It pays to have a nurse in the family...

In our case, we have about 5 nurses in the family, but today, the one who works in outpatient surgery at the Watauga Medical Center was worth her weight in gold!  Aunt Laurie, after getting Mom into see Dr. Flemming the other day and helping the surgery get on the books ASAP, worked her magic yet again and got Mom in and out of surgery in record time this morning.  Mom did great! They were able to do a block on her arm and avoid general anesthesia, and the surgery went off without a hitch in a little over 30 minutes.  Everyone there was so incredibly sweet and helpful!  Mom has some shiny new titanium pins holding a plate that is stabilizing her wrist.  We saw the x-ray and it looks like a long bug crawling up her bone. It's rather cool!  We were home before noon, Dad has gone off to the office and Mom and I are watching "Little Women".  The block should last the day, numbing her arm, and we have percocet ready to roll when the block starts to wear off. Mom is so thankful to have this done and to be moving on! Thanks for all of the prayers...Keep them coming for a speedy recovery for Mom from this injury! Blessings-Shannon

Update on Mom and Comfort Cookies for Dad...

So...After Aunt Laurie the nurse pulled some amazing strings and got Mom into see one of her favorite orthopedic doctors yesterday, Mom decided to go ahead with surgery to fix her broken wrist.  He believes that she will heal better, faster, and less painfully with her bones held in their place with a plate and a few screws.  He originally said Monday, but after some begging, pleading, and a little guilt trip, he moved some things around and got her in tomorrow. It's an outpatient surgery, and will happen where Aunt Laurie conveniently works. She'll be there to take care of Mom, and we all feel good about moving forward with this. Mom is nervous, understandably, and will be so happy when it is all over. Please keep her in your prayers tomorrow, and I will update when we get home.

In the meantime, I'll share another recipe!  I discovered this recipe for Ginger Snaps in a cookbook that Aunt JoAnne brought me from the Adirondacks years ago. It reminded me of the ones Memaw used to have in her cabinet in the orange box, Nabisco maybe?  They also remind me of Aunt Jack's Molasses Puffs in the flavor, but these are thin and crispy.  My Dad loves them, and has grown to expect a cookie jar full of them when he visits my house.  I made him some today, and I must admit, they are pretty awesome.  The rolling in sugar is a must, as it gives them the crackled top that makes them look professionally made. You might want to double the batch...Enjoy!

Ginger Snaps
3/4 cups shortening
1/4 cups molasses
1 cup sugar, plus more for rolling
1 egg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
2 cups flour

Cream together the shortening, sugar and molasses. Add the egg and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls, and roll the balls in sugar.  Place the sugared balls on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cookies will puff up and then fall into a flat, crackled cookie.

Greetings from Boone...plus a recipe

It's a beautiful mountain morning at Mom and Dad's house.  The doors are opened wide to let in the cool, pre-autumn air, the birds are buzzing around the feeders and the leaves are just beginning to turn and drop.  I've been enjoying my visit with Mom and Dad, and got an extra treat yesterday with the arrival of my cousin, Chris Metzger, with his wife, Linda, and adorable baby girl Avelyn, who I call "mini-Chris" as she is a clone of her daddy!  She's a cutie-patootie and brought lots of smiles and laughter to the house. It was great seeing them on their way up to New York.

So, Mom really did a number on her wrist.  It's broken in a couple of places, and she's still in quite a bit of pain.  There is talk of surgery, and we are trying to figure out what's best for Mom.  We welcome your prayers, as always, specifically for wisdom with the wrist situation.  We don't want to put Mom through surgery unless its absolutely necessary, but we also want her wrist to be back to 100% as soon as possible.  Keep her in your prayers, and I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I'll give you a recipe!  Cousin Chris is a serious foodie, as are most of us Metzgers, and I told him that if Mom hadn't broken her wrist, she'd be making him an outrageous gourmet meal.  Instead, he got me, cooking in my mother's kitchen trying my best to fill some very big shoes!  I had the benefit of my mother sitting not far away, adding her two cents as I cooked. I called her a "back seat chef", since we all know what a back seat driver she is!  So for breakfast, I had to make our favorite Boone breakfast, Southern sausage gravy and biscuits.  Chris said it smelled like Thanksgiving as I was cooking it. He and Linda loved it, as did Avelyn who chowed on the stuff and graciously shared with Keno who had wisely parked himself next to her.  Mine wasn't as good as Mom's, but I think it came close...

Janet's Biscuits and Gravy
1 lb. breakfast sausage (a roll of Jimmy Dean works!)
3/4 stick of butter
1 small onion or 1 large shallot, finely chopped
1/3 cup flour
milk (maybe 2-3 cups?)
poultry seasoning (Bell's is best. It's in a little yellow box with a turkey on the front)
salt and pepper
biscuits (You can make them yourself, pop a can of Grands or open a bag of frozen ones...however you roll!)

Cook the sausage in a skilled until done, breaking it up as you go. Drain and set it aside.  Meanwhile in a separate pot, melt the butter and add the chopped onion, stirring and cooking till soft.  Add the flour when the onions are done and mix it in well.  Add 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning and start whisking in the milk.  Keep whisking and adding milk until you have a thick but pourable gravy, whisking out any flour clumps. Add in the sausage and season with salt, pepper and more poultry seasoning if you need it.  Serve the gravy atop warm biscuits.  Enjoy!

"I'm leaving on a jet-plane..."

Uncle Dave used to sing this to us when we were flying to or from Florida for a visit, and I still sing it in my head (and sometimes out loud) when I fly!  I'm flying up to Boone tomorrow to spend the week with Mom and Dad. I can't wait to see them and to lend a hand as Mom recovers from her little spill.  I'm going alone...Rob will be holding down the fort here at home with a little help from some amazing friends.  Mom has a doctor appointment on Tuesday to make sure her wrist is healing properly, and I'll go with her for that.  I'll update from the mountain to let everyone know how she's doing.  Prayers for travel safety and for my family while I'm away would be welcomed and appreciated, as well as continued prayers for Mom.
Much Love-Shannon