Just Heather
1
Lifting a Girl’s Spirits
Sep 19, 2005 | Filed Under: Calendar Girl, Making Connections, Picky Eater

Here I sit, wallowing in self-pity, doing nothing when suddenly it’s mail time! What normally consists of bills and junkmail, today had the added addition of presents! Well, more accurately a prize. Adelle ran a fun play-along contest for The Today Show’s Hometown Wedding. Somehow I managed to guess nearly every aspect correctly and won. Dell sent me Betty Crocker’s Easy Slow Cooker Dinners from my Amazon wishlist—a gift to warm my heart and soul!

Maybe now my family will be able to eat this week. Cooking isn’t nearly so taxing when you can toss it in a crockpot and walk away. The timing on this one couldn’t be better. The meetings and activities are in full force starting this week. Tonight it is a Brownie Leader meeting. Tomorrow is PTO. Thursday Stacia has church choir, and Friday she’ll go to soccer practice. Somewhere in the middle of all that I have to find time to get well and hit the post office, bank, and grocery store. Cooking would have definitely gone by the wayside this week.

I already found a few recipes I want to try. Pizza Fondue—who wouldn’t love that?— Swiss Steak, Pot Roast, Stroganaff, and Pulled-Pork Fajitas. I’m not one for Mexican-style dishes, but “it’s always fun to pull your own pork.” I’ll have to check the freezer for what’s on hand and put some of these together this week. Not today though. They’re on their own tonight.

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1
And Today I Whine…
Sep 19, 2005 | Filed Under: Baby Making, Making Connections, Music Notes

I think it should be completely illegal to get sick when you are already pregnant. It’s just plain not fair to have tons of shit to deal with for 9 months straight and still get the nastiest cold ever! I woke up Sunday morning feeling completely clogged and scratchy. Now a fever has replaced my voice. There’s just too much to do for me to be napping all day. Not to mention a toddler who wouldn’t allow it anyway.

I think I am mostly prepared as far as stuff goes. I’ve sure spent a lot of money. Serenity was a big key—and the biggest expense—in going from 2 to 3 children. I least I’m no longer stressing over how to get my baby home from the hospital with her big sisters.

She has no room to come home to, but even if that didn’t get done it wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s not like she’ll really use it at first anyway. I’ll nurse so a cradle right next to me is so much easier than getting up every hour or two and walking across the house. I wanted it done by the end of this month, even though I’m not due for 7 or 8 weeks, to help the girls get used to the transition. Right now the “nursery” is a combination office/storage room/battleground or something like that.

I had hoped to get some work done on it yesterday. And by that I meant I’d sit on the bed and tell him where to put things. Instead I camped out on the couch right after Stacia’s soccer game until someone mentioned dinner. After which, I promptly returned to my horizontal position. We only have 1 soccer game this weekend so maybe something will get done then. In the meantime, I’ll lay around, do nothing, and whine about how nothing is getting done. It seems to be working well for me.

Maybe it will give me some time to surf around and find my Mixmania sender. I received an interesting mix. It fits well with the driving theme considering the name I chose for my new vehicle. It’s all classical and operatic—very serene.

This mix forces me to—once again—admit my musical ineptitude. I don’t know a single song on it. That should make tracking down its originator a bit difficult, though I’m guessing not many people went classical. I’m looking forward to finding the track list. I used to listen solely to classical on study days in college. It was the only way to focus on what I was doing. Lyrics were too distracting and silence only allowed dorm sounds in. In my daily life now, I rarely have cause to focus in the same way so I’ve not listened to much classical since Brenia would only fall asleep to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sendada.

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3
Driving Mixmania
Sep 15, 2005 | Filed Under: Making Connections, Music Notes, Road Trip

The theme for Mixmania this time around was “Driving” and I chose to take it quite literally. Most of the songs are, in fact, about driving or cars. I have thrown a few personal driving choices into the mix. Also, I sincerely hope I do not offend the recipients delicate sensibilities, as driving brings my potty mouth out in full force. The songs greatly represent the sailor in me. I am hopeful that she was too busy laughing to be offended as the genre tends toward comedy. Here they are, not necessarily in order as I have lost the actual mix (I’ll update it as soon as hubby can point me in the right direction):

