cryptic words meander

reasons to celebrate

2011-04-26T22:34:00.002-05:00

Remember back when I had that one baby? This one?

Well, guess who just turned two?

Gulliver is the most enchanting baby, now toddler, that I can imagine. I can't believe how much "little boy" he is--his days are filled with climbing, throwing, chasing, riding, running, sliding, and pretty much non-stop action.

Gulliver loves books, puzzles, cars, and shape matching games. He is delighted with bubbles, balloons, and things that light up. His favorite shows are Kipper the Dog (oh, how he loves Kipper) and Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. I am planning on another summer outside at the park and the swimming pool because this kid hates staying inside.

I've learned to identify all the construction vehicles we see along the road so that I can point them out to him. Did you wonder whether that digger had a track hoe or a back hoe? Because I can tell you. He identifies all the animals you can think of and makes their sounds. He is very persistently verbal--he will repeat something over and over and over and over and over until I acknowledge what he is saying and either agree with him or correct him.

There are very few words he doesn't know or at least attempt to pronounce. I realize I am biased, but I think that he speaks very clearly. Some words that I love his mispronunciation of are Grandpa (PopPa), pacifier (vaver), strawberry (bob berry), elephant (eh-fan), toys (foys), vacuum (roger), and Easter (e-chair). Last night Somebody was holding Hiccup, and Hiccup was making typical baby noises (grunt grunt gurgle coo), and Somebody said to Gulliver, "What is Hiccup saying?" Gulliver responded by very accurately mimicking the exact baby noises, "Grunt grunt gurgle coo." He cracks us up.

I can't believe that two years have passed. I am just thrilled (and more than a little proud) of the funny, kind, and smart person that Gulliver is. Happy Birthday, Baby.

And then I went and had that other baby? This one?

We call him Hiccup. He is now five months old (five months!) and had his first solid food tonight.He seemed a little reluctant at first, but quickly decided that food was something he liked. No surprise there.

all that ends well

2010-11-30T19:56:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for sleeping babies.

2. I am grateful for a firm knowledge of who I am, who I can become, and the steps I need to take to bridge that gap.

3. I am grateful for examples all around me of the best kind of people this world has to offer. Everyday I see people who do their best, make do with less so that they can give to others, reach out with friendship and goodwill, use their time wisely, showcase creativity and the power of creation, stand courageously in the face of a raging tempest, love without reciprocation, serve without acknowledgement, and diligently try to be a little better every day. I am inspired and awed. I am beyond blessed to be on the receiving end of so much goodness and I only hope that when the roles are reversed I can be and do and exemplify even a small part of what I have been given.

modern conveniences

2010-11-29T21:48:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that Somebody stayed home from work today so that he could help me out while I'm still having trouble sitting, and because I could never have managed that pediatrician visit without him. Also, I'm not allowed to drive just yet so he was kind of vital in getting us out of the house.

2. I am grateful that my dad has a huge, deep, jetted tub at his house. Using it might have been the highlight of my afternoon. I envision many visits to his house in the next two weeks. Oh, wait, I already visit his house almost daily. I'm grateful he hasn't gotten sick of seeing me yet.

3. I am grateful for a washing machine and dryer to clean up the already growing pile of burp cloths and dirty baby clothes.

still thinking about that tomato bisque

2010-11-28T21:45:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful that the food at the hospital has been, on the whole, quite yummy.

2. I am grateful that the same nurse was working all three days I was in the hospital. Molly was the greatest. It was really nice to have someone who was there with me from the first time I got off the "have a baby here" bed all the way up until I checked out today.

3. I am grateful that I listened to a session of general conference today (because I had to do something churchy since I was missing church) and got to hear this great message about gratitude over again: The Divine Gift of Gratitude, by President Thomas S Monson. I especially love this part:

"Regardless of our circumstances, each of us has much for which to be grateful if we will but pause and contemplate our blessings. This is a wonderful time to be on earth. While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it, parents who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care about us and help us, teachers who teach. Our lives are blessed in countless ways. We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude."

ask, and ye shall receive

2010-11-27T21:41:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for my doctor. She wasn't on call this weekend but she knew that it mattered to me to have her there to deliver the baby. And so she came in. She has been nothing but supportive and encouraging and I hope we stay here long enough that she can deliver all the babies we choose to have.

2. I am grateful that Gulliver's first meeting with Baby this morning went really well. He was thrilled to see me again (of course!) but then was actually very excited to see Baby. One of the first things he did was offer to share his blanket, which, if you know how much Gulliver LOVES his blanket, is kind of a big deal and a very sweet gesture. Then he wanted to touch Baby's face and give kisses. I kind of expected him to start poking Baby's eyes out, but he was soft and gentle and seemed just fine with having a baby around.

3. I am grateful that so many family and friends took time to come and visit us in the hospital (or call, email, text, etc.) I felt very loved and taken care of.

my three boys

2010-11-26T21:33:00.004-06:00

1. First, I am grateful for Somebody. I'm grateful he was willing to hold my hand and cheer me on and be immensely supportive. I could not have made it through this morning without without him. He was totally worth waiting for and every single day I am grateful that he is my husband. I love him.

2. Second, I am grateful for Gulliver. I can't imagine that someone could have a more delightful first child than I have. He is funny and smart and helpful and playful and makes me laugh a million times each day. I find him so cute that I sometimes can't stop staring at him. His hugs and kisses are always good parts of my day. I love him.

3. Third, I am grateful for Baby. He forced me to wait and wait to meet him, but then surprised me by rushing right into arriving as soon as he had made up his mind to come. I know everyone says that pregnancy is worth it because of the baby you get at the end, and I'm grateful that the statement is true--that all the unpleasantness of the past nine months just disappears the instant that screaming, goopy, slightly swollen baby gets laid on your chest. I hardly know him, and I love him already.

i think that was a real snort

2010-11-25T20:54:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

1. I am grateful for a refrigerator full of Thanksgiving leftovers.

2. I am grateful that dinner tonight was walnut-crusted fish and sweet potato fries (and, fingers crossed, strawberry shakes) instead of Thanksgiving leftovers.

3. I am grateful that Charity taught us how to play "Tap Tap Oink" today and that we all could laugh and laugh and laugh while we played the game. It almost made up for the fact that I am still pregnant.

And a bonus gratitude quote for Thanksgiving:

There was a time when I was in a state of utter despair, immersed in guilt over promises made on which I had not delivered. I went to my vocal coach, Fred Wilkerson, weeping copiously. He asked what was the matter. I responded, "I'm going crazy, I am almost at the brink of suicide." He offered me a legal-size, lined yellow pad and a pen. He said, "Write down your blessings!" Furious that he didn't understand my condition, I shouted, "Don't talk nonsense, I'm telling you I am going crazy." He said, "Write down that you could hear me say 'write down' and think of the millions who can not hear the cries of their babies, or the sweet words of their beloveds, or the alarm that could help them seek safety. Write down that you can see this yellow pad and think of the millions on this planet who cannon see the smiles of their growing children or the delight in the faces of their beloveds, or the colors of the sunrise and the softness of the twilight. Write down that you know how to write. Write down that you know to read." Wilkie, as he was known, gave me that lesson in 1955. Fifty-five years later, I have written 31 books, essays, plays, and lyrics for songs--all on yellow pads. I remain in an attitude of gratitude.

-Maya Angelou

an early turkey day

2010-11-24T21:31:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful that family was able to gather for a yummy, fun, laid-back Thanksgiving dinner tonight, leaving all day tomorrow and Friday and Saturday for relaxing.

2. I am grateful for modern medicine and the ability my doctor has to "look" inside my body and tell me that the baby is still doing just fine.

3. I am grateful that Russell (and Charity) and Heidi made sacrifices to their schedules (and finances) and traveled long distances to be with us in Kansas for Thanksgiving this year. I am also grateful that Joe and my parents live nearby and we were able to find a time we could all be together and so we had an almost complete family gathering. I had a wonderful time visiting with them and laughing and telling stories.

seriously does not want a surprise party

2010-11-23T18:12:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for Somebody. Today is his birthday. Happy Birthday, Hunny! I love you! He doesn't want a surprise party. Or cake. Or really acknowledgement of any kind. But I am so thrilled that he was born that I have a hard time not wanting to celebrate. (Note to new baby: Dad said he would happily share his birthday with you. Come on out, now.)

2. I am grateful that Gulliver (and Somebody) have a natural body temperature noticeably higher than mine so that sitting next to either one of them on cold days is like sitting with a heating pad. Tis awesome. I don't love this so much in the summer, so it's a good thing this gratitude list happens when the weather is chilly.

3. I am grateful for my friend Janssen's suggestion to use the junk mail paper with blank back sides as junk printing paper for maps and coupons and other throw-away type things. I LOVE not wasting my good paper on things that I'm not going to keep.

look away. i'm hideous.

2010-11-22T21:27:00.000-06:00

1. I am glad that Somebody and I were able to make very last-minute plans to rush out and see the Harry Potter movie. Other bonuses: my dad agreed to watch Gulliver, the huge theater had only 20 other people there so we had great seats, my pack-along and eat in the car meal of pizza twists worked great, I didn't have to leave the movie to go to the bathroom, AND I got to spend two and a half hours holding my husband's hand. It was a great night.

2. I am grateful that the new baby who doesn't want to be born yet is at least very healthy. And maybe if he wants to go even a few more days of not being born then I'll get to spend Thanksgiving with my family instead of in the hospital.

3. I am grateful for my home teacher, especially when he brings his lovely wife and children over to visit with him and we get to laugh, share a spiritual message, and get to know each other better. Love it.

i bribe my son with suckers

2010-11-21T15:51:00.004-06:00

1. I am grateful for Baby Signing Time and how Gulliver has embraced communicating in sign language. It has made this period of time when he knows what he wants but doesn't have the vocal skills to tell me about it a much easier time. I love that he can sign to me what he wants.

2. I am grateful that our burning bushes are finally starting to turn red. We were worried that they were defective, but apparently they are just slow bloomers.

3. I am grateful for gift certificates that allow me to get, for little or no cost, things that I want but don't need and so would never make it to the top of my purchase list.

officially overdue

2010-11-20T18:50:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for a laptop computer so I can sit on my comfortable couch and surf the internet.

2. I am grateful that I was actually able to fall asleep in the car today and get a much needed 20 minutes of rest. I'm also grateful that then, when we got home, Somebody was willing to remain on duty as the primary parent so I could sleep another hour.

3. I am grateful that next door to the optometrist office we went to today was a donut shop. What a happy discovery! So of course we went in and made a purchase. And they had this delicious orange glazed donut that just rocked my world. Oh yum, yum, yum, yum.

even caramel corn is not making me feel better

2010-11-19T20:13:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for my mother. Today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! I am grateful for her good example; her enthusiasm; her desire to plan ahead; and her mad, mad cleaning skills.

2. I am grateful for unexpected field trips that get us out of the house and allow Gulliver the opportunity to run around...with someone other than me willing to chase him.

3. I am grateful that my doctor is not forcing an induction and is letting me wait until I go into labor naturally. Perhaps I will be less grateful for this when I'm a week past my due date, but for now the waiting feels like the right thing to do and so I'm happy to have her complete support.

are they all yours?

2010-11-18T16:27:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for friends who are willing to share their Costco membership benefits with me. And who will walk around the store with four little girls in the cart, attracting all kinds of lovely attention, just so I can pick up some garbage bags and diapers.

2. I am grateful for the smell of clean laundry. I don't mind doing laundry anyway, but the yummy, fresh, clean smell makes it an even easier chore.

3. I am grateful for Gulliver's curls. They often cause people to assume he is a girl (why? because only little girls have curly hair?) but I think they are just the cutest things and will be sad if/when he outgrows them.

just a spoonful of sugar

2010-11-17T14:12:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for blankets for warmth and tissues for wiping and a not-so-small baby to snuggle while I wipe a gucky little nose and hold a tiny little hand and hope that no one else in this family catches his cold.

2. I am grateful that I get to be here to see the little developmental growths in Gulliver. For example, just now he was trying to fit two pieces of toy together that didn't match--he was trying to match a blue piece and a purple piece. Across the room were other pieces in a variety of colors and I pointed to them and said, "You need to get a blue piece. Go over there and get more. Get a blue piece." And he walked over and picked up a blue piece and brought it to me! Coincidence? I kind of think not. He is getting so good at understanding my directions and actually doing most of the things I ask (as long as they don't involve the words diaper, nap, no, and DON'T PUSH THAT BUTTON!). It is delightful to watch him grow and learn and discover new things.

