Sunday Paper Coupons

The new Sunday coupon preview is now  available. This is your chance to see what coupons will be in this Sunday's newspaper before they come out.  You can plan your upcoming shopping list, and decide if you want to pick up a few extra Sunday papers.  

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The Day in the Hospital

Today was supposed to be a quiet day when I caught up on things, and worked on a craft project.  It did not turn out that way at all.  As many of you know, my youngest daughter was diagnosed with mono about 10 days ago. She was doing much better, and went back to school full time this week.   Well on Wednesday, things started to change.  She called home around 1:30 saying her stomach really hurt again.   .  I emailed her teacher who told me she noticed yesterday that my daughter was not doing well, and was trying to push through. She was the one who suggested that my daughter call home.  When my daughter  was in too much pain to get up today,   I decided to call her Dr. to see if they thought she needed to be checked out.    They felt she did, and we went in for an 11 a.m. appointment.   Our regular Dr. is off on Thursdays, so we saw another Dr. in the practice. She was really nice, and did a very detailed exam.   She immediately had concerns.   Last week with the mono diagnosis the pain was on the upper left side.  Today the worst pain was on the lower right side, exactly where her appendix should be.  She told us that we needed to go the hospital where they had a pediatric E.R. for an ultrasound.   We arrived at the hospital 30 miles away  around 1, and was temporarily sent to the main triage where a lot of the people were waiting.  There were a lot of sick grownups,  and even a man sitting in a wheelchair with a security escort. (It might have been a prisoner, but I don't think they would have allowed him to be sitting  with everyone else if he was.)   Luckily she was the 2nd one called, and we were quickly moved to the pediatric unit.   She was asked for a sample, which was no problem, because she really needed to go at that point.   She was given a gown, and then we waited.  A little while later we saw a nice medical student.  She did another exam, and told us someone would be with us shortly.  We waited over an hour before we would hear anything else.   Our nurse came in to tell us that an IV bag with  pain meds and fluids was on its way.  We were also told that the ultrasound had just been ordered.   The main Dr. came in around that same time, and apologized for the delay. They were really busy with patients today. She did another exam on my daughter.  When she did the exact same things the medical student did, my daughter looked at the med student in a confused manner.  She is probably wondering why she was being examined for the third time in 4 hours.  Finally around 5 pm we were taken to the ultrasound unit.  It is weird seeing an ultrasound without a baby in it.  That is the only kind I have ever seen.  Basically my daughters insides were a mass of blobs.  I couldn't really make out anything.  My daughter asked  the tech if  could see anything wrong.  She very sweetly said that she was not allowed to tell what she sees, only the Dr could explain it to us. The tech didn't seem to worried by what she saw, but we would have to wait another hour before finding out.   Finally a little after 6 p.m. we finally heard the news.  It was not  appendicitis, but inflammed lymph nodes, which were a complication from the mono.  Because of the location of the lymph nodes, mesenteric adenitis  (the actual name of the diagnosis) often mimics appendicitis.  We were finally released a little before 7.  We waited all day to find there wasn't anything we could do for this other than rest, pain meds and fluids, but we were very happy not to be admitted for an appendix operation!  Hopefully tomorrow, things will get back to normal.

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The Crafterbowl

Amie from the blog Pinkapotamus  recently came up with the idea to hold a contest called the Crafterbowl.    I decided to enter, and my challenge will be next week.   I look foward to the fun in the next few weeks.  Be sure to check out the Pinkapotamus blog and the Crafterbowl. 

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Homemade Valentine Crackers

I recently saw this recipe on Pillsbury.com.  I thought it was such a great idea, that I wanted to try it out on my own. 

To make the crackers you need a refrigerated pie crust.  Allow it  to sit out for about 30 mins to make it soft and easier to unroll.  

The recipe on the Pillsbury website used a  mine heart cookie cutter.  With as many cookie cutters that I have, I was surprised to see that I did not have a mini heart.   I found I did have some other shapes that I could still use for Valentines Day.  I used a bear, bunny, butterfly and flower.

