White bread

Commercial sandwich bread has changed alot in my lifetime. When we were kids, most wheat breads were dry and exceptionally heavy. For the most part, my mom bought the best-tasting of these 'wheat' bread varietals: 'Home Pride' or, if she was really on a health-kick, 'Roman Meal' both of which, in retrospect, are actually white bread with small flecks of wheat and some caramel-coloring. Kinda funny.

I don't remember having every kid's fantasy-Wonder Bread in our house, but we must have at some point because I remember how smushy and thin it was. (Side note: am I the only one who despised (still do) room temp lunchbox sandwiches? Made in the morning, but by lunch time disgusting? Lukewarm turkey or ham...all curled up...dry and translucent mustard and mayo. Bleck. Even PB&J lost all it's appeal by noon. But I digress...and feel a separate blog posting regarding this issue coming on...)

Wheat bread has come a long way since then. Nowadays when I buy sandwich bread, I look for one that has minimum 4 grams of fiber per slice and no high fructose corn syrup, etc. (Gotta get that fiber in to compensate for the LC's , right?!) Modern technology has made it possible to have this high fiber bread with excellent taste and still nice, moist and fresh tasting.

In my adult years, with the exception of buying french or sourdough loaves, I don't think I've bought a loaf of true white sandwich bread. It has been a very, very long time since I've had a sandwich on white, unless it was a baguette or something like that.

Until February. When, for my friend Kara's shower (a tea), I bought Country Potato or Buttermilk or something like that to make English tea sandwiches on. Standing in Costco, I asked a couple buying such loaves, whether it was 'good bread.' With a look of annoyance, the wife said, 'I buy it for him (pointing to a happy looking, chubby guy standing next to her.) But to me it tastes like cake.'

So I bought it and sure enough: chicken salad on cake, cucumber cream cheese on cake, egg salad on cake--and so on. Admittedly tasty, also definitely not as filling/satisfying as a sandwich on wheat (need I even mention, less healthy?) And we do really like good wheat bread in this house. In fact, when I had the white bread in the house for the tea, I made Mike and Audrey some toast with it--but she wasn't having it. ' I want my wheat toast!!!!!' she implored. A proud moment for a mom. When kidlet wasn't listening, hubby confessed how delicious it was and how it made French Toast infinitely superior to that made with wheat bread.

Incidentally, I confess to being very embarrassed to having white bread in my shopping cart. Nowadays, it's kind of like having cigarettes in your basket. Another confession: I almost never buy wheat hot dog or hamburger buns and yet never feel any embarrassment about that. I ponder the hypocrisy...

Nevertheless, today at the market while shopping for sandwich materials (we have no use of our kitchen sink as the surrounding area is being re-tiled), I found myself buying one loaf of wheat...and one loaf of white. Is this the slippery slope to the good old-fashioned American malnutrition and/or obesity? I know a couple friends are rolling their eyes at what they might see as 'holier than thou' food philosophy while others are shrieking in horror, having lost all respect for my culinary discretion. But when all else fails, I ask myself WWTDID? Translated: 'What would they do in Denmark?' And in Denmark it is a well-known fact that 'French loaves' are served alongside the heavy Rugbroed (Ryebread of a particularly dense variety). Ok, so sensible Danish consensus would be that only children and unhealthy souls eat more than one piece of the 'Franskbroed' at a sitting.

Do you buy white bread?

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today the love of my heart turns 39.

An incredible father and husband...Audrey and I are two of the luckiest girls in the world.

I hope you will live a long, long, long time babe. And me too. Because despite your noble wish that I remarry and be happy if you die before me, my friends have sworn a solemn vow to make sure that you never remarry. Moreover, I would haunt you. I'm just selfish and immature like that. :)

Pink

Two pink things going on in our home:

1. Pink muscat grapes = YUUUUUMM.

If you've never tasted them, you must. New Seasons Market has them right now. Somewhat tough skins but an incredible, fragrant, honey-like jelly-ish center. A work of art straight from nature.

2. Pink eye = YUUUUUCK.

***I considered it but will spare you the photo after all***

Audrey contracted her first case of it on Friday. Talk about DISGUSTING! In the space of just a few hours, her eyes went from watery looking, to oozing yellow goo and then crusting shut and red, swollen and blood-shot. Antibiotic drops hastily improved the situation but when her mommy woke up with an ever-slightly-sticky eye, she immediately got herself a prescription as well. Call me paranoid but I do NOT need another malady with the birth of our baby imminent.

