*~*Update*on*Dennis*~*

There really hasn't been much of a change - at all.  He has been pretty much at a stand still.  EXCEPT - a few days ago, he was able to stand for a COUPLE OF SECONDS without help.   Can you imagine?  Being able to stand for a couple of seconds being something to celebrate?!  Yeah, well... that's our life.  He said he was starting to get a little feeling back - or it wasn't hurting as much - but his meds he's been taking has been helping a lot with that.  He needs to start taking it during the day though.

Well, on Tuesday night, he was helping to make dinner - he reached behind him to get something out of the cupboard and **BOOM** ... I turn around and he's on the floor.  It took him (literally) 5 minutes to manage to get up off the floor.  It was a little scary.  Really.  Then he fell AGAIN when he got up to go to the bathroom...

He was up most of the night Tuesday/Wednesday ....  he couldn't sleep until 4:30 because he was in so much pain.  But he had an OT appointment Wednesday morning he didn't want to miss because it's hard to get into them.  So he didn't even tell me the extent of it.  Not until after his OT appointment.

So he asked to see our regular doctor, to see if maybe he could get squeezed in.  They talked to him and managed to squeeze him in.  So he saw the Doc ... and she wasn't overly concerned....  She did comment how she was happy that his strength had gotten better - however, Dennis says he feels weaker.  She said if he got worse, to go into the ER.

Then he told me he couldn't move his foot.  It took a lot A LOT of seconds ticking by and concentration to move it.   Here is a video...

(he says "you are putting my ugly feet on the internet!?" ... um, yep!) 

So he called the nurse line ... talked to them, they wanted him to DEFINITELY go in to the ER for an x-ray.  So I took him in.....   he was sitting there in pain but we had to make it a comedy ... seriously - it was either that or cry ....... so this is what happened........

(written up last night while in the ER)

Stupid thoughts …. Thunk…. While waiting in the ER waiting room for 5 million hours …….

• ·         Checking into a red phone now……. Next thing you know, there will be a droid

• ·         (medical personnel)  “What’s going on with the patient in …”  “Where did (insert name) in room (insert number) go?” “What is going on?”  …..  Clusterfruck much?
• ·         Isn’t it rude to have a LOUD conversation in a QUITE waiting room – on your cell phone – when it has nothing to do with you being in the ER?  “DUDE!”
• ·         I’m thinking about getting a mask because the chick three feet from me is puking …
• ·         Sitting in the waiting room with this chick who obviously has a contagion – yep, I’m going to die next.
• ·         (looks up) …  that camera is OLD

• ·         Contagion Chick, can you please go vomit in the bathroom – I don’t want to hear you heaving
• ·          “I think I’m pregnant and I’m spotting.” ……. You “think” you are pregnant?  Honey you are just getting your period, who the heck comes to the ER for getting your period?  (as a m/c sufferer, I only say this cuz she’s across the room laughing it up with her friend/mom/aunt/cousin/sister?)
• ·         Ghost chick to my left keeps kneeling infront of her chair and rocking … not sure if she’s praying to the healing gods or going through fake labor …  she’s real pale … 
• ·         Couple of older ladies enter the ER and sit across from us…. Giving us the once over …. I swear that one just gave me the stink eye ……. The sick smell of booze is rolling off them.  I’m about ready to join Contagion Chick in her vomiting musical.  The automatic door for the ER opens, exposing the ER to the waiting room …… they jump up… “Let’s Go!” … great, the drunks are storming the ER!

• ·         They call “Erin” and Ghost Chick and Contagion Chick both stand up.  PLEH …..

Finally get taken back into a room…..  after 120 minutes of being exposed to the next major blockbuster zombie apocalypse virus …. 

• ·          …….. what was that ………… “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear so-and-so… happy birthday to you” …. (clapping) ……….  Yep, that’s what I thought that was…..
• ·         The Doctor comes in before the nurse ………………. 

