Closer

I am 37 weeks....
We are getting close. I have brought in the newborn & boy stuff from the garage & have a little dresser set up for Peyton. We have the bassinet in our room. I have the guest bed ready, in case we have to rush off while Gillian is sleeping at night. But, I still have a number of sewing projects that I am working on. Ah! I finished the crib bumper & am getting close to finishing the crib skirt. Then it is Peyton's block quilt & an airplane mobile to hang above his crib. And, we are almost done painting the trim in the nursery, too. So. Close.
It is great to have clean, organized fridge & cupboards, though. That is done.
I am making chicken soup for dinner. Hopefully that goes down. I have pretty much no room for food in there, these days. I just finished a cup of Ginger tea, hoping that would help dissolves the rocks in my throat. It seems to have just added to the feeling....

I have nothing interesting to say. I am going to go sew...

The Great Adventure

Here am I. We are back.
We have had an adventurous week. We got fumigated for termites.
Last week, I began packing up all of our food, so it wouldn't get poisoned. That took me a while. Now, I am half way through, putting it all back away. This has been a good excuse to finally clean my fridge & cupboards & re-organize all the food. I don't think this current act can count for nesting. I was kinda forced into it. Otherwise, believe me, I would not have taken all my foods out, cleaned & re-organized.
Okay. So, Thursday morning, we had to be out of our house at 8am. We were leaving at 7:45 - Scott with the dogs, heading for the boarding place & Gillian & I heading for my parent's. I was really hoping I didn't forget anything important. Then, I realized I had forgotten my cell phone. I still had time. It wasn't 8 yet. I turned around and got it. Then, I realized (too late) that I forgot something else important. My Tums!!!!!!!!!! Scott had to go buy me more. The left behind container was already poisoned & locked into the house.
We had to be out of our house for 2 nights & 3 days. We spent the first day & night at my parents. Scott & I both seemed to be coming down with a sickness that day, too. Gillian didn't sleep well that night. We were total wrecks in the morning. He & I had planned on going away, to Pacific Grove. But, now he had a fever. We decided to go anyway, cuz it was too late to cancel & get our money back. Even though Gillian had not been a good sleeper, away from her room, thus far, my Mom was a trooper & still said we could leave her there.
Scott & I headed down to P.G. I had intended to take pictures. But, it was raining & we were pretty pathetic. We mostly slept! But, it was a great time to recover a little bit.
We got back into our house Saturday evening. That was nice. It would've felt nicer if it wasn't so freezing cold here, though. PG&E turns the gas off for fumigations, & then won't turn it back on, on the weekend. So, I am waiting for them this morning. Gillian & I are trying to stay alive in a house that is a frigid 52. There are some blue skies. So, I have my blinds open, trying to capture some of the sun's rays.
Oh, and, we also wait for the plumber this morning. Last week, when I ran my washing machine, I got the delightful treat of sewage coming back up into my bathtub & shower. Wow. That was great. Because, scrubbing my bathrooms was another chore that I was overdue on.
It will be nice when they get here & get things fixed. With the cold conditions of the house, we have been wearing a lot of clothes. Being unable to do laundry, we are quite backed up.
It's good to be getting this done before Peyton arrives. I thought I would've been getting more sewing done lately. I guess that will have to wait.

Hanging with the Cousin

Elijah came over to play yesterday. What fun!

Around Our House

Gillian & Daddy resting.

Remote controls are so fun to chew on.

Her seat for watching the front yard activities.

Murphy is such a sport & allows Gillian to give very vigorous hugs.

Belated Christmas

We just got back our developed roll from Christmas. Yes. We used the old-school camera, that has a roll of film...

Christmas Eve at our house, opening stockings. Pretty exciting!

Opening gifts, Christmas morning, at Grandma & Grandpa's.

Her own cell phone! (Gillian is dressed in her sleeper & her new apron & new shoes. The girl has great style!)

