smells goods

Growing up, during the holidays my mom would put a small pan on the stove, fill it with water, and throw in cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and whatever else she had around. It would simmer on a back burner for hours and kill whatever lingering daily odors were around.

So when the hubs and I had our first Christmas in our house last year, I was excited to do this myself. I used a small red pan that had been passed down to me from my grandmother, sliced an orange, added cinnamon sticks and cloves, and let it simmer for several hours. It fills our small home with its scent of warmth and holiday cheer.

The key to doing this successfully is not being so busy that you forget about leaving the stove on--you have to add more water every hour or so (depending on how large your pan is).

While I cannot remember burning this concoction last year at all, this year I have burned it TWICE now. My happy little red pan has been soaking for two days and is still scorched on the bottom. I think it was the orange slice. . . .And trust me, scorched orange slices do not smell good at. all.

A couple weeks ago I read a short blog post (I'm so sorry I can't remember who it was, but I think it was on Pinterest somewhere!!) about using the mini crockpot that sometimes comes with your larger crockpot.

One of those "Why didn't I think of that??" moments.

I'd also read an article about the many benefits of ginger for both personal use and around the home.

Now, finally, my house smells great and is not at risk for burning down. . .

Here's what I've come up with:

I use a small knife to cut thin slices off the ginger--maybe about 4 or 5--then fill my little crock to about 1 inch from the top and add 2 or 3 cinnamon sticks, 4 or 5 cloves and a thin slice or wedge of orange. Plug it in and let it do its thing!

I've had it plugged in for 2 days and have only put water in it once. Of course, I unplug it at night and cover it to keep any curious kitty noses out of it. A great smelling home that's not filled with chemicals or dangerous open flames!

advice for arguing

I need some advice from the diabetes community out there.

My insurance has denied coverage of a Dexcom system for me 2x now. I've submitted all the requested paperwork, had my doctor write a letter of recommendation, and even wore a sensor for a week's trial.

They still hate me.

They don't find it medically necessary because I don't have lows in the middle of the night and I don't have lows where I need assistance (which is, hello, a good thing).

I know the insurance industry is completely backwards when it comes to stuff like this. I bet I could get them to give me any other expensive pill out there. And gladly. But when it comes to an amazing machine like the Dex? Nah....she doesn't need it. She just needs better control.

Well, you know all those patients on cholesterol medication just need better control to stop eating so much junk food.....

I digress.

So I have decided to appeal again and want to write a detailed letter to them stating facts and figures as well as including some information about the less tangible side of diabetes--the emotional aspects of it. But I cannot decide where to begin.

Where would you start and what information would you include??

One Year

Happy one year anniversary to my best friend and love of my life.

Credit for this pic goes to my super awesome, beautiful, talented, soon-to-be-too-famous-for-us, cousin!

Same here!

Now lets have cake!

The Dorothy Postulation

Over the past 10 days the hubs and I have traveled by. . .

truck. . .

train. . .

tram. . .

bus. . .

boat. . .

ship. . .

plane. . .

ferry. . .

shuttle. . .

our own two feet. . . 

and minivan.

We've soared at 20,000 feet and walked on the bottom of the sea.

We've walked miles and miles within a 1,100 foot radius.

We've seen sights we never really thought we'd see in our lifetime.

We had a vacation and while it was not perfect, we enjoyed relaxing and turning off the cell phones for a while.

Dorothy said it best: There's no place like home.

Shelf

Wow, it has been an insane couple of weeks.

I've had a few spare moments to post an update, but I haven't because. . . well, I'm lazy.

Here's what we accomplished last weekend:

First, since the weather was gorgeous and not so stinkin' hot, we headed outside and attacked the insane bush that was trying to take over our front yard. Like, literally.

[I hear Sheldon's voice saying to me, "Literally? Literally?" Yes. Literally.]

Imagine the branches extending to cover the grassless areas on all sides and that's how huge this thing got. Also, you can see my bro & sis-in-law's house through the trees over there. Hiiiiii!

There are still a bunch of roots we need to dig out but this is a HUGE improvement over the way it looked previously. I'm pretty sure it will come back just as big as ever next year.

Then we took our exhausted selves inside and I started cleaning the mantle that I got several weeks back.

You can see the left crevasse is "cleaned" out and the right one is still dirty. This is even with using my cleaning toothbrush to get in the corners.

Someone (a man, I'm sure) had used wood putty to fill in some of the nail holes and cracks. But they got the putty everywhere and never sanded it off. So I had to use quite a bit more elbow grease than I thought to get it off.
Once it was cleaned as well as it ever could be, I let it set and dry off for a few minutes.

Then my hubs got to measuring. And making pencil marks on the wall. And drilling. And drilling and drilling and drilling.

Ta da!

It's up! The color stands out a little more in person. Our walls are Mourning Dove by Olympic.

Here's how I decided to decorate it. For now.

 After all that, we were quite tired and pretty much collapsed for the rest of the day.

I had spray painted our new light for the breakfast area earlier in the day, allowing it to dry while we were puttering outside. We just need to purchase a new rewiring kit and it'll be ready to hang.

This coming weekend I have set aside to paint the chair I got in PA. Hopefully.

We're also counting down the days until vacation. After the past couple of weeks I've had at work, I sincerely need one.

. . . . . . . . . . .

In other news, our little guy is getting so big! He's over 4 months old now and weighs almost 5 pounds! This is significant because occasionally he still forgets himself and attempts to claw his way up my leg when he wants attention.

I'll leave you with this bit of cuteness: this is his post-dinner snuggle habit.