{ing} Life May 24, 2013

{thinking}  Thinking about what to do this weekend.  We had a getaway planned, one we planned (and paid for, no refunds), months ago, but now Jacob's not 100% and I can't decide what to do.  Do we cancel the weekend entirely?  Push it and go tonight, accepting that he's not feeling well, reasoning that he can not feel well here or there; except that it's a whole lot different to not feel well in your own bed vs. a sleeping bag on the ground and temps in the low 40s at night and in the mornings?  Wait and see?  Forfeit tonight and hope he's better in the morning and set out then?

{blessed}  Jason's birthday was this week.  I really, really love that kid.  He has been such a huge blessing in my life.  Not only for who he is and the love and joy he brings me, but also because he helped me find my purpose in my life, there's nothing that would be more fulfilling for me than to be a mom.  As he was leaving on his birthday he said, "thanks for having me".  So thankful I did.  My life and so many others' lives are so much better for him being in this world.  

{thankful} First of all I'm thankful to be feeling better.  whispering here, but it's been 9 days or so since I've had a problem, and I'm cautiously optimistic.  I'm also very thankful for my new washing machine.  Love it!  It handles everything, I think the clothes seem cleaner and none of the concerns I had regarding front loaders seem to have come true.  Plus, it seems like it's much easier to keep up with the laundry.  I don't end up with those days where the pile of dirty clothes could reach the ceiling.  I don't know if that's because it's a larger capacity, though my old one was pretty large as well, or if it's the novelty of a new one and I'm still in a honeymoon period or whatever, but I'll take it!

{hoping} We get to have a good weekend, and, yes, I'll admit it, I'm hoping we do get to go away.  I'm also hoping the kids have fun at school today.  It's their Fantastic Fun Day, which is a day spent outside playing at all kinds of stations, including many water stations.  Today it's in the 40s, cloudy and windy.  Not the kind of weather you really want to be outside in, let alone wet outside. 

{overwhelming}  I'm pretty blessed.  Right now the only thing that's truly overwhelming is trying to decide if we're going or not.  If we are, I have tons of preparation to do, if we're not I don't want to do it all and have to undo it.

{dreaming} Of summer.  One more week of school and work then on to summer.  I am so looking forward to it!  I love the break in routine and always look forward to that, though this year it will wait a while, the kids have recitals/performances over each of the next three weekends, so we'll obviously still be going to lessons, practicing, etc. for all of that.  Not having homework, work and a school schedule will be a much welcome change though.  At first I though we'd go completely low key this summer, but then I read an idea where someone said they try to play one fun day each week, with something different on that day.  I like that idea, I think I'll try to incorporate that into our summer plans.
  
{reading}  I've been terrible!  With being sick so much (and having Netflix), my reading has gone by the wayside.  I'm looking forward to getting back to it, hopefully this weekend.  I've got Porch Lights by Dorothy Benton Frank out of the library as well as a couple of other books.  I've got an unused B&N gift card, I'm definitely ready to get back to reading.

{excited}  For a long weekend with my family.  Even if we don't go away it's going to be lovely.

{working}  On being more present.  It's way too easy to get lost in myself, I want to work on that.  I'm hoping to use this weekend to reconnect and do things together as a family.  Mark and I have been sick so long it's easy to fall into a habit of everyone doing their own thing while mom or dad lay in bed.  Working on changing that and practicing being actively plugged in together again. 

{praying} Lately I pray a lot for victims, the Oklahoma tragedy literally took my breath away.  I'm praying for Rebekah, she's back in Athens in her apartment and I not only miss her like crazy I'm praying that this next phase of her life is everything she'd like it to be.  I'm also praying that God will help me be who he wants me to be, I've definitely got some things I need to work on, praying that He'll help me get there.

