Sarah's MRSA spots are almost gone. That ointment the doctor prescribed was just what the doctor ordered.
And I am on the mend from the Shingles. Almost all of the rash is gone. Almost all of the pain is gone. Almost all of my energy has returned.
And I am grumpy and bossy. So things are back to normal around here.
Oh. And Sarah insists on wearing the bandage on her "injured" ankle every day. Every. Single. Day.
It's too bad it's not pink. It would make a darling accessory.
It all started last Friday after I worked out. (And when I say "worked out", I really mean "did a 12 minute Jackie Warner video". I love her! She has replaced Jillian for me at the moment.)
I noticed a pain in my back. It felt like I had pulled my left oblique. I took some Advil Cold and Sinus because in addition to the pulled muscle I also had a head cold.
I felt horrible all weekend but just chalked it up to the head cold and my back pain. I even took a nap on Sunday. And the last time I took a nap, I had strep throat.
On Monday morning as I was getting into the shower, I noticed I had broken out in hives from the center of my stomach all the way around to the center of my back on the left side of my body. I took some Benadryl and didn't think twice about it. The Benadryl had zero effect so I figured it wasn't the hives.
I paid several visits to Dr. Google and came up with lots of things and decided it was just the hives.
Meanwhile, for the last week or so Sarah has had three tiny red pimples on her chest. Mom thought they were chicken pox but she's had the vaccine and to me they just looked more like pimples than pox. Again, I wasn't worried although as one of the pimples got bigger and formed a whitehead, I must admit I was frantically Googling "chicken pox in children that have had the vaccine".
On Tuesday we were playing at Jennifer's in an attempt to fill our second snow day and Sarah fell down a couple of stairs. She spent the rest of the day moaning and whining on the couch but her ankle wasn't swollen. It wasn't even red.
Sarah can be a bit of a drama queen so I endured the ear piecing, mind-numbing whining and told her it would feel better in the morning.
I knew I was in for a long day when she came hobbling down the steps on Wednesday morning. Wednesday was yet another snow day. (Any amount of snow in North Carolina brings a minimum of two days of cancelled school. 5 inches of snow and several days of below freezing weather brings 3 days of no school followed by at least one day with a two hour delayed start.)
Since I was hoping the kids would be back in school on Thursday (today) and I knew Sarah would love nothing more than to miss school because of her "ankle pain", I decided to nip this ankle issue in the bud.
I knew the ankle was fine but Sarah wanted crutches - pink crutches. I knew the only way we would both be happy was to visit the doctor and see what he had to say.
So I called our family doctor yesterday morning right at opening time and got a 9:20 appointment. Sarah hobbled in and our dear doctor looked at the ankle and determined that it was a little tender but was probably o.k. Of course the only way to know for sure would be to take her for an X-Ray.
I decided that would not be necessary so he wrapped her ankle. And even though the wrapping tape was not pink, she was in hog heaven. All a drama queen really needs is a little extra attention.
"While we are here would you take a look at these three pimples?" I casually asked.
He lifted her shirt and immediately declared, "That's MRSA!"
MRSA? Crap! Dr. Google did not even mention MRSA! So our real life doctor prescribed some ointment.
"Before we leave would you take a look at my hives?" I casually asked.
He lifted my shirt and declared, "That's SHINGLES!"
So we went in for a fake broken ankle and came out with MRSA and SHINGLES.
I love Dr. Google but he failed me miserably this time. Sometimes it's worth the $20 co-pay.
When I was in kindergarten we took naps. Lots of naps. That's really all I remember. I don't remember actually doing any work until first grade.
But things have changed. There are no more naps in kindergarten (at least not at our elementary school) and there is a lot of work.
I love it when Sarah brings home things she has written.
The kids are encouraged to write about a topic, in the case below the teddy bears they brought to school to use in their discussions about hibernation. They are encouraged to sound out the word and write as much of it as they can.
At the beginning of the year they were to try to write the first and last sound in the word, but now that we are half way through the school year, they are supposed to try to add the middle sounds as well.
I love watching this whole process unfold as the work that Sarah brings home continues to improve.
The weather-guessers (as my husband likes to call all meteorologists) got it right this time.
The snow began to fall Friday evening and did not stop. We woke up Saturday morning to a cold gray day with about 5 inches of snow covering everything.
"Can we go sledding? Can we make snow cream? Can we play outside?" were the excited questions we were greeted with before breakfast.
We convinced the kids that Mommy and Daddy needed coffee before we were going to do anything. We knew that we were going to have all weekend to play in the snow so we were in no hurry to head outdoors.
Around 11:00 the kids could wait no longer so we bundled everyone up and grabbed the sled. As soon as we set foot outside I knew we wouldn't be out long. The wind was whipping, sleet was falling and it was cold.
We went to the hill behind my Dad's shop (Grandpa's Hill as it has now been dubbed) and started sledding. The kids lasted less than ten minutes before they declared they had had enough and were ready to go inside. And wouldn't you know, ten minutes was exactly how long it took me to get everyone ready to go outside in the first place.
But I couldn't really blame the kids. It was cold and windy and it was sleeting. So we tried it again Sunday afternoon. The sun was shining, there was no wind and it actually felt warm. We lasted about an hour and a half. This was a much better "time spent getting ready to go outside to time actually spent playing outside" ratio. And as a mom this ratio is very important.
We all had fun sledding and sliding and throwing snowballs. Unfortunately I only captured the first day of sledding on film. My camera battery died and I didn't recharge it. But just look at the gray dark photos below and pretend it is sunny and the snow is glistening and you will have day two.
