Upgrade Ya

When we were in New Orleans this weekend Jane and I checked out a furniture store on Magazine Street. I scoped out this little nightstand on Friday when we were on foot, fretted about it and went back on Saturday to buy it when I had the car. It's super turquoise and super functional.

I had been using that chair as a nightstand ever since we moved into the house. (The chair was theoretically an upgrade from the rubbermaid-type drawers I had been using for ages before that.)

I had been waiting until we got a full bedroom suite, but realizing that isn't a priority but that I still wanted more function beside the bed I started the hunt. I'm really happy with this and if we ever do get a matching set of bedroom furniture this can always go in Jane's room. Although I can't imagine I'll ever want to give it up!

We're also in the market for a china cabinet -- and there was definitely a contender at this store. We're looking for small-ish footprint, dark wood, blocky/clean lines with drawers, lower cabinets and glass-front upper cabinets for display and glass storage. We might like to have a buffet surface too (the contender here didn't offer that). I keep checking Craigslist and maybe need to look at thrift stores and estate sales. I'm super cheap, which is why I didn't just buy the one at this store. It would be great to have something though so my fancy wedding china wouldn't still be sitting in a box in our utility room. Oh me.

Mardi Gras Aftermath

Took this from the car yesterday in New Orleans -- what a mess, although beautiful in a way.

On the streetcar someone asked me where the beads come from -- like who pays for them. I have no idea, but I'm glad I can pass for someone from Louisiana ... I think?

Then I heard a story on NPR about a company trying to make "throws" locally. They're more expensive but would be less petroleum-based and less disposable/of nicer quality. Weird, weird.

Edit to clarify: we were not in New Orleans for Mardi Gras itself. Rather we were in town the weekend after, before the beads have fallen from the trees. I'm not sure if they ever clean them up entirely. 

Paperman

Found via This Was Supposed to Be My Symphony.

Teddy Bear's Rainbow

I made this blanket for Jane. I didn't make her one before she was born since I was sick and/or lazy. Her favorite word to say right now is "BEAR" so I thought this was a perfect choice.

I had yarn leftover from making another rainbow themed blanket (which I'll post about once I actually give the blanket to its intended baby!) -- instead of orange it was supposed to be peach, but I could never find that in worsted weight. This made the rainbow less baby-ish than the pattern picture. But I think I like it better this way.

The white yarn was on super sale at JoAnn's -- 50% off for Red Heart Super Soft because it was somehow Christmas themed? It’s pure white though, and oh-so-soft.

The filet pattern is great, and I love the look of adding stripes to fill out the blanket. The ruffle edging was a treat too.

Very happy with how this blankie turned out. Jane loves it too!

Nielsen Rater

Our household was chosen to fill out a TV diary for the Nielsen company to determine ratings. I'm sure everyone gets to do it once in a while.

Jane never watches TV, and Shawn rarely does, so it was mostly my TV watching ... and it pretty much mirrored my November 2012 project to write a post about every show I watch. Lovely.

I just wish Psych were on -- for reasons other than being recorded in the dumb TV diary.

I got $30 cash in return for completing the diary which is nice. But I was more than a little annoyed when they called the house TWICE during the week of the survey at almost 9 p.m. Fortunately Jane slept through both jangling rings, but I was pretty aggravated.

This is what it's come to I guess.

SLICE!

I made some pesto sauce this week, using some pine nuts I inherited when a friend moved away. All was going fine as I put the nuts and basil into the food processor. Then I realized that the basil was covered in dirt. Whoops!

So I started trying to pull out the leaves. Uh... bad move.

SLICED my middle finger on my right hand. Just a cut, but deep and painful on the tip of the finger. Ugh.

It got blood all over the pine nuts in the food processor. SO I had to dump out everything, wash the basil and start again (there were plenty of nuts left for that at least).

The pesto turned out OK, although I probably needed more basil. We ate it with bowtie pasta and an Italian herb and cheese chicken breast (I had a coupon for some new Kraft seasoning shake-and-bake type thing ... meh).

My finger is still healing. It reopened itself when I was washing Jane's hands, and I've been trying to keep it covered with a band aid BUT it's pretty tough given the location of the cut and the shape of a finger, you know?

Just keeping you posted on my latest injury. Oh me.

New Favorite Pic

I could mush this face all day. And most days I do!

A Couple Firsts

Oh sure, firsts are par for the course for Miss Jane Pie. But I still have some firsts of my own. On Monday I got a two-for-one. And only one was pleasant. I went to my first movie since Jane was born, and I survived my first truly plugged milk duct.

I woke up Monday with a sore boob, and I knew it could be trouble but I thought some pumping, extra nursing and extra water would keep it from getting worse.

I had been looking forward to Monday -- Shawn had agreed to let me go to a movie while he watched Jane (since it was a holiday he didn't have to be in the office). All week while taking care of Jane solo I had been planning my mini break.

In the movie -- Silver Linings Playbook -- I held my cup of cold soda under my arm to help with the soreness/pain, and it worked. I got home, Shawn went to the office (holiday or not ... you know the drill), and I took Jane to the park. Everything was fine until we came home. I was feeling fine and then WHAMMO!

Fever spiked to 102.5. The pain in my boob didn't worsen, but I got so cold. Shawn came home and I went straight to bed, covering up with all the blankets in the house (practically).

The fever broke in the night (so it only lasted a few hours), and I kept drinking water and nursing like they were going out of style. Jane was a trooper, and for once her constant night wakings didn't bug me, because I needed them to get better myself!

I was better on Tuesday and by Wednesday afternoon was pretty much back to normal. Today I'm feeling just fine -- and I kind of wish I could go see another movie on my own without the pain-in-the-boob! Actually the part I was most upset about was missing my Bible study -- for the second week in a row since I didn't have child care last week. DRAT.

Usually plugged milk ducts happen to new moms while the supply is getting established, and I'm so glad this didn't happen then. I really think it would have threatened my resolve to nurse. But I'm pretty sure why it happened to me now was also related to my solo parenting venture ... while Shawn was away I stayed up too late (not enough rest) and didn't drink enough water (not enough hydration). Together that's a recipe for mastitis, which thankfully this didn't develop into.

I'm keeping after myself to drink more water and we're on our same general nursing schedule. This may be TMI to share with my public facing blog, but I couldn't not write about it.

Christmas Tree Skirt for Myself

I completed this Christmas tree skirt in less than a week (as opposed to more than a year it took me for the other one I have made). I loved the striping and the zig zag. I definitely want to make a baby afghan in this pattern (different colors, of course, and without the hole in the middle!). Lots and lots of double crochet...

Here is the pattern for this skirt, from Smooth Fox's Blog, http://smoothfoxlover.blogspot.com/2009/10/smoothfoxs-christmas-tree-skirt-free.html. I followed the colors exactly, although I couldn't use the Hobby Lobby yarn (my HL was out of the colors I needed) so I used Red Heart.

The Countdown

Shawn is finally on his way home. Jane and I have been on our own since last Friday while Shawn has been at a conference -- out of the country. Without family or a real sociable nature it's been pretty tough.

I am exhausted.

Jane is still not asleep for the night, but she's in her crib trying to get there. I'll go back in for more rocking soon I'm sure.

The first part of the week it rained -- and rained and rained and rained. It was also cold, so we mostly stayed inside. We did get out for one small errand every day -- Target, delivering a meal to a new mom, etc.

Once the weather broke on Thursday we were able to get to the park and have gone three days in a row. Playing outside is good -- and it wears her out -- but just like her mama she gets a second wind.

My second wind keeps me up far too late after she finally goes to sleep -- and with broken night sleep still an issue and somewhat early wake calls, I am exhausted.

I love being with Jane. I even love being with her all the time day and night. But I also really appreciate not having to be sole comforter and care provider all day and all night. I like getting a break or breather, and I like to go to the grocery store by myself!

