grrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm back over here for a while. Wordpress is being an asshat and won't let me log in for some reason. Every time I try a new password it's either invalid or it won't even email me back. I'm starting to get really frustrated with the whole thing.
I'm on vacation! Whooooopie!!! Not that we are going to be doing a whole lot. J has never been to Amish country so we decided to do a day trip to Berlin on Monday. Tuesday it taken up with air conditioner issues. Wednesday I'm getting my hair done. I think we are going to the Columbus Zoo on Thursday. After that I think we are done. I don't think we are doing anything for the 4th. We already did the fireworks thing last night at the AFB. Free Aaron Tippen concert, tons of greasy fair food and awesome fireworks. Gotta love that! I didn't take my camera (dumb ass).
I think I'm going to go and convince J to take me out for breakfast. Later!

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Sweet Potato Heaven

Sounds like a town in backwoods West Virginia doesn't it? Ever since I've started my new healthy living plan I have tried to find new ways to fix old standards. How do you usually cook sweet potatoes? Baked or mashed right? When baked you add butter and lots of sugar. When mashed you add heavy cream. So my brain started working and came up with a somewhat healthier version. There is some sugar in it but I think you need it to even up the flavor. These are so good that we have them at least once a week. You can even roast them on the grill but watch your temperature setting. They do tend to burn if you aren't watching.

Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes

4 large sweet potatoes (around 2 pounds)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

cinnamon- about 2 tablespoons

cumin- about 1 tablespoon

olive oil

Peel and cube sweet potatoes

Mix together the sugars, cinnamon and cumin

Dump everything into a large Ziploc bag. Drizzle in olive oil ( I would say around 2 tables spoons). Shake bag until potatoes are well coated.

Line a large baking dish with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Dump potatoes in dish and spread evenly.

Cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees for at least 2 hours. I usually stick these in about 2:30 or 3 in the afternoon. I get home from the gym around 5 and by the time I get out of the shower it's 5:20 or so. The end result......

YUM!

Try these as an alternative to your mashed potatoes at Easter Dinner. Your guests will thank you.

As you can probably tell I'm off work today but no rest for the wicked here. Gotta run to Target, Petsmart, Bed Bath and Beyond and Krogers. Plus I've got about 4 loads of laundry to catch up on, gym this afternoon, and bed early tonight. I have an early morning tomorrow and company coming from out of town this weekend . Thankfully my house isn't all that filthy so I have carpet to sweep and floors to mop tomorrow afternoon.

Have a great Thursday!

Back on track

Talk about being sidetracked! Yes I'm back. Things just got a little crazy and I had to take a break.
J's mom is better. She's back in the nursing home and talking up a storm. She's even walking a little and eating soft foods. She may never be back to the way she was though. There is still no explanation as to why she took such a drastic turn. Maybe we'll never know.
I've had to kick my son out of my house. When he moved back in in December, I had given him 3 weeks to find another place to live or to start paying me 40 bucks a week. I didn't think 40 was a a bad deal. But apparently he did because I never did see a dime. So I let things go. Then this week J was looking for my daughter's missing camera in his room when he came across a homemade pipe with some marijuana in it. Deal breaker for me. A couple of years ago he had brought some into the house and I let it slide and told him that if I ever found it in my house again that he would be gone. Apparently he didn't believe me. Then I found out that he had been wanting B to smoke with him. I told him that he needed to get his ass out of my house TODAY! Between the drugs and things coming up missing (camera, money, DVDs) I had had enough. He didn't argue with me and left. And picked up all his stuff today. I told him he could be mad at me all he wants right now. He just doesn't get it. I don't think I'll be seeing him anytime soon. Tough love sucks but needed to be done.
Here's some really good news......we are Hawaii bound! Next April I'll be sitting on a beach on the north shore of Oahu. My brother wants to share a house for a week during the kids spring break.
I think he's convinced my parents to go so with 3 families splitting the cost of the house it's cheaper than a hotel. I told B that it would be an early graduation present. She had a chance to go to NYC with the choir at the same time but decided she would rather do the beach. Do ya blame her? I'll keep you updated on the details.
With inventory done at work hopefully things will be a little slower and I can get back into writing more often. I know the girls at work are bitching because I haven't posted any good recipes in a while. But with summer coming up I have some really good BBQ recipes to post. I promise!
Spring is almost here. I noticed green on the trees and my spring bulbs are coming up. We have a few things planned for the house but nothing major. I would like to rip off the front deck and dig up the light pole by the driveway. Whoever built the deck half-assed it and it's warping pretty bad. I pushing for decorative concrete but that might not happen this year. We'll probably settle for pavers for right now. Plus when the deck is gone I'll have about 6 more feet of yard. That's the plan anyway....doesn't always mean it's going to happen.
I'm out for now.....Good Sunday to all!

