Try Something New!!

Fall is in the air, and I am pulling out all the old amazing fall recipes. So, here is what we are having for dinner. It is a recipe that my mom made when I was little. I have always thought my mom was a great cook, and then I grew up and realized she is still a good cook, but all her recipes come from two cookbooks!! HA!! I am now in possession of these two cookbooks, so it is only a matter of time before I become at least half the cook my mom is. If only I could stop modifying recipes! However, I don’t think it is possible. For example in the following recipe, I almost double the meat (for the meat loving man in my life), I 8x or more the pepper (who puts 1/8 tsp of anything in a recipe??? It is not even worth it in such a small amount) and make whatever other modifications are necessary. :) So without further ramblings here is the recipe (Jen K, this is the one I commented about, I thought the world needed it too).

CHICKEN CIDER STEW

2 C. apple cider or juice
3 T. catsup
2 slices bacon, cut up
1 ½ t. salt
¼ t. dried savory (you can use Italian seasoning)
¼ t. dried basil
1/8 t. pepper
1 2-2 ½ lb. broiler fryer chicken, cut up
4 carrots, thinly sliced
2 med. Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut up
2 med. Onions, finely chopped (approx 1 cup)
1 stalk celery, cut into 1 in pieces
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped (approx 1 cup)
3 T. flour

In large pot stir together 1st 7 ingredients. Add chicken. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, celery and apple. Cover and summer above for 30 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender. Blend the four and ¼ c. cold water, stir into stew. Cook and stir til mixture is thickened and bubbly. Serves 4.

You can also make it in a crock pot, just save ½ cup of the cider for the end, and mix it with the flour before serving. 10-12 hours.

P.S. Great with dumplings, drop biscuits or cornbread. :)

Bumpersticker of the Day

KISS ME, I'M ORGANIC

Update on Baby Boy 'n Stuff

Well, I know he isn't here yet, but I thought I would start the "baby domination of the blog" a little early. :) So here is a short update:

• I felt him kick - I think I have been feeling it for a week or so, but wasn't totally sure.
• At the last ultrasound all his measurements checked out on schedule, except that his femur bone was 2 weeks ahead of schedule, so I think we have a tall soccer player in the works because the kicking is harder than I was expecting, which I think is another reason I didn't recognize it. I was expecting a small sweet feeling and instead it feels like a he is practicing for a self defence class, it doesn't bode well for the next 4 months.
• That said, I am over the half way point!! (For pregnant and post pregnant people I am just past 21 weeks, and for all everyone else, I am almost 5 months).
• I am FINALLY starting to feel better. Whoever said 13 weeks would be the end is crazy, it was 18/19 before I felt better, and I think I have settled into a "pregnancy normal." Which is almost like my normal self, only with food aversions and always feeling half-asleep.
• According to the books I have been reading, Baby Boy is almost 1lb and 10 inches long!
• Most people still don't know I am pregnant, you can't really tell by looking.
• Last night I pulled out my old college anatomy text book - I think the baby will have detached ear lobs and brown hair, but it was so complicated that I have decided I will just wait and see what he looks like when he arrives.
• And Finally, we have picked a name, but are not telling people - so people around here are calling him either: Nimrod (a biblical name I came across and considered for .0001 seconds), Zacchaeus (a wee little man) or Gumby (because of his ultrasound performance).

Bumpersticker of the Day

SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK

The Injustice of it All!

Well, today I came home to find that the nice trash can I had set out in the morning for the lovely trash guys to take was gone.... not just the trash, but the can too! I called our trash people only to find out that they had taken the can, because as of today we have been officially annexed into a neighboring town.

Well, I knew it was coming, but didn't realize it would affect my trash service. Well, let me just tell you how over joyed I am about this... I HATE IT!!! When we built our house, we SPECIFICALLY bought property in the county, not in a city or town. But this stupid little town wants all the money they can get, so they annexed property that is NO WHERE NEAR their town. And now we have to pay BOTH county and town taxes.

The benefit??????? They gave me a recycle bin. YUP, that is the extent of the benefit. I give them $600 and they give me a yellow bucket.

And to top if all off... (I am not sure how I would know if I hadn't of called the town) not only do I have to pay $600+ dollars a year to this new town they won't even provide me with a trash can!! I have to provide my own! So out of protest, I am going to NOT Recycle, and either buy a 45 gallon can (they ask for 35 and below) OR just put it out in bags, spread across the yard... I haven't decided which yet.

Bumpersticker of the Day

EQUAL RIGHTS ARE NOT

SPECIAL RIGHTS

Shopping

For those of you who know me, you know that shopping is WWAAYYY down the list of things I like to do, it ranks just slightly above shopping with my mother. (Mom, if you are reading this, I love you, but you know it is true). I am a make-a-list-go-to-store-buy-items-on-list-GET-OUT-shopper. So, last week I went on one of my list-shopping excursions, and dragged my hubby along with me (yes, I had to drag because although I am a list-shopper Andrew is a NEVER-EVER-shop-i-will-wear-holes-in-my-socks-for-a-year-as-long-as-I-don't-have-to-shop-shopper.) to buy some essential items. We bought:

• A Teflon pan - I have been putting it off for 4.75 years and I finally got one.
• Garbage disposal cleaner pellets - cause we needed them.
• 2 pairs of maternity pants - mostly for my friend Dawn who was horrified at the fact that I only had one pair.
• North Face Backpack - this was part of the per-marital counseling. Andrew REFUSES to carry a diaper bag, and said that only a North Face backpack would do. (This was also our way of getting out any spending we wanted to do because we now know it is a boy, so we bought one thing that we were planning to buy anyway, hopefully that will hold us off for a while. :)

I hope you enjoyed your random post for the day.

Bumpersticker of the Day

STUPIDITY

SHOULD BE PAINFUL

Save Your Pennies

Well to really understand the significance of this, let me just tell you about my obsession in high school. When I was in high school/college in Utah I worked as a waitress for two different restaurants. So, the majority of the money I made I brought home with me in cash. However, unlike all the other waitresses I wouldn't cash it in at the end of the night for a few big bills, I would bring it all home, quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. I LOVED the coins. I collected the state quarters, and I don't mean collected one from each state, or even one from each mint, I would collect EVERY ONE I GOT. :) I know, I was weird. After work every night I would come home, dump all the money on my bed and then sort our the quarters and place them in the proper baskets around the room, and I would separate the dimes, nickels and pennies into a container, and as soon as I had enough I would roll them and take them to the bank. (not the quarters, just the rest :).

Well, once I moved to VA, I no longer waitresses and didn't have access to all the change. I left my collections at home and didn't think about it until I was home planning my wedding. I finally gave in, rolled all my quarters, it was a sad day. However, I had over $600 in quarters and that money made up a large part of our first savings account as a married couple.

Well, fast forward 5 years. I no longer collect coins like I used to (I have relaxed, and am now a shadow of the obsessive-compulsive girl I once was), however since we do all of our budgeting in cash, we end up with lots of coins around the house, here and there. We decided that we would use the change to feed our addiction... Starbucks. Well, today I collected them from all of our little stashes around the house and rolled to my heart's content. The clerk at Starbucks looked at me a little funny, but I didn't care. "One hundred six?" "Yes" "One hundred and six" "Yes, One - Zero - Six."

So, the moral of the story you ask?? Save your pennies, because someday you too can use it to buy 30.28 tall Pumpkin Spice Lattes. :)

Bumpersticker of the Day

THE LAST TIME PEOPLE LISTENED TO A BUSH

FOLKS ENDED UP WANDERING AROUND IN A DESERT FOR FORTY YEARS

A Picture of our Future??

Last Friday, Drew & I ventured to the doctor's office for yet another visit. However, this time was more exciting that the last few we have had. I got to do more than stand on a scale, sit while they take my blood pressure (which is ALWAYS high, no matter what I tell myself because I always get worried, and if the nurse is mean or even abrupt it goes up even more), and all the other fun things you do at a doctor.... we had our first REAL ultrasound!!!

