She Got Her Cast

My daughter had her appointment to get her cast today.  I am relieved.  I was a little paranoid about her hurting her arm more.  I was scared she'd hurt it and then have to have surgery or something.  She didn't.  She did great with her splint.  She only had a little aching pain the first couple of days.  After that, she felt pretty good.  

My daughter is going to stay the night with Grandma Kathryn tonight so Grandma met us at the orthopedist's office.  They called us back to the small room.  It wasn't long before the doctor came in.  The doctor unwrapped her arm and took the splint off.  He looked at her arm and showed us on her arm when the bone had broken.  Then the doctor grabbed his iPad and turned out the light.  He showed us the three x-ray pictures of her arm.  With each x-ray, he would zoom in several times to give us a good look at her bone.  He said the bone was soft enough that it didn't break all the way through the bone but the bone was bent. 

When the doctor turned the lights back on, he asked my daughter something.  She just looked at him.  I said her name and she looked at me, started to cry, and said, "I don't feel good!"  I felt her head and she was hot and sweating a lot.  She told me through her tear that her arm felt funny.  She also said it felt "funny".  The doctor said it happens to people.  They take the splint off and they feel light headed.  He said he'd give her a minute to catch her breath.  We laid her down on the bed, and she rested for a few minutes.  The doctor came back to check on her and put a wet paper towel on her forehead.  The nurse came in and gave her a bottle of water.  They were all very sweet to her.  The doctor said, when she feels okay just come out of the room and someone will show you down to the casting room.  Just a couple of minutes later she felt much better.  I think when they took the splint off her arm just felt weird.  Then when the doctor turned out the light and showed us the x-rays it just her feel even stranger and lightheaded.  

When we left the room, we were shown to the casting room.  We waited for a few minutes and another doctor came in.  He was just observing.  Diane, another nurse, came in to do the cast.  We had chosen a waterproof bright green cast. 

They wrapped her arm with the waterproof roll.  It looked like gauze with white Chiclets lined up on it.  It stuck to itself but not her skin. 

Then they wrapped it with the green stuff.  That green is pretty bright.  It looks like it could glow in the dark.  I'm sure it won't be so green in four weeks. 

She's very happy to finally get her cast on.  And now momma feels not so paranoid, so everyone feels better. 

Asian Ginger Beef

I made Asian Ginger Beef tonight for dinner.  It's a very tasty dish and not hard to make.  I got the recipe from a Taste of Home magazine, but I don't remember which issue.  

Here is the recipe.

Asian Ginger Beef

Ingredients

1 - 12 oz. bag of frozen Asian vegetable mix (such as broccoli, carrots, snow peas, and water chestnuts)

1 T. of vegetable oil

1 lb. flank steak, thinly sliced

1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)

1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips (about 1 cup)

1 small clove of garlic, minced (I used 2 cloves)

2 T. grated fresh ginger

1/4 c. low sodium beef soy sauce

2 t. dark sesame oil

1/4 c. low sodium beef broth

2 t. cornstarch

salt

pepper

Directions

1. Cook vegetable mix as package label directs.  Take out of skillet and put to the side.

2.  Warm vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Sprinkle steak with salt and pepper and add to skillet along with onion and bell pepper.  Saute for 2 minutes. (I actually cooked mine a little longer than it said.  I cooked it until the steak was completely cooked.)

3.  Add garlic and ginger and saute for 2 minutes longer.  

4.  Stir in soy sauce, sesame oil, and broth, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  
5.  Stir in mixed vegetables and toss well.
6.  In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with 2 t. of water until smooth.  Add to skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about one minute.  

Serve over rice or noodles.

The First Broken Bone

Well we've had our first broken bone on the island.  It happened to our daughter last night.  She was outside riding her razor scooter with a friend while I was sitting in the garage.  I saw her friend whiz by on her electric pink scooter.  I heard my daughter coming.  I could hear the wheels on the sidewalk and her laughing.  Then... 

OOOMMMPH.

I immediately got up and looked on the sidewalk.  She was laid out flat looking at me.  As I  ran to her I asked her if she was alright, but she just continued to look at me.  When I got to her, she started to cry.  I helped pick her up and I could tell she hurt her left arm.  It was not grotesquely bent or anything, but she had it cradled against her stomach and her hand was limply hanging down.  Then the tears really came.    

I walked her inside to talk to her.  She could wiggle her fingers - good sign.  She couldn't move her hand up, down, or sideways - bad sign.  We immediately put an ice pack on it and gave her some Tylenol.  The officer and I packed her into the car within 10 minutes to take her to an after hours clinic. 

