Holiday baking

I baked a couple treats this past week and was proud of both. One was a pecan pie. I'd never made one before and I'm always looking for recipes that are easy to throw together since I have little time. It turned out really tasty and got good reviews during Christmas, so I'm making another here soon. The taste of this pie is exactly as she describes on her blog. Not too sweet, nutty, buttery, and actually a little salty, which compliments the sweetness really well.

I also made a pear galette and managed to get a few pictures during the process.

This also turned out well and got great reviews (so great that I didn't get to try it myself). I had such fun cooking this. I'd never made a galette before and it involved such simple ingredients and techniques. A friend said it was the best thing they had tasted in awhile and they had just visited Napa (which I guess says a lot even though I haven't eaten much good food in Napa but know they are all about gourmet in that town).

It would have never crossed my mind to make a galette but my sister recommended I bake one with the pears she gave us for Christmas from Harry and David. Michael and I found the enclosed pamphlet with the pears kind of humorous, which read:

"Of the world's delights, the rarest, most delicious pears are the ones we call...

Royal Riviera Pears - so big and juicy, you eat them with a spoon."

When buying fruit, we usually don't choose pears so this was a suprise/treat. Baking with them was the perfect answer. I combined a couple recipes online, here and here. I used pre-made rolled out dough which I always keep on hand in the freezer, 2 pears, fresh lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, flour, butter, and egg wash on the crust with raw sugar sprinkled over it. I have two pears left. Guess what I'm doing with those?

Winter knitting

It's the perfect season for a Mara and I'm working on it, but I'm afraid my friend Angela might beat me. She's got an advantage with less yarn and her yarn is a little thicker. I am working with beautiful madelinetosh yarn she gifted me and it's an easy knit wherever I go.

I tried to get a lump of coal knit for hubby's stocking but didn't get it finished before Christmas. That's how hectic things can be around here. That and I started it about three times for no good reason. Maybe next year (Michael, just act like you didn't read that).

Something else on the needles is a light pink cotton cupcake with white frosting. I've been wanting to knit one for years so I'm using up some yarn. I also just dyed some bare superwash yarn for a sweater for Maggie. It turned out pretty cool. It was a crockpot dye with 4 different shades.

Two more shawls for the New Year - multnomah and citron. Yippee!

Have I mentioned how much I love Ravelry? It's a huge suck of time. I always have things to do while Maggie is asleep and then spend too much time online doing this stuff and not enough time knitting, watching favorite movies, or reading and relaxing. Oh well, Ravelry makes me happy.

Christmas countdown

We did a family photo shoot that helped get our Christmas cards out this year! Here are some of the shots. I'm in love.
And speaking of professinal photos, Maggie and I also helped out a friend and took some shots for her event at work. She works for Eskaton and was taking photos of families using their demonstration home with features that make it easier to live. We did three scenes of mom and baby doing various things. Maggie was a show off, all smiles. One day you just might see us up on the wall in a model home in your neck of the woods.

Merry Christmas friends!

What a steal

We were out shopping yesterday and on our way out of a store as we were driving through the parking lot hubby spots a curbed empty cart but with a big bag of dog food on the bottom shelf. It had obviously been left behind in all the holiday madness and I yell "Stop!" He gives me that look, but with a mischievous eye, and pulls over. I hop out, pop the hatch, and throw the dog food in without really thinking any further and yell through the back, "Let's get the heck out of here!" As we drive away and giggle, it's a little goofy because we don't have a dog but in the moment, it seemed like a good idea.

So as we're leaving for a birthday party last night I said to throw the dog food in the car since the birthday folks were dog owners. Upon walking into the party, I ask if anyone wants this bag of dog food and we found a nice couple with two cute dogs who were very glad to take the bag. They said it was worth about $40. Hmph, had no idea. I was thinking $20. So, it was a good end to the story that started out with a bit of mischievousness, but with good intentions of course! In return we were gifted two bottles of homebrewed beer. Yum!

This isn't the only time this has happened. One day at Raley's we went home with a bag of mexican food ingredients, not purchased by us. And then yesterday right after the dog food incident, I was at another store and it happened again but to the woman in front of me. However, she didn't snag the wrapping paper and instead told the cashier it wasn't hers. Hopefully, the fact that we gave the dog food away righted our chi and all is good in the world :-)

Winter family outing

Snow is here! We visited the snow with Maggie and I think she was shocked by the scene around her. Her little water resistant/fleece-lined jacket that took me forever to find (not many stores carry jackets like this for babies) pulled through. Maggie was most intrigued with touching the snowflakes falling on daddy's jacket.
We also woke to a dusting of snow last week. We had a few days of below freezing temps and snow come into town. I can't remember the last time this much snow fell so low in elevation. It sent everyone into a frenzy for a few days.
Hubby had his first day of skiing and now I want mine!

