Nov 29th
The weather has been so nice this fall. I can't believe it's the end of November and we're still getting into the 60's! I noticed that my pansy is flowering again!
With all of the mushrooms that I bought, I made a ton of stuffed mushrooms and froze them. I also made a jar of marinated mushrooms to try and sliced up a ton to freeze in ziplock bags. Tonight I also made Mrs. Celenza's recipe for Mushrooms AuGratin. They were delicious! I will put the recipe on my cooking blog today. http://mamazukecooks.blogspot.com/

Nov 28th
There was NO WAY that I'd be doing any shopping today. Being that it's Black Friday, I'm sure lines and traffic will be CRAZY.
Alyssa and Dave left for San Diego this morning and PJ had to work. I decided to look up recipes to use up Thanksgiving leftovers that would be different than the usual casserole or sandwich. I found one... Turkey and Stuffing Egg Rolls. I needed some frozen strawberries and cranberries for the sauce so off to the store I went. No traffic and the supermarket was empty! As soon as I walked in, my mouth dropped. The huge packages of large mushrooms that are used for Stuffed Mushrooms were $1.99! They were still white and beautiful looking. We use so many mushrooms in our cooking and salads that even to just cut these up would be a deal! I was so excited with the find! I bought 5 boxes! I called PJ up and he was as thrilled!
I made the Egg Rolls and boy they were so good! They were easy also, which is always nice. The sauce for them was just the perfect addition. I put the recipe on my cooking blog... http://mamazukecooks.blogspot.com/. I also made Pam Zier's Turkey A La King and used a ton of mushrooms in that! YUM!

Nov 26th

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What a day!!! For the not important part... my turkey took 7 hours to cook.... not the 5 that was suggested and I completely forgot to make the Wantagh traditional corn side... 'That Corn Dish' as it's called. I went to get it out of the oven and realized that I never even put it together in the first place!
For the sad important part, PJ called Stan this morning at the adult home to tell him what time he would pick Stan up. They said he wasn't feeling well so they thought he should go to the hospital. They took him there. PJ called the hospital (Huntington Hospital) and they said that Stan walked out without signing out or seeing anyone. So PJ called the home and told them to call him when he got back, thinking he got on a bus to go back. Well about 45 minutes later, the cops called. The hospital alerted them that he left and they can't find him so they were thinking of putting out a missing persons report on him!
PJ left to go drive up and down 25A looking for him! Everything turned out ok. Stan ended up walking back to the home... Huntington Hospital to Northport! NUTS! He got back about 5 minutes before PJ got there. Then the cops and fire dept showed up. They wanted to bring him back to the hosp for an evaluation. He wouldn't get in the ambulance so the cops put him in their car and PJ followed. He was there about 1 1/2 hours and they released him giving him a new prescription. They couldn't fill it because all of the pharrmacys were closed so he promised to take a dose of his medication that he was just on to hold him over. They came here, ate and then Stan wanted to leave. He never said a word!!! It was so bizarre. About an hour after PJ got home, the adult home called. Stan was refusing to take his medication! So PJ had to call back on a different # to talk to Stan. He was yelling at PJ for insinuating that he wasn't taking his medication. He better watch himself because he can get thrown out of the home if he refuses to take his medication. He's not moving in here!
THIS was a very LONG day!!!

Nov 25th
Today will just be a day of prepping, dyeing my hair etc. I'm looking forward to having leftovers on Friday!!!
Nov 24th
Well Ann called me last night to say that my father doesn't want me sitting with him and chatting when he's eating his lunch! Are you kidding me? She said to just give him his food and go in the kitchen and read the paper until he's finished. So that's what I did. I went in there, gave him is lunch, went out and read the paper, came back in and got his bowl. I told him I have to leave so I made sure he was laying down and I left! How rediculas!!!
He was released from the hospital on Saturday. They said he passed out from dehydration.

Nov 23rd
I went to visit Pop's today. It took me 1 1/2 HOURS to get the the rehab center in new Rochelle. There was so much construction! He looked great. He was being released and was waiting for my "god damned aunt" to come get him! He's so funny! He still didn't know what was wrong with him but I found out. He doesn't have Mesotheleoma but has lung cancer. Linda will tell him sometime this week... hopefully NOT on Thanksgiving.

