My Life as a Carrier Monkey

      Little known fact (or more widely known since I wrote a Facebook note about it a couple of years ago), I have TB, short for Tuberculosis.  It is that old disease that people die of in movies like Moulin Rouge, and as my friend Jenn keeps telling me, Tombstone - which I have never seen.  I do not have the active version, and I am not contagious.  I found this out in 2008 when I was volunteering at the children's hospital in town and had a positive skin test.  We think I must have picked it up in Ghana.  I had to go to the TB clinic and get a chest x-ray, and I was supposed to take medicine at that point.  But I never took the medicine.  I was wanting to get pregnant soon, so I never took it.  And I never took it between the girls.  And I haven't exactly been in a hurry to take it, because I found out from a friend who worked as an Army medic who had TB that I would have to take it every day for 9 months and that I couldn't eat soft cheeses.  If you have seen any of my recipes, you know how I feel about soft cheeses.
      Then, a couple of months back, when we visited our best friends from college, I was talking about this again.  And Steph, who is almost a completely full-fledged doctor told me a horror story of a 29 year old woman who had developed TB and was hospitalized for a month.  Then she showed me pictures of the Hazmat-like suits that they had to wear to go in and care for this woman.  "Take the medicine," Steph said. She even kindly looked it up and told me that I could take it while nursing and that I would be fine to eat my soft cheeses.  So, on this last morning of Mother's Day Out, I trekked to the TB Clinic - such a cheery place and totally what I wanted to be doing.  Since it had been 3 years since my last visit, I had to get another chest x-ray - I was handed a thin gown, told to undress my top half and stand in front of the screen.  He kindly used a shield to cover my "female parts."
      After the doctor looks at the x-ray to confirm that I do not have active TB, I will have to go back to get medicine.  I discovered today that I will have to go back monthly and be weighed each time to make sure that I am not developing TB and suddenly dropping weight.  Not likely, though it may give me an incentive to not take a spoon every time I go to the garage and get cookie dough out of that freezer, if someone else is going to be weighing me every month.  Makes picking up birth control in the Walgreen's drive-thru every month look positively delightful.  And, for your viewing pleasure - here is the brochure that explains TB with cute cartoons.  I think I must have gotten TB from someone who was singing too near to me, and it is a little creepy to think that it is "sleeping" inside of me, ready to "wake up" if my immune system becomes compromised.  Thankfully, I am well.



I am very thankful to be well, because it means I get to spend time with these sweet little friends.






And though having a two-year-old brings many storms of emotion to our house, I wouldn't trade it.  I think it has high highs and low lows.  So, when it is good, it is very good.

Apple Pecan Brie Sandwiches: Never Would Have Guessed Those Would Go Together So Nicely

     Today was my day for Food Co-Op, and since we got back into town late Monday night, I opted to go with one of my stand-by favorites to make.  It is easy and delicious, with an unexpected combination of yumminess.  Without further adieu, I bring you Apple Pecan Brie Sandwiches.



I got the recipe from All Recipes, here.  It caught my eye, because I love Brie cheese and pretty much everything else included.  Here's what you need.




3 TBSP Butter
4 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Sliced Sourdough bread
Brie cheese (about 6 oz)

Now, here's the deal.  You need an Apple Peeler Corer Slicer.  I just realized I do not know what they are actually called.  Google to the rescue - they are, in fact, called Apple Peeler/Corers, and you can get one like mine here.  This makes the whole preparing of the apples much simpler and less time-consuming.

Your apple will go from this -



To this -



To this - (I did do a little extra chopping to get them into smaller pieces)



Now that your apples are all ready (which obviously can be done without the handy peeler/corer), melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.



Add the apples.  Cook and stir until tender, 7 to 8 minutes.  I also cover them and walk away a bit doing other stuff, which works as well.



Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans and continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer.  Remove from heat and set aside.




Preheat your oven's broiler.  Slightly butter the bread.  Place one half of each sandwich onto a baking sheet.  Put slices of brie cheese onto each slice of bread.  (My brie had been sitting out and was in more of a "spread" condition.)



Add a generous scoop of the apple mixture and place the open face sandwiches into the oven.  Broil until the cheese has melted - about one or two minutes.



Make sure the top of your sandwich is also toasted - I put it in under the other pan for the same amount of time and that seemed to do the trick.



Assemble sandwich and cut in half to serve.  I usually serve this with salad that has cooked chicken on it so that the meal includes more protein.  I also made the best chocolate chip cookies ever for dessert.  Easy and definitely something different.  Eat up!

Weekend: Branson Getaway

    This past weekend we celebrated our anniversary in style - in Branson style, that is.  We dropped off the girlies with Ellen and Luke and headed on up on Sunday morning - nothing says Mother's Day like dropping off your kids to someone else.  It was fantastic to have time to just be together and celebrate 6 great years of marriage.



We went on some back roads on the way there, which normally take us through Beaver, AR.  There was a sign that said the bridge was closed, but we decided to check it out anyway.  What we saw was pretty wild - I know it is just a taste of what is going on in Memphis.  This charming, one-way bridge normally looks like this.


(picture circa 2006 when we drove through there)

This is how it looked on Sunday afternoon.





