December Stuff

December has been another busy month, as it is for everyone. My back is finally feeling better so I have been able to enjoy getting ready for Christmas. This will be the last Christmas we will spend in this house as we are moving to Billings after we retire this summer so I had wanted to do it up big, but circumstances have kind of put a damper on those plans. We did manage to get the tree up and the presents wrapped.

Lexie spent the night with us last night so Ken bundled the girls up this morning and let them sled down the hill behind our house. The weather has been a lot warmer and most of the snow is gone, but there was still enough for them to have fun.

Of course, the biggest kid of all had to join in the fun too.

Colette and Ken decided there was still enough snow to make a pretty good snowman. When you don't rake your lawn in the fall though you get a lot of leaves in your snow.

While everyone was outside Luke and I stayed in the house so I could get some baking done. This is how Luke entertained himself.

Catching Up

It's been a month since my last posting and what a month it's been. The day after Halloween I turned wrong and felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I took it easy the rest of the day, but by the following day I had pain shooting down my left leg. After a week of visiting the chiropractor with no relief, I made an appointment with our family doctor. He sent me to Billings for an MRI and made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon the following day. I won't go into all the details but that appointment was extremely frustrating due to the surgeon kind of giving me the brush-off because he had a dinner to go to and they were having difficulties bringing up my MRI on the computer. He pretty much told me he didn't have time for me. He left a message the next day on my phone telling me what he thought was wrong and I could make another appointment to see him. At this point I had made the decision to shop elsewhere for anther doctor. In the meantime, we had a trip planned to Phoenix to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary. We talked about cancelling, but I decided that I may as well hurt in Arizona as Montana so we flew to Phoenix on the 19th and spent three days visiting with our friends who moved to Tucson last year.

We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Mesa which had this beautiful fireplace in the lobby. The weather was beautiful while we were there, but it does cool off at night so I guess they do need fireplaces occasionally in the desert.

We met Terry and Terri when we first moved to Colstrip over 38 years ago. Ken and Terry became instant friends. They played tennis together, basketball, softball and as they got older Terri and I became golf widows. They moved to Tucson last year and have been missed. They drove up to Phoenix and spent a couple of days with us. We did some sightseeing, shopping and of course, eating. Even though I was somewhat limited with my leg pain we had a good time. While the guys golfed, Terri and I visited the Frank Lloyd Wright house, Taliesin West in the foothills of Scottsdale. He built his winter home here in 1937 and it became a camp for aspiring architects and it is still being used as as a architectural school. I was familiar with some of his work, but not with his personal life. I was so fascinated by him that I came home and ordered two books about his life and work from Amazon.

The panels on the roof in the picture below are made of canvas, so when it rains the water comes right through on furniture and whatever else is in the room.
When we returned home last weekend, I made the decision to find a new doctor and try to get something done with my back. An acquaintance told me about her doctor and he sounded almost too good to be true so I gave him a call. He was caring, knowledgeable and gave me the same diagnosis as the orthopedic surgeon. I made the decision to schedule surgery with him. When I told my sister about him she begged me to reconsider. It turns out that he did surgery on her mother-in-law and completely botched it. She also told me of several others who had bad results. So now what to do? Ken and I decided back surgery is so risky that we wouldn't dare have someone operate who we didn't entirely trust. So back to square one. Tomorrow I am basically starting over in my doctor search. The condition I have is called spondylolesthesis, basically the L5 vertebrae is fractured on both sides and slipped over the first bone of the sacrum and is pinching the nerve root (the reason for all the pain). Our cruise is only 8 weeks away so now I am worried about being able to go. We have travel insurance for the cruise but I don't want to cancel, we have been planning this for a year. Hopefully, I can find some answers and get something done soon. I have been living on pain pills and I hate taking pills!

Soup and Bread

I had to do another post right away so that the picture of the awful snakes wasn't showing whenever my blog was opened. Halloween night I made this soup for dinner along with the bread shown below. I thought it was delicious and want to share the recipe.

Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

1 pkg. sweet Italian sausage (1.25 lb size) I used hot sausage
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 lg cans diced tomatoes
4 cans beef broth
1 1/2 cups red wine
2 lg. carrots chopped
1 pkg. frozen spinach (thaw and drain)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. oregano
1 pkg dried cheese tortelline (I used the fresh 5-cheese tortellini from Costco)
shredded Parmesan cheese

Remove casings from sausage and discard casings.
Brown sausage, onion and garlic in a large dutch oven, stir until sausage crumbles and is lightly brown. Drain and return to pan.

Add tomatoes, broth and wine, bring to a boil. Add vegetable and herbs. Stir, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes

Add the torellini and cook for 15 to 20 minutes if using dried tortellini. If you use the fresh, as I did, you will only need to cook it for 7-8 minutes.

Garnish each serving with parmesan cheese.


I served it with this delicious oatmeal molasses batter bread. Easy to make and really good with soup.



Oatmeal Molasses Batter Bread

2 pkg. yeast
2 tsp. salt
5 cups flour
1 cup quick cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon margarine or butter

Combine yeast, salt and 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl. Set aside. In a 2-qt pan mix the oats, molasses, 1 T. butter add 2 1/4 cups water. Heat over low heat until very warm (120-130 degrees) . With electric mixer on low speed, gradually beat liquid into flour mixture, just till blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Beat in 1/2 cup flour and beat on med for another 2 minutes. With a large wooden spoon, stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups flour to make a stiff batter that leaves the sides of the bowl. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until double in size, about 1 hour. Grease two 2-qt. round casserole dishes. Divide dough into equal portions and turn into casseroles. With greased hands, turn dough to grease top and shape each into a ball. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise about 45 minutes, until double in size.

Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from casseroles and serve warm.

(There is only 1 gram of fat in each serving and no cholesterol)

I Hate Snakes

These slithering, wretched vipers have been tormenting me for the past week. Whenever we had a some what warm day they would bask in the sun right in front of my front door. I don't just dislike snakes, I hate them, they make my skin crawl and I think they should all be caught and killed.

Colette is here for the weekend and when she was bringing her bags into the house the big one was right in front of the door and scared the heck out of her.

Ken doesn't think there is anything wrong with snakes and tried to defend them by saying they eat the bugs. Who cares! I would rather have bugs than snakes any day. I finally convinced him that it's not cool to have snakes slithering around our front door so he enlisted Trey's help and caught THREE snakes. I couldn't convince him that they should die, but he did take them down the hill and released them. I was feeling a little better about the whole thing, but then he told me they didn't get all of them, a baby snake escaped and crawled between our step and planter. That snake must be caught.... baby snakes grow into big snakes.

Halloween (Bah Humbug)

Halloween has never been a favorite holiday of mine, in fact I really don't care for it at all. However, I always tried to make it fun for my kids and now my grandkids. Caelen and Lexie were here today so we decided to make Halloween treats. Thank goodness Colette was here to help with our creations.These are the pretzel logs we made, it was a little complicated for the kids (and grandma) so I really should say.....these are the pretzel logs Colette made.

Later in the day we decided to tackle the gingerbread haunted house. Lexie and Caelen got a little more into this project.

Presenting the finished project. Colette did a good job on this too, even after I tried to help her and accidentally smeared the windows she had so painstakingly created. I was definitely a hindrance in the kitchen today.

After all this, I'm sure the kids don't suspect that I really don't like Halloween. I do a good job of hiding my dislike.

What's on my mind

I shamelessly stole this idea for a post from a blog I read often (thank you, Colett). She is the daughter of one of my oldest friends, she doesn't know me, but I feel like I know her.


Making: Lists of things to do before we sell our house

Cooking: The Atkins way (Ugh!)

Drinking: Shasta Diet grapefruit soda

Reading: Julie and Julia

Wanting: The next 9 months to go by quickly, then time can slow down

Looking: At houses in Billings

Playing: On the computer, way too much

Wasting: Time on the computer

Sewing: Are you kidding??????

Wishing: I was on vacation

Enjoying: The warm days and cool nights

Waiting: To retire

Liking: This time of my life

Wondering: If I can stay on this diet long enough to lose 20 pounds

Loving: My grandkids and the funny things they say and do

Hoping: New TV shows start soon

Marvelling: The Pioneer Woman (how does she do it all?)

