On Maternity Leave
See you once this kid decides to leave my poor bladder/back/stomach space alone!!
Showing posts with label so very very tired. Show all posts
Showing posts with label so very very tired. Show all posts
March 19, 2009
O' Fun For... lazy bums
No, this isn't about bums. Just the lazy. I am officially going on blog maternity leave. The O' Fun For All blog administrators are very generous with their maternity policy- I get leave until the kid is born plus maybe a month or so, depending on how long it takes before life gets relatively normal again. I am due to have this kid April 30, but I'll at least let you know when she comes on out to join us, and possibly post something here and there in the meantime, or maybe not. So, starting now, this post is....
December 19, 2008
O' Fun For... people with very vivid imaginations
...because I didn't take any pictures of what we made to go with this post.
Sorry.
We were just lucky to get everything completed and come out alive, let alone take any pictures of the finished products. I can, however, offer links or recipes.
All week I have been printing these gift tags (from Amy Karol last year on the angrychicken blog) out on cardstock, hole-punching them, grommeting them, enveloping them, and finally delivering them for neighbor gifts this year. So much for my simple idea! Somehow I thought the lack of baking and not having to purchase a bunch of supplies I didn't have would speed this one along. Oh-well, it's done now, and my grommet-er is thanking me for the break. Plus, the gift tags are so freaking awesome, I had to share them.
Monday night we went to Grampa T's (my Grampa, the kids' Great Grampa) to make graham cracker houses. I withheld and did not make my own this year. That may be the first time in my life I have passed up that opportunity. I tend to get a bit... ummmm.. involved.. in making my house, and perhaps neglect my kids' frosting-placing needs as I decorate my own house. This year I decided to be strictly a frosting-squeezer for my kids. Sigh. It was still fun, though. This year's trends were adding peppermint wheels to the houses to make them mobile homes and using spare crackers to create garages. You have to enjoy the house building, because the eating part never happens. The origins of Grampa's candy are unknown, but we recognized most of it from several years past. Nothing like vintage candy for some teeth-breaking fun!
Also, we made sugar cookies o' yumminess to decorate last night. Man! That is quite the project with kids! I made the dough in the morning and put it in the fridge. That was the easy part. Then, after dinner, I took a deep breath, washed everyone's hands, and dove on in to the cookie-making adventure. James was very nice and joined the chaos in the kitchen as well. About an hour or more later every surface in the kitchen, as well as every part of us, was covered in flour, dough, cookies, sprinkles, and frosting, but we had enough done to deliver to teachers and home teach-ees, so I sent James off with the kids and the cookies and tackled the mess while they were gone.
Ahhhhhhhh. I remember now why we only do that once a year.
Here is the recipe for the best sugar cookies ever. They are like the pink cookies we would eat instead of lunch in high school. Mmmmm...strange eating disorders.....
Pink Cookies o’ Yumminess
1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. sour cream
5 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
4 t. baking powder
2 t. vanilla
Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream together in a huge bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Chill overnight. The dough should be sticky. Roll out ¼” to ½” thick. Bake for 12-14 min. at 350. (If I preheat my stoneware pan, it takes 12 min.) You know they are done when the top feels like a wet sponge when you push on it lightly. (They don’t taste like a sponge, don’t worry.) If they are getting browned, they have cooked too long.
I do have one picture for today. Santa stopped by our house while we were mid-cookie-ing! It was about the most festive moment possible: snowy night, baking Christmas cookies, Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack a-playing, and Santa dropping by for a visit. It would have made the Grinch scream out in horror. Here is a picture of the flour-y kids sitting on Santa's lap:
I am now almost done with Christmas projects. Woo-hoo! I only have to make pajama pants, and something for James that I will not mention on the off chance that he reads this and I spoil the present. Oh- and also some shirt-stenciling for my brother and James' brother. I can't seem to get away without making anything at all, but I did much better this year than I did last year. I am actually getting sleep this year.
Sorry.
We were just lucky to get everything completed and come out alive, let alone take any pictures of the finished products. I can, however, offer links or recipes.
