A Weekend at the Country Estate

Seriously.



This is my parents house. My brother and I joke about how they have given up suburban life to retire on their country estate. Did you know it has a hot tub room? I've never known my folks to be hot tub people...or so I thought. It's like a don't even know them anymore. Pretty soon my Dad's going to say how much he wants to go on a cruise...with other people near him...people that he doesn't know. My entire understanding of the universe shifted after my weekend in Kirtland.

After finally soaking in the sheer awesome-ness of their new home, I was able to get to more important matters - like the food.

The food was delicious! My Dad and I love to cook together. We go to the store and buy obscure cheeses and weird cuts of meats and odd smelling condiments and concoct these dishes using just about every pot and pan and utensil in the house. It drives my mom crazy, but in a half smiling, "you kids!", exasperated sort of way. (Most of the time - there was is one time, we made curry...there wasn't much of a half smile that time. It smelled like red and yellow curry for about 3 days)

We arrived on Friday afternoon right around lunch time. My Dad was still at work, but coming home soon. He had bought an amazing piece of salmon and had seen a recipe on a cooking show we sometimes watch that he wanted to try. It involved pepper jelly (a family favorite), cilantro, butter, salt and pepper. It was great. We sort of had to improvise because we were all out of the yummy jalapeno jelly I had given him for Christmas - and to be honest, I think I'll start making my own just so I can up-tic the heat a little.



We mixed the cilantro, raspberry-jalapeno jelly that we did have in the pantry, and butter. We didn't put in quite enough salt to balance the sweet of the raspberry, but that was fixed after plating.



We grilled the salmon in a tin foil boat and let me tell you - I LOVE cooking fish this way. You still get the grill marks, but your filets stay intact and you don't have to deep clean the inside of the grill after cooking. Two great things.

Anyway, here is the finished product. *Please remember that I suck at taking photos and I was just so excited to eat this, that i didn't bother plating it well. That's why it's blurry and a bit of a mess*



We cooked pretty much all weekend, but you'll have to wait for my other posts to hear about the rest of this culinary wonderment.
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I Covet This.

More info about my fantabulous weekend in Kirtland coming soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the sheer awesome-ness of this. I.Want.It.



Seriously. Would this not look A-Mazing with an LBD, a patent clutch and maybe a peeptoe pump? ...Oh, maybe a pewter-y bag and shoe? I am salivating over the idea of dressing like a normal person again soon.
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Fidgety and Agitated

So I haven't starting read THE BOOK. I'm like an addict going through withdrawals.

I allowed myself to buy it mostly because I wanted to have something to read while I took the 3-hour glucose test from Satan. I have to take it in the next 2 weeks and I'm *super* excited about it.

Ok, I also bought the book because I wanted it, and I have no will power anymore - the baby has taken it all from me. This probably explains the 2 cookies I had for breakfast this morning...gosh, I really hope this glucose test comes back normal! I don't think that I can handle watching my sugar/carb intake.

As you're reading this, we are either on our way to or already in Cleveland, OH. My parents moved to a little known suburb of Cleveland called Kirtland, OH. Maybe you've heard of it?

Anyway, my mom is still here is Chi-town while my brother is finishing school, so my dad lives in their glorious new house all by himself. We're going out to see him over conference weekend, and mostly - it's because he has a viking range and my dad and I really like to cook weird food together.

I can already picture the bleu cheese, exotic spices and random ethnic findings that we will use to concoct odd dishes that only he and I will eat!! Ah...good times.
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More Random Musings

Apparently, my walking down Michigan Ave. is akin to a freak show.

I was walking to the book store today during lunch and I noticed quite a few eyes on me. I'm not completely sure if there are more than usual or if I'm just noticing it more because I am more self conscious of my shape.

Either way, I seem to be garnering attention from the suburbanite tourists that flock to Michigan Ave in warmer weather. (Not that today constitutes warmer weather, but we take what we can get out here.)

