Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Challenges Keep On A Coming

The month of August has come and gone. The day we arrived back from our Thelin family reunion I started on my two cancer medications. They are not chemo, but just one pill a day, Thalidomide and 10 little pills once a week (cortisone). It is now the primary treatment for my Mulitiple Myeloma. No stem cell transplant for me again!

The month of August is pretty much of a blur. The Thalidomide causes light-headedness and dizziness. That lasted about 3 1/2 weeks. Now the dizziness has worn off or my body is finally used to it.

My fracture of the L2 vertebre is taking a long time to heal and causes me much pain. I manage to maintain by taking pain pills. My men help by vacuuming and lifting laundry baskets and whatever else I ask them to do. Frank even asked me to teach him how to MAKE A CHICKEN SANDWICH! I told him it wasn't rocket science but I showed him anyway and now he CAN MAKE HIS OWN DINNER! YEE HAH

During the worst of the side effects I managed to make it to sacrament meeting to play the organ and then went home after. I keep looking over my shoulder and muttering "What's next!"


The other night as I was reading the scriptures I opened to 1st Nephi 3:37 and found the perfect words the Lord wanted me to hear. "

Reunion Pictures



Jay and Dana Thelin our hosts.





Hanging out at the campsite in Island Park
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Beverley and I at Yellowstone Park


Lap Quilts and PJ Pants


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                                            Terrin's pose

                                            Collin Marchant

                                            Terrin David Marchant

                                           Camron Casey Marchant
Thanks to Glen's family, Eric's kids all were made flannel lap quilts and pajama pants.
I tried to take pictures of them all and forgive me if I did not get everyone.
The kids were all thrilled and wanted to put the PJ pants on right away! The TV is on the wall in the living room so the quilts will be sooo cozy to cuddle with when they watch a movie.

They also made up a recipe notebook with all their favorite and EASY recipes for Eric to cook! Can't thank you all enough for your generosity at this difficult time!

Crock Pot Blog


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This is an awesome blog about 365 days of cooking only in a crockpot. You can google it at crockpot cooking blog.

Barack Obama's Chili Recipe--in the CrockPot

Day 308.

The result is a mild and pleasant chili, suitable for all ages. The kids gladly ate this, and not once complained about spice---a complaint that is quite common at our dinner table. Adam and I added a few drops of Tabasco sauce to our bowls.

The Ingredients.

--1 can kidney beans (and the goop!)
--1 lb lean ground meat (I used ground chicken)
--1 green bell pepper, chopped
--1 large onion, chopped
--5-6 medium tomatoes, chopped (include seeds and all)
--4 chopped cloves of garlic
--1 tsp cumin
--1 tsp oregano
--1 tsp basil
--1 tsp turmeric
--2 tsp chili powder (I started with 1, but added another after a few hours. Do what's right for your family)
--1 tsp salt
--3 T red wine vinegar


The Directions.

I used a 6 quart Smart Pot for Obama's chili.

I made the executive decision to increase all of the spices from the original recipe, because in CrockPot cooking, the slow simmer of the ingredients cooking can overpower added spices. I'm glad that I upped everything---the flavors were there, but they were subtle and not overpowering.

I gave myself a pat on the back.

I also decided to not brown the meat on the stove top. I hate browning meat, and since the chicken I used was quite lean, I just crumbled it in raw. If you are going to use beef, or enjoy browning meat, go for it.

Chop up the tomatoes, garlic, onion, and bell pepper. Add to the crockpot. Open the can of beans, and pour in the whole thing. Add the ground meat. Stir in all of the spices and the red wine vinegar.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. I cooked our chili on low for 9 hours.

Season with a bit more salt, to taste.

Obama serves his chili over rice, so we did too. The kids really liked that a lot----they love white rice.

The Verdict.

Very tasty! It does not pack a punch the way traditional chili does, which was a pleasant change. I loved the addition of cumin and turmeric---I am new to turmeric, and like how it turns things orange.

We're going to have the leftovers as taco filling.

365 days of Crockpot recipes

If you google crockpot booking blog, you can find this blog. There is a great stew recipe and Obama's chili recipe. They both look good enough to try.

I just got back from teaching my gardening group for the ward. We have around 9 attendees. Today we discussed sprouting seeds and planting seeds indoors. They even did a hands-on start to sprouting. We all shared seeds with each other and it was a fun time. We have one sister that saves her flower seeds so I came home with some new seeds to plant.

When you live in the NW you have to get ahead of the planting game. I already have peas, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, turnips, radishes and kale (use in soups and stews or in salads) planted in the ground. The peas have erupted from the soil after a spring bout with snow.

So we are all excited for the real spring weather to come. The weatherman said it should not be rainy Thursday through Sunday so I urged all the sisters in the group to get out and plant their cold weather peas.

I'm a Community Garden Mentor




Pictures of my Brother's grandkids (Triplets)







The picture directly above with Henry in the brown outfit, was taken at another time when they were older than a month I think. Henry is now bigger than the girls and so can go longer between feedings. We hear that JaNea and Nipper(Michael) have help from their ward family.

We just received pictures of my niece's triplets in Portland, Lucy, Henry and Charlotte Neff. Grandma Thelin is such a proud Grandma! We were thrilled to see these pictures. They were born in December and these pictures are at a month old.