"Going to the Tops"...a gardner's enemy

So, I don't pretend to be a real gardener.  Mostly because it's been 107 for the last month here and NOT ONLY is it too hot to water my garden every day, but it's too darn hot to grow anything either.  PLUS, our city put a 2 day "landscaping" watering rule now since we're in this drought mess and I want to be at least a little compliant with that.  But not really.

Anyway, I gave up on my garden and I'm not really that sad.  Well, I am sad cause I was so excited for my garden.  I'm pretty passionate about my family eating "good food", meaning food that won't sit in my cupboard for months on end and not rot.  If it doesn't "rot" when it's not frozen, then it's not real food.  So yes, that means no hamburger helper.  My garden was a manifestation of that, I think.

I pulled my carrots the other night because a) I've been randomly pulling carrots this summer to check them (I'm an antsy person) and b) It was my last hope of getting anything other than 3 tomatoes all summer.

Here is what they looked like after I pulled them. 

Beautiful, right?  Wow, those carrots are gonna big, juicy orange suckers.  I just know it.  Or...Not.  Here is what the bottom looks like:

Tiny little slivers of carrot that don't even warrant picking.  Ugh.  They don't even taste good either.  This is what my mom calls "going all to the top."  Where the tops are lush, green and beautiful but the actual "vegetable" is small and sickly looking.  Here is a textbook case of that.  I think maybe I'll try new seeds next year.  Maybe that would help.

The TV show of my life.

Somebody broke into my house and filmed JC and I while we were living our great lives as new parents to our adorable little Mimi.  Then they put it in a new show on NBC.  And then I turned in to Christina Applegate! 

Guess who is DVRing THIS in the Fall...cause let's face it, if it's on earlier than 8pm, I won't be watching it.  I'm too busy telling Mia that Elmo has went night-night and we can't watch him again for the 18th time that day.  

 

The things you learn at the pool...

As a kid, I was at the pool alot.  During the summer, we probably went at least 3 times a week.  I went through swimming lessons and when I was in college, I was even a lifeguard at the community pool for a summer.  Needless to say, I've been around the pool "block", so to speak.  But yesterday, I learned so many new lessons at the pool that my head spun, I left dumb-founded, confused and a little mad, actually.

Yesterday, in the scorching 100 degree heat of North Texas...Mia and I decided we needed to cool off a bit.  We have a wonderful community pool a few blocks from our house and we were SO excited to go.  They have 3 slides and the coolest little water jungle gym thing. 

First of all, let me just say, Mia was the most styling kid there.  See? This was right before we left.  Matching strawberry swimsuit AND cover-up.  Dear lord, it was cute. 

We got to the pool and it was just as I expected.  Tons of kids, tons of parents, all laughing and playing.  While I had never paid much attention to the kiddie pool in the past, that is exactly where we headed as soon as we walked in.  We sprayed ourselves with sunscreen got out the water play bucket and shovel I had just bought for the occasion, put on our sunhats and dove in (not literally, more like we waded in 1 foot of water.)

Here is where it gets ugly folks.  Listen...I know that all children are precious and a gift from God, but seriously...I wanted to put a few of those little hooligan brats in a time out for AT LEAST 30 minutes yesterday. 

Here are the lessons I learned at the pool: 

1.  Never, ever, ever bring toys with your child.  None of the other kids (who are considerably older than yours) have toys and you will spend most your time  trying to get away from that creeper little 4 year old girl who keeps following you around eye-ing your kids blue water bucket.  Mia got her bucket stolen 4 times yesterday.  FOUR TIMES! At first we used it as a "sharing" lesson...and it was okay.  But at about the 3rd time, the kids just got mean...Mia cried and looked at me for help...the little brat who stole the bucket's parents were no where in sight and so I couldn't exactly do much about it.  Lesson learned.  All I could do was say to the girl "That wasn't very nice."  She gave me a death stare and threw the bucket in the air and waded off.  Really?

