http://kristinkitchenrecipes.blogspot.com/

I have started a blog specifically for recipes and kitchen tips and gadgets. I am posting the ones I have collected and invite you to post your favorites.

~Happy Cooking

New recipe and a chance to get out.

Last night I attended a Castle Care class. The idea behind this is to teach life skills you may have missed somewhere along the line. This particular event was a cooking class. We made a Brown Sugar Muffin mix. Now for those that know me, you may ask why I chose to go to a cooking class since I am a fairly decent cook. But it wasn't about the class for me, or the recipe (which is delish), it was about getting a chance to hang out with people I enjoy being around and having fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the company. I have to admit though, I was very nervous going in. It has been a long time since I spent time with anyone that wasn't family. I am afraid I have forgotten some of the social graces. I realized recently that I miss having friends to hang out with and have become something of a hermit. So, I am making the effort to go to things. This is also a part of my plan to find myself again as I seem to have gotten lost somewhere along the line.

And here is the recipe. I made it last night, left it in the fridge overnite, and baked it this morning. It was great to have fresh muffins this morning without alot of work. You could bake it immediately if you wanted.

Brown Sugar Muffins

1 Cup Brown Sugar packed Cut together the butter and brown sugar.

1/2 Cup butter softened

1 tsp baking soda Dissolve baking soda into milk

1 Cup millk then add to sugar and butter mixture

1 egg Beat egg then add to mixture

1 tsp vanilla Add to mixture

2 Cups flour Add to mixture and stir thoroughly.

Place in greased muffin tin. Sprinkle tops with:

1/3 cup Brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon mixed

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Remember you can make them the night before and just pop them in the oven in the morning.

Nic and Rosie play Final Countdown

Rosie had her pretend violin and was practicing with Nic.

Nic

I just love this picture of Nic.

Ian's invention

Ian showing off his latest invention. He loves his Tinkertoys.

Rosie was playing "fashion girl" Saturday night. I had given her some make up to play with. She dressed herself and decided she needed two purses and a cell phone to complete her look. And she did her own make-up. Should I be scared for when she becomes a teen?

Liberty's Fall Festival

Rosie and Alex enjoyed the afternoon at the Fall Festival in Liberty. They met a dancing fire hydrant....got "tattoos" on their arms....painted a car for the parade...played a violin and xylophone....enjoyed a juice red tomato......and last but not least, got to make their own bouncy balls in the Mad Scientist's Laboratory.

Finishing the dining room

I have been feeling like things are hanging in limbo so I decided I needed to do something. I chose to redo the dining room, it was something I could start and see thru to an end. This collage shows the work in progress and completion. Well sort of complete. I still want to find some grape vines to wrap at the top of the curtains to pull everything together. Grandpa thinks it is really great. He says it looks sophisticated. He keeps sitting in his chair at the table commenting on how good it looks and how much he likes it. Meg helped hang the wallpaper border and all the kids helped with the painting. I think it looks really good.
Now to pick another room to "finish".

-1.4lbs

I returned to Weight Watcher's last night after a brief hiatus due to my legs. I was expecting the worst....a major weight gain. Instead I was pleasantly surprised by a weight loss of 1.4 lbs. I was really pleased with this. I have been continuing to pay attention to my food intake but haven't really been able to work out. I never thought I would say this, but I miss working out. I had gotten into a routine and then when I fell I had to stop. I have tried to continue the ab and upper body workouts but it is not the same. I don't get the same release of stress and the feeling of accomplishment that I get when I have walked/run a distance. According to the ortho I only have to be in the boot for another week or so. I am hopeful that I will be able to go back to at least walking for exercise. I know that I will have to build back up slowly. But I can't wait!!

Comments not working

It appears that for some reason comments are not working on my blog. I have played around with some of the settings, hopefully this will fix the problem.

Up and Down and all Around....

Last week, grandpa Jim was yelling that he didn't feel good. I went to him and asked what was wrong.

 His reply..."I haven't eaten in three days!"

Now the first thing that ran thru my mind was ...."If you haven't eaten in three days then who is the grumpy old man sitting at the kitchen table every morning at 7am, demanding 2 eggs over-easy, 1 sausage patty and HOT hot chocolate?" 

I bit my tongue and reassured him that he had eaten and that I would be glad to fix him something to eat right now if he was hungry. He was appeased with a PB&J (his sandwich of choice).