{cooking}  It's been a pretty good week around here cooking-wise.  You can imagine it's been a bit hit or miss lately with how much I've been sick, then Mark and Rebekah were sick, then I was sick...you get the picture.  Anyway, with a week where I was 100%, it was good to get back to normal.  The southwestern chicken salads were a huge hit, so much so that we've decided to try and have a salad night once a week during the summer.  Dance night, normally a difficult night, was a breeze with honey sesame chicken in the slow cooker and rice in the rice cooker.  As a bonus Jacob and Julianna took the leftovers twice in their lunches, making packing their lunches extra easy.  I volunteered to send in some food for Fantastic Fun Day volunteers and teachers, I made a great salad I hadn't made in a while, Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad.  While I was at it anyway, we had it for dinner last night and, surprisingly to me, it was a big hit with the kids; so much so they wanted it in their lunches today.   Finally, I got around to making Mark's pie (I'm buying/making him a pie a month for his Christmas present this year.)  I made a Lemon Meringue Ice Cream pie in a toasted pecan crust.  Truly awesome!  All four of us enjoyed it a lot.  I subbed in a lemon curd recipe from Gourmet magazine because the reviews of the lemon curd one the original were mixed, but we loved everything about it, I highly recommend this recipe.  As a bonus it's gluten-free, always nice to have. in your repertoire. 

She Said, He Said

 I stole this from Michelle at Big Blueberry Eyes, I loved seeing what her children, Kayla and Lucas had to say and was curious how Jacob and Julianna would answer.  I wasn't sure how well it would work, they're quite a bit older than Michelle's kids, but it was still fun for me and definitely enlightening.  Julianna's answers in purple, Jacob's in blue.

What is something your mom always says to you? 
Julianna's answer was funny and spot on, but a little embarrassing to her so she asked me not to post it.  

I love you.  (I was going to say "practice".)
 
What makes your mom happy? 
When we put our clothes away without being asked.

When we do work that needs done unvoluntarily.  (He meant voluntarily.) 
 
What makes your mom sad? 
When I'm sick.

When bad things happen in the world.  (Boston Marathon bombing, Sandy Hook)

How does your mom make you laugh? 
You make me laugh when you laugh.

Corny jokes on my napkins at lunch.

What was your mom like as a child?
Umm...she was beautiful, 'cause I've seen pictures.

Human, um, afraid of snakes and she still is.

How old is your mom? 
46
47

How tall is your mom? 
I don't know!  Five foot something, five foot ten.
5' 10" 
(Funny, I'm really 5' 3")

What is your mom's favorite thing to do? 
Spend time with her family at Creekside.

Have fun, do stuff with us.

What does your mom do when you're not around?
Go on dates with Dad.

Take care of kids that aren't us. 

If your mom became famous, what would it be for?
You'd have your own tv show where you give people tips on how to live their life and give recipes and stuff.

Cooking?

What is your mom really good at? 
Cooking

Cooking

What is your mom not very good at?
Handling snakes

Um, um, um, I don't know.

What does your mom do for a job? 
Being a great mom.

Take care of kids that aren't us.
 
What is your mom's favorite food? 
Chicken parmesan

Rebekah's chicken parmesan.  
(Rebekah and Jason had just made me dinner for my birthday, chicken parmesan, and it was delicious!)
    
What makes you proud of your mom? 
When she gives me advice when I have problems at school.

 She understands that I like spending Tuesday nights with Dad.  (Julianna's dance night, they hang out together.)
  
What do you and your mom do together? 
Sometimes we'll play American Girl Doll game together.

Play board games, Settlers of Cataan.
  
How are you and your mom the same? 
You loved dance when you were a little kid and now I like dance.

We both like country music.

How are you and your mom different?
We're different because I like a different kind of music that I don't think you like (Disney).

I like rock and roll and alternative and you don't like most of that.
 
How do you know your mom loves you? 
I know my mom loves me because even when she's mad at me she still tucks me in at night/kisses me or in the morning still kisses me goodbye.

She's nice to us.
 
Where is your mom's favorite place to go? 
Grandma and Grandpa's.

Home (our home)

All in all, I was pretty impressed with how accurate most of their answers were.  Insightful too.  Also, I learned a little bit about my parenting, I want to work on doing more with each of them.  I enjoyed doing this with them a lot and wanted to get it down to capture it so I'll remember this snapshot in time with my youngest two kidlets.  

May 20 Meal Plan

I'll keep this short and sweet otherwise you might kill me from the repetition.  I've been sick, really sick, again.  It's my 4th bout of it in 17 days so I'm a little leery of declaring myself completely over it, but now that I'm better, Mark is sick with something different.   We took Rebekah back to school, we all miss her.  Goodness, do I ever say anything new anymore?  Anywho, I can complain about the weather!  It's 8:30 at night and 84 degrees in my house.  Yuck!

