Cookie Making Secrets Revealed...

Once upon a time I was semi-famous for my cookie making skills. A dear friend of mine during high school and I used to get together all the time and try new recipes. We would bring the cookies to school to share and often "bribe" our teachers.

However, I was pretty busy hitting the books most of the time and my class schedule did not allow for home economics classes or participation in Future Homemakers of America (FHA) - although, I think my new found skills over the years would have made Ms. Grow, the home economics teacher, proud. She did say my sister was one of her best students. Funny, because now she's the career woman and I'm the homemaker!

Anyways, back to cookies. I must say my crowning cookie making achievement was landing a date with T Rex Dad over a decade ago. You see, it was my 21st birthday and my family threw me a big party. My sister, who is the world's best party thrower - again, the amazing catering skills are probably why Ms. Grow loved her - invited a few people from her work. At that time T Rex Dad worked on the same team at the same company as my sis. I had met T Rex Dad back when I was only 16 and we had seen each other at various gatherings my sister had given over the years. So, it would make sense he would be invited to my birthday - especially since I specifically asked if he would be invited.

As "luck" would have it, some server went down at my sister and T Rex Dad's work and since he was the one on call, he had to work late to fix the issue. Thus, he was not able to make the gathering. I sent him some cookies I had made as a reminder of what he missed. The next day he called to thank me for the cookies and offer birthday wishes on my actual birthday. We chatted for a bit and I told him I had really been wanting to see the movie "Elizabeth" but no one I knew was interested in going. He offered to take me. It was not supposed to be a date but it kind of felt like one.

He purchased the movie and since I had to be back to my sister's to watch my 9 month old nephew, we did take out Mongolian BBQ (which I purchased), and went back to my sister's place and baked cookies while we babysat. He said he wanted to learn my cookie baking secrets. And he truly did.

We took care of my little nephew, tucked him into bed, and made cookies chatting well into the night. My sis and brother-in-law finally got home around 2:00 am but I bet if they were out all night we probably would have talked all night. And yes, talking was all we did. To this day, we always have something to converse about -Sci-Fi, politics...you name it, we probably have an opinion or at least something to share.

Tonight I made a batch of regular 'old chocolate chip cookies - just the recipe that's on the back of the Nestle' Toll House chocolate chips bag. Here's the recipe if you want to make your own.

They are kind of pretty but I am told they are also quite tasty. I'm not much into eating what I bake - mostly I just enjoy to process, not the eating.

And, as always, my little guy has to watch them bake. Don't worry, the outside door is not hot. He, too, won't eat cookies, but loves to "help" me bake them and especially enjoys watching them bake.

As I baked, I reflected on my life since the day I "revealed my cookie secrets" to T Rex Dad. We've been married eight and a half wonderful years (full of wonderful conversations, cookies, travel, and lots other fun stuff), we have the most amazing little guy a couple could ask for, and we are expecting the arrival of a beautiful baby girl in 2010. And all because of my cookies!

And you thought I was going to share my actual cookie making secrets?!?

This Week's Project...

As mentioned previously, practically everyone around me of childbearing age is pregnant. Even the ones who have tried for years unsuccessfully, they, too, have found themselves with child. I believe I've said it before, but there must be something in the water around here! Please let me know if you are interested in getting pregnant fast and I can ship you some of our local water!

In fact, T Rex is getting a bit of a complex because most of the women he hangs around have "bebes" in their tummies. I am actually just waiting for him to point to a woman's belly at the grocery store and say "bebe" just to embarrass the poor woman. Hasn't happened yet but I'm just mentally preparing for the awkward moment.

I made the vow to try and do homemade gifts this year. Goodness, of course this is when all these ladies would decide to have babies! So, here's the latest in the string of baby gifts I've made.

Pants with matching bib (rear view of pants - matching buttons on back pocket and bib)


Closer views of bib - first one I've ever made - not too bad.

And no project day is complete without T Rex having his turn at a project of his own. It was time to make more cards to go with all these baby gifts. And he is in charge of cards. Instead of finger painting he did toe painting! He LOVED it!

Did you complete any projects this week?

Like Mother, Like Son...

