Merry Christmas!

so I have a story about Christmas Eve that I'll tell you soon.  It involves beer pong, pellet guns, and stripping.  No, it is way more kosher than it sounds.  It all happened at the family Christmas party.

Merry Christmas everyone!
love, Liesl, Jeff & Luna

afraid of the stove

I'm getting to be afraid of the stove, kind of.  Never before this week have I worried (or had to worry) about setting my stomach on fire, but lately my stomach has grown immensely and the bottom of it sits perfectly on the stove level.  I was using one of the front burners today and wondering why my stomach felt so warm.  Yeah, that's because my stomach was like a half inch away from the burner.  Yikes!  But seriously, how ridiculous is my situation?

...and yet more baking.

It seems like all I've done this week is bake and clean the kitchen.  Finally it's almost done, but now I'm off to bake my very first (chocolate) cheesecake.  Yum!  Wish me luck!

our presents WERE pretty...

Luna would be very happy if we left her all day to eat the ribbons on our gifts.  She will literally sit under our tree on top of other packages and chew on ribbons.

no, I'm not a cutter... but I do own a cat.

to her credit though, she's really not evil.  I was holding her near a window and her arch nemesis kitty walked along our back fence.  Luna freaked and jumped out of my arms to get a closer look and growl at the window.

sometimes I actually love people

Most of the time I really don't love people.  They are stupid/ annoying or just plain rude.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my mailbox today and found a typed note from one of our neighbors.  They thanked us for putting up christmas lights and adding holiday cheer to the neighborhood.  It's always the little things in life that put a smile on your face.  I love when they creep up on you unexpected like that.  So here's to people!

lesson of the day

When making taffy, never let your scatterbrained pregnant wife pour the hot liquid taffy into a pan that she quickly lined with wax paper instead of parchment paper.  Yeah, not thinking on that one.  I just grabbed the first thing I saw (unfortunately wax paper) because my first thought was "Oh no, this is going to harden very quickly and I have to scrape it all into the lined pan as soon as possible!"  Oops.  Guess we have to try that one again.  hehe... At least it smelled good.  And Jeff said it tasted good when he licked the hardened candy (not the wax paper side).

suspenders

I need for suspenders to come back in style because my pants (no matter what kind- normal jeans, maternity pants, pjs, leggings) keep falling down and sagging pants is just not a good look for anyone.  Yeah, cute little skinny black suspenders would look awesome.  Not the thick rainbow or yardstick wannabe ones.  Those are just awful.  And this wouldn't be so much of a problem but I have to wear pants for most of my work shifts.  And besides, dresses on a pregnant lady always look like tents or muumuus.  No way I want to be seen ever like that.  Even at a walmart.

frightening thoughts

So... I'm slighty (ok, maybe more than slightly) afraid that my kid is going to be born a crazy sugar-craving monster because the only things that don't make me feel sick to eat are sugary things like cookies, or super bad for you things like McDonald's fries.  Yum... On the rare occasion that I crave veggies, I eat them like crazy to try to balance out the bad food that I told myself I would never eat while pregnant.  Yeah, well I also told myself I was going to do prenatal yoga every day.  Ha!  I got through 8 minutes of a prenatal yoga video once before I felt like hurling.  And that was it.  But it's ok.  If ever I feel like I'm the worst (soon-to-be) parent ever, I can just go to Walmart and feel sooo much better about myself.  Come on people, you all think it too.  I mean, have you ever been to peopleofwalmart.com?  It's the funniest site ever!!!

weirdest feeling ever

It is sooo weird to look at my incredibly expanding stomach and then poke at it.  It looks like it should be all soft and jiggly, but it's all firm (almost like I was in shape.  Woohoo!).  It's just so weird.  I'm still not used to this whole belly growing thing.  Can you tell?  I mean, yes I'm used to having a poochy stomach, but not one that keeps getting bigger, and firmer.  So weird.

tech support "fun"

So I've decided that AT&T is full of stupid people.  I just got asked if my land line had a dial tone, I said no.  The follow up question was (no joke) "Are you calling from this line now?"

Comments

So I finally changed my blog so that non-registered people (Kristin) can comment, and you also no longer have to enter in a "word" that is really just a jumble of random letters.  I would have done all this earlier, but I didn't really pay attention to the part where I knew I could.  If that makes any sense at all...  Anyway, nothing really to report today except the fact that I have a cat sprawled on my lap.  She's been here a while, so she's getting heavy, and rather hot.  And all I want to do is sleep, but my mind is totally evil and won't let me.  Grr.

Pregnancy: the best diet ever

Yeah, I know you're supposed to gain weight when you're pregnant, but so far I've lost 16 pounds.  But my doctor gave me magic pills today that are supposed to let me want to eat food again.  She also told me I should eat more french fries because I need the extra calories.  As soon as she told me it was just me that needed more calories, and that the baby is totally fine, I got really excited.  Yay!  I can eat whatever the hell I want with my doctor's go ahead.  Mhaa-haha (happy evil laugh).

Cravings

I'm kinda hoping my mad craving for french fries goes away soon.  Otherwise I'm going to become massively obese.  On the other hand, THEY'RE SOOOOO GOOD!

names

I'm starting to get why everyone says to hold off as long as possible before telling everyone your future child's name.  We decided to name our kid Liam.  Luckily, everyone we've told says they really like the name, and think it's cute.  On the other hand though, the majority of people we tell ask if it's a family name.  That just confuses me.  It's a fairly popular and cute kid's name.  Why would people automatically assume it's a family name?  Do they think that Jeff and I are just that uncreative with names?  Also, anyone over the age of 65 that hears the name Liam gets confused.  Apparently the name became well known right after that age group all stopped having kids.  My grandma especially gets confused by the name.
Grandma: "lee-UM?  Is that like Ian?"
Me:  "Uh, no.  It's like Liam."

yay! crib!

