Changing Tack

Confession of the Week:
I am eating for two. No, I am not pregnant, but in an effort to explain I will admit that we are trying. The issue seems to be that I have spent the last two weeks ramping up my daily calorie intake in preparation for… losing it. WHAT? You say? Shouldn’t it be the reverse? You eat for two when you actually GET pregnant? Yeah, well not so much in this case. Not only have I busted myself snacking on what I prepare for the Huckster- grilled cheese, Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Littles (yum) – but I also seem to be stuffing what will soon be banned delicacies into my pie hole. Rare burgers, smoked salmon, hot dogs, bloody marys, sushi, you name it. Its disgusting really. It’s like filling up with unfortunately over priced highway gas because you know this is the last station for 100 miles and if you don’t fill up now you will be stranded on the side of the road. Needless to say that at the almost exact 2 week mark of this pre-pregnancy gluttony I reached my saturation point. It may have been the fact that I started to see the muffin top start to creep back over my waistband, or that I had successfully run the gamut of hopefully soon to be exiled foods, but all in all- it was a FABULOUS two weeks!


DIY Job / Craft of the week:
H’s first Easter basket – you last saw it primed – and am loving it. After reaching what I thought was the end point I then went and screwed it up by trying to add whiskers and a little more detail only to hate the end result thereby having to go back and repaint a lot of it, but its done. YAY! For the record I took these photos this morning - it was a blustery 40 degrees - boooo

Recipe of the week:
Beef Lo Mein –this is a guilty pleasure – I love Chinese food, but hate Chinese take out joints, they just freak me out. We made this week’s recipe from the Food Network and quickly found out why they call for low- sodium soy sauce – using regular octane soy took this from LoMein to LoMean but it was finger swelling good. And, after a guzzling a boatload of water I was right as rain and craving more.

Beef Lo Mein
Recipe from The Food Network website – Robin Miller

Ingredients
* 12 ounces Lo Mein noodles – I really like the frozen Wegman’s noodles the best.
* 2 teaspoons sesame oil
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 12 ounces grilled beef, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
* 8 grilled scallions, chopped
* 1 cup snow peas - julienned
* 1/3 cup shredded carrots
* 3/4 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
* 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves – we omitted this due to my husband’s intense aversion to Cilantro but I am sure it would add a nice fresh touch if you like the flavor of cilantro.

Directions

•Cook the noodles according to package directions , Drain and set aside. When using the Wegmans noodles, we don’t pre-cook them- we let them cook through in the wok.
•Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a Wok or large skillet. Add ginger and garlic and saute 1 minute. Add beef, scallions, snow peas and carrots and saute 1 minute. Add broth and soy sauce and bring to a simmer and cook 5 minutes, until carrots are soft. Add noodles and let heat through. Toss with cilantro.

Triumph of the week:
For Me: I showered – no joke, don’t cringe- it was nearly 3 days between. I feel like a whole new woman and I think my husband wants to talk to me again which helps with that whole trying to conceive another baby thing mentioned above.

For Baby H: This walking thing has really picked up- he can now walk almost the length of our living room before realizing it – thereby falling down. He is getting a big kick out of doing it now – which is really hilarious to watch.


Needlepoint Design of the Week:
This is a baby pillow I did for one of oldest and closest girlfriends - it remains one of my favorite baby pillow designs I have done. BUT - don't laugh when I tell you that after all of the design work, the stitching work and then having it finished she told me I got the date wrong- DOH! Yeah, REALLY on the ball with that one. I have every intention of changing it somehow but just have to pin her down to get it back.

Urgh... spring blues

Have you ever felt isolated? Bored? Alone? I am not trying to quote a self help infomercial here- I am describing life as a mommy in the deep burbs of a major metro area.

Don’t get me wrong- we LOVE where we live- our little house called “the Holler” that we outgrew before we even got married, and is now busting at the seams so much so that boxes of past season clothes are practically oozing out the windows – that we probably won’t ever leave because it would be a rarity to ever find someone (sucker) adventurous enough to take on the treacherous spiral stairs, outdated appliances (that work better than most new btw) and lack of storage. But the reality is that when you live somewhere that you really really love, and you love it because it is away from the madness and drama and rush of more populated areas – it sucks. There I said it- it sucks. All the time? Definitely NOT...but there tends to be those days here and there that the suck-o-meter really picks up momentum and the only thing you can do to quell it is to scroll through real estate listings and dream of what life would be like in an actual neighborhood. Or close enough to friends that you can pop over for a play date or visit and not have to completely throw baby’s nap schedule out the window for the day because it takes you 30 minutes to get to and from and he falls asleep within 28 minutes.

I knew going in that I would no doubt be my happiest and loneliest ever living out here. But I never realized that the beginning year or two of raising a child in an area that in no way truly caters to those with very young children would be borderline impossible.