Nov 22nd
PJ and I did a little garage saleing today. Pretty soon there won't be anymore sales so we have to fill our yearning NOW! KIDDING! We also took a ride to visit Mrs Celenza for a while. She spoke so highly of PJ and his siblings growing up. I wish she would run for president. What a well spoken, open minded woman she is... especially at her age!
We then came home to watch the end of the Giants game with Alyssa and Dave.

Nov 21st

We were invited to the Martin Viette Annual Holiday fundraiser for The INN
http://www.the-inn.org/ a non profit group that runs soup kitchens, shelters and offers supportative services to Long Islands homeless and hungry. Martin Viette sponsors their Plant-A-Row for the Hungry program. http://www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=index.html
They encourage people and businesses to plant an extra row of vegetables seeds. When they are ready to harvest, donate that row of vegetables to The INN for the soup kitchens. I was a very fun time for a very worthy cause.

We didn't win anything! That though, didn't spot out excitement! When PJ and Frank get together, you never know what they'll be up to. There was a booth there that had a basket of pens and a basket of clips with magnets on the back. PJ went up and got a pen and a clip. A little while later I see him back up at that booth. In the mean time, Frank was doing the same thing but he didn't know that we spotted him! I questioned him about the bulge in his pants pocket which got a lot of laughs. It was filled with clips! At one point Frank clipped a clip on the back of PJ's jacket. It was quite a while later that PJ realized that he was walking around with that on him! It was funny. Frank showed us his pocket on the inside of his jacket... loaded with pens! You'd think these guys didn't have any pens at home! They both explained that they were really NICE pens and NICE clips! OK! When we got home, I took a picture of our pens and clips:

GOOD TIMES!!

Just a small sampling of food offered PJ and Donna in the greenhouse chatting with the Cornell Chordials who serenaded us for the evening.

Nov. 20th

Today I was in my all time FAVORITE class with Mr C. . I was so excited. CJ and Jonathan are in that class so I knew it would be fun. I was greeted so warmly and Mr C actually praised me. He said that the boy that I was a one on one with normally gets one work packet somewhat completed in a day. Today, he got 3 packets fully completed and 6 workbook assignments completed. Mr C was one happy camper!!

Today was a GREAT day!!!

Nov 19th
Happy Birthday to Keith. Things got too crazy around her so I will call tomorrow!
Dad is back in the hospital today. He passed out while in the eye doctors chair. He was admitted for further testing.
I FINALLY worked today. I was in Niasia's class. Every spare moment she had, she asked me to play with her. It felt good to be remembered. Reese greated me with a warm hug, Trevon stared at me which is actually a good thing and CJ put on a huge happy grin and started to talk to me and his aide made him quickly go with her. She does that alot. Pretty sad. I don't think she likes me. I'm probably one of the few adults that can converse with this boy and the aide feels threatened. DUMB! Actually, she should feel threatened!
I had a nice day and all went well. It really felt good being back. As a matter of fact, while sitting in the speech room, right outside of support, I heard..." You BITCH, You F...ing Bitch! Get away from me you F...ing Bitch! I'm trying to upload my anger"! I just had to laugh at that! Welcome back!! That was a first grader!
I'm working tomorrow so hopefully it will go as well.

Nov 18th

I got an email this morning from PJ's brother John. He said "I sent Great Grandma to you and you should be receiving her in the mail. We have no use for her anymore"! What the heck was he talking about. I found out a few minutes ago when the Fed-Ex truck delivered a big box to me. It was the picture of PJ's Grandfather's mother, Ona Kosmach, from Russia. I always loved that picture. It used to hang in PJ's mother's house. The glass is rounded. I don't know if that would be considered beveled or what you would call that but it's cool looking. The picture is interesting because they actually got rid of the background which was of PJ's Grandfathers cousins and just kept her on it. Below is the original picture.

I'm so happy to have this picture but now I have to find a special place to hang it!

Nov 17th

If you were this piece of paper...

What would you do with it? That's my dilemma. My brother bought it in France for me, thinking I would use it for some project. I don't have a clue what to do with it!! It's 28"x24". It seems to be made on brown craft paper or something like that. What to do....

Nov 16th

I love how the fall color of leaves looks so beautiful against a darker object or vice versa. It instantly puts you in a good mood!!!

