Josh and Amy's Wedding

I finally have some pictures to post! Here is a slide show of the wedding, and of course..... my nephews!!

Shiny

I got my first piece of Otis B jewelry and I love it! I had been looking for a nice pearl bracelet for a while and till I saw this really cute one on Darrah's website, and saw that she has slashed her prices! Her jewelry is fresh, flirty and stylish. I'm not really the jewelry type, but I like to have a few really nice pieces. All of her creations are made with semi-precious stones, so they really are high quality, not just beads on a string. My sister in law recognized her work right away, "Is that one of Darrah's? It is so cute!" Click here for her website, or I have it listed under my links.

Busy Bees

It has been forever since I posted anything and I'm feeling guilty, especially since there has been so much going on that I could post about. At the end of September I flew to AZ for Josh and Amy's wedding. It was beautiful, she was beautiful, and everything went smoothly. I still haven't gotten around to editing the pictures yet. I got to spend time with family, and it was so good to see all of them. My nephews seem to be getting cuter by the day and I miss them so much!

So I got home on a Monday, and that Thursday my sister flew out here! I figured she wasn't in school or working and deserved a break from packing, so why not come see me? She is here for 2 weeks or so, and we have been kicking around. She now knows how boring my life really is, and how quickly the days can fill up with meaningless little tasks. How sad is this - I saw 2 tractor-trailer accidents this week and I thought that was incredibly exciting. Ug.

Two weekends ago, Do, Erika and I drove down to DC for their picnic. It was very small this year because there was a wedding in NJ at the same time, but we had a good time regardless. It was good to get a chance to just sit down and chat with people we don't get to see too often. Do's beau Craig was able to meet us there too, since he has been working in Virginia for the past few months. (Yes, this was part of the ploy to get my sister to come out and stay with me) Then we went to the DC meeting on Sunday.

On a sad note, we had a goodbye dinner for Peter and Nicole. He got a job in Iowa and we found out they were moving. We had a great time at Applebees, not talking about moving, and giving them "un-birthday" gifts, and by Friday they were gone. Us girls are going to miss Nicole terribly. She was part of our transplant club! (Wives who married men in Dorothy and moved here from somewhere else) She is always a beacon of love and cheerfulness. She is the type of person you want around if you are having a bad day, becuase she can always bring out the best in a situation, and she is sooo much fun to hang out with. Hopefully they come back to visit often, Iowa is lucky to have her back.

This past weekend, Hubby and I took Do and Craig up to Lancaster, PA and toured around Amish country. The shops are amazing, and the countryside is spectacular. The leaves are just starting to turn here. Driving on meandering roads, leaves floating down around you, hearing the clop clop clop of passing horse and buggy, seeing the tractors in the fields, looking at the quilts hanging over fences... ~sigh~ I love Amish country. We did the touristy thing and took a guided tour of an old order Amish house, and learned more about their way of life. Did you know that Amish women hold their dresses together with straight pins? They think it was because there used to be a shortage of buttons, and you can pin as fast as you can button anyway so why bother with extras? I wonder if there is some poor Amish girl that is as klutzy as I am? She probably has pin prick marks all over her. My sister bought a beautiful wall-hanging quilt that is in shades of blue. Hubby and I bought a hutch! We had a bit of difficulty bringing it home but we finally got it here and in good condition.

This coming weeking Hubby and I are headed for Las Vegas. He has a work seminar for the week and I am flying from Vegas to CA to spend a few more days with family. It's Jacob's first birthday too! I am so excited I can be there for the party!! Hubby and I will have a few days for sightseeing too, so we booked an airplane tour of the Grand Canyon and a walking tour of Hoover Dam (Hubby hasn't seen either yet). He also is excited to go see a Lance Burton show. So hopefully, we will have a fun, safe time!

Storage galore

We got a new hutch for the dining room! I am tickled pink, and Hubby actually really likes it too. We got it in Lancaster County. I don't think its made by the Amish because we didn't pay that much for it. But it's the style we like and it looks very sturdy, so we were ok with it. It has lots of cupboard and drawer space and even has a board that you can pull out for even more counter space.
How perfect for football nights! This will keep them out of my kitchen :) I am waiting till we can semi-secure the top piece to the bottom piece before putting things in it. Of course my first reaction is to bolt everything down and secure it to the wall so it wont budge. Hubby has to keep reminding me that there are no major earthquakes in Jersey. Oh yeah. No wonder I couldn't find Quake Putty in any stores around here! It is helpful to secure things when you have kids flying around the house though.


