No More Than Words

I have been a terrible blogger, lately.  I do have a laundry list of excuses... but, I know that song is getting old.  I do think my picture-taking will pick up once the rain stops and the warm temperatures are here to stay. Maybe we'll be more interesting then. Maybe.

Till then... here's what's going on.  If I was blogging, here's what the posts would be on (in no particular order, it's purely coincidental that food is first):

Use your imagination to insert beautiful and vivid photos of our lives (ha)

Cooking

• Eggplant Parmeasan. Nausea has been come and go- but, on one of the "go" days I spotted a pretty eggplant in the grocery store. Called M, told him to get ready- I was finally cooking. And it was going to be good.  Surprise is usually not a friend of ours, and that night was no different. Comments ranged from, "why did you think I liked eggplant?" or, "it's a vegetarian meal" to, "if I pretend it's chicken parm I suppose it's okay".  Luckily, this meal and conversation ended in laughter and not tears. Pregnancy hormones are so unpredictable. I made it just like I usually make chicken parm, but I don't think I've ever posted on that. So, here's my friend's recipe.


• Chicken Enchiladas and Poppyseed Chicken. The first is my brother-in-law's wife's mother's recipe. Ha. I kinda just wanted to type that. It's Mrs. Trina's recipe, Mary Lindsey's Mom.  Have I mentioned that ML and Chris will be moving here in May??? I am about to bust I'm so excited.  M and I will have to work to not suffocate them. With love of course.  Back to food- I made 2 casseroles of each from 1 Costco rotissarie chicken.  Froze one of each. Poppy seed chicken last night, chicken enchiladas tonight. Both recipes have already been documented. The thing about food blogging is you have to use new recipes. And someday, when I starting thinking about dinner more than 5 minutes before we eat, it I'll do that.


• BBQ. I made this for J's 1st birthday, and I made it again last week.  I should have documented the process, but I put the rub on right before I went to bed. Which means I was very sleepy and probably not in the best of moods. It is Paula Dean's pulled pork recipe and the Neely's BBQ sauce. They are both unreal.  Some changes I made to Paula: I used a boston butt, 1/2 the salt, twice the liquid smoke, and I cooked it in a crock pot on low for 8 to 10 hours (depending on the size). Oh, and the BBQ sauce cooks down a lot, so don't be scared to make the full recipe.


• Chicken sandwiches, Chicken Salads, Burgers, Egg sandwiches, Grilled Cheese and Pizza Rolls. That pretty much covers it.  Quick. Easy. High Protein. Oh, and 1 more...


• BK $1 Double Cheeseburgers. Way too easy for a pregnant lady. I could walk to BK from our house. It's on the way home from work. It's delicious. It's $1. This one actually does deserve its own post. But, I fear that would reveal a far too realistic look into my pregnancy eating habits.

J-Bird

*Warning- most of you will find this only mildly interesting, if at all. It is really documentation for myself.

• Is 13 months and hilarious.
  


• Says "bye-bye" constantly. When we hang up the phone, leave a room, put him in his car seat... oddly enough, doesn't seem to say it when we ask him too.


• Other words? Constantly says, "Dada". The other day he pointed to his "rocking giraffe" and said clear as a bell, "Dada".  I think it's because M and the giraffe both have kind eyes. I get a tortured "MaaaaaaMaaaaaaa" every once in a while if he is upset. And, of course, "BA".


• Swimming lessons are over... J successfully went under several times. We now try to go to the pool once a week to keep up some skillz. On the whole, J is much more interested in the floating basketball and chewing on the noodles.


• Loves food smothered in BBQ sauce. Favorite meal is still oatmeal. Made from old-fashioned oats with brown sugar, cinnamon, banana and heavy cream.  Tried to sneak in some instant oatmeal to speed up the process, efforts were shut down with a 3 day breakfast strike. One for Roosta.


• We did win the sippy cup battle. About 2 months ago we switched J exclusively to the sippy cup.  A 45 minute battle of the wills (he knew how to do it he was just refusing), and we haven't looked back. One for Mom and Dad.

House

• Not much to report except loads and loads of laundry.


• No big projects on the horizon, just trying to keep the crushed cheerios under our feet to a minimum.
  

Spinning

• I suppose if anything is robbing my time from blogging it's teaching my 2 spinning classes a week- which I love.
  


• I agonize over music choices... care to help me out? Leave a comment with your favorite work out song.


• Yes, I plan to keep teaching till my belly hits the handle bars. Or until there is a revolt over having such a large spinning instructor.

Entertainment

• LOST is in swing. I hate to say full swing because we've gotten like 3 answers. Still, something to look forward to.


• Modern Family is our new favorite show.  Cameron or Phil are our favorite characters.  Phil! I cannot express how funny his character is.
  


• Parenthood has had 2 episodes and we like it so far.  And so far both episodes have made me cry multiple times. A comedy for sure, but bittersweet.  As fun and sad as real life.  Bonus- Lauren Graham is in it!  Completely different character than her Gilmore Girls days, but still great.


• Just saw, Up in the Air. I thought it was great, M thought it was so, so. Couple of very "R" rated scenes. Just thought I'd mention that because I've recommended inappropriate movies in the past because I've forgotten "those parts".  Like the time I watched Love Actually with my parents.  In short, I'd rather not watch this with my in-laws.

Leopards

• Have been banished (for real this time) to outside. It's a shame, but I do not need 8 more feet to clean up after.


• Are still very loved.


• Jake's numbers have crept back up on the scale, and he probably weighs slightly more than Roosta.

There you have it. In Words.