Whatever Baby Wants....Baby Gets!

I had an elaborate plan to eat healthy during pregnancy. I created excel spreadsheets with food diets calculating every calorie my body would take in on a daily basis, making sure I was monitoring my fresh fruit and vegetables and getting an adequate amount of protein. During the first trimester, you are only supposed to consume approximately 100 extra calories a day. That is equivalent to an apple, a handful of carrots, or 8 crackers.

Well suffice it to say, that plan flew out the window when the nausea set in. I am no longer in charge of what my body wants. Food does not taste the same and there are a lot of things that I loved that make me want to hurl as well as a lot of things I don't care for, that my body is craving. Let's take meat for example. I do not eat red meat, but I do eat poultry and fish. In the past 12 weeks, turkey meat nauseates me, chicken is grody and forget fish. I don't even want eggs anymore, and I LOVE eggs. All the things that I would eat, shrimp, crab, and tuna, I am only allowed once per week due to high mercury levels.

So I have reverted to an almost vegetarian diet. My meals consist of a lot of Amy's organic frozen food. I am also craving a bunch of crap like pasta, bread, soda, and ice cream. If they made an all you can eat buffet for pregnant women, this is all I would eat from the buffet. I would wash it down with a tall glass of milk, because I can't get enough of it.

When nothing sounds good and nothing tastes good, cooking is not fun either. To say that I dislike cooking right now would be an understatement. Our dinners are like eating at a bachelor pad. Hmm, we have pasta, some cheese and throw on a few salty crumbled potato chips and voila a meal. I've eaten chips for dinner several nights in the past few weeks. This can't possible be healthy. But really, it's what the baby wants.

My Lovely Lady Bump

There's big news here at Team Gibson. DGs been dropping hints in blog posts and two weeks ago he posted pictures on flickr with a blatant clue. Can you find it?

More hints:
I'm not drinking coffee anymore.
I take a nap almost every day.
I am not allowed to paint anything in the new house.
During the move, I wasn't allowed to lift anything heavy.
I'm hungry all the time.
I crave ice cream, glasses of milk, french fries, taco bell and fresh fruit.
I've gained 7lbs.

Yes that's right. Baby Gannon is appoximately 4" long, 12 weeks 4 days old, and due December 9, 2007. I've already started to show. We are thrilled and so glad we can finally share it will all of you.




And though I make no promises, at this point I don't plan on turning the blog into tales of hemerroids, back pain and diaper rash. And no, there will be no video of the birth, or saving of the after birth. Don't be sad, you'll be there every step of the way.

Season Finales

It was Season Finale time for all of the big shows this week. DG already talked about the Gilmore Girls ending for good. Here's my quick and sweet rundown.

Grey's Anatomy - Did this show jump the shark or what? George would NEVER fail that test, Izzy would never fall for George, and Burke and Christina like we didn't see that coming from a mile away. Gawd. I'm almost done with it. Seriously.

GG - I know it was time for the ladies to retire, but it happened so suddenly, without warning, without time for a tear to drop, without bringing back the oldies like Dean and Jess, so much left unfinished. And why the hell did Lorelai end up with Luke. Puke.

Heroes - An entire season that led up to a 5 minute non-explosion. And what about resident fence sitter Nathan Petrelli coming in to save the day? What's going to happen? I know I am going to stay tuned and hope that Milo Ventimiglia doesn't have his contract run out.

Veronica Mars - I enjoyed the finale, though I hope it was not the Series finale. That would make me very sad and perhaps a bit weepy.

This of course leaves more time for me to watch my new favorite show the Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan. We just started getting the National Geographic channel so I was very excited to Tivo the beejeezus out of it. I am learning to be a calm assertive leader of the pack. Gibson and I have had a few scraps over my new found power, but he will be a better dog because of it.

Actual Conversation

Me: The hottest guy on tv is 13 years younger than me. *sigh*

DG: Serves you right ya whore.

This came moments after I finished watching the 2 hour season finale of Veronica Mars. I was of course talking about Chris Lowell from the show. Seriously though, I don't usually go around calling famous people totally hot, but he's like really totally cute and stuff.

P.S. DG doesn't really call me a whore. It is just kind of a pet name that we call the dogs. Hey whores it's time to quit your whoring and go to bed.

The Green Thumb Rises

It was the summer of 1992, I had just returned from living abroad in Paris, France, and went to Indiana, where my parents had moved while I was away. I went straight from Oui, Oui to Howdee overnight. Good-bye sweet Paris, hello white bread Midwest. I knew no one and I needed a job, fast. The first interview I had was with a local place that had a greenhouse and market. They wanted cute and spunky girls who didn't question authority to flirt with customers and get them to buy planters, flowers and peaches.

Within a few days, I realized the misery that I had entered as the owner's daughter who ran the show, slowly made each employee so miserable that they quit immediately. Within two weeks, I was the last woman standing. I could not afford to quit, so I grit my teeth and waited out the summer working for that smelly pirate hooker.

