Knitting

The wrap is in time out. In the meantime, I've cast on for this dress. I'm using my Moda Dea TuTu, and size 6&8 needles..I hope it come out nice for Natalie! I'm making mine a top instead of a dress. If I had a freakin camera that works I could show you the first 13 rows that I'm so proud of :) But you'll have to wait. I know, I know. The suspense is killing you, right?!

Foodie Friday

No Bake Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups white sugar
* 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup margarine
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 pinch salt
* 3 cups quick cooking oats
* 1/2 cup peanut butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a saucepan bring sugar, cocoa, margarine, milk, and salt to a rapid boil for 1 minute.
2. Add quick cooking oats, peanut butter, and vanilla; mix well.
3. Working quickly, drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper, and let cool.



I think these have to be my favoritest cookies ever! I made some a few nights ago....we (Mal, kids & me) managed to eat all but 5 in one sitting :) MMM!

Life is good...

I'm sitting here, watching Friends, feeling the baby kick like crazy, and Natalie is stuffing socks in my bra and sniffing me.

I love it :)

That idiot Kanye West & My baby brother :)

Kanye in Wilmington

Scott works for and attends UNCW. His boss called (with Kanye) and asked him to drive Kanye around town today, show him some surf shops, and just hang out. My brother, who hates this man as much as I do, said "fuck no!". I'm so proud of him :o)

Cast On!

Lookie here, I just cast on and knit the first row for the Rainbow Boucle Wrap KAL. Go me!

Foodie Friday Again!

Peanut Blossoms
Ingredients:

* 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter or REESE'S Crunchy Peanut Butter
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

We have a penis!!

It's a BOY!!! Baby Sam (his name for the moment!) was very proud of his boy parts, and displayed them for all to see :) The ultrasound went well, but they're having me come back in a few weeks for another one. Sam was too wiggly, and they weren't able to properly measure all of his organs and such. Also, (as I suspected) they changed my due date to Sept. 9th- which means that D will be home!! Previous due date was August 20th, and D is scheduled to be out for all of August.

WHOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

:)

It's Ultrasound Day!!

Whoohoo! I still have two more hours before I have to leave, and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself! I'm so excited! I really hope this kid cooperates, so we can learn the sex. It would make planning ahead so much easier! Fingers crossed for two of everything that needs two, and ten of everything that needs ten :)

It's twins!

Our little outside birdy is now a momma! I was washing dishes and got to see momma feeding the tiny little things, and then poppa bird came for a sit while momma went off to eat. How stinking cute they are! As soon as I locate my camera, I'll see if I get another chance to snap a pic. They are very protective parents :)

Foodie Friday

I love mediterranean food. Absolutely freakin love it! Here is one of my favorite recipes for chicken-instead of rice, I serve it with a big bowl of hummus and whole wheat pita wedges. YUM!!

Ingredients
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) reduced-fat condensed tomato soup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 (2.25-ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
Nonstick cooking spray
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 cup sliced zucchini
1/2 cup thin red or green bell pepper strips
3 cups hot cooked rice

Blend soup, water, raisins, olives, garlic, basil and oregano in medium bowl; set aside. Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add chicken; cook and stir over high heat until no longer pink in center. Remove from skillet.

Add zucchini and pepper to skillet; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; stir in soup mixture. Return chicken to skillet and cook until heated through. Serve over rice.

Nutrients per Serving
Calories 441
Calories from Fat 21 %
Total Fat 10 g
Saturated Fat 2 g
Cholesterol 69 mg
Carbohydrate 57 g
Fiber 2 g
Protein 31 g
Sodium 880 mg

Sisters are the bestest

It's a quarter to 11pm, and Mal just jumped into her car to fulfill this pregnant womans craving for a bean burrito with no onions and a frosty :) Mal ROCKS!

A little bit of funk....

The good kind, nothing stinky around here :) I'm nearly finished with the back of my pillow, and finally remembered to snap a shot of the front:



Just a simple granny square, but I like all the different textures and shades of brown. I've used mohair, chenille, cotton, and several acrylic blends. I like it! I also finished up two baby blankets recently, as ordered from a friend:



Nothing too complicated there either, but they're cute nonetheless. See the cone of brown chenille in the corner? Thats the back of my pillow!

Let me introduce you to our new pet:



She made herself a little nest in my seedling tomato planter a little over a week ago (thankfully I hadn't planted in it yet!) and I'm pretty certain she has an egg in there. She just chills all day, doesn't care that the kids are running and playing right next to her (she's in the window sill in my backyard). Maybe we'll have a baby bird soon!

On my way to take a picture of the bird, I was accosted by two half naked photo hogs. I'm not quite sure what those poses mean, but they got a kick out of it :)

Who knew...

That you could bond so well with your kiddos over some instant pancake mix and a hot griddle!? We had a fabulous time making pancakes this morning, and a big old mess as well. Pancakes are like an addiction in this house, and so we only make them every so often, to savor the moment :) Does anyone else put peanut butter on their pancakes? D tells me this is weird, but my whole family does it. It's delicious!!

I finally remembered to call for my ultrasound appointment yesterday. Surprisingly, they were able to see me in 2 weeks, instead of a month! I'm pleased.

