The Me MeMe

The five things about me MeMe

My bloggy buddy Mel tagged me!! :) Thanks Mel!


What I was doing ten years ago:

1. School.
2. Dreaming about the life I now live :)
3. Planning what to wear to youth group ;)
4. ICQ-ing
5. Getting excited about my 13th birthday!
   

5 things on my to-do list today
Seeing as it's night, I'll do tomorrows to-do list!!

1. Empty the dishwasher and re-load it
2. Do a couple loads of laundry, and then fold them
3. Sit outside in the sun and read a bit of my book
4. Mail a letter
5. Vacuum the carpets
   

5 snacks I enjoy

1. Yogurt
2. Fiber One Bars
3. Peanut Butter and Honey on Toast
4. Thin Mint cookies
5. Really, anything someone around me suggests :) I'm very open to the power of suggestion these days!
   

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire: in no particular order!

1. Buy a pair of jeans for full price. Just to say I'd done it. Once.
2. Travel
   
3. Have a custom made house built
   
4. Hire someone to iron and clean bathrooms
5. Explore my hobbies on a deeper level :)
   

5 bad habits

1. Burning bacon. I think I've done it every single time I've made bacon since we've been married. I'm just *that* good.
2. Forgetting to put the lid down on the washing machine. But that's just because I am pregnant. But it happens several times a week.
3. Speeding.
   
4. Being rude in my head :)
5. Talking to Paul late at night when he needs to be at work in a few hours. Oops.
   

5 places I've lived

1. Stouffville, ON - where I grew up
   
2. Nigeria, Africa - lived with my (missionary) grandparents for a year
3. FT SILL, OK - in an itty, bitty apartment for the first few months of our married life <3
4. Cleveland, OH - for 18 months then Paul was transferred to where we are now
   
5. GA - and we've been here for 17 months, and will hopefully stay here :)
   

5 jobs I’ve had

1. End-of-driveway-Lemonade-seller :)
2. Babysitter
   
3. Waitressing for a private catering business
4. Nanny
5. Photography for a real estate agent
   

5 People I'll tag

1. FIREHUNT
2. BETHANY
3. JESSICA
4. CRYSTAL
5. NICOLE

The Weekend

Judah's new cousin, Gabriel, came to visit. He is two months older than Judah. They had fun together :) We discovered an indoor jumping playground just around the corner from us and took the boys there for a couple of hours. Judah loved it and I'll be taking him back soon :)

Lunch

The other day the grocery store had these leaves marked down for quick sale as the expiry date was coming up soon. I've never heard of them before, but seeing as they would end up being cheaper than normal salad leaves I decided to try out this Mache Rosettes. (According to the packaging "sounds like 'Mosh'.")
It's pretty good stuff!!

So, what is Mache?

"...Mache is a delicious and delicate European salad green now field-grown in California. Its beautiful rosette shape, pleasant nutty flavor and vibrant green color make Mache the ultimate salad experience. Mache can also be a featured ingredient in cold or cooked dishes."

I just copied that from the package :) So now you know as much about Mache as I do!

It does make delicious salads!! Today I added broccoli, pear, grapefruit, walnuts and soft mozzarella cheese. Paul was concerned about it at first, but ended up totally loving it, as did I!

These are my new favorite addiction - Bath & Body Works candles. They smell amazing and are such beautiful colors and they have a huge selection of scents to chose from! They're kind of expensive at $19.50 a candle, but this week they have them for Buy 1 Get 1 Free. And every time you buy something from the store there is a number on the bottom of your receipt that you can call, answer a brief survey, and then get $10 off your next $30 or more purchase.
So I managed to get those four candles, an $80 value, for $30 today. I have been sniffing them all evening :)

His & Hers

Last weekend Paul, Judah and I were out garage sale-ing. I'd been told about this "great" church yard sale, and so we thought we'd check it out. It started at 7 and we got there at 7:20 - in Paul's words it was "the super-center Walmart of garage sales."
It was truly amazing! We had to park in the very last row the parking lot was that crowded (and it was a big lot!). They had furniture outside and three (that I saw!) different rooms designated for different things - crafts and household goods, clothing, shoes and bags in another and then books and toys.
The clothes were fill a (paper) grocery bag for $8. Being married to a military man is useful - he's taught me how to fold things up small :) I got over 25 pieces of clothing in the bag - lots of maternity clothes for me, so they weren't all tiny baby items :)
Anyways, that church sale was the highlight of our day :) In fact Paul told me next year we have to go and be there just before 7 and we need to have a babysitter watching the kiddos!! :) Garage sale-ing with Judah isn't the coolest thing in the world!
There were tons of neighborhood sales going on too, and we stopped at lots of those. We got a nifty bunch of things, but these two chairs are our favorites.
Well, let me correct that!
This chair is Paul's favorite, he found it at one home for $20!


