Weekend of Labor

No. I was not in labor, nor was I in the hospital for anything preterm labor related. But it was Labor Day weekend and all, and although I had Monday off from my job, the work was never ending.

My very pregnant self (T minus 9 weeks!) and D worked around the house ALL WEEKEND. No rest for the weary. We made at least two trips to the local home improvement store (because we can never get everything we need all at once) and then went out to dinner twice. The rest of the weekend was spent indoors slaving away on self-imposed projects. And oh, it would have been a beautiful weekend to have been outside.

Anyway...we were quite successful in completing our project lists and although I am still freaking out about everything we have left to do before we bring a baby home, we are both happy with the progress we made. AND we didn't kill each other! We worked at home together, on home improvement projects no less, and we didn't kill each other or file for divorce! We have truly matured.

Here are the things we have checked off our project list:

• Paint nursery - CHECK
• Pull carpet up in family room - CHECK
• Lay tile in basement - CHECK
• Clean laundry room - half check: all the laundry is done (except for the clothes and bath towels from the weekend) but I haven't organized the boxes yet and the tile for the foyer still lives in there
• Fold and put away all clean laundry - CHECK All eight (8) baskets full of clothes
• Organize closets - CHECK

We still have a lot left to do, but once the carpeting is installed (we should hear from them sometime this week) the rest of the list isn't urgent. At least I don't think it's urgent right now--I might feel differently tomorrow, or in 15 minutes.

And as I mentioned above, we also went out to dinner twice (one involving the most delectable of all desserts), both times with my parents. It was their 35th anniversary yesterday and we tried to take them out for dinner on Sunday, but they insisted on paying and then invited us out to dinner again last night and insisted on paying again. We obviously need to sharpen up on our 'grab the check' skills; but they did tell us to put that money towards baby items, so I guess it all works out. (?)

Oh, and D also made me scrambled eggs with ham and cheese on both Sunday and Monday. Love.

I hope you all had lovely weekends and found time to RELAX!

The Prettiest Q Ever

Unfortunately, the only digital puppy picture I have of Q makes her look fat and ugly. She was a cute puppy, I swear!! This was taken when she was about 9 weeks old in the bed Bro bought for her. The bed was later destroyed in what appeared to be a foam explosion (with tooth marks) but the tug lives on.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Q. She is so pretty and lovely and shiny. And look at those ears!

This is how I wish Q would sleep at night--all curled up in a ball. She looks so tiny, you'd hardly believe she's 65lbs.

Q in the trunk. No, we don't put her in the trunk; she loves the car and will do whatever it takes to get in.

Aw, Pretty Q!

I do love this picture of Q--she really is a good looking dog.

We brought Q home on Valentine's Day 2004. Adopting a puppy wasn't really the plan for the day, but as with all the great things in life, it happened all at once. It all started in 2000 when we made our own Valentine's Day tradition: we would take turns planning a Valentine's Day meal and/or excursion for just the two of us. In 2004, it was my year to plan. I intended to surprise D with a night at GameWorks, pizza and maybe a movie. I thought it would be fun and maybe he could teach me to play a video game or two. As we headed to Block E, he figured out where we were going and protested, saying that it wasn't fair that I planned the night out just for him and it wasn't something that I would usually do. Umm...that was the point...and I don't think that Anthony and Cleopatra at the Guthrie the year before was really for him.

So, my plan was foiled. As to still do something on Valentine's Day and not just go home to watch a rental, or worse, TV in separate rooms, I had to think on the fly of something that we would both enjoy doing. I came up with a visit to the Humane Society (we were close) and then making a nice dinner at home. Three hours later we had a puppy and were showing off our newest member of the family to my parents.

Q is our Humane Society Pedigree. She is mostly black with white tips on her toes and a slash on her chest. We adopted her at 8 weeks old, weighing in at 8 pounds. She was bow-legged and her ears were tipped just enough to give her attitude. We let that little girl rule our house with her puppy breath and wagging tail. Her name is derived from Cupid, for Valentine's Day. She had a slew of nicknames early on (Q-girl, Q-dog, Pretty Q, Snotty Q, Qt P2T, etc.) but now she goes by Q, Snot or Pretty. And she is just as snotty as she is pretty. Seriously.