Okay, I'm done.  Basically life is good, just a little less shiny and pretty than we'd like it to be right now.  In the meantime life goes on and hopefully here's what we'll be having to eat this week:

Monday (piano):  southwestern chopped salad--salad greens, sw chicken, cheese, tomato, black olives, sw ranch, corn

Tuesday (dance):  Honey sesame chicken, rice,veggie

Wednesday:  Pork chops, rice pilaf, green beans

Thursday (drama):  Rosemary grilled chicken w/orange dipping sauce, brown butter apricot and pine nut rice, veggie

Ugh!  Just realized that's three meals of rice this week.  Oh well, c'est la vie.  

Hopefully we have good plans for next weekend, we'll have to see if everyone gets, and stays, healthy enough to make them happen, also if the weather cooperates.  

Hope life's good in your corner of the Universe.

 

May 6, 2013 Meal Plan

Busy, busy week!  Tonight there's a hopefully short meeting at church, tomorrow night I have to go to dance with Julianna to get show information and costumes!  Wednesday night Julianna and I are going to the Taylor! Swift! concert! (Exclamations by Julianna.)  Thursday Jacob has a drama class, Friday night's the elementary school's talent show.  Saturday bring a doctor appointment, photo session, weekend chores...  Whew!  Bring on summer!  I'm ready to jump out of a schedule for a while.

Last week I got a new washing machine, after much consternation and second-guessing.  My 12 year old washer had started to spin out grease and I knew that sooner or later clothes were going to get ruined.  It didn't really seem prudent to spend $300.00 on a service call for a 12 year old washer, so we ordered the one we wanted and waited for it to come in.  [Sidebar:  I ordered through Shop at Home, from Lowes, and earned a $53.00 rebate, woot!  If you're not using a rebate site when you shop online, you're losing out on money you could easily be earning.  Just by buying the washer, the kids' summer clothes, and the household items I buy and have delivered from Walmart, I have a $100.00 quarterly check coming.  Check it out.]  Of course, it probably won't surprise you to learn that as soon as we ordered a new washer our old washer began working fine again.  Curse you Murphy.  We decided to still go with the new one, it seemed like the writing was on the wall.  Sooo, that was a really long-winded way of saying I got a new washer! and it's wonderful!  I was very afraid of a front loader, I had heard lots of negatives, but I absolutely love the model we chose.  Very thankful for how that worked out.

Jacob and I have been sick for a little over two weeks, including a stomach bug that got me Sunday evening and again on Wed/Thurs.  Hoping this week finds us all healthy and in good shape for our busy week.  Thank you so much to Keary Naughton for the Kingdom recommendation.  I am loving it! 

Here's the meal plan for the week, it's fluid, trying to allow lots of flexibility to accommodate the week:

Monday (piano):  Maple mustard baked chicken, red potatoes, roasted/grilled veggies (baby bellas, red onions, peppers, squash), salad (field greens, dried apricots/apples, candied walnuts and maple/dijon vinaigrette)

Tuesday (dance, me):  Tuna Noodle Casserole, broccoli

Wednesday (concert):  Pork chops, rice pilaf, green beans

Thursday:  pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, cut up veggies

Friday (talent show):  Cook’s Country Bean and Beef Burritos, fruit

Mark’s April Pie:  Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie subbing in Gourmet’s Lemon Curd

Well, things are getting crazy so I'll keep this short and sweet.  Hope you have a good week. 

Update and April 24, 2013 Meal Plan

hello!  I miss you.  Life just seems so busy, yet there's nothing in particular going on...I'm sure you understand that.  Anyway, we were talking about our favorite comfort foods the other night and Mark said he didn't think I'd made beef stew this year (bad wife! Did you catch that?).  I realized I've been so negligent about blogging I had no way to check if I did or if I didn't.  Hopefully if I get back in the habit of posting my meal plan, other blogging will follow.  Hopefully.

Corned beef is simmering away, filling the house with delicious aromas.  It's a cold, rainy day and the temps are supposed to fall all day long, so I'm thinking this will be a perfect choice.  Instead of cooking all the veggies in with the corned beef I'm going to go a little rogue and make crash potatoes, my favorite cooked carrots and Ina Garten's soda bread with dried cherries subbed in for the raisins (J&J won't touch it with raisins, not sure if they'll try it with the cherries but it sounds good to me).   At least that's the plan, I'm laying a bit low with a cold and I'm trying to convince myself that if I make the effort I'll be glad I did.  Right now I'm having a hard time summoning the motivation to get off the couch and double check that there are enough carrots.  Oh well, dinner will be a bit of a surprise.

