A Lot of Randomness

1. Cravings this pregnancy:

• Soft serve ice cream
• Coke, preferably in cans. 
• Handi-snacks (the Aldi knock offs)-something I had always thought was completely disgusting previously. They taste really good with a cold Coke.
• Frozen fruit, yogurt, and granola bowls. I eat this every. evening. before bed. 

2. Orion's is starting to form sentences! He asks, "Where is it?" and "Where is mama/dada?" He also responds, "I don't know" or "There it is!" 

2b. He also brought me the book Grandpa Loves Me to read to him twice yesterday. It was the only book he wanted me to read and I thought it was pretty cute because not only is he a totally daddy's boy lately, he really has been loving on both his grandpas. 

3. I got pretty angry last night over some stupid things (due to lack of sleep the previous night I think) and was laying in bed, fuming, trying to fall asleep. I thought Mike had went to the living room to hang out, which made me more upset because it was maybe 11pm. After about twenty minutes I realized he had been next to me the entire time. Whoops. I woke up this morning feeling better.

4. Anyone whose favorite color is not green after this past winter is out of their mind. 

5. It's hard to find something to talk about when around a bunch of people who are part of yacht clubs and like to drink wine. Whew. 

Post Mother's Day Bliss...

Ahh, Mother's Day.

It was nothing like the average Mother's Day you see women having, with breakfast in bed and presents and maybe even some alone time spent somewhere not at home...

No, Mother's Day was pretty much like a Monday, except someone else made the coffee (twice, because the whole beans we had for the French press apparently had gone rancid). After breakfast, Mike went to work removing the carpet from the nursery, so I took Orion to run a few errands. We went to Lowe's for exchange a faulty can of spray foam and then to the grocery store for bottle return. After arriving home, Orion and I ate lunch. Mike was still super busy and the area he is working in was unsafe for kiddo, so I took Orion for our walk and then he went down for a nap. About the time we got back Mike was finished with that project and once O was asleep, he made me a hot dog (shh) along with his chili dogs for lunch and we ate in the sun room, watching the birds. Then we were going to start working on replacing the brake pads and rotors in my car.

It took FOREVER (the rotor screws were rusted in, a common problem with Hondas, according to Google). By the time Orion's (two hour and fifteen minute) nap was over, we had completed one wheel. So, I hung out with Mr. O while Mike continued working. We played outside where we could watch him work for quite awhile and also watched Muppets Take Manhattan on Netflix together.

After Orion and I ate dinner and bedtime was taken care of, I went outside to help with the final tire and clean up from the project. My car stops much better now! So I'm grateful for all the hard work Mike put into getting the job done and saving us money, even if it was a labor intensive project. Shouldn't have to do it again for a few years!!

I totally blanked on updating the "What We Ate" post this past week. I got three days in and by now I've forgotten. I know the cupboards are e-m-p-t-y now and last night's dinner was homemade pizza with practically no cheese, so it won't be exciting whatever goes into our bellies tonight.

This morning Orion and I got out of the house because I was feeling anxious due to a gurgling toilet I thought was fixed (when the washer was draining the thing went nuts). We went to a free indoor play place at a local church. Fun was had, but I thought some of the kids were quite rude. No one wanted to play with the "baby" and he was treated as quite a nuisance. It made my heart hurt a little. Next time I'll try to plan ahead and invite a mommy friend and her kiddo, who is Orion's buddy.

New flowers spotted on our most recent walk:

Oh! Orion's 18 month well check went...well. Mike said it was more of a "See, everything Mike has been saying is right is right" check. I guess I concur. He said Orion weighted 27lbs on our scale...he weights the same on the doctor's scale. It's okay if we give him a small pillow now. Etc. His height is 31 1/2 inches, which Mike didn't know and jumped up from 11th percentile to 20th!  Our pediatrician has FIVE boys and he said Orion looks great! Orion actually cried when he left the room because he had been having so much fun with his check up. The nurse said that was the first time she had ever seen that happen :)
Only one shot this visit and he was very brave.
Love our boy.

