When It Rains It Pours

My family showered us with blessing this past weekend to help prepare and welcome Baby Libs. I was overwhelmed, so much so that I can't even recall the details...except that there were lemon bars, mini cheesecakes, and lots of presents. Here is a slide show with music to document the event. Enjoy!

We are blessed!

Dog Walkers

Last week the little girls came to our house for the first time. They were petrified of Gus at first (especially Allison). Here is the proof that they eventually did warm up to him, and him to them for that matter!

Allison and Gus. She was tired in this picture, not only are her eyes closed, but she already has on her night gown!

Oh she woke up

Sidney giving a command and Allison is hidding

The girls, the dog and Uncle Kev

Sweet gals

Sidney and her favorite Old English Sheepdog

Flippin' Baby!

Yippee, she turned! I went to see the in-charge doctor at the practice that I'm going to. He couldn't find my munch-kin just by feeling my belly so he did an ultra sound to see if she did the big flipperooni (flip-r-ou-nee) and there she was head down and all set to go!
Thanks to all of you for praying for us, I appreciate it so much. Now lets pray she stays that way!

Hiccups!

So our sweet little daughter is very stubborn, she is turned the wrong way.
To encourage her to turn, I'm suppose to do these crazy inversion exercises that require me to lay upside on an ironing board that is on an angle for 30 minutes a day...they don't feel good. I'm also suppose to envision her head down...really????? I don't think that they are working because she keeps getting hiccups and I can feel them up by my ribs and my midwife told me if I felt hiccups up top then that meant she was not facing the correct direction!!!! I guess I'm not envisioning the way that I should! So....if these exercises and envisionings don't work, I have to go have her turned. I have heard that this can be a painful procedure and has some risks. Pray that she cooperates and turns on her own. We have about 2 1/2 weeks to get her to go south on her own. I would be much obliged!

Mi Casa Su Casa

"In all the world our nest is best" -The Best Nest by Dr. Seuss


House pictures!!!! That show you more details then the ones I have taken! Kevin took these this weekend while I was away. You can get an idea of what the new home looks like! Enjoy!

This is Libby's room(I don't know why in that one post I wrote Libbie, we're going with L-i-b-b-y). The color is really a light aqua. Kev's mom thought it looked the same as the blue in our room, but it really is different in real life I promise! It's a work in progress! I'll keep you updated.

This is our room minus our bed spread. Kev was home by himself so I don't think details were the priority

These are the stairs that I avoid going up too much, they are very steep and remind of the stairs at FBA

Kitchen...any suggestions for what to hang on the wall by the table?

Kitchen angle #2

Kev's room/Gus's room/ office and the only room with boxes left! We need a book shelf.

Living/dinning room. If you'll direct your attention to the top right of this photo you'll notice funny, little, spots on the wall. These are holes that Kev patched up and painted over. It turns out that the yellow he used to patch up with was not the same yellow as the wall!

Living room and front door

Deck and back yard

Screen porch as they are referred to up here. Kev still calls it the lani sometimes.

Swanee Lane

There is also a cozy guest room, for those of you who our planning on coming to visit, I guess he didn't want to photograph that room yet, but it is nice!

And there you have it, our own little nook in this great big world!

The Naked Who????

Jamie Oliver is an English Chef who used who used to have a show called the Naked Chef. He also has several restaurants. One is called 15 Cornwall and we ate there a couple of years ago and it was so good! Now he has a show called Jamie at Home. I love it, it's very natural and earthy and I wish I had a garden like he does! Last Saturday he made rice pudding with home made strawberry jam. Ever since then Kevin has been asking me to make some. Here's how I did it, not exactly like Jamie, but kinda. I made it up based on a bunch of different rice pudding recipes.
1 cup of white rice
3 cups milk(I ran out of milk so I added vanilla cream, but still don't think I added enough)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

I cooked the rice normally in water with butter and salt. Then I boiled the other ingredients together and dumped in the rice, brought all of that to a slow boil and put it in an casserole dish. Then I baked it in the oven with tin foil over it for about 45 min. After about 30 minutes I stirred it then put it back in for the remaining time. It turned out dryer then we wanted but I think that was due to the missing milk. Here's the best part, I made Jaime's version of homemade strawberry jam....so delicious. After I took the rice pudding out of the oven I smeared it with the jam! Scrummy!
2 quarts of a strawberries cut into pieces
1/2 cup of sugar

Scrunch the berries in your hands with the sugar, then place in a small pot and boil for 20-30mins skimming the foam off of the top about every 5 mins.

