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Old 07-26-2015, 01:55 PM   #561
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Safe travels. Sounds like there was no crap storm. PTL.
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Old 07-26-2015, 03:25 PM   #562
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gearheart View Post
Safe travels. Sounds like there was no crap storm. PTL.
Thank you....and, what??

You lost me on crap storm and PTL.

There's been a bit of a crap storm here today, but not on this thread.....if that is what you are talking about.


Maggie
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Old 07-26-2015, 03:34 PM   #563
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We are home.... made a stop to see and hug my son and his, unloaded the essentials from the Interstate.....and Lily has made the rounds of her back yard to see what intruders have been present in her absence, then assumed her favorite position on the leather couch.

Such a sweet and good traveling companion she is. Today was the 5th day of driving much or most of the day, since we left Chaco Wednesday morning, and she just rolls with it. Wherever her mama is, as long as she's along it's all good.

It was a very, very good trip. . Met some really great people and did some things I have never done before.....at least one of those things being completely unintentional.

Tons of laundry to do, people to see and tires to rotate this week, then think I might spend a few weeks in the UP escaping the heat and humidity of central Illinois.....because, why not.


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Old 07-26-2015, 03:49 PM   #564
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Glad you and Lily are home safely. Now, pour a glass of ice wine and relax a bit! God bless. Evelyn.
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Old 07-26-2015, 03:50 PM   #565
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Sorry. A misunderstanding on my part. It sounded to me like you were riding into a major confrontation (crap storm), that didn't materialize. PTL is an acronym for Praise the Lord. I am thankful because it sounded like things went well.
Gerard
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Old 07-26-2015, 04:24 PM   #566
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Thanks, Evelyn, I am going to do just that.....after I have a long soak in a bubble bath.


Gearhart, the crap storm has happened, I wasn't in it but peripherally, and have no control over it whatsoever. Long, ugly, sad story, and the recent situation just took hold of me for a bit. If I could fix it, I would, but believe me....we have tried.

I appreciate the thoughts and prayers from so many.


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Old 07-26-2015, 08:34 PM   #567
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glad you two are home safe and sound...thank you for sharing that great trip... next year Wyoming!!!! hugs, love and pats... gail
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Old 07-27-2015, 09:55 AM   #568
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I hope so, Gail.

Spent a leisurely couple of hours this morning, drinking my coffee, watching the news, cruising the Forums......and scrubbing for the second time rocks from the Gila.

Am giving each of the grands one of the larger, more interesting rocks, 3 very special ones to my rock hounding friend in MN, have set some really nice ones aside to see if pendants or other jewelry can be made from them for the females in the family.....and about 1/3 of what I brought back is going into my oh-so-eclectic rock and shell bed in the front.

This old apothecary jar was picked up at the estate sale in Boulder City for the bargain price of $1. Heavier than the ones you buy new these days, it also is etched and encircled with a vine and a flower. . I love it.

My grandmother would have had cotton balls or pretty guest soaps in something like this. It road safely all the way home in the back of my closet, and I put some carefully selected rocks in it.....for inside the little house.

I have one that looks like a butterfly and many with the circular rose shape. Roses.

They are so pretty, so interesting, and so unusual, and will remind me each time I look at them of my wonderful trip.

This time last year I was struggling thru getting out in the Interstate at all. I definitely feel I have gotten my sea legs this year, and am carving out my new life thru continuing most things we did together, also by traveling on my own. It was our life before, it is just different now.

I miss my husband every day, but feel clearly that we continue to co-exist....just me here, and he there....and that he encourages and supports my choices.

A good man, he would want me to make peace with his death, and try to enjoy the rest of my life. I am doing my best with both.

Better comes with doing, that is the truth, and I feel that you honor what you had together, in part, by continuing on with your life.


Finishing up laundry....everything in the Interstate must be washed after a trip like this .....and am going to have my favorite Chinese delivered (no extra charge) in a couple of hours. And why?....because I deserve it.


Maggie
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Old 07-27-2015, 11:34 AM   #569
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Doug's mom has a large mass in her lower abdomen, which is not surprising but I had hoped it would be something simple and easily resolved.

Don't know for certain that it is malignant just yet, but either way it will likely have to be removed.

Now what....major surgery and/or chemotherapy for a 97 1/2 year old woman.

She told me yesterday what she has said before....that she is ready to go. I told her it was apparently not her time just yet, and she knows that.

Both of her husbands and her son died suddenly. It just doesn't seem right that she should have to go thru this.....she is also the last surviving member of 7 siblings, raised during the Depression, don'tcha know. . She can tell you all about that, still, as if it were yesterday.

A good woman, who raised a good man. I wish for her a peaceful and painless end to this.


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Old 07-27-2015, 12:38 PM   #570
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God bless her. Having lived through the last part of the depression, I have so many memories of our family's struggles of that time...but, your Mom in law saw the whole thing. My, what stories she must have!
At 97 1/2, I don't know that I would want. To go through what she may be facing. I know God has HIS plan, but it seems so unfair that she should need to endure this. Of these matters, we have no control...darn it! I pray for her that she will go to sleep, peacefully.
Evelyn.
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Old 07-27-2015, 12:48 PM   #571
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That's what I hope for, too, but it's hard to say it out loud....or type it ....but that would be the most fair thing for her.

In no pain, now, but for the colonoscopy prep .....I can't imagine any resolution of this for her that is not going to be difficult to bear.

