Monday, December 22, 2008

Send in the reinforcements

I finished binding the quilt last night (this morning) at 12:30. Yah!

Blonde rascal woke me up at 3:00 am.

Blonde rascal woke me up again at 4:30 am.

Blonde rascal woke me up for good at 6:45 am.

Bless his heart. He was on the couch all day yesterday and did not make a peep. Far, very far from normal for him.

OTC meds. were not even scratching the surface of his symptoms and he had a low grade fever.

We were at the dr.'s office at 8:00 this morning.

102 fever and strep throat.

The dr. said since it had been a week since I had it, he didn't get it from me. But instead picked it up most likely at school Friday.

Hubs is considering staying at a hotel tonight. Chicken!

The little guy is breaking my heart...he looks so pathetic. Eyes glazed over, red nose and completely lethargic. He is curled up in our bed, fast asleep now. Full of antibiotics and Tylenol.

The bleach it out again, the washing machine is getting a workout and even though it is 40 degrees outside I have a window cracked a hair. Germs be gone!!!! I have a spiced pumpkin candle burning. Nothing about the smell of bleach says Merry Christmas.

Between all that and constant hand washing... please send hand cream. Very heavy duty thick hand cream!

And you might want to wash your hands after reading this. We seem to be highly contagious around here.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Happy things!

To offset me being a big whiny baby about being worn out yesterday, I thought I should post about some happy things today.

Right now I am happy for....

1. The fact that I am sending out New Year's cards instead of Christmas! Woo Hoo! I mean really, what else is there to do in January? (If you are wondering where your card is, there is your answer!)

2. Hot chocolate with a shot of Starbucks liqueur and a quick squirt whipped cream! What holiday stress? It brings great joy late in the evening when I have slowed down and am snuggled in my chair.

3. Head colds. Why would you say that Quilty Chick? Well I'll tell you. Blonde rascal has been showing signs of a cold and at about 6:30 this morning I heard him crying softly. I went into his room and he was distressed because his nose was so completely blocked he couldn't even blow it. I gave him some medicine and all he could do was just whimper. In the warm darkness of his room with the soft glow of his closet light being the only light (wards off monsters you know) he laid snuggled under blankets, and I tried to comfort him by patting his back and running my hand over his silky blond hair. At that moment my heart swelled up at the sight of his sweet sleepy face and I thought thank goodness for simple colds. He will be back to normal in a day or two and the cold will be a distant memory. Unlike some parents this Christmas who are trying to soothe their child who has a serious or terminal illness and at the same time soothe their own aching hearts.

4. Candy Cane Hershey Kisses. You. Have. No. Idea. Get a bag and you will consume half of it before you know what hit you.

5. Uggs. Hubs got me a pair of Uggs, that I unmercifully hinted about, for my birthday. I know they were really hot among the trendy beautiful people like 12 years ago, but I thought they were UGGly then. As is par for my fashion sense, I am catching the way tail end of the fad...but oh well. I am pretty sure I have worn them EVERY day since Dec. 8th and they are like wearing your freakin' slippers all day. I couldn't be happier about that. They claim to be all-season with the sheep fur fleece whatever adjusting to every temperature. I may very well wear them year round...forever.

6. A good mystery. I love to read mysteries, but I also enjoy the heck out of real life mysteries. Hubs was homicide detective for the final 4 of his 19 years as a police officer. I loved to hear how the crazy and bizarre crimes unfolded.

(A few hours have passed since I started this post, I stopped midway. Since blonde rascal was under the weather we did not go to church but I felt compelled to take the nutfreebutpotentiallycrosscontaminated cupcakes(from previous post) for the Sunday school party. Dadgum.)

(During this delivery trip I squeezed in 2 errands and picked up carry out from Pei Wei for lunch. That is definitely #7 on the happy list. Pei Wei. Dadgum.)

(Don't be confused I am still on #6.... lovin' me some mysteries.)

I must first preface this story by reminding you that we live in the country surrounded by miles of dirt roads. About 3 weeks a dead cow, or steer or whatever, appeared on the side of the road. Who knows how or why it got there? Anywhoo, every morning on the way to school we drive by it and out of natural curiosity look to check on the state of decomposition, which has disappointingly be pretty dull. It has... ummm... remained mostly intact.

Fast forward to this morning when I turned the other way on the dirt road (not going to pass the cow) and in about 1/2 a mile I came to a large rack-o-ribs in the road! Bones, with the meat pretty much picked clean. I will assume it is from the dead cow up the road, but these ribs were a mile from the carcass. The mystery is just what on earth drug a rack of cow ribs a mile down the road? My good friend Lori E. a.k.a. Jen A. is a wealth of.... ummm.... trivial information, well she informed me once that coyotes are fresh meat carnivores...so it wouldn't have been coyotes. What does that leave? Could a buzzard carry a rack-o-ribs that far? Who knows? There is a scary rib dragging beast on the loose!

