My Friend Diana

A little over 18 months ago, I first wrote about my friend Diana. She was in and out of the hospital and a diagnosis was still trying to be determined. Her diagnosis ended up being Lung Cancer. She is one of the reasons I let my hair grow so long and then cut it all off and donated it for wigs last summer.

At the Mission Inn, celebrating my 21st birthday.
In the last six to eight months, her lung cancer metastasized to her brain. And in the last month, she'd begin having seizures, and less and less control, movement with her arms and legs, leaving her bed ridden. Together as Camp Counselors, Spring 1995.As my Maid of Honor.
Diana died on Thursday. Her battle with cancer is now over and she's no longer in pain.

I hadn't seen or talked with Diana in the last year. I kept up with how she was doing through the Caring Bridge website her sister updated monthly.

When my Gramma was dying of brain cancer eight years ago, it was very hard to see her deteriorate, just as it was very hard to see my friend Diana a year ago deteriorating from cancer - the slowed speech, the blank stares, the loss for words, the wig. It was much easier to hide behind the busyness of my children, of my family, than it was to call or go visit. And now she's gone...Celebrating her Birthday, January 2009
Diana had some rough patches through her life, struggles, desires never fulfilled, and yet she is far better off than any of us! I can only imagine how full of joy, how happy she is to be with our very Lord!!
Diana Garcia
January 15, 1964 ~ January 28, 2010

Useful Website

Ever wondered if that dish in the back of the refrigerator is still good after a week? Or how long that bottle of ketchup is really good for???

Then check out this incredibly useful website a free sent to me this week! It's called Still Tasty. And you can either type in the food in question, or you can search for it. But it'll tell you how long the food is good for in the fridge, and how long it can freeze for.

Pretty helpful at any rate! And the especially cool thing...they have an app for the iPhone!!

Rainbow

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds,
and it will be the sign of the covenant
between me and the earth.
Genesis 9:13

***Picture taken from the ABC News Website gallery
of storm photos submitted by viewers from the recent storms.***

Breakfast Sandwhiches

During the week, we are rushing about to get out the door by 7:35, therefore Steven makes breakfast during the week. But on Saturdays, I usually try to make a nice breakfast, usually consisting of pancakes, tater tot casserole, breakfast burritos, or breakfast sandwiches, or sometimes even a new breakfast recipe.

Yesterday, I made breakfast sandwiches. They are super easy and so yummy, and I've even made them for breakfast when we've been camping.

The ingredients: sliced cheese, eggs (use 1 egg per sandwich), sausage (any kind, I like to use the maple flavored), and Grands biscuits. Using this sausage and Grands will make 8 sandwiches.Bake the biscuits as directed on the can. When I plan to make these while camping, i bake the biscuits ahead of time and put into a ziplock bag. Once baked, slice in half and place half a slice of sliced cheese on one half. Scramble the eggs, adding salt and pepper to taste. In a separate skillet, cook the sausage. I usually lay it all out on my kitchen counter and assemble them all at ounce.After I assemble the sandwiches, I usually put them into the microwave to rewarm up and melt the cheese just a little bit. And then I serve to my family with love. Definitely an easy and yummy meal to make for breakfast, or even dinner!

First Day of Sun!

Today, the first day in almost a week, we woke up to sun! Sun that stayed with us all day long! The skies were blue, there were some clouds scattered about, but the sun was out and shinning brightly, starting to dry out what a weeks worth of rain has left behind.

Early afternoon, I picked up a friend and we snapped a couple pictures from the local bluffs overlooking the Inland Empire. And then we proceeded out to the Super Walmart about 20 miles away. All the way in marvel of the snow capped mountains that were parallel to the freeway. The mountains were beautiful, the snow was low. Everything looked so crisp and clean.
The local news van finally made its way down from Big Bear this morning. There was snow atop of his van. And the newscaster I've been watching online was sitting inside the news van.Only in California will you see palm trees and snow capped mountains in the background. I took this for my friend Karen, in Maryland, who I knew would get a kick out of it. After five full days of straight rain, although I loved all the rain, it was nice to see the aftermath of what this weeks storms left for us. It most definitely was a beautiful, beautiful day the Lord blessed us with.

Betty Crocker Oven Liner

I hate to clean my oven. It's a chore. And it's not exactly an easy task to accomplish. So when I do take the time to clean my oven really well, I put foil on the bottom to protect the clean oven floor from any boil overs or any other spillage from whats being cooked.

Sometimes even the foil is a pain the rear to change. Because if you're like me, you forget you want to change it out until the oven is preheated and you've opened the oven to put your dish in there to bake. LOL.

I was excited to find this Betty Crocker Oven Liner at Bed, Bath, and Beyond a few days ago. It fits any oven (with some trimming) and can be easily wiped clean with soap and water when needed, and withholds to temperatures up to 500 degrees. I was sold! And so far, so good! Even looks prettier than foil!

It's A Good Day for SOUP!

Winter has finally arrived in Southern California, and a wet winter at that! We're on day FIVE of straight rain and despite what most Californians are saying, I LOVE the rain! It's a change in what we're used to, yes, but we so desperately need the rain. We need the Sierras to be packed with snow to fill our aqueducts and reservoirs, etc.

But it's weather like this, that calls for a nice warm meal at the end of the day- a day of running kids to school, errands, and husbands coming home from work, or coming out of the cold office in our home. And what better a warm meal, than soup!!!

I'm thankful, my kids like soup, or should I say they don't refuse it when it's put in front of them at the dinner table. This last Monday, I made my Gramma's Dutch Country Bean Soup for dinner using the ham bone from Christmas that I froze. And boy was it yummy! It made a lot too! Enough that I was able to take a jar of the soup to my parents the next night for their dinner.

I have a couple of soups I've tried recently that are delicious and have been added to the "keep" pile of recipes. I thought I'd share a few here on my blog in case anyone else would like to try them out.

Gramma's Dutch Country Bean Soup
1 lb white beans
1 ham bone or ham hocks (in the meat case of your grocery store)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. sliced carrots
1 c. chopped celery
1 small can of tomato sauce
1/2 c. diced potatoes
2 tsp minced parsley
salt and pepper

Soak the beans in water overnight.

Cook the ham bone in a pot of water for four hours. I kept having to add water. Rinse the beans with fresh water and then add them to the ham bone and cook slowly for another 2 hours.

Add the onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, tomato sauce, parsley, salt and pepper and simmer until the veggies are tender.

Remove the ham bone and trim any meet off the bone, cut it up, and toss it into the soup. Serve and Enjoy!

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Black Bean and Chicken Salsa Soup
1 pound chicken (I used 4c. cut up cooked chicken breasts)
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth (I used 3 cans)
1 cup frozen corn (I used one can)
1 jar prepared salsa (16 oz) ( I used my homemade stuff, didn't measure, just tossed it in)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/c cup diced onions
1/2 cup sour cream (to stir in at the end)
shredded cheddar cheese, avocado slices, cilantro (all optional)

Toss everything into your crockpot (except the sour cream) and put on HIGH for 4-5 hours. Just prior to serving, stir in sour cream and mix it well.

I served the soup with shredded jack cheese on top. We also found ourselves crushing up some tortilla chips and tossing it in to the soup as well.