joy | A Thankfully Imperfect Woman

Aug 19

Rewind to Day One: 219 Blog Posts and 410 Followers Ago

Just for fun…and, well, because Gabi wanted to see it, I pulled up my first blog post.

As I re-read it I laughed at myself and thought maybe I should re-post it for those of you that started following recently. Read more

Mar 30

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When Something Touches Your Soul

Have you ever had a smell, a touch, a sight, a sound, or even a taste touch your soul? Such a poignant touch that tears start to fall, or you revel in a sweet memory this sense brings back to your mind? I’ve experienced this before, and I had it happen again on Saturday.

Let me explain and share my moment…

I was sitting with my morning cup of coffee, listening to Sirius XM – The Message and the song ‘You Raise Me Up‘ by Selah came on. My husband and I were in the middle of a conversation and tears just started to flow down my cheeks. He looked at me with a questioning look on his face, as we weren’t having any kind of earth shattering conversation, and all I could do was shrug my shoulders. “It’s the song”, was all I could say. Why? I have no idea. I don’t remember when I last heard it or why it was so poignant to me. But sometimes we don’t have all the answers, do we?

In His hands…we’re all in His hands. And what a comfort that is.

Good times or bad, He’s with us. Whether we feel Him there or not…He’s there.

May God bless all of you on this Sunday.

He sure has blessed me.

Patty O

Mar 29

Best Snack EVER: Frosting & Graham Crackers

This post comes courtesy of Miss Gabi and Mr. Lah’s Speech Class. Her assignment was to do a demonstration speech and she chose ‘How to Frost a Cupcake’. Can I just say YUM?

I had to write a note to her teacher so that he knew she made them without any help. Of course, I couldn’t just leave it at ‘Yes, she did it all herself’. Me? No. I also added ‘Feel free to give her another food assignment’!

The inventor of this Best Snack EVER is my sister Carol. She is a woman of many talents; cake decorator, painter of pictures, stained glass art creator, house and yard decorator, baker of amazing cookies, caregiver, great Mom, and yes, everyone loves her. I hate her. Just kidding. I admire her – always have and always will!

It was in her cake decorating that she came up with the idea of using the extra frosting by putting some between graham crackers. Her sons and I thoroughly enjoyed her extra frosting creations. And now you can too!

For the frosting for Gabi’s cupcakes, she used a fantastic recipe courtesy of the Food Network’s website and creator Gale Gand. I hope you like it as much as we did:

Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions:

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter.

Mix on low-speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Now for the tough part…to frost a cake or a use it all as snacks. Hmmm…

I vote for the snacks.

Set up your station with your bowl of frosting and your pack of graham crackers, now grab your graham crackers, break them in half and slather (technical term) some frosting on half. Use the other half to top off your creation.

We’ve discovered that the best beverage selections to complement your creation are either a glass of milk (our choice of beverage when her sons and I were younger), or a glass of wine (for us now in the ‘over 21’ category).

Ready, set, EAT! Yummmmmmmy!

I hope you enjoy your treats as much as we did!

Patty O

ps…As you can see Miss Gabi added food coloring and made rainbow frosting. I wish I’d taken a picture of her cupcakes, they were beautiful!

Mar 24

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A Clear Head and a Good Heart

My daughter Sam is in the Studio Arts program in college and this is one of her recent creations. Isn’t it AMAZING!?!

Little did she know that when she gave it to me it was incredibly significant to what I was going through.

I’d been having some health issues and the doctors had decided that I needed a stress-echocardiogram to look for heart damage and a brain/inner ear MRI to look for a tumor. Needless to say we didn’t want to tell the kids until we had definite answers…positive or negative.

I was scared to death.

I cried as I showed my husband the print and he nodded, knowing just what I was thinking.

He accompanied me to the tests and the doctor visits after, thank God, because I was a mess. I’d always been the caregiver – dealing with doctors on behalf of parents, kids, other loved ones, and friends. But this…this was about me, and I knew I couldn’t do it alone.

