Caring for My Chaos

See that guy on the right? He's my favorite father in law and it's his birthday! He turns 83 today! This man was born to be a papa and I am so grateful he's in our lives! Happy birthday Pa!!!

There have been a lot of changes around this house this week. The biggest being that I do not have any more dogs around here. If you follow my Facebook page or Instagram, you know that we made the extremely hard decision Monday to have our beloved Kojack put down. He was 16 years old, we think, and was having trouble getting up and down here lately. I thought it was his hips but the vet thought it was arthritis in his back fusing the vertebrae together. Either way, he was in pain. And we couldn't keep him that way. He was also losing weight for no reason, which the dr said could be systems shutting down slowly. Me and the girls went to the vet with him and loved on him until the last breath. In my life, I've never had a dog as long as we had Kojack and he was such a sweet, kind soul. Another change is Bolt went to go live with Izzie. Where we live, the dogs had become mostly outside dogs and he was unhappy. It wasn't fair to him to live on a chain, but we couldn't h...

This gorgeous girl is 23 today! I can't believe it! She has grown into such an amazing young woman. We are so proud of her! Happy Birthday Izzie! We love you!

If you follow my Facebook, you know we got home yesterday. We had such a wonderful time. It didn't rain and wasn't too awful hot the whole time we were there. We got our fill of roller coasters and even got to see a couple of shows. We saw an a capella group sing fifties music, a show all about different birds of prey, including the barn owl and the eagle, and a bluegrass band. We did get soaked on a couple of the rides, which I did not enjoy, but overall had a fabulous family vacation. Now, we're looking ahead to Izzie's 23rd birthday this weekend! Her and her friends are going to camp out at our house. It's going to be so much fun! Then we'll start getting ready for back to school. This summer has gone by so quickly! Where did it go?

  For those of you that follow this blog, you know that in January, I had gone in for my yearly mammogram that I get to have at an early age due to my mother having breast cancer. At that appointment, they set me up to have an MRI since I have a high risk of developing breast cancer. Today I had the MRI. It's not as uncomfortable as the mammogram I have to say, but it's still no fun. There is no dignity when it comes to these things. At least I got to keep my socks on. You lie on a table face down with your boobs in holes in the table. The table then slides into a tube that makes horrendous noises. They even gave me earplugs, the noises are so bad. I had to lie still for 20 minutes, but at least there was no squishing or smooshing. They put in an IV so that they can inject contrast at one point during the picture taking, which doesn't hurt at all and I got a good technician who knew what she was doing when she put the IV in. That didn't hurt and no bruising! Bonu...

I was just thinking about little things that make me happy. I'm not talking about the major things like my husband, children, that sort of happiness. I mean the little silly things that bring a little bit of sunshine to your day. Like a brand new skein of yarn. Just looking at yarn makes me happy. The possibilities of what it could become are endless and I love that. Or getting a snapchat from my husband, who isn't a fan of them. He'll send me them of what conveyor he's working on, or sometimes just of him. They always make me smile. Or when my oldest texts me that she misses me. They both know howto bring a smile to my face. Getting a chance to sit and read a good book. I'm in the middle of Tituba, the Black Witch of Salem. Doodle had to read it for her summer class and suggested I read it. I highly recommend it. And I just finished the Handmaid's Tale. The book and the show are fabulous! That's another thing-finding a series you like. I just finished t...

Happy 14th birthday to this kid! He is turning into such a wonderful young man. He keeps us laughing all the time. (He's going to kill me for this pic) I can't believe my baby is 14! Happy birthday Bubby! Have a wonderful day!

One of my daughter's friends is getting ready to have a baby and I thought this would be good to repost from before.  To say I was a novice when my first daughter was born is an understatement. I was eighteen when she was born and didn't have a lot of guidance from my mother. She was very sick and passed away soon after my daughter's birth. One thing she told me makes me giggle even now. "It's not a clean baby until you smell the Baby Magic." I have to say I agree with her! I thought I would make a list of things that I have learned over the years with my children. 1. If baby is asleep, you sleep. Do not try to catch up on housework, etc. That can wait. You need rest. You just brought this bundle of joy into the world, which is an amazing feat. Sleep. 2. Babies do know when they are hungry. Never wake a sleeping baby to eat. Unless it's been like 12 hours, which I've never had happen. I made the mistake with my first of waking her every 4 hours...

