things that should be obvious

1.) 800mg ibuprofen from the doctor is no different than taking 4 over-the-counter 200mg ibuprofen tablets. NO DIFFERENT. What is the matter with people?

2.) Quitting your job and filing for unemployment benefits because you think you can make more money on unemployment than having an actual job is not a wise thing to do. Because now you are jobless and have been denied unemployment benefits because you quit your job, thus disqualifying yourself. Idiot. I think it would be great to sit at home all day long and watch the Food Network and get paid. But guess what? That is not the way the world works.

3.) My parents are good people.

4.) Job interviews should be enjoyable for both parties. And it's never going to end well if the interviewers aren't welcoming in the first place and fail to even so much as introduce themselves by name.

5.) Family is super important. You should spend as much time with them as possible. You never know when they won't be around anymore.

6.) If you are pregnant, acid reflux will be a part of your life. I thought I would be different. I was wrong.

7.) I don't feel or look pregnant. I just feel and look fat.

8.) Going out for New Years Eve is overrated. Eating tacos, however, is not.

9.) 50 First Dates is the best Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie. I like it better than The Wedding Singer.

10.) Homemade cookie dough is much better than store bought. Too bad raw eggs and pregnancy do not mix.

obligatory year in review

Nobody likes to talk about January or February. January is when you make New Year's resolutions. February is when you give up on them. January has consistently been a bad month for me. In fact, this past January, my grandpa passed away. Part of me died as a result. I don't like to talk about it. So, we'll start with March.

No, I take that back. One good thing happened in January. I pretended to go ice fishing.

March:

-We bought a new bed. A Tempurpedic Cloud. So far, it has totally been worth the $2500 we spent.
-I tried making Flan. I failed.
-I remember getting really sick in March. I remember it being so bad that they gave me narcotics. I don't remember much else about that.
-I caught Salem trying to have sex with Kola. In the kitchen. While I was cooking food. We had guests. It was embarrassing.

April:

-I went to the dentist. They discovered that I had a cavity. My only cavity in 27 years of life. I felt like a failure.
-Someone hit my car in the parking lot at Petco. I was angry about that.
-Husband got a root canal. I got my legs waxed.

May:

-We started house hunting. We didn't end up buying a house, by the way.
-Watched the Brewers lose to the Cubs. So what else is new.

-Planted a pineapple.

-Sold the lake house. :(


-Was attacked by a wild turkey while driving.

June:

-Made a lemon-scented yogurt cake
-Made homemade oatmeal cream pies
-Laughed upon finding out my father in-law bought a metal detector and tore up his back yard
-Bought a lot of plants. Did a lot of gardening.


-Spent over a week in Las Vegas. Found Area 51. And ghost towns. And found myself again.






July:

-Moved into a new place

-Husband spent two weeks in Georgia for work, leaving me here to rot
-Made crepes
-Got pregnant

August:

-Made pineapple upside-down cake

-Made homemade lemonade. And cupcakes.


-Picked raspberries


-Got caught in a rain storm
-Ate orange sherbet
-Found a sunflower field

-Attended the Minnesota State Fair
-Lost our baby.
-Found lake superior

September:

-Felt sorry for myself a lot. Went on drives.

-Started a million projects. Didn't finish any of them.
-Made veggie lasagna
-Reunited with pumpkin spice lattes
-My town was flooded by rain.

October:

-Drank a lot of coffee
-Ate soup
-Decorated the house
-Went to the apple orchard

-Enjoyed the weather
-Had a birthday

November:

-Got sick a lot
-Found out I was pregnant...again

-Got promoted at work to a permanent position - yay!
-Made bagels
-Dad got hit by a car. By someone's grandpa.
-Had Thanksgiving. Threw up Fritos.

December:

-Fell in love with Pop Tarts. And Nutella. And cheese. Darn you, pregnancy cravings.
-Celebrated husband's birthday.
-Dug out the Christmas tree.
-Had a massive snow storm before winter even officially began


-Saw baby #2 for the first time!