All week I have been printing these gift tags (from Amy Karol last year on the angrychicken blog) out on cardstock, hole-punching them, grommeting them, enveloping them, and finally delivering them for neighbor gifts this year. So much for my simple idea! Somehow I thought the lack of baking and not having to purchase a bunch of supplies I didn't have would speed this one along. Oh-well, it's done now, and my grommet-er is thanking me for the break. Plus, the gift tags are so freaking awesome, I had to share them.
Monday night we went to Grampa T's (my Grampa, the kids' Great Grampa) to make graham cracker houses. I withheld and did not make my own this year. That may be the first time in my life I have passed up that opportunity. I tend to get a bit... ummmm.. involved.. in making my house, and perhaps neglect my kids' frosting-placing needs as I decorate my own house. This year I decided to be strictly a frosting-squeezer for my kids. Sigh. It was still fun, though. This year's trends were adding peppermint wheels to the houses to make them mobile homes and using spare crackers to create garages. You have to enjoy the house building, because the eating part never happens. The origins of Grampa's candy are unknown, but we recognized most of it from several years past. Nothing like vintage candy for some teeth-breaking fun!
Also, we made sugar cookies o' yumminess to decorate last night. Man! That is quite the project with kids! I made the dough in the morning and put it in the fridge. That was the easy part. Then, after dinner, I took a deep breath, washed everyone's hands, and dove on in to the cookie-making adventure. James was very nice and joined the chaos in the kitchen as well. About an hour or more later every surface in the kitchen, as well as every part of us, was covered in flour, dough, cookies, sprinkles, and frosting, but we had enough done to deliver to teachers and home teach-ees, so I sent James off with the kids and the cookies and tackled the mess while they were gone.
Ahhhhhhhh. I remember now why we only do that once a year.
Here is the recipe for the best sugar cookies ever. They are like the pink cookies we would eat instead of lunch in high school. Mmmmm...strange eating disorders.....
Pink Cookies o’ Yumminess
1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. sour cream
5 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
4 t. baking powder
2 t. vanilla
Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream together in a huge bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Chill overnight. The dough should be sticky. Roll out ¼” to ½” thick. Bake for 12-14 min. at 350. (If I preheat my stoneware pan, it takes 12 min.) You know they are done when the top feels like a wet sponge when you push on it lightly. (They don’t taste like a sponge, don’t worry.) If they are getting browned, they have cooked too long.
I do have one picture for today. Santa stopped by our house while we were mid-cookie-ing! It was about the most festive moment possible: snowy night, baking Christmas cookies, Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack a-playing, and Santa dropping by for a visit. It would have made the Grinch scream out in horror. Here is a picture of the flour-y kids sitting on Santa's lap:
I am now almost done with Christmas projects. Woo-hoo! I only have to make pajama pants, and something for James that I will not mention on the off chance that he reads this and I spoil the present. Oh- and also some shirt-stenciling for my brother and James' brother. I can't seem to get away without making anything at all, but I did much better this year than I did last year. I am actually getting sleep this year.
November 14, 2008
O' Fun For... me. Thanks!
Families are full of traditions. Things passed down throughout the generations that become a part of who that family is. Some may pass down the china that their great-great-grandma brought across the plains in her covered wagon. Others may pass down a love of music or a talent for sports.
And then there's the Turners. Some of the most obvious traits and traditions from our family (the one I grew up in) include an acute sense of sarcasm, a pressing need to publicly embarrass those we love, and perhaps most unavoidably, a shocking lack of essential brain-chemicals. Seretonin, endorphins, whatever. You name it, we probably don't have it. That makes for all kinds of fun times. Between the five of us Turners, we have various levels of depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD, and Tourettes (the twitchy kind, not the sweary kind. usually.) to name a few.
