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....

December 1, 2007

World AIDS Day

For More Information: http://www.avert.org/worldaid.htm

Help stop the disease that is ravaging the world!

Peppermint Bark

A few weeks ago I promised my friend Lisa that I would give her my recipe for peppermint bark. Since I was typing it out I thought I would hare it will all of you as well.

1 pound white chocolate (I buy big slabs at Trader Joes)
12 candy canes
1 tsp. peppermint oil (or 1 Tbs. Peppermint extract)

Melt white chocolate. This can be done in the microwave by cooking for 30 seconds, stirring and checking, and cooking for another30 seconds, stirring and checking, etc. until the white chocolate is melted.

Unwrap and bash up the candy canes. I do this either in a zip top bag with a rolling pin or meat mallet or in the food processor.

Mix candy cane pulp and peppermint oil into melted white chocolate.

Spread the mixture onto a parchment lined jelly roll pan and refrigerate until completely set. Break into pieces.

Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Winter Weather

http://www.art.com
copyright Stephen Huneck

Well I guess winter is officially here since they are forecasting a "wintery mix" for Sunday into Monday. I actually like winter I think it is beautiful in a very sublime way, but I don't like having to deal with winter weather.

Hubby and I thought ahead this year though, over the weekend when the weather was mild we went to Home Depot (or as hubby calls is the Despot) and bought 250 pounds of rock salt. We also stocked up on 4 gallons of windshield washer de-icer fluid. Hubby pulled out the snow blower and made sure it was in working order and then moved it closer to the house in case we need it. I am heading the Walmart at lunch to get some pet safe ice melter for our back porch and then I think we will be all set.

I guess I had better put together an emergency kit for my car and locate boots, hats, etc. With being almost 8 months pregnant I really don't want to take any chances.

How do you get ready for winter weather?

Happy Birthday...

To ME!

31 is going to be a good year!

Wet Shoes

Since it was such a nice weekend, hubby and I did a little yard work that we had been putting off... namely raking leaves and picking up dog poop. Ok, so we don't actually rake, we have a leaf blower. Anyway, hubby was blowing all the leaves around the yard and I was following behind him picking up the poop which was LONG overdue. Needless to say, between the plentiful piles and the leaves hiding a few... nuggets... I stepped in a lot of poop. I was wearing my Dansko clogs at the time, which, when I was finished (after collecting 3 grocery bags full) I left sitting on our deck box to dry out making the poop easier to remove. I kind of forgot that the shoes were out these until this morning when I went to let the dogs out and it was pouring.

My shoes, my very expensive leather shoes were filled with water and soaking wet! I brought them in the house and put them on newspaper to dry. When I get home tonight I will break out the boot dryers and see if that will help.

Do you think they are ruined? Any thoughts on getting leather shoes dry?

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Best Deal I Ever Passed Up

Yesterday after my doctor's appointment I ran to the market with my mom to pick up my free turkey. I took my mom because I do not have the freezer space for said turkey but she does, so I bought it and she took it home.

Anyway, we were in the meat department looking at the turkey's and waiting for the butcher to cut my beef bones into manageable pieces (We give these to the dogs as treats, at something like $.69 a pound they make a cheap dog treat/toy) when we spied a Bell and Evans natural turkey with a marked down sticker on it. The regular price was $57.00 and the marked down price was $14.00. Mom and I both looked at each other and began to plan how it might be possible to get this turkey home with one of us. Alas, as I mentioned before I had no freezer space for a 19 pound bird so it couldn't come home with me. The last of her freezer space was taken up with the free turkey we already had in the cart, so the Bell and Evans beauty stayed in the market.

It was definitely a hard deal to pass up, but without any place to store it it would have been a complete waste of $14.

What's Cooking Good Looking?

Well, at the moment nothing because I am at work, but tomorrow my kitchen will be in full swing. I don't host Thanksgiving, we go to my mother-in-law's house, but this year I was asked to bring a vegetable. I always wonder why people ask the chubby girl to bring things like salads and veggies, but hey, I'm a team player.

This year I will be bring a creamed spinach souffle and roasted grape tomatoes.

The spinach souffle isn't a true souffle by any stretch of the imagination because it contains no eggs what-so-ever, but spinach casserole doesn't sound very appetizing:

2 (10 oz.) pkgs. frozen chopped spinach
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp. sage
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. melted butter, divided
2 c. bread crumbs

Cook spinach according to package instructions. Drain. Combine spinach, salt and pepper, cream cheese and 1/4 cup butter. Mix well. Spoon into a 2 quart casserole dish. Combine 1/4 cup butter, breadcrumbs, and sage stirring well. Spread bread crumbs over spinach mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The roasted grape tomatoes are my version of a barefoot contessa recipe.

