Advent

I love the simplicity of Advent. The preparation for the birth of our Lord. Imagine the pensive waiting that Mary and Joseph had traveling so far away. Not knowing what this baby would bring. Not truly understanding what it all meant.

Squash and Sausage Penne

1 pkg Hot Italian Turkey Sausage
12 oz high fiber penne
14 oz cubed squash (found @ Meijer)
1/2 large onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 cup pasta water
2 TBS shredded Parmesean cheese
1 TBS sage
Mrs. Dash, Salt and pepper to taste

Remove sausage from casing. Cook with onions and garlic. Season with salt, pepper and Mrs. Dash. Add cheese.

Cook squash in boiling water until fork tender. Remove with slotted spoon.

Add pasta to squash water. Cook until al dente.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Drain.

Put squash, sage, Mrs. Dash, reserved pasta water in blender. Watch out it is hot! Hold lid on.

Combine all in skillet. Yumola!

Pat's Dad

We just left Stratford Village. Dad is getting stronger every day. He walked around without the walker today. He is also working on balance.  His lips are almost healed. Things are looking up!

Dang!

Didn't win the powerball $550 Million! I already had it spent. I have a list all set to go. They haven't said if there was a winner yet. Maybe it will roll over one more time!

Taking Dad to the Doctor

We are taking Pat's Dad to the surgeon today. Hopefully he will remove the drain from his gallbladder. One thing down on the list!

Right now I'm sitting in the car waiting for Pat to have his hair cut. He has been going to Irish's for as long as I have known him. Although when I met him he didn't get his hair cut very often! Long-haired hippy that he was!

My favorite time waiting for him was when Joanna was a baby. She had to be under one because she was still in the front carseat. He had his beard shaved off and when he got in the car she wouldn't look at him.  I asked, "Where's Papa?" But she wouldn't turn her head towards him!

Watching Quizbusters

I love Quizbusters on PBS. Teams of four high schoolers from around Michigan go to WKAR in Lansing to compete. We are watching our second show tonight. Some of the questions are easy some are quite difficult.

It is nice to just be lazy today. Pat visited his Dad today and I stayed in my nightgown ALL DAY! I did make a salad with leftover turkey, lettuce, blueberries, raspberries, avacado and tomatoes. I also made a recipe from Pinterest for some yummy biscuits.

I hoped the biscuits would bake because I have a call in to Sears service the oven. I tried to make custard for Pat's Mom this morning and it never baked. After the first 35 minutes I reset the oven from convection to regular and baked it again. It still did not bake. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Sort of like me!

A Very Long Day

We are exhausted. We started out at Meijer. We got Dad a pair of sweat pants, a Tiger Cabrerra t-shirt and a light jacket to wear inside if he is chilly. We wanted him to be comfortable.

Then we went to the hospital early because I was worried about Dad taking his meds. Yesterday his blood pressure dropped and he had to stay another day. I knew that today the doctor who was over his case was off for the day. 

So they gave him his meds and about a half hour later I asked his nurse to take his blood pressure.  She declined and said someone would be in at 11:00 to take it. I just gave her my best brother Larry smile and said I would like her to take it now.  She went ahead and put the cuff on and turned the machine on.  Then she said the cuff was too big and put a different one on and turned the machine on.  Then she switched arms and turned the machine on. I asked (again with my brother Larry's smile) "Is it in the 70's?"

It was! So that meant another delay. They wanted to wait two hours to see if it would correct itself. It did. They said they would correct the dosage.

That did give us one more breathing treatment.  Gene came in happy to still have Dad for one more treatment. It was very clear that Dad and Gene had become great friends.  Gene even brought in his phone to show some pictures from Artprize in Grand Rapids this year.

This really was a frustrating day. Out of the nine days spent at the hospital this really was my least favorite day.

Personally, I would have preferred having the nursing home pick him up, but the case manager said once they figured out the oxygen tank we could do it.  After a half hour they decided we could take a tank from the hospital and Stratford would return it!  Finally, they sent us on our way with instructions to make sure we would seatbelt the oxygen tank for safety!

