I officially do not understand cats

Luna has at least one bed/ throne in every room of the house (except the bathrooms, and kitchen).  By bed or throne I mean something off the floor and covered in several cushions and generally a lot of fleece (she LOVES fleece).  So there is no reason why she should be sleeping anywhere not massively comfy.  And yet I walk into the living room and she is asleep in the middle of the floor with her head squished oddly against the floor.  Looking so uncomfortable that I really wanted to either take her picture to post it here, or carry her to somewhere softer.  But she got up before I could reach her.

Seriously!  I just looked over and she's doing it again!  I totally don't get cats anymore.  Mine's a weirdo.  She's trying to mash herself into the carpet while she sleeps, and she's smiling!  Is that normal?  Wait, bad question.  I already know she's not a normal cat...

I hope to goodness I never get this bored.

/http://thechive.com/2009/05/15/pregnant-belly-art-when-youre-bored-youre-bored-28-photos/

we should have a super-cat

I was looking at websites that show you how to make your baby smart (you know, boost their brainpower, make them like reading, etc.) because I'm bored, and because I want the best start for Liam.  Plus, I'm a little crazy.  After scanning through several of these sites I realized that Luna should be like a super-cat now because most of the suggestions to make babies smarter are just normal games and things we do with Luna anyway.  Although, for a cat she does seem pretty smart... hmm, maybe these things really do work.  Cool!

veggie meatloaf recipe starring lentils - yum!

 So obviously this recipe isn't mine, but it's yummy and easy.  Plus I've totally been craving it all day even though I finished the last of it for dinner last night.  This recipe is great, because I make substitutions to it all the time, and it always turns out super delicious no matter what I change.  Perfect for cold nights, and reheats well too.

Veronica's Veggie Meatloaf with Checca Sauce

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Prep Time:30 min

Cook Time:1 hr 30 min

Serves:4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

Checca Sauce:

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes (about 2 cups, or 12 ounces), halved
• 3 scallions (white and pale green parts only), coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 8 fresh basil leaves
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Pinch salt
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Lentil Loaf:

• 3/4 cup lentils (about 5 ounces)
• 3 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup uncooked short-grain brown rice, rinsed well
• 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 celery rib, sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 10 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves (about 4 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups cubed whole milk mozzarella cheese, divided (about 8 ounces total)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 tablespoons
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tomato, sliced

Directions

For the Checca Sauce: Combine the cherry tomatoes, scallions, garlic, basil, and oil in a processor. Pulse the tomatoes until they are coarsely chopped, being careful not to puree. Set aside. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
For the Lentil Loaf: Place the lentils in a large saucepan of cold water. Bring the water just to a boil over high heat. Carefully drain the boiling water and rinse the lentils. Meanwhile, in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat, bring the broth to a boil. Add the rice and return the liquid to a boil. Decrease the heat to low, cover the rice, and gently simmer without stirring for 10 minutes. Stir in the lentils, onion, carrot, and celery. Cover and continue cooking without stirring until the rice and lentils are tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes longer. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle the corn over the rice and lentils and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover and fluff the rice with a fork. Cover and let stand for 5 more minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread 1 tablespoon of the butter over a 10 by 4 1/2 by 3-inch loaf pan. In a heavy, large skillet, cook the spinach over medium heat until the spinach wilts, about 3 minutes. Drain and squeeze the excess liquid from the spinach. Transfer the spinach to a work surface and coarsely chop.
In a large bowl, gently mix the lentil mixture, spinach, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, eggs, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, basil, salt, pepper, and half of the checca sauce. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Arrange the sliced tomatoes in a row over the lentil mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Dot the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.
Bake uncovered until the loaf is heated through and the topping is melted and starting to brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Slice the loaf into 2-inch slices, arrange on plates, and serve with the remaining checca sauce.

new rule

If the woman has to carry the baby for nine months AND go through labor, the man should at least have to help write the baby shower thank you notes.  Right?

subconscious thoughts

You know you must be hungry/ thinking about food when you realize you are simultaneously

A) watching Ratatouille
B) perusing  the Food Network website for new recipes
C) reading a non-fiction book about a woman who goes through the Le Cordon Bleu program in Paris.  It's called "The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry".  I highly recommend it.

The very unfortunate bit about all this is that our kitchen is pretty much bare, so I couldn't make anything fun and yummy.  Sad day.  I really wasn't about to go grocery shopping at nine at night.

so very attractive

This is what I look like when I walk.  Hot, right?

5 more weeks!

