Yeah...
WHILE MY HUSBAND WAS OUT OF TOWN.
I mean, he knew about it, but jeez...I might deserve a medal. He even offered to stay and I was all "no honey, I can do it".
They put me on a 10-pound lifting limit, so my 23-pound Gracie spent the week in her crib. I took her food and milk. And books. She loves books. JUST KIDDING! My mom and sister came over to help, so my child and I were both cared for. I took the week off work. The whole week. In the end, I'm glad I did. I originally was going to take off Tuesday and Wednesday and possibly/probably Thursday. Jacob came back Friday and on the phone Thursday night he was like a puppy dog begging "pleeeeeeease take off tomorrow night!" and since I am a total pushover I did (truth be told, I didn't feel 100% on Thursday anyway). Then, I didn't see the point in going back for ONE STINKING DAY so I took off Saturday too.
Here is what I learned from my surgery: don't wear contacts or a tampon to surgery. I wasn't allowed to wear my contacts, which they didn't tell me beforehand. So I was totally prepared for that. Riiiight. I ended up putting my contacts in a urine specimen cup. No lie. I was also told that I was required to take a pregnancy test, and I was all "oh, I'm not pregnant. I'm on my period." after which nurse A said "we're still required to do the test," and nurse B said "you're not wearing a tampon are you?" after which I SHOULD HAVE SAID NO. But I have this horrible moral conscience and I am flipping honest so I said yes. Then she broke the news to me: "You'll have to take it out." ...okay...so what do I do, do you guys supply me with underwear or do I wear my underwear or what? Nurse C: "No. You just stick a pad between your legs." I'm telling you, these nurses know how to throw a party. I'm sure they're a lot of fun on the weekends. The only bright side to that is that I was completely sedated for the surgery. I have zero memory of anyone looking down there and seeing a pad just hanging out sans underwear AND I also have no idea who all knows I was on my period and who doesn't. Other than nurse A, B, and C, that is.
My anesthesiologist (anytime I need to type that in the future I'm going to put ASO so I don't have to type a word that long again, ok?) was the same guy who did my epidural. He walked up and since I was completely blind because I HAD TO PUT MY CONTACTS IN A URINE SPECIMEN CUP I said, "Who's that?" And nurse A said "Bob, your ASO." (She did not say ASO, she actually said the word that I am using the abbreviation "ASO" for. Just to be clear.) And here's how it played out:
Me: BOB! You gave me my epidural.
Bob: Oh? That's nice... (totally doesn't care)
Me: AND THEN you brought me peanut butter chocolate cookies in the hospital the next day.
Bob: Oh I did? Huh... (slightly interested)
Me: Because I had my baby on Christmas Eve. You brought us cookies on Christmas Day.
Bob: Hmm...I wonder what I was doing around then... (interest is piqued)
Me: You were trying to get out of going to church.
Everyone: *pointing and laughing at Bob because he just got called out by a blind girl with a bum gall bladder who is on her period and now everyone knows it.*
I mean, it was a good time. I'd do it again. If I had two gall bladders.
PS - we just got Jacob's bill in the mail from his hospital stays. Holy. Crap. Fun fact: An appendectomy, with NOTHING ELSE (no anesthesia, no recovery room, no hospital stay, no food, no pain medicine afterward, etc.) is $14,000. Yeah. And he was only in there for like, an hour and half. Thank goodness for health insurance. Is it too late for me to go to school to be a surgeon?
Showing posts with label husband stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label husband stories. Show all posts
Monday, March 12, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Take Two
Well, we're back in the hospital.
This is night #2 of take two. For starters, yesterday was not a good day.
We checked into the ER at around 10:30 or 11:00. Jacob had chest pains. His family doctor thought it was the wisest thing for him to go to the ER. They initially treated as a heart patient, since we just didn't know anything other than he'd had an appendectomy 4 days ago and now his chest was tight.
They ran all sorts of tests. I remember blood tests, x-rays, an ultrasound, and a CT scan. From those, the only abnormal result that they could find was a high white blood cell count. The ER doctor either didn't know what was wrong or just wasn't confident enough to tell us one certain thing. #Annoying
We were stuck in the ER until around 5:00 when they told us that we were going to the hospital at least for the night. Great.
You know, I almost wish they would have know what was wrong - good or bad. It was really, really hard to sit there and think the worst. When doctors have no answers it's absolutely frightening.
We checked in, they ran a couple more tests, and finally this morning they said that his stool sample (sorry) came back positive for a bacterial infection. A couple of hours later they told us it was contagious. Awesome.
