Recipe Review

Pat is healing up well post surgery, but he is still having a hard time chewing anything. So I decided to make some soup, and the most delicious sounding thing I could think of was loaded baked potato soup. Yum!

Loaded Potato Soup a la Betty Crocker, Pioneer Woman Style

Pat's rating: 4/5 Stars
Tee's rating: 4/5 stars. Total comfort food, full of deliciousness. Did take some time with all the peeling and chopping. May be able to come up with some shortcuts (i.e. use pre-baked potatoes, cream of mushroom canned soup perhaps. . .) This is a good soup, but not a super quick, throw together type of recipe.

Then I got inspired to take step by step pictures, like the Pioneer Woman. Unfortunately I thought of it too late to take a picture of the 'Cast of characters'. However, I will list the ingredients:

So ingredients:

1 package (12 oz) bacon                        

1 1/2  cups chopped onion                        

6  cups Progresso® chicken broth                        

2 lb baking potatoes, peeled, cubed                        

2/3 cup butter                        

3/4 cup all-purpose flour                        

4 cups milk                        

1 teaspoon salt                        

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper                        

1 cup diced cooked ham                        

1 container (8 oz) sour cream                        

2 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (10 oz)                        

 3/4 cup sliced green onions    

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet until it is crispy. Mmmmmm bacon bacon bacon. If only I could somehow attach the smell of this cooking deliciousness! Maybe one day . . . then, Drain and crumble bacon.

                    

2. Meanwhile, chop the onion. Once the bacon is complete, reserve a couple tablespoons bacon grease and cook the onions in the same skillet with the bacon grease until almost tender. Oh delicious bacon grease!!

3. In a Dutch oven, mix the broth, chopped potatoes and onion. Bring to boiling and then lower heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in the same skillet (gotta love using the same skillet yet again, I love it every single time) Melt the butter.

And add the flour slowly while whisking continuously . . .

5. And then gradually stir in 2 cups of milk and stir until smooth

6. Pour Milk Mixture into potato mixture. Add the remaining two cups of milk, salt and pepper. And then cook over medium heat until it is deliciously thickened and rather bubbly. Mmmmm.

 

7. Stir in the ham, half the bacon, sour cream (mmmmm), 2 cups of cheese, and the green onions (I did not add any green onions because I'm going to test out the freezing potential for this soup!). Yum! Look at that mound of deliciousness!

8. Stir until cheese has melted. Add bacon, cheese, green onions and sour cream to each serving to taste . . .

Unfortunately this final picture was taken after sunset and the lighting is not optimal! I will learn with practice :) It is very filling, as you could probably guess!

Just a Few Pictures of Kateri

 

Preparing to open the cabinet and empty it of its contents.

 

 

 

We just love this happy joyful girl!

Always so much joy! So thankful for the blessing this little munchkin is.

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary to my darling, amazing parents! You have taught me so much about love, generosity, selflessness, hard work, and faith! God gave me a great gift when he gave me you! I love you so much!

What Happens When 'It's Freezing Out' and 'Datenight' Coencide

Saturday was my company Christmas Party. Yes, it is not even 'Christmas Season' according to the Church anymore, but we still wanted to celebrate, late and in all it's glory!

Lucky for us, the party was at Columbus Grill, which is a hop skip and a jump away from our house. Just awesome! I was thinking of asking Mom and Dad to watch Kateri, and I would drop her off at their house. But last minute, Mr. and Mrs. Grenier offered to bring us dinner (without realizing we were going out) and so it just fell in to place that they could watch Kateri at our home. Especially wonderful because Kateri sleeps so much better in her own crib!

We got all dressed up and headed out. It is always fun to go to Columbus Grill for three reasons:

1. That is where we had our "talk" about being "official". Walked in on a date, walked out boyfriend girlfriend. Awww ;)

2. That is also where we went for our very first Valentines Day Dinner (and we were engaged by this point, fyi)

3. We almost never go out, so it is ALWAYS a treat anyway!

So off we went, and, unlike our usual lack of timeliness, we arrived right at seven when it was beginning! We walked in and realized we were the very first people there, which oh-so-never happens. After a few minutes, people started trickling in. This new little baby found the food especially scrumptious, and so of course I had to humor him and shovel it in. Which means I went from second trimester to third trimester in a matter of minutes. Worth every bite, though, I must say. And, worthy of note, I think this munchkin may really really REALLY like calamari. We will see, Pat despises all things seafood so it will be interesting to see what this little man likes.

