I wasn't planning to cook that...

Two weeks ago I was starting dinner and waiting for Mark to come into town. Mark would be home after dinner so I was planning on feeding and bathing the kids before his arrival. I had my mixing bowl out and was getting ingredients together for meatloaf. Henry came into the kitchen to chat and keep me company. He wanted to stir the glop in the bowl. As he did that, I sauteed some chopped onions and garlic. Once I added that to the bowl I got the meat out and started squishing it together with my hands. Henry was still chatting away. The stove had been off for about 3 minutes, but with a glass top stove it seems to stay hot for an extra long time. Doesn't take much time to place two fingers onto the burner of the stove but the pain sure lasts. As Henry started screaming I was frantically trying to get a look at his hand while raw meatloaf mixture dripped onto the floor. I finally had to go wash my hands, all the while saying soothing things to him. Even before my hands were clean I was shouting for Irene to get her shoes on. I knew that this wasn't going to be good. Thankfully, she listened and had her shoes on quickly. Gavin held up the works for a few minutes while I cleaned his dirty diaper. Then we dashed to the car, Henry crying all the way.

While driving to the Emergency Room I called Mark. Thankfully, he was in Michigan by this time and within two and a half hours from home. At the ER we were taken right into registration and then back into a room. I admit to having one very brief moment of panic when we headed toward the area where my mom had been. I didn't want to be in there while my child was in need. If it had been me then no worries but I couldn't do it when it was my son. It only took a moment to realize that that area was occupied. We were taken to a small room that had Finding Nemo fish on the wall. Our doctor was the talented husband of one of the ladies I knit with. I tried comforting Henry by telling him we've been to the doctor's house and that he was the one with the blow-up bounce house in his basement. The doctor was great with Henry, the nurse was fantastic. Henry had two fingers with 2nd degree burns. His middle finger was by far the worse with the burn crossing the crease of the finger. He was given pain medication and a diet coke. Diet coke? Yes, he asked for it to help with the pain. I figured that if having it made him feel less pain then it was fine with me. Irene got one, too. When we were finished, the kids wanted to walk down the hallway to check out the cafeteria. They've remodeled since the last time I had been that way. It looks quite nice now.

We left the hospital with a prescription for pain medicine, gauze, burn goo and instructions to call Henry's doctor on Monday. Called Mark and gave him the details then headed to K-mart to fill the prescription. The pharmacist was fast and we decided to walk through the toy section. By that time the pain medication from the hospital had really set in. Henry was jibber-jabbering like crazy. We walked over to Subway to get a juice and wait for Mark to get there (Mark parks his truck in the big parking lot by K-mart/Subway).

In the two weeks since, we've been to Henry's doctor twice. Once for the initial visit and check up. It is a bit nerve wracking when the nurse tells you over the phone to make sure you give out pain medication before the appointment. That visit went well. The goal was to keep the blisters intact for as long as possible. Since the burn crossed the crease any scarring could impede the movement of that finger. We went to the doctor again this week because the blister had broken. Both fingers look great and there is no trouble with movement.

Did I mention that I'm going to make meatloaf for dinner tomorrow? Henry will not be allowed in the kitchen.

A Little Tulip in Your Step

I've been without a computer for a bit. My computer picked up a virus from one of the blogs I read. It ate my hard drive and after paying for a new one I am a bit leery about reading blogs. Life has been the usual craziness with a lot more insanity. I will write about those details another time. Now, on to the pictures...We recently went to Dutch Village in Holland, Michigan. We've talked about going for years. The tulips were in bloom and we wanted to spend a family day together.We had a Dutch buffet for lunch and then walked through the village. Lots of cute things for the kids to check out and a lot of information. Giant wooden shoe slide that Henry and Irene enjoyed.

Bunnies were available to hold, pet and brush.

And goats needed to be walked.We went through the shops including a shop that sold all kinds of Delft. Some pieces were priced in the thousands! We bought some fudge made with Dutch cocoa and (of course!) we got wooden shoes for Henry and Irene. They've been having fun wearing them out and about.

It was nice to get away for the day. Things are in a bit of an upheaval right now. When I think about writing about all the stuff going on it just exhausts me. Hopefully I will get my head wrapped around all this soon and will be able to share it.

A warm Weekend

This past weekend Mark was home and the weather was beautiful. We went down to visit his parents and we took the kids to the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids.

It was very busy there that day. The sun was shining and it was warm enough for just light weight jackets.