This chair is my favorite (Paul's not so fond of it!) I got it for $3! Even if you didn't need a chair wouldn't you pay $3 for this!?! I think it's so cool :)


Sometime when I feel ambitious I will recover the chair as it has a tiny tear on the seat (and the color really doesn't go with the rest of our stuff!)

So ya - those are our "his and her" chairs :)

3rd Anniversary

We got back last evening from our anniversary trip to Charleston, S.C. It's such a beautiful city, and we had two marvelous days there while Judah stayed with his 'adopted' grandparents.
We discovered a few cool hole-in-the-wall restaurants, walked through an art gallery (just one... as much as we try we're really not into that kinda thing. We pretended for ten minutes tho :), discovered Harry and David's - which is an over priced gourmet food store. The food is incredible and the cashier was so knowledgeable, friendly and sample-happy that we couldn't help but love the store and buy a few things for ourselves. SO GOOD!!
We spent time on a wooden swing on the pier over looking the water, walked through an old graveyard taking pictures and reading tomb stones, browsed through the market place, spent sometime on the beach and ate lunch overlooking the ocean. It was relaxing and fun.
Paul is off work until Tuesday, so even tho we're 'back to real life' we aren't really :) I may be somewhat lazy at updating the blog until he's back at work, but we're all doing well :)

CVS

Have you been CVS-ing folks?! There are some sweet deals out there this week. A lot of them are "hidden" deals (un-advertised) but they work!
I bought the above stash of stuff today. I went in with $17 ECB (extra care bucks), spent it and $13 out of pocket, and walked out with the goodies and $24 ECB. I had two $5 off a $25 purchase and I did this all in 4 transactions.
I got
-4 packs of diapers that are reg. $9.49/each but are on sale for B1G1
-8 bags of M&M's that are reg. $3.49/each but are on sale for B1G1 and Buy 2 bags get $3ECB (max of 10 bags total)
-5 12oz Spa Soft Soap reg $4.99 buy one get $4.99 ECB (max of 5)
-5 18oz Spa Soft Soap reg $5.49 buy one get $5.49 ECB (max of 5)

Life Inside Me - 28 weeks

Like Mother Like Daughter

So next week is our three year anniversary and we have decided to just go away for one night to South Carolina. Judah's adopted grandparents are going to keep him for the night so we'll be baby free for 36 hours! Which means we can go see a movie and eat somewhere that doesn't provide high chairs :)

I wanted to share the coolest website for trip planning - www.tripadvisor.com -we used it when planning our trip to Jamaica too and the tips shared saved us tons of money! And we're currently using it now to plan our trip for next week. If you're planning on going to a new city - or even if you just want to find some cool things out about your own city - check it out! The Forums are my favorite feature, as it's real-life people talking about where to eat/see/do.

Mum and Me about the same age... I think.

I have clung to the fact that me losing my mind is because I'm pregnant. Nothing more. But this week the horrifying thought hit me ... maybe I'm just totally turning into my mother. Not that it would normally be such a bad thing to turn into my mother. I like lots and lots of things about my mum. Well, really I like most everything about my mum :) She's got the weirdest sense of humor that I find hysterical (and thankfully Paul finds it funny too... :) She's creative, talented and fun. She gives out sick presents and lets you eat ice cream if your throat hurts.
But she shared something with me this week that made me think

"Uh-oh ... what if all my 'pregnant brain moments' are really just
'like mother,like daughter moments'?!?!"

Here's what happened to my mumma (and I'm so hoping she'll forgive me for this... Paul put me up to blogging about it!!)

She had an appointment recently and the nurse asked her if anyone in her family had breast cancer.

"Yes, my grandma did," my mum said.
"Which side?" The nurse asked.
-long pause-
And then, "I don't know which side."
Nurse: "I mean your mothers side or your fathers side?"

