Good thought at the end of a day . . .

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it.

Margaret Thatcher

From the garden . . .

 

The garden produce perspective!

The poor zucchini tried growing through the wire in the fence which accounts for it's 'neck'. He seemed to have such an expression in the making that I couldn't resist taking it a bit further!

Prayers answered! Update on Aine, the little girl with the aggressive skin cancer.

What good news arrived in my e-mail this morning for little Aine. As you can read from the following update from her mother, the prognosis is certainly a lot more hopeful than last week. Thank you all for the prayers you offered for this little girl and her family! ~ Barbara

Hello all,

We are so amazed and humbled by how great our God is.  Not only did the biopsy and skin sample come out negative, but they didn't have to do a skin graph today.  We came to surgery today prepared to do a skin graph, another wound vac for a week and an 80% chance a skin graph would take or we would have to do it all over again next week.  The doctor came out 20 minutes into surgery and said that the wound vac prepared the arm and pulled the tissue so all the surgeon had to do was stitch up the skin and be done with it.  We are home and Aine is doing great.

We talked to the surgeon who did the biopsy and four different doctors who all looked at the pathology report and were in the operating room for her surgery.  It was not a matter of whether or not the cancer would be in the lymph nodes, they were wondering how to tell us that it was in the lymph nodes.  The lymph nodes were larger than expected and they were 98% sure it was there given the size of the nodes, the stage of the cells and the alarming depth of the tissue.  They told us that it was a miracle that she has no cancer and doesn't need a skin graph.

Only God through Mary, St. Peregrine and everybody's prayers did this.  We feel better than if we had won the lottery.  How Great is our God!!!!  Thanks to everyone for your prayers.  It works.

Teri

A milestone . . .

The day is arriving and I can't believe the years have flown by . . . Next week, my youngest son registers for college! He, in my mind, should still be a baby in arms yet the kid walks, talks, and shaves and is no longer an infant. Where do the years go?

Thanks to budget cuts and various other misspending of our government, classes at the community college are cut back and required credentials for certain classes aren't available. In order to prove you can do the more progressive classes, you have to take an assessment test. Repeated requests are answered with 'we no longer have any available openings'. What? In order to get his foot in the door, my son has combed through the catalog and found a few classes that don't require the assessment test, however, he won't be able to take anything in math, English, or History - his subjects of choice. A check in with Biology shows those classes have long filled up, probably because those students couldn't take the assessment test, either. And we wonder why the United States is behind the world in academics!

My son will prevail, somehow, and he has hopes of getting into some classes so he has a better chance in the Spring semester. Right now, he can try for Acting, Ceramics, Humanities, or Spanish. Sigh . . . at least, he hopes he can get into something and begin college. At this point, we aren't too sure he will find any places open but we live and hope . . . and pray!

Things do change as I don't recall having these problems when I attended the community college back in the days when I rode a dinosaur to school! :-) My daughters more recently attended community college before transferring to four-year institutions and they pretty much got into most of the classes they wanted. The prices go up and the educational advantages go down . . .

We are being optimistic about registration and hope we manage at least one class to get my son started on his higher education.

Lemon Pecan Cookies

Although I do prefer to bake from my own ingredients, I'm not above grabbing a cake mix when I need a fast treat or dessert. I especially appreciate the convenience when there is a sale at the grocery store and the boxed cakes mixes are going for a dollar or less. This is a tart cookie with a nice lemon flavor.

Summer Lemon Cookies

1 box lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a spoon not a mixer. Drop dough in walnut-sized balls on the vegetable oil sprayed baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes but keep an eye on your first batch to judge the heat of your oven. When they exit the oven, remove the cookies to a cooling rack.

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar
Enough fresh lemon juice to form a spreadable icing

Drizzle the icing over the cookies before they are completely cool.

Ideas . . .
No time for an icing? Put some powdered sugar in a small mesh strainer and powder them lightly.
Most any cake mix will produce a good cookie, just adjust the flavorings and add-ins.