Thanksgiving is sneaking up on me... yikes only 4 more days left before I host my FIRST Thanksgiving dinner at MY house! Ahhhh!! Ok I'm fine... really I'm not nervous... but I have been practicing my sidedishes all week with dinner (just in case).

Thought I'd share in my experiments! I have some other dishes coming up in future blogs, like cranberry jam, pear jam, and some holiday inspired cookies as well!

Tonight after our left over dinner I decided to do some tests on some Thanksgiving bread choices. I came up with two different recipes, and I really like them equally, so I might make them both! :P

Cinnamon-Nutmeg Beer Biscuits

First one was inspired by the beer biscuits I used to see my grandmother make in her kitchen on the farm (laugh it up), which were always very rich & crumbly. This made about 5 or 6, here's what I did:

Preheat oven to 450

Aprox. 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose mix
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tblsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Tblsp ground nutmeg
Aprox. 1/2 of a 12oz. bottle of the beer of your choice

Mix first four ingredients together before adding beer. Mix together til googey dough forms. Drop heaping spoonfuls onto a non-stick baking sheet 2in apart, and lightly dust tops with another pinch of cinnamon & nutmeg. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Serve hot with butter or with whipped cream cheese (bonus if it's flavored as well with cinnamon & walnuts!). These would be good as a flavor balanced side dish, little bit of sweet to go with your spicy and salty dishes.

Shortbread and Hot Pear Topping

This recipe was sort of thought up while my batch of beer biscuits were in the oven. This recipe only makes about 8 short cakes.
Shortcakes:

Preheat 450

2 cups all-purpose mix
3 Tblsp sugar
3 Tblsp melted butter
1/3 milk

Mix together all ingredients. Drop heaping spoon fulls of dough onto baking sheet, and bake for 9 or 10 minutes (or until lightly golden brown on top).

Meanwhile....

Hot Pear Topping

2 sliced ripe pears, loosely chopped (or get creative, what other fruits in your kitchen might be good?)
1 & 1/2 Tblsp cinnamon
1 & 1/2 Tblsp nutmeg
3-4 Tblsp butter

First boil chopped pears on the stove for a few minutes, until they are soft. Drain the pears, and leave in the pot, returning to heat. Quickly add remainder of ingredients, and simmer for several minutes.

When short bread is baked and your hot pear topping (or other fruit topping! :) has been simmering for a few minutes, serve short cakes with a helping of your hot pear topping poured over top! This would be a great Thanksgiving day breakfast pastry to go with your coffee that won't stretch your stomach out too soon! Or if you're too full for pumpkin pie, this would be great after dinner as well (of course, with more coffee!!!).


Besides my cooking adventures today, I also began making my first Christmas gifts for relatives this year! I've decided I am not buying gifts for anyone this year... I'm MAKING them! This will include some edibles like Christmas chocolates, holiday cookies, and seasonal jams.... Today I made some accessories for my female relatives, I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow. Maybe... I just wouldn't want their intended recipients to see them!! I'll consider it..


PS Leave me a comment if you have ideas or you try new things with these recipes! :)

'Mommyhood' as I see it

Being a parent can be a mixture of complex emotions... it's wonderful, its horrible, it inflates your ego, yet daily makes you realize you understand absolutely nothing. Parenthood can make you happy, and also a big sap who cries at even comedies. I can't even watch the local news anymore without risk of tearing up over a story.

Kids have a knack for ruining intimate moments, waking up at 5 am on your day off, and puking all over you right before you walk out the door... yet one smile will melt your heart instantly. How can you stay frustrated with the innocent, trusting little face smiling up at you after they made a poopie in their diaper that also is on the carpet.

Parenthood is a sacrifice. I can only vacuum the floors when she's not home, and I have to blow-dry my hair with the door closed while she's downstairs so she doesn't get scared. She wakes up early just to go right back to sleep in bed with mommy and daddy, and somehow takes up more space than a full grown adult. Not to mention she hampers "me-time" to write, do my nails, shop, even take a shower some days.

