I am so proud

My daughter kills me...yesterday was MLK day, so naturally...she had the day off from school. (yet I had to work) No biggie though! She is a responsible 13yr old, and knew she had a paper to write, so she planned on staying home all day and writing then typing her paper so it would be done before mom got home from work. We discussed it at length.

What a joke.

She slept until noon, then took an hour to eat a bowl of cereal, then unloaded the dishwasher, then reloaded the dishwasher, then because she was in the kitchen decided she wanted to bake something for mom (yeah...she has NEVER done that before!) so she busted out mom's Barefoot Contessa cookbooks and decided to make these. Which of course had to be halved and converted to GF. Of course. Then she had to clean the kitchen again. That's what she was doing when I got home from work at 5pm. But these were on the table waiting for me:
 

And they were soooo good.

The paper wasn't finished until 10pm. And it never got typed. Oh, and I had those bad boys for breakfast too. Oh well. ;)

xoxo

Quick Update

Hello all~

This is just a quick update so you all understand why I have been MIA.

My precious niece Haley (who is just 3) started complaining about her leg hurting while at my house Saturday before last. No biggie, but kinda weird. So, I dutifully told her mom about it and everyone went on their way. The next night, we had our November Family Birthday dinner to celebrate my dad, Haley, Ella and my sister...who all have birthdays in one week. By that night at dinner...Haley didn't want to walk, and was very fussy about her leg. (If you asked where it hurt, she would point to her groin) So, me having the queen of groin pulls for a child, immediately start thinking groin pull, hernia, dislocated hip, etc...end of the world scenarios...(have I mentioned I can be pessimistic sometimes?)

So, the next day, Monday, Ashley takes her to the urgent care clinic to have the hip x-rayed as the pain has gotten worse, Haley refuses to walk at all, and isn't sleeping at night. (Did I mention my sister has 3 other kids...one of which is 5 months old?). They find nothing, so off to the pediatrician the next day~ who promptly diagnoses it as Transient Synovitis. Finally...we know what's wrong!! And that it will be better all on it's own in about a week!!! Woo Hoo!!!! Seriously....how thankful we are for great doctors!

Partied too soon. (Have I mentioned my sweet precious Haley has the most random horrible health luck in the world?) There was only one thing we had to watch for...a fever that suddenly spiked. But the chances of that happening were slim...so not to worry over much. What a joke. By Thursday, Haley's hip is getting no better, the pain is actually worse, she still refuses to walk, and by late that afternoon...the 99 degree fever she has had all week (normal) has spiked to almost 104 (not normal). Off to the emergency room they go!

After a several hour wait in the ER, and more x-rays, plus an ultrasound....a very nice young orthopedic surgeon comes in to inform Ashley that Haley has developed Septic Hip, and he needs to operate...now. at midnight. WHAT!?!?!?! Yes, that is what he said. He considered it an emergency situation that could not even wait until morning. So, off my sweet baby goes to surgery. He initially planned on just aspirating the fluid out of her leg, but when he did that...instead of finding a cloudy infected fluid...all he found was pus. Like nasty infected. in just a matter of days. So, now he actually has to cut her open and go in to clean everything out. My poor sweet baby. (and sister) It is about 2am when she finally gets settled in a room, everything has been sent off to the lab to be cultured and now we just wait.

Friday was a horrible day. besides being in pain, obviously, Haley screamed at anyone who walked in the room...her favorite was "DON'T LOOK AT ME!!!!"...I'll let you guess if she let them touch her. Saturday was marginally better....at least she wanted to eat a little (hello Aunt Liz to the rescue with pancakes from the Fox!) and Sunday was the best day yet. But...after several days, we finally had some answers! It was not MRSA, thankfully, but it was Staph....a MSSA Staph infection....still very hard to treat, but not as hard as MRSA. Unfortunately, both have to be treated with IV antibiotics for several weeks (like 8) so on Monday, my sweet baby had to go back under anesthesia to have a picc line put in.  Which made Monday a really bad day too....almost as bad as Friday. But, with the picc line, she could now go home and be given her antibiotics there!

So, finally, after the longest 6 days of our lives, Haley came home last night.....thank the Lord!

Pretty crazy, right? Did I mention that while all of this was going on, and while Ashley & Zach were at the hospital with their baby...that I had all of their other babies?? Along with my 13 yr old, there was the 12 yr old, who luckily went off to spend the weekend with friends (Deb Fewell you are the greatest!), the 5yr old that missed her parents, and the 5 month old. You know, the one who is solely breast fed...and doesn't sleep through the night yet. Oh, and did I mention that the 12 yr old came home Sunday with strep and had to be shipped to my parents house immediately because he couldn't be near the baby (or Haley when she came home!)? Yes, that was my week.

I am so freaking tired.

Ya-Ya!

