Homemade Yogurt in a Crockpot | Our Life Simplified

Homemade Yogurt in a Crockpot | Our Life Simplified

It Just Doesn't End........

Hi Friends,

               Well, I guess I spoke to soon about hoping things were taking a turn for the better for Kevin. We have made many more trips to the ER, DR's., and finally  a specialist. We are finally getting answers and soon, hopefully with surgery he will be ok. He was fighting UTI's and yeast infections constantly and was referred to a Urologist, finally. He ran some tests and now we have answer. Kevin has Bladder Stone's at first we were told 3 but now there is 4 and they are all at least 1" in diameter each. He was scheduled for surgery this past Wednesday and the surgeon was going to remove them using a scope, Long story short, he ran into scar tissue and was unable to complete the surgery. Kevin is trying to find another surgeon who is willing to do the surgery the old way,  incision, and take them out that way. Keep him in your prayers if you can that he can get this done soon. He has already lost about 80 lbs..

         I have been doing ok, just trying to hold things together and keep Kevin going so he doesn't give up. He talks about that a lot the longer this goes on and he has anger management & depression problems also. I get a few hours sleep here and there at night and just grab a bite of  junk food on the run during the day. We will make it through all of this one way or another with God's help. Having our faith is what has kept us going through all of this.

           We have a new addition to our family, His name is Star. He is a short hair domestic rescue kitty from the shelter. We adopted 2 but the other one who was also black and named Shadow died a couple of months later. He had FIP. We are very lucky Star didn't get it too. Star got his name because he has a white star on his throat. He is getting to be a very large cat. He will be 1 year old April 28. I would love to get a small puppy , so they could play together. I miss having a dog so much, but I love my Star Kitty!!

         I have been in the mood to downsize. We just have too much stuff, so it's going out of here...donate, sell whatever it takes. I believe everything we have been going through has made me realize just what is more important.  I'm going to be getting rid of a LOT of my craft and sewing supplies, household items and more. I want to focus mostly on embroidery and small prims.

        It has taken me at least 4 hours or more to write this counting all  of the interruptions since I started it. I really want to get back to blogging, so I can have something positive to focus my thoughts on. I miss all of my blogging friends too!!! You guys are the greatest!!

        Thanks to all of you who have stayed with me here and followed what little I have posted.  I'm very serious about  getting my own life back on track and starting to take care of me more for a change.  I know that means a lot of work for me..diet, exercise,  making time for my sewing/crafting, taking care of the  apt. and most of all Bible Study and spending time with God.

          I hope to be back posting, even if it's just to say "HI, I'm still alive", very soon depending on how Kevin's health goes. The biggest lesson all of this has taught me is that I need to take care of myself too.

Blessings,
Brenda

Changes are Coming....

I will be starting to make a lot of changes on my blog in the near future.

Kevin has been very ill and almost died last April..  It has been a long recuperation period with a lot of set backs. We've made more trips to the ER and Dr. than I can keep track of.   I will post more on what has been happening over the next few days.

I hope to have things changed and be back to blogging daily by the 1st of February.

I've missed keeping up with all of you..

Hugs,
Brenda

Happy Easter Friends

    I hope you all had a wonderful and Blessed Easter. I just got my computer running again. I was working on this post earlier and my computer died...nothing worked. I disconnected everything , even took the battery out and after all of that I tried it again and I'M BACK..... I was getting frantic because I have so much info stored on here. I think I will start backing things up on DVD's tomorrow if the storms don't get too bad.


    I'm going to be making a lot of changes on my blog, new background, layout, a section for selling my crafts, vintage items, etc.. I will still have the recipe blog too, which I'm going to be adding recipes to in the near future. I have been sorting through stacks of recipes and have been sorting out the good ones. It amazes me how fast things like that accumulate. I'm always cutting out recipes "to try" and never get around to trying them . Well the time has come to start trying the ones that really sound good and nutritional.


