New Job

I finally found a new job. Okay, I say finally, but really...I interviewed with three companies total and the one that I interviewed with first is the one that I ended up with.

Anyways, it is a HUGE relief to not have to worry about what we're going to do for health insurance or money after the end of this month. :)

Thank You Letters

I've finally come to a decision. My least favorite part (besides rejection) of the interview process is writing Thank You letters following an interview. Particularly a second interview.

After the first interview you can write as much BS and nice platitudes as you want. But the second thank you letter is harder because you have already USED a lot of your good BS and nice platitudes. You have to think up something NEW to write.

Gah. And I interviewed with four people...that means FOUR thank you letters! Different Thank You Letters! Come on people!

Ramdom

Mother's Day is on Sunday.

I suppose, since Red does live with us, that Ruben or I should be good and (1) tell Red that it is Mother's Day and (2) take her somewhere to get her mom something. Maybe that's what I'll do tonight.

OH. And last night, I made up a very nice dinner. It was kind of like a Taco Pie. But I can't have milk products because Bear has a milk allergy (not lactose intolerant, but allergic to milk proteins). I browned some ground beef and mixed in taco seasoning (only without adding water) then I threw in some green and yellow pepper chunks and some onion and a can of diced tomatoes and sauteed that for a little while. And preheated the oven to 350. Then I got out a pie plate and laid a tortilla on the bottom, then some of the meat and veggie mix, then another tortilla, then some more meat and veggies, and then one more tortilla. Then it went in the oven for about 10 minutes - just enough to crispy the tortillas. It was yummy.

I wish Red's mom with get her head out of her ass. Seriously.

Red goes there every other weekend.

So, a few weekends ago when she went, her mom (RM) brought her back on Monday morning which is fine. We have no problem with that. Then on Monday night, Red's mom called and asked to talk to Red. I gave the phone to Red and left the room to give her some privacy. Well, she asked Red how school was (yay, involved parent!)....but then proceeded to tell Red that Knight (Red's 3-yr old half-sister) was crying because RM had started singing a song to her and Knight burst out crying because she wanted Red there singing to her!

Okay, what was she hoping to get from that? Was the plan to just guilt Red into wanting to come back again soon? Because really, all she did was make Red cry and feel guilty for something she has no control over. Ruben and I explained that it's not her fault and that missing someone when they aren't there is a reality of life.

Fast forward to this past weekend, Red goes to her mom's house again. According to Red, on Saturday night she stayed up until 3am because her mom was asleep and her mom's boyfriend didn't get home until then and someone has to take care of Knight and Truth (Red's 1.5 yr old half-sister). GAAHHHHH!

Job Hunting

A couple of weeks ago - just before Easter - the CEO of my current company told me that I would be laid off at the end of May. They were being "nice" and giving me about a month and a half of notice and the owners were all going to talk to their contacts and help me find a new job. I say "nice" because really, I am getting laid off and that's not so nice.

Anyways, so I've been applying for jobs all over the place and I have a recruiter working for me and I'm emailing any contacts that the owners send my way. And I've had a couple of nibbles so that good.

However, there's one place where I would kind of like to work. Mainly because it is approximately a quarter of a mile from my house. I could - and would - ride my bike to work. So I've applied for three different positions at this company (all of which I am qualified). And anytime I apply, they auto send me an email from "Human" saying they got my application. And about two days later I get rejected. And I think I need to stop applying there because I'm not so sure I can handle the continued rejection.

Grocery Store Trip

Today Ruben went to the Grocery Store. I made a list on Sunday, but with Baby Bear being a bear I haven't had a chance to go.

Anyways, while he was at the store, he called me...and here's how the conversation went...

(Remember - he's at the store, I'm at work)

Him: Where's the Wholey Gaucamoley?
Me: Produce department - back by the bagged lettuce.
Him: How many loaves of bread do you want?
Me: 2
Him: Is whichever on sale okay?
Me: Yes.
Him: Now all I need to get is the pizza sauce.
Me: It's on the same aisle as the Pasta Sauce
Him: Oh. Okay.
Me: Did you find everything else?
Him: I still need the pepperoni.
Me: It's back by the lunch meat.
Him: Okay.

