Weekend at Johns

Hanging at John's house this weekend. Had some ping pong and a nice walk this a.m. at Spring Lake, a lovely park a few minutes from John's house.

Scary suspension bridge.

John on new bridge across Egg Bag Creek.

I cooked, honey lime tilapia,Crash Hot Potatoes http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/, with thyme and parmesan cheese, and some broccoli and carrots. Yummers.

John enjoyed my cooking.

I had stopped at Farm & Fleet on the way to John's house to pick up some almonds for him at a great sale price. Well, distracted by .59 Bun bars in the checkout aisle, I failed to notice that I was overcharged to the tune $2.79 per bag! Yikes. At 5 bags that adds up man. I stopped on the way home to get my refund. Anyways the pretty young girl working the service desk at Farm & Fleet explained it to me. Turns out I didn't get the sale price because the sale is on the 1 pound bags, and my bags are only 16 ounces. I said, "You know . .. there are 16 ounces in a pound."  All is well. Got my sale price and the farmer in the bib overalls behind me and I got a good chuckle.

Dad is still in a good mood, his sleep was a bit disturbed by his ears ringing. It has been terrible lately. He keeps asking Mom if her husband works nights. He asked me if I rode the bus. I asked what bus he was talking about, and turns out he wanted to know if I took the bus to high school. He is happy and smiling, so things are pretty good, just confusing.






Kay :)

Sunday

Beautiful day today. Tore down some morning glories that were looking a little peaked and cooked dinner for the fam. I didn't really plan this out John, it was quite impromptu, or surely I would have invited you over for veggie parmesan with my beloved roasted red pepper, eggplant, and garlic sauce from Trader Joe's, some fried tilapia, and a few stray zucchini and green tomatoes that didn't make it into the parm, but got fried up. And cornbread. Just cuz. Funny that the bag of cheese in fridge that I thought was an Italian blend, was really a Mexican blend. It was spectacular on the parmesan. I'm a good cook. I'm not a good dieter. Yet! I will not give up! LOL

Midge having a wash, she gets in the most ungainly positions and does not like to be photographed. Hence her disgruntled expression.

Had a great cookout last night at Mar & George's rec club, with ribeyes, twice baked taters, salad, garlic toast, cherry pie, dutch peach pie, ice cream, and lots of beer and good company.

I'm getting on the scale in the a.m. I have been avoiding it. I guess gaining a bunch of weight because your dad has dementia doesn't make much sense now, does it? Grrrrrrrrr to dementia and food issues.

Dad is in a great mood. I am Noreen today. He asked Mom where her husband is. And he asked Joe if the elevator was busy today. Yesterday he put pepper in his V-8 juice AND his coffee. LOL  I don't mean to make it sound hellish, because it is not. He is happy and smiling, he is just confused. He has a good appetite. He is doing well with his beloved jigsaw puzzles. He is staying in bed at night, and Mom is well rested, which is a big relief to me. One of my biggest fears, besides Dad having to go to the nursing home, is the fear of what could possibly happen should dementia meet up with a manic bi-polar episode. God help us all if that happens! But Mom is doing well, and please let it continue that way. Dad can't believe he and his family ended up living in Morris. He never thought they would end up here. He acknowledges that it is not bad here and he thinks he'll get used to it, but he sure misses his old farm and having everyone together there. He can't seem to forget how much he misses that farm and wants to go back there.


Have a good week all.

Kay

September 13

I love my zinnias. 

Dad's medication has been changed for the better. He is resting better at night now. He is really confused last few days, and his tinnitus has flared up again, so his ears are ringing like crazy. He has been in a good mood, no orneriness, which is nice. He is smiling a lot. He has been doing pretty good on the jigsaw puzzle, a big 300 piece one. We take a ride every night. Down to the river and to the cemetery. We talk. It is always interesting! LOL  Like deja vu all over again, and again, and again!

I planted some lettuce, radishes and onions this a.m. Just for fun. For Midge I mean. I'm sure she has dug them all up by now! LOL

Kay :)

~~we interrupt this blog for a brief...

Kay?  Kay?  Oh, that's right.  She went back to Morris and is at work today.  I still have today and tomorrow off.  I should have figured it out when I noticed how quiet it was here in Streator today.  Golly, just because she's done blogging about our vacation doesn't me it should be over for me, does it!?

Today I checked my fridge for more Farmer's Market bounty.  Having perhaps too much time on my hands, I quickly had three things going:

In the back are the nice, fresh black beans I got, simmering away with some veg.  Those are going to end up as refried beans.  Up front are eggplant slices on my grill pan.  I really should use that grill pan more...it does a nice job.  Good thing I had the doors and windows open, though, or I would have gotten to finally hear what my smoke detector alarm sounds like.  On the right are onions, garlic, peppers, zucchini getting ready to become a sort of lasagna sauce.  

