4 months and Showing! (A little)

See?  You can see a little tummy, right? 

Scarves, scarves, and more scarves

Among the more ambitious plans made this holiday season was the decision to make a scarf for everybody I work with.  12 Scarves is a lot of scarves.  One per week, since I started back in September.  Except morning sickness reared its ugly head, and I fell very behind.

But if I've learned one thing, it's that a firm deadline (like Christmas) makes for very focused crocheting!

The Sweet Sound of a Heartbeat

Last week Daniel and I finally were blessed with hearing the heartbeat!  Since we didn't do the traditional 6-week ultrasound, this was the first chance for us to experience anything concrete from the little one inside.  What a relief it was to hear it!

 (You may want to turn down your volume)

(And try not to think of a wild dog when you listen to it... it sort of ruins it.) 

Beautiful Paper and Rockin' Orchestral Carol of the Bells

Paper Source (in Northpark Mall) sells some of the most beautiful paper I've ever seen.  Here's an example:

Isn't it beautiful? My birthday present from Daniel--tickets to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra tomorrow!  I've never seen them, but their version of Carol of the Bells is a must-hear every Christmas season.

Tree bags

Tree bags are such a good idea. It is simply an enormous plastic bag.  I had never heard of them until last year, but surely they've been around a while.  They sell them right beside the live trees.


You put the bag down first (we cut a tree stand-sized hole in ours so that it will slip over the tree stand at the crucial moment.  Then when the tree is dry and crispy at the end of the season, you just pull the bag over the whole thing, preempting the trail of dry, sticky needles that the tree likes to leave as you drag it to the curb. 

Genius.

Christmas treats!

Here are three yummy, yummy Christmas treats that are a hit at any party.
In order of difficulty (from least to most):

1.  Chocolate Pretzel Bites
2.  Chocolate Fudge
3.  Toffee

The Chocolate Pretzel Bites are easy peasy, and kids of most ages could help make them.
Start with square "waffle shaped" pretzels.
Put a chocolate kiss or hug in the center of each one.
Warm them up in the oven at 350 degrees for 1-2 minutes, just until the chocolate is soft.

Push an M&M (or whatever brand of candy-coated chocolate you have) into the center of each one.
Let them cool, and done!  Simple simple.  So yummy though.
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I prefer the recipe on the Marshmellow cream jar when making chocolate fudge.  A good family friend from my childhood always used to bring it to Thanksgiving or Christmas, and it went quickly. Actually, I'm told that Kraft changed the recipe, but this is the original one:

Combine 3 cups sugar, 3/4 cups butter, and 2/3 cups evaporated milk in a heavy 2-1/2 quart saucepan.
Bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring.
Remove from heat, stir in a 12 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips till melted.  Add a 7 oz jar Marshmallow creme, 1 cup of chopped nuts (optional), and 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and beat until blended.
Pour into greased 13x9-inch baking pan.  Let cool and cut into 1-inch squares.

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Daniel and I experimented with Toffee when we were first married.  We must have been wildly lucky the first few times we made it, because it came out awesome.  Since then our luck has been so-so, but when it comes out good, it's great.  So try it some time :).  This recipe comes from All Recipes.  

Combine 2 cups butter, 2 cups white sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted.

Allow to come to a boil, and cook until the mixture becomes a dark amber color and the temperature has reached 285 degrees.  Stir occasionally.

Truth be told, when ours started separating like this, I whisked it.  There are sources that say you shouldn't do that, but we did, and it worked to bring the mixture back together. So... go with your gut, I guess. 

 While the toffee is cooking, cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  As soon as the toffee reaches the proper temperature, pour it onto the prepared baking sheet.

Sprinkle 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips over the top, and let it set for a minute or two to soften.  Spread the chocolate into a thin, even layer once it is melted.

Sprinkle 1 cup of finely chopped pecans over the chocolate, and press in slightly.  Place the toffee in the refrigerator to chill until set.  Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container.

Happy Holiday Cooking!    

The Easiest Cake Ever

I forgot to take a picture, but if you ever need a super quick, easy cake for anything, this is the recipe for you.  I can't remember where I got it, but I always get compliments on it.  And it's one of the only baked desserts I'll make from a box.

1 Duncan Hines Super Moist Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
1/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup water
1 can of coconut pecan frosting

Grease a bundt pan with Pam Cooking spray, and then coat the pan with a thin layer of granulated sugar.

