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As Wannabe Hippie pointed out, it is Lughnasadh/Lammas, so she posted a recipe for these spiral cookies.
I had help making them, as you can see
Here they are in the oven
This one was definitely ready for its closeup
And it turned out I had the perfect cooling rack for them
Now...anyone want to come over and help me eat the durned things?
Larry & Nina usually take the dogs for a walk in the evening; Nina usually takes Beep in her stroller (thanks for the awesome doll stroller, veganmomma). But the last few nights Nina has been taking Beep in the sling Auntie Rena gave her. Awesome back carry, Nina!
There are some moments that just make it all worthwhile. Nina is giving Beep some boob here, stealing a few seconds from her hectic life to just relax and bond with her baby.
When the pain started on Monday night I felt confident about what it was but by Tuesday I was pretty sure. I decided not to go to urgent care and expose my toddler to god knows what and waste precious hours of my life when I wasn't really urgent. So the doctor was able to fit me in today, and it is a kidney stone. When the doc came into the room after examining my urine, he said, "Bad news, there's blood in it." Well, that was actually good news to me, as it means it's ONLY a kidney stone, not something worse. This I've done before and can handle (though even after 6 advil yesterday it was touch and go at times). In case the pain gets really bad again, he gave me some vicodin and told me to get an emergency cat scan. It's subsided right now, so the doc thinks it's hanging out in my bladder. It'll be bad again when it decides to move. TMI!!!
Oh, and people say the pain is like labor. It actually is, kind of, the same type of sensation, only you don't get a baby at the end and the waves of pain usually last a lot longer than a contraction does (in my experience) and it's much harder to breathe through it. No transition, though.
Thanks to Wannabe Hippie for the great picture; it's a pretty good representation of how I feel right now. It makes me feel sad just looking at it, I think it is easy to empathize with the emotion in the pic but also giggle and say "how cute." And as someone else said about it, "Look at those eyes! She's about to spontaneously combust someone!"
I finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I really liked it and it was a nifty distraction from my current trial of trying to pass what I think is a kidney stone. I may know more tomorrow after I go to the doctor.
So...bring on the discussion. I agree with Emma, who said it had a nice, satisfactory end; she likened it to the end of Return of the Jedi. While I really didn't like Jedi as a movie, she is right that it has a nice, neat, wrapped-up kind of end. I am rereading the last couple of chapters to get some stuff I may have missed the first time around, though I suspect there will still be stuff I have questions about.
HOW MERCURY PRODUCES BRAIN DAMAGE - Watch more amazing videos here
Sorry for all the videos and not much original content. Soon.
My lovely husband bought me the audio version of the new Harry Potter book as well as his paper version. I have just loaded the first five discs onto my mp3 player and am off to re-assemble my kitchen. The countertop was defective and had to be replaced yesterday; the plumber was here this morning putting the sink back in. I managed to bake some muffins this am to take to book group with minimal kitchen. Thanks, Dr Oetker!
See you on the flip side; don't you dare tell me anything, those of you who have read it already.
Here's our picture to contribute to Wannabe Hippie's call for braids!
I have been so lagging lately on the blogging thing, sorry. No excuses, just not feeling it.
The first time I saw Wannabe Hippie with the Overland Donner bag, I fell head over heels in love. At the time, I was still carrying around a diaper or two but was ready to graduate from a diaper bag to something smaller. It was perfect. But recently I've been feeling like a bit of a schlub when I use it. I'm going to be 35 this year, and I decided I'm ready for a purse. I don't really carry that much stuff around with me, so it didn't have to be very big.
I do have a beautiful purse/handbag from J.Jill that is just wonderful but the handles are the type that you either just carry in your hand or on one shoulder and it sits just below the armpit. Not very comfy for me, especially considering that a lot of the time I have a toddler in one arm. It's still a beautiful bag, though, and I use it if I'm going out. It's a reddish brown, so I decided on a black one to buy new (though a red one was what I had imagined getting, something nice and deeply, smoothly red; I just coulnd't find one that worked).
I needed just a few things:
*to be able to sling it over my head and wear it across my body when the need arises
*to feel a little more grown up wearing it
*for it to cost under 50$ (though I would probably shell out more for THE PERFECT BAG)
*some different areas for specific stuff; ie, the wallet has a specific place where it goes, same for the camera, I cannot have a bag where everything is just thrown in and you have to dig around for it
*it has to close; it can't be open at the top
*I like structure, not of these buttery soft leather purses that don't stand up on their own
*I would prefer that it not be leather; I just can't be worrying about scratching it, getting it damp, etc
Here's what I found:
We'll call this one L.C., for Liz Claiborne, which must be the name of the person in China who made it. As you can see, it came from Marshall's and cost 30$, which was more than I was hoping to spend on a bag that didn't make my heart go pitty-pat. But I bought it knowing that I could return it if I found one I liked more. It is matte black (suede-esque?), and though the straps are short, you can lengthen them by unclipping them from the "rings" the attach to and undoubling them. Very handy, but I wasn't too keen on the double strap deal. It seems hip enough, it's attractive, and it's got dividers. But the wallet pocket on the inside of the middle is just a smidge too small; I could get it in there but I would be fighting with it and worrying about ripping the interior fabric if I kept it in there. I thought it was leather (it REALLY smells like it, but on the inside it says 100% polyurethane). Why does it smell like leather? L.C., that's just CREEPY. It's got three divided compartments, the middle of which zips. But it's a bit slouchy, as you can see in the pics. L.C., you are cute, cute, cute, but somehow I haven't fallen in love. Maybe it has a little to do with the brass color of your metal bits. Maybe I'm just not ready for you.
On to Merona (neither of these sound like particularly chinese names, do they, though both of these bags were made in China...ugh). This one came from Target--20$, thank you very much. Though it looks like a messenger bag, it's smaller, and fits everything I had in the Overland bag with a little room to spare. Though it has only the one inner space, it has pockets on the outside (perfect for the camera and the wallet), pockets on the inside (one for phone) a slot for a pen, a zippered compartment on the inside, and another on the outside (the side you can't see in the pic). The strap goes across the shoulder, it has structure (doesn't sag at all when there's nothing in it), and the metal trim is silver tone. The buckles on the flap are faux, with magnetic thingers underneath, the only drawback being that you have to get them on just right for them to catch. I bet I will get better at doing it quickly. Though I know this bag isn't as trendy and it's more of a "mom bag" (what I was trying to get away from), somehow, it's the one for me. As soon as I got into the car I started putting my stuff in it. There was no fiddling or re-arranging, everything just went in its place. Ah well, it's a step in the right direction, right?
I've just been reading in Utne about some of the unhealthy consequences of soy. It also says that soy is ubiquitous in our food and one of the nutritionist suggests giving up soy milk. I'm thinking of doing that but I'm hoping someone can give me some advice. I only use soy milk for my cereal in the morning and so I'll need to have something to replace it.
Right now Nina and I have either cereal (she eats hers with yogurt) or oatmeal for breakfast. I'd like to continue to have two options to avoid complete boredom. I'd also like them to be somewhat healthy and somewhat cheap. I'll also need to be able to eat enough to not need to snack continuously at work, so please don't suggest a grapefruit.
We got the soy milk maker as a gift for a wedding shower so I know I've been making soy milk for five and a half years now. It won't be easy to give up so please help me come up with a good alternative. Thanks.
PHEW! I'm tired. So I'm going to stop now but I will leave you with some super cute pics of Nina.
Isn't this beautiful? The tree and flowers are fake but I love it anyway.
This is Metro stop
it's magical
One of the employees at the restaurant gave Nina this little wine glass. We put a little wine in it and diluted it with water.
She really liked toasting with it but didn't like drinking it too much.
This restaurant was really good; I can't remember the name of it though. It turned out to be the only one we went to in Paris that had high chairs but everyone was extremely nice and accommodating to Nina, and by association, us.
We got to Paris and checked into the Best Western Paris Louvre Opera
It was one of the nicest hotels I have been to; the service was wonderful. There was a portable crib already set up in the room when we checked in. We had a big window to the street; here is some of the iron grating.
And here's the view.
We went out to dinner at a lovely restaurant that was decorated in an art deco/art nuveau type theme
complete with beautiful stained glass
We took the Chunnel to Paris; it was about 2 hours and very nice, though we didn't get to sit together; some of the seats were four that faced each other but ours were two in front of two.
We bought our food on the train; they had organic food, including this lunch combo and some lovely Green & Black's 70% dark chocolate.
There was a couple sitting across from us who had brought the most delicious looking food and champagne, a lot of it fancy food from Marks & Spencer. M&S has LOVELY food!
Nina & Granki on the Underground. It's super expensive but nice and efficient.
It's always interesting when people decide to wear circus tents in public
Waiting for the Tube
Grandpa, Nina, & Granki (I don't remember where)
