colds – Peaceful Reader

Tough beginning to December

My kid’s favorite month has had a tough start for me. I’ve been sick for about 4 weeks with a cold that turned into a sinus infection. I finally took myself to the doctor (which I’m always slow to do) and am now on an antibiotic (which I really dislike) but I am beginning to feel human again.

I watched copious amounts of Parenthood, making me cry, and read several books (The Wednesday Wars, The secret life of bees, The invention of wings). In all that sick time I just didn’t get any blogging done-I blame it on a the snot. Really though I was just so tired. It took all the strength I could gather just to finish a day at work.

I wasn’t writing but I did do all this:

I made this lasagna from Martha Stewart. Good flavor but a bit dry. It tasted much better the next day.

I hosted my husband’s work Christmas party so we had 11 people over for a potluck dinner; I made bread and the lasagna. We cleaned house for 2 days. It was dusty.

I went to my school Christmas gathering hosted by my principal. It was lovely and I made this artichoke dip from Paula Deen. It doesn’t have any butter in it but it was a huge hit.

I made a second artichoke dip for book club (The invention of wings) which happened on the exact same night as aforementioned school party.

I also hosted a reception for my husband’s Christmas play (A Coney Island Christmas by Donald Marguiles.) The play was a huge hit and Groovy Girl even had a good role.

In between but mostly just the last two days I’ve been able to finish Christmas shopping and prepare for our two oldest to come home. We picked up the oldest, Kaylee, yesterday in Iowa City. Tomorrow the second, Tristan, flies into Mpls/St Paul airport. Last spring for Kaylee’s graduation is the last time we’ve been together and we are so excited to be together.

You can see from my list why the writing drops off the list so easily unfortunately. Too tired, too much to do. I hope your list isn’t as long!

Weekend cooking; O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

We went yesterday to get our tree and I wish I could say it was a glorious event but it wasn’t. The kids argued for a bit, the selection was low from this summer’s drought, and we were in a hurry so husband and Teenage Boy could get to the movie theater to see the new Brad Pitt movie (excellent they said).

Our Christmas tree search is an annual event we do with another family but they blew us off this year with some excuse about too much to do on Saturday. We understand busy but Groovy Girl was steamed about this as she thought it was “boring” without their rambunctious young kids. She was left with just us and Teenage Boy who made her mad in the car but did get her laughing at the tree farm. What’s she going to say when it’s just me and her dad with her? Even more boring, I’m sure. O families!

We did manage to laugh together. We had glasses of cider inside the lodge while we waited for our tree to be shaken. We did run into other friends and in general enjoyed shopping for our tree at the same place we’ve gone for the last four years. After the movie my husband got the tree in the stand with NO cursing and we toasted the tree with some homemade hot chocolate to top off the day.

Did I cook this week though? No really.

It was a strange (non) cooking week for me as I spent most of the week down with a cold. Monday night I sent TB to get a pizza so I would not have to cook. Tuesday I made a quick Ramen-type meal for them and went to bed. And the week continued like that.

Last week I’d whipped up a big pot of chicken noodle soup using the chicken from our Thanksgiving meal. I sauteed onions, celery, carrots, and lots of garlic and added the broth from cooking down the chicken bones. Once the broth and the vegetables are together I added big fat eggless noodles. I make it just like my grandmother made it before me. I remember watching her fascinated as she picked the meat out of the small nooks of the chicken. For years I used this same soup method but substituted the chicken for blocks of tofu. I used Miso paste or vegetable stock and my kids still loved it, especially the thick noodles. How I got sick after eating this soup all last week is a mystery to me. Maybe though it is why my cold only lasted for four days!

This week I’m waiting for inspiration. I have sweet potatoes and a butternut squash waiting for me to get creative. Any ideas?

This post is very loosely linked to Beth Fish Reads weekly cooking meme. Check out her sight for many more cooking related posts. She has a fabulous post up about mouth-watering pull-apart rolls.

Spring Break Begins

Spring Break 2011-Little Rock

Oh, I am in serious need of a break to regroup and heal. Luckily we are staying home this year. I’ve had a cold for what seems like 2-3 weeks and I just cannot shake it. I finally went to the drugstore and purchased Thera-flu because I’ve done all my good homeopathic methods to better health and it just keeps hanging on. I want to spend this coming week doing fun things NOT blowing my nose and smelling like vapor rub. Bleech.

Luckily I’ve been to the library (with Tina) so I have a pile of good books to read. I have a special blog post to write about the beautiful Joan of Arc for Kidlit Celebrates Women’s History! My post will be featured on March 17th but every day they have an interesting post to check out.

I finished I don’t know how she does it by Allison Pearson this morning. I skipped church to sleep and in order to get back to sleep( after helping frustrated daughter find something great to wear to church) I had to read a little.

I did cook one major meal last week-it was a veggie-filled soup from Tucker Shaw’s book but the soup, advertised in the book as THE sure-fire method for getting better, did not work. Not only that my husband who loves just about anything edible didn’t even finish his bowl. Big waste of lots of veggies. Boo.

Any remedies I should know about, let me know…

Happy Spring Break.