Pens, Paper, & Ammo

Depending on which doctor/midwife I talk to, either today or tomorrow is my official due date and it seems that our lazy little fetus is planning on being fashionably late to her own birthday party. I’ve been scheduled to for induction for next Thursday/Friday depending on how my doctor’s appointment this coming Monday goes. Things have just been buzzing with a mixture of excitement and anxiety around here - that is, when I’m not sleeping… which is a fair chunk of the day. Hot weather is bad enough… hot weather and being 40+ weeks pregnant… ughhh.

Anyway, my best friend, Becky, recently started a new crafting blog! Stop by and say hello!

Wanted for yarn etin’.

Ah, Sergio. I love the little guy - he’s loving, affectionate, and always willing to cuddle up next to me when I’m having a bad day. He does have one major flaw - he’s a yarn junkie. I’ve often heard of knitters having troubles with their feline companions meddling in their animal-fiber yarns, but Sergio is happily willing to chow down on any and all items in string form. I do everything in my power to assure that cat doesn’t meet yarn… but every once in a while he finds things that were put in areas thought to be “cat proof.” Case in point:

Arrrgghhh!

He ate right down to the short rows of the Curly Purly soaker I made a few months ago. I have no idea how he found it. I can probably salvage the soaker, but I’m certainly not happy about it.

Anyway, I also threw together a simple summer salad with tuna today in a vain attempt to counteract all the Oreos that I had eaten over the past two days*.

Refreshing!

Cold Tuna Salad

• 1 can light tuna in water, drained
• 1/4 lb fresh green beans - blanched and cooled
• 1 ear of sweet corn - cooked, cooled, and cut from the ear
• 1/4 small pepper, chopped- any color
• 1/4 small onion, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredient together in a bowl and eat!

It was nice to have something light and healthy for supper. I’ll definitely make this again sometime. I imagine pretty much any vegetable would be excellent in it.

*It’s often easy to tell when the MH does the grocery shopping…

Only 18 days to go! I don’t have much to write, but here are some pictures!

While we didn’t actually celebrate Father’s Day this year (and we weren’t going to “jinx” it by doing it early), I did give him a small basket filled with “new daddy essentials.”

Caffeinated hot chocolate, baby manual, ear plugs, Aleve, Dove Chocolates, a mug that says “#1 Dad” in binary, gum, rubber ducky, and a onesie.

Yeah, we’re geeks.

The nursery is pretty much done:

It looks much better in person, I swear. The tin-foil is there to teach Sergio (pictured) that the crib is not his personal bed.

…and The Nooblet’s coming-home outfit was finally decided upon and I another pair of booties.

Yes, I know they don’t quite match. I have vowed not to purchase more yarn until next year. I’m sure she won’t mind.

I’m addicted to this pattern. Can you tell?

Made these in a couple of hours - the result was face-meltingly adorable.  Hope you aren’t sick of looking at our balcony…

 
Made with Bernat Softee - definitely not the best yarn in the world.

Pattern here! 

Attempting to do some stash-busting, I made a few more things for the Nooblet.

This was supposed to have bunny ears, but the design on the top is too pretty to cover up.

I’m still not sure why I made this hat. It’s so girly it hurts. There’s also a little flower that goes with it, but I forgot to put it on.

I also finished a pair of mary janes, but I’ll post those tomorrow.  Time to go attempt to sleep.  Wish me luck.

I did this fun little meme I found on Bittersweet instead.  Here are the rules:

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

 Click on it to see the rules and hover over boxes on Flickr to learn how the pictures pertain to me.

Before my baby shower last weekend, the MH and I drove up to the windmills in Somerset, Pennsylvania.  I had forgotten just how pretty Somerset is this time of year and the windmills only add the the beauty.

The windmills are even more spectacular in person.

The sky was absolutely perfect.

That’s a human sized door at the bottom.  These things are gigantic.

I also managed to finally finish the WHW Trim Soaker that I have had on the needles since last month.  It turned out much more cute than I had expected.  The directions are simple and the end product is lovely.

The colors are a bit off, but you get the idea.  Made with Paton’s Classic Wool.

I also ordered and received all the cloth diapering supplies that I ordered.  Since then I have washed and dried the diapers three times and they seem to have fluffed up nicely.  They’re quite a bit smaller than I had imagined though.  Hopefully the Nooblet will be able to wear them for more than a month or so.

Supposedly this will be enough supplies to last her for about 3-4 months, depending on how big she is at birth.  If nothing else, the diapers will make excellent burp cloths or cleaning rags.

The back one says Nooblet, if you can’t see it.

I also frogged and restarted this project:

From Warm Heart Woolies. Is this picture insanely dark to anyone else? I think I’m having issues with my monitor.

That’s it, I guess. My brainmeats are too tired to think of anything to write.

I’m not much of a shopper. I detest the mall, loathe the clothing industry (for oh-so-many reasons), and simply don’t feel the need to fill my life with unnecessary items. However, every once in a while (usually around tax season), I find something that I feel is a worthwhile investment.

Up until now I have been using a HP Photosmart M22 digital camera. I had been happy with this purchase for a couple years now, but quickly noticed that a 4.0 megapixel camera just wasn’t creating the prints that I desired. I started searching for a better model that would fulfill my digital camera needs for years to come and finally decided on a Canon PowerShot s5 IS. It took weeks of consideration and nagging from the MH (who is constantly annoyed by my excessively frugal nature), but I finally caved in and ordered it. So far, I’ve taken approximately one hundred pictures and have been fairly pleased with what I see. I see no flaws in the camera (and it was refurbished) and hope that my photography skills will gradually get better. Until then, I leave you with these two pictures:

Houdini at his window.

Taken with the Color Accent mode on our balcony.

It’s the canned food product that many won’t admit to enjoying but I, for one, will attest to its versatility in the kitchen. It can replace almost any meat in recipes, makes for a quick breakfast sandwich, and is wonderful in fried rice…

You’re right, it’s Spam. Spam - that easily identified pink brick of meat byproduct that could survive the apocalypse. I remember eating it as a child and feeling a tad uneasy - should I be enjoying it when other are so quick to judge it? Always the butt of many jokes, I wondered how Hormel managed to sell so many tins of it. I later realized that many of my peers enjoyed it as a treat from time to time as well, only to fall victim of the guilt that surrounds the name brand.

As an adult, I still feel a bit odd placing a can of Spam Lite in my grocery basket. On one hand, I’m sure that it contains more fat, cholesterol, and salt than any normal human being needs in their diet… but on the other, well, who the hell cares? Everyone has a guilty pleasure, right?

Anyway, I’ve noticed that much of my Spam purchases seem destined for food that has a decidedly Asian flare. Feeling desperate for something salty, I battled my way through our cluttered kitchen pantry and emerged victoriously with the ingredients to make these:

Simple Spam onigiri.

Spam sushi rolls with carrot, onion, and cucumber.