so here's the post where i pretend i've not been gone forever

i know, i know.  i posted one week, was gone the entire next week, and came back again for a monday's memory like nothing had happened.

i'm resisting the urge to say "well, it's MY blog" right now.  

(actually, since i just typed that i suppose i didn't really *resist* that urge)

but the truth is last week was crazy busy with extra babysitting jobs and getting tax prep stuff done

(yep, i waited until the last possible moment of the extension...i'm betting if you were in my shoes you would as well)

and this week...i had a fantastic and wonderful surprise

it's fall break

for all the kids in this area

and for ME TOO!

because F's parents are teachers

i don't have him this week

and because all of my piano/voice students are metro students

for a myriad of reasons

every.single.one of them canceled this week's lesson

and bonus: i have babysitting jobs scheduled tomorrow, thursday and friday afternoons...friday night and saturday.  so i'll still be making monies, just in fewer days :)

and my google reader?  it's at a big fat ZERO right now

and i'm about to share my secret with you

it's been an amazing discovery for me

the next button

if you don't know about it, you should

because sometimes i read a post in google reader

and don't bother to click over to comment

and with the next button

no, i don't always comment

but i'm right.there if i want to

so it totally saves a step!

so how to find this elusive "next" button?

1.  open google reader

2.  go to "settings" and choose "reader settings" from the menu that will drop down

3.  open the tab that says "goodies"

4.  scroll down until you see this:

5.  follow those instructions

6.  start clicking "next"!

i have a button in my browser for "reader" so that i can easily click back over when i want...and i've made a couple of "next" buttons for specific tags that i want to read before everything else.

and BONUS: i just discovered that if you scroll down a bit on the "goodies" page there's a way to subscribe from your toolbar as well!  i just did it. 

thank you, google, for making my life infinitely easier!

Oink, Oink (maybe)

It began Sunday morning.

I was scheduled for praise team at church and woke up stuffy and sneezy. Somehow I still made it through rehearsal and two services. Then I led a 2-hour rehearsal with the youth choir.

Then I went home and took a nap. I took my temperature upon entering my house and it was 99.7, so no big deal. 2 degrees is nothing to worry about. (my normal temp is 97, not 98 like most people)

I went BACK to church a mere 3 hours after leaving, and helped the teens sort grocery bags full of Thanksgiving meals for families in this city who wouldn't have Thanksgiving any other way. It's a wonderful thing our church does each year.

I sneezed approximately 135 times during the 3 hours we were there. (I truly don't think that's an exaggeration...believe me, there are witnesses). At some point, one of our 7th graders started turning around and giving me a high-five after particularly impressive explosions.

We went from there to A's parents house to watch the Colts and Patriots play...ohmygosh what an amazing game...and I continued sniffling and sneezing. Not quite as much though, because I had stopped at Walgreens to get some meds to help. Unfortunately, the meth users have made it impossible to get the good stuff at 8:30 pm on a Sunday night...because the pharmacist is gone and it's unlawful for anyone but the pharmacist to give me my one box of hope. So I got the not-quite-as-good stuff and made my way.

When I got home I took more drugs and waited awhile to go to bed. I hate not being able to sleep because I can't breathe, so I thought if I got tired enough I'd be able to sleep.

So I went to bed around 1, and woke up at 5.

I was FREEZING. (and the heat was on full blast)

I was thirsty.

So I stumbled downstairs and poured a glass of sweet tea that I had made the night before.

It was at this point that I realized I was burning up (even though I was freezing) and that I was awfully achy...so I decided to take my temperature before taking a drink of the tea.

101.8

Yikes.

And you KNOW that with all the hype about swine flu I *knew* that's what it was.

I was too weak to do anything except text A and my friend Mattie (who works in the office I'm temporarily at) and tell them that I was running a fever and wouldn't be leaving the house today. Mattie's response was "I hope it's not the swine flu!"

(well, that wasn't her only response. she also brought me chicken soup and throat coat tea, both of which I am VERY grateful for!)

For the next 4-6 hours my fever fluctuated between 101 and 102 and I fluctuated between sleep and delirious texting. Finally around 9 or 10 am I googled "swine flu symptoms" and thankfully landed on a pretty informative site.

Note that it's a site from the UK. They apparently are a little less stressed out about piggy flu than we are around here. I'm glad. I scrolled down to the symptoms part and read them.

It said:

If you or a member of your family has a fever or high temperature (over 38°C/100.4°F) and two or more of the following symptoms, you may have swine flu:

• unusual tiredness,
• headache,
• runny nose,
• sore throat,
• shortness of breath or cough,
• loss of appetite,
• aching muscles,
• diarrhoea or vomiting.

unusual tiredness? check
headache? my head felt like it could roll off my body from the weight. check.
runny nose? do the 30 tissues in bed with me give a clue to this? check
sore throat? hell yes. check
shortness of breath or cough? eh, not more than usual
loss of appetite? check
aching muscles? oh my word yes. check
diarrhea or vomiting? thank goodness no.

Yeah, according to that list I might have the swine flu.

