Potter Lane

Good books

2012-02-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

One thing about constant nursing is a lot of time to read. Here are some of the books I have read during leave:

A collection of short stories which are intertwined by central characters in the small Midwestern town at the turn of the century. Excellent book with fascinating characters.

A classic yet I had very mixed feelings. I'd say it's worth reading but I doubt I would read it again. I thought the last chapter was better than the whole rest of the book but then I hated the last sentence.

This was a book of necessity. We still can't get our child to sleep in her own bed. Since we are not comfortable with crying it out in the traditional sense we thought this book might offer a more reasonable approach. I found it interesting and we will attempt to "Ferberize" little miss Margot in the coming weeks. I know a number of people who have followed this method with great success and not too much crying. I hope we will be able to say the same.

This is what I'm reading now. A truly fluffy book but fun and full of interesting French recipes.

returning to work

2012-02-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

My maternity leave is coming to a close. I return to work this coming Wednesday. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I am really looking forward to going back. I miss my work and the time interacting with my colleagues. However I know it will be hard to go from being with Margot almost 24-7 to being away each day. I am also apprehensive about her transition, pumping and her routine. Despite my apprehensions I think it will be good for us all to transition to our new normal. It will be quite an adjustment for all thee of us but I think a more concrete schedule and routines will be good for all of us.

As I prepare to go back I am realizing that both Margot and I have suffered from a lack of routine. She is almost 3 months old and has a really inconsistent routine. This is largely my fault because I get stir crazy and after 2 days at home I spend a day or two out and about. All of the in and out of the car seat, different places and walks have led to many short naps. Since Margot will be going to my Mom's house while I'm at work my mom and I will be able to work together to establish a more consistent routine for Margot. Over the past week we have started implementing a bedtime routine which is already helping bedtime.

I also realize that Chris and I need more structure. The chaos of a new baby takes a toll. We are have established a chore chart and daily schedule that we hope will ease our transition. We'll see how it works and if it's success full I'll blog about it.

What's for dinner?

2012-01-25T10:37:00.001-08:00

As you might expect it is not easy making dinner with a newborn on hand. It's especially hard for me since Margot detests her swing and only happy plays on her blanket as long as I sit right next to her. Dinner therefore has t either go into the crock pot in the morning before Chris leaves for work or weight to be made after Chris gets home for work. Lately we've been focusing on dinners that can be made in 30 minutes or less. Last night's shredded beef tacos were such a hit I thought I'd share. This is a recipe I've been playing with for years and I think I might have finally perfected it.

Shredded Beef for Tacos

1lb Top or bottom round steak or beef stew meat

1/2 a small onion chopped (about half a cup)

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 can diced green chilies

1 whole dried cayenne pepper broken up or 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp oregano

salt and pepper

1/2 cup tomato juice

1/4 cup water

Season meat with salt, pepper and ground spices and place in bottom of crock pot. Top with onion, garlic and canned chilies. Break up cayenne pepper over top. Add tomato juice and water. Cook on low 8-10 hours.

For really exciting tacos I like to fry my corn tortillas in a skillet. However for a quicker and healthier version you can heat them up in a microwave or dry skillet.

2 months

2012-01-23T09:17:00.001-08:00

Margot you are now two months old! Wow you are growing so much. You are so much bigger than the pictures from last month. You had a lot of new experiences in the last month. You had your first Christmas. You went on a number of little trips to the cabin, Grampa and Nonna's, Grampa Doug and Grandma Jody's. You met friends like Zeke. You also learned to take a bottle, stay with Grandma, smile and play with toys.

You still don't like your swing, bouncy seat, car seat or cradle. You do however like to play on a blanket and kick your legs. Your favorite toys right now are Gerald the Giraffe, and Willamina the cow.

Here you are at two months--

Weight: 10 lbs 7oz

Length: 21.3 inches long

Clothes: 0-3 months and some 3 months

Another month in pictures

2012-01-23T08:03:00.001-08:00

To play some catch up on my blog here are some snap shots of Miss Margot's second month.

Margot met her friend Zeke for the first time.

Zeke thinks Margot is beautiful.

This is a classic Margot shot taken on x-mas eve. Note her adorable sweater dress. Here she says, "oh boy Mommy I'm just so excited I must wave my arms about frantically".

Here is Margot on Christmas Day. Again note her beautiful dress. These are my attempts to get a picture of her in her beautiful dress. Clearly she was having none of it.

As Chris says--this is classic Margot.

Lastly here is a series which I like to call, Margot sleeps everywhere except in her own bed.

napping with daddy

on uncle sean's shoulder

again with daddy

with grampa dan at the ranch

with daddy

with grandma Jody

in daddy and mommy's bed

with grampa

one month

2011-12-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Margot,

Today you are one month old. You are such a sweet and funny baby. We are completely in love with you and can hardly imagine life without you.

You are growing so much and changing every day. You are awake a lot and making new faces and expressions. You love to look around especially at faces and bright colors. You are starting to like your activity gym. You like to hear music and you love to be bounced. Most of all you love to be held and cuddled. You are happiest all snuggled on Mommy or Daddy's chest. You also like to go on walks in your baby bijourn and to take baths. You tolerate your swing and bouncy seat for brief periods. You hate having your diaper changed or your clothes changed. You also do not like to be swaddled, put into your car seat or set down. You love your hands and seem to like them near your face especially when you are sleeping.

You are a beautiful baby and you make us smile every day!

Here you are at one month!

weight: 7 lbs 8 oz

length:19.5 inches (?)

clothes: newborn (some are still too big but you are growing into them)

due date

2011-12-12T12:19:00.000-08:00

Today is Margot's due date and Wednesday she will be one month old. I can hardly believe almost a month has past. So what has Margot been up to this past month???

Her first holiday--Thanksgiving

cuddling with Uncle Sean on Thanksgiving

Hanging out with Daddy

Being dedicated at Church

Sleeping soundly with Auntie Jess

picking out a Christmas Tree

Decorating her first tree

Breakfast at Brails

Some more sleeping...

One Week

2011-11-23T18:27:00.001-08:00

Margot is one week old today!

She is such a sweet good baby. We came home from the hospital on Friday but had to return to the hospital Sunday because she was too jaundiced. After two more nights at the hospital we were finally able to come home for good. Going back to the hospital was hard on all of us. Margot had to stay in the special bed with the lights and she did not like it. When we first put her in she cried and cried and we couldn't take her out. It was heart breaking and I started crying and poor Chris had both of us to deal with. She finally did adjust and stopped crying every time she was put in the bed. It was also hard because we couldn't hold her except to breast feed her. After waiting so long for our baby it was hard to not be able to hold her. We sat by her bed and touched her head and talked to her and overall she did okay. But needless to say we are so happy to all be home and settling in a bit. Chris' Mom is staying with us right now and it has been an enormous help. I have been able to just focus on feeding and cuddling Margot and trying to get a few naps in. So far there have been a lot of funny firsts for both Chris and I. Diaper changing is sometimes a two man job as she HATES to have her diaper changed and responds by peeing all over the place as soon as you have the diaper off. We have a beautiful cradle for her to sleep in next to our bad. It never occurred to us that she wouldn't sleep in it and so our first night home we set her down to go to sleep and soon found that she had no intention of sleeping alone in that bed after being held for 2 days straight. We are still working on her sleeping but I think making progress. Last night she had two stretches in her cradle with only a little fussing. She is also so very tiny. None of her clothes fit and Chris parents had to go buy her preemie clothes so she had clothes to wear. We also had to go buy new blankets because all our blankets were huge and we had to get her preemie diapers. She just swims in her car seat and swing. And she looks so tiny in Chris arms. All around though she is a very good little baby and cute as can be!

Margot is Here!

2011-11-19T15:44:00.001-08:00

Margot Jessica was born Wednesday November 16th at 11:16pm. She is 6lbs 2oz and 18 inches long. She is just perfect and we are so in love with her!

35 Weeks

2011-11-04T09:35:00.001-07:00

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant. Which means we are only one week away from full term. Chris pointed out the other day how much better it feels just knowing if I did go into labor today she would be okay. It's a lot better then the 28 week scare that put us on bed rest. It was really stressful for a while but we are thankful to have come so far.

So how are we doing at 35 weeks...

I am HUGE! I really should post a picture of myself. It's hard to believe I can get any bigger.

I am waddling. But I don't even care.

Margot's room is pretty much ready. We have a few empty picture frames that need filled and I need to finish her sampler but other than that it's done. Thanks mostly to my Mom and sister and many others who worked to get it ready while I've been on bed rest. I'll try to take some pictures this weekend.

We almost have everything we need for her.

We do need to pack our hospital bag and install the car seat.

Our new favorite conversation is guess when Margot will arrive. It goes something like this, "Maybe I'll go into labor on Thanksgiving..."
"Maybe she'll be born on Jessy's birthday..."
"What if I go into labor when you are in court...."
"Maybe she'll be born December first..."

Regardless of when she decides it's time we are just about ready for her!

Our Weekend in Recipes

2011-10-31T12:28:00.001-07:00

Friday Night to combat our colds...

Chicken and Rice Soup

cooked chicken (about 1-2 cups)*
1 cup brown rice
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1/2 onion
2 quarts homemade chicken stock
salt

Bring stock and rice to boil. Add chopped celery, carrots and onion. Reduce to simmer and cook 45 min-1hr until both rice and veggies are cooked. Add chicken and cook another couple of minutes until heated through. You could also add other veggies such as peas, corn or green beans at this point. Salt to taste.

*I cook a whole chicken in the process of making the stock. Place chicken in large stock pot along with onion, celery, carrot, garlic, fresh herbs, bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring to boil, skim, reduce and cook one hour. After an hour remove the whole chicken and set on plate. Once cool enough to handle remove meat from chicken and set aside. Return carcass back to stock pot and cook for another few hours. I used half the meat from the chicken in the soup and saved the other half for another meal.
Adapted from Nourishing Traditions

Saturday morning.... Homemade beef stock
Place beef knuckle bones (or some combination of beef bones for broth)in the large stock pot. Cover with water and add 1/2 cup vinegar. Let sit one hour, drain and cover with fresh water. Add onion, celery, garlic, carrot, fresh thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns and cook it for 12-24hours. We started ours at noon on Saturday and topped it off with hot water before bed and let it cook until 10am Sunday morning. Cool and then strain. Season with salt.

Saturday night...

chicken with curry sauce

cooked chicken
1/2 onion chopped
1 Serrano pepper seeded and cut into large slices
2 Tb butter
1 Tb olive oil
2 Tb Indian curry paste (or curry powder)
1 cup homemade chicken stock
1 14oz can of coconut milk (whole fat)
Juice of one lime
fresh cilantro
salt
fresh or frozen peas thawed

saute onion and chili in butter and olive oil until onion is soft and translucent. Stir in curry and cook a minute or so. Add broth, bring to boil and whisk until will combined. Add coconut milk and cook at simmer until sauce has reduced in half. Add lime juice. Strain sauce and return to pan. Add cilantro and season with salt to taste. Add chicken and peas. Cook until heated through. Serve over rice.
Adapted from Nourishing Traditions

Sunday Morning...Toast with Homemade cream cheese, honey and jam

Homemade Cream Cheese (Recipe from Nourishing Traditions)
1 quart whole fat yogurt
cheese cloth or bread towel
mesh colander
large bowl

Place colander over large bowl. Line with cheese cloth or bread towel. Place whole carton of yogurt into colander and let sit all day. After 8-12 hours pour reserved liquid (whey) into jar and keep in fridge. Place long handled wooden spoon over yogurt and tie towel around it to make bundle. Leave bundle hanging over bowl over night. I usually transfer it to the fridge before bed. In morning add remaining whey to jar and place cream cheese in container. Will keep for one month.

To make cheese taste more like cream cheese you can salt the yogurt in the beginning.

To make honey cream cheese take about 1/4 cup of the cream cheese and add 1-2 tsp of honey. Mix well with fork until smooth and creamy. Spread on toast and top with fruit or jam.

Needless to say our weekend was delicious! I am especially enjoying our cream cheese. What have you been eating recently?

Thursday Randomness

2011-10-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere that babies in the third trimester can taste your food and that foods you eat while pregnant and nursing are foods your baby will be more likely to eat when you start feeding them solids. For this reason I have been trying to eat lots of diverse and interesting foods such as greens, squash, sweet potato, curry, Chinese food, beans etc. However, I pretty much have been craving cheerios and banana's, eggs and chicken broth. Not exactly the most interesting of flavors.

Can we just take a minute to acknowledge how awesome cheerios and bananas are? I mean really, are there as many combinations as perfect and refreshing as cheerios banana's and cold milk? I think not.

When I was a kid I never would drink the leftover milk in my cereal bowl. The cereal and fruit makes is sweet and I didn't want to drink sweet milk. Then I started buying my own milk and quickly changed my ways.

We have delicata squash from our last CSA box and it is Delicious. If you haven't had it you must try it. I know a lot of farms markets and higher end grocery stores carry it. The best way I've found to fix it is to simply cut the squash in half, scrape out the seeds, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and place face down in baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until tender. Add some butter and salt and pepper. It's the perfect taste of fall.

Last night some friends of ours brought us dinner and their 1.5 year old. He quickly demonstrated just how un-baby proof our house is. How is that toddlers have such a knack at identifying the dangerous/disgusting things first. He went right for the plug ins, cords, garbage can and fire place pokers.

Yesterday I was watching Julia Child and she made tripe. This did not make me want to eat tripe. She had a whole tripe on the show and it looked just as disgusting as it sounds. Then I watched a show about homemade sausage. This was much more to my liking.

Well happy almost Friday! What are your weekend plans? I'm looking forward to my husband actually being home for a while. He's had a lot of evening meetings and events lately. I am also so excited for my church baby shower. I haven't been able to go to church for almost 6 weeks so I'm so excited to see all my church friends.

Varieties of Birthing Experience

2011-10-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

I am a member of the City Club of Eugene's program planning committee. A few months back during a meeting I had to step out to take a phone call and while I was out it was decided that I, being about 5 months pregnant at the time, would plan a program on birth. This is always the risk you take stepping out of a meeting:)

The program I planned took place on Friday. Unfortunately I couldn't attend due to my bed rest but I was able to listen to the program on the radio. Here is the link
http://www.klcc.org/OnlineAudioFeature.asp It's called WELCOMING BABY TO EUGENE: Varieties of Birthing Experiences. And it features a child birth educator, Carolyn Jenkins, Colleen Forbes, Certified Professional Midwife, Michele Peters-Carr, Certified Nurse Midwife and Kay Yanit, Labor & Delivery Nurse at McKenzie Willamette hospital. I was so pleased with how the program turned out.

I have to say that when I first started planning this program I was very irritated. I was irritated that people assumed just because I was pregnant I wanted to plan a program about birth. However, as I worked to put it together I really enjoyed it. I've become very interested in issues around labor and delivery since I've been pregnant and preparing for my own birth. I was able to use a lot of my experience to shape the panel. One thing I wanted to highlight in the program is the outside things that influence a families decision about how they birth their baby. When Chris and I found out we were going to have a baby our first instinct was to use a midwife. We are both very interested in natural and preventative medicine and I have been seeing a naturalpathic doctor for years. A midwife who would be more focused on helping us have a natural delivery seemed like the best option. However, we soon learned it was not that simple.

In our area there are four options for your birth. An OBGYN in the hospital, the Nurse Midwifery center which is next to one of the hospitals, an alternative midwifery center, or a home birth. Our insurance only covers an OBGYN in the hospital or the Nurse Midwifery center. When we called the nurse midwifery center we were very disappointed to learn that you don't work with one midwife. You see whichever midwife happens to be on call during each of your visits and when your baby is born. Furthermore, if there are complications you may be transferred from the center to the hospital and be transferred to the care of whichever OBGYN is on call. We felt very strongly that we wanted to have the opportunity to establish a relationship with our provider. Yet going outside our insurance was not an option for us. So we ended up with an OBGYN in the hospital. We have been very blessed to find a wonderful OB who we love and who has been very supportive of our desires to have a natural birth. We've also been grateful as we've faced complications for her skills and knowledge.

It was very interesting to us how much our choice was limited by these conditions. In planning the program I wanted to relate what the different childbirth options were and what factors impacted families choices. I also didn't want a presentation that favored one method. As I have learned about birth I have realized that different models are right for different families.

For us we believe a natural birth is best and we are doing everything we can to prepare for that. But given the complications we've already had we are also grateful to birth in a hospital that will be equipped to intervene if it becomes necessary for either me or our baby.