Pat's Dad is hopefully having a very restful night at Stratford Village.  He is going to be there for a few weeks before going home.

It is a beautiful facility.  The people are nice and very welcoming. Before we left the hospital this afternoon Dad asked, "Do you think I will be able to sit at a table for dinner?"  I thought maybe he might not be able to do that, but said, "Sure, we'll go with a yes answer on that one!"  He laughed and told me he liked my optimism! 

When I went in to tell the employees Dad was in the car waiting for a wheelchair I told Dawn, who welcomed me, that it would mean the world to Dad to sit at a table for dinner. She said well of course he can do that! Later on Pat's Mom and sister, Mary, even were invited to stay to have dinner with him.

So we are going to wait until about 11:00 tomorrow (oh, I guess it is today!) to go to see him. Pray he rests well in a regular bed tonight!

Random Internet Thoughts!

We covered canvas stretch frames at church last night. The beginning of Advent prep. I typed in "how to stretch fabric on frames."

Step by step directions with pictures for every step made the job simple to do. If we tried to do it on our own I am sure we would have had wrinkles.

My Mom was the first of any of us on the Internet. She was working on our family tree and wanted to look things up. Mind you, she still couldn't type in the word processing software without hitting enter at the end of each line! She would call me after she edited her work and ask why the line ended in the middle of the screen.

I kept asking her if she knew what she was doing. The Internet was just a scary black hole to the rest of us.

I even remember the first time I ventured into the unknown. It was an exciting time learning how to move around and find information.

Looking forward I hope there are scary unknown adventures awaiting our grandchildren. Discovering something amazing is such a grand experience!

Two Steps Forward One Back

We thought Pat's Dad would be out of the hospital and on to rehab today. Then his blood pressure dropped. So the newest plan is one more day.  He feels a lot better but has an infection on his lips from the antibiotics.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

How I Love Spending Time with Pat's Dad

Unfortunately the way I spent time with Pat's Dad was that I was at the hospital all day with him. It does seem like they are narrowing in on his gall bladder as the culprit.

I love how he makes friends with all the hospital staff. His nurses always like him. The people who come in to take blood or complete ultra sounds or echos are always asked their names. When they finish he always uses their name and says thank you and tells them to have a nice day. 

This afternoon Jeff was untangling cords and tubes. It took a long time to straighten out the mess. I listened as Pat and his Dad talked with Jeff. There was instant bonding when they found out he was supposed to clean out the garage last weekend but instead found P.O.M. (Dad's way of saying previously owned material).

Dad said, "Luckily the world is filled with idiots!" He said one time he found a washing machine and it had a sock caught in the tube. He cleaned it out and it worked for a month of Sundays.

He is always so grateful for any small thing you do for him. He just hates being in the hospital and wants to go home. I hope he gets better soon.

The Final Book!

We picked up the last cover from Pat's brother today - I absolutely love how Daniel's Den glows off the page! I can't tell you how happy I am to have the whole series on Amazon!

Help!

Dear friends and family, if you purchased Webber House and read it PLEASE go to Amazon and review it. I need three more reviews in order to start my promotion. Thank you.

Thank Goodness

I haven't seen a political ad all morning!

See You This Weekend in Mt. Pleasant

We have been getting ready for the Mt. Pleasant craft show. I have been wrapping knives all week - the storage boxes are full and now I am working on the next show's knives.

Saturday, November 10
WEST INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
440 S. Bradley, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan


Show Time ............................. Saturday 9:00am - 3:30pm

If you are thinking of taking a ride in the sun on Saturday (that is what we would be doing if we weren't in the Mt. Pleasant Show!!!) Stop by - this is a great show to buy Christmas presents. Stretch out your Christmas shopping by starting this weekend!

Gloomy Day Turned Nice

You know what that means. . . . A ride in the sun.  We drove the back rodes to Alma. We saw turkeys, a hawk, an eagle, a red bellied woodpecker, a great blue heron and several deer.

