How We Spent Thanksgiving at the Assisted Living Center

Every year for the past 25 years I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner here at my home. There have only been 2 times that I didn't and both of those times were while I was in the hospital recovering from illness or surgery. This year we decided to do something different for the holiday and here is how we spent it!

Back in May of 2012 we had to admit my beloved great auntie who is like my grandmother to me...to an assisted living facility. She is to the point that she can no longer live alone and it broke our hearts to force her into an assisted living facility. She doesn't like it there at all, but it is in her best interest to be there.

We go in often to visit with her and to see her. She was feeling down and blue lately, so we decided to spend Thanksgiving Day with her and the other residents at the facility. I baked up a slew of homemade quick breads, muffins and cookies and took them in for Thanksgiving breakfast. We served them to her lady friends with some coffee and tea.

Then around lunch time we joined her and the other residents in the dining room and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with them. My husband and mother had the turkey dinner and auntie and I enjoy the ham dinner. I have to admit, the dinner that they served was absolutely delicious!After dinner, we took auntie back to her apartment and spent another 2 hours just chatting and enjoying each others company.

Just recently my auntie was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma (cancer) and will be undergoing surgery on December 10th. Her cancer is pretty far progressed and we won't know the total outcome of this until after her surgery. For now, we want to spend as much time with her that we can.

We had a great time doing this and perhaps we will do it again next year for Easter and Thanksgiving. The residents at the Assisted Living Center really enjoyed having us and you can tell that it really cheered them up to have us there. If you live near a center yourself, I highly recommend spending some time with the elders as it is a very rewarding experience!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

2 Great Homemade Juice Recipes by Omega Juicers

Here are some quick homemade juice recipes from Omega Juicers and Blenders to help keep you healthy, hydrated and energized.

Papaya Paradise Recipe

1/2 Papaya (no seeds or skin)
1 Pint fresh red raspberries
Fresh Lime juice and Water till glass reaches 32 oz.
Scoop out the papaya flesh. Add the raspberries and water, and blend and in an Omega Blender.

Blueberry Bash Recipe

1 Cup skim milk
1 Cup frozen unsweetened blueberries
1 Tbsp cold-pressed organic flaxseed oil (MUFA)

Place milk and frozen unsweetened blueberries in Omega blender and blend for 1 minute. Transfer to glass, and stir in flaxseed oil.

Refinished an Old Cement Bird Bath - Home Remodeling Project

For the past few months I have been blogging about all of the home remodeling projects that we have been working on. To refresh your memory, we purchased a 60 year old home 2 years ago and was renting it out. Well, this past May our tenant moved out and we decided to remodel the home and move in.Since that time, we have been over at the house every weekend working on various remodeling projects. We are hoping to move into the home later this month or early in December.

Anyway, there was an old bird bath in the backyard and I just didn't have the heart to trash it. I imagine 35 years ago that it was a beautiful looking thing, but over the years it has been neglected and looking well...ugly! Frankly, it was an "eye-sore" to say the least. However, I still couldn't trash it as I am a total bird lover!

I decided to go to Lowe's and look for some paint and give it an update. I found some really cool indoor/outdoor spray paint by Valspar which gives your items a "stone" finish. Matter of fact, it's called Valspar Stone Spray Paint. Anyway, I purchased two cans of it at $9.99 a can and took them over to the house to work on the bird bath.

I selected the "Ancient Ruins" finish/color and I am pretty happy with that choice. I read the instructions, shook up my cans and got busy spray painting my old, ugly bird bath. I had thought about sanding it to remove all of the chipping paint but then decided to just leave it as I thought it added some "old world" charm and texture to the piece.

It took one entire can to spray the entire "bowl" part of the bird bath and then another can to do the entire pedestal. I got a nice even coat by using just two cans but I have now decided to go back next weekend and get a third can. I want to lay the new stone finish on a little thicker than what I currently have it.

While the bird bath still doesn't look 100% perfect, it does look a whole lot better than what it did. The neighbors came over to check it out and now they want to spray the stone paint onto their bird baths too! hahaha! I guess it's true what they say, Gotta keep up with the Jones'.

Anyway, I am really pleased with how it all turned out and next weekend, the bird bath will be getting another coat of the Valspar Stone Spray Paint which will make it look even prettier than it did before. I am really glad that I decided to save the bird bath and not trash it! Yeah!!!

Well there you have it, my little home remodeling update for this week! Next week I will share some before/after photos of the new master bathroom and hubby is about 1/2 way done with the kitchen remodeling project. I will get some photos of that too!

Spaghetti and Shrimp Salad Recipe

I love making a wide variety of salads during the hot summer months and this Spaghetti and Shrimp Salad is one of my family's favorite salads.

Spaghetti and Shrimp Salad Recipe

2 (5 ounce) pkgs. frozen baby shrimp, thawed and drained
1/2 green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 lb. thin spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 envelopes George Washington Golden Broth
3 tablespoons vinegar
3/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

In a large mixing bowl toss together the baby shrimp, chopped green pepper, chopped onion and spaghetti noodles. In a separate bowl combine together the granulated sugar, golden broth, vinegar and reduced-fat mayonnaise until well blended. Pour this dressing over the top of the pasta ingredients and toss lightly to combine everything together. Cover bowl and place it into the refrigerator to chill for 2 to 4 hours before serving. Enjoy!

Slim and Sparkling Orange Mango Martini Recipe

I love a good cocktail or two and this cocktail recipe that was provided to us by Sparkling ICE looks delicious! I think I will whip up a few of them when my girlfriends come over next weekend for a scrapbooking and card making date. Yummy!

Slim and Sparkling Orange Mango Martini Recipe

1 oz Tequila

1 oz Orange flavored vodka
3 oz Orange Mango Sparkling ICE

Juice of 1 lime

Directions 

1. Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice.

2. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.

3. Garnish with orange peel.

Disclosure: You must be age 21 years or older to consume alcoholic beverages. Please drink responsibly.