Nov 15th

We went to visit Pops in the hospital today. He looks so scared. It's so sad to see him like that. His lab tests and x-rays were send down to NYU hospital for them to look at and try to find the reason that his lungs keep filling up with fluid.

Nov 14th

We went out to dinner with D&F tonight. It's ALWAYS so much fun hanging out with them. Frank was telling us about taking his parents to the airport, being on the plane and taking them to their condo in FL. It sounds boring but it was so funny. It sounded like a Seinfeld episode! We couldn't stop laughing! When our parents were bringing US up, we were allowed to do stupid things because we were kids. Now that we're bring up our parents, what seems so funny, is really sad in the long run. But I guess as long as we can laugh, it will keep us from crying!

Nov 13th

When Brooke was in college, she took some photography courses. She took a picture of PJ and I in the kitchen and blew it up to a huge picture. We never did anything with the picture until now. We will be using a carved frame that we bought at a garage sale last week and we went to AC Moore and bought mat boards. The stores didn't have any that were cut already that were large enough. PJ will bring it all in to work and have them cut the mats to fit properly. I took a picture of the picture and I was a bit slanted!

Nov 12th
I've been having a hard time with my AOL lately. Every time it signs me on, it immediately signs me off. I then use Mozilla to get on to AOL. I don't have my favorite places by using it that way. It's sooo frustrating! Maybe I'm just missing something!

Nov 11th
Today is Veteran's Day. PJ wasn't normally off but took a vacation day to go to museums with the kids. The other day Stan asked PJ if him and Mary can take him to look at funeral homes! He wants to plan his funeral! OK then! So Tuesday night PJ kept calling Stan on the payphone at the home. The residents answer and aren't very helpful. The first 3 times the answer was that Stan wasn't there. The last time the answer was that Stan took his meds and was already in bed. So much for that. First thing this morning, PJ called again. They said Stan went out and won't be back until the afternoon! PJ and Mary decided Stan will now have to plan this for another day instead of them waiting around for him to get home.
PJ woke up Scott to see if he wanted to go and he said no, he has too much to do today. He's going to Cortland tomorrow.
So we decided to take a trip to Coin Galleries. PJ had bought 5 or 6 chains at a garage sale last week. They were 25 cents each. He had a hunch! As it turned out... some of the chains were gold!!! We got $65 for them!! Now THAT was exciting!!!
Alyssa was watching the CMA's when I heard someone singing. I recognized his voice and had to go see for myself. It was HIM! I used to be a big fan of Hootie and the Blowfish. They just seemed to disappear. I figured that they were doing the small venue tours or something. I just loved Darius Rucker, the lead singer. Well heeee's baaaack!!!! He's now a country singer! I HATE country music but I think I'll have to give it my best and try to listen to the new Darius! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etr7UtnUflM

Nov 10th

I watched the Season Finale of Mad Men this morning. What an episode! I almost cheered when Roger Sterling asked Peggy to get him some coffee, and she simply replied “No.” Priceless moment!
I'm also cheering that Joan is back! Love her!!
I will miss Mad Men and anxiously await it's return!!

Nov 9th

PJ planted the mums, that he grew at work, along the walkway. They look great!

Nov 8th

My Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter Cactus is starting to flower. I call it the 3 holidays because it flowers for all of them! I have lots of cuttings from this plant that are all starting to flower. This plant was from a house around the block that a friend walked the owners dog when was in a rehab place after falling. The son put the house on the market and told my friend to take whatever she wanted. She brought me in there and told me that he offered everything to us also. So I took the plant!

Nov 7th

We went to visit Pops today in the hospital. He looks great and was so happy to see us. He still has his sense of humor which is a good thing. He has a great attitude also. He hasn't been told yet about the aspestos cancer.

Scott went to the Yankee Parade in NYC yesterday. He had a great time. He brought us home some M&M's that they were throwing out to everyone.

