Saturday, January 29, 2011

Plumpy sucks.


Three years ago today, if you would have asked me where I'd be today, I'd tell you that I'd have a 2 1/2 year old child, and most likely, another on the way. I would have said it with such certainty. Certainty that only comes from a first pregnancy, of a child conceived so easily. Surely, it was going to happen. This was OUR life, and we were IN control of it all. Afterall, we were good people, we were financially ready for a little one, and it was planned...and it happened...I got pregnant..and we were going to be parents! Yes, Nick would be a dad, and I would be a mom!

I was pregnant with our first. I told everyone. Early...Like, wayyyyy early..at 7 weeks. Celebrating that we were not one of those couples who take years to get pregnant. Leading up to this pregnancy, I had this gnawing voice in my head that perhaps my years of low bodyfat would hinder our success in getting pregnant..but it turned out that it had no effect on our luck. Holy Hallelujah, we were expecting..and soooo easily, to boot.

And then came my first appointment...and it went well...and I started looking at babies-r-us and figuring out what our nursery would look like. We painted the nursery....because, you know...9 months was going to go sooooo fast, I HAD to get it ready. I picked green for the walls, since we wouldn't know the sex of our little one for 4 more months.

And then came THE morning. THE morning that I woke up and told NZ I didn't feel pregnant anymore. THE morning that I felt I was probably just overreacting to my lack of symptoms...THE morning that NZ encouraged me to call the Doc just so I'd stop stressing about it. We had just seen the Doc, and had 3 more weeks till my next appointment. So I called. I went in. And that's where my naievety ended.

I was one of those women. One of those who find themselves on the wrong side of the statistics. We were one of those couples who would have to pull up our boots and move forward despite the rug being pulled from under our feet at a time of such elation. And we did it. I mean, we're still here, wearing the same boots, and trying to take a look at the map to decide which road is going to get us to parenthood.

We've been on the same damn road a few times, and once we even got down to the 6 1/2 month mark before having to make a U-turn back to start. I feel like our life has been like a game of Candyland over the past 3 years...I get all excited to get close to the Candy castle, and then WHAM! we're hit with the Plumpy card and have to go almost all the way to start again. (I just want to throw away that Plumpy card!)
So here I sit, 3 years after announcing my first pregnancy, a bit sad and wishing things would have turned out differently...yet still hoping that some day soon, I'll become one of those women, with an uneventful pregnancy which results in a baby(or two) on my hip..so that the Plumpy card in my game of real-life Candyland can be convienently lost for good. I don't think he'd be missed at all!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Peanut Butter Smooches

I'm attempting to get my act together to send a few Valentine's out this year to some of my BFF's..Last night, I did my best to try and make Peanut Butter Blossoms as seen on eighteen25's blog. I don't know what recipe they used, but I grabbed this one off of JIF.com's website. I let my hubby try a couple, and before I knew it, he had 4 on his plate..his excuse?? He flipped one over while still hot and made a mess of chocolate, and well, the other one got a little chocolate on it too..So theoretically, he only took 2 good ones. Love that man.
Chocolate-Peanut-Buttery-Love in a cookie. Try it!
Ingredients
1/2 cup CRISCO® Butter Shortening
1/2 cup JIF® Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups PILLSBURY BEST® All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sugar
48 foil-wrapped milk chocolate pieces, unwrapped

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2.Cream together shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Beat well.
3.Sire together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Beat on low speed until stiff dough forms.
4.Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
5.Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
6.Top each cookie immediately with an unwrapped chocolate piece, pressing down firmly so that cookie cracks around edge. Remove from cookie sheets to cool.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

It's a Duck, it's a Plane..it's an Oregon superhero

I can't help but share these photos and the link to the Eads Family Blog that I found in my inbox yesterday. I recently sent a cape to a little guy up in Oregon, whose parents are HUGE University of Oregon fans, and they in turn took photos of his amazing flying feats in his superhero "U of O" cape and blogged about it.[photo courtesy of the Eads family]
Is that not the cutest thing?

Tune in to the Bucky and Boo etsy store this weekend for more superhero capes...I've been a busy little bee, sewing up a storm, but with a full time job, it really throws a wrench into prime crafting time!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Bucky and Boo on etsy



My sister, Stephanie of Sweet Creations and I opened up an etsy shop aptly named, "Bucky and Boo" which are the nicknames our pop gave us as little girls, and have stuck for a lifetime.
We'll be selling items from paper party goods to children's wear and home decor. Stop by and have a visit. New items added daily.

Our store is located at: http://www.buckyandboo.etsy.com

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Orange you going to share?

Our backyard backs up to 5 other backyards ( yes, ours is that big, and theirs are that small) of our neighbors.

One backyard neighbor shares the laughter of their children with us. The kids must be 3-5 years old, and apparently, fromt he sounds of it, Looooooove ice cream with sprinkles, as I heard them squealing with delight this past Sunday as I laid in our yard tanning. So, neighbors behind us, thank you for sharing the joys ( and occassional screams of despair) of childhood with me. Little do they know that I actually enjoy the banter of little kids chatter in the yard.

We've got the gazebo neighbors, which we don't know anything about other than the fact that they have a gazebo roof poking up above the fenceline...

We've got the Hidee-ho neighbor who often peeks over the fence to talk to us when he sees we're inthe backyard doing yardwork.

We have another backyard neighbor who NZ and I gave a nickname to the entire family--as they seem like they might like wizards and $hit...so they are the Harry Potter family.

And then there are these neighbors. I don't know much about them, other than I want their oranges. Don't you think they should share? Afterall, it is technically on our side of the fence, and it's only like a dozen oranges...Do you think I'd get busted for picking them?

I'm tempted..oh so tempted. Gotta beat the raccoons to them!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Heart Wreath

Once again, the ladies at eighteen25 have caught my attention with yet another awesome, easy, cheap ( did I say cheap?) project. My husband laughs at me because I have 2 wreaths. I have one with pomegranates and hydrangeas that stays up pretty much all year, and an easter egg one which I put up for Easter. I have been wanting a new wreath for late winter/ Valentine's Day, and I found the answer to my search with this wreath over at eighteen25.

Follow me...
(but ignore the pink felt in the photo..I did not use it)

Totally easy, right?

And how much did this cost me, you ask?

Let's break it down..

  • styrofoam heart $2.99
  • 1 1/3 yd. remnant felt @ 70% off $2.50
  • one roll organza ribbon $1.99
  • push pins $1.99

For a grand total of $9.47..not too shabby for an after work project to keep me busy for an evening...If you cruise over to the eighteen25 blog, they also have a Valentine subway art print for FREE!! Check it out at this link.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

HGTV'd


NZ and I have entered our kitchen which is in desperate need of updating in an HGTV challenge. Please visit this link and rate our kitchen anywhere from "uber ugly to perfection" to help our odds of winning a kitchen makeover! Our entry is titled "Pink grout? Really?!" in honor of our pink grouted kitchen and dining area. Not sure how many othewr homes in America are rocking the never-popular pink grout. I'm thinking we may be the only ones.

Funfetti Ice Cream Cake: It's your Birthday

This year, I went all out on our birthday tradition of making cakes for one another. Nick loves funfetti cake ( who doesn't?) and after 8 years of making funfetti cakes, I wanted to switch it up a little. I kept his old reliable, and made a 9 inch round of funfetti cake, but also used the 9 inch round cake pan to make a layer of ice cream.
To make an icecream layer for a cake, just line your pan with saran wrap and fill with semi-softened icecream ( I acheived this by nuking it for 20 second intervals). Transfer to the freezer over night. Once frozen, fill the bottom of your sink with hot water about 1 inch high. Submerge the bottom of your cake pan in the warm water. Flip the pan over and the icecream round should pop out. Peel Saran wrap off and you have your layer!

Place leveled cake on top of ice cream round. Trim any overhangs. (I didn't take a photo of this step, it's hard to hold a knife and camera simutaneously), I used semi-softened vanilla bean icecream to "frost" the top of the cake, instead of frosting because I had another wild hair to try something else new on this cake. One of my BFF's, Liz, over at A crafty bee, did a tutorial on using bubble wrap to make molded chocolate. After seeing what she did with her cheesecake, I was just waiting for Nick's birthday to come so I could try it on a cake! So, I salvaged some bubble wrap from a Christmas gift. Cut it to the height of the two layer cake. Melted semi-sweet chocolate ( I used the microwave but suggest a double broiler instead) , sprayed the wrap with PAM spray, then spread an even layer of chocolate over the bubble wrap. I let it set up for a minute before transferring. I wrapped each half of the cake with a strip of chocolate covered bubble wrap. It was a bit tricky manipulating the flexible wrap without smearing chocolate all over, but I somehow managed to get the placement right.



Then I transferred the cake back to the freezer for 15 minutes to let the chocolate set up. After 15 minutes, I took it out of the freezer, and pulled the bubble wrap off. Voila! Bubble Wrap molded ice cream cake, no frosting necessary!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSHINE! MAY YOUR 33rd YEAR BE THE BEST ONE YET!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

They made it, why didn't she?

Within the past week, I know of two pregnancies that resulted in pre-term babies that ended up in the NICU.

One of them, a college bestie of mine was carrying twins, and thank goodness, she carried them long enough to deliver healthy baby girls, despite the early arrival. I am ever so happy that they're here, and to my friend..you're a trooper. The two months of bedrest grew some healthy babies. Welcome back to the World of being able to be a person who can do things again. I have so much admiration for her and hope that the girls come home soon so their family can be whole.

The other girl, I don't know personally, but my co-worker does. She ended up with pre-E and had to deliver at what I think to be 28 weeks. That's two weeks older than Denise...and she made it. Although small, they say the baby is doing quite well.

Hearing these stories, I just wish that we had a fighting chance to keep our little one alive. It's a terrible head game I play..wondering "what if", but stories of Josie Duggar ( born at 24 weeks) and our mail lady's granddaughter ( also born at 24 weeks) make me think that if only we knew that my body was not going to allow for further growth, maybe we could have gotten her lungs ready and delivered early and had her with us today.

Please don't get me wrong, I am fully aware of the risks of delivering a micro-preemie and would never wish to do such a thing under normal circumstances, however, I regret that fact that I never got to give her the chance at life outside the womb..If others could make it, why couldn't she?

We will never know the answer to this question, and I can only hope that any future pregnancies get me to viability and a live baby. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

NYE 2010

Last night, NZ and I had the most wonderful, NYE that I can remember. We took up his cousin Rafi's invite to join them for a small shindig at his house out in Redlands. What fun it was! Thank you Rafi & Pilar for opening your home to us! {The ladies}

{The fellas}
And I am soooo not superstitious, but I can't help but think...there has to be some luck in a year that starts with 1-1-11, right? OH yes, I'm grasping (=