Humpty Dumpty

I kept the girls indoors @ their house today. I'm feeling better, but I didn't want to be cold or expose them to the germs I may have in my home.

After learning the oldest girl had no school, due to vacation, I quickly realized I did not bring enough stuff to keep her busy!

Oh, No!

Thank goodness for wide, blue painters tape! I made a hopscotch outline on their bedroom rug as well as broad jumping and their body outlines.

I was displaying how to play a game of hopscotch when I was reminded about things such as:

"laws of gravity" or "a mass in motion, stays in motion" or "being top heavy throws off one's balance" or "what goes up, must come down" or "Oh, no... this is gonna hurt!" or "it's not nice to laugh @ someone who has just fallen (even if it's @ yourself!)" or " act your age!"

I was doing fine when I hopped on the hem of my too long jeans & fell!

Smack!! Right into their pile of Fisher Price Little People (my all-time favorite toys) and got their Donder or Blitzens antlers stuck in my hand!

I must have tried to do a roll or something to avoid the pile but my ankle was not responding!

I twisted it pretty good!

OUCH!

I rolled off the pile of toys, into their basket of books, catching a corner of one in my back!

Of course, the girls were laughing! Heck, even I was laughing, but also in pain!

Just then, the doorbell rang! I had no choice but to get up & try to walk.

Thankfully, it wasn't that bad! And it was only Mr. Billy @ the door looking for his coat.

It took most of the afternoon, but the pain is finally gone. I may be sore tomorrow, but it's my own fault for being old & out of shape!

Silver lining... no video of it!

Yeah!

note: it's now 3/2/12 & my right ankle gets fatigued quickly. B & C say there's some swelling, but no bruises. I'll have my Dr. check on it during my Monday appointment.

21 Days & counting

I have had a sore throat for 21+ days now.

It began w/a stuffy nose, a little cough & that's all.

After 6 days, I went to the doctor to be checked for strep. Negative!

She told me I must have a virus that I would need to ride out.

I treated the symptoms and things slowly began to improve. But my throat remained sore!

On Friday, my throat began to seriously burn whenever I swallowed! None of my meds would ease the pain! C made me a cup of hot cocoa & even that didn't help.

I spent most of Saturday in bed w/a fever which continued into Sunday & Monday morning. The whole time, my throat was killing me!

I had fasting blood work labs this morning & THANKFULLY, the nurse practitioner was able to squeeze me in.

A sinus infection was raging, and she thought that strep had also formed. Since I would be on penicillin for the sinus infection, she didn't take a culture.

Two doses of penicillin & I can swallow with very little effort or pain! The fever is still there, but not as high as it was this morning.

I cannot wait to be better!

Hang in There, Brother!

I watched the original 3 kids today.

Actually, it was only the 2 youngest because the oldest had a medical procedure which I promised him I'd keep private from people he doesn't know.

He is OK and @ home, recovering.

It was fun playing w/the kids though.

I miss them.

I do see them 2 nights or so a month, but they are sleeping most of the time I'm there!

Later on, in the afternoon, I swung by the hospital to check in on my youngest brother who is the midst of a medical emergency.

It's still early in his treatment so there's not much info to pass on.

I am impressed by the sheer number of friends he has, who have dropped everything to stay by his bedside this whole time.

His 2 boys are being lovingly cared for by hordes of his friends but I offered anyway, to help out where & when I could w/the boys.

He was in pain, yellow, very nauseous & sleepy from the pain meds.

I hope he comes to his senses though & gets himself transfered to a Boston hospital quickly where they will give him much better medical care!

Get better soon brother, J!

Some Wonderful Memories on Video from 2/2010

Moments after being born & just before heading to the NICU, we got our 1st view of the twins, Carlotta & Evergreen!

Papaw cries... a lot! And I do tease him a lot about that fact.

But here, in this video, he has good reason to cry!

He just became a Papaw for the 1st time, TWICE!!

My cameras battery was running low. It was almost time for us to leave the private family room in the NICU. I decided to keep my camera on Evergreen until the battery failed.

Evergreen is always in my heart & I know she's never far from her Papaws either.

Evergreen was fortunate & blessed to have been born into her tiny family of M, T & Carlotta.

