Kettle Corn

I finally posted the recipe for the kettle corn.

So easy. So good.

Crazy Dream

Last night I tossed and turned a bunch. I had a very crazy dream, and like usual, I remembered quite a bit of it:

I was in some store similar to Walmart. There were ladies who worked there behind a counter and then several other ladies just hanging out in the store. One woman asked me if I was going to be buying my daughter a new toothbrush.

"Why I'm on my way right now to get her one..."

Then as I was walking out of the store, the woman behind the counter said under her breath to the other ladies, "With a mom like that, I doubt that little girl is going to get one any time soon..."

I heard her say it plain as day, and I turned and confronted her. It got ugly and then the next thing I know I'm in a huge verbal confrontation with about five women in the store - all of us making rude comments to each other baiting each other trying to see who would take the first blow.

I left the store eventually (with no recollection of how the argument ended) and was heading to some Chinese restaurant called Dynasty in my dream. I was supposed to be meeting my mother there, but she had errands to run first. Now my daughter has disappeared from my dream at this moment, and I found myself looking for a ride from anyone who would be so kind as to give me one to this so called restaurant Dynasty.

In a cafe that I walked in to, I ran into a couple people that I had gone to highschool with. Now honestly, I don't think I've seen these people since I was actually IN highschool, so I'm not sure why they were in my dream. Highschool for me was a very long time ago. At any rate, they were very friendly and offered to take me to the restaurant.

As we were driving through town, I kept asking about several new restaurants that we were driving past. They chuckled a bit as apparently the restaurants weren't new, it's just that I hadn't been in town for a long time.

I don't think I ever ended up at the restaurant, because the next thing I know, I'm at these two people's house. We're chit chatting and whatnot and it was time for me to get going, although now I was going to walk as I had headed toward the door with no plans of them driving me anywhere - unless by some magical sense a vehicle showed up outside their house for me. I don't know.

Anyways, as I was getting ready to leave their kitchen area, they asked for my email address. I kept trying to write my name, and I kept being unable to write it neatly and in a straight line. No matter what I kept writing crooked. After what seemed like 50 attempts to write my name and email address, I was able to get it down on paper in a half legible manner which by then was good enough and I left their kitchen area.

Upon walking out of the kitchen, I headed down a hallway to which I peeked a glance into a bedroom. In this bedroom I saw a friend of mine that I have been trying to get a hold of unsuccessfully. His entire room was decorated in citrus orange. His mannerisms were cold and unwelcoming and basically told me to leave him alone. Crushed at this stance, I walked out of the house upset.

I just wanted to get back to my own apartment. My husband and I were living in a high rise apartment. As I got a few blocks away, I decided that it would be quicker if I just ran home. So there I was, running. Then all these other people with numbers pinned on their shirts went running by me. Some asked me where my number was. Others just looked at me strangely. Someone said, "Oh you're in the race!!"

I said, "No, I'm just running for fun."

"Running for fun?? But everyone here is in the race!"

And then they all proceeded to whisper about me not being in the race I presume. They were whispering so I really didn't know what they were saying.

I arrived at the apartment complex, and Halloween had just passed. There were boxes and boxes of candy. Two of my friends were standing next to a stack of boxes chatting and rummaging through them. They say Hi to me and ask me how I am. I briefly tell them I'm not doing so well - give a short recap of the store argument, the missing Dynasty restaurant after having no ride, the loss of a friend, and the whispering of the passerbyers...I tell them, "I NEED a gigantic Reeses Peanut Butter Cup..any of those in there??" and we all started looking through the boxes for the mother of all Reeses cups.

Then I woke up.

And on a side note: The baby is VERY healthy and a girl! :)

Low Rise

I must say, I timed this pregnancy right on with today's fashions. It's working out wonderfully!! Low rise shorts, low rise pants, low rise jeans, capris, pajamas...you name it! The beautiful part about this is that I can have the satisfaction of buying 'skinny' clothes and still have the luxury of wearing them because they sit below my big.Texas-sized.belly.

