Japanese Cherry Blossom Wall Art

In honor of spring and because I watch the Apprentice, I've been inspired to make some Japanese Cherry Blossom wall art. How do I go from spring to the apprentice you might ask? Well, as a secret fan of Donald Trump's Apprentice, I happened to catch a glimpse of a painting on the wall in the very first episode. Sometimes things that I like stick with me for days and this painting was no exception. It was a Japanese cherry blossom painting on a gold background and in the three seconds it appeared on screen, I found myslef unable to take my eyes off of it. My wheels began turning and I thought "how can I simply reproduce that painting to hang on my wall?" 

I had two little pieces of laminate shelving left over from a TV cabinet. These two pieces of crappy plastic wood needed to be put to good use. They were perfect for a little Japanese inspired wall art.

I'm going to walk you through this like a tutorial, because even thought it's a painting project and some people can feel a little intimidated by "painting projects" I really feel that anyone who can grip a paint brush in their hand could do this project if you follow these steps. Even if you attempt it and hide it in a closet or throw it away, I think you'll be surprised at how easily it can be done.


First I started with blank surfaces; my crappy plastic wood. Paint always works better when it has something to grip to. You know this from painting your walls. Primer Primer Primer! Artists do this with Gesso, a white paint like substance that helps paint stick to the surface your canvas. However, if you buy white canvas, chances are they were treated with gesso already. If you do get canvas check to see if they were treated with gesso. If they were, you can skip this step.


After the gesso completely dried, I painted the background gold. Any gold will do as there are many different kinds of acrylic golds out there. I used plain old classic gold.

Once again these panels were allowed to dry, this time overnight.


The next day, I planned where I was going to place the tree branches. I wanted the two panels to look like they were flowing into each other, so I drew it out with pencil and them traced over the pencil lines with black marker.

When I had committed to a design I liked, I painted over the lines with black acrylic paint.

While the paint was still wet I added some tan acrylic paint. I added this very loosely. I tried to keep the lighter color on one side of the branch. In other words, if I painted the right side of one branch I did it on every branch. This gives the impression of a light source.

In keeping the lines loose and simulating a light source, it adds dimension to the branches. The final touch to the branches was a touch of white over top of the tan just to help it POP a little more.

Next I took a small round brush and made white flower petals. While the petals were still wet I added a touch of dark pink and blended from the center to the ends of each petal. I created five petaled flowers and some buds too (simply a dab of the brush.)
I spread them out here and there...where ever I wanted!

From the free floating flowers I added skinny little stems. I also added some of these skinny stems to the branches without flowers.

After I was finished  the first panel, I moved on to the second. I did this in case my drawing was altered in the painting process. Completing the panels one at a time will keep the panels flowing.

Once again here is the finished product.Now I just have to find a place to hang them!

Lamp re-do

Both kids rooms have small table lamps for midnight bathroom trips and drink runs. But like most lamps in my house their shades were boring white and beige. Yawn!! So I took to remaking the boring lampshades and find myself one step closer to completing the girls room and then being able to shift my focus to Aden's bedroom, which actually may become Aden and Owen's bedroom...I'll leave that for another day.

Now that project move Sophie into Abby's room is a success, I want to continue to put the finishing touches on their bedroom so I can move on to decorating Aden's room.

When it came to re-doing the lamp shades I feel more satisfied with the girls shade than I do Aden's. I completed Abby and Sophie's lamp with a clear color theme in mind, keeping with the "Romantic Blue theme" as Abby calls it.

With Aden's lamp shade however I'm not as happy with the results, but I feel like I have time to tweak it or completely start over when I move on to his room. Was his lamp an attempt to make him feel like I am dividing attention and time equally to both rooms? Perhaps. Poor kid. I will get to it.

Meal Planner Monday

It's been a while since I did one of these! I've prepared a menu that has a combo of some fast and easy meals and some more time consuming, but well worth the time, meals.

There are kid friendly meals for you to utilize in the oven baked chicken toes and the pizza tortilla rolls. For the adults, there is the Italian classic Braciole...take the time to try this one, it's so worth it!!

Hope this helps you this week!!