It will be so good to have our family back together for so many reasons!

(Have I mentioned I'm exhausted?)

News Sense

Since September or so I've been listening to a lot of NPR -- as in a few hours a day. I've come to know my station's schedule, what I like and what I don't. I know the local announcer's voices and the station's donation number.

And usually it's just something that melds in the background and I only actively listen a little bit. But a "story" caught my attention this week that I thought was verging on the absurd.

The news was about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, so that's probably why my ears perked up. It was a local news announcer (reporter?) interviewing a national justice reporter about the Transocean guilty plea and settlement.

The conversation was so bizarre to me in that the national reporter was treated as a source -- not really attributing her information or saying she'd talked to anyone, just being authoritative and answering questions, including very speculative ones about how the case might proceed, etc.

I don't doubt that her information was as correct as could be found, but it was the reporter-to-reporter conversation presented as reporter-to-source that was so bizarre to me.

It's really par for the course, and the economy is hard on everyone and everything, but it just struck me as odd a lack of real reporting and talking to people actually involved in the process. Especially on a story that has had such a big local impact. (In my mind I would think the local reporter should be treated as an expert ... although based on everything I've heard they're not very expert on anything.)

So there's probably an explanation, like this is a thing that happens and is no big deal. I'm not sure anyone would actually have picked up on it. But this is me, putting my high-dollar journo degrees to work. Uh... or not.

Hotel Room de ja vu

We are in Memphis visiting an old friend of Shawn's (both in the fact that they've known each other for a while and that he's old -- around 20 years older than me). ANYWAY.

We're in a hotel room covered by points I earned while traveling for my last job. And this room looks almost exactly like the last one I stayed at in Silver Spring, MD, -- down to the furniture placement and artwork. And that was when I was at my SICKEST "morning" sickness with Jane.

It's a bit of a weird feeling to be in such familiar environs, but instead of being tied to the bed and/or toilet we've got a pack-and-play taking up half the room and toys strewn all about.

How lucky am I?

---

On the Memphis front we haven't done much touristy. We ate some fine BBQ for lunch -- Corky's. But we haven't seen Beale Street or the Mississippi or Graceland. Maybe next time. (We're going home tomorrow.)

End of 2012

The last day of 2012 and it's actually chilly here in Baton Rouge. Jane and I have many errands to run. I have lots of things to do around the house too -- being at my mother-in-law's house was inspiring to purge and organize (although the turning of the calendar also has something to do about it I'm sure).

This year Jane went on five airline trips -- a total of 20 flights (takeoff and landing). I had miscalculated before and said 18. Glad I recounted:

• BTR --> DFW --> LAX
• LAX --> DFW --> BTR
• BTR --> DFW --> OKC
• OKC --> DFW --> BTR
• BTR --> ATL --> CDG --> TXL
• TXL --> CDG --> ATL --> BTR
• BTR --> DFW --> LAW
• LAW --> DFW --> BTR
• BTR --> CNT
• CNT --> BTR

That's a well traveled baby!

Jane's vocabulary is expanding. She doesn't say Mama very often, although it is what we consider her first word. Dada is her favorite word hands down. During our trip to Virginia she picked up "Popeye" or "Paba" for Grandpa. So that's been pretty cute.

Our New Year's Eve this year will likely consist of soup and going to bed. I got a few Crock Pot recipe books from my sister and am going to give one of the soup recipes a try (gotta get started soon). Shawn and I go to bed pretty early these days, so I'm not even sure if we'll push ourselves to stay up until 12. If only we could sleep in ... maybe in a few more years.

Whatever you're doing, have a Happy 2013!

Christmas Tree Skirt

This is the Christmas tree skirt that I crocheted for my mother-in-law this year. It took me over a year to finish because it was so many pieces. They're asymmetrical granny squares whipped together with a border -- from a pattern in a book Gran gave me. The number of ends I had to weave in was something else.

Unfortunately she doesn't have a tree that can make use of the skirt. (Hers is a small jobber that sits on a table.) But it's sort of draped around the tree anyway.

