Merry Christmas!!

From our family to yours! Oooh, I forgot how long it's been since I've posted a picture of the kids. Mr. Peanut had to get glasses! Funny enough, he could have gotten a monacle (just like the actual Mr. Peanut), considering he has Anisometropic Amblyopia, which means he has diminished vision in one eye. Funny that I've never thought of that before! He does excellent with them. Most of the time...

Christmas Card Holder "Tree"

For years now, I've been receiving Christmas cards and had no idea what to do with them. Put them on the fridge? Clutter City! Stick them to the wall? No thank you, I prefer not to repaint each year. So mostly, I just show them to the fam and then they sit in a pile for a loooooooong time because I can't.get.myself to throw them away!!

I knew this year was the year I was going to do something about it! I started looking on the interwebz and happened upon a simple cardboard triangle, covered with fleece and ribbon to make a memo board. Never being the one to do things simply, I talked to J-dub the Hub and came up with a plan.

He cut a simple triangle out of a 2'x4' piece of pressboard. I covered it with an identical size layer of quilt batting and then a layer of fleece that overlapped enough to pull it around and staple it to the back of the board.

I ran to Joann Fabrics to buy ribbon and happened upon THE MOST ADORABLE trim in the whole entire planet--little Christmas light bulbs!! It was actually 100% what I had hoped for, but didn't actually think existed!

I grabbed another two pieces of trim because they were adorable and I would find a use for them someday--stockings and gingerbread men--and meant to grab plain green rick rack (forgot it), and upholstery tacks (Hallelujah! I remembered those).

I realized when I got home that I was missing the green rick rack, which I was going to use along the sides and bottom of the "tree." Listen folks, I know myself. If I had waited to get this done until I went back to get the green rick rack, it wouldn't have gotten done. Period. So I made the decision to use the super cute (and much more expensive) stockings and gingerbread men just along the two longer sides of the triangle.

I pinned the two sides of the triangle (hereafter called the RRR because both trim had red rick rack) to the fleece and J-dub the hub and I started the light bulb trim on the bottom. After folding the ribbon on the trim, we pounded an upholstery tack (using a tack hammer--imagine that) through the light bulb trim and the RRR. Then we put the lightbulb trim at an angle that looked good and tacked it down on the other side to the RRR. We measured up 12 inches from the trim on the OTHER side and cut, folded, and tacked the ribbon. We repeated the same process until we got to the top of the tree. We decided to leave some room at the top so we wouldn't be crowding the cards.

To finish it, we pounded in a tack at the edge of each point and stapled the RRR behind the board.

We think it turned out great!! BRING ON THE CHRISTMAS CARDS PEOPLE!!

Birthday Beer Can Chicken

There's something decidedly obscene about Beer Can Chicken. I can't help but guffaw every time I look at that poor chicken with a beer can shoved up its hoohah... *snort*

However, the moist deliciousness of the chicken is enough to overlook how weird it looks to have a chicken sitting straight up in your oven.

Today is Jdub-the-hub's birthday. He had to be out of town for work today, so we celebrated this weekend. The menu was fantastically trailer-trash, if I do say so myself. Yuengling Chicken, Dijon Roasted Potatoes, Peas, homemade vanilla ice cream, and.....

wait for it....

TWINKIES! Yes, my husband requeted Twinkies instead of birthday cake. The ease factor of making the cake for him--rip open box, rip open plastic, set twinkies on plate, and insert candles--was fantastic.










Beer Can Chicken

4 lb Chicken, washed and thoroughly dried
1 Tbs Kosher Salt
1 Tbs Dark Brown Sugar
1 Tbs Smoked Paprika
2 tsp Black Pepper
1 can of Beer

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Make rub by mixing salt, brown sugar, paprika, and pepper together in a small bowl and set aside. Be sure chicken is completely dry on the outside or your rub won't stick to the chicken. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the rub inside the chicken and then cover the rest of the bird with the rub.

Open your beer can and drink about 1/3 of it. Yummmmmmy. We used Yuengling and it was AMAZING!!

