First Sunday in Advent

I appreciate the church calendar. It keeps me focused on what's important in the grand scheme of things and I need to remember what's really worth thinking about. Today's readings in the little Advent devotional book are about Christ's First and Second Comings. My thoughts are so scattered (constantly) and I'm thankful for Fr. Pat Harrington's suggestions for prayer and meditation in this book. Reading God's Word in the morning has been neglected for the past 10 years since I started working full time. Prior to that, I was more faithful to do it because I did not have to work. Hopefully, I'll be more faithful during this Advent Season. Thank you for your ultimate sacrifice and your gift of Redemption, Lord Jesus.

Notes re Thanksgiving Dinner

Let it be written that there were TOO many desserts in this house for Thanksgiving. The guests were too "stuffed" to partake in the sweets after the meal(s) Thursday and Friday and, consequently, the delectable desserts are on the breezeway; Greg & I are slowly eating our way through them. NOT a good idea. Note to self: in 2010, do not make four different desserts. Each dessert is competing for attention and then none of them are truly appreciated. So sad.

Friday, November 27, 2009

I'm thankful for another Thanksgiving Day spent with our darling family: Big Greg, my Greg, Nancy, Isaac, Elizabeth, Mark, Wren, and Jon. Diane and George were here in spirit; George came over earlier with two Frisch's pumpkin pies, Reddi Whip, and a dozen baked-on-the-grill sweet potatoes. Unfortunately, he could not stay and returned home to be with Diane who was home with a virus. Hopefully, they can visit us on Sunday, which is Diane's birthday.

We celebrated with the consummate 16-pounder fresh turkey from Humbert's, thanks to Nancy. Isaac and Elizabeth brought their delish homemade whole-berry cranberry sauce; Wren and Mark brought Macy, their one-year-old Labrador/Doberman rescue puppy with the meltingly sweet brown eyes; Jon brought stories to tell everyone.

The menu starred Greg's Turkey (Rachael Ray's recipe), Mashed Potato Casserole (Cooks' Illustrated recipe), Green Bean Casserole, EV's Cranberry Sauce, Stovetop Stuffing (Yay!), Graeter's Butter Bits (thanks to Isaac), Baked Sweet Potatoes, Greg's Awesome Gravy, Frisch's Pumpkin Pie, Betty Crocker's Apple Crisp, and Chocolate Chip Cookies with semi-sweet chips and white chocolate chips. Also, we enjoyed Henke Vidal Blanc (white), Fetzer Pinot Grigio, and Red Guitar Navarra (red) wine.

On Thanksgiving Day (yesterday), Isaac & Elizabeth were able to come over briefly to share Rosemary Flatbread, Pecheline olives, goat cheese, Pesto Palmiers and Henke Seyval wine. They were not able to stay for dinner, though. But Wren, Mark, Jon, Big Greg, my Greg and I enjoyed Honey Baked Ham, Cheesy Potato Casserole, and Sauteed Zucchini with Yellow Squash for dinner and Key Lime Pie for dessert.

Pearls Before Swine is one of Jon's favorite comics and it was nice to read them together on the Internet. Another fun activity was a trip to the Gap Outlet Store in Hebron, KY. We found alot of great bargains.

I'm very impressed with the wines from Henke Winery. It's a local winery that we recently discovered. The restaurant/winery is located in Cheviot and their wines are very smooth and drinkable. Tabor Hill is becoming a distant memory.

Following a friend's blog and reading about her toddler's battle with cancer is sobering this week. They are bravely writing about their son's final days and I am in awe of their dignity and grace during this difficult time.

The December calendar squares have a few entries. Greg & I are looking forward to the annual Malson Christmas Party, an Open House with Dan & Diane Aseere, 3dB Labs' Company Dinner at Vincenzo's, the Schulte Drive Christmas Party, and Tamara Trimbach's wedding in Indianapolis.

Tomorrow we're driving to Waynesville to pickup a grass-fed side of beef processed at Davidson's Meats. An Amish farmer we met at Findlay Market sells grass-fed beef and we bought it from him.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Greg & I visited Dowagiac recently. Here's me and Dad perched together in his driveway. Cousin Nikki lives next door with her husband, Farmer Tom. They are the proud owners of Blue Sky Farm. Blue Sky Farm is part of what used to belong to our grandparents, Joseph and Teresa Sedlar. I'll take more photos of it next time we are there. Here's Nikki with some of the sunflowers that Tom took to the market in Holland on Saturday morning. From his bountiful garden, Tom harvested white cucumbers, Russets, Yukon Gold, and Blue Potatoes, and other vegetables that I don't remember because I was still recovering from surgery and my brain was only functioning at 75%. When we visited Dowagiac in June (pre-surgery), Isaac, Elizabeth and I picked 24 quarts of strawberries from Farmer Tom's strawberry patch. He had a glut of strawberries and we made fabulous Strawberry Freezer Jam afterwards. Good times. Note to self: Take More Pictures(!). I wish you could have seen all the strawberries we picked!

