Coming Up in Food at Casa de Shack

Here is what is up and coming as I get back to my normal routine of cooking dinner. There has been a lot of soup and sandwiches in our house lately. :-)

Bratwurst

Halupki (Stuffed Cabbage)

Smoked Sausage

Macaroni and Beef

Steak

Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash and Spaetzle with Red Cabbage!

Crescent Burgers

Homemade Pizza

These are NOT my pictures. I will post my own after I cook this stuff myself.

Surgery Follow Up

Today was my follow up after surgery.

Apparently, I was NOT released to return to school yet and I heard about it today. I was told that I was to take the rest of the weekend to rest. Of course, tomorrow night is the Welcome Back Bash on campus and I promised to take the littles. Luckily, I convinced my Mom to come and to drive so that I could rest some.

When the pathology came back from the lab it was revealed that my gall bladder was actually infected. I would have gotten sicker if I had let it go. I would have likely missed a hell of a lot of school if I had waited until Christmas break like i had planned to do. I feel better about pushing to get it done ASAP.

The big boys are coming to stay this weekend. It is DnD for them and Sunday is my sister's 45th Birthday. Also Monday is a holiday so it will be a fun weekend for the most part. I do have Humanities homework to do before Tuesday. I made it to 2 of 4 classes this week. I missed Philosophy (Ethics) due to my surgery follow up and I missed Social Work Human Development because the Doc said I had to. Next week I have to get busy. I am not released to normal duty for 2 more weeks but I can do more than I have been able to do. I feel SO much better though. I will follow the Doctor's orders though so that I don't miss any more school than necessary.

All in all it has been a good experience though.

First day of school

Well now I officially have 2 middle school and 2 elementary kiddos.
B is in 7th grade, J is in 6th grade, C is in 3rd grade, and N is in 1st grade. Everyone but J had a good day. I hope they get J's schedule fixed soon so he can get some enjoyment out of school. I am SO proud of the boys! They have all grown up so much and into pretty great kids.

This weekend we went and hung out with Blade, V, and the kids. C & N hung with G-man all day and had a blast. I was kind of worried because C and G can both be difficult sometimes but they had no problems whatsoever. The boys wanted to stay and keep hanging out.

Here is the older boys on their first day.

And here are the littles.

Today was also my first day back to school. Once I found my class everything went smoothly. I am a bit tired tonight but not sleepy. I have to miss my morning Thursday class to go to my surgery follow up appointment and hopefully get the bandages off of my incisions. I can shower at least but I am anxious to get back in the pool and I know the boys are ready to get back in as well. Hopefully we can swim on Saturday.

I have 4 bandages on and I am impressed the way they have stayed on through showers. Things have come a long way since my last surgery in 2009. I feel much better than I thought I would this soon after surgery. I'm really glad that I got the gall bladder out instead of suffering until December like I planned to do.

I should get my butt to bed as 6:30AM comes early. Night all!

Preparation Sunday....

Chicken Taco Stew with added tomatoes is in the crock pot. Little boy laundry is in the washer. Tomorrow we get back at it again. I would love to say I am ready but I am not. I will be though. At least the first week is usually just getting acquainted with each other and such. I went most of the day without my pain medicine yesterday but I was hurting last night pretty good. I will not be doing much at school hopefully so I shouldn't be taxed when I get home.

I have to make myself go to bed early tonight so I can take the boys to school in the morning. FUN STUFF.

I hope you are all well and wonderful!

Recovery, stress, changes, and more

What a few days it has been! Let's start with the surgery scheduling. I am a spoiled Veteran who is not used to insurance issues. Growing up my Mom was in the USAF and the health insurance was great most of the time. It works the same with the Veteran's Hospital too except that they say gall bladder surgery is elective surgery. It was not elective for me. I stopped eating because everything made me sick. I was living on fruit and protein bars for a week. When I scheduled the surgery I was told my deductible was $500 and the 20% was $41. So before we could schedule the surgery we had to come up with $541. Geez, talk about stress. I went in for the consult on Monday afternoon and had to pay the $541 before 1:30 PM Pre-Op on Tuesday afternoon. We got it together, thank the lord and I got admitted without a hitch. I did my prep Tuesday night. Easy...stuff. Just the usual light dinner, nothing to eat or drink after midnight, and only a sip of water Wednesday morning to take my medicine. I had to be at the hospital by 10:45 AM Wednesday morning. I get in on time and get set up in the room. My vein in my hand would not cooperate so we had to put the IV in the bend of my arm instead. They finally let S come back to the holding area with me after letting me know that the Dr would be delayed an hour. I was upset because B & J's school orientation was at 4PM and it was looking like S would not make it. We turned on the TV and I was happily surprised that Law & Order: Criminal Intent was on because it is a great way to pass an hour delay.

When the hour was almost up we were informed that the delay would be 3 hours. We were given the choice to wait it out or come back Thursday morning. I had the IV in my arm and S had the day off so we chose to stay. I felt lousy that he was missing the boys orientation but we thought it was better to get the surgery done. Turns out that T and the boys didn't stay long anyway. I watched more LOCI, House, and I was into NCIS when they came for me. Then they took my glasses leaving me blind, hungry, and headachey in surgery holding.

They took me back to surgery holding at 3:15PM where I waited for another 30 minutes. I talked to anesthesia doctors and nurses, I talked to my surgeon, and then the fun began. I said a prayer that it would be a laparoscopic procedure and that it would be his easy surgery of the day and we got busy. They put tylenol and toradol in my IV and I remember very little else until I woke up. I remember not being able to get the hair net over my hair. I was thrilled to be going in and giggly. I woke up sick to the stomach. I told the nurse and she asked me if I was sure. WTH? Am I sure? Uh, YEAH I think I know if I want to vomit. She finally called the Dr and he ordered another nausea medicine. I started to feel a bit human and she left me. I got her attention and told her I wanted to see S and go home. They took me to Pre-Op holding and got me a diet shasta (Sprite like) drink. Boy was I feeling sick. Then she got S and he gave me my glasses back. WOOHOO for not being blind anymore. She asked me if I would be OK getting dressed with the husband. UM YEAH he kinda was there when I gave birth to our 2 sons and helped me recover from Gastric bypass, I think it is OK if he helps me get dressed. By now it was after 7 PM and everyone wanted to go home. Stephanie, the nurse, loaded me up with some barf bags for the car and a pillow for helping me cough and away I went.

So, let me show you this pillow now and explain about it.

These pillows are made by volunteers from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. You hold it when you cough and it helps you not split your incisions open. It has been such a nice comfort to have this simple little pillow with me. What a nice parting gift from angels on earth.

I got to my Mom's house before 8 PM and finally got to see everyone. I was feeling pretty rough and out of it. I wouldn't let S take off my bracelets, I wanted to be sure I was going to be OK SO I kept them on the first night.

You can see my bracelets, barf bags, diet ginger ale, cough pillow, and pain meds in that picture. I was set up in the recliner. Then I decided that all I wanted tot do was go lay down in a bed so Mom gave me her bed. I slept fitfully on and off. I got up for a while and checked messages and sent some out to let people know I was fine. I went back to bed for a while. I took a picture of my least ugly incision and got ready to go get the teacher assignments for the little's school.

My incision looks like an H. We decided it was H for Happy to be done.

The cool shiny wrapping allows me to shower while keeping the incisions dry. And after having betadine (iodine solution) all over my boobs and belly, I needed that shower Thursday.

Friday morning was meet the teacher. Mom took me to meet the boys' teachers and then we brought home breakfast for everyone. I am sore as hell but I get around. I don't want to sit around too much because I don't need any blood clots to form. I moved a bit too much yesterday and I am sore and taking pain medicine on time today.

When S got off of work he picked up the littles and I and brought us home. I adore my Mom and sister and I appreciate them so very much but it is good to be home too. I am set up pretty well here too. I have the pain meds, the nausea meds, the laptop, water, and my heart pillow!

Now I can heal at home and I start school on Monday along with the boys. My class is at 4 PM though and I get an easy week to begin with. Saturday afternoon we are going to hang out with Blade and some other friends for a while. We will see how long I can make it before I have to come home and crash. I need to get some laundry done for the littles first day of school.

I am not glad I went through the crap I did with the ER and being so sick but I am glad that the gall bladder is gone. I feel much better already with it out. I know things will get better from here on out. I am very blessed to have an awesome group of family and friends who love and support me.

