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My Mother-in-Law is My Favorite Valentine This Year!!

I have blogged before about the delicious brown sugar glazed almonds I was introduced to at my MILs house during the holidays.  They were hard to find here, and I even contacted the company about obtaining samples for my bariatric surgery support group, and have yet to receive the promised samples.  My husband is not good with Valentine’s day.  I don’t know if he just forgets it or he isn’t romantic enough to celebrate it or what the deal is, but this year, he’ll be away at a convention on Valentine’s day, and most of the weekend before and after, so I have no hope that I’ll receive as much as a phone call from him to celebrate the occasion.  But we received a package today from my in-laws.  Inside were Valentine cards for the kids, a birthday card for Eilis, some cute Christmas trays, a few other things, and several jars of OVEN ROASTED ALMONDS in the Cinnamon Brown Sugar flavor!!!  Oh my gosh, I so LOVE these nuts!  They’re a good source of protein, and low enough in sugars that I can enjoy a nice sized handful of them without dumping.  And popped in the microwave for just a couple of seconds, they really remind me of the roasted nuts you get at Disney World or a fair.  SO good.

It was so nice of her to think of me and send them.  And they arrived at a time when I truly needed a pick me up.  With all the kids sick, Jim spending only about 5 and a half total days home in the month of February, a list of writing assignments I have to complete, and Eilis’ birthday to plan, it was so nice to have someone think of me.

Thanks, Mom and Russ.  And Happy Valentine’s Day 🙂

And So It Begins…Prom Season

In April of this year, my daughter’s school will have a ring dance.  This is their equivalent to the junior prom.  This dance is more than 2 months away, and my daughter is home sick with a bad sinus infection.  What is on her mind this evening?  Why she doesn’t have a date for the dance.

We went through this last year.  She ended up having to turn a couple of boys down, because she had more than enough dates.  But this year, she is convinced she will not have a date.  One boy has already asked her.  She turned him down by acting as if she didn’t know he was asking her.  He has not worked up the courage to ask again.  The guy she would have gone with last year if he had asked her before the guy she went to the dance with is afraid Brighid will have to turn him down again this year, so he is asking someone else.  The guy she went with last year has a girlfriend this year that will go with him to the dance.  She has had a couple of boys earlier this year express great interest in dating her, only to get side tracked with school and sports and not be able to date anyone.  Such is life at a challenging school.

But I anticipate tears, fears, and headache after headache (mine) as she wrestles with whether or not she’ll be asked. 

So much to be said for arranged marriages.  I wonder if you could do arranged prom dates?

The Cure for the Common Cold…

Benadryl, so you can’t hear yourself cough.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen.  My pediatrician recommended to me today that I drug my youngest child with Benadryl so she could sleep tonight.

Granuaile has a terrible cough.  It got so bad today at school that while I was on my way home from the doctor’s with Brighid (bad sinus infection), Granuaile’s school called for me to pick her up, as she had puked down herself with all the phlegm she was coughing up.  As I drove over to the school, I called the pediatrician’s office.  I told them I had given her Triaminic strips and Robitussin overnight cough and cold, and I was told that with the new FDA warnings on cold meds for kids, I shouldn’t be giving her those meds.  The cough has to work itself out of her system, and if she’s spitting out phlegm, that was a good sign that the virus was breaking up.  I asked what I could do for her, since she was coughing so bad overnight, it was waking her up.  And yes, they told me Benadryl.  I asked what Benadryl did for a cold, and was told it does nothing for a cold, but it will put her to sleep so she won’t be kept up by the cold.

 If I am posting here 15 or 16 years from now about my daughter Granuaile’s drug addictions, remind me it started here. 

Now, I have heard of using Benadryl if you’re taking kids on an airplane.  It does cause them to get drowsy, and it keeps them from getting nervous about flying, prevents them from being bothered by the pressure in their ears during take off, and makes them much more pleasant to sit near.  But it just seemed odd to me to switch one OTC drug to another.  Where are the FDA tests on the Benadryl’s safety?

Having said that, Grace’s cough kept me up last night until nearly 4 AM.  I’m heading to bed now while the Benadryl has kicked in and maybe I can catch a little sleep too 🙂