Odds and Ends

It seems like we have nothing going on that is big enough for a whole blog post of it's own, but here are a few updates of life around here.

Jeremy was sick this past week, and he is NEVER sick. He woke up Tuesday with a super high fever and his throat was scratchy and swollen. I thought it might be strep throat, but the test was negative... the doctor thinks it's either mono or an adenovirus (which is a super nasty cold). Luckily, the medicine seems to be working somewhat, and he's getting somewhat better. If only I'd gotten around to buying stock in Halls cough drops, we would have been set!

Soccer is still going well. Next week is the last week. The boys have gotten much better as the season's gone on, and we're really proud of them (and their coaches!). Check out Julie's blog - The Urban Life over there on your right - for pictures and updates from today's game. Her son Ben had the game of his life, it was awesome!!

Speaking of Julie, a week from today is her baby shower, and Molly's going to be here in a little over a month if all goes according to plan. I think she'll be here sooner than that! I'll be sure to post some pictures next week. I'd tell you more about it now, but that would spoil surprises for Julie!

We also FINALLY had some measurable snow in the KC area today. If you've seen any of my pictures from any of the five and a half years I've lived here, you know that it's pretty rare to get all the way to February with it only snowing once or twice. We got something like two and a half inches of wet snow, and the sun has already melted a lot of it. Hopefully kids will have a chance to get outside and make a snowman before it's all gone tomorrow. It's like Odessa snow - there for a day and then it vanishes! :)

I'm getting ready for mom and Kristi to come up for a visit. They'll be here the week of the foot surgery to help me out. I should probably get back to cleaning out the guest room - I have pictures and random things kind of thrown everywhere in there at the moment! Talk to you all soon!

My spring break plans

What are you doing for spring break? Ask that around here and you hear various answers. Some people are responsible and doing things like catching up on research, repainting a room in their house, or catching up on that project they've been meaning to get to. More people are doing fun things -whether it is something crafty around the house, taking a vacation, or just vegging in front of the TV for a week straight. Not me. For MY spring break this year, I'm getting surgery. Woo hoo!! Party time!!!

I went back to the podiatrist in KC on Tuesday to determine what next steps we should take with my foot. Those of you who have been around lately know that the meds aren't really effective for anything other than making me even goofier than usual, and an occasional dizzy spell. We've now reached the six month mark of my foot pain (yes, you read that correctly, it's been the whole school year), which generally indicates that conservative treatments aren't going to work if they haven't already. The doctor gave me the option of trying cortisone shots (which I had a reaction to last time) or going ahead and scheduling surgery.

After much consideration, I decided to go ahead with the surgery. Cortisone shots generally don't seem to be a permanent solution in many cases, and surgery would have to be put off until the summer if I went that route in order for me to have enough sick time to cover it. For an exact description of what all that entails go here: http://kcfoot.com/document_disorders.cfm?id=154

Surgery will be March 17 at the Johnson County Surgery Center. Hopefully they will give me a green surgical gown! It's kind of weird, but I am looking forward to it... or at least looking forward to the pain-free foot I should have after it's completely healed. Mom's also planning to come up to help out for a few days so Jeremy doesn't have to take the whole burden, so I'm looking forward to her visit too. I know the surgery itself and immediate recovery won't be fun, but I'm trying not to think about that too much until it gets closer.

If you think of questions I should ask my doc or have any general good advice about having surgery, feel free to post a comment.

Maybe by summer I'll be back in matching shoes again!!!

Big news in the world of autism

In my job, I often work with students who have autism and their families. Most of you probably know someone who is affected by autism, as it now occurs in 1 of every 150 kids. At the very least, you can't escape the news coverage and publicity.

One thing that is very frustrating is the lack of knowledge about the causes of this disease. No one really knows why it happens, and no one knows what's responsible. It is difficult to treat a condition when you don't know the origin - and the lack of evidence allows people to draw their own conclusions based on personal experiences that may not apply to everyone.

A hot issue in the field of autism has been whether autism is caused by the MMR vaccine, and specifically the thimerosal that had been included in this vaccine in the past. (Side note: thimerosal is no longer in the vaccines required for childhood immunizations). These past couple of weeks have had a couple of major stories on this particular issue.

First of all, this argument originated with one particular study in 1998. You may remember from your science classes that one study isn't sufficient for proof, but multiple studies replicating the same finding are required before something is accepted as scientific fact. This study had not been replicated, however, many people in the "anti-vaccine" camp believed that this was due to government cover-ups or flawed methodology. However, recently it was revealed that the data in the original study had been falsified. See the article here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683671.ece

The other big news this week was that the U.S. Court of Claims made a decision this week stating that the evidence for the vaccine-autism link is not there. See the news article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29160138/ This is really big news, because these were the first claims to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

I feel for these families, and I know they are seeking for something that could have disabled their children so severely. However, the more time and money that we spend investigating claims that have little scientific merit and scaring parents of otherwise healthy children is that much less time and money that we can spend on research to find the true root causes of autism. Is it something environmental? Something genetic? Something else? I don't know. I do know that I'd rather trust the research being done right now than the word of Jenny McCarthy on whether or not to vaccinate my children. I hope that the community will be able to focus less on doctor vs. parent and vaccinate vs. not vaccinate, and focus more on working together towards researching to find a cure.

For more information on autism, visit http://www.autismspeaks.org/ or http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer or http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer.

Congratulations, Jeremy!!

Jeremy took his master's exams today. Basically, as I understand it, he spent two hours in a room with his advisor and two other professors, and they asked him questions intended to find out the limits of his knowledge. Sounds fun, right? :) Jeremy did well and says he wasn't nervous, and he passed!! He has completed all the requirements for the master's degree which will be officially conferred in May.

It's nice to see him recognized for all the hard work that he's put in so far. Of course, there will be much more hard work in the next several years as he completes the Ph.D. The next big step is to complete his coursework, and then to put together a portfolio and a prospectus for his dissertation.

I am really proud of him, and I know you all will be too!

Yay, Jeremy!! (or should we call you "Master P"??)

Another yum - Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Seriously the easiest new recipe I've made lately, and it was SO GOOD!

Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts (can be frozen)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom
rice

Here's how:
Put the chicken breasts in the crockpot - no big deal if they're frozen because they'll cook by the end of the day. Sprinkle the taco seasoning over the chicken. Mix the other ingredients in a bowl until blended and them dump it over the top of the chicken. Turn the crockpot on low.

Then run around furiously and head out to work. Return home much later and stir the crockpot contents until the chicken gets kind of shredded. Then make some rice (we had Mexican rice but any kind would work), and put some chicken mix on top of it, and enjoy!

We also think this would be good in some corn tortillas but we didn't have any so we couldn't try it. Authentic Mexican food this is not, but it's yummy!!

Go scorpions!!

Jeremy is helping coach a 1st and 2nd grade indoor soccer team with our friend Brandon. Brandon and Julie's son Ben is on the team. The kids had a great first outing yesterday considering they had only one practice to prepare. We lost 5 to 3, but our team has mostly first graders and their team had mostly second graders, so we're still proud. We are really good at kicking and running... aim will have to be the next skill they work on. I was really proud of both coaches for not yelling TOO much (and hey, it was a loud gym!). Here are a few pictures, although Grace (Ben's sister) tells me I didn't get enough action shots.

More old pictures

Told you guys you'd be seeing more! :)

Papa, Dad and I, grilling. Ok, Dad was grilling, Papa and I were supervising. Check out those curls - hard to believe my hair was even curlier back then, tamed by the friendly pink sponge roller every night of course.

Nanny, sometime in the 1920's. She was so beautiful!!

A donkey and Popo. Nanny's comment for this picture was always "Popo's the one on the right."

This is Moss Meat Market in Alpine. My great grandparents were working the counter, and that's (great) Aunt Nell sitting on the side. I guess Papa was out causing trouble. :) Moss Meat Market was a staple of Alpine in the Depression Era and after.

Kristi and I with our dad and a brand new baby cousin Zach. Zach's now an adult, hard to believe!! We still tease him about that big noggin. :)