Surgery Fun

Well, pre-op is tomorrow afternoon and surgery is Wednesday morning. I am grateful that I will be getting this done before school starts next Monday. Even if I am still recovering some, I can make it through.

Tomorrow will be a busy day to get everything put in order for surgery and school. I need to get books, get class assignments for the kids, and find out when Meet the Teacher is going to be. Hopefully, it will be doable around my classes. I go to school on an odd schedule this semester.

I'm so blessed to have a wonderful and supportive group of family and friends who are awesome. We have had a lot of love and support during this time which makes it easier to get things done with minimal worry. To our family, our friends, and our co-workers: Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! :-)

Cabbage and Onion with Sausage

1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 large onion chopped
1 head of cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon sage
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat, stirring until crumbly; drain leaving 2 tablespoons of the drippings in the skillet with the sausage. Stir in the onion, cabbage, sage, parsley flakes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until onion and cabbage are limp.

Yields 6 servings.

We like this recipe. The sausage gives it a great flavor. If you are not a fan of sausage then you can substitute 1 pound of chopped bacon. We have never done this before so you are on your own.

I didn't take any pictures. It sounds fatty but it did not bother my gall bladder issue at all so I think it was OK. It was probably the best meal I have had all weekend!

I have a consult with surgeon tomorrow. Prayers/vibes/good thoughts are appreciated for a quick surgery date. The boys and I go back to school on the 27th and we need to get this fixed ASAP. Thanks!

Love, Friendship, relationships.... pt. 1

What is love to you?

To me it is many things. Least of all is hearts, flowers, diamonds, or other material things. Don't get me wrong, a little bit of that is necessary from time to time but it really is so much more than that. I wish my husband would do more of that stuff but it isn't going to break our marriage up or anything.

Love is not only romantic or sexual either. People get all weird about that stuff too. I am the kind of person who loves easily. I love a lot of people in a lot of different ways. People who are old old school don't understand that part of my personality. I have a lot of guy friends, more than women friends. For some reason people like to think that if a girl loves a guy she used to have sex with him, is having sex with him, or she wants to have sex with him. This is not always true. I am sure that in some instances it is true.

I had an instructor who was an incredibly close friend of mine. Someone reported to his boss that we were having a physical relationship because we were close. This guy was like a father to me, so getting called in to his boss' office to be grilled about whether we were knocking boots or not really pissed me off.

I actually just realized that most of my really good women friends are ladies that I have met online. I think it partly due to the fact that there is a lot of societal pressure for women. When you connect online over a common interest it cuts out the jealousy of who is skinnier or prettier and such. Personally, I don't have ugly friends. I understand why people meet online though and I know many people who have wonderfully successful relationships that began online. Of course, there are the people who lie and deceive so you must be careful who you meet in person. So far, I have only had one close call with a guy and it was YEARS ago (almost 20). I have friends I met on newsgroups from 1995 and people I have just met in the last few years on Facebook and twitter. We all share common interests but we are different races, sexes, and political parties; yet we get along great.

Actually I am shy and kind of socially awkward if I don't know you. There are only a handful of people that I have been automatically talkative with. My buddies is the Lake side of HPD, the other law enforcement that came in, the fire fighters, and Mr. S. I seem to bond with public servants, mostly emergency workers, because it is such a selfless career. Plus most of them are just a little bit nutty and get my sense of humor. You have to be a little nutty to deal with what they do and not burn out or go crazy.

Mr. S. was not a public servant, although I did find out later that he has his Associates in Criminal Justice. Ironic. He had a nice smile. His credit card had a picture of him on it and I commented on it one day. We got to talking here and there. He mentioned one day going to pick up running clothes so that he could start running for fitness. I asked him to run by the store because I didn't get enough good scenery there. That was a first for me. I had never openly flirted with anyone like that before. Truth be told, I never did it again either. Mr. S. and I lost touch for a while until recently. (Yay for FB) I'm glad to have my friend back.

I will come back and blog some about my best friends another night. I have to go try and sleep. I think getting some food in me helped. I have a consult with the surgeon on Monday with a civilian doctor. If it gets worse I will head to the VA this weekend instead. Tomorrow I hope to talk about my husband, his day off today, and the medication reaction I was dealing with this morning.

