Family – Page 11 – Pure Sugar

One Lucky Lady

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Carol — 5 Comments ↓

That would be me. Seriously, I have some pretty great friends and family, and hands-down the best husband ever! Yesterday after picking Jake up from CCD we were supposed to meet my brother-in-law and his girlfriend for brunch at Double-O Grille. They came to visit for the weekend and we thought it would be a nice way to spend late Sunday morning. So you can imagine my surprise when we walked in and headed to the side room where both of our familes were, as well as my very good friends Kelly and Lisanne!

Drew knew I didn’t want a baby shower, but he said that he wanted to do something to show his appreciation for me and all that I do. Seriously, my eyes welled up with tears! Sweetest. Guy. Ever. And I can’t believe no one gave away the surprise (though I was suspicious something was going on yesterday morning — still, I totally did not expect it). We all stuffed ourselves silly on the yummy brunch buffet — eggs, french toast, bacon, sausage, chicken marsala, black bean salad, potato salad, shrimp, bagels, smoked salmon… pretty much anything you could want to eat. (One might consider diet pills after enjoying all the delicious food there!)

I was also spoiled with sweet gifts for the baby (and the mama!) even though Drew told everyone they did NOT have to bring anything except themselves. My cousin Angie made a diaper cake, and after making them for many people, I was really excited to get one myself! Lisanne set me up with a great kit for my new sewing machine, including fabric, patterns, and lots of doo-dads, in addition to some teas to enjoy while I craft. My parents, in addition to a ton of baby clothes, gave me a set of bath goodies from Bath & Body works in the Japanese Cherry Blossom fragrance. One very special gift was from Drew’s aunt. When she was born, her aunt made her a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, and there was one extra quilt square. She had it framed for the baby! The quilt square is probably close to 70 years old, so it really is a special heirloom. I got so many nice baby outfits from everyone else. (Good thing I didn’t have a chance to do much shopping, LOL! We’re all set for a while!).

I was just so happy that everyone did this for me. Seriously — I am one very lucky girl and I know it! Afterwards almost everyone came back to the house for a while and we all just hung out. What a great day!

What a Day…

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

What a week, really. It’s hard to believe that tomorrow’s going to be in the mid-50s (Sunday might reach the 60s!) and it was just Monday when it seemed the whole east coast was bracing for awful winter weather. Drew’s been sick. I’ve been sick. And while thankfully I’m generally feeling better, save for sinus pressure and a runny/stuffy nose, now poor Jake is sick.

Yes, it’s been a long day already. I woke up around 3:30 and couldn’t fall back to sleep. Shortly after 4 we heard some strange coughing coming from Jake’s room and sure enough, he’d thrown up. Drew and I both got up. He brought Jake downstairs and I stripped the bed and got everything into the washer. Jake seemed to be OK, though he was still sick every so often.

Around 7 I headed over to the hospital to have my one-hour glucose screen done. I won’t lie — it was kind of nice to enjoy the quiet waiting room and work on my afghan. It’s been a while since I picked it up. Last night was the first time in a couple weeks. Here’s how it’s looking so far (I’m not all that much further along since I first wrote about it):

So after my blood draw I got myself a bagel and a decaf. Even though this wasn’t the fasting glucose test, I was still really hungry and I knew it was going to be a long day, LOL! While at the store I rented “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” from the Redbox machine. Both boys wanted to see it and I thought it would be a nice treat for the afternoon. Once I got home, Drew took off for the office and I worked on laundry and caring for my sickie. He doesn’t feel like eating lunch, but at least we’ve been puke-free for probably an hour and a half now, so hopefully that’s a good sign.

I’m exhausted after not only getting up so early, but also going to bed late last night. (I knew it would come back to bite me!). Here’s a snapshot of what my afternoon looks like:

I was lucky to get a free subscription to Martha Stewart Living and over the last couple days I’ve gotten the current issue and a couple back issues as well. So I plan on looking through those, as well as working on the baby sweater I am crocheting, all while watching the chihuahua movie, of course! While being sick is, of course, no fun, sometimes I think it’s a way to remember that we all have to slow it down once in a while. And that’s exactly what we’ll be doing! Happy Friday!

Back Home!

Posted on February 28, 2009 by Carol — 4 Comments ↓

It’s always difficult to get back into the swing of things after a great vacation, isn’t it? We had so much fun at Woodloch (as usual!). This time we really packed it all in: Family Olympics, lots of snow tubing (including a couple contests), seeing several shows (including one in which I was picked to stand on a guy who laid down on a bed of nails!), doing lots of kids’ crafts and playing lots of games, and just generally having a lot of fun. Today I need to catch up on laundry. At least the grocery shopping is out of the way. I dragged myself to the store shortly after we got home yesterday afternoon. So I’ll just leave you with some photos from our trip to the Poconos. Happy Saturday!

