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MY MOTHER AND I

Oh how good it feels to sit down and look through blogs and let my mind just go...........

I want to thank those who have prayed for my mother and I.  Thank you so much.  She is in ICU still after having  surgery on October 27th.   I thought many times she was not going to make it but she has.  She should've only been in the hospital for a relatively short stay but had one complication after another with pneumonia and respiratory failiure and her body becoming septic and blood clots and the list goes on.  She had a tracheotomy and peg tube yesterday put in and will move from ICU to a long term critical care unit and then on to a rehabilitation home for a year the doctor said today.  This all has been horrifying.  My mother was a well person before all this and got around great with no serious health issues and was very active and happy.   She had just had new flooring put down in her house and had gotten new furniture for her den and sun room.  She was enjoying her new car and loved wearing stylish clothes and was in Church every Sunday to give you an idea of how Mama is and of how shocking this has been for us.

As for me?  I stayed with her constantly for 17 days and then a sister came from another state and has been with her while I came home and got some much needed rest.  I believe I have been at my breaking point and have been just teetering on the edge of somewhere I've never been before.  I covet your prayers for my mother and myself and my entire family.  

I hope, as time allows between trips back and forth, to blog about other things again.  I love my blog and I miss it.  I think it would be good for me to do so and it would help me get my mind off of things if I'm able to.  So come back and visit. 

****Update On Morley****

Please check out Forward To The Past for previous post.  The note below is from Morley's wife Esther and this couple & their family still need your prayers please - but it would be so good if this wasn't cancer but just inflammation:  The note below was posted from Esther yesterday.

Thank you for praying :)

"Update on Morley

I am so tired right now I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I'm off to bed after I post this.

Morley had a biopsy done this morning. The doctor put him under so she could get a 'big chunk' as she said. And she told me, IT MAY NOT BE CANCER! We won't know for sure till we get the test results back, in another week or two, but she said it looks like it's just inflamation. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, because I know it could still come back as positive, but, I am praising God for even this hope!

She kept Morley in overnight, so I'll have to go back tomorrow and bring him home. I was at the hospital with him all day and part of the night.

It has been hard this past two weeks. But God has been with us and I know the prayers of everybody have helped.

A pregnancy picture...

I know, I know. I just blogged about being pregnant, right? But it's on my mind lately.

I read up on the differences between false labor and true labor, and found this helpful sentence:

"If you have contractions five minutes apart, lasting at least 60 seconds for one hour (or they continue to get longer or stronger), call your midwife or head to the hospital."

I laughed. The last time I had contractions for an hour, I was holding my Elijah about 20 minutes later. Everyone is different. So far, I have appreciated my fast, intense labors. I'm a fast, intense type of person.

Don't confuse that with painless labor. But if you were to ask me if I wanted 12 hours of easier labor or 7 hours of more intense - I'd say "Let's get it over with!"

Here I am:

It's so much easier to smile at my boys or my Jonathan than a mirror!

Frankly, I don't feel all that different from about a month ago, when this picture was taken:

The scale assures me I'm growing, but I don't really "feel" it. I'm on pins and needles waiting the heavy feeling that will clue me in that I'm close to the end. I do feel "heavier" when I'm fighting gravity to get out of a chair, or when I awaken in the middle of the night to feel my husband's hand gently nudging me back onto my side because I'm on my back like a giant turtle.

Other than that, life goes on, really. I'm pregnant right now, but it won't last. Hopefully, being "un-pregnant" won't last, either.

Yes, I can't help it. I'm weird. I can't help but think about being pregnant again. It's not so much that pregnancy is so incredibly wonderful . . . the akwardness bending over, the decrease in stamina, the inability to get everything done that I want to accomplish . . . the babies at the end of the pregnancies are so incredible.

It's like, why climb a mountain? For the skinned up knees, the bruises, the sore feet? There is something that you want. To see the sunrise, or have the accomplishment of it.

And so I move steadily forward in my journey to meet this next little person. My Little-One-With-Active-Hands. I wonder if this one is a thumb sucker? I tell you, baby must have touched the top of his/her head the other day and that made me JUMP. I'd never felt a hand *there* before!

What memories . . . .

I hope everyone is having a blessed week!

~Ashley~

Today's Tips --- Fruitcakes (start them now)

Today's Tips:

• If you plan to make fruitcakes for Christmas, you need to make them now, this week, because most fruitcakes have to "season" for at least a month and are even better if you can let them set longer.
  
