A taste to whet your whistle

I've got a busy busy day ahead, and will update re: our entire trip shortly, but thought I'd give you a look at utter cuteness just to get you started...

Yawn.

I've been dealing with back spasms the last 2 days and as a result feel that I haven't been the most productive person in the world. I have just barely squeaked through with what I needed to accomplish at work, done the bare minimum at home, and spent much of my time on either the bed or the couch taking deep measured breaths and trying to remember to sit up straight so it wouldn't get worse. Ahhh, the joys of pregnancy.

I've been tagged! Middle Name MEME

Here are the rules:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Ok, here goes! My middle name is Leigh:

Love to cook and bake
Editor
In church choir
Gestating....
House renovations continue to progress

SO that appears to make 5 people I have to tag... We'll go with Queenie, Hummingboyd, DangerElf, MomBoyd, and Kate.

Each name is a link to their page. If you haven't visited them yet.. you really should! They're some of my bestest friends...and half of them are family!

Thanks to Rachel for tagging me! :-)

Reality is....

Sabbath afternoon walks with our puppy
Going over bills and seeing how much more the desired/owed outgoing is than the actual incoming amount

Being awakened by the most vicious leg cramp

Seeing a stroller and car seat in my office that are MINE for MY child


Heartburn from really good lasagna

Heartburn from oatmeal

Heartburn from a sandwich

Hubband cleaning the living room, foyer, and front bathroom for me while I cook for an impromptu dinner party

A 95% complete living room, missing only baseboards to be the first completed room in our entire house
Peaceful coexistence...for now

The Easy Way Out

This weekend (and week... is it really already Tuesday?!) was so full of so many things that I'm going to take the easy way out and give you the old list as an update.

Friday:
Rushed around all day working and trying to get the house clean and in shape for Sabbath as well as driving around for an hour looking for a music store that seems to have evaporated off the face of the earth. Ended the evening with choir and men's group rehearsals. We got home around 930 and I think I was asleep by 945!

Sabbath:
I taught SS at church, so we were up and about early. It was a gorgeous day, and with my mobility decreasing rapidly we decided to snatch the opportunity and snuck away after SS. Came home and ate lunch and took our nap and still were up in time to do a nice long walk with Pris in the park. Saturday evening, Hubband finished the final prep work on the living room and did some homework while I did laundry. Lots of laundry.

Sunday:
Hubband laid the rest of the living room floor (hurrah!) and helped me with dishes before he did his homework. I did laundry and dishes and planted some of my daffodil bulbs in the front yard. yippee! At 130 we quit all projects and raced around getting ourselves cleaned up to make his 3 pm call at the Cathedral for the Fall University Singers and Chamber Choir concert. Stopped off at Sears on the way home to pick up a new iron (ours was dead) and a replacement water filter for the fridge ($48.99. Ouch!). Hubband did homework and I finished the last of the laundry and lazed around with a book until bedtime...For me? That was around 845.

Monday:
Work. Depression. Clouds. I guess you could say it was a typical Monday. I didn't help matters any that in the midst of my funk I decided it was time to update my spreadsheets of our debt burden. Even more depression. Our stroller came! A wonderful shower gift from my sis and her family. Its pretty! We start to put it together and realize they didn't send us the axle for the rear windows. Good thing we have time before we need it, it will take 2 weeks to get us the part! Obie-cat loves the basket under the stroller, he slept in it all night.

Made Huevos Rancheros for dinner to cheer me up. Ate too much. Bed by 10 and had weird dreams...Also, a first! I actually got up TWICE in the night to go to the bathroom. Proof positive that this little girl is getting bigger and bigger!

Tue-day (get it? today/Tuesday? I suck.)
Rain. Restless cat who has no balance left. Work. Computer frustrations. Pretty normal, all around, morning. About to go grab lunch... I think I'll have leftovers huevos. :-) The afternoon? Well, I'm thinking about a nap after work...and maybe watching some tv...I should also do some freelance work, but I have a feeling it won't happen tonight. After all, its TUESDAY. Right?

Honesty, please!

Ok, ladies and gents, here is the first-ever paid for and delivered baby shower cake I've ever done. I was exhausted at the end of it (was literally asleep by 845 last night) and I'm quite leery of it as Im not sure its up to "professional amateur" standards. Please tell me the truth...

What do you think?




As an additional note... these are also the first ever "homemade chocolate cake" cakes I've ever done... and I made the butter creme from scratch, too. The lady who picked up the cake last night tasted the cake/icing (I had a cupcake for her for that purpose) and loved the icing... didn't say much about the cake, but she ate the whole cupcake so I guess that's good! She wants me to do her wedding cake.....Terror! Thrill! Excitement! Stress!

Chocolat-i-fication

I've been hired to make the cake for a friends baby shower on Friday and decided that I would forgo the normal "box cake" easy way out that I usually take and would actually make the cakes from scratch. As I've only ever made cake from scratch one other time in my life (Carrot Cake. turned out great), I was a little leery and followed every step of the recipe with great care. As the batter was ready to be put in the pan, I carefully unlocked the mixer and went to turn down the blade speed as I lifted them so they would gently whiz into the bowl and be cleaned off.