    I hope you all are staying safe in these storms we've been having. It seems like there is no end in sight! I just keep praying the Lord will keep us all safe!


Well  I believe I hear my bed calling me, I have a lot I want to get done tomorrow depending on the weather.


Talk to you all soon,

I've been missing again......

I have to admit I've been spending way too much time on Face Book again. I wish I could stay away from there, I waste too much time on it. I've got a million other things I could and should be doing.

We have everything unpacked and in its place now from the move. I sure am glad that is all done. I don't think my back will ever be the same though. I've been having a lot of problems with my back and legs both since the move. I now have a Rollator Walker that I use to walk with on the really bad days.  Kevin  has one he uses to walk with now too.

I am getting anxious for warm weather to get here so I can get outside more. I have some plants I put in pots from the other apt. that I want to get planted in the ground. I have Sedum/Live Forever, Coral Bells, pink & white, and Hens & Chickens. I have a bunch of those. I want to start some herbs in pots to keep in the house so they don't get full of bugs. We have several stray cats in the area too and I don't want to have to worry about them getting into my herbs. I hoping to spend some time siting on the porch doing embroidery too. The bad thing is we get the full sun from late in the morning until it goes down at night. We had the morning sun in the other apt..

I have to make a trip to Walmart for a few things in the morning. I hate going there it is such a huge store and it wears me out when I have to do the whole store at one time. I'm hoping tomorrow I can get one of the electric carts since I'm not getting that much but need to cover the whole store.

It's about bed time for me. I'm trying to get to bed earlier and get up earlier, not easy to do. I'm a night owl!! Kevin is usually in bed around 8PM, then he gets up about 4AM. I wish he would change his schedule a little. I've been trying to get to bed by at least 11PM. I'm doing a little better at it!!

I'm going to be making some changes on here. I want to change the background as soon as I can find one that will work with Blogger. I need to start adding recipes to the kitchen site too . I finally have all of my recipes in one place again.

Talk to you all again soon, take care. and God Bless all of you,
Goodnight my friends,
Brenda

Not feeling to good

the last couple of days. I think that flu bug is trying to invade our space.  My aunt and uncle were supposed to come today for a visit, they are both in their 80's, and I called and told them I was sick . They decided to stay home for now. I think they made the right decision. I would hate for them to get sick at their age!

I'm not crazy about the thought of more snow coming in the next few days, but would rather see it than the thunderstorms we will be having in a few months. I don't like storms!

 The unpacking has slowed down the last few days since I haven't been feeling good. I hope I can get back to it soon. I'm getting down to all that is left now is my crafting and sewing supplies. I have  about 12 foot of shelves  set up along one wall of our bedroom that are at least 6' high to put all  or most of my craft and sewing supplies on. I can't wait to get into the boxes to see what I have, some of it has been packed up a long time. I'm putting it all in clear storage boxes on the shelves. I've got a lot of ideas for things I want to make to sell, hopefully on my new selling blog, which is under construction. The economy worries me though right now when it comes to crafts. 

I'm off to bed, maybe I can get warm, I'm freezing right now, chills I guess.

Have a good night my friends, I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs and Blessings,

Brenda

Just a quick note tonight........

and then I'm off to bed! Got a lot done today. All of the books are unpacked and on shelves. I have way too many books. I got my side of the office/craft/sewing room done, finally. I'm going to try to get my shelves up that hold my nic-nacs tomorrow. I hope to get some of them on the shelves if I can.

My aunt and uncle are coming to visit Wednesday, so I want to get as much finished as I can. I've already warned them that there will be boxes sitting around still!! LOL

I just wanted to check in and say HI to all of you. I hope you've had a good day today.

Well, I'm off to bed, it's been a long day and tomorrow will be even longer.

Have a good night , I will talk to you tomorrow.
Sweet Dreams my friends,

Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

New Year, New Beginnings !

I hope all of your dreams and wishes for the New Year come to be!!

