Daddy's Girl is 22 mo. Old

This little ham turns 22 months old today. She surely loves her family, but is definitely daddy's little shadow. God bless you my little free spirit. 

Family Easter Picture

(New L&M Swing)

Our family Easter picture, taken a week late and posted 3 weeks late. 

Thankfully I'm Catholic and since we have 50 days of Easter, I'm still within that window!!  :)

He has risen, halleluiah, halleluiah!

Words of Wisdom from the Golden Years

I'll miss my patients at the nursing home so much in 3 weeks when my time there goes from full-time to on-call.  I didn't know my grandparents very well so I guess I have a special admiration for this generation.  They have lived it all, seen it all.  Many times I'll ask the ones who have been married 40,50,60 years, "what is the secret to a good marriage."  Often times: Women answer, "good communication." Men answer, "shut up and listen to your wife."  This always give me the giggles. Many other answers include: spend time together, respect, love, appreciate your spouse, the little things in life that seem so simple and take little time to do, yet we don't take the time to do it. 

One of my favorite, outspoken patients, who still wears fancy large sunglasses and painted red lipstick on her beautiful toothless smile advises me, "if you want to make your man happy, you give him two things: good food and all the sex he wants."  Here my co-workers and I are trying to hold back from losing it. "If you give him that, he'll never want for anything," she tells me with her pink-painted pointer finger in my face.  I remind her that's how she also got her 6 kids.

Another woman I was working with was there with her husband before he passed away last year.  Now at the nursing home everyone has twin-sized beds, even the married couples.  If they want something different, they can bunk together or push them together, but I have only seen this once.  She tells me one night her husband calls her over from across the room and asks her to snuggle in with him for a little while.  She waves her hand in the air and tells me, "I told him, no way, we'd never fit. But I held his hand. That next night, he died."  She wipes away a tear of regret.  "That night he died, I crawled in next to him and held his body.  I never knew I could hold a dead body, but he was my husband for 64 years. We had seven children together. He was there with me when no one else was, and he left."  She pats my hand. "Hug your husband when he asks you to. Respond to his touch.  That's my advice to you because it goes by so fast."

So hard to say good bye to that.

Fried Cabbage Recipe

Cook bacon. Save the grease & add a whole chopped onion and a whole head of chopped or shredded cabbage. E chose a red cabbage. Cut up bacon and add to veg. Serve warm. 

I didn't have the bacon but I did have saved bacon grease in my fridge. Or coconut oil would be tasty too! Yum! Salt & pepper to taste. Recipe from Susie!💗

First Cherry Berry Experience

Towel Rack for Under the Sink Organization

I try to limit the amount of chemicals I use in my home, for health, space, and organizational purposes. However you need what you need, even if you only use it 1x/yr (ie: oven cleaner). So my Hubie put up a towel rack for me under the sink to get my cleaners off of the floor of the cupboard and give me more room. Love it!

Happy Easter 2015

We celebrated Easter at Grandma & Grandpa's yesterday with the usual too-much-food meal, 180 egg hunt, & played w/ family, including picking up great grandma Peterson. Today was church, leftovers, and a swing on the new swing. David was cutting up fallen trees and working in the woods while the girls shared an easter bunny. Elizabeth broke it in 1/2 and Felicity gets the first pick, so she points to the bottom 1/2 and says "butt". 😄 Elizabeth gives her the top 1/2 anyways. What happened to fighting over the ears? Lol. It's a beautiful sun shiney day,~40*. A good day to celebrate our risen Lord. 

It's Beginning to Look a lot like ... Easter?

Breakfast with the Brooks Sisters

Felicity is really doing well with proper handling of her fork. So I go to take a picture and Doc photobombs the picture. My sweeties. 😄

NOT an April Fool's Day Joke

I was told I could go to part-time, 3x/wk, at work. The offer was later removed. I was then told full time or on-call. So April 1st I put in my 7 wks notice, putting my last day May 15th. I will stay oncall and maybe go back full time in the next few years, but this is what changed my mind: