What I Buy Wednesday

On Saturday night, Stephanie, Mindy and I went to the Garth Brooks concert. We started with dinner at Liberty Common downtown. 

The food was delicious--I had the onion soup and a grilled chicken sandwich. We shared the BEST carrot cake I've ever had. They actually make it there. I was served with creme fraiche that had a sprinkling of crushed Heath bars on top. The cream cheese frosting was so good too. Next time I go, I'm just getting the onion soup and carrot cake to have all by myself!!

On to the concert.

So here it is---what I bought this week.

Of course, I had to buy a t-shirt. And I picked up one of those clear bags that you have to have these days for any sporting events or any event at the stadium. 

It was a fun evening with the girls. Next up, Bon Jovi in about a week and a half. I'm excited because Sandy is coming in for it! A night with all my girls---doesn't happen often enough!!

Tuesday Thoughts About....

...my lunacy. Can you really be a lunatic if you think you might be? Or do real lunatics not know that they are. You be the judge. Here's the story.

So, we have a  big house. It's costs a fortune to have the windows cleaned. We haven't done it in about 5 years. I booked this April appointment all the way back in September. Yesterday was the day. In advance, I asked if the workers could wear the " booties" inside, due to my obesession with my new carpet. I'm very freaked out about it--as you know. They agreed. 

So, they arrived about 8:00 a.m. with 5 people to work. I was told that they would be here until 2 or 2:30 p.m. Woah! That's a long time. 

I left at 9:30 for a couple hours to get my 2nd booster and a stop at the grocery store. I got home around 11:30 a.m. There was no place to go in the house where there weren't people working. 

I told Butch that I was going to have a nervous breakdown because of the new carpet. Seriously, I can't help it. I'm freaking out about it. Prior to them coming, the company assured me that they would wear the "booties."

The workers were very nice and really had it down. Still, there didn't seem to be a room that there wasn't something happening in. When I got home, the only place I was able to find that was "finished" was the living room as there are only French doors in there--no storm windows. Still, I couldnt' relax. There was so much coming and going. It doesn't do much good to wear "booties" if you are in and out of the house. 

Seriously, I was starting to have a panic attack about all the in and out. My anxiety was through the roof. Butch kept trying to calm me down. It didn't work. 

When they left around 3 p.m., all I could see was what needed to be put back in order. Butch helped me by going room by room and "fixing" all the "things." In the living room, the window treatment was hanging askew. A little tape and zip tie took care of that. A little adjustment to the sheers in the master (or in the politically correct term: main) bedroom took care of that. A little vacuuming here and there was necessary and an "unsticking" of a window in another. There needed to be a few adjustments to the window treatments upstairs too. When we were finished, I was able to take a deep breath and relax--a little. After they left and we went through the house and fixed everything, I requested a double dirty martini. For crying out loud, just getting the windows cleaned caused me to drink on a Monday Okay, that's reallly saying something. 

Honestly, this carpet is going to drive me insane. Even Butch agreed that from now on, I just can't be at home when anything like this is happening. 

I was starting to have panic attacks about the in and out. I kept thinking, "what good does it do to be wearing "booties" if you are walking in them outside!" Butch assured me that they took them off when they went out and put them back on when they came in. I wish I'd known that as I might have been able to relax a little. Instead, I was having an internal fit!

I told him that I was going to lose my mind and have a nervous break down. I just can't help it! He said that the next time we need to have a lot of things done inside, I just NOT need to be here. I agree with that. I can't handle it. 

So, the question is: Am I a lunatic? Or just so completely obsessed that I cannot function!? 

I think it's both things. Did I mention that I hate my new carpet? I should have just left the old stuff. I was much more relaxed about it. Now, I'm a crazy woman. I can't help it. Really, I can't.  I don't know when I'll be able to calm down about it. 

Buying new carpet---big mistake. I'd give anything to go back to my crappy, cruddy carpet where I didn't care about it--even though I hated that too. New carpet is a terrible thing. It's driven me over the edge. I'm a lunatic. I know it. Maybe counseling would help. But, it seems strange to me to go in to counseling because I can't handle new carpeting. I guess if it wasn't the carpeting, it would be something else. 

Oh, don't get me started about our yard people and the weed eating. I about crawl out of my skin with that too. It's all only getting worse. I have no idea what the answer is. I'm just crazy. I guess that's it. 

As I told Butch, I would really like to have everything nice for at least 5 minutes!  I guess life just doesn't work like that. At least not for me. 

Happy Easter!

Ooops! I forgot to post this morning. Better late than never!

A Few Things and a Recipe

Love this idea. Wouldn't it be great if we were all kinder?

This is how one mom got her teens to clean up their rooms. She put black rice around and told them that she saw a mouse in their room. They were freaked out and cleaned. 