3. I am grateful (at least I'm trying really, really hard to be) for each additional day I have without a new baby so that I can continue on with cleaning the house, finishing projects, cooking meals, watching movies with Somebody, playing and reading with Gulliver, and as much as possible trying not to focus on the fact that I can't control the moment when everything is going to change.

"you are not allowed to start any more projects"

2010-11-16T22:10:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful that so many friends and family members so willingly pass along the baby items that they are not using anymore. It has saved us hundreds of dollars and it is kind of fun knowing that Gulliver (and, soon, the new baby) is enjoying the toy/bed/clothes that the children of those I love have also enjoyed.

2. I am grateful that Somebody was very, very patient with me tonight as I worked hard to finish yet another project (sadly, it is not yet finished) even though I was neglecting everything around me. He didn't complain at all about having to cook dinner, wash dishes, put the baby to bed, fold laundry, and clean the living room while I furiously sewed and sewed and sewed some more.

3. I am grateful that a temple is being built in Kansas City and that this time next year we will only have a 35 minute drive to the temple. How wonderful!

brought to you by neighbors with sesame oil

2010-11-15T21:47:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for the moment of relief when I actually do something that I have been dreading doing. It makes me wonder why I sometimes procrastinate things so long and live with the guilt of the unfinished assignment, because the relief of just getting it done is so sweet. I could have been guilt free for weeks! I could have moved on and put this thing behind me! But no, I dragged my feet and stalled and whined. I made excuses. I made myself busy with other "very important things." But tonight I just sat down and didn't let myself have even one more cookie until I did the things I had committed to TWO MONTHS ago. And it only took me an hour and a half. And a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Man, this is a good moment.

2. I am grateful that this afternoon was the perfect weather for a long walk around the neighborhood. I'm kind of dreading the next three months of cold temperatures and icy roads when the sun will not shine and it will be too cold to play and so we'll sit in the house all those cold, cold, wet days. I am grateful we had an unscheduled afternoon and were able to enjoy what might be our last hurrah of fall.

3. I am grateful for go-to recipes that the whole family will eat and that come together with less than 20 minutes of kitchen time. Are you looking for one for tomorrow? Here you go.

this is not a time-suck

2010-11-14T13:11:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that when Gulliver turned off the power on the computer power strip last night, turning off the computer just as I was finishing my gratitude email, that gmail actually saved my writing at the last second and when I got on the computer today my list from the last two days was still there.

2. I am grateful that Gulliver is a very snugly boy who loves to sit in laps, give hugs, hold hands, and in all ways be physically connected to those he loves (especially when he has been recently bathed and smells delicious). I do also appreciate the time he prefers to play independently and run around on his own, but I love, love, love that in the end he always comes back for comfort.

3. I am grateful for lessons at church that touch on a subject/quality/area where I know I could be better and that actually motivate me to make changes in my life.

errand and laundry day

2010-11-13T13:11:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for color. Colorful flowers. Colorful trees. Colorful pictures. Colorful clothes. Color.

2. I am grateful for a warm bed and flannel sheets.

3. I am grateful that most days are not like today. That most days I have a lot more patience and a lot more energy and a lot more enthusiasm for being awake.

everything is better with bacon

2010-11-12T22:02:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for reasons for family to get together for dinner, and even though the family members came from several points around the metro area that everyone drove safely in the heavy, heavy rain.

2. I am grateful for the friendship Gulliver has with his cousin Joe. The nine year age difference doesn't seem to matter at all and the two of them love spending time together.

3. I am grateful for restaurants that serve free bread with dips and that keep that bread and dip coming throughout the meal. It is also nice when the waiter agrees to bring me a few loaves to take home (even though my request for them may have embarrassed some of my family.)

slide down my rainbow

2010-11-11T21:03:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that I got three huge things crossed off my to-do list today and that now, officially, the baby is free to come at any time. Not that he will, of course. I'm sure he wants to continue to kick me internally all the way up to his due date. I'm just saying that now I'm ready.

2. I am grateful that Somebody had today off work and was able to get even MORE things crossed of my to-do list. Oh, what a productive day!

3. I am grateful for music mixes that my (much more) musically in-tune friends send me. I love having fun music to listen to in the car on days when I have long drives.

down to single digits

2010-11-10T22:23:00.002-06:00

1. I am grateful that the weather has stayed relatively warm and that we have been able to spend some time outside each day this week.

2. I am grateful that Somebody has taken over the dish washing chore last week and this week. And hopefully for the next month or so. Washing dishes is pretty high up there on the list of chores that I really dislike (right after taking out the garbage and washing floors) but it is one that typically falls to me to do because Somebody already has the evening duties of getting Gulliver ready for bed. Somebody has been a good sport about finishing the "putting the baby to bed" chore and then going right into dish washing even though all I've been doing is sitting on the couch. Oh, and growing the baby. But my point is that I am SO grateful that Somebody never makes me feel like I'm not doing my fair share and has just started doing more to cover the areas where I am doing less.

3. I am grateful for a reliable Internet connection.

if wishes were fishes

2010-11-09T22:22:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for good friends. I really feel like I have at least one life-long friend from each stage of my life and it is comforting to know that women, living all over the country, care about me and support me and pray for good things for me and my family. I also have, right now, what is certainly the largest group of "bosom friends" that I could ever hope to have living all in one place. I love the times we are able to get together and laugh and tell stories and unwind from the routine of our daily lives. I know I am richly blessed.

2. I am grateful that I am finally really noticeably pregnant and am able to wear maternity shirts without feeling like I just put on a tent. It's about time.

3. I am grateful that Gulliver is a social child and loves to interact with other children. When we go to the park by ourselves and he tries to makes friends with the strangers, well, sometimes I think he is so persistent that he creeps other kids out. But when we meet our friends at the park I really enjoy watching him laugh and play with his little friends.

stockpiling

2010-11-08T20:05:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that my dad was willing to watch Gulliver for several hours today so that I could get some cleaning and organizing done.

2. I am grateful that the new recipe I tried tonight (and optimistically doubled) was a big hit. I doubled it because it was a "great for freezing" recipe so now I can freeze half and know that when this shows up on the dinner menu next month everyone will happily eat it.

3. I am grateful for ice cream and strawberries and that sometimes they combine to make yummy strawberry shakes.

soon the bells will start

2010-11-07T20:16:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful that when I suggested to Somebody that perhaps we should put up our Christmas decorations this weekend so that we made sure they actually went up this year and didn't get lost in the post-baby chaos that he immediately agreed. It's kind of strange to look into the living room and see stockings (especially when, this year, for the first time, I've been less than delighted with the Christmas music on the radio because it is "too soon. too soon") and lights and the tree, but I'm sure that in three weeks I will be thrilled that it is out and done and ready to be enjoyed. Or maybe I'll be sick of it. Uh...I doubt it.

2. I am grateful that there was a pear tree in the yard of the house where my dad was staying in Arizona and that he picked buckets and buckets of pears and brought them back with him. We were able to can a dozen pints last night and also make some pear-sauce and pear juice. Now, when I say "we" I obviously mean that I sat on the couch and offered helpful advice to my dad and Somebody as they peeled, cut, cooked, jarred, and processed the pears, but I really feel like I was involved in the process because I came up with the perfect sugar/water ratio for these particular pears. At one point when I expressed how tired I was, Somebody said, "You've just been sitting there all night." And I said, "I know. It's SO hard to be me." And everyone actually agreed: yes, it IS hard to be Jennifer right now. Here, have another piece of Halloween candy.

3. I am grateful that we turned our clocks back last night and I was able to get an extra hour of sleep. After the really hard evening I had (see gratitude #2) I really needed all the sleep I could get and ten hours turned out to be the perfect amount. Who on earth sleeps for ten hours? Babies and pregnant women who have taken a sleeping pill, that's who. And as a bonus, I'd like to say that I'm thankful that sleeping pills are something I can actually take because otherwise last night would have been more like sleep for two hours, awake for two hours, sleep for three hours, awake for two hours, sleep for one hour. And that, my friends, is not nearly as restful as a ten-hour snooze.

i use more than three squares

2010-11-06T21:13:00.000-05:00

1. I am grateful for surprises in the mail from very thoughtful and generous friends.

2. I am grateful for the people who care about me and about my growing family and so decide to shower me with diapers and gifts. Thank you, ladies!

3. I am grateful that my dad is back in town. So grateful.

the sinks were really nice

2010-11-05T19:51:00.002-05:00

1. I am grateful that I live near my parents and that I trust them both completely with the care of my child. I know it is rare to live so close to parents, and we probably won't be able to enjoy this blessing for many more years, but I am so thrilled with the relationship that Gulliver has with his grandparents that it makes me want to stay near them forever. He loves to see them and spend time with them and I know that his life is richer with them in it.

2. I am grateful for sweet potato fries and that at least one restaurant in town had them on the menu when I was craving them.

3. I am grateful for those moments with friends when you learn something new about them (when you thought you already knew lots about them) and it makes you think, "I KNEW we were similar. I KNEW we had a lot in common. I KNEW I liked you. But I like you even more now."

it was something like shrapnel

2010-11-04T15:52:00.002-05:00

1. Yesterday I decided to take advantage of being "in town" and Gulliver and I went grocery shopping. I clearly am still not aware of the limits of my body these days because we had just entered the second (and last) store when an almost unbearable sciatica pain took over my right leg. I didn't know how I was going to be able to move but was only 15 feet from the dairy section (our destination) and so just slowly, slowly, shuffled one foot in front of the other to progress down the aisle. I was leaning pretty heavily on the shopping cart and was sort of hunched over the part of the cart where Gulliver was sitting. I wasn't making any noise or saying anything to him, but clearly my pain was evident on my face because he started making the sign for sad and saying "mommy mommy mommy" and then signing sad. Then he reached up his little hands and put one on each of my cheeks and started softly patting my face. It was the most tender thing. He also offered several hugs, but could really only reach my head so he just hugged that and then went back to patting my cheeks. I was amazed that he could see that I was hurting and wanted to offer comfort. I am grateful that Gulliver is kind like his father.

2. I am grateful for visiting teachers who live fairly close by and are willing to help out when I have a need.

3. I am grateful that, if you go a long enough time without eating the name-brand potato chips, generic-brand potato chips taste pretty great.

america runs on

2010-11-03T20:12:00.001-05:00

1. I am grateful for clean bathrooms. It has been an embarrassingly long time since our main bathroom had a good scrub-down. Man, it feels good to walk in there with everything shiny and clean.
2. I am grateful that I got to blow out my birthday candle on a strawberry frosted donut. I totally blame Elisabeth for my love of the strawberry frosted donut and the frequency with which I crave them.
3. I am grateful that having a birthday gives my loved ones a good excuse to call/visit/email me. Hint. Hint.

they're the really useful crew

2010-11-02T16:25:00.001-05:00

1. I am grateful that Gulliver has, without much complaint, taken two naps today. With the whole family being up a good portion of the night, this rest time is desperately needed by all of us.

2. I am grateful that Somebody took the 2:00 - 3:30am shift with a couching, crying baby last night so that I could get some sleep. Also that he got up and went to work this morning where I'm pretty sure he is not allowed to take naps.

3. I am grateful that I was able to go to wikipedia today and learn that any Thomas & Friends video made before 2008 is going to be one that Gulliver rejects, as he will only watch the CGI version of the show. Good to know. I can now stop wasting my time requesting older episodes from the library in the hopes that I can steal 20 minutes of time to work on my own projects while he is busy watching "Choo Choo!".

a letter to my belly, take two

2010-11-02T13:23:00.001-05:00

Dear Pregnancy,

Man, what can I say? I would like to say that you and I have finally actually come to an uneasy truce, but mostly I think that means that you have beaten me into submission. Uh, yes. I just checked and it actually DOES mean that you have beaten me into submission. I came into our second encounter thinking that I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I think I actually said that to Somebody on several occasions: "It's okay. Pregnancy with Gulliver was rough, but this time at least I know what I'm getting into. And I go there willingly." Willingly. Nine months of daily nausea that wakes me in the middle of the night, every night, is something I know how to live with. Fine. Bring it on. And I was at least mostly prepared for the exhaustion and the random emotional outbursts. Even the side effects of the nausea medication, while occasionally horrifically painful, I was expecting and planning to grit my teeth and live through. Perhaps you saw my resolve and figured I needed a little humbling.

I understand that you are just trying to keep me on my toes (or knock me completely to my knees) by shaking things up a little this time. However, did you have to throw in only BAD new things? Three straight months of the dreaded pregnancy migraines? Are you even kidding me? And then six weeks of freakishly painful sciatica that, quite literally, left me crumpled in tears on multiple occasions? And then oral thrush? Twice? What gives, Pregnancy? Is there no one else out there you wanted to make question whether or not they could actually physically endure another meeting with you?