Ziva

Here's a photo of our newest family member. She's a 4-cylinder, 4WD, SUV named Ziva. How did I choose this name you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. We (Amanda and I) were driving to Amanda's house and discussing possible names for my new toy. Amanda suggested that it should have something to do with fire since my car is bright red. Hmm. I started thinking. One of my favorite TV characters is named Ziva, from NCIS. She's pretty fiery - and her name actually means "brilliant" and "light of God". Seems fitting to me.

Notes

Dr. Cha performed arthroscopic repair of type II superior labrum anterior and posterior lesion, subacromial decompression, and extensive glenohumeral joint debridement of my right shoulder on July 13 and, finally, I am beginning to feel somewhat normal. It's been 3 weeks and my arm's mobility is around 40%. Typing is getting easier but other movements are still very difficult and, in some cases, impossible. For example, it's painful to lift my hand up to the right side of my face, ear, or hair. That means I can't dry my hair to my satisfaction and it probably looks a bit bed-headed. However, I really don't care because getting dressed and ready for work in the morning takes almost twice as long as it used to and by the time I'm done, I just tell myself that no one will even notice what my hair looks like, probably. Sleeping is still a challenge. The recliner is the best place because of the pain caused by certain arm positions. I still need to use my sling at night and when I'm in public during the day.

My physical therapy team at Beacon Orthopaedics West is awesome. I've had five therapy sessions with different team members each time. They are all very patient and kind. In case one of them reads my blog, yes, I've been doing my exercises. :)

Insomnia

I've been awake since 1:48 a.m. The pain meds are causing insomnia (among other symptoms) for the second time since the surgery. I'm trying to withdraw without having the excrutiatingly painful withdrawal symptoms I experienced Sunday night, e.g. chills, uncontrollable shaking, nausea and insomnia. Those are the memorable ones. At least now I have time to write this blog. I guess you could say that's a positive side effect.

The surgery happened on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. at Beacon Orthopaedics Summit Surgical Center. I have a fabulous doctor, Dr. Cha, and innumerable fabulous nurses and the anesthesiologist. The days following surgery are a blur to me now due to my pain meds. However, I do remember going to Physical Therapy twice last week and once so far this week. Jon is the head of my team of therapists and, they are, of course, fabulous, too. I am so blessed.

What I do remember from last week are the wonderful meals we received from our dear friends and family. I appreciate all of the care and love that went into every morsel I ate.

Post-Surgery Update

It's been one week and one day since my shoulder surgery. I had surgery to repair a Labral Tear and remove a bone spur. I am just beginning to return to the "normal" world. This is the first day that I've actually been on the computer and we'll see how my shoulder reacts to all the typing I've done for the past 3 hours.

My Favorite Things

1. Textured ceilings in turn of the century buildings. Ok, actually this is my second favorite thing. Here's a photo of the The Palace Cafe, Hillsdale, Michigan.


My first fave is my darling Family. Here they are.



2. Road trips listening to great music with my family.

3. Wow - this is new territory for me - I don't know what number 3 is. So, let's say my third favorite thing is visiting Dowagiac, Michigan.

4. Hm, I like to listen to CD's (from Hillsdale College) of conservative speakers, e.g. Mark Stein, Victor Davis Hanson, et. al.

So I'm pretty new at blogging and you can probably tell. I suppose this info should be contained in my Profile but that's not happening tonight. At any rate, this is all that I have time to write so there. More to come tomorrow...

Woo hoo. I did it, Julie.

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

Margaret Atwood described our appearance and aroma by the end of Saturday after completing one of many phases of our gardening plans.



It all started with a plan when snow was still on the ground and the little seedlings were just waking from their slumber.

This is an example of the set up in the basement. I will try to post an example of how to start seeds inside before transplanting them. Or at least how we do it-we are not experts, just doing the best we can.

We started tilling the garden a few weeks ago.
Starting with a plot for Lettuce and Spinach.
In the meantime, the seedlings were growing up!



We finally finished the garden portion of our plans this weekend!



Visit our Flickr Page for many more pictures. We are trying to document as much of the process as possible. It will be nice to take a look back and note the changes of the plants and the yard.