Sour Cream Cornbread

Good Tuesday morning!

The Gallery Pics are from Roxie's family birthday celebration Sunday. They are pretty self-explanatory, I think. You might think her cake is a little odd color-wise, but Roxie is getting a new bedroom for her birthday... and her cake colors match the colors she has chosen for her room. Turquoise and white with black accessories. Very sophisticated. The completion date is October 15, so I'll have some "before" pictures in the Gallery prior to that date, I am sure!

NEWBIES! NEWBIES! NEWBIES! - We have some Newbies visiting the blog this week. If you have any questions, click on Newbie Information under the Labels tab on my sidebar. It should answer any and all questions you might have about A Simple Life.

Also, if you are a Newbie, please take a moment or two to read Josh's Journey... the reason I started A Simple Life in the first place.

Roxie's Birth Day Story - Part Three - Only two more parts to go AFTER TODAY! Feel free to skip directly to the recipe if you've heard it all before!

I told you it was a very loooong pregnancy. I also told you there were two more incidences before Roxie's arrival. The first two had to do with Roxie, but the third was all me.

In July, two months after our UAB appointment, I began to feel more tired than normal. Now this is tricky, because I am, and have been as long as I can remember, always very, very tired. It's who I am. I have NEVER had insomnia. I sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. (Don't hate me because I'm well-rested. I would say, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful," but the sheet marks embedded in my face 24/7 take away from my natural prettiness.)

This was different. I even talked to my doctor about my exhaustion. He said, "Well, you're three months away from delivering a new baby, and you're taking care of two very active little boys. Of course you're tired."

No kidding, Sherlock. "I'm telling you. This is different. This is 'If you walk out of the room to get a chart, when you come back I'll be zonked out on this comfortable table with the stirrups and the paper sheet-tired.' This is 'If Barry Manilow were to walk in your waiting room, I would have to wave weakly from where I was sitting because I don't have the energy to get up and go meet him-tired.' This is SO MUCH MORE than 'running after two little boys with a watermelon strapped around my waist-tired.'"

He looked at me. Then he looked at my chart. "Well, when we tested your iron last month it was close to being borderline. Let's check that again."

Thank you! Another blood test. Another day of waiting by the phone. (Well, actually I was asleep on the couch, but mentally, I was pacing the floor). Finally, a phone call. "You are EXTREMELY anemic. I'm talking 'blood transfusion' anemic. I'm talking we've got to get your levels up and soon!"

All right. An explanation. And now a solution. "You're going to bottom out before your levels begin to rise." To this day, this does not make sense to me, but recently I talked to someone who said the same thing happened to her. You have to get worse before you get better.

"Well, I'm pretty much wiped out 20 out of 24 hours a day now. What are we talking about here?" I asked.

"You don't need to drive for a week because you could pass out behind the wheel. And if you go to sleep, and no one is able to wake you up, you'll need to call the paramedics."

Hmmm. I didn't like the sound of that. Mikie had to get up at 6:00 and leave for work around 7:00, so he could make sure I got up from my night-time sleep, but it would be up to the boys to make sure I got up after their nap time. But in my heart of hearts, I am a teacher! It was time for a little lesson.

"Austin. Do you know what to do if there is an emergency?" I asked.

"Call 9-1-1!" he responded correctly.

"That's right," I said. "Now, what is an emergency?"

"FIRE!" both of the boys said in one voice, both smiling ear-to-ear.

Okay. That was a little disturbing. "Well, yes. That is definitely an emergency. But I'm going to talk to you about something else that is an emergency. Mommy has something called 'anemia.' Can you say 'anemia?'"

"A-men-ia," they said.

"Close enough," I said in my best teacher voice. "Anemia means Mommy might go to sleep, and it would be very hard to wake me up. I'm okay, but I need a little help to wake up. This is only going to last for one week. So, if you come into Mommy's room (or see Mommy on the floor), and I don't wake up from my nap, you will need to call 9-1-1. Okay?"

Big grins. "All right!" they shouted with gusto. Okay. I was a little disturbed again.

"But you have to try to wake Mommy up. Do not see me taking a nap and just assume I need help from the paramedics. You have to try first. Promise?" I had visions of waking up and having three paramedics standing over my bed. (Not a bad vision, but not how you want the local paramedics spending their precious time either.)

Needless to say, we spent several minutes practicing "waking" me up, and the boys did a very good job. I felt we had the anemia-thing under control.

And in fact, seven days later when I went for another blood test, I had indeed bottomed-out. I had no where else to go but up. But the doctor said I had to be at a certain number (there were those numbers I didn't understand again) before Roxie was born for it to be "safe delivery."

Now we were talking. A goal. And a specific "number" I was trying to reach in a certain number of days. You know. Like 75 Christmas cards this year. This I could do. In fact, I was born to do this.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you how Incident Number Three turned out, and we'll talk about our final complication before Roxie arrived. Sorry. This story is going to last all week. However, there is some good news. I don't start telling Josh's Birth Day Story until Monday, October 4, so there's a little break in there for the womb-weary!

Sour Cream Cornbread

If you're like me, when you take a bite of a slice of piping hot cornbread slathered with butter it just screams "AUTUMN!" (I know what you're thinking! "Great. Now Belinda thinks food is yelling at her!") Hopefully, you know what I mean!

This recipe appeared in the new October Southern Living Magazine, and I tried it last week. It was simple and delicious!

You will need the following:

1 1/2 cups self-rising white cornmeal mix
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 (14.75 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8 ounce) sour cream
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (optional... NOT)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat a 10" cast-iron skillet in oven 5 minutes.

2. Stir together cornmeal mix and flour in a large bowl.

3. Add corn and next 3 ingredients, stirring just until blended.

4. Pour batter into hot lightly greased skillet.

5. Top with cheese, if desired. (Uh, yeah!)

6. Bake at 450 degrees for 22 to 24 minutes or until golden brown and cornbread pulls away from sides of skillet.

This is GOOD cornbread. It is great served with any and every soup... and CHILI!

Have an amazing Tuesday. On Wednesday, I'll be sharing Wednesday Wisdom, a new Seasonal Tradition, Part Four of Roxie's Birth Day Story, AND I'll have a few hints about our October Special Guest.

Don't forget about the Contest coming up this Friday, October 1. I'll re-post the details regarding the Contest tomorrow, also.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda