PINTEREST

Hi. Husband here. Blogging. It's something that almost everyone who's tried has failed at. Stamina, endurance, discipline, cleverness, readership, credibility, and incentives like actual money - these are the things that separate the common John or Jane from the professionals. Unless we're certified and getting paid for it, there's little point in keeping a blog any more.
Social media has changed quite a bit since this little blog was started. Want to know what we're really up to?
Well, if you already know us, just check your Facebook. Our Tumblr, Twitter, Youtube, Huffington Post, and now even some of our Reddit activities are automatically loaded on our timelines. It's a cacophony of information and it's unpleasant to navigate, but it's all there, whether we want it there or not.

Instead, why not try out Pinterest? The design is simple and elegant. Want to see what Jane's been cooking, and what she's been dying to try? How about ideas for the home and projects she thinks are cool? They're all pinned. Follow her. Just click this link.

Probably Too Much For A Facebook Status Update

On November 6th I posted a photo on Facebook announcing to the world, or at least to the part of the world that matters to me, that I was pregnant. In my excitement (or, in retrospect, naiveté) I let you all know as soon as we knew, about this totally awesome happening.

I had my first doctor appointment this Thursday past and there I received some shocking news: no heartbeat. No heartbeat and an unmistakable pronunciation that my first pregnancy is destined to be a miscarriage. That’s hard to write out. I must admit, when my morning sickness (which was all the time) eased along with other symptoms I though that I was just one of the lucky ones who would have an easy time of it. Sadly, that was not the reason, I suppose.

It’s easy to be fatalistic when you’re thinking things will come to you. . . much harder when things are being lost. Mr. Crow and I are doing alright though. It was shocking and terribly sad at first and, of course, it still is, but it’s a little tempered now, too.

We always said “if it was time then it was time” so I guess now was not the time. Maybe, with the new house and all it would have been too much to handle. . . Maybe the kid figured out early on that we were vegetarians and went to go live with a family that would feed it bacon and he just couldn't find a suitable sublet tenant.

So, we thank you all for the well wishes and we want you to know that we’ll be saving them for later. Consider this a postponement.

You’ve been put on notice.

Baby Shower recipe List.

Maybe I’ll go back and write more on this but I’m tired tonight and this is all you get.

butternut squash and sage risotto

Arancini di riso

strawberry cupcake filling

spicy "crab" in wonton cups (you know I used Match)

French-Style Stuffed Eggs

The peppers were mine. just sauté them in evoo, add some balsamic vinegar and sugar half-way through. done.

hummus is a basic hummus recipe but I added a bit of cumin to it.

and, finally, the coup de grace:

Rigatoni Ai Tre Formaggi

3T salt

1 lb rigatoni

1.5T sweet butter

1/2 c shredded Swiss cheese

1/2 c shredded fontina cheese

1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 c heavy cream

1/2 c grated parmesan sheese

1/2t nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a casserole dish.

Boil pasta until super-al dente (because it will cook more in the oven). Drain pasta, rinse, and drain again.

In a large bowl mix butter and past until well coated. Add the 3 shredded cheeses, 1/2 the parmesan, and cream and mix thoroughly.

Place in the casserole dish and sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top. sprinkle in nutmeg and bake 15-20 minutes – until the top is golden brown

 

if I missed any recipe you want let me know. I’ll fix it.

Bathroom Festivities!

Confession: I am in love with my bathroom. OH, yes I am. I have been dreaming of this color scheme in a bathroom since 2003. seriously.

I know there is a “thing” going on right now in bathroom décor where it’s supposed to be all spa-like and serene. I say “eff that!” because my bathroom kicks my butt every morning and every night and I love it!

In case you don’t remember, here is what it looked like before:

Okay, so, that’s that, never to be seen or heard from again. Now observe the AMAZINGNESS of my current bathroom!

 

YEAY! I feel like having a party now, don’t you?

Just wait until you see the photos of the new living room!

COMING SOON!!!

Pictures of the House!

We’re finally in the house, have been for a week now, really. I just got rid of about 1/2 my wardrobe, and a ton of other stuff and I feel much better.

