Life

We have been so blessed lately for all the happiness surrounded by our little baby. Unfortunately with life comes the happy and sad times.  And this week we are dealing with some saddness in our family. A great man passed away, one who was loved by many many many.  Josh's Dad passed away early this week.
We will miss him so much, and so will the Pennsylvania Lottery.

Today we celebrated the great life he lead, with all his friends and family.  We were all overwelmed by the packed house for the service, all those that took the time to pay their respect, and many who spent lunch with us.
We will miss you Bobby G, but we know you are at peace and will happily be spending your 49th Wedding Anniversary with the love of your life.

Happy Love Day!

Happy Love Day everyone! I hope it's a special day that you can celebrate the love you have for all your favorite peeps.
My hubby and I just celebrated being 'officially official' for 11 years!  I cannot believe it's been that long, time flys when your having fun! 
Our story began as a romantic comedy I'm sure, Girl goes out with boy, boy goes crazy(literally), girl dumps crazy boy friend, girl falls in love with crazy boys best friend, girl bugs the heck out of her ex's best friend til he finally caves after 6 months to go out with her.  Talk about going after what you want ;-)  I just knew it was real.
For our 5 year anniversary I made him a scrapbook.  You know I actually printed out IM (oh yes these were the days of instant messanger, no facebook people!) conversations that we had.  I selected a few and put them in our scrapbook.  Along with the very first Valentine, the day right after becoming 'officially official'.

Happy 'Officially Official Day and Valentines day to my love !

Grammy Story #1

I started this post a few weeks ago.  Since my Grammy has passed, and while we are mourning the loss we find love and laughter in the memories we have of her.  This story is classic and I want to remember it so it's here for all to see, I had planned to post more 'Grammy stories' but I did not have another chance.  My Grammy was a strong woman, knew what she wanted and went after it.  While a death of a love one brings everything into perspective, the one thing I have learned is to keep family close they are your most valuable asset.
Here is my Grammy before 8 children, 32 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren, what a swell gal.

12/23/10-
Since my Grammy has not been in a state to be left alone the family has been taking turns in shifts staying with her.  I've used this opportunity to get to know her better and my family history better.  I feel as though I've opened a whole new chapter in my life that I have not ventured into before.  During the holiday's cookies were a focus on our discussions.  While we were taking a trip down memory lane she gave me some inside stories and I hope to share them here with you.
Grammy story #1.  Grammy's Chocolate Addiction.
Grammy confessed that she once stole money from the church collection.  She was 12 and wanted chocolate. Who is to blame her!  I get some pretty strong chocolate cravings as well.  She assured me that she needed that money much more than the church at the time.  And also assured me that it was well worth it because the chocolate sure was tasty!
My Grammy then told me her and her 3 siblings didn't have much growing up.  Her father passed away from a heart attack when she was 2, so her Mother had to raise all 4 kids on her own.  She got teary eyed when she mentioned she always wondered what it would have been like to have a Dad, if things would have been different.  My Great Grammy did not go out much, my Grammy thinks that she was afraid of what people would think of her going to church without a husband.  So she would send the kids to church (in their silk dresses and bonnets) and to the store to get her things.  Perhaps this freedom got the best of my Grammy.
She said she never got caught, or told anyone.  I must be special.

Love you Grammy, Rest in Peace.

My First Batch

I did it! I made the cookies. In fear of all my family hunting me down I will not share the coveted recipe.  However will show you the steps.

Beat

Sift

Alternate

 

Mix

Fridge

Roll

Cut

Bake

ps. these were one of my first and WAY too thick.

I ran home one day and made the dough then went to practice and along the way got some tips from one of the master bakers elves...my Dad.  His advice was don't use flour to roll out, good to know as I would have floured that rolling pin right up.  I'm not gonna lie, the first couple I rolled out were way too thick, but I slowly got the hang of it and got them as thin as I could.  They were so thin I could see the grain of the wood from our table through the dough.  My hands and shoulders are killing me,  AND STILL! They are not as thin as my Grammy's.

So I visited my Grammy tonight and got to the bottom of some important questions about her cookies.

Why did she decide on roll outs and not drop cookies to sell?  She started by having my Pappy bring them in to work, then slowly she started getting orders for them.  It evolved into a huge production, people would visit from the surrounding states to get her cookies, she said they would also ship cookies.  Plus she did roll outs because she likes rollouts 'best'.