Beat the eggs and combine all other ingredients until mixed.  Pour into bundt pan and bake at 340 degrees for 1 hour.  Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, and then transfer to a cooling rack until time to serve.  Awesome when served warm, with milk.

Enjoy!

A Crib and a Dresser

First baby furniture - purchased! Over the weekend Daniel and I picked up these beauties:

I have Craigslist.org to thank for so much of the furniture we have bought over the years.  It's difficult to find an espresso-stained crib used, these days.  I guess most who have them are keeping them.  But find one we did.

These photos are from a website that sells the pieces we bought--because we haven't set up the crib yet.  I mean--I know we won't need them for several more months, but it just feels nice to have them.

Hosting Thanksgiving - for the first time

This Thanksgiving morning began as many others did--with a brisk 3 mile walk/run in downtown Dallas.  The Turkey Trot is so much fun--albeit a little more crowded than I'd like.  We had a great walk this year.  The temperature dropped about 20 degrees from start to finish, but we came well prepared.  After the Texas Half Marathon earlier this year (28 degrees at the start and 31 degrees at the finish), I was not about to repeat one of the most uncomfortable walks of my life. 

Daniel and I set a small budget for some new fall table decorations, and this is the result of our shopping (thanks, Pier 1).

I wanted the table to look like a magazine picture, but it turns out that is more difficult than you'd think... especially if the word "budget" is anywhere in your vocabulary.  Still, I like the way it turned out.

We went with the Perfect Turkey recipe from my favorite recipe website, and that called for making a brine the night before and soaking the turkey all night.

Do you know the size of container you need for an 18-pound Turkey brine?  Huge.

Daniel took care of the turkey while I did some of the other side dishes.

His first time carving a turkey!  

 
Dinner was great.  Good food, good people.

Remember doing this?

How fun does this look?  What is the age when you stop running and jumping into things?  I remember doing it all the time as a kid... couch cushions, swimming pools, piles of leaves, puddles, those plastic balls at playgrounds like Burger King (whatever happened to those ball pits, anyways?).

It's nice to be reminded of these things.  My nephews and nieces remind me of some of the joys of being a kid.  I'm looking forward to being reminded even more frequently after we have our little one.  

Meeting Dinah

Dinah Waranch is our midwife, and she is fantastic.  

A few weeks ago we met her for the first time.  When we walked into the birthing center, we found it basically empty but could hear two people talking in one of the front offices.  

I turned to Daniel and said, "somebody in there is BRITISH!"  And it turned out to be Dinah!

To call her "animated" is an understatement.  She's delightfully funny, hippie, yet down-to-earth and still has that "warm fuzzy" (her words) quality you'd expect from a midwife.  After we got acquainted a little, she showed us around the clinic.

The birthing center has a "family room", a small kitchen area, and 2 large birthing rooms, complete with a standing shower and a large tub.  

We were admiring the nice, large room when she began to help us understand what a "normal" birth in the room would look like.

 

Dinah:

"So then Kimie will be over there on the toilet, and she'll be going 'ohhhhhh,' (groaning) and then I'll say, 'uh-oh... looks like you need to get in the tub,' and so she'll come over here (kicking off sandals and getting into tub), and she'll climb in, and then she'll say, 'oh, that feels so much better!' and then after a little while she'll change positions like this (demonstrating), and she'll be going, 'ohhhhh  ohhhhh' (more groaning here) and then before you know it, there will be the head! And we'll put a mirror there, and ooh! There's a baby!  Out she comes! And I'll hand her to Daniel (handing Daniel the imaginary baby, to whom he held out his arms--so engrossed were we in this drama), or maybe Daniel will catch her himself.  And you'll both be saying, 'she's perfect!' and we'll all just sit here for 5 or 10 minutes until you realize you're cold and uncomfortable and want to go to the bed (out she climbs from the tub--and runs to the bed).  And Daniel will take her and sit here (gesturing to the chair) while Kimie gets settled in bed (getting herself settled in bed), and before long Kimie will realize that she needs something!  Kimie--what do you need?  Quick! This is a test!  

What do you need?"

Me: 

     "Salmon?"

Dinah: 

     "Oh, well--Salmon--I love that--but no, the BABY! You need the baby!  So over she comes right to you to start breastfeeding. And then bloop--out comes the placenta, and--if necessary--stitch, stitch, stitch and you're good as new!  And there we are--all there is to it!"  

We were wide-eyed--lemme tell you.   

(The photos in this post come from the Lovers Lane Birth Center website)

Pregnant!