  • Adam Sandler—Ode to My Car
    This was in honor of the ghetto car I was driving at the time. It has since been dumped for my new Serenity.
  • Barenaked Ladies—Pinch Me
    As much as I truly love my life there are times when I’d love to get in the car and find that perfect time of year somewhere far away from here.
  • Eagles—Hotel California
    I don’t know. Maybe it struck me as the end destination.
  • Veggie Tales—Cheeseburger Song
    If Veggie Tales or JoJo’s Circus is not playing in my car, it’s not a real road trip. I figured a song about a drive-thru at least fit the theme.
  • Cake—Stickshifts and Safety Belts
    Um, self explanatory.
  • Beach Boys—Fun, Fun, Fun
    Though I never had a T-Bird, my daddy would take my keys away if I had too much fun (and he found out about it). 😉
  • The Playmates—Little Nash Rambler
    A Dr. Demento classic. “Beep beep. Beep beep. The horn went beep, beep, beep.”
  • Maxamillion—Fat Boys
    Busted—this is a carry over from my Summer Mixmania, but as I mentioned then it was our official road trip song so it definitely belongs here too.
  • DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince—Parents Just Don’t Understand
    “Drive fast—speed turns me on!”
  • Heywood Banks—Wiper Blades
    A Bob & Tom classic, and it has me laughing out loud every single time. Probably because it’s so me—I have a bit of a habit of leaving minor details like new wiper blades until after I really need them.
  • Nelly Furtado—I’m Like a Bird
    I guess I’ve got a bit of an escapist theme going on here.
  • Pink—Get This Party Started
    I can go for miles, if you know what I mean.
  • The Firm—Star Trekkin’
    Another Dr. Demento favorite: “Only going forward cuz we can’t find reverse!”
  • Vengaboys—Venga Bus
  • Merideth Brooks—Bitch
    Not at all about driving like the rest. This is just one of those songs that makes me want to roll down the windows, put my foot to the floor, and sing out loud.
  • Todd Yohn—Orange Barrels
    Perhaps the biggest reason for my on the road potty mouth.
  • Crystal Waters—
    Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)
    When I was younger, my sibs and I made up our own little song to the chorus for family road trips—Gotta go pee, gotta go now—which we sang repeatedly until Dad would finally stop and let us go. We had another great song—an original!—about ice cream that got us to the Dairy Queen drive-thru every, single time. It may have had something to do with the fact that not a one of us could carry a tune in a bucket.
  • Queen—Bohemian Rhapsody
    Every time I hear this song, I just can’t help picturing Wayne and crew jamming in the bug. Party on, Wayne. Pary on, Garth.
  • Brak and Freddie Prinze Jr.—Highway 40
    I picked a different version than he did because I think this one is much funnier.
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2
It’s All About the Food
Jul 29, 2005 | Filed Under: Family Ties, Girls' Night, Making Connections

Rachael and I met up with Ang for dinner Wednesday night. They graciously agreed to eat at Texas Roadhouse so baby could have her cheese fries (which, by the way, he finished off as soon as I got home!)

I never gave a lot of thought to meeting people you “met” online before except in making fun of my mother-in-law’s ex-husband #5. There is just something about blogs that is different. Sure, they are highly edited—few people reveal everything. But the snippets you do get are very real. I said last year when I met Rachael that she is exactly what I pictured. Ang, also, is exactly who I thought she would be. It didn’t at all feel like meeting someone new. It just felt like joining friends for dinner. Which, I guess, is exactly what it was.

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2
Out of the Box
Jul 20, 2005 | Filed Under: Part-Time Geek, Picky Eater

I’m not much of a cook—wait, that’s not quite accurate. I cook all the time, but I’m not so big on “from scratch” cooking. My motto has always been “If you make it at home, it’s homemade.” My home-baked goodies are courtesy of Pillsbury and Betty Crocker. I do tend to use a lot of fresh meat and veggies in my meals, but I cook nothing elaborate. As a result, it is very easy to get stuck in a rut, cooking the same meals week after week. I’m not an adventurous eater, but I’ve been trying to branch out a bit.

Chelle posted an easy Egg Muffin Sandwich recipe the other day. She, of course, made her English muffins from scratch. When I decided to try it for Spencer—who stops at McD’s for an egg mcmuffin every single time we’re awake early enough—I bought a package instead. I had fully intended to use her recipe—really, I did—but the sale price on the packaged goods called out to me louder than the full price on the yeast I needed for the homemade variety. I think they turned out decent, though I don’t do eggs so I wouldn’t know personally. My big clue is he’s been taking them to work for breakfast every morning and not heading straight for the fridge when he gets home.

As for dinner, I’ve become rather addicted to All Recipes in the last few months. Did you know you could search solely in the “Quick and Easy” category? I picked up on that real fast. You can also search by ingredient if you have something you want to use up before it expires. Last night, I fixed Chicken and Dumplings. I’ve never made them before since dumplings require actual work so when I found this recipe that called for my favorite doughboy I just had to try it. Of course, I didn’t have any of the actual ingredients listed. I’m famous for substitutions (yet another great feature of AllRecipes.com).

Instead, I made a close facsimile with what I had on hand:

  • 4 boneless chicken breasts
  • 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
  • salt and pepper (I had this one!)
  • 1 11-oz package of refrigerated breadsticks

The breadsticks took longer to cook than the biscuits would have, but I liked the way it turned out. In fact, I’ll be having the last bowl for lunch. Poor Spencer is stuck with a turkey sandwich for about the gazillionth workday in a row. I’m working on a solution for that one, though with the fresh lettuce from our garden he doesn’t seem to mind too much.

