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

Free Bulbs

I am not much of a gardener, but I can't turn down free. Last year, and again this year a Brecks Bulb Catalog showed up in the mail. On the cover was a "gift certificate" for $25. Buy something over $25 from the catalog and they will take $25 off. Buy something under $25 and your oder will be free. That sounded way too good to be true, so I gave it a try last year and low and behold there was not hitch, there was not hidden fee. I order a bag of daffodil bulbs and a bag of grape hyacinth bulbs, the total for which was less that $25, used my "gift certificate" and got the bulbs for free.

This year when the catalog showed up I jumped at the chance and ordered 2 more bags of daffodil bulbs totaling less than $25 and got them for free. They showed up in the mail on monday and I can;t wait to get those babies in the ground.

If this keeps up I am going to be overwhelmed by free flowers. Never a bad thing.

Give it a try yourself. Hop on over to Brecks.com, order a free catalog and then order some free bulbs!

The Urge to Purge

Once upon a time, a young couple began redoing their mater bedroom...

Last week we went and ordered our new bedroom furniture so I can officially say that the redo is now complete. Hopefully I will have some pics to share in a day or two. Since the furniture was being delivered on Saturday we had to move the old stuff out Friday night. Hubby's dresser was being moved into the soon-to-be baby's room to act as a changing table (repurposing... yeah!) This meant that some furniture in the baby's room had to be moved out to make room for the dresser.

The long and the short of this story is that there was a lot of moving going on. During this process, it became obvious to me that it was time to purge the house again. I can fully understand the phrase "embarrassment of riches" I was embarrassed at how much STUFF we had. So I started to purge.

In three days of purging I have collected the following items to be removed from out 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

The amount of stuff I have purged so far took over my dining room. Luckily my mom and I had planned a yard sale for this weekend so I was able to ship most of it to her house. More will go over later in the week.

How did we possibly accumulate so much STUFF?????

Tracking Cash

I thought it might be fun... well, not really fun, but informative to track my cash spending for a week. Since I go to the ATM on friday after work, my week began then.

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)

Total to date: $135.05

Ouch! Although in my defense this week had some unusual expenses like the moving men and the dry cleaner. I will fully admit that the Starbucks was superfluous and unnecessary.

What will the rest of the week bring?

Oh, was the tip too much? How much do you tip movers? There were three of them so it is only $10 a piece. Thoughts?

My New Baking Obsession

I have always loved to bake, moreso even than to cook. I have started reading many food blogs and one of my personal favs is The Perfect Pantry. A little while back The Perfect Pantry featured White Whole Wheat Flour and I was intrigued.

I stopped at the market on my way home from work on Friday and picked up a five pound bag. I needed to actually bake with myself to see if it was any good. I decided to make my tried and true challah with the White Whole Wheat Flour that way if I didn't like the results I would know that it was the flour and not the recipe. Anyway... I LOVE IT! It is lighter in color than regular wheat flour but has all the goodies and nutrition (12 grams of fiber per cup!) of regular whole wheat flour with the resulting taste of white flour. In fact, after making the challah yesterday, I made pancakes this morning for breakfast.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am and always have been a whole wheat girl. But there are times when you want the decadence of something made white white flour. This is the perfect compromise. As far as I know King Authur Flour is the ony company producing this but I could be wrong and if I am please correct me. If your local supermarketdoesn't sell it, you can order it direct from King Authur here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp?select=C74&byCategory=C90&id=3311.

Enjoy!

Casserole Love

I love casseroles. I don't exactly know why. They are truly humble food, but they are real home food. Restaurant's don't serve casseroles normally. My hubby is not a huge fan of casseroles, but he is usually good sport and eats them when I make them. I can, hands down, tell you that hubby would not eat the Duggar's Tater Tot Casserole, but I have such a desire to make it that its not even funny.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE
2 lb ground turkey cooked, seasoned, drained
3 2lb bags tater tots
2 cans cream of mushroom
2 cans evaporated milk
2 cans cream of chicken
Brown meat & place in large cass. dish.
Cover with tater tots. Mix soup & milk together.
Pour over top. Bake at 350 for 1 Hour.
(One of Daddy’s Favorites!) Makes 2- 9”X13” pans

Why is this so appealing to me? Anyone made it? Is it any good?