There you go, that's my year, in a nutshell. I'm sure that more things happened, but I don't remember. Do you know how hard it was to try and remember all of those things? I'm not even positive if it's all correct. I did the best I could. Maybe this next year I can keep better track of things. That's not a New Year's Resolution, by the way. I don't do those anymore.

things i am in love with (in no particular order)

Dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate Lindt Lindor Truffles.

White hot cocoa.

My husband

My fur hat

My cat

My bird

Cheese

Arm warmers

Italian food

The Toy Story trilogy

Yummy smelling body wash

Our new Garmin

Our new blu ray

You.

seafood and cookies

That's typically what entails Christmas Eve with my family.


For who knows how many years now (13+), we eat Christmas Eve dinner at Red Lobster. It's a bizarre tradition and I don't even know how it started. I'm thinking the first time it happened, it was a spur of the moment decision due to poor planning and not having anything to cook for dinner, and being late while the stores were closed, we drove around town looking for something other than fast food. And behold, Red Lobster was the only place open. We do it every year now. It's really the only time we eat there. Seafood is way too much for us to eat on a regular basis. It's really not good for you, so we do it once a year, as if it's okay. You know that a lobster's closest relative is the cockroach, right? Well, it is. Along with all the other sea bottom dwellers. So we try to only eat insects once a year.

I had coconut shrimp. My dad had lobster. Husband was good and had salmon. Brother had walleye because that's all he ever orders. I forget what my mom ordered...and my uncle and his son had the Admiral's Feast which included all the different sea bugs. Lobster, crab legs, scallops, shrimp. Oh, we also had crab stuffed mushrooms and lobster artichoke dip. I don't care. It was really good.

I couldn't have my usual martini that I like to order, so I ordered a virgin mudslide. Mainly because I was craving chocolate. I don't really like how the bartender made it. Why would you substitute pina-colada mix for Bailey's and Kahlua? They're not even remotely close. Just throw some ice cream in there and chocolate syrup. It tasted funny, but oh well. I wish I could have had the regular kind. I have to find some non-alcoholic Irish cream and coffee liqueur and then my life will be complete. Let me know where I can find these items.

After dinner, we went to my mom and dad's house and opened gifts. We normally do one gift on Christma Eve and then the rest the next morning. But this year we did them all on Christmas Eve and we'll do stockings this morning. Mainly because it's difficult to coordinate with the fact that we also spend time with Husband's family who live 20 minutes away - but I don't know, we just wanted to do them last night. So we did. Presents are always nice, but I just really enjoy spending time with my family. My mom and dad surprised us with a new Garmin. I'm so pumped. I'll never get lost again. Unless (according to a friend of mine), if I am like Michael Scott, and then I'll end up in a lake. She has a point. A few years ago when I drove down to Madison to take a state exam for a probation and parole position with the Department of Corrections - I stayed in a hotel close to the DOC main office. I didn't know how to get there, but all was well because I borrowed my mom and dad's Garmin. It was going fine until it told me to continue going straight through a construction zone which was barricaded off. I was a total idiot. I should have just turned and had it recalculate, but I was so confused so I just went through it. I have a SUV and it can pretty much handle anything as long as it isn't some deep pit or something. I had to get out and move a barrier in order to drive through. People may have stared. It took me right into the parking lot. Then I noticed that I could have just turned left before the construction zone, went around the block, and ended up on the street that ran parallel to the parking lot. Also, it would have taken me to the correct door also. So, the Garmin (and any GPS device really) is a great thing to have, but you don't have to take it literally. If it tells you to go into a lake, don't go. Just keep driving and it will give you new recalculated directions. I'm really stupid. I like to think of myself as a smart person, too. So it concerns me how many people out there who are actually dumber than me who own these. I'm sure that at least one person has ended up in a lake.

I also got a sweet fur hat, a cute pink maternity sweater with a hood, and the Toy Story trilogy, which rocks my world.

