It's Been A Tough Time

This post isn't meant to depress anyone but the last month has been a really hard month for my family. On September 30th my father-in-law passed away. My husband, his sister and I were by his side when slipped away at 2:00 a.m. We then had to go wake up my mother-in-law in the middle of the night and give her the bad news. It was difficult to do but we made it through it. He had lived a long life and will be really missed. He had been battling cancer for many years and now he is at rest. No more pain and suffering for him.

About a week late my husband threw his back out and was in a lot of pain for a couple of days. He went to the doctor and got a couple of shots and some medicine and he is doing much better.

Then on October 22 I got a call saying if I wanted to see my sister (Nell) I should come home. She also had Gaucher's disease and had recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Her body was just not strong enough to fight the cancer. She had been scheduled for surgery on November 5th. But she passed away on October 25th at 9:45 p.m. All of her sisters and 2 brothers-in-law, her twin daughters and her husband were there. Not all of us in the room with her but all there. Pretty much our whole family had been together that week-end. It has really been hard for us. We are all so close, I'd even say unnaturally close for these days. Our children are even very close. And this was kind of expected but we really didn't have time to adjust to the fact that we were really going to lose her. God is good and he will heal the hurt. We won't stop missing her, ever. She was number 3 of 7, the oldest girl, my second mother, my big sister and one of my dearest friends. She loved life, loved to have fun, loved to laugh, and loved her family. She was a wife, mother, grandmother, and sister.

Last April when all of us girls got together we had an award ceremony almost every one in the family received an award. Nell gave her acceptance speech and in her way she told us all good bye then. We all knew that was what she was doing and she had everyone in the room (including the wait staff) crying. She had given us instructions then for her funeral and then she told her husband and daughters the same instructions.

We carried out her wishes the best we could. She wanted us to wear bright colors, she only wanted graveside services with only one song, "I'll Meet You By the River" and she wanted my husband to perform the ceremony and read the 23rd Psalms. That's what she got.

She was very special to me and I will miss her greatly.

Mae

Preparing for Winter

The weather seems to be changing. It has been so dry here that the trees are starting to lose leaves and the grass isn’t growing as fast as it had been and the heat wave has broken. This is putting me in the preparation mood.

Over the weekend I made onion soup mix and taco seasoning mix, put more tomatoes in the freezer, cleaned out my food cabinets and did some major cleaning.

This weekend will be spent doing some more cleaning, the fridge and freezers need to be cleaned out and organized, and canning a few more tomatoes. We pick a 5 gallon bucket full every time we go out to the garden. There are also peas to pick and freeze. I plan to buy 120 ears of corn and get that in the freezer, also.

It looks as if the elder berries are almost ripe and I plant to make elder syrup for medicinal purposes. It is said to be really effective on colds and sinus problems.

The upstairs bedrooms need to be straightened and I plan to rearrange the office area. We have gained a new book case and file cabinet. The old file cabinet needs to be cleaned out and everything needs to be reorganized.

We are having friends to dinner tonight. There will be barbecued chicken, parmesan potatoes, peas, corn and dump cake for dessert. Yum!

Shopping this week has been really good. This week I got all this for FREE:

40 Sobe drinks

A $23.00 bag of cat food

Hot dogs

Butter

A Netti Pot

2 Purex 3 in 1 (sample size packages)

The list just keeps growing, and the pantry gets fuller.

I am very thankful that God allows me to find these deals and has allowed and continues to allow me to learn how to stretch the items and the money.

Have a great weekend!

Mae