cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

Friday ended well. That is, it ended on time at work. I was able to get home, have dinner, and actually see my kids for a bit. It was lovely.

Saturday morning we all slept in a bit. Daddy took Alex off to his final soccer game of the season. When Momma goes to soccer, he comes over for hugs, snuggles, and refuses to play. When Daddy goes, Alex actually plays...mostly. He's still 4 and doesn't really have the attention span for an hour-long game. But he had fun, so that was good.

Emi and I went down to the basement to get some stuff done - I wanted to sew and she wanted to clean up the giant box of American Girl doll stuff my dad mailed us. They have a dog, so I refused to let her play with the stuff until we cleaned it. Everything that could be washed went into the washer. The rest...well, I gave her a box of Clorox wipes and told her to wipe everything. I'm not sure how good of a job she did, so we'll see how badly her hands break out as she continues playing with this stuff.. I hemmed a pair of leggings, then cut out, sewed, and hemmed matching leggings for Emi and me! They're a space-dyed lime green and teal spandex knit. I adore them. Emi adores them. We both decided we needed to wear them that day. Alex was jealous and wanted to know where *his* new pants were.

Then, we went out for lunch (Culver's) and went up for apple picking! It was a gloriously sunny day and it was wonderful. The kids are finally big enough that no one needed to be carried, pushed, or pulled. We picked apples, ate apples, and had a lovely long walk. We bought some cider, the apples we picked, and some apples for sauce. On our way home, we stopped by a local farm and bought pumpkins and squashes. Downwood got to recreate a viral video when he put the apples onto a drill to peel faster. It worked surprisingly well - only one exploded from the G-forces. We made apple sauce, ate apples, and hung out for the rest of the day.

Sunday morning we all slept in LATE. Emi came in and snuggled with me, which was lovely. She's getting so big and most of the time I'm up and doing stuff long before she is, so this was a wonderful treat for Momma.

I did a lot of laundry and a lot of sewing. I started getting pieces cut out for Emi's Hogswatch present (tons of princess dresses). I also pulled out the leftover green fabric and a blue jersey remnant and put together a shirt for Alex. It's super cute and he loves it. Now I need to make a similar shirt for Downwood and trim it with the last little bits of the green fabric and we could have an ADORABLE xmas card picture.

We also did a lot of cooking. Downwood boiled apple juice down into apple juice concentrate, then mixed it with more cider and honey. It's currently sitting in the brewing closet with Campten tabs, killing off any unwanted bacteria. Tomorrow, he'll put in the yeast and let it do its thing. I decided that I was tired of stopping at the gas station every morning to grab a breakfast sandwich and coffee, so I made some english muffin egg sandwiches and some breakfast burritos and put it all in the freezer. This will work. I will make it work.

I did NOT get over to the tattoo place to get my pumpkin done. They were super busy and I had too much anxiety to call early enough for them to get me in. UGH. So now I'm Fbook chatting with the owner and we're setting up a time. I finally decided that this can go on the back of my left calf. That way, it won't interfere with my plans for my right leg, with my back phoenix, or clash with my ideas for my right arm. Also, I didn't feel like dealing with the potential embarrassment of a high hip placement. My calves are lovely and deserve to be decorated, too.

So, yeah, I accomplished a lot this weekend. I was decent at adulting, even if a couple of times I just said "Heck with it" and tried to enjoy the moment. I did NOT want to get out of bed today, but werk's been reasonably quiet. This is a nice change of pace and one I will be embracing.

We had 17 people at our house for dinner yesterday. 5 of them were unknown to me before the event - 3 as guests of my cousin (they were in town anyway) and 2 from work who needed a place to come have dinner. It's quite possibly the biggest turnout we've had for one of these shindigs. And it was AWESOME.

There was a TON of food and good booze. I brought out some wine and cinnamon whiskey, filled the percolator with cider and cinnamon sticks, made two pies (from frozen because I ran out of cope), ham, turkey, roasted root veggies, sweet corn, and homemade cranberry sauce because the canned stuff is of the devil. Folks brought pies, brownies, cheeses, fruits, two kinds of stuffing, a hashbrown potato casserole, green bean casserole (fresh green beans with cream of mushroom soup FROM SCRATCH), rolls, cinnamon-cranberry-orange rolls, and more booze.

It was pretty amazing. We gathered plates and dispersed around the house. I think we all ate too much, but that's fine. 