Here is something else I found that I really liked. If you have a muffin pan sitting around, fill it with potpourri and tea lights. It looks and smells like fall.

Beautiful Days and ER Visits

The weather has been absolutely perfect here lately. Blue skies, puffy white clouds, highs in the 70's and low humidity. D, LG and I went to this 'new' park I found to feed the geese. (Note the huge swan too in the one picture) The park is not really new, but it's new to us! I saw it on the map and went hunting for it one day. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by lush green trees and grass. It even has a sand volleyball court and a covered eating area. You can even fish there, just can't go out on the water. It's accessed off a minor road and surrounded by trees. If you weren't looking for it you would drive right by and never know it was there. Therefore, it is deserted most of the time and it looks like the transients haven't discovered it yet!! Yippee!!

In other news, we made a trip to the emergency room last night. Hubby has been working really hard lately and has been stressed. His company is splitting into two separate companies and it is apparently a nightmare. Hubby's job is secure but his work load has doubled for the time being. He is trying to handle the logistics of the split and make sure that both companies will have working computers, databases etc. So, he has been a little stressed.

Anyhoo... we went to my in-laws for dinner and got home around 9. He mentioned he hadn't been feeling well, and when I took his BP he said it was low for him. When he laid down for bed at 11 or so he said his chest was feeling tight, he couldn't take deep breaths and started feeling dizzy. He said felt like he was going to pass out so we decided to go to ER. I was thinking it was anxiety or stress related, and that would probably explain the shortness of breath, dizzy, feeling faint etc, but the tightness in the chest was a little disturbing. We spent the night in a noisy ER, listening to angry people yell at the receptionist about the wait and how they weren't being seen because they weren't white, yada yada yada. The staff was very kind and considerate in spite of being abused. It was very odd to sit back and watch, to feel so powerless - to be on the 'other side' of the equation for once. They ran an EKG, took chest x-rays and did some blood work.

Bottom line, his heart is in great shape. The doctor thought that it might have been his reflux that caused the tightness in the chest/stomach area. He is supposed to follow up with his regular doctor, get a complete physical and go to a stomach specialist. He had a bleeding ulcer a few years ago, and it seems like stress may have aggravated an already weak spot. We finally got home at 5:30 this morning. Long night, tense at times, but we made it through. Thank the Lord that Hubby is going to be ok. Today was a beautiful day too. Drove with the sunroof open.

Got curtains?

I finally have living room curtains! Gone are the plastic vertical blinds. It took a week or two to find the right color combination. I would buy them all over town, bring them home and pin them to the wall so Hubby could see what I was 'seeing in my head'. Then back to the store they would go if he didn't like them. Finally I think we found a winner. It looks so much more 'home-y' now!

The Perfect Fitting Jeans

I was reading Diagonally Parked's blog and checked out the website that she found called zafu.com. It is a fantastic site for all of us who are not built exactly like the models they fashion clothes for. I would love to take a good look at the woman they supposedly create size 10 clothes for. Anyway, you can find jeans, pants and BRAS!! You put in your measurements, and problem areas and they search for the best fitting product for your body type, and tell you where you can find it. Wahoo! Thanks Rebekah!

Expansion issues

Good news, my black molly fry are growing like weeds. Still very cute, but I think we're down to about 4 I think. This evening, Hubby noticed a little pale object that looked suspiciously like a baby fish. Oh brother. Yep, that's what it was! We had noticed that one of the yellow mollys was really fat this past week. I thought she was just pigging out at feeding time. Yes, I have apologized. Upon closer inspection, she is down to normal size, and there are tiny yellow fry popping there heads out of the rocks. What am I going to do with these fish?! It's not like I can catch the little buggers. I guess I'll wait to see if they survive, then deal with I then.