Foil Packet Chicken

Angie'a Lasagna

Ingredients
12 lasagna Noodles
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1 cup Italian blend cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese
2 ounces feta cheese crumbled
1 jar Spaghetti sauce
1/2 a bag frozen spinach or broccoli thawed
*optional- 1/2 lb ground beef

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil noodles as directed on package. While noodles are boiling, mix ricotta cheese and two eggs with Italian seasoning in a bowl. When noodles are al dente, place one layer in a casserole dish on top of a thin layer of sauce. On top of the noodles place a third of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle the cheeses in top of the ricotta mixture and repeat sauce, noodles, ricotta and cheeses until all three layers are in the casserole dish. *optional- brown 1/2 lb ground beef and sprinkle on top of the last layer of cheese before placing in the oven. Bake casserole in oven for 40 minutes. Allow the lasagna to rest for ten minutes before serving.

Oven Baked Chicken Toes

Braciole
serve with linguini noodles

Saucy Beef and Broccoli

Pizza Tortilla Rolls

This week's grand total is $70.82!

Online grocery list

When it comes to grocery lists, I'm fanatical. In the past I've planned meals and painstakingly typed out my lists in Microsoft Word. It took most of the morning to do this and though I was happy with my organized and well thought out list, I wished that I could do this a little more efficiently. Well, my wish has come true.

As I was searching for recipes for my first shopping trip in nearly a month, I came across a wonderful site called ZipList. What I'm most excited about is that I found this site without the help of my tech-nerd husband and his toilet tech magazines (we have PC World by the toilet) I did it all by myself! I was beaming with pride as I shared with him my discovery. He was impressed, but I won't lie he really has no use for this site! I saw his eyes glaze over when I told him about it. I, on the other hand found this website to be by far the best online grocery list and recipe box I've come across in all my years of recipe and grocery planning and believe me I've seen a few.

Ziplist is the whole package- very easy to use and sync's with virtually any website with a recipe you can find. It has a recipe box that you can store your favorite recipes in. Recipes can be obtained through ZipList's online collection of recipes or any other recipe you find from an online site. You can even add your own hand written recipes to your recipe box. By downloading the Recipe Clipper feature, you can clip any recipe on any website and ZipList will grab ingredients from the ingredients and put it in a custom grocery list!

In the past I would find an online recipe and save it to a folder in my bookmarks. With ZipList its very easy save recipes to an online recipe box. For instance, I love traditional Italian cuisine, so one of my favorite sites to grab recipes from is Lidia's Italy. If I want to make a dish from this or any site it's very easy to grab the recipe and add it to my shopping list. Just pull up the recipe on the website and while on the page press the recipe clipper button (easily added to your links tab when you follow the instructions on the organizing recipes button.)

Copy and paste the recipe name, ingredients and put the directions in the notes box. You can either add it to your recipe box or add to the recipe box and have ZipList add the ingredients to your shopping list. You can also add a picture by going into the recipe box, selecting the recipe and clicking the edit recipe option.

When you add the recipe to your grocery list by selecting the add to list button, ZipList will add the ingredients to your grocery list.

ZipList identifies the ingredients from your recipe and puts them into two categories: Items that you  might need to buy and items you most likely have on hand. You can change this by clicking or unclicking the box next to the item if you do or don't have that item on hand.

The items will then be transported into a grocery list and you can edit the list and the aisles you will find these items in. This is very easily done by pressing the little pencil by the item needing the change.

In edit mode you can change the name of the item, the aisle you would find the item in and the store you will be shopping at.

The store option is handy because you can set the aisles specifically to your favorite store. For instance my favorite store to shop at is Redner's Warehouse Markets. I can set the grocery list to the aisles and path I take when I go shopping. I start at produce and weave in and out to the back of the store. I know my Mom likes to start in the back at the meat department and work her way front. Any route you take can be tailored to the way you shop and saved in the My stores section of website.

ZipList has many other practical features that make grocery shopping even easier. In shortcut mode you can set ZipList to recognize keywords that when typed, will add in the rest without you needing to typing the whole description.

Also very nice is the template feature which allows you gave saved items that you buy on a weekly basis.

When you are finished with your shopping list it can be printed out in a very neat and organized fashion, complete with the name of the aisle you will find the item in, the store you will be buying the item from and the recipe you will be needing the item for.