Today we'll be hanging out at my mom and dad's for a bit. Church had a Christmas program this morning and I didn't get up early enough to make it. It started 10 minutes ago. I was exhausted last night and got to bed way too late. My uncle is making prime rib for dinner, which we do nearly every year and it's so good. He makes it kind of rare though so I'll either have to take an outer piece or sear mine in a pan because I think pregnant ladies have to eat thoroughly cooked meat. I don't care. I just want something to eat horseradish with. We also have potatoes. And pie. Oh yum.

I think we'll visit Husband's family later tonight, weather and roads permitting. Tomorrow we'll spend time with Husband's family as well. I'll be cooking Italian. We'll be having lasagna and appetizers, and opening gifts with them.

The holidays are nice, but I don't like the aftermath. Putting away the directions is a huge pain in my butt, and then my house just looks bleak while the outside is covered with snow. Christmas lights and wreaths and sparkly things make the snowy outside feel special. Now it's just going to look like a barren wasteland until April. It's going to be a long three months.

I'm planning a little shindig for New Years Eve. Since I'm pregnant and tired and boring, I'll be inviting people who will appreciate the fact that the party will end at 8pm so that I can go to bed. This includes my friends Amy & Nicole who will bring their husbands and their little kids. Nicole is pregnant and Amy doesn't drink, so the fact that we'll be toasting 8pm with sparkling juice will be of no issue. We'll eat some food and play some boardgames and watch our husbands drink a beer, and then everyone will go home and I will go to bed. It's going to be fun.

I believe Husband and I will have our Christmas at this point too. He and I aren't exchanging gifts this weekend, mainly because we couldn't afford to get each other anything. I get paid on Thursday, so we'll have some extra, and we'll get each other something little. Something LITTLE. I know what I'm getting him already. I feel bad because he went and got me something already which I told him not to. He got me a bunch of my favorite chocolate. He said it's not a big deal and just wanted to get me a little something. I sort of wish he hadn't because I didn't get him anything and now I feel guilty. But I do appreciate the creme de menth meltaways, the Ferrero Rocher, the dark chocolate Lindor truffles, and the caramel bars. :)

I hope you all had a great weekend so far. :)

tis the season...

...for crappy drivers.

Husband took me to a coffee shop after work. I wanted to pick up some last minute stocking stuffers for the loves of my life. I also wanted to get a white hot chocolate. Oh yum, by the way. You should totally try one.

It's snowing. Husband did the thing that we harp on people for...making your own parking spot in the middle of the parking lot when you can't see the lines. Really stupid. But I support him. He is my husband, and he was angry that someone else took the spot near the door that he was eyeing up.

So we get our stuff and come back outside. we see a lady in a Camry (or something similar) with the front end stuck in the snow. It looked as though she tried to bypass the parking lot and get out to the road by driving through what is actually a huge grassy area. Only, it's covered with 2 feet of snow, so I have no idea what she was thinking. She was STUCK. We're nice people. Naturally, husband offered to try to push her out. It wasn't working. I went inside to ask for a shovel. The barista looked at me like I was a shovel thief and he refused to allow me the use of a shovel. Rather, he said he would be out shortly to help. Fine, you shovel Nazi.

I go outside to see that some old man with a SUV had appeared and just happened to have chains. I see my husband face down in the snowy parking lot on his belly trying to attach the chains to the Camry's undercarriage. Then I see him stand up and he's filthy wet. Why does the young guy always have to get dirty? So the other dude tries to pull her out with the chains. She still has the car in park. Husband tells her to put it in neutral. Old man tells her instead to put it in reverse, pressing on the gas to aid in getting unstuck. He does not, however, tell her that once she is free to immediately brake. This is assumed, assumed that she's smart enough to know. Well, she does not break once free, and continues to fly backward and just barely hit the guy's SUV. Luckily she was at an angle so went alongside instead. But all was not over. She was still attached by chain, and then the car and SUV were sort of whiplashed by the chain that attached them both as she continued to fly backward while the SUV remained stationary. The old man became angry and started swearing and yelling, "What the hell are you doing WOMAN?!" I thought that there was going to be some sort of fight. I signaled to Husband that maybe now would be a good time to leave. But then the old man calmed down, sort of. He caught himself when he saw that the lady looked like she was about to cry. He screamed in her face, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!! IT'S OKAY!!!" I've never seen someone yell and grit their teeth while trying to contain their anger and smile. It was weird. And I just stood there in the blizzard and watched while drinking my hot chocolate. Yes. It's blizzarding, again.