On another note, we have Amish Friendship Bread being passed around here. As any of you that have been a part of it know, once you get tagged you have bread starter coming out your ears. And you have a hard time giving it all away! So, I've been trying to find a way to make regular bread with the starter instead of the sugary yummy bread it's supposed to make. I tried to make rolls substituting the starter for the yeast/milk starter recipes call for, but the rolls didn't rise. Hockey pucks to be exact. Following the Amish bread instructions, once you mix the ingredients you put it right in the oven, without having to knead it, or let it rise. So the fermenting process is different from when you use yeast, but I'm not sure if that necessarily means that the normal bread ingredients have to change. Can't I just substitute starter for starter? Today I used the starter from Day 6 of the 10 day cycle. I'm going to wait til Day 10 to try it again. The only problem is that if you follow the Amish bread instructions, you end up with about 5 cups of starter. Grrrr. I suppose there is plenty of it... I'll just go by trial and error. Unless someone has some suggestions...

Rock On Baby

This is my best friend's daughter. The look on her face is classic. What a cutie! and I love the shirt!

Small Fry

I finally got my tank set up after all these months! It's been up for about 3 weeks and my casualty rate is about 25%. Freshwater fish are a lot cheaper so it's not so bad. Apparently, our city adds a lot of phosphate to our water supply so it is reeking havoc on the pH and other stuff I obviously don't understand. I have been taking water samples to Petsmart every other day to get tested because I don't trust my wimpy little test strips. After a week of topsy-turvy chem tests I finally got them leveled out, but my water will be cloudy for another few days. So, I brought home 5 new fish on Thursday! Two of which are the black mollies. On Friday, I noticed tiny black baby fish! Wahoo! How fun is this?! Because I have larger rocks on the bottom, they are able to hid in the crevasses, under the larger rock, and in the little sunken ship. I am tickled pink! My husband...not so much. He does get upset when they die though. Recently, however, he took pleasure in flushing 2 trouble-makers that were biting chunks out of the other fish. I know I have been a delinquent blogger... but you know... life happens.

Trip to the city

Today we took an all-girls trip to Philly. The 4 of us girls are related by marriage- our husbands are all cousins. I moved from CA, E from Idaho- then DC, N came from Iowa, and D is from northern Jersey. Now we live less than an hour apart (D lives next door), and we see each other at least once a week. I am so thankful for their friendship. They are amazing women that are fun to hang out with and interesting to talk to. We have spent time with each other in pairs on many occasions, but this is the first time all 4 of us went out together.

D used to live and work in Philly so she knew her way around really well. We took the train in, and our first stop was to an upscale boutique that she used to work at. Whew~ I was breathing air over my price range, but I politely sipped my champagne and munched on my biscotti and watched everyone else ooo and aah over things. We finally found the 'pricey' dresses upstairs and I saw this hat that seemed to be shouting my name. Had the price not been so close to a mortgage payment, I would have been tempted. So, we settled for trying things on and prancing around. Then we wandered around and did a little shopping, before settling into a quaint sidewalk cafe named Rouge overlooking Rittenhouse Square. The food was delicious, and the experience... positively divine. Before calling it a day we took a taxi over to Fabric Row off South St. Keren you would have loved it! It's just like LA except it's much smaller. I even found a shop that sells feathers and silk flowers! Nothing near the Millinery Supply store, but enough to get me by. What fun we had walking the streets, talking, laughing and having an all around good time just being girls.

Six Months

I can hardly believe it, but Friday was our 6 month anniversary! Wow. Time flies by. I hate to admit I really had no idea, until a bouquet of roses was delivered to the house. Hubby had said he wanted to take me out to our favorite restaurant after his soccer game, but I didn't put 2 and 2 together. He can be so incredibly sweet! It was a nice surprise. Why is it that no one tells you how hard marriage is BEFORE you get married? Everyone tells you how great it is, and how nice it is to spend your life with someone. But they leave out that you lose a little part of yourself, life is a constant compromise, you can't just do whatever you want -your actions involve someone else too now, you disagree often, you have to share your toothpaste, you have to re-learn how to make sandwiches, (in some cases) you have to cope with not being able to see your family on a regular basis, and you are tired ALL the time. Yes, there are many positives, and Hubby's incredible sense of humor has helped a lot, but really people.... do your friends a favor and tell them marriage is HARD WORK and to be taken seriously. It's not just something you do just because you like someone and you think that it's the obvious 'next step' in your life. I love being married to this wonderful man, but marriage takes daily maintenance.

