April ...

hates when Facebook makes me feel like a bad mother. But I can't post that as my status message, so I'm posting it here.

My apologies

I have not been as attentive to this blog as I had planned, but I just haven't been feeling well. Perhaps I'll feel more like writing in my second trimester? Because all I feel like doing right now is sleeping and feeling nauseous (not actually throwing up though, thank god). Anyhow, 'til then!

Can you believe this?

I totally understand closing a day here and there for budget cuts. I'm very understanding, even though I have books on hold and would like to be able to go pick them up today. But the thing that gets me is that they SHUT DOWN THE WEBSITE!! For the day! How does that do a thing for budget cuts? I wanted to browse the catalog and put things on hold, not talk to a librarian. Bull crap. And book drop access! My books better not be late because I couldn't drop them off today. Bah.

Pink or Blue?

So, as the rest of the world is slowly picking up, I must divulge to you, my single reader.

I'm pregnant.

I was getting frustrated because it was not happening as quickly as I would have liked once I made the decision to have another child, now that it's here I think: Why was I in such a hurry? I can never imagine what people are going through who have fertility issues - I have been blessed with a fertile womb and a fertile husband. But why did I get so annoyed when it didn't happen one month in to my decision?

I feel run down, queasy (although not sick, I've also been blessed there), tired, cranky and bloated. My clothes still fit but I feel uncomfortable in them. I have the urge (which I almost always indulge) to wear pjs every second that I am home. I'm hungry all the time and yet also have a stomachache at all times. Why can't pregnancy be happy from beginning to end? Why must your body act like it's rejecting a foreign growth on your abdomen first?

Anyhow, enough of that rant. I'm happy I'm pregnant. Here's hoping for another boy (one that doesn't do Evel Knieval stunts). I'm hungry.

Here's that chicken salad recipe (yes, it's that good)

I forgot to add this to the post below, and then it didn't really fit in with my freak out about my son's new Evel Knieval status, so I decided to post it separately.

I'm not a big salad-making person, mostly because they just don't feel substantial enough for dinner even though they're often delicious. But I made up this salad, and I'm addicted - I've made it 3 times in the last month! Here's my (seriously) informal recipe:

honey-basted chicken salad

chicken: cut the breasts in a couple long strips; sprinkle salt, pepper and thyme on both sides. Then I made a baste from melted butter and honey, and basted it and cooked (in my toaster oven) at 330 for 30 minutes, basting a couple of times.

I cooked a little pasta and caramelized some onions, and I let both of those cool. Then I mixed them with some goat cheese and a bag of butter lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms and tomatoes. Topped with the chicken.


Phenomenal. All I can say.

The One where I advise I'm not good at the "every week" sort of posts

I believe that last week I had portrayed that I would post my menu every week. Ummm, oops! Here it is in retrospect:

• Sunday: crap, what did we eat on Sunday?


• Monday: sushi!! woot!


• Tuesday: Honey grilled chicken salad (recipe with no photo below, I'm lazy but it's freaking fantastic)


• Wednesday: rotisserie chicken and brussel sprouts (Spencer ate one this time!!!)


• Thursday: pork roast and turnips in the slow cooker


• Friday: grilled pizza with PW's pizza dough recipe


• Saturday: who knows? I'm hoping for leftover pork we can have pulled pork sandwiches with or something. Or Winghouse.

So as you can tell, I'm not very good at "Menu Mondays" or any of those weekly arrangements. I'm barely remembering to post at all (and I used to be so good at that!). So I'll just try to start posting again, period, and won't worry so much about posting certain things on certain days. Woohoo!

**Sidenote: Oh holy Jeebus! My son, on the first day it's been warm enough to play outside since Christmas, decided to take this:

to the top of this:

and ride it down. He ended up on his head right about here:

(that's the concrete)

But oddly enough didn't cry in the least! I'm changing his nickname from My Little Rockstar to Evel Knieval!

Menu Monday

Except a day early, ha.

My friend Suzanne started Menu Mondays a few weeks ago. I'm sure it was hard on her since she started it around the holidays, but I started a similar thing non-blog last year and thought I'd pick it back up on this blog. I usually write mine on Sundays before I go grocery-shopping, but I can't think of something "S" to go with Sundays ... any suggestions?

• Sunday: Parmesan-crusted pork tenderloin and broccoli
  
• Monday:Fancy Macaroni
• Tuesday: Beef roast w/ potatoes and carrots
  
• Wednesday: turkey soup (the last of the stock and turkey from my freezer from Thanksgiving
  
• Thursday: Shrimp skewers, asparagus and acorn squash.
  
• Friday: TBD (I'm sure there's something in there)
  
• Saturday: out (we usually go out on Tuesdays, but Becky will be here so I'd rather stay in)