rain on tulips

Found the Firefly Fan Listing today.

Mostly bookmarking it for my own uses, thanks!

…rather than find new physicians for your children and yourself…

…you decide to check the mail and pay bills and argue with insurance companies…

OK. Granted, both need to happen. But its one bad thing before another, right??

I’ve finished the bills. I guess there’s no excuse any more to not figure out doctors.

(Darn. I really thought it would eat up more time!)

I finished the hat/cap a few nights ago. Lesson learned: mesh, though cooler than a full knit, is looser, as well. The result: the hat fits more like a tam than a hat. But, its cute, and comfy, and gave me some good practice with off-set mesh, and continental knitting (wow, its faster!!).

Object: GrapeVine Mesh knit hat
Start date: 16 April 2007
Finish date: 19 April 2007
Yarn: Red Heart Soft worsted acrylic, colorway Grapevine
Needles: US4 16″ circular needles, US4 dpn
Size: ~20″ circumference
Pattern: cast on 120; join to knit in round. Knit in seed stitch for 1½ inches. Knit 1 inch in some offset eyelet stitch (YO, k2tog to get eyelets). Place marker at beg of row. Mesh pattern rows: (1) [YO, k2tog around] repeat to end of row. (2) K all sts around. Repeat pattern rows 1 and 2 until piece measures 5 inches from beginning. Place markers every 15 sts. Continue pattern, but k3tog before each marker on eyelet rows to decrease. Switch to dpn when hat is too small to work on circulars. Continue in pattern until only 7 (8? 9? I forget!) sts remain. Draw yarn through sts, pull tight, finish/weave in all ends.

Object: Dashing Fingerless Gloves/Gauntlets
Start date: (probably March sometime for the first one); second, 24 April 2007
Finish date: (first a long time ago!); second, 25 April 2007
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted (wool 20%/acrylic 80%), color fisherman
Needles: US6 dpn
Size: did the smaller size (k4 p1), rather than the larger (k4 p2)
Pattern: Dashing
Modefications: Only 16 rounds after thumb; could have stood to be even one or two rows shorter, because of my small hands
Notes for next time: Make hand length a little shorter? Make ‘arm’ a little wider at the beginning? Narrow wrist with cables a little tighter? Move cables further up on wrist?

I had to get a shot that showed off the cables a little better, though they still don’t stand out here. They really pop when I am wearing them, though, because it pulls the ribbed rows apart a bit to accentuate them! I would have taken a shot of one on myself to show off the ribbing, but once EK got them on, I couldn’t get them back from her! (I suppose my model may need a pair of her own! — but in a full-on washable acrylic!)

Oh… and one more note on things I learned: I knit my rows looser Continental than English. Both gloves are the same width, but the right glove, knit second and Continental, measures about ½ inch longer. Go figure! (I need to remember this in case I decide to swatch for something, then switch which style I’m using to do the actual object! That could turn out pretty bad; not such a problem in independent gloves!)

Fuul made a suggestion today that may wind up being the best choice for my getting to Grandpa J’s funeral: he’ll stay home with most of the kids, working on Monday*, the older kids will be able to go to school (and JS will be able to attend his big field trip which is the culminating high point of the entire second semester of his science class), and CC and I will drive down (either Sunday afternoon or Monday early early morning) to go to the funeral. Its not quite what I had hoped for, but the reality is that Fuul needs to be around here working, the kids need to be in school — state testing and all — and I need to be at the funeral.

The only thing left to figure out, I guess, is if Fuul is going to try and find transportation to get EK to her school class that morning as well. He’d be able to work from there, and get to watch her in her class, and heaven knows she can use all the therapy we can fit in that she will tolerate.

So, nothing set in stone as of yet, but at least its a start.

*The funeral is scheduled for Monday morning.