What else is going on?  Mostly just boring and ordinary things which, don't get me wrong, is absolutely wonderful to me.  I love boring and ordinary.  One exciting thing we all are looking forward to is that Julianna gets her braces off tomorrow.  It's been a very, very long 2 1/2+ years, originally she was supposed to get them off 6-9 months ago, so that's been fun.  In a show of solidarity we all gave up popcorn and Jacob gave up chewing gum as well, so tomorrow's going to be a bit of a party around here.  Mostly I'm looking forward to her being able to enjoy having them off and praying that she won't get so many canker sores without them.  I'm also praying she'll be able to hang on to her retainer, at our orthodontist one is included with treatment, after that you're on your own.  She'll have them off until 6th grade or so, so excited for her!

I haven't read a book in quite a while, very unusual for me.  We got Netflix and I got a bit hooked.  So far I've rewatched every episode of Parenthood and Out of Practice and discovered some great new series' like Call the Midwife and Doc Marten.  I'm really missing Doc Marten, I just finished that one, I loved it.  I can't wait until season 6 is on.  It's funny, I've been watching so much Netflix I rarely watch current tv anymore, except for The Voice and Dance Moms.  Love both of those, The Voice is great family tv for us.  Do you have any off the beaten shows you'd recommend? 

Hope life's going well for you and that you all have some yumminess on your horizon.

Monday (piano): chicken noodle soup or bean soup, cornbread, carrots & dip, fruit salad

Tuesday (dance):  pot luck

Wednesday:  Corned Beef and Cabbage, pan roasted potatoes, carrots, Irish Soda Bread  or Ina Garten’s Irish Bread

Thursday (Julianna braces off):  North Market for pizza, popcorn!

Friday  San Antonio Bean Burgers on jalapeno cheddar buns, oven fries

Saturday lunch:  club sandwiches, chips

Saturday dinner:  Pasta w/shrimp, spinach, tomatoes & basil, roasted asparagus, maybe garlic knots because I have some frozen pizza dough to use up.

Sunday lunch:  brats

Sunday dinner:  Corned Beef Hash, eggs, rye toast

Monday:  Oven fried chicken or grilled chicken, mashed potatoes or potato salad, carrots

Tuesday (dance):  Tuna Noodle Casserole, broccoli

Wednesday:  Cook’s Country Bean and Beef Burritos, fruit

Thursday (play):  Pork chops, roasted/grilled veggies (baby bellas, red onions, peppers, squash), rice pilaf

Friday:  antipasta, fried ravioli

Mark’s April Pie:  Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie subbing in Gourmet’s Lemon Curd

April 4, 2013 Meal Plan

Yay!  It's spring.  It's not terribly warm here yet, though as I write it's 55 and sunny and I will definitely, gratefully, take it.  Sunday rain's moving in and it's going to get good and comfy it looks like, so we will treasure these warmish beautiful days while we can.  Someone helped themselves to Julianna's prized, polka dot, brand new umbrella, so we'll have to get that replaced this weekend.  Other than that our weekend plans include some time at a park, basketball, homework [insert rant here:  Julianna has an hour and a half of homework nightly, plus one short term assignment plus one long term assignment.  Her reading teacher recommends they set aside an hour a day this weekend for her homework alone, to say that I am ticked would be a serious understatement.  She's 10 for goodness sake.  A 10 year old that needs time to walk in the park, jump on the tramp, play with her dolls, read in the hammock chair.  Be.  A weekend off schoolwork shouldn't be too much to ask.] laundry, church, Sunday School and maybe some time with Matt & Lily.  I'm definitely looking forward to it.  I feel like April and May are going to fly by in an instant, which isn't all bad as I love summer and unlimited time with Jacob and Julianna, but I'm experienced *ahem* enough to know summer will fly by too and before I know it Jacob will be in middle school and Julianna will be a fifth grader.  Not ready for that yet.

This summer will be weird.  It will be the first summer Rebekah won't be living here full-time. 

