National Pierogi Day!

Hello all. For all of my Pittsburgh and Polish friends it is National Pierogi Day. And in honor of National Piergogi Day I made our own pierogis for dinner tonight. They turned out really good. We haven't eaten them yet but they look and smell delicious.


First you need your ingredients to make the pierogi. I like to use the King Author flour. Its pure flour without Bromide( BAD stuff, in most breads unless the ingredients on the bread bag says unbrominated(Wegmans has these)burger and hot dog rolls etc. Bromide is BAD stuff for your body). You want 2 cups of flour in your bowl. Next you want some salt. I like the Himalayan and Celtic Salts, these are REAL salts, not refined garbage. So you want 1/2 tsp of salt. Next you want to mix those two together. Add one egg, your soften butter 1/4 tsp cut up in little pieces and 1/2 cup of sour cream. I had forgotten I had some plain Greek style yogurt in my fridge. You can use that too and actually its more healthier than the sour cream. Mix it all together. I used my hands if you have a food processor with a hook you can use that too. You want to keep mixing it until the dough is NOT sticky anymore. This can take up to 5 to 7 minutes.
Once your done with the dough , wrap it in some waxed paper and let it sit in the fridge for at least 20 to 30 minutes. You can make this a day ahead of time too and use it the next day.


While your waiting for your dough to settle. Cut up about 3 to 5 potatoes. I cut 5 russet( that I had here in the house and it made A LOT! I even made 2 batches and still had some left). Wash, and cut the potatoes and boil them til their nice and soft.

So while I was waiting for my tastey spuds to cook I choppped up some onion(shhhh, don't tell hubby HATES onion) and chopped up half of my lovely garlic that I got from my mother in law's garden. Yum. I sauteed the onion until it wasn't much of an onion. Sauteed the onion first as the garlic cooks up much quicker. Once the onion started looking 'softer' I added the garlic to the pan.



Once the potatoes were done and the onion. I got my trusty mixer out and started to mix those puppies up for about a few seconds. Then shut off the the mixer, added my onion/garlic mix to the potatoes and mixed those puppies up again. Shut if off, added some cheese to the mix. I thought I had some cheddar in the fridge but I didn't. So I settled for the taco cheese I have. Still tastes pretty good. Mixed that up , there really isn't a set amount of cheese. Just add to your taste. You can add a little salt and pepper to your liking too. To top it off I cut up the parsely I had in the fridge and ended up with that yummy mix. MMMM.



Okay so the mix is all set and by the time your done doing all of that your dough is ready to take out of the fridge. Assuming you are doing this all in one day like I did. I used my favorite rolling pin, a pastry/bread cutter that I had gotten from Pampered Chef, but you can use a cup , jar or anything that is circular to make your pierogi.

Roll your dough to about 1/8 inch thick. If your super human. If your not and your like me try to roll it as thin as you can. Then cut out your circle to make your pierogi.




Add your mix. About a tablespoon or so to the middle of your pierogi. I used a fork to hold the dough and slide when I folded the pierogi. It really worked well in keeping it from squishing out of the pierogi when you fold it in half.


After folding them in half, use your fork to press the edges together. It gives the pierogi a more interesting looking look. Plus it keeps that darned filling in there too. If your pierogi isn't sticking together then your using to much flour to roll out your dough. If you did, that's okay. Just use a little water on the fork and then press.



Then viola'! Your pierogi is all done. If you plan on making them for dinner after your done. Go ahead !Boil these babies for about 8 to 10 minutes or when they start floating at the top of your pan. You can boil them , bake them, fry them. A true Polish person does not fry their pierogi though, they boil them. You can also eat them with a side of sour cream. If your like my dad who is the human 'garbage can' you can eat them with sour cream and salsa(which is pretty good by the way). Add a little butter to them. Be creative.
If you want to eat them later like me. I used my bread pan and put waxed paper in it and added my pierogis to it then wrapped them up nicely. I wrapped up some to put in the fridge for dinner and then the other half in the freezer for another day.
So there you go. Have a great National Pierogi Day!!

Missing my life

The one thing about thyroid disease is that it takes your life from you.
I once had a wonderful life. One that was full and vibrant and enjoyable. Along time ago I had energy to enjoy life and have fun. I felt on top of the world and enjoyed doing everything and anything with my family. Especially my children.

Now I am not enjoying life like I once did. Its a sad, lonely and horrible road for me. Not to mention very scary. If I could talk to my thyroid I would tell it to leave me the heck alone. Go away! Let me live my life and be the best me I can be and the best mom I can be.

