Molly Bee's Attic

We've spent the last two days running back and forth the the University Vet hospital with Wee Doggie . $900 worth of tests have revealed that his lack of ability to breathe is being caused by lymph fluid in his chest cavity but there is no known cause. The good news is it isn't cancer and it isn't masses or tumors of any kinds. They just don't know. So they drew a bit of it off to ease his breathing and sent him home. We have to watch him and when his breathing becomes labored again, they will drain more and reevaluate. There really is no 'cure' but surgery and even that is iffy. He's deaf, mostly blind, very lame, fecal incontinent , high strung and has dementia. There really is no need to do surgery just to prolong that. We will keep him as comfortable as we can and hope for the best for now. Ah the hard times of Furbaby ownership. The years of joy out weight the pain and you know this part is coming, but it's still difficult. I will be so glad...

The blueberries were on the table and the moose, loons, potatoes, lighthouse and Mt. Katahdin were on the buffet; all ready for the Aroostook County Maine Satahdee Night Baked Bean Suppah! I cooked all day with the fear that no one would be able to come because of the BLIZZARD. That's right! 15" of blowing snow! This 'March comes in like a lion' stuff started a little early this year! But we have the best friends in the world. They all made it! The mailman didn't even show up yesterday and it signed that 'neither rain nor sleet' contract, but they bundled up and made it all the way to our house! It was so much fun. All of the food turned out edible and we all had a great time visiting. I made baked beans, potato salad (the Maine way where the potatoes are mashed), coleslaw, red Maine hot dogs, biscuits, Maine-shaped sugar cookies and blueberry/raspberry cobblah! We wrapped up a little early because of the snow and bedtimes for little ones, but it cou...

Don't know if my Aroostook County Maine Satahdee Night Suppah will happen tomorrow night or not. I've cleaned, planned and cooked. The potato salad is done, the beans are soaking, the Maine cookies are ready: lobstahs, loons, lighthouses and moose don'tcha know! (Picture is at a wierd angle, but you get the idea. The loons aren't burnt. They have a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar) I even ordered Jordan's Red Hotdogs all the way from Falmouth, Maine. anything for authenticity. And now, we are supposed to get the biggest storm of the season. Up to 13 " most of which is supposed to fall tomorrow night. Figures. It's been that kind of a week actually. I spent all day yesterday in the ER hooked to various wires and tubing. I thought I might have a little bronchitis or something. Had some pressure in my chest so I called my doctor who told me to either get a ride to the ER or call an ambulance. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. My hero, Mr. Bee, drove me down ...

Went to our friends D&T's house for supper. T worked some culinary wizardry and made a Swiss steak dish that was to die for but everyone knows that the key to Molly Bee's heart can be found on the dessert cart. They found a place on State Street that sells gelato so they bought four different kinds for us to try. I tried a little bit of all four (of course); there was deep, dark chocolate, vanilla-chocolate chip, wedding cake (which tasted like white cake batter-YUM) and my new favorite thing on the planet VIOLET! Not only was it my favorite color (lilac purple0 but it was sooooo good. T said he thought it tasted like frozen perfume but I LOVED it. Very crisp and refreshing. The world is a little better place now that I know violet gelato exists. D said that they got that one especially because it was purple and they knew that was my favorite color. Wasn't that thoughtful? It was a great dinner, delightful conversation, amazing gelato and best of all-spending time ...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wanna know what it looks like when you grind up 90 Oreos in the food processor, mix it with 16 oz. of cream cheese and then spend over an hour rolling it all up into little one teaspoon-sized balls? (Besides fresh deer droppings? I know. That thought always makes it easy not to taste test at this stage.) It looks like this.... So now you know. They'll get popped in the fridge overnight and dunked in milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or pink-tinted, white chocolate tomorrow night. Then they'll recieve a light dusting of pink or red colored sugar crystals, get nestled into little pink foil cups, and placed on a a heart-shaped plate complete with doily . Then they'll be all dressed up and ready for their debut on Valentine's Day! Who luvs ya, Baby!

You may know it by one of its other names; blankie, afghan, quilt, ba-ba or binkie. My people call it a woobie (sorta rhymes with cookie). Woobies are very important to my tribe. Mr. Bee, Wee Doggie, Sebastian-the-cat, Sneakers-the-bunny, and I…we’re all nesters. There is nothing like curling up and snuggling in with a good book or the t.v. remote and a nice, soft, warm, woobie. So it is a wonder that it took Mr. Bee sixteen years to mention the fact that the woobies in our various nests were insufficient for a man who is 6’6” tall. He’s a patient man, Mr. Bee is. Lord knows it’s an attribute he’s needed and nurtured living with me, but SIXTEEN years?!?? Good Lord man! Speak Up! I am, after all, the woobie Queen! So we went to Joanne’s to pick out some supplies to make him a custom-length, man-woobie all of his very own. Now nothing makes me want to crawl up in the turret with an automatic rifle like going to Joanne’s. I love my fellow humans on an individual, case by case basis and de...

Remember our new job as Wee Doggie's body guards against the Big Bad Coyote? Piece of cake compared to our latest task. We took Wee Doggie to the vet last Saturday and she thought he might benefit from some arthritis drugs. She gave us a few and we’ve been giving them to him. Giving being a relative term since he LOVES them and would willingly eat our fingers off to get at them. He woofles them down like they were treats. So she called today to see if we have noticed any improvement in either his wobbly gait or his overall grumpy mood. I told her that I think we have. He seems a little peppier (not that that would be a stretch, he was basically a door-stop before) and though still curmudgeony…he seems a little more ‘with it’. She was glad to hear it and then said that the meds could cause some kidney damage so we need to keep an eye on that. Then she said…get this….(hysterical laughter) she said (giggle, cough, wheeze)…in a normal tone of voice like she was in her right mind (sorry...

Now that Mr. Bee is coming off the injured reserve list after spraining his ankle on New Year’s weekend, the Gods-of-Misadventure decided it was time to give me a try. I walked to the other building in the -17° temps this morning for a meeting. Walking back I hit a tiny patch of ice on the cement. My foot slid sideways until it hit the edge of the sidewalk where my ankle bent in a decidedly unnatural position and pitched me face first onto the ground. I enjoyed the best of all possible landing spots, some concrete, some frozen lawn and some shrubbery. Of course I had my two new kids with me so they got to witness what must have looked like their admin’s drunken, swan dive into the pucker brush on their first day with the department. When I do it, I do it up right. And there weren’t even any goats like in the horrific, Memorial Day extravaganza! Despite the fact that I had on my long johns and 42 other layers of clothes against the cold, I still managed to take all of the skin off my r...

Mr. Bee and I went to Walgreen’s after work. We were checking out and the cashier said, “What school do you kids go to?” I turned my 41-year-old eyes to the nearly 40-year-old Mr. Bee and then we both looked incredulously at the cashier. She looked so earnest that I said, “I love you” and grinned; flattered, the same way I used to when I was 25 and got carded at a bar. Then I said, “I’m 41 so I guess I’ve been out of school a while.” I was pretty smug about being half of such a young-looking couple. The cashier, who was in her sixties, looked puzzled and then said, “Oh, I saw the Valentines…”. I had purchased a box of kid’s Valentines to give my ‘kids’ at work like I do every year. I explained that they were for my work. Then she said that she was just asking everyone because some of the local schools weren't allowing Valentine candy at their parties so she was letting folks know which schools did and which ones didn’t. It was then that I realized that what she had actually said ...