BUT at least we had an answer. And there's been some humor today. For example, when I pushed closed my chair-bed, and said, "See? THAT'S how it's done. Show 'em who's bad!" or something along those crazy awesome lines. Jacob said, "Aaaaaand my wife is a gangster."
You know. That's how I roll.
This is night #2 of take two. For starters, yesterday was not a good day.
We checked into the ER at around 10:30 or 11:00. Jacob had chest pains. His family doctor thought it was the wisest thing for him to go to the ER. They initially treated as a heart patient, since we just didn't know anything other than he'd had an appendectomy 4 days ago and now his chest was tight.
They ran all sorts of tests. I remember blood tests, x-rays, an ultrasound, and a CT scan. From those, the only abnormal result that they could find was a high white blood cell count. The ER doctor either didn't know what was wrong or just wasn't confident enough to tell us one certain thing. #Annoying
We were stuck in the ER until around 5:00 when they told us that we were going to the hospital at least for the night. Great.
You know, I almost wish they would have know what was wrong - good or bad. It was really, really hard to sit there and think the worst. When doctors have no answers it's absolutely frightening.
We checked in, they ran a couple more tests, and finally this morning they said that his stool sample (sorry) came back positive for a bacterial infection. A couple of hours later they told us it was contagious. Awesome.
BUT at least we had an answer. And there's been some humor today. For example, when I pushed closed my chair-bed, and said, "See? THAT'S how it's done. Show 'em who's bad!" or something along those crazy awesome lines. Jacob said, "Aaaaaand my wife is a gangster."
You know. That's how I roll.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Friday Fun Facts
I'm going to title this version of Friday Fun Facts "Things I Learned While My Husband Was In The Hospital".
1. If you are desperate for a nurse to come in to give your loved one pain medicine, just do something that is INCREDIBLY awkward that you never in a million years would want someone to see you doing. I'll list a few examples: pick your nose, fart (loudly), change your clothes, check out the itchy spot in your armpit, etc. I guarantee you that the nurse will show up at the most inopportune moment for you. Not that I would know. No, I wouldn't know about ANY of those examples. Not one.
2. The croup sounds very similar to the moose on this commercial. Except like, 491 times louder. All day. And. All. Night.
3. Would you like to pull out the chair to make it into a 2x6 bed? Well, you won't be able to.
4. Number 3 is really okay because once you have it out you won't be able to get it back together.
5. Once you finally have it back together, you will sit down on the "chair" and start getting kind of comfortable it will somehowmysteriously end up falling apart on you and looking like this:
Yeah. It's going to be a long night. That is, as SOON AS I FLIPPIN' FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE THIS DANG 2X6 BED!! THEN it will be a long night. AFTER that.
But on the bright side, Jacob is feeling better than he was this morning. He's even made a few jokes today and he's already taking machines off and wandering around without the permission of his nurses. NO JOKE.
I don't think he has any idea that he should probably get permission to take all this stuff off and go wandering around his room. Lol. He gets tired of walking around and goes to lay back down in bed, pushes his nurse button and someone comes in and asks what he needs and when he says, "Can you put those things back on my leg and hook my IV back up?" they look a LITTLE taken aback. The nurse earlier kind of said, "Um...OH!" and had a look on her face thatsilently screamed, "what in the sam-hill are you doing wandering around without an IV and your leg things hooked up?!?" Haha.
So that's the bright side. He's moving around and joking around. On the other hand, he's pretty drugged up. They're giving him 2 different pain meds, one of which is morphine and he's getting it every hour. Earlier he said to me, "I can feel my intestines moving all around". Apparently things definitely feel a little off on the insides. He just doesn't care because he doesn't feel a whole lot right now. He'll probably be in plenty of pain when he comes home. Hopefully that will be tomorrow.
1. If you are desperate for a nurse to come in to give your loved one pain medicine, just do something that is INCREDIBLY awkward that you never in a million years would want someone to see you doing. I'll list a few examples: pick your nose, fart (loudly), change your clothes, check out the itchy spot in your armpit, etc. I guarantee you that the nurse will show up at the most inopportune moment for you. Not that I would know. No, I wouldn't know about ANY of those examples. Not one.
2. The croup sounds very similar to the moose on this commercial. Except like, 491 times louder. All day. And. All. Night.