I so miss my life. I miss being the fun loving, always going everywhere and doing fun things mom I was. I still am but not to the same extent. I miss homeschooling my girls. I sent them because, one, they wanted to give it a try and two because I was losing my energy to even do it anymore. I wasn't being an effective teacher like I once was. It makes me sad to even think about it.
I miss spending my days on homeschooling boards reading about the latest curriculum and trying to decide whether it would be a good fit. Instead I spend my days on thyroid yahoo groups in hopes that I can get this all figured out, and trust me I wonder some days if I need to become a chemist to figure it all out. The complexity of thyroid disease is sometimes so above my head that I miss those simple days of just worrying whether we had the right math program or not.

Of course I'm doing something about it. I'm trying to find an actual physican that will help me heal my thyroid. I really don't want to take it out. I really don't. I read everyday the heartbreaking stories of those who have. I am very fortunate this time that I was able to start researching before even agreeing to any type of surgical procedure. This one out of a couple that I've already had myself , would of been the one I most regretted if I had gone ahead and done it.
I can't stress to anyone who reads this how much you NEED your thyroid. It controls all of your body organs. It controls your metabolisim , in a strange sense its almost to compare to your soul.

Once taken out your energy levels are never the same. No pill on earth can replace your thyroid gland. Its as if your soul is taken from you and you are left as a shell of a person. Its also very sad that many doctors don't take the time to really read, research and do what really and truely helps the patient. They'd much rather take out the gland so they can line their pockets to pay that next bill. Forget the fact that you may start out feeling better, and then later down the road it catches up to you, or forget the fact that there are high risks such as losing your parathyroid glands, or their function. Losing your vocal cords and the ability to read well. If those things happen its not the doctor's fault. Its all par for the course risks that you signed up for.

Its sad really. To know you can lose so much when you get sick. I hope and pray that the path I take is the right one. The one that will get me back to feeling like the awesome momma I was.

Dear Dr. Endo

Dear Dr. Endo ( or should I say evil Endo?),
I received a letter from you in the mail today from your office (which I threw out by the way). It said that it wanted my blood work so that you could continue giving me quality care. Um, yah, right.
I'd like to know your definition of 'quality' care. Is it having your patients walk out in tears and breaking down crying in their car after an appointment with you, after you tell them that taking their thyroid out was better than dying?
Is your 'quality' care having the doctor tell me that they didn't understand the report from the hospital? Which by the way I understood just fine when my primary care doc and I went over it. Really it was written in English and I didn't need a degree to understand it and my ENT understood it just fine when he told me that he saw nothing 'scary' in there, and monitoring it would be just fine. He even let me know how I felt was not that of people coming in with just nodules and that something was going on that needed to be taken care of first because he could take out my thyorid but it won't make me feel better. In fact my ENT really worked at discouraging me from having it taken out, even though he left it up to me as to whether I want it taken out or not So hmmmm.
Which leads me to the next thing. You joke me by just checking my T4 levels and nothing else. The thyroid consists more of than just T4. What about my Ft4, or my Ft3, or my RT3? Or heck what about T3 in general? Its been years since anyone has ever checked that. It seems doctors don't check that anymore. How about my adrenal glands, pitutitary, my iron levels for peat sake? I ask for these to be looked at and doctors poo paw it ,or just totally ignore me as if I just didn't say anything to them. Guess what? I am more than a thyroid, I am a person and I have more organs than just a thyroid.
Is your 'quality' care that where you poke my neck with needles when I tell you that I am very very sensitive when it comes to my neck. I even had a tough time having the sono done. Even more so when the biopsy has more false readings anyways. Is your 'quality' care telling me that your going to remove my thyroid and then put me back on the same poision(Synthroid) that has most likely put me in this position to begin with? Even more so then when I told you it had stopped working for me years ago.
With all of that said, Dear Dr. Endo, I will not grace your office with my presence. What I will do is pray for all of those women and men who do go to your office. I am a consumer and expect you to listen to me so that I can heal myself. If you cannot listen to me or help me then I will just do what I can to heal myself, and pray that I will get the money soon to see a doctor who really knows how to treat my condition. I have a family to take care of , four beautiful children and a husband, who need ME very much and not a shell of me.
So if you throw this letter out too that's fine, just letting you know that I will NOT be coming back.

Sincerely,
A well read consumer

St. Theresa's Little Flower Faith Folder Giveaway and Afghan Give away

The one memory I have growing up as a child was that of my mother in her garden on the side of her house. In that garden we had all sorts of flowers but my mother's most prized possesion was her roses. This must of been a love passed down by mother and child as my grandmother had her roses on the side of her house as well. Both when my mother and grandmother passed away several years ago we even made it a thing to make sure that there were roses on their coffins and on their headstones.

