Day 28

Will this crap ever end? Probably not. At least not any time soon! Today I had a follow up visit with my wonderful doctor. I had both good news and bad news. But I suppose in the grand scheme of things it's really closer to good news and could be worse news, than truly bad news.

The good news is that my lungs are clearing. And I didn't need a doctor to tell me that. I can tell.

The could be worse news is that I am still green. And I still have a slight wheeze or whistle by the end of the day, especially if I push myself. Therefore the doctor has extended my antibiotics- another five days of Levaquin! Hooray! And the Prednisone- (psychotic music hits a crescendo). Yippee! I will also continue playing with the nebulizer as needed.

Overall, I am feeling much better. Last night was the first time I attempted to sleep lying nearly flat. I didn't get much sleep, but it had little to do with my position and more to do with the drugs I am using. I have also been slowly cleaning the house. Each day I pick a room to attack. Two days ago it was the dining room. Yesterday it was the library. Today I think I bit off too much. The Dirty Romance Room was not a terrible mess, but I think the combination of very little sleep last night, waiting two hours to see my doctor, the quick but necessary trip to Wal-Mart, the run by the pharmacy, and making a simple pot of rice to go with Manisha's tandoori chicken did me in. Even with Orion's help I gave up just short of vacuuming the room. I could tell by the slight wheeze and the pain in my chest that if I had reached for the vacuum, I'd be paying double for it tomorrow. So the Dirty Romance Room has been dusted and neated, but vacuuming will have to wait for another day.

Tomorrow's room will most likely include vacuuming of the entire house and cleaning of the hallway closet. The boys will be in charge of neating the kitchen and cleaning their bathroom with the mandatory bleach and fire.

Day 24

I went to work today. What was supposed to be a half day turned out to be about 5.5 hours. I suppose since my usual day is easily 12 to 14, I didn't quite make the half mark!

I woke up at 8:45. After not falling asleep till 3:00 (I love steroids!). I washed my face, brushed my teeth, used the bathroom and returned to bed where I had my first breathing treatment of the day. Even after the treatment I just sat there and wondered why on earth I had decided to attempt work today. Nearly two hours later I found myself in the parking lot at work.

I spent just about two hours in my office catching up, grading, and preparing for my last class of Foundations of Ed. It was a good class. They had many outstanding and creative projects to share and I was surprised that I made it through the entire class without falling over!

But class did take the starch out of my panties!

I took nearly another two hours to get enough mental and physical energy to make the trip from my office back to the car. I could tell I pushed myself today because my chest hurts in that spot, still and again.

I am home now. Showered and in PJs for the remainder of the weekend. Taking another breathing treatment and ravenous (I love steroids!). And wondering if I'll have the stamina for Monday!

Note: I completed my extended round of antibiotics earlier this week, however I still have a great deal of snot and drainage. I continue to take over the counter and prescribed (at night) cough meds. I am still taking Albuterol and Symbicort and I have a little, crinkly wheeze that won't quite leave. Energy scale (1 being low - 10 being great) is about a 2.5. But last week it was in the negative numbers so this is an improvement! My next doctor's appointment is Tuesday.

Day 19

Ten days of illness and isolation (as suggested by the Health Dept. and CDC). Tenth day doctor diagnoses pneumonia prescribes Tessalon & Levaquin. Day 14 sees no real improvement; doctor adds more Levaquin and breathing treatments via a nebulizer. Day 18 brings severe pain when breathing. Day 19 doctor orders Sunday visit to ER for another x-ray and blood work. Breathing improved. Pneumonia still present. Possibly viral. Doctor doubles orders for breathing treatments and adds codeine cough syrup for pain (!) and a month of steroids. Good news: I am not admitted. Bad news: I freakin' hurt like hell and it looks like I am going to miss another week of work.

I miss Andromeda!

Flu Update

Thank you friends for the get well wishes! Every day is a step closer to the light (of daylight, sunshine, and bike riding!). :-)

Tuesday's visit to the doctor and x-rays revealed that the pneumonia is still very present. While there were indications of healing, the doctor extended my Levaquin prescription by five more days and added a medicine to be inhaled via a nebulizer (Thank you V.J. for lending me your nebulizer!) three to four times a day. The Albuterol makes me terribly jittery. Yikes!

I must say that the constant bed rest has improved the condition of my glaucoma-ridden ankles, but my Beriberi is really acting up.

Orion is about half way through with his second round of antibiotics. John has just started his second round of antibiotics and is on his second day of Tamiflu. All this time I was blaming the boys for getting me sick, perhaps I infected them. I just hope they don't catch my Beriberi.

Oink! Oink!

Cough, cough...

Wheeze, wheeze!

Anyway you look at it, pneumonia sucks. I've missed over a week of school and by the looks of it I may end up missing another week.

At least I won't have any STI's after I finish this impressive round of antibiotics AND perhaps the glaucoma in my ankles will improve.

Rice Pilaf

Oh, I wish my camera was working! I adapted the following recipe from The Joy of Cooking (2006) 75th Anniversary Edition. Adaptations included reduced liquid for use in the rice cooker and additions of spices and mushrooms. Tree, you must give this a try. I think you'll love it!

Kat's Rice Pilaf

What you need:
2-3 Tablespoons of butter
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
4-6 green onions, sliced thinly
2 small bay leaves
2 cups rice (I use Jasmine)
4 ounces of angel hair pasta (I use Barilla) broken in to tiny pieces
small handful of dried mushrooms, soaked, drained, and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
3.5 cups of chicken broth (4 if you plan to cook the pilaf on the stove or in the oven)

What you do:
Melt the butter in a large skillet, browning the garlic and cooking the onions until transparent, toss in the mushrooms and bay leaves.
Toss in the rice and pasta pieces and saute until golden. Dump in the rice cooker. Add 3.5 cups of chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste, close the lid, and turn it on!

The result is fabulous! Next time I might reduce the broth and use the water from the soaking mushrooms. I might also include cashews or almonds.

Computer Mishap

A few weeks ago I mentioned the Camera Mishap that left me without a digital camera and feeling quite miserable. Well, it seems my little laptop, Hello Kitty, is seriously ill. Her only symptoms were some odd error messages on Saturday night followed by the Blue Screen of Death (!) on Sunday morning ~sob~. I can only hope that she is able to be fixed.

MKT Trail

Saturday morning found Orion and I hitting the Katy Trail. It was the first time I'd taken Andromeda Dale (AnD) "off road". The trail consists of hard packed pea gravel so it isn't like biking on wet grass or mud. But the gravel does give beneath the tire and made for a most unsettling feeling at first. Once I gained some confidence, Orion and I cruised from Windsor toward Green Ridge for about three miles. We turned around, just past the Pettis County line to make our way back to Windsor to meet John at our predetermined time.

From Windsor we drove to Calhoun and then on to Clinton. With Calhoun only 7.5 miles from Windsor, I think that will be our first one-way adventure with John or another kindly friend meeting us there. Eventually I'd like to make it the 14 or so miles to Clinton.

My brother and his wife have biked the Katy Trail on at least two occasions. (They biked the stretch up near the Missouri River and on to St. Charles.) Listening to their experiences has been a major motivator for my own trail excursions. By spring I hope to be able to bike 20 or so miles in a day (not the 45-55 they did!) which will leave me time to explore, get the feeling back in my rear end, set up camp, make dinner, and rest before moving on the next day. I've got friends I want to bike with!

Ugh!

So this evening's bowling was not nearly as stellar as last week's, much to my chagrin. I must admit, however, that this week has been a trial. From technical issues Monday during class, to sick family members and rude billing folks at the doctor's office. Include a week's worth of insufficient sleep and today's wardrobe malfunction (Dark tea all over my white blouse before I had to observe student teachers for five hours!) combined with a house that is in such desperate need of a good cleaning that it smells funky!

Am I making excuses? Perhaps. But here are this week's scores. You know the motto: "Bloggin' my pain; bloggin' my shame!

Last week's game raised my average to a 108. Tonights games were:
09/17/09 117 101 89

Gobble, Gobble!

It's that time of year again. The bowling season began three weeks ago and each night I have berated myself for not once going to the alley to practice over the summer. I have also found a plethora of new bits and pieces that seem to ache just for the helluvit.

Last season I finished with an average of 106. The first two games this season weren't so promising with scores of:

August 27 100, 105, & 67 (shameful!)
September 8 99, 111, & 97

But I am quite excited to say that I bowled my highest game so far last night (as did a good friend, Ruth, with her score of 193 (!)). My scores for last night were:

September 10 106, 182, & 107 (Holy smokes!)

I like to think that I have been steadily getting better. Most of the time the ball goes where I want it to. Sometimes pins seem to have a force field surrounding them making them impervious to the 11 weight hurling at them at roughly 13 m.p.h. Ultimately, my throws are more consistent. Last night's second game was awesome! I had six strikes (!) and three of them aligned for a turkey. (My turkey dance and gobbles of excitement alternately delighted and frightened my teammates and friends.)

Last night was actually the second time I bowled this week. Tuesday I bowled fora make-up game. Perhaps it was a good thing... I am looking forward to bowling next week and I am actually considering practicing!

The Name Game, Continued

Readers, I am impressed by the names sent to me via email as well as by the comments section of my post "It's a Girl!" Several local friends also made suggestions. Some suggestions made me cringe, while others left me scratching my head (Stagger Lee? Why would I name my baby after him?). My favorites are listed below:

Robin (Several made this suggestion, not just Sally in the comments! I have a few Robins in my family (both sides) and will probably skip this to avoid confusion!)

Aqua Velva (I must say I absolutely love this name! But I am not entirely certain I can call my baby A-V with a straight face. I do agree with Jenn A-G, Aqua Velva is sure of herself!)

Azure Adventurer (A^2) (A very dear friend suggested this name after some thought. I do like the name, but fear I would stumble when pronouncing azure then there are several who don't know that azure is a color!)

Evelyn (Jenn A-G suggested this name and it does just roll off the tongue. In fact, I found myself trying the name out on Tuesday whilst cruising KNSP. Still uncertain.)

I must admit that I have been kicking around some names of my own. (Keep your giggles to a minimum, please!) Maria or Mary Magdalene (Yeah, I like that one too!), Andromeda Dale (AnD (pronounced Andy) for short), or one of my favorite Greek Muses: Calliope, Polyhymnia, Clio, Urania, or Thalia.

Who would have thought naming a bike would take more time than naming one's offspring? But I suppose most parents have a more than a few weeks to discuss baby names. I'm still taking suggestions, but I promise to commit to a name soon!

Crock-Pot Mishap ~ Camera Mishap

Wednesdays are days where the crock-pot is in charge of dinner. When things are running smoothly (giggle!) and things are as they should be (snort!) the week look something like this: Monday is Orion's day, Tuesday is my day, Wednesday belongs to the crock-pot, Thursday is whatever (I'm bowling and don't care what or if the boys eat!), Friday and Saturday are John's days (but not always), and Sunday it's back to me. I had rather hoped that the boys would take pity and man crock-pot Wednesday, but alas, I am still hoping. Last week's Lemon Chicken was rather tasty. And while tonight's dinner was edible, I was almost glad the camera wasn't working.

When I began experimenting with the crock-pot years ago, I seemed to have more misses than hits. But after reading several cookbooks and blogs as well as chatting with friends who know and love their crock-pots, I have found that I now have more hits than misses. And I am not quite certain how to classify tonight's dinner.

This afternoon I thought I would give Mongolian Beef a try. I visited Crock-Pot 365 and Recipe Zaar and looked at both of their Mongolian Beef Recipes. How could I go wrong with ginger, garlic, soy, wine, and chicken broth? Right? Well, to start, I dusted the meat in too much corn starch (I'll omit that entirely next time!), and secondly, I used a 3.5 quart crock-pot instead of the larger one. It smelled great. And tasted fine. But looked like something from the black lagoon. Really! (Again, grateful for not having a camera to blog my shame!)

I think I'll retry the recipe, but not any time soon. And as for the left overs, I am not certain what to do with them. But I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Now then, you may wonder about the Camera Mishap part of this post. Sunday I went out with Orion and Shannon to bike for a bit. I took the camera for the sole purpose of snapping picture of my bike and hopefully getting one of my bicycle mates to snap one of me and my baby to share with you! The camera dropped (crash!) and it's toast. We've had the camera for a decade or more (it's a Cannon Cool Pix 4.3 and it has been dropped many times before, but its number was up!). I am hoping to send it off and have it fixed. ~Sob~ I suppose I could dust off my old Cannon AE-1, but just the cost of printing gives me the willies.

Dinner's Ready...

Lemon Chicken and Chicken Fried Rice

School resumed just over two weeks ago and I have already contracted some horrid sinus funk. I honestly think it is allergy related. Last Friday I had that horrible "allergy eye" that feels like pink eye.

Feeling poorly only increases my appetite for homemade, well-balanced meals. And Stephanie over at A Year of Sow Cooking always has some very tasty suggestions. Today, I thought I would give a couple of them a try.

First, I started with the Lemon Chicken. I took four chicken breasts and hacked them into manageable chunks and dusted them in flour with salt and pepper. I browned them a bit and tossed them into my Crockpot.

Then I mixed up the sauce and dumped it on. I goofed, and added the entire container of lemonade. Ooops! Also, I used rice vinegar instead of the suggested balsamic vinegar.

Then I decided to give the Chicken Fried Rice a try. I was feeling a bit dubious about the efficacy Crockpot Fried Rice, but I was feeling adventurous... Or perhaps it was just all the antihistamines I had consumed. I trucked out all of the goodies I thought I might need: chopped onion, chopped green onion, peas, carrots, and left-over baked chicken.

I tossed in a good amount of soy sauce, a touch of sesame oil, and gave it a good stir. I made sure to leave a well where I poured in three eggs, scrambled. It was my hope to return in about an hour and give it a good solid stir, combining the cooked egg with the rice. But alas and alack! The Crockpot was on "warm" instead of "high". Again, it must have been the antihistamines. So I gave it a stir and cranked it up. Hoping that the hour I had lost wouldn't make a huge difference.


The results were not only attractive (see the first picture in the post), they were quite tasty. I am thinking fresh pineapple and a hint of red pepper would be just the ticket on the next go around. Even with the extra 1/2 of a container of lemonade John still gave the chicken a 7/10. I gave it an 8.5/10. The fried rice was another story. My left-over rice was a bit moist and I think it would have fared better if I had used three or four day old rice. With the Crockpot on "warm" for the first hour, the rice didn't heat as quickly as I had hoped. The stirring broke up my long Jasmine rice grains into short, stubby bits. But the taste was quite good. I could have used a bit more of the sesame oil and the soy sauce, but I was guessing as I was working with a lot of rice. The rice got a 4/10 for texture (my fault, I'm sure) and a 7/10 for taste.


Readers, give it a try and let me know what you think. And thank you Stephanie for the inspiration!

It's a Girl!

She's perfect! But at nearly two weeks old, she definitely needs a name. She's a Trek 7100 WSD in Robin's Egg Blue with Paisley Detail (really, all she needs are streamers and a basket!). She's a hybrid, designed for both bike paths and concrete. (She really likes the blacktop, okay, I really like blacktop!) She's fast, yet sturdy. And I love her.

So friends, please take a minute of your time and suggest a name for my newest family member via the comments section. If I choose the name you've suggested, you'll win a framed photo of me and my new baby. Seriously.

Score!

Look what I found! Well, John found them... We stopped by my favorite antique shop in the 'Burg, Highway 13 Antiques, where I found my $25 china cabinet, on the way home today. I love looking at all their goodies: glassware, china, linens, and more. Well, John walked up and handed me a long, thin, leather wallet and to my suprise and delight, it contained 24 pairs of knitting needles ranging in size 3 to 15! The price was $20, but this package (Susan Bates Knitting Needles) retails for $59. That was less than $2.00 a pair!

Now I have just the right size to use on the gorgeous Burly Spun wool that I found earlier this summer! I can't wait!

Fun at the Fair!

Friday was fantastic. Friday was fun. Friday's fun spilled over into Saturday. Friday evening, after work, we raced to Sedalia for the Missouri State Fair for a little fun. The weather was perfect- sunny and the temperature was dropping nicely. We wandered, ate, wandered, ate some more, people watched, ate, checked out fair submissions, at some more, rode a few rides, and well, you get the picture! The best part of going to the fair is eating fair food! Foot long corn dogs, roasted corn, funnel cakes, sausage and peppers, and the list goes on. Thankfully we met good friends and were able to share the tasty treats! We left the fair close to 11:00 p.m. and headed back to our friends' house where we played Guitar Hero till 2:30 a.m. Woot!

