I used to love to sew, I really did. For years as my children were growing up, I made all of the girls clothes. My son was so disgusted with me because I never made anything for him. I actually felt so guilty that I made him a shirt. He absolutely loved that shirt and every time he wore it, he would make sure everyone knew that I had made it for him. Unfortunately, I never sewed another thing for him ever.

I even made most of my own clothes. I always had a sewing project going. Oh how my girls hated being fitted for their clothes, but I think they were always happy when they got a compliment on what they were wearing.

Why did I start to think about sewing tonight? Because I have so many things that I need to do. Many pants to shorten, both for myself and for Dick. Why can't either of us buy pants that still need to be shortened. I never thought of myself as having really short legs, but I guess I do. I also have so much mending to do, but everything just seems to stay where I put them. The reason for this is that the Singer sewing machine that I loved so much is still on the fritz. We have spent so much money reparing this thing that I hate to have to spend one penny more. It's always the darned tension. It just doesn't work. I would sew a few inches and then it would break. It never used to give me problems and all of a sudden it wouldn't work. I have paid to get it fixed I have also had a couple of really good seamstess friends try to fix it for me. At one time I even bought a used portable, only to find that I hate sewing with it as it doesn't give me a nice level space to sew on like my old one does. Before I bought that sucker, I tried doing a lot by hand, but with my ever increasing pain with arthritis in my hands and wrists I can't really do that anymore. So there everything lies, just taking up space. It is reallly depresssing. I keep telling myself to just get with it and use the portable or try once more to get the old one fiixed professionally.

I don't suppose there is any sense in just worrying about it all the time, but what is a person to do? I don't want to pay for someone else to do my sewing for me and I won't ever ask my sewing friends to do it for me again, so I guess I will just have to let Dick's pants continue to puddle a bit on his shoes (which he really hates) or just get the portable out.

Why ever did I just keep rambling on about this tonight? Because I haven't done one interesting thing this past week, and all I could think about was what I should be doing. I do wish I could figure out a way to keep from putting things off though. I am about as good a procrastinator as I keep telling Dick he is.

Now that I've vented about this, I think maybe I will start to shorten a pair of pants or two. Sorry you had be the recipient of all this venting.

Grandson Chris

This is my handsome Grandson, Chris Cathey. He is the youngest son of my oldest daughter, Nancy. Chris is the one who just got married. He and two of his brothers are firemen/paramedics.

This is Chris and Amanda, the lovely girl he married. She is a very sweet girl and our whole family likes her a lot. We think they are going to be very happy together.

The two of them are pictured here at their engagement party. It was held in the hills above Corona and it was a very windy day. The tent they are shown in blew over when most of us were seated.

Dick and me. We were supposed to come dressed in Western Wear, but this is as close as we got. Dick in a hat somebody loaned him and me in a bandana. I think I did wear jeans.

I am getting to kiss the handsome groom to be. This was taken at the "rehearsal dinner" the night before they were married. Nancy and Charles hosted this affair, and it wasn't just for the wedding party. There were over a hundred there and the restuarant they love closed just for this evening so we could have our private party. It was a long drawn out affair and I was totally exhaused before the evening was over.

The bride and groom are cutting their wedding cake. What a lavish dinner this was. It was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Garden Grove and there were 250 people there. The most delicious filet mignon is what we chose and believe me, it was a good choice. Unfortunately Dick wasn't in the picture taking mode as he doesn't like to take photos anyway. There were so many people taking pictures and he didn't want to fight the crowds. I think we will have to depend on some other family members to get prints of theirs. It will give you an idea though.

Sorry I didn't get one single picture of me in my new suit, but I think I looked pretty good. One of these weekends I'll get Dick to take one of me when I come back from church.

I want to say, too, that I am so happy that so many of you tried my chicken stew and everyone liked it but Jill, who said it was a little bit too hot for their tastes. It's funny, but I didn't think it was hot at all, but those of you who don't like hot spicey foods (Im one of those people, by the way) might want to use just a fourth of a spoon, or none at all.........no red pepper flakes!

I'm still feeling dizzy and in fact have been quite nauseous today. Darn, I'm sure this will be my new normal.

Take care all of you.................I don't know what is going on about all these follower problems that everyone is worried about, all I can say is that I don't want to lose any of you. If I do, I will just stop blogging.

Valentine's Day

It has been a very interesting Valentine's Day. I am still dizzy, but am trying to do as much as I can to get ready to go to the wedding. We have to leave Friday morning just as soon as I get my hair cut and blown dry. I hope the girl that cuts my hair on a regular basis can blow dry it so that I don't end up not looking like myself. I can only hope.

