A hodgepodge of recent photos.

Here are some things from my iPhone I felt like sharing...

A roadside stop on our way back from the Medicine Hat trip. Funny to think I have a sperminated egg marinating in there... This was a nice little walk - it was super windy so we found a little grove of stubby trees and played hide and seek with the doggies. There were a whole bunch of mysterious holes on this road and around the scrubby trees, and we never will know what they were from - but someone told us they could be badger burrows? It's a mystery. 








THIS SWEATER. I have no words. Can you tell what it is? And Dave's pose - I die.

Immediately following this photo, one of my coworkers came into my office and was shown the sweater. He proceeded to tell us how we actually are all descendants of aliens, because he watched a show on Discovery that talked about a strand of DNA that could not be traced properly, or some such nonsense, and how that confirms it - we're aliens.

I was eating this totally awesome breakfast-in-bed (thanks Warren!) and the two shitheads in the pictures above were begging soooooo hard for a bite. No dice mafas.  See the face below - I literally took that picture from a seating position during that breakfast, from the bed. Suckup much?











So cute, so naughty. Wanting to come down the stairs and jump all over me so badly, as I walk in the door from work. Their tails are thumping in this picture like crazy. 











I've been frying bacon and garlic and thyme, and adding quartered brussel sprouts a lot lately. I ate almost this entire pan after taking the photo - note to the self, don't add lemon while cooking - it gets too bitter.

Holy suck-up-faces! 

Do I need to say anything about this face? Reminds me of this:

All tucked in and sleepy.

This was SUCH A GOOD AVOCADO! Holy smokes. I want it right now!!! (I actually diced it up and put it on top of hot veggie soup, and went to heaven).

I leave you with this. Try not to feel sorry for me (yep, that's my BabyDaddy).

- Mama

Eggy Pies

Here's a little tutorial on a brunch we make fairly often around here. By 'we' I mean, I force Warren to cut the butter into the flour to make the pastry, about which he complains bitterly, but complies.

This particular occasion, we only put a few things into the pies, and made little ones, rather than one big one. In hindsight, I much preferred the last one-big-one we made to these little ones, but then again I put more effort into the big one... lots of sautéed leeks and semi cooked tomatoes.

Anyway, start with some flour. I use whole wheat, and I rarely measure anything. Add some salt, and some baking powder and whatever else makes you feel groovy - these got a good dose of dried chopped Rosemary, and some red pepper flakes, and lots of coarsely ground black pepper. Add enough cold butter to make it all squish together (if you don't know how to cut butter into flour to make pastry, look that shit up - too much typing to explain in this post, and I'm no expert either).



Pardon the PJ's, lazy weekend. Roll your pastry out on some parchment, and smooth it into whatever shape you desire, getting it as flat as possible.




For these ones, I sliced a nice, ripe tomato, some raw garlic, and broke an egg into each. I broke the yolk too to ensure it all ran around and didn't turn out like a hard boiled egg inside some pastry, though with the one-big-pie, I left the eggs intact inside the pie. I used loads. Wish I had pictures of that one to compare...



Fry yourself some bacon, and whatever else you want to put in them pies that won't get cooked enough just sitting in the oven (or at least, won't cook in enough time to avoid petrifying your eggs).




Assemble. (Imagine, the egg and the bacon and some S&P entering the scene after this shot...) Cover with a top piece. They look cute and professional if you use the prongs of a fork to press the edges together, but these little pies were too full to close properly, lesson learned.


I grated some pecorino on top (from The Cheesiry before baking to make it really crispy). I usually also keep some of the egg whites aside when cracking the eggs, and brush the outside of the assembled pies, but it recently occurred to me that perhaps I'm supposed to be using the yolks? Whatever.



Bake those puppies in a hot oven (anywhere from 350C to 400C depending on how impatient you are, and how much softening your inside ingredients need) and then let cool on a rack for a while. If you let them cool without a rack for ventilating, they're get soggy and no one will be your friend. And don't worry - the insides stay hot FOREVER after they come out of the oven, so be generous on the cooling time to let the pastry mellow out.

Devour!

- Mama

Some news...

