Trick or treat!

Tonight was trick or treat night and Preston was all ready to go. Any chance to get candy ranks high on his list! Of course, he chose to go as Darth Vader this year. He wasn't fond of the mask, so it only lasted for one house. The lenses were really hard to see out of.
And then there's Kate, who all by herself, came up with the idea of being a British snake keeper. All she requested was a snake and a mustache! We added the white shirt and Christopher's old cape for a little more authenticity.
But it turns out that she was not British tonight because her throat is still hurting her very badly, and against my better judgement, she went along trick or treating. It really did her in and she didn't feel well by the time we got home. I took her to the dr. today and while she doesn't have strep (thankfully), of all things, she has an ear infection! Seriously??? We get one kid's ears fixed and 3 days later the other one has an infection. Preston really wants her to have to get tubes, but she didn't inherit the Henry curse, so she rarely gets ear infections. But the dr. thinks that was the source of her temp. and the rest is just a regular old cold. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be feeling MUCH better after a full day of antibiotics today!

Friday afternoon after Preston's surgery, we decided to carve pumpkins since he needed calm activities. First, the kids took *forever* to decide on what they wanted to carve. Then, Christopher wanted to help. There's a very good reason I'm the resident pumpking carver around here. Poor Yoda lost his staff and looked like a big hole in the pumpkin. Harry, Ron and Hermione leave a lot to the imagination. It was Preston's own old school design that actually turned out. Since Yoda didn't work, he got to carve another.
Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione
Yoda and Preston's original drawing. Grandma Lou painted the small ones.

Notice anything?

There's been a few changes going on over here which I'm sure you've noticed. I am SO unbelievably pleased with my new layout by Green Tangerine Designs! Allison did SUCH a gret job and the turnaround was so fast! I'm sure that it would have been much faster had I not been preoccupied Friday with Preston's surgery! If you're looking for a new layout, check out Allison's site. You won't be disappointed, trust me!

If it's not one kid, it's the other

Last night we got together with Christopher's family for halloween. We always go to Grandma Shirley's house, eat dinner, dress up and get their treats. It's so much easier this way than trying to coordinate when everyone will be home and when they'll be out with their own kids. Well, Kate had been complaining about her throat hurting yesterday afternoon. I looked, and it looked fine to me. Just to be careful, I told her not to be getting too close to Abbie and Issie in case she was getting sick. During dinner, all she ate was a roll, and she didn't want any cake, so I knew something was up. We get home, and after being out in the cold just walking to the car, she had some major chills and a 100.5 degree temp. She NEVER runs a temp. That is, unless she has strep...

So today, she is pretty much the same. Sore throat, major headache and upset tummy when she eats. The only things she's eaten all day were some dry Cheerios, a roll, and a pancake. That's it. Motrin is keeping the temp in check, but I missed her last dose by half an hour and it shot right back up. And with no tonsils, it's pretty hard to tell if she has strep, so we'll be heading to the dr. tomorrow to see what's wrong. Sigh. And it looks like she won't be joining us for trick or treating, either. Technically, she's older than the town's age limit anyway.

Speaking of doctors, out of the blue, Dr. S. called tonight to check in on Preston. He used to always do that the day of surgery, but he said he'd been worrying about him. He said that when he's done a lot to their ears, sometimes they get really sensitive and they have a lot more pain than usual. Thankfully, he's had NONE! Other than a little clicking in his ears, the only pain he's complained of is where he bit through his lip. Dr. S. asked about trick or treating and said that Preston had to give him 22% of his haul! Gotta love him! Friday, he asked Kate what she was dressing up as (which I won't share just yet) and he said he really wished he could see it, so Kate is all excited about getting her picture taken to show him when we go back for Preston's follow-up. Seriously, though, it really made my day to hear from him, and to know that out of all of his patients, he cares enough to worry about Preston and call on a Sunday night to check in. That's a rare trait, and we are so lucky to have the best ENT around!

Surgery... check

When I called yesterday to get our report time and they told me 7:30, and to be in admitting at 7:15, I nearly fell over. That meant we had to be up and on the road by 6:30. Last time we didn't have to be there until 9:00, so I had prepared myself for a later surgery. They usually go youngest to oldest, anyway.

