Playing Catch Up

Why, hello y'all!  Goodness- 2012 sure is passing by quickly- I can't believe it's the end of February already! On the one hand I'm glad since we are still battling the insane high temps of the Australian summer here and I'm really looking forward to some cooler temperatures so Little Mister and I can venture out of the house during the day without fear of frying into crispy bacon or developing melanoma or dazzling others when they see our skin sparkling in the sunlight. On the other hand....I don't want the time to go by so quickly because Little Mister needs to stay a cute little baby forever and ever! (Waaahhhhh! My boy is growing too quickly!)

Ahem.  I am better now.

In the last month:

* I finished my "secret project" and sent it off to the publisher the day before we headed out to the Gold Coast. It was a glorious feeling to get it finished, including ends weaved in and, gasp, shock, horrors! BLOCKED! (!!). I'm very happy to report that I did not felt the wool and was actually amazed to find that, instead of shrinking when first wet, wool actually *grows*. Like a lot. The end result ended up being huge, which was a great thing since it was slightly smaller than I had hoped when I finished crocheting it, but it more than reached my size goals after blocking. CANNOT.WAIT for the Fresh Designs in Crochet book series to come out!

* I liked blocking so much and was on such a roll, that I blocked out my very first lace project. I was on an intense wool high and was crazed with my new wool growing powers so I decided to continue ignoring Little Mister (the TV is such an AH-MAZ-ING babysitter) and finished the final few rows of my scarf and then blocked the snot out of it. I have pics to show...hopefully later this week.

* We had a glorious week on the Gold Coast and Brisbane. It was great having both my Misters all to myself and having help with Little Mister during the day AND not having to cook for a week. That's always a perk of vacation. We visited Sea World and the Australian Zoo- the zoo set up by the late Steve Irwin. We had so much fun! I even visited a craft store and a LYS...pics to come....

* As soon as we returned home, I got struck with giant, red, sore tonsils and then a fever of nearly 102.... Yep. Strep throat. AGAIN. This time I was so very worried that I was going to pass it on to Little Mister. Let this be a glowing endorsement of breast feeding- thanks to the antibodies in my breast milk, Little Mister never got sick at all! Even though I was kissing him all over his face with my cooties infested mouth (before I knew I was sick and contagious), he remained the picture of health and cuteness. Seriously. I have the world's cutest boy. I'm not biased- it's been scientifically proven.

AAACK! I die of cuteness!

* I have become addicted to Downton Abbey. A friend of mine loaned me the first season and I started watching it on my own while crocheting since Big Mister thought it was going to be one of my "silly girly shows" like Murder She Wrote (it's only because he's the father of my child that I have not ninja kicked him to the curb for bad-mouthing my beloved Jessica Fletcher!). However, once he returned from his business trip, I forced him to watch the first episode with me and now he's hooked. Granted, he'll never admit that, but considering after we watch one episode he sighs and says, "Ugghhhhh.....might as well watch another episode. There's nothing else on," which is code for, "Ohmygod- that Ms. O'Brien is totally a witch with a "b" and I so can't wait to see if Mary is going to go for Matthew afterall because it's totally obvious that they are each other's lobsters."

Ok...Little Mister is taking his nap. He's finally turned a corner sleep wise and has been taking 1-2 hour naps during the day!!  HALLELUJAH!

Hopefully I'll be able to get things done now- including more frequent blogging. I have so much to show and tell y'all!!

Until next time....

AND WHOOSH! A Month Disappears

So, wow. I can't believe how quickly January disappeared, taking me with it. I've had so many different blog posting ideas bouncing around in my brain but then, just like *that*, I'm thinking about cheese again. (I think I may die if I don't get a slice of pizza in the very near future.)

We have all been sick this past week which is never fun, but when it's your 6 month old's first cold of his life and he wakes you up at 2:30 in the morning with a croupy cough, it pretty much sucks monkey balls. Although, I was able to have an enlightening talk with my BFF Lyteyz and learned an important lesson in breastfeeding a sick child. Y'all can credit Lyteyz with coining the term "Booger Boobs." I've thankfully not had to experience that glorious benefit of breastfeeding since Little Mister only had a cough. I ended up with all the rest of the cold symptoms so I pretty much feel like death right now. And since it's summertime in the Land of Oz, I don't know if I have a fever or if my head is hot simply because, based on the temperatures, this is the land Down Under Hell. It's been over 100 degrees for most of the past 2 months and I have discovered something very important about myself- I DO NOT like the hot. DO NOT.  It is a "dry heat" and so instead of being drenched in my sweat, it dries very quickly leaving me salty and smelling like the wrong end of a dingo.  DO NOT LIKE THE HOT.

