How To Have a Baby: Part II

Here's the story of Stanley Paul Markov, born on 4/21/15 (nine days before his due date of 4/30/15), weighing 7lbs 4 oz, and 21in long. 

I was half expecting his birth to be similar to Gwen's, but it was totally different. With Gwen, I started contractions the day before and knew she was on her way. With Stan, I woke up at 12:30 am thinking I had peed the bed. I got up, went to the restroom, changed my panties, and went back to bed. Before I could fall back asleep, I was all wet again. Oh, maybe this is what it feels like when your water breaks!

I woke up Alex, who had just fallen asleep, and gave him the news. I called my mom to come stay with Gwen and we headed to the hospital. We checked in (I know it sounds like a hotel, but it's kind of like that) around 2:30. I still wasn't having any contractions, so they wanted to check to make sure that my water had in fact broken. Well, as they were getting ready to check me, a whole bunch more fluid leaked out, confirming that we were there to stay.

As with Gwen, I wanted this process to be as natural as possible. I started walking laps around the maternity ward, while smelling an oil mixture that could induce contractions. I could walk for 40 minutes and then I had to be hooked up to the machine for 20 minutes. I did this for 6 hours without any progress (I came in at 1.5 cm dilated and there was no change). My doc decided it was time to get things moving. I was already on fluids, so he wouldn't be under stress, but they wanted to start Pitocin. I really didn't want to do that, but I held off as long as my doc would let me.

Around 9am, they started me on the lowest dose of Pit. I tried walking some, but it was hard to do because I had to be hooked up to IVs and this heart rate machine that didn't cooperate. So, I spent most of that time on the yoga ball. From 9am to 1pm, Nurse Pam slowly upped my dosage, and I was at 5cm when the doc checked me. From there, it really took off. I was having lots of back labor and instead of getting an epidural, we decided to try to move the baby using the Texas Roll. This meant laying in bed on my side with my bottom leg laying straight and the top leg pulled into my chest resting on pillows. Apparently, this did the trick!

By 2:15 I was at 10cm and ready to get the baby out. Nurse Pam had to check me during my contractions to make sure that my cervix was where it needed to be. If it wasn't for her and Alex yelling at me not to push, they would've had to deliver the baby. She called for Dr. Voelkel, who had to run to get there in time. As soon as she got there, it took forever for the next contraction to come. It finally came at 2:19 and baby boy was born at 2:20. Yes, I only pushed for one minute through one contraction!

He came out so fast that the fluid in his lungs was not flushed out (they pulled out 15 ml). And his face was bruised so much it looked like he was covered in freckles. Another side effect was constant sneezing and a red ring around each of his irises. They called him a fake c-section baby because labor was so fast. But he was still beautiful with a full set of hair. He was a spitting image of his daddy!

We are so blessed to have healthy baby. And even more blessed to have a big sister that is totally in love with him! We thank God everyday for our healthy family.

Happy Babies!
--Am

PS - No poop on the table this time! :) 

How To Have a Baby

On March 12, 2012 at 3:49 am, we welcomed Gwendolyn Maxine Markov into this world. Here's her story.

Sunday, March 11th started out like many other Sundays. I walked two miles while watching Buffy, helped out with the little kiddos at church, and headed up to book club. While eating yummy guacamole and chatting with friends, I noticed that I was getting hot flashes and having some tightening in my tummy. I thought, "well, these might be contractions," but didn't do anything about it. I called Al on my way home and told him I was pretty sure I was having contractions. In fact, I was having one while on the phone with him, and I continued to have them on my drive home. They started around 2:30 in the afternoon. Around 5, we decided to start timing them to see if we met the 5:1:1 rule. Contractions should come every five minutes, last for a minute long, and fit this pattern for at least an hour long. Most of the contractions were about 40 seconds long and came every 5 to 6 minutes. So, we decided to hold off on going to the hospital.

We headed up to Indy Racquet Club a little after 6 for Al's tennis match. I watched his match (which he won...yay!) while having contractions that were coming pretty regularly now. Around 8:30 we decided we were probably going to have a baby, so we called the doc. She recommended we stay home as long as possible because I wasn't uncomfortable and it would be better to relax at home as opposed to the hospital. We got some dinner at Boston Market then headed home. I relaxed in a bath, put some laundry away, and watched an episode of Grimm. Around 11:30pm I tried to lie down. Al watched me struggle through two contractions then said, "ok, we're going to the hospital."

We arrived just before midnight and checked in at triage. I got dressed into the fancy gown and hooked up to the various monitors. The nurse, Trina, started off by checking to see how far dilated I was. While she was checking me, my water broke. Yeah, warm and gushy, and all over the nurse's hand! And the not so fun news, I was only at 4 cm. But since my water broke, we were officially checked in! Before we headed off to our room, we got to hear someone else give birth...in triage. Wow, lucky her!

We headed off to room 4208. I settled in, while Al parked the car and brought up our overnight bags. We took a couple laps around the maternity ward to help with the pain. At 2am, our labor and delivery nurse, Andrea, checked me again and I was only at 6 cm. Oh geez, I thought we were going to have a long night ahead of ourselves. Andrea worked with me and Alex on comforting techniques but I wasn't having any of it. I didn't want anyone to touch me, let alone massage my back or put lotion on my hands. At this point, Andrea was telling us that we had til about 3am to decide if we wanted an epidural. I had gone in there saying I didn't want any drugs. I mean, how bad could the pain be? I was about to find out.