What a Long Day

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Carol — 1 Comment ↓

For some reason, this day is just dragging. I think sometimes when the school has a two-hour delay it’s like that. Yes, there was a delay this morning on account of snow that totally surprised us last night. I don’t remember it being in the forecast. We decided to go out last night (bad, I know!), and on our way home, once we crossed the Hudson River back to our county, could not believe the way the snow was coming down. We probably got 2-3 inches total. So, as soon as he woke up Drew cleaned out the driveway and then did some work before heading to his dentist appointment and then down to his mother’s.

I’ve kept busy all day tidying up and cooking, but somehow I can’t believe it’s just 3:30. At least dinner is (mostly) done. I’m making Tandoori(ish) chicken (based on Dara’s Tandoori Tofu recipe) and Gobi Aloo (potato and cauliflower curry) because it used up a lot of stuff I had hanging out in the fridge. The kids won’t eat it and Drew said he might just eat dinner with his mom, so there should be plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. I avoided grocery shopping this week, except for picking up milk and some fresh fruit.

This weekend I need to pack for Woodloch! The boys still don’t know. We might tell them on Sunday night. I also have to remember to charge my camera battery and clean off my memory card. I kind of wish I had a couple extra SD memory cards because I’m lazy, but I guess I just will make due, and really that’s fine.

So I’m now totally exhausted and have to run out to wait for Jake’s bus. I’m looking forward to pouring myself a tall glass of icy root beer once he’s home and just relaxing for a bit before getting dinner on the table. Happy Friday, eveyone!

Another Snowy Day

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

Seems like the weather forecasters had no idea what was going on with this storm, but we’ve had a gentle snowfall all day. It’s been nice, actually. (Of course, I’m not the one who has to go out and snowblow or shovel!) At least the roads look OK and school wasn’t cancelled or delayed for a change.

I saw my little possum buddy again today. Oh, you didn’t know we had a possum hanging around? Last week he ventured up onto our deck:

Today I saw him padding along from the woods. If it weren’t for that ratty tail, the things might actually be cute. He didn’t come up on the deck today, though (probably because I didn’t have any bread thrown out there yet). We have one squirrel who just about knocks at the sliding glass door around lunchtime every day, waiting for his crusts. It’s so funny!

I got a lot of things done today, so I feel good about that. I baked some banana bread with walnuts and chocolate chips and it smells so good! I can’t wait to have a slice with a cup of decaf tea or coffee later on. I also already made the curry chicken for tonight’s dinner. It’s always better when it sets for a while. All I’ll need to do is make some rice and chicken nuggets for the boys. The curry is too spicy for them and I get tired of arguing over dinner, so a couple times a week I try to give them something that I know won’t result in pouting and tears.

Not much else is going on. I’ve been super tired at night lately and heading to bed around 8. I usually read for a bit, but the other night I actually fell asleep reading, which is unusal for me. Since I’ve been a real dud at night, it’s given Drew the opportunity to work on some new music. I am super happy about that! It’s been a while since he’s been able to really focus on it. In fact, he even ordered some business cards and other promotional products like postcards to send along with demos. It would be great if he got a couple gigs and started playing out again.

I guess that’s about it! Maybe I’ll just sneak one tiny piece of my banana bread as a pre-dinner snack…

Friday Bullets

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Carol — 2 Comments ↓

I am sooo tired today. The last couple of nights I have not slept well and I feel exhausted. Blargh.
I’ve never considered plastic surgery for my face, and after reading this anecdote on Drew’s blog, I am totally skeeved out! How D. makes connections sometimes cracks me up. Only he could somehow relate facelift scars to weight loss drugs (like Fenphedra).
We have no weekend plans, and I’m happy about that! I’d like to just hang out and knit and watch movies.
I found some black tea scented body wash at Dollar Tree last night. It smells really good in the bottle! We’ll see how it is in the shower.
I was surprised and happy to read that Kirsten Gillibrand was chosen to replace Hillary Clinton as NYS Senator. She was our rep in Congress (and yes, I voted for her in the fall). People forget that New York State isn’t just the five boroughs and Long Island. I’m not saying she is perfect (I don’t agree with her on everything), but it’ll be great to have someone from “way up here” (LOL!) representing us. I wish her luck!
Current random cravings: grape juice, toast & butter (real butter, thank you!), and spoonfulls of peanut butter with a few chocolate chips on there for good measure. The coconut and spicy food craving seems to have subsided for now.
Lisanne sent me a package containing adorable baby girl clothes earlier this week! I have been too lazy to take a photo, but you have to check out the onesie she made. Is that perfect or what?
Yesterday Jake told me that he is sick of the cold and of winter in general. When my snow-loving six-year-old says it, you know it’s bad.
56 days until Spring.

