Garden

Despite not so small interference...
We're getting a bumper crop from our garden this year.
Green and Purple beans
Zucchini, Yellow squash, and tomatoes
Watermelon!!

Grilled Chicken Salad

Last night we grilled chicken breasts using my favorite Apple Rosemary marinade. Fortunately, there were two left over, so I made my favorite chicken salad. Here's the recipe.

2 Grilled Boneless/skinless Chicken breasts chopped
1/2 Medium Apple diced
1/2 C Dried Cranberries
1/2 C Pecans pieces
1/2 C Sweet Onion chopped
1/2-3/4 C Mayonnaise
1 T Honey Mustard
1 T Stone Ground Mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste

In a medium bowl mix the chicken, apple, cranberries, pecans, and onion. In a small bowl mix together mayo, mustards and salt & pepper. Pour over the chicken mixture, stir together.

Apple Rosemary Marinade

Here is the recipe for the Apple Rosemary Marinade for the grilled chicken breasts. This marinade also works well on pork.

1/2 C Apple cider or juice
1/4 C Apple cider vinegar
1/4 C Olive Oil
3 T fresh Rosemary chopped
2 T Honey
2 T Stone Ground Mustard

Mix together and pour over chicken or pork. Marinate in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight.

My Fourth Child

I actually have four kids, bet you didn't know that? My fourth is Daisy the dog. She may not be human but she exhibits the same sort of sibling rivalry the other 3 do. If I hug one of the other kids she try and squirm her way between us. The other day Nate & I were snuggling on the couch. Daisy couldn't stand it, jumped up on the couch, and squirmed her way in.

Imperative not Interrogative

This morning, Nate & M.E. got into it (o.k., not just this morning.) Anyway, M.E. comes up with a gash in her heal. What happened?

M.E.: "Nate pushed me into the edge of the cabinet."

Nate: "Because she pressure pointed me on the side of my head and it hurt."

M.E.: "I did that because he wouldn't stop poking me."

Mom: "Did you ask him to stop."

M.E.: "Yes!"

Nate: "No, you yelled at me to stop. Yelling is imperative not interrogative."

Sigh

Katie Beckett

Nick is eligible for, and has so far been approved for a Katie Beckett (or Deeming) waiver, which helps pay some of the bills that our insurance won't cover. It is essentially medicaid for disabled children who's parents make too much money to be covered by medicaid.

When Nick was in early intervention it paid the co-pays for therapy which were substantial, at one point about $800 per month. Since he's started school, the therapies are done at school and we aren't billed. We did use it for extra PT the first year Nick was in school and for his orthotics which our insurance didn't cover.

Every year there is an annual review, which freaks me out more than any thing else, I don't find taxes anywhere as, um, taxing. And every year I debate whether to apply for it.

Anyway, the review papers came the last day of school. Of course, Nick was late for his annual physical and his doctor had retired. Plus, I didn't have a current copy of his IEP. I managed to get everything, doctor visit included done and sent everything off in the mail this morning. Then came home and realized I forgot a copy of Nick's insurance card. Argh!

Dentist

Nick seems to take after his big brother in being slow to lose teeth and having lots of crowding. His bottom front teeth had started to come in even though his baby teeth haven't fallen out yet. So, this morning it was off to the dentist to have them extracted. With a little laughing gas he did very well. Even following directions to bite down on the cotton. I'll have to post of picture of his new grin once it looks less gruesome.

Hmm...

Last weekend, we took the big kids to see the new Star Trek movie. This weekend, we were talking about the older movies and t.v. series. So, off I went to see if Blockbuster had "The Voyage Home" or any of the other movies. They had 1 copy of "The Wrath of Khan," which was checked out.

So, from my iPhone, I checked Walmart.com. Sure, enough, they had a boxed set of "The Wrath of Kahn," "The Search for Spock," and the "The Voyage Home," in stock. They also had best of collections for the original series and the Next Generation.

Obviously, Blockbuster is missing out here. Wouldn't it be logical to think with the new movie there would be interest in the older movies? Or is Blockbuster so focused on just what's available for rent right now?

Feeling Guilty

Today is Nick's spring program at school, but he's not going and I'm feeling guilty. He's not going because Nate has a guitar lesson that I hadn't managed to reschedule followed by baseball. He's not going because the program is at 6 and to get him there we'd have to leave at 4:30 but M.E. doesn't get home until then (dang Atlanta traffic).

Not going, will save him sitting in a car for more than 90 minutes in addition to his round trip on the bus today. And he won't really know or care. And I feel guilty about that. I feel guilty that he has to miss something because of his older siblings. And I feel guilty about that. You can't do everything. The other kids have to make choices in their activities but they can make their choices. Sigh.