10 months

There's been a lot of sleep stuff going on this month. To recap, Elizabeth slept as perfectly as one could expect for her age, and by around 4-5 months, would sleep 10-12 hours stretches. Oh the joy! Then she quit that. It was gradual, but the next thing I knew she was waking every 3 hours and I was super sad. Then this month we had a couple nights where she woke up every. 45. minutes. There was much distress. So I got a book called Good Night Sleep Tight (I think.) and it suggested we beef up her bedtime routine, separate nursing from bedtime, put her in her crib drowsy but awake, and then sit by her side and intermittently pet her if/when she cries. She cried for fifty minutes. Every 5 minutes or so I would rock her. Once she finally fell asleep I cried for fifty minutes. We weren't really letting her cry it out, but I still felt horrible. However, the next night I put her in her crib a bit drowsier and she went to sleep in under 5 minutes and the next thing I knew she was sleeping longer and longer stretches. Hallelujah!

She has four of the most adorable teeth. As long as they're not digging into your flesh. 

She will pull up and let go and stand for several seconds before sitting back down.

Her stubborn personality is starting to come out more and more. Diaper and costume changes are getting squirmier and squirmier so one night I gave her a cloth wipe to play with. She immediately put it back in the basket and pulled a handful of cloth wipes of her choosing. That's my girl! 

In my-baby-is-a-genius news, she can put smaller cups into bigger cups. 

The highlight of the month for me, and I'm sure for Elizabeth too, was running my first 5K. I had quite the cheering section. 

An Update. Finally.

I have been missing for quite some time. My second blogiversary, the holidays, all passed with nothing happening here. Mostly because there was so much happening and so much floating around in my mind, but none of it seemed appropriate to blog about at the time so silence seemed best. Today, I'm ready to talk.



1. For awhile now I've wondered what exactly it is (if anything) I'm doing here on the blog. I just kind of started it on a whim and never thought I would stick with it. Once I proved this was something I would like to do regularly, I kind of wanted to start over with some kind of purpose or goal. I've been wondering and waffling about this for at least a year, but the past few months I've been thinking more specifically about where and what I should do blog-wise.

2. I lost my job. I knew this was a possiblity and I wasn't exactly in love with what I was doing, so I'm not too upset. I had been thinking about what I would want to do next, just wasn't ready to have to do that now. For the moment, I think I'm going to try some freelancing and open an Etsy stationery shop -- those things I would love to do but am generally too afraid to do. To continue the thoughts of #1, I'm going to have a new blog that doesn't imply I'm inconsistent in the title (I can't assume everyone recognizes it from Pride and Prejudice, but they should. ;)  ). I'm hesitant to look for another full-time job because...

3. We're having a baby in July. :)

Things with Wings

I had these elaborate Halloween plans of dressing up as Rachel Berry (I'm a bit of a Gleek.), coercing Lee to go as Finn and making a slushie costume for Zoey (puppy t-shirt with iron-on slushie cup + child's clown wig = adorable puppy slushie). But after a day of unsuccessfully searching for a cheap Rachel-esque skirt that would match my purple cardigan cardigan, I gave up. There would have to be an easier and cheaper solution.

So we went batty. Lee quite literally.

I drew my inspiration from here and simplified it even further. Just some fabric cut with pinking shears to avoid fraying or heming and sewed onto a black, long-sleeved tee. The ears are felt with a loop in the bottom so they would slide over a headband. Not to brag, but I was pretty impressed with myself.

Along with the theme of "things with wings", I picked up Zoey a butterfly costume at Target. I don't think she was as excited about her costume as I was about mine. 

But she was excited to be reunited with her ex-roomies Simon and Jenn. (I was too.) 

Dinner for 7

The site of a recent family dinner.

I think we need a bigger dining room table. Although this setup is kind of ghetto fabulous.

Oh, Don (with a ridiculously large number of parenthetical references)

One of the things that makes my dad so awesome is his willingness to read my book suggestions, even against his better judgement. (Now that I think about it, I don't think I've made him read anything lately. Dad -- Pride and Prejudice. It's time. I'll loan you a copy next visit.)