  
• I know some of you would love to give them as gifts, but I suggest starting small until you have some success with them. The ingredients for fruitcakes can be expensive. If you buy a ton of ingredients and make several batches that subsequently flop you can be out a lot of money.
  
  
• Be sure to allow you fruitcake to age for at least a month before you put it in the freezer. Freezing stops the aging (or seasoning) process.
  
  
• Always bake at low temperatures: 250 - 300 degrees is best, but some recipes do go a little higher depending on their ingredients.
  
  
• Because they take so long to bake, line the pan with 1-3 layers of brown paper (you can use a brown paper sack) to prevent them from getting too brown and drying out. Make sure the paper comes up a couple of inches past the top of the pan.
  
  
• Fill the pan only 2/3 full with batter.
  
  
• To help prevent the fruitcake from drying out, place a pan of hot water on a lower rack in the oven while it is baking.
  
  
• To test whether it is done, insert a toothpick. If it comes out moist but not gooey, it is done.
  
  
• Let fruitcakes cool on a cooling rack before taking them out of the pan. When cool, dump them out of the pan and peel off the paper.
  
  
• You can bake in muffin pans or mini loaf pans, but be sure to adjust the baking time. It will be shorter.
  
  
• Don't store in a plastic container. The fruitcake will absorb old flavors that have been left behind in the plastic. Wrap in plastic wrap; then foil. Do not wrap with the foil touching the fruitcake because in some cases it can cause a chemical reaction.
  
  
• You can take any basic recipe and change what you put in it as far as the fruits and nuts are concerned. Just be sure you use the same amounts. For example if it calls for one cup of dried pineapple, you can replace it with mango as long as you use one cup.
  
  
• Always mix the fruit and nuts with some or all of the flour for the recipe before you put it in. This keeps all these things from sinking to the bottom. Do this with any recipe that calls for fruit or nuts.
  
  
• As with any recipe, read it from start to finish before you begin!
  

Today's Recipes:

Here are 4 fruitcake recipes that you might try. The first is not your usual fruitcake, but I thought it was perfect for our web site (Poor mans fruitcake ;-) ) and the second is a more traditional one. Number 3 is a no bake and the fourth, (No Fail fruitcake) I dedicate it to all the first timers.

Poor man's Fruitcake

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten well
4 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each cloves, nutmeg and salt
1 1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. hot water
1 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. gum drops, no black ones
3 cups raisins
1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and line two 9x5 loaf pans with brown paper. Sift flour, and spices. Cut gum drops into fourths, and mix those, the raisins and nuts with part of flour mix. Cream together butter, sugars and eggs. Alternately, add the flour mix and applesauce. Add soda to hot water and mix it into the batter. Then add the vanilla. Add gumdrops, raisins, and nuts mixture. Bake for 2 hours. If you use a tube pan instead of loaf pans bake 30-40 minutes longer.

Christmas Wreath Fruitcake

(Don't forget that you can take out anything like the dates or fruits and replace them with equal amounts of something you prefer.)

1 1/2 cup raisins
1 cup red and green cherries
3/4 cup dates, pitted and chopped
3/4 cup candied pineapple, diced
1/2 cup coconut
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp.  lemon zest
4 eggs
2 tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 300°. Mix first 8 ingredients. In separate bowl cream butter, sugar and add lemon zest, eggs and lemon juice. Mix into flour mixture. Bake for 2 hours.

No Bake Fruitcake

14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
2 cups raisins
2 cups mini marshmallows
2 cups candied pineapple chunks
2 cups dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup dried currants
1 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups almonds, chopped
1/4 cup candies cherries
1/2 tsp. each nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt
4 cups graham cracker crumbs

Grease a 9x13 loaf pan. Mix everything well and pour into the pan. Cover and let stand in a cool place for 1 week to age.

Never Fail Fruitcake

This is a big recipe but you can easily half it. Using half, you can make 22 cupcakes but, if you do, only bake them for 40 minutes.

1 lb. candied cherries, chopped
1 lb. dates, pitted and chopped
1 lb. candied pineapple, chopped
1 lb. pecans, chopped
4 (8oz.) pkgs. coconut
3 Tbsp. flour
2 (14 oz.) cans of sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 300°. Grease two 9x13 pans and line with brown paper or parchment paper.  Mix everything very well and press into pans. Bake 1 1/2 hours. Cool and remove from pan.