• ·         “Test mine!” …. “84” ….  “181” …. “212” …  “I just ate 82 crackers” … “I bet you absorbed it all”  ……. Okay, let me get this straight… we’re taking bets on what medical employee’s blood sugar is???  Are you really that bored that poking yourself in the finger sounds like fun??? 
•       The nurse comes in and Dennis is laying on his belly because it hurts - she goes "WHOA! I don't walk in with people looking like that often" ....... eh... k....  
• ·         “I’m in the market of finding my next ex-husband!” WOW.... just...... wow.... this staff is something

So we get back into the room and the DR was in with in the first 20 minutes....... X-Ray comes in 10 minutes later to pull him out for that....... Nurse comes in 10 minutes after he gets back.. ...and we wait an hour for the Doc to come in after that with the x-ray results...

Nothing is broken .... YAY!!  So - the assumption is that he fell on his sciatica and this is why he's having so many problems.  He felt it was probably bruised and would take a while to heal ...  :c/  ... so... that's where we are currently.

It hurts for him to do anything but lay down - but really, that hurts too .......

Wordless Wednesday: Some Recent Photography

Random Pics ....

I ended up taking Calahan into urgent care last night .... he has been in pain for a few days ...

The DR said that there was a visible knot in his back muscle - it's no wonder he was in pain.  He was put on some muscle relaxers and told to stay out of school the following day. 

I was missing my blanket the other night ...... this is where I found it.  (this is the blanket I sleep with every night)

Dennis eating a brownie in bed while Marnie hopes to catch crumbs :c/

Nathan doing a Nebby ....... he likes to LICK the whole the med comes out of..... (rolling eyes)

After filling up a load of dishes, a couple of the dinner pans didn't fit - so they were sitting on the stove, someone decided to "cook" with some oatmeal ....  

Creative Leftovers ....

We had pasta the other night.  The sauce was super good ... I added some zucchini and onions ... yum!  I love to add more veggies to Prego Garden Style Sauce...   Well the noodles got eaten ... but we had some left over sauce - so of course I threw it in the fridge.  A couple days later I tossed some chicken in the crock pot and tossed the sauce in there with it.  It was pretty good. 

So - after dinner when I was putting the left overs away the chicken had all fallen apart - so it was like shredded chicken in sauce. 

A few days later we had noodles and sauce again....  and I should add that another thing we love is to fry up pepperoni and put some on top of our spaghetti ...

So I took the left over chicken, cut up some onions, some sweet peppers ... put them in a sauce pan.... here it is before adding two jars of sauce.......

 Fried up some pepperoni .....

 Noodles are cookin ....

 Lil Chef is helping ..... 

 This is what it turned out as ...... and oh my gosh the sauce was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G .......

It was a great way to utilize the left overs TWICE! 

Week 3 in Photos!

January 15

I was out doing some photography 

January 16

Kaedyn cooking again!

January 17

Dinner ...... chicken with left over spaghetti sauce (which the left overs of this went into a spaghetti sauce tonight!) 

January 18 

First SNOWFALL ......

 Kaedyn sleeping ... he went back to sleep in the morning on the couch

 Marnie sleeping .... silly puppy

 Tree with snow ... 

January 19 

Already shared but my favorite picture from this week!

January 20

Toasted cheese & pepperoni sammich ...  one of the boys lunch.  

January 21

Nathan getting Nebbies ...  he's been sick and needing them pretty bad :( 

The BEST Banana Bread Ever!

Around the same time I got the recipe for CAKE MIX COOKIES .... I found this super easy "dump" recipe for banana bread.  I was all about easy baking.  I don't have the effortless knack for it that a lot of people seem to.  It's called a "dump" recipe, because you can basically dump it all together and then mix it up ....  I honestly don't use any other recipe, and I panic when I think I've lost it. 

I usually triple the batch when I make banana bread.  And I usually add more bananas then what the recipe calls for.  For example, I usually put in 3 bananas when the recipe calls for 2 ... (for a single batch) ...  so I usually use 9 bananas for a triple batch .... or anything between 6 and 9 ...

So ....... first.... I dump all the ingredients together ...  I usually start with the wet stuff: bananas, butter, eggs, vanilla, milk....   I should add that I usually pop the butter (I use stick butter) in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. 

Bananas in the bowl, the boys unwrapping the butter and putting it in a bowl to soften it up in the microwave

Funny story... tonight when I was unwrapping the vanilla out of the box and stuff...  Noah sees it and I donno his thought process .. but he yells "Mom, what is that?" and I don't answer him right away.  Noah isn't one for patients at anything.... so he immediately breaks into this panic.  "Is that POISON!?!" 

