Saturday, December 15, 2007

Post Surgery



Matt's doing okay. The surgery was Thursday - Dr. Bonner removed a cyst from Matt's sublingual gland, and hopefully most of the gland so that it won't happen again. It was agonizing, nerve-wracking, and painful Thursday and Friday, but today's been better. Matt's doing a lot better than he was at first. He was so pale when we first got to see him after the surgery that I just wanted to curl up in the bed with him and hold him. And yell and smack around the nurse staff and doctors who had kept me and his parents away from him. But, aside from wanting some real food and not liquid stuff, he's doing pretty good now. He's helped me with Natalee some today and helped me make out all the Christmas cards. As long as he doesn't try to wolf down anything harder than a smashed ravioli, takes his painkillers, and takes it easy, he'll be fine. I keep repeating this in the hopes that I'll remember.


Matt's parents and Jennifer were a big help. Natalee hardly missed us having her best pal Aunt Jenna here. (She was pretty unhappy when Jennifer left this morning.) Matt and I didn't worry about Natalee since we knew she was happy and with someone responsible looking out for her. And it was a relief having Matt's parents here, having somebody else to agonize with during the wait, run errands for Matt's needs, and laugh and talk about less stressful things with. My mother came by to check on Matt (but mostly to see Natalee and Jennifer). And Brent came by and visited with us for a few hours. (He was in town interviewing for residency programs.) We've been very blessed to have friends and family around us when we needed them.


My early baking-and-freezing cookies regimen has been going slow, needless to say. I made a double batch of Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels (recipe courtesy of Alton Brown's "Good Eats") this week. The first half of the batch only came out so-so, but the other half came out really well. I'll have to make another batch to make up for the less-than-stellar ones and for the ones that everybody who visited scarfed. I'll post the recipe at the end. Here's my take on them - they take a long time to make, so be certain you have plenty of time or plan on spreading them out over a while. Make certain you put the chocolate dough on bottom, or it really won't look right. And you have to have parchment paper. HAVE TO. And plastic wrap is good too. The dough, possibly because of the chocolate, is hard to roll out. It falls apart and sticks to everything that's supposed to be nonstick. Putting a layer of plastic wrap on top helped a lot. You have to have parchment paper to put on the cookie sheets when you bake them. I tried spraying the pans really well, and I tried silicone mats. Parchment works best because the candy cane bits in the cookies melt and adhere to the pan/mat and won't come off without breaking. So be certain you have parchment paper for these, or you'll waste a lot of time making pretty cookie....crumbles. Oh, and if you have the food-safe gloves/whatever for hand mixing the dough, wear 'em. The little chunks of candy cane are sharp. But hey, they're really pretty and taste pretty good when you do them the right way.

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels
1 batch Sugar Cookies, recipe follows
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used Ghiradelli chips)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candies
Divide the dough in half and add chocolate and vanilla to 1 half and incorporate with hands. Add egg yolk, peppermint extract, and crushed candy to other half of dough and incorporate with hands. Cover both with plastic and chill for approximately 5 minutes. Roll out doughs separately to approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Place peppermint dough on top of chocolate and press together around the edges. Using waxed paper or flexible cutting board underneath, roll dough into log. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Place cookies 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat and bake for 12 to 13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Sugar Cookie:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice, as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Yield: approximately 3 dozen, 2 1/2-inch cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes (they lie!!)
Cook Time: 7 to 9 minutes (they lie!!)
Inactive Prep Time: 2 hours (they lie!!)

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Christmas Cheer


I keep forgetting to update this thing. I know it's been a while. It always feels as if I've been so much busier than normal. I've come to the realization that busier than expected IS normal. *sigh*


It's that time of year again, when the kids channels are inundated with horrible toy commercials, people go around humming carols under their breath rather than curses, and neighbors compete to see who can put up the best Christmas lights. Yes, I know this, even in my apartment. But the neighbors only tease me a little about my 2 strings of badly put up lights and tiny lit up tree, because they know my time is much better spent baking. I've started baking earlier this year, baking and freezing cookies ahead of time so I won't be dashing around for a day or two trying to make three different kinds of breads and sweets and deliver them before the goods aren't fresh. And I've started baking cookies this year rather than all sweet breads, but I'll still bake my Pumpkin-Glazed Walnut bread. I'll try to include a recipe or two at the end of this.


We bought our first Christmas tree this year, a pre-lit fake one from Wal-Mart. Natalee seems to be enjoying it. She's been pointing to to it a lot, saying 'Wha'z'at?!' The tree we had prior to this was the little two footer that's now on the porch. There aren't a lot of ornaments on it, but it leaves room for the ones Natalee'll hopefully make herself one day in Primary or kindergarten, and the ones we receive as gifts. We have about two dozen ornaments on the tree, and all but maybe three have been gifts from family and friends celebrating Matt's and my first Christmas together, our engagement, our first Christmas as parents, and several celebrating Natalee's first Christmas, along with gifted Aggie ornaments. It doesn't seem right to just buy a box full of balls without any sentimental value behind them. It's been really nice to see the tree glowing in the living room, feeling like we're starting our own memories as a family. Plus now we actually have a place to tuck our gifts.


Things haven't all been rosy lately with Matt's surgery coming up. It shouldn't be too bad since it's outpatient surgery. But it's a little nerve-wracking since he'll have to stay overnight for observation regardless, in case his airways get blocked. But Jennifer's supposed to be coming to take care of Natalee for us and help around the apartment for a day or two. And Matt's parents are coming for moral support. That's been a big relief to us. We won't have to deal with this by ourselves, with a child to take care of and a scary experience ahead of us. It felt like that when I had Natalee, since there wasn't anybody here to help us and give support till the day after. (That couldn't be helped though, since she came almost four weeks early.) But it'll be nice to have some of our family here. If we just think about our family visiting and Christmas coming up and avoid the surgery stuff, we can pretend that it's an early holiday celebration.


Natalee has been growing so much! Suddenly since she turned two, she's shot up and lost a lot of weight. She used to have chubby little legs that were short below her torso. In the last week or two they've stretched out and thinned out. No more chubby little legs for sure. And her little pot belly is gone. Her ribs are visible most of the time now. I hate that - I loved her little belly, but it's natural. I'll just have to repress my urges to constantly feed her cheese and milkshakes. She likes to sing "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and "Once There Was a Snowman." She doesn't know all the words but definitely has the tunes down. And she loves to be picked up and held and hugged and kissed and give kisses and play hide-and-seek. She's a lot of fun right now, unless she's throwing one of her fits. Matt and I've gotten to be old hands at that in some ways. We've learned to just tune her out. Unless she decides to slap you in the face and bite you a few times. Which she did at the ENT's office last week. Good times...


I'm happy that Christmas is almost here, enjoying the excitement of getting all the shopping done and the anticipation of visiting loved ones and receiving gifts. But it's always a bit sad this time of year too. I like having Christmas and New Year's to look forward to. Once they're over, it's kind of bleak and cold and broke for weeks after. But Christmas seems to be extra special this year, experiencing it with my sweet little girl. And I'm definitely enjoying making my Christmas goodies in my big, powerful stand mixer. Eat your heart out, Tim the Toolman Taylor. I got a real machine in my kitchen this year! I can make 13 dozen cookies at a time in this baby. Which is why I'm making cookies. *gloat-gloat-gloat*


Here's one of the recipes I'm using. The ones I've made so far are really good. The texture reminds me of pecan sandies. Just make sure you grease your cookie sheet well enough, or the cookies will explode when you try to pull them off.


Swirled Holiday Snowball Cookies


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® SWIRLED™ Holiday Morsels
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts
Powdered sugar


Directions: PREHEAT oven to 375° F. BEAT butter, 3/4 cup sugar, vanilla extract and salt in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour. Stir in morsels and nuts. Shape level tablespoons of dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven. Sift powdered sugar over hot cookies on baking sheets. Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, if desired. Store in airtight containers.


Estimated Times: Preparation - 15 min Cooking - 10 min Cooling Time - 10 min cooling Yields - 54 cookies (4 1/2 dozen)


I got this recipe off of Nestle's website, http://www.verybestbaking.com/. It's also available on the back of the packages of the swirled holiday morsels. They're really easy to make, it's pretty much just powdered sugar, butter, swirled morsels, and nuts. Just watch them so they don't crisp up - they bake pretty fast. Hope they turn out as well for you as they did for me.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Mormonism

Okay, I usually try to stick to making posts about the fam, what we're doing, what's new with Natalee, talking about seeing the rest of our family. This post really doesn't have anything to do with my immediate family.

I'm getting a little annoyed lately with the hype about the LDS church and Mitt Romney. I don't know Mitt Romney. I don't know what he is like, what he likes, what his particular beliefs are, because yes, beliefs can vary even within one religion, because each person's faith can vary. I've heard some astouding things at church that really aren't part of the Scriptures, but are the personal beliefs of the individual, take 'em or leave 'em. Because that's the beautiful thing about faith - it's unique, it's individual, it's about each person's very special, very personal relationship with God, and nobody's relationship with God is identical.

Time magazine recently put out on an article about a Southern Baptist leader named Land's opinion on Mormonism, especially in relation to Mitt Romney. Time has been making a big deal about Romney and his religion, almost like a witch hunt. Maybe I'm more sensitive because I'm Mormon (though inactive), and of course I'm going to be defensive if every time I see a Time article linked to CNN.com, it's putting Mormons in a bad light. It's starting to feel like some of their writers and editors have a serious problem with Mormons. (My reading of it: They don't want a Mormon as president, no ifs, ands, or buts.) Regardless of all that, I'm talking about this SBC oriented article. Which to give them credit, is better than some of the others they've put out. Land was consulted by Romney to help him figure out how to get his religion out of the political limelight. Land hasn't exactly jumped on the Romney and LDS boat, but he's toeing the line between right now. What he says is this: the LDS church should be considered outside of Christianity, in the way that Judaism and Islam is, within the Abraham-matriculated faiths. So, give the LDS church more respect like you would the Islamic and Jewish faiths, but it's not exactly Christian. They feel that Mormons are a lot like the Muslims, in that Joseph Smith is comparable to Mohammed in Islam.

