My Friend Knows How to Feast!

My friend wrote a book. It's really good. You should buy it.

And that's the end of this blog post.

Ok, ok. Just a little more. I'm sick and really, really tired and want to go to bed five hours ago. But I just can't do it until I sing the praises of Haley and her book. Haley was one of my first friends when we moved to Florida and she's still one of my closest. Such a beautiful soul. A great writer, devout Catholic (a convert, the best kind!), wonderful mama, and all around fun gal. We may or may not have stayed up way too late last night at a ladies night out and I may or may not have had several glasses of wine and I may or may not have called her a name that I can't retype here on this blog. In love. It was all in love.

I really do love Haley.

And her book is awesome. I've learned so much from her friendship about living liturgically and what that really means. This book is a great example. I've also been privy to Haley's cooking when she's had us over for dinner to feast on the rooster that our husband's slaughtered together. Among other, less gruesome, times. She's a good cook. And I don't think she'd be offended by my saying that her husband's even better. They're a pretty terrific team.

So if you'd like a cookbook that has REAL FOOD recipes (most of which are gluten free, yay for me), reflections on living liturgically, and facts about some awesome saints then you should buy her book. It's an ebook that comes to you via email as a PDF and she's selling it for only $4.99 through Thanksgiving (at which time it will go up to $375 so act quickly). And because Haley is super sweet and generous she offered to let me put an affiliate link on ye olde blog and make a few pennies. Gotta finance my July adventure somehow, ya know.

So if you do buy it, buy it through my link at the top of the sidebar and I'll be super grateful. ------>

And this is the real end of this blog post.

Five Favorites (With a Really Crappy Giveaway!)

Joining Hallie again. If I was allowed to have a sixth favorite, it would be the song she has in her number one spot. So beautiful. I've been listening to it on repeat all week. But I'm not allowed to have six favorites, so I'll just get started with my five below.

-1-

This post by Jenny. Every post by Jenny actually, but especially that one. She has such a knack for writing about living out your pro-life values in an anti-life world. And a knack for writing in general.

-2-

The person who can solve this current parenting dilemma for me. YOU will be my favorite! How do I get Hannah to stop biting her nails and chewing on her fingers? How? I need to know!

"Smile Hannah." "No. I want to be siwwy. Yite dis."

-3-

Sweet Potato Fries from a bag. I love all sweet potato fries, but the kind that I don't have to cut up and stand at the stove frying are the best. It goes against my attitude of "don't spend money on something you can make yourself" and I don't care one bit because they are fast and delicious and oh my goodness I just need food in my body right this second! And when you are making dinner and realize you forgot to make a side....sweet potato fries. When you've run out of options for a quick lunch......sweet potato fries. When the baby wants your food and wont stop grabbing it out of your hands.....broken up sweet potato fries to the rescue.

I buy the giant bag at Costco but I've seen them at Walmart too.

-4-

This homemade recipe for remoulade. Having been dairy free for the better part of three years now, I can tell you that the desire to dip stuff into something creamy does not go away. I just want ranch!!! Or cream cheese!!! Or queso!! So when I remembered that remoulade is mayonnaise based, I whipped up a batch and starting dipping. Mostly sweet potato fries.

I had never heard of remoulade until we moved to Mississippi. On my first day of training at my new job I went out to lunch with a bunch of beautiful, young, Southern gals with thick accents. They looked at me like I was a freak show when I started eating my food before every.single.person had their food in front of them too. Because apparently that's a thing in the South and it's most certainly not a thing in the North. Not when there are more than a dozen people at the table. And food is being brought out one dish at a time. And we only have a thirty minute lunch break.  But I noted their stares and agape mouths and put my fork down and sat and watched my food get cold like everyone else. So later when I asked, "What's remoulade??"they had no trouble just writing me off as a rude Northern weirdo who didn't know her Cajun food.  I think I put my elbows on the table too. They, on the other hand, did not.

Unrelated picture of Paul. Also being "siwwy"

-5-

This book on potty training. Oh Crap Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki. I read it months ago and totally forgot that the author offered to do a giveaway for readers of this here blog. I pulled it back out this week because we are going to start night training Hannah now and I wanted to refresh myself with her tips. For us, her method worked like a charm. I appreciated the wealth of informaiton and the tips on common mistakes. I totally would have said, "it's ok!" every time Hannah had an accident when, really, it's not ok. That's why we're teaching you to use the potty! So instead I followed her advice of just stating the obvious ("You peed on the floor.") and reminding her what to do ("We pee in the potty now.")

I liked that she doesn't use food as a reinforcer and found that to be super successful for Hannah. It was a much more logical approach than the sticker charts and candy and it worked for us.

The most helpful was her guidelines for determining if your child is ready. I wish I had read it sooner because Hannah was definitely ready a few months before we finally started. And if we had read it earlier I would have had a potty trained toddler before the new baby arrived and wouldn't have been messing with potty training while caring for a five week old.

If you want to win it, enter below! And if you don't win, you should just buy it. It was actually a fun read and I read it cover to cover in one sitting and then went back to digest the important parts. Her language is pretty rough, but I kind of enjoyed it. She did use some curse words as a warning for those who may not like that. And God's name in vain a few times, which made me sad. Because there are so many better ways to say things without stooping to that level, ya know?