My house smells like poop and I don't know why. I'm worried that my cat left a secret santa gift somewhere for us to find it.

We received our Christmas cards in the mail today. Late. Christmas cards for people will be late. Oh well. They are worth it. It's probably the worst picture of us ever. We're wearing fur trapper hats and standing in the blizzard from last weekend.

Now that I'm grown up and about to be a parent myself in a few short months, I've realized that all of the "cool" parents during my childhood were actually just really bad parents.

The other day I was bored. In case anyone was wondering, a watched pot does boil.

I saw an advertisement that said, "Follow Jell-O on Twitter." Awesome, because I've been wondering what Jell-O has been up to lately.

Also, if a ceiling fan could hold my weight, I would never be bored again.

And finally, my aunt sent me coconut cookies. From Guam. I'm so excited to eat them, you don't even know!!!! :)

ice cream thumbprints

I like ice cream. I like cookies. I like cookies and ice cream together. Why not make cookies that have ice cream IN THEM?!?!

My point exactly.

I signed up to do a cookie exchange at work, which I now regret, because I don't feel like doing it. But whatever, I'll make these since they are easy and awesome.

My mom used to make Christmas cookies a lot when I was a kid. There were these particular cookies that I really loved. They weren't too sweet, they were flaky and light and just super unique and good. She didn't like making them because it made her hands cold. So she stopped making them. But guess what. I found the recipe and I am making them now. JOY!!


I tried for years to find it on the internet and couldn't find it anywhere. Which I don't get because it's the easiest recipe ever. This leads me to believe that I am one of the few that actually have the recipe (now that I have located the cookbook that my mom used). My mom bought this cookbook back in 1991 when we lived in Colorado. It was a local thing and there were only 5,000 copies printed. I'm so excited that my mom gave it to me. It's filled with unique recipes like Pineapple Squares, Homemade Andes Mints, Angel Food Cookies, Almond Ravioli Cookies...there's even a recipe for French Waffle Cookies where you use a waffle iron. Amazing.


So this is also where Ice Cream Thumbprints came from. And now you get to be #5,001 to have the recipe, because I'm going to share it with you.

Ice Cream Thumbprints

4 cups flour
1 lb butter (the recipe calls for margarine but I used butter, because margarine is gross)
1 pint ice cream (I used Haagen Daz Five Vanilla Bean)

Mix together with hands. Hand will get cold. Stick with it. Roll 1/8 inch thick. Cut with round cookie cutter. Make thumbprint. Fill with spoonfuls of red raspberry preserves. Bake at 375 for 19 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.


*I didn't roll these. Instead, I pressed into a mini ice cream scoop and made the thumbprint in that once it was on the pan.
**I used organic apricot fruit spread

Three ingredients. Amazing cookies!!

randoms before I take a nap

If you are a Facebook friend of mine, I will either hide you or delete you if you continuously post your political opinions as your status update. I seriously don't care about all of the things you disagree on. I pretty much disagree with a lot of the views my friends have but I don't care. I'm not going to clog up their news feed whining about it and I'm not going to argue about it because it really doesn't matter. I'm sorry you hate republicans. I have nothing against liberals, but I do get annoyed with people like you who won't shut up. Go lobby somewhere else. If you were a close friend of mine, I'd totally tell you this to your face, but I haven't actually spoken to you in over 10 years. Maybe I should just delete you.