I'd love to be one of these people who has enough self control that she can wait until the first trimester ("the danger zone") is over to tell people... but I'm just not that person.

We're due in June!  

Some of you already know that.
And I was going to wait until the end of the first trimester to update the blog.  But I got tired of waiting.

We met with our midwife the other day, and details will soon follow.

Happy Halloween!

I wasn't going to dress up as anything this year. 

Then I learned that costumes are mandatory at my clinic, the Friday before Halloween.
  

 

Truth be told, it was pretty fun being in costume, and seeing everybody else's.

 

 I'm not sure you can make out everybody's costume in this photo, but we had 2 fairies, a pregnant nun, a baby, a fortune-teller, 2 pirates, a cowboy, 2 witches (including me), a Dorothy, and an Indian.

 

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

Really Good Pies

Unfortunately no pictures, but I wanted to share some really great pie recipes!  These came from All Recipes.  I've made them 2-3 times and had great success with them.


Key Lime Pie
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh squeezed key lime juice, strained (or you could mix 1/2 lime and 1/2 lemon juice in a pinch)
2 14-oz cans of sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks

1 pie crust: combine 1 and 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 c. white sugar, and 6 Tbs melted butter, pat into pie crust, and chill 1 hour

Combine the first 3 ingredients and mix well.  Fill the pie crust and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes, or until the pie is set but the center still quivers when you nudge the pie. Garnish with whipped cream or limes or lime zest.


Peanut butter pie:
Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter (don't use the natural kind that separates)
1 Tbs butter, softened
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa (optional) 
1 and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped



1 chocolate crust: combine and press into a pie pan: 1 and 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 c. white sugar, 6 Tbs melted butter, and 1/4 c. cocoa and bake at 375 for 10 minutes

Combine the first 5 (or 6 if you choose to add cocoa) ingredients and mix well.  Fold in the whipped cream until all is combined, and then fill the pie crust.  Chill in the fridge until serving time.  May chill in the freezer, in a pinch.  Garnish with more whipped cream, cookie crumbs, or shaved chocolate.

Whirlwind Weekend--back to Galveston

Wowsa--what a weekend.  

We left Saturday morning in the dark to get down to Houston in time to meet dear Sarah and Joe for breakfast.  And wouldn't you know I left my camera in the car?  Sarah and Joe have been such a big part of my life since I met them, and it was so nice to get to meet one of their two daughters (finally!).  

So strange to be back on the island--like we never left. All the landmarks, restaurants, and beautiful historic homes looked exactly the same as when we left them.  And it made me miss living there.  Made me miss the beach, and just the feel of the island... and island life.  

We met up with our good friends, the Hannings, who took us in on very little notice.  Micah and Ava are so fun.  Ava has gotten so big, and she has so embraced being a girlie girl.  So fun.  

We made pizzas from scratch, using our favorite pizza dough recipe from All Recipes.  Any homemade pizza with freshly fried bacon on it is a good one.

And finally we got to spend some time with our new niece!  So good to see Daniel's sister, husband, and kids.  Jonathan taught Daniel all about excavators, front-end loaders, tractors, dump trumps, and much more.  Truly remarkable, that child's knowledge of trucks, at age 2.  

I'm not sure that we could have crammed anything else into the 36 hour trip.  But we certainly enjoyed it!

My Niece, the Artist!

Lizzy, my niece, who we just discovered is an artist!

I like how she re-adjusts her hold on the french fry.  Usually she is quite the eater, so the fact that she is not eating the fries/ketcup--but painting body art instead--is all the more remarkable!

My only Fall Decoration. And a random song.

I love fall decorations.  The problem is that they take up so much space in storage during the rest of the year that I haven't actually purchased any. 

But I found these gourds and pumpkins over the weekend, and I figure--I don't have to feel bad about tossing them after this season b/c they'll compost nicely.

I've had this song going around in my head for the past 24 hours, straight. 

Winter's Coming!

We bought our house almost exactly a year ago and moved into it about a month later. What with moving in and getting settled--and all that it entails--firewood was the last thing on our minds.Not this year!
We are all set--A half a cord of firewood was delivered this week. Doesn't it look fantastic??
I can hardly wait for the 40-degree weather that I'm sure is around the corner.Daniel swapped out our gas logs at the end of last season, so our fireplace looks empty... and lonely... like it can't wait to do it's thing.

Photos courtesy of Daniel

PS - Do you like the new look? Figured it was time for a change.