Okay, okay, so there were some parts of this pregnancy that were actually better than last time. I know, right? Like, this time I have been able to sleep in my own bed, on either side OR on my back, for the entire nine months. Last time, remember?, I was banished to the couch early in month seven because the nerve pain that shot down my legs after only ten minutes in bed left me unable to lift either leg or cope with the pain. But I found that one position on the couch that involved multiple pillows propping my legs up just so and after that I was able to sleep without pain. I don't miss the couch. Thanks for that. And this time, Pregnancy, you spared me the hair trauma. No dandruff. No greasy buildup. Just normal, healthy hair. And, I hate to admit it, but after an initial few months of unacceptable acne flareups, I think that my skin and hair actually look better than before pregnancy. Shut the front door, I could almost kiss you. Also the fact that this time I have actually been able to wear my watch and wedding ring up until, well, now, is like a little miracle. I'm grasping at straws, perhaps, to find the good in you. Just call me Pollyanna.

Which brings us, Pregnancy, to our last weeks together. Are you going to miss me? It should come as no surprise that I will NOT miss you. Up until the final moments of our journey together I will grin and bear it, this life with you, because you make possible this little Mushu that will soon join our family. Once he is here, though, it's okay if you don't want to call for awhile. I think we need some space. Think about seeing other people, will you? I...hope...tentatively...that perhaps we will meet again. You could help that decision by lightening the load a little bit, you know? Like, maybe less swelling of the feet? Is that asking too much? I didn't think so.

Jennifer

when upon life's billows

2010-11-01T18:16:00.001-05:00

The leaves are falling from the trees, the days are getting shorter, and you can smell autumn in the air. You know what all that means... It's time to kick off the 7th Annual Attitude of Gratitude Challenge.

Here's how it works:
Each day during the month of November I will post three things I am grateful for. You should, too. Let me know if you are posting your gratitudes on your blog and I will put a link to your blog here on my blog.

Definition of "things"- the term "things" is used here to encompass a myriad of stuff including, but not limited to:

a certain set of circumstances
an event
an inanimate object distinguished from a living being
possessions or effects
a deed or act
a product of work or activity
a person
an idea or notion
a piece of news or information
a personal memory
anything that makes you smile

The challenge is to come up with three ORIGINAL "things" each day. Try not to repeat entries.

WARNING OF POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS!!
Please note that challenge participation may result in any or all of the following:
- you will be surprised at all the Lord has done for you
- angels will attend
- you will feel help and comfort
- you will find yourself "singing as the days go by"
- your doubts will fly
(see LDS Hymn #241 for the above references)

November 1
1. I am grateful that my brother and his family came over for dinner last night and we were able to revive/continue our Halloween tradition of dinner-in-a-pumpkin and homemade donuts. Yum, yum, yum. I should also add my gratitude for my aunt and uncle who taught us about enjoying Halloween as adults and establishing a tradition that doesn't require trick-or-treat aged children.

2. I am grateful that we came home from our church Halloween carnival on Saturday night with a bag of candy that I had no desire to eat (or allow Gulliver to eat) and so I had something to pass out to the few groups of neighborhood hoodlums that came trick-or-treating last night.

3. I am grateful that this past month has had weather pleasant enough that we haven't had to use the air conditioner or the heater and so have ridiculously low utility bills this month. What a blessing.

a bright, sun shiny day

2010-09-06T12:41:00.003-05:00

The sunflowers were a little droopy when we went over this morning, but I think you still get the idea of how spectacular this sunflower field is. The two adults in this photo could not agree on which of the admittedly mediocre photos was the best, but I run this blog and so I got to choose which ones to post.

Gulliver was less than thrilled about the trip and refused to show off his winning smile. Also, it is getting very obvious that it is time to give that little boy a little haircut.

It also seems like as good a time as any to just go ahead and mention that I'm pregnant and we are expecting another baby boy in about 10 weeks. I don't know how we are going to wrestle two small things (with smiles, of course) into the sunflower field next year.

the field is yellow already for pictures

2010-09-01T14:41:00.003-05:00

For those of you here in Kansas City, the sunflowers I've taken pictures of the last two years are in bloom this week. Click here for the blog of the farmer's wife for a map. If the weather holds you will get to see our yearly pictures come up on the blog in the next week or so. Because I know you've just been waiting around for that.

being

2010-07-12T10:09:00.002-05:00

Last week Janssen, who is about to have her first baby (or maybe has already and just hasn’t emailed me, the person who introduced her to craigslist, to let me know) wrote a post about seeing, and it has been on my mind a lot since I read it.

I can relate, in a lot of real ways, to her questions about how her children will see her and about how she will see herself once she morphs into “MOM”.

I remember being in a similar place: desperately wanting to be a mother, but at the same time not wanting to give up my identity—who I was before motherhood—and forget how to live as me. I still wanted to be able to lie on the couch and read all afternoon. I still wanted to travel. I wanted to go on walks through under-construction homes with Somebody. I still wanted to bake and craft and sing and laugh. I was determined not to lose me.

Perhaps that is what made my actual transition into motherhood so extremely difficult. Perhaps my knowledge of life on the outside made those first three months of sleep deprivation so painful. Perhaps I wouldn’t have wondered so often, “why did I want this? I hate this,” if I hadn’t felt so acutely the loss of me. It made me angry, for a long time, to look around the room and see the laundry not folded, the quilt not sewn, the book not read, the nap not taken. I, the I that existed in the time before baby, would never have let that happen.

So, here I am, 15 months later, and I can tell you for certain that Gulliver doesn’t see a college educated, determined, wannabe-professional cookie decorator when he looks at me. He doesn’t care when I’m tired or hungry. He doesn’t notice if I really don’t want to spend time outside right now because dang it’s hot. He never responds when I tell him to just shush up and listen to me because I have a masters degree and know A LOT of things that he doesn’t. What he sees, though, or at least what I hope he sees, when he looks at me is comfort. And security. And love. Hugs and kisses. Cookies and yellow balloons. I hope he forgets that he sees impatience and anger. I hope he can’t remember the times I was annoyed to have to drop what I was doing and sit on the floor to stack the blocks eighteen more times. It has become enough, right now, that he looks at me and sees just Mom. Mom. Who will pick him up and kiss his neck a million times. Who will fetch the ball and change the diaper and quack like a duck. Who had to give up parts of who she was, for now, for this short time, to teach him to climb the stairs and then rock him to sleep.

It’s a kick in the pants, this mother job. And if the only point of all my life experiences up to this point were to prepare me to be “just mom” for just him, then they were all worth it.

lazy days of summer

2010-06-24T13:48:00.000-05:00

Remember that one time when I had that baby and then stopped blogging? I know. Weird. He grew up. Apparently that happens.

Well, you should know that this morning he is popping the Victoria's Secret Sexy Little Mints like they are jelly beans, and should he feel inclined to smooch you (he won't) his breath is just minty fresh. It's one of the small joys of motherhood this morning. I know you are glad I shared.

one giant leap for mankind

2010-03-15T07:03:00.004-05:00

It's been quite a landmark week here. On Monday Somebody passed his final citizenship interview. On Friday he passed his oral comprehensive exam and officially became a doctoral candidate. (Stressed much?) On Sunday we had my family over for a belated Chinese New Year celebration dinner and Gulliver took his first step. Well, not just his first step. He also took his second, third, fifteenth, thirty-seventh, and fifty-ninth. Once he got going he was all over the place.

This video was taken, seriously, about five minutes after he took his first step. Is that just the cutest thing you've seen this morning?

third time. charmed?

2010-03-09T20:38:00.004-06:00

The second week of December I was rushing out of the house on my way to a funeral and I neglected to step carefully down the ice-covered front stairs. My feet flew out from under me and I landed first on the back side of my right thigh and then flipped forward onto my right knee with my hands and face in the snowy yard. Good times. I considered myself very blessed that I wasn’t carrying Gulliver or the food that I was taking for the funeral luncheon. I limped around for a few days and then sported a hand-print sized bruise on my leg for a few weeks. Eventually the swelling in my knee went down, and although the bruising on the bone continues to sometimes limit my activities, I feel like I am on the mend.

The first week of January I was rushing up the stairs, sorting and packing to attend my grandmother’s funeral, and I missed a step and fell. Although I was carrying Gulliver, I was blessed that I kept him from hitting the ground. This time my left knee took the brunt of the fall. Luckily, although I limped for a day or two, the injury was really quite minor.

Last Thursday I was leaving the house on my way to buy food to prepare for, strangely, another funeral, and I lost my balance going down the front step. Me, the two bags I was carrying, and Gulliver hit the ground. Well, Gulliver didn’t hit the ground, because the only thought I had in that half a second before I hit the cement was, “don’t let the baby hit the ground!” Thank goodness he didn’t. Seriously. My right knee, however, hit hard. Considering it was still sore from the December fall, you can imagine the throbbing and pain from hitting it again. I stayed on the ground for a second to assess the damage, cursing my current clumsiness. I had ripped a hole in the knee of my jeans, my left hand was scraped up, and my left ankle was a little sore. When I sat up and checked my knee it was scraped and bleeding a little. Oh, my luck. I gathered everything up, loaded the car, and continued on my errand, complaining and moaning only minimally (promise!). I limped a little, and my knee throbbed with pain, but I assumed the worst was over.

I was wrong. Slowly, throughout the afternoon, my back started hurting. By the time evening rolled around I could barely walk upright and ended up sitting in the nursing chair with Gulliver (after he fell asleep) until Somebody got home from school and could transfer Gulliver to the crib for me because I was unable to stand up holding him. Friday morning Somebody left for work at the normal time, but he wasn’t even all the way to his office (he has an hour commute) before I called him crying and told him there was no way I was going to be able to parent successfully when I could not walk or carry Gulliver. He came back home and took care of us all day Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday. And Monday. You don’t have to tell me how about what a good person he is. I know. Believe me, I know. Today, finally, I cam feeling better was able to actually spend most of the day not resting on the couch. Thank goodness, because Somebody had to get back to work.

There was, however, a silver lining. Gulliver has decided that he no longer requires rocking or walking or bouncing or help of any kind in going to sleep. He really prefers to nurse and then immediately be placed in his crib to fall asleep on his own. I know that this is the ideal kind of baby-sleep situation and I do count it as a blessing. I also miss holding and snuggling a sleeping baby. He has to be really, really tired to fall asleep in my arms. Friday, the day my back was hurting the worst and the day I spent a total of probably one hour up and moving around the house, didn't shower, and cried a lot, was also the day that this happened. Twice.

by any other name

2010-03-01T21:31:00.003-06:00

Have you met my not-a-baby-anymore boy? Around these parts we call him Gulliver. He likes chicken curry, oranges, and the BYU Cougars.
He also loves tearing toilet paper into tiny, tiny pieces; waving bye-bye; dancing; taking baths; throwing shoes down the stairs; and, of course, cell phones.Man, he loves cell phones. But I think we'll keep him, anyway.

welcome to my world

2010-02-20T22:17:00.001-06:00

This weekend we found ourselves without plans and spent most of our time at home. We were only a few hours into our Saturday morning when Somebody said, "This is very boring." To which, I, of course, responded, "Hello. This is my life EVERY DAY." And then we put on masquerade masks to liven things up a little.

to listen and to pray

2009-11-27T11:25:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful that we are finally going to the temple--it has been way too long since our last trip.

2. I am grateful for gingerbread muffins from Lehi Roller Mills. Yum.

3. I am grateful for online maps that direct me to the places I want to go.

"We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way." -Author Unknown

this is the night we've waited for

2009-11-26T21:20:00.001-06:00

Although my family was physically divided this holiday, it was one of the most enjoyable Thanksgiving days I can remember. We divided out the food prep and so it felt like I hardly had to do any baking and still there was plenty of food on the table. In fact, the food was better than I can ever remember it being. The company was delightful. Gulliver was charming and entertaining. It was a perfect moment in time. I hope that each of you also enjoyed a day that included a multitude of things to be grateful for.

1. I am thankful for Somebody. I can't imagine a better match for me than he is. He is calm, loving, helpful, loyal, patient, adventurous, honest, and strong. He is encouraging and realistic. He makes me laugh and is willing to hug it out. At the end of the day (and the beginning, and the middle) he is the person that I most want to be with, most want to talk to, most want to share with. He has a vision for his life and I am thrilled to be included in it. I love him.

