39 weeks

**EDITED**
So once again I've screwed up the pictures and they are cutting off some stuff on the right side. I'm too lazy to fix it now since it already took way too long to get this post ready. Sorry!

Baby Moon is still cookin'. Momma Moon is still miserable. :P

In the past two weeks there has been a trip to the hospital over what turned out to be false labor (the kid's got jokes) and two doctor's appointments. On Friday I was still 2-3cm and 50% effaced which didn't surprise me since all contractions pretty much ceased after the hospital trip. They have picked up again in the past two days, so hopefully we're getting somewhere. I'll go again on Friday (the 10th) if nothing happens before then and will most likely set a date for induction. Until then I'm just trying to pass the time.

Thankfully the holiday weekend provided lots of entertainment and fun. Justin was off of work on Thursday and Friday so I had a great 4 day weekend with him. Thursday he and Mom and I went to see Transformers 2 and we all loved it. After the movie I went to get a mani/pedi (which took about 3 hours) compliments of the Cardoza family. THAT was lovely. :) Thanks guys!

Friday we spent the whole day with the gang at the pool (a friend's house) and I enjoyed feeling weightless in the water. It was the first time (and most likely the only time) I was able to swim since being pregnant and man do I wish we had a pool! Glorious. There was good food and fun was had by all. I played my best game of Corn Hole EVER, but we still lost thanks to absolutely ZERO help by my partner (Justin). It was a wonderful day - the best day that I had had in a long while. :)

Saturday was CCC's annual 4th of July party. Our band played all day (and by "all day" I mean, for the whole party - from about 12:30-4pm with just a couple of breaks) and it was fun covering a bunch of songs. It was SCORCHING hot, but I survived.

Sunday was a normal day and we got to spend more time with Michael and Krista, some good friends that recently moved away from Rockdale County. All in all the whole weekend was relaxing and fun and refreshing. Too bad every day isn't like that!

Here are a few pictures from the festivities:The band

Corn Hole

Michael. There are no words.

Me and Zach singin'.

The whole band.

Singin' with Bella.

Sweet William

Gettin' some sun on the enormous belly. :)

Hotness. :)

Thanks to Zach for sharing the pics.

Maternity Pictures - 36 weeks

The pictures are here! Like I said before, we had a photo shoot with Zach last week. They turned out great and I am excited to share them with you. There's a lot, but trust me, I narrowed it down as much as I could for you. :)

ENJOY!

In our living room

In the nursery

Our front porch

Our yard

In the field by a church up the road

My husband is hot.

At Corner Market in Conyers.

This one might be my favorite.

I really like this one too. Love that we are out of focus but laughing. :)

My husband is silly. Unless you know him well, you probably wouldn't think that.

What are your favorites? We have to pick some to frame.

If you want to see more of Zach's work or to contact him about booking a shoot, go here.

Now for the Baby Update:

At my appointment last Friday I was 1-2cm and 50% effaced. I have an ultrasound tomorrow (Thursday) to check the size of the baby - I'll be at 37 weeks, 4 days. If it is looking big we will talk about inducing so that it doesn't get so big that it increases the possibility of a c-section. I would really like to NOT have surgery. I'll see the doctor after the ultrasound so we'll see if I've progressed anymore since last week and what the options are for getting Baby Moon here. :) The contractions have definitely stepped it up a notch in the past few days so I'm getting excited.

That's all for now! Leave me a comment and tell me which pictures you like best! And go give Zach some comment love too!

Zippity Do Da

I was looking through some pictures last night and came across the album from our beach trip last year. I had forgotten about a lot of the pictures, and this first one in particular made me literally laugh out loud. That's me and Sarah - I think I was using her sunglasses as a mirror so I could fix my hair. Zach took this without us knowing it and now I'm glad he did. Compare it to the next picture of us about a month ago. Yeah. See the humor? :)



Zach came and took pictures of the belly and of Justin and I last night and I CANNOT WAIT to see them and share them with y'all. We had a really good time, and I didn't even really freak out in front of the camera. :) I didn't realize how tired I would be when we were done - but I had been standing for A LONG time and wasn't even thinking about it. I'm paying for it today, but that's just fine with me because I will have PICTURES! Yay! I'll share them just as soon as he gets them to me. If you want to encourage him to hurry it up go here.

Now for the all important baby update...

Let me interject here that I'm sorry for those of you that are still coming here because you want to see what crafty thing I've been up to and could care less about this baby that has taken over my blog (and my life). I promise I will be back to crafting eventually, but I also promise that you will forever be hearing about Baby Moon. That's just the way it is. So thanks for sticking with me!

Anyway - I went to the doctor last Friday for the first of my every-week-til-the-baby-comes visits. They did my Group B Strep test and I'll know the results of that THIS Friday. They also went ahead and checked me since I had been having some contractions and since I was already going to be undressed. Surprisingly I was at 1cm with a little effacement - nothing too exciting, but I was very glad to know that my body was at least getting ready. :) We also talked about the pelvic bones thing and basically Dr. Duhart said she didn't notice me being extremely small, but that since the baby was measuring big at 28 weeks that she would check me again this week and then either this week or next week I'll have an ultrasound to get an idea of how big the baby is and we'll go from there. I weighed 155lbs, which is what I THOUGHT I weighed the last visit, but the nurse said I weighed 154 last time, so I guess I gained a pound. But I swear she told me 155 the week before. :P The baby is supposedly gaining an ounce a day and I swear I think I can feel that happening. Also, I'm very curious about whether or not it is possible to feel and see the baby breathing - because there will be these very steady movements (not bumps or pokes, just the rising and falling of some part of the baby) that we can see and feel and they last for a long time. And it looks like breathing. It's kinda weird, but I can't figure out what else it would be. Anyone else experience that?

That's all.

P.S. I have a funny story (involving boobies) about my trip to the dermatologist today that I will share with you tomorrow so check back then.

34+ weeks

34 weeks, 155lbs

Well I'm under 40 days til Baby Moon's due date. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I am so ready to meet this baby and also to have my body back. And I don't even mean my pre-pregnancy body, I just mean a body that doesn't have a mind of it's own that I semi-recognize both physically and emotionally. I feel like I have been a completely different person for the past 8 1/2 months. Anyone else understand what I mean? It's like all these hormones have screwed with my head so much that I can barely even find myself in there somewhere. My creativity is GONE and I'm just praying that is a side-effect (ha!) of growing a human and all the hormones because I miss it and I miss being able to form cohesive logical thoughts. I also miss being able to get out of the bathtub by myself. :) But enough ranting.

I went to the doctor last Friday and now I have met everyone that could possibly deliver the baby. My blood pressure was actually very average the last two appointments. I don't know if that's good though - hopefully it's not just getting higher and higher. I asked if it was normal for my ribs to make popping noises and feel like they are breaking and apparently it is. Joy joy. :) I also asked about the likelihood of a C-Section for me and if there is anyway to tell ahead of time if it is a big possibility. My mom and a couple of her sisters had the thing where your pelvic bones aren't wide enough for the baby to get though and they had to have C-Sections because of it. I'm just interested in knowing if there's any chance of knowing that before-hand so I don't get stuck dilated to 4 cm for 20 hours and then told I have to have a Section. I'm gonna see Dr. Duhart next week (she does most of the C-Sections) so she can look at me and we can talk about it. I AM NOT scheduling a C-Section. Let me just be clear about that before I start getting all kinds of ugly emails about it.I finished work with Bella and William this week and it is bittersweet. I had a wonderful year with them and I hate that they were cheated out of my usual energetic self for the past few months. But we had fun and I am soooooo blessed to have been their nanny. And I'll still see them all the time. :)

I spent the last week getting my house clean because I always feel like I can't start on fun projects until the dishes are put away and the bed is made. This week I hope to finish the nursery. I just painted the new closet doors and now I need to buy fabric and sew the curtains, paint the table and chairs that were mine and Doug's growing up, re-cover the cushions for the glider-rocker (and figure out where I'm putting it), find artwork for the walls, and hang the shelving in the closet. Not too much, but I'm ready to have it all done.