So our crib came in today.  Yeah, I know.  It's still really early.  I hit mid pregnancy (week 20) tomorrow.  But what can I say?  I like to be prepared.  Anyway, my parents dropped our crib off at our house.  BTW, it's so nice knowing people with huge cars.  I mean, both our parents and Jeremy have huge cars and Jeff and I both have compacts.  So back to the main story... Less than an hour after it was dropped off, Jeff and I had it out of the box in Liam's future room and had it fully assembled.  Yay!  It looks so nice.  Well, I mean, it will look better when we get a mattress and mom gives us the bedding, but I'm still sooo excited.  It's our first piece of baby furniture.  So once again, yay!

Pictures to come once the mattress and bedding come.

actual conversation

Jeff and I were discussing possible clothing sizes of this tiny girl.

Me: What size does that girl wear?!
Jeff: I don't know.  Mattel?

And this is why I love him.

suspicious

 

How could any kitty be suspicious of any puppy as cute as Finley?  But then here she is, hiding behind the tree glaring at him because he's on her couch.  Too bad he's clueless and doesn't even notice her.

cheapest way to heated towels

Luna has spent pretty much the entire day sleeping in the linen closet.  She loves it in there because it's a sliding door with no bottom track so she can swing the door a bit and get in and out by herself.  Plus, it's dark and warm, perfect for naps.  Although she has been in there more than usual since the puppy's been here...  So likes to sleep on the bath towels the most, so they are always nice and warm now.  Good things cats are clean.

new strategy

Finely finally figured out that since I cover myself with blankets to protect myself from practically-middle-of-the-night wake up calls, he needed a new way to get me up.  This morning I was laying on my side, and he decided to use his head as a battering ram against my back to shove me over the side of the bed.  That was a super fun way to wake up.  Puppy skull in my spine.  Yay... Maybe tomorrow Luna will get pissed at him and save me.

no no no...

My mom invited a combination of various relatives for Christmas dinner who all drive me crazy (although I do love most of them individually).  Normally putting up with them is not an issue because my dad makes kick-ass Cosmos, but I can't have one this year!  I have no choice but to loose my mind that day, or show up late/ leave early.  Large amounts of my relatives together are the only times that I ever rely on alcohol.  Maybe large amounts of chocolate on Christmas will work as well as a Cosmo.  This sounds like a good reason to eat too much chocolate to me!

genius

Create a huge wall of blanket all around you.  Then no annoyingly hyper puppy can reach you at 5am to wake you up by licking you.  Success!

Props

Let me just say that I'm am mad impressed with Jeff's ability to be good at everything.  With the exception of his utter lack of confidence.  Anyway, this was brought on because yesterday he changed two of my car's front headlights.  Jeff has no training with cars, and my manual was helpful enough to say  "How to change the headlights: take the vehicle to a VW dealership and let them change the lights".  No joke.  Crazy helpful, right?  But Jeff is resourceful and used You Tube's help.  And even with all the instructions in the world, anyone successfully doing anything under the hood of my car is impressive.  I mean, I drive a Beetle.  The hood is teeny tiny, and all the parts are crammed together several layers deep.  So I have learned, don't ever own a Beetle if you plan on doing ANY of your own auto work.  And yay Jeff!

lazy Luna

Isn't it plainly obvious that this poor cat is so neglected and unloved?  Yeah, right.

canine alarm clock

So once again we're babysitting my baby puppy brother Finley, while my parents go off to Disneyland without us.  Somehow Finely got it into his head that I need to get out of bed at the same time Jeff does.  Jeff gets up to go to work at 5am, and I like to sleep in, so this really is not ok.  But the past 4 days in a row, Finley will jump onto the bed the second Jeff gets up, and start licking my face to death and smacking the rest of me with his tail cause he's all excited and wants me to get up.  Ugh.  Oh course, the second I finally do get up, Finley looses interest and wants to take an insanely long nap on the couch.  Wish I could fall back asleep as easily.  The stinker.

cousins

I LOVE the fact that there are so many boy cousins in the family.  Because they are all darn cute, and I just got a humongous (no exaggeration needed) of barely if ever worn hand-me-downs.  And they are all super cute!  So yeah, my kid is totally set on clothes for the next year.

pregnant and sick

Yet again!  Ugh.  I just had a cold last month.  I know it's not really so bad, but I'm normally a one very small small cold a year type of person, and now I'm on the second one in as many months.  And I can't really take drugs for it.  :sigh:  However, I will say this,

Jeff + a pot of tea in one sitting + a year's supply of kleenex with aloe and vitamin E + sleeping with a humidifier on high next to your side of the bed + tons of Vick's vaporub = a Liesl that can kind of breathe through her nose a little.  Yay!

role reversal

We're puppy sitting Finley for a week while my parents go to Disneyland without us.  How unfair is that?  And to make it worse, they are going with three other couples, and those couples are all leaving their kids behind too.  This is so not cool people!

yum

I think the baby likes Powered Sugar mini donuts.  Yum!

sad that I'm excited by this...