4 pints grape tomatoes
olive oil
Salt and pepper
Salad Herbs (I have a jar of freeze dried "salad herbs." Don't know what is actually in them)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the tomatoes lightly with olive oil on a sheet pan. Spread them out into one layer and sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and salad herbs. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft.

What are you cooking?

Well Worth Bookmarking

A friend of mine passed this website along and I thought I would do the same.

http://safemama.com/

Described as a site to:

"...serve mothers, fathers and all parents as a resource to find information to help them protect their kids. With the onslaught of toy problems, lead paint and other health concerns popping up in the news, I wanted to create a site where parents can go to find what they need to make educated and informed decisions.

This site isn’t to take the place of official information or the advice given by medical doctors. It should be used as a resource, and a time saver to help you as a parent make decisions that affect your kids and to find fun and healthful tips on living a healthy safe life."

It can never hurt to have more information.

The Grind Part II

So that Friday night, as promised, hubby and I tried out the meat grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aide mixer. It was easy to attach and it seemed (hubby did the actual grinding) very easy to use. He cut the steaks into strips and dropped them into the grinder. There was a plunger type utensil included with the grinder attachment that he used to smooch the meat closer to the actual grinding apparatus. It ground up the meat beautifully! With the small exception of turning the power to 3 and blowing little meaty chunks on the cabinets (so very gross!) it performed without incident.

We took our newly ground meat and using my trusty Tupperware Hamburger Press made burgers for dinner. Hubby grilled them, and boy were they tasty.

I did not take any pics because I just wasn't thinking, sorry.

Clean up was a breeze too, and I was a little worried about getting the grinder absolutely clean. Most of the parts can go in the dishwasher which helps, and what can't was easy to clean in the sink with hot water and dish soap.

All in all a kitchen success!

The Grind

Tonight hubby and I will be playing the in the kitchen with his newest kitchen toy... the meat grinder attachment for my kitchen aid mixer.

Having never ground meat before this should be a true experiment, but perhaps something that will lead to frugal and gourmet endeavours in the future. A special family sausage recipe to pass down to the kids? Who knows.

I was able to find some tips that look helpful from Hamburger-recipes.com:



"Grinding Meat

Pretty simple really, cut all the meat into small cubes not bigger than 1"(25mm) and if you are adding extra fat cut the fat into much smaller cubes, maybe 1/4 the size of the meat. This allows you to distribute the lesser volume of fat more evenly. The same principle applies if you add a second meat type, like bacon, which is less in volume than your primary meat.

Spread the meat cubes in a single layer on your work surface and then distribute the fat (or second meat type) evenly over the meat. Spice the layer of meat, turn it over (spatula/egg lifter works well) and spice the other side as well.

If you intend binding the mixture for patties with a little fresh bread crumbs soaked in some cool stock and a bit of egg now is the time to distribute this evenly over the meat.

Mix everything through lightly with your hands and put the mixture into the freezer until it is very cold (just before it starts to freeze). A very cold mixture makes grinding meat a walk in the park and delivers excellent results. Although I don't go to such extremes I know of people who also put the grinder parts into the freezer prior to grinding meat and they claim great results.

Choose the plate size according to the quality and tenderness of the meat. With tender meat a coarse cut is preferred. Tough meat would warrant a medium cut and very sinewy meat would require a fine cut.

Follow the manufactures instructions to grind the meat. The threaded retaining ring on the front of the grinder needs to be pretty tight to force the cutting plate to seat tightly up against the knife otherwise you wont have much success with grinding meat. Use a pushing stick and never your fingers to force the meat cubes into the grinder and down onto the worm.

Stoppages are usually caused by sinews getting wrapped around the knife. This is generally due to a loose retaining ring, a blunt or dull knife, or the meat not being cold enough. Always unplug an electric grinder from the wall socket before attempting to clear a stoppage.


After Grinding

If you are new to this or if you are trying out a new recipe the next step after grinding is to put the ground meat into the refrigerator.

Don't clean up quite yet.

Take a small sample of ground meat and make a miniature patty. A heaped teaspoon is enough. Fry it in a pan and taste the texture and spicing. Here's how to correct some common errors.

Too Tough - If the ground meat is a bit tough you will want to put it through the grinder a second time. If it is very tough or sinewy do this using a plate with smaller holes.

Not Enough Spice - If it is only a bit of spice that is needed spread the ground meat out in a thin layer on the work surface and sprinkle the extra spice evenly over it. Mix through gently with your hands.

Too Much Spice - If the ground meat is too spicy get some more fresh meat and grind it without adding any spice. Spread the over-spiced meat out in a thin layer and distribute the unspiced meat evenly over it. Mix through gently with your hands.

Refrigerate the ground meat until you are ready to mold the patties.


Cleaning the Grinder

No tricks here. It's just important after grinding meat to completely strip the grinder and wash it and all the parts meticulously. A bottle brush works well with small grinders. After rinsing and drying I make a habit of spraying the cutting plate and knife lightly with cooking spray to prevent them from rusting. Assemble the grinder to keep all the parts safely together and cover with a cloth to keep dust out.

Grinding meat is an extremely rewarding experience and once you start you probably will not restrict yourself to only making great tasting burgers. Ground meat dishes will also take on a whole new meaning and then of course there is that whole new world of making your own sausage that lies ahead!" (http://www.hamburger-recipes.com/grinding-meat.html)

Anyone else have any experience with meat grinding? Any tips to add?

Holiday Baking

I have been thinking about my holiday baking recently. Maybe it is because it is finally consistently cold enough to do some baking, or perhaps because I have the energy to bake or perhaps it is all a part of nesting. Who knows. Anyway, there are several confections that I make every year and have been making for a couple of years such as peanut butter fudge, white chocolate peppermint bark, ginger snaps, earl grey tea cookies, chocolate covered shortbread and a few others.

This year am thinking about scaling back and tailoring my baking to the ingredients that are already plentiful in my pantry. I will make the peanut butter fudge and the peppermint bark because I have all of the ingredients and I give most of these away as gifts.

I have a dearth of coconut, Jams of every flavor, and oatmeal, so I was thinking about making the Barefoot Contessa's Jam Thumbprints which will use the Jam and the coconut. I was also thinking about making the mock nutrigain bars the Amy (Motherload) talked about which would use still more Jam (I have A LOT of Jam) and the oatmeal. My other option is to make Nigella's cranberry, white chocolate, pecan oatmeal cookies which are wonderful!

What are you baking for the holidays?

Read This Book

If you've ever wondered how it is possible that the same people the government and big business step all over vote for and support the system that keeps them down.

I first read about it here, and waited very patiently for interlibrary loan to come though. I started reading it yesterday, and although I am only 45 pages in, I am hooked. The subject matter is timely, especially with an upcoming election, and the writing if funny and engaging.

READ THIS BOOK!!!!

Salmon Fried Rice

Saturday night I made this recipe for Salmon Fried Rice. I made a few changes to the recipe. I substituted Brown jasmine rice for the sushi rice that the recipe calls for, because I had it on hand and it adds more fiber and vitamins. I also toasted approximately 2 Tbs. of sesame seeds and added those to the rice to punch up the sesame flavor and to add another whole grain. It was SOOO good.

Here it is packaged with edamame for a work lunch. Yumm-o! (to quote Rachael Ray)

To Prove to Hubby I am NOT Crazy

I found this in the freezer this morning. I told you!!! :)

Eagles Fan in Training

This baby, boy or girl, will be an Eagles fan if hubby has anything to do with it. When I saw baby Swoop yesterday I jut couldn't resist.

Oh, wait... it gets better...

So since the campus wide evacuation, after the credible threat of violence to the university community, all faculty and staff have been told to be on the lookout for any "suspicious people."

Of course, this sounds like good sound advice, but those of us in the library laughed and laughed when we heard that one. Suspicious? Suspicious! What kind of suspicious should I be looking out for?

What about this? Three days ago one of the library patrons told me my leopard-print sweater was talking to him. Is that suspicious enough?

Or how about this? What about the patron we lovingly call Nostradamus because he believes he is the fulfillment of all of Nostradamus's prophecies. Does that count as suspicious? [Although the Virgin Mary speaks to him on a regular basis, so maybe we could count that as a character reference]

Or what about Snowflake [Not his real name]? He is a homeless guy we caught using one of our study rooms as a hotel room. He is definitely suspicious.

Or there is the guy who thinks the government is watching him. That sounds suspicious to me.

Or there are the legions of local high school students who sneak into the library to look at porn and who refuse to make eye contact with anyone and hide their computer screens from all library staff so that they don;t get thrown out. They always look suspicious.

Perhaps suspicious looks the same on the rest of the university campus, but here is library land you are going to have to get a little more specific, cause we get A LOT of suspicious around here!

I work for an "employer of first choice"

Ever since the shooting at Virginia Tech, college campuses all over the country have looked at their security systems and how they can be improved. The university that I work for is no different.

