My sisters kids

Since my sister LeAnn died in 2003, we have had minimal contact with her kids.  Two of her kids were minors and the oldest was just not very nice.  I totally understand why they wouldn't want to hang with me, because I'm the only one that tells it like it is and doesn't let her (the oldest) take advantage of my family.  I don't understand why they wouldn't want to spend time with my parents.  My parents are so awesome.  I suspect it's mostly about money.   More then that then I am just speculating.  I do know that I walked into a couple of conversations while my sister was dying about how they were going to spend it.  My sister didn't die with much money and her inheritance of my parents money wasn't available because they are still ALIVE.  Our family trust is set up to protect assets and each kid only owns like 3% of the entire trust.  Then they spent the year or so after my sister died trying to fight the will which sucked all the money out and then they got jack.  SO, as per my previously mentioned post, I hope they enjoyed the fruits of their garage sale!
There are times that I Google the kids and see if I can see pictures or find them.  I believe they are all local.  When my nephew Zak was on a mission, he did send letters to my parents and even one to Jake, telling him to go on a mission.  Today I found this picture.

He has his dad's smile, but he looks surprisingly like my sister.  That was my initial reaction.

I wish I had a better picture of my sister.  I need to just have a scan-a-thon.

It's a complicated situation and I am never surprised when I see the things that happen when people die.  The desire for free money can be so overwhelming for some people it takes away their common sense.   I wouldn't pass it up, but working hard isn't a bad way to go either.


Blog on...........

Channeling the Pioneers

But wait, they didn't have freezers.  
OK, I'll channel my grandma.  She had a huge freezer full of delicious ice cream that she served us on a cone with a glass of home bottled grape juice.  We could see her in the kitchen window as we pulled up to my grandparents house, late at night, in Shelley, Idaho. 
That's my memory and that's the way it will stay.  Did I mention she wore a house dress, sensible shoes and an apron, all the time.  She was tougher then I'll ever be. She was a farmers wife.  


I love thinking of new ways to make life easier and cheaper.  That whole lottery thing is just not coming through and I hate spending too much money on things that don't pamper me.  Of course!  I rarely buy my lunch at work.  The new cafeteria is too expensive, it takes too long to get there and even if the food is delicious, it doesn't make sense to spend $6-7 dollars a day on food!  Now when I spend $4 on a delicious coffee around the eighth hour of work when I start getting tired...THAT makes sense!


So every day I work I like to take some rice and vegetables (Birds Eye, flash frozen) and sometimes I will throw in some chicken.  Last year I found frozen rice at Costco that was super delicious, but after two trips they stopped carrying it.  Last time I went I found a bag of frozen brown rice that was divided into about 3 cup servings that you could cook/warm up in the microwave pretty quick.  When that run out I was in a panic!  I was in no mood to go to Costco even if they did have the rice.  I always spend way too much there and I didn't want to spend $2 to 3 dollars a bag for that microwave rice that will cover two lunches.  It was also a little high in calories (190 calories a serving).  So, I bought a bag of long grain brown rice (under 3 bucks) and had big plans to cook a bunch, freeze it in servings and then use it when I need it.  WELL, it worked!!!  Not exactly as I thought it would, but good enough and I have plans for change next time.  Plus, it's delicious and easy and I might even get my family hooked.  Hello healthy eating!! shhhhh....


I thought I'd share and while I'm doing that I will have something to refer to next time!!




Frozen Rice Servings


Bag of long grain brown rice.
Chicken, beef or vegetable broth.  I used some leftover vegetable broth we had and threw in 3 cubes of those chicken cubes I dislike so much.
I also threw in about a tablespoon of butter for the whole pan.
Freezer quart bags

This is where I started taking pictures.  Last night I made about 9 servings of rice and in place of half of the water I used vegetable broth and threw in 3 chicken broth cubes.  When it was done and cooled a little I put it in a big baking pan covered in aluminum foil, covered it with plastic wrap and put it in our freezer overnight.