Maybe she is one of those people who gets more than her share of pain from external sources.


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Old 07-27-2015, 05:06 PM   #572
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So, I'm going to fully unload the Interstate and not head to the UP next week....as I thought I would when I was hoping this was some small thing that could be easily fixed.

Can't do anything but wait for news, but feel I should be here rather than 500 miles away.

She's Doug's mom.


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Old 07-27-2015, 06:46 PM   #573
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Hi Maggie. I was just catching up on your adventures, good and bad! Glad you are out living, enjoying and exploring!
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Old 07-27-2015, 06:49 PM   #574
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Thanks for dropping in.

Doing pretty well here.


Maggie
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Old 07-28-2015, 11:07 AM   #575
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hi Maggie.. sorry to hear about Doug's Mom... I share you feelings on the situation and she probably does too... just wishing for the best for her.. and always for you... hugs and love, gail
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Old 07-28-2015, 11:24 AM   #576
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Maggie, your change of plans is certainly understandable. You would not be able to enjoy the trip, as your concern for her would weigh on you to be sure. The U.P. will be there when the timè is right. Stay strong. God bless. Evelyn.
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Old 07-28-2015, 11:32 AM   #577
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Doug's mom has a 5cm, malignant mass in her lower abdomen. They are doing a CT scan this afternoon to determine if there is any metastasis, and looking at hospice. She's ready to go.

Doug would say life doesn't owe her a thing, and she would agree. I just want her to be comfortable, and to have a peaceful and pain free end to her very long, very healthy, very active and very productive life.

This woman lived thru the Depression as one of 8 children on a farm in Iowa, then raised two small children by herself after her husband died suddenly in 1953. She could milk a cow, drive a wagon, sew, quilt, and cook, prepare, and preserve anything you can think of.

She then lived alone on the farm, after her second husband died in 2008, until almost her 97th birthday, driving herself the mile into town for the Senior Center, grocer, and whatever else she needed....long past when she could or should have done this in any but a very small, rural community .....finally going into assisted living last November.

I remember her telling me some years ago that she would not remarry until her children were grown and on their own.....as, having been a school teacher since the days of one room schoolhouses, she had seen too many men lose their heads over their step daughters. What a woman. Doug was in college and his sister married for several years before she got married for the second time.....tho she says she had several offers. .

A good woman, and a strong one. I'm glad to have known her, and to have heard her stories of the Depression and life on a farm in Iowa....also to have the quilt she made of feed sacks, which she gave to me a number of years ago.


Going to be 92 degrees here today, with a heat index of up to 110 degrees....hot and humid.

I spent a small fortune at the grocer this morning, as I returned home with a near empty frig and no fresh produce whatsoever.

I had a yearning for my favorite refrigerator pickles, so put those together and in the refrigerator to set. These are the sweet & sour kind, easy for anyone to make....at home or on the road, where produce stands are so plentiful. They are yummy.

Unless gifting them....not this time ....I like to do them in one big jar, as they are so pretty to look at, and use my food processor for quick work, but a mandolin on the road would achieve the same end.


REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

7 cups thinly sliced, seeded cucumber....I leave part of the peel on, also seed them unless I can find little ones
1 thinly sliced, medium onion
1 thinly sliced green pepper, or mix red and green pepper
1 small jar chopped pimiento, drained

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon each celery and mustard seed

Mix the vegetables together well and stuff into one large, or several smaller, jars....original recipe calls for 4 pint jars. Bring the ACV, salt, sugar and seeds to a boil, pour over vegetables, cover and refrigerate. These keep in the frig about 3 months, and are delicious.


Maggie
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Old 07-28-2015, 11:54 AM   #578
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Thank you, both.

I may do some poking around closer to home.....but only if I can have electricity.


Maggie
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Old 07-28-2015, 01:07 PM   #579
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Those pickles look good already.
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Old 07-29-2015, 12:28 PM   #580
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Doug's mom is being discharged this afternoon, going into the skilled nursing care section of the facility she had been in before, and has been referred to Hospice.

The malignancy has not metastasized, although the growth is larger than initially believed....6.5 cm, so it has been growing a long time. She is taking it in stride, her spirits are good, she is ready to go, just wants to be comfortable. Doug's kids have all been up to see her.

What a woman.


I received just before I left for NM a check made out to Doug's "Estate"....a refund of something the SOI illegally deducted from our little worker-bee pensions ....and which requires that I complete a Small Estate Affidavit to deposit it into an estate account.....after the legal department at the bank goes over what I submitted and approves me opening the estate account into which I must deposit this check.

It arrived on Saturday before I left the next day, so I just stuck it in my lockbox til I returned, and am dealing with that this week. A bit of a PIA, but intended to safeguard from crooks and abuse, I am sure, and my attorney has helped me with it.

One of the things I have learned...on many fronts, not just since widowhood....is that if something doesn't make sense to speak with a person in higher authority.

I am dealing with the assistant manager at my bank on this, as I got bad information from a lower level person last year on something else, then again Monday when I called about this matter. It didn't sound right, and it wasn't.

People can say things with such a ring of confidence and certainty that they are accurate....even when they are not. .

Someone here advised me early on after Doug's death to get more certified copies of his death certificate than I thought I would need, which I did....and needed another one today. I still have a few left.....

The pickles are quite yummy, and look so pretty in my frig. Easy to make, and a good way to consume some summer veggies.


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