Say, “Ahh!”

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

What a week it’s been! Drew was in Virginia Beach on a business trip from Monday to Wednesday, and yesterday Jake had an appointment with the pediatrician. Before Thanksgiving Jake was complaining of a sore throat, so the following Monday I took him to the doctor’s to have it checked out. The nurse practitioner (who, honestly, I am not crazy about) saw him and tested for Strep. That came back negative. Then she wanted to do a test for Mono. I agreed to it but reminded her that Jake had Mono when he was five. Wouldn’t it be highly unlikely for him to have it again, especially without any other symptoms? Clearly, she was going to do what she wanted, so my question didn’t even matter. And of course the test came back negative. We were told to do salt water gargles and give him Tylenol for pain.

A couple weeks passed. The sore throat went away, but his tonsils still seemed quite enlarged, his voice sounded funny, and he’d started snoring and breathing really heavy in his sleep. Just after Christmas, he got a cold and suddenly things started to sound better, but because everyone was already freaked out over the possibility of tonsillitis, I made appointment to see his regular doctor. (And I had to argue with this nurse practitioner over the phone just to get the freaking appointment!)

So anyway, we finally went yesterday. I had started convincing myself that he’d need to have his tonsils removed, but according to the pediatrician, that’s not the case. Yes, he has tonsils that are quite large, but they are healthy looking and they’re not obstructing his airway at all. The heavy breathing/snoring probably has to do with a cold and/or stuffy nose that is lingering. The doctor spent a lot of time looking at Jake’s throat and then showed everything to me, so I do trust what he says. He even did another throat culture for Strep which again came back negative. So really, I did a lot of worrying for nothing! (As usual.)

I’m glad we took him though, because now I have peace of mind. I’ve been so stressed this week, and I’m just glad it is over! I was a wreck on Wednesday night waiting for Drew to get home. He and his co-workers drove this time (which was probably a good idea — with the storm, flights were cancelled and he would never have gotten home). While the snow/ice storm was nowhere near as bad as they were saying, I was still worried about road conditions late at night, when he’d be driving back from his boss’s house. And of course it wasn’t a big deal — he arrived safe and sound with no problems. But you know how it is.

This evening I think we’re going to take the kids out for a quick dinner (nothing exciting, probably just Burger King) and run a few errands. I want to go to CVS and Aldi for a few things. I seriously need to get back into The Drugstore Game. It’s been a while since I’ve done any major CVS shopping, but there are some decent sales this week so I want to go. Maybe we’ll stop by Staples, too. I doubt they have any of their $1 sale items left, but it’s worth a check. And it’s always fun to look at the office furniture. No, really — I love desks and hutches and everything. OK, maybe I’m weird, LOL!

Tomorrow they’re predicting another snowstorm, so the plan is to have a movie afternoon with the boys, and I want to do some knitting, too. Priority #1 is finishing up my dad’s hat, and that shouldn’t be a problem. Then I have some dishcloths I want to do and then I’m thinking of trying a shrug — I saw a couple patterns I really liked and I have a ton of extra yarn, so we’ll see. Anyway, hopefully I will have pics of the hat to post this weekend. Wish me luck as I start the portion with the DPNs. Eeek! I hate those things!

Good Morning :-)

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Carol — 5 Comments ↓

home-making-housewives Well, I’m trying to get back into the swing of a normal routine this week, but the weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating! Yesterday morning the local schools had a two-hour delay because of icy roads. Tomorrow’s forcast is looking rather bleak (a wonderous mix of snow/sleet/rain/freezing rain) and I have a hunch school will be cancelled. We live in a pretty hilly area — in fact, the school is up over a hill — so anytime the conditions look somewhat bad I just count on school being called off, or at the very least a two-hour delay in the morning.

