Exhausted and Completely Blessed

The days are ticking by to our move date - I am exhausted each night - and so completely blessed. So many of you have offered your assistance, given up your weeknight or weekend to help us out - it means so very much. Not only the work you are able to accomplish, but having help spurs me on to get more done than I would get done simply on my own. You keep me accountable to keep going, and honestly, I think you keep me from bickering with my husband (too much) and I can leave him to help do the things that he does best. In the past 2 days he has been carrying over lighter furniture items to the new place, trying to clear out some space as we continue to fill the apartment with more and more boxes. Thankfully, the packing is starting to come to an end. There are still some odds and ends that need to be taken care of, and obviously we have not torn down the computer or internet connection yet (that will happen last thing Friday night, and the first thing to get set-up at the new apartment) but for the most part things are wrapping up. Tomorrow night Tm's going to go get the laundry done while I go to the new place and clean. Friday will consist of getting the last things packed and ready to go, and some prayer in the evening that things will go well on Saturday.

So I must say, once again, THANK YOU ALL so very much. Once we get a little settled in, perhaps in mid to late August, we plan to thank you all appropriately with a dinner party or some such event. Our new place is even smaller than the one we're leaving, though, but I heard ES & SS had over 10 folks in their tiny place, it'll just have to be a "social" format where not everyone gets to sit down at the same time :) You guys rock.

We're MOVING!

If you have been reading my posts, you know that we are currently living in a mold haven, camped out on our livingroom floor for the past 3 weeks. Well last Wednesday we went and saw a new apartment (in the same building) that is on the front of the building (facing Beacon Street). It's going to be available for move-in probably by next Wednesday, so we are planning our move for the next weekend - we're hoping to get enough help so that we can get it all done on Saturday, July 22nd but if not then we'll be carrying over into Sunday as well. If you can offer any assistance, on either of the actual move dates, with packing the week before, with providing used boxes or packing supplies, we would be so grateful. Thanks for your consideration! We are just so happy to be getting out of our moldy apartment (although it sucks to have to move).

My Ever Expanding Belly

We've been taking belly pics ever since 6 weeks - every 4 weeks - until now, 18 weeks. I think after this we'll have to take them every 2 weeks because the change is definitely happening more quickly now.

We also had our 18 week ultrasound today, and found out that we are expecting.. two boys!

This is "Twin A"

And this is "Twin A"s boy parts. Can you see it?

This is "Twin B"

And this is "Twin B"s boy parts. This one has an arrow to help you find it.

I'm sure our sons will really appreciate their mother posting ultrasound pictures of their penises for the world to see. I can just hear it now, "How embarrassing, Mom!"

My First Digital "Scrapbook Page"

So, for numerous reasons I have not done any scrapbooking since April - crazy! I decided to take a break from paper scrapping (which takes up a lot of space and costs) and purchased a digital scrapbooking software program (Art Explosion Scrapbook Factory Deluxe v. 3.0) in the hopes I'd get to do some scrapping. So - all explanations aside, here's my first digital scrapbooking page. It's also the first page I've done about my pregnancy.. Thanks for looking!!

If you'd like to view this page full size, check it out at my Online Scrapbooking Gallery. At this link, if you click on the smaller picture, you'll get a full size view of the page. :) Thanks for looking!

Eww!

So this is what the inside of our bedroom wall looks like. It smells even worse! Luckily we seem to be making some progress with our landlord - they are calling in the "restoration" people and are planning to tear out our entire bedroom wall and replace it. We should get the call tomorrow with more details. 

From a 1 bdrm to a studio

I must admit I am getting increasingly frustrated with this mold situation at our apartment. Landlord says a carpenter will be coming in tomorrow morning to pull off some of the boards around the window/fire escape to look to find the source/mold. As I was doing some housekeeping in the living room tonight I realized that the OTHER window (the one in the living room) that also leaked earlier this month also smells of mold. Yay.

So, what was our small but spacious 1 bedroom apartment has quickly turned into a studio apartment with a less than comfortable bed (the futon). At least we still have each other, right?

