27 weeks, 2 days

I have 89 days to go until my due date!!!! WOOT!!1

Bet I don't make it all 89 more days. ;)

Have a good evening, I'm going home soon.

Aaron volunteered to cook dinner tonight (Sloppy Joes).

I'm going home to eat, shower, and do nothing.

Blitz-it Friday #2

For info on Blitz-it Friday, or to join in the fun, click the button above.

I am participating in Blitz-it Friday hosted by Organized Everyday whenever I can. One more small step toward an organized house, ya know? I missed Blitz-it Friday #1, but that's OK. I wouldn't have gotten it done, anyway, since I worked night shift last weekend.

Since I had to work today, I blitzed yesterday. I worked on organizing my kitchen cabinets. They weren't horrible, I supposed, but they bothered me. And people in my house keep eating the food and snacks I buy for me to take to work. Or they'll eat something I have planned for dinner. Then they feel bad when I get on them about it, which isn't exactly fair.

In the interest of fairness to them and keeping my food for me, I went through all of my kitchen cabinets that store food. I took out all of "my" food, as well as all the dinner ingredients I have planned meals around. I put them all on one side of my kitchen, in two cabinets, in a semi-organized fashion (meaning all of "my" food is together, and everything else is grouped by "food in a box" or "food in a can".

I took all the food that has no specific purpose other than "someone" eating it when they want a snack, or I'm not home to cook, etc. and put it in the other cabinets, on the other side of my kitchen. I grouped these into a cabinet of meal-type foods (cans of soup, canned pasta, etc.) and snack food (cereal, popcorn, etc.).

I took all of the kitchen appliances, storage boxes, canisters, etc. and put them in a cabinet, which will also house 2 liters of drinks, sugar for tea, garbage bags (the cabinet is right beside the can, more convenient than across the kitchen in the drawer full of aluminum foil and such), chips, etc.

I actually worked on this for about 3 hours, off and on, while I made a menu for all of April and part of May, using up as much as I can from my stash of canned veggies and rice mixes. I actually went through the dinner ingredients, took out what I had already planned on, made a list of what was left, and found a day to eat it on. We're trying to save a little extra money before the baby is born, so I'm trying to cut down on grocery expenses by using what we have, taking advantage of sales, and using coupons when I can.

My next blitz will be finishing the kitchen cabinets. I still have the cabinets holding my dishes, mixing bowls, and cookware left to do. I hope to get to blitz sometime next week, if not Friday. Monday I am going grocery shopping, and I have to sit down and pay bills (yuck....). I have to work night shift Tuesday through Thursday nights. I have to pick up the keys to the community center for my baby shower Friday afternoon. My shower is Saturday. Maybe Monday after grocery shopping? I can come home, unload the car, put up the perishable items, blitz those cabinets, then organize the canned goods. I can use my breaks during the blitz to pay bills. Sounds like my plan!

Controversy on my blog????

It seems I had a little controversy on my blog over a recent post, which included my statement that I let my husband have the final decision over circumcising our unborn child after delivery. Here's my reply to the controversy:



For YOUR MOTHER, who says I'm too lazy to do the research:

WE did the research TOGETHER. WE read everything we could find on the internet, books, magazines, medical journals, etc. Obviously, and for good reason, we gave more credence to what doctors had to say over anyone else. IF YOU would take the time to READ my post, you would have read that I have left some decisions up to him entirely, OR have given him a 50/50 say in decisions. I never said we didn't research this decision before making it. You assumed we didn't give any thought to this other than, "Daddy is, so Junior shall be".

Your mother, as far as my mothering skills are concerned, you can kiss my big pregnant behind from here to eternity and back if you don't like what goes on in my house. If you don't like it, don't come here and bother to read it and then leave useless comments on my blog about them. If you do comment, at least leave something useful, other than just calling me a bad,lazy mother. I'll be sure to give you the same courtesy. Maybe next you can comment on my massive to-do list, and how it must mean that my house looks like a landfill and is unfit for adults to live in, much less children. How about going to child services and showing them my list in the hopes that my house will be deemed a health hazard,and therefore should be condemned.