Its not that there are not things to do- there are parks, trails, farms, and our little Hamlet that is being marketed as rapidly growing into the next “hot spot” but is still funky enough to completely miss the mark. What the HECK do mothers with barely walking babies in the boonies do?? Going to the park is great- but unless I want the poor kid to spend his hour plus crawling around among the moldy wood chips, there isn’t much to do- swing? Sure that’s great for like 5 minutes. Go for a walk? Sure, but that’s really only for me, not the baby- he has to sit in the stroller while I pace around the trails trying to keep him from breaking down into a screaming fussing, writhing tantrum because he is …well… stuck in his stroller and would no doubt rather be crawling and stumbling back and forth from toy to toy, room to room at home – or ANYwhere for that matter. The kid wants to MOVE so being a spectator for mommy’s walk does little at this point for him or me right now.

I know that this is a temporary issue- that he will be fully walking before we know it and the weather will be warm, and rather than wondering what store we can go to I can spend my day with him trying to be sure he doesn’t play with and / or eat the dog poop from the yard or fall into the creek.

Confession #2 or 3 of the day - This is less about him and more about me - this is mommy boredom at its finest. Sitting on the floor and playing day in day out while trying to squeeze in the 4th load of laundry of the day and figuring out what to make for dinner (grilled shrimp tonight by the way) is taxing.- and mundane compared to a former life of full tilt work and social schedule. I will find the balance, I am sure of it- its just these transition times that are the real doozies.

So with that in mind- I fully plan to use my transition time – at least today – to include some fun things I am going to try to do to pass the time and make the day not feel less mom oriented and more Martha oriented. My only other alternative s to watch “extreme Couponing” on TLC and teach myself to save enough money to be the financial equivalent of a secondary income. Oh heck, who knows- maybe one day I will pull this blog together enough to try and make some money out of it so we can go from scouring real estate listings to realistically considering moving to a neighborhood.

Easter Fun:

1)Love these crepe paper carrots from Martha Stewart- I think I am going to make them for our 3rd annual Easter Luncheon at the Holler and maybe double their purpose up to also be place card holders in some way. I will keep you posted.

2)Egg Cakes- It is my goal this year to make my own Easter Egg Cakes. IF I can actually find the time to pull it together, in addition to everything else (like planting the back patio beds)then it should be great. This pic is from Williams Sonoma and I have no doubt mine will not remotely resemble this - which oddly matches my blog background nicely. You can judge for yourself if I remember to take a picture.

3)Baby’s first Easter Basket- So, I cant find an Easter Basket that I love for the boy’s first Easter – something cool and great enough that he can use year in and year out (no idea where it will be stored the other 364 days of the year) so I have decided to paint my own for him. I bought a basic flat weave basket from Michael’s Arts and Crafts , and have gotten as far as priming it and mapping out the design. More pics of this ongoing project to follow.





4)Easter outfits: Girls are more fun to dress up for Easter- I am not saying from experience but from just pure unadulterated jealousy of Easter dresses, bonnets bows and mary janes. This year H is going to sport a snappy smocked romper and mommy will pray that the temps are warm enough that he doesn’t freeze his still chubby little legs off. This pic is of this adorable Luli and Me romper (pic from Best Dressed Child) that I got for H but he probably wont be able to wear until next Easter.

Wait for it… wait for it… WALKING!!!

Well not officially off and running on his own yet, but our little Boysie took his first solo steps this weekend- YAY! And uh oh.  He hasn’t done it much since save for a few stumbly steps here and there when we try and entice him with something usually forbidden like a USB cord, or the cordless phone but it’s clicking – you can see his little (actually big judging by the head circ. % that the doctor took today) brain working- the wheels turning. YAY! Now I am ready, ready for toddler-dom. I think…

Today is 73 degrees outside and I am finding it hard to motivate to do anything. Not sure why, exhaustion, so much to do so little time. I remember when H was a baby and things would get too loud and he would essentially just “shut down” close his eyes and just go to sleep – he probably could have done it in the middle of a demolition derby if we would have ventured there (we didn’t btw).  – But I think I am suffering from a similar issue right now- spring is here, there is SO much to do that I may be mentally shutting down. Trying to juggle playing with H, getting the garden in, fast approaching holiday, playing, working, trying to see friends, walking, working, playing, and so forth is flat out exhausting. The only thing I long for right now is a nap.. a really long one. Of course Add to it the ridiculous fact that I have every intention of painting Henley an Easter basket, making a moss covered wreath, blowing out eggs to decorate for Easter this year, still have to steam clean the carpet in the living room, figure out if I am going to make or buy new outdoor cushions this year (probably buy) and them some. Why? Well, mainly because I have little better to do other than overload myself with craft projects in the thick of an already schedule heavy spring. I am mother, hear me roar- I CAN do it all, and I will prove it. Although I may go down trying so stay tuned.