I don't think my family is going to be able to come this weekend. I can't imagine entertaining anyone in this apartment regardless of if we had space to put everyone. It's hard enough to find enough room for me, Tm, Hershey, and all our stuff, much less 2 more adults and 2 nephews. Oh, this just sucks. Really, really sucks.

Moldy Bedroom?!?

Our bedroom is currently un-liveable, and not because it's a mess (although it is a mess) but because of a strong, permeating moldy smell. If you look at the message archives, we had a pretty big leak along the edge of the window / fire escape in that room a few weeks ago. Now, it is my fear that mold is growing in the wall. I took the trash out this morning and looked at the back of the building, to see a large quantity of green growing on the outside of the building, and I wonder if that is contributing to the smell. All I know is that to enter the room I have to wear a particulate respirator mask otherwise a headache is immediately forthcoming. Last night we camped out in the living room, and the bedroom door is closed until this is resolved. When we got home from doing the laundry last night the whole apartment smelled! Now, after airing out the entire apartment and closing the bedroom door, we can confidently say that the smell is coming from the bedroom. I guess the good news is that part of our apartment is liveable. The bad news is that we are expecting out-of-town family guests this weekend!!! I just hope and pray that this will be resolved by Friday and I don't have to call them and say "don't come."

Happy 4th of July, everyone. Hope yours is better than it looks like ours is going to be!

Hungry like a Hobbit

Well, I'm now almost 16 weeks along in this twin pregnancy. The sickness is subsiding, as long as I eat whenever my body says "EAT!" which, seems like all the time! They say that newborns need to eat every 2-4 hours, but I think it's the same in-utero! I'm sure all of you have seen Lord of the Rings - remember in the first movie, when "Strider" is leading the hobbits, and they start to break down their gear for "2nd breakfast", and "Strider" freaks out?!? One of the hobbits says "I don't think he's heard of 2nd breakfast, Pip." I feel like a hobbit! Between full meals, small meals, and snacks, I've been covering just about all the "Hobbit" meals: breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. But, I don't have feet like a hobbit! Maybe we'll have to start calling the twins "Pip" and "Merry" in-utero until we come up with real names for them! (on that note, in 2 more weeks we hope to find out the sexes of the babies at my 18 week ultrasound). :)

Let the knitting RE-commence!

I started this project (a baby blanket) a while back.. with just one skein of yarn. Oops! I figured I'd be able to go pick more up at Michael's next time I went to the store. But it looks like they're not carrying this yarn anymore! So, it's been sitting around doing nothing and since this is currently my only set of knitting needles, I haven't done much other knitting (except when RL was kind enough to lend me her needles to make baby hats).

Well, I finally did some searching online and found the yarn I need, and it arrived yesterday! YAY! Now I can let the knitting re-commence! I'm planning to learn how to crochet a scalloped border around the whole thing (in a different color/pattern yarn) when it is complete.
 

Gotta love Dilbert

I subscribe to "Daily Dilbert" which means I get the new Dilbert comic in my email every morning (I don't get the Sunday comic). I just had to share this one!!

Freecycle is awesome

I am so thankful to MH & LH for telling me about Freecycle. Have you heard of it? It is a yahoo group where you can offer up to others the things you don't want anymore, and of course try to get things that others no longer want. Sometimes you can even post a "wanted" ad so if someone has an item that they didn't even remember they had sitting around in their basement, you can take it off their hands. Here's an excerpt from the main page:

" Boston, Massachusetts Freecycle(TM) is open to all who want to "recycle" that special something rather than throw it away. Whether a chair, a fax machine, or an old door, feel free to post it. Maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself! Everything posted must be FREE, legal and appropriate for all ages. Freecycle is a movement of people interested in keeping stuff out of landfills while building a sense of community."

I wanted to share about Freecycle because I was so immensely blessed today by another Freecycle member. Timo and I took a short, 2/3 mile walk today to go pick up some maternity clothes. Another member had offered this lot of clothes and I hadn't "won" it, but a few weeks later she wrote me to say that the original person who had contacted her apparently didn't want the stuff, was I still interested? I replied in the affirmative and arranged to pick them up. Well, I just got done sorting through the two huge trash bags full of clothes, and I really hit the motherlode!!! I can't even count the number of tops - long sleeve, 3/4 sleeve, 1/2 sleeve, short sleeve, no sleeve - some t-shirt style, some dressier. Also some dresses and skirts, a nightgown, and a pair of shorts. Wow.

