You can get as elaborate as gingerbread houses without the baking.
Use almond bark (the white stuff you melt to dip pretzels in...well, you
and I don't, but some people do) as glue and snow. Melt in microwave and
pipe into place. Stick candies on when warm, and hold for a minute and
they will stick. Ditto for putting the parts of the house together.
Hint: do the decorating before assembly.

I know this seems moronic, but for the cake decorating challenged, like
me, what a godsend.

On Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:33:09 -0800, kalanamak >
wrote:

>You can get as elaborate as gingerbread houses without the baking.
>Use almond bark (the white stuff you melt to dip pretzels in...well, you
>and I don't, but some people do) as glue and snow. Melt in microwave and
>pipe into place. Stick candies on when warm, and hold for a minute and
>they will stick. Ditto for putting the parts of the house together.
>Hint: do the decorating before assembly.
>
>I know this seems moronic, but for the cake decorating challenged, like
>me, what a godsend.

HI! Nice to see you again. How old is the kidlet now?

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sf wrote:
> On Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:33:09 -0800, kalanamak >
> wrote:

>> I know this seems moronic, but for the cake decorating challenged, like
>> me, what a godsend.
>
> HI! Nice to see you again. How old is the kidlet now?
>

Five and a third. He is musical and mathematical. I work full time,
homeschool, and we are trying to get the house remodeled to sell, to
move closer to work. I only cook make-ahead meals these days, although I
made crepes and blueberry sauce for brekkie today. The Accordian Man
looks like he is here to stay, at least for the next decade, and loves
being a stay at home dad.

In article >,
kalanamak > wrote:

> You can get as elaborate as gingerbread houses without the baking.
> Use almond bark (the white stuff you melt to dip pretzels in...well, you
> and I don't, but some people do) as glue and snow. Melt in microwave and
> pipe into place. Stick candies on when warm, and hold for a minute and
> they will stick. Ditto for putting the parts of the house together.
> Hint: do the decorating before assembly.
>
> I know this seems moronic, but for the cake decorating challenged, like
> me, what a godsend.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to have any small children, and the
prospects aren't good. Do you have any I could borrow?

:-)

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

In article >, sf wrote:

> On Sun, 9 Dec 2007 23:47:55 +0100, (Victor Sack)
> wrote:
>
> >kalanamak > wrote:
> >
> >Who are you and what are you doing here?
>
> I hope you're joking.

He often is. Both Victor and kalanamak (formerly known as tj the small,
even though she isn't small) have been long time posters here. He was
just tweaking her because she hasn't posted very much lately.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

Dan Abel wrote:
kalanamak (formerly known as tj the small,
> even though she isn't small) have been long time posters here.

Wasn't "Blacksalt" another name?

Dan Abel > wrote:

> Both Victor and kalanamak (formerly known as tj the small,
> even though she isn't small)

tj the short, even though she isn't particularly short (but so called in
contrast to TJ the Tall)...

> have been long time posters here.

.... and have met each other in "real life"...

Victor

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:05:24 -0800, Dan Abel > wrote:

>In article >, sf wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 9 Dec 2007 23:47:55 +0100, (Victor Sack)
>> wrote:
>>
>> >kalanamak > wrote:
>> >
>> >Who are you and what are you doing here?
>>
>> I hope you're joking.
>
<snip>
>He was just tweaking her because she hasn't posted very much lately.

I hope so, because the humor was too dry even for me.

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On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:51:16 -0500, Goomba38 >
wrote:

>Dan Abel wrote:
> kalanamak (formerly known as tj the small,
>> even though she isn't small) have been long time posters here.
>
>Wasn't "Blacksalt" another name?

Yes.

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On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:52:37 +0100, (Victor Sack)
wrote:

>Dan Abel > wrote:
>
>> Both Victor and kalanamak (formerly known as tj the small,
>> even though she isn't small)
>
>tj the short, even though she isn't particularly short (but so called in
>contrast to TJ the Tall)...
>
>> have been long time posters here.
>
>... and have met each other in "real life"...
>
Oh, Victor.... I have too, more than once.