Oh, and yes.

The answer is yes.

Yes I did stop the car and take a picture with my phone.
Oh, and you're welcome. I was afraid to get closer for a more detailed picture because my gag relflex was starting to get a little touchy.

Friday, December 19, 2008

WHO'S CRANKY?

When the Marine got out of boot camp, one of his favorite drill sgt. catch phrases to imitate was "who's confused?" He told us that the drill sgts. would bark out an order and then forcibly ask...WHO'S CONFUSED?

That makes me giggle, using it in my everyday pollyanna housewife life..."Dinner is ready! WHO'S CONFUSED?" Try it at your house.

Today my question is WHO'S CRANKY? Well, I am. Not so much cranky really, I am full of holiday cheer and joy...but I am over all the preparations/obligations. Done, over, I am through, closing up shop, thanks for asking.

I thought this week would be smooth sailing...but take 2 days out of your life, due to strep throat, the week before Christmas and you are sunk.

The house is a MESS. I did appropriately Lysol & bleach all potential strep contaminated areas & wash sheets. It is worth mentioning that I did also wash my pajamas which I may or may not have had on for 3 days straight. But other than that....A MESS.

Monday and Tuesday were a wash. So Weds. I geared up to make up for the previous 2 days. Which included quilt blonde rascal's quilt, make gift for teacher and treats for classmates, prepare for class party and throw in attempting to eventually cross everything off the mother of all pre-Christmas to-do lists.

Luckily on one of my favorite blogs came to the rescue for classmate treat ideas. Meg at Whatever gets all the credit for these...Unfortunately at this late state in the game WM was sold out of the more budget friendly simple treat bags so I was forced into buying these danged pricey Hallmark numbers. With that in mind I opted out of the candy cane and ribbon embellishment route like Meg did. Hers DO look so much cuter though! Go visit her blog, seriously. She totally keeps it all real, her photography is amazing and her house is family friendly wonderful and so charming!!!

Blonde rascal's teacher is the best he has ever had and we love her to pieces, so for her... a stay up half the night in order to finish in time for the party tote bag was the only way to go.
I had whipped one out last week for my neighbor's who are in Russia adopting a boy, so the motions were still fresh in my brain and luckily it is an easy pattern.(please excuse the ham in the background)

The class party went off without a hitch thanks to the rawkin' room mom (ahem) and on top of decorating gingerbread houses there was enough sugar to have all the wee children spazzing out for days.
So on Weds. & Thurs. between all that hoopla made cookies to send to the Marine. He doesn't get leave to come home until the 29th. So I sent him a package of a few small presents, snacks and of course cookies. I wanted him to have a little love on Christmas day.

I am done with the gift shopping, on a positive note, and all is wrapped & under the tree. That is a huge woo-hoo!

Sunday morning the kids will be having a birthday party for Jesus at Sunday school. The children's minister asked for volunteers to each make 2 dozen mini cupcakes each. I volunteered, no biggie because what's a little more baking at this point...

He sends an email asking that the cupcakes be peanut free, due to peanut allergies of course. Okiedokie. While at WM a few days back I spy their mini cupcakes in the bakery and upon further investigation of the package see that they are made in a nut free facility. Perfect. I planned on running by later in the week to pick them up. That was until the NEXT email from the children's minister asking that we do not buy bakery cupcakes due to potential cross contamination. And that specifically if we buy a mix that it be Pillsbury or something.

Good grief, I can't buy bakery, I can't use the mix in my pantry...this simple volunteer act is now stressing me out!! I bought the Pillsbury mix feeling really good about myself. Then I realize that the cookies, I previously mentioned making for the Marine, were peanut butter cup cookies. So now MY kitchen is cross contaminated for the love of pete!

I think I will send my 2 dozen cupcakes Sunday morning with an epi-pen (sp?) strapped to the Tupperware container. I will not be held responsible for a throat swelling up at sweet baby Jesus' birthday party for crying out loud! I thankfully don't have a child with a nut allergy and bless your heart if you do, I can't imagine how that must worry you senseless on a daily basis. But please if that is your child, bake him a sterile nut free cupcake and send it to Sunday school...just so I can sleep peacefully.

SO I finished quilting blonde rascal's quilt THIS morning. Now I have to attach the binding, which has to be done by hand...and now school is out meaning b.r. will be home ALL day and staying up late at night....leaving me when exactly to hand sew the binding on a gigantic quilt???

