I feel like a new woman

For Christmas I got new kicks. Thanks Mom! I don't remember the last time I bought shoes just for casual, fun wear. I'll be spending some Christmas money of fun socks.
I also spent a few hours out and was able to get a good haircut and manicure! Thanks Barb!

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

This year there was the usual traveling to visit family, but you can read about that at the Ringing in the New Year blog.

One thing different is that with our new house and new baby, we wanted to at least wake up at home on Christmas day. It ended up being that we were here the entire day and I made my first Christmas meal. I actually had a written schedule of when to start each food so dinner would be ready at 6(ish). Here is all of the hard work I did, with a few fun facts:

1) White Bread - the first time I made bread in my 5 dollar bread maker. It did not come with instructions, but did have a short informational video that I watched. It turned out pretty well, but I'll try a more exciting bread next time.

2) Berry Banana Bread - this was actually for my family on Wednesday, but I made it Christmas afternoon.

3) Ham - when Chris and I were at the grocery store we picked up a 4 lb chunk. Chris commented that he could probably finish that by himself, so we traded in for a 7 lb+ chunk. I threw it in the oven for a couple of hours, no fancy toppings or marinade. It was good, but as some of you may be thinking we had a LOT left over.

4) Christmas Green Beans - ok, these didn't actually happen. It's a recipe from a cook book, but I never got around to making them. I was a little too caught up with trying to dominate at Star Wars Episode 1 Monopoly. So instead I heated up canned green beans.

5) Cornbread Stuffing - from a box.

6) Yams - from a can. However, I did manage to spill half of the yam juice on the kitchen floor when I was trying to get them heated up. That was fun.

*Picture was pre-food, in case you are thinking I'm amazing at cleaning.

Christmas Early

My wonderful husband gave me my Christmas gift early because we had to make sure it works.

3-in-1 Beverage Center

At first I was all "It makes coffee, which I don't like, and you've been wanting one of these for years." But after using it I realized it's great for my oatmeal, tea and best of all hot chocolate. Once we buy the pods for it, it will be awesome for things like Game Night. I mean after driving for thirty minutes to see us and consuming a couple of beers, the least we can do is send people off with a hot cup of caffeine.*

* This requires you to bring your own travel mug people!

No vampires here

Yesterday I tried a new recipe called Black Bean Soup with Sausage. It was ok, Chris really liked it. I did miss the last part of step one that says 'Drain and rinse beans' so the soup was watery and looked black. What can I say, I rarely cook with dry beans. And since it need so much garlic, the kitchen reeks of it today. I like garlic, but it's a bit much to handle.

There isn't much excitement around here at the moment. Christmas decorations are up, including lights out front and cards ready to be dropped in the mail. I plan on doing some shopping tomorrow, I'm just debating which mall to head to.

I did forget to post that we had another successful Game Night last weekend. Dandy brought SceneIt (the regular movie edition) and the girls team conquered. And I have to say Dandy is a wiz at translating pictures into names. The guys won at Cranium. I would say they won because we were rolling the dice at the wrong time, but that would make me sound like a sore loser.

Not a screen cap (I couldn't find one for this movie) but here is a toy based on a character from the movie. Can you name it??

Sharing the love

The cats have adapted fairly well to having Xander in the house. In general, they leave him alone and don't get in his stuff. Oh, there was the one time where I found them both in his Pack and Play. But they have been deprived of some love and attention.

Ainsley is dealing the best. She just compensates by getting extra love and attention from anyone who visits. Seriously, she'll be all over whoever is sitting on the couch. The trouble with this is that my one student is horribly allergic, so Ainsley has to be trapped in the basement. My other student is fine and ends up spending half of the sessions with a cat in his lap.

Min has been acting up more. The chewed toilet paper is happening more often. I'm seriously considering sacrificing a few rolls by spritzing them with Bitter Yuck! so she'll learn not to chew on them. However I am afraid that I'll forget these rolls will be out, they will be used and then some pain might ensue.

I did spray my plants with Bitter Yuck! I'm not sure which cat has been chewing on them, but it has stopped.

About once a day I'll find an ornament from the tree on the ground or the gold bead garland hanging funny. Today I caught Min pulling down some and I scared her pretty badly. We'll see if that happens again.