You are probably thinking "My, this is certainly fascinating. However, I fail to see the connection to making things, which is what I thought this blog was about." Well, this has all been a lovely lead-in to the latest adventures in baby-making (the baby-growing part, not the explicit part.) See, I have the Turner Family depression fun, as well as a sprinkling of anxiety. Over the last 12 years or so I have learned that keeping certain things as an important part of my life help keep my chemical issues in check as best as they can be. Things like running for ridiculous distances (or biking or swimming if I need a substitute activity), taking plenty of happy-pills, staying involved in regularly-scheduled activities outside my house (like volleyball teams or classes of some kind), sunshine, doing spiritual-y things like going to church or getting involved in service projects, and staying healthy all help. If those still don't do the trick, it's nothing a trip to the shrink can't fix.
Enter Terrorist. Now, it's not The Terrorist's fault that it makes my happy-upkeep difficult. I knew that going into this. That is one of the reasons I am not a huge fan of pregnancy. Over the last few months almost everything on my upkeep list has been crossed off. No running, biking, swimming, volleyball, feeling healthy, leaving my house, or going to church and church activities regularly. The sun tends to vanish this time of year in Utah. And above all- I chose to go off my pills o' happy for the first trimester. They say they are safe for use in pregnancy, but this isn't Tylenol that has been around for long enough to test for years and years. Sure my baby may not be born with two heads or anything, but there is no research to say he or she won't sprout another head in, say, 20 years or so. That could get awkward. So, I stay off the drugs o' fun for the first trimester.
All this finally started to overwhelm me lately. By Wednesday, I could feel that familiar "losing it" tremor, and knew the crazies were-a comin'. After a day full of crying and hiding in my room, I found that night that I was bleeding a little. Not emergency-room bleeding, but enough to tip my fragile scales right over the edge. Psch! Stupid scales. After a blessing from James, I crawled into bed to eat things covered in lots of peanut-butter and watch Star-Trek episodes on his laptop. (Blast!.. I mean.. uh.. Friends episodes...) I was still feeling freaked-out, but almost immediately the awesomeness started up. I had friends call or stop by to check on me and offer support and prayers and dinner. The person over me in my church assignment called me to make sure I wasn't getting overwhelmed or overloaded. James called work to tell them he would be staying home the next day. Verna said she was going to call the temple to put my name on the prayer roll. (I told her maybe not. I mean her temple is San Diego, and once those protesters break in and find my name written somewhere it's all over... )
Thursday I was still hiding out in my room with the peanut-butter and Star-Trek, but being taken care of. One friend brought over dinner and another brought over some frozen-Indian-food goodness (mmmmmm) so I had another meal taken care of. By Thursday night I was feeling amazingly better. I knew I still needed to get back on my lovely pills o' happy and get out of my house more and whatnot, and the panic-tremors were still threatening to take over, but I felt okay about it all. By this morning, the sun was making a rare appearance and I had just enough energy and motivation to clean up a little, refill my drugs, and get dressed and ready for the day.
I think it is awesome when things like this happen. Not the freaking out, the rest. God knows what's going on. He knows who has some time or energy or concern they can use to help you out, and lets them know when it would be useful to share those things. Thanks, everyone! It really meant a lot.
This is definitely the last time I use my creative urges to make a child, though. I'll stick to making quilts or purses or things like that in the future.
And then there's the Turners. Some of the most obvious traits and traditions from our family (the one I grew up in) include an acute sense of sarcasm, a pressing need to publicly embarrass those we love, and perhaps most unavoidably, a shocking lack of essential brain-chemicals. Seretonin, endorphins, whatever. You name it, we probably don't have it. That makes for all kinds of fun times. Between the five of us Turners, we have various levels of depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD, and Tourettes (the twitchy kind, not the sweary kind. usually.) to name a few.
You are probably thinking "My, this is certainly fascinating. However, I fail to see the connection to making things, which is what I thought this blog was about." Well, this has all been a lovely lead-in to the latest adventures in baby-making (the baby-growing part, not the explicit part.) See, I have the Turner Family depression fun, as well as a sprinkling of anxiety. Over the last 12 years or so I have learned that keeping certain things as an important part of my life help keep my chemical issues in check as best as they can be. Things like running for ridiculous distances (or biking or swimming if I need a substitute activity), taking plenty of happy-pills, staying involved in regularly-scheduled activities outside my house (like volleyball teams or classes of some kind), sunshine, doing spiritual-y things like going to church or getting involved in service projects, and staying healthy all help. If those still don't do the trick, it's nothing a trip to the shrink can't fix.