Tomorrow I find out if the baby looks all healthy and if everything is in place and nothing's missing. While I'm sure everything is just fine, a bit of anxiety does come about when I think about the appointment. I wish it would hurry up and get here so I could see the baby on the screen and have it confirmed that everything is fantastic.

I also get to find out the gender! I'm happy with having a girl or a boy. I just want to know. The waiting kills me.

Heaven Scent

We had to run some errands last night and decided to beat the evening heat we'd swing by Starbucks.

I was in a bit of a cranky mood, but after my first step into the third place my icky mood just melted away.

It had been a couple weeks since I had gone inside and I do suppose I am really an addict. The smell of coffee and espresso was just scrumptious.

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, I turned to my husband to show my ultimate approval of our location and he looked at me like I had gone bananas.

We ordered our latest must.have.or.I'll.die drink: Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino® Light Blended Coffee...an indulgent blend of rich Starbucks coffee, cool mint, chocolate, chocolate chips and ice, mixed with our sweet Frappuccino Light blended base and topped with mocha drizzle.

Sadly, I drank about 1/3 of the drink before my husband got his first sip. That kind of stuff happens when you're pregnant - I have no control!

And then as my husband drove off to work this morning he just ~had~ to tell me he was on his way to get one all for himself hrmph!...but I guess since it's his birthday I shouldn't whimper too much about him not sharing.

Edward Scissorhands Paid Me A Visit

If you've been pregnant, then I'm sure you can relate. If not, let me tell you that sometimes...~sometimes~...you have moments of irrational thought and no matter how your rational mind tries to control your irrational thoughts, there is no victory to be had.

Last night I decided my hair was really ~bad off~. Now, the rational mind would obviously know that my hair is just fine. Aside from the few split ends, I'm sure. But there was no convincing me that scissors didn't need to be put to work.

So there I was, at 8ish last night, staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, grimmacing with sharp scissors in my hand.

"Oh yes, you evil hair of mine, you shall be conquered!"

And while I really wanted to snip, snip, snip madly, at least my husband kept prompting me with little rational tidbits - "Babe, don't cut too much ok?...Don't cut any more...It looks good, but no more ok???...etc".

It doesn't look fantastic or oh.my.gawd.you.just.stepped.out.of.a.salon.didn't.you??, but it does look better to me and the Beast of Irrationality can be put to rest for a bit.

And for those that want more details - I just layered up the sides a bit! My hair is entirely too long and thick to get a straight line for cutting the back. I'm not ~that~ crazy!

Problem Fixed

With the munchkin being oddly fascinated with a yard design magazine, and me rummaging around the Vanguard forums, I'm left with too much of a snacky craving mood.

And the earlier dilemma of devouring the last bag of kettle corn was just more than I could bear.

So I searched for a kettle corn recipe since I did have some regular old popcorn kernels in the kitchen.

I found a simple recipe that I thought I'd give a try to and I am pleasantly pleased as to how it turned out!!! And it was so easy!

So here I am, snacking away on yummy fresh kettle corn, while the microwave bag is still in the panty for a quick zap tonight for the husband.

I'll post the recipe later on when I have a moment at All About Food.

One Bag Left

There's just one bag of KettleMania Kettle Corn left in the panty.

I really really want it.

Do I save it for tonight when I can be nice and share it with my family?

or do I eat it now while my husband is at work and the munchkin is napping??

Decisions, decisions!

Far Too Tasty

We went and looked at the lot a couple more times. We're still really hoping to pull things together quick enough to invest into the lot before someone else comes along and snatches it up.

Unfortunately, our timing of looking at the lot this morning was bad and the little one took a 30 minute cat nap which resulted in abandoning her much needed two to three hour nap after lunch time. No matter how I tried to get her to nap - she refused and refused and refused. After an hour of struggling with her, I gave up. So needless to say, I'm tired tonight.

We grilled pork ribs for dinner. My husband just seems to get better at it each time he does it - which almost seems impossible since he's perfected grilling.