I made pointed eye contact with about 15 Miley Cyrus look-a-likes today and a handful of pseudo-business men walking to lunch. It made me laugh of little - after I made sure I didn't have smutz of my face or a giant hole in my pants.

To be fair, I am getting rather large and I had a sort of sequined top on and my zebra coat that can't really be missed. I think that's why I liked it initially, because it was a bit of a show stopper.

It's just a different kind of show now that I have expanded to the size of a large farm animal...
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Random Musings

I bought a book today.

I haven't bought a book in a really long time.

It feels really good.

I love the smell of the newly pressed paper, and the weight of hard bound, dust covered wonderment.

The funny thing about this book is that it's a pregnancy book...sort of. It's by a blogger that I read almost daily. She's generally somewhat crass, but mostly hilarious and I enjoy her insights into life.

I don't know that I'd recommend her for all readers, but for those with a sense of humor and a bit of tolerance. She's great.

The website is dooce.com and the book is called, "It Sucked and then I Cried". (I'll let you guess what the "it" is.)

She was in Chicago last week and I desperately wanted to go to her book signing, but, alas - it was on my only free weeknight and I'd already booked plans. So I bought her book today (with a whopping 10% sales tax) and am excited to get started on it.
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Well, excuse me!

Apparently, someone has an opinion about the amount of spice that I consume with my meals.

This said someone also has no trouble expressing this opinion by pointedly shoving body parts into my rib cage and decidedly moving about entirely off of her normal schedule.

Where is this kid's mother!? MY kid would never do this.
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24 Weeks and Counting

Yep. 24 weeks...and my photog still can't get the photo centered. :)



This second photo, it generally what our "photo shoots" deteriorate to, as DH makes some goofy comment or starts taking pictures of my chest.


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Cake Wrecks

It's one of those blogs that I am addicted to, and incidently where I found the photo from my previous post.

My S-I-L mentioned it in her blog and I've been hooked ever since.

It's almost as good as failblog and that blog's associated sites. HE-larious. :)
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What NOT to give me at a baby shower...

If you are my friend, and you wish to stay as such, please don't do this...



Seriously. How about a flower cake or cute little cupcakes with decorative paper wrappers? I'd even be okay with baby shaped cookies or candy pacifiers. But please, no horrific, pre-pacifiered alien babies coming out of my stomach (or what I assume to be my stomach). Also - nothing anatomical either. It's really unnerving.

I'm not even considering how this baby will get from my uterus to the outside world, and until I actually HAVE to think about it, I intend to enjoy my naivete.

?More hilariously inappropriate cake-ness? - Go here


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Holy Buckets, 71!

So, it's supposed to be 71 degrees today. That's crazy. Because just this last week, it looked like this.



Yep. It's snowing and there are 3, count 'em 3, of the same buses just waiting. It's the middle of the morning rush hour and there are about 40 people waiting to get on at least one of those buses. It takes a SOLID 10 minutes for one of the drivers to even come back to her bus, but she just went in to get a cigarette and then come out and smoke it. I seriously have not seen someone take so long on a single smoke. She took it to a whole new level

Anyhoo, she finally strolls back into her bus and then pulls up the remaining 10 feet to the bus stop and then glares at the passengers as we get on the bus altogether much to quickly for her liking. After all, she can't be expected to look at every one's transit pass when they're getting on! We need to wait for her to give her approval before we even think about moving to the back of the bus



*I just re-read this. It sounds rather bitter. The funny thing is, that I'm not that upset. I actually find the entire CTA debacle to be hilariously inconvenient, yet necessary. Should we ever move away from Chicago, I don't know that I'll miss CTA. ever.

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Phunny Photo Phriday

Apparently you don't need to work out to get a 6-pack.



I bet it helps to be a Dale Jr. fan as well...

...classy.
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Spring Must be Coming

Spring MUST be coming. I can't really tell from looking at it outside, but it's coming. How do I know?

