Happy New Year!

The husband is now really sick, but, very surprisingly, he has a chest cold, no stomach bug there at all! Of course, him being a man and all, he seems to be sooo sick, poor man. You could think he was 5 again. He is not much fun to be around when he is sick, unfortunately, Nothing but grumpy and pathetic. How come when women are sick, we are just sick, but men are always so much sicker and always half dying?

He had to go in and work today, he does payroll for a few businesses, and they would not be too happy without their money... So grump-free for the day! :-)

I have been cooking as much fresh and nutritious food as I could over the weekend, hoping to help us getting better. I feel 99 % back to normal. Last night I made lime marinaded spicy carne asada, with guacamole, and beans. As an appetizer we had fresh made salsa and chips. Man that salsa was good! I can still taste it... Mmmm. I have to make some more soon! Ken gave me a bunch of cookbooks for Christmas (which I collect), and one of them was a very good Mexican cookbook, so I had been in the mood for Mexican all week long (except for those days when I was comatose in the bed...)

Back in Sweden I always had a special treat to look forward to on New Years Day. I always watched Ivanhoe on TV! The version from 1982 is so romantic and beautiful! I grew up with this movie and just adored it. So right now I am downloading it. Should be done by tonight. Can't wait... I haven't seen it since New Years Day 1996!

I am planning on cleaning out Christmas today, except for the tree. I am also planning on making my yummy Thai Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner. Ken really needs it!

Have you done any bargain shopping for Christmas Decor yet? This is the time of year to buy your decorations for next year, stuff is always 75 %-90 % off! Good places that we found lots of stuff (including wrapping paper and ribbons, lights etc.) are Target and Walgreen's. Get it while it is still there! We came home with a trunk full for less than $30 yesterday. Great bargains!

We have been having very warm weather in the mid 80F (30C), and I am so thrilled to see that we will get a few days of cold starting on Tuesday night (almost freezing over night!), but then it gets back to the 80s again over the weekend apparently...

I am looking forward to a New Years night with everyone but me sleeping, maybe break out my huge stash of Swedish candy that I haven't had much chance to eat yet, and watch Ivanhoe on the laptop with a dog on each side of me for warmth. Sounds good to me, no need for glitzy parties here! Gott Nytt År!

Over

Phew... Finally the terror of the stomach bug is over. I just need to eat up a bit and get my strength back, my legs still feel like jell-O after walking around too much.

The husband and the daughter just took off to go rollerskating at the rollerskating rink. That should be fun; not as slippery and cold as the ice skating!

I have just finished a list of what I am going to make for dinner all week, so I am off to the grocery store. Most of the food are stuff that I like to eat when I am under the weather, like Thai chicken noodle soup. But tomorrow we are having a Mexican fiesta with Carne Asada steak, home made salsa and guacamole, beans and other yummy trimmings. Today probably Pasta Caprese, light but filling. I am so hungry after all these days living off of crisp bread!

On a sadder note we had to give back the guinea pigs to the guinea pig adopt-lady. We had suspected Ken was allergic for a while, but it didn't seem that bad (probably because he was always away working!). Now over Christmas when he spent a lot more time at home it was apparent he can't handle them. I have had nightmares for several nights, I just feel so bad! The lady assured me she would find them another good home, these things happen. Sarah was at first very sad and crying all morning, but she understood they were making daddy sick. She is so young still so I think it probably is easier on her than me! Stan, who is blind on one eye, was so excited that I finally let him sit next to the cage. He sat there with his nose in between the wires, waiting for something to move in there. After a half hour I felt bad for him and let him go in and check out the now empty cage. He was kind of confused, because he sure could smell them! A bit of a anti-climax for him...

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas:

When we woke up in the morning, SANTA had made a visit! Lots of presents!

Hey, a present for mommy. Otherwise it seemed Sarah had been nicest during the year, as most the presents were for her...

Sarah was very excited about Christmas and getting to see Grama and Uncle Kevin. And all those toys...

My mother in law, Shirley, Ken's older brother Kevin, and his new (very nice) girlfriend Michelle, all waiting for me to finish up dinner so we can eat!

Slowly coming back

I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I think I am going to try and have a somewhat normal day today. I am still really dizzy and nauseated, but also hungry!

My mother in law is coming by today to take Sarah out for lunch, that will be a fun break for her, the poor girl pretty much spent all of yesterday playing computer games . She was so helpful by feeding the dogs, getting me water, even taking my temperature (she loves to show that thing in my ear...)

So hopefully some food will do me good today. Yesterday it was mostly Swedish crisp bread.

Want a great tip on how to loose those extra pounds from Christmas?

The night after Christmas day; GET THE STOMACH FLU!

I was sure we were out of the woods, since Sarah had been all better by Sunday. But oh no...

Yesterday it was so bad I could barely lift my head off the pillow. I am so thankful my friend Linda was home so Sarah could stay with her all day! I slept until 6:15 PM when they got back, and then I went to bed again at 8:15 PM when it was time for Sarah to go to bed. All my joints ache from laying still so much. Lots of nausea but no puking (yet), thankfully. But the diarrhea, oh man. And I am an expert in having diarrhea, this stuff is evil!

But hey, I lost 7 lbs in 24 hours... Now back to the couch for some more rest. Hopefully it will be better by tomorrow...

Not a mouse is stirring...

Here I am, sitting with the laptop in front of the TV watching a DVD episode of the series "Big Love", sipping a glass of the yummy vintage I so conveniently gave my husband for Christmas. I hear snoozing and some snoring; kid, husband, dogs and guinea pigs are all sleeping, exhausted from a long, fun day filled with people and food (LOTS of food).

