11 in '11

A year-end recap post!  Just in the nick of time, right?  We still have a few hours to go here in the Central Time Zone.

11. Favorite movie you watched:  Probably Toy Story 3.  Easy A was good also.

10. Favorite TV series: The Amazing Race.  It has been my fave for many years now.

9. Favorite restaurant:  Bagelheads.  I wish I could spend every morning there.

8. Favorite new thing you tried: Tie between kayaking and crocheting!

7. Favorite gift you got:  B surprised me back in August with a maternity shirt that says "what's kickin'" and has little footprints on it.  And in the same order, he got me a set of dumbbells, which I had wanted.  He's a really good gift-giver when it's on his own terms and he's not being forced into because of a date on the calendar.  (Although the bathrobe he got me for Christmas is really nice, but I love his unexpected gifts.)

6. Favorite thing you pinned: I have a maternity pics board for inspiration when we did our shoot, which had this picture on it:

Our version: 

We put it on the back of the Christmas card and everyone loved it!

5. Favorite blog post:  I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think it was the post about my miscarriage.  I've re-read it more often than any other, love all the supportive comments, and I've been very open to talk about it with anyone all year.  If you'd rather read something happier, check out when I announced my current (viable) pregnancy.

4. Best accomplishment:  Finishing the Couch to 5k and then completing a race!

3. Favorite picture:  I really like this one from our maternity shoot:

2. Favorite memory:  Probably the night I took the pregnancy test in May (current pregnancy).  I was scared of another miscarriage and also scared of being a mom, but B was so excited and he was like jumping up and down.  (He didn't do this with the first because he was sick and lying on the couch.)  He doesn't get easily excited, so this was really different.  I was thinking back on this memory last week and burst into tears because it made me so happy.  It doesn't take much for that to happen right now, though, since I am ridiculously emotional thanks to being 9 months pregnant.

1. Goal for 2012: Have baby, keep baby alive.  I'm not big on resolutions at New Year's, especially since I have my 101 goal list.


I didn't really intend for half of this list to be pregnancy-related stuff, but it has taken up over half my year so I guess I'll let it go.  I'll be full-term (37 weeks) on Monday, if you lost count!

 

a big meal for just us two

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I don't really like to cook all that much. And this pregnancy obviously hasn't helped. Most nights, B is lucky if there are two options on the table. It's usually an entree and some veggies from the freezer. Sometimes no veggies at all, just a cut-up apple.

But then I decided, at 35 weeks pregnant, that I could and would make Thanksgiving dinner.  Well, actually it was Christmas dinner, but it mostly resembled a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner.  I didn't get too ambitious, but it was definitely a bigger meal than we've been eating lately!  The best part?  I didn't even call my mother for help.  Thus, fulfilling . . .

✔ 37. Cook Thanksgiving dinner with minimal help from my mother

Yes, I even busted out our wedding china!

The menu:

• Roast chicken.  I decided this was more practical (and quicker) than a giant turkey.  One of my aunts had given us some homemade rosemary-garlic olive oil for Christmas.  I opened the present in the morning and decided it would be perfect for coating our chicken!  I then added a few extra herbs.  It came out so tender and delicious.  I mostly just followed the directions on the chicken's packaging and then basted it occasionally.  (My digital meat thermometer is awesome, by the way--it beeps when the meat is the correct temperature!)  Of course, we're still eating this bird 4 days later since it was still a lot of meat. Less cooking for me, so I don't mind one bit.

• Stuffing (box mix).  I only like the stuff that comes out of the bird, so I froze the leftover dressing for later.
• Buttermilk mashed potatoes.  Betty Crocker recipe.  I wish I had made more; these are always a fave of mine.
• Rolls from a box mix.  Hawaiian sweet rolls, to be exact.  They didn't rise as much as they should have, but they were really good.  I had found this in my mom's pantry on a trip home (she lets me go "shopping" when I'm in town), and now I want to find another box so I can try again.

This was before they went into the oven, obviously.

