Nursery in Progress

Finally... the promised pictures of the baby's room (in progress)

Walking through the door... we have a place to store toys and the crib.



The crib, decked out in Noah's ark bedding

The book shelf stocked with books and stuffed animals (what baby doesn't need a stuffed Yoda and Darth Vadar?)


The closet, which will be getting an overhaul this weekend:

The newly cleaned changing table


We still have to hang curtains, install blinds, hang the quilt on the wall and get a rocker/glider.

Pre baby Preperation

Since I have a nice long break, the university is closed, I am trying to do at least one thing off of my pre-baby preparation list a day. Today I will be washing the slip cover on the sofa in the living room.

I also plan to wash to furniture in the baby's room. The furniture we are using is hubby's from growing up. I wanted to wax it or refinish it, but both of those processes have too many chemicals for me to feel comfortable doing it while pregnant. So, I bought so Murphy's oil soap and will channel my inner Kim and Aggie and give the furniture a good scrub. I will post pictures once the scrubbing is finished.

Our Tree

Carpet Shampooer

So I finally broke down and bought my very own carpet cleaner. With two big dogs, a muddy backyard, and tan carpets this purchase was inevitable. Lucky for me Target was having a sale. The Bissell Proheat 2x which is regularly $249 was on sale for $199 and you got a free $20 gift card.

Now you all know how I will be spending my Christmas vacation... steam cleaning carpets.

Do I know how to have fun or what?

Baby Updates

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday and I am pleased to report that the baby is head down. I know that there are still 6 weeks to go and that the baby could flip around a couple of times but... I had this feeling that the baby was transverse, so it was god news. Also good news was my blood pressure 110/64. I don't think it has ever been THAT low pregnant or not. :)

The baby's room is being painted as we speak so hopefully I'll have pictures to post of the completed room soon.

Thanks Lisa!

My friend Lisa awarded me the Colors of Friendship award. Although none of us are really sure what it means exactly, Lisa was, and I am, honored to receive it.

I think I am supposed to pass it on, so I will send it on to... Grace.

Information you can use

I don;t know about you, put I HATE wrestling with "clamshell" packaging. You know, that packaging that is molded around the item in question and that is notoriously hard to open, cut though, melt with a blow torch. Anyway, someone came out with the Package Shark that is supposed to solve the problem of clamshell packaging once and for all. [interestingly enough the Package Shark comes in clamshell packaging which begs the question of how you are supposed to open the Package Shark if you don't already own a Package Shark, but that is a little too existential for me today].

ANyway, it seems that there is no need to purchase a Package Shark since most of us already own a gadget that will do the job... a manual can opener. Read about it here...

LOVE IT!

Cookie Exchange Menu

I am hosting my first ever cookie exchange this Sunday. Since it starts at 2:00 I don't feel the need to have a very elaborate menu but I feel the need to have something for people to nosh on over girl talk.

My plan was to make this Christmas Crescent Ring and serve it alongside a fruit salad. I was also planning on having coffee and tea and something cold to drink. The problem is I have no idea what to serve that is cold. Thoughts?

Do you think that is enough food? Do I need something savory to balance the sweet?

Any help would be appreciated!

(oh, there are only 5 people attending so please don't think I'm being stingy with the food)

I didn't want to do it...

but I had to. Today I pried both my wedding band and my engagement ring off my grossly swollen finger before someone had to cut them off.

This was no easy feat. First I googled "get ring off swollen finger" and found many strange and unusual solutions like Windex, dental floss, KY Jelly, and call 911.

I also found some suggestions that sounded probable, so I combined a couple and was able to remove my precious rings.

Step 1: Ice and elevate swollen finger. I did this for 10 minutes with my arm propped straight up in the air on the wall.

Step 2: Lube up finger. First I tried the Windex, because if you've ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding you will know that Windex can do anything. Well, anything except get a ring off. It didn't really work, so I tried grape seed oil which was the oil I could reach at the time.

Step 3: Twist and pull as hard as you can. This took about 10 minutes and hurt I have to tell you, but I was able to get them off finally. My finger is swollen and red, with a few burst blood vessels but my rings are safe from the jaws of life or whatever it is they use to cut jewelery off of chubby pregnant people.

Step 4: Be sad and cry a little. Ok, so I actually did cry a little about not having my rings on. I have gotten over it as it is only a temporary situation, but I do feel a little naked without them.

Egg Nog

I don't think that I have ever actually tasted egg nog and until this very moment I don;t think I ever wanted to. This year is a different story all together and now I really want to make it and try it... like right now... while I am sitting at my desk... at work.

Ok, so I will have to wait until I get home but I am thinking about trying either the egg-less eggnog recipe that Jenn from Frugal Upstate mentioned or this one from Tammy's recipes.

Actually, now that I look at them both, they look pretty similar. Anyone try either of them? Thoughts?

Baking Bug

It appears I have been bitten by the baking bug. Yesterday I spent most of the day in the kitchen and with an unusual burst of energy made:

• 2 batches of peanut butter fudge
• 1 butter pound cake for my mom's birthday
• 1 batch of cinnamon schmear scones for hubby

In addition I made chicken stock out of a chicken carcass I had left over from last week's crock pot roasted chicken.

I will be making a Pumpkin Caramel Pound cake for a pot luck lunch on friday, and Ina's Jam Thumbprint cookies for the cookie exchange I am having on Sunday.

Superheros all Around?

