Have Fallen Into a Black Hole

I feel as if I have really fallen into a black hole. I have completely disappeared from blogging. Seriously don't know when the last time was that I blogged (I know I could check, but I am too lazy!). I have even lost a follower. Go on hiatus for a couple of weeks and people take flight! What's that about?

Anyway, I am just completely overwhelmed right now. I am teaching 3rd grade and not leaving school until 4:30 or 5 every day. Then when I get home there are the three munchkins and all of the things that go along with keeping up this disaster area that we call a house. I mean, seriously, they are about to call in FEMA to our living room because we have to wade through knee deep debris just to get to the couch.

Then on top of that I am at the end of my Educational Specialist degree. I am conducting an action research study on how a teacher-created website can help parents understand how their child is learning math. Check it out! It is taking a lot of work because I am creating PowerPoint presentations to go with every lesson and I am constantly updating the website. Needless to say, when I am on the computer it is not to blog but to work.

Plus, it is football season. This means that I am currently a single parent for the majority of the time. I don't even get breathing room until about 8 o'clock at night. And by then I am so far behind with college work and grading papers that I work until 10 or 11 and still can't seem to catch my breath!

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know that I am still alive. I am still kicking, and soon I will still be blogging. Don't abandon me! Don't take flight! And don't worry...I have NOT fallen into a black hole!

Cajun Shrimp and Grits

This was a huge hit tonight! Added corn and a Pillsbury french loaf to sop up the sauce. Great Game Day meal! Ain't nothing like the South! Roll Tide!

Ingredients:
2 lbs frozen or fresh shrimp
2 tsp Cajun Seasoning
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp Paprika
1/4 cup butter
2-4 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 cup Dry White Cooking Wine
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp all purpose flour
3-4 cups hot cooked grits

Thaw shrimp. Combine Cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning, and paprika together. Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat and add garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add 3/4 cup of white wine, Worcestershire, and hot sauce. Cook 5 minutes. Whisk together remaining white wine, flour, and seasoning mixture in a bowl. Whisk flour mixture into skillet and cook, whisking constantly for 2-3 minutes. If it is too thick add some more white wine. It will become a thick liquid. Add shrimp and cook until they curl and turn pink. Serve over grits.

We Have Created a Monster

I feel like a teenager this morning. No it is not because I have been a little frisky. And no it is not because I woke up after using my new "miracle" wrinkle cream and saw no more wrinkles. It is because I slept until 10:45 this morning!

I rolled over and I could not believe the time. And thanks definitely goes to my hubby who got up with 3 munchkins and let his exhausted wife sleep. I needed it! Why am I so exhausted? Well, other than the normal life of a mother of 3 little girls who teaches full time and who has been sick for like 2 weeks now, I was also up for half the night the last 2 nights.

Why? You may ask. Well because it seems we have created a monster!!! No, I am not referring to my extremely overly dramatic middle child who can throw a temper tantrum along with the best of them. I am speaking about my youngest munchkin. My most (shhhh!) precious munchkin. I am not kidding. She is precious. She is soft and cuddly and loving and sweet. And her smiles, which come so very often, would melt even the meanest person's heart.

She is by far the best baby we have ever had. Well....except for one thing. She still doesn't sleep through the night! She is 4 months old tomorrow and while we don't have to feed her during the night, we still have to go in and put her pacifier in. Sometimes this is once or twice, and sometimes, like Thursday night, it is 7-8 times!

We have known for a long time what we have to do. This ain't our first rodeo! We have to let her cry. It is the only way she will get used to putting herself back to sleep. Every night we say it. But every night I can't bare to do it. I mean she is so little. What if she thinks I am abandoning her? What if something is wrong? What if, God forbid, she stops crying for another reason other than going back to sleep and I don't know?!?!?!?!?

But it had to be done. We have not had a full night's sleep in four months!!! We are struggling! We NEED sleep! So last night we sucked it up and did it. She woke up at 3:45 and started crying. I went in, checked on her, moved her back to the center of the crib (she likes to snuggle next to the bumper pad), and left without putting the pacifier in.

She did not like that! She started screaming at the top of her lungs. I feel certain that if she could speak there would have been some very ugly words coming out of her mouth. After about 10 minutes, she stopped. I went and checked and she was asleep. 10 minutes later she started again. Then went back to sleep. A little while later it started again. So it went for about an hour, when she went to sleep for the last time and slept until 8:15 a.m.

Did it work? Will we finally sleep through a complete night tonight? Only time will tell. But I can tell you what...whereas I would pay $1,000 for a pacifier, we have used one at night one too many times and We Have Created a Monster! But when she smiles up at you and starts talking with her ooohhhsss and aahhhs it makes everything, even having absolutely no sleep, all better!!!