Since I couldn't be touched, we opted for another walk. At 3am, Andrea checked me again and I was dilated to 8 cm. I thought, "well, we made it from 6 to 8 in only an hour, so maybe we only have an hour left." So, no on the epidural--Yeah, I'm crazy. She also told me it was time for me to get into the bed, especially since I was beginning to feel the urge to push. The pain intensified immensely as I laid on my right side to soften that side of my cervix. All I remember is Al and Andrea saying, "Don't push, don't PUSH, DON'T PUSH!" as each contraction came along. It was so hard to not push and it just felt natural to push. But instead I had to breath lamaze style during those times. So freaking hard to do, and I'm stubborn, so I needed to be told at every contraction to not push.

By 3:28am Dr. Stuhldreyer was in the room, and it was time to start pushing. HOORAY! So, for 20 minutes I pushed. The worse part about is that the baby's head is crowning and stretching out my hoo-ha. It's just sitting there in my hoo-ha, stretching it out, and you can't do anything about it. At each contraction, I would grab my legs and push through the pain for three blocks of ten seconds each. I don't know what was more painful: pushing through the contractions or waiting with a stretched out hoo-ha for the next contraction. the doctor was numbing me the entire time and I all I remember thinking was that I wanted that baby out of me. Poor Al felt so sorry for me. He knew I was in pain and couldn't do anything about it. But he was a fabulous encourager and the best supporter!

Finally, at 3:49am I gave my final push. As the doc was telling me not to push out the rest of the baby, I couldn't help it and she just kind of slid out. Good thing the doc was good at catching slippery little suckers! The doc held up the baby for Al to cut the umbilical cord and asked him what the gender was. On first look, he said, "Oh, it's a boy!" But the doc corrected him with, "No, it's a girl!" Apparently the genitals are so swollen from the traumatic experience that they can look like testicles. We heard the first cries as she was brought to my chest. She passed all her tests as I delivered the placenta and was stitched up (I had a small tear). I remember my legs shaking from all the adrenaline and I vaguely remember the stitches. But, honestly, it didn't matter. Just knowing that we had a healthy baby made it so much better. And we couldn't have been more stoked to have a little girl. Of course we would have been thrilled with a healthy little boy, but we both were secretly leaning towards a little girl.  

And that's how we welcomed our 7lbs 3oz, 21in long, dark-haired beauty into this world and our lives. We are so blessed to have a healthy baby and to have had a quick labor. We thank God everyday for her! We love our Princess Gwendolyn!

Happy Birthing!
--Am

PS - I did poop on the table! :)

How To Make a Tree Bookshelf

Wow! It's been quite a while since my last post. I'm going to stray from my usually format and try to give you an actual how to, since I think it's something people might actually want to make.

When deciding on a theme for the nursery, Al and I went back and forth between and under the sea theme and a woodland theme. Not knowing if we are having a boy or a girl, we needed something neutral. Eventually, we decided on the woodland theme. Somewhere along the way, we thought a bookshelf that looked like a tree would be pretty cool. We found two different types online: Graphic Spaces Woodland Happy Tree for $2100 or Shawn Soh's tree bookshelf for $850. Yeah, we can't afford either of those!! Since Al is pretty handy and artistic, he decided he could whip something up for around $250. I love a handy husband! :)

Here's what you need:

12 2" x 6" x 6' planks
Wood glue
Sander
Saw
Paint of your choice
L brackets and hardware

We decided the bookshelf would be more space efficient and look more 3 dimensional if it was in the corner as opposed to just stuck on the wall. The bottom branches would be three feet long, the middle branches two feet, and the top one feet. Keeping that in mind, we took two of the planks and cut them so we had two 3ft pieces, two 2ft pieces, and two 1ft pieces. We drew branches on each of these for our template. For the trunk, we used two 6ft planks and drew our template on those. Al then cut out the templates. Each branch was 4 pieces thick, so Al was going to be spending many days cutting and gluing pieces together. Fortunately, my dad knows a guy with a state of the art woodshop (Thanks Dad and Steve!). He let us drop off our remaining pieces for him to glue and cut out. Not only did this save us a lot of time, but it looked more like one piece as opposed to multiple pieces glued together.

Once all the pieces were cut and returned home, we glued on our original templates and began the painting. As usual, we couldn't decide what the right paint color would be, so we ended up taking the bedding into Home Depot and matched it with a green and red. I don't know what made us do it, but we went with the red. And I must say, that it looks stunning! So glad we went with that over the green. After it was painted and dried, we got assembling. We found some pieces could be assembled to the trunk, while other pieces were better attached to the wall using L brackets. After it was set up, we painted the hardware and started decorating. Thanks to my sis for having guests at the baby shower bring a book in place of a card, we are able to stock the tree full of books. And thanks to my mom and aunt for providing stuffed animals for additional character. We couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out!!

the finished and stocked tree bookshelf

 

Don't you just love it? :)
Happy Bookshelfing!
--Am

   

How To Rock Out in the ER on Thanksgiving

Yeah, that was how we spent two hours of our Thanksgiving evening. Before I go into any sort of detail, I should say that everyone is fine and no body parts were harmed!