I made it through, got tan from being in the sun all day, got biceps from lifting 50lb. boxes of tomatoes, and lost 10lbs eating nothing but peaches and corn on the cob. But this post isn't about the greenhouse sweat shop, it's about how I learned how to plant a container. It is that one positive tool that I managed to take away from that summer. Well that and learning the difference between an annual and a perennial, but not before telling a week's worth of customer's to put their impatients in the full sun. Oh sure, they love the sun!

Last summer, I was proud of my planters, but this summer, I'm more pleased with my color combinations. I call this one Prelude in red and white.

You start with a lovely green spike in the middle of the planter. You then surround the spike with a taller flower and layer moving out. Here I chose red geraniums. What you won't see until later in the summer is that they are surround by white petunias, followed by white Alyssum which will grow up and over the sides of the planter giving it dimension. Stay tuned for the shape this will take.



This next one is a Melody of Pinks. Again I started with the spike in the middle, surrounded by pink shades of snap dragons, followed by pink petunias. To create a drapery over the side, I used a vinca plant that works beautifully adding foliage.


Finally, I call this my Ode to Yellow and Orange. Normally I would not waste my money on marigolds, but this year, the dark orange marigolds were so vibrant that I had to put them together with the flowers in the middle. I just filled a small pot with these. It will be even prettier when it grows out.

I also planted 2 hanging baskets for our patio. This is a great money saver as most baskets begin at $15 and go upwards of $30. If you get your flowers on sale for $1.99 a 4 pack then you save money instantly. I use 3-4 packs to fill a basket. I used multi-colored impatiens for our first shady area and filled the 2nd with hot pink petunias for the sunnier area. More photos to come.

Shhh, Don't Tell on Me

DG recently downloaded a new widget for his desktop, a whoopie cushion. Prepare yourself for high school boy antics and lots of fart jokes. It started the first day where he would spent hours giggling like a frat boy and playing all of the fart noises, everything from squeekers to juicy wet check your underwear sounds. Every night, I'd have to turn up the tv over the whoopie cushion interruption. Then we would be sitting working in quiet and all of a sudden, DG would lift a cheek off the chair and let the whoopie cushion rip, all the while blaming it on the dogs. On my part there was lots of stiffled giggles, indignant eye rolling, and hand slapping. To no avail.

Then last week, there I was needing to let off some steam. I was home all alone, working, the dogs were driving me crazy, so I went and sat at DGs computer, turned the speakers on loud and totally kicked the fart noises up a notch and giggled maniacally by myself. Don't tell DG though, he'll think I'm condoning his bad behavior.

Concert Reviews - The Decemberists and Damien Rice

DG and I have been lucky enough to get some free tickets recently to see some of our favorite bands. About a month ago we saw the Decemberists for the second time and wow did they make up for their last time here. They are so amazing live. If you haven't purchased any of their songs, stop don't drop, and go to ITunes now. Though I will admit they are a bit eclectic with their keyboards and accordion sound, you just may get hooked after a few listens. Their encore went on for so long that this old lady had to leave and go home to bed. So sad.

Then, the day after we moved into our new house, Molly and Shaun came over to check out the new digs, grab some dinner and head to hear Damien Rice. We had great tickets at The Paramount, a venue just the perfect size to hear Damien's sorrowful crisp voice. His emotionally charged songs enrapt the audience so throughly that even without a microphone or amp, he could come to the front of the stage to sing and the entire crowd could hear every word. I have loved his music since I saw him on MTV2 three and a half years ago. Three albums later and he had me at "O". He also has one of the best encores that I have ever seen. It doesn't hurt that his irish accent is so cute that you just want to take him home and feed him a bowl of steel cut oats. Ok, if I weren't an old married lady I'd feed him a line or too as well. A girl can dream right?

Gratuitous Dog Shot

He's one special dog.

Backyard Mascot

Previously, Gene Simons was the backyard Mascot. Moveover Gene, there's a new mascot in town. My brother sent 2 garden statues as a wedding gift last year. Unfortunately, they were completely shattered on the journey from South Korean. Very sad. They were a boy and girl carrying buckets you could plant flowers in. They were missing heads, feet, etc. Total carnage. The piece seen here is the biggest part that was salvagable. The little boy sits on the Berm in the back yard. I hate the word Berm and I'm not fond of our Berm, but it's there, for now, decorated.


Notice the sunny area to the right of the Berm. That will be the garden!

Last week's menus

Now that I'm back in the saddle cooking up nightly dinners in the kitchen, I've been throwing together some zany combinations.

Tuesday
Guiltless Chicken Fingers
Morroccan Cous Cous (recipe below)

Wednesday
Tofu, red pepper, green bean stir fry with rice noodles

Thursday
Salmon Burgers
Roast Brussel Sprouts
Lemon Garlic Cous Cous Salad


I made up the Cous Cous recipes this week based on whatever was about to expire in the fridge. I cooked the Cous Cous on Tuesday and used half for dinner then and half for dinner Thursday in 2 wildly different recipes.

Morroccan Cous Cous salad
2 stalks chopped celery
1/3C raisins
1 chopped apple
1 carrot shredded
1/2tsp. cinnamon
zest 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

Use about 1-1/2-2C of cooked cous cous. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and serve. You could also add some toasted almonds to this recipe.