But, parenthood is also rewarding. She "flaps" her arms and shrieks with excitement when mommy or daddy unexpectedly appear, and loves to give us sloppy kisses while squeezing our faces and sometimes slips in a little tongue. She's a superb cuddler and wakes up from every nap laughing in her crib. Even the most stressful situations and rainiest days have a little sunshine because of her happy, chubby face.

Aaaand I just heard what sounds like it will be a MAJOR diaper change.... Mommy's gotta go!

If I wasn't blonde before, I sure am now

I did my first errands living in our new suburban neighborhood today. I can tell it's going to take me awhile before I can turn off my GPS when I go anywhere. I only traveled within a 5 to 6 mile radius, but everything looked the same and I really never had a clue where the heck I was.

I went to Jewel-Osco to get some necessities, including some steak (because it looked irresistible, and I decided I deserved it). I've obviously never visited this particular Jewel before, so I was a little lost at first where to find anything. I saw a women wearing a landyard with those little buttons all over it talking to another shopper, so I waited to ask her where I would find dairy products. After the other shopper thanked her for her help, I said 'excuse me if you're not busy, do you think you could point me to where I would find cheese?' She looked at me very confused, paused, and replied, 'I'm sorry, what?' ............. That's when it hit me: she was NOT an employee. I was able to laugh and explained I was confused because of her landyard; turns out she's a school teacher! She complimented me on my dress, and after parting ways I turned down the next isle, only to find the cheese and dairy jackpot! Whoops.

Reagan was with me of course, although sleeping most of the grocery portion of the trip. At the register she woke up and was smiling at me while we waited in line. I went to the front of the cart to start unloading things, and the little old lady behind me started coo-ing at her and tickling her toes. To my complete surprise, Reagan put out her bottom lip and burst into tears. She's always been very friendly with strangers. I said this to the women, and upon reflection I realize this probably made her feel 10 times worse than she did already for making a baby cry. The women must have apologized to me 5 times and now I realize I probably guilted her into it... Whoops again. Total fail.

My next destination was to Gymboree. I had purchased some clothes for Reagan there a few weeks ago only to notice once I got home that I bought EVERYTHING in the wrong size. I exchanged the items (they were even having a sale this time!) with the intention of only purchasing what I was getting back for my returns. After picking everything out I saw an adorable white headband with a purple tulle bow for $4 by the register. She was already wearing a headband but I loosely threw it over her head to check that it fit, and decided that for 4 bucks I'd get it. Once I was home I wanted to try on some of the clothes to double check they fit her right. Everything was perfect... except the damn headband! It was huge. Whoops... AGAIN! No idea how I didn't see that the first time.

I have the car because of the errands, so I still have to pick up Charles from the studio in 45 minutes... Hoping I don't have any more blonde moments between now and then! :-/

Reagan hanging out watching me blog... she has no idea her mom is a ditz.

Last day

Tomorrow (my birthday) is officially the first day of autumn (random fact: the new season doesn't start til 10pm tomorrow!). My parents considered naming me Autumn, but then decided to go on a Biblical naming-streak, and named all 8 of us after characters in the Bible. Plus my mom's name is Gail Ann, and said she always wanted a "full name" growing up, so I got to be Abigail Ann. I'm officially rambling already.

As it turns out, I am apparently hosting thanksgiving at our new house this year. The first potential problem I can see is that we don't even have a table. Yup, not even barstools for the breakfast counter. Secondly I am used to cooking for two, so cooking for 6+ is already making me slightly uneasy. I guess that's still relatively far off so maybe I should stop worrying and assume its all going to take care of itself! Or maybe I should invite my mother as well and hope that she helps me make sense of the mayhem.

