2013 What a year

2013 oh what a year

Ok so the title isn't very flashy but it's nicer than some of the ones I had considered. I thought about calling it "2013 can suck it" but even though my family had a lot of trials we also had our blessings so 2013 doesn't have to suck it I guess. 

2013 started out as normally as any other year could start. We had Max going into his second half of  4th grade QJ going in to his second semester of Kindergarten and Lincoln growing and changing and finding his place in this crazy family. All seemed well and normal and then while talking to my mom she tells me my dad hadn't been feeling very well. He was having some numbness in his hands and feet and she would be taking him to the Dr. I called her the day of his appointment and she told him his blood sugars were all out of whack along with several other things. They thought the numbness was attributed to his diabetes. They gave him some medication and altered his diet and we hoped for the best. He was doing everything he was told to do to correct this problem but it wasn't working. Then I get a call from my mom on the next Sunday morning, dad wasn't getting better in fact they both thought he was getting worse. I decided to go home for the day and if I was no other help to them maybe seeing his grandsons would help convince him to go to the hospital. We called the hospital and they told us that it would probably take a few more days for him to get better. We decided since I'm off on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'd come over and sit with dad on those days because he could barely walk at that point. After several more days of him getting worse I get a call from my mom telling me that they were taking my dad by ambulance to Omaha to a bigger hospital because they believed he had Guillain-Barre Syndrome. I remember asking her what that was because I had never heard of it. She told me it was complicated so I needed to Google it. I will tell you when you Google something like that, it is very scary. The short description is that it paralyzes you starting with your feet and hands and then going throughout your body and then once it runs its coarse it works its way back out through your body ending with your hands and feet. By the time I got up to the hospital to see my dad he couldn't stand by himself, had a droopy face and could only feed him self using this round foam thing on his silverware and even then it was a struggle. It was so hard to see him like that he had always been this big strong guy that could do anything and now he couldn't even walk to the chair right by the bed by himself. But after several rounds of the medication he was home and on the road to recovery. It took him several months to get back to work but he is doing really well today and is now a non-smoker (he smoked for as long as I can remember so this is huge). I am so proud of him for not turning back to that habit after he got home. It would have been so easy for him to go back to smoking but he didn't. He still has some pain in his feet from it but they said it could take a lot of time for everything to be back to normal someone even said a few years. I love you Daddy and I'm so glad you are better

