The sewing machine scares me

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I go to the fabric store and look, and look. But I never buy anything because I'm pretty much paralyzed with fear. I haven't sewn with a sewing machine since middle school home economics. What in the world makes me think I can sew something?

Huh? I could do it when I was 12, why not now? Because now I have to buy the fabric that I'm screwing up. Ha ha. It was all well and good when my parents were footing the bill, but now that I've got to pony up for fabric I back away in fear. Silly. Really.

I've got to get the sewing machine I bought two years ago out of the box. Brave, brave thoughts.

Today when I was surfing I came across this on Bryn Dunns site -- a fabric giveaway: http://brynalexandra.blogspot.com

Source: http://brynalexandra.blogspot.com

Ok, I'm drooling. This would be SO fun to play with. Waverly fabrics are awesome.

Pick me oh great random generator program. Please pick me!

He's here!

The precious little peanut was born early this morning.


Look at all the hair on that boy! Wow.

Here's Rico holding him (obviously I wasn't referring to him when I said "look at all the hair on that boy." Ha ha) . Look how small he is compared to Rico's hand. Little, little.
The size 1 diapers at the hospital are HUGE on him. He's a tiny, tiny boy.

Did I mention the hair? LOL.

So happy for Ber.
So happy that Mom and baby are doing well.
So happy that we have another baby to spoil. :)

P.S. I so wish I'd had the camera in my hands when Rico and Claudia were trying to get the chair in Berlinda's room to turn from a bed back into a chair. Hysterical! And they never did get it to transform. Alas, I was holding the baby so I didn't have a hand free to capture the moment.

conceptionconnections.wordpress.com

The baby is coming, the baby is coming!

At least I think he is. It could just be an elaborate April Fool's joke, but since my brother already pulled that one on us this morning I think it's real this time.

Party for the baby boy (and his mom)

We had a baby shower a couple of weeks ago to prepare for the newest addition to the family. Well, he'll be the newest once he finally decides to show up. Baby Boy doesn't seem to be in any hurry to meet us even though he's dropped into place and, according to the doc, his momma could have delivered any time in the last week weeks. I don't know why, we're all quite friendly!

Perhaps he's waiting for the weather to warm up. Perhaps someone should clue him in that:
- we live in the mitten state
- it's only the end of March
- it still could SNOW
- really

Michigan is notoriously unpredictable when it comes to weather. A couple of weeks ago we had a couple of days of 68 degree weather, and then it snowed. And it's been cold ever since.

Anyway... back to the shower.

I hosted it and Rico totally kicked butt getting the house whipped into shape and prepping the food. That's definitely one perk of having a house husband (ha ha, I know he'll read this). I put up the decorations... well, maybe that's all I did. (Just kidding.)

Charlotte made an awesome Noah's Arc themed cake with a cupcake rainbow. So, so cool. The colors were much prettier in real life -- the lighting wasn't great, and I'm not a pro at color adjustment in Photoshop... so there you have it.

Baby Boy got lots of great things -- including some great mitten state stuff: his first Detroit Tigers logo wear and his first Michigan State University outfit. Woop-woop!

So, Baby Boy, anytime. We're waiting to meet you!BTW, I'd call him something other than baby boy, but his momma decided what his name will be is up in the air. She was going to name him Justin (I think after Justin Bieber) but then someone mentioned that when she takes him home to visit his abuela in Nicaragua they'll all call him "yust-in". And that's not what she had in mind. :)

Spaetzle

No, that's not a foreign swear word. It's a pasta -- a german pasta -- that I haven't had in years. But I'd like to. I once had a roommate who was German. Her mom and brother were awesome cooks. When we'd go to their house we'd have awesome food -- and my favorite was ... spaetzle.

In all honesty I can't remember exactly what it tasted like. But, given my love for mac and cheese I'm guessing it was something like that. Mrs. Wolske's was the best. The total best. Even better than when I ordered it when I spent a summer in Austria.

I remember Mrs. Wolske and Michael making it by forcing dough through a collander (with larger than normal holes) into boiling water. That's all I really remember about making it. As I looked for a recipe I found that you then pan fry it -- with butter or bacon drippings. Oh, yeah, no wonder I liked it.

Drooling. What brought this on? We're watching Anthony Bourdain "No reservations" and he's in Austria. He just ate brains marinated in red wine (ick, ick, ick) and some really red, red, red liver. I had to look away when that flashed on the TV screen. I'm starting to feel queasy seeing that stuff.

Now flash up some spaetzle and I'd be all set. Wishing I could get Mrs. Wolske's recipe so that Rico could make it for me. Yum!

The case of the missing scones

Killer is doing ok. She's starting to breathe a little heavy again, but she's not in pain and seems like her normal self.

And yes, she's getting spoiled. She enjoyed toffee-chip scones yesterday... twice.

I should clarify it's not because I gave them to her as a treat (but you know I don't mind). I left the package on my night stand and forgot to take it to the kitchen yesterday morning. Apparently they sounded good to her because when Rico came home at lunch she'd taken the package to her bed, opened the plastic top, and eaten a few of them.

Rico (the silly guy) put the package back on the night stand, and by the time I came home after work she'd gotten them back down and finished the package. Yummy!

I'm glad she enjoyed them!

The terrible horrible no good very bad day

We love our dogs because they teach us to live in the moment, and they make that moment happy. Unless they are cowering in thunderstorms.

Words of wisdom from my friend, Paula. I'm struggling today because it's been a terrible horrible no good very bad day... we received the sad news that our big old puppy dog has cancer.

She started breathing really heavy last week when I was home with the flu. Rico took her in on Friday and the xrays showed... well, nothing. All they really showed was that her lungs were full of fluid. So much fluid that they couldn't tell anything else. That's not good.

We saw a specialist yesterday afternoon and they withdrew 2L of fluid from her chest. Yes, 2L -- the size of the Diet Coke bottle in my fridge.

The lab results came in this afternoon: It's an aggressive blood or bone cancer and there's nothing we can do for her except make her comfortable.

My heart hurts.

This is what she's doing now -- but on the carpet instead of the sand on the shore of Lake Michigan. She's napping and chasing after something in her dreams. Sweet dreams, baby dog.