Simon's Cat

I love "Simon's Cat"! This guy really knows cats and captures their little personalities so well. In this video, his cat reminds me so much of our Beldar. I never get tired of watching it!

They're Glad I'm Home

Daddy had a good night last night and so I came home from the hospital to get some rest tonight. After a shower and a nap, I am now settled on the couch with a quilt and my furbabies, checking my e-mail and watching the Ole Miss - South Carolina game. Brandon took this picture with his phone just a few minutes ago:

Can you tell my babies have missed me???

Got a Room

Daddy got moved out of CCU and into a regular room yesterday. I spent the night with him and his wife in here last night. He did really well. He feels much better this morning and is currently taking a breathing treatment while he watches the news. He's still a very sick man, but things are looking up! If he continues to do well, I plan to go home later in the day and get some rest and sleep in a BED, then I'll come back tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts!

More On My Dad

Daddy seems to be doing better now, but he gave us a bad scare Sunday. Saturday they moved him out into a room, and then Sunday morning he had to come right back to CCU after waking up and not being able to breathe. His BP shot up really high, and it took them a long time to stabilize him. They gave him some Lasix to draw the fluid off from around his lungs and nitroglycerin to relax his heart. Also, his white count shot up to 28,000. Scary stuff...

So anyway I've been camped out in the critical care waiting room forever, it seems. These recliners aren't much to sleep on, but I don't want to go home until Daddy is better. He's having a CT this morning, and his white count had gone down some, so hopefully we'll get some good news this morning.

Still at the Hospital

My dad is still in the Critical Care Unit at the hospital, but he is really improved. We've been dealing with a bunch of different things, but he's definitely improved. He actually might get to go back out to a regular room today. We're just waiting for the doctor to come around and tell us what's going on.

Update on my Dad

We spent the day at the hospital with Daddy yesterday. We got to the hospital just before the cardiologist came in. He said Daddy is a really sick man. He has had a heart attack. He has something going on with his lungs, causing him not to be able to get his breath. (He's on oxygen.) It could possibly be a blood clot, but we don't know yet for sure because was having some kidney function problems, which was keeping them from being able to do a contrast to check for pulmonary embolism. Also, he still has a lot of infection, and that is causing a lot of problems and preventing other treatments and diagnostic procedures.

They did ultrasounds on his heart & legs (to check for clots) as well as his echocardiogram. They said the damage to his heart was not as severe as they first had thought, so that is good. Also, kidneys were doing better as of last night, and so they should be able to do the CT now.

Everything seemed to be doing good and so we left around 8:00 for home to get some rest. I had planned to go into work this morning and then go back to the hospital in the afternoon. Out of the blue, though, Daddy had another episode where he couldn't breathe and was shaking. His BP shot up and his oxygen went down. It didn't last long, and they got him stabilized pretty quickly, but they have put him in the ICU now. No one can see him until 8:00 am.

We were going to turn around and go right back when we heard about that, but because they got him stable and won't let anyone see him, we decided to stay and get some sleep and come back with a bag to stay this morning. Hopefully we will know more then. At least with him being in the unit, he will be watched really closely.

Another Night in the Hospital

No details now because I just don't have the energy, but we spent another horrible night in the hospital with my dad last night. I was up all night and finally left around 10:00 or so this morning so I could come home and get a little sleep. He's stable, but he's not good. They're going to be transferring him to a larger hospital to see a specialist as soon as a bed in their CCU opens up, then I'll be going down there to be with him again. I actually need to go back and try to get a little more sleep before they call me. I just wanted to update for those of you who know us personally... :(

Yard Sale Results

I was up Saturday morning before 4:00 am and out the door around 4:30, heading to a friend's house to set up my part of our yard sale. I had taken a car load of stuff over the night before, including 3 large folding tables I borrowed, and then had reloaded the car when I got home so all I had to do was jump in and go Saturday morning.

It was amazing how much junk stuff I was taking over there to try to get rid of!!! Our guest room closet has been jam packed for the last couple of years, and I took all of that plus lots more with me. It's mind boggling what you can accumulate in a home after you've been there 11 years!

Anyway, we priced stuff to SELL! We even had a designated spot with boxes full of stuff marked "Free". And it's so funny what people will buy...Some of the stuff I didn't expect to go at all was some of the first stuff to sell. Amazing.