And to go along with that, quit complaining about how you don't agree with Don't Ask Don't Tell. Why is it that the only people who whine about that are not even in the military to begin with? Seriously. Just...shut up.

We have a lot of random food at our house, but nothing to make a complete meal. At least not without creativity, which I don't have right now. So, we're having scalloped potatoes for lunch. From a box. And Husband is making them. :)

Husband didn't know the difference between scalloped and au gratin potatoes. And, neither did I. But I found out what the difference is. Scalloped potatoes are basically cooked in flour, butter, and some sort of white sauce. Au gratin is French, meaning, "with cheese." So if the potatoes have cheese, they are au gratin. If not, they are scalloped. You can add cheese to scalloped potatoes, but then they become au gratin. Now you can die knowing you have become aware of this difference.

My baby brother is coming home from San Diego today to visit for a couple of weeks. Only he's not so little. And he's covered in tattoos. That's okay.

My clothes are uncomfortable. It didn't help that I had a tummy prior to getting pregnant, but now my clothes are tight. I wore maternity pants to church today. And it was comfortable.

Please stop spelling thing wrong ON PURPOSE. I'm not a perfect speller, but I don't misspell things ON PURPOSE. Stop typing Lyk dis n typing 2 ur peeps dis way cuz ur lyk 27 yrs old. Srsly.

Hot cocoa is at the top of my craving list. And I haven't had Oreos ONCE this entire pregnancy. How weird is that?

Our electric bill was over $200 and I don't know why. It's always freezing cold in this house and we never leave lights on. *sigh*

I still want a milkshake even when I'm cold.

Nap time is the best time lately. I can't wait!! :)

hi kermit.

Today I am 8 weeks and 2 days pregnant. We had an ultrasound today along with my first official appointment. They took like a liter of blood from me (it seemed) and went over a bunch of other stuff. All is well so far with me and baby.

I'm still paranoid of course, but I do feel a little better than I did. To know that Kermit the Ice Climber is doing well so far makes me feel better. When comparing the ultrasound from Dinosaur (baby #1) to Kermit (baby #2), Kermit looks much healthier than Dinosaur.

The black stuff is all fluid. See how Kermit has much more, and is much larger than Dinosaur? Also, Kermit's heartbeat is 167 and Dinosaur's was only 124. Dinosaur's ultrasound was right around the same time as Kermit's as far as their "age." Poor Dinosaur. :(

My heart still hurts and always will, for Dinosaur and who he/she would have been. But it's okay. I hope that someday I will get to meet Dinosaur. But for now, I have Kermit and Kermit looks alright so far.

Why Kermit? Because it looks like Kermit.


You don't see it? Well, I do.

Also, you may or may not find this funny. Maybe you will find it gross. At work today, I went to the bathroom to go pee. I pee often. After I was done peeing and I was wiping, in a bizarre turn of events, I started peeing again and peed all over my hand. It was without warning and I was really confused and couldn't control it. Fricken awful. Good thing nobody was in the bathroom. But now everyone knows since I just told the story. Whatever. Like you've never peed on yourself.

I'm extremely tired. I need a nap.

dreams and such

Nightmares galore. I know it's only because of the pregnancy. That tends to happen.

Last night I had a dream about what I think was zombies, but I'm not sure. The more I think about it, the more I think that the people were just cannibals. I was on some sort of camping trip with people that I didn't know. Some of them had pit bulls. There was my old high school, and I was running through it, hiding from people with guns. I don't know why they had machine guns, because they wanted to eat me. It was seriously morbid.

The night before, I had a dream about Christopher Walken. He was the angel of death and he was flying around chasing me. I kept grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him backwards, but then he just slowly drifted back toward me and kept chasing me. I woke up to find myself punching the air. Then, strangely enough, Husband woke up with some sort of injury on his tongue. As if he had bitten his tongue in his sleep. I am worried that I may have hurt him without knowing it. I feel terrible. In the same dream, I watched some guy kill himself. I was flying...you know, like Superman. I was chasing him as he was driving his car up north. He was taking the same road that you'd take to get to what used to be our lake house. I think I was trying to stop him. He pulled over on the side of the road. I flew down and landed by him. He pulled a handgun out of the swamp, and shot himself in the face. It was horrible. Then all of a sudden, he turned into Pauly D from Jersey Shore.