Now comes the fun part. Stick that chicken on top of the beer can with the legs and the beer can acting as a tripod. Giggle a little, then bend the wings back so it looks like the chicken is crossing its arms behind it's non-existent head.

Roast for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until a thermometer stuck into the chicken's thigh reads 165.

Go turn on some Nascar (just kidding hubby), cut your hair into a mullet, and ENJOY!

Midge sure loves her Daddy. And so do I.

Welcome Peanut

Isn't he the cutest little Peanut you've ever seen??

I have to admit--boys are harder. Not just in the "peeing on Mommy is fun every time she opens my diaper" way, but also in the non-froofy non-flowery newborn picture ideas that aren't sports-related sort of way. I had the photo session all planned out for our second little girl that I was convinced we were having, but when little "Mister" Peanut entered the world, I was stumped! I decided to hop on to Etsy to try to get some inspiration. After lots of searching, I ran across what are called baby cocoons. PERFECT!! If I could find one I liked in a tan sort of color, it would look like Peanut was a little peanut!

I finally found the perfect one at Becky's Baby Crochet and decided to email her on Labor Day to see if it was going to be possible to get the cocoon in time for the appointment I'd already set up for Friday. She was quick to respond, was SUPER nice, and told me it would be no problem to get it to me on time, even with the holiday! To my photographer friends, you MUST go look at her adorable photography props!! I was more than pleased with my purchase and stunned at the amazing service she delivered!

Now, on to the birth story! I had a follow-up appointment with my OB on Friday morning, August 27th, to once again check my blood pressure and to see if I had progressed at all. I had been checking it at home and I knew they weren't going to like it, but I wasn't sure what my Doc would want to do. My OB practice is made up of seven doctors and you choose a primary, but you see all the other docs throughout your pregnancy because whoever is on call at the hospital when you deliver is who delivers your baby. I love all the doctors in the practice and the way it works is really nice, but you do get differing opinions from different doctors sometimes.

My bp was pretty high when the nurse took it and I went in to change and wait for my primary OB. When he checked, I hadn't made much progress from when I was discharged on Tuesday, but I asked him to strip my membranes and he agreed it would be good to try to move things along. He decided to set up my induction for a week later, my due date, just in case I didn't deliver before then. He left the room and I could hear him on the phone, calling the hospital to schedule the induction. He stopped right in the middle of his sentence and said, "Is this her blood pressure TODAY???" The nurse said yes and I heard him say, "Never mind," to the person he was speaking to on the phone. The door opened and he told me to go to the hospital because I needed to have the baby soon. It wasn't an emergency, but there was no sense it waiting until it became an emergency.

We took our time getting to the hospital, as I already know that induction is not usually a zip-a-dee-doo-dah super-fast process. Around 1 p.m., I asked the hubby to drop me off at the hospital and spend the day with Midget and take her to our neighbor's house around 7 p.m. and then I'd let him know what he needed to do once I had a better handle on what was going on.

They decided to use a Foley Bulb Catheter to help me dilate. I'd never heard of it, but they insert the catheter behind the cervix wall and then use saline to inflate it. When it has done its job, it simply comes out. They inflated it and hoped that it would get me to 4 cm in about nine hours. At the three hour mark, they checked and I was at my goal mark, all with relatively little pain. At one point, I even began to have regular contractions at about 5-6 minutes apart. I told my husband to stay at home, but to remain on standby.

Unfortunately, they didn't establish well, so the docs went back to the drawing board and decided that I needed to start pitocin. I'd heard such awful things about pitocin, so I was hoping to avoid it, but that wasn't going to be the case. At 11:30 p.m., they started the pitocin and I expected things to just happen instantly, but they didn't. I told hubby to catch some sleep and that I'd call him again when things looked like they were going to start moving along.

I was still sleeping quite well and they were increasing up the pitocin about every 30 minutes, but I wasn't really getting much further along. At 3 a.m., they decided to break my bag of waters and continue increasing the pitocin. About two hours later, things really started moving along. I called my husband and asked him to head down.

At about 5:30 a.m., I was at 6 cm and was finally beginning to have some fairly painful contractions, but they were manageable. An hour later, that all changed, when I began to have some weird kind of nerve pain that felt like FIRE shooting down the front of my right leg. I could handle the contractions, but the nerve pain was unbearable!! I tried every position and birthing prop in the known universe, but wasn't getting any relief. The doctor said most likely, the baby was somehow pushing on a nerve. Around 7:30, I asked for an epidural.

Thankfully, the anesthesiologist was in the next room and came over within a few minutes. They decided on an Intrathecal epidural (sort of a combination spinal tap/epidural), since I was already at 8 cm. It was unbelievable how fast it worked and how WELL it worked! Within seconds, the nerve pain was starting to fade. At this point, all I wanted to do was sleep, but the baby had other plans.

The doctor checked me right after the epidural and said, "WOW! You are fully dilated and ready to push!" I barely heard this between my snores, but I was glad the last two cm went in just a few minutes.

Less than thirty minutes later, they were all yelling out, "It's a boy!!" and my first response was, "Are you sure??" When they turned him around, sure enough, there were his little baby bits!!



Speaking of baby bits, Peanut was getting his first bath at the hospital when Midget walked in to meet him for the first time. She asked Daddy to pick her up and right away said, "LOOK!! He has a BIG pee-pee and I have a LITTLE pee-pee!" Silly girl!





Midget is completely enamored with her baby brother! She can't quit smooching on him and even three weeks later, asks to hold him at least 9 million times a day! She's relatively gentle and has only attempted to throw him once. She was holding him when her favorite tv show (Phineas and Ferb--yes, she's a strange 3 year old girl) ended and she was displeased so she literally started to "throw" a tantrum. Thankfully, we were sitting on the bed and I was right next to her, so Peanut was fine.




Peanut is doing really well. He is nursing like a champ and is the NOISIEST eater I've ever heard. The little porkpie has already gained over a pound from his birthweight and he's only three weeks old. He's a pretty good sleeper, usually going from 11:30-ish to 5:00-ish at night, so I don't feel like a total zombie. This kid is also a champion pooper! I can't believe how many diapers he goes through in a day. Every time I change him, he poops again thirty seconds later... *le sigh*

Challenge Check-in and My Amazing Hubby

Well, week one of the Eat From the Pantry Challenge is over and I'm pretty proud of the progress I made. I took a trip to the grocery store and spent $20 and a few cents. I completely underestimated just how much dairy I'm going to need to eat while pregnant--the equivalent of one whole QUART of milk per day! I'm going to keep my budget at $65 right now, but I will mostly likely go over on dairy.

This week, I will have to purchase at least one staple--flour. I used the last of my flour last night making bread, and the flour is much cheaper than buying the bread itself. I can buy one loaf of bread or an entire bag of flour, which will make 12 loaves of bread using my recipe. Hmmmm, that's not a difficult choice.

Here's where I'm at on my meal list. I added two meals from my backup list because my husband asked for them.
Broccoli & Ham Quiche (mix is already in the freezer), salad
Homemade Veggie Pizza & Salad
Chicken Pot Pie & Cut veggies
Chalupa (pork and pinto beans already in freezer) served over shredded lettuce with tomatoes, avocado and Spanish Rice
Turkey Sausage & Eggs Florentine scramble
Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs, Salad
Italian Wedding Soup, Homemade Bread
Turkey Tacos, corn
Crockpot Beef Roast and Veggies
Shepherd's Pie, salad
North Carolina BBQ Pork, Homemade Coleslaw, served on Buns
Spicy Pork, Vegetable Gumbo Soup served with Rice
Turkey Burgers, Oven Fries, Green Beans
Philly Cheesesteaks, Sweet Potato Fries
Hoisin Pork Stirfry (includes veggies), Rice
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole, Peas
Turkey Chili, Green Beans

Speaking of my awesome husband, look at what he made for Midget!

It's a learning tower! She can use it to wash dishes, help Mama cook, make cookies--all kinds of fun stuff that I used to put her on a chair to do! These sell for nearly $200 and he was able to make it for about $60 in materials. It could be done even cheaper, but he wanted to use oak to match our cabinets. Midget loves it so much and put it right to work washing dishes!






