Sunday, May 20, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Happy Mother's Day
Sometimes I miss my mom. She and I were not that close. I am not sure why. I think she didn't understand me and probably I didn't understand her. But I liked her. I just felt like I couldn't talk to her about things. I tried, but she would act like I was bothering her, so I stopped trying. Maybe I didn't listen to her, but I don't remember her really confiding in me or trying to.
But there was some kind of connection between her and me. I remember a few times when I thought she must be psychic or something. When I was pregnant a second time and Brett was about 14 months old, Jerry was studying for his exams and he was sick with a very bad cold. I all of sudden started spotting. I think the next day, my mom called to see how I was doing. I told her and the next thing I knew she and Ken were driving down to get Brett and I. She took us back to Grand Rapids and put me to bed. Then she called our family doctor. He had me go to the hospital where I miscarried. Mom took care of Brett while I was recovering.
There were other times when she would call out of the blue when things were going on in my life. So even though we never really had any heart to heart talks with each other, she always seemed to be there for me. I hope I was there for her when she needed some one also.
Driving to the hospital where she was dying, I knew I wouldn't make it to be there by her bedside when she took her last breath. I had been there the night before and I knew that she was at peace with dying. Looking at the clock in the car, I thought to myself, "Go ahead Mom, you don't have to wait for me", and later the nurse told me that she passed away at that time. I wonder if she still hears me now and then as the years go by. I do miss her, even though it has been 11 years.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom.
But there was some kind of connection between her and me. I remember a few times when I thought she must be psychic or something. When I was pregnant a second time and Brett was about 14 months old, Jerry was studying for his exams and he was sick with a very bad cold. I all of sudden started spotting. I think the next day, my mom called to see how I was doing. I told her and the next thing I knew she and Ken were driving down to get Brett and I. She took us back to Grand Rapids and put me to bed. Then she called our family doctor. He had me go to the hospital where I miscarried. Mom took care of Brett while I was recovering.
There were other times when she would call out of the blue when things were going on in my life. So even though we never really had any heart to heart talks with each other, she always seemed to be there for me. I hope I was there for her when she needed some one also.
Driving to the hospital where she was dying, I knew I wouldn't make it to be there by her bedside when she took her last breath. I had been there the night before and I knew that she was at peace with dying. Looking at the clock in the car, I thought to myself, "Go ahead Mom, you don't have to wait for me", and later the nurse told me that she passed away at that time. I wonder if she still hears me now and then as the years go by. I do miss her, even though it has been 11 years.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
5/4 - 5/5 - weekend activities
Yesterday was a pretty good day. We went to a new restaurant for breakfast. We are compiling information for a book about good family dining places to eat breakfast at in Detroit. The place we went to will not be in the book. The food was not that great. We both came home and spent a good portion of the next hour in the bathroom. Good thing we have two.
Then I took off for the Red Cross, as they have been calling me and asking me to give blood. I had made an appointment for 10:30. I still felt a little iffy after the breakfast, but was hopeful that things would calm down, which it did, gradually, and 1-1/2 hours later I was out of there. I was lucky this time, didn't have any problems with blood pressure, hemoglobin, or clogged veins, and didn't get light-headed.
When I got back Dave wanted to go bowling. Great, I just gave blood, in my left arm and he wants to bowl. But I don't want to say no because we really need to start getting out and moving around and loosening up our joints so that we can exercise and loose weight. So I wrapped my arm up and we went bowling. We only bowled two games each so I didn't stress my arm out very much. Dave got a 205 on his second game. I didn't break 100 on either game.
Then we came home and relaxed. Then we were back in the car again, this time to go to the Eastern Michigan versus Central Michigan baseball game. The weather was slightly cold, but EMU won and it was fun to get out of the house.
Then today we checked out another breakfast restaurant. This one was good, so it will be in the book. Once home I browbeat Dave into helping me clean the house. It felt good to get things picked up and the floor vacuumed.
