Recipe of the Day

So, I know I haven't posted in forever and am not for sure this will last, but since I'm posting these on our playgroup's message board I figured I might as well publish them here, too. One of these days I'll get around to writing actual posts again!

One-Dish Chicken Supper

My notes: The "standard" recipe comes from the back of the Stove Top Stuffing boxes ... you can also add broccoli or frozen mixed veggies. The crockpot version is from the "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook. I wonder if this would be good with cream cheese instead of the sour cream or milk?

Standard edition:
1 box chicken stuffing (or turkey, your choice)
1/4 c. stick margarine, cut up
1 1/2 c. hot water
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (or equivalent; I often cook a whole chicken or turkey and freeze the leftovers, then just pull out a package of the larger chunks for this dish) - you can do this with cooked or uncooked chicken, I just use the cooked for convenience and time-saving
1 can cream of mushroom/chicken/celery (your choice)
1/3 c. sour cream or milk

1. Mix stuffing, margarine, and water, just till moistened.
2. Mix soup and sour cream (or milk).
3. Put chicken in baking dish, top with soup mix then stuffing.
4. Bake at 375 deg. about 35 minutes or till chicken is done (if using precooked chicken, cook till stuffing is nicely browned on top).

If using a crockpot, everything is the same except steps 3 and 4:
3. Put chicken in crockpot, top with soup mix then stuffing.
4. Cook on Low 6-8 hours.

And the quick list of updates since I haven't written in about a year:
We're expecting another daughter in May.
Thomas is in preschool and is looking forward to Kindergarten in the fall (actually, "looking forward to" doesn't quite cover it - he's been asking about just when he gets to start for the last year and a half!)
Beth is finally growing some hair and hates the fact that she isn't in preschool yet; she'll start a one day/week program this coming fall.
Clay is still at OSU and still loves his job.
Rob is still at OSU and living with us, and still can't wait to graduate.
Pregnancy is still a mix of enjoyment and discomfort, and I'm totally worn out by it!

A long 3 weeks!

We left home 3 weeks ago, and it was a VERY long 3 weeks. We got to spend a day in Indianapolis with our best friends who now live in a different state, then headed the rest of the way out to St. Louis to be with my mom's family for Christmas. Then, the day after Christmas my aunt died suddenly, so we of course stayed for the calling hours and funeral. We got home late last Tuesday night (was it really only a little more than a week ago?) then Wednesday morning went to Bucyrus to celebrate Christmas with our immediate families and New Year's Eve with my family (Clay's parents had plans). We got home Saturday night, slept and worked on Sunday, then Monday started trying to get back into the swing of things, going through the mail, etc. Well, one of the pieces of mail is the renewal for Dandy's dog license, which requires a rabies tag ... I wasn't sure when she needed her next so called the vet (old family friend who lives in Bucyrus) and found out that both she and Annie are due for shots. Ugh. So, packed the kids and the animals up on Tuesday to head for Bucyrus, promising Thomas that he got to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's (my parents), and Grandma would bring him home in time for preschool the next day. We got halfway to Bucyrus when I got the call that they were having to cancel the appointment, the vet's mom (who, at 87, had been in the hospital in Cleveland for a few weeks after they discovered an aggresive cancer) had taken a turn for the worse - they were hoping to make it up there in time to say goodbye. I guess when it rains, it pours. We had a great Christmas, but it's kind of sucked since then.
In happier news, Thomas had Spanish class at preschool for the first time Wednesday and loved it, hasn't quit talking about it. He still won't tell us what he learned (colors) but at least he had fun. Beth is getting SO close to walking, but gets quite upset when it comes time to sit down - she doesn't want to let go! She's also started using more words - we've got "Mama" (me) "Um-ma" (my mom) "Dada" (Clay) "baw" (bottle) and "ba" (bye). It seems like there might be a couple more, but I can't think of them right now. Oh, and she got another tooth and is working on several more - yea (ugh!) :-P

Sick!