2. I am thankful for Gulliver. I am fairly certain I got the best baby there is--he is so full of smiles and laughter and fun. He challenges my patience and my selflessness, but he rewards me with love and devotion. I never knew how delightful it would be to watch another person learn and grow and develop a personality. I spend more time with him than with anyone else and I still sometimes feel like there aren't enough minutes in the day to enjoy him. Some of my most cherished moments from the past year have been holding my beautiful baby, and I am thrilled that I was trusted with his care. I love him.

3. I am thankful that I have a testimony of Jesus Christ--that He suffered for my sins and sorrows, that He died on the cross, and that He rose again. I can't imagine my life without my relationship with my Savior. It gives purpose and direction to everything I do. I am thankful to know that there is a reason for the challenges of this life and that there is something more that we are working towards, but especially that He is there to help me through all the hard parts. I love Him.

"You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you."
-Sarah Ban Breathnach

slide down my rainbow

2009-11-25T21:51:00.005-06:00

1. I am grateful that Gulliver slept just long enough for me to make both of the pies for Thanksgiving, plus a little hand pie with the dough fragments for lunch, plus do the dishes, plus clean the kitchen, plus eat lunch, plus check my email. Now THAT is a good nap. And those are going to be good pies.

2. I am grateful for my current life circumstances. My home is safe and clean and has plenty of space for our needs. Somebody has a stable job that provides enough income to pay our bills. We are all healthy. Somebody and I have both been blessed with opportunities for higher education. We are mentally stable (Somebody might say that my mental stability is at times unstable, but in general the lights are all on over here.) I have a remarkably supportive family who would catch us if we started to fall. We feel secure and loved. I have been blessed beyond measure.

3. I am grateful that Somebody has confidence that I can do whatever I want--decorate cookies, sew quilts, make pies, design onesies--and that people would be willing to pay me because my talent is so magnificent. I'm not usually as confident in my abilities, but I appreciate that he always encourages me toward whatever hobby has my interest.

"And though I ebb in worth, I'll flow in thanks." -John Taylor

blessings in my home

2009-11-24T21:51:00.005-06:00

1. I am grateful that I am able to stay home and work full-time at keeping Gulliver alive. This is the greatest, hardest, most time-consuming, most rewarding job I could ever imagine. I am grateful that Somebody supports that decision and willingly goes to work to provide for our family.

2. I am grateful for music that can change my mood.

3. I am grateful for those who are willing to go out of their way to help others.

"We need to be more grateful. I think there's no true character without gratitude. It's one of the marks of a real strong character, to have a feeling of thanksgiving and gratitude for blessings that are ours. We need more of that spirit in our homes, in our daily associations, in church, everywhere. It doesn't cost anything. It's so easy to cultivate the spirit of appreciation and gratitude."-Ezra Taft Benson, "Receive All Things with Thankfulness," New Era, Nov 1976

i may eat my words

2009-11-23T19:23:00.002-06:00

1. Today is Somebody's birthday and he celebrated by taking the day off of work and spending it at home with us. Well, we weren't home all day because he wanted to do some shopping, but at least we got to spend the day together. The weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy being outside for a little bit. This evening we met my mom for dinner and ate our fill (and more!) of crab and shrimp and calamari. And if that wasn't enough--because it kind of wasn't--we were able to finish the night with homemade cheesecake from my mom. It was a relaxing, fun, calm, perfect day. I am thankful for every minute of it.

2. I am grateful for the Google Latitude program that allowed us to track the progress of my dad, brother, niece, and nephew as they drove from Kansas to Utah last night. It was fun always knowing where they were along that long route. It was also reassuring to know that as long as their tracking dot kept moving that they were alive and well. I did consider that perhaps they had been ambushed and the phone with the tracking device had been stolen and I was watching the progress of the thieves as they made their get-away, but it turns out that was not the case at all and for that I am grateful.

3. I am grateful that as Somebody and I plan the finished touches of putting our home together that we have very similar taste and ideas and rarely disagree about what would be the best thing to do with the space. Thinking so similarly makes the process much more enjoyable.

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues." -Cicero

valentine candy or boxing gloves

2009-11-22T20:28:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that my cough seems to finally be going away AND that Gulliver finally seems healthy and happy again.

2. I am grateful for childhood movies that have great quotable lines that come to me at the most random times. For example, while typing that last gratitude I thought, "To have your alligators thaw out and your daughter forgive you all in the same bright morning--that's fortuosity." And it made me smile.

3. I am grateful that my parents are letting us borrow their second Christmas tree to set up in our living room this year.

"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven." -Johannes A. Gaertner

through rose-colored glasses

2009-11-21T07:33:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful that I feel like I belong.
2. I am grateful for the ability to change.
3. I am grateful that I have millions of happy memories.
"We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way." -Author Unknown

pink is really my color

2009-11-20T18:45:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for rubber gloves to wear when cleaning and washing dishes.
2. I am grateful for wash clothes and bars of soap. Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person in the world who still used them (I could just never get on the body wash/puff bandwagon) and I am always happy when I'm away from home and the place where I am staying provides them.
3. I am grateful that I decided to go to Dallas. I was able to visit with family that I haven't seen in a long time, shop at IKEA (three times in two days), and enjoy a new city.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

she looks just like karla

2009-11-19T21:58:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful for my mother. Today is her birthday and I wasn't there to celebrate with her, but when I talked to her on the phone she said she had a good day. I love that my mom and I are friends and have so many common interests. Happy Birthday, Mom!

2. I am grateful for extended family and reasons to see them.

3. I am grateful that even thought I came to my cousin's wedding unannounced (I decided only two days ago to come) that everyone welcomed me with open arms and seems genuinely happy to see me.

“If you never learned the lesson of thankfulness, begin now. Sum up your mercies; see what provision God has made for your happiness, what opportunities for your usefulness, and what advantages for your success.”-Ida S. Taylor

good morning happiness

2009-11-18T15:51:00.003-06:00

1. I am grateful that I decided to just say no to non-essential activities today. I needed to relieve some of my stress and give myself a few more hours, and staying home instead of going out to playgroup was just what I needed to stay sane today.

2. I am grateful that I receive inspiration to guide me in accomplishing the things I have stewardship over. I feel every day that the Lord is helping me be the best mom for Gulliver, the best (usually) wife for Somebody, and really steering the things I do to fulfil my church callings. I feel very blessed and watched over and know that I don't have to do any of the hard (or easy) things alone.

3. I am grateful that my cold has eased up enough that I am able to go down to Texas with my dad for my cousin's wedding. Also, I'm grateful that I braved Priceline today and scored a night at the Hyatt for $45.

“Think to thank. In these three words is the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, a formula for enduring friendship, and a pattern for personal happiness.” -Thomas S. Monson, Pathways to Perfection [1973], 254

and that stands for pool

2009-11-17T15:50:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that there are women who have gone before me and learned all the tricks to being a mom. Well, you know, as much as you can learn "tricks" to being a good, competent parent. It is so comforting to have women I love who are there to give me advice when I encounter something new and confusing.

2. I am grateful that Gulliver is back to his seven-hour-each-night sleeping. The last two months of his frequent awakenings, and then last week when he reverted to getting up every two hours, just about put me over the edge. I'm sure he needs the sleep, too, but mostly I'm thankful that I am finally getting more sleep.

3. I am grateful that Heidi sent me home from her house with a baby-proofing starter kit. Heidi, how did you know? Oh, that's right, you have gone before me and know some tricks. On a related note, Gulliver can climb all the stairs now. It is trouble here in River City.

"The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life. Pride destroys our gratitude and sets up selfishness in its place. How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man!"-President Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939]

trying to drown out the crying

2009-11-16T19:30:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that we didn't have anywhere we needed to be when we had our first snowflakes of the season today. Not that it was any substantial amount of snow--if you didn't see it falling you would not have known it snowed--but we were able to go outside several times today and watch it fall. I love the quietness of snow falling.

2. I am grateful that Somebody wanted to put a wall of bookshelves in our office/guest bedroom. While I wasn't ever opposed to the idea, it was certainly something that he wanted a lot more than I did. Now that the bookshelves are up and filled with books and framed photographs, I love them and couldn't imagine this room without them.

3. I am grateful that I have someone else to share parenting responsibilities with. Man, I wouldn't want to be doing this alone.

"Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings."
-J. Robert Moskin

for health and strength and daily food

2009-11-15T22:22:00.005-06:00

1. I am grateful for the ability to control my climate. In the summer I am thankful every day that my house and my car (and, previously, my office) were air conditioned. Now that the weather is turning decidedly colder, I'm so thankful that I can turn the heat on and stay warm.

2. I am grateful for weekends when we can spend most of each day as a family. Between his job (and his 60 minute each way commute) and his evening classes, I feel like I hardly see Somebody during the week. I always look forward to Saturday and Sunday because all the projects and errands that we need to do we can do together. Also, I think that Gulliver enjoys those days the best--probably every Saturday morning I say, "Wow, Gulliver is SO happy to have both his parents home today." And he really is a much more smiley, happy baby on the weekends.

3. I am grateful for really soft Kleenex tissues. Both for myself and for the poor, tiny baby nose that I have to constantly keep wiping these days.

"We need to be more grateful. I think there's no true character without gratitude. It's one of the marks of a real strong character, to have a feeling of thanksgiving and gratitude for blessings that are ours. We need more of that spirit in our homes, in our daily associations, in church, everywhere. It doesn't cost anything. It's so easy to cultivate the spirit of appreciation and gratitude."
-Ezra Taft Benson, "Receive All Things with Thankfulness," New Era, Nov 1976

mike wazowski

2009-11-14T20:25:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for cold medicine that can kind of make me feel better.

2. I am grateful for fresh oranges that are peeled for me.

3. I am grateful for Disney classic movies and cartoons that are fun to watch over and over again.

"Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality."
-Alfred Painter

home again

2009-11-13T22:39:00.002-06:00

1. I am grateful for a well-maintained highway that makes traveling long distances safe and comfortable.

2. I am grateful for the comforts of home.

3. I am grateful for yummy smells coming from the oven.

"Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road."
-John Henry Jowett

dust go to sleep

2009-11-12T16:39:00.002-06:00

1. I am grateful for bonus naps.

2. I am grateful for eternal families. I would be sad if the only time I was going to know and interact with my family members was our time on this earth.

3. I am grateful that finally, after being here for three days, I was able to do something helpful for my sister. Good thing, too, because I was almost out of time and would have felt very guilty leaving here without being useful in some way.

"Gratitude is of the very essence of worship. … When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives"
--President Gordon B. Hinckley

with a classic cherry almond scent

2009-11-11T16:35:00.003-06:00

1. We took three of the children (in two strollers) and walked the mile over to the post office to mail a few letters. Sadly, the post office was closed (hello, veterans!) and so the letters didn't get mailed, but I am grateful that we got out of the house for awhile and enjoyed the cool morning air.

2. I am grateful for ponytail holders. I thought I used them a lot before, but then my baby grew into a professional hair puller and now they are practically a necessity.

3. I am grateful for lotion to ease my dry, irritated winter skin.

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."
--Denis Waitley

here's looking at you, kid

2009-11-10T19:08:00.003-06:00

1. I am grateful for genetics. I love being able to see pieces of the parents when I look at the children. Right now I'm watching my sister help her oldest daughter with her homework, and, wow, that cute little girl is just the spitting image of her mother. And besides the physical resemblance, I enjoy seeing the personality traits that the children have picked up from their parents. It makes me excited to see what parts of me Gulliver will exhibit (since we already know he didn't get my fingernails. Poor kid).

2. I am grateful that my dad is always willing to take all the children outside to play so that the other adults can work on dinner. Gulliver just loves being outside with his grandpa.

3. I am grateful for warm, fresh-from-the-oven rolls.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

--Melody Beattie

they call it puppy love

2009-11-09T19:03:00.000-06:00

1. I am grateful that twenty years ago today my family happened to be in Berlin and was able to witness the opening of the Berlin Wall in person.

http://www.basehorinfo.com/news/2008/nov/20/vacation-coincided-berlin-walls-fall/

http://www.basehorinfo.com/photos/2008/nov/18/27006/

Even though I was a young child, I can still remember the drastic difference between a people who were caged and then were free.

2. I am grateful that I get to spend the next few days with my sister and her family and learn from her mothering expertise.

3. I am, well, to say it nicely, not really a dog person. I'm not an animal person generally (Ginet, it's like we are the same person), but am especially not a dog person. My sister has a dog. I'm grateful for this reminder that I don't ever want to have a dog. You know, just in case I was reconsidering the option.