Ok, I'm laughing all over again just writing out the story. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to totally become like her... at least life would continually be happy - right!? :)

Note to the blogger FIRE HUNT - thanks for all the comments you leave!! I have tried getting to your blog but it doesn't show up on your profile!! Is that on purpose?! Just wanted to check :)

Needing Some Help

I wish I could say I made this meat pie, because it is the best tasting meat pie ever! There is this cute little deli near our house called Cutie Pies. They make salads, sandwiches, pizzas, soup and pot pies.
The first time we went in we each got a sandwich and one French Meat Pie to split. The pie was amazing, and we were both a bit disappointed that we were sharing it :)
Last night I was out around supper time and decided to pick us each up a pie. They are addicting! At $5.25 a pie it is an expensive addiction, so I need to figure out how to make it myself!
I've found recipes online, but I want something tried and true. Have you ever made French Meat Pie? Would you share the recipe?
And I need a great pastry dough too :) Thanks!

Playing in the Night

The other night Judah woke about 5 in the morning. I held him and rocked him for awhile, and he eventually ended up with his head resting on my belly. The baby kicked Judah's head and Judah looked up at me in bewilderment, then rested his head back on my belly.
A few moments later the baby kicked him again. This time Judah giggled and pushed his head hard into my belly.
It was a sweet moment, my two kiddos playing together for the very first time :)

The Stuff That Keeps You Up at Night

You'll have to forgive the not-full cup :) By the time I thought to take a picture of our coffee drink this was all that was left. It was that good folks!

This is a delicious, easy, non-blended ice coffee drink. I think it would be easy to make it into a blended coffee drink if your a fan of iced coffee - which I so am. I just haven't gotten around to trying it blended. My thoughts for making it blended would be to freeze an ice cube tray with some left over coffee sometime. Then when you go to make this drink pour it and some of the coffee ice cubes in the blender and *voila*! An un-diluted yummy, iced coffee :)

Ok, so here is the latest coffee recipe I tried - actually it's the only recipe we've ever tried :) Paul makes amazing coffee drinks, but it's all up in his head. He takes after my mother too ;)

Iced Cafe Mocha
Combine 1/2 cup ground coffee with 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder. (I used the Special Dark Chocolate)
Using a coffee maker brew with 4 cups of water.
Stir in 1/4 cup* sweetened condensed milk, then refrigerate.
Serve over ice.

I read 1/2 cup the first time I made it, so made it with twice the called for amount of sweetened condensed milk. Mmmm. I'd recommend you double it too ;) But I couldn't bring myself to lie to y'all and change the recipe.

Yum!

Is it ok to say that I made the most *amazing* supper tonight? If not, then pretend you didn't read that. Otherwise, check out my recipe blog for the recipe to two of the most tasty dishes!!
Sliced Steak Gyros and Asparagus Tempura - and yes, that was TWO new recipes for today - go me!! :)

My Bad

I was going to announce today that I was going to start trying a new recipe a day for the next week - with pictures and each new recipe being posted. But I'm already off to a miserable start as this mornings cooking adventure is not very good, so I won't post the recipe. It sounded delicious tho, so I'm going to have to find another recipe for Chai Biscuits.

Judah actually loved the biscuits, but I think it was only because they had icing on them and he was on a sugar high from them and couldn't tell that they tasted gross.
Since I don't have a cool new recipe to share I'm going to put a plug in for our current favorite tv show ... Corner Gas. It's a Canadian comedy, tho I do know it plays down here sometimes, but I don't know which station plays it. It's the funniest show ever and if you haven't seen it you need to!!
I really don't know how to describe the show to make it sound exciting and worth while. It's basically about the lack of lives of a group of people in a small town in the middle of no where in Saskatchewan. Most of the story takes place at the (one and only) towns gas station and its cafe, The Ruby.
That makes it sound even worse. But take my word. It's a great show. You can watch a clip of it:



My brothers are obsessed with this show and own the first four seasons of it. They lent us all four seasons of it (because we hadn't yet seen season Four, and you can't watch it without watching the first three *again*)
Sadly I had one of my classic stupid pregnancy moments... while getting our Netflix DVDS ready to return I accidentally shipped back disk one of Season Four. Oops! I called Netflix up and let them know what I'd done... they said they'd "keep an eye open" for it, but if it had gone through in processing all ready then the disk was lost for good. A few days later I had an email saying that unfortunately they weren't able to recover the DVD but they would credit my bank account with $15 - and they did!! They actually credited it with $17.11. I am beyond impressed with Netflix. Tho still kicking myself. The season costs about $40 to buy, so I'm still out some money. But don't worry brother dears - you will get season four replaced. And you can trust me with season five when you buy it :) I promise I am extra diligent about checking all the DVDs that get returned!