This website seriously saved me two hours as it was easy to navigate and setup. I hope that you find this website as helpful as I did!

Meal Planner Monday

I'm feeling stronger everyday and now my goal is to get back to some kind of normal routine. I haven't been at my computer much since I came home from the hospital and through much of my recovery, so sitting here typing this feels good. Since it's Monday I feel I owe you a weeks worth of meals. And since its the week of Saint Patrick's day I feel that I should give it an Irish spin. Everyone's Irish for Saint Patty's day right?! SO here we go!

Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

3 cups minced or finely diced leftover roast beef

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups beef broth

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup frozen peas and carrots

Salt and pepper, to taste

3 to 4 cups leftover or fresh mashed potatoes, prepared with milk, butter, salt, and pepper

3 tablespoons sour cream, optional

1 cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese

Sweet Hungarian paprika

Preparation:

Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish. Heat oven to 350°.

In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the onion in the olive oil until softened and lightly browned. Add beef and butter and sauté for about 1 minute longer. Stir in the flour until blended. Add beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and peas and carrots. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into the prepared baking dish. If using leftover mashed potatoes, warm them in a saucepan with a little butter or milk until softened. Stir sour cream and cheese into the potatoes. Spoon potatoes evenly over the beef layer and sprinkle lightly with paprika.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until hot and bubbly. If desired, turn on the broiler to brown the top for just a minute or two, but watch carefully to prevent burning.
Serves 4.

Casserole Roast Chicken with Leeks and Bacon

3lbs chicken

8oz  bacon

1lb leeks, trimmed

1/2oz European butter

1 splash of sunflower oil

Garnish
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 cup chicken stock

                                                                 1cup light cream

                                                                 salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350f
Cut the white parts of the leeks into rounds and wash them well. Cut the bacon into bits. Remove lumps of fat from inside the end of the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Rub the butter over the breast and legs of the chicken and put it breast side down into a casserole. Allow it to brown on a gentle heat this can take 5-8 minutes. As soon as the breast is golden remove from the casserole and keep aside. Add pieces of bacon to the casserole with a splash of oil. Cook the bacon until golden, add the sliced leeks and toss together in the bacon fat. Season with pepper. Place the chicken on top of the leaks and bacon and cover the casserole. Put into the oven on moderate heat for 1 hour until chicken is fully cooked. When chicken is cooked remove to a serving dish lift out the leeks and bacon with a perforated spoon. Skim the juices of all fat. Add the stock and cream and bring to the boil. The sauce should not be too thick, just thick enough to coat lightly the back of a spoon. Allow to simmer on a low heat while you carve the chicken . Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve

Steak and Guinness Pie by Closet Cooking
(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:
4 slices bacon (sliced)
1 pound beef (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 onion (sliced)
2 stalks celery (sliced)
2 carrots (cut into bite sized pieces)
4 ounces mushrooms (quartered)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 can Guinness
1 cup beef stock
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon thyme (chopped)
1 tablespoon rosemary (chopped)
1 bay leaf
2 pie crusts
1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Directions:
1. Cook the bacon and set aside leaving the grease in the pan.
2. Add the beef and brown on all sides and set aside.
3. Add the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
5. Add the guinness and deglaze the pan.
6. Add the stock, bacon, beef, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce the heat and simmer until the beef is tender, about 2-3 hours.
8. Place the first pie crust into the bottom of a pie plate and pour the beef stew in.
9. Sprinkle the cheese over the beef stew and cover with the top pie crust.
10. Mix the egg and water and brush it onto the top of the pie crust.
11. Bake in a preheated 350 oven until golden brown on top, about 30-40 minutes.

Irish Farmhouse Breakfast

I have fond memories of a particularly sunny summer a year or two ago when I stayed in a farmhouse on the Dingle peninsula. As well as the good weather I remember the breakfasts.

Start off with a freshly-cut half grapefruit with a dusting of superfine sugar, followed by a bowl of smooth oatmeal porridge gently cooked in milk and served with an individual jug of cream. After that comes rashers, sausages and eggs, the lot served with scones and brown bread warm from the oven, honey, homemade preserves, fresh butter and a pot of tea.

For each person gently fry two sausages over a low heat until well cooked through and golden brown on the outside. Also fry a couple of slices each of black and white pudding. Remove from the pan and keep hot. Drain off the fat, as it is somewhat indigestible, and fry two rashers of bacon, having first cut off the rind. Now fry a couple of eggs in the bacon fat, spooning the hot fat over the yolks to set them. Fry a few mushrooms, half a tomato and a slice or two of potato cake each. Add a pat of butter if there is not sufficient bacon fat, but do not cook in butter alone as it burns at too low a temperature.

Country Stew

1 lb cubed beef or lamb

2 large potatoes

1 packet of Knorr country stew mix

 Fry 1 lb of cubed beef or lamb in a pan until cooked through. Peel and chop 2 large potatoes. Mix the contents of Knorr country stew mix with 20 oz or 1 pint of cold water and bring to a boil. Add the beef and potatoes and simmer with a lid on for 1-2 hours or until meat is tender.

Dublin Coddle

1 lb best sausages
8oz streaky bacon
1 cup stock or water
6 medium potatoes
2 medium onions
salt and pepper
(serves four)

Cut the bacon into 1in squares. Bring the stock to the boil in a medium saucepan which has a well-fitting lid, add the sausages and the bacon and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the sausages and bacon and save the liquid. Cut each sausage into four or five pieces. Peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices. Skin the onions and slice them. Assemble a layer of potatoes in the saucepan, followed by a layer of onions and then half the sausages and bacon. Repeat the process once more and then finish off with a layer of potatoes. Pour the reserved stock over and season lightly to taste. Cover and simmer gently for about an hour. Adjust the seasoning and serve piping hot.

If these difficult Irish meals aren't your thing why not try an Irish dessert like these below:

Irish Chocolate Cake

The "Irishness" of this lovely chocolate cake is thanks not only to the wonderful liqueur used in the filling, but also to a certain, very Irish, ingredient in the cake mixture itself, which contributes to its moistness.

Sponge
6oz self-raising flour
1/2tsp salt
2oz dark chocolate
4oz butter
6oz caster sugar or super fine sugar
3oz cooked mashed potato
2 eggs, beaten
4tbsp milk

Filling
4oz dark chocolate
4fl oz double cream
2oz icing sugar
3tbsp Irish cream liqueur

Preheat oven to 375°F, and grease and line two 8 inch cake tins. Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Melt chocolate in a bowl placed over a saucepan of hot water. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, then beat in the chocolate and mashed potato. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour with each addition. Fold in the rest of the flour and stir in the milk. Divide mixture between cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is firm but springy to the touch. Remove from oven and after a few minutes, turn out on a cooling rack. While the cake is cooling, make the filling. Melt the chocolate as before, stir in the other ingredients and mix well. Use the filling to sandwich the sponge layers together and coat the top and sides of the cake.

 Kerry Apple Cake

This cake does not keep very well, but that is not usually a problem, as you can be sure it will disappear very quickly! It is best eaten warm with cream or Greek-style yoghurt, and is also perfect with cheese.

6oz butter
6oz caster sugar or super fine sugar
2 eggs, beaten
8oz self-raising flour
2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1tsp lemon rind
2tbsp Demerara sugar or natural brown sugar (crystals)
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F, and grease and line 2lb loaf tin. Cream, butter and sugar. Gradually add eggs and flour. Stir in apples and lemon rind. Pour into the tin and sprinkle with sugar and spices. Bake for 1- 1 1/2 hours.

 If you're still put off by all the work you could always fall back on the good old green food coloring trick and dye your spaghetti green.

Happy cooking!

A Birth Story

Sorry I've not been around for a while. I have a valid excuse though; I gave birth two weeks ago to a beautiful baby boy Owen Christopher Izzo. Born February 21, 10:32 am weighing in at 6 lbs and 9 oz, by far the tiniest Izzo I've ever delivered!

Owen came unexpectedly ten days before his due date. I was pretty excited the morning I realized I was in labor, but had no idea the trouble lurking on the horizon and the true reason he came so early.

The labor and delivery went extraordinarily fast. Not that that's terribly unusual for me. My longest labor ever was Sophia which was a whopping 6 hours and only so long because I was induced and she wasn't quite finished cooking yet. So the quickness of Owen’s delivery didn't surprise me or alarm me in the least. Everything was normal; "textbook" to quote my doctor after Owen came flying out after three pushes and I only had to push because I had to delivery his arm and head at the same time.

During delivery there was an indication that something was wrong and that was my very high blood pressure. At one point it was 183 over 147 and remained high after delivery. Fortunately I was able to hold and bond with Owen and even nursed him before they took him to the nursery to be looked over because it would be hours before I saw him again.

My blood pressure remained high and I was bleeding heavily at times when they moved me to the recovery room. My nurse allowed me to take a shower but insisted it be fast. Chris had left to get the kids and bring them back to meet their baby brother, so that left Chrissy and I in the recovery area. Chrissy would tell me later that the nurse who told me I could shower mentioned a risk of me having a seizure.

It wasn't long after that shower that they moved me back to labor and delivery and explained to me that I had severe Precclamsia. That my blood pressure was so high I could have a seizure and that I needed to be put on Magnesium Sulfate to keep that from happening. Magnesium Sulfate is nasty stuff, besides sounding like an ingredient in bath tub cleaner it sucks every ounce of energy out of you. I was hooked up to an IV with massive amounts of Magnesium Sulfate pumping into my veins. I was a jelly fish and just in time for my children to come back to see me.

Poor Chris, who came back in the middle of this chaos, had no idea what had happened or that I was unwell. He came back to the hospital with the kids to see Owen and I, only to find me attached to machines and seeming very out of it. I felt worse for the kids. Aden seemed very concerned and Abby had a look on her face that I will never forget. She knew something was very wrong and was trying not to show emotion, but her eyes said it all. It absolutely broke my heart. I tried my best for their sake to act normal, but it's kind of hard to act normal when you’re drooling and your eyes are little slits like James Franco in Pineapple Express.

I was able to kiss the kids goodbye and Chrissy, who had been with me while Chris was getting the kids, took them home. It was just in time too because things were about to get worse. My bleeding was getting worse as time went on. At around four in the afternoon I was hemorrhaging and had lost a great deal of blood. Most of what happened here is hard to remember through the fog of magnesium sulfate and loss of blood. What I do remember is looking at the Doctor and nurses attending to me and asking if I was going to loose my uterus. My Doctor looked back at me; her eyes as big saucers, and told me I was going to be just fine. I could tell she wasn't being truthful. I would find out in the days to come how serious that moment was, but for now, for the sake of not working me up to a seizure I was left in the dark.

My bleeding stopped after two shots to the behind of something to help my blood clot, but the damage was already done. I had lost a lot of blood and needed a blood transfusion. Now I was confined to my bed; Magnesium Sulfate in one arm, blood pumping into the other and a catheter just to make things fun.

For the next three days Nurses buzzed around my bed taking my blood pressure constantly, drawing blood, checking my catheter and urine. One of the nurses who had helped me the night before came to see me the next day with tears in her eyes saying that I had given them quite a scare. It was then I began to realize this was a lot more serious than they were letting on the night before.

Slowly the story began to come out. I had severe Preeclamsia, but that in itself is very unusual for someone on their fourth child. Preeclamsia typically will happen to a woman in her first pregnancy and there would be warning signs leading up to delivery warning the woman and her doctors that she was sick.  When you go to your OBGYN for your monthly visits there are exams they put you though to check for problems. For Preeclamsia they look for a few things. First they check you for sudden weight gain as it is a sign of Preeclamsia. In my case there was no sudden or extreme weight gain, in fact I had lost a pound or two at my last visit. The next thing thy look for is protein in your urine, but every urine specimen I gave them tested negative for protein. Last, they check your blood pressure which again for me was always normal, except one time weeks before and even then it wasn't alarmingly high.  The only symptom I had was vision changes. In the weeks before I delivered I was seeing random bursts of light and sometimes my vision would blur, but it would go away in about ten to fifteen minutes and then I would be fine. Typically with Preeclamsia vision changes would be constant, so even this symptom was not enough to alarm anyone. I was a very A-typical case and no one saw this coming.