That's all I've got for now peeps. I promise it won't be so long between posts now that I'm a stay at home mommy. :)

My new favorite thing.

These Steakhouse Cheddar subs are my new favorite things. Sarah saw them on sale last week and bought us a couple for lunch and I fell in love. I am usually not a fan of "packaged" meals, but the bread, meat, cheese, and sauces come packaged separately so you build your own sandwich the way you want. The Steakhouse Sauce is basically Arby's sauce - and we know how I love me some Arby's sauce! Also, it comes with a microwaveable tray so you can heat it without it getting all soggy and gross.

You should try some.

And also this:


That's all.

What's your favorite thing right now?

Bellies

Wow. What a crazy past few weeks! Good crazy, but crazy nonetheless. The whole month of April was spent with family and friends and it was wonderful. My college friend Katy flew in from Texas and spent a week with me (she's pregnant too - due two weeks after me) and somehow we managed to let the week go by without taking a single picture.:( But a couple weeks before she came here we stopped over in Dallas for a night and managed to snap a pic of our two growing familes. :) Justin, me and Baby Moon, Katy and Jubilee, and Tommy

I've been sick for the past 20ish days with a cold/allergies/sinus crap. My doctor put me on a Z Pack promising that it would do the trick and it did not. I go back this Friday and hopefully we'll find something that will work. I'm pretty tired of not being able to breathe, and between the stuffy nose and a child sitting on my lungs it's been pretty rough.

Thursday nights are always spent with the May's and this last Thursday was no exception even though it was the day before Sarah's due date. I realized late that afternoon that we did not have a single picture of our pregnant bellies so I called Sarah and told her she couldn't go into labor until we took a couple. Who knows if we'll ever be pregnant at the same time again?! This was important stuff! She obliged and Zach took a few of us after dinner. We are terrible at having our pictures taken!! Zach kept telling us to do stuff and we would both just stand there or just start laughing. Believe it or not, I get pretty camera shy. But it was fun and we got a couple of good ones for the baby books. :) Now Sarah says that we get to take some again the day before MY due date so her belly will be back to normal and mine will be about to pop. I don't think that's very fair, but I love her so we'll see.We have about 15 more pictures like this one where we are supposed to be doing something specific but all we can do is laugh.

I can't begin to tell you how weird it was to have our bellies touching. I mean, the inside of your bellybutton never touches anything, much less the inside of your best friend's bellybutton. Very strange.
40 weeks and 30 1/2 weeks, respectively. I hope I look that good the day before I have this kid.I am ready to have this baby. 62 days feels like FOREVER, especially after I spent the weekend at the hospital with Sarah and Zach and their precious new baby, Connor. I'm ready to hold Baby Moon. And breathe again. :)

I have decided that week 30 was NOT my favorite week of pregnancy. Baby Moon found my ribcage and used them for monkey bars pretty much 24/7 with the occasional break to jump on my bladder. It is a strange feeling to have just peed and then 2 minutes later to feel like you better run to the bathroom to go again only to sit there for 5 minutes waiting to squeeze out 4 drops. I'm not crazy about that. I do love that I can "play" with the baby though. I can move it around and it will push back. Also, sometimes if it hurts me bad I fuss at it and push in kinda firmly and it lets me know that it doesn't approve of my discipline. :) Justin doesn't like it when I do that and thinks it's great when I get kicked 10 times as hard afterwards.

In other pregnancy news, I passed my glucose test the first time (Praise the Lord!!!) so I definitely don't have gestational diabetes. However, apparently I am not immune to the Rubella virus (it's the R in the MMR vaccine that you get as babies and then in high school - aka German Measles) so that's kinda weird since about the only women that aren't immune were born outside of the US. They said it doesn't mean anything for the baby, just that I have to have a new injection of the vaccine right after I deliver so that the next time I'm pregnant there is no chance I can get it and pass it to the baby (which can only happen in the first trimester). Good thing the virus has been eradicated in the US for quite sometime. Sheesh. And, I now weigh 150 lbs.. I cannot even comment on that.This is my bellybutton and Jorge, the scar just above it. Teenagers, this is why you don't get your bellybutton pierced. I got mine done in the fall of '02, took it out a month later, and I STILL got a scar from it when my belly grew. Now, can you imagine what a tattoo on your abdomen will look like when you are big and pregnant? Not cute!! Seriously - think twice - err, 100 times before you do it. You can't really tell in the picture, but it is about an inch long vertically and it's super shiny on the inside like a really bad stretch mark. Before my belly grew you could barely even tell there was a tiny scar there. So unless you want a scar big enough to name, don't do it.

Last one, I promise. Micah (Zach and Sarah's 1st born) stayed with us while they were at the hospital Friday, all night, and Saturday morning. We have very few pictures of me and him together, and I like this one because we were just chillin' watching some "Nemo." Micah loves me, but he usually spends most of his time playing with his "Ju-Jus" (Justin). But Friday he was in a "Neh-Nee" mood and snuggled with me for the whole movie. He's pretty much the cutest kid ever and we love spending time with him.

Yo Diggity

*I have no idea how the whole first half of this text became a link. Sorry. But if you want to see and HUGE version of Justin on the ladder, just click it. :)*

So it's been a while. But that's because there has been lots going on around here. There was a trip to Louisiana via airplane (that was delayed 3.5 hours), a road trip to Houston, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, and then a roadtrip back to GA. I had a baby shower in Leesville (lots of fun - pictures soon) and now my parents are here in GA for this whole week because I have a shower here on Saturday. YAY! We've been working on the house and yard all week (well, Mom and I have been keeping kiddos and Dad has been working on the house). It's looking great and I'm so very very happy. I finally decided on crib bedding and a paint color so we will hopefully finish painting the nursery tomorrow and I can share pictures of that. :) I told you there was a lot going on.

I had an ultrasound and my glucose test this morning. I managed to not throw up the lemony limey sickly sweetness that is the glucose you have to drink. Yuck. Pictures to come of Baby Moon but I have to scan them first. I had only gained 3 lbs in 3 weeks and that was with a very full bladder so I was happy. :)

Mom and Dad were here for Easter and it was a wonderful day. Church was fantastic and it was beautiful outside. We took a couple of pictures so enjoy those and maybe a few other randoms thrown in there for fun.

In our front yard - Baby Moon is definitely growing!

This was an accidental picture - but it's sweet.

Mom and Dad

My handsome handyman - working on the gutters and also fixing the crap job that the wildlife people did in sealing up the house. $600 down the drain.

We had this pretty little tree in the front year but since we didn't live here last spring we had no idea what it was. When we returned from our 10 day trip to LA/TX it had bloomed and it is a pink dogwood. Very pretty.