Only I accidentally turned it all the way UP instead.

The batter flew everywhere, little chocolate droplets of destruction coating my face, hair, and clothes as well as the cookbook and I think even a little bit hit the dog. It took Hubband about 10 minutes to stop laughing long enough to help de-chocolate-batterify me and I think there is still some in my hair that will have to be washed out.

The remaining batter seems to have baked up fine...we'll see how the decorating goes. With my track record for the day, I'm going to suit up in full hazard gear before I get started.

Tears of Joy

Ella's quilt came yesterday, and its even prettier in person than it was in the pictures online. Hubband and I were quite excited, and I immediately pulled it out of the box and its protective bag. As I held it up and exclaimed, I looked over at Hubband and his eyes were glistening. A little embarrassed and a little choked up he said:

"I just looked over and saw our little girl wrapped up in that in your arms"

And then we both were choked up.

Ella at 24 weeks

We had pics of the belly at 24 weeks yesterday, now here are some pics of Ella at 24 weeks! This may be our last ultrasound of the pregnancy... they had to look at her face again to verify that she was ok. All was good, no cleft palate, no mongoloid features, etc. According to the tech, she has "long skinny fingers" (we saw fingers, but wouldn't have known them to be longer or skinnier than usual). As we watched, she doubled up and kicked a good wallop with both legs, which cracked us all up. Here they are then, the latest and greatest!

In the top one, I think it looks like she's blowing bubbles... or are those her hands? Anyone?

24 Weeks

I think I've outgrown that shirt....at least, in the belly!

"Free"lance?

Im wondering why its called free... not only do we charge for freelance work (whether seeking or providing), but once you have it to do, you're no longer free with your free time because its now being taken up by freelancing. Just an observation.

I took on a new freelance client, at a much reduced rate from my normal, to help us get a little extra cash (and Im saving to get Hubband something fun for Christmas!). So far? What I thought would be 3-5 hours on Sunday has turned into something more like 12+ hours a week. Not that our wallets will complain, but here I sit on a Sunday afternoon ready to do some serious loafing and instead am drafted to verify permission status for a manuscript. Its days like this, when all the pets are snoozing and the sun is pouring in, that I wonder what on earth possessed me to shackle myself to computer on my one free day.

Oh yeah. Free-lance.

Sigh.

Nursery Time

For those of you who are interested and have been wondering about Ella's nursery and what it will look like...have I got a post for you! (cue veggie tales music).

We can't start the room until the rest of the house is done, at least not in the sense of actually putting it together, however...I found Ella's quilt! Its the foundation for her whole room, from which we'll pick a rug, knobs for her dresser, art for the walls, curtains, and paint colors. I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for something mediocre, and the bedding "sets" that I actually liked were basically asking for a soul or 2 as payment, so I decided to do it this way. I ended up finding the quilt for under 40, including shipping!

Her crib, bumper, and bedskirt all will be white, which I can embellish a little (new ties, extra panels of fabric, etc) if I want to (and have time or energy). We've decided to do a chair rail in the room with white below (sort of faux wainscoting) and a soft green above. I have some pretty little fairy accents for the walls, and we'll get some nice art pieces that she can "grow" with... The sheets, knobs on her changing table (4 will be pink roses, the rest white; the table is white), changing pad, baskets, etc. will be a mix of white and pink, with a few soft touches of green to bring it together. I think it will turn out pretty!

I still have to decide what to do about curtains, although I think I can get away with white ones since the room doesn't have any direct sun exposure and I won't have to worry about making it truly "DARK". Then maybe I can find some nice velvet in a pretty pink and make new ties for the bedskirt and matching tiebacks for the curtains. Also... does anyone know where I can find a pretty, solid color (white, or soft pink preferably) rocking chair pad? I have my mama's rocker, but it has no padding and I'd love to get one that has a back and a seat both so I can sit in it comfortably and breast feed or rock her for naptime, etc.

What do you guys think?

Playing Hooky

Its been a long time since I was this happy for a Friday to arrive. The week has been full of stress, from a big chemistry test and paper for Hubband to uncountable "fires" to be put out at work. As Ella gets bigger, Im also not sleeping as well, so the idea of Sabbath is just Heaven to me right now! Hubband has his Navy reserve weekend this week, so sadly he will not get to partake in the extra rest. I, however, am planning to get up with him and get him off to the base and then crawl back to bed and stay there. I could get a ride to church, I'd be sure to get invited somewhere for lunch.... but Im really looking forward instead to just staying home, sleeping in, going for a walk with Priscilla... and having a true day of REST.

Tomorrow evening is our Fall Festival at the church, so we'll be having a bonfire, hayride, roasted hot dogs and marshmellows, and even a chili contest! I'll let you know if I place....