Guess what? We did it. Sperminated BOO YEAH.





We found out on April 18th, but thought it was a faulty test, cause we hadn't even made a really thorough effort to conceive this month. Turns out, our little vacation to Medicine Hat for the Easter weekend was a fruitful one!
Although I've been Depo Provera-free since August of 2010, this is only the second 'cycle' we actually tried to make this happen on days when I was likely to be ovulating. We were surprised!






The picture above shows the HCG tests I took, starting on April 17th, 2012. There's no test result on the test prior to the 18th, and then on the evening of the 18th, I noticed a super faint line, and just thought it was either a false result due to something I ate or a crappy test unit, or an evaporation line. So, I went it bed nervously and attempted not to get excited (yeah, have you met me?) and just got on with my day the next day, and tried not to think about it.
That evening, when I got home, I peed on another one of the blue strips, and got a stronger, faint pink line. I was perplexed and called Warren in to the bathroom to look. We were confused together. He and I agreed that we were just looking too hard to see something that wasn't there. So I used the same urine sample to test with the big pick stick and BAM major positive. Warren cried. I didn't - I was in total shock. I was in shock for about three says.
I'll never forget how he looked down at the stick, saw the two lines, and looked up (down?) at me with wide eyes and and with an incredulous tone, asked "Are you really pregnant?", as tears welled up in his eyes. I can't wait to tell that little story to our bean, when the bean is old enough to comprehend. How sweet.

It probably goes without saying that I peed on every stick I had, between April 19th and my first doctor's visit which was a few days ago, but I might as well use up the rest of the tests that I have (I'm actually using up the ovulation tests because they react to the HCG or LH hormones) and it has been fun to see how the lines are getting darker and darker every couple of days. It's a nice, concrete reminder that something is happening, because nothing feels real yet - no bump, no sickness, no nothing... not that I'd trade sickness for knowing something is happen! I will say, however, that they're not kidding when they say pregnant women get constipated. Holy smokes, I have never been such good friends with Metamucil.

So folks, mark your calendars - the bean is due December 27th 2012. Lets pray for a January delivery!

- Mama

The Naming Quest

We do this a lot. We haven't even fertilized a spawn, but we are a couple that likes to play the name game.  We discovered Whitepages Names tonight and we're off to the races, checking the frequency of people named the names we like, and hate (Unique Higgins, anyone? Seriously, people are named Unique for pete's sake).

Anyway, Warren decided it would be a good idea to start keeping track of the (few) names we can agree on so that we stop flip flopping on which ones we like, and have to go back and try to remember the ones we liked last week... you know how it goes.

With that, here's list 1.0:

Boys

Jack 

Woodrow

Elwood

Clifford

Girls

Clementine

Charlotte

Pepper

Pearl

Violet

Ursula

Grace

Georgia

Things he likes that I don't

Oona

Jane

Francine

Calvin

William

Sally

Annie (for the record i love Anne but it's my middle name)

Suzanne

Howard

Molly

Stella

Isadora 

Ben

I like and he doesn't 

Kirrily

Kinsey

Finlay

Hunter

Fletcher

Everly

Basil

Jacob

Jake

I think it's funny how old fashioned his choices feel compared to how new-age mine to, when they're side by side like that. 

... The search continues!

Happy things from the last couple of weeks.

Greetings dear readers,


I took a hiatus from this little journal, but don't judge me. It's been q whirlwind at work lately, and having a new practicum student join me from the Event Management Program is simultaneously awesome, and increasing my workload - due to the constant explaining I find myself doing about every.single.thing. I do  - so it's been interesting lately. 
We exhibited at the local bridal fair, and had a good time laughing about all the gargantuan trailer park mothers with their unwashed and ill behaved children thrusting their little gravy fingers into our elegant candy dishes... I digress. T'was a good show, but I mourned the loss of my commitment-free Saturday. Such is the life of an event planner I suppose. 

Tastes better when you team up. 

W and I have been making a little more time lately to cook together. We both like cooking (and love  eating) but we usually cook separately. Last weekend we worked on baked chicken, and made it again this week. It makes the house smell unbearably wonderful. 

