So Long 27

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog this week. I've been busy with work and life stuff, which always seems to get in the way. I haven't even really had a chance to read blogs let alone write on my own. But that is going to change soon (probably starting next week since tomorrow is my birthday and then we're taking off for the weekend on Friday), and here's what you can look forward to:

• A request from Anne Nahm for some holiday cookie ideas (and boy do I have a lot of ideas)
• Finally answering the questions from this post, namely baby name rejects and 8th grade fashion.
• And, most excitingly (at least in my opinion) belly pictures, as I have expanded quite a bit in the past couple of weeks even though I've only gained a couple of pounds in said weeks.

So, I promise there's more interesting content coming. This week is just a much-needed break, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

I'm out

And on my 100th post on this new site too!

I forgot to post yesterday (I also forgot to take my vitamins; I'm so fired), so I'm officially a NaBloPoMo loser. Oops! But here's my excuse - my day yesterday:

Wake up early
Bake cake
Glimpse Thanksgiving Day parade as I run to the shower
Shower, primp, get dressed
Assemble cake
Glimpse Thanksgiving Day parade as I run out the door
Drive to Aaron's grandma's house
Visit and watch football
Drive to Aaron's aunt's house
Visit and listen to everyone fawn over the baby (only one stomach grope!)
Listen to everyone discuss everything baby
Escape to rec room to watch football
Can still hear everyone discussing everything baby
Eat, eat, and eat some more
Discuss even more things baby (I'm the pregnant one and even I don't talk about babies that much!)
Give Aaron the "let's start heading home" meaningful look
Stand up and start packing up food and baby gifts (including a pair of very cute booties. LOVE!)
Say to Aaron "Let's start heading home" since he didn't interpret meaningful look
Slowly walk up the stairs hoping he'll get the hint and follow
He got the hint!
Hug, hug, and hug some more
Finally escape to the car; is an hour later than when I started giving meaningful looks
Drive home
Fall into bed
Sleep

I'm thankful for laughter

Here's a Wednesday funny for everyone from our trip last week that I had forgotten about until now.

About halfway home I needed to stop for a bathroom break. My bathroom stop of choice is McDonald's because they usually have fairly clean toilets and they don't give you a hard time about not buying anything to use their restrooms. Anyway, I walked into their women's room, and right as I was walking by the automatic air freshener, it sprayed. All over me. I walked right through the mist, and I couldn't help it.

I stunk to high heavens like "Strawberry Fields" (which reminded me of how my Strawberry Shortcake doll smelled when I was little), and now I was going to be stuck in a car for 6 more hours.

I got into the car and immediately said, "I'm really sorry about this, but I stink," just as Aaron said, "What the hell is that?!?" He was less than pleased, and I was just about as annoyed, but I couldn't stop laughing. What kind of timing is that to randomly stop at a McDonald's in Iowa and walk right into the spray of an air freshener.

I'm just that kind of lucky.

High- and Low-Lights

High: As, my Twitter for today says - I ate an entire order of Crazy Bread for lunch. I didn't really want to, but it was all so delicious I couldn't stop myself.

Low: My nausea reared its ugly head again today, out of nowhere. Hence the carbohydrate craving.

High: I found out that I'm getting a bonus at the beginning of December. Woohoo, Christmas money!

Low: My next OB appointment wasn't today (it's tomorrow), and I'm stressing out about the baby (because that's what I do) for no actual reason and I'm getting impatient to hear the heartbeat. Also thinking about renting a doppler.

High: I made it through a meeting I was dreading with flying colors.

Low: I had most of the day to deal with before the meeting which means more stressing!

High: I took a short catnap when I got home in my recliner, which I love.

Low: I didn't have dinner ready on time.

High: Aaron helped me with dinner and then cuddled with me for 20 minutes after we ate.

Monday Meal Planning

Thanksgiving Edition

For today's Monday Meal Planning post I decided to post some of my favorite Thanksgiving foods (especially since I still have a week of food in the refrigerator since we were gone most of last week).

Here goes:

Turkey 101
(This is the turkey we made last year and it turned out wonderfully (although we didn't use the vegetables listed on this link).)

Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage
(I beg my mom for this every year.)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
(Better than just plain but not overpowering.)

Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce
(Yum!)

Green Bean Casserole
(It can't be Thanksgiving without this!)