But overall, good book. Super helpful. Go win it! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five Favorites

-1-

Pumpkin Spice French Toast. I just made it up. While the rest of the country is probably over pumpkin spice everything, down here in the south we're just getting started! Once or twice a week I find the energy to make french toast with gluten free bread and tons of pumpkin spices. So that means lots of cinnamon and little bit of nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice. And brown sugar. Served with real maple syrup. It's delish.

-2-

My Kindle . It's the best. The one in the link is way fancier than mine. I have the super simple original and it is just perfect. It was given to me by a friend whodidn't have a use for it (What? I know!). I've had it for two years and honestly, I've hardly picked it up. But after watching these, I decided I had to finally read Pride and Prejudice. And since it's free on the Kindle, the Kindle it was. And boy was it awesome. I never had to find my page, could set it down on the couch while reading so I had two hands for eating. So light weight. So functional. I thought I would shed a tear parting ways with paper books, but I'm about to toss them out the window and never look back.

-3-

Pride and Prejudice . It was every bit as good as everyone said it would be. And now I feel like a real grown up because I've read it. Hey, I read it before I hit 30. So I'm not that late. And now I'm definitely in the mood to soak up all things Jane Austen. What's your favorite Austen book? Better yet, what's your favorite Austen book that I can download for free on the Kindle???

-4-

As mentioned in number three, these YouTube videos were just amazing. Addicting. Very, very addicting. You've been warned.

-5-

And a combo of favorites from our day so far. Beautiful crisp weather for the first time this year. A fun outing with friends. Eating lunch on the back porch (Hannah's new favorite). Both kids napping at the same time. :)

I Just Wanna Eat Food

I think my heart has finally stopped pounding and my breathing is returning to normal. But man. If you had been a fly on the wall for the last 20 minutes in this house! Frustration after frustration left me clenching my jaw to keep from shouting some f-bombs (I mumbled them instead) and slamming an even more tightly clenched fist onto the washing machine. I set out to prep the crock pot dinner for tomorrow and make a new batch of coconut creamer for my coffee. Simple enough. Except that it's not. It's never simple. And after my fifth trip out to the garage to use the noisy food processor and cleaning up my third spill in as many minutes, well I had just had it. I was slamming doors and fighting back tears and when Ted came in to ask what was wrong I went into a monologue about onions not getting chopped the right way and coconut milk splattering everywhere and and and and.

"What's it really about?" he said. And it hit me. I just wanna eat food. Regular food. Food that doesn't take an hour and half to prepare. Food that doesn't cost double and triple what everyone else is eating. Just food.

I'm so tired of not being able to eat anything. I don't mind giving up dairy while nursing (too much). But having to give up gluten on top of that had been so, so hard. (In case you're lost, both of my kids have dairy allergies that require me to give it up completely when nursing. And I discovered a pretty severe gluten intolerance in myself and Paul just a few months ago. I suspect Hannah has it too.) 

I just want to eat one piece of freaking sausage without having to call the meat packing company and ask if they have gluten in their seasoning. And when I don't bother to call in hopes that it doesn't, I don't want to feel like shit for the next 24 hours. I want to be able to eat a bowl of cereal that doesn't even contain wheat and not walk around with a balloon in my stomach because it had "oat flour" and was probably contaminated with wheat anyway. Captain Crunch, I know you were wondering. I want to feel like there isn't something pushing on my bladder all day long and being nauseous any time I eat something because I accidentally ate egg noodles (with a teeny, teeny bit of wheat) three freakin days ago.

I'm sick of seeing my baby spit up so much that he can't even crawl away because of the spit up pool he's created around himself is so large that he keeps slipping. All becauses the only pumped milk I had in the freezer had gluten. I'm sick of seeing blood in his poop because I ate twelve gluten freakin free almond crackers that I didn't realize had butter in them. I'm sick of feeling like a ticking time bomb ready to blimp up and make my kid miserable if I accidentally eat the slightest bit of off-limits food. I'm tired of telling Hannah, "No you can't eat that delicious treat that all the others kids are having. It will make your tummy hurt. Here, have your one thousandth raisin of the day."

I'm sick of being a burden to everyone I know. I'm tired of double checking every ingredient of everything someone offers me. I'm tired of not being able to eat when I go to baby showers or vacations because no one thought of (or knew about) my food issues. I've been blessed with wonderful, wonderful friends who go out of their way to see that I can eat at least something when they invite me to their barbecues and ladies' night outs. And I know they would say that they don't mind, but it's still a pain in the ass for them and takes so much extra time and energy to accommodate me. I secretly wonder if one day I'll just stop getting invitations because it's too much trouble to include me.

I'm sick of being hungry all.the.damn.time. I'm sick of not being able to go to Mass without packing a snack for the car ride home. I'm sick of the kitchen looking like this three freakin times a day.

I'm sick of cooking every little thing from scratch. I just want to open up a freaking package of hamburger helper and call it a day. I just want to throw some mac and cheese on a plate and move on with my life. Sure, they make gluten and dairy free substitutes. But unless we win the lottery there's no way we'll ever be able to afford them. As hard as I try I just cannot figure out a way to stay within our grocery budget without buying six dollar pints of "ice cream" and five dollar loaves of "bread". Much less with those added expenses. 

 I'm overwhelmed at the thought that this is going to be for the rest of my life. The thought that at every Thanksgiving I'll have to pass up the mashed potatoes and the gravy and the stuffing and probably the corn because someone added butter just eat my dry turkey dipped in cranberry sauce. The thought that I might never get a break. I might never get better.