Today was the first time a stranger asked me how far along I was while I was actually pregnant!  Why is it always guys that ask?

customer support rant

OMG!  I've been on the phone with AT&T trying to change our service, and I got a nube.  I'm really hoping that it's this girl's first day on the job, because she is clueless.  She had to put me on hold several times in the very beginning, before I ever gave her any information, because she was confused.  Then, after reading her our account number three times, she told me it didn't exist.  Really?  And I know my diction isn't perfect, but I try to speak as clearly as possible on the phone.  I had to repeat EVERYTHING for her at least three times.  Then she got confused again about what I wanted, read me my options from a script with many many pauses in between, and kept forgetting to differentiate between home phone and cell phone options.  Plus, I could hear another person in the background feeding her info.  Um, couldn't I just talk to the person who knows what they are talking about instead?  Then, the girl started offering packages that don't exist, then changing (she did that several times, in between the many long pauses), then she gave me a support number with a digit missing, and got confused when I asked her to repeat the number.  She did a bunch of other screwy things too, and once again I hope that today was her first day...as a trainee.

description of me

hungry hungry hippo.

I hope it's not just me

Pregnancy brain is real, and it's a bitch.  I keep stopping halfway through every though because I can't remember what I was about to do or say.  It's driving me crazy!  It also doesn't help that Jeff is naturally forgetful, so together it makes us totally hopeless.

Fantastic Fall Fruit Salad

So many people are bored or fruit salad, because only boring fruit ever gets added.  It's just sad.  This fruit salad is  so yummy!  plus it looks a bit fancier than the average fruit salad.  It's perfect for fall/ winter because of the colors and the spiciness.

You will need:
3 large Fuji apples
3 Asian pears
4 persimmons
seeds from one pomegranate
juice from 1 lemon
16 oz. walnut or pecan halves
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Cut the fruit into bit sized pieces and put them in the bowl.  In a small bowl, mix together the lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon.  Pour the sugar mixture over the fruit and toss well.
Melt the butter and mix it with the brown sugar and allspice.  Mix in nuts and coat well.  Spread the nuts on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 for 20 minutes.  Just before serving, toss the cooled nuts in with the fruit.  Enjoy!  Trust me, this tastes soooo good!

not spoiled at all

Yes, Luna is laying on three pillows on the couch.  Jeff randomly put the pillows there, and she immediately noticed, jumped up, and made it hers.  The poor little thing.

lesson of the day

Don't try to tighten a bolt on a slowly leaking kitchen pipe unless you know which direction tightens or loosens it and you've also turned the water off.  Hopefully you get where I'm going with this.  Anyway, that meant I didn't need caffeine (that I'm not allowed anyway) to wake up this morning, and as a result of using almost all our towels to dry our kitchen floor, it  is now very clean.  And Jeff finally (eventually) got the leak stopped too.  Woohoo!

Black Friday continued

My mom is adorable.  She went shopping today...for baby things.  She just got too excited.  So now my kid already has the cutest bedding set ever, and is going to be the best dressed kid ever.  Can you say "tiny bomber jacket?"  She came over with a cover story and ended up spilling where she went and giving me the clothes.  She said she didn't know who to address the baby clothes to for Christmas, since he's not here yet, and she didn't want to wait for a shower.

Black Friday

My black friday so far has been very eventful, and it's only 10am.  OMG.  Jeff and I got home from dinner last night and figured "Hey, Walmart is just down the street and they open at midnight.  That's only like two hours from now.  Let's just stay up and go there, then we can come home and sleep."  Frankly I'm still surprised everything went so smoothly...so we watched a movie so we wouldn't fall asleep or loose track of time, then we drove off to Walmart (where the huge parking lot was FULL and we had to park at the second to last spot on the edge of the strip mall lot.  We braved the freezing cold and finally made it inside.  It wasn't as bad as I had always feared, having never done black friday before, but we generally stayed away from electronics, and I think that made a big difference.  Judging from everyone's carts (let's face it, I'm nosy and had to see what people were buying) flat screen TVs and crock pots were by far the most popular items.  What did we get you ask?  A $10 electric griddle and a few $2 DVDs.  Oh yeah, we're big spenders.  The lines weren't even that bad to check out, once we all realized the one long line we had all formed because we were told it led to all cashiers was just BS and there were really like 20 small lines.  But we made it out withing an hour , and had awesome people watching.  After all, it was a Walmart.  I had work at 6am this morning, which wasn't so bad sleep wise, just bad in the fact that I think the baby hates me and wants me to be sick all the time.  So I got to leave work after an hour (woohoo!) which was great because black friday still scares the crap out of me, and my store was a complete nightmare.  We also had an abundance of stupid people.
customer: "Um, so you told me everything in your store is 50% off.  Does that include sale items?"
me: "Um, that includes EVERYTHING." (duh)
Anyway, by the time I left my store at 7am, we looked like we were going out of business, when the store was overly packed with merchandise this morning at opening, and from just midnight to 5am my store made $22,000 (which was our goal for the ENTIRE day.  Crazy, right?)
In short, black friday is still insane and scary, but I don't mind shopping it as long as I stay away from the overly crowded electronics section.  Yikes!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Who doesn't love a holiday that's all about being thankful and eating too much?  I personally am thankful for my wonderful friends and family, for Jeff, Luna, and soonish-to-be-arriving baby!