Lemon Garlic Cous Cous Salad
8 cherry tomatoes quartered
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1tsp basil
zest of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Again, use about 1-1/2-2C cous cous, add the tomatoes, zest, lemon, salt and pepper. Cook the garlic in EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) with the basil until slightly browned. Stir in and serve.

Salmon Burgers
1lb uncooked salmon (skin removed)
1TBL dijon
2 TBL soy sauce
1 garlic clove
1" piece ginger peeled
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2C breadcrumbs

Add everything except the salmon to a food processor. Create a sauce. Remove the skin from the salmon, chop into 2" cubes and add to the proecessor. Pulse until mixed together, stir in bread crumbs. I make about 4 patties to fry on the stove top in a little EVOO.

It's so fast that you too can whip it up.

Wham Dedication

Did you need a little pick me up this fine Thursday morning? Well have I got just the song for you. Straight out of 1983, from Wham's first Album, this song Young Guns goes out to Rosemary and Ellen. I leave out last names to protect the innocent.



Circa 8th grade, Wham was like the best band ever, in the whole entire universe. Pictures of George Michael and Andrew Ridgley plastered my walls. Every issue of Teen Beat with their faces on the cover was mine. Not even my Dad's protests over George Michael's sexuality made me rethink my love for them. "Nuh uh Dad, gawd" So the ladies came over into the family room where Dad had set up a make shift studio consisting of 1 Boom Box playing a Wham Tape, 1 Cassette Deck recording our adventure, and several ladders with microphones attached. We sang our hearts out for 2 days and what was the product? Our very own karaoke style Wham mix. Painfully off key, but fun to make. This tape exists, somewhere in an attic in Connecticut. I'm sure I will hear it's torturous sounds again someday. In case this wasn't enough for you, and you need more WHAM!, check out Wham Rap, Club Tropicana, Edge of Heaven, and Everything She Wants.

In the meantime, I just sang along, loud, to this entire song. No, the dogs didn't howl and with our new house, not even the neighbors could hear me.

The Kitchen that Could

Day 1, the entire kitchen was unpacked...with room to spare! What on earth can I fill all that extra space with? Cheez-Its? White Cheddar Popcorn? Cans of Beans?Well, there is not THAT much extra, but at least I don't have to keep anything in the garage.

Oh and there's so much room, we could have a dance party in the kitchen, or a dance contest, or a twister game. I don't hyperventilate anytime anyone is in the kitchen when I am preparing a meal. Nice.

We're in!

After 12 hours of moving and 3 days of unpacking, we are in our new house.

Saturday morning we got up early, literally when the sun woke us up due to no window coverings in our new house. We headed back to our old place to clean for 3 hours. *sniff* It was so sad.

As many of you already know, the sale of our house fell through. But we are confident that it will go again. The Skyland neighborhood is the last Goldmine in Denver and one of the last affordable areas with rising home prices. It is listed here as one of the next up and coming neighbor hoods in the country in a survey by Business Week.

We so badly had wanted to keep our house and hold onto it for several years, but we just could not make it work. The person that ends up buying it is going to make great money on it. Since we were so involved with our Neighborhood Association, we also know how many people in that neighborhood are fighting to make it an even better place, planting trees, encouraging new businesses, fighting crime etc. Though in the 4 years that I lived there, not once did I have a break-in or car theft where my friends living other more affluent neighborhoods had all of the above. We also knew the names of EVERY neighbor on our block, can you all say the same? Oh and did I mention that a police officer lives across the street?

Good-bye Lovely House

Tomorrow is moving day for us and we have been reminiscing all week about how much we love our house and our block. The backyard is so gorgeous right now with all of the flowers blooming that I don't want to leave it. I walk around it several times a day when I need a break, just to look at all of our plants. We are going to miss our great neighborhood, and sleeping in the back yard in the middle of summer. We are also going to miss how close we are to the best park in Denver and I've been loving my routine of swimming several days at week at the local rec center.

All the neighbors have been coming by to wish us farewell. We can only hope that our new neighbors will be so great.

Taking a Break from Packing

Last weekend, DG and I started packing in the wee hours of the morning to the late afternoon. We would take a break and then get back to it until the sun went down. Seen here, I am in my "packing outfit" which consisted of an oversized South Korean t-shirt that my brother gave me and a New York Yankees hat that DG put on my head earlier in the day. I don't EVER wear hats, much less a Yankees hat, but it was better than the alternative which was my greasy unwashed hair. I grew up knowing that the Red Sox were the better team, much like being a democrat was better than being a republican. So I apologize for any offense you may have towards the hat.

Raw

When we were packing this week-end, DG came out of the garage and the following words actually came out of his mouth: "Awesome, I just found my Eddie Murphy tape". We proceeded to listen to the 1982 comic stylings of Eddie Murphy in the car between all of our errands. We giggled a lot, and our new favorite phrase is singing "Put boogie in your butt, put a freight train in your butt, put an airplane in your butt."

I had never listened to that tape, but I was familiar with his Raw video, in particular the McDonalds skit. Laying in bed that night, I grabbed the laptop and did a search of You Tube for the video. You can see the McDonalds skit here. It is still funny.