So, shortly after this university began looking at their security systems they decided that what we really needed was a campus wide emergency notification system. So they subscribed to one, and then urged all of the faculty, students, and staff to sign up. The system works like this. When there is an emergency on campus, like a shooting or a bomb threat, everyone who signed up for the system will get a text message and/or an email with information, procedures, etc.

This past Friday, a la two days ago, we had to use the system for something other than a test... an actual emergency situation. It seems that there was a credible threat of violence aimed at the entire university community. So credible was this threat that the university actually evacuated and locked down one of its dorms, told the students to either get in their rooms and stay there or to go home, and they told all of their faculty and staff to leave campus ASAP.

This means that they actually closed the library. This never happens. The rest of the university could be closed and encased in 6 feet of ice and they library would still be open and I would be required to be at work. So, you can understand when I say that this must have been one hell of a credible threat!

So, apparently, although they haven't arrested anyone for making this treat, and since the threat never (or perhaps has yet) to come to fruition, they reopened campus.

So here I am today, at work, two days after a credible threat of violence was found and the entire campus was essentially evacuated and is there one single security guard to be found?... NO!

Wow, I feel safe... XXX University really must value their employees and their safety.

"Employer of first choice" my ass!

Weekend Plans

This has been a very busy week at work and it looks like the weekend will be bust as well.

I have to work on Sunday, which leaves Saturday for getting all my projects done. Hubby and I are hoping to get to Home Depot a some point to get paint for the nursery. I am also getting my hair cut, which is something I haven't done in about 6 months.

I need to make some more bread, and am hoping to get some additional baking/cooking done as well. I was intrigued by these Hearty Breakfast Muffins since I have some frozen veggie sausage I want to use up and with my left over salmon I will be making this Salmon Fried Rice to freeze in individual portions for lunches. Hopefully I will have the where-with-all to take pictures of these when they are completed.

Have a great weekend!

Black Friday Sales...

are just around the corner. I can't believe how quickly November is going.

Anyway, if you haven't checked out this site http://www.blackfriday.info you can get a heads up on the good black friday sales.

For me and my mom, shopping on black friday is a tradition and although my stamina is not what it used to be, we will be heading out bright and early this year too.

We Have a Crib!

This is not the exact crib, but it is pretty darn close.

So last week my mom and I headed to my favorite baby resale shop and I found a crib that I really liked. It was in perfect condition (it doesn't even look like its been used), is styled similarly to hubby's old dresser which we will be using as a changing table, and was even the right shade of medium wood. I inquired about the price, which was reasonable and the store owner mentioned that the price included the mattress (which was in better condition than the crib).

So, my mom bought it for us as an early shower gift. My dad went today and picked it up from the resale shop and brought it to our house.

We are officially one step closer to having the nursery finished.

Is it wrong?

That this morning at 10:00 am I had a Twix for a snack?

You'd better say it isn't... ;)

Generosity

Hubby and I are very lucky to have generous friends who have recently given us even more baby gear. This is seriously better than Christmas/Chanukkah combined! We have received...

-- 1 changing pad













-- 2 sheet savers
-- 5 onsies (new in package)
-- 1 pair of little red Keds sneakers (so cute!)
-- a random assortment of clothes
-- 1 expandable baby gate















Both the changing pad and the gate were on our baby registry!

YEAH!

I got the results of my Glucola test this morning and thankfully they are NORMAL! Yeah, one less thing to worry about.

Happy Samhain / Happy Halloween

In a few minute I will be heading home to hopefully hand out candy to lots of trick-or-treaters and I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween and/or a Happy Samhain

The Mad Scientist/Homemaker

Vs.

I have been on a kick to rid my home of most if not all toxic/noxious chemicals, especially cleaning products. I do the vast majority of my cleaning with Simple Green and Sun and Earth. I was having trouble though, coming up with a replacement for toilet bowl cleaner. This is probably the most noxious of all the chemicals I have in the house, but haven't ever seen a safer, more natural replacement. I got to thinking about what natural cleaning products might work and I started to think about white vinegar. "But will it work as well?" I asked myself.

So I set up an experiment to see if white vinegar would clean a toilet bowl as well as lysol toilet bowl cleaner. Two weeks ago I cleaned by upstairs toilet with white vinegar and the downstairs toilet with the lysol cleaner. I let them both get used as they normally would for a two week period (yes, this means I didn't clean my toilets for 2 weeks... please don't condemn me!). Last night I took at look at the staining/mold/mildew/crud buildup in each toilet to see if there was a difference. Low and behold the toilet cleaned with the Lysol had MORE staining/mold/mildew/crud than the toilet cleaned with vinegar.