feeling guilty

I intentionally left the heater off all day today because I figured out that if I'm hanging out on the couch and its cold, Luna will come snuggle with me about once every hour to warm up.  She snuggles as close as she can get and I pet her and make sure her ears are nice and warm.  Then she jumps up and goes to play with her toys.  The cycle continues the next hour.  So far today she's snuggled with me four times.  Yesterday I had the heater on all day and she was nice and warm but she wanted nothing to do with me.  I'll just settle for being a space heater.  Besides, she makes my lap warm.  :)

maternity clothes

Yes, this is my rant on maternity clothes.  You must have known there would be one eventually.  So I can't wear regular pants (except for sweats) because the waist is too tight.  But they'd fit otherwise in the leg because I lost a bunch of weight.  But maternity pants don't fit because they're HUGE in the waist, which is lame because I'm 17 weeks along.  My stomach is not what you'd call tiny.  Maternity clothes should really be sized by trimester.  That would be awesome.  I would gladly buy an extra pair of pants if it meant they would actually fit.  As it is I have no choice but to wear my huge waisted maternity pants.  It's ok and all if I have a really long shirt on, but regardless, I have to keep pulling them up every two seconds.  Grr.  Maternity tops aren't so bad as long as you get a basic t-shirt style.  However, I have one maternity top that fits my stomach but is saggy in the boobs (I have never has this issue in my entire life!).  So all I can really say is that I wish more stores sold dresses that aren't fancy Christmas dresses this time of year, because dresses are the only thing that fit right!  So if you see me around in the near future I should be easy to spot.  I'll be the one wearing sweats.

the worst

The official up to date worst part of being pregnant is when you can't for the life of you fall asleep at night (thanks in partial to Luna, who tried repeatedly to push my legs off the bed so she could have more room), so you only sleep for 3 hours all night.  Then, having to wake up early because you start work at 6am and remembering that caffeine is a big no-no.  Argh!  I miss my old friend caffeine...Thank goodness this doesn't happen too often.

black friday

This week could be bad for my wallet.  Several things I really want that never go on sale are half off for black friday.  And I mean RANDOM things, like a dress form.  Black friday is also going to be bad because I'm working in the early-ish morning when all the crazy people are out, and I just found out my store is going to have kick ass sales.  Scary day.

and the winner is...

in the category of "Weirdest and most over-the-top crib" the winner is...

yum

So tonight Jeff got bored and we ended up making carmels (awesome!) and indoor smores.  We are now both on sugar overload, and I'm totally going to end up giving birth to a sugar happy baby, but my mom did the same thing with me and I turned out ok, I think.

cravings

Before I got pregnant Jeff promised me that whatever random cravings I had, he would get for me.  All I want right now is berry pie and donuts, and he just tells me I'm crazy and I should just eat real food.  So sad...Doesn't berry pie sound awesome right now?

movies with mom

I really hope I don't end up like my mom when I'm older in this one thing: she gets SOOOO confused watching movies.  Last night my parents went with Jeff and me to see the new Harry Potter.  Several times she leaned over to me and said, "Now, which one is Voldemort?"  Yeah, she actually said that.  My response was something along the lines of "Well, he's the creepy looking bald  one without a nose that everyone backs away from when he gets too close, cause he scares the crap of of them all."  She would nod in understanding, then ask the same question thirty minutes later.

feeling old

I feel so old today.  I checked facebook, and all my friends were talking about how they saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter.  I used to go to midnight showings all the time, but last night Jeff and I went to bed at like 9:30, and we had to fight to stay up that late (granted, we both had work really early yesterday, but still).  Hopefully were are just going through a lazy period in addition to the pregnancy, and next year we'll be awake enough to stay up late again.

Luna's room

Yes, I know Luna is a bit "well loved", seeing as she has her own bedroom and all.  But unfortunately for her, her current room is going to become the baby's room.  Luna's room and the little used office are soon to become one and the same.  We've started moving her furniture and toys into the office little by little so it doesn't freak her out or anything.  We started doing this way early so she has time to get used to it before she gets pissed off at the baby for stealing her room.  After today she'll only have one of two things left in her old room.  I just can't wait until the day when she runs down the hallway and into her room, and she runs into the office instead of her old room.  Yeah, she totally knows which room is hers.  She will run straight into her room if you're chasing her, and she'll stop in the center of her room, turn around and sprawl out in the middle of the floor with the expression of "ok, stop running and scratch my tummy now."

breathe please

So I've definitely calmed down a lot since yesterday.  Jeff and I are both in agreement now that we're SO excited to be having a little boy.  It's funny, we both realized that the more we thought about having a boy, the more excited we got.  I love that we had the same thought.  Yay!  I'm still going to be poor though.  I bought him a coat today.  It was so cute!  It looks just like Paddington Bear's coat!  It did not help at all though that I dressed 11 boy mannequins today at work and they were all SUPER cute!!!

By the way, my mom has already decided that since he obviously can't wear my old Alice in Wonderland costume to Disneyland, we need to get him a pirate costume.  Did I mention she's got his first trip to Disneyland all planned out?  It will be when he's 4 months old.  I love my mom.  She's crazy in a good way.

It's official

So its official.  As of today I am officially having a boy.  I swear, I was nervous all day today.  I would be happy no matter what.  I mean, it couldn't hurt to have the proper number of fingers, toes, etc.  and being cute is always good too...but I was super nervous before my ultrasound that:
A) I wouldn't be as excited to hear "It's A Boy!" because I know I really wanted a girl.  Granted, I'm totally still excited, but I still feel a little bad that my response wasn't as excited as it should be.  Also, I kinda figured it would be a boy, because boys run rampant in Jeff's family.
B) The ultrasound tech would say, "Nope.  I guess its too early to tell what the gender is, and you, your husband, you mom, your mother-in-law, and your sister-in-law and drove way the heck out here in the middle of nowhere for nothing.  Sorry, come back later."

