(6) Places and (5) Foods and (1) Major Freak Out.

Let's start with the "Major Freak Out," shall we? Shortly after I posted about Logan's bicuspid aortic valve disease, a good friend of mine (I used to watch her little boy during the day) contacted me and told me that her cousin's son had just had the surgery and was up and running 4 weeks later like nothing had happened. Ok, easy peasy, no big deal... and then I went to her page to ask her if she thought it would be weird if I contacted her cousin so I could kind of talk to a parent who's been through it... and that's when I saw her status update about the cousin's boy having OPEN HEART SURGERY. Which of course, lead to a massive Google investigation on just what the surgery options are. Of COURSE the only logical and effective surgery for the long term is the replacement of the valve with either a grafted and formed replica of a tricuspid aortic valve. Which of course, involves OPEN HEART SURGERY. The kind of surgery where they're put on bypass and their core temp dropped to a hypothermic situation. Color me completely in panicked. I didn't really begin feeling the panic until I talked to my Mom about it. It was the first time I'd spoken aloud about, my child... having his chest cut wide open... putting him on bypass and OMGFREAKINGTHEFUCKOUTGETMEOUTOFTHISCARBEFOREIOPENFIREONEVERYONE. I just... shit. Needless to say I will be calling the pediatric cardiologist WHILE in therapy so I can lose it in a safe place. ((i.e. not in front of my son who still doesn't have any idea what's in store for him.))

Now that we have that out of the way... let's talk about more pleasant things.

 

Places I've been that I never left the airport, but the airport was enough to peak my interest to go back.

1. Aruba. I did a turn around flight from Boston to Aruba and back to Boston all in less than 24 hours. I never got to see anything out the window upon landing/take off as it was night time... but Aruba sounds really lovely right now in comparison to "Pollen Storm 2012."
2. Amsterdam. We refer to the Netherlands as "The Mother Country" around here. The Husband's family came off the boat not too long ago in the grand scheme of things from Utrecht. ((Well, that's where I traced them to.)) I try to incorporate little bits of Holland into the house, because I am completely enamored with the place. The 6 hours I spent stuck in the airport KILLED me, but we weren't allowed to even step out because we didn't have visas. BOO. It was from that short period in the Amsterdam airport that I found a sick love for Stroopwafels. SO much so that when I was 8 months pregnant with Lillie and found out my Father In Law was headed there for business, I all but held a gun to his head and threatened his first born (aka, my Husband) if he didn't bring me back as many as he could carry back on the plane with him. Luckily for all parties involved, he followed through.
3. New Orleans. I KNOW. The most of I've seen of the place is the tarmac... and I'm pretty sure it's a short(ish) drive for us. What are we waiting for???
4. France, never been. EVER. Never even landed there, but it needed to make the list because HELLO, France you guys!
5. Tucson. I got a tasty burger in the airport, but that was as far as I ever got in Arizona. I've been to New Mexico and NEVERWANTTOGOBACK (another story, another day.) 
6. Venice. Been there, but never got to leave the airport. Lucky for me I got to have authentic Italian pizza and gelato in the international concourse. We landed in Aviano and bussed over to Venice to fly back to Germany. I slept through the entire damn drive even though I forced myself to stay awake, which that only lasted all of 5 minutes. THANKS, PREGNANCY, YOU ROBBED ME OF ONE FOR THE MEMORY BANKS.

 As for foods, let's talk about my top 5 favorite foods that I would quit any diet for a bite of.

1. Dark Chocolate anything. Oh, you have snails dipped in dark chocolate? Don't mind if I do!
2. White Pesto Pizza. But it has to be made just right. I worked for a local pizza shop in High School, and lucky for me it was right next to the school. So I would go there before my shift after school let out and do homework and gorge on the best pizza in the planet. The owner was Italian and he had the recipes for his sauce and dough sent over from his Italian Grandmother. It was so good. SO GOOD. A simple hand tossed crust with a thin pesto spread, garlic, fresh ricotta and feta, piles of mozarella and then (my addition) spinach. Oh shit, I'm hungry now. Too bad the new owners don't use the old recipes. Actually, it's probably good for my waistline that they don't.
3. Cherries. I invested in a pitter... worst part is, my son is almost/maybe worse than I am. I was pitting them for a pie and I looked over at the bowl of cherries I'd pitted, I found my son popping them all in his mouth. Obviously he thought I'd bought the pitter for HIS convenience.
4. Cake. All kinds. Cupcakes, 5 layers, cakepops, Little Debbie zebra striped, cake donuts, I have a problem.
5. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. BUT ONLY the ridiculous holiday limited edition ones. The peanut butter tastes fresher and it's like a damn party in your mouth.

And this concludes our lists for the day. Now I have to go and clean something, like I don't know, laundry perhaps! The kitchen! THE BEDROOMS! The possibilities are endless, so long as they involve staying inside out of the yellow fog.