Speaking of Midget, I've barely put any Midget pictures on here lately. Here's an adorable picture of her while she was washing dishes.

Merry Christmas!

Here's to Twelve Years Together

Fiesta!!

One of my favorite bloggity buddies, Dr. Wifey, talked about needing new dishes a few days ago. I am always quick to jump in and recommend my everyday dishware, Fiestaware, by the Homer Laughlin China Co.

We registered for eight place settings of Fiestaware for our wedding waaaaaaaaay back in 1997. Since then, I've added five place settings and various pieces of serveware. I'm even more in love with my Fiesta than I was when I chose it!

OF COURSE SHE TOOK MY ADVICE--because I am the Queen of dishware!

Have I ever told you that I have six or seven different sets of dishes?

I don't.

Okay, I do.

I used to make fun of my Mother because she had umpteen millions sets of dishes. Now I'm pretty sure I have more than she does. Ooooops!

Look how handy my multi-color Fiestaware was when we were dying eggs!















Even though it's beautiful, the Fiestaware wasn't quite able to steal the show from these two !

I Have a Problem

My new camera takes such good pictures that I take a bazillion pictures. I have the hardest time narrowing down all these pictures into posts!!

I really have to start getting more posts up! Number one reason--I miss all my bloggy friends! I tried to catch up on all your blogs last night and I have to apologize if I didn't leave comments. I tried, but after a while, my eyes started crossing, I posted my comments on the wrong posts (more than once), and I had to give up. I managed to read all of them, but I completely ran out of words.

Number two reason--I got an email from an advertiser on my page whose name rhymes with SchmogSchmer nudging me to get some posts going!! I guess tough love works, eh?

Just to give you an example, I took exactly 100 pictures when we did our little backyard egg hunt (I took one out to make it equal numbers in the collage).

The Best Hubby EVAH!

Have I mentioned I have the best hubby ever?

Before he left for Massachusettes last week, we had a conversation that went like this:

Hubby: I have an assignment for you this week.
Me: What? (rolling eyes)
Hubby: I want you to clean your closet out.
Me: Okay. I have an assignment for you this week.
Hubby: What's that?
Me: [expletive] off.

And.....SCENE.

I couldn't help it!! He totally set himself up for it! Don't freak out on me people--he knew it was a joke.

What on earth is wrong with my closet???

Who cares if I still have all my work suits hanging up, even though it's been a full YEAR since my last day at work. And who cares if my maternity clothes are laying all over the floor, even though I haven't worn them since before Midget was born nearly EIGHTEEN MONTHS ago. AND who cares if I have four out of the five laundry baskets in the house piled with said maternity clothes and dirty clothes to wash??

Errrr, maybe I ought to clean out my closet... But, just to be a rebel, I didn't do it last week while he was gone. " )

Fast forward to Tuesday morning, when Hubby was walking out the door to go to North Carolina.

Hubby: I have another assignment for you this week.
Me: Yeeeeeah, because last week's went so well, right?? (sarcastically, of course)
Hubby: I want you to blog this week.
Me: *gasp*

AAAAAAND--Scene!

So not only did he buy me a new camera, but he wants me to blog??


Hmmmmm, methinks he's going to ask for a new TV...

Ughhh and WOW!

It's official. I have my first cold in three years. I am lucky to have a pretty good immune system, but once it gets knocked down--it's down for the count. So what that means is I can expect at least two or three more colds in the next few months. I guess I should be thankful I didn't get sick a few months ago or I'd really be screwed.

On a much more exciting note, hubby surprised me with a present when he arrived home on Saturday. A NEW CAMERA!! Now it isn't a fancy DSLR like I was looking at, but it is a high end point and shoot and is a solid camera that many professionals carry when they don't want to lug around their heavy duty equipment. Take a look at this sexy beast!