William is sitting up by himself now. He's so proud and cute. That's his "little old man" grin.

There's lots more to tell about the trips and the baby, but I'll wait until I have picture to go with it.

You are not naked.

Read THIS.

And then come back and share your thoughts.

First Kiss

My first kiss was in kindergarten.  Well, if by first kiss we mean the first time I was kissed by a boy not related to me.  His name was Harvey Logan.  It was recess and I needed to go potty so I went back into my classroom to take care of that business.  When I walked in the room it was dark but someone was coming out of the bathroom.  It was Harvey.  He walked right up to me and kissed me dead on the lips.  I nearly died.  Seriously - I'm not even sure what I did but I know that I was mortified.  He wasn't the gross kid or anything, but at the age of 5 1/2 I really had no interest in kissing boys (believe it or not).  He found me recently on Facebook and the first thing he said was, "so do you remember when you kissed me in Mrs. Ford's room?"  and I very quickly and firmly reminded him that THAT was most certainly not how it went down.  So there's that.

My first "real" kiss was at Jaimi Rodger's house at our 8th grade graduation party.  There were lots of people there (and by lots I mean maybe 20) but 4 of us decided to play spin the bottle.  Well as luck would have it there were no bottles to be found, so we spun an empty coke can.  Yeah.  First I kissed Martin Driscoll and I thought his tongue was fat.  Then I kissed Justin "Bubba" Randolph and he tasted like 7Up and Spearmint gum. 

My first real kiss not playing a game was shortly after that with Chris O'Brien.  We went 4 wheeler riding and then kissed in the moonlight by the lake.  Trust me - it sounds MUCH more romantic than it was. :)  I like him for about 2 days and then it was over.  Ah, young summer love. :P

I would continue that pattern of liking a boy, kissing him, and then 2 days later realizing maybe he wasn't so great for the next 5 or so years - which amounts to about 45 boys.  Throw in a very serious 3 year relationship in those 5 years (that ended my freshman year of college) and I'll let you do the math as to how many kissed boys were running around Louisiana College.  Sheesh.  What was I thinking?

Then I met Justin and that was it.  He's the last boy I'll ever kiss.  And I LOVE it that way.

So...

I think I want my kid to call me Mum like they do in England.

At least that way when there's a hundred kids at the park all yelling MOOOOOM! mine will stand out a little.  

And if it could have a British accent that would rock my world.

That's all. Carry on.

Giveaway Winner!

Miss Isabella drew a winner for me today and it was...

JORI-O who said, "Thanks for stopping by and giving me the head's up about your contest! Okay, one of the best presents we got was an Exergen temporal scan thermometer. I LOVE IT! The cheapest place I've found it is Wal-Mart--it's about thirty bucks and worth every penny."

Thanks for the tip!  I probably would never have added a temporal scan thermometer on my own, but it's on the registry now!

Go say congratulations to Jori!

Bump Watch 22 Weeks

Click HERE for the GIVEAWAY! You could win!!

______________

Here it is - The Belly at 22 weeks.  Would you believe me if I told you that in the past four days since these pictures were taken it has grown?  Well, it has - enough so that where on Sunday I could breath normally, now I suddenly feel like there's an elephant sitting on my chest.  OK, maybe not an elephant, but a small person at least.  Baby Moon is doing more than just wiggling now - it feels like there's a jungle gym full of monkeys in there!  Justin feels it all the time now and if you watch my stomach you can see it moving.  It's a very strange feeling - especially when it kicks right behind my belly button.  I keep waiting to see my belly button popping in and out when it kicks there. :)  I'm feeling pretty good overall - I have bursts of energy and then I crash but for the most part I'm still feeling kinda tired all the time.  But at least I'm not sick!  The back pain on the lower left side is still hanging around so I'm just dealing with it.  My doctor asked me if I wanted a prescription to help with it, but I don't want to take anything unless I have to - if it gets to where I can't walk I'll ask for something.  Until then I'll settle for lots of long soaks in the tub. :)

I'm getting really excited about my Baby Showers that are coming up in April - it's finally MY

TURN!! Yay!

We still haven't done anything to the nursery but throw the furniture in there, but I did order a fabric swatch for some bedding I think I like so hopefully we can get started on that soon.  Here's the bedding if you want to see.

That's about it on the pregnancy update.  I'll probably think of 20 more things later, but for now

 that's all I've got for ya.

In the mountains of North Carolina, overlooking Lake Glenville

Again, a very windy Lake Glenville

Last weekend was my friend Krista's Bachelorette Weekend (the wedding is in 2 weeks!) so we went up to Someplace, NC (I think it's between Highlands and Cashiers) and stayed at the Beech's lake house.  I wish I could describe how beautiful it is there, but I could never do it justice.  Jeff and Greta are quite possibly the most generous people ever, and on occasion they let us hang out at their place.  It's a huge three story house that could probably sleep 20+ people and it's right on Lake Glenville.  Gorgeous.  

We had a blast playing games and watching Krista open her lingerie and stuff.  I'm pretty sure

 the gifts that Leslie, Bailey, and I got her won't be forgotten anytime soon. :)

The Bachelorette

All the girls at Horacio's - a very yummy and intimate Italian Restaurant in Cashiers, NC.  If you are ever in the area you should totally check it out - but BEWARE of Horacio (the owner).  He just might feel you up if you aren't careful.  Seriously - watch yourself. :)

*EDITED*  This was supposed to be a picture of ALL the girls - but blogger is being weird again (or I'm just an idiot) and I can't make the picture any smaller so it's cutting off some people.  Sorry!

Me, Bailey, and Leslie.  The best part about this picture was watching Leslie try to get the camera set up to take it - at one point she was laying flat on a little table trying to make sure we would be relatively centered.  Good job Les!

GIVEAWAY! Calling all Mommys (and Daddys)

I need your help!  Justin and I are going this weekend to finish up our Baby Registry's and I want to make sure that we don't leave anything out.  We've got all the basics down plus the stuff BabiesRUs and Wal-Mart tells you is a "must." Here's what I need from you - tell me about the stuff you just couldn't live without - especially if it was a random gift or was recommended by someone else and we wouldn't normally register for it.  It can be for baby, or mom, or dad.

If you leave me a comment with a suggestion, you'll be entered into the giveaway.  You can choose your prize from this list:

*Personalized Bib and Burpie Set

*4 custom Potholders (or "hotpad holders")

*Personalized Custom Adult Apron (this is great for guys too!)

If you tell your friends to come and share their can't-live-without baby items, and they tell me you sent them, you'll get a second entry.

If you BLOG this giveaway and the specifics of what I need and come back and tell me, you'll get a third entry.

You have until Saturday, March 14th at 8pm to get your suggestions in so hop to it peeps!!

Don't forget to leave your email address in your comment or make sure there is a way for me to contact you if you win. :)

Randomness Part 2: Recipes

*Edited*  I apologize for the weird font sizes and spacing issues.  I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix it and make it all the same and just when I thought it worked, I realized that it looked totally different when it published.  I don't know what the deal is.  Also, does anyone else that uses blogger know what is up with pictures lately?  It's been really difficult to get them arranged on the page for some reason.

Now for some more randomness...

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, and to those of you who aren't Catholic (which I'm not) or from Louisiana (which I am), a day called Fat Tuesday probably sounds pretty weird.  Mardi Gras in French means "Fat Tuesday" and it is the day before Ash Wednesday.  I'll not go into all of that, but if you are interested just click the links.  

