Bee Quilt, Halloween, Lillian and the Christmas Painting Giveaway - Catching UP!

Thursday - aka Halloween - saw me up early cooking and getting ready for what was supposed to be a lunch for a couple of friends. My original time was 1:00 but that got pushed to 1:30 and then 2:00 and when Kimmy and June arrived at 2:15, I was still preparing food!

But since we have been such good friends so so very many years - they gathered in the den and started working my jigsaw puzzle while I stirred the pot and chopped up the ingredients for salad.

I was in the den just checking that they were doing okay when I saw a delivery man leave something on my front porch.

Man! Was I ever surprised to find a personally designed hand made quilt!

It blew my mind that someone made this for me.......but then that someone is very special!

When Amber started college at Texas State in San Marcos, Lisa was her roommate.

Lisa married Adam and Adam has a brother.

Sharilyn is Adam's brother's wife and she found my blog when Amber was pregnant with the quads.

When she noticed my blog on the sidebar, she started following mine.

Long story short, we became Facebook friends and regularly visit one another via Facebook Messenger. We are members of MAS - Mutual Admiration Society!

Can you believe she made this for me???

Anyway, opening my gift and all the admiring of it and then the posting about it on Facebook -because, of course, I had to brag about it, made lunch even later!

We finally sat down to eat a very late lunch at last!

This is what I made.......

and the recipe is from Ma at ON THE BRIGHT SIDE.

Hungarian Goulash

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 sweet red pepper, seeded and diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leave

3 lbs beef stew mat cut into 1 to inch cubes

3 tbsp. Hungaria Paprika

3/4 tsp.  salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 c. beef broth

3 tbsp. tomato past of 1 6 oz can 

Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium heat.  Add onions and red pepper and cook until soft.  Add minced garlic and bay leave and continue to cook for 1 minute.

Add beef to pot and stir in paprika, salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring often , until meat is browned .  Stir in broth , tomato paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low; cover and simmer until meat is tender.  About 2 hours. Remove the bay leaf. 

You an also transfer mixture to slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.   

Serve over cooked egg noodles and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.  For a creamy goulash, add a dollop of sour cream.

It was delicious!!!

I served it with salad and dessert was easy peasy!

A selection of cookies from Aldi!

Our after dinner entertainment was a reading from Fannie Flagg's book Daisy May and the Miracle Man! It is SO funny and this wasn't even the funniest part!

We had just finished when my last guest arrived.....Pam!

You remember she is Reaoma's daughter.

I fixed her a plate and she ate in the kitchen keeping me company while I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher!

I made to go bags for everyone and bid them all goodbye just as the Trick or Treaters were arriving.

Then Louis Dean and I took our places on the front porch and prepared to greet all the children.

It's a tradition to drink from our goblin goblets as we wait and we have been doing this every year since we married in 2005 with the exception of 2012 when we were living in our camper down in Katy, Texas after the quads were born.

Look at this most precious little girl!

She loved pushing the button to make the skeleton play his banjo!

This is the Haines family and they have been coming all these past years.

Tray, the son, didn't make it this year but Brittany - standing next to her tall dad - was younger than her sister, Nicole, who is standing in front of her. They lived across the street from us at the time but continued to come every Halloween even after they moved away.

This is my beautiful next door neighbor and looks as young as her daughters!

While I didn't get to see any of our grandchildren in person - I will show you their costumes.....

Rayne was an astronaut and is fascinated with all things NASA related.

The Four Bells were all action figure heroes.

And this is Piercyn and Bella with their mama, Chandy.

It was a great evening and we tottered off to bed around midnight.

I admit to being tired to the bone.

Having fun is exhausting!!

Summer spent the night with us and was feeling well enough to go with me to Fort Worth the next morning. That was a good thing because I was so still so tired I felt numb and she drove for me.

Lillian gets her done there at the nursing home every Friday morning and she was looking so pretty with make up on and everything.

Her TV had lost connection for whatever reason and Summer walked down to the nurses station and waited while they paged Billy the maintenance man. He is the funniest and most patient guy!

Lillian was all smiles as he reprogrammed the TV.

When you live in a nursing home, the biggest source of entertainment is TV.

While we had originally planned on going to Mineral Wells, I knew a day or two before I would not be up to that so Nita offered her home to us.

I packed up a repeat of Halloween's lunch and Lillian, Summer and I ate together in Nita's kitchen.

It was along about this time that I knew I was in trouble.

I was so exhausted I could barely put one foot in front of another.

Overcome with weariness, I told Summer and Lillian I just had to lie down and take a little nap.

They were troupers and visited and watched a little TV together while I rested.

Nita was home by the time I got up so we visited a bit and took a selfie.

I'm so thankful I did not look as tired as I felt.

And I am grateful Summer was feeling well enough to pick up the slack and talk to Lillian.

She had a good time and we shopped Aldi for a few things for her on our way back to the nursing home. I ended up going back to the car and waiting for them and then Summer drove Lillian back and the us home.

I was so  glad to get here and felt like my battery had run down completely.

I took a hot shower and went straight to bed.

Got up to eat a bite about 9:00 and then went back to bed at 10:00 and slept until 10:00 this morning.

I was, indeed, tired!

It's a miracle what a good night's sleep does for us.

While I felt so much better this morning, I did not jump right back up on the bandwagon but decided to stay in my pj's and just potter around the house. No make up. No hard work.

My goal had been to take all the Halloween stuff down but Summer did that for me while I was sleeping in!

My main accomplishment today was cleaning the refrigerator.

I had laid a Dirt Coke bottle on its side and it slowly seeped out - running down into the drawers and every crevice on its way down.

I do not normally keep a super clean fridge like Nita and Deanie do. Even Lonnie's fridge is always neat and tidy. Luann says hers is a mess like mine although I saw it once and it looked clean to me!

But for today - I have a really clean refrigerator!!

And I used another of Ma's recipes this evening.

This was the best potato soup I have ever made!

Between Louis Dean, Summer and myself, there's just a small bowl of it left!

Before I close, just look at these clever Halloween cheeses Summer brought over along with an assortment of crackers! I haven't cut into them yet - but I will!

I finally finished the Santa for this year's Christmas card. It's glazed and dried and I am attempting to order the cards so I can mail them out right after Thanksgiving.

I would love to send you one and I will - if I have your address!

And in case I didn't send you one last year, I have a few of those left and I will tuck one in for you.

Now to the Christmas Giveaway.......

the thing is - I haven't finished painting it yet!

It's not a Santa painting this year but a manger scene on a 12x16 canvas panel.

This will make it easy to mail and if you live out of the country - I can still afford to mail it to you!

This is the way it looks right now but it will be my first priority to finish painting it this week!

That will give it time to dry and then glaze and dry again.

Everyone who comments on any post from this one through the 23rd and I will announce the winner on Sunday, November 24th. Then I promise to mail it off on Monday if I have your address so you will get it in plenty of time for Christmas.

And now I think I am all caught up!!

It's only a little after 10:00 this evening but I am going to take my shower and go to bed.

I think my age may be trying to catch up with me!