Margot's Book shelf

2011-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last week my book club came to my house so I could still be apart of the discussion despite bed rest. I have been a part of this book club since it came together almost 4 years ago. At our meeting they all surprised me with a book shower! They brought cake and each member brought their favorite children's book for Margot. And one of the ladies made Margot a Mother Goose quilt. It was so much fun and so exciting for Chris and I to open all those wonderful books.

We already had some children's books that were mine when I was a child and now with all of these Margot's book shelf is brimming with wonderful books to read. Chris and I try to read to her every day and we've a had a lot of fun working our way through the various books. Here are some of our favorites, first from my childhood:

This book was my favorite as a little kid. It takes place in Russia and is about a peasant who has magical powers and lots of wisdom and the Czar who lacks wisdom. The illustrations are amazing.

And some of our new books we love:

As famous as this book is I actually had never read it until someone gave it to us. I love the colorful pictures and the fun room.

Another one I hadn't read. This book is so sweet and has beautiful pictures.

Again another I hadn't read. This book has quickly become my favorite. I think I've already read it to Margot half a dozen times. It's a beautiful book.

What are your favorite children's books?

Random

2011-10-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

I am feeling very random and restless this thursday afternoon.

-Tomorrow I am 32 weeks pregnant. This means we are just 4 weeks away from the "safe" point of the pregnancy. Right now I'm guessing we are about 6 weeks from Margot's arrival. I have a feeling she'll be about two weeks early--although its' just a feeling--who knows.

-I have been on bed rest for alomst a whole month.

-It's weird to watch seasons change primarily from the windows. I do get to leave the house but not very often.

-I have been watching a lot of Julia Child lately. Chris got the French Chef shows for me from the library. They are excellent. I've also been watching a lot of Good Eats because I heart Alton Brown--he's hilarious.

-The downside to watching cooking shows is I am inspired to cook something and can't. I miss cooking and can't wait to have my kitchen back.

-What else have I been doing?

Reading: Great with Child, on Becoming a Mother by Debra Rienstra. I am almost done with this book and have really been enjoying it. The Princess Diaries books (again). I just love these books they are mindless and hilarious in the best way. What to Expect the First year, now that we are so close to actually bringing a baby home I've been getting a little panicky about how to take care of her. So I've been reading on infant care. I'm sure it's irrational pregnancy hormones talking but I will become convinced at 4am that I'm going to incapable of taking care of our baby. I also try to read to Margot every day. Usually I read the bible or a children's book. I just finished reading the Mother west wind stories to her.

Watching TV: I try not to watch too much TV but you can't read all day long as much as you may enjoy it. Besides Julia Child and Alton Brown I also have been watching Glee, Cheers and we just finished the first season of Modern Family.

Cross stitching: I'm still working away at my baby sampler for the nursery. I don't even want to think about how many hours this thing has or will take me before I'm done. This however is really the only thing I can do to satisfy my nesting instincts so it's good.

Knitting and listening to the radio: Most days I listen to all things considered on NPR while knitting. Sometimes I listen to NPR other times too.

- I am very excited for this weekend because Lauren is coming for my shower and is going to stay with me and Chris parents are also coming to town. Saturday I'm having a baby shower thrown by my dear friend Jessica and I actually get to leave the house and see people!!!!

Happy Weekend:)

New Roles

2011-10-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Since I have been on bed rest Chris and I have found ourselves in new roles. Since we've been married I have generally managed the house and the kitchen. I make grocery lists, meal plans, clean out the fridge, cook, do housework and all the laundry. He's always helped with those tasks but never had to oversee them. Now he does. Probably this is good for both of us. He is becoming more away of what is involved in taking care of the house and I am being forced to let certain things go. We're growing.

Last weekend we had friends over for dinner. We'd made the plans before I was put on bed rest and we really wanted to see our friends so Chris said he'd just do all the work. I was so proud of him. While I remained on the couch directing him he cleaned house, cooked dinner, served dinner, did dishes, served dessert and so on. And he was such a good host. Plus his dinner was delicious. I made up the recipe as we went and it turned out so wonderful. He is starting to become a really good cook. It's really fun to watch how much he improves. We didn't take any pictures but I thought I'd share the recipe anyway. This was a great meal for entertaining easy, cheap and delicious.

Braised Chicken and tomatoes with Cous Cous

1 chicken cut up or 6-8 thighs and drumsticks
2 Tb cumin
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper
lard or vegetable oil
2 leeks chopped and rinsed
2 cloves garlic minced
5-6 fresh tomatoes chopped
1 tsp corriander
1 bay leaf
1 cup chicken broth
cous cous cooked

Pat chicken dry and season with salt, pepper and cumin. Dredge chicken in flour and brown in hot oil or lard until brown on each side. You'll probably have to do this in batches. Set chicken aside. Add splash of olive oil to pan then add leeks. Cook for a few minutes then add garlic. Cook another minute then add tomatoes, salt, pepper, corriander and bay leaf. Add chicken back to pan then pour in broth. Bring to boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook about one hour.

Serve over cous cous. We served this along with glazed carrots and a salad. Sauteed spinach or chard would also be really wonderful along side this chicken.

Finished Project

2011-10-05T12:27:00.001-07:00

We now have a red front door and matching red Adirondack chairs on our front porch. I love our new bright and cheery entrance. I'd hoped to put up a fall wreath and plant some Mums for our porch but that will have to wait for next year.

Pregnancy Update 30 Weeks

2011-10-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

This week I am 30 Weeks pregnant. I can't believe how close we are to meeting Margot.
Here are some pictures of the bump from last week (29 weeks).

So how are we doing at 30 weeks?

We have our crib and Chris is going to put it together this weekend.

We've had one baby shower and have another coming up next weekend.

Margot is growing well and is now over 3lbs.

I have completed two weeks of bed rest. I'll be honest bed rest is kind of horrible. Luckily I can work from home which I know helps tremendously. Work at least takes up 8-9 hours of my day. I have spent a lot of time reading, knitting, listening to records and the radio. People have been really sweet about coming to visit me which helps so much.

As much as I don't enjoy bed rest it appears to be working! We had another ultrasound and doctors appointment yesterday and the doctor was really pleased. There are no new signs of early labor and Margot is continuing to grow and thrive. So while I have to stay on my back for another 6-10 weeks at least it's keeping her safe inside. My mother in law told me that every day she stays inside is three less days in the NICU. So we just have to take it one day at a time and keep praying for a full term baby.

Nursery Updates

2011-09-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

I am really glad we were able to get as much done as we have on the nursery before I was put on bed rest. This was definitely a group effort. Friends helped us paint, my Dad came to help Chris install the light, my step-father loaned us his palm sander. My Mom made baby blankets and is working on the the crib bedding now. I love how it's coming together and I think it is such a perfect pretty little girl room.

This is the view from the door. The room is very small. All the furniture is in except the crib which just needs to be assembled. It will go on the wall opposite the window.

Here is our completed dresser project. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Here is the rocking, nursing, reading corner. Complete with a bunch of my childhood picture books.

And my favorite part: the chandelier!

Isn't it pretty?!

We still have to add the crib, curtains, crib bedding and some wall art. From this point forward I have to direct others to finish it up but I know we will get it all together in time.

No More Nesting

2011-09-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a bit of upheaval here at the Potter house. Last week during what was supposed to be a routine ultrasound I was sent home and put on bed rest. I am now on day 7 of bed rest. Luckily I am able to work from home via my lap top and blackberry. I am also allowed a once a week trip into my office for Friday morning committee meetings just for a few hours. And of course I get to go to the doctor every two weeks for copious amounts of ultrasounds and test. Other than that it is home and on my back.

I'll be honest--bed rest sucks a lot. However, bed rest is much better than our baby being born at 28 weeks. Hopefully the bed rest will keep Margot safely inside until at least 36 weeks. Apparently she is very eager to join us--silly little girl.

It was a scary and stressful week but now we seem to be settling into a new norm of sorts. Poor Chris is now stuck doing everything--cooking, cleaning, picking up, grocery shopping, errands, fetching me things and running his practice. However, we have been so grateful and amazed at an outpouring of love, help and support from our friends, family and church community. We've had visitors, meals brought to us and help with all sorts of things.

The hardest part about bed rest besides sheer boredom is not being able to nest. I can put away baby things, organize and re-organize closets or ANYTHING. Oh well. Such is life. At least Margot remains safely inside kicking up a storm. And on the upside I can now wear yoga pants as much as I want.

The Nesting Instinct

2011-09-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday night around 9pm Chris said, "I think your nesting instinct is kicking in because I can't keep up with you." I think he may be right. We've had a scary long ongoing "To Do" list for months. And this Saturday I woke up with a strong urge to tackle as many chores as possible.

Here's a glimpse at our Saturday:
7-8: sort through all books and gather ones to sell back to Smith's
8-9: make breakfast, do dishes, shower, get dressed, soak beans for baked beans
9-10: weekly grocery shopping at Winco, return home and put away groceries
10-11:30: Sell back books at Smith's and go to Lowe's to buy dresser knobs, light bulb and curtain rods
11:30-12: make chicken, rice casserole for lunch and get beans cooking for baked beans
12-1: pick up the house start baby laundry while Chris put new knobs on baby dresser
1-1:30pm- eat lunch
1:30-2:30- Chris painted front door red while I did dishes, picked up assembled baked beans
2:30-3:30- sit and read on font porch
3:30-5- go on long nature walk at Fern Ridge
5-6-Chris made dinner while I got off my feet
6-7- sort by size and fold and put away baby clothes
7-9- watch movie
9-10 Chris head to bed while I finish dishes, put away remaining baby clothes and take a bath

I am pretty sure I've never had a more productive Saturday in my life! As productive and wonderful as our Saturday was we still have quite the "To Do" list left. I hope this "nesting" sticks around for a bit so we can get it all done. Here's what's left on our pre-baby To Do List

Stain book case
hang mirror
trim back roses
trim hedges
edge yard
eradicate ivy
find nursery wall at
sew nursery curtains
assemble crib
print photos and update photo albums
finish baby sampler
interview pediatricians
hospital tour
make meals to freeze

Menu Friday

2011-09-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Lately we've changed how we do food at the Potter house. The old model has always been that I plan menu's, make grocery lists, go to the grocery store and cook dinner each night. Occasionally I would enlist Chris' help either to do dishes as I cook or aide in the cooking. However since I've been pregnant our model has changed dramatically. I still generally make the menu. Sometimes this is done with Chris* and some cook books of his choice (Betty Crocker) but often on my lunch break with a variety of websites or lately random dishes I know by heart. Either we grocery shop together or Chris ventures out on his own with a list in hand. Then each evening he cooks dinner. I sit on the bar stool in our kitchen and chop things, read him the recipe and offer general advice on heat, stirring, browning etc. It's amazing how much he's learned over the past several months. I find my advice is needed less as he becomes more confident with various cooking techniques. Sometimes it's a little frustrating to be relegated to my stool on the sidelines but my swollen feet greatly appreciate the relief and by the time Margot makes her appearance Chris will be nearly as competent in the kitchen as I am. This should make for a much smoother postpartum period for all of us.

Our menu's have also changed quite a bit. In order to help Chris cook we try to focus on quick and easy weeknight meals. So we have less Bon Appetit recipes, less ethnic food and more Betty Crocker. I also try to pick things he particularly likes. I know I'm more excited cooking something I really like. The man loves meat and potatoes. He loves meat loaf, stroganoff, stuffing, casseroles, chili, and meat loaf. And because we are watching our pennies these days we try and choose economical meals. Here is our menu for the week to come:

Fri: Chicken and Rice Casserole (recipe jotted down on random scrap in my recipe box)and sauteed spinach

Sat: Roast chicken with braised french lentils, roasted carrots and salad

Sun: Dinner at my Dad's

Mon: chicken tostadas with fresh salsa and sauteed zucchini*

Tues: Potato leek soup (Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French cooking) and salad

Wed: Taco soup

Thur: left overs

Fri: steak, scalloped potatoes and sauteed spinach

Chicken Tostadas
1 cup cooked shredded chicken
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 cup fresh salsa (either green or red)
1 cup cooked or canned black beans
shredded cheese
lettuce
chopped green onion or chives
sour cream
fresh salsa
1 cup masa
water

place masa in bowl and add just enough water to make a stiff dough. Form into tortillas and dry fry on high heat in non stick skillet. Place tortillas on plates and lower heat in pan to medium heat. Place chicken in pan. Sprinkle with chili powder and cumin. Add one cup of fresh salsa. Let cook for 5-10 minutes until heated through and some of the liquid has cooked off. Top each tortilla with black beans and cheese. Add chicken and top with lettuce, salsa, sour cream and green onions.

Happy

2011-09-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

I think the third trimester is my favorite part of pregnancy so far:

I got to register for wonderful sweet soft baby things
I haven't cried in over a week (a record for my pregnancy so far)
There is no doubting I look pregnant and not just chubby
Our nursery is coming together and I am so excited to see it completed
Baby showers are happening soon
Margot moves all the time and I love it
Chris can feel Margot move
Fall is here and when fall is over our baby will be here

This elation could also be contributed to the fall weather. It's a pleasant 69 degrees today and I am wearing a dress with tights, riding boots and cardigan and it's perfectly comfortable!

Fall + Nesting

2011-09-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Fall has arrived. I have always loved fall but perhaps never as much as this year. Not only was I desperately waiting for a reprieve from the summer heat but this fall has so many wonderful things to look forward to! Fall has always brought out my nesting instinct. But this year fall will coincide with pre-baby nesting and I am excited. The past two weekends we have started to really make headway on our pre-baby to do list and the cooler temperatures will really help us tackle those last few yard projects. I am celebrating a ten day forecast that doesn't come above 75 degrees.

This weekend we should finish painting our front door red, pot some mums for the porch and finish trimming back our trees and hedges. I hope to share a photo of our cozy front porch all ready for the new season on Monday.

What I'm looking forward to this fall:
completing my nursery decorating project
finishing our front yard clean up
decorating for fall
breaking out checkered table cloths, warm candles and gourds
scarves and riding boots
warm cozy soups
roasted root vegetables
planning our Thanksgiving menu
baby showers!

And best of all when fall is over it will be almost time for Margot to join us!

What are you looking forward to this fall?

image found here

Pregnancy update: 27 weeks

2011-09-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today I am 27 weeks pregnant with Margot. We are officially in the third trimester! Her arrival is definitely starting to feel closer with just this last home stretch to go. Last weekend we got a lot done to prepare and I hope this weekend is just as productive. Her nursery is all painted (Thank you Beth and Joanna!) and so is the dresser. We still need to find new dresser knobs but we hope to do that this weekend. The nursery is also cleaned out and only has baby things in it.

Last weekend I registered while Lauren was in town to help me. It was fun but a little exhausting! So many baby things. I just loved all the wonderful little girl things.

At 27 weeks Margot is the size of a head of cauliflower, weighs almost 2 lbs and is 15 inches long. She is starting to open her eyes as she learns the blink reflex. She is moving A LOT. Just this week I have noticed a big difference in her movements. I suppose because she is bigger her movements are much stronger. She actually woke me up last night with some strong kicks.

Needless to say the current heat wave has not make me the happiest pregnant woman around but I am trying to focus on the 75 degree weather for next week do all I can to stay cool until it arrives. People are not kidding when they say heat is difficult when you are pregnant. I do however appreciate the wonderful tomatoes we are finally receiving in our CSA box--delicious!

Dear Oregon

2011-09-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

You seem to be severely confused about what constitutes normal weather patterns. For the past two years you have been deeply confused on this matter.

Spring should begin in March/April and persist till early mid June with OCCASIONAL rain showers but mostly pleasant sunny temperatures in the mid to high 70's. Mid June you should start transitioning to the 80's reaching high 80's and even early 90's throughout July. Because this is when we want/need/expect to be hot. This is when we want to camp, swim and BBQ. Come August you should taper out to the mid 80's cooling slightly to the low 80's by the end of the month. As we move into September you should cool further into the 70's to begin your transition into fall weather. This is an example of a normal, reasonable and healthy weather pattern. Rather you left us, after a long and cold winter, with NO spring. Instead you persisted to rain through the month of July. Finally you gave us some decent weather in August with temperatures in the 80's and even the low 90's at the end of the month. But now that labor day has passed and we are ready to transition into fall, pull out our scarves and sweaters, cook soup, pot mum's and nest to our hearts desire you pull a week of 95 degree weather. Really Oregon this is just not cool---not cool at all.