Enter Terrorist. Now, it's not The Terrorist's fault that it makes my happy-upkeep difficult. I knew that going into this. That is one of the reasons I am not a huge fan of pregnancy. Over the last few months almost everything on my upkeep list has been crossed off. No running, biking, swimming, volleyball, feeling healthy, leaving my house, or going to church and church activities regularly. The sun tends to vanish this time of year in Utah. And above all- I chose to go off my pills o' happy for the first trimester. They say they are safe for use in pregnancy, but this isn't Tylenol that has been around for long enough to test for years and years. Sure my baby may not be born with two heads or anything, but there is no research to say he or she won't sprout another head in, say, 20 years or so. That could get awkward. So, I stay off the drugs o' fun for the first trimester.
All this finally started to overwhelm me lately. By Wednesday, I could feel that familiar "losing it" tremor, and knew the crazies were-a comin'. After a day full of crying and hiding in my room, I found that night that I was bleeding a little. Not emergency-room bleeding, but enough to tip my fragile scales right over the edge. Psch! Stupid scales. After a blessing from James, I crawled into bed to eat things covered in lots of peanut-butter and watch Star-Trek episodes on his laptop. (Blast!.. I mean.. uh.. Friends episodes...) I was still feeling freaked-out, but almost immediately the awesomeness started up. I had friends call or stop by to check on me and offer support and prayers and dinner. The person over me in my church assignment called me to make sure I wasn't getting overwhelmed or overloaded. James called work to tell them he would be staying home the next day. Verna said she was going to call the temple to put my name on the prayer roll. (I told her maybe not. I mean her temple is San Diego, and once those protesters break in and find my name written somewhere it's all over... )
Thursday I was still hiding out in my room with the peanut-butter and Star-Trek, but being taken care of. One friend brought over dinner and another brought over some frozen-Indian-food goodness (mmmmmm) so I had another meal taken care of. By Thursday night I was feeling amazingly better. I knew I still needed to get back on my lovely pills o' happy and get out of my house more and whatnot, and the panic-tremors were still threatening to take over, but I felt okay about it all. By this morning, the sun was making a rare appearance and I had just enough energy and motivation to clean up a little, refill my drugs, and get dressed and ready for the day.
I think it is awesome when things like this happen. Not the freaking out, the rest. God knows what's going on. He knows who has some time or energy or concern they can use to help you out, and lets them know when it would be useful to share those things. Thanks, everyone! It really meant a lot.
This is definitely the last time I use my creative urges to make a child, though. I'll stick to making quilts or purses or things like that in the future.
October 7, 2008
o' fun for....The Terrorist, and no-one else.
I thought I'd drop in and let anyone who cares know why these posts have been slowing down. The Terrorist is responsible. See, The Terrorist lives inside me and threatens to make my life miserable if I don't hurry to fulfill it's crazy demands. It especially hates it when I shower, eat delicious food, or poop. I think I am slowly regaining power over my own body from The Terrorist, but just a little bit, not entirely. Psch! Darn fetus!
I guess, though, this is still a post about stuff I have made or am in the process of making. Although I promised a tutorial, I am not sure that anyone would appreciate a picture-heavy tutorial on how to make a Terrorist of your very own. If you really want to know, I am sure you can drop by your local Jr. High and find the nurse or health teacher, who may have a pamphlet about your changing body.
Give me a week or two, and I'll be back to posting regularly. I plan on doing a tutorial, complete with amazing pictures, on the freezer-paper stencil t-shirt. Fun times!