So we were up and ready, and because there was no school today (poor kid didn't even get lucky enough to miss school), Kate had to go with us. We had a lot of "remember this from when you were here last" with both kids, which helped to pass the time because it was not lickety split like last time (he was in surgery within 15 minutes of arriving). We spent over an hour in pre-op trying to keep him occupied and his mind off of surgery- poor kid was so worried even for his 3rd time. Finally, at 8:45, they took him back.
I'm pleased to say that surgery couldn't have went better! The tube was completely out already and the eardrum healed, so there was no need to repair it, which made surgery much shorter and recovery MUCH easier! The new tubes are in, albeit the small ones, but Dr. S. explained to us afterward that he felt it a better trade-off because the smaller ones fall out on their own, even if they fall our much sooner. His eardrums are a lot like mine and are getting more scarred with each infection and surgery, and he doesn't want to risk a tube getting stuck and having to be removed, or a rupture from trying to squeeze in a larger tube. He said he really thinks this will be his last set. I've heard that no less than 20 times, and here we are again. His left ear was still full of fluid, too, so at least we caught this before it had time to get infected.
We got to go back right as they were wheeling him back to his post-op room, which happened to be the same one he had last time. As they were wheeling him in, the nurse said that he had a little scratch on his lip and were getting him a popsicle for it. When he was going under, he mauled his lip and it looks like he bit clear through it. It is still so swollen and there are 5 bite marks. Poor kid. He only stayed in post-op half an hour, so with the half hour in recovery trying to get him woken up, we left an hour later. He even got to bring his old tube home as a souvenir!
Please don't click to enlarge that picture! Trust me! And Preston must have been the Cardinals' good luck charm. I packed his Cards hoodie to wear home from the hospital and they just won it. Never thought they'd do it, but they did!

So far, recovery has been a breeze, no ear pain at all. He really hates those drops, though. Overall, I went into this surgery with much more peace than the last time. There wasn't one time I felt nervous, though I did tear up kissing him good-bye as they took him back. Dr. S. is such a fabulous dr. and there's no one I'd trust more with Preston's ears.

Well, she doesn't have foot cancer

Kate saw the dermatologist this afternoon and you'll all be glad to know that she does not have foot cancer and will be keeping her feet! She was so worried! Oh, Kate...

What she does have is juvenile plantar dermatosis. Basically, glorified eczema. Yes, eczema. We're very familiar with that! If you click the link, you can get some more info and some lovely pictures of someone's feet that look exactly like Kate's. You're welcome! They actually sent us home with a print-out of that site and when Christopher saw it, he said, "They took pictures of her feet?"

So now she has a prescription for a cream that with insurance, costs $600! Thank goodness they gave us a coupon that will get it for us for free! She has to use that cream twice a day for 3 weeks and then as needed afterward. This won't cure it, but it will help it to get better. Then she has to use a Rx antiperspirant type stuff to keep her feet from sweating as the sweat is really aggravating her toes. We also have to wrap her feet in Saran Wrap after we use the meds to keep them on. Shall see how that goes- she still wears socks that are WAY too small, and wears them inside out so that they are very snug and she won't feel the seam. Her feet are that sensitive!

And the best part? When we picked up Preston, the first thing he asked her was if she had to get her feet cut off!

Tomorrow we find out Preston's report time for surgery on Friday. Doesn't seem like it should be this soon. I'm ready, though, and he is, too. Please keep him in your prayers that everything goes well and that the repair job is easily fixed.

For the love of acorns

I've always loved acorns my entire life. They're just so cute, and there's something to be said about a tree "nut" that comes with its own fashion accessory- my favorite part is the hat! My kids love acorns, too. Just ask Pa about the huge pan of acorns that they stored in his garage last year!

