It is early, I got up very early to help Dwayne Jocky around our three cars. We picked up the Volvo yesterday. I am so torn between a feeling of excitement because we got a new car that I get to drive all the time and the empty feeling of loss for our beloved Acura. We love that car. It is very much a part of our family. Dwayne proposed to me in that car. It is not going to be easy to sell the car. As I tear up even now. Yeah I am pregnant so what!  UGH.

We are on edge lately. Dwayne & I and even little Georgia, maybe she is picking up on our anxiousness or she’s got a little of her own. She is very concerned about my belly. She tries to help me up when I get up off the couch and when I wince from strong kicks or mild contractions she is right there saying, “Mama, what’s wrong? Is it your belly? Your belly hurts?”.  It is really cute. She is also very fussy, I don’t know if this is related to the vibes we are giving off or if she is going through her own terrible 2’s type thing, but she can be really bad. It is the tantrums that really get me. Last night we went for pizza, she had several tantrums while we were there. Each one was worse than the one before.  First, she wanted to change positions at the table, instead of sitting next to Dwayne she wanted to sit next to me, in the middle of dinner. I was felling really bad so I really didn’t want her next to me bouncing around and hugging me and what not. I love her dearly but I was feeling pretty bad. Then she wanted to go to the bathroom after just returning from the bathroom twice and not producing anything. This resulted in her pulling on my hand screaming and crying until I gave in and took her to the bathroom. She produced a little pee. I think I would have been really mad if she had not. I told her while we were in the bathroom how she was making me mad with pointless trips to the bathroom. Maybe that had some effect and she went that time, I dunno. The last tantrum happened after she was done eating Dwayne took her into the game room that is adjacent to the dining area. I tried to eat and he & Georgia went to play games. After a while Dwayne noticed I was ready to go home, still not feeling good and so he swoops up the kiddo and she freaks out. Screaming, “I want to play”. We left with out putting on her sweater. It didn’t even stop once we got home. One tragedy after another, she is my little drama queen right now. It just sux when she gets like that.  I eventually got her to relax with me on the recliner. It was my favorite part of the whole day. She finds a lot of comfort in playing with my hair. So we rocked in the recliner, she played with my hair and we relaxed. It was a really sweet way to end the day.

All of this will be over soon. May 5^th is the eviction date for our little boy. We are still struggling with names.  We have begun to revisit names that we thought of before.  I think the trouble is that I am looking for a more unusual classic name or family name and Dwayne is looking for an original yet newer name.

Examples:

Me: Emmett, Oliver, Cecil, Dennis, Dewey  

Dwayne: Xander, Mason, Dylan, Deuce

No juniors for us.

It just sux. I cannot believe that we have come all of this way with no name. We call him “the boy” or “the little one” or even just, “the baby”.  Once in a while Dwayne will rub my belly and say “What’s up Son?”. Last night he jokingly said we could just call him “No Name Bell” aka No Bell. It doesn’t really sound that bad until you start thinking of the repercussions.  I am sure it would turn into “No Balls” once he reached middle school.  I think that the repercussions of the name we choose are the biggest deciding factor that we are struggling with. 

Then I think of that Johnny Cash song, “A boy named Sue.”

My daddy left home when I was three
And he didn't leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue."

Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk,
It seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named "Sue."

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,
My fist got hard and my wits got keen,
I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame.
But I made a vow to the moon and stars
That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars
And kill that man who gave me that awful name.

Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
And I just hit town and my throat was dry,
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon on a street of mud,
There at a table, dealing stud,
Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me "Sue."

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had,
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old,
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said: "My name is 'Sue!' How do you do!
Now your gonna die!!"

Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes
And he went down, but to my surprise,
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear.
But I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.

I tell ya, I've fought tougher men
But I really can't remember when,
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss,
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first,
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.

And he said: "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you'd have to get tough or die
And it's the name that helped to make you strong."

He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight
And I know you hate me, and you got the right
To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do.
But ya ought to thank me, before I die,
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you "Sue.'"

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Sue! I still hate that name!

Good Morning!