Completely, amazedly blessed.

Let's Get Crafty: Scrapbooking!!

Today was the "Let's Get Crafty: Scrapbooking" event, hosted by yours truly. We met together for a potluck breakfast - yummy pancakes with fresh fruit, scrambled cheesy eggs, everything bagels, cut up watermelon, and Dunkin muffins. Yum! I went through a short talk about the basics of scrapbooking, and we quickly got to work! As always, I forgot to take out my camera until nearly the very end, but here are some shots of everyone who finished a project today.. KR made some beautiful cards..
PM made an intro page for her Ireland photos..

WS made the first page for her wedding album! Great job, ladies! I hope you all had fun!

My Science Fair Project

So, this is what I have been working on for the past few hours for the Welcome Table at church.


I have had this project in my "To Do" list for months.. It's on a folding board like what you see at science fairs. I've never actually DONE a display for a science fair, so this is my first time making such a thing. Not all of the seams are in ideal locations, and I just hope this thing will last for some period of time, with being folded and re-folded, and being stored in the back store room at the hotel, getting beat up on, etc. Anyway, it's done. 

Drip... drip... drip...

So, two of our windows are leaking at the moulding around the top of the window, the moulding above the window and fire escape door in the bedroom and the window by the kitty tower. Rain is expected to continue through Saturday. We called the management company - apparently they are getting a lot of these calls and can't do anything about it until the rain stops. Oh, yay. I wonder if we'll have any clean towels by the end of this..

Desperately Hungry Pregnant Lady Food

I guess I have been blogging a lot about food lately, but I think that's understandable from someone who's pregnant.It's 11:50pm and I haven't eaten dinner yet. Now, don't scold me yet - when I got home I was feeling awful - Tm got home and I made him feed me a salad (I felt the need for veggies of some kind). We immediately fell asleep and I didn't wake up until 10pm. For the last 2 hours I've been writing email, reading blogs, and trying to figure out what I am going to eat. What do I feel like eating? What is easy to make? What do we have in the house? Sometimes I feel so much a need for PROTEIN that all I can think about are SCRAMBLED EGGS. This is the 2nd time I have made this particular version for myself - scrambled eggs with cheese and ketchup on buttered toast. And, that's water in the purple glass. People keep asking me, are you craving any foods? And I never have an answer, cause I don't feel like I do crave certain foods but I do certainly crave foods - usually vegetables and eggs (not together!) although I could go for some green beans right now. Um, I gotta go..

More Adventures in Crockpot Cooking

Crockpots are the ultimate kitchen tool. They've been around just about forever (at least in my lifetime) and it wasn't until just recently that I listened to both my mother-in-laws and started using one. I actually got my crockpot free, that was one condition of the deal, I didn't want to spend $30 on a new crockpot when I knew there were likely crockpots laying around in people's cupboards or attics, not getting used, just collecting dust. I thank the nice lady from Dorchester who offered me her crockpot in response to my request on Freecycle . Anyway, back to my latest adventure - "Souper Beef Stroganoff". This recipe was culled from a cook book I received as a gift (from one of my MILs) a few years back when I didn't even OWN a crockpot. So, needless to say, this recipe is untested. Until now. It smells good and I think it might even taste good. As soon as Tm gets home we'll find out, and I'll let you know....

Rating: 7 on a scale to 10
The flavor was excellent, it's not too salty, just right. Very creamy. My only complaint is the texture of the meat (Tm thought it was fine!), but I did leave it on to cook much longer than the recipe recommends. It's very easy to make! It took me about 30 minutes this morning before leaving home to get it going and 10 minutes after getting home. If you want a meatier version just add more meat. We made it with about 1 1/3 lb. of meat and the meat pieces seemed a little scarce. You could cut the pieces up smaller than I did, also. Here's the recipe:

"Souper" Beef Stroganoff
from Crazy About Crockpots by Penny E. Stone

Prep time about 15 minutes, Serves 6, Cost: about 72 cents per serving

1 lb or more beef round steak
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of potato or onion soup
2 teaspoons beef seasoning mix or 3 beef bouillon cubes
1 cup water
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pkg. egg noodles, prepared according to package directions
1 small pkg. sour cream

Combine salt and pepper with flour. Cut meat into strips or bite-sized pieces. Coat meat with flour and brown all sides in a little bit of oil. Transfer meat to crockpot when beef has browned. Dissolve boullion in 1 cup of water, add beef broth mixture and soups to crockpot, and stir together. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When ready to serve, prepare one package of egg noodles according to package directions, and drain. Add a small carton of sour cream to crockpot mixture. Serve over cooked egg noodles. (I actually mixed the egg noodles in with the mixture in the crockpot as we like our noodles fully coated in yummy goodness. Also, ours was made with cream of potato soup and I cut the meat in bite sized pieces.)

Enjoy!!

The Fenway Experience

Well, Tm and I finally got to go to a Red Sox game together :) He had gone last season with his friend M but alas, there was no ticket for me then. We bought these tickets from a gal at Tm's work who had extras, so we paid just face value. We're in the right field grandstand, here. I always knew that Red Sox fans were serious fans - but I had never had what I am calling "The Fenway Experience". It was like we were sitting amongst a big, extended family. People were more likely to pick up a chant started at the back of the park, and more likely to carry it on longer - they cheered on the pitcher when he'd gotten 2 strikes on the batter (and 2 outs) and they wanted their team back up to bat. I haven't been to many teams parks - Mariner's @ Safeco Field, and Braves @ Turner Field. The fans at those locations are nothing like Red Sox fans. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're loyal, excited, cheering fans. But Red Sox fans seem to be a whole different breed. I'm glad I got to experience Fenway, filled with Red Sox fans, during our adventure here in Boston.

Oh, and I ought to say, the Red Sox beat the Devil Rays 6 to 4. It was also Curt Schilling's 200th win. Tm says he's bound for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Tag

Tagged by formerly paulinechu

1. Four Jobs:
a. File clerk for an independent insurance agency
b. Video rental store worker (with an "adult" section)
c. Front desk supervisor at a hotel
d. X-ray technologist

2. Four Things I Wish I Had Done Earlier In My Life:
a. Traveled internationally
b. Taken a road trip coast-to-coast with no agenda and unlimited funds
c. Learn to speak Spanish (fluently)
d. Bungee jumping

3. Four Places I Have Lived:
a. Glendora, CA
b. Shelton, WA
c. Seattle, WA
d. Boston, MA

4. Four Countries I Have Been To:
a. USA
b. Canada
c. United Nations (well, it's technically an international territory)
d. - - - - - - -

5. Four Countries I Would Like to Visit:
a. Italy
b. Spain
c. Korea
d. Antarctica

6. Four of My Favorite Dishes:
a. cup
b. plate
c. bowl
d. mug

7. Four Sites I Visit Daily:
a. my yahoo site / yahoo comics
b. blogger
c. scrapbook.com
d. iVillage (pregnancy boards)

8. Four Software Applications I Cannot Live Without:
a. Internet Explorer
b. Microsoft Excel
c. Calculator
d. recently, Picasa

9. Four Things I'll Never Forget:
a. My husband's birthday
b. I've forgotten
c. everything else
d. already

10. I Tag: (revised) I tag SKF!

My First Hat

Okay, so I'm not sure how many hours I have been working on this hat - it's 10:30pm now, and I think I started on it around 7pm.. Three and a half hours later, wa-lah! Baby hat! I had a little bit of the burgandy yarn and really felt an all black hat would be inappropriate so I added the stripe - I must say it is also my first project using two different yarns and I think it worked out well. Probably not perfect, but I don't think I dropped any stitches either. It also looks really cute on our Coca-cola bear.

Comics are healthy for you! Read one today.

There are 5 comic strips that I try to read on a daily basis.. They are Fox Trot, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Pearls before Swine, and Dilbert. I really wanted to put last Thursday's Pearls before Swine up on the blog, but for some reason it won't let me post it here. But, here's a link.. I think you'll enjoy this a lot, I sure did.