"Gratitude is a state of appreciation, an act of thanksgiving, which causes us to be humble because we recognize an act of kindness, service, or caring from someone else which lifts us and strengthens us." --Elder Robert D. Hales

channeling my inner porcupine

2009-11-08T16:41:00.002-06:00

1. I am grateful that Somebody forgives me and continues to love me even when I am stubborn, irrational, and mean.
2. I am grateful that books come in paper format and audio format so that Somebody and I can "read" the same book at the same time and then discuss it.
3. I am grateful that we were able to enjoy so many vegetables fresh from the garden this summer, and that the late summer items--the squash and sweet potatoes--were ripe just in time to be made into Oliver's first baby foods.

"Don't wait to start. Open your eyes, open your hearts, and open your arms. I promise that as you do so, you will feel greater joy and happiness. Your life will have a new level of meaning. You will forge relationships that will transcend this life and endure through the eternities."
-Joseph B. Wirthlin, "'Live in Thanksgiving Daily'," Ensign, Sep 2001

the closet isn't going to organize itself

2009-11-07T11:09:00.002-06:00

1. I am grateful for yummy, dried cranberries to mix in with my oatmeal each morning.

2. I am grateful for slow cookers so that I can put food in it in the morning, then go about my day with errands and chores, and know that when I return home and am ready to eat there will be something hot and (hopefully) yummy just waiting for me.

3. I am grateful for weekend mornings (okay, really just Saturday mornings) when Somebody is home and can take Gulliver downstairs to play and allow me to get just 15 more minutes of sleep. Somehow that makes a big difference.

"Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable. Gratitude turns a meal into a feast and drudgery into delight. It softens our grief and heightens our pleasure. It turns the simple and common into the memorable and transcendent. It forges bonds of love and fosters loyalty and admiration."
--Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

more than sunflowers and sunsets

2009-11-06T22:25:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful that I live near my parents. I always thought that living an hour away from family was the perfect distance--you were close enough that visiting for the evening or weekend wasn't a hardship, but far enough away that there was no obligation to see each other every day. I was wrong. My parents live just 10 minutes down the highway (a significant distance compared to how close they have been the last couple of years) and I am grateful every day that it is no inconvenience at all to go over to visit them. I love them. Somebody loves them. Gulliver loves them. Being near them continues to bless our lives in countless ways.

2. I am grateful that Gulliver knows my parents and loves them almost as much as he loves me and Somebody. I love watching him with my parents, love watching them adore him, love watching his face light up when he sees them, love watching them play together.

3. I am grateful that we decided to move to Kansas. Leaving Utah was difficult for us because we were leaving behind amazing family and friends, and because we both had such wonderful experiences there. Utah was where our story began and we were afraid to move away from the warmth and security we knew there. Kansas, though, has been more than good to us. I feel like we, as a family, belong here in ways we never belonged before. I have been especially blessed with friends who enrich my life (I can't say enough good things about them, but I can't say anything more about them here because this gratitude is about Kansas life and not about friends). We are finally growing up and this is the perfect place to do it. I can't even think about how challenging it will be to leave.

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some."
--Charles Dickens

slowly going darker

2009-11-05T23:31:00.002-06:00

1. I am grateful for times when I get together with friends and we are chatting and laughing and the time just flies by. Not that I'm grateful for the time passing quickly, but, you know, when the conversation just keeps flowing and then you look at your watch and are surprised at how much time as passed. Those times = awesome.

2. I got my hair cut and colored today and had to take Gulliver with me and am so grateful that he did not wipe his now not-all-that-runny nose on any toys that did not belong to him. He was a trooper and I was glad that he was so well-behaved. I am also grateful for how great my hair looks after a professional has styled it.

3. I am grateful that right now, as I type this, Somebody is scratching my back (you know, because I needed to relax after my long, hard day of getting my hair cut and having dinner with friends). I helpfully suggested to him that maybe that was what he wanted to be doing, and while he didn't necessarily agree, he still obliged.

"As with all commandments, gratitude is a description of a successful mode of living. The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us. President J. Reuben Clark, formerly a First Counselor in the First Presidency, said: 'Hold fast to the blessings which God has provided for you. Yours is not the task to gain them, they are here; yours is the part of cherishing them.'"
James E. Faust, "Gratitude As a Saving Principle," Ensign, Dec 1996

i'm pretty sure i killed the yeast

2009-11-04T22:42:00.002-06:00

1. I am grateful for clean floors. Somehow the whole house looks better when the carpets are recently vacuumed and the floors are swept and mopped. (I learned this from my mother who ALWAYS has the most clean floors.) My back is sad that it all that cleaning had to happen in one day, but, man, it was time.

2. I am grateful that the internet is like one bottomless pit of new recipes just waiting for me to try them. And that sometimes the ones I try turn out really well. Sometimes not so much, but at least I can learn from my cooking mistakes, and Somebody is a good sport to eat whatever it is that I serve him for dinner. (And just in case you were wondering, the new ones I tried tonight were mostly successful. It was the first time I've cooked with leeks--I used them in a potato/leek/bacon/corn chowder--and now I'm not afraid of them anymore. The bread bowls I attempted turned out more like enormous hamburger buns. Delicious hamburger buns, but hamburger buns.)

3. I am grateful that I feel comfortable enough in the kitchen to make my own changes and substitutions to recipes to tailor them to fit what we like to eat. I come from a family of competent cooks, and I have been taught well.

"If gratitude is due from children to their earthly parents, how much more is the gratitude of the great family of man due to our Father in heaven!"
--Hosea Ballou

in praise of facial tissues

2009-11-03T20:38:00.001-06:00

1. Gulliver is sick today. More noticeably sick than he was yesterday. Today I am grateful that we didn't have any plans and were able to just stay warm at home. I'm grateful that we have already been to the doctor and that he is already taking antibiotics. I'm grateful that I could stay in pajamas because then I didn't mind when someone wiped his nose on me over and over and over.

2. I am grateful that I got to talk to so many friends and family members today. Getting to talk to the people I love is one of the best parts of having a birthday.

3. I am grateful that the cabinet guy finally came today to install the lazy susans in our kitchen corner cabinets. We've only been living here six months, and I only call him once or twice a week to remind him. He must have gotten tired of avoiding my phone calls. I am optimistic that this will help us feel like we have much more space in our kitchen.

"My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life, we 'accentuate the positive.' I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment and endorse virtue and effort."
--President Gordon B. Hinckley

these flip flops are from old navy

2009-11-02T22:02:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for fun surprises. I was totally on to the game with the first location, but was completely thrown off by the venue change (obviously, because who shows up to her own surprise birthday party wearing her pajamas and house slippers?)

2. I am grateful that I decided to get up early and beat the rush to the walk-in clinic at the pediatrician's office this morning. I was the first in line (ten minutes before the office opened, and, no, they didn't open the doors early to let us in from the cold) and pretty much disliked standing there holding a cold baby, but SO happy to basically walk in and then go straight back to see the doctor. Also, somehow the visit and filling a prescription for antibiotics cost me a whopping $0.80. For that I am very, very grateful.

3. I am grateful clean bathrooms. Clean ANY room, really, but the bathroom is the only one that fits that description today.

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."--Cynthia Ozick

name them one by one

2009-11-01T21:35:00.003-06:00

It's that time of year again (can you believe that it is November already?). Time for pumpkins and gloves and long-sleeves and the November Attitude of Gratitude Challenge. For those of you who have not played before, the challenge is outlined below.

Here's how it works:
Each day during the month of November I will post three things I am grateful for. You should, too.
Definition of "things"- the term "things" is used here to encompass a myriad of stuff including, but not limited to:

a certain set of circumstances
an event
an inanimate object distinguished from a living being
possessions or effects
a deed or act
a product of work or activity
an idea or notion
a piece of news or information
a personal memory
anything that makes you smile

* The challenge is to come up with three ORIGINAL "things" each day. Try not to repeat entries.

WARNING OF POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS!!
Please note that challenge participation may result in any or all of the following:
- you will be surprised at all the Lord has done for you
- angels will attend
- you will feel help and comfort
- you will find yourself "singing as the days go by"
- your doubts will fly
(see LDS Hymn #241 for the above references)

In the past years I've included a gratitude quote each day. I think I've used them all up. This year (and in future years) you can expect to see some duplication of these quotes. Sorry, kids.

"Gracias, danke, merci—whatever language is spoken, "thank you" frequently expressed will cheer your spirit, broaden your friendships, and lift your lives to a higher pathway as you journey toward perfection. There is a simplicity—even a sincerity—when "thank you" is spoken."
-Thomas S. Monson, "The Profound Power of Gratitude," Ensign, Sep 2005

"Our society is afflicted by a spirit of thoughtless arrogance unbecoming those who have been so magnificently blessed. How grateful we should be for the bounties we enjoy. Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief.
"Where there is appreciation, there is courtesy, there is concern for the rights and property of others. Without appreciation, there is arrogance and evil. Where there is gratitude, there is humility, as opposed to pride. How magnificently we are blessed! How thankful we ought to be!"
-Gordon B. Hinckley, "'With All Thy Getting Get Understanding'," Ensign, Aug 1988

November 1
1. I am thankful that we had beautiful weather this weekend--just enough to sun and warmth to plant a tree and grill some hamburgers.
2. I am thankful that we had an extra hour of sleep last night. Someone around here is either sick or teething or completely out of sorts because we spent many hours up during the night. Thank goodness we had an extra hour this morning to sort of make up for things.
3. I am thankful for key lime pie and friends who invite me over to eat it. Yum! It was the perfect way to welcome November.

"We are thankful for blessings we cannot measure, for gifts we cannot appraise, 'for books, music, art, and for the great inventions which make these blessings available[;] … for the laughter of little children[;] … for the … means for relieving human suffering … and increasing … the enjoyment of life[;] … for everything good and uplifting.'"
"Three Centuries of Thanksgiving," Etude Music Magazine, Nov. 1945

here is my stem and there is the ground

2009-10-21T15:01:00.005-05:00

Gulliver and I joined our ward playgroup for a trip to the local pumpkin patch this morning. The weather bordered on chilly, but at least the rain didn't start falling until we were in the car and pulling out of the parking lot. Literally. Gulliver got his first experience crawling and playing in dirt and straw (is that some rite of passage or something?) and I got my first experience getting my hands all dirty ripping my perfect pumpkin off the vine and then being sad that I didn't have anything to clean my hands with and then realizing that I carry 89 wipes around with me at all times. Only I realized that part about the wipes about 15 minutes AFTER I wiped the dirt off on my tank top (you know, because my shirt was covering it up and the dirt wouldn't show. I know. I'm a genius.) Meh. It was still a great way to spend this morning.

That's my perfect pumpkin there on the left--the one Gulliver is pulling the vine from. Most of its perfectness was the fact that it had a stem and could be carried easily in one hand. My standards for pumpkins are fairly low.

a few rays of light

2009-08-27T15:08:00.003-05:00

My photo maybe isn't as cool as it was last year......but this year I got to take this handsome fellow with me.

And I think that more than makes up for it. If you are in the Kansas City area and want some sunflower pictures of your own (think family photos for Christmas cards), you can find directions to the sunflower field here.

whipped. and fried.

2009-08-22T21:45:00.003-05:00

It’s the final week. I had to go out with a bang. Or at least a deep fry. And why not make one more Chinese food recipe while I’m on a roll? Adrienne had been telling me for some time now that she had the perfect Sesame Chicken recipe, but each time she mentioned it I think I responded with, “That sounds GREAT! When are you making it so that I can come over for dinner?” I’m a good friend that way.

But, there I was, on the last week of the Whip It Up challenge, and in need of a good Homemade Take-Out recipe. Sesame Chicken? Why, yes, I think I shall.
Chinese Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:
Approx. 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Marinade:
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. flour
2 T. cornstarch
3 T. water
¼ t. baking powder
¼ t. baking soda
1 t. vegetable oil

Sauce for chicken:
½ C. water
1 C. chicken broth
1/8 C. vinegar
¼ C. cornstarch
1 C. sugar
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. vegetable oil
½ t. chili powder (or more, if you like it hot)
1 clove garlic minced or equiv. garlic powder

Other:
2 T. toasted sesame seeds
Oil for frying

Directions:
1. Cut the chicken into cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients and marinade the chicken for 20 minutes.
2. To prepare the sauce, mix together all the sauce ingredients. Pour them into a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you fry the chicken.
3. Heat oil in saucepan, generous enough to cover chicken completely for frying. Add marinated chicken a few pieces at a time and deep fry until golden brown; drain on paper towels. Repeat for all the chicken. 4. Just before you’re done frying, bring the sauce back up to a boil. Place chicken in a serving dish and pour sauce over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with rice.
I learned a couple of things while making this. First, if you are only serving two people you probably only need one pound of chicken. I used only one pound of chicken and still made the full marinade and sauce recipes. Yum. I like lots of sauce. Second, I hate deep frying. ‘Tis messy and can be painful when the oil spatters out and burns your hand. Multiple times during the painfully slow frying process (I was totally following the “add marinated chicken a few pieces at a time” direction and it took me almost half an hour to fry up my one pound of chicken.) I mumbled in frustration, “This is so lame. I hate this recipe. I would never make this again.” And third, I would totally make this again. Yum! It only took one bite before I was eating my words right along with this delicious chicken.

