Nesting

Damon hates me. I'll start with that. But when I am finally done torturing him, he will be happy as can be. He's already incredibly pleased. This may work against me, however, since with every improvement I make to our abode, he becomes less inclined to feel like my nesting plans are necessary, and more inclined to believe I am just insane - which is 100% true, of course.

Already he's been subjected to moving every piece of furniture we own except for the kitchen table and computer desk. He's hung 3 shelves in our kitchen and in the midst of rearranging everything, mopped up underneath absolutely everything in the house. He even wrestled the wall-to-wall carpet we had in our bedroom up into the attic so we could have hardwood again. That was EPIC!

As for myself, I've been decluttering and giving him boxes by the day to drag up into the attic, sorting and organizing, and instituting a very nice Nazi-esque "Everything Needs a Place" policy. Dust is my mortal enemy. I even washed all the walls and baseboards while wheeling my bloat-bellied self around on our little ottoman.

But now that all of this has been accomplished, I get to DECORATE! Oh joy of joys. I tried to hack up some english ivy out of my yard and force it into a little pot so I could bring it indoors. Still waiting to see if my efforts dealt it the final death blow. I even concocted a PLAN to reupholster the ugly (yet COMFY) faded blue gingham couch I'm sick of looking at. Problem was of course, my stupid tiny little girl hands & tummy tumor wouldn't let me staple-gun the fabric to the damn couch. Damon did it all for me though! Muahahaha....



Now I just need some coordinating fabric to cover the cushions with so I can have my throws back. My next projects include hanging these flower paintings I've ripped from a cheap calendar up on our wall and turning this handsome STICK into a towel bar.

Guess which project Damon gets to do? He hates me. And my lousy stick.

The Name!

We've finally decided on a name: Owen Farmer Neri.
We'd been pretty settled on Owen for awhile now but had the hardest time coming up with a middle name we both liked. Farmer was originally put out as a joke but quickly grew on us the more we said it. There are a lot of things we both like about the name, so it's a win!

I'm days away from my third trimester and can't wait for this to be over. I'm still staying "slim" but I've gained over 15 lbs so I'm doing well with that. I've been nesting like mad the last 3 weeks and everyone here has been forced to go along for the ride. Consequently, our house looks amazing now.

One of the big things that had to get done in order for this top to bottom clean & rearrange of everything was to oust a guinea pig. That's right, Shredder had to go. Poor girl was being tormented by our older pig anyway so we found her a nice new home at a farm. An actual farm, not "the farm".

We spent a couple hours at Dawn's farm in SC and saw plenty of goats, 4 ponies, 4 horses, lots of chickens - the highlights of which were the "silkies" and the "Polish" rooster. Also an alpaca with snaggly teeth (he needed 'em filed down), ferrets, rabbits, sugar gliders, a black cat, a small red parrot, ducks, guinea fowl, and a yearling deer she had raised since just a day or two old when it's mother had been struck & killed by a car. At the end of our visit she helped Lianna up on one of her ponies and led her around bareback.

On the left is a Polish rooster and the right is an example of a silky. The silkies looked kind of like dinosaurs and even had shorter than average wings!

Other than that not much has happened. I'm trying to find some kids to watch in my home to make some extra money, maybe some pets to sit on my own too. We'll see what comes of my craigslist ads I suppose. I've been adding photos slowly but surely to our Photo Album, including weekly updates of my growing belly. I put these links up on the column to your left here too.

Oh - one of Damon's old girlfriends from high school found him on myspace recently so he's just discovered how cool it can really be to get back in touch with old friends on that site. I guess he's found some mutual friends from her page too. Yesterday he actually spent at least an hour on his myspace account. So let's everyone who has a myspace account go ahead and make fun of him over there now!

Week 26

~Arielle

Baby Wishlist

Here is a wishlist of things for Owen. We don't want to get him plastic-type stuff from China or who knows where, just natural. The whole lead and toxins in baby toys and bath products and clothing thing is kind of scary so I've been looking at natural products online that are actually affordable... I'm also putting this up since odds are nobody here is going to be throwing us a shower since all our local friends are male haha. Anyways, for anyone who wants to get something, here's our list.