Luckily things will start to cool down in about a month or so, so I'll hopefully finally be able to step outdoors and go on walks with Little Mister again. (Actually, just checked the weather and it looks like the next two days are going to be only in the low 90's which means we may be able to go for a walk in the morning! YAY!)

I've been on a crochet binge as I'm working on my "Secret Project" and I hope to have it finished by the end of next week since we're going to go on a mini holiday (Ha! I'm so Aussie now!) at the end of the month. We're going to visit Brisbane and the Gold Coast and I'm sooooo excited about it! I've already staked out some yarn stores I want to check out and hope to find some yummy Australian wool which would be great!

For now, I am working with the Lion Fisherman's Wool and I must say I'm loving it. It's my first wool project that isn't supposed to be felted, so of course I'm worried sick I'm going to accidentally felt it before sending it off and then I'll not be published and then my life will be ruined. (Whaaat? Melodramatic?? Moi?!?)

Anywho...I had more to say but now I can't remeber because there was a commercial for cheddar. So. You know.

Ok, y'all. I hope your 2012 is going well so far!

Sleep is a Battlefield

With all due respects to Pat Benatar, I'd like to propose that love is merely a Plain of Contention and that sleeping with an infant is the true battlefield. 

Last night was the first night in I can’t remember how long that Little Mister actually slept 5 hours in a row. From around 7pm to 12am, with fidgeting only once at 10 where we had to turn on his mobile in his crib thus knocking him back out again, he was asleep. Blissful sleep. This was great for us since we have started going to bed earlier, especially since Big Mister had to go to work the next morning, so we were able to take advantage of those extended hours of sleep, right?

You are so wrong! Ha! Had you going there for a moment! Suckers!

Yeah- I ended up having insomnia for the first half of the night. I *never* have insomnia. If anything, I’m more of a Super Narcoleptic- able to fall asleep in a single bound. But, last night, for whatever reason, me no sleepy. Argh.

So, I was basically a zombie all day today. So glad I could keep the status quo. I guess the upshot of the day is that I learned two very valuable lessons. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about them, though.

Lesson One: Time to Wake Up!

I was finally able to fall asleep during Little Mister’s morning nap after earnestly praying that he would not only fall asleep, but stay asleep for a few hours- preferably all day if possible. Unfortunately, after just one measly hour of slumber, the time came. The time when Little Mister decided, “YAY! Its morning time! Wakey, wakey birthday cakey!” and then immediately put “Operation Wake Mommy Up” into effect.

He started with ever so gently petting my face which quickly escalated to punching me in my eye. Hey- I can’t blame him. He’s still developing his gross motor skills and I’m sure he meant to gently pet me once again, but his arm was behind his back and all he could do was roll over so that the momentum would carry his chubby arm over his body where it would hopefully make contact with my cheek but instead resulted in giving me a mild concussion. When that didn’t work, he simply went old school and pulled my hair. I debated filing for elder abuse but decided to keep sleeping instead. I mean, it was just a mild concussion. No big whoop. It's amazing how much I can ignore to win the sleep battle. And then, he did it. He pulled out the big guns- the one thing he knows- KNOWS- will wake mommy up. Oh yes- it was all systems go! *aOOOOga! aOOOOga!* Commence the Bubbly Farts!!

Dagnabbit. Sly little sucker. He wins.

Lesson Two: Time to Go to Sleep!

Later in the morning, my sister and I (and her roommate, our good friend) were able to Skype, for which I’m ever so thankful since I now have tangible proof that I have a case for elder abuse. You see, Little Mister was behaving pretty well for his auntie….until it was nap time.

Oh the humanity!

I could see the little wheels in his brain turning as he thought, “Hmmm….” *strokes chin* “If beating up mom works to wake her up, it might work to get her off the phone and feed me so that I can get my beauty rest.” And then he put his fingers together and said, “Exxxxcelllent.”

And then he pummeled me.

So, I got off the phone with my sister and fed him.

DANGIT! He wins again!

Don’t believe me? I HAVE PROOF!!!

Behold: A screenshot from my sister’s phone!