This recipe was very easy to follow and the finished product was scrumptious. I would definitely make this again. And by “I would make this”, I mean “I would ask Somebody to make this.” Obviously.

less baking. more baby.

2009-08-19T22:19:00.002-05:00

Because I promised Janssen (who I KNOW isn't hitting refresh every ten seconds) and because it has been on my list of things to do for, oh, four months now, I'm going to be putting up some photos and stories of Gulliver. The photos come first. You might have to check back later for stories. And I put them up on the dates when they SHOULD have been originally posted, so you might need to go back three months in the posts to find them. Unless, of course, you are like Janssen and read me in Reader. Lucky people like her live in Boston AND get all the pictures back to back without any work at all.

Also, as I was posting these (because I only picked one picture per week to start with--I'm trying to not overwhelm myself) Somebody told me I had picked ugly pictures. Perhaps we should consider that Gulliver was ugly that week. Or that I only took a couple of pictures of him that week and didn't have much to choose from. In any case you should notice that he is cute now, even if he was "ugly" for a few weeks there. You did notice that, right? That he is turning out to be just the cutest little thing EVER? I'm not biased at all.

rocking the chinese wife thing

2009-08-15T16:46:00.004-05:00

I don’t have a favorite chef. Is that strange? Do most people? So, for this challenge I used Somebody’s favorite Taiwanese chef (Pei Mei, as I mentioned before) and attempted another Chinese dinner. Behold, the Quick Stir-fried Beef with Green Onion.

Let me just begin my saying that you really need super-de-duper, paper-thin sliced beef for this. We did not have paper-thin beef. It was more like cardboard thin. It worked, but I think thinner would have been better. We attempted to get ours paper-thin. Honestly, we did.

Before you begin here, Somebody read through this post and determined that it was kind of boring. Feel free to skip right to the recipe at the end if you find yourself falling asleep.

Scene One: Saturday night at the meat counter in the grocery store.
Me (to the butcher): If we buy a piece of meat here, can you put it in your freezer until it is more solid and then slice it paper-thin for us?
Butcher #1 (played by a teenager): I have no idea. Let me go ask. (He goes into the back and reappears with an older and apparently much wise butcher.)
Butcher #2: What do you want?
Me: If we buy a piece of meat here, can you put it in your freezer until it is more solid and then slice it paper-thin for us?
Butcher #2: Sure. You just purchase it and then bring it back here with the receipt. We’ll put it in the freezer, then slice it for you, then have it ready for you on Monday.
Me: Wonderful. I love you. I will always shop here for, lo, your customer service, it is awesome.

Scene Two: Monday afternoon at the meat counter in the grocery store.
Me (to the butcher): Hi, do you remember me? I left the meat here on Saturday and you were going to slice it paper-thin for me.
Butcher #1 (played by a teenager): Uh…sure. Hold on. (He goes into the back and reappears with our meat, most certainly frozen to a solid block and NOT already sliced. He begins to unwrap the meat to get going on the slicing. Enter Butcher #3.)
Butcher #3: What are you doing?
Butcher #1: Just slicing this up for her.
Butcher #3. You can’t do that. Our meat slicer won’t slice meat that is frozen.
Me: Actually, it has to be mostly frozen in order to get it as thin as we want it.
Butcher #3: We can’t do that here.
Me: On Saturday, someone here told me you could.
Butcher #3: Well, not this frozen. You’ll have to take it home and thaw it out and then bring it back.
Me: Can you just do that here? Keep it in your refrigerator and then when it reaches the correct thaw/frozen ratio just slice it up paper-thin for me?
Butcher #3: No. There’s, uh, some liability or something, blah blah, and we can’t keep your meat in our freezer. What if we lost it?
Me:
Butcher #3: So, you just take it home and bring it back later when it is more thawed and we’ll slice it up for you.
Me: I hate you. You think I’m going to come back here with my meat? You, mister, have another think coming.

Scene Three: Tuesday evening at the meat counter in the grocery store.
Somebody (who had been given this chore because I refused to return to the meat counter as my loathing and frustration were still running deep. I had, however, taken the meat out of our freezer at precisely 3pm so that it could reach the perfect thaw/frozen ratio by the time Somebody got home and could go to the grocery store.): Hi, I brought this meat back for you to slice up paper-thin for us.
Butcher #3: What? Why? We can’t do that here. This here meat slicer is only for already cooked meat. We can’t put raw meat on there.
Somebody (eyeing the meat counter with NOT ONE piece of already cooked meat in the display case. All the cooked meat was over on the other side of the store in the deli section. The meat section had ONLY raw meat.): Uh, what? This is the third time we’ve been here.
Butcher #3: (Big sigh.) I GUESS I can use the saw in the back. Hold on. (Goes into the back. Returns a few minutes later with CARDBOARD-THICK slices of meat.) Here you go. Have a great day. Come back and see us again!
Somebody: My wife was right. You guys pretty much suck.

Curtain closes.

Pei Mei’s Chinese Cook Book Volume 2
My notes and observations are in parenthesis. We doubled this recipe because we were feeding more than two people.

Quick Stir-fried Beef with Green Onion
Ingredients:
250 g. sliced beef (Do you love having your meat portioned by grams? We do NOT.)
2 cups shredded green onion (Shredded? We just cut it into 2-inch pieces, then sliced then in half length-wise.)
3 Tbsp sliced garlic (We used minced garlic because that was all we had.)
4 Tbsp oil
To marinate beef:
¼ tsp salt
½ Tbsp wine
1 Tbsp oil
1/6 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp cold water
½ Tbsp cornstarch

Seasonings:
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:
1. Prepare the beef marinade in a bowl. Then add the sliced beef (The beef slices should be paper-thin. Good luck with that.) Mix thoroughly with your fingers. Set aside and marinate for at least 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Turn the pan around so that the oil covers the base of the pan.
3. When the oil is smoking hot, put the sliced garlic in. Then add the sliced beef. Stir over high heat for about 10 seconds (10 seconds? Only super paper-thin beef would be cooked in 10 seconds. Just cook it until just barely done.) Splash soy sauce around the sides of the pan. Mix and remove to a bowl. Reserve juice in pan. (We poured out most of the juice because it was WAY too much.) 4. Reheat the juice, then add green onion. Stir fry only for 5 seconds. Turn off the heat. Pour the beef back into the pan. Combine with green onion and add sesame oil. Transfer to a serving plate.

We served this over white rice (of course). This recipe was easy to follow (I felt more confident stir-frying this time) and the meal was delicious. We will make this again. We also had some squid (left over from our calamari adventure last week) that Somebody prepared and served with shrimp in a yummy sauce.
Oh, and because you were all curious, we got our squid at the grocery store at the military post. You could probably find it already cut up, but we were going for squid we could also use in other Chinese recipes. Hence the whole squid. Again, SO not worth making the calamari at home. Make this Beef with Green Onion instead. You won’t be sorry.

week fifteen

2009-08-09T22:13:00.000-05:00

fried is the only way to eat them

2009-08-08T23:02:00.000-05:00

Let me just begin by saying that we won’t make this appetizer again. The recipe was easy to follow, and it tasted fine, but it was SO not worth it to make calamari at home.
Somebody and I both enjoy calamari as an appetizer at restaurants and have ordered it many times. Our favorites are California Pizza Kitchen (Well, this is one of my favorite places to have it—mostly due to their dipping sauce. But when I went to look for recipes to make at home I tried to find calamari on their online menu and it wasn’t listed anymore. Anyone know anything about that?) and that one restaurant in Boston that we went to with Melissa and James. That was amazing. And yet it is always one of those things where we would say, “I can’t believe we are paying $7.95 for this. We could totally make this at home.” And so we did.

We started with the breading recipe that The Pioneer Woman uses for her Onion Strings (which, by the way, we have made more than once and are just divine). And then I found a for real calamari recipe that was basically the same but had oregano instead of cayenne pepper. We stuck with the cayenne pepper.

Reason number one why we won’t make this again: You start with this:
Reason number two why we won’t make this again: The breading needed more kick to it. Using just a half teaspoon of cayenne worked with the Onion Strings, but the calamari definitely needed more.
Reason number three why we won’t make this again: In the end, our stovetop looked like this:
That’s enough reasons, right? They were fine. We ate some. And then we threw the rest away. It is absolutely worth paying $7.95 to have someone else prep and clean up after this appetizer.

week fourteen

2009-08-02T22:12:00.000-05:00

back to my, er, his roots

2009-08-01T20:58:00.007-05:00

Somebody was VERY excited when he heard that the challenge category for this week was “spicy.” He loves the spicy. I don’t love it the way he does, and, in fact, before we got married considered mild salsa to be spicy. I have come a long way in my spice tolerance in the past three years, but still am no where near his level. Of course we went with Chinese food, because for him there is no better place to have spice than in Chinese food. Lucky for me, we already own three great Chinese cookbooks. Somebody ordered these a little while ago because he knows that the author is a great chef. Apparently she is the Taiwanese equivalent of Julia Child, or Emeril Lagasse, or Bobby Flay. You know—a cooking superstar.

I’m sure you aren’t surprised that Somebody is in charge of all the Chinese cooking that goes on in our house. While I consider myself fairly skilled in the kitchen, the cooking methods used in Chinese cooking are still pretty foreign (ha ha) to me, and I’m not confident following his directions. Especially because so much of his cooking is based on the look of the food, or the smell, or feel, or whatever—it takes some practice and up until now I haven’t had any practice. I think that Somebody had probably given up hope that he would ever come home from work and find I had made a Chinese meal, but after tonight he has started saying things like, “Just a few more of these recipes and you’ll be able to prepare the full three dishes.” And, “You make a wonderful Chinese wife.” Both of those statements made me laugh. The full three dishes? What the? One is not enough? Apparently, no. And, yes, with practice and direction I’m turning out to be a lovely Chinese wife. Whatever. I’m pretty much the opposite of a lovely Chinese wife, but that’s why he loves me so much.

Anyway, on to the recipe. The beauty of Pei Mei’s books is that recipe has a photo so you know what the end result should look like, and, more importantly, each recipe is given in English and traditional Chinese characters. While you don’t need to be able to read any Chinese to follow the recipes, more than once Somebody read through the Chinese recipe to get a better understanding of what the English was trying to say. You should totally hire a translator when you make this. I know a good one. I am going to give it to you exactly as it is written, and then my notes and changes are at the end.

Chicken with Gongbao Sauce (you might know it as Kung Pow Sauce)
Ingredients:
2 chicken legs or 300 g. chicken breast
10 pieces dried red chili
½ cup peanuts
1 tsp chopped ginger

Seasonings (1):
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp water

Seasonings (2):
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp wine
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp sesame oil

Directions:
1. Remove all bones from chicken, cut into 2.5cm cubes, marinate in Seasonings (1) for 30 minutes.
2. Wipe dried chili, cut into 3 cm long pieces.
3. Fry chicken in heated oil for 40-50 seconds. Remove chicken. 4. Heat 1 Tbsp oil to fry dried chilies until it turns dark red, add ginger and chicken, stir fry quickly, add Seasonings (2), stir until evenly mixed, turn off the heat. Add the peanuts, mix well and serve. We served this over white rice, garnished with cilantro, and ate with chopsticks. Please don’t make this unless you have chopsticks. It’s, like, a crime to cook this authentically and then use a fork.
My notes and tips:

We used two chicken thighs with the skin and bones removed. This made just enough for the two of us for dinner. Somebody said that we could have doubled the amount of chicken and still used the same amount of sauce, but I kind of liked having a little extra sauce to flavor the rice.
I did not wipe off or cut the red chili peppers. I didn’t wipe them because Somebody said I didn’t have to. I have no idea why not. But he’s the expert here so I just went along with it. I didn’t chop them because I didn’t want this to be too spicy to eat. I just chose small peppers. Also, and this I didn’t know beforehand, but when the dish is finished you don’t eat the red chili peppers. You just pick them out, sort of like you would a bay leaf. They are just there to add some flavor to the oil and to give a little heat. All the spice/heat in this dish comes from the red chili peppers. Because I didn’t cut them, and so didn’t release any of the seeds, this ended up being not spicy AT ALL. Not at all. I was shocked. Somebody was completely disappointed with how non spicy it was. It was absolutely delicious, but not spicy. If you want heat, just cut open your chili peppers. Oh, and you can find dried red chili peppers in the fresh fruit/veggie section of most grocery stores—they will be in the little section that has ethnic foods.

All cooking (frying and stir frying) is done on high heat.
I used ¾ cup oil to fry the chicken because I was using a flat, non-stick pan. If I had been using a wok I would have only needed about 1/3 cup oil.
The directions say to fry the chicken for 40-50 seconds. I cooked it a little longer—not more than two minutes—just until the chicken was no longer pink and looked completely cooked.
If using a non-stick pan, which we did, you don’t need to add the extra 1 Tbsp of oil to cook the chilies. I just dumped out the oil that had cooked the chicken, didn’t wipe out the pan completely, and just used the light coating that remained in the pan to cook the chilies. If you are going to use a wok, you would need to add in the extra oil.
I fried the red chili peppers for about 30 seconds (they didn’t seem to change color, so I just went with when Somebody told me they were done) before adding the ginger and chicken. Also, and consider this your warning, although leaving the peppers whole made it so that EATING this was not spicy, I absolutely felt the heat of the peppers while I was frying them. Seriously. There was much coughing and gagging and not breathing for the 30 seconds the peppers were frying. The fumes killed me. I’m just a ghost writing these great tips for you. The ghost of a good Chinese wife.
Just in case you don’t have white wine, or cooking wine, or Chinese rice cooking wine like we have… …you can just use a tablespoon of water. Or just take it out of the recipe. Somebody says that the wine is just there to remove the chicken-y smell from the cooking. What huh? Whatever. So, don’t feel the need to put on sunglasses and a baseball cap and go to the grocery story across town just to purchase the wine for this recipe.
Once the Seasonings (2) was added, I cooked it for about one minute before removing it from the heat and serving it. Chinese food is always served hot, hot, hot, so be ready with your rice so that you can eat as soon as this is done.
When I make this again we will reduce the amount of soy sauce in Seasonings (2) to 1 ½ Tbsp, and would increase the ginger slightly.

Make this tonight. This recipe is so easy and comes together very quickly. From start to finish I think it only took about 45 minutes, and that included the time it took to de-bone the chicken and marinate it. I am not sure if I would have been as successful making this as it was printed without Somebody watching over my shoulder and giving me tips. Now that I’ve done it once I’m confident that I could do it again without assistance. If you need me to come and watch over your shoulder, just let me know.

week thirteen

2009-07-26T22:11:00.001-05:00

since when was pasta healthy?

2009-07-25T18:07:00.004-05:00

For my healthy cooking I chose a recipe from my Cooking Light SuperFast Suppers cookbook that I had been wanting to make for awhile but it had never been at the very top of our list of meals to try. It had, in fact, been on the meal list the last two weeks, but was bumped both times for leftovers or eating out. This seemed like the perfect week to actually keep it on the meal plan.

The recipe comes from the “have it your way” section of the book. The idea is that you start with a “Basic Pasta" recipe and then customize your own sauce. The Basic Pasta makes enough for five servings and then each sauce recipe makes enough for one serving. You can try different sauces, or each person eating can choose their own sauce. I decided to try the Roasted Red Pepper Pasta (because, hello, roasted red peppers and balsamic vinegar in the same recipe? Sign me up) and the Asian-Style Pasta.
I had high hopes to love this meal, but my overall reaction to both sauces was, “Meh.” It was fine. I wanted to love it and it was just fine. (For some reason that sentence makes me think of “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.” Go figure.) I enjoyed dipping my breadsticks in the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, if that counts for anything. The Asian-Style Pasta was slightly spicy for my taste, but that could be adjusted by cutting down on the crushed red pepper. Somebody’s response was, “You sure used a lot of dishes to make this.” Which is, I think, code for, “This was SO not worth my having to wash all those dishes.”

The recipe was easy to follow but I don’t think we would make either sauce again. There are too many other delicious pasta sauces out there to waste time and energy (and dirty dishes) on these.

But because I don’t want to leave you without something delicious to eat, here is the recipe for the best breadsticks in the world. I might be slightly biased because this is my mom’s recipe and these are the breadsticks I grew up eating, but I think they are great. My sister does something magic to them when she makes them and they get all toasted buttery on the bottom. I haven’t figured out how she does that…

Bread Sticks

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. yeast

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups flour (or more if necessary. *You want to add just enough flour that the dough can be handled without sticking to the counter. After your first 3 cups of flour add just a little at a time until you can poke your finger in the dough (about 1/2") and pull it out without any dough sticking to it.)

Directions:

Place yeast, sugar, and water in your mixing bowl and let set for 5 minutes.
Add the flour and salt to your mixing bowl with the yeast mixture and knead for 3 minutes. (Don't use your regular kitchen beaters. Use a mixer that can handle bread dough or mix with a wooden spoon and then move the dough to the counter to knead by hand when it becomes too hard to stir.)
Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. (Covered with the lid of your mixer or a hand towel if already on the counter.)
Sprinkle out some flour on your counter. Plop the dough down and then flip it over so that both sides have a coating of flour.
Roll out the dough to about 1/2" thick and then cut into strips with a pizza cutter.
Melt 6 Tbsp. margarine or butter onto a cookie sheet (12" X 17") and place bread sticks in pan. Flip the bread sticks over to coat both sides with margarine.
Sprinkle bread sticks with Parmesan cheese, garlic salt and sesame seeds. Another spice I sometimes sprinkle on is Italian Seasoning.
Let rise 30 minutes to an hour (covered with a hand towel or plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick spray) until the bread sticks have almost doubled in size.
Bake at 375 for 13 to 18 minutes (middle rack in oven) until lightly browned on top.

week twelve

2009-07-19T22:10:00.001-05:00

kansas city style

2009-07-16T22:46:00.002-05:00

Seriously? A Regional Favorite? It’s kind of unfair to ask that of a poor Kansas girl. What do we have here? Wheat? So, I could make bread? Corn? Okay. Oh? The BBQ? That’s right. We’ve got the BBQ. Sadly, I have already perfected the at home BBQ ribs, so I couldn’t use that for this challenge. I opted for a slow-cooker word-of-mouth recipe for country-style pork ribs and then tried a new recipe for baked corn. Yes, I tried two new things. Please send my award as soon as possible.

Slow Cooker County-Style Pork Ribs
Ingredients:
Some county-style pork ribs
Water
BBQ sauce
Let me just save you a little trouble and tell you to get this sauce. ‘Tis awesome.

Directions:
Place all ingredients in slow cooker and cook. Enjoy.

This was pretty much how I got the recipe, and considering it was a word-of-mouth pass along, I guess I should be happy I remembered that much. I shall fill in the details for you now. I used a 2-quart slow cooker, which was the perfect size for the 2 pounds of county-style ribs we used. I put them in the slow cooker thawed, then added about a cup of BBQ sauce and about ¼ cup of water. I brushed the sauce around to coat the ribs, but I don’t think that is absolutely necessary. The ribs should be cooked on high for four hours. If you haven’t really cooked this kind of meat in a slow cooker before, and are used to cooking things on low, and remember that the person who gave you the recipe said it was done in about four hours, and so you cook your ribs for four hours on low, they will not be done in time for dinner. Well, they’ll be cooked enough to be edible, but they won’t be really fall-off-the bone delicious until bedtime. I’m just saying.

The recipe turned out to be a challenge for me because it lacked information vital to my success (cooking temperature and time) but now that I’m armed with that information I will certainly make this again. It is super simple and delicious.
Baked Corn I wanted to do something with corn because we have lots of fresh corn coming out of the garden and Kansas is kind of a corn state. This time of year the corn fields line every highway and everything looks green and lovely. I love the corn fields. Recipes that use fresh corn? Not so easy to come by. I ended up going with this recipe for Baked Corn because the reviews said things like, “This is requested at every holiday meal.” And, “OMG my family LOVES this.” Rave. Rave. Sadly, we must disagree. It’s kind of like a cornbread with whole corn kernels. And, as the recipes states but I didn’t really notice until it was too late, it makes a 9x13 pan, which is way too much for the two of us. We did eat it for dinner, and then a little more at bedtime when the meat was finally yummy, and then for leftovers the next day, and it did not get any better. It probably would have been better if I had eaten it as if it WERE just cornbread—with butter and honey. We try hard not to waste food around here, but we ended up throwing out about half the pan when we both decided we just couldn’t eat anymore. I totally should have just served fresh corn on the cob. The recipe was easy to follow and the result was edible, but we won’t be making this again.

Just in case you want to try some AWESOME BBQ ribs, here you go:

BBQ Ribs (original recipe yields 4 servings)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds country style pork ribs
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
1 cup barbeque sauce (but seriously, you'll need more)

Directions:

Place ribs in a large pot with enough water to cover. Season with garlic powder, black pepper and salt.
Bring water to a boil, and boil ribs until tender. 45 min-1 hr
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Remove ribs from pot, and place them in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Pour barbeque sauce over ribs.
Cover dish with aluminum foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until internal temperature of pork has reached 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
Add more sauce to the top about 20 minutes before finished cooking.
Devour

week eleven

2009-07-12T22:08:00.000-05:00

caught being guilty

2009-07-11T22:33:00.005-05:00

After spending hours and hours trying to decide what on earth would qualify as a "guilty pleasure" food (to the point where Somebody reminded me that the baking challenge shouldn't take over my life) I finally decided that chocolate ice cream, GOOD chocolate ice cream, would fit the bill for me. It is something that I rarely buy, but love to eat. And when I DO buy it, generally I consume the entire package in one sitting. Was that too much information? My chocolate ice cream of choice is Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream, so I went looking for a recipe that duplicated that as much as possible.

Surprisingly, even though Ben and Jerry have a cookbook published with their ice cream recipes, I could not find a copy in any of my local libraries. Libraries? Hello? Surely I'm not the only person who wants to duplicate the yummy ice cream. Dear my Librarian Friends: You should totally get on that.

Without the official recipe to follow, I turned to the Internet world of copy cat recipes. Low and behold, there IS no copy cat recipe for the Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. What the? Shame on you, Internet. I had to settle for the Chocolate Fudge copy cat recipe and then I just added in some of my own brownies. Well, technically they were Betty Crocker's brownies, but whatever.

Ben and Jerry's Fudge Ice Cream
Ingredients
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream, or whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 pinch salt

Directions: (my notes and observations are in italics)
1. Melt chocolate in double boiler over hot (not boiling) water. (I don't have a double boiler. I improvised with a glass bowl over a pot and it worked just fine.) 2. Gradually whisk in milk, stir until smooth. Remove from heat; let cool. (When I added the first little bit of milk the chocolate started seizing up and I completely freaked out and wondered if I had ruined the recipe on Step 2. Luckily, I kept stirring and adding more milk and eventually the whole mess smoothed out and came together. So just keep stirring.)3. Whisk eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. (For all these whisking directions I used a hand mixer. Because I have delicate wrists.)
4. Gradually whisk in sugar, then continue whisking 1 minute longer until completely blended.
5. Add cream, vanilla, and salt; whisk. (Again with the whisking. Aren't you glad you used the hand mixer? I thought so.)
6. Add the chocolate mixture; blend well. (Blend. Whisk. Same thing.)
7. Cover, chill, and freeze according to ice cream maker's directions. (I chilled mine overnight in the refrigerator and put it in the ice cream maker the next morning after I made brownies. Note: brownies for breakfast = yum. Also healthy.)Yield: makes 1 quart.
I reserved some of the ice cream before I added the brownies so that I could review the recipe as it was written. The rest of the ice cream I broke off little bits of the brownie (the gooey middle part, not the top crust or edge part) and dropped it into the ice cream maker. I noticed this made the brownie pieces break up even more, so I also added some larger pieces when I had removed the ice cream from the machine. I just stirred these larger pieces in by hand so there would be obvious brownie. When I make this again, and I WILL make this again, I would do more of the "stir in by hand" pieces because I thought they worked better.