How sore did she get when making them?  Grammy said her wrists would get so sore they would double in size.  She assured me that if I build up the muscles in my hands they wouldn't ache so much today.

Did she roll out all the cookies? No, she would pay the kids, a small amount she assured me for every task done. 

Where did she get the recipe?  She got the recipe from her mother.  One day she baked with her mother in the kitchen and measured every ingredient she would put in.  her mother would use a 'handful of flour' as a measurement, to get a more precise measurement she told her to 'holdon a minute' and would measure it out.  Don't you love when you hear a story like that?

Reviews on my rollouts?

Dad said-too dark, but good, Pappy would have liked them.  (too dark is lightly browned on the bottom fyi)

Grammy said- rolled them too much, don't fuss with them, "but 'good'" head nod and all.

So I guess I have some things to work on for next year.  Good news is I don't plan on selling 800 lbs of these, I'd be in trouble.

P.S. I'm loving the family history I'm getting out of some quality one on one time with my Grammy.  I'll be the first to admit that we were never super close.  I feel my connection with her is getting stronger, and while it is a sad to know that we have limited time with her, I feel blessed to be able to be with her now.

Cookies

The past few weeks have been difficult, I'm sorry I've been neglecting you.  Along with the rest of my family, I have been spending a lot of time at the inpatient Hospice Unit in good ole' Atown keeping my Grammy company.  Lucky for me it's not out of the way at all, so I've been stopping nightly after work.  I've also been lucky to be able to spend so much time with her.
My Grammy raised 8 children, WOW.  And also helped to raise about 6 of my cousins, while my aunts worked.  She has 19 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, if I'm counting correctly.  My Pappy died about 25 years ago from cancer.  My Grammy has stayed extremely active and loves to travel.  If I were to describe her in two words it would be STRONG and INDEPENDENT.
Last night I visited with my Mom, we passed around a word search and each took turns finding a word, Grammy ate some of her dinner and all of her lemon lime sherbet, and she talked about her cookie making business.
You see, raising 8 kids is expensive, even if your mortgage at the time was $17.  Yes, $17.00.  During the holidays my Grammy would make hundreds of pounds of cookies and sell them.  When I asked her how many, "oh about 500-800lbs", she said it like it was nothing.  That is a lot of cookies!  She had everyone enlisted of course in helping, and would make huge batches of dough for it to all be ready to bake when she had a free minute.  She informed me one person in particular was notorious for burning them, or leaving out the baking soda, which in a normal batch is no big deal but in 8lbs of cookie dough, that's a lot of dough wasted.  Well, never wasted because they would bake it off anyway and make the kids eat them. haha.
Now these cookies that she made where not drop cookies, they were the roll out super thin cut out cookies with a little sprinkle of colored sugar on top. 500-800lbs of super thin crisp butter cookies is a lot of cookies.  Yum, I can taste them now.
Many have tried to carry on her cookie making tradition.  My sister in high school, started her own business by making them.  She sold them around the neighborhood and at my Mom's work.  I have never tried to make them, but this seems like a good time to try.  I'll let you know how it goes.
My Grammy is giving one heck of a fight right now.  The past week there were many close calls before she was transported to hospice.  Many prayers, tears and hugs.  The Dr. met with the family a few days ago, and expressed his amazement that she is doing well considering her health status and the disease process.  Very few actually get better while at Hospice.
Next week the plan is for her to return to her home, with Hospice and 24/7 family and friend support.  Since I work in the field I know that a difficult road is ahead for everyone.  We will all transition from visitors to caregivers.  Although it will be difficult, I trust that the traits we have inherited from my Grammy will make us strong and determined to ensure she has the very best quality of life in her last days.

Thoughts

Life keeps giving me reminders to slow down.

Remember what is important

Cherish relationships

Love is powerful

And so is a hug

Or a gentle hand squeeze for reassurance

That everything will be okay

In a world of chaos and unjust.

bittersweet

In addition to our past Chili Saturday we also celebrated Josh’s Mom’s birthday with his family.

 

We went to the Teppan Steakhouse for not only dinner but a show. We had our chef, Suzuki, which I’m pretty sure is not his name, whip us up something yummy. He was quite amusing with his performance; we all got a few good laughs.  Sandy would have gotten a kick out of him.  And later Josh said she probably would have thought he was cute.