3. Would you like to pull out the chair to make it into a 2x6 bed? Well, you won't be able to.
4. Number 3 is really okay because once you have it out you won't be able to get it back together.
5. Once you finally have it back together, you will sit down on the "chair" and start getting kind of comfortable it will somehow
Yeah. It's going to be a long night. That is, as SOON AS I FLIPPIN' FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE THIS DANG 2X6 BED!! THEN it will be a long night. AFTER that.
But on the bright side, Jacob is feeling better than he was this morning. He's even made a few jokes today and he's already taking machines off and wandering around without the permission of his nurses. NO JOKE.
I don't think he has any idea that he should probably get permission to take all this stuff off and go wandering around his room. Lol. He gets tired of walking around and goes to lay back down in bed, pushes his nurse button and someone comes in and asks what he needs and when he says, "Can you put those things back on my leg and hook my IV back up?" they look a LITTLE taken aback. The nurse earlier kind of said, "Um...OH!" and had a look on her face that
So that's the bright side. He's moving around and joking around. On the other hand, he's pretty drugged up. They're giving him 2 different pain meds, one of which is morphine and he's getting it every hour. Earlier he said to me, "I can feel my intestines moving all around". Apparently things definitely feel a little off on the insides. He just doesn't care because he doesn't feel a whole lot right now. He'll probably be in plenty of pain when he comes home. Hopefully that will be tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Hospital Stay for the Hubs
Well we are in the hospital for the night. I'll give you the short story first and you can decide whether or not you want to read the long story. ;)
Jacob is having his appendix taken out.
Now the long story:
Sunday we had an ER run. He had gone to work at 8 a.m. and was back home by 8:30 with lots of abdominal pain, continuing back pain, very constipated, and unable to eat anything. I am young and stupid and after a 3 hour wait in our room at the ER, the doctor came back in the room and said "Well, I think the back pain is related to the abdominal pain and you're constipated," we just left. I am so stupid. That's going to be a huge bill and we got exactly zero answers and wasted 3+ hours of our lives. Ugh.
Then Monday Jacob went to work. Later that evening he was in more pain. He had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday with a local doctor who is specifically interested in gastroenterology. Tuesday the doctor mentioned "appendix" for the first time. With his age, the symptoms, the pain, the location, everything was adding up to appendix. There were two things that were a little suspicious though. 1. Jacob doesn't have a temperature and 2. his white blood cell count has not gone up at all. The doctor wanted to see a CT scan, so that was scheduled for Wednesday (technically yesterday, but I haven't been to bed yet, so earlier today for me) at 12:00. By 1:30 we still weren't in yet. Jacob only got down about 3/4 of the "beri-water" that they gave him. They went ahead and did his scan and it worked fine.
Just like the doctor thought, it appeared that appendicitis was beginning to creep up. Something was definitely up with the appendix. Our options at this point were A. check into the hospital, talk to a surgeon this evening and have the surgery in the morning or B. leave, get another prescription, and wait until possibly Friday to have the surgery because of the work schedule of the other surgeon.
Jacob and I both leaned toward just getting it done, or at the very least talking to a surgeon as soon as possible to see what he thought. So, knowing that we would have the highest chance of having the surgery done on Thursday that we needed, we decided to go ahead and admit him for the night. It's better this way with all the pain he's having anyway. (He's been a bear at home. When he's not feeling well nobody's happy.)
The surgeon came by the room tonight and explained a lot to us. We were both very appreciative of that. He explained that he agreed - there was something suspicious about the appendix. However, he had seen this before - looks like appendicitis without the fever and without the white blood count. He said that in the past, he'd seen this with appendices that had flipped around backwards. Also, this could explain the constipation. Although it wasn't crazy strange, it's not exactly normal for someone to have constipation with appendicitis. (The first doctor was thinking since his appendix was inflamed, maybe it was cutting something off down there and keeping him from having a bowel movement.)
Anyway, so basically we all went - DING DING DING!! Finally someone has an answer that adds up. His appendix is backwards. I'm like, 99.9% sure that this is the right answer.
Which leads us to where we are now. I am sleeping on a chair tonight. Jacob is in a hospital bed. He's asleep...sort of. In and out. I'm wide awake, hoping to fall asleep directly. Surgery is tomorrow mid-morningish. (We weren't given an exact time, just because he wasn't sure when he'd be out of his first surgery/surgeries.)
Jacob is having his appendix taken out.