Pecan Pumpkin Pie
(Two of my favorite things put together in one glorious package!)

Cheesy Corn Casserole
(A recipe from Aaron's family that is now a Thanksgiving must.)

1 can cream-style corn

1 can regular corn, drained

1/2 to 3/4 c. milk

1 c. bread crumbs

1/2 small onion, chopped

3 Tbsp. chopped green pepper

Cubed Velveeta (I usually use about 4 oz., but use as much or as little as you'd like)

salt and pepper

2 Tbsp. butter

Mix everything together but the butter. Pour into a greased casserole dish and dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1.5 hours.

Hope you all have a very happy holiday!

Baby Stuff!

I thought I'd talk about each of the topics from this post separately, with the "surprise" baby shower first.

So, even though this was a sad week, my family was excited to see me because this is the first baby among all of my 17 cousins (10 of whom are above 20). One of my mom's (four) sisters told me it was the perfect anecdote to the sadness - celebrating a new life while mourning one that passed. This of course made everything a little more emotional, but there were surprisingly few tears the rest of the week after the funeral.

On Thursday morning my suspicions that something was up were stirred by my uncle talking about, "you know, the get-together tomorrow afternoon", with my mom. Apparently other people talked about "the shower" in front of me, but I missed all of that. However, my suspicions were confirmed when, on Friday morning, people kept disappearing on "errands" and going to the other room to talk. All of the aunts (both sisters and sisters-in-law of my mom) plus a couple of cousins and my sister and I went out to lunch for, as my aunt called it, "girl time".

After we ordered my mom's younger sister announced that there were ulterior motives for the lunch, that we were all there to celebrate the baby since it was unlikely we'd all be in the same place together again for quite some time (it usually happens once per year, max). And then they pulled out all the gifts, and there were A LOT of gifts. There were sleepers, blankets, onesies, hats, a towel with a duck hood and matching duckie slippers, and my favorite: books! They gave me six books in all - 4 board books and 2 hard cover ones.

Last, but definitely not least, they gave me a toddler-sized hand-me-down sweater knit by my grandma. That started some tears, but they were happy ones. One of my aunts said she'd mail me a few more that grandma had also knit. This was definitely a spectacular gift to top off a wonderful gathering.

I'm writing thank you notes tonight, but I can't seem to express how very thankful I am. The baby shower seemed to be what everybody needed, and I can't think of other people from who I'd rather get my first baby gear.

Sapped

So, I totally lied when I said I'd post something interesting today. We were going to drive half-way home today and then stay overnight somewhere and make the rest of the trip tomorrow. Then we decided we really wanted to just be home, so we drove 12 1/2 hours straight through. We're both exhausted and crabby and I just want to go to bed, so that's what I'm going to do.

Despite all this I'm glad we drove all the way home so we can have a day to relax tomorrow before a new week starts. OK, that's it. I'm out.

Things I may expound upon tomorrow

(I know I'm taking the easy way out this week, but it's been a little crazy around here and I'm exhausted yet again. Look for some good posts this coming week. I promise.)

1. The baby shower my family threw for me today. It's our first baby stuff, and they got me 6 of my favorite things!

2. My haircut, which sometimes looks great and other times? Not so much.

3. How my aunt made half a restaurant spit out their food. In a good way.

4. How funny my grandfather is, even during this tough week. He also has me rooting against my husband's team.

Some Observations

From our trip yesterday:

A church named "Family Harvest Church" is kind of creepy.

Aaron would like to say, "F Indiana", but he really is just crabby because of a 4-lane highway that had a speed limit of 55 mph. He thinks this is ridiculous, and I heard about it the whole way down here.

The trip from our apartment to Kansas City takes 10 hours, like the computer print-out directions say, if you drive directly here at 70 mph, no stopping. That doesn't work though, when the speed limit is 65 at most outside of Michigan, and also when you get stuck behind two giant trucks carrying giant steal girders that take up both lanes and are going 45 miles per hour. And they're in front of you for an hour. Then it takes 12 hours.

Lack of Creativity

Brought to you today by a 12-hour cross-country drive followed by a few hours in a room full of crazy (in a fun way) relatives.

But my mom did tell the whole family that the only person there allowed to touch my newly-showing baby belly is her. Thank goodness! I was preparing myself for lots of touching.

We're in Kansas City for my grandma's funeral, which is tomorrow. My cousin said how we're all feeling best: We're all incredibly sad for the reason we were all brought together, but so excited to have these days together because we always have a ton of fun. Tomorrow will be hard, but I'm glad I came.

Memar

When I was a toddler and just learning to speak I couldn't say, "Grandma" so I called my grandma, "Memar", and it stuck. Even as recent as last week I called her Grandma Memar (what her name morphed to as I got older).

We used to go visit my grandparents every spring break, once or twice a summer, and often for Thanksgiving or other long weekends. They used to live a lot closer then, and it was hard when they moved so much further away, because I got to see them so infrequently. The last time I made it down to Kansas City, in fact, was more than two years ago. When you're working and only have so many vacation days (and your husband has even less) it's hard to work in visits.

She said "Goodness, gracious!" and that's about as close to a swear-word she ever got even though most of her 8 kids have mouths like sailors. She wore the same bracelet every day that I knew her, a bracelet that my grandfather gave her when they were dating. When we were little there was a present drawer in her living room that she filled with toys and treats whenever we'd visit, and she always remembered what we all liked best. Despite being so prim and proper, she liked her bourbon (mixed with diet 7-up) and the highlight of her week was the happy hour party she and all her neighbors threw weekly at their clubhouse.

She's had health problems for a long time and has had breathing issues as long as I can remember. She had chronic pneumonia and went to the hospital on a fairly regular basis. That's why no one expected this visit to the hospital to be her last.

Grandma passed away yesterday morning. She was comfortable, pain-free, and went quietly in a hospice facility that treated her incredibly well and took care of her every need for the past week.

Rest in peace Memar. I know you're up in heaven where you belong. I'll miss you.

Monday Meal Planning

The Return! Edition

As I said yesterday, my appetite is returning while my aversions are not so severe (for some things, for others, not so much), so I'm planning meals for the week again. I got all in to it today and got everything set, then soon after remembered that Aaron is going to be out of town for three days this week. Oh, well. I'll have some meals stockpiled for the future in case I can't come up with anything later.

(P.S. Also, if you would be so kind, please go to yesterday's post and leave me a question. I need to find some way to fill the next 19 days!)

Here goes:

Monday: Bean and Mexican Rice Burritos

These are burritos made with canned refried beans (I usually get the vegetarian ones), my homemade Mexican rice and all of our favorite toppings, including lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and taco sauce. Mmmmm.....

Tuesday: Braised Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Broccoli, and Stuffing

Aaron loves pork chops, but I'm not a big fan. Still, I like to make them for him every once in a while. I love everything else in this dinner, so if I can't choke down the pork chops that night then I still have plenty to eat.

To roast the broccoli, chop it up like you normally would, put in an oven-safe pan, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Put it in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally

Wednesday: Cheddar and Beer Soup with Salad and Rolls

There used to be a restaurant right by my office that made the best cheddar ale soup I've ever eaten. I still crave this soup on a regular basis (as well as the deep fried pickle spears they served) but the restaurant has been closed for nearly 6 years now. This recipe has a lot of the same ingredients, but I chop the carrots a little bigger than the recipe calls for and I add boiled potato chunks. Sometimes I also add some diced ham, but I'm leaving it out this week.

Thursday: Chicken & Broccoli Casserole, Rolls, and Salad

Can you tell we bought a bunch of rolls on sale not too long ago?

Friday: Veggie Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, and Salad

We doctor jarred spaghetti sauce (I strongly recommend Paul Newman's Tomato Basil Sauce) with some extra garlic sauteed with chopped zucchini and mushrooms. Simple, but still one of my favorite meals. And the more mushrooms, the better for me. I can't get enough!

Saturday: Pigs in a Blanket, Steamed Green Beans, and Doctored French Fries

For pigs in a blanket, I sautee some onions in butter. Then I slice the hot dogs down their length and sautee them for a couple of minutes, just to heat through. I put some onions in the slice, top with some sliced cheese, and wrap it all with a crescent roll. Then I brush the whole thing with a little melted butter with minced garlic, then bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crescent rolls are done.

For the french fries, we just toss them with olive oil and Montreal steak seasoning and then bake according to package directions.

So there you are! A whole week's worth of meals (minus one day to eat out) in the bag. I can't wait to eat them all.

