Our Trip to Greenville, SC and the Shriners

Some of you know about M&M being born with syndactyly/polydactyly as a third generation carrier of the genetic deformity.For those who don't know what that is, it is commonly referred to webbed fingers (or toes) and extra toes (or fingers, or digits). If you want to read our story, you can go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/syndactylypolydactylysupportgroup. (I hope that worked!)

Anyway, Shriner's Hospital in Greenville, SC took care of M&M's two surgeries to correct her condition. They completely took care of everything without us paying for anything, from our food, to our hotel, to the medical supplies and medicine we needed. For one surgery we even stayed at the famed McDonald House. They also chauffer us and pay for our food each annual trip for check-ups. They are very generous, giving the kids stuff every stop in the hospital, like X-ray, the cast room, etc. It is very child oriented, having lots of toys for the kids to play with, movies for them to watch, to food in the cafeteria children would like. They also don't let pictures be taken in the hospital to preserve the rights and privacy of the children who could be caught in the background.The best part is, they don't care how minor the case is, or how much money your family makes, they just want to help children have the best in life in the best capacity they can. The hospitals handle most any type of case, but each location specializes in a certain area, like Greenvsille specializes in orthopeadic cases. However, since these annual trips for check-ups are milestones for my little girl, I take pictures when we are in the exam rooms, with no one else in shot range. Guilty, I am! lol



This is M&M drawing on the chalkboard while we waited on the doctor to come. She talked about getting to do this for several days and loves the whole experience, and she was so young when she had her surgeries that she doesn't really remember them. Although, she does know her scars on her fingers and where she had skin grafts on her hips to cover the exposed flesh on her fingers once they were separated. She also knows traits about her fingers and her extra toe, because we decided early on we would be honest and not coddle her about it. If course we are not harsh about it, but we want her to realize she can still live life, that its no one's fault, and anger will get you nowhere but bitter. Her daddy technically could be on disability but he doesn't see himself as handicapped, neither does my MIL. I admire that so much, it makes me want to cry sometimes. In hearing their stories, I don't think I could have coped as well in their shoes. They are both an inspiration to me, honestly.

Okay, sorry about the ooey-gooey moment there. After we were done at the hospital, we were making good time back home, so one of the drivers asked if we had ever been to Mayfield and been through their tour. I said no, that even though we had one back home we had not ever been. So they took us to the one in Georgia.

We thought their Christmas tree was adorable with all the Mayfield products on it.

I thought the topper was quite cute, too!

Then we went through the tour, which my little bit loved. She thought I looked hysterical with the hair net thingy on, especially since all of my hair wouldn't fit in the darn thing. We saw one guy that had the hair net on plus the beard cover on, and I thought M&M was about to fall in the floor laughing! She didn't know she looked just as silly so I took this picture so she could see.

Needless to say that hair net was in the trash very quickly!!!!
Then M&M went for the free chocolate ice cream cone. We are used to going to Brewster's and getting the free kids cone which is a whole lot smaller. This thing had two full scoops on it, so she had plenty of time to come up with funny ways of licking the ice cream.


When we were leaving, I saw this beautiful porch with all these matching rocking chairs, so I just had to take some pictures. Not that I'm biased or anything, but this little girl is too stinkin' cute to not take pictures of her!

I couldn't believe I actually got a picture of her with her "smile dimples"! She only has these little dimples when she smiles her truest smile, which is hard to capture on this busy little five and a half year old. Those blue eyes decided to sparkle, too. Must have been the ice cream!!!!


Sorry for the long post, but there was so much to tell!
Oh, and if you or someone you know has a child that needs medical help with some condition, contact the Shriners'. You won't be sorry you did.