What bothers Christian-based worshippers about the LDS church? They think we're polytheistic. Wow. Give them their due, they did not say we worship Joseph Smith and the prophets, or believe them to be gods, something I have heard before, many times. (Ha!) But because we believe that each individual person, by living the Gospel and following the teachings of Jesus Christ and our church, can become gods. Thus we're polytheistic. Even though we don't worship any additional gods, we've never said there are other gods out there right now, just because we believe godhood is the ultimate reward for living the Gospel. But hey, it's okay for other Christian religions to believe that they'll die and become angels. Even though it doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that so-and-so is an angel or meant to be an angel. Look, buddy, you can say you're going to be an angel when you die, but show me where it says, you, Joe Blow, are to be an angel. I don't see your name anywhere in here. Can you tell me the page? Isn't that the same concept? That I'm supposed to revere somebody who's passed away because they're an angel now? No. I will respect them for the choices they made in their life, they things they have achieved, and yes, I believe they are waiting in Paradise in a place near God. But no, I don't believe they're an angel. Just like I don't believe there are any gods besides God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost out there right now. Judgement Day has not arrived yet. And many things will happen after that day that will change our complete perception of life, the world. Our views will be opened, the Veil lifted, and we will know and understand God's plan. Yes, people may become angels after that day. And others may, through true faith and obedience, may become gods. I believe all things are possible through God. I believe we are all God's children, that Jesus Christ is our example to follow, through life and death. And yes, I am a Christian.

I hate when people tell me Mormons aren't Christian. Because it makes no sense to me. We believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in God the Father, and we believe in the Holy Ghost. We try to follow the tenets set down for us through the prophets, both the old ones of the Old and New Testament, and the ones who lead our church today. I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe he is my Savior, and the Redeemer of this world. But some guy off the street, who knows nothing about me, can hear that I'm Mormon and say, "Hey, you're not Christian." As if he has the right to determine that. To me, it's like somebody walking up to me and saying, "Hey, you're not human." How do you respond to that? "Huh, you mean all this time I was a Neanderthal? Duuuude." No. My first thought is to look at them and think, "Gee, you're not very bright, are you?"

I respect Land for trying to give us a separate place with its own due respect, something that might help other 'Christians' understand us. Because Mormons are different. We understand that. We have learned to savor some of those differences. But it's still wrong about us not being Christian.

As for Mitt Romney, yes, he's Mormon. That doesn't mean I'll be rushing out to vote for him next year. I'm undecided right now, but leaning towards some of the Democrats. But at least Mitt Romney wouldn't tell me I'm not Christian.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Butterflies


Natalee and I saw something amazing today, monarch butterflies on their migration south to Mexico (I'm assuming). We didn't see clouds of them or huge masses of them. Just monarchs fluttering here and there, all over the southern end of FM 2920. They fluttered through the Target and Academy parking lots, swooped through busy intersections, stopping to rest on cars and landscaping. Natalee was fascinated by them. Suddenly she was pointing to "bu'erbyes" everywhere. And I kept worrying about the ones I saw struggling through the intersections or dipping down into the road, afraid I might hit one. I hate to see dead butterflies flattened in car and truck grills. It feels like such a waste, to see such fragile beauty smashed against someone's speeding vehicle. But what can you do to prevent it? I hate to hit them, but I have an even more special cargo in my backseat that I might put in danger if I'm swerving on the road to avoid hitting insects. Maybe that's why we consider butterflies so beautiful, since they're such fragile creatures who only live for a few months. I'm glad Natalee and I got to see them together. And got to hear her say "bu'erbye."

Monday, October 1, 2007

Bedtime fun


Matt and I are listening to Natalee crying in the doorway of her room right now. It's kind of sad, but a 'have to' situation. We switched Natalee's crib over to a toddler bed today. She thought it was a lot of fun, climbing in and out of her bed and arranging her animals in it and reading in it. And, in preparation for spending the weekend at my dad's and stepmom's house, we bought an inflatable bed/sleeping bag combo for her, with Dora and Boots on it. It's laid out on the floor of her room, inflated and ready to go, should she decide she would rather sleep there. Matt and I followed the normal bedtime routine - small meal, bath, getting jammies on and hair combed, read her one of her bedtime books in the rocking chair in her room, and then put her into her bed after kisses and hugs. But, less than a minute after we laid her down and came into our room, a Thump! out of her bed and the door was pushed open by a very smug little girl. We put her back to bed with hugs and kisses twice. And still she smugly pushed open our door. So, we put up the baby gate in her doorway, tucked her in bed, and pulled her door to. I've been listening to her crying in the doorway since.


I know she's tired. She and I woke up after Matt left for work at 5:10 this morning. She decided for both of us that we didn't need to go back to sleep. We had a busy morning with a trip to the bank and Walmart. And then we both took a good nap. But I know she's still tired. She's been fussy and edgy and biting things all evening. So we gave her Tylenol prior to putting her to bed, in case she's teething. Still, I can hear her crying and mumbling to herself in the doorway. I'm dreading finding her asleep on the floor with tears and snot dried on her face and trying to shift her to her bed without waking her up and starting over.


