3 Kids And A Geek: May 2013

I HAD SHINGLES!

I wanted to share part of the reason I hadn't been posting recently. Yes, it is just another excuse since I know it didn't last that long! I have just been slacking again!

One morning I woke up with a rash on my face....

I had used my daughter's detangler the night before so I figured I was having an allergic reaction. Not something I haven't had. It was in my scalp and a bit itchy in the hair there but it just made sense. The issue? I took a shower to make sure all the detangler was out and the rash was still there. In fact, it started to get a bit worse! By Saturday, I was starting to think I had a boil on my face! All the spots started to get worse! I had a doctor's appointment anyways that Monday so I decided to ask her about it.

This is about the worst that it got, thank goodness!

The doctor right away told me it was shingles. Me? Seriously?!?! Of course I would get it! Thing is 1 in 3 people will get shingles in their lifetime. I didn't really know anyone that had had shingles. After posting about me having shingles, about 20 of my friends said they had it before too! I was not alone! The good news is that for the most part its not contagious. All my kids have had the chicken pox vaccine so it couldn't effect them. My husband has had chicken pox so it wouldn't effect him. The bad news was that there was still a chance to give it to anyone who hasn't had the vaccine or the chicken pox. So, I ended up not leaving the house for almost a week. I went to church and stayed away from people and made sure not to scratch!

Here is a picture of the pills I had to take 3 times a day. I haven't taken a pill this big before! I felt like I might as well be swallowing that quarter!!!!

I have a new perspective for those who have had shingles. I was lucky. From having it on my face, I didn't have my clothes rubbing on it or irritating it. I just dealt with the flu like symptoms. Some people have it even better and some have it really bad. Most people will only get it once, but some people have the chance to have it many times. I have a friend who is only 25 who has had it 3 times now! Now I know what it looks like, so hopefully if it happens again to me, I will be able to get it taken care of faster!

Craft Time: Cupcake in a Jar

This past weekend, I got to make my sister in law's graduation cake. LOTS of fun! I got to thinking of something fun and different to do. We had a few pint mason jars so I decided to make cupcakes in a jar! Let me start off by saying, I made zebra cake and cupcakes :) When you cut into the cake, it actually did look like a zebra pattern! I was impressed! It was so much fun to make too, and the kids loved how messy it got!

Here is a picture of the cake before it went into the oven to bake!

Some instructions I have seen say to bake the cupcakes without the liners. I haven't ever had a good experience doing that so I figured since they are were all "zebra" the lines wouldn't be as visible :)

First, take off the cupcake liner and put the cupcake into the jar.

Then you take your frosting and put a bit on top of the cupcake. Doesn't need to look perfect as it's the middle layer!

Because I was using the pint mason jars, putting two cupcakes into one jar was a bit too much. So I cut the cupcakes in half and put just one half into the jar on top of the frosting.

Next, I took my frosting and piped it onto the cupcake all "fancy" like! Then my daughter took the "zebra" sprinkles and put them on top!

Last to do was put the lid back on! For the tops, I took some cardstock and traced the top to get the circle to put on top with a stamp. You could do this with fabric or any other idea you can think of! You could also put a ribbon around the jar. The possibilities are endless!

Close up of the finished yummy project!

Update on 30 Before 30!

So Far I have:

Do a 5K (4 actually! With 5 more planned!)
Second holes in ears
Run for school board (and now on school board for 4 yrs!)
Run for Policy Council (I got elected since someone quit and being on school board, I can't run for next year now)
Learn to cook something new (Do this a lot lately! Been cooking once a month!)
Read one book a month (sometimes more right now!)
Slumber party with the kids (John was gone for 3 days, so it was a LONG slumber party!)
Wichita Grand Opera's "Don Pasquale" (was last weekend, AMAZING!)
Take a cooking class (Did the Cook Once workshop with my MIL!)
Random act of kindness (I try to do what I can when I can!)