After dinner Josh and I picked up some pretty mums for his mum and visited her, shared a few tears and sang happy birthday to her.  It's something I don't think any of us will get used to, we miss her.

chilly...I mean chili

This past weekend we made the journey to a far away land or the Chili Pepper Festival.  Really it's only a half hour drive but you would think we might be living in another era with the horse drawn carriage and Amish folk.

We were quite impressed by the amount of people that flocked to the festival,also impressed by the amount of vendors.  Ahhh and the many salsa and hot sauce samples, needless to say Josh was in heaven.

Entertainment of the day was when Josh got him and my parents a smoked crab stuffed jalapeno,  thinking it wasn't too hot everyone took a big bite.  Here's everyones 'omg this is hotter than I thought look'

After everyone got some chili and pulled pork for lunch, we headed up to the pepper fields.

Peppers as far as the eyes could see.  It was a gorgeous day for a fall festival!  I love this time of year!

Teal and Black Wedding : The Girls

In hopes to fully document my wedding by our first anniversary, I'm kicking it into high wedding gear.

my little personal touch, I made and sent all the girls these cards. they all said yes!

Let’s meet the ladies, shall we?
My Maid of Honor, my sweet sister Liz. Sweet in more ways than one…she’s a pastry chef and also made our delicious cake!

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Bridesmaid, Beth. College roommate and forever friend/Biznit!

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Bridesmaid, Kelli. Witnessed the beginning of our relationship, and long time friend. Jay her hubby was Josh’s Best Man and visa versa.

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I was able to get all the girls and my Mom together to go dress shopping at Alfred Angelo’s. They had a fun time getting all dolled up. It was like a fashion show. We found some duds…and after trying on just about all the dresses there we all decided on the one they are shown wearing above.

I had my eye on it before we went, it just looked simple yet sophisticated and cute. I thought they all looked great in it. Oh and the price was right, plus they all got $$ off because I bought my wedding dress there, cha ching!
Did I mention the colors that we picked, I don’t think so. We chose a deep teal and black as the colors for our wedding. So black dresses worked out perfectly. And since the day of our wedding was a chilly and rainy one I snagged some shawls the week before that were the perfect teal color. The girls took charge in figuring how to wear them and I think they looked pretty sharp.

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Toasted Cheese

The past few days have been filled with tears, sorrow, joy, heartache, fear, anxiety, stress, smiles, hugs, kisses and most of all Love and Memories.

The love that this family has for one another is amazing.  They have been nonstop at the pops side for everything.  When I think about all the love, I get overwhelmed.  That is just in the immediate family.  The love that surrounds us is overwhelming as well.  So many people reaching out to help with anything we need, thoughtful phone calls, emails and texts, just dropping off meals with out even asking.  Sending flowers, delivering flowers, the mailbox full of cards.  Thank you so very much.

Memories are filled of hope, that everything will be okay and comfort, that everything is okay.  The past few days has been a rollarcoaster of emotions.  Saddness equaled out with happiness when talking about memories.

One memory that keeps coming up is one between Sandy and her grandson.  The toasted cheese story has been referenced atleast 3 times, probably more, in the past several days.  One day when Cameron was over, Sandy asked if he would like a toasted cheese sandwhich.  Unsure what a toasted cheese sandwhich was, Cameron said no, I'd like a grilled cheese.  And to Sandy that was a grilled cheese, so she had a few giggles and it has now become a family inside joke.

In the hard days to follow, memories and love are what we have to be strong and carry on.

Do me a favor, stop dwelling on the petty stuff and focus on what is important.  Family and friends.

Love

The past few days have been difficult, sorry I have been missing from blogworld.  The world lost a wonderful, caring, sweet lady on Sunday evening.  My mother in law passed away from a very aggressive lung cancer.  She had been going through several bouts of chemo and multiple surgeries the past year and half.  The lung cancer metastasized to the liver and there it went haywire.  The past few days have been spent helping the family make arrangement, reminiscing, going through pictures and consoling.  This family is a strong one and is doing well, considering.  They are thankful that she is not scared or in anymore pain, I am also thankful.  Tomorrow we will honor her full life with many family and friends.

While going through pictures we came across this one.  Her and my father in law at their junior prom in 1958, High School Sweethearts.

Times like this make you reflect on your own life and what is important.  Cherish the times that you have with family and friends.  Life is too short.
We thank everyone for the love they have shown myself and family through this time. We are so blessed.