Where to Begin... Part 1

First, forgive me for being absent for so long! In October I planned to post about our trip to Maui. But my husband has yet to download the pictures we took. I tried and failed. Sigh.

Then the holidays rushed in.

After stuffing ourselves with the usual Thanksgiving fare at my cousins house we headed to the airport to spend five days on Bainbridge Island, WA where we have a second home (condo).

Back home after a restful time, I told myself that this season I was going to be a Susie homemaker/baker/decorator. Decorator is the only one in which I’m proficient. The rest ... nada. My kitchen fairly screams Susie homemaker, but it’s been years since I made a heartfelt attempt. Sickness, travel and plain ol’ busyness are the usual culprits.

Committed to bless my family this year (and hopefully for years to come), I had no time for emails or FB. And I must say, I enjoyed the break, until recently when I saw that hundreds of emails had piled up, over a thousand actually. I have two sites. Yikes! I’ve deleted countless unimportant emails and many that I want to read await my attention. But I’m pleased to say we’re still enjoying the goodies; a variety of cookies and candies, most of which were easy to make. Russian Tea Cakes are not, but they’re my favorite.

Just before I finished one of the batches of cookies my 38 year old Oster died. Hubby splurged and bought me the top of the line Kitchen Aid at Costco. Whoopie! Kitchen Aid had a rebate online that cut the cost a bit more. Now I want to bake! It’s truly an unbelievable machine and worth the cost. It’ll surely outlive me and most likely my grandkids. It mixes even large batches in half the time.

Everything was going fine...

Monday the 19th I got home from my workout and learned from a phone message that my Dad was in the emergency room. I've been learning to trust the Lord more and tried not to hurry or worry as I drove to Mercy Folsom. Dad was admitted to the hospital later that day. I drove mom home to pick up what she needed and brought her back to our house. She has Alzhiemer’s and can’t be left alone.

Dad was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and an infection in the pericardial sac. Five days later he came home but was still very weak. Two days later, Christmas morning, he collapsed.

Part ll and lll of Where to Begin coming soon, I hope you’ll tune in.



In the meantime, Blessings ~ Danie Marie


PS A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!