Yes, I know it's worth it. I don't really have a choice unless I want my kids to be miserable and in pain and I want to feel like I'm about to pop and/or throw up all the time. And I think I actually do a really good job of not complaining and facing this issue head on. I guess the last two and a half years of not complaining has boiled up inside of me and is now showing itself by punching the washer and crying about chopped onions.

Sorry for my rant, unsuspecting internet readers. I don't blame you for not making it to the end of this bitch complain fest (I think there's been plenty of cussing in this post to last quite a while already). I've calmed down since I started writing but I can't say I feel any better. This is just how it is. Whether I want it or not. There are so many days when I want to throw up my hands and shout, "I didn't sign up for this!" until I remember that I did. I signed up for taking care of my children to the best of my ability. And this is my best. Anything less would be cruel to their poor stomachs. And to mine. I have a supportive husband who thanks profusely for everything I do. A husband who, when I apologize for a crappy meal of bland leftover chicken and green beans, says, "It's a heck of a lot better than what I made tonight," and then eats his meager meal with a smile and a sincere thank you.

If you're one of the lucky people who can go out to dinner and order anything off the menu, will you please say a prayer for me? And if you're one of the ones who went out to eat for your five year anniversary and the only thing you could order off the five page menu was the grilled shrimp without the sauce or the seasoning and not even a side to go with it, well can I get an amen? And a promise that it really is going to be ok?

Gotta go. I'm hungry.

Quick Takes

-1-

I am the smartest woman alive. My extreme love of sleep has led me to discover a method of nighttime diapering that doesn't cost a fortune and lasts for 13 hours. I nurse Paul when I put him to bed, then again when I go to bed, then (usually) once during the middle of the night. And the kid is a peer. As in, one who pees. Not a person who is the same age. He soaks through the cloth in just a few minutes sometimes. And the disposables weren't making the cut either. I don't mind semi-waking up to nurse but I really mind completely waking up to change a diaper of a screaming baby.

That's where my smarts come in. One regular and one hemp diaper insert.....inside Hannah's size 4 diapers. He soaks through the first insert, then the second, then saturates the disposable. The whole thing weighs several pounds in the morning but I don't have to change a diaper in the middle of the night! He doesn't mind. The sheets stay dry. It's just the best.

-2-

Thanks to this new diaper invention, both kiddos now sleep in size 4 diapers. Hannah's only in them for naps and nighttime and it's usually dry after naps. If it is, I just leave it on the floor and put it back on for bedtime. The other day one of her used but dry diapers made its way into Paul's room. So I used it for his nighttime diaper. When I was putting it on I thought, "How cute, they're already sharing....."

If you think that's gross, you probably don't want to be my friend. That's not even the half of the level of gross I'm perfectly comfortable with.

-3-

I mentioned last week that I was sore head to toe after just two workouts with Jillian . I've managed to keep it up about every other day and, to my incredibly great surprise, am no longer sore. Or even very winded from it. I've only done the workout a total of 5 or 6 times and I can already tell that I'm in better shape. I had no idea my body (or any human body really) was capable of improvement that quickly. I might actually move to Level 2 at some point in this exercise experience.

-4-

I'm cheating and writing these Thursday night. Ted is watching the last game of the NBA Finals. I think San Antonio is going to win but I'm rooting for the heat. But really, I don't care at all.

-5-

My current mission in life is to make all of our dinners without turing on the oven. It is so, so, so hot. Even if I crank the air down, the stove and oven heat the kitchen up so badly that I'm getting light headed and weak (partly the fault of the giant nursing baby). So far this week we've used the grill or crockpot every single day. And the crockpot must be in the garage. Inside is not an option. Pulled pork, grilled meatballs, hamburgers, barbecued chicken, and kabobs. All without making me sweat :)

-6-

I think we're close to making a decision on a new laptop. We are taking (likely) advantage of my sister's generous offer to give us her 2006 MacBook and paying to get it up to shape. It needs a new battery and power cord and the software needs to be updated. But other than that it runs great. I'm hoping it's a good choice, because it'll be way cheaper than getting a new laptop that has everything we want (namely, a built in webcam that Hannah can't yank off when we Skype with family). When we get it I'll finally be able to upload all my photos and videos. These crappy cellphone pics are getting old.

I only have two pictures from the cellphone this week. One of them is Hannah sitting on her little potty typing on her leaptop. Adorable. But only aunts and grandparents got the privilege of seeing that one.

This one was taken at 10:00 in the morning when I was sitting in the shade and sweating like LeBron James at the end of this basketball game. Several friends had us over for pool play dates this week and Hannah was loving it. I might even get to sign her up for swimming lessons with a friend and I can't wait.

-7-

In bloggy news, my favorite blogger just moved to Patheos. She's still writing for the National Catholic Register too. So much goodness, I don't even know if I'll be able to keep up!

Have a great weekend everyone! Join Jen for more quick takers.

Sunday Funday

Sunday evening is my favorite time to blog. Probably because Sundays are generally semi-relaxing, spent with my husband and kids, and full of simple, everyday memories I want to record. Today was no exception. Allow me to document it in details that only I care about.

We haven't set an alarm clock for Mass in months because Hannah always makes sure we're up in plenty of time with her screams. But this morning, she actually slept in! Which gave us only 40 minutes to eat, nurse, change, and drive to Mass. We managed to walk in during the processional song. Not too shabby. I had about .3 seconds to pick out an outfit so I grabbed an old favorite rather than trying to come up with something creative.

