Delicious Dessert - Berry Tart

Berry Tart

1 C crushed ginger snap cookies (about 20 cookies)
3/4 C crushed vanilla wafers (about 25 wafers)
1/4 C finely chopped walnuts
1/3 C butter, melted
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 3/4 C white grape juice
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 C sugar
1 t vanilla
2.5 C fresh blueberries (I used less)
1.5 C sliced fresh strawberries (I used more)

Combine the cookie crumbs, walnuts and butter. Press onto bottom and 1.5 inch up sides of a greased 9 inch springform pan.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over grape juice; let stand for 1 minute. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Cover and refrigerate until partially set (about 45 minutes).

Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over crust.

Place berries in a large bowl. Gently stir in gelatin mixture (I didn't use all of it). Spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Remove sides of pan

Thoughts on Welcome to Holland

When we were going through the very difficult child-raising years, I came across something that forced me to view life in a new way. It was called Welcome to Holland.

http://www.creativeparents.com/Holland.html

The gist of this wonderfully simple piece is that we don't plan to have a child with disabilities, but when it happens, we need to look at that child in a new way. Some of the words have resonated with me for 10+ years:

... you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met....

I did learn a new language. Most of my free time was spent reading books and getting information online. I met wonderful, kind, giving people who I would not have met were it not for these circumstances. I learned what is important and what is not.

Our son, at age 20, is doing much better than we ever hoped or expected.

And those words continue to stick with me. And I realized they apply to much more than a child with issues. They apply to any major difficulties anyone experiences. To me, those words are a key to survival when life gets really tough.

And so when my best friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer asked me to go with her to a class teaching how to apply make-up for cancer patients, I thought this will be fun. As I tend to do, I connected what she is going through with the Welcome to Holland piece. As a healthy middle-aged woman, she didn't expect to be going for days of testing, chemotherapy, or spending a few days in a hospital with a low blood count.

But she will learn the language, and she will meet special people.

And I will be there too.

And we will have fun, like we always have.

Bonnie Becomes a BON

I am honored to be selected as a feature blogger of Words of Wisdom (WOW). Please check it out:

http://www.ourwisdomofwords.blogspot.com/

WOW, in its own words, is a support site for blogs of substance. Mmmm. I never thought of my blog as a blog of substance and I've actually given up trying to define what it is about. Sometimes it's better not to over-analyze these things. When I feel like writing, I write. And it might be a while between posts. If I have nothing to say, there's no post.

I love the concept of this site and I look forward to finding interesting new blogs to follow. It was created at the perfect time for me, since it seems that several of the blogs I've been faithfully following have abruptly decided to end. And I'm the type of person (nosy) who needs to know what happened! So if I start to follow your life and suddenly you say "I'm done" - well, I won't be happy about it!

I will admit that I found the acronym BON (Blogger of Note) to be very amusing. You see, as a Bonnie, when Sandy emailed me with the subject line "BON" I thought she was being especially friendly to me!

I have been blogging for 1.5 years now. I am a Compliance Officer at my job (in employee benefits) and I do a lot of technical writing, and let me tell you, it doesn't get any more boring than that. I have always enjoyed writing, and found it to be quite refreshing to write whatever comes to me and have people actually read it! My husband's cousin got me into it - she is much more creative than I am, but we both agreed that once you start blogging, you seem to view everything in your life in a new way and think to yourself "oh now THAT would make a good blog post!"

I tend to find the humor in things. Even in things that aren't funny. I am known for laughing at the most inopportune times, and when that happens, I usually can't stop.

As a Cancer, I love my home. I would be quite content to never leave it. I am mom to an almost 22 year old daughter and a 20 year old son. My husband and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary this September. And I am a loving mama to a 15 year old dog and 3 cats. I can't imagine my life without these animals hanging around.

My friends are very important to me and I would describe myself as a loyal person.

Finding my favorite posts was kind of a fun adventure. I did not realize I had written so much! But here they are:

http://mamaksblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/friend-for-few-seasons.html

This blog was meaningful to me because (1) friendships are so important to me; and (2) it touched on what we went through when my son was younger. It was not a fun time.

http://mamaksblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/water-aerobics-for-people-like-me.html

This is kind of how I see life. Most things are amusing to me. And while my water aerobics days are over ( just too painful to get into a bathing suit), it was fun while it lasted.

And finally

http://mamaksblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/pepper-is-15-today.html

A tribute to my wonderful dog, Pepper. I admit that the first thing I do every morning is make sure she's still breathing. It's getting harder for her to get around. She is one of the great loves of my life.