Once I cut out the shapes, I laid them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 

I sprayed the crackers with cooking spray, before coating them with one of two toppings.   The crackers in the picture are covered in cinnamon sugar. 

The other half was covered in Italian seasoning, garlic sale and Parmesan cheese.   They are really good, but I think I put a bit too much Italian seasoning. They have a very strong taste. 

I baked them in a 450 degree oven for 6 minutes.  

I chose the shapes that I did, because I thought of a cute saying I could use for each one. 

I had some red take out boxes that I thought would a fun way to deliver the treats.  I then made the card Valentine's Day is "unbearable" without you.  Be my Valentine.    My printer has not been working properly, so I made the card by hand. 

I then thought I would make a  I Love U Beary Much card for my kids.

The card for the bunnies could say..    "Would you be my Hunny Bunny Valentine? 

The butterfly card could say..  "You make me flutter like a butterfly"

The flower card could say..    "Flowers for my Valentine" or "You are as pretty as a flower"

Kara came home from school early today, because she was not feeling good.  I was able to surprise her with the bear crackers, and she loved them.      My oldest daughter loved the cheesy seasoned crackers.  I will definitely make these again!

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Homemade Valentine Necklace

I just saw this awesome Valentine's Day necklace on the blog Filth Wizardry.   The hearts are made from toilet paper tube.  How cool is that?!   She has a great picture tutorial,  and shows many different variations.  I am sure this is one that my daughter is going to want to try.  

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Pantry Organization-One Week Later

Since my daughter was sick almost all of last week, and then my son was home with a fever on Friday, I did not really do any organizing in week 5.  Instead I am going to give an update on what I did last week. 

I just took this picture of my pantry this morning (2/6).  I am thrilled that I finally found something that seems to have worked in keeping my pantry organized. 

This is what it looked like a week ago, right after I finished.  Not too much of a difference from week to week.   I looks like this system is going to be a keeper. Now I just need to find systems that continue to work in other areas too. 

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Kohls Clearance

I am so excited by my trip to Kohls yesterday.  My youngest daughter is going to go to another Daddy-Daughter dance next weekend, and needed a new dress.  As you know from a previous post she has been pretty sick the last week, and finally felt well enough yesterday to do a little shopping.   I was thrilled to see 8 to 10 racks of clearance items in the girls section, with many wonderful dresses for 70-80% off.   

We went into the dressing room with an armful of dresses.  Most looked really good on her, but we were able to finally get the number down to 3 or 4.   One of the finalists  was a black and white ruffled dress that was only on sale for 30% off.  Its  sale price was $43.40.  I looked at the prices of the other two, and was surprised to see that we could by BOTH  dresses for only $29 total.  Being my daughter, she appreciates a good sale, and quickly went with the better deal.
The blue dress which she absolutely loves is  a $58 dress marked down 80% to only $12.40.  The black dress really looked good on her too.  It is $62 dress marked down 70% to only $17.40. She has grown several inches this year, so she could use dresses in her new size.  We are not sure which one she will wear to the dance yet, but both will look good with the white corsage.  

I was also thrilled to find an outfit for next Christmas.  We bought this one a size bigger than she wears now.  The top is an emeral green with sequins and it comes with beautiful velour leggings. An added bonus, there was a matching doll outfit that she already put on her favorite bunny.   The price was amazing too.  It was originally $70, marked down 80%  to only $14. 

We also found two really cute tops for school.  The purple top has a fun ruffle that dresses it up a bit.  It was orginally $22, on sale 70% and marked down to $6.60. The pink top has a fur vest that looked adorable on her.  It was orginally $34 and marked down 80% to only $6.80. 


The total for all 5 items was $57.20 before tax.  I was talking to another mom in the dressing room about the dance when she offered me her extra 15%  off coupon.  That was so thoughtful of her, especially since this was one of the few visits to Kohls that I have shopped without one.   The coupon saved me an addtional $8.58. 