We were able to see the baby, wiggle, turn, wave, kick and generally having a grand old time. However, baby COMPLETELY REFUSED to move out of a head-stand position. No matter what the tech did, baby wouldn't budge. AND the wiggling was SO bad that she had a hard time getting measurements, and because of the head-stand position she was not able to get any head/brain/spine or heart measurements. Feisty little bugger. I just began to wonder how much of this performance is going to carry over once he is born???? If it does, we are in for a fun ride. :) Because of this performance, we have another ultrasound next month. Hopefully he will see the error of his ways, repent and cooperate next time. :)

P.S. Yes, I said HE. If you didn't get if from out last post (which was a little vague), we are having a BOY!!!

The (UN) Joys of Selling Your House

Well, there I was taking my sweet time getting anything done today (Wednesdays are my day off). I didn't get up until Andrew called and woke me up (after he had taken a shower, eaten breakfast, walked the dog and been to class) at 9. Since I only have 1 pair of pants, I started a load of laundry, showered and put my pajamas back on.

It amazes me how tired I am ALL THE TIME. Things I ALWAYS used to do fall by the wayside... everything from making the bed to vacuuming. It was all I could do to make myself breakfast - meaning I chopped strawberries and poured a bowl of cereal - and take the dog out. Andrew had a meeting 5 minutes away, so he came home for lunch at 12:30 or so. I actually managed to make scrambled eggs with potatoes and veggies, and slice banana bread (YAY ME!).

THEN... the phone rang. The call I dread... "Ms. Zetterholm, we have an agent who would like to show your home today between 1:45 and 2:45. Will that work for you?" In a split second I think about the fact that our suitcase from this weekend is sitting on the bathroom counter, and the bed isn't made, the kitchen is a mess, Ivy has eaten no less than 12 leaves on the living room rug (and by eat I mean munched and spit out), and I haven't vacuumed for 3 days so there is dog hair everywhere... AND it is 1:16!!! But in the same instant I think... these could be the people! I can't say no!! So I calmly answer "Sure."

And then begins the frantic mode... Pull out half-dry pants from dryer. Thank goodness for Andrew, he starts on the kitchen while I run up the stairs, pulling on my wet pants. Turn on all lights. Make sure shower curtains are pulled back slightly so they can see the tiled shower. Clean bathroom. Make sure there are no undergarments visible in the closet. Make bed. Vacuum. Hide IPOD & Jewelry. Dog in Crate. Purse. Phone. Keys. LEAVE. As I leave the development I glance down... 1:41. :)

So here I am, sitting at a coffee shop that has free wireless, longing for my couch...

All that to say... please pray that the house sells soon, so I don't have to run around like a pregnant chicken with my head cut off in wet pants.

Thanks for reading. :)

BOOMSDAY!

This weekend we escaped to Knoxville, TN for a 24-hour whirlwind trip. Our main reason for going was to go to the BOOMSDAY Festival for the fireworks. Yes, as I posted earlier, I LOVE fireworks, so it didn't take much for our friends Josh & Missy to convince us we needed to go. :) The fireworks are set off on a bridge, and this picture does not begin to do it justice. Maybe it was the fact that we were close enough to hear the booms and the music or maybe it was just that amazing, but it was probably the best fireworks I have seen yet. At one point they had little white fireworks going off every few inches across the bridge so it looked like a huge waterfall, and some were shot out of the water!

We also were able to visit Carson-Newman College where Josh & Missy met, they showed is their dorms, cafeteria and the location of their first kiss. :) We also got to meet a bunch of their college friends, which was great fun. It is funny how even though we went to different schools they have the same great friendships with their college friends that we do.

And finally, thanks to our amazing secretary, it was all made possible, because she babysat the monster for us. (She has two monsters of her own, so Ivy was off and playing within minutes).

We also managed to squeeze in a date night and two dinners with family this weekend. It was a full, but great weekend!