Memorial Day--More than just dying

So, it is Memorial Day weekend, and while prepared to support those who have lost their live in service to our country, we also remember our ancestors, family, and friends who've passed before us.  I was realizing this is the first Memorial Day that my Grandpa Bob was gone and I was trying to determine a good way to honor his memory.  I remember going with him and Grandma Donna to decorate graves as part of our Memorial Day remembrances.  I also went with Grammy Hellie and Papa Joe.  I did not always know who's all grave we were visiting, but they would tel me and I would listen.

However, I was not prepared for the loss of a beautiful young life.  The Harris family lost their Bradley Michael today.  All I know was that he and his father, Craig, were involved in a motorcycle crash, and Michael, he didn't make it.  I think after we came back, I was able to watch Michael once, maybe...  But I was a nanny to his older siblings, Brian, Brooke, Lynnie, and Brianna.  I love these kids, they aren't so little anymore and now a portion of them has been ripped away from them.  I am trying to be more positive about things, like Michael's mission in this life was over and Heavenly Father has something important for him to do on the other side, but he was 14, turning 15 in June...  He was so young, was there really stuff more important, couldn't he have stayed with us just a bit longer? I have to remember the Lord knows His plan, and we have to abide by His plan, not the other way around.  Someday we may comprehend, but sometimes I struggle to go by faith.

As I sit here, pondering Michael's passing, watching music videos that are patriotic and especially supportive of our military men and women, I am still uncertain...  I do feel the need to express gratitude.

I am grateful to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, and while I may stumble from time to time, I am certain it is truth.  I am also grateful to a Savior who is there to help me when I do stumble.  I am grateful the Harris family also has the Gospel and they are sealed for time and all eternity.  They are an eternal family and will be together again someday.  I am grateful for the many men and women who offer themselves in the name of our country, too many have paid the ultimate price, and too few of us express our thanks.  I am grateful for ancestors who sacrificed, who lived, who made this a great country.  I am thankful for parents, grandparents, and other family members who have been an example to me.  My words will never be enough.  I am especially grateful to a brother in the Army, a brother in law enforcement, an almost-brother in the Air Force, and for a husband who has shown me the importance of willingness to serve and how important service men and women are.  To my examples, to my family, to my Lord, I am grateful.

I ask that thoughts and prayers be with the Harris family at their time of loss.  I ask that we all remember our military, to thank them for their service, both in the past, currently and in the future.  I ask that we thank God everyday that we live in these United States and we do our best to uphold His virtues and remain united.

America the Beautiful

Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee! 

Last Meals?

Made dinner for James tonight.  He likes stuffed bell peppers.  

Now it starts before this, I took two pounds of ground beef and one pound of ground sausage and brown them.  I chopped an onion and crushed and minced some garlic and cooked with the ground beef mixture.  I then divided this mixture into three parts.  

One part was used in a yummy chunky vegetable marinara sauce for spaghetti last week.  Green pepper chunks, mushrooms, zucchini pieces, diced tomatoes, oh that was good spaghetti.

The second part is what I used tonight to make the peppers.  So, ground beef mixture, I reheated in frying pan.  I had cooked a package of white rice--almost like sticky rice the way it turned out--Cindy might be proud...  After the meat mixture had heated, I stirred in some of the rice, stirred and let it cook some with the meat.  I then chopped fresh tomatoes and stirred those into the meat mixture.  I added some coarse ground pepper and seasoned salt.  I also squeezed in prepared mustard and then stirred in some shredded cheese.  At this point I turned off the heat.

On a foil covered sheet pan, I sprayed some pan release (think Pam) and then I stuffed six green pepper halves with my meat/rice mix.  Put those in a preheated 350º F oven and let them bake for 30 minutes.

I am not sure if James ate three or four, but he said they were yummy!  And he also went on about being spoiled recently by my cooking.  I mean, last week the spaghetti sauce sent him reeling--he loved it.  Then I took a pork roast, cut into steaks/chops, made my own Shake'n'Bake--except I fried them in some oil on the stove top.  Even I really like those and was well pleased with my panko breaded chops...

He asked me if he was dying and these were his last meals.  He said he knew he was dying if I made him his Swiss Steak that he likes made with Alphabet soup (how his mom made it) with mashed potatoes...  Just gotta work in some things I like too.  I've been thinking about taco salad for about a week and a half now--or tacos, or something, well, I guess it was tacos first and then it was taco salad when I read a comment on Susie's fb status...

I am not planning on killing him off and I don't mind cooking, I just hate the clean up and I prefer to have the TV where I can watch/listen while I am doing...  I blame mom for leaving the TV on while I napped...  TV is my woobie, I guess.

Now that I am completely off where I started...  I'll be working on cake the next couple of days too...  And maybe some cookies, we'll see...

Tasting Event

On May 20th and 21st, I will be hosting a Tasting Event for my Alison's Pantry business.  Along with my AP products, several friends will also be participating with their own independent businesses.  A mini-fair or boutique if you will...

As part of the event, there will also be a fund-raiser to help with the remaining balance of my reconstructive surgery (the part medicaid DID NOT cover).  I hope you will join us and be willing to contribute.  Any contributions beyond what is necessary will go to support other breast cancer survivors, FYI.

Keep watching for more information...

I did not realize...

Somehow I guess I did not realize I had not posted since grandpa actually passed away...  Holy cow!  Well, I am here today with an update about me and everything...