Good night to the few, the awesome, the readers of this blog!

AFK

I may be Away From Computer for a few days next week.

Most Gastric Bypass patients lose their gall bladder quickly or get it taken out when they have the RNY procedure. I managed to hold on to mine for 3 years. I knew about a year ago that I had stones but it wasn't bothering me until this week. After a horrible attack Wednesday night at dinner, we spent the night in the ER. Unfortunately and fortunately it is not infected so I got sent home to see an outpatient doctor to set up surgery.

It has to be ASAP in the next 11 days because school starts August 27th. I will know more tomorrow afternoon.

Gall stones SUCK! Tonight was the first real meal I have had in 4 days and it was grilled chicken breast, corn, and tomato slices. I need this to be over.

Take care fair readers!! Much love to you all.

Lasagna!

Tuesday fun and healing

I am incredibly happy that after 2 days on horse pills antibiotics my toe feels much better. I can walk on it for the most part as long as I am barefoot. I don't have anywhere to be until tomorrow afternoon but my house looks like a dump and needs some attention. Bless S for taking care of some of it tonight. He can be a huge shit but he puts up with the Queen Bitch me too.

So here is some perspective on my horse pills.

OK, I got a picture of my toe today and it looks MUCH better too. Yesterday after the evil travel lady made me walk the hospital 3 times the blister popped and it isn't as bad. It is kind of ugly but I swear I do not have ugly feet.

SEE!

Tonight N fell asleep on the couch. I woke him up to go to bed and he stopped to give me a hug and a kiss. He leaned against me and promptly fell asleep. We woke him up again to say good night to his Dad and he did NOT make it. This is where he landed.

He is such a sweetheart. We had a crazy day. The one time we had to go out my FIL was trying to get a hold of me and I missed both of the calls. We finally got it figured out.

Well, we haven't cooked anything great this week and since the kids are spending the night with their Nana tomorrow night I doubt we will cook at all. I will find something to post. Maybe I will post my essay for the Social Work Program. Or some of it and a picture of me from many years ago with my friend Mr. S.

If you could do me one small favor though and direct prayers/healing vibes/good thoughts to my friend Shelley and her family. They are going through a lot right now. A tragedy of losing a baby turned into saving her Mom's life. Some times we don't understand but I know there is a plan.

Pain, the VA, and more

So, the Veteran's Hospital sent me a letter asking me if I wanted to move my care to the Women's Clinic and I opted not to do so. Then I emailed my doctor for a medication refill and I was informed that I was moved anyway. I am still trying to figure out why they wasted the paper, envelope, and postage to ask me.

The Doctor that I got is really good though. I liked her a lot. I had somehow hurt my toe and today she told me it is infected. 2 antibiotic pills later and it finally stopped throbbing for the first time in 2 days. My gall stones are getting worse. I have to have another ultrasound and then as soon as I have a significant break from school they are going to take my gall bladder out. I am currently anemic....again. I have to get that in check before surgery too. Sheesh.

It has been a long and crazy day but I wanted to blog something since I have not been able to sit at the computer much lately because of my toe. I haven't transferred any cell phone pictures to upload yet and I haven't cooked in the last 2 days. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Sweet dreams everyone!

Enemas with rusty bottle brushes

You might laugh at that title. I know the first time I heard a friend of mine say it I laughed a lot. Tonight I am not laughing. I know some certain people who need such an enema big time.

I know a child who is going though hell right now. I feel my heart breaking because I don't know how to help my friends.

Most of my friends who know about this blog know that my husband has an ex-wife. If you have read much of this you also know I have two wonderful boys in my life because of that union. If you have been around a really long time you might know that T and I don't always see eye to eye about things. In fact, in the past we have really has some major issues. Despite that past, I respect that T is the boy's Momma and that she loves them with everything she is.

When I reflect on our situation (the good and the bad) I cannot for one second imagine doing anything to her that would hurt our boys. EVER! PERIOD! NO MATTER WHAT!

You see I DO have a moral code. I have personal ethics. I have a need not to bog down the social services with bogus bullshit. SOME PEOPLE, however, need serious mental help.