I guess, though, this is still a post about stuff I have made or am in the process of making. Although I promised a tutorial, I am not sure that anyone would appreciate a picture-heavy tutorial on how to make a Terrorist of your very own. If you really want to know, I am sure you can drop by your local Jr. High and find the nurse or health teacher, who may have a pamphlet about your changing body.
Give me a week or two, and I'll be back to posting regularly. I plan on doing a tutorial, complete with amazing pictures, on the freezer-paper stencil t-shirt. Fun times!
September 8, 2008
O' Fun For... pregnancy cravings extravaganza!!!
The baby has been sending me mixed messages all day. "Bread, mom, you really want bread..." "No, no, wait-- spaghetti sauce! I mean it this time, that's really what I want..." "Okay. I know for sure this time, it's peanut-buttery oatmealy m&m cookies. Do it!!! I'm warning you, I can make you feel pretty crappy if you ignore my every wish here!"
Sigh.
So, I followed the whims of the bossy fetus/terrorist. My lovely red Kitchen-Aid mixer is crying out for relief. The last batch of cookies is in the oven, the bread is securely Ziploc-ed away up on top of the cupboards from my bread-loving dog, and the sauce is bagged and ready to become tonight's pizza. You're startin' to wear me out kid. At least I have a few dozen cookies to comfort me during my post-baking energy slump...
Here's the link to the easy and fabulous bread from Allrecipes.com.
Here is where my particular loaves hide from my dog...
Here is the recipe for my red sauce (I made the recipe all by myself, which is why it contains several "ish" es...)
Mamma Dana’s Red Sauce
7-ish tomatoes, peeled
1 small can tomato paste
1 packet onion soup mix
LOTS of garlic powder, or some minced fresh garlic, or both
Big pour Balsamic vinegar (maybe 2 T.-ish or more?)
Med. Pour olive oil (1-2 T. ???)
A few sprigs fresh lemon-scented thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown and white sugar, a few spoonfuls each (okay, I add lots of sugar, but just do it to taste.)
Cornstarch, about 2-3 t. (?) just shake it in until it’s as thick as you want
Blend the tomatoes in the blender, and pour into a pot. Add the rest while heating over about med to med-high heat. The garlic, sugars, vinegar, & oil are always just done to taste, so if it tastes too bitter, add more sugar, and taste and mix until you like it. I take the sprigs of thyme out before serving or storing. This sauce stores just fine in the freezer.
Here is the link to the cookies, also from Allrecipes.com
The fetus better be craving store-bought from now on...
Sigh.
So, I followed the whims of the bossy fetus/terrorist. My lovely red Kitchen-Aid mixer is crying out for relief. The last batch of cookies is in the oven, the bread is securely Ziploc-ed away up on top of the cupboards from my bread-loving dog, and the sauce is bagged and ready to become tonight's pizza. You're startin' to wear me out kid. At least I have a few dozen cookies to comfort me during my post-baking energy slump...
Here's the link to the easy and fabulous bread from Allrecipes.com.
Here is where my particular loaves hide from my dog...
Here is the recipe for my red sauce (I made the recipe all by myself, which is why it contains several "ish" es...)
Mamma Dana’s Red Sauce
7-ish tomatoes, peeled
1 small can tomato paste
1 packet onion soup mix
LOTS of garlic powder, or some minced fresh garlic, or both
Big pour Balsamic vinegar (maybe 2 T.-ish or more?)
Med. Pour olive oil (1-2 T. ???)
A few sprigs fresh lemon-scented thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown and white sugar, a few spoonfuls each (okay, I add lots of sugar, but just do it to taste.)
Cornstarch, about 2-3 t. (?) just shake it in until it’s as thick as you want
Blend the tomatoes in the blender, and pour into a pot. Add the rest while heating over about med to med-high heat. The garlic, sugars, vinegar, & oil are always just done to taste, so if it tastes too bitter, add more sugar, and taste and mix until you like it. I take the sprigs of thyme out before serving or storing. This sauce stores just fine in the freezer.
Here is the link to the cookies, also from Allrecipes.com
The fetus better be craving store-bought from now on...
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