Our trip began by driving 12 hours in the non-stop rain from Indy to Cortland, NY on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We and off listened to Harry Potter and took bathroom and food breaks. We got in around 11pm and headed to bed shortly thereafter. Wednesday was when all the trouble began. Shortly after playing a round of putt-putt and lunch, I started to feel like my allergies were getting the best of me. I got some pregnancy-safe meds hoping they would take my sniffles and headache away. Wednesday night was a little rough as I was having a hard time breathing and falling to sleep. Even with a dose of Tylenol PM I couldn't seem to get comfortable breathing-wise.

On Thanksgiving day, we headed to the park, and I was really hoping the fresh air would help clear me up. It was nice, but it didn't help me at all! We at lunch/dinner around 3 and that just seemed to make matters worse. I had a full belly and climbing the stairs seemed like the biggest chore! It finally got bad enough that Al called the OB back home and decided it was best to hit the ER. Boy, was I excited...NOT!

We get there, wait a bit, take my vitals, and stick me in a room. The nurse or someone listened to my lungs and heard wheezing. The doctor came in and said, it could be one thing or it could be another. We're going to run some blood tests, give you a breathing treatment, hook you up to an EKG, x-ray your chest, ultrasound your legs, and give you a CT scan. At this point, I start to freak out. I'm thinking, I'm pregnant and I don't want to put the baby through all these tests and I don't want to go through all these tests. So, after lots of talking about options, we decide to wait to see what the blood work says as that will determine which route to take. The doctor was sure it would come back positive for the possibility of a blood clot because I was prego. If it was negative, then it was most likely a breathing issue and not a blood clot issue.

During this time, there were six people that came in to do different things to me. A very nice man gave me the breathing treatment; a very rude lady that wasn't sure how to ask if I was pregnant or fat hooked me up to the EKG; a lady named Gloria and dressed in street clothes checked the baby's heart rate; a nurse drew my blood; a youngin' took all my insurance information; and a lady came in to talk to me all about the x-ray that I wasn't going to happen. All these people were in addition to the 2 triage nurses I had when I first arrived, the resident that saw me shortly after, and the doc. Really? Is it necessary to have all those different people? Freaking crazy town! No wonder ERs are a mess. Too many hands in the honey pot.

Overall, the blood tests came back negative for a blood clot, so the doc was fine sending me home with an inhaler. With the baby, a full stomach and a very bad cold, it was the perfect storm for pressure on my lungs causing breathing problems. I still have a bit of the cold left, but it's nothing like it was. And I have only had to use the inhaler about five times and none since I've been back in Indy. So, all things considered, I'm good and baby's good! Now, if only this cold would leave me alone!

Happy Easy Breathing!
--Am   

PS: How was your Thanksgiving? Hopefully less eventful!

How To Get Preggo

Most of our friends and family know that Alex and I would like to have a family someday. You may also know that we've been hoping to make that a reality sometime this year. It seems that most people I know who are pregnant or recently pregnant got pregnant very easily. A couple of them by mistake. So I thought and assumed (BIG mistake) that it would happen right away. Wrong! (as most of my assumptions usually are.) We tried for three months and no luck, just lots of sad times when Red emerged from her slumber.

Our next step was to try the ovulation sticks. Hopefully, this would pinpoint a good time for us to get it on and make a baby. We tried this for two months. Geez, I never thought I'd be peeing on so many sticks! With that method, we weren't having any luck. So, we decide to make an appointment with my ob/gyn to see if she had any suggestions. I knew it was probably too soon and she would want us to wait, but I wanted to be reassured that everything was ok with us. I always jump to the worst conclusion and think that I have something totally abnormal about me. Our appt was on Thursday, June 30th. I would hate to say it was a waste of time, but it was! She told us we were fine and that we just needed to keep trying. SUCK!

Well, the Friday after our appt (7/1) I decided it would be fun to take a pregnancy test (not sure why, but the mood struck me). I was due to start anytime between Saturday and Monday, but we had some of the early detection tests (First Response), so thought I'd give it a whirl. Well, two lines emerged. I'd never seen one with two lines, so I had to run it by Alex to see what he thought. Looked like pregnant to me. Alex went out later and got another pack of three tests. I proceeded to take one each morning on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. All came back positive! And finally on Wednesday (7/6), I took a digital test to confirm. Well, PREGNANT was the answer! Talk about a range of emotions, but THRILLED was the overwhelming response. We are so excited for this journey we are embarking on and how it will forever change our lives!!

