Bad Dinner

Today I had (or rather, still have) a headache. It started around 3pm and has just kinda lingered on like a bad hangover. Anyway, it was in full swing while I was making dinner (fajitas) and the bell peppers and onions were making me nauseous too.....so I wasn't cooking with "love" as Dennis likes to put it. He said he could tell because apparently I had left on the thin skin on the outside of the onion that never cooks and has the consistency of paper. He also said it was on the bland side, which makes since because I really didn't taste anything as I was making it. I felt bad, but being the wonderful husband he is, Dennis said that's just gonna happen from time to time and I make so many other good dinners that it really doesn't matter. Isn't he so sweet?! I think I'm making pasta tomorrow night so I know I can't screw that up! :)

Costco Cake

So the day before my horrible neck injury, I bought a birthday cake at Costco. I bought a white cake with an apricot filling. I read the label SEVERAL times to make sure I was getting what I wanted.....a WHITE cake with APRICOT filling. Anyway, I called Nancy on Tuesday afternoon to complain about my neck and ask how my questionable tortellini salad was. That was when she informed me that carrot or spice cake wasn't her favorite. Puzzled, I asked what she was talking about and she said the cake was a carrot cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so upset, frustrated, annoyed (you get the picture)!....and I was so glad I wasn't there because I probably would have been even more annoyed. So I called Costco to tell them about the incident and (thankfully) they said if I brought in my receipt they would give me a refund. On Saturday, I got my refund and ended up ordering another cake for 2 birthday celebrations on Monday at school. This time they got it right and it was wonderful!!!!! It actually was the first time dessert tasted good and I didn't feel like I wanted to yak it right back up! :)

As for Nancy's suggestion, I will start posting belly pictures as soon as it is obviously baby and not just a beer gut. :)

Baby Makes Three

Yup, it's true! Dennis and I are having a baby! I've known since March 7th which has made blogging oh so difficult! I'm eleven weeks and due mid-November. My original due date was November 11th, but the ultrasound I had at 6 weeks put me at November 19th. We are so excited!!!! My morning sickness began on Good Friday ( at the post office to be more specific). All of a sudden I felt like I was going to get sick all over the guy....luckily, it didn't happen. Working has been challenging especially since I didn't tell them until last week. My students must think I'm crazy because I'm always eating something while teaching to avoid (or get rid of) that horrible queasy feeling. The last two days have been somewhat better. I haven't felt as queasy and it seems to go away a little faster. But enough of that....I'm just so excited I don't have to keep this a secret any longer and I can shout it from the rooftops!!!!!

Pain in the Neck

Literally that is what I have....a pain in the neck!!!! I woke up Tuesday morning around 5am with a sore neck. Slowly, I moved my head to readjust it and then WHAM! I was in total pain and could not for the life of me move my neck!!!! Freaking out, I didn't move hoping it would settle down...but oh no. Around 5:30 I got up (which took like 5 minutes) and got an ice pack. I iced my neck for about 30 minutes and then tried desperately to get some sleep....that didn't work out so well. The alarm went off at 6:30 but I couldn't reach it to turn it off. Finally, I scooted over far enough to turn it off and realized there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to go to work. Annoyed at having to use a sick day, I told Dennis the news. Then I realized, I WAS IN CHARGE OF BRINGING A BIRTHDAY CAKE TO SCHOOL THAT DAY!!!!!!!!!! So slight panic mode set in and I called Barb (the first grade teacher) to ask her to pick up the cake and my pot luck contribution. Because she is so wonderful, she agreed. The rest of the day was a blur... full of pain and discomfort. However, I was absolutely certain through the miracle of sleep, that I would be feeling good enough to work on Wednesday.....wrong again! I almost attempted it, but Dennis said I was crazy and there was no way I could drive in my condition. Disappointed that he was right and furious at taking another day off from work, I stayed home. Desperate times call for desperate measures........enter the CHIROPRACTOR!!!! Chiropractors completely freak my out and I had only been to one 12 years prior (I only have a vague memory of it). Anyway, my neck popped so loud and so many times that I wound up just laughing on the table because there was no way all that came from me! Then he put these heated electrode thingys on my neck and shoulders, which felt really good. I felt pretty good the rest of the day and not so stiff when I woke up the next morning (Thursday).....so I headed off to school, thank goodness! Friday was pretty good, but today is not fairing out so well. I got a Chinese massage from the mall guys and I felt pretty good for a while but then I developed a bad headache and was getting all stiff again. I have another session with the chiropractor on Monday and I hope that will help. The worse thing is I haven't been able to sleep very well AT ALL!!!! I'm starting to feel a little cranky.

