Pumpkin Patch 2007

Today was such a beautiful fall day. We have had such a wet/grey October that the sun really felt nice. After making plans to undergo another surgery tomorrow, I decided I better take advantage of the nice day and get the kids over to the local pumpkin patch.

Sitting under the cornucopia.

Got wheelbarrows, will travel.

Zander and Hayden decided to be scarecrows! Natalie wasn't in on the plan.

Hayden had fun picking up the little pumpkins.

...so did Natalie and Zander.

Hayden had a great time today.



Here is Natalie posing like a pro...she set this one up all by herself. She must have a mom who takes lots of pictures...(I used to stay "she must have a mom who scrapbooks," but seriously...who has the time these days?)

After purchasing the pumpkins and some caramel corn, the kids wanted to check out the hay bale maze and corn pit etc...but when we got there I saw signs posted that there is now a $2 charge for kids to use the stuff that was free last year...How lame. I was not impressed by this at all as the kids had really looked forward to playing. I only brought one check, which I just used to pay for the pumpkins, so I just had to explain it to them and they took it pretty well.

Natalie and Zander had to stand on a box on their tippy toes to get in the above picture...soon after taking this photo, we packed up our pumpkins and brought them to the car...at which time I realized that I couldn't find my car keys. I searched my pockets a half a dozen times and they were no where to be found. I figured they must have fallen out when I pulled out my camera...so back to the pumpkin patch we went. I walked the kids back to the car, through the mud to see if they got left in the car. Fortunately, I left the car doors unlocked, but unfortunately the keys weren't inside. I finally decided to ask if anyone had turned them in...no one had...much to my complete disappointment.

Dan was golfing and I didn't have my cell phone anyway, but I tracked down someone and used their cell phone. As I guessed, he wasn't near a phone. Then when I turned back to go look some more and saw a friend from high school (Angela Hugley). I have bumped in to her about once every 2 years and so we caught up a little and she offered to help me look. She looked in my car again and all over in the pumpkin patch. Then she offered to bring us home. Her husband was there to watch her kids while she took us. Before leaving, I went back to our car to pick up anything I would be needing and as I lifted up some of the schoolwork, I found the keys. I was so relieved, but felt so silly at the same time...must be the drugs...JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!

All in all it was a fun day...especially since I eventually did find my keys. Now we just need to find time to carve these pumpkins!

Our trip to Eagle Crest for some much needed rest!

We have had a crazy fall so far. Dan has been completely swamped with work since August and I have been in recovery with an irritating stent inside me for almost a month now. Lucky for us, we booked a week at Eagle Crest a few months back and were more than ready to sit back and relax for a while.

Here is the view of the Deshutes River out our window and patio. When we left our house it was raining and as you can see...we had sunny blue sky on the other side of the mountain!



Here is our home away from home last week.

Here is Hayden taking a much needed nap.

While Hayden was sleeping Natalie and Zander helped me make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

They both spent a lot of time doing their homework and coloring.

Women of Faith Weekend

This past Friday, after my doctor's appointment my friends (Anne, Debbie and Jenny) and I checked in to a hotel downtown Portland for the Women of Faith Conference. This was my 3rd or 4th time to the conference, Anne had been a few times as well, but it was Debbie and Jenny's first time.

Before we left for the conference, we went out for tacos/burritos at Chapotle. Once we were done we got on MAX and experienced a ride like no other...wall to wall women! It was such a chatty commute. There were really only a few men on the train and you could feel their anxiety level increase at each stop as more and more women boarded.



Once we got in to the Rose Garden we scrambled around to find our seats. When Anne ordered the tickets the only remaining seats were way up in the nose bleed seats on the 300 level. For those of you who have never experienced the 300 level...it feels pretty much like you are going to fall off the side of a mountain. You can barely make out who's on the platform...and that's when your watching on the large monitors all around...forget trying to see them with your naked eyes! It wasn't long before Jenny started to feel sick. Anne went and talked with an usher about getting seats on a lower level. All four of us waited in line to find out we had to wait in another line to buy the tickets. For $20 more we landed ourselves in the best seats in the house!!!

We just upgraded and were now seated the floor level in the 5th row!!! Thanks Jenny! It was so great to be so close to all the speakers and performers. We laughed and cried our way through some amazing stories.

Here is a shot of what it looks like when 18,000 women all come together for worship. It was awesome! After the first night we all went back to the hotel to eat chocolate and watch tv. Since there was nothing really good on, we just crashed...sorry Chris, no pillow fight!

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and went back to the Women of Faith conference.

Starbucks anyone? I don't think the garbages look like this before a Blazer game!!