Dad did not always enjoy my recommendations (maybe why he hasn't read P&P yet...) -- namely The Great Gatsby, Great Expectations and some Faulkner novel that I hadn't even read myself -- often on the basis that there was no hero, just morally ambivalent wanderers. (For more information on moral ambivalence in literature, catch the final of the scene, after the credits, of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. For real.)

(I just realized Sue Sylvester plays Ricky Bobby's mommy. Awesome.)

Dad needed someone to cheer for, and apparently Nick, Gatsby, Pip, and whoever in the Faulkner novel didn't cut it for him. I personally love Nick, Gatsby and especially Pip, but I can see that they're not your traditional hero, like Richard Gere in Pretty Woman. (Yeah, I don't think Dad would use that analogy. Hmm...they're no Harry Potter. Actually, Dad, after P&P you should read the Harry Potter series. Don't listen to Laura on this. Once again, she's wrong.) 

So fast forward 8-ish years, where after hearing many good things and joining the advertising profession myself, I decide to watch "Mad Men". This was at the start of the third season. I had caught the tail-end of season two, enough to see Don promise to start over with Betty and stop fooling around. But about 30 minutes in to season three, Don's all over a stewardess and they have a conversation about how this is her last chance to hook up before she gets married and Don assures her that she will have plenty of opportunities for infidelity after "I do." (Love this line from NYT article by Ginia Bellafante: If you drew a map of Don’s moral core it would look like a gerrymandered Congressional district with lines drawn in odd and incongruous places.)

This just didn't settle with me. I grew up watching soap operas. I enjoy Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. While I have much higher standards for myself, I can still enjoy plots where looser morals are displayed. But sometimes "Mad Men" is too much. Just check out the Secrets and Vices section of the "Mad Men" periodic table. Every character is screwing over another character. I grew weary of this and jumped ship mid-season. I finally understood Dad's need for stories to have a hero. Or at least one good guy. Somewhere. Eventually. 

Or at least I thought I understood. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on back at America's favorite ad agency. And I do have a soft spot for Peggy. And those dresses. And I often dream of a simpler time when you can drink bourbon mid-day and be totally classy and normal. See how I fit right in:

So Sunday night I rushed to get ready and curl up with Zoey for the start of the new season. And it was delightful. Don might hire a prostitute on Thanksgiving, but he is still a. total hottie and b. really good at telling clients off. And the Peggy and Pete storyline was funny. Did I mention my soft spot for Peggy?

In fictional worlds maybe I can get by without a hero after all. Afterall, I'll always have Mr. Darcy. And Richard Gere. And Harry Potter.  

A Bummer Day (which will be stretched out into a very long story)

The summer before I started high school my family and I moved from our small house in the city to a larger home, with a larger yard, in the county. The stipulations for this move was that dad would be able to have a John Deere riding lawn mower, and mom could finally have her chocolate lab.

We got Annie that November. I remember reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time on our way to pick her up. I remember pouting because I wanted a small dog. I remember my sketchy high school boyfriend performing his greatest act as my boyfriend by telling me to suck it up and enjoy the new puppy.

Annie was a lovely dog. Loyal. Kind. Always happy to see you. Always ready to bark when asked (like when the convicts would cut the grass along the highway) and when not asked (like at the plastic bag blowing through the yard). She was patient as, over the past few years, we brought several small annoyances into her life. Like the addition of another dog and cat, and my tendency to bring my dog and cat home for visits. (Annie and Zoey have particularly had issues, but eventually learned to respectfully avoid each other.)

I'm sure you can tell where the rest of this story is going. Awhile ago the vet found some cancer in Annie's mouth, which he easily removed, but it came back and was no longer easy to remove. At 12 years old, we pledged to keep her comfortable for as long as we could, but we can now no longer keep her comfortable. Today mom and dad...well... you know.

