Dead Squirrels, Flooring and PB&J

In an attempt to catch you up on the craziness that is dog...

The weekend before I went to Seattle, Gracie was bad. And not just a little bad. She was a lot lot bad. Saturday morning, Dan and I wanted to sleep in. Gracie always starts crying to go out around 6:30. Allie was up and dressed so she took her out. The next thing I heard was the door opening and Allie screaming "she has a dead squirrel in her mouth." huh? Not exactly the best way to start a Saturday morning. I race to the laundry room to see Gracie standing with an actual real dead squirrel in her mouth. It was stiff and it's little legs were sticking straight out of her mouth. I freaked out a little bit. Dan might say a lot bit. He took his time getting dressed before coming in to get the dog back outside. Ewwww...I'm not sure what I would have done if Dan hadn't been home. All it took was a whiff of wet food for her to drop the squirrel. After breakfast, she got a good teeth scrubbing. I was wishing they made mouthwash for dogs!

Later in the day, I was off shopping and Dan texted me that Gracie had been a very naughty dog. She somehow managed to slide her tray in her crate forward and he chewed two holes in the vinyl floor.  That's not an expense I wanted. 

Monday morning, Dan took Alie and Caden to choir while I got Jaelyn ready for school.  Gracie is a people food thief.  If she gets a chance...and well, she did.  Let's just say Jaelyn took half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in her lunch that day.  Bad Bad Gracie Mae.  It's a good thing you are so cute or I'd be really mad at you!

Home

Last week was such a hard, but unbelievably wonderful week.  If I could handpick sisters for myself, Kendra would be at the top of my list.  It was a true blessing for me to be able to go and sit with her.  There's nothing I can do to make her well except pray, but I was able to holding her hand and brush her hair.  I rearranged her pillows over and over as she fought to find a comfortable spot.  Kendra's pain was pretty high last week.  She described it as her entire right side and ranked it as a 10 for days.  Her doctors are/were concerned about something called Central Pain Syndrome which is an unbelievably horrible thing.  With CPS, your nerves send regular signals to your brain, but your brain interprets them as intense pain (Kendra described burnings) instead of what they actually are.  A blood clot was discovered in Kendra's arm on Thursday around her PICC line.  The line was removed on Saturday and now her pain seems to be localized in her right arm.  While pain of any kind is still bad, the fact that the pain is localized is really, really good.  Kendra is still fighting some sort of infection in her lungs.  They are also worried about a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in her lung). She has elevated white counts and heart rate.  Her blood pressure is really high too.  Please keep praying the blood thinners and antibiotics work to alleviate these problems.  I just want to scream at God, "Enough already!  She has enough to deal with.  She doesn't need more."  But I know he's crying right along with us and He's right there with her holding her other hand.  None of this is a surprise to him.

Our wonderful friend Michele and her family were awesome hosts (even if the house was filled with sickie germs).  They live on an island off the coast of Seattle.  I had a lot of new experiences in my commute to the hospital.  I rode the ferry into and out of Seattle every day.  Jaelyn was jealous when I told her.  I took a cab to the hospital every morning (my first cab rides) and walked the two miles back to the ferry in the evenings to decompress and enjoy the pretty city.  I also figured out Seattle's light rail system with the help of some nice strangers.  I was rather proud of myself.   

We had been planning a trip to Alaska to visit Kendra's family in August.  Dan and I had finally sat down the afternoon she had the stroke to pick our dates and flights, but ware waiting to hear back from a friend to confirm our lay-over plans.  The last text she sent me that day was that she'd bought new sheets for us for our visit.  I'm so thankful we hadn't bought the tickets because now I will need to plan a Seattle vacation instead.  I told Kendra and she was very insistent...she spelled "stay my house" over and over.  I'm not so sure about that as her family will have their hands full, but I can't wait to get back to Seattle to hug my friends again!

Dan deserves a big shout out.  I've only left my kids three other times, but I can always leave and not worry.  He did a great job of being daddy and mommy while I was gone.  I even came home to a clean house complete with vacuum lines.  Anyone who knows me well, knows vacuum lines make my little OCD heart happy.  Dan left this morning for Washington.  He'll be gone a week, home a weekend, gone another week.  I joked that he left me with crabby and crazy and a really sweet boy this morning.  I really hope it wasn't a glimpse at the week ahead!