But I'll tell you what acorns are NOT good for, and that's eating. I'll take you back to when I was maybe 6 or 7. We'd went along with Granny and Pa to a fish fry at Royce and Lucy's lake lot. I found myself a seat under a large oak tree that had dropped a few acorns. I don't know where the idea came from- if I was dared or just curious- but I decided that I would try the meat inside the shell. If the squirrels eat them, they can't be that bad, right? Well, they ARE bad! Very, VERY bad! I ran to find Granny, begging frantically for a drink. Well, the only thing that they had to drink was buttermilk. And if there's anything worse than eating an acorn, it's chasing it down with buttermilk. I learned a good lesson that day. Acorns are for squirrels, which I am not!

But acorns are the best fall decoration and today I'm sharing a wreath tutorial! Fun and cute, and if you have kids, this is the perfect project for them!
What you need:
* Styrofoam wreath form
* Brown spray paint
* Glue gun
* A LOT of acorns- send the kids outside to collect a good gallon bucket full of acorns. Make sure that they don't have holes or cracks. Wash them and set them out to dry.
And if you have a cat, it might be a good idea to keep it away from the acorns. Apparently, cats like them, too!
Take each acorn and apply a good sized dollop of hot glue on the bottom side and stick it to the wreath. Take the next acorn and stagger it so that it fills in the gap. Continue doing so until the front and sides are covered with acorns. Once finished, add a cute ribbon and hang.
Voila! Now you have a cute, fall wreath that only costs as much as the wreath form and paint! Gotta love cheap seasonal decorations!

Here we go again

Preston had his ENT appointment this morning and he's headed back to the OR. Is it sad that we've been through this enough that we know the ins and outs of same day surgery like our own home? This will be our fourth time...

I was a little nervous about the appt. I was prepared to insist upon new tubes, but this took no insisting at all. It was that obvious. Aside from the fact that he's had 3 infections in as many months, his left ear is just bad. He looked in the right one and said, "This ear looks perfect. Well... not perfect. It looks like an ear that's had 2 sets of tubes, but otherwise, it looks perfect." Then he looked in the other and had me look. It's full of fluid again already and the tube is just plastered in there. He said he couldn't tell if there was a hole behind the tube or not because the tube is completely blocked and up against the eardrum. So here's the run down, and please enjoy my lovely drawing of his eardrum status.

When Dr. S. gets in there and removes the tube, he'll be able to tell if there is a hole in the eardrum. See the hole in my drawing? If there is a hole, he will have to take fat from behind Preston's ear to fill in the space to allow the eardrum to heal. He will then put a new tube in on the other side of the eardrum. See the new tube? Great! But here's the bad part. He can't put in the big tube that stays in longer if there is a hole. If he does, it will cause a very big hole (see above?) and that will involve a major repair of the eardrum, major scarring, and likely hearing loss. The bad thing about the smaller tubes is that they fall out in about 6 months. Been there, done that and ended right back in the OR for another set. Being that this set has been in for over 2 years and he's still going right back to infections, does not lend me much hope that in 6 months, he'll be better. Sigh...

So he's scheduled to have this all done Friday. I'm used to waiting at least two weeks, so this took me a little off guard, but the sooner the better before the one ends up infected again. Overall, though, the appt. went well. We did have to sit and wait a good half hour for our surgery date. Dr. S. was on call and someone had been brought in to the hospital with a chop saw injury to the face and needed major reconstructive surgery. So Dr. S. was pretty frazzled and rushed trying to get his patients taken care of so he could leave and take care of this guy. That meant the nurses were rushed and it took forever.

Any prayers for Friday would be much appreciated! We feel pretty confident in Dr. S. and all he's done for us, and this is a pretty minor procedure, but you never know what's going to happen. I'm feeling much more relaxed this time around compared to last time when I had those horrible nightmares. And being that they just sedate them instead of general anesthesia and intubation, hopefully he won't end up with bronchitis 3 days out like last time. That we can do without!

A little bit of this and that

I really don't have anything substantial to write about, but a lot of little random stuff on my mind.

• My Taste of Home magazine said to plan on 1 1/2 lbs of turkey per person. Really? In that case, we'd need a 50 lb. bird on some serious steroids to feed our family! Me, I don't even eat the turkey. I save my calories for all the other stuff!
• Car insurance rates are ridiculous. Oh, how I hate to write that check...
• I found a carrot in the bag I bought that looks like a pair of pants. I took a picture of it but I'm too lazy to upload just one picture, so you'll just have to believe me. One grew in our garden like that and no one would eat it. We didn't eat that one, either.
• It was nice to see the sun again today after two days of COLD rain and 40 mph winds.
• The Cards won game 1 last night and the kids are excited. I'm not big into following teams, but it is exciting for the home boys to be back in the World Series. I still remember watching them win in 06.
• I'd love to take the kids to a WS game, but standing room only is $200. Them standing for hours in the cold... not gonna happen for $200!
• Christmas is creeping up too quickly.
• I've been busy working on Ashley's birthday cake for tomorrow night and I'm hoping it turns out just like I picture it. Should be cute!
• Kate has a dermatologist appointment next week for her "bad feet." She's afraid she has foot cancer and they'll cut them off!
• Preston has his ENT appointment in the morning. I'm nervous. I have a feeling he'll be headed to the OR again, either for the embedded tube to be removed, but hopefully for a new set. Praying for new tubes.
  
• Christopher sees his dr. tomorrow for his semi-annual screening to make sure his cancer isn't back.
• I need to sew something. I don't know what, but I need to sew something.
• Kate has a parade next weekend an hour and a half away from here and the bus won't be back until 11:30 *PM*. Still scratching my head on that one.
  

A little spiffing up

Our laundry room was in need of a little TLC. When we bought this house 4 years ago, we had less than 4 weeks to get it ready before we had to close on our old house, and in that 4 week span, we had to rip wallpaper from almost every wall, completely gut the kitchen and main bath, paint, and strip and refinish the hardwood floors. So while we poured every single minute into renovations that had to be done, the laundry room went untouched. About 2 years ago, I painted the laundry room white- it was already white to begin with. About this time we decided to get some linoleum tiles to cover the lovely pink linoleum that was on the floor. Mrs. T. loved her pink! I really wanted ceramic tile, but because of all of the "stuff" (water heater, furnace, reservoir tank, etc.) that couldn't be moved, linoleum was easier.

But I recently decided that something else had to be done down there. I had been begging to paint the living room grey, but Christopher wouldn't budge on it since it's a serious undertaking. The dining room, living room, front hall, stairwell, and upstairs all share at least one wall at some point, so that means that I'd practically have to paint the entire first and second floors, and bring in scaffolding. Should've thought of that 4 years ago... So if something was going to be painted grey, it was going to be the laundry room. So here you go, our very white laundry room...
And our grey laundry room.
First off, I LOVE it! You can't really tell it's grey from the pictures, but it looks so pretty, and I love the contrast between the wall and white cabinets. It was exactly what it needed! Now, the color is a little bluish and not what I really wanted, but it works and I couldn't be happier! That is, unless I can paint the living room...

Because I care

For your listening pleasure

Weekend wrap-up

What a busy, busy weekend. So busy in fact, that I have completely forgotten to take any pictures. I'm tellin ya, my 365 project took a serious nosedive once school started back up. I'm just too busy to remember to get it out (or maybe too lazy to go downstairs, get it out of the cabinet, and take a picure). Sigh.

Saturday was my nephew Glen's birthday party. The kids think that Glen hung the moon and can NOT get enough of him. They had been so excited all week about this party! The kids had a blast! I enjoyed seeing everyone and seeing the kids have a good time. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the gutters, picking up limbs from 40 mph winds for 24 straight hours, and putting the glass back in the storm doors. It's supposed to get cold Tuesday. Since we're halfway through October and still in the 80's, which is almost 20 degrees warmer than it's supposed to be, I think that this was our last nice weekend. I'm afraid the rest will be normal October temps and a fast transition to winter. It's hard to believe that we're only a month away from our usual first snowfall. Brrrrrrrrrr!