2.  Don't ever assume other parents are competent.  While you can assume most parents won't let their kids drown at the pool,  don't assume they will actually discipline them and keep them from being complete and utter monsters.  (Sorry, I don't pretend to be PC here guys).  Here is how it played out...

Little four year old bratty monster (a different one than the above) steals Mia's bucket for the 2nd time.  She tries to exchange a ball with Mia.  Mia doesn't want the ball.  Little monster's stupid dad is close by and watches the whole thing and looks at us sheepishly. Mia cries.  Little monster won't give back the bucket.  Stupid dad says "Honey, the little girl wants her bucket."  Little monster still won't give back the bucket.  Stupid dad laughs nervously but doesn't do much else.  I stand there super annoyed but unable to take back the bucket.  OMG GIVE US BACK OUR BUCKET YOU STUPID LITTLE MONSTER GIRL. 

We had to leave without the bucket.  Seriously, it was that bad.  I now assume that no other parents at the pool can be trusted.

3.  Never ever take your eye off your kid.  Okay, so this is a no-brainer, but not for the reasons you think. Of course you want to keep an eye on your kid...BECAUSE THE OLDER KIDS IN THE BABY POOL ARE HORRIBLE! They will run over your baby, knock her down and then look me straight in the eye and pretend like they didn't do it.  Monsters, all of them.

Alright, so like I said.  I don't pretend to be PC here guys. It's just a lesson I think you all need to know about the pool.  These lessons were hard-learned but I think we're better for it.  Next time, we'll be prepared for the pool and all of the little hooligans that inhabit it. 

Also, I bought Mia some ice cream to make up for all the bucket nonsense.  

Scarlet Fever? Seriously?

So...my kid has/had Scarlet Fever.  What?  How does this happen?  Is it the 1800s again?  Am I on the Oregon Trail?  Am I in the movie Little Women?

Yes, these are all questions that ran through my mind when the doctor at Pediatrics After Hours took one look at the rash on Mia's body and the positive Strep A throat culture and said...This little girl has Scarlet Fever.

I immediately felt horrible.  But let's back up...start from the beginning.

Two weeks ago, Mia had a runny nose.  Not bad...just runny and then she started pulling on her ears.  So, I schlepped her to Dr. Sherrod (her pediatrician) to make sure we didn't have an ear infection.  He took one look at her ears, listened to her lunch and looked in her throat and said...Allergies, with a beginning infection in her nose.  So, we go amoxicillan (which isn't pink anymore, by the way) and strict orders to eat yogurt every day to prevent stomach discomfort.

So, after a few days of antibiotics, the runny nose stopped.  But then the fever started.  It was never horrible, got to about 101.7 at it's highest.  But Mia just didn't look right.  She wanted to lay on the floor with her paci (yes, she still has a paci and I don't care in the slightest right now) and blankie and lay on the floor and watch "Poppins" (Mary Poppins).  We treated the fever with the motrin/tylenol combo and it kept it down.

So, the fever subsided after a few days...and then the rash started.  It started as a few spots on her forehead, then moved it's way down her neck.  I thought she may have been allergic to something.  I made banana walnut french toast that night for dinner that night... See? (It was delicious by the way)

Silly me, I thought Mia might have had a reaction to the walnuts, since she'd never had them before.  Or maybe it was a reaction to the amoxicillan?  She ate the walnuts...but didn't really like the french toast.

So, we made an after hours call to the doctor's nurse and asked if we could give her benadryl.  After two trips to the store, JC came home with some benadryl liquid and cream.  We tried the liquid benadryl and crossed our fingers.

So, Mia went to bed and woke up with a slightly less red rash.  It spread to her torso and back, but it was never really red.  We did another dose of bendryl and kept an eye on her.  She didn't act sick, was sleeping, was eating (as much as a toddler does these days) and just might have seemed a little off.  She was about 85% of her normal self.  I chalked it up to recovering from her fever and nose infection.

