UPDATE ON THE DENTIST TRIP!

Just a quick update on my trip to the dentist yesterday.

I arrived for my appointment at 2 p.m. as scheduled. She started me on gas to relax me. It made me deathly sick to my stomach and gave me a pounding headache immediately. So, we decided to try it without the gas.

Next, after drilling for at least 40 minutes she tells me we have a slight setback. It seems she broke the drill bit off in the root canal and could not get it out. I, now, have two options, she can seal it in the canal and leave it or I can go to a specialist that might not be able to get it out either. Supposedly, this kind of thing happens quite often and it is no big deal. It should be fine just sealed in the canal because they used to put in something metal to fill the tooth anyway in the past but don't anymore. Besides, it fits in there just perfect! I decide to leave it in and get it over with. I spent one hour and 35 minutes with my jaws locked open, being gassed, and feeling like I would feel that drill come out the side of my jaw at anytime and even paid her a big sum of money to do these things to me....... When I got home, I was so sick to my stomach I was afraid to do anything but lie on the bed and not move because I did not think I could make it to the bathroom in time. She said to continue the antibiotics for several more days! (They are making me sick, too) I don't have to go back unless it starts to hurt again. I may pull it myself if it does!

Today, I am feeling a little better but still got the nausea.

I did get to see Thomas Wyatt on Sunday and give him his Christmas presents. He is feeling much better and went back to daycare yesterday. It was so good to see the little feller.

Thanks for all your kind, sweet comments and hopefully this situation will clear up very soon.

I SEE BETTER DAYS AHEAD!!

What did one tooth say to the other tooth? "Thar's gold in them thar fills."

Hi folks, Just wanted to let everyone out there in blogland know that I am suffering from an abscessed tooth! Guess I ate too many sweets while I was baking for Christmas!! Who knows what causes these things.

Anyway, on December 23rd, I started having these twinges of pain that morning while trying to get stuff ready to go to the farm for Christmas. In a couple hours, it was more than a twinge it was a full blown throbbing pain. I knew I could not take a chance on trying to get through Christmas without seeing a dentist.

After calling nearly every dentist in my town, (including my regular dentist), I got an appointment for two thirty that day with a young woman that recently opened an office here and must have needed the business because she agreed to see me.

It seems I had an abscess on a tooth that is part of a lower bridge and is also crowned. This meant I go on antibiotics for several days and then a root canal on Monday, December 29th.

They will have to drill through the crown and if this does not work, then I go to an oral surgeon.

The cost is only $800 and that is if you pay up front!! The antibiotics have finally given me some relief. The medicine has to be taken two hours after eating or one hour before eating and every six hours including during the night. You can't lie down for thirty minutes after taking it, so I am up at 3 a.m. every morning. My daughter, Anne, said she was not smart enough to take this medicine!!

I will let you know what happens on Monday.

I did go to the farm and the girls and I prepared Christmas dinner. My son and his wife could not come because Thomas Wyatt had an ear infection and pinkeye and was running a temperature. Then, my son had to work that afternoon. His wife, Sarah, is now sick and on antibiotics. We hope to have

Christmas with TW soon and give him his presents. We just want everyone to feel better and know it could be a lot worse.

I enjoyed my visit with my daughters and they had a wonderful Christmas dinner at the farm.

It was great to be with them during the holidays.

We are all looking forward to better days ahead and the New Year.

TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN THE BLOGGING WORLD

My Christmas Wish To YOU By Catherine Pulsifer
If I could wish a wish for you, it would be for peace and happiness not only now, but for the whole year through!
I wish that there always be food on your table. And that you always remember those less fortunate.May you always take time to share, and thank those who share with you.
I wish for time, so you may reflect on the blessings that you have, and that you express your love to those who are dear to you.
May you never feel lonely, because there are those who care.That you realize: you are special, you are unique, you make a difference, not only at Christmas, but all year!
I wish for your thoughts to be positive ones, that you never quit, that you never give up, and that you continue to learn.I wish for the love, peace, and joy of Christmas be yours always, Merry Christmas to each of you dear blogging friends.Judy

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

I have not posted for a while and my blogging friends are beginning to check up on me. Just wanted everyone to know I have been busy. I am baking cookies, making cakes, wrapping gifts and trying to get ready for the holidays.





