Up Your Nose and a wonder cure?

"Up your nose with a fire hose" is all I could think of.

I read about a nasal swab as written by a local columnist and it was entertaining. Watching it in person was not. I can only imagine how it feels.

Charlotte has been under the weather for a few days. It was just a little cold, then a low fever, and then on Saturday a fever that topped out at 106.0. Yep. I know. At first the fever was responding to Motrin. Then a tepid bath would help. And then neither did anything. When that fever wasn't coming down, she wouldn't stand up, and then got totally lethargic and didn't want to get up at all, we headed off to Urgent Care. Thankfully her fever broke while we were waiting (2hrs after motrin and the bath), but the doc was concerned and hoped to find a reason for such high temps.

Ears: clear.

Nose: mostly clear.

Throat: only a tiny bit red. But we did a strep test just in case. That was not her favorite activity of the day. Thankfully that was negative.

But that left us wondering. We went with the ever popular "it must be a virus" and were advised to keep an eye on things and to stay on top of the fever. He also suggested we follow up with our pediatrician if she didn't start improving.

Sunday she was marginal.

And when she woke up Monday with the fever still (we actually got a reading of 107 on the side of her head she'd been laying on), it was time for a recheck. Thankfully the fever was again responding to the good old motrin/Tylenol alternating pattern, but we headed in for another check.

Ears and throat still clear, but the Dr wanted to run a full respiratory panel to see if we could nail down what might be causing this. Enter this:

Like I said-up your nose with a fire hose.

Ouch! It was unpleasant enough to watch the wire (which looks about 27 feet long) go up into her nose, and then keep going and keep going and I swear swab the inner recesses of her brain. It was harder to hold her down. I can't imagine how it felt. Poor kid.

He sent that off to the lab and gave us this:

I'm not big on meds, and thankfully we have a dr who works along those same lines. He's all for natural remedies when possible (but drugs when needed of course). He sang the praises of this and it's ability to quash colds and flu and all sorts of gunk. He said the rate of improvement within 24 hours is amazing. Hopefully we'll start seeing a big improvement in her very soon! If not, then we'll go for meds, but hopefully we can figure out what the problem is first so that we aren't just randomly treating just to treat.

The good news-she at breakfast this morning. And her morning nap lasted only an hour instead of dragging on for 3 or 4. That is a marked return toward normal. Here's hoping for a continuation in that direction. Keep your fingers crossed.

Lincoln Turns 3

October is a big month at our house. Four birthdays-myself and three kids.

Hey-January gets cold here!

Add to that my Mother in Law's birthday, my grandpa's birthday, my hubby's best friend's birthday, and a handful of cousins too, and that equals a lot of cake. Mmmmm.....cake.......

Lincoln is our first October birthday. This is the 'never a dull moment kid'.

This is the 'I thought #4 was going to be the child to put me in the nuthouse but it turns out he was just breaking me in for this one' kid.

He is so frustrating and so unbelievable stinking cute and funny, all at the same time.

And now he's three.

It's amazing how quickly kids seem to go from this:

to this:

While I typically relive my kids' births on their birthdays, which I'm sure you all love (especially you guys! ha!), I'll let you go HERE if you want to read that, and otherwise I'll spare you.

You're welcome.

We're big on being obnoxious with candles and singing here, so every meal has a candle. Including breakfast. Look hashbrowns can be festive.

No huge fancy party, just the fam.

Which I guess kind of actually is huge with us.

And apparently very shocking.

One of my favorite things about birthdays lately is that our younger kids have started wrapping things up and giving them to their siblings.

It's hilarious.

Jacob gave Lincoln a big stuffed dog. Dallin's big stuffed dog.

They then proceeded to have the following conversation:

Dallin: What?! But Jacob, you didn't even ask!

Jacob: That's ok, I'm sure Lincoln with share it with you.

Lots of cars make for a house full of happy boys.

And the big fancy cakes I used to attempt have been replaced by cupcakes and their own personal little cake. Who knew they liked that more?

Lincoln joined in singing. "Happy Birthday to MEEEEE!"

Love that kid.

Sweet Tooth Sunday

Ahh....Fall is in the air.

So it's time for Fall desserts. Cooler weather = richer flavors.

And I'm experimenting with new things again.

Pears.

Yep, pears. Bosc to be exact.

I've never done much of anything with pears beyond dumping them out of a can. Sure we buy them fresh occasionally, but they certainly aren't on our regular produce list. Not sure why that is, because I really like pears.

Anyway, I've been intrigued by pears lately.

Which of course with me leads into using them in a dessert.

I was looking for something with a warm, rich texture.

And this is what happened.

Vanilla braised pears with caramel and cream.

Not too shabby methinks!

First, peel your pears. Leave the stems on though, if you can find them with stems. It looks cool.

While you're peeling them, here is a hint for presentation sake. You know those handy little scraper things? (what would I do without my supply of Pampered Chef plastic scrapers) Run it across the surface of the pear to even things out.

Pear, meet plastic thingy.

You go from choppy surface and peel lines to this:

Ta-da!

Also you can core the pears. If you don't have a handy corer, carefully cut it out. You don't have to do this, but it sure makes it easier to eat them when you can just dig right in and not worry about running into seeds and such.

One other handy little trick; Cut just enough off the bottom to make it level.

See? You go from that upber crooked pear in the first picture to graceful pear.

Lovely.

In a big sauce pan, combine water, sugar and vanilla. If you can track down vanilla beans, use them! If you're like me and it's Sunday night at 8:30, use a good vanilla.

And next time plan ahead a little better.

Drop those pears into their golden sugary bath. Mmmmm......

While they are soaking, get started on your caramel.

Put sugar in a pan. Just sugar.

Have you ever melted sugar?

It's interesting.

And word to the wise: You think boiling water is hot? Try melted sugar. Boiling water hurts, boiling sugar will remove your skin permanently. Be careful. Thank you.

If your sugar starts to burn, you can add a little water in there. It will take a bit longer to melt because the water has to burn out, but should prevent the sugar from burning.

As it starts to melt (yes it does take a while), it turns this gorgeous amber color.

And once it finally starts to turn, it really gets going quickly!

When it's melted, add the butter.

This will make it start to boil and grow, so watch carefully.

Your pears are still in their little jacuzzi.

When the butter is melted, remove from heat and slowly add the cream.

Watch how high it gets-make sure you stir it!

And voila-caramel sauce!

This is also really good with a little cinnamon in it.

It gives this whole thing a bit more of a seasonal taste. (just make sure you mix it in well!)

By the time you finish your caramel, the pears should be tender and ready to go! I like mine just fork tender, but you could certainly go softer.

Put it all together with a little cream on the side and you get this:

Or if you're going for simplicity or the caramel is too rich for you (it is very rich by the way), serve the pears in cream. And that's it. You could add some type of garnish just for kicks, or maybe throw in a couple of berries for some color.

I'm loving the no frills look of the pear in cream.

The taste combination is heavenly.

I'm also thinking that throwing a cinnamon stick in with the pears while they cook, and maybe a little nutmeg, would make for a fabulous twist.

Vanilla Poached Pears

Bosc Pears (4 or 5)

5 cups water

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla, or vanilla beans

Bring water, sugar and vanilla to a low simmer. Add pears and allow to cook until desired tendency, turning to allow even cooking.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup whipping cream

Melt sugar in thick bottomed sauce pan. Use low heat to avoid burning. Once sugar is melted, add butter and allow to melt. Remove from heat. Slowly stir in cream. Store sauce in a jar in refrigerator for up to two weeks

October Freebies start now!

I am being just totally biased this month.

I went straight to my favorite sellers and products to line up the next few giveaways. Have I mentioned that they are fantastic?! I think I may have, but if you missed it, they are fantastic!