In closing, I want to wish a happy birthday to my oldest cat, Bing Krauss, who turns 11 on 3/26/10.



In final closing, here are the kids (there will be no pix of moi, because the last good picture taken of me was taken 30 years ago):

Back Home to Reality

I have been chided for not writing.

I have not felt like writing. I didn't know how to put down in writing what has been happening. But I will give it my best.

We had a wonderful trip to Florida. Spent the first night in Tampa with an old friend who goes all the way back to junior high. We hung out and went to an Irish pub where the 3 of us were a team in a trivia game. Thankfully, my husband and my friend are much better at trivia than me. I have forgotten pretty much everything I know. I'm a perfect specimen of a menopausal woman. My brain has pretty much left my body.

We spent night 2 with my old boyfriend. We were together for about 6 or 7 years, starting in our college days. We keep in touch very occasionally. When I told him we were coming down, he said he and his wife wanted to take us to dinner, and we were welcome to stay there. It was nice meeting the wife of over 25 years, and spending time with them.

The remainder of the trip we stayed at my husband's old high school friend's condo. He was happy to have us, we were happy to be there, and it was very relaxing.

I had been very nervous about leaving my 20 year old son home alone with the 15 year old dog and 3 cats. I thought I'd be a wreck the whole trip. But it was quite the opposite. It was like living in a fairy tale world for one week. Now I know why people take vacations. It is very, very nice to live with no stress, if only for a short week.

Upon arriving home, our fairy tale world ended. First we walked into the house to find clear signs of a party that had taken place. I wasn't surprised; my son admitted to me on the phone that he had one. I just wasn't prepared for the mess that awaited us.

He also never brought the garbage can in, and there was a nice letter from our city telling us we are in violation of whatever code for leaving it out. The letter even included a nice picture of our house with a picture of the garbage can on the treelawn.

Then came the call. My friend from the beginning of time - we lived 3 doors away when we were born and have therefore been friends for 52 years - was diagnosed with cancer. She had an ultrasound and the tech brought in 2 doctors, who both looked at the ultrasound and stated it was cancer. I thought well they must be wrong; who diagnoses cancer without a biopsy? Yet what kind of doctor says "it's cancer" without really knowing it's cancer?

We have always enjoyed doing dumb stuff together, and laughing at everything. Yes, she has been the subject of many of my posts. Going to see Deepak Chopra and laughing hysterically through the whole thing. Going to garage sales. Doing queer stuff that would not be fun with anyone else. I always expected that we'd be doing this together through our 80s. I could not picture growing old without her.

Then came the days of tests and the horrendous wait for results - did it spread?

That news was as good as it could be. The cancer was contained to a breast. She will start chemo soon. After 6 months of chemo comes surgery. I had never heard of that order, but apparently that's how they do it.

I guess 52 doesn't seem that young if you look at it objectively. But no matter what age we are, we will always view ourselves as being young, even though our bodies and are minds are starting to go.

The next year will be a hard one. But the news could have been a lot worse.

So, that's what's been going on. The ups and downs of life, in the span of a few weeks.

Off to Florida!

My husband and I have not taken a vacation together in I don't know how many years - 21?

So we are off to Florida tomorrow.

As luck would have it, I woke up at 3 AM Sunday morning with the worst pain ever in my arm. I must have a pinched nerve. My arm is not working well at all. I took a muscle relaxer at 3 AM on Sunday and slept most of the day. I won't take anymore cause I don't want to be out of commission, having to pack and clean the house, altho I have given up on cleaning the house.

I am hoping my son will take good care of the 15 year old dog and the 3 cats.

And that the weather down there is halfway decent.

The Festive Blood Drive

I'm hoping there's some relationship between Valentine's Day, the day I am writing this, and the blood drive I recently attended (they're both red?).

I used to give blood fairly regularly. Then a few years ago, I gave blood on my way home from work on a Friday. I came home and felt a little tired but nothing alarming. The next morning, I got up and went to water aerobics. I came home and showered. I felt a little off, so I decided I'd stay home for the rest of the day. I put on a black t-shirt that was stained with bleach. I used to love that t-shirt, but one day I wore it to the grocery store and I bought bleach that day. As I was putting it on the belt, I felt something damp and realized the top wasn't on the bleach bottle all the way. I didn't realize til I got home that my black shirt had a big white streak, but I then declared it to be my wear-around-the-house-only black t-shirt.