Not only did I suffer from Severe Preeclamisa, but I had developed something called HELLP syndrome. HELLP syndrome stands for Hemolysis (the breaking down of red blood cells) Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelet count. Basically my liver and kidneys were very swollen and on their way to failing; my liver being the worst. The night I asked my doctor if I was going to loose my uterus, the truth was my liver was very close to rupturing and that they were afraid they were going to lose me. That was the first time I heard I almost died. It’s hard to believe that can still happen. You just don’t think that going into labor and delivery. That’s what happens in old movies, not 2011!

They explained I was sick for a while and didn't know it or at least recognize it. I was very sick and tired the last two weeks of pregnancy, not that uncommon in the last few weeks, so I just figured it was because this was my fourth child. The most alarming thing that was brought to my attention was that if I hadn't delivered when I did Chris might have found me dead one day. That's a tough pill to swallow!

Owen came at just the right time, though I'm sure this was not just luck. God was definitely looking out for me that day. The doctors tell me that my body knew it was sick and needed to be rid of the placenta (this is the only cure for HELLP) and that's why I went into labor when I did. That all may be true, but there were so many circumstances through the whole ordeal that pointed straight to God and his hand on my life.

My Doctor being there the whole time was another way I saw God intervening to save my life.  After being on call the whole weekend, her shift was over after she delivered Owen. She actually went back to the office to finish up her day when she thought to drop back to the hospital to see how I was doing. It just so happened that I was beginning to show signs of a serious complications at that time and though I could have been seen by the new doctor on duty, she stayed an extra day to take care of me. She even told me later she felt like God was working through her hands as she worked on me Monday night.

It's been a long road to recovery since then. Slowly I was weaned off the Magnesium Sulfate and the blood transfusion helped to improve my color and energy. By Wednesday I was moved back to recovery and Thursday I was discharged and allowed to go back home to my kids. My blood pressure is still high and I’ve been put on high blood pressure medication for a few weeks, but in time this too will come back to normal. I also had an unexpected trip to the ER this past Wednesday with a nasty Urinary Tract Infection and multiple tests to see if I had appendicitis. They also found tissue left in my uterus and I have to wait and see if all of that clears up on its own; otherwise I may need a D&C, but my doctor thinks that is unlikely.

Both my liver and kidneys are on the road to recovery. They’re not quite normal yet, but they are improving everyday. I’m also a bit weak for the loss of blood, but this too is slowly getting better with time. The first few days home I could barely get off the couch, but today I’m able to have longer spells of activity.

Emotionally, this has been more difficult. Chris put it best when he said in the hospital you have to take it one day at a time and it really doesn’t have a chance to sink in. It was during the car ride home that it all hit me and I was able to cry for the first time. It was hard to imagine leaving Chris and the kids behind. To never see my children grow up or for Owen to have never known me. It was all a little more traumatic than I realized.

Every now and again I still get emotional and even depressed about it, but Chris is always there to talk or pray me through it. Chris has been my rock through all of this. He stayed by my side through it all. He too was traumatized by the ordeal. He felt bad for leaving me at the hospital to get the kids and coming back to me in distress, so it’s not been easy for him either. As time goes on, things get better for both of us. It makes us appreciate what we have even more.

I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve gotten from my friends and family. For Chrissy who took my kids in for four days making sure they were fed and off to school and taken care of everyday. I never had to worry about them knowing they were with Aunt CC. For my parents who visited me everyday in the hospital and babysat for me when I got home when Chris had to run me to the Doctors or the ER. For my in-laws who took care of us over the weekend, going grocery shopping and bringing the kids much needed doughnuts on Sunday morning. For Becky who came right to the hospital the day after a long tiring flight returning from Haiti just to see if I was okay. For all of my friends who have been preparing meals for us two whole weeks. I’m grateful to all the wonderful Doctors and Nurses who I got to know. I’m grateful to everyone at Chris’s work, Gateway Ticketing Systems who truly made Chris and I feel part of the Gateway family with all the support and generosity they have extended us. Most of all, I grateful to Chris who never left me side through my stay at the hospital. Who came home and took over as Mom and Dad without complaint. Chris you are my superman and I love you!!