We got to see a section of the zoo that we haven't been to before. Every time we've gone before it was before or after the summer exhibits were open. Granted, with this trip a lot of animals were still not out yet and some of the summertime things were not opened. We did get to see the newly refinished petting zoo and a little house that the kids could play in. They also had an airbrushing tattoo that you could have done. Irene got a panda airbrushed onto her hand.

The otter was performing for every group that came by, unfortunately, we had no food and the zoo does not allow us to feed the animals.

The cougars were very vocal when we came by. One in particular kept making what sounded like a very angry kitty noise. Shortly thereafter the cougars put on a "birds and the bees" show! All the adults started laughing and the kids wanted to know what was going on. "Mommy, what are those animals doing?" "They're wrestling."

For some reason the tiger was not out and turkeys were there instead. We laughed because we see turkeys all the time just driving down the road.

The lady lions were sitting on a rock right in front of the viewing window. It was a treat to see the so close. It is amazing how large they really are when you are standing so near them!

Look at those paws!

Hello, Beautiful!

I'd love to snuggle up with one and take a nap, but somehow, I just don't see that happening.

The chimps had had a fight recently and several had nasty wounds.

We had a great time at the zoo and at $5 for an adult and $3 for the kids it was a great deal. The prices do go up at the end of the month but even then it is a great price.

We had dinner that night with Mark's parents at the Shang Hai Ichiban Japanese restaurant. I love this place and have fond memories of eating there as child with my family. They've since built a new restaurant but the food is just as good. They cook it all in front of you while putting on a performance. The kids love it and they enjoy the food too.

After dinner we went swimming and then to bed. The next day we had breakfast and headed towards home. Nothing in Grand Rapids opens until noon so there wasn't anything to do. It was a great weekend and I love that we got away for the day.

Food, Birthdays, More Food...

Corned beef and cabbage! This year for St. Patrick's Day I decided to make corned beef and cabbage. I have never made it before but I had a recipe to make it in the crock pot. Bought the corned beef, cabbage, red skin potatoes, onion and carrots at the store. Thankfully corned beef was on sale that week. I started in the morning peeling carrots and cleaning off the potatoes. In the crock pot I put in 2 or 3 cups of water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. The recipe called for 3 tablespoons of each but I was worried about the taste. I put the corned beef on the bottom and added the spice packet to it, then added the potatoes, carrots and onion. Put the crock pot on high and let it cook from around 9:30am until noon.

At noon I added the cabbage. I sliced it into quarters then cooked it until around 5pm. It all turned out so yummy! I was really proud of that fact! The kids really enjoyed the meat and carrots. The vinegar and sugar really made the flavor in this recipe. The carrots were devoured at dinner so we had none for leftovers the next day. We had a lot of meat which made for a yummy lunch and dinner the next day.

The next day was my birthday. Mark was still on the road so I made my mom's recipe for sour cream coffee cake. We were planning to go to knitting group and taking it with us but just as it was coming out of the oven I got an email that one of the children at the house we were heading to was sick. Soon after I got another email inviting all the healthy knitters to another friend's house. We headed over there but we were the only ones that showed up. My kids had a great time playing there and we all had some coffee cake but I basically ended up taking all of it home.

The next week we were back to our regular knitting spot. Another email was sent out this time asking for someone to bring something yummy to eat. I said I would so I set off to make another coffee cake. This one was easier and was almost like a banana bread. Ingredients included crushed pineapple, smooshed bananas, pecans, vanilla and the usual flour, baking powder, etc.

We had two more knitters that time but only one of them actually tried a full piece. One didn't try any, one had a very small slice. I took home 98% of it even though the lady that actually tried it said it was delicious. I don't mind baking things for knitting group, in fact I kinda like it, but if you're going to request a baked good and then not eat it then I get a little upset. It was, for the most part, a waste of food and money. I was not going to eat all this and neither were the kids. Needless to say, I am not making anything else for knitting group any time soon.

On a funny note, Mark's birthday is ten days before mine. Gifts usually depend on our financial situation. This year Mark and I each got a watch. Granted they were not expensive but we both needed one and we found nice ones that were on sale. At first Mark was looking at Citizen watches. He had one before but it finally died and no one has been able to revive it. When the sales lady starting giving prices for them I started to laugh! Yeah, not this year! Mark did find a nice and less expensive watch. Mine was even less then his and I think it is a good looking one. Of course, no pictures because I can't get my act together. Now on to the actual funny bit...I talked to Mark several times on my birthday. I kept waiting for the "happy birthday, honey." Never got it. I really wasn't upset because I knew he was distracted on the road. The next day when he called I asked him if he knew what the day before had been. "Shit, honey. I'll buy you something!" I swear that is exactly what he said! Made me laugh :-)