• Steamed broccoli.  I needed a green vegetable, what with all the starches running around.
• Gravy.  This was my nemesis.  I almost forgot about it, too.  I have never actually made gravy before (to be honest, I don't generally like it) and was trying to follow Betty Crocker's recipe for Pan Gravy.  I usually do very well with Betty, and I would probably jump off a cliff if one of her recipes called for it, but this one just didn't make sense to me.  I read and re-read the thing at least 3 times.  I figured out we were going for a roux, but I was a bit rushed at this point and my roux never bubbled.  I added some liquid and tried to bring that to a boil and then everything separated on me.  It went to the table anyway because B was finished carving the bird.  The good news was that the gravy tasted amazing (and even I liked it!), but it was definitely nowhere close to the correct consistency.  I told B that it was "homestyle" gravy because I've decided you can get away with a lot of flubs if you just give it a pretty label.
• Apple pie.  This is only the second time I've made it (see this post for the first).  I followed the same recipe (thanks again to Betty) and had the exact same problem with not being able to get the crust off my work surface.  Sigh.  I cursed at it a bit and then re-rolled it.  I decided on a lattice top so I wouldn't have to deal with that issue more than once.  I am so glad I decided to make my pie the previous day.  We just popped it in the oven for a bit (foil on top) on Christmas night and added some ice cream!

So my Christmas day was spent mostly in the kitchen.  I told B that I was so glad we have an open kitchen/dining/living room area, since otherwise I would have felt like a slave (and very lonely while B played on the Wii).  I think an open area like this will be a requirement for any future house we buy, since I don't like cooking enough to be content in one all by myself while fun stuff is going on in another room.

That was basically my "Thanksgiving in training," and if I ever do anything bigger, I better have some extra hands to help!

  

 

adventures in crochet

Not only is it on my 101 List, but it was also on my "focused" before-baby list. And hey, I think I've found a new hobby I enjoy!

✔ 41. Crochet or knit a scarf

I spent about 2 weeks just learning a few stitches and techniques, using both Crochet Geek videos and a book I got from the library geared toward children (pictured on the right).

 I also had to get someone to help me in person a bit because I just wasn't holding things right (that's my one of my gripes about Crochet Geek's video), and not using the hook to its full potential. My mom and sister sorta showed me when I was home for my GA baby shower.  The book only taught the single crochet stitch, but from the videos I learned a few more stitches.  I'm glad I did all that for a bit and didn't just dive head-first into a project.

I posted on an online forum for some help and was advised to try making a hat before a scarf.  It sounds weird, but it was great advice! It forced me to learn slip stitch/joining, crochet in circles, COUNT, and read a pattern. And it only took me a few days (I did it while we were traveling for Thanksgiving). My stitch got pretty consistent, also.  Here's the hat I made for my niece:

The border was a happy accident.

I knew her head was large, so I added a round or 2.  But then it turned out a bit too big.

Here's the Crochet Geek video I followed for the hat.  The hardest part was the very beginning--I restarted it about 5 times until I figured it out.

After this achievement, I decided it was time to try a scarf.  I joined Ravelry, an online community for knit and crochet with a huge pattern database, got some pretty yarn, and decided on a pattern called "easy ribbed scarf" that looked both simple and interesting.  I mostly worked on it in the car while B drove us various places.

The results:

The pattern actually added fringe to the ends, but my scarf was already longer than what the finished (including fringe) measurement should be.  Maybe I'll put some on later, but this is fine for now.

Pardon my exercise/"birthing" ball back there.

The stitch was a double crochet in the back loop only, which created the ribbing.

Also, while I was at it, I decided to make a simple headband that I'd found by some means or another and thrown on Pinterest.

The tutorial can be found here.

Even if you don't know how to crochet, I bet that headband could be made with a simple braid.  And I think that knot has an official name, I just can't think of it right now, but I'm pretty sure I learned it in Girl Scouts  (sheet bend knot??).

With my scarf and matching headband!

I haven't actually had a need for a scarf here in FL yet  . . .

I now have other crochet projects up my sleeve (including a stuffed animal).  I'm really loving this new hobby of mine!