Life Got Cuter

We are dog sitting two dogs this week and Judah just loves having two backyard pals! If he isn't out there trying to pet them he is standing at the back door watching them. It's cute. But no, still doesn't make me want my own dog.

Judah giving Ginger a treat:
Judah having a change of heart and trying to get the treat for himself:
Judah and Ginger searching for more treats:
Ginger begging and Judah in wonder at the dog on two legs:

Others Opinions

Yesterday I was feeling abundantly patient, and so when I went to the grocery store I let Judah walk along with me as opposed to sticking him in the cart. He just LOVES walking. He is very good about holding my hand, tho he will occasionally throw a little fit if he thinks we should be walking the other direction.
Or if he thinks we've stood and debated which fruit to buy.
Or if he thinks we haven't stood and stared at the balloons long enough.
When that happens I just get down on his level and a little eye-to-eye and reminder that he's not the only person in the store who has to hear him, and that temper tantrums *will not* be tolerated usually smartens him up. Or distracts him. Either way, he becomes a good little walker after our heart-to-hearts.

He had a mini fit by the feminine products yesterday. He wanted to stare at them. I guess they have packaged them to appeal to 14 month old boys because Judah really, really wanted to touch all the boxes. I tried telling him that he didn't need them and gave him a gentle tug.
He thought I was wrong, and started to fuss and pull towards them.
So I got down and patiently gave him the little reminder that he wasn't to have a temper tantrum. That we weren't buying pads today, no matter how pretty the packaging, and that we were going to move on, and he was coming with me.

This older couple happened to walk by as I was telling Judah he was to obey me, and as they walked past us I could hear the wife say to her husband in a scoffing tone:

"Ha! How can she expect a little baby to obey her?"

I didn't say anything (what could I say?!) but it made me sad that this woman didn't think I as the mother could teach my young son obedience and courtesy to others.

Where the Creeps Hang Out

The doctors have prescribed a progesterone suppository for me to take nightly to help prevent pre-term labor. That's all fine and dandy, but the *only* pharmacy in the whole city that will create this is downtown. Where all the scary people live and hang out.

I hate going there, but having run out I needed to get a refill, and since Paul was off work today I decided I'd leave Judah with him and run down there on my own. No baby with me equals no reason for weird people to talk to me. Or so I thought. And hoped. But I was wrong.

I had *the weirdest* conversation. If you can call it a conversation. Once things got weird all I said was "Oh...." over and over again.

So I was standing in line at the pharmacy counter waiting to pick up my order and this man - who by all appearances looked intelligent and normal - asked me when I was due. Harmless enough. So we started doing small talk about my baby belly and my baby at home.
He then tells me that he has two daughters and one on the way.
I tell him "congrats" - because that's just the nice thing to do. And things were normal at that point.

"Yes," he says, "I have a 25 year old and a 22 year old."

"Oh," is all I say - because this man looked no older than 30. And all of a sudden everything seemed really weird.

"I started having kids really young. I was 12 when I became a daddy for the first time."

"Oh," was all I could say. I was definitely thinking a whole lot more than that. But I wasn't going to say it. Thinking things like 'why were you even sleeping around at 12?' or 'just because you contributed your bodily fluids to make a child does not make you a daddy.' But all I said was "Oh."

"Ya.. I was 12 and she was 14. Her mother caught us under her bed."

I didn't even say "Oh" that time. I was *extremely* uncomfortable and was wishing someone else in line would take pity on me and strike up a normal conversation with me. No one else would even make eye contact with me.

But then! Dear sweet Pharmacist told me it was my turn. I *thought* I was rescued. I thought wrong. She steps towards the filled prescriptions and asks for my name.

I tried to whisper it to her, as I did not want this creepy man hearing my name. My whispering trick back fired "JESSICA MORRIS you said?" she bellowed back to me.
"Yes Ma'am."
She starts rifling through the M prescriptions and the man jumps at the chance to chat with me again.

"So then two years later I decided to become a daddy again."
"Oh" - and oh how I was wishing I was not there at that moment.
"I had to go away for a few years while my girls were growing up, and when I came back the oldest one was the meanest person."
"Oh."

Then the Pharmacist calls to me from the other side of the room "JESSICA MORRIS can you please give me your birth date? I need to look you up in the system."
I was *so* close to asking her to come over and let me write it down. I was super creeped out by this man. But I gave her my birthday anyway, telling myself if she asked for *any* other piece of personal information I would ask for a pen and paper and write it down.

