Thankful

I know, I was supposed to be thankful yesterday, but better late than never, eh?

Yesterday was quite the whirlwind of activity and then a nice afternoon of digesting.  Due to a little hiccup in planning, James and I got a crash course in Thanksgiving Feast Preparation.  The turkey was in the oven, and Mom and I went over to Winco for some last minute items (on Thanksgiving morning, with a 2 1/2 year-old . . . and we survived it!) while James started preparing what he already had on hand.  We had a simple menu: turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted root vegetables (but if you want parsnips, you gotta make it to the store before the morning of the event, *sigh*), caesar salad, cranberry sauce (canned - don't judge me), gluten-free stuffing, gluten-full rolls, apple juice, pumpkin pie and/or custard (depending on whether you want the gluten-y crust).  I later picked Jared up, who surprised us with roasted, stuffed butternut squash, cranberry sauce from scratch, and some fabulous sauteed squash (he told me the name of the squash about 12 times, but it's not one I'm familiar with, so I forgot) in a citrous-butter sauce.  Feasting was supposed to start at noon, but we felt rather proud of ourselves to have the whole spread ready by 1:15 or so.  And it was good.  And we have leftovers for when the baby comes and we really don't feel like cooking.

So, I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, who totally rose to the occasion and did about 85% of the feast all by himself, with mostly good graces (there was a period of panic at first), and even missed parts of the Greenbay-Detroit blowout playing in the next room.

I'm thankful for my mom, who will work herself into an early grave to maintain family harmony and deflect sibling rivalry.  I hope she doesn't have to, though, because she's one of my best friends and I need her around.  (I'm selfish like that.)

I'm thankful for my papa, even though he got to watch the game that James missed.  :)  I'm grateful that he watches out for my mom and tries to keep her from over-straining herself.

I'm thankful for my brother, Jared, who continually surprises me over how much he's grown as a person since we were younger.  I keep having to mentally shift from the surly, punk teenager I once knew to the kind, thoughtful man I saw yesterday.

I'm thankful for my sister, Diana, who is weathering her own personal storms with a boot-straps resolve I never thought I'd see in the Little Girl who would streak through the house after her bath.

I'm thankful for my sister Aubrey, her husband Nic, and their two kiddos.  As I'm fretting over whether I need a bottle warmer or a fancy tummy-time mat, they're teaching me that all these objects are merely props, and that the true nature of parenting is in the consistency and love you give your chill'uns.

I'm thankful for my house.  In spite of all we've been through, I have yet to regret the decision we made to buy it and move here.  I hope I never do regret it.  I love the space in all the right places - big kitchen, spare bedroom, big master bathroom, garage.  I'm thankful that we were able to have my family over for a day of gratitude and closeness, and I'm oh so especially grateful that they did the dishes afterwards!!

Waiting for Gwendolyn

A thousand apologies to my loyal fans (Hello?...Hello?...*echo, echo*) for the extreme lapse in posting during what is quite possibly the most eventful year of my life to date.  Since January, James and I have gotten pregnant (mainly me, but he helped), gone to Brazil (second time, but still eventful), bought a house, flooded it (mainly him, but that's all water under the bridge, or over the dam, or most accurately, all over our new house), survived the 2 1/2 month construction zone of the aftermath, packed up all of our belongings (at the apartment), unpacked (HA! about 1/3847th done there), had three baby showers, loved my job, hated my job (well, not the actual job part, just all the HR BS that comes with it), nested, mowed my own yard, raked my own yard, had Fun with Composting, been to a Blazers game and a Pearl Jam concert, been through the wringer with a chiropractor (both effective and less effective), fallen in love with our new ward, and had a baby.  

Oh wait.  No baby yet.  She's "due" in 9 days.  We're trying to convince her to make an early appearance.  James tried luring her out with the promise of cake, but she's too smart.  She knows that after she stops sharing my digestive nutrients, the next time she'll get refined sugar is probably at her first birthday.  (Who am I kidding??  Nana's totally gonna spike her bottles with straight-up sugar the minute I'm not looking.  Hear that, Gwen?  Come out and Nana will give you sugar...)

At least now I have lots of free time to update my blog, right?  Yeah, that's what I'll do.

No, seriously, I'm going to make a Concerted Effort to write at least a brief post on every topic listed above, and extensive posts on some topics.  But not right now.  I have to get ready to visit my orthodontist and hopefully get my braces taken off today.  

I'll blog about it.  I promise.

The thin blue line

Ok, I'm writing this post on March 19, 2009.  I will date it and post it in probably 6-8 weeks, but wanted to put my initial thoughts down so I didn't forget them.

Yesterday, James and I found out I was pregnant (I do not say "we were pregnant" because honestly, who's going to be pushing this thing out?).  

(If you can't see the thin blue vertical line in the left window, don't worry - 

James had his doubts, too.) 

(four months later)

Apparently, I got distracted and never did put down those initial thoughts, lost forever into the ether.  But I'm going to try harder to blog for the next four months so you all can share my experiences and complaints.

Looking back over the last four months of gestation and preparation, I think J and I have both changed and grown a lot.  Of course, this is nothing compared to the changes and growth that will happen AFTER the birth, but it's a good preparation and a comfort to know that we can allow our lives to expand and accommodate a little one, allowing love and joy to push out feelings of selfishness and resentment that are instinctual human emotions.  I already love this little girl that nudges me day and night.  And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get her some cereal...

