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!! :)