I spent all last week in Louisiana, and the tail end of the week was spent in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras festivities.  I'll have actual pictures from that soon (well, as soon as Mom and CeCe send them to me).  Since pretty much no one here knows or cares about Mardi Gras (to me it's a cultural thing) I wanted to do something fun to acknowledge "Fat Tuesday." I

 made Natchitoches Meat Pies and King Cake.  Zach, Sarah, and Micah came over and we hung out and watched Micah entertain himself with a hand full of beads for a couple of hours. :)  Both the Meat Pies and the King Cake turned out great, so I thought I'd share the recipes that I used.  

Natchitoches Meat Pies

INGREDIENTS:

½ pound ground me

at

½ pound ground pork

½ cup cooking oil

½ cup chopped onions

½ cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped green bell

 pepper

¼ cup chopped red bell

 pepper*

1 tbsp diced garlic

2 cups beef stock (see recipe)

2 9-inch pie shells

1 egg

½ cup water

salt and cracked black pepper to taste

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

In a heavy-bottomed sauté pan, heat oil over medium high heat. 

Sauté beef and pork until golden brown, stirring constantly, until all liquid has evaporated.

Add onions, celery, bell peppers and garlic. 

Sauté three to five minutes or until vegetables are wilted. 

This should cook slowly for about one hour, adding beef stock to mixture to prevent sticking. 

Season to taste using salt and pepper.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Roll pie dough into circles and cut into halves. 

Spoon a generous portion of the cooked meat mixture into the pie shells. 

Brush a little egg-wash around the edge of the shell, fold over and press the edges with a fork similar to apple turnover.

 

Place on a greased cookie sheet or pan. Make small slits in dough to vent steam, egg-wash entire pie and bake thirty minutes at 400 degrees. 

Pie may also be deep-fried. 

*I left out the red peppers because they are really expensive right now.  Also, I added Tony's Chachere's Cajun Seasoning and a little

Crushed Red Pepper flakes.  However, I did not let the meat and veggie mixture cook for an hour - it tasted just fine after 15 or so minutes of cooking.  Believe it or not, aside from the length of time I cooked the meat stuff,  I actually followed the recipe!

King Cake

Prep: 30 min.; Cook: 10 min.; Stand: 5 min.; Rise: 1 hr., 30 min.; Bake: 16 min. 

This recipe uses bread flour, which makes for a light, airy cake. You still get tasty results with all-purpose flour--the cake will just be more dense.

Yield:

Makes 2 cakes (about 18 servings each)

Ingredients:

1  (16-ounce) container sour cream

1/3  cup  sugar

1/4  cup  butter

1  teaspoon  salt

2  (1/4-ounce) envelopes active dry yeast

1/2  cup  warm water (100° to 110°)

1  tablespoon  sugar

2  large eggs, lightly beaten

6  to 6 1/2 cups bread flour*

1/3  cup  butter, softened

1/2  cup  sugar

1 1/2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon

*Creamy Glaze*

Purple-, green-, and gold-tinted sparkling sugar sprinkles

Preparation:

Cook first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Set aside, and cool mixture to 100° to 110°.

Stir together yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a 1-cup glass measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.

Beat sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until smooth. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add enough remaining flour (4 to 4 1/2 cups) until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until dough is doubled in bulk.

Punch down dough, and divide in half. Roll each portion into a 22- x 12-inch rectangle. 

Spread 1/3 cup softened butter evenly on each rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border. 

Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle evenly over butter on each rectangle.

Roll up each dough rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, starting at 1 long side. 

Place one dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends of roll together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Repeat with second dough roll.

Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Bake at 375° for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden. Slightly cool cakes on pans on wire racks (about 10 minutes). 

Drizzle Creamy Glaze evenly over warm cakes; sprinkle with colored sugars, alternating colors and forming bands. Let cool completely.

Cream Cheese-Filled King Cake: Prepare each 22- x 12-inch dough rectangle as directed. Omit 1/3 cup softened butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Increase 1/2 cup sugar to 3/4 cup sugar. Beat 3/4 cup sugar; 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened; 1 large egg; and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on each dough rectangle, leaving 1-inch borders. Proceed with recipe as directed.*6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour may be substituted.

*Creamy Glaze

Yield:

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

3  cups  powdered sugar

3  tablespoons  butter, melted

2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice

1/4  teaspoon  vanilla extract

2  to 4 tablespoons milk

Preparation:

Stir together first 4 ingredients. Stir in 2 tablespoons milk, adding additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until spreading consistency.

I only wanted to make one cake so I halved the recipe.  Have you ever tried to half 1/3 cup?  Yeah - it comes out to .666666666 and on and on.  So basically I just eyeballed it.  I made the whole recipe of creamy glaze though, because it is yummy.  

This was a Southern Living recipe.

Randomness: Moonpie Designs

I just realized that I never posted any pictures of some of my Christmas orders - and here it is the end of February!  Sheesh.  

Take a gander:

Matching aprons for mom and daughter

Bib and Burpie sets in a new font.  I like it - what do you think?

Super soft blanket

Diaper Bag - 4 outer and 3 inner pockets

(Justin actually picked out the fabric for this bag.  He did great!)

Scalloped Edged flannel blanket and bibs

Those are the last things that I've made for Moonpie Designs.  Pretty soon I get to start making things for me and Baby Moon.  Yay!

Bump Watch: 16 1/2 Weeks

At my last doctor's appointment at 15 weeks (I think 15 weeks - it was Jan 23rd) I weighed 133 1/2 lbs.  Mind you that was with jeans, a sweater, cami, tummy sleeve, socks, undergarments, and a hat. . . hey, it adds up people!!  I did manage to get my shoes off before the nurse started reading the scale. :) They don't waste anytime.  My blood pressure was borderline low again but they keep saying it's because I'm calm and small.  Ha!  Calm my butt.  

We were very excited about this appointment because we hadn't heard the heartbeat yet and knew we would get to that day.  It took a while to find it and both Justin and I were freaking out internally (his face turned pretty white real quick) and then after a little while the doctor said, "that's your heartbeat mom, hmmm, that's a baby kick, that's another kick..." and then there it was plain as day - loud and fast!  I breathed a huge sigh of relief and Justin regained his coloring. :) The heart rate was 162.  Please refrain from giving me your opinion on the connection between heart rates and the sex of the baby.  I already know and I think its hogwash.

I also had my Triple Marker test that day and I swear I am asking for a new blood-taker-person next time.  She has bruised and hurt me every time she's done it and I've never had a problem with having my blood drawn before.  Sarah agrees with me - this woman is no good.

What else?  That's about it. I still feel pretty good except for occasional headaches (three or four times a week) and round ligament pain.  Also, my balance is slightly off since there is a turnip (or so says Baby Center) in my belly. I haven't felt the baby move yet, at least not that I can really tell, but expect to feel it soon.  And we have not yet decided if we are going to find out the sex, so don't ask.  

My belly button is having to work extra hard these days - it's getting pretty stretched out already.  And what you can't see in this picture is that my jeans are unzipped ALL THE WAY and I have a rubber band through he button hole and around the button that is just about stretched to the max.  But you do what you gotta do right?! 

We bought furniture for the nursery over the weekend and I will post pictures of that tomorrow. Promise! Camera batteries are charging right now.

Yay!