Yesterday, I made cookies all day. I have made gingersnap cookies for at least twenty-five years.
My mother-in-law used to make shortbread cookies every year and now that she is gone, I make those, too.

Another tradition with our family is jam cake and I make one for Bob and me and one to take to the farm for Christmas Day. If I have enough time during the holidays I will make a cake for a family member for Christmas.







I have a real good recipe for pumpkin bread and I make that for gifts for family members, too.

On Christmas Eve, Bob drops me off at Twinbay Farm around noon and the girls and I go have lunch at this quaint little restaurant called Fava's. Then, we go by the grocery if we need any last minute items. Back at the farm, we get everything organized and Anne usually makes sausage balls for snacks and we relax and plan our meal.

On Christmas morning, we get up before daylight and have coffee. Then, we go to the barn and watch the sun come up on Twinbay Farm while we feed the horses and take pictures. Next, it is back to the house and start cooking dinner.

Our menu consists of ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, macaroni and cheese, barley casserole, cheese grits casserole, cranberry salad, rolls, tea, coffee, jam cake and pumpkin pie and any other last minute additions.

The barley casserole and cheese grits are another tradition. We have made these two dishes for years and we all like them.

This year, we are only buying gifts for Thomas Wyatt as he is the only child in our family at the present time. Rob, Sarah, TW, Bob and Hilori, a friend of the girls, will join us Christmas Day for our holiday celebration. I can't wait to see TW get his presents and visit with Anne and Leigh on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The recipes for the cookies, jam cake, barley casserole, cranberry salad, cheese grits, and pumpkin bread are all on my recipe blog: Recipes From A Southern Country Cook

Does your family have favorite recipes or traditions at Christmas?

SANTA'S BAG OF TOYS

The other day I was in Walmart looking for toys for my grandson, Thomas Wyatt for Christmas. The more I looked, the more confused I became. I have never seen so many toys in my life and they all run on batteries or electric or have controls. Guess it has been a while since I shopped at Christmas for an 18 month old boy.

I started thinking about some of the toys we used to play with as children and how much more sophisticated they are today than when I was a child.




Here are some toys I remember. I am sure there are many more and you can add a few of your own to this list.










Remember the etch-a sketch? My son, Rob, loved this toy when he was small. I think they still make them today but I bet they are not under many trees. He also loved his Inchworm and I did not see an Inchworm anywhere in Walmart.

Another toy that Rob just loved and wanted so bad from Santa was the Rock-em, Sock-em Robots.












My girls liked puppets and horse stuff.



Now, for some of the stuff I played with when I was a child. When I was in school, we played marbles and jacks all the time. There was always a circle on the playground with a bunch of kids playing marbles and if you won a cat eye that was really something. In the gym, we sat and played jacks during the entire recess period.












Does anyone remember pickup stix? I spent a lot of time playing this game.











How about a slinky and a yo-yo and skates with keys that fastened to your shoes?

Remember the old jack-in-the box?

And last but not least one of my favorite toys when I got a little older was the hula hoop. I once entered a hula hoop contest when I was about eleven or twelve at a Frisches Restaurant in my town. We all lined up in the parking lot and I went for four hours and twenty five minutes without dropping the hoop. I won a Frisches big boy and a malt!! WOW. The girl that won the grand prize (a portable radio) went for eight hours. Can you imagine standing there for eight hours without stopping???

What favorite toys come to mind when you think of your childhood?

REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR

Sixty seven years ago today on December 7, 1941 at 7:55 a.m., Japanese fighter planes dropped the first bomb on Wheeler Field, eight miles from Pearl Harbor.