In keeping with our resolve to get out and exercise a little each day, if possible, we decided to go to the Lake Erie Metro Park and walk the 1-1/2 mile nature trail. Last weekend we walked the mile one and wanted to go back and try this one. This trail takes you along the shoreline of Lake Erie, so that was very scenic. We left about noon and it took us about 30 minutes to get to the park. For some reason we didn't plan very well. We didn't bring a lunch or drinks or even snacks. We just took off and left without preparing anything. I don't know what we were thinking. So a little more than half way through the walk I started noticing my blood sugar dropping. I looked over at Dave and he was fading also. We stopped to rest, but we both were not doing well. I think Dave was actually doing worse than I was. I totally forgot about his disease, where if he gets dehydrated, he gets ill and could die. Crap. I was scared. We were a little ways from the car and we did not have any fluids with us. Luckily we parked near the nature center and they had a vending machine with pepsi, water, and gatorade. After stopping for a few minutes, I was feeling a little better, but Dave seemed to be worse. I was holding his hand and encouraging him to keep going. I was trying to ascertain if I should make him sit down and have me go ahead to get some gatorade, but he said he could make it. He did. He sat on the bench outside the center, while I ran in to get the gatorade. As soon as he had his first sip, he said he started to feel better. I had enough change to get a pepsi.
We sat on the bench and looked at each other and wondered what we had been thinking. Why had we not been prepared for our hike? It has been so long since I have had to worry about Dave and the affects of his condition, that I had totally forgotten to be prepared.
It won't happen again, at least not this year.
Once the gatorade was gone, we got in the car, with me driving and drove to the nearest party store to pick up more gatorade and a candy bar for each of us. So much for dieting. But it was necessary that we both get our blood sugars back up quickly.
Then we headed back for home. Dave slept off and on in the car and is sleeping now on the couch. We did stop to eat supper on the way home.
Lessons learned. But this was a scary one. Dave works hard to live his life as normal as possible and he does a good job of managing his medications, so well, that I forgot about his condition. Low blood surgar for me isn't a big deal. Hypoglycemia (not caused by insulin injections) will not hurt you, as your body will not dip too low. You just feel uncomfortable. But Dave's low blood sugar was also accompanied with some dehydration and that is what causes his body problems.
Of course, it didn't help that I also was a pint low in the blood fluid area either, having given blood yesterday.
Well, all is well now. But having this little reality check, I am reflecting on how much Dave means to me and how devastated I would be if he were to not be in my life.
Then I took off for the Red Cross, as they have been calling me and asking me to give blood. I had made an appointment for 10:30. I still felt a little iffy after the breakfast, but was hopeful that things would calm down, which it did, gradually, and 1-1/2 hours later I was out of there. I was lucky this time, didn't have any problems with blood pressure, hemoglobin, or clogged veins, and didn't get light-headed.
When I got back Dave wanted to go bowling. Great, I just gave blood, in my left arm and he wants to bowl. But I don't want to say no because we really need to start getting out and moving around and loosening up our joints so that we can exercise and loose weight. So I wrapped my arm up and we went bowling. We only bowled two games each so I didn't stress my arm out very much. Dave got a 205 on his second game. I didn't break 100 on either game.
Then we came home and relaxed. Then we were back in the car again, this time to go to the Eastern Michigan versus Central Michigan baseball game. The weather was slightly cold, but EMU won and it was fun to get out of the house.
Then today we checked out another breakfast restaurant. This one was good, so it will be in the book. Once home I browbeat Dave into helping me clean the house. It felt good to get things picked up and the floor vacuumed.
In keeping with our resolve to get out and exercise a little each day, if possible, we decided to go to the Lake Erie Metro Park and walk the 1-1/2 mile nature trail. Last weekend we walked the mile one and wanted to go back and try this one. This trail takes you along the shoreline of Lake Erie, so that was very scenic. We left about noon and it took us about 30 minutes to get to the park. For some reason we didn't plan very well. We didn't bring a lunch or drinks or even snacks. We just took off and left without preparing anything. I don't know what we were thinking. So a little more than half way through the walk I started noticing my blood sugar dropping. I looked over at Dave and he was fading also. We stopped to rest, but we both were not doing well. I think Dave was actually doing worse than I was. I totally forgot about his disease, where if he gets dehydrated, he gets ill and could die. Crap. I was scared. We were a little ways from the car and we did not have any fluids with us. Luckily we parked near the nature center and they had a vending machine with pepsi, water, and gatorade. After stopping for a few minutes, I was feeling a little better, but Dave seemed to be worse. I was holding his hand and encouraging him to keep going. I was trying to ascertain if I should make him sit down and have me go ahead to get some gatorade, but he said he could make it. He did. He sat on the bench outside the center, while I ran in to get the gatorade. As soon as he had his first sip, he said he started to feel better. I had enough change to get a pepsi.