Fast forward a day.... he was upset because in his mind his car had been stolen. In reality is was taken away from him because he is not safe behind the wheel. 

Tonight, I made a nice dinner of tilapia, pasta and veggies. Normally he likes this meal. Tonight he was upset because I didn't make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

Now this is countered by him telling me...."that little girl (Rosie) is such a pistol. I just love to watch her run."

and " You know, you do such a good job for me and Lorine. I just don't know how you do it all."

It is like being on a carousel...Up and Down and all Around.

What I do...

Alzheimers disease is defined as a progressive and irreversible mental deterioration. It often begins with intermittent states of mental confusion, disorientation, and loss of recent memory. Subsequently, it progresses to severe impairment in all realms of thinking, memory, language, and communication. 

I have worked in healthcare for 18 years, first as a nursing assistant and now as a nurse. For the most part I have worked in geriatrics, specializing in Alzheimer's and Memory Loss. I started out working in nursing homes because it was a decent job. I soon discovered that I have a special place in my heart for elderly and particularly for those suffering with this disease.  I went back to school and earned my nursing license and continued to work with in the geriatric field.  

Now I live with it .....or to be more precise...I live with my grandparents who suffer with  Alzheimer's. It is a daily roller coaster ride. My grandmother is no longer ambulatory and requires everything to be done for her. She can be sweet and kissing you on the cheek one moment and trying to hit you the next.  She has the occasional lucid moment and can tell you if she is hungry or cold. She rarely recognizes anyone. But occasionally she will smile when she looks at my grandpa. I have captured a few moments on film of her with Rosie, coloring and smiling. My grandfather suffers from short-term memory loss. He struggles to remember the simple things, like the day of the week. He hides things and then tells me they must have been stolen. He struggles with his loss of control of his surrounds and copes with this by being very demanding. We have settled into a fairly simple routine and as long as that routine is in place, all is good. 


People have asked me "how do you do it?" My response is that I don't know how not to do it. It is my nature, it is part of who I am, it is what I do.  

Something I felt needed to be shared...

To get up in the morning only to know that you will have to face another obstacle takes STRENGTH. 
To smile when the only thing you can do is cry takes BRAVERY.
To act happy & laugh when you know that times are at their worst takes COURAGE.
To be joyous when the only good news is best of the bad news takes SUPPORT.
To be there & help others through the roughest times in life takes LOVE.

This was on a friend's FB page and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it. 

A productive weekend...

Here are the highlights of my productive weekend.
1) I decided after having heard the rave reviews of my sister, Meg's shredded pork, that I needed to try it. So last night I started the crockpot with a pork shoulder, a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce, half a bottle of liquid smoke, and some Worcestershire sauce. This morning it was so tender it fell off the bone with a touch of the tongs. My boys thought it was pretty good. Or at least that's what they said when they stopped gobbling to breath.
2) I got half of the dining room closet cleaned out and a good start on food storage going....there is more than just pasta in there now. I found an awesome deal on cake mixes, flour, sugar, canned veggies, and BBQ sauce.  I can't wait to go to the cannery with RS.
3) Finally got the paint for the dining room and got it painted. It is not done yet....I still have to find a chair rail border that I like. I will post pics when / if I get it done.
4)Manged to clean and (drumroll please) vacuum the livingroom. Now for those who haven't tried it , you should try vacuuming when you have two bum ankles....it is a hoot.
All in all, I felt pretty productive this weekend. :)

Rest in Peace Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze died today. He is not someone I knew personally, but I feel a loss at his death. You see, he had the same cancer as my dad and was diagnosed about 4 months before my Dad. I have watched his battles as I watched my Dad's. I felt hope when a treatment seemed to stall the cancer's growth. I felt heartache for him and his family as the disease ravaged his body, knowing the helplessness they must have felt. I know that his fight was long and painful. I hope that his passing was peaceful. I wish his family peace and comfort.

Need for recipes

I have put out the call for recipes. I realized I have very few recipes from family and friends. I would appreciate any recipes you can send me.

Who knows....there may just be something in it for you.....Hehehehehe

Please send them to

kristin.elaine@gmail.com

LOL

This was a post I made on Facebook back on 9/5 that I wanted to archive. I loved the comments I got. They made me smile and laugh out loud.

Kristin Smith

is contemplating life, the universe, and everything.....but I am not coming up with 42.