Tonight, as I cooked dinner for Bubby and I, I realized how hard a concept this has been for me to get used to. After years of cooking for 5, most nights, it's just Bubby and I. You would think it would be easy to get used to cutting recipes down and lighten my workload, but for some reason, it has been an obstacle for me. One that usually ends up with us going out to dinner. But, I have resolved that this isn't going to happen as often anymore! (Notice I did not say ever. Gotta keep my options open.) Like tonight, I cooked one of my fall back reliable recipes that I adapted from a recipe for Beni Hana chicken that I had found years ago in a restaurant copycat recipe book my dad gave me. I easily cut back on the amount of rice and meat that was used and it came out perfect. I think I might get the hang of this cooking for two idea yet. Here's my recipe if you were wondering. Easily adaptable to feed a crowd, here's the amounts for 2 people. I also substituted bee...

I was reading an article on another blog about what she thought some luxuries that all housewives needed. She listed things like blackout curtains for when we actually got to sleep in, a padded carpet area near the sink and stove, things like that. I got to thinking about it and I think those are ok but I had some ideas for other luxuries that are way more important. 1-Coffee. Without this, I wouldn't be able to move in the morning. I love coffee more than wine. The stronger the better. 2- A DVR. I never really thought these were important until we got one. I love that I can record my shows like Real Housewives and Grey's Anatomy and watch them in peace and quiet when everyone is gone. This is highly important. Also Netflix and Hulu. A Handmaid's Tale is highly recommended. 3-  A bottle of wine. This is highly important, especially at the end of a very long week. I treat myself to this at least 2 times a month. I don't drink it every day, just when I really need ...

Who else has their garden all planted? Hunny and I have ours just about done, just need a few more seeds and plants. We have a few different kinds of tomatoes, including cherry, cucumbers, pole beans, hot peppers, green peppers and we are going to plant lettuce, radishes, squash and maybe some melon. We even finished the fence around it to keep the deer from having a buffet! They ate just about everything last year. As soon as a plant would get a bloom, they'd eat it. Hopefully, this year our plants are protected. I'm really enjoying our little project. It's great together time. I could take less bugs, but that comes with the territory. I can't wait to see the fruits of our labor! And Hunny can't wait for the tomatoes. He is such a tomato snob. Very picky about them. I don't know how many bacon and mater sandwiches that man would eat if you let him. I'll post pics when the harvest starts coming in. Let me know in the comments what all you have planted!

What a weekend! As you already know, Izzie is all officially graduated. The ceremony was nice, but hot. Afterwards, we had a lovely time with friends and family at the house. We were up until God knows what time and had a lot of laughs. It was wonderful. She had a great day that she'll remember for a long time. I'm so thankful everyone got to come out and celebrate with her. She deserved all the love!  Mother's day was quiet. We just laid around and recuperated. Doodle gave me two new gnomes for my collection and Izzie is making me a remembrance book. My day was lovely. I couldn't ask for more. I hope all you mamas out there had just a great day as I did and got to love on your babies too!

This lady is graduating college!! Yep, our baby, Izzie, is going to graduate tomorrow and we are so proud of her! (This pic is from her 4th grade Christmas play so I expect she'll hate me for using it. lol) She has had a rough go of it through college, almost dropping out twice, academic probation, only to rebound and come out with over a 3.0 gpa and an honorable mention! Get ready because I'm going to post LOTS of pics tomorrow of her in her cap and gown! There are no words to describe how proud we are and how much she is loved. Congratulations Izzie!

After much thought and soul searching, I am sorry to say that I am not going to be blogging anymore. Or at least not for a while. I think I have hit blogger burnout. My past posts will still be accessible on caringformychaos.blogspot.com , but I will no longer be actively posting. I want to thank all of my loyal readers for these past years; you have been wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing my little bit of the internet with me.

