Better Late Then Never .... Snow Storm Pictures

Some Pictures from the big storm this past weekend ....
From the Lobby around 3:30 PM and then the after math

Baking, Baking & More Baking

After it dawned on me that it was less than a week till christmas, I spent the better part of 6 hours baking up holiday goodies on sunday. I made homemade old fashioned chocolate fudge, snickers cookies with homemade chocolate glaze, and chocolate chip cookies. The fudge was ridiculously easy, no double boiler needed. I found it on line, apparently the recipe that use to be on the back of the fluff jar before they replaced it with it's mediocre predocessor. The snickers cookies were not difficult, just a tad mroe time consuming. It's pretty much like making peanut butter cookies, then you flatten out the dough and stick a mini snickers bar in the center. Then you roll the dough around the snickers bars, but its so greasy that it tends to slip off the bar, but I figured it out. Once you bake the cookies, you let them cool and drizzle (or smother) the cookies in the home made chocolate glaze, which basically consisted of unsweetened chocolate powder, confectioners sugar and milk. So I'll be back to baking this evening for the family get together on christmas eve.

Tis' The Season

My Trip To The ER

Yesterday I left work to go to the ER because I had discovered upon my bathroom break that I was bleeding brown blood, it actually reminded me exactly of when I use to get my period with the flow & color. Being that I am 11 1/2 weeks this is not a good thing. So I spent the better part of 6 hours in the ER, I got an ultrasound which showed a healthy normal fetus that actually appeared quite annoyed at the prospect of an ultrasound bc it kept rolling over to show us its back, and a Rho-gam shot because I am A - Blood type. My ultrasound showed that I was not dilated and did not have any extra fluid. I was discharged with a "threatened miscarriage".

My OB said it sounded like I had broken a blood vessel in my cervix and it was now just draining, hence the brown or "old" blood. But I don't recall anything that would have done that, you would think bursting a blood vessel in your cervix would hurt and I would notice if some thing like that happened? In any event there was no blood in my pad this morning which is good, the whole thing just scared the crap out of me.

Nothing like this had ever happened in my 1st pregnancy, and I had always assumed any bleeding in pregnancy only meant 1 of 2 things, a miscarriage or problem with the placenta. So I am home today resting, a little crampy, but other than that things are looking much better.

Side Note: Started bleeding agin, still old blood, but I talked to the Dr and as long as it isn't red blood everything should be fine and eventually stop.

The Kotex Twins Take On NYC

Yesterday was my first trip to NYC, and I have to say I was impressed. Not just at the scenery, but I fully expected the New Yorkers to be rude, you know your stereo typical "New Yorker". But I was pleasently surprised, apparently us Bostonians are the rude ones :) But Yankees fans still suck :) Any ways, we arrived in New York around 10:45 am after a 4 hour bus ride from New Bedford, and we were dropped off infront of Saint Patricks Cathedral. The weather forcast was not too promising for the day, but it hadn't rained .... yet.

Our first stop was the NBA store which was really cool. As with the theme of most major department stores in NYC it was 3 floors of every piece of merchandise that you can imagine, and even some things you didn't even know they made. I stood next to the wall where they have 3 Basketball stars lined up, and apparently I would never make it in the NBA.

We moved on to the lindt chocolate store which was small yet still amazing, atleast the fetus thought so. Then the rain started to make it's appearance for the day. And by appearance I mean grand entrance. We had passed quite a few street vendors "selling" umbrellas but I was far too lazy to carry an umbrella in and out of stores.

We made our way into the FAO Schwarz store, which was cool, but super packed, I'm geussing partly due to the rain. I'm partial to the one in Boston that is no longer around, but this store was still awesome. Theres a new muppet factory tupe thing where you can make your own Jim Hensen muppet. These muppets are the one's that you'd see in the back ground of his movies, the "extras" if you will. The price is a little over $100 and up.

After FAO we visited "The Donald", well not really the Donald himself, but the trump towers. I was in love with the waterfall that was inside next to the restaurant. I was expecting it to be more like the Prudential in Boston where there are more retail store,etc, but the only "retail" I saw there was a starbucks, his restaurant and a closed down "Nike Town". By the time we left the Trump Towers it really started to pour and it was lunch time, so we made our way to a deli down the street from The Radio City Music Hall. We had some really great sandwichs, which were still cheaper than eating at the Mashpee Commons, and watched the rest of the fools struggle with their umbrellas & heels in the down pour.