The Most Delicious Breakfast

2011-09-02T09:51:00.001-07:00

This morning I had a brilliant bit of breakfast inspiration and created the most Delicious breakfast. My cousin Lauren (who was also my college roommate) and her husband are coming for the weekend. They now live in Seattle and are among our favorite house guests. Lauren and Nick started dating not long before Chris and I and we all palled around quite a bit in college. One of our favorite haunts was Cafe Sienna a whole in the wall Mexican breakfast place near campus. Lauren and I shared the same favorite Eggs a la compensena. I was remembering this while getting ready this morning and decided to make my own eggs a la compensena. The original is actually made with tortilla chips and jalapenos which I didn't have. Bu I came up with a slightly different version that was equally delicious. If you like Mexican food and eggs then you must make this.

Laura's Eggs a la compensena

3 eggs

one ripe tomato

fresh chopped green onions (a few table spoons)

butter

two soft corn tortillas

Cheddar cheese (2-3 Tb)

a splash of milk

fresh salsa to serve

Melt butter in a non sick skillet. Cut tortillas into strips and add to butter. While those cook for a minute or so crack eggs into bowl with a splash of milk and whip up. Cut up your tomato and onions. Add eggs to the tortillas. Add tomatoes and scramble for a minute or so. Add grated cheddar cheese and scramble just until done. Add green onions and transfer to plate. top with fresh salsa and hot sauce--enjoy!

With a delicious breakfast and fun weekend ahead I'm so happy it's Friday. Lauren and I are going to register at target tomorrow morning. Tonight we are making homemade pizza and relaxing. Happy three day weekend!

What to do at 2am?

2011-08-30T09:52:00.001-07:00

The combination of baby on the way, the financial stress that comes with 3 months sans pay, general pregnancy discomfort and heat have lead a lot of sleepless nights.

Usually there is a very typical pattern 2-3 sleepless nights (meaning I wake up somewhere between 1-3 am and can't go back to sleep until 4-5am) followed by 2-3 great nights of sleep. I suppose I finally exhaust myself to the point where I am so tired I sleep all night. But what to do during those sleepless hours??? Traditionally I've just laid awake thinking but I don't think this helps the situation and probably makes it worse. Lately I've been reading for a while in hopes this prompts sleepiness and sometimes it's helpful. Part of me wants to just get out of bed and organize a closet, file paperwork, or fold laundry. However, I worry actually getting out of bed and moving around will just wake me up for good. But if I'm awake anyway maybe productivity would be good.

What do you do during a sleepless night???

Pregnancy Update: week 25

2011-08-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

With only three weeks left until I reach the third trimester I kind of feel like my pregnancy is flying by! On the one hand I want to enjoy the time I have with Chris while it's just the two of us, but I also can't wait to meet Margot.

Unfortunately our progress getting ready for her arrival has been somewhat dismal. I am going to blame our crazy busy summer schedule. Chris is backpacking this weekend and then we have no more weekend plans on the calender. I hope a few weekends at home will let us tackle our to do list.

Chris is finally able to feel her move. She is still really small and while sometimes I can feel little baby kicks they aren't very strong, but occasionally she will kick my stomach really hard and then Chris can feel her too. I find that 3 am is her favorite time to perform this trick and I have woken up poor Chris more than once so he can share in the excitement.

We had our 24 week doctors appointment this past week. I love these appointments because we get to hear her little heart beat and its so fast! I have gained 14 lbs and she is measuring right on schedule. At our next appointment we will have another ultrasound and do the infamous glucose test.

It has been hot the past couple of weeks and while I'm doing okay with the heat it is making it hard to sleep at night. Lately Margot and I have had a lot of quality time in the wee hours of the morning.

Lastly, I just have to brag about how sweet and wonderful my husband is. He has done an amazing job taking care of me throughout my pregnancy. He gets into the shower first to let me sleep longer, he makes me tea and breakfast every morning. And every night after work he does the dishes and cooks dinner so I can get off of my feet. And after 6 months of crying bouts he continues to patiently comfort me each and every time. I know he will do an amazing job taking care of little Margot too!

Scenes from Diamond Lake

2011-08-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is out on the lake fishing early in the morning.

Our beautiful campsite right on the water

Chris enjoying some hammock time.

Mt. Theilson from the lake.

The sampler I'm making for Margot's bedroom. I got a lot done sitting around the campsite.

It still amazes me that next year when we go camping it will be with an 8 month old baby. Chris and couldn't help but talk a lot about what it will be like. We enjoy camping so much and look forward to sharing those times with Margot. However, we are very aware of how it will change our camping experience!

"What would Laura Ingalls Wilder Do?"

2011-08-23T15:28:00.001-07:00

So in response to my baby book boycott I'm taking a friends advice and reading whatever I want starting with The Little House on the Prairie books.

I do not care that it may or may not be the 27th time I have read these books, nor do I care that they were written for children, because they are wonderful, plain and simple. I have loved these books since I was 5 years old and my Mom started reading Little House on the Big Woods to me. I loved them so much that one year my God Mother made me a Little House dress, a calico dress with a real petticoat just like Laura's. I loved them so much that we used to play wagon with our bunk beds and pack a wagon to travel west like Laura and her family. And at some point a friend of mine used to tease me by posing the question "What would Laura Ingalls Wilder Do?". Even Chris loves them, although he hasn't read them, but he likes it when I'm reading them and I stop to show him the chapter on how Pa smoked his meat for winter or how he cleaned his gun and made bullets or how they survived the Big Winter.

These books teach you really interesting things. My favorite parts are when she describes how Ma cooked, canned or preserved something. I get so hungry reading these books and I want to go make pickled green tomatoes, baked Hubbard squash with molasses, fresh maple candies, or a giant pot of baked beans. One time Ma even made blackbird pie and it sounded Delicious!

So this morning, in answering the question (what would Laura Ingalls Wilder do?), we had molasses in our breakfast cereal. Last night I read about how they sweetened things with molasses and even ate bread and molasses for dinner on the trail. I realized that this was obvious and brilliant. Molasses is cheap and packed with Iron. It's much better for you than sugar but much less expensive than honey or maple syrup (what we normally sweeten our hot cereal with). Also molasses has such a wonderful rich flavor. Breakfast was perfect, wholesome and delicious.

Breakfast Cereal Sweetened with Molasses (for 2)

Cook according to package instructions 1 cup dried oatmeal (longer cooking is better) or other grain based hot cereal then divide into 2 bowls. To each bowl add the following:
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 Tb flax seed
1 Tb cinnamon (I use canela, a Latin American cinnamon, if using regular cut this amount down)
1 Tb butter
1/4 cup of whole milk or cream
1 Tb molasses

Molasses has a very strong flavor and if you aren't sure you like it I would start with 1 tsp of molasses and 1 tsp maple syrup or brown sugar then you can up the amount of molasses as you like.

Baby book overload

2011-08-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

When I found out I was pregnant my first instinct was to read all I could find about pregnancy, childbirth and babies. This began what has been a very love/hate relationship with pregnancy/baby books. Over the past 5 months I have read the following books:

However, I'm feeling really fed up with these books. Part of the problem is I have read books with such dramatically different philosophies that my head is fairly spinning. I feel like it's important to read about these different philosophies and perspectives but then I have a really hard time sorting through all the information and opinions. It doesn't help that Dr. Sears and the la leche league say you can only feed on demand while the Whisperer says you have to put your baby on a schedule. The Happiest Baby on the Block is all about swaddling while others say it can be bad for your baby. You add all these different opinions with what people you know say and it can be so hard to sort it all out. People have told me to go with my instinct but I honestly don't know what it is on so many of these things. And I don't feel like we "fit" clearly into one camp or the other. I don't know that "attachment parenting" as described by Dr. Sears is for me but I do find myself agreeing with some aspects of it and at the same time I don't know how I feel about the crying it out method. I also struggle because I feel like so many books are written for stay at home Mom's and trying to factor in my working Mom schedule doesn't seem to fit. I think for now I have decided I'm done with parenting/baby/pregnancy books. Friday I will be 6 months pregnant and I think I'm going to spend my remaining months reading novels and decorating my nursery. Maybe stopping the information overload will allow my own instincts to kick in. And I hope when Margot arrives we'll just have a sense of what will work for us.

How did you deal with the info overload when you were pregnant???

camping traditions

2011-08-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

I love camping! Some of my favorite childhood memories were made with my Klamath Falls cousins each year at Campbell Lake. In recent years our family has been camping at Diamond Lake. I look forward to the trip each year. In fact I love it so much that we go on the weekend of my birthday and we have a little camping birthday dinner for me. It's one of the activities I'm most excited to do with my children.

Each year I look forward to hiking with my Dad and others, eating tacos and chili, swimming in the lake, drinking hot chocolate, Dad's breakfast potatoes in the dutch oven and cuddling with my husband in our warm cozy tent when it's freezing outside. Here's a look back at some camping pictures since Chris and I have been married.

This is Diamond Lake. It's a huge beautiful lake.

This is Mt. Theilson which I hiked with my Dad in 2009. Scariest hike of my life.

This is also 2009, Chris and I at Crater lake (which is 20 miles from Diamond Lake)

This is last year taking a rest during our waterfall hike. My sister took this pictures when we weren't looking.

This year I will be 23 weeks pregnant during our camping trip. This means no 10 mile hikes for me.It will also mean no wine :( but still plenty of food and hot cocoa.

And next year when we go camping we'll have Margot and she'll be 8-9 months old! Isn't that crazy! I'm sure taking a baby camping will be an adventure but with my family around there will be a lot of help.

Pregnancy Update: Week 22

2011-08-09T14:43:00.001-07:00

I am 22 weeks pregnant with Margot this week. The last two weeks have been really fun for me. It's amazing what a difference feeling her move and knowing who she has made in my experience of being pregnant. I still wouldn't say I love being pregnant but I can appreciate how special this time is and I truly love feeling her move around. I can't wait until Chris can feel her too.

We have been really bad at taking pictures of me pregnant (although we are always kind of bad at taking pictures). But here are a few of me from almost two weeks ago. The first is the evening after we had the ultrasound and the second is the following weekend on top of Mt. June.

As I mentioned the other day I am starting to get a lot of comments from about my belly some less appropriate than others:)

Now we know Margot is a girl we are starting to prepare for her arrival in many ways. One really fun way has been getting out my old baby things and washing them. These adorable wool dress coats and hats were mine. They were actually hand made by my God mother and are two of my favorite pieces we have. The purple one is for around 1 year and the plaid is for around 2 years so I have a bit of a wait until Margot is big enough to wear them.

Aren't they adorable?!

My Mom has been busy washing, pressing and carefully removing stains from a number of things and I can't wait to get them all hung up in the nursery closet. We painted the dresser, have nursery wall paint, and a chandelier that is perfect for a little girls room. My Mom is working on our crib linens and as soon as the room is painted and we put up the curtain rods I'll start making curtains. Our crib is ordered and last night our cradle arrived and I couldn't have been more excited.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have our baby sleep in our room for the first few month but not in our bed. However, figuring out what to have her sleep in was a little tricky. I wanted something right next to the bed but also something that looked nice and matched our room. When I saw this cradle I knew it was perfect. It's small enough to fit next to the bed and is really classic and charming. I love that it is on wheels and easily rocks. I was so excited when Chris parents ordered it for my birthday this week. And even though we are 4 months away from needing it my wonderful husband put it together for me right away just to make me happy. It was so fun to watch him put together something for the baby.

Isn't it pretty!

Oddities

2011-08-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't say I have OCD by any stretch of the imagination. But I do have a few very odd borderline obsessive quirks. One of these has to do with pens/pencils. I have a mild obsession with using the same pen and pencil until they run out of ink and I throw them away. I also have a complete aversion to buying pens/pencils because I know I have so many that haven't run out of ink. I have zip lock bags full of pens/pencils in my desk at home that I use to replenish my supply. I always keep one pen in my purse, one on my nightstand, one at my home desk and one at my office desk and use it exclusively until it runs out of ink. I am always curious how long it will last before it runs out. I have no idea where this particular quirk of mine comes from. I think part if it is frugality. Why buy pens or pencils with so many discarded ones floating around? I can use a mechanical pencil for ever. The one I am using at my desk today I happen to know for a fact that I've had it since high school. It has a flashy 80's vibe that is lots of fun.

What about you? Any strange quirks to share on a Monday?

Things Men should never say...

2011-08-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

to pregnant women.

I am the first to admit that being pregnant has made me more sensitive. And I will acknowledge that I get more easily offended. But seriously some of the things people say or do astound me.

In one week, in two separate business meetings, men asked if I had "a bun in the oven". I am not an oven and my baby is not a bun. And am I "hatching". Really.... Do I look like a chicken. What's wrong with "are you expecting?" In one of these meetings another man commented, in response to the hatching comment, that they had been wondering but weren't sure if it was that or the donuts. How in any possible way is this an appropriate comment to make?

Reflections

2011-08-04T13:33:00.001-07:00

I was talking with a close friend the other day about a minor complication in my pregnancy. Currently this issue is minor but it has the potential to become major. I told her that I felt like my ideal labor/delivery scenario was spiraling out of control. It was a this point that she reminded me that it had never been in my control.

It's a true fact and one that's easy to forgot.

As I read books, research natural birth classes and diligently do my pre-natal yoga, it's easy to think if I just do all these things everything will go how I want. And what I want is a natural birth. Now all this isn't to say that preparing in these ways isn't good--it is. But at the end of the day it's not the most important preparation.

I am finding throughout my pregnancy that I am challenged in my relationship with God in new ways. And the issue of control is just one example.

I am learning that my pregnancy is a unique time for me in that relationship. And I hope investing time in that relationship prepares my heart as well as my mind for the many unknowns to come.

Nursery Ideas

2011-08-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

When I first started thinking about our nursery I could only picture a little girls nursery. I almost instantly knew what I wanted. It took me a lot longer to think though a boy version. Now that we know it's a girl we are moving full speed ahead with the nursery. My goal is to have it complete by the end of October.

My starting point was turquoise and red. First I thought about painting the room turquoise and then painting the crib red. I have since decided that might be too bold and overstimulating for the baby. Instead I'm going to paint the room a very soft turquoise, use mostly white furniture and trim and then incorporate more color with bright fabrics. My Mom is a very good seamstress and is going to sew all the nursery linens, crib skirt, bumper pads, sheets etc.

Recently we went to pick out fabrics and patterns and came back with these:

I am so pleased with our fabric. It was really hard to choose and put combinations together that would bring out the red and turquoise. I also love these because they

are bright, fun, and have just a bit of a retro vibe to them.

Sunday Dinner

2011-08-02T13:12:00.001-07:00

Thank you for all the sweet comments about Margot. We are very excited.

Sunday was just one of those days. We got a flat tire, I had one of my very emotional pregnant days, Les Schwab was closed and we both needed some comfort food. So I decided to make chicken stew with dumplings. Granted this may not be the most traditional of summer meals, especially for an 85 degree day, but it was delicious. I made this up as I went along and couldn't have been more pleased with how it turned out. Chris enjoyed his with a cold beer while I had mine with a tall glass of cold whole milk.

Chicken Stew with cornmeal Cheddar dumplings*

6 pieces of dark meat chicken (I used drumsticks*)
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper
olive oil
3 medium carrots
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
4-6 potatoes (depending on size) either red, Yukon or new potatoes
1 quart chicken broth
sprigs of fresh oregano and/or thyme

for dumplings:
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese
one egg
2 TB olive oil
2 TB milk

Place the four in a pie plate and generously season with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in dutch oven or soup pot. Dredge chicken pieces in flour and brown well in the pot. While chicken browns, dice onion, carrots, potatoes and garlic. You could add celery to this but I didn't have any. Once chicken is browned add onion, garlic, carrots, and potatoes. Cook about ten minutes. Add broth and fresh herbs. Bring stew to boil, reduce, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Remove chicken pieces and pull off meat to add back into soup pot. Make dumplings by mixing grated cheese, flour, cornmeal, baking soda and salt and pepper into a mixing bowl. In smaller bowl beat egg and add milk and oil. With fork combine egg mixture to flour mixture and mix until just combine. Place four dumplings on top of soup, cover and cook at low heat for 10-15 minutes until dumplings are cooked through (knife should come out clean). Enjoy!

You could make this with leftover chicken or meat from a rotisserie chicken. I would just start with browning veggies and add the chicken with the broth. However, cooking the chicken on the bones in the soup makes and extra rich and nutritious broth.

*The dumpling recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
*This is a great way to use drumsticks which I sometimes have a hard time using up. Often I buy whole chickens, cut them up, and then am left with drumsticks. This week we actually bought a package of drumsticks because they were in the clearance meat section at Market of Choice (for you locals). This was an amazing deal. The package of 10 organic drum sticks was $2.70 and simply needed to be used or frozen that day. I used half and froze half.

