Friday, May 29, 2009

Flowers that Kabloom

"Mom, when will my flower kabloom???"

Every 5 minutes today...Bella asks me when her flowers will "kabloom"

I don't have the heart to tell her that she is saying it wrong. She got this plant that the little boy in the house behind us picked and gave to her. She went and got "her soil" and planted it and has been watering it all day.

"when will it kabloom???"

kabloom. LOL

then .. Hannah was out front playing with her friends and she left and went next door. Bella could not longer see her and thought that Hannah "goofed off"

"do you mean ran off bella?"

"yes, she goofed off!"

LOL-she never fails to make me laugh. She told me a few weeks ago "Mom, I know that when I go to school this year you are SOOO going to miss me" and she is right!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sometimes you just grow

Isn't it funny how at every age in our life, we think we know what we need to know and don't believe there is any room for change?
As a teenager, we think that we know more than our parents. We think we know it all. You can not argue with us at all.
As a young adult, we look back at our teen years and laugh at how silly we were and while we see that we don't know it all, we don't recognize that we still can have changes in our lives...
As we progress more in adulthood, we again look back at our teen and young adult years and again laugh at how full of ourselves we were...we think that at our age, there is no room for change--and again we fail to see the changes we experience...the ones we embrace...the ones we welcome into ourselves...whether it be a thought process, a way of interacting with our spouse or other loved ones, or how we raise our children.

I found myself , reluctantly, facing this again recently. I've been re-evaluating my life. What is important to me in my home. What is important with my friendships. What is important in who *I* am aa a person, a spouse, a mother, a friend.

I have found there are things I like about myself, and things I do not. That was hard. Nobody likes to think that there is something about themself that they do not like, but I look at it as a way to improve who I am. A way to change. A way to grow.

I am grateful that I took this time to see what and who I still want to become. It gave me a new freshing outlook. Something to look forward to. Life is good.

Friday, May 22, 2009

what a nice break!

whew, it was nice to really slow down on internet time and spend more time doing stuff around here.
I have been sewing a lot this week and got some stuff knit up too!

first off though, although I missed meal plan monday.....I am still going to review one of the meals we had on it.



from the fat free vegan blog

Cumin Rice with Eggplant and peas

1 1/2 cups brown rice
1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, diced
1 green, yellow, or red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes (fired roasted would be nice)
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne or red chilli pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) green peas

Preheat oven to 375 F. Put the rice in a bowl and cover it with water. Set it aside to soak while you cook the vegetables.

Lightly spray a large non-stick skillet with oil or cooking spray. Add the eggplant and onion, salt them lightly, and cook, covered, over medium-high heat, stirring often. When the eggplant is soft but not mushy (about 5 minutes) add the peppers, tomatoes, seasonings, parsley, and more salt to taste. Combine well. Drain the water from the rice and add the rice to the pan along with 3 cups water. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.

When it reaches a boil, transfer it into a large baking dish. Place a piece of parchment paper over the rice and then cover tightly with foil. Bake until the rice is tender, about 50-55 minutes. Stir in the peas and allow the dish to set for 5 minutes before serving.

******REVIEW******

This was very tasty. Easy to prepare and just toss in the oven. It definitely has a middle eastern taste with all the spices

the kids liked it too-even harrison!

I think it would be really yummy with lentils in it as well.

fast.easy.tasty. good meal!

----on to other things----

things I sewed up for Harrison this week:
shirts




shorts:



and some cabled baby longies I knit for my gift box




so school will be ending this week for the kids. I am getting ready for classes to start for me for the summer. and we are working on the house as usual.
not much fun to report....but that was a quick catch up!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Classes are over for now and I have a break

and I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to a few weeks without class. Don't get me wrong, this semester has been great! I have really enjoyed what I was learning. The summer courses will be harder though as I have to do a semester's worth of work in just under 2 months....so just a little more rigorous.

I am looking forward to some quiet time. Don't laugh. You are thinking "how in the world does she have quiet with 7 kids?" You would be surprised. It is amazingly easy. I was inspired by my friend Heidi's recent post about finding peace in the world. Now that school is out and we have finally caught up on all the seasons of desperate housewives (yes, my husband is actually addicted-don't let him fool you!) I can see disconnecting-even if just for a few days. It will be so nice.
So if I drop off the planet, don't worry. I will come back and update when done.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

5 medications and 4 diagnosis!

and no, it wasn't the kids..or even more than one person.

It was all just for me! Did you wonder where I had been? It was truly the worst ER visit ever.

I don't think I have ever cried so much in a hospital...well, outside of my brothers car accident and my daughters brain hemorrhage when she was 5!

I started with a sinus infection a few days ago and was treating it. Yesterday I started having IMMENSE pain and pressure in my one ear that reduced me to sobbing and wanting to run my head through the wall.
Finally tell dh "I think I should go in" Duh..because you know he couldn't suggest it himself ::)

Go to the clinic and they are closed so the only other option is ER. I didn't want to go there, but I knew I could not make it until today with this pain.

I signed in, they are SWAMPED (too many people freaking about every cough and swine flue-kid you not!) I go out and send dh home telling him it will be several hours when it finally reaches 8:30 pm

so I am sitting there next to this little old lady and her "younger" daughters. the staff comes out and starts talking to her and telling her how they cannot get her husbands heart regulated and does she want him on a breathing tube and she starts sobbing and saying "he wasn't supposed to go before me" and I of course, being the tenderheart that I am and being in so much pain totally lose it and starts crying right along with her. :'(

15 min later they actually call my name and we figure I will be back there several hours (as that is how they usually run) and as I am walking towards the nurse I start to fall over! I quickly grabbed the desk and realize my balance is way off! :-X and the nurse laughs with me and gets me a wheelchair. well that must have spurred them to act quickly with me because before he was even done taking my vitals the other nurse comes back to get my history etc and she is still talking to me when the doctor comes in and starts checking me out.

he immediately asks if I have ever been diagnosed with asthma. I tell him yes, tentatively but not definitive and he says "oh yeah, you have it"

looks in my ear,raging ear infection.

my sinus infection was so bad that it had closed off most of the tubes in my head (or something to that affect ) which was causing all the pain everywhere in my head. oh yeah, and I have bronchitis too

they almost admitted me it was so bad. the respiratory therapist that came in to do my breathing treatments said if my numbers would have been 1 or 2 digits lower or if I wouldn't have started moving air better after the treatments that I would have been staying the night!

they gave me a large dose of oral steroids too to get it in my system, and I was totally flying the rest of the night! HOLY COW!

so I walked away with 5 different prescriptions, and 4 diagnosis: ear infection, sinus infection, bronchitis and asthma.

oy-and I thought I just had a bad ear.

and all I could think about was that poor woman and if she had to say goodbye to her hubby last night