Q now weighs in at 65 pounds and has the look of a black, smooth coated German Shepherd, if ever one existed. To see her run is something: she has a beautiful gate and a muscular build. We have no idea what breeds she is; vets, trainers and friends have guessed everything from the general Lab mix to Border Collie to Basenji. Q climbs trees, loves fish and only recently discovered the joys of belly rubs. She is a great cuddler, awesome jumper and a smart little devil with a truck load of crazy. We've been to our wits end and back with her, but we've enjoyed the ride and are glad to share our lives and our bed with her.

Happy Gotcha Day, Q!

Recipes of Christmas

KM's Christmas Baking

• Peppermint Bark (So easy. A great office treat.)
• Sugar Mint Cookies (I made this up last year because I made too much Peppermint Bark and left over sugar cookie ingredients. It's especially good for those that don't like chocolate but love mint.)
• Peppermint Patty Cookies (Credited to RA)
• Easy Turtle Candies (Credited to ex-Director who first brought them in to the office)
• Oatmeal Scotchies
• Baked French Toast
• Brown Sugar Bacon (The recipe request that inspired this post.)

Friends & Family Christmas Baking

• My aunt makes Swedish Toast every year along with Jifta (Great for the Scandahoovians!) She swears Swedish Toast is easier than biscotti, but I think it's just as time consuming to prep and bake. It's great for dunking, though!
• D's aunt long ago started bringing Tequilaberry's Salad to Christmas and Easter, now holiday meals just aren't the same without it.
• SIL made a pretty batch of Holiday Wreaths for others; I just asked for a huge blob of the stuff since these are some of my favorites and four wreaths just won't do.
• Another aunt of mine makes Russian Tea for all of the families each year. Although it's not really tea, it's a tasty hot drink. She would not give me her secret recipe, but said that the link is close.

KM's New Year's Baking

• Two years ago I started making homemade caramels to add to my goody baskets; this year however, the multiple snow storms and bad driving conditions did not allow me to buy the necessary ingredients. My dad made a little pouty face after opening the caramel-free tin so I promised to make them for NYE.
• Biscotti is the last on my list but the first in my heart, saving the best for last, if you will. My love of biscotti started at a young age when I would accompany my mom to the Grand Ave Dunn Bros as she held volunteer meetings and interviews. When I took my current job with the ever so convenient tunnel to Sbux, my love of biscotti hurt my checkbook. After learning to make Swedish Toast, I decided I could handle biscotti and set out to find my favorite twice baked cookie recipe. Along with a variation of Vanilla Almond Biscotti that lives only in my kitchen cupboard and not on my computer, this Vanilla Bean Biscotti is a treat that my mom and I both treasure. It is such a pity that D's family had never even heard of biscotti until I first made it, and even then did not delight in the crunchy, crumbly cookie that longed to be dipped and dunked in latte. Oh well, more for me.

Christmas Recap

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday spent with family--LOTS of family. And we're not done yet!

Here are just a few of the highlights:

• Biggest Ooh-aah gift: Pearl pendant necklace from D
• Goofiest moment: D and BIL telling stories from their childhood at MIL's family dinner--these stories are ridiculous and almost seem fictional, but everyone remembers them so unless it's a conspiracy I think they're true.
• Most wonderful/useful gift: Wrought iron bed from my parents--we are so excited for it to arrive!
• Yummiest food: Ham at D's aunt's on Christmas Day, wreath cookies by SIL and brown sugar bacon with my parents.
• Best gift given: iPod to my mom with pink ear buds

And yes, I did finish all of my holiday baking--well, the revised list of holiday baking after the snow storms prevented me from making it to the grocery story for more ingredients on Sunday night. What? I shouldn't procrastinate? Whatever. I made Oatmeal Scotchies, Peppermint Patty cookies, Sugar Mint cookies, baked French toast and baked brown sugar bacon. I plan to make vanilla bean biscotti and caramels for New Year's as those are mostly for my family anyway and we will likely spend the evening with them.