I can see the resemblance, can't you?  LOL!   So I'm amused by this.  Being the horrible mother that I am, I went "Yep" just to feed into his little panic.  He screams "DENNIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Mom's trying to poison us!" and he says "Yeah, it makes it taste good."   Poor Noah.  And then, when he asked me again.  He says "What's it called?"  Apparently he wanted to know what I was going to poison him with.  So I told him.  "Vanilla."  He suddenly calms down.  "Oh, okay."  Everything was fine then. 

So after putting in the wet ingredients ...  I dump in the dry ones... sugar, flour, baking powder, and the baking soda.  Then I put the mixer in there ...  and get those bad boys mixing.   And then after a little time........ the house smells AMAZING and you can sit back and enjoy these!

 Banana Bread Muffins & Loaf

Let me know if you try it out and if you like it :)

BANANA BREAD
1/2 cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Sugar
2 cups Flour
2 Bananas (or 3)
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Tbsp Baking Soda

350 Degrees ...  start checking the Loaf after 35 minutes, check muffins at 15.  Cooking times vary depending on the altitude ...  When we lived in Wisconsin it was about ten minutes longer then it is here in Washington. 

Return of ... These Are The People of Walmart ....

Have you ever been in Wal-Mart and ... seen........... someone ...................... INTERESTING?

Have you ever gone to Wal-Mart and  BEEN  interesting?  ........ if you have, you might have made these videos!!

Last year I posted what has become one of my absolute favorite videos -------- EVER ........




Loooooooooooooooove it........... everyone sing along!!!

These are the people of Walllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllmart!   Through the mark downs and roll backs and shopping carts .......... Theeeeeeeeeeeessse are the people of wallllllllllllllmart ........ where we save money, shop smart... only at walllllllmart.

YeP!!

Well - there is AMAZING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!

If you liked that one ........... there is ANOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is ........ These are the People of Walmart - 2!


First, I hope you didn't see yourself....... second........ I hope you enjoyed it ........ third, you should watch it again and again - you see new things every time! 

Snow + Ice + Expecting Flooding = State of Emergency

Found via Google which linked back to a NEWS ARTICLE

Seattle and our area (we are usually grouped into the area of Seattle) ...  has completely been crippled by the weather the last few days.  Monday, my kids and I had off because it was MLK Day.  Tuesday, it seemed like everywhere but our town got snow ... and my class got canceled (the kids went to school.)  Tuesday night/Wednesday morning - the snow started.  We had a pretty good amount on the road when I took my friend to work that day.  This is a video I took driving home.... (Jan. 18 just before 6am) ...


This is a video I found on youtube - I think it's a cab driver - but you can see how much snow has fallen, you can see the snow weighing down the branches of the trees ... add onto that the ice from today! 


We have been seeing this a lot....

found via Google - Fox 12 in Oregon weather alert graphic

We have been seeing a lot of this.  In fact, the news has been on from 4am to 8pm when prime time TV starts. There have been a lot of road closings ... accidents ... they've been giving snow totals and updating on what areas are being hit hard.... one of the guys said there were about 300,000 homes without power ..  figure 3-4 people per house, and that's over a million people without power right now. 

Today ..... the governor announced she was declaring a State of Emergency for the state of Washington  ...

Found via Google - linked back to a NEWS ARTICLE

I got the text messages saying they were closing the public school around 4:30am yesterday, and the college just before 5am.  They closed school for today - late last night.  They closed for tomorrow already at about 6pm tonight. 

I did venture out today.  We needed milk so I decided to go down to the smaller local neighborhood grocery store about a block away.  Going the mile or so away to the bigger one consisted of going up and down a pretty nice hill....  and I didn't want to chance it.  We got out to the car and it was frozen shut.  Luckily - it wasn't super hard to get into. 

The ice on top of the snow was about a quarter inch thick to a half inch.... 

 I was standing on the drivers side of the car cleaning it off (this isn't zoomed in).... we got about 7 inches of snow ...

 The ice on the car

And the icicles......

But I finally got the rose pictures I was trying to get ........... turned out - PERFECT :)