So I got out of the shower, donned the stained shirt sans bra, and started to change the bedding. My husband even joked about my shirt and I said "well it's not like anyone is gonna see me."

So I came downstairs with the sheets and felt a little worse. After putting the sheets in the washing machine, I started to walk across the kitchen floor and suddenly I realized I could no longer stand, or see. I said to my husband "I don't feel right" and he grabbed me as I collapsed. I heard him call 911 and say "my wife just passed out." I was in and out for the next few minutes but I woke up to 4 guys surrounding me, checking my heart, blood sugar, etc. And my sweet dog Pepper was in the midst of these guys, licking my face. One of the EMTs said "will someone please get the dog out of here?" And even though I was half out of it, I remembered smiling to myself.

They declared me to be stable and suggested a trip to the hospital. I declined. I know what emergency rooms are like and no thanks.

As I tried to figure out what had caused this, I figured it was giving blood and not taking in enough fluids afterward. It shook me up enough that I was a little gun-shy about giving blood for a while.

There is a party center nearby that sponsors one big blood drive a year. I had received several flyers about it and thought well maybe I should go. Free food! Live entertainment! The final clincher came when I got a call a day before the blood drive, telling me I'd get a free "goodie bag" that included a travel mug.

That did it. I needed a new travel mug. So I called and made a reservation for 4:30, planning to go on my way home from work.

The weather wasn't great but it wasn't horrendous. I arrived and many people were walking in at the same time as me. We were greeted by a handsome smiling young man, who asked if we were there to donate blood. He directed us down the hall. Fifteen feet later, another smiling young man continued to direct us. We read from the book everything we needed to know about giving blood and were given a name sticker with a number on it. Then we were directed by another smiling man to yet another room, where a man asked our number and wrote it down. Every few minutes someone would come out and call out the next number. I laughed and told the woman next to me that I felt like we were in the middle of an assembly line and she agreed but added that it was "very well organized."

When our number was called, we went to a room full of cubicles and completed the computer questionnaire. Then we were directed to the main ballroom.

Walking into the ballroom just made me smile. It was filled with cots and volunteers and a high school choir singing, loudly, with bad soloists singing loudly. It reminded me of a Chevy Chase movie.

We all donated blood and were then directed to an area with small tables with tablecloths where many people sat. I thought, as I usually do, I don't really need a pack of cookies, and then I smelled the air, and it was heavenly food. I looked over and there were tables set up with chafing dishes of food. Lots of food. Some kind of wonderful smelling pasta, salads, cookies, many drinks, etc. And I thought oh what the hell. So I helped myself and sat down.

Everyone said hello and while we all ate in silence, this blood drive continued to amuse me. An announcer told us that they had already collected 700 pints but their goal was 1,200. There were 2 hours left to go. The weather probably kept some people away. But I thought this is kind of fun! And entertaining! And festive!

And then I picked up my goodie bag - a tote bag with a travel mug, a flashlight, a deck of cards and a water bottle.

I will be back next year.

And happy valentine's day.

New Things That Are Good

Not much new over here, but I have sampled or read of some new things that are good....

First, the Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty, at Wendy's. No, I should not be eating stuff like this, but I read on AOL's write-up of the best offerings in fast foods that the twisted frosty is just FULL of mix-ins. In Wendy's words:

"We start with our irresistible, real dairy Frosty and add coffee syrup made with real-brewed coffee. Then we mix in chocolate-covered toffee candy made in old-fashioned copper kettles to create a rich, indulgent treat."

It is unbelievable. You can choose between a chocolate and vanilla frosty, and chocolate is the only way to go. I had my heart set on one today, and following the best dieting advice, I had only the frosty for lunch. Why bother with the nutritious stuff when this is all you want? Oh, is it good.

And I happened to read in today's paper about a new offering by Heinz catsup - it's a new container kind of like the container little packages of butter come in. So you can DIP the fries right in the new catsup container. And it has more catsup in it than those squeeze things that take way too much time when you're anxious to dig into those fries as soon as you get home. Hell, you can now dip them right in the car.

And for those of you who like junk food TV, it's Celebrity Rehab. I must confess to a liking for junk food TV. I make fun of my husband for watching Cops, but then I started to get into Real Housewives. It's an embarrassing habit, but I like to do some relaxing on Saturdays, and that includes taking an hour to watch that show. As I watch it, I think I can't believe I'm wasting my time watching it. But then this week we just discovered Celebrity Rehab. Heidi Fleiss is in it. My god, what happened to her lips? She must have OD'd on the lip injection and she looks terrible, but it's junk TV at its best.