WIP Wednesday - Babyburfs Nursery

No progress on quilts while we were out of town but right before we left Kathleen and I started painting in the babies room.  A few before shots.  This room was our guest room with my office/sewing room.  It wasn't really this messy before but when you think you can paint without emptying the room this happens.    

We put up the primer on all the walls (never mind our crappy job of it) and now comes the fun stuff.  I hope to get the paint up in the next week so I can move the guest bed back in and the big shelf from our room too because that's where my new work from home space will be.  Until then I am bouncing from the sofa to the kitchen and back.  I am also super jazzed because we found a friend who can seal the living room floors and the still carpeted bedrooms for a super reasonable price.  SCORE! 

Oh and if anyone has any suggestions for if I should cover the mirrored closet doors, remove them or just leave them let me know?  I was thinking whiteboard or chalkboard paint could be fun, or maybe a stripe of some sort.  

#4 Babymoon in Portland

We are currently in Portland, Oregon finishing up our Babymoon/birthday trip for Dust's birthday (#4 on the list). I have never been to the Pacific Northwest before so it's been a new adventure it kind of reminds me of Maine + Northern California put into a blender with an Ireland weather mix.

Anyhow we'll be back soon with more details.  

(Book we picked up the baby in Seattle).

#6 Add Lo to the Wall

In addition to finishing some quilting goals I also accomplished a simple one #6 Add Lo to the Wall this weekend.  I added my almost sister in law to the wall.  I have been meaning to do it for a while but it was too cold to spray paint frames in the garage and too much snow outside. But I was super excited to get their engagement pics and so I got a few printed as well as one from our pie baking and she's now on the wall.  I can't believe it took this long to add her.

#17/21 Baby & Scrap Vomit Quilt

First quilting finish of 2014 and it feels good.  And it's technically two of the quilts I put on my 2014 List - #17 a quilt for the baby and #21 the Scrap Vomit Quilt.  I love how it turned out and I can't wait to use it for our baby.  It's also fun to see pieces from prior quilts I've made (maybe not necessarily finished in one quilt.   The quilting is not perfect but I think it's fun.  

Making Cards

The other day I was reflecting on how rarely I make anything with my ridiculously large amount of stamps I have in the craft room.  And by ridiculous I mean straight up too many - I easily have 10 sets that have never been used. So last night while Dust was man birthday partying with one of our favorite 13 year olds,  I dug out some stamps and some colored inks.  I created 10 cards in like an hour it was good.  Just creative easy projects.  

I like cards because I make them all in one setting and sometimes you need projects that go fast like that.  Perhaps next time I will use the stamps that have never been used.

Bread #3 - Cinnamon Raisin Bread

So far I'm loving this project although it does take some planning to figure out when to make the bread if it needs to rise once or twice. 

This bread was by far my favorite bread so far - it's fluffy but not heavy, sweet but not too sweet, and I love the raisins. The bread can be made into runny egg sandwiches, or eaten as snack/dessert, I also think it would be good as grilled cheese although I have not done that yet. 

 I used this recipe almost exactly, except I only needed 6 1/2 cups of flour and then it seemed to be enough and I used only about 1/2 the sugar/cinnamon mixture. It still made three loaves two of which I wrapped in saran wrap and froze for later.  If I made it again I would absolutely have rolled the dough spiral tighter so the air bubble created was smaller but this does not impact the taste as much as cutting it, and appearance.  I also probably would have added in some cranberries or more raisins.  

#33 Go To Art Museum with Momo

So this weekend Kathleen and I went to spend the weekend with my mom.  And we also crossed off #33 from the 2014 list.  Yes and yes!  

We took her to the Cincinnati Museum of Art since it's relatively close to her house.  The museum is in a big old building in Eden Park.  It's free except for parking and I love that, especially since I rarely spend more than a few hours in a museum.

We wandered around the museum catching all the high points, including the warhol's, Calder, Van Gogh, Cassatt, and rookwood pottery.  I am actually still pretty sharp at identifying artists even though it's been years since I studied art.

I couldn't take photos of many of my favorite pieces they had (not allowed) but I did snap a few like this Ed Hopper.  I really like his work.

Afterward we had lunch at Rookwood which is in the Old Rookwood pottery studio - great atmosphere. They have excellent lemonade excellent I say.  And I rather enjoyed the Grippo fries.  And having studied ceramics (like 100 years ago) I found it neat to be in a former ceramic shop.   It was a good time.

2014 - 52 Goals

Here's my list for 2014. Some are intentionally left as fill in the blank because sometimes in like June I have a few good ideas,  and I want the freedom to add it in June.  I am already getting started today as I am going to bake my first bread. 

