Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

  Well it is that day again, when we are thankfull for everything, (smile) especially that Turkey in the oven.   I am praying that there are plenty of shelters with plenty of food for the homeless and needy this year.  
   My son Christopher and Tina got married yesterday, Howard  married them.  He is an ordained Minister, so he tird their knot, and There is a new Mrs. Brown in town!  Congrats kids, love you
   Well Howard and I did Thanksgiving  dinner this past Sunday,because I started the 10 days of liquid  diet on Monday.  I wasn't going to miss my last big meal.  It was great.  So my crazy man figured out  a way I could still partake in the left overs, he put them in the blender and liquified it.  Hey it actually tasted like Turkey soup,was very tasty,I didn't even miss the chewing(smile).
   I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends everywhere,have a wonderfull day,be happy and blessed.

"Computer is up and running!"

  Thanks to my wonderful brainiac man, I can do this blog again.  I don't know what was wrong but he fixed it. Yay Howard!...p.s he said he did not know what the heck he did but hey,he will smart so he says.
   So we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow because,  On Monday I have to begin the 10 days of liquid diet , getting ready for the Lapband surgery on Dec.1st.(and no dancer's pole required)  So I would miss the big dinner, not this girl,  Its going to be my last big meal for the rest of my life.. Seriously, this is true, after about a couple of months i will be maybe eating solids butit will be in very small amounts, like 4 ounces, or less. So we talked about this and have decided when we go out to eat we will order one meal for both of us lol.   But if we go to the buffet dinners then thats easy, just a bite of this and a bite of that, on the plate.  Or get a handbag lined with plastic and fill it up,hahaha!  Now that will work. All kidding aside I am truley looking forward to having this done .  There is a big chance that my diabetes will be gone and the copd will be helped .  That will be fantastic!  Since coming south I no longer am on O2 except at night,so if this works as my doctor says I will have a new life,a  better one.  Sounds good to us..
    On Dec 1st I a counting on Howard to write this blog for me, maybe for a couple of days.  Like he says if there is something you would like to ask or comment about just ask we will be glad to answer it for you.He is pretty well educated , knows a lot, there hasn't been anything that I have asked him about where he didn't have an answer.  And I do ask a lot of questions.
    Well it rained today, and the temperature went back up to 72, so it warmed  back up.  The past couple of nights we had a fire in the fire place, it felt pretty darned good. The night before it dropped down to 36 degrees , but last night it was 48 which was a little bit warmer.  The fireplace reminds me of the winters up north where I lived before I moved south.  Redwood NY. way up almost on the Canadian border.Now those winters are cold.........Hopefully in March we will swimming in the pool again..If the weather should warm up early in the spring it would be great.   My sister Judy is planning to come visit in the spring.  Hope it is warm enough then.If not there are a million things for her to see and do while she is here here in the alabama gulf area. that's it for today. be well,blessed and happy

"Thanksgiving,Black Friday,and Christmas!"

       Oh my goodness, I just cannot believe how commercial out Holiday season has become.  Yes I know all about the giving and receiving thing, thats all well and good but in our economy, at this point I'm thinking there are a lot of people who will be happy to get a good hot meal.   We need to change it and make it a time to help each other and not to try to out do our neighbors by getting the most expensive toys , electronics , etc for our families,  and find someone who is really needing help and make their  Christmas   special, then do your family  shopping.  It just seems like the right thing to do. 
       Another thing that gets me,Seems that our government, and also our celenrities, are always anxious to help  foreign countries , which I agree with, but they seem to forget all our poor  sick people who are homeless , and orphanned ,  needing to be adopted , or helped to get a job.
       Must be my night to complain.  Here is another thing I thing about, We have so many homeless people , and there are so many forclosed  homes standing idle, because there is no one buying a lot of homes  right now/  My idea is this, have the banks rent out some of these idle homes, they are just standing there ,while the banks have to hire people to keep them up , so  maybe someone will buy them either in an auction for half what they are worth . Why not rent the to the homeless  ones  if they could have  places to live for decent rental  prices  I'm pretty sure they would take any job offered to them.  We have a lot of people that are having it rough,and they deserve to be helped as much as our foreign friends, but our own people seem to be forgotten...WHY???   
       I am not a Grinch lol .   I  just need to complain  when I see injustice being done to poor innocent people in my own country.  Then hearing celebrities adopting children from other countries when we have many orphans right here just praying for a home.  I guess I just  don't get it, maybe it is for the publicity,I don't know.   Well be blessed and Happy.

"Saving Money!"

