Update on Mom:
Mom's scar has healed really fast and she's been a trooper! She has had a few curveballs thrown her way, but I know she's a strong woman and can make it through! Tomorrow, she will go to take her Radioactive Pill. She has to be quarantined from people for about 3 days...she will have a scan run to make sure that all of the thyroid tissue is gone so that no cancerous cells are left behind. She has already done a lower dosage of this pill and it didn't kill everything, so this is round two for her. The pill makes her very tired and last time I believe it gave her really bad headaches. She is already tired enough with her thyroid, so i'm hoping she'll have more energy soon! Hopefully, after this scan, she will be cancer free and can resume normal life again. I know that her summer has been consumed with doctor's visits, surgery, and worry, so I hope this will be the end of it! Please pray that this radioactive pill will get rid of everything and that when she starts her thyroid medicine, she will finally start having more energy!
Update on my weekend in Nashville, AR:
I had the best weekend! My wonderful friend, Ashley Jamison, took a group of us home to meet her family and to make peach preserves! Ashley was an amazing hostess, and was constantly preparing food for us...she's an awesome cook! Here's our weekend recap:
We left around noon on Friday, and made the 2 hour trek to good ole Nashville, AR. For those of you who don't know, I was not born a "southern" girl. I was raised in Indianapolis, IN...No Ya'lls and Fixin's and Coke (we said POP)...so this was an eye-opening experience for me. I really enjoyed going out to the country and traveling down dirt roads as the cows "moo-ed" at me (which if you know me, I'm scared of dogs, so this really scared me...haha). Ashley's family owns a lot of land, and practically all of her dad's family lives on the land....so as we entered town Ashley pointed out where everyone lived, Granny, Poppa, Aunt Amelia, Aunt Jackie, Cousin Micah, Cousin Ace...and so on. (There are WAY too many to remember, haha!)
Once we made it to Ashley's, we unloaded the car and got right back in to head over to her Cousin Tela's house. Tela is building a house with her husband, and man was it beautiful!! Tela just found out she is having TWINS, so it was fun to see her! She was in Kojies with us at Harding. We left Tela's, and went home to help Ashley cook supper. She made fried chicken, fried okra, creamed corn, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, and a delicious salad. Mrs. Bernie made Mocha Cheesecake for dessert! We tore up the kitchen, but it was worth it! We spent the evening cleaning up our mess, before we finally decided to hit the hay. We needed our rest before the Peach-Mania began.
On Saturday, we arose to the smell of homemade cinnamon rolls (Ashley spoiled us, if you can't tell already!) Lindsey and I began to sit at the table and peel some peaches, and some more peaches, and even more peaches. Talk about a sticky job...but it was fun! Ashley decided we could go first to make our preserves, and she coached us through the process. What a wonderful coach! Here's a picture of me cooking: (no makeup, so don't mind me)
And sweet, pregnant Lindsey:
And here are my peach preserves, waiting for the lids to "pop" and seal:
After we made preserves, we took the leftover peaches, mixed them with sugar and this fresh fruit powder (to keep them from turning brown), and we loaded them up in freezer bags. This way we'll have some frozen anytime we want to pull them out and whip up a pie or cobbler. YUM! So most of saturday was taken over with peaches...Granny came to help us, and she was so sweet...she showed us how to peel easily (because me and a knife is scary business). Her and Poppa picked all of these peaches for us out of their Orchard, and they were so great to do this for us! Thanks Granny and Poppa!!!!!!!!!!
After peeling peaches, Ashley's daddy took us to the Coca-Cola Plant where he works. They just celebrated their 100th anniversary in Nashville, AR, so there was a Museum to walk-through with Coca-Cola paraphernalia from years and years ago. I loved all of the old Coca-Cola machines...we took some fun pictures, too!
The plant, complete with Ashley's mother:
Lindsey and me in the museum:
The coke machines:
Now that's a lot of COKE!!!
And of course we took silly pictures:
Can you tell we had fun at the Coca-Cola Plant???? We really enjoyed getting to see everyting! Thanks, Mr. James for taking us!!!!!
When we got home, Ashley started working on another dinner...Greek Salad, Squash Medley, Rolls, and her dad grilled chicken with an awesome marinade. Granny and Poppa joined us for dinner...we had a great dinner! After dinner, Caroline, Lindsey, Ashley, and myself decided to take a walk. We walked over to Granny and Poppa's house...this is when the cows were "moo"ing at me and I started walking faster...the girls made fun of me. I know a cow is not going to "get me" but I was still nervous. They were LOUD!! And there were TONS of them! We made it home, safely (thank goodness), as soon as the sun went down. We finished the evening wrapping up the peaches we hadn't finished yet...I slept great that night. Lots of work!
Sunday morning, we went to Ashley's church, and got to meet a lot of her family members. We went home and Ashley made us taco salads. Ashley's mom, Bernie, made us cookies fresh out of the oven...YUM Then we packed up our things and headed home. We really had a fabulous weekend! I enjoyed meeting new friends...Sarah, Valorie, and Caroline...along with all of Ashley's family! If anyone is reading this, thanks so much for a great weekend! I loved every minute of it and I learned a lot!
I'm officially a peach preserve making queen,
Carrie
