Sandi Chats

Looking around I see that it must be getting close to Christmas. The stores have Christmas displays. We are getting ready for our church Christmas program. Already had one Christmas party and another sheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Even the calendar says December 18th, one week til Christmas.  How did that happen? Suddenly we are here...and almost at the end of 2020!  Our families are talking about plans for the holidays, dates for family get togethers, travel plans, menus for holiday dinners. I see a few households have their Christmas decorations on outdoor display, and probably a lot more have their trees up and decorations noting the holidays in their homes. Here? Well I finally got the Thanksgiving decorations put away since they were looking a bit out of place, but I haven't put  up any Christmas decorations yet. And since there are no celebrations scheduled to take place at our house, this will probably be it. And I'm OK with that, at least I don't have to bother ...

  When I last left you, almost a month ago, I was happily sitting on the couch crocheting hot pads, watching fixer-upper TV and enjoying my Covid vacation. As often happens in life, just like that my life changed into something I never saw coming. One minute, living a life of self-centered leisure, and just that fast I am heading to the hospital to be with my mother who was sick. After being moved from Cherry Hills to Cherry County Hospital and from there to Great Plains Regional in North Platte, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, a devastating shock to everyone but her...think she already suspected! In the ensuing weeks since that diagnosis, we have brought her home and set up hospice care and settled into a routine of organizing caregivers and spending many nights with her. This was not something any of us had time to prepare for, we just had to jump in get our feet wet on a moment's notice! Mom is doing as well as can be expected considering the extent to which the cancer ha...

  With the exception of a very short walk outside on Sunday, I have been confined to the house since last Thursday. I do not feel terrible, as some have, but am still tired and listless and stuffy. If I knew this wasn't Covid I would just buck up and power through. I hear sometimes this can turn unexpectedly serious and would like to avoid that fate if I could. And I don't want to spread it to anyone else. So I am on Covid vacation until all symptoms disappear! Honestly, it's almost a relief to have finally contracted this demon so I can get it over with. It's been hanging over everyone's head for 8 months now, with no end in sight. I am thankful to only have a mild case and wish everyone could be so fortunate. Being confined gives me time and opportunity to pray for those who are so very sick with it. I have endeavored to turn this into a vacation for myself by only doing the things we need done to survive. It has taken me two days to do two loads of laundry! And I...

Warning: this post is entirely promoting the Ketogenic Diet, so if you're not interested, this post might not be for you. Feel free to share with others who might not be readers but are interested in "going Keto".   I've been promising for two days that I would tell about my Keto journey, so here it is. First of all, notice I called it a journey not a diet. We have the idea that diet is temporary, just until we reach our goals. A journey is a path we continue to follow, hopefully for the rest of our lives.  I have passively resisted making dietary changes my whole life. I give lip service to healthy eating habits but what I actually eat does not resemble healthy in any way, shape or form. I want what I want, and I have a voracious sweet tooth! I have not been a stranger to dieting. I have probably been on every diet ever known to man. I have done TOPS, Weight Watchers and Weigh Down, counted calories, cut the fat, cut the carbs, eaten cabbage soup, tried the Trim Heal...

This is a time of the year when I always reflect on my life. I had a birthday last week, and once again I am face to face with the idea that the years are adding up for me. Age is just a number, and people always say you are only as old as you feel. Today I am thankful to feel 68 because it's a whole lot younger than I felt when my chronological age was 66! Exactly 2 years ago right now I was as sick as I had ever been. It was a series of ailments that was robbing me of any anticipation for the future. I had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2007 which had escalated to the point that walking was painful. I had seen many doctors and undergone several types of treatment, all to no avail. Then just a few weeks before my birthday, I had finished off the last good I had in  my knees while in New England for our fall tour. The walking and the damp chill just did them in. Then, as a birthday present, I came down with a case of shingles. I had always thought of shingles as someth...

To say that 2020 has been a most unusual year is to understate the obvious! Covid 19, the elections, rioting, and on and on it goes. What next? Today I am sitting at home, quarantining. I have some mild cold-like symptoms, and with Covid hitting so close to home these days, I am opting to err on the side of caution. Mike and I made up our minds months ago not to be tested if we got sick unless medical intervention became necessary. So far tissues and cold drinks to sooth my throat are all that I have required. So far Mike has no symptoms. For some people the interruption of everyday life is frustrating. For me they don't change a lot. I am not going into my part-time job until I know I am not spreading Covid. So what will I be doing with all this time I have at home?  The list of options is endless. I have 4 large totes of yarn that I've been thinking I should do something with. I had sorted out collections for 4 baby afghans to take to Arizona with us, but that still leaves 3 ...

