Here are some pictures of Sassy at a brighter time - helping out with our engagement photos. As many of you know, another vet came out Wednesday to run some tests on Sassy. While the scans were non-diagnostic, Sassy appears to be suffering from laminitis. Her condition worsened significantly on Monday but thankfully she appears to have stabilized and today was a tiny bit better. I was told Wednesday that she may only have a 10% chance of recovering at this point, but that’s enough for me. This condition often is associated with sugar in the diet so I have overhauled Sassy's feed. She is now getting special herbal tonics from Australia and medicine for Cushing's disease. We are still waiting for the results of a blood test taken Wednesday as well. Sassy is in pain but she is still eating and drinking, perky as ever, and trying to break out of the new stall we built to keep her resting. The last week has been a total whirlwind as I try to nurse her back to health while working and parenting. If we can get Sassy to hold up her leg long enough, we will attempt a special shoe. Sassy was born when I was 11-years old and has given 29 years of carrying my weight and now I am returning the favor. Some of you have asked about donating to help with Sassy's medical bills so I set up a GoFundMe. Please know, however, that if you're supporting me here you're helping too. I am so grateful for each of you - this has been a tough year but we will endure and persevere together. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-sassy-get-back-on-her-hooves?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
For weeks the feed store has had a sign out saying “chicks coming soon!” Today we drove by it and I did a double take. “Chicks are here!” So the kids and I made a dramatic u-turn with plans to just “see” the chicks. And we did see them. In fact, we still see them because they came home with us! 🤣Whoops. We got 4 Easter eggers and 2 Olive eggers. Lynn if you’re reading this, the little buggers begged to come home with us - how could we say no?!
The cold weather here in Florida annihilated our tomato plants before the tomatoes could ripen. We were overrun with green tomatoes, so we tried making fried green tomatoes for the first time. Honestly I had never fried anything before this! We did not really follow a recipe other than making sure we had the three staple items. You have one bowl of flour and corn meal mixed, a bowl of eggs and milk mixed together, and a bowl of breadcrumbs. When we try it again, I will add some kind of seasoning to the flour and cornmeal mix, maybe garlic and salt. First dip the tomato slice into the cornmeal/flour, then the egg/milk, then breadcrumbs. Then you just put oil in your pan, we used olive oil, and fry them up! Only takes a couple minutes. It was super easy and the kids loved it. I have heard that there are some good dipping sauces out there. We are simple people so we just used ketchup and mustard. I highly recommend trying this - it’s impossible to fail!
The decade I spent out in Washington state changed my life in such incredible ways. I remember moving from Tampa to Seattle as a TV reporter in November 2013, leaving behind warm sun and arriving to seemingly relentless cold rain. Other than finding the mountains, a highlight during that winter was watching the Seahawks rise to Super Bowl champions. I was not a football fan, but the story of that year‘s team was captivating. I soon found myself watching games and cheering on a football team for the first time in my life. Both kids were born out in the Pacific Northwest, so they’ve mastered the cheers of the 12th Man and we will be rooting our Hawks from afar in Florida tonight. Oh - and about the angel wings in the video - my mom got them for Lily and Jack over Christmas. They wanted to wear the wings to church today and we stopped at the store after. Obviously it’s a sign God is a 12. 😜 Go Hawks!