As many of you know, my mother passed away from breast cancer. Because of this, I have had to have mammograms since I was 30. I did a baseline mammogram at 30, then got to wait until I was 40 to start again. Each year is the same. Change into a robe, wait in a waiting room with other scared women, pose in unnatural positions while a machine smooshes my breasts into even more unnatural positions, wait in a waiting room for them to call you again. Last year and this year, they thought they had found something so I had to have ultrasounds done too. Thankfully, it came back that there wasn't anything. For those who have not had the chance to experience this, I am not going to lie. It hurts. It's uncomfortable. But, they are also necessary. This year I have to go get an MRI done this summer. Given my family history of cancer, (my father passed away from esophageal cancer two years ago) I am considered high risk and the risk is high enough to warrant this test. It gives a clearer p...

If only it was as easy as this advertisement! I have to share with you all what I've been doing. I went for my yearly checkup last month and was told by my doctor that I am in need of a few pounds shed. Let's just say more than a few. I'm only 5'1" tall so I'm technically not supposed to weigh over 125. Which is ridiculous. I haven't weighed under 125 since before Doodle was born. But, I'll just say that the number she gave me was high even to my standards. So, on the diet train I go. I cut down on sugar, cut back on carbs, even started drinking Slimfast for lunch. I haven't seen much difference yet, but let me just say, dieting is hard! I like my cookies and bread and cake and sweets. I miss them! I am struggling with the concept of depriving myself, which I don't normally believe in. Is anyone out there in the same boat? Has the middle age pudge caught up with you too? (That's what I've been calling it) I have cheated and eaten a coo...

Now, it's not to the levels in the picture, but it's enough to shut down the entire city here in Virginia! I'm looking forward to snuggling up with my crochet, watching the flakes fall down and not going outside except when the dogs make me! How about you? Do you look forward to snow days? It's been snowing here since early this morning and is still coming down. Schools and even colleges are closed and the list of businesses that are closed was just as long. My brother laughs because he lives in NY and it takes a whole lot of snow to shut down anything up there. But, down here, an inch can send the city into shut down mode. Thankfully, Hunny doesn't have to go out of town for a few days, even the college closed so Doodle isn't on the road and we can all just be hunkered down together!

Christmas was fabulous! A day full of family, food and presents. And today, I put the house back to normal. It felt good to clean everything up and organize! How long do you leave decorations up? I put mine up so early that I'm more than ready soon after Christmas. My best friend leaves hers up until the Epiphany in January. This picture shows where the tree had been standing. Now, we look toward New Year's! My father in law's birthday is New Year's Eve so we have a party and this year my brother is coming down for New Year's! I tell ya, it's always busy around here!

I feel I have been neglecting you, my lovely readers. But, it has been for good reason. Bubby has been dealing with stomach issues since back in May. He would come down with bad stomach pains, a fever that would come and go and sometimes vomiting. Back in May, they sent us for a CT scan because the doctor thought it was Crohn's disease. He had an infection in the wall of his intestine. After a round of antibiotics and steroids, he was right as rain. Then it came back about two weeks ago. This time, the gastroenterologist wanted to do a colonoscopy and a EGD, which is where they put a scope down his throat. Apparently, all this is due to lactose intolerance! I had never heard of it becoming so severe! But, after extensive research, which you know I am good at, it can get this bad. The build up of the lactose sugar from the dairy can make the body go haywire, as in Bubby's case. We just found out the results today, but this is why I haven't been posting as much. I have bee...

I'm still not used to getting only one kid ready for the first day of school! But, here's my big eighth grader! Literally. Almost 5'7" and only 13! His sisters don't start until the 25th, which he doesn't think was fair. They start later and get out earlier. So, this year I have a senior and sophomore in college and an eighth grader. God, that makes me sound so old! The house is so quiet; I don't know what to do with myself today! Oh, that's right, there's a mountain of laundry calling my name!