Tonight I am thankful that T and I have managed to mostly exist peacefully and in the best interest of our boys instead of acting like morons and dragging an already overburdened agency into our lives.

Crescent Burgers

This is the plan for dinner tonight. It is another new recipe that I am trying for something different around here.

Crescent Burgers
4.8 from 6 reviews

Print
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 25 mins
Serves: 8
Tastes just like burgers from White Castle
Ingredients

1/2 pound of ground beef
Worcestershire sauce
1 Egg
1/3 packet of dry onion soup mix
1/2 tsp of black pepper
2/3 cup of cheddar cheese
1 roll of crescents

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375
In a skillet heat a small amount of oil and brown meat. Drain excess fat.
In a medium size bowl mix – 1/2 cup of cheese, onion soup mix, couple drops of Worcestershire sauce, pepper; meat.
Unroll the crescents. Place a rounded tablespoon of the meat mixture towards the larger end of the crescent dough
Roll – I personally made them into little pockets.
Place crescents onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops of the dough with an egg wash ( simply break and egg in a bowl and whisk egg until well blended and 1 tablespoon of water to the mix).
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the egg wash and bake for 10 – 15 minutes.
Enjoy

http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/05/crescent-burgers-recipe/

We are also going to make Guacamole to go with them. We make our own which is adapted from his Mom's recipe. Ours has avocados. tomatoes, onions, salt, garlic tabasco sauce, and whatever else we decide to throw in it.

I also made up some Creamy Caesar pasta salad. The Caesar Suddenly Salad has instructions for making it creamy with a bit of mayo and milk. Our kids like it better than the vegetable oil and water version.

As usual, I'll be back later to give my review.

The first cut is the deepest...

especially when it sneaks up out of the blackness. I know we have all had that shock. That ONE person that you were sure would not turn on you ever. Hell, I am probably guilty of being that person once of twice if I am truly honest. It doesn't make it hurt any less. I don't feel good about it. I just go on hoping that I have grown and learned from my past.

You defend this person to your other friends. You go to bat for them constantly and in all areas of their life. You even freeze your ass off on Christmas Eve to make sure they have a Christmas morning with their kids. Sadly, in the end it doesn't matter and you bleed as you watch a friendship spiral down the drain. I have discussed this with another close friend a lot and I agree with her that being the only one that gives a shit will make me crazy. I am mad FUCKING PISSED because as long as I hold on to the anger I won't drown in the loss and grief of losing someone very important to me.

I honestly haven't felt this bad since MSG passed. I feel like my heart has been stabbed, ripped out, had a hunk taken out of it, and put back in to try and function. And you wonder in what other ways this person has or will turn on you.

I have survived so much in my 35 years on this earth and I WILL survive this but I will never again be the same person. I will never again trust the same way. Things will never be the same way again. The trio has become a duo and there is nothing more that can be done.

This post has been derailed

Will someone go after that witch with a fly swatter please? I'm off to bed. Today has been a LONG day.


I will bid you all good night and leave you with this which I dedicate to my friend Paul.

Learning in the first degree and more

IT CAME! Yes, I am almost as excited as I was on Graduation day! My Associates of Arts degree came in the mail. I finally got to put together everything in the frame that my Mom bought me.

The Graduate Ducky on top came from my boys. They found it in a store in Old Town Spring and insisted that it was especially for me. They are sweethearts!

Here they are goofing off at OTS.

We initially drove to Spring to go to WOOF Pet bakery in Old Town Spring after meeting them at the Reliant Dog Show. I purchased a peanut butter pumpkin brownie for Jewel and she loved it. We wanted to visit their shop and OTS so it was a no brainer.

This is Jewel. She is our happy baby. We adopted her from the Galveston County Animal Shelter in March 2009. She was 6 weeks old. What we didn't know was that she had parvo when they sold her to us. There had been an outbreak there and they were not telling anyone. If it hadn't been for the Animal Alliance we might have missed it. We nursed her through Parvo and Pneumonia and she is our baby. She was never socialized with other dogs because of her health but she is bonded to Mom, Tammy, the boys and I like glue.