Now the long story:
Sunday we had an ER run. He had gone to work at 8 a.m. and was back home by 8:30 with lots of abdominal pain, continuing back pain, very constipated, and unable to eat anything. I am young and stupid and after a 3 hour wait in our room at the ER, the doctor came back in the room and said "Well, I think the back pain is related to the abdominal pain and you're constipated," we just left. I am so stupid. That's going to be a huge bill and we got exactly zero answers and wasted 3+ hours of our lives. Ugh.
Then Monday Jacob went to work. Later that evening he was in more pain. He had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday with a local doctor who is specifically interested in gastroenterology. Tuesday the doctor mentioned "appendix" for the first time. With his age, the symptoms, the pain, the location, everything was adding up to appendix. There were two things that were a little suspicious though. 1. Jacob doesn't have a temperature and 2. his white blood cell count has not gone up at all. The doctor wanted to see a CT scan, so that was scheduled for Wednesday (technically yesterday, but I haven't been to bed yet, so earlier today for me) at 12:00. By 1:30 we still weren't in yet. Jacob only got down about 3/4 of the "beri-water" that they gave him. They went ahead and did his scan and it worked fine.
Just like the doctor thought, it appeared that appendicitis was beginning to creep up. Something was definitely up with the appendix. Our options at this point were A. check into the hospital, talk to a surgeon this evening and have the surgery in the morning or B. leave, get another prescription, and wait until possibly Friday to have the surgery because of the work schedule of the other surgeon.
Jacob and I both leaned toward just getting it done, or at the very least talking to a surgeon as soon as possible to see what he thought. So, knowing that we would have the highest chance of having the surgery done on Thursday that we needed, we decided to go ahead and admit him for the night. It's better this way with all the pain he's having anyway. (He's been a bear at home. When he's not feeling well nobody's happy.)
The surgeon came by the room tonight and explained a lot to us. We were both very appreciative of that. He explained that he agreed - there was something suspicious about the appendix. However, he had seen this before - looks like appendicitis without the fever and without the white blood count. He said that in the past, he'd seen this with appendices that had flipped around backwards. Also, this could explain the constipation. Although it wasn't crazy strange, it's not exactly normal for someone to have constipation with appendicitis. (The first doctor was thinking since his appendix was inflamed, maybe it was cutting something off down there and keeping him from having a bowel movement.)
Anyway, so basically we all went - DING DING DING!! Finally someone has an answer that adds up. His appendix is backwards. I'm like, 99.9% sure that this is the right answer.
Which leads us to where we are now. I am sleeping on a chair tonight. Jacob is in a hospital bed. He's asleep...sort of. In and out. I'm wide awake, hoping to fall asleep directly. Surgery is tomorrow mid-morningish. (We weren't given an exact time, just because he wasn't sure when he'd be out of his first surgery/surgeries.)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
She was a He
Welcome to this edition of
Friday Fun Facts!!!
1. I am baking some homemade bread. This isn't my first go at it. I have made Hawaiian Sweet Bread, Chocolate Bread, Focaccia Bread, and biscuits if they count. (I don't bake a lot of bread, so I'm counting them.) This one is called American Sandwich Bread. In an attempt to get some nutrients, I modified it by adding about 1/3 cup of wheat germ to the dry ingredients. We'll see if I messed the whole thing up shortly.
2. I have absolutely no idea where I'm at as far as Christmas gifts go.
3. I'm pretty sure Gracie said "No" to me the other day.
4. Speaking of Gracie, she is FINALLY (again) signing "more" on her own with no help from us. She also signs "please" but that's still only with help. (But only a little help.)
5. My husband shot his first deer today!! I am so proud of him!! He thought it was a doe, but when he went walking up towards it after the shot, he thought he saw something odd, so he looked through his fancy hunter-man binoculars and saw an antler. Sure enough, she was a he. A he with only one horn.
Friday Fun Facts!!!
1. I am baking some homemade bread. This isn't my first go at it. I have made Hawaiian Sweet Bread, Chocolate Bread, Focaccia Bread, and biscuits if they count. (I don't bake a lot of bread, so I'm counting them.) This one is called American Sandwich Bread. In an attempt to get some nutrients, I modified it by adding about 1/3 cup of wheat germ to the dry ingredients. We'll see if I messed the whole thing up shortly.
2. I have absolutely no idea where I'm at as far as Christmas gifts go.
3. I'm pretty sure Gracie said "No" to me the other day.
4. Speaking of Gracie, she is FINALLY (again) signing "more" on her own with no help from us. She also signs "please" but that's still only with help. (But only a little help.)