Lisa Eberspacher likes this.

Elizabeth Anderson LOL - I always get 49.....maybe it was a misprint?

Fred R Whitehead III Easy. Be4 you fell, you had 2 good legs.... I'm in trouble for that aren't I?

Friendship...

Today at church we had a wonderful lesson about friendship. Both being a friend and having friends. We listed several traits of a good friend...

KIND...FAITHFUL...POSITIVE...NOBLE...UNCONDITIONALLY LOVING...ENCOURAGING...UNDAUNTED...TRUTHFUL...SHARE IN YOUR JOYS AND SORROWS...COMPASSIONATE...GIVE AND RECIEVE SERVICE

I am very blessed to have a best friend. I met her in my freshman year in high school and we have been joined at the hip ever since. She knows every detail of my life...the good, the bad and the very, very ugly. She has stuck by me through it all. Now this is not to say that we haven't had our fights and trials. At one point we didn't speak for several years. But once the effort was made to reconnect it was as if no time had passed. I am very thankful to have her in my life. She truely understands me, even when I can't tell her what is wrong. I strive to be as good a friend to her as she is to me.

I am also very blessed to have sisters (this includes my sis-inlaws) that are also my friends. We grew up joking about the "Mayo Mafia". The idea being that once you are accepted by our family, you are in for life and if you were born into the family then it goes without saying. The other part of this is that family ALWAYS protects, loves, and stands up for family. No matter what. We are not bound only by blood or marriage but by friendship too. "...thou knowest not how strong those ties are that bind my soul and heart to thee..." (Joseph Smith)

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

~John 15:13

Feeling.....

So I have spent a good part of the last week feeling sorry for myself. I was very depressed and just felt like my world was crumbling around my ears. Monday I was surounded by family. We took Labor day as an excuse to fire up the grill and eat lots of desserts. But, even with everyone here, I felt lonely....or more to the point alone. It was one of those emotional rollercoaster rides.

I woke up Tuesday morning though, feeling great. I was happy and had energy. I am chalking this up to the cathartic atributes of a good cry. Monday night, I blubbered.....there is no other way to describe it. I talked with my friend who listened and advised and generally just let me know I wasn't alone in this and was loved. It was just what I needed.

So here's to a good friend and a cathartic cry.

Frustration...

I went to my ortho appointment this morning. I saw two doctors. Both of which agree the left leg is definitely broken. It is a non-displaced tibia fracture. The right leg is a grade 2 sprain. No significant tears or damage to the ligaments or tendons. So I am in a cast boot on the left and a splint on the right. I have been told I can weight-bear as tolerated with crutches. Their definition of tolerated is not the same as mine. I am ok for about 45 minutes on my feet then I HAVE to sit down because the pain and swelling become more than I am willing to tolerate.

It is terribly frustrating. I am also not used to asking for help. I try to be the one who people come to when they need help. My friends have been really great and brought over several dinner that are oven ready. The RS president (woman's group at church), came over and cleaned my kitchen. The whole time I am sitting there apoligizing because I feel bad she is doing it. People keep asking me what they can do and I don't know how to respond. There are things I am finding I can't do but I feel bad asking for help with them. I feel like I should be able to do it.

The fates have conspired...

Apparently, I needed to be reminded to take some time off. Yesterday, I fell going out to the garage and managed to break my left leg just above the ankle and severely sprained my right ankle. I am in a temporary cast on the left and an air cast on the right. I managed to get up this morning on my crutches and make a reasonable breakfast for g'pa and get g'ma up for the day. Thankfully g'ma was extremely cooperative. it took quite awhile but I managed.

I was also able to get an appointment set up with the orthopeadic group at NKC hospital. They were very nice and willing to see me even though I do not have insurance. I spoke with a very helpful woman in the bookkeeping department who agreed to arrange a payment plan for me. Unfortunately it will make the next several months very tight. I will have $$$ going out to pay for Nic's tuition and now $$$ going out to pay for my ortho.

The Relief Society President (my churches woman's group) came by this morning too. She just wanted to check on me and see what I might need. Mom had called her and told her what had happened. She was great. She chatted for awhile and then she cleaned up my kitchen. I told her I am not very good at being a patient and asking for help and that I really appreciated her doing it.

I guess I am going to have to learn to take it easy for a bit. No matter how difficult it might be.