Family Pictures

Woot!  Woot!  We finally got family pictures done a few weeks ago.  It was my birthday present.  I know, I know.  My birthday is in May.  But, at least they got done.

The photographer was Erin of Pink Daffodil Photography.  She was amazing.  You can't even tell that A. pretty much cried through the entire shoot.  We went to a canyon up past Wasatch Drive.  I had never heard of it and can't think of the name right off the top of my head.  The weather was GORGEOUS.  And the leaves were at their prime.  Overall, I think we got some good shots.  Finally, we have a decent picture with the four of us in it.

We're a pretty good looking bunch given the right light and conditions.  And if you shoot enough pictures.

Things

So, I'm currently in the middle of this thing that is HUGE.  And I only have a few days left.  Like 6 days to finish it.  And I'm a little stressed about it, but if I do pull it off, it will be the most amazing thing that I have done in a long, long, long time.  What is it?  You will have to wait and see.  But, I'll give you a hint.  It will take care of not one, but TWO things on my list.  By the way, I'm a little behind on crossing things off The List.  I've done them.  I just need to cross them off.  I totally plan on getting that taken care of soon too.  Maybe in 7 or 8 days.

We're leaving for Cabo soon.  Very soon.  And currently, it's 17 degrees outside, but apparently it feels like 5 degrees, with an expected high of 13 tomorrow but in Cabo, it's 68 degrees with an expected high of 81 tomorrow.  If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know that I've chosen to stay. Don't take it personally.

I mentioned at one point that my record for running is -1 degrees.  I was out this morning, and while it was fairly nice (38ish?) I realized that I no longer have the motivation to run in single digit temperatures.  Tomorrow has been declared a treadmill day.

Speaking of running, my buddy H and I were the only ones out today.  During the summer, the roads were teeming with runners and bikers.  Dedication is a lonely sport. 

A. turns two on Saturday.  TWO!  When did that happen?  I am embarking on a crazy cake design.  I hope it works.  I blame cable television for fueling this desire to make glorious cakes.

And speaking of making, I am slated to bring two pies to Thanksgiving.  Key Lime Pie, which is my all time favorite and apple.  I've made Key Lime before, but I've never made an apple pie.  And I hope the pies will turn out more aesthetically pleasing than they did last year.  BUT, today, I needed cool whip for my test key lime pie I made and Wal-mart was unbelievably crowded and the kids were acting up and it was like a glimpse into the hell I'll be sent to if I don't make it into heaven, and naturally, I forgot the cool whip.  BUT lo and behold, I googled it, and found out that you can make it at home. 

MAN, I'M SO COOL.

I made it and it tasted great and I called my mom to tell her of my great culinary achievement and she was the proper amount of impressed.  I love my mom.

And speaking of my mom, she's doing awesome.  No more weird trips to the ER.  No more long hospital stays.  We're just waiting for the skin graft now, so thanks for all your thoughts and prayers and kind words and dinners  (yes, I got two dinners from two friends and both dinners came when I needed them the most.) and babysitting.

Still coughing.  But I'm feeling better.

Saw Harry Potter.  In hindsight, I probably should have watched the first six beforehand.  Or at least read the books.

Now, how's this for totally random??

I Wish...

• I wish I was more organized.  I have tried a plethera (love that word!) of things to become more organized, but I just can't seem to get on top of stuff.  My dream would be to have a schedule where I'm doing the same mundane daily things at the same time every day so that I could actually accomplish more during the day since that stuff would already be taken care of.  Any suggestions?
• I wish I was a better baker.  I want to make those really cool cakes, but most of the time, my effort falls short of glorious--really short.
• I wish I was better at time management.  Goes back to #1.  But, I'm constantly late to everything and always rushing around.  It's poor planning on my part and I realize that.  Just wish I could manage time better.
• I wish it wasn't such a struggle to get J. out of bed every. single. day. 
• I wish I knew what was next in "the plan".  I'm trying to have faith, but there's this impending doom hanging over me that I'm not sure what it means.  Is it my perception?  Is it my answer?  Is it just my humanness? 
• I wish I could get rid of this nasty cough.  That's the only symptom I have and it's been lingering for almost two weeks now.  I didn't run at all last week because I thought it would aggrevate it, but so far, it's not showing any signs of improvement. 
• I wish it was time for Cabo.  I could use a break with some sun and a little sea air.
• I wish it was past Thursday because I'm dreading this funeral.  I don't deal well with death anyways, and this one was so shocking and their life is so mirror-like to my own life, I've been having a hard time processing it.  Part of the human aspect is to project an experience into your own life, and I can't help but think that I wouldn't be dealing as well with this unexpected curve ball in life like Forrest's wife appears to be.  It's a testament to how strong and independent she is.  And how I should better emulate that.

