Anticipating Irene

Just figured I'd write a little posty-post on ye olde bloggy-blog before our power takes a hiatus. 

Being from upstate New York, I've lived through my fair share of storms. Mostly blizzards, but a few crazy torndao-ish "microbursts" as they call them, as well as ice storms and thunderstorms. I lived through a few tornado warnings during my years in Ohio. And just a few days ago, I lived through an earthquake! (A feat which I also conquered while I was over in Kenya).

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I'm pretty storm-weathered, if you will. However, I've never experienced a real hurricane before. Sometimes we'd get some pretty heavy rainstorms up in Syracuse, the leftovers of the hurricanes those down here had experienced. But now I'm just a few hours away from riding out my first real hurricane. 

Here's the thing. I'm pretty scared!! When I listed all those storms I'd handled before, it wasn't to brag and say "I'm tough, bring it on!" I was just trying to comfort myself a little bit I think! I'm kind of like a housepet when bad weather comes. I get all quiet and tense for days beforehand, the anxiety building more intensely as the storm moves ever closer. And when it hits us, you better believe I will be curled up in the safest spot in our house, saying Hail Marys and drinking Gin & Tonics (medicinal purposes only, people, for my nerves) until it's all over. 

The worst part is, even though this is our first hurricane, we decided to stay and ride it out, rather than evacuate. It's too late now to leave, since Irene will be here soon. We tried to get the opinions of all the locals and SO MANY of our friends here were all "Meh, it's no big deallll, you'll be fiiiiiine!" Come to find out, about half of these people ended up evacuating themselves, leaving us newbies here to fend for ourselves!! 

But, in all seriousness. We should be fine. Our immediate neighbors all decided to stay as well and told us they have our backs. I think about how deeply terrified the disciples in the boat were during the storm, and the moment they cried out to Jesus for help, he stood, commanded the sea, and all was calm. We're definitely not alone during this time. Even just writing this now bring so much comfort to my heart.

Anyway, here's a before/after of the dock in our backyard:

What our dock normally looks like.

The dock as of 11am.

The dock as of 5pm. Also, notice the branches on the tree, being blasted by the wind.

We'll see how the night goes. Please pray for us and all those who will be affected by this hurricane! I'm looking forward to seeing the sun again! :)

Happy 1st Birthday Gemma!!!

I've put this post off a little bit for 2 reasons. 1. We've been insanely busy the past few weeks! and 2. I'm still in denial that my sweet little baby is already a year old! 

Her official birthday was August 13th, and on that day, we were all stuck in the car, driving back from a wedding. Strapped into a carseat, facing backwards, is not the best way to spend your birthday. So, to make up for it, we threw her a super, amazing, fantastically awesome Safari Party this past weekend. 

Here's a few pictures of the preparations/decorations:

How cute are these napkins! Ordered from Celebration Express.

Yes, we made that sign! I did the letters, Rocky did the artwork :)

Check out the LOOT!! (In Safari print wrapping paper of course - Dollar Tree)

Alright, so, here's the thing. We had food. We had... lots. of. food. Unfortunately, I was so busy making/devouring it, that I forgot to take pictures of almost all of it. There were bbq brisket sandwiches, buffalo chicken dip, veggies, cheese&crackers, fruit kabobs, sausage dippers, shrimp rangoon cups (yea, they're friggin awesome... will post recipe soon), candy, sweet safari punch, chips&salsa... the list. goes. on. 

Oh, and some amazing cupcakes that I literally spent close to 4 hours baking/decorating! :)

This was all I managed to get pictures of:

The Cheese Lion. My brainchild, Rocky's handiwork!

So cute!! Worth the effort :)

Of course, no birthday post would be complete without sharing some pictures of Gemma destroying eating her 1st cupcake.

It all started so nicely...

 Then, the destruction began.

 She was lovin it!

Daddy gave her a little ice cream to wet her whistle :)

She was taking this whole cupcake thing very seriously... this is as close to a smile as I got out of her!

Note the placement of her chocolate-covered right hand!

All in all, we had such a fun party! First birthday parties can be silly, I know, since technically "they'll never remember it" but really, it's for the parents to celebrate an amazing year of life with their child! I am so, so, so grateful for my little girl. She is truly a blessing in our lives, and I feel thankful to God that I get to be her Mommy. I love you Gemmaroo!! 