Anyway, here is a picture of The Loose Caboose. I LOVE trains and especially cabooses! This was an eatery that was run out of an old caboose. Old Town Spring was very cool! We walked around and ate lunch there today. There was a Dutch store, a German store, and of course a Texas store. We got to OTS a little after 10 AM and left around 5 PM. We missed over half of OTS. We are definitely going back!

We are beat around here. I sent the boys to bed and I am probably not far behind. My eyes are killing me so I should go switch over to my glasses.

Sweet Dreams, Y'all!

Sunday Dinner

Dinner at a glance!

Yes, I cut messages in my crust. I'm a geek and if I had any artistic talent those messages would be really cool. Hmm, maybe I need some Star Wars cookie cutters. :-)

Anyway, here this the yummy food I ate.

We then had store bought Olympic cupcakes for dessert. The boys liked them, they were on special, and it was the last meal that the big boys will be sharing with us for a while. I have boys so I didn't get there in time for a picture of the cupcakes.

I am working on washing pillows right now and tomorrow I will be cleaning up from this weekend more unless I cannot sleep and start tonight. I am tired of laundry but the house has nice, fresh linens to sleep on and clean towel and wash rags for the bathroom. I deserve a nap while the last load of pillows dries.

Here is a nice page for links to cool Geeky Cookie cutters!

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/39084/best-geek-cookie-cutters-biscuits

OK, folks the washer is done so I had better go get the pillows in the dryer now.

2nd Grade Spelling Words

Here are the words that Connor had for spelling words last year in school. THe only one he ever got wrong was 'scatterbrain'.

offwhite Come temporary away helium after shaggy been sacrifice conclusion
hearty prediction heartwood hypothesis heckle procedure separate observation
necessary conserve mosquito scatterbrain librarian xylophone stationery cooperate
somersault responsibility whether fillet neither vegetable gout their drover said
druthers science drupe citizen drumlin community dumb rescue dulcet robust duffel
rootlet exterminator residue eyetooth resemblance expertise restaurant expansion
favorite expedition squeaky execution people enfold metamorphosis enigma dictionary
what production very introduction editorial contralto dappled contort cyclamen
coppersmith curbstone counselor cusp counterattack curvature counterintelligence
cannabis countermanded cumulus countersign canard flare grayling flanked graymatter
flintlock grenadier because greave timid greengrocer TNT greenhorn tomahawk gripe
torch grouper families baloney northward monument nourish peninsula numerous
valedictorian Nuremburg unacquainted obliterate stewardess oncoming stethescope
onrushing eclipse bloodthirsty neutral deliberate ultimatum cacti kerchief cauldron
giddiness campaign maimed canker narrate captive novice carcass crocodile.

He represented his 2nd grade class in the school Spelling Bee and came in 2nd place. He did amazing!! I am SO proud of him. I don't know if I have any Spelling Bee pictures on the laptop to post or not.

He lost to the previous champion who was a 4th grader but they took out everyone else from 2nd to 5th grade. He says he won't do it again but I hope he will reconsider. His Dad missed it this year but his grandparents and I were there.

A HUGE thanks to Mrs. Haynes who saw that the normal spelling words were too easy and let him pick from spelling word lists to 5th grade and the dictionary. She did an exceptional job working with Connor even though he is a difficult kid and was diagnosed ADHD this year too. Our school is lucky to have Mrs H. and we have been lucky to have fantastic teachers every year.

Saturday Fun and Prepping for Sunday Dinner!!

Today the little boys and i hung with my Mom (Nana) and my sister (Aunt MiMi). We first headed out to Froberg's farms to get fresh fruits and veggies. We also picked up some of the best jalapeno and cheese sausage ever made from Greak's Smokehouse. If you are out in Alvin stop by and check them out. Here is their webpage. My links may not be working so just copy and paste.

http://www.frobergsfarm.com/

When we were done we stopped at the Snack Shack for some Watermelon. Their slices are $1 and they do not skimp on them at all.

I had one, Mom had one, and Connor had most of one since Nik didn't want any more. After we were floating and had washed out hands, we decided to play a bit. There were 2 AWESOME sculptures made of old trees. One was a raccoon and the other was an armadillo with a saddle. Here are the boys playing on the armadillo.