Directly out of the ice cream machine the ice cream was very, very soft. After four hours in the refrigerator it was firmer, but still creamy and easy to scoop. After sitting all day and overnight in the freezer it was much firmer. I liked that it never got so solid that it was difficult to snitch some out with a dinner spoon. There was much snitching.
This recipe was super basic, but the steps are clear and easy to follow. I liked that it didn't require any fancy or expensive ingredients--almost all the ingredients are things I always have in the pantry. Somebody and I LOVED this ice cream. It is not very sweet and very chocolatey. If you eat a cinnamon roll and then eat this ice cream it will taste bitter. Trust me on that one. But in general, assuming you don't regularly eat a cinnamon roll and decadent chocolate ice cream in one night, it is just sweet enough. I think it tastes almost exactly like Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. I might have polished off most of it in one sitting. Maybe. You'll never know.

week ten

2009-07-05T22:07:00.001-05:00

whipping it up 2009

2009-07-04T14:28:00.002-05:00

I decided to participate in the Whip It Up 2009 challenge, and here it is the first week and I already feel behind. I'm blaming most of this on the fact that I spent the first half of this week in Utah and so only had a few days to come up with a recipe, make it, and then post. Lucky for you I saved all of those tasks until this morning. As the theme for this week is holiday food, and as today is a holiday, I figured that anything I made today would qualify as holiday food. And because I was making dessert for a holiday BBQ this evening, I figured adding one more thing was going to be a breeze. I could not have been more incorrect.

First, the mini pies with star tops that I was planning for dessert tonight didn't turn out at all. It could have been because I ignored the advice to use store-bought pie crust and pie filling (hello! My recipe for both pie crust and cherry filling are awesome, so why would I compromise and use something from the store?) and then didn't have the correct size cookie cutter for the cute star pie top. Tragedy. After the first batch went woefully awry, I knew I had to come up with a back-up dessert. One batch of lemon blueberry cheesecake and one batch of cherry cupcakes later, I was all baked out. Actually, somewhere in the middle of these two things I became baked out. And I still didn't have a new-to-me recipe for the challenge!

It was right about lunch time when I decided that I would have to make something that would qualify for the challenge AND lunch, and the Internet didn't disappoint with Brown Sugar Bacon Waffles from Joy the Baker. Why, hello there, holiday brunch!

And here, friends, is where I become one of those annoying Allrecipes.com reviewers who are all, "I substituted orange juice for the milk, cinnamon for the nutmeg, and doubled the eggs, and this recipe was horrible!" My whole goal was to avoid using the oven as it was already busy cooking the cheesecake and cupcakes. So I improvised. I pulled out my Makin Bacon and attempted to get the caramelized brown sugar bacon (clearly the star of this recipe and clearly only attained by baking the bacon in the oven) in the microwave. Fail. Does not work. Evidence below.
I went ahead and put that bacon in the waffle batter anyway, because, well, I had to do SOMETHING. And they turned out okay. For some reason my waffles are much thinner than Joy's, and the bacon really has more of a charred flavor than a caramel flavor, but they were good.Seriously, though. Waffles? With brown sugar? And bacon inside? Served with strawberries? These couldn't go too far wrong. The recipe was very easy to follow (and this would have turned out much more scrumptious if I had followed it exactly), it was pretty quick to make this (which is ALWAYS a good thing, especially for a holiday brunch), and the resulting waffles were yummy to eat. I would make this again.

week nine

2009-06-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

week eight

2009-06-21T22:06:00.000-05:00

week seven

2009-06-14T22:05:00.000-05:00

week six

2009-06-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

week five

2009-05-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

week four

2009-05-24T22:02:00.001-05:00

week three

2009-05-17T22:01:00.002-05:00

week two

2009-05-10T22:00:00.001-05:00

i think that possibly (maybe) i'm falling for you

2009-05-09T17:46:00.003-05:00

Gulliver

Born Sunday, April 26, 2009

3:44 a.m.

7 lbs 10 oz

20.5 inches long

week one

2009-05-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

just hours old

2009-04-26T09:36:00.001-05:00

idle hands

2009-04-23T20:43:00.004-05:00

So, the baby has not been born yet and we were feeling a little bored just waiting around for him, so we went ahead and bought a house. No biggie. It's almost like we have lost the ability to do one major, life-changing event at a time. Last August it was all Get A Job! Buy A Car! Get Pregnant! in the same week. And this month we are trying to out-do ourselves with Quit A Job! Buy A House! Have A Baby! in the same weekend. On one hand we are thrilled to have finally earned our official Grown Up merit badge. On the other hand we are completely freaking out. Which, you know, is great because the baby isn't even here yet. Imagine the freaking out that shall happen then, my friends.

cookies and milk and yellow balloons

2009-04-16T16:38:00.002-05:00

My mother says her memories of me as a young girl are that I would follow her around the house and want to participate in whatever she was doing. My favorite song, and I sang it all the time, was When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Mother.

When I grow up I want to be a mother and have a family.
One little, two little, three little babies of my own.
Of all the jobs, for me I'll choose no other. I'll have a family.
Four little, five little, six little babies in my home.
And I will love them all day long.
And give them cookies and milk and yellow balloons.
And cuddle them when things go wrong.
And read them stories and sing them pretty tunes.
When I grow up if I can be a mother, how happy I will be.
One little, two little, three little babies I can love.
And you will say each sister and each brother all look a lot like me.
Four little, five little, six little blessing from above.

It was all I wanted. Being a stay-at-home mom was something I always wanted for myself. When Somebody and I got married, he was not as enthusiastic about that plan as I was, but I am grateful that he has really left that decision up to me to make. I'm also grateful that we found out I was pregnant just a week after he was offered his full-time job last year. Without his job I would have needed to stay working so that we could pay our bills and have insurance. With his job, and with a lot of careful planning and budgeting, we have been able to readjust our lives to make my staying at home work for us. I realize that this is not the same choice that many other mothers can and do make, but this has never been about what other people are choosing. This is about what I'm choosing and about what Somebody and our years of careful planning together have allowed me to choose.

I'm ready. I'm terrified. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm thrilled. I'm not sure I know how to do anything other than what I've been doing—working full-time and in general enjoying it quite a bit. I'm not sure I'm ready to bend my schedule to the needs of someone else. I'm not sure there won't be a lot of days when I question my choice and wonder if I would be happier if I had chosen to return to work. I'm not sure that I'm able to put into practice the restrictive budget that I have designed that makes this choice possible. I'm not sure I completely understand what I'm getting in to. What I am sure of, though, is that no matter how hard this might be for me to adjust to, this is a choice that I am happy to make. Even with the very clear picture in my mind of a screaming baby who will not be consoled and me sitting nearby in tears of frustration at not knowing how to make things better, I am happy to make this choice. I want to be a mother and have a family. And I want to stay at home with my family.

And so today, in about 20 minutes, I'm going to walk out of a door that I have walked into every weekday for the past 21 months, get in my car, drive my 45 minutes of country roads, and try to not look back. My baby will spend the drive kicking me, as he always does, and I'll sing him Indigo Girls all the way (because lately I've been missing Heidi and missing singing and missing song lyrics that speak to me). Tonight Somebody will make me pancakes for dinner (because what begins with pancakes should end with pancakes) and then, after a quiet evening at home, I will go to bed knowing that tomorrow I will begin a completely different kind of job. But of all the jobs, for me I'll choose no other.

because random is a good as it gets these days

2009-03-31T15:25:00.000-05:00

* I want to send baby announcements out because I want them to be put up on refrigerators around the country for strangers to see and comment on the inevitable cuteness of our baby. Somebody says that I can only print out and mail announcements if 20 people promise to put the announcement on their refrigerator, take a picture, and send it back to me as proof. My life is hard. This requirement did not stop me from soliciting my exceptionally talented graphic designer friend (and BFF of Lauren Graham) from working on the design of the announcements. Prepare to be dazzled. Well, you know, prepare to be dazzled if 20 people (that I am not related to) promise to do the picture taking thing.

* The dead bird in my nose has finally gone away. A month later. At one point the strange illness turned into strep throat (I know, right? Like I don't have enough going on.) and the antibiotics that I took seems to have cleared all the animals right out of my nose.

* I had three wonderful baby showers in anticipation of the arrival of the baby shoe, and I loved every minute of each and am so thankful to kind friends and coworkers that want to share this fun time with me. Sadly, although I have some pictures, I am extra lazy these days and not only have I not posted the pictures here, but I also have not sent thank you notes for most of the gifts. I am one of those people that expect (demand!) to receive a thank you note for any gift I give, so I feel especially guilty and pathetic that I am so slow to write them for the things I receive. Much like after our wedding, I keep hoping that if I procrastinate this long enough that Somebody will step in and start writing. (He has assured me that he won’t, but a girl can dream, right?)

* I woke up on Sunday morning with the freakish appearance of a five o'clock shadow on my chin. I did what I could to cover up the odd coloring (do not fear. there were no unruly man-hairs. this was strictly the appearance of dark stubble because of skin discoloration) with makeup and didn't really think anything of it until I was looking in the mirror later that day and realized that my neck was also oddly colored. With patches of red dots. The same red dots that were giving me a skeevy drunk/dark look on my chin. What the? What on earth is that from? And then I realized that my champion pregnancy vomiting from the night before had actually broken the blood vessels in my chin and neck. Many times I've broken the blood vessels around my eyes (and even in my eye), but the chin and neck? That is a first. The ability of my body to completely freak out never ceases to amaze me.

imagining you care

2009-03-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

* I heard on an NPR report that thieves are not stealing car stereos anymore (opting instead for GPS units). It reminded me of the one time my car was broken into and the thieves took off with my discman. Obviously my car at the time did not have a cd player and I used the discman in the car with the adapter tape. I spent at least a year purchasing and returning different discmen trying to find one I liked as much as the one that was stolen. Man, I loved that discman.

* We went to our first "you're having a baby! here are your pain management options!" class a couple of weeks ago and of all the women there I had the second soonest due date and the second smallest baby bump. I have to admit that seeing my belly get bigger and bigger just delights me to no end and I'm thrilled to finally be obviously pregnant. Just in time, too, because we are getting to the home stretch here.

* Somebody and I were actually in tears we were laughing so hard reading Miss Nemesis last week. Don't skip the first few comments, because that is where our giggles turned to full-on laughter.

* The tragedy of my head/hair finally cleared up (I know you are just as happy about that as I am), but because pregnancy wanted to make sure I knew who was boss, that unpleasant symptom was replaced with elephant-like swelling in my ankles, calves, wrists, and hands. I have had to completely give up on wearing a watch and rings, and generally by the time I get home from work my ankles are swollen enough that my socks are almost cutting off circulation to my feet. Somebody has, up to this point, been very sympathetic to my obvious pain and spends time almost every night massaging down the swollen parts until they return to normal size. I don't think I even have to say how much I love this. He likes to keep things real by occasionally mentioning just how large my ankles and calves are ("wow. they are big today"). I usually respond by fake crying and moaning about how growing another human being is such hard work.

* After an initial rejection, Somebody received his letter this past week letting him know that he is now considered a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States. Our application process this time around did not go smoothly (hence the initial rejection) and I have spent many hours over the past two months drowning in worry over the possibility that the government would continue to see our marriage as a sham and deport him. I have been continually surprised at the breadth and depth of proof that we must provide to show that we got married because we fell in love, and have often felt like we were being punished and disbelieved because of choices we made looking for what would be best for our future instead of making them based on what would best show that we share property and finances. We certainly have felt the support and love of many family and friends who we have called upon to write affidavits swearing our marriage was entered into in good faith, that we live together, and that my tattoo that one time was just henna. For now, though, we are just breathing a big sign of relief that this major stumbling block has been overcome.

* I saw a commercial on tv earlier this evening that kind of made me want to vomit. It was for a law firm and their basic message was along the lines of, “is your tax return money not enough to pay off your bills and get out of debt? If not, put that money to good use by filing for bankruptcy. When you file for bankruptcy all your debt goes away—payday loans, credit cards, you name it! Start the year off right. Start the year off debt free by using your tax return money to file for bankruptcy. And we are just the law firm to help you.” Doesn’t that kind of make you sick? That there are people out there who might actually think that this is good advice? And that there are educated professionals encouraging them towards this course of action?

another gem of love

2009-03-02T12:18:00.003-06:00

Last night during dinner my dad suddenly stopped the conversation by saying, "hey, what's that sound?" We all became quiet and listened intently. I heard nothing. "It's almost like a bird screeching and maybe dying." Still, nothing. I helpfully pointed to Somebody and said, "It's probably his chewing." You know, because I like to make fun of his chewing. He pointed right back at me and said, "It's probably Jennifer's breathing." My dad looked at me and said, "Stop breathing." I held my breath as long as I could, so, for all of 10 seconds. And then my dad nodded. He had found the source of the dying bird sounds. They were coming from my nose.