This morning I need to finish putting away the piles of Christmas gifts. The decorations are all down (oops — except for the wreath on the front door), but the toys are still all in the living room. Poor Noah got a tee-ball type baseball set for the spring and he is just dying to play with it. Considering that there are still a lot of icy spots on the driveway, and the rest of the yard is covered in snow, I think he’d need more safety equipment than just a helmet to help protect against injury! Only seventy-odd days until spring is here. Maybe I’ll get a January thaw. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Let’s see, what else is new… a week from today is my ultrasound! Everyone is making me crazy asking about it, so there you go 😉 And yes, we are hoping to find out the baby’s gender. I think the grandmothers would go nuts if we made them wait this time. I still have to finish up my Dad’s Christmas present, too. I’m knitting him a wool watchcap, and I knew when I started it I should have just knit it flat instead of in the round. I’m almost to the point where I need to switch to DPNs and I just have a bad feeling about it. Hopefully it will all work out. If not, maybe he can wear it next fall! I also need to mend one of my maternity shirts. Of course it’s my favorite one that I wore all of two times! The hem at the bottom fell out in the wash, so that has to get sewed up. Other than that I have laundry (as usual) and I need to do a quick sweep of the house.

It would be nice to get myself motivated after I finish this entry so this afternoon I can just sit by the wood stove and knit or read. For Christmas, Drew gave me Knit One, Kill Two and A Deadly Yarn, both by Maggie Sefton. Either would be perfect for a cold winter’s afternoon! Well, I need to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer so that’s my cue… Enjoy your day!

Holiday Hangover

Posted on December 29, 2008 by Carol — 6 Comments ↓

I think I just might be suffering from a holiday hangover because I am so tired and achy today. I think all the driving, all the delicious (but not necessarily healthy) food, and general craziness surrounding Christmas has caught up with me. But that aside, we certainly had a wonderful holiday! We had dinner on Christmas Eve at Drew’s mom’s house, and then I hosted on Christmas day. I would, without a doubt, make the beef tenderloin again. I could not believe how easy it was, and the result was delicious. Next time I might only cook it until 125 degrees (internal temp.) instead of 130 — I think it could have been a bit rarer still, but it was pretty pink inside and melted in your mouth.

The boys were thrilled with their toys (Legos, Transformers, a Hulk Smash game, baseball set, just tons of toys!) and Drew took us all by surprise with a family gift he saved for last. When the boys tore off the wrapping paper and I saw that he’d bought a Wii, I was shocked! (Happily shocked, but utterly surprised!) You see, Drew isn’t really into video games or computer games. He’s not the kind of guy who sits around playing World of Warcraft. Heck, I can’t even get him to play Wordscraper on Facebook! But apparently he’d been looking into various video game systems and really liked the Wii. He also got a Wii Fit and several games to go with the system. We’ve been enjoying the tennis game most of all so far, and Jake loves his I Spy game. It really is a lot of fun!

I was spoiled with some beautiful jewelry (including a gorgeous etched glass cameo that will look stunning with a knit lace shawl — now I have my motivation to finish one!). And the other gift that blew me away was a hand-painted jewelry armoire. I’ve wanted one of those armoires for years! I am so excited to transfer all my jewelry into it. Drew loved his book of Tom Waits sheet music, and the various iPod Nano accessories that I picked out for him, as well as a few other odds and ends.

We spend the day after Christmas at my parents’ house and had a great time there visiting with mom and dad and my brother and sister-in-law. Mom made a bunch of delicious Polish food and I especially enjoyed the homemade kielbasa that they buy locally and the cabbage pierogis. *So good!* I am really spoiled. The “kielbasa” and pierogis you buy at the supermarket aren’t even close to the real things. We got home late Saturday afternoon and had a lazy day yesterday.

Today I’ve been trying to clean everything up and getting ready to take down the tree and decorations. As much as I love having them up, I also love after I take everything down and put it all away, reclaiming all the space in my house! I love starting the new year clean and uncluttered.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays as well. Any exciting plans for New Year’s?

Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2008 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

Well it looks like a pretty rainy day out there today, but hopefully at least some of the snow will stick around. We have well over a foot of it, so I doubt it all will melt away.

I have to say that this is the most relaxed Christmas Eve I’ve had in several years. I think part of the reason is that I chose food for Christmas Day that doesn’t require really any prep work. Last year we did a variety of appetizers and pizzas and that was really time-intensive. In previous years I’ve done brunches and prepared egg dishes that needed to be prepped and set overnight, as well as a variety of baked goods. This year it’s filet mignon (which I still think was the best buy of all the holiday food sales), au gratin potatoes (sorry, from a box — easier and the boys will eat them), salad, green beans, and rolls. Super easy. My MIL is going to bring dessert — anything leftover from tonight. That should work out well.

This morning the boys and I plan to bake some chocolate chip cookies for Santa. I’ve also been doing a little candy making for last-minute additions to gifts. And I am still not done with one last knitting project! Argh! I just hope I have time to finish it up. If not, I am sure the recipient will understand.

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope your preparations are going well!