But I'm still excited.  Jeff got a bit freaked out though, because I think he figured it would be a girl, because that's kind of what we wanted, so when he realized it was a boy he realized that he has to be the role model now, while before he was just thinking he could get away with going to ballet recitals and smiling over tea parties.  Now he has to teach our son to be a man.  And a plus for me is that since its a boy I don't have to be the parent to give the puberty talk.  Yes!!  Also, I'm going to be saving big bucks on wardrobe.  Yes, boy clothes can be cute.  But I really don't get urges to buy jeans with skull and crossbones on them like I do to buy frilly poufy dresses.  I know, I'm kind of scared to have a boy because I'm super girly, and Jeff isn't exactly the butchest guy around.  What if our kid wants to play football?  Ick!

Now the only problem is that I really only wanted one kid, but I wanted a girl even more.  So in another year or two (or three) do we try for a second kid and hope for a girl?  I'm just a bit scared that we're going to be those parents who just wanted one girl and got four or five boys first.  Nightmare. 

But my number one happy reason for having a boy is that Alicia is having one 7 weeks before me, so our boys are going to be first cousins and best friends.  Also, since boys really do run rampant in Jeff's family, our son will have a ton of cousins to play with.  I mean, we all just got to the "old even to have kids age" and already there will soon be four boys and only one girl.

Oh, but of course my mind is already WAY too far ahead.  I'm already thinking that if (or when) we have a second kid, our house will be far to crowded.  I mean, yes, we do have a guest room that could be changed into kid room #2, but the closet is jam packed.  In short, we don't even have the first kid out yet, and even closet in the house (with kid #1 exception) is super full.  So if we have more than one kid we will probably need to move.  But I really don't to move.  I love our house.  Plus, buying and selling and having to get a new mortgage all sounds like a nightmare.  But like I said...WAY too far ahead of myself.  Sorry, I kind of started rambling and went off on like twenty different tangents.  Guess I've kind of got a lot going on in my crazy brain right now...

stiff competition

All I'm saying is that the baby is going to have to be pretty darn cute to compete with the cuteness of Luna.

Luna thoughts

So picture Luna laying down in the dark in a room by herself.  When she noticed Jeff walking towards her with the obvious intention of picking her up, I think this is what was running through her mind.

"Ah, no!  Daddy's coming...must run away.  After I stretcccccch of course.  No!  He's getting closer!  I know, I'll escape by running under this desk and out the other side.....oh wait, this is a dead end.  Noooooo!"

This of course, is where she lost and Jeff picked her up to cuddle and give her kisses.  I know, I know.  She has SUCH a rough life.  Right?  So of course she had to start crying when she get picked up.  Only to start purring like two seconds later.  Much as I love them, I think cats are totally crazy.

I'm not allowed on a ladder (see? It just sounds goofy)

So far during my pregnancy, work hasn't really changed.  Except that I'm not allowed to use a ladder.  This wouldn't be a big deal at most jobs probably, but my stockroom is space challenged, so we stack everything as high as we can.  Try telling someone that you would love to grab them a navy peacoat, but you can't because you're not allowed on a ladder.  Trust me, you will feel like an idiot every time, and I've had to tell everyone the ladder response often lately.

space issues

I'm having space issues.  I'm bored at home, so I decided to look online for strollers.  I really want a nice one, possibly a travel system.  Unfortunately, I drive a Beetle.  You know, the car with the smallest trunk known to man.  I utterly refuse to give up my cute little car, but now stroller shopping kind of sucks.  I just need to find some kind of awesome store that will let me test drive their strollers in my trunk to see if they fit.  Yeah right.  Like that will ever happen... So far I think I'm just doomed to end up with a crappy umbrella stroller.  Sad day.

our Barney

We officially have a Barney Stinson in our group now.  Matt has proudly taken that role.  Reasons why Matt really is Barney:

5. smokes cigars
4. drinks scotch
3. suavest of our group by far
2. good wing man (who has actually tried "have you met...?" in bars) 
1. has a custom made suit

hold

I hate being on hold when the elevator music is interrupted every 15 seconds by a recorded message saying "Please stay on the line.  Your call is very important to us.  Blah, blah, blah."  That just means that every 15 seconds I stupidly get my hopes up that I'll get the actual person, and can stop listening to bad music, and the same repetitive message.  Maybe next time I'll count and see how many recorded messages I have to listen to before I get through...

work fun

So I was dressing the mannequins at work today and one outfit in particular made me start laughing.  I wish I could find a picture to post of the whole thing, cause its so freaking cute.  It reminds me of something Tova and I (or maybe just me) would wear when we were younger.  So I suck at describing things sometimes, but just bear with me.  The sweater dress in the top layer, with the turtleneck underneath.  The pink tulle skirt goes under the dress with the silver tulle skirt under the pink skirt.  Each layer shows an inch or two lower than the last though.  Then navy leggings, and the pink shoes.  The skirt part massively poufs out and is so totally cute!  Like, I "might actually let my kid wear all the the pieces together even though that's a lot of laundry" cute.