Today, Preston had a birthday party to go to for his friend, Leo. They had it at Chuck E. Cheese in Fairview. Preston rode with the boys while Kate and I drove down and shopped! Preston had SO much fun! And he can now say that he was driven to a birthday party by Freddie Krueger- no joke, that's really his name! Christopher and I still get a kick out of that!

A cute side note... When Preston was little, he though CEC was called Chuckie Jesus. Kate thought it was Chuckie Cheez-its! And a little girl in Preston's class calls it Chunky Cheeses. Kids are so funny!

Now to start a new week!

Why I'm not a lunch lady

Today was the annual soup supper put on by the band parents. I always do my share donating baked goods and this year signed up to help cut them. I had big plans about what I was making: a lemon poppy seed cake, blackberry cobbler, and red velvet cupcakes with a V on them. So yesterday after school, Preston and I made the cupcakes. Pretty red cupcakes with vanilla frosting in the school colors. Perfect! Side note: Preston wasn't too happy that I was using canned frosting instead of making it. Ha!

I planned to make the lemon cake after dinner, but disaster struck. While draining an entire sink full of nasty water, a pipe under the cabinet fell off and drained the entire sink into the cabinet. Water was *everywhere.* Not fun at all. So after that incident, I was NOT in any mood to bake. I knew I'd have time this morning, so I planned to do it then. I also planned to bake my cobbler this morning, too.

Fast forward to this morning, and the plumber shows up at 8:00 to replace the valves on our furnace (Christopher fixed the sink on his own). I bake my lemon cake with no issues. Then I realize that I have no throwaway pans to bake the cobbler in because I planned to go to the store and buy them like I do every Friday morning. But, with the plumber there, I had to wait. So he leaves and I make a mad dash to buy pans. Come home, read the recipe and sees it calls for milk. For one, we don't buy milk, and two, we used the last of the rice milk at breakfast. Seriously.

I had to go up to Granny's anyway to take Diana my Cars cake pan, so I decided I'd take my cobbler up there, borrow 1/2 a cup of milk, and bake it while I visited. The stinking thing took twice as long to cook, so I was in a hurry to leave before I had to be at the school to help. Granny wrapped it in a little cloth tote and I left. That thing started spilling hot, sticky blackberry juice all over the car. Niiiiiiice... Thank goodness they live half a mile from my house, but that didn't stop the mess. I got home, got the cobbler out of the car and stuck it in the garage fridge, then proceeded to scrub the car. After looking at my now disastrous looking cobbler, I decided to leave it at home.

I got to the school and started cutting deserts and putting them in their little plastic containers. We quickly ran out. Usually, people donate large amounts of deserts, but not this year. Finally they decided to call IGA to see if they could help us out. That left us without anything to do, so we were given a cart full of bread, a HUGE tub of peanut butter, and set out to make 250 peanut butter sandwiches. And that was just for the take-out. The high school band showed up at 2:30 to make the remaining 700 sandwiches! IGA came through and gave us a ton of deserts, so I think they were able to make the 1,000 deserts needed.

The band students sold 1,000 tickets this year, raising $6,000 for them! And that's not counting donations or people that bought tickets at the door. Not bad at all! And I learned the secret of the school's peanut butter. I was sooooo hoping I could see what brand it was so I could buy some, but it's just regular old peanut butter, butter and honey all mixed together! Heaven in a slice of bread. Now I'm antsy for Monday so I can make myself one of those little babies for my lunch. Darn those peanut allergies making me wait!

What we've been up to

We've been busy. I am SO ready for birthdays to be done! We've had one every weekend for the past 4 weeks. We have two this weekend and one next, and then they are DONE! Phew! So, in no particular order since blogger now completely rearranges my picture order...
Last weekend was our nieces, Abbie and Issie's birthday party. They turned 2 this year and had a Sugar and Spice theme. It was too cute! Love the pink and orange!
Friday night, the Jr. High band performed at the football game with the high school band. You can see them in the back in the red shirts. They did a really good job! They were originally supposed to just play the Star Spangled Banner, but many of the high school band members were out for an away soccer game, so they let the jr. high band do the half-time show and play their marching song. They didn't know about that until that night, so it was a surprise for all.
I scored this punch bowl set for $1 Friday at a garage sale! Anytime we've ever been in need of a punch bowl, no one had one, so I snagged this without even thinking twice. $1, and it's a really heavy glass set!
I sewed these two aprons for Abbie and Issie for part of their birthday gifts. They turned out SO cute and got so many compliments at the party. I'll be making some more of these for my Etsy shop.
And I've been doing a little painting. I'll share pictures soon. I L.O.V.E. my new laundry room. LOVE it!

