Happy Birthday Luke!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke is the other half of our Golden pair that serves as our family’s pets. He’s three today and still a puppy at heart!

Luke came into our lives right after we lost our first family dog, Tyler. He had to adjust not only to a new surrounding, but to having a BIG sister who honestly though him stupid at first. But it wasn’t long before he captured her heart and is now her bestest friend.

Luke is one smart Golden who can handle catching a Frisbee with not only his teeth, but his two front paws as well. He can catch a soccer ball by standing on his back feet and catching it with both front paws! He’s awesome. He’s got a quiet personality and rarely barks, but when he does, he wants and demands our attention 100%. He’s a mush and a love.

The two of them add so much to our lives and I couldn’t imagine life without them. Dogs add to our lives more than I could ever put into writing.

Summer is Here! (and so are the Bennies)

OY Vey! The summer season at the New Jersey shore is now officially open for business, which means the bennies have arrived! The traffic gets thicker and the area more congested with summer tourists. Oh sure they do bring in extra cash, but…

Despite the extra annoyances living at the shore during the summer bring, I wouldn’t like, nor can I imagine living anywhere else during the summer months. I like that I can drive a few minutes and get to the beach and the boardwalk. Okay, maybe not “minutes” during the summer, but I can get there faster than someone living near Trenton or North Jersey!

I like that I can go from the beach to the local grocery store all damp and sandy and no one notices me. I blend right in. Unlike the beanies who stand out on any given day. (see below)



Being a local, I know all the quiets spots yet undiscovered by the "bennies." So when I want time alone on the beach without all the hubbub they bring, I head to my secret place and pay that it is never discovered. Or I avoid the whole traffic mess and stay at home on my deck, which has not yet been discovered by any group of tourists!

So the summer has begun, but then so has the count down until the "bennies" go home again and the peace and quiet of the New Jersey shore can be seen and heard again without the noise of traffic congestion.

From the Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/) the definition of “bennies” is as follows:
“The stupid tourists from up north, they increase traffic, pollute the beach (they say it is the locals fault), and all round cause havoc.”

Cancer Update

My husband finally had his radioactive treatment done for his thyroid cancer and things went smoothly! (knock on wood) His nuclear medicine doctor at Beth Israel in Newark, NJ is incredible nice and a doctor with a great sense of humor. We both felt comfortable with his care and treatment.

There was to be “potential side effects”, but to date nothing has been seen or noted by my husband. He feels great and is happy this first treatment is now behind him. He can take a breath and move forward. We can only hope that IF there were any lose cancer cells floating about his body, they have died a merciless death with the radioactive iodine. He’ll have to repeat the treatment in about 6 months to a year, but he has no qualms about doing so. Cancer sucks. It really does. On any level.

*More information on Radioactive Iodine Treatments http://www.endocrinologist.com/Radioactive.html

Landscaping 101

Two years ago we bought our first home and with it the came the opportunity to do some creative landscaping. At first, the idea of finally being able to plant what we wanted, where we wanted was exciting. Never owning a place of our own did not afford us the chance to add to the grounds where we lived. Oh sure we could plant an occasional flower or two, but nothing big. Nothing we could really watch flourish.

The first year we were here, I began looking at each section of the yard as if it were a blank canvas. I wondered what would look good in each area. Would a small tree be better than a shrub? Would annuals be better than perennials? What colors should I add to that area of the canvas? Suddenly my excitement dwindled and the task of planting and being creative was daunting.

I thought perhaps getting books on the subject might help. So I off I went to the library and my nearest Barnes and Nobles to divulge into the world of landscaping. I even bought Landscaping for Dummies. After all, I was. I talked to friends who seemed like experts in their own yards. I watched HGTV and took notes. After two weeks of research I found myself even more overwhelmed. It was at this point I decided to relax, and to think about enjoying what I loved to do; that is to play in the dirt.

I went to the local nurseries and started buying the plants and trees I had come to love over the years. I found I was buying things I had grown up with at my parent’s home. The smell of lilacs wafting through the windows would certainly be welcomed at my home. The colors of the pink and white dogwoods would add here as well. Bulb flowers in all varieties needed to be planted.

After I managed to get a handful of shrubs and trees planted, the rest seemed to fall into place naturally without causing me any undo stress. My canvas was blooming and growing. My yard was coming to life. My yard! All mine.

I am now going into my second spring here and the colors and smells are definitely here. I’m not done by any means and have already begun moving things around. The adding may never stop as my gardens expand, but for now, I feel somewhat settled and happy when I stroll out in my yard. Van Gogh would marvel at my masterpieces. Life is good.