Check this out regarding the CPSIA.

Thanks for all your help - keep it up!

And thanks to Natalie for sharing the news!

"Baby Yih-yum"

***Scroll down for more info on the CPSIA. UPDATED***


Ok - so y'all know that I keep sweet Isabella everyday. But Sarah pointed out to me this week that I haven't blogged about the new addition to the Cardoza family, William - or, "Baby Yih-yum" as Micah and Bella call him. He's about 3 months old and is the cutest thing. So now I keep both of them everyday. We've been having a lot of fun, but I must say there are times when I wonder why on earth people have more than one child. It's a lot of work! :)

I snapped a few pics yesterday right before we headed back over to their house. Take a look:

I've been getting that look from Bella A LOT lately. She's definitely stepped up the stubbornness over the past couple of weeks. Ah - all that is a 2 1/2 year old!

Squinty eyed smile

Don't you just want to eat those cheeks! He's adorable and such a great snuggle-er.:)

Look! I can squint my other eye!

*Scroll down to read a post about saving the handmade community and small business like Moonpie Designs.*

SAVE HANDMADE!!!

*UPDATE*

Go here. There's more info about the CPSIA.
****************************************

If you make and sell handmade baby goods, love someone who does, or enjoy buying unique gifts for your kiddos, please go read about the CPSIA. It's a complete crap piece of legislation that goes into effect on February 10th and will quite effectively shut down Moonpie Designs and thousands of other small businesses like mine.

Read about it here - Caroline does a good job of explaining the basics of a very complex law. She gives several links you can visit to learn more and/or see how others are taking a stand and how you can too.

Though I'm hopeful that eventually there will be plenty of changes made to the clearly-not-well-thought-out original law, I'm still stressed about it. I started Moonpie Designs because I enjoy making things, but also because I wanted to have something I could do at home that might provide a little income once the kiddos start coming. Well, one is well on it's way, so you can see why I might be frustrated.

Just so you know, I just typed all of that with only my right hand. Baby William is snuggled up with the other one. More on that preciousness later - I took some pictures of him yesterday. For those of you who have no idea who I am talking about, check back later today to find out. :)

I'd love to know what you think about this CPSIA thing.

Goodbye 2008

Well Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and just a general hello!  

I seriously don't really even know where to start there are so many things that need to be blogged and shared that have happened over the past few months.

I guess I'll start with the biggest news - there is a Baby Moon on the way!  I'm nearly 13 weeks pregnant with what the books say is something akin to a medium shrimp in size (Last week it was a lime, which I would think is bigger than a shrimp but apparently I am wrong.).  Funny how something so small can cause so many changes!  Thankfully I haven't been "sick" at all (and by "sick" I mean throwing up) especially for the first 10 weeks.  As long as I ate I was fine.  Weeks 10-12 were plagued with headaches though and nothing really helped except for sleep and if you've ever been pregnant you know how little sleep one can get between having to pee every two hours whether you drink anything or not to just being uncomfortable to not being able to shut off your brain no matter how exhausted you are.  For the most part the headaches are gone now, but have been replaced with an appetite that rivals a teenage boy's.  Seriously - if I don't eat every two hours (almost on the dot) someone is going to get hurt.  I know it's normal, but I just keep thinking that if I continue eating like this I am going to gain 100lbs and never ever look anything like I used to.  Is that vain?  Maybe.  Probably.  But I'd really prefer not to feel like a cow for the rest of my life. :)  I weighed 126lbs at my first doctor's appointment at 5 1/2 weeks and last night I weighed 130 which nearly made be fall over until I remembered that I'm supposed to be gaining weight.  So I guess 4 lbs isn't all that bad.  

We are thrilled about this baby (though also scared senseless at times) and our families are as well.  It was a very good holiday season.

We stayed in Conyers for Christmas this year since we were in Leesville for Thanksgiving.  We took a little trip to Nashville with the Mays to see our favorite singer/songwriter, Andrew Peterson and a slew of other uber talented folk perform his Behold the Lamb of God concert at the Ryman.  That's really a whole nother post though.  Sarah already talked about it all so you can go there to read more.

 For the most part it was a relaxing time with Justin off of work for several days.  Christmas Eve we went to the Moon's and had a traditional Christmas meal and then laid out on the couches and watched tv.  We spent Christmas morning at our house and opened our gifts from each other and my parents.  Justin got me a waffle maker and it has already been put to good use.  I cooked Chicken Deluxe for lunch and took it over to the Moon's where we ate and then exchanged gifts.  Great times.  Our Korean friend, Jang, drove in from North Carolina on Christmas day and came with us to Greensboro for Christmas with Justin's extended family.  He stayed until Monday morning.  We didn't do much after Christmas but lay around and watch the new movies we got :  The Dark Knight, Sleeping Beauty, Enchanted, Juno, The Sandlot, and Sleepless in Seattle.  I had a big order to fill that had to go to Dallas by today so I spent lots of time cutting fabric and sewing.  All in all it was pretty relaxing.  I'm starting to ramble so here are some random pictures:

Our Christmas gift from my DD - quite possibly the best gift EVER!  Love me some La-Z-Boy.

The belly at 11 1/2 weeks and my new pjs from Momma and Daddy.  It's tradition - every year we get new pjs to open on Christmas Eve.  These are the softest pajamas I have ever owned.  I wish I could live in them.  Wait, I pretty much have been.:)

My stocking.

And now I am mad at blogger because when I try to add images from the web it says that they have been added but they haven't.  BOO blogger.  I guess I'll have to add those later.

Hopefully it won't be so long between this post and the next!  Until then friends.

Noises

There's something in our attic again. This time it's big. Like, really big. Big enough to eat ALL of our blocks of rat poison and not die. This thing might be next of kin to Chuck Norris.

Justin and I were eating dinner and watching NCIS and all of a sudden it sounded like someone was walking on our roof. He ran outside with the flashlight to see what it was then ran back in and said it was in the attic.

Guess who's getting a call from us in the morning? Yep - the Wildlife people that we paid $600 to seal up our roof so nothing can get in. Clearly that worked. Sheesh.

I'm just so glad Justin heard it too because if I had called him and said, "there's a person walking on our roof right now" I'm not sure he would have believed me.

Truth

This is so very very true of me. How bout you?

Click here.

Halloween

Justin and I were Juno McGuff and Paulie Bleeker from the movie Juno for Halloween this year. How'd we do?

Here's the DVD cover:
And here's us:

Not too bad huh? Just so you know, I painted Justin's socks, shirt, sweatbands, and the orange stripes on my shirt. It took hours, but turned out great. I thought so at least. :)

Halloween was super low key this year. We went to the May's and hung out for the evening with some other friends. Here's Micah as Charlie Brown and Isabella as Little Red Riding Hood:Crappy picture - they were so NOT into pictures that night. But they were adorable.

Before and After: Our House

OK peeps, here's what you've all been waiting for - HOUSE PICTURES! Because I am lazy and blogger is acting weird right now, I'm just putting them all on here in no particular order. The "Before's" are first. Also, I didn't edit anything. Again, because I am lazy and it already took me 2 days to get this post ready.

Back of the house

Kitchen looking towards Master Bath

Kitchen looking towards dining room and garage

Kitchen - notice the weird counter top piece hiding the back of the stove

Kitchen

Kitchen

Water heater in Garage




Back of house

Wallpaper in Master Bath

That's all the "before" pictures we have. We started working on the house before it occurred to me that I might want "before" pictures of everything. Oh well.

