Saturday, March 3, 2012

A Life Update...

I'm being super emo right now...I'm laying in bed feeling gloomy and listening to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album. But it's doing the trick. Perfect kind of music for the moment. These past few days have been a MESS. Without going into too much detail, my dad landed himself back in the hospital. And he gave us quite the scare last night. He coded at the hospital and then we didn't hear from him for the rest of the night leaving our minds to just freak out and due to HIPPA laws, we were unable to find out anything about what was going on. Thankfully, he's ok and I got to see him today and he's doing much better and looking better. But they're keeping him on heavy duty pain meds for now and just trying to figure out what's going on with him.

I was supposed to go house shopping today with my real estate agent. We had set up appointments to look at 16 houses and if all went well and I found the dream house, possibly even put in an offer by the end of the day, but I cancelled at midnight last night via email as soon as I heard about my dad. So the house hunting is currently on hold. I'm going to wait until he gets out of the hospital and start looking again once my personal situation is more steady.

To cheer myself up I did one of several tested proven pick me ups...I baked. I know that gardening, reading a book or baking will always cheer me up. It was actually a bit chilly in New Orleans today, so gardening wasn't happening and I couldn't concentrate on a book, so I pulled out the One Girl Cookies cookbook that I reviewed the other day and guys....I'm just saying you HAVE to get this cookbook. I'm now convinced it should be on every bakers bookshelf. I just love it!!!! I made Orange Butter Drops tonight. Which are these amazing cookies made with orange zest and sugar and lots of butter and flour and cream cheese and then dipped in a glaze made with fresh squeezed orange juice, powdered sugar and more cream cheese and then dipped in coconut. Heaven!!! Here they are:


And tomorrow is my little brother's 17th birthday, so we're cooking for him as well. We're making him chicken fajitas and I'm going to make him some homemade queso using this recipe which has become a favorite and I'm also going to make some cilantro lime rice!!! Wish I could bring my dad some at the hospital but he's on a liquids only diet...so we'll just not even tell him about it I think :p And of course there will be chocolate cake for dessert at his request!

How's everyone else's weekend going? Tell me the best to happen to you this weekend! Or the best thing you've read/cooked/planted/seen/etc. I need some good stuff ;)

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope your dad gets sprung from the hospital soon!

And the good thing about house hunting is that there are ALWAYS houses to buy...so enjoy the rest of your weekend and regroup and BREATHE and go look at houses on a happier day.

The best thing to happen to me today was a pedicure. My toenails are now painted black, which makes me ridiculously happy. Sometimes, it's the little things. :-D

Cath said...

Sorry to hear about your dad, Chris, I hope he's out of the hospital soon.

Those biscuits look heavenly!

DesLily said...

glad to hear your dad is doing better! I hope he gets out soon so that you can look at houses again. good idea to stop until your mind can focus on the houses.

gawd the cookies sound scrumptious!! (and for us old folks, like a full blown cholestrol attack! LOL)

Unknown said...

Hope your dad feels better soon Chris.

Ah, chicken fajitas, one of my favourite meals!

Amanda said...

I know we've talked a bit about your dad in the past and I'm sorry to hear this is all happening again. :( I know how stressful that is. I hope your real estate agent has been understanding about all this!!

That cookbook looks dangerous to have around. Just as dangerous as Jason's sweettooth. :D

Hm, good stuff for Chris...well, I've been listening to Spiralling by Keane that you sent me over and over for the last week. It's been on repeat almost constantly. I sort of half-liked the song before, but last week it came on my ipod and I really listened to the words for the first time and suddenly the song just WORKED for me. So that's good. And then my birthday was Thursday and we had a great time at that, put up a post about celebrations yesterday (and a book giveaway on Thursday!), including all the stuff about my boston cream pie cupcakes. :D I know that's not anything to counter-balance the hospital stuff, but you said you wanted good stuff, so there you go. :)

Memory said...

That's scary about your dad! I hope they get everything sorted out with him soon so he can leave the hospital.

The best thing that happened to me this weekend... well, I received two super helpful, super encouraging query letter critiques from folks who assure me it's ready to send out. This means I'll be able to contact agents about my novel in the very near future.

Susan said...

Oh Chris, I'm sorry about your Dad. I hope they find out what's wrong, soon. It's so worrying, isn't it?

Baking cookies is a good stress reliever! I haven't baked anything this weekend, though I am making minestrone soup for lunch, for the first time today. Using my new diabetic cookbook, which I think I might post about because so far the recipes are fabulous!