Christmas Presents

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm taking orders for Christmas presents. You can check out some of the stuff Cutsie Tootsie carries at www.cutsietootsie.blogspot.com . Prices are negotiable!!!!
We have tutus for little girls, dolls, and even dogs (yes, seriously, dogs). And think how cute your little girl would look in your family's favorite team colors on game day!
We also carry lot of different kinds of hair accessories for mom and daughter, or aunt and niece, whatever the case may be. Some of our products are pins, and perfect to put on scarves, hats, purses, jackets, shoes, shirts, etc.
A new item is custom covered travel diaper wipe containers. Who wants the boring white things, have some fun and get one in the colors you like! Orders available, each container costing only $4.00.
There are so many items to see! Let me know if any of you have questions! And please, become a follower of cutsie tootsie on blogspot! Get the word out this little momma is making it happen like a proverbs 31 woman (or at least trying to run that race!) Love you all!

Check out my newest blog!!!!

Some of you may already know about this, but check out my newest blog! It is called Cutsie Tootsie, a business I created to add a little whimsy to every girl's life.
Check it out at www.cutsietootsie.blogspot.com or the shop on www.etsy.com/cutsietootsietutus.com .We carry a variety of tutus, and do special orders, too. We also do hairbows, crocheted items for the little girl and fun loving woman, plus soon to come items like scarves, gloves, and cotton knit winter hats.
If you have any questions just leave me a comment and you can also check out our page on facebook.

Or you could come out to Old Baker Farm's Cotton Pickin' Celebration (admission is $10 per person and includes a pumpkin that you pick after a hay ride) tomorrow from 9:30am to 5:30pm in Harpersville, Al. We will be in Vincent, Al on November 21st, details to soon follow. Thanks for reading!!!

Want some honey, honey?

So, my grandfather has a pear tree that always gives more than people can even use, including five, five gallon buckets to one great uncle. So this year, I decided to try my hand at something every generation before me has done for quite some time. I would can them, but of course, if you know me, I have to try something different. I researched some ideas (I didn't want to do pear preserves, since my dad makes it, and makes it really really well) and I came across something called Pear Honey. Now, you might know what this is or you might not. I personally fell into the might not category, but I was intrigued. I love honey on biscuits for breakfast (love a slice of tomato on a biscuit, too but thats another story), so I thought why not give this a try.

Here are the pears in all their glory. I'm not certain what type these are, but it doesn't matter too much when doing something like this. I had one Walmart sack full of these little beauties, which roughly translated into 8 cups of cored, chopped pears.
My other ingredients were:
1 cup of pineapple juice
4 cups of sugar (roughly)
pint or quart jars
rings and lids
large pot or canner

Now to get started I had to peel, core and slice up the pears. I tried putting them in boiling water and dunking them into ice water like you would a tomato or a peach to remove the skins, but it didn't work too well for me. So I just sliced them with a regular vegetable peeler.

And of course, since I have a garden, I saved the remains for my compost heap. I cut off all the bad spots and roughly chopped them, placing them in a bowl with lemon juice or vinegar and salt to keep them from browning. It doesn't matter if they brown, but they look a lot prettier if they don't.
Next, I made a syrup of pineapple juice and sugar, heating it on low until the sugar disolved. And like most everything I do, I provided a comical blunder to my attempt at canning. My daughter was talking to me while I was measuring out what was supposed to be one cup of pinapple juice, thinking after I poured it in the pot I would fix myself a glass to drink since I love pinapple juice. Later on, when the pear/syrup ratio wasn't matching up, I realiazed I had no cup of pineapple juice to drink and had instead poured a second cup of pineapple juice into the pot. Being one to make lemonade out of lemons I instead made a double batch of pear honey!
Here is a picture of what the pears looked like in the syrup before they cooked down.

This is a picture of what they looked like after they cooked down.

While the mixture was cooking, I had run the jars and rings I was to use through the dishwasher and they were still hot when the mixture had cooked down. I had another small sauce pot with the lids for the jars, which once I had brought them near a boil, I placed on the warmer eye on my stovetop to keep them warm. Inside another pot I had a spaghetti strainer with enough water to cover the jars heating up. By the time the mixture had cooked down in the first pot, everything else was ready.
I placed my hot jars on top of a towel covered counter, rings next to them ready for use. Next, I used my jar funnel (yes, they are worth the $1.87 @ walmart) to ladle in the pear honey into each jar. I made sure to leave head space in each jar, before placing the lid onto them. I tightened the rings until they were "finger tightened" and then placed the jars into my pot with the spaghetti strainer. I don't have a canner, so I had to improvise. Since I had read to keep some space between the eye, and the jars, I thought the spaghetti strainer to be the best idea.
I also don't have a jar tong, so I took a regular pair of tongs and wrapped those jar opener gripper things around each tong and used rubber bands to keep them on. This worked just fine for my needs.
Here is what the jars looked like before I placed the lids on and put them in the pot.