We had to start this transition soon. She's nearly two. We really need to start potty training her soon. She's a tall girl. And she's grown out of the travel crib/playard she usually sleeps in on trips. So, it's either start this here, with all the familiar routines and almost the same bed, or Friday night after a very long trip in a place she's never stayed the night at before. Urgh. My poor little booger baby.
Edit: I'm impressed. She fussed for a while, but she put herself back in bed to sleep. So I didn't smack a sleeping baby when I opened the door to check on her. Hurray!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Busy bees get the what? Not worm, I hope.


Busy, busy, busy lately. Matt's and my anniversary was last week. My birthday is this week. We had some friends over Friday night for homemade fried chicken, homemade fries, homemade rolls, salad, corn on the cob, cherry pie, and ice cream. I've been doing some editing/proofreading for Brent and a friend of his on their personal statements to get into a residency program in NYC. The Aggie football season has started. And Jennifer's, my grandfather's, and Eric's birthdays were all in the past two weeks. So, with cleaning up the apartment for company, learning how to make homemade rolls and chicken, screaming at the TV during football games, and straining my brain trying to not rewrite but fix up doctor-to-be statements, I think I and Matt are ready for a break. But it's all good. It's fall. If only the cooler weather would hurry up and get here. And I got a Professional 600 series KitchenAid stand mixer for my birthday-versary. Very, very awesome when you're learning to make yeast dough and you stink at kneading, and when you're known for giving out vast quantities of pumpkin nut and banana nut bread around the holidays. I'm so in love with the thing that I'm ready to paint it Alton-Brown style. But instead of flames, I'd paint WHOOP! on it.


So we're all doing good, just things are hectic right now. Or maybe I just like to think we're all doing good, because my birthday is in a few days and I have an awesome, magical appliance sitting on my kitchen counter. And it's fall.

Monday, August 20, 2007

When it rains, it pours...


It's rained. And rained. And rained some more around here lately. And that's just been the stuff we got off of Tropical Storm Erin. I am very thankful Dean won't be heading our way. I'm sure we'll still feel the backlash of it though. Houston seems to hold up a special magnet to draw storms our way. My grandfather always jokes about the rainy weather down here since they came to visit last year, about how we need an ark to get around. Usually the rain doesn't faze us anymore, but the constant downpours have been a definite frustration.


The rain wouldn't have been such a bother if other things hadn't been happening, too. At least one of the fuel injectors have gone bad on my car. The car rattles, throbs, fights you, and groans at an idle and when you try to accelerate. I had noticed a slight hesitation when I accelerated for the past week or two, but Friday, in the middle of really bad traffic in a really awful downpour, it decided to show its true colors. With all my childhood memories of car troubles and their consequences, I was ready to cry. Natalee heard a few words she should never repeat, to say the least. Thankfully, Matt was able to get the car to settle down a little bit by putting a higher grade gasoline and some fuel injector cleaner into the tank. It doesn't make such a racket now, but it still hums, making sure we don't forget to take it in to the mechanic. Unfortunately, this is something we've had a problem with before. We had one of the fuel injectors replaced with a brand new one this past spring. It makes us wonder if maybe they didn't do a very good job replacing it, or if they didn't replace it with a new one, like we paid them to do. I called up the same mechanic today, hinting at the fact that we brought the car in before for the same problem. They said they couldn't get us in till Wednesday or Thursday. Wonderful, since we're supposed to be heading up to Fort Worth on Thursday. Matt has already taken Friday off as a personal day.


Because of our car troubles now, and because the last few times we've driven up to Fort Worth has caused us car trouble, I asked my dad to rent us a car. Matt and I both felt pretty awkward about it, but Dad has offered to rent us a vehicle before for the trip up there. It would be nice to not have to worry about car troubles for at least one of our trips. Plus money is really tight for us right now, with the semi-annual insurance payment due next month, however much it'll cost to get the car fixed this time around, our anniversary, my birthday, Matt's and Natalee's birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all coming up. If we did manage to get the car fixed in time to drive up to Fort Worth, it'd really hurt us if something started acting up in the car once we got there, or once we got home, which has happened a lot recently with these trips. We've been staying afloat lately because Matt's been working as much overtime as he can, and we have a little money saved in case of emergency, but it's not very much. And we have my student loan payments and we've been putting money into Natalee's 529 for college every month and Mom's not always regular about paying the credit card... so we really don't have much leeway financially, especially right now with all these future spendings looming. I've even told Matt not to get me anything for my birthday or our anniversary. Right now we can't afford it.