The other day T Rex Dad was folding laundry - yup, he does laundry - have I mentioned how amazing he is?!?

He commented after folding a load of jeans that T Rex and I were starting to wear similar clothes. I did not think anything of it - assuming he meant we both wear red or blue shirts with those jeans.

But actually, this is what he meant:

Look closely...


Left: T Rex Mom maternity jeans
Right: T Rex jeans

Crazy similiar!

I just cannot justify purchasing jeans for T Rex that do not have an elastic waist - what 22 month old can unsnap and unzip jeans to go potty and then re-snap and re-zip afterward? Seriously, what are those designers thinking!

So, with the help of another mom friend, I found a couple pairs of these jeans. Seems T Rex has his own maternity jeans! Too funny! But they are perfect for the potty trained toddler!

Won't You Be My Neighbor???

I first introduced our neighbors in this posting.

Remember neighbor on the east? Our "green" neighbor - uses a push mower and hangs his laundry but drives a giant SUV and powers up his two-stroke weed whacker (which, by the way, produces more emissions in a single use than my 4 cylinder Escape does in an entire year).

Well, Neighbor on the East AKA "Green Guy", is trying to sell his house. I think he would have better success if he landscapes the back yard with something other than laundry and a hot tub, but, it would appear he has really gone green:

So I ask again, won't you be my neighbor???

On a side note, our awesome neighbors to the west were kind enough to watch T Rex last week so T Rex Dad and I could escape for date. Now, they totally rock!!!

Tuesday's Tribute

Remember this posting titled "What Kind of Diapers???" Well, two very kind followers are helping support my desire to try cloth diapers with Baby Girl - Nina over at Juggling Mama sent some awesome diaper covers and Mitchsmom at My Blog sent a box of homemade all-in-one diapers. Therefore, this Tuesday's Tribute is for you with a heartfelt "thank you"!

T Rex was especially excited about the most recent package arrival and LOVED the M&Ms print on one of the diapers. He insisted on trying them on. Here are some photos:

Opening package from Mitchsmom - note the ones T Rex selected.


Photo with diaper on

Again, thank you, I am overwhelmed by your kindness. We'll keep you posted on how it goes once little girl arrives!

Profile Pics

Here's the updated profile pic at 22 weeks. If you'd like to compare it to the 18 week one, click here.

T Rex Mom:

Front view


Profile View

***Prize for first person who understands my T-shirt and can tell me what "NPC" stands for. (Warning - super geek alert!!!)***

Update: Caitlin's hubby guessed it first: Non-player character - we played Dungeons and Dragons on Saturday night. Yes, we are super geeks. My current favorite show is "Big Bang Theory"!

T Rex:

He was trying to take Tigger on the Tigger airplane on a ride down the stairs. We quickly diverted his attention away from the dangerous flight by snapping a photo. If you follow his blog at all you know he's been "exercising" his sense of fashion, hence the lack of pants. At least the underwear stayed on!

What exactly am I studying to become?

Warning...

This is a long post...

First, I want to clarify exactly what I am studying to become.

The other day I overheard my mom talking to someone and she said I was studying to be a doctor. After her conversation ended I informed my mom that I was not in medical school but nurse practitioner school. Her response was, "They're practically the same and it's just easier to explain it that way." I then realized that my darling mother needed a little help understanding what exactly I was going to school for. I will not be a physician but rather a family nurse practitioner - two very different things, even though there are some over lapping responsibilities. Thus, here's the 4-1-1 on nurse practitioners borrowed from this site.

What is a nurse practitioner?

A nurse practitioner (NP) is a registered nurse (RN) who has completed advanced education (a minimum of a master's degree) and training in the diagnosis and management of common medical conditions, including chronic illnesses.

Weekend Projects and Updates...

This weekend I pulled together a couple of toddler outfits for my nephew's school dinner auction fund raiser. For the past few years I've made items to use in the silent auction. This year, this is what I came up with.

Boy Outfit...

Completed ensemble.

Close up of fabric.

Close up of jeep on shirt - I will probably make a shirt like this for T Rex - he loves the wheels! But I used up all the material so no matching pants, but jeans will probably be cute, too!

Girl Outfit...

Completed ensemble.