And I promise that this will not be the entire focus for the blog. Of course, there will be stories that arise from it, but hopefully, there are other things in my life that are exciting enough to write about! :)

Happy Pregnant Me!
--Am

How To Celebrate 29 Years of Life

On August 10th, I turned 29. One year left before I'm 30! I really don't feel old and I don't have a problem getting old. I think because I've always looked so young, I am always excited to get older. That may sound a little weird and maybe it is, but that's me! Plus, birthdays are awesome. I mean, what other day is all about you. Did I mention that I'm a little selfish? I love celebrating me! :)

So here's what the day had in store for me. I arrive at work to dino puppets and my very own Ambersaurus cake! What makes this cake even more special was that it was the first box cake that Claire Norton has ever made. For those of you that don't know her, she is Heartland's resident baker, sewer, and all things homemade! Not that I wouldn't have loved a made-from-scratch-cake, but the fact that it was something that she doesn't normally do made it special. And on top of all of that, Regan (Claire's husband) helped make it. You guys are awesome!

ambersaurus

We proceeded to lunch at the Tamale Place where I had the best pork tamale I have ever tried. For those of you that have never been there, it's worth a venture to the westside of Indy. Absolutely delicious! Plus you get a ton of food for a decent price. I headed home around normal time and arrived to a beautiful bouquet of crazy daisies and a sweet card from my hubby. What a guy!!

 crazy daisies and card

 vibrant colors

 i just love daisies

I didn't have much time at home before it was time to head off to dinner at Oceanaire. I almost always choose this restaurant for my birthday dinner because I love seafood, how the menu has Happy Birthday Amber at the top, and baked Alaska. If you've never been, make sure you go on a special occasion and tell them when booking the reservation what you are celebrating. It made my day even more special! 

menu--look at how special I am :)

Happy Birthday Celebrating!

--Am

How To Increase Your Furry Family

A little over a year ago, we decided it was time that Daisie get a playmate. I spent much of my downtime searching through petfinder for the most perfect companion. We knew we didn't want a puppy (no time to train it), so we looked for one that was young, but not a pup. We found one that looked like a beagle mix. I really struggled about if she were the one because she hadn't been fixed yet and not sure how Daisie would be with another girl. It must not have been right because we held off too long and someone else snatched her up. I did however find Chunky Monkey ("Chunky").

There were lots of puppy pics up and very few current pics up. I thought he was so cute as a puppy that he had to be cute as an adult. Alex didn't quite think so. He was very hesitant, but I pushed and pushed until he said we could check him out. Chunky was currently with a family that was finding him a little harder to handle than they had hoped. I talked a little with the original foster mom and some with the current family. We found out that he would fit in just fine, so we established a time for him to meet Daisie. I remember it like it was yesterday!

We got lost going out there and were about 15 minutes late to our meeting. Alex was already not happy with me and I was really nervous. When we finally made it, we saw Chunky and knew that it would be perfect. He looked like he belonged. He was super friendly with us, but we wanted Daisie to be happy as well. They both sniffed each other and decided that they could friends. The family asked if we wanted to take him home for the weekend, but we thought we should wait it out. Yeah right! That lasted 15 seconds. We decided we would take him home for the weekend and see how it would go. The Storey's were very generous and gave us everything they had for him (Thank You!). We took him home and he's been a Markov ever since! 

We immediately changed his name to Dodger (he was too thin for a Chunky Monkey). We had to work on some chewing issues and running away, but we eventually got there. He is such a fantastic dog and loverboy. During the day he wants to play and be everyone's friend, but at night, he wants to cuddle and be as close to you as possible. Unlike Daisie who gives big, wet kisses, Dodger gives short, sandpaper kisses. He's such a sweet boy and we couldn't have asked for more. 

dodger hoping he gets a treat

i love my new friend! Dodger (left) and Daisie tuckered out from the cabin

I hope everyone out there has a dog as sweet and fun as ours! Oh and I considered him a rescue because he was going to go back into foster care. Please save a life and not buy!

Happy Rescuing!

--Am

How To Vacation in Upstate New York

The last weekend in July, Al and I traveled to Cortland, NY to visit his mom and stepdad. Katherine took a job up there and has been living there since March. It's a cute, little town that is not very different from parts of Indiana. In fact, a lot of the countryside looks like southern Indiana with more hills. When most people hear NY, they don't think of countryside, but instead think of noise and busyness. Cortland is quite the opposite. It's quiet, old-school, a little run-down in parts, and adorable.

We arrived in Syracuse on Friday afternoon and stopped off to have lunch at a fine NY eatery: Burger King. We were really hungry and I really, really wanted a chicken sandwich! :) After lunch we headed to Cortland, where I proceeded to take a nap until dinner. Traveling is tiring! We had dinner at an Italian restaurant (of which there are many). I had scallops fra diavolo, which I would normally love, but the scallops didn't taste as I had hoped. The sauce was different than I expected, but it was a good different.

On Saturday, we headed towards Cooperstown, baseball capital of the world. It was a bit of a drive out there (a little over 2 hours) and we chose a bad weekend to go. It was induction weekend, so it was packed to the gills. We spent some time walking down, then back up main street, before stopping in at the farmer's market. Here, we were able to get a ton of veggies and desserts to be consumed that evening. Before leaving we stopped off and had some true to NY pizza. Later that evening we had steak, potatoes, fresh veggies, and tomatoes for dinner. We had strawberry rhubarb pie and blueberry crumb pie for dessert while we played Conga (a Cranium spin-off). Before that though, we had to make playdough, as all the clay in the house was crystallized! Al and his mom made it, while Brent and I watched. We ended with some fabulous light green playdough. 