Normally, all this wouldn't get me down much. The car is acting better for the time being, so maybe it won't be as bad as last time we had to take it in to the mechanic. And although money is tight, it almost always is, and I always look forward to the excitement of fall and winter holidays. But I started getting sick Thursday after babysitting my four year old cousin. I thought it was just something I ate, until I started getting really bad cramps Friday night (inconveniently, when the car started acting up). Saturday and Sunday I was taking regular doses of Peptobismal Max and Immodium AD and ibuprofen for the really bad joint pain in my hips and knees, and my GI tract was completely out of whack. I'm feeling better today, thankfully, but my stomach is still very sensitive and sore, and my hips still ache. I think I had some kind of virus that hit my intestines hard for a few days. I'm doing a lot better, but I haven't exactly felt chipper with everything going on.


To top it all off, the ceiling in the bathroom started dripping last night, and Natalee woke up at four a.m., I'm guessing because of gas or her four teeth coming in bothering her. I'm really hoping this doesn't mean she'll be waking up in the middle of the night on a regular basis again. I'm hoping it was a one night thing, and the repairman will be able to fix the leak no problem.


On the bright side of things, Matt has glasses now to help with his bad vision and is pretty healthy. Natalee is in good health aside from the teething pain. She's absolutely wonderful. She loves to go in her room and sit down at the little table that I stacked all her books on and go through them, looking at the pictures, pretending to read them to herself. Everything is "what's that?" from her. She always wants to know about colors and shapes and letters and numbers. She likes to run up and give you hugs and kisses sometimes. She loves to color in the bathtub with her bath crayons and fling bubbles all over or smear them on the tiles. She pretends to talk on the phone, with her little fist as the phone. She's so silly and sweet and smart and adorable. And she's all ours, Matt's and mine. Now that's a happy thought.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...

July has been a pretty good month for us. Nothing catastrophic happened that I can remember off the top of my head, always a good sign. And a few good things happened, like the last Harry Potter book came out, our friend Brent stayed with us for a few days, and we got to visit a lot of our friends and family at the beginning of the month.

Matt's mom is doing well, all things considered. She's looking down the home stretch regarding the end of her chemotherapy. Thereafter, she'll have to start taking chemical injections. We really haven't heard anything about how those affect you. Hopefully they won't be as bad as the chemo, which has left her very fatigued lately. A lot of her friends have rallied around her lately, offering to accompany or drive her to her treatments, visiting and taking her shopping and out to have fun, baking goodies, sending cards or calling to check on her, in an effort to keep her in good spirits. It pains Matt and me that we can't be there to help more right now, but we are very, very thankful for those who have helped out and just loved Mom so much. It has really made a difference in how these treatments have affected her and Dad.
We saw Matt's parents, of course, while we were visiting the beginning of the month. We spent July 4th with Eric, Pam, and Kaitlyn, and some of Pam's family at her house. It was really a neat experience, because this was Natalee's first real Independence Day (since last year she was too young to enjoy anything), and Matt and I hadn't done anything to celebrate the 4th in a few years. Pam's daughter Kaitlyn worked at her dad's firework stand for several days preceding the 4th, and so got a lot of fireworks as payment. Plus I think Eric and Pam bought quite a few too. So we got to watch Matt and Eric light off fireworks and watch the fireworks being shot off over the lake in the distance. Natalee at first was a little stunned by all the noise and light and smoke, but she was having fun and pointing out the explosions to everybody by the end. But she enjoyed playing with Kaitlyn, who's ten, and her friend, the most. She even left my lap halfway through the fireworks to go to Kaitlyn's. It was really special to sit and watch fireworks with Natalee and enjoy the holiday with friends.

Natalee and I also spent a day with Kara and Jennifer, and got to visit with Dad and Brenda a little bit at the end of the day. It's hard adjusting to the idea of Jennifer driving her own car. I still slip up once in a while and call Natalee Jennifer, since Jenn was my baby when she was little. We had a good time running all over the Lake Dallas area with them, meeting Kara's long time boyfriend Trevor, getting my haircut, eating ice cream at Coldstone's, chatting at their house. I know it's been a while now since we lived in the same house, but I still miss my sisters and wish that we lived a lot closer.

We attended Brent's birthday party and visited with Brent and Rachel, Pam and Eric, Tamara and Michael Quick, and some of Brent's family. And Natalee got to run amok with a herd of little kids around her age in a house full of toys. We also got to see Brad and my family a few times over at my grandparents', once just to eat lunch and the second time at the obligatory family get together with lots of family photos. Brad seemed a little tense from stress lately, but I think being home with the family helped give him back some confidence. It's hard to imagine Brad being down for long. He's still my buff, cocky, sensitive firefighter brother, and I'm very proud of him and what he's done with his life.

Since then, things have been pretty easy going. Matt's had to work a lot of overtime, since two of his co-workers' wives were due to give birth this month and another co-worker resigned. Natalee's had three or four teeth coming in, which has thrown a knot into our schedule. If she doesn't take a good nap, she doesn't sleep well at night, and neither do I as consequence. And if she doesn't sleep well at night, she usually won't take a good nap the next day. It's been frustrating, but Matt and I've re-adjusted to giving Natalee something for the teething pain, just letting her fuss at times, and knowing when and how to catch back up on missed sleep.