Here's what it looks like now:

Dining Room

Stone plates from Hobby Lobby

Kitchen - We removed the cabinets from above the stove and replaced the weird counter top piece hiding the stove with a larger piece of wood and shelving

The little shelving unit is from IKEA

New flooring and lighting in the kitchen and dining room

We painted the kitchen cabinets a dark brown. The actual color is Sarasparillo. The turtle in the window is from Senegal, West Africa. Zach thought he needed to look out the window and that is where he's staying. :)

New French Door refrigerator. The wall color in the kitchen is Vanilla Brandy.

Living Room - wall color is Martha Stewart Brick Hearth

There will eventually be more things on the walls.

I love our fireplace. The mantle was natural cedar when we bought it - we painted it dark brown.

The window on the mantle is from my paternal grandparents house - the house my dad grew up in. They still live there, but they replaced the windows a while back and DD let me have them.

The djembe (drum) is from Senegal, West Africa too.

Master Bath - I made the curtain. That fabric was $46 a yard at JoAnns and I found it for $5.99 a yard at OHCO in Covington. That was a good day.

We painted the vanity the same color as the kitchen cabinets and bought a new counter top, new sinks, and new faucets. We got new lighting too from Lithonia Lighting.

Justin installed a shower door.

And he did a little landscaping in the backyard.

He and Daddy built a cover for the water heater.

Justin added shelves to the side for shoe storage. Since living in Korea, both of us are in the habit of removing our shoes when we get home.

These are the cabinets that we took out of the kitchen. Now we have excellent storage in the garage.

Well that's it for now folks. We haven't done anything at all to the upstairs yet, and our Master Bedroom is next on the project list.

I want to know what you think so PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE leave me some comments!

Lust-Fest

I want it.

Click the picture for a better view.

Writing Prompt - A Time I Hid from Someone

This is a writing assignment given by Mama Kat. Want to participate? Head on over there and check out the other prompts!

*I apologize in advance for the lack of paragraphs and any run-on sentences. I tend to write how I talk. :)

One of my favorite memories of my college days has to do with hiding - and breaking and entering, but does it really count as breaking if you just opened a door that was already broken?

Several friends and I decided it would be fun to break into the old barn at the insane asylum a few miles from my college. (This is what happens when you go to a Christian school - you have to find unconventional ways to have fun and/or get in trouble. But that's another post for another time.) The "barn" (we're aren't really sure what it was exactly) sat atop a steep hill and looked like something out of a horror movie. We parked at the bottom of the hill, off the main road, but still under a street lamp. After climbing the hill, we found a door that was off its hinges and snuck inside. Of course we didn't plan ahead and bring a flashlight, so the only light source we had was one of those little red LED lights you can keep on your key chain. Yeah. Think creepy place, the middle of the night, and one tiny little red light. Red lights make everything scarier. So we are walking around and the place is pretty much empty except for a bunch of boxes all stacked up and the occasional bed frame. So naturally, we open the boxes. Well, the first one we open just has like old calenders and some paperwork and stuff. Bor-ing! So we open another. And another. Then we each start opening our own boxes because up to this point we have all been moving as one big blob -- everyone holding on to someone else. So I open my box and pull out what looks like a cloth rag of some sort. Excited that we found something other than paper, everyone gathers around my box with the light. I hold up the rag thing and for a beat there is silence. And then there is screaming. And then there is mass chaos as the guys try to hush the screaming. I finally get a chance to look at what is causing the commotion and I realize that I am not holding a cleaning rag, I am holding a white t-shirt with what appears to be huge bloodstains on it. Bloodstains! Suddenly I hear everyone saying "shhh shhh" and we hear voices coming from outside near the door. Not good. So quiet mass chaos ensues again as we try to find a way out without going back through the door. There's no other way out (all the windows are nailed shut) so we end up sneaking up to the door and then running full speed to the other side of the building - the side nearest where we parked the car. When we look down the hill to where the car is, we see a cop walking around the car and writing down the license plate number. We had already made it half way down the hill when we saw the cop so now we are all hiding behind a big oak tree - the only tree on the whole hill. Before the cop gets back in his car, he walks to the base of the hill and picks up my friends shoes (moccasin slippers) that he left there because he didn't want them to get wet. The cop takes the shoes with him, gets in his car, and leaves. As soon as he's gone we jet to the car (because the whole time we can still hear voices up the hill and it sounds like the groundskeepers or whoever are looking for us) and drive to the river and park under the bridge. Jaimi (the only other girl and the owner of the car) starts freaking out because she thinks the cops are going to be waiting for her when she gets back on campus, so we sat under the bridge for most of the night, scared out of our minds, pumped with adrenaline, and starving. We eventually ended up at a friend's apartment to crash for the remainder of the night. The cops never contacted Jaimi and we never heard anything else about it.

What I can't figure out is, why did the cop take the shoes?

There's a Wocket in my Pocket *UPDATED*

Do you remember that Dr. Seuss book? It was one of my favorites and it comes to mind this morning as I am dealing with my very own zattic in my attic. Or maybe it's just a squirrel, but still. I'm not a fan of things going bump in my walls - day OR night.

I'm upstairs in our bonus room trying to get some work done for both Moonpie Designs and the World Mission Team at CCC and suddenly there are lots of bumps. And then there is the pitterpatter of little feet. But they don't sound so little. And then there was scratching on the access door to what's left of the attic. This is terrible. Did I mention I'm here ALONE?

Normally these things wouldn't really bother me, but this is a new house and I haven't even been in the attic and the thought of something running out at me and getting loose in my house whilst I am here by myself is not really something I want to entertain.

However, there has already been a request that I get all of it on video when I manage to remind myself that I am much bigger and smarter than anything living in my attic, so maybe in a bit I will have a little footage for your viewing pleasure. Just know that there will probably be screaming and girliness and the fact that I am willing to let you see me acting girly should prove how much I love you. I'm cringing just thinking about it.

Of course - now I don't hear it anymore so maybe it scampered away and I can forget it was even there.

**UPDATE**
As I was pulling into my driveway 3 minutes ago I watched as at least two squirrels crawled into my roof (yes, INTO the roof - by going under a loose shingle). This is not good. They are building an army. They are going to sneak into my room at night and pelt me in the head with their stockpiles of acorns. I just know it.
__________________________________

Now for some pictures that I have been needing to post:

We were blessed beyond words when 9 people showed up to help us move (since Justin's back was still messed up and he was on strict orders not lift anything off of the ground). With all those people it only took 2 hours to haul everything down three flights of stairs, load it up, drive across town, and unload it in the right rooms at the new house. Right before we took this picture, Steve prayed over us and our house. One of the things he said was that he was grateful for the 8 guys and 1 lady that were blessed with the physical ability to be able to pass on that blessing and help us. We really are "blessed to be a blessing" (Read Genesis 12:1-3) and Justin and I were certainly blessed that day.

So a HUGE thank you to Zach May, Steve Merritt, Steven Miller, Ben Heskett, Jeff Rutherford, Greg Coniglio, Dick Mulloy (aka Granny Clampett...ha!), and Tommy and Nancy Moon. Y'all are truly the best!
_____________________________________

Bella and I at my birthday party at Tava's.

Now you know you're tired when you fall asleep at the table! How precious is she!

She needs your help.