Lots of farmers finishing up their crops today. Many farms had ten or more trucks in the driveways with everyone out in the fields.

What a nice day.

The Sun is Shining!

Can't write much - the sunshine is calling me! I stayed in the house the past couple of days. I've been working on the new series called Holiday Series. I have all four drafts of the series but now the real work comes in. Lengthening and then sending it to Mary Lynn who takes my run on sentences to task!

Then when it comes back from Mary Lynn I have to make all the corrections - and there will be many! Then refining and adding more descriptive words in the paragraphs.

While we are driving around I will work on my Evernote copy of "No Christmas for Olivia" the first book in the series.

See you later!

Fr. Damien's Homily

My cousin Mary Lynn's son, Fr. Damien died in 2010. He was only 46 when he died. This is one of his homilies. So timely. Thank you Mary Lynn for letting me post it.

Sunday Homily Oct 2008 by Father Damien Daprai, OSB

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.  How appropriate as we wind down the political elections. I would indeed like to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s – if you know what I mean. Let’s just say I’m wearied, almost nauseated by our politics with its endless debates, slander and accusations.

Political debate, slander and entrapment go back a long way – even Jesus didn’t escape it. The Pharisees were political enemies of Jesus and they tried everything they could at first to debate with him. They asked him “By whose authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority? Show us a sign from heaven.” Jesus wouldn’t answer them. So the Pharisees tried to slander him – He eats with sinners – He doesn’t observe the Laws of Moses – He casts out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus was the original Teflon leader, nothing stuck. Then Jesus went on the offensive by warning people about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. One of them said to Jesus, “You are insulting us.” Jesus replied, “Woe to you Pharisees – you scholars of the law. You impose burdens on people that are hard to carry, but don’t lift a finger to do them yourselves”. Then Jesus told the parables about the Kingdom of God being taken away from them and given to others. So now in our Gospel reading today the Pharisees are looking to entrap Jesus so they can accuse Him of something. By asking the question, “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” They thought they had Jesus cornered no matter what he answered. If he said yes, it’s lawful to pay the census tax; the Pharisees could accuse him of supporting the Roman occupation of Israel, something the average Jew hated. If he would have answered no, it’s not lawful to pay the Roman tax, then they would have denounced him to the Roman authorities. This was the final ace up the Pharisees’ sleeve and they were thinking – we’ve got him now. But Jesus raised the political question to the spiritual level and said to give to Caesar the money he wants, but give to God everything else. Give your heart and mind to God and obey all His commandments, but only give Caesar your simple taxes. When the Pharisees heard his answer they were amazed, so they left him and went away.

How did Jesus learn to talk like this? What school of rhetoric did he graduate from? What Philosophy did he study?

Remember when Jesus returned home to Nazareth with his Apostles and His neighbors asked, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Isn’t this the carpenter’ son? Aren’t his brothers and sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”

Where? – The Holy Spirit. He didn’t go to rhetoric school. He studied Sacred Scripture and listened to the Holy Spirit. Then when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove and a voice was heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” In this baptism Jesus was given the Mission of being a Messiah and the Holy Spirit gives Jesus the power to fulfill his mission. The Holy Spirit leads Jesus on his mission and gives power and authority to the words of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that allows Jesus to rise above all conflicts and arguments and never allows Jesus to get discouraged or doubt himself.

When the Pharisees were trying to entrap him, Jesus knew he was slipping in the poles. He knew he was about to be handed over to the Romans for execution, but he never wavered or changed course. He didn’t become more moderate, he didn’t try to secure his base, and he didn’t tell people what they wanted to hear, he didn’t promise people anything – except that he would send them the Holy Spirit.

So as we endure two more weeks of politics, let us remember the words of Jesus “Give to Caesar his taxes and give to God our hearts, and minds and obedience.” Caesar may be able to promise me free prescription drugs and promise to bail out the financial mess, but God promised to give me the joy of the Holy Spirit and eternal life with Him. Jesus I’m voting for you!