A little get away

I am no stranger to physical pain.

That's why when I had an obnoxious pain in my back I ignored it. My life is filled to the brim with random aches and pains. The next day, however, I was told to go to the hospital, immediately. They were assuming I had an infection which needed IV antibiotics. 

I got so excited.  I packed a little bag of stuff.  A fun book to read, my cell phone, some cozy pajamas and sour candy, as I was still two weeks before Lovely Little Lena Mae was born, so I was sure to bring the sour candy.  

I made a quick phone call and a family friend came to my house to take care of the boys, and I was on my way to the hospital.  I arrived safely and fell into the arms of a manly and handsome man and began to embark on a wonderfully romantic adventure. 

Arm in arm, we went to the front desk together and checked in.  A nice lady handed me some papers to fill out, and we were swiftly escorted to the Mother Baby unit, where we were taken to a small room with no windows, and an awful bed. I was asked a lot of questions which at the time seemed very irrelevant, and a baby monitor was strapped around my belly to be sure little lovely Lena was safe. 

Surely this day was turning out much different than expected. Instead of sitting in our yard under a shady tree thinking about what to prepare for supper I was watching nature on TV and squeezing Isaiah's arm off.  

Soon, the nurse stopped asking me questions, and began to try to insert an IV into my arm.  "Good luck nurse", I said in my head. I have small veins and so I knew I was to sit there for a very long time as I was stabbed over and over, and that I would have bruises all over my arm the next day. Finally, the IV was inserted  and the struggle was over.  However, as I was laying there I suddenly was in unbearable pain.  I cried out for some pain killers, and after what seemed like an eternity I was finally given some. 

About forty minutes later,  Isaiah was wheeling me down the hospital hallway, which for some reason seemed to be very funny. I asked him to spin me around in circles and he did so. That was funny too.  I don't know why everything was just suddenly so funny. 

He walked me down the hall and we opened the door to my hospital room for the night. When the door opened, I was greeted by a window that filled the whole wall and flooded the room with light. I had never seen anything so beautiful. 

As for the handsome man, he wheeled me over to the guest bed and helped me sit on it. There, hand in hand, we watched the sun set together over the Sacred Heart Parking lot, through the big window that you can not open because here at SHMC it is believed that the outside air is toxic.  

Pretty soon, Isaiah had to leave.  I was sad but very happy at the same time.  The things of my frantic and busy life were not around me. No one was going to ask me for help for anything. It was just me and my new smart phone,  and my sour candy.  Oh and of course a nurse who would constantly come in the room and ask if I needed anything. Every time she came and asked I gave her a resounding "YES" because I loved being served, not because they had anything to offer me that I actually wanted beside really amazing ice that was fun to chew on.  So I ate a lot of ice that night. 

In the morning I was given breakfast in bed.  Sure it was a horrible fake breakfast, but it was served to me in my bed. And I was feeling better and better.  By ten I no longer had to be walked to the bathroom.  By noon I was remembering my family.  By one I was actually missing them a bunch, and I was realizing it was the pain killers that were causing me to be amused at any of the options on the television. 

Soon, I was released to go home. I was feeling much better and Isaiah was so happy to have me back.  I was able to look at my home with new eyes as my boys kissed and hugged me.  

So, how is that for a 6,400 dollar get away for the night? 

Some flowers

Hello. Some say flower pictures are cliche.  But you know what?  Who can deny their beauty?  This week a dear friend dropped by and cheered me up with these.  I am recalling our friendship and how it has "blossomed" out of some similar sufferings. Thankful today for these flowers from her. 

What you do in South Florida

Grandmother

Meet my grandmother.

I am a grown up now, but every Christmas I can still hear her voice in that thick, Venezuelan accent: "Did Jew like your presents?" Without fail, that's what she would ask every Christmas over the phone at about ten o'clock, just as we had finished opening mounds and mounds of presents from her and Grandpa and were beginning to roll in the boxes and wrapping paper.  

The detailed hand-stitched stocking made by her when I was a little girl still hangs over our "mantle"  every year.  

And I can still taste her Famous Chicken Pie complete with Olives and Raisins (Its a Venezuelan thing).  

I just wanted to share so I can thank my Grandma for always making my Childhood Christmas's so special.

A belated Halloween post

I don't really eat sugar.

Whenever I eat ice cream, I think "this would SO  good if only they put in HALF the amount of sugar."  In fact, Every sugar ladent thing I eat I feel like they could easily half the amount of sugar and it would still taste good, if not better. Except ketchup, of course. 

But on Halloween, I eat candy. 

You see, on Halloween, I open my children's candy bag and many magical smells come to my nose. Smells of that fake gooey goodness of not-actually-chocolate mixed with the smell of not-really-fruit and not-really-caramel.

Those are smells that bring me close to a time when my greatest worry in life was weather or not my already too large bag would be filled to the brim with enough candy. And oh the delight of dumping the mounds of candy on the floor, greedily digging through it in looking for treasures. 

Grownups: When we are standing behind our children while they trick or treat, we are silently, secretly begging them to pick our favorite candy.  We also feel secretly disappointed when they pick the "wrong" one, but don't have the guts to guide them to make wise candy choices in front of the candy donor.  Some of us may whisper in secret to our children on the way to the next house as to which candy is the right one to pick.

We long for the moment when our wee ones go to sleep at night, so we can sift through heir bags of candy and indulge in some fake goodness of gooey stuff that will bring us back to our own childhood and make us forget that we will feel pretty gross in about an hour after our indulgence.

But who cares right? Its only once a year.  And I am sure in a few years in our house as our children get bigger they will be monitoring every piece of candy and note when one goes missing.  So I might as well enjoy this while it lasts and my trick-o-treating candy eating days are over forever. 

This guy taught me how to make Salmon with just a few tricks!

Here are some quotes from an internet dude who taught me to cook salmon properly: 

"There’s nothing quite as unappetizing as a dry, overcooked slab of salmon."  
Yes.  Nothing.  Nothing in the world.

"If you make this Salmon the way I make it, you WILL cook this EVERY night of the week."  You were right.  After making this recipe, we have eaten nothing but Salmon for the past month and a half.  Any advice on how we can stop?  We also gave up breakfast and lunch to help supplement our food  budget for our new fish intake. 

Thanks for the great "tricks" internet cooking guy!!! 

Margot's three year portrait

Hello! Here is Margot, or "Margot Pants." Her third birthday is coming soon, so she gets a new portrait done! and I must say that it has been very special for me to photograph her family over the past few years as they have grown. Margot is growing into a very darling little girl, who loves books, clothes, (especially shoes) and pretty things, just like her mama. We love little Margot!