But that's not all....

I was also surprise at the register when the cashier told me that my $51.54 total I qualified for a $10 Kohls cash award.  I had no idea they were doing Kohls cash this week because I had not received a flyer in two week..   

According to the reciept I saved $197.38 and I have an additional $10 back.  This is the way I love to shop. 

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Team Chex Mix

Do you need any last minute snack ideas for the game today?  I just found on Pillsbury.com  a chex mix recipe for every single team in the NFL.   Even  if your favorite team is not in the Super Bowl today, it can see be at the party with a special chex mix.  Be sure to check them out,  and find your favorite. 

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Pizza-Pied Nachos

Have you ever heard of Hungry Girl ?  I heard about her a year ago or so, on the Rachael Ray show.  I really like  what the Hungry Girl is all about.  She takes high fat, high calorie recipes that we love, and makes them over into much healthier versions that still taste great.  She has on her site right now  many great Super Bowl recipes and tips to make your party great.   I thought her  Pizza Nachos      sounded interesting, and I think I might give them a try.  To see this recipe and many others, be sure to check out the Hungry Girl website.

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Sunday Paper Coupons

The weekend is here again. What coupons can you expect in tomorrow's newspaper?  We should receive 3 inserts; a Smartsource, Red Plum, and General Mills. Use the link to the Sunday Coupon Preview to see the individual coupons.

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New and Improved

It has taken me some time, but I finally did it! I updated the linky party page with days of the week  and the most updated buttons  available.  Hopefully now it will be much easier to find the parties of the day.

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Groundhog Donuts

I adore these groundhog  day donuts from Random Thoughts of Supermom.   While Punxsutawney  Phil says there is 6 more weeks of winter, or local weather predictor Woody the Woodchuck, says that spring is on the way. Personally, I prefer the spring prediction.   Either way though,  serving these sweet and easy to make donuts, is a fun way to enjoy the day.

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Countdown to the Super Bowl

I think I am in love!  Seriously!  This cheese football from What's Cooking, Love? is made from two of my favorite foods.  Cheese and Bacon.  I am sure if you serve this cheese football appetizer at your Super Bowl Party, it will be almost gone by the time Madonna comes out on the stage.   Definitely check out What's Cooking, Love to try out the recipe.

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She Has What?!

This winter, while mild in temps, has been especially hard on one of my kids.  She was sick the entire  first week of January.  On Sunday while we were sitting in church, she told me those words all moms do not  want to hear.   "Mom, I don't feel very good!"  She said her stomach hurt and she was feeling kind of warm.   When we got home I took her temp. It was about 100.   Even with her temp elevated, she acted normally most of the day. On Monday morning, I took her temp again and it was still 99+.   She also complained that her stomach hurt again.   I decided to play it safe and keep her home.  She slept a few hours and then again was behaving normally.  She was able to eat dinner without a problem.  I told her she was going to school the next day.  On Tuesday morning she did not have a temp. She was complaining again about her stomach hurting, but I thought she was exaggerating. I told her that she had to go to school because if she missed too many days, she would fall behind.  She stayed at school the entire day.  When she got home, she said that she still didn't feel that good, and her stomach hurt a little bit, but she did okay during the day.   Everything changed in just a couple of hours.   Within an hour or two of coming home, she was laying on the couch.  She said her stomach was hurting a lot worse.  I made dinner, but she wasn't really able to eat.   By 8 p.m. she was curled in the fetal position, crying in pain.  Every once in awhile she would yelp and groan. She said the pain was in the middle but then there was a shooting pain on the left side. She said the intense pain would come and go.    I looked up appendicitis, and she had every single symptom.    Her dad had it as a child. He was misdiagnosed, and his burst when he was about her age.  Since one of her immediate family members has  had appendicitis, she has a higher risk of having it too.    Seeing her cry in pain, I knew something had to be done.  We went to the E.R. at  9 p.m.  Luckily we have a smaller E.R. nearby that is not attached to the hospital, so there is no to little wait.   She was checked out right away.   At that time the pain was 6 1/2 to 7 on the pain scale,  and still no temp.  She was placed in a bed, and we waited for the Dr.  The Dr.  did the exam,  and said the appendix is normally on the right side so she was unsure what was causing the pain.   She said they would have to do a couple of tests, and possibly do some imagining based on the results of those tests.  They took some blood, and gave her an I.V. with fluids and pain meds.   She was a bit dehydrated, so she needed  the  fluids.  We waited a bit, and then the dr came in with the news.  Her white blood cells were normal, and it did not appear to be appendicitis.  She did, however, have Mono. The pain she had been having was because her spleen was enlarged.  
I did not expect to hear that at all!   I did tease my daughter,  and ask her who she had been kissing.  She had no idea what was I talking about,  and informed me that calling Mono the kissing disease was dumb. At the moment, she thinks most boys are annoying.  She asked if she was going to die.  We assured her that she wasn't.  I was told  that she was no longer contagious. Because did not have a fever, she  could potentially go back to school the next day, but that she would have to sit out of gym for entire month. (she was fine with not having to go to gym!)   We did not get home from the E.R. until 12:30 am, and because she had a shot of morphine, she was in no shape to go to school yesterday.   She slept almost the entire day.  She only got off the couch for a few minutes at a time.  This morning her  she was still having pain, but is starting to move around a little more.  She is still very tired and has low energy.    Hopefully though, she will be well enough to go back to school tomorrow.