      I was looking around, surfing the web, if you will.  I have found that there are many sites with free coupons for groceries, resturants that have free coupons with %'s off of their meals, even hotels and motels with %off coupons.  Seems that all you need to do, is go to their sites and download their coupons.  A really good place for a variety is the "i am that lady."   She surfs , gets the deals, and puts them up on her site, she is very good. 
   I have also found that you can get free samples by surfing for free stuff, or give away, this one, the give away is great on the Craigslist.  People get rid of some really great things, a friend got a beautifull hot tub free, just had to pick it up. Someone else got a 52 inch tv the same way.
     Well tonight Howard asked me if we had any cookies and i didn't, so he went to watch tv.   I had a  Jiffy chocolate cake mix  ,  so I looked on the side of the box , and sure enough ,a recipe for chocolate cookies, well I didn't have any chocolate chips so... I  put coconut, raisens, and oatmeal in and they turned out really good and he liked the surprise.  That smile and those twinkleing brown eyes are worth it.   I am happy. Wish all of you were as happy as I am. 
  Holidays are coming up quick, how about some of you email me some recipes that you use and I will put them on here with your name or not if you do not want your name on. email to    jodie13679@yahoo.com

"On the Lighter Side!"

    I think we should do this blog a little  less serious,  maybe  about happy memories  instead of the serious  stuff .but as i said if you need more information just ask. here it is Sunday  Nov 13th. time flies by very fast. in America we have thanksgiving coming up.well in 1863 as we Americans fought each other  the civil war old Abe Lincoln thought it should be a day for national thanks.right in the middle of a bloody civil war, that put brother against brother.look it up on the net for further information. so Christmas comes on Dec 25th of this year old Saint nick rides his sled over the children of earth and drops presents. wouldn't it be nice if he could stop all the conflict on earth. well i am ranting again so back to happy thoughts and better time in the future,  As you  may have noticed,  Howard helped me with  this blog.  He is a little more serious  than I am, that's what makes us so good together, we compliment each other.
   I have been thinking back to the Thanksgivings during my childhood.  I remember there being snow on the ground  during most of the ones before my teenage yrs.  I lived in the town of Brownville, NY. It is  in northern New York state.They get the lake effect snow  from Lake Ontario.  My sister Judy and I would be outside playing in the snow, while my Mom and Grandma were cooking  dinner.  The whole house smelled like Turkey,dressing and a multitude of other succulent morsels.  I remember one year in particular,  I was 10 yrs old,  My Mom asked her best friend and her son to dinner, She was a widow  with no family  living in the area, so it was going to be great,and it was except for one little detail, Moms friend didn't know how to bake a pumpkin pie. It looked great, but she didn't know she was supposed to put sugar in the pumpkin filling.  It was awfull, I was the first person to taste it, I looked at my Mom and she knew  right away  something was wrong. I went to the kitchen ,she followed right behind me.Asked me what was wrong. I said it tastes terrible,  so she said don't say anything and try to eat it or part of it then just say you are full . I did and I told her it was good.   But in the middle of the night I woke up vomiting , for the rest of the night I was sick.  So  that was one of the childhood memories.  But other than the pie the rest of that dinner was awsome , which was the usual at my house , my Mom cooked everything with love.   I have a lot of stories  but for now this is it. Be happy and Blessed

" More About Alzheimers!"

   I was telling about some of my experiences  with my husband , and his alzeimers.  There was a lot of strange moments durring this segmant of our life together.  As I said before ,at first, I was unaware that he had anything wrong with him. He had always had his crazy moments and his bad temper.  So he could be hallarious, or violent.  But as the disease progressed , he began doing strange things , like forgetting what kind of car we had.  He was sure it was  supposed to be an old model T that his father had.  He couldn't understand what  the car was sitting in the driveway, It was a" Geo Metro",  He kept insisting that when his Dad got home,  he was going to be in trouble because the car was missing,and wanted me to call the Police.  First of all his Dad  died before I ever met him, so I never met him. Well just to appease him I pretended to call the Police to report it missing.  After about an hour he totally forgot about it, thank God ,because i was getting tired of telling him that they would be coming over shortly to ask him about the car.   That was just 1 of many episodes. 
   Oh yes and keep track of everything , and I mean everything, Alzheimer patients , are very much like children most of the time, but they usually  know in the back of their mind that they are adults.   I had to keep all meds , even vitamins hidden, he would take any pills  he could find, thinking they were the ones his doctor prescribed.  He took heart ,bloodpressure,as well as other meds.    More than once he would get very aggravated with me because i wouldn't let him take his meds by himself. I couldn't  he would have killed himself. 
    Do not let them go anywhere by themself.  They will get lost .  He managed to get out one day and my neighbor saw him in his driveway.  He called him  and asked him if he needed something,  Ralph answered yes , my wife Mildred,  Well when Gerry saw me the next day he asked me who Mildred was.  I just said his first wife.  But Gerry knew that he was ill so he just sort of chuckled.  So after that anytime he managed to escape my neighbors would just walk him back to the house.  Didn't happen often. After that first time, I watched  him carefully.
    Oh yes and if you have any firearms in your home get rid of them...   He loved hunting, one day when he thought I was his mother he picked up the broom and headed for the door  looked at me, said "I'm going to go get us a rabbit for dinner."He thought he had his rifle and was going hunting.  Well I realized that we had better keep all rifles at someone elses house.  So I told Rob and Chris  not to bring any home .At any rate I told him  that I already had dinner cooking so he didn't need to go and i took the broom and put it away.  There are a lot more things that i will tell you about in another blog.  Thank you for reading my blogs . Be happy and Blessed.

