Thanksgiving Lessons During the Making of Mom’s Fresh Apple Cake: Dear Church Family, Thank You Mom for Legacy

Dear Church Family,

Tonight is our annual church Thanksgiving dinner. I signed up to make my Mom’s Fresh Apple Cake. At the time I signed up for what to bring, I was selfishly thinking “What is easy?” or not as selfishly “If I end up not being able to do it myself today, what will be easy for the girls?” Is it also selfish of me to want to cut a piece out of it before I send it to church with my family? Because I might do it.

What I didn’t know when I was a teen and in my 20’s was to appreciate that Fresh Apple Cake would become my Mom’s signature dish for all things potluck, all family gatherings, all trips. It’s a totally made from scratch, nothing from a can or box cake. I get it now, Mom. Thank you for the legacy thought! It’s a true family age old recipe! I’m learning these are the best for passing on.

Recipes, Fresh Apple Cake
What I didn’t know as I made my Mom’s Fresh Apple Cake is that seeing my now 30+ year old recipe card, now stained with oil drops and sandy with flour, sugar, and cinnamon is that it would move me to tears. I didn’t know the memories that would flood. Even though my daughter agreed to get her copy out of her recipe book, I wanted to use the recipe card I’d copied back in the day from the card in my Mom’s recipe box. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me to value small things like personal touch and seeing the person in the memory, in a recipe card. We don’t get that in the digital age and on Pinterest! Thank you for teaching me shorthand because your Mom knew it and used it, and for what I’d need to know when I got to college and my nursing degree. There’s shared history and value in the actual writing. I remember Grammie S. in all of this too. This was originally her recipe. Thank you for sharing that history with me.

I didn’t know that as I diced apples into the mixing bowl, I’d be dicing a piece of my heart into that bowl. I didn’t know I’d hear her voice from 836 miles away with advice: “I always just put one more apple than what the recipe calls for for good measure.” as she put a slice of apple into her mouth and said “Yum. Good.” (I didn’t do this, so be at ease, Church family. This is a post Covid-19 era, and I wouldn’t eat while I baked the cake.) Her advice was to always use Macintosh apples, too, for what it is worth to you. It means something to me. I get it now, Mom. I really was listening when I rolled my eyes at your seemingly frugal and archaic ways. I was a disrespectful 20-something know it all. I’m sorry for that. It’s a deep regret. I *really* do get it now. Thank you for making these memories for me, and for teaching me Joy in Simplicity.

What I didn’t know as I made my Mom’s Fresh Apple Cake is that I’d cry the tears bottled up for all the ways I have guilt for not appreciating my parents over the years, or words I’ve spoken that have hurt them, or words that seemed to judge them for the baggage they carry from hard experiences in their own lives. I get it now, Mom, and I’ve had to go through some hard stuff all on my own to get here. Words and the tongue are double edged swords, and the way they are phrased or spoken can unintentionally harm, but they can also build up. Maybe the way I heard them weren’t the way you meant them and I misunderstood. Thank you for teaching me Grace the best way you knew how.

I didn’t know that I’d be wondering as I diced the apples without any new shiny latest and greatest Pampered Chef tool, just my hands and my good old fashioned 1990’s wedding gift knife “Is someone helping Mom bake Dad an apple cake for breakfast? Does he bake it now? He doesn’t ever follow a recipe.” I didn’t know I’d be wondering if I should bake my Dad a cake the next time I travel to see them, or if Fresh Apple Cake is USPS friendly. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me the gift of consideration for others. I get it and all the time I get it even more.

My Mom told stories of packing my Dad’s favorite chocolate chip cookies into a coffee can and mailing them overseas for a taste of love and home when he was shipped out to sea with the Navy. I get it now, Mom. Would you like me to send Dad cookies for Christmas with your name on them? I remember that he likes them crunchy, even though I don’t. I’ll do it for you, Mom, if you want me to. Your Memories may be fading, but we can carry them on for you. LEGACY, Mom.)

My Mom is still very much alive, just not able to make cookies and Fresh Apple Cake. She has some demons she now wrestles, and right with her, I and my brothers and my Dad and our children all wrestle demons of our own for her.

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me about persistence and overcoming, doing our best, laughing at bad situations, making the best of hard things, and working hard. We might not have been financially rich growing up, but you made us appreciate the better things in life. I didn’t appreciate those lessons when I was younger. I do now. I’ve tried to pass these traits on to my children too, for you, for better or worse, and whether I did it well or not.

Just like you, Mom.

I’m more like you than I ever appreciated and realized. I’m thankful for that.

Thank you, Mom. It took more than 30 years, but I get it now. I love you now, and I always have.

