sorry if this post bores you, but I'm proud of myself here and wanted to toot my own horn.
While we were at BIL's house in Michigan most of our meals were provided by the rest of the family. They have this agreement that BIL provides MIL's care and they (both SIL's and their families) stop by with meals to take care of him. It works out really well, but there were a few nights where I did have to come up with something for dinner. And it seemed that on those nights the family stopped by too (they were figuring on having to go back to get something and surprised that I had already made something). So this is kind of where my "livin off frig finds" story begins.
When we got there I noticed that my one SIL doesn't really keep track of what foods are already at BIL's house. She just comes up with a menu and brings over the items she needs to make it. That means that BIL's pantry is pretty well overstocked with some foods that won't get eaten.
So the first night I found a package of chicken in the frig and baked it up with some rice and veggies. SIL came over that night and was surprised that it tasted so good for being so simple. I guess they're into really doing up chicken. Oh well, everyone liked it.
A few nights later I decided after finding 4 boxes of Taco shells in the pantry to make some tacos. So before heading to the store I dug deeper into the pantry and found taco seasoning and in the frig/freezer I found ground beef, cheese and sour cream. All I needed from the store was lettuce and tomatoe (I bought some more salsa cuz we like the medium kind.) I found out that two of the boxes of taco shells had been left open and were brought over from MIL's house...blech! those went into the trash. But that still left two boxes that were fine. I made up some more rice to go with and we all had a great dinner again.
Once we got back home the frig was pretty empty. That was on purpose so that I didn't come home to a frig full of mold. I didn't want to go to the grocery store on the weekend because it's a mad house and I don't like shopping with all that stress (I get annoyed by all the folks blocking my way.) So I had to see what we had here to eat...
For our first dinner I pulled out some spaghetti w/ sauce that I had made a large batch of and froze half of it. That fed us for two nights. YAY! Then I decided that an inventory of what was in the freezer would be a good idea before hitting the grocery store. In there I found three zip lock bags filled with ham from our Christmas dinner. In the pantry we still had some potatoes and in the frig was a brick of cheddar cheese. Ah another dinner!
I peeled and sliced the potatoes, cooked them in salted water and added about a cup & a half of diced ham to heat it through and hopefully give some hammy flavor to the potatoes. Then I made a white sauce and added cheese to it until it tasted yummy. I poured the cheese sauce over the potatoes and ham. Then cooked veggies on the side. Another two nights worth of dinner and I still don't have to go to the grocery store.
However, I will go to the store today because tomorrow we're going a play and I won't have time.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Update on DH
more from my Facebook...
Jan 19
went to the hospital early today (normally I don't get there until 2pm) and DH had a great day. They knocked his O2 down to 2.5 ltrs per min and he was still able to keep his sat level at 95. So they finally let him walk, but at 4 ltrs O2...he did really well and stayed above 90.
DH is getting so much better that he might go home very soon (I don't want to jinkx it*). They asked today about an address to set up delivery of O2 (to support DH's habbit). Today they walked him w/o the O2 and he held at 93%!!!! YAY! Woo Hoo! He's now in the shower, his first shower since the 12th! :D (he's had sponge baths) *They had talked to me about ordering O2 delivered to us for his release the next day. But since I hadn't heard this from the doctor, I didn't want to go posting that he was being released only to have it not happen.
as soon as his paperwork is done we can go home! No more O2 either. They're cutting off his habbit. ;o) Because he had to take all his records back to CO with him we had to wait for the doctor to finish transcribing them and then for all the lab work to be sent up and copied also...that was 95 pages! We got back to BIL's house around 4pm.
last night was rough. He was in a lot of pain. I think that they had him on painkillers in the hospital and he just didn't realize it because the onset of the pain was right about the right time for them to wear off. He slept on the recliner so that I wouldn't kill him, but got cold. I gave him hot chocolate and he's sleeping peacefully again. ugh! That means at least another day before we can fly home. DH was actually raring to go home that day but I refused to let him fly in that much pain.
Jan 19
went to the hospital early today (normally I don't get there until 2pm) and DH had a great day. They knocked his O2 down to 2.5 ltrs per min and he was still able to keep his sat level at 95. So they finally let him walk, but at 4 ltrs O2...he did really well and stayed above 90.
Jan 20
DH is getting so much better that he might go home very soon (I don't want to jinkx it*). They asked today about an address to set up delivery of O2 (to support DH's habbit). Today they walked him w/o the O2 and he held at 93%!!!! YAY! Woo Hoo! He's now in the shower, his first shower since the 12th! :D (he's had sponge baths) *They had talked to me about ordering O2 delivered to us for his release the next day. But since I hadn't heard this from the doctor, I didn't want to go posting that he was being released only to have it not happen.
