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I went to Reading yesterday for the funeral of my great-aunt. I wanted to be there with my Grandmother, and I was glad… she said seeing Lilia made her day. I know this is going to hit her hard– as we stood at the grave, she said, “Oh, my friend”. It is going to sink in slowly.

After the funeral, I sat around with Grammom while Lilia napped. I asked her if she ever had Paczkis, and while she knew they were doughnuts, she had never had one. Although she is 100% Polish, growing up in Berks County pretty much makes you Pennsylvania Dutch– she’s a fastnacht fan, through and through. She did mention one treat that she remembers her mother making. She said it like “hrust” with a throaty H sound– said she thought it was spelled “hurst”. It was a twisted doughy fried thing that my great-grandmother sprinkled powdered sugar on. Grammom said that she gave her mother some Chinese noodles (I’m thinking like the ones they give you to snack on?), and her mom blotted the oil out of them, and sprinkled them with powdered sugar– and proclaimed they were just like “hrust”. I found this site which says they are called Chrust Faworki. Maybe I can find some in Port Richmond.

My Great-Aunt Jen and my Grandmother on my grandparents’ wedding day.

Well, It’s Valentine’s Day! I have never been big into celebrating this holiday, but I did purchase some Trader Joe’s Sea Salt Brownie Petites to get a chocolate fix. Yum.

I took Miss Lilia to the doctor today. She’s been very snotty and she has said her ears hurt. Yesterday was probably the worst day, but it was very bad weather, and I didn’t want to venture out to the doctor in it. Thankfully, the doctor thinks she is over the worst of it, and that she doesn’t need antibiotics. The doctor also looked in my ears, and proclaimed my left ear “a mess”. Joe has been under the weather too, and finally went to the doctor. Diagnosis: Bronchitis. Unless it’s pneumonia.

Ah, so, we are surviving. But Lilia actually seemed a lot more perky today– this gives me hope that we are at the end of this! And then I’ll just have to wait for my ear to heal.

How about some Valentine’s Day pictures of my February Sweetheart? (Only 2 weeks till Lil is 2!)
The Ham (who knows where she learned this smile!?!)

Can you believe this girl didn’t win Regis and Kelly’s most Beautiful Baby contest?

Since we have a sizable tax return coming our way (thank you, TurboTax– I actually started filing with H&R Block online, ran into a problem that couldn’t be fixed, and decided to re-do with TurboTax, and ended up with almost $600 more back than H&R Block– wow this should be its own sentence, instead of stuck here in parentheses), I am thinking about making two large purchases. I am soliciting advice from my readers (how many of you are there??).

1. Our water supply is pretty icky. We use either a Pur or Brita filter on the kitchen sink, but both of them get clogged pretty quickly. There is an off-white substance coming out of the water– I can’t believe that’s good to drink. So I am considering getting some sort of under the sink water filtration system. I don’t know where to start looking, and have no idea how much something like this would cost. Any ideas?

2. A new digital camera. I’ve been suffering with my hand-me-down, old, slow, sometimes-won’t-take-a-picture-even-if-I-push-the-button-a-dozen-times camera, and I really want a new one. I’m not looking to spend a lot, so no fancy Digital SLR for me. I want something small and good. Joe always liked his Canon PowerShot Digital Elph, but the screen died on the last one, and that discouraged him. He got a Panasonic Lumix, but is taking a long time getting used to it. I’d be willing to forgive Canon for the screen problem. What do you think? What kind of camera do you have? How much was it? Do you like it?

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In other news, I think my hearing is getting worse. The info I’ve seen about broken eardrums makes it sound like it isn’t a big deal. However, the pain in the first 48 hours was worse than labor. And the lingering not being able to hear (due to constant ringing and cloudy feeling) is really discouraging. It looks like it could take 2 months to heal. Fingers crossed that it is much less than that.

With the whole family being sick all week, we haven’t had a chance to replenish the refrigerator. Joe remembered that we had pierogies that we bought last month at the Syrenka Cafe. I was never a fan of pierogies, which is quite odd, since I love both potatoes and dough, but I remember my sister and mom frying up Mrs. T’s with onions. I suggested this to Joe, and he said that we’d just boil them. That sounded kind of bland, so I searched online, and found that people suggest boiling them a little, and then frying. I fried up some onion and mushrooms, and added the boiled pierogies, and they were YUMMY. I DO like pierogies, Sam I am, I do! I added Frank’s hot sauce to mine. Does that make me less Polish?

Laura mentioned that she was going to make Paczkis for Fat Tuesday– a Polish tradition she picked up in Chicago. I meant to look it up, but didn’t get around to it– and this morning, I saw a cute piece on this Polish treat on CBS Sunday Morning. Mo Rocca (who I only know from Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me… what is he famous for?) went around Hamtramck on Fat Tuesday and interviewed the sweetest paczki makers– he even went to a bakery we stopped at the time I visited Hamtramck (Martha Washington Bakery– there is a photo of me in the bakery somewhere, but it was pre-digital camera). Anyway, I just assumed that they were like Fastnachts, but really, they are filled with yummy goodness. They look delicious– and it was fun to see people carrying box upon box of paczkis down the street.

I was so excited a few years ago to see a Philadelphia bakery advertising Fastnachts, that I pre-ordered a dozen and brought them in to work… only to find that 3 of my co-workers were out of the office, and another wouldn’t touch anything sweet. Plus, these Fastnachts were not like the Berks County Fastnachts- they were shaped like a croissant, and were sprinkled with granulated sugar. I can’t remember, but I’m sure I managed to eat them all anyway.

Well, since we have been sick sick sick, I haven’t taken any February photos. But here’s one from last February– my little one-eighth Polish babe:

I didn’t intend for this blog to include the mundane details of my day-to-day health.

BUT

I have to share this: I blew my nose yesterday afternoon, and immediately my ear felt like there was a pillow shoved into it. It didn’t get better, and in the night, woke me up with excruciating pain. I am bleeding out the ear.

I have broken my eardrum. Or more precisely, perforated my tympanic membrane. It is terribly painful, but apparently, is not that big of a deal. I have some nice medicine to take, and will hopefully be in less pain soon.

But let this be a lesson to you, especially those of you with large Italian noses…