We Got Culture

The weather this weekend was less than desirable, but we had a good weekend anyways. On Saturday, we drove up to Louisville. For my art history course, I have to visit a museum and write a paper about the experience. Needless to say, I am way too pregnant to be driving that far from home and wondering around a museum on my own. So my lovely hubby and kiddos agreed to go with me to the Speed Museum. Despite all my travels, I had never actually been to an art museum so it was a whole new experience. The boys were very well behaved. They even enjoyed it! Of course, they got a bit bored by the end but overall they were great. After we got ourselves some culture, we ate a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. It was freakin' fantastic (duh!). After lunch, we went shopping at the Whole Foods store. All in all, it was a wonderful Saturday! My due date is one week from tomorrow. So, it is very likely that Saturday's outing was our last as a family of four. It was fantastic and is now a very cherished memory.

Quotes

I'm really tired today so my brain is not working so well. I decided that since my brain seems to be on strike, I will just share some of my favorite quotes with you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

If You Must Know....

As my pregnancy draws to an end (I hope!), I find that people are getting even more nosy. I know I have complained in the past about this same thing, but I thought I would share the latest round of things that people have asked me. (Seriously, I really wish that people would think before they speak...)

• "Have you started to dilate?"...In what world is it ok for a perfect stranger to ask me about what is going on in my hoo-ha?!
• "Are you going to breastfeed?" or any number of breast related questions...Refer to what I said above but replace hoo-ha with breasts :) However, if you still aren't satisfied, I plan to exclusively pump (which is bottle feeding pumped breast milk). "Latching on" reminds me of leaches and it freaks me out, so I found this alternative and figured it was worth a shot.
• "Are you having contractions?"...Some guy asked me this in the grocery store the other day. My answer was "No" and he responded "Oh, because you look annoyed" to which I answered "Yes I am, please leave me alone and that look will go away."
• "Is this your first child?"...I am wondering why people seem to always assume that this is a pregnant woman's first child but then assume she's some sort of slut whenever they find out it is number two or three ("Oh, do they all have the same dad?" is another obnoxious question I've heard.)
• "Has Cole had the baby yet?"...My poor hubby answers this question every time his phone rings. Apparently, our family believes that we won't keep them informed when our new little one arrives. Amazing how little faith they have in us!
• "Are you planning to have an epidural?"...I hate this question, because the people who generally ask it are those who are anti-painkillers. I have had two epidurals with no problems. I was alert during the deliveries of both my children and they were alert when they popped out. Just like everyone else, I know people who have had complications as a result of an epidural. However, I also know people who are lactose intolerant but I continue to drink milk. Epidurals aren't for everyone, but let me tell you, they are for me :)
  

So, there you have it...my latest edition of obnoxiously personal questions that I have been bombarded with. I am hoping that this little girl makes her arrival soon so that I can move on to a whole new round of questions, lol.

Falling Behind

I know, I know...I have been a horrible blogger this past week. I do not have a really good excuse for this...I have five :)

1. I am nearly 38 weeks pregnant and have been busy taking a nap.

2. We have a new puppy which is basically like having a newborn and requires a lot of time.

3. It's March Madness, baby! Have you filled out your bracket?! So much basketball, so little time...

4. These fabulous 1 Bag, 5 Dinner menus over at the Kraft website have been distracting me with their fantastically easy recipes and the lure of very little time spent in the grocery store...not to mention the cheap factor, which, let's face it, is a major draw these days.

5. I recently became obsessed with cleaning my house from top to bottom...some call it nesting, and I would agree if I thought this baby has any plans of actually leaving her current locale but as I believe that she is going to stay in there forever then I'm calling it spring cleaning :)

Oh, by the way...HAPPY SPRING!!

Things That Make You Go "Wow!"

I am trying not to watch so much TV during the day because I usually end up watching ridiculous stuff that scares me. In order to take up all that free time, I have started reading more of the news online. Apparently, this is not much better for me because I usually end up annoyed and wondering exactly what the world is coming to. So, I have decided to share some of the things I've come across lately that make me go "WOW":

• In an interview, Levi Johnston (former fiance of Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol) said that he needs to mature before getting married...perhaps he should have thought of maturing before having sex and knocking up his girlfriend....I'm just saying...
• The Arkansas House approved a law that allows unlicensed workers to preform some medical procedures...seriously?! I've been following their activity this year and some the laws being passed are seriously ridiculous and unnecessary. It's getting to the point of being intrusive on people's lives.

On a totally unrelated note, we have a new furry family member. She is about 11 weeks old and her name is Abbi.

