Things That I Am Grateful For

In no particular order here are some of the things that I am grateful for.

1. My Family
2. My friends
3. Team Eric
4. Being ambidextrous, it comes in handy when one hand won't work right. Yes, I am sometimes that annoying person who changes hands in the middle of a meal. It is taking a whole lot longer for my hand to heal than I thought it would.
5. Being 4 inches slimmer since I gave up all high fructose corn syrup and aspertame. The inches come off more slowly than they went on. Bah humbug.

My challenge to you you is to find at least 5 things that you are grateful for and share with everyone.

Dilemmas

I woke up early with a headache. So I made a cuppa chai and tried to relax as I sipped it. Just as the headache was beginning to fade Eric woke up needing a complete change out and breathing treatment. After settling Eric back to sleep, I then realized that it was 3 am.

This being Black Friday in the United States, where the stores have historically turned the books from red to black. There are always sales. Most start really early. I was awake so why not go shopping and get some great deals.

Then I thought about what I needed. The answer was nothing. What was left on my holiday shopping list. The answer was nothing. What did I want that was on sale? The answer was nothing. So after an hour of deliberation I was finally sleepy.

Later in the day I was going to go shopping for yarn for a project, but decided to go stash diving instead. I found enough cotton yarn to make 2 to 3 chemo caps for a friends brother. Now I just need my hands to be less stiff so that I can knit them.

I then found time for a walk and some weaving. I took my loom outside and enjoyed the unusually warm late November day.

Candied Yams

For that quick last minute new family tradition. One of our favorite holiday dishes.

Candied Yams

1 large can of yams in light syrup - drained
1 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple in its own juice - drained (the cook gets to drink the pineapple juice)
1 bag of marshmallows
1/2 cup of margarine
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 greased casserole dish with a lid or foil pan with extra foil to cover.

Put the yams, crushed pineapple, 1/2 a bag of the marshmallows and margarine in your large mixing bowl. I use my Kitchen-Aide K5 (TM) with the paddle. Mix until slightly lumpy. Pour into the greased casserole dish or foil pan. Cover with the remaining marshmallows.

Since I always have used a covered Corning ware (TM) glass casserole I always cook mine at 325f for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If using a foil pan cooking time may be less and you will need to uncover it for the last 10 to 15 minutes for a golden crust of marshmallow's.

This dish may be doubled. If doubling only use 1-20 ounce can of pineapple and one bag of marshmallows. If tripling add another 20 ounce can of pineapple and an extra bag of marshmallows. If quadrupling only use 2 -20 ounce cans of crushed pineapple and 2 bags of marshmallows.

*Updated to reflect the addition of Cinnamon and Brown Sugar on 11/24/2016.  Teri figured out that I forgot the last 2 ingredients. Thank you Teri.

Weaving

I finally got the loom warped today, it has been on my to do list since the summer. This is got to be a sign that I am finally ready to weave again. I might even have more than a few minutes here or there, or just maybe I stopped procrastinating.

Here is what I have done so far.

Another Milestone

Today we reached another milestone with Eric, he turned 27 today. Eric has taken us on quite a roller coaster ride since he was born. He has taken the entire family on the road less traveled and I have very few regrets. We have gone places we would have never gone. We have meet loads of incredible people along the way, some who thought that we were an extraordinary family for living and exploring as a family. In my very humble opinion they could have done the same thing as it surprisingly requires no experience to become a parent.

Eric has all that he needs in life. If however you would like to honor Eric on his special day please consider giving a donation to your local food bank or pantry, because Eric has always been a great fan of food. Perhaps collect tabs for your local Ronald McDonald house, one of Eric's favorite activities is collecting tabs and bring them to the Tucson House.  The last place that would make a huge difference in Eric's life is a donation to the Tucson JCC , go to the pull down menu select the "Taglit Program". As many of you know this is where Eric likes to spend time with his friends.

I do not know where our life with Eric is going, but the journey continues.

What do I do when Physical Therapy is canceled? Clean house of course. I have just about finished unpacking from our Trip to Prescott, Arizona. I have also just about finished putting away the things for the fundraiser for Eric's day program. I also spent part of the day sorting an estate donation to the knitting guild. Thursday would be an excellent day to attend if you are in desperate need of massive amounts of yarn on cones.

When will I know if this has made a difference in our lives? Right now I want to say in  about a decade, but it will probably be on Thursday when I over fill the Accord with boxes of yarn,books and magazines to take to guild. So if you know any machine knitters or weavers this will be their chance to stock up at a great price and make my husband extremely happy by giving him back his workshop.

I did not forget Eric's new washer either. I have the second load ready to go into the dryer, but I must get to the shower and changed before I pick him up or put the laundry in the dryer or the dust will surely make his breathing worse than Eric normal.

Not Blue

I have officially ran out of the powder blue envelopes that we bought for Teri's Bat Mitzvah over a decade ago. So I guess it is time to start going through the birthday party invitation envelopes.  So it might be a few more years before I run out of fun envelopes. It might be a while before we move on to plain white ones.

I do believe that we are using less envelopes because of the advent of e-mail. It is so quick and easy to use. Which would also explain why the postal systems worldwide are having so much trouble financially . So less snail mail less envelopes and stamps.

I wonder if these are the transitions that are freaking people out. Causing people to retreat to the past. I personally like change and learning new things. I think it keeps my mind young and active. So lets see where this change takes us.