Here’s the first few pictures I’ve taken. . .this is what we have to work with (hover for room info):

as you walk in from outside you see:

then, going upstairs:To the left:Straight ahead:Ahead (to the right)Hard right:Right again:Or keep going:

Turning back:

You may have noticed that I too no pictures of the living room. I was surprised too. I was sure I had. ANYWAY, outside of a SUPER SECRET but amazingly awesome project in the bathroom, the living room is the BIG-DEAL thing we’re fixing up first.

Let me show you a picture of what the wallpaper looked like:

Horrible, right? I know. It’s gone now, don’t cry. So is the tan carpet. Here are some photos of us working on The Project:Here is Mr. Crow doing . .. something. . . I think he’s pulling staples out of the wood floors.

 

Here’s Mr. M and my Bro doing the same.

 

This is what it looked like after we tore off all the weird textured wall paper and removed the fuzzy left-over backing paper and scraped off as much of the other 3 layers of wall paper that still remained below. . . .

 

And look what I found near the bookshelf:

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And THIS is what it looks like now. we scraped off all the rest of the wall paper that was harder to get off with razor blades, patched any holes in the plaster, and, as an added bonus, we used a heat gun to remove the MILLION layers of paint from the trim around the floor, windows, and doors.

Next, we’ll be sanding and staining the hardwood, painting over the bricks in the fireplace (Mr. Crow hates them), and painting the walls. . . we’ll be done someday.

We DID get one thing done that I’m happy about:

I bought this light on sale YEARS ago and I never had a place to put it. I kept it for some absurd reason and now it’s in my kitchen!

Now it’s time to bake brownies.

Neil is Sick

This is making it very hard for me to enjoy the other successes in my life. . . .

I spent about a day glowing over the fact that the house appraisal came back better than we would have dared to wish.

Then Neil’s condition seemed to get worse. All information seems to point to pancreatitis. At first, when he came home from the hospital he seemed so happy and playful. He was definitely doing better. Exactly a week later, he seemed to back-slide. he was drooling all over the place and he threw up a little bit. So we trucked him back to the vet, who did some more tests, confirmed that some of the enzymes they look at are, indeed, elevated further, and gave me even more pills to give him. ugh.

So now, we’re giving him an appetite stimulant (mirtazepine), antibiotic (clavamox), Pepcid, and an anti-nausia medication (cerenia).

I also, while doing some internet research, came upon an interesting correlation. (You’ll notice that there are no pain relievers in the mix above.) We, for the first few days, were giving him some kind of pain relieving gel under his tongue daily. . . . but now we’re out and he’s feeling crappy again. I can’t help but think that the two are connected since the 8-10 websites I looked at list pain management in the list of symptoms that need to be addressed. 

Now my next step is to call the vet and see about getting something to assist Neil with whatever pain he might be in. It hard to tell with cats and Neil is so sweet and easy-going he probably wouldn’t complain about anything. . . . And it’s not like I can give him aspirin. Cat’s livers are funny things. Any people-type stuff could kill him.

The other big thing is getting him to eat and drink. I think/hope the pain relievers will help with this. However, in the mean time, the vet showed me how to give him electrolyte fluids under his skin. Mr. Crow can’t even be in the room when I do it. (wimp)

Ah, well. BGP, as my cousin likes to say.

I’m Trying To Write a Blog . . .

. . . It’s working.

Mr Crow and I just took a bath. Feeling refreshed. Listening to Penguin café Orchestra (Perpetuum Mobile). The Parakeet seems to like it and tries to sing along. I’ve stopped washing my face with soap. I’m recovering from a dozen mosquito bites. No joke.

We biked to the Relator's office to go over some paperwork, then we went a little further to the North Market:

Namaste beer

personal watermelon

white peach

3 avocadoes

a dozen eggs: 10 brown, 1 white, 1 blue

rhubarb, lime, cardamom ice cream

 

We found the recycling bins closest to our new house. . . .

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On the house-front we’re having the appraisal next week. Assuming all goes well, we’ll be in by September. We’re nervous but I don’t think we’ve got anything to worry about (as if that makes sense).

I’m already mentally placing the chicken coop to the left of the back porch. I’m reading three books right now:

Chick Days

The Quarter Acre Farm

The Girl With Curious Hair

. . . too bad Mr. Crow isn’t keen on chickens. he’s worried that they’re going to be too noisy. . . I think he’ll live. (He’ll have to!)

 

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Neil is in the hospital. He hadn’t been quite himself since Sunday. The doctor thinks it may be his liver but we won’t know for sure until later. Sadness.