Grandma Has a New Hip

I haven't blogged for the past few months as 

I was in a lot of pain and waiting to get a new 

hip.  I had fallen 28 years ago while pregnant 

with one of my children.  It irritated for years, 

and finally I had X-Rays and it had deteriorated 

enough to need a replacement.  

I went up to the Park City Hospital which 

looks more like a mountain lodge inside 

and out.  Miss Madi K is sitting on a ski lift 

outside of the hospital.  

Inside there are several gorgeous fireplaces 

and it was amazingly beautiful.  They specialize 

in operating on Olympic athletes, so I felt like 

I was in good hands.  

The recovery was going well but in ten days 

I ended up in the emergency room with 

severe pain in my stomach.  I stayed undiagnosed 

for ten days in the hospital, throwing up 

constantly.  They finally decided to look 

at my gallbladder.  They found stones and 

removed it.  I was in pretty sad shape by 

that time, not being able to drink or eat 

anything without throwing up.  

The kids and grandkids were really worried 

about me and came by to visit.  

I wasn't great company, but it did my heart 

good to see them. 

Hubby has had a tradition of bringing a cooler 

full of treats to the women in the hospital 

as they were having babies, so they did the 

same for me with many wonderful cards 

made by the little ones.  

Hubby said he knew I was in rough shape as I 

didn't speak or watch TV or even look at my 

phone for those two weeks in the hospital. 

When I finally got home after almost two weeks 

in the hospital I was still throwing up many, many 

times daily.  We were spoiled by friends and neighbors 

and family with foods and gorgeous floral arrangements. 

I wasn't able to eat any of the food people 

brought over, but Hubby enjoyed all of it.  

We realized the importance of supporting 

the caregiver.  

I continued to throw up everything for another

two weeks while home, but got on home nursing 

IV's and using Zofran.  I slowly was able to 

eat things and it took that extra month to be 

able to have energy and be able to eat.  

The little granddaughters ran around saying, 

"Grandma has a new hip!!!"  

That's because I hadn't been able to have 

any sleepovers with them while I was waiting 

for surgery and for a long time after 

surgery.  I was in the hot tub with several 

of them and one that is four said, 

"Let's say a prayer of thanks that 

Grandma is better?"  

How sweet is that?

But thanks to lots of prayers 

and kindnesses!  

Miss Pansy Goes to Branson - Tales of the Traveling Totes and Giveaway

Welcome to Tales of the Traveling Totes for September of 2022, where MacKenzie-Child loving ladies post once a quarter on where their bags have been.  If you follow me on IG you know that I was recovering from hip surgery in June and then hospitalized again for gallbladder surgery so I didn't post in June, so it has been a while.
In January of 2020 we each received custom made MacKenzie-Child's bags based on what the incredible seamstresses at MacKenzie Child designed for us based on our blogs, and then Covid-19 hit!  So this month we are focusing on our custom made Serendipity bags' travels.  Mine is named Miss Pansy.

One of my girlfriends had gone to Branson two years ago and she decided right then and there that she wanted all of us to go together.  They belong to Holiday Inn Vacation resorts, so they booked two rooms in Branson for the five couples.  None of the rest of us had been to Branson, so we didn't know what to expect, but we absolutely had a marvelous time. 

A neighbor heard that we were going and said 

we absolutely had to eat breakfast at Billy Gail's. 

So we started our vacation the first morning there.  

We loved the Big Boy out front whose hamburger 

had turned into a stack of pancakes.

One couple was missing that first morning 

so this picture only shows four of the 

couples.  They had stayed one extra night 

at home as their dog had just had a litter 

of five puppies. 

The food was so good that we decided when the 

other couple joined us, we would have to go again. 

The pancake in the background is 14 inches!  It was 

the most amazing pancake.  We all got to try some 

of it and there was still some left. 

As we were picking up our show tickets, 

we spotted a Paula Deen's restaurant, so 

we had to add that to our list.  She has the 

most charming shop at the front of the 

restaurant, and we'all had to get some of 

her fun gifts.  

Miss Pansy and I looooved the biscuits 

they served at Paula Deen's Restaurant 

and we were introduced to 

Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, 

which we then ordered at almost every 

restaurant we went to. I also brought 

home two boxes of her Ooey Gooey 

Butter Cake Mixes, one in vanilla 

and one in chocolate.  I am making one 

tomorrow for a pool party!  

