Boring classes and wasting time

This class is a joke.

I'm in a computer lab, supposedly to look up Chemistry topics. The programs we have to choose from are literally in DOS and from 1998. We have another hour in here before he'll let us go. It's... idiotic.

I'm so bored. It's hot in here. The baby keeps kicking and I keep contracting. After this, only Dose & Calc and then I can go home... but meanwhile, this sucks major monkey balls.
I also haven't meal planned yet. I'll probably try to throw one together tonight after I get home and see what's in the pantry left over. We have a couple of pounds of ground beef and I want to make some chicken white chili. But other than that, we'll just have to see.

Ben's not online, either, and he should be... I'm bored. Actually, nobody's online really.

Stupid ass chem teacher. :(

"And nothing goes up there!"

Last night was a bit stressful.

All throughout the day, I had been 'leaking' a clear, odorless fluid. Not a lot, but enough that I had to change underwear. I called Kathy, thinking it was nothing, and she called back (sounding a bit worried) and asked us to come visit to get it checked out.

Apparently her first thoughts were that my water had broken or had a 'tear' in the bag. She said if that was the case, we'd be in the hospital on steroids and antibiotics for as long as possible and on complete bedrest. Understandably, this idea scared the crap out of me and Ben.

We went over there and she did a few little tests. One was negative, the other could have gone either way. She sent us home with four more herbal supplements and three big rules:

1. Nothing goes up there (with a Look at Ben).
2. Call her if anything changes
3. Rest! Take it easy.

So now I'm on a sorta-not-really-bedrest situation. I think I'm going to drop my speech class because A, It's stressful as hell, B, it's early in the morning, and C, it's stressful as hell.

Here's hoping baby doesn't come early. :( If it's just extra mucuous, that's great. Just anything but a broken water. In a couple of days, Kathy is going to test me again. Meanwhile, we're in limbo. :(

Grocery List Tuesday

I do a grocery list a bit differently than most people, I think. I'm a big fan of not over-buying. So, what I do is I compile a list of every ingredient needed for the week. I write that list down. Then I go 'shop' in the pantry and mark off everything I already have. Whatever is left is what needs to be purchased! It works really well, and it keeps us from overloading.

I find Recipezaar's shopping list feature very helpful. :D

So, here's the list for needed ingredients this week.

• Dairy

Plain yogurt
Parmesan cheese
2 gal milk
1 Pkg of shredded cheddar
2 boxes of stick margarine
1 tub of spread margarine
8oz sour cream
1 doz eggs

• Canned/Dry

1 can tomato soup
28oz stewed tomatoes
56oz kidney beans (these are the only beans I buy canned because of the toxins in them)
ketchup
29oz of green beans canned
Oatmeal
Raisins
Hamburger buns
2 loaves of bread

• Meat

2 lbs of sausage
3 lbs of ground beef

• Produce

4 onions
2 heads of garlic
1 green pepper
celery
10# of potatoes
lettuce for salad
tomatoes (if priced right)
carrots
pears (in season) for fresh fruit

• Frozen

French fries

Menu Plan Monday Nov 10-16

(My plan starts on Tuesday because Tuesday is our grocery day. :) But I plan on Monday.)
This week is going to be a bit lean because Ben missed a day at work during the Job Fiasco, so we're operating on 12 hours less pay than usual. However, this is the chance I've been waiting on to raid the pantry and get rid of/eat up all the stuff that has been sitting around for, well, forever.

A lot of this pantry junk is, well, junk. There's a lot of boxed foods and canned foods. Most of it is before I 'converted' to from-scratch cooking. So trust me, these are not 'typical' meals in our house! LOL!

Lunch is fend-for-yourself. I put all my dinner ingredients in a separate cupboard so that they can't be snacked on ahead of time. :D

• Tuesday, 11th

Breakfast: Egg, potato, sausage, and cheese stirfry
Dinner: Crock-pot chili, salad, cornbread
Night Prep: Pre-make cinnamon rolls for Wed.