Another pop-in, just letting you know we're all still alive. Thomas caught the flu either from preschool or playing with other kids on Thursday, then I caught it, then Clay caught it, then Rob caught it. We'd never have made it without my mom who SO kindly dropped everything (even her workout that she was about to go to!) yesterday morning to come and take care of us. Thanks Mom!
Thomas seems to have gotten the hardest hit, he's still pretty wiped out but I think just tired now, not really sick anymore. Clay and I are both feel a lot better; I'm munching on crackers and drinking Sprite and Clay just won a game of Candy Land with Thomas. I think I'll even be able to make my appointment for massage therapy tomorrow (they're hoping to get rid of my headaches, though don't seem to be overly optimistic).
We're heading out to Indianapolis on Thursday evening to meet up with our best friends (Jeff, Onalee, Anna, Lydia, and Wesley). Wesley turned a year old this past week and we haven't ever seen him, we all lived in Kentucky at the same time but moved when Onalee was pregnant with Wesley and I was pregnant with Beth - it will be so awesome to see everyone!
After hanging out with them on Friday, my mom will drive out and meet up with us. Clay will take her car back to Columbus and my mom will go out the rest of the way to St. Louis with us - there really didn't seem to be any point in going *back* to Columbus on Friday then turning around and leaving on Saturday again.
Ok, I'm getting a little tired again so I'm going to read and rest for a while ... here's hoping tomorrow I'll be 100%!

Just popping in ...

Just thought y'all would like to know that Beth stood up for the first time today; she was holding onto me, I was sitting on the floor - she was babbling away and I happened to look over and she was standing up! Yea! She also was rolling her tongue, it was very cute.
Thomas is sick, he was throwing up all night Friday and yesterday morning, then slept for 22 hours, being awake for maybe a total of an hour during that time. My poor kiddo! I'm not feeling the greatest today (or yesterday, for that matter) and took a 2-hour nap earlier, hopefully I'll be 100% tomorrow. Yuck!

Christmas Tree!

We went to a Christmas tree farm today, actually to take pics for another family while they cut theirs down, but since we were there anyway we took advantage of the opportunity and picked ours out too. It smells so yummy! We'll decorate it tomorrow, I was planning on putting up the lights after the kids were in bed but Thomas apparently begged to help, so they're waiting till tomorrow. I love Christmas time, and I especially love the smell that sneaks through the house, reminding you of the season as you go about your day. Thinking about Christmas always makes me feel warm, even on the cold days!
Speaking of warm in the cold, I also baked some chocolate chip cookies today; however, the first ones ended up pretty crunchy. I put the dough in the fridge to chill, so I imagine the rest will turn out alright ... if not, I don't mind eating crunchy cookies! They make the best topping with hot fudge on vanilla ice cream (*stomach growls*).
I guess I don't have much to talk about right now, I'm feeling really sleepy for some reason so I think I'll just skip the goofing off or reading tonight and go straight to bed!

Oh yeah, and Beth now officially has 4 teeth and crawls, and is in love with our dog (the feeling is mutual - Dandy welcomed her into her crate this morning, cuddled right up to her!) Thomas loves doing workbooks, a friend gave us one and we've been doing a little every day the last few days - he keeps begging for more. I just wish he would focus that much on the OTHER things he's supposed to be doing (like picking up toys, getting dressed, etc.) Sigh.

Waking Up

Wow! I feel like I've been gone so long that I should reintroduce myself ... in more ways than one! I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner, Beth has been around for 9 1/2 months, Thomas is in preschool ...
You know how they do those little questionnaires at your 6-week appointment after your baby is born to make sure you're not going crazy? Well, that wasn't a problem ... but soon after my appointment, we moved and a million other things were going on, and I started falling apart. I should have gotten help sooner, but thought I was getting better, yadda yadda yadda. I made an appointment to see my old OB/GYN from here back in August, but couldn't get in till September, which I did. She put me on meds, they sucked and didn't work out, ugh. So, last week I went to a FP and she was terrific (in spite of my laundry list of stuff to ask about). I'm now on Celexa for post-partum depression and I feel like I'm all of a sudden waking up to the world (hence the title of the post). I've felt like the real me had been shoved out and just watching this crazy mean person run (ruin?) my life, and my family's life. It's been so frustrating, it feels like you're in this big hole and trying to climb out but someone keeps dumping more dirt on you, you can't get out, and it's heavy! When I explained that last bit to Clay, he said "Yeah, you don't have to tell me, I've had to deal with it for years, but you do explain the feeling a lot better than me!" True enough, it gives me a new perspective on how he has to wrestle his emotions and reactions ALL the time, not just for a horrible several months.
But now I really am getting better, I can tell on so many levels! I've *missed* Thomas when he's gone, he has a new sparkle that we haven't seen regularly in WAY too long, and I'm generally happier and easier to be around. Yea! Now I just have to get the house and the family back on track (not in that order!) There's lots of stuff I want to do with the house, but I've been so out of sorts that I haven't managed to get off the couch long enough to accomplish something real in ... um, let's just say a long time. I have tons of sewing and mending to catch up on, too! As far as the kids are concerned, I can play (for short periods of time, this is medicine, not a miracle!) and I'm looking forward to starting to work with Thomas in workbooks and fun activities as we settle into a manageable and balanced schedule. Beth gets to play too, but really a baby can't do much with crafts other than chewing on the pieces!
Expect to see more of me on here in the future, but I'll be spending less time on the computer overall - I have a life to get back to!