When I began this blog I promised myself I wouldn't tread into controversial territory, namely politics and religion since these topics seem to be divisive, and I just wanted this blog to be fun. I wanted to write about the every day things in my life and my perspectives on them, and maybe laugh at myself just a bit. Well, I am going to break my own rule today! As I have studied my family history and gotten to know my ancestors through genealogy, I can't help but notice that I come from a long line of elected officials...politicians! Back in the early days, when my ancestors resided in Pennsylvania, much of my family held positions of political influence. Even as recently as 115 years ago, my great-grandfather, Ben Painter, served as the Sheriff of Keya Paha County and was elected as a commissioner some time after that. My own father served as a deputy sheriff and a commissioner. My sister held the position of County Clerk in this county for a number of years, and I, myself, wa...

  In case you didn't realize it, today is October 10th. I subscribe to a free email from the History Channel called "This Day in History". It is always interesting to see what happened through the years on a particular day and makes for good reading.  I see that on October 10, 1985, the Achille Lauro drama came to a close as the highjackers were arrested. I was in the midst of raising kids and milking cows at this time so have no recollection of being aware of these events at the time, but it must have been high drama!  In 2004 Superman actor Christopher Reeves died at the age of 52, living the life of a quadraplegic for nine years following a horse accident.  In 1991, a former US Postal worker went on a killing spree following being fired from his post office job. Turns out this was the first of several incidents in which postal workers took out their frustrations on innocent people and introduced the term "going postal" into our vocabulary. In 1973, and I do r...

It's Monday morning, that time when we look forward into the new week and begin to make some plans for what we will be doing or needing to do. With the 4th of July being on Saturday, this might figure into our plans so that we can be prepared for the big celebration. And what a celebration it should be, honoring this great nation by remembering our origins! Maybe this year more than most as our history seems to be being erased a bit more each day. Anyhow...I keep promising some recipes, so today I will make good on that promise, or threat, however you see it. This came to mind as I was looking toward the week and thinking of meal ideas. So this is today's dinner...Garlic Butter Steak Bites. We have some round steaks in our freezer, and they truly do not grill well. Ours always end up tougher than leather, and while they don't taste bad you just get tired of chewing them. So this is what I use for making this recipe, although any steak will work. Garlic Butter Ste...

I always begin a new year anticipating the upcoming months and planning all that I will do in that time. I used to call them "new year's resolutions" but now I just add them to my "to do" list. Every upcoming year is a blank slate ready to record another year of my life. Most year's I have a plan or some idea what the year will hold. Of course, life is unpredictable and stuff happens that changes my plan, but generally I have a rough outline of a new year.  But my outlook for 2020 didn't even come close to what has been the reality. I don't even remember when I first heard the term "Coronavirus" but it sure didn't raise any red flags with me. Just another strain of the seasonal flu, I thought. Still not convinced I wasn't right about that, but that's not a discussion for here and only hindsight will expose the truth.  Since the first of the year we've each had one cold...maybe that was the Coronavirus! But whatever it wa...

48 years! That's how long we've been married...tomorrow. That's a big number which represents nearly three-quarters of our lives. And yet it's all gone by in a hurry. Seems only a few short years ago that we took the plunge. It probably helps that we got an early start on our lives together. We were both 19 when we got married. The odds were definitely against us. Neither of us had a real vision for the life we wanted or the maturity to carry on for the long haul, but we learned as we went, not without some troubled times, but we still survived them. I'm sure there might have been some side bets on how long our marriage would last, but I'm pretty sure none of them were forever, or even half as long as we've lasted.  Even scientific data says this was not a good union. We were both first-borns, which means we are both bossy, opiniated and feel the need to be in charge...and I will have to admit that most of the problems we've had come from this charac...

I am flattered! Someone actually wants to hear from me. I see I haven't posted in more than two months, my bad!, so my sister messaged me with a request to "get to blogging"!  Verbal conversations are not my forte. I do OK one on one, but within a group, I am a flop at conversation. First of all, I am not a fast conversationalist. I tend to think about my words, which is not a bad trait, but by the time I have figured out that I might have something to share that won't offend anyone, the conversation has moved on to another topic. And then, if I do say something, my voice tends to be quiet and doesn't carry well, so most times no one even hears what I have to say. Good thing I am a good listener! But I have the floor when I am writing! I can ponder my words and everyone can read or not, whichever they choose. So blogging is for sure my best mode of communication. The biggest problem in the last year and a half is that I am at home and not where the action is s...

I have never, even in my wildest sci-fi dreams, imagined that we would be in the shape we are today...quarantined from the rest of the world due to the Coronavirus. We are feeling fine, but since we just recently came from a very populous area and traveled through 6 states coming home, we feel, and it is recommended, that we need to self-quarantine for two weeks after traveling. Social distancing seems to be the general state of the country these days. What are all of you doing with the time you have alone? We are managing to keep ourselves busy and amused, but look forward to the days when we can get out and among people. We can be thankful for many things in all this. For starters, it's the electronic age. Even though we can't be in each other's physical presence, we can call, text, Skype, email, Facetime, and probably a whole bunch of stuff I've never heard of or know how to do. There are virtual everythings, and we can even take a trip virtually. We have been to...