I’ve not remembered to do this one in a long time, but the poppyseed dressing was on sale this week, and who am I to ignore the promptings of fate!? (And I’m putting it here so I don’t have to dig through all my recipe files to find it the next time fate strikes! LOL)

Thai Chicken Stir-Fry
^{a recipe from Pampered Chef®}

Ingredients:

• Dressing
• ¾ cup creamy poppyseed salad dressing
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 1-inch piece unpeeled fresh gingerroot, grated and juiced
• Salad
• 1 package (6 oz) fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1 package (12 oz) broccoli slaw mix
• 1 medium cucumber, scored, seeded and sliced
• 1 small red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
• Chicken Mixture
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, flattened and cut into ½ inch cubes
• ¼ cup snipped fresh basil leaves
• ¼ cup peanuts, chopped

---

For dressing, in mixing bowl combine salad dressing and garlic. Grate gingerroot. Gather gingerroot in palm ofhand and squeeze over bowl to release juice; discard flesh. Whisk until well blended and set aside.

For salad, place spinach, slaw mix, cucumber and bell pepper in large bowl; refrigerate until ready to serve.

For chicken mixture, heat skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Add chicken to skillet in a single layer. Cook without stirring two minutes or until chicken begins to brown. Stir-fry 2-3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink; remove from heat. Add basil, peanuts, and ¼ cup of the dressing. Toss to coat.

To serve, toss salad with remaining dressing; top with chicken mixture and serve immediately.

Yield: 8 servings.

_{Nutrients per serving: Calories 210, Total Fat 10g, Saturated Fat 1.5g, Cholesterol 35mg, Carbohydrate 12 g, Protein 16g, Sodium 280mg, Figer 3g.}

Variation: Thai Chicken Stir-Fry with Rice: Omit salad ingredients. Prepare dressing as directed in step one. Double the chicken mixture; prepare as directed in step three, stir-frying chicken in two batches. Toss chicken with all of the dressing. Serve chicken mixture over hot cooked rice.

We basically do the Stir-fry with Rice variation, only DA and I really like the broccoli slaw, so we include that even with the rice. Oh, and some of my family don’t really like the chopped peanuts (texture issues), so I actually stir some creamy peanut butter into the dressing that goes on the chicken, and we wind up with similar flavor without the little chunks of peanut.

Awesome Mom was dared by Nanette to show her Laundry Room in pictures, then posted dares to others to show stuff in their homes… from me, she requested my pantry! (Little did she know…)

(Oh, and before you ask or make snap judgements: I did not — against my better judgement, mind! — clean or reorganize anything in the patries before taking pictures, except for the items that were organized only because I just ran to the store before posting, and had to fit in a few more things. So, yeah!)

So, first, we have the ’small pantry’: the one thats about normal pantry sized, with built-in shelves and two plastic drawer bin things in the bottom. And what ‘lives’ in this pantry?

Top shelf: cereal, ice cream cones, powdered milk. (Its actually rather bare right now; generally its filled to the top — above the door frame — with cereals; guess I need to buy more!)

Second: baking supplies (flour, sugar, shortening), oatmeal, pancake mix, mashed potatoes, cornmeal, stuffing mix, muffin mixes.

Third: juice drinks, croutons, mac & cheese, SPAM, tunafish.

Fourth: soup, peanut butter, overflow pasta, more mashed potatoes, tomatoes, juice mix, raisins, coconut, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips.

Left drawers: Pasta, pasta, jello and pudding mixes.

Right drawers: popcorn, pasta, and pasta. (I buy it when it goes on sale, and I buy lots! Then I never have to worry about running out — well, mostly!)

Floor: potatoes, root beer, lemon-lime soda, and the broom was there right up until I took the picture, and my little housekeeper ran off with it!

Second, I have my “BIG” pantry, which is such a lifesaver, really! At my last house, I used free-standing cabinets for pantry overflow, so having a built-in this time around is great! This one has double folding doors, and I wonder if it wasn’t meant as a coat closet or something, though it doesn’t have a hanger bar or any built-in shelves at all. I’ve put in two small bookcases (hence all my books still being in boxes!) to make better use of the space.