That kinda settled it for me. As soon as the lysol toilet bowl cleaner is used up I will not be replacing it. Instead I will be using a safer, less noxious, less corrosive, CHEAPER cleaner... white vinegar,

Oh white vinegar... is there nothing you can't do?

Gluuuuuuu-Cola!

http://www.daisy-online.net/blog/archives/146

Copyright: Daisy weblog

So this morning I had my glucose challenge test which meant I had to down a bottle of super sweet gook and then have my blood draw precisely 1 hour later. I have heard HORROR stories about this test. About people chocking on the Glucola, about almost throwing up the gGucola, about getting dizzy and light headed and nauseas from the Glucola.

Needless to say I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to drink it, that it would make me sick, etc. Well now that I drank the stuff I have to say that all of those other people were WIMPS!

It was no where near as bad as they made it out to be. It wasn't really thick at all (not the consistency of cough syrup which is what I thought it would be like) and it tasted like flat orange soda. Since I have a weakness for orange soda I didn't find it objectionable at all.

Now, heres hoping that the results are good! Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Free Rice

If you're bored at work, pop over to http://www.freerice.com/ to test your vocabulary and do something good to stop world hunger.

I donated 1580 grains of rice and topped out at vocab level 40.

A Good Day

I knew that when I got pregnant I would, for the most part, be unable to wear my regular clothes and that was ok by me because it gave me the opportunity to get a few new and cute pieces. What no one told me was that I would be unable to wear my old shoes!

Over the summer this was no so much of a problem because I spend most of the summer months in Birkenstocks and they accommodate all sorts of foot swelling, stretching, etc. As it started to get colder and when I was going to work my Birks weren't really appropriate and I reached into the closet for some of my more sensible heels. Oh, I should mention that before now, I didn't own any flat shoes, it was heels or nothing for me!

So I picked out a pair of kitten heeled spectator pumps and slipped, er... um.... jammed a foot into them. Frantic flalying ensued while I tried desperately to get the thing, er... shoe off of my foot. My feel were either too wide now, or simply too swollen to wear those shoes. I then spend the next 20 minutes trying every pair of shoes on that I own and deciding that they all were too small now.

So, the next stop was to buy some shoes. I got a cute pair of black flats at target. I borrowed a cute pair of brown flats from my mom, and I bought a pair of chocolate brown Uggs from Zappos.com.

So.... this morning when I was getting dressed I decided on wearing my tan skirt with a black sweater (since it is finally sweater weather) . I would have opted for my black flats but I donlt have any tights/pantyhose that will come close to fitting, so I grabbed my black suede, knee-high boots. I hadn't bothered to try them on so I didn't know if they would actually fit or not, but, low and behold, THEY DO FIT!!!!!

These boots are my pride and joy and I talk to them in the same loving voice that I talk to my dogs in. I was ever so excited! I knew then that I was going to be a good day (oh, that and I only have to work 4 hours today, but it was mainly the boots :) )

My Boots:

Staying up-to-date on recalls

I can never remember to check the Consumer Products Safety commission's website recall.gov on a regular basis and as someone who rarely watches/listens to the news I feel like I am missing a lot of important recall information. So, today while writing the previous post about the Bumbo seat I found this page where you can sign up for email alerts about recalled products.

Ah... I love it when the news comes to me.

Bumbo Seat Recalled

Hubby found this recall notice today for the Bumbo seat.



The Bumbo seat was one of the top things on our baby registry. I guess it's coming off now!

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08046.html

Best Grocery Store EVER!

My mom and I recently made one of our semi-annual trips to Lancaster, PA to do a little outlet shopping. We did get some good deals at the outlets but the best deals of the day were to be found at Kaufman's Market. Kaufman's is an Amish market known for their apples and their special Bird-in-Hand blend apple cider. What they are not so well know for are their stupendous deals on bulk items like spices and grains. Neither mom nor I needed a whole lot of anything, but we were able to snag a few deals:

1. Cinnamon -- .62 pounds for ... get this... $1.90 (I thought I was going to fall over). Now I know Meredith did a comparison of cheap cinnamon v. Watkins cinnamon and found no discernible difference so I feel confident that this was a good deal. Regardless, if I found the cinnamon had less flavor I would just add more to the recipe.

2. Wheat Bran -- .50 pounds for .$39!!!! I have a recipe for whole wheat muffins that call for either wheat germ or wheat bran. I looked at this at my regular market and it was between $4 and $5 a container with less than .50 pounds on them.

Since we do not have "salvage grocers" in this area, we have to winnow out deal where ever we can. Kaufmans was well worth the trip. If you are ever in Bird-in-Hand, PA stop by and check them out!