The surprise attack by the Japanese Imperial Navy led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida on the Island of O'ahu, Hawaii killed more than 2,300 servicemen and 68 civilians and wounded numerous other Americans.

The U.S.S. Arizona was completely destroyed and seven other battleships were damaged or sunk.

There had been no formal declaration of war.

The entire nation was shocked by this attack and the United States declared war on Japan.

Two atomic bombs dropped on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima brought surrender from Japan on August 14, 1945.

"The Oregonian", a Portland, Oregon newspaper has been credited with the first use of the phrase "Remember Pearl Harbor" in its' December 9, 1941 edition.

The song, "Remember Pear Harbor" and the saying became the slogan and battle cry of World War II.

Here are the words to the song:

History - in every century,
records an act that lives forevermore.
We'll recall - as in to line we fall
the thing that happened on Hawaii's shore

Let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR -
as we go to meet the foe -
Let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
As we did the Alamo

We will always remember -
how they died for liberty,
Let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
and go on to victory.

Although Pearl Harbor brought unprecedented unity from the American people during World War II, the cost in resources, lives, and sacrifice impacted generations of Americans.

Each year we honor the lives lost in that attack and salute the veterans of World War II.
Presently, we are engaged in a global war on terrorism and must once again unite to preserve our freedom.

Today, let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR, honor our veterans, and the brave men and women serving to advance freedom and peace around the world.

COFFEE IN THE MORNING!

Are you one of those people that can't function until you have your morning coffee?


I am not much of a coffee drinker. Usually, I will have a cup with Bob in the mornings but if he is not here, I don't even make coffee.


I like the international coffees that come in those little tin containers and taste more like hot chocolate than coffee.

Bob has to have at least two cups of coffee in the morning in order to get his day started.

I don't do well with caffeine either. A cup of coffee with caffeine will really wake me up. If I drink anything with caffeine during the day, I stay up all night.

I love coffee mugs and cups and pick them up anytime I see an unusual or different one.


I used to know people when I still worked that drank coffee all day.


Did you know that special studies conducted about the human body revealed it will usually absorb up to about 300 milligrams of caffeine at a given time. About 4 normal cups. Additional amounts are just cast off, providing no further stimulation. Also, the human body dissipates 20% of the caffeine in the system each hour.



Here's a little joke about coffee: A Grandmother was surprised by her 7-year old grandson one morning. He had made her coffee! She drank what was the worst cup of coffee in her life. When she got to the bottom, there were three of those little green army men in her cup. Puzzled, she asked, "Honey, what are the army men doing in my coffee?"
Her grandson answered, "Grandma, it says on TV, the best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup."




Here's how to tell if you are a caffeine addict.


You might be a caffeine addict if :


You think sleep is for the weak.


Your heart beats noticeably faster as a reaction to the smell of coffee.



Your child's name is Nescafe.


You go to sleep just to wake up and smell the coffee.


Your coffee pot is next to your bed and your alarm clock is in the kitchen.



You suck on a used coffee filter whenever the can runs out of coffee.

I love to serve coffee to my friends and family along with some kind of great dessert. You can find a great holiday coffee recipe on my recipe blog: Recipes From A Southern Country Cook.

A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent.

Are you a coffee addict or do you not drink coffee?

TIED TO MOMMA'S APRON STRINGS

I have so many memories tied to momma's apron strings.

I received an e-mail the other day from my blogging friend at LUV2GOSUP about the history of aprons. This made me think about all the memories surrounding those pieces of fabric worn by women to protect the dress underneath.

Momma always had on her apron. She would get dressed in the morning and put the apron on over her dress and wear it all day. I don't ever remember seeing my mother in pants. She always wore what she called "house" dresses at home. Momma wore the pinafore type that went over her head and covered her entire front.

My mother-in-law wore the same type apron as my mother. My daughters and son grew up seeing both their grandmothers wear aprons except when there was company or they left the house to shop or go visiting.