I'm glad she's not hurting any more, but she'll be missed.


For the sake of ending things on a brighter note, I'm taking more pictures of the painting results right now and will immediately load and start posting tomorrow!

My Middle Name is Marie

I got this card in the mail from my sister on Thursday about 24 hours before she arrived for a weekend visit. I had a wonderful time. Laura is disappointed to have wasted part of her Saturday watching Lee and I pick out some deadbolt locks. I'm not sure she'll come back to visit again until Lowe's is no longer a guaranteed part of our weekend.

A Million Thanks

As with all things in life, I approached purchasing and moving into a house with a variety of fears and concerns. Closing the Friday before a three-day weekend, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get the TV and Internet hooked up or the water heater fixed before our Saturday move. When mom called me a week before the move date asking who was helping us (other than them) and I replied we hadn't asked anyone yet, we both started to freak out that we wouldn't have any help. I had no idea what we would eat all \weekend because I didn't want to cook and I didn't want to live on frozen pizza and canned soup for more than a day. As of Saturday morning, I knew we wouldn't finish packing everything and Lee and I would have to come back later in the week to finish up.

And as with all things in life, I worried and lived to see my fears come to nothing.

The sellers were wonderful people to spend an hour signing documents with at closing. After disagreeing with someone over how much money you should spend on their house, I thought it might be awkward, but they were delightful.

We managed to get a cable guy, a fence guy, an electrician and a plumber all in the house between the hours of 4 to 6 p.m. on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. (And the fence estimate came back within what we had to spend so that will be going in as soon as he can! Yay!)

Three of our neighbors came over to introduce themselves and one brought brownies. It's like Wisteria Lane without the drama.

In addition to Lee and I, we had 10 friends and family, with 2 pickup trucks and 1 minivan to help us move. (And Friday night Lee's parents came over to help us pre-clean.)

Friday night the in-laws brought over hamburgers, hot dogs, and spaghetti casserole. Saturday my parents brought Owensboro barbecue, baked beans, potato salad and tons of potato chips. Lee and I are still working our way through the leftovers.

What wasn't packed, our ten beautiful, wonderful, kind helpers threw in bags and hauled out for us. Saturday, the only thing left in the apartment was Kevin. With the chaos in the house I couldn't deal with having to move a fish and rinse out his bowl. We brought him home last night.

In other miscellaneous good news of the weekend, we learned that Lowe's gives 10% to military members year-round. Plus a 10% coupon we had, we got 20% off our lawn mover, weed eater and other random house needs. And after months of trying to find nice and affordable jeans, LOFT had 40% off your entire purchase this weekend so problem solved!

I'm exhausted, but it was the best Memorial Day weekend ever. A very special thanks to the many, many people who helped us along the way. :)

Betting on the Ponies

This Saturday I went to Keeneland with several of my dearest friends. Needless to say, Saturdays don't get much better than that.

I even won! This was after I won $2.60 on my $2 bet on Deal Breaker, a decision that was 90% based on 30 Rock. Liz Lemon never disappoints. Fun Fact: I always drink gin and tonics at horse races.


In my opinion, Keeneland is so much prettier than Churchill Downs.



And the horses were lovely. This is uptowncharlybrown. He won me $4.20 back on a $6 bet. (Sadly, this is about the most successful day I've ever had at the track.)

Megan had worse luck than me, and advises, "Don't bet on the 4 horse!" (The 4 horse came in last in like every race.)

I this this picture is my favorite. Might have to frame it.

Announcement! (not a house or baby)

Caitlin and I are starting a 365-day photoblog today! *shoot off confetti* *celebrate*

As you might know, Caitlin and I went to college together and are BFF, brought together by a shared love for movie nights and cookie dough. Sadly, we currently live 1000 miles apart (Louisville, KY to Austin, TX), but since we both like blogging and photos, this seems like a great way to stay in better contact and see what the other sees everyday.

I took this picture yesterday on my way to work, so sadly I couldn't use it today since that's against the rules. 

Check it out (and subscribe!) at www.1000milesbetween.blogspot.com

A Really Good Weekend (honest)

Friday night I had dinner with some of my very good friends from my sorority (Yay ADPi!). We had been at Centre earlier that evening to mourn celebrate our chapter advisor's retirement, and afterward we gathered to talk some more, gossip a lot, and split some pizzas. We've scattered a bit across the state and country, so evenings like this--when SIX of us are able to gather together--are rare and wonderful. As I left the restaurant at 11:30 on Friday night, I realized that already my weekend had been so great that it didn't matter how the whole making-an-offer-on-a-house went.

It continued to not matter all weekend. As we were signing the contract, UK was destroying Tennessee and I hate Tennessee. While they were countering our offer with the list price (for reals?!), I was celebrating my sister-in-law's 21st birthday. While UK played for the SEC championship (Go Cats!), Lee, Realtor, and I decided on our counter-offer plan.

So with all sincerity, I say that I'm okay with possibly not getting this house. We'll make another offer today, and I'm going back and forth over if this is as high as we'll go or not, but I don't need to worry about that yet. I've spent the weekend with people I love and Kentucky is a #1 seed. Life is pretty good!

The Funk

I think I've got a bit of the funk.

This weekend was crazy. Wonderful, but busy. I saw many friends who unless I saw them everyday I could not see them enough. Perhaps because these were friends, who for a brief time, I saw every day. I still don't feel fully accustomed to the idea of barely seeing them 3-4 times a year at best. They're only an hour away, how does that happen?!

So I saw wonderful friends and family this weekend, but really from Thursday through Monday I was not home very much at all. Then the snow came (In light of the SNOWMAGEDON in DC I feel lame just mentioning our 6 inches.) and I got to work from home. While I thought this would give me time to play catch-up, and it did,  I still feel the crazy to-do list towering over me and I can't find the few minutes I need to sit down and just get things sorted out.

Sometimes it feels like life is that mole game. You know the one at Chuck E. Cheese where the moles pop up and you have this big thing to beat them with but there's always another one popping up somewhere else?

I haven't read or worked out nearly as much as I need to. I really need to.

But I made it to the grocery tonight so now I have more food options other than Oreos. (Although I'm still suffering from a menu-planning mental block and even when I look through recipes the only thing I can manage to come up with is spaghetti. Ah...crazy funk!)

And I will be in bed tonight by 11 o'clock. That alone can cure many funks.

Side note: When I say "the funk" I free associate to Old Greg.

The Early Bird Gets the Giant Peanut Butter Ball

Interesting that this story is being told a little late. Anyways...

At Christmas my uncle always puts together a calendar with family photos. Also at Christmas, he makes tasty goodies for everyone. My favorite, most-beloved, will-not-share goodie is his chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. I have asked before to be given nothing but these. They are fabulous.

I got the e-mail request for us to send in our picture for the calendar. Apparently I was the first to respond because in a second plea for pictures my uncle announced that I was first and would get an extra bag of tasty treats. Of course, I asked for those extra treats to be peanut butter balls.

So when my holiday tasty treats arrived, what did I find? In addition to the usual cookies, fudge and peanut butter balls, there was one giant peanut butter ball!

Check out how thick the chocolate was! Yummy!

Later in life (like 4 years ago) I realized that peanut butter balls are generally referred to as buckeyes? Or maybe it's just a northern Kentucky/Ohio thing. But why break a 22-year-old habit of saying "peanut butter balls"?

Merry Christmas!

From the start of my memory Santa used special wrapping paper and had mysterious handwriting. Even though I now know where the special paper comes from and whose opposite-hand-handwriting is on the label, I insist that these things never change.

Christmas is here and I'm so excited. I'm excited about the presents I've opened and will open. I'm exciting to give Lee his presents. I will see many friends and family that I have not seen in far too long and ones that I'm lucky to see often. I will eat, eat, eat to the point of being uncomfortable and wonder why I can't stop putting chocolate in my mouth.



But my favorite part of Christmas, is on Christmas Eve at Christmas Eve mass. The exact moment varies but most often (and my preference) it is after Communion when someone sings Oh Holy Night, which is the most beautiful Christmas song ever and my absolute favorite. And I sit there, feeling all the Christmas hope, magic and wonder inside me. The love of family, the promise of salvation, this tiny gift from God, and I generally cry. Happy tears, of course. Even if the soloist is sub-par, the words of the song inspire me every time.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of Our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world In sin and error pining,

'Til He appear'd And the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope The weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks A new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts By His cradle we stand.

So led by light of A star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men From Orient land.

The King of Kings Lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials Born to be our friend.

He knows our need, To our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us To love one another;

His law is love And His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break For the slave is our brother;

And in His name All oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy In grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us Praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory Evermore proclaim.

His power and glory Evermore proclaim.

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Camera Shy

I didn't take any pictures Thanksgiving. I didn't even take my camera with me to Grandma's, which is where we do the bulk of our holiday celebrating. Even though I have an awesome new camera that I love playing with and need to practice more with. I left it at home, because sometimes, taking pictures makes me feel socially awkward.

It's one thing to take pictures when you're traveling or at a big event. Duh. That's what you do on those occasions. But I feel very self-conscious taking pictures of the Thanksgiving spread. Or secretly snapping shots of my family members chatting. Or taking pictures of the area around my Grandma's yard, which is actually pretty photogenic (dinner bell, old barns, antique farm equipment, huge areas of farmland).

This seems totally irrational. I'm sure it's irrational. But do you ever feel this way? There's almost something pretentious in taking pictures at times. Taking photos makes me feel like I'm saying, "I'm an artist. I'm talented. I'm capturing things that will be awesome, artistic and beautiful." And while I would love for that to be true, I don't really feel like it is. Yet. Sometimes I feel that way about blogging too. And maybe that's why this blog is about the only thing I've written outside of work or school in several years.

On a humorous note, my sister snuck out her Veggie Tales nativity scene (Laura and I love Veggie Tales! Mom thinks we're nuts!) and put it on our entry table. Mom was not amused. I did take lots of pictures of this. It was awesome.

In the Holiday Spirit

see more Epic Fails

I love Christmas. Christmas is easily my favorite holiday. Out of respect to Thanksgiving and to maintain my sanity (I can only function at 100% Christmas Cheer for so many weeks.) I wait until the day after Thanksgiving (sometimes staying up until midnight) to begin my holiday crazies. But really, my Thanksgiving excitement revolves more around days off from work and getting to wish people "Merry Christmas" in 24 hours than Thanksgiving just for the sake of it.

But I just don't feel that excited yet. It's not that I'm not excited, just not nearly excited as normal. I have some theories on this.

• Since I'm making a lot of my gifts this year, Christmas is now a huge deadline. It's always a deadline, but one that can be knocked out one diligent Saturday. Not this year though. My original goal had been to have everything made by Thanksgiving, or at least be at 75%, so I would not be exactly where I am at this moment: lots to do and less than a month to do it in. 

• I don't want this statement to be taken in the wrong way and -- oh dear, am I getting misty typing this?! -- but this will be my first Christmas not at home. I love Lee's family very much. I have been blessed with truly wonderful in-laws whom I enjoy so much and I'm looking forward to spending this Christmas with them, but it breaks my heart a little that I won't be at home with my family. I will be celebrating Christmas with them the weekend before, but it's not the same. 

• I'm really excited about 2010. Not so much the New Year holiday, but the whole year 2010. For the past three years I have been waiting for 2010 because that's when Lee's Army Reserve contract is up (September to be exact.). 2010 has been this illusive magic year when Lee's contract would end and we could start thinking more about babies and this wonderful year starts in like 35ish days! We're also going into serious house hunting mode in January, so as I put up our tree on Saturday, I'm really just thinking about our tree next year. In our front window. In our home. And Lee hanging lights outside. And holiday baking in my kitchen. And really starting our "home".

I'm still looking forward to Christmas. I will still get up on Friday morning and switch to my holiday ringtone and put on Zoey's holiday collar. Perhaps I'm just a little too excited about other impending excitements to really absorb this Christmas? But life is too precious for that.

Must. focus. on this. Christmas. Because I'm sure it will be plenty of wonderful.


Image inspired by Amy.

Cough Cough

This is what my bathroom vanity looked like last evening. (I've tidied it up a bit since then.) So yeah, I haven't been feeling well. I am feeling better today though so yay! It's becoming increasingly unlikely that this is swine flu which I was mildly convinced of while I was tossing, turning, and shivering Tuesday night. But I worked a full day today and plan on cooking dinner tonight (spaghetti!) so better health and clear nasal passages are in my near future, I am sure.

To continue with ways my mom is awesome, I got this in the mail from her.

It arrived on Friday but I forgot to pick up at the office until Tuesday night. I almost didn't pick it up Tuesday because at 2 p.m. snot had started pouring non-stop from my nose and it was raining and I had had to wear fancy pants to work, so I was trying to get inside in pj pants as soon as possible. But I went ahead and stopped by to get my package and was it worth it! My favorite chips that I'm normally too cheap to buy, my favorite freezer bags that I can't find anywhere anymore (This is a legit problem I'm having. These are superior freezer bags! Where are they going?! If your Walmart still carries them you might have to start hooking me up.), and beloved Little Debbie Christmas Trees. Mom had gotten me some of the trees for my last trip home but the family ate them before I arrived. Well family, you have been redeemed.

Why this kindness from my mom? I might have put it in her calendar last time I was home. ;)

Mr. Darcy is a Very Important Character

I had the most wonderful experience last night: I read the first couple chapters of Pride and Prejudice with a first-timer.

Lee has a 12-year-old sister, Danielle, who loves to read. I often tell her that someday she will have to read Pride and Prejudice, as all young girls should, so I was delighted when she announced that P&P was next on her list. A few days later I ran to Barnes and Noble to pick out a copy for her. There was no way I would let her borrow mine because she needed one of her very own. You know, so she can draw hearts on the page(s) where Mr. Darcy proposes or dog-ear her favorite pages for easy reference.

So I'm over visiting a couple weeks ago and we get out her P&P and started reading together. Who wouldn't love to read P&P without a veritable NUT looking over her shoulder, clarifying conversations, explaining old spellings, properly pronouncing locations (Darby-sure), giving appropriate tone, and assuring her which characters are actually important (Mr. Bingley) and which aren't so much (Mrs. Long)?!

Then last week Danielle gives me a call. P&P is hard. (That's true. I started with Sense and Sensbility at her age and after a chapter decided I should wait another year.) Could we have some regular phone dates to read it together? HELL YES!

She might come to regret this soon since I like to pause and discuss the social structures of the time, what "Austen is really doing," and make sure she gets all the jokes, but she's going to be so ready when they actually get to this in school. Or maybe I'm just molding another English major. Both excellent possible results.

But the best part is that Danielle has no idea what happens. None. None at all. It has been about a decade since I first fell for Darcy's subtle charms but I think even then I had some idea that Darcy and Elizabeth were THE couple. Like when you read Wuthering Heights or watch Gone with the Wind (or read it), you've heard of Catherine and Heathcliff, Scarlett and Rhett. I think I had some ideas about this Elizabeth and Darcy, but Danielle has none and I love it!

Last night Danielle asked, "Why is Mr. Darcy an important character? He's mean."

Just trust me Danielle, Mr. Darcy is a very important character. We'll find out why in another 100 pages or so.

Is it sad that I know which moment in the five-hour film this is from? He's watching Elizabeth play the piano at Rosings. It's one of my favorite scenes.