The speakers were all so great. I really enjoyed myself so much more this time than before and could really relate a lot to the motherhood humor.







Highlights for me...
Anita Renfroe was soooo funny. You can see some of her comedy on YouTube. Her total momsense can be seen here. It has been going around in emails and blogs for a few months so you may have already seen it. I was so excited to learn that we would be seeing here as part of the conference. She also had a hilarious rendition of Faith Hill's song "Breathe" called "Don't Breathe" about her husband's morning breath. She created a video that went along while she sang that was hysterical...All the speakers were funny and had great story telling abilities, but Anita was my favorite.


And the winner for most likely to make a room full of women cry goes to Sandi Patty. While she was singing, like only Sandi Patty can, a young Down's Syndrome girl was signing with her. As the story goes Lisa was learning to sign along with Sandi Patty's CDs and she told her mom that she wanted to sign with her one day on stage. Well, Lisa's mom just kind of dismissed the idea, but once while in the audience at Sandi Patty's concerts, Sandi saw her and asked her to come on stage and she now tours with her once a month. Lisa's enthusiasm was contagious and brought tears to everyone in the Rose Quarter whenever she was on stage.

Another belated Caturday!

Fabulous Food Friday

Caramel Apples

Ingredients:
2 packages (14oz each) caramels
1/4 cup water
8 medium apples, such as McIntosh, Gala, or Fuji
sticks for apples

In slow cooker, combine caramels and water. Cover and cook on high for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until caramels are melted, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, line a baking pan with wax paper; butter the paper. Wash and dry the apples.

Insert a stick into stem end of each apple. Reduce crockpot heat to LOW.
Note: If the caramel does happen to scorch, put it through a mesh strainer and discard any dark particles. Put the sauce into a saucepan or back into the cleaned slow cooker and keep warm while you dip the apples.

Dip apple into hot caramel; turn to coat entire surface. Holding apple above pot, scrape off excess accumulation of caramel from bottom apple. Place coated apples on prepared wax paper in pan. As you near the bottom of the pot, use a spoon to spoon hot caramel over apples. Put the pan of coated apples in the refrigerator to set thoroughly. Use caution if children are helping; the crockpot will probably be quite hot to the touch and the caramel could scald.

Makes 8 caramel apples

Ugggh! Just some ramblings from a lonely SAHM who is bloging under the influence!

Well, I took a turn for the worse this weekend. Although my stent is placed well, it still aggravates as I found out when I stopped taking my pain pills Friday. By Saturday afternoon I was beside myself. Saturday night I was doubled over in pain when it dawned on me to take a vicodin — du-uuh! It seemed to take way too long to kick in, but when it finally did I was able to sleep. I'm also on another medication to ease the bladder spasms that are caused by the stent...these pills turn my pee bright orange. There is a warning on the label that says "may permanently discolor contact lenses." How bizarre is that!

At any rate, I am faithfully taking my pills now, but am feeling like such a slug. Vicodin makes me a tad bit sleepy, but not enough to doze off and get some rest – just enough to not feel like doing anything...I'm totally lethargic and feel like my energy is zapped. It's weird, because in my mind I want to do everything, but I just don't have the umph. On top of that the pain meds make me constipated.

And if that weren't enough fun, my asthma is acting up and I am coughing a lot and very wheezy. Just about the only thing I have gotten done all week is a few loads of dishes, a load of laundry, cleaned a few toilets and I've been trying to keep up with all the leaves that are falling in the pool. My house is a total disaster. I'm really going crazy as I can't drive and have only been out twice since last Tuesday. I would love to just sit down and do something creative, but it's hard to focus.

I have collected some kidney stone fragments which I will mail in to the lab in hopes of finding a way to avoid getting them in the future. This Friday, I have an x-ray and appointment to see the urologist. If all looks clear, I may get the stent out, but chances are good that it will stay in a while longer.

Natalie just got home from school and I am still in my pj's. Other than that I'm doing fine!!!

Belated Caturday

...because I know you missed them!

Newest Veggie Tales Premiere

Join KidzOnEarth.com for the Veggietales Premiere of the next release "The Wizard of Ha's" a story about the Prodigal Son.

Event Date: Saturday October 6th, 2007
Event Location: Roseway Theater
Located at 7229 NE Sandy Blvd. in Portland OR.

Click here for a map to theater

Event Time: 10:00am
Event Cost: $3.00
For more information call Kidz On Earth @ 503-577-7514.

Fabulous Food Friday

Pork Chops with Apples...Anyone remember the Brady Bunch episode where Peter walks around saying "Pork chops and applesauce"? Well, when you eat this dish, you have to say your S's like he does!

