola (Gluten Free)*

·      3 cups old-fashioned oats*

·      2-4 scoops protein powder*

·      1-2 TBSP fiber powder

·      2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

·      2 TBSP flax seed meal

Place in large mixing bowl. Add desired spices.

Spices:

·      1 TBSP cinnamon

·      1 tsp nutmeg

·      1 tsp each of other spices (ginger, allspice, pumpkin pie spice, cardamom or other)

·      1/2 tsp sea salt

Add optional ingredients:

·      1/4 cup each chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios or other nuts)

·      1/8 cup each seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, chia, hemp or other)

·      1/2 cup flaked raw, unsweetened coconut

Mix together well. Then add liquid ingredients and stir well until moist and crumbly.

·      1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk

·      1/3 cup syrup (agave nectar or maple syrup)*

·      1/3 cup almond butter (or any nut butter or peanut butter)

·      2 tsp vanilla

·      3 TBSP coconut oil

Warm in microwave on low power until oil is melted. Stir together, then stir into dry ingredients, mixing well.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put parchment paper in bottom of  large, flat baking pan. Spread granola mixture on parchment paper and bake 45-60 minutes, stirring once or twice, until dry. Let cool. Add any dried fruit desired.

Optional dried fruit:

1/2 cup each (chopped from whole dates, raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried banana chips (broken into small pieces), dried apples, etc)

*For gluten free, make sure all ingredients are gluten free. Store in airtight container for up to two weeks, or refrigerate or freeze for longer storage.

Serve as 1/2 cup granola with milk for breakfast or as a dry snack mix.

Can be made with vanilla or plain protein powder, leave out the cocoa, and use apple juice in place of milk.

For snack mix, add chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, yogurt or chocolate covered dried fruit, etc.

Hearty Summer Squash Soup. It's what's for lunch.

Generally, lunch is whatever is leftover in the fridge. We were out of town last week on a family emergency, so I had a bunch of yellow summer squash and yellow crookneck squash a friend had given to me. They were starting to look wilted. Our weather has turned chilly and the trees are turning, so I'm thinking fall. The squash looked like the makings for some great soup.

My experiments aren't always hits, so I was thrilled when Jim went back for seconds.

I started with my 4 quart stainless pan and sautéed diced onions and diced squash in several tablespoons of butter.

I love the yellow squash, as it's flesh is naturally very buttery, but zucchini would work well, too.

Summer Squash Soup

1/2 sweet onion, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced (I used a red one)
4 TBSP butter

2 medium yellow summer squash plus 4 small yellow crook-neck squash (could be any summer squash). Diced into bite-sized pieces, it made about 5-6 cups of raw diced squash.

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

1 Tbsp dried parsley or 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp Fine Herbs (any favorite herb mix. I love Penzeys spices - http://www.penzeys.com)
2 tsp sea salt (I use French grey sea salt from Penzeys)
Fresh ground pepper

10 pieces of pepperoni, diced

3 crisp cooked thick bacon slices, diced

1/2 - 1 cup grated cheese (Mexican blend or sharp white cheddar or parmesan would be amazing)

1 quart (32 oz) chicken broth

Melt butter in large sauce pan over medium heat. Add first four ingredients and sauté until onion is translucent. Add diced squash and 1 cup of broth. Stir together, then cover and cook on low until squash is tender enough to mash with a potato masher. Leave chunky. Add chopped spinach, spices and rest of broth. Stir, then simmer until spinach is cooked. Add diced pepperoni and cooked, diced bacon. Stir together. At last minute, add grated cheese and stir until melted. Serve.

Optional garnish with a dab of sour cream and bacon bits or more grated cheese. Makes 5-6 servings.