It's kind of been Debbie Downer over here on (semi) undometically geeky.  I'd apologize for it, but it's life and to pretend otherwise would be a disservice to everyone else encountering trials, large or small.

Mixed Blessings and Thoughts

You know how sometimes you look for hidden blessings among the rubble. like "at least this didn't happen" or "wow, we dodged a bullet there."?  And you know how sometimes, things just suck? 

First up, mixed blessings.

Sunday night, I called my mom for my daily check-in.  I have rarely gone more than a day or two without calling my mom since Wade and I got married nearly ten (10!?!) years ago.  Recently, I have been calling her pretty much every day, you know with the whole surgery, infection, artery exploding episodes.  So, I called, and I could tell that something was off.  Though I couldn't really place it.  We talked for a few minutes and I hung up feeling uneasy.

I called my sister-in-law and talked to her for a few minutes and then over a course of a few more minutes and half a dozen phone calls back and forth between my brother, my dad, and me it was determined that my mom had a fever and the oncologist said to rush her to the ER.

I made the executive decision to drive in and meet them there.  I have felt kind of like the liason between my parents and my brothers through all this because I'm geographically closer than them and my schedule isn't as rigid.  I definitely feel that this is a blessing that I'm able to be there.  Sometimes my dad's communication skills can be a little lacking (like: "Oh dear." when I called him about the artery episode).  Most of the time though, it always helps to have two coherent people listening in on what's happening so that nothing gets missed.

To make a long story short, my mom had gotten a NEW infection up in her upper thigh where they had removed some lymph nodes during the initial surgery.  She presented at the ER with a fever over 104 degrees.  When I finally found them, she looked sicker than I've ever seen her.

They admitted her to the hospital and on Tuesday, they did "a procedure" (I prefer to call it surgery because (a) they had to put her under (b) I had to wait in the surgery waiting room (c) the surgeon did it.  But they refer to it as a "procedure") where they cleaned out the wound.  The oncologist said that had my dad not gotten her in when he did, my mom probably would have ended up in the ICU or worse.  It turns out the infection was staph and could have been potentially lethal had they not caught it when they did.  This oncologist is a God-send.  She came to the ER on Sunday night at 12:30 just to see that my mom was okay.  There are not a lot of doctors anymore that would do that.  I can't say enough nice things about her.

My mom gets to finally go home today and I'm happy about that.  She'll be on IV antibiotics for the next two weeks and they've put another wound vac (the apparatus that was at the center of the whole artery episode) on this new wound, but the doctor insists that it's no where near any arteries.  Thursday, she'll have another "procedure" to put another wound vac on her ankle and then hopefully in two to three weeks, she'll have the skin graft done and we can put this whole experience behind us.

So the mixed blessings:  It's hard to think of any of this as a blessing.  However, when you look at different parts, you realize that you are being blessed.  Like how it happened on a Sunday night when my dad was home instead of a Tuesday morning when my dad would have been at work.  Or that at least the cancer hadn't spread, because if she was doing treatments on top of all this, it could have turned out much differently as well. 

Now, the sucky things:

Wednesday night we received some shocking news.  Wade's cousin, who is a month younger than him, had suddenly passed away.  It was such a surprise and a shock.  He leaves behind a wife and two little girls, a three year old and a 10 month old.  I've done a few runs with his wife and Wade and I went canoeing with them back when we were all newly weds and kids-free. 

Forrest was definitely a rock star in his own little world.  It's hard to believe that he's gone.  He had lived more in his 32 years than most people do in their lifetimes.  I can't say that we always saw eye to eye on certain topics or politics, but Forrest always stood up for what he believed in and never wavered.  I admired that most about him.  I know that his vote for president was not because of the color of his skin or to oust the previous president, but because he truly believed in what his candidate was preaching.  He had a presence in any room he was in and held every occupant in the palm of his hand. One of the last things he did that made me smile was quitting his job at a law firm so he could spend more time with his family.  He hadn't been practicing law for very long, but had decided that that lifestyle wasn't for him.  I admired his courage for giving up the "big" paycheck and status so that he could stay close to those things that really mattered.  He had just started a job reviewing patents for the government and by all accounts, it was something he really enjoyed.

There are no blessings in this situation, or at least none that I can see.  A bright and up and coming star has been snuffed out too early, a wife widowed at 31, and two little girls lost their daddy.  He hadn't been feeling well and laid down to never wake up again.  It's scary to think that in just one second your whole life could be turned upside down.

Sometimes, things just plain suck.

