Happy Valentine's week, pixies!
Hubby and I don't generally make a fuss about Valentine's Day.
How about you?
In other news, two days ago I left the light inside the car on and now it won't start. Rats.
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Drat, about the car battery....
We do not make a big deal of Valentine's, either. But I guess I should find a card.
Today, I'm going to try to re-create this yummy creamy broc soup that I had this weekend. Leaning toward a recipe that uses potato for thickening, rather than a roux + cream, and then the whole thing gets blended to smooth perfection. At least, that's the plan.
Sorry about the car battery!
And, the soup sounds delicious!
:) Neighbor Lady
Soup sounds good. I'm going to attempt the Thai chicken cashew concoction. Stay tuned.
Car whine: last week, the air conditioner fan stopped working. Would not blow any amount of air in any mode (a/c, heat, nothing). My dad suggested I check the fuses, which I did, and they were fine. So I took it in this morning and informed the nice man of the above. (His eyebrows went up, but luckily for him he did not say anything). Nice man confirmed that the blower motor needs replacing, but he'll have to order the part blah blah blah. When I got in the car to come home, it's working fine and has been all day, through several other errands. Hm.
Oh no about the car battery, Sue! Is it boostable, or dead-dead?
Kathy, that soup sounds delicious. (One word of warning: beware too much potato + too wimpy of a blender. Pureed potatoes in soup killed one of my former blenders.)
Esperanza, I would also like to share in that Thai cashew chicken! And that is a real mystery with your car ac.
In the past (particularly pre-kid), we used Valentine's Day as an excuse to spend money on nice ingredients and make a fancy meal (which is still cheaper than restaurant food). This year, E and I will make heart-shaped pizza and marshmallow confetti cake, and surprise Mr. Q with a fun supper.
AW: I've been doing weirdly well today. I felt like I was improving all through yesterday, and today I was feeling so well that I was able to scrape the packed-down snow from our whole sidewalk without any abdominal pain. If it turns out that the pain I experienced on Saturday was the ovarian cyst rupturing in a non-dramatic way, I would be very happy.
Esperanza, the fan will crap out again as soon as you cancel the appointment. So, glad you got the last gasp out of it while you wait for the part.
QWP, sounds like a lovely V-day surprise!
My battle plan for the soup includes chopping the potato small and cooking it to a fare-thee-well, and also much chopping of the broc. It is possible I will dirty the food processor; and also that I will put the little chopped florets in later than the broc stems and potato. (Also, it begins with simmering chopped onion, butter, little bit of spices; then proceeds to the harder parts plus broth; and finally, hoping the stick blender will work.) This won't actually take very long. Just is a venture into something I haven't cooked before.
Yum. Y'all's cooking is making me hungry.
fingers crossed on the fan, esperanza!
Ugh about the battery, Sue.
Oh, I'm keeping the appointment. I have little faith in the fan.
OK, Annotated Version of Thai Cashew Chicken
Sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 T sweet dark soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
1 T water
1 heaping T brown sugar
(I didn't have the sweet dark soy sauce, or the fish sauce. So I did 2 T soy sauce and 2 T water and 2 T brown sugar. It was ok. A little soy saucey for me)
Mix this together and set aside.
Stir Fry
2 T oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small yellow onion, quartered (I used only 1/4 onion and sliced it)
4 red chiles, seeded and halved (These are easy to find at my store. I used chiles de arbol. But 4 was WAY too many. I'll try 2 next time, or maybe one. It was pretty spicy)
1/2 c roasted cashews (I really think "raw" cashews would work better--they aren't raw but steamed. Then you could roast them yourself without getting so close to burning them)
8 oz chicken breast cut in thin pieces (1 breast)
1 green onion, sliced in 1/2" pieces (I didn't have this)
(I added a stalk of celery, thinly and diagonally sliced and a handful of baby carrots sliced thinly, probably equal to about one regular carrot)
Heat oil over medium high heat for 5 minutes. Add nuts and fry until lightly brown. Remove and drain. Add garlic (I waited and added this with the chicken), onion, chiles (I also added carrots and celery here). Cook for 3-5 minutes. Then add chicken and cook until chicken is done, about 5-10 minutes. Toss in cashews. Then toss in sauce. Top with green onions.
Verdict: except for being too spicy, it was pretty good. Served with rice.
I waited it out and the car started a few hours after turning off the offending light - yay!
Yummy soups!!
I'm glad you kept the appointment esperanza and glad you got a bit of ac on the way home.
QWP, heart shaped pizza and confetti cake!! That sounds lovely.