Each night we attended a show and 

The Haygoods by far was our favorite show.  

They are sold out every night. 

The sister in the show was talented on so many 

instruments, but my favorite was the harp, as 

they had it lit up and her dress was lit up too. 

What we enjoyed most was the outdoor 

activities.  We rode bikes up Dogwood Canyon.  

It is a nice easy ride and I was thrilled that 

my hip had no problems.  

The bike path crisscrossed over the stream 

many times and the stone structures were 

just gorgeous. 

At the top of the ride they had this beautiful 

waterfall with golden trout in the pond.  

We had never seen golden trout before.  

Along the trail you cross from Missouri to 

Arkansas, so we laughed and said we rode 

all the way to Arkansas. 

We ate at the lodge there for lunch.  All of 

the food we had on the trip was amazing. 

We also got to walk through a 

Treehouse Master's house there on 

the property.  

Later in the week we rode gold carts through 

Top of the Rock Heritage Preserve.  It was 

also stunning with waterfalls and bridges.  

You even drive through a cave!  It was so 

beautiful.  

The iron work everywhere is unbelievable.  

We just marveled at the creativity and 

money that was put into both of these 

places - everything so beautiful. 

We also roamed through the Ancient Ozarks 

Natural History Museum that had so many 

beautiful Indian artifacts.  My favorite items 

were all of the beaded dresses and the 

dolls, all so well-preserved.  

After that we had lunch in the Big Cedar Lodge.  

The buildings at both places were just 

magnificent, and the food matched the 

grandeur.  Miss Pansy really enjoyed 

herself and even got to go on the 

golf carts. 

This was a sampling of foods we had at 

the Big Cedar Lodge.  Yum!  And we 

learned to order dessert as an appetizer 

and all just share one, otherwise we wouldn't 

have room for dessert. 

Another treat was getting to eat at Guy Fieri's restaurant 

down by the water.  We ordered Trash Can Nachos. 

I had seen him make these on one of his shows 

and I had tried making them.  His were better of course. 

It's a big presentation where they 

bring it out in the "trash can" and then 

pull off the trash can.  The smoked meat 

on it was unbelievable.  

I was just so happy that with all of my 

problems after the gallbladder surgery 

following my hip surgery that I was able 

to eat everything.  After only being able 

to eat a few things for six weeks, the 

food was one of the highlights of the trip. 

We also spent a day at 

Silver Dollar City Amusement Park. 

Everything we did was fun and beautiful and 

delicious.  It was a great trip. 

Now for the giveaway.  

Visit Jenna and leave a comment to be 

entered into the giveaway for this 

cute reusable shopping bag.  

And also visit all of our other official 

Tales of the Traveling Totes ladies to 

see what they were up to.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women 

Thanks for visiting and leave a comment. 

And a huge thank you to Patti at 

Pandora's Box for including me on 

all of the adventures of

Tales of the Traveling Totes. 

Tales of the Traveling Tote Cabo Cooking Class and a Giveaway

Welcome to our latest Tales of the Traveling Tote 

where a group of Mackenzie-Childs lovers take you 

along on our fantastic travels with our marvelous 

bags.  Before you begin reading, I just have 

to thank Patti for starting this amazing group 

of women and for Linda and Sarah for inviting 

me to be a part.  I have enjoyed this blogging 

group so much!!!  You have made my life 

richer by this experience of being part of 

a MacKenzie-Childs travel group. 

Today Miss Madi K and I want to bring you along to 

our second cooking class with our Lunch Bunch 

group.  We brought our aprons all of the way to 

Cabo for this class.  We were only missing one 

couple, who are off living in Puerto Rico for a 

few months. 

Miss Madi K graciously brought ten of our 

COOK2GETHER aprons which Diana and I 

had made.  What is really fun, is that we aren't 

just cooking together as girlfriends, but we are 

cooking together with our husbands too.  

I decided to have a class on making ice cream.  

My sister Jean had purchased a Whynter Ice Cream Maker 

that uses a compressor.  These run right around $300 

so they are on the pricey side compared to other 

ice cream makers, but for months before Christmas 

of 2020 she kept sending me photos of the ice 

cream she was making and raving about how 

amazing it was.  I decided to purchase one 

and try it out and ended up getting one for each 

of my five kids for Christmas that year.  They all 

said that was the best Christmas present they had 

ever gotten (now that may have been an exaggeration, 

because one of our Christmas presents to them was 

the trip to Europe where we went to Paris, London 

and Rome), but I was so thrilled they all loved it. 

