Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Shiloh was one of my favorite Battle books!  It is the classic story of a boy's love for a dog- not my favorite premise for a book, but this one was marvelous!

Marty falls in love with a beagle, Shiloh, who has run away from his abusive owner.  In a desperate attempt to save the animal, Marty hides it and begins a frenzied (but hopeless) attempt to earn the money to buy Shiloh from his owner.

This simple, amazing story somehow manages to weave in valuable lessons about love, honor and the value of working hard for what you want.  I would recommend this book to anybody and I can't wait to share it with my own son!

The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

I had read this book at least once before and almost didn't re-read it for the Battle of the Books competition.  It was a good thing I did.  So much of it I had forgotten!

William is appalled at the idea that his housekeeper, Mrs. Phillips, is leaving him to return to her home in England.  As a parting gift, she bestows upon him a toy castle and a silver knight. William discovers a way to use that gift to keep his beloved housekeeper with him but, not until it's too late, does he realize how selfish and dangerous he has been.  William must sacrifice his own safety and go on a dangerous quest in order to save Mrs. Phillips from the danger in which he has placed her.

Castles, knights, dark forests, magic, good & evil, bravery, and unconditional love.  This book has it all!

Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff

This Newbery Honor book tells the story of a special friendship between Lily and Albert during World War II.  In this book, Lily is a compulsive liar and one of her lies threatens to take Albert's life.  Lily is a complex, confused little girl who, I felt, was very realistically portrayed, and Albert's desperate attempt to hold onto hope during a time of grief was heartbreaking and beautiful.  A sad, but captivating, story of friendship and war.

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret

The only nonfiction book on the Battle of the Books list, I initially thought this book looked dull.  The cover was boring and, callous as it may sound, the topic seemed a little boring too.  But, I was pleasantly surprised! 

Peg's real experience when she was afflicted with polio was enlightening.  I have a better understanding now why the disease was so terrifying and why the polio vaccine was such a major medical accomplishment.  Peg's recovery story was inspiring.  The relationships she developed with the other girls in the hospital, and the struggles they faced that bound them together was my favorite part of the book.   The real black and white pictures of the people in her life were a nice addition.

This is a great book to share with kids to help them understand the affect of polio during that time in our history.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Explaining what the first Harry Potter book is about would probably be redundant and completely unnecessary.  If you haven't read the book yourself, you have probably watched the movie, or you care so little about the books that you won't bother reading this blog post anyway.  So, I won't bother with that part of my review this time.

My husband was one of those few people who just didn't give a hoot about Harry Potter.  He wasn't interested in seeing the movies and he wasn't interested in the craze surrounding the little wizard.  (Notice I used the word was...)

I thought that needed to change.

The Harry Potter books are such a huge part of our popular culture, and the imaginative storytelling of J.K. Rowling is so awe-inspiring that I very much wanted to share them with Nathan.  Plus, I just knew he would love it.

So, reluctantly, Nathan allowed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to become the next on our list of books to read. 

And, as predicted, he loved the book! (See, I knew it!)

Nathan and I have very different taste in books so it was fun to share a book with him that I have greatly enjoyed and have him appreciate it as well. 

And so, for now, the book is tucked away until Jack is ready for it!

Measles Scare

The day after our bee invasion, we began to notice a rash on Jack's body.  As the day continued, the rash spread.  It began to get darker and darker.

Jack was taking azithromycin for an ear infection and had already had a bad reaction to amoxicillin so our immediate thought was that he was also allergic to this antibiotic.  He was already on the fourth day of five for the azithromycin so I called to doctor to see if he should take the final dose the next morning.  They said to go ahead and give it to him and scheduled us an appointment for the next afternoon.

As the evening progressed, the rash continued to develop and Jack began to get very itchy.  We began a very, very long night.  As the rash got worse and worse, Jack was completely unable to sleep.  We tried to take turns staying up with him.  Three times, we gave him oatmeal baths, and we rotated the Tylenol and IBProfen to help with his pain. The rash turned to hives. At 4:00 am we seriously considered taking him to the emergency room.

We waited, but I decided not to give him the last dose of antibiotics until after the doctor had seen him.

By the time we took him to his appointment, we'd had two different nurses look at pictures of Jack and tell us that it looked like he had measles.  Since he had just turned one, Jack had not been immunized for measles yet.  The doctor looked up measles and did think he looked like it might be what he had.  She suggested we get him tested and also schedule an appointment with an allergist to find out for sure if he is allergic to those (and other) antibiotics.  In the meantime, she gave us the go-ahead to give him Benadryl for the itchiness.