Seattle Bound

Dan will be holding down the fort this week as I head to Seattle, Washington. Would you pray for him and the kids? I'm so thankful I have a husband who is so willing to let me go and do what I feel I need to do. Dan's a keeper.

My flight lands after visiting hours tonight so I'll be heading to the hospital first thing in the morning to see Kendra. Keep praying for her. She is doing so well, but she has a long road ahead. Check out her CaringBridge site and sign her guest book. The words of encouragement mean a lot to her family.

Jaelyn's Roller coaster

Happy Tears

My world has been rocked a lot lately by things with friends.  Jenn was diagnosed with lymphoma in December on the 5th anniversary of my mom's breast cancer diagnosis.  She's been through six rounds of chemo.  Yesterday was supposed to start round 7, but there have been issues with her port and then a picc line.  She met with her oncologist today for a new game plan...wanna hear it?  The game plan is...game over.  You win! 

She's done.  Her PET scan from last week was perfect.  She kicked that lymphoma in the %#&.  No "maintenance" medicine, no radiation, just future monitoring with PET scans.  Thank you for those that have prayed for her.  I'm crying happy tears for her today and thanking God for her complete recovery.  Oh and if you feel so inclined, we are also praying for thick platinum blonde hair to grow back in :p. 

Kendra: She's a Fighter, Right?

Kendra continue to fight to recover.  She is amazing the hospital staff.  Last night's caring bridge update was so good that I'm just going to copy and paste it here.  In her sister Kinsey's words.....

The Dr. decided that she could try to come off of the vent by using a “trach collar” – looks like a cup that sits over the trach and has a tube attached with oxygen blowing through it continuously. Since coming off of the vent she seems soooooo much more comfortable. She has done well today. She is still having pain and nausea but we have made huge strides in communication. We found that she is able to use a letter board and point to letters to spell out what she needs done. We did try writing today as well and I was able to read that she wrote “HI” and then she started writing something else and the PT and OT were here helping us try to figure out what it was and she spelled “G-O-A” and the PT said “you aren’t telling us to go away are you?” and Kendra laughed and actually smiled! It didn’t seem to feel good when she did because of the pain in her tummy, but it was a huge step being that we could see the facial muscles working and her sense of humor coming back some more! She is so amazing to watch. She is very determined to get better and with a little tough encouragement she is willing to do things to make progress, even if it is uncomfortable . She sat up again today with assistance of PT/OT and tolerated it for about 5 minutes with some pain noted. She is so tough and is encouraging to watch. All the staff including the neurologist nurses, therapists, and other Doctors are amazed by her progress so far. Please continue praying that the Army and everything involved continue to cooperate with the needs of Scott and Kendra and family. Scott has been amazing with her and being so strong through all of this. I seriously cannot imagine having to make decisions and deal emotionally with everything. He has stayed strong for the kids, Kendra and everyone else involved. Please pray for rest and continued blessings! Thank you to everyone that is following Kendra’s progress and praying! By the way everyone that comes into her room notices her fun socks and makes comments about them!

Keep praying!

The Little Thief

I shouldn't say little, I guess.  She's 35 pounds of muscle and fur :).  Anyway, I made pizza for dinner tonight.  I finally got up my courage to roast my own red bell peppers. It's so easy. Why didn't anyone ever tell me?  I had cored and pulled the skin off the pepper when I was distracted by the door bell.  I left my beautiful pepper sitting there on the cutting board...right on the edge of the counter.  Are you shaking your head saying "you know better?"  I do, I do know better, but it was a bell pepper.  Gracie Mae saw her opportunity when my back was turned and took it. She scarfed that thing down in one big gulp.  Apparently, she liked it!  That was an expensive puppy snack.

Scattered Thoughts

 

So many things going on right now.

Last week was our school carnival.  I worked at the school just about every day helping to decorate classrooms and assemble silent auction baskets.  The carnival was Friday night and it turned out really well.  One of the advantages of having a school on a military base is that we are sponsored by a battalion and they sent 60 soldiers to man the carnival so parents could be with the kids instead of working.  The soldiers did a good job too.  Our silent auction raised $2800 thanks to my friend Lisa with her donation raising efforts.  It was double last years amount :).  Carnival also marked the end of MAP testing.  I'm so glad to have that over with.  The school puts way too much pressure on the kids in my opinion.