I chose to teach them a Peanut Butter Cup recipe 

and a Nutella Recipe, using the basic 

Ben and Jerry's recipe for the base.  

The Whynter compressor ice cream maker 

requires no preparation and you can make 

batch after batch of perfect ice cream.  

The quality of ingredients makes all of the difference.  

I have purchased heavy cream from the grocery 

store that has been more like milk consistency, and 

that will affect your ice cream.  We have found that 

Costco's Heavy Cream makes the most luxurious 

ice cream, so I highly recommend that.  

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Base Recipe

2 large eggs, or equivalent of egg substitute

1 C. white sugar

1 C. milk

2 C. heavy cream

Place the sugar into a medium size bowl and 

crack the two eggs into the bowl.  Using a whisk, 

whisk the two together until light yellow - this 

only takes a little time.  Now whisk in the milk and cream 

and pour into your ice cream freezer bowl.  Place 

the beater into the bowl and place the top on 

and press the power button and then the start 

button.  It is that easy.  It generally takes around 

40 minutes to freeze the batch, and it freezes to 

about a soft serve consistency.  

You can eat it now, but 

I like my homemade ice cream more like a 

commercial ice cream consistency so I place it 

in these fabulous freezer containers  shown in 

the picture of Kirk ad I cleaning off the beater.  

My sister Jean told me about these too.  You will 

want these placed in the freezer about the time 

you begin freezing the batch of ice cream.  I let 

mine ripen about 4-6 hours or overnight, so if I 

make the batch in the morning it is ready to 

serve that evening.  

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

Follow the Ben and Jerry's base and whisk 

or blend in the blender 1/2 C. creamy peanut 

butter before you add the milk and cream.  We 

found that Cream Skippy Natural made the best 

flavored peanut butter base.  Don't use crunchy 

peanut butter as the peanuts will catch in the beater 

and prevent it from turning.  

While the ice cream is freezing, chop your peanut 

butter cups - the thin ones are amazing.  I usually 

add about a cup of mix ins for this size of batch.  

When they are chopped, place them in the freezer 

too so that you aren't adding warm mix-ins to 

your ice cream.  

When the ice cream is frozen, place half of the 

chopped peanut butter cups into your pre-cooled 

container (you can use any pan or container you 

want but maker sure it has been in the freezer 

first too.  I just love these because they are insulated 

and really keep the batch nice over time without 

causing crystals on top.  

Working quickly, place half of the ice cream 

in the container, swirl the mix ins into the 

ice cream, then top with the remaining mix-ins 

and then the remaining ice cream and swirl again.

This way the ice cream has the mix-ins evenly 

placed throughout the batch.  

Return to the freezer and let it ripen.  

Variations

You can follow the same recipe for the above 

but use smooth Cookie Butter or Nutella.  

When I make the Nutella I add 1/8 C. Cocoa 

Powder and if you have followed me for a 

while you know I only use Extra Brute Cocoa 

Powder, it will change your chocolate recipes 

forever! 

We plowed through a batch of Peanut Butter Cup and 

a batch of Cookie Butter, so everyone requested ice cream 

again.  I had brought a package of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups - 

the thin variety with me, and we went to three stores in Cabo 

to find more - not a popular candy down there, so I got 

online and made some homemade Peanut Butter cup, 

spreading it thin on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and 

froze it.  When frozen I cut it.  I have to say, it was superior 

in flavor and texture to the commercial peanut butter cups. 

The second day we made a batch of Nutella and I had 

brought some Extra Brute Cocoa down with me. 

Besides insisting we make more the next day, 

the biggest compliment on the class was that 

one of the men in the class ordered the 

Whynter Ice Cream Maker, the freezer containers

and the Extra Brute Cocoa Powder off of 

Amazon that day and had them waiting at 

home.  They made their first batch that next 

Sunday for their family dinner.  

That Miss Madi K is so lucky that Mexico has 

been so welcoming through all of Covid and 

she has been there a lot.  We feel blessed too!

Now for the fun part - the MC Giveaway 

this month is being held by Emily. What a 

perfect gift - this adorable luggage tag 

will just make you want to travel!  Please 

visit her and comment to have a chance to win.  

Follow all of our amazing adventurers to 

see where they have taken their totes this 

quarter.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women 

And stop by again for another giveaway on June 1st.

Thanks for always stopping by.