This was our dinner last night, brought over by my friend Debbie (who spoiled us with three hot meals while I was recovering from surgery!)

Pork Chops and Apples

6 Pork Chops
6-8 Apples (peeled, cored and sliced)

Pan sear pork chops until brown on both sides. While pork is searing, place apples in the bottom of a casserole dish. Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 t cinnamon and 2 T butter (sliced) on top of apples. Place pork on top of apples. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with rice.

Surgery Update

Let's start on Monday. Monday was my last ditch effort to get things done before my surgery. I had plans to tidy up the kitchen etc. while the kids were in school, but that didn't happen.

As I was getting Natalie ready for school, she was complaining that her eyes were itching. I offered to put eye drops in, but she wasn't interested and we had to get out the door, so we left. I went into the school office to check in and Natalie walked to her class. By the time I got to her class, her teacher was writing a note for Natalie to go to the nurse's office because her eyes were very red and swollen. They thought it could be conjunctivitis/pink eye. The school nurse suggested taking her to the doctor. So, I checked her back out of school, made an appointment for Natalie, drove Zander to preschool and off we went in to town. The doctor thought since her eyes weren't producing any goopy stuff that it wasn't bacterial conjunctivitis and therefore not contagious. The nurses washed her eyes out with saline and gave her some medicated drops to use once a day. I drove Natalie back to school and was so relieved that it wasn't pink eye...after all she had school pictures the next day and I had planned for her to ride the bus home with Sarah where she would play while I was in the hospital.

After Natalie got home from school we went to get hair cuts. I planned to get them the day before pictures so I asked the stylist to give Natalie a headband braid so I didn't have to worry about styling her hair in the morning. Zander got his hair cut too as his pictures are today (Wednesday). Next it was off to the store to get some last minute things. By the time we got home it was time for the kids to go to bed. Fortunately, we stopped off and had a bite to eat while we were out.

Tuesday morning, the day of my surgery...I showered and got Natalie ready for her pictures, then Dan drove her to Sarah's house as my friend Debbie offered to take her to school so we could then drive the boys to Chris and Anne's house to play with Isaac. (Thanks guys!!!)

I knew we were running late, so I phoned the hospital, but by the time we got on to the freeway we hit "traffic" going a mere 5 mph, so I phoned again and let them know. As it turns out, there was a log truck stalled out in one lane, then further down there was an accident.

We finally made it to the hospital and got checked in when they told us we needed to pay the balance of our insurance deductible...only $3,000!!! The lady at the desk offered to have this billed to us, so we didn't have to cough up that much all at once. Yikes!

Once I got checked into my "stall," I got into my gown and the nurses asked me a bunch of health related questions. It was actually odd because when I called to pre-register they asked the same questions...then the hospital called and asked me the same questions again. Once at the hospital, the attending nurse asked me again, then the anesthesiologist asked me. Next time I go in I am going to wear I sign that says "NO, I am not allergic to anything!"

Here I am in the second photo NOT looking when the nurse is inserting the IV!

Here I am removing my ring...All summer long I had been a little anxious about this surgery because I knew they wanted me to remove all my jewelry. Well, I couldn't get my wedding ring off to save my life and I didn't want it to be cut off. So when school started up I began doing Weight Watchers on my own and I managed to lose 8 lbs...just enough to get my ring off!!!

Before surgery Dr. Kim came in to explain everything. Then the anesthesiologist gave me some happy juice (versed) and I was wheeled into the operating area. The last thing I remember was them saying "this is just an oxygen mask." I remember breathing in, hearing them talk about how the mask smells like vanilla which is better than it used to smell...then the next thing I know... I am in recovery!

I woke up out of surgery pretty fast. Not like the other times when I could hardly keep my eyes open as they were giving me discharge instructions. This photo is me after the surgery, drinking water, trying to keep hydrated. They gave me some crackers so I could take my percocet, but my mouth was so dry from the anesthetic that I couldn't swallow the crackers without lots of water...it was pretty weird.

After awhile the nurse wanted me to try and use the bathroom. This is the part that I was dreading. Last time, with the stent in, it hurt so bad that I couldn't go without extreme pain, so I stayed the night so they could manage my pain better. This time however...no problem! Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

..and here I am being wheeled out to the car.

I am feeling pretty good over all. Just a little bit tired and sore. I have a huge 4" bruise on my back where the shock waves were aimed, but all in all, thanks to my pain meds, I'm doing fine!
Thanks to Anne and Debbie for your help with our kiddos (and with dinner too!!! Yummy!)