11 days in and running out of ideas already

So here's what I want, if you would all be so kind as to oblige: ask me anything. (I know, unoriginal. I'm just not feeling the creativity these days.)

I will answer almost anything, save for anything I deem too personal (you know, like my address or anything marital-relations-related, for example). So ask away. Is there anything you want to know about me? About Aaron? About the baby?

Oh, yeah. We're not telling the baby's name either, so that question is out too. Sorry.

Also, tomorrow brings the return of Monday Meal Planning. I'm finally feeling well enough to eat normal things and not just carbs, topped with carbs, and maybe a little tomato sauce on top. Now if only I could stop craving only those things, and I'd be all set!

And then I almost forgot to post

I had a full day today, which culminated in going out to dinner with some friends we haven't seen in a month. After dinner, we went back to their place to watch a movie (that I picked out). Once there we started the movie and I promptly fell asleep.

Am I a barrel of fun or what?

I'll give you a hint

Rachael Ray is making food to please picky kids on her show today, and it all looks more delicious than anything I've seen in a while. Can you tell food is on my mind a lot lately? It seems to be all I can blog about. I'm so excited that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I'm craving the stuffing, pies, and even the turkey which is weird because I'm not really a big fan of turkey.

Speaking of food, here's something that's probably only funny to Aaron and I, but I'll share it anyway. (It's possible I've already blogged about this, but if I have, pretend that I haven't. My brain is not working too well this week for some reason.)

So, after our last doctor's appointment for the baby, we went to eat at Chili's because I was craving ribs (I ended up getting southwest chicken eggrolls, and Aaron almost ended up killing me - he hates when I go somewhere for one thing and get something completely different). Anyway, we were perusing the menu when we noticed that their queso dip included in it's ingredient list "a hint of seasoned ground beef". We found this, mostly the "hint" part, hilarious, and laughed about it for most of the meal.

Then last week we went to Red Robin and were again perusing the menu when we noticed that their spinach artichoke dip included, "a hint of bacon". Hilarity ensued all over again.

I'm saying that if there's supposed to be meat in something there should be meat in it. None of this "hint" crap.

Now I want queso dip and spinach artichoke dip. Maybe I can con Aaron to take me out to dinner. I'm not betting on it though.

You know what's fun?

Watching grown men argue semantics for three hours. Oh wait! That's the opposite of fun.

This may have zapped my creativity today, but I'm soldiering on anyway.

I have been craving an either any Italian sub or a Turkey, Ranch, and Swiss from Quiznos for about a month now, but haven't been able to satisfy my craving due to the whole possibility-of-listeria-in-deli-meats thing plus the nitrates in things such as salami (mmmm....salami....). This has sucked. Then today everyone from my office was headed to Quiznos for lunch and I made a decision. I was going and I was getting exactly what I wanted. Kind of.

I got a turkey ranch and swiss, hold the turkey. And it was gloriously delicious. I want it again for dinner, which I'm still waiting for, but which is apparently less important than watching Jim Cramer tonight.

My life is all kinds of exciting today, right?

Key Evidence that the Universe is Trying to Bring Me Down

• I have officially outgrown all but one pair of pants (my jeans which I can only wear to work one day per week). Luckily, I have a knock-off Bella Band to hold up my other pants. Unluckily, I only have a few shirts that are long enough for use with said knock-off Bella Band. Also, I just spent all of my money on a chair.
• Speaking of the chair, it arrived last night and is awesome. Except for the part where Aaron pulled a muscle in his back carrying it up the stairs. He is now crabby and in pain, and as much as I try, I don't have the patience to deal with it.
• Work is still hella busy with no end in sight.
• Speaking of outgrowing clothes, I've also outgrown all but 2 bras. How I know I've outgrown the other ones? Last night I bent over to grab a tissue out of the box on the coffee table, and an underwire in the bra I was wearing snapped in half. I actually think that's pretty funny. Aaron didn't see the hilarity in the situation. He just keeps seeing dollar signs every time something breaks/becomes too small. I feel sad for him.
• On a not funny at all note, my grandmother is going into hospice. They haven't given us an estimate on how much time she has left, not that they can acurately estimate that, but it doesn't look like it's going to be very long. I'm very sad about this, even though I know she's not well and making her comfortable is probably the best thing for her right now. None of us are ready though. At all.