Church family, enjoy my Mom’s legendary apple cake at Church Thanksgiving dinner tonight. There really may be a piece missing when I send it, but know that I replaced it with a really big piece of my heart.

I’m off to make a not so legendary Green Bean Casserole for the church family for tonight, too. I got it off the interwebs and the Google. <insert a 20 something’s eye roll here> There may be a piece out of that as well, because a girl’s gotta eat you know.

But no worries, I am not a canned cream of mushroom soup kind of girl, either, and I know some don’t like mushrooms. So at least it’s void of ‘shrooms and made from scratch. Well, except the canned green beans I used this time. I usually don’t use those. I was looking for easy–again. It does have flour in it if my gluten free family need to know. Signing off as the Whole Foods kind of girl. See Mom? I can attempt goofy humor in spite of a broken heart just like you do! Thank you for the gift of humor in the middle of some really garbage-y times.

With Love & A Broken Heart,

Blessings,

Deb

How To Care For And Clean Your Lilla Rose Plated Hair Accessories

Now that you’ve purchased a Lilla Rose Flexi hair clip or ten, what is the best way to store and care for them?

The best place to store your clip when it is not in your hair, of course, is in a fabric bag, jewelry box, or compartment sorting tray in a bathroom drawer. Compartments are great for easy viewing if you like to sort by clip size or color.

5 Day Email Treasure Hunt, Storing Flexi Hair Clips

I like to keep my hair sticks in a small vase on my bathroom counter, and hang my hairbands on necklace hooks in my “Lilla Rose Jewelry Box.”

How to Store Lilla Rose Flexi Hair Clips, Jewelry Storage, LoveLeavingLegacy

This is an old photo. I need a new jewelry box! I’ve outgrown this one, and so my current one is overflowing. I’ve also added a pretty jar for hair sticks.

It is more important to discuss how to care for your new hair accessories, though. The pin on clips are nickel, gold, brass, copper, or rose gold plated. Being plated, they will tarnish from humidity and frequent use. The pin lends itself to an “antiquing” look and is not damaged by this “tarnish.” The same is true for metal sticks and U-pins also.

It has been recommended by other Lilla Rose Stylists, too, to be mindful of environments with high humidity, as this does seem to increase the tendency of natural antiquing or tarnishing on some shiny metal clips or the rose gold ones. Other hair products, lotions, anti dandruff shampoos, and food oil transfer from hands can contribute to the tarnishing and color changes of plated metals on the flexi clip as well.

How To Clean Your Plated Hair Accessory Jewelry

In order to properly care for these items and “parts” of the clips, note the care instructions on your “Style Sheet” given to you at the time of your purchase. There is a section of the sheet called “Cleaning and Finish.” Lilla Rose, Inc recommends “wiping your Flexi with a cotton ball dabbed in acetone or non-acetone fingernail polish remover. Do not wipe colored beads with acetone as their coloring may be sensitive to the cleaner and cause discoloration.”

Other cleaning recommendations from non Lilla Rose sites for plated jewelry recommend using lint free jewelry cloths to polish items. If oils build up on those items, it’s recommended to soak the items in warm soapy water with dish soap before polishing. A soft brush can be used on metal plating after soaking for any additional build up, but follow with the jewelry cloth to shine a flexi hair clip back up.

Avoid antibacterial hand soaps. Do not use polishing cloths. It is never recommended to use abrasive cleaners on any plated jewelry, as this could completely remove the finish. This site, Miansai, also recommends not storing rose gold/gold and silver plating items together, as this may increase tarnishing.

If a Flexi clip has wooden beads, it is not recommended that the items be soaked, so be mindful of that.

Otherwise, flexi clips are as easy to care for and store as they are to use! Enjoy their beauty, durability, exquisite designs, and comfort!

If you find you need to do a sizing exchange, Lilla Rose pays the exchange shipping within 90 days of the purchase date. If a customer wants to return items, they must do so within 30 days, unused in original packaging. Customers may also exchanged defective items within 90 days for free exchange shipping. After that, the exchange is at the customer’s cost. Be sure to keep your original receipt for the exchanges!

I’d love for you to have a free download of my flyer, How to Care for your Lilla Rose Flexi Hair Clips (and other plated hair and jewelry accessories). Click on the image to access it, and to be added to my monthly email newsletter.

For more Lilla Rose Tips/Tricks, follow my LoveLeavingLegacy Facebook page here.