I'll post another Kendra update by itself later, but for now, she's less critical.  They did a trach and extubated her and gave her a gtube instead of having a tube going down her nose.  It's made her more comfortable.  They still feel like they are taking 1 step forward, 3 steps back so pray.  Her sister, Kinsey, has to go home on Tuesday.  I'm flying to Seattle on Monday and will stay till Saturday.  I can't wait to get there.

My friend, Jenn, is getting a picc line today. She finishes chemo round 7 this week and then round 8 and she's mostly done!  She's done an amazing job of kicking that lymphoma in the butt (I so want to use another word, but I'll refrain).

The kids rocked their dentist appointment on Tuesday.  3 kids, 3 appointments, 0 cavities.  I have an appointment today.  I'm hoping for the same report.

I have more, but I've run out of time!  Later.

Kendra Update - tracheostomy

Kendra will be having a tracheostomy at 11:30 pacific time...1:30 central today.  They've decided it's too dangerous to try to extubate her.  I'm don't know the details, but there's something with her mouth opening or closing that would make reintubing difficult if they had too.  Instead they will do a tracheostomy so that she doesn't have to have to tube in her mouth.  Please pray for an uneventful procedure.  Pray for Scott - I don't know that he's left her side for more than a few minutes.  Waiting without her will be hard for him.  She showed her sense of humor a little yesterday.  And Scott said she kept him up last night pointing at things for him to do.  My bossy friend is coming back!  Praising God and praying for a miracle.

***Update - Kendra's procedure went really well.  Unfortunately, the week with the tube in her mouth really beat up her tongue and throat.  Please pray for healing and that she can adjust to the trach tube quickly.

My Other Nine Year Old

On April 6, Allie turned nine.  I keep asking myself, how that can be.  Time is going to so fast.  Allie originally wanted a party with her friends, but she would never sit down and talk to me about it.  I finally gave up asking and planned with I wanted...a family weekend away.  Her birthday was Good Friday so she took cupcakes to school to share with her class on Thursday and seemed perfectly happy.  On Friday, we gave her one present an hour to open.  It was fun for me, but she was so sick of the game by the last present.  Allie has so many toys, so she mainly got new clothes and hair stuff.  I think Baba's shimmery dress-up dress was the hit of the day.

Allie and her birthday hat. 
She makes sure I dig it out of my closet every year!

I was pretty sick with allergy junk that weekend so we got a late start on our way to Branson Saturday morning.  We spent Saturday at Silver Dollar City. 

 

Clouds threatened all morning. The thunder and lightening held off until mid-afternoon when the kids were getting in line for the powder keg. Bummer. Allie really didn't care because now that she's over 52 inches, she can ride every ride in the park. Daddy had just taken her on Wildfire, a big scary awesome grown-up roller coaster. 

This is a section of the Wildfire.

This is my baby girl on the Wildfire with her Daddy.

We hung around waiting for the front to pass and did a few inside rides. Eventually, we gave up because it was cold and sprinkling and I was done.

We drove around Branson looking for someplace to eat that everyone would like.  Have I written about the level of pickiness that has increased at our house???  Ugh...when we saw this chicken, we had to stop.  Dinner wasn't great, but we still loved their chicken :p.

After a good night's sleep, we headed to the Butterfly Palace.  The kids have been begging to go since the fall.  I'm going to be honest here...if anyone is reading and thinking of going, don't waste your money.  It's extremely over priced.  The kids enjoyed it, but there wasn't enough for the money (with a military discount).

They had a "small" science lab with lizards and snakes.  Caden enjoyed dissecting a frog.  I still get heebie jeebies when I think of doing that in 7th.  Thankfully, Keri, my lab partner, wasn't as squeemish.

I enjoyed the mirror maze the best.  It was pretty awesome, but it was short.  In and out in ten minutes on the first try.  I made a game out of it with the kids.  The top time was under two minutes.  

The butterfly room was cool, but Bellingrath Gardens has a better one.  There was also a Butterfly-Nazi by the door.  She kept yelling at the kids about touching the butterflies.  It was crawling on Caden's ear and he wanted it off. He's 7.  Give him a break.  Jaelyn had a great time taking pictures.

Allie and Caden enjoyed having butterflies land on their safari hats.

The kids got into their monkey rolls and climbed coconut trees.  They went up and down a bunch of times.

After we'd done all that, we went and got lunch and went back to do it all again.  I almost felt like we got our moneys worth at the end.

Kendra's Update

I stole this picture from the CaringBridge site.
It's a couple years old, but I want you to see
their faces so you can pray for each of them.