Hello World!

A fellow blogger asked if I have a blog and I realized I haven't posted lately, so figured if I'm going to give out my URL I'd better have something recent up! I could make all sorts of excuses, but I'll just skip them, you've heard them all before.
Thomas loves preschool, he's really looking forward to his first "Storytime" tomorrow - it's the enrichment program for the 3-year-olds at his school. He absolutely loves his teachers, loves playing, loves "Weather Bear", and is learning the days of the week based on which days he gets to go to school. I love it too; Beth and I usually get the grocery shopping done one day, we go home and work on the house the other - it's so much easier shopping with one kid rather than 2!
Everyone's been sick around here, Thomas just started feeling quite a bit better today so I'm looking for Beth to feel a lot better tomorrow (T brought it home from preschool, B got it the day after him, me the day after that, and Clay and Rob the day after that). Beth is growing and becoming much more mobile, she loves to roll all over the room especially when the obstacles are out of the way.
My brother Rob is living with us as he looks for a job and gets ready to start at OSU during winter quarter ... he's transferring there after leaving Miami University, so here's hoping OSU will be a better fit for him. I'm really glad he's decided to move on, it felt like he was just sort of stagnating at Miami. We love having him here, the kids love him and it's a lot of fun having someone else to play games with! He's a million times better about doing the dishes than I am, so while I might have thought it would take a bit *more* work to take care of the house with him here, it's actually made it easier! Yea!
I'm doing a lot better now that I'm on meds, I was diagnosed with PPD and - lo-and-behold - the world is a happy place again! We're also part of a playgroup where we've been making a lot of friends and enjoying new activities, doing lots of things we wouldn't do when it's just the kids and me. Today we went over to Homestead Park in Hilliard, it was absolutely terrific! The park is huge, we did a stroller walk then let the kids play in the different play areas while the mommies got to visit and be real people.
Ok, I should have gone to bed a long time ago, but wanted to get something up to let everyone (all 6 of you! jk) know that we're still alive!

I'm Back!

It's been a while, but I think I'm returning to the blogosphere. We just returned from a trip out to visit family in St. Louis, but have yet to get back into the swing of things. Thomas woke up and promptly threw up the entire contents of his stomach - thankfully, that consisted only of water! He wants something to eat now, but I'm putting him off for a while, then we'll see what happens. He's otherwise doing great, is now fully potty trained, and looking forward to starting school next week. He'll have preschool Monday and Wednesday afternoons, though the first day is shortened. I can't believe he's old enough to start school!
Beth got her second tooth on Saturday, August 23 - the left bottom front tooth was first, right was second. She's working on some others, not sure which exactly yet but guessing the top 2. She's a lot easier with the teething than Thomas was, but doesn't take medicine NEARLY as well, so it's sort of a toss-up. Ugh.
Clay is HOPEFULLY getting results from his blood tests today, they did a whole slew of tests last week to figure out what's going on with his stomach, etc. He's had an upset belly for weeks, the doctor wants to be pretty aggressive as far as tests to figure out what's going on with him - colonoscopy, blood tests, the scope down your esophagus, etc. Yuck!
I've got an appointment with the OB/GYN this week to talk about hormones, etc. (read: possible PPD but I'm not wanting to call it that or admit that I MIGHT have something more going on than irritability) so Mom will be down to watch the kids for my appt. and the Parent Orientation for Thomas's preschool on Thursday, plus maybe for Clay's scope(s) if we can get them scheduled conveniently.
My brother Rob is going to move in while he finds a place to live and gets school/work figured out, he withdrew from Miami and will be attending OSU but isn't sure which quarter he'll get to start classes. It will be a lot of fun having him here, but I've got to clean out the computer room so he'll have somewhere to crash! It's going to be a BUSY couple weeks here!

The kids playing

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

We won the lottery ...