You could learn something from the fact that a father (my husband) is willing to do hours of research on a topic before just saying "yes" or "no". Maybe yours didn't care and let you make all the decisions during your pregnancy and the care of your children. Maybe you're mad because you wish you had done some little thing differently now that you look back. Whatever the reason, I don't think name calling is going to get you anywhere with me.

A more effective method to go about trying to change my mind would have been the one obbermi used in her comment, offering more research material in case I hadn't already seen it.

Now, in regards to everyone:

Thank you, obbermi and K, for having more class than "your mother" had when she came here berating me and calling me names.

And just so everyone knows, the discussion regarding my blog at mothering.com was removed, without my asking or knowledge, due to copyright infringement of my blog. I did not know my blog was being discussed at such length, and sadly did not get to read any of the discussion before it got deleted by the site admin. Pity. Some of it might have been informational, instead of mindless dribble calling me lazy and pointing out how bad of a mother I am. I'll never know now. I was going to post this there, but since it's gone, I thought it better to post here than start controversy over on that site with a new thread.

I realize this is a public blog that anyone can read. I realize I have left comments unmoderated on my blog the interest of free speech and everyone being able to express their opinion. I would hate to have to moderate comments or restrict viewing to invited people only, therefore I probably won't. I like reading other people's blogs if I find a post there on a subject that interests me. I like being able to respond to comments when I read them. Sometimes this could create a wonderful debate on a subject. However, there is no need to call people names and judge them.

Information is always welcome here. Some of it I have seen, some of it I may not have found. Those who just come here, call names, judge others, and generally just make a pest of themselves need to find better things to do.

Momma and Sis, love you for having my back while someone tried to stab me while I wasn't looking. Thanks.

Obbermi and K, have a nice day. Thank you for encouraging research, providing links to research, and for the congratulations you sent me. I pray you are blessed today for being such nice people.

Your mother, just plain go the heck away if you don't like what I say on MY blog. Or at the least, offer more information rather than just name-calling and random berating of me for how my husband and myself chose to raise our children. You can look forward to calling me a terrible mother again on my next post, which will be about how I am leaving 75% of the decision on when to have our next child up to my husband, since he will be a stay-at-home dad.

Organizing update

Since I finished setting up my new file box, I have been slowly getting all the loose paper around my house filed. Saturday afternoon before work, I filed a pretty big pile of paperwork from stuff like our pool, cordless drills, toaster, coffer maker, etc. That got some of the pile of paper out of my office cabinet filed. I felt pretty good about that. I spent about 30 minutes on it. Sunday I didn't do any. Instead, I read the newspaper so I could go ahead and throw it out.

Also Saturday, I moved a few items around in my office cabinet (my two new reams of paper) so I could store Granny's scrapbooks in it before someone spills their drink on it or something..... She's kill me if that happend. So far it hasn't, but I've been growing more uneasy every day about taking the risk with them laying out on my desk. My dear, darling husband is notorious for accidentally pouring (OK, spilling) his drink into my computer keyboard. Problem solved, potential for accident minimized. For now.

The third trimester is rapidly approaching!

That's right, when I arrive at work Monday night, I will still be in the second trimester. When I go home Tuesday morning, I will be officially two thirds of the way done with being pregnant with this child!!!!!!!! ***SQUEEE**** I just looked up the exact day for the "swap" and it is March 24. I can't wait to tell my darling husband. This news is sure to instill heart-stopping fear in him for a moment, just like it did me. LOL. Not fear of birth, or raising a child, not even fear, really. More like a, "Holy crap, it's almost done! Soon I'll be at home on maternity leave, doing our final prep for baby! Yay!" kinda heart-stopping moment. For Michael, I have the feeling that when I tell him he's going to give me that deer-in-headlights look, like, "Oh crap, what have we done?!?" That's the look I got when I told him we were halfway there. Then again when we had four months left. Then again when... You get the picture.

