Ear infections stink!

Poor Ginger has a wicked ear infection! Complained of painful ear pressure last night; thought it might be allergy related... sinus related... seems all that is connected some how. Awoke in the night to terrible pain and suffered until we got him to the doctor this afternoon. Doctor had to show me how bad it looked... first he showed me the good ear, "this is what a good ear should look like!" Then he showed me the bad one... boy, oh boy... that eardrum looked ANGRY. Doctor, who is ordinarily very conservative with medication, even prescribed a pain killer! Poor Ginger! Ear has drained some today and doctor said it will probably rupture. Poor ear!

Sweet Tabitha at the doctor's office caught us before we left the doctor's office... saying she had something for special patients and apparently we are special patients. (This doctor delivered Ginger 13 years ago). Tabitha makes these little pillows filled with rice. She instructed us to heat it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and Ginger can hold it to his sore ear. Fabric is a nice, soft flannel like you'd use for pajamas for a child. The pillow is about six inches by six inches. Very sweet. The staff at our doctor's office are great! Here's hoping Ginger feels better soon!

A blog worth checking out

I was just surfing the net and stumbled across this blog. It's amazing and the blogger has FREE patterns for really nice projects. So far I've just looked at the free scarf and hat patterns... very nice. I'll be adding this blog to my favorites!

Here is the link:

http://smariek.blogspot.com/

GAA final layout

I spent several hours working on my Great American Afghan last weekend... several hours! I really struggled to come up with the layout for my project. I decided I would probably never be totally happy with the layout so I decided to just finalize the layout and start stitching. I got ten... that's 10!!!! blocks stitched together... very tedious, very tiring, back breaking work. Took a break with my son to have some dinner and he kept glancing over at the afghan which was laid out on the floor near the dining room table.

Finally I asked, "What!? What is it?!" He said, "you should have listened to me mom!" I knew he was right because as I was stitching things together I noticed I had two really dark squares together... it looked terrible. I unstitched the two dark blocks and then I decided to unstitch all of them... did I tell you? That was 10 blocks to unstitch and hours of work! Argh!!!! I stacked them all up and, as I walked away, I told my son, "Go crazy! Figure it out! I am over it! I've looked at it too much and I just can't figure it out!" I took a shower, put on my jammies, and then sat in a chair as my son CAREFULLY and THOUGHTFULLY went to work.

He started with the Spiraling Square in the center and then made an "X" with the two diagonals reaching to the far four corners. The two blocks with duplicate stitch, Happy Anniversary square and Son's square, are opposite of each other on the diagonal. The colorful Under the Sea and Three Trees squares are also opposite one another on the diagonal. He proceeded to organize the squares by color. He set to work by alternating the blocks not only by color and value (light v.s. dark) but he also explained that some blocks had up and down (vertical) design elements while other blocks had designs which were more centered, so he arranged them so this element would alternate as well.

Yes! A thousand times YES! I should have listened to him! Sure hope I don't sound like one of "those moms"... who just go on and on about their brilliant children... but I tell ya, my son blew me away.

A hat for "Ginger"

My son has been watching me knit for 1 1/2 years now and finally he said, "Mom, could you make me a hat?" I told him, "Sure!" and asked him to describe to me what he wanted. He had very specific ideas as you can tell from the diagram below.

He raided my stash (actually yarn from my Mom's stash... thanks Grandma!) and I showed my son a photo from a pattern I've been eyeing... it's an ear flap hat pattern I found on a website called http://www.alarmingfemale.com/. She has a few free patterns on her blog. This is what we came up with.

I suppose I should explain "Ginger". While in middle school, my son's been nicknamed "Ginger". It actually comes from the cartoon "South Park" (the show LOOKS like something for kids since the characters are kids and it's a cartoon... but trust me... it's not... it's a terrible show... but I digress). On "South Park" people with red hair and freckles are called "Gingers". Instead of being offended or getting all bent out of shaped and feeling teased, my son embraced the nickname and he obviously really gets a kick out of it. He even had a New England Patriot's hoodie personalized with this football number and "Ginger" proudly displayed on the back. I think this says a lot about my son's sense of humor, his resilience, his attitude... all qualities I like about him. He's also got a really funny sense of humor. So that explains this hat!

