Whoops.

I am a bad nanny because I watched this video while Nolan and Bella were standing by. It is absolutely disgusting and Bella started crying and ran to the bathroom to THROW UP. Um, will I go to Hell for traumatizing her like that? Here is the link...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=19704250&ref=profile#/video/video.php?v=117253032122&ref=mf

Potato and Leek Tart

Soooo, I was a vegetarian when Jason and I got together, and remained so for about two years. Then, I developed an allergy to dairy, so I no longer could get enough protein without eating meat. I tried, but obviously my body could not handle the vegan thing, so reluctantly I started eating meat again. Eventually I got used to it and it didn't bother me. Recently, with trying to get pregnant and the fact that my body is now dealing with dairy fairly well, I have been slowly getting back into vegetarianism. Jason, too, by default. Just say that I am thankful everyday for a husband who eats pretty much what is put in front of him without complaining. I want to raise our baby vegetarian so I am trying to make it apart of our lifestyle now. And please don't give me B.S. about not giving the kid a choice whether or not to eat meat because I wasn't given the choice when I was younger, either, or I would have chosen to never have animal flesh touch my lips. If the munchkin wants to eat meat later, then fine, but I am starting him or her off vegetarian. Amen.

Anyway, I made this really great potato leek feta tart (vegatarian) the other night. I had extra filling and an extra crust, so today I repurposed the filling into a quiche. Yummy. Here is the link to the original recipe. My friend Amy over at Cleveland Duo made it as well and we agreed: cut the leeks in half and add more potato. She also suggested adding some garlic to the mix, and I think that would be fabulous as well! Let me know if you try it!

Home Office Ideas

As soon as we are pregnant and know our nursery decor, we will be moving the home office into the guest bedroom and repainting the office (bad paint decision. my bad) into a baby's room. So, I am gathering decorating ideas for the home office. The color on the walls is green (we actually like the color) and I am thinking of bringing in black and white as accent colors. Here is a home office scrapbook of ideas I am thinking of incorporating:

I love the rug and light in this room. Also the sheers really work with the space. OMG! Can it be? Yes, those are Expedit shelves on the side wall. Did I mention that I want to marry IKEA?
I like how this desk and file cabinet are painted the same glossy color. I definitely want to bring glossy surfaces into our office. I also like the low profile chair.

More ideas to come. I have them stored on my computer, but it is getting late and I have to get up waay early to take the kids to school :)

Dear Ikea,

Dear Ikea. Will you marry me?

Will you?

Will you?

I am a fun wife. Just ask my husband!


I say this because Ikea made my living room fully functional. And for that, it deserves to be wedded to ME.

I bought the Expedit bookshelf today (the four by four) and it is perfect for our living room. We bought a ton of boxes and baskets to store DVDs, doggy toys and we still have plenty of room for (future) kids toys. It is a piece I can see using for years to come and it was only $159. That is such a good deal for comparable pieces (Pottery Barn for $800). I'll post lots o' pictures later when we have all the wires from the new t.v. all hidden. Our living room is finally coming together!

I want to make this, but haven't

Found this recipe on my friend Sarah's blog over at Mommy McD. Want to make this, but haven't.

Cilantro Lime Slaw
1 package Cole Slaw or whole shredded cabbage
1 c. Mayonnaise
1 c. Cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. minced Garlic
1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper or a dash of your favorite hot sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. Lime Juice
1/2 tsp. Cumin

Combine all but slaw in a mini food processor or chop and combine yourself. Mix desired amount of dressing with slaw mix no more than 30 minutes before serving.

Fun with Dick and Jane

As some of you know, I am obsessed with interior decorating, especially interior decorating on a BUDGET! I love hgtv.com's Rate My Space, and I regularly go on there to get ideas for bedrooms, home offices, paint colors, and now, nurseries! I also look at design magazines and books to try to train my eye to notice and be able to create pleasing design. I love patterned, colorful (or not) fabrics, mixing and layering textures, and repainting or refashioning old pieces to create visually interesting, calming, unfussy spaces. I don't really have the money for much, but I am slowly working on putting my house together. This is the one area of my life where God has granted me patience! I do like to wait until I find the perfect piece, as opposed to buying something that "will do" only to dump it in a landfill when my dream furniture, fabric, etc. comes along!

As I am a notorious planner (I planned my wedding since 4th GRADE!!!) I have been perusing nursery ideas for a while. I really like vintage, and as I will actually have a budget with money I can spend for this room, I am looking forward putting together the perfect gender-neutral nursery to try out my so-called design skills. Here are the requirements:

1. Though I have seen many beautiful neutral/tan colored nurseries, I know that primary colors are the best bet for our baby's development. So, it has to have COLOR! but not be garish or scream "I am the baby room!" Subtle color.

2. Gender-neutral. I would like to use the nursery for future babies regardless of sex. As much as I would like to have pink bedding, pink pillows and a pink rocker, the practical side of me screams "ridiculous!" I want to use this stuff again! There will be time to have boy-ish or girl-ish rooms once they are tods and out of the nursery.

3. Have quotes, tons of books, and wording anywhere I can put it. The more babies are exposed to print, the better, especially when you take the time to read that print to babies. We call it a literature-rich environment, and it equals smart babies.

4. Encorporate pictures of the dogs. The dogs are and always will be our first babies, and we want our baby to be surrounded by their cute faces. Jason had the idea of taking costumed photos of them depending on the theme (for example, Duke in his cowboy outfit) and then blowing them up and framing them. This art is cheap and personal!

So, all that being said, here is the nursery I am using for my main inspiration. The theme will be vintage Dick and Jane. It is bright, gender-neutral, and oh so cute!

Here is one room I am using for inspiration. I love the vintage books (will use my old Berenstein Bears books probably, because those were my very favorite, and hang my daddy's christening gowns).

This shows some of the Dick and Jane fabric but not well. This is also a little "boyish" but more girly colors can be added later :)
Here is one sample of the fabric (J is for Jump) I am going to use. Note the alphabet and the emergent reader sentences! Yea!

Other example of fabrics that could be used.


Cute neutral print!

Mix in this Etsy owl mobile! I HAVE TO HAVE IT!

It is a start, yea? I still have to convince Jason (he wants a sports nursery if we have a boy...) but I really love what I have so far :)

I'm getting very sleepy...

Since having my period last week, I have been more fatigued than I have been probably ever in my life, besides the two or three times I had the flu. I could literally sleep all day, every day, and as I only work part time over the summer, I have been able to take it easy and rest up on the days I am not with the kids. Jason wants me to just sleep it off and not do anything, but I have errands I need to run, teacher organizing I need to do, cleaning, cooking, working out etc. Oh the working out. Not working out is killing me, but I am literally up for a few hours and feel the need to go back to sleep again. So I wake up, eat, take care of the dogs, shower, and then I feel like I need to rest again. Not exactly a schedule conducive to vigorous exercise. Hopefully the fatigue is just a result of the period-from-hell and I am not actually pregnant... If I am still tired Monday or Tuesday I'll take another pregnancy test and/or call my doctor. My girlfriend Amy's husband CJ announced at dinner last night, "My mom had her period for three months when I was inside her." Funny way of putting it, but his point was that I could still be having my period and be pregnant. I know this, but hoping it is not so, because that would just be cruel God, just cruel.

After we get pregnant and have a baby, I don't think I will go back on regular birth control. The side effects of weaning off of it have been horrendous and I was basically incapacitated most of last week. Birth control really lessons the symptoms of nasty periods, but I somehow think that a medicine that causes such a violent reaction when you stop taking it probably isn't that good for you. Jason seems to agree with me after this last week!

Anyway, exciting news is that Jason just bought me a new T.V. The television we have is probably 8 or 9 years old, and is so small that you can hardly see it from the couch across the room. We have been wanting to get a flat screen for a while, as it would be more entertaining and work better with our family room layout (wall mounted about the fireplace), but I hate getting rid of things, especially electronics, when they work perfectly well. I am not the sort of person who believes in upgrading just to get the newest or best gadget. Hence the reason our computer is bulky and ancient (but still trucking away) and our toaster was from a garage sale. Why buy new electronics or furniture that waste money and resources all the while dumping your perfectly good stuff in the landfills to pollute? Not for me. Finally, though, I conceded, as our poor little tele now has vertical strips of darker and lighter colors running through the image. I wanted to do craigslist, but that creeps my husband out, so off to Best Buy he went. Can't wait to see what he got me (especially since it will have to last us probably 15 years!)

Encouragement

It seems that recently, a fair amount of people have been negative about Jason's decision to leave engineering (a fairly lucrative and stable career) to pursue medicine. Our families are reasonably supportive, they just don't want us to leave Oregon. It is disheartening when neighbors and acquaintances respond with, "What!? WHY???" and it makes us question if we are making the right choice. Jason always responds to naysayers with these points:

1. He believes his gifts are elsewhere (as in, not in sitting at a desk and coding). He is a very compassionate, gregarious, soothing person, and he has a servant's heart. He wants to serve people and affect change in a more tangible, moment-by-moment way. He enjoys a fast paced environment where he can move around and be confronted with new situations and problems.
2. He needs the opportunity to establish deeper relationships. Engineering, at least software, is a pretty isolated job. He has meetings and does work within a group, but mostly he sits at his desk coding.
3. He (we) value education for education's sake. It is important to him to pursue even higher education, and he is not motivated or interested in getting a Masters or Ph.D in computer science. As a teacher, I know that should he pursue higher degrees in engineering, he probably would not be successful because of this lack of interest.
4. He is not happy in engineering and dreads the thought of it as his career for the next 30 years.