My favorite souvenir

So, since we stayed in Cabo Frio instead of Rio de Janiero proper, we had the hardest time finding good souvenirs for our trip (and I had the hardest time spelling "souvenir" just now - thanks, Spellcheck!).  Cabo Frio is a fabulous vacation spot, but it's geared more towards native Brazilians and other South Americans.  No one at our inn spoke English (including the owner) and we couldn't find any knick-knackery with a Brazilian flag on it to save our lives, but the beaches . . . oh, the beaches were wonderful!  More on those later, but I wanted to share pics of my favorite souvenirs from the trip:

"I'm Daddy's"

Flamengo Baby - the most popular futbol (soccer) team in Brazil

"I'm Mommy's"

So, for any of you who isn't on Facebook, doesn't work with me, hasn't heard through the grapevine, or I haven't called or e-mailed: yes, there is a bun, and it's a-bakin'!  These are the very first clothes we've gotten for the little one, and it was neat to see J get excited about the Flamengo stuff (of course, not as excited as I was about the green jumper!).

Anyway, we're due around Thanksgiving and I'll be keeping you all updated on my Crazy Pregnant Lady Adventures.

Oh, and I'll post more stuff about Brazil, too.  'Cause it was so darned awesome!

Why I Haven't Written in a While

Hey y'all.  I have to apologize for the extended delay in writing.  You see, I had that baking frenzy about a month ago and then I was just plain worn out for several weeks.  It seemed like I was working ALL the time, which of course isn't the case, but sometimes the shift schedule stacks up on you to seem that way.  Of course, when you purposefully stack the schedule that way so you can get out of the country for eight days while only taking one day vacation, it can just plain be exhausting.

But that's what I did, and now I'm living it up in Cabo Frio, Rio de Janiero, relaxing on the beach and feasting on the fabulous food.  And sleeping.

Last time we came to Rio, back in September, I gave a day-by-day account of our adventures, almost in real time, with pictures.  This time, J erased the pictures off the camera after transferring them to his computer, so I'll have to post with pics after we get home.  I'm sure you're all just dying to hear me rub in all the details about my week in paradise.  But for now, I'm tired.

Until later, ciao, os meus amigos.

Too Darned Stinkin' Cute

Help me.  I've developed an addiction and I cannot stop.  I've been baking almost every day off for the last two weeks.  It all started with two new blogs I've fallen into following: PioneerWoman and Bakerella, who were so dastardly as to team up and teach me about fondant.  Then Bakerella showed me these cute cake pops, and I cannot stop!

Anyway, here's what I've accomplished.  Ok, it's not everything I accomplished.  I had to give some away before I ate them and didn't take pictures, but trust me, they were cute.  Of course, not a cute as the original artist can do, but hey, I'm a novice here...

Fondant-covered cupcakes.  Too cute.

And the bow!  Honestly, I don't know what got into me.

But I hope it doesn't go away soon, 'cause this is just too precious.

The whole gang.  Yes, it took me all evening to make these eight.  

J had to make dinner, I was so obsessed.

And the cake pops.

I'll admit, I felt a little odd putting the plastic bag over this cute guy's head, but he just kept smiling, so I guess it's ok.

So, now I'm faced with another dilemma: I have a house full of sweet, sugary goodness, but not only are they too cute to eat, my waistline can't afford the calories!  If you can't help me with my addiction, please come by and help me reduce my surplus.  Of course, you'll have to come here; I can't leave the kitchen.  (At least I'm required to go to work tomorrow, so I should see the light of day soon.)

Score!

One thing James has taught me is that joy comes from the little things, but you have to allow yourself to toss away your pride and just get giddy.  (I live to hear his little "squee!" when I make Rice Krispies and if you've never heard it, you life is that much poorer.)

So I went out running errands today and as I was checking out at the Home Depot, I randomly decided to get cash back based on a conversation I had with the owner of the baking supply shop at my previous stop.  We had been talking about how people use their debit cards for the most minute purchases and how it sometimes costs the store more to charge the purchase than to just give the merchandise away for free.  In any case, I'd given him my last four dollar bills and decided to get some cash for future impulse purchases.  As I was at a U-Check station, I scanned my purchase and agreed to the $10 cash back before looking down to the little slot where my cash should appear, only to find a one dollar bill where my ten should be.  Well!  I held the measly dollar up for the cashier, who was manning the four different stations, to see and said, "Um, this should be a ten" in what I hoped was not my biz-natch voice, but probably was (James always points it out when I get saucy with the cashiers, but he wasn't there).  Then, the poor man came over and very nicely reached up further into the slot and produced my wayward ten dollar bill.  "They sometimes don't come all the way down the slope," he explained very nicely, especially considering my tart little remark earlier.  "So, this one dollar is a bonus?" I asked hopefully.  "Sometimes people don't take all their cash," he agreed (or I'm assuming he was agreeing with me, as I didn't wait around for him to ask for it as re-payment for my little attitude hissy).

So, free dollar!  Score!  Here's a picture of my loot, taken along side the ten for perspective.