I end up doing this!

Click on the comic to see it better.

Food on the Go

Ladies, here is another favorite quickie dinner. I love it because it uses up leftover rice, and you can buy shredded cheese in 2 cup bags (when I'm feeling really lazy). It's actually a spin off of one of my mom's recipes and I've done quite a few variations on it, sometimes changing which kind of cheese, or adding cayenne pepper etc. Enjoy!


Ham and Cheese Bake

2 c. ham, diced
2 c. grated cheese, any kind will do
2 c. cooked rice
3 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. green onions
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. paprika

Preheat oven to 350. Mix eggs, milk, salt together in large bowl. Add in ham, cheese, rice and onions. Press into a 6x10 baking pan or dish. Sprinkle paprika on top. Bake 40-45 min. Serves 4.

How do I love thee...

We are out of everything dessert-like in the house. So, I decided to be a good wife and make whatever Hubby wanted for dessert. But, we were out of brownie mix and no, there isn't any ice cream. So, I spent the evening making half a batch of oatmeal cookies... half of that with raisins and half with chocolate chips. And, they were a little on the well-done side. Ok, maybe I'm a so-so wife.... I just don't like raisins!

What to do?

Ok. The 'summer' job I had been promised before I left on my trip didn't work out. So... what to do with myself? My cousin-in-law that lives next door has given me and idea. She makes beautiful jewelry and sells it at a open market/swap meet setting in PA. I could make stuff! I been trying to come up with ideas for things that will be able to turn a profit.

I don't have a lot of confidence in the marketability of my cards and I don't think that I can make enough money on them to make it worth my while. It's a 3 hour drive and $25 to rent the table/space. The customers there are anything from people looking for car bumpers to those with $200 in their pocket looking for a unique 'find'. What about quilts? If I keep them really simple, stick to soft baby quilts, would I be able to make enough of them fast enough? How much do you sell a handmade baby quilt for? What about my cross stitch? I can use waste canvas and put little designs on onesies or little hats. I can do towels and bread cloths. Those don't take too long to make. With those fancy embroidery sewing machines out there, would people actually buy cross-stitched ones? Ug. Any ideas out there?

My cousin-in-law makes beautiful jewelry! She has taken orders for weddings too. Here is her website: Otis B Fine Jewelry

Aubrey Mae

My best friend had her baby while I was back in CA! And yes, it's taken me this long to upload photos. Miss Aubrey was 7lb 10oz and 19.5". I am tickled pink for them and can't wait to see what kind of person she'll grow up to be.

As you can see, I finished the quilt!! Finally!! And just in time too. I also made the pillow that has her name cross-stitched in it. I had a great time in CA. Two weeks seemed like a really long time, but I had a lot of fun with my sister, nephews, my brother and sister in law, Mom, grandparents etc. I really miss my family, but NJ feels like home now. We have had a whirlwind of company over for meals at our house this week, all of them have been fun, but I'm looking forward to relaxing today.

I went to see Disney's Ratatouille yesterday and it is really cute. I highly recommend it! Dobug, see if you can find Pixar's Lifted. It's hysterical and worth getting.

Like Father, Like Son

Here is another blast from the past. My brother and my dad, and then my brother with his son. Big Brother calls it "vacuuming the lawn".

How times have changed

I was going through my mom's old photo albums and scanning our baby pictures to preserve them. This is what I found. Who would have known that over 20 years later we would end up being related?!

She did it!

I am so proud of my sister! She graduated from UCR this weekend with a Bachelors in Comparative Literature. The amazing news (well, not really amazing if you know my sister) is that she graduated Summa Cum Laude, which means she is in the top 2% of her class. She deserves it! She has been slaving away at her laptop for the past 4 years and has held a 3.98 GPA. Wow. Like I said, I am so proud of her. The graduation ceremony went off without a hitch, thankfully, since there was a bomb threat the day before and that ceremony was canceled. So, we cheered her on as she marched up in her dignified black robe and was handed a scroll that said "you will receive your diploma in the mail". Woohoo! I love you Dobug!