In the pot, they were covered with an inch of water above the lids, and heated for fifteen minutes. After the timer went off, I placed the hot jars on the towel I had used earlier and wiped off the excess water, leaving them to cool overnight. Almost immediately, the sound of popping filled my living room, the sound of pleasant accomplishment. I now have seven quarts and four pints to give as Christmas presents, costing me a total of about $1 a piece.

Fun Times!

It's been a while since I've posted anything lately. I have lots of pics of the kids but thought I would give some highlights.
In this pic, M&M was chasing her brother and trying to keep him out of her room since she had little toys out in the floor. I managed to grab the camera at just the right time for this hysterical moment.


On a different day we had been having a playdate with friends and after they left and daddy came home, JJ was shirtless after eating a treat. He grabbed his daddy's "cowboy hat" and his horse and then began shouting "Yee-haw!" as he galloped around the house.


Before the shirt came off for the treat, this is what JJ was up to. He just loves pretending to be Daddy!


I've already posted about M&M losing her first tooth, but I took this picture of her before any had come out. We were going to visit my mother so I let her wear makeup and she wanted to know if the eyeshadow turned her eyes blue or green.


This is what she looks like now, with the top left one loose, too. At this rate, she isn't going to have any teeth! At least the bottom one should be in before she looses the top ones...I hope.

Bhurtha anyone?

My niece came over to help me hang a bunch of clothes for upcoming fall/winter consignments. Her and I have the same taste when it comes to food, so I decided to use the opportunity of non-picky eaters at my table and stuff fresh from the garden to fix an Indian dish; this is Indian as in "India".

We enjoyed the meal so much I thought I would share the recipe. Surin is great to go to, but why not try a little something fun at home?!

ingredients:
1 small eggplant, sliced in slivers (I used ghostbuster eggplant, a white variety)
1/4 c. sliced onion
1 tomato, seeded and sliced into slivers
1 small pepper (I didn't use this ingredient)
curry powder
cumin seasoning
ground coriander seasoning
salt and pepper
nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
cloves (whole or ground)
1 small carrot, julienned
small bunch of green beans or peas
vegetable or olive oil
half a container of plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2-3/4c. water

In a large skillet, heat oil and add nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon stick. Continue heating on medium setting, until you can place the butt end of a wooden spoon in the oil and the oil bubbles around the handle (this is a tip chefs use). Remove the cinnamon stick and add onion, carrots, and optional hot pepper. Continue cooking until onions are tender. Reduce heat. Next add cumin, coriander, and curry. After you blend in the spices add the yogurt and water (don't add the water first). Then place beans and tomatoes in mixture and cook for about 15 minutes. Add eggplant and salt and pepper. Increase the heat back to medium and continue cooking until eggplant is translucent. The sauce will darken and the vegetables will become mushy, except for the beans. Once the eggplant is translucent, remove pan from heat and let it rest for several minutes before serving, since this will allow sauce to thicken.

Serve over rice. There are other traditional things to serve with this, but we didn't have any of them. We also cooked some beef strips in a separate pan with olive oil, curry powder, salt, and a sprinkling of sugar.

This dish will serve about four people and takes approx. 1 hour from prep to serve.

The Lost Tooth

My little girl has finally lost her first tooth! It has taken almost two weeks for it to come out and happened to fall out on a very emotional day as we were preparing to leave for Tim's grandfather's funeral. M&M was a spot of joy that day showing everyone the hole where her tooth had been. I snapped a picture to show just how proud she was.