The babes

Yesterday, my one and only niece turned two. It wasn't long ago that Eden was Maggie's age and such a cute little infant. The first baby between my sister and I and so adored by all. Now she's a toddler and growing like a weed. She makes us laugh all the time and she and Maggie are the best of friends. I am amazed at how grown up she is already with the way she talks and how big she is. She even goes to school! Happy birthday little one. Maggie is 9 months old today and woke up with a cough/cold. Hopefully it isn't anything more serious. She is pretty upbeat except for the coughing and stuffy nose, more so when visitors come around :-) I'm hoping the warm vaporizer is going to help tonight.

Her schedule has been thrown out the window. Teething has disrupted her sleep and sometimes she is a little fussier which has made for some hard days and nights recently. Michael is hoping she has some pretty big buck teeth coming in to show for it. Funny but I hope not.

Must see

Since my work's Christmas party last week, I want more of Utz! and the Shuttlecocks.

You ask "What or who is that?"

It's a sweet cover band that played at the party and got almost everyone from our company out on the dance floor. I've been out dancing recently and this by far was the most fun I've had in a long while. I know my co-workers would agree too.

So, besides New Year's Eve, where will they be? Jessie, will you join me? Michael, will I get you to dance again? Patria, I wished you lived here!

1,2,3,4...5 purses!

For my birthday, my MIL treated me to a purse after I had bought and returned one already. I was on a path to find the perfect purse for a new mom. You know, one that doesn't get all tangled up with everything else you are carrying, it can fit a few toys, and it's really durable. It also has to be stylish and good for everyday.

Up until recently, I have been using my tried and true red purse that my mom gifted me a few years back. It was my first really fashionable purse. Both my sister and I have one and we love them.

The purse my MIL bought me wasn't the style or color I was imagining, but after a long day shopping, I thought I found the one and loved the look so much that I bought two (with plans to return one). Then hubby pointed out how it was falling apart a week after using it. Both got returned. Then I went in the Coach outlet and saw a cutie but it was way out of my price range and more of a summer purse. Peach-colored with a little bit of glimmer in the leather. Beautiful. I wouldn't have gone in but a friend of mine owns two Coach purses that I've always admired and even though they are expensive, they have held up wonderfully over time. Maybe one day.

I realized after all of this searching though that I wanted a simple hobo-style bag. And I found it. I now love The Sak.

End of November

I love my friends. I go to knitting this week and they assure me that I've just had a string of bad luck and that I am perfect the way I am. Love it.

Just catching up...

Our Thanksgiving was full of good stuff. It started off with Maggie cutting her two bottom teeth the day before, which made for our hardest night yet. But we trudged on the next morning and walked the Run to Feed the Hungry, a tradition in our family. It gets bigger and bigger every year (and more expensive). I think there were 40,000+ people there. Madness! (I don't know this guy up front, I caught him at a bad angle - but you get the idea)

The holiday was a little different for us this year. Less running around, which was wonderful based on the lack of sleep and carting a baby around. Before Thanksgiving, I cooked our "porch" pumpkin and made Thai pumpkin soup, roasted seeds, and baby food. It was a full week of cooking.
Maggie is on the go. She is in the "speck" eating phase and over the weekend I found a gross dried spider in her mouth. Eew. She is pulling herself up on everything and is even taking a few steps when supported. We also realized last weekend that she was playing ball with us and got it on video. I think the video is a little long and it won't post. Boo.

Now Christmas is on it's way! We had some professional photos taken and will be sending out cards soon.

Darn tree, darn me

My sister and I set out to get Christmas trees today. Back up to Apple Hill because we thought we had found a tree farm that sold trees by the foot. Because Maggie is into everything right now, we considered not getting a tree this year but then that just seemed sad so we agreed to get a little one we could put on a table.

We arrived to the tree farm with good omens. My sister had a plan, I didn't. I didn't ask any questions, she did, and I assumed I could get a little tree for a little price. But that didn't happen. Once it was cut and brought up to the register, they said it technically was too small to be cut and that they had a five-foot minimum. WTF? I ended up paying the minimum price which was way out of my budget and felt sheepish all the way home.

All said and done, I'm happy to have our little tree home but this is strike two. I'm learning that I need to ask more questions up front and be more up front with people in general so that I get what I want in the end. It's hard being an adult!

Egg-O's

I work with a bunch of biologists and like-minded folks. One of the benefits of that is we have lots in common, including eating healthy and growing gardens. A recent trend in this area is for urban people to get chickens and now I have a few friends doing it. I tried to convince Michael upon moving from the City to the County that we should get a coop and a few chickens, but he wasn't having it. However, I've observed a few friends doing it and it looks like a fun venture.