Kev said this looks like boiling brains, sometimes he is such a boy!

Finished product!

Even though it was dryer then we wanted it was still tasty....it would be good in the winter, but then the strawberries wouldn't taste as good!

LOST

I just wanted to thank three people who came to my rescue today while I was running errands and getting lost.
#1 goes to the mister in my life. On my way to my third stop Short Pump Town Center, I realized that I was approaching the Virginia country side, and decided that I had probably gone to far. Via phone, he directed off the nearest exit and back 10 miles in which I had traveled out of my way.

#2 goes to my pregnancy mentor Teri Pence. Upon arriving at my for mentioned destination I realized that the store that I had journeyed to get to was not at that mall, it was at a completely different mall! So Teri got on Google maps or something and found a path for me to get from Short Pump to Stony Creek.

#3 goes to my best gal pal Laura. When Teri wasn't available as I was getting lost on my way to mall number 2, Laura backed her up and looked up the very same directions and guided me to the mall, right into my parking spot!

I left the house at 11:00 and didn't return home until 5:00, here are the places I went to
Ashland Veterinary Hospital
The Cracker Barrel Store
Short Pump Mall
Stony Creek Mall...to get to Anthropologie
Bed, Bath, and Beyond
UKrops
then finally, pj's central, Walmart

After a lot of public restroom stops, a couple gallons of gas, and about a million Braxton Hicks at Walmart I made it home!
Kevin fixed dinner, he just heated up left overs. I was tired.

I Will Not Be Silenced Anymore

I have been trying to not blog about this but after two sightings today without trying to look for it, I can't hold it in anymore. My issue is pajama pants in public. I feel like I saw this a lot in my college years, but thought the trend of wearing ones slumbering attire out into the world had gone out.
I don't think so though- Every time I go to the Ashland Walmart, which is my least favorite place to go, I see someone wearing a pair of flannel, printed, comfy, cozy pants.
It really bothers me, that there are people in this world that won't take the time to get dressed properly to go to the store, Walmart or not.
How do you feel about this? If you are guilty of this crime, don't be offended by this blog, but consider changing the habit and wearing real clothes out in public and not some thing you lounge around the house in!

The End

Wahoo or Woohoo, Whichever You Prefer

Remember these little babies that were on my top ten a few weeks ago before I moved?

(which on a completely different note, if you took part in the top ten fun and included something that was not an insignificant, material item, like your husband, or your kids, then you have to start again. It is much harder to do, unless your Slim apparently, if you do things that are really not that important like pancakes in a can, or decorative letters, etc. Understand?)

Anywho, I finished my home made version, and while I complained that the Anthropology version was too much, I now understand as they took a lot of work! If made these and sold them to others I would charge lots of money for them!

I also made these pillow covers for my old red ones, the front is yellow and the green is on the back...or vis versa depending on my mood!

And while we're traveling down creativty lane, this is what the chairs looked like before

And here is what they looked like after!

American Gothic Revisited

This post needs no words.

Happy 4th, From Your's Truly

This morning, my phone rang at 7:00 and who would it be at such an early hour but my parents, 20 minutes away from our house and in need of Cracker Barrel. So we rolled out of bed and headed out for our CB breakfast along with everyone else in Ashland! After suitably filling our bellies with blueberry pancakes and more we realized we needed to get into town for the Ashland 4th of July parade that we thought started at 10:00...we later found out that it didn't start until 11:00. Arriving early wasn't such a bad thing though, it gave us a chance to find a great seat in front of the library. The parade was great complete with tons of 4th of July festivities to follow. Plus right after the train came through and the engineer and all the people on board waved to the parade goers...I know this is all to good to be true so here's a little slide show so you can sample the fun!

Ummm...You Should Watch These!

My cousin Jill made me watch these the other day and now I'm addicted. The Second one is my favorite, maybe I should start watching this show!!!!!

On Sick Dogs And Runaway Cats...