I'm really looking forward to learning the ins and outs of this camera and maybe by the time the Black Tie warranty runs out in four years, I'll have learned how to shoot in manual mode. Then I'll consider getting a DSLR. I like the fact that it takes great pics but doesn't weigh 30 pounds and if I hand the camera to Grandma and ask her to take a picture she won't faint from confusion.

I took a few pictures of me today with my new camera so you could see just how crappy I'm feeling. BUT I nearly had a hernia when I looked at how good of pictures my new camera took!!! Trust me y'all. You would be scared...

Merry SITSmas!!

It's SITSmas at The Secret in the Sauce!! That means giveaways every hour, a GRAND PRIZE of a $200 gift card and featured blogger, and a neglected midget and house. Let's just say the pizza place will appreciate my business three times in one day...

I had a hard time just doing one SITSmas card, so I did a few. Most are from last years pictures. ENJOY!

 
 
 



























Here's some of my SITStas I subscribe to! Wouldn't you like to be one? haha Sorry if I missed any of you others! I need to conserve energy for all the SITSmas fun!
Deanna
Heather
Brandy
Kat
Aubrey
Bar-b
A Thorn Among Roses
Live.Love.Eat
Lulaville
Annike
Angela at My Dogumentary
Nanny Goats in Panties

Leave me a comment so I can come visit you!!

For those of you blog-hopping, Everything but the Kitchen Sink is next!

Husbands are Irritating...

First, have you entered the GIVEAWAY yet?!?! Only one more day left and it's a doozy!!

So Amy at Living Locurto has asked us to share something that our husband won't get rid of that irritates us.

Well, considering that I am quite persuasive, my husband doesn't have anything left that I didn't like! But here are some items I have made him dispose of.

First, the pickup he drove when we met in 1993. This isn't the exact pickup, but it is close. It was a brown 1984 Nissan pickup with a flatbed. The bed had rusted out, so my husband made a flatbed on the back. It had a gold cattle guard on the front and was just ugly. Seriously, this guy is lucky I still fell in love with him when he showed up with it on our first date.

Next was his embarrasingly large collection of bolo ties. I laughed and laughed and laughed when I saw them. Then they miraculously disappeared. I'm such a bi**h sometimes, it's sad...

And finally, his GI-NOCEROUS snaggletooth. In the little town he grew up in, the only dentist they could get to come in was a quack. Honestly, he was a quack! No dental license or training! I would have asked to see his diploma after he put that monstrosity in my mouth, wouldn't you?? It was almost an inch longer than his other tooth and wasn't even close to the right color.

So just to even the score, I'll show you something that really pisses my husband off about me--giant boxes of random stuff!

This first box is full of random clothes, a dog purse (carrier), some little shelves, a few books, and some other random items. If you look closely at the book, you'll see it's called, "It's All Too Much. An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff," by Peter Walsh, who Amy wrote about a few days ago. Guess I haven't read the book yet, huh?












Oooooh, look at that cute scarf! That's going upstairs with me!

Next is a box of stuff that I pulled out of my Chevy Malibu when I wrecked it in January of 2007. Ummm, yeah, that's pretty embarassing...

And this one, which is filled with small plastic bags from the bank I worked at. What could possibly be in those bags? Hmmmmm, various body sprays, pictures, and what?? Awesome! I forgot about these too!! I bought them for a special event we had at our bank, but I'll get lots of good use out them, starting right now!

This is my Ronald McDonald scary clown look.

Hello, Bride of Frankenstein!! Does your hubby have a snaggletooth?

This my Tina Turner "what's love got to do with it" look.

Scary Goth Girl. Actually that one's kinda cute...

Can you say, Redneck Mullet??

And finally...

My Cher impersonation. I know! I TOTALLY look like her!!!

Meet My Husband...

A new read of mine, Living Locurto, has declared today is "Meet My Husband" day, so I decided to play along. Without further ado, heeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!


Too bad ladies...He's all mine!













And yes, this actually is my husband. He's going to kill me for posting this, but he can consider it retribution for asking me 1.) if I was just about done with my blogging phase and 2.) if I could be a housewife instead of a houseblogger. Paybacks are a b***h, aren't they, honey?