This was all taken from my newsletter:

Living On A Dime

Good Morning

I got my bottom braces on yesterday afternoon and so im in pain plus this weather is making my sinues act up and is making me plain miserable please have a blessed day

Alyssa

There is NO reward for doing the right thing!

Poor thing, she's just not teachable.............

Daily Devotion 323

November 19

The Realm of Life

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psalm 8:4

In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. With awe we look about us at the works of His fingers. We see the spectacular mountains, the green growth that the earth regenerates in spring and summer. As the rays of sunshine slant down on the ground, things that lie still and dormant suddenly spring to life. Birds twitter and tweet. When dusk arrives, the frogs and katydids mingle their songs, giving us sweet natural music. We see the marvelous, tiny insects. In the shadows of the night we lift our faces toward the heavens and see the planets, constellations, and the lesser light that rules the night. These fit together like the internal parts of a clock and are always on time.

Christmas "get to know you"

1.) Wrapping paper or gift bags?  I have to say that every year I try and do something different in that department. One year I wrapped everything in brown mailing paper. Used raffia for ribbons, it was really pretty.

2.) Real tree or artificial? Most of the time it's artificial but this year I might get a real one.

3.) When do you put up the tree? A few days after Thanksgiving, around the weekend after.

4.)When do you take the tree down? The day after Christmas.

5.) Do you like eggnog? OH yes, but I can't have too much of it.

6.) Favorite gift recieved as a child? My Easy Bake Oven. It prepared me for my life as a mom, LOL.

7.)Hardest person to buy for? My husband, he is by far the hardest. He never tells me what he wants and then whatever I do get him, he always looks depressed.

8.)Easiest person to buy for? I would have to say that would be my wonderful daughter, Kristy. She loves anything that she didn't have to buy herself. LOL She loves old vintage things, so last year all she wanted was garage sale and thriftstore items. I had a blast shopping for her and she had a blast opening her gifts.

9.)Do you have a nativity scene? Yes a few small ones, but I would really love a nice one that I could set up on top of my entertainment center.

10.) Mail or e-mail christmas cards? Mail, with pretty Christmas stamps.

11.) Worst christmas gift you ever recieved? I would have to say a tread mill that my dh gave me one year. It was one of those manual ones. Lets just say it went back to the store. lol

12.) Favorite christmas movie? A Christmas Story. The "B B Gun Boy" as we call him, is  in my top five movies of all time.

13.) When do you start shopping for christmas? Early November, sometimes sooner.

14.) Have you ever recycled a christmas present? Probably so.

15.) Favorite thing to eat at christmas? Cornbread dressing and turkey.

16.) Lights on the tree?  Most years yes.

17.) Favorite christmas song? I'll Be Home for Christmas

18.) Travel at christmas or stay home? Always stay home, everyone comes to me.

19.) Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes I can.

20.) Angel on top of tree or star? Old fashion quilted star.

21.) Open presents christmas eve or morning?  Christmas Eve at the inlaws and Christmas morning at home.

22.) Most annoying thing about this time of year?  The crowds.

23.) Favorite thing about this time of year? Baking goodies and the cooler weather.

24.) Favorite ornament theme or color? When my dad died 26 years ago, I made an ornament with his picture in it, so that would have to be my favorite one.

25.) Favorite food for christmas dinner?  Same as #15.

26.) Favorite christmas tradition? Putting up the tree and drinking egg nog while listening to holiday music.

27.) What do you want for christmas this year. My family around me.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Fires in California

I do not know if you see on your news things about California , but we are having major fires.  We have 6 going and 3 of them are close around us.   We live in Chino.  Chino Hills was Chino to, until they changed it to Chino Hills ( it was always just called the hills) because they did not to live in a city that has a prison.  Carbon canyon is also part of Chino Hills (Chino).   We live a few miles form Diamond Bar and Corona.  We have fires all around us.  We are praying for the people who lost their homes and for all the people helping out.  So many people lost it all.

People were evacuated 3 miles from us.   It has been very smokey and it looks like it snowed due to the ash.   It is fall but we have been in the 90's.   Hubby had such a hard time getting home from work on Friday.  The 3 freeways were closed as was Carbon Canyon.   It took him over 2.5 hours to drive the 17 miles home!!

God Bless, mj