What a week!!

I had planned to make a few posts this past week, but I've had issues with my littlest one that kept me quite busy. A couple of weeks ago, he woke up with some sort of bloody wax coming out of his ear. It only happened for a day then went for a week with nothing, so I brushed it off as maybe his ear tube finally came out after nearly 3 yrs. Well, Tuesday evening after his bath, I was suggling with him & noticed an odor coming from that ear. When I cleaned it out, I got swab after swab of that same bloody wax. Freaked me out!! (those of you that know me, you know I don't freak out easily)

Took him to the doctor Wednesday morning, & he has a middle ear infection. He had no pain with it or fever, so we had no idea that it was like that. I also had to take him in to the ENT later that afternoon, because his pediatrician said it looked like the skin of his eardrum was growing up through the tube & making a flower shape that would have to be surgically removed. The ENT said he couldn't see anything through the blood & the infection and to come back in 2 weeks after the antibiotics did their job. So for now I've got to convince a 5 1/2 yr old with severe ADHD to lie still for 1/2 an hour, twice a day while the ear drops do their thing. What a chore!! I'll know more about what's going on with my little guy's ears closer to school.

I had to take a short crafting break, as a result of the drama of this last week, so I thought I'd show you the recipe card I made last month for the Halloween/Autumn Swap over at PC Crafter. These are half page recipe cards - I used a cardstock called "caramel" for the base (looked more punkin to me, tho); the textured avocado green is from "Die Cuts with a View" & I sanded it down a bit to get a more "worn" look (it looked too new for this shabby chic girl); I used a dioxiazine purple ribbon down the side of the green; the recipe - Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust - is printed on a cream cardstock; the leaves are different solid & pattern paper bits that I cut out using my Cuttlebug & maple leaf dies. It was the first swap I'd ever entered & it was an ambitious one - 37 people entered & we each made 3 extra for the hostess, for a total of 40 recipe cards.

I also entered a sympathy card swap at PC Crafter. Not nearly as large - only 9 of us signed up for this one. I picked up a couple of rubber stamps for 50%off at Hobby Lobby on Monday - a floral background & "you're in my thoughts & prayers"; stamped them on the 4x4 square card bases and envelope flaps in Stampin Up!s retired color "Wild Wasabi" & finished them with a sheer green ribbon that was an almost identical color match. This is what I ended up with...

Thanks for looking! I'll try to post the Pumpkin Pie recipe for y'all tomorrow.