All up in the kool-aid, dont even know the flava

Food. All Food.

My energy levels have been hovering slightly above zero lately, so I havent been doing a lot of mealing planning/preparation. I wrote out the meals for this week on Sunday, and we shopped for those ingredients, but it hasnt been anything special.

Some of the highlights included:

Wednesday lunch- Quesidillas, rice and beans (which Jason prepared for me since it was his day off. The rice and beans was left over from Tuesday night's mexican dinner I made)

Wednesday Dinner- Asian (stir-fried rice and veggies and egg rolls)

Thursday- pasta, garlic bread, green beans

( She went directly into the tub after this...)

Friday breakfast- McDonalds Egg and Cheese Bagel

Friday Breakfast (emma)- waffles! As usual!

Tonight? maybe pizza . Maybe another fast food. Jason's parents and sister are all coming back from a trip to Florida tonight (she's been living there, they went down to help her move back), so we'll do something quick and easy with them.

Sure, I posted some of the meals we actually made this week, but I didnt tell you about the 2 trips to Taco Bell...  I'm pretty sure it all evens out though....  :)

Leap Day!

Emma says, "Big Whoop, I'm watching Barney."

I have a post about food ( I know, you are all on the edge of your seats) but I will have to post it after lunch due to a technical error on my part.

Crafty Gift

Kristie contacted me many moons ago and said she wanted to contribute something to the new baby's nursery. As many of you know, she is very crafty, and she wanted to paint a few paintings for the baby's nusery.

I OF COURSE, said YES!

As you might remember, Kristie has painted two little paintings that now hang in Emma's room.

Kristie went to Target and found a gift bag that matched the baby's nursery decor I had picked out. She used that to help design her paintings. She's been working very hard on them for several weeks now and has been giving me updates along the way. I KNEW they would be wonderful, but I was so happy when Kristie seemed so pleased with them as well. I'd hate to think she spent all that time and wasnt happy with her finished product!

Anyway, she finished them up last week and mailed them off to me.

Again, I knew they would be wonderful, but when I saw exactly how well they matched the nusery? It was AMAZING. Kristie is AMAZING.

Behold...

You are speechless arent you?

                

The animals are pefect! The colors are perfect! Kristie is perfect!

(And yes, I will eventually hang these paintings instead of having them sit in the crib...You'll have to wait to see them hung in the room until the nusery is complete.)

Kristie recently opened at Etsy shop, and I bet if you bookmark the link, and check back, she'll be offering up some nusery artwork for sale!

Thank you so much Kristie!

Dessert, New Light, and Cute Picture of my Kid

I've got a lot of random photos from this weekend. Each photo isnt worthy of its own post, so I thought I'd squish them all together in on random post. Sound like fun?

Chocolate Pudding Cake

1 bx of chocolate cake (I used Devil's Food)

(prepare as directed on box)

2 bx of instant chocolate pudding

(use ONLY 2 cups of milk for the 2 boxes, normally it would be 2 cups of milk per box, but NOT for this cake)

• Prepare cake mix and pour into greased 13 * 9 pan
• Prepare 2 boxes of pudding with 2 cups of milk and then pour over cake mix, spreading as needed.
• Bake at 350 degrees for approx 55 minutes.
• Serve warm with ice cream or fudge sauce.

My personal review:

This was good, but was missing something. That's why Jason and I would suggest a hot fudge sauce or ice cream. It's like it just needed an extra boost. But very easy to make and our friends Kim and Dt loved it!

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Here is our old bathroom light fixture:

Pretty ugly huh? Yep. Original to the house, so Really Really Old.

Since selling the old house and paying off some bills etc, we've been able to breathe a bit financially. This means I can get a Route 44 Sonic Limeade whenever I want, and it also means we can afford to buy a few small things for the house here and there.

We picked up this small cieling light fixture at Lowes for $15.

It makes such a difference! Before we had one 40 watt bulb in the bathroom fixture, and now we have 2 60 watt bulbs. We are NOT bright light people though, so today Jason will be switching those 2 60's for 2 40's.