Is it sad that I have the store memorized?

Or is it more sad that now I'm sitting here thinking that I probably should've put the list in "traveling the store" order?

Baby Bear

Here is a picture of my precious little baby Bear.


She's just a few days over 3 months old.

On Saturday I finally ordered some pictures of her. Which means maybe next weekend I'll actually start putting her scrapbook together! YAY!

coming back

I'm coming back to this blog.

I made another blog - just for family - but I'm going to attempt to revive this blog. Hopefully with more recipes and more scrapbooking.

Unfortunately, I have also discovered that infants take up a TON of time. They are seriously time-consuming and therefore, I haven't baked or scrapbooked since Bear was born.

But I'm going to try. I'm going to put forth some serious effort in updating this blog...at least weekly.

Reese's and Peanut Butter Cookies...

Seriously, what could possibly be better than these?

More Cookie Goodness

These aren't just Chocolate Chip Cookies...


Oh no, these are DARK chocolate chip cookies.

yummy yummy

This afternoon, Red and I made Snickerdoodles. I have been wanting to make Snickerdoodles for about 3 weeks. But something ALWAYS gets in the way of me making them.

First it was the fact that I made Chocolate Chip Cookies and used up all of my vanilla!

Then the next time I had time to make cookies, I had just made Zucchini Muffins and used up all of my sugar!

Do you see the problem with this.

But today, I had time. And all of the ingredients. And a clean enough kitchen.

And now I have Snickerdoodles!


And I just want to eat them all!

But I'm trying to have restraint because I go to the OB in the morning and I don't think I should've gained more than 3 lbs in the past two weeks. But if I eat too many of these cookies I might gain more than 3 lbs TONIGHT.

bread vs. muffins

My mom likes to make loaves of bread - banana-nut, zucchini, pumpkin, apple, whatever!

Me...I prefer Muffins. I think this is because I'm lazy. Once I make the bread from scratch, I would then have to wrap it up in saran wrap (which never works well for me) and then I have to get a knife out anytime I want a piece and I have to deal with the saran wrap all the freaking time. Basically, the process of getting a slice of bread is more than I want to deal with. Therefore...muffins! Put them in a container. Then grab one (or two) and put the lid back on! Easy! That's what I like.

Banana Muffins
(modified recipe from allrecipes)

3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas - mashed
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Mix sugar, oil, egg and vanilla together.
Add in mashed bananas (and walnuts).
Add flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
Mix until smooth.

Spoon into 12 greased muffin tins.
Bake for 350 for 20 to 30 minutes.

Zucchini Muffins
(recipe from my mom)

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 cups shredded Zucchini
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Mix together eggs, sugar, zucchini, oil and vanilla.
In another bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Pour flour mixture into egg mixture and stir to mix.

Bread:
Pour into two 4-1/2 x 9 greased loaf pans
Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 10 minutes

Muffins:
Spoon into 24 greased muffins tins
Bake at 350 for 25 to 35 minutes

The other plus to making muffins instead of bread. Loaves of bread have to bake for a little more than an hour usually. Muffins have to bake about 20 to 30 minutes. Much quicker start to eat time. :) And I'm all about getting it done and being able to EAT!

White Chili & Cheese Biscuits

Since I really didn't have anything else going on tonight, I decided to actually COOK DINNER from SCRATCH. It's amazing when I do things like this.

So, when I was making up the dinner schedule for the week, I decided we'd have White Chili tonight. Then while I was at work today I was trying to figure out what else I could make with the White Chili (breadwise). And remember that I had half a package of Shredded Cheddar Cheese. Perfect!

I give you White Chili with Cheese Biscuits!

White Chili
Makes between 4 and 5 servings

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 cans (15-1/2 ounces each) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies *
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 container (8 ounces) sour cream

*the chilies make it spicy - add more or less depending on how spicy you like things.

Directions:

In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Add the chicken, onion and garlic powder. Saute until the chicken is no longer pink.

Add the beans, broth, chilies and spices to the saucepan. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer (uncovered) for 30 minutes.

Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream.


Cheese Biscuits
Makes 6 biscuits

3/4 cups flour
3/4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups shredded colby-jack cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp melted butter (I used salted)

Directions:

Mix together dry ingredients. Stir in cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, and butter together. Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.

Bake in greased muffin tins at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

YUMMY!

The Reason

This is the reason I have gained 30 lbs so far in my pregnancy. THIRTY! Holy crap that is a lot of weight!


This particular muffin may not be the reason. But this muffin and all of it's muffin buddies. And cookie friends. And cupcakes cousins. And I think you get the point. I've been baking. Lots and lots of stuff. And I really don't have anything to show for it except pictures of everything I have baked...and this huge belly. Of course there is a baby in there too, so it's not all muffins.

Anyways, these are super easy muffins.

Cinnamon Muffins:

Makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger together in a medium size bowl.

Mix the egg, milk and oil in another bowl.

Then pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir to moisten.

Spoon into greased (or paper lined) muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool up to 5 minutes, then remove from muffin tin to wire rack or wax paper. Then apply topping...

For topping:

2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2-3 Tbsp butter, melted

Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl (like a custard cup).

Brush the tops of the warm muffins with butter and dip the top of muffin into sugar/cinnamon mixture.

hmm...

Well, I did make my December Daily album. I still need to number all the pages, but then it will be ready for December. I also need to work on my list of pictures to take and things to do to put in the December Daily album.

I also planned out my MIL's 2007 review album and have the pictures all ready and uploaded to Walgreens just waiting to be ordered. I shrunk the pictures down so that I end up just printing 1 4x6 print per page and then I have that plus a title or words or something and the page is done! So really, once I order the pictures, it should be pretty easy to put together.

******

On Friday, Red and I went to her's friends' house to carve pumpkins and trick-or-treat, then Red spent the night there. I had talked to the mom early at the school Halloween Party and arranged to hang out with them and go trick-or-treating with them.

They had a blast.

Red was dressed up as Gabriella. K1 was dressed up at Sharpay. G was dressed up a Geisha. O was dressed up as a female Pirate. K2 was a bunny. And C (K2's little brother) was Spiderman.

We had a good time. K1's mom, K2's mom and I walked around with the kids. The kids ran from house to house (although not across the street because that's not really safe). And I had my dad's camera and took lots of pictures of the kids all running from house to house.

After trick-or-treating, I went home and left Red to sleepover with her friend.

******

Saturday, my mom & I had adventures. On Saturday morning, it was really quite foggy. More foggy than I think I've ever seen it be in Kansas. The kind of fog I remember from San Diego where you couldn't hardly see across the dorm parking lot.

We attempted to go to a Craft fair but we were an hour early and a week late. Then we went to a friend's Mary Kay party. My mom bought make-up...I did not. But I did eat the food. Because I'm like that...and I'm pregnant so I needed the food.

Then we shopped for a while - Borders, Old Navy, Party America.

And by the time I got home, Red was already home from her sleepover.

******

Ruben and I have eaten way too much candy this weekend.

And today I have my glucose test (the first one) to see if I have to have the more in dept test of my glucose levels to see if I have gestational diabetes.

And there is ice cream in the work fridge that I can't eat - but I want to eat sooo bad.

ramblings

I've been reading about Ali Edward's December Daily album here recently. She's been posting as she designs and creates her blank album for 2008.

I'm thinking that I might give this a try this year.

This December. This Christmas. Will our last Christmas of just Ruben, Red and I. In January the baby will come and by next Christmas, she'll be 11 months old!

I'm also trying to plan out a 2007 (and 2008) album to give to my MIL for Christmas. I've got the album picked now. Now I just need to design it and make it. Maybe tonight or this weekend for the designing. Who knows when I'll get around to ordering pictures and actually doing it!

I did finish up my 2007 review mini album and a 2nd grade mini coaster album for Red. They are currently sitting in a pink basket on our coffee table.

December Daily Album...
I think I'll make it with 4.5 by 6.5 covers and mostly 4x6 pages. They way I can easily use pictures as full pages and it helps me maximize my paper usage. I already have an entire tub of Christmas things.

Will it be bad that I'll have a mini album for December 2008 done before I've even done any pages for December 2007?

I need to enlist some family member to take some pictures of all of us. That way I have some family shots to put in these albums.

November is almost here!

Well, since November is seriously right around the corner...I seriously need to get started on some of my November ideas. Here's the list of fun (and some not so fun) November activities I've got planned.

Vote
Make a Thanksgiving Tree
Go to a play gym or bounce house play place thingy
Buy & hang Thanksgiving/Fall Window Clings
Rake the leaves and jump in them
Thanksgiving Dinner
Trans-Siberian Orchestra (for the adults)
Watch Thanksgiving Movies?
Read Thanksgiving Books?
Go to the Art Museum

Fall Activities

I made this list at the beginning of October. I have added a few things as new opportunities came along. The ones in bold we have completed.

Visit an apple orchard to pick apples
Go to the pumpkin patch
Carve Jack-O-Lanterns
Go on a Hayride
Pick out a costume
Trick or Treat
Make Pumpkin muffins or cookies
Make a cookie haunted house - my Mother-in-law bought this
Hang up the Halloween window clings
Watch Halloween movies
Read some Halloween books - we read Vunce Upon A Time by J.otto Seibold
Maple Leaf Festival
Tell Scary Stories

I'm pretty sure there's more on the list, both of done things and not done things - I just don't have it in front of me right now. I need to start thinking of some fun things to do for November/Thanksgiving. Then we're on to Christmas and I already have that list started, but that's for another day.

Christmas Shopping

So, it's October 17 which means I need to start planning some Christmas Shopping.

I'm trying to decide what to get Red for Christmas this year. She wants...well, everything.

We had talked about getting her a DS, but I don't think that will be happening after all. Plus it would just be one more electronic toy that I would want her to put down and go play with something real. Or outside. And no you don't need your DS on the drive to the church. So I'm thinking we all might be saner if she doesn't have a DS. yet.

Which moves us on to what does a 9-yr-old get for Christmas...

1) Slumber Party bag? Basically a duffel bag with a sleeping bag and maybe a pillow in it. Red doesn't currently own a sleeping bag and has been using her friend's when she sleeps over there. While she hasn't technically ASKED for one, I think she might enjoy it if she had it (and actually use it!).

2) A New Wii Game? Something that gets her moving - maybe the HSM or Hannah Montana games. Or there's a dancing game that she might enjoy.

3) Books. She's getting some books. Some that she wants. Some that I want for her.

4) American Girl Doll? If we got her this, she wouldn't be getting a Wii Game. Or much else for that matter because these things are expensive! She wants one. But I think that is just because a few of her good friends have them - she's not really THAT into American Girl stuff.

5) DVDs/CDs? I know there are a couple of DVDs out that she wants. Not sure right now about CDs. But it seems like one of those Disney kids will be releasing something just in time for Christmas.

6) Toys? She still does dress up so maybe after Halloween stocking up on cheap costumes to give her. But I don't know if she will continue on this trend much longer. She also plays with her Polly dolls. And she's in a Lego phase right now. And she ALWAYS wants another Webkinz. Or maybe some new board games (although she've already got so many).

it'll be okay...

Deep breath. And relax.

Money is sucky. As I've said before. But thanks to a lovely cash back bonus plan from the credit card (that no one in this house but me knows about...shhh). And thanks to getting my expense check. And lowering our cable & insurance bills. I think we'll make it. At least for a little longer.

And I have a plan for how to pay for Christmas. Without going in debt and without killing ourselves. And the name of that plan is my Grandma's savings bond that she gave me back when I was a wee little child. Some of them are mature. And some of them might be cashed out in a month to pay for Christmas. In cash. So that in January - you know, when the baby is born - I'm not also stressing about money. At least no more than normal.

And next month probably won't be quite as nice as I think it'll be right now. Because there's also this thing called Car Tags that have to be paid for.