Controversy

Oooohhh.. controversy on my blog! WOW!

I'll say now that I hope everyone knows that a lot of my posts come from my own weird sense of humor. A sense of humor that I admit is not always easy to recognize - mainly because its odd and usually I am the only amused by it. I will also add that I am very aware of how blessed and freakin' lucky Jeff and I are that we were able to get pregnant. I am certainly not *truly* mad at my baby!

And since its the New Year I'll share some of my New Year Resolutions with you!

• 1. To declutter our tiny house and make room for our baby. (Sounds easy, right? Well our house is only 950 square feet and we have only one spare room that needs to be cleaned out, painted, insulated, and carpeted. Oofah!)
• 2. Work out - I just ordered a workout DVD specifically for pregnancy and I'd like to start doing it as soon as it arrives. I've read that this makes pregnancy easier, so I'll let you know how it goes!
• 3. Pay off one of my credit cards before the arrival of above mentioned baby.
• 4. Learn to cook - and I mean cook. Not bake, not boil water.... cook. Okay.. let's make this more reasonable, I'd like to learn to cook two meals before the baby comes!!

I can keep adding more and more, but I'll leave it at that for now! Happy New Year's to everyone and may your 2009 be a good one!

Baby

Dear Baby,
It's been 14 weeks and I feel I must tell you I'm having a problem with our relationship. It seems to me that all the compromise and self sacrifice has been on *my* part. Now, I understand that you're no bigger than a lemon right now, but since we've been together 24 hours a day for the past 14 weeks, I would imagine you could start to make some concessions of your own.

For example. I had to leave work at noon today to come home and lie on the sofa like a lump. I don't think I need to tell you how bad my cold is, runny nose. stuffed up sinuses, sore throat, and the inability to sleep without getting up to either blow my nose or to pee. This, baby, is not acceptable. See, previously I would dose myself up with whatever over the counter medicine I could find (Dayquil, Tylenol Flu and Sinus, Theraflu) it didn't really matter. I'd take it all, and take it repeatedly until I had numbed my body into compliance and completely masked all the symptoms that were making me miserable. But now, now I cannot do that because there is concern about you. So no medicine. No cherry flavored cough syrup or blue liquid Nyquil to get me through this misery, it's just me and my tissues and my achy head. Oh, and do I need to add that my poor nose is almost bright red from all the tissues I've been using???

I can't live like this baby. I don't think I need to remind you that I *need* my job and going home sick is not good in showing just what a fabulous employee I am and how they need to keep around forever. Baby, my paycheck is what helps keep a roof over my head and I think having a place to sleep is fairly important in life. You might want to think about that as you're floating around in my belly. Because I hate to bring it up, but currently you are not contributing financially at all to this situation and well, nobody likes a freeloader baby!

I am hoping that you will think about what I've said today and that tomorrow we can start fresh. Oh, and perhaps let me get some sleep tonight baby? See, if I can't sleep - your father can't sleep.. and if your father goes one more night without rest I think he may leave us. And baby, not to be cold, we need his paycheck.

Now I hope I wasn't too hard on you baby, seeing as how you are still so new and tiny, but I thought it would be good to get this all out in the open. You know, clear the air! It's the sign of a healthy relationship when you can talk about these issues!

Love you baby!

Love, your exhausted, sick, mucousy and sore mother

Pregnancy

Well I'm at 14 weeks and I've already learned some very interesting tidbits about pregnancy... and I thought I'd share.

1. The pregnancy glow? A lie. A big fat lie.. there is no pregnancy glow when you're exhausted and nauseous. All my pregnancy glow comes from the make-up brush thank you very much.
2. I can't even begin to describe the hunger that comes when you are pregnant. It's a hunger ALL THE TIME. From the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. And God forbid you not give in to the hunger and eat something - your body *will* get even by sending you running to the bathroom with a nausea that has you retching.
3. That pre-natal vitamins will give you fabulous skin and hair. Another lie. My skin is completely broken out and my hair is AWFUL. I am NOT looking good if you get my drift.
4. Do NOT mention you are pregnant if you can help it. If you do, be prepared for everyone to tell you complete and utter horror stories about pregnancy, labor and delivery, and raising children. EVERYONE wants to tell you some graphically detailed nightmare that will leave you ready to yank your hair and run screaming down the street.
5. Grape juice first thing in the morning is bad. Just trust me on this one.
6. Say goodbye to your favorite foods - apparently they are all lethal and should be avoided at all costs. Sushi, caffeine, deli meat, rare meat, raspberry tea (who KNEW??) are all bye bye. I don't need to mention booze, do I???


I'm sure I'll have more tidbits to share, but I just wanted to set the record straight for all of you in case you're curious! Happy New Year and see you all in 2009!

Baked Ziti Part Two

So this is the recipe I followed for the baked ziti.. I was completely lured in by the "quick" part in it:
Quick Baked Ziti
8 ounces ziti1 cup ricotta chesse (go for the part-skim to shave off some fat and calories)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
divided into 1/2 cup portions1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 24 ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook ziti according to package directions. Drain.While ziti is cooking, combine ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella, egg, and seasoning. Stir ziti into the mixure.Using a 2-quart casserole dish, pour in 1/2 of the tomato sauce. Add the ziti mixture, then top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup or parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzarella on top and bake for about 25 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

And I followed it pretty exactly. I don't know what the problem was, I used a red sauce with cheese and pretty much did everything else I was told. The end result though was underwhelming. Maybe I didn't have enough sauce.. maybe it needed more spices.. I have no idea but it was really not good. On the plus side, I DID make my famous Sweet Potato Casserole with brown sugar and pecan topping for Christmas Day at Jeff's relatives and it came out really, really well.. So apparently I can cook SOME things... just not good things like say.. meals. You want something baked and really fattening.. I can do that. You want a MEAL.. or something that could be served for dinner... apparently I'm not equipped for that challenge of life.

Any suggestions?? I really have no idea what I could be doing wrong.. then recipe is so simple and so easy.. I thought for sure I couldn't mess this one up.

my renewed appreciation for people

I sobbed like a baby after seeing this, kind of renewed my faith in people.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Baked Ziti

So we all know I am not exactly a chef. Cooking is not something I do well and I am trying to get better at it. Tonight I tried baked ziti for the second time in my life. The first time being a few years ago where I managed to serve a baked ziti that was uncooked in the middle and burned on the outside. This time was not as bad, but still not good. I don't know if it was the recipe I used or what, but it really didn't taste all that great. Which is a shame since I really like baked ziti and I'm wondering how I can manage to mess up such a deceptively easy recipe. Any thoughts or suggestions people?? I'm willing to try again, but I'm getting just a wee bit frustrated.

maternity wardrobe

I'm starting to outgrow some clothes and while I realize that I am going to need to change my style to be more 'mommy friendly", I draw the line at certain things. This for example:

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.CM_SCID.coll.item.A75264.desc.Quacker-Factory-Embroidered-Critters-Knit-Top-Denim-Skirt

Once again, I can't get the picture, but it's called the "Quaker Factor Embroidered Critters Knit Top and Skirt". The day I show up wearing an animal tee shirt and matching, shapeless denim skirt - is the day I want you to say something. Please people, I'm begging you.. don't let me walk around in this. Okay?? It would be mean, really mean. And you're not mean people, are you??? No, good. I'm so glad!!!!