A Recipe for Tree

Tasty raviolis times fresh spinach and bacon-y goodness equals a very happy tummy. This is a quick and easy recipe and takes just about twenty minutes to make. While I would love to say that I used homemade raviolis, alas, I relied on the Kirkland (a Costco brand) cheese raviolis available in the freezer section. Give it a try! You can't go wrong with bacon!

Kat's Spinach and Ravioli

What you need:

Raviolis
8 - 16 ounces of Fresh Spinach
8 - 16 ounces of bacon (yum)
4 cloves of Garlic, chopped (or more if you prefer!)
1/2 of a Purple Onion, sliced in rings
Parmesan Cheese
Black & Red Pepper

What you do:

Slice the bacon and begin frying in a large skillet. Place a pot of water with salt and a dash of olive oil on the burner to boil.

When the bacon is nearly cooked, pour off the fat, and add the garlic and onion. Add the raviolis to the water.

Just before the ravis are ready to come out of the water add the spinach and stir until just heated through and wilted.

Toss spinach and bacon mixture with the raviolis. Add some Parmesan cheese and pepper to taste.

What's For Dinner?

Just about two years ago I blogged about a potato surplus. Well, this month I have found myself in a similar situation; but instead of twenty pounds, I had roughly thirty five pounds to deal with. Orion and bought a giant bag of russet potatoes when we went shopping about ten days ago. A few days later John picked up a giant bag of tiny, red, new potatoes. And when my friend Jen came to spend the weekend and brought another bag of medium sized red potatoes. That's a lot of potatoes.

Well, so far we've had boiled new potatoes, potato pancakes (one of my favorites), and mashed potatoes. Well this morning, I noticed that the russet potatoes were looking as if they were considering a one way trip to the compost pile. But I knew they'd make a good soup. One of my favorite food blogs, A Year of Slow Cooking, shared a nifty baked tater soup recipe back in June.

I started with Stephanie's Baked Potato Soup Recipe and then shortly before dinner, just after stirring in the cream cheese, John and I decided it needed a bit more of something. So we altered the Stephanie's recipe by adding the following:
*more salt and pepper
*celery salt
*a drizzle of whole milk

As pictured above, I garnished with green onion and lots of bacon (Yum!).

The recipe makes a boat load (about five quarts)! I hope it freezes nicely. Cut it in half and use a 3.5 quart crock if you don't plan to have left overs!

Yum, yum, yum!

Friday and Sunday

Sunday, Orion and I woke up early and headed out to help our friends Manisha and Towino move to Mt. Vernon, Missouri. We headed over to their apartments and loaded the truck up with their goodies. We left the 'Burg at 10:15 and after a swing by the McD's in Clinton and a potty break in Boliver we made it to Mt. V just after 1:00. We checked in, unpacked, and hit the grocery store before leaving at 4:00. Orion and I made great time on the way home and we returned around 6:20.
But before Sunday's adventures, we celebrated Friday!


Friday was fabulous!


Friday was awesome!

Friday was fun!

John made homemade lasagne and gnocchi. We also made the Fried Eggs that Manisha taught me to make earlier the same week. Stacy brought cucumber sandwiches. Orion made a huge chocolate cake. Allie brought a tasty cabbage and seafood stew. We ate (a lot), we chatted, we celebrated Manisha's belated birthday, we ate some more, and we danced.

And danced.

And danced.

Ravelry

My friend Jen (from Arkansas, not Missouri) came to visit last weekend and shared an awesome online community for knitters, crocheters, spinners, and weavers! It's awesome! And it's called Ravelry! Ravelry has just about everything a (wannabe) crafty Kat. Plenty of patterns and project ideas to keep me busy until 3069. I love that I can organize my knitting needles and crochet hooks, message my friends (both named Jennifer- I need some more friends!), share photos of my finished work, and so much more! You can find out more about Ravelry by clicking here. If you want to me my stitchin' buddy, you can find me as katmangione.