One of my co-workers did it and she started a little co-op. Upon returning to work, I joined in. We help pay for feed and she brings in eggs. The eggs are different sizes and colors. I love the little green ones.With winter arriving, egg production has slowed down but over the past few months Michael was in heaven and I was worried about high cholesterol.

Part of the fun of being involved is I get to hear about the drama in the coop...for the most part it's funny, like what their names are and what they look like, but then there is the real life part including sickness and death. But I don't mind hearing about that stuff. Hate to say it but when wildlife interacts, I'm there.

The best part though is knowing where my eggs are coming from and what the chickens eat, you know, the whole story. Just like growing and picking fruit and vegetables from your own yard. Now, if I only had a magic garden fairy to hoe my beds and plant my winter garden...

Soft soles

Oh little shoe, where did you run off to?These are my favorite shoes of Maggie's and mysteriously, one has disappeared.

Long story short, I think the carpet cleaner ate it. I had a little run-in with our carpet cleaner last week which resulted in me calling the cops on him. It was right around the time that her little shoe disappeared. Maybe I should think of it as an offering to the Gods for keeping both Maggie and I safe and sound :-)

Helping hands

A shout out to my sweetie for being such a good guy. For how un-neighborly I am, Michael makes up for it.Michael is the hardest outdoor worker I know. He loves being outside so much and often tells me fond stories from his childhood. Most recent was how he loved raking leaves. It cracks me up.

We have an elderly neighbor who's husband is away on business so he went over to help her out. She tried to pay him but he refused so a few days later, she delivered some homemade goods. Very sweet.

30

It snuck up on me. So I celebrated with cupcakes. I bought four different flavors - red velvet, pinkalicious, blueberry cheesecake, and coconut cream. Yum! Don't worry, I shared. It's a week of celebrating. It started with a night out with family and friends. It wasn't the big party I was imagining, but it was great and made for some laughable memories. Still to come is another fun dinner and a day out shopping with mom.

Revelations about 30 so far - I've officially joined the club where no one likes to stay out late anymore/sleep is more important, many of us have kids and therefore going out is a lot of work/sometimes too much, live music is LOUD, and no one gets drunk anymore.

I don't really feel any different but the fact that hubby is in a different decade is wierd. It feels good to have a little one crawling around the house and be 30 - don't ask me why. Maggie did her part in present opening. Round two of chick in a box...

Going with the flow

I'm starting to understand why they use no sleep as a form of torture and why my sister has been telling me over the past two years that it's really hard to function when you are constantly up at night with a baby and not getting good sleep. I always thought it was funny how everyone would ask us about sleep and whether any of us were getting any because overall, the past 8 months have been pretty good to us. I really didn't understand...until now.

I've really noticed a change in her lately. Maggie is a little crankier (it's got to be teething but no teeth yet), she's easier to upset, and she is crawling like crazy which means she gets into stuff before you know it and taking things away from her little hands is like prying something out of a ninja grip and it does not please her one bit. Just getting her diaper on is an ordeal. And naps. What naps?

Yesterday, I was amazed I could get up and go to work looking better than I felt seeing as how I got no sleep that night. I woke up exhausted and had a heck of a day (turns out no sleep increases stress about everything which in turn makes it hard to pump and so that makes me go a little crazy). It was lights out just before 8. The other night, between Michael and I, we got up 6-8 times to soothe her. It was exhausting.

On the bright side, we painted Maggie's room. It's pretty cliche, but it's pink. We were given a lot of hand-me-downs for her room and a lot of the items are blue and white but there is this undertone of rose pink, so I incorporated it on the walls and love it. Below are the cute knobs my sister and I spotted at Target and she suprised me with pink ones awhile ago. They go perfectly.

I'll leave you with this...I think a raccoon got into the leftover paint as I let it dry outside overnight. There is one pink paw after another trailing down our walkway.

Fruity Halloween

So, I mentioned that we got a bike trailer. Our friend Adam works at REI and helped us score a top of the line Chariot 2-kid bike trailer with all the bells and whistles for a very affordable price on Halloween Day. Three words: used gear sale. If you've ever been to one, you know the maddness. We got there a 1/2 hour early and waited with the crowd of people outside. They do lotteries now. The only other one I've been to before was when I worked for REI so it was behind-the-scenes and easy to score stuff.

We got Maggie a helmet but it's still a little big for her. But she likes the trailer. I can barely feel it on the back of my bike and even though I can't see her, she can see me and I can hear her babbling away. Picture to come.

For Halloween, Maggie was a banana :-) We didn't get any trick-or-treaters, as all of the kids were up the street where the action was. So we loaded Maggie up in her stroller and took a walk. We were amused by the going ons up there...decorated houses, a haunted garage, moms laughing loudly as they walked with their red plastic cups, and all sorts of costumes out and about. My favorite was the toddler dressed as a dinosaur. So cute.