Blogs I'm Smitten With

I've been very bad about starting new books lately. Everything on my kindle seems rather stale at the moment, even those huge novels that have great reviews just waiting for me to dive in. Maybe it's the change in weather that is leading to a loss of focus? At any rate, I've been reading some delicious blogs lately instead. Here are a few of my favorites:

Orangette

I am so late to this blog, but I've just finished reading the entire thing from start to finish. I first heard of Molly after reading her book A Homemade Life. She writes about food and life in a warm, realistic way that I connect with. Hearing her speak about food in her podcast, Spilled Milk, just made me fall more in love with her because you can tell her passion is true (I also am a huge fan of her podcasting partner, Matthew, who has his own site and books that are worth delving into--I've spoke multiple times about his book Hungry Monkey and how all parents should read it).

Cinnamon Girl

Beautiful photography of a dreamy (yet realistic) life on a homestead in Maine.

Witchin' in the Kitchen

I love the focus on seasonal produce and ingredients. I wish I lived in DC so I could be involved in the food swap as well! How wonderful it would be to host something like that around here...

Happyolks

I am still reading through this one, but it is gorgeous. Another recipe blog.

In Which I Talk (a Little) About Things Other Than Food

Looking back over my last few entries, gosh, I write a lot about food...

I suppose it is one of my main interests, however. There will be an 18 month update on Orion coming soon, I promise. He doesn't turn 18 months until the 11th.

Today we played outside for a little bit and it was very nice and sunny in the front yard. We took off our sweaters pretty quickly! I swept pine needles and leaves while Orion investigated leaves and played with his soccer ball. Having that little gated area in front of our house is so useful for quick trips outside with him!

Back to food: I really want to start documenting the things we eat with photographs. Alas, I am very lazzzzzy about blog photography and cannot be bothered to take pictures with my fancy camera and spend time editing them etc etc like serious bloggers do, so if you follow my Instagram, you will find most the pictures I post to be old hat. Oh well.

 Heidi Swanson's Summer Linguine, made with gemelli pasta. 

This pasta is so. delicious. 

Second pan of Cranberry Sugar Cookie Bars I've made this week.

The first pan mostly went to people at Mike's work, who I hear swooped in on them like vultures.

The second pan was to take half of to a church gathering and the rest are for me...and Mike. And coffee.

You don't get the recipe, sorry. 

 Some new flowers to report in the yard! 

It breathes new life into me every time I spot something flowering or blooming in our yard or even in other people's yards when we are on our walks (although finding a flowering plant in your own yard is a wee bit more exciting)! No clue what this bush is, but I am sure I will find out. I know there is a landscaping map somewhere that was left by the previous owners who paid someone to plant all these crazy beautiful things. 

Well, the forecast called for rain, and we held off on going for a walk because of it, but I would say we only got a light sprinkle, even though I did hear some thunder awhile back. Thankfully O was ready and willing to take his nap anyway. He let me read him the entire story of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom before he climbed into his bed, which has never ever happened! 

Now it still looks dark outside, but dry. So we will reconsider a walk upon his awakening. There was a house selling bouquets of daffodils about a mile and a half up the way the last time I went walking that direction earlier in the week. I hope they are still selling some because there is not much I love more than having a vase of cheerful flowers in the house...

Ate my first nectarine of the year today. Cannot wait until I can buy them by the basket. Also looking forward to the farmer's market opening. Next week I believe? 

Until next time, which will probably be another post about us eating stuff...

What We Ate 4/28-5/4

Meals made last week:

Monday:  Grilled hot dogs with leftover sides from Saturday's cookout (orzo pasta salad, mashed potato, broccoli casserole).