Ok so my dad is on the road to recovery everything should be back to normal right? Then my phone rings and it's my little sister (20 years old) "Hey so I just took a pregnancy test, I'm pregnant". Mouth hits the floor "seriously?". Ok so I was a little shocked only because she has always been told her chances of getting pregnant were very slim, she has Polycystic Ovarian Syndrom which makes it very hard to get pregnant. I told her that I knew it was scary but that it was awesome her and Johnny had been together for several years now and it would work out and that I was excited for her and for me to have a new niece or nephew to spoil. Her pregnancy was going pretty normally she had an ultrasound and found out she was having a boy, we were all very excited to be having another boy in the family. Then while talking to her one night she told me she was experiencing some things that concerned her and she was going to the Dr to check on things. I told her to call me after her appointment assuming everything would be fine. I will never forget the call I got from her the next day. They were sending her to Lincoln to a specialist to try to save the pregnancy. She was dilated to a 2 and there was nothing they could do at her local hospital to save the pregnancy. Kevin was on nights that night so I made a few quick phone calls and found places for the boys to stay that night and I was out the door and headed to Lincoln in about a half hour. I quickly called a very good friend of mine to round up some prayer warriors on our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) facebook page I knew she was in good hands at that hospital but also knew we needed prayer. I got to the hospital and found her room. We spent the rest of the night praying and trying to sleep (St Elizabeth Hospital I love you but your couches that turn into beds suck lol). She went in for surgery the next morning to try to close her cervix up to keep her sweet boy in a few weeks longer, at this point she was only 23 weeks along. The Dr came back to talk to us fairly quick after they took her back and the news wasn't good. She had dilated further and there was nothing they could do to stop her from having the baby. It felt like a punch to the gut as he told us that her water would break at some point and then she would deliver. He said he was very sorry there wasn't more he could do but the NICU staff would do all they could for the baby. As they were bringing her back to her room her water broke, about an hour later they were delivering their baby by c-section.I had to make one of the hardest calls of my life that morning when Johnny (my sister's boyfriend) asked me to call his mom and let her know they would be going back to the O.R. to deliver their son. I remember sitting there waiting with my mom and my dad and my grandma who lives in Lincoln waiting for news when we saw Johnny walk down the hall with a smile on his face and he gave us a thumbs up letting us know that he was alive and they had him stabilized, hurdle 1 down on to the next one. Easton (Tuff as my dad nicknamed him) was born on May 17th 2013 at 23 weeks gestation which is 17 weeks early. He weighed 1lb 1oz and was 11 inches long The next week we were supposed to go on vacation but I decided to stay home to be close to my closer to the hospital in case something were to happen so we sent Kevin and the older two boys off to South Dakota with his parents and sisters  and Linc and I headed to Lincoln to be with my sister. Easton had a surgery on his heart that week to close a valve on his heart (I believe it's called a PDA) hurdle 2 down. He spent all summer in the hospital in the NICU with his parents by his side. I spent as much time as I could visiting though it was a long journey it was amazing to watch him grow and change as the summer went on. I got to hold him on his 100th day in the NICU it was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever had. He came home around his original due date in September on a monitor and oxygen. He was taken off the oxygen before Christmas and they are hoping he will taken off the monitor soon. We've had to do some things different this year to keep him healthy but it is worth the sacrifice if it keeps him healthy. I can't tell you how much we thank God for showing us miracles can happen. There were so many people praying for that little guy and he has touched so many lives in his 7 months of his life and brings smiles to faces whenever they see his sweet face. I asked my sister a while back if I could share some pictures of Easton with you so you can see are little miracle. I will end with this, miracles do happen when life seems hopeless there is hope. There were so many times we could have felt hopeless watching Easton fight for his life but I think we all decided early on that we weren't going to think anything but positive. Yes we were scared, I remember saying it was like a book that I wanted to just flip to the last page to see how it ended but if we were in his room with him we didn't talk anything but positive. We prayed and prayed and prayed there was a rule, if you came into his room you had to put your hand on his incubator and pray. We sang "Jesus Loves Me" to him countless times, filled his room with stuffed animals, drawings from my boys and encouraging words on a marker board. We let him feel our love not our fear. If you found this blog post because of the tag "23 weeker"  know this as long your baby is there fighting there is hope keep strong and keep your faith. I know it's hard but God has a plan we're just along for the ride. 

The pictures go from newest to oldest. 

 My first time holding Easton. 

 Changing a poopy lol 

Being baptized right after he was born

So here we are at the end of 2013 oh what a year it has been. Yes I would like to say 2013 you can suck it but I would rather end it on a positive note so thank you 2013 for showing our family that even through trials God is there and has a plan and we are just along for the ride. Here's to 2014 we've had enough stress for a while please be a good one :) 

Happy New Year y'all Make 2014 the best year yet

Cinnamon Rolls

Here's a recipe to some amazing cinnamon rolls. I didn't think to blog about them until after I was done. To make them even better I put some melted butter and brown sugar and a little bit of vanilla in the bottom of the pan to make them all caramely. Pecans would be awesome in with the butter and brown sugar or raisins. Once they bake you flip them over onto a cookie sheet or platter so the carmel runs all over them. If you don't want to make them the caramel kind you could just make a simple icing of butter and powdered sugar milk and vanilla. Sorry it's not as detailed as my other posts maybe if I get some extra time to make another batch I will do a good blog in them.
Enjoy,
Tish

P.S. don't rush the rise times. It needs time to rise to make them nice and fluffy.  I let my sugar,  water and yeast sit for about 5 to 10 minutes before I add anything to it. I like to cover the dough with plastic wrap while it rises.