It has been a great Christmas Day that started at 6:30 AM. We open lots of cool presents and then started to prepare our Christmas dinner. I made a spinach dip and a Ranch dip with veggies and pita chips for appetizers, ham (came out yummy) with scalloped potatoes, spinach casserole, green been casserole, honey carrots, fresh baked rolls (and mother in law's sweet potato pie).

We also enjoyed lots of treats and sweets. I was very happy to finally receive my mom's Christmas package from Sweden on Christmas Eve! It was overflowing with goodies, sweet and savory. I was blown away of all the stuff she managed to cram in there this year! It is a tradition I now look forward to and cherish every year, thanks mom!

I am sooo tired after hours of cooking, eating and entertaining! The last guest left after 8 PM! I am now going to enjoy a little quiet time with my wine. Hope you all had a great day!

Vandalism

A few years ago we had a streak of kids vandalising stuff on our street. Unfortunately that time they broke a window on my almost new car! Not fun...

Last night right after 1 AM I woke up by a large thump-sound outside. I hurried up to peek outside, since I immeditely though vandals, but I didn't see anything.

This morning we saw that they had broken all teh mailboxes on our street. Ours really needed to be replaced anyway, but this was really not the way I had hoped to go about that. They even stole the front and back door of the mailbox!

Crumbled mailbox...

Ken ordered a new one online, I guess mailbox vandalism is a big problem, this kind of buisness seems to be booming! The new mailbox is suppose to be as heavy duty as they come. They will probably put dynamite in it...

Christmas Greeting

Merry Christmas/God Jul everyone!

Click here for our little greeting to you...

Poor kid!

I feel so bad for her, she sure have had a lousy day! Except for water, she couldn't even stomach a couple of ice pops I made out of fresh orange juice, they came up together with the Tylenol I had given her for the fever. She has been totally knocked out on the couch for a few hours now. Hopefully she will have a better day tomorrow!

Thank you very much...

This morning we got a scary surprise...

Sarah had crawled into our bed around 4:30 AM, and just after 5 she was wiggling around a lot, so I tried to wake her to ask if she needed to go to the bathroom, she can have a hard time waking up when she needs to go sometimes. All of a sudden she started to throw up all over herself, I quickly grabbed her, got the lights on and then I saw it: she was covered in BLOOD!

She was throwing up so much blood I almost froze in fear! Ken and I panicked and rushed her into the bathroom... where in the very bright light I could see it was... the blueberries she ate last night that had come up...

Whew that was a huge relief! You can only imagine what was racing through my mind, and Ken admitted he thought she was pretty much a gonner!

So she got herself a very early morning bath and no school. She is so sad she is missing the school Christmas party today! But with all that puking, diarrhea and a high fever, I don't think the other parents would appreciate her attendance that much... :-) Since she is missing out on the Christmas present exchange in school, Santa left a small Christmas present for her to open here at home instead. It did the trick, no more whining about wanting to go to school...

So it is JUST a case of the dreaded stomach "flu", or as it is widely known in Sweden: "vinterkräksjukan". Merry Christmas to us! She obviously got it from the neighbor's grandkids when we were there the other day... If I would have known they were sick I would not have let Sarah touch anything in there, but the situation was a little frantic, so that didn't come up until AFTER Sarah and I had been there for awhile. Touching all the toys that the kids had been pretty much vomiting around for a few days... Lovely! Hopefully she will feel better before Christmas Day, and hopefully Ken and I won't get it and puke on the Christmas ham or something...

Scary situation

I was on the phone when my neighbor, an elderly lady, frantically knocked on the door. She tends to be very emotional, but this time she was practically shaking, and I could barely understand what she was trying to say, but I could tell something bad had happened.

I quickly gathered my things and got Sarah to put on her shoes and went over to her house. She and her husband are very nice people, and they take care of their two grandchildren during the days. The husband had just gone to school to pick up the boy, who is 4, from preschool. Apparently he had passed out in front of the wheel and crashed the car just outside our subdivision. The other grandchild was napping on the couch, so Sarah and I waited with her while the woman drove to pickup the boy, who had been in the car when it crashed.

The details were still sketchy, and family members and the fire department kept calling, I just tried to convey the info that I knew, which wasn't much.

Finally she got back, and she said they still don't know exactly why he had passed out, but he had looked very gray when they brought him into the ambulance. When the EMT's had taken him out of the car they hadn't thought of taking a closer look in the backseat, after all, old guys like this usually don't drive around with small children. So the poor boy sat quietly strapped into his car seat until a woman happened to see him! He was most likely in shock, he was quiet as can be until his grandmother came, then he frantically started to ask for his "papa".

After they got back we let Sarah and him play for a bit so he would be a bit distracted, after all, it was a pretty dramatic thing to be part of! When we knew their son was on the way we left. Poor family! Hopefully there wasn't anything serious wrong with him, but you never know when you get older. My thoughts goes out to them, and I let her know we are here 100 % if she needs any help at all. Typical a thing like this has to happen right before Christmas...

***UPDATE***
I talked to the neighbor last night, and he was back home. Apparently he probably just had the flu. She said it wasn't exactly the first time he has passed out. He is very sensitive to feeling nauseated, and will pass out from it. She went on joking about how she had morning sickness throughout her three pregnancies and never once passed out... men aren't built as well as women! So it seems everything is back to normal for them. He had apparently been very close to driving into a lake, that could have ended very badly with the kid in the backseat!