People still insist that he is crazy, though. When I think deeply about it, I get stressed as well, mostly because I am so afraid of being dirt poor for so long during med school and residency, having to move away from my support network of family and friends, and never seeing him or having him to support me in raising our children. Because we are starting later than some, and Jason can't quit work to go to school full time until he starts med school, the journey will be especially long for us.

It is funny (and amazing) how God redirects you and offers you peace in the midst of stress or adversity. Upon opening my computer, I found this post from the Lives of Doctor's Wives blog. It was exactly what I needed to recommit to this medical journey. I know Jason and I have a stronger-than-average marriage, have excellent communication, and are committed to meeting eachother's needs. The horror stories you hear of absent doctor husbands or of wives being left after the stress of training is said and done, those men are not my husband. They are men who choose from the beginning that family will always be second to career. They are men who are egocentric, selfish and proud - who are unwilling to serve their wives and love them more than they do themselves. It is not medicine that breaks up the marriage in that case, it is the marriage itself, doomed regardless of career choice.

Anyway, just thought I would share that blessing. A bit of encouragement when I needed it most :) I am thankful for blogging, for it has offered me a support network of women who are going through or have been through what I will be going through :)

Baby Name of the Day: Long time since I have posted an idea. Right now Jason and I like Chase. Not sure of the middle name but would like to do a family name from my side...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I had the kids late tonight, so after Bella's gymnastics, we decided to meet Jason for dinner at Red Robin. Red Robin is obviously the restaurant to be, because they give you balloons when you leave, and have the best macaroni and cheese. Anyway, I was driving there, minding my own business, when I hear a little voice in the back seat,

Nolan: When I am big, I am going to get hair on my privates.
Katie (almost driving off the road): Oh, interesting. How did you find that out?
Nolan: Daddy has hair on his privates.
Katie: Oh, great.
Nolan: I am already big.
Katie: Hmm... really?
Nolan: Yes, when I was going pee standing up I saw one hair on my penis.

OMG. I almost died. Out of the mouths of babes.

I heart Etsy

Sooo, for those of you women (or men!) who love home decorating, Etsy is THE place to be. Etsy is sort of like an online Saturday Market. All the items are handmade by local (the definition of that word is changing, I guess!) artists. I am absolutely obsessed with their bedding (pillows, baby bedding, blankets, etc.) They also have funky dog art, which I collect. Here are some of today's fav's:

I really love the pillow above. I hope I have a girl just so I can use that shade of purple and have this pillow in her room. Make a wish!

These are essentially our bedroom colors. I will die if I don't get these pillows at some point.

Awesome newspaper pillow I would love to put in our baby room. Hey, whatever supports early literacy!


A Maddie dog to add to my collection. Doesn't quite catch the goofiness of her, but it is close!


I am not picky in terms of dogs or breeds. I love the dogs God has blessed me with and will love whatever dog He sees fit to join me up with next. BUT... if all dogs were loved and there was no need for rescue and I could get whatever dog I wanted, it would be a Blue Nosed Pit Bull puppy. Since this probably won't happen, I'll satisfy myself with this beautiful painting.

Hope this beautiful art brightens your day! Check out Etsy! I love home decorating.

Disappointed

So, Jason and I are officially trying for a baby. We started trying earlier in the month, and thanks to good ol' Catholic education, I knew when I was ovulating so we were really hopeful. I didn't drink alcohol or caffeine this whole month (even in Mexico) and really have been watching my fish intake. This was sad because I really wanted to drink and eat fish during our all-inclusive vacation, but obviously I couldn't risk it if I was pregnant. Well, on Monday I started my period. Majorly. I haven't had a period this bad since before I started birth control before the wedding. I stayed in bed all Sunday, had to get it together to work Monday, and stayed in bed all yesterday as well. I would try to get up to be productive as I had a huge laundry list of things to do, but would be up for a bit and just have to lie back down because of the cramps and exhaustion. Yikes.

Anyway, we are going to try an ovulation kit this time around, so hopefully September will be our month! Keep y'all updated. Even though I am pretty sure no one reads this :)

Pawsitively Pitbull Event

The Pitbull rescue group Jason and I volunteer with, Pawsitively Pitbull is hosting a fundraiser at the downtown Wild Oats today. We have prior commitments, but here is the information we got in an email if anyone wants to go!


Please come down to WILD OATS on 28th and E. Burnside for a BBQ to benefit the pit bulls!
WILD OATS has generously donated tons of grub for us to grill up and serve to you. 5 bucks gets you a hot dog and a drink, and we will even have vegan hot dogs too! We will be there with all sorts of information and handouts on combating BSL, myths and facts about pit bulls, photo albums, books, and even some real live dogs to shower with affection. Come meet and socialize with other pit bull supporters and dog rescue advocates.

We will be there from 2pm until 6pm this Saturday August 15th.

The address is:
WILD OATS
2825 E. Burnside St
Portland, Oregon

Thanks all!