Please continue praying for my dear friend, Kendra.  She's a fighter and she is not giving up.  Currently she's in the neurologic critcal care unit at a hospital in Seattle.  Scott and her sister are with her now.  Her other sister is in Alaska with her children.  The biggest things for Kendra right now are 1. that her two clots do not move and do start dissolving 2. that the swelling in her brain and brain stems goes down 3. that she can lift her head by herself on Monday so they can extubate her.

She's doing really well.  Her praises 1. they caught her pneumonia really early and are treating it 2. her cognitive ability has not been effected.  She is answering questions by shaking her head and blinking 3. she's passed her breathing tests 4. she had an wonderful day yesterday and got to show off her abilities to squeeze hands and lift her leg to an amazed team of medical staff.

My brain is addled.  There's so much more I want to say about Kendra.  She is so special to me.  It's been a hard week and I'm only a friend.  Please pray for her husband, Scott, who is constantly sitting by her side holding her hand.  Pray for both sisters and for Kendra's children who are doing remarkably well.  I know they don't understand, but they are praying "God make mommy better" with that childlike faith.  Please God, make Mommy better!  Pray for her parents.  Kendra's mom just had back surgery and cannot travel.  I got to talk to Kathy yesterday.  It was a blessing for me - I know why Kendra is such a sweet person.

For those that would like to, Kendra's brother in law set up a CaringBridge Site for her.  And if you feel led, I know her mom, especially, is reading it like a hawk and appreciates every comment and prayer. 

If you don't want to go to the site, but do want to pray specifically, I'm going to copy and paste Scott's list...I don't pretend to understand a word of it, but I know God does.

Focused prayer:

1-I ask for continued healing of Kendra's pons and cerebellum. Allow for her brainstem to be safely re-perfused and heal. Dissolve any intravascular clots that may remain before they embolize anything else.

2-Lord I pray that the intermittent flexor posturing of Kendra's right arm decrease and that she begin assuming a more sympathetic and voluntary muscle tone. I ask specifically that you begin recruitment and repair or the nerves to her right hand so she can battle the risks of contracture. I pray that you restore balance in tone to her shoulder musculature, especially the right. Pull her scapula back to her chest wall and reduce the spasm.

3-Please continue to heal and restore cranial nerves IX-XII...and thank you for the progress thus far. Please prepare her mouth, airway, and lungs for her extubation challenge on Monday. Allow her to have a strong gag and cough reflex as well as enough tongue control to effectively evacuate her secretions. Also allow her to regain her speech, but thank you for her various forms of non verbal communication. They've been God sent and critical.

4-Father I pray that you shroud Kendra's mind with peace, especially in the middle of the night when she forgets I'm there and I sense her panic. Please place Your hands on her chest, shoulders and head to soothe her so that she might have a restoring sleep. She's struggled during evenings when she needs her rest the most. Allow her the peace she needs to relax: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Swaddle her in Your grace and Presence as if she were a newborn being exposed to the world for the first time, learning how to process all the outside stimulus. Please control the inputs into her system and not allow her to be overloaded/overstimulated. Bathe her skin with a soothing salve or lotion to relax her.

For the Queen of Brussels Sprouts - Desperate Prayers Needed

 This is my friend Kendra, AKA the Queen of Brussels Sprouts.  I wish I were writing about anything except her today, but she needs prayers.  She was having severe migraines last week.  Sunday night, her Army doctor husband, Scott, took her to the ER. They thought she was having a reaction to the migraine medicines.  By Monday, mid-day, she wasn't improving.  They did an MRI and discovered she'd had a series of small strokes.  They airlifted them from Alaska where they are stationed to a stroke center in Seattle the middle of last night.  The next 2-3 days will tell a lot.   Kendra's sister is on an airplane now going to Alaska to take care of the 4 kids, ages 4-9. Will you please join me in praying for her?  Our God is a healing God and I've seen Him work big miracles in the past.  Kendra needs to be one of those miracles!

