PhotoHunt: Public

Awesome pink outhouse, I saw while out seeing a friends band play last year! :)

For more photos and this week's PhotoHunt check out: tnchick.com

Please come vote for Summitt

in celebration of Kohl's Cares® 10th anniversary, we're donating $500,000 to 20 schools each for a total of $10 million.

At least our life is not boring

This afternoon we went swimming with my BFF Stacia and her kiddos at our old neighborhood pool. We had a really good time, despite the constant barrages of "Hold me mommy", "Watch this", "Can you help me fix my goggles" from the kiddos. lol

Stacia and I acting silly at the pool!

While we were at the pool I noticed that Princess had a few weird looking rash type spots on her back. Stacia and I figured it was just heat rash and I thought nothing more of it until we got home. At dinner time I noticed the rash had starting spreading to cover her back and chest which is odd so I decided to keep a close eye on it just in case.

The best picture of our brood minus T-Man and Cameron.

We had sprinkled the house with salt yesterday to kill the fleas, if you want to read more about that click here. So while the kids were eating dinner I was vacuuming all the carpets trying to get the salt out of everything.

Chester all tuckered out after vacuuming up the salt and reading Sassy magazine! lol

After dinner we watched a movie and then I realized I had not given her some Benadryl and her face was a bit puffy. I gave her the Benadryl about 9:30pm and by 11:00 the rash was still spreading now to her arms and she was telling me her throat felt weird! So off we rushed to the ER to get some steroids for this weird out of nowhere allergic reaction! Spunky actually told Princess while she was getting ready to leave "You are so lucky you get to go to the hospital I wanna go!!". LOL! Kids are so funny especially that one.

We arrived at the ER around 11:30 and thankfully it was pretty empty. Got signed in, vitals checked and played Tic Tac Toe with Princess for about 45mins before we actually got back to a "room". I want to say she is so sweet and easy to get along with sometimes it almost makes me forget how hormonal she has been lately.... Once in our "room" we messed around some more taking pictures of course and drawing pictures as well.

The doctor came on in and checked out her rash and asked her if it itched, which it had not at first, but was itchy now. He talked to me about changes in diet, changes in soap, detergent etc. I advised him she had been at camp for a week and got home on Monday. Since being home has used and eaten the same things she normally does, nothing new or different. He determined she was having a "generalized allergy attack" since we really don't know what caused the reaction.... which IMO is weird!!

She had her first dose of Prednisone(sp?) in the ER and they sent us home with a script for a weeks supply. Whew! I knew that was what was wrong, but I just find it so weird that she had an allergic reaction out of nowhere to nothing? Makes me wanna somehow wash everything and disinfect the whole house tomorrow! lol On the way home from the ER at 1:30am we stopped at McDonald's for hot fudge sundaes and french fries, it was awesome!

CMV Video for Pepsi Refresh Everything grant entry

My carpets are covered in Salt!

Yes you read that right... My carpets are indeed covered in table salt and have been most of today. Why do you ask are my carpets covered in salt? Well that is because since getting the kitten we now have a flea problem! This is the first time we have had a flea issue so I was at odds as to what to do since money is tight like it is for everyone right now. After asking friends and consulting Google, I decided to use some home remedies first.

So today I decided to use the salt first and see what happens since we have that on hand and it is the easiest. Around 4pm I lightly coated the carpets with the salt as evenly as possible, planning to vacuum it up a few hours later. Then of course with Murphy's Law the vacuum cleaner belt broke and since we are broke(lol) we cannot get another... I am going to go borrow my mom's vacuum tomorrow so that we can see if walking on salt for 24hrs did us any good! I will for sure let you know nothing like cheap and effective!!

Chester :)

Our beautiful Max!

I don't know if any of you remember, but in January we lost our beloved Max to an accident and it has of course left a void in our hearts. I started thinking about getting another baby in May because it just seemed like the right time to add another kitty to the family. We had gotten rid of the fish and snake before moving to the apt, so we were down to one animal for several months which is quite odd for us. It's been awhile since I have blogged so I will fill you guys in, on that in another post... So I started talking to Jeremy about the idea of getting another kitten to play with the kids this summer and keep Mouse company etc.

On the 16th of July I emailed back and forth with a family with four kittens. I found them on craigslist a few days previous and finally decided I did not want to wait anymore so I made the decision to go pick one up! Jeremy was not very happy with me, but I knew he would get over it once he saw the kitty! Princess and I went to go pick a kitten out, they were all so freaking cute and it was hard to pick just one. We finally settled on the biggest one they had and whose coloring was also a bit different than the others cause we love the odd man out! ;)

My gorgeous niece Bella! ;)

We got Chester the same weekend we babysat my sister Emily's puppy Bella for the first time. We kept her all weekend and poor Mouse was NOT happy about now having a new kitten in the house, but now there is a dog here too! Honestly I think Mouse was less irritated by Bella than by Chester! lol She is very very territorial! The weekend was pretty hectic to say the least. Chester only got rolled four times or so by Mouse and Bella escaped injury all weekend so I think that's awesome! LOL!

So let me introduce the newest addition to our family, Chester!! :)and here he is in action right before he knocked over my soda can! lol

Wordless Wednesday

Click pictures to enlarge.

For more Wordless Wednesday participants check out these wonderful blogs: Ma Vie Folle, Mommy's Joy and 5 Minutes for Mom.

Sourdough Rosemary Bread

We made grilled cheese sandwiches with the bread for dinner tonight and they were AWESOME!

(Camera on the fritz images courtesy of Sourdough Home)

Ingredients:

2 t. chili flakes
1 T. fine sea salt
14 oz. cold water
1 lb. 10 oz. bread flour
10 oz sourdough starter (this is the started recipe I use)
2 T. chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:

Combine water and starter in mixing bowl and mix to break up starter. Add flour and water until mix comes together but does not clear sides of bowl (4-5 minutes). Cover dough with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes.

Remove wrap and add the salt. Mix well on low speed for 2 minutes. Turn mixer speed to medium and mix 6-8 minutes more until dough snaps back quickly. (Dough temperature should be between 68-74 degrees F). Add in remaining ingredients to blend. Try not to omit the chili powder it REALLY adds to the taste and is not to strong!

Cover dough and let ferment at room temperature until not quite doubled. Punch dough down, divide in half, and shape gently into two balls. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Form into rounds, or batards and place on a cornmeal dusted baking sheet and cover loosely with greased plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator and chill 12-18 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Let bread dough come to room temperature - 2 to 3 hours. Uncover loaf, remove from baskets if using and slash a decorative pattern on top. Spray oven with water and close door quickly. Open door and place bread inside and spray again. Let bake 3 minutes and spray again. Repeat spraying 2 more times then let bread bake for 10 minutes undisturbed. Lower oven temperature to 400 degrees F. and bake until deep golden brown and loaf temperature registers 205 degrees F.

Red, White and Blue Jello Poke Cake

Ingredients:
1 package white or yellow cake mix
4 eggs (for the cake mix)
1/3 cup oil (for the cake mix)
1 cup water (for the cake mix)

1 small package flavored gelatin, any flavor
1 cup water (for gelatin)
1 (12 oz.) container Cool Whip

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake, according to package directions, using eggs, oil and water. Bake cake in a 13x9-inch pan for 40 to 45 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for at least 15 minutes. Poke holes across the entire surface of cake with a fork. Dissolve the gelatin in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour the warm gelatin slowly over the surface of the cake (gelatin will soak into the cake). Place cake in the refrigerator and chill for about 4 hours. Spread whipped topping on top of cake before serving and top with Blueberries and Strawberries in the shape of an American Flag. Refrigerate leftover cake.