We went back to Nana's and swam for a while before having hot dogs and awesome sausage for dinner. We came home to wash the sheets and such from the beds and now Connor is folding his and Nik's clothes. He is being very helpful. What does he want? Hmmm. I kid because I can but my kids are really cool guys. They are all very smart in their own ways and I love them a lot. I always wanted a daughter but I enjoy having 4 boys 99% of the time.

Here is one of Connor folding clothes.

I know every girl has the want to be pretty but as a woman/Mother I know that I am beautiful because I have and give unconditional love.We have our ups and downs but I love my boys no matter what. That is really cool! I am off for tonight. I am waiting for S's pillow to dry. I am hoping to get it done before he and the big boys get home from DnD. I will still need to wash the big boys pillows but I just don't think I will have time tonight. I chose to wash their comforters instead since they use them at night. After S finishes his work laundry tomorrow I will do the pillows and the little's blankets. I have to pick up a pillow from my Mom and I am going to get everyone using better pillows ASAP.

And now you have been treated to a day in my oh-so-exciting life. So for being patient I will tell you what is for dinner tomorrow. I like to make homemade chicken pot pie a lot. I forgot to take out the chicken to that until late Saturday night so I am trying something new. I put the mostly frozen chicken tenderloins in the crock pot with some seasoning and mixed veggies. I did not have 2 packages of mixed veggies so I used 1, a package of cut green beans, and a bag of golden corn. I added 2 cans of cream of chicken soup with herbs and 2 cans of fat free cream of celery soup. Tomorrow I will cover a baking dish bottom with pie crust, add the chicken/veggie/soup filling, and top with the other crust and bake to instructions on the crust package. I will put that with a yummy salad and we will have a great dinner with the boys before they go back to T's house for a while.

Chicken Taco Stew

This was very good but it needed a few things in our opinion. I will post the original recipe and then add my .02 cents after.

Taco Stew – Crock Pot

3 FROZEN chicken breasts
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg ranch dip dressing
1 can rotel (as hot as you want)
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can white beans
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans

In crockpot place the FROZEN chicken breasts on the bottom, sprinkle taco and ranch dip seasoning on top of chicken. Then place cans in the order they appear (rotel, corn, white beans, black beans, kidney beans)—DO NOT DRAIN!!

Cook on low for about 5 hrs. Take chicken out and shred, place back in crockpot and stir. Enjoy!!

This needed more tomatoes. I will add at least 1 additional can of diced tomatoes when I make it again.

Also, we decided to top it with nacho and taco blend cheese which was yummy! And we served it with tortilla chips.

One final note is that I didn't use canned corn in my recipe. I used frozen corn because I think it is better. I feel that the addition of one or more cans of diced tomatoes will enhance the recipe and give the liquid missing from using the frozen corn. If you wanted you could increase the cans of rotel but I would not suggest it if you have kids or other picky eaters.

Now, I had my contacts in for a very long time today and I think it is time for bed. More about my epic day tomorrow!

Child's Play

Well, we took the boys back to T's house tonight and that was interesting. I don't mean interesting as it bad or even snarky. I mean interesting as in the most relaxed things have been for a while. I don't know what happened or why but I am glad that things are better. When things are bad there is stress and it boils over to the kids even though we try to keep it from touching them. I'm so tired of the stress. I am tired of the fight. Life is very short... too short.

B has a blister or something on the end of his finger. He showed me yesterday before dinner but it got bigger and nastier overnight. I didn't want to drain it just in case the infection spread. I would rather let a doctor look at it first. I really hope that it isn't serious. He didn't even complain while helping with dinner yesterday. They were getting more stuff from their step dad's house though and who knows what got kicked up in the packing/moving process. I was worried about it being a spider bite though.

Speaking of dinner and helping, B did a really good job yesterday. I am usually BAD about having help in the kitchen but I was behind and had to delegate. I wish I had more patience with that because so far it is S teaching the kiddos to help cook.

These 3AM blog posts are getting to be a habit. I couldn't sleep so I studied for a while but my brain won't shut down.

I think I need to go try to sleep though before my thoughts and fingers get me into trouble. I thought being honest would help matters but nothing. More BS and lies. I don't like to give up on friends but I am about worn out. I just don't know what else to do. KPN, I thought we could always be honest with each other but I was wrong. I used to trust you implicitly. I hope it is worth it.