Jan 21
as soon as his paperwork is done we can go home! No more O2 either. They're cutting off his habbit. ;o) Because he had to take all his records back to CO with him we had to wait for the doctor to finish transcribing them and then for all the lab work to be sent up and copied also...that was 95 pages! We got back to BIL's house around 4pm.
Jan 22
last night was rough. He was in a lot of pain. I think that they had him on painkillers in the hospital and he just didn't realize it because the onset of the pain was right about the right time for them to wear off. He slept on the recliner so that I wouldn't kill him, but got cold. I gave him hot chocolate and he's sleeping peacefully again. ugh! That means at least another day before we can fly home. DH was actually raring to go home that day but I refused to let him fly in that much pain.
Jan 23
is finally home again...but I'm sure tired. course for me it's now midnight even though the clock reads 10pm. It took some doing, but DH finally arranged flights home for us. We had to pay extra for them though. So while DH was on the phone he called the airlines and when I got out I asked/stated "I need to pack, don't I?" and he said yes. Our flight left Detroit at 4:10pm and we touched down in Denver at 4:50pm. gotta love those time zones!
Our first night home was a bit rough as DH was in pain again. So he slept in and stayed home while I went to get Lilly and went to our Church planning meeting. It was so great to see everyone from Church who had been praying for us while we were gone. They were so happy to get the report that DH was home and doing well.
Last night, DH finally admitted that it might be a good idea to take a pain killer (thank goodness!) He slept really really well and so did I! YAY! Now to get Darly over her head cold! I got her some Sudafed for the flight which was such a good idea. I'm going to make sure we take it from now on when we fly!!! But she doesn't want any more of it! LOL! I don't blame her.
Monday, January 18, 2010
not a good update...
You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything in a while. That's mostly because I've been on Facebook and also because we've had a bit of an emergency here. Let me fill you in...
On Jan 6th at about 9pm or so, DH started feeling pains in his chest on the left side...but he didn't tell anyone about it. He went to bed and at about 11:30 he finally asked for me to come and help him. At about 1:30am we went to the ER.
Tests were run and they determined that DH "probably" had pleuracy, but they couldn't be sure. He should go check with his regular doctor in the morning. We went home at 4am. We got a few hours of sleep and DH felt much better (he was all juiced up on drugs from the ER) so he went out and shoveled our driveway and drove to his Mom's house to pick up a few things and shovel her driveway also.
On the 8th at about 4:30am he wakes up in terrible pain and wants to go see his regular doctor who doesn't open until 7am. So we went to go see her. She confirms that DH has pleuracy and prescribes him with more pain medication. I ask her if it is okay for DH to fly because we had a vacation planned the following day and she said that would be fine.
On the 9th DH is still in pain, but managing it with pain meds so we hopped on our plane and headed to Michigan. When we arrived in Detroit DH reported that he was pretty dehydrated so we attempted to rehydrate him as much as we could.
DH's pain was increasing and he thought perhaps it was from him getting "backed up" caused by the pain medications, so we got him some laxatives to see if that would help.
By the 12th DH was miserable and his sister who is a nurse insisted that he see a doctor as soon as possible. So I got on the phone to find out about our medical coverage and found that we were only allowed to go to the ER (not an urgent care center) so we took him there.
I'm now going to switch to my Face book posts...
Jan 12
DH has been admitted and has pneumonia. At least two days in the hospital for DH and that means I get to figure out how to rearrange our non-changeable flights! :o Wish me luck and pray for DH please.
Jan 14
had a very busy day today. I went to see DH in the hospital until noon - helped him shave. Then I drove to Detroit to return the rental car (why doesn't Thrifty have someplace closer?). Then I went back to the hospital with BIL and helped DH eat his lunch (yeah, it was very LATE!) they were doing another procedure at lunch time...and finally got home after 7:30...I'm sooooo tired!
also Jan 14
My husband has very lousy tastes in all inclusive resort vacations!
Jan 15
this morning's update is that DH is doing better, but will still stay in the ICU for today. Bummer, I was hoping that he could get moved to Acute Care soon. I know they're still pumping him full of antibiotics and all, but hoped they were done looking at his heart. :(
also Jan 15
the nurse that I never saw LIED! I called this am for DH's update and she said that DH was doing better but wouldn't be moved. (his nurse yesterday was much better at giving me reports) I get to the hospital and they tell me they are moving him. We're now sitting in his new room where I can play on the computer! He's got less stuff hooked up to him too.
Jan 16
DH had a really good day today. They got him up and he walked the hall almost by himself. He is breathing really well on his own. At one point the nurse didn't hook up his O2 right and he was up and moving around with just room air, his puls/ox was at 82. He still gets winded when he up and moving around...but with... his O2 turned on he can keep his pulse/ox at 98.