I happened upon a jewelry shop on Etsy a few months ago. Aren't Etsy sellers the greatest? I fell in love with the unique pieces and the killer prices. I am always so bummed that I have such expensive taste, but that problem has been remedied!

Wanderlust Bling!

Hello!

I immediately snagged my favorite necklace-this one:

(don't you love that?) and have been back a number of times to pick new favorites.

I actually just bought another necklace from her this morning. Yep, really! I couldn't help myself.

This is my other current favorite:

Beautiful!

Up for grabs today is a $10 gift certificate to Wanderlust Bling!

Pick up your favorite pair of earrings (or two! I told you it was reasonably priced), or apply the amount towards your purchase of any item.

To enter, visit Wanderlust Bling and come back here to comment on your favorite item.

I know, it's hard to choose, but tell me what one, or two or three things you love the most.

For extra entries:

-Share the love! Blog about this giveaway on your own blog.

-Facebook it

-Tweet it

-become a follower of Random Thoughts from the Zoo, or let me know if you already are

-and one more....if you make a purchase from Wanderlust Bling, let me know to earn yourself two more entries!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Giveaway closes midnight MST Thursday Oct 8th, winner will be chosen using random.org and announced Friday Oct 9th.

If you are interested in sponsoring a giveaway, please email me at cateyball(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Winners, winners everywhere!

Happy Friday!

Isn't winning fun? I won a giveaway over at Fit This, Girl last night! So Yay me, and Yay for someone else here this morning too!

And did I mention that there are going to be some Uber lucky winners here for the rest of the month?! Yep, I did. And I'll keep mentioning it over and over and over too. You know how I am.

Today's winner gets the pattern of their choice from the adorable Bugga Bugs shop.

And the lucky gal is....... #10

sarah said...

I love this shop. There will probably be some of these under the tree at our house this Christmas too. I would pick the three little pigs (this is a big story at our house).

September 25, 2009 8:19 PM

Congrats Sarah! email me to confirm your choice.

Everyone else, get geared up to use your little fingers to enter! October giveaways start today and just get better and better every week!

oh, and if anyone wants to clue me in on how to actually get the random.org box to show up here, that would be great!

winner chosen using random.org

Oh the sad and unbelievable lack of blogging

It is sad.

And unbelievable.

Isn't it?

There have been a number of times this week I've thought to myself, "hey self! you should blog that!"

And then life takes over again. Along with the laundry. And the blogging never happens.

And I've spent every waking moment of every day doing this:

Which is good 'cause it helps pay bills. But you see the floor behind me? Accurate representation of the rest of my house for the past two weeks. That's bad. Also, you see me? Bad too. Accurate representation of me for the past two weeks. No makeup, hair pulled back, apparently making weird faces mid conversation as well. But between myself and my very helpful husband, we make a killer team and blew through them while watching roughly half of the Friends complete series box set (last night we watched the one with the game where Monica and Rachel lose their apartment to Joey and Chandler-love that one!) and now there are no longer 15 large boxes taking up the entire office. Yay.

AND the best news is that I've been putting together some VERY fun things for October.

I am SO excited for the giveaways coming up!! I've had some awesome people willing to get involved, so starting tomorrow make sure you check in every Friday. I promise, it will be worth it.

One in particular I'm super excited about. And it all started with a phone call from my husband while at lunch at Costco. Figure that one out.

Also, with any luck, and since my car is dead and I can't run any errands today, there will be blog posts coming out my ears. Not literally of course. I hope.

But if you are bored, at least you might have something to read.

And it's time to start sewing up the rest of the Halloween costumes for this year. Which means that in roughly three weeks time I will be wondering what in the world I was thinking, why I do this to myself, and contemplating making everyone wear this for their costume next year:

And then Halloween will arrive and we'll have all sorts of fun and I'll look forward to that whole crazy cycle again next year.

'Cause I'm like that.