On the way there, my daughter was fretting over having to have x-rays, someone touching her arm, about the possibility it could be broken, about not getting to swim, and much more, but it was actually keeping her mind busy and not on the pain.  Fortunately, the clinic was not busy.  Only one other car in the parking lot.  We were called back to the room.  By then my daughter could still wiggle her fingers and move her hand up and down, but still not sideways.  They took x-rays.  Confirmed.  Broken radius about an inch and a half above her wrist.  A buckle break is what the doctor said.  She has to wear a splint for a couple of days.  We will have to go see an orthopedist and get a cast next week. 

She is very excited about the possibility of getting a green cast.  We are hoping to get a waterproof cast.  That would make things a bit easier on her.  

However, she was a bit disappointed today.  She said, "If I had broken my right arm instead of my left arm, I wouldn't have to do school!"  I told her when I broke my left arm in the 5th grade, I just had to do all my work with my right hand.  "Oh.", she said.  She's not so disappointed now.   :)

There was already some itchiness this morning, but she handled it pretty well.  We'll see how these next 6 weeks go.  She's pretty tough and is a trooper so I'm sure it will be fine.  Right?

The Shirt

I bought a shirt about a month ago.   It was just a bit too snug for my taste when I purchased it, but I decided to buy it anyway.  I really liked it.  It's navy blue with small green polka dots.  Along the collar, it has just a bit of ruffle.  Not too much.  It has 3/4 sleeves and is made of lightweight cotton.  I haven't worn it yet.

I bought it even though I knew I couldn't wear it yet.  It serves as motivation.  I try it on every few weeks.  Not ready to wear it just yet.

I went to the dr. back in April for my lovely annual exam.  I asked the nurse what my weight was the previous year.  She told me, and I added a few pounds to that number.  I knew I had gained some weight from a year ago.  

I was already into my walking routine.  Steadily adding more distance every few weeks.  It was starting to pay off.  Ever so slowly though.  I made two changes in March.  First, I decided to start walking.  Actually I was started in February, but I decided to be more consistent with it.  I knew a good place to start would be when we went to Disney World.  We did a lot of walking there.  That really broke me in.  We came back from Disney World and I just started walking.  Second, I cut down on the Coke.  Not fun.  Headaches, irritability, loss of energy, irritability, snappiness, irritability.  You get the picture. 

Now it's been been five months.  I have slowly tried to make some other changes.  I am trying to make changes in habits and not just do a fad diet or workout.  I am trying to view exercise and eating differently.  It's hard.  I do weigh myself, but I don't live and die by the number on the scale.  Any given two seconds, the scale can have a three pound weight difference.  I just like to see the slow (very slow) progression of the numbers going downward.  So far I have lost 22 pounds.  Not a lot, but it's going down and staying down so far.

I think the most fun part is digging into the back of my closet pulling out clothes to try on and they fit!  Last year I gave away all the pre-baby clothes.  I gave up that pipe dream last year.  Now I kind of wish I hadn't donated everything.  So I bought the shirt.  As I said before, it's motivation.  I want to get in to that shirt this fall.  Even if it is so 2009 or maybe older.  Who knows, I got it at the thrift store.  :)  We'll see how it goes.  I have set other goals for myself too, but they are so far down the line right now.  One step at a time.

First Time Making Kimbobs

I was supposed to make kimbobs yesterday with my sister, Gina and my mom.  I've made kimbobs a couple of times, but it's always been with either my mom or Gina.  However, I messed up my schedule and we were unable to make them together.  I had already purchased all the ingredients for the kimbobs, some of which were fresh produce.  So I decided to make them tonight with my daughter so I didn't waste the ingredients. 

You can use any veggies you like, but here is a list of what I purchased and used.  Seaweed wraps, jasmine or rice from the Asian market (it make the best sticky rice), spinach, green onions, carrots, eggs, ham, pickled radish (which is actually kind of sweet), sesame seeds, and sesame seed oil. 

My daughter helped me prepare everything.  She cut up onions and ham, cut stems off the spinach, and cracked the eggs.  I had rice cooking in the rice cooker.  The secret to "sticky rice" is the good rice from the Asian market and also you use two cups of water to every one cup of rice, and then add one more cup of water.  So if you cook three cups of rice then you use seven cups of water. 

We chopped up all the necessary ingredients and prepared them to cook.

I am thinking I was not supposed to cook the green onions, but it doesn't matter.  I also did not cook the pickled radish (the yellow things at the top of the picture).  Everything else was cooked with Pam cooking spray and just a pat of butter.  I laid the spinach on a paper towel to drain excess water.  Also, I only cooked the carrots a little bit, you want them a bit crunchy.

