Crutches and a Bit of Gimpiness!

Hey everyone!  I've been a bit absent the last few days and wanted to let you know why.  We had back-to-back-to-back house guests over the past 3 weeks and have loved it, but there have been days when I didn't even turn my laptop on......lol!  Kind of went through some withdrawals, believe me!

Just after our 2nd batch of houseguests (2 couples) arrived last Wednesday, we got a call from our son that he needed some help.  He goes to a doctor over here in our area & was in for a physical.  The doc felt something she didn't like & sent him for a CT.  They discovered a "hot appendix" and wanted him at the hospital immediately for an appendectomy.  He was scheduled to be leaving for Denver for 3 weeks (for the pre-opening work of their next restaurant) the next day & could have ended up with a ruptured appendix in flight or at best, in another state.  Long story short, he had surgery that night & went home the next night with orders to delay his trip for a week.  Thank goodness for wonderful & very understanding friends who took care of themselves & kept things all tidy around our house while we were at the hospital.  We eventually had time to spend with them and had a great time.

Our DIL had tickets and plans for she & their 2 little girls to go to Washington D.C. to visit her family while Michael was in Denver.  Of course, she wanted to skip her trip when our son had his surgery but would have had to forfeit her airfare, so our son insisted she go on ahead with her plans.  The Man drove over to Scottsdale & took Ally & the babes to the airport & got them all taken care of & on their way.  He then went back to their house & got our son to spend this week with us to just rest and hang out while he healed.  So I did a bit of scrambling to get beds changed & linens washed after our friends left and then got ready for our son.  It has been wonderful having him here.

All was going smoothly until last night.  Just before going to bed, I twisted my knee (don't even know how it happened), but I am now wrapped in an ace bandage & on crutches -- aka:  Gimpiness.  What a total bummer!  I am terrible about having anyone wait on me, but I'm having to do that at this point.  The more immobile I keep the knee, the quicker it will heal.  Guess that means I can do some "blog" catching up....lol!

Pre "gimpiness" I had been in cooking and baking mode for our company, so thought I'd share a couple  of the things I made.  These are Pumpkin Scones with Maple Cinnamon Frosting thanks to Angie at Echoes of Laughter.  Angie was a bit perturbed with Star Bucks, one early morning, because they were already out of Pumpkin Scones, so little Miss Angie made her own.  Go visit her blog and get the recipe.

I made these the day before our company arrived & then simply wrapped them in aluminum foil and heated them in a slow oven.  They were a big hit!

These are my steps -- very easy recipe to make.

  I didn't have maple syrup, but I did have Maple flavoring & simply made my own syrup.  I think now I need to whip up a batch of pancakes so I can use the rest of this delicious syrup!  These scones would have been good with just a little butter & no frosting, but that frosting was delish!  Thank you, Angie, for the Star Buck's knock-off!

I really like having a little something to "Welcome" our guests into our home, so I usually put together

some sort of small gift basket.  This time, I made "Sugar Scrub for the Tootsies" for the women (I'll share the recipe and how-to's for this sugar scrub in an upcoming post) and.....

 "Banana Bread" for the fellows.  My recipe uses Amish Friendship Bread Starter. 

 A good Banana Bread recipe using the Friendship Starter can be found HERE.  

A recipe for The Starter can be found HERE.

I love the rustic look of this bread.  It's always a big hit with the men!

So, now you know, I don't even have to fall down to hurt myself -- it can just happen......lol!  I so appreciate your visits and hope you will come by again soon!

~Carol~

I've decided to use my given name on my blog instead of going by my initials.  Some of you were confused, because sometimes I signed off with CAS & other times, Carol. 

 From here on, it will be Carol!