I try to keep him up-to-date on how quickly this is approaching, because quite frankly, I have to stop every once in a while and think about how soon this will come to a close on the pregnancy chapters. It's amazing to me how quicky this is passing. To think, by the time Mike is here, it will have been a year since this whole thing started for us. Seems like yesterday we were calling everyone to share the good news. Then yesterday that we were seeing him for the first time, and hearing the heartbeat for the first time, then finding out the gender.... I'm ready for him to be here (on time, not this early!), but at the same time I don't want the pregnancy to be over.

I enjoy this. Right now, I am the only person on earth that knows every move he makes. He can't move without me knowing it (if I'm awake). I am the one he depends solely on for nourishment, oxygen, and so much more. I can sit at work and rub his head if I want. I feel bad that Michael can't possibly know what this feels like. I wonder if he's jealous of the fact that I get to participate so much more in this pregnancy than he can. I try hard to make sure he's as included as he can be. I have left some decisions, such as circumcision and decor of the nursery and the name, entirely up to him (or at least just as up to him as it was me), since I have no real preference and I hope it makes him feel more involved than just providing the sperm that got our child here.

For instance, he decided he wants our children circumcised. I let the decision entirely up to him. Our son will be circumcised in the hospital, before we go home. The nursery ended up blue and brown, after Michael saw how beautiful the baby stuff at BabiesRUs looked. We had decided on crimson and white, but when he saw the blue and brown and asked in the store if we could get that instead, I told him yes. (Besides, blue and brown is one of my absolute favorite combinations!) I told Michael I wanted to name our son after him, but that if he didn't want to, we would chose a different name. He insisted we name him Junior, so Junior it is.

I digress. Second trimester over. Third timester starts Tuesday. Wow. How cool is that? Somewhere between eleven and fifteen weeks from now, and our son will be here. (Hopefully no sooner than that, but within that range, the sooner the better!)

A quick update

Since my seven days off were filled with out-of-town guests and drama, I thought I'd post a quick re-cap of what little I accomplished (that was planned) while off work.

*Menu was made, and groceries bought.
*I bought a shelf to go beside my freezer. I put all my paper goods, extra laundry detergent, etc. on it.
*The boxes that were stacked where the new shelf is were brought out. I went through the THREE boxes of bathroom stuff (makeup and OTC medicines that were several years old, bath gift sets I can't use that are several years old, etc.) and threw away two boxes of stuff that wasn't any good. I still have the one box of bathroom stuff I kept, and a box of lids to my Glad bowls and such that I have to go through.
*Bought a new file box, with a lid, and new hanging and manilla file folders. I have transferred all my files from my old crate to the new box. I used up almost an entire box of hangng folders and a box of manilla folders for this. I kept my old folders that were still useable. I'll be throwing out my old ones that are falling apart, which is mainly some of the old hanging folders. I still have stuff in piles and my office cabinet that I need to file.
*Got part of my kitchen clean (mainly stuff you could see).
*Crib is up and covers are on it. Still have wall art to hang, and a recliner to clean in there.
*Cleaned some pics, docs, etc. off the old desktop for transfer to the laptop or archiving.

I'll be working night shift this weekend, so not much will get done by me. I have my 26-week checkup Tuesday at 10:30 (after working Monday night), so nothing will get done Tuesday, either. After my appointment, it will be nap time.

Maybe Wednesday, I can get something else done.

My To-Do List for the next seven days

Starting tomorrow, I have seven whole days off from work. And a lot to do around the house. It sucks that it'll be raining, but maybe I need a week of rain to keep me in the house.

I seriously need to declutter my whole house and finish unpacking all the boxes before the baby gets here.

So, in the interest of "maybe-I'll-get-more-done-if-I-hold-myself-accountable-here", here's my to-do list:

Tonight:
1.) Call Granddaddy to wish him a happy birthday.
2.) Throw a frozen pizza-or-something in the oven for dinner.