Her parents have a certain strength I cannot fathom & love each other.

My daughter, T, is a wonderful mom, wife, sister and daughter. I'm a proud momma!

Tonight on the eve of the 2nd anniversary of Evergreen's passing,

I remember her short earthly life & find that I'm not sad.

She brought joy & happiness to my life & continues to do so!

I love you, little one!

MWAH!

An Old Photo of Old Friends

B & I are not in this photo.

More than likely we were chasing our kids @ the annual Labor Day camp-out! Or it might have been the 1 year we didn't attend!

(note, the Labor Day camp-outs began around 1990 & the last occurred in 2005, the year S & G's oldest graduated from high school)

That's my mother in front, 2 of my 7 sisters with their respective husbands on each end.

AND...

in the center of the group...

our oldest & dearest friends...

S & G!

Very dear in this photo, but not very old, yet!

Best get well wishes to G and a BIG "hang in there" for S!

another note: I lifted this photo off of 1 of my sisters FB page! Thanks for the memory!

Snow Falls in Virginia?

Earlier this week, weather forecasters expected those of us living in New England to be hit with a pretty good size snow storm. Over 8 inches was predicted to fall.

By Thursday night, they changed their minds! Or rather the jet stream did so for them!

The storm would stay south of New England.

How far south?

As you can see, Carlotta & her family in southeastern VA got a few inches of the white stuff!

T says there's some icy rain on the way too!

Carlotta had snow clothes at the beginning of the winter, but has since outgrown them!

She doesn't appear to like the snow, though it could just be the wind that's making her uncomfortable.

I still miss her!

Mirror World

I love this little girl!

I miss being able to watch these adorable moments in person!

Thank goodness for modern technology! It makes my pain, less painful!

I wish I could have a whole days worth of these moments to watch.

I have watched this 18 second clip a quite a few times since getting it this morning.

STELLA!

This was our craft for today!

We watched "Stellaluna" on DVD & in the bonus section, Kitty Bartholomew showed how to make a "stellaluna" of your own!

The hard part was waiting for the glue to dry!

White glue takes FOREVER to dry, especially when a kid wants to play with the craft!

The pipe cleaners are bendable so we could really wrap the wings around her body while she hung upside down, sleeping.

Only Three!

I know it's possible for someone to make crystal meth or other addictive, illegal drugs using cold medicines. Especially medicines made for people with high blood pressure.

Isn't that why you have to bring a little piece of paper from the shelf to the pharmacy so they can control who buys the stuff?

Today, I learned a person can only buy 3 cold remedies a day @ one drugstore.

It is the LAW!

Of course, one could drive down the street to another place & buy 3 there & so on & so forth,

so I'm not sure how this limitation helps cut down on illegal drug manufacturing?

A nuisance for those of us in discomfort!

BTW, cough/throat drops COUNT as a cold remedy!

My doctor ruled out strep & suggested I refrain from using a single multi-symptom medicine but rather use a different medicine, as needed, for relief with each of my symptoms.

Watery, itchy eyes: Benedryl, chest congestion: Mucinex, nasal drip: Sudafed, cough: Robitussin, and a saline nose spray.

Use ibuprofen or sore throat drops to ease my sore throat pain.

So, now I know.

Three is the limit when buying cold relief products!

Now, you know too!

Previously Unseen Talents & A Party

T has been developing some artistic talents since she left home almost 6 years ago! She says she always had them, but I guess she chose not to show them until now!

And I can't believe that SIX YEARS have passed so quickly!

This is Carlotta's 2nd birthday & T made it a very colorful party!

Rainbow colors & My Little Pony were the recurring theme. Great job, huh?

Look at all those dancing ponies!

What precise fondant lettering!

T & C LOVED ponies too, way back in the day!

Here's the birthday girl, Carlotta! Sliding down (or maybe UP the slide?) is her younger cousin, S!

Here is T's version of Pinkie Pie! Not bad!

A 2 year olds birthday MUST have balloons!

A kids party isn't complete unless there's a Pin The Tail On The Donkey game!

OOPS! I mean Pony!

This is a partial photo of the ponies Carlotta received from her relatives!

Now she & I can play My Little Pony when we Skype!