Pretzel Buns

**Pretzel Buns**

Seems like a lot of places are doing pretzel buns this summer so I decided to do some searching on Pinterest to find a recipe. They turned out really good. I will be making them again soon (may do hamburger buns tomorrow)

Here's the link to the recipe I used and I will post pictures of me making them.

http://www.bitememore.com/feedme/253/the-terry-richardson-soft-pretzel-bun-recipe

I didn't get a picture of my yeast starting but you'll need to let your yeast water and sugar sit for 10 minutes or so until it's frothy.

Mix the flour, melted butter and salt with the dough hook on your mixer for about 5 minutes. If you don't have a KitchenAid you could knead this on your counter for a few minutes

 

Put your dough in a greased bowl cover and let it rest in a warm area for 45 minutes. I covered it with a wet towel and stuck it outside. I also put a plastic bag over the top so the towel didn't dry.

It should about double in size

Dump dough onto a floured surface and form into a ball

Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Look at how fluffy the dough looks. I was pretty excited at it's fluffiness, but I'm a dork that way.    :)

Roll in to logs about 7 inches long and let rest for 10 minutes. While it's resting get 16 cups of water boiling in a big pot.

They will get puffy or at least should if they don't you did something wrong :)

When the water boils dump in your 1/2 cup of baking soda. Yes it takes 1/2 cup so double check you have enough. I didn't and had to run to the store and put $0.85 on my credit card

Boil 2 at a time for 30 seconds

Cut shallow slits in the top, brush with egg and sprinkle with a coarse salt. I didn't have pretzel salt so I just used more kosher salt.

Bake at 425 for about 12 minutes make sure to either use parchment paper or grease your pan really well

Cut the ends off to fit your hot dog and cut down the middle.

Enjoy

Tish

My New Favorite Ice Cream Recipe

My New Favorite Ice Cream Recipe

I love making homemade ice cream  all year but I especially love making it in the summer. I have weeks where I make 3 batches of ice cream a week. I have tried a bunch of different recipes but I have found a new favorite.

Curlymomma's #1 Ice Cream

1/2 gal fat free or low fat chocolate milk

1 container cool whip (light if you can find it)

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

Mix it all up and pour in your ice cream maker. If your ice cream maker is as small as mine DO NOT put the whole batch in it, it will overflow

I took my left over mix and put it in a zip top freezer baggie and put it in the freezer and it worked too so if you don't have an ice cream maker you can just throw it in the baggie and freeze it.

You can try this one too

1/2 gal fat free or low fat plain milk

1 container cool whip

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

flavor of your choice (example, vanilla or mint extract)

Mix it all up freeze in ice cream maker add in what ever mix ins you want

Here's my good ol' standby

2 cups low fat or fat free milk

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

1 box instant pudding of your choice. (try coconut and add in once it is all done

 coconut, toasted almonds and chopped up chocolate chips)

Mix it all up (all but the mix ins, put those in after the ice cream is done churning) and put in your ice cream maker.

Hope you enjoy these recipes I know we do in our family

If you have a KitchenAid you need this ice cream maker!! I love it

My favorite ice cream topping right now. That's right it is Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!

Grilled Pizza... Yes on a grill outside and no it won't fall through the grates. Trust me

Grilled Pizza!!

Yes you can do this!!!

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is to grill pizza. In fact I do pizza on the grill so much during the summer that I'm pretty sure every time I do a big grocery shopping trip I pick up stuff to make it. Anytime I tell people that I cook my pizza on the grill I always get confused looks so I thought I'd do a photo step by step tutorial on how to do it. It really does taste amazing it reminds me a lot of brick oven pizza, so until I get my brick oven built (yes I really do want to build one in my backyard) we will have to just enjoy our pizza cooked on the grill. One last thing before I go on. I use our gas grill I've never tried it on the charcoal because I'm always worried about the coals being too hot but if you are a charcoal master I know you could make it work on there. Who knows maybe I will get over it and try it soon.