I'd like to make myself one, but I might look into a different pattern. I love green and red for Christmas, so this is perfect ... but I also like the idea of a filet pattern in white. For our tree this year I used some buffalo snow.

Christmas Cooking 2012

It's been a hard working Christmas for me in the kitchen. Since the day after we arrived in Virginia I've been making something every day. And nearly every step of the way something has gone wrong.

It started with the cake. I'd seen a recipe in a magazine and didn't think it seemed too hard. But the payoff looked gorgeous -- like it always does in magazines. After making the cake batter to perfection I was thwarted when the cakes rose over the sides of the pans and made the bottom of the oven super messy. Luckily there was foil on the bottom of the oven so cleanup wasn't too difficult. But the cakes were pretty much useless -- too soft in parts and crusty in others.They really seemed like brownies in consistency.

After pondering a while I gave up and decided to bake a regular box cake in two layers and go ahead and make the cream cheese frosting. With the excess frosting I mixed the half of the ruined cakes to make cake balls (kind of gross, and I never bothered to cover them in chocolate candy coating like you're supposed to ... so they ended up in the trash ... maybe it only works with store bought frosting?).

But the box cake turned out OK -- domed but OK. I iced the two layers and then did the decorating -- pressing crushed candy canes around the sides. I also made peppermint red-and-white meringues for the top. While the meringues dried, I left the cake on the counter with the candy canes in place. It was covered in the cake carrier and when we got back the candy canes had melted, leaving the sides of the cake pink and a puddle of goo underneath. YUCK.

Little did I know that cream cheese frosting must be refrigerated. SO that solves the mystery of the melting candy canes (I think?).

We went ahead and ate the cake at a family party and it didn't get an awful reception. It was just sad sitting next to a pristine bundt cake that was on a plate made out of actual peppermint candies. Pinterest much? Oh me.

There have been similar fiascos as the cooking has continued. We never had exactly the right tools -- missing a rubber spatula, no big mixing bowls, it takes more than 30 minutes for water to boil on her stove, etc.

In addition to the cake I also made cream cheese cutout sugar cookies. I've had that recipe from my aunt for 10 years, so they turned out fine -- although it didn't seem like it made enough because I used such a giant cookie cutter (I brought one from home just in case ... and lucky for me because my m-i-l couldn't find her cookie cutters either).

Other desserts included banana pudding pie, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. As of this writing we've only eaten pumpkin pie -- and it was only OK. I think a problem is that Shawn's grandma's recipe calls for "milk" and I'm pretty sure she means "evaporated milk" -- which is a game changer. It still set up and tasted right. It just wasn't as dense as it should have been.

The banana custard for the pie was difficult, and I'm not sure I did that right. It said to bring it to a boil after it thickened ... but with the stove not being hot enough it thickened and would not boil. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to keep cooking it until it was a thick unmoving block ... but that's where I was headed so I stopped. I'm not sure if I overcooked or undercooked it. In any case it doesn't look like the picture (let's be honest, none of my recipes do).

For dinner we had

• cranberry salad (my mom's recipe -- easy, tasty and one I've made before ... a rare win for me this season)
• 3-cheese scalloped potatoes (all you magazine ... turned out OK EXCEPT the bottom got too brown because the casserole dish was metal and we didn't use the baking sheet underneath because there was no room)
• mashed sweet potatoes (mainly for Jane -- easy enough I didn't mess it up)
• broccoli and mushroom salad (real simple magazine -- yummo)
• deviled eggs (m-i-l made these ... needed mustard!)
• creamy corn pudding (real simple magazine -- yummo except that it too got a little too brown around the edges ... and it was in a glass casserole so it may just be the oven was too hot or overcrowded? she only has one rack in the oven, which made timing everything super difficult)
• turkey (m-i-l did this too and it got a little dried out ... we didn't have a deep roasting pan so I wasn't able to get many juices/drippings for the ...
• cornbread dressing (Shawn's grandma's recipe ... I got close. Consistency was almost right but it was missing some flavor, probably from the lack of turkey juice)
• store bought yeast rolls (the bottoms got too brown ... there is no timer in her kitchen!)

I am wiped out. Still need to make whipped cream for the pies. 

I don't think I want to be making this meal again in any kitchen but my own. And even then ...

Hope you've had a Merry Christmas.

Crochet: A Granny Square

Finished this granny square baby blanket with the puffiest softest yarn, Red Heart Buttercream. It's bulky and worked up quickly. I interspersed some "Cupcake" purple yarn and embroidered an "A" in the middle (the baby's first name starts with "A").

I got it mailed off today. The baby was born 5 months ago, so I'm only a little late getting this finished!

The Spirit of the Season

I am fighting a losing battle with myself. I want to stop wanting THINGS and be content with all the amazing things I have -- and the people I have to share them with.

But I am susceptible to marketing and jealousy like woah.

It's Christmastime, so there are tons of "hot deals" and "buy now" messages pervading me. I have read so many gift guides and thought "oh, I want that!" And being at others' homes and seeing the beautiful decorations my tree doesn't seem like enough. And I want more-more-more.

Specific example: Christmas china. The idea of having special plates, bowls, cups, glasses to pull out for December is suddenly oddly appealing to me (although come January - November decidedly less so!). Bringing myself back to reality I remember that i have wedding china I've never used (and don't have a safe place to store so it remains in its box in the utility room). And I don't have people over to eat with any regularity anyway, even around Christmas (THAT is something I could change in good conscience though).

I want to have good habits and attitudes to pass onto and model for Jane. Not being so obsessed with gadgets and clothes and possessions. But I am tempted to shop-shop-shop all the time, including for her.

Of course I can't not shop for her at all -- she is growing and developing and needs bigger clothes, more challenging toys, etc., many of which I can get at consignment shops and garage sales (although it's definitely easy for me to still go overboard). But I can certainly work harder to reign myself in.

In our pre-parenthood dreamland, we were determined to limit her toys, especially plastic. And like everyone else said -- our living room is overflowing with baskets of toys and books ... and we've even boxed up a good portion of her toys to swap out in May. So even there, in what seems like it should be a concrete "in-and-out" system, I fail.

And even as I'm confronted by my blatant consumerism I feel some comfort in buying gifts for others this season -- picking out presents, wrapping and shipping them -- oh the efficiency. Until I come across blog posts and books that feature people giving up gift giving to those they love in favor of helping the poor and needy -- either entirely or half for family and half for strangers.

What does gratitude look like? How can I do better -- not just at Christmas but all year -- at being grateful myself and instilling gratitude in my family? How do you fight the "want-more-stuff" monster?

Voyeurism and Reality Blogging

The idea that blogging is similar to reality TV keeps tumbling around in my head (and I'm fairly certain I've written about it before...or at least I meant to). So while I'm adamant against watching shows like "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" and "Real Housewives,"* I LOVE reading blogs that give me a peek into someone else's life.

From the twee blogger writing about style and fashion to the mommy blogger presenting a realistic look at life with a toddler to the healthy food blogger who mixes in stories about her family to the trying-to-be-funny but missing the mark honesty of a decidedly non-crunchy blogger (brags about feeding her kids Little Debbie snacks; the feeding probably isn't uncommon but the unabashed pride in doing so certainly is among what I read anyway).

In some cases I know more about these women's lives than I do about my sister's! (To be fair I definitely know what's up with my sister's life, but I don't know the level of detail that some bloggers provide.)

And rather than be annoyed and unsubscribe, I find that I revel in knowing more about these people ... and they become characters in my mind. Sometimes I want to talk about them -- and I do tell my husband about some of the more ridiculous things that come across my Google Reader.

So that brings me to me -- and how I am documenting my existence online. Do I reveal too much? Not enough? Am I presenting myself as merely a character, or do I allow some of my truth to be seen in the posts? Most (if not all) of my non-spam readers are people who know me in real life, which makes me approach blogging differently than I might otherwise.