It is morning now; I am pretty tired but awake so I am going with it for now. I know that I will be sacked out on the couch around 11 am. I have been on maternity leave all week and believe it or not I have received two phone calls from work. I left with a bang. The last scheduled day was Friday the 14^th and I found out that I did get the new position I had been pining for. I cannot tell you how excited I am about the new post at work. I really think it is the next step that I have been trying to get to at work. I will get to use a lot of the skills that I have been honing at my current role though not getting paid to do. Now I will get paid for the services that I will be providing. It is a very welcomed change. So I feel bad about leaving on that note, though it was fantastic to find out before I left, I did not really get a chance to hand off before I left and I am sure when I return the new team will be anxious for me to begin, I fear that my previous co-workers will not get more than they have already received from me. Then again, how much more can I go over? I don’t know my mind is reeling over it. I ended up working a full 8 hour day on Saturday just to wrap up loose ends. I can’t imagine that made my boss very happy as they are watching OT hours pretty closely and I didn’t get prior approval. Oh well. I felt it had to be done.

This week I was suppose to lay around and unwind before the chaos begins. I have done a little bit of that. On Monday I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. I actually missed my office space at work. What can I say I really like my desk!! It is so much more comfortable for me to sit at than the desk we have at the house. The one at work is all ergonomic for me and the one at home is tall for Dwayne, my feet hang off the chair and the surface is above the natural breaking point in my arms so I always feel too upright or something. Anyways, I made double chocolate cupcakes for a lady at work and some samples for the lady that wants me to make her wedding cake.  I delivered the cupcakes to work and signed formal paperwork for my leave. Then I rushed out of there to go car shopping with my husband. We were looking for some sort of replacement for our Acura Legend, we found out the Acura needed $3 grand in repairs, and since the car is a 1991, it was really just time to get a new and larger vehicle. The funny thing is we had been disagreeing on the sale of any of our two cars for about two years. Which vehicle do we sell the truck or the Acura. I had always thought of selling the Acura because it is expensive to maintain and the truck is very functional for our family now that we own a home. It is really valuable to be able to pick up stuff in our pick’em up truck.  However, my husband had a different logic, not necessarily wrong just different. He was in the mind that the Truck cannot seat all of the members of the family therefore it should go. I am SURE this logic had nothing to do with the fact that he had “pimped” this ride with rims, low profile tires and a boom-boom in the trunk-trunk. So the decision was made for us. Thank you Jesus!! 

The Acura (not ours but a pic of one that looks almost exactly like ours):

 So after shopping online for a couple of weeks and scoping out the neighborhood we found a car. It is a 2002 Volvo V70 Wagon. It is really sleek and has a lot of features. We discovered yesterday that it even has a third row of seats which was optional at the time it was new. So we can comfortably fit four adults and our two kids, without a gas guzzling SUV or the tragically un-cool mini van. I think my husband would have rather chewed off his arm than drive the kids around in a mini van. He is so funny. It really makes him feel better to know that we will be carting the children around in a safe car with an over abundance of airbags.

The Volvo (from the dealership ad):

 I am a little nervous about the potential repair bills.  We could have opted for the VW Wagon but Dwayne & I have both had VW’s in the past and the thought of owning another was a little impeding. VW’s are so borderline, they are either your biggest nemesis or you family favorite and the sentiment flip-flops weekly. When I was driving my Bus I think I can safely say that I took public transit to work more often that driving just because I didn’t want to wake the old beast until the sun came up.  As if!!  But I loved that damn thing. I drove it for 4 years off and on. We went through two motors and I finally put it to rest here in KY when I found out it needed a third.  Ugh. I moved up to the Acura after that, it was really nice to have heat, heat, the most taken for granted feature in a vehicle until you don’t have it. I came close to frost bite once in that Bus. Just from traveling from my Pop’s house in Central Pa to the N.E. Corner to see some buddies. It took me 2 hrs to regain feeling in the toes. Oh the old Bus. How I miss it sometimes. We discussed buying another Bus, you know, a newer one that is reliable and has heat. Boy, are they expensive! And Hard to find used. So here we are…Volvo owners. Yes we bought a Volvo station wagon on 4/20. Had you asked me ten years ago on 4/20  if I could imagine myself buying a Volvo station wagon, I would have said “Dude, Are you kidding me?  uh…pass the chips.”. We laughed about it all day yesterday.