Thankfully the site also said that it's pretty mild for most people and gave this checklist of reasons to go to the doctor:

Call your GP directly if:

• you have a serious existing illness that weakens your immune system, such as cancer,
• you are pregnant,
• you have a sick child under one,
• your condition suddenly gets much worse, or
• your condition is still getting worse after seven days (five for a child).

So as long as I haven't gotten progressively worse by Saturday-ish, I'm good. None of that other stuff applies to me at all.

Thankfully my fever broke mid-afternoon and there have been no signs of it going sky-high again. I'm playing it safe and staying in again today, but it looks like this piggy flu (if that was indeed what it was) is not going to keep me down!

Plus, A brought and prepared dinner and then kept me company for awhile. TBS had a Family Guy marathon on, so between that and our two Macbooks we were set :)

However if I'm not back in the swing of things around the blog for awhile, you'll know there's a pig to blame.

Maybe when I get my appetite back I'll put some REAL sausage in one of my recipes. :P

Recipe of the Week: Freeze those Herbs!

I had a bunch of herbs this summer, and loved going to the backyard to retrieve fresh Thai basil for my ginger noodles, rosemary for chicken, basil for Italian dishes...and then came the monsoon-type rains of this fall and night freezes.

I was sad until I was at my friend Laura's house one day and saw that she had bought frozen herbs from a grocery. And then I got to thinking...why not freeze my own herbs?

So I googled and checked on how to go about it (would I need water or chicken/veggie stock, can they all be frozen, should I chop them first, etc. And it turns out...yes.

It doesn't really matter if you chop them or not, use stock or water or wine, etc. So here's what I've done so far:

Collect herbs
Fill ice cube tray about 3/4 of the way up the "cube" with the herb, chopped or whole
Fill up the rest of the cube with stock
Freeze
Place in ziploc bag and LABEL for future use. This will make actually using the herbs in the future easier, since they have a tendency to look similar when they're frozen.
Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.

More of a tip this week than an actual recipe, but it's cheaper than buying fresh herbs all winter. In fact, you can do this with leftover fresh herbs you buy--when's the last time you actually used all that bunch of cilantro?! Continue doing this when you run out of fresh, and you'll have to buy herbs much less frequently!

And then comes summer when you can start all over again! :0)

9 Great Things About 9

(or 9 odd things about me)

I've always had this thing for the number 9.

I first realized it a few years ago when it came to my attention that most people set the alarm clock for an even number. I never have. If I want to get up at 6:30, I simply set the alarm for 6:29.

(my dad does something similar, only reversed. He sets the clock for 6:31)

It goes without saying that I set the microwave, kitchen, and other timers with a 9 at the end if I possibly can.

(do you all think I'm insane yet?)

So today... 09/09/09 ... is a day that I almost want to celebrate.

But since people would probably look at me oddly if I asked them to come over to celebrate the number 9, I'll just have a little party on my blog.

Here's some info I dug up on our friend google!

1. The number 9 holds special rank. It is associated with forgiveness, compassion and success on the positive side as well as arrogance and self-righteousness on the negative, according to numerologists.

2. The number 9 is quite important in many worldwide faiths, including Judaism, Christianity (9 fruits of the spirit, among others), Islam, Hindi, Tao, and Baha'i

3. The Chinese culture very highly regards the number 9, in fact the Chinese dragon is made up of 9 animals.

4. The curse of the ninth in classical music refers to the superstition that if a composer writes a ninth symphony he/she will soon thereafter die. Started with Beethoven.

5. Cloud 9 is apparently the happiest place on (or above) earth

6. The most dressed up you can be is "to the 9s"

7. Cats have 9 lives

8. Sudoku. Hello. It's all about the number 9.

9. Mathematically speaking, it bring symmetry. After all 9 x any number equals a number that itself adds up to...9. (9 x 3 = 27...2 + 7 = 9, etc)

"The whole nine yards"
"A stitch in time saves nine"

I know, I'm a little nuts. But you love me anyway, right? Right...

Thursday's Ten -- Ways You've Visited

According to Google Analytics, these are 10 of the keyword searches that have (somehow) led people to visit my blog.

1. (the most requested search) chicken stroganoff
(thankfully I can help you with that one: here)

2. where to buy school pizza sticks
(sorry, can't help you there. I can tell you how to make your own.)

3. take me to facebook
(I believe you go to www.facebook.com...at least that's what I do)

4. starbucks double insulated plastic cup
(I wrote about that particular love affair here)

5. if i could crwal up into your arms i would plac emy hand over your mouth
(I have NO idea)

6. iced coffee at home to taste like a white angel
(uh...I DID post an iced latte recipe. Maybe?)

7. cheesecake chimichanga recipe

(ew. I don't want to know what they were looking for. But my cheesesteak chimichanga is amazing!)

8. i love the way i am quotes
(I'm not sure about this one...)

9. celtic woman lyrics "lost the friends that needed losing"

(Caledonia. One of my favorites!)

10. ex boyfriend friend requested me on facebook
(sorry. Can't help you there)