We all have memories of Nannie (my mother) carrying eggs, wiping wet hands, and cooking big meals in her apron.

Grandmother, (my husband's mother) carried all sorts of vegetables from the garden, baked cookies, and wiped away tears with her aprons.


Aprons made great hiding places for shy children, were used to carry in wood for the stove, to gather apples that fell from the tree, and often were waved to men in the field so they knew dinner was on the table.



I even found some old Simplicity Patterns on e-bay to make your own aprons.




You could wipe a perspiring brow, use them as a potholder, and wrap them around your arms to keep warm.


Some children today probably don't even know what an apron is.



I think aprons are memory makers. I think they symbolize home, motherhood and family, good times and cookies and good food! Remember Leave it to Beaver and June Cleaver in her apron on the show?

What do you think about when you think of aprons?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEIGH HARPER AND ANNE PARKER!

On November 20th, my twin daughters will be thirty-one years old. It seems like only yesterday they were born a month premature. Anne weighed 3 lbs. and Leigh weighed 6 lbs. but promptly lost a pound. Leigh had to be taken to the University of Kentucky Medical Center because she was suffering from a condition where she had too much blood and a hole in her heart. Anne had to remain in the local hospital until she reached five pounds before she could be released to come home. I went home to the farm without either baby!

I had to travel back and forth to the local hospital to feed and visit with Anne each day. Their father, John, went to UK Hospital to visit Leigh. Since I had a cesarean section it was hard on me to do much traveling.

On the sixth day, John, went by the hospital to see Leigh and they told him she was being released. We had no idea she would be coming home and he had no idea what to do. He had no clothes, blankets, or anything. The nurses wrapped her in a big adult size hospital gown and a blanket, gave him some bottles with milk and he carried her out to his truck.

In order for anyone to fully appreciate this story, I have to tell you a little bit about their father. John was 32 and had never been married when we met. I was 30. John was a cowboy. He wore wrangler jeans, boots, a big cowboy hat, drove an old pickup truck, liked his beer and could ride a horse and rope a steer with the best of them. He loved to rodeo, rode the bulls, and was great at the calf roping events. He stood six feet tall, with red hair, freckles, and a mustache, carried a snuff can in his back pocket and kept a dip of snuff in his lip. His favorite past time was telling stories and he could entertain anyone for hours. He loved people and people loved him. He was smart, educated, and a fun person to be around but he had no earthly idea what to do with this baby girl in his pickup truck that only weighed 5 lbs.

Leigh was screaming like a banshee while her dad tried to find someway to keep her from rolling out of the truck seat. Looking in the bed of the truck, John comes up with one of those empty cardboard beer cartons that used to hold a case of beer. He stuffed Leigh into the carton on the seat beside him, put a bottle in her mouth and headed for home. The drive took about an hour and fifteen minutes.

I saw him pull into the driveway at the farm from the kitchen window. He was very carefully carrying this box with stuff hanging out all around the sides. There were no cell phones in those days and I had no idea Leigh was with him. John burst through the back door yelling, "you are not going to believe what I have in this box" to the top of his lungs. That was Leigh's homecoming.

Anne remained in the hospital for a month and came home on December 20, 1977. The nurses spoiled her to death and she was the hospital's little darling. She was our Christmas bundle of joy that year.

Finally, both our girls were home doing well.

Today, they are beautiful, young women that make me so proud to be their mother. They are successful in their careers and bought a farm where they live together with their dogs and horses.

John lost his battle with cancer several years ago but he is alive in their hearts and his spirit guides them in their lives each day.

Happy Birthday girls. I love you very, very much and you light up my life.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Johnny, Leigh, Anne

Bathtime on the farm.
Mom, Dad, Anne, Leigh

Waiting on the horses to come in.
Ready to ride.


Waiting on the school bus!

You can visit Anne and Leigh by clicking on the link:
Twin Crossroads

A SEA OF LEAVES!

