I had been wanting to have our pastor and her husband (also a pastor of another ELCA church) over for dinner, and last night was a good night for it. It was the last day if school, their youngest just graduated, the Easter season is winding down, and we have been here for one year. We visited our church the first week last year and liked it a lot. However, we did want to compare it with other churches before deciding. All summer we wanted to come back and visit Edgwood, and we finally decided it was the church for us. Pastor Beth was very much a deciding factor, and with our one year anniversary this week, we wanted to celebrate with her. We really had a great evening!
I knew that the local Lebanese lunch shop is one of their favorites here, and we miss Elia's so much that I've spent the last year trying to reproduce our favorites from their menu. I've gotten pretty good at it! I'll post the recipes on the sidebar sometime this week. We had tabbouleh, falafel with pita, tapas-style veggies, hummus, shish taouk (skewered chicken), marinated round steak, and tzatziki and toum sauces. Dessert was baklava, and I made everything but the pita. That would've been overboard; even I know that! I forgot to get the spanikopita out of the freezer, and I figured we already had enough food. I love to make all the dishes so that I can mix different flavors into each bite. It's all fresh and pretty darn healthy and definitely delicious! I had used up all the store-bought plain yogurt for breakfast yesterday and thought I'd have to run to the store, but I found a quart of unopened homemade yogurt that was weeks old in the fridge. It was fresh and yummy! I used it in the chicken marinade, tzatziki, and toum. Such a relief when I surprise myself by being extra-prepared!
We don't have any real plans this weekend. We feel like we've been hit by a bus every week, so making plans is not our first thought, I'll admit. We'll keep it mellow and see if we have it in us to do anything special with the kids. The Jedis can't play Wii for an entire 3-day weekend!
EDIT: we're Bethlehem-bound in the morning!
Showing posts with label tired tired tired. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tired tired tired. Show all posts
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Outside is good! Except for all the people...
We have been so happy to enjoy hours outdoors every day for the last few days! If only they didn't have to come in and do pointless homework :(. We've been getting crazy with chalk and bubbles and tumbling down the hill and playing in the sandbox. So much fun!
This morning I kept IM home a bit longer so he could go to an appointment with his therapist. He sat in the living room and watched PBS with M-girl this morning while I got a shower. Then I did a few house things and loaded up IM and M-girl to go to the appointment. We had the $.75 ready to pay the weird parking attendant who stalks people in the parking lot (not his fault, they just have the parking lot set up strangely). We got upstairs and past the first waiting room remarkably quickly and then checked in at the therapist's office only to find out that the secretary had written today on the card but had entered tomorrow into her computer. She and I have an awful lot of misunderstanding, and the blame doesn't seem to lie with me as she seems to be in flustered minor conflict with everyone I see her speak with. She tried to fit us in, but the therapist had a new client and couldn't make any adjustments. We rescheduled for just before he sees the doctor in the same office, saving ourselves a copay. The only real problem was that IM was worried he'd be in trouble for not being in school or going to an appointment, so the secretary wrote an excuse, and I attached the appointment card to it. No worries on the school's end, but it was kinda funny since he goes to this office to alleviate his anxiety, not to increase it!
I dropped IM off at school and stopped by Dr. O's office to share my latest fiasco. Then M and I made a quick stop at the big park where she played until she got a significant boo-boo that panicked her. We returned home, where she held a wipe on her little knee scrape for 2 hours as she ate lunch and watched too much Caillou before going down for a late nap.
I worked on laundry, started the breadmachine, hung diapers in the sun, and did some minor clean-up before getting my small dose of sun for the day. My neighbor was in a foul mood and was cursing pretty badly at another neighbor two doors down, but I decided to continue doing what I wanted to do. I kept my door open, played some music, and made some noise so he'd know I could hear him. It usually works, and he did calm down. Worst case scenario is for me to yell his first name, and then he's extremely apologetic and quiet for days.
Neighbors are the only fly in the ointment of our summertime outdoor fun. Two doors down, the neighbor's girlfriend wants to be my buddy, and it's just not gonna happen. The only thing we appear to have in common is that M-girl and her son are the same age, but M is very shy only interested in parallel play at best. Neighbor girl has no clue about the fine art of playdating, a series of rituals and norms that moms who want to hang out have to observe. I have a fourth on the way, loads of work to do, partial bedrest hours to comply with, and a parenting philosophy that I know would be either off-putting or carnival-attraction-strange to her. She's already commented on the cloth diapers on my line. I should probably get one playdate at the little park down the street out of the way and hope she doesn't ask again.
