Fighting Off A Cold

How ironic that I posted about getting healthy yesterday and this morning I work up with that sick feeling in the back of my throat.  I am doing everything in my power to fight off this cold.  I don't want to be sick.  I don't like to be sick.  Since there is no climbing into bed and wallowing in my sickness I am a miserable sick person.

The first thing I did after I finished my morning 16oz of water was take a Zicam.  I then proceeded to drink my way through the morning alternating between hot tea with lemon and honey and cold water.  Mother Nature decided to add insult to injury and sent us snow.  It started around 10:30 this morning and still has not stopped.

After getting my niece Elise on the bus. I made myself some chicken soup.  Dinner was put in the crock pot at the same time.  Super easy. Four frozen chicken breasts and one bottle of honey barbecue sauce cooked on medium for 6 hours.

My day was spent doing my tiny tasks.  Writing out bills. Addressing 50 post cards for my Girl Scouts' postcard exchange.  Finishing my Valentine's garland. And of course there is the never ending ebb and flow of the laundry.

Keely came home from school and homework was done. She wrote the best paragraph based on a picture of a ground hog in sunglasses driving a car.  According to her, he was driving because he was cool.  He was going to Texas to bring back the hot weather because he was tired of winter!  I love this kid!!!!  She 100% came up with everything on her own.  I have no idea where the idea of Texas came from.

Once homework was finished she played with her iPad.  I did more laundry.  Then whipped up a hashbrown casserole to go with the chicken.  It was a mish mash of refrigerated hashbrown potatoes, numerous ends of bags of shredded cheeses, a jar of Ragu double cheese sauce and various spices.  It really came out great... too bad I will probably not be able to duplicate it.

I am exhausted. So if y'all will forgive me for not posting any pictures or recipes, I am going to carry myself up to bed. I hopefully will be asleep before 9:00pm.

Please feel free to share with me your home cold remedies.

Lazy Sunday

After a long cold day outside watching Keely ski yesterday at the Double H Ranch, angels in the snow,  I was looking forward to a nice lazy Sunday.

The lazy day I got was not quite the one I bargained for.  Sure I spent the day snuggled up on the sofa watching movies and Netflix, however, the circumstances were less than ideal. My poor Beauty has a tummy bug.

She and I spent the day watching movie after movie. Return of the Jedi and Labyrinth followed by lots and lots of Horseland.

Thank goodness she seems to be much better. I guess Horseland and Popsicles go a long way towards recovery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did get to some cooking this weekend.

Friday I made a pan of Baked Farfalle Florentine, Saturday morning was a pot of Creamed Chicken Gnocci soup and I did get all of Matt's freezer sandwiches done.

I promise to get you the pasta and soup recipes soon but really I can't put them up because they consist of instructions like add milk, mix grated romano cheese, throw in some chicken.  I need to focus on measurements the next time I make them so I can share them with you.

One of the ways we save money is that Matt brings his breakfast and lunch every day.  For breakfast he has a breakfast burrito that I make in bulk sessions and freeze.  In the morning he grabs one and heats it up while he makes his lunch and coffee.

Lunch is a freezer sandwich.

These are so simple and easy to make and for around $1 and less than 200 calories he has a sandwich he can just grab and go.

Freezer Sandwich

Arnold Bakery sandwich thins
Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh turkey
Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh ham
Sargento Ultra Thin colby jack cheese slices

Each sandwich consists of one sandwich thin, 3 slices turkey, 3 slices ham and 1 slice of cheese.

Wrap in foil and freeze.

It is that simple. Matt throws his in his lunch bag with a greek yogurt, baby carrots, banana, Emerald Breakfast on the Go pack and an apple or pear.  It keeps his yogurt cold and by lunch time it is thawed and ready to eat. He keeps a little bottle of mustard at his desk and puts that on the sandwich. Done. Better for you than fast food and much less expensive.
For a while I was making my own breakfast on the go packs for him but he prefers the pre-made ones so I get him those only when they are on sale and only when I have a coupon. :)

Under the Weather

I woke up this morning and thought I was a bit under the weather. Nauseous, sick tummy, a bit shaky... I figured I would feel better as I got moving and after a shower.  I was wrong, still I let my sister bring my niece Joy here because she herself was sick along with Elise my other niece.  

After a bit it was clear to me I was not getting better but getting worse.  I figured I would nap with Joy. 

Let me show you how that went...

No naps, Sissy!!!! 

So you see it was a rousing success. I thought maybe if I closed my eyes and modeled good sleeping she would follow suit. I took off my glasses, put some quiet music on my iPhone and closed my eyes.

This is what happens when a 12 month old gets ahold of your iPhone and figures out how to turn on the camera.

Joy says "I am a regular Steve Jobs!"

Tech savvy one year olds, who'd of thought?  The middle picture on the right is what it looks like just before your phone falls between the bed and the wall.

Finally I admitted defeat and called down to my sister's house.  My brother-in-law came to get her around 11:30 and I spent the rest of the day sleeping on the sofa until Keely got home from school at 2:30.

Silver lining: the good thing about being sick is that my husband refuses to let me touch anything he is planning to eat so I got out of cooking dinner.

The bad thing is that I hate being sick.