I may have to lock myself in my sewing room a few evenings. Darn the luck.



What's left now? Well, breakfast with Santa tomorrow morning at church and hub's office party tomorrow night....and then the calendar is clear. Blank. No writing anywhere on it at all next week. Amen.

While I love volunteering and being involved, but that tied in with Christmas preparation stress, shopping, strep throat and going 90 to nothing all wadded up in a crazy 2 week period is waaaayyy too much and I am so glad it is over. Now it is time to chill with my family and enjoy the season!

Speaking of fun, after school blonde rascal and I went to PetsMart to pick up dog/cat food. What was entertaining was that we took Missy the wonder weenie dog. Much to our amusement she, in no particular order... barked ferociously at some people, peed on aisle 6, took many, many toys off the shelves and made a valiant effort at getting into the cat in the adoption area. Good times at PetsMart.

And lastly a very special Merry Christmas to the post office employee who was cleaning the glass doors as I entered the post office today. She politely stopped cleaning & stepped aside so I could get in the door. Which is ALL she did while I schlepped in my large 20lb box to send to the Marine, balancing it in one arm while awkwardly reaching for the door with the other. Her hands were apparently too full to open the door...with her one bottle of Windex and all.

Little did she know I pressed my hands all over the clean glass as I exited. Hmmmph. Merry Christmas to you! (I was gifting her with job security, really)

What about you? Are you past the frenzy? I really hope so! It is time to have fun, right??

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Holy Toledo!

How did that saying come about? Why Toledo?

Anyway, last week was a blur. Just like all of y'all are experiencing too, it was fast and furious. Every day held 3 or 4 obligations and in between those, errands/shopping were crammed in.

It didn't stop over the weekend either. Saturday a local hot rod car restorer/builder guy was having an open house at his new shop. Being that blonde rascal is a lover of all things car, we thought it would be fun to check it out.


Dear Santa, I have been a fairly good girl this year and would really like this...


After that B.R. had a birthday party to go to. After which we went out to eat. Then on to the Ranching Heritage Center where they do a candlelight walking tour of Christmas time in the 1800's.That was fun to see how simple life was back then. Simple...but they sure did work harder than we do.

Blonde rascal was pretty sure he did not ever want to attend school at a
one room school house!

I on the other hand was pretty sure that I did not want to give up my electric, computerized, high tech Pfaff sewing machine!

On to Sunday. Church, followed by the annual cookie exchange at my very hospitable friend Lorie's house. She does this every year and it is lots of fun! However due to my schedule I did NOT make cookies to exchange....I just couldn't fit it in. But I did go to the party for the festivities!

I did steal a few cookies to snack on. My friend sweet Mary makes the worlds best chocolate chip cookies. Seriously, she could go into business. The irony of it all is that Mary weighs 90lbs soaking wet. How do you make cookies that good and be tiny?? It is just not right. She has a metabolism like no other. I had to stand next to her in the cookie party photo. Not fair, compared to her I look like some kind of hearty Helga German woman or something. Mary...EAT more of your cookies!!!!

Stacee, I had her adorable daughter in the baby room when I worked at Parent's Day Out, made some terrifically tasty coco puff peanut butter numbers. Oh Lord have mercy....yum!
Go visit her blog. She is every bit as adorable as her daughter(who is no longer a baby!) AND she is a funny funny girl!!!

So I left the cookie party with a full tummy in time to race home and then be on our way to a concert that my sweet sister-in-law Sherri was in town, from TN, to perform in. The concert was fabulous, but the best part was getting to see Sherri if only for a few minutes.

It was at this point however that I guess my body gave out and decided to force me to slow down. I had a headache all day and then about halfway through the concert my throat started aching, all of a sudden. By the time we were driving home my head was splitting and my throat was in horrible shape.

I slept terribly Sunday night and immediately went to a clinic in the morning. 102 fever and strep throat...rewarded me with a full day of sleeping yesterday! In all my 38 years I have never had strep...and I hope I never do again. Antibiotics and Tylenol have me feeling like I will live today!

This week is much slower thank goodness. Monday was my day to stay home, which I obviously did, but my plan was to quilt blonde rascal's quilt. That did not happen, since I was in a coma in bed shivering with fever, but today will be the day. Tuesday is my day to help at school, but I emailed and explained that my germs would not be welcome at school.

Thurs. is blonde rascal's Christmas Party at school and that night we are going out to eat with hub's boss. Friday school gets out at 1:15 for the holidays....YEEE HAW!!! Saturday morning there is a Christmas breakfast for the kids at church and that evening is hub's office party. And THAT is it!!! We will be done with craziness and on to enjoying family and the holiday fun.

