David's Lasagna Alfredo

Ok, I'm not making this because Fred doesn't like mushrooms, but next time I make a lasagna, I'm gonna try this recipe I just made up. Could be a nice change of pace from my typical red-sauce lasagna. Mom...maybe when you're here in May? What do you think?

1 pound ground chicken or ground turkey
1 pound sweet italian sausages
1 pint sliced fresh mushrooms
1 large onion diced
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 bottle Ragu alfredo sauce
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package lasagna noodles

Thoroughly cook the italian sausages, allow to cool, then cut into quarter-inch slices. Save the drippings.
Combine the ground chicken or turkey with the diced onion, crushed garlic, and parsley flakes. Cook thoroughly in the sausage drippings.
Stir in the sliced sausages and the alfredo sauce. Cover pan and reduce heat to simmer.
Cook lasagna noodles.

Build lasagna in a 3" deep pan

Build lasagna in layers as follows:

Bottom Level
Layer of noodles
Layer of meat sauce
Layer of sliced mushrooms
Layer of mozzarella cheese
Middle Level
Layer of noodles
Layer meat sauce
Layer of sliced mushrooms
Layer of mozzarella cheese
Top Level
Layer of noodles
Layer of meat sauce
Layer of parmesan cheese

Bake lasagna at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Allow lasagna to rest for 15 minutes
Cut and serve with garlic bread and salad.

Going Away Lasagna Lunch

We're gonna have a Lasagna Lunch today as a going away gathering for Fred & Alice. Around 2pm today. Here's a pic of the eight individual lasagnas about to go into the oven. I forgot to take any pictures of the feeding frenzy that followed when they came out of the oven, but everyone seemed to enjoy the food.



Fred and Alie have already scored a going away lunch at church, and some going away cookies at their last fellowship meeting, and a going away cake at Fred's workplace yesterday. They should think about going away more often so they can get more going away events. :-)

Oh, I also sliced open my left index finger (after the lasagnas were all done and in the oven) while putting away some utensils...someone put the mandolin (a very sharp slicing device) in the drawer blade-side up. OUCH! A lot of blood, but I think I'll live. Gonna make writing painful for a while since I'm left handed.

Introducing Bailey

Introducing Bailey. The newest edition to our family. Today he turns 1. He is a puggle. The face and tail of a puggle and the body of a beagle. First picture was taken at grandpa Jim's house. His first road trip with me.

One of his many faces, with the teeth shining through. Looks ferocious, but wouldn't hurt a flea.

His second day at home. All smiles.

Bailey happened upon by accident. While Dad was in the hospital in Portland my co-worker said that her daughter needed a new place for a puppy and asked if I knew anyone that wanted a puggle. I LOVE puggles, so after discussing it with the boys and the landlord, he joined our home. So far so good. Still a puppy so he still needs to training, but he will do just fine.

Dad's Memorial Dinner and Uncle Fred & Linda Buy A New Trailer

I just called Uncle Fred. I wanted to ask him if he'd ever sprinkled Dad's ashes in the Gulf of Mexico as he'd wanted to do. Turns out he's gotten kind of attached to having Dad around and has no immediate plans to sprinkle him. That's cool. I like having Dad around too.

So, anyway, Fred mentioned that he and Linda bought a new (to them, at least) double wide trailer in Largo FL, not too far from their place in Clearwater. They had been planning to get a new place...maybe next year...but they found a good deal and jumped on it. It's a 24x57 with hardwood floors and lots of other nifty stuff. Sounds like a real sweet place...and the best thing was the price...only $4500. They really couldn't pass up a deal like that. So, he has a new Florida address, but don't mail anything there because they're leaving for Vermont in a week or so.

601 Starkey Road Lot 84
Largo, FL 33771

I told Fred that we took Dad out to lunch on Sunday in remembrance of his first year since passing. That's when we got into all the Gulf of Mexico talk. I've got a couple of pics from the lunch that I'll post here later tonight.