On Sunday we attended church and met a lot of the folks we'd been hearing about all weekend. It's a very old-style church with nothing but friendly people. We spent the afternoon at Treman (pronounced Tremain) State Park in Ithaca hiking the gorgeous gorges. We were hoping to wade a little in Buttermilk Falls, but it was dry. However, we were very glad to have stumbled upon Treman. It was positively breathtaking at times. We stopped in at Wegmans for snacks and headed back home for dinner at The Hollywood. Some of the best stuffed shells ever!

Monday was a quick trip to the nature conservatory, a pop in at the Bling Store, and lunch at Pita Gourmet. Then it was off to the Syracuse airport to find out that our plane was severely delayed and we would miss our connecting flight. We had the choice to fly out that night and hope to get a hotel in Washington Dulles or to stay at the Best Western and take a 5:40 am flight to Philly then Indy. We chose the BW, which might not have been the best, but it worked. Instead of being home at midnight, we were home at 11am. Needless to say I fell asleep at 7 that night. Again traveling is tiring!!

All in all, it was a great trip! It was funny seeing the folks and playing with the pups. Milo sure does miss Alex. It's very cute to watch him follow him around the house. Lots of thanks to Katherine and Brent for opening their home to us. We really enjoyed our time spent in Cortland!!

Happy Visiting!
--Am

How To Knock on Wood

Ever since Al and I got our second dog, Dodger, we decided we needed a fence. We were able to train Daisie from running away, but not Dodger. He loves people and other dogs, so if he sees one, he's a goner. We got him May of 2010 (or was it June?). And then when we got Diego (January 2011), we really decided we needed a fence. We hated tying them up, and it made me quite nervous waiting to see if Dodger was going to bolt. So, we sent in the proposal for a fence to our HOA and got started on the fence. Of course we called 811 (call before you dig) to make sure we wouldn't be hitting anything, and we waited the standard 30 days for the HOA to approve.

Al thought it would take a day to put in the posts and another day to put up the braces and the panels. Boy was he mistaken! The one-man auger rented from Home Depot did not do the trick. He spent forever on one post before he called in some reinforcements (our neighbor, Bruce). With his help, they were able to put up seven posts (of 32) in a span of 4 hours. Our ground is a rocky, clay substance that made it difficult to tap into. Al was beat. You could see the look of frustration on his face. He thought about renting a two-man auger, but found something better. Through the help of my dad, his buddy had someone come to the house with a bobcat and a much needed post-hole-digging attachment. WOOHOO!! The posts were dug and set in concrete in less than a day thanks to Steve and my dad (and of course the HARD work of my wonderful man).

On the weekend following, we ventured the cabin for some fun, but came home to a task that had to start as soon as we go home (which was 9:00 pm). At 10:00 pm on Saturday, Al began assembling the gate. Circular saw a-going and everything. I thought we would have had a violation of noise ordinance filed against us, but nothing yet! On Sunday, we were thankful enough to have friends over to help with the fence (and teach me the inner workings of my sewing machine). With the help of Regan, Al got one side of the fence completed. Not the whole thing like he was hoping, but it was all braced and 1/3 completed. Over the next couple of days, he was able to get the remaining sides up and we've been enjoying it ever since!!  

 dodger enjoying the fence

 al standing against his creation

 view from the outside

 my soon-to-be food producer 

 

tiki torch - first time used in 3 years

 thank you card and gift for Steve

I want to give a BIG shout out to my wonderful husband for all of his work on this. Not only did I get a sturdy fence, but I also got a snazzy garden spot! Thanks babe...you're the best!!

Happy Fencing!

--Am

How To Pickle...Anything

My father is very difficult to buy for. Unless he needs a new shirt, I'm out of luck. Whenever he wants something, he buys it, making it difficult to get gifts for him. Somehow, I remembered the Pickle Sisters. They've since gone out of business, but you used to be able to purchase picked everything: asparagus, garlic, carrots, peppers, garlic stuffed olives. I mean everything. Since I've become crafty, I decided that I could make some. I discussed the possibilities with Al, and we settled on dill pickles, dill green beans, hot peppers, carrots, onions, and pickles with celery and onions. I've made pickles before...once. So, I was in for it.

The Saturday before Father's Day was the big day. I spent most of the rainy morning trying to find the recipes for the brine I wanted to use. Here's what I found: refrigerator pickles, carrots, dill green beans, and hot peppers. When the sun came out, Al headed outside to put up fence posts, and I got to pickling. 

I worked with one veggie at a time. It would have been too chaotic for me to do more than that. I started with the recipe for the refrigerator pickles. I followed it to a T, except I subbed celery for the green peppers. My first batch turned out awesome, so I immediately got started on the next batch. Yeah, well, I shouldn't toot my own horn because the next batch turned into a syrup. Suck! I threw it out, washed the pot and started over. The next batch was for dill pickles. I used the same brine for refrigerator pickles, added dill, and left out onions and green peppers. Perfect! I think by then, I was through my first movie.

