Saturday, May 28, 2011

"babysitting"




this is what was going on while i was at yoga last night. i love getting picture text updates... especially when they look like this. have i mentioned before that when honey's in charge of watching our baby he calls it "babysitting"?

best babysitter ever.
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Friday, May 27, 2011

my thursday

today i did two full loads of laundry.  folded and put away too.  i took care of baby.  i went to yoga.  i shopped and cooked.  in honor of this being a productive day of accomplishments... i will attempt to document it for my posterity.

9:15 i left to go to yoga class and participated for the full 90 minutes.  the instructor even complimented me on how flexible i was. that made me feel a little better because i have no balance and i pretty much looked like this little girl when attempting any pose taking place not entirely on the floor.  i would have been embarassed or self conscious except that i recently perfected my "who really cares what they think?  they don't know me and they won't remember me and i'm never going to see them again" attitude.  it is wonderful and liberating.  i'm especially good at it because in a few weeks i will not only not be living here anymore.  but i will also have no plans of returning to this wretched unique state of california (vent/rant to come).  ps- i'll have you know i'm not thaaatt serious about hating california.  i mean, the weather is nice.

11:15  as i was about to get in the shower, honey woke baby up (ugh!  45 minutes early) while he was getting a shirt (they share a closet, remember?) although i have no idea how because he was absolutely silent and she's not that light of a sleeper anymore.  oh well, he had to go to class and i had to shower.  we left baby in her crib to calm herself down (i stash toys in the corner for this specific reason) and she hung out for the next half hour while i showered.  i didn't do my hair, but i did manage mascara and clothes.  thank goodness for that last one.  nursed and dressed baby.

12:30  i took baby to milk pail and scored big with about fifty pounds of produce for a mere $11.50.  i should have taken a picture of all the stuff i got.  it almost broke my back.  i also bought a head of cauliflower.  my first time ever buying that stuff.  i must be growing up.

1:00  my non blogging sister, liza, called while i was finishing up so i walked on over to ross to mindlessly wander around so i could talk to her for a while longer (since it's illegal to talk on the phone and drive).

1:30  then i went to walmart to grab everything else on my list.  that's when i had my first tragedy of the day.  my walmart discontinued skim milk!  they're frequently out of it but this time i couldn't even find a slot for it (except in a few other brands they had it in half gallons) so i asked the nearby walmart worker.  he said they don't carry it anymore because no one was buying it!  ummm, i was!  five gallons a week!  good thing i'm moving.  to place with a decent walmart.  yesterday i got beechnut (brand of babyfood) coupons in the mail (i'm on their mailing list) for a FREE 8oz box of cereal and 2 FREE jars of baby food.  the reason i hate couponing is that my coupons never ring up right and i always end up paying more (since i'm purposely buying a certain brand/size/etc that isn't cheapest unless i have the coupon) and it's soooo frustrating for me.  so then i decided i would only use coupons for FREE items because then it's easier for me to know if it rung up right (cancelled out the full price is easier than subtracting 61 cents or something).  but even then i haven't had luck. so this time i had the cashier ring up the cereal and two jars and my coupons before even touching anything else.  i told her i wanted to make sure it rung up right.  so she does that and says, okay, your total so far is $1.50.  umm what?  read the coupon, it says FREE.  she kept telling me it wasn't working so i told her to keep trying.  apparently the fourth time's the charm.  got it.  but if i hadn't made a big deal about that i would have gotten ripped off again.  which is what normally happens because the cashiers always tell me that they like to ring up the coupons at the very end.  anyways, i'm happy it worked this time.  i guess i'll just have to keep doing it this way.  is it only me?!?!  why is it ALWAYS so difficult?!?!

so then i had to go across the street to safeway to get four gallons of milk (you only get the cheaper price if you buy milk in multiples of two (yeay for milk only being $3/gallon!).  it was kind of sad though because it came to $12.  so much money on milk.  i could be rich if i loved water this much.

2:45  got home.  unloaded groceries, including the milk pail loot: carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, cauliflower, mango, blackberries (only 99 cents!), raspberries (only $1.50!), apples (my first time buying organic!), tomatoes, pears, and a ton of bananas.  i stuck baby in her highchair with raspberries and blackberries while i brought in milk and everything else and found it a home in our fridge.  she inhaled those berries!  and then i moved to bananas and then to peas and finally she looked at me like "really?  why is lunch going downhill?"  next time i'll save the raspberries for the grand finale.

3:00 baby down for her nap.  folded laundry.  started dinner (i made this cube steak recipe with mashed potatoes, from REAL potatoes, and gravy).  stayed busy in the kitchen.

5:00  insane headache hit.  hard.