Morning Glory Muffins

I posted about making homemade granola the other day. It turned out pretty good despite my recipe tinkering. I especially enjoy granola on yogurt. I ACTUALLY made this batch of granola because I've been wanting to try out this recipe for some fairly wholesome muffins called "Morning Glory Muffins". As I was about to top my muffins with granola just before baking, I realized I forgot to add the brown sugar to the batter! Rookie mistake... yikes! I was so disappointed in myself; such a waste of so many ingredients. I quickly sprinkled some brown sugar on top of each muffin, then topped that with the granola, popped it into the oven, and hoped for the best.

Despite my mistake, the muffins were still slightly sweet... the coconut and grated carrot I presume. The streusel-like topping was super yummy. I will definitely make these muffins again with the brown sugar IN the batter. I did substitute toasted pecans for the toasted walnuts and I used just 1% milk. Next time I make these, I will use some unsweetened applesauce in place of some of the oil, too. I found the unsweetened coconut at the health food store; it has a much dryer consistency compared to the sticky, sweet coconut you find at the grocery store. I made 12 muffins which have great tops and I baked them for only 20 minutes.

I think they are the prettiest muffins I've ever made. My husband must have thought so too, because when I woke up this morning, I saw he had eaten one of these muffins when he came home late from work last night. I will be very curious to know his opinion of these muffins. I do a lot of baking just for me (to stock the freezer) since my husband and son are rather picky and they don't care for the more wholesome things I make. Maybe he'll say they were terrible and think it was an April Fool's joke! We'll see! [UPDATE: Hubby just woke up and he mentioned to me he had a muffin last night. I asked what he thought and he said he LIKED them. I told him about THE BROWN SUGAR fiasco and then considered telling him about the wholesome ingredients and why I am so surprised he liked the muffin, but then I decided against it... knowing he'd refuse to eat another muffin once he learned they contained CARROTS (gasp!) and COCONUT (eeewwww!) Then I offered to make him some eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast and asked if he wanted toast. I almost fell over when he said, "I'd like a muffin!"] Enough said... you must try out these muffins... link follows.

http://vanillakitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/Muffins

Here is a link to the blog "Vanilla Sugar". This creative blogger posts some amazing recipes with great photos!

Our night on the town in Las Vegas

We had one night out on the town in Las Vegas. We decided on a show which was billed as the Ultimate Variety Show and it plays at the "V" Theatre in the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino. It included an emcee who was a talented and super funny juggler, some strong and flexible Russian acrobats, a magician, some aerialists, and many other acts. We enjoyed the show immensely and it really was a highlight of our trip. When you are in Las Vegas, you have to see the dancing fountains outside the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. They are especially dramatic at nighttime. The area of the strip in front of the Bellagio is lined with sound speakers, so folks stop to listen and watch. I just took three or four short videos. The videos above and below should give you a glimpse of what it's like. I bet if you venture onto www.YouTube.com, you'd find lots of videos of the Bellagio's fountains.

Spring is in the air

When we were recently playing "tourist" in Las Vegas, we ventured into the fancy Bellagio Hotel and Casino. We visited the box office to see about tickets to the Cirque de Soleil production "O". Since it would have been $350.00 to $500.00 for our family to attend, we decided against it; however, the trip to the Bellagio not a waste. As we exited the hotel, we were drawn to this sun filled room with a huge, soaring glass-domed ceiling. It was filled by what must be a giant's garden; almost like something out of a fairy tail. You see the over-sized garden trowel in the distance. Whoops, looks like someone tipped over a yellow clay pot and now the flowers are spilling out.


The garden is speckled with over-sized snails, mushrooms, bees, butterflies, and daffodils.

Water elegantly gushes over this globe. In the foreground, you can see huge flower boxes filled with bulbs. I would have loved the have been there when the tulips started to bloom. The scent would probably be amazing. The room is filled with these boxes of tulip bulbs on the verge of blooming. I noticed in some of these photos, you can see a few daffodils in bloom.

Flowers spilling out of the clay pot. I could not capture it in the photos, but there is a water-feature in this part of the garden. Random spurts or jets of water rocket out of the flowerbed and arc to a spot in the garden 4 or 5 feet away. It catches you by surprise and then a moment later, a spurt of water will jet off in another direction. Whimsical to say the least.

Something great to see from ever angle.

Working as a gardener at the Bellagio might be a fun job. Could you imagine how they decorate this space at Christmastime.

I was so distracted by the wonderful, sunny garden room, that I did not notice the floor until I was racing to catch up to my family. These are true, amazing, incredibly detailed mosaic-tile designs embedded in the floor. Both the floral designs and the geometric designs are made of very tiny 1/4 to 1/2 inch tiles. The Bellagio is all about the details!