Another Busy Week!

This has been heck of a busy week for us!  Monday and Wednesday I had dentist appointments and got 2 fillings on both days!  My teeth suck...   Tuesday was a trip to the Endocrinologist, where I got in trouble (again) for not getting my fasting labs done!  I really wish you could make an appointment for those...I'd be more likely to actually go then!  I did get them done on Wednesday though...I skipped my morning coffee before my dentist appointment (at 7:30am) and went in for my blood draw with an almost entirely numb lower jaw.  Try spelling a name with an "f" in the middle to someone when half your tongue and lip are numb and not working properly!

On Tuesday I stopped in on my eye doctor to make an appointment there as well (for Monday).  While we were there, nephew #3 played with their toys for a little bit...he was really good during my Endo visit and only interrupted twice!  He also got stickers at both offices...they gave him two stickers at the Endocrinologist, so when I asked him what he should say at the eye doctor (as she was passing him the basket to pick from) he said "I want two!"  That, of course, got the whole staff laughing...and then he said his please and thank you.

Tuesday was probably our busiest day this week.  I have been working hard to arrange our days so that my other half still gets to take his SUV to work and not have to worry about us dropping him off and remembering to pick him up again.  So, after picking him up from work on Tuesday (he worked from home while I was at the dentist to watch our nephew), he dropped our nephew and I off at the Mall and came home to get the coupon (I forgot to print it before we left the house that afternoon) for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants (Perkins)...they emailed me a 20% off coupon and it was Tuesday, kids eat free!  Northtown mall has a kid play area (that #3 refers to as "the park" that is padded from top to bottom and perfect for even the earliest of walkers to run around in without getting hurt.  However, when getting dropped off...we got let off at the opposite end of the mall!  It was a lucky break though...I have been promising to take #3 back to see Santa since we got back to Spokane.  He got to see "him" in Bend while I was visiting, but he said he forgot to tell him something and wanted to see him again!

#3's list of "somethings"...

• dog bone (for both dogs)
• a wooden house (that he can paint himself...black!)
• Furniture for the house...every room, please!
• Please come early so we don't have to wait so long!  (This is really due to the two of us having to travel home on the 24th...but he likes the idea of being Santa's "practice run" for this year!)

He could have gone on and on, but there was a line forming behind us by that time!  He got a little coloring book, thankfully they weren't giving out candy canes like they were in Bend, and then we set off to finish our walk to the play structure!  Can you believe they want $30 for a single 5x7 photo here?!?  This is probably why I can't remember ever going to do this as a kid...

We made a pie this week too!  It's gone now...but it was pretty good!  Pumpkin "Custard"...but I cooked it a little too long, so while it was still creamy, it cut a little better!  I modified a recipe given to me by my Mother...who modified it to her liking from a recipe they were giving out at the WIC office (typed and printed on a computer, so who knows where they stole it from!).

Here is "Marcy's Version...Pumpkin Pie/Custard":

• 2 cups Pumpkin (either from a can or from the "real" thing...I used 2 "Pie Pumpkins" that I baked the night before)
• 3 eggs (I used fresh eggs from the girls, so Large eggs)
• 2 cups "Milk product" (I used Hood's Calorie Countdown*, Coconut, Almond, and Soy are all good subs...or mix and match!)
• 2/3 cup Splenda (I think it could have used a little more "sweet", but a fresh whipped cream would add to this too)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon Clove
• 1/2 teaspoon Ginger (Or you could use Pumpkin Pie Spice...but I would still use the Cinnamon too, just replace the other spices with it!)

Put everything in a blender or mixer (this filled my blender to the very tip top edge) and give it a whirl to mix everything really well.  I Pulse my blender with each ingredient...start with the eggs and "milk", then add your Splenda and spices...finish by adding in the pumpkin!  I started with the pumpkin and it was really hard to get everything to blend well.

Pour into a pie plate (or two if they are shallow, or even small glass dishes...use a water bath with the small ones though) and bake at 350 for 30+ minutes.  The original recipe says 45 minutes...I think mine took about 75 minutes though...hard to say when you have a little guy running around the house!  Start checking it after 30 minutes...just keep setting the timer for another 5-15 minutes (after 30 it looked very soupy still so I gave it 15 minutes and then slowly increased how often I was checking it).