A friend of mine, Nicki, is moving to Romania to do mission work - but before she can go she needs to sell all of her stuff. She's having a Garage Sale this Saturday so if you live in the metro Atlanta area please come help her get on her way. Below is the flyer she sent out with the address and a list of some of the things for sale.

EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!!

GARAGE SALE
Saturday, September 27th
8:30 a.m. till Everything is gone!!!
50 Mountain Way, Covington, GA 30016

Make an offer – all funds will go toward move to Romania for mission work.

Some items are on website, but not all – http://godsjourney.weebly.com/selling-it-all.html
Bunk Beds
Twin Bed
Table and 6 chairs
Washer
Big Round Chair
Red Dishes
Blue Dishes
Wall Clocks
Inspirational Pictures
Christian Books
Christian Music cd’s
Baskets
3-CD Stereo with speakers
Filing Cabinet
Lawn supplies
Dog stuff
Linens (bedspreads, sheets, pillows, etc.)
Misc. Kitchen supplies (knives, utensils, etc.)
Microwave
Toaster
Can Opener
Canister Set
Bathroom curtain, rugs, towels
Games

If you need more info or want to know how to support Nicki financially please let me know.

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Yeah, not me apparently.

Well, I'm here, but my brain flew the coop and I'm not sure when to expect it back.

I have things to write about, lots of things actually, but when I sit down to write them I can't. The words have gone the way of the Dodo. Sorry to all 12 of you who read this blog.

Oh yes, and hello again to Mableton, GA. I still don't know who you are, but you are a very faithful reader and for that I like you - you know, as long as you aren't plotting my demise in your basement or anything equally as creepy. And if you are wondering if you are the Mableton lurker and you are from Mableton. . .YOU ARE! I know this because there is only one person from M-Town that visits. So there ya go.

Now for the main reason I worked up the energy to come upstairs and post anything...

Mama Kat is giving away a Hoover vacuum cleaner!

So you just skidaddle on over there and follow her instructions for entering the contest. Don't lie - I know you love free stuff as much as I do. And tell her I sent you. And then tell her she's pretty. She'll like that.

So...that's it. I know, this was a lame post. But hey- maybe you'll win the vacuum and then you'll be so happy you read this boring post that you won't care and you'll keep coming back.

I'm going to do better. Really, I am. (It just took 5 tries to type "really" correctly. Relaly.:P) So please don't give up on me.

Honey Bug

So I get to play with THE MOST precious girl everyday - sweet Isabella. Yesterday I told her she was my "Honey Bug" and she kept saying that all day. It was too cute so today I got it on video:

Is that not the cutest?!

*Sorry for the rough editing of the video - I'm still figuring this out. :)

Give me Your Eyes

You know that whole World Mission Team Leader thing I mentioned? This is my prayer for the people of Christ Community Church - that we would bring our hearts so that we can see God's and that He would give us His eyes to see what He sees.

Dave (our pastor) sent out this video link yesterday and the timing was perfect - it is my prayer for us.

http://www.reunionrecords.com/brandonheath/preview/video/ I had never heard of Brandon Heath or this song before, but you can bet I'll keep my ears open for more of his stuff. :)

Leave a comment and tell me what you think of the video. What kind of thoughts does it provoke?

Also, if you want to hear an amazing sermon on The Blessed Life, go here.

Random Updates

Hi all.

Here's a brief rundown of what's been going on with the Moon family over the past 3 or so weeks:

*Justin threw his back out. Apparently he has a bulging disc in his extreme lower back. This put him on the floor for several days. Literally - the man was on.the.floor unable to do much of anything. Getting to the bathroom was at least a 10 minute ordeal and it's only about 10-12 feet from the living room. I was pretty scared. I'd never seen him like that and I didn't like it. He spent his 28th birthday laying on the floor. Thankfully, our wonderful friends came over later that weekend and surrounded him on the floor for a make-shift birthday celebration. He's much better now, but still having to be super careful about how he moves and still wearing the brace a good bit.

*We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary this past Thursday. Justin was sick. He had a terrible cold and couldn't breath through his nose. His throat was also super sore and his voice sounded like he had sandpaper for vocal chords. It made my throat hurt just listening to him. But he took me out to eat anyway, and we got dressed up and went to one of our favorite places in Atlanta - Rock Bottom. Let me say now that it is not a dress-up place, but I didn't care because I wore the dress I bought while we were at the beach and still hadn't worn it yet - so I was determined to wear it no matter what. Justin was pretty miserable all night, but he did enjoy about 1/2 of his fish tacos so he was happy. I very much enjoyed my BBQ chicken pizza, and we took leftovers home and shared them on Friday. So yummy.

@ Rock Bottom

*The house is still coming along. Justin and his Uncle Buddy installed our new sliding glass patio door on Saturday. It looks fabulous. The kitchen cabinets are finished. The living room, kitchen, and bathroom walls are painted. The bathroom vanity is painted and the hardware is on, but we still have to decide what to do about the countertop. I'm not sure I want to tile so we just have to decide. We bought two new sinks and two faucets that are ready to install as soon as we figure out the countertop. Mary's husband, Chad, works at a flooring place and he's coming this afternoon to measure for our new flooring in the kitchen and dining room. Hopefully that will be installed this week. So - we still have several things to do, but we are so close to being done! Yay!

*I'm the new team leader for the new Global Outreach Team (aka Team World and World Mission Team) at Christ Community Church. So.super.excited. More on that soon.

That's all I've got night now folks. Time to put Bella down for a nap.

Toodles!

P.S. I should have a new camera soon. Yay! So maybe then my posts won't be so dreadfully boring.

Yummy in my tummy!

Two words: RAMEN NOODLES.

I just added about 5lbs of water weight to an already bloated body.

But OH MY were they so scrumdidilyumptious!
_______________________________________

In other news, the house is coming along (our stove is here, but waiting for us at Lowe's) and it is my goal to be moving in the house on Labor Day weekend.

T minus 18 days. {what does that really even mean?!}

That might not happen for many reasons, one of which is that it's a holiday weekend so there may not be any one around to help us move (since Justin can't really lift anything) and I certainly can't carry all of our crap down three flights of stairs all by me lonesy. Savvy?

But still. It's my goal.

La Dee Da

So yeah. Two weeks. That's a long time. Too long, in fact. I apologize to all twenty of you who actually stop by on a regular basis. And I would just like to say Hi to my lurker from Mableton, GA that stops by numerous times a day and stays for quite a while each time. I have no idea who you are and to be honest I am really hoping that you are a friend and I just don't realize it. Because if not, I'm tempted to think you might be a stalker. And that's a little creepy. Ok, really creepy. Not that anyone would ever have any reason to stalk me, but still. It's creepy.
So how bout you leave me a little ol' comment and clear that up for me. Thanks.

And YES, I keep a close eye on who visits everyday. Hey y'all!

So anyway - there's been a good bit going on the past two weeks. I'll be back later today or tomorrow to fill you in on that.

Right now I have three orders to fill, an adorable little girl to play with, and I am working on a new face for the blog. I think it's time.

Oh yeah, and my 1 year bloggy anniversary is coming up this month so I'm coming up with something special to celebrate. Stay tuned!

P.S. If any of you happen to have extra money laying around and want to bless us with a new digital camera (since ours has gone absolutely caput and blogs are pretty darn boring without pictures) and/or an island range hood that'd be great. I'm just sayin is all.

