Unability

Well, it happened.

I knew it would. I was just waiting.  

We went to the high school art show in the art museum and I was asked to leave my water bottle at the door.  

Now, I can't go much more than three minutes without a sip of water or else my mouth gets very uncomfortable.  It dries up so my tongue sticks to the inside of my mouth, people can't understand what I say, it hurts and after while I start to cough.  So, I told her I don't have saliva and I need it.  She replied that it was the insurance company's policy.  

I felt bad, and I didn't respond very well.  It also meant I either didn't go look at the show, or I walked back through two rooms every 5 minutes to take a drink.  Which is what I did, until I found all of Lynette's items, and then I went back and sat down with my water bottle until the rest were finished.  

Then I remembered I had given myself a talking to about this very subject awhile back.  There would be times and places that would be inconvenient for me to carry a water bottle.  And that would be okay.  There are some things that you cannot do when you are "disabled".  I agree that "we the people" should accommodate people with differing abilities so they can enjoy a reasonably normal life.  But, there are still things that can not be accommodated.  A person in a wheel chair does not need to climb a mountain.   Water and art work don't mix.  I can live with that, but I didn't want to on Friday.

Chickenless Chicken Pie

I made a beautiful chicken pot pie last night.  I used Pioneer Woman's pie crust recipe, which I hesitate to say, since it is so close to my mom's recipe, just different proportions and I have been using long before I knew about PW.  But, hers was easy to find, since the cookbook was on my counter and easier to reduce since I didn't have enough butter to make a whole batch.  

I wanted it all ready to bake for tomorrow night, since I will have grandboys this morning while my daughter has an ultrasound, and my folks are coming today to help work outside, (and will probably expect me to, also), and I really should look at the status of my business checking account, and.....

I will be tired.  

Getting it ready was all well and good, I like to have supper ready ahead of time, BUT, as I was talking to Jim on the phone last night (he's out of town), I had one of those "OH, NO" moment.

I forgot to put the chicken in!!!  

I spent so much time carefully mixing the filling, chopping and precooking the vegetables, wondering how long I should wait for it to cool before putting the top on, (not long enough obviously), that I never took the chicken out the the fridge.  

And, of course, I had the top crust lying on the counter, rolled to the perfect thickness, almost a circle, bigger than the pie pan, and it rolled over my rolling pin beautifully, no sticking to the counter, placed on the pan so there was crust evenly sticking out around the edges, (not half on like so many times).  I fork printed it all around and put it it the fridge.  

Now, what am I supposed to do?  Jim does not want to eat vegetable pie.  I do not have enough butter to make more crust, neither do I want to. I can't take it off and reroll it, it will have filling stuck to the bottom.  

Stay tuned, something will be done.  I'm just not sure what at 6:22 am.

Beautiful Pie

I cut around the top crust and lifted it out in one piece,  This was made easier because it was cold and set overnight.

Chopped Chicken--Finally

I sprinkled it on top and mixed it in slightly.

Then I laid the top crust back on and it looks almost as good as it did before.

I would like to blame this episode on chemo and radiation brain, but I'm not sure.  I've done things like this before.

This is Spring?

I don't expect a balmy April, in fact I expect a rather lovely late March that tempts me into outside work and preparing in mind and body for a chilly rainy April in which I want to huddle inside next to the fireplace.  What I don't expect it so cold and snowy.  Frost at night yes, but not 25 degree nights and 32 degree days.  Rain and rain, but not snow and sleet and hail and thunder and lightening and wind, all in one night, with tornado watches.  And the next week, more snow. 

It really was like spring a couple of weeks ago, but we have had such unseasonable weather since then that these days will go into the annals of memory as "never had we such an April".  We have been lucky in our area not to be affected by the worst of the storms, road closings, and amount of snow that afflicted some of my friends.  Today is the latest I remember having measurable snow.  If we had more snow, the wind would make a real blizzard today. 

I should be able to remember this April. It always helps to have some sort of reference point to keep the passing seasons in my mind.  I remember a few years ago, on April 11th, there was a late ice storm that brought down power lines and caused rural areas to be out of power for several weeks. Today, April 18th, the day after Jim's birthday, I am watching the snow blow across the landscape.   I would be perfectly happy enjoying the scene, except I have a daughter at school who has to drive in this stuff.home and to work,   The forecast says it won't last all day, but we will see. 

I tried to get photos this morning showing the blowing snow, but that is pretty hard to do. 

From inside the deck door.

From the kitchen window.

No matter what the weather is like, if we are going to have our choice of baby chicks, they have to be bought. 

They are so cute.  

All cuddled up for a nap.