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Well...

Today Preston had his belated 8 year well-check, rescheduled from 2 weeks ago when he was obviously not well. Overall, the appointment went well and he's pretty healthy! She wasn't concerned about his reflux, but says that it may still be there and has no qualms about re-starting his Zantac if we determine that it is needed. Right now, she feels that the spitting-up episodes and feeling of something in his throat were due to the cold he had at the time. If we see them happening when he's well, then we will re-evaluate.

Then there's his ear. Dear Preston and his ear... On a positive note, his ear was no longer infected. Yay! But, as soon as she looked at them, she asked who his ENT was. Not good. I immediately asked what was going on. It appears that his tube has fallen out (exactly why there was no drainage with the last infection) and is embedded in his ear canal. All she could see was a dark spot on the canal. Oh, how I wish we'd seen her 2 weeks ago instead of the NP. We go see his ENT next Friday anyway, but with this information, that will be a long time. What in the world is going on? Is it embedded in ear wax or under the tissue? Will it require surgery? Oh, I don't even want to Google it, but I can't just sit and wonder for a week. Good grief!

Our pets

It's Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner and this week's theme is pets! We have two cats- Nonnie and Zipper. If it was up to the kids, we'd also have a dog, a frog, and a snake. There's no way we're getting any of them!

So here's Nonnie. Nonnie was born in the hollowed out trunk of a tree at my sister-in-law's house. When we went over to see the kittens, Preston, then 3, said, "I'm going to name one Sunny and one Nonnie." A few weeks later we stopped by to borrow a pole saw and came back with a kitten.
Nonnie is a character. He likes to nurse on blankets. He gets the whole pawing on it deal and sucks on it. A bit bizarre, but considering his brothers and sisters all nursed until they were well past a year old, maybe it's in his genes.
Nonnie is also tolerable to my children dressing him up. Super Nonnie, destined to be the next super hero. He also likes water and can be found in the bathtub after anyone takes a bath, licking the tub. He also likes to play with the water as it's filling up. One time while we were gone, he got up and turned the bathroom faucet on and we came home to a VERY wet bathroom...
Nonnie is HUGE. My brother calls him a bobcat. We've tried to measure him because Christopher came home saying he though Nonnie was close to being the world's biggest cat. We never did get an accurate measurement, but he's within an inch. When he stands on his hind legs, he can reach a doorknob! He also has the softest long hair, and out of all the kittens his mom had (and there were a LOT), he was the only one that ever had long hair.

Nonnie is also our talker. If you talk to him, he responds. It's a lot of fun! He also likes to carry toys around the house in his mouth, and when he does, he talks (with his mouth full) and it makes the funniest sound! I can always tell when he's got a toy in his mouth, but I'm never fast enough to get the camera to catch him. And while we're talking about carrying things, the year of his first Christmas, he'd take this one soft ornament off the tree *every* night and carry it upstairs to the hall by Preston's bedroom. We'd hang it back up and the next morning, it would be there. He also liked to drag around this HUGE Scooby pillow that weighed at least 3 pounds. We'd find it all the way down 2 flights of stairs. And if I hadn't seen him do it, I would have though it was the kids!

Zipper is our other cat. We've had her for 12 years and got her when she was just a few weeks old. Her mother was hit by a car and killed when she was just 3 weeks old and she had to be bottle-fed.