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Dan Abel wrote:
> In article >, sf wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 9 Dec 2007 23:47:55 +0100, (Victor
>> Sack) wrote:
>>
>>> kalanamak > wrote:
>>>
>>> Who are you and what are you doing here?
>> I hope you're joking.
>
> He often is. Both Victor and kalanamak (formerly known as tj the
> small, even though she isn't small) have been long time posters here.
> He was just tweaking her because she hasn't posted very much lately.
>


I Know! About the most exciting culinary thing in my life now is that I
can get Meyers lemons periodically! Oh yeah, and I can whip up a killer
mac and cheese in nothing flat.
This summer I hosted a family reunion and did an entire Southern theme
for dinner Friday night, making nothing but dishes I'd never made, and
made them for 25. So I'm dusty, not rusty.

This is what I get for "being ready for a new adventure", aka having a
menopause baby.

And those of you who remember how much I used to write, here is a little
something from this summer. I hope it encourages others to not be afraid
of a "home death". I wrote it on the 7th of July.

<begin paste>

Today I'm cooking and catching up with loose ends after spending
midweek in Kansas helping my mother die.

A week ago Tuesday she called my brother and said she had chest pain,
for a day, and needed relief. He took her to the hospital, and after
avoiding doctors and bad news all her life, found out she had renal
failure, severe anemia, congestive heart failure, chronic leukemia, very
low platelets and cachexia (all skin and bones). I'd suspected all of
the above, and respected her wishes to stay at home as long as possible.

A few tests, a blood transfusion, and an agreement to allow "help" in
for the first time, she was discharged home a week ago, but by Sunday
night was tired and on Monday asked the doctor how long before she died.
My brother called me and I set out at 8 p.m to the airport and hopped
planes and rental cars until I made it there about 14 hours later. I
kept her Tuesday afternoon doctor appointment, after consulting with
her, and asked him for a hospice nurse and some strong meds. I regret
not asking for sublingal Ativan, but that is water under the bridge. We
had a tense moment in the middle of the night when she was just sure her
commode was further East than it was, and I had to stand bodily in her
way until the haze of dope wore off and she could again understand my
directions on how to get to the commode. I couldn't get her off of it.
She wouldn't let me lift her alone, so I called my brother and he came
over and we got her back into bed. Later, about 5 a.m. I popped my head
up (I was sleeping on the floor) and she waved at me in the dark, a
little "toodle-loo" wave. Very sweet. Her good cat was glued to her.

Wednesday morning I got a foley in her. The nurse was unable, but I
got it in one shot and told her how lucky she was to have a doctor
daughter. She told me she was sorry to be leaving us such a mess (89
years of stuff, plus Daddy's 97 years of stuff), and I told her they
were just things. She told me my sister had said the exact same thing
just yesterday. She made a couple small jokes, smiled at the cat
playing with a cord, and smiled and winked when her grandson stopped
by, but for the most part she said things like "Take good care of my
cat" and "When will this be over" and "If I lived in Oregon, I'd take
that pill" and "What is the point of this going on?" She told my
brother what a good son he'd been, declined any more phone calls, and
slept a great deal. I was spooning liquid morphine in her by now.
She was beginning to gurgle.

The last hour and a half was tough, as she was gargling on the
morphine. I was very generous, but it wasn't being absorbed by
anything by the pads beneath her. I tried calling doctors, nurses,
but a tornado/thunderstorm screwed up the pagers and we had to just
hold her hand and assure her the end was nigh. It was rather like
being a midwife. At one point she asked if Daddy had gone through
this, and I assured her he had. At another point she called out she
"couldn't do it", and I assured her, who had been through 6 births
without meds, she could. She muttered "let go" over and over. She was
speaking to her body. Again she asked why, and I told her her
question had no answer, but that the human mind always wants an
explanation and she said "That is why Man invents religions". Finally
we could no longer understand her words, but she kept gargling and
talking, and finally lost consciousness only minutes before dying. My
brother was holding her hand. I was on the phone in the other room
trying to get better meds.

The men who came to pick her up sensed how HAPPY we were it was over.
They joked and bundled her up in a very homey quilt and I said "I
wish I could tell her she didn't soil the bed. She'd be so pleased
with herself". The cat had sat ON her the whole last day, and Mommy
had petted her over and over and held onto her until the end.