I also chastised him for not visiting Mom on his trips to and from VT and that since Peggy & Eric would soon be in Gainesville that all of y'all are gonna have to get together sometime. Peggy suggested doing Christmas in Orlando at the theme parks sometime soon, so maybe we can get Fred and Linda to join us there. That would be fun.

Enough rambling...gotta get back to work.

Fiddle Leaf Fig

I thought it looked like a fig tree. As soon as I showed the picture to my boss he says Fiddle Leaf Fig. He's a smart dude.



Apparently it can get pretty big.

New Updates

Mom is home from the hospital. She is doing okay, but her diet is extremely restrictive. Low carb, low sugar, low salt. Veggies are free foods, but everything else is restricted. She is only allowed to have 1/4 serving total at meal time. Not very exciting.

She is on at least 4 new meds, including lasex(every 4 hours), to drain off fluid build up. Which 11 pounds was drained in the hospital. And she is supposed to rest. Don't see too much of that yet, but she is sticking to her diet or at least going to make a good effort too.

Now we are trying to get her to move out of grams because gram wants to have her knee replaced again and expects mom to take care of her and mom can not do it physically or financially anymore, so I told mom to give me the word and I will get her a place down here until we buy a house. But she is having a hard time leaving due to feeling guilty, but she needs to live her life to the fullest, at least what time she has left.

Dad- got his haircut today, to match his shave job at the hospital. He is doing well, but mentally he is depressed and feels hopeless. He does not understand where faith comes from and how to get it, so that he can survive this journey. The bad news is, that they did not get the entire tumor and will do chemo for the remainder of his life. He had the glioblastoma multiforming tumor. The most severe, stage 4 brain tumor. Typically found in people over the age of 50, with no understanding of how it develops. Internet statistics, say that 1 in 4 with this tumor can survive 2 years, but prognosis could be a bit better if they got most or all of the tumor, which they did in his case. I am hoping for the best and staying positive for him, but I will also prepare myself for the inevitable.

And preparing for that for one or both of them around the same time, absolutely kills me. But I know I have to. I am just not sure how to prepare myself emotionally. In the meantime, I will stay strong for both and do what I can, without making myself sick too.

THanks for listening.
T.

I Want Global Warming...Now!

This what we saw when we we decided to go to the mall for a walk.



These two were on the way to the grocery store an hour later.





And these two are half an hour later getting back to Chunnan's place. It doesn't show up well on camera, but these snowflakes were HUGE. I'm talking at least a couple of inches across. You could look high up in the sky and follow a specific flake as it leisurely fell to earth like a puff of cotton drifting down from the sky.



And now...6 hours after this post began...after rain and warming sun...no snow of consequence remains. :-(

Quilt Fest, Trenton, FL

Today I worked at the Quilt Fest in Trenton, FL. I worked for a while doing hand quilting demonstration and then worked as a wandering "host" giving out maps to displays and chatting with people.

Here is the link to all the photos http://springhousequilters.homestead.com/QuiltFest2009.html

The photo above is a quilt that I made way back in '98 or '99 not long after I joined Springhouse. I sold it at the first Springhouse quilt show I went to in '99 and never got a picture of it. When I saw it hanging today I made sure I got a one.

Our Day on the Gulf

We went to visit with Alie, Barb, and Roland today up on the panhandle part of the Gulf coast. It was gorgeous weather. I was kind of waxing poetic on the trip with something like...

Miles and miles
of sunshine
and smiles.
Hours and hours
of blue skies
and flowers.

... Oh well, maybe it's the start of a poem, or maybe it's all of the poem and I should just name it "Florida." What do you think?

But, to get on with the story... We all decided to meet in Panacea and have lunch at Hook Wreck Henry's. Merle and I left at about 8:30 am and arrived in Panacea around 11 am. However, when I called Alie to see how they were doing, she said they were going to be a "little late", and then mentioned the time, and she suddenly remembered there was a time zone change between between where they were and where we were - so they were going to be more than a little late. Heck, I never even knew Florida had TWO time zones! So, we decided to just keep driving toward them and we'd meet in Appalachacola instead.