So when I saw this giveaway on the Shower of Roses website it brought back those wonderful memories of when I was a child watching my mother tend to her beautiful roses in our garden. www.showerofroses.blogspot.com



We have done a few of the Faith Folders and they really did turn out great. I will have to dig them out of our Lapbook collection and post them pics here.




Also on the website the author is also giving away a beautiful afghan to commemorate the Feast of St. Theresa as well.

" I have given nothing but love to God and He will repay with love. After my death I will let fall a shower of roses." St. Theresa Lisieux (April 1895)

Maggie's first day of school

Boy, oh , boy. How could I forget my Maggie pie's first day of preschool? Here are some beautiful pictures of my peanut girl. She started preschool on September 7th, 2010.

Preschool is going well for Maggie at the moment. She is really progressing and isn't so fearful of being there. Drop offs are usually really good for her and her teacher says she fusses sometimes but calms down.
I'm hoping we can continue preschool but I'm not sure as we still don't have a nurse for her for school. As it stands I go over to the school to cath her at 10:30 or whenever she has a poop accident. Which has only been once so far.

Its really getting old going over to the school three or four times a day. It really has defeated the purpose of it all and as it stands I'm just getting worn down and tired. Don't get me wrong I love my baby girl and will and have done anything for her but I am human. I can't go anywhere and am stuck at home. I hope that this all works out but I'm not so sure.



My proud Maggie girl..



Maggie and Daddy




Maggie waiting to go up to class




Maggie sitting at her big girl desk

Here is to a good 2010, Maggie Reed. Mommy loves you so very much.

Living with Thyroid disease

I'll admit our blog is a bit all over the place at the moment as I'm not homeschooling this year. The girls decided to give school a try and I have been needing to work on my health.

The past 7-8 years now I've been batteling with thyroid disease in one fashion or another. The first was I was diagnosed with thyroid disease when my 3rd daughter was born. I believe I've had it for a long time previous to that but that's when finally the first time in my life I was diagnosed. I was a good little patient, taking that little tiny pill called Synthroid. For the first three years I actually felt really well on it. I didn't question what I was put on , all I knew was that finally the first time since I could remember I felt 'awake', and alive. I was losing weight with diet and exercise and I felt normal. Of course that's all my doctor said, " you just take the medication , come in for some blood tests once a year and all will be well."

Then I had gotten pregnant with Maggie. A very true blessing even though I had a few rough spots through it. I just knew something wasn't right. In the end I was right as always and Maggie was born with what is called VACTERL association. Which is basically multiple birth defects. It wasn't until about 6 months after Maggie's birth with all of the stress , lack of sleep from a sick baby and many hospital stays with her I noticed I wasn't feeling my 'normal' self anymore. I started gaining weight and somewhere along the line I began developing a goiter. I've probably had it for a long time and just noticed it more when it bothered me a little bit on one side of my neck.

Along the way I had my blood tested and the 'good ole' docs told me all was fine. So obviously it was all in my mind. Not. It wasn't until this January that I just crashed. My blood pressure went sky high and I could barely move. I was sick. Along the way I still took my Synthroid because that's all the doctors will prescribe you because " It helps everyone." Not.
No matter how much I've begged and pleaded with doctors not one of them will prescribe me dessicated thyroid hormone , nor will anyone check out other things like adrenal glands and ferritin(iron) in me. I'm sure its because of my insurance. Actually I know it is. Why would we want to heal people? No its much easier to just run T4 tests, and check red blood cell count and end it there and wisk me off on my way. Or how about rip my thyroid out? That will 'fix' it.

I'll tell you I have lost most trust in the medical establishment these days. Why not rip the thyroid out and once they've screwed me up, put me back on the Synthroid that literally made me feel horrid and then they'll send me on my way. I mean really.. I have four children that I need to take care of and depend on me.


I have read quite a bit on the subject. Joined a group a while back called Thyroidless and have learned so much about what happens to people once they get their thyroid out. Its very sad and its heartbreaking to see these ladies/men suffer so much after they get it taken out. Doctors/Endos have this cold attitude that you can live without it. Not true if your body isn't doing what it needs to be doing to keep you alive and your medicine working properly. Its nothing for these doctors to take a thyroid out and wisk you on their way because after all their work is done and their pockets are lined with your thyriod( money).