I hate to use my lunch hour to run errands, it makes my work day seem that much longer, so I try, whenever possible, to run errands on the way to work. This morning I stopped at the post office to mail my Christmas packages (ML its in the male, Meredith sorry it will be late, and Steph I hope it gets to you before your birthday). I then decided to stop at the Wawa (like a 7-11 only WAY better) to get orange juice which is my craving of the moment. Ok, so I also stopped to get an apple fritter another craving of the moment, but that is really here nor there, I stopped at Wawa, that is the important part of the story.

I pulled in the parking lot, parked my car, turned to car off, got out, locked the car and started to walk to the entrance when I noticed that every other car in the parking lot was idling in its parking space. "Strange," I thought to myself thinking there were other people in the cars waiting for someone inside. As I got closer to the building I realized that there was no one in any of these cars, they were still running because their owners were TOO LAZY to turn the car off before getting out of it. An uncharitable thought ran through my head that it would serve them all right to have their cars stolen from the parking lot, but I then thought that I really didn't mean it, even if deep, deep down, I did just a little bit.

Are people really in that big of a hurry? How long does it take to start your car? 2-3 seconds maybe. Not to mention all of the car exhaust being spewed into the environment, all the gas being guzzled as the car sits idle. Why not turn the car off? What is the benefit of leaving it run while you go get your caffeine fix or buy today's newspaper?

I could maybe, possibly understand if this was Alaska and it was -40 degrees and we all ran the risk of having our engines freeze solid if we turned them off for just a minute. I could also understand if you needed to make a quick getaway in the event you were robbing the place, but after that I can't think of why you would need to leave your car running while you are inside the Wawa. Unless of course you are a superhero in disguise and need to get out of the parking lot fast in order to go solve a crime or save a kitten or something like that.

Maybe my Wawa has a disproportionately large population of superheros I don't know.

[Note: New Jersey must not have any superheros as it is illegal to leave your car idling outside of a convenience store].

First Night of Puppy Hanukkah

This was Beo's second Hanukkah but it was Jax's first so the boys celebratedin style with new fire hydrant toys!

Jax and the Green Hydrant

Jax (Green) & Beo (Red)

Happy Hanukkah

Our Hanukkah set up. And yes, that is a bush. That's what you get when you leave the decorating up to a shiksa! :)

Wet Shoe Update

Ah, the saga of my wet clogs.... they dried completely and didn;t shrink at all! I wore them to work today and was very pleased. Miracles do happen people!

More Memes

I was tagged by Gina at Six in the County with the following meme, so here it goes...

1. What did you accomplish this past week? I got my holiday cards written and mailed, we moved a bed to my parent's house for storage, I gave away two book shelves, and took a load of stuff to Goodwill.

2. Did anything not go as expected? Well, I had planned to get more done around the house and wrap some presents, but that didn't happen.

3. What was the highlight of your week? Wednesday of last week was my birthday, so getting cards from friends and presents from hubby, puppies, baby-to-be and parents was definitely the highlight.

4. Did anything exciting happen that you did not expect? Hummm... not that I can think of at the moment. I am sure something didn't go as expected but since I can't remember what it was it must not have been that important.

Now I get to tag 5 people, lets see...

Lisa, from Sofia Vincenza
Grace from Rose Cottage Lane
Tiany at Less of Me More of Him

I will have to stop at three that I all I can think of at the moment. :)

Holiday Fun

I got this as an email but thought it would make a fun Meme.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both or Neither it depends on the gift.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artficial :( The real are too expensive and I am allergic to them, plus I'm pretty sure the dogs would eat a real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? Before Christmas, does that help?

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day

5. Do you like egg nog? I don't know that I have ever actually tasted it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Bryer Horses

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No

8. Hardest person to buy for? My grandparents

9. Easiest person to buy for? the dogs

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Humm... a used umbrella.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Muppets Christmas Carol

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The Day after Christmas

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yup and I'm not afraid to admit it either.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Peanut Butter Fudge

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Green, although our tree has clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? last Christmas by Wham I listen to it on my Ipod all year long.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay Home, drive 20 minutes to my parents.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? yes.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open our presents at Hanukkah.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Too many stressed out people

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Noah's Ark.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Thanksgiving part II (Tureky, stuffing, cranberries, etc.)

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A healthy full term baby.

If you've read through this whole thing consider yourself tagged!

Odds & Ends

I feel like I haven;t posted in forever, so I thought I would start with wrapping up all of the odds and ends bopping around my head.

Hubby and I went to see George Carlin Saturday night and he was very funny as expected. Sunday I was supposed to go have lunch with a friend in Bethlehem, PA but because of the weather (we had sleet/snow/rain) we had to cancel and still need to reschedule. Sunday I was in a miserable mood for no good reason whatsoever. Sorry baby!

On the up side I was able to get decorated for Hanukkah (which starts tonight) and write out all of our holiday cards.

I keep feeling as if I am getting nothing at all done and letting everything pile up until it is going to drown me, but then I realized that I am growing another human being, so anything that gets done on top of that is really gravy. :) Nice to know I am even multitasking in my sleep. Which I could use a whole lot more of, but I digress.

I had three things on my to do list that I finished last night which was make bread, wrap all of hubby's Hanukkah presents, and find missing addresses and stamps for the holiday cards. I was actually able to accomplish all of those things. YEAH ME!

I had a doctors appointment yesterday. All is well with he baby and with me. My blood pressure actually keeps getting lower which is good, the baby's heartbeat was 134 bpm, and next time the doctor should be able to tell if the baby is head down or head up. Can't wait to find out.

I took pictures last night of my bread making process which I will post when I get home... I promise... oh, maybe not, hubby and I have our birth class tonight... we'll have to wait and see what happens....