Seriously, No Idea

So apparently a while ago I started a Christmas list during a slow day at work (ha!) or something. There's all sorts of stuff on it ranging from a pizza stone to new sheets to a video camera. One thing, however, has me stumped:

Full-sized F.P.

I obviously knew what I was talking about when I wrote the list, but as for now? No idea. I also apparently wanted it enough to put it on the list. What do you think it is?

At least I have some mint chocolate chip ice cream to make up for it

You know what sucks?

When you spend all day dreaming about tomato soup - how much you want it for dinner, how good it will taste paired up with a grilled cheese sandwich, how perfect it will be on this cold, drizzly day.

Then you take a bite and realize that tomato soup is apparently your newest aversion.

Phoning it in

I haven't taken any cold medicine for about 1 1/2 years, but I broke down today and used some (obstetrician approved) Chloroseptic sore throat spray this afternoon. This is making this afternoon interesting as I'm experiencing quite a medicine high.

I don't think I'll be taking any more of that. Also, I'm going to go take another nap.

TGI Saturday (and yesterday is over)

Yesterday got worse before it got better. Much worse. I started coughing really hard, which caused me to gag, which caused me to throw up for about five minutes straight. I hate throwing up, especially when I'm alone, which I was. I also broke a bunch of blood vessels around my eyes (a normal throwing-up-result for me) so it looks slightly like I got punched in both eyes.

So I had to cancel my meeting. I called my boss to ask her to reschedule and ended up crying on the phone to her which was beyond embarrassing. It really worried her, so I felt bad about that too. I assured her that I was fine, just upset about being so sick.

This was all after I talked to my dad and found out that my grandma won't be going home. She finally agreed that she needs to go into a nursing home because she can't even walk. This started the crying that started the coughing and so on.

But then my sister called and volunteered to come take care of me. I took a nap and that helped me feel better. Aaron came home with the ingredients for one of my favorite meals, and then he and my sister went out and got me ice cream. I managed to stay up to about ten, and then slept like a rock all night.

I'm feeling much better today, which I'm happy about. We went out and finally bought the chair that's my birthday/anniversary/Christmas present. (This is the one we ended up buying, and I love it. We pick it up on Wednesday night.) Then my sister treated me to lunch and my team is winning their football game at the moment (against Aaron's team). My parents are on their way back home tonight and might stop in, which would be awesome because I really miss them. They've been out west for a few weeks helping my brother move and then celebrating their 25th anniversary.

All in all, today has been about 1000% better than yesterday. I couldn't be happier about that fact.

Things I would kill for currently

1. A copy of me, that isn't sick, so that I might possibly get all of my work done today. Fat chance of that though. This should definitely make my meeting this afternoon lots of fun. I'm working from home until then and hoping that helps.

2. The world's best garlic bread.

3. My mom to be here taking care of me. Instead she's taking care of my grandmother, wife of my recently ill grandfather, who she had to take to the hospital yesterday as soon as she rolled into town, so I guess she's doing something better than my selfish desires. (Grandma had some hip pain, and has a bad case of osteoporosis so they think maybe it's broken. She also recently had to have her spine cemented because she broke her back.)

4. Since my mom can't be here, I'd prefer Aaron to be here and for him to be in a great mood. Fat chance of that too. He and I both fell asleep at around 7:30 last night so I feel like I didn't get my usual Aaron time last night and I miss him already.

5. A smoothie from the coffee shop down the road.

6. A magic 8-ball that would tell me the magic food that actually sounds good at any particular moment, and a personal chef to go get and prepare that food.

Sorry I'm whiny today. I feel like complete ass and am incredibly unhappy about that. Thank goodness it's almost the weekend. Unfortunately I also have to probably work over the weekend. Should be very fun!

NaBloPoMo

I don't know if I've posted this before (there's too much going on my head to remember things like this), but I'm participating in NaBloPoMo, starting of course today.


I'm also trying to post the badge into my sidebar, but am apparently technologically stunted today because I can't figure it out for the life of me. New Blogger is hard to manipulate!

Anyway, I can't believe it's November already. Time seems to be flying by, and I'm simultaneously thrilled and frightened by this fact. I'm not ready for it to be winter but I want time to move by more quickly because I'm having so much fun. Well, that and I have a bunch of stuff to finish at work by the end of this month and that just doesn't seem like enough time to finish it all.

But, it's also my birthday month, so I can't complain too much - I totally get spoiled this month!