Help! I'm Not Creative!

I'm going to a super bowl party this weekend (big surprise!) and have been asked to bring a dessert. Usually, I'm really good at desserts - but I want to take something that is super bowl-esque. I googled "super bowl dessert" and got a bunch of suggestions for cupcakes decorated like each team, 7 layer bars and other standards. I'm thinking something a little more original, and also something that's easy to grab (or scoop) and go. I'm thinking... cute. What was your biggest superbowl dessert hit?

Maybe TMI, But I'm Concerned

Vincent got sent home from school with a fever and vomiting last Wednesday. He's had a fever kind of on and off and has been complaining of ear pain (in varying degrees) since then. I've always heard lots of times ear infections will just work themselves out, and that a lot of times antibiotics aren't the solution. I held off taking him to the doctor until today, due to a majorly bad day yesterday. He really went downhill, so I kept him home from school today, too. We went to the MedPoint clinic and saw the nurse practitioner. He's been mostly complianing of pain in his left ear, and hasn't really even mentioned his right at all this whole time. The NP told me his right ear drum was red and inflamed but said she couldn't really even see the left due to the wax that was in his ear.

Nonetheless she prescribed some analgesic drops and Amoxicillin. Oh yeah, he's been saying he was dizzy, too. I put the drops in his ears twice today and he's now had two doses of the antibiotics. He has pretty much stopped complaining of the pain, and looks to be feeling better than he did yesterday. My question is this...

After I put the drops in the 2nd time, I put clean cotton in his ear to keep it from leaking out. Tonight, when I was getting him ready for bed, I noticed the cotton ball was really wet. I took it out and saw A LOT of crud inside his ear. It didn't stink or anything, but I got a bunch of watery stuff, pasty whitish stuff, and what looked like small wax fragments out with some Q-tips. While I was pulling his ear back to clean and while I was using the Q-tips, I could actually hear his ear popping from where I was sitting. It sounded just like it does when my own ear pops, but it was his and I could hear it. Also, he said there were funny noises in his ear (whistling that he said sounded like music) earlier after I did the drops. I'm concerned that his ear drum has ruptured. If so, what would I expect to see as far as drainage? Why did I hear the popping? Has anyone had any experience with this kind of thing? The web says that "minor" perforations heal on their own... any one out there ever had a kid with a perforated ear drum from an infection? If his ear drum actually perforated because of an inner ear infection, wouldn't you think the "crud" would be stinky, or otherwise more remarkable than it was?

25 Random Things

My friend Amy tagged me on a 25 random things blog game.

I'm supposed to tag 25 people to play along, but I only know like 5, so if you want to participate, participate at will! I'd love to hear about you! Hmmm....

1. My husband and I just took a huge leap and bought a very expensive new truck. I said I'd never buy another new, new vehicle, but, oh well!

2. I'm really hopeful that President Obama does well and at least partially lives up to the expectations we have of him.

3. I'm training to beat my best time in a 5K and am running my first of the season on March 14th with my friend Allisa, and maybe Sarah and one of her friends.

4. I have met up with some very very old friends of mine recently on Facebook. No, they're not old and friends. They're old friends... you know what I mean. This has opened my eyes to the value of TRUE friendship. Some of these people I haven't even spoken to in YEARS, and I find that we have eerie similarities in our adult lives.

5. I am eternally cold. No matter what.

6. I have horses and believe it's an illness set upon me by the devil. It costs a ton of money, no one but other horse people understand, and I can't help it.

7. I can't even believe how much I love my kids. I love them so much, it hurts.

8. The majority of the problems I have in my relationship with my husband revolve around the fact that we are so much alike.

9. I admire my grandma more than any other person on this planet.

10. I really like to drink Diet Coke for breakfast. It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong ;)

11. I really, really like beer.

12. One of my only regrets in my adult life is that I didn't move to Colorado the day I graduated college.

13. My favorite holiday is still Thanksgiving.

14. I love photography, and am elated that my photog business is taking off full blast.

15. My favorite movie is Seven.

16. I don't understand fireworks and my husband's obsession with them... not even for a minute... but they are fun to take pictures of.