Brent came to stay with us a few days this past week while he took one of his exams in downtown Houston for becoming a doctor. This one involved visiting with 12 professional fake patients, spending no more than 15 minutes with each, and diagnosing their 'medical problem' while being watched by a review board on camera. It sounded pretty frustrating to do within the time limits, but I've got faith that Brent handled it well. Matt was glad to see him, even if it was during his work week. As Matt described it, we're pretty insular here at home, so company is always a good thing. We also got to meet Brent downtown with one of our old friends, Sam, from college. Sam was Matt's RA in Eppright for a few years, and was one of the groomsmen in Brent's wedding. It was good to see him again, but a little bittersweet as well. We don't have as many things to connect on as we used to, since Sam's a successful career-focused guy without the responsibilities of a family. And Matt and I . . . pretty much focus and depend on and support our family unit. It made me miss the kinship we once had in college with our college buddies, where we were all young and silly and somewhat smart (some more than others) and with the same sort of moral code and willing to have fun. We've had to grow up since then. Maybe it's just me. Brent has a family and still connects pretty well with Sam, and I think Matt would fit in if he had a little more free time just to hang out and visit. But as for me, what can I discuss that has any relevance for someone with a business world career and no real home ties? Harry Potter and Aggie sports was about it. *wry smile* C'est la vie.

As for me this past month, I've mostly been dealing with the changes in Natalee's nap and bedtime routine, scrubbing floors and wiping down cabinets for company, and trying to find a recipe I liked for banana bread. I'll try to post it at the end of this. I think I finally found one, after some trial and error, that is moist and sweet and nutty and good. And, I got glasses this past weekend. I've been having headaches for months now, usually right around the time I lay Natalee down for her nap, and I sit down, drink my one caffeinated beverage for the day and read. For a while now, I thought the headaches were a result of the caffeine. And then I had headaches while I stayed up at night to read Harry Potter, when I hadn't had a soda in hours. That tipped me off that I needed to have my eyes checked. My eyes aren't bad. I don't technically need glasses. But I have an astigmatism in my left eye that gives me eyestrain and headaches, especially in dim light. Bad news when I'm a readaholic, try to keep the lights off as much as possible during the day, and with all the funky, cloudy weather this summer, there hasn't been much sunlight to light up the apartment. I don't have a problem if I'm in a very well-lit area or I'm outside in broad daylight, so let's say when I'm driving during the day, I don't need them. But pretty much anytime, anywhere else, they help a lot. They've sharpened my vision some, and I haven't had a headache since I got them, except when I take them off for long periods of time in the apartment. So, hurray! I'm just crossing my fingers that Matt'll go get his eyes checked, now that he knows what to do and where to go from me. His eyes are much worse than mine.

So, all in all, July hasn't been bad. Hopefully August will go as well.
Banana Bread

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
1/2 cup buttermilk (this helps keep it moist)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

1. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.

2. Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.

3. Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days. [From bettycrocker.com]

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

On the road again


We'll be heading out for Azle again tonight, to celebrate the 4th with our families, to be with Matt's mom for her next dose of chemo, to help with Brent's surprise party, and to visit with Brad. Matt had to pull some strings to get Thursday and Friday off, and I've had to use some mad laundering and packing skills. And we also had to cancel some plans with a couple we've been eating out and playing cards with lately. But I think we'll be ready to blast off once Matt gets home.


I want to say things have been crazy this past month, and that's why I haven't posted. But they haven't been any crazier than normal, besides Kara and Jenn's visits. I've just felt like I had more important things to do than typing an update on our blog. We've been working on getting Natalee potty trained. No where near done with that. Right now we're just trying to plant the seed in her head that going potty in her pottychair is good. We put her hand in a cup of warm water, and we give her a Reese's Piece and a Mini M&M just for sitting down on the little chair and trying. But we've only gotten her to go once. We don't yell or make a big deal if she doesn't. She just doesn't get more candy. When she does potty in the chair, she gets two Reese's Pieces and a Mini M&M of each color, on top of what she got just for trying, plus a lot of hugs and verbal backpatting. Right now I think Matt and I need to learn to watch her better and know when to take her to the potty chair, what my mom calls 'catching her.' And just keep trying.


I've been reading a lot lately, mostly A. C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. I've problems with both of them for different reasons, but they're still good reads. But I'm very curious to see the U.S.'s reactions if they not only make The Golden Compass into a movie, but the sequels as well. People have always mentioned in conjunction with that series how odd it is that it was so popular in Great Britain and the rest of Europe, but never really caught on in the U.S. There's a reason for that. We'll see how it goes.


Matt's also been picking Magic: The Gathering back up. Matt has a few co-workers who play it, and so he's started getting back into it, going out to play with a few of them almost every weekend for the past month and a half. It's good for him to get out and do something fun and challenging like that with all the stress he has on his plate. Natalee and I just miss him when he's gone, since he's been working so much overtime lately, and then goes out for 6-8 hours one night out of the weekend to play Magic. But he loves it, and he and I play Lego Star Wars on the PS3 the rest of the weekend. There's something wrongly gleeful about ripping the arms off a Lego Stormtrooper, or going around slapping up other Star Wars characters with your little Lego hand.