Just turn your head to the left. There. That solves the problem of me having no earthly idea how to rotate this picture with my friend's Mac. It's really better this way, the vertical version of the picture makes me look really frumpy (someday I will teach my husband how to take a picture without squatting down and somehow making me look shorter than I really am.) (and another day we will finally buy a computer so I can upload pictures from our good camera instead of texting them to my email from my non-smart phone.)

The clothes:
Shirt: Kohls. Probably 8+ years ago.
Skirt: Charlotte Russe via consignment. The zipper's broken so I can't tuck my shirt into it.
Shoes: Maurices. Also forever ago.

Kid's behavior:
Hannah: A. Please, please, please let her always be this good in Mass.
Paul: A+ He sat happily in my lap until he fell asleep.

I needed something I could nurse in today because I had to work in the nursery immediately after Mass and it stretched into Paul's lunch time. Since we have Paul on a pretty consistent "routine", I'm usually able to wear whatever I want to Mass since I'm about 95% sure he wont need to nurse. Neither of those last two statements were particularly relevant to this blog post.

Some actual noteworthy tidbits from our day include:

Baking a blackberry pie.

Reading Good Dog Fergus at least seven times in a row. Ok, that's not noteworthy either.

Eating breakfast for dinner because we didn't have anything else in the house. It was amazing though. Homemade hash-browns with potatoes we grew ourselves. Fried in lard that we rendered ourselves. Homemade pancakes. Three varieties actually. Blueberry (picked ourselves). Blackberry (picked ourselves). And banana (purchased at the store by, yes, ourselves). And to balance out all the homegrown, homepicked goodness, some sausage in plastic wrap from Publix.

I'll try not to mention how badly I was craving a giant glass of raw milk.

Bad. Really bad. I miss dairy really really badly.

And now, a poop story. I know that most of the readers of this blog have their own hellacious poop stories and probably think they don't need to read mine. But how many of your poop stories end with absolutely no poop on the baby's clothes and tons of poop on your boobs???

Paul pooped in his swing while we were eating dinner and I was unaware of this event. After dinner I scooped him up and and grabbed the pacifier that had fallen into the seat. As I'm walking across the room with Paul I simultaneously patted his butt as I placed the pacifier into my bra. (The pacifier always sits nicely between my cleavage. It's the only safe place from the paci-obsessed, germ infested two year old.) When I sat down to nurse him I realized that my hand was covered in poop. So covered that it was in every crevice of my wedding ring. When I patted his butt I must have squeezed poop all over my hand and his pacifier. I then shoved the poop covered pacifier into my bra with the poop covered hand. After I cleaned myself off, I changed Paul and was astonished that not a single dab of poop had graced his clothing. I, on the other hand, had poop on my hand, my ring, my t-shirt, my undershirt, my bra, my nursing pads, my neck, and my boobs!

And no time for a shower because were headed out the door to do this.

"Tie-ats!" Our friends keep them at our house and told us we could take them out whenever we wanted. We finally took Hannah tonight and she loved it. She wouldn't stop talking the entire way there. "Kayaks on roof mommy's car! Hannah go kayak in lake! Go beach! Row row boat!" (or "Tia-ats on woof mommy's tar. Hannah doh tie-at in yate! Doh beats! Woah Woah boat!")

They just paddled around the lake near our house (lake. beach. same thing to Hannah.) for a few minutes while I nursed Paul and took pictures. But again, these cellphone ones are all I can do for now. Ted said she just kept saying "Go faster!" ("Doh dasser!") and "Daddy find gator!" ("Daddy nine day-dor!")

When we were about to leave a lady pulled up and got out of her car with a turtle. She told us that she just "rescued him off the highway from getting hit by a semi" and told us she wanted to help him get far out into the water so he wouldn't get run over by the trucks near the ramp. Ted offered to paddle him out into the deep so she put him on the kayak. She then watched to make sure Ted actually took him far out and didn't just drop him off by the ramp. She struck up a conversation with me (and Paul) and somehow we got on the subject of my family in Oklahoma and Missouri and she asked if they were near the recent tornados. I told her that they were very, very close to the damage and she immediately asked, "Are their pets ok???"

Yes, lady. Their pets are ok. Now go back to your PETA meeting.

The turtle fell off before Ted got it very far out but she seemed satisfied enough. Hannah's first kayak trip and rescuing a turtle all in one day.

It was a good Sunday.

Annnnd, because I'm selfish with the knowledge of the awesome readers of this blog, two questions. Anyone have a good fake tanner they recommend? One that is very cheap and won't make me look orange. I told Ted I wanted to get some for my awful white legs and he said "I don't think you're that vain." But I definitely am. So give me your suggestions to make this Floridian look like she actually gets out in the sun.

Number two. Does anyone know if a device exists that allows you to put an SD card into a laptop that doesn't have an SD card port? My sister has offered us her old Mac (!!!!). We would have to upgrade a few things on it and buy a new battery and power cable, so it's not free but still cheap. But it doesn't have an SD port and I really need it for uploading pictures because it already takes long enough without having to plug a cord in every time. Do the good folks at Apple make a USB/SD card stick thing? If they don't, they should. And give me royalties for the idea.

I linked up with Fine Linen and Purple and would have linked up with Grace if she had posted her Sunday Best before me.