... but not the good kind involving a windfall of green. We've been down with an extremely nasty virus for the past week, the only redeeming factors being 1) Clay didn't get it! 2) Thomas got it first and was over it before anyone else started feeling symptoms and 3) We live close enough that my mom was able to come down and stay the night to take care of us. I guess I'm the one that got the sickest (fever was over 104 at one point and a week later my throat is still sore) but really, nothing is more miserable than a sick baby. I called in to the pediatrician's office and they wanted to see us, so I hauled my miserable sick self, Thomas's healthy but by now bored self, and Beth's very sad and pathetical sick self to the Dr. on Thursday. He thought it might be strep (imagine how well the throat swab went over) but turns out we've just all got another really nasty virus, and he's seen it a lot in the last couple weeks. So to relieve the symptoms of sore throat he tells me I can use children's benadryl and children's mylanta, mixed together and put in her mouth. The mylanta soothes it, the benadryl numbs it - I'm thinking this is great, and we leave the peds office as they are closing for the night. We head over to Meijer to pick up the mylanta (I have benadryl at home) and some groceries we need - get the groceries, but they don't have the mylanta. Ugh. So then I drag all of us across the street to Walmart where I'm informed that I'm the fourth person in 2 days to come looking for it and no, they don't have it and they can't get it. They suggest CVS, who tells me the same thing - you're the second person today to come looking for it and we don't have it, so sorry. Apparently our Dr. is sending everyone out for this and doesn't know that they quit making it. Grr.
My throat is only a little sore still (finally!) so hopefully today I can make some headway on all the nonsense there is to do around here - I'm absurdly behind after traveling to St. Louis, going to Girls' Weekend, then immediately getting sick - that's over 2 weeks of relying on my mom's overnight (she did some laundry and dishes for us, thank goodness) and Clay's spare time (which he has precious little of, I can't be thankful enough that it was all spent taking care of the stuff I couldn't do). So, I guess this is off for laundry!

Prepping for playgroup

We're hosting our first playgroup here tomorrow, I've spent a huge part of the day procrastinating. I did dishes and started laundry, plus steam-cleaned the carpet where Dandy peed (again!) but that pretty much is the extent of my productive activities. Granted, Beth's been having a rough day and needing held a lot, but it's telling that I'm procrastinating by writing a blog post about procrastinating. Ahem.
So, moving on ... life is good in spite of nasty headaches and suchforth, I'm superly looking forward to going to Cedar Point with my mom (and Greg & Sarah) this Saturday, I can't wait - a kid-free day! Clay and his mom and dad (so, mostly his mom) is going to watch the kids so I can run away for a little bit and have some fun. THEN on the 4th of July weekend we're doing our annual Girl's Weekend with me and Clay's mom and sisters - 2 kid-free times in a row! Seriously! I love spending my time with the kids (and it's nice to finally be getting us all settled and back in a predictable schedule) but this weekend can't come soon enough!
Ok, now I really need to stop goofing off and sweep floors, finish dishes, do more laundry, and generally pick up. And prep food (not much to do on that, thankfully!) Then I can waste some more time.

Not a whole lot going on right now, Thomas is napping, Beth is just hanging out, and Clay is supposed to be home soon. We're going to go up to Bucyrus to celebrate Greg's birthday this evening, but will return home afterwards. Next weekend we get to go up to Bucyrus and I get to go to Cedar Point with my mom (and brother & his fiancee) for a totally kid-free day. Yippee! I can't wait!
I'm getting a major headache, so I'm going to eat and try to head it off.

Updates

We gave Clay a cute picture frame and "Doodle Box" for Father's Day. The picture frame was our project at playgroup, Thomas did pretty much all of it himself. I gave him the letters for "Daddy" and traced/cut out the kids' hands, but he did all the gluing, coloring, picking out what to put on there, and placing everything. Now I just have to a) take a picture of it and b) print out a picture to put in it. The "Doodle Box" is actually a tool box sold by Craftsmen that comes with paints and stickers and such for the kid(s) to decorate for their Dads. It's still in the box, Clay and Thomas can do it together (lol, I'm seriously looking forward to watching this, I can just hear Clay trying to not be completely anal while a 2-year-old decorates). Clay wants to take it to work after it's done, I guess tools are pretty hard to keep hold of there, so he wants to be able to lock them up.
Thomas's sandboxes arrived, along with a little playset and (finally!) a slide for the big swingset. Now we just have to get the swingset finished and the sandboxes filled. We got the sandboxes and little playset from a garage sale, the playset has a little steering wheel. It's taken up residence in the basement, Thomas calls it his "car" and a new favorite phrase is "Should I drive it ... ?" I love his "Should I do X?" questions, I'm not sure whether it's a cute saying he's come up with or a new way of discovering standards of behavior. It certainly helps though!

Father's Day!