First you need to make your dough. I don't ever buy the box or bag dough mixes at the store. Pizza dough is so easy to make and it tastes soooo much better that I just make it from scratch.  You could easily make the dough the night or day before and let it sit in the fridge until you are ready for it. This is the recipe I use http://americanfood.about.com/od/pizzainsideandout/r/nypd.htm

Once your dough is ready roll it out to whatever size. Sometimes I do one or two big pizzas sometimes I let everyone make their own and do a bunch of little pizzas

Next transfer your dough to the hot grill and turn the grill down to lowish. I've used everything from a cutting cutting board or cookie sheet to just rolling the dough around the rolling pin and unrolling it onto the grill. The rolling pin method has actually been my method of choice lately. One days I will have one of those fancy pizza peels.

Once the dough has set up and is as dark as you want it take it off the grill and flip it so the grill marks are on top. You can top it however you want, right now I've been on a taco pizza kick. Actually that is what I will be making for supper tonight.

Place your pizza back on the grill and shut the lid to finish cooking. And that is really all their is to it. A couple of things I forgot to mention. I do not spray my grill with anything before I put the dough on. You can if you think you need to but I've never had it stick. To get the pizza off the grill I will either use a big bbq flipper or will slide a cutting board (or my pizza peel when I get one) under the pizza and lift it off.

Once cheese is melted it is all done and ready to eat.

I really hope you give the a shot it really isn't hard at all and I think you will really enjoy it. I very rarely use my oven for pizza anymore even in the winter but in the summer it's really nice to not have to heat your house up on pizza night.

Tish

Sorry

      Sorry I've been quiet this week. I think I'm suffering from blogger's block. I have ideas pop in my head and then think "no that's dumb no one wants to read that" I guess that means I need another project :-) I'm sure Kev would not agree with that.
       
      I'm starting to get the itch to plant flowers and hanging baskets. I love spring and getting my yard and porch ready for the nice weather. Our front porch and yard become an expansion of our living room in the spring and summer. We've tried sitting in the backyard but get bored since we like to people watch.

      Well there's my post about nothing. Next week will be better I promise.
    
       Oh and i wrote this on my phone while nursing the baby (who will be a toddler in a week) so I hope i caught all the type-o's. :-)
Until next time
Tish

Easter Candy Overload

Easter Candy Overload

Why is it year after year we insist on buying pounds and pounds of candy at easter. Why do we think that celebrating our salvation means buying 5 pound chocolate Easter Bunnies and bags of jelly beans and oh my favorite the Cadbury Mini Eggs. So we buy all this candy every year and then what, it sits in candy dishes or in our case a giant bowl in the cabinet. I get so sick of it sitting there begging me to eat it. What do you do with all that extra candy? A few years ago I decided to start a new tradition. I started making cookies with all the chocolate candy. I chop up the Cadbury Mini Eggs, the peanut butter cups, the Hershey Kisses and even the beloved chocolate bunny and throw it in a batch of chocolate chip cookie batter. We call them bunny cookies. I also do this at Halloween with all the Halloween candy. Those we call monster cookies. This year we had so much candy though that I had I was trying to come up with other uses for it so I made a batch of pancake batter and made Easter candy pancakes with all the chocolate I chopped up the Easter bunny for that one too. this year I have made 3 batches of cookies and 1 batch of pancakes and we still have gobs and gobs of candy. 

This is after the 3 batches of cookies and 1 batch of pancakes ugh

Here are my recipes for the cookies and pancakes. If you need some good ones these are great

Pude's (That's what they call my father-in-law) Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cup flour      1 tsp salt      1 tsp baking soda

1 cup butter flavor crisco    3/4 cup sugar    3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla       2 eggs         12 oz chocolate chips 

(I used chopped Easter candy)

Preheat oven to 375. Cream sugars, eggs, Crisco (I've used real butter and margarine in a pinch but Pude says that is a no no and Crisco is a must) and vanilla until fluffy. Mix in dry ingredients and add chocolate chips. Drop on cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes (I've been told 8 1/2 minutes is the magic amount of time for perfect cookies)