Goals

Two on my mind as of lately -

1) get in shape

2) get more sleep

It's been a tough call whether we should stay up watching more "How I Met Your Mother" episodes or go to bed. We end up staggering down the hall at 10:30 or 11 pm when we do those marathons, which is WAY past my bedtime. But oh, did I say how good that show is? Totally worth it.

Good news is we were super active this past weekend. We scored a mother of all deals on a sweet 2-kid bike trailer and went on 3 short bike rides and a nice hike. I would post a pic of that cute little face in her trailer but I think they are on hubby's phone.

Fall adventures

On a recent stormy day, I went to Apple Hill with Jess and her son Ian. It was rainy off and on, which made for some extra fun. It was Jessie's first real time experiencing Apple Hill, with the exception of a run we did up there a few years ago. We ate apple donuts, apple cider, buffalo burgers, steak fries, and beer. Yep, we toured the Jack Russell Brewery, which I have wanted to do since my early 20's, having grown up in the foothills.

With the rain and being there on a Monday, it was the perfect time to see Apple Hill, especially with two kids in tow. No one was out so there wasn't any traffic to deal with and even though you could tell the salespeople were recovering from a crazy weekend, they were nice and friendly to our kids. We toured the little craft fair and came home with trinkets, pumpkins, donuts, beer, apple butter, caramel corn, and probably more but I can't remember it all. And this "chick in a box" made for a ton of looks and laughs among the crowd. ------------------------------------------------

Last weekend we visited the central coast. Our friends have a family beachhouse that we have been lucky to visit over the past few years and this time was my favorite. I don't know if it was because Maggie was a part of it or because of the wonderful company this time around or because we didn't try to do so much stuff in a weekend where it makes my mind reel.

Highlights included tidepooling out back behind the beachhouse and Adam catching multiple sting rays, the night tour at Hearst Castle, the Elfin Forest nature walk, the 7-mile walk from the beachhouse to Morro Rock, the homecooked king crab leg dinner, and getting to know a very interesting couple.

Happy, Happy, Anni-ver-sary (sing with me!)

Happy 3rd anniversary to my hubby. We are celebrating tonight with a fun dinner out to a buffet at the new Indian casino up the road (funny, I know, but it was a random idea and we like casino buffets and heard this one was a good one!) and then this coming weekend we're heading out for an early breakfast at a yummy new spot and then a hike in the foothills. Can you tell food gets us excited? Food and exercise - they balance eachother out.

This is a special time of year for us with our wedding anniversary, my birthday, and then the holidays. It's funny to me that we're only celebrating 3 years when we have known eachother for almost a decade. We discovered this past weekend with a couple we met that they are also celebrating their anniversary today (in spirit since one is travelling) but for them, it's been 14 years. I can't imagine what my life will be like once Michael and I log 14 years married, but I hope when that day comes it will be just as sweet as today is.

I love you Mick!

Peace and quiet

I usually get up around 2:20 am in the morning to nurse (it's clockwork for both Maggie and I) and then go back to bed.

But not this morning.

Since I became pregnant, I would have these early mornings sometimes when I had a lot on my mind and couldn't sleep. So, I just get up and do stuff and it's great. This morning I've gotten lots done - laundry, messing around online, emailed, etc. Our house isn't that big, but it's big enough to where the bedroom side of the house stays dark and quiet and I can go the office and laundry room and make it full of life.

Wooly wonder

Spent half a day at the Dixon Lambtown Festival a couple weekends ago. Lots of knitting and spinning going on. A few of the gals from my knitting group entered handspun skeins and knitted projects into a competition and two of them placed! Below is the sheep to shawl competition going on where they take raw wool, spin it into yarn, and then make a shawl from it all within a matter of hours.
My special treat of the day was a 300+ yard handspun superwash wool yarn. Other than that, I picked up some sale sock yarn made with crab shells of all things to make myself some plain socks for the winter. I've only made myself one set of kneesocks and that was in the beginning of my knitting "career" so I'm due to knit some more as well as learn how to knit them at the same time using the magic loop method.

I had so much stuff attached to me that day, as I was trying to avoid using the stroller. Turns out it was a bad idea but it ended well. I had brought a small knitting project with me in hopes I'd have a few minutes to knit but it fell out of the diaper bag within minutes of getting there and I didn't realize I was missing it until that night. Luckily, it was kicked against a wall and found by one of the organizers. I tracked her down and she shipped it to me no charge. I love knitters. Now I'll be paying it forward.

As the weather turns, I'm getting more and more inspired to knit and craft (I just need more time!). I am currently working on a set of plain white onesies that I scored new at a garage sale and am dressing them up with fabric designs and glued-on gems and buttons. Good timing because I have a couple baby showers to go to this weekend. A few of them will be for Maggie but I need to get my butt in gear because they are 6-9 months and she'll be out of this size very soon.