whoa baby

This whole baby thing is getting crazy all of a sudden.  So, first of all, the idea of eating more than soup or a few bites of food sounds awful to me, so I've lost 10 pounds since conceiving.  This makes my 15 week baby bump that more noticeable.  This also makes all clothes evil.  My jeans are huge in the legs now, but are way too small around my waist, but maternity pants don't really fit that well either.  It's my genius decision then that I'm going to live in sweatpants (unless I actually get a work shift or two).  More baby madness includes my mom in general.  For anyone who has ever met her, she is SO excited to be Grammy!!  She bought the baby its first book yesterday (Brown Bear, Brown Bear) because she wanted to get the first new book (I still have a ton from when I was little too).  She also knows that while I will love it to death no matter what it is, it would be great to have a girl.  So mom has taken to picture messaging me random photos of the little boys in her preschool.  The first time she did this there was no name or message, just a close up of a 2 year old boy with uber chubby cheeks.   It was kinda creepy actually.  Her way of saying, "see? little boys are just as cute!  Did you see his cheeks?"  Never boring, my mom.  And then even though I won't find out the gender until early December, I am losing my mind seeing all the cute Christmas clothes at my store.  Today I broke down and bought the baby its first item of clothes.  It's okay though, I'm not jinxing myself (you know, buy boy clothes and wash them, then you end up with a girl, etc.)  The onesie is completely gender neutral.  I checked.  It doesn't say "baby boy" or "baby girl".  Just "baby".  So I won't really describe it because Jeff is getting it for Christmas.  Sssh! Don't tell!  But it is super cute, had polar bears, and says "I love Daddy".  Yay!

Dear Baby,

you had better be the most awesome baby ever, because I am terrified of needles, and I had to get two shots today, all because of you!  So you already owe me kid.
love, me (your future(?) mom)

don't see that everyday

I just saw a woman at the store with her shoes on the wrong feet.  Her big toes were making weird bumps where they shouldn't be, and since her shoes were rather stiff, you could plainly see them turned out.  This woman was probably in her 40s, and didn't appear to be drunk or have any hindering mental conditions.  What the hell then made her not notice when she put her shoes on the wrong feet?!

I'm being stalked...

...by our humidifier.  Jeff knows I'm sick, so he sets it up wherever I am in the house.  Once, I came out of the bathroom, and it had magically moved from the bedroom to the living room.  It's quite cute actually.  Today I got home from work and it was doing its thing in the living room.  It makes me and my sad dry icky throat both happy.  Plus, now the house is warmer.  Bonus!  And if you didn't notice, Jeff is awesome!

half-assed christmas

so the mall is officially finished being decorated for christmas.  as is macy's.  the only weird thing is that in the mall and macy's the speakers are still playing smooth jazz and not christmas music (for which I'm thankful).  But still, if you're going to do christmas, do it right and finish the whole thing.

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween!  Dressing up and having a themed party is just awesome. Plus, I'm just so excited that I finished that costumes and the food, etc.  with the wonderful help of Jeff and Carra of course.  Granted, fixing our hair took a bit longer that we thought, but at least we weren't still ironing our costumes in our living room at the time the party was supposed to start...oh well.  Fun times for everyone!

If you can't tell, Jeff's a DVD pirate and I'm Brittany from Glee.

done!!!

10 pm the night before our Halloween party and I just finished sewing the costumes.  Woohoo!!!  Now to start the cooking and cleaning... it might be a long night.

tearing my hair out

it is rather obnoxious when you are sewing something on a deadline and Joann's runs out of the same thing you have.

pregnancy brain definition

when you turn off the shower and start to reach for your towel and you realize you are still covered in shower gel.

need v. want

Jeff doesn't seem to understand that I NEED french fries.  Not boring protein.  And he needs to be nice to the grumpy pregnant lady.

please

Dear second trimester,
please get here ASAP.  I would love even a small piece of a day where my stomach doesn't feel like its on a never ending evil roller-coaster, which by the way, I used to love.  But now? Forget about it!  Aaaaaargh!

I love

the cute noises cats make when they sleep.  Especially if it is snoring.

silly questions

the two silliest questions I have been asked today were asked in the same conversation today.
1. Do you mind if I make brownies?
and
2. If I make brownies will you eat some of them?

to do list for today

1. take a long nap curled up in front of the space heater.
2. ignore everything else.

distracting the cat

Sorry for the upchuck of photos today and nothing other days.  I'm awful about uploading my camera.  It's just too annoying to do very often.

Anyway, I recently mentioned that Jeff has to distract Luna every time I have sewing projects.  It's really hard to tell which of them has more fun with the "distractions", which makes it all the more cuter to watch!
I didn't manage to get very good pictures because they were moving too fast, but here's the most of it.  Jeff built Luna a fort using leftover material and our piano bench.  Luna would hide in it and spy on us.  Then Jeff wrapped fabric around both of them and they chased each other up and down the hallway for a while.  I swear, Luna doesn't know she's a cat.  Anyway, they were both shrieking and having a good old time.  Then Luna got bored and decided that she was Godzilla and her fort was downtown Tokyo.  Then she hid in her fabric again and spied on us.  This whole thing lasted at least an hour.  It was highly entertaining.

sewing + cat =annoyed you/ happy cat

When I tried to cut out fabric, she at one point dove into the fabric, grabbed a huge handful and wrapped herself up like a burrito with it.  In about 2 seconds flat.  WHILE I WAS CUTTING FABRIC!!!!  I learned quickly that she must be locked in another room, or be distracted by Jeff while I do sewing anything.  Pictures on that coming up!  And then she would steal my chair every time I got up.  I think this is why I don't sew as often anymore...

concerned (note my sarcasm)

this is my lap by the way

I just really am concerned that Luna doesn't know how to make herself comfortable enough.
With the exception of the striped blanket in the last picture none of these were posed or set up at all.

pregnancy brain x 2

So I'm a little bit of a spaz normally, but now I'm  extra worse at forgetting some things.  For instance, the other night I was making minestrone soup, something I've done a million times and could make blindfolded (actually that sounds kind of messy...).  Anyway, my recipe is super easy (and yummy).