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2
The Price of a Kit Kat
Jul 11, 2005 | Filed Under: Checking Out, Making Connections, Mommyhood

We just returned from the store where I paid—gasp—full price for a Kit Kat. As I handled my checkout on the U-Scan register, I asked Stacia to make sure Brenia didn’t touch anything, as she is wont to do. Not 30 seconds later, I hear “Mo-om, Brenia opened a candy bar!” I yanked the bitten into candy away from the toddler, instructed them both to hold onto my cart and do not move, and proceeded to scan the offending candy.

For some reason, my daughter failed to grasp the concept of why she would not be allowed to eat the candy since her little sister had a bite. Hmm, let me think, should I reward her for ignoring her sister when she was specifically told to watch her? Somehow I’m guessing you know my answer on that one.

So here I sit, eating the candy bar that cost a grand total of:

  • $.56 plus tax
  • 5 straight minutes of tears
  • 2 time-outs
  • 4 red poker chips
  • 1 massive, splitting headache

One more thing via Silly Old Bear since I wrote this message in my head all the way home in effort to drown out the chorus of “no fairs” and “I want candy”:

If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing blog entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your weblog.

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1
Mail Time!
Jul 11, 2005 | Filed Under: Making Connections, Music Notes

I got my Mixmania CD in the mail the other day and have been enjoying the eclectic mix all weekend. She’s a little bit country; I’m a little bit rock and roll. The CD is a unique and fun mix. I thank her from the bottom of my heart all the way to “mahbootay.” Anyone who manages to combine The Beach Boys, Prince, and Beer Run deserves a huge round of applause. Another big standing O goes to Jim for putting this all together.

I had to search quite a bit before I found the creator of my CD. Here’s to expanding my blogroll—one CD at a time.

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3
Oops! How ’bout a little Mixmania?
Jul 06, 2005 | Filed Under: Making Connections, Music Notes

I got my Summer Mixmania CD in the mail on time—I promise—I just forgot to post my song list. I’m not the most organized person in the world so getting my list of 512489 things to do before I leave town actually done before I leave town is not easily—or usually—accomplished. Mixmania was fun, though I’m not a huge music person. Spencer helped me actually mix and burn the CDs once I picked my songs. He had so much fun he actually mixed his own Summer theme CD. I spent 3 weeks on mine. He threw his together in 20 minutes before we left town. I included it in my mailing to Jim to send overseas for some of our soldiers.

And now for my long awaited song list. Some are just plain old summer songs I had to include. Others are more personally meaningful to the season. Those will be detailed for your amusement.

  • Ace of Base, The Sign I lifeguarded with a guy one summer who sang this particular song all. the. time. He was so hot, I would have listened to him sing country.
  • Sheryl Crow, Soak Up the Sun
  • LFO, Summer Girls
  • Maxamillion, Fat Boys The official summer road trip song of 1995.
  • Will Smith, Miami I did make an effort to avoid the obvious Summertime, but you can’t make a summer CD and not include Will Smith. Just look at him—the boy screams heat.
  • No Doubt, Spiderwebs What is it about summer that brings out the stalker-type guys?
  • Paul Simon, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard Spencer played with a band in college. I can picture many summer nights sitting around watching them play. This was a favorite cover.
  • Grease, Summer Nights Obvious, I know, but I just couldn’t resist.
  • Alanis Morrisette, Head Over Feet This was a big hit the year I fell in love with my sweetie. I can still remember every detail of that summer whenever I hear it.
  • Bob Carlisle, Butterfly Kisses Surprisingly, its inclusion has nothing to do with the fact that it was my Daddy Dance song at our summer wedding. It’s all about the “sticking little white flowers all up in her hair” line. I can’t be the only one who remembers making white clover crowns as a little girl!
  • TLC, Waterfalls The infamous drunken dance song for the summer of ’95. We had a whole routine and everything. Don’t ask.
  • Styx, Rockin’ The Paradise My name is Heather and I’m an official band geek. When you spend your high school years in marching band that’s all you know of summer. This was our big song during my final season.
  • Switchfoot, This Is Your Life I don’t know what it is about summer that makes me reflective, but there you go. It’s worse than New Year’s Eve.
  • Jewel, Morning Song I think this goes back to our first summer together, but this is pretty much how I feel every morning in the summer. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s light outside when the alarm goes off that makes me want to rebel against actually getting out of bed.
  • Smashing Pumpkins, Luna Our wedding dance song. I must have asked him to play this song for me a hundred times that summer. It was a nice break from the madness of putting together a wedding in 3 months. I think it always helped to remember the part after all the madness, when it would just be Spencer and I—married. Finally.
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