• Wednesday, 12th:

Breakfast: Cinnamon rolls, fruit, yogurt
Dinner: Hamburger helper, salad
Night Prep: None

• Thursday, 13th

Breakfast: Pancakes, yogurt with fruit
Dinner: Sausage and potato soup, salad, sweet dinner rolls
Night Prep: Prep green beans, put chicken in fridge to thaw

• Friday, 14th

Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins, toast, fruit
Dinner: Baked chicken, scalloped potatoes, garlic green beans
Night Prep: Pan up meatloaf & stick in the fridge

• Saturday, 15th

Breakfast: French toast, yogurt
Dinner: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, baked beans
Night Prep: Defrost ground beef (if needed)

• Sunday, 16th

Breakfast: Oatmeal, cinnamon toast, fruit
Dinner: Sloppy joes, french fries
Night Prep: Make pot pie and stick in fridge, grate hash browns

• Monday, 17th

Breakfast: Eggs, corned beef hash, hash browns
Dinner: Chicken pot pie, au gratin potatoes
Night Prep: ???

A Year in Retrospect

When Ben first brought up the idea of moving to the country, I immediately shot it down. "The country" brought up images of fat old ladies in straw hats, grubby kids playing in the dirt streets, and overalls. After a month or so, he brought it up again. He promised me horses and an orchard, so I promised him one year.

"If I can't get used to it in a year, we'll move back." I told him. He agreed.

A year later, here we are. I can't say I'm fully adjusted yet. However, I am realizing that many of my pre-conceived notions of "The Country" are wrong. And, despite my city-girl-half, I do believe I'm starting to like it out here.

However, I still don't have horses or an orchard. Grr.

Now, what's changed in the past year? Lets see...

1. "Food" used to be whatever came in a box from the supermarket or whatever drive-thru was closest. Now our meals are 90% from-scratch... and we still eat out, but less often.
2. Spiders were cause for panic and screaming. Now, I gently shoo them back into whatever corner they came out of. Or else squish them if they're in my way. Or if I'm feeling ruthless.
3. Owning chickens used to be the tagline of a joke. Now we have about 70 of them. (Have you ever heard a bad rooster try to cockle-doodle-doo? Oh man, it's fully. They sound like they should be shot.)
4. Corn used to come in a can or in a feed bag. Now, we skim the fields after the harvest and pick up missed cobs.
5. I used to wonder who the heck heats with wood anymore? We have electricity for that! Well, guess what? Now, we have a wood stove. And I'm realizing how much misplaced faith we have in electricity.
6. Fat old grannies in straw hats? Yea... they exist. But they're nice, and they share fresh vine-ripe tomatoes with us. I think I can handle the straw hat. :D
   

Pregnancy update - Yay, third trimester!

I want to say this pregnancy has been worse than Mori. Both in mental exhaustion and physical discomfort. I don't know if it's because I'm chasing around a 1-year-old, running a household, and going to school while pregnant or if it has something to do with the actual pregnancy, but either way, it's rough.

I get days like today where I am just unable to do anything. I want to do things. I START to do things. But two minutes into it, and I'm either out of breath, having a contraction, or just mentally unable to continue.

Even standing and folding laundry is a huge task. Add in having to chase around Mori, keep her out of the kitchen sink (she's learned to move the chairs around and climb... hurray... feel my excitement?), pull her out from behind the futon... you get the idea.

It's days like this that I am ashamed to admit that Mori watches disney movies... for a good part of the day. It's not something I'm proud of, but it is darned convenient.

Yesterday, we re-arranged the livingroom. It's been about a year since we've moved any furniture around, and I was getting antsy. Ben was amazingly helpful, listening to me and moving all the furniture where I wanted it. He didn't argue or ask questions or anything. It made me feel really good.

So, now, the desk is right across from the window, which allows me to sit in the sunlight in the morning. We put the futon across instead of against a wall, which splits the room into two quite effectively. The second half will turn into either a play area/toy storage area for the kids or a dining area with our diningroom table. I haven't decided which would be more convenient. Right now, the kids don't have a play area... but at the same time, our table is stuffed into the kitchen with very little room to negotiate.

So, we'll see with that. However, this setup makes me happy and seems like it's more organized, and maybe a bit more 'zen'. It also condensed the living area of the living room into a smaller, more family-friendly area.

Once it's fully cleaned up, I might post pictures. :)