Nummers, Esperanza! Does sound like a lot of chiles, though.
Yay for the re-bounding battery, Sue!
The soup is pretty tasty. Maybe went a shake overboard on thyme, but heck, I put some half and half in at the end for insurance, and no complaints. ;)
Tooth abscess, requiring either a root canal and crown, or pulling a molar. I have to decide. And really want to avoid antibiotics if at all possible, given my sensitivity /tendency to complications or bad side effects to most of them.
((((p_k))))
-NL
(((pk))) Whatever you decide, I hope you get some relief quickly.
(((PK))) Sending thoughts for a quick recovery.
Not that you asked, but I'd go with whichever your dentist says is least traumatic.
Neither option sounds very fun. Sorry you're having to deal with this on top of everything else.
W: Mini professed disappointment that I didn't serve something "special" for Valentine's Day breakfast. Look, kid, you woke me up in the middle of the night; your sister woke me up in the middle of the night; the thunderstorm woke me up; the smoke alarm low battery woke me up. You're very lucky you got any breakfast at all!
((( PK ))) Like Liz's suggestion. (Extraction was more traumatic to me.)
Special Valentine's breakfast??? Oh, well....
That sounds like a rough night, esperanza, followed by a rough breakfast time. :( Perhaps you can suggest that to ensure proper Valentine's Day breakfast in the future, the Baboos can prepare breakfast for you!
^^^^What Sue said.
Oh, good advice from experienced Mamas.
Only if it's not a school day. The bus comes at 6:53 a.m. No way they can get up and fix breakfast and get ready for school.
"We will have a special breakfast on 'Valentine's Day Observed', which is always the Saturday after Valentine's Day if Valentine's Day doesn't fall on a Saturday. And now that you are old enough, you will be the ones to make it for me. I prefer heart shaped pancakes with strawberry slices and whipped cream"
^^^This is my fantasy of the conversation you'll have this evening.
LOL!
AW: Finally completed both headboards!
W: had to go back to big box hardware store for correctly-sized bolt and nut. I was in a hurry and breezed in the door confidently. Worker calls out, "Ma'am do you need some help?" Me: "Nope. I got it. Thanks." Where were you the eleventy hundred times I've been in here and did need help and no one was to be found?
Woot, Esperanza! Now, that's a true show of love. xoxo Also, think you have mastered the big box hardware store. They'd best not mess with a Pixie on a mission.
Got the tickets to fly south for the memorial luncheon for my favorite and only aunt-in-law, next Sunday. More expensive than expected, but 6-7 hours driving each way doesn't seem very tenable. We really loved her, and want her kids and grandkids to know. Because, love means everything.
GAL visit was pretty awful
Oh no, pk!
Good work, esperanza on the headboards!!
Oh no, pk, I'm sorry to hear that. xoxoxo
((( PK )))
Please keep my neighbor in your thoughts. He is 86, and it looks like he either had a stroke or possibly a head injury while falling, and isn't responsive right now. They just took him to the ER. His wife is waiting for their daughter to come take her to the ER. The other neighbors and I offered to sit with her, but she wanted to be alone for the moment.
(((PK))) Thinking of you.
Keeping your neighbors in my thoughts, Kathy.
I really like these neighbors. They have lived in the house next door for over 40 years, and their children grew up here. He was a professor at the local big name U; and she worked as an interpreter. They are very sweet and interesting people -- and so is their daughter, who lives not far away and visits often. Their son lives overseas, but recently visited for a couple of weeks (they love those visits).
K stayed active professionally until just the last few years, traveling to conferences and etc. He has dementia now, and is much more frail, but he has remained fairly active. His wife walked with him for 1/2 hour yesterday -- not bad for 86!
It really didn't sound very good, this incident.
I'm so sorry to hear about this, Kathy. These are neighbours that you've discussed before, right? The ones that you rescued from the door-to-door salesman?
And I'm so sorry to hear about the GAL visit going poorly, pk. I hope you are okay.
Yes, that happened, too, with these wonderful neighbors. They have asked a few tiny favors in recent years, and that's nothing compared to the friendship and support they have offered over 20 years. They always cared about our kids; watched our house when we were away; helped our little one-block dead-end street be cohesive and supportive of one another.
PK, also sending love to you. It may not have been as bad as it seemed to you, just saying. Fingers firmly crossed. xoxo
Oh, so sorry to hear about your neighbor, kathy a.
My neighbor woke up a couple hours ago, and started talking "incessantly about his profession." They still don't really know what happened, but got his blood pressure and body temp up, and he's being admitted. (I just called to leave a message on the daughter's cell, but ended up talking to her and her mom.) Wait and see....
One of the neighbors who turned up this morning was an older man I didn't know. It turned out that he retired from a Presbyterian ministry 20 years ago, went to spend a year overseas in the place of his birth, and then he got involved with translating a Bible into local dialect while his wife remained here. But he re-retired recently! So,learning that, I don't feel so bad about not having met him the past 20 years. We aren't the new kids on the block, but still a little green, as things go.
Now I want to know the retired Presbyterian's name. Odds are decent I'll know of him, at least.
I'm glad to hear that the neighbour woke up a few hours ago, Kathy. Hugs as you and your neighbours wait and see.
I'm being affected to a surprising extent by the death of a national radio personality. He and his stories meant a lot to me (and to a lot of people).
We are the most half-hearted family on the track team. I'm quite sure of it.
Thinking of your neighbours kathy and hoping he continues to improve. Wait and see times are so difficult.
Esperanza, go team!
Thanks for the thoughts. No more news today.
W? AW? I got so pissed at my ISP, which also hosts my main email -- and I couldn't connect to their so-called online help thingy despite 3 tries today, and they fireplaced up the email page the other day so I cannot.even.look.at.my.own.folders -- the only option I get is "delete all" for anything but the inbox. Plus, the email page alone has been gobbling bandwidth to the point that I cannot look at videos if that page is up.
So, I called tonight and was In A Mood. But they have apparently upgraded me to a way faster speed that costs less, and the customer service person was nice even though I was in a bitch from hell kind of mood. And, tomorrow someone will call about my remaining email complaints. Whining works?
STBX finally agreed to let me use frozen assets to get my tooth fixed. And my lawyer doesn't think the GAL meeting was as bad as I felt it was.
But wow, I can feel the effects of the stress and worry on my health already. And my tooth hurts a lot more today and is making me worry.
((( PK ))) Go get your tooth taken care of. So glad your lawyer doesn't think the GAL visit was bad. xoxoxoxo
I'm glad you got your email/server business settled, kathy. :)
pk, I'm glad to hear you can get your tooth fixed - so sorry about the pain and the toll this is all taking on your health. It's good that the lawyer's feedback was positive about the GAL visit.
Sorry for being so cranky about the ISP. And, you know, other stuff.
Although it poured rain last night (again), some sun just peeked out! Supposed to be more rain later.
Vindicated about the car fan. It went out again today after working for several days. Appointment is tomorrow, so I'm glad I didn't cancel.
Good call, Esperanza!
That press conference, folks. I can't even.
I can't even, either. We're in some serious what the fireplace...
Trying to decide what's for dinner. A more organized person would figure this out before 3 p.m. Think I need to go to the store that has pasta and fresh bread and veggies, because bread. I used it all up with garlic bread last night.
MMMMmmmmmmm.....garlic bread.
I missed that press conference, but I've been reading about it. I'm afraid that his supporters loved it.
A church member and I were talking about DJT and LBJ. In some ways, they share a crass personality. But DJT is the morally bankrupt version, and LBJ had some sort of moral compass, despite the personality.
Right with you there, Esperanza.
AW: yesterday I got me some new flannel sheets at C0$tC0 ($24.99), put them through the wash, put 'em on my bed, and slept OH! so! well!! So cozy! So soft! Paired with my new flannel PJs (from Christmas), I was snug as a bug in a rug.
My old flannel sheets had no nap left in more ways than one.
That's where I should look for sheets! Our bed sheets are all in terrible condition and need replacing.
W/AW: E has caught a cold from her friends, and had a rough night. (I'm still a bit grumpy about this: my friend invited us over for treats on Valentine's Day, and when we got there, it turned out that her twins woke up that morning with terrible coughs, and she'd invited us over after knowing that!) E woke up at 5am today, and was a big mess, but she put herself back to bed, and has been napping for two and a half hours now. (But with her door open and fan off, and so I don't dare make tea yet, since the kettle makes loud beeps.)
Good call on the fan, esperanza!
Ugh, that news conference. I'm speechless.
Yay for fresh cozy sheets, Liz!
QWP - I hope the nap works wonders for E and she hasn't contracted the cough.
W: Dang, but my head hurts. I go to the big city for my treatment in two weeks. Ugh.
((( Sue )))
Liz, yay for cozy new sheets!
QWP, here's hoping this one passes quickly.
Sue, so sorry about your head. QWP, sorry about the germs--that's just rude. And new sheets are always good.
