jb_2011 Member

Hi everyone, wanted to give you an update on my great-niece Mariah, I received this message from her mom this morning: :heart: "Just a quick update on our family: we are leaving now to head back to Jacksonville, Fla for Mariah's continued proton radiation therapy. We have 20 more days (or 4 full weeks). We had to leave…

Hi everyone! I've just done a quick scan through the last several pages of this endearing encyclopedia - whoa, lots of ladies with lots of things going on! Newcomers and oldtimers alike, I'm so pleased to see such fantastic action on the thread. I was thinking about going to the library to get a new book to read, but now…

Hi girls! I'm up to my ears in taking care of the gardens, harvesting, canning, and using up last year's frozen goods. I defrosted several gallon-sized bags of berries yesterday, putting them in the blender with some water, then straining off the seeds. So far I have 2 quarts of seedless raspberry puree, not sure what I'll…

Came home with 12 lbs of blueberries today, yummmmm! My friend picked for me, too. How sweet!. :bigsmile: We put them on the food scale and weighed them....making a grand total of 45 lbs of berries from their bushes so far! Holy blueberries! Joyce, I noticed you asked about the size of my garden...it's close to 3000 sq ft.…

Good morning everyone, happy Sunday! I had planned to stay out of the garden yesterday (yeah, right!) :tongue: and get my house cleaned, but you can probably guess what happened. :laugh: I did manage to clean the kitchen and scrub the tub, but that's about it. I ended up watering and pruning for a few hours, and mowed the…

Finally took photos of the quinoa plants today! Lots of other photos from my garden as well. Take a look! :bigsmile: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/jb_2011/view/quinoa-veg-garden-pics-679258 :smile: jb in garden-y Portland

Hi there! Just stopping by for a minute, wanted to share my blog post from this morning with photos of some of my flower gardens at the house. I'm still planning to take my camera to the veg garden one day and photograph the quinoa plants! Take a look at the flowers if you'd like:…

Dang it, I forgot to take the camera to the garden today, would have been a perfect day to photograph the quinoa with the cloud cover we've had. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. :blushing: Here's Mariah wearing her new hat!!

Rori, great photo of all of you! How fun Meg was able to meet up before she went out looking for bears :wink: Margaret, and anyone else with slugs - we have them something fierce here in Oregon. Last week when I picked up some flakes of straw that I'd put down to mulch the row of peas, I found more than a few huge slugs.…

Yanniejannie, I was just thinking I it was about time to give you all an update about Mariah. My sister sent out a group letter to friends and family this morning, perfect timing!! Here's what she wrote: "Hello everyone ... It has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote to you about Mariah so wanted to get an update out…

Hi all, long time no see! Busy summer, keeping up with work and the gardens, not much extra time!! Saw this on facebook, thought you'd get a kick out of it. :laugh: :smile: jb in Portland

A quick good morning, might crawl back in bed! :yawn: Sylvia, most recipes call for seeding peppers before cooking, but I usually leave seeds in jalapenos for the heat. Seeds can impart a strange flavor in canned salsas. Fresh salsa can be made with seeds left in, depending on how much heat you want. I'm curious, how hot…

Happy 4th! :heart: Big gardening day in store, time to catch up with the weeding. Storing produce - well, my fridge is always packed full of greens & things, and what we don't use goes in the compost. I give a lot away to neighbors, students, and to the senior center, plus we trade and share a few things with neighboring…

Happy 4th Eve! I've got my hat, I'm all ready. :bigsmile: Life's been crazy, sorry I haven't had the time to check in with all of you. Sooooo busy with gardening! Here's the garden report -- Thyme and oregano havested, dried and packaged, sage & rosemary still drying upstairs. Parsley and basil plants growing up nicely. 25…

Here it is Friday already, this week zoomed by. Tuesday we had a killer (and I do mean KILLER) hailstorm that took out my seedlings and shredded most other plants. I think I've been depressed ever since. :sad: It's going to be a rather ugly-looking yard this summer. :ohwell: Most things at the vegetable garden did ok, I…

It's a misty Sunday morning, no doubt I'll get a little soggy out there working in the garden, June gloom, I guess they call it. I like to think of it as "pea weather". Once the hot sunshine returns, the edible pod peas will decline rapidly, so I'm loving the cool misty days that are loaded with fresh peas. Yesterday I…