April's Hair

Part of me wishes I would have planned to take photos of my head every month so I could watch my hair grow.  It doesn't grow fast enough, because right now it is in the stand up all over my head or wet it down flat stage, but can't be depended on to do either one all at one time.  Anyway, I will likely get enough photos during the 5 or so years it will take to get my hair anywhere approaching the length it once was.  Here is April's.

As you can see part of my hair is wanting to curl, but not all of it, which is part of the reason my hair is annoyingly difficult to do much with except comb it as flat as I can.  The left side tends to grow toward the back, the right, straight down, the top and crown would rather stand up, and in the back, one half wants to curl, and the other is so thin you can see my scalp.  It is the funniest hair I have ever seen.  

(on me anyway)

Oh well, hair grows, and I'm glad I have something so trivial to complain about.  

What We've Been Up To

Spring is here!  

Or as much as it can be in April here.  My daffodils and hyacinths are blooming and snow is forecast for tomorrow.  The nice weather is giving me spring fever so I went downstairs to clean up around my summer pots and took a few outside on the deck, right next to the door, so I can take them in again tonight.  I feel like I want to be outside taking care of last year's garden trash, but I still have laundry in the washer and dryer, and dishes in the dishwasher.  

Jim is gone for the week on an out of town job, so Lynette and I could live in complete squalor until Friday afternoon and only do fun things.  Except, I really don't like that, I want a better example of house keeping for her to see, besides she has to work and has loads of art homework to do.

I've been celebrating my birthday for weeks, now  Sunday we finally had my "birthday dinner" at Red Lobster.  I had crab fettuccine, and discovered that my throat is not ready for garlic mashed potatoes.  The crab was good, though.  

I got this absolutely darling yarn bowl in the mail from my sister in law, and promptly put it to use with the yarn Jim gave me for my birthday.  It was just the thing for all that ribbony, fluffy and easily tangled up yarn.  I love it! 

Lynette has been taking part in the "One Million Bones" project, a global project focusing on genocide awareness.  Several of the schools in the area made bones in their art classes to display in the state capital and then in Washington, DC.  Lynette's art teacher wanted to bring the display to the public so the Kearney area bones were displayed in the art museum.  The teacher took Lynette with her on a TV interview the day before the public event, and Lynette gave a little speech Saturday afternoon at the afternoon event.  

Then the public was invited to go make bones to be a part of the display. I am no artist, those are mine on the right. 

I didn't take very many photos of the boys while I was sick, and sometime I want to chronicle those boys development last year sometime, but here they are on a recent visit to Gramma's house.  These boys have more fun with balloons.  Barry just throws his in the air and chuckles.  Zane likes to have one blown up and let go before tying and laughs watching it spin around the room.  After an adult blows one up Zane can blow it up himself.  

Papa's Boys

I picked up Barry for the first time since I was sick this week, I'm so glad I can really enjoy these boys.

Spring Jonquils

Going Home

We went "home" last weekend.  I haven't been there for a year.  I seemed like a good time to make my first visit to some where else than the doctor's office.  Usually, to celebrate my birthday we take a trip to my folks.  It was a little later this year since my dad was gone to some meetings on the more logical weekend.  

It is funny that the place where you spend the first 18 years of your life is still "home" no matter how many years you spend somewhere else.  Actually, I lived in that house 13 years, but I wonder if it is the same for people who move often.  Is coming "home" just where your parents are?  I have a lot of memories stored in that old house and that neighborhood.  We walked out on the nice day that Saturday was, and we went by familiar places that aren't quite the same I remember.  The rock lined "pond" in a neighbor's front yard that used to hold gold fish and is now a flower garden.  The last north/south road before the river that is paved now, but way back when it was gravel, there was a pig that lived just around the bend.  What used to be the "alley" just west of our house that was lined with poplars, across which we grew potatoes one year at the neighbors.  There are little apartments there now.  And it's paved.  Farther afield, while driving, we drove past the lot where our apartment house stood, that three story large house where we lived on the first floor a few years before I was five.  We would race to the large front window, jump on the couch that was under it to watch trains go by.  It burned when I was a senior, and we sold the lot.  There is a steel building there now.  I still remember the large trees that were there along the road.  It is hard to remember exactly which block the curving gravel road used to be that would take us right back to my folk's house.  It is paved now, the tangle of bushes and trees along it are gone, houses are built where before there was just a mess of woody area. It looks so much more civilized, but it isn't like I remember.  It's town now, not the edge of town running into untamed land down to the river.  Then we went past what used to be the trailer court which was my first home.  It is just an empty place now.  Nothing there but grass.

In some ways, "you can't go home again".  Certainly, I can't go back to what it used to be, but I can go back to the memories and that little town will always be my "home town".