Hope everybody has a safe and happy Independence Day. (We'll actually be doing something fun this year! Huzzah!)

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Recipe websites

This will be a short post. I just thought I'd post up some of the websites I go to for recipes nowadays. I've tried recipes from all of them except the Betty Crocker one, but then I grew up using Betty Crocker cookbooks, so I don't think that counts. And the LandoLakes one is pretty fattening - go figure, it's a butter website!

  • http://www.landolakes.com/mealIdeas/RecipeFinder.cfm (Really rich, stomach-growling foods)
  • http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2005/11/beyond-easy-beer-bread.html (This gal makes beer bread easy. Just do NOT use sea salt - your bread won't rise and will have a mushy center.)
  • http://www.bettycrocker.com/ (The tortilla soup recipe looks like the same one I based my famous chicken tortilla soup off of, so this website has my approval thus far. But beware, a lot of the recipes look pretty fattening!)
  • http://www.foodnetwork.com (I like the fact that you can sift through so many styles for the same recipe here. This is where I got the key lime pie recipe. You like Alton Brown - you can find his recipes here. You detest Emeril, you'll see who each recipe is attributed to and can easily avoid those submitted by chefs you dislike.)
  • http://www.kraftfoods.com (Pretty good mix of healthy and indulgent recipes. And they have a helpful program where you can type in three things from your pantry or fridge, and they'll give you a list of recipes that you can use them in, quick ideas when you don't have anything planned and you just want to use what you have on hand. But, warning, I haven't used any of these recipes yet. I'm trying out the one-pan beef stroganoff later this week.)

Most of these have a recipe box that you can electronically save your recipes to, so you can retrieve them later. And you can sign up for recipe newsletters, through which you might get inspired with an emailed or linked recipe. Let me know if you have any favorite recipe websites. I'm always looking for good new ones.

And off subject, another interesting website: http://www.getridofthings.com/index.html. I'm not saying to trust their methods wholecloth, but I'm trying out their antkilling methods with the borax cottonballs. Not for certain if it works, but it seems like it might be, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg. Most importantly, it doesn't seem to be as harmful and fumigatory as some commercial antkillers.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Sick again


Well, it was my turn to be sick this past week. I started feeling headachey and unwell Sunday afternoon; by Sunday night I had a fever of 103.3 F that didn't want to go down. Matt was up all night with me and had to miss work the next day so he could take me to the doctor's office. I came clear on the throat swab test for strep throat, and my white blood cell count was normal, but I was still so sick I had to lay down in the exam room. Mom very reluctantly brought Kara over to help out so Matt wouldn't have to miss any more work. Thankfully, I was feeling better by Tuesday morning, just weak, horribly body achey, with a sore throat. Kara helped out a lot. It was really nice having her here to play with Natalee and help around the apartment. I know Natalee enjoyed having her here to splash water on, waggle her tongue at, and giggle with. When Kara ran up to the store for me Wednesday, Natalee went looking for her all over the apartment, looking in all the rooms while holding a hand to her tummy as if to protect her heart.


Kara and I got to spend some quality sister time together. I haven't done that with just Kara in a long time. She's grown up on me - it's sad that I don't have that sweet baby sister who said "'Doodle-doo!" to the rooster, but it's amazing and a lot of fun too. I showed her how I make my Matt-approved pork chops (Matt's a picky eater), we wandered around Walmart and Palais Royal some. And we played Lego Star Wars all together Wednesday night, which was really funny. And then Natalee and I drove Kara back to Conroe to meet Mom. Hopefully we'll get to see her again soon. With her working a full time job and a long-term boyfriend, we don't see much of each other nowadays.


Jennifer will be coming to visit this next week. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm feeling a lot better now, with just a little bit of a sore throat. Natalee should finish her antibiotics today. As long as Matt doesn't get sick in the meantime, we should all be well and ready for whatever when Jenn gets here, so at least one of my sisters won't have to play nursemaid during their visit.


Natalee's latest discovery has been her belly button. She walks around with her finger poked into it and will point towards yours, saying "Wazat?" even when your shirt's down. She points to everything and asks "Wazat?" It's a lot worse when she doesn't point and asks. Then we have to name everything within sight and hearing. And right now she's sitting on a bottle of nail polish, wiggling her butt, and saying "weeee, weeee, weeee." She's a stinker, but she's fun, and she's mine. :)

Friday, June 1, 2007

Strep Throat


Natalee has strep throat. Urgh. She started acting clingy and quiet Wednesday night, which tipped Matt off that something was wrong. She had a 102+ fever that lasted through to the next morning. So I cancelled a follow-up checkup with my doctor and got Natalee in to the pediatrician's yesterday. She's been acting fine for the most part, just cranky, but her throat swab came back positive for strep. Poor baby. She's on antibiotics now, and her fever's been gone for the most part, but she's still got a sore throat. The only way I know something is wrong is that she's so fussy, and she can't say what's bothering her. It's just a matter of dosing her with amoxicillin and painkillers when she gets really fussy and keeping her home and away from other kids. The keeping her home part stinks right now because this weekend our town is throwing a big carnival to celebrate it's 100th anniversary...and the carnival is just halfway down the street from us. She would have got a kick out of going to that. Oh well.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Rain, rain, go away...