There is hope and possibility to 'heal' the body and treat the thyroid rather then just rip it out. Postassium Iodine seems to be the thing that helps the body heal and rid itself of the toxins that build up in the body that leads to thyroid dysfunction, disease, cancer , goiter etc. Its sad to see so many women get mislead by the medical community on how to treat this. Don't get me wrong conventional medicine has its place. Its what saved my baby girl. Some of her birth defects would have killed her had she been born in someother life time before now. Most kids with her Imperforate anus defect didn't make it very long after birth. So it has its place but they sure still have a lot to learn about thyroid. The master gland. Without this gland your body wouldn't function properly at all. It controls your organs so its not like an appendix or tonsils that if they take it out you'll be fine. One will be dependent on this medication for the rest of their lives otherwise you die. Enough said. I'd much rather keep my thyroid thank you.

I will admit I wish I didn't have this problem at all. Some days it seems like to much to bear. I have spent countless hours reading about what I can do to heal myself,what to take and so on. But to me its not helpful if I can't go see a good doctor that can help me. The worst thing is I just can't afford it because these type of doctors ( holistic) don't take medical insurance ( I don't blame them). We can barely make ends meet right now. Its hard enough having to save for Maggie's medical trips let alone for me. So I'm sorry if I sound like I'm having a bit of a pity party , but I feel lost, hopeless and everything you can feel when you are faced with medical problems and no way to get the right treatment. Somedays I feel like I am going to be reduced to having my thyroid ripped out and to live a shell of a life because I can't afford to pay for a 'good' doctor. But I can't fold into that because I don't want that taken away from me. I don't want to be ill with cancer or anything like that either. My girls need me and I need them. My husband needs me and I need him. It just doesn't seem right that after having Maggie and dealing with everything that I have do deal with her that I get sick with something. I am MOM, I am supposed to be on my toes to take care of my children. After all God gave me them to care for.

I'm not sure what to really do. I would have to come up with the money to test my adrenal glands. For the dessicated thyroid , for the vitamin supplements,,, and the list goes on and on. Its just frustrating. I try so hard to lean on God. I will never know why this has happened. For all of the places on my body to get weird growths , my neck. The most sensitive part of my body. On my thyroid, the gland that controls my organs, and lord knows where ever else. None of my doctors have been the least bit helpful in any respect.

That leads me into reading the book of Job. What an amazing man. I bet if he were alive today he would have a blog or a Caringbridge page documenting his trials. Here was a man that lost his family, everything he had, including his health. He had friends who told him to blame God , yet he wouldn't. In the end he overcame his health scare, went on to gain back everything and then some of what he had and reestablished a family of his own and lived for a hundred some years. Yet in the end he learned that somethings in life can never be explained as to why they happen the way they do. He knew that it wasn't God's fault. I think Job best said it when he proclaimed : " But you smear me with lies, You are worthless doctors all of you! I wish you would just stop talking ; then you would really be wise! Listen to my argument and hear the pleading of my lips. " Job 13:4-6
If these doctors today would just stop and listen to their patients that maybe, just maybe they could help people more then just throw them on medication and line their pockets with taking organs out that need to be healed and not taken out.

School and Fall

I will admit this is not exactly my favorite time of the year. But I can say that I do appreciate the cooler temperatures. Its not to cold and not to hot, but just right.

The girls have been doing really well with school. Maggie started her first week of school last week. Its been a bit of trial and error for the most part since she has started. It also has been a little frustrating too since we do not have a nurse for her either , nor do I see one taking on the job to come in and out of the school once or twice a day.
So I'm taking this in stride and hoping for the best out of it all. If it gets to be to much , to stressful or just not woth it all anymore I will bring her home.

Even though the girls are doing well in school they are showing signs of wanting to come home. They will finish this school year but they've been hinting to how much they miss their mom being the teacher. I told them we will reevaluate at the end of the school year. See how they feel about everything then and go from there.

I'll admit I do miss having them home and teaching. I guess its just something I have always done, but in the same breath I will eventually have to get used to it as they won't always be little for ever.

I'm hoping this time away will give me the time to work on my health so I can feel better and be able to have the energy to teach. Thyroid disease is an ugly disease. Its very frustrating and confusing to deal with. I've been looking into alternative ways of treating my problem so that I won't have have my thyroid taken out. To me at this point I feel like its just not a very good option as I need my energy to care for my family and most of all Maggie. God gave me her to care for her. If I don't have the energy to care for my baby girl then what will I have left? How will I be able to make sure she gets the best care she can get if I can't function? I can't so I NEED to find a way to get well. So please pray for me and most of all my family. I need the wisdom to find the right things to treat my thyroid problem with and my family needs a mommy who can feel well and be the best mom she can be.