Season Allergies and The Hunger Games

We have had drastic temperature changes, like 40 degrees from mid-day to middle of the night.  Add that to huge pollen counts and I've been down for the count.  Thursday, I had a sore throat and by Friday morning, I couldn't swallow.  I've been sneezing and coughing and draining and just generally pathetic.  I lost my voice, but thankfully it's returning.  It's hard to yell at the kids when no sound comes out :p.  I think I'm on the mend which is good because I need my eyes not to be red and irritated because I'm caught up in the Hunger Game series.  I started the first book yesterday.  I was half-way through it at 11:30 last night.  I went to bed and couldn't stop thinking about it so I got up and finished it.  I didn't like the actual premise of the book (kids killing kids in these annual games), but as Dan pointed out, it's science fiction/fantasy.  It's no more real than Harry Potter flying around on a broomstick fighting death eaters.  I did love the writing and the characters.  It grabs you right from the start.  I'm starting on the second book today and Dan is picking up the third book from the library this afternoon.  I'll be back on Monday ;).

Man's Best Friend

Alton Brown Knows a Thing or Two

We shouldn't, but we love french fries.  I've only tried to make them from real potatoes once and they were a soggy, greasy mess.  Since then, I've thrown frozen fries in the oven.  I saw an Alton Brown Good Eats episode where he said the secret to crispy fries was to double fry them.   I gave it a try last week and he is right.  I used my handy dandy mandolin to cut the potatoes...oh mandolin, how I love thee.  Then I fried the potatoes at 320 until they were floppy.  I drained them and let them cool while the grease heated up to 375.  I fried them again until golden brown (well, mine were a little darker than that but I was going because my frying pan and the burgers on the grill).  They were crispy and while not healthy, definitely healthier than what comes out of a bag or comes from McDonalds.  They were so good, as a matter of fact, they are again on my menu tonight to go with pulled pork sandwiches.  Normally I fry maybe once every couple of months and now twice in two weeks.  Bad, bad, bad, but good, good, good!

Five Years

It's a special, special day.  Five years ago one of the most important people in my life became a Breast Cancer Survivor.  Today, I am celebrating my Mom and I'm thankful for a God who loves us and who heals us and who gives us hope for the future. 

I love you, Mom!

I Found Some Energy

Now I just need to find some more!!!

Caught Red Pawed

"Gracie, we don't jump on the bed, especially if we are chasing the cat!"

Yeast Rolls

I've been trying new recipes lately.  The first one was her royal highness's yeast roll recipe.  I've made them twice now and they've disappeared practically before I blinked each time.  Add a little whipped honey butter and they almost match the Quincy rolls from my childhood I was trying to recreate.

 

 

 

• 3 1/2-4 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 5 teaspoons yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a large bowl combine 1/2 of the flour with sugar, yeast and salt. Stir until mixed. In microwave heat milk until just under the boiling point. Pour into dry mixture. Melt butter, combine with water and add to flour mixture; stir until combined. Add remaining flour while stirring until dough leaves the sides of bowl and forms a ball. Turn dough out on a lightly floured board and knead in enough remaining flour until dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Wash out bowl and grease inside with oil. Placedough in greased bowl to rise. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Run 2 inches of very warm water in sink. Place bowl in water to speed rising. Allow to rise for 15 minutes.
4. Divide and shape dough as desired. Cover and let rise another 15 minutes. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

The original recipe came from: http://www.food.com/recipe/fluffy-one-hour-yeast-rolls-191733#ixzz1qzicOOmO

Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa

I'm not a big fish eater mainly because I like it fried and that's not good for you.  In the past, I've tried broiling tilapia, but I end up smothering it in tarter sauce to hide the taste of the fish.  I went hunting for a new grilled tilapia recipe and found Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa on allrecipes.com.  Normally I'm a five ingredient kind of cook, but I gave this one a try and it was wonderful.  The fish was amazing and the salsa added so much flavor.

I had to improvise a little with the ingredients.  There were no mangoes to be found at the commissary...no papayas...no peaches.  I did find nectarines, but they were hard as rocks.  I settled for jarred "fresh" mangoes.  It was good, but I think it would have been much better with non-jarred "fresh." 

I've never grilled fish before.  It was so easy and quick.  I will definitely be doing it again.  I did turn it too early so when I turned it back, it started to fall apart. 

I made the salsa and marinated the fish while the kids were at school.  That made it very easy to throw dinner together very quickly at the last minute.  Add rice and a veggie or salad and I think it was a great dinner.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets

Salsa 

• 1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced                 
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the tilapia fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the mango salsa by combining the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate.
4. Remove the tilapia from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the fillets until the fish is no longer translucent in the center, and flakes easily with a fork, 3 to 4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Serve the tilapia topped with mango salsa.