Uhhh....am I getting too old for sleepovers????

Image credit: Maggie Byer Sprinzeles

I don't mean for ME to have one per say, at this point in my life I just want to head to bed at 9pm and have a full night's sleep without being awakened by anyone or anything.

But for Jasmine to have a sleepover....I think I'm too old for this? Before you go getting all huppity about it let me explain.

Saturday night Jasmine had her sleepover, her eye is doing much better but it's still a little swollen and bruised and has that nasty cut, BUT she was determined to have her friends over nonetheless. It was fine, everything was going great until bed time. By 1am we had to force the girls to go to bed because Curt and I were dead tired and I have to be up early with Nicholas anyway.

Well it took 1 hour to get them all to stay in bed and quit running around, laughing and joking. For them I'm sure it was the BEST time, for me, not so much, I could feel my eye twitching and I thought of getting a recorder to replay over and over "Girls please quiet down, stop yelling, you're going to wake up Nicholas and the neighbors and the whole base, and Japan (not really but you know just for effect).....it's bed time, please go to sleep".

I must have repeated that sentence over and over to the point where I would just walk in there and blurt it out while my brain took a nap.

Anyway, around 2:15 am they finally fell asleep and I drug myself into bed, pulled the covers up over me and closed my eyes.

3 am - Sandra, Sandra (it was one of the girls)

I run out of bed and she's crying, she had a nightmare. So I comfort her, talk to her about it just being a dream, she's fine and she's safe and it's ok to go back to sleep....sit there for a while until she quiets down and proceed to drag myself back to bed.

Climb in again, pull the covers up over my shoulders and close my eyes....it's now 3:30am.

3:45 am - MOMMY......MOMMY (it's jasmine)

Jump out of bed again and run into her room....she had a bad dream, calm HER down and get her back to sleep.

In between these, we have the same girl that had the nightmares, coughing up a storm. Now I don't know about the rest of you but I don't feel comfortable just giving kids medicine without their parents permission, who knows what they're allergic to or can or can't have. But after a few hours of her coughing I gave her some Mucinex Mini Melts for the cough and it helped her a bit.

Anyway, I went back to bed, by this time I had the biggest headache and actually felt nauseous, you know when you have to get up in the middle of the night and you're so tired that you feel sick to your stomach??

Pull the frigging covers over my shoulders again, I think I was getting annoyed at the bed LOL

4 am - Sandra Sandra (same girl)

I go back in there and she's still having nightmares...then she wants me to turn on all the lights and I have to explain that it can't be done, she'll wake everyone else up. I show her there's 2 night lights and I've now turned on the bathroom light in the hallway too, PLUS she has Jasmine and Summer there too and the dogs. So she asks for water and I give her some, then she wants the tv on and again.......read above, I repeat the whole shebang about the lights and the kids sleeping etc.

She lays back down for a bit and Summer wakes up...now they're both sitting up talking and I'm sitting on the edge of Jasmine's bed thinking...I'm screwed, yep, I'm absolutely screwed. I'm not going to sleep at all tonight LOL

They finally lay back down and are quiet so I go back into the room, I don't even pull the covers anymore, I just keep my robe on and lay on the bed and low and behold....

5 am - Cough cough.....Sandra I can't sleep.......cough cough

I shuffle my feet back into the bedroom, Vicks in hand and rub some on her chest. Then I hear a voice behind me, it's Jasmine, now she's awake and gets into the blow up mattress with the other girls and they're all laughing and giggling.

YEP, it finally hit me, I'm getting NO sleep at all tonight. It's 6am now and I hear Nicholas stirring in his bed. It's time to get up. Boy do I feel refreshed......NOT! LOL

So that was the NonSleepOver but they had a blast and they're talking about the next one already which makes me cringe. I wonder if I should gear up for the next one, maybe stock up on cold and cough medicine, night lights, or maybe I should have the parents come sleep over too so they can watch their own kids? LOL

After the girls left yesterday I didn't get to sleep either, I think I was over tired and just not able to settle down so I went to the library and grabbed some books. I go through phases, there's months that I read nothing and then suddenly I can't get enough, it's like inhaling the pages of the books as fast as I can get my little fingers to flip through them.

LOVE this cookbook, it's got such great recipes, I can't wait to try.