Next month my friend Sammone is coming up from St. Louis with our friend Meghan (aka Richard, cause yeah, she's a dick), and I'm seriously so excited. I saw them when I was in St. Louis over Labor Day weekend, and we went out for some martinis and I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants at the bar. I'm also excited that Sammone is bringing me some of her gorgeous paintings!! When I was at her house she had some abstract ones with liquid silver paint that were stunning, and she's making me some look-alikes! Above are a few of her sold paintings that I ripped off facebook. :) I really dig the purple lips. Purple is just my ultimate favorite color. In high school she did an amazing black and white portrait of me that my grandma keeps at her house now. She is so friggin' talented.

So coming around full circle, I've decided that although I'm going to ignore the fact that tomorrow is my official birth date, I am going to hold off until the girls get here and celebrate with them instead of waiting until next year, again. Sammone and I were both preggo on our 21st birthday's so we need to make up for that finally! Richard is still single and racking up mountains of student loans in art school, but our celebration couldn't be complete without her madness.

Glad I've given myself something to look forward to; it colors everything differently in the present went you have something in the future to be excited about.

Sorry For Neglecting You...

I've been a wee bit busy :-)

But I felt like writing today, gotta get it out of my system!

Quick update:

We moved into a house in the burbs! :) It's in a cute little community and its a cute little house! I loooove it compared to our condo!

Reagan is almost 5 months now, and in about a month I'm going to introduce solid foods! This also means I am going to be going back to work again and I can't lie that I'm a little bit nervous... Even being home all day I am CONSTANTLY busy! I'm cleaning, doing laundry, taking care of the baby, organizing our home, coordinating the family, making dinner... and sometimes I don't even have time to take care of myself. I forget to shower or eat or both some days. How the hell am I going to continue taking care of the family, myself, the house, AND work? I also really don't want to stick Reagan in daycare. What is the point of having a kid if somebody else raises them for you while you go to work? There's gotta be a balance, I just need to find it.

Also on that same note, I get the impression from certain people sometimes that they think I must have it easy, like I must do nothing and lay around all day eating bon-bons and playing with my cute baby. Let me tell you that is NOT true and it REALLY PISSES ME OFF. Okay got that off my chest. Moving on.

After moving we have zero left in our savings, it's going to take us a bit to get back in the clear! I am DYING to do some fall shopping, but I have to hold myself back until our heads are above water again. I want to get new things for the house and I want to buy new cloths and I want to go to the spa! I want I want I want!!! I need to reel myself in and stop feeling so selfish. Charles's dad had a second heart attack this week and we don't even have the gas to drive to see him in the hospital, or afford for him to take a day off of work. I know that this is really hard on him, and I hate that there isn't anything I can do to help the situation.

I've been stressing so much about moving and money that I didn't realize until yesterday that my birthday is on Wednesday! I have NOTHING planned, no money to spend on going out, Charles works, and no friends to celebrate it with.. This year will be the 3rd year in a row that I haven't celebrated my birthday. Should I be depressed? Maybe it's just a sign that I'm a grown-up now. I've decided that I'm going to ignore my birthday for now so I don't feel upset about it and promise to celebrate next year...but that's the same things I've said the last 2 years.

This year has just FLOWN by anyway.. I can't believe it's already September!

September has always been my favorite month of the year for many reasons. Obviously, it's my birthday month. The grass is still green but the trees are vibrant hot shades of yellow, orange and red, and the air has such a deliciously refreshing scent with a hint of that cozy campfire smell. Also it has the BEST weather all year; its not too hot, not too cold, and I can wear boots again and cute layers. I'm a little on the skinny side, so I love sporting the layered-look because I don't look so much like a crack addict (I'm not exaggerating).