It took a couple of days for the rash to start clearing up.  In the meantime, we got Jack tested for measles and the test came back negative.  He has an appointment with an allergist this week, so hopefully we will find out what antibiotics he is allergic to and avoid a reaction like this again.

Poor baby.

Chicken Salsa Pizza

Friday night is pizza and movie night at our house.  Nathan and I don't get to go out much anymore so we have a "date" every Friday night after Jack goes to bed.  Admittedly, we usually order our pizza for those nights, but I would like to change that.  So, I am on a mission this summer to find 5 tasty pizza recipes that will motivate me to make the the pizza myself.  Recently, I found the first one!  This pizza recipe came from the Taste of Home Ultimate Five Ingredient Recipes book that my friend Raquel gave me.  It is surprisingly unusual and, with a salsa as the tomato sauce, I was less than convinced that I would like it.  But I loved it!! And it was so easy!  This one is definitely going into the Friday night rotation.

Chicken Salsa Pizza
1 prebaked Italian bread shell crust (14 oz)
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 jar (11 oz) salsa
1 cup cubed cooked chicken

Place bread shell on an ungreased 12-in pizza pan.  Sprinkle with 3/4 cup of cheese.  Top with salsa, chicken, and remaining cheese.  Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.  Yield: 4 servings

Lesson 33: Bee Aggressive

What I failed to mention about Jack's first stepping stone creation experience was that the whole thing was pretty much abandoned midway through when our home got attacked by killer bees.

Well, maybe they were not killer bees, but when anything with a stinger is finding a way into the living room through your can lights, it can be hard to distinguish the difference.

We first noticed a couple of random bees buzzing around while we were pouring the cement for Jack's stepping stone (see previous post).  After a while, it seemed a couple more bees had joined those, so we started looking around.

Sure enough, about a dozen bees seemed to be fixated on the side of our house.  Nathan got a little nervous.

A half hour later, the number of bees had doubled and there were two in the house.  Nathan started pacing.

Fifteen minutes after that, there were four in the house and Nathan was on the phone to an exterminator.

I roused Jack from his peaceful slumber and we high-tailed it out of there, spending the next 8 hours with some helpful family members.

Luckily the problem was handled (relatively) quickly and, for that, we are grateful.

But, we do have some regrets about the situation.

We did not know that the bees getting into our house were honeybees until the exterminator arrived and told us what they were.  Knowing that honeybees are endangered, we immediately inquired about alternative methods for removing them safely.  In hindsight, perhaps the exterminator who had already arrived at our home with the anticipation of a paying job was not the best person with whom to inquire about alternative options.  It was not until the following day at work that I found out that an easier, safer (for the bees), and cheaper alternative may have been possible.

So, to those 10,000 bees that we would not share our home with, I am very sorry we murdered you.  If it makes you feel better, I am sick about it and will certainly seek more humane ways to remove your relatives from the premises if they should decide to build their home here.

As for the woodpecker living in our attic... last I checked you were not endangered.

So, consider yourself warned, little buddy.

Jack's Stepping Stone

We I have decided to start a birthday tradition of making stepping stones every year on around Jack's birthday.  I bought a kit and we carefully followed the directions...

 First, we covered the work space with plastic garbage bags and gathered the materials.

 (Jack was very excited to help!)

 Then, under Jack's watchful supervision, we mixed the powder with water...

 ... and poured it into the mold

(As you can see, we did not end up using the indoor workspace.  This turned out to be more of an outdoor craft.)

 We decorated the stone with rocks, and carefully placed Jack's hand in the center (this took a few tries!). Then waited for it to dry.

And here is the final product.

Now, all we need to do is finish start the yard and find a perfect home for the stone.

Going, Going, GONE!

With the (rather slow) arrival of warm, sunny weather, home restoration projects have begun anew around here.  As you can see in the photo below, we have spent the past 10 months looking out our kitchen window at the peak of a mountain of dirt.  This dirt used to be where our basement is now and, as it turns out, dirt is not easy or cheap to get rid of.  Who would've guessed.

It took 3 days,

and over 20 truck loads...

until, finally...

It was gone!

I just know we're going to turn around tomorrow and wish we had some of that dirt, but what can you do. (Ha!)

Jack's First Crush

Jack loves this Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers commercial:



When Jennifer's bold voice cries out from the TV that she's "feeling gooo-oood", Jack will stop playing with his toys, will stop crying out, or will stop eating his food and just stare at the television until the commercial is over.

