skip to main |
skip to sidebar
... says my husband yesterday as he hugged me close. "Well yah," I teased, "I'm pregnant!" We LOVE saying that back and forth to one another. We're still in celebratory-shock mode. I've had two ultrasounds already, due to a possible complication, and we've been able to SEE our Little Stinker and actually HEAR the heartbeat. I can't even begin to explain how beyond wonderful that felt. I swear, we were both close to tears hearing that sweet sound.
Although I'm not really looking any different, the few clothes I have are already starting to feel a bit snug around my middle, so today on our way home from our doctor appointment we stopped at a little consignment shop and I picked up two pairs of pants and a shirt. Those added to a shirt I bought a couple weeks ago give me four stylin' outfits! Geeze... I didn't realize it was going to take me getting knocked-up to get nice clothes!! *laughing* Hubby made me beam, how great he was making me feel with all his compliments of how pretty I looked.He's being SO great, helping me around the house with everything I'm not allowed to do right now. Mandatory laziness is kinda niiiiiiice!! Hehe!! He's also just so darn cute about me being pregnant, which I absolutely adore. I knew I had "one of the good guys" to begin with, but seeing his actions through this chapter of our life just... fills my heart. :)
Well, WE sure have been, here in this house!! After four years of trying to have children, ten months of which we worked intensely with an infertility clinic, we FINALLY got what we've been wishing for: I'M PREGNANT!! WahooooOooOoo!! I'm in my fifth week, due sometime around June 9, 2009. Multiples are a strong possibility, due to several reasons -- this thrills us!! I still can't believe it. Everyone has been SO wonderfully supportive and excited with us -- I send you all my love!
I've been commissioned to create a baby quilt for a friend's friend. It's turning out adorable, if I do say so myself! Dark blues and greys make-up a nighttime sky with cute yellow applique stars and moon that I drew myself. She had the baby early, so it obviously won't be done for baby's arrival, but at least this way I know his name and can embroider his birthdate on it!
While quilting is the stronger passion, I learned to knit this year, too. I decided to make a couple lap afghans for the living room... one for my husband and one for me. I've only learned the basic garter stitch for now -- I was about to learn how to purl and move on to other stitches when my husband saw the knit swatch and liked that so much, he requested that be how his afghan be made! Easy to please... I like him! :) I've completed the three panels of his afghan and last night taught myself (with the help of a great tutorial at knitty.com) how to connect the three panels using the mattress stitch. I was so proud of myself & hubby was tickled pink when he heard I was so close to finishing his project! (Confession: I have a HORRIBLE time finishing gifts for him. It's become a running joke between us over the years. I'm determined this time and promised him before the year was up, he'd have it!!) Off to work more on it...!!!
What a lovely way for Mother Nature to celebrate my favorite holiday: the sun is shining, but there's a slight crisp to the air and a gentle breeze blowing through the leaves that are starting their yearly wardrobe change. I started the day by harvesting from the garden. The carrots were ready to be pulled, as were handfuls of green beans and a few lemon cucumbers -- YUM!
We had an early celebration this past Friday, by going to our favorite fair, the Common Ground Fair. It's THE state's biggest and bestest agricultural fair. The weather that day was gorgeous, too, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I'd been stashing a bit of money here and there, leading up to the day, so we were able to buy things we'd had our hearts set-on for years past without any feelings of budget-guilt. I bought myself a pair of hand carders, a drop spindle and a bag of gorgeous Romney wool. Hubby bought two American Chestnut trees which are now planted in the front field. Plus we stuffed ourselves with organic goodness: loaded sausage dogs, french fries and strawberry shortcakes -- again, YUM!! It was a fantastic day.
The latest pear-cookery comes in the form of cookies! Using this recipe makes a gently-sweet pear oatmeal cookie. The recipe says it makes 4 1/2 dozen cookies, but my batch made almost 7 dozen! I definitely have to make them bigger next time... having them mouth-pop-in-able is toooo much temptation to keep eating them!
Yes, yes, I'll admit that's a bit of a b@st@rdization of a Disney song, but I get bouncy and singy when I'm cooking... and I am kinda corny, so that's what came from my mouth while I was mixing up a new recipe for pear bread. After two weeks of "plumming it," making everything I could think of from the explosion of plums my mum's tree had, it's nice being able to switch to something new. Now the pears are ripe and I'm on the hunt for new pear recipes!
Yesterday I started the pear-fest with a pear bread recipe I found at allrecipes.com. Of course, I ALWAYS change recipes, according to our likes and dislikes, allergies and so forth, so the link is to the recipe I started with, but here it is with my changes:
INGREDIENTS:
3 c all-purpose flour
1/4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 T cinnamon
1/2 c vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 c sugar
2 t vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas
2 c pear puree
2 c peeled, chopped pears
(Suggestion: Because it takes a little while longer than dumping ingredients into a bowl, I suggest preparing the pears first.)
-- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon in bowl.
-- In separate bowl, mix oil, eggs, sugar, vanilla, bananas and pear puree.
-- Hand-stir chopped pears into wet mix, then add wet mix to dry, stirring until just mixed.
-- Grease & flour TWO 8x5x3 loaf pans and add batter.
-- Bake in preheated 325 degree F oven for 1 hour & 15 minutes. Cool before removing from pans.
It's a super yummy, light tasting, moist bread, very similar to a banana bread (even had I not added bananas *chuckle*). Next time (and there WILL be a next time!), I think I'll lessen the oil just a touch more, only use one banana, and add another cup of puree, to give it a little boost on the pear flavor. As soon as the loaves were cooled, I wrapped the second for the freezer -- keeping temptation at bay -- but oooh wasn't this one yummy to dig into!
Hi there -- glad you could visit! After dragging my heels for a few years of friends trying to get me to start a blog, I finally decided to give it a go. It won't be anything glamorous, nor will it be daily posted to, but I hope you find interest in whatever you read and come back often. :)
I'm a simple country housewife who takes care of her husband and a houseful of critter-kids. We have two dogs, two cats and five ferrets, plus lots of wildlife I spoil as often as I can. We're working on filling in the "spare nooks and crannies" with skin-kids, too, but that's a story for another day. Photography, cooking, crafting and reading are my four biggest hobbies. More than likely, my posts will include one (or all) of those topics.
For now, though, I leave you with this short introduction and the hope you come back someday. I've got a loaf of handmade bread rising on top of the fridge and I can smell the pear bread in the oven is almost done. It's a new recipe -- hopefully I'll remember to tell you about it next time. Til then... :)