Now I have a quick public service announcement... In the midst of my crazy week I had the good ol' yearly exam. Dr. announced that since I am 2 short years away from 40 and because my grandmother had breast cancer that it would be wise to start my yearly mammograms. WHAT? So Friday I had a mammogram. I was a tad nervous...envisioning vise grips, a huge scary machine, steam powered metal monster. Ouch.

Piece of cake. The machine was far from scary. Lots of Plexiglas, instead of crushing metal slabs that my mind had envisioned. Nothing about it hurt. Sure, you know your boobs are being smashed, but it never even for a minute hurt.

So ladies don't be afraid of the boob squeeze and certainly don't let your unfounded fear keep you from having a mammogram. Can I get an amen for early detection?

Speaking of sweet sister-in-law Sherri, 2 years ago she was diagnosed early with breast cancer. She fought very hard and won. The cancer is gone, thank you Jesus! Get your mammogram done girls!!!

To celebrate her victory, guess what Sherri did a few months ago?
Can you guess???


Heck yeah!!! She strapped herself to a young hard body beefcake!!!! Oh, I mean she went sky diving. Now that is what I call living!!

I am now off to my sewing room with a tall glass of water and Tylenol in hand.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

8 things

The uber cool Lori/Jen A. tagged me. I have much nonsense to blog about but was short on free time last week. To feel somewhat productive this morning, before the rush to get ready for church, I will spill out my 8 things...

8 Favorite TV shows.....sadly I honestly don't watch 8 tv shows. That is actually not the sad part, the sad part is that we pay $100 a month for 645,000 Dish channels!

1. HGTV That would be my most watched channel.
2. The Office
I TiVo and get hooked on the following "quality" reality shows...
3. Tori and Dean
4. The Real Housewives
5. 17 Kids and Counting
6. The Amazing Race
7. Rock of Love
8. Keeping up with the Kardashian's (sp?)

8 Favorite restaurants....
1. Chez Suzette
2. Double Nickel
3. Carinos
4. Pei Wei
5. Baker Brother's Deli
6. the cool Italian restaurant in NYC ,which I do not remember the name of, that had the most incredible pasta I have ever put in my mouth.
7. Chicago Pizza, while in Chicago. I think it was Uno's. God Bless America there is nothing better.
8. Orlandos

8 fun things that happened this week
1. Finished my Christmas Shopping
2. Book Club
3. Coffee while at book club
4. My quilt club Christmas party.
5. Good finds at Goodwill
6.Presents all wrapped and under tree
7. Drake & Josh Christmas was on!! Wooo hoo! (That was on blonde rascal's list)
8. Packing Christmas boxes for soldiers.

8 things I am looking forward to
1. Christmas holidays and seeing all the family.
2. Christmas holidays and r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g.
3. Girlz night Friday night.
4. Breakfast with the girlz tomorrow.
5. MY birthday tomorrow!!!!
6. My annual Dr. appt. being o-v-e-r on Tuesday.
7. People magazine in my mailbox
8. my long list of quilts to make.

8 things on my wish list

1. My family being safe and healthy
2. Buying some new clothes with birthday money.
3. A German Shepard
4. For hub's career to be fulfilling and profitable.
5. For my neighbor's trip to Russia this week, to adopt a sweet boy, to go 100% smoothly!
6. Me to trust wholeheartedly on my FAITH in God and His guidance as the new year brings lots of exciting changes for my family. (Changes to be announced soon!)
7. Laughter forever!
8. Blonde rascal always being a momma's boy.

I tag Mary, who has yet to respond to Lori tagging her so I am just going to bug her until she does!

Ahhhhhh.....gotta go hit the shower!!

Monday, December 1, 2008

The 8 year old said what?

This morning as we were all afluster with the last minute out the door school preparations, a classic one came out of blonde rascal's mouth.

He was telling me how he likes the salisbury steak from the school cafeteria. (Bleh...excuse me while I throw up a little in my mouth)

I said well ok I will find a recipe, and you can help me make it. He likes to cook.

I then went on about how he should be chef when he grows up. You know, open a fab restaurant (preferably in NYC cuz then hubs & I would have to move there to support his
dream) and have people travel the world over to devour his culinary masterpieces.

To which he replied...."Nah, I want to be a tattoo artist"

I threw my head back in uproarious laughter!

Hubs was sitting at the bar eating his breakfast, quietly shaking his head in disbelief.

I told blondie I would proudly be his first client.