Garden-Fresh Sloppy Joes

So one of the things that has been so amazing since we've moved to VA, is that many of our neighbors and friends from church have been sharing the harvests of their gardens with us! It's been amazing. I'm a Farmer's Market junkie as it is, because there's nothing quite like fresh fruits and veggies home-grown and hand-picked, ya know? So what's even better than buying fresh home-grown produce? Receiving FREE home-grown produce. Seriously, how awesome is that?!

Anyway, here's how this recipe happened. It was just one of those nights when I really had nothing planned for dinner and was feeling kinda lazy about cooking, so I wanted something simple and easy. I looked over to our big wooden bowl we keep on the counter for fruits and veggies that don't need to be in the fridge, and on this particular night, it was overflowing. I thought, hm, maybe I'll make a quick pasta primavera? But as I kept looking at the bowl, I noticed there were a LOT of tomatoes. So I thought, maybe a red sauce? And then the wheels kept turning... it was a ridiculously hot day and I thought, I don't really want a big heavy pasta dish tonight.

Then, the lightbulb went off. I was cutting veggies, throwing things in the pan, sauteing, and throwing some more things in the pan, and just a few minutes later, voila! I had made some insanely scrumptious sloppy joes! The hubster and I mnoshled (yes, I just made that up) into those bad boys like there was no tomorrow. The little kid inside me rejoiced and the adult inside me who actually cares about being healthy ALSO rejoiced. It was the best of times, it was ... the best of times.

The following recipe is not super precision, seeing as my method (described above) was pretty fly-by-the-seat. So I hope you don't mind the amazingly accurate measurements I'll be using. :)


Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1 small/medium chopped bell pepper
1 smallish chopped onion
1-2 cloved finely chopped garlic
2ish cups fresh chopped tomatoes
1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
A few tablespoons of light olive oil (feel free to substitute another oil of choice)
4-5 splashed of Worchestershire sauce
A small blob of kethcup
A small blob of spicy brown mustard
Salt&Pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat up the oil over medium-high heat, and get your carrots sauteing first since they will take a bit longer to soften up. After a few minutes, add the rest of your veggies. Let those cook for a few minutes, and once the garlic becomes really fragrant to you, add the tomatoes and turn the heat down to low.
2. Once you start to see the tomatoes breaking down, add the ground meat and give it all a few good stirs.
3. Add your sauces and seasonings and stir.
4. Continue to cook until the meat is cooked all the way through.

Serve hot on a nice big whole wheat bun with marinated cucumbers, chips, cottage cheese, pickles, crackers or whatever you fancy!

*As a side note, I wanted to add that if you're planning on feeding this meal to kids who will likely turn their noses up at the sight of carrots and bell peppers in their sloppy joes, simply puree all the veggies, and you'll have an even sloppier texture, the kids will never know, it'll taste AMAZING, and it's still super healthy! :)

Things. Have. Happened!

Helllllllloooo!! (Mrs. Doubtfire voice). 

I dunno... I just felt like saying that.

Anyway, it is so totally update time. I'm going to make this fast though because honestly, details can be boring and my attention span is short. So, first of all, my surgery went as smoothly as we could have hoped for, and I am recovering really well. So in a few weeks, this will all be a distant memory! Thank you all so, so, so, so, so much for your prayers and support during that time. I am so grateful to God for seeing me through that.

Secondly, it's official. I am now a resident of Virginia!! The move went off without a hitch. Well, actually, we did need a hitch to tow our car. But other than that one necessary hitch, it was an otherwise totally hitchless event. Our new home is absolutely gorgeous, and every morning, when I look outside, I have to remind myself that I actually LIVE here. I keep thinking I'm just visiting or on vacation or something. We live right on the river, and yes, it's time for pictures. Pardon the mess... we just moved, people! ;)

Hubby and Gem outside the house. Back of the house.

Fam room area

Dining room area. Hubs working on his brand new computer. Kitchen in the background.

Okay, so now that you can see a little sneak-peak of the kitchen back there, let me just talk about that for a minute. I am .OBSESSED. with my new kitchen. Seriously. Sometimes I just go in there to hang out. Stare at the inside of my oven. Wash my hands. Caress the counter-top. Just kidding about that last part. ...not really. But anyway, it's a brand new kitchen. Fresh new tile. All new energy-efficient appliances. New cupboards. Granite counter-tops. Gigantic stainless steel sink. Seriously, you could probably give a baby elephant a bath in there. Possibly even an adolescent elephant. 

Yes, it's raining outside, but no one can rain on my parade of kitchen joy. It's just beautiful.

And it is a really huge room... I may add an island in here at some point. Right now, I just have some extra shelving and random stuff going on over there, but hey. At least there are sombreros.

I also really need to get curtains in this kitchen asap because it's so creepy at night when you can't see out and have a ridiculous imagination like I do. I'm pretty sure I've already envisioned roughly 17 different stalker/axe murderer/lunatic clown scenarios while standing in the kitchen at night.

Okay, so I've been holding out on you. As gorgeous as the kitchen is, it doesn't even come close to the beauty that is our backyard. Our backyard is a river. The Lafayette River to be exact. This is the view from the back door of our house. (Which is the kitchen door, which means I get to look out to the river a million times a day as I hang out in my awesome kitchen.)

:

Sunset. Picnic table compliments of my FIL.

The dock! And seriously, I'm not exaggerating... this picture was taken from the threshold of our back door. 

So it's almost impossible for me to stop taking pictures out here. Especially at sunset!! What's really cool about this is that the water is brackish which makes for extremely fertile breeding ground for all different types of fishes. We hear the fishing and crabbing off this dock is top notch. So operation buy a fishing pole will very soon commence. 

Lots of geese, ducks, and cranes out on this river.

Here comes a goose to say hi to my family!

I don't even have to edit these pictures, it's just that gorgeous out here.

Me and my little Gem. She's waving hi to all of you, beautiful readers!

So the other really cool thing about where we live on the river is that directly across from us is the zoo! Which is cool for a few different reasons:

1. No one will ever build a house over there so our view will always just be all those trees, which makes it look so awesome and naturey all the time.

2. Sometimes you can hear random animal noises and you get to play the game of guess which animal made that noise!

3. Maybe they will let me babysit an adolescent elephant some time so I can really see just how big my kitchen sink really is. Ya think?

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! I know Gemma enjoyed herself. Rocky and I were making s'mores, turned our backs on her for 5 seconds to roast our mallows, and I turned around to this glorious sight:

Of course I had to get a picture of her mischief before we hosed her sticky self off.

It was also 97 degrees out, so we justified this activity as serving a dual-purpose.

And Gemma loved every minute of it.

Once again, thank you all for your love and prayers for my family during this transition period. Praise God for bring us to this beautiful new home! We are so looking forward to our new life and ministry here.

Things. Are. Happening!

Hey y'all!!! If you're an average mommy blogger like I am, then you're already very familiar with the following phrase: Sorry I've been so MIA lately, but life has been crazy! Haha... seriously, though, unless you're Supermom Superblogger, you know what I mean here! I think we all have times when we inadvertently neglect our blog as life takes over for a little bit. Now is such a time in my life. Even now I reallllly don't have that much time to be blogging, but felt like I should do a quick catch up before life gets even crazier (and it's about to!)

The fam went down to Virginia Beach during the week ending with and including Memorial Day weekend for vacation (and a few job interviews for the hubby.) Back in November, we went out to San Diego to visit family for Thanksgiving, and dipped Gemma's little toesies into the Pacific, so she's technically already been to the beach, but this was her first "real" beach trip. She was cautious of the sand at first, but then ended up loving it! Daddy would build little castles for her, and she would smash them down. It was so stinkin cute. She got it in her bathing suit, mouth, ears, everywhere. For the record, it is very difficult to re-apply sunscreen to a baby who is COVERED in sand! (Note to self - get spray sunscreen). She was nooooot really a fan - at all - of the ocean however. 

Having all kinds of fun!

Like I said... Not. A. Fan.

Awhile back, a mommy blog friend of mine's son popped teeth while they were on vacation, so I was like, "Ooh, maybe GEMMA will finally pop some teeth while WE'RE on vacation!" But no, not a one. She is now 10 months and 4 days, and totally toothless. It's all good though. I'm nursing her, so I'm not really in a rush for her teeth to come in, but it does slightly limit what she can eat food-wise. I say slightly, because her lack of teeth doesn't really hinder her a great deal. She can really gum something down when she wants to. She's a bit picky on what she'll eat, but she lives fruit smoothies and is basically a carb-aholic. Pasta, bread, crackers, cereal, potatoes, bagel, pizza crust... if it's a carb, she loves it. Girl after my own heart :)

Aaaaanyway, as I mentioned earlier, my husband did some job interviews while we were down in Virginia, and I am SO EXCITED to announce that he got the job we were hoping for! So we have been, and are currently in crazy pack mode, as we are leaving for Virginia on the 26th because his job starts July 1st!! That's right, we are soon-to-be Virginia residents! Ahhh I am freaking out. It's going to be a really fantastic move for us, as we have lots of good friends already where we are moving, and we'll be a bit closer to various family members of mine :)

However, getting from point A to point B is crazy stressful! Any of you who have relocated to another STATE know what I'm talking about. Sooooo many logistics! I won't even go into it.