No Fun Latte

I love today. I've told you all before about my love of Wednesdays; so what makes this Wednesday stand out from the rest, you ask. For starters, I'm having the skinniest day I've had in months, I'll credit that to the sweat and tears I left on the elliptical last night and the lack of pop for several days. I'm also wearing a simple yet fantastic outfit, if I do say so myself: lovely ivory cashmere with just a bit of holiday bling and my favorite BCBG pumps (the ones you like Books). So basically, I feel like a million bucks and that's enough to make any one's day I'd wager. So the secret of today's marvelousness lies again in simplicity: I came in to work to find a Sbux gift card on my desk from a generous office Secret Santa. (We do not do Secret Santa in our office, but there are a few people that leave gifts around all the major holidays so I've narrowed it down to a few possibilities.)

Upon finding the gift card, I immediately planned out my day with a trip through the tunnels to the nearby Sbux. Not only are delicious goodies awaiting me at my destination, but just the break from the office is a treat in itself. As always, the barista was just the right amount of flirty and professional and prepared my Tall Decaf, Sugar Free Vanilla, Nonfat, No Foam Latte without mentioning that what I'm drinking is very far removed from actual coffee. Oh, I'm trying to give up caffeine by the way, or limit it at least. My favorite chai lattes are now going to be a rare treat.

On my way back to work with my No Fun Latte, I cherished the elevator ride up. The few moments of solitude--eyes closed, fingers laced around the cup, palms soaking in the heat--resting my body lightly on the hand rail were (and are always) completely rejuvenating. I might not have the caffeine buzz, but just the act of going to get coffee is sometimes all I need to feel relaxed and energized all at once.

Even though I love my 'coffee' drink, the Oracle does not agree. Behold the Oracle's wisdom:

Personality type: Freak
No person of sound mind would go to an EXPENSIVE COFFEE SHOP to get a drink WITHOUT CAFFEINE. Your hobbies include going to ski resorts in the summer and flushing $5 bills down the toilet. You are a menace to society.

Also drinks: Non-alcoholic beer

Can also be found at: Pools with no water

Not really accurate, but funny.

Pillowcases Full Of Butterfingers

First off, no, I am not wearing a costume today. I thought about purchasing a pair of spider web like tights, but I really didn't want to spend the $8. Cheap? Yes I am. I'm in all black, though. I'll pretend it's for Halloween.

I don't remember the last time I dressed up for Halloween. Last year we went to a costume party but D didn't tell me it was a costume party until about 10 minutes before we were leaving--I had just returned home from bowling and was racing around the house trying to find something decent to wear, I didn't notice his overalls and straw hat...anyway, I ended up wearing a black turtleneck with great jeans and my glasses. I called myself a 'city girl' to contrast his 'country boy' although I'm not sure what he was really supposed to be. Yes, I realize it wasn't really a costume and that there was nothing innately 'city' about my outfit. Whatever.

I'm going to assume that the last time I dressed up for Halloween was in 7th grade. It was during the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 (And why is the news still talking about this? The last 3 mornings all I've heard from the morning news is about the weather patterns back in 1991 and how this year Halloween will be nothing like it. Is that really news?) and my costume actually worked for the weather quite nicely. I was a baby. Lame, I know; but my pastel pink footy pajamas actually allowed for long underwear and I put on a silly ghost hat. I was like a baby on Halloween--even more creative! Or lame. Again, whatever.

Tonight I am bowling. I think I will dress up as a bowler since I've been so bad lately that I can't really call myself a bowler. It will be an awesome costume complete with bowling shirt, shoes and ball(s). I even have a wrist brace.

I remember having a lot of fun on Halloween with all of my friends going door to door, saying the traditional 'Trick or Treat' and then returning home with my pillowcase full of candy. The only thing I like better now is that I don't have to sort out all of the chocolate and try to trade for Smarties, Sprees and Starburst--now I can just buy the candy I like. And tonight one of my teammates promised me a bag of candy corn, so I'm set.