                            * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Yay.  Letting that one sink in.  I know she's ready for it, she has an apartment in her college town for next year and she got a great job down there for the summer.  She'll be incredibly busy, but it will be great experience for her resume and it's all good, for her.  For Jacob and Julianna?  It's complicated.  Actually, that's not true.  It's not complicated at all, it's simple.  They're. not. happy.  They're going to miss their sister and they're not interested in seeing anything beyond that.  *sigh*

Well, anyway, that's a glimpse in what's going on here.  Other than that it's work, school, evening activities, music practices, blissful normal.

I've said it before and I will no doubt be saying it again, but the one thing that keeps life on a bit of an even keel around here is a meal plan, so I not only found the time to do that, I found time to grocery shop for it too.  Woot!

Thursday (girl scouts):  Ham, au gratin potatoes, green beans

Friday:  Steak, twice baked potatoes, mushrooms, caesar salad

Saturday lunch:  Pizza or sloppy joes

Saturday dinner:  Queso Fundido w/roasted poblano vinaigrette, pretzel bites, buffalo wings w/blue cheese dip, asian wings

Sunday lunch:  antipasta, fried ravioli

Sunday dinner:  Crockpot chicken sandwiches, broccoli rice casserole

Monday (piano):  Red Chile and Cheese Enchiladas, refried beans, corn cake or corn casserole

Tuesday (hair, dance): chicken sandwich leftovers, chips, veggies

Wednesday:  Corned Beef and Cabbage, parsley potatoes, carrots, Irish Soda Bread  or Ina Garten’s Irish Bread

Thursday:  Chicken pot pie, pineapple upside down cake

Hope you enjoy some lovely family time this weekend as well.

Monday, April 1, 2013

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...it's beautiful!  Blue skies, big puffy white clouds, simply beautiful.  It's cold, 40 degrees, but it's absolutely beautiful and even if it doesn't quite feel like spring yet, it's definitely looking like it.

I am thinking...a million different thoughts swirling around in there, as usual.  Julianna has an orthodontist appoint at 4:45, I'm wondering if they'll finally set the appointment to take her braces off.  It's been well over two years and originally they thought she'd be in them 21-24 months.  I somewhat expected this, we were warned up front that her first phase, which she is in, would be complicated, Rebekah's second phase was extremely complicated and she was in them years past they predicted.  Still, I know she's tired of them and I hope the time is finally here.  Plus, she's due to get them back on in sixth grade, if she doesn't hurry up and get them off there won't be any time to enjoy not having them! 

I'm also thinking about changes I want to make.  For some reason this Easter and spring break have left me feeling renewed and rejuvenated and like it's a great time to make some changes.  Nothing earth shattering, but I'm optimistic it's a good time to follow through and jump into some new goals. 

I am thankful...for my life.  I was telling Mark this morning how thankful I am to have gotten to do this parenting thing my way.  I love being with my kids, I am so thankful for the relationships that I share with all four of them.  Tomorrow is Rebekah's 21st birthday (!!) and I while I miss her a lot and I'm sad that I won't get to share her special day with her, I'm so thankful for our beautiful daughter and all the joy she's brought to our lives.

In the kitchen...Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken is cooking away, rice is in the rice cooker, the oven is set to come on to preheat when it's time so I can roast asparagus.  An easy low prep meal, just what I needed for the first day back from spring break.  For lunch today I made egg salad, that was a first, I'd never made it before.  It was yummy!  I'm not completely sure what the rest of the week will bring, I was in a hurry to meal plan this week and didn't take into consideration after school activities that would complicate meal planning.  I think I'm going to make ham (we went out for Easter), au gratin potatoes, and green beans; old-fashioned vegetable beef soup; and crockpot chicken sandwiches.  To celebrate Friday I'll probably make pizza.  Homemade pizza's always a favorite around here.  Jacob's craving corned beef and cabbage, we never got to it last month, and Julianna's been begging for chicken pot pie, so I need to get both of those in soon.  

 

I am wearing...my uniform, LOL.  Jeans, white long sleeve t-shirt.

I am creating...not much lately.  I need to work on that.  Somehow I have a feeling that won't change until it turns into I want to work on that.  I have a braided-type rug I started, but I was learning how to do it and what it really needs is for me take out what I've done and start over.  Not loving the thought of that, so I'm stuck.  I bought material to make Julianna a blouse and a skirt, but as they're both winter items and it's practically spring, I'm feeling disappointed with myself and hiding from it.  What I should do is just make them a tad bigger and get going!