Needing: To eat something sweet

Smelling: New candle melt that I really like, but can't remember the name

Wearing: Flip-flops, I need to live somewhere that I can wear them everyday.

Following: Blogs of people I don't know

Noticing: That I really care about fellow bloggers when things aren't going well in their lives

Thinking: About our January cruise

Bookmarking: Century 21 Real Estate

Opening: My mouth at the wrong time

Giggling: At inappropriate times; will I ever outgrow that?

Feeling: Hungry

How would I know?

Ken and I stopped at a small convenience store in Dayton, Wyoming on our way to a camping trip in the Big Horns. Ken found a pair of glasses in the bathroom (they only have one) and turned them into the clerk. She mentioned that they probably were left by someone in the large group that had just left the store. The group was traveling together in Dodge Vipers and we had admired all their cars before entering the store.

We left and headed up the mountain, about 15 miles up we were stopped by a road construction crew. The group in the Vipers was just ahead of us so Ken walked up to one of the cars and told the driver about the lost glasses. The driver was appreciative and said he would pass it on to the others in their group. We proceeded to our campsite and spent the Labor Day weekend there. (Another post)

We didn't think anymore about the glasses until Tuesday on our way home when we stopped at the store for coffee. The same clerk was working so Ken asked her if anybody ever came back to claim the prescription glasses. She said "no, but they just look like cheap reading glasses so I'll probably just throw them away." She held up the cheap glasses and I started laughing.....yep, they were mine. Ken couldn't figure out how I could lose my glasses and not even realize they were missing. The picture below shows why. I buy them at the dollar store and stash them everywhere so how would I know if one was missing.

Why can't we retire here?

I have asked Ken that question everytime we visit Loveland, Colorado. He always answers that it's too expensive, but he says that about everywhere I suggest. He would be so happy to just stay in Colstrip, but that's just not going to happen. We go to Loveland every August for the sculpture show and it is one of my favorite places to visit. There are flower gardens like shown above all through the town and sculptures on street corners, in the parks, in front of businesses; it's such an artist's town that you would think he would love to live there, but no he wants to stay in Colstrip for the free golf!

This is not a very good picture of Ken's booth. He didn't have a fantastic show but he sold enough carvings to make it worth our while and get a free "mini" vacation.

This was one of my favorite sculptures at the show. The detail doesn't show up real well in the pic, but it was very well done.

This is one of the sculptures I found on my walk through the park. I should have taken the picture from a different angle to show the expressions on their faces.

Another park, another sculpture.

This huge, green horse's head could be yours for a mere $147,000. The prices at this show always astound me. Although this was well done, there was something about the green teeth and tongue that kind of repelled me.

Back by Popular Demand

Yes, I have decided to resume this blog. Thanks to the overwhelming response I had asking me not to quit (thank you to Joan and Laurel) I decided to give it another try. So as soon as I come up with something interesting I will be back.

My Year is Up

It was just a year ago that I started this blog and truthfully, I didn't think I would last this long. There are some family matters that I am going to turn my attention to for awhile so I am going to suspend this blog for now. I plan on continuing reading my favorite blogs and occasionally commenting so everyone else keep writing.

Montana Sunset

Taken through the window of a moving car with my simple point and shoot camera. Not too bad.

If you like chocolate.........

You will love these cookies! I made them a couple of weeks and I would crawl over glass to have one right now. Of course, I'm dieting again and craving anything chocolate. Seriously, these are really delicious cookies.

Ingredients:
3 .... 4-ounce bars sweet baking chocolate, chopped (that's a lot of chocolate!)
2 TBSP. butter-flavored shortening
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
6 TBSP. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
...................................................

pecan halves.... optional
powdered sugar.....optional
Directions:
In a small saucepan heat and stir chocolate and shortening over very low heat until the chocolate begins to melt.
remove from the heat. add coffee.
stir until smooth....cool
beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until light and lemon colored.... about 3 - 4 minutes
beat in the cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla
on low speed beat in pecans, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt until combined.
spray cookie sheets with the nonstick coating
drop teaspoons of dough 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets
place a pecan half on top of each cookie
bake at 350' F for 8 - 10 minutes or until the top is just starting to set.
Do Not over bake
cool 1 - 2 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack
cool completely
if desired sprinkle with powdered sugar (I left it off, too messy)
makes 54 to 60 cookies