But what has caught our attention mostly today was a bag of Kettle Corn that I tossed into the microwave as a mid-afternoon snack. YUM! We finished one bag off, with the munchkin's devoted assistance, and then had another bag after dinner! snarf

New Photoblog Community Launched

I came across EyeFetch.com this morning. It seems to have just been started and looks promising, especially once they get more options up and running.

My EyeFetch.com Photoblog

An Evening on the Pier

The last few days have been spent coming and going from various places. It's all been fun and busy. Since my husband had a few days off of work, we traveled to visit some family. It was nice to vegetate and go out for pizza a few times and be treated to lunch.

Being pregnant and getting poor restaurant service mixed in with mediocre food that's over priced can make for a bad outting however. I ordered milk for the munchkin and the expiration date on the carton had passed by four days prior. When I brought this to the attention of the waitress - instead of her offering to get me fresh non expired milk, or another drink of choice - she looked at me with a blank expression and said, "Yeah? Well it's good for a few days."

And although I had to bite the insides of my mouth to keep from giving her a good tongue lashing about her poor attitude and service, I simply said, "No customer wants to be served milk that's been expired."

Again she looked at me as if I was speaking in some sort of code language.

I found it hard to eat anything else after that incident due to the fact that I started to wonder what else the restaurant was pushing the expiration date on - the potato salad? the deli meat? blurg Not to forget the stale bread...

We were able to leave the munchkin with family for a bit to sneak away and watch Batman Begins. It was awesome! I can't wait to see it again and I will definately own the DVD when it becomes available to purchase. It blows the socks off the other Batman movies.

I heard a rumor that Sean Penn will be playing The Joker in the next one?

Being able to go out on a date with my husband and not have the little one around, even though we love her gobs and gobs, was fantastic.


For our drive home, we decided to take a little side trip and spend the evening in SanFrancisco. We walked around Fisherman's Wharf at Pier 39. It was so cold though! It was gorgeous with the sun setting, but that also meant BRRR! We picked me up a touristy fleece jacket with SanFranciso written on one side of the chest. It was warm and cozy. The sales clerk asks me, "Oh you're pregnant?"
"Yes, I am."

"Oh, how far along are you?"

"Four and a half months..."

"Ohhh. This is your first?"

"Nope, second. That munchkin over there is mine as well."

By the look on the woman's face, she obviously thought I was looking HUGE for how far along I am. I imagine I should have asked her if she had anything to eat?

We also picked up a new charm for the munchkin's charm bracelet. We started the charm bracelet when she was born. For her "firsts" we try to pick up a charm. We found a cute charm that has the Golden Gate Bridge on it.

Dinner was spent at a restaurant that overlooked one of the marinas. We got a nice table along the wall of windows and watched the sun go down shimmering it's golden colors on the boats and water. Clam chowder in a SanFrancisco traditional bread bowl and a caesar salad with little shrimps sprinkled on top. The salad looked a lot better than it tasted, but the soup and bread were outstanding.

I didn't bring my camera with me on this venture, which I found myself constantly crying about. I missed SO many magnificent pictures in SanFrancisco. I missed a lot of amazing shots the entire trip really. Bleh. That will teach me to leave my camera at home.

But as my husband says, "If you were to get every great shot you wanted the first time, you wouldn't have any left to take when we go back."

We spent day before yesterday relaxing and recouping. Met the new OBGYN. He is going to be wonderful. We really liked him. And we'll find out if the baby looks healthy and what the gender is on the 28th!


And then yesterday, we had errands to run (went downtown and searched some public land records at the County Recorder's Office - that was rough!) and at 6pm we had a wild idea to just hop in the car and drive to a lake an hour away just to see what it looked like. By the time we got home, the sun had well set and we were tired, but we still tossed some coals in the bbq and grilled up some steaks and baked potatoes. I don't think we ate till after 10pm or so.

Who knows what we'll find to do tonight - maybe stay in for a change!

Flutter

At 4am this morning as I laid in bed trying to fall back asleep after having to go potty for the umpteenth time, I felt the baby move for the first time. It was a neat moment between just myself and the baby in the quiet house where he/she let me know, "Hey, I'm here, Mommy."