All in all, a good home death.

As soon as the body was gone my brother and I went and looked in the
boxes none of us would have had the rudeness to look in when my
parents were alive. Oh my goodness...passionate love letters from
1905 from my father's father to his fiancee, hundreds of letters my
mother and her mother exchanged, telegrams signed "love and love and
love" from my father to my mother, my mother's letters to him, signed
with a pet name none of us ever heard, reciepts for 1932 cars, for
property bought in San Diego for 187 dollars, a huge family tree
going back to the mid 17th century...on and on and on. My
parents...the most private of people, had never said a word about
these things, and to think that they kept them all through dozens of
moves. We were in awe.

I bundled up an old print that belonged to my great grandmother (born
1847, came to the USA 1854) that my father loved and flew home. I
had no one to call and tell them I "made it home safe". The cat has
moved in with my brother, and now we await my sister's return from
overseas to try and even begin to imagine sorting all this stuff out.
I miss her, but am glad she functioned independently so close up to
the end, and hope I do, too. Now to grow accustomed to the fact that
not only will I never be young again, I'll never be a daughter
again, either.

<end paste>
blacksalt

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:44:39 -0800, kalanamak >
wrote:

>And those of you who remember how much I used to write,

I certainly remember the good old days of you posting. I socialized
with you during more that one... or five rfc gatherings. I think you
attended more gatherings than I did in my area!

> here is a little something from this summer. I hope it encourages
> others to not be afraid of a "home death". I wrote it on the 7th of July.

Sending my condolences.... your mom lived a long life, so I'm happy
for her.
>
><begin paste>
>
> Today I'm cooking and catching up with loose ends after spending
>midweek in Kansas helping my mother die.
>
> A week ago Tuesday she called my brother and said she had chest pain,
>for a day, and needed relief. He took her to the hospital, and after
>avoiding doctors and bad news all her life, found out she had renal
>failure, severe anemia, congestive heart failure, chronic leukemia, very
>low platelets and cachexia (all skin and bones). I'd suspected all of
>the above, and respected her wishes to stay at home as long as possible.

<snip>
>
> The men who came to pick her up sensed how HAPPY we were it was over.
> They joked and bundled her up in a very homey quilt and I said "I
> wish I could tell her she didn't soil the bed. She'd be so pleased
> with herself". The cat had sat ON her the whole last day, and Mommy
> had petted her over and over and held onto her until the end.
>
> All in all, a good home death.

That's a good thing! My mom had a good home death too. My sister is
an ex-Hospice home health care worker, so we had good "help" for what
was literally the last few days of Mom's life.

The worst part about it was that although Mom had literally tied up
every loose end, she forgot one major point - her Advance Directive.
Fortunately, all three "kids" agreed about what her last wishes would
be - so things went as smoothly as possible. It killed us to watch
her killing herself (she refused food and water for 9 days), but
that's what she wanted. We knew she'd decided to die because at that
point - it was clear she wasn't coming out of her cancer alive, no
matter what else happened. She had $600 in drugs unopened and unused,
so that wasn't a factor in her decision.

We console ourselves (privately) with the fact that she died on her
own terms and with dignity.

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On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:39:31 -0800, sf wrote:

>On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:51:16 -0500, Goomba38 >
>wrote:
>
>>Dan Abel wrote:
>> kalanamak (formerly known as tj the small,
>>> even though she isn't small) have been long time posters here.
>>
>>Wasn't "Blacksalt" another name?
>
>Yes.

i thought maybe that was her. hiya, blacksalt, if you're still
hangin' around.

your pal,
blake

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:44:39 -0800, kalanamak >
wrote:

>And those of you who remember how much I used to write, here is a little
>something from this summer. I hope it encourages others to not be afraid
>of a "home death". I wrote it on the 7th of July.
>
><begin paste>
>
> Today I'm cooking and catching up with loose ends after spending
>midweek in Kansas helping my mother die.

<snip>

i hope that when i shuffle off this mortal coil i have someone like
you handling the franchise, blacksalt.

your pal,
blake