Friday, June 19, 2009

Fuct Ducts

WTF. As in, how the f%$@ can my adorable, sweet, easy 6 month old be waging such enormous amounts of havoc on my ladies (my boobage, the girls, the lovely lady lumps, etc)???

Lets get it all out there, shall we? I am, by no means, "a newbie at the boobie". I did a full, count them, 15!!!! months of breastfeeding with my first, and by all accounts, it was definitely the easy way out....rarely a bottle to wash, less than $30 bucks total dropped on formula, harder to ween than to feed, etc....

Now, suddenly, my adorable, sweet, easy second baby has unleashed her power to cause mayhem upon me. This power is not flung at the dinner table in the form of rice cereal and pureed sweet potatoes (she is a perfect, gaping-mouthed eater- adorable, once again), nor is it recognized during playtimes (her brother constantly thrashes her physically and mentally and she giggles, seriously giggles), even during long rides in the car my dear little one amuses herself with toys and gurgles and occasional outburst of baby jib-jabber...NO NO NO...the power to cause MAYHEM is 100%, without question or hesitation directed at MY BOOBS. I have had 5 clogged ducts in 3 weeks. Not overestimating here, possibly even underestimating.

Theories as to why my daughter is employing mediaevial torture techniques against the woman that birthed her:
1) Distraction: extremly plausible considering activity level of 3 year old brother multiplied by square feet in house = 10,000,000,000,00,000,000 (ie 10 trillion-zillion)..and I live in a 1,000 sq. ft...you get the picture.
2) Teething: As my orthodontist of 8 YEARS+++ once said with glee, "You have HUGE teeth and a TINY mouth....."
3) Gas....my husband's family is known for it, serioulsy, just ask them. I give the poor child avocado and banana and they look at me, totally straight-faced, and say, maybe it was the food- THE GAS.....

Whatever the reason, I have been spending WAY TOO MUCH time massaging, rubbing, and squeezing these ladies without any form of voyeuristic monetary compensation...I feel like a horny middle school boy with a way too easy girl friend. If anyone has any advice, experience, or just wants to yell- WEAN THAT BABY AND GET IT ALL OVER WITH...I'm ready and listening...seriously, WTF?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

In Case Anyone is Counting

I have made the PW's Cinnamon Rolls 3 times since I first posted about them on April 30. That's right, 3 times in 6 weeks...I am probably going to need to start using my gym membership if this keeps up!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

New Fabric Shop

So, awhile back, I purchased some fabric from an etsy shop, Fabricworm. The owner, Cynthia, upon entering my shipping information, sent me an email. Her shop was based in Paso Robles (!) so why didn't I just come by her house and pick up the fabric. So I did! And I checked out all her fun fabric at the same time! She has some of the coolest and latest fabric that is not always carried in most of the other fabric stores.
The last time I cruised over to her "shop" she told me she was opening a store front down town Paso Robles. I am super excited. I do not know if she is officially opened or not yet, but she is getting close! The store, Birch Fabrics, is located off 12th street, in the little shopping center behind Aardvark Music. Birch Fabrics and Gifts, 585 12th Street, Paso Robles, CA 93446 (to be exact)

Here is a shot of her new shop, work in progress that I lifted from her blog (thanks, Cynthia!)

You can follow her progress on her blog . And I encourage you, if you are looking for some fabric or some inspiration, stop by her shop!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Chicken Lickin' (Or Make These NOW!)

I am going to post two chicken recipes here - I know, SO boring! I don't make a lot of chicken for that exact reason and because it is not my favorite protein. But in the last two weeks I have made these recipes and they are delicious. So delicious, that I wish I had made more than enough for the four of us. Of course, I don't EVER have all of the ingredients on hand for any recipe, so there is a fair amount of substitution which I will detail (sort of). And in case I haven't said it before, I LOVE SMITTEN KITCHEN!

The first dinner, I had a hankerin' for a roast chicken (right, like that ever happens) so I decided I needed to make it. Went to Smitten Kitchen and found this beauty, Zuni Cafe's Roast Chicken and Bread Salad. Before you start this, read the whole recipe through (one of my many cooking downfalls!) So the day I was going to make it, I didn't because I had not salted it ahead of time...and I know from my turkey cooking at Thanksgiving that salting ahead of time makes everything that much better. So, we tried again the next day! Deb is so nice to have shortened the recipe up a bit and I made some of my own shortcuts, but if I can say one thing about this dish...DO NOT MAKE IT WITHOUT THE SALAD! It was the best part. Of course I did not have the following salad ingredients: dried currants, scallions, arugula, frisee or red mustard greens. Instead I used golden raisins, red onion and spinach. I did not plump my raisins. I did a quick saute on the onions and the garlic and I toasted the pine nuts with the bread. I also added a squeeze of lemon into the dressing because I thought it would be nice! The most important and delicious step of this recipe is the very last one "Drizzle and toss with a spoonful (or more) of the pan juices" from the roasting chicken. Oh. My. Gosh. This was the best part, it made the salad so savory and yummy that we could not stop eating it. The kids ate a little but didn't want more and I didn't care because that meant more me!

The second chicken recipe is a far less complicated one, Chicken Milanese and Escarole Salad. Super good and quick week night dinner. Would be better if I had a hood in my kitchen, but I don't let it stop me. My tips: 1. Make the pickled onions. They are delicious and add a nice zip to the salad. Even Stella ate them and loved them! 2. Use whatever kind of greens you have - I used mixed greens because that is what I had. 3. I did not make the hazelnut pecorino portion of the recipe, I used a simple lemon-honey vinaigrette which is my favorite wine-friendly dressing (lemon juice, honey, olive oil, salt, pepper).

So, make these if you can and seriously make the bread salad - so good!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I got this from Delightfully Diva-ish it made me chuckle. Thanks Geegeedomdivas



An 'aging' woman:


I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor's permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on, The class was over.