Kid to Kid

I have been talking about the baby/child resale shop that I like to frequent thinking that it was just a local store, but low and behold it turns out that it is a chain of resale shops!

Kid to Kid is the store I love so and it turns out that there might very well be one in your own neighborhood.

http://kidtokid.com/

Reasons I LOVE kid to kid:

1. Great selection (clothes, toys, furniture, you name it)
2. Great prices (better, in some instances, than my Goodwill which has recently raised its prices)
3. Two words... maternity clothes! (cute, stylish, and cheap)
4. Frequent Shoppers Club (spend $10, ten times and they give you a $10 gift card)
5. 5% discount for paying with cash. You have to ask for it, but they will give it to you.

Layette Update

So thanks for the advice. I was able to add a few items to the layette including 4 pairs of pants, 4 long sleeve onsies (pint/color), 4 long sleeve onsies (white), two more sleep and plays, 1 short sleeve onsie, and three more pant/top or jacket outfits. I am not too worried if there are gaps as I haven't had a baby shower yet and some of the basics are on my registry.

Also I washed and prepped all the cloth diapers and out them in the dresser/changing table. It is nice to know that we are ready to go with cloth diapering when we need to be. Of course, we also have some disposables in newborn size to get us started.

Layette

Slowly but surely I have been amassing a layette in preparation for the baby's arrival in February.

Here is what we've got so far:

	Size	Quantity
Blanket Sleepers	0-9	3
Bassinet Sheets		3
Bibs		8
Blankets		2
Booties		3
Burp Cloths		10
Crib Sheets		6
Gowns	0-3	8
Hats		6
Hooded Towels		3
Jacket/Hoodie	6~9	1
Onsie (Color/Print)	NB	1
Onsie (Color/Print)	3~6	6
Onsie (Color/Print)	6~9	3
Onsie (Long Sleeve)	6~9	2
Onsie (Long Sleeve)	NB	3
Onsie (White)	3~6	5
Pants	6~9	1
Pants/Hoodie outfit	NB	1
Receiving Blanket		7
Robe		1
Romper	0-3	2
Sleep & Play	NB	10
Sleep & Play	3	1
Sleep & Play	3~6	1
Sleep & Play	6~9	2
Socks		10
T-Shirt	3~6	1
T-Shirt (Side Snap)	3	7
Wash cloths		2

So, my question to all of you who have babies... what am I missing? What do I need more of?

Belly Updates

(What I imagine is going on inside my uterus)

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and all is well. My blood pressure is low (for me). The baby's heartbeat is still going string at 154 bpm, and I am measuring right where I should be at 25 weeks. All is well.

Hubby was able to actually feel the baby kick last weekend which was really cool for him.

Lat night I was lying in bed watching TV while hubby was at a hockey game when I thought I saw the covers over my belly move. I wasn't sure so I kept watching and low and behold they moved again. So I moved all the covers away and was really still and watched the belly vibrate and bump and move in all direction. It was truly one of the most bizarre things I have every seen my body do.

It was very exciting.

My Cloth Diaper Stash

After the baby arrives and after the newborn stage is over, I plan on using cloth diapers. I think that they are better overall. Better for the baby, for my budget, and for the environment. I like o plan ahead so I have been assembling my diaper stash slowly. Here it it:

-- 5 Kushie All in Ones (although I think I am returning these)
-- 2 Green Mountain Diapers fitted
-- 2 Under the Nile fitted
-- 2 snappies
-- 7 microfiber doublers/inserts
-- 4 Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers
-- 2 Happy Hiney pocket diapers
-- 2 Bumkins covers
-- 10 Bummis whisper wraps
-- 9 contours
-- 24 Chinese Prefolds

Here they are in pictures:

Prefolds and contours

Bumkins covers and Bummis Whisper Wraps

Fuzzi Bunz and Happy Heiny Pocket Diapers

Doublers/Inserts and Snappies

Fitted Diapers


Kushies All in Ones

Turtles, Frogs, and Noah's Ark oh my!

I had a dentist appointment today and after it was over and in celebration of the fact that I had no cavities nor did I have any evidence of "pregnancy gingivitis" I stopped at the kids resale shop across the street for a little shopping.

Noah's Ark set, new with tags and still on the original hanger. Oh, it has a fuzzy whale on the butt!


Two sleep and plays, one with turtles and one with frogs



A terry towel, robe and booty set, new with tags and still on the original hangers.

I also got a blue long sleeve T-shirt for me, but that isn't nearly as cute as the above items. 9 items total for $30.00. I didn't think that was bad at all since none of the items show any wear whatsoever and most are brand spanking new!