I have millions and millions of leaves in my yard. They are everywhere and this is the time of year that I don't enjoy my trees. I love fall but this is the one part I don't like.

I bought one of those pieces of machinery that sucks them up and mulches them but it has to be dry to run the thing. It has rained here the past few days and we are way behind on mulching. I bet we have already done enough to fill a 100 bags at least.

They would be up to your knees by now if we had not been out there every pretty day with the machine. Every time I go outside, I carry in half a bushel on my feet!
They are even on the roof this time of the year. Sometimes, if the weather gets bad, I have to finish in the spring. We put a lot of the mulch around the pine trees and in the flower beds and bag the rest.

The weather is in the 50s here today but they are forcasting snow flurries tomorrow.

People who live here always say if you don't like Kentucky weather to just stick around for five minutes and it will change.

I did get all my hanging baskets, flower pots, and small tables put away for the winter.

Maybe, we will have another pretty day soon and we can finish for the year.

NATIONAL VETERANS AWARENESS WEEK

This Tuesday, November 11, 2008, we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the men and women who in defense of our freedom have bravely worn the uniform of the United States. The president has declared November 9 through November 15, 2008, as National Veterans Awareness Week and encourages all Americans to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of our veterans through ceremonies and prayers.

Great Britain, France, and other countries celebrate November 11th as Armistice Day to commemorate the ending of World War I on November 11, 1918.

Canada celebrates Remembrance Day on this same date.

The history of the Veterans Day in the United States is as follows:

1919 - President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th as Armistice Day to remind Americans of the tragedies of war.
1938 - The day becomes a federal holiday.
1954 - Congress changes the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day to honor all United States Veterans.

Today, in the United States, Veterans Day commemorates the courage and patriotism of all the men and women who have served in the United States military.

Veteran’s Day Tribute

by Joanna Fuchs

When America had an urgent need,

These brave ones raised a hand;

No hesitation held them back;

They were proud to take a stand.
They left their friends and family;

They gave up normal life;

To serve their country and their God,

They plowed into the strife.

They fought for freedom and for peace

On strange and foreign shores;

Some lost new friends;

Some lost their lives

In long and brutal wars.
Other veterans answered a call

To support the ones who fought;

Their country had requirements for

The essential skills they brought.
We salute each and every one of them,

The noble and the brave,

The ones still with us here today,

And those who rest in a grave.
So here’s to our country’s heroes;

They’re a cut above the rest;

Let’s give the honor that is due

To our country’s very best.

God bless America and our men and women in uniform and their families for all that they have sacrificed for us.

SPRING FORWARD, FALL BACK!

This past Saturday night we moved the clocks back an hour. Last night at 6:30 p.m. it had been dark for 30 minutes. I was half asleep at the computer and it was nowhere near bedtime.

I spent at least 30 minutes running all my clocks back. (I would have to love clocks)

There is at least one clock in every room including bathrooms, laundry room and the garage.

I had my dinner at 4:30 because I was starving!

Benjamin Franklin wrote the proverb: Early to bed, Early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. By the time I adjust to the time change, (going to bed at six and getting up at 3 a.m.), I should not have any aches or pains, I might win the lottery, and those senior moments will have disappeared into the night. Do you think the proverb only works on men?

My electric bill will go up because I have to burn the lights a longer period of time......

I will probably do more snacking in the middle of the night because I will wake up around 9 p.m. hungry since I ate at 4:30.

I'll miss all the prime time shows on t.v. !

I'll be commenting on blogs at 4 a.m. in the morning.

I just remembered I did not change the clock on the car!

Am I the only one that has a hard time adjusting to time changes???????

THOMAS WYATT GOES TRICK OR TREATING!

Just had to show everyone the pictures from Thomas Wyatts evening out trick or treating with his mother, Sarah, and friends.

Serious Lion.

Happy Lion.

Trick or Treat!

Checking Out The Loot.

Drooly Lion

High on Candy

Sleepy Lion

And a good evening was had by all!