Pro tip on the Thai cashew chicken thing: just make as much as you'll eat. It's not so great as leftovers, because the cashews don't stay very crunchy.
W: un crunchy cashews
AW: car fan is fixed. New one blows at least twice as hard as old one was, which is excellent news for summer. Cost less than estimate. Took only 30 minutes.
So, the nap definitely helped, but I have a miserable and sick child on my hands, who (coincidentally, as a result of a mouth injury last week) also has her first canker sore. Anyone want to trade off on dealing with her?
We're supposed to be heading up to Mr. Q's family farm tomorrow, for a belated Christmas celebration with the extended family. Mr. Q has been looking forward to this for a long time (there are some cousins that he hasn't seen in a long time, and new babies we haven't met). There's no way E should travel tomorrow (not to mention the fact that it would be poor form to take a sick kid to see babies). I'm slowly discussing with her my idea that maybe her daddy should go up for a night without us, and she finds that idea to be really upsetting.
So. I'm preparing myself for a hard talk after school today.
:( So sorry, QWP.
(((QWP)))
((Sue)) sorry about the head ouchies!
Yay for new fans and new sheets!
-NL
((( QWP ))) What with one thing and another, my husband and I both spent time apart from the kids -- usually for work stuff, but also visiting family when it wasn't practical for all of us to go. And, I think it is not bad for little kids to learn that Mommy or Daddy always comes back! Often with gifts!
My husband was sometimes stationed away for months at a stretch. Not sure they remember that, but they probably do remember him being gone 2 weeks a year in their youth. And I traveled a lot for work, in earlier years. A key, I think, is not making a big deal of the absence, and if E is so moved, she could make something for Daddy -- knowing he'll be back in a few. xoxo
It's settled: we're all staying home. Mr. Q is feeling sick too (and he was already loathe to go do something fun while E is this sick, because when she's sick she only wants him).
Aw, bummer! I'm sorry he's feeling bad too.
Ah, darn, QWP. Hope everybody's feeling better. xoxo
Feel better soon!!
--NL
AW: Some pieces of good news from my little buddy Waylon. The lesion that had appeared on the last MRI to be a rapidly growing tumor now seems to be (according to oncologist and neurologist) a hematoma from a prior surgery. The other spots are stable. One deep in his brain is growing slowly and will receive targeted radiation. Much better news than they had been fearing, and brain surgery is no longer imminent.
Oh, wow about Waylon! xoxo
I know! I mean, a hematoma in one's brain is not exactly ideal, but it's way better than what they had thought.
That's good news about Waylon (not about the hematoma, but the lack of aggressive tumors).
((((QWP)))
YAY Waylon!!!!
(((QWP)))
Such a relief that things weren't as bad as they seemed, esperanza.
AW: we're doing a lot better today. Not so well as to change our minds about traveling today, which is actually a bit of a relief (I'd rather just stay home than try to push through and risk getting worse again: we did that for my Grandpa's funeral last year, and we all ended up getting so sick).
Ugggggh, it's likely that E has (mild) hfm, and it's likely that we all have it. At least it's the beginning of a week-long school break.
Oh no!!! How did you figure it out?
Well, it still might coincidentally be both a cold with low grade fever and a canker sore, but I've noticed a bit of a rash, and the symptoms are adding up in the direction of hfm. If it is, however, it's quite mild.
I wonder if the friends with the fever had HFM without knowing it?
When my brother's family had HFM at Christmas, only the 19 month old had a bad case. 8 yr old had no fever and very few spots. My brother had no fever and less than 10 spots, mostly all on his feet. Mild cases definitely possible.
AW: After several years of the Baboos being exactly the same size (which, yay for sharing clothes, but boo for no hand-me-down action), we have finally reached a happy point with shoes. Mini can now hand-me-down shoes to Sweet! Clothes are still shared, but tastes are diverging.
I'm wondering if the friend's kids had hfm, or something else funky, and didn't know: one of the twins had spots in her throat last week, and my friend thought it was a throat infection that she believes she somehow cured with garlic tea? She said she saw spots in the back of the throat. Said child coughed all over mine a few days later. Whatever this is, I now have a low grade fever and sore throat, too.
Oy oy oy! About hfm. Jeepers. Spots in the throat / throat infection seems like a good time to go to the actual medical doctor. IMO.
Esperanza -- glad Sweet is OK with that aspect of sharing! Cool that they are developing different tastes (except, apparently, in glasses). ;)
We're going to the memorial for my aunt-in-law tomorrow, and my husband is showing his sweetness by sorting through boxes and boxes of his mom's photos -- and scanning family stuff to give to his cousins (and I assume, our kids).
