Hello,
I am sitting here with my Brother… Bonie is across from me, so is Kynndarrn. I also am near my wife Toni.
It is our hope that your Thanksgiving was a wonderful time filled with family, friends and love. This is how it should be celebrated and also what we planned to do.
Glen received a call on Tuesday, November 18th that his father who lives in Palm Bay, FL had a massive stroke and only had four to five days to live. So on Wednesday, November 19, we flew to Florida to be near him and his mother. By the end of the week all of his brothers, sisters, numerous family members, and countless friends from all over the country converged in Palm Bay to pray, hope and cry (not necessarily in that order). By Friday, November 21, he was given only a 20% chance of surviving. The stroke had caused a massive swelling in his brain and according to the Neurologist, had also caused brain fluid to leak into his spine. The stroke had also caused paralysis on the left side of his body, and also blinded in his left eye. Needless to say, we were all very distraught. It was disheartening to see this vibrant man, in such a life changing state.
Members of the family and friends had almost a 24 hour vigil at the hospital and at Glen’s parent’s home, continually praying, consoling each other and hoping for the best. He could speak, but with a slur, because the left side of his body was totally non-functioning.
On Saturday, November 22, we visited him in the hospital about 10am and had a surprise. Here was a man that was given to up to die, talking vibrantly (considering he had a tubes going through him to remove bodily fluids and to feed him). Of course his left side was still virtually paralyzed, but the strength in his voice had increased tremendously. He proclaimed to us joyously, that “God – The Almighty” had visited him the night before, sat on the right side of his bed and told him that they (God and the Angels) are not ready for him to come home, as yet. He assured us that everything will be OK, and that it will take awhile, but he is back amongst the living; he went on to say that the God will allow him to continue with the “breath of life” because his work here on Earth is not done. From that moment on, he has continually improved.
On Sunday, November 23, his doctor proclaimed it a “miracle” that he was still alive. He was so surprised that he apologized to us (the family) for giving us such a grim outlook. The following day, he was transferred outside of ICU to a standard hospital bed.
It has been a long and painful few days, but we are happy to say that with the combination of hope, prayer and good medicine, he began to come around. His vision and hearing on his left side is returning and he is using his left arm, hand, foot and leg, even walking a few steps with help. The day before Thanksgiving, he was discharged from the hospital and transferred to a physical rehabilitation facility. They do not expect him to be there very long as his strength is quickly returning.
Thanksgiving is a time of family and friends and this episode in our lives lends credence to the importance of it. My parents passed on long ago and Glen’s parents have always treated me like a daughter, along with all of the other “in-law spouses”. The fear and pain felt by blood relatives was also felt by those related by marriage.
We are home now and are in constant contact to follow his progress and to make sure Momma is being taken care of also.
Love your family. Your parents, sons, daughters and let it flow all the way to the newborns. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Show your love and give flowers while they can still smell them. We truly have a reason to be thankful this year.
Always love each other!
Hugs and More,
Toni and Glen
Believers in God the Creator, Angels and Miracles
copycat recipes
For the gagillions of you that are wondering where we are, we are still here. The woods are still beautiful and there is no where else we would rather be. So “I’ll be back”, with stories of life up north. The fun, silliness and honesty that can only be found by someone honest enought to tell you in the spring, “Hey, I think that’s a tick”.
Enjoy!
I am here typing my thoughts as we are celebrating our 31st Wedding Anniversary. Who would have thought that after meeting this boy when I was twelve years old, we would be sharing a life together? I have a story, it would be a lot longer in person, but so as not to bore anyone, I will condense it a bit.
I met him at school and we became good friends. Nothing was ever more than friendship even up until the point when he asked me to marry him. We each had our own lives and relationships, but remained fast friends, talking on the phone and writing later when he left for the military. It was strange, but I always told him that there was someone better for him. We had only kissed under the mistletoe on the holidays; the first was with my mouth full of Doritos, so it was unbelievably innocent. And after a kiss like that, I’m surprised he came back!
It is still crystal clear in my head was when he visited our church. I was a Sunday School Secretary and in the Choir so he had to wait until the end of the service before he came up to me and said “when are we gonna get married?” I said “whenever you’re ready”. He said “first you have to get rid of your boyfriend”. Which was true; I did have a boyfriend, whom I quickly “kicked to the curb”. No great loss there…
Then we began to go out on dates. We went to movies, McDonalds, White Castle, walks in the park, and other casual things. Glen was still living at his parents’ house and the opportunity came for us to spend time together when his parents and the rest of his family went to New York. I stayed with him and have not slept at home since. When his family came back, his loving mom would leave food for us and after a few weeks, gently asked, “Is Toni living here?” He said yes, and I was welcomed to the family.
One night we went to my parent’s house to visit and he told them “I want to marry your daughter, I don’t have much, but I will take care of her”. My mother’s head spun around a few times and my father stood up and shook his hand and said “you are a real man, a real man”. I am not sure if my mother’s head was still spinning or not. After all, I was a church raised girl, “living in sin”. We still got their blessing and I graduated from high school and married the same week! My mom came to love him as a son. We had a much larger wedding than either of us cared for. We didn’t need the “pomp and circumstance”, we only needed each other. And to this day it is still the same.
Since then, we have raised two beautiful children and have 3 lovely grandchildren. Watching them grow is a blessing unto itself.
To celebrate our anniversary in the early years, we started out with lavish gifts and very fancy dinners, but over the years have found that it means nothing. For starters, we only have ten fingers and don’t need more rings, and while we still travel every chance we get, it is not because it’s an anniversary, it’s because we want to go somewhere. Today we took a lovely drive and we may take another drive this evening, go out for dinner, but it does not need to be fancy.
The best way to celebrate love is to know that it is pure and simple. Enjoy simple things that you have always liked, and at the end of the day hold and love each other.
That’s what 31 years of love has taught us.
Well, here we go again… Isn’t it supposed to be spring? In times like this you just smile and enjoy breathing!
What was supposed to be a warm weekend, ended up with SNOW! I will not put any expletives here, but I am sure you know what I am thinking!
Even with the untimely temperatures, we had a heartwarming weekend. Great friends, comfort food served potluck style, enjoyable hugs, warmth and fun, fun, fun!
It was so nice to have friends over that we have not seen in months sharing “Northwoods Love”. It started with two great friends and three white chocolate martinis. Add to that, steak , cheese and cracker hors d’ouerves , burgers, au gratin potatoes, ham steaks, and “hope for spring”, which made for a wonderful evening.
After dinner, conversation continued; with laughter and togetherness. This is what an enjoyable night is about! Good people, fun times, and a wonderful atmosphere! It was so much fun; I actually did not care about the snow and cold outside… It was GREAT!!!
Now if I can just get the recipe for those CHOCOLATE “TINI’S”.
First, for those of you that care (thanks kids), sorry we have not blabbered at you for awhile. We were punished by our providers for over usage. To think you can actually use up too much open air and metal! Of course I know there is more to it than that, but heck, it sure is great to make fun of the Internet. Well it happened; and for a while we felt like the proverbial “red headed stepchild”. So here we are…
The snow continues to fall up North as we look out our window. The morning shined in and also BLEW in with mild temperatures, heavy wind and 12+” of *&%#@+ snow!!! Not a good time to be a Robin…
So as I scowl at the snow outside, there’s Glen. Literally giddy with excitement, almost dancing at the window, putting on his boots going out and taking pictures and measurements of the so called Spring surroundings. I almost locked him outside!
Be brave I told myself, maybe it’s a dream… or a nightmare. At any rate, it should turn warm in a few days and I can go back to planning gardens, WARM walks outside, and eventually, Robins that aren’t walking around with a look that can only say “HUH?!!!”.
Just as I calm myself to the reality that this is only a temporary situation, Glen dances over and says “wanna go snowmobiling?” I say to myself, don’t run screaming in fear, after all it, even with 12-15 inches of snow, it is beautiful outside and be realistic, it’s really not that bad! Then that little guy jumped on my shoulder, dressed in shorts and sandals, and screamed in my ear… NOOOOOOO!!!!! I can only stare at Glen in amazement and shake my head no. Glen being the patient and kind soul says “OK”. How does he put up with me?
Glen continues to dance at the windows, patio doors and anything he can see thru and again asks “wanna go snowmobiling?” After a few more negative responses from me, he says he is gonna go out, “it’s so pretty and it’s warm too”, he says. I watch him walk around outside, looking longingly at the snowmobiles.
I take a deep breath… He is right, the snow is quite beautiful, the weather is warm, and no matter how much I wish it was 60 degrees and sunny, IT’S NOT! I can fight it, I can ignore it, but it’s not gonna go away! *&%$, he’s right!