The first three I got for free from the Airman's Attic..........then at the library I got:

Nicholas Sparks - At First Sight
Circle of Quilters
The Quilter's Homecoming
Wanted - Linda Lael Miller
Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers

Guess which one I'm already reading??? Yep, Francine Rivers and I'm in love with the book, in love with the story and the characters and just can't get enough. Wow, it's not just that she is an amazing author, she really does make you feel like you're there with the characters and the first few pages of the book are heartbreaking. Can't wait to read more.

Well I need to go get my Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore going or there will be no dinner tonight. My menu plan for this week has already been posted, so go check that out if you're interested.

Huge hugs and kisses to my family back in South Africa.........just 5 months more *wink wink*

The ONE thing I hate about being a mother!

Let me start by saying that I LOVE being a parent and I love my children more than anything in this world.........BUT there is one thing that I absolutely hate about being a mother and that is when your child gets hurt, and if there's lots of blood involved it's even worse.

The sleepover had to be cancelled last night, it's been moved to tonight because Jasmine got hurt.

I'll tell you right now, if blood makes you woozy just skip over this part, go have a cup of coffee and join me afterwards ok???

So Jasmine was out yesterday afternoon with two of her friends, they were at one of their houses playing. I get a knock at the door and see both her friends looking really freaked out and I just KNEW that something had happened. I rush to the door and the girls are both talking really fast and all I hear is "Jasmine hurt.........lot of blood". That is NOT what you want to hear about your children.

I ask where and they point to the sidewalk and I'm thinking....Ok maybe she fell when they were running and cut herself or something, so I start walking towards the sidewalk and then I see my neighbor come running with Jasmine in her arms and blood everywhere. I'm not joking, I think my heart dropped to my feet and I just remember running towards them. Jasmine was crying and screaming and her shirt was full of blood. Avert your eyes if it freaks you out..........

I thank my neighbor, grab her from her arms and RUN home, push through the door and run to the kitchen with Jasmine. All I knew at this point is what the neighbor said....they were in her house playing and Jasmine slipped and hit her eye on the corner of the table. OH.MY.GOSH..........eye things just freak me out.
I have to say I remained calm through this all....I set her down on the counter near the sink because her clothes were full of blood, so were her legs and arms. She had her eyes closed and I asked her to open them for me, she did and THANK GOD it wasn't the actual eye but the corner that got hit.....she has a huge cut, pretty deep.

Anyway, between holding her and comforting her, I grabbed the phone and called Curt at work to come quickly.....poor Nicholas was in the background with his hands over his ears and almost in tears himself, all I could hear was him saying "I'm sad, Jasmine is my sister and she got hurt bad". :(

We all know how anything around the eye bleeds a lot, it has all those little vessels.....but it's still scary to see.

She didn't need stitches, again Thank the Lord....and she's doing fine now. But I tell you, the helpless feeling you get when you see your child in pain and hurt and knowing that there's nothing you can do for them when all you want is to take it all away, it's just overwhelming. Poor Curt rushed home from work, I had her in the bath tub to wash up all that blood and by the time he saw her it wasn't so bad but even he got tears in his eyes. She kept crying for daddy, she wanted her daddy.........not her mommy HMPPHHH LOL But that's another post LOL

Look at my poor baby.........she was on the phone with her best friend Bethany, telling her all about it. These girls love each other so much even though they're far....they actually exchanged eye pictures through email...LOL She had me email her the eye picture and the shirt full of blood and her friend sent back pictures of when she had a black eye LOL

Anyway............for those that didn't want to see this, you're safe to return. Yes you in the back there with the coffee mug in your hand, looking all pale and woozy, you can come in now LOL

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So the sleepover is tonight, we're getting pizza, the girls are going to do each other's hair with the streak and style and beads and whatnot....they're also apparently going to play Dream Life and watch movies and all that fun sleepover stuff. My job is to supervise and to keep Nicholas entertained because I KNOW that within the first hour we will have him crying cause he wants to play too and Jasmine frustrated because "you need to leave us alone, get out of my room". The joys of sleepovers!

Oh Paul, if you're reading this, I took your advice and removed Vista from Jasmine's computer and installed Windows XP instead.......what a difference that makes.

The other day I was telling my brother Paul, who is a genius with computers btw, that we got Jasmine's computer in August and we hate it because it came preloaded with Windows Vista and it's sooooo slow, it's annoying to deal with, every little thing you try and do it asks you over and over "Are you sure?"........"But are you really sure you want to do that?"........"can I change your mind?" LOL
YES I'M SURE JUST OPEN THE FILE ALREADY.........Grrrrr!

My brother suggested installing Windows XP and that it would make a huge difference and boy was he right, it's like a brand new computer that runs at turbo speed instead of turtle speed. I love it.