5:15  baby woke up.  splitting headache.  i think i might die.  baby has soooo much energy.  she is sooooo bored with all of her toys and our tiny tiny apartment.  she can only be entertained by my full attention or maaaybe picking at the carpet, scavenging for lint and hairs and inedibles to eat.  i did pay attention to her for a while.  i held her while i was on the phone with my mother in law.  and she laughed constantly as she crawled around and tried to get me in our little game of chase.  but i couldn't keep it up.  so i stuck her in her chair with a ton of peas.  refilled her tray with peas THREE times.  gave her potato.  more potato.  and more potato.  fed her the rest of an opened berry puree.  fed her oatmeal.  fed her an entire 6oz jar of stage three turkey and rice dinner (y'know... the one that was free).  and then i told her she was all done because honestly... it was a TON of food and i was afraid if i fed her anymore she's explode.  or barf.  i have no idea why my child won't gain weight.

and since she was covered head to toe in food (soooo active even in her chair) i gave her a bath.  which always softens my heart.  because she is so skinny and tiny and when her hair is wet that's just the cutest thing in the whole world.  but as soon as i took her out she turned in to a wiggle worm again.  so i got her in pajamas and decided i would just sit down to nurse her and let her eat for as long as she wanted until honey came home.  sat down, she started nursing, i put my head back and closed my eyes.  and then of course she's crawling all over me while attempting back flips and only nursing for two seconds at a time.  ugh.  probably because she's so full from all those solids.  i can't even remember what i did after this.  it was rough.

8:00 honey came home in a fabulous mood and saved my life.  we ate dinner together and he played with baby.  i went upstairs to lay in bed.  he put baby down and cleaned the kitchen (at my request).  it's a disaster area down there. then he left to go to a thing at the facebook/asian house.

11:00  honey home.  i'm still in bed... haven't moved.  i can hear him finish cleaning the kitchen.  told you it was bad.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

spit peas

just a few videos from dinner time yesterday.  i should have gotten out our real video camera and just had it recording the whole time.  because i'm pretty sure this went on for at least a full ten minutes.  talk about heaven on earth.





go ahead and try it with your kid.  or spouse.  or roommate.  see if you have as much fun as we did.  

and then go ahead and challenge us to a pea spitting contest.  

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

nurse amanda's delicious banana muffins

just in case you needed a little more deliciousness in your life...


banana bread (or muffins)

ingredients:
3-4 bananas (kind of older)
1 c white sugar
1 egg
1/2 c margarine or butter OR if you wanna be healthy you can use applesauce (cinnamon kind)
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1tsp baking SODA
1 tbsp cinnamon (optional)
1c chopped walnuts or pecans (optional fanciness)
raisins (optional fiber)
chocolate chips (optional choco fix)

muffin pan with paper thingees or bread loaf pan (9x5) sprayed, then lightly floured
cooking spray

how to make em:
pre-heat oven 325 degrees
in a bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda together (and cinnamon if you choose to use it)

in another bowl, mash bonanas until they're good an dead!  then mix in sugar, then add egg, and butter.  then mix in the dry ingredients in with the banana mushness stuff.  THEN stir in any extra of the cool, yummy "options" you want.

pour into pan of choice and bake for 1 hour to 1 hr 10 min.  OR until toothpick comes out clean from the center (if you insert it to check the middle)...(note: if you make muffins, then they only need to bake like 45 min)

then let it cool in the pan for like 30 min and then dump it out and let it cool some more THEN cut it up... or eat it warm.

and these are my alterations to the recipe:
i do not ever measure the bananas.  when they start to go bad, i peel them, break them in fourths, and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer.  by the time i pull the bag out to make muffins, i have no clue how many bananas have gone in there.  soooo i just make sure it looks like at least two.  although a few times i've put in a TON of bananas and i probably should have compensated by adding more flour because they ended up coming out sticky (although still delicious).
this past time i only used 1/2 cup sugar and i couldn't even taste a difference.  so i'm going to keep cutting back probably until i notice it.
instead of margarine or butter, i use applesauce.  we're not much of applesauce eaters though and it goes bad after 10 days or two weeks (according to the container) so i buy the little kids, lunch stuffers, single serving ones.  i use regular (not cinnamon) and i get unsweetened and make sure that there is no high fructose corn syrup.  i use a whole thing (i think it's probably right at a half cup and it saves me from dirtying a measuring cup... oh the things you think about when you have no dishwasher!) and it's perfect.
i never add in any of optional things.  no cinnamon, chocolate chips, nuts, nothing and i think they are still super flavorful and sweet and delicious.
when i use muffin liners they're often really tricky to get the muffin out of because the banana is so sticky.  so i prefer to make them right in the muffin pan.  it would probably be really great as banana bread because it's not crumbly at all so it wouldn't be such a mess.  i'll have to try that next time if i remember.
oh, and just a note, since i never measure the bananas, i always come up with an awkward number of muffins... like a dozen plus three or something.  so sometimes i'll make the muffins HUGE and sometimes i'll try to make them smaller.  so when i cook them, i always just set the timer for 30 minutes and then check them from there.  