5. My husband shot his first deer today!! I am so proud of him!! He thought it was a doe, but when he went walking up towards it after the shot, he thought he saw something odd, so he looked through his fancy hunter-man binoculars and saw an antler. Sure enough, she was a he. A he with only one horn.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
We have half a Christmas tree
Well, we tried. But lately it's just been one step forward, two steps back.
On Thanksgiving, my whole family came over, right? Well my sister and brother-in-law decided to stay for some fierce Kansas Black Friday Shopping. (Yes, people fight over bikes here too.) Awesome, right? Our adrenaline was pumping. We were rockin' JC Penney's like pros. You would have thought I wasn't even pushing a stroller. But I was. I'm just that good.
Then after I'd picked out my perfect purchases, I headed up to the counter. (My sister and her husband were still "rockin'" the sales. I had to put quotes around it because her "rockin'" wasn't quite as rockin' as my rockin'.) I put my items on the counter, reach down in my stroller - the same stroller that was so incognito from before because, remember, I'm just that good - pull out my purse and grab my wal-
Crap. My wallet's missing. Crap. (And in case you're wondering, NO, JC Penney's cannot hold items for you on Black Friday because if they did it for you, then they would have to do it to the other 3,287 people in the store AT ANY GIVEN SECOND. Which brings up the point - has no one heard of fire codes here, people?)
So my sweet, loving sister offered to take the invisible stroller with my baby girl in it so that I could run home and get my wallet. IN FACT, she even offered to pay for my purchases and I would just write her a check when we got home. But no. I'm stubborn and wanted to pay for them myself.
So off I go to my car. I got in and sat down, then I glanced around for some chapstick. It was totally necessary. But then I thought to myself, "Self!? Why are you wasting time putting on chapstick at a time like this? You need to get to your wallet! There are deals to be had!" So I threw my car in reverse and very slowly made my way out of the parking lot.
Slowly my arse. Oh, and by the way, there was a monster flat bed Dodge pick up in the space directly behind me. It totally ate my trunk alive when I accidentally collided with it.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE (because that's exactly how I'm looking at this situation, right? Mm hmm.) no one was injured (really though, that is a good thing), there was NO damage on the other vehicle...like, none. At all. And my baby wasn't even in the car for me to have to deal with while I called the police (totally embarrassing because my husband IS one and I work with all of them).
So today, in an effort to brighten my funk-tastic mood I've been in since the incident that my husband and I are now referring to as "the wreck", we decided to put up the Christmas tree.
We bought this tree 3 Christmases ago after we got married. It was a piece of crap beautiful. We were pretty close to broke when we first got married. We bought this Christmas tree for $20 at Walmart if I remember correctly. Don't get me wrong. I am grateful I have a Christmas tree. Some people don't. And I love seeing the little lights and ornaments on my tree...reminds me of this time last year when I had my beautiful baby.
The first chunk went on the bottom and looked great. The second chunk...the lights didn't work. The third chunk...the lights didn't work. Ok. We can deal with this.
The option that I immediately thought of, the obvious option, was to buy a big strand of lights and cover the top two chunks. Since my husband is a perfectionist he said that if we do that option then we had to take down the 7,591 lights that were already on there and not working. Yeah. Like I was going to help him with that. And since he wasn't doing it on his own, we moved on to option #2.
Buying a real tree.
(I'm sorry, but did the skies open up and angels just start singing? No?)
I LOVE real Christmas trees. But Jacob said, "The needles fall off and Gracie will eat them, plus they're so expensive." Not sure what his source was on that one, but I've found some for $12. We would just have to buy "real tree" stand and a can of beer because we don't have either of those things in our house. :|
That's pretty fiscally responsible. Not QUITE as responsible as a $20 tree from Walmart but hey, it got the job done.
He didn't seem to agree with my logic. I'll secede.
The only problem is that what I seceded to is 1/3 of a lit Christmas tree.
I wish I could tell you that at least we didn't leave it plugged in for the night. I wish.
On Thanksgiving, my whole family came over, right? Well my sister and brother-in-law decided to stay for some fierce Kansas Black Friday Shopping. (Yes, people fight over bikes here too.) Awesome, right? Our adrenaline was pumping. We were rockin' JC Penney's like pros. You would have thought I wasn't even pushing a stroller. But I was. I'm just that good.
Then after I'd picked out my perfect purchases, I headed up to the counter. (My sister and her husband were still "rockin'" the sales. I had to put quotes around it because her "rockin'" wasn't quite as rockin' as my rockin'.) I put my items on the counter, reach down in my stroller - the same stroller that was so incognito from before because, remember, I'm just that good - pull out my purse and grab my wal-
Crap. My wallet's missing. Crap. (And in case you're wondering, NO, JC Penney's cannot hold items for you on Black Friday because if they did it for you, then they would have to do it to the other 3,287 people in the store AT ANY GIVEN SECOND. Which brings up the point - has no one heard of fire codes here, people?)
So my sweet, loving sister offered to take the invisible stroller with my baby girl in it so that I could run home and get my wallet. IN FACT, she even offered to pay for my purchases and I would just write her a check when we got home. But no. I'm stubborn and wanted to pay for them myself.
So off I go to my car. I got in and sat down, then I glanced around for some chapstick. It was totally necessary. But then I thought to myself, "Self!? Why are you wasting time putting on chapstick at a time like this? You need to get to your wallet! There are deals to be had!" So I threw my car in reverse and very slowly made my way out of the parking lot.
Slowly my arse. Oh, and by the way, there was a monster flat bed Dodge pick up in the space directly behind me. It totally ate my trunk alive when I accidentally collided with it.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE (because that's exactly how I'm looking at this situation, right? Mm hmm.) no one was injured (really though, that is a good thing), there was NO damage on the other vehicle...like, none. At all. And my baby wasn't even in the car for me to have to deal with while I called the police (totally embarrassing because my husband IS one and I work with all of them).
So today, in an effort to brighten my funk-tastic mood I've been in since the incident that my husband and I are now referring to as "the wreck", we decided to put up the Christmas tree.
We bought this tree 3 Christmases ago after we got married. It was
The first chunk went on the bottom and looked great. The second chunk...the lights didn't work. The third chunk...the lights didn't work. Ok. We can deal with this.
The option that I immediately thought of, the obvious option, was to buy a big strand of lights and cover the top two chunks. Since my husband is a perfectionist he said that if we do that option then we had to take down the 7,591 lights that were already on there and not working. Yeah. Like I was going to help him with that. And since he wasn't doing it on his own, we moved on to option #2.
Buying a real tree.
(I'm sorry, but did the skies open up and angels just start singing? No?)
I LOVE real Christmas trees. But Jacob said, "The needles fall off and Gracie will eat them, plus they're so expensive." Not sure what his source was on that one, but I've found some for $12. We would just have to buy "real tree" stand and a can of beer because we don't have either of those things in our house. :|
That's pretty fiscally responsible. Not QUITE as responsible as a $20 tree from Walmart but hey, it got the job done.
He didn't seem to agree with my logic. I'll secede.
The only problem is that what I seceded to is 1/3 of a lit Christmas tree.
I wish I could tell you that at least we didn't leave it plugged in for the night. I wish.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thanksgiving Recipes
My family came over for Thanksgiving this year. On the one hand I love having holidays at my house because I get all the leftovers that I want :) but on the other hand I hate it because I have to spend the whole day and a half before cleaning my house. It's a fair exchange I'd say.
Since I have a baby who LOVES sweet potatoes, I was responsible for the sweet potato casserole. Now, my fam has never been huge on sweet potatoes. I was a little nervous about this one because I figured most people would stick their noses up at this. But - BUT! Most people tried it. And everyone who did liked it AAAAND I even had one comment - "These are the best sweet potatoes I've ever had." (That was my sister who always has compliments for something that I do. I love her.)
Here is the recipe I used. I made it up, so you can't find it anywhere but here!
Ingredients:
My other recipe that was a hit was my snickerdoodle bars. The story behind this one was that I sent my husband out the day before Thanksgiving to get the groceries I needed. WITH a baby. I know. Bless his heart. He did great. On my list I had "fruit", thinking that I would get a whole plethora of mixed fresh fruits. Instead of "fruit" he bought "apples". So...the fruit pizza idea that I was going for was a lost cause. Especially because I don't like apples. Thanks, honey. (But seriously, he rocked the grocery shopping. I'm sure the store was packed.)
I searched and searched the internet for an hour and a half for some sort of "bar" that I could make with a sugar cookie mix and ingredients that I had handy. (I already had made peanut butter kiss cookies, so I was looking for something OTHER than cookies to make...I thought cookie bars would work.)
In a flash of genius, I decided on snickerdoodle bars not because I found a recipe, but because I was tired and thought it would work. So I made up a recipe:
Ingredients:
Add 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon to sugar cookie dough. Mix well. Spread in a greased oven-safe pan. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes - NOT AS DIRECTED ON PACKAGE (the outsides will be crispy but the insides will still be gooey if you do it their way). Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla. Mix well. Add half and half as needed. After the cookies are done, remove from oven. Wait for them to cool. I know it's tempting to just dig in. Don't do it. It's important. Once it's good and cool (like, GOOD and cool - I waited until the next morning), spread the frosting over the top of the cookies. You won't need a thick layer. People will think they're very sweet if it's too thick. Enjoy!
Since I have a baby who LOVES sweet potatoes, I was responsible for the sweet potato casserole. Now, my fam has never been huge on sweet potatoes. I was a little nervous about this one because I figured most people would stick their noses up at this. But - BUT! Most people tried it. And everyone who did liked it AAAAND I even had one comment - "These are the best sweet potatoes I've ever had." (That was my sister who always has compliments for something that I do. I love her.)
Here is the recipe I used. I made it up, so you can't find it anywhere but here!
Ingredients:
- 4 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1" cubes, boiled until tender, drained
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1 large egg
- 1 heaping tsp of cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 bag mini marshmallows
My other recipe that was a hit was my snickerdoodle bars. The story behind this one was that I sent my husband out the day before Thanksgiving to get the groceries I needed. WITH a baby. I know. Bless his heart. He did great. On my list I had "fruit", thinking that I would get a whole plethora of mixed fresh fruits. Instead of "fruit" he bought "apples". So...the fruit pizza idea that I was going for was a lost cause. Especially because I don't like apples. Thanks, honey. (But seriously, he rocked the grocery shopping. I'm sure the store was packed.)
I searched and searched the internet for an hour and a half for some sort of "bar" that I could make with a sugar cookie mix and ingredients that I had handy. (I already had made peanut butter kiss cookies, so I was looking for something OTHER than cookies to make...I thought cookie bars would work.)
In a flash of genius, I decided on snickerdoodle bars not because I found a recipe, but because I was tired and thought it would work. So I made up a recipe:
Ingredients:
- Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, prepared
- 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 cup half and half, plus more if needed
Add 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon to sugar cookie dough. Mix well. Spread in a greased oven-safe pan. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes - NOT AS DIRECTED ON PACKAGE (the outsides will be crispy but the insides will still be gooey if you do it their way). Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla. Mix well. Add half and half as needed. After the cookies are done, remove from oven. Wait for them to cool. I know it's tempting to just dig in. Don't do it. It's important. Once it's good and cool (like, GOOD and cool - I waited until the next morning), spread the frosting over the top of the cookies. You won't need a thick layer. People will think they're very sweet if it's too thick. Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Cheesey Potatoes
This is a recipe from my bestie Kristen. You know those yummy-licious cheesy potatoes that people make that have the Corn Flakes on top? The ones that people bring to family renions or pot luck dinners? Those awesome ones?
They don't hold a candle to these cheesy potatoes.
(P.S. - How do you spell cheesy? Is it cheesy? Or cheesey?)
SO WITH NO FURTHER ADO - May I introduce "Cheesy (or maybe Cheesey) Potatoes"
Ingredients:
6-8 medium potatoes, peeled, COOKED, cubed
2 cups sharp shredded cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/4 - 1/2 cup minced onion (my hubs hates onions so I usetons of them in everything them sparingly)
1 can cream of celery soup
1/4 cup MELTED butter
Stir together all ingredients and place in 9x13 pan (or another oven-safe dish). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
It's delicio-so. The. Best. Cheesy. (Cheesey.) Potatoes.
They don't hold a candle to these cheesy potatoes.
(P.S. - How do you spell cheesy? Is it cheesy? Or cheesey?)
SO WITH NO FURTHER ADO - May I introduce "Cheesy (or maybe Cheesey) Potatoes"
Ingredients:
6-8 medium potatoes, peeled, COOKED, cubed
2 cups sharp shredded cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/4 - 1/2 cup minced onion (my hubs hates onions so I use
1 can cream of celery soup
1/4 cup MELTED butter
Stir together all ingredients and place in 9x13 pan (or another oven-safe dish). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
It's delicio-so. The. Best. Cheesy. (Cheesey.) Potatoes.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
time to wake up!!
So Gracie thinks it's super fun to wake us up by pounding on her crib.
WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK...
At 6:30 in the morning.
This is too early for me. I get off work at 11:00 at night. And I'm lucky to get to bed by midnight. Last night, I wasn't asleep until nearly 2:00. My poor husband actually went running to the front door and opened it, thinking someone was knocking on our front door. At 6:30 in the morning. Poor guy.