Feed me, Monkey! And charge your phone, Auntie!

I think those rings gave him super power or something. I'll know for sure once my jaw is no longer wired shut.

So, I learned that when it's time to wake up, he beats me and when it's time to go to sleep, he beats me. Hmmm....not too sure I'm liking this development.

Ok. It's time for me to put on my armor. It's bedtime. You and me, Little Mister. It's on like Donkey Kong.

Happy New Year!

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Beets Me

I may have mentioned once or twice that, by education and until recently also by profession, I am a nutritionist. I've spent many a year studying nutrition and so I know quite a bit about food. However. Apparently there are new things for all of us to learn, so I am now passing on my knowledge to you guys.

First, some background. I am not a picky eater. Never have been really. I remember as a kid, I didn't like onions- I'd even pick out the tiny little ones in a McDonalds hamburger Happy Meal on those rare occasions we were lucky enough to eat out at one of those high-falutin' restaurants. I also didn't like zucchini, unless it was in my aunt's zucchini bread which is basically banana bread with zucchini instead of banana. Moral of the story- sugar makes everything better.

There was just one other food that I knew of that I DID.NOT. like. The culprit: beets.

Beets were one of those tricky foods- they look so gosh darned purdy with their purpley purpleness oozing out in a, "Hey baby....you should taste me because I'm purple and you know you can't resist purple so why don't you take a nice, big juicy bite out of my tasty purpleness. You know you want to. Baby," sort of way. Apparently beets are also quite the sleazeballs of the tuber family.

(An aside: My mother-in-law's first language is not English, so she sometimes still to this day will have very amusing turns of phrases. This past Thanksgiving, she was talking about a really unsavory person she once knew- a real jerk. She said, ever so seriously, "He was a really big squeeze-ball!"  Oh dear me...I don't think I'd laughed so hard in a really long time.)

The only problem with beets is that they kinda sorta really taste like....well, like dirt. Or at least what I assume dirt tastes like because that is not something I'd know from experience. Nope. Surely not.

So, I pretty much have avoided beets, no matter how purpley they were nor how much my coworkers told me they tasted good and were good for me. Yes, I'll grudgingly admit that they are indeed a very healthy food. But still. DIRT.

HOWEVER. At a work conference I attended two years ago, there was a beet and walnut salad available on the buffet and, since my coworker told me that it was a really good salad, and since I was a new employee and wanted to look tough and adventurous, I decided to try that darned salad. If anything, it would test my acting ability- could I get it down without making an, "EWW GROSS!" face? 

Much to my surprise, that darned purpley salad tasted as good as it looked! Well blow me down and call me Popeye! I couldn't believe it! Beets that didn't taste like dirt! They had some sort of vinegar on them, that I knew- whether balsamic or red wine, I don't recall- but ever since then I've been on the hunt for the pretty, non-dirt tasting beets but to my dismay have not been successful.

Until now. I found a recipe on Epicurious for Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges and Beet Greens and it had decent reviews, so I thought, "I am going to try this one more time and if they taste like dirt, well, at least I'll now know what dirt tastes like because I have never tasted dirt before in my life. Ever."

So I made the salad with a few modifications- I didn't have the sweet onion, so I omitted that, and I really just wanted the beets and not the oranges, so I used a little bit of orange juice instead of the orange slices.

OMG. I don't remember dirt beets tasting so good! I really really REALLY enjoyed them. My Mister...not so much. He thought they were good, but they didn't float his boat. HOWEVER. He's not writing this blog so his primitive taste buds don't count. I really liked this salad A LOT. A lot, a lot. I ended up eating most of it last night and then finished it off for lunch today. That's right- I, an avowed beet hater, ate beets TWO DAYS IN A ROW!

And now comes the, "Wow- I did not know that," part. I feel like I should have known this since I am a nutritionist, and I may have learned it many years ago but may have repressed that knowledge along with any memories I may or may not have had about eating dirt. I'm also sure that had I been a beet eater all my life I would have also known this so my ignorance is justified.

Apparently, what goes in purple.....COMES OUT PURPLE. There is no need for alarm. You are not dying. Your intestines are not falling out and you don't have cancer of either the urinary or digestive tracts. There is absolutely no need to call your husband over to take a look and see if he thinks you are dying, as well. NOPE. All completely normal.

And you can take my word for it because I'm a nutritionist. A really really edumacted one.