Soup!!!

Here in Arkansas we have a lil German restaurant located in the small city of Altus named Wiederkehr's. It is a peaceful drive off the interstate thru yards and yards of grape vineyards. The restaurant is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and for years has been voted "Most Romantic" and "Best Ethnic" by the readers of Arkansas Times magazine. Baby J and I go there every year for our anniversary. I love that place! I usually order petite sirloin, with German potatoes. MMMMMM my mouth is watering! Every meal is served with a a loaf of bread, salad and soup. This restaurant should be known for its soup! It is like no other! I was given this recipe by a co-worker and thought to myself, there is no way this could even be close to the real thing but it actually is! So I wanted to share it with all of you! I do believe it is missing something, I just can't figure it out. So if you know, be sure to tell me! Here it goes....

4 Tablespoons Butter
1 small onion chopped
4 or 5 Beef Bouillon Cubes
6 Tablespoons Flour
5 Cups hot water
salt & pepper
Swiss Cheese
Melt butter in saucepan. Add onions and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly so mixture does not scortch. Blend in flour. Then add water and cubes. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste using salt & pepper. For thicker soup use less water. In each serving bowl put about 2 tablespoons shredded Swiss cheese and pour hot soup over it.

I only use four cups of water, 5 bouillon cubes and not quit that much flour. This is the closest thing to Wiederkehr's soup I have ever had! Hope you enjoy this recipe and let me know if you find the "missing" ingredient!

Love of my Life

Another Day, Another Dollar

Thank goodness it is almost weekend. It has been a long week for some reason. I worked today and at lunch went to eat pizza with some friends. We went to a new restaurant we have here in town called Larry's Pizza. I was shocked to find out I had to pay $9.41 for a pizza lunch buffet! The pizza was good but I only ate 4 pieces...a pepperoni piece, deluxe, veggie and chocloate chip piece(which by the way was heavenly)! I know, I'm a piggy! But for that price I want a whole large pizza. Needless to say I won't be eating there very often. Tonight was the city Christmas parade. It wasn't as long as it normally is...it only lasted about 45 minutes. It also wasn't near as cold as it has been in years past. It was around 45-50 degrees. The kids really enjoyed it. Now it is nearing 10 o'clock and I am exausted!

Thanksgiving

After Baby Girl was born I decided to start a tradition of our own and start staying home on Thanksgiving. You see at the point I realized I have 3 kids....a 10 year old, 2 year old(who does not like to ride in the car) and a newborn, I no longer wanted to pack a bag of clothes, bottles, pacifiers, formula, diapers, wipes, Tylenol(you never know), and snacks. And not for one kid but 2! My parents went to NWA to be with my Grandparents. My little brother was scheduled to work today so he wasn't able to go with our parents. He got off work at 3 and came to eat dinner with us! The girls were so excited! Baby J and I got home from work last night and cut the onions and celery needed and boiled eggs. This morning he had to work till 11:00 so I got the stuffing started and deviled eggs made. We finished all the cooking together and had turkey, ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, macaroni n cheese, black olives, rolls, and deviled eggs. After dinner we all watched the movie Santa Paws. After dinner settled we had a bowl of French vanilla ice cream and apple pie. Peanuts favorite of the meal was the turkey, while Lil Bits favorite was the deviled eggs and Baby Girls was the stuffing. Hope you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Follow up

It has been 2 weeks now since my treatment. As of last night my thyroid started to swell. Tonight it is swollen to point it has been hard to swallow. I called the clinic and they have prescribed me Prednisone and Prilosec to reduce the swelling. I have an appointment tomorrow with the doc so he can check it out. I was really hoping for all this to be simple and go smoothly. I do believe that this can easily be taken care of and I can carry on from here!
Update:
Just got back from seeing Dr. N. My blood pressure is good but my weight is up about 5 lbs but....I do have on boots and a jacket so I'm sure that is why :) The swelling has gone done some but not completely. He did say swelling is normal but usually not to the point it effects swallowing. He said to finish the prescriptions and come back in December. So I guess all is good. After my appointment I treated myself to lunch at PF Chang's and then stopped at Rue 21 and bought a new watch! So ya I'm good now!!!

Awesome!

Peanut made honor roll in his first nine weeks of Jr High! We are soo proud of him. His football team finished the season undefeated (10-0) as well.

He also plays the trumpet in the band which received perfect scores at the past marching contest! Way to go bub!

Radioactive Iodine I-131 treatment

It has now been 12 days since I have received the radioactive iodine I-131 capsule. That should make me around 31% radioactive still. The first 7 days I did not get to see the kids at all. (Children are more susceptible to the radiation than adults.) I spent most of those days sleeping. I was sooo tired and nausea. Thankfully the last couple of days I have felt really good. Day 8 I picked the kids up from daycare, gave them quick hugs when we got home and then spent the evening in the bedroom. At that point I would still have contained @ 56% and didn't feel comfortable being around the girls yet. Baby Girl had a very hard time. She stood at the door and cried most of the night. Since then I have spent a little more time with them everyday. I have yet to hold them and rock them like I want but I should be clear of radiation by this Friday...or so I understood. So Friday night will be spent with lots of hugs and rocking!
The purpose of this treatment is for my overactive thyroid - hyperthyroidism. The thyroid is a gland in your neck that produces hormones that regulate all aspects of metabolism and the chemical process of converting food into energy. Since my thyroid has been overactive, it has produced to much hormone, accelerating metabolism. This dose of I-131 is absorbed into the bloodstream and carried to the thyroid gland, where it destroys the gland. I have an appointment with my endocrinologist in December. At that time, I will be prescribed a replacement hormone based on the level of hormone(if any) shown in my bloodwork.
I pray for little to no weight gain in this process. I hope for this to be the cure so I can live to have a long healthy life with my family.
Have you had this treatment or know of anyone that has? How did it go?