Fresh Pico de Gallo

Ingredients:

2 Tomatoes
1 Red Sweet Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Sweet Bell Pepper
1 Red Onion
1/3 of a Bunch of Fresh Cilantro
6 Jalapenos
2 Limes
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. Cayenne
1Tbsp. Ground Cumin
1 Tbsp. Salt
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar


Remove seeds from all peppers and finely chop. Finely chop and drain tomato.  Chop onion, cilantro and jalapenos.  Place all chopped ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add in all spices, sugar, vinegar and juice from the limes.  Mix and Fold together with a large spoon.  Cover and refrigerate.  Serve cold with tortilla chips. (After making your own you will never want to buy the processed store brand salsa again)

Pick Me Up Tuesday, Get Dirty

My toddler loves to paint. I love watching her face light up with smiles but I don't really enjoy the mess. Do you? I looked outside and saw the beautiful birds and wanted to hear them chirp so that got me thinking. Minimal cleanup, great scenery, lots of laughs, all equals a win to me so outside we went.

Items Needed:

• any paint or markers
• paint brush
• rocks (this is optional as Ava also painted dirt)
• water

Ways to expand the "lesson" 

• texture: smooth, rough
• Size: big, little, bigger, smaller
• weight: heavy, light
• colors: mixing colors (can even see this in the water when washing the brushes)

A PoP of Colors

 

 

Have you ever thought of putting Bright Yellow, Mint and Coral together? I know you think I am totally crazy at this point...Well maybe I am...but don't you think it's just too darn cute...even better it was super comfortable...I found the top on a mega clearance sale at our Off Saks Factory Outlet Store...at $40.00 I almost walked away from it because of the price but loved the fit...the buttons on the side...the design around the collar...I know a weak moment...aghh I am crazy...I better not slop anything on it for the next 10 years so I can get my money's worth out of it...the shorts and necklace are also from a Factory Store...JCrew...my favorite ring of all time was from Forever 21...I bought it two years ago and I think only paid $2.95...the bracelets I have had for a long time...let's call them vintage...I can't even remember where I got them.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top Milly found similar, Shorts JCrew Factory (coral sold out try the purple), Owl ring Forever 21 found similar, Necklace JCrew Factory found similar, vintage bracelets found similar, Shoes flip flops.

Parenting Lessons from my sisters

Being the littlest sister I've learned many lessons from my sisters who have gone through this parenting route before me. Here are just a few of the things I've learned

• Julie: Trust your child. They may be climbing walls (literally) and you may have to hold your breath but trust. 
• Lisa: Have fun, create memories. Those memories may include buying out all the plungers from the local hardware store but it will be worth it. 
• Sandi: You may be a mom but you're still a person and you deserve a break. Go get that pedicure or go see a movie or drink that diet coke in blissful silence. 
• Jeanne: You don't have to follow the path your parents did, you can let your kids get their ears pierced before they turn 18.

Any good tips you've learned? I will take all the help with this parenting gig I can get.

Pick Me Up Tuesday

The Big Scare...Have you ever hid around a corner just waiting for that perfect moment to jump...flail your arms out...and scream roarrrrrrr...Well that was a staple in our house that still brings us many laughs to this day...not like oh yeah that's funny...I mean like laugh till you cry funny...or pee your pants funny...My mom said it was going to bring us post traumatic stress...but really all it brings us is joy...Are we weird?  Does anyone else enjoy this pastime? The best scare story we have to share...We were on vacation in Lake Cumberland...They have a  Lodge were you can get a nice dinner or hang out on the porches to see the little creatures that come out of the woods...well we figured out pretty quickly that it has the perfect bathroom for my sister's plan of attack...A wall separating the toilets and the exit...a perfect corner to carry out her plan...ok now the set up...little sisters had to go to the bathroom...Perfect...act like everything is normal...and then as soon as they are out of sight...hide...she got a little crouch in her stance arms up ready to strike...Silence...toilet flushes...faucet on...faucet off...footsteps...ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Thing is when my sister looked at the victim it wasn't one of us...it was a little old lady clutching her purse...tearing off out of the bathroom...like she was attacked...(hang on a minute need to run to the bathroom almost peed my pants from laughing)...Now I think that undeserving little old lady may have had a little post traumatic stress from that incident...we certainly didn't stick around to find out...did we feel bad? absolutely...did we laugh hysterically? you bet we did!!!!

 

Enjoy some other great scares...Laugh Out Loud Today!



Amazing Pulled Pork

 

OMG. I AM IN LOVE...This has become a staple in our household...it is so easy to make...even better it feeds a lot of people...I can't take any credit for the recipe because it is my husband's...and he was generous enough to share it will all...Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Brine Mixture: 1 cup of Salt, 1 tablespoon of Liquid Smoke, 1/2 cup of Brown Sugar, Water (enough to completely cover pork)
Bone In Pork Shoulder Butt 10 to 12 lbs
Any Spice Rub of your choice. My husband uses McCormick Grill Mates Applewood Rub

Combine Salt, Liquid Smoke, Brown Sugar and Water.(when combined this will become the brine mixture) Place Brine mixture and Pork in a large pot. (Make sure that there is enough water that completely covers the pork) Cover and Refrigerate for 12 hours. Remove Pork from Brine, pat dry and place in roasting pan.  Hand rub the spice mixture all over the entire Pork Shoulder.