I truly wish that I was a more patient person.  I want to meet Liam NOW and it's driving me crazy.  It really doesn't help when I've just come from hanging out with little Vin either, because he's such a cute little cuddlebug.   And when I say I want to meet him now, I mean I wish his due date happened to be sooner.  I do not mean that I want him 5 weeks premature.  Everyone is driving me crazy because whenever I say "I wish I could have him right now", everyone's immediate response is "Oh, but then he wouldn't be very healthy.   You want him to stay in there as long as possible.  At least 39-40 weeks."  Really people?!  Why does EVERYONE seem to think this way?  Is it because everyone I've talked to thinks I'll be some sort of ill informed monster of a mother?  I can't believe that's true, but nothing else makes any more sense.  So let me set the record very very straight.

I want Liam ASAP.   I just wish his due date was magically changed to be closer to now, and I want him to be full sized (not too big I hope!  I'm getting huge!) and healthy.  It also wouldn't hurt if Liam was massively cute, and at least as well behaved as Vin.  That would be fantastic.

Pacified now people?

future gymnast perhaps?

My little bowling ball has been practicing his back handsprings all morning.  I swear, I almost fell off the couch a few times because my stomach lurched so hard.  This is one strong, active little kid!

Threesome

just checking if this little experiment works or not.

See posting below if you are confused.

pervy Glee fans

People on the internet are crazy.  They are all pervs, Glee fans, or both.  I'm saying this because my post "Afternoon Delight" about a recent Glee episode is by far my most read post.  By a long shot.  I'm thinking I should just start calling random postings by skanky sounds names and then maybe more people will read my blog.  Although, now I'm not sure I want people who look for skanky sounding things to read my blog...

quote of the day

"My face feels as soft as Liam's butt."

I really wasn't thinking when I said that.  But it's true!

argh! No, I'm not a pirate.

I seriously need the mother of all distractions to keep me busy for the next 6 weeks until Liam gets here.  Otherwise I will go completely bonkers.  I have total baby brain, which is not helped by the fact that my house is full of baby everything, and I have a new nephew.  Plus my friends who have cute kids keep putting more pictures of them on facebook.

so not spoiled

My kitty jumped on the couch the second I got up.  Then Jeff covered her in blanket and she took a nap for like 2 hours.  Poor little thing.  She stole my spot so I had to sit on the floor.  If I had picked her up she would have cried like she was being tortured.

my nephew

Like I said a few days ago, I am now an aunt.  On March 15th at 9:29am my awesome sister-in-law gave birth to little Vincent Michael.  He's the cutest snuggliest little guy ever, and now I am even more impatient for Liam to get here.  I know there are a million pictures of Vin floating around somewhere, but unfortunately Toni took most of them while Alicia was trying to breast feed so most of those show partial boob.  Not about to post those photos.  On the up side, I know now to bring my nursing cover with me to the hospital so there won't be boob photos of me floating around too.  By the way, he does actually open his eyes.  They are very alert, but he falls asleep at the drop of a hat too. 

When I have a two day old baby I hope to look this happy and not asleep/ crappy, etc.  Alicia is amazing.

You know you're crazy when...

The thing you are most concerned about regarding labor and delivery is that you won't have time/ you'll forget to take a shower between the time contractions start, and the time you leave for the hospital, because that means that you'd be delivering a baby with legs hairier than that of a woolly mammoth, and that would be the most embarrassing thing ever.

love it

Last night Jeff was trying to feel Liam move.  He was feeling left out because Liam really only likes to move a lot for me, Luna, and Vin.  Anyway, after squishing my stomach a bit in an effort to make Liam move, Jeff felt him hiccup a bunch, which was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

my dad is crazy

I got an email from my dad this morning with a link in it.  I was a bit confused because the email title was "bug conversion" and the email just said "for a quicker trip to the delivery room".  I know I'm a spaz, because even though I drive a Beetle, I was thinking the email was about creepy crawly bugs.

 http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/

Once I opened the link and read the page I called my dad and told him I didn't think it would work.

me: Um, I don't think that would work because there's no backseat.  So where would I put the carseat?

dad: you could move the engine over a little and put the carseat next to it.  Or make some modifications to attach the carseat to the roof.

me: ummm....

dad: think about it..  If the carseat was next to the engine, the baby would stay nice and warm.


It's a good thing I know my dad wasn't completely serious, because otherwise I think I would have to lock him in a room with padded walls.  But if there were any doubts before, now you know where my craziness comes from.

hazzah! ( Is that how you spell that?)

As of yesterday at 9:29am I am officially an aunt!  My goal is to be a super cool aunt and have my nephew (and future nieces and nephews) want to hang out with me.  Anyway, yesterday was insane, and I was at the hospital with family pretty much all day.  I have an whole long story to go with this, and massively cute pictures too, but they will have to wait for tomorrow.

Suffice it to say, I am now going crazy, because Vin is here and Liam isn't, and I want something soft and snuggly that doesn't get mad and run away when she's done with you (Luna, I am so talking to you!).

