Hectic!

If anyone asks me for one word to describe my life, right now, that one word would have to be "HECTIC!

The past couple of days have been extremely that -very hectic!

Last Friday, there was the rush to get the kids ready for school and get their Halloween costumes into their back packs or a separate bag so they would have them at their fingertips to change into and be able to participate in the Halloween parade at school. Don't tell Maya and Kurtis but Mommy and Gram were running really late and were also starving so stopped at a little local eatery for a bite to eat and our timing wasn't the best so -we ended up finishing our meal and skipping attending the parade at school. Not that we didn't WANT to be there -exactly -but just that it's usually so crowded that getting a seat where you could even get a glimpse of your kid up on the stage -well, next to impossible. Since we saw their costumes on them earlier in the week and would get to see them again Monday night when they actually went out trick or treating, we figured we could slide on the parade plus, the kids would never know (unless we -or some other big mouth in the vicinity) told them about being absent. I know -bad Momma and Grammy, huh?

The weekend was one with Mother Nature turning into a trick or treat (depending on how much a person loves -or hates -winter) with the snowfall we got on Saturday into Sunday. Sheesh. Enough already!

Sunday morning found all four of us rushing around like crazy people -Mandy, Maya, Kurtis and me - trying to get ourselves all dressed and ready to go to church because it was a big day for our family there. My older daughter and grandson were here too but they went next door to our neighbor Deb's house to shower and get ready to be at church on time. We were almost ready to leave when Mandy went out to start my jeep and her car and came running right back into the house in a bit of a panic because, well -both my jeep and her car doors were all frozen shut! Tighter than a drum!

So she had to do a quick thaw process (hot water on the doors, ya know) to get them open and pray that both of them would also start up with no added problems.

Here's what Mandy's car looked like when after she finally got her doors thawed enough to open 'em!

After she got things squared away with her car and my jeep, she told me to get Maya and for us to head out to church so that Maya, at least, would be there on time for her big event that day!

This past Sunday was Reformation Sunday, which in all Lutheran Churches world-wide, is a very important day on the church calendar as it is in honor of Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Thesis way back when in the 15th century! Martin Luther as you may -or may not -already know is credited with beginning the reformation of the Catholic church and separation from the Vatican with his posting of those edicts a long, long time ago.

Reformation Sunday in our church is also now the Sunday when we welcome those children in the parish who have completed instruction in First Communion and this year was Maya's time when she took the instruction and on this past Sunday, she and three others her age all got to take their First Communion.

She looked so doggone beautiful -all dressed up in her white fancy dress, with the flower in her hair -and she even announced to her TSS yesterday when I was showing Miss Britt the pictures we had taken at church that she "looks like an angel!" (No conceit in our household cause Miss Maya's got a bit of an overload of that commodity!) But, I have to agree with her on this instance. Here's a couple of the pictures from Maya on the occasion of her First Communion.

Here she is holding the Bible given to her by the church -which she asked on numerous occasions throughout Sunday afternoon who this book belonged to anyway! We had a heck of a time getting her to understand that it is HER book because it has, after all, her name written in the very front of it!

 This is Maya with our minister, Pastor Carrie Anderson, after the service Sunday.

 And here's Maya (again) with Pastor Carrie and another First Communicant, Megan Anderson, granddaughter of our neighbors, Daryl and June (Force) Gurbal.

 And this was Maya as Mandy was trying to finish getting her dressed at the house Sunday morning so we could leave and get to church on time!

After church, we had a big meal here at the house of Stuffed Cabbage Rolls and baked Ziti and Cheese. When Maya had seen me making the cabbage rolls the day before, she asked me what I was making and I told her these would be "Pigs in a Blanket" mainly so as not to mention that there would be cabbage involved in this food item. Any mention of cabbage in front of her or her little brother would produce an immediate reaction of "I DON'T LIKE THAT!" and an adamant (guaranteed) refusal to even taste them. So when I was dishing up their plates, she had told me that she would like to try a little of the Pigs in a Blanket and I cut one in half-giving half to her and half to Kurtis -and also, cut it up into tiny bite-size pieces too in hopes of getting her to eat a bit more of this then.  After dinner, she did come and tell me that she had liked the filling in the Pigs in a Blanket very much but that she didn't "care for the blanket!" Gotta love that girl, don't 'cha!