When the rice is finished cooking, you drizzle the sesame seed oil over it and sprinkle it with sesame seeds.  My son affectionately calls this "Aunt Gina's Skunk Rice".  For some reason he thinks the sesame seed oil smells like skunk.  The first time he ate the rice prepared like this was at Gina's house, which is how it got it's name.  I told him I didn't think it was polite to say it smelled like skunk, but he replied, "Mom, I don't think that the skunk smell smells bad."  I guess it's a compliment.  Anywho, after you drizzle the rice with the oil, you mix the rice, oil and seeds all together.  Then you are ready to make the kimbobs.

I used my rice cooker spatula to spread a thin layer of rice all over the seaweed wrapper.  I put all my ingredients in a small line along the bottom of the wrapper on top of the rice.  Then I roll it up.  Once it's rolled up, it looks like a big cucumber.  I slice it it and voila, kimbobs.  I had thought I might have made my rice too sticky, but they turned out just fine.  At the Korean restaurant where I purchase kimbobs, they use beef bulgogi in their kimbobs.  You can use whatever meet you want, fish, pork, ham, or no meat at all.

Now if I only had my cheesecake to finish off this great meal.......

"Reading", Cheesecake, and Froggies

This has been a busy week. We went swimming at a friend's house.  So thankful for friends who are so generous to invite us to swim.  Anywho, after a couple of hours of swimming we headed home.  I told the kids they would have to at least read for 20 minutes.  I sat down on the couch.  My daughter grabbed her blanket and book and snuggled up beside me.  She's currently reading a Magic Tree House book.

It is just a few minutes before I hear slow, steady, heavy breathing.  I look down at my daughter to see her sleeping.  I ask her if she's reading and get a sleepy "Mmmhmmm" reply.  She is really trying to stay awake, but to no avail.

At one point she is holding her book upside down.  Then she just lays down on the couch and reads by osmosis.

Finally, we throw away all pretenses.  I think she only made it halfway through one paragraph when all was said and done.

On Monday, we went to a local waterpark, Andy Alligator's, with some friends.  This was our first time.  It had two big slides, a lazy river, and a water play area.  The kids had a blast and I liked it because it was small enough that my kids could run around by themselves.

On Tuesday, the kids and I went to my Grandma Margaret's for lunch with my sister and her family.  Then we all headed to the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum.  We've been there several times before, but it was fun to go with some smaller kids and my grandma.

I bet the picture below is a pretty good depiction of what it would be like if my kids attended a school.  :)

After the museum, we went back to my grandma's house.  All the kids ate ice cream.  I did not.  I waited for my dessert for that evening.  You may not know this, but Tuesday was National Cheesecake Day.  Is that not divine?  Cheesecake is my favorite dessert.  The Cheesecake Factory was having 1/2 priced cheesecake slices.  Several weeks ago, I invited several friends to go with me.  Of course, I didn't care who showed up.  I would have sat there all by myself eating cheesecake.  Four other friends ended up coming.

Just take a look at a portion of the cheesecake menu.  Yum!

My friends, Chantel, Kristen, and Lee came.  Lee brought her neighbor, Gina.  We all just ordered cheesecake.  Someone ordered an extra slice so we could taste it.  As we were waiting for our cheesecake, the girls were like "Let's all share our cheesecake.  We can split it into five pieces and all share."  I laughingly said, "I'm not sharing mine."  These girls laugh, but about 65% of me was serious.  I did share though. 

Clockwise, starting on the left was the Hershey's Chocolate Bar Cheesecake, Tiramisu Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake, Reeces Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheeesecake (mine), Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake (the extra), and Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake.  Whew. 

Here's a picture of mine before I "shared". 

When all was said and done, I tried two bites of the other cheesecakes, and cut half mine off to share.  I took three bites of my cheesecake and was finished.  It was so rich.  I packed it up in a box and would save it for later.

That is until I was at the store, and the officer found it in the refrigerator.  This is all that was left of it.

For clarification (for my sis, Jess), when you are married, what's yours is his unless it's cheesecake!  Then it's off limits unless permission is granted (before the eating of the cheesecake).  Yeah, I'm not really over it yet.

On Wednesday, my sister, Gina came into town.  She spent the day with us.  We met my mom at the Asian market.  We had to purchase the ingredients for kimbobs.  Gina and I were going to make them for lunch on Thursday.

Guess what I saw at the Chinese market?

Frogs.  

Live Frogs. 

Fatty Frogs.  

For Sale.  

To EAT.  $4.99/lb.  Look at them.  Ugggg....

I did not purchase any. 

One of my kid's favorite things to do when we go to the Asian market is to go next store to Cafe Oasis and get drinks with jelly in them.  My son's favorite is Mango with Rainbow jelly and my daughter orders Strawberry with Rainbow jelly.  

Wednesday night, Gina and I went out to eat with my other sister, Mistie.  We went to PF Changs.  Great food.  Good times with sisters.  Can't ask for a better evening.  Even if a waitress dropped her tray of dishes and a soup spoon landed in my lap.  :)