I know I'm late in saying this but we were moving over the holidays. I'm so glad the move is over and will be even happier when everything is in its place. The main rooms are pretty well done, the office/sewing/craft room still needs some work. I do have my sewing machines set up now, still have to do  some work on my office area. Kevin and I are sharing the small bedroom for our office etc,, we each have a 6'x 8' half of the room. My  6'x8' space does dual duty for , crafting/sewing and office work. The rest of the apt. just really needs to have pictures, nic nacs, etc placed around.

I have a lot of ideas and plans for the new year, including spending a LOT more time here blogging. I am hoping to get my craft business back up and running. I'm working on a selling blog and would like to do craft shows again. I used to do them all the time when mom was still able to go along. She really enjoyed watching all the people and talking to old friends. I miss my mom so much and my daddy too, He passed away in 1971, 3 weeks before I graduated from high school. Mom was gone 3 years Dec. 8.. Time goes by so fast...

I just wanted to stop by and let you all know I'm still around and will be a lot more in this new year. I 'm planning on making a lot of changes in my life, most importantly  becoming closer to God than I am. I drifted away just a little, never lost my faith or belief in God, just wasn't as involved as I should have been. I'm trying to change all of that now.

It's been a long day and I have an early appt. so I better get some sleep. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Goodnight, dear friends,
Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

Moving Day ..........

.......is Dec. 21 for the boxes of stuff and Dec. 22, the furniture moves over. I'm praying that we don't have a lot of snow those days. We don't have far to go it's just the idea of having to take everything out in the snow. I will be so relieved when this move is over. I'm getting too old for this stuff.  The one nice thing about the apartment is that it is priced so if something happens to one of us the other one can still live there. It falls in our budget range with assistance. That means we never have to move again!!!

Are you all ready for Christmas?  We have a 34" fiber optic tree up in the office, I was going to have a tree somewhere or else! I love to decorate for Christmas , it's my favorite time of the year, but not this year with the move.  I will make up for it next year though, nothing will be left without some kind of decoration on it!! LOL

I missed out on all of my holiday baking too, but maybe that's a good thing. I'm still trying to lose weight and keep my sugar under control. I've done pretty good so far, I rarely have to take my diabetes meds., and my Doctor is happy with my readings, if she's happy then I'm happy !

I hope to be able to get back to my sewing and crafts after we are settled from the move. I have some clothes cut out for Kevin and I that I want to get made up and a whole bunch of ideas for craft/sewing things I want to get made and put on my selling blog. The selling blog has had to take a back seat due to everything that has been going on. I had planned on having it up and running the first of November. I was having problems with the backgrounds and deciding if I wanted 2 or 3 columns etc..  I decided it was better to wait until everything was settled down here and I could give it my full concentration.

I hope you all have a peaceful night and a safe weekend if you are out and about. I will be right here in my card board jungle of boxes!!

Good Night,
Hugs and Blessings my friends,
Brenda

We're Moving!!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 It has been way too long since I was here last.  We have been waiting about 6 months for an apartment that has a walk-in shower for safety reasons. We found out towards the end of October that an apartment would be available soon. I started packing things up because I knew it would take me a while.The older I get, the slower I get!!! LOL   We get the keys Dec. 20th and start moving in. It is in the same complex we are in now, so we don't have far to go. I'll be glad when the move is over and we are settled in. I just wish it wasn't so close to Christmas. I can't decorate the way I like this year!


Kevin and I are both doing ok, just the normal aches and pains and slowing down. I have been getting back to  sewing, at least I was until I found out we're moving. I will get back to it as soon as I can set up my work space. I have a lot of projects waiting to be made.

I just wanted to stop by and let you all know I'm still around and will be here more as time allows during and after the move. I'm tired tonight, went shopping today, groceries, I hate going anymore the prices are so high and it wears me out.

I will be back soon!!

Hugs and Blessings, my blogging friends,
Brenda