Onto the second movie, I made a jar of carrots and dills green beans using the recipes above. I only adjusted the measurements so I didn't have gallons of brine. On the third movie, I moved onto the hot peppers. The adjustments here are the measurements, not pre-cooking or broiling of the peppers, and the peppers I used: one red pepper, two jalapenos, one anaheim, one hungarian, and one cubano. After those were finished, I ended with the onions. I used the refrigerator pickles recipe and used one red onion and one white onion. Ah! Third movie done and veggies pickled!

 

the refrigerator pickle brine

               

 

the pre-pickled green beans

the final products (from left): onions, dill beans, hot peppers,

pickles with onions and celery, carrots, pickles, more onions

Happy Pickling!
--Am

How To Make A Shirt & Necktie Father's Day Card

Back in May, I made pop-up mother's day cards all thanks to an idea in Martha Stewart Living. So when I got the June edition and saw shirt & necktie father's day cards, I knew I had to figure out how to make them. The directions weren't in the magazine, so I headed online. There I found some rather confusing directions on how to make these. I'm not sure if it was the dark room or late hour, but I just couldn't figure out how to fold the card. I also think I started with a sheet of paper that was square instead of rectangle, which makes for a very awkward looking shirt. So, I looked a little deeper and found this on youtube. The directions are super-easy to follow and helped produce a great looking shirt. I used this video (also on youtube) to create the necktie. The hardest part was picking out colors and creating tie patterns. I used 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper for the shirt and 4 inch squares for the ties. Here's some progress pictures and the final product.

 the start of the sleeves

 the collar

 the completed shirt

 the beginning of the necktie

 the complete necktie

  the end results! which is your favorite?

i like the polka dots and flowers

Happy Card Crafting!

--Am

How To Netflix

It's been way too long since I've blogged and I must say that Netflix is part to blame for that. About a month ago, Al and I decided it was time we try Netflix. We both got very excited about it (me so I could watch Criminal Minds from the beginning and he so he could watch loads of documentaries). We were so excited that we both signed up at the exact same time for the free one month trial! Once we reconnected, Al canceled his subscription and I kept mine. Since CM is only available on discs, we opted for the streaming and one disc out at a time package for $9.99 a month.  When streaming, we can watch shows simultaneously on different devices (XBOX 360, computer, iPad, or iPhone). 

And I must say that this is the best decision that we could have possibly made...EVER! I'm surprised that with as much tv and movies I watch, that I didn't have it when it first came out. I'm just very slow to adopt changes in technology. And no, I don't still have a Blockbuster account. And yes, I still have a tube tv and just recently threw out my dvd/vcr combo player (but only because it would overheat). I'm still deciding if Blue-Ray is the way to go, and I don't own a smart phone. Al, on the other hand, is extremely technology-savvy and loves new technology. He has to have the newest gadget, or he's unsatisfied. We are very different when it comes to this, as we are with the types of tv or movies we choose to watch. I was so excited for the silly girly movies, horror flicks, and modern day detective shows, while he was super excited about documentaries and action films. About the only thing we can decide on is CM, so we watch an episode or two each night before bed (that is if a disc is not in transit).

Netflix and I are now best friends. It knows all my favorite shows and is usually dead-on for what I fancy. The only thing it's given me 5 out of 5 stars was Veronica Mars, and I must say that this is/has been/will be my favorite tv show ever. I have a minor obsession with it! And based on that, I figure it can't ever be wrong. So, now I have 74 discs to watch and 72 films and tv shows to stream live (more tv than movies). This doesn't include what Alex would like to watch (my queues have taken over). I think we will be friends for a very, very long time!

For those of you wondering if this is the right option for, I say go for it. At least try it free for a month. It's fun to rate shows and find films you've never heard of, but end up loving. I could get lost on the Netflix website just searching for unheard (by me) films. In fact, I think I might just head on over there...

Happy Netflixing!
--Am

How To Eat Spaghetti and Morph into a Baby

My nephew turned three weeks last Wednesday (5/11). Al and I offered to take them dinner to help make things a little easier (although they are doing fabulously)! I knew I wanted to make a spaghetti dish with grape tomatoes that I had used before in Everyday Food. So, I headed to the website and this was what I found. I followed the recipe to a T with the exception of using half whole wheat spaghetti and layering sliced, fresh mozzarella on top. It ended up being a light, summery spaghetti that made me smell like garlic for the next two days (I think the smell has finally left the body). At least it tasted good!

While we were sitting down to dinner, I looked over at the new little guy and noticed that he had started to look like a human. I know that sounds bad, but please don't take it that way. I said (out loud), "He's starting to look more like a human." My sister agreed. Relief on my end for just saying that my nephew looked a little alien-esque. And it's not just him, it's all newborns. They are wet, shiny, and haven't developed many features. Chance is really starting to grow into his features and the handsome little man he will be. I'm so glad and fortunate to be able to see him so often and experience his morphism from alien-baby to human-baby! I can't wait until we reach dinosaur-twos, mutant-teenager, and eventually, man-man. 

To all you aunts and uncles out there, live it up and visit often. These little guys and girls are often-changing and it's easy to miss something so big! I sure do love mine and wouldn't want to miss a thing! 

Happy Aunting and Uncling!

