right now...

We recently returned home after spending about a week in South Carolina with our friends. It was such a refreshing visit, and neither Brad nor I were quite ready to return home. They really are like family, so we always feel right at home when we stay with them.

But alas, here we are and we returned to some craziness indeed. There were various happenings that kept me very busy and a bit on edge, and Lily (who recently started treatment for Lyme's disease) had a bit of a relapse that required an ER visit Sunday night. I had to take Ian to the doctor yesterday to get his finger lanced after he got stung by something in the ocean while at SC and it got infected. It's just been crazy and strange, you guys!

Lily... oh I feel so horrible for her. She's been laying around in bed since Sunday morning, so sick with the Lyme's as well as from side effects of the antibiotics she has to take. It hurts me to see my kids sick, it really does.  I'm doing my best, feeding her nutritious foods and loving on her bunches, but she is so nauseated that she basically has to be forced to eat. I called the doctor today and we're going to give it a couple more days before we discuss possibly switching the med. She's on amoxicillin which is actually much milder than some of the other meds used to treat Lyme's. I'm really praying that she begins to tolerate it better so we can stay on course. So for now I'm trying to push protein-rich foods and giving her a daily probiotic.

We came home to a flourishing garden! It always amazes me how much a garden can grow in a week's time. We've been enjoying the bounty of those beautiful plants. Grilled veggies. Blueberry pancakes. Cucumber salads. Bags of berries for the freezer.

I'm also fermenting two jars of cukes. Fermenting is my absolute favorite way to prepare pickles. I throw in a bunch of garlic and some red onions as well as some dill, and the end result is just amazing! Pickles prepared this way never last long in our home. 

I've also dove into the world of kombucha brewing. Our SC friends' neighbor brews his own and had some SCOBY's that he gave me to start my own. As with most things, I just jumped right in. I spent quite a bit of our drive home online researching kombucha brewing. The SCOBY is so strange looking. It actually looks and feels like a piece of raw chicken. It's very alien-like!

Today, I'm immersed in laundry (like most days) and preparing for an upcoming yard sale that I'm having. And I'm on my second cup of coffee which hasn't happened in a LONG time. Just need a bit more of a boost today.

Have a good one!