Well, I've started taking blog photos again. I took three separate pictures today, and I'm going to start posting them tomorrow. I have also stopped hating life. I still have pregnancy "whatever" going on, but I no longer want to curl up in my bed, watch a chic movie and cry for like 3 weeks straight. I've been able to keep the house straight for an entire week and I even pulled the vacuum out on my non-vacuuming day.

The world is right again. I can feel it!
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I Need Your Help...Yes, You!

Ok, to take my mind off other unsavory happenings in my life, I need everyone's opinions about some things...

As you may have seen from the below, I am trying to pick out baby bedding. My original thought was to do ladybugs, and while I still like the idea, I'm not sold on the all over, repressively pale pink.

In an ideal world, I would just make my own, but this world is far from ideal and I think with my current time constraints, my baby would be 2 before I finished it...SO! I have sort of narrowed down my store-bought choices to about 5 that I think are pretty good. Let me know what you think and any reasoning you might have beind your choice.

Seriously, this is a matter of GRAVE importance...take.this.seriously.

:)

1.)

This was initially my first choice. I like that there are a million accessories that I can buy that match, but again, there is a LOT of repressive pink. I think I may want some bolder colors - not ADD inducing, but bolder.

2.)

I love the femininity of the the flowers plus the vibrant punch of orange is a nice complement to the pink and light blue. It's a good mix of colors and active enough to incite interest after the initial cuteness wears off.

3.)

This one's red. It's my signature color and my go-to favorite. I'm concerned about the stark contrast between the red and white with nothing but grey to soften it. I'm afraid that after a while the sharp contrast will tire out my eyes/the baby's eyes.

4.) \

I just really like this green. I think it would look really great with my crib set. It's sort of a natural fruitwood color in a sleigh bed format. Do you think it's too much of one color? It's not pink, but there is still a lot of green.

5.)

And finally, the pink and green combo. I still get the girly pink, but with the bright punch of green it's a bit more interesting and versatile.

OK. So let me know what you think!!
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Things That Don't Taste Good The Second Time

In honor of my impending move to the third trimester my body has decided to mutiny...and I think the she-baby has joined the fight.

To finish the though presented in my blog title, here is a list of things that I apparently can not keep down...

- Chili and Cornbread (I know, bad choice)
- Oatmeal, plain with 1% milk
- Chicken Broth
- Water

This is just the 'piece de resistance' of the last two weeks that started with a full blow sinus cold, and transformed, mid-cold into all-over-my-body hives (thus resulting in blood work to check out my liver) and finally, because my sinus cold was over and hives apparently get lonely, I have yet to successfully keep anything down since about noon yesterday.

I talked to a friend of mine, wo-ing about my luck getting the stomach flu for the second time, like, EVER - and she looked at me, smiled and said, "honey, you're six months pregnant. You can think you have the stomach flu if you want, but you have skyrocketing hormone levels and a finicky baby pushing all your organs into your throat. Are you sure its not that?"

I have to laugh because she just had a baby and distinctly remembers all of this. I'm glad she's here to keep me grounded.


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Singular Focus

I've noticed some drastic differences in my life lately...

I've felt, in general, that life is multi-faceted to a certain extent. I work, I'm interested in music and art, and I like "creative hobbies". I love books and find trivia very facinating.

All this has changed. I noticed yesterday, that while I still participate in a few of those activities and many of them are still interesting to me, the only this I REALLY focus on in my life right now is...


...the bathroom.

Where is the closest bathroom? How long do I think I can go before I have to start looking for one again? I just had a tiny sip of water - I should probably not go anywhere for the next 3 hours.

Tell me, will it always be like this? Am I forever doomed to boldly go no farther than 10 mintues from the nearest facility?
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Monday, Monday

So, this is kind of funny.



I am totally a blog hog. Everyday, I just look at blogs for like an hour, it's like binge interneting. When I talk about, it totally sounds like a waste of time, but really, it makes me feel so happy some days.

I get to see interesting and sometimes even exciting pictures of friends and I get to hear about what they're doing with their lives. It's great.