Dress up was getting old anyway! Nothing ever fit me!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, CARLOTTA & EVERGREEN!!

Blah!

I've spent another weekend fighting tiny micro-organisms who decided my body was a good place to go forth & multiply! My sinus cavities & lungs was where they decided to hang out.

My chest & throat hurt from my eviction attempts. I am winning the battle though!

Whitney Houston passed away last night. I never met her, but I liked her music. I always felt sad when I would read about her addictions & fall from the publics graces. She had a beautiful talent!

She was only a year older than I am.

A Scene...

As I was driving on Rte 28 in Salem NH this afternoon, the normally slow traffic began to go even slower! Ahead, I saw blue lights. Lots of them! GREAT! An accident, now I'm going to be late for my babysitting gig! Or at least that's what I thought!

I continued to draw nearer to the blue lights. I thought it was weird there were so many BLUE yet NO RED lights! I looked closer. There were cops everywhere! Guns drawn, crouching behind patrol cars, standing against the wall near the entrance, hurrying bystanders away to safe locations & lots of yelling & gesturing.

I didn't know Salem NH employed so many cops!

It felt like I was in the middle of a movie set, filming a scene where the bad guys had been cornered in a bank w/hostages!

I'm itching to find out what was happening! There was a cop in the road moving curiosity seekers away & I was running late anyway. So I'm hoping its on the news tonight & no one was hurt or worse!

A New Recipe. Thanks to Coolio!

It's another Monday night! Our turn to host the weekly dinner/card game.

I chose to "perfect" a recipe I had tried twice before with varying results. The 1st two attempts weren't bad, but neither tasted like I thought they should taste like. Something seemed to be missing or "off." B thought it needed pineapple. No, that wasn't it.

Coolio, the famous rapper, has a cooking show & his recipe was recently printed in People magazine. I discovered today, however, the magazine had tweaked the recipe a bit & that's why my previous attempts were only, "OK" & not as expected!

Using his website recipe, I "tweaked" his recipe even further to better suit it to my tastes.

Our friends ( I mean, my new recipe "test tasters"), S&G liked it & want the recipe!

So here it is, with a few tweaks from me!

"Fall Off The Bone" Spicy Chicken (serves 4 w/generous portions)

Don't let the word "spicy" scare you! It's not! Well, not much, I felt no heartburn or mouth pain.

I've had spicier tacos, lasagna and salsa!!

1. Season 4 pounds of dark chicken meat (bone in OR not. I take off the skin!) w/ 1 tsp seasoned salt (such as Lawry's) & 1/2 tsp ground black pepper.

( Use a large mixing bowl & toss chicken until the salt & pepper are sticking to the meat. You'll add more ingredients to chicken, so keep it in the bowl)

2. Combine 1 "generous" T Thai chili sauce with 1 cup of beef consomme'

(his recipe calls for 1 cup dark brown ale).

Pour over the chicken.

Really work it into the meat! (I use my hands & rub.)

3. Add in 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar & continue to rub the mixture into the chicken.

4. Add to the mixture, 4 diced, fresh garlic cloves & 1 medium, white onion, sliced into half moon slices & mix well.

(Having all the veggies chopped BEFORE mixing the chicken makes things easier!

Raw chicken needs to be handled w/care. When done, wash your hands w/hot, soapy water! )

5. Add 1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chilies. (I only used 3/4 of the can)

If you are daring, you could use canned jalepenos instead!

(My option: Make 2 cheesecloth "packets" using 1 quartered jalepeno, including the seeds. Place the packets in the sauce just prior to baking. Remove & discard them after cooking.)

6. Add 1 can EACH: cream of mushroom & cream of chicken soup.

7. Again, mix it really good, working the flavors into the meat.

8. Add 1 to 3 diced green bell peppers (I found 1+ 1/2 peppers to be a good amount)

9. Give a final mix. Separate the chicken & sauce into 2 baking dishes as evenly as possible.

(Why 2 dishes? It helps the meat brown better & keeps the meat in a single layer. I suppose you could use 1 dish, if it was large enough.)

Be Smart! Wash you hands & work area VERY WELL w/hot soapy water after working with raw chicken!