I do have something however to share- a good friend of one of my oldest and bestest girls has a children’s party business. So despite the fact that for 2 years now I have been on the fence about trying to possibly transfer my event planning expertise into this area more formally and that b/c of that she is totally cutting my lunch I will also flat out say that she ROCKS. If I DID ever wind up taking my business this route- this is what I imagined it being – but hers is better because I don’t have to do a thing – she’s pulled it all together. Here is a link to her stuff… check it out lonely reader and soak it in!! Her name is Corinn and her company (with her sister Ashley) is Corley Designs- http://www.corleydesigns.com/

My mom and I have also been searching high and low for leather sandals for children- the traditional kind that we all (at least in our family) wore growing up and where the best darn thing since sliced bread – we used to call them “Sandies” but I have no idea where to begin looking these days. Stride Rite makes a similar shoe but I haven’t seen it in person yet so cant whole heartedly say that I have completed the mission. 

I have every intention of staying on track looking – because I have plenty of time.

Long Lost

Oh, where have you been my long lost friend… at least that’s what I would imagine an adoring(and imaginary) blog “fan club” would be saying to me right now. It’s been too long. I have thought about apologizing (to myself) or trying to come up with a few great well worded excuses for my absence but here is the deal- other than being a new mom – I don’t have any great excuses – that’s it. Time passes uber quickly and next thing I know it its been 9 months – okay actually 13 months -  since I last wrote. It could be deemed a period of mental gestation, and I have birthed not a baby this time, but Adonis DNA / warlock blood level guilt.

With that said- I am over it.  

We’ve been busy here, seriously. And in an effort to catch myself up (for personal reasons not for my adoring public) here is a brief summarized list of what has happened in the last 13 months:

• Worked all last spring and grew a big round belly - like Orca huge belly towards the end.
• Got over baby not being a girl and got REALLY excited about welcoming a baby boy.
• In one of the warmest early summers in the history of summer our little one arrived on July 3^rd- YAY! Just shy of a yankee doodle dandy!
• The temp seemed to keep rising and my feet seemed to keep swelling (no one told me that they get BIGGER right after you give birth - thanks for that).
• We started the new back patio – yippee!
• Baby ate and ate and so he grew – and at 8 months he’s now a size 2 (OK that’s a stretch but not too far from the truth … it rhymed)
•  I am not sure what else other than laughing, eating, sleeping, pooping, laughing, crying, rolling over, sitting up, laughing, etc. we did or experienced last summer to 2011 that I can pass along… its like a hangover - you know that something happened the night before but you really aren’t sure exactly what. But this time its less college level “leaving your dignity in the gutter outside your favorite bar” and more trying to remember a really fun vacation years after the fact.
• We did of course take over 500 photos of our newest addition in the first 3 months alone. But out of the 500+ I think there may be MAYBE 6-8 with us, his PARENTS in them.
• Fall & winter came and then so did the snow and the before we knew it  - it was the holidays – wham bam thank you MA'AM.
• Stopped the back patio for 3 months b/c  well … we couldn’t see it under the perma-foot-o-snow.
• The dogs ate our grill.
• Uh- oh, T turned the big 4-0h. I turned 36 but actually didn't realize it - for the last few months I have vehemently been convinced in my own mind that I will be turning 35 in 2011 - yep, that's right - it has begun.
• Buddy nipped the oil delivery man in the knee – nice.
• H started daycare – and I reclaimed a few days a week to start working and to try and get a FEW things done…. booo responsibility but yay freedom!
• We squeaked through January and February relatively unscathed save for H’s first serious cold immediately followed by his first GI bug (yuck) immediately followed by mine, then T’s. Triple yuck.
• Buddy nipped the fed ex man in the rear as he was hauling his you know what up our driveway  in a crazy sprint to get away – urgh.
• Along the way and in between viral infections H started to crawl – “watch out world here me come!”
• T and I took a WELL deserved mommy and daddy only vacation (H stayed with Grana & Granddaddy) in Florida. It took us 12 hours to figure out what to do with ourselves. For the record, I slept until 9 am TWICE - for the first time in a year at the least- YAY me!
• Back patio started back up- and almost done- YAY Paco & Sebastian!!
• We returned home to a brief spell of spring weather- and started getting really excited for the coming months - then the rug pulled out from under us and here we are back at freezing. Booooooo mother nature.
• Taylor rigs to grill (which until now was still out of commission) and we can once again cook outside - our favorite!
• Despite the return of the cold- I ordered my new raised beds- YAY veggies!

I think that at least puts me close enough back to the present. Not sure where to go from here yet but there you have it- I’m back.