We sat on the bench and looked at each other and wondered what we had been thinking. Why had we not been prepared for our hike? It has been so long since I have had to worry about Dave and the affects of his condition, that I had totally forgotten to be prepared.
It won't happen again, at least not this year.
Once the gatorade was gone, we got in the car, with me driving and drove to the nearest party store to pick up more gatorade and a candy bar for each of us. So much for dieting. But it was necessary that we both get our blood sugars back up quickly.
Then we headed back for home. Dave slept off and on in the car and is sleeping now on the couch. We did stop to eat supper on the way home.
Lessons learned. But this was a scary one. Dave works hard to live his life as normal as possible and he does a good job of managing his medications, so well, that I forgot about his condition. Low blood surgar for me isn't a big deal. Hypoglycemia (not caused by insulin injections) will not hurt you, as your body will not dip too low. You just feel uncomfortable. But Dave's low blood sugar was also accompanied with some dehydration and that is what causes his body problems.
Of course, it didn't help that I also was a pint low in the blood fluid area either, having given blood yesterday.
Well, all is well now. But having this little reality check, I am reflecting on how much Dave means to me and how devastated I would be if he were to not be in my life.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Good quiche
I have been reading a series of mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson, where the main character is a caterer and she has added delicious recipes in the books. I get very hungry when I read the books.
I tried this recipe and it was awesome. When I made it the recipe that I had wasn't correct. It didn't have the cream cheese in it, but still it was very good. It took me awhile to find the Jarlsberg cheese, but found that it was a hard swiss cheese that grated easily. If you like quiche, give it a try and let me know how you like it.
Crustless Jarlsberg Quiche
1/2 cup butter, sweet
1/2 cup flour, all-purpose
1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cup cottage cheese, small curd
1 teaspoon mustard, dijon
9 eggs
11 oz cream cheese; softened
3/4 lb jarlsberg; grated
1/3 cup parmesan; grated
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat, add the flour, and stir just until mixture bubbles. Slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Stir this cream sauce until it thickens. Set aside to cool. Stir baking powder, mustard and salt into cottage cheese. Beat eggs well, then beat in softened cream cheese and cottage cheese mixture. Slowly beat in cream sauce, then thoroughly incorporate Jarlsberg and Parmesan. Pour into two buttered 10" pie plates. Bake for about 45 minutes or until puffed and browned. Cut each quiche into eight large wedges. ---*Dying for Chocolate* Diane Mott Davidson
I tried this recipe and it was awesome. When I made it the recipe that I had wasn't correct. It didn't have the cream cheese in it, but still it was very good. It took me awhile to find the Jarlsberg cheese, but found that it was a hard swiss cheese that grated easily. If you like quiche, give it a try and let me know how you like it.
Crustless Jarlsberg Quiche
1/2 cup butter, sweet
1/2 cup flour, all-purpose
1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cup cottage cheese, small curd
1 teaspoon mustard, dijon
9 eggs
11 oz cream cheese; softened
3/4 lb jarlsberg; grated
1/3 cup parmesan; grated
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat, add the flour, and stir just until mixture bubbles. Slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Stir this cream sauce until it thickens. Set aside to cool. Stir baking powder, mustard and salt into cottage cheese. Beat eggs well, then beat in softened cream cheese and cottage cheese mixture. Slowly beat in cream sauce, then thoroughly incorporate Jarlsberg and Parmesan. Pour into two buttered 10" pie plates. Bake for about 45 minutes or until puffed and browned. Cut each quiche into eight large wedges. ---*Dying for Chocolate* Diane Mott Davidson
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