I have friends who make all kinds of parenting choices, and I support them gladly. However, most of my mom friends and I have at least SOME things in common. Neighbor girl yells at her little boy a lot, her boyfriend owns a discount tobacco store, they have two sattelite receivers on their obviously sagging roofline, and yet he drives a luxury car. They are just very different from us, upwardly-mobile Appalachian perhaps, and I don't want to spend awkward time with people I know we don't have anything in common with AND who constantly argue with our mutual neighbor. My goal is to be kind and to live a peaceful life with my family in order to maintain a decent Christian testimony, but I don't have to be every mom's friend.
Neighbor troubles aside, we enjoyed four hours outdoors. While I moved laundry, the kids fixed their own snack out back, using up the better part of a box of Honey Nut Chex, yet they were surprisingly hungry for dinner. We loved grilling dinner and eating outdoors last night, and by then the bugs and humidity were minimal. M looked like she was trying out for a part in Shrek XVII thanks to a coating of sweat and green sidewalk chalk dust. We rounded out the night with fruit salad, homework, and baths. Can't wait until school is out!
This morning I kept IM home a bit longer so he could go to an appointment with his therapist. He sat in the living room and watched PBS with M-girl this morning while I got a shower. Then I did a few house things and loaded up IM and M-girl to go to the appointment. We had the $.75 ready to pay the weird parking attendant who stalks people in the parking lot (not his fault, they just have the parking lot set up strangely). We got upstairs and past the first waiting room remarkably quickly and then checked in at the therapist's office only to find out that the secretary had written today on the card but had entered tomorrow into her computer. She and I have an awful lot of misunderstanding, and the blame doesn't seem to lie with me as she seems to be in flustered minor conflict with everyone I see her speak with. She tried to fit us in, but the therapist had a new client and couldn't make any adjustments. We rescheduled for just before he sees the doctor in the same office, saving ourselves a copay. The only real problem was that IM was worried he'd be in trouble for not being in school or going to an appointment, so the secretary wrote an excuse, and I attached the appointment card to it. No worries on the school's end, but it was kinda funny since he goes to this office to alleviate his anxiety, not to increase it!
I dropped IM off at school and stopped by Dr. O's office to share my latest fiasco. Then M and I made a quick stop at the big park where she played until she got a significant boo-boo that panicked her. We returned home, where she held a wipe on her little knee scrape for 2 hours as she ate lunch and watched too much Caillou before going down for a late nap.
I worked on laundry, started the breadmachine, hung diapers in the sun, and did some minor clean-up before getting my small dose of sun for the day. My neighbor was in a foul mood and was cursing pretty badly at another neighbor two doors down, but I decided to continue doing what I wanted to do. I kept my door open, played some music, and made some noise so he'd know I could hear him. It usually works, and he did calm down. Worst case scenario is for me to yell his first name, and then he's extremely apologetic and quiet for days.
Neighbors are the only fly in the ointment of our summertime outdoor fun. Two doors down, the neighbor's girlfriend wants to be my buddy, and it's just not gonna happen. The only thing we appear to have in common is that M-girl and her son are the same age, but M is very shy only interested in parallel play at best. Neighbor girl has no clue about the fine art of playdating, a series of rituals and norms that moms who want to hang out have to observe. I have a fourth on the way, loads of work to do, partial bedrest hours to comply with, and a parenting philosophy that I know would be either off-putting or carnival-attraction-strange to her. She's already commented on the cloth diapers on my line. I should probably get one playdate at the little park down the street out of the way and hope she doesn't ask again.
I have friends who make all kinds of parenting choices, and I support them gladly. However, most of my mom friends and I have at least SOME things in common. Neighbor girl yells at her little boy a lot, her boyfriend owns a discount tobacco store, they have two sattelite receivers on their obviously sagging roofline, and yet he drives a luxury car. They are just very different from us, upwardly-mobile Appalachian perhaps, and I don't want to spend awkward time with people I know we don't have anything in common with AND who constantly argue with our mutual neighbor. My goal is to be kind and to live a peaceful life with my family in order to maintain a decent Christian testimony, but I don't have to be every mom's friend.