Funny story: I bought the $2 pack of hot dogs for the Saturday cookout in case we didn't have enough chicken, someone didn't like chicken, or the chicken got burnt/some other disaster. The chicken ended up being lovely, but Mike burned the crap out of these hot dogs. Glad we weren't serving them to guests!

Tuesday- Pork Stir fry- I used two packages of ramen noodles (without seasoning packets) and drained as the noodle component in this dinner as a mix up from rice and Mike went nuts over it. I'll admit, I thought it was pretty amazing and delicious too. Who would have guessed?!

I used this Soy Sesame Stir Fry sauce recipe, with a little less sesame oil and a tiny bit more soy sauce. Only thing I wish I had done differently was add more wilted spinach and maybe some broccoli to my veggie mix.

Wednesday- (another) Roast cauliflower served over penne pasta with Parmesan cheese and topped with a fried egg.

This went over EXTREMELY well and was a meal on the fly since I wasn't able to do my grocery shopping until Wednesday night. Mike said, "This is totally not something I would ever have thought to make myself, but it is delicious." The cauliflower was just as tasty as the first time and I already picked up another one at the store because I am not sure I am going to get sick of it soon...

Thursday- Crock pot tortellini meal 

I'm actually a little worried about this one now that it has been in the crock pot for two hours. I saw some not so positive reviews of it on Pinterest after putting it all together. Guess I'll be reporting back if it is a flop or not.

**UPDATE: This meal was capital "t" Terrible. The tortellini were soggy mush and the spinach wilted into some disgusting looking roughage. The sauce tasted okay, but I made the executive decision that the leftovers were just not worth keeping. Yuck! Huge failure**

Friday- Eggs in tomato sauce and fried polenta squares

I had tomatoes left over from something I had to use up. It was good, but I hate making polenta. Such a royal pain. Next time I'll use crusty bread, if I have a choice. Have to use what we have though.

Saturday- We were celebrating Mike's dad's birthday, so I didn't need to cook dinner! There were grilled kebabs and we brought home leftovers. Score!

Sunday- Thai ribs and roasted potatoes.

Finally! The ribs were not as flavorful as we remembered, but still tasty. I thought the potatoes stole the show, however.

All of My Feels on Everything

Making : a big fuss in my head over my dryer--it's making my clothes smell terrible and i'm worried the motor or belt is going.
Cooking : cranberry sugar cookie bars last night...all gone already, even the ones mike took to work this morning, so i am told
Drinking : the same ding dang reheated cup of coffee i've been nursing since 7am
Reading: i can't decide what book to read next, so i've been reading the entire orangette archives. 
Wanting: clothes that don't smell funny. some company today. sunshine and warmer temps. 
Looking: for closet door handles for the nursery.
Playing: lots of solitare on my phone. 
Wasting: energy worrying about the dryer since it can't be inspected until mike comes home.
Sewing: hahahaha. 
Wishing:  i had someone here to talk to. or that i had a person who knew about dryers who could look at it for free. also, that someone would bring me more eggs and vanilla yogurt. 
Enjoying: watching birds in our yard. i saw a goldfinch this morning. we also saw two fat bunnies. i am also enjoying all the kicking in my tummy and that O went down for a nap (super early, but he had been up since 5am).
Waiting: always waiting. 
Liking: italian salsa verde 
Wondering: don't make me say "dryer" again
Loving:  my husband and babies
Hoping: my parents are able to come visit next week, the nursery is finished this week, i get to nap this week sometime...
Marvelling: orion's comprehension and verbal skills 
Needing: a haircut, new church shoes, reassurance 
Smelling: phantom scents 
Wearing: grey
Following: the weather. i track it obsessively since this past winter of doom. 
Noticing: plants in the yard budding! 
Knowing: how to clean vents for toilets! learned that this weekend.
Thinking: about how to best utilize today since our routine is a little messed up. 
Feeling: glum
Bookmarking: http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/identify.html 
Opening: texts from mom
Giggling: