Works for Me Wednesday

I've been looking at these posts for a while and finally, finally I have a WFM to post. It's really simple.

Freezing Cookie Dough. I make a ton of cookies every year, I give a lot of them away, my husband takes some in to work as well, and to make things easier, I start making cookie dough around Halloween so that I have at least half of all the cookie dough made by Thanksgiving. Then, I just spend the weekend baking cookies, it makes it so much easier than making the dough and baking, I can bake double the amount of cookies in a day if I don't have to make the dough to.

This is what works for me, check out what works for others over here.

Tackle It Tuesday #5

WINTER HATS

That's my tackle. I love sewing and I usually make hats for my son. I didn't make any last year because the previous year's fit him but this year he needed new. I let him pick out the style and the color (red) but since he has a blue jacket, I gave him 2 choices for the contrasting color, both blues and he picked both so he got 2 hats, but he only let me take one picture. The other hat looks just like this one only it's red and solid navy blue.








I'm making gloves too, but they aren't done yet. At the rate I'm going that may be my Tackle for next week.



So, now it's you turn, head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and add your tackle.

Teacher gifts

Can I just tell you how difficult it is to decide what to give teachers who you barely know for Christmas? Well, it's even worse when one of said teachers recently basically told you that your child is the demon seed when he's on medication but it's not the medicine's fault regardless of what all those doctors, researchers and other scientists say. Well, since money is a huge issue this year, I am making scarves for my son's preschool teachers and for all of his teachers (2 preschool and 2 MOPPETS) I am making Sand-Art Brownies in a Jar and Hot Chocolate in a Jar. I started the first scarf yesterday and I now want to go buy myself some yarn and make one myself. This is what it looks like in progress:




I'll post pics when we're done - my son is helping me to make the gifts in a jar.


Check out my Tackle tomorrow when I show you the hats I made.

Rantings

Well, things are getting rough here. Since my son went back to school on Monday while on medication, he went from improving his behavior greatly to we need to talk after Thanksgiving and figure out what to do to improve his behavior. His teacher actually told me on Wednesday "I understand he's on the medication (that makes him hyper), but the medicine can't be blamed for everything." I asked if he was really improving before being put on the medicine, and she said yes, well then maybe the medicine that makes him hyper and inhibits impulse control can be blamed for him getting up, running, doing whatever crosses his mind. The worst part is, he's made some good friends there and the school can kick him out if they feel he's too much of a disruption to the class. Anyway, my husband is taking the meeting with the teacher because I will just get upset and he's pissed to say the least.

Money is the other issue. I've been home since we had our son back in 2004. We figured I'd go back to work when he started school. But with the wonderful economy we've had and since gas prices and food prices have been astronomical, our need for more income is a little ahead of the schedule. Now, we haven't touched our savings yet, but that's about to happen and, well my husband is now looking for a second job. I am willing to get an overnight job, I need to be home during the day or pay for daycare which is kind of pointless, but he wants to do this himself for many reasons. I hate this economy. What happened to the days where you could be a SAHM and not worry, companies actually supported their workers and people actually got paid enough to live on?

So, I have my son home because, after 11-1/2 hours of sleep, he still has dark circles under his eyes and is yawning constantly (and he would just get in trouble at school and I'd have to punish him for his behavior when I put him in a bad situation) and I have great guilt for the fact that my husband is going to be taking on a second job.

Tackle it Tuesday #4

Today, I have 2 tackles because, well, you'll see.

Since my son is on treatments for an asthma attack, my primary tackle is, of course, his meds. They have him on Xopenex (albuterol) 3-4 times per day and Pulmicort (corticosteroid) 2 times per day through nebulizer, oral steroids 1 time per day ending today and Singulair 1 time per day. So I have my little list of when to give him what and am following that so I don't forget anything.


My real tackle is making cookie dough. I usually start making cookie dough in October but I'm a little behind, as in I only have one kind made so far. Today, my MIL came over and we made oatmeal cookie dough, oatmeal raisin dough and made her oatmeal raisin cookies because she doesn't see why you should make the dough and bake the cookies later. For those of you who agree with her, I do it because it makes my baking easier. I don't bake my cookies until after Thanksgiving and if you look here you can see how much I make each year. Having dough already made and frozen means it's just like buying those buckets of dough only better because they are still homemade.

I'll put up pictures later when I have them on the computer.

How I spent my Friday

On Thursday I wrote how I thought I was over-protective of my son because of his asthma, well, now I feel like I wasn't protective enough. He was up most of the night Thursday and I gave him a nebulizer treatment at 1 am, then he finally went to bed and woke up around 5:45, so he got another treatment at 6 and when he wasn't getting any better I called his pediatrician who had to get back to be because they weren't open yet. I got a call from a very wonderful Nurse Practitioner (she knows my older sister too which always helps) who advised I should give him another treatment and then take him to the ER and we would be there for at least a couple of hours probably most of the day. So I give him a treatment, get ready, call my MIL to meet me so I have someone to help me out since my DH was at work by then. Called my DH to let him know what was going on, called my parents in FL and then left when my MIL came.