I think this is a great way to get some extra space in your cabinets.

I saw both things, but the man first---I think because that's the first one mentioned above. 

And now for the recipe. I haven't made this yet, but it sounds so good! 

Crispy Cheddar Chicken Bake

8-10 chicken tenders

2 sleeves Ritz crackers, crushed

1/4 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. garlic salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

3 cups shredded cheddar

3 t. parsley, divided

Add egg to sour cream and mix well. 

Add spices to crackers.

Dip chicken in to sour cream mixture, then in cheese, pressing to adhere.

Press in to cracker crumbs.

Spray 9x13 pan with Pam. 

Line with chicken and sprinkle parsley on top.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 for 35 minutes.

Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes.*

*Side note: this seems like too long to bake for chicken tenders, so you might want to check it sooner than 35 minutes. 

Gravy

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 T. sour cream

2 T. butter

Whisk together in pan until smooth and hot. Top chicken with the gravy.

Let me know if you try it.

PS You only have until Monday to file your taxes!!

Friday Funnies

Whew!

It's been a coupla' days! And when I say a coupla' days, I mean like a weeks long coupla' days--for some of us! Let me explain.

We left last Thursday for Kentucky Lake. On the way, Mindy texted me that she was a bit nervous because she was on the way to get an emergency root canal. This is after suffering tooth pain for a coupla' days. 

I wished her well and didn't give it another thought. After all, I slept through my root canal about 20 years ago. I always say, "make me sit still and close my eyes and I'm out!" 

By Saturday, she was in a lot of pain. I'm going to cut to the chase here. She was in excruciating pain. The endodontist did not have an after hours emergency service. By Monday morning at 5:30 a.m., she asked me to come get her. When you don't feel good, you just want your mama!

I immediately gave her some of my "old" prednisone. She had already used ALL they had given her in the dose pack. At 8 a.m. I marched her in the the endodontist's office. The doctor "adjusted her bite"--didn't know that could be done. It didn't work. Pain didn't go away, but got worse. She was on massive doses of Tylenol and ibuprofen.

By Tuesday night, Justin delivered her to us again. The poor guy didn't know what to do for her. She said, "take me to mom and dad's." She felt like he needed to get a good's night sleep for work since this had been going on so long. She was already fretting about the work she was missing! 

After consulting with a doctor friend of ours (actually his wife--Madely--is who I call--she is my "go to" nurse friend who then consults her husband as necessary), we took her to the emergency room. We got there at 11 p.m. and didn't get home until 2 a.m. The meds they gave her were to last until 7:30-8 a.m. when we could get to the pharmacy for prescriptions. Well, it didn't. She was up by 6 a.m. 

I'm telling you, this was awful. She was shaking--she was in so much pain. Turns out it was all because the crown above the root canal had failed due to the movement of teeth with invisaline!!  So many moving parts here before they could figure it out! 

Now, all is finally good! Pain is just about gone or at least reduced more to soreness.

Here it all is in a nutshell--in Mindy's words:

I’m on the mend now, but in case you’re wondering, here’s my last 6 days by the numbers:

Seen 1 dentist 

Seen 2 endodontists

Seen 1 ER doctor

Had 2 dentist appointments

Had 3 endodontist appointments

Had 1 ER visit

Been prescribed 2 steroid packs

Been prescribed 1 antibiotic

Been prescribed Percocet (which apparently you’re not supposed to drive on 😬)

Taken ~24 ibuprofen (per Doctor)

Taken ~24 extra strength acetaminophen (per Doctor)

4 lidocaine shots

Topical lidocaine

Had 3 X-rays

1 root canal

1 root canal adjustment

1 crown removed

End of Invisalign

This picture does not include the 2 dose packs!

☠️☠️☠️

Nothing like meeting your dental insurance deductible for the whole year in just 6 days 😬

****************

Back to me: I'm so happy that it's all over now. I have to admit, I cried after she finally left to go home. My babies will always be my babies. When they suffer---so do I!! I don't care how old they are!!

Travel Tuesday

Well, we spent the weekend at Kentucky Lake with Walter and Chris. The guys had a fishing weekend:

It was pretty cold for them, so their time on the lake was a bit limited. 

While they were out on the boat, I "taught" myself something new. Actually, I've been wanting to do this for a long time. But, when it comes to computer learning, I always wait until I have a good chunk of time. As it turns out, this was pretty easy. I plan to use this as a journaling technique for my scrapbook pages. This sums up the weekend!

This was actually just a test to see if I could figure out how to do it. I love it when I have the time to learn something new!! Afterwards, I decided to use it as my blog post. 

Oh, and I realize I got the date wrong. What I didn't learn was how to go back and edit after the fact!!