And of course there is the hose obsession that Min has. I hung some from a shelf and it was at least five feet off the ground. Yeah, found it on the floor but it didn't have an holes. And I just found the head of the dusting rod I use (think Swiffer but made of cotton or something) sitting in the cat bed when it was last on top of the drying rack. I have no idea how she negotiated the rods on the rack to get it down.

Guess I need to remember to give them both a few more hugs.

Toot-toot-tootoring

I have a second student to tutor! The cards I passed out at the local schools have paid off. My second student is also in geometry and just has trouble understanding the teacher. So far both students are fairly motivated and bright, so they ask questions and want to do well. I was a little worried I would get students who were forced to go to a tutor by their parents and didn't actually care.

Last night, in an effort to further expand my palate, we had brussel sprouts. I bought a bag of frozen sprouts that I could just through in the microwave to steam. Yeah, I can see why they have a bad rap, even Chris didn't like them. They were surprisingly juicy which I didn't like. I'd give them a 3 on the Hugs-o-meter.

But it was made better because I made Fantasy Fudge(but without the nuts). Oh sweet bliss.

Holland

I've had this post in mind for a while, so here it is.

While I was pregnant, and even before, Chris and I would discuss the possibility of our baby having a disability. Be it mental, physical or even something as temporary as colic. The thought really, really scared me.

Let me add that Xander is in perfect health. This isn't to scare anyone, this is just a blog about something that had gone through my mind.

One thing that calmed me was a friend saying that a special needs child would be lucky to have me for a mom because she knows how well I'd take care of that child. I never thought of it that way, that it wasn't about me but about the child.

The other thing to calm me was this:

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

New Food

For Xander's baptism I decided to try to make barbecue to share. I found a recipe in the slow cooker cookbook. It involved buying beef round steak, cubed. I'm not sure if the cubed refered to how I should buy it or if I should cut it into cubes after I buy it. I went with the store bought steak cubed. The other ingredients included onion, chili pepper, tomato paste, ketchup, cider vinegar and a beer. Let's just say the predominant ingredient besides the steak was beer.

So everything was slow cooked overnight and shredded in the morning. Some of the sauce was removed. And barbecue was made! Except I didn't think it tasted very barbecue-y. It tasted like sweet beer. Don't get me wrong, it still tasted good and it was all eaten, it just seemed like false advertising on the name of the dish.

I also made cupcakes. They tasted good, not my best. They did LOOK great. I really need to stop using strawberry cake mix though, it's getting boring.

I am nuts

This morning I got up at 6 am. Yeah, Xander needed fed but I was planning on getting up then anyway. That is when Chris gets up to work out in the basement (he is nuts too). I have been stuck at ten pounds overweight for a month now and I'm sick of it. On Monday I went shopping with my mom and sister and I spent more time being sad about not fitting into the clothes I'm used to than enjoying shopping. I'm not working out on my own so at least twice a week I'm dragging myself out of bed to get some exercise in. Chris at least is excited to have the company.

But I did find a pair of pants while shopping. They fit great, were originally $40, were on the $15 dollar rack but rang up at $10! I never get that lucky at clearance sales! And they are desperately needed since I only have one pair of jeans that fit (and by fit I mean cause a muffin top).

In other news I did buy the Disney edition of Scene It. My rationale was that everyone has seen some Disney and some day Xander can play. After Game Night on Saturday I'll never get anyone to play it with me again. I didn't think I knew that much Disney, really!

I had my first student over for tutoring. The tutoring itself went well, but the girl is allergic to cats so of course Ainsley and Min were trying to rub all over her. And Xander was all out of sorts (probably from the eight hour mall trip the day before) and kept crying. She's scheduled to come back next week, so I'll try to get the cats in the basement.

Yesterday was an awesome day out (just in case you were busy working or not being in Ohio). I took Xander to the library and we decided to take a jaunt to the local park. The trees were still gorgeous colors and the temperature was just right for a great fall day. I sat and read for a while and Xander continued his nap. Then when I got home I decided a walk was in order and broke out the stroller for the first time in a week. I'm glad I did because it is twenty degrees colder today. But I did see snowflakes!

That pretty much catches you up on my life :)

Boy are my arms tired!

I've been dallying with an idea for a while that I finally put into motion today. I am going to try to tutor. My supportive husband has ok'd the idea and approved me doing it at home so that there is no need to hire a babysitter or for him to rush home (especially since he has a big project he is working on).

I can't continue at my previous tutoring job because it is a 20+ minute drive. If Chris gets off at 5 (which he won't), gets home at 5:30 and I leave immediately I could make it to work from 6 to 8. But that is unlikely, which makes it only the 7 to 8 shift. That would barely cover the cost of gas to get there. So I'm branching out on my own here. I'm also hoping that my previous employment doesn't find out because I did sign a no-compete agreement. My argument is I'm not competing since they don't go to the level of math I plan to tutor at.

Today I made up little business cards and handed them out at five local schools. It was more difficult than it sounds because at each school I'd have to get Xander out of the car and bring him with me. I kept him in his baby carrier so it just got to be heavy after a while. But he did help me win over the receptionists and they were all 'good for you for staying home to raise him.' Hopefully that will get me some bonus points.

Last spring I had told my high school I would do tutoring and I have gotten calls from there, but most of the calls came while I was still pregnant and parents didn't want to deal with me taking a month off after birth. I did get a call today from a woman who is willing to drive all the way to my place from the school, so I may already have my first student!

Now I need to root through my school boxes and find the binder and papers I'd set aside to help keep the tutoring organized.

I got my sticker!

Current Pet Peeve: Christmas commercials before Halloween. Actually even before Thanksgiving, but if I hold that grudge I'll go nuts.

Current Irony: 'separation of church and state' yet I vote for government officials in a church building. There is probably a good explanation for it.

I was very proud of myself for voting yesterday, I even looked up the candidates in the paper! I found it odd that two of the six candidates for city council owned bed and breakfasts downtown. This morning when I turned on the news they had election results I felt more like I had made bets than I had voted for someone. And I usually lose those bets! Ah well.

By the way, pomegranate arils taste good on Rice Krispies.

It's been a while, so here is a screen cap for you. Actually, it's not directly from the movie, but just a picture of some of the characters. Very easy this time!

It came with directions!

find your inner PIE @ quizmeme.com

Yes, I do have some spare time on my hand. And I've never had blueberry pie, so I'm not sure how I feel about my alternate pie personality.

At the grocery on Monday I decided to be adventurous and healthy and I splurged on a pomegranate. I had part of one many moons ago when I lived in Toledo, but I don't remember what I thought about it. Anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to shy away from strange foods, so this is a big step for me.

Today I followed the directions to get the arils out. The arils are like mini-grapes with seeds inside, except the arils are inside the pomegranate. Now I have a whole dish of arils that I am snacking on. I'm still out on how much I like them. They aren't gross, but some are really tart. And the edible seed inside isn't too appealing. Overall they are a 7 out of 10 on the Hugs-scale. I'm looking forward to trying them on my cereal tomorrow though.

Thanks but...

When my mom came to visit after Xander's birth she brought these awesome Turtle Bars. There is crust, a caramel layer, pecans and chocolate. Chris and I somehow made them last but eventually they were gone. Fortunately my mom promptly gave me the recipe. I've already made them twice. I had to because we shared them and I did not get my recommended dosage. So good I just melted into a happy puddle every time I had one.

I sent some along with Chris to work and waited for the compliments to pour in. When I sent in cake and cupcakes I got hordes of comments, but nothing this time. I guess because everyone had melted into happy puddles.

But this got me thinking about compliments and how I love to get them but don't take them very well. I'd like to think I've gotten better over time. In high school and college if I received a compliment I'd immediately point out how it wasn't true.

"Wow Hugs, your hair looks great today" "Ugh, I rolled out of bed and didn't have time to shower so it smells."

I think it's partially a self esteem issue (not enough) and a partially a humbleness issue (trying to hard to be). But it has been pointed out that I do this and I've realized that I don't like it when I give someone else a compliment and they immediately turn it into a negative. So I've tried to improve.

"Wow Hugs, this dinner tastes awesome" "Yeah it does, but I cooked the chicken a little too long."

Last week I introduced Xander to one of my neighbors growing up. She kept saying how adorable he is. And I would say "Thank you" and find myself about to add something, like about his infant acne. I realized that I don't want to say that about him. I don't want him growing up seeing me say thinks like that. So "Thank you" was all I said. It felt weird like there was a gaping hole after it that was supposed to be filled. But it's an improvement :) One step forward at a time.

You think you know someone

I've known my handsome husband for over seven years now, been married for four of those years. So it's always surprising when I learn something new or there is a big miscommunication. A couple of weeks ago we bought a couple of pumpkins. They were set by our front door next to the mums.

Amanda's thoughts on pumpkins: Obviously pumpkins are nice decoration, but they are meant to be carved and used as Halloween decorations.

Chris's thoughts on pumpkins: Obviously pumpkins are nice decoration, they can sit there from now all the way through Thanksgiving.

When we realized we had totally different thoughts on what to do with the pumpkins, we bickered and mocked and finally decided to get more pumpkins to carve. Chris had never carved a pumpkin before! I don't think I have either, I would draw the face I wanted on it and my Dad would carve it. The local nursery was having a sale - all you can carry for $10. We think the sales ladies were a little disappointed that Chris only picked up three.

Ukie and Dandy visited, so they each got a pumpkin, Chris and I each got a pumpkin, and of course the pumpkin diva made a return, so all of the pumpkins were used.

Suburban Living

We live in a pretty good neighborhood. Case in point, garage sales. There's at least one, if not more, every Friday and Saturday morning. I've only gotten to partake a couple of times. Today Xander and I were out for a stroll and came across one that sold baby clothes. And these are nice brands, well cared for. I spent $5.25 for 4 sleepers, 2 shirts and 4 ensemble outfits. I love saving money.

One of the weird things I've seen while walking around is televisions in the garages. I guess it's the 'man area' and putting a tv there would help pass the time being a grease monkey. But there are some large televisions in some of these garages and they are all suspended from the ceiling, like at a sports bar. It boggles my mind.

Other than that, it is really nice being in a neighborhood that has well maintained yards and families that play outside. There are already lots of Halloween decorations out, which makes me grin like a fool. When we were looking at houses in February one of the things I looked for was houses that still had Christmas decorations up (really, in February they should be down*). There is only one house I've seen around here that has done that, and it's just a little garland around the doorway.

The downside to such a great neighborhood is that the retailers are coming. Within a couple of years there will be a big complex consisting of Meijer, Home Depot and Kohl's (more to come) within ONE mile of here. I like all of those stores, but don't want them on my doorstep, darnit!

* I say this now, we'll see how fast I get mine down with a baby hollering for attention.

Of games and business

For my birthday I did receive some money and I think that I'd like to use it to expand our game selection for future Game Nights. I'm thinking Scene It would be a fun addition. I don't know anyone who has it but I have played it and it was a good time. However, there are several different editions that catch my fancy.

a) Movie edition: the basic game, maybe with a booster set (or whatever the additional questions are called.

b) Friends edition: everyone has seen some Friends episodes, if not all of them.

c) Marvel edition: ok, not really. Myself and my little brother and Rob (who I don't think will make it to Game Night) would be the only ones having fun.

d) Disney edition: for Xander down the road, but we've all seen our fair share of Disney so it could be fun.

Thoughts?

In other news, tomorrow I will be back on the job as CFO (Chief Family Officer) of the household with the added title of SAHM (Stay at Home Mom). So far I've had help, with Chris staying home and his mother as well as my Mom helping out. I feel like tomorrow is some big deciding day. Then I think about it some more and I realize every day for the next year at least. Then I get a little big overwhelmed and teary eyed. That's mostly the sleep deprivation talking though.

Forever 28!

For those who don't yet know, on Tuesday I gave birth to Alexander Robert. For the full story check out our Ringing in the New Year blog.

Friday was to be my 29th birthday. We came home from the hospital on Thursday and I barely had any sleep that night. So life is pretty topsy turvy. Still, I'd hoped to be showered with love and attention on my birthday. Ok, just some well wished "Happy Birthday!"s would have been fine. But most people forgot because it is all about the Xander love right now. And quite frankly I was not up to even going out to dinner or having a party or anything.