If you've never had it, it looks pertty darn ugly.

I'm not so sure about this preschool thing. Feels like paying 100% tuition to send your kid 20% of the time and catch disgusting diseases the other 80%.

Invasion of the body snatchers.

It's a baby invasion, in case you didn't know it. It's kind of crazy, actually. Just among my own friends, here they are (those who are ready to admit it, anyway.)

These are in order of (expected) arrival...

Kara and Ainsley Bea (born in January)

This was taken at the shower I hosted for Kara, after Ainsley Bea's arrival. Ainsley is Kara's 3rd daughter!

Myself

First belly shot back on our anniversary in September--taken in Vancouver B.C.

Funny, how I felt so huge already at this point. Silly, silly girl.

Mrs. Sonja Barclay-Schloss

Ok, this pic was taken last August at Audrey's birthday party and I should show a more recent pic but I'm way behind on keeping my photo albums current.

Sonja's due 2 weeks after me, having a wee-girl--her 2nd daughter. Firstborn, Ava Moon, is super pumped.

My dear, sweet, Gitte

A very, very old picture because I cannot find a newer one. We were last together last Winter, at which time I think we were just happy to be seeing each other amidst the happy rush of Marian's wedding and the depressing overwhelm of all of our kids taking turns being sick. I think we just forgot to take any pictures.

At any rate, Gitte is a very brave (read: crazy) woman who is about to give birth to #4 in July. She's already got one son and 2 daughters. I think she's about to make it 3 little ladies in the house. Just my hunch.

Mrs. Phoebe Elizabeth Fillmore

This picture was also taken last summer (man do I need to take more pictures, or what?) (photo ruthlessly stolen and edited from Phoebe's blog, to crop out her husband. The original photo was given to Phoebe by the photographer, my sister, Kelly Ry who, I'm sure will deeply appreciate her work being massacred like this.)

Anyway- Phoebe is also a brave (read: crazy) woman, daring to bring child #4 into the world--coming summer 2010. She's mama to Henry, Calvin and Agnes. And I think it's gonna be another girl.

P.S. Phoebe says that her Vietnamese manicurists have a 100% accurate gender-prediction rate.

P.S.S. How do these people (Gitte and Phoebe) not want to know whether they're having boys or girls? It kinda bugs me that they won't find out just to appease MY curiosity.

Mrs. Bong. Lindsay Bong.

Just back from Indonesia and one of my favorite peeps here in Pdx, Mrs. Bong is expecting her first child at the end of September. She is already quite sure that her progeny will be gifted due to strategic inter-racial breeding and her birth plan is to have an epidural started before labor begins. Her loving and adorable husband, Koes, read the book 'The Expectant Father', in its entirety, the very first weekend that they found out they were about 4 weeks pregnant. SOOO cute.

Mrs. Julie Braden

This mommy and her hot new hair-do are baking up this long-awaited baby #2, due this Fall. Big sister Sarah is overwhelmed with anticipation and Julie's husband, Matt (Mike's we-almost-can't-explain-how-they-are-related-cousin), is suuuuuper excited about recent health-care reform which will mean that his new baby can now be born into a world where no child will be excluded from insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions. : )

Lucky Charms Philosophy.

Man, I am on a roll.

A blogging roll (hahaha). I figure I might as well go with it while it lasts.

I just have to follow up on this Lucky Charms thing. I had a major revelation about myself and how I've changed...and how I eat Lucky Charms is a true microcosm of that change.

You see, when I was a child and we occasionally got to eat Lucky Charms (it was only a rare occasion. Mom cared that we had 'healthy' cereal most days unlike some 'cool/relaxed mom's' that I know who's initials are K.P. and who always, always has L.C.'s in stock), I always ate the 'boring' oaty-cereal parts first, leaving all of the charms for last. Seriously, I would eat around the marshmallow charms and save them for the end.

As an adult, I just scoop em right up at the same time. I don't save them--no way. Why should I? Life is too short to play it safe and prudent, saving the best for last. Nah, I say eat your charms right away because who knows whether you will even be around in 4 minutes? And if you die before you eat your charms, how lame is THAT?!

* I used to do that with my burgers too--saving the middle for last. And so on and so forth with many things in life....but it's just too darn short.