Once we received the news that everything was good, we felt like a huge weight was lifted. We didn’t have all the answers we needed, but we sure had some fantastic negative results!

We did receive one answer (to the loud hum, aka tinnitus, and hearing and off-balance issues I was having): Meniere’s Syndrome in my left ear. It’s a health issue diagnosed by elimination…meaning there’s no one test that can diagnose it. It brings with it random episodes of Vertigo, a feeling of being off-balance, and sometimes permanent hearing loss. My hearing loss is permanent, but only moderate/severe to mild (I can’t hear low sounds but I can hear high-pitched sounds). It can be progressive but doesn’t cause full hearing loss, and it doesn’t usually affect the other ear. A hearing aid should help, which I hope to get this week. So if you see me walking around a store and I’m wobbly, remember I’m not drunk, it’s just the Meniere’s!

I’ve learned one thing from all this: if you have tinnitus in just one ear – get to an ENT or Audiologist right away! I’d been having the loud hum off and on for probably a year, but just figured ‘everyone gets tinnitus, don’t they?’. Wrong answer.

My other health issues will have to wait until April when we go to the Mayo Clinic for some specialized testing. In the meantime I’m just hanging out…writing a little, getting myself a new look (see the new profile photo), and reading a lot of books…and once in a while watching those crazy babies who sit and snuggle with me!

Life is good…I don’t have heart disease or a brain tumor!

Patty O

ps…Back to Sam’s art…now we can relax and have her print as a reminder of just how blessed we are. It will soon be framed and in a place of honor on our wall.

pps…Notice I didn’t say an empty head. I have too many friends that would have far too much fun with that. 🙂

Mar 20

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Soakin’ In The Sun At 25 Degrees

For any of you that don’t live in Northern Minnesota – you’re going to think I’m nuts. And maybe I am! But after the coldest winter in MN history (since something like 1917) and a stretch of overcast, gloomy days – I NEEDED SUN!

I peeked out at my deck this afternoon and saw the tiniest of walkways open by the house, so I pulled open the sliding glass door and looked out. Low and behold, in what is probably the ugliest (but sunniest) outside corner of our house, was a piece of deck completely clear!

A fist pump, a ‘YES’ and a quick run to my garage for a lawn chair and I was about ready. OK, so this chair isn’t in the best shape ever with a broom handle holding the bottom together and paint on the arm. Let’s just say it’s well-worn. Besides, I love that my sister-in-law Jane made it years ago for my husband. It would aptly serve it’s purpose for today.

I quick grabbed my book and out I went.

Sitting and soaking up the sun.

The temperature outside was 25 degrees…above zero. Nothing like the many days below zero (like down to -50) we’ve had this winter!

Was I in my swimsuit? No. I opted for my yoga pants, fleece jacket and scarf.

Did I care? No.

Thank God for sunshine…warm sunshine. The kind that makes you feel alive again. That makes you realize just what a compliment the writer of the song “You Are My Sunshine” was giving as he sang it to his loved one! Yes, I am a romantic, in my mind I picture him writing as his little child peacefully drifts off to sleep.

I’m leaving my little chair there. I have high hopes for this weather. I may be a bit delusional right now considering there’s a Winter Weather Advisory out for tomorrow saying we will get more snow, but I’m leaving my little chair there.

I’ll be back little chair.

And you and I will lap up some more sunshine together.

Ahhhhhh.

You are my sunshine…my only sunshine…you make me happy…when skies are gray…you’ll never know dear…how much I love you…please don’t take my sunshine away… (she sings softly to herself as she smiles, eyes closed, face turned up into the sun).

Oh! Just in case you’re wondering, we have lots of snow left. This is what I was looking at when I didn’t have my face pointing up:

It’s the little things in life that help us survive the big things (like 6 foot snowdrifts in March with more snow on the way)…

Patty O

ps…I say it’s the ugliest outside corner of our house because, as you can see, it has the fireplace vent and the dryer vent, complete with fuzzy lint blown out – and NO I didn’t clean it up before I sat down or before I took the picture!