Our local ER put in a pediatric ER not too long after I had my son, so about 4 years ago, it is wonderful. The best ER experience I have ever had. It was my son's first time being in a hospital since he was born. I went in, gave the desk our info. The triage doctor came out to listen to his lungs because she had one person before us but wanted to make sure he was getting some air. We waited for maybe 10 minutes and were taken in to Triage where the got the history of this event as well as some health history, checked his lungs and oxygen level (92 - should be between 90-100, closer to 100 for a healthy 4 yo). Set my son and MIL up in the hallway for another treatment (3rd in 3-1/2 hours) while I finished registering my son. When I got done, they were done the treatment and we waited about 45 minutes to an hour to go back to a room in the ER, they need to let the neb treatment work and all things considered, being in the hall was probably a better option than being in the room with a 4 yr old who is bouncing off the walls from albuterol. They listened to his lungs, checked his oxygen levels (93-94) and got a full history. Then they gave him albuterol and Ativan (4th treatment in 4-1/2 hours) which was the worst experience of my life. I had to hold my son down while he was screaming because the medicine either tasted awful or hurt his mouth, I'm not sure which, but it helped his lungs. Once he was done his treatment, they let us be for about an hour or so and came in to check his lungs and oxygen level (95) and my DH called to let me know that he was coming home from work and would be over as soon as he could, he works in Philadelphia and takes public transportation which, on a good day, means he has a 1 hour commute.

Around 12:30 they came in and gave him another albuterol treatment which he finally fell asleep after. Then my DH came right after the treatment. They came in around 1:30 and listened to his lungs and said they'd be back around 2 to check his oxygen levels. They came in and woke him up, his oxygen levels asleep were 91, awake and sitting but not moving around were 92-93, so they gave him a chance to get up and move around for a bit and came back in at 2:30 and his oxygen levels were up to 95-96. So we got discharged, my son and DH headed out to the playroom in the lobby while my MIL and I cleaned up, then she left and I handled the discharge.

He's on ridiculous amounts of medicine for the next couple of days, but he's home and breathing much better. We went to his pediatrician yesterday and they modified the treatment so that we'll be backing off of the Xopenex tomorrow to 3 times per day instead of 5-6, and we go back the day before Thanksgiving to see how he's doing. We also now have to go to an allergist to work on controlling this so we don't wind up with more frequent attacks.

The doctors and nurses in the ER were wonderful, I've never had that good of an experience with any hospital before. I would highly recommend that if you live in the area and need to go to the ER, go to Kennedy in Washington Township, NJ.

Confessions of an over-protective mother

Well, I don't really talk about it too much, but my son has asthma, not bad, and the doctors just started actually calling it asthma, they were always calling it Reactive Airway Disease (RAD), but he had his first attack at 9 months old and pretty regularly since, usually in the fall. Why, you may ask, am I not discussing it, well, he's been having coughing fits all day and is breathing heavy, not an attack, but I have to keep an eye on him now. Every time he has a cold, I have to watch him for the next couple of weeks because that's usually when he has the attack, about 2 weeks after his cold he starts coughing and we are at the doctor's office getting treatments and more medication. We are now at the point that, 4 years after the first attack, I pretty much call the doctor, tell them he's having an attack, give him a nebulizer treatment and keep the doctor's informed if there's a problem. I'm getting pretty good at early detection, but I am so afraid the time will come where we'll have to go to the hospital.



I had a friend growing up who had asthma, well, she still does, and we still talk, so I guess I should say I have a friend that has had asthma since we met the day I got put up to first grade from kindergarten. I have many childhood memories of visiting her in the hospital, I never realized how life-threatening her disease is and I never realized what her parents must have gone through.



Now, for the confession part, whenever my son gets sick, I hover. I got a stethoscope because of the recommendation of a friend who's daughter has the same type of asthma my son has, it helps to tell if his wheezing is in his throat from mucus or if it's in his chest. When I worry, I will listen to his chest, sometimes every couple of hours. I also have a really difficult time with him now participating in sports, soccer and floor hockey. I watch for anything when he's running around, any coughing and I panic because he has flare ups during exercise too. I know I'm paranoid and he's only twice ever been close to possibly having to go to the hospital, but whenever he's sick, I feel helpless. I feel like I'm just waiting and watching to see if his asthma acts up or if it's just a cold or allergies or a cough. Whenever he has a bad cough, well I'm sure you can figure that one out. I called the doctors so frequently at one point, I felt like a nudge. Finally I just asked what I should look for, but of course, my son doesn't usually wheeze, he coughs, his lips don't usually turn blue, but he does get pale, so basically I have to listen and wait. When he coughs each time he breaths, well then I know there's a problem, of course by that time he's usually really bad, hence my paranoia.

I'm fortunate to have a wonderful husband who grew up with athletic asthma and therefore doesn't allow me to get too overprotective, and calms me down when I do over-react to any issues.

Thanks for "listening"

Tackle it Tuesday #3

I'm really starting to love these Tackle it Tuesdays, it motivates me to at least finish one job a week. This week I tackled this:

My Halloween decorations, though I discovered I missed a couple of things in this picture. I was supposed to do this last week but, well, we all know how life goes. So I did it today so I can clean up to get ready to decorate for Christmas. We don't decorate for Thanksgiving since we go to my in-laws for Thanksgiving. And so, here is everything packed away.

So, this is what I did. What did you tackle today? Tell us about it and check out other tackles over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Getting ready for Christmas

Ok, so I know we just celebrated Halloween and seeing as the mall was decorated for Christmas already when we went trick-or-treating and Santa is coming this Saturday to the mall, everyone is pushing the holiday, but there are a few things I like to do early. I'm not big on early shopping, well truth be told, my hubby does almost all of the Christmas shopping. The only thing I buy is the clothes.

But, since I make a ton of cookies and other goodies (read candy), I usually start making my cookie dough around now and freeze the dough, then around Thanksgiving I start baking and it's so much easier.

To give you an idea of what I make, here's the list:

1. Oatmeal Cookies
2. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
3. Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. Snickerdoodles
5. Raisin Molasses Gems
6. Butter Cookies
7. Scottish Shortbread
8. Pizzelles (if I have the time)
9. Milk Chocolate-Pretzel clusters
10. White Chocolate-Pretzel clusters
11. Chocolate-Coconut Haystacks
12. White Chocolate-Coconut Haystacks
13. Buckeyes
14. White Chocolate covered marshmallows
15. Milk Chocolate covered Marshmallows
16. Milk Chocolate covered plain oreos
17. Milk Chocolate covered peanut butter oreos
18. Milk Chocolate covered chocolate oreos
19. White chocolate popcorn clusters
20. Milk Chocolate popcorn clusters

So, as you can see I need to start early. I really enjoy doing this and I give away this stuff every year to my hairdresser and I send in a tray or 2 to my hubby's work. I really need a good macaroon recipe, I like the ones that are like cookies and have never found a good recipe. I do make sugar cookies but I buy the dough, again I've never found a recipe I really liked. So, I will post some cookie recipes over the next few weeks.

What do you do ahead for the holidays?

New President

Well, I'm sure lots of people are blogging about their joy or sorrow about our new President. I am only going to say, I am thankful that we have a new President. I am thankful that whether or not my chosen candidate actually won, I got to state my opinion at the polls and in 4 years if I don't like what Barack Obama has done, I can vote for someone else then. In the meantime, I will be praying that God will lead our new President to do what is right and good for our country as a whole and to go to God first, not man.

Tackle It Tuesday #2

Well, I have no pictures for my second Tackle it Tuesday. Today, I made a list of everything I need to do before Christmas. We usually host Christmas here for my family, though I haven't checked with my family yet, I'll go under that assumption so that my house gets cleaned. So, today, I tackled my list. I wrote down everything I need to do to get the house ready and tonight, my husband will make it longer because I always forget something.

I also tackled voting for our next president, and regardless of who I voted for, I will take my father's stance... I voted for the guy who wins!

So tell us what you tackled today and link it up over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Conversations about God

I grew up in a home where we went to church when we were young, but around when I was 9 or 10 we stopped going, we got a female minister and, well, my parents didn't really feel comfortable with her. I, personally, continued doing "church things" like AWANA and other youth group activities with friends and whenever I stayed at my cousins, I went to church. I accepted Christ as my savior at 14, but I don't think I really understood what that meant. At 20 I was baptized, along with my then fiance (not my husband), at a baptist church, I was dedicated when I was born at my Mom's church. Again, I understood who God and Jesus were and I truly did still believe that Christ is my saviour and only through Him can I go to Heaven. Well, anyway, since my Christian life has been sporadic at best, I wasn't really sure how to explain God and Jesus to my son. I've read him Bible stories since he was little. We recently started looking for a church, we attended one for a little while last year but it has yet to become a habit.

Now, my son is going to a wonderful Christian preschool and on our way home from school today, well yesterday (October 31), we had a conversation that kind of went like this:

Son: God made the Earth.
Mom: Yes, He did. He also made the sun and the moon.
Son: He didn't make the snow though.
Mom: Yes, God made the snow and the rain.
Son: He made the sun too. And he made the cats. Did he make the fishes too?
Mom: Yes, God made the fishes too. He also made you and me and Daddy and all of us. God loves us too.
Son: Toys, did God make toys Mom?
Mom: God didn't make toys, but God made the person who made the toys.
Son: OK, God made the man who made the toys, so if it weren't for God there wouldn't be toys? Yeah God! Because of God we have toys.

So, you see, he learned that all things are possible through God, but the only thing that really mattered was where the toys came from.