Wednesday, February 19, 2014

That Time of Year Again...

If you're newish to Holman Happenings, our biggest one is a cancer survivor. He's been in remission for (hopefully) 9 years - we'll confirm the "9 years remission" in about 2 weeks. I got the letter in the mail from the Children's Hospital and they've scheduled his next MRI and appointment with the oncologist. 

We are SO lucky that we have A-M-A-Z-I-N-G care so close to home. Right now we're on a "once a year" scan schedule, but next year will HOPEFULLY be our last scan. Once he hits 10 years remission, we don't have to go back to the oncologist or have ANY MORE scans. We can go ahead and put this nasty not-niceness behind us. We've been doing this since he was diagnosed in 2004 and I'm anxious to not have to do it anymore. 

Good juju is always appreciated... I'm not expecting anything less than an "All Clear" - but we've been doing this long enough to know that you never know for sure until you know for sure  :)

Sunday, February 9, 2014

DIY Updates

Ok.... it's been a while, but we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the laundry soap!! It smells so clean and fresh. I'm still getting used to the lack of suds, but we are really, really happy with it. Definitely a keeper. 

The dishwasher detergent started leaving a film on all the dishes... I'm not sure if we need to change up our rinse aid or if the boys were being too "helpful" and putting in too much soap. That DIY is still up for debate.

I've been making my own pancake syrup for a long time now - that's a gorgeously easy recipe of 1C water, 1C brown sugar, 1C white sugar and 1Tbsp maple flavoring. Boil the water, dissolve the sugars and mix in the maple flavoring. Let it cool and you're good to go!! I haven't bought pancake syrup in months. Last night when I made another batch I even had to make my own homemade brown sugar because I was out. If you didn't know, brown sugar is nothing but white sugar and molasses. 1C sugar and 1Tbsp (or more, depending on your preference) molasses mixed together - I used a wire whisk to mix it up. 

Last night was homemade potato chips in the microwave! Thank you Pinterest... they were so yummy. I'm going to give them a trial run with the family and if those pan out, they might replace the store bought ones in this house. Not that I keep chips in the house, but when we're having sloppy joes or something, it will be nice to have a homemade option. They were super simple... thin sliced potato coated in olive oil and sea salt (or seasoned salt, or whatever you like), plate coated with nonstick spray, pop them in the microwave for 3-4 min (or until they start to brown), flip them and cook until the edges brown up (that could be as quick as 30 seconds or as long as 2 min - just keep an eye on them). Remove them to a cold plate and let them cool. They will get crispier as they cool.

Next on the agenda is homemade hot cocoa powder. My littlest one is OBSESSED with the Keurig and loves to make hot cocoa for everyone. Unfortunately, I can't keep enough mix in the house! I'm hoping that homemade will be cheaper than the stuff in the canister - more on that to come later  :)