But I'm not complaining. At least she's sleeping through the night now.
And at least she's pretty.
And we started parsnips this week. They smell like pepper, if you're wondering.
WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK...
At 6:30 in the morning.
This is too early for me. I get off work at 11:00 at night. And I'm lucky to get to bed by midnight. Last night, I wasn't asleep until nearly 2:00. My poor husband actually went running to the front door and opened it, thinking someone was knocking on our front door. At 6:30 in the morning. Poor guy.
But I'm not complaining. At least she's sleeping through the night now.
And at least she's pretty.
And we started parsnips this week. They smell like pepper, if you're wondering.
Friday, August 26, 2011
"Honey, I won!!"
My husband, bless his heart, got a call on his phone the other day. I was closer to his phone, so I picked it up, looked at the number, and handed him the phone. It was a number I didn't recognize, which I told him (and I recognize lots of numbers, working at our local police department, you know) and he proceeded to answer it. I heard:
"Hello? ... Yes ... Oh? ... OH REALLY?? ... Ok! ... Thank you! ... Mmhm ... Buh-bye."
Then he proceeded to tell me about how he had signed up for a drawing at our local "cowboy" store, Bluestem. (They have TONS of stuff - from gardening and outdoors to big farming equipment and ranching items. Clothes, tools, dogfood, candles, decorations, paint, electrical, and a popcorn stand with some
I asked him what he had won. He couldn't remember what he signed up for. I said, "Well it must be something cool because if it wasn't you wouldn't have put your name in." Then I started suggesting things; a chainsaw, gardening hose, gift certificate, lawn makeover, new appliance, new shirt, screwdriver, ATV, shed...the possibilities were endless. He just couldn't remember what he had entered himself to win.
So, he went ahead and took off for Bluestem. He said, "I better take the truck just in case it's something big that I have to haul back home." So I moved the car so that he could the pull the truck out.
Soon, he came back home. I heard him open the door under the carport, so I headed out to see what his prize was. (I was so excited.) Then he said to me, "Honey! Look at what I won!" I was headed out to the truck to see. I walked right past him. There was nothing in the truck.
He threw a keychain at me.
... !!! ...
He took his truck to pick up his keychain.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Adventures with the vacuum
We've been working on our back "mud" room. It's a hot mess right now. We started in October. No lie.
It's nowJuly August and we've torn down the old walls, replaced the insulation, the walls themselves, taped, mudded, and sanded. The ceiling is also done - we did a "knock down" ceiling in there. (I just painted it tonight.) They're awesome! And so easy!
While we were sanding the other day, I was wearing a mask - you know, the ones like the surgeons wear. They've got the little elastic bands that go over your years. Well, while we were sanding we had out shop vac going in there thinking that it would help filter some of the air. (It was sooooo dusty.) I was using the electric sander (nifty little gadget) and my husband was across the room. Well, I'd just sanded one wall like crazy and was breathing in some particularly nasty air. I decided to pick up the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the air around my mouth. (I know.) The darn vacuum got a hold of my mask and I couldn't pull the vacuum away without ripping my mask. I had ALSO failed to turn off the nifty little sander before I decided to vacuum the air.
So there I was, both my hands full with a sander (on) and a vacuum (on and suctioned on to my elastic face mask). I couldn't put down either electronic device. Thank goodness that my dear husband walked over at that time. The look on his face was priceless. I couldn't see it because he was wearing a mask, too but I'm sure it was priceless.
It's now
While we were sanding the other day, I was wearing a mask - you know, the ones like the surgeons wear. They've got the little elastic bands that go over your years. Well, while we were sanding we had out shop vac going in there thinking that it would help filter some of the air. (It was sooooo dusty.) I was using the electric sander (nifty little gadget) and my husband was across the room. Well, I'd just sanded one wall like crazy and was breathing in some particularly nasty air. I decided to pick up the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the air around my mouth. (I know.) The darn vacuum got a hold of my mask and I couldn't pull the vacuum away without ripping my mask. I had ALSO failed to turn off the nifty little sander before I decided to vacuum the air.
So there I was, both my hands full with a sander (on) and a vacuum (on and suctioned on to my elastic face mask). I couldn't put down either electronic device. Thank goodness that my dear husband walked over at that time. The look on his face was priceless. I couldn't see it because he was wearing a mask, too but I'm sure it was priceless.
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