minestrone soup

vegetable broth
tomatoes
zucchini
pasta
carrots
various spices
kidney beans
white beans

I just add whatever amounts I want of everything and it always turns out well.  This time I was pouring it into bowls for dinner, thinking there was something missing, when I realized I had completely forgotten to add carrots or beans.  So all everything of substance in my soup was tomatoes zucchini, and pasta.  That's it.  So that's me being a spaz.  Jeff on the other hand has no excuse.  He is not pregnant and apparently crazy.  But he is forgetful in general.  Let's just say the next few months could get pretty interesting with the amnesia twins (us).  Yesterday Jeff parked his car outside so we could get access to the attic (directly over where Jeff's spot is) to get the Halloween decorations down.  He parked outside, closed the garage door, and walked into the house.  That's as close as we got to getting the decorations down.

Doesn't everyone?

I am starting to realize that Luna is treated slightly better than the average house cat.  My example of this (and I'm only using one example or this post would apparently be never ending) is that Luna loves to curl up on the window seat and stare out at the birds.  She likes this best when the window is open so she can get all the nice fresh air.  Well, when it gets cold she still likes the window open, but she feels cold, and sometimes shivers a little, so I wrap her up in a comfy fleece blanket so she can continue doing what she loves.  I have been told lately that this is not normal.  Well, I guess we've established why Luna is awesome and gives us kisses upon request (or also whenever she feels like it).  Take that!

not normal

So I knew long ago that Luna wasn't normal.  I think the exact moment I realized she thought she was human and not feline was when she had to start sleeping between Jeff and I at night.  And if that weren't enough, she likes to snuggle up with Jeff, have her head on a pillow, and when its cold she sleeps under the comforter with just her head and front arm sticking out.  If she can't sleep like this she gets all miffed and tries to push Jeff off the bed entirely so she can have his whole side of the bed.  Have you ever seen a tiny cat try to push a fully grown man off a bed?  I assure you, it is not a sight to be missed!

It's a Boy! (not mine)

I'm going to be an Auntie to a baby boy!  We just found out this morning what Alicia is having.  Not counting Alicia or the two doctors, there were five of us squished into the ultrasound room.  If they had allowed cameras in there I totally would have taken a picture, because it was kind of funny.  I'm just excited to be able to shop for specifics now, or make baby crafts in the correct colors.  Look for Vincent Michael coming in March 2011!

the bump

So I was at thebump.com looking up random pregnancy stuff, because I'm crazy and have free time, and I came across a message board posting that I think gives new meaning to "food cravings".  The post title was (and I am not making this up!) "I would shank someone for an orange".  Yeah... So glad I haven't yet gone THAT crazy.  Although I do eat a lot of oranges lately...

sewing projects

Sewing projects are a bad idea if you are pregnant.  Somewhere in between measuring yourself and finding out you fit the middle size the pattern comes in, and actually cutting your size out, you re-measure yourself and find out that you no longer fit the waist section of the pattern in any way.  Oh yeah, this will be fun.  Never again will I be pregnant and sew a costume for a specific event.  By the way, the fact that I am going to be a pregnant cheerleader (on accident) for Halloween is hilarious to me.  Maybe I should should be Quinn from Glee instead of Brittany.

Yeah, I know

Yeah, it's been forever since I last posted.  Life has been a little hectic.  Added of course by the fact that Jeff and I will become parents next year (scary thought).  I know, you already know because you saw my new ticker first.  Anyway, we are soooo excited!  We had been trying for a while (and I had been wanting one for much longer than that!), and now that it's finally happening, we can't wait!  Jeff has been so adorable, he has a sign language book for babies, and has looked through a few of my pregnancy books (which I bought several of, and they are probably the most abundant type of book found at goodwill).  Unfortunately I am in that annoying phase where 1. My stomach is larger, but it looks far more like a beer gut (eeew) and less like a baby bump, while at the same time, I am in-between regular and maternity clothes.  So nothing fits well, or looks good.  Awesome, right?  Yeah, not so much.  and 2. I am completely baby crazed because we had our first ultrasound and everything looks healthy (in fact, the nurse had trouble taking pictures because the baby wanted to have a dance party instead of pose!), but I don't find out the gender until early December, and can't do much planning until I know it.  I suppose it really doesn't help that I work at a kid's clothing store, and everytime I see something cute (which, is daily) I want to buy it!!! But I refuse to buy gender specific clothes until I know what it is.  Grr.  I have realized that pregnancy is super annoying for the impatient people out there (like me!)  However, I keep looking up nursery ideas and name ideas for both genders (a bit obsessively), and that helps a little.  I just feel like I should be productive for once, and I can't be.  On the plus side though, for anyone pregnant or planning on becoming so, if you have crappy crappy morning sickness like me I have wonderful news for you!  Vitamin B6 pills, and Trader Joe's ginger snaps (with ginger pieces in them) are a godsend!!!!!  Seriously, they make me happy happy!  Well, enough of me and my baby talk, which, let's face it, is probably the only thing you'll read about on this blog for... well, forever.  Just so you know.

quote of the day

this quote comes from a two-year old at work (while her mom was carrying her around the store).

"Mom, you can put me down.  I promise I won't break anything."
This, by the way, was said with a straight face, and it was the funniest/ cutest thing ever.

