ENT update!

One thing I hadn't mentioned in my last two posts was that last week I went back to the ENT about my allergies. I wasn't due to see him until April 20th, but over a week ago my ears started blocking up again with a lot of pressure inside, and I knew it was only a matter of time before my sinus problems flared up again. To be honest they had never completely gone away, but they were bearable, until the 'ear problem'.

I've decided it's time to say 'yes' to the nasal surgery to remove the polyps and fix the deviated septum. Once this is done I stand a better chance of keeping my allergies under control. The main problem I have is the mucus always gets infected because it can't drain properly with my nose always so blocked. That is exactly what is happening again this week. Over the past few days I've had a sore dry throat which I put down to allergies yet again (but which I'm never really sure about, cos it could be a cold too?) and I'm getting more congested. Now my face and cheekbones hurt because I know I'm getting a sinus infection again.

The annoying thing is, last week the ENT gave me a 5 day course of antibiotics, and yet once again they seem to have done nothing. Nothing except keep me awake til all hours of the morning. The night before last I was still lying awake at 4.15am. I felt like I'd drank a full pot of coffee and my eyes were just wide open all night, that plus my very sore throat just made for a miserable night for me.

Last night I didn't take the antibiotic (which by the way is 750mg of Levaquin) because I really needed to get some sleep. I checked online about Levaquin and they have a website. It does mention that insomnia can be a side effect. The strange thing is I was taking this drug for a month before and it didn't affect me like this. That dose was only 500mg though, so that could be the reason why. I have one more pill to take and I'm worried about doing so if it means I'll be up all night again? I'm thinking of taking it early this morning and see if that makes a difference.

So that's the up to date stuff on me. On a lighter note I've been playing around with a new website - check out THE COOKING DEN :-)

I decided that I would keep all the recipes I share with you on one main site. That way you can see at a glance the recipes I've made whenever you want, instead of searching through my archives. This is a good thing for me too because I actually forget about half of the recipes I've tried, then I come across them a few months later and I think "oh, it's been a while since I made that" or sometimes even "ooh I totally forgot I ever made that!" Anyway, right now it's only got a couple of the recipes on it from previous posts. I'll work on getting other ones on there as soon as I can. I will mention any new updates on here and give the link out again whenever I do so. Today I plan on making some pea and ham soup with my left over Easter ham, so check the website later for an update.

Today I might also try to get more mulch for the front yard and a couple of climbing plants to put near the posts out front. That will give me pictures to share with you in a day or so :-)

Field Trip

Last Thursday Kristen had a field trip at school. This year they all went to the Austin Zoo, and surprise surprise... I decided to go with them! I didn't get to post pics last week because I got side-tracked with the easter pictures. So, here's a few photos to share with you....

Kristen's favorite part of the day was seeing the wolves! I don't know what it is about them, but they fascinate her. She comes home every week with a book from the school library all about wolves, and loves to sit and read about them.

The rest of the pics are self-explanatory

Good Friday!

I have some wonderful memories of Good Friday when I was little. The main one I remember was we always had fish for lunch. I didn't go to church growing up but I remember my Mam telling me the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and just 2 fish., (or is that 2 loaves of bread and 5 fish? I can never remember!) I wish I could prepare a lovely meal with fish for my family each year on this day, but hubby doesn't like any kind of seafood so I never bother. I did buy some fish stix today for Kiki ;-)

We're just hanging out today. Jason is working at home in his office and Kristen and I have been busy having fun in the kitchen. . . . . first up, dying Easter eggs.

Kristen always loves doing this. She had fun writing on the eggs with the wax crayon. She would tell me what she was drawing, but on one she said 'it's a surprise'. Only once it came out of the pot could I see that she had written 'Jesus Rocks' :-) A couple of eggs cracked so I quickly scooped out the yolk, made deviled eggs and we enjoyed a tasty snack!

I then decided to bake cookies. I found a really simply sugar cookie recipe on line and whipped up a batch of dough so we could use our new egg cookie cutter.

These turned out really pretty, and tasted pretty yummy too. The recipe is actually a 'cookie in a jar' recipe from allrecipes.com HERE'S a link if you would like to try it. I think this would be great to make for neighbors come Christmas. The kids always have a fun time decorating them.


As well as having fun in the kitchen I have been having fun in the dining room. I was going to wait to show you pictures of my 'Easter Table' until Sunday, but I thought if anyone is looking for some simple decorating ideas, why not share them now - by Sunday it will be too late if you actually want to try some for yourself.

So, here's a fun idea that I got from a magazine this week.... our Easter place settings.

We cut out ears and decorated them with markers. Tape them to a paper cup (the glue wouldn't stick very well with the thick paper) then glue a pom pom or cotton ball to the back for the bunny tail. Draw a face on the front and write the person's name underneath it. Add some paper grass and chocolate eggs.

Another idea.... I came up with this one myself. Simple napkin rings. Pink ribbon tied in a bow around the napkin (actually just a double knot - it's easier and uses less ribbon) then take two sprigs of silk flowers and insert behind the bow. I bought the flowers in the dollar store! One bunch of daisies and a bunch of pink flowers. I made 5 napkin rings with them. I already had the ribbon. You could use raffia too, or any combination of ribbon you have with whatever color flowers you like.


And finally, here's a peek at the dining room table all set for Easter lunch (and Grandma's birthday). The picture's a little dark, but I'll hopefully take better ones on Sunday. The empty plate at the right side is for the ham!

I'd like to wish you all a wonderful Easter weekend. And say "thank you God for sending your only Son to die for us, that we might have eternal life with you. Praise you Jesus.

take me out to the ballgame!