Close up of fabric.


Close up of shirt. I will definitely be making our baby girl one of these outfits - too cute!

In other news, there's really not much else to report.

T Rex Dad has been working long hours rolling out new work projects. T Rex's asthma is back in remission after a week of long neb breathing treatments. T Rex Baby Girl is very active performing daily acrobatics during my resting hours. And I have been busy with school - last week I submited four papers. (I knew there would be a lot of reading and writing in grad school - it's one thing thinking it, but a whole other thing actually writing all those papers and reading those articles and chapters!)

But's it's all great!

Life really is wonderful!

Yet Another Canning Project...

Yes, the mind just reels at the thought of another canning project but this weekend brought more canning fun. This was a much simpler one. In fact, from start to finish, about two hours total.

Pickles!!!

Pickle spears, whole pickles, and hamburger slices...

I've been searching all over looking for canning pickles. I even tried growing my own but I cannot seem to produce enough in a timely manner to make even one batch.

Then, one morning out of the blue, my friend Caitlin calls and says she's at the store and they have canning pickles. I jumped out of bed - yes, I was still in bed. It was the weekend and T Rex Dad lets me sleep in and serves me breakfast while I contemplate getting up. However, pickling cucumbers calling my name made me literally leap out of bed.

Off I went to the store, purchased 5 lbs of pickles, kosher salt, apple cider vinegar, garlic cloves, and fresh dill. (I did grow dill in my garden but a wind storm last week destroyed it. I was so sad, it smelled so fresh in the garden.)

Then after T Rex retired to bed, I began my project:

1. Cleaned cucumbers (5 lbs or about 40 four to five inch pickling cucumbers)
2. Prepared boiling water mix (3 3/4 cup vinegar, 3 3/4 cup water, 6 tbsp kosher salt)
3. Packed jars with cucumbers (either whole, spears, or slices), dropped in a clove of garlic, and three heads of fresh dill
4. Poured hot water mix into jars
5. Processed jars for 15 minutes (the increased time is because we are at a higher altitude)

Yielded 10 pint sized jars of Kosher pickles (non-Kosher are made with mustard seed).

Now the hard part - waiting two weeks for them to cure before eating them! If they are as good as they look, I'm thinking those ten jars won't be lasting very long. (Serious dill pickle cravings right now!) These are for the family's personal food storage - no Christmas gifts here. Although, if anyone rates one it would be Caitlin, she did find the cucumbers!

We'll have to see...

New Outfit...

What do you do when you have a big family gathering the next day, the stores are closed, and you've overspent your budget money for the month and therefore cannot purchase anymore non-essentials for the remainder of the month and you really want your child to look cute in photos you know will be taken?

Well... Here's what I did:

This project took about 90 minutes total from start to finish. The shorts are my standard "dad friendly" design with the pocket in back.

Then I took one of T Rex's plain white T-shirts and applied the car to it using doubled sided iron-on interfacing and then stitching over it. I used buttons from my mother-in-law's collection (she lets me raid it once in a while - treasures galore!) for the wheels and headlight.

T Rex actually really loved the car on his shirt - he kept touching and pointing to it saying "broom broom".

Finished product in action:

Whew! Glad it's a new month but alas, already once again spent my petty cash. This time on finishing touches to T Rex's bathroom decor:

Serious, cuteness in the form of ducks, which he is totally obsessed with (although, still have NOT displaced his original true love - spheres).

Guess, it's time to make some more outfits!

Sugar & Spice...

And Everything Nice...

Yes, our ultrasound appointment yesterday revealed a healthy baby girl!!!

It was actually a fun appointment. We were the last one of the day and Dr. C was waiting around for another lady to give birth. So, since he knows I'm a nurse practitioner student and he had a little extra time, he did some "schooling". Normally couples kind of tune things out after they find out gender but we wanted to see more of the placenta, cervix, baby's brain, and baby's heart. The foramen ovale - very cool!

The photos we have are not that great - looks like something for Halloween so I'm not posting. But rest assured everything looked great!

For those folks who get a long weekend for Labor Day - ENJOY!!! T Rex Dad will be home for five days! We're going to have fun!

What are your weekend/holiday plans?