Baby's First Pictures

Here you can see a profile view of our little one's face with a hand/thumb in his/her mouth

Here you get a more inclusive profile with a body attached (still sucking on his/her thumb)


It looks like we have a self soother! :)

Please Excuse This Rant...

First of all I want it known that I do NOT watch the news because it makes me mad, consistently. That being said I had a local morning program on this morning before I left for work and they were promoting a talk show type show and the hook they were using to get you to watch was "Should sex offenders who are parents be allowed inside their children's school?"

I just have to clear up this little misconception... Not all sex offenders are child molesters or "child predators." Generally speaking, serial sex offenders have a certain age group or profile that they are (for lack of a better word) attracted to. If their target group is adult women, then they aren't necessarily a threat to children. Along those same lines if they did prey on children then you need to make the distinction between pedophiles (those attracted to children under 12) and ephebophiles (those attracted to children over 12). Generally, they don't switch from one group to an other.

This is, of course, a very sensitive subject and that I completely understand. I have the same visceral reaction when I hear about "sex offenders" or "child molesters" but the news media and the masses need to understand that not all sex offenders are child molesters although all child molesters are sex offenders. And, inside of the category "child molester" there are subcategories that SHOULD NOT BE OVERLOOKED!!!

That is all.

When daddy isn't around....

snuggle with your brother!

Final Bedroom Renovation

So hubby and I finally finished renovating our bedroom... YEAH!! Our furniture was delivered on a Saturday and here is the end result.

We kept the bed we ad, but here is my dresser and in the corner you can see part of a nightstand. Oh and Jax on the bed too!

Here is a nightstand.


Here is hubby's armiore and our new mounted TV.

Sunday Morning Puppy Lovin'

Beo (blue) and Jax (purple) snuggle with their Daddy.





Hubby is UNDER Beo.

Pregnancy Update

This is pretty exciting. Hubby was able to feel the baby move. I have been being kicked for about a month now but hubby had to live vicariously though me until this weekend when I felt a good hearty kick from the outside and called him over to fee it too. And to put finally post a belly pic...



This huge white moon-shaped object in the bottom of the picture is the belly. You can see my feet, so far away now, for comparison. On the upside, I've only gained 6 pounds!

White Whole Wheat Challah

So I have been raving about the white whole wheat flour for a few weeks now, but have yet to post any pictures of things I made with said flour. Until today... here is what is left of a loaf of challah made with white whole wheat flour. This loaf is a little denser than I would like because I didn't think about stuffing 1.5 pounds of dough into a 1 pound loaf pan. Oh well, it still tastes good!

Updates coming...

There are blog updates on the way I promise... with the bonus of lots of pictures. I will post when I get home from work!

Topics to include:

--Finished Bedroom Renovation
--Other Home Improvements
--Baking with White Whole Wheat Flour
--My Cloth Diaper Stash
-- Banned Books Week

3 Years Ago Today...

We were married.

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Yard Sale Success

Yesterday was the yard sale. Both my mom and I did really well and count it as one of our most successful for 2 reasons: first, we made a decent amount of cash ($200 combined) and are bringing very, very little back into our respective houses.

Of all of the items purged from my house:

-- a dresser
-- a nightstand
-- a butcher block table
-- a floor lamp
-- a table lamp
-- a TV
-- 3 25 gallon rubbermaid totes of clothes and shoes
-- 1 XL ziplock bag of halloween costumes
-- 1 XL ziplock bag of decorative pillows
-- 1 bag of kitchen items/tupperware
-- 7 Trader Joes bags of books
-- Assorted laptop bags, camera bags, and pocket books
-- 1 poster (unframed)
-- 1 Longaberger basket with liner and protector
-- 1 electronic dartboard
-- 1 step (a la step areobics)
-- 1 Trader Joes bag of "disposable cleaning products" that I got for free
-- uncounted chochkies (junk)
-- 1 diaper genie
-- 3 formal dresses
-- 1 suit
-- 2 hot lights
--1 laptop dock

the only things that came back in were:

-- 1 18-gallon storage tub of clothes
-- 1 laptop dock
-- 1 basket
-- 1 poster

Everything else was either sold, sent to Goodwill, or sent to a local shelter. Of the items that came back in the house, the tub of clothes will go to a consignment shop when I find one, the laptop dock is going on ebay, the basket will be part of a Christmas gift for a friend, and the poster will be hung in my office at work.

I swear I just heard my house breath a sigh of relief!

Muffin Makeover

This weekend was a long and grueling one for me. Mom and I had the yard sale yesterday which was a huge success, I will post on that in a minute. Last night hubby and I went to see Jim Gaffigan perform, very funny, but I really wanted to crawl into bed and sleep until Monday. Sadly, not a possibility since I have to work today (Sunday).