Here are some projects I've been working on:

Hand spun, partly crocheted.

My first varying coloured yarn. Spun blue into fawn and brown.

And what would an update be without some heartwarming instagramations of the fur babies? Behold:

Snuggle.

Munch.

Snooze.

I'm chalking it up to the impeding change in seasons (though this winter has really been more like a northern spring the entire seasons through, thanks global warming!) but we've had some pretty intense skys. While iPhone shots hardly do nature scenes justice, the shot on the right was of the most crimson sunset you've ever seen in your life. This is our lonesome Saskatchewan view, staring east off our back porch.

The second photo is of an enormous rising moon. People all over town were stopping to stare. Sad how small it looks in a picture, compared to the stunning sight that was.


I guess it would be prudent to discuss the business of family-creating, seeing as I took this hiatus, only to return with a blogging vengeance.
I'm neutral to report that we aren't harbouring a spawn, as of this cycle. I attempted to chart ovulation with the kit I mentioned previously, but I was sorely disappointed to end up having a malfunctioning test unit, which I will return to the store, and they will refund my money. I'm prepared to fight dirty here, people. You don't sell a hormonal young woman a fertility tracking item, and then have it crap out half way through said hormonal lady's cycle amidst her first genuine shot at conception.
After the red faded from my vision, I jumped online and did some research and found a website that sells the little litmus-strip-style FSH and LH testing kits, as well as HCG tests. While the ovulation kit I bought locally cost about $60 for 20 test and a reader, and preggo tests run about $10 each, I was delighted to order 50 LH tests and 15 preggo tests for $35. SMD Walmart! You sonofabitch! They arrived in the mail within the predicted timeframe, and are eagerly awaiting my next cycle day 5.
Speaking of cycles -
My (not entirely regular yet) period was 7 days late after all these sperminating attempts, so I paid a visit to the good old clinic to chat with the Vickus from District 9 about how his weapons work. While he insisted that cat food was delicious, and made me a tiny metal flower, he also imparted some doctorly wisdom on me. He decided that since my last  two good, 'regular', cycles were about 3 days longer than the 'norm', it was too soon to bother with a blood test. He did however, schedule me for my next needed pap smear, so I'll be back for that in two weeks. Had I not started spotting by the test date, he would have sent me for a jab to confirm or deny spermination. Started spotting almost exactly 24 hours after he said so.
The plan now is to wait four more days and start the LH testing cycle again in earnest. I'm pretty stoked to have the huge 50-strip-kit to use this time around, so I can whiz on a strip every day and get a really good feel for when the surge shows up, since I don't have be to frugal with a small kit (and they're insanely cheap to order online if you need a whole whack more, and should arrive by mail by the time I'd need them again anyway!). I've read up on some user-experiences with this method, and it seems that the most successful women watch the colour on the strips darken over a longer period of days following menstruation, as opposed to charting cycle lengths and predicting the best 5 days to use the strips. Since my cycles are still a bit dicey, I plan to use them continuously from cycle day 5 straight through to next cycle day 1 (bleeding), just to be really sure I haven't missed an early or late ovulation. Science is fun, right kids?

I seem to feel most energized right at the start of a cycle, so I'm going to roll with that and try to get back on the regular exercise train. I figure that even if I keep crapping out towards the end of 'the month' when I start to hate life, I get at least a couple of weeks of healthy routine in, and after a few months of that, maybe the moment will just come more easily all the time.

Here's hoping! Wish me happy baby making.

Happy Wednesday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Oh dear.

While you enjoy this adorable picture of my sweet friend Hazel, I will be marinating in the guilt I not noticing they had no water yesterday afternoon. I also decided to turn the heat up I their floor, so my guilt was doubled as I realized they were probably warmer than usual, and very thirsty. I brought them full quarter bottles, and a dish for faster drinking (they just flip dishes though, so we don't leave them in unless it's HOT out) and Orson sat there slurping for ages. The garage was silent, so I could hear his stomach gurgling as he drank. I FELT SO BAD! I hoped to make amends by bringing them a dish of snow to play with. I hope it worked.


Extreme leg stretch, oh yeah.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone