When Mama is Sick

There is lots of jumping, pajama wearing, rough housing, frozen/convenience food eating, drive through runs, plan changing, and daddy praising.

Bloody Smile

A little update on Margaret:
She has been unwell today. Fever, pain, fussiness, sleepiness. I think she's getting sick again from the infected (abscessed) teeth. They will be extracted at 7:45 on Wednesday morning. How can I make her fast through breakfast? Fancy sequined shoes from her grandmother should help, but I'm really calling for suggestions here!

I know she's going to be darling still, but I am worried about what it will look like. I'm in the process of reading Les Miserables right now. Fantine has her two front teeth ripped out. "At the same time she smiled. The candle illuminated her countenance. It was a bloody smile. A reddish saliva soiled the corners of her lips, and she had a black hole in her mouth." Not the sweetest and cutest little image to be painted in my mind right before her extraction!! Thanks, Victor.

I'm also worried about what I'm going to say when we're on our way to the surgery and what I'll say when she wakes up! Lord, have mercy. Perhaps I'll just say that the teeth had boo-boos. They needed to go. And then I'll quickly move on to all the treats she'll get to have in the very near future. Cue the distracted bloody smile of a toddler freshly wakened from anesthesia.




Summer's nearly over. Wednesday marks the first day of fall right? The above image just screams SUMMER to me. I've always been a summer lover. I'll miss the bearable heat (the unbearable (100+) heat I can do without).

Praise God

For everyone who prayed for Margot today, thank you!! Our visit went better than I could have dreamed. The Lord is faithful and good. He is, of course, even when confusing things happen, but I feel some special grace today!

Thank you again.


About a year ago, Margot fell on a sippy cup and tore up her gums terribly. We made an emergency visit to the dentist who saw no permanent damage. Fast forward to a month ago. I spotted a fistula on Margot's gums while brushing her teeth. I mentioned it in passing to our pediatrician -- who immediately looked worried and started writing out prescriptions and scheduling us with our pediadontist. She saw that the two front teeth were unhealthy and suggested that they come out within 30 days. We could wait if we wanted, but she was sure the infection would come back. We got several more opinions (Margot was traumatized at EVERY appointment) and decided that we wanted to have an oral surgeon do the extraction. At today's appointment, there was no trauma and minimal stress.

Margot's surgery is scheduled for the 25th of August. However, if the oral surgeon's office doesn't have any other patients in for surgery that day, they think the anesthetics team from the hospital will want to reschedule. If that happens our surgery will be postponed until mid-Sept. It also means another round of antibiotics for the lamb.

In the Placemat Drawer

Picture problem solved. I no longer have to jump through 87 hoops to put up pictures on the blog because I found an old macintosh laptop in the placemat drawer. I really dislike PCs now. The Mac has photoshop, an added bonus! Whew. What a find! I put it there in December of 2009, and it sat happily under the placemats for almost 15 months untouched. When I opened up Firefox, it asked me if I wanted to restore my previous session... Ummm, YES! So I looked at the very pages I was looking at the last time I used this old beast. Some pictures of embroidery and a couple of etsy listings. Ha. I was entertained.

At long last, the eye candy returns to the blog. Just picture me doing a victory dance just like Margot and Stella.





I'll be back soon with more pictures of the darling matching skirts and the story behind both of these victory dances.

I'm coming down with a cold. Since I'm the only one in the house who can reach the food, that's really bad news. No one here to nurse me back to health. Jeff returns Monday. Let's hope this illness can hold off until then. Goodnight (It's 7:34 PM and I'm seriously going to bed. I'm just that tired.)

XOXO

Green Sweet Potato Pasta

I can't believe that I actually came up with a dish on my own, but I did! We'll see how it looks here on "paper". This is my first recipe to write, so let me know if I need to make any improvements.


Green Sweet Potato Pasta:
10 oz. of spinach fettucini or whole wheat gemelli
7 small sweet potatos or 3 large sweet potatos, scrubbed, peeled, and chopped into half inch cubes
4 heaping handfuls of fresh baby spinach, washed (obviously!)
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup of TOASTED walnuts, chopped
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 teaspoons of salt
2 shakes of garlic salt (or you could just mince a clove and throw it in near the end of the potato cooking process).
1-4 tbsps of water
Pamesan

Cook pasta according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the salt and chopped onion. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the chopped sweet potato and the water, cover, and cook for 10 minutes or until the water has evaporated and the potatoes are easily pierced, stirring every 2-3 minutes to make sure each piece of sweet potato has his turn over the flame. Add the mounds of spinach and stir it in. Cover for 2 minutes and then stir again. Repeat this process until the spinach is wilted.

Put the cooked pasta in the bottom of a pretty serving bowl (must be pretty). Transfer the sweet potato mixture to the bowl and garnish with the toasted walnuts and parmesan. Serve and enjoy.

My two year old eats this with gusto. She will eat the "green" all day long. It is not uncommon for her to leave the table with a bowl full of pasta without any veggies in site (since she's eating those first and leaving the pasta for the dogs (metaphorically speaking, we have no dogs)).

And a photo, because what's a photoblog post without a photo?