When I headed to the Mother Daughter Tea a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Mother's Day, I left the boys at home together while I "walked the red carpet."

Just as I was sitting down at my star-studded table, I received a text from Nathan- "Jack says be sure to tweet if you get seated at the same table as Jennifer Hudson."

The boy's got it bad for that girl.

Mother Daughter Tea 2011: The Red Carpet

The theme for the Mother Daughter Tea this year was The Red Carpet so we got dressed up in our fanciest dresses, put on our most expensive bling, and slipped our feet into our highest heels...

For a history of the Mother Daughter Teas, click here.

An Infection in his Ear, A Pain in my Arse

My son has an ear infection.

I came home from work today knowing he wasn't feeling well.  When we took his temperature with the new $50 thermometer I had picked up on the way home, it read a frightening 104 degrees.  I called the doctor.

It was 15 minutes to close, the receptionist explained to me.  There was no way they could see him.  (Never mind that it was actually 20 and we live less than 5 minutes away.)  "Did you hear that his temperature is 104?!" I wanted to ask her.  After scheduling an appointment for tomorrow morning, I asked what we should do about the 104 degree temperature until 10:20 am. tomorrow.

"Oh, well, let me get a triage nurse."  Yes.  Please do that.

The directions were to give him some Tylenol, a lukewarm bath, and plenty of liquids and if his temperature wasn't down in an hour, take him to urgent care.

An hour later, his temperature was 103.4.  We took him to urgent care.

An hour after that we left with a diagnosis we understood and a prescription for Amoxicillin clutched in my hand.  We headed for the Walgreens on Fillmore & Academy.  (It's important that you know that.)

I handed the blond lady behind the desk Jack's prescription, and his insurance card.  She scanned it for information and, when she didn't find what she was looking for, turned to the pharmacy manager and showed him the card.

"Yeah, there's nothing on here I can use!" he snarled.

She explained to me that she'd need a prescription card.  I don't have a prescription card.  She was confused.  "How much will it be to just pay for it?" I asked.

$12.99

I just suggested that I would pay for it myself and, yes, I would wait the half hour.

Half an hour later, I returned to the pharmacy desk.

"Can I help you?" blondie asked me.

"I'm here to pick up the prescription for Gillis," I reminded her.  She punched some numbers into the computer.

"Out of stock?!" she said, surprised and turned, again, to the pharmacy manager.

They engaged in a conversation about what they might have that they could use as a substitute, ignoring me when I suggested that I could just get it filled somewhere else. 

"It'll be just a minute," blondie told me.

Less than 5 minutes later, she called me back to the counter, prescription safely stapled in a white paper bag, a tag with the prescription information and a barcode as well as a receipt with another barcode were both attached.

Blondie scanned the receipt on her cash register, but the computer wouldn't allow the transaction through.  She attempted to scan it again.  When it didn't work a second time, she handed the bag to the pharmacy manager and he impatiently flipped back the receipt and scanned the barcode on the tag behind it on his computer.  It wouldn't register so he looked more closely at the prescription information on the tag.

"One hundred?"  he said, then looked up at his computer.

"One hundred twenty-five," he mumbled and ripped the tag off.

Blondie went to the printer and said, "Oh, here it is, here it is."

She folded a new tag, put the receipt on top of it and placed it on the bag to be stapled.  The pharmacy manager scanned the new tag and Blondie brought the white bag back to the cash register and scanned it again. This time the transaction prompted a question to pop up onto her screen that appeared to ask something about the medicine being mixed.  I believe the number she punched on the keyboard was the number one which was answering yes, indicating that the medicine had been mixed.  Then she took the bag, pulled open the stapled top, pulled out the bottle of pink medicine, unscrewed the cap, walked over to what looked like a soap dispenser at the end of the shelf of medicine, fiddled with some dial, then held the bottle under the dispenser while a clear, thick liquid dropped into the bottle of Jack's medicine.  She screwed the cap back on the medicine bottle, put it back into the bag, and stapled it together again before finishing my transaction.

As I walked away, a tall, thin man approached the counter and began talking to Blondie.  "I was here earlier, and you gave my daughter the wrong medicine!"  I heard him say.

A hundred and twenty-five dollars and five hours later, my son still has an ear infection, a fever that is being contained by Tylenol and Motrin, and we have an appointment with his primary care physician tomorrow at 10:20 where we will, hopefully, get another prescription.

One that we won't be getting filled at Walgreens.

(Click here for an article about another incident at a Colorado Springs Walgreens that occurred a couple of weeks ago.)