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Sam and I had the funniest conversation on the way to work the other day… I had to write it down for posterity.
Here’s how it went.
Sam: Today is Julie and Grace’s birthday!
Me: Are they turning four?
Sam: Yes! They are twins. They were two eggs.
Me: Wow, they’ve really stepped up preschool curriculum these days. Were you an egg too?
Sam: Yes, and then I opened my eyes when I was in your belly, and I popped out and I was Sam.
Me: That’s pretty much how I remember it, too.
About three weeks ago on a Monday night, I went to bed as soon as Bobby got home from work. I had this weird pain in my side that had been plaguing me all day. The next morning, I felt better – for a few minutes, and then it came back. It wasn’t super-bad (trust me, I am a MAJOR WIMP), but it was annoying and uncomfortable. I knew it couldn’t be my appendix because I gave that organ the heave-ho when I was 18. I began to suspect kidney stone, gall stone, or cancerous tumor (see: post category, Jenny is Neurotic.)
Six days later, on a Sunday, I decided to go to Urgent Care because a) Bobby was home with the kids and b) the pain was so persistent I had really psyched myself out that a terminal diagnosis was forthcoming. So off I went, with super-high nervous blood pressure brought on by my wild imagination as well as my symptoms.
At Urgent Care, the doctor asked me a few questions, pressed around my abdomen, assured me I did NOT have a tumor, and upon learning I also did NOT have an appendix, told me I most likely was experiencing a gallbladder attack. I was relieved and not really surprised. I had expected that, if I wasn’t to soon me on my deathbed, it was probably my gallbladder. My mom had hers out when she was younger than I am now, and my BFF Luanne just gave hers up in December. My friend Lori had hers out just after having a baby (or were you pregnant, Lori?)
The good doctor told me (in heavily accented English and using the phrase, “ok, cool” a lot) that I could go get a liver function blood test and an ultrasound at the nearest hospital if I wished.
I thought about it and decided to pass. That sounded expensive! The past two weeks I’ve been treating my symptoms by drinking ridiculous amounts of water (previously unheard of for me) and taking herbal supplements to promote gallbladder health. And, it’s really helping. I can still feel that gallbladder telling me it’s there sometimes, but not nearly as much as before, and it really is not painful, it’s more of a nag. I’d really like to try to avoid surgery, because who has TIME for surgery, I’ve got a fabulous trip to Miami to plan for! (However, see above, I AM A WIMP – if it gets excruciating, I will head to the nearest hospital and demand they operate.)
But then. This week, for some reason the gallbladder PLAGUE has hit all of my Facebook friends! THREE, count’ em THREE people I know (two I actually KNOW, like, in real life) have gotten their gall bladders removed THIS WEEK!! One is only 21 years old, the other two both have babies that are less than two months old.
What’s the deal, gallbladders of the world? Is there like a general uprising going on?
So, have any of you dealt with this? Any exciting remedies I should know about? I am using one that has like, a million fab herbs for liver & gall bladder function in it. I got it from Health Foods Unlimited, so you know it has to be the cure-all. Ha.
Give me your best advice or gallbladder stories! Save the gallbladders!
So, Monday was Sam’s fourth birthday. In an effort to keep things simple, I decided that his “birthday party” would consist of cake and ice cream at our house. He wanted another Star Wars cake, and for some reason, instead of just being smart and ordering one, I decided to make it.
I blame Pinterest.
Last week I pinned this, and I thought I could try to make cupcakes like these.
Except there weren’t exactly any directions. (Note to pinners: pinning a picture from flickr? Not helpful.) That meant I was on my own.
The lightsabers were obviously fondant, but because I had never worked with fondant before and I had had luck with pretzel lightsabers last year, I decided to go with a mini-version of those.
But I’ll get back to the lightsabers in a minute.
Sam wanted chocolate cupcakes, so I went searching for a recipe. (Andy pointed out that there are good ones to be found on the backs of both Betty Crocker and Hines boxes, but I like to make life hard so I didn’t listen.) I went with this one, from Annie’s Eats. I also used her buttercream frosting recipe.
I am (clearly) not the best cupcake decorator in the world, but I thought they were pretty cute.
So, back to the lightsabers. As it turned out, I forgot to buy pretzels, so I decided to go with fondant after all. I used this recipe for easy marshmallow fondant.
It was a complete disaster. I’m 100% sure it was user error and not a faulty recipe, but it didn’t work at all.
So, I was back to the pretzels, but I was running out of time. I took a short cut and used melted chocolate chips for the handles, which didn’t harden quickly the way the candy melts do, and so they were super messy. Had I not been in such a hurry, I think they really could have been cute.
So, take aways from this post:
— Use candy melts, not chocolate chips.
— Don’t pin from Flickr.
— Call Cortney and Luanne when in need of Star Wars-themed (or any other) birthday baked goods.
Well that was certainly a long-winded way to get to the point – your posts with your pins!
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