Boy or Girl

2011-07-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound yesterday and we are having a GIRL!

Margot Jessica Potter will be joining us mid December.

We are so excited. I was hoping for a girl. The ultrasound was pretty amazing. She was moving so much and it was so fun to see. Although the ultrasound technician took forever to tell us. I didn't realize ultrasounds were so long and it wasn't until almost the end that we found out. She is perfectly healthy and weighs 12 oz.

Last night we had a celebration dinner at my Mom's. We had all my childhood favorites with chocolate pudding! It was a celebration after all. Then we got out all of my baby things so we can wash them. There are some adorable little dresses, a coming home gown, hand knit blankets and sweaters, little hats and two adorable little wool coats. I am so excited to get them all washed and put away in the nursery. I am so happy. Really I can't stop smiling:)

How my birth will not go

2011-07-27T08:26:00.001-07:00

*Note: this will be one of those pregnancy posts where the naive mother to be muses about how perfect her experiences will be. For all of you mothers post delivery please just let me enjoy me dreams and don't dash them--thanks:)

Last night we watched the episode of the office where Pam and Jim have their baby. I was really excited for this episode--literally I squealed when I saw it was next on the disc. However, I found watching this episode to be very stressful. And at 3am when I was awake not sleeping freaking out about all the things that could go wrong with my birth I compiled the following list of things that will not happen in my birth.

1. If I am having contractions at work and attempting to work through early labor at my desk I will not tell my co-workers.

2. I will be heading to the hospital during the 5-7 minute stage and definitely if my water breaks.

3. My water will not break at work because that is just not cool

4. There will be no Michael Scott driving us to the hospital (luckily we don't know any Michael Scott's)

5. Nobody will break the windows into our house and then demolish our beautiful kitchen while I am giving birth

6. We will have a really nice nurse who will not look at us like idiots when we request to keep our baby in our room and she certainly would never suggest giving him/her a bottle of formula

7. The lactation consultant will all be women. No strange man is looking or touching my breasts PERIOD

8. We will have our own room

9. When we leave some member of our family will have the car seat already properly installed in the car which is waiting by the hospital entrance

10. We will come home to a nice, clean, orderly, empty house--there will be no Dwight and as previously stated our lovely kitchen will be intact

Monday Monday

2011-07-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend in Klamath Falls for a Family reunion. It was so fun to see all of my extended family. I grew up camping with this side of the family and was able to reminisce with my cousins about all our adventures. One of my cousins just had a baby who was 11 days old on Friday. I was able to hold him and he was so tiny, 6.9lbs. It was amazing to hold such a tiny baby. He just sort of melted into your arms. It was also crazy to think that in 4 months a baby that size will be inside me! Craziness!

We are two days away from our ultrasound and I can hardly wait. Chris and I both think it's a girl but as somebody pointed out that's even more reason for it to be a boy. Soon we shall see.

We finished sanding the dresser for the baby's room and will be painting it this week. Then later this week we can go pick up nursery paint. I am getting bigger by the day and it's motivating me to get projects done early. I do not want to be scrambling to finish up when I'm 8.5 months pregnant.

Vegging Out

2011-07-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned many times on my Blog Chris and I don't have cable or Internet at home. We rely on the library for all our TV and movie viewing. The upside of this is it's free. The downside is that sometimes we have to wait a long time for things. Last year we started watching the Office and we were able to move through season 5 fairly quickly but came to a long list for season 6. Yesterday, after 6 months of waiting, we checked out season 6! So last night after dinner was made we settled on the couch for a good veg out session and finally got to watch the Office wedding. It was so worth the wait--hilarious! Also I'm finding it very entertaining to watch pregnant Pam on the office while I'm pregnant. Let's just say I can relate in many ways.

Saving Money pre-baby

2011-07-20T08:41:00.001-07:00

Nothing brings out my consumer instincts like baby items. When the first of my friends to get pregnant had her baby shower I may have gone a little crazy in Target. Chris may or may not have had to have a talk with me about the appropriate amount of money to spend on shower gifts:) Everything was so cute, and soft, and fun to buy, I couldn't help it.

Now that we are expecting our own baby one of the challenges for me has been to not buy things. It has helped during the past 5 months that I don't know if it's a boy or girl. But that will soon change and my resolve will be tested.

The thing is we are on a budget. And while there will be things we would like to buy for the baby there are other more pressing realities like our mortgage and paying for the baby's health insurance and my pre-natal care. As much as I'd love to go out and buy soft cute baby things I logically know that we need to be careful with our money. We agreed to not buy things for the baby until after our showers. We have thought a lot about how we can save money and not get swept away in baby purchases. I though I'd share some of what we've found for others who may be in the same boat.

1. Used baby items: some baby thing are best to buy new due to recalls and safety concerns but many things can be purchased used. Our area has a number of baby consignment stores and there is of course Craig's list. Once we've had our showers and know what we still need to buy these will be the first places we look.

2. Reassess what the baby needs: some people, books and stores will lead you to believe that baby needs 2x as many things as they actually do. When I first started looking at things we'd need to get I was so overwhelmed. But once I started going through that list with my Mom and other Mom's I soon realized not everything was necessary. We are taking a hard look at what is a priority and necessity for us and what we can perhaps do without. Some of the items we will not be registering for are: a baby bath tub, a diaper genie, a wipe warmer, a bouncy seat, a walker, and a jumperoo*. The jury is still our on a swing. We will be investing in some high quality slings/carriers (either the ergo or bijorn), a new car seat, a new crib and a cradle for the first few months.

3. Avoid buying clothes at first: this is the hardest thing for me. But logically I know that we will get a lot of clothes as gifts and that the baby will move through sizes quickly. Further these are so easy to get second hand.

4. Investigate your parent's attic: Turns out my Mom kept a ton of our baby things. She has a lot of our nicer clothes, blankets, handmade sweaters, hats, booties and coats. These things will help us a lot. She also has toys, books and movies from when were kids as well. Besides most of these items are higher quality than a lot of what is on the market today and they are timeless.

5. Be creative with nursery furniture/decor: One of the items we will be getting new will be our crib but we found a less expensive safe classic design. We will be pairing it with a garage sale dresser that we are refinishing and a rocking chair from my Mom's garage. My Mom and I are sewing the crib linens and curtains ourselves. And I plan to use framed story book pictures as wall art along with some things I'm making. The total cost of our nursery will be around $450.

6. Maternity clothes for less: Maternity clothes have been a challenge. I hate the idea of spending the little money we have to spend on maternity clothes. I'd so much rather spend it on baby clothes. Luckily I have been able to stretch a lot of my n0n-maternity wardrobe due to the bellaband. I have filled in the gaps with a handful of Goodwill purchases. I will be honest looking for second hand maternity clothes is not easy. Often I have 3-4 trips with out a single item. A lot of the used clothes are ugly, stained or not even close to my size. But when I do find something that works it is worth it. I have bought one pair of shorts, one pair o pants, and two tops for $15 dollars.

We will also be taking advantage of my birthday which is in august. We have asked my Dad to buy us the crib for my birthday present and my Mom is going to buy the material for the nursery linens for my present and then help me sew them. I will be using birthday money I get for other things we need. Someone said this was sad but I can't think of anything I want more then the things we need for our baby.

These are just some of our ideas. I would love to hear ideas or tips you have for saving money on baby things.

*I'm not saying these are good or bad items and if they were a life saver for your baby that's great. I'm simply saying these are some of the things we are going to try and do without.

Pregnancy update: week 19

2011-07-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

This week I am 19 weeks pregnant with the baby. We just have one more week until we find out if it is a boy or girl. It's amazing to me that we are this far along. It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for our first doctors appointment. It is also a little scary that we are so close to his/her arrival. Next week marks the halfway point and when I think about all the things we need to do before this little one arrives it's easy to feel a bit overwhelmed.

There is no doubt that I look pregnant now. I am still mostly wearing non-maternity clothes thanks to the bellaband I can still wear all of my pants. Tops are getting a little trickier. Luckily I had a lot of blouses and loose fitting tops that still work. I did buy a pair of maternity shorts and two maternity tops at Goodwill a few weeks ago and last night I found a pair of old navy maternity cords at Goodwill. I am trying to stretch my non-maternity clothes through the summer so I can just go buy a few fall things in September to get me through the last couple of months.

Generally I feel really good. Lately I have noticed that my feet start to swell if I am standing too long and I tire more quickly on my feet. I am still doing prenatal yoga which seems to help and we try and walk a lot. I am starting to get hungrier and am eating more than I was a few weeks ago. I still sleep okay which I am thankful for.

This week the baby is the size of a mango. I can feel him or her moving inside. This weekend I felt a lot of movement it was really fun. It will still be a while before Chris can feel it.

We are still working on sanding the dresser but hope to finish it this week so we can paint it. We have a handful of house projects we want to get done in the next few weeks so we can focus on the nursery.

A weekend at the Beach

2011-07-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend. I wish it hadn't ended. We spent the weekend in Neskowin on the Oregon Coast with Chris family. They rented a beautiful beach house right on the beach. It was so beautiful. The weather was a little drizzly as you can see from the pictures but the beach was still fun and we found live starfish which were so neat.

I'm old but I don't care

2011-07-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

So in college I used to go on 2-3-4 hours of sleep all the time. I was notorious for pulling all nighters and can't remember an occasion when I actually started a paper more than one day/evening before it was due.*

Despite perhaps my better judgement I went to the midnight showing of the Final (tear) Harry Potter movie last night with my sister. We arrived at the theater at 7pm, hung out in line outside until about 8:30, stood in a slightly moving line until 10 and then settled into our theater to wait a final two hours. The movie ended at 2:40am which put me in bed at 3AM. Sadly my alarm woke me up at 6am for my 7am meeting. So now I am moving through my day in a zombie-esque state. It's painful and I feel very old.

It was a very interesting evening for me. First of all it really felt like the end of an era. As we were waiting in line my sister and I were reminiscing about when we first read Harry Potter #1 13 years ago (she was 7, I was 12), dressing up for midnight book release parties, and waiting in line hours for each new movie. It's weird to think that when our kids read Harry Potter they will just be able to move through the books, no waiting 2 years for the next one. Harry Potter will be to them what Star Wars was to us. So strange.

I also have to say that I have never felt as old, fat or pregnant as I did last night at the theater. Most of the other movie goers were middle, high school and college students. And the place seemed to be crawling with stick thin, high schoolish age girls in what I can only call sexed up Harry Potter costumes. This made me feel fat and pregnant for obvious reasons and old for how shocked I was at what they were wearing.

In the end though I had fun and I enjoyed the movie. Furthermore in 7 more hours I can go home and back to sleep:)

Did anyone else brave the midnight showings last night?

*It must be said that despite this I did get very good grades in college especially on my papers. I just happen to work best in a high pressure environment. I swear to incurable writers block until approximately 24 hours before something is due.

Baby Chris

2011-07-13T10:58:00.001-07:00

I often wonder who the baby will look like. Recently my in laws gave me a flash drive of old family photos from when Chris was little. Looking at these photos makes me want a baby boy who looks just like him. He is so cute and he looks so happy!

Here he is clearly up to something!

This is such a sweet picture. I am guessing he's in kindergarten.

It so neat to see his personality in these pictures. It's funny how much we change while at the same time how much we stay the same.

Inspiration

2011-07-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

I am loving the working Mom series on A Cup of Jo this week. I think it's been particularly interesting to me since I do plan on going back to work after our baby is born and how to handle the work/home balance has really been on my mind lately. It's great to see how these successful women handle both work and kids.

Homemade Bread

2011-07-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend I decided to make homemade bread. I used to make homemade bread all of the time before Chris and I got married and the first year we were married but since my job has become more demanding I really haven't done it as much. However, Friday when we were at the grocery store I became so irritated at the price of bread (4-5 dollars a loaf for good bread) that I decided to make my own.

Here is my favorite recipe for homemade bread. It is so easy and delicious.

Old fashioned wheat bread

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2-3 cups whole wheat flour
2 packages of yeast
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1 TB salt

Place all purpose flour and dry yeast into mixer bowl. In sauce pan mix water, sugar, shortening and salt. Heat to 115-120 degrees. Add to flour mixture and mix on medium speed scraping bowl for 30 seconds. Beat on high for three minutes. Slowly add the whole wheat flour until it's too stiff to mix in mixer. Turn out dough on lightly floured surface and knead for 10-12 minutes. Place in greased mixing bowl and cover with bread towel. Let rise until double (about one hour). Punch down dough and divide into two balls. Cover with bread towel and let rest 10 minutes. After ten minutes form into loaves and place into two greased bread pans. Cover again and let rise until double about 30-40 minutes. Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes.

I had forgotten how wonderful baking bread is. I kind of think it's therapeutic. I love the way the dough feels and I get a lot of satisfaction out of kneading my own dough. You can kneed it in your Kitchen Aide with the dough hook but if you have never tried it by hand try it once. The bread is delicious. We have been eating a lot of it with homemade strawberry jam that my Mom made and nice tall glasses of whole milk--yummy!

Thursday Randomness

2011-07-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

I'm drinking chicken broth at my office. I love homemade chicken broth and it makes such a nice snack.

Our office is freezing. I HATE air conditioning. I swear we air condition buildings to be comfortable for grown men in wool suits.

I'm taking a break from baby/pregnancy books to read this book:

It's really interesting.

Chris and I are learning about parenting via the Cosby show. I am not kidding. It's great. It's so funny and it starts all of these conversations between us on how we would deal with ____situation. As always we are checking it out from the library.

This weekend is our last weekend at home for for the rest of the month. Next weekend we are going to the coast with Chris' family, the following weekend my family is having a family reunion in Klamath Falls and the weekend after that is our church camping trip.

We are slowly making yard progress. Our yard was a little out of control when we bought our house and 2 months of rain didn't help matters much. We finally got our hand me down lawn mower started. Our next step is to weed and feed the yard and continue the round up and weeding.

Well that's what's on my mind this Thursday. Happy almost weekend--

Cravings and Aversions

2011-07-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

One of the strangest things about being pregnant has been cravings and aversions. At first I was very nauseous and hardly wanted to eat anything. For a few weeks I only ate toast, chicken broth and baked potatoes. I couldn't stomach meat, eggs, noodles of any kind, or anything with a strong flavor. At the same time I craved baked potatoes like crazy! Once my nausea passed I found I was very picky for the first time in my life. I have always eaten pretty much anything and had very little patience for picky eaters. I'm becoming a lot more patient. I still can't eat noodles or strong flavored foods and I have a hard time with meat and eggs (they have to be scrambled with toast or grits). Chicken is okay but I can only eat beef in chili or tacos and ground. I usually just want to eat the foods I ate as a kid. These days we eat a lot of tacos, baked potatoes, chili, oatmeal breaded chicken strips, BBQ chicken, Thai chicken tacos, scalloped potatoes, scrambled eggs and toast. There are also a lot of nights where we simply eat a baked potato with fresh veggies from our CSA box.

I still have cravings right now it's for strawberries and milk. Last week it was dark greens, a while back it was a turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce. And always baked potatoes. I don't think I've had any strange cravings. Rather what's strange is how consistently I crave baked potatoes and how upset I become if I can't have what I'm craving. Tears have been shed more than once! I do believe that if you are craving a whole food (as opposed to BBQ potato chips or candy) you should eat it. I think we crave things our bodies need. There must be something very good in baked potatoes that I need--perhaps potassium.

For those of you who have been pregnant, what were your cravings? Anyone crave pickles and ice cream?

CSA Box

2011-07-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

Chris and I are part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) program. We pay a yearly fee in May and then each week from June 1st-October 31st we get a box full of fresh organic local produce from a nearby farm. It is so fun! We never know what we are going to get and then we have the challenge of finding new ways to eat the veggies. It's a lot of veggies. Here is our box this week: one bag of salad mix, one head of lettuce, one bunch beets with their tops, one bunch green onions, one bunch basil and broccoli.

Last night in celebration of fresh basil and green onions Mom and I made Thai Chicken Tacos. This is a recipe we have adapted over the years from a Rachel Ray recipe for Thai Chicken wraps. It's a wonderful light recipe perfect for summer.

Thai Chicken Tacos

boneless skinless chicken breast
corn tortillas
carrots
green onions
red bell pepper
fresh basil
cucumber
tomatoes
olive oil
rice wine vinegar
sugar or agave
salt and pepper
chunky peanut butter
soy sauce
cayenne pepper

Make salad:
combine bite size pieces of cucumber, tomato, red bell pepper. Add shredded carrots, chopped green onions and fresh basil. Add some olive oil, rice wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar or agave, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

To make sauce:
combine about a quarter cup peanut butter, 2 TB soy sauce, 1 TB rice wine vinegar, and a dash of cayenne pepper. set aside.