Jan 17
Dh is still improving, but last night was very rough for him...had a bit of a scare when he had chest pain on the one side...was probably just his lung expanding, but they aren't quite sure. They do know it wasn't a blood clot. Course his roommate bugging the nurse for pain meds (trying to stock up for his release!) ...and breaking up with his girl friend in the middle of the night didn't help. (Dh's extra project: cleaning out his electric razor)
Jan 18
Today was frustrating. Dh had been doing something and then got a nosebleed...so he took off his oxygen to get that cleared up. Well the nurses choose that time to check his pulse/ox and of course it was down. So the nurses PANICKED and didn't allow him to do ANYTHING today! The rest of the day his pulse/ox was 98 ...and the respiratory therapist even turned his O2 down. sigh!
I'm sorry that it has been easier to update my Facebook...I'm staying at my BIL's house and for some odd reason his wireless router won't send it's signal to my computer...so I have to use my SIL's computer at the house...I can use my computer at the hospital...but today DH decided he was well enough to check his email... there went all my computer time! sigh!
On Jan 6th at about 9pm or so, DH started feeling pains in his chest on the left side...but he didn't tell anyone about it. He went to bed and at about 11:30 he finally asked for me to come and help him. At about 1:30am we went to the ER.
Tests were run and they determined that DH "probably" had pleuracy, but they couldn't be sure. He should go check with his regular doctor in the morning. We went home at 4am. We got a few hours of sleep and DH felt much better (he was all juiced up on drugs from the ER) so he went out and shoveled our driveway and drove to his Mom's house to pick up a few things and shovel her driveway also.
On the 8th at about 4:30am he wakes up in terrible pain and wants to go see his regular doctor who doesn't open until 7am. So we went to go see her. She confirms that DH has pleuracy and prescribes him with more pain medication. I ask her if it is okay for DH to fly because we had a vacation planned the following day and she said that would be fine.
On the 9th DH is still in pain, but managing it with pain meds so we hopped on our plane and headed to Michigan. When we arrived in Detroit DH reported that he was pretty dehydrated so we attempted to rehydrate him as much as we could.
DH's pain was increasing and he thought perhaps it was from him getting "backed up" caused by the pain medications, so we got him some laxatives to see if that would help.
By the 12th DH was miserable and his sister who is a nurse insisted that he see a doctor as soon as possible. So I got on the phone to find out about our medical coverage and found that we were only allowed to go to the ER (not an urgent care center) so we took him there.
I'm now going to switch to my Face book posts...
Jan 12
DH has been admitted and has pneumonia. At least two days in the hospital for DH and that means I get to figure out how to rearrange our non-changeable flights! :o Wish me luck and pray for DH please.
Jan 14
had a very busy day today. I went to see DH in the hospital until noon - helped him shave. Then I drove to Detroit to return the rental car (why doesn't Thrifty have someplace closer?). Then I went back to the hospital with BIL and helped DH eat his lunch (yeah, it was very LATE!) they were doing another procedure at lunch time...and finally got home after 7:30...I'm sooooo tired!
also Jan 14
My husband has very lousy tastes in all inclusive resort vacations!
Jan 15
this morning's update is that DH is doing better, but will still stay in the ICU for today. Bummer, I was hoping that he could get moved to Acute Care soon. I know they're still pumping him full of antibiotics and all, but hoped they were done looking at his heart. :(
also Jan 15
the nurse that I never saw LIED! I called this am for DH's update and she said that DH was doing better but wouldn't be moved. (his nurse yesterday was much better at giving me reports) I get to the hospital and they tell me they are moving him. We're now sitting in his new room where I can play on the computer! He's got less stuff hooked up to him too.
Jan 16
DH had a really good day today. They got him up and he walked the hall almost by himself. He is breathing really well on his own. At one point the nurse didn't hook up his O2 right and he was up and moving around with just room air, his puls/ox was at 82. He still gets winded when he up and moving around...but with... his O2 turned on he can keep his pulse/ox at 98.
Jan 17
Dh is still improving, but last night was very rough for him...had a bit of a scare when he had chest pain on the one side...was probably just his lung expanding, but they aren't quite sure. They do know it wasn't a blood clot. Course his roommate bugging the nurse for pain meds (trying to stock up for his release!) ...and breaking up with his girl friend in the middle of the night didn't help. (Dh's extra project: cleaning out his electric razor)
Jan 18
Today was frustrating. Dh had been doing something and then got a nosebleed...so he took off his oxygen to get that cleared up. Well the nurses choose that time to check his pulse/ox and of course it was down. So the nurses PANICKED and didn't allow him to do ANYTHING today! The rest of the day his pulse/ox was 98 ...and the respiratory therapist even turned his O2 down. sigh!
I'm sorry that it has been easier to update my Facebook...I'm staying at my BIL's house and for some odd reason his wireless router won't send it's signal to my computer...so I have to use my SIL's computer at the house...I can use my computer at the hospital...but today DH decided he was well enough to check his email... there went all my computer time! sigh!
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