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Here in a few minutes I'm heading to the Airman's Attic and to the library. I haven't been to an Airman's Attic since the one back in Idaho so I'm excited to see this one, I have some things to drop off and then just want to look through what they have.

The library, well, do I even need to say why I go there??? Nevermind the bookshelf that is full of books TBR (to be read) that is not the point. See those books I can read anytime, but the library has ones that I really really really want to read, like Francine Rivers. The wonderful Susanne keeps mentioning her and I have yet to read any of her books so I'm going to look for them this morning and hopefully find them there.

Then it's back home for some housework, here's my to do list:

• Dust
• Make the beds
• Quick sweep through the house (I already swept and mopped everything yesterday)
• Last load of laundry to wash, dry and put away

It's a short one today and I couldn't be happier, so I'm going to leave you and go do what I have to do.....I'm sure you also have things planned for today, unless you want to hang out at my blog which is fine too, I promise to leave some drinks and snacks around ok?

New Recipes and some Bloggy Links!

I haven't had much time for anything and right now I'm trying to get ready for Jasmine's sleep over tonight. She's having two friends over and if it's anything like last time.........Ugh, may the Lord give me strength.

I'm caught up in the middle of laundry and dishes and all that fun stuff, but I wanted to come in and say hi and let you all know that I'll be making my bloggy rounds this afternoon, so I hope you're all dressed and ready for me to show up.......well, look, I'll take just some hot coffee if you have any????

I've added a few recipes to my Food Blog, Grilled Chourico, Portuguese Chicken and Rice and Fish Cakes which I made for dinner last night. Go on over and take a look if you're interested.

I'm sure if you're one of my readers you'll notice that I'm on a Portuguese Food kick, there's nothing like going back to my roots and making the food that I grew up eating, also the one that brings back so many fond memories of family get togethers or just mid week meals, sitting at the table talking about the day or reminiscing about funny moments.


So the other night I was in the kitchen and I went to start the dishwasher only to realize that I had run out of detergent. My first instinct was to pout and stomp my feet......"I don't want to wash all this by hand??? Why does this always happen to me, come on.......I really don't want to do this"

Wow talk about whining, I could not believe that I sounded like that, just as quickly I filled the sinks with soap water and set to washing it all BY.HAND. And guess what? I didn't die and I wasn't struck by lightning, as a matter of fact I thoroughly enjoyed it......won't be too quick to do it again....I mean, I do love my dishwasher, but it goes to show how easily we get carried away with the technology and the easier way to do things.

Why do we try so hard to be as lazy as possible? I am talking about myself here, please don't think I'm pointing fingers at anyone, I don't even know what you guys do with your dishes in your own homes. But I got really frustrated with myself for the grating whining noise that was emitting from deep inside.....I literally yelled out "Oh grow up Sandra". Yes I did, nothing like telling yourself to snap out of it.

I washed the dishes, I thanked the Lord for HAVING dishes to wash and warm water to wash them with, I listened to music on the radio while I did it and I also took time to reflect and chat with the Lord. All in all it was a good night for me.

Why am I telling you this? I have no clue, you know me, I just babble about whatever is going on in my mind. LOL

Do you know Google Earth??? It's this really nifty Google Map program that allows you to zoom in and see your house etc, nevermind that it seems to have not been udpated for about 2 years, so the pics on there are about that old. BUT, last sunday I sat up until 4am with my older brother Paul, and we had the best time. We used the map to literally move through Johannesburg, street by street, marking houses we lived in, places we visited, old schools etc. It was so much fun being able to show my children where I grew up and them seeing it in 3D and not just a location on a map, seeing the houses and what the school looked like etc.

So, thank you Paul, it was a LOT of fun :)

Now quickly onto some bloggy links before I leave to tackle Mt. Laundry again *sigh*

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Cherry Hill Cottage - you HAVE to visit this blog, it's one of those oooohhh ahhhhh blogs that leave you in awe. This lady can cook and she has one of the most amazing houses I've ever seen.

From the Mixed-Up files of Crystal - She is SO funny and she also has a cooking blog....yay!

Karen's Korner - She's such a sweet lady and I'm so glad she found my blog, which in turn led me to find hers, which is a good good thing.

Simple Folk - Amy is one of my favorite bloggers, she's an extraordinary woman, just go on over and read about her, you won't be disappointed.

The Country Blossom - Katy has the cutest blog and she's a woman after my own heart with all her country decorating etc. Just love it!

I think that's all for linky love right now........just go have yourselves some coffee and peruse some great blogs while I go do.....I don't know....mommy stuff as usual???

I'll see you all tomorrow, God Bless,

Slow Cooking Thursday - January 3rd

All my slow cooking recipes are now online and starting today, I will add all the recipes shared weekly to my online del.icio.us site too. So if you're wanting to find ALL the slow cooked recipes that have been shared since the first SLOW COOKING THURSDAY, here is the link for you.



Don't forget to add your name to Mr Linky and a link back to your SCT post so others can come by and see your recipe too.

This one is taken from the Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly cookbook that the wonderful Elizabeth sent me :)

I LOVE Chicken Tortilla Soup so I was happy to find this low fat one.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

4 uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 15-oz. cans black beans, undrained
2 15-oz. cans low sodium Mexican stewed tomatoes, or Rotel tomatoes
1 cup low sodium salsa (mild, medium or hot)
4-oz. can chopped green chilies, undrained
141/2-oz. can low sodium tomato sauce
baked tortilla chips
2 cups grated fat-free cheese

Combine all ingredients except chips and cheese in a large slow cooker.
Cover. Cook on low 8 hours.
Just before serving, remove chicken breasts and slice into bite-sized pieces. Stir into soup.

To serve, put a handful of chips in each individual bowl. Ladle the soup over chips. Top with cheese.

Per serving: 330 calories

Slowly emerging......

Is it safe to come out now??? I've been counting down the minutes until I could finally say "I'm FREE from the holidays and the craziness".......not a minute too soon I tell you.
I'm so over all the food and the crowds, I long for my boring routine filled days of school, work, laundry and home cleaning.....I want to sit on the couch in the morning with my coffee mug, looking out into the sun filled back yard and just relax for a minute, knowing that Curt is at work and Jasmine is at school and I don't have to worry about cooking a huge meal, rushing to buy presents or avoiding checking the bank. What you don't do that?!?!?!

Anyway, I've been missing for a few days, been getting the house back in order and trying to catch up on some reading too.

I'm in the beginning of the book "Shopaholic and Baby" and I'm laughing so hard already. I'm a huge Sophie Kinsella fan and have pretty much all the Shopaholic books, I finally picked this one up yesterday during one of my runs to the BX for batteries........darn toys that come with none and I always forget to buy them at christmas.

Here's a small excerp from the first few pages.....Becky is at the OB getting an ultrasound of the baby and her husband and her decided they don't want to know the sex....the sonographer takes the husband outside to show him the phones so he can make a call and Becky reaches over for the ultrasound stick LOL

Leaning right over I manage to grab the ultrasound stick. I apply it
to the gel on my stomach-and at once the blurry image reappears on the
screen.
I did it!

There's the head. Wow, it's huge! And that must be-
My hand freezes and I catch my breath. I've just spotted it.
I've seen the sex of our baby! It's a boy!

She's all excited talking to the baby and she has tears in her eyes, her husband and the sonographer return and she gets scolded for messing around with the hospital equipment but she's so excited that she tells the husband to look at it...she saw the baby.

"Look, there's the head!" I point. "Hello, darling!"
"Where's it's face?"
Luke sounds a bit perturbed.
"Dunno. Round the other side." I give a little
wave. "It's Mummy and Daddy here! And we love you very---"
"Mrs. Brandon." The sonographer cuts me off. "You're talking to your bladder."

LOL LOL I spit out my drink when I read that, it is the funniest thing and it only gets better. If you like a funny book, you have got to read the Shopaholic series.

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I've got 2 recipes to share with you tomorrow on my Food Blog, one is to show you how we make "Chourico Assado", Grilled Chourico.......and the other is what we had for dinner tonight...."Galinha no Forno com Arroz" or Portuguese Chicken and Rice.
Also don't forget the Slow Cooking Thursday feature tomorrow, can't wait to see the recipes you'll share :)

I haven't had a chance to come by and visit anyone, the computer has been put away and off limits to me so that I could do other stuff, you know how it is, the minute you sit down in front of it you not only check blogs but go online and surf the internet, or buy something or watch a show or whatever. Believe me, I can find stuff that would keep me busy for HOURS LOL

I'll be back in the morning, for now I'm going to finish off the last load of laundry, get the kids bathed and take my own shower. Wife Swap and SuperNanny are new tonight and I want to watch those.....I find them both hilarious LOL

Have a wonderful night everyone,