The really observant have already noticed, I'm sure...but there are a few things I'd like to point out about #3 in that photo right there.  First, he's wearing my kitchen apron!  He had just got clean pajamas on, and I didn't want pumpkin on them since he was going to my bed when he finished his pie!  I had to tie the neck hole up to make it fit him, but otherwise it is perfectly kid sized!  (I smell another craft project coming on!)  Now look at how nicely he's sitting up to the table...since we don't have a high chair/booster seat anymore, he is getting to sit in a regular chair with a 12-pack of Diet Cola on it!  It is working very well...even if t does look, um, well...trashy!  Lastly, do you see the television on behind him?  Chicken Channel!  Now see my chickens...one out of the three is actually on the roost!  One is on the side of the nest box and the last one is in the nest box!  This is how they have chosen to sleep since the weather got cold almost nightly!  It is never the same chicken in the same spot either...they take turns getting pooped on by being the one in the nest box!  I have tried going down and moving them, but this is how they always rearrange back to once I leave.

Perkins knows how to get kids to eat...at least our nephews anyway!  All three of them clean their plates when we got here!  (Remember, I said we went on Tuesday...)  While we did actually bring food home for #3 after this meal, he ate everything I let him have while we sat there!  This was our second trip to eat with him...and this meal went over much better than the previous meal.  During our first visit, he chose the pancakes with chocolate chips.  He ate all the chocolate off and refused to eat the pancakes!  We eventually got him to eat one of the "ears" it was shaped like a bear head (big round with little round ears), but unlike the photo which was two small pancakes and a large one, this one came as one large pancake!  He ate the rest over two more meals.

Tuesday I got him talked into the "Rainbow Sprinkle Pancakes" that also came with bacon (and powdered sugar and whipped cream).  We immediately slid one of the pancakes off of his plate while he ate the mountain of whip cream off the top!  #3 also chose to take his 2 slices of bacon home.  So, he ate one giant (to him) pancake for dinner along with a glass of milk (I think it was chocolate, but I could be wrong).  When he finished his milk, he asked the waitress for a glass of water instead of a refill, I was proud of him!

This morning while he was still asleep, I started to assemble the gifts to get them wrapped!  Of course, he got up before I finished that step, so he got to help with some of the wrapping too.  First though, it was off to gather my stash of empty boxes!  I save boxes like a madwoman throughout the year specifically for Christmas!  Square (or at least straight and flat) packages are so much easier to wrap than how stuff comes packaged...  Anywho, my box stash inhabits a large portion of the closet that is also doubling (tripling maybe?) as the "warm, dark place to make my Homemade Sauerkraut!  Also in there is a leaf to a large dining room table that we are currently not using (the rest of the table is taken apart and being stored in a room in the garage).  Needless to say, things ran amok on me and while trying to catch the table leaf as it went crashing down toward my jars of 'Kraut...I got caught averting disaster (in the form of broken glass and half fermented cabbage all over the place)!  I have no idea what "bit" me, but it is still bleeding a little and I need to change the band-aid again...6 hours post "incident"!  But, you aren't "really" wrapping gifts until you draw blood, right?

Gift wrapping has been a bit of a "bother" for me this year too!  It appears that all of my boxes are just a hair too big for the amount of paper I have!  This partially wrapped gift that is pictured here for example...no matter which way I turned the box, the roll of paper was just not bog enough!  I ended up putting a piece of "scrap paper" to fill the hole...it was from another roll entirely and doesn't match, but what does an almost 4 week old care about the wrapping, right?  I had to "Patch" together almost every package I wrapped!  Some of that though was because I am actually running out of wrapping paper!  I'll suffer through this year and buy more after Christmas when I can get it for $0.70 a roll or less!  The one pictured here I actually bought a year or two ago at World Market after Christmas...they better enjoy it because I am never buying paper again that doesn't have a squared pattern or those little grid lines on the back!  I can't cut a straight line to save my life!
I did get a good amount of wrapping done, but am not finished by a long shot!  What I have left though are all smaller gifts and all I have are large boxes!  I did notice that I need to get some quality toy shopping done though...I hate the fact that I don't have any good "toys" for the boys!  Lots of clothes this year...for everyone!

While I was busy wrapping, #3 went to watch Toy Story 3 (Thank you Netflix for putting it on the streaming video list!) in our room.  This is about how he's spent every day when we're home!  The grin is because he just can't help himself!  Any time he even thinks I might be taking a picture, he grins and says "Cheese!"  He actually watched about 75% of the movie before he got up wanting something, I think that's a record!  He is currently fighting nap time...2 hours and counting!  If he'd just fall asleep everything would be great!