I had a meeting with the lady about the wedding cake.  I made pretty formal presentation for her, pictures and ideas assembled for her to look at and a portfolio of my most recent cakes. I also gave her 6 free chocolate cup cakes to sample because she also wants a groom’s cake and she has never previously tasted what I can do with chocolate. She was impressed. She is having a somewhat informal reception/ house warming at her and her new husband’s new home. The event is scheduled for October when the weather is cooler and an outdoor event is just perfect here in KY.  She originally asked for a tiered cake, then when she changed the style of party to include the House warming she began talking about sheet cakes. I think sheet cakes are boring so I did a lot of investigation of other possibilities to see if I could entice her into something more interesting.  She really liked a large cupcake tower with a small anniversary cake at the top for their first anniversary. This option will save her time in cake cutting and ensure that everyone can grab and go with a piece of cake. I am also exploring small cake boxes to pre-pack with cupcakes for guests to take with them as they go.  For the Groom’s cake I will be making a football shaped sheet cake with many cupcakes to accompany it. I am thinking the cupcakes should be decorated to look like helmets from his favorite team. This could be really interesting.  So much fun!!

 

I have some pics of little Georgia from Easter. Not that we did anything whatsoever besides open a box from my Mama. The night before, I had sacked out on the couch after working that 8 hour shift and I completely forgot about painting eggs (I didn’t even make dinner.). So we didn’t even have an egg hunt. I did dress Georgia in a pretty dress and send her to school with cupcakes for the Easter party on the 14^th.

Here she is

And her cupcakes:

Today is her last day at daycare until I go back to work.

Dwayne and I talked to her school and they wanted to have a special party for her today so I made another round of cupcakes partly for the class and partly for the teachers. I again forgot all about it until like 9pm last night so needless to say I was up until 12 am last night making cupcakes. It is crazy I tell ya!

 

I am also including a couple of shot Dwayne got of Georgia on his motorcycle.

 

And these are pictures Georgia took of us. It is the first time she has been allowed to use the camera. We had to make sure the lens was pointed towards us because she was concentrating so heavily on pressing the right button that inevitably the lens was pointed down at the floor.  Great expressions huh?

 

 

Two Days left

I haven’t written in forever.  I have been reading everyone elses’ sites tho’

Thank you for the entertainment!

 

I am tackling my lack of motivation. I have been waiting for the “nesting” period to kick in. Yeah it is not happening. It is like I can envision all the things I want to get done, yet when it comes to the reality of it all, I just end up lounging on the couch and begging my husband to wait on me hand and foot, sometimes I try to get Georgia to do me favors too. It is really pathetic. I feel handicapped. I am convinced that if the baby was not so high into my rib cage that I would have more energy (due to more oxygen!!!!) and be able to bend without feeling like I am crushing my heart muscle.

Ugh. Almost over.

 

So remember when your dad would say, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Yeah I have been tight lipped lately. It is terrible of me.

 

Last week Sunday night, Georgia was up late, would not go to sleep. So we tried letting her camp out in our bedroom on the floor. She was on my side of the bed. She decided that she wanted to nest under my shoe rack, making all this noise, not laying down. Every five minutes Dwayne, who is on the opposite side of me, would sit up and scold her. After a while, I am just resigned to let her do what ever, as long as she is locked in to our room and she can’t hurt herself and I can go to sleep. Dwayne was not satisfied; he continues the battle of wills. Finally he takes her down stairs to her room and lays her down. I think to myself, finally I can go to sleep it is only 12:30 am and I only have to be up at 6am, right. Wrong, I get into the only position that I can sleep in these days and then it starts…hicupp…hicupp…hicupp.   And it is not me or Dwayne. It is coming from within. All I could think was “You have got to be kidding me!!!”. I tell Dwayne, and in all of his compassion for my condition this time he says, “sucks to be you.” Irritated, I roll over and put my behemoth on his back and say, “oh yeah?” And he laughs.  And that is why we love each other, we laugh a lot.

 

This weekend, Dwayne was sick all weekend long. I could almost see it coming. He never gets sick, ever. But all of a sudden Saturday afternoon, he was absolutely rotten. I mean his Gemini dark side was reeling it ugly head!! It was almost unbearable, resulting in a battle of wills but out of nowhere it hit and he came down with some sort of violent gastro-intestinal attack and was more or less impaled on the couch or bed for the rest of the weekend. Strangely making me forgive him of his trespasses and feel sorry for him.

He missed a fantastic dinner, we were to entertain Billie & Jason on Sunday evening with dinner and cupcakes. I made the largest pot roast ever! The four of us, Billie, Jay, Georgia & I ate half of it then I split the remaining and sent them home with some. It was really good. I used beef, yellow & red potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, turnip, carrot & celery spiced with Thyme, Sage, Blk Pepper, Sea Salt & Garlic.

Billie brought over these really great orange marmalade cupcakes with homemade butter cream frosting. YUM! It sure was nice to have them over for dinner.

Billie quit smoking! (Congrats Congrats!)

 

Other than entertaining on Sunday and Dwayne being sick, I did some outdoor gardening on Saturday & Sunday. I managed to clean out the leaves and baby weeds from my herb patch, miraculously I didn’t get stuck in the garden, I almost got stuck in a sitting position on one of the stepping stones, but I figured a way to leverage my massive butt up and outta there.  I also planted some seeds for our garden. Dwayne will be tearing out about 7 more bushes and relocating three bushed to make way for a veggies patch. We have garlic bulbs, onion sets, seed potatoes, green onions, okra, cucumbers (Dwayne wants me to make pickles) squash, bell peppers and some herbs like sage, basil & cilantro. I also planted some sunflowers and this blue grass (ornamental grass).  We are excited about the garden this year. We already have well established mint, rosemary, chives, oregano, thyme, lavender and strawberries.

 

Mmmm strawberries.

I planted them with the mint, I am hoping for minty strawberries.

Mmmmm.

The baby is turning. Ouch.

 

I made a cake for a bridal shower this weekend. It was a really big hit and I had a lot of fun doing it. I made the whole thing from scratch which was new for me.  I will be making another of the first week of April. A boy’s birthday cake. It will be fun.

Georgia had quite a weekend. Dwayne has been working with her on potty training. There is always a battle of wills with her though. She is discovering that she has options and more often than not she always chooses opposite of what you want her to. It is very typical of her age.  She fought a bit with Dwayne Friday night over eating dinner, picking up toys and other things. At one point she turned around and said “I hate you Daddy.” - Just matter-of-factly, not of passion or true hate. It stunned us like a couple of deer in headlights! I guess she heard that word being used a daycare because we don’t use that word around the house. She would have more luck hearing a swear word than the Hate word. Weird. Dwayne asked her if she still loved Daddy and she said yes, so we assume she didn’t understand what she was saying. We let it slide this time however, I see a conversation occurring if this happens again. On Saturday night she demanded a shower, so Dwayne set her up in the shower and she showered all by herself. She amazes me with her independence. She is very content to do things by herself. I like it, it makes me feel like we are doing well as parents that she is self secure and sure of herself. Though I do not like to argue with her, “I want a cookie!!!”, “No, dinner is almost ready”, and back and forth until dinner is on the table. There is no final word, like the booming final word that I remember coming out of my mom, the resounding “no.” yeah that crap don’t fly with this one. It is “pester until something happens” methodology.

 

            This week, I had been craving homemade whole wheat bread and honey butter, so I finally got around to making it last night. Georgia helped. She loved the honey butter.

I love that bread machine. I definitely don’t use it enough.

 

Today, it is back to work. I really want to take off for maternity leave. I have a hard time being here lately. The belly is so uncomfortable sitting at a desk it is not fun.

I am still waiting to hear about an interview. I am really just holding out for that. Once I can interview, I feel like I can go out on leave.

Oh anyway, who wants to hear me complain.

 

I found this old picture mixed into some other files the other day. It was taken in July of last year. It is just so cute, I had to share!

 

 

My Cake

 

 

 

My Bread

 

My Darling

Getting there.

Almost done.

 

I had a nice week last week. Two days off then the weekend. Super 4 days off in a row!

Thursday Georgia was under the weather, allergies are kicking her butt. Poor little thing woke up Friday morning, blinking, swollen & red faced. Dr. Benadryl to the rescue!

We had a nice time, I love spending time with her on days like those. Just her and I running around town or napping on the couch, it is all treasured.