Stirring Things Up

Apparently, I stir things up. It is not something I do on purpose, but it happens. Whenever I take a class, I make every effort to learn as much as I possibly can in that class. In order to learn, I think it is sometimes necessary to put aside my personal beliefs and look at things through an objective lens. Once I have processed something that way, I can then figure out how I personally feel about it. However, I generally keep my personal opinions out of the academic arena. Maybe I am unique in this ability to compartmentalize things in such a way. It drives me crazy when people do not even make an effort to do this because I think they are cheating themselves. I respect everyone's right to hold their own opinions. (My hubby puts his life on the line to protect that right) I also know that just because I believe something is right or wrong does not necessarily make it right or wrong, and I wish that others would keep this in mind as well. I think people sometimes think that I am super liberal. In reality, I'm not. I'm not super conservative either. And I'm not looking to stir things ups. I am just putting forth my best effort to learn as much as I can using the method that works best for me. If that is revolutionary and stirs things up, well then I guess I can live with that.

Role Models

I have to admit that I am a huge fan of celebrity gossip. (In case you didn't know...) There is just something about watching people who supposedly have it all making idiots of themselves. However, I do not hold these people up as role models for myself nor do I encourage my kids to follow these examples. Perez Hilton is one of my favorite gossipers, but sometimes I find myself torn when it comes to him. More than once he has been part of the media that builds an individual up then turns around and tears that person down. Sometimes, though, I just want to shout how fantastic he is. If you haven't been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you have heard about the Rhianna/Chris Brown thing. Well, I won't go into exactly what I think ought to be done to a man who hits a woman or to a woman who has so little respect for herself that she takes his dumb ass back, but I will say that on this I completely agree with Perez. Kids should know that violence of this type (well, of any kind, really) is unacceptable. And in the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

A Family Favorite

Many moons ago, my hubby went on his first training exercise with the Army. It took him to Thailand for about a month and left me alone in a new place (Hawaii, so I didn't complain too much) with a newborn. Needless to say, I was super excited for him to return home. I decided to cook him a special dinner to welcome him home. I remember calling my mom a couple of days before he was set to arrive to get the recipe for an old family favorite. At the time, I was not much of a cook and needed something easy to make. Well, the dinner turned out great (probably the first successful meal I'd ever made him) and to this day it is my fall back meal. Anytime that I am at a loss, I just throw this together and I've yet to receive a complaint out of him. In fact, it's what's for dinner tonight :) So, I thought that since it has been a while since I shared a recipe that I'd share this one. Hope you enjoy it!

Mexican Chicken

1 lb. cooked, cubed chicken
1 bag crushed doritos (any flavor, but we prefer Ranch)
8 oz. shredded cheese (again, any flavor, but I use one of the Mexican blends)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can rotele (drain about half the liquid....and you can use any variety, I use regular as the others are too hot for the kiddos)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 13x9 baking dish, make a thin layer of crushed doritos (maybe 1/4 of the bag). Then spread the cubed chicken evenly over the chips. In a bowl, mix the soups and the rotele. Spread over the chicken. Then spread most of the rest of the doritos evenly over the top (I always save a few to eat, but that's just me...) Cover with the cheese. Bake until heated through and the cheese is melted.

The hubby's favorite part is the crust created by the chips and the cheese :)

Interesting Tid-Bit of Info

Something to contemplate if you are pregnant:

Researchers at Wake Forest University found that women in labor between noon and 6 p.m. received longer epidural relief from labor pain than women who labored between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. All the women were first-time pregnancies and received the same amount of the spinal-epidural medication. Researchers believe this is due to the body’s natural rhythms that affect sleep cycles, hormones and perceptions of pain.


I found this on one of my here's-what's-happening-in-your-pregnancy websites. And the first thing that went through my mind was "Yeah because I can just pick when to be in labor". Really, I have been in labor during both time frames and had an epidural during both of those labors. I can honestly say that I don't remember there being a difference in the two. All I know is that epidurals are fantastic!

TV Scares Me

I have no idea why I watch some of the stuff I do. For example, I watch A Baby Story almost everyday. I'm not really sure why I do because it just scares the crap out of me, even after two kids. What could be so scary about this show, you ask? Well, for some reason, on this particular show, anything that can go wrong during labor will go wrong. From epidurals that fail to work during a c-section to the baby's heart rate falling through the floor, it has all happened on this show. And, yet I continue to watch. I don't know why. All I know is that I cannot wait for little miss Kacey to get here so I will quit watching this crap and move on to some other useless (not to mention less scary) crap.