And a new baby doll. She takes good care of this baby, rocking her & kissing her.

More Rice Bags

I should have bought the big bag of rice at Costco. I have used pounds & pounds & pounds.
Here is a little family of Rice Heat Therapy bags for a late Christmas gift (Or late Epiphany... 2 days late isn't that bad...) for one of Scott's co-workers, and his family.


And, here is the set I made for myself. One less thing my husband needs to worry about, as he reminded me daily of my need to make some for myself. I love this gold wool. Very cool.

Walking Like a Cowgirl

Gillian knows how to walk like a cowgirl. Heel toe, heel toe.

When she was born, my Aunt Kathy got her these adorable pink cowgirl boots. Although they are 3 sizes too big (maybe that's why she walks the way she does in them...), she loves to wear them.

Here she is, wearing her boots, getting ready for a game of poker or something, I guess.

Rain Day

It's a rain day. My 4 youngest siblings are here & Scott is playing video games with the boys. I have my Cassoulet cooking on the stove. Gillian & Lizzie are playing dolls & reading books. But, Gillian will decide from time to time, that she wants to play video games, and find a lap to back into. That guy is pretty much not going to be the winner of that particular round... Here she is helping Daddy play.

What Happened to All the Food?!

I haven't posted any of our food lately. I haven't been making anything very exciting. Just old faithfuls, such as risottos, polenta with goop on top, pasta, whatever I can pull off in a short time, without much fore though. Usually it is something of my own invention, sometimes good, sometimes just edible. But, as you already know, I don't ever take the time to type out a recipe for you all. I do the lazy way. I give you our recipes, only if they are from the web. That way, I only have to hyper-link...

Well, I have done a few things from the web in recent times...

For Christmas I made cream puffs, filled them with peppermint ice cream & served with Kahlua Chocolate sauce. This is pretty much the recipe. But, I didn't make the hazelnut gelato.

(On a side note, we are having a gorgeous storm right now. My front door just flew open. Ah! It is now dead-bolted...)

Leah & I had a Post Christmas Open House together. I honestly didn't make too much for that, either. I roasted chickens, using her great recipe. I baked a ham. I made our favorite cauliflower soup. I made a basic chocolate drop cookie, with Macadamia Nuts, Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips & Guittard Cappuccino Chips. Yummy.

The only new thing I made was this really tasty Apple Spice Cake. But, be ye warned, the reviewers who said their cake totally fell apart, when taking it out of the pan... uh huh. That happened to me, too...

After the open house (which was fun, by the way) we have had tons of ham leftover. So, we had fried rice with ham. Right now I am working on a quiche for the weekend breakfasts, with ham & spinach. We will have a favorite salad of ours tonight. It is a composed salad, meant to be artfully arranged on the plate, or whatever. It has slices of ham, lettuce tossed in a Dijon vinaigrette, sauteed apples, balsamic pearl onions & Gruyere cheese.

Tomorrow we will be trying this Cassoulet, from the latest Martha issue....

What's Your Craving?

I just finished munching on a piece of lettuce. It was really tasty. Really hit the spot. I have been craving the crunchy & watery stuff, lately. When I want a little something, often I reach for some lettuce, or celery, or cucumber, or jicama. Yum! Maybe a carrot.
My mom eats baby carrots. I think that is her snack passion. I think maybe it started when she was pregnant one time. Is that right, Mom?

What is your craving? When you want a snacky, what do you gravitate towards?
Don't let this veggie thing fool you, though. I still often go for a Coke, ice cream , or Burger King meal. I haven't turned bunny rabbit...

Baby Gifts

Aren't these adorable!? I used Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderfuls pattern to make these little king turtles for my nephews.




















I also made them these bibs, but haven't yet taken a photo of them in them. I'll try to get one on Sunday, or something.



I made this little felt purse for Gillian, and the pom-pom flower clipped on it is a hair barrette I made her, following the directions I found through Sew, Mama, Sew.