Chaos

Before we had children of our own, I remember a friend who is a mother of 4 telling me that when they got sick, their home was like a triage unit.  After yesterday, I'm  going to have to say a huge AMEN to that statement.  Mary Connor hasn't run a fever since Monday and seems to be over the virus.  But after eating their solid breakfast yesterday, she woke up from her nap vomitting and I do mean vomitting.  She had cereal mixed with mashed avocado and pears, all things she has had before and tolerated. After researching it a little, avocados and pears aren't likely foods to be allergic to, but I guess it's always possible.  Anyone have any thoughts? It only lasted about 3 hours and then she was fine, so I don't know what it was.  Surely no stomach virus would come and go that quickly. 
To make matters worse, I don't handle vomitting well.  In fact, I begin gagging at the sound of someone getting sick.  So, we were quite a pair.  Just another glamorous day at the Sparkman's.
To deal with the stress, I decided it was the perfect time to paint our fireplace in the living room.  It's called coping and I apparently cope with chaos by adding more chaos...very logical.

And now that I have turned everyone's stomach, I'm going to share a few great recipes that I made today to take to a family from our church....

Melanie's Pork Tenderloin
This recipe is my aunt's, who is a fabulous cook- it is so good!

2-4 pork tenderloins
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing

Mix and pour over tenderloin in a plastic bag.  Marinate overnight and grill.

Pioneer Woman's Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
If you've never made these, you have to....she has great recipes.

Green Beans with Bacon Balsamic Vinaigrette:
A friend from church brought these to us last year while I was on bedrest and they have been a favorite ever since!

2 lbs of green beans, ends trimmed
2 bacon slices
3 tbsp shallots, minced
3 tbsp almond slivers
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup white or brown balsamic vinegar

Cook the green beans in boiling water for 2-3 minutes or until tender yet still crisp. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop them from cooking. Drain well and set aside.
Cook the bacon in a small skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from skillet and crumble; set aside. Add shallots to bacon fat in the skillet, sauté for 1 minute. Add almonds, sauté for 1 minute. Remove the shallots and almonds and let cool. Add sugar and vinegar to the skillet; stir until sugar dissolves. Add the green beans, crumbled bacon, almonds, and shallots then stir until evenly coated.

Miss Wilene's Sour Cream Pound Cake
I was in a rush and didn't let the cake cool long enough and ended up with a huge mess.  So, I made trifle with the broken up cake.

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
3 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated. Sift the baking soda and flour together. Add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.

After delivering the meal and coming home to heat up our own dinner, I realized I gave them 2 containers of pork tenderloin and no green beans.  Where oh where is my brain lately?

This afternoon we had a fun playdate at the park with a friend from AC's class.

The good news is I managed to make it home with all 4 children, so maybe there is hope for this tired brain after all!