Tomorrow:
1.) Sleep until at least 8 AM. (sooooo tired from working this week)
2.) Possibly take our friend Sherry to Huntsville to the doctor for her 12PM appointment (Chopper has to go to B'ham for an appointment with one of his doctors, so he can't take her).
3.) Quick clean through the whole house (dishes, laundry, sweep, etc.)
4.) Cook something for dinner (TBD what exactly that would be)

Saturday:
1.) Robbie's birthday (need gift suggestions???? Anybody????? Email them to me please.)

The rest of the week:
1.) Clean off kitchen table.
2.) Go through the two totes and several boxes of stuff in my kitchen. Toss anything I don't need and can't give away.
3.) Clean out office supply cabinet. Organize contents.
4.) Clean desk.
5.) Clean off some of my stuff on my old desktop to try to get it to run better. Burn files to disk or transfer to laptop for access or organizing.
6.) Clean out stuff beside upright freezer. Buy a shelf for the things I'm keeping (paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex, laundry supplies, etc.).
7.) Clean fridge.
8.) Clean out kitchen cabinets. Clean on top, too.
9.) Clean oven?? (If I can stand the cleaner - Fume-Free but still, sometimes it bothers me.)
10.) Clean my poor, filthy, no-hope-for-it microwave.
11.) Scrub stove top and sink with Barkeeper's Friend.
12.) Clean windows in kitchen and dining room. Wash curtains while I'm at it. Dust blinds, too.
13.) Scrub kitchen and dining room floor. They're so nasty, even mopping leaves them dirty. Clean baseboard and cabinet kick plates while I'm there.
14.) Put together baby bed. Wash linens for bed and put them on it.
15.) Finish hanging wall art in baby's room, since what I have left has been reserved to center over crib and fill in gaps in wall.
16.) Take belly pic and pics of baby's room. Post all to blog and Photobucket.
17.) Buy some clothes I actually fit into. (Involves a trip to either Madison Square Mall - torture - or Bridge Street - torture, plus I don't know how to get there - because no one in Athens sells maternity clothes.)
18.) Clean out my dresser and closet (at least the clothes portion, preferably the boxes, too). Then have Michael clean out his closet and dresser.
19.) Clean off my bedside table.
20.) Finish blue and brown blanket (already done crocheting, just need to finish adding tassel fringe on both ends).
21.) Buy new porch lights for Michael to hang.
22.) Buy a coffee table and new end table for living room so I can give Bobby my old end table as promised, since he already has the one I didn't have room for after we bought the new couch. And since we've already bought the new rug for the floor.
23.) Clean off the entertainment center in my bedroom.
24.) Get three rolls of film developed. Have them loaded onto disks so I can archive them without having to scan each picture.
25.) Set up my new scanner and pics I'm working on on the kitchen table, which has been designated "My Future Scanning/Scrapbooking Table" by Michael.
26.) Work on scanning Granny's scrapbooks so I can give them back to her.
27.) Clean under my bed.
28.) Update calendar.
29.) Scan photos and archive on CDs after sorting.
30.) Clean recliner.
31.) Clean under bathroom sink.
32.) Clean under kitchen sink.
33.) Organize doctor's statements and BCBS EOBs for easy access and filing on HCSA (before April 2). (actual deadline is April 15th, but I procrastinate, hence the earlier date, to motivate me).
34.)Fill up donation boxes as I go through each to-do on this list.
35.) Clean pictures in the living room and bedroom. Dust furniture and knick-knacks.
36.) Pull up carpet upstairs and down the stairs (Michael to help with this one).
37.) Clean ceiling fans. Clean cobwebs from ceilings.
38.) Menu planning and grocery shopping.
39.) Pantry/fridge/freezer inventory.
40.) Thank you notes for shower gifts.
41.) Pre-register at hospital.
42.) Haircut.
43.) Transfer docs to Google Docs.
44.) Glider assembly.
45.) Order breast pump.
46.) Buy bras.

This is a general to-do list, I don't really expect that I'll be able to get it all done in 7 days, even with Michael's help. [So no having a fit over how long it is, MOM... :) ] But at least I can keep up with my list and update what's done as it goes. And add to it as I need to.

A declutter Challenge for tomorrow

Tomorrow We're Decluttering (Organising Queen's Blog)

Declutter your blog feed reader of blogs you don't particularly read AND bookmarked favorite websites you don't use. So, if I make a folder under "My Documents" to store ones I check occasionally, but not a lot, does that count? LOL. Hopefully, I'll get around to this one. I also probably need to file my favorites that I actually use that haven't been filed under category folders yet, for easier access and a neater Favorites list.

I am almost POSITIVE my mother (**hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge**) could probably use this challenge, too. I've seen her blog rolls and links listed on the sidebars of her blogs. Way worse than mine. And my blogger feed is the only feed reader I use, so HA! I only have one feed to declutter.

Whenever I get to do this (sometime in the next seven days) I'll post my results.

Gluten Free: 5-layer Cookie Bar

Just for my mom:

I found a recipe that looks yummy today. 5-layer Cookie Bars. It looks and sounds just absolutely delicious.

Also,
Gluten-Free Shopping Guide.

123 Gluten Free makes and sells GF products, and has recipes and such on their site.

Don Wiss's Home Page has lots of links for GF/CF/milk allergy, etc. sites.

For GF recipes, try:

Authentic Foods

AllRecipes.com (also has non-GF recipes

Gluten.net

Karina's Kitchen

Epicurious (also has non-GF recipes)




Now, a recipe, copied and pasted since it is waaaaay down on the page I found it on, and most of that page isn't GF-related (although I did link to the page to give credit to the source):

From the blog, Green Gourmet Giraffe. (This has been copied and pasted directly from Green Gourmet Giraffe's blog with no editing on my behalf.)


Condensed Milk Macaroons
(From Best Gluten Free Recipes)
Makes about 30 bite size macaroons

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup desiccated coconut
½ tin (200g) condensed milk
125 choc chips (I used white) OR chopped dried apricots

Mix all ingredients together. Drop in teaspoonfuls on a greased or lined baking tray. Baked at 150 C for about 15-20 minutes or til just turning golden brown. (Don’t let them get too well cooked – I once threw out a batch that I gave a few more minutes in the oven.) I found the mixture seemed to fall apart a bit and made an effort to shape it into balls but when baked it held together easily.

Snow and illness

We woke this morning to snow! And not just a few flakes, either. Although the snow on the ground had already melted, there were still three and four foot high snowmen standing in my neighborhood at 1:00 this afternoon. Poor Chris, we didn't go out and play in it. That kid is seriously deprived. Instead, I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then he played Wii.

While I was cooking, we went out and gathered up a huge bowl full of snow for making snow cream. Mmmmmm. Michael woke up, still sick, around 5 AM, and said it was snowing big, wet flakes at that time. Apparently, it came down pretty hard. At 9 AM, when he woke me up, it had already stopped and there were a few inches on the ground and cars. I'm not a cold-weather person, so I went out in it just long enough to gather up the bowl of snow. Then later, just long enough to make it into the car and take Chris home.

While we were gone taking him home, I was afflicted with what I presume to be whatever Michael and Bobby are/were sick with. My head felt like I had enough sinus pressure built up in it to explode. It started throbbing. So far, no fever. Michael said his fever broke very early this morning (like, 4 or 5 AM). Right now, we're both curled up on the couch under a pile of blankets. We thought we were both just sick, because we couldn't keep warm, even under blankets and comforters. Then some of Michael's friends came over, and told us that it really was that cold in our house. It seems our central unit is screwed again. We have it set on 75, and yet it's only 62 degrees in our house. So we pulled out the space heaters. Great. Sick, cold, and a screwed up heater. Lovely. We'll be calling the company that installed our unit tomorrow.

Hopefully, I won't progress to being as sick as Michael. If I am, I'll be calling in to work in the morning. We'll see.

And thanks to both of us feeling crappy, our baby bed, which we picked up Friday evening, is still sitting in the room upstairs, unpacked but in pieces. hopefully, next weekend it'll be put together. Maybe. I know there's no way I'm going to mess with it, the way I feel. At least we still have three and a half months to get it up. :)