My blog doesn't have any commercial value, so if I am trying to create a marketable character I'm not doing so well. If my blog is just a place to communicate with people who know me in an unobtrusive way (read if you want, don't if you don't), then I think I'm on track. I also really like this blog as a record for myself. I can go read older entries and remember exactly what it felt like to write those words and sometimes even where it was I was doing the writing.

How much do I love this face?!

But this isn't a completely safe place either. Anything I publish -- including pictures of Jane -- can be seen by anyone. Am I doing her a disservice by writing about her and using her picture and real name? Could it have longer lasting consequences? Do I deny myself the joy I get sharing about her? Or just do it in a more contained platform (should I Facebook more? be content with my weekly email?)? No pictures? Use a pseudonym for her? (Some people just say "Daughter" or "Baby" or initials, etc.)

While I am thinking about these things, I don't expect anything to change around here -- I'll still write infrequently and think of posts I want to write MUCH more frequently. I'll keep reading others' blogs and think "I can't believe she posted that!" in a judgy mcjudgerson way. And there's always November...

*I confess I watched some of "Miss Advised" this summer ... because I am a closet "cat lady."

Christmas Movies

Something I didn't mention in my TV watching confessions was how much I like to watch TERRIBLE Christmas/holiday movies.

ABC Family, Lifetime, Hallmark. Those would be my channels in years past -- I can't count how many of the lame-oh, eye rolling movies I've watched. They're so bad they're good, at least to me.

I remember a particularly good/bad one we watched at Shawn's Aunt Diannia's house -- Wilford Brimley suddenly grabbed his left arm and Diannia shouted "heart attack!" And sure enough, that's what he had. Shawn and I still sometimes shout it out randomly and crack up, years later.

Last year I watched many while Jane was still small and sleeping all the live long day. But this year I'm not sure if I'll watch any of them. I've seen ads in some of the magazines I read -- which I'm letting subscriptions lapse as I can stand it, because seriously -- so I've seen a few I would LIKE to see. I think there's one with TorI Spelling. I mean, come on! Donna Martin in a TV movie with a holiday twist?

But I'll make due with plenty of Christmas tunes and a particularly annoying Jingle Bells-playing monkey (a gift to Jane last year at her Indiahoma shower ... not that I'll name names).

Whatever the case playing with Jane is always better than any old movie...

Read: MWF Seeking BFF

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I checked out this memoir digitally, which I think is the best invention ever (or not, but I really like being able to do that ... I'm not one to crave zillions of digital files of books I'll never read again, can't sell or give away and never remember to try to loan out to someone who has the same device as me, etc.). I would even pay a couple bucks to rent books digitally -- maybe like Netflix for Novels & Nonfiction or something? I do have Amazon Prime and can borrow a book a month that way ... but the available titles are mostly self-published things plus the Hunger Games trilogy, which I've already read. Meh.

Anyway, the book itself is about the author's year-long quest to make friends in Chicago because all her friends live elsewhere.

There's a fair bit of friendship/relationship research information included but I didn't really like those parts of the book and enjoyed more just the straight up story of her year and how it went on her "girl dates."

I've never actively sought girl friends myself, even though I do need those types of relationships. Girl friends don't come easily to me, and I'm not a very social person by nature. (See November 2012 television posts!)

I wouldn't want to repeat the author's experiment -- she went on 52 FIRST girl dates in the year, meaning all her follow up meetings with women she met didn't count toward that goal. I can't imagine going out every week even with people I know, let along with a new person every week plus old pals. Yikes.(Oh yeah, and she was in her first year of marriage too ... I don't know how she managed to also work full time or sleep!)

But the book could inspire me to be friendlier, talk to people more and maybe invite someone to do something sometime. I definitely say yes to invitations a lot more than I would naturally because I know how important it is to be connected to people even if it's hard to establish those connections.

Overall I liked the book and the author has a blog: http://mwfseekingbff.com/ that I might start reading too.

View all my reviews