Grill chicken and heat tortillas. Spread each tortilla with peanut sauce, add chicken and top with fresh salad.

Pregnancy update

2011-06-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

I am 17 weeks pregnant and feeling great. I still have occasional weepy bouts and prefer to eat baked potatoes but my energy has returned. On the one hand I can't believe how fast time is going by on the other December still feels like a long way from now. However, we are starting to prepare for the baby and it is starting to feel more real.

Yesterday was the first time a stranger commented on my pregnancy. I am starting to show and most of my pants only fit with the bellaband. It was actually really funny because she said, "what a cute belly, when are you due?" and for a second I forgot I was pregnant and thought she was calling me fat! It was just such a surprise to have a stranger notice. Here is a picture of the belly last night:

We still have a few more weeks until we find out if it's a boy or girl. However we are starting to work on the nursery. I posted a few inspiration pictures a few weeks ago but now I have a much firmer idea in my head for each one. Our first big nursery project is to refinish a dresser that my Mom found at a garage sale. This was a great find and I'm so excited about it. Although it isn't a great picture here is the before:

It's a solid mahogany dresser from the 1920's. It is a little scratched, there is a crack on one of the drawer fronts and the knobs are broken. We are working right now to sand it down so we can fill the crack and paint it white. Then we will find new nobs to put on and it will be as good as new. We have also decided on the Jennylind crib which we will be getting next month. But perhaps most exciting is this rocking chair that my Mom and Stepfather are letting us use.

It's been in Michael's family and was in their garage. It is so perfect. Not only is it gorgeous but it fits me perfectly!

I am also reading a lot of books! My favorites so far have been The Baby Talk Guide to the First Year and The Happiest Baby on the Block. However, I just got The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and Baby Wise and am looking forward to those as well.

I know time will pass quickly and this little one will be here before we know it!

Back to the grindstone

2011-06-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well vacation is over. It was delightful. We had such a nice time with Chris' family in Tri-Cities. It was so beautiful up there. Then went to the cabin and the weather was glorious. It was warm and sunny. We went hiking a couple of times. Chris caught a fish. And we spent a lot of time lounging around reading in the hammock and cooking delicious food!

Now it's back to work and coming back after a week away is so painful. There is just so much to do to get caught up! Chris is back in Tri-Cities for the week for work though and I've been staying at my Mom's. It's so nice to be fed taken care of by someone else once in a while!

Vacation

2011-06-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow at 4pm we are officially on vacation! I really looking forward to 9 days away from my office and some quality time with Chris. Originally we were planning to go to Montana for a week but due to some very severe flooding they are experiencing we decided to stay a little closer to home. This weekend we are heading to Tri-Cities and Walla Walla to attend a wedding and visit with Chris' family then Monday we are heading to my family's cabin for a few days to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary.

We will sit on the porch and read, take naps in the hammock, go on walks and hikes and relax.

We will also be cooking some yummy food together. Here is our cabin menu which is heavily influenced by our CSA box produce that we have been enjoying:

French Lentils and garden lettuce salad

Thai shrimp Curry with fresh cilantro

Bacon egg and tomato sandwiches with fresh spinach and bakery bread

Fresh fish with rosemary roasted potatoes and sauteed kale

Grilled Duck breast with roasted squash salad and maple pecan dressing

Baby Room

2011-06-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Before I found out I was pregnant I knew that our nursery would be turquoise. I think it is the perfect baby bedroom color. It is versatile, gender neutral and happy. I am still formulating details of our nursery in my head but ideas are coming together more everyday. I think our baby is a girl and if I'm right I pretty much have her nursery planned. If I'm wrong....well...let's just say I'll have a lot more planning to do. These pictures (which came from the bump.com) have provided some general inspiration.

This wall color is perfect and we will be trying to match it. This is also very close to the crib we want and I love the three picture above the crib.

This is would be fun for a boy. I like the colors and the cheerful prints.

This is a really neat idea. Probably one we don't really have room for but fun one the less.

This just feels so happy and relaxed. Another great idea for a boy.

Pregnancy Update: week 13

2011-06-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all of the sweet comments about our exciting news!

I am 13 weeks and our baby is the size of a peach. So far my pregnancy is going really well. As I mentioned I've had some nausea but that seems to have passed. I am still really tired but I feel like my energy is starting to come back. Now that I am in the second trimester I am looking forward to having a lot more energy. The hardest part about the first trimester was the emotions. I would start crying over the smallest thing. Thankfully for both Chris and I that also seems to be getting better.

We had our first ultra sound at 10 weeks and were able to see the baby. He/she put on quite a show for us kicking, flipping around and squirming quite a bit. We could also see the heart beat which was pretty amazing. We go back to the doctor next week and should be able to hear the heart beat.

We will be finding out the sex of the baby. However we have to wait until our 20 week appointment the last week of July. However I think it's a girl:)

Memorial Day Menu

2011-06-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

To celebrate the holiday Monday we invited my Mom and Step father over for a BBQ. We wanted to have them over for dinner in our new house to thank them for all their help during our move and the holiday was the perfect opportunity.

I wanted a menu that felt like summer so despite the rainy forecast we could at least pretend summer was around the bend. I was really happy with how everything turned out. Chris and I made the steak and potato salad and Mom brought the corn salad, corn bread and pie. The highlight for me was the potato salad. It was so easy and simple and so yummy! I highly recommend this menu for a casual get together.

Memorial Day Menu

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

Potato Salad with sour cream and chives

Asparagus corn salad

corn bread

Strawberry Pie

pictures from Martha Stewart.com

Baby News

2011-06-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

Chris and I are excited to announce we are expecting a baby this December!

It has been really hard to blog and not blog about that. Hence the limited content on my blog in recent months.

I'm 12 weeks along and doing really well. I had some nausea but it's getting a lot better. I have also been extremely tired and weepy. I think now that I'm moving into my second trimester my energy is starting to come back.

We are really excited or this next stage of our lives.

This and that

2011-05-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

My office has a casual Friday policy, technically, but I have a standing Friday 7am committee meeting (horrible I know) which kind of throws a wrench in casual Friday. When I first started my job in October I always wore business attire on those days. But over time I have found ways to dress it down and still maintain a professional appearance. This is mainly thanks to a truly inspired purchase over the holidays. For a mere $30 on final clearance I got a dark navy blazer that is actually made of felt, at least that's what it looks like. It is comfy lightweight and wonderfully tailored. I wish I had a picture but it's long gone from J-Crews website. Now I frequently pair it with jeans and heals either over a sweater, blouse or tee and call it good. Best Friday outfit ever!

Last night our power went out for 6 hours. It turned off just as I was finishing dinner and stayed off until just after midnight. It was crazy. We ate dinner outside and then hung out in our cul-de-sac chatting with neighbors. Since every one's power was out people were all outside and kids were running around playing, it was really fun. Our new house is in a cul-de-sac and we really love it. There's hardly any traffic, it's really quite, and it's so fun watching the kids play outside together. The lady who lives across the street never mows her lawn. It's currently about 2 feet high. At first I found it really irritating but lately I've noticed how much the kids from the neighborhood play in it and it's really funny. The other day they were playing jungle. Their constantly hiding in it or losing balls in it. It provides a lot of entertainment from our office window.

I'm feeling really frustrated with our weather right now. While much of the county already has 80 degree weather. Here it has been so rainy and cold. The newspaper said that it was the 5th coldest month of April since 1880. The paper also said not to expect warm summer weather until mid July. Horrible. Although it was beautiful yesterday and looks nice today the next 10 days in the forecast all have rain in them. After last years very disappointing summer this is just not cool.

Well despite the weather it is almost the weekend which is a good thing...

breakfast delights in minutes

2011-05-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while...needless to say I've been busy.

We eat breakfast everyday at home. Every great once in a while when we have early meetings we skip it and I always end up having to go out and get something which I then regret eating.

To ensure a healthy breakfast at home we have a rotation of healthy fast meals (oatmeal, kasha, polenta, Cheddar grits, scrambled eggs and toast, rice cereal and so on) Lately my favorite has been pancakes. Recently, I realized that it's just as quick to make homemade pancakes from scratch as it is to make most of our other morning meals and they are so delicious. We have two varieties that are great for a weekday morning and are much more healthy than your standard pancake full of white flour.

Cornmeal Pancakes

one egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup of milk
1 TB molasses (molasses is so good for you, it's full of vitamins and minerals especially iron)
2 TB oil or melted lard
3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

beat egg until fluffy. add remaining ingredients and cook in butter. you can add some blueberries or blackberries once batter has been poured into skillet. serve with butter and REAL maple syrup.

Blueberry buckwheat pancakes

one egg

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1 cup milk

2 TB oil

1 TB sugar, agave syrup, real maple syrup or honey

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup blueberries

again beat egg until fluffy add remaining ingredients. cook in butter. once pancake has been poured add a few blueberries.

We only use real maple syrup. It is more expensive but unlike conventional syrup it is natural and a little goes a long way. We also use it to sweeten oatmeal and other hot breakfast cereals. If you run out of milk in the am you can used canned milk, rice milk or almond milk instead. I always keep one of those on hand in the pantry just in case. We freeze a lot of blueberries over the summer to eat all year round in muffins, pancakes and cereal. If you freeze them flat on a sheet pan before putting them in containers it's easy to just pull out a handful in the morning. Just run them under hot water for a minute or two and you're good to go.

What is your favorite weekday morning breakfast?

wondering...

2011-04-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

Do the negative health benefits of deep frying salmon over rule the positive health benefits of the salmon?

I'm going to say no, but that could just be my deep desire to justify eating fish and chips for lunch today. I will substitute the chips for Cole slaw. Do I get extra points for that?

Happy Good Friday and Easter weekend to all! It's gorgeous outside today. I am looking forward to Good Friday service tonight. It's one of my favorite church services of the year.

I'm not looking forward to the rainy forecast for Sunday. I love rain but it should never rain on Easter or the 4th of July. Sadly, it does here rather frequently:(

Weather aside, I'm sure our holiday weekend will be delightful and I hope yours is as well.

IKEA

2011-04-21T13:06:00.001-07:00

When we moved into our new house my parents kindly offered to take us to IKEA to get some things for our house as a house warming present. I had never been to IKEA before and really didn't know what to expect. Before we went I thought about some things we could use. But what I decided I really wanted to do was revamp the bedroom. If you remember from my house tour the bedroom is really blah right now, white walls, tan and white bedding, nothing on the walls, really bland.

So off to Portland to IKEA we went. After hours and hours and lunch and a few more hours I was so overwhelmed and exhausted it was hard to know what I thought. I decided what I wanted from my parents was a Iron bed frame. I picked out a new duvet, some throw pillows, new curtains and few other odds and ends. I had everything I needed to revamp my bedroom. But when were were ready to go we realized there was no way that bed frame was going to fit into my step mother's SUV. And IKEA, be warned, does not deliver!

So that following weekend my friend Jessica and I borrowed a friends truck and trekked back up to IKEA to get the bed. I also decided to get some new night tables. Yet Saturday night at 8pm we were informed that IKEA was out of all bed mid-beams for all models. The were getting a shipment in the next morning so we stayed the night in Portland (my in laws live in Portland). The next morning on this third trip to IKEA we finally got the bed but found out the nightstands were out of stock in the color I wanted. You can just guess my level of frustration. So I opted for another color and we headed home.

Overall I think IKEA is a great place for a lot of things. And if you are selective you can do a lot on a small budget. I found a lot of pieces that were poor quality and over priced but I found a lot of other things that seemed to be good quality and great deals. It's also great for basics like mirrors, picture frames, candles and a lot of other decorating pieces. But at the end of the day you get what you pay for. No shipping, things often out of stock, self serve furniture store room...these are all realities that come with such low prices.

Busy Bee

2011-04-19T11:33:00.001-07:00

Arg...I have been so busy lately. I wish that I could report some amazing house progress, or some delicious recipes, but sadly, that is not the case. There has just been a lot going on with my job, Mr. P's practice and there has been a lot of traveling and company.

I did spend two Saturday's in a row at IKEA. Maybe I'll overcome my phobia of tools and no longer have to rely on Chris to put things together. And then there can be pictures. Maybe...

Lovely Evenings

2011-04-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Because Chris works at the restaurant three nights a week (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) we don't get a lot of weekend time together. This leaves weeknights as our main quality time, but, as we all know, weeknights can be taken over by work, meetings, church functions and the gym. Lately weeknights at home feel like a rare treat and last night was the perfect example. Our Tuesday night at home was domestic perfection. After walking through the door (before 6pm!) we got into comfy clothes, put on a country gospel record* that we are currently loving and settled and to our kitchen where Chris sat on his bar stool and I started cooking. We opened beer, and I made the pioneer woman's beef and pepper stir fry, which was AMAZING. We loved it so much and will definitely be making it again and again. After dinner we settled on the couch to watch Frasier. Sometimes a quite evening at home is just what you need to get you through a hectic week! *yes we like country gospel, actually we kind of adore country gospel and I inherited a huge stack from my great grandparents that we have been working are way through.

Friday I'm Dreaming....

2011-04-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

of traveling the world. Mr. P and I love to travel and one of our major life goals is to travel a lot. We are each blessed to have done some traveling before we came together but even with the places we've each been we want to return together. Our plan is to work hard now to pay off our student loans and pay off our mortgage so in 10-15 years we can travel as much as we want to! Together we have really only been on two trips: our honeymoon on the Washington coast and to Colombia in South America this summer. Separately we've each been to Montana, DC, China, Europe and I have traveled quite a bit on the east coast. However, the list of trips we dream to take together is extensive both inside and outside the US. In the next several years we hope to visit friends in Montana (this summer!), LA and Chicago. We also hope to travel to New York City (neither of us have been) and Lyon, France in two years when my sister studies in both places. Long term some of our dream trips include: A food and whiskey tour of Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, India, Montreal, Turkey, Greece, The Holy Lands, Italy and the Szechwan Region of China. Where do you dream of traveling? Any amazing places to recommend?

An Accent Piece

2011-03-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is my turquoise jug. Isn't it a gorgeous accent piece? I adore it. My sister and I found it at the Z gallery. This picture is from Christmas morning when I received it as a gift. Everybody else in my family hates it. When I opened it Mr. P said, "Our house just got a lot weirder". Honestly, they just fail to see its brilliance. Right now it is still looking for it's true home in our house. I envisioned it nestled in some wonderful built in shelves among books. My lovely grey dream couch would go well with turquoise accents don't you think?

April Showers bring May Flowers?

2011-03-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Man I hope this is true because the rainy forecast is starting to discourage me. Despite how much I love rain I need a break. Yesterday I was talking to someone about how delicious white rice is. I love white rice. I know brown rice is healthier and I do try to mostly eat it but white rice is so much better. I think for me it's similar to how many people feel about crusty white bread versus whole wheat. White rice is my crusty white bread. Last night I used my leaded crystal glasses for the first time! I have had these glasses since before I was married, they were one of my grandparents wedding gifts, but have never used them. I was always too afraid I would break one and I kept them safely wrapped in a box because we never really had room in our kitchen. However, now they are unpacked in our house and we decided last night was just the night to break them out. I think wine might taste more Delicious in crystal. We are planning a trip to Montana with our friend Jessica to see our friends Anne and Daniel, so so so exciting! They live on a real life ranch in the middle of nowhere. It will be so gorgeous! And I have been wondering what our summer vacation would be this year.This will be just perfect! Here's to hoping spring is just around the corner and summer not far behind and trading in hardy lentil and sausage soup lunches for fresh tomato soup and cold chicken salad. mmmm...

Today I'm loving

2011-03-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

The sweet bus driving who took pity on my frantic purse swinging running for the bus and pulled over early to let me on...so nice.

The amazing breakfast I had at Brails this morning with my Government Affairs Committee. The "Joy special" consisting of hash browns topped with diced ham, green bell pepper, tomatoes and onions, topped with Swiss and cheddar cheese and then finally topped with homemade gravy. A good dose of Tabasco later it was heavenly! I am such a sucker for over the top diner breakfasts.

The wonderful homemade Korean dinner we enjoyed last night at friends. I haven't eaten a lot of Korean food and it was such a treat to try so many new wonderful things.

My ability to eat said Korean dinner with metal chopsticks without embarrassing myself. While I pride myself about being able to eat my entire meal with chopsticks when the occasion warrants it I have never tried metal chopsticks and I was nervous.

Anticipating a second full weekend in our house. I'm kicking it off with some delicious spring vegetable risotto and trashy television with my sister. Can their be a better end to the week? I think not.

Here's to a very happy Friday!

Stay home Date nights

2011-03-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

More and more Chris and I find we need to schedule time to spend together. Between evening meetings and early morning meetings for my job, his job, his growing practice, continuing legal education classes in Portland, the gym, church, family and social obligations we can go a long time without spending quality time together. When that happens we both get grumpy, we feel frazzled, and we start to get into little fights about stupid things. So we try to purposefully schedule time together. Often this is simply a night in together cooking something delicious, watching the Office or Frasier and hanging out.

This Friday we decided to make a Jamie Oliver recipe and hang out in our new kitchen. We did the dishes together. Chris sat on the bar stool and chatted with me while I prepared our dinner, we had some wine, we started unpacking our china and basically just hung out in our kitchen for the hour and a half dinner was in the oven. It was delightful and yummy.

We made Roasted Pork Loin with Peaches from The Return of the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver.

It was so good and just as beautiful cooked as it was before it went in the oven. But we were so hungry by the time that it came out of the oven that I failed to take a picture.

Roasted Pork Loin with Peaches

pork loin (I made two so that the pork would stretch to 3 dinners)

2 TB butter

2 cans peaches with natural juice

fresh thyme

salt and pepper

olive oil

Yukon gold potatoes

Preheat oven to 425. Butterfly loins and season well with salt and pepper. Dot with butter and add thyme. I think I used 4-5 sprigs. Then lay peach slices in middle tie up with cooking twine. Line roasting pan with chopped potatoes, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lay pork loin on top of potatoes and add remaining peach slices. Reserve juice to baste as cooks. Brush some oil on top of pork and season again with salt and pepper. Place in oven and cook 1 hour-1 and a half hours for medium. Check once or twice and baste with reserved peach juice. Remove from oven when meat registers 150 degrees on meat thermometer. Let meat rest at least ten minutes before slicing.

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's see notes below

*Notes: the original recipe calls for using a pork loin roast with bones and fat still attached. I think this may be more common in the UK because it isn't something I see in our grocery stores. I probably could have gotten it that way at a local meat market but that would have made this a very expensive dinner, so I opted to alter the recipe instead and used a regular pork loin. I was also dealing with a new oven which I am learning runs low. I need to test the oven temps with a thermometer, but my sense was that 425 was not actually reaching 425. The recipe says to cook the roast for one hour (this is with skin and bones and fat) for medium and we ended up cooking it one hour and twenty minutes before it hit 150 degrees. The leftovers were great the next night and we still have pork left which I will be making into shredded pork tacos tonight with queso fresco, green salsa and cabbage slaw.

Is the news a dying art?

2011-03-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

People are always telling me that nobody reads the news paper or listens to news anymore. However, Mr. P and I are total news junkie. I read both the local newspaper and the NY times online everyday and I listen to NPR every morning while getting ready. Then I listen to "All things considered" and the nightly news on NPR when I'm making dinner. Mr. P is even worse than I am. He does all of that plus he reads a ton of financial news, financial blogs and editorials. I get all my entertainment, pop culture and consumer news from blogs I read. My favorite way to get the news is via the radio. I abhor TV news. But I think this stems from the years in college I spent working at the local news station. Lets just say that was not my favorite job.

Our local paper has a weekly public opinion poll on their website every week. I take it every single week. I don't know why but I do. I'm always really interested to see if my opinion falls in the majority or minority. Usually it falls in the minority.

I love the radio. On Saturday morning I listen to random radio shows while I clean house, on Thursday we like to listen to philosophy talk (we were philosophy majors), and on Sunday evenings I listen to "The Splendid Table" then when it is over I listen to this old country radio show that plays old country music from the 40's-70's. It's nice because I'm home alone so much while Mr. P is at work in the evenings and it feels less lonely to have the radio on.

Do you read/listen to news? what is the main way you get your news? People always tell me that our generation doesn't read news, do you think this is true? Do you listen to the radio? do you have favorite radio shows? I'd really love to know others thoughts on this.

House Pictures

2011-03-21T12:58:00.001-07:00

I am so excited to share pictures of our house. We are mostly unpacked with the exception of some random stuff in the spare room and outdoor stuff in the garage. We still have an empty family room awaiting a couch and the walls and windows are quite bare. But I think it's coming together quite nicely.

This is the living room, or front room, that you walk into from the front door. This is one of my favorite rooms so far. It has a really nice big window looking out to the front yard and street. It has really nice light and feels cozy and pleasant.

All the furniture in this room are hand me downs and a dumpster find! I think the pieces work really well together, especially considering how randomly they came together. The futon was in my husbands college apartment. The yellow chairs used to be in my Dad's cabin. The wooden end table was my mothers parents and the coffee table we just inherited from my Father and Step-mother. At first I thought it was too big for the space but it is kind of growing on me. The big book shelf was a dumpster dive find by our friend Taylor. We (and by we I mean my husband) sanded and stained it. The lamp on the other side of the futon is sitting on three stacked hat boxes. We don't have enough furniture to fill this house and so we are being very creative with what we have.

This book shelf was a Goodwill find last year and still needs to be stained. I would like to find an over sized ornate gold mirror to sit on top next to the red lamp.

The dining room is adjacent to the living room. We (actually our builder friend Josh) replaced the original boring fixture with this one I had made for our old apartment. I just bought this lamp shade and had a local lamp shop wire it for me. Our table randomly came to us via my friend Katie from college. Her parents had bought it for her college apartment and then she left it with me after college. It is a really great table. It extends another four feet which is great for dinner parties. We would like to refinish it eventually.

Past the dining room is the kitchen. I LOVE our kitchen. This first picture isn't very good. I should have turned on the light. But you can see the nice big window and deep window sill which I plan to use for herb pots. You can also see the built in cook book shelves.

As you can see the kitchen opens into the family room or back room.

The family room is very sad and empty right now. We finally ordered a very simple white couch that was on major sale at West Elm. Not the grey beauties of my dreams but a practical choice. In the future I will move the white couch to the front room and put a grey one in this room. We still need to find a TV stand and will continue our routine Goodwill/St.Vinney's runs until we do. Despite it's current emptiness I think in the long run this room will become the soul of our house. Right next to the kitchen it is perfect for me to have cooking company without people in my kitchen. This room also has a door out to the back patio and we want to put in a wood stove insert into the fire place eventually. There are those unfortunate heat vents right over the mantel so I need to find a mirror or piece of art to cover them up.

At the other end of the house are two bathrooms and three bedrooms. I didn't take pictures of the spare room or spare bath because the spare room just has stuff that needs put away and the spare bath is undergoing a little home improvement project right now and is a bit of a mess. This however is our bedroom and master bath. Complete with not one but TWO closets.

You can see that the bedroom has the sink part of the bathroom in it and then a door to the shower and toilet. You can also see my (bigger) closet and my snazzy gym clothes.

The front bedroom is our office. This room has great furniture. The antique desk was handed down to us by a wonderful lady at our church. We were helping her move and she decided to get rid of the desk and asked if we wanted it. It is an amazing piece of furniture and even has a secret compartment! The ceder chest was made for me by my grandfather as a hope chest. This room has one large book shelf on the opposite was as the desk, but as you can see we still have surplus books! Those are just going to live in that stack. I'll just think of it as eclectic!

The filing cabinet was a great find by Mr. P at the Salvation army. Knowing my love of the color he bought it for me and it's so much nicer than the normal tan ones.

So that is our house. We are so in love with it. And for all our real life friends and family out there reading we can't wait to have you over! As Mr. P said, "there are so many people we need to have over for dinner we'd better plan a dinner party every two weeks until we get through them all". So I guess you all should be expecting an invitation!

House Thoughts

2011-03-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Since putting in the offer on our house my thoughts have been rather consumed with the house most specifically decorating our house. It was so much fun to decorate to my hearts content in my head. I looked at furniture, magazines, and catalogues. I discussed color themes, DIY projects and drafted a rather lengthy to buy list. So much fun, right?

However, now that we are in our house I find myself feeling much differently on the subject. As much as I would love to decorate our house to my hearts content signing papers has brought about a new reality if you will. As exciting as buying a house is, it is also a really big scary step. We are now responsible for a mortgage and we just tripled our debt. Not that this is a bad thing. I think buying a house and building equity is a good financial step but it carries a certain weight that is different than renting. Now, even more than before, we have a deep desire to pay off law school loans. We also have a deep desire to pay off our house earlier rather than later. Because really, what would be better than owning our house? Owning it free and clear with no mortgage. That is a beautiful picture of financial freedom.

I suppose all of this is to share what I think is a really interesting challenge for our generation. Never before has a generation had so many obstacles to face on the debt front. Not only are credit cards handed out, but we, on average, finish undergrad with $30,000 of debt. Yet, we live in a society that thrives on consumerism, design and a need for instant gratification.

As much as I'd love to throw a few thousand dollars into decorating my house I think I'd love more to pay a few thousand off my student loans. This leads me to challenge myself in a really hard area. How much can I make do with what I have and how much can I sacrifice to get to that financial freedom we aspire to?

This isn't to say we won't put any money into our house in the near future or that I won't try to add some nesting touch where I can but I want to see how far we can stretch that dollar. After all shouldn't the fact that we bought a house be enough for now? I think it should. Besides the end result will be that much more satisfying if we know we scrimped and saved for it rather than simply charged it.

Getting Settled

2011-03-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Our move went fabulous! Really I don't think it could have gone better except perhaps for me to not have a cold. But we were completely moved and unloaded by noon and we had the whole afternoon to rest, run to walmart and start getting settled. We are getting there little by little. I'm finding it so much easier given how much space we have. 1200 square feet may feel small to some but to us it's an amazing amount of space especially with a garage on top of that. Everything I've put away easily has a proper place. My favorite part of moving day was to say, "garage, garage, garage" when I was directing people where to put stuff. For the first time we really have a good place to store fishing poles, skies, camping gear and tools. I will take pictures, probably this weekend and share.

Meanwhile, I really wanted to post this recipe because it was AMAZING! I didn't take pictures which is sad because it was beautiful too. This dinner literally only took 20 minutes to make and we loved it.

Caramelized red onion and sun dried tomato pasta with balsamic vinegar

1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups of sun dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil, chopped
3 Tb high quality balsamic vinegar
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh basil torn or chopped
whole wheat spaghetti

Bring pasta water to boil. While pasta is cooking. Heat olive oil in skillet, add sliced onions. Cook on med-high heat until they begin to brown and caramelize a bit. Add tomatoes and vinegar and cook a couple of minutes. Drain pasta then add to skillet. Toss well. Add basil and cheese. Toss well again and serve.

*adapted from Jamie Oliver Return of the Naked Chef

Keys in my hands

2011-03-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

Well actually they are on my desk but the important point is they are in our possession which means we have closed on our house! Now that the long buying process is over I thought I would share some thoughts and lessons I've learned.

Patience is a virtue and one I am not blessed with. This process taught me a lot about myself and the biggest thing it taught me is that I have the patience of a four year old. If you are like me be warned: there is a lot of waiting, unknowns and what ifs involved in buying a house.

Be prepared before you officially start shopping. Because of my job I was already very familiar with our local real estate market and the process of buying a house but even then I spent months looking at houses in our price range on the RMLS and in our neighborhood. This allowed us to be familiar with what we could expect in our price range, what costs what in different neighborhoods, and most importantly, what was a good deal. We were able to recognize very quickly that our house was a screaming deal given it's price.

Know what you want. We spent a lot of time talking about what we wanted in our house. Not only what were the deal breakers, but also what would be nice. That really helped us identify what had potential and what didn't. It also helped Chris' understand why I hated option A and me understand why he would not settle for option B. It helped us see past ugly light fixtures, outdated cabinets and a strange back door. We were able to recognize that the bones where what we wanted.

Put a lot of thought into your Realtor. I work with a lot of people in the housing industry and I know a lot of Realtors but we thought very carefully about who to work with. Even as someone who works with the industry there were still unknowns for me in the process and I knew I wanted someone that I could trust with things I didn't know and who would deal with my type A impatient personality. Our Realtor was perfect for me and if you are shopping in the Eugene/Springfield Area I cannot recommend Kathi enough. She answered her phone every single time I called her, she anticipated my nervousness, questions and issues. She fought for the best deal for us and she was brutally honest.

It always costs more. It is really important before you go shopping for houses to get prequalified for many reasons. But the most important reason is it helps you understand what you can afford. We had a general idea of what we could afford but it wasn't until we sat down with our lender and went through a good faith estimate that we knew for sure. This allows you to account for all the costs besides the mortgage and understand what your actual monthly payment will be. If you know ahead of time that you can afford $13oo a month for you house then your lender will help you understand how that breaks down. Remember besides you actual mortgage payment there is interest, taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance.

Get an inspection. This is so important and made a huge difference for us. Most states, including Oregon, don't make you get an inspection. In a lot of transactions the sellers actually pay for the inspection. We followed our Realtors advice and hired our own inspector and a really good one. Think about it, you want the inspector to work for you not the seller. It is in your best interest for them to find every possible thing wrong with the house before you buy it. In many cases you can renegotiate the sale with the Sellers and have them pay for many of the repairs. In our case the inspector found $10,000 worth of issues that needed addressed including standing water under the house and needing a new roof. We were able to negotiate to have the sellers pay for the larger repairs and we agreed to take on the smaller ones. You also have the option of walking away from a deal without loosing your earnest money if you find serious damage during inspection.

Those are some of my thougts. I couldn't be more pleased with our house and I am so excited to move in and get settled this weekend.

*Please note I am not a real estate professional and these are just my thoughts based on our process. If you are thinking about buying a house you should talk to both a lender/broker and realator to seek their professional opinion.

Furniture Love

2011-03-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

To distract myself from my impatience I have been thinking of decorating and furniture. As I mentioned I have been thinking about grey couches for sometime. Here are some that I am currently loving as options for our new house. Thoughts?

The "Vaughn Apartment Sofa" from Crate and Barrel

The "Petrie Sofa" from Crate and Barrel

The "Lorimer Sofa" from West Elm

The "Eugene Sofa" from Room and Board

The "Camden Sofa" from Crate and Barrell

The "Bolla Sofa" from CB2

Oh dear...

2011-03-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

Not to beat a dead horse but seriously moving is not fun. Case in point...examples of how moving stress is negatively impacting my life and the lives of those around me:

I may or may not have eaten 5 Hershey's dark chocolate squares yesterday at work.

I have not had a truly good night sleep since we put in an offer on the house.

Cooking is horrid..if money allowed I would order take out Chinese every single night for dinner until we move.

I feel like I have permanent newspaper smudge on my hands.

My Martini shaker will be among the last things I pack.

I find my self constantly distracted. Either I'm wondering if our file is at underwriting or I'm daydreaming about amazing orange velvet chesterfield couches or I'm trying to figure out where to put our TV in the new house or I'm worrying about someone getting mud on my new carpet moving day or I'm planning out every minute of moving day in 10 minute increments in my head.

I actually did plan out moving day in embarrassing amount of detail. You don't even want to know.

We are having eggs for dinner no less than three time in the next week.

I'm driving my husband nuts.

Moving Madness!

2011-03-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

We are scheduled to move in 9 days!

I am afraid my worst Type A tendencies are out in force. Nothing brings out my Type A qualities more than moving. And despite my best efforts to be ahead of schedule with the organizing, packing and cleaning I am feeling horribly behind schedule. This weekend must be a marathon of cleaning, packing, and Goodwill runs.

Meanwhile, may God grant my husband and friends patience to deal with me!

Because it's Friday

2011-02-25T09:23:00.000-08:00

I am wearing jeans to work. Seriously one of the true joys in my life is getting to wear jeans.

I am enjoying my nicely heated office. It has been below freezing here for the past few days and our house is horribly cold.

I am going to make myself a martini the second I get home at 5pm.

Then, I'm making Huevos Rancheros for dinner!

After dinner my dear husband and I are going furniture scouting at St. Vinneys, Goodwill and the salvation army.

Due to our upcoming move and the massive decorating project I will soon be undertaking we find ourselves with some furniture needs. Most notably a couch. Our new house has both a living room and a family room and we have only a less than ideal futon. I HATE the futon but I have born it and will continue to. But even with the futon we need a couch for one of the two rooms. I would like to buy a new couch but before we make a decision we will do some bargain hunting and some shopping around. I am a little pessimistic about finding what I want used but we will see. I am also on the lookout for a TV sand of sorts and new bedside tables because I don't like the ones we have. We will also need a new coffee table because ours broke. Not that I should be surprised because it was purchased for 15 dollars at goodwill 3 years ago.