In the morning I had a rice brick.  I let it sit on the counter long enough that I could hack it up in about 12 serving sizes

 

 My freezer bags are ready and I had taken off about 6 servings..OK, so maybe I ended up with about 15 servings.  I don't think what they recommend as servings is necessarily what I wanted.

 Love the ice crystals on top?? I was really doubting myself here.  How about that wood rolling pin??  My brother Joe made that for me when he was in high school and I was getting married or Christmas or something.  I cherish it because he made it.  Even though I don' think it's approved use was to pound the back of a huge knife trying to cut up frozen rice.  

 Then I threw them in the freezer.  They never really thawed, and they were not out of the freezer for too long.  I am not nervous about any food poisoning and believe me, I ran that through my head over and over to make sure.  I am a 2 hour food freak, meaning that once food is out for more then two hours it's going to get tossed.  Of course it doesn't count if the food is suppose to be kept at room temperature.  I won't eat any plain rice that has been in the fridge for more then 48 hours.  Did you know that rice harbors nastiness after that?  Yeah, me neither.  If you don't believe me, ask Sami.  She ate some rice from the fridge and had the yack attacks!

 I took a piece that was very frozen, right from the middle.  Don't mind the dirty microwave, it's not dirty enough to bother cleaning it yet.

I cooked it one minute on high.

 Then I mushed it up and cooked it about 45 seconds or until it was nice and steamy.

DELISH!!!  The broth I used made it moist and tasty!  I usually use soy sauce if I am eating it plain, but this rice hardly needed it at all! 
WINNER!  <---move over Sheen.


When I do it again (and save about 15 - 20 dollars for my fancy coffees) I will let it cool a little, divide it up in 1/2 to 3/4 cup servings in the freezer bags and THEN freeze it.  Skip a step.  I did label all my bags in case one gets lost and we find it in a couple of years.  I have no idea how long frozen rice is good for.  I don't suspect this batch will last more then 2 months and that with just me eating it.  


I also want to try freezing a little bit bigger bags and use them for family dinners.  This precooked rice thing is awesome!  Easy too.  I'm way too lazy to do anything that is too involved.


I watched Food, Inc.  last week and I haven't been the same. I stopped eating fast food about 4 years ago and now I really wish everyone would.  Not so much the unhealthiness of it, but of what a hold of the food business these fast food conglomerates have.  I would really like the quality of the beef and chicken raised to a new level, but whatever McDonald's wants is about how quality it gets.  Did you know that anyone that sells to the big companies is not allowed to talk about how the cattle are raised and are not allowed to have any of their farms filmed in any way. 


Interesting....
So lets just say there is a huge container of freshly cut up fruit and bag of celery in our fridge.  


Blog on..............

Memories

This morning my kids and I were having a conversation.  Well, Sami and Daniel and I were having one.  It all started when Daniel saw some vintage clothing I was looking at on Etsy.  He asked me if I would wear this 100% silk beaded dress from the 80's.  When I told him his granny wore that same dress only in peach to my wedding to his dad it started a long conversation. It was about death and memories.  Their granny died in 2000 and Daniel was only 5, Sami was only 7.  Unfortunately they don't have many memories of her and that makes me sad.  When I remind them of some things they will say, "oh I remember that".  The only really vivid memory Daniel has is when he visited her and she was sick in bed.  


My memories are full and awesome!!  I knew Lynne for 15 years and up until she became really sick she treated me with love and respect.  Bill and I had been apart about 2 years when she died and she was sick in the hospital for the last year.  That first year we separated, when everyone was taking sides and making judgements, she just treated me like nothing had happened.  She was kind and loving and her grandchildren were number one!  Period.  She worried about what schools they went too, if they were sick, who was taking care of them.  But not in a pushy way.  I remember I enrolled my kids in the school by her, which was a school district away from the one I lived in, but only about a mile away from where I lived.  Soon after the kids started school she became sick.  I never minded all the paperwork and bus schedules and after school care, driving the kids around because they were in that school.  Well, I can't say it wasn't hard and stressful, but I can say I didn't regret it.  I kept all the kids in that elementary school and when I moved from my duplex I found a house within it's boundaries.  In some ways it was because of Lynne.  She worried about the kids when we divorced.  Her life had it's bumps in the road and she spent a lot of time being the only parent to her boys.  She knew how hard it was.  