We started the day by running around town looking for a dresser for our new little boy that we still don’t have a name for.  Georgia was able to try out her new booster car seat which she loved. It was very comfortable and she really felt like a big girl. She calls it “ma seat belt” We drove to every second hand store I could find, looking for the dresser, just need something for temporary until we decide on bunk beds and such later this year.  I found nothing. We did find a piano at the Local Salv’ys and we sat and played for almost 30 minutes before the old ladies started giving us the evil eye.  Georgia says, “Come on Mommy, wet’s play. Come on Mommy!” How could I object?

We checked out a few antiques stores, I don’t think I will return to those places with Georgia, greasy chicken nugget fingers touching EVERYTHING in the store, lady watching us like a hawk. Not so much fun. A quick walk through proved there was nothing to be had, unless I wanted to spend 300 bucks, maybe later. So we pushed on. There is this little place with a big heart, it is called Cowgirl’s attic, the lady is a serious pack-rat and I love pack-rats. Thanks you Grandma Reynolds & Nanny Kern! Sincerely, I thank you. So this chic has the greatest assortment of home parts, light fixtures, fireplace mantels, doors, antiques, garden gnomes and general bits an pieces that were salvaged from yesteryear. I love this place. So I go in and her friend is tending the register, he says there is a dresser in the back, I walk through like four separate buildings all connected by a long hallway, and there is a dresser. It is in good shape, solid wood. 100 bucks. So I call Dwayne, money is tight, things must be discussed. As I pace around and keep and eye on the wandering two year old, I notice that in the side yard, outside the dock door that I am standing on is a small claw foot tub. Another item I have been searching for. I head outside for a closer look. Georgia is playing with garden animals and I investigate.

All said and done, I put 50 on the tub and Dwayne and I will be going to take a closer look at the dresser this week sometime. Woo Hoo!

Friday, I had a Doctor’s appointment. Georgia stayed home with me for day two of running round town. She was a little more difficult to handle than the previous day but on we went. The OB said I had extremely low iron, which would explain all of those two hour naps I had been taking in the last week. The day prior, Georgia and I sacked out on the couch for three hours until Dwayne got home from work.

I am feeling better. MUCH better.

We scheduled our boy’s eviction date (c-section), May5th 2006 7:30 am. I talked to her about the concerns I had from my previous experience and she was all ears. It really made me happy to have her real attention.

I called the Grandma’s to discuss their visits. It seems they are going to overlap their travel so they get to meet. I know it sounds a strange but since we didn’t have a real wedding, we eloped, really. None of the family has met. I am trying to bridge the gap, forwarding messages and pictures from both families, back and forth, maintaining the website and so on. It is a challenge, but one I am willing to take on as it is important to me. I am excited for them to be here at the same time. None of my siblings will be visiting, just our moms. Coincidentally, my Mama will be here for my birthday and Dwayne’s Mom will be here for his birthday. Fun huh??

 

 

Lastly, I am listing baby clothes on eBay...if you know anyone looking for Girl Clothes!!

All sizes between 0 months and 24 months, I will continueally list more as I can get it photographed and listed.

 

Seller ID is dirtgirl_monicabell

http://search.ebay.com/ws/search/MemberSearchResult?userid=dirtgirl_monicabell

 

            Ok I got some pics.

 

 Belly shots: 33 weeks he is still very high inside my body, he is excepted to drop around 36 weeks, I am a little nervous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Georgia's Perch, most of the time she is sitting in her chair Mama made for her.

 

Georgia made this mask at school, it is made of an outline of her hands, cute huh?

 

 

 

 

Clothing for our little boy from Phylis (a nice lady that I work with)

We found out some things about the little kid that has been terrorizing Georgia at school.

I don’t recall if I have posted about this yet, but here is a brief run down with the conclusion:

 

Little two year olds are lovable and very violent it is their nature, unfortunately. Georgia has been complaining about this little kid Michael for some time, he has bit her a few times and now she likes to make up stories that he bites her daily, much like the “pop-pop did it” story.  
So we have received notes from school telling us of incidents and such. Incidents where the two of them fight knock each other off toys and him biting her.

Well last week or the week before, I think the week before, she came home with an incident report and a red circle on her cheek with little individual teeth marks. I was shocked, it was a perfect circle of teeth all o the top teeth and all of the bottom teeth. The next day and for the next 4 days this ring was on her face!!! Dwayne said he would take care of it and talk to the director about this little boy.