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And then, just because I have a few random shots of Emma, I thought I'd share them today.

Look at all those teeth! We brush them every night with a battery powered My Little Pony tooth brush and training toothpaste.

I know, I should shy away from partially n*ked pictures of Emma, but this one is just so adorable! Emma LOVES to carry around her "jammy jammies" after we've taken them off her in the morning.

Napping with Daddy after church. It's rare that Emma takes a decent nap on the weekends. Jason knew the best shot we had was for him to rock with Emma and let her sleep on him, while he got to nap too! Plus, he told me later that he knows that one day soon she'll be too big to nap on Daddy and he'll miss that. :) 

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The End

Suprise Suprise

Yesterday morning I had a presentation to give during a staff meeting at 8:30am.

I arrive, and quickly realize, this is no ordinary staff meeting! There are balloons! And cupcakes! And presents!!

ALL FOR ME!!!!!

(Ok, I shared the cupcakes)

It was a surprise baby shower thrown by my co-workers! How thoughtful! And sweet! And suprising!  I dont have any pictures to share of the event (cause I dont normally take my camera with me to staff meetings...) but, there were lots of cupcakes, blueberry muffins, cinnamon swirl bread, grape juice and orange juice.

Here is my balloon bouquet!

To me, balloons really made the event. It's like something extra special. Someone had to go out of their way to purchase a balloon bouquet, and drive around with it, just for me! I love it. (And so does Emma!)

I received a $25 gift card from the office, as well as several gifts!

Here are the gifts:

• a clock/sound machine thingy
• a blue polka dotted blanket (Emma has the same blanket, but in green!)
• 2 packs of diapers
• 1 big pack of wipes
• two 0-3 month onsies
• a really cool rainforest playmat!

It was all very exciting.  I am feeling extra extra loved.

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While getting gas yesterday, a woman pulled IN TO THE GAS STATION, rolled DOWN her window, and asked if I was having TWINS. THANKS.

Here I was, thinking I hardly even looked pregnant. Right?

Weekend Recap: Jason's Graduation!

Woohoo! Jason is home!

Friday morning, after my OB appt (which by the way- yielded nothing exciting at all), we headed down to see Jason graduate from the J*il Certification course at the Ac*demy.

Emma napped for a bit on the way down.

After much waiting around, and toddler chasing (OMG- Emma is SOOOO a toddler now. She loves to run around and yell "NONONONONONO!"), the graduation class marched in.

Jason is the 2nd from the right, in the grey shirt. They all have different uniforms because they are from different counties.

Speeches.

When that snack ran out? So did Emma's patience. So I ended up missing all the guest speakers because Emma and I had to leave the room. Oh well.

Woohoo! Getting his certificate!!!

Giving Daddy a congragulatory kiss. Jason's mother took a family photo of us, but it's pretty bad, so I'll choose not to share it sorry. I actually look fairly decent, but Jason's taken better pictures... And he's an atractive guy, I think the angle is just bad. Ok FINE. I'll share the picture.

But we all know he's far more attractive than this photo represents.

Goodbye Academy!

   

Then we headed back to our town to eat lunch at Olive Garden!

It is WONDERFUL to have Jason home again. Oh sure, more dirty dishes, dirty laundry and less bed space, but it's worth it. :)

Other Weekend Goings Ons:

• Rented "No Reservations" with Catherine Zeta Jones. Cute. Sad. Funny. Rent it, but have tissues handy.
• Bought nursery curtain fabric. More on that later.
• Had our friends Kim and DT over Saturday night. Fixed chicken soft tacos (Jason grilled the chicken), and then watched "Gone Baby Gone". There were parts that were good, and there were parts that made me want to jump up and down ontop of the DVD until it was in tiny little pieces. Too much heartstring pulling for me.
• And what could possibly be better than friends coming over to hang out with you? And being ok with watching a little Barney before Emma went to bed?
• FRIENDS THAT BRING GIFTS!
• 
• Kim remembered my obsession with Gain and Irish Spring and Hooked Me Up. :)
• Love her.
• church
• shopping at Target
• naps all around
• got Jason caught up on all the LOST episodes he missed.

GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Baby gifts and Updates

Guess what? Jamie sent us a package!

What's inside?

Very Cute and Very Cuddly clothes for the new baby!

And a gift card to a great children's store!

And what did I decide to get with the gift card?

Oh, and did I mention I got one of each, for BOTH Emma and the new baby?

Oh yes, there will be an insanely adorable photo shoot in the future. :)

 

Thank you Jamie!

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Today I have an OB appt at 8:15am. I've decided that the OB will see how big I am, decide we must do an immediate internal exam and ultrasound and then will surely insist I must deliver the baby immediately.

Or more likely, nothing of any importance will happen, as I am only 34 weeks along and must trudge on for 6 more....

Then I'm heading down to see Jason graduate from his training course!

Yeah Jason! (I'll be sure to take pictures!)

Have a great weekend!

When Jason comes home, this will be a big No-No.

But they look so comfortable, dont they?

Wait! Is that Jason! Oh no!

Whew. Wasnt him.

Better enjoy the Big Bed time while I can....

How about you just call me when he's on his way?

Seven Things

I'm sure I've been tagged more than once for this, but the most recent person to tag me was Andrea at This Mom's Life.

So here we go, 7 wierd or random things about ME.

1. At work, my office is fairly large. It has a typical big florescent light on the ceiling, but I prefer to leave it off, and work with just a desk lamp, and the blinds closed. Sure, it probably looks kind of dark in here, but I think it is calming.
2. Even if I am exhausted at night, I have to turn the bedroom tv on for at least a few minutes after getting in bed. Doesnt matter if I had just been watching tv in the living room. Doesnt matter whats on.
3. Im being forced against my will to watch Barney at least twice a day.
4. I pluck my eyebrows at stoplights.
5. At night, I have to wear a pair of calf high athletic socks to bed. It's not a cold feet thing, its a sheets rubbing against my feet thing. And I wait to put them on until I am in bed so I dont contiminate the bed with dirty socks.
6. I recently emailed Jamie for bleach usuage tips (she's big into bleach too). After some encouraging words, I went out and bougth by first ever bottle of straight bleach. I've discovered the best way to keep your whites white (or renew them if they are dingy), is to let them sit in the washer overnight in a hot water bleach mixture. AMAZING results. And I love the smell of clean bleached socks. I also dump bleach in the toilet every week and let it sit all day.
7. I am HORRIBLE at accents. If you asked me for a british accent, it is likely to come out Indian. Irish Accent? Sounds like Australian. I keep persevering, though it drives Jason crazy. It's all so funny to me because I am 1/2 Australian and had a little Aussie accent when I was younger (like under 4). I just cant recreate it now.

Do you feel like you know me better now?

Mmm. Mmm Good

( Thank you for all the moisturizer advice! I've certainly got lots of good choices next time I hit the store. I'll be sure to update with whatever I get...whenever I get it!)

Last Friday, in anticipation of Jason coming home for the weekend, I decided to make Paula Deen's Not Yo Mama's Bannana Pudding. I've made it a few times before, and it is always good.

You can click on the above link for the actual recipe, but the main ingredients are:

• 1 box of pudding (she says vanilla, I used banana because I didnt have any real bannanas on hand as the recipe calls for)
• 1 block of cream cheese
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (heaven. simply heaven)
• tub of Cool Whip
• milk (for pudding)
• cookies to line dish (she uses chessmen, I went generic with wafers)
• bananas, which I didnt have, but that's ok.

* Most important! Be sure to beat all the ingredients with the electric mixer very very well. That cream cheese is what really needs it. My version ended up slightly lumpy, which didnt seem to phase Jason at all, but bothered me.

Line your dish with cookies.

Pour mixture into dish, then refridgerate for a good while.

Sit back, and lick out the mixture bowl.

Top with a little whip cream if you dare, and enjoy!

Jason liked it so much that except for the initial serving I had, he ate the WHOLE THING over the weekend. This recipe is a winner everytime!