Lazy Blogger

When school got out and we began making our summer plans I had so many ideas for blogs, but I didn't follow through on any of them. We have been busy this summer, but mainly I have just been lazy about blogging. These are a few of the pictures I took with the idea of posting at least once a week. I went to Lovell for Memorial Day and while there my sister, niece, mom and I went to Cody and had lunch at the Irma Hotel. I took a few pictures of the beautiful bar, but none of them turned out. But.....we did have a delicious lunch. The main purpose of my trip was to visit my dad's grave in Cowley. The cemetery was beautiful, they have added a really nice fence and they take such good care of the grounds.

Ken's parents grave.

We had a young man from our town killed in Afghanistan this spring. During the town's annual celebration they held a dedication ceremony renaming the Legion baseball field after him. This Marine Color Guard added a beautiful touch to the ceremony. He was the first person from our area killed in the war.

On the fourth of July weekend we camped above Red Lodge and took in their parade. There were a lot of horses, cars and flags. The first half hour was fun, but it lasted 1 1/2 hours! Way too much parade.

I noticed this woman right away, all decked out in red, white and blue. Her husband was sitting there quietly in his normal looking shirt, when she walked down the street and returned with this hat she plopped on his head. He looked less than thrilled.

A very large flag. Really cool!

A really strange parade entry.

Luke looking like we all felt at this point "isn't it over yet".

Whew! what a busy month

When the weather finally settled down and decided it was time to be summer, we loaded up the trailer and headed to the Big Horns. Tanner didn't want to miss out on a camping trip so he went with us. The guys spent most of their time fishing so I just lounged around and read a book.

They may have brought me along to cook, as I did plenty of that too.

This is one of my favorite spots on the mountain. It's the south fork of the Tongue River and it's a beautiful hike up the river.

We camped at the Sibley Lake campground, there were a few other trailers parked there, but for the most part it was nice and peaceful.





Ken and Tanner fished while I hiked and took pictures. They caught a few fish, but threw them back (thank goodness). Not a fan of trout.

While we were driving down the highway I spotted this moose off the side of the road, but by the time we got stopped he was partially hidden by the brush.

The day after our camping trip we started painting our house. I shouldn't say "we" as I didn't even touch a paintbrush. Ken hired Wendy, Colette, Cami and Tanner to help him. Before you all think I was just being a prima donna I was at work while they were painting. I'm working 10 hour days now so I had a good excuse not to help. They all worked their tails off and had it done in two and a half days. Taylor got the job of watching all the little kids while their moms were painting. We made sure she was paid well too.



When I got home from work, rather than put on my painting clothes I offered to relieve Taylor and watch the little kids and get a meal on the table for the painters. Watching six kids under the age of 8 and making dinner for 18 people kept me pretty busy too.

When all the kids are together there is always one who gets feeling a little left out. This was Caelen's moment. She got over it quickly and they all had their "poor me" moment.

Talen is usually off by herself making messes or getting into things she shouldn't be into, but here she's entertaining herself with one of the nets we bought at the dollar store. These nets have been used to catch crayfish at the lake and butterflies in the yard. They're a popular item at our house and of course, been the cause of a few fights because we only have a few of them. For a buck each, I could probably spring for a few more.

While I was on the deck playing with Luke the kids decided to climb the tree. Trey was climbing with one flip flop on and still managed to make it up pretty high. Lexie and Kenzie didn't have any shoes and they didn't get too far. High enough that they were squealing for help to get down.

Luke loved being outside, watching the kids play.

It was a busy week, but the house looks great, the girls and Tanner made a little money and I didn't have to climb the scaffolding or get covered in paint.

Sometimes it really pays to have a big family.

As the boy grows, so do the fish

Tanner caught his first fish when he was eight years old and that began his love for the sport. He is 15 now and spends most of his free time in grandpa's canoe on the lake. In the winter he's at the same lake boring holes in the ice to do some ice fishing.

This is the walleye pike he caught last Thursday in the lake. It was 27" long and weighed almost 7 1/2 pounds. He's pretty proud of this catch, just like he was of the one 7 years ago.