We sent some leftovers home with people and traded other leftovers - you take the pumpkin pie, but leave me the apple - and I fell into bed.

Today, I woke up early and went out to do some shopping. First the spa, to get my annual shellac manicure at 20% off. Then Starbucks because coffee. Then the FLGS for D&D books and My First Carcassonne. Then JoAnn's for on sale yarn and fleece. Then Target for DVDs, little toys, and some clothes. Then home.

Since being at home, we've done a lot of dishes. I made incredibly tasty ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch - this butter topping makes it all better (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-ham-and-cheese-party-sandwiches/). I made an Emi-safe pumpkin pie with her and it's cooling on the counter. I made a turkey pot pie out of leftovers and it's cooling on the stove. It's also Emi-safe, due to using a modified biscuit recipe for the top. We'll see if she eats it.

Later tonight, we need to strain and aliquot a couple gallons of turkey stock. The bones and the leftover cooking veggies slowly simmered all night, leaving us with stock of FLAVOR.

Dinner soon. Thank god. I'm crabby now because I'm hungry and the pot pie smells good.

Tomorrow, Emi and I will wander around downtown and she'll pick out some presents. We love Small Business Saturday, since our town is FULL of small businesses. Afterward, I may try to make some fleece headbands and scarves. Maybe even finish a couple of other projects on the table.

Then I can get ready for Cyber Monday deals. I'm waiting for ThinkGeek to send an email detailing what all's on sale. I have one or two presents from there to buy and then I should be done. I need to start wrapping soon. Yus.

And now, in our ongoing series of "I'm an adult. Yes, really", I present to you my recipe for Lazy Nachos.

Step 1 - Get a block of cheese out of the fridge.
Step 2 - Cut off a piece of the cheese. If you want a big snack, get a big piece. Not rocket science.
Step 3 - Put the block of cheese back in the fridge.
Step 4 - Get out some tortilla chips. The amount should be proportionate to your cheese.
Step 5 - Take a bite of cheese. Immediately eat a tortilla chip.
Step 6 - Repeat step 5. Try to make the ingredients come out even.

TaDa! Lazy Nachos. 

Magic Coffee is a SUCCESS! I needed some Cubano to get me to the caffeine level that I require to function, but we got the taste right on the FIRST TRY! All hail SCIENCE!

Here's how we did it.

1. Make iced coffee.
2. Make simple syrup3. Make the magic

There's now a bucket in our brewing cupboard containing 10 lb of quartered strawberries, 12 lb of honey, 4 gallons of water, and some disinfecting tabs. In two days, the yeast will be getting pitched in after being allowed to bulk up in some sugar water.

What else could we do when Local Grocery Store had a sale on fresh strawberries for $1/lb? I mean, really?

Now to wait. And wait. And wait.

Luckily, we only have 2 weeks to wait for the Irish Red Ale to sit in its new kegs and get carbonated. Initial tasting demonstrates that it's a teensy bit higher proof than most commercial beer. Oh darn.

According to my doctor, I am doing very well. My uterus is the right size, my weight is appropriate, I have a very active baby with good heart tones (150 bpm), and my blood pressure has remained relatively constant throughout this whole thing. Also, having reached 37 weeks, he has few worries about Peanut being born any time now.

Woot, I say, woot!

According to my greyhound, I am either the best doggy mommy or the worst in the history of the entire world. She was not given any of my Taco Bell last night nor was she given any of the cheese or garlic from the lasagna that we prepped for the freezer tonight. Woe is her. On the other hand, she has a yard that she will sprint across, roll in the grass, and play! And she gets tons of other treats and people food. She had a minor freakout on Sunday when Downwood was vacuuming her lawn (mowing it), but was ecstatic when I let her out so she could roll around and verify that the grass was still there. Silly dog.

According to my freezer, I am ready for an extended blizzard. There's fruit and veggies, BBQ pork, lasagna, meats, bread, cookie dough, and some other things that I can't remember right now. We also bought a whole bunch of pantry staples (canned tomatoes, beans, flour, sugar, pasta, etc) to restock all the things that I made a point of using up before the move. Aside from things like milk, eggs, and bananas, I think we're set for a while.

According to my team lead, I am doing a very good job at work. He's talked to my customers and heard all the good things they have to say about me. He also got involved with an escalation over the last few days and has been helpful in balancing my work load.