Last week he comes hoe with an answer from the director, the little boy is in foster care of an aunt, he is the youngest of four and his mother is in jail. Dwayne instantly feels bad for the kid and is concerned about his wellbeing. The day care says they are going to talk to the guardians and try to resolve the issue, they agree it is out of hand.

This week, they tell us, that after investigation they discovered that Michael has been bitten by another girl in the same class and basically she bite Michael and then Michael turned around and bites Georgia!!  They investigate this little girl and here she has bite marks on her body and so they call the mother thinking this all happened at school.  As it turns out, her MOTHER has been biting her!!! Her mother said to the day care director that the child will not listen so she bites her to reprimand the child. She goes on to say, if the bite doesn’t leave a mark then the child will not remember the incident.  Day care is going to turn her in to Social Services because obviously that child rearing tactic is totally distorted. Michael on the other hand, they are going to try to work with him to get rid of this bad habit.  

Whew.

 

So today, Dwayne took a half day because Georgia has a fever, tomorrow I have off for two doctor’s appointments so she can stay home tomorrow too.

Last night was brutal. She has been having nightmares, and sleep talking. She camped in our room last night and this morning, I found her more than half way under the bed, only her little head and shoulders were sticking out. She coughed most of the night and sleep talked this morning about going to the potty to pee-pee.

A dear co-worker/friend of mine gave us a $50 gift card to buy Georgia a new booster seat. Georgia is between seats at the moment. She has outgrown one of our two car seats and she is not big enough for the booster seat that my friend Jen gave us. So we are down to using one car seat, kinda sux.

It looks like we are going to prep for the new baby this weekend. We need to take all of the baby clothes out of the crawlspace and figure out what is usable on our boy and list the rest of the crap on EBay so we can buy more crap for him.  No one threw me a baby shower this time around and we are strapped to boot.  I am a little worried about our supplies, though I am sure we have enough to get started from what we had with Georgia. Gotta love hand-me-downs!! I honestly don’t even know what we need at this point!!
I do know that we need to get a dresser for him, we have no where to store his clothes. There is a small used furniture store down the street I am going to look there tomorrow when Georgia and I are out. I am sure I will find something. I really hope it doesn’t rain, I absolutely hate dragging Georgia around in the rain, especially if she is sick.

I guess that is all for now.

 

 

A joke:

 

A man was sitting in a cafeteria next to a woman who was engrossed in her newspaper.

The bold headline read "12 Brazilian Soldiers Killed."

She shook her head at the sad news.

Then turning to the man she asked, "How many is a Brazilian?"

Nice weekend.

Nothing really to write about.

I talked to my friend Sarah from back home:  sead

She is interested in sharing some booth space (if we can get it) at the local Woodland Art Fair that happens during the month of August. I must say the *worst* time of the year in KY. It is just sweltering. However, the date is quite a bit off so we will have time to prepare our stock.  I am planning on showcasing my secret quilting projects, wind chimes, outdoor lanterns (punctured tin), Teddy Bears and small sofa quilts.  Sarah is already gaining some fame from her Etsy catalog : peedlebug.etsy.com

Please check her out and buy her stuff! 

She does some pretty hip stuff. Sarah has always been on the forefront of the cool stuff anyway, so I am not surprised by her creations, I am in awe. She is going to make me a diaper bag, I cannot tell you how ridiculously excited I am. I really miss her.

I remember once when we were roommates we had this disagreement over a hot pink table cloth. It is pretty funny now that I think back to our conversations about it. I really hated pink, and pink might very well have been Sarah’s favorite color, I don’t know, though I can assume at this point that it was. How silly things can get with two nesting women in the house. At any rate, Sarah will be coming to the fair with all of her goodies, if we are accepted that is. I am going to call for additional details today, as the website is a little confusing.

I am very excited about this as it will be my first Art Fair.

http://www.lexingtonartleague.org/woodland.htm

 

A Few Georgia Stories.

Georgia has been having troubles with bugs. Plainly stated, she doesn’t like ‘em and she don’t want them anywhere around her. If she sees one, she instantly squeals and screams for Daddy to get the bug. Nothing short of extinguishing the life of the bug will do, she is insistent on instant removal. I think it is funny.

See she has this little table and chairs set and it is situated in the only place possible in our tiny living room, over the top of a heat register. She sits at this table and munches on pop corn and watches movies on our portable DVD player, or she will draw, paint and play games. It is her spot in the living room.  Since she eats at this table from time to time, as you can imagine, ants are coming in through the heat register. Ants are bugs, hence Georgia’s total loss of sanity every time she sees one. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now, I guess since the really cold weather broke. Another bug that is really common in KY is the Lady bug. They are EVERYWHERE. When we were in the hospital with Georgia, they were gathered around the window during the day, and then at night the great migration to the bathroom would take place (where the light was on).  It was a little gross, but the nurses at the hospital said there was nothing they could do. I kinda thought it was much like an infestation of bugs, but they were just like, “oh they are just lady bugs.” Yeah ok, they are still bugs.

So one night last week, we were all going upstairs to sleep. Georgia had been having trouble sleeping in her own bed so we had a little camp on our floor for her next to my side of the bed. As we were climbing the stairs, she saw a lady bug on the step, disgusted she started to freak out. I picked it up and tried to console her, “it is just a lady bug, it is ok.” She was not having it. I forced her up the stairs, dropped the bug in a house plant and laid her down for bed. About three hours into the night, she woke me up screaming, “Mommy, the lady bugs, the lady bugs!!”  I guess she was having a nightmare about them. She was not satisfied with anything I tried to tell her until, Dwayne told her that he put the lady bugs outside, then she rolled over and went back to sleep.

“Mommy, the Lady bugs!!” 

She is so cute.

She did pretty good using the potty this weekend. The price of pull ups is going to kill us. I have noticed that she does better when she has no bottoms of any sort. It is like she forgets that she needs to go to the potty in the potty if she has panties, pull-ups or a diaper on.  It is still kinda cold for her to run around half dressed so we keep her in clothes off and on during the day.  She gets so excited when she goes in the potty, “Mommy, I did it!” “Daddy, wook at ma pee-pee” and she wants to help dump it in the toilet, but we don’t let her.  She had a couple of accidents, she peed on her chair, the one my mama made her, she was really mad she couldn’t sit on it afterward. Then she peed on the floor. Strangely, she just squat down and started to pee, I caught her and made her go to the potty, where she peed some more. Crazy kid.

She had some fun yesterday painting with water colors while I talked to Sarah on the phone. Oh, boy can she make a mess.

 

 

 

 

Another set of Georgia "caught in the act"

 

 

 

 

Just sitting on the table eating a banana, playing with masking tape.

I made the butter.

It was sooo coool. I think everyone should do it at least once.

It is definitely not going to stop me from purchasing butter from the store, but it was fun and I may do it for holiday meals or special occasions.

Here is a pic of my final product:

One quart of heavy cream yielded one pound of butter.

I ate so much of it yesterday that I gave myself indigestion. Yeah, I got a little carried away.

Of the making process, it was short, a whole 15 minutes or so. It was neat to watch the cream go from a thick whipped cream to a very separated butter glob and buttermilk consistency.  It was like magic.

Ha ha ha.

 

 

 

Last week, I made some chocolate pudding for an after dinner treat. Dwayne asked me is I had any whipped cream in the fridge. It is not something I would normally stock, does anyone? But, by a strange coincidence, I had some heavy whipping cream, I had bought it for a creamy chicken soup recipe. I never made the soup and so the container of whipping cream was still in the fridge. I had a fleeting thought, "whipping cream = whipped cream when whipped" so I asked Dwayne to get one of my cook books down to see if there was a special recipe. There wasn't, only a remark about over whipping, which would cause the whipped cream to become butter. Dwayne threw the cream in the mixer while I finished the pudding. Sure enough we had so whipped cream!! After adding a little Splenda, it was mighty tasty and took about 2 minutes in the mixer of high. I recommend that you try it the next time you need whipped cream!

Ever since that day I have been thinking about Butter. I just couldn't get over the simplicity of the butter making process, simplicity with modern day tools of course!

I finally found a recipe, it was just as I thought, cream and salt.

So in the process of looking for a recipe I found this great site all about butter and butter relatives.

Check out the site. I am going to go make some butter, I will let you know how it goes.

http://webexhibits.org/butter/index.html