Lexy

What you see in the attached photo is a dog. More specifically a Golden Retriever. One might say she’s a cute dog, or even a pretty dog. Then again, one might not even know she’s a she. Like most dogs, she’s warm, lovable, and fills the role as a “Family Dog.” What you can’t see in this picture is all the happiness, joy, and good laughs she has brought to our family.

Her American Kennel Club registration papers identify her as “Tyler’s Little Shadow Princess Lexy.” We call her Lexy, Lex, Roo, Slider, Ruby Red, and a bunch of other names. She was born in Oklahoma on a farm. One of eight pups, her personality from the start even amused the family she started her life with. When we first met Lexy, we knew we wanted a female pup, but we had the choice of several female pups. Lexy seemed to seek us out. Of her siblings, she was the most aggressive, but immediately won us all over. The vote to pick her was unanimous.

Lexy was not to be the only family dog when we got her, and she had to earn the love of another family dog, a golden like her, named Tyler. It was almost two years, before he become fond of his pesky little sister. What makes Lexy special is all the joy and happiness, and many good laughs she brings to us , to include a very difficult time for our family. We had moved to Oklahoma, leaving all of our family behind in New Jersey, including my father who was terminally ill. None of us were happy, and laughs were hard to find. No matter how hard we all tried, getting settled in our new home, schools, and jobs, was not easy.

None of us would have expected that a tiny puppy would be able to fill our lives with such big laughs. From the start her curiosity in learning her new world always seemed to lead to new adventures for her, and the occasional chuckle from us. It seemed she provided us with something to focus on rather than on what we were missing on back in New Jersey. As time passed, we were able to get back closer to home, and our family. Lexy came into our lives at a time when we needed a bit more happiness, and a few more laughs. If a doctor were to order the perfect pill to cure our blues, Lexy would have been the magic pill.

It's been almost 7 years since Lexy's adoption into our family and we couldn't love her more. She lost her brother Tyler, but has since become the older sister of Luke. This is another whole posting! To this day, she is still a source of amusement to us all, and has not yet lost any of her puppy playfulness or curiosity about her world, and we are grateful.

I Need Spring!

"Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; he will not see me stopping here. To watch his woods fill up with snow." ~ Robert Frost

I wanted snow. I had to have it. Now I have gotten more than I need. I’m now in ‘want’ of warmth, new growth, and spring flora. What is it about snow? Why is it some of us crave that white stuff that only really causes nuisance? I have always loves snow, but the older I get the less I seem to crave it each winter. I hate showing my age.

The truth is I yearn for the days when I can stay out without the cold inducing pain. I also like playing in the dirt, and you can’t do much of that when the ground is frozen solid. I also have lots planned for my yard this year, and cannot wait to get started. Perhaps I simply cannot sit still, and snow has nothing to do with it?

Hurry Spring.

Life Goes On ( It does! )

It’s February 24, 2005 and life is better!

As noted in this entry, http://nitensnook.blogspot.com/2005/01/journaling-and-blogging.html, life was pretty shitty here. Well as life happens, things change and my husband now has a new job, and we are back on track. He still has the cancer, but that too will be taken care of, and shortly.

So my worries were short lived, again. I am a worrier. I have always been one of those people who has the need to thrive on fretting. I can take the simplest life event and make it a major stressor. I know I do. I can’t help it though. I think it has something to do with my liking to be in control of things. Once life takes that from me, I fall to pieces. Then I stress everyone within a ten-mile radius with my anxieties. Then when things work out, I worry about why I worried to begin with. It’s a vicious, vicious cycle.

So the new job starts soon, and once again it’s the same job, doing the same thing, but only with a different company. Kind of like nursing. The environment might change, but the nursing care remains the same. I hope things start out well and stay constant. Status quo is a good thing. Now all I need is something new to worry about. I’m sure by noon today; I’ll have something to contemplate about. I can’t imagine me in a stress free day. Ever.

"Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. " ~ Natalie Goldberg

Cancer Sucks

Cancer sucks. It really does. It has affected so many of my family and friends. In fact, I am hard pressed to find anyone whose life has not been affected by it.

My dad died of it when he was only 66. A young 66 at that. He was initially diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and fought a three-year long battle to defeat it. Unfortunately it won. At the time of his death, he also was diagnosed with TWO other forms of cancer. It seems one kind was not enough.

A year ago I was sitting in my doctor’s office when she found a mass on my thyroid. After many tests and a surgery to remove the right lobe of my thyroid, the cell was identified and although a rare cell, it was not malignant. The time between the initial finding and the final pathology report was rough. During this time, I thought of my dad on daily basis. If it was to be a malignant cancer, would I be as strong as my dad? Thankfully I was not to be tested. This time.

Several months later, a lump was found on my husband’s thyroid. He was not it seemed, as lucky. His cancer was malignant, has since had his entire thyroid removed, and will be treated with radioactive iodine in the near future. Thyroid cancer is one the easiest cancers to treat so his prognosis, if you will, is good. Despite the good news, the whole ordeal did take its emotional toll on all of his. Cancer robs us physically and emotionally. It sucks.

Both my husband and I are proactive with our health. Thankfully. So we don’t sit waiting for nasty cells to invade us. We wait, watching for them. I only wish everyone would be as vigilant with their bodies.

Journaling and Blogging

Journaling and blogging. What purpose do they serve?

I started journaling about 3 years ago in an attempt to sort through my problems. I was going through some difficult times, and in some odd way it helped to write down and list all my problems. Like seeing them in print would lessen the effects. You’d almost think seeing them listed might make matters worse. I have read those old writings and while many of the old problems are gone, I wonder if journaling at that time really did help me in the end. I think it did. I know it did.

Journaling is way for us to identify where our heads might be, to list insights into current problems, feelings, emotions. It’s also been a way for me to do writing. I love writing and seeing my words in print and knowing they might be read by others only adds. So blogging is way for me to share me with others. I have to believe someone somewhere might be interested in what I have to share. Perhaps my thoughts stimulate others to wonder about themselves. Maybe.

So with all this in mind, how is it I am not journaling and blogging every day? You’d think I would be pretty good about doing it. I guess like most, I get busy and it does take time to formulate the thoughts and then get them into print. Include to that, the fact that I now put them online for others to read, and that adds to the time equation as well.

I also feel that I just cannot randomly throw things out there. I have carefully chosen what I wanted to share. I think I might have to rethink that and simply put out there the thoughts and feelings as they swirl in my head. Of course, if you are reading my words, that might confuse you. Perhaps not. Maybe it might even make for better reading. The real me exposed more.

But then I wonder would the reader really is let into my world, would they think less of me? I don’t know. I have to chance it.

So here goes.

My problems as of today.

* My husband lost his job
* We may have to sell our home
* We may end up moving out of state and away from family
* My husband is facing treatment for thyroid cancer.
* I worry about him constantly
* I need more work hours and there are none available

That’s enough for now. There. It’s out there. A list. I somehow feel no better, but then I feel no worse. Perhaps tomorrow will bring a better entry.

Cruising the Caribbean

My first cruise was incredible! The food, the drinks, the sun, the people, the ship, the sand, the stars, the weather, the entertainment…

We sailed on the Navigator, one of Royal Caribbean’s ships. Our room was small, but somehow all four of us fit in there quite nicely and there were no mishaps over the one-week period. Who spends much time in their room anyway? We didn’t.

We began the cruise on a Saturday and spent the first two days out on the water. I have to admit I was concerned about the potential possibility of seasickness, but none of us had any problems. It didn’t take us long to discover the fun and sun of the deck, and planted ourselves quite nicely into one of the lounges, and soon found the drinks coming in our direction. There’s a lot to be said about sipping a pina colada, while the sounds of Caribbean music waft in the air.

We took in four ports of call; Labadee, Hispaniola, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico. Labadee was my only disappointment. We booked an excursion to a small beach, where we were to enjoy the peace and quiet a small beach has to offer. We found that the beach had been recently washed away during a rainstorm, so that not much of it was left. To compensate for the loss of the beach, they offered us “free drinks”, but at 9am, fruity run drinks did nothing for us. There was also to be much coral to view while snorkeling, but we didn’t find much there. The rest of the ports were wonderful.

I did something on the cruise I thought I would never do. I got on a horse, and stayed on for about 45 minutes. My ass never left the saddle. I have had a fear of horses since about age five, and throughout my life time have tried several times to combat this fear. I have never been able to. Until now. I thought what better time to squash this fear. The sun was out, the air was balmy. The horses seemed willing and my family was right there to support me. The ride was awesome. I did it.

My favorite part of the cruise was our excursion to Sting Ray city in Grand Cayman. We took a catamaran, named the Cockatoo out to the area. It was a 45 minute sail, and we layed on the tarps and sunbathed to and fro. The water was a gorgeous color, and the sting rays are awesome to play with! We learned a lot about these magnificent creatures and hopefully got some great underwater pictures of them.