Being able to tell my kids how much their granny loved him is so soothing to us all.  When my sister died I was angry and sad, but I could accept her death because she suffered so much.  When it comes to Lynne I am still mad.  If that is the right word.  Of all the people in my life that could have made the biggest impact on my kids It was her.  When I was having trouble with Austin in his teens, I missed her so much and knew that his pain from loosing her was more then I could ever imagine.  He was super close to her and to this day I can see his eye's smile when he talks about her and then turn sad.  


So today my kids and I talked about the things that we have that no one can take away.  That is the memories we have with each other.  When Lynne died I wasn't able to go see her or be involved in any way.  Bill's dad was not as open to having me around and to this day I don't think I have seen him but once and he has never talked to me.  The one thing I was able to do was go to the funeral.  I took my kids and I wasn't going to just drop them off.  I tried to stay close to them and yet tried not to upset anyone.  The one thing that no one can take away from me is memories. I may not have any special item of hers, but that's OK.   It's OK if Bill's new wife gets anything from her, because she has no memories and those are more precious then any THING. 


My sister died and my mom and dad and all her brothers, me and my sister all got together the day she went on hospice.  Dropped everything and were there.  No ifs ands or buts.  I love that about my family.  We made a calendar.  Someone would be there 24/7.  I took a leave of absence in my senior year of nursing school and my school was very accommodating.  Her kids were young.  They were only 14, 17 and 20something.  I can't really repeat what she said about some of her kids because if they got word of it they would probably try and sue me or something.  But let's just say that her 14 year old son was the only one that appeared to really care.  He didn't care about what she would inherit or what he would get when she died.  He just loved her.  A lot.  


So my sister died after 6 days on hospice and my dad and mom (who had taken care of her for years!) started meeting with funeral homes and putting the funeral together.  It was beautiful.  We included her kids to the maximum that they wanted to be included.  We even included their dad because they wanted him there, but that is a WHOLE other post.  Within days of her dying they were clearing out her stuff and waiting for her big inheritance.  They became angry when told there wasn't one and next thing you know they were not talking to anyone in my family and threatening lawsuits, etc.  So, they held a garage sale.  They sold all of  my sisters stuff that they could.  They did not invite my parents, they did not care.  After that we were welcome to go and see if there was anything we wanted that they could not sell.  I picked up some cushions that we used when we would sleep on the floor by her bed.  I love those cushions.  I wish I could give them up.  I just remember once LeAnn made a weird sound and both my brother Brad and I popped up to check out if she was OK.  I still remember seeing my brothers face across her bed. Now THAT is a memory.  It makes me smile and cry at the same time.


The memories I have with my sister are forever mine.  That last week I spent there taking care of her.  I was there almost all the time.  The last sister to sister conversation we had on her bed.  The priceless advice she gave me.  Her opinion on the way she wanted her funeral and "stuff" handled.  It's all mine baby!  No matter what her kids or anyone else tries to alienate from me they can't take that.  If they don't want to be a part of our family then they are missing a family that would never turn their back on anyone, no matter what they did.  I hope they can languish in that money they made at her garage sale.  Because money doesn't buy happiness, ever. 


Long post for some disjointed and emotional thoughts.  
I think it's good to write it out sometimes.  Someday I will do a post..."Satan: he roams the earth" that will be about my sisters ex husband.  I don't even care if he finds it and reads it because it will be all truths.  
The day after she died I went to meet the hospice nurse to return all the stuff and we wasted all the narcotics etc together.  I also gathered up some stuff that we thought important.  I also ran across ALL the letters Satan wrote to my sister.  Unfortunately my sister had a "pleaser" personality and would just file them and be upset by them.  I would have gotten a restraining order.  He was a mean, heartless SOB.


Ok, I'm turning a beautiful post into a hate post and I don't want to do that!


To the memories!  May they be bad, good or indifferent!  To those we lose too early..let us never forget what no one can take away from us!


LOVES AND HUGS!!!


Blog on.............