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

no stanley cup for us

we're more than a little sad that the sharks are out of the playoffs.


especially since they lost in double overtime.

baby took it hard. honey took it harder.
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Monday, May 23, 2011

welcome to our castle!


let the tour begin!

dining room


dining room


office/study


great room


great room


great room


kitchen


kitchen


kitchen

main floor bathroom



laundry room



master bedroom

master bath

master bath
now upstairs we go!

upstairs bedroom

upstairs bedroom

upstairs bedroom 

upstairs bathroom

playroom

and back outside!


patio and backyard


patio and backyard


now we will be taking contributions to help us furnish our home.  because as mentioned in the previous post... we have no furniture.  so it'll be kind of like camping... in a really big house.  

want to visit us?  no problem, just BYO sleeping bag.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

my current humble abode

affectionately known as "the box"

back in january i'd just done a thorough cleaning of our apartment and decided it was a good time to document life in stanford family housing.  it was only a few months ago but my oh my has our apartment filled up since then!  books, binders, toys, a highchair, mobile baby, etc.  no wonder i'm in a constant state of claustrophobia.  anyways, i'm glad i took the time to take a few pictures of my home because it's something i wish i had from my childhood.  just to see the light blue duck wallpaper in my bedroom and the dark blue floral walls of the kids bathroom.  i wish i could take a tour of my childhood house the way it looked in 1989 because even though my parents still live there, i can't think of anything that really looks the same.  and i wonder how accurate my memory would be.

like i do with everything else, i hope i can continue to take pictures of where i live on an ongoing basis.  i blogged about the highlights from the last place we lived (our one bedroom apartment in EV stanford couples housing) and a few apartments ago when we lived on a golf course in pennsylvania for a summer.  i know i have complete pictures of those places and maybe even the colorado apartment in between but i guess they just never got posted.  not surprising since i really didn't blog back in the day.

anyways, i have a post lined up with pictures of our new home but first things first, let's take a look at our current little box.  our humble home since last july when our precious little baby joined our family.  as excited as i am for more storage and square footage, i'm really going to miss this place.  so, without further adieu (is anyone really even reading this babble?!?!) let's take a stroll down memory lane...

the view when you walk in the door

down the mini hallway to the living room area

living room area



looking into the eating area

i actually really love the all white kitchen.  especially during the day with all of the natural light pouring in.

it's such a happy place to do laundry.  

but i will not in the tiniest bit miss those tile counters.  they are the bane of my existence.

the people before us planted all sorts of bulb plants so we've had green lushness and beautiful  flowers the whole time we've been here!

on to the second floor!  
it's funny how HUGE this apartment first seemed when we moved into it two weeks before baby was due.  because our previous one bedroom apartment was soooo tiny and all on one floor you were never farther than 15 feet from whatever you needed.  pregnant and need to go to the bathroom?  ten feet.  thirsty and need a drink?  12 feet.  want to see your studying honey?  15 feet.  so the fact that i had to go all the way downstairs and then through our mini hallway and pass by our living area and eating area just to get to the fridge... well, it might as well have been on the other side of the country.  it felt like a mansion.  so it's incredible to me that this same apartment with a tiny baby and all of her gear is now making me feel as if the walls are caving in on me and i can't turn around without bumping in to something.  maybe that's why i like these pictures so much.  because it was before our baby needed gear.

upstairs landing.  this area now holds a pack n play about 95% of the time.  we have to roll it around the corner anytime we need access to that closet.

i have never loved this bathroom.  for some reason it always makes me feel like i'm camping.  it's probably the exposed plumbing.

i do love baby's room though and i've really loved having a bed in there too.  

i love having that picture of christ above her crib.  for so many reasons.



the right side of that closet is for honey.  the left side for baby.


i don't like to run out of diapers.

and our super grand master bedroom

don't hate on the furniture.  i know you're hating.

probably the most uncomfortable bed ever.  i'm sitting on it at this very moment and my body is aching from it.

this closet is all mine.  this is the third place we've lived where i've taken the master closet and chris has used a hall closet or one in a different bedroom.  he's a good sport.

favorite pictures on top.  toys and books, blankets and sippy on bottom.  since baby was around six months old we practically lived in bed because our floors were so hard and scratchy and she was practicing sitting all the time.
and there you have it.  i should go around and take the same pictures now.  with our current baby clutter and mess.  complete with packing boxes stashed against the wall behind our kitchen table.  because that's real life.  oh, and now might be a good time to mention that our apartment came furnished.  all of that dorm room looking oak furniture... not ours.  purple sofa, not ours.  other ugly sofa, free from craigslist.  baby's crib, changing table, and glider are ours.  and that's all.  ;-)

hope you enjoyed the tour!  stay tuned for pictures of our new giant mansion!