Fluffy Pancakes

2 cups flour           2 Tbs sugar           1 Tbs and 1 ts baking powder

1 ts salt       2 eggs      1 1/2 cups milk      1/2 cup vegetable oil

chopped up Easter candy or chocolate chips

Mix all together and cook on lightly greased griddle 

Painting My Countertops

The scariest thing I have ever done

We bought our house about 7 years ago and I have hated the countertops the whole time. I so wanted to buy new ones as soon as we moved in but alas things came up and money got spent on other things. They're just countertops, not exactly top of the priority list. A few years ago a friend of mine and I found all these blog posts and videos about painting countertops. I was all for it but then couldn't convince Big Daddy Kev (again that's how I'm to refer to him) that it would work and was as great of an idea as I thought it was. I kept revisiting the idea of painting them but then would chicken out until this week. I started out thinking I would spray paint them. Then I started pricing the price of the stone look spray paint I wanted and worried about spraying that much paint in our house. Then I looked into one of those kits you can get at Lowes (let me tell you when you tell them what you are thinking of doing they will walk you right in that direction) but after some online research  I learned that though the box says it will cover however many square feet turns out they don't cover as much as they say they do. I was looking at close to $500 for 2 of these kits. So I decided to look into the sponge painting technique that I remembered reading about way back when. Well that's what I decided to do. I started out with my bar because for some reason it didn't sound as scary. So here goes nothing. Please remember I really have no idea what I'm doing I'm just kind of winging it and looking at how different people did it. 

Once you clean your countertop really well you are going to want to use a primer like this on it. This is a quick drying, no sanding required water based primer.

This is after 1 coat of primer. I just used a cheap $0.89 paint brush to brush it on. I wasn't worried about brush strokes since I was going to being adding so much color and texture. Let this dry for an hour or 2 and then you can add another coat

After the second coat was dry I started adding color. You may want to do a third coat of primer but I was too excited/scared and wanted to get started/over with. As you can tell I was using super fancy stuff for this project. You can use whatever you want to get the paint on. I've see people use real sponges, fake sponges and  paper towels. I even watched one lady take a paint brush and splatter the paint on. I was out of paper towels and didn't have sponges on hand or any extra tooth brushes so I cut up an old kitchen towel. 

Looks great huh. Yeah not so much, at this point I was having a holy crap what am I doing moment. As you can see in the picture I covered the whole thing in a tanish creamish color and then started adding in darker brown.

Here it is with the darker brown all over. The paint I'm using is just basic craft acrylic paint. You could also use regular paint you would use to paint your walls, or what ever you have on hand. I happened to  have this paint on hand so that's what I used. At this point I was still freaking out but I kept telling myself to just get the next layer on and it will be fine. 

Here it is with black added in and getting ready to add some white. You just keep adding colors and layers and blending until you like what it looks like. This was my "hey this may actually start looking nice" moment

I decided I wanted it a little darker but really this looks good and I could have left it alone.

But I didn't so here it is a little darker

Time for polyurethane. I used a water based poly but you could use oil based if you want. I've also seen where people use a two part epoxy but I've never messed with that stuff and it sounded scary to me so I went with the polyurethane. I did about 6 coats. Can you see the glitter on it?? I used just a bit of spray glitter on it just to give it a little sparkle.

Voila here it is after all the coats of poly. I think it turned out pretty good and I am so proud of it. 

One thing I did figure out worked better was to work in smaller sections, it just seemed to work a little better. Yes I did a "happy, I did it, I am awesome" dance :-). Is it perfect? Um no. But do I love it?? YES!!!

On to the next project!!

I'm a DIYer!!!!!!! eeeeeeeek (that's my excited squeal) 

I will post more pictures from my finished kitchen later. You can so do this. I promise!! Feel free to post questions if you have any. Have a great day 

Tish

Here are a few links to other tutorial http://brookeisfindinghome.blogspot.com/2011/03/painting-counter-tops-complete-tutorial.html?m=1 http://www.creativekristi.com/video-tutorial-how-to-paint-your-countertops-to-look-like-granite/