I also am a sucker for dogs. It's a fatal flaw I know, and one DH has really had to work with me on. I'm finally admitting my addiction, yet still not able to curb it. For example, this lovely photo posted today. I found this on a blog that I read EVERY.DAY. The entire website comprises cutesy little photos of dogs doing dumb things with even dumber captions.

I can not get enough of this. I don't know if I'm getting sappy with this pregnancy or my problem has finally gotten to the point where I can't keep it hidden anymore, but I LOVE this website...

Although, like a true addict, I have very good reasons for doing what I do. I've noticed that the last few postings on my own blog have been blasé and sort of depressing. I'm going to change that by looking at this website and others like it as often as necessary to increase my outlook on life in general.
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NSAIDS and IcyHot

Somedays, I wonder just how dumb I am...

So, before you get alarmed, I have NOT taken any NSAIDS. I just wish I could.

Last Thursday or there abouts, I'm taking care of some compliance issues at work and I'm shredding sensitive documents and it's no big deal, right?

I have had a rather bad case of tendinitis in my right wrist since about the end of 2005. It's not really a big deal anymore, but something that I definitely have to watch.

Anyway, I'm feeding papers into the shredder, using my right hand of course, and I "tweak" it. I don't really know what happened, i just grabbed some papers and when I fed them into the machine, my arm went numb. Immediate pain from my wrist to my elbow and then radiating up to my shoulder and neck.

I'm a complete genius somedays. The choir is performing on Sunday, I still have to work on Friday, and DH and I are moving food storage and a crib to our storage unit. I don't have time for this. PLUS I CAN'T TAKE ANY ANTI-INFLAMMATORIES!!!!

I get home on Thursday and I put on icyhot. DH works it into my forearm and I take two Tylenol (as IF they would do anything). It's not too bad on Friday, but I definitely can't do anything like type or use a mouse or your know, normal stuff.

On Sunday, I'm practicing my song for the choir and it starts hurting again. I finally suck it up and wrap it knowing full well that it will get tons of unwanted attention from people, when if I could have just taken an NSAID all would have been right with the world.

So, as predicted, I go to Church to play in the choir and I get comments about my ACE bandage. The real kicker is, when the choir gets there, they don't actually know the song well enough to perform it, so we sing a hymn instead and have the organist accompany us. So all that practicing and bandage wearing was for nothing.

This baby better be really nice to me for not taking NSAIDS and giving her 3 heads...
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Soothing Colors

I think gray is soothing.

Does that make me weird? There's something about the muted, graphite intensity that just mesmerizes me.

I'm currently not sure if it's the color or my mood, which has become increasingly despondent as the hours of rain continue, that has encouraged my thinking this today.
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Missed Trains and Make-up

So I've missed my train for the past two days in a row...

It's not such a big deal, because there's another one after it that I can take. I just have a schedule and I don't like to deviate from it much (I know, WAIT until I have a baby...)

So on Monday, I went to replace this eyeshadow that I have and I got sucked in by one of the "make-up artists" and I ended up with a 2 hour lunch break and a whole new face to go to work with. It was fantastic. I found some really gentle cleansers for my skin - something I was pretty sure didn't exist. There's no tightness or dry spots and it doesn't make me break out. It's like a miracle.

Anyway, I bought some eyeshadow and lipstick (and the skin care) I know, I know, that is one expensive eyeshadow replacement...and I've missed my train for the last two days because I have spent like 15 mintues putting on make-up.

I'm still using my concealer and foundation (powder) that I bought awhile back and I'm just integrating my purchases with what I already have.

It's always funny to me how much better I feel when I put even a few extra minutes into my morning make-up routine. I don't even think it's the new colors (which are great by the way), it's the fact that I'm taking the time to put on the concealer and focus on the eyeliner for more than 30 seconds. I just feel like I look better and more put together, which is kind of important since I gained like 7 pounds at my last appointment and I feel a bit "portly"...

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A Celebratory Confection

In honor of the big news...


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