Thank you Sashi!

I must thank Sashi ( an elementary school friend and the first vegetarian I met) for pickle sandwiches! She introduced them to me in 7th grade and I have loved them ever since! It was such a strange combination at first and I thought she was crazy. But then her mother was making them for me and I knew I needed to let my mom in on my guilty pleasure. I never ended up making them as often as I wished (as I didn't have the ingredients), but the pickle sandwich has never left my mind. Within the past several years, I've switched to buying pre-sliced pickles which has saved a LOT of time and prevented funky thicknesses. Well, today I decided to have one using the only white cheese I had, shredded mozzarella. This cheese difference didn't seem to make one bit of difference because it tasted as good as I remember. So good in fact, I began to dance while eating it......I didn't realize I was doing that until Dennis asked me if everything was okay....and why was I dancing. I concluded it had to be the deliciousness of my pickle sandwich to cause the dancing. So, if you want to do the "Pickle Dance," then make a pickle sandwich.

*Two slices of bread (one if your making a half...but why?...you'll end up making a second have anyway because the first was so good)
*Enough sliced pickles to cover the bread (dabbing off the liquid will prevent icky soggy bread)
*Mayo and mustard
*Lettuce (if readily available...I go without most days)
*Jack, Provolone, Mozzarella, Munster, or any other white cheese you like....EXCEPT processed....that should never EVER go anywhere near a pickle sandwich!

Assemble: bread, condiments, cheese, pickles, lettuce, bread......and ENJOY!!!!

Bad, Bad Blogger!

I know, don't tell me....I've been a very bad blogger recently. What with Brady visiting and work, I just haven't had any desire to regurgitate what's been going on......But today, I have gained back my....my...whatever it is that makes me ( or anyone else for that matter) want to blog.

We had so much fun when J, K, and B were visiting. We went to the park, zoo, and beach. We ran out of time for the mall, but that's okay. We were very lucky because we had one of the sunniest and warmest weekends this year! It was so beautiful which made going to the beach all that more fun! Brady just loved stomping around in the water and only fell down once! The zoo was fun too, but it was close to nap time and the B-man wasn't too interactive with the animals or us for that matter.....but Uncle Dennis made his day with a stuffed fox. It was rather cute and the look on his face when he got it was priceless!. So here are a few pics from our weekend!

I'm so handsome!

I wonder if this flower is edible?

Look! It's the Donny Darko bunny!

Awe! How sweet!

It's MY big stick Aunt Cindy!

Coming Soon

J, K, and B may be coming over this weekend. They have a few kinks to work out, but I'm staying optimistic. There is 3 things on their to do list while they are here:

1. Go to the ocean.
2. Go to the zoo (Brady's second zoo visit).
3. Go Brady clothes shopping!!!!

I'm pretty excited about #3 because children's clothing is always so adorable, but #2 is going to be pretty fun. The B-man seemed to like the zoo last time and now that he's older and more interactive, I'm sure he's gonna have a blast!!!!....along with the rest of us!

New Flavors!

To our surprise and delight, Dennis and I discovered two (yes, TWO) new Ben and Jerry ice cream flavors. One is yellow cake batter with a chocolate frosting swirl and the other is brownie cheesecake. We bought the brownie cheesecake and it is quite good....mmmmmm. It's always so exciting to find a new flavor! It kinda feels like Christmas! Woo hoo!!!

Garden

Yesterday and today Dennis planted our garden. He mowed, weed whacked, and rota tilled a new garden spot. He planted a dwarf Fuji apple tree, 2 blueberry bushes, and 12 strawberry plants (from our friends Nick and Becky...thanks!). He still has 2 thornless (yes, you read correctly) blackberry bushes. I'm really excited about them.....I've never seen a thornless blackberry bush EVER! I hope the berries are good and produce a lot!....I'm totally craving a blackberry pie.

Happy April Fool's Day!!!

I wish I could come up with really cool stuff to do to people on this day, but I can never think of anything to do....so I always end up helping someone else out. Today we made our principal think no one was showing up to the staff meeting by going to a different room. I'd say it was about 70% effective. We weren't all there yet and one of the staff was going to tell him we were all heading up to the county office for our meeting. But just that fact that no one had shown up so close to the meeting time, came as a big shock anyway. It was really all Kris's idea (the 4th grade teacher) I just helped coordinated it with the primary staff and our guest presenter.

Well, it's off to clean the fridge (it's trash day) and to watch a movie.