Quick Takes

 

-1-

My big girl turned two years old yesterday. It was an absolutely amazing day and I teared up at least a dozen times. I have a post in draft capturing the sweet details that I don't want to forget. Let's just say that her present was epic and we are the best parents ever. The Chik-fil-a was delicious. And hearing her dance around the house saying, "Happy Hannah Birthday!" will never get old.

Two years old and almost a big sister.

-2-

Baby is head down but sunny side up right now. I know that's not the end of the world, but I'd like to avoid the extra pain and hassle that comes with a sunny little babe. Especially after reading this birth story this morning. The tricks I've been trying haven't worked yet, so I decided to see a chiropractor yesterday in hopes that little guy/gal will rotate.

Oh my.

I've never been to the chiropractor and had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be similar to a relaxing massage. So instead when I was man-handled for about 50 seconds and told I was finished, I was a bit shocked. But wow did it feel good! By the time I got home, I didn't even feel pregnant. Not sure if it's worked yet-we are still trying everything we know at home. I wish I could go back twice a week like the doctor suggested-but goodness that's a lot of money.

I always heard that you'll get addicted to the chiro once you start. Now I understand why! I would give up chocolate, coffee, facebook-anything! If it meant I could regularly feel this good.

-3-

A dear friend and one of my favorite bloggers got some super exciting news yesterday! After being told at an early ultrasound that she was definitely pregnant with only one baby-the gender reveal ultrasound definitely showed TWO! Her husband's flight was delayed and he missed the appointment. I can't imagine her shock when those two heads flashed up on the screen. And then having to wait several hours to tell him??? What a crazy day for her. I'm so excited for her-she's such a great mom.

-4-

And even though I'm head over heels happy for her, it doesn't take away the sting of remembering that that should be us. I miss the baby that we won't meet until heaven. I'm sad that his or her little life won't be celebrated and remembered the way that other twins are celebrated. Maybe it's hitting me harder as we approach our due date. I should be pushing two babies out. We should be the parents of three children. I'm beyond grateful for the little life within me-but I'm sad I won't get to meet his/her sibling in a few weeks as well.

-5-

Um, Lent starts in a few days. What the heck? It is really sneaking up on me. I asked Ted what he thought we should "do" for Lent and he said "have a baby." A fine idea. But I better come up with something else too. I'm thinking about trying to do a daily rosary. I have never been able to stick to that. Am I absolutely insane for thinking I could do it while welcoming a newborn? Lots of hours awake at night nursing right?

-6-

I've been listening to this song a lot the last few days. Trying to remain calm and focused on Our Lady and Jesus in the days/weeks leading up to another life changing birth of a child. So beautiful. My patron saint for 2013 is Mary, Queen of Peace (yet another post in draft) and this song is about as peaceful as it gets.

-7-

I'm making beans and rice with a ham hock for dinner tonight. I make beans and rice all the time but I've never used a ham hock. It's from the pig we got last Spring and I'm just now getting around to using it. I consulted a few recipes online-but for the most part-I'm just making it up as I go along. I do this all the time and 95% of the time-it turns out great. Then I pat myself on the back and tell myself what a good chef I am. And when I fail miserably I cuss the recipes. Yes-the ones that I didn't listen to.

It's simmering on the stove now. We shall see!

-Bonus-

I can't help myself.

Our Week in Pictures

Hannah's afternoon entertainment. Picture at least triple this amount of salt on the floor. When am I going to learn that silence is never golden?

Oh well, she's cute.

It took a long, long time-but he finally convinced her that fun was possible without playing airplane for hours on end.

It's finally cold enough for hot chocolate! This perfect homemade recipe was savored on Friday night and again on Sunday morning.

Hannah is kicking Ted's butt in No-Shave-November. (No, that's not hot chocolate-it's beans. We're mean parents.)

A Saturday morning breakfast fit for kings. Pancakes from scratch, banana crepes fried in homemade lard, homemade hash-browns fried in bacon grease, real maple syrup, and cold fatty milk. Complete with a frizzy lioness in pink pajamas.

Country Fun Day-where the slides are ridiculously overpriced but the little girl loves them.

Ok-mom and dad obviously loved them too.

I made the executive decision that, despite the warnings, a giant inflatable slide was not going to put my pregnant self or unborn baby at risk. Good decision. Slightly hard to dismount though....

Seeing this little girl on her first pony was worth the $3 from my splurge budget this month. (but seriously-$3 to ride a pony??) Ted said she maintained her death grip for the entire ride.

And I'm pretty sure she enjoyed talking about the "horse" afterwards more than actually riding it. "Go!" "Nay!"

Oh these two. My heart overflows.

And ending a great week with the perfect loaf of bread! My first attempt using the five minute method. I'm in love. Four ingredients, no nasty preservatives, minimal effort, pennies per loaf, delicious-crusty-eat it all by itself bread. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

And now, I'm sitting in my house all alone on Sunday afternoon. In my pajamas. Sipping coffee, blogging, and getting ready to crack open a book. Because Ted took Hannah to "get lost" and give me some time to relax. He's a saint.

How was your week?

Quick Takes (with winners of the giveaway announced!)

-1-

We have our winners! Colleen met her goal (exceeded it actually!) and gets to share her CD with hundreds of backers. I get to share her music with three lovely ladies who won the giveaway!

Elizabeth @ That Married Couple

Mary @ The Screllos

Kathy @ Aspiring Ameliorant

Email me (morelikemary at gmail...) to let me know which of the three CDs you want!

