To Mourn

A year ago a member of Makenzie's ballroom dance team was diagnosed with an aggressive liver cancer.  Tonight she passed away.  

It's so hard to see your child mourn for something they have lost.  It's difficult to imagine how Risa's family feels at this moment.  My prayers and thoughts are with them tonight.

Someone posted this quote on Facebook in reference to Risa's passing.  I liked it too.

 Mourning is one of the deepest expressions of pure love. It is a natural response in complete accord with divine commandment: “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die.” ... we can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life. - R. M. Nelson

Creamy Rice Pudding

I had rice in my rice cooker leftover from dinner last night. So I whipped up a batch of my favorite comfort food, Creamy Rice Pudding.  It's so easy.  It's best when eaten warm...trust me. 

Creamy Rice Pudding

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

*2 cups cups milk, divided

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup raisins 

1 Tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

First put your raisins in a bowl and cover with hot water.  Let them sit there and plump up until you need them.  In a medium saucepan combine rice and 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt.  Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 10-15 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and drained raisins.  Cook 2 minutes more stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla and serve warm.

*This is a great recipe to use that dry milk in your food storage with.  I did and it tastes great.

The beginning of Spring Break started like this.....

I remember well the day I had my wisdom teeth removed.  I laid in the dentist chair listening to the whir of the drill.  I could hear bone being chipped away and even worse was the spray of the blood and saliva and who-know-what-else on my face.  I was sixteen at the time and it was a different experience than what my oldest daughter experienced today.

I went home and felt horrible.  There were no pain pills for me....only Advil.  I remember using ice packs but they were in the form of ice pounded with a hammer and put inside a plastic bread bag.  It worked. I'm not complaining.

This morning Makenzie had four teeth removed by an oral surgeon.  She was put out for the procedure and not only had a well qualified dental M.D. she had a nurse that attended to her as well.  So when she passed out from the IV going in her they were quick to react with cold compresses.  Makenzie came to quickly and they then gave her the gas she needed to drift off to slumber land.  Afterwards they put her in a recovery room with a warm down blanket, a pillow and monitored her vitals.  Wow, things have improved I thought to myself as I joined her in recovery.  The nurse was super nice, Amy was her name.  She gave us the lowdown on what we were to do and not to do and then when we were ready they helped Makenzie walk out to our car which was waiting in the special assigned parking spot by the back door.  Nice.

Getting the pain under control this morning was a bit difficult.  I ended up talking to Amy (the nurse) twice on the phone while we got things figured out.  In the end Makenzie ended up taking a Demerol, 4 Percocet and 4 Advil by 4 p.m.  Crazy, huh?  I would only post this on my blog because I know that you, my dear readers, know that I am a good mom.  And all these pills were obviously not at the same time.  What happened is that the numbness wore off sooner than they expected and so we didn't end up giving her the Demerol in time.  Then we ended up playing catch up for a few hours.  By 3 we had the pain under control and found out that our dear Makenzie needs not a 1/2 Percocet for pain but a whole 2 pills at a time for pain.  The nurse assured us that it is fine and she will most likely only need it for 2 days. So as we pump our daughter full of narcotics I am left thinking, Thank Goodness.  I mean, what if we didn't have access to this?  What would her experience be like?  We have nice flexible reusable ice packs and milkshakes flavored with Moonstruck Chocolate.

Yes, she is spoiled.

I even went to Costco to buy her a new blanket.  Then I came home and made meatballs and mashed potatoes and smashed them up with a fork and hand fed her.

Yes, she is being spoiled.

Interesting how we all turn into babies and want our mommies to take care of us when we feel bad.

Update:  It has now been six days since she had her wisdom teeth removed. I have been holding onto this post in hopes that I could get a picture of her with her swollen bruised face...but no can do. She does not want that posted on here. I guess I can't blame her.

Corned Beef & Cabbage - St. Patrick's Day tradition

As I've stated before, St. Patrick's Day is a big deal around here.

And it's not because we are Irish.

I mean, we do have some Irish blood in our veins but that is not why it's a big deal.

It's a big deal because of a wee lass that does Irish dancing.

So here are some pictures for your St. Patrick's Day enjoyment (a wee bit late, sorry).

Goood News

I heard a beeping sound.  But this beeping sound didn't make sense because I was in a church and was getting ready to sit down to listen to a speaker.  The chapel was full with people I knew well and some I didn't know so well but they all had friendly faces.  Beep, Beep, the sound continued. I was looking around and wondering if it was stuck in my brain from the episode of Lost I had watched last night. Perhaps I was imagining it like I sometimes could hear my bird squawking when he is no where around just because I've heard him do it so much.  But then I remembered I was asleep.  That I had laid down to get rid of a headache that I had this morning.  And then, in the recesses of my brain, I climbed out of the dream and realized it was the answering machine in the living room.

Reluctantly I got out of bed, not able to sleep with the beeping sound any longer.  I shuffled into the living room and pushed play on the red blinking button.

It was my mom with a cheerful voice.  "Hi, honey, I just got the results of the biopsy and it was goood news.  Oh, and I think I would like to come up tomorrow after all if you haven't already given away that ticket."

Notice the extra O's on good?  That's exactly how she said it, drawing out the O sound to make it extra Good. Ah, I love my mom.

And I love that she doesn't have breast cancer.

I think the headache I've had for a week has finally gone away.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

 Spring has arrived. Or has it? It's sometimes difficult to tell around here in the Northwest.  But I do know that these spring rolls make me happy.  And that's part of spring, putting a bounce in our step.  I hope that these spring rolls do that for you.

Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls

2 ounces rice vermicelli (rice noodles)

8 rice wrappers (8.5 diameter)

8 large cooked shrimp (26-30 count size)

16-24 fresh Thai basil leaves

Fresh mint leaves

fresh cilantro

green leaf lettuce

1 carrot

1/3 cucumber

Preparation

boil rice vermicelli 3-5 minutes or until al dente, drain and let cool.

  Peel shrimp deveined and cut in half

wash basil and mint, keep whole leaves

Chop cilantro and lettuce

Julienne carrots and cucumber

Directions:

1.  Fill a large bowl with warm water. dip one wrapper into hot water for 1 second to soften.

2.  Lay wrapper flat. In a row across the front of the wrapper, place 2 shrimp halves, a couple of basil leaves and a handful of vermicelli,

3.  Add carrots, cucumber, mint, cilantro and lettuce leaving about 2 inches on each side

4.  Tightly roll the wrapper around the ingredients.  After about halfway rolled, fold uncovered sides inward, then finishing rolling the wrapper.

Rolls should be prepared close to serving time as they may dry out.  If preparing ahead of time cover with air tight container and keep cool.  Makes 8 rolls.

(Thanks, Bro. Cox for being my hand model )

And my favorite sauce to go with them:

Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup water

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cloves minced garlic

2 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

Directions.

1.  In a 2 qt. saucepan combine water, peanut butter and minced garlic

2.  Cook over medium-low heat stirring until mixture bils nad thicketns

3.  Remove from heazt and stir in packed brown sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce and red pepper. 

4.  Serve hot

If made ahead, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. To reheat, stir over low heat until hot; if necessary, add more water to restore to original consistency.  makes about 2 cups.

A little too close to home

So some of you may have seen this already. This is for those of you that haven't. 

I post this in honor of Emma going to a the Pacific Northwest Championship Feis tomorrow.  Because I could not help but think of this in relation to Irish Dance.  I have two words for you....THE WIG.  I have got to make an Irish Dance version of this.

Tom Hanks is brilliant as is his daughter.  What do you think?