Breather

Every once in a while, it's necessary to do a catch-all post because so much has happened in such a small amount of time.  So here goes:

• Last week, we were rejoicing in my mom's cancer-free status while her surgery site was silently plotting to ruin our little party.  Wednesday, the pain became intolerable and my mom ended up in the hospital with an infection.  Her "precautionary two day stay" stretched into four days.
• Wal-mart deemed that toddler girls only needed two costume choices--a pretty(?) princess and Bat Girl.  You'll see her (wise) choice in a bit.
• Friday, I went over to my parent's house for a bit while I waited for Wade to get off work and take the kids home so I could visit my mom in the hospital.  I came to the realization that if something were to happen to my mom, my dad would probably starve.  There was not a lot of food in the house.  I realized we were going to have to call in re-enforcements for when my mom came home.
• Saturday, I coached my last soccer game of the season.  The cutest 5 year old, Calvin, gave me flowers for being his coach.  Aw...that's so sweet, isn't it?
• After the soccer game, I ran a local 5k at the high school.  It was ugly.  I was floored at how hard it was and a little discouraged that I've lost that much fitness over the last month since the marathon.  However, I did take 2nd in my age category, so I guess it wasn't so bad.
• Saturday night, we did the Trunk or Treat at the church. J was Mario (surprised?) and A was Bat Girl (That's my girl!).  They were adorable.  After that, Wade took them out for a little bit.  The biggest surprise of the night was after Wade had returned.  J LOVED handing out the candy at the door and so Wade and I sat on the couch while J. opened the door.  However, if A. didn't like the costume or she was scared of it, she'd run over and slam the door while J's back was turned to get the candy. She cracks me up!
• Sunday, my mom was released from the hospital.  They had attached a wound vac, a machine that is sometimes used to help aide in healing deep wounds, to her surgery site.  It sucks out all the gunk that's inside the wound. It has to be changed every other day by a home health nurse.  I told her to put together a grocery list and I would go shopping for her and cook dinner on Monday.  I left the hospital feeling pretty good about myself and my good deeds.
• Monday, I dropped the kids off at Wade's parents house because the noise level they incur is a bit much to handle when you don't feel good.  I then headed to my mom's house with the intention of staying two hours max.  Just because her world stopped spinning for a few days doesn't mean mine did and I was a little behind at my house.  I pulled up and noticed the home health nurse's van in the driveway.  Parking on the street, I grabbed the stuff I had brought to make for dinner and skipped (yes, I distinctly remember skipping) up the front steps, I let myself in through the front door and rounded the corner to the den and THEN:  I saw blood on the door and blood on the nurse and her hand inside my mom's leg and my mom on the phone and the nurse turning to me and saying "we've had to call 911".  (sidenote: it's never a good idea when the home health nurse has to call an ambulance).  Apparently, when the nurse went to change the wound vac, an artery in the leg had started to adhere itself to the sponge of the machine and when she took out the sponge it kinda, sorta, broke an artery.

           AN ARTERY.

So I'm thinking MY MOM IS GOING TO DIE because I'm thinking AN ARTERY IS BROKEN.  Of course I don't have my phone on me and I'm frantically looking for my mom's cellphone to call the doctor's office and my dad and my brothers and Wade.  She has no clue where it's at because she's sitting in a rocking chair with a complete stranger applying pressure to a BROKEN ARTERY that at one time was splattering blood around.  And I'll admit, I kind of panicked.  You would have too if you would have walked in on that.

Five paramedics show up and everyone is calm.  Except for me.  But no trained professional is going to go "OMG!  A BROKEN ARTERY", right?  Meanwhile, I've called my dad and Wade from the house phone and no one is answering.  I still have no cell phone to take to the ER to call them from there.  I'm running circles in the kitchen and living room.  They load my mom up.  I'm still trying to reach someone.  Finally, on my second call, my dad realizes that it's an emergency and steps out of the meeting he's in to get a frantic call from his daughter saying "they've taken mom by ambulance to the hospital because her artery broke". 

"Oh dear."
That's so my dad.  Luckily, though, he knew where the cell phone was and I was able to call my brothers (who are now screening my phone calls lest I have any more news of complications about my mom's recovery) en route to the hospital.

Her oncologist (bless that woman's heart) came down and sutured up the broken artery, telling us simulataneously that (a) it would have been a long time before she would have died because while it was an artery, it  was a small artery and (b) the home health nurse did the right thing by calling the paramedics.  She managed to tell us all this very calmly like these kinds of things happen every day.  Those pesky arteries breaking and stuff.

Reassuring, right?

A few hours later, mom was back home resting comfortably.  The door had been clean (yes, by me), the groceries picked up (by me) and dinner made (by me). 

Later on, after Wade got home, I couldn't stop laughing at the whole absurdity of it. 

A wee bit scared?  Yes, I was.

• Today, I told my mom I needed a day off from any emergencies so I could get caught up at home and she obliged.  However, I came home from voting and breakfast with a friend to find the front door wide open, A. managed to put handsoap in her eyes, the house was clean at one point, but it'd be a stretch to call it clean now, I neither exercised nor showered, and we are currently waiting for  sheets to dry in the dryer so we can go to bed and it's 11:40 pm.