A little bit of laying later and we have something very tasty:

Unfortunately I may have over-partaken.  I hear the call of my couch and pillow.  One tip for those of you farmer's market fans who have a blog: when you have an ovarian cyst removed and unexpectedly need a colostomy bag for several months and you give your brother your user-name and password to do an update for you you might want to change it at some point or who knows what could show up on your blog from time to time?

Farmer's Market Bounty

I watched some of the Ironman streaming live this a.m. Brrrrr, cold swim this a.m. I'm thinking! There was lots of excitement and energy in Madison this weekend. It was fun.

Back home now, using up the goodies from the Dane County Farmer's Market.

Fun to sit in the brisk morning watching the huge crowd, sipping a coffee, and eating our breakfast . . .

an oatmeal rhubarb breakfast bar. These are delicious!

Delish! And alas no picture, but we had fresh empanadas  too, one with potato and red pepper, one with egg and sausage, and topped with a zippy cilantro sauce. Yummers.

Missing from the photo, a pecan pie bar . . .

Supper last night. The Honey Crisp apple in this salad was the best apple I have ever tasted.

Sunday a.m. breakfast burritos. Those shitake mushrooms . . .  wow!

We are going to do something with the eggplant and zucchini for lunch.

It was a good weekend.

Kay :)

#5

Car!

Whew, I still got it!

TGIF

Hi Folks,

Dad's appointment Wednesday at Hines Veteran Hospital with the neurologist was pretty funny. Mom and I did some silent belly laughing while Dad was getting quizzed by the neurologist, a tiny tiny woman who put the accents on the wrong syllables and confused the hell out of my poor demented father. She did think "papa was very cute and he has hardly no wrinkles" and he is lucky to have us to take care of him. She told Dad that the reason most dementia patients have to go to the nursing home is because their caregivers can't get any rest AT NIGHT and told him he MUST stay IN BED. Hell. Dad doesn't even know he has dementia, and the nursing home is my biggest fear, so I kind of thought she should just shut the F*** up. She really stressed to Dad how bad alcohol is for him, and told him NO ALCOHOL (with much emphasis), which caused Dad to ask coherently and hopefully . . . "maybe just a couple?". LOLOL  Mom and I both found ourselves trying to help him with the tests, I mean the doctor was great, but she talked really really fast and had an accent and she was hard to understand, and yes we were cheating, by trying to help him remember the five things the neurologist listed multiple times, with reminders that she would want him to list the five items back:

1. Sky
2. Table
3. Watch
4. House
5. Dementia is contagious . . .

Mom was pointing at her wrist, which prompted Dad to say "time", I rolled my eyes up at the sky, and Dad gave me his "Wow do I have a really really weird daughter look.". Anyway the trip was kind of a waste of time, and Dad's dementia is advanced, and that is how it is now. We got him some sliders and coffee and some french silk pie, so he was pretty happy. I really think he enjoyed the ride, though he said at least 20 times that he hoped he would never have to drive himself up there, because he might get lost.

We are in Madison tonight, and gosh it is a zoo! Turns out there is an Ironman Triathlon this weekend.Check-in place is right by our hotel. Lots of toned, buff bodies about, so we fit right in!

We had a fun trip up, hit some thrifts, found some fun jigsaw puzzles, so to do, some to sell. We had a nice lunch at the Old Fashion (no, I didn't forget the "ed"!)Bakery/Deli, grabbed a sammy and a treat (or 2), and took them to a riverside park in Beloit. Mine was provolone, american, mortadella, turkey, ham, salami, lettuce, tomato, special sauce, on a  yummy roll. Wow, it was good! Called home and Mom had had a good night with Dad, and he was having a good day today, so it was easier to relax and have fun.

Had picnic lunch here.

Came and checked into our hotel and took a walk, and had dinner at The Old Fashioned. I know. Almost same name as the lunch place! It was good. I let John order. But I would have corrected the order if it was stuff I didn't like. Kay like beer. Beer good.

John surprised me by having a beer. He wasn't sure if he wanted a whole one, so I took a few slugs off the top. I'm very helpful to have around in those situations.

Kay like beer. Beer good.

Onion straws with some paprika dipping sauce anyone?

Friday fish fry.

Cheeseburger and the best cheese curds ever!

No thanks, we don't need a container for leftovers . . . ever! LOL

Took a walk after dinner.

 

Off to farmer's market in the a.m, it's just a couple of blocks away. I'm glad we got a spot in hotel garage because parking is going to be crazy around here!

Have a nice weekend all.

Kay :)