10. Cover & let the chicken marinate in the fridge for about 1 hour before cooking.

11. In a preheated, 400 degree oven, cook UNCOVERED, for 40 - 50 minutes or until meat is "falling off the bone!"

I kept it in for an hour & it was perfect! If you chose to use the optional "packet" of quartered jalepeno, don't forget to toss it out before serving!

The sauce makes a tasty gravy for a side of rice. I suppose noodles could work too.

B liked this version. His only request... Use boneless chicken. It's not so messy!

I'd serve a salad or a side veggie too.

Play It Again, Sam! I mean Carlotta!

So, football season is over.

Time to get over the fact that the Patriots lost to the NY Giants, again & get busy & happy watching my grand baby, Carlotta, grow up.

Here, she's testing out notes on Gramma Fisher's piano. Her Aunt M is a piano teacher.

When Carlotta turns 5, she'll begin to teach her how to really play!

I can't wait!

I wish I could play the piano.

Halftime!

The Patriots are currently ahead of the Giants by a score of 10-9.

It didn't look very good as the Giants got a safety on the Pats 1 possession of the game! I don't think Brady intentionally grounded it but I'm just a fan, not a referee.

My man, Wes, is doing well as is the other little guy, Woodhead.

I made sweet & sour meatballs & I should've got something sweet. I have a craving! Oh well. I'm not leaving the game just for my sweet tooth!

I hope the 2nd half goes New Englands way!

note:

The game went the Pats way for most of the 2nd half, but not when it counted. Gronk couldn't play well or often due to his injured ankle. My man, Welker & Branch missed or dropped key passes as did Hernandez. Our defense couldn't catch a break & recover any of the fumbles they caused. And where was our running game?

It would have been awesome if the Hail Mary pass in the final second had been caught by a Patriot player!

There's always next year!

My New Favorite Tomato Sauce!

I'm not a big fan of tomatoes.

IF I have them in a sandwich, like a BLT, they must be sliced SUPER THIN!

My tomato soup must have cream in it, to cut the tanginess.

As for tomato sauce?

I don't like big chunks of mushy tomato.

My chili is made with "petite" diced tomatoes & even those are too big for my liking.

The store bought pureed pasta sauces tastes like metal. Sorry, Ragu! Whenever I make spaghetti for dinner, B laughs because I have "pink" pasta instead of red.

My garlic bread is never needed to wipe up extra sauce!

I've tried several types & only Prego comes the closest to a taste I think tomato sauce should taste like. So, that's what I've been buying & using for over 20 years.

note:

My friend, Gary I., makes a good meaty tomato sauce. I like his because of all the meat. He doesn't like chunks of tomato either! And no green peppers!

Last month, I made a baked ziti, using less sauce than the recipe called for & brought leftovers with me the next day, for lunch. The pasta had soaked up all the liquid, making for very dry leftovers. BUT... the girls mom had some leftover homemade sauce in her fridge & I added a tablespoon or 2, just to moisten my lunch.

OMG!

The sauce was delicious!

"Bright," is the only way I know how to describe the taste. It was soooo good! I asked for her recipe, which she hand wrote on a card for me! How nice!

Today, I finally got around to making it, as it is a 3 hour process. It's simmering on my stove right now, so the flavors are still developing,

but a quick taste assured me... this sauce will be AWESOME!

I may have to have some pasta tonight just to show B how yummy it is & how RED my pasta will be! And an added bonus... this sauce FREEZES WELL!

Not that I think I'll have much leftover to freeze!

The only adjustment I may have to make: the tomato chunks are still too big & mushy.

It's a "texture" thing, like cooked celery!

I can't stand that food either unless I chop them so tiny, they look like diced onions!

Maybe if I run them through the blender to smooth out the clumps... I think that may work!

Oh, The Waiting!

It's worse than a kid waiting for Christmas morning! I'm done w/watching all the stories from all the networks about all the players!

I want to see the game!

And will someone please tell my most favorite player, Welker, that his moustache makes him look like a 1970s porn star & he should shave it off ASAP! Oh wait! He is engaged to a Hooters pageant winner, so maybe she likes him looking like that!

Dang! Why does he have to play football so well?!!??

Let's Go, Pats!