The ship offered so much to do that one would never have to leave the ship if they didn’t want to. I can’t imagine staying on it, and missing the ports of call, but there were those who simply had no interest. I didn’t want to miss any of it. And I didn’t. I can’t wait for my next cruise. I'm planning it now!

Ahoy Mates!

I’m in the midst of packing for our family vacation which will take us on a cruise to the Caribbean. Packing for a cruise is most definitely different from packing for a family camping trip, which is where my packing experience lies. There are four of us, and each one of us has two suitcases, which at first glance seems like enough. That is, until you start getting all the piles of clothing together. Mountains of clothing.

I have spent the last two weeks ensuring all the necessary outfits are color coordinated, appropriate for the right occasion (yes there are occasions on board), and properly ironed and cleaned. It has been no easy task. I also have been trying to make sure that once the clothes are placed in the appropriate piles, they are not removed from said pile. Unfortunately this has failed twice. I am not sure why my son feels the need to wear THAT shirt instead of one of the many he has in his closet. So the shirt goes back in the laundry and then makes its way back to the pile for packing. When one camps, one doesn’t care what shirt they have on, except that it had better be warm and who cares if it has wrinkles?

Then there’s the shoe suitcase. Everyone knows which shoes he or she has to take, but until we leave, some of those shoes have gone in and out of the suitcases several times. I just know will get to the boat and someone will proclaim there’s only one shoe instead of two in the damn suitcase. Why can’t they just wear the one pair of shoes they intend on leaving behind? I do. If we were going camping, we’d simply wear the one pair of hiking boots we own, and not take them off until we got back home again. Simple!

My favorite suitcase to pack is the one that is filled with all the extras. You know the one that has the meds that we *might* need at sea. The one that has several tubes of hair gel in it, because one hair gel is never enough. And why would I think that for just one week we could all share one flavor shampoo? So the little bag is now bursting at the seams, and I couldn’t slip one tablet of Tylenol in it if my life depended on it. If we were going camping, this bag would not even be mentioned. No one has headaches or cares about dirty hair while living in the woods, much less if their hair is well gelled.

So while I am excited about our first family cruise, packing for it stinks. I must admit though, that unpacking from a cruise should have much less odor than unpacking from camping. It better!

The Joy Of baking and Cooking

"Food, like a loving touch or a glimpse of divine power, has that ability to comfort." Norman Kolpas

The above quote is certainly true. However, if Norman were to formulate a quote in regards to my old style of cooking and baking, he’d add the words, “interesting, unusual, thought provoking, and out of the ordinary”. It’s true, well almost.

Until about three years ago, I had no real interest in the finer arts of baking and cooking. My culinary creativity was put to the test when I added hotdog pieces to Kraft Macaroni and Cheese ©. When my extended family got together for barbeques, I was the one asked to bring the paper goods. “It’s really better this way,’ I was informed. I had a spice cabinet full of spices and herbs, all for show. My baking and cooking supplies were almost non-existent. I didn’t need them. I hated cooking and baking.

Then one day I was standing in the line at the supermarket and a dish on the cover of Gourmet Magazine caught my attention. I bought the magazine and to my surprise the dish was not only easy to assemble, but I had all the necessary food and spices to throw it together. Of course, my next concern was would my family like it? They did! I was hooked. I was on my way to becoming a culinary Goddess.

Okay, that might be stretching it, but the truth is I finally saw myself as someone who might be able to function beyond the microwave on the kitchen. I started buying various food magazines and cookbooks and focused on the easier things to make. My family began looking for newer dishes to grace the table at mealtime! I soon realized that cooking and baking require love, time, and the ability to try new things. Fear really has no place in the kitchen.

So today I love to lots more time to devote to trying new things and have now amazed my friends and family at my talents in the kitchen. I’m happy there too.

“Noncooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.” ~ Julia Child

My Orange Blossom Cookies

Orange Blossoms
*Makes about 2 dozen sandwich cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp orange extract
2 cups flour
¼ tsp salt

Heat oven to 400. Beat butter, sugar, and extract. Stir in flour and salt. IF dough is too soft, chill to firm a bit.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased trays. Press bottom of glass into dough to grease glass then into granulated sugar. (I use Turbinado sugar) Then press dough ball on tray with sugared glass to about ¼ inch thick.

Bake 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown. Remove immediately to racks to cool for about 30 minutes.

Spread orange filling between pairs of cookies and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Orange filling:

¼ cup sugar
2 ¼ tsp cornstarch
¼ cup water
1 Tb butter
1 tsp grated orange peel
4 ½ tsp orange juice

Mix sugar and cornstarch in 1 qt saucepan. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture thickens. Boil and stir 1 minute. Cool.