So here's to happy hunting and a fabulous Friday night!

Menu Friday

2011-02-18T13:32:00.001-08:00

Long ago when I first started my blog I used to post my menu's each Friday. I have traditionally made my menu's on Friday so I could by groceries Friday or Saturday. I always enjoy reading what other's are cooking and thought I would start sharing mine again.

Some notes about this week. We will be moving in three weeks so I am trying to use up as much food as I can that is in the house and buy as little new food as possible. Because we are helping the Wilson's move this weekend and the James move next weekend I plan on doing our packing a little bit at a time on week nights. I also plan on going to the gym Monday, Thursday and Friday night. Given all of that this week is quick easy and cheap!!!

Sunday: Simple pork and beans with rice and collard greens
Monday: Tuna Melts, matchstick skillet fries and pickled beets
Tuesday: Braised Sausage and Lentils with fresh spinach
Wednesday: Huevos Rancheros with massa tortillas and green chilies
Thursday: Fried Pork chops, mashed potatoes and pickled beets
Friday: Black eyed peas and corn muffins

Matchstick skillet fries
This is a really easy way to get a french fry fix at home without the mess or calories of deep frying. Peel potatoes and cut into really thin fries. Heat olive oil in skillet, once smoking add potatoes. Toss with oil to coat and add salt, pepper and paprika or chili powder. Fry until browned and soft inside.

Braised Sausage and Lentils
This recipe used to be a stand by of mine. Brown sausage links in some olive oil. Add french lentils, chopped celery and carrots, chopped onion and garlic, on can of tomatoes and 2 cups of chicken broth. Add a bay leaf, some salt and pepper and some fresh or dried thyme. Bring to simmer, reduce and cover. Cook 20-30 minutes until lentils are cooked through. Add fresh spinach to wilt and serve.

Huevos Rancheros with Massa tortillas and green chilies
Huevos are such a staple for us. This variation is easy but a little nicer for dinner. Huevos are always tortillas topped with beans, then eggs, then salsa. In this variation it's no different. However, I make fresh tortillas from massa. Super easy, just mix massa flour with just enough water to bind into ball. Flatten balls out with palm to make tortilla. Dry fry in skillet. For this I'll just used heated canned black beans and store bought salsa.

Fried Pork Chops
This is simply pork chops dredged in beaten egg, then cornmeal then fried in a skillet. Yummy!

Black eyed peas
I love black eyed peas. The easiest quickest way to make them is to saute onion and garlic in olive oil. Add chili powder, cayenne, cumin, and dried peas. Add 2 cans tomatoes, chunk of salt pork, and 4 cups broth. Bring to boil, lower to simmer. Serve with corn bread.

What are you eating this week?

Big News

2011-02-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

Yes I have been rather a-wall lately but for good reason. I have news! We are buying a house and I am so freaking excited I can't stand it.

Isn't it darling. We are so in love with it.

We looked at many houses in our price range (which was pathetically low) and most of them were frighteningly ugly. But this one is just perfect. It is an amazing deal. It was built in 77' but is quite cute for a house built in the 70's. It has been very well maintained and has all new paint, carpet, and windows. It is small, 1200 square feet but has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and good storage. And perhaps the best part, it has built in cook book shelves in the kitchen. We made an offer almost two weeks ago but between waiting for a response, then having an inspection, then renegotiating after the inspection it's just now confirmed. We are scheduled to close on March 11th which is only 22 days away!

Dream couch

2011-02-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

I have been dreaming for a new couch for years. It seems the anchor for decorating my home. A piece from which to build a collection, to craft a style and so on. It must be modern and stylish yet be durable. It should be able to with stand children and heavy use. It also much be flexible to new shifts in my decorating which I'm sure will occur over the long run since I love change.

Currently, our couch is a futon my in-laws bought for my husbands first apartment about 6 years ago. You can see a picture of it here. It once had a black cushion--horrible. But when we got married I bought this more neutral beige one and attempted to dress it up with some vibrant pillows.

This is the couch I dream of. Spotted this past December while Christmas shopping in Portland. It was at Crate and Barrel. The sales lady broke my heart when she told me it was being discontinued and they only had a few left. I hope to find a replica when I am ready to officially couch shop.

Isn't it beautiful. I envision it paired with yellow and white, with splashes of orange. I think to yellow side chairs would be a perfect accompaniment.

My own best of

2011-01-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

In Eugene we have two newspapers, The Register Guard and the Eugene Weekly. Normally the Weekly hates* me and I'm, well, lets just say I am not crazy about them. But every year they release a best of Eugene issue with a restaurant guide which I do love. I was thinking about this the other day and decided I could and should write my own business friendly restaurant guide. Mine is a lunch guide because, I like most business people, eat out a lot for lunch, mostly for meetings but also sometimes because I forgot my lunch or had no food. So for all of you who live in Eugene...

Laura's Eugene Restaurant Guide for Lunch

The best take out lunch--Hong Kong
I eat here more than any other place. It's one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in Eugene and it's just a few blocks away. Lunch is $4.50-$5.50 and it's a lot of food. My favorite is Kung Pao Chicken. But on the dinner menu they have fabulous Ma Pa Tofu. It's a small family owned place, kind of a hole in the wall but they are very nice.

The best "I feel compelled to eat something healthy"--Cafe Yum
Cafe yum is sort of like Eugene's version of a peanut butter sandwich. It's always a good, stable option. Not too exciting but it does the trick. I usually only eat Cafe Yum when I feel the need to eat something healthy. They are famous for yum bowls, a bowl of brown rice, black beans, yum sauce, tomatoes, olives, Cheddar cheese, avocado and salsa. It is very Eugene.

The best comfort food lunch--Newman's fish market
Hands down! Newman's fish market is a mere one block from my office and they have the best fish and chips of my life. For 6 dollars you can have cod fish and chips to go. They also have halibut, salmon, shrimp, oysters and scallops. Plus they make their own tarter sauce. Delicious!

The best overall business meeting lunch spot--Ta Ra Rin
I have a lot of business lunch meetings. Usually I let the other person pick the restaurant but when I have to make the recommendation I always recommend Ta Ra Rin. Definitely one of the best Thai restaurants in town and just blocks from my office. They have my favorite Pad Thai and I also adore the Pad se ew. They have great atmosphere, quick and friendly service and reasonable prices.

The best hangover lunch--Brails Diner
I do not make a habit of being hungover. However, about once or twice a year, say the day after Halloween and St. Patricks day, I find myself wandering down to Brails for breakfast at lunch time. Brails is notorious in Eugene as the best hangover restaurant and I couldn't agree more. This is perhaps epitomized by one dish which consists of a mound of white rice, topped with two eggs over easy, a hamburger patty and a lot of gravy. Best cure ever! Corned beef hash is a close second.

The best celebration/birthday/long lunch with a friend lunch--La Officina
This is my second favorite Mexican restaurant in town and it is down the street from my office. This is my favorite place for a long lunch. All of the food is delicious and they make crazy good margaritas. The service is really nice but can be slow and the food takes a bit so again better for a long lunch. They make their own salsa trio that comes with chips. All delicious. Amazing Tacos al pastor and mole. They also serve Mexican style breakfast all day and on Saturday mornings.

The best wooing elected officials lunch--Davis'
In my job I have a lot of meetings with elected officials. My favorite place to take them to lunch when I need their vote on an issue is Davis'. It's a downtown institution. Traditional pub food taken up a notch, a cool yet elegant atmosphere, amazing drinks and all around foodie heaven. It's a little on the spendy side but worth it. My favorite lunch item is the white bean salad. It's a poached egg served on a bed of braised white beans and asparagus then drizzled with truffle oil. I hear the Mac and cheese is to die for it is full of homemade sausage.

The best lawyer lunch--Sushi ya
Since I handle public policy issues I often have to consult with our lawyer. He and I have become good friends over the years and he gives me loads of free legal advice as long as I buy him sushi. Good deal right. In my public policy tenure I have bought him a lot of sushi. But my favorite downtown sushi spot is Sushi Ya. It's good sushi, much better than the sushi station which I do not care for, and it's in a great location in the bottom of the Tiffany building. My favorite sushi restaurant in town is Mio, but that is on the other side of town and so not great for a working lunch.

The best romantic date lunch--Poppy's Anatolia's
When my husband and I have dates one of our favorite places is Poppy's Anatolia's. We have gone here to celebrate so many special occasions, when I got my first real job at the legislature, when he got into law school, when I finished his first year of law school, when I got hired at the HBA and for many birthday's and anniversaries. It's a quirky local place that has a menu of half Greek and half Indian. I prefer the Indian which comes with an array of homemade chutneys. Poppy's is conveniently located right across from the DAC in the heart of downtown and serves as a good lunch spot as well. For lunch I like to get dahl or vindaloo. Perfect for a really cold day.

The most exciting lunch--Ax Billy Grill
Without a doubt my favorite building, perhaps place, downtown is the DAC, the Downtown Athletic club. The building, originally called the Ax Billy Building, was built in the early 1900's. It had been abandoned when it was bought by a local developer in the 80's who restored it and turned it into a gorgeous state of the art athletic club. I have had a tour and it is amazing. The whole place looks like an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel with beautiful lounges, tiled ceilings, a gorgeous swimming pool and sauna, and locker rooms that are nicer than my house. The top floor of the DAC is ballrooms and a restaurant, the Ax Billy Grill. The restaurant has a wall of tall windows looking out to downtown. The food is delicious and being up there just makes you feel happy. I rarely get to have lunch here as it's kind of expensive. But when I do am definitely very excited!

The cheapest lunch--Riva Mexican fast food
From the nicest lunch downtown to the cheapest...You can't beat this fast food Mexican for a quick cheap lunch. It's not good but it's not bad and for 3.50 you can have a lunch to go in 5 minutes.

The best I miss college lunch--Cafe Sienna
Usually I don't miss college. But occasionally when a nostalgic mood hits me I walk a few extra blocks and meet my sister at cafe sienna for a good, cheap and massive Mexican breakfast. This was one of my favorite campus eats and it is still just as good. For 6 dollars you will have enough food for two meals, maybe three. Everything is fresh, spicy and quick. My favorite is eggs a la compesena. Scrambled eggs with jalapenos and tortilla chips served along side beans and tortillas.

The best overall lunch place--Cafe Zenon
Zenon is one of my favorite restaurants in Eugene. It has captivated my attention since I was a kid and my Dad would take me to desert after plays at the Hult Center. I used to dream of the day when I could eat an actual meal there whenever I want. Well, I wouldn't say I go whenever I want, but I do get occasional business lunches at my favorite local cafe. Zenon is perhaps most known for its ambiance. It's a small restaurant with murals on the back wall and old fashioned over sized globe street lights inside. It has a beautiful bar and is known for fabulous drinks. The menu changes each week with internationally and locally inspired dishes.

So there you have it. My guide to downtown eating. To the locals...what is your favorite place to eat in downtown/midtown Eugene?

*It is the liberal alternative newspaper and As a business lobbyist they view me as the devil incarnate, one who aides in others ability to rape and pillage the land and promotes scorched earth development

Quick dinner delight

2011-01-28T10:48:00.000-08:00

Last night I through together a quick dinner which I loved. It continues my love affair with the incredible edible egg and was done in 25 minutes. I am going to call it Grits with Louisiana sausage and eggs

Isn't it colorful? Here is the recipe:

Grits with Louisiana Sausage and Eggs (serves 4)

8 eggs

4 links Louisiana hot sausage or andouille, chopped

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 cup salsa

1 can diced tomatoes

4 green onions

2 TB parsley

salt and pepper

grits*

butter

1 cup Cheddar cheese

In large skillet heat a little olive oil. Add chopped sausage, cook med a few minutes, add diced onion. Saute a few minutes. Once onion starts to soften add bell pepper and garlic. Cook another minute. Add can of tomatoes, salsa, salt and pepper. Let simmer until sauce begins to thicken. Once sauce is simmering, prepare grits to package instructions. Once sauce begins to thicken heat butter in second skillet. Add parsley and green onions to tomato mixture. Fry eggs to desired doneness. While eggs are cooking add butter and salt and cheese to grits. Divide grits among four dinner plates. Top with tomato sausage mixture. Top each plate with two eggs. Serve with hot sauce.

I also wanted to share pictures of our goose gumbo.

As I said I wasn't crazy about the goose. It wasn't bad it just wasn't something I would really crave. The gumbo however I really liked. I think it would be fabulous with chicken. Here's my recipe which is adapted from an Emeril Lagesse recipe for wild duck gumbo.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

whole chicken cut into pieces

1 TB each: cayenne, paprika, thyme, oregano

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup flour

1 onion chopped

2 celery stalks chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

4 links andouille sausage or Louisiana hot sausage

1 quart chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp Cayenne

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp salt

mix the four spices and rub mixture all over chicken. bake in 350 oven for one hour, set aside. chop all veggies and sausage before you start.

heat gumbo pot to medium add both oil and flour. cook stirring constantly with wooden spoon until you have a medium roux. The roux should be the color of peanut butter. This took about ten minutes. add chopped onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic. cook about 5 minutes more. add spices, bay leaves, sausage and chicken. cook a few more minutes. add broth, bring to boil and simmer 2 hours.

*We love grits. However, if you don't like grits this would be good over polenta or rice or even toast.

This and that

2011-01-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

Right now I am loving all Asian food, particularly noodles: pad Thai, pad se ew, pad ki mao, cold sesame noodles, pho, ramen, chicken udon noodle soup, cold buckwheat noodles with dipping sauce, chow mien---all delicious!

I am going through Gossip Girl withdrawals. I am waiting for the third season from the library but nine people are ahead of me and there is only one copy. Instead I have been watching the Office. I am waiting for Jim to propose to Pam. I just love Jim and Pam.

I use the library a ton! It saves me so much money. I check out books, and lots of DVD's, TV shows and movies. Plus it is two blocks from my office so it is really convenient. I pre-order what I want online then walk over and pick them up.

Last week my husband shot a goose. So last weekend I cooked the goose. I made gumbo out of it. Goose is very similar to beef--who knew? I should have taken a picture of Chris with the Goose, it was giant, but I didn't.

I recently joined a gym and I kind of love it. I was very reluctant about joining, it was Chris' idea, but now I look forward to going. I am taking zumba classes--it is really fun.

I am loving this book. Really I can hardly put it down.

This and That

2011-01-18T08:50:00.001-08:00

We had such a nice three day weekend. Yesterday was a model of productivity at our house. The rain finally stopped, it was sunny and we were able to get so much done, air out the house, work outside and so on. I tackled some big projects namely organizing our paperwork. Augh what a chore that was.

I had book club last night and we discussed:

This book was really interesting. Sometimes I am really not excited to read a particular book for my book club. Usually, I am wrong and once I start reading it I love it. That was not the case with this book. Sections of it were really fascinating but out of 600 some odd pages I think 100 were interesting and 500 were dull. But really, what do you expect when someone writes a biography of the Atlantic Ocean?!

Now I am reading:

I am really excited for this book because I love Anne Tyler. I have read two of her other books, An Amateur Marriage and Morgan's Passing. Both were really excellent. I love the way she describes America and American culture in her books. It is so different from other American authors but it is also very right on in so many ways. If you haven't read anything by her I would recommend starting with An Amateur Marriage.

Football is stressfull!!!

2011-01-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was like a national holiday here in Eugene. Many offices, including mine, closed the doors at three pm to allow for the festivities to begin. People wore Duck gear to work, yellow and green beads were handed out, light poles downtown were decorated with duck colors, and similar to the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday, nobody was focused on work. Everyone ran around predicting the score, comparing quarter backs and counting down the minutes until we could all go home, and start watching the pre-game show.

Mr.P and I went to my Mom and step-fathers to watch the game. The Wilson's joined us and they said they could hear screaming and hollering coming from houses as they walked over. People were definitely excited! It was one of the most stressful football games I have watched. We just could not get our offensive game off the ground. It was painful to watch possession after possession end without a touchdown. I think the most painful point of the game (until the end) was after an 81 yard run and Auburn stopped us two yards from the goal. Then after scoring a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie the game with 2 minutes left we let them run the damn ball. Oh, to be so close to overtime and lose with one second on the clock to a field goal. It was so painful.

But to be fair their defense was better. They were able to stop us from running the ball, they blocked LeMichael James over and over again, and they kept us from getting to first down. They played like number 1 so I suppose they deserve to win.