I really did not know much about Mono, so I did a little research.  I thought the facts were interesting enough to share.

Mononucleosis is a very common viral illness that can leave you tired and  weak for  several weeks to months

There are no meds to fight the virus, you  just need  lots and lots of rest

In children, there are usually no noticeable  to flu like symptoms

It is caused by the Epstein Barr virus, and most frequently affects teens and young adults.  (Almost all of my friends who had it, said they got it in high school or college, Kara is on the young side at age 10)

Most older adults do not catch it because 90% of them already have immunity by being exposed to it earlier in life.

Symptoms appear 4 to 6 week AFTER exposure.  We have no idea where or when she was exposed, but it would have been around the holidays.

The spleen will swell,  and cause pain on the upper left side of the belly (exactly where her pain was)

After you have symptoms you can not participate in contact sports or do heavy lifting for at least 4 weeks to because you can damage your spleen.

I guess one of the benefits to having it now means, she will be immune  when she is in high school and college!

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Features This Month

January was a good month for me.  I was featured 10 times that I am aware of.  I want to take this time to give back a big thanks to those wonderful blogs who featured one of my January creations.

My Sweet Snowflakes had a many  comments , and lots of pins on pinterest.  These sweet treats were fun to make and delicious to eat.      


 The snowflakes  were featured by Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas on her facebook and twitter pages

The boutonniere  that we made for the Daddy-Daughter dance we made last year also had some interest.  She will be going to the dance again this year..  Hmmm, wonder if I need to make another one.

A World of Crafts  featured my tutorial on her Jan 15th, Make It Monday Linky Party



The Heart Pops we made for Kara's class were also a big hit.  We made them using left over candy canes and red candy melts.

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Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom  featured them  on  her Crafty Confessions Linky Party






We were also  featured again at A World of Crafts




The heart pops were  also featured on the Crafters 4 Kids Facebook Page (sorry no button)

The Sweet Sushi  I made for my daughters recent birthday was probably one of the biggest fan favorites of the month. It has the most features, and the most pins on Pinterest



I was featured on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas Sunday Showcase


I was bookmarked on Mostly Food and Crafts







MrsHappyHomemaker featured me  on  her  Making You Crave Monday




I found out today that  it was also featured on Junk in Their Trunk Link it Up Wednesday


Thank you for the wonderful month   I will be placing all of the blog  buttons on the Featured page.

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