Mary... mother of the motherless? Can you see me? I'm here! It's me again! I need divine intervention once again. Quelle grande surprise. And here it is. My oldest daughter, Siddalee, the one I've been complaining about? The loudmouth? She may be walking away from true love. Please stop her. Don't let her run away. This is because of me. She never said it, but... I know. She's only seen me holding back. I take full responsibility. But I'd appreciate you keeping that to yourself. Please pass this on to your son and his father. I will only smoke once... a day. And I will only have a drink once a week - I mean a day. I'll do the best I can. If you will just help her out with this one thing, I'll make it up to you somehow.  -Vivi


I love that little monologue!!!  Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood is one of my favorite movies...I love it. I relate to it on some kind of deep internal level. I love all of the complicated relationships. One of my favorite scenes is when Sidda and Vivi are on the phone and they are both screaming and banging the phones on the counter....that is what I feel like doing sometimes. 

The problem is, I just can't tell sometimes if I am Sidda or if I am turning into Vivi~ which I guess is Sidda's own internal fear, so I guess I really am Sidda...Always waiting for the bottom to drop out....

Connor: [about Sidda] I don't know what the hell she's so afraid of - it's like she's always waiting for the bottom to drop out.
Vivi: You know why she thinks that, don't ya, honey? Because it did. It always did. 

I feel like the bottom is about to drop out. And I have absolutely no idea on how to stop it. Pray for me friends~

xoxo 

We are the flames of the fires, the whirling of the winds. We are the waters of the rains and the rivers and the oceans. We are the rocks and the stones. And now by the power invested in me, I declare we are the mighty Ya-Ya priestesses. Let no man put us under. Now our blood flows through each other as it's done for all eternity. Loyal forever. We raise our voices in the words of Mumbo Gumbo... YA-YA! 

 

 

The Stork came! The Stork came!

It seems everyone is having their own bundles of joy recently (really....like 10 of my friends have had babies in the last 3 months), so I just had to add a really quick heartfelt congratulations to my friend Britt on the birth of her third daughter, Lena, yesterday. Congratulations!!!!!

I love you dearly Britt, and can not wait to meet your newest addition!


p.s. all these bundles really make me want another baby!!!

I love food

We have established that I love food, really good food, already. And last night I had the pleasure of pigging out. I got to have dinner with my friend Katie (sans all kids...woo hoo!!!) at a newer restaurant in town called....'town. And holy moly...it was good. Really really good.

At her suggestion (she'd been there before) we sat up at the bar facing the open kitchen...and actually sat directly in front of the executive sous chef...which worked in my favor by landing me treats all night. Like the blue crab beignet....I  mean seriously, how can you go wrong with a deep fried crab stuffed donut??!?! Which I promptly followed up with the prix fixe menu selections of a pear & arugula salad with white balsamic vinaigrette; duck confit on a bed of green lentils and onions; and a hanger steak with parmesan herb fries and a chimichurri sauce. All paired with a yummy malbec. Oh, and a bitter chocolate terrine with blackberry cassis sorbet.

Was that for both of us you ask? Uh, no...that was just mine. that's right...4 courses. Katie had some of my salad, and half the beignet...but she had her own food....which of course, I also had to try....like the seared scallops with fennel, orange segements, jalapeno, and a cardamom vinaigrette....and the roasted snapper with mushrooms, local potatoes, leeks, verjus sauce (didn't try this bad boy...allergy thing...although she wouldn't stop raving about it).

By the time I got home....I thought my stomach was going to explode. In a good way of course, but explode none the less. And since of course, I could not go to bed on such a full stomach, I had to console myself by watching Grey's and Private Practice...oh darn. ;) Jasper, however, was quite put out that there were no leftovers....because we all know mommy is a pig when it comes to good food. Seriously...there were only bones left for the confit....and I felt no shame.

So, after a lovely night's sleep (thank you ambien) I got up this morning a very happy girl when I realized it was the first day of Diwali (Happy Diwali all my Hindu friends!) and that I would be noshing on some seriously yummy Indian food all day~

I am in heaven. 

Oh Dang.....

This has got to be the most poorly planned athletic show logo I have ever seen. And it's for real....I checked. I seriously though it was a joke when I saw it here. But alas, it was not. You have to ask yourself, what person would come up with this and think it was a good idea?

I am obsessed...

...with Daisy by Marc Jacobs. I have always been just a Marc by Marc Jacobs fan, but this perfume smells so heavenly to me that I find myself whipping out my little purse sized atomizer (which really isn't that small!) on a very regular basis. And being that a regular bottle costs upwards of $70....this is a lovely bargain at $20. And a little goes a VERY long way!!! And I love the roller ball! Sigh...I could go on forever...oh, and I must thank Natalie Bloomfield for turning me on to it!!!!!!!!!