Still dead of course - and it was apparently Pauly D the entire time. Gross, I can't stand that guy. All through the dream though, I thought it was a friend of mine from grade school. I wonder what ever happened to him...well, whatever. The dream was horrible.

I barely slept last night. It was 1am before I actually fell asleep. I remember seeing the clock after 2 and 3 as well. I woke up every hour to pee. I am so excited to sleep tonight.

Literally, I feel terrible. My hormones are out of control. I am mad all the time, or I am happy. It's like I'm bipolar or something. And my boobs hurt, really bad. REALLY bad.

We had pizza today at work. My boss made these pecan bars. They were really good.

Husband is sweet. He drove to my office today just to bring me my chapstick because I forgot it. I love him.

I need a milkshake.

cake fail. and meatballs!!

Look at this cake.


I want you to think about it for a minute. It's terrible. I'll talk about it shortly, but I want you to just look at it first.

I had four hours of PTO to use up otherwise it would disappear forever. Actually I had 12, so I took this last Friday off and then today I left early and used the 4 hours. I always have high hopes for activities I will do while on my day off. You know, really make the most of it. Today the plan was to come home and start a great dinner of giant meatballs - you know, the homemade kind where you sear them in a pan and then put them in a slowcooker for like 6 hours so they are super perfect and good by the time dinner rolls around.

It didn't happen. I came home, put on my penguin flannel pajama pants, ate a Nutella sandwich, and went to bed. I slept all afternoon. I woke up a few hours later after Husband came home around 3:30. I was still too exhausted to do anything that involved anymore than pressing buttons on a microwave. Husband cleaned the kitchen. Then we shared a romantic bowl of Ramen before he left for his night class. I also ate some leftover Texas Caviar with some Fritos. I'm a great wife. I'm paying for it now though because I really feel like I'm going to vomit. I don't know if it is from what I ate or the fact that I did go ahead and prepare those meatballs so he could at least have them later. All of a sudden, the smell from the meat is making me sick. And I still have to go back in the kitchen and throw them in the oven. Seriously, I might actually throw up. This first trimester has been the bane of my existence but I still haven't come right out and puked yet. Tonight may be the night. If so, that's sick. I don't want to puke up Ramen noodles and beans and bellpeppers. Sick.

But, you should still consider making these meatballs. I promise they are good. I know it's not enticing when I talk about puking and then telling you to make this food, but I promise it will be good.

I didn't take a picture. But I will. Later. When they are done.

It's A Meat-a-Ball!

1 lb ground meat (I used venison but you can use beef or whatever)
1 egg
Breadcrumbs (I used Panko and I think I used about a cup & a half)
Spices (I just used Oregano)
Vegetable oil
1 jar of yummy tomato sauce

Okay - I normally don't use sauce from a jar. But this stuff is organic and it's got basil and oregano and stuff, hence why I didn't add more to the meatballs. If you must use sauce from a jar, please use good quality stuff. Not nasty Ragu that they serve with school lunches. Unless you want your dinner to taste like dog food.

Combine the ground meat, egg, breadcrumbs, and spices. Use your hands. They are your best kitchen tools. :) Form into nice sized balls (haha, balls) and place them on a plate. My one pound of meat made 9 balls. Maybe that will give you a visual since I'm a jerk and didn't take pictures for you.

In a fry pan, heat oil on medium-low. Place meatballs in there and sear the outsides. Pre-heat your oven to 350. Put the seared meatballs in a casserole dish (they won't be cooked through - just seared at this point). Pour your jar of sauce over them and put the cover on. Unless it's plastic, then don't. I have a glass cover. Use foil otherwise. Don't be dumb.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Or, alternatively, you can lower the heat to like 315 and leave it in there for a longer time...like an hour and a half. Or, you can put them in a slow cooker and leave it in there for a few hours. That would probably be way better. You can eat them with pasta. Everyone loves pasta. Especially me. Unless you're some freak who hates pasta. Probably the same person who hates coconut.