17. I'll probably never own another dog that's not a border collie.

18. I could care less if I ever visit the Dunes state park again.

19. I actually like snow, I just hate the scenery here that comes with it.

20. I'm perfectly content to sit home every night with my family and watch the news till I go to bed.

21. I'm one of the few Americans that can actually boast that I love my job.

22. I have 3 tattoos.

23. I'd rather eat a plain cheeseburger value meal from McDonalds than most anything else.

24. I think Richard Daley is really cool.

25. I'm on the Denver Broncos season ticket waiting list.

That's all I can think of... YOUR TURN!!!

It. Is. So. Cold.

I'm over this. The ACTUAL temperature is minus 15 degrees. It's been cold here before, as most of you know, but this is REALLY cold. The wind was blowing last night and they said the wind chill was like some 35 below...

With that, it's a great night for the hot tub! I'm planning on heading out there as soon as I get this post done... I hope I don't freeze essential parts before I hit the water. Brian told me tonight that in the kids rooms (where we have humidifiers running) that there is actually measureable ice on the INSIDE of the windows. Not to mention that, but we got totally slammed with lake snow last night too. I was driving the little Taurus home from getting Jade from the sitter at about 20 mph with, at times, literally ZERO visibility. Hell, we may as well be in Colorado - at least there's something nice to look at when you're snowed in!

On another note, isn't is crazy to hear about that plane in NY? Wow, talk about a lucky day for those people! I'd say it's that pilot's day to retire - right now. I'd be giving up my wings like, "They're all yours. That's all the flying I need for now..."

Other exciting news is that I found an old friend of mine on Facebook who lives in Hooper Bay, Alaska. I BET SHE CAN SEE RUSSIA! Hee hee. I had to put that in there. But no, really. She has two beautiful kids she's raising on the tundra (Hooper Bay is in western Alaska). She was/is one of the smartest, most interesting people I have known. She has a blog... so whenever you're feeling chilly or like you're roughing it, check out her daily life. She and her family are pretty amazing, in my book anyway...

Stay warm!

Finally, The Missing Christmas Pics!

I finally got around to picking the favorite pics of the season and converting them from my camera RAW format to jpgs so I could actually share them! I chose a few of my holiday favorites to share here, there are a couple more on my Facebook page for those who follow there...
The kids got all the stuff they wanted from Santa. Vincents key gifts were a Nintendo DS (which was against my better judgement), a new soil plow and New Holland tractor to pull it, headphones so I don't have to listen to the DS, Wall-E, and tons of Lincoln Logs.
Jade's favorites consisted of a Nintendo DS (REALLY against my better judgement), an iPod Shuffle (another thing against my better judgement, but I was tired of holding my breath every time she wanted to listen to mine), a huge dollhouse, headphones (so we don't have to listen to the DS or the iPod), and some Disney princess dolls.
I got some new boots, a laptop stand, some Carhart coveralls (yay), some horse things, a North Face vest, a few new hats and scarves, and a really cool head massager thing.
Brian got his rangefinder so he can shoot fireworks from a safe distance without guessing, new boots, a few new outfits, a new belt and buckle, ... I can't even remember what else.
Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable holiday... we had a good time visiting with the family, eating a few nice meals, and watching the kids experience the magic. They had so much fun playing with their new stuff, showing it all off to their cousins, and just enjoying the time with the family.
I figure we'd better enjoy it before its all over. Already, Vincent is starting to question "how does Santa go to that many houses in one night" and "I think Santa's too big to fit down the chimney, and how does the bag of toys fit, too" all things that we finally figure out just arent' physically possible. I hope we get at least a few more years before he knows the truth... for now it's my favorite part of Christmas...