She has always been our antisocial cat. She doesn't like people and we have to put her in a room when people come by. She won't bite, but she puts on a good show. She does NOT like Nonnie, but Nonnie REALLY likes her! We constantly hear her hiss when Nonnie comes up to chase her.
Zipper is old, and is starting to slow down. She used to be able to jump up on things, but can't anymore. So instead of getting up on beds, she resorted to Kate's American Girl doll beds. When she developed a corn allergy and started getting sick on the doll beds, we had to keep her out. Now she has a little pad on the floor to sleep on. The kids are already planning for her demise :( since we won't let them get another cat. Hopefully she stays healthy for a few more years!

What's on my mind

I have been unbelievably busy for the past few weeks. I am so glad that all of Preston's birthday parties have been had and were successes, and I thought that would free up a lot of time for me, but not so. When I'm not physically doing something, my mind is racing from one thought to the next. Phew! So there's been a lot on my mind lately.
See this little guy? I am SO proud of him! Yesterday he had to go get 2 more fillings. Sigh... Two years of severe reflux are catching up to him. The poor kid can't catch a break. And once again, he did both without any anesthesia! Awesome to say the least, he's one tough guy! Hopefully he won't have any more, but with the reflux being the cause, I'm not getting too hopeful.

He's on day 9 of his antibiotics and drops for his ear and as far as we know, he's doing well. He can't hear anything at all out of that ear still, something that popped up after it being infected and starting antibiotics. I know they told us last week that there was a pool of "snot" in there, but with the drops, it should have been draining something, which it hasn't. Again, a little odd. I don't think the tube is in there. We really do need to invest in an otoscope so we know what's going on! He sees his ENT in 2 weeks and I'm ready. I don't want him to have to get another set of tubes, but right now, being that he's had 3 in as many months and it's not even winter, doesn't shed much hope.

The past few days have been nothing but sewing. I have Abbie and Issie's birthday gifts in the works and they have to be done by Saturday. It's hard work, but so enjoyable and I really get lost just sitting and sewing. I can't wait to share what I make them. One is done already and it is just too sweet. I was completely giddy last night as I showed the kids. This little projects just might lend itself into smocking. Just maybe. It's not like I don't already have 10 other projects already started!

Crock Pot Cooking

Rachel at Finding My Feet is having a slow cooker link-up, and since I love a good excuse to use mine, I thought I'd share some of my favorite recipes. Here's what I'm sharing:

Braised pork chops
Crock pot pizza
potato soup

Braised Pork chops

bone in pork chops
flour
olive oil
one onion, sliced
1/2 c. chicken broth

1. Heat 2-3 T. olive oil in a skillet over med. high heat. Lightly coat chops with flour and add to hot pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, turn, and repeat. Add chops to heated crock pot.

2. Add onion to the skillet and reduce heat. Stir often until onions are tender. Add broth and bring to a boil, making sure to scrape all the goodies from the bottom of the pan. Pour over chops and cook 4 hours on low.

These pork chops are SO tender and flavorful! My kids HATE pork chops because they're always so tough, and they loved these!

Crock Pot Pizza

1 bag kluski egg noodles
1 jar pizza sauce
1 can spaghetti sauce
1 8 oz. pack shredded cheddar
1 8 oz. pack shredded mozerella
1 pack pepperoni

1. Cook noodles according to package, drain and rinse. Mix sauces together.

2. Spray your crock pot with cooking spray. Layer half the noodles and top with half the sauce. Layer half of the cheeses and pepperoni. Repeat layers. Cook on low until cheese starts to melt.

This makes an awesome potluck meal as it makes a lot! I often make it in two 9x9 baking dishes and freeze one before I cook it for another night. You can also add whatever "fixings" you like on your pizza. I'm a bit of a minimalist, so the simpler, the better!

Potato Soup

I totally can't claim this one, but I wish I could because it is SO good, and SO easy! It came from here.

1 package frozen hashbrowns
1 can cream of chicken soup
3 cans chicken broth
1/2 chopped onion
1 package cream cheese

Combine everything except the cream cheese in your crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours. About an hour before you serve it, cut up the cream cheese and add it, stirring occasionally until it melts. Mine took more like 2 hours. Add whatever you like on your potato soup and enjoy!

This was so delicious that it's now my new favorite! I usually make potato soup from scratch, but this is so much easier and faster. I'll take that any day!