Pre-Weekend Update

It's now been a week since the ice storm moved in to town. We are on day five of no school, and there's snow predicted for tomorrow. The weather is actually not too bad today, and it's going to be above freezing, but the neighborhood streets are still frozen messes. At this point, I'm just hoping the state school board decides to wave some of these days. Otherwise, we'll be going to school for quite some time this June.

I took Swim Chick to the orthopedic specialist today. The good news is that it's a clean break and she just needs to continue wearing the figure eight wrap that keeps her shoulders in place. The bad news is that the pain medicine is making her sick to her stomach, and she threw up both in the car and in the doctor's office. She hasn't had much of an appetite, so that's part of it. I made her drink milk before she took her medicine this morning, a decision I regretted in the car. The doctor gave her some anti-nausea medicine though, which is helping. I'm going to try to wean her off the Lortab and onto regular Advil.

I'm sure that later I'll regret my general laziness during these days off. In fact, Adventure Guy and I have vowed that we're going to get some order restored around here this weekend. But I've really enjoyed the slower pace while it's lasted. It's been nice to just do some reading, catch up on movies and tv, do some cooking, and hang out with the kids. I'll probably make chicken enchiladas tonight. We haven't had those in a while, and it sounds good. I'm thinking "warm" food lately. Yesterday, I did a crock pot chicken that we like:

Roast Sticky Chicken
4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon onion power
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large roasting chicken
1 cup chopped onion

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine all the spices. Remove giblets from chicken, clean the cavity well and pat dry. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken, both inside and out, making sure it is evenly distributed and down deep into the skin. Place in resealable plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook chicken, put the onions into the cavity. Make three fist-size balls of aluminum foil and place in crock pot. Place chicken on top of foil. This allows the chicken to roast rather than stew. Do not add any liquid to crock pot. Cover and cook on High for 1 hour. Reduce to Low and cook 7-9 hours.

I serve the chicken with rice, green beans, and pan rolls. If you haven't tried Sister Schubert's rolls, you must. I can't believe that there are frozen rolls that taste so much like my great-grandmother's homemade ones. These things bring back memories of childhood Christmases and Easters. Not good for the waistline but definitely good for the soul!