Needless to say, we did not try to cross, but we were glad to have taken the 10 mile detour to see this.  If you ever get a chance to go through here when it is not flooded, I definitely recommend it!  It is a beautiful drive.

Once we got to Branson, we checked into the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing.  When I worked at Kanakuk years ago, this whole area did not exist, and it is crazy to see how much has been built up around Lake Taneycomo.  We enjoyed staying right in the thick of things.




I really liked all the shiny lamps in our room.  New hotels may not have a lot of character, but they sure are shiny.  We had dinner out at Branson Landing at Joe's Crab Shack, which was appropriately tacky including, but not limited to, the manager who was wearing a leopard print cowboy hat and danced enthusiastically to the Cha Cha Slide.  Everybody clap your hands.



We went and saw Thor in 3D.  Now, this probably wouldn't be that exciting for most people, but as someone who used to go see a lot of movies in the theater (pre-children), it was delightful to go and see the big blockbustery movie sans little friends.  It will not win any Academy Awards, but it was fun to watch.  The really funny thing is that the movie theater we went to was inside this building that has been there since I was a kid - and I remember going there during the summers.  It still looks just as crazy on the inside, and it was hilarious to try to find the movie theater nestled inside all of the kitsch.  After the movie, we relished our late-night freedom by walking around Branson Landing and getting a mostly inedible brownie from Old Chicago.  At least the cheesecake was good.




I had booked a Hot Air Balloon ride for us, which was supposed to be our main activity.  Tragically, it was too windy to be able to go.  I guess that really matters a lot when you are in the sky in a giant balloon, so I am glad that the pilot is very safety conscious.  However, this is the second time we have booked a balloon ride and had it not work out due to weather.  Whenever we do finally do one, it will be epic.  In lieu of that little adventure, we decided to try a zipline and "canopy" tour that just opened up last year.  It was really well done, and we had a great time sailing through the tree tops.



No trip to Branson would be complete without stopping at Papa Grand's Pizza, home of the World's Largest Banjo.  This is a pizza buffet right off the strip that has my favorite Chocolate Chip Pizza ever AND the biggest banjo I have ever seen, which is really random and perfectly Branson.  (Most of the rest of the pizza is pretty standard pizza buffet fare - you have been warned.)  This time I paid more attention and think I now know how to make this pizza.  I will let you know when I try it.




By the time we did all that, it was time to go get the girls.  While we were gone, Ellen and Luke managed to get Bella's 6 month pictures taken, which I am so excited to see!  Thanks, Team Davis, for making our wonderful weekend possible.  Lily is still talking about "Ellen's House" and "Uncle Luke."  You guys are loved!



And when I got home today from picking up the girls from Mother's Day Out, these were in the kitchen.



To say that I have been blessed in marriage is an understatement.  My husband is a rock star, and I am so glad to have had all that time together.  Love you, JPS.

I Have a Problem

      Well, here I am, not wanting to write about what is on my mind.  Here goes.  I have a problem.  I am sinful and have an ugly heart.  I really like myself - a lot.  (I think I probably like myself more than a lot of other people, to be really honest.)  It truly is my desire to see people the way that Jesus does, with love and compassion.  But I don't.  I see their shortcomings.  I see missteps.  And I am inwardly critical.  I felt a need, a compulsion even, to confess this publicly, because on this little blog I can look a lot better than I am.  I can give a snapshot of our world and only show the good parts.  And I can feel good about myself when I look through it and see all the stuff I have done.  Which is wrong and sounds so incredibly ridiculous when I write it out like that, but it is true.
      So, I am coming clean.  I do not have it all together.  I may have made dinner last night that was tasty, but the other nights this week I made super basic french toast, frozen pizza and then we went out.  My house is not nearly as clean as it looks in the pictures, and my children can throw crazy fits (okay, maybe only one of them), sometimes in public.  John and I do not always get along - we are blessed to so much of the time, but there are really hard times too.  And, without Jesus, I am not a nice person.  He really is all that is good inside of me, and I want to lean on him more and rely on myself less.  Even as I type that, I experience a twinge of fear, because I know that means stepping out in faith and living more sacrificially, which sounds hard.  And I do not like doing things that are hard, but I know that God is made more perfect in my own weakness.
      If you read my little blog (thanks!), please know that I want to keep it real - and this is real.

So is this - a picture of me trying to get ready this morning and what that can entail these days.



Bella is in the sink, which she is about to turn on and drench herself, requiring a full outfit change.  Lily is delightfully trying to rearrange all of my make-up and anything else she can get her hands on or ask for.  Sometimes, like this morning, it was exhausting just to get out of the door with all of us dressed. But, that is life with two little friends under two.  I should also probably wrap this up, because, for the second day running, I am listening to our cat be stuck in Lily's room during her "nap" time.  Poor kitty.  Lily keeps laying on her, and Francie keeps pawing at the door and meowing piteously.  But I know if I go in there, then all peace will be lost, so I haven't exactly hurried to rescue the cat.

I am also linking up this post with a blog that I just discovered and love.  She has 5 kids and a sixth on the way, which really puts my life into perspective.  She does a feature called "Embrace the Camera", encouraging moms to be in pictures with their children and capture real life moments.  I think mine qualifies.