Speaking of skinny, I am REALLY missing my baby weight! I've lost ALL of it and then some :-/ I know other mothers out there probably want to slap me for saying this, but I've always struggled with my weight. I have been accused of having an eating disorder since I was in middle school because no matter how many burgers I eat, I still end up looking like Olive Oil. It's just in my genes. I never minded it that much until I got to experience having some curves during and right after pregnancy... I haven't even been exercising and I swear every time I step on a scale I've lost another 5lbs! Not sure what to do since I am an avid heath-nut and I LOVE vegetables, so I don't want to switch my snacking to unhealthy fatty foods or nutritionally empty sweets.

Topic change!

I think I want to seriously update my blog. I mean like a complete overhaul. I haven't been satisfied with it from the start but I don't know how to do all that fancy stuff. I want a custom back ground, header, and I want a newer/better title! I just don't have the time to figure it all out. I'm going to have to experiment I guess!

Another topic change!

So this entire post turned into more of a vent than an update. I didn't even realize that I need to vent until I started writing. I can't wait til everything calms down and things aren't so hectic. These past 2 (maybe 3?) months have been some of the hardest. Anything that could have gone wrong, did. And every time I thought, 'well it can't get any worse than this,' it did. But we did move finally so maybe that's a sign things are getting better again.

Well I have to get back to my duties... there's laundry to be done and it's after 5pm and I'm still in my PJ's. Plus Reagan is babbling saying "baaa ba baa ba ba baaaaa ba ba BA!" on the floor which means she wants my attention. I love my life, I love my life, I love my life *clicking my ruby red slippers*

"Wow, she's like a little person now!"

^ quote courtesy of Reagan's daddy :)

What he meant by that is Reagan is no longer the little bundle we brought home from the hospital, she's developing a very distinct personality! She is one of the most care-free and happy babies I've known. Instead of crying when she's hungry, she "yells" at us, and I tease her because she kind of sounds like a little cow when she does!! "Moooo!!" Every morning she wakes up smiling and laughing; I love waking up to her happy face!

She's also become much more aware of her surroundings, and has taken an interest in a few of her toys! She'll talk to them, laugh at them, kiss or slobber on them, and even yells at them when she's displeased (usually if they become out of reach). She enjoys playtime with mommy and daddy too, and likes to be tossed in the air or tickled. Her hands are becoming more coordinated, and she likes to chew on her fists, grab anything close to her, including daddy's face when he's close enough to her!

I also can definitely see Reagan being a bit of a flirt. She smiles at strangers and laughs out loud when anybody talks to her! She's not shy! We are so blessed to have such a pleasant baby.

It's amazing watching her develop. Every day I notice something new she's learned, and I get a front row seat watching her practice new things and learn her likes and dislikes. I'm so lucky to call her mine. :)

I love my chubby, healthy baby!

I was on Twitter this morning and read a very disterbing article about infant-formula posted by @TheNewbornBaby... I chose to breast feed for several reasons, none of which were because I thought formula was dangerous... but now I'm especially glad I did not!

For me it seemed natural to breastfeed; 1) my mom breastfed all 8 of me and my brothers (so did all of my aunts), 2) it's obviously more cost effective than formula, 3) plus I am a hippie at heart and anything natural I almost always assume is healthier.

I am a believer in convienence, but not at the cost of my baby's health. It would be easier on my schedule to formula feed Reagan because I could work and leave her with a qualified care-taker, go out for the day, or go on a vacation even.. That might seem "good" for me, but is that good for my baby? I was never convinced it was.

In defense of mom's who've chosen to formula feed, I'm sure they made the most informed decision they could with the information available. What I think is wrong is that the information moms really need to know is NOT available because the formula industry is a multi-million dollar industry that could collapse if more woman chose to breastfeed instead. And I honestly can't imagine ANY mom wanting to formula feed her baby after reading this...

All mommies, future moms, and even women who know other moms should read this article!!!

Click here to read the full article on the serious and deadly risk factors directly due to infant formula.

p.s. I would have organized this article differently, although all of the info presented was eye opening, the most shocking and damning information came in the second half towards the end of the article... so keep reading!