Updates and Funny Shit

I wish I could do this every day but real life gets in the way. Some days I barely have time to breathe let alone sit down and write a few lines in a blog.
J's mom isn't doing well at all. She did wake up and was talking last week. But she's lost 20 years and thinks it's 1988. She was a little spacey before this but now she's totally whackadoodle. I'm not saying that to be funny either. It's pretty damn sad. She recalls faces but not names. When I asked her if she knew who I was she looked at me, looked at J, looked back at me and said "you're Mrs. J." She thought Santa Claus was walking down the hall and that he was visiting Mrs. Claus in the room next to hers. She also wigged out on J one night and said that someone was shooting a gun outside of her room and he needed to go find out who was getting shot. The hospital decided that there was nothing more they could do for her and released her back to the nursing home. Then on Tuesday evening we get a call from J's sister saying that she was going back to the hospital because she was running a fever again. Turns out the hospital she was released from released her with a staff infection! WTF? Antibiotics aren't helping. And she's back to crying and moaning and coma-like. We are looking at getting her into Miami Valley Hospital either today or tomorrow. What a sad situation.

Do you ever watch Ellen DeGeneres? She's got some funny shit on her show. I started seriously watching when I started going to the gym. I usually get there around 4:00 which is when it starts here and I'll stay on the treadmill for the entire hour. It makes me realize that there isn't a whole lot of funny stuff on TV these days. I can't watch crime shows because they have gotten too bloody and most of reality shows are too stupid to even mention. Although I do have to confess that I watch Rock of Love and now J is hooked on it too. He calls it Train Wreck and I do have to agree. But anyway back to Ellen. Just watch this video and see what I mean.......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIxYlKXoYgU.

Since I decided not to work today it's going to be catch-up day. Laundry, grocery, library and maybe purse shopping. And I want some pulled pork. So it's time for me to get my ass out of this chair and head out the door.

Two weeks

That's how long it's been since I've been able to sit down for a few minutes and write more than a sentence or two. We've been running back and forth to the hospital so much that I could probably drive it with my eyes closed. Things are still the same. She can open her eyes for a few minutes but can't talk. They took out the feeding tube in her nose and inserted one directly into her stomach. The doctors are pretty much giving up on her and are trying to send her back to the nursing home. We aren't giving up though and are going to see if we can get her to Cleveland or OSU. There has to be some kind of medical reason for whatever is going on and maybe sending her to one of those hospitals will give us some answers. We need to know if this is going to be how she will be living the rest of her life or if there is a chance she may pull out of whatever this thing is. It's hard on J because he watched his dad go through sorta the same thing before he died, but he went into a diabetic coma and experienced oxygen loss. He lived like a vegetable for the last 3 years of his life before the decision was made to stop his suffering. It wasn't an easy decision to make and I'm hoping we don't have to make another one soon.

Onto some happier news.....I've lost 10 pounds! I celebrated by having a total cheat day yesterday. I needed some red meat and french fries. So we went to the Rusty Bucket and it was sooooo good. I cringed when I stepped on the scales this morning though. Oh well, you gotta cheat once in a while. I upped my workout today and will continue for the rest of the week. I'm so proud of me!

The weather is finally starting to turn. The snow is almost gone and the backyard is a swamp. I'm so ready to plant some flowers and see green again. I'm anxious to see the lilies I planted last fall. I know winter isn't over just yet and we haven't seen the last of the snow. I just like being optimistic.

This is Daisy's newest favorite thing. Yoplait yogurt. I think this was cherry cobbler. Please forgive the dirty shoes.

Digging Out

The snow is over and now the digging out begins. I make J do that. I can't stand shoveling snow. There's about 2 inches of snow, and inch of ice and another 6 inches of snow on top of that. Let's hope this is our one big snow storm we have this year.

This was early this morning.....before another 2 inches fell. It finally quit around noon like they predicted. Now the sun is out and blinding!

Daisy didn't know what to do. J had to eventually dig out a pathway and a big square so she could do her business. Poor doggy, she wouldn't squat because the snow was clear up to her belly. She doesn't recall last year when the snow was completely over her head. She likes the ice though. If there is a chunk laying around she'll eat it. I blame that on J who feeds her crushed ice from the ice maker.

Just a quick update on J's mom. Nothing new, she still the same. The spinal tap came back with nothing so right now the doctors don't know. I think another CAT scan and an MRI are scheduled but the hospital closed the Radiation Dept because of the weather so we don' t know when they will be done.

Happy digging out!