Everyone reads Ree's blog, the Pioneer Woman, right? Of course you do because everyone does. But do you actually cook any of her recipes? Well, if you don't, you should. You should stop what you are doing right now and make something from her cooking site. (And notice how I refer to her as Ree, as if I know her? Well I don't, I only wish I did...sigh...)
We love her Crash Hot Potatoes. Love. Them. Especially my husband. He usually doesn't get excited about anything I cook but he raves about these. And who can blame him, they are delicious! Whenever we grill out in the summer I always cook them.
If we are having steak, I cook them. If we are having chicken, I cook them. If we are having ribs, I cook them. If we are...you get the picture.
So when she posted her Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin a few weeks ago, I knew I had to try them.
And let me tell you, they did not disappoint.
They are creamy and cheesy and garlicky and just plain ole yum.
And they gave me the perfect excuse to use the $5 mandolin I bought at Aldi's a few months ago.
I only two changes I made to her recipe. She says to use 4 russettpotatoes but I only used 2. My dish was still full of potatoes so I guess you could let that be your guide.
And her recipe says to use 4 garlic cloves. I used 4 and it was very garlicky and that's fine with me but if you don't like garlic as much as I do you may want to cut it down a little. Perhaps one garlic clove per potato.
My son who is an extremely picky eater said these were delicious. "They are creamy like mashed poatoes only different and better," was his exact quote.
Now I'm kicking myself for not getting PW's cookbook. (It's been on the NW Times best seller list for 11 weeks now.) Perhaps I should get this for myself for Valentine's Day. Does anyone else have it? If so, what do you think of it?
My house is clean. I have been cleaning all morning and I am trying to enjoy the cleanliness of it all.
My kids will be home from school in less than an hour and it will be dirty again. Oh, it won't happen all at once but by bedtime my floors will be littered with crumbs and sticky spots. And dirt, fingerprints and grime will cover the other surfaces of my home.
I remember sitting in my cubicle at work before I had kids reading an email from a friend. She had a one year old and was a stay-at-home-mom. She mentioned in the email that she needed to leave the house because her house keeper was coming over.
Housekeeper? Why does she need a housekeeper, I scoffed. She stays at home all day with a baby. She has plenty of time to clean.
And now I know.
Humble pie. Seven years later and I'm still trying to convince myself that it's delicious.
"Curse that Heather!" Peter screamed as the bus rumbled away.
Uh-oh, I thought. Heather, the third grade bully that rides Peter's and Sarah's bus must be at it again.
"What did Heather do this time?" I asked.
Peter just shook his fist at the bus and said, "I hate her! I want to kill her!"
Not words that you want to hear coming from your sweet seven-year-old son. Actually not words you want to hear coming from anyone.
"What did she do honey?" I questioned again. "Was she yelling again? Was she cussing again?"
Big tears squeezed from the corners of his eyes as he crossed his arms to his chest and shook his head. She must have called him a name, I thought to myself. He is more upset than normal over Heather's behavior.
Heather has a history of yelling at other kids, using inappropriate language and just being a "jerk" as Peter likes to put it. But she usually leaves Peter and Sarah alone but I could tell from Peter's reaction that her venom must have been directed at him this time.
"Honey, did she call you a name?"
He shook his head yes and refused to tell me what she called him. And to me it really didn't matter.
This bully has upset my son to the point of tears. And even though the school is only one mile from my house and they are on the bus less than 15 minutes from the time school lets out to the time they are at my driveway, this girl is making that bus ride seem like 1 hour and 15 minutes every afternoon as my kids are forced to listen to her loud mouth and hope that she leaves them alone.
"Do you want to start being a car-rider?" I asked.
"Really? Can you start picking us up?" he said as a smile started to spread across his face.
I know I can't protect my kids from all of the bullies they are going to come in contact with as they go through school, but I can eliminate this one from their day fairly easily. They've been putting up with her since September and enough is enough.
After religious education yesterday, we were leaving the church and Peter mumbled something that was indiscernible. "What? Say that again so I can understand you."
More mumbling. "Honey, what?"
"Noodle Head. Heather called me a Noodle Head."
I had to stifle my giggles. All afternoon vulgar words had been running through my head. What cruel name had this Heather girl called my sweet son?
Noodle Head? That's not the vile and vicious name I had come up with.
Noodle Head? That's something Eddie Haskel might have called the Beaver.
But it doesn't matter what the name was, I suppose. Because I'm still going to start picking them up.
I remember riding the bus as a child and I remember hating it. And there's no reason for me not to pick them up. I live one mile from the school, I have a car and I'm a Stay-At-Home Mom. I guess sitting in a car-rider line is just part of the job description. My destiny even.
Noodle Head.
For over 35 years, on the anniversary of Roe V. Wade, hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans participate in the March for Life.
In 1974 the first March was held on the West Steps of the Capitol and the numbers have gradually risen through the years. These growing numbers give testimony to the increasing ranks of pro-life Americans and to the importance of the March's work.
Widely considered the most attended annual march in Washington, DC, the March for Life has become the pro-life movement's signature event. *
If you can't attend the march in Washington on Friday, please consider participating in the Virtual March for Life. It only takes a few seconds to sign up and you will be showing your support for all of the unborn babies and their parents.
*Text taken from www.VirtualMarchForLife.com
If your house is like mine, you have a lot of books. You have books on your book shelves, books in your playroom, books in your kid's rooms . Books everywhere.
And then you take the kids to the library and you get more books. And when it's time to return your books to the library you can't find them because the library books are now on your book shelves, in your playroom, in your kid's rooms. Library books everywhere.
This used to happen to me all of the time. Until I finally got smart. The minute we get home from the library the books go into the library book basket. And they aren't allowed on our book shelves, in our playroom, in our kid's rooms...you get the picture.
When we are done with these books they go back into the basket and when it's time to make a trip to the library they are all right there.