Anyway, hubby got the dogs out of bed and let me sleep until 8:00 (blissful) while he slept on the couch in our family room. When I sis get up I wanted to make a little treat for breakfast and I remembered that I had printed out Tammy's recipe for French Breakfast Puffs. My mom used to make these when I was a kid and I thought that they would be perfect this morning. I did adapt the recipe a little bit and it was a huge success. First of all, in place of the AP flour I used my new obsession, white whole wheat flour. In addition, I used my one-bowl method for making muffin. instead of creaming the butter and sugar, I melt the butter and then sit in the sugar. I then add all the dry ingredients on top of that and then the egg. I mix it all together and then bake according to the directions. They were very yummy and I am not ashamed to admit that I had three of them, after all they were made with whole wheat flour, that means they are practically health food!

Pregnancy Brain Strikes Again

Part pf my job as the education and human sexuality library at this university is to teach graduate students how to research in either the education or sexuality field. The fall is the busiest time for this and today was no exception. At 10:15 this morning I was supposed to go to a graduate research class and talk to the students about library services, databases, searching, etc. I had written down on one calendar that the class was in the K building in room 213. This is where this class has been held for a few years now.

So, at 10:10 I gather up my materials and my umbrella, since its raining here, and head from the library to the K building. I find room 213, knock on the door and walk into the room loudly proclaiming "I'm here!" Only, instead of the graduate students and friendly professor I was expecting there was an undergraduate biology class going on. Oops! My bad, I must have the wrong room. So I back out of the class, and rifle through my materials looking for the paper with the class number on it. I don't have it with me, because, I remember, I left it on my desk. So, back to the library in th rain to find the paper with the room number. I open my office and there is the paper on my desk, alas no room number is written on it.

Oh poopy! I log into my my email (which is slower than molasses in January) only to discover that I deleted the email I need. I am now 5 minutes late. I hate being late. I am NEVER late! Wait... I haven't emptied my email trash for a while so maybe the email is still there. I open the trash folder, and search. Oh thank you Mr. email man, the email is still there and the room number is K 324a. Ok, so out of my office I fly back to the K building in the rain. I opt for the elevator and as the doors open on the third floor I am looking right at room 324a. Only it says "Janitor's Closet" next to it.

Why are they holding a class in the janitor's closet? I think, before it hits me that there is another K building, but it is on the other side of campus. Great, just GREAT! I am 10 minutes late now, so by the time I head over to the other K building I am 15 minutes late. There is no elevator so I huff and puff my pregnant, asthmatic, out of shape self up the stairs to the right floor, find the right room. Luckily for me the class and the professor are still there. The right class and the right professor, I might add. So, after taking a few minutes to compose myself, I teach the class. All is right with the world and the students and professor are pleased.

Now, and for the rest of the day I will holing myself up in my office and not talking to anyone. Thank you, that is all!

Thank God Today is Friday! ;)

Updates

The purging continues... So far we have added to the huge pile of stuff leaving the house

-- 2 hot lights (used for photography)
-- 1 laptop dock

I am sure that between now and Saturday morning there will be more to come.

Tracking Cash -- Wednesday/Thursday

Friday: $25.79 (odds and ends at supermarket)
Saturday: $30 (tip for furniture movers)
Sunday: $0 spent
Monday: $33 (at dry cleaners), $33.70 (birthday presents at Marshals)
Tuesday: $8.40 (at post office), $4.16 (at Starbucks)
Wednesday: $2.99 (a drug store for cushioning inserts for new shoes), $1 (snacks at work)
Thursday: $0 spent

Total to date: $139.04

There is approximately $5.00 left in my wallet at the moment and since I will be going to the bank at lunch, my week is officially over. The $5 will be tucked away for holiday shopping or some other special purchase. That is what I do with left over cash each week. Whether it is $1 or $20 dollars it is collected and saved and then spent on something special like vacation, holidays, spa trip, etc.

It was interesting to see it in print. This week I spent more than I usually budget for a week, but there were a few special expenses in there like the moving mens' tip and the dry cleaning. All in all, not too bad. Of course, there is always room from improvement.

Tracking Cash -- Wednesday

Friday: $25.79 (odds and ends at supermarket)
Saturday: $30 (tip for furniture movers)
Sunday: $0 spent
Monday: $33 (at dry cleaners), $33.70 (birthday presents at Marshals)
Tuesday: $8.40 (at post office), $4.16 (at Starbucks)
Wednesday: $2.99 (a drug store for cushioning inserts for new shoes)

Total to date: $138.04