Well, we got back last night from visiting Matt's parents, and friends and family in the Fort Worth area. And it rained. And rained. And rained a great deal more. The whole trip, from the drive up there to the drive home. You get rather inured to rain down here in Southeast Texas, but lots of rain in North Texas is pretty unheard of. We started feeling as if the rain had decided to visit along with us.


Matt's mother is doing pretty well, all things considered. The chemotherapy is no picnic, but thankfully she's been able to take some medication that helps her deal with the worse side effects of the chemo, though even those weren't helping as much as time went along and the chemo started setting in. But we had a really good visit with both Mom and Dad, and Natalee got to charm Grandpa McMullen again. We also got to spend Saturday evening with Brent, Rachel, Pam, Eric, Daniel, Gabby, and kids at Pam's house, visiting, playing with the kids, eating lasagna and cobbler, and gleefully teasing each other, especially during the Wii games. It's a lot of fun when we can all get together. With Rachel and the boys back in Azle and Brent possibly in and out, we might be able to get together more often. *fingers crossed*


I also got to spend some time Sunday with Stephanie while Natalee was napping and Jay watched the boys. (Many thanks to Jay for giving his wife the heave-ho for a few hours of girl time) We ate Chinese food, ogled things we really didn't need, didn't have the extra money for, but played with and pretended we were going to buy, nonetheless. Afterwords, we consoled ourselves with some really fantastic ice cream and were very bad Mormon girls and gossiped about everyone we knew from church - how so and so was doing, where so and so was at, how many kids so and so has, remember him, what happened to her, etc. Good times.


We got to see Dad, Brenda, and my sisters as well. It's always a pleasure when I get to see my family. I'm so proud of the young women my sisters have become, from watching cartoons incessantly, running when it was time to brush their hair, and sneaking into bed with me in the middle of the night, to such poised, beautiful, creative, funny people. It amazes me that they've grown into two of the people I most want to spend my time with. Jennifer's been doing really well with her school work - she was selected for a very special honor group that visited TCU not long ago to discuss their college prospects and try out dorm life. Matt and I are very happy (dare I say it, smug?) that she still plans on attending A&M after high school. And Kara has been working her rear end off to put a new engine in her car, no mean feat. We're all three looking forward to seeing them both in June. Natalee was even looking for the girls afterwards, trying to see around Matt when he loaded her into the car. It was also really good to see Dad and Brenda. Dad is pretty much what you would wish for in a parent as an adult - always there to listen, encourage you, share what's going on with the rest of the family, and help you when you need him. I've grown to appreciate him a lot more as I've gotten older. And Brenda complements Dad perfectly, and has always been a fun and understanding stepmom. Plus she's been putting up with the girls' antics for years now. (Kudos to Brenda!)


Anyways, I'm babbling since it was so good to see everyone. The only ones we didn't visit were my grandparents and Aunt Kim and family. Since they live in Azle, we usually always see them, so I didn't feel terrible trying to set time to visit others we hadn't seen in quite a while. We made it home safely, hurrah!, and we stopped in West at the Czech Stop on the way back, so we got to enjoy very, very good food despite the awful weather. The cream cheese kolaches are divine! Everyone in the state of Texas should at some point try to make their way to West and sample the really fantastic Czech foods.


Until next time, TTFN and all that.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

And a one, two, three!


Well, I like Stephanie's blog so much, I thought I'd give her style a try. I like the layout of this blog a lot better than the MSN My Spaces - I don't think anybody can actually enter those unless they have a Hotmail Live account. Bummer. I'll try to post as regularly as possible here with the McMullens' happenings.


We received very good news last night. Matt's mother has breast cancer, stage 2B. She recently had a radical modified mastectomy. The good news is, her PET scan came back clear. The cancer hasn't spread to anywhere else in her body, and because her lymph nodes are still small, she doesn't have to have radiation. She starts chemotherapy this Friday. We'll be driving up to Azle to be with her and Dad this weekend, to help out and spend some of Memorial Day with them. I think they're looking forward to seeing our little booger baby.


I made a key lime pie this week. It came out pretty well, though I would recommend lessening the amount of lime juice in the recipe - it's very tart! Since Matt is pretty anti-sour cream, mayonaise, etc. we just used cool whip and blackberries as topping, and I bought a pre-made graham cracker pie crust. This is based off of an Emeril recipe from Food Network.



  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar

  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter) melted

  • 2 (14-ounce) cans condensed milk

  • 1 cup key lime or regular lime juice

  • 2 whole eggs

  • 1 cup sour cream

  • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

  • 1 tablespoon lime zest


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter with your hands. Press the mixture firmly into a 9-inch pie pan, and bake until brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before filling.
Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
In a separate bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the cooled pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Once chilled, combine the sour cream and powdered sugar and spread over the top of the pie using a spatula. Sprinkle the lime zest as a garnish on top of the sour cream and serve chilled.


Natalee is...

baby