Place pork fat side up in roasting pan and bake uncovered at 225 degrees until internal temperature of the pork reads 180 degrees in our oven that is approximately 12 hours. (If you time it right you can place the pork in oven prior to going to bed and it will be ready for a noon time party or lunch the next day) Remove pork from oven and let rest for 20 minutes. Once rested shred the pork with large forks or by hand and place into a large bowl. (The pork comes out fork tender and very moist) Sprinkle in a touch more applewood rub and it's ready to serve.   We serve ours with our favorite barbecue sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbecue or Montgomery Inn Barbecue Sauce) on the side along with some of our favorite slaw. (recipe soon to come)

Living Through Life's Tornado

...a continuation of my perspective on Kate...and so the tornado cycled...days had turned to weeks...ups became downs...highs became lows...Seven days passed...if Kate didn't wake up or start breathing on her own they would need to perform a tracheotomy...Was she going to wake up? Was this my sister's life? Slobbering all over herself hooked up to a ventilator...Oh no not my sister...One day prior to her needing the tracheotomy she stunned us all by starting to breathe on her own...She still needed oxygen but they would be able to put tubes in her nose for that...She passed the first hurdle...on to the next...Everyday that she was in a coma determined that her brain injury was more severe than expected...and on the ninth day she actually started to talk...What I never understood about a coma is that when someone wakes up it can be a very slow process and there are many levels of the coma. There is better understanding when you know of the Rancho Los Amigos Scale or the Glasgow Coma Scale...A precious memory I hold dear was on the fourteenth day into our journey My phone rang...it was my mom's number...she would call to update or just need someone to talk to so I answered...all of a sudden I hear "Hey Weaner"...OMG it was my sister Kate...it was a blessing she was definitely going to be okay...you see that is my nickname and she called me that all the time...Jeanne Weanie...My heart skipped a beat...I almost laughed but just acted normal and said "Hey sis What's Up"...She wanted to tell me that Ava likes apple juice...lol I didn't think she ever gave Ava apple juice...When I got off the phone I just broke down...Called everyone to share the story to bring hope to our dwindling expectations.

Remember the highs and lows...Well I visited Kate that same day expecting the miracle that I thought had happened...my sister was back...it didn't work like that...she was very agitated...incessantly trying to pull on the tubes or swing her feet off the bed...It is the hardest thing to explain and watch her go through...It wasn't Kate...at times she was locked behind her own eyes...Kate was starting to talk but it wasn't her...she didn't always make sense...She was almost just repeating things she had heard...she would think that Sandy was me, that she was still twenty one or that aliens had done it...Everyday her blood pressure and fever would spike constantly so much so we kept a fan on her at all times and constantly worried about long term heart problems...She was such a hard stick for getting an IV going for either giving her meds or taking her blood for tests they decided to perform a pick line.  That was great for a couple of days then that got infected and needed to be removed. She developed pneumonia in her lungs...a hematoma in her leg and an abscess around her spleen...her skin around the splints were getting sore...she developed pink eye from all the dirt around her eyes and a massive cold sore around the intibation tube...All we could do was trudge through this mess...Where was Kate? Would we see more glimpses of her old self? Would she be the mom to Ava that she always wanted to be?

Once her medical issues were under control we could get her transferred out of the ICU and truly as with all the miracles we encountered on this journey...She just began to heal...My mom will be able to expand on all of this as she was truly by her side twenty four hours and I hope to get her to write about what she went through...What I know was we were worried that Drake the Rehabilitation Center would not take her if she had to be restrained or if she worsened medically...and the rehabilitation center was the place she needed to be...at this point brain function wise she wanted Dad to come and get her (he passed ten years earlier)...then she would abruptly change thought and talk about accessories...We figured out that the accessories were the splints on her arms, her socks she was supposed to wear or the machines that would beep for no apparent reason...Needless to say she was like a toddler she hated them and wanted them off...she would express that she had to go to the bathroom so the process of getting her up would begin...unlock the restraints...scoot her down in the bed and off the side...steady her then shuffle...She would be so unsteady they put a portable toilet right next to her bed...and then the process would start...she would stand up and down and up and down and up and down for I don't know how many times without even going to the bathroom...just to get back to the bed and have an accident...My poor mother she already went through this stage with her and now all over again...Would this be my sister's life?  Oh no not my sister!

Things that can help when your loved one has a TBI...Boom box with relaxing music to drown out all of the beeps or to calm the blood pressure...A fan to keep body temperature down...Keeping lights out so the brain can rest (even shut the blinds)...Stimulating Kate at first only for a few minutes a few times a day...In her agitation stage we were not allowed to walk Kate only the nurses because she was so unstable...we had an amazing male nurse the last week we were still at Miami Valley Hospital who would walk Kate when she would become agitated...so helpful as it would wear her out and she would actually sleep...giving my mom and herself a much needed break...I didn't want her to get stuck on the word accessories so we would repeat over and over to her the words she couldn't find in her own brain...if it was splint, socks or machine she had to explain what accessory she was talking about...Talking even in the room while they sleep can annoy them...leave the room to chat and shut the doors to keep the hallway noise out...They need a lot of rest for the brain to heal.