.... that's exactly what my neighbor Cheryl did :-) It was Kristen's first ever baseball game. Cheryl had extra tickets for the first game of the season, so we went straight after church on Sunday. Steve (Cheryl's hubby wasn't feeling well so he didn't come, and Jason (poor guy) had to work!) So it was just us two Moms with our little angels. The last time I went to a baseball game was when we lived in Maryland, we went to see the Orioles play in Baltimore.

The weather was a bit cooler than usual and rather windy, but we all still had a great time. Kristen loved it, but I think the parts she liked the best was her 'foam finger' and meeting Spike the Bulldog (the team's mascot), and not to mention the cotton candy! She's already asking when can we go again. I think I'll wait a while, maybe take my guests when they come to visit in June. Cheryl said a Friday night game is good cos they have a firework display after the game.

Not much else to blog about so I'll leave you with photos from the game.....

a once a week thing!

Yup, that's what my blog is starting to look like. I seem to be blogging once a week..... at least it's better than nothing ;-) This past week like most others just flew by. Nothing worth noting until we got to Friday when I started to prep the guest room ready to paint. I got that painted on Saturday while Jason worked as usual in his office (at home) and Kristen played with Emily nearly all day. (I'll show pictures when I get the room finished)

She had a sleep over at Emily's house the night before and I didn't see her til 1pm on Saturday! I truly miss her when she's not in the house, but she was just two doors away so I kept telling myself she must be having fun or she'd hae come home by now.

We didn't go to church again on Sunday. Jason is still bogged down with work and I just got lazy again and decided not to go. I really must make an effort this weekend though. When Jason took a break for lunch we popped out to the store and he bought a kite to play with Kristen.... I snapped a few pictures of them but not very good ones I'm afraid, still at least it's something to show you .....

You can barely see them in the picture above (click on it to make it larger) It was easier getting a close up of the kite itself... look at that gorgeous blue sky!

After playtime Jason decided to wash his car and Kristen helped too....

it was pretty warm outside but she didn't like getting wet from the spray, until I suggested she put her swimsuit on :-)

Now that's how you was a car ;-)

I took this picture just before they started washing it.

a fun weekend

It was Spring Break for us last week and no school for a whole week:-) The weather was perfect too, high 70's most days and very sunny. I even took Kristen round to the pool with her friend Emily! It was warm enough to sit next to the pool, but getting in it was another matter. But get in it they did, and of course the water was freezing!

We had a nice relaxing week and then on Friday we went away for the weekend with our good friends/neighbors to a cabin on Lake Buchanan. It was only an hours drive away but nice to get out of the house and just relax for a couple of days. The weather was lovely, it just got a little cool at night sitting outside. There was a burn ban on too which meant we unfortunately couldn't light a camp fire. We did manage to make S'mores still (something Kristen was really looking forward to) as we put some wood on the bbq grill once we'd cooked our dinners. Here's a few photos from the weekend...... these are the two cabins (very small but functional!) that sit on the edge of the lake.

View of the lake from the cabin

The lake was very low because we hardly ever get rain here... but it was still pretty

Kristen surprisingly loved fishing... shame they didn't catch anything

Best Buddies!

Ricky and Boo even got to come :-)

S'mores!

Now I'm counting down the weeks to 'Summer Break'.... only 11 more to go!

12 weeks and counting......

what am I counting down to you're wondering? It's something I haven't mentioned on here yet, not surprising when I hardly post these days... but 12 weeks today my sister and her hubby are coming to visit from England :-) To say I can't wait is an understatement, but "I CAN'T WAIT!

I know we got to see them last year when we went home. We stayed at their house for the two weeks we were there and I loved every minute of it. But they haven't been to the US to stay with us since, well since we lived in Maryland. We've been in Texas for over 4 years now and they haven't been here yet. We're all pretty excited.

That puts me on a quest to get our 'spare' room decorated ready for my special guests :-) I went out on Saturday and finally found some nice bedding, which wasn't an easy task. The bed I have in the guest room is only a full size but try to find bedding you like that is not just in King and Queen sizes.... it's not easy. Most of the full size comforter sets are in very contemporary styles which just doesn't suit my home at all. I'm more 'traditional' I think. But I did find some and this week I hope to get some paint to match and get started on the room. I also need to buy a bed frame and dresser from Ikea to complete the room :-) I can't wait to get started on it.

This week is Spring Break - hooray. I love a week off school. And the weather is supposed to get warmer again. After my last post bragging about 79 degree weather here in Texas, a cold front moved in and our highs were barely in the 40's last week, plus we got about 3 days of rain (which we sorely need, so I'm not complaining about that) but it will be nice to have warm sunny weather again this week so the kids can play outside.

I skipped the gym all last week while Jason was out of town so I need to make a concerted effort this week to get back to it. I started off well this morning, by getting up at 7am, out the house by 7.15 and did 45 minutes on the elliptical and treadmill. Home by 8.30am before Jason was even ready to head out to work :-)

Tomorrow I will skip it cos he's at work again and Kristen's friend Emily is having a sleep-over tonight. I said she could stay with us all day til her parents get home from work instead of going to her grandma's with her two brothers. I'm always so grateful that I can stay home and be with Kristen when school is out and I don't have to put her in daycare. My mam was always home for us which I loved, and that's why I always want to be home for Kristen. I thank God that we can financially afford to do that.

Jason will be working from home on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so I will get to the gym on those days (hopefully) ;-)

OK, before I waffle on too much I'll get off this thing. This was just an update cos Nenna was nagging me for one!