How to Combat Low Vitamin D3 And Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

January can be such a dreary month in Michigan. Even though we’ve had a relatively mild winter so far, and not a lot of lake effect snow band squalls, the sun rarely shines. It’s great to get out in the fresh air, and I have had a relatively easy time with balance. The driveway or in parking lots aren’t always frozen over and slippery to complicate gait/balance and vertigo issues. But, I’ve been noticing since Christmas that I’m exceptionally fatigued. I feel like I should be over that after 13-14 months brain surgery post op. I know that Vitamin D3 levels should be checked with regularity, and I’m not sure mine has ever been checked. I was glad to hear that my new primary care provider wanted to do one a few weeks ago. I was surprised to hear, however, that my levels were even lower than what they consider low. I’m now taking D3 supplements at the urging of the PCP, but also cod liver oil and calcium with magnesium to be sure that bone health is good.

Honestly, I didn’t even realize fatigue was a symptom of low D3. It’s super easy to chalk it up to “I had major brain surgery a year ago, and the tumor void is still healing.”

What are the symptoms of low Vitamin D3? (See also Healthline.)

They can be subtle, and you might even chalk them up to other problems or disorders. I’m learning that this is often the case for a lot of disorders or health issues, and that’s why it’s so important to get baseline blood work and testing to be sure the PCP can note changes.

1. Fatigue and tiredness is one.

2. Inability to lose weight.

3. Getting sick or getting infections often. One may also find wounds have difficulty healing.

4. Bone or back pain. With a low D3 level, calcium absorption is not as efficient, so bones could be weaker. This can also be a cause of bone loss.

5. Depression which may or may not be part of Seasonal Affective Disorder.

6. Hair loss.

7. Muscle pain.

Where does one get Vitamin D3?

1. Sunshine helps bodies make its own D3.

2. From certain foods like certain mushrooms, egg yolks, salmon, tuna, cod liver oil, herring, sardines, halibut, mackerel, fortified foods like orange juice, cereal, cow’s milk, and soy milk.

D3 is actually a hormone, fat soluble vitamin. You get it from food, sunshine, and supplements. According to Healthline, it may aid in the blocking of fat cell creation and storage, thereby attributing higher levels of it to greater weight reduction. It may also play a role in boosting metabolism.

While doing my research on my Vitamin D3 level and problem, I found out that many of the foods and nutrients mentioned for combatting low levels of it are also the nutrients for health hair and to grow hair.

My free 3-book, 9 Nutrients for Growing Healthy Hair can be found here. I love to share it!

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder is sometimes considered the “winter blues” but it can happen any time of the year. It’s an actual cyclical depression. Some say they have SAD simply because they have low D3, but that may not always be the case.

According to the Mayo Clinic, signs and symptoms of SAD may include:

Feeling depressed most of the day, nearly every day
Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
Having low energy
Having problems with sleeping
Experiencing changes in your appetite or weight
Feeling sluggish or agitated
Having difficulty concentrating
Feeling hopeless, worthless or guilty
Having frequent thoughts of death or suicide

The cause of SAD is not completely known, but it is noted that circadian rhythms, low serotonin and melatonin levels seem to contribute. Family history, bipolar disorder, and major depression issues also seem to contributing factors.

The Mayo Clinic says “Treatment for seasonal affective disorder may include light therapy, medications, and psychotherapy.” Meditation, relaxation techniques, guided imagery, and music or art therapy may also help.

For either low vitamin D3 or Seasonal Affective Disorder, be sure to reaching out to your healthcare provider for the best ways to deal with your situations. Healthcare is not usually a one size fits all approach. This post should also not be construed as medical advice. It is simply my own research for understanding of my own situation.

To combat my vitamin D3 issue, my PCP recommended supplementation and diet. I’m happy to report that my fatigue symptoms seem to be lifting.

To combat any winter blues and to keep a good mental outlook, not necessarily related to Seasonal Affective Disorder, I’ve opted to create “happy places” or “pampering situations.”

I love changing out homey decorations with soothing colors, and have purchased more indoor plants now that there is no danger of my children eating poisonous leaves. I also love to listen to soothing music and create through crocheting, sewing, or crafting. There is nothing as encouraging as finishing projects! Adult coloring books are a fun activity while relaxing in the evenings too.

As always, I love keeping my mind active through reading and research of topics that interest me. I love that my nursing license credentials come due at the end of January so that I have to be sure I’ve completed enough continuing education credits. I love researching health issues related to myself or my family.

I get monthly massages, eat right, and drink plenty of water. I also try to exercise. And, of course, I am my own best customer when it comes to having new Lilla Rose hair accessories to beautify my hair and brighten up my outlook.

How do you combat winter blues?

Tell me!

LoveLeavingLegacy

Home, Health, Hair, and Mentoring

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