1. Become a Mom
2. Bake 25 Breads - In Progress
3. Attend Jono and Lo's Wedding
4. Babymoon trip
5. Improv Quilt with Thea 
6. Add Lo to the photo wall 
7. Start a down payment savings account for a second house
8. Create a family tradition
9. Service project 
10. Paint the babies room
11. Remove carpet in back bedrooms
12. Set goals for our marriage
13. Buy 30 $1 things
14. Dress-up for a date at McDonald’s
15. Build a new kitchen table
16. Eat a pomegranate
17. Make the baby a quilt - Finished
18. Paint the Master bedroom
19. Give Kathleen a 25 Party
20. Take Dustin to Fogo de Chao
21. Make a Scrap Vomit Quilt - Finished
22. Watch 20 Classic Movies
23. Anne Geddes photo my baby (yes at least once)
24. Take monthly family photos with the baby and Dustin
25. Break from phone 5-10pm for one week
26. 4 Crafty Projects - Sparkle Tights, 
27. Clean out the Coffee Table
28. Make Pop Tarts
29. Host a trivia night
30. Balloon surprise someone for their birthday
31. Be less critical at work
32. Kathleen's cross-stitch gift
33. Go to an art museum with Momo - Art Museum Visited
34. Go baby clothes shopping with Momo
35. Play date with baby and JJ
36. _______________ with Lita
37. _______________ with Jono and Lolo
38. Finish the sushi quilt
39. A double date 
40. Learn something _______________
41. Refinish the babies desk
42. Create a new work from home space for me
43. Roadtrip with Kemi
44. Use my SLR camera at least twice monthly - January twice exactly, 
45. Finish the 52 books
46. Surprise Dustin
47. Summer party
48. ____________________ Spring Activity
49. ____________________ Summer Activity 
50. ____________________ Fall Activity
51. ____________________ Winter Activity
52. Make a new list

Growing a Baby 25ish Weeks

We are over the half way point of this pregnancy everything seems to be going and growing good. It's starting to seem more real. It will probably hit me even more so when we actually get him a crib and I feel like we are more prepared.
I am still tired and pretty much able to nap/fall asleep at any point in the day. I have felt my pelvic bone stretching and/or adjusting for the baby and it's very odd indeed. Something most people leave out about being pregnant is the amount of gas you have - I honestly don't think it has anything to do with what I eat but I get it on the regular, which is kind of repulsive. I've gained only 5 lbs however they tell me that little baby burf is around 2-3 cm bigger than normal, when I told the doctor how big Dustin and I were she wasn't surprised but sorry! Lol! 
I don't really have cravings however I have a renewed interest in eating cheap frozen pizza and pickles, and mixing things up in bowls. I have been trying to drink all that milk and get enough protein - in fact we've actually been finishing gallons of milk and cheese before they go bad which wasn't something that happened often here in the past. But some days I just don't want milk or protein and I fall a little short on that.  
Baby burf moves all the time especially at night, or when in the car. Dustin hasn't been able to feel him move yet but he constantly is trying when I tell him that the baby is moving. I keep telling him perhaps when he's bigger. 
I'm trying to avoid buying a whole bunch of maternity clothes because if I'm only going to wear it for several more months it seems silly and I am cheap!  Oh and maternity jeans for flat butted ladies like myself are HORRIBLE. I have yet to find a pair that fits right in the back, and the whole idea of just "chopping off" the top of the pants and adding spandex is so goofy. I did breakdown however and get about 5 pairs of pants/leggings and just a few tops because I don't want to always wear sweats. I also am in need of some new bras but I'm putting that off as well.  I'm very grateful that I'm working from home now because that makes it easier as I don't need to wear business attire.  
We registered the other day, I am probably much pickier than I ever thought, I am finding the need to want read all the reviews, and research everything. I don't care much for things too plasticity, goofy cartoon animals, sayings including daddy loves you, and really anything that looks too "babyish". Clearly I have forgotten that we're having a baby. I literally spent like 45 minutes the other day trying to decide on what towels because they were all either not 100% cotton or had a critter on them - only to come to the conculsion that we would just use the ones we have, apprently however these are not as soft as baby towels and he should have baby ones or so I'm told. So I finally just picked something.  This should not be that complex right?  Dustin had very few opinions on the registering aside from safety, and wanting to have a playpen/packn'play and he selected that in like two seconds!  Hah clearly I need to get over it.

We also started painting the babies room, well priming it.  It took me a lot less time deciding what I wanted to do when I got to the Lowes and just bought the paints.  I am excited as well that someone is going to come do the floors once we rip the carpet out in there the idea of sanding them myself again is not really something I look forward too.

Black Bean Burgers

Being pregnant it's essential to get enough protein.  I didn't think this was an issue for me when I was on the road however now that I work from home it's been more of a challenge, I was having a bowl of cereal or a grilled cheese but nothing with much protein especially since hot dogs and lunch meat are out.  So a few weeks ago I thought about bean burgers which are easy to fix - well I paid the $4.89 for a package of 4 once then decided I could make the much cheaper.  After checking out a few recipes I gave it a go.  And to my surprise I made 8 4-5oz burgers and I'm guessing they were less than $2.  Here's my recipe which was adapted from several others based on what was in the cupboard.

Ingredients - 

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can of corn drained

1 cup of bread crumbs

1/4 onion (I would have added more but it was all we had)

1 egg 

1/2 cup of cooked rice (or really whatever was in the leftovers in my fridge)

2 garlic cloves chopped

1 tsp of cumin (I might have put in 2 but I know at least 1)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp paprika

Coconut oil for frying (you could use olive or butter if you didn't have coconut, but we love Louanns)

Directions:

1. In food processor mix beans, egg, onion, rice, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic and blend until smooth. (If you have a small food processor you might do half at a time).

2.  Add in half the corn and blend again.

3.  Remove blade add in remaining corn and bread crumbs and mix with spatula/spoon.

4. Shape into patties with your hands.  It will be sticky add more bread crumbs if they stick too much.

5. Fry in pan with coconut oil to prevent sticking and so the crisp up.

6.  Eat and enjoy.  

I ate mine the other day with pickles just on a plate but I think the would be good on a bun and/or with avacodo, cheese, onion tomato etc.  I froze the extras individually wrapped so I could pop them in the microwave or on the stove.