So let the countdown begin!  Only 6 1/2 more weeks to go!  Unless he is late, which he'd better not be, because I will go crazy!

Something the size of a honeydew is inside my stomach

looking at this just makes me hungry again.  Well, pretty much everything makes me hungry now.  

I am so not looking forwards to this getting even bigger, and than having to escape my stomach somehow.  Yikes.  And I think all my pregnancy books lied.  My stomach does not feel like it has a 4-5 pound baby in it.  It feels like a bowling ball got trapped in there.  Hmm... I wonder if I slid down a bowling lane, would I be able to get a strike with my stomach?

afternoon delight (don't be scared away)

so after watching this week's Glee I really wanted some weird sugary dessert in the form of coconut, pineapple, and marshmallow fluff.  But I either really suck at googling, or Emma's version of afternoon delight doesn't exist and she made it up somewhere in her little Bambi head.  Sad day.  Plus, I loved that the celibacy club wore hideous 70s outfits, and sang with pictures of pie in the background.  Awesome.

just because

There is nothing cuter than a kitty.  But I had to show her asleep because when she's awake she transforms into a crazy monkey.  And therefore is no longer a kitty.  Love my Luna!

yes you can make dessert even if you're out of almost everything!

The other night Jeff and I wanted dessert like no other but we were out of sugar, milk, eggs, and flour.  We were too lazy to go to the store, but inventive enough to try to make something from what we had on hand.  Jeff, being the brilliant mind he is figured out we could make jello.  Just wait, it gets better.  He made jello out of unflavored gelatin packets, water, and powdered orange Gatorade mix.  So we ended up with orange jello that also kept us hydrated!  :)

asking for it

Yeah, I know, I'm totally asking for it.  I'm all crazy watching Scrubs, so what do I do the next day, even though Tova said not to?  I watch House.  While eating lunch.  I'm totally a genius...

how tv can be scary

I've always been entertained by watching Scrubs.  However, it's been a while since I've watched it.  Today I got bored and decided to watch it from the beginning (yay for Netflix streaming!) and I totally freaked out.  Normally I am the picture of health and have no reason to ever go to a hospital or doctor.  But now with the whole baby thing, I'm kinda going to have to go to a hospital at some point withing the next two months.  And it's freaking me out.  Just a little.  I mean, I know Scrubs is a sitcom and everything, but what if I get some new-bie dingbat doctor?  Anyway, I recommend not watching hospital/ doctor related anything if you have to go to a hospital in the near future.  Although, this video is kinda awesome.  I heart Neil Patrick Harris!

lesson learned the hard way

When you are hungry and want food immediately but are running out of groceries you get grumpy.  Finding a box of Funfetti mix in your pantry and thinking, "Ooh, making cookies out of this will be awesome" is probably not a good idea.  Yes, cookies are indeed awesome, but since you are hungry anyway you will probably eat the whole batch , or at least half.  Then you will be full and your stomach will be happy, but then your stomach will realize it is full of nothing but carb-y sugar, and you will not want cookies again.  Ever.  Or for at least another hour or so.

movies

Movies in my opinion are kind of sucking lately.  Especially since I heard the "The Jungle Cruise" is coming out next year.  I mean, come on Disney, you really shouldn't be so desperate that each attraction gets its own film, right?  Ooh, ok.  Now I'm thinking there should be some kind of poll or something.  You know, for the like 2 people that actually read this blog.  What do you think the most obnoxious/ lame Disney movie based on an attraction would be?  My personal vote is for Small World.  Let me know what you think.

In other movie news, I have decided that I want to see Beastly.  I know it looks like a stupid teeny bopper movie, but Neil Patrick Harris is in it, and I'm kind of in love with him, even though we can never be (mostly because he's gay and we both already have significant others), but hey, a girl can dream.

And randomly back to Disney.  Do you think "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" would be a documentary or a historical fiction movie?  Or would they try to make it more popular with a younger demographic and make it set in space or something?  Yup, that's it.  I'm totally going to write a screenplay called "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in Space!"  Yeah, I can see it winning Oscars already.

best search

Random I know, but my favorite keyword search that lead someone to my blog is "I'm a hamster thug."  Awesome, right?

parenting fail

I was walking through the mall today and I saw a father pushing his daughter in her stroller.  Well, technically he was pushing her in her carseat in her stroller because it was a travel system and the girl couldn't have been any older than 3 months.  The fail comes in to play here because nestled in the carseat by the girl's shins was a portable DVD player playing a Tinkerbell movie.  Apparently the dad thought his tiny baby would go crazy if she didn't have a movie to watch during their trip.  What 3 month old needs a movie to distract them?  It was seriously the weirdest thing I've seen recently.  I mean, if I wanted  to distract a 3 month old I would give them a cool toy or a pacifier maybe.  Not a cartoon.