Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all veterans and families of veterans (who sometimes have it worse). This one was a nice one for us. We started the day with some pancakes with home-made strawberry syrup. Then I made some hot dog buns to go with the brats and some good ole home-made pasta salad. There were naps taken, video games played, cookies made (thank you aunt Patti for the recipe... love it!), and all around relaxation with the family happening. For these two veterans, it couldn't have been a nicer day. Hope your day was as good as ours was. :)

My disabled veteran napping :) Isn't he cute.

Memorial day lunch (all sorts of things we never have in this house... including soda!)

Ray hugging Eric. Best family one could ever ask for.

Smiley cookies made for Eric's doctor. A blatant bribe to get him to say that Eric can walk on two feet.

Memorial Day flags

The cookie plates for the neighbors.

Well at least these weren't gross

The pitas worked out well. I think I'll try a different recipe next time, since they didn't poof up with a pocket like nice pitas do. But, for a first attempt they tasted good and I am certainly capable of cutting my own pocket. :)

All baked, soft and cut.

Stuffed full of tuna salad, tomato and romaine. So good!

EEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

I knew that upon moving to Georgia, things would be different. The weather would be muggier. The pace would be slower. The people would be kind and polite and friendly.

BUT.... I didn't realize quite about the bug situation. I have never live in a house in my adult life where bugs ran rampant through closed windows/doors/screens/and bug spray.

This morning, whilst making some pita bread dough, I discovered a HUGE HUGE cricket in the corner of my kitchen. Which led me to move the cabinet a little to get to him... which led to a huge screaming fit because I found a ton (I consider 6 a ton, for those of you who think I have a tendency to exaggerate) of spiders, which led to cleaning... lots of cleaning.

On the bright side, the guy is coming today to spray for bugs. The house is clean. And, the pita bread dough is rising. Lord save me from the bugs!

Empty the Dishwasher Amelia Bedelia

Sometimes having a teenage boy in my house makes me feel like the lady who employed Amelia Bedelia. If you don't know who Amelia Bedelia is, you should get one of the books about her by Peggy Parish. Anyway, she is literal. To a fault.
So, today, when I gave Ray his list of chores. They were done promptly and forgotten by me. When, later while I was making dinner, I discovered just how literal my kiddo could be. The list said "empty the dishwasher and put away the clean dishes". In my house, we rinse the dishes off first, so some of them apparently looked clean. So, when I went to make dinner this evening, I discovered half of the dishwasher emptied into the sink (those dishes looked too dirty to put away) and the other half put away. When asked if the dishes were dirty that he put away, Ray replied that he had taken the cleaner ones out and put them away like asked, and the dirty ones he put into the sink. Sigh. I am laughing as I type this... I just finished washing every single fork and spoon that we own because I couldn't figure out which ones weren't washed.

That'll teach me! Next time I'll make SURE I've run the dishwasher before making a chore list.

Out Darn Stitches! Out!

I realize that my blog/life has centered around Eric's injury lately. However, in my defense, it has completely encompassed my life. He did have a milestone today. He was told he did not have to wear his boot unless he was moving around, and he had his stitches out. The doctor said that Eric was coming along like a champ, and (prayers answered) he was healing quite well. It was a HUGE morale booster of a day.
Later this afternoon we'll take Ray to get his new glasses. All in all, a good day for the Swicks!

Waiting for the Doctor to tell us the good news.

Ugly scar with stitches still in.

A nice orderly came to take them out. (Yes, he did agree to have his hands shown to the public for the sake of my blog.)

A slightly painful stitch removal.

All done, cleaned and steri-strips in place.

Just another Diet update

Well, it has almost been exactly 2 months that Eric and I have changed the way we eat/live. I have lost 25 pounds and 2 sizes. :) Those are just bonuses though, I have found I enjoy cooking more when you have to think about what you put in your body. And, the extra energy is a bonus. Hopefully, I'll go down another size and maybe 20 more pounds this year, but I'm not really counting that anymore. This is just how we live now.

My own version of a "baby" book

Being a step-mom, I missed out on bits and pieces... like actually having a child. :) But, when any of my kids are here, I tend to document any major milestones with pictures and the like. It seems silly, but today was a major milestone...

This is the very FIRST lawn Ray has ever mown.

I was so happy to have someone to help with Eric down for the count, and frankly, I didn't want to mow the lawn. What a perfect time for a first!

All about leg

For those who mind looking at photos of medical stuff... this is NOT the blog for you to read today. I wanted to share some of the x-ray pics of Eric's surgery. He is getting exponentially better each day. Today he even wiggled his toes and said it didn't hurt that much. I for one can't wait until he is able to drive again.

This is his pre-op x-ray. You can clearly see the broken fibula.

This is his post-op x-ray. I'm hoping that this is the start of turning him into the million dollar man

An ugly bruised leg, but under that medical tape is about a 5 inch scar. Good thing I go for guys with scars.

A Little (Bone) Remodeling

Eric's surgery is done and done. He has an orange foot (where they put the betadine for sterilization) so he matches Hopkins now. Today has been a long day, but praise the Lord everything went well.

And with the end of a long day, everyone needs Mexican food! (Because we all know I'm too tired to cook)

The patient is home safely and his recovery is starting. Yay, in only two short months he might be back close to normal! :)

Happy Mother's Day

To all types of mothers: step-, friend's-, grand-, and even my real mother, Happy Mother's Day. I got the best present of all, Eric's oldest is home to stay. Happy (Step) Mother's Day to me. :)

My boys :)

Pictures of a pretty leg

What a beautiful picture. That green is not the light... that is his leg. You can see (this is the opposite side of where he broke it) that the bruising extends all the way down to the foot. Poor baby, he's hurtin'.

This is the view of the side of the leg that is broken. The red cut looking thing is exactly where the bone is broken. This side of the leg looks better. And (thanks mostly to the meanest nurse in the world-me!) he has kept his leg elevated so much that there is hardly any swelling! Good for him. Surgery is in one day, we can't wait for the actual healing to begin!

Beautiful Southern Sky

View from our back door last night. God's paintbrush was at work.

Cheater Cheater McGee!

That is what I did today. With Eric being down for the count, the doubling of everything that I do is a bit of a shock to my system. You forget how nice it is to have someone take out the trash while you do dishes... or stop by on the way home from work and grab some milk. Anywhoooo, being a weee bit emotional right now because of our life trauma (and not getting more than 45 min consecutive sleep last night) I wanted to cheat today. And cheat we did!

It was WAAAYYYYY too much food for me. I haven't had potatoes for a long time. LOL I can't even cheat well. I ended up taking almost all the stuff off the burger, including the bun, and even then I couldn't finish the darn thing. Oh well, it tasted like cheating.

Eric's eyes were definitely bigger than his stomach here. He did better at eating the burgers than I did, but still had stuffs left over. That will be the last time we go out for a while. (Since his leg isn't repaired yet it is a bit of an ordeal to move him around without pain)

But, the flavor of the burger was worth it. We had a good time... and I even bought a thing of M&Ms to top off my cheating. (It's still sitting on the table. I'm too full, maybe I'll cheat another day again)

Eric's Smashing Success

Well, Eric has had his first... broken bone. And what a good one he decided to break. He broke his fibula (the outer skinny bone in your lower leg) near his foot neat in two. I saw the X-ray and it looked like his bone had lightning going through it. He also managed to tear his ligament. Surgery is imminent (on Monday), but he'll be good as new in a couple few months. For a while, I'll just have to get used to him under foot... oooh bad reference.

Right after it happened. Poor guy.

Waiting for the Orthopedic Surgeon to tell us when his surgery is.