--Am

PS - Sorry there are no pictures…I'm terrible about taking my camera with me!  

How To Make a Pop-Up Mother's Day Card

While reading my May 2011 edition of Martha Stewart Living (thank you Aunt Becky), I saw a tutorial on making a pop-up bouquet that could be used as a mother's day card. Good thing I was actually reading this on time inside of month behind because then I never would have seen it, and my many moms would have received a store bought card. I find it more rewarding making something for someone rather than buying it. The receiver usually likes it more too!

I set out to make six of these cards. Fortunately, I had all the materials I needed at home, so all it took was my hard work and a Sunday and Monday evening. Each card required seven 4 inch squares of varying colored cardstock and a rectangular ivory or white cardstock cut to a size 10-by-6-inch. I think my rectangle was 11-by-4.5 inch. As long as the flower will fit in it, the size doesn't matter. As for colors, I chose pink, turquoise, gold, lavender, mauve, dark purple, and peach. I originally was going to cut leaves with the green, but later decided against it (because I didn't quite know where to place them).

Each square was folded twice to form a small square. Next it had to be folded into a triangle by folding one corner down, then my flipping it over and folding the other side down. Then half a heart was drawn on one side as a guideline for cutting. I had to be careful where I was drawing this as in some cases, I cut it and it became two pieces instead of one. This could also have been because I folded the triangle incorrectly. It might be good to do a couple of tests. Once I figured it out, it became pretty easy. I cut along the pattern and an eight petal flower was formed (see the gold, left). One petal was cut out and the gap was closed by overlapping one petal with another and gluing it tight. This formed the six petaled flower (purple).

This took a long time to get them ready. And by long time, I mean the length of A Walk To Remember on ABC Family, so commercials were involved. I finished the flowers and quit for the night. On Monday, I popped in Freaky Friday and got to work building the bouquet. There were seven flowers for each bouquet. I laid it out with six flowers forming a circle and one in the middle. Each flower was attached to three other flowers using double sided tape.

It took me forever to figure out how to put the completed bouquets inside the card. The first couple of times I tried, it wasn't folding correctly or sticking the way I had imagined, so I just stuck the flowers on the outside. Then I thought, "how the heck am I going to mail the ones that need to be mailed?" So, I worked a little bit harder and figured out how to get them to fit inside and be true pop-up cards. Here are the final products!

pop-up on the outside

pop-up on the inside

Visit here for the complete instructions on how to make this card. For all you mom's or soon-to-be-moms, Happy Mother's Day! I know I'm so very thankful for all the moms in my life!

Happy Mom's Day, 

--Am

How To Become an Auntie

On Wednesday, April 20, 2011, at 4:09 pm Chance David Goben was brought into this world! He weighed in at 8lbs 5oz, was 21 inches long, and had a full head of hair. Good thing he was delivered via c-section because my poor sister would have an aching va-jay-jay with a baby that big! Both he and mommy are doing well. We had the pleasure of meeting him at only 4 hours old. Wow, what a sight! You hear 8 pounds and think that's big for a baby, but it's still oh so small.

My parents, Al, and I arrived at 7, but they weren't ready for us to come up just yet. We met Tony's parents (Miche & Jeff) in the lobby, stopped by the cafeteria, and chatted for a bit. Around 7:45, we headed up to the "baby" floor and waited in that waiting room for a few minutes until Tony let us in. Once in the room, which is totally gorgeous and huge, we all oohed and aahed over the baby. My mom (to be called Amma, Icelandic for Grandma) was the first to hold him. He was then handed to Miche (Mimi), who was on cloud nine! I was next to hold the little nugget. I always get nervous about holding the head properly and all that good stuff, but I was fine. After me was Jeff (papaw, I think), then my Dad (Grandpa). My dad was a little nervous to hold him, so he sat on the couch to cuddle him. And finally, Alex got to hold him. I don't know what it was with the guys, but Al was also a little nervous to hold him. Must be because they are so little and they don't want to break the baby. Oh well, we all took turns (some even had a second turn) and gave him back. Mommy and Daddy were tired from the day's offerings, so we decided to head out. 

I'm so glad to have been a part of the big day and happy to be one of the first to see him! It makes me even more excited for the time Al and I are able to experience that. 

Happy babies!

--Am

baby Chance "stop with the flash"

with Auntie Amber

with Uncle Al

the happy fam: Chance, Emily, Tony

i couldn't resist--this is Lincoln the Lion

How To Adopt Furry Family Members

In the post How To Be a Lover of Animals, I gave some backstory on our one and only cat, Hallie. Since we did very little this weekend and spent most of the time yelling at our dogs, I thought I'd give some backstory. Here's all you need to know about our eldest: Daisie.

 Daisie as a puppy, approx 3 months

Daisie today at 2 1/2 years

After I moved into the house and Alex was over a lot, he decided it was time I got a dog. He did a lot of the research and would constantly send me pictures of dogs. I specifically remember getting the picture of Daisie (who was actually named Ashley) and thinking she was like a little cub, furry and cute. It took a lot of convincing, especially since I was working a ton and I was worried about Hallie's feelings, but he finally got me to accept. He found her on petfinder.com, and she was the last of a litter of eight to be adopted. She was born in November and the runt, which I hear are the best! She was rescued by a group called Heart for Dog Rescue, and put into a foster home. I remember it was February 5, 2009, and Alex and I were going to meet her. The foster parents were super nice, and Daisie/Ashley was just so adorable! We took her home that evening. One look was all it took. On our way back home, we were throwing out different names. I have this obsession with names and with my female pet names ending in "ie." We went through everything, Rubie, Goldie, Blondie, Pansie, until Daisie. 