In two to four weeks, I'll go in for my level two ultrasound at the hospital and have the baby looked over with a fine tooth comb to make sure everything is looking healthy and that nothing is missing. We'll also get to find out if we're having a boy or girl.

I am meeting with my new OBGYN this coming Thursday and my husband has taken work off so he can go with us. While it's just a routine doctor's appointment and a ~Hi, nicetameetcha~ meeting, it is important to me that my husband is there. Thankfully, he feels the same way.

Not to mention, the wild child munchkin will be much better behaved with Daddy there.

My Heart Goes Out To You

My deepest sympathy and condolences to all that have been affected by the attacks on London.

Let's Go Look One More Time-

I've found a lot that I love! Between taking care of the house, fixing dinners, and then gobbling up my husband's time when he gets home from work to look at various pieces of land - I've just been busy!
We had originally found a piece of land that was in town, has a beautiful entrance that's gated, and a neat sense of community. The only problem was that when we called on it, the lot had been bought by a developer and the new owner had changed the rules for building. You would HAVE to build one of their four select homes and you'd HAVE to build within a year's time. Neither of which interested us. The developer owned the rest of the lots that were available in that neighborhood, so there went that idea of ever living there.


We've looked at so many different areas, but pretty much all the land that's near town (and quite a lot that isn't) is all owned by developers. So, we were faced with the same issues. Not that I really liked any that we saw anyways. We looked at some lots that were out of our price range just to see what a price like that got you in x area. And I have to say - I went in to the neighborhood thinking I'd be dazzled and whining about how I wish we could afford to live there. But I wasn't. The lots did nothing for me.


So we headed further out of town, but keeping in mind that the commute to town needed to be kept reasonable for the sake of my husband's job, and me with any errands I would need to take care of by myself or with the kidlets.


About 20 minutes out of town (actually from Starbucks! You knew I'd have to time it from there if you've been a long time reader.) we came across a very neat community. It's guard-gated so I would feel very safe there and relaxed letting the kids go for walks in the neighborhood. Just about a couple miles from the entrance there is a beautiful lake. Lots and lots of people were out on the lake with their boats and jet skiis!



We're trying not to get our hopes up, because it's very much a reality that this won't work out as land is selling SO fast right now. We need to try to sell our house that we moved out of before we can invest into this lot. But I've been a bit obsessive about wanting to go drive by the lot one.more.time.

This last picture is the view from one of the hills in the community that I want to move in to of the above mentioned lake and the sun setting (taken last night).

So Tired

After not having seen much of my husband during the week, we exhausted the day driving all over the place looking at land to possibly invest in for building a home on at some later time. The munchkin was a trooper considering she took her nap in her carseat and ate lunch on the go, and we even dragged her poor little self out to dinner tonight as well. I really would like to go into more detail about our land lot endeavors today, but right now I'm.just.too.tired.

Now if I can just crawl into bed with the AC blowing and not let my mind keep my body awake...

Image Copyright Insanity Infusion - All rights reserved.

Bug Inspired

The Artful Blogger is always posting bug pictures. The area I live in really doesn't have any bugs. Maybe it's just too hot? Too dry? Too many bug sprays? I don't know, but I've been looking since I arrived. The only pictures I've been able to come up with so far are the ones in this post. I like the bee who's really got his 'head into his work' with one arm straddling each side of the flower.







Images Copyright Insanity Infusion - insanityinfusion@coconutinfo.com - All rights reserved.

Not So New Anymore - Glasses

Awhile back I got new glasses. It was figured that I'd post pictures of them after I got them, but with the move and all that business I never did. So I thought I'd test out the new picture upload 'Blogger Images' (I think that's what it's called.) and post me in my new glasses. They are different than what I would have normally picked, but I am enjoying them. This way, I can have a definate glasses look if I choose to wear my glasses or go for the no glasses look with my contacts. Life and it's complex choices! ~*wink wink*~ Most people think I look like two entirely different people from when my hair is up from when it's down, so here's one of each.