what to eat in germany

You will find that German meals are influenced by there neighbors. France-Switzerland--Austria. a common day would consist of bread,jam or jelly, honey ,eggs, coffee-tea-water- because of Switzerland (mainly) ham or salami etc. but times are changing due to the worlds lack of money. so everyone in every country has to work longer just to put food on the table or pay the rent. so now, in Germany, evening meals ARE heavy because they work later hours. soooo-all types of fish and fowel. assorted meats which include in some parts of the countries above.did you know there are about 1,500 different types of sausage? for a long time seafood was not allowed because of health of the fish. salmon how ever  is in most rivers in Germany so they eat alot of that. nearly all the fried foods were introduced by France. and of course beer at room temperature.what ever you do---do it with gusto!!  be well,be blessed above all-be happy.    LOTS MORE TO COME WITH EACH BLOG.........should you need advice on cooking-bake a cake-how to start a business-how to speak to your mate-or most any problem i would be happy to review and answer.

" Alzheimers Experience!"

    I have been watching and listening to the television and reading my computer,about Alzheimers disease.  It is a terrible disease .  My husband died from this almost 8 years ago.  I remember when it began, I had no idea that there was anything wrong. We all forget things, mix-up our words , act like silly kids from time to time.  So I just figured it was nothing to worry about. He was a few years older than me so I didn't  think much about it.
   Timme went on and he had to have a hiatal hernia repaired.  That is a serious operation, they had to open him from his sternum   to his navel.  When he recovered from the surgery,He was groggy so I wasn't sure , until he was totally consious  and he wasn't sure who we were, he kept looking at us and the surrondings like he wasn't sure what was going on. I knew right then that something was wrong.  I asked for a meeting with the physicians , they set one up and we met, they laughed at me and said I was  wrong and was looking for things wrong. Now who would know better than the wife who lives with him, if he is acting strange? Then they said not to worry about it it was just a little dementia, excuse me but isn't that what the was Alzheiners symptoms are?  Well we went home and his Alzheimers progressed , after 7 yrs or more the doctors finally admitted that he had it and tried to use aricept , but it was to far along so it didn't work.
    As the years went by he knew he had it and made me promise never to put him in a nursing home so I never did.  Myself and 2 of my sons took care of him.  The boys helped with anything heavy, and I did the other care.  He would appologize sometimes for having to be helped.  I just would say thats ok I,m your wife so don't worry about it.  I am not going to tell you that it was easy because it wasn't .  You are in a situation where you feel so helpless, because there is nothing you can do, and you are watching this person slowly die . It is horrible and I do not want to ever watch someone go through this disease again.
   Here is a tip:  This is what happened He woke up from a nap, did not recognize me , and because I was trying to get him to take his meds, he thought I was a nurse. He started yelling and screaming at me. So I had an idea, I went and changed my clothes and combed my hair different. I came out and he knew me.He said" Oh Good, you are here, that fat  nurse was trying to poison me , I told her when my wife gets home she will kick the crap out of you."  So If they do not know you change clothes and comb your hair differently.Oh yes and i never wore those clothes infront of him again.   I have a few more things but I will write about it another time.  If you have questions about this  eail me at  jodie13679@yahoo.com
 Thats about it for today.  Have a wonderfull day.

"I am Totally Surprised"!

