Sunday, September 11, 2011

I'll always remember.

I can tell you easily where I was, even tiny little details of that day. But how do I explain how I felt?

 I guess helpless sums it up. I am the mother of 4 children and was in charge of their well being. How could I keep them safe? I had to deal with not just my feelings of sadness and fear, but theirs as well. How could I reassure them when everything seemed so bad.

 I didn't lose a loved one that day. I didn't wait all day for a phone call or live in fear that someone would never come home from work. I didn't have to find a way down a dark, smoke filled stairway nor did I personally know a firefighter that climbed up those stairs to help those still on floors above. I didn't receive a good-bye call, from the person who meant more to me than life, telling me not to forget how much they love me. But I found that all of them came to mind many many times a day and in my dreams.

I had 3 kids in the car on the way to school and work. On the radio they said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. A comment was made that they didn't really know much, but that it may have been a small plane whose pilot had a heart attack or something like that. It didn't take long for that talk to change. This was American Airlines flight 11.

When the 2nd plane, United Airlines flight 175 hit the South Tower, and the word terrorism was spoken out loud, I had a vivid flashback of the day Cameron was born. One of my nurses was rocking him and we were talking about the fact that all the babies in the nursery were boys. Not a girl all week. Her words came slamming back into my brain. Her words were "All these boys are God's way of preparing us for a war." And here it was, a month short of 18 years later.

We did not have one patient that day. Everyone either canceled or just didn't show up. The dentist in the adjoining suite had TV and we spent the day either going over to watch for a while or listing to the radio. As the morning went on we listened as a reporter at the Pentagon said he thought he had felt and explosion there. This turned out to be American Airlines flight 77. And then again we heard that a flight had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, but it seems like nobody was sure if this crash was related to all the others of the morning. It seems like it took a while, but it's reported that yes, United flight 93 was part of this horrible day.

I know that everyone is talking and writing about this subject. But I have to be true to the purpose of this blog. To record my memories.  I could write so much more, as it seems like the more I write the more I remember, but I'll finish up with something my grandfather once told me. He was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He was on the USS Tennessee and after he and my grandmother went to Hawaii for a reunion of survivors I asked him if it was hard for him to go. He said that "Those that didn't come home deserve to be remembered"

So I'll never forget. How could I?


xoxo

Lissa


Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Raspberry Coffee Stout

Recently my Twitter and Facebook feeds were a-buzz with talk of the Schlafly  Raspberry Coffee Stout. Each one of them by themselves are amazing but put them in one bottle? Yes please!

So to go along with this yummy liquid goodness I needed chocolate chip cookies. Here's how I make mine... 


  • 2 1/4 flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) softened unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs (large)
  • 1 cup Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips
  • 1 cup Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips
Oven to 375. Mix dry ingredients, set aside. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs (1 at a time) until well mixed in.
Gradually add in dry ingredients until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips (I do them by hand).
Bake 9-11 minutes. 

I could eat ALL of this


This was soooo delicious. I have a couple of bottles in reserve since we have very special out of town guest coming next month.



xoxo

Lissa

Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor Day Weekend.... for real

So this Labor Day Weekend involved a lot of, well labor. Not so much for me but Adam moved 14,000 pounds (as in 7 tons) of stone from our side yard, down the back hill & onto the creek banks. 

I came home Thursday evening to a delivery of these boulders. Ok, maybe not QUITE boulders, but they were heavy! We had done a truck load of the same size back in March, but it didn't end up being enough.

When they built this subdivision they put in a very large storm drain that's directly adjacent to our property and runs into the creek behind our house. When we get a big rain it raises the creek very quickly, and I mean in minutes. In the last couple of years we've lost little pieces of the bottom yard and some trees from erosion.

 For a long while nobody would claim jurisdiction for this creek or tell us how we could fix it. Everyone we did  talk to knew that there were rules attached, but were unsure of who was in charge. Typical government agencies. We finally made contact with the right people, had them come out and give us the break down on what we could do to fix the problem. One of these ideas used a very nifty product with an gargantuan price tag. Of course. So we decided to start with the stone. That first load made a big difference so here we are at the second to finish it up.

Saturday morning started really early to beat the heat. It was in the 90's here, but the deal was he would work on it until 9, first so he didn't die of heat stroke and second so we could watch College Game Day & the first Mizzou game.

This is what 7 tons of stone looks like


This was after the load in March. With Annie there you get an idea of how big they are


All the way to the top now


Also, all the way to the bend in the creek


By Monday at 10 we had it cleaned up
xoxo

Lissa

Sunday, September 4, 2011

M-I-Z-Z-O-U!

Yesterday marked the beginning of college football season. We made the choice to stay at home for this one though. It may have been a good choice since it was 90+ degrees & reports kept coming in of the first aide stations being very busy with all the over heated people. Since it was actually televised & we're both pretty wiped out we sat this one out. So Annie got a front row seat at how I yell, jump & yes, swear at the TV during sports. 

It was a good 1st game of the season & my Tigers are 1 and 0. Oh & don't worry, there will be plenty of tailgating in the near future for us.

Mizzou-Rah!

Image via mizzouwire.missouri.edu



xoxo

Lissa