On the right hand side of the pantry, bottom up: 20 pound bag of rice, boxes of kitchen dishes I never unpacked — small kitchen, didn’t want to have to repack everything again when we have to move! –, a ‘cook on the table’ thing that looks really cool, but I don’t have any fuel things for it, the ultra-large pack of paper towels, and corn chips.

Next stack to the left, again bottom up: dishes, dishes, kitchen stuff, glass cookware, and my ‘Sugar Box’. At the old house, we had some mice that moved in for a while, and they got into everything!! To defend the things that attracted them the most, I moved all my sugar/baking/cooking supplies into this big rubbermaid box, and it ‘lived’ on the middle of the kitchen table; it was the one place the mice never got. When we moved, it moved in the same condition, and just never got resorted. Its kind of nice having all that stuff together in one place! In the sugar box: powdered sugar, brown sugar, craisins, coconut, chocolate chips, pudding mix, marshmallows, chinese crunchy noodles, chopped nuts, and to top it off, more corn chips and two big ‘multi-pack’ lunch sized bags of chips.

On the left-hand side of the pantry: two cases of Nutren Junior (enteral feeding formula), a box of enteral feeding tubing and supplies, an emergency flashlight/lantern, syrup.

On the shelves behind the boxes, bottom up:

(1^st shelf) fruit juices;

(2^nd shelf) gatorade, posole, spaghetti sauce, ramen noodles, soups;

(3^rd shelf) pineapple, diced tomatoes, refried beans, beans, pears, carrots, mixed veggies, green chile enchilada sauce, ramen noodles, pork, soups;

(4^th shelf) soups, carrots, green chiles, beans, cranberry sauce, pineapple, green chiles, salad dressing, cookie mix, green chiles, peas, sweetened condensed milk;

(5^th shelf) tunafish, thai noodles, rice-a-ronis, couscous, hamburger helper, chicken helper, saltines, enchilada sauce, pumpkin, koolaid mix, chicken chow mein, jalapenos, canned salmon, curry mix;

(top shelf) graham cracker crumbs, easy squeeze frosting, muffin mix, barbecue sauce, salad dressing, saltines, tea, cider mix, miracle whip, sweet and sour sauce, and various bags of chips.

And, last but not least: the cabinet above the stove: you know, the one that you put all the stuff in that you finally get tired of saying over and over, “No, you can’t have any more peeps/chips/ crackers/pretzels/ cookies/marshmallow fluff/ice cream!!” Yeah, that’s that one!

Now, aren’t you glad that AM asked me about my pantry!? And the really sad thing? I’ve not done a good, complete shopping trip in a while, so I can see spots in nearly every one of those shelves that is lacking in supplies that ought to be there! How sad is that!

If anyone out there is crazy enough (err — brave enough?) to want to post pictures of some part of their home that I get to pick, feel free to post in comments about it!

But, don’t not post in comments, even if you don’t want to play! Its all in good fun, you know!!!

Just got word that my Grandpa J (Dad’s dad) is in the hospital and not doing well: he got pneumonia, and went downhill quickly, and is no longer responsive. I think shock is mostly the response of the day.

Anyway, if anyone has spare prayers or good thoughts or anything… I know they’d be welcome.

Update, 10:50pm:

Grandpa passed tonight around 10:30. So far everyone is ok, but the chaos of having to gather all of his kids together is keeping everyone occupied (he and Grandma had 11 kids). I’m sure the reality will hit once the ‘busyness’ wears off.

Got this one off the back of a can of yams. Its in the oven now, but I could simply sit and eat the topping, uncooked, all on its own!!

Praline Yams

40 oz can cut yams, drained
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place drained yams in ungreased 2-quart casserole or baking dish. In small bowl, combine remaining ingredients; blend well. Sprinkle over yams. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes or until bubbly. 10 servings.