According to my dance teacher, I am going to have few problems pushing Peanut out. Hooray for core muscle strength! Also, I am very brave for doing a full-day dance workshop on Saturday. It was an amazing time and I learned a whole lot! I was sad that I hadn't signed up for the Sunday workshop as well, but realized that my body probably wouldn't have stood for it.

According to our former neighbor, some of the random kids were running in and out of our rental place over the weekend. He saw it, shooed them out, collected the few valuables (ie, the liquor cabinet) that were left in the place (the bottle of Templeton Rye being among them), and called the landlord to let them know what was going on. The landlords, being complete idiots, didn't tell this to Downwood when he called them to report a break-in. Luckily, the neighbor showed up before the police did and could give them his statement. The whiskey has been rescued and brought to its new home.

According to my psychiatrist, one of the reasons that I've been barely maintaining my grip on reality is because my blood level of one of my meds was just a hair above the minimum level required for functionality. There's something about having an extra liter of blood that dilutes blood levels of drugs. Dosage has been changed and we are continuing to monitor mood and thought patterns. Still not in a good place, but still able to keep moving.

According to my back and to Peanut, I need to not be sitting in front of my computer any longer. In fact, either chilling in the ultra-comfy rocking chair or just getting a little extra sleep are both sounding like excellent ideas.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been trying my best to use up anything that's been kept in the pantry, fridge, or freezer. I don't particularly like moving food between houses, so anything I could use up in advance is important. This has led to some strange concoctions.

For example, last night's dinner was pork chops, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. I was short on time, so I decided to do the meat on the stove instead of the charcoal grill. Looking for something to make it a little more tasty than just plain meat, I pulled out a jar of cinnamon-cranberry chutney that'd been on the shelf since I impulse purchased it at Target a while ago.

Most of the jar went into the pan. I added a couple tablespoons of butter, balsamic vinegar, and worcestershire sauce. When the meat was done and the corn had just a couple minutes to go, I pulled out the meat and set to making a pan sauce with a tablespoon or two of cornstarch in cold water and what was left in the pan. A generous sprinkling of garlic powder and a couple minutes to thicken and it looked like gravy!

It turned out to be extremely tasty! The leftovers even reheated well for lunch today. I know I'll never be able to pull off the exact same thing again, but it was an experiment well worth doing.

Link the First
How to Not Screw Up Scallops - I was craving scallops, so I stopped at the fresh fish store on my way home from work and bought some. I used this technique and served them with some pasta tossed with olive oil, sugar snap peas, and garlic. They were perfect! Even Downwood, who will eat feeeeeeesh fry but still claims to dislike seafood, thought they were very tasty.

Link the Second
I admit it, I jumped on the dreamwidth bandwagon. Just in case LJ goes kaput, I got myself an account over there. I haven't started posting or anything yet, but I got my username.

So I tried to make fried rice tonight with rice and other leftovers from earlier in the week. It sort of worked. I think that I used the wrong kind of rice, because it kind of turned into a gooey blob. It tastes like fried rice and is actually pretty delicious, but it doesn't look all that appetizing.

Luckily, though I prefer it when my food is visually appealing, I'm starving because lunch was a long time ago and I got home from dance right before setting some oil to heat. My faithful greyhound was observing the entire proceedings and has let it be known that she will gladly help dispose of any leftovers.

Assuming I can get the right kind of rice, I would totally make this again. It's got the "fridge casserole" thing going for it, which is something that I enjoy.

Hooray for fall! I can make soup and apple stuff and not feel bad for heating up the house! I've eaten more bread in the last 24 hours than in the previous week thanks to a batch of pumpkin butter that I made from pumpkins Downwood and I picked up on Sunday, roasted, and pureed.

The pumpkin seeds were toasted and crunched last night during the football game. I got home from work at 8:51. Downwood brought me dinner at work and then volunteered to take the list and do the weekly grocery run by himself. He got home at 9:02. And then we ate pumpkin butter and seeds and watched football and enjoyed life.

And tonight only one homicidal mob got incited. I was honestly expecting a slightly higher body count/more general destruction, but I've found that if I mentally prepare myself for the world imploding, it makes for a more relaxed game when only minor acts of terror get carried out.

Tomorrow there will be whiskey-glazed carrots, potatoes, grill, and a new episode of Bones. We're also supposed to be done with this Indian summer crap and into blustery fall. I call this a good thing, since I have all sorts of pretty sweaters to wear.