Ganglion Cyst???

So Tuesday afternoon I noticed this big lump on the inside of Owen's wrist. He had no idea how it got there or how long it's been there. He has no recollection of having hit it on anything, but it looked like he had a grape under his skin and we were concerned so I took him to Urgent Care to have it looked at. First we saw a Nurse Practitioner and she wasn't sure what it was but was thinking maybe a hematoma. So she went and got the doctor and he came in to look at it. He also seemed a bit unsure but thought it was probably a traumatic ganglion cyst but he's never seen one "that color" (it was a bruised purple color) and he's never seen "one like that on someone his age." So he referred us to an Orthopedic clinic and I got an appt for Owen for this afternoon.

Owen saw the Physicians Assistant for the orthopedist who specializes in the lower arm (elbow to fingers). He agreed that it's probably a traumatic ganglion cyst or a hematoma. He's encouraged by the fact that it has shrunk by about half since Tuesday and wants us to continue with what we've been doing (ice, wrap in Ace bandage, elevate, and anti-inflammatory) and come back on Monday to see how it's doing. Hopefully it will be greatly reduced by then. He did say no to soccer practice (the doc at urgent care had said it would be okay) and then tonight's practice got rained out anyway (yay!), so MAYBE Owen will be doing good enough Monday to return to practicing.

Still not sure what caused it. The PA said it almost had to have been from an injury and he especially liked the idea that maybe it happened at some point Monday night at soccer practice since he fell a few times. But then he also said Owen would have come to us crying/screaming in pain when it happened and he never did that. Owen still maintains that he has no recollection of anything happening that could have caused this.

So we're hoping for it to resolve itself on its own and hoping that will happen SOON. Not sure exactly what the next step will be if it doesn't get better on its own, but I think it will involve either using a needle to remove the fluid or surgery to remove the whole "lump." If I understood him correctly, we will have to determine whether it's a ganglion cyst (filled with joint fluid) or a hematoma (filled with blood) before deciding how to proceed.

So, we're waiting and seeing now. And hoping to see improvement everyday. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it tomorrow although it's not nearly as dramatic as it was. Or maybe, if we're lucky, there won't even be anything to take a picture of by the morning!

Thrift Shop Finds!

The conversion of Riley's room into a playroom and Owen's room into a bedroom (for both boys) is an ongoing process. We need a lot more storage options in the playroom and I want to set up a reading corner in their bedroom for all their books and such. Anyway, a little while back I found this great coffee table at the local thrift store. They were asking $20 and everything was 20% off that day, so I could have gotten it for $16, but I felt like I could wait and get it for 50% off. So I went back the next week only to discover furniture was only 25% off saving me only an extra dollar from the previous week. But then I discovered they'd marked it down to only $10!! So with 25% off I got it for $7.50. Needless to say, I was thrilled. It was a sturdy table with simple lines (making it easy to sand and paint). The only problem was the supports are partly chrome and they were quite tarnished. I used leftover paint from when we painted "the nursery" (now the playroom) so it's a very light blue to match the walls (I actually meant to paint it white and didn't realize I had the wrong color until later). And used a can of silver Rustoleum spray paint on the chrome part. I didn't think to take a "before" pic, but this is what it looks like now:
My beautiful model refused to move out of the way, so I just went with it!


I use it to store some of the larger toys that previously were taking up all our floor space. Some fit nicely underneath and others sit on top. See those toys piled up tot he right of it? Those are the ones that go on top. I haven't finished "decorating" it, but that will have to wait until next month when Riley starts to school. Owen has specifically requested it have sharks and fish and such on it.

I've been going back to the thrift store periodically and so far haven't found anything that was exactly what I was looking for AND at a price I was happy with (they like to price all the endtables and coffee tables at $20). I had 30-60 minutes to spare today so Riley and I headed down there. Got there around 11 am and saw that furniture was 50% off until noon! Found 2 tables I liked. The first is going to be used in the "reading corner" in their bedroom. I'm actually considering NOT painting it white like I'd planned because we're kind of going for a rustic look in there anyway. I do still need to get some chairs to go with it, but for now the Lil' Tot Spot will have to work. Again, it was sturdy with simple lines so if I do paint it, it will be fairly easy to sand down first. This one was marked $20 so I got it for $10.

The other table I bought was another end table. This one is also very sturdy but will require a little more time to get it sanded before painting because of all the little groves on it. Maybe I can just get a really good primer and not have to sand??? Anyway, it will probably eventually have fish or something on it too to tie it in to the coffee table turned storage shelf. You know the cute little fabric-covered, polka dotted bins on the table in the first pic? I got those at Michaels for 60% off (I think???) so they were $3-4 dollars each and I think they'll work perfectly on the little shelf of this table. Not sure when I'll have time to start working on this one, but hopefully next week! It was marked $15 (it's been there a while so I think they'd marked it down) so I got it for $7.50!


I'll post more pictures when I get it all finished or maybe even some "in progress" pics.

Gotta love a good deal... or three.