So now, husband will come home later and if he's hungry he can have a semi-home cooked meal. Notice I didn't say semi-homemade. I don't want to be associated with Sandra Lee from the Food Network. Have you ever watched her stupid show? It's ridiculous and all of her food is a total joke. If she can have a cooking show, there is no way I couldn't have one. But I don't want one. Nobody wants to watch a pregnant woman cooking in her pajamas. But apparently people do want to watch some lady put canned frosting on a store bought angel food cake and shove a bunch of taper candles in it and sprinkle it with corn nuts. I'm not kidding. I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.



Worst. Cake. Ever.

While we're at it, let's see how to make a Hannukah cake for all of our Jewish friends. I can't think of one Jewish person who would eat this.

snowed in.

BRR.

The snow stopped. We still are stuck at home though. Our landlord promised us that part of our rent included snow removal. So why then is it 2pm and our snow has not been removed? Our sidewalks have not been plowed nor has our parking area. At least we have a one-car garage which lets us store one of our vehicles. But what about the other one? The parking area is totally covered with over 2 feet of drifted snow. We dug our SUV out of the 7+ foot drift it was buried under in hopes that would allow for them to plow the area with ease; however, they have not come. My husband used the shovel we borrowed from my parents to shovel a tunnel from our back door to our garage, so we have some means of escape if necessary. Our front door is unreachable though. The snow drifts are up to the front windows. I was able to open our front door and clean off our porch, but that's it. I'm not touching the sidewalk. So our front door is inaccessible. My poor evergreen tree was covered. I cleaned him off. I hope he can survive. All in all, this is why everyone should own a good shovel, whether your landlord promises snow removal or not. Because sometimes people do not follow through. Then again, if the snow removal guys are stuck in their homes as well, I can't really blame them. I hear the city hasn't plowed residential streets yet. That's nice. And not everyone owns a SUV. Even so, those get stuck too. It happened to us yesterday in front of my parents house. 4-wheel drive and we got stuck in front of the driveway. I don't want to talk about.

Poor Max. Yesterday he buried a bagel and then couldn't find it. Then he got stuck in the snow and did not know what to do.


I made pancakes this morning. Homemade pancakes. Have I posted the recipe for the pancakes? I know I've made them before. I didn't take a picture. My camera is in my car, which is outside in the bitter cold. But here, make some pancakes.

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons melted butter

Sift the first 4 ingredients together into a bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add the egg, milk, and melted butter. Mix together until incorporated. Using a measuring cup or something, drop onto a heated and oiled/buttered skillet. I don't think I need to tell you how to cook the pancakes.

I added chocolate chips to half of the batter and made chocolate chip pancakes.

For the other half, I added cinnamon swirl. Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Add cinnamon to make a thick cinnamon liquid and swirl it into the pancake batter. SWIRL, don't mix. Then drop onto the skillet. They are pretty and end up tasting like cinnamon toast crunch. Oh yum!

I am wearing a fur hat.

I pulled the blinds open and wasn't paying attention to where my hand was. I ended up smashing my finger onto one of my cactus plants. Two pokey cactus things then dug deep into my right index finger. I spent the last 25 minutes trying to dig them out. I got them out. But I almost cried. It was difficult. It hurt, and I had to use my left hand to do it, and I'm not left handed. It's my own fault for having cactus though.

Kind of like those people who keep dangerous pets. Have you ever watched that show on Animal Planet? It's called Fatal Attractions. No, it's not a biography about my past relationships, although it sounds that way. It's about lunatics who keep dangerous animals as pets. Like the lady who was obsessed with venomous snakes. Among many deadly snakes, she had a Gaboon Viper.