While we ate, Pat got a phone call from his parents, thankfully he heard it and picked it up. It turns out that while they had been bathing Kateri, someone started knocking at the door. Mac ran downstairs to see who it was. He later told me he almost grabbed a dismantled wooden table-leg we have downstairs to use as a potential defense. But he decided against it, and opened the door.

"I'm the neighbor" the guy at the door said.

"I'm the grandpa", Mac said.

With introductions taken care of, the guy got straight to business,

"So I heard a rushing sound and saw water gushing under your deck. I think one of your pipes burst."

So immediate action was taken. Mac hurriedly turned all the water off. The downstairs hallway was drenched in water into the bathroom and a radius of six or seven feet into the downstairs living room. Mac then drove home and picked up the carpet cleaner that can't clean but can suck.

After Nanny put Kateri down, they started pulling all the water from the rug. They dumped many buckets of dirty brownish water. By the time Pat and I arrived home, Nanny and Mac were hard at work on the floors. Kateri had heard the commotion and wanted to join the fun. So we took her out of bed and she proceeded to have a blast. She was in such a joyful happy energetic mood. What a little nut!

By that time, quite a lot of water had been removed, but you could still see water pooling around your toes and feet if you stepped on the soaked carpet. We worked and worked on that carpet. Eventually, Nanny and Mac went home, and Pat, whose jaw was aching, went to bed. I stayed up and worked that carpet. I learned the trick is to push the carpet cleaner forward, and then pull it back so slowly. This definitely brought up the most water, but also drove me nuts. Definitely makes me realize how much I need to work on patience. Oh patience, you difficult thing!

The following day, Sunday, I headed up to enjoy Nonie and Nano's company and the delicious brunch at Falcon's. Pat sadly stayed home and waited for the plumber to arrive to survey the damage. Victor, the plumber, arrived and immediately showed Pat what had happened. The pipe had cracked where the outside iron spigot meets the PVC piping. The water had gushed outside, and down the cement foundation wall and into our basement. Luckily the break had happened in such a way that absolutely NONE of the dry wall was damaged! Thanks be to God!

Yesterday, Tuesday, Victor and his crew came to fix the pipe. Kateri was very intrigued and spent quite a lot of time watching their coming and going from her vantage point.

Victor cut a big square out of the ceiling, and a big piece of the drywall out (about 4 or 5 feet wide by 7 feet tall). He took out a bunch of the insulation which was soaked, painted the cement wall to decrease the possibility of any mold growing, and then put new and better insulation back in the wall. They then seamlessly replaced the drywall. I cannot even tell where it was replaced!

He also replaced the piping and put a new spigot in for our outdoor water. This spigot has at least a foot or two of metal piping that goes into the house before it attaches to the PVC piping, which will decrease the likelihood of this happening ever again! Sounds good to me.

We are so grateful that all this has worked out and it is not near as bad as it could have been. I keep thinking of what would have happened had our neighbor not noticed the water (which is pretty amazing considering we have a privacy fence, it was dark outside, and freezing! who goes outside under those circumstances, anyway?!), or if no-one been home,  how much more damage would have occurred. Thank you so much, Nanny and Mac, for being the first responders. We really appreciate it and it absolutely changed the outcome of this fiasco! Fixing the damage wasn't cheap, but it didn't even come to what our deductible would have been had we filed with home insurance. What a blessing!! So really, all around, this worked out surprisingly well, all thanks and glory to God!

In Which The Game Lasts Less Than Sixteen Hours

Strategy is the name of the game. If there is a game with strategy, I can personally guarantee that Pat will love it. Chess, Stratego, Axis and Allies probably top the list. The longer and more involved the game, the more Pat enjoys it.

Case in point: last year we went on a three day trip to a cabin out along a scenic river in the middle of nowhere. It was right around this time of year, but the weather was actually NICE and it was really MILD. As in, we barely needed long sleeve shirts. I find it hard to believe that warm breezy time actually happened in January in Virginia. But it did. The river was beautiful! There was even a big tire swing that was pretty amazing. There was an area for picnicking, camp-firing, walking the dogs, running, beautiful porches with SWINGS for reading and enjoying the scenery, areas to throw a football and much much more. But. Do you know what we did the majority of that trip?

We played Axis and Allies. I am talking about at LEAST sixteen hours, not including meals or breaks, of this game. And guess what! That was just PART of ONE game. We never even finished it, to the everlasting chagrin and frustration of Pat. In an effort to appease him, we took detailed notes and pictures of the game board so the game could be completed at one point in time. But Pat was not appeased and stated his conviction that finishing the game "ain't gonna happen!". We did everything to convince him otherwise . . . (for the record, at this time, about a year later, we haven't yet finished the game, so hat's off to you, Pat. You were right).

There were several other times that we again drug out the game, set it up and played. We never managed to complete it a single time.

BUT with all these home-bound days after his tooth surgery, Pat was just itching to pull out his favorite game. So he called up Stephen and invited him over. Stephen came over, and after spending about two hours reading the official rules online (yes it took almost two hours, that is NOT an exaggeration), they finally were ready to play. Turns out the rules Pat had been playing by were somewhat different than the official rules, and Stephen, always careful to know the rules and the game inside out, made sure that the correct rules were the rules played by. When they finally started the game, I was preparing myself for hours or potentially days of checking in on them to make sure they were still doing necessary things like eating and taking antibiotics (Pat).

As you can tell, Pat took the game Very Seriously, and even wore his grandfathers WWII hat.

Stephen contemplating his next move.

After a few hours, they ordered pizza. And a little while after eating, I snapped this shot . . .

Can you tell who's winning?

And, you will not believe this (I still barely do!), the game was finished, completed, dunzo at 8 pm, which means it only took five or six hours. Crazy, definitely not expecting that after our previous experiences with this game! I think Pat was happier that he actually completed this game at long long last than that he won! And, for the record, Stephen wants to be the Allies next game, as the Allies get three turns to every two turns of the Axis. So methinks there will be a rematch one day soon. Time will tell how long that game will take!

Sewing

Well, not so much sewing yet . . . but a sewing station. Pat and I set it up yesterday! I am very excited about it because it is upstairs on the hard wood. . . so easy to find dropped needles and close proximity to the more baby-toddler-friendly areas of the house. And since no stairs are involved to access this area, it will make it that much more likely that sewing will actually take place!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for the beautiful sewing machine and Ba and Doc (Pat's maternal grandparents) for the desk!

Opposite to the desk is our island. I am planning on clearing out some of these shelves to make room for some sewing things. See our improvised baby proofing?

And now I just have to decide what the first project will be . . . maybe a small quilt?

Posts, Music, Gold and Snow

As soon as Kateri sees me on the computer, she makes a bee-line straight for me. Then she does everything in her power to help me write a post. Here is what she wanted to share today:

/,olm f e      c k[\  

Enlightening stuff.

Kateri's most recent accomplishment is saying "Dada!" This is a very useful thing to say and makes her look smart. "Da" can mean "dog", or "That! Look!" or "Daddy". We end up interpreting it to fit the situation, and of course we always assume she is spot-on and means the correct thing :)

Kateri continues to love music of any kind, and tries to make her own music sometimes . . .

But she especially enjoys when someone jams and makes music with her.

Since her little brother isn't here yet, Kateri has to find someone else to commandeer something from. Wrigley is the obvious target. Currently, the 'gold' Kater-bear is going for is Wrigley's bed . . .

 

 

Oh how that makes her day! Kateri wins again!!!

 

 

 

 

Even with all this beautiful snow, we haven't taken Kateri outside to play in it. Mainly because it has been insanely COLD. So today, we brought the snow INSIDE.