Oh happy day!

We are off to IKEA for the morning! We're making progress with the house -- the living room is painted (but not the trim) and the bathroom has been stripped of wallpaper, sanded, sealed, mudded, and sanded again. The kitchen cabinets have been sanded and half of them have been primed. The doors have new locks and deadbolts. We have a swing on the front porch. We have decided on bathroom paint colors and bought flooring. Oh yeah - and we have new bathroom light fixtures (yay for hubby working at a lighting company!). There is still so much to do, but we figured since we have been working our butts off that we deserve a break -- so we are introducing my parents to IKEA and The Varsity. :) Should be fun.

P.S. for Sarah - I tried to call you to see if you wanted to come. You didn't answer. But I forgive. :P Love you!

I thieved it.

I have been wanting to change the music on here for weeks now but just haven't had a chance to do it. For the past two weeks I have been listening to the music on Emily's family blog and it has been making me happy. So I thieved her playlist. Well, not the whole thing, but parts of it. I wish I knew about these songs of my own doing, but I didn't. I am so glad that Emily did.

Hope you like them!

P.S. My parents arrived yesterday afternoon with a truck full of stuff for us and the house (The Clampett's came to town! Ha!) and they are staying all week to visit and help us work on the house. I am so excited they are here! If you are lucky you'll get to meet them. :)

Need stuff to think about?

Hi.

Go here.

and here.

But only if you can handle sarcasm and are willing to really, truly think about some stuff.

What's that you say? That's not enough information?

Ok ok. Calm down.

The first link is to a fabulous blog called Stuff Christians Like. I love it. But I will warn you - don't even bother going there if you can't appreciate sarcasm. I have no doubt that you will go there anyway, but consider yourself warned. If you go and leave with a little different perspective on the church (hopefully better) or a better understanding of the Gospel, don't say I didn't tell you so. Because this is me telling you so. There's a post on there today about Christians and drinking. As in, drinking alcohol. Yep. It's wonderful. Go see. Make sure you read the comments.

The second link is to a blog called Ragamuffin Soul. The author is Carlos "Los" Whittaker who is the "worship leader" at Buckhead Church in Atlanta. Los usually has interesting things going on on his blog - but if you head over there today you will see some very heated and interesting conversations about worship and "worship leaders." I hope that it will make you think and...well, I'll just leave it at that. That is a subject that has really been on my heart/mind/soapbox lately and so maybe it won't mean anything to you, but then again, maybe it will.

I hope that if you ever learn anything new or if you are ever reminded of something you had forgotten that you'll come and tell me about it. I might need to be reminded or learn something too.=)

Thank you!

Well it's official - Justin and I are homeowners (again). We closed this morning in what was probably the smoothest closing in the history of closings. Yay! Thank you Lord.

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who prayed with us through this! Y'all are amazing and we are so blessed to call you friends and family.=) Love y'all!

*P.S. You'll have to excuse me if my posting is sporatic over the next couple of weeks. I'm going to do my best to keep it up, but I'll most likely be painting and cleaning and moving and nannying. But feel free to comment and tell me how much to you miss me. That would be nice.=)

Friendship Part II

Ok - here's Part II of the Beach Trip pictures. I hope someone actually looks at these since it took a ridiculously long time to get this on here. You're welcome. =)

Seaside - sunglasses on

Sunglasses off

Seaside

I love pictures like this - -natural and un-posed.

Funny hats! I think I tried on every wide brimmed hat in the Florida panhandle that week. Seriously.

M & M still at Seaside

The Chapel at Seaside

We spotted this monstrosity somewhere between Rosemary Beach and Seaside. I mean really - what do you DO with a house that big (and ugly)?

One morning the boys got up really early to go fishing. They didn't have much luck, but Justin did catch this thing.

The Mays

The girls

The Moons

At Baytowne Wharf in SanDestin - the coolest little place ever.

Justin made me put this one on here -- he thinks it is hilarious. I have no idea why he looks like that.

Perhaps my favorite picture -- but you probably could have guessed that. This is at Baytowne Wharf on the dock.

This looks like a photo-shopped picture it is so pretty. I didn't touch it I swear!

Preciousness.

Yay! I'm just so happy that Sarah and I actually have a ton of pictures TOGETHER now!

Being silly.

Love this. And really - could my husbands eyelashes BE any longer? Gorgeous.

Zach's postcard picture

The biggest chair ever - notice the *warning* on each side. Ha!

Love the pink loin cloth.

And the ankle grass skirts.

So somehow my husband never flew a kite as a child. I know right?! Shocking! So we bought him a Osprey kite named Fluffy/Oscar (we were divided) and he "flyed" a kite for the first time our last day at the beach. Fun times.

You can't really tell from this picture, but Fluffy/Oscar was WAY up there. We ran out of string. Sad news though -- he didn't survive the flight back down. But at least he went out with a bang!

Don't ask me why - but this is what Justin chose to wear for our lunch movie hour. I think he makes a pretty good merman.

My little feetsies.

I love profile pictures. Notice the expression on Justin's face. ???

This was our last night in Florida. We ate at Uncle Ernie's - a fantastic restaurant right on St. Andrew's Bay.

Final group pic. What an amazing week!

There were dolphins in the bay right behind us as we ate dinner. Dolphins make me happy.=)

I am still completely unable to put into words the utter amazingness of this trip. Hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves. If you want to actually READ about the trip - go see Sarah.

Good grief.

When I sat down 30 minutes ago to write a post I had no idea of the events that were about to transpire in my kitchen. I was going to post the 2nd set of pictures from our Beach Trip, but now I have to tell you why my precious husband is scooping a sour creamy chickeny mess out of the drawer under our oven. I decided to get creative for dinner tonight - which usually means I throw caution and recipes to the wind and toss a bunch of whatever we happen to have on hand in a casserole dish. Tonight we happened to have chicken, black beans, Rotel (diced tomatoes and peppers), sour cream, cream cheese, corn, and flour tortillas. I lined the casserole dish with torn up tortillas, mixed everything else together (with some spices) and dumped it on top. All of that went smoothly and as planned. For maybe the first time in my life I actually preheated the oven -- to about 450 (not because it needed to be that hot - just because I am impatient and think that turning the temp up will get me fed faster). I'm still not sure exactly what happened next. I know that I opened the oven door and I think immediately after I opened it I reached for the casserole with both hands. I know I opened the door all the way - but for some reason it closed on my left forearm as I was leaning down to put the casserole in the oven. Since I had actually preheated it to a bajillion degrees it burned my arm and I dropped the casserole so I could get the door off of me. Of course, the casserole turned upside down and spilled all in the crack between the oven door and the oven. Since I was in pain and my mind quit working and everything was hot I just stood their staring at this huge mess and waste of what was to be a yummy dinner. I turned the water on to run it on my arm and of course it came out hot as crap even though I turned it to cold first. That's when I started crying. Justin wasn't home yet, and I didn't know how to clean up the oven and save dinner. I turned the oven off and started scooping up the chicken and stuff and putting it back into the dish. By the time Justin got home I had cleaned up what I thought was most of the mess, but when we opened the bottom drawer we saw where it all had really gone - on top of all our clean pots and pans. He shooed me away to tend to my arm (after hugs and laughs) and he's cleaning up the rest of the mess. The casserole (what I could save of it) is in the oven. It better be the freaking best meal I've ever made.

My arm hurts.