So all of my friends and relatives are in the know already but we can officially cross off number 7= Be pregnant with our second child!! Granted, the timing was a little off from what we were expecting, but all the same, we're aboot 21 weeks along so that settles that :)
Origionally I had made a deal with the hubs not to find out for the second one (since I HAD to know for the first), but I've since got him to come around to the dark side... kind of. It's a compromise. We're going to do the whole REVEAL PARTY thing where the ultrasound person will write the gender on a card, stick it in an envelope, seal it (or else I'd be finding out that night while Acy slept :D) then we take said envelope to a baker who customizes the inside of the cake to reflect the gender. We gather friends/family for a partay, cut into the cake and SHAZAM! We all know! SO, to recap, hubby gets his party with his friend and I get to know what the heck is growing inside me! Win-Win!!!
I know I haven't posted in forever, but I'm surprised I haven't noted that we crossed off #10- Get Toshi a slide/water table/sandbox for outside. We received a sandbox from our awesome neighbor down the street. It's a purple turtle, but heck if Toshi cares! :D We also invested in a nice water table with an umbrella that was supposed to be half sand and half water, but instead we kept the sand in the sandbox and the water in both sides of the table. It was just more fun that way and less mess! Lastly, my parents gave Toshi an awesome slide/climber/activity set that we currently have in our basement which has been really nice during the winter when we can't go to the park!
Speaking of winter, we've had a TON of snow it seems this year and we've been able to take Toshi sledding a couple times so knock #17 off. I count it because it's not our fault that Toshi doesn't understand the concept of a snowman and simply wants to knock anything we stack down! :D Pretty adorable anyway.
#19 (cook 15 non-crockpot dishes) has been a bit of a b$*#@ because as much as I love watching cooking shows and think myself able to pair flavors well... I can't actually cook for the life of me!! But I'm trying (13 down, two to go!)... that counts for something... right?! I may go back and uncount some of these recipes since they didn't entail a lot/any cooking but for now... the completed list is as follows:
Caprese appetizer (for bookclub- D-LICIOUS!)
Cucumber sandwiches (also for bookclub... not as good as I was hoping, especially since I was craving them at the time)
Maple salmon (the "overcooked/carmalized" parts were better than the larger fleshy sections)
Mac and cheese with goat cheese and rosemary (good, but really rich!)
Lemon dill chicken skewers (too much lemon for most I bet, but I really enjoy the flavor so I though they were amazing!)
Ramen noodle "upgrade" (epic fail.... too much peanut butter. Bleh!)Cream cheese and herb cucumber canoes (for bookclub app. So-so)Summer squash soup (also a miss for all of us. I mix it was some baby food for Toshi and he'll eat it reluctantly so at least it's not going to waste)Coconut cream fruit dip (for bookclub again so I made it more "adult" and added a bit of Malibu rum. Only down side is that it made it less fluffy but uber delicious with pineapple, strawberry, banana and kiwi slices!)
Roasted red cabbage with gorganzola (I loved this actually! I used feta since it's what I had on hand at the time and with a couple we drizzled a bit of balsamic vinegar. So yummy, I wish red cabbage was a little cheaper though!)Pasta fagioli (SO GOOD!! Fairly easy to make and it was probably one of my favorites so far that I've attempted and it only took one pot!)Honey garlic porkchops (Probably my favorite thus far in this adventure. I've made them about four times and each time they're equally as delicious!)Crusted honey mustard chicken (Epic fail >_< It sounded sooo delicious but I didn't have Corn Flakes and apparently that is one of the keys. I also used too much mustard I think. So no bueno. ;_;)
As for crockpot recipes, I have to admit I've been slacking >_<; I only have 5 of the 15. So #20 has been an even harsher mistress than I anticipated.
Cilantro lime chicken (one of only two successes so far in my eyes.)Frozen chicken, cream cheese, corn, black beans, and Rotel (the other win, but this one is nice because it can go over rice, in a tortilla with cheese or with pasta!)Chicken, garlic, brown sugar, oil (turned out bland for some reason...maybe I cooked it within an inch of my life :D)
White turkey chili (turned out watery, but it was a bit better after I added some barley that I had laying around.)Pineapple chicken (again, I have a problem with overcooking chicken >_< It was sooo dry, but the sauce was delicious if only I had made more of it so the chicken was drowning in it!)
And speaking of cooking and good food (more or less), I've also been able to knock off part of #21- try 3 new restaurants. For our anniversary, the hubs and I decided to try out The Butcher and the Boar which was spectacular!!! He had the hook-ups there and we ended getting a butt-load of free food and ended up waddling out of there with lunch for two more days! The atmosphere was also terrific. It was still hip, but the interior had more of a cabin-feel to it that made it feel more relaxed and intimate.
I was also able to visit Tilia with my girl friends for our traditional Christmas get together. I had already found out I was pregnant so it was a little hard not to try out some of their awesome beer selections, but the almond milk I have to say was amazeballs! When they first brought out our meals, I was all "Crap, this is one of those really fancy places that give you a bite to eat and you're supposed to savor it and pretend to hold your belly as you walk out as if you had just visited Old Country Buffet." Luckily, looks were deceiving! I was incredibly full and almost wasn't able to finish my meal! The vegetables were all fresh and locally grown and everything was seasonal! I love those kind of places, it feels earthy to me without being pretentious. Again, the atmosphere was neat, kind of like a whole-in-the-wall pub, but obviously a bit more upscale. It was packed by the time we left at 9!
#23 (try the CSA box and use all the ingrediants at least once) failed epically! For some reason I could never use them all! I'd get hot peppers one week that I, of course, wanted to toss out the window right away. Then I'd get a buttload of squash and couldn't use it all for just Toshi and me. It was fun, but probably we wasted more food than we used. If Acy were around to help us eat through it I think it'd be worth it, but the 2-3 person size was just too large for myself and my little man! Guess that's $5 to charity!
This all seems so productive, but as I'm looking through my list right now, I realize that I only have about a year to finish up a crap load of things!!! Oh geez!!
Well my parents, thankfully, helped us out with #56 and bought us a new flatscreen for upstairs which then allowed us to get the Blu-ray (which we had received as a Christmas gift a year ago from my brother) set up and running! I'm currently elbow-deep in The Walking Dead series, which I don't know why I watch because it just makes me paranoid that zombies will some day happen!!!!
Ok, I hear the baby stirring so I'll have to continue this rant, list, thing, another time- maybe with pictures this time of the new bump in our life!!
Tah!!
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