Today...

is the last day of what seems like the longest year of my life. Last year at this time we were waiting to find out if indeed my Mom's cancer was back.

In mid-January we found out that it was and that it was not pretty.

In February Mom feel and broke her hip but things with the cancer seemed to be looking up. I thought I was getting my best friend back.

In March I got a beautiful birthday present, a pink afghan made by my Momma. It will be the last gift I ever got from her and it means more to me than just about anything in the world. March also brought our little get away trip to Tahoe for my birthday which was lovely. Mom and I also got brave and shaved her head for the second
time in her life.

April brought us some more happy days.

May brought us our last Mother's Day with Mom. I'm still sadden by the fact that we didn't go home for it. We saw her the following weekend though. May also brought us Relay for Life when Mom did her amazing 1 lap around the tract.



June brought us 2 stays in the hospital and some sad news. And on the last day of June in the peace that comes in those final moments just before the new day starts my beautiful Momma left her earthly body for Heaven and her Momma and her Jesus.

July brought our first wedding anniversary which was somewhat clouded with my Mom's death. But still lovely. It also brought my Mom's memorial service that was the most beautiful thing. She was very loved.

August brought me some peace, or at least a glimpse of what the rest of my life will feel like without my Mom.

September brought me back to school, and a new job which I feel my Momma hand picked just for me

October brought the Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk. It was amazing!

November brought our first holiday without my Mom. It was hard, I miss her.

December brought us to our 6 months without Mom mark, it seems so strange that she has been gone for that long. It brought us our Christmas Blessing which we are ever so grateful for, it will help so much with buying a house in the near future.

This year has been filled with changes and challenges but lots of Love. May 2011 bring even more love to all.

Persimmon Cookies

This is my Mom's recipe. Be warned it makes 9 DOZEN cookies if you use the full recipe. If you do this use a HUGE bowl, it will not fit in a Kitchen Aid Mixer. I halved the recipe tonight and it turned out just fine!

2 cups shorting
4 cups brown sugar
4 cups persimmon pulp( I do this in the blender, make sure you remove the skin)
4 eggs
8 cups flour( add a cup at a time)
4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup raisins
dash of salt

Bake at 375* for 10-12 minutes.

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

Makes 18 Muffins

2 1/2 Cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup Libby's Solid Pack Pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups peeled, finely chopped apples
Streusel Topping

Streusel Topping: In small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Cut in 4 teaspoons butter, until mixture is crumbly.

In large bowl, combine first five ingredients: set aside. In medium bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients; stir just until moistened. Stir in apples. Spoon batter into grease or paper lined muffin cups. Sprinkle Streusel Topping over batter. Bake in preheated 350* oven for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

For cake adjust baking time until toothpick comes out clean.

Source: Libby's Pumpkin

Christmas Party

Tonight was E's company Christmas Party. It was so much fun, and I now have a new cheesecake to try and re-create! Caramel!

Trees, Lights and Cookies

My I am a horrible blogger as of late. And for that I apologize, since getting my job life has been a little nuts. I come home work on school work and go to bed, of course I cook dinner somewhere in there too.

Anyways its been 5 months since we said good bye to my wonderful mother. Our very first holiday without her was Thanksgiving, it was different and it was hard but it was beautiful at the same time. We spent it with my Aunt and Uncle, Grandpa and Dad and my Brother M. It was really nice. E's birthday was the Monday after so my Dad took us out to dinner and that was fun. When we came home we meet E's parent's and his brother B for lunch/dinner. It really was a lovely weekend filled with Family.

While we where there my Dad put up the tree and E and I decorated their house. It was fun to do it with my Dad and E even though it wasn't with my Mom like I was used to.

There are a lot of new things about this year that I'm learning as we go along. I'm a heck of a lot stronger than I thought. I'm just like my Mom according to my Dad, there are moments when I don't feel like it. And others when it makes me really proud that I'm like her.

Thursday was hard. It would have been Mom's 52 birthday and the 2 year mark of her being diagnosed. It was a day where all I wanted to do was cry and be alone. I stayed home from school and just vegged. It was nice.

Tonight we put up lights on the patio and decorated the house for Christmas. It looks so cute! And right now I'm smelling my cookies which means I need to go take them out of the oven and put another batch in!