 

 

 

As you can see, this was very very exciting.

 

 

 

 

I had assumed Kateri would only play with the icy stuff for a bit, but she kept at it for some time.

 

 

Mainly because it was delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 











Wisdom Teeth Check-In and a Winter Holiday

So dear darling Pat went in to get three of his wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday. We were lucky to sneak in to the doctors early, Pat got his teeth pulled earlier, and I got to help him walk and get him all buckled and set in the car earlier than we had hoped. Score! AND we got home before the snow really started. The surgery went really well. Post surgery, the assistant came to bring me to Pat. I will never forget walking in to the small narrow room that was more of a closet than anything else. Pat was lying on a cot-like bed on one side, with stuffed cheeks and a vacant expression. When I asked him how he was, he grunted and made noise, and when I raised an eyebrow, he gave me a thumb's up, so I knew he was OK.

As we were leaving, Pat said we couldn't leave until we got the teeth. Yes, all the teeth that had been pulled! He was pretty insistent. But the doctor was no where to be found, and the receptionist area was empty, so I prevailed upon Pat that we should just go. I have to say I regret we didn't get the teeth, how big were they? I know one was broken in half . . . Imagine what we could tell our kids some day in the future . . . "Junior, a tooth THIS size is worth $5.  . . Yours? well . . . maybe it's worth 25 cents . . "

As we drove home, Pat told me through his expressionless bulging cheek face about the tooth extraction. As the doctor had started giving him anesthesia, he told Pat. "This is the appetizer . . ." "Hmmm." Pat said, "It is delicious". Then as Pat started feeling it and feeling better and better, Pat asked the doctor, "So is this the main course?" and the doctor said, "Not the main course yet, another appetizer" . . . "Mmmmm" said Pat.

Then, before he knew it, the top left wisdom tooth was pulled. But Pat wasn't sure if the bottom left one or the upper right tooth would be the next target. He felt it was Very Important to know. He tried and tried to ask the doctor. But his hands were occupied (BP cuff, O2 sat, IV attached to arms) so he couldn't use hand motions. His jaw was stretched open with a plastic thing, and his mouth was numb. So all that came out was inarticulate mumbo-jumbo. But the doctor very kindly said, "I'm sorry, I really have no idea what you are trying to say . . . But you may not remember this anyway".

Once we got home, we had a few hours before we felt like we were 'in the clear'. Pat's bottom left tooth was bleeding quite a bit, leaving a pool of blood in his mouth. His tongue and lip stayed numb for a very long time. And he couldn't swallow anything for a couple hours. This is NOT what I wanted to see. Nursing 101 and all the post-surgery precautions of gag reflex/swallowing came flooding back to me. We did a lot of blood control, and went through a lot of gauze and a lot of big clots but eventually everything evened out! AND feeling came back in his tongue, lips and cheeks. So no nerve damage, thank God!

And thanks to THIS miraculous fruit:

There has been little to no swelling!! Especially surprising after the doctors made a Very Big Deal about Pat's age, how his teeth have hardened, and wisdom teeth removal is a whole different ball game when you're 30 than when you're 20.

Day one:

Not too bad, right?!

Yesterday, I only took one picture and it turned out terribly. SO,

On day 3:

Not much swelling!! Yet another pineapple victory!!

And the best part about this whole thing is Pat has been staying home all week! It has been the best thing ever.

'Best Text of the Week Award' Goes to . . . .

PETER!!!


Peter sent me this text:

"Hi this is Pete here's the shoe of coolness:

And here's a giant shoe we found:"

That shoe is rather enormous!!!

What Will the Box Reveal?

Each person cast their vote by picking a straw . . .

And then gathered on either side of the box . . .

And then . . .







We opened it!

It's a BOY!!!!


And Kateri DID warm up to the idea, eventually . . .

And is very excited (even if she doesn't know it yet!) to meet her little baby brother and to teach him all sorts of fun things!

We are all so thrilled to meet you, little one!

Give Me a Little Stress Relief!

