LO on the brain

So for some reason, today my mind has been filled with the new baby, little one, bambino, whatever it ends up being called. Probably because I just talked to my friend who is exactly 4 weeks ahead of me but has scheduled sections and her magic due date is 10 November! It's coming so soon. So that means this little one will be here before I know it. I can't stop looking at the tiny cloth diapers and the little projects I keep finding that I want to do or things I want to buy. Here are a few:

for sale here
wool sweater recycled booties for freezing baby feet in new jersey? yes, please.

instructions here

a tiny little wool cuddle sack that looks like a little mitten for my little one and can be made on my round loom? so stoked for this.


can be found here
and thinking this looks like the ultimate best baby soother ever. I took dinner to a couple who just adopted a baby the other week and they had this and it looks as fab in person as it does on my computer screen. Too bad it's so pricey...

Progress, finally.

2 1/2 weeks after moving into our new little house we're finally making some progress. Friday and Saturday were full of buying this sofa in beautiful seafoam color, consigning our coffee table, buying a dresser, armoire, and 2 little toy cupboards, and buying primer, paint, and wipe-on polyurethane to make them fab. So playroom, bedroom, and living room, watch out! Our new bedroom is inspired by this dresser and this color scheme:

Image from designsponge

Image from allthebestblog

So we have our work cut out for us in the few weeks left of decent weather and with Lis's help, hopefully soon we'll have a home. Then, come on visitors!

Dishes for babes

So the absolute last thing I need to be doing right now is looking for things to buy since we have no room for even our own clothes in this mini house, but I was looking for organization inspiration (since a miracle is needed to be able to fit our clothes and things in the 3 small closets in this house) and found this instead. We have the good ole' trusty Ikea plastic dishes but I'm slowly converting to glass (just bought these to replace our plastic Rubbermaid/Tupperware) and would love to see Boozie's face when I present his spinach quiche on a glass plate. He gets excited enough about using a cup without a lid. Now, back to organizing this house...

Low-rise pants wearers, watch out!

Boozie has a little obsession with bum cracks. I think he's just confused that people's pants end up low and that he can see skin poking out and is very fascinated with it. One day as T was bending over doing something, he was startled to feel a little finger exploring the exposed skin. So today at Gymboree there happened to be a mama with very low-rise jeans and a short shirt. (Not a good combo, especially for a mama that's playing and climbing with her babe, but apparently she didn't get the memo). Anyways, she was bending over and exposing and of course, piquing Boozie's curiosity. I didn't really notice. Luckily, I glanced over to see him looking with his intrigued eyes and starting to head over to her. I intercepted him and turned his attention to the various climbing-up-high-and-crouching-down-low activities of the day. Could've been bad...but hilarious. Maybe it would've taught her a lesson. :)

Crispy Fall

Fall has definitely hit New Jersey and there was really no transitional period at all. One week it was warm and sunny and the next week it was cold and rainy. Luckily this week it's been back in the 70s but at night it's in the 50s and on my run this morning at 8am it was 52 degrees! I don't even remember how to function in this type of weather. It's making me very scared for winter here. I definitely am a California girl at heart and love spring and summer and being outside all day long so the only thing that makes fall worth it is the pumpkin foods. I absolutely love them all. Pumpkin bread, cookies, cakes, pies, yum.

When I was in Sweden we wanted to teach the youth how to make pumpkin bread one evening so we went to the store and searched for canned pumpkin. We couldn't find it anywhere. We asked the store employees if they had any pumpkin in a can and they looked at us like we were completely nutso. In the end we had to buy a pumpkin and roast it and scoop it out, not knowing that canned pumpkin is actually made from little sugar pumpkins and thus, the bread wasn't tasty at all. Sad story. But here there is plenty of pumpkin in a can and delicious things to make with it. On my list this week: Pumpkin Black Bean Soup, Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, and Pumpkin Spice No-Bake Cheesecake.

Editor's note: I wouldn't put 2 1/2 T in the oatmeal if you happen to try it out. It was a little too sickeningly sweet for breakfast. Also I'd do half water and half milk next time cos it was just too rich.

Birthday for a King

T turned 31 on Saturday so I planned a super fun-filled day. We woke up at 5 am and headed over to this gigantic hot air balloon festival. Seeing how Boozie loves airplanes, helicopters, birds, and anything in the sky really, we knew he'd be in heaven. And he was. After walking through 2 fields of mud in my new gladiator sandals, we were finally there (mud-coated feet and all) and watched the AT&T balloon lead the way, quickly followed by over 100 other balloons. Boozie kept pointing and whispering "bop", which is his word for ball. There was an Energizer bunny hot air balloon, Darth Vader helmet, barn with animals heads sticking out, a golf ball, a giant panda bear, a strawberry (one of Boozie's favorite fruits and favorite balloons), a barrel with pirate paraphernalia poking out the top, and many many others. It was breath-taking. Now T would like to go up for a ride in one. Maybe next birthday.

Then we ate the breakfast for all true Northeasterners, bagels. T had a bagel with cream cheese and lox and I longingly drooled over it and thought good thoughts for the bambino in utero as I ate my multigrain bagel. Then it was time for presents. T was spoiled this year with Yankees vs Red Sox baseball tickets, a Canon Rebel XSi camera, and a few other gifts. So as he played with his new gadget, Boozie and I decided it was naptime. Staring up in the sun at all the balloons made my damaged corneal epithelial cells need some rest.

Apparently the 5am wake-up call was a lot for Boozie because he slept for over 3 hours. When he finally woke up, we headed out for delicious Indian food (Boozie's favorite was the mango lassi, of course) and onto Alstede Farms where we got to see animals, eat homemade ice cream, and buy freshly-picked peaches and blueberries. Yum. All in all it was a fabulous day. And here is documentation of T's new hobby:

Menus Shmenus

Ever since we moved to New Jersey it's been hard for me to cook. We're temporarily in a furnished apartment with a "fully-stocked" kitchen but the "fully-stocked" aspect is definitely up for argument. Apparently, fully-stocked means 6 place settings, 3 aluminum pans, 1 cookie sheet, 3 plastic slotted spoons, 2 horrid knives, and a few odd Pyrex pieces. So basically, if you're a businessman that eats out every meal but might buy a Hot Pocket or a Hungry Man dinner once in awhile, you'll have everything you need.

Try frying or scrambling an egg without any type of nonstick pan. Very hard. Don't use butter because it will burn before your pan is even warm enough to cook the egg. Don't use oil because the egg will still stick. You have to use a bit of each and the egg will just take longer because the pan has to be much cooler.

Try making T's birthday cake without a mixer, wooden spoon, etc... Instead of hand mixing everything, I made some peanut butter Rice Krispie butterscotch chocolate bars that were a big hit. But I digress, it's annoying to try to plan meals when you have such limited supplies. How did they ever do it before Wusthof, All-Clad, Calphalon, etc... existed?

But this week I sat down today and looked at some of my favorite menu idea websites and came up with a pretty good menu with some good variety: vegetarian chili, whole wheat pancakes, zucchini gratin, Chinese salad. And now here's to hoping I get them all made this week. Wish me luck. And if you've made any fab recipes lately that require minimal kitchen tools and are meat-free, feel free to send them my way.