-2-

Iced coffee....hint of vanilla extract......thick cream from the top of a can of coconut milk.....Tupelo honey....mmmm

-3-

We have a wonderful Farmer's Market a few miles from us that sets up every Saturday morning. Everything is so fresh and so much cheaper than the grocery store. The problem is that I rarely need vegetables on Saturdays. It seems I always need them midweek and can't seem to adjust my planning to make it work. I end up buying expensive stuff from the store because I need right.this.minute. I just so happened to be driving by the market's location yesterday afternoon and what would know? It's open on Tuesdays and Thursdays too! So I bought the red pepper I needed to make the most delicious salsa you've ever had AND gave into the impulse buy of two pounds of blueberries. Win.

-4-

Butter. I ate it. For over a week now.

And Hannah has no apparent tummy troubles or rash!

Oh my how I hope this means she is getting over her intolerance! I'm trying to take it slow-but really I just want to eat it with a spoon. In all it's grass-fed, naturally creamy goodness. I melted some and poured it over my popcorn. Goodness-I had forgotten how good popcorn really was. I can never go back to dry. Never I tell you!

-5-

All of my quick takes are about food. Food consumes a very large portion of my mental and physical energy. Completely exhausting and unbelievably satisfying.

-6-

Hannah has turned into a climber. She can scale her learning tower, the computer chair, the kitchen chairs, and the couch in two seconds flat. Which wouldn't be much of a problem if the learning town didn't lead to the counter and the kitchen chair didn't lead to the table....

So long being able to leave the room to pee. It was nice knowing ya.

-7-

I saw this on Pinterest last night. Toy rotation boxes. The basic idea is you separate your toys into plastic tubs that are stored out of sight and out of reach. Each day you take down a tub and play with just those toys for the day. At night-you just throw the toys back into the tub and store it with the others.

I think this might solve a lot of toy issues. Too many toys to focus on the ones she really likes. The house never really looking clean because there are toys in every single corner. Boredom from seeing the same toys day after day. It would also be an easier way for her to learn how to clean up-throwing things in a tub is a lot easier than putting them on a shelf. 

I think I'm going to give it a try. But will probably use plastic bags at first so I don't have to spend the money on the tubs. Does anyone else have some sort of similar system?

Quick Takes (35)

-1-

Does anyone know of a website that will let me upload all my videos and share them with family for free? I really don't want to pay for it-but we have so many cute ones of Hannah that I'm dying to let family back in Missouri watch. I know there's YouTube-but I'm really not wanting to broadcast Hannah peeing in the tub to the world, just her grandparents. Anyone know of anything?

-2-

Apparently I am a gasper. As in, one who gasps. I do it all the time to get Hannah excited, to look at something, or to come to me and see what's going on. "Gasp! Hannah look! Your dog is sitting on the couch! Come in here and play with him for 15 solid minutes so mama can pee and write a blog post!"

Well now Hannah does it. All the time. And it's the cutest dang thing I've ever heard. She walks into a room and just inhales as loudly as she can and points to something random. "Gasp!" Then she smiles. Love it.

-3-

I mentioned pee in my first two quick takes and am feeling like I should keep this trend going and mention it in the third.....but sadly I have no more stories about pee.

-4-

I'm addicted to this baked oatmeal right now:

It's sooo good. I've been getting baking the fruit and putting the wet and dry ingredients in jars the night before. Ted pours the jars in the pan in the morning and turns on the oven. Bam-hot baked oatmeal when I get out of bed. 

-5-

Some friends have offered to watch Hannah this Sunday and Ted and I are going on a date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No idea what we're going to do yet-any suggestions?

-6-

I started typing number six and it got too long. It needs its own blog post.

-7-

My completely awesome giveaway/debut of Hannah's incredible acting skills is coming soon. You should be excited, very excited.

The Combo Pack

This post is buy-one-get-one-free! You're welcome.

Easter Recap
We were blessed with a wonderful Easter Sunday thanks to great weather, awesome new friends, and a pretty little girl who loved to hunt eggs.  Our Holy Week and Easter Triduum were less than stellar, due in large part to the fact that we spent almost every night butchering an animal. :::wait-what?? You butchered an animal for Holy Week??::: Oh yes we did, read on.

Back to Easter. The three of us were able to sit together for the entire 8:00 am Mass. Hannah didn't need to be taken to the back (which was good because there wasn't any room back there anyway). The strap of my dress broke in the middle of the homily but the top managed to stay up. No one was flashed on my way to Communion.

We ate breakfast at a cute cafe we've been eyeing and enjoyed every bite of our sweet potato pancakes and very berry crepes. Hannah enjoyed her banana and playing with the styrofoam cup full of coffee creamer.

Naptime was spent cooking like a madwoman. I made a delicious salsa with purple hull peas and one of my favorite desserts: chocolate coconut candy bars. Of the 19 people we celebrated with, four can't have dairy, one can't have gluten, and three can't have sugar. So I also slaved away at making not one, but two, carrot cakes. One gluten-free and one regular. Both sugar and dairy free. And they both failed miserably and I left them at home.

After nap our Rosie had her first Easter egg hunt.

Two books for for taking to Mass, chalk, stickers, a little bunny from her grandparents, and.....a toothbrush. Guess which one was her favorite?

A yard, a toddler, a sweet husband to share it with. It's too much.

"I just can't hold in my excitement!"

No, this wasn't the feature of Southern Living. It was just our friend's back porch. And it was even better.

Yum!

Pretty in pink. And oh so big.

Happy Easter! Alleluia!

Why I Love My Husband

Ted is a do-it-yourself kinda guy. Actually, he takes do-it-yourself to a whole 'nother level. Combine that with the fact that we are incredible tight wads and you get some pretty interesting results. Take, for example, our TV antenna. Why pay 12 dollars for something you can make for four? Am I right? And it looks so nice hanging in our front window. I bet our neighbors think it's welcoming and trendy.

He also built some giant raised beds for the garden we're planting. Obviously a do-it-yourself project, but Ted found a way to throw in some cheapness. He got all the boards completely free from craigslist. He is proof that if you look hard enough and have some patience, you can saved hundreds of dollars. Dollars we don't have to spend for stuff we really need. So free garden beds! Picture coming soon.

And we needed a hose, obviously. So he found one of those on craiglist too. For ten bucks. Ridiculous? Nope-he saved 20!

AND he found me a free bike helmet. I traded mine with a friend for some artwork when I wasn't able to ride because Hannah was so young. (Sorry Linds!) But now we're getting back into biking and I needed a helmet. So I met some random girl at the farmer's market last week and took her brand-new-never-even-opened helmet off her hands. Sweet.

But this past week, he kicked Cheapo's Guide to Do-it-Yourself up a notch. We bought a half pig and a quarter cow from two local farmers. We're so sick of paying ridiculous prices for meat that's filled with all kinds of nasty-this seems so much better. (First we needed a deep freeze....which he got off craigslist for 85% off retail.) Then we decided to process the meat ourselves to save the cost of paying a butcher. The animals were killed and hung at the butcher-we just cut and packaged the meat. We started with the pig on the Monday of Holy Week.

Since we actually split the whole pig with some friends, Ted and Daniel cut it up together. It was actually kind of fun. They were both trained in the art of pig butchering...from some guy on You Tube.

Who doesn't want 20 pounds of bacon?

Nothing a hack saw couldn't take care of.

It was a wonderful idea. No major hiccups. Delicious pork. Self-cured bacon. An Easter ham. No hormones, steriods, antibiotics, nitrates, or anything else other than good meat. Hundreds of dollars in savings.

Then, due to poor planning on my part, the cow came on Holy Thursday. So no, we didn't make it to any Triduum services. We cut up cow. For hours. For days. The cow's live weight was several hundred pounds more then expected.  We were up to our ears in beef and both felt like crying just a few hours in realizing what we had gotten ourselves into. It was not fun. No pictures were taken. It was a Holy Week miracle that we didn't kill each other.

Moral of this Why I Love My Husband story: Do-it-yourself saves lots of money. Craigslist is good. Never pay your butcher to process your pig. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pay your butcher to process your cow!

A Bulleted List

because that's all my brain can handle right now!

-We made it to our new home in Florida on Wednesday and have been unpacking ever since. Our new place is pretty great-we like almost everything about it. We do NOT like the ugly gold that they painted every wall nor the way it makes all our decorations look weird. We DO like the backyard, and deck, and storage space, and neighborhood, and trees, and squirrels.

-Hannah is really close to walking. What qualifies as actually saying "she's walking"? She can take up to about 6 or 7 steps and even took 10 steps once. Just this week she started doing it on her own, without needing any prompting from us. Is that walking? She still falls after 6 steps or so.

-It's like she became a toddler over night. Seriously-I look at her and wonder who she is and what she did with my baby. She is already testing her limits and definitely understands my simple commands and chooses not to follow them. Grrr-it begins.

-She's so beautiful. Really, really beautiful. I can't even believe it.

-Our new neighbor came over and introduce herself and even brought us dinner our first night in town. What a welcomed welcome that was!

-This place has the best food. The grocery just the down the road from us has tons of affordable organic options, a huge produce selection, and just about anything you could ask for. I spent almost two hours browsing the aisles yesterday and loved every second. They had vegetables I had only heard about in Mississippi! And that was just the regular grocery store. We went to a Farmer's Market this morning and it got even better. There were more vendors in JANUARY than Starkville's market in peak season. Vegetables-check. I'm on the hunt for pastured eggs and good milk now.

-We already have dinner plans tomorrow! A friend's sister and her family live here and invited us over. Woo hoo!

-Mass at a huge parish tomorrow-3000 families.

-Ted's first day of work went great. I think he's going to love his job. Praise God.

-Two of our best friends just had a baby today! Gianna Therese-we love you so much and can't wait to meet you!

-Christmas was great. We got to spend lots of time with both families since I quit my job and Ted hadn't started his yet. Hannah didn't really understand how to open presents, but she enjoyed her toys after they were opened! Her favorites-her push walker that makes her smile every time she sees it and the drumsticks that came with her music set. She likes the entire music set too, but those drumsticks really make her happy.

-New Years was perfect and spent where we always spend New Years-in the middle of nowhere Missouri in a retreat house with our closest friends. We missed it last year due to being 9 months pregnant and it just wasn't the same starting the year anywhere but there. We were only there for one night-but we packed as much fun in as we could. Normally, we climb the mountain and pray the rosary at midnight, but this year we had Midnight Mass in the chapel-which was also cool. Hannah's godfather was the celebrant and he sure knows how to give a homily. Confession, fellowship, walks to the river, catching up with friends, reflecting on the past year and praying for the one ahead-perfect.