We moved onto Rockafeller Center and I got to see the skating rink that I've only seen in movies. I also managed to find a hole in the wall store owned by the FDNY which was awesome so I got to pick up a few christmas gifts there. We made our rounds to the usual spots, the NBC store, then down to the Time Square/Broadway area. By the time we made it down to Broadway however the rain got the best of us and my cotton blend scarf was no longer shielding the rain , and I was about to have my "face" washed off, and that just can't happen when you're in NYC :-) So we stopped in one of the many "I Love New York" hole in the wall places, and picked up ponchos. And I automatically grabbed the pink one because it's my faveroite color, and my sister in law grabbed a matching one. Well little did we realize that the combination of the material and the color of the poncho made us look like two giant Kotex Maxi Pads. Super, atleast we weren't gonna get soaked anymore, or have my make up get washed away.

One of our last stops was the Toys R US on Broadway. That place was a trip, packed, but awesome. Theres a ferris wheel inside and the cars are themed like different kids toys, like there was a "My Little Ponies" (my personal fav), Scooby Doo, and a pedal car. I totally would've gone on if the line wasn't so long. Our last stop was St.Patricks Cathedral, which was beautiful beyond words. I'm not of the "Catholic Persuasian", but I was in awe of everything. I even lit a candle and said a prayer to St.jude, even if I am a protestant heathan that prayer sure came in handy on the way home.....

Our bus ride was a whole different store. I probably would have been better off taking that $5 bus that goes from china town to china town and your "seat" is a milk crate next to a goat. I'm pretty sure our bus driver took the tip we gave him and had a "liquid lunch", because he kept racing the other bus driver and he was what I call "driving by braille" or using the grooved pavement as his guide. I'm also fairly certain that I need to make an appointment with a chiropractor because of the ride, there were noises coming from the bus that I was not familiar nor comfortable with. Good news though, it 's supposedly going into the shop today, probably to install the shocks that it didn't have ..... But over all, regardless of the incliment weather, or riding on the flying dutchman, I had a great first trip to NYC, but it's true what they say, "theres no place like home".

Baby Bobble Head

In case there was any doubt after 6 pregnancy tests, and 2 missed periods, I had my first ultrasound last night at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth. I got to see my baby bobble head for the first time & it's little heart beat <3 I have to wait 3 days to call my doctor so they can look at the images and take measurements (of what I'm not sure) and give me a more accurate due date. Hopefully I'm no less than 9 weeks, I'd like to get this 1st trimester over with as soon as possible, because dry heaving in the driveway before work every morning is getting real old.

The simple things

It's the simple things in life that make me happy. I was out with my friend Vanessa yesterday, its always good to get back together with old friends to do absolutely nothing. We've been friends since we were 3 yrs old, and it's nice to be able to enjoy each other's company and not feel like you always have to "do" something. Anyways we hung around Coffee Obsession in Falmouth a.k.a. "Coffee O" and watched the remaining participants of the marathon leave (I was quite jealous of their metallic Dunkin Donuts blankets ...)and then we wondered off to our old hang out spots, otherwise known as Spinakers & the "Wall" near the library. We ended up in the nostalgia store (I don't know it's actual name)next to Liam Maguires. I found this apron, and it automatically ended up on my christmas list, thats right I want an apron for christmas, should look darling over the baby bump ....





And on a completely unrelated side note, I've been wanting lobster so bad but my Lobster missions have always been cut short ... The past 3 mondays stop & shop had them on sale, my mom goes to get them this morning and they're not on sale .... damnit. I called cooks today to get a lobster roll, they're closed for the season, the website is wrong they are not open till november ..... damnit again.

Mashpee Fire Fighters 5k Race a.k.a 1 hour later ....

Follow The Yellowe Brick Road ....

Cape Cod Central Railroad Wizard of Oz Halloween Train
October 25
Cape Cod Central Railroad, 252 Main Street, Hyannis. 11:30a.m.
508-771-3800
Website: www.capetrain.com

Description:

The Cape Cod Central Railroad will be offering a Wizard of Oz themed Halloween train on Saturday, October 25.

Two departures will take place; 11:30 and 2:30, each for a one-hour ride.

Costumed characters greet our guests upon arrival, and they ‘follow the yellow brick road’ to the train platform. Children will meet Dorothy, The Cowardly Lion, Tinman, and Scarecrow……and, of course the Wicked Witch and The Wizard!

Adults: $20.00; Children (under 12) $14.00 but children in costume ride half-price. Prizes will be awarded for Best Costumes, funniest, scariest, etc. Tricks, treats, face painting and more happen during the one hour ride.

Guests can call for more information: 508-771-3800, or view our complete 2008 schedule shortly at www.capetrain.com.

Not All Bisquick Is Created Equal

I was always kinda biased towards bisquick, figuring it all tasted like sand at best, but I've actually come to appreciate it, observe the Blueberry & Lemon Coffee Cake, so easy a portagee can make it :)

"This Is Halloween ... This Is Halloween"

Today was my first official saturday off, ever, in life. It was surprisingly productive as well, which was a bonus. Today, as most saturdays are going to be, was a "Mommy & Me" day. I have little man by myself as Michael's on a 24 hour shift on the ambulance. We went to the Silver City Galleria to find him a costume that was 1)cute 2)he would tolerate and 3)didn't cost more than a tank of gas. We succeeded, we found a "101 Dalmations" costume that didn't have ant obnoxious hand or feet covers that he would rip off, and it was only $20.00. Than, along with my Sister in law we went to "Bertucci's" restaurant with little man. He was good, for him, meaning he got off his chair only 4 times, and sat back down with out having a screaming fit and had a couple of bites of his food.

After our excersion at the mall we followed rt 140 all the way to the end and went to the Buttonwood Park Zoo for a while. Everything's all set up for "Boo At The Zoo", and they had 3 tractors out that the kids could sit on as well as tables with local produce and a blacksmith demonstration. I have to say I enjoy Halloween far more than Christmas because, while it does have the commercialization, I don't feel the materialistic choke hold that I do come december, and Halloween to me still has the same innocence as it did when I was growing up. I have more fun now that I'm a mom, it allows me to live vicarously through my son and do all the dorky mom things like bake cupe cakes and go on hay rides. I'm pretty pumped for the Halloween Carnival coming up at the Heritage Museums, which we signed up for already. I'm trying to decide wether or not I'm going to dress up, I wanted to go as something that matched my son's costume, but I really don't wanna be the ass in a adult dog costume walking around the carnival.

I made like a good house frow after dinner, and 2 loads of laundry :) and made pumpkin cupcakes with vanilla frosting all decorated for Halloween.

Officially .....

Our Day Out With Thomas The Tank

Lizzie Borden Took An Axe .....

Ani DiFranco

ANI & KIMYA!

So after a few weeks of severly slacking in the blogging department, here's a post of my adventure at the Ani Difranco performance at the melody tent.

Kimya Dawson was super cute, you can find her occupying 75% of the Juno soundtrack. Ani was AMAZING!!!! The cd;s honestly do not do her any justice. She has an amazing voice, and her connection to the crowd is unmatched by any other performer that I've seen.

Speaking of which, lets discuss the creeps. Ani DiFranco Concert = dike fest, that being said, the straight dudes whom were there on their own accord, and not dragged by their girlfriends are CREEPS! I'm talking about the muscle head steroid freaks that were MAN DANCING to Ani! Like legitamately "dancing" to Ani, I thought it looked like they were either having a full on grande mal seizure or trying to pick something up. Or how about the dudes that were sitting behind us yelling "ANI WE LOVE YOU!! WILL YOU WEAR MY HAT?" ...... UM WHAT ..... Yeah those same freaks were also talking so loud analyzing every song that it was interfearing with my Ani enjoyment. These are the same 40 year old dudes that play dungeons & dragons in their mom's basement. Then there's the obscenely drunk women dancing in the aisles practically dry humping unsuspecting strangers.... I feel like I should have paid extra for the side show. The one thing about the Melody Tent though, is that it gets awful stuffy and warm with other people's stink ..... and theres no breeze .... But it was pretty awesome, we were the 4th row from the stage and had aisle seats *score*

Top 5 Ani DiFranco Songs (For Me)
1. 32 Flavors
2.Gravel
3.As Is
4. Untouchable Face
5.Little Plastic Castles

Summer Mishchief

Emeril Style

Today I experimented with a smoker box, flavor chips and a grill wok. And not to toot my own horn but *toot**toot* ! I used perdue boneless & skinless chicken breasts and poured on the Jamaican Jerk seasoning and also applied the seasoning to the veggies. I used zucchini and yellow squash as well as green beans in the wok :) Stay tuned for tuesday as I attempt shrimp ca bobs.