But that's ok. I'm not writing this to cause guilt or because I'm angry. I'm writing this because that means I never turned 29 and will be 28 forever. Boy will that get awkward for Xander when he turns 28 and three days later I'm still 28.

I so did sew

Last month I snuck off to a former coworker's house where she taught me the basics of a sewing machine. I learned to thread a bobbin and set it all up. I even made a couple of practice stitches on scrap material. But I wanted to put this knowledge to work. So this past week my mom helped me to pick out fabric. I pinned up the edges then stitched it all the way around. Wal-lah!


What on earth did I make? A sheet! For the crib!

I just know that half of you are astonished at my homemaking prowess. The other half is rolling your eyes and wondering if I just pinned the thing on. Yes, the bottom is pinned since I don't want to try elastic yet, but I assure you the sides are sewn.

I used a small zig-zag stitch. The bobbin ran out a couple of times, but I dealt with that pretty well. The big problem was that I could -not- keep it in a straight line. I'm sure this was due to it being a big piece of fabric that I let hang over the edge of the table instead of folding neatly next to the machine. Hey, it's a small table, ok? And only people who really care about straight stitches will look anyway.

My next project is to replace the curtain in Peanut's room and make a matching pillow. I have a pattern for a pillow, but I now realize that the sides need bunched which is more than I think I can handle yet. So I'll look up an easy pattern for a pillow. I'm hoping the curtain in the room will serve for me to make a rough pattern for that part.

This should get interesting. With any luck, I'll figure out enough to sew everyone something interesting for Christmas. Haha!

While the big dog is away...

Chris is gone on a business trip this week, leaving me to once again become the Crazy Cat Lady. It is so hard to behave while he is gone. I really would like to just eat pizza, drink pop and sit in front of the television. But I know that will just make me feel fat and lazy so I'm trying to stay motivated.

Part of my motivation yesterday was shopping! Hello, Labor Day sales! I was able to control myself for the most part. I used a gift certificate I'd received at Christmas (I figured holding onto it for another month was pretty pointless) and got some fancy lotions. And I found a few good deals at Old Navy. I don't care if it's September now, shorts for $0.97 are not to be passed up, especially when the only other maternity shorts I have are incredibly uncomfortable. I was even looking to buy Chris a few things, but couldn't find what I knew he'd like. Sorry handsome!

On Saturday we had a house party. It went from noon until 10, so I felt pretty popular :) We bought beer, pop, ice, burgers, hot dogs and buns. Everyone brought a covered dish or dessert. We even had a couple of Cornhole games going. It wasn't as well attended as we'd expected, so our fridge looks like we belong in college with all the beer stacked in it. Chris and I had a great time, we hope everyone that came also had a great time.

Towards the end of the party my youngest brother and his girlfriend were leaving and Chris said "hey, do you want any leftovers?" They left with four bags of food! Just a few years ago (ok, last year) it was us getting leftovers after visiting relatives! So besides the house, new car, marriage and baby-to-be, giving food to my little brother really makes me feel like an adult. Scary.

Where did that come from?

Last night I finally got some rest. And the vivid but weird dreams are back.

All I remember about the first part is that I was on some type of class trip to Somewhere. Stuff happens, don't remember what. But one guy decided to stock up on Botox while we were there. Some more stuff happens and then we find out the chaperones or police were going to conduct a raid and go through all of our things. Then it gets strange (yeah, like it's not already strange).

The guy with the Botox is all frozen faced so we accuse him of using the Botox. But he had a lot so I'm yelling at him "You didn't inject all of it did you?!?" And he's nodding yes, but just then I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and my lips are swelling! So then I'm yelling "what did you do to me??" And my lips just keep swelling and not in a pretty way, but crooked and mishapen. Then, my bottom lip springs a leak and this clear liquid starts squirting out (I know, ew!). So I start screaming "Get it out! Get it out!" I end up falling down on my hands and knees and the liquid turns colors and I just keep yelling to get it out.

I must have one mighty strong fear of Botox.