We have a nice big separate bath tub in our master bath, which comes in especially handy if you happen to have little munchkins. And even more handy if you happen to be of the mindset that an occasional shower is a nice commodity that you would rather not give up. We utilize this set up often. I usually toss Kateri and a few toys in to the bath tub while I enjoy a nice hot shower. Oh the joy! Knowing a ten month old is contained for at least ten minutes is joy itself, but when you can add a shower into the equation . . . I just don't know if it can get better than that!

This morning, Kateri happily played in the bathtub, and continued to play as I brushed my teeth. (Can I just say it is SO NICE to be able to brush one's teeth while not simultaneously playing defense for the toilet against a very mobile and quick ten monther?!). I looked at the laundry I needed to do, great bags of laundry that look more like body bags for rather obese individuals. I thought of the floors needing vacuuming (honestly, how do bedrooms get so dirty so fast? I try to vacuum them at least once a week but they seem to need it every other day. BEDROOMS! what?!), the bathrooms needing cleaning, the organization projects I have in mind. Hmm, there is a lot to do! Not worth getting stressed about. As Pat says, don't use the 'N' word too often, you don't really need to get everything done in a day.

Then I turned around, and Kateri sat in the tub with a funny expression on her face. I did not snap a picture as I took in the situation. She had somehow managed to open a Bath and Body Works Stress Relief Bath Salt and spilled it all around her. That guilty funny expression could mean only one thing, and as I picked her up, I smelled her breath and sure enough she smelled like Stress Relief Bath Salt! I was sure she had tried it, but hoped she hadn't eaten a lot.

I immediately called to Pat, and asked him to verify if he smelled it on her breath. He did, and so I immediately called poison control. I didn't press one because they said only press one if it was an emergency.  Kateri wasn't in convulsions, and after a brief glance at the ingredients I was fairly sure that they weren't overly life-threatening. Then the recording taught me all about the poison control center, and how many people it serves, that it is not government subsidized but is run thru grants and donations and did I want to send one in? She told me that most poisons can be handled at home, and everything you would EVER want to know about carbon monoxide poisoning, the 'silent killer'. She told me about educational services she would offer for kids, and Spike who would teach kids to tell an adult if another kid ingested something poison. She told me tons of other information, and then some corny poison song with a little ditty to help remember the poison control center phone-number came on. At this point, I decided for times sake I would press one!

Word to the wise! Always press one right away! It will save you time, even if you think that the poison is really not that poisonous!! And if it happens to be real poison, every moment counts!

I spoke to Nancy, who was very helpful and said that Stress Relief Bath Salt may cause severe mouth/stomach irritation and vomiting but nothing more. I can handle that. She said, give Kateri some water or milk and she should be okay, and call immediately if you need anything else or if anything else comes up. I felt an immediate urge to burst into tears. She's going to be OKAY! Oh Pregnancy! What you do to us! Then I thought, Wait, I knew that anyway!! and promptly the urge for tears disappeared. Thank you reality.

Oh Kateri, you will give us much more stress relief if you don't eat any more Stress Relief!

1 year

A year ago, Kateri looked something like this:

Well, not long after that, Kateri met her family: 

And after doing a lot of this:

And lots of snuggling . . .

And working on some mad skills . . .

And doing some more of this , , ,

And a lot more of this:

And now, this is the face that I get to see every morning:

 

 

How many blessings we have had this past year! Thanks be to God!

My Little Helper

Kateri has loved helping me around the house. Whether by making a mess so that I have something to clean, or making sure I am aware of the piece of something on the floor that I somehow missed when I swept, or crawling on to the dishwasher to help me pull things out, she is always there lending a helpful hand. Recently she helped me put away some of our Christmas bags and boxes. Of course she discovered something very interesting that I might need help with.

 

Cotton! From a box that had jewelry in it! (see the white box?)

 

That stuff is pretty legit. It looks like cotton candy and MUST taste good . . .

 

 

 

However, I used my sweet ninja mom skills and stopped any cotton from being consumed.

 

 

And Kateri was still a very happy munchkin!