  I had no Idea when I started this blog, that there were people from other countries that would be interested in it.  I wish to say thank you for checking my blog out , and hope I can continue to keep your interest.Being entertaining and informative  is my goal.  Since I have been disabled, I cannot work out in the public , and I really enjoyed my job.  Retail sales, is a fun job.  You get to talk to all sorts of people, and that was a  entertaining  for me. So this blog is a way  for me to connect with the public. 
  If you read my blog yesterday, you read about the cake i baked. Oh my goodness ! It was fantastic, that crazy man of mine simply went nuts over it. He said it was the best he had eatten.  From him that is the highest compliment, he is very  truthfull, and will say, if there is any thing  wrong with it. I thought it was very good, and I usually am not that impressed with my cooking or in this case , baking.  If you didn't read  it yesterday , scroll down this page and check it out.  Something else I like is Angel hair  spaghetti with Garlic alfredo sauce and tiny meatballs,  of course a slice of hot Italian bread with lots of butter, or if you like Garlic spread, your choice..
  Well the weather has warmed back up a little . Was 81 yesterday and right now it is 78 here and it is 2:00P.M. in the afternoon.  But it is getting ready to rain, better than ice and snow. I don't think I mentioned that we live about 18 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, on the little tip of Alabama. We are about 10 miles from the Florida border, we do a lot of shopping in Florida , it is cheaper for groceries , they charge no sales tax on food items. That really helps, with the economy.   If our great state of Alabama would let us have a lottery, they would bring in well needed money, which could be used  for schools and taxes, like Florida does.  Our children could have new computers and all sorts of upgrades for their schools , and they could stop the tax on food  which would help everyone, they wouldn't go to Florida  to shop, they would buy locally.  This isn't just my opinion I have heard a lot of people say this also..
   I told you that I write about everything .  I guess if you have read this, it is evident.LOL   I will end this blog for today, hopeing all of you are blessed, healthy and happy.

"Chocolate Cake and Memories"

   Decided to make a chocolate cake for Howard. it is going to be my version of the German Chocolate  Cake.   As I said my version,  I use Jiffy  devils food cake mix, 2 boxes, they are cheaper than the more expensive brands and i can't tell the difference, taste the same. mix them up  as directed   use 2 round 8" pans,  cool , then mix  2 tablespoons of chocolate frosting with 1 tablespoon apricate jam,  spread on top of first layer , then put next layer on top,ice with coconut pecan frosting.  It may sound strange but it will tickle your taste buds with delight.  They will come back for more.lol.
   Howard and I went to Freds  store this  morning ,  and on the way i was looking at the horses, there are horses everywhere down here in Alabama.  It is like heaven for  me,Horses and dog are my passion. As I was looking at a couple of ponies playing , I thought about the time my best friend Mitzi and I went for a long ride .  We went 4 miles to the  State park called Grass Point.  Everything was nice and peacefull, our horses were road safe, We used the park as the point where we would turn back, all was well, until we went past a small field , which was empty when we came down. All of a sudden this little black shetland pony appeared running full speed , chasing us along his fence line,  He was a little stud pony, he was chasing my mare.She knew it and took off running , with Mitzi following us. We were  laughing like crazy women, then we had the biggest laugh, as that black pony ran through the swamp with the cat tails bursting and their fuz covering him, he was no longer black but a dirty white fuzzy pony.   Oh yes he still chased us all the way to the end of the fence.  We were laughing so hard we were almost falling out of our saddles.
   That was only one of the maney adventures  Mitzi and I had together....

" Weather, Visit, and Dogs."

  What is going on?  It feels like January  down here on the Gulf coast!    Soup,Chili, and stew weather. Don't forget the hot cocoa.  This time last year I was sitting in the sun tanning.  Ha, not right now,though they are saying it will climb up to the high 70's by next Thursday. But then it is supposed to rain. We do need the rain.
   So tomorrow I will going to see Chris,and get to spend the day with my grandson Ty as well. It will be a nice day. I am looking forward to it,  I always dreaded being a grandma, now that I am one, I can"t figure out what I was so worried about, I'm having a ball .   It is much easier , lol , than being a Mom. when I have had enough  its take him, Im going home, or take him home, he is getting crankey.  Though It hasn't happened yet , but I am sure it will one day. 

                                                                     Justice                                         Sparkey

   Well I have just realized that my dog Justice the Eskie, is afraid of bugs, He isn't afraid of trucks and buses , he wants to chase them,hence, he doesn't get to be alone loose in the yard. He is terrified of bugs,  being in the south, we have big ugly bugs and there was one on the floor . He saw it and as I went after it he jumped up on the bed and laid his ears back and shook.  I was totally surprised.  Maybe he has been bitten sometime, I can't think of anyother reason for that reaction.. He is a little strange, but I love him and Sparkey , they are our babies..    Sparkey is only afraid of Thunder storms, other than that she is fearless and a real love, doesn't have a mean bone in her body.