Neighbor troubles aside, we enjoyed four hours outdoors. While I moved laundry, the kids fixed their own snack out back, using up the better part of a box of Honey Nut Chex, yet they were surprisingly hungry for dinner. We loved grilling dinner and eating outdoors last night, and by then the bugs and humidity were minimal. M looked like she was trying out for a part in Shrek XVII thanks to a coating of sweat and green sidewalk chalk dust. We rounded out the night with fruit salad, homework, and baths. Can't wait until school is out!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Tamiflu! My kingdom for some Tamiflu! (and maybe a beer?)
So we have been slammed with the flu. The kids were all a little snot-nosed and tired yesterday, but that's not unusual, especially since we had just traveled the previous 2 days and hadn't gotten enough sleep.
Despite my gargantuan efforts in November to get 3 kids to the pediatrician's for flu shots with 2nd degree burns on my leg while Dr. O' was in Atlanta, I-M has the flu. My apologies to anyone who has seen my kids this week. Really sincere and heartfelt I'M SO SORRY. A-man and M-girl have been prescribed preventive doses of Tamiflu, and I-M is on it to shorten the course of the illness. I-M is getting 90-95% of the oxygen that he should, so he's also on neb. albuterol and orapred susp. Oh, and LOTS of ibuprofen! No hospitalization is good, so all we can do is try to prevent that again. Poor guy is close to his deductible, but I don't want to meet it that way. He's been sitting and/or sleeping in the same position all day, and his fever has been 103. He's had one can of ginger ale and 1/2 piece of toast. His entire body hurts to the touch.
Unfortunately, flu season is supposed to be mostly over, so most of the pharmacies don't have Tamiflu, either because they ran out or they sent it back to the manufacturer because it was near expiration. Four pharmacies that I went to or that Dr.O' called did not have oral Tamiflu suspension for kids. Thankfully, CVS can compound the suspension from the pills, and they are my new heroes. They also have good deals on Yuengling according to their sign, but we're actually well stocked ;). I'll stick with my ginger ale, anyway.
We need some prayers! We had a trip planned to Indiana that is now at least partially postponed so that we don't bring a round of plague-ishness to the Village. We should be well enough to see B-grands this weekend as long as the Tamiflu kicks in and I-M is fever-free long enough.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Packed-out week
Dr. O' was busy throughout this week with teaching, grading, and helping with the interview process for a new moral theology hire. There were a couple of nights when he didn't get home until the kids' bedtime.
I had Bible Study Wednesday after M's ER visit. The Jedis had school cancelled Tuesday and delayed Wednesday and Thursday. Friday night was our only peaceful night at home, and our house was remarkably clean.
Saturday night we spent with 2 WJU families, and it was a very nice dessert night with kids running around and playing like they've known each other forever.
We had church this morning and stayed until nearly everyone was gone, as is typical for our family. Tonight we had 3 undergrad girls over for Sofrito Fajitas on whole wheat tortillas, brown rice with peppers, onions, and Adobo and chipotle seasonings, and seasoned black beans. My goal was to create a Chipotle-style dinner, and it turned out great. Dessert was chocolate waffles topped with ice cream.
This week I-M has 2 medical/therapeutic appointments for which I think he'll be happy to miss some school. The good news is that he's reached half of his deductible for the year. I'm looking forward to attacking the remaining paint on our stairway, doorframes, and baseboards. Hooray for the Blatts who are loaning me a Dremel to get the job done! Later in the week, the undergrads are coming to babysit for the kids, and I think we're going to the symphony!
I had Bible Study Wednesday after M's ER visit. The Jedis had school cancelled Tuesday and delayed Wednesday and Thursday. Friday night was our only peaceful night at home, and our house was remarkably clean.
Saturday night we spent with 2 WJU families, and it was a very nice dessert night with kids running around and playing like they've known each other forever.
We had church this morning and stayed until nearly everyone was gone, as is typical for our family. Tonight we had 3 undergrad girls over for Sofrito Fajitas on whole wheat tortillas, brown rice with peppers, onions, and Adobo and chipotle seasonings, and seasoned black beans. My goal was to create a Chipotle-style dinner, and it turned out great. Dessert was chocolate waffles topped with ice cream.
This week I-M has 2 medical/therapeutic appointments for which I think he'll be happy to miss some school. The good news is that he's reached half of his deductible for the year. I'm looking forward to attacking the remaining paint on our stairway, doorframes, and baseboards. Hooray for the Blatts who are loaning me a Dremel to get the job done! Later in the week, the undergrads are coming to babysit for the kids, and I think we're going to the symphony!
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