Leave of Absence from Facebook

Hi gang -

I am taking a leave of absence from Facebook. If you need me, you can call, email or text me. My number is the same.

Hugs,

Stella

Ponderings

I found my MIA SD card. I immediately uploaded it to my computer and put it in a safe place. I thought that it was gone for good and was concerned since Maine was on that card.  I was a little sad that the pictures I took were gone. But then Chris had my car detailed. The guys found my SD card and put it in my console along with a lot of other misc junk that they found in my car.  Now as I review the  pictures, I wonder was this God's way of protecting me and my heart. Was the card temporarily lost until I had the strength and was ready to view them? I can look at them now and smile and remember her with joy and fondness. I hope that as I continue to scrapbook that God continues to protect me from myself.  The joy of finding  the missing card, the joy of finding the pictures and all the good memories that went with them. God's timing amazes me how He protects me and how He loves me. .  Things that make you go humm

Rae with Uncle Ged just before we flew home

Uncle Ged, Chris and Randy at the grave site

Happy Anniversary Darling!

31 years ago today - I married my best friend. Happy Anniversary Darling. Here is to 31 more

George comes to the Carsten Household

I have a new toy - My friend Cindy let me use her Keurig points to get a new Keurig! Yes I have a coffee pot but I am afraid that it is like hand to hand combat trying to make a pot AND I hate wasting 2/3 of a pot of coffee. So now I have a Keurig. I totally rearranged my counters to allow space for him to live and I am very happy.

I will love him - and Pet him and squeeze him and hug him and I will call him George because I cannot pronounce Keurig.

Happy Birthday Catherine

Catherine and her sister came in for the weekend to celebrate her 22nd birthday!! I cannot imagine 23 years ago this moment in time. In this weekend was fun reminisces and jokes and shopping and eating. We so enjoyed this weekend. - I am so blessed to have this beautiful woman in my life and to have her call me mom!!

From Sunny Florida to a Winter Wonderland

What a wonderful break this has been for me. Caedee surprised me by coming home earlier than expected so we could start our trip to Florida 2 days sooner than planned!! I am so glad that I was able to get on the road and see my family in Florida. It was a great trip down. We made it from Sherman to Pensacola the first day. Caedee and I took turns driving until we got to Pensacola. We stayed at a nice place to get some rest and went to a nearby restaurant to get a bite. Well about 4:00 in the morning the next day Cae woke me with "Mom". I don't care how old your kids are, when you hear that certain tone in their voice, in the wee hours of the morning, you are instantly awake.  She had a bit of food poisoning. Oh boy,  well after Pepto and gingerale we were able to get back on the road with Caedee asleep and me driving.  We made it to my folks by late afternoon and I was able to see the babies. Cody was showing me school projects and Briar showing me the tree and all the trimmings. It was really nice. Mom had an eye surgery scheduled for Thursday morning so I tried to help in the nursery so she would not worry about us.  All the while keeping an eye on the weather too and trying to decide what day would be best to head back before the storm. Mom came through with flying colors and I was comfortable enough to leave Sunday morning early. Caedee, Daddy and I got some last minute shopping done Saturday and we were able to pack up the truck.

Sunday morning saw us heading out of Florida back to Texas. Again Caedee and I trading drivers every time we gassed up. Gas prices were ridiculous in Florida.  We were paying from 3.19 to 3.39 in Florida and as soon as we hit the Alabama border it was 2.99 and stayed that way all the way back to Texas where it was 2.89.  At first we thought we would try to drive all the way back, but by evening we were both exhausted.  Our first night we stopped west of Slidell in Covington LA. We were going to stop in Slidell but there was some type of a sports event and there were no rooms available.

Christmas Eve saw us back on the road early in the morning and most of the day in LA. We stopped in Lindale, TX  and had lunch with Rae and then headed back to Sherman. Just time too, there was a winter advisory for Christmas day and we would have been stuck in the middle of it trying to get home if we had delayed coming home any sooner. We were able to make it to the stores before they closed and stock up.  As it was Christmas morning brought rains, then sleet, then snow almost 3" to 5" of the white stuff was our gift for Christmas.

All in all it was a nice trip with my beautiful daughter who taught me to laugh, looked out for me, needed me, and ended up becoming a very dear friend.  Not bad for a road trip.

Until the next post,

SJ

Its Cookie time!!

Borrowing a phrase from one of my favorite movies - - however today was cookie day at the Carsten household. I was invited to a cookie exchange at a friend's house and well not wanting to bring Oreos, I decided to make some cookies I have been wanting to try for a while. They are White Chocolate thumbprint cookies. I found the recipe a while back and was itching to try it. So today was the day for cookies. What I didn't count on was the flood of memories that it would cause.

~First I pull out my stand mixer. Chris had given this to me our first Christmas on Willow Street. So it will be 30 years old this Christmas. I remembered all the times I used it to make Thanksgiving and Christmas goodies and all the friends and family that ate at my table.
~Also the fact that I could find all the pieces was in thanks to my youngest daughter for cleaning and organizing all of my appliances in my Island this past thanksgiving. It was wonderful to reach in and get just what I needed when I needed it.
~Another memory was the small spoon I used to measure just the right amount of Jam into each cookie. It was given to me by my mother and has a Ginseng root on it.
~Last but not least was the wooden spoon that I had used for making the indentions into the cookie. I wasn't happy with my thumb or spoon but this square handled spoon was perfect. It was given to me by Priscilla after Grammy died and it was her Jam spoon that she used to make her Jams with.

Good Memories kept me company today it was if I was cooking with family members.

SJ