This snake's venom is a hemotoxin, meaning that once bitten, the prey will bleed from every orifice in its body, which includes vomiting up blood. A human will die within 15 minutes if not treated with antivenom. And who would just have this antivenom on hand? This snake is from central Africa. This snake has venom glands which produce the largest quantity of any venomous snake in the world.


And the lady on this show was letting it slither around on her living room floor while she cleaned his cage. Then he bit her and she died in a pool of her own blood.


Who wouldn't want this as a pet? I mean, why not? Wikipedia says that bites are rare because the snakes are relatively docile and are not aggressive; they are sluggish and unwilling to move even when approached, and won't bite a person unless they get scared when accidentally stepped on. Kind of like how a guy ignores you when he's watching football and only responds if you take away his snacks or the remote control. So yeah, despite the potential for danger, this would make an excellent house pet, especially around young children.

Well, as much as I want one, I have cacti instead. Those are dangerous enough, as was demonstrated earlier when I was attacked near my Christmas tree. I don't know. I think that my cat and my exotic bird are dangerous enough. Fred has sharp talons and a strong beak and he will bite you if you anger him. My cat is vicious and plots my demise on a regular basis. She has tried unsuccessfully to cause me to fall down the stairs to my death by running in front of me when the lights are off. I have enough to worry about. I don't need a pit viper threatening my life as well.

goodmorning, snowflake.

We're in the middle of a blizzard. We're supposed to get 20+ inches of snow. It's really pretty. I tried to take a picture of it so far, and it didn't turn out....but it's a really pretty picture anyway.


I don't feel comfortable going anywhere today that is any further than a 1-mile radius. My travel options are the grocery store (if necessary) and my parents house. I hope I can make it over to their house at least because I promised Max we would build a snow fort this afternoon. He deserves a dogloo and he can't do it himself.

I've been up since 7am with nausea. I don't like this part of being pregnant. I ate a Nutrigrain bar and that didn't do much. So, I just made a grilled cheese. So far so good. I hope that the nausea goes away soon. I can't really move until then. Moving seems to make it worse. I really want hot cocoa. Husband is still sleeping. So I can't even ask him to help me with that.

I might bake today. Chocolate chip cookies. Yum. I have all the stuff. So hopefully I can feel better soon so I can do that. I could make banana bread too. Double yum.

I took a picture of myself the other day. I have decided to take progress pictures of my tummy. I know if I don't then I will wish I did. Thing is, I'm not skinny, so I'm worried about just looking fat. Oh well. I don't have to show anyone. I don't think I'll be one of those girls who gets maternity pictures taken. Some of my friends have done that and they turned out really nice. But they looked cute. I don't think I'll look cute.

Speaking of photos...I happen to love Awkward Family Photos. I love even more that they have a pregnancy category. These are definitely awkward, and not very flattering at all. Enjoy.

If it looks skeezy without being pregnant, the baby bump isn't going to help.


Um...I'm just going to go with a solid 'no' on this one. Some may say that this is proof that a man can, too, be supportive.

There are so many questions.

At first I thought, "nothing symbolizes maternity better than a watermelon and a gun." And then I thought, "actually, nothing DOES symbolize maternity better than a watermelon and a gun."


A fertile man that provides for his family. What more could you want?


Who painted this terrible picture?


Those poor children.


I appreciate what you are trying to do here, but if it looks like there is a porn soundtrack in the background, you might want to reconsider.


Nothing symbolizes fertility better than a garbage bag dress, a swamp, and the guy's black socks under water.


He'll always be in the picture.


She went looking for a new set of tires, and she got so much more. It's going to be a very Goodyear.


Maybe I've been watching too many zombie movies, but it looks like they're eating it!!!


What a great place for morning sickness. Or, a picnic.

She plans to give birth while doing a plie.


I'm confused.


If I am holding the baby, why do I still feel so fat??


Wow, you're in great shape and I've gained 60 pounds. Let's take a picture of it. You're a douche.