"Ya, she was just the meanest person ever."
At this point I am truly amazed that this man can carry on basically a one sided conversation with someones back.
"She keeps a stick by her door, and every time I come over she threatens me with it and runs me off her property. It's the funniest thing."

Um. Ok.

Thankfully the Pharmacist returns to the counter with my prescription so I didn't even have to say "Oh". It looks different than last months order, and I mention that to her. She said the packaging has changed and then in a very hushed tone says "It's a suppository, you know how it works, right?"

I wanted to shoot her. Why couldn't she have whispered my name? Or whispered my birthday? That to me is much more personal than what form my medication comes in. But whatever.

I told her that yes, I did know how it worked. I left off the "duh, this is a refill after all" part that I was thinking. I'm really not a rude person out loud. Only in my head.

I paid for my item and started to walk away as quickly as I could, pretending to be fascinated with my receipt.

I couldn't escape quick enough. The man called out; "Have a great day. It was a pleasure to talk to you."
"Oh," I mumbled, along with something that could have resembled "have a good day too." I don't think he heard me. I was still reading the tiny print on my receipt.

Looking for Ideas

One of the ladies at church has started giving me the coupons from her Sunday paper, as she was just tossing them out. It has taken shopping to a whole new level of excitement :)

Just yesterday I got refrigerated Pillsbury dough for .20 cents each. They were on sale and then I had a coupon and the store I bought them at doubles coupons up to $1.00. How cool is that?!

I have to figure out a way to organize my coupons and I am looking for suggestions! Please share ideas!! Thanks!

26 lbs of Drama

I missed the memo that 14 month old boys are now the new 13 year old girls. Moody, Fickle, Prone to quick temperament changes.
I always wanted a houseful of boys because I always thought boys to be emotionally stable. Drama-free. Sure, I knew there would be bumps, bruises, scrapes, blood and broken stuff. I can live with that. In fact I wish I were living with that.

But instead my days are full of drama. Dramatic drama. Happily playing one moment, sobbing and tears the next moment drama. FOR NO GOOD REASON. Temper tantrums followed by giggles. Or giggles followed by temper tantrums. Nothing predictable.

He removes his clothes, and I can only imagine if he were capable of speaking he would tell me the clothes were ugly. Even though the day before he liked them (because he wore them all day.) And, if he were capable of dressing himself I am sure he would put on some more clothes. That were "cool" - changing his outfit at least four times a day.

He spends an enormous amount of time in front of the mirror. In fact he cries if he is admiring himself and we move him away from the mirror. He just loves to look at himself. And why not? He is cute, even if he is as emotional as a 13 year old girl.

Doggy Door

Judah has a love for boxes, and the rocker that we got last weekend came in a wonderfully huge box that he has been enjoying.
Yesterday we had this great idea - we stuck the box in the door frame leading out to our back porch - it was wide enough to fill it. Judah could be inside or outside.

And with this little doggy door he could come inside to his toys and food =)
He loved it! And it entertained him for quite awhile.
I love things that entertain him! =)

Back to the Basics

Have you ever wondered where some people get their brains calculators from? A recent trip to Walgreens left me pondering that very question.

There was a large bin of items for 75% off. Most of it was Easter things, but there were some non-Eastery items, and one such item looked desirable to me. So I picked it up and asked the cashier at the check out if it was included in the 75% off. She didn’t know, so she asked the manager, who happened to be standing right there. The manager said it wasn’t supposed to be, but since it was in the bin she told the cashier to ring it up 75% off. Sweet.

But because the item wasn’t on clearance the cashier had to figure out what the total would be. 75% off an $11 item. I think it took me all of 20 seconds to figure it out, and I told her the total should be $2.75.

She looked at me, a little amazed. She hadn’t yet been able to pull the calculator out of the drawer. “Really?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“Well, let me just check” – she had, after all, managed to pull her handy dandy calculator out of the drawer, so she might as well use it now.

She clicks in some numbers and then rings up my item at $2.50.

“Wait! It should be $2.75.”

“No, my calculator said $2.50.”

“But 75% off $11 is $2.75.”

“But my calculator said $2.50 – is that ok?”

Um… no, it’s not ok that even with the aid of a calculator you can’t figure out a basic math skill. But I didn’t say that. Oh how I wanted to. But I didn’t. I don’t like to make people hate me. And I really just wanted to get out of the store. So I said “Sure, that’s ok.” Even though I didn’t really want to.