She was such an adorable little pup-pup that it was hard not to fall fast for her! We took her to the vet for all her checkups and everything was going smoothly until one day. She began acting lethargic and stopped eating/drinking, so we started to get a little worried. We called our vet friend in a panic and she suggested that if she didn't get back to normal after trying a few things, then we should take her to the animal clinic. Well, we freaked and took to the animal clinic. $300 later, we find out she has parvo (fatal in 80% of dogs) and has to have a sack of fluids put under her skin, so she doesn't get dehydrated. We could've left her there for observation or taken her home. We chose the latter. We cried on the way home and spent as much time with her at night. The next morning she was still a little slow moving and not ingesting anything, so I ran out to the store and grabbed some popsicles, hoping she'd eat them. Not only did she eat the popsicles, but she also ate some eggs and rice. She was getting back to normal and had survived the parvo scare!

    

where's that coming from?

As she was growing up, Alex was able to watch and train her during the days I was at work, and a friend would let her out on days neither one of us could. Alex spent a lot of time with her, which probably explains her codependency and obsession with him. She is in LOVE with him! But, she is also the best behaved dog we have. She is easily scared and acts like a good guard dog, but I think she would hide if push came to shove. She also has the largest, deadliest tail known to man! It hits everything and doesn't feel good when it does. No matter what, I'm glad to have her. She's sweet, loving, and a sissy, but I couldn't imagine not having her!

To all you dog lovers, 

--Am

PS - I forgot to mention how cute Alex was when we first got her. He was so excited, he went to PetSmart with his mom to pick everything out (ie bed, collar). It was so adorable when he brought home the pink collar with white daisies for our little Daisie. :)

How To Make a Baby Book

As most of you know, my baby sister is expecting. Honestly, it took me a while to get used to it. I had always expected to go through that first, but God likes to take your expectations, throw 'em out the window, and see how you deal. To make it up for how distant I was in the beginning, I decided to use my recently acquired crafting skills to make a baby book. The book is similar to that of a scrapbook; it's not just photos or details, but both.

It started with me finding three stamps in the $1 bin at Michaels. The stamps read, "funny face", "oh baby", and "my life". From there I found some inks, powders, and cut-outs. Then with various trips to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Meijer, I found the rest of the materials. I couldn't tell you how many different trips or how much I spent, but Alex would not be happy if he knew the "secret" materials I purchased!

all the materials…mostly

I started by building the first page which would contain the details of the birth and baby. While building this page, I asked Al his opinion on something and he said it was fine. When I did it for real, he asked why I had done it that way. Apparently it looked like shit! I tried to cover it with a cloud, but it looked awful. Al had the idea to do balloons, so I gave in and went with it. I was pretty excited with how it turned out. It took me a full night to complete that page. And over a period of two weeks (I think), I worked on the book. I've come out with a total of 16 pages. In addition to the front page, there's one for the nursery, for the first bath, for the first smile, for only mom and baby, for only dad and baby, and many more. For the front cover, I kept it simple by adding a blue ribbon from another baby shower and spelled out the baby's name, Chance, in safety pins. 

 the front cover

 the first page

 the page of "firsts"

 come to me my animal friends

I had a great time making it and really hope that Emily and Tony are as happy with it as I am!

For my sister,

--Am

How To Paint on Canvas

There have been two additional Wine and Canvas events that I've attended but have not yet blogged about. I know you are all very sad! The second one I attended (which is the first in this blog) was at the Stone Creek in Greenwood. Our artist was a guy named Greg and we were painting flowers in the field. Can I say easy? However, you would never know it because Greg was not a good teacher. He didn't have much of a presence, and I felt myself often moving ahead or doing my own thing. One plus was that I won the raffle they had during the break. Yeah, a free appetizer at Stone Creek!

flowers in the field

My third trip was on a Saturday with Katherine (Al's mom). I was a little nervous about the painting we were doing because it was super detailed. Then when I found out we would have the same artist that we had last time, I got really nervous. Additionally, we were sitting on stools. That's right, no backs on the chairs for three hours. I'm a weakling! The crowd was also very different from the crowd on the southside. They were louder and more annoying! It was nice to spend some time with Katherine. However, we are going to have to do an easier painting the next time, so we actually have time to visit. I was too involved with this painting and how it looked that I was beginning to get stressed. So, no more difficult, detailed paintings for me. Here's how it turned out:

New Orleans at night

I must also say a big thank you to Alex for making me feel better about it. I was beating myself up about how it turned out, but he thinks it's a little abstract, which he prefers. Katherine's, on the other hand, was awesome! I wish I took my camera with me so I could have taken a picture of her painting and you could compare the greatness with the amateur. 

Until I paint again!

--Am