I saw Dr. Breyer yesterday, she is my oncologist.  I was actually hoping she would tell me that today was my last Herceptin treatment, no such luck.  But, it is close to the end.  They have been giving me my treatments in does of three, so today when I go I will receive doses 46, 47, and 48...  When I go again in three weeks, I will receive doses 49, 50, and 51.  Then a week after that I will go for dose 52...  That makes my year.  I was curious, why so long, so I did some back tracking with my calendar to figure out why it came out this way...  Somewhere someone goofed, and must not have been giving me three doses at a time...  I just do not know who or where...

At any rate, I go to have a mammogram on my right side on Thursday, this is just precautionary to make sure all is well.  This one is the kicker, though...  My blood pressure has been steadily increasing and there is some worry about that, so I have to go have my blood pressure checked at my regular physician's office.  I am doing that on Thursday as well, after the mammogram.  Yay for me, NOT.  I must say I am somewhat concerned about this.  I don't want to give up my cheeseburgers, you see, and I am afraid that is what I may get told.  Rude...  I shall keep you posted.

Until next time...

Grandpa Bob, I love you!

Mom called today to let me know Grandpa Bob had finally passed away this morning.  It has been a long time coming and he was suffering and it has been hard on Grandma and Mom too.  I have been praying that Heavenly Father would take him home, but last night, well, maybe I was more fervent, I dunno...  I just didn't want him to suffer anymore in this life, in his frail body that just hasn't been able to do what it needed. 

On the flip side, this is my Grandpa, my buddy.  'Bampa' was my first word.  When I was little Grandpa was probably my biggest hero, EVER!  In fact, if it hadn't been for the fact that my brother was named for him instead, I may never have forgiven my parents for not naming him Burt Reynolds or the Snowman i.e. Smokey and the Bandit movies.

This is the Grandpa that took me to Burger King every weekend, just he and I.  This is the Grandpa that helped me sell Girl Scout Cookies to everyone he knew, which were a lot of people.  This is the grandpa who built me a sandbox, built things for Girl Scouts, PTA carnivals, stuff for our toys, our room, our house.  This is the Grandpa who danced with me while Lawerence Welk was on, with me standing on his feet.  The Grandpa who taught me how to play cards, and how to cheat at playing cards.  Grandpa taught me Cribbage.  Grandpa would let me sit and read National Geographic with him and when I wouldn't touch a page cause it had an icky spider or snake on it or something else that scared me, he would turn the page for me.  This is the Grandpa that helped me learn to ride a bike, roller skate, make stuff.  He would push me in the swing and recite the poem of the same name...

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
 

by--Robert Louis Stevenson  

This is the grandpa who would sing to me...

Playmate (come out and play with me)

 

Say, say, oh playmate,
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree

Shout down my rain barrel
Slide down my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more more more more more

Say, say, oh playmate
I cannot play with you
My dolly's got the flu
Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo

Ain't got no rain barrel
Ain't got no cellar door
But we'll be jolly friends
Forever more more more more more

Words and music by Saxie Dowell

Now mind you, I may not remember the words exactly, and I had to copy them from online, but just seeing the words brings back so many memories.

This is also the grandpa who helped instill a love for Gene Autry and Marty Robbins, I remember one car ride from Casper to LaGrange where we listened to the Marty Robbins 8-track over and over, we sang along the whole way.  Grandpa tried to teach me to whistle, he taught me all kinds of things.  I was his buddy I remember waiting for him to come home from work so I could spend time with him.  I would call him on the phone, even though we lived right next door.  This is the Grandpa who told me stories of how he worked with Paul Bunyan and his Big Blue Ox, Babe.  I loved Grandpa's stories.  There are so many things I love about my Grandpa.  This is the Grandpa who took me to the fair, and let me take all the time I wanted to look at the animals and the displays.  I remember he even rode rides with me, because I just wasn't big enough to go alone.  What an awesome Grandpa.

Yes, Grandpa is my hero, he is just about as close to perfect as can get, at least anyone I have met--for me, he probably comes in real close to my Savior and my Heavenly Father.

Grandpa, I love you, I miss you, I have for a while because I did not make as much time as I should have to see you.  Please see if they will let you watch over me from heaven, in between all the other stuff they have you do.

Love, B

Contest for Band of Sisters

I am trying to win a copy of a book by a friend and sister in my ward.  I get entries for this post, so I am sharing so if you are interested you can see and enter too.  Annette Lyon is an excellent author and I have read a few of her books.  This new one intrigues me, as I have one brother in the Army who has done two tours in Iraq and one adopted-into-the-family brother in the air force who has been to the sandbox numerous times himself.

http://camicheckettsbooks.blogspot.com/2010/03/book-review-and-giveaway-band-of.html

Is the link for the contest.

Check it out!

A Little Brag on My Bro

For the Blue and Gold Banquet in Pinedale, WY this year, they had a bake sale auction.  Each boy in the pack was encouraged to bring something they had helped make.  RJ really wanted Grandma and me to come up and help him make a really cool cake, but we just couldn't get there, and in fact went to see Great-Grandpa instead.  So the Laing household came up with another plan...

Bring in SUPER SCOUT!!!

Teresa baked the cake for them.  They borrowed a pan from Grandma Chris.  And Bob decorated it with RJ's help.  RJ really wanted a super hero, and the pan is a Wilton Superman pan.  They borrowed the decorating supplies, which has led me to determine that I need to gather up some of my excess supplies and make a basic kit for them.  Which I will be doing, however, I'll have to mail it, or bring it up sometime, because even if I did send it back to Grandma's with mom, they may not have room in the car to take it home...

So I just had to brag about how COOL my brother and nephew are and let you see how marvelous the cake they made is...  They did an awesome job, and in case you were wondering, at the auction the cake went for

$85

WOO HOO!!!