Chef Ryan?

So I forgot to mention that I got a crap load of cookbooks and kitchen stuff for Christmas this year. Are people trying to tell me something? Seeing as how my very first blog post on this blog was about my resolution a year or 2 ago to cook more...its like a sign or something! My mother in law got me a stand mixer. Probably only gets use a few times a year but well worth it when you need it right? I got a french rolling pin, didnt know those existed. A sifter, cookie cutters, a pastry bag, which I was looking for a few weeks ago when I needed to neatly ice some holiday cupcakes. I also got these gems:

This will come in handy come cookie party time next year!


The woman makes a lasagna in a crockpot! I am dying to know what else I can cut corners on!

This title is so deceiving. I loved Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels and it so isnt even about your metabolism. Its about food. I have taken a huge interest in the foods I'm eating, where they are coming from, whats been done to them, and how its affecting my endocrine system since reading this book last year. So now that theres a cookbook to go with it, I'm all about it! It even tells you what essentials do for your body. I've bought several books on food in the past year and this was by far my favorite and I highly reccomend it if you are curious about the pros and cons of organics, etc. Also, Food Rules, by Michael Pollan is a good one. Its short and sweet and gives you: food rules. Simple things like "eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Makes sense doesn't it? Amazing when you think about how many diseases, cancers, etc there are now compared to back when food was simple and untainted. Pesticides and additives and all the other crap that goes into our food makes it almost unlike the original version. So sad. I'm not saying I don't still love french fries. But in one book someone said, make them yourself and you wont eat them as often because its work. This is true. But, B and I often cut up a sweet potato and make our own fries in the oven. All they get on them is a little olive oil and some seasoning and they bake about 20 mins and they are super tasty!

Dress Me Up

So...my mission for this weekend is to find a dress. A dress that can a) fit my current bod b) I can wear to B's football banquet so dressy but not too dressy and c)that I can possibly wear to one of my baby showers- so a casual dress that can be worn to a banquet. Hmm. I may be setting myself up for failure here but I'm gonna find this unicorn of a dress...I think. I'm hoping for a cute sweater dress. We go to the football banquet every year because they do things fancy here and its held at a hotel where a 4 course meal is served and this happens to be the same hotel that our gala and other events are held at and the food is awesome. So yes please, I would like a free dinner. Also, the football booster club gives every coach, etc a $150 Best Buy gift card. Yes please, I'll take your free gifts! So, its worth giving up 3-4 hrs of my Sunday night I guess.

My 2nd dress predicament is with a bridesmaid dress. The wedding is in September. But for those of you other pro bridesmaids you know they tell you worst case scenario it could take 12 weeks for your dress to come in yadda yadda, when usually it takes 3-4. So the dress needs to be ordered by the end of May. Now, it has to be purchased at this store in Arlington. I won't be around Arlington not pregnant till like June or something. So, at this point, I'm not exactly sure how to order and what size to order. I don't want to guess a size thats 2 sizes bigger and then my boobs get out of control big and it doesnt fit or something. Then again, I dont want to order like 4 sizes bigger and have to have a ton taken in. Hmmm... Of course I'm not going to order till the last minute but even then, if I'm not in Arlington to try on the dress, not sure what size to get.

Christmas goes by so fast!

Man, I always feel like the month of December just flies by but this year it really did. After a few days off and 3 Christmas' I'm still not ready to function back at work. At least I only have 3 days here and then we are off again on Monday. Its looking like I'll be doing a lot of cleaning this weekend.

We tried the 4d sonogram again yesterday-again FAIL. Last time she had her face smashed into the placenta and wouldn't budge. This time she had her hands in her face and after poking and rolling around she wasn't moving them. So, we got a few half face shots but thats about it. We probably wont try again. They do another sonogram at like 36 weeks anyways, scary as it sounds, thats not too far away so I think we'll just wait.

Thats a new one

Well, I already vowed not to discuss my baby's name with co-workers I'm not close to but slipped up the other day when asked if I had decided on a name. Immediately reminded of why I made that vow in the first place when after I told them they replied with "I bet I can think of a better name than that..." Wow.

Why can't bills stop at Christmas?

Well turns out that little scare we had last month that landed me in the hospital for 3 whole hours ended up costing $605!!! That is after the insurance paid their part. Awesome. When is it due? 12/24/10. Yay! $298 of that was a room charge. Lets see for that 3 hrs I watched Grey's Anatomy in an uncomfortable bed. Would've rather paid for a nice room at the 4 Seasons or something!! I don't want to say it was for nothing but geez. So there goes that.

B lost his keys a few months ago and has been using my set. Had a new set made today at the dealership, that was about $50 for the key itself, but for the remote and to program etc it was another $130!!! New car still under warranty but apparantly there was a hose that had a hole in it from when someone fixed the air filter or something previously. Not covered under warranty because it was a "user error" that was about $15 and $40 for the labor. Grrr.

I need this week to go by fast. There is like no one at work this week cause they are all on vacation. I have to save my vacation for maternity leave so no extended time off for me this year till then. I wish Wed were at least a half day. I do have a doc appt that morning though so maybe by the time I get in the rest of the day will fly, positive thoughts!

One month a year isnt enough!

I love Christmas music! I leave my radio on that channel that plays Christmas music all day long (yeah every city has one) and wish that we got to hear these songs more than just one month out of the year! I never seem to get sick of these songs even if its the 3rd time that day I've heard it. There is that station that does Christmas in July for like a week but its just not the same. Christmas music is associated with sweaters, and decor, and hot chocolate in my head, not sweating and it being 103 outside.

I've also come to the conclusion that you don't have to have a good voice to sing Santa Baby. In fact, that song seems to have a novelty to it, like the dopier you can make your voice the better. Honestly, I could see Quinn from Glee singing that one perfectly. Her voice isn't great and it just fits.

I'm super excited about Christmas this year. Only one week left till we get to start the celebrating! It was kind of hard for me to come up with things I wanted this year. It was all mundane stuff. I did ask for some Coach gift cards though cause I am IN LOVE with this one bag thats freakin gorgeous.

Traditions

Well this was year 13 for our annual cookie party this year. Yep, 13 years. The first year was horrendous, duh we were like 14 what did we know about baking and or decorating cookies? Can't say we haven't had some other fails over the years. This year Brandon and I tried to pre-make his mom's sugar cookie recipe and refridgerate it so it would be already made by the time the girls were here. Fail. It never really got doughy. It looked like cake batter and tasted floury. Not sure what went wrong there. Bridget attempted her fudge this year (that shes made before) but wrong ingredients or something prevented this from being a success. 2 batches of fudge and none really edible. I was so looking forward to that too. But one new thing this year we did try was the mint choc chip cookies. Using the creme de menthe baking chips (a snack in itself). Those came out nicely. Needless to say, theres a lot of cookies at my house right now. Even after I sent a lot home with others.