Stressed?  Nah.  Why do you ask?
Stressed?  Nah.  Why do you ask?
Stressed?  Nah.  Why do you ask?

Last Minute Vacation

You want to know what lifestyle I'd like to become accustom to?

Killer last minute vacations.

Wade called from work the other day and asked a silly question:

"Do you want to go to Cabo?"

"Cabo?  As in Cabo San Lucas?  As in 80 degrees and sunny, with white sandy beaches and nice blue water?"

It was about 48 degrees outside when he called.

"Yes."

"Is the sky blue?  Does the sun rise everyday?  Am I dreaming?"

"So, do you?"

"YES!!"

And there you have it.  An impromptu cruise to Cabo with the kids slated for the first part of December.  The best part is that the cruise ship has a place for the kids where you can drop them off and go do whatever (nothing!) on the ship and they'll play with them and entertain them and answer all their incessant questions and feed them and change poopy diapers.

ALL DAY!

It's like being on vacation kids-free without feeling guilty that your parents are left at home watching your rug rats.  And you know, there's those moments where you think to yourself "Gee, I wish the kids were here to see this with us.  But only this.  And then they can go back to their own thing and leave me alone on the deck with my book."

Ah..perfect.

Well, in theory.

But, as perfect as the situation allows us.

And to round out our nice vacation, we're flying in a few days early to hit Sea World and Lego Land. 

Because we're cool parents like that.

Yes.  I could become quite accustomed to this life.

What's For Dinner Wednesday--Lasagna Cupcakes

Think portion control.

On my rotating menu schedule, I have a recipe that calls for wonton wrappers.  Each package comes with 50 wontons, and my recipe only uses 12 of them.  I will sometimes make cream cheese wontons, but more often than not, I put the wonton wrappers back in the refrigerator and forget about them until I notice that they've turned green.  (Surprisingly, they turn green really fast).

This time, I vowed to be different.  So I looked up different things you could make using the wonton wrappers and came across Lasagna Cupcakes.

Seriously, how did my grandmas and my mom cook without the internet?

Recipe
18 wonton wrappers (found in the produce section of the grocery store)
8 oz ground turkey (or beef, whatever you prefer)
Favorite pasta sauce
8 oz Mozzarella cheese
4 oz Ricotta Cheese
Parmesan Cheese

Brown your ground meat.  I added an onion and garlic to it.  Next, make your pasta sauce (if you're of the homemade pasta sauce persuasion).  I put two cans of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, oregano and basil into a pan and heated it up.  If you go the canned pasta sauce route, you're good to go.

Cut your wonton wrappers into circles by either tracing a cup with a sharp knife or using a round cookie cutter.

Spray a six-tin muffin pan with PAM.  Place one wonton circle in the bottom.  Layer in a pinch of mozzarella cheese, some ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese (You don't want too much in the first layer because there will be three layers all together).  Next, layer your ground meat followed by a dallop of sauce--about a spoonful.  I combined my meat and sauce before I started scooping it in.  Place another wonton circle on top of that layer and repeat the cheeses layer, the meat layer and the sauce layer.  Place one more wonton circle and repeat again.  Top the last layer of sauce with mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.

Cook at 375 for 20 minutes

Notes
I thought these were PERFECT.  For starters, it didn't take nearly as much time as making a full pan and we didn't have all those leftovers that would eventually be thrown away because everyone was tired of eating lasagna.  And, as it has been theorized before, anything in cupcake form is cuter than it's original counterpart.  Bonus was that it was built in portion control.  Served with a salad (didn't get that made before Wade had to leave for Scouts) and you have a nice, balanced dinner.

Wade hesitated when I asked if he liked it, which is a pretty clear sign that he wasn't thrilled.  I think it's because he's not a huge lasagna fan like I am.  A. couldn't get enough and that's a better indicator of dinner being a success or not.

For those keeping score, I had ALL the ingredients on hand this time, so no substitutions.

The remaining 20 wonton wrappers I had, I made into cinnamon crisps.  Lay the wrappers in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with 1 tsp cinnamon sugar.  Bake in the oven for 5 minutes at 400 degrees.  An easy 30 calorie treat.

Nutrition Breakdown for the Lasagna Cupcakes

Serving Size: 1 Cupcake

Calories: 264
Total Fat: 8.7 g
   Saturated Fat: 6.0 g
   Polyunsaturated Fat: .3 g
   Monounsaturated Fat: 1.6 g
Cholesterol: 45.7 mg
Sodium: 815.8 mg
Potassium: 58.9 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 25.3 g
   Dietary Fiber: 3.5 g
   Sugars: 7.0 g
Protein: 26.8 g