LASTLY, on Monday (the 20th), I'll be having a fairly major surgery. It all started over a month ago, when I ended up in the ER. So not fun. Well, several follow-up appointments, 2 ultrasounds, and a CAT Scan later, it has come to light that I have two benign dermoid cysts inside me. Either both in one ovary, or one in each ovary. They are bigger than tennis balls, oblong, and heavy. So yes, they are causing me pain. And yes, they need to come out. Unfortunately, due the the nature and location of the cysts, my OB will not be able to perform the surgery laproscopically as we had originally hoped. So it will be an open surgery, and although he said he will do his best to keep the incision as small as possible, the fact remains - it's an open surgery. It carries higher risks and requires a longer recovery time. 

So yes, you got that right. I will be having major surgery and moving to another state 6 days later. Enter: STRESS. But ya know, we're coping with it really well actually. I realize, God has been SO GOOD to us, and I trust Him completely. 

If you could please, offer a prayer for me and my family during this crazy time in our lives! I will try to update as soon as I can, but with everything going on, no guarantees on when that will be! As of now, all I can say is Praise God for all the blessings he has been pouring into our lives. Jesus, I trust in you.

Here's one last picture of Gemma enjoying the pool at our friend's house:

Broccoli-Stuffed BBQ Chicken

So it's been awhile since I've shared something from my kitchen, but fear not dear readers, the wait is over! I bring to you the latest, greatest kitchen creation to fill your hungry bellies! It is everything I love about food: scrumptious, healthy, satisfying. This particular recipe is for 2, but easy to increase if you have a bigger family than I currently do. One chicken breast per person, and increase the other ingredients accordingly.

Ingredients:
2 thick chicken breasts
2 stalks of broccoli
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms (if you don't like them, omit them!)
1/2 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup fresh basil
2 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
1/4-1/3 cup your favorite bbq sauce
salt
pepper
seasonings (I used oregano, chili powder, thyme, and nutmeg)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Take your chicken breasts out of the fridge to bring to room temp before cooking.
3. While that happily sits, heat up the butter and oil in a skillet. Chop the broccoli up and throw it in. Add your salt, pepper, and seasonings to your taste. Chop up your onion and basil, while you let that broccoli cook for 5-7 minutes. Next, add the garlic (grated or finely chopped), onions, and mushrooms and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Take off heat, and stir in the chopped basil and about half of your bbq sauce.
4. Butterfly your chicken breasts*, and place them into a greased baking pan.
5. Spoon your broccoli mixture into the chicken breasts. Pour the other half of your bbq sauce over the top of the chicken.
6. Cooking time will depend on the size of the chicken breasts. Start checking it after 20-25 minutes and bake until done! Serve on a bed of brown rice and with plenty of extra bbq sauce!

Yum!

*How to Butterfly a Chicken Breast:
Place the breast on the cutting board with the tip facing you and the thinner side opposite your cutting hand. Place your hand on top of the breast to keep it steady. Carefully insert the knife (you will need a VERY sharp knife - the sharper, the better!) into the thickest part of the breast, and draw it almost all the way through the breast. Be careful to make sure you keep the breast attached on one side. Open the breast like a book and, if needed, lightly pound the flesh until it's an even thickness.

Anybody Else Hate the Hospital??

Sorry I have been so MIA lately!!
This past week I ended up in the hospital, which was awful. Seriously... anybody else hate the hospital? Of course you start off being miserable when you get there because there is obviously something ailing you seriously enough to put you there in the first place. Then you get into your room, and people just start doing stuff to you. I was asking questions every five seconds about what they were doing to me, but not one person was offering up information on their own accord, and even when they would answer my questions, they would give me the most minimalistic, dumbed-down answer ever. And if I ever questioned the answer, they'd look at me like I was crazy! Sorry I'm not an animatronic moron who will just sit there while you poke and prod at me! Sheesh! 