That night, I gave her a bath and noticed that the rash got worse and bumpier in the water. Almost like sand paper on her skin.  Weird.  But, I put her to bed (this was Friday night) with another dose of benadryl.  When she woke up the next morning (Saturday), she had these big, red, bug-bite looking things on the back of her leg.  She had three of them.  And silly me...I thought...my goodness, did a bug bite her?  Was there a spider in her bed?  Mind you...she was showing no signs of being sick except for this weird "allergic" rash.   So, I put some hydrocortisone cream on the bites in case they itched.  The day progressed and when I changed her diaper...it had spread to about 12 splotches and there were some on her arms too.

So, I packed her up and took her to Pediatrics After Hours up the street.  On the way there, a truck hit the side of my car (another story), but we got there okay and checked in.  I was stewing the whole time while I was there because I thought "Geez, here we are around all of these sick kids...one has a goopy eye, the other sounds like her lungs are gonna fall out of her chest and we're here for a stupid allergic rash.  There is no way Mia is getting out her with out getting sick.  We waited an HOUR AND A HALF and I was so mad about it.  Because MY KID wasn't sick and because we had to wait so long, she was going to.   Boy...was I wrong...

When we finally got to the back, Mia was irritable...mostly because I wouldn't let her near the other kids and you can only do so much with a toddler for an hour and half before they lose it.  She kept saying..."Bye Bye" and "All Done" and "Go" when we got into the doctor's room.  So, the nurse came in, got the gist of our "story" and did a strep test, just in case.  Mia was happy as a clam.  This is her after the small episode of crying with the throat swab. You can kind of see the rash on her face...

Then the doctor came in, said she was positive for strep, took a look at the rash on her torso and back and said...I think it's Scarlet Fever.  And then I freaked.  She took one look at her mouth and said..."Oh yeah, her throat is RED and it's got to be hurting her."  And I felt like the worst parent ever.  She showed ZERO signs of feeling bad, except for last week.  And it wasn't even that bad.  She just wanted me to hold her more and always woke up crying (which is not normal for Mia).  She usually wakes up talking to her stuffed purple hippo she sleeps with.

So, we I high-tailed it back to the drugstore for some Culturelle (yogurt ain't cutting it for these antibiotics), Augmentin and kids' advil.  As of this morning, the rash is completely gone and I would say she is back to 100% already.  Her throat may hurt like hell, but we are none the wiser.  She shows no signs at all.  She is running, yelling, singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "ABCs" (well, her version) at the top of her lungs and is eating.  I give her popsicles and pudding in large doses just in case.  Boy, I'll be glad when she can say, "Mommy, mom throat hurts."  This girl must have a high tolerance for pain!

We are out of the contagious stage and the doctor assures me that Scarlet Fever is just strep throat with a rash and isn't at all what it used to be before antibiotics.  But holy, crap.  Scarlet Fever?  Seriously?

That's all I've got to say...about that.

Here's what I know about making homemade french fries in the oven.   

#1.  Make sure each french fry is the same size.

#2.  Make sure you coat them in olive oil and sprinkle them with sea salt.

#3.  Make sure they are in a single layer on your pan.

#4.  The most important one...MAKE SURE you take them out halfway through cook time, get a spatula and flip them!  That...or buy a better pan than I have so they don't stick. 

Also, don't drop the whole pan on the floor after you take them out of the oven.  Cause that's what I did with last tonight's batch of homemade french fries I made for the Super Bowl. I may or may not have cursed in front of my father-in-law.  Luckily, none of us are crazy and we still ate them. And lucky for me...it's not the first time I've cursed in front of my father-in-law and he's the type to be A-OK with cursing. 

Also, I bought some new "Snapware" tupperware at CostCo.  AKA...Mia's new toys.

What does that mean?

People say this sums me up well. (That's me holding up the toy Mickey Train)  By people, I mean my sister in law Brandi and my husband.  To them, I say..."What does that mean?"  It's funny...how in your head you think you are one way and then to the people who love you and are around you alot, they see you differently. 

So, if this is how they see me, then what does that say?  I can't see?  I have no idea how to read things?  I make the WEIRDEST faces EVER when I look at toy trains?  Or maybe I'm just really animated.  Yeah, I'm going with that.

Horrible Picture...Decent Dinner

I'm not gonna go on and on and on about the sickness that has taken over my beautiful, vibrant baby girl.  I'm not gonna talk about how tired we are and how none of us has slept for more than (approximately) 4 hours a night for the last month it seems.  No...I'm not gonna talk about how there is not enough coffee in the world to keep me awake right now.  

I'm not gonna talk about it.  Instead, I'll just share this.  This is about all of the effort that I can muster to cook.  That should sum up the Talman state of affairs quite nicely.

It's not pretty.  Picture was taken on my Blackberry so the photography sucks.  Still it tasted good.  Grilled chicken, corn and tomato quesadillas with spicy sour cream dipping sauce.  It was the best I could do with the hour I had in between Mia's crying fits last night while the poor baby tried to sleep. It was a "what's in the pantry and fridge that's about to go bad so I have to cook it tonight" dinner.

In happier news, today is my hubby's birthday.  Tonight (pending any sickness catastrophes) I have planned a lovely birthday meal.  Seriously...I think I had dreams about what this is gonna taste like.  Here's a preview..

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/drip-beef-two-ways/ 

Meh...

So, here's the deal with our darling baby...I mean, toddler, Mimi.  She is an early to bed person.  We hit the kid jackpot and have a child who "usually" sleeps 12 hours a night and has for a very long time.  Although, this winter cold/stomach flu nasty sickness season and recent teething have put a cramp in that dream.  Anyway, since she usually is in bed by 7pm on average, she has dinner around 5:00pm each night.  So the three days that I travel the 30 minutes to Addison for work, I usually don't get home until around 6:00pm or a little earlier...leaving no time to cook a "family" meal. 

I think this is where my cooking funk began.  See, we got into the habit of feeding Mia (whatever we had in the fridge, leftovers, etc.) and then after she went to bed around 7 or 7:30pm, JC and I would sit down together and eat.  Sometimes I could cook, but usually the meal consisted of frozen pizza, lunch meat sandwiches or a Lean Cuisine. I'd worked all day, been up since 6am and usually didn't feel like cooking.  While those food choices are not bad on occasion, I'd say for a good 2 months straight my husband ate ham sandwiches and salt and vinegar chips for lunch AND dinner.  While I always handed him a vitamin at night to make up for his nutritional deficiencies in the day, it hardly makes up for a balanced and well cooked meal.  Besides, I wanted to start eating together at the table as a family every night.  I did that as a kid and think it's a very good habit to get into.

So, here was the plan.  On Mondays (I go into my office T-Th each week), I would create three meals to freeze, so JC could easily pop them into the oven at 5:00pm and we could all sit down together for a wonderful meal (with pizzaz if possible) when I walked in the door around 6pm. Last night was our first run at that...

I give you Gourmet Tuna Noodle Casserole.  (picture taken with a blackberry b/c I could find our SD card).

So, it's not very pretty and I couldn't eat more than a few bites of it when I got home (I blame some leftover stomach virus nauseau), but JC liked it. No, he loved it.  And Mimi had three helpings. 

I used white albacore tuna, added brocolli and peas, parmesan cheese and some other things.  It's actually a recipe from...you guessed it, Ellie Krieger's book So Easy.  It was okay, but...I think I can do better.  Good news is that Mia did not have leftovers from the night before and JC didn't eat a ham sandwich.  It's a start.

Stomach flu sure mucks up your cooking plans....

So, remember how I said that Mia contracted a stomach virus that put her in the hospital on Friday.  Well, my husband and I "caught" it last night.  Not fun. At all.

Needless to say, food does not sound fun right now.