By 2:00, we wrapped it up and started packing what little we had left back into boxes. I couldn't believe how well we did. I only made about $50, but I got rid of tons of stuff! Yay!! I only had four copy paper boxes full of items that I didn't want to take back in my house, and those were donated to a local charity on my way home. I had started with two carloads full and only brought home one tub and one laundry basket of leftovers, most of which are going on eBay soon. I was definitely happy with our day!

Two New Recipes

Last night I tried a couple of new recipes and loved both of them. We had cilantro chicken, which I have had before, but I don't think this is exactly the same recipe. To go along with it, I found a recipe for Mexican rice on AllRecipes.com that turned out wonderful!

I'll post both recipes the way I made them, as well as a link to the original recipe I started with. Actually, the rice is the only one I altered. I made the chicken per the recipe with the exception of pounding out the chicken, and I meant to do that, but I forgot.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

4 boned, skinned chicken breast halves (2 lb. total)
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness (about 1/2 in.) and place in a shallow baking pan.

In a small bowl, mix lime juice, cilantro, garlic, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour over chicken and turn pieces to coat evenly. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Lay chicken on a grill over medium heat (you can hold your hand over the surface only 4 to 5 seconds) and cook, turning once, until no longer pink in the center, 4 to 6 minutes per side.

Mexican Rice

1 cup long grain white rice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped OR onion powder to taste (Y'all know this was my option!)

1 tomato, seeded and chopped

1 cube chicken bouillon

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1/2 lime

In a medium sauce pan, cook rice in oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Stir in onion, jalapeno, and diced tomato. Season with bouillon cube, salt and pepper, cumin, and garlic. Bring to a boil, add lime juice, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. NO PEAKING!! Stir in cilantro just before serving.

Altered Stuff

I had intended to spend my day off on Monday working on getting things ready for our upcoming yard sale this weekend. I still have a closet & some cabinets to go through as well as pricing things, etc. I was hit with sudden inspiration, however, and ended up spending almost the entire day at my scrapbook table working on a couple of altered projects I've wanted to do for a while.

The first was an altered cookie tin to sit on our hearth and hold pet treats. The second was a greeting card organizer for myself. For both, I used the same K & Company Wild Saffron paper that I used to create the greeting card organizer I made for my aunt back in May. I used my Cricut Expression & SCAL for the words as well as the circle for the top of the tin, and of course, lots & lots of Mod Podge! :)

Click the images to see a bigger version.

Scary Night

Yesterday started out pretty good...and seemed like it would end that way as well. Brandon & I went to the meeting and then back home to get ready for the first Ole Miss game. Brandon smoked some chickens, and Robin came over to watch with him. I had the game on in the back room while I worked on some layouts for the kids' cruise scrapbooks. Ole Miss won, the chicken was delicious, and we had a nice visit with Robin. We were both exhausted and went to bed around 8:00.

I was sound asleep when my phone rang around 10:00. It was my aunt calling to tell me that my dad was in the ER with severe stomach pains, nausea, and shortness of breath. They didn't know what was wrong, they were about to transfer him to another hospital so that he could have an ultrasound done. Needless to say, I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, and drove 45 miles to the hospital they were taking him to.

Daddy was in radiology when I got there. I stayed in the waiting room with my family for a while until my dad's wife came out to get us and take us back to his room. Before long, they brought Daddy into the room. He was pretty drugged up but was still in a lot of pain. I felt so bad for him!

Around midnight the doctor finally came in with the results of his ultrasound: gallstones. Thank goodness!! I was so afraid it would be something more serious! Thankfully, there was no infection and so they decided to go ahead and discharge him to go home for the night. It took a while to get his prescriptions and wheelchair to get him to the car. I got home at 1:30 this morning.

Daddy has a doctor's appointment for Tuesday, and I assume they will schedule him for surgery then. Until then, he's on medication for pain & nausea and is taking it easy.

Diet for the Doggie

Brandon & I took Duchess to the vet Thursday for her annual check-up and vaccinations. (As you can see, Bogart got to go along for the ride.) Everything looked & sounded good except her weight. Much to my dismay, she has gained 3 pounds since last year's visit, bringing her up to a chubby 69 pounds. Our vet wants her to lose 9 pounds and has instructed me to cut her food back 25%, give her more exercise, and bring her in to weigh monthly. I guess she and I will be going to the walking track on a regular basis...I need the exercise too!