When I first got there, of course, they were asking all kinds of questions about my current condition and medical history. During this time it came out that I am nursing my baby. They took a BUNCH of blood which I haaaaaaate. I so admire people who donate blood for good causes and all that but I cannot stand the feeling of blood draining out of my vein. It's so unnatural! 

After I had already been there for almost TWO HOURS, they finally get around to asking me if I'd like something for the pain. I was in quite a LOT of pain, so I said yes. Unfortunately, I didn't have any pain meds in my bag like I normally do. Rocky specifically asked them if there was a... well, not insanely expensive option for me to have. The nurse looked at him like he has two heads. 

Nurse: "What do you mean?"

Rocky: "Well, I just know the pain meds in hospitals can be pretty expensive." 

(we learned this after my hospital stay with Gemma)

Nurse: "Oh yea... uh..."

Rocky: "So I was just wondering if you had a cheaper version available of whatever you're going to give her."

Nurse: "Hm. I really just don't know! Sorry."

Cut to a few minutes later. The nurse comes in and starts doing stuff on the bedside table. I look over, and I see she is filling up three needles with three different things. Of course, never tells me what she's doing over there, so I HAVE TO ASK as usual. 

Me: "What are those?"

Nurse: "Oh this is blah blah. To help with the pain. And this is blah blah for nausea. And this is blah blah. That's the stronger pain medication for you."

(All three needles were already filled, so at this point I was pretty sure I was paying for all three of these things regardless if I refused them or not.)

Me: "Oh. Well... ya know, I'm not really feeling nauseous anymore at all."

Nurse: "Haha ohhh, you will."

Me: ?????

Nurse: "This blah blah normally makes patients feel nauseous so we just always give these medications together like this."

Me: "....o...k..."

She puts all three meds into my IV. Pretty much instantaneously, I felt SO WEIRD. I mean - weeeeeeird. This hot, pushing, swirling feeling crept all the way from the base of my skull down into the rest of my body. And then yes, I felt so nauseous. I felt dizzy and removed from the world. In short, I was high as a freaking kite. As soon as that feeling had taken over, I panicked! The nurse was already gone but it occurred to me that this was a VERY powerful narcotic, and I knew there was no way I would be able to nurse Gemma on it. Rocky went and grabbed the nurse for me. 

Me: "Uhh... this is making me feel really loopy. Is that normal?"

Nurse: "Well, most people do feel weird for a few minutes but it should subside soon."

Me: "Okay, well, am I going to be able to nurse my daughter on this?"

Nurse: "Ohhhh. I forgot you were nursing! Oh, egh, yea, I don't think you will be able to. Let me check with the doctor for you."

(20 minutes go by)

Nurse: "The doctor said four hours before you can nurse."

SERIOUSLY?! This, by far, was the most maddening part of my entire hospital experience. They KNEW I was nursing my daughter, but gave me a narcotic anyway! Mind you, it had already been over two hours since the last time I had nursed Gemma, and I wouldn't be able to nurse her till 7pm, which would skip her usual 5pm session and make her wait till before bedtime basically. I had brought a (very) small amount of food with me for her... just some puffs and a little bit of mashed apples and grapes. I was so angry with the hospital staff! Not only did they ignore our request for a cheaper pain med, they ignored the fact that I was a nursing mother, and they neglected to mention to me that what they were giving me was a NARCOTIC, even when I flat-out asked the nurse what she was giving me! She just told me the name of it (like that means anything to me!) and told me it was strong. Well, I consider Motrin to be strong, so how was I supposed to know just how strong she meant? Not to mention, I'm super sensitive to pain meds of any kind as it is, so I felt high for almost five hours, and the nausea didn't pass until the following afternoon. 

Deep. Breath.

Okay, sorry for the rant, but I'm hoping I'm not the only crazy one. Anyone else had bad hospital experiences? Where you just feel like the staff forgets you're an actual person and they just do stuff to you without even consulting with you? I mean, I'm sure these people aren't maliciously trying to treat you poorly, but you can tell they are just plugged into this system and they forget that we are not plugged into it! We get inserted into it against our will.

[For the record, I was in for an ovarian cyst, which has since ruptured and is decreasing in size. I'm feeling much, much better.]

Okay, and lastly, on a happy note, I'll leave you with this really cute song by Jason Mraz. I love finding songs by artists I like that can double as children's songs. It gives me hope that I don't have to necessarily be doomed to a life of The Wiggles and KidzBop to make my children happy :)