I am going...to get back to exercising this week.  I'm excited about that.  I feel ready.  I'm still trying to figure out exactly what that's going to look like, and when, but I'm also at peace that it may look different from week to week and even day to day and that's okay.

I am wondering...what's the best approach to Easter candy and my kids.  Sadly, one approach is good for one of them, another approach for the other.  I could let Julianna eat as much as she wants and she'd be over it in no time, she just threw away her Halloween candy.  Jacob's the opposite.  He's more like me.  He would eat and eat and eat and eat it.  Trying to figure out how to balance that.  

I am reading...sadly, nothing!  I read tons and tons of books at the beginning of the year, now I'm having a hard time kicking off again.  Looking for an author or a book that inspires me.  I'm sure I'll find something soon.

I am hoping...Julianna's braces come off soon!  

I am looking forward to...lots of popcorn once the braces are off!  In solidarity we've all given up popcorn, it would be too cruel to sit there and eat it in front of her, and we've all missed the treat.  Looking forward to enjoying it again.  I'm also really looking forward to summer.  It's so close I can almost feel it!  I don't work in the summer and I love having the down time to just "be" with Jacob and Julianna--very little schedule, very low expectations.  It's always good.

I am learning...I do not like teaching Sunday School.  I plan to honor that in the future and not let guilt win out.

Around the house...it's straightened, but messy.  Story of my life.  Everything's pretty much picked up, but everything could do with a good cleaning.  One of these days.  I've gotten to the point I'm pretty at peace with the fact that this is the way things are.  I'm not a person who will devote all my spare time to cleaning, therefore I'm not a person who will have a consistently clean house. 

  

I am pondering...everyone seems to need new clothes.  Thinking about how to make that happen, what are the most important priorities.  I feel like Mark hasn't had new work clothes in years and years, some of that needs to happen.  He needs jeans, shoes, belts too.  Plus it looks like Jacob and Julianna are going to need just about everything for spring/summer.  It will all come together, just trying to think out what everyone needs.  I'd like to not overbuy.  Lately I've been struggling with mountains of laundry and little time to do it.  I used to think it helped for everyone to have lots of clothes, less pressure to do laundry, but I'm starting to think it would be a lot better to just have less to do to begin with.  If Mark only had 5 pairs of work pants, for example, I'd have little choice but to get them done weekly. 

 

A favorite quote for today..."If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much." -- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis  Amen.

One of my favorite things...miniature Reeses peanut butter eggs.  Thankfully they're not available year round.  No other Reeses product has the same lure.

A few plans for the rest of the week:  catching up on laundry, exercising 4x, keeping up with some light housework to keep things from getting out of control.  Putting away Easter decorations, I'm ready to be rid of the clutter.  An eye doctor appointment mid-week.  I'm so excited to be back in contacts again.  I had to give up wearing them months ago, I was having horrible problems every time I tried.  I finally found a chemical free cleaning process that's enabled me to get back to them.  

A peek into my day...

 

There's not much cuter than little baby feet, except maybe a baby playing with his feet.  :)

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Meal Plan Monday March 18 Edition

Happy Monday!!  This is one of the few Mondays of the year I'll be excited about.  One more week until spring break.  I am so excited.  I'm ready for a week off work and a week with my kidlets home.  We have a few chores scheduled for next week and a few fun things too.  Mostly, it will be awesome to have a break from the routine.  I'm really hoping Julianna doesn't end up with too much homework over break.  Why do teachers do that???  I know Jacob will not have much, if any at all.  Ironic seeing as he's two years ahead of her in school, but the amount of homework she has far exceeds what he gets.  Anyway, a week without routine will be wonderful!

Julianna's home sick.  Again.  The light at the end (middle?) of the tunnel is there though and she should be back to normal in no time.  Knocking on wood, for sure!

Our meal plan from last week got a little whopper-jobbed so I'm rearranging things, trying to make sure food gets used up before it goes bad.

Hope you have a great week!

Sunday lunch:  Reubens, chips
Sunday dinner:  City chicken, cheddar chipotle mashed potatoes, roast asparagus
Monday:  something to do with chicken wings, I have 5# defrosted that I thought we'd be using over the weekend.  It's tempting to just make a glorious, gelatinous stock with them, but Julianna's been begging for wings for a long time so I'll probably just be a bit funky for a Monday dinner and go for it.  Roasted Asian and Buffalo are our favorites.
Tuesday (dance):  Knocking on wood that dance happens, Julianna's had a rough time of it lately and hasn't been able to be there for a couple of weeks.  If she does get to go she and Mark are going out to dinner between classes, Jacob and I will figure something out.  If she can't go (sob), I'll do a tuna casserole.
Wednesday (St. Patrick's Day!!  kind of):  Corned Beef and Cabbage, parsleyed new potatoes, Ina Garten's Irish soda bread, mint chocolate chip ice cream pie
Thursday:  Slow cooker pepper steak, rice, sugar snap peas
Friday:  Corned beef hash, eggs, toast

No idea what next week will bring meal plan wise.  I know Monday is Passover so there'll be some kind of Seder meal including Matzo ball soup, charoset, and something.  :)  Just haven't gotten that far.

Hope you have a great week! 

Julianna

The first 15-16 months of Julianna's life she had a fever every month, for a week. Every. month. It honestly got to the point you could time it and know when it would occur. We learned to schedule around it, even our vacation that year.  We did pretty well on that one, she was fever free until Friday night, the night before we were supposed to leave to go home.  Then it was a mad scramble to clean the vacation house, throw everything in the car, and get the heck out of there.  It was hell. She lost a week of development every month, we all lost basically a week of our lives. Jacob was so little, I felt so guilty that I was useless to him every month for so long. I didn't sign him/us up for classes or do story times because I knew we'd be dealing with the fevers and we tried desperately to control them by limiting exposure.  I cringe when I think about how much we all missed during that time. I felt guilty at how much Rebekah missed out on. Does that sound melodramatic?  I hope hot.  It's just hard to convey how it really was.  Multiple trips to the ER, including at midnight when she was 7 weeks old and I realized that no, she wasn't just warm because I'd had her all bundled up, as Mark assured me, my practically-still-a-newborn had had a fever for quite a while and I had missed it.  Back to the ER at the crack of dawn on New Year's Day (ER's are pretty empty then, by the way).  Then there was the time our doctor sent us to the ER, very worried, which our doctor honestly never is, and listening to him argue over the phone with the attending doctor who did not feel the need to admit her as this was "normal" for her, and our doctor having just seen for himself how high the fever was (yes, I know the number doesn't matter, other things matter, yet ironically the first question they always ask is how high is the fever?) and how lethargic she was (not a desirable combination in a five month old), felt she should be admitted.  So many memories, so many bad memories.

We could never find a cause. Eventually it spaced out a bit and they would come every 2-3 months. We saw an infectious disease specialist and an immune disorder specialist and they assured us that just happens in some children and they don't know why but they're fine. They gave us a steroid to have on hand and give to her at the first sign of fever.  Just like magic, that stopped the fever in its tracks and within 24 hours she would be fine.  It would not be an overstatement to say that was life changing.

Eventually after that, they stopped.

If you know me on Facebook you know Julianna's had a rough year.  This past week has been particularly horrendous.  She's been dealing with some private issues that resulted in her being in excruciating pain.  We finally found a treatment plan that helped a lot, but still it was a long week for her.  All last weekend we were one step away from the ER as her doctor felt he was out of options.  This morning, when we came out to face the prospect of a glorious "catch up" weekend, full of to-do lists and possibilities, it was immediately obvious Julianna was not okay.  Sick.  Again.  She felt faint, no idle threat for Julianna, she has passed out several times, and was feverish.  Now, she's dozing on the couch, moaning, horrible headache and a sore throat.  I tend to just sit, quietly, in the same room, on the computer or reading or watching Netflix with the sound muted so as not to disturb her.  Julianna almost always vomits when she has a virus and often, she vomits in her sleep.  Heck of a parlor trick and scary as Hell.  

It's always been in the back of my mind...the 'what-if's?', the 'will something happen someday and they'll trace it back to that and say 'there. that was the beginning?'. I can not believe how this year has been for her. I pray that all is right with my little girl and that it's just an unbelievable run of bad luck.  Praying this passes quickly.  Desperately trying to quiet all the "what-if's" rattling their cages in my head.