First homework assignment

I know ALL of my followers (yes, all 3 of you!) have been waiting on pins and needles for the promised pics of Owen's first homework assignment. It was a poster they were given at Open House to fill out and turn in at the end of the first week of school. I cannot put into words the amount of excitement surrounding this assignment. Owen kept begging and begging to do it. We actually worked on it 3 separate days and unfortunately I don't have a pic of the FINAL version (not sure why???), but it's basically done in the last pic.

This is the Saturday before school starts. He sat at the kitchen table to work on it while we were getting dinner ready.

Now, the little disk on our camera that lets us know what mode it is in is missing. I'm not sure what happened to all these pictures to make the poster so blurry, but I'm guessing it was on fireworks mode or something. I think I took 5 of these and only one has the poster semi-infocus but of course that's the only one where he's not grinning from ear to ear. So I'm including this blurry one on the left just to show you the level of excitement.

This is the almost finished version of the poster. He opted for drawing himself and his family but then decided he wanted to tape a picture of our (now deceased) dog on there. We put it in his book bag to turn in Thursday (a day early) but I guess his teacher didn't notice and he didn't say anything so it was still there Thursday night. We got it back out and he colored most of the stars and circles and decorated it up a little more before turning it in Friday so the final version was even more beautimous that this pic!

On a side note, I've been really impressed with his school so far. I was a little concerned before school started because all the lists we got from the school of things they should know listed things he's known for 1-2 years! And when looking through some homeschool materials for Kindergarten I realized he knew 95% of it so I was worried that he would be bored at school and might not learn much. I was wrong! He's loved everyday of it so far (well, one day was just "okay") and has learned something everyday. We have learned more recently that his teacher is gifted-certified so I think she incorporates a lot of that into their daily lessons.

I almost wish I hadn't seen this...

Remember the blog I mentioned a few days ago about cooking with food storage. I'm still looking through that blog and came across the cutest recipe. It makes a single-serving of cake in a coffee mug! I love it. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but maybe tonight after the boys are in bed... And I have a feeling the boys' teachers will be seeing this come Christmas time. ;-)

Anyway, here's the recipe and you can go to her blog for a video showing her making it in case you have any questions. Note: She uses egg powder and powdered milk in hers but you can just use the regular stuff instead.

Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
1 coffee mug
4 T. flour
4 T. Sugar
2 T. baking cocoa
1 egg (1 T. dry egg powder and 2 T. of water)
3 T. milk (1/2 T. Dry Powdered Milk + 3 T. Water)
3 T. oil (or applesauce)
3 T. chocolate chips
small splash of vanilla
Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla. Mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

Owen has been so excited about starting Kindergarten. I was a little worried that after going to Open House last week he might get a little worried about being at a school so big, but he LOVED it. They gave him a homework assignment already and we worked on it some Saturday night but we haven't finished it yet (it's not due until Friday). So he gets up this morning and was NOT excited. He complained about being tired despite getting to bed plenty early last night. Then as we pulled into school he starts saying he wants me to stay with him. Oh boy, here it comes. He did this at the end of last year and it was NOT fun. As we're walking down the hallway, he's crying. He doesn't want to stay. He needs to go potty (and thinks he needs me to help him!). Luckily his parapro took him under her wing and ushered him in (very lovingly) and took him over to the restroom. I'd already given him a kiss, so we went ahead and left at that point. I hope he wasn't too upset when he got out of the restroom. There were some days last year where it would take him an hour or more before he'd relax and join the class. I REALLY hope that's not the case this year! He does always have fun once he gets settled, it's just getting him to that point that is the problem.

I'm not Mormon, but...

...I really like this whole food storage thing they have going. I've always been one who likes to stock up on the staples when they're on sale and in the past I've been really good about keeping around a half dozen cans/jars of each of my favorite things on hand. We have a big shelf in this back hallway we keep it all on and it's not too far from the kitchen so that keeps it convenient.

Anyway, I don't know all the details but apparently the Mormon church puts a big emphasis on being prepared for when disaster strikes. I think it's mainly talking about natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, etc, I guess) but being prepared is never a bad thing and I'm sure more than a few members of the LDS church have been extremely thankful for the food they had stored up in recent months as economic times have been tough. From what I understand, the Mormon church encourages its members to have 3-12 months supply of non-perishable foods (3 months of certain things and 12 months of other things). I've seen a few blogs about this recently and although I don't personally have anywhere near a 3 month supply of food, it sounds like something that would be good for any of us to do.

One blog in particular has caught my eye and this lady does the type cooking I do. I've been going back through all her old posts reading and finding recipes and ideas that interest me. I just thought I'd share it with you in case you find it helpful as well. In particular I like the idea of having powdered milk and powdered eggs on hand to use when you run out of fresh milk and eggs. I looked at powdered milk at the store tonight and it was actually slightly more expensive to buy powdered milk than fresh milk although apparently that is not the norm. I couldn't find powdered eggs though. Not sure if that's something Kroger doesn't carry or if I just didn't look in the right places. If anyone knows, I'd love to hear! Or if any of my LDS friends out there want to enlighten us more on this or correct anything I might have said that's wrong, please do so!

COMING SOON: Owen's first homework assignment!!!

P.S. Anyone know if/where I can get wheat kernels? I SOOOOOOO want to try making these Blender Pancakes.

I really want to try her recipe for Breadsticks or Deep Dish Pizza soon!