No spots in the throat here, by the way! E does have one small sore in her mouth, but it's getting much better, and very much might have been a canker sore unrelated to whatever we have.
Hugs, Kathy. I hope the memorial goes well tomorrow.
W: Mr. Q left a kitchen cabinet door open, and then forgot about it, and tripped over it so hard that the cabinet door broke. My pretty kitchen. :( (He's fine, by the way.)
Well, I was just thinking that maybe it wasn't hfm when E showed me the spot that suddenly erupted on her foot. We're staying home from church tomorrow.
Uh, yes, I think staying home from church is a good idea. Sorry :(
And Mr. Q is not the only person ever to do that. One night I was running into the kitchen in the dark, so that Mini would not see me (she was needing to fall asleep) and I ran into the pantry door so hard that it popped off the track and bent the little thing that is supposed to hold it there. Oops. Then we had to ask the church guy to come fix it, and he of course wanted to know how it had broken. Embarrassing.
Well, we shouldn't really get started on the whole "people running into things in the kitchen topic," should we? I vote for this falling into the "shit happens" category.
5 a.m. is my wakeup. Tomorrow will be a long day. Toddling off to my shower and book; wondering if I should take an extra book. Probably, yes.
I went for a walk in a t-shirt today. In northern Virginia. In February. Now all our windows are open.
On the one hand, YAY, GORGEOUS WEATHER!
On the other hands, holy guacamole this global warming folks. We are all going to die.
W of strange coincidences: we almost had a fire last night at our house *and* at Mr. E's church. Just before going to bed, I noticed a yucky, chemical burning kind of smell in the living room. Mr. E can't smell anything post-sinus surgery, so it was up to me to figure it out. I didn't. We turned on the fan, and the smell dissipated. It woke me up again, much stronger, early this morning. Sweet was awake also, as is her habit. She confirmed it was a yucky smell, "like toast." This time I tracked it to the satellite receiver on the TV! It wasn't unusually hot, but something in there was certainly melted. So we opened the windows and unplugged things, and all is well. The church was more serious: something in one of the a/c units began smoking, so that the whole, gigantic room was full of smoke. Luckily, it set off the smoke detectors, which automatically summons the fire department.
So, we'll be over here not lighting things on fire.
YIKES. Maybe a lightning strike?
not yesterday. Storms predicted today, though.
Yikes! I also wonder if there was some kind of electrical surge. Or maybe is it extra hot there lately? Whatever it is: that is freaky!
Mr. E got a message on the other tv that the hard drive on the satellite box (hard drive because it serves as a DVR) in the living room had crashed. So just a hardware issue? I was sitting near the tv when it started to smell bad, with other electrical items on. I didn't notice anything. I was so relieved to figure it out this morning, because we were all leaving for church, and I didn't want to leave for several hours with something obviously wrong.
W: uh oh. Sweet uncharacteristically took a nap after church. But then she played with the neighbors and acted pretty lively. I went to her room to ask what she wanted for supper, and she was in her pj's, almost asleep in her bed. Fever. 101. No other symptoms, at least not that she will tell me. Ideas? She's had the flu shot this year.
AW: tomorrow is a holiday. And the only thing I have scheduled on Tuesday is easily skippable. So if she has to stay home a few days, I guess we can survive.
Oh no! Mystery fever! I hope that she gets better quickly.
3 hours later, still sleeping. Fever still there, but lower. Here's hoping she sleeps through the night.
Hmm. Glad she is sleeping and the fever is lower... YIKES about the smoke and fire! Freaky.
The memorial for my husband's aunt was very nice. Many friends showed up; stories were told; there was a nice lunch and a slideshow as well. A number of people also told us stories about my husband's mom, who visited her sister often -- so, that was sweet, too.
But wow, such a long day. I was too wired to fall asleep at a decent hour last night, and couldn't get back to sleep after waking at 4. We left before 6 a.m., and got home about 7:30 p.m.
I hope you got some good sleep last night, kathy a.
I did not. Tornado warning woke me right up at 11:30, and I didn't fall back asleep until 1:30 or so. We did not have a tornado here, but it was a scary storm.
Sweet is fever free this morning, but an odd collection of symptoms--earache, doesn't want to speak yet says her throat doesn't hurt, a little cough and runny nose. We're headed to the doc this afternoon late. She will probably tell me it's a cold.
Yikes about the scary storm and tornado warning, esperanza! And I hope Sweet gets better quickly. Wise to get it checked out.
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