The kids and I are going on a secret mission today. Well, not so secret as I'm spilling it here on the 'net, but as Clay doesn't read this blog (I doubt he knows even where to find it!) I can tell. One of the mommies in our new playgroup is hosting a Father's Day craft-making playdate, so we're going to work on a picture frame for Clay. I'll have to work on printing a picture to put in it later, the photo printer isn't hooked up yet, but one thing at a time ...
I'm trying to decide what else to do for Father's Day. I think Clay is an incredible dad, and no amount of money spent will ever be able to tell him that. We're both pretty big fans of the Combined Gift idea - instead of getting smaller gifts at each occasion, we'll do one more expensive gift for XM/FD/MD/BD/GD. I've given thought to a La-Z-Boy recliner, but not so sure yet, they're pretty expensive! Any ideas, anyone?
Ok, off to get us out the door!

Off of hiatus (maybe)

What with moving in and all I haven't been much for posting lately, but as my mom has posted on her blog THREE TIMES since I last posted, I figured I'd better get started again.
It's been quite a month! (Wow, a month already! I can't believe it's been that long!) Let's see, we left PA April 29, closed on the house April 30, Clay graduated that weekend then went back to PA to finish up his stuff there and get the movers all set, we stayed in Bucyrus till our stuff arrived the following Tuesday, May 13, and have been unpacking ever since. Well, sort of. We had the Cold From Hell (ALL of us! Sick 2-year-olds are NOT fun!) which seriously lengthened the time it takes to unpack. The kids and I went to our first playgroup-meetup last week, it was nice to meet some other people.
We're loving being so close to family, Clay's parents (55-minute trip) have been down twice and mine (1 hr. 10 min. trip) have been down once - a visit every weekend since we moved! My mom also came down one day to shop for some Little Theater stuff. And this is all since we officially moved in - everyone but my dad was here before that at least once to help us get stuff cleaned up and ready for move-in!
My brother Greg and his fiance Sarah came over for dinner last night, which was nice. I made some chicken fettuccine alfredo (main dish) and strawberry shortcake (dessert) as the main things of the evening - salad and rolls to round us out. It was nice having them over, we got to play a game of cards too, which was fun. Here's hoping we can do it again soon!
Ok, Beth is eating which makes it really hard to type so off for now, but I'll try to be posting more regularly from now on out.

Back again!

Our stuff arrived at the house on Tuesday and we're now unpacking like mad. I've gotten Thomas's room unpacked (I made it a first priority to get him settled in) and I think the kids' bathroom is all the way unpacked - as for everywhere else, well ...
Thomas is in a Big Boy Bed and loves his "Beep-Beep" (Lightning McQueen) bedding. Though when I asked him yesterday afternoon if he liked his bed (he loved it in the morning) he said, "No, I like Daddy's bed." Too bad for him, Daddy's bed is already taken!
Here's a shout-out for my sister-in-law Jill: She's going to be running in the Nike Women's Half Marathon with Team In Training. It's a fundraising adventure for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and she'll be working her tail off to head out to San Francisco in October. It's a seriously major commitment, she can NOT back out once she's said "yes" (which she has). The way it works is they pay for her flight and room out there, but she's got to raise four times the cost. The other three parts go straight to leukemia and lymphoma research - 75 cents of every dollar, in other words. If you look at the stats on fundraising, that's not a bad percentage as is! So, to support a great effort for a great cause go to her TNT page and make a donation! You can keep tabs on how she's doing by reading her blog - send her a word of encouragement whenever you can.
Ok, off for breakfast then more unpacking the Sea of Brown!

Good news/bad news

Bad news: Clay's sister was in the hospital overnight for a racing heart - her heartrate was over 220! I can't even imagine, I'd be terrified. Apparently it's fairly common (something like 20% of people over 30 experience it) and she doesn't have to do anything (meds or anything) except have a followup appointment in 60 days. So, a bit of a scare but not nearly what it could have been!

Good news: We have a family coming over tomorrow evening to make an offer on the house! Yea! They seem really nice, they moved here a year ago from San Diego and started renting a house with the option to buy, but decided they do NOT want that house (it sounds like it might be kind of yucky). Here's hoping it all goes well ...

We've all been enjoying the gorgeous weather (it's been in the upper 60's through mid-80's), Thomas especially loves sidewalk chalk. Most common phrase heard in our house right now: "Ta-ess go ouside an do side-walk?!"
Beth officially chuckled for the first time last night. She had sort of heh!'d before, but we got 2-syllable chuckles last night. Heh-heh! I love watching the kids grow, I feel like I've turned around once and they both went from newborns to what they are now.
Speaking of gorgeous weather, we went over to the Freeze for the first time (last time) of the year on Saturday evening - we waited in line for (I kid you not!) over an hour! The line REALLY didn't look that long, but I guess the servers are still getting in their groove for the summer. Yummy though! While we were there, several people kept asking how old "he" (the baby) is. Beth was wearing pink.
And we wonder why the nation is in such a state.