I didn’t have any pecans on hand (wahhh!) but I had a bag of frozen chopped walnuts in the freezer, so I substituted them. Close, though the pecans might be a little sweeter. OH, and I had two cans, so I doubled the recipe. Because I could. Will report back later on whether they were a hit or not!

Update: Oh, yum!! Sweet, but not too sweet, crunchy, chewy, a definate “We will make this again” item!

(from Carmen)

I try to do something similar with myself once in a while. I list things that I’m strong at, things that I like about me. Then I try to keep the paper somewhere I can see it, but somewhere that the others in my family won’t see it and tease me.

…

Your Mission for the Monday is to list 5-10 things that you really like about yourself. What have you to say?

So, what the heck… I’ll see if I can’t do something with this!

1. I’m a good cook.
2. I can color my hair so it looks professionally done
3. I write well
4. I can follow patterns well — sewing, knitting, electrical…
5. I have big dreams

Urgh… that’s hard! Not sure all those count under the rules, but at least there’s something there to start with!

Just a quick note (for those interested, and for my own reminder sake!): JS was ordained to the office of Deacon today at church!

I cannot possibly have two boys old enough to hold the Aaronic priesthood!

(In denial, I dyed my hair yesterday: black with pink undertones. Ah, yes; I’m young again! LOL)

Fuul just switched jobs (yeah! Wonderful! Finally the place he wanted to be!), but that means that our insurance is changing. The new job will let us keep the same insurance, but the other one is just so much better in coverage and costs that we can’t justify keeping the old insurance (HMO) just to keep a couple good doctors and therapists.

The last time we moved and had to find a new pediatrician was before EK was diagnosed, and we just lucked into a great ped who has been so wonderful and helpful and supportive… and now I have to blindly go and find someone new, someone who will not be overwhelmed by all of the idiosyncrasies of EK’s condition, will be supportive of all the seemingly minor demands I will make of them (that add up!), and won’t be put off by my likely knowing more about 1p36 than they do.

How do you do that? How do you find someone? I can’t even ask other parents around here, because, though I do know other parents of special needs kids, none of them have the same thing EK does, and I’m not sure how that translates if they are specialists, say, in Down’s Syndrome or something.

And that isn’t even touching on my need to find a new ophthalmologist (I love our current one, and am dreading needing to call her and tell her we can’t make our appointment next week because we aren’t in her service area any more – waahhh!), or figuring out PT and OT and Speech – all of which will finally be covered through the local Birth to Three EI program under the new insurance, which means giving up our old STs and PTs, both of whom have done wonders in helping out our little EK.

I guess I’m just (par for the course!) resisting change, even when I know that it’s the best thing for all of us. I hate moving on.

(Quick question: how do you go about finding a new ped who is aware of specifics of special needs, or do you just go and hope that whoever you wind up with is open to letting you take the lead!? Ugh! I hate trying to figure this out!)

Anyhow… thanks for letting me ramble!

It’s here!!

Its great! It turnes on a dime (ok, I didn’t test it, but I’d bet it does!)! It pushes easier than my single stroller with one kidlet inside!

The only downside*? EK doesn’t want to ever get out! I finally had to put it into the garage so she couldn’t install herself again!

(BTW, EK’s signing flower because DA was trying to get her attention behind me by swinging around little bunches of blossoms off that white tree behind the stroller!)

*Well, it may be a little more trouble to take places with me for shopping and stuff, but to get out of the house, its great!!

…because then I can forego the guilt at not letting the kids play outside, especially since the back neighbor has pulled down the entire fence and started — slowly — replacing it!

(What good does it do to have a fenced yard when fully half of it is missing!?)

_{just because I love any excuse to look at my babies! — and because they just keep on insisting on growing up!}

Happy — what is it now? 31 years!? — many years’ anniversary to you both!

(Wish I could find a good photo to upload… an old one, you know!? Maybe M. or J. have one or could scan one and send it to me, to include here!? Hint, hint!)

_{And yes, its on my calendar. And I’ve walked past and noted it about a dozen times today. And still forgot every time I was at the computer to post about it! Oops!}