Before you read on this entry includes graphic details of my adventures with my pets. If you get grossed out easily, don't read it!

It's no secret that the move hasn't been easy on any of us. I have to say that Kev and I are slowly but surely settling in nicely, but I don't think that this is the case with pets!
I'll start with Trouble. Every time one opens the door, any door, anywhere in the house, a black streak flies by and Trouble is out the door. Sometimes I don't even know that it happens. Take for example yesterday afternoon, while I was in the back yard playing Gus I found Trouble lounging in the shade on our side porch. Later that evening when Kevin came home from work and emerged through the back door he said "is that Trouble sitting on the front steps" and sure enough it was.
Now Gus....our poor, sweet, puppy????? All I can say, is that the steel pit that was his stomach is now breaking down, because since we started the move he has had a really rough time! I thought we were past it, but yesterday when I took him out, let me just say that my thoughts were, "I'm glad that happened out here and not in the house." I thought too soon, b/c this morning not only did I come down stairs to everything in my hand bag dumped onto the floor, but a puddle, not pile, of goodness knows what!
So this morning I have been cleaning up from a very sick dog and chasing through the trees a runaway cat.
Happy Wednesday, be blessed.

Right When You Thought I Had Nothing Else To Blog About!!!!

A few months back my dear friend Linds, lost her dear friend Gabs. Her mom commissioned me to do a painting to remember the old gal...

When I first finished Gabby who was a small, white, Maltese, she ended up looking like my dog Gus .

So I fixed her, and this was the final product.

So here's to Gabby, may we never forget your frilly bows, and girly, doggy fashion sense!

The Second Thing

If you were patient enough to read the post below, I mentioned that there are various things that remind of Mississippi here in small town America. The second thing is while we were exploring town the other day we walked by "The Club Car," which is an old fashion ice cream store. Don't get me wrong I'm thrilled to try this place out, but the reminder came when I noticed some of the patrons. It looked to me that someone was having a toddler age birthday. Upon looking closely I observed that all the little boys with there mommies and daddy's were wearing smocked jump suits, in a powdered blue color.
Why?
If you were 3 years old and a little boy who likes to get dirty and spill ice cream on your self would you want to wear that? I don't know, everyone in the south dresses their children in smocked clothing, so maybe it's a cultural thing that I don't understand. All I could think was that if this is what young families look like here, Kevin and I in our laid back threads, and our whimsical, paint on her elbow, daughter Liberty(at least that's how I picture her! :) will never fit in here!

I Have A Picture of My House!!!!

Okay, so it's not much but I do have a picture from a corner in my kitchen that isn't quite finished, but at least you'll get to see something! Everything else is coming along slowly....and sometimes like when I walked downstairs this morning it even feels like home!

When I bought the antique dresser for Libbie's room I saw this little yellow one and felt like I needed it also. It works great in my kitchen to store my linens. The farm house table and chairs are from an antique store down the road. I think that I am going to refinish the chairs and I also have to cover the seats with new fabric. I found cute napkins at world market that I really like so I think that I am going to use those, not as napkins, to cover the seats!


There are various things about Ashland that remind me of the deep south, where I lived for about 8 years. The first thing is the train. No matter where you are in town, you can always here the train. The cool thing about this train is you can ride it to Baltimore for $33, so I can go see the folks whenever I want!
For those readers requesting belly shots, this is as close as you're going to get :) This shot is from the park in the middle of town. It was hot on Saturday and if you look closely at my snarled face you can tell!
This shot through the trees is of Ashland Coffee and Tea. All the cool cyclist people hang out there on Saturday morning and then they ride off into the country side after coffee and locks bagels, or at least that's what it looked like to me!



These next two are of the farmers market. I have to say that I was really excited for the farmers market, but I was let down slightly! I think it is because that the only thing that was really for sale in the way of produce was potatoes, but my dad said that will change! We bought a tomato plant that I'm sure to kill within a few days! We also met an organic meat farmer which I'm really excited about!


So there you have it folks, our own little slice of heaven, Ashland, VA. I'm sure I'll have more pics from this weekend. Mom and Dad are coming down and we're going to the 4th of July parade. Then on Saturday there is an apple pie bake off contest!
Unfortunately, I don't think that they're giving out samples.