24 Hours. I Promise.

If I have to pick an illness to have sweep through our house, I think I'd pick the one that's been knocking us down like dominos. First Mila fell victim, then me four days later, and on the fifth day it was Alexis' turn. While it wasn't a particularly fun sort of illness, it was a 24-hour one. As in, it was almost exactly 24 hours before the first strike until it magically lifted. 

When I say "magically lifted," I mean that it was like ::click:: and gone. One second you're miserable; the next you're sunshine and rainbows. It was super weird, but certainly better than those illnesses that drag on for weeks and weeks. Mila had a cough over the winter that I swear lasted four weeks and it was beyond frustrating for all of us. She wasn't sick enough to be sick, but she wasn't well either. Just cough and cough and cough and cough all of the hours of the day.

ANYWAY. It wasn't fun, but there are worse things than what we've had going around. The illness first swept through daycare, then Mila brought it home, and then it found all of the girls in the house. (That's not much of a coincidence since the husband was out of town a bunch of days in there.)

Mila basically slept through her turn. There was very little complaining. 

I existed on the couch for my day.

And then there was Alexis.

Alexis is a special butterfly. She's the sort of special butterfly who is rarely sick and therefore is terrible at it. She makes sure that everyone around her is every bit as miserable as she is. All of the complaining comes out of her face. ALL OF IT.

So much whining.

So much complaining.

I kept telling her that it would all be over when she woke up in the morning, but she didn't believe me. Misery dripped from her everything as she seemingly got worse as the day went on. Which, I had lived through that beast; I knew that wasn't how it was supposed to work. As day turned into night, I started to worry that she would actually end up being sick longer than one day.

AND IT WOULD BE AWFUL.

I fell asleep dreading what would happen in the morning.

What happened in the morning is that I got up at waaaaay too early o'clock because I had to be to work before humans should be alive. I stumbled through the house desperately wishing for walls that deliver coffee as you walk past then stumbled my way towards the bathroom to take a shower. As I stumbled in the dark, I wondered how Alexis was feeling, but I didn't want to wake her. She crashed in a different bed than usual so that she wouldn't have to climb up and down her loft when she was sick, so I was extra quiet as I walked past her.

And then.

AND THEN.

A small ninja jumped out of bed and snuck up behind me. That ninja yelled through the darkness of the early morning, "MOM! I FEEL GREAT!"

It super hurts when you jump so high that you hit your head on the ceiling. 

And Then There Were Two

You guys. YOU GUYS.

I think Mila's hair might truly be curly.

Right now you either think I'm being Captain Obvious or you're thinking I'm delusional. That all depends on whether you think the six whole strands of hair she has managed to grow in nearly two years can be trusted or not. But, here's the thing -- the longer those six strands get, the curlier they are. And the itty bitty bits of hair that are trying to grow in are appearing to be curlier than their predecessors.

This whole thing confounds me because I don't know for a fact where the curls originate. Sure, Alexis has gorgeous loopy curls, but they're weird as well. I know my mom had curly hair, but I don't know how curly since she never had a decent hair cut. The last several years of her life she had the traditional super short granny haircut, which she permed because early 90's. Everybody permed. But if I consider Alexis' hair, it wouldn't have much curl if it were super short. The curls are too big and loopy.

And so are Mila's.

SQUEEEEE!

It all means I get one more chance to figure out how to make a kid love her own hair, curls and all. Alexis is finally starting to come around, but if you give her a chance, she still thinks it looks better straight. If you think I'm going to try to make Alexis fully embrace her curls by pointing out that Mila has the same ones, you're damn right.

But I also have to do whatever is possible to make sure Mila loves hers from the start. 

Yay, curls!

Lime Cheesecake Tarts

I've been working hard to teach Mila to share. Apparently that paid off at the exact wrong moment.

She shared her germs. With me.

For that reason, I'm reposting a recipe from a few years ago. It's been on my mind because it seems like the right time of year to make it. I might just do that if I ever get off the couch again.

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Lime Cheesecake Tarts.

I wanted to have a little St. Patrick's Day fun, but I decided to veer from the predictable mint path and go straight for some light and fluffy lime fun. These little cheesecakes are delicate and subtle. They aren't super sweet, nor are they really sour. They are PERFECTION because they are like eating little lime clouds.

Oh, and they are super easy, too.

You start with a package of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sugar, the juice from two limes, and the zest from two limes.

And don't try to tell me that you don't know what "zest" is. It's the peel from the lime. Just scrape the green off of a lime with a grater and you'll be all set.

Don't have a grater? You should. They are something like $2 at IKEA. (Make your own laundry soap and you'll have paid for that grater in less than a week.)

Take a mixer to the cream cheese, sugar, lime juice, and lime zest until it's smooth and creamy. It takes about two minutes.

In a separate bowl, it's time to make some whip cream. You'll need 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and a mixer.

At first the cream will make bubbles, but if you keep beating it...

...it'll get thicker...

...and thicker...

And thicker. See those lines in the cream? That's where it's starting to hold it's shape. Your heavy cream has turned into whip cream when you can make little peaks in it and they don't fall over.

It won't drip from your mixer either.

Once your whip cream is all done, you'll add it little by little to the cream cheese mixture, gently stirring until it's completely blended. You'll be left with an amazing no bake lime cheesecake filling that you can use with any sort of crust.

I took the easy route.

You can find Mini Fillo Shells in the frozen section of your grocery store next to the pie crusts. You could also use a graham cracker crust or a standard pie crust. It's all good.

Especially if you garnish it with a little bit more lime zest.

Lime Cheesecake Tarts

3 packages frozen mini fillo shells (or one pie crust--graham or regular)
1 package cream cheese (I have used reduced fat cream cheese and the recipe turns out just fine)
3/4 cup sugar
Juice from 2 limes
Zest from 2 limes
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1. Take the Fillo Shells out of the package. Ta-dah! You're done preparing the crusts!

2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, lime juice, and lime zest with a mixer on low speed until smooth (about two minutes).

3. In a separate large bowl, beat the heavy cream with a mixer at high speed until peaks begin to form.

4. Add the cream cheese mixture to the whip cream little by little, gently stirring to combine the two.

5. Spoon the lime cheesecake filling into your pie crust or Fillo Shells.

6. Garnish with a bit of lime zest.

7. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before eating.

8. Try not to eat all of it at once. (I may have failed at this step. It's possible.)