Hiya! 59 here, I'm into my 4th year with MFP. It works! I weighed 225 when I began, all stove up with sciatic pain, herniated disk, etc. Started daily with specific exercises from a book called "Pain Free' by Pete Egoscue, becoming pain free within 5 months, and lost 50 lbs in my first year. Dropped another 15 the…

Happy weekend! Cheryl, striking photos, fantastic horse, fabulous you. I did quite bit of riding at one point in time. A friend rode often in Ride & Tie events, I would help her train, we'd go off trotting on trails for 10 miles without a break, which I never did get in shape for. I recall being quite sore, but loved the…

Adaniel, welcome dearie, hop on in and join the fun! :bigsmile: Let us know your name if you want. I'm Joanie, but I go by "jb" in rememberance of my dad who always called me that when I was a kid :wink: Sylvia! :heart: Great pic. This morning I processed and froze 10 single serving packages of spinach & water puree that…

Hi there, good morning to all. Thanks once again, just knowing you're all cheering for Mariah's success helps so much. :flowerforyou: I've been thinking a lot about her sister, Gabriela, and how she must be feeling in the midst of all of this. It's time I write her a letter. :wink: I've had a hellacious 6 weeks with all of…

Good morning everyone, :heart: Thank you for your continued kind words of support and prayers for Mariah. She had her first round of chemo yesterday, and will have another injection today. Here are a couple of photos, first one taken this past New Years, my niece Jennifer & husband Alex, with Mariah and her older sister…

Good morning! :flowerforyou: My niece Jennifer sent a message about Mariah this morning...really good news about the tests coming back clear, YAY!! "Just a quick update on Mariah: went to Dr. Yesterday and got the info on Mariah's treatment plan. Basically, she will be in treatment for the next year. She starts chemo…

Good morning, Just thought I'd stop in for a few minutes before another lovely day begins. Hubby will be off to work soon, then I'll fire up the vacuum and have a go at this house which has been gathering dust in a fast hurry. I do a little each day, but being in the garden is so much more fun! :tongue: Yesterday we spent…

Thanks, everyone for your continued prayers and positive thoughts for Mariah :heart: Sue, :flowerforyou: I'm sending Mariah's mom a card tomorrow with the story you shared about your DGD's friend and the paper dolls......what a fabulous idea! Thanks so much. I think Mariah will love having that as a project. :heart: See,…

:flowerforyou: An update on my 10 yr old great-niece, Mariah, written today by her mom: As of last week, we learned that the Pathology for the brain tumor had changed since last year. It has now been called a Rhabdoid tumor. Due to this change, we are now taking a much more aggressive road to treatment. Instead of just…

:flowerforyou: Thanks DeeDee, June's gonna be better, I just know it :glasses: :flowerforyou: Michele, I'm still searching for those seeds, need a trip to the nursery. I can pick up a few new plants while I'm there, more flowers for the yard! I'm out of my mind, lol. :flowerforyou: Meg, nice garden you have there! I'm…

Kim, thanks for the welcome back, and hey, I love your new pic! :flowerforyou: Michele, stop by any time :bigsmile: I'm growing red beets, next planting will be the golden ones if I can find seed :huh: I'm feeling a trifle better this morning, head not so woozy, but my left ear is still plugged up :grumble: I have a few…

June blooms, none too soon! :flowerforyou: I've never been so happy to see May march away :huh: ...it was a tough one. Emotional upheaval due to the news of Mariah's cancer returning, then I fell ill. :sick: I'm finally starting to feel better after 2+ weeks of being down with a nasty virus that's been going around.…

Oh man, that is soooo true. It takes a lot of work - not only to change the physical self, but to change the way we think. Learning to treat ourselves with kindness (for once) is a big undertaking. We are compassionate with others, why not with ourselves?? People say "you'll be so much happier when you lose the…

Hi ladies :flowerforyou: Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers for Mariah, she's doing ok, and the family is hanging in there. Here are the current updates as written by Mariah's aunt Kelly: "Mariah did have her surgery on Thursday morning as planned. She was in the OR for most all day while several surgeons…