I agree with Tova

Yes, just recently Tova and I (and the husbands of course) had the best Friendaversary ever!  So all you people with friends out there, which I hope is everyone... grab a friend you've known for forever and plan an awesome friendaversary.

my brother

Isn't he just the cutest?  Granted, he needs a haircut like nobody's business, but still...  So, normally when I start posting about Finley, you can guess (correctly) that I'm puppy-sitting.  Finley is the best puppy in the world for the following reason: he always loves me.  Every time he sees me he gets SOOOO excited.  He runs in circles and jumps in the air, and is as cute as a REALLY scruffy tiny chubby puppy can be (which is extremely cute BTW).  The only downside of having him over is that he is like a happy toddler who wants to play with everyone, and Luna is the teenager who thinks Finley is the mot annoying and over-rated thing ever.  She REALLY doesn't like him (although in the five days he's been here so far, she's only hissed twice.  Woohoo.)  Although it is pretty entertaining to watch them when Finley jumps on our bed in the morning, and Luna is already on the bed.  She's pissed, and he's oblivious.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to the best husband ever!  Love you honey!

so nervous

So I'm almost done canning blackberry jam for the first time ever.  I really hope it turns out okay.  I've never canned anything, and if this fails I don't think I want to try it again any time soon.  We shall soon see how it turns out...

finally!

Ok, so I've been making this blanket out of extra yarn (less than a skein of each color) for like the past year.  Well, start and stop really... I mean, it's so huge (king sized) that it took FOREVER to make.  But finally, this morning, I finished it!  Finally.  Yay!  I know it's kinda weird looking because none of the colors really go together, but its the only blanket we have that actually covers the entire bed.  Yay!

blanket is WAY larger than it appears!

legendary!!!

 This is for all of the How I Met Your Mother Fans:

During one episode, Robin freaks out in a restaurant when she mistakenly thinks Ted is proposing to her after she receives a champagne glass with an engagement ring at the bottom. When Ted tells her "That's not mine", another gentlemen at the table behind them says "It's mine", then proceeds to propose to the woman at his table. The proposal between the man and woman was real. The man set up the whole scheme with the show's producers, and told his girlfriend that they won a contest and got to be extras in a HIMYM episode. Instead, he proposed on camera, and the proposal will live on forever as part of the episode.

Making it officially the best proposal ever, and completely LEGENDARY!!!!!

brilliant

Hey!  I have a brilliant idea!  Let's take a REALLY long movie that just barely got out of theaters, say James Cameron's Avatar.  Then let's put it BACK in theaters, and add 3D and nine additional minutes.  Seriously, what the hell?!  How does that make sense?

go to sleep

It's super awesome when you're awake in the middle of the night, and at least half of that is because your cat won't stop:
A) licking the bottom of your foot
B) using your foot as a body pillow
C) wrestling with your foot (this includes claws!)

Fun stuff, right?!  Love you Luna.

Yay bike!

You like how Finley managed to get in on the photo too?  He's so cute.

Awkward is...

When someone walks up to you and says "how far along are you?", and you have to truthfully respond, "Umm, I'm not pregnant."  Yeah, it is officially time to go on a diet.

Oatmeal Cookies (with a healthy-ish surprise!)

Ok, so I did not create this recipe.  I got it from Deceptively Delicious.  And I KNOW it may look weird on paper, but the cookies are yummy and moist and very much like muffin tops, not cookies.  Plus, they have oatmeal in them so I can tell myself they're healthy and eat a bunch.  :)

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon (I love cinnamon, so I used about a tablespoon...)
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
6 tbsp margarine
1/2 cup banana puree
1/2 cup zucchini puree (no that is not a typo)
1 large egg white
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Total time involved: 35 minutes
makes 2 dozen cookies

 Note: don't use an electric mixer because it will make the cookies tough.  It's not difficult to stir by hand though, I have zero arm muscles and I did it just fine.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray, or line with parchment.
Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and stir to mix.  In a large bowl, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon until just combined; do not overmix.  Add the banana and zucchini purees, and the egg white, and stir just to blend.  Add the flour mixture, raisins, and walnuts, if using, and stir to combine. 

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonful onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches in between.  Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 4 to 5 minutes, just until they are firm enough to handle, then transfer to a rack and cool completely.

Matt's Last Day

So in honor of Matt's last day in California before moving to South Carolina for a few months for school, we went to Napa for the afternoon.  Jeff, myself, Matt, and Julia met up with Matt's parents and his sister Sarah.  We had fun (of course) doing two tastings.  My favorite was at Parduxx (where these pictures are from).  So much fun!

so pretty!

keep in mind all these glasses were for about three of us...

I just wanted to pick a few bunches and eat them right there!

brand spanking new

I know, I know.  I already posted about twenty posts already today, but hey, it's the weekend and I'm bored.  So... I decided (obviously) to change my blog up a bit.  Hope you like it!

ah ha!

It's a wonderful thing when you think you are out of tomatoes and you really want one in your sandwich, and then you realize you have fifty million (no, I'm not exaggerating) fully ripe tomatoes in your garden.  Yay!

I give you fair warning: this will be long

I take about a million pictures of Luna every day (to the point where I'm a bit frightened how overboard I might go picture wise when we have kids!), but there's all so darn cute, I just have to share them.
So, to start out, here's a reason why (in pictures of course) it takes me so long to crochet ANYTHING.

And of course, she wants to take a nap on the blanket I'm trying to make... because now since she's been up for an hour or so, it's nap time...

but she can't just sleep in the same place all day, she has to wake up and sleep somewhere new every few hours...

(sometimes Jeff needs a nap too...)

but of course, with all the super comfy places to sleep in the house, she repetitively picks a cardboard box.  Weirdo.

And that is a photo diary of a typical day at our house.