P.S. I think that there might be a biological reason as to why baby is craving L.C.'s--and it can be found on the packaging, as shown. Folic acid and Iron. It's 50% of my daily requirement of the former and 25% of the latter. I mean, everyone knows that pregnant ladies are supposed to take extra folic acid. And my blood test results showed that I am anemic and need to boost my iron intake. So the way I figure it, these are practically medicinal. Right? (Help me out here.)

Don't you wish...

...that you lived right down the street from me so that you could come over and have a piece of this delicious cake that I made just this afternoon?

It's Pioneer Woman's 'Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.' recipe. It is deeeeelicious. * I left out the nuts on about half of it, adding nuts + coconut for Mike on the rest. It's the kind of cake that you eat hot out of the oven, directly out of the pan with a spoon. No joke.

Baby wanted cake and like Jesus says: if your baby asks you for cake do you give him a vegetable? (Or something to that effect.) Baby has also wanted Lucky Charms lately which, if you know me at all, is against everything I believe in and know to be right with the world. But somehow they just taste sooooo right. And yet, am I walking a very fine line...am I on a slippery slope of hypocrisy since I have to eat them secretly while my daughter sleeps? I'm just not ready to explain why Lucky Charms are like wine or beer. Nutritionally void and not for kids. So until further notice, I sneak a bowl in the office with Mike while she naps...or after she's in bed at night. Man, do I sound like a crazy pregnant woman or what?

Final Days...

Our little pumpkin (still baking.)

I have been getting some serious heat-not only for not blogging but for not sending any recent pics of prego-me. So here you go, friends: a picture taken just a couple days ago, of me and ma' beg bellay.

Realistically, I guess that my being so bad at blogging this past year and a half or so means that there's almost no hope whatsoever that there will be any new posts once our little guy arrives...but like my honey says, 'it's good to set the bar really, really low because then you can only be pleasantly surprised!' Good advice, methinks. So there- the bar has been set very low and neither you, nor I will feel let down if these postings remain scarce. Anything's better than nothing, right?

Admittedly, part of it has been a conscious decision to work on being more 'in the now'--and it's hard to be in the now when you're constantly seeing life through a photo lens or envisioning every happening as a prospective blog posting. But since I'm not on Facebook and I do, dearly want to keep our out of town friends, I'll do my best. I sure miss you guys, by the way...

Update: was just at the midwife today and all looks good. Despite feeling like I am ready to pop, it doesn't appear that I will. At a time when I cannot see any body party below my tummy, am daily asked 'are you having twins?' or 'you really look like you're ready to have that baby!', I will revel in the compliments of my midwife who told me today that she would have 'killed to have a pelvis like mine that was just perfect for birthing babies!' and 'what a lovely, soft and perfect cervix!' One takes what one can get, people.

On a different note, I am quite in love with my midwife, Hellen. If ever I've had a female hero, it must be her. She is an absolute miracle--so kind, loving and nurturing --and WHAT AN EXPERT! Her experienced hands told me that baby's head is very low, that he is laying on his side, and that, despite my 'feeling'--he's not a ginormous child whose birth will make it into the Yahoo! news headlines. In her exact words, "no, he's not a peanut. but he's also not particularly large." We'll see. My nedre regions certainly hope she is right.

Here are a couple recent pics of Audrey--

On Easter--which turned into a 'princess party'...(strange how inborn that stuff is.)

At her first dentist appointment

...and with her Daddy, right after naptime, munching cookies. This happens to be the weekend, but 6 out of 7 days, when she wakes up on the afternoon, Daddy is the only one she wants to see for about 15 minutes. Lucky girl has a Daddy who lets her snuggle up for a cuddle--even in the middle of a work day.

Feet on fire.

I wish I had a picture to show you of how heinous my feet look right now. 6 whole days after removing tape that a physical therapist put on the top of my feet, I suddenly broke out with a severe allergic reaction exactly where the tape was placed. Having showered daily and even been swimming 3 times, it is a total mystery to me how this is even possible. Not to mention the fact that although I've always had somewhat sensitive skin, I have never had any specific latex allergy, etc. No medical professional or specialist has been able to figure out what is going on or cure me. No systemic or topical ointment, natural cure, etc. has helped. Not even a tiny bit.

Can I just tell you how miserable it is to be mega-pregnant and have your feet burning and itching all day and night long, without any relief whatsoever? For 7 days so far. Really, really fun.

A true case of 'when the cure is worse than the disease'. The taping was done to ease my sciatica. Yeeeeeha.