But what I cannot support is the comments made by Auburn's coach at the end of the game. I don't remember the exact wording but the jest of it was, "God was on our side". "No--You did not just say that!" Was our reaction. I'm sorry but God did not determine Auburn the more worthy football team to win the game. God did not decide given the high percentage of Christians rooting for Auburn* or living in Alabama that they deserve to win the game. Nor did God decide given the Conservative dress* of their cheerleaders that they should win. They played better end of story. Now was God a big part of the quarterbacks life, and did that relationship help him to get to where he is today? Perhaps, and that would be a fine thing to say. But God is on our side as opposed to Oregon's? I think not!

And that is all I have to say about that. So until next season...

*Eugene has a very low percentage of church goers. I think it is something like only 10% of the population attend church
*the Auburn cheerleaders wore turtle necks while Oregon's were wearing sports bras.

Yay for Friday

2011-01-07T15:19:00.001-08:00

It is almost the weekend and I am so happy. I had a crazy busy week at work and I am off to Seattle in just a few hours. My sister and I are heading to visit our cousin Lauren. There will be shopping at J Crew, eating yummy food, drinking cocktails and maybe seeing a movie.

Monday our Ducks play Auburn in the BSC! We are very excited. Happy weekend to all and Go DUCKS!

wholesome winter soup

2011-01-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I blogged about food. Last night I made a wonderful simple vegetable minestrone for dinner. It was the perfect dinner for a chilly night. We ate this with toast and homemade bread and butter pickles and pickled beets.

Vegetable Minestrone Soup

1 large onion, diced
3 leeks (white and light green parts only), rinsed and chopped
5 carrots, peeled and diced
5 stalks celery, peeled and diced
2 TB fresh rosemary chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans diced tomatoes with liquid
1 quart homemade chicken stock
2 cups water
1 head green cabbage cored and roughly chopped
4 cups cooked white beans* or canned and rinsed white beans
2 hand fulls fresh basil shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese for garnish, optional
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large soup pot. Add diced onion, carrot, celery, and leek, cook ten minutes stirring occasionally. Add garlic and rosemary cook another 5 minutes or so till veggies are somewhat tender and onion is translucent. Add stock, water and canned tomatoes with juice. Bring to boil, reduce and simmer 15 minutes. Add cabbage place a lid on the pot and cook 10 minutes. Add white beans and basil. cook another five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. This soup needs kind of a lot of salt so keep adding and tasting until it tastes really bright and fresh. Serve with Parmesan cheese on top.

*soak 2 1/2-3 cups dried white beans in water all day. when you get home rinse beans, add to pot, cover with water, bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook 1-1.5 hours until tender
*adapted from Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef, minestrone soup

Auuugghh...Morning Again....

2011-01-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you all but mornings are a bit of a nightmare around here. My goal* is to be at work by 7:30 or 7:45; often I have to be at work by 6:45 or 7am for early meetings. I am a big fan of the snooze and I have a lot of hair to fix. This combination alone is a recipe for disaster. But when you add in a husband who has lost his glasses, needs a breakfast/lunch, needs x form signed before you leave, its simply beyond disaster. Something must be cut and usually for me that's breakfast. But inevitably if I skip breakfast I'm starving by 10 am and since I can't eat wheat running down to the coffee shop for a muffin is not an option. Do you all have this problem? Well lately I have found some creative ways to still make it to work on time and not skip breakfast all together.

If money and time allow there are some really good grab and go options that are much better than the usual scone, muffin and bagel you usually see. Both Starbucks and Jamba Juice have hot oatmeal for just a few bucks. The Jamba Juice oatmeal is a lot better than the Starbucks but our Jamba is sans drive through. Also I usually ride the bus downtown and our Jamba is not downtown. However if you can make it to a Jamba try the oatmeal. They slow cook steel cut oats with soy milk and then top it with brown sugar, bananas and pecans. Its wonderful. Paired with fresh squeezed orange juice its even better. Starbucks also has yogurt/granola parfaits with fruit. In Eugene we have a wonderful local coffee shop called Full City, they serve homemade granola with yogurt or steamed milk, toast with butter and jam, and even gluten free quiche. This quiche is made with a brown rice crust rather than the standard pie shell making it lighter, healthier morning meal.

As convenient as it is to stop and grab breakfast it is not really in our budget. So I'm a fan of breakfasts I can pack and take. Yogurt and granola is great for this, a dish of yogurt and a Ziploc full of granola and you are good to go. I take toast and peanut butter to the bus stop many days. But if I have time my favorite is polenta or grits to go. Polenta and grits can both be cooked in 5 minutes. Pour hot creamy polenta or grits into a pint mason jar, top with butter, cheese and some salt, throw in your bag and at work you have a hot, wholesome breakfast to eat at your desk. Best of all both polenta and grits are dirt cheap which is always a plus!

*the last couple of weeks i have been failing miserably at this goal but there is always tomorrow, right...

Reading Challange Update

2010-12-30T09:17:00.000-08:00

Last spring I gave myself a challenge. I will not buy any new books until I have read all the books in our house. I went through and catalogued all of our books and made a master list of those I haven't read. I excluded poetry books and my husbands philosophy/theology books that I didn't want to read, such as Wittgenstein and Kant.* Out of 600* some books in our house there are 204 I haven't read. I organized my master list into categories*, classic novels, modern novels, contemporary novels, beach novels, non-fiction and philosophy. When I finish a book on my list I cross it out and add the date I finished it. I like to see how I'm doing each category so I can make a point to read books from different genres.

So in 8 months I have read 12 of those 204 books. In short I need to step it up a notch. Part of the problem is I decide to go to the library and get Jen Lancaster or Emily Griffin instead of reading from my list. But a lot of my problem is since I started my new job I have been so tired in the evenings I've been watching more TV and reading less. Now that I'm more settled into my job I hope I can reverse that trend.

To better challenge/inspire myself i made a reading list for the year ahead. It's an ambitious list that I may or may not get through in one year but I might as well try. Here are the books I look forward to reading this year:

*As a philosophy major I read enough Kant to last me a lifetime during undergrad and Wittgenstein is just too hard.
*Yes we have 600 books not including poetry. yes we are dorks.

*can you say type A anyone...

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

One of the things I really look forward to at Christmas, now that I am an adult, is helping to plan and cook Christmas eve dinner. Generally we spend Christmas eve with my mom and step father and the evening festivities center around an elaborate and over the top menu. My mom, sister and I research, plan and discuss to our hearts content. Then we cook, cook and cook, which is of course followed by much eating. Two years ago we did a pasta course, last year we made a prime rib, which was amazing, and this year...this year we are doing a southern dinner. On the menu:

Country Ham
Mashed Yams

Field peas and rice

corn pudding

green beans with bacon

homemade fudge bars

After eating we will open up presents and probably watch a Christmas movie. Mr. P and I will go to our 11pm candlelight service at Church. then at midnight we will drive an hour up river to my father and step mother's cabin to spend Christmas Day!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

TVLand

2010-12-22T13:06:00.000-08:00

Have you all heard of letmewatchthis.com? Probably, since I tent to be behind the times. This site is a great find. It is a catalog of all TV shows/movies floating around on the inter webs for free. Want to watch a few episodes of Gilmore Girls*? Feeling the need to relive the Buffy glory days? Need a Joey and Dawson fix? Looking for an obscure Disney Channel Original Movie or a Hallmark special from yesteryear's? Never fear all can be found on letmewatchthis.com. Granted the quality is sometimes bad, and on occasion it requires watching in Chinese with English subtitles, but its free, legal and only a click away.

*hello...do we all remember Tristan
*you know you are missing the classics, like Johny Tsunami, Picture Perfect and Smart House

It's that time of year...

2010-12-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

for organizing. I know I know you are still thinking about gingerbread cookies, last minute Christmas gifts and what to wear on Christmas eve. And to some extent I am too. But I'm also thinking about post Christmas organizing. I'm sure you've already started receiving those January magazines in the mail with their picture perfect offices and linen closets that manage to both inspire and infuriate* you at the same time. I both love and hate this time of year. On the one hand I love the idea of organization. I love the idea of everything in it's place, of colorful file folders with whimsical labels and coordinating office supplies. But in reality my life is organized chaos at best. This year, however, is different. We, Chris and I, are determined to organize our lives. Which as of late have been less than organized. And this past month the lack of organization has lead to multiple fights. As Chris starts up a law practice, we are suddenly dealing with many complicated student loans, he's dealing with VA paperwork, I'm trying to deal with household paperwork and I'm working many more hours the old system (fragile at best) has collapsed. Last weekend when I was looking for articles on organizing household paper work I found this blog post. It has already helped me. It's simple, clear and effective.

I also found this, which overall sounds a little much but has, I think, a really brilliant component, a book for lists, ideas, and whatever. As I was reading this and thinking about it I remembered that in college I had a similar book it was for all of my philosophy notes and ideas. All class notes, reading notes, ideas for papers, outlines, questions, books to read, thinkers to look up, and other random notes lived in one black book that went everywhere with me. I think I need to re-introduce my this into my system. Right now what I have is a very fragmented system for keeping track of things, a lot is on my computer, a lot is in loose leaf papers floating around my desk and purse, and a lot is just living in my brain waiting to be forgoten. But how great is one book, half can be work related and half can be personal. There will be a section for to do lists, goals, notes, lists of books to read, things to look up, presents I want*, even my budget and financial planning could be pasted it. While these two ideas won't fix the chaos that is my life by themselves they are big steps in the right direction. What about you? What are your "organizing your life" tips?

*I mean really! no body's linen closet is that perfect and it is just plain rude to suggest to an overburdened overworked stressed out woman that hers should be
*I don't know about you but everyday of the year until the month of my birthday/Christmas I can think of 30 things i want, but the day a parent/sibling/husband asks what i want i become clueless. so I've started keeping a list.
*image found here

Balance

2010-12-20T12:32:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have been watching a lot of TV. We don't have cable so we check out TV shows from the library. Usually we have a few shows lying around that we both like, things like Frasier, Cheers, Myth busters, and the Office, and some things I like that Mr. P won't watch. Mr. P works a lot of evenings and when he's working in the evening I usually curl up in bed (the only warm place in our house) and watch some TV. I mostly attribute this to how tired I am from work. My job is extremely stressful and it's both mentally and emotionally draining. By the time I finish working, get home, deal with home stuff (cooking, cleaning, laundry) I just don't have a lot of energy for much else and all I want to do is watch TV. I had been working my way through Gilmore Girls. Last night I watched the series finally and I mentioned I needed to select another show to watch when Mr. P said, "or maybe you could read a book, like you used to do." I have to say this comment really gave me pause. It wasn't mean or hurtful, in fact he was mostly joking, but it really made me think. Growing up we really didn't watch TV. I remember Full House and the Cosby show and TGIF and strategically going to friends houses on Tuesday/Wednesday nights to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's creek. In college I didn't have a TV at all. I went through 4 years of college with zero television. Then after college when Mr. P and I were engaged I had no TV.

In recent years though my TV habits have been growing. But my reading has continued, in 2009 despite having cable for most of the year I still read 25 books. So what happened now? I have finished a sum total of 3 book since I started my new job 10 weeks ago and all three have been chick lit. How do I find the right balance where I can still put so much energy into work but not turn into mush at home? I have to say that the more I think about this trend the more concerned I am. What happens when we want to have children? when we buy our own house and have to take care of it? I guess in the short term I need to make more of an effort to sit down and read a book.

what's on my mind

2010-12-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have neglected my blog. I have all of these aspirations of what I want my blog to be and needless to say my follow through is lacking. I want my blog to be a daily refection of my thoughts. What is going on in my mind and how it is responding to my life.

So here are some Thursday thoughts:

I love Chinese food. As much as I love all food I'm pretty sure I could live on Chinese food and tacos and be a happy camper.

I am looking forward to going to my Mom's house tonight to eat tacos and watch Love Actually.

I used to hate The Office, I didn't think it was funny and Michael just stressed me out, but it has wormed it's way into my heart and now I love it.

We once again have no Internet or cable. We temporarily had Internet but once again decided against it. There is something really refreshing about coming home to no Internet or TV. It forces you to interact, read, walk, clean house, visit with friends and so on.

Don't get me wrong we still watch TV. We check out TV shows from the library. Right now we are watching Myth Busters, The Office, Cheers, and Gilmore Girls (I am, Mr. P refuses).

I am adjusting to my job. I still love it and find it stressful, but I feel like I am returning bit by bit to my normal home life. I'm reading more, picking up more, walking. This is good. For the first couple of months it was just work work work collapse.

I found my dream couch at crate and barrel this weekend then almost started crying when the sales girl told me it was being discontinued. So sad.

I am having a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I honestly feel like it is just one more thing I have to do. And I am having a hard time focusing on the true holiday. This is really sad, I know. I'm not even sending out Christmas cards this year. I am however looking forward Christmas Eve service and getting out of town for a few days.

Tomorrow is the third day in a row I have to be at work by 7am. Needless to say, I am super excited for Saturday and some extra sleep!

I'm dreaming of a white...Thanksgiving?

2010-12-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

As a native Oregonian here in the Willamette Valley I grew up dreaming, in vain, of a White Christmas. In reality I never experienced this phenomena until I was 22, engaged to Mr. P, and spending Christmas in his home town in Eastern Oregon where the snow is abundant. Those of you familiar with the valley know that Christmas is rainy rather than white.

Therefore it was to my awe and surprise last week as we drove east on I-84 into a white winter wonderland. I wish I could have taken pictures from the car. We were driving from Portland, Oregon where we had met up with Mr. P's parents and their snow tires, to Walla Walla, WA. What should have been a 4 hour drive turned into a 6 hour drive over solid ice. However, it was perhaps the most beautiful drive I have every been on. While we've driven east many times in the winter usually the snow doesn't start until you hit the Blue Mountains or maybe Pendelton. Due last weeks storm across the Pacific Northwest the entire Colombia Gorge was blanked in snow and delicate ice cycles had formed along the various rock formations. It was simply breathtaking.

We arrived in Walla Walla to a frigid 0 degrees and 6 inches of snow and woke up to this:

Our Thanksgiving started with a snow walk. Then we watched the parade, cooked, ate, watched football. We ended the day with a classic, The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Friday we watched our #1 Oregon Ducks beat Arizona. Assuming a win against our instate rival, the Beavers, Saturday we are headed to the National Championship for the first time!!!! I have to say that while I remember a lot of exciting football seasons here in Eugene, with two Rose Bowl trips and the Joey Harrington years, there has never been a better year to be a Duck!

Monday Monday

2010-11-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

Ugh... it's Monday. However it is only a 2.5 day work week for me so I suppose it's okay. I had a busy but good weekend. I went to see the new Harry Potter movie which was fabulous! I had really low expectations because the 6th one was so bad. But this one was amazing and scary. I jumped, I screamed, and I was generally very stressed out. I can't wait for part 2 now.

I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving. Time has flown by. I am looking forward to a long weekend and some quality time with my husband. We are going to spend the holiday with his family in Walla Walla, Washington.

The weather has turned really cold here. The low tonight is 27 and it's supposed to start snowing around midnight. Tomorrow's high is 31 with a low of 18 degrees. I'm not happy. Our house, while delightful in the summer, is an icebox come winter. It was built in the 1940's and has little to no insulation. It also has it's original single pane windows and no central heat. We do have a wood stove which helps. We also bought some ceramic heaters at Costco which work really well to heat up one room. Saturday afternoon we got home from doing something and the house was so cold we just turned the heater on in our room and got into bed. We spent the entire afternoon in bed reading, napping and watching TV.

Behind the Times

2010-11-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

I am sooo behind the times. Unfortunately this is a trend. I discovered the Gap at least 6 months after the other 6th graders. I didn't "fall in love" with Leonardo DiCaprio until months after other girls because I didn't see Romeo and Juliet until it was on video. And, I just discovered Gossip Girl! Obviously I have heard of Gossip Girl. I don't live underneath a rock. But finally, a few weeks ago, I watched the first season. I'm so sad I have missed out for so long, yet so excited to have finally caught up. I love the clothes. I love Blake Lively's hair. I love Serena's character. I love the make up. I kinda love Chuck. I do not love Dan. I do however love Nate and his preppy good looks. And again, I love the clothes! This is perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing show I have ever watched. I am looking forward to watching the second season.

I also just discovered Jen Lancaster. I am reading Bitter is the New Black and laughing out loud. "Drunken PR monkeys", "Those who don't believe in capitalism haven't experienced shoe shopping at Nordstroms". It is hilarious!

I also recently discovered Diorshow mascara. As promised it is wonderful. I will never buy Cover Girl again. Yes its a little spendy but it's worth every penny.

What have you discovered lately?