I jump into my snow gear and join him outside. He cranks up the snowmobile and away we go! It was absolutely beautiful! We rode around and the majesty of nature came through. Pines weighted down by snow, trees blowing in the wind and endless snow to plow thru! Yeah, I admit it, I had fun! I held onto Glen as we enjoyed yet another special moment together.
And tomorrow, when he says, “wanna go snowmobiling?” I am gonna say YES!!!
I’m also still hoping we get plowed out soon…
Last Sunday, we went to Tobies in Hinckley to sing Karaoke. Many of our local friends were here having fun with us.
You know, when you are young, you can run, laugh and enjoy life’s pleasures. But guess what, you can do it when you are older too!
We are at a point where we enjoy what we call “grandparent mode”. We have our grandkids over and have a fun time. Warm muffins, snow, bonfires, snowmobile rides and hot chocolate. Kids running all around! That’s enough for us! But sometimes things get weird up here…
OK. we look at our wildlife camera and we see strange lights. Glen calls to me “Toni, come and see this!”
Bright lights that can only be described as “Orbs”… Large lights that moved as the camera picks them up. Not up in the sky, but almost at eye level. We just stared at the picture.
OK, this is not some late night sitcom, my name is not “Snuffy” and I have all my teeth. I can honestly say I don’t know what the *&%#$ it was, I do know that WE DID SEE IT!
So, we go over to one of our friend’s house and he casually mentions after about an hour or so that there was some strange light shining in his window and he thought it was snowing. He also saw the lights.
Well now this is gonna get really weird. I am talking to our daughter and I mention the lights. She responds as if she has already seen them. I told her “you don’t know what we mean”. She says, “but you told me about them”. My response was that “this is the first time we spoke since we saw them, so how can you know”? She then said that she can “see them exactly as we see them”. I rubbed my head and Glen sent her an email of it. She said that is what she was talking about. We both rubbed our heads.
So here is a pic of it. If you have seen it, we can rub our heads together!
This is one of my favorite comfort foods. Try this on one of the remaining cold winter nights.
Please note. I do not normally use measurements. This is a close approximation to what I use.
3 to 3 1/2 lb of Boneless Rump Roast
3 cloves of garlic cut in medium sized pieces
Salt and pepper
1 medium onion, 1/2 inch slices
½ Green Pepper, sliced
4-5 small red potatoes with skin on
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup Red Wine
1 can Beef Broth
Thyme sprig
3 carrots, cut in medium slices
Preheat your oven to 375°F. If roast is too fatty cut most of it off, but not all Position roast at room temperature, with fat side up in roasting pan. This will allow the roast to have its juices melt into the roast.
Poke knife cuts into meat with a knife. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stick pieces of garlic inside cuts. Add remaining ingredients
Cover and cook roast at 375°F. It should take about 2 to 3 hours, depending on the size of the roast. Check periodically to baste roast and veggies in the juice. As it cooks, it will thicken and form a delicious gravy. Use a meat thermometer to verify it is done in the center. The meat will need to be about 135° to 140°F to ensure it is done. If liquid not cooking down enough, cook uncovered for 20 minutes or stir in a little cornstarch.
Goes great with with warm buttered rolls. You can also omit the potatoes from the recipe and serve with mashed potatoes.
Serve with the remaining wine used in the recipe to add a delectable flavor to the entire meal.
It’s about 90 minutes before I turn 49. I am feeling repetitive asking where the years have gone, so I am not going to. Man, what a dumb question! It’s not like I was born at 45!
The funny thing is that I don’t feel old. I never really have, except for after a surgery, but that hasn’t even stopped me. Each decade, each year has been filled with love and support from my family and especially my love of forever Glen.
Can’t say much about turning ten, probably was a dorky kid, trying to figure out this kooky world and having no luck at all. Twenty was great, married and mother of a beautiful little girl that even to this day, besides Glen, is one of the only people I can bare my soul to. At thirty, I was a corporate woman and mother of two, on my way up the ladder; walking around in the concrete jungle, looking for a rope to swing onto and get the heck out of there.
Forty was fun! I had reached the state of “I don’t give a &@$! and it was wonderful. I don’t think I have changed much since then. I do wish I knew what I knew at ten that I know now. But then, maybe not; no one likes a smart%@* know-it-all.
So as 48 turns to 49 and the next decade of my live grows even closer, I will raise a glass and look forward to seeing what it holds, who I meet and all the wonderful experiences this world holds. I think it’s gonna be fun!
Feel free to sing happy birthday to me!
Friends