the squirt and i braved it all to get to dell children’s hospital for his hearing screening.

i am not going to lie, i really wasn’t optimistic about the whole process, and the weather didn’t do a thing to lower my stress level.  i am out of practice for big city driving, and bad weather just makes it more nerve wracking.

i am pleased to say my little man came through for me.  it didn’t start off well, he really doesn’t like waiting rooms and parking lots….and there was a good 20 minutes of screaming.  fortunately our friends the penguins came on at 3:00 and provided a little relief!

the squirt was quite good once we got into the audiologists office and we were able to do what she needed to do.  allergies had one ear too gummed up to test, but he was a very good sport about earplugs and bleeps and clicks.

while the results were not perfect, due to the aforementioned snot issue, it did go well enough that she determined that he can hear and no further testing is needed (unless they plan to put him under sedation for some other kind of test anyway).  so phew!!

i have more good news, but i think i will save it for tomorrow!

it all started off smoothly, it was a sunny day, the kids were happy to stay home with mr p and play in the yard.  i was off to meet my mom with a bag of old towels and wool fleecy bits.

we didn’t quite make it into austin before i managed vomit all over myself, the old towels, my phone, and my mom’s new car!

ew.  needless to say, without the boys, i wasn’t anticipating ending up covered in bodily fluids and had no extra clothes.  if i had been flying solo on this mission, i would certainly have opted to abort and this point and run for home.  but, we persevered.  yoga pants, a t-shirt, and a new bra were acquired at walmart, baby wipes were deployed, and we were on our way.

due to some kind of mayhem on s congress, our slightly late arrival went unnoticed and we were soon selecting materials from fuzzy bits we found around the room.

<—— i thought this fleece looked particularly owly, although my bff commented on my facebook photo, saying it looked like a pile of dead muskrats.

i didn’t let that deter me, and proceeded to fluff, separate, pile, wet, soap, and agitate my selected fleece into submission!

four hours later we emerged with our soggy creations (and some felting needles for later) and headed for home.  despite staying for an extra hour, neither mom nor i (is that grammatically correct?) were able to complete our birds, but we are armed with the materials to do so this week.

my guy still needs stuffing and wings, and maybe feet.  my mom is making a buzzard, who is coming along nicely.  hopefully she will send me a photo when he is complete so i can share it here.

i made it the rest of the day without anymore sickness (although i felt queasy for a good 24 hours, and maybe still do… a little) and although it was hard to overcome my desire to crawl into bed with the covers over my head, i am glad i made it to the class.  i got some good ideas for future art projects.  (felted buttons in the shapes of bones for skeleton doll clothes?)

we were blessed with some amazing weather and the kids got to spend quite a bit of time playing in the back yard.  the squirm is getting quite adventurous on the swing set!

i also was able to complete the skeleton gender re-assignment procedure.  i actually think the skelly in question was male all along, it was me that had it wrong.  irregardless, he has gone to live with a super cute young man in bertram, texas.

bread production continues, and i made my first “rustic” loaf this week, meaning i just piled it on the baking sheet, instead of a pan.  tasty, but somewhat floppy.

i think my headaches are improving….but i have felt extra worn out all week.  apparently this is a side effect of the calcium channel blockers and should subside in a week or so.  *yawn* i sure hope so!

The pizza turned out great, despite the fact that I forgot to put salt in the dough and I smoked up the house when I cranked the oven up too 500 degrees

i am currently mixing up a garlic herb parmesan flax wheat pizza crust….it smells like heaven!  i am planning to wing it with some kind of veggie salami pizza….i think it could be good.

i finally finished up la serenita muerte, and sent it off to my friend erica in time for her birthday.  i can’t wait to see a picture of the painting in its new home!

i got my doll website up and lightly underway.  i guess i need to keep working on keeping it updated.

i have been suffering from some major headaches lately, and went back to the doc again today to check in.  i have some new things to try, so i am optimistic that my disposition will return to a sunnier state. 

we had a couple of amazing spring-like days, and then some kind of artic front moved in.  the boys have dared creep out to the porch for a minute or two, but haven’t risked the freezing sandbox.  i hope it warms up a little soon so we can get back out there!

with any diagnosis, there is the mandatory ruling out of physical problems with the brain.  they do a blood test, an EEG, a hearing test, and an MRI.  we had our eeg yesterday morning.  i was anxious about it, because the squirt isn’t really liking going anywhere new lately, and an eeg takes almost an hour, during which the child has to hold still and not rip the electrodes off his head.

he was a pretty good sport.  he didn’t like the parking garage or the waiting room AT ALL, but seemed to settle down once they put the gauze wrap on his head over his electrodes.  maybe the pressure felt good?  plus, they let him watch toy story on my phone during the test.

our next test is in two weeks and is a hearing test.  if they can’t get him to do it awake, then he will have the same sedated hearing test that the squirm had, and they will do the mri at the same time.

they especially love the sandbox and the swings.  i am actually thinking of building them a bigger sandbox, so the boys can both climb in there with their trucks.

the squirm has started to expand his interests to the trampoline and the big kid swings when we are out there.  he hasn’t quite mastered sitting, holding on, and pumping his legs to swing himself.  but, he has been doing lots of experimenting with the kinds of stunts that might be possible while swinging on the tummy.

fortunately there was only a few minor wipe-outs, and not enough to deter anyone from getting right back on the swing.

i even captured a good picture of mr p enjoying the good weather (if not the experience of being in nature).

we were working on solving all of the troubles with today’s educational philosophy.  they should just put us in charge!

i got a new cookbook for christmas, called ‘the indian slow cooker.’  i believe it is the original source for the curried cauliflower and potatoes recipe that i have posted before.  this time i decided to try palak paneer (curried spinach with cheese).

it was EXTREMELY flavorful, which was great, but a little overwhelming, making it a dish that would be better served as part of a meal, rather than an entire meal.  i think it was healthy too.  i just piled spinach, onions, peppers, garlic, ginger and spices into the slow cooker, cooked it down, then blended it smooth with the immersion blender.  i put a big bowl into the freezer for a future meal.

i also did some experimentation with bread baking this week.  my dad gave me an old bread machine that had been gathering dust in their garage.  my first few loaves had issues.  the first one had a weird metallic taste after baking in the machine, the second didn’t rise and smelled metallic.

i got new yeast, new flour and for the third loaf i used the machine to knead the dough, but then transferred it to a bread pan for the final rise and baking.  and voila!  bread perfection!!

the squirm says it is pretty tasty, but pretzels are still a better snack!

i think my next project is homemade granola!