-I've been going to that same retreat house since I was 16 years old. It was there that Ted and I began our dating relationship. So many times we've talked about bringing our kids for the retreat and this year it actually happened. Hannah became the youngest New Years retreatant and thoroughly enjoyed her time there. It was pretty surreal having my baby there. And oh so wonderful. Everything is better with her around.

Quick Takes (31) with Prayer Buddy Reveal

-1-

This is the greatest video on youtube. And I promise Hannah is actually requesting to watch it. It's not her mother that sits attentively and chuckles through the entire thing. Promise.

-2-

This is the second greatest video.

-3-

This week Hannah started walking forward in her walker and pulling up on furniture! She's not even eight months old yet! She is no where near close to crawling. I suspect she might walk before she crawls. Just like her mama. I fear this means she'll be uncoordinated and not athletic. Just like her mama.

She can also entertain herself for sometimes 10-15 minutes at a time by taking all the toys of her basket and nibbling each one before throwing it aside. Oh I love her.

-4-

A friend sent me a recipe for almond butter pumpkin bars (thanks Erin!). Dairy free, wheat free, and sugar free. I used peanut butter because I'm cheap. Uh-mazing. I want to cut them into bite sized pieces, put them in ziplock bags, and carry them in my purse. Then when I tell people I can't have dairy or wheat and get a look that says, "oh you poor thing" I can give them a sample of this deliciousness and assure them that I'm just fine.

-5-

Of course I'm gonna share the recipe! Don't worry-I wouldn't hold out of you.

 c Pumpkin
1 c Almond Butter
2 eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1⁄4 c honey
1 c Chocolate Chips

Mix together the almond butter and pumpkin until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and pour into a greased 8x8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. The middle should be set when they are done. Cool completely.

-6-

We wore jackets on our walk tonight! Fall weather is just around the corner....

-7-

I had the honor of praying for Jenny of All Things this time for prayer buddies! I've followed Jenny from the beginning and love her upbeat attitude and fun personality. Jenny, I've prayed for you throughout the day whenever you popped into my head. Ted and I prayed for your intentions in our nightly prayers. And I'm super excited about the incredibly awesome gift I have for you. Of course it's not in the mail yet. That would be too punctual for my taste.  Look for it soon!

Have a great weekend! Go Cardinals!

My Week According to Google

I stole this idea from my friend Lyndsay. She just started blogging and I'm already hooked.


baby has to nurse to pass gas--breastfed baby pass gas--baby can't pass gas without nursing
As this would suggest, much of my week has been spent worrying about Hannah's gas. Much of the last six months really. Dr. Google didn't have the answer for me this time.

[sidenote: Ted wants me to warn my readers not to accidentally google nurses pass gas]

milk bank of mississippi
Darn it-it's not up and running yet. I don't want the 60+ ounces of milk I have frozen to go bad. Hannah can't have it because I froze it before I gave up dairy. Anybody out there need some breastmilk??

slr camera bags
Why would I be googling camera bags? To hold our awesome new camera!! It's amazing. I'm in love. We went to the park before Mass this morning to really test it out.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

And a D:

slr camera strap
See above. An awesome new camera needs a cute strap. I'm thinking this one.

do oreos have dairy
Believe it or not-the allergen warning on a box of oreos does NOT include dairy. At first I was a little disgusted that a cookie made of chocolate and cream didn't have milk. My disgust quickly turned to extreme excitement upon realizing that I could eat these milk free chocolate and cream creations! Ted had a few rough days with a fussy little girl this week (hence the googling of the gas) so I decided to treat myself him to-not one-but two boxes of oreos. After three full months of no dairy-oreos dipped in almond milk was about as good as it gets.

Fast forward to the next day-Hannah is miserable and it hasn't gone away yet. The only suspect is the oreos, despite the label not containing any milk ingredients. But she's acting like she did before I gave it all up and that's my only guess. After consulting google, I found that I'm not the only who has had issues with the disturbingly dairy-free cookie. The answer to my question? A definite: maybe.

holy baby dvd
Oreos only solved half of the problem of a stressed out stay-at-home dad. The other solution? TV.

If we're gonna brainwash her six month mind with television-shouldn't it at least be Catholic? I remember this DVD from a family I used to nanny for. It's very, very low budget-but it gets the job done. And we feel slightly less guilty for setting her in her jumper and turning on "Baby Bosco" instead of PBS.

Don't judge us.


how to cook butternut squash
Ted and I have really ventured out with our food over the last couple of weeks. Asparagus, okra, butternut squash, brussel sprouts. I had a recipe for Butternut Squash Crisp from the farmers we bought them from. The first direction: Cook squash.

Uhhh. You're gonna have to be a bit more specific. But thanks to Chef Google, we now know how to cook squash. And it's delicious!

[sidenote: who knew you could eat baked okra?? I thought this vegetable was only edible if it was fried. Not only is baked okra edible, it's delicious! I almost prefer it to fried! I hope no one read this and decides to kick me out of Mississippi...]

what are pork chitterlings
This one was Ted.

buffalo wild wings allergen menu
1-There is now a B-dubs in town.
2-Alisha's mom came to visit and offered to babysit Hannah while we all went out to eat. Free babysitting.
3-Then she offered to buy our dinner. Because she's the nicest person I've ever met. Free dinner.
4-Almost ALL of the wing sauces are dairy-free.

The perfect combination for a great Saturday night out.`Thanks Gigi!

What did you google this week?