Nov 6th
Last night I went out with the girls to Ladies Night at Hemmingways. We had such a nice time. There was special priced menu just for Ladies Night. It was so nice to get out with them again. We met when our oldest children were in Kindergarten. We go out a few times a year for dinner and sometimes a show, since their H.S. graduation.
L & K both had on really interesting "pins or brooches". J & I questioned what they were. They were to hold your glasses instead of loosing them when you put them down! INGENIOUS!! Theirs were held on by a magnet that is on the inside of your clothes vs a pin that would make holes in the fabric. I HAD to try to make one of these. (you can also attach a hoop to a brooch or pin. Then you wouldn't need a magnet to hold it up but you would get the holes in the fabric).
I had some jewelry pieces from past craft projects so why not use them. They were so easy that I made two!
The heart hanging from the second one was from a bracelet that I had as a baby. It doesn't match but I had to hang something from that loop.
So the trick is... the magnet goes into your shirt. At the same spot ON the shirt, would be the jewelry thing. I had to attach another magnet with super glue to the fake pieces (not metal). So the 2 magnets now work together and hold this on the blouse. Instead of putting your eye glasses down, you put one of the ends through the hoop and let it hang that way!

Nov 5th
We found out that my Grandfather has that cancer caused by aspestos called Mesothelioma. They will know in a few days what the prognosis is for him. Today he's being moved out of the ICU and sent to a re-hab next door.

Nov 4th
Today was just an annoying day. I was supposed to go over to my fathers to give him lunch while Ann was at work. Alyssa ended up getting called into sub so I was left with no car. I was going to walk there to be a nice person. Ann called me from home at 11:45 to say that she picked up Joseph from school (he's 15) and not to be alarmed when I go in the house. I explained that I no longer had my car for the day and could she just give him lunch or even Joseph so I won't have to walk there. (It's a little over 2 miles each way.) It was only 45 minutes earlier than when I'm supposed to give him lunch so what's the big deal, REALLY!!! She got angry about my request! I was putting HER out because she had to get back to work. So have 15 YEAR OLD Joseph do it!! I'm sure he's capable!!!
Ann ended up doing it, but not happily.
I was really annoyed. I decided to take K's advice from yesterday and go for a nice walk with my camera. When Alyssa got home, we went to Wantagh Park for a walk. She took her camera also. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed ourselves. We found places that we had no idea were in Wantagh Park! K. had a GREAT idea!!! I feel much better!
Alyssa on a wobbily pier.

I was taking a pic of the tiny pinecones. Afterwards I realized what it actually looks like!!!

We never knew this was here!

Just some rocks covered in seaweed

There were 4 swans... the ugliest swans we've ever seen. They looked dirty but that was their coloring

Tis it!!!

Nov 3

Today I spent a lot of time going through closets etc and getting things together to donate to the St Judes fair (Kris's church) and also D.A.R. for their Veteran's Day fundraiser.

It feels good getting rid of things!

Alyssa bought a leash for Huck that could attach to a harness. Huck is an indoor cat. Alyssa wanted him to know the outside world. As soon as they went outside, he went BIZZERK!!! He BOLTED up things, around things, into things etc. He jumped up the grape arbor, hit it and fell back down! He started to cry! Alyssa picked him up and he started clawing her! That will be his last trip outside!

Nov 2nd

I started the morning by re-baking Stan's rolls. It didn't help much. Now they're a bit golden in color but now they're sort of dry. I better make sure we have extra gravy on Thanksgiving to dip these into or people will be chocking on the dryness! It was the thought and expression on Stan's face that makes it all worth while!

Nov 1st
Today is CROP DAY! I had PJ set the alarm for 7:15 so i could shower etc before getting picked up. I decided to check my emails first only to see the clock on the computer... it was 6:15! We forgot that the clocks went back! BUMMER!
We arrived at the crop, all with smiles from ear to ear. This was going to be a GREAT day! It was! We had lots of fun chats, mostly including Ro for some reason! I guess where there's humor, Ro is involved!
I LOVE going to these crops to do some serious scrapping done but mostly because I love being with Judy, Margaret and Nancy, sharing our stories, good or bad, and just enjoying each others company! It was a GREAT day!
When I got home, Stan was still at the house. PJ invited him over to make his rolls, his Christmas gift to our family and mary's family. We bag them up and freeze tham for the holidays. Just looking at them, I immediately knew they weren't baked enough. They were very pale in color and mushy looking. When Stan was out of the room, I took a bite of one. YUCK! It was so raw!. Out of the whole bunch, there was only ONE roll that looked right!
It's sad. I think he's slipping. After we drove him back to northport, I was going to plop them back in the oven. I decided to do that in the morning because the Yankee game was starting!
To top off this wonderful day..... The Yankees won!!!