We arrived in Appalachacola and stopped at the Seafood Grill on Market St. around 12 - 12:15 and still had to wait almost another hour for them to get there! But we were the lucky ones since it was a beautiful day and we got to sit outside the restaurant and "people watch" and snacked on an order of onion rings. They, on the other hand, 1) got a speeding ticket for hurrying to meet us and 2) almost got rear-ended... bummer!

We spent the afternoon wandering around the quaint shops in town and left for home about 4:15 pm, getting back here about 7:15. All in all a very nice day and we enjoyed seeing them all again. Merle hadn't seen Alice since the last time they were trucking down here. I just called her to make sure they made it back to Roland's place okay and they did.

The following photos include our stop in Panacea so Alie can see what they missed. Believe me, Panacea wasn't much of a place so I don't think we missed much there.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

There were a few other pics taken on the dock at Appalachacola, but somewhere between when I took that Sourpuss Merle and Alice photo to where we stopped on the docks to take pictures my camera became maladjusted and those shots were way faded out to white. Once I figured out the setting was on movie and not still shots, we didn't retake them on my camera, but Barb has the same shots on hers, so maybe she'll share.

Mom= hospital

When it rains it pours.
Dad was released home today and starts treatment on friday.
Mom called me today, they admitted her to the hospital for congestive heart failure.
blood pressure is raised, oxygen is low, gained 11 pounds in fluid.

I am going to be totally honest. I don't know how much more of this I can handle at once. I am no longer the strong one here. This is just too much to handle.

And to be selfish, I am turning 30 this week. Dad told me to have fun at my party, and now i have to deal with this. What a great 2009.

Thats it

Our Plans part 2

We have adjusted our plans for moving to AZ.

I am going to give notice at work asap, and March 31 will be my last day. I only get paid once a month on the 1st, so I will get a check on April 1st that will cover all of our April bills.

Instead of leaving on March 23rd, Alice is going to wait and we will leave together on April 1st.

Dad- update

I am sorry that I have not followed through with an update. I gave Aunt Ruth the news in an email, but anyway, dad's tumor was cancer.
He has been in rehab the past week to regain his coordination on the left side. He has exceeded all the doctors expectations and is doing really well. He goes home tomorrow. But Friday he starts chemo and radiation everyday for 6 weeks. He is in really good spirits and doing well physically, but I know that this will take a toll on him and he will have a few set backs, but one day at a time is all we can ask for.

SO, that is the quick update.

On a side note-Ruth only ordered once on Avon, so you are all set.
We are getting a puppy. Due to arrive any minute. It's a puggle. I will post pictures, as soon as i take some.

Chat soon.Me

Latest Nott Photos

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Channels of Verse

Our local poetry group has just self-published our second collection of poetry by our members. You can read more about it at http://www.creativewordspoetry.com/SuwanneeRiverPoets.html .

Ruth

Avon and Update

Ok, I have posted way too much lately so I am gonna try to get two birds with one stone today.

Dad is doing fabulous, in my opinion. They transported him to Seton Rehab Hospital in Waterville, today. It's closer for most of the family. Now I am the only one that will have to travel, but should be used to it by now. Same place mom was for 2 months. Anyway, he was walking pretty good today and has a bit more control over his left side. My guess is he will be there for two weeks at least.

AVON- I NOW HAVE MY AVON WEBSITE. PLEASE ANYONE THAT IS INTERESTED, ORDER. ITS FREE SHIPPING. WOOHOO!! THE WEBSITE IS: www.youravon.com/tkeddrell
THE SHIPPING CODE TO GET IT FREE IS (RPFS). IF THIS DOES NOT WORK, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
AND IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS, I WILL DO MY BEST TO ANSWER THEM, ALTHOUGH I AM STILL LEARNING AS WELL.

Thanks. I will be in touch as i get more news

Snow . . . Finally!

We finally had a good snow!! It's about time. I had 5 whole inches, and it was beautiful. I have one picture of the front yard and one of the back, and one from the view in my living room. I also included a picture of my car; it took me about 45 minutes to clean it off so I could go to work. I was exhausted by the time I finally did make it to work. But the snow was beautiful!!!