Perspective....and Dulce de Leche

Poor little sweet pea is still stick. I got home last night and he had a fever of 103.6 and was as pale as the snow outside. I gave him some ibuprofen and that brought his fever down enough to let him rest comfortably and doze on and off. Then, once it got down to about 101 he started acting more like Owen....popping out into the living room to ask what was going on with our friend Teri, "I want to know everything," he said. I must say, that boy is a loyal friend. Then he began experimenting with the thermometer to see if putting it under one side of his tongue was hotter than under the other side of the tonge. Oddly enough, one side did seem to be hotter. The things one learns.....

I found myself distinctly uninspired to cook with Owen not eating so I made some odd kind of potato and spinach hash with a bit of bacon and cheese. His stomach isn't really upset but he can't eat much. He did have a craving for fruit so Ernie went to the store and replenished our supplies. I, on the other hand, discovered the pleasures of dulce de leche made with a can of condensed milk. I've always wanted to try making it and so I finally did. We punched a couple of holes in the top of the can and then put it in a little crock pot I have...one of those little round ones that is made for dip, filled the water up about 3/4 of the way on the can and let it cook for about 10 hours. Good God in heaven, is that stuff delightful! I'm thinking of using it for filling in little thumbprint cookies, with a bit of salt sprinkled on top. Any other ideas?

Unfortunately poor Owen can't make his band concert tonight. And I don't even care that I'm missing Jon Dee Graham now....I just want to see my sweet pea play his trumpet. Sniff. Ernie took him to the doctor, negative for flu or strep but they said he's getting bronchial congestion so some stuff for that. It's funny, one or other of us is sick all the time it seems but this has really knocked Owen out and has bothered me more than usual. It makes me realize how incredibly lucky we are with the health of our kids. It's always good to be reminded of perspective.

Perspective, perspective, perspective.....