Monday found me running around like a chicken with my head cut off because the cookbooks I had slaved over for almost two months this summer had arrived at our church! All twenty three (23) cases worth! Actually there are only 22 cases of the big cookbook and a smaller box with 30 little booklets of special cookie recipes that the publisher included with our order! A little appreciation gift from the publisher to our Women's group, ya know!

After all the things I've said back in July and August about this cookbook and the preparation that went into getting it done, here's a couple preview pics of the cookbook so you can now see what I was talking about during that time!

This is the front cover and in case you can't read it all -it says "A Bountiful Legacy -A history of Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church through Food." It's very pretty -very regal looking actually and inside this book are 586 of some of the best, tried and true recipes you'll ever find anywhere!

These two pictures below are something I am really pleased we could insert in our book. The top photo is of some events in our church over the past couple of years -and the top photo on the right hand side are of one of the courts at one of our St. Lucia Day celebrations -a big event honoring the patron saint -St. Lucia -of Sweden. Because our church originally was founded by Swedish immigrants and we still have quite a few members with a Swedish heritage, it is a tradition we have kept and celebrate every year on the Sunday closest to December 13th, which is the actual St. Lucia Day. (This year, our celebration will be on December 11th and will be a nice big pot luck dinner with a very pretty pageant and the arrival too of our St. Lucia -a teenage girl from our parish! It's a big deal in our church and one I as well as my kids too all enjoy very much!)

 This photo though is the one I take great pride in having it in our cookbook as it is a dedication to many of the women who once served our church during the 127 year history of our parish! Yes, there is one photo on this grouping of a woman who was a member of the earliest church -the one that stood in the now ghost town of Peale, PA -and that would be the woman in the first row, coming down the page to the fourth photo and it just so happens to be that is my Great-Grandmother!

(My Mom and my maternal grandmother are also pictured on this page along with my maternal grandfather's baby sister too! And I don't know why, but I can't get the hyperlink thing to turn off on my post right now. Go figure!)

Yesterday -that would be Tuesday in case you forgot -I spent most of the day cursing my lovely, handy-dandy filing system here in my house. Mainly because I have NO actual system with respect to where I file -or hide -things! I was hunting for the copy of the deed to the house which I need to take to one of the county agencies tomorrow so we can apply for funding for some much needed repairs to this old barn of a house and finally, after about 6 hours of going through all my hiding places for papers, I ended up calling the courthouse and speaking someone in the office of the Registrar of Deeds to see about getting a copy there of the darned deed! Took me about an hour though to find the phone number for that office because, in our lovely telephone directory provided by the wonderful telephone company, there are no individual listings of the various offices housed in our courthouse! How nice! I ended up speaking to a secretary in one of the district magistrate's offices to get the number of the Registrar's office!

And today looks to be just as hectic as the previous days have been for me! Starting with a young woman from the village who stopped by the house today and purchased seven cookbooks from me! (Lucky for her I had brought a case of them home to get ready to ship out and fill requests I have on file from people around the country who want to buy one of these lovely books!) Then I had to run out to church and grab yet another case to take with me this afternoon when I go see the oncologist for my monthly appointment and port flushing. I called and told the receptionist to alert the rest of the staff that I would have cookbooks with me if any of them wish to purchase one (or maybe even more!!) today when I come in for my appointment!

Tomorrow and Friday are both going to be zoo days here as I have to make 2 big pans of lasagne to take to church Saturday for the dinner part of our annual bazaar! In addition to that, I'll be baking a couple batches of Swedish breads and probably some cookies or a cake of some type too that I will take out for sale on the baked goods table at our bazaar too -along with a few of my embroidered pieces that will go for sale on the crafts table as well!

Then, Saturday will be the real test of my endurance! I will be manning the cookbook purchase table and will have as my "assistants" (using that term very lightly here) will be Maya and Kurtis! Yes I will have to take them out to church with me to stay by my side while I try to help people get cookbooks and other things and hopefully, I can find enough coloring books to set them up at a little table beside me where they can keep busy and out of trouble while I work at the Bazaar. To say the least, that day will sure be interesting!

Got an e-mail too from a cousin who lives down in Indiana, PA telling me she will be coming up here Saturday to come to our Bazaar and will be bringing her Mom and her niece with her too! This really excites me too since I haven't seen those cousins in almost 18 months now so will be great to get to see them again!

And there you have it -the things that will be keeping me very, very occupied for the rest of this week now!

Hope you day -and the coming days ahead are full but maybe not so jam-packed as mine are gonna be the next couple of days!