Dick did give me a beautiful Valentine Cake, which I know is REALLY good because someone brought it to our Relief Society Birthday luncheon last week. I NEVER buy cake at a bakery but I had to ask her where she got this one. Dick was there as the resident priesthood holder so he heard her say where she got it. He surprised me with it and you can see above how beautiful it looks. You'll have to take my word for the fact that it tastes as good as it looks.

We have both been trying to lose a couple of pounds or so before the wedding, so we decided to wait until tomorrow to serve it to our company. We are expecting my nephew and his wife to spend the day and the night with us. I'm afraid Dick is going to do all the cooking because I don't think I will be much help. He is going to do turkey salad sandwiches and salad for lunch tomorrow, a wonderful chicken cassarole that is Sue's recipe (I am going to post it in the next couple of weeks as I know you will all love it.) for dinner, along with rice and my oriental salad, plus the cake for dinner. Then Thursday morning he will make eggs benedick(notice the spelling), his own version which is even better than the original, which he can also do well. So I think we will be covered for meals while they are here. Thursday when they leave we are going to have to do all our packing and laundry. What a busy time. I will be glad when this wedding is over.

Family and Food

This is the picture of my darling granddaughter, Kristin and her oh so handsome husband, Craig. Kristin is the mother of my adorable great grandson, Sullivan, of whom I have written, my adorable miracle child. Sullivan and his mom have been visiting in Southern California with my daughter, Nikki, and we were going to go and see them. Nikki lives about 2 1/2 hours from here, so every time Kris goes to see her mom, we drive in to spend a night and have fun playing with our sweet Sullivan.

Unfortunately, Nikki and Kristin both caught his cold and they had to go to urgent care. They found out it was strep throat, so we couldn't go because I would be sure to catch it. I was just sick about it, because he is such a favorite of mine. I am totally besotted with this child. He is just the best little boy, and will be celebrating his two year old birthday this month. She just posted a picture of him getting his first guitar from his Uncle Tyler, who I will be blogging about on the 4th Tuesday this month. I would love to be able to post this picture, but don't know how to transfer it from face book to here, so will have to wait for Dick to get home and hopefully do it for me. I will be doing a post on Kristin next month so you will learn more about this amazing woman.

This past week has been a bad one for me. I am still dizzy and am beginning to feel like this is going to be my "new normal". I'm surely not liking it much. It is worse at times, when great waves of nausea come over me and I get sick to my stomach as well. But, since I determined I wasn't going to be negative on my posts, I will say no more about this. Needless to say though, I am not feeling much up to doing this. I did want to post another wonderful recipe though, so will tell you a bit about it first:

I made this for the missionaries one time and one of the young men got a weird look on his face when he took his first bite. I asked him if anything was wrong and his response was, " Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I have ever tasted in my whole life!" Well, you can imagine how happy I was to hear that. Then he said, "I just HAVE to have the recipe for this!!" I told him I would be happy to make him a copy and I asked him if he was going to send it home so his mom could make it for him when he got home and he said, "Are you kidding? I'm going to make it myself next week!!" He actually did too, and was ever so happy, so I am hoping you all will make it and be ever so happy too. As always, I hope you will let me know how you liked it after you make it.

Darlene's Singapore Chicken Stew

l lb skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon hot chili flakes
1/2 teasoon Chinese five spice
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced fine
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced fine
1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk
1 can chicken broth
2 cups lightly packed washed baby spinach leaves (about 4 oz.)
1 1/2 cup frozen petite peas
2 Roma tomatoes(about 8 oz. total) rinsed, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup sliced, canned water chestnuts
1/4 cup thinly slisced green onions
1 Tablespoon lime juice
3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Rinse chicken, pat dry and cut into 1" chunks. In a bowl mix flour, salt, chili flakes and five spice. Add chicken pieces and mix to coat.

Pour oil into 4 to 5 quart pan over medium high heat. Add chicken mixture, garlic and ginger. Stir frequently and cook for about 4 minutes. Add coconut milk and cook to blend flavors, about 8 minutes.

Stir in spinach, peas, tomatoes, water chestnuts, green onions and lime juice, and cook, stirring often until spinach is wilted, about 6 minutes. Sprincle with cilantro before serving from pan. Ladle into bowls and put a scoop of rice, that has been cooked separately, in the middle of each bowl. Serves 4.

I often double or triple the recipe as I love to have left overs and company.

Also, I sometimes cook the first two paragraphs before hand and then heat it up to just barely a boil and then continue on with the last paragraph calling for the spinach etc.