Good things I did: I stayed home! I didn't to out anywhere. I also played Wii with my kids. I rock at Archery, and so does my 7 year old! I hope you do find your new home soon, because once it's yours, and you're in, you will be hard to get out of come the weekends. (You're a Taurus like me, so I know this! lol) And don't worry - there are always houses for sale. Your dream house is out there, waiting for you.

*hugs*

Leslie @ This is the Refrain said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your dad, Chris. You know that if you ever need someone to talk to about those things, I'm only an email away.

Those cookies look absolutely delicious. Now we just need to figure out how to share cookies via email...
;)

I hope you get good news about house hunting soon... I know you've been so excited about it!

Let's see, what's the best thing to happen to me this weekend? Well, Michael and I went to the store and got a lot of food and premade almost a month's worth of dinners, so we can just relax for the rest of the month. I'm actually pretty excited about it, though I do wonder if we're going to get sick of the food we made. I doubt it, since one of the meals is mozzarella stuffed meatballs :)

Have a good week, Chris! I hope your dad is feeling better.

Debi said...

OMFG. Like it wasn't bad enough when you told me about those cookies earlier. Now you have to show a picture! You're killing, dearheart. Killing me.

Again, sweetie, take care of yourself, okay? I know how stressful all this is with your Dad, and I hope like hell he's continuing to improve and they figure out completely what's going on...so in the meantime, just make sure you're taking care of you!

And wish that cutie pie brother of yours Happy Birthday from all of us again, okay?

Love you, Chris. *hugs hugs hugs*

Terri B. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Terri B. said...

So sorry to hear about your dad. Hope he is better soon.

Those cookies look WONDERFUL! Baking always makes me feel better too.

Best thing this weekend was making a potato, chili, chorizo, and chard soup with my husband that we saw Rick Bayless make on his cooking show the other day. Mmmmm. Very satisfying :)

Jenny said...

I'm sorry to hear about your dad! I hope he's doing much much better. Hospital visits are always a misery.

chrisa511 said...

Jill, Black toenails sound FABULOUS and totally picture worthy :p

Cath, thanks dear!! And they were heavenly!!!

Mama, I think you would love these cookies!!! I wish I could send you some but don't know how they'd hold, lol.

Darren, Well I'd totally invite you over for fajitas but they may be bad by the time you get here :p

Amanda, Yeah, it's pretty much the same stuff putting him in the hospital again :( Hopefully this is the LAST time...and I mean that in a good way of course, lol. Sounds like you have LOTS of stuff that'll make me smile!!! I'll be over to check it all out soon shortly :D

Mem, OMG that is such awesome news :D :D :D Seriously awesome!!!! I so hope that you get published!! And the sooner the better!!

Susan, Mmmmm...you should TOTALLY post about the diabetic cookbook!! It sounds wonderful!!! And I love that you love playing Wii :D Your weekend sounds like it was a wonderful one :D

Lu, I think I'll take you up on that email soon ;) Yes...sharing cookies via email would be FABULOUS! And I LOVE that y'all cooked a whole month's worth of meals!!! Those meatballs sound AMAZING!! I want that recipe!!!!

Debs, Aren't those cookies amazing looking???? Seriously Debi, if you don't buy this cookbook for yourself I WILL buy it for you :p How's that for peer pressure, lol. I told Austin happy birthday from you :)

Terri, Thanks Terri! The cookies are wonderful!! I'm in love! Mmmmm...that soup sounds AMAZING!!!

Jenny, He seems to be getting a bit better! I'm with you..they really are miserable :/

Thanks everyone for the good wishes and for cheering me up :)

Carl V. Anderson said...

Sorry to hear about your dad, but not sorry to hear that the very worst didn't happen and that he is still with you. Also sorry you all had to go through the agony of waiting to hear anything. The implementation of HIPAA goes waaaay to far sometimes, in my opinion. Hope things will continue to go well over the coming days and that he will be healthy and out with the family again soon.

Marg said...

Ah, privacy rules gone mad. Sorry to hear that you had such worries about your bad.

Struggling for good things though - maybe that I tried something new for dinner and it was a winner with the 13 year old boy? Or finishing 3 books in a day? Yes, we will go with that one!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Oh honey--I'm so sorry about your dad. Hugs...

Kailana said...

I am sorry to hear about your dad! That is scary! I hope they figure out what is wrong soon.