Toys

Roller $7.99

Rattle $9.99

This site also seems to have a lot of cool pacifier chains, though we're not planning on using any of those. But hey, a toy's a toy... like this: Fish $12.49

Giraffe Rattle $16.00

Toy Clip $2.25

Pirate Clutching Toy $13.99

Soft Ball $16.25

Ring Grasping Toy $15.00

Trix Grasping Toy $7.00

Snuggle Rabbit Soft Toy $22.75

Discovery Blocks $19.50

Bedding

We already got a crib, complete crib bedding set (Baby Loony Tunes!) & a cute bassinet.

Organic Velour Bassinet Sheets $7.96/ea.

Organic Velour Crib Sheet $16.76

Target has Organic Crib Sheets (set of 2 - $29.99) too!

And Organic Cotton Receiving Blankets $17.99

2-pack Organic Cotton Swaddling Blankets $30.00

Other Stuff

Tree Hugger Canvas Bag $27.95

Canvas Bag & Sarong $15.99

Clothing

And these look absolutely amazing:
* Organic Bamboo Infant Wrap $13.46
* Organic Cotton Infant Wrap $16.16


Organic Dip n' Dots Side Snap Layette Set $18.20


Long sleeves/pants length stuff by Baby Soy

Stuff We Have

Crib (want a new mattress)
Crib Bedding Set
Bassinet
Car Seat & head supporter
Humidifier
Big box of wooden letter/number blocks
Baby carrying sling (it should fit but who knows, another one would definitely be nice)
Big bag of clothing that I'm not sure what's in there yet...

Recipe: Bubble & Squeak

So I originally had this as part of a traditional English (ok maybe it was Irish, who knows) breakfast when I was in Toronto one time. I didn't know what it was and always thought of it as "pea mash".
Anyways, yesterday as I was smelling bacon cooking in the oven I saw a jar of peas on the shelf in my kitchen and suddenly had to have it. Turns out Wikipedia has an entry all about traditional breakfasts so I was able to find out it's name there. The stuff is awesome. We modified this recipe:

Bubble and Squeak

Ingredients
450g/1lb potatoes, unpeeled
salt and pepper
70g/2 1/2 oz butter
250g/8oz cabbage, shredded
3 tbsp water
3-4 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, chopped

DIRECTIONS
Cook the potatoes for 25 minutes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water, then drain, peel and dice.

Place them in a bowl with 55g/2oz of the butter and mash until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, place the cabbage, water and remaining butter in a large heavy based saucepan and cover. Cook gently for 10 minutes, or until tender. Mix the cabbage and mashed potato together and season with more salt and pepper.

Heat half the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the potato and cabbage mixture and press down with the back of a wooden spon to make a flat, even cake.

Cook over a medium heat for 15 minutes until golden brown on the underside and place on a large plate. Add the remaining oil and cook again on the other side for 10 minutes.

Transfer to a plate, cut into wedges and serve.

COMMENTS
You could add carrots, peas or brussels sprouts to this recipe if you wish. Just cook and add to the cabbage and mashed potato before cooking.

Note: As a kind reader pointed out, the traditional bubble and squeak recipe was a way of using up leftover vegetables, so you might want to wait until you have some leftover cabbage and potatoes rather than making it all up from scratch!

Mainly, I omitted the cabbage since I was ultimately too lazy (& hungry) to go out in this heat to the store just to get some and I used the bacon grease instead of oil to fry it in. Yum. Now to just find out about the strange name....

Recipe: Sushi Rolls

I made a sushi feast awhile ago & wanted to share the photos!

I used brown rice, carrot, cukes, cooked fake crabmeat sticks, and avocado for the rolls. These were all hand-rolled because we seem to have lost our bamboo mat in the move. Turned out just fine though. My only suggestions to rolling this way is not to overstuff and to keep the nori & your fingers moist at all times.

As for the rice, there are a lot of tips out there on how to make perfect authentic stuff but I can't be bothered & mine turned out fine. I even used the loathsome METAL BOWL with no trouble (recipes everywhere will tell you not to use one). They also say not to put it in the fridge but I was interrupted while making this & again, it was fine for an hour. Let's get on with it then...

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups short grain rice
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Put vinegar, sugar & salt in a pan on low heat and heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture. Spread rice into a large plate or a large bowl. Pour vinegar over rice and mix it up. Let it cool and you're ready to roll!

Recipe: Spelt Pilaf (Vegan)

I'll be posting yummy recipes here to share.
Here's my first:
Spelt Pilaf


Ingredients:
1 cup Spelt Berries
1 Tb Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Dried Onion Flakes
1/2 lb Fresh Mushrooms (washed and chopped)
2 cups Chicken (or veggie) Broth
1/4 tsp ground black Pepper
1/4 tsp dried crushed Thyme
1-1/2 Tb dried Parsley Flakes

In a large saucepan saute spelt and onions in oil 3-4 minutes. Add prepared mushrooms and saute 5 more minutes. Add broth and herbs and bring to a boil; reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed. If pilaf becomes too dry during cooking add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of hot water. Remove from heat; serve hot.

Variation: add 1/2 cup grated cheese shortly before removing from heat.
Yield: 4 servings

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
1 Serving:
Calories 270, Calories 50, Total Fat 6g, Saturated Fat 0.5g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 40mg, Total

Carbohydrates 50g, Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 4g, Protein 11g.

Lianna & I love this one. Damon doesn't like it at all. I used baby bella mushrooms and a half cup of diced onions that were sautéed first. We liked it so much we didn't even think to add cheese.

Welcome!

I've just created this blog to keep in touch with our family & friends and share photos! You can check out all our latest photos here.

Latest News:

Damon is working long hours, still out at the lake outside of town & thankfully not dropping dead from the oppressive heatwave (yet). He's got a nice tan now!

Lianna has just finished 1st grade! She got the highest marks possible for each quarter and exceeded her reading goal by so much that she was awarded a FREE 1-topping pizza from Domino's. She chose mushroom. We celebrated with ice cream sundaes. To give an idea of how much she's reading, she just finished The Witches by Roald Dahl... in a day. A 208 page book rumored to be about a 4th grade reading level from the author of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Spooky stuff.

She really loves Star Wars & playing Zoo Tycoon. Something she can't do when her silly mother is writing a blog. Poor child. She's getting good at riding her scooter and is learning to jump rope well too. She'll be back down in Florida soon to visit her father during most of the month of July.

We are still awaiting the appeal for her to be transferred to another school for 2nd grade (our initial request was denied). My meeting with the principal of her school this year was abysmal. Actually, that might be too optimistic. Suffice to say, she accepted no blame for the problems we've had and even went so far as to suggest that Lianna herself was to blame. Classy.

As a result, I've begun looking into homeschooling options for her, which she is excited about. I'm more apprehensive than excited, but I think it will be just fine if we end up going that route. My main problem right now is deciding on & finding a curriculum... Ugh.


I am doing fine with the pregnancy. I'm 24 weeks along, have gained about 15 lbs and have been having terrific low back & hip aches most of the week. The kind that aren't alleviated by movement. Here's my most recent belly photo. I'll probably be updating these for everyone to see on a weekly basis.

The AC in our car quit cooling (along with a lot of other things that seem to have quit working on it recently) but so far I have been doing alright with the 100+ temperatures we've been getting for over a week now. Don't ask me how. I'm not sure yet either. I'm sure it won't last long enough to figure it out anyway.

I've also been busy cleaning & organizing our tiny house top to bottom for the last week or so now. I've been relentless. It's annoying. I know it's that nesting instinct preparing things for the baby and the results are fantastic, but I also sort of just want it to stop. I feel like a slave to my body's cleaning impulses!

The baby is also doing fine. About all that can be said about our lil guy is that he is still kicking like wild in there. Yesterday morning he had somehow managed to get himself positioned sideways inside my belly and was doing what I can only describe as dancing. Yes, dancing. In a very rhythmic fashion, he was kicking and then punching me on both sides of my stomach simultaneously. This went on for a good 10-20 minutes.

If he keeps it up, I might just give him some awful middle name like Dancer. You hear that baby? You'll be Tiny Dancer Neri if you don't settle down in there! Maybe he's just trying to convince me to take him to see Toubab Krewe tonight rather than sitting at home complaining about my sore back.

We've found a midwife for the homebirth also. She is wonderful. This Saturday we have an all-day homebirth class we are attending as a family that will break down the more nitty-gritty scary what-if scenarios and how to handle them in a homebirth situation - something Damon is really eager to find out more about. I'm most excited about meeting some other local homebirthing moms and pigging out during the potluck lunch afterwards. I'll be making one of mine and Lianna's favorites: Spelt Pilaf. Which reminds me, I think I may have a recipes section on here if I get around to it.

Love & Hugs to all!
~Arielle