Made it over to DoD today. Let me just say...love it. I love the fact that it's going to be a much smaller group. It's much nicer when you are able to get to know everyone, instead of wading through a million posts by people you've never heard from before.

Thats all for now...I'm waiting for the manager of Subway to call me back about my complaint. Mal picked up two veggie delights for us for lunch, and when we unwrapped them- they were the saddest sandwiches I've ever seen. So I'm complaining. We better get new sandwiches out of this crap. Don't mess with the pregnant womans Veggie Delight! grrrrr...

Some random cuteness....

Say Goodbye....

To C'ville. Gone are all my sidebar links, and I'm leaving the ville as soon as my SP commitment is over. SP's have turned out to be such a disapointment, but I don't want to ruin it for my gal. I've turned in my request for DoD, and hope to be up and running there soon.

Edited to add:

I do know that there are plenty of fabulous people left at C'ville. Case in point, although I haven't been the most active poster of late, I received a RAOK in the mail today from a thoughtful member. It's just the few rotten people that are really spoiling it for me. I can't stand to see how Donna is rehashing the fact that certain people left, she brings it up in every freakin post she makes. It's making me more nauseated than usual. But big thanks to Carol, your postcard made me smile today :)

Yarny Goodness

I finally found a Dollar Store in my area that had some Bernat Frenzy! I was in heaven. I picked up 20 balls total, 10 orange and 10 light purple. I plan on making a funky little throw, all for me :)



Add this to the Paton's Evita I got on Saturday, and I'm totally tickled :)





(I forgot to snap a pic of the 3 skeins of VooDoo I picked up as well)

Not only did this Dollar Store have the Frenzy, but they also had two colors of Velour (pink and purple)! Mal picked some up to make a baby blanket for our new cousin- Miah was born two days ago! I have some Simply Soft in light brown, baby pink and white, and I plan on whipping out a star shaped afghan to send her.

D and Mal's man Devonte (aka Te, he works with D) left this morning for their 2 month deployment. Sigh. I swear the next two months better fly by. I'm pissed because D is going to miss my ultrasound (which will be in roughly a month, if I remember to call tomorrow!!!) but Mal and the kids are coming. I'm just glad he got to see the baby on my first ultrasound, and I'll be sending him copies of the scan.

Didn't get a chance to spend my Pier1 card today, poor Mal isn't feeling top notch. So we'll leave that for another day, something else for me to look forward too :)

Sunday

Ah, Sunday. Day of sleeping in (at least for as long as the kiddos will let me!). It's been such a relaxing day. I'm still in my pj's, and I'm planning dinner. Finally got around to opening my mail (this sometimes takes days) and discovered my MyPoints reward arrived. Very quickly! I redeemed my 6000 points, earned painstakingly over the last year or two, and got a $50 Pier1 card. I can't wait to splurge it all on their mint scented candles.

I'm in the process of putting together another box to send my SP. I bought a box of Ferrero Rocher to send her, and now it's sitting next to me, open. Missing three pieces. It's a freakin mystery! :)This is my first round of SP, and probably my last. I've become less and less impressed with C'ville as the months go by, and I know many people out there who feel the same. It's pretty sad, because the community has such potential, and a few bad apples are spoiling the whole thing. Sucks.

I'll have to stick some batteries in my camera later and take some pics..I'm working on a pillow for my Mom's bday- granny square style, using chenilles, mohairs, cottons, etc. in varying shades of brown. I rather like it. We're celebrating bdays (Mom, Dad, Sis and Bro) at Easter, since we'll all be there. Well, all but D. He leaves tomorrow night for a 2 month deployment. Sucks again.

I'm thinking of chicken wraps for dinner. With whole wheat tortillas and hummus...LOVE me some hummus! Off to defrost....

Does anyone know...

Where to find a "blank" moses basket? I know of several designers on ebay who make fabulous ones, but I'd rather like to create the linens myself. Let me know if you know where I can find just the basket! :)

Today is a good day

Mal and I went in search of yard sales this morning- alas, it started raining and there were none to be found. We decided to go out to breakfast instead (I managed about two bites, but at least didn't throw it up!) then hit up Target. I grabbed King Kong and found some knitting kits on clearance for $2.50...bought them for the groovy yarn! Then we ran over to the Dollar Store, because I had heard a rumor that they were carrying Bernat's Frenzy. No Frenzy to be found, but believe it or not they did have yarn. Patons Evita in greens and brown/black blend, and Patons VooDoo in brown and black. I bought 4 of each, I think they'd make rather nice scarves for next fall. They also had some rather cute mini snowglobes for Easter. Don't know if I've ever mentioned it here, but I'm an avid snowglobe collector :) I don't have a crazy amount, but I'll take a pic someday to share.

Mal left for work a while later, and Natalie and I went out to get lunch for everyone. While waiting in crazy line at Hardee's, I was getting rather irritated (this happens more and more frequently as my pregnancy progresses!) When I noticed the most beautiful magnolia tree straight ahead..and took a moment to savor the beauty instead of fuming about slow ass fast food. It was nice :) Now we're waiting for D to get out of the shower, and we're headed to see Ice Age 2 with the monsters. It looks cute!