The Doctor and my Mother

I sat today at the neurologist with my Mother on Valentines Day. She has rapidly been  deteriorating in the last 2 mos. Several falls, emergency room visits, 3 weeks without uttering a word, and now when she does speak she has "thought blockage" (She will start and not finish talking or just can't get it out at all!). We now have her in a walker and has full time care. I need to find out what may be medicine induced or what may be a potential problem. Now you would have to think that my mom is very elderly but she has just turned 67 years old! I will have to input that my mom also has been on medication for an imbalance for 37 years. Most of my life! I looked at her today and wonder why does this happen to people in a family and not others? Her mother, my Nana is going to be 96 this year and still lives on her own. Everyone else on that side of the family have strong personalities and mostly healthy lives. I also have the strong outlook on life and strive to be as healthy as I can be. Thank you, God for all my blessings!! My mom lead mostly a full life until almost the age of 30. She was kind, soft spoken, and had a gentleness about her that people commented on. Then she got sick and her life was never the same. On one hand it is so frustrating and you just want to shake her and say "Do you not see all the life you are missing and have missed!" and then you just want to hug her and say "I'm sorry you missed so much".

"Mom even though you do not know what day this is and may not remember tomorrow we enjoyed today together ......Happy Valentine's Day...With all my heart....your daughter, Laura Lea"

Snow, snow, snow..........

Yes, its cold and snowy and they say it is  going to get worse! We have our candles out, the wood stacked and the lanterns ready to go just in case the ice takes a toll on the electric lines. It is funny how I look forward to these kind of days. Everyone in the family has to slow down because they have no where to go with the streets so icy. My boys play board games (who knew they were still around) and cuddle up on the couch to listen to me read a book (The original Wizard of Oz). We make sure that we have the brownies baked just in case we can't cook later. Chocolate is always a good survival food ! And we actually talk to each other. Its not that our family doesn't talk, but with a fast past life, conversations are limited and not with the detail you have when you have time to slow down and enjoy each other. As I am gazing out the window at the winter birds happily enjoying the snow, I thank God for these slow, warm , cozy days inside my home.

Stocking Up!

It seems that I have the utmost joy looking into a well stocked food storage. I have always kept a full freezer......But, then I discovered canning and drying my herbs. The question is can your storage ever be too much? Nahhhh! I feel great pride knowing that my family always will be feed no matter the hard times we may encounter. I found this on another blog and thought it might help with stocking up.


"An effective way to shop for food storage and other household items is to know when items typically go on sale. Some of this is common sense, however, I've been gathering information from Consumer Reports, several websites, and store ads, and I am putting together a Seasonal Sales Calendar to help you with your food and general shopping. Be patient and shop for items when they go on sale as this will help you stock up on food storage."

Seasonal Sales Calendar

January - New Years, Chinese New Year, Super Bowl Sales
Grocery Sales: Roasts, apples, grapefruit, oranges, and pears, breakfast cereal, canned chili, soups, dry bouillon, prepared meals, teriyaki and soy sauce, oriental noodles, lotion, toiletries

February - Valentine's & President's Day Sales
Grocery Sales: Post Valentine’s Day candy, apples, grapefruit, oranges, pears, breakfast cereal, food bars, canned chili, nuts, toilet paper, facial tissue, butter, foil, plastic wrap, trash bags, hair color, razors, diapers, soap/body wash, wheat grinder

March - National Frozen Food Month, Case Lot Sales
Grocery Sales: Frozen vegetables, meats, breakfast items, and TV dinners. Case lot sales - canned soups, fruit, vegetables, beans, meats, stew, honey, jelly, mac & cheese, Spam, hand grain mill

April - National Garden Month, Easter
Grocery Sales: Eggs, ham, marshmallows, broccoli, cauliflower, Easter candy clearance

May - Cinco De Mayo, Mother's Day, Memorial Day
Grocery Sales: Taco sauce, enchilada sauce, salsa, Hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, buns, asparagus, pineapple, BBQ sauce, ketchup,mustard, frozen veggies, baked beans, paper goods, olives

June - National Safety Month, Father's Day
Grocery Sales: Bottled water, dairy products, tomatoes, croutons, salad dressing, Gatorade powder, lemonade powder

July - Canning Month, 4th of July
Grocery Sales: Bottled water, ketchup, BBQ sauce, steak sauce, mustard, croutons, salad dressing, mayonnaise, pickles, relish, hot dogs, ground beef, Jell-O, beef steaks, chicken, paper supplies, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, corn, cherries, squash, watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, plums, peaches, and nectarines, Gatorade powder, lemonade powder

August - Back to School Sales
Grocery Sales: Squash, green peppers, salad fixings, berries, apples, melons, peaches, apricots, and fresh fish, juice

September - Emergency Preparedness & Case Lot Sales
Grocery Sales:  Case lot sales (canned soups, fruit, vegetables, beans, meats, stew, honey, jelly, mac. & cheese, Spam, Ravioli's, Spaghettios, hand grain mill, etc.), apples, broccoli, cauliflower, school snacks, Capri suns, fruit snacks, cereal, peanut butter/jelly, bottled spaghetti sauce

October - National Fire Prevention Month, Halloween
Grocery Sales: Vegetable and other oils, canned pumpkins, cranberries, grapes, oranges, sweet potatoes, and yams, instant potatoes, stuffing, canned cranberries, marshmallows, ice cream, pie shells, whipped cream, crackers, candy making supplies, nuts, choc. chips, frozen pizza, corn syrup, soup mixes
November - Veterans Day, & Thanksgiving Sales
Grocery Sales: canned cranberries, canned pumpkin, stuffing, olives, whipping cream, cool whip, frozen vegetables, fresh cranberries (freeze for later), cream cheese, chicken broth, turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, yams, and post-Halloween bags of candy, condensed milk, cake mix, frosting, brownie mix, cooking spray, pie filling

December - Christmas & after Christmas Sales
Grocery Sales: Candy making supplies, flour, sugar, nuts, choc. chips, oranges, apples, and grapefruit, broth, soups, party foods, baking cocoa, hot cocoa, pasta, vanilla & other extracts, cream of tartar, cooking spray, cold medicine, thermometers, toothbrushes, batteries, vitamins

Starting anew

I decided today to start a blog on my crazy chaos life. The wonderful minutes of the day that keep me going.......I decided to call it My Family Garden because my husband and I have a his,mine and ours family of 6 children. This does not include the children that are not ours biologically. But we feel that they were sent to us for a reason and consider them all as one of ours (you know who you are!) Its funny how that works out. God knew that we  would open our hearts and home to our wonderful (informally adopted) children and knew it would be a perfect fit with the rest of the family.


Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I decided to keep a record of the new going ons of this fun and crazy family!