It's funny how things change sometimes

February 15th came and went this year, and I managed to not burst into tears at all for the first time in 8 years.

Feb. 15, 2004. The start of the crappy things that happened in 2004. Long story short: there was a bunch of drama, a huge fight/gunfight broke out. At the end, 1 was dead and 2 were hospitalized. By 8:30am a second man, Mike Jessie, had died. Mike was a good friend of the family. What they had originally thought was a bullet wound to his head turned out to be trauma. He was beaten to death. A 3rd man was so severely brain damaged that he will live out his life in assisted living facilities. I haven't seen him but once since that night.

Usually, I would think about that and cry a bit. This year, I had something good distracting me. My beautiful daughter was 3 months old that day. I wrapped myself up in taking care of her, and I didn't even fully realize the significance of the day until the day was nearly over.

I think Mike would've loved to see my little redhead. Hell, he's even missed out on his own grandchildren.

I think, at this point, it's wrapping my mind around the fact that it's been 8 years since that happened. Which means in June it'll be 8 years since the AEP truck hit my Intrepid, 8 years since I graduated from high school, and 8 years since my parents' nasty car accident. Man, 2004 pretty much sucked.

Slightly more positive: this past week/weekend marked 4 years that Nate & I have been together. Yay!

Super Easy Spinach Dip

So, for quite a while I've made this really awesome spinach dip. It's always a big hit, and until now all I've said about making it is how easy it is to make. I love to cook, but when I can slap something together that is super tasty very easily, it's a double win for me. Lazy & delicious, yes please!

Anyhow, I've been promising to share this one for quite a while, and with the Super Bowl tonight, I figured now was as good a time as any. So, finally, here is how to make my Super Easy Spinach Dip.

 This is it. All you need. 4 ingredients. Told you it was easy.

Thaw & drain the spinach. Make sure you get all the water out, otherwise your dip will get runny.

Put the mayo in a bowl.

Then add the sour cream.

Toss in the onion soup mix.

Give it a good mix. You can stop here and have a good onion dip, but I can't handle that.

Pile in the spinach.

Mix the ever loving daylights out of it. Mix it until every tiny piece of spinach is coated in that pretty beige mixture. Then mix it some more. Cover it, toss it in the fridge.

You can use it right away, but I've found that it's better if you can let it sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. I like to try to do mine overnight, which is a huge feat considering I just want to dive in and eat it right away. Put some wheat thins with it, or make something. I was going to make pita bread but I was far too lazy for that...especially when triscuits were on sale at Meijer. Here's the recipe for a standard batch; I made a double batch in the pictures.

1 box (10oz) frozen spinach
1 packet dry onion soup mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo

Thaw & drain spinach thoroughly. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cover & refrigerate before serving.

Walk MS!

Every year I do the MS Walk. It started out as me doing it in support of one of my dear friends, whose mom has MS.

Now, one of my dear friends has MS. Even if I didn't have a personal connection, I believe it's extremely important to research this disease. It may not be as common as others, but it is still debilitating. So, here I am with my annual plea:

Help me raise money to fight MS! If you'd rather donate cash than online, hit me up and we'll make arrangements.

Zoloft while Pregnant

So a major disadvantage to being home all day and being me, my TV is almost always on. I need background noise even if I'm not actually watching it. Recently I've been popping in a random DVD and letting it roll.

Some days, I just leave the TV on, and I have learned quite a bit about advertising. Example: The "bad drug" lawsuit commercials only air before 4pm. I've never seen one after that. I suspect it's because the people who would want to sue based on a TV commercial are home on disability.

Two of them really bother me, though. The first is the Zoloft/other antidepressants one. I was on Zoloft my entire pregnancy, and am still on it. Guess what? My daughter is perfectly healthy. No defects. I realize that there are some cases, but my OB found the studies for me and let me read them. We all decided that the risks for my health by quitting my medication were a lot higher than the risk of me continuing it.

But, there were a handful of cases over the past several years as antidepressants have become more common, and until they can conclusively prove that it *isn't* the antidepressants, they have to be cautious. I understand that.

The one that bothers me the absolute most is the Tylenol one. We've know what acetaminophen can do to the liver for generations. There have been warning labels and education about taking medications as directed. People didn't listen, their livers got fried, and now our delightfully litigious society has something new to fear and sue over.

I really despise people who see those commercials and then freak the hell out when they find out that you take that drug or someone you know takes that drug. ALL MEDICATIONS CARRY RISKS. The thing is that you need to be your own advocate and decide with your medical staff what is the best option for you. Knowing I was delivering my daughter at one of top hospitals around with a state-of-the-art NICU at our disposal made the very slight risks presented by my Zoloft seem very minor compared to what would happen with me without it.

I'm not trying to dismiss the fact that some drugs carry heavier risks than what are acceptable in average situations. I'm not dismissing those people who are genuine victims of medical malpractice. What I'm saying is that we all need to be responsible for our own health and work WITH our heathcare teams to make sure we are making smart decisions.

Adelle: A mini-timeline

Ultrasound at 20 weeks pregnant.

My Adelle at just a few hours old.

One month old, starting to show some attitude :-)

2 months old! Where the heck is the time going?! I also love that I got nearly the same expression out of her as in her 1 month photo :-D

If only

If only I had been more mature, I wouldn't be in the financial mess I'm in now.
If only Nate's job payed more, I wouldn't have to work.
If only I could stay home with Addy instead of trying to find a new job since my HR department is screwing me six ways from Sunday.
If only I could just buy a damn house now and be done with it.

Growin'

I can tell Addy is hitting a growth spurt this week. She's sleeping and eating way more than usual.
My kid is already a little beefcake, so I'm kinda hoping this one is a brain spurt instead of a weight spurt.

Good news: I'm going to develop some actual upper body strength thanks to this kid :-D