Friends, Dog Attacks and Head Wounds

I try to avoid long posts because in all honesty, I never read all of a long post so I doubt anyone would read all of my long blog post, but there are three random bits that I must share with the world today. I refuse to break up these three very different, yet mildly (by a thread) related topics.

Friends
If I made a list of all the things I'd like to change about myself or improve on, it would be quite lengthy. We don't need to go into it all now (We can save that for January 1.), but one thing is a desire to keep in better touch with my friends. Yet after the past 48 hours, I think I've decided I can cross that off the list.

Relationships will change when you don't live in the same sorority house or have the same lunch block anymore. There's no avoiding it. The important thing is that you keep in touch enough, and do the most you can, so you're still a part of each others' lives.

Sunday night I went out for dinner and coffee in Lexington with three of my sorority sisters.

I LOVE Ramsey's friend chicken! 

In no time at all we were laughing, sharing too much information, and talking about people we don't like (There's something to add to the January 1 list!).

Last night, some friends from high school came over for dinner, and even though it feels like forever since the last time we saw them, that didn't really seem to matter, although it does help that we mutually stalk each other online. (Sarah might have walked in and gone, "Oh! It's your asymmetrical mantel arrangement!" I love the Internet!) 

I know it's gushy and overly-sentimental, but the past two nights I got to spend with people I love a whole lot and who I don't talk to nearly as often as I want to, or as I used to, and it makes me giddily happy. 

Dog Attacks
This video was taken last night before my friends arrived. It is awesome for two reasons:
1. It's hott to watch husband vacuum. He's so helpful!
2. It's a riot to watch Zoey attack the vacuum. So glad I finally got this on film. Now if only I can get some shots of her and Reagan wrestling.



Head Wounds
I am a huge wimp and mild hypochondriac. Yet once I survive my "major" injuries, I like to brag about them because I'm quirky and that's what I do.


Last night I had unprecedented success with a Rachael Ray recipe when I made some Cumin and Lime Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Creamed Corn. It was quite tasty.

I think it might be the oven's fault, but with the oven on 500 degrees for the 30 minutes it took to roast the tenderloin, the apartment got very smokey and we had to open a lot of windows. So once our friends left, I went into the laundry room to shut the window. It's a smaller window and sits up a little higher than the norm. Apparently, this window will also fold out, as I learned when I went to shut it and pulled it down ON MY HEAD. The window put a gash in my forehead and landed right at the top of my nose. (The bridge perhaps? It was right at the top between my eyes.) There was some bleeding and a lot of whining that ensued.  Sarah, being a nurse and having just left, almost got a phone call to immediately come back and fix me, but Lee promised I would be fine, even though he wouldn't shine lights in my eyes to check for a concussion. I had to do that myself. And my head still hurts today. :(
 
ouch.

My Journey to Make Alfredo Sauce

April 2005 Caitlin and I are in London, England for the semester. Since we're poor and in one of the most expensive cities in the world, we cook in a lot. This is my first time really cooking so Caitlin's been doing an excellent job of making sure I know the difference between a clove of garlic and a whole big thing of garlic.
I decided that I would make Alfredo sauce one night since it's one of my favorites. However, as I go to make it I realize that the cream we bought the night before had indeed expired the day before. It smelled okay, so I proceeded. In the end, it tasted like crap. I don't blame the cream, but something just didn't turn out right.

(Side story: Caitlin decided to just go with plain noodles because she was afraid of the day-old cream. However, I accidentally poured the sauce on hers and then had to rinse her noodles. I think she's just learning about this now. Oops.)

November 2006 I try to make Alfredo sauce again. Things aren't going well so I call for the assistance of my roommate Jenn, who is honestly the best cook I know. Despite Jenn's emergency whisking, the damage had been done. It turned out mediocre.

October 11, 2009 SUCCESS!!! ALFREDO SAUCE SUCCESS!!! Third time's a charm! I would like to thank this recipe, and the helpful comment about adding the butter and melting that, then mixing in the cream, before slowly adding the Parmesan. Tasty-tastiness!