Daily Ramblings - 23 weeks already!

Typing this, I realize I am 23 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  That puts me so close to being in my third trimester already and I have no idea how that happened!  So, in the second half of 2012, and the second half of this pregnancy, time to take a quick moment to breath and recap what's been going on.

Second blue for most of the walls, first blue as the accent.

Things are trucking along on the preparation front.  Our living room already has a small collection of hand-me-downs from family and friends who are trying to offload their own baby gear.  Meanwhile, the bedroom is in the midst of being painted.  Deuce spent all day Sunday playing watch-cat in the hallway (seeing as we wouldn't let him in the room for fear of him ending up with blue paint streaks, or decorating with blue paw prints).  The lighter color is all done, and this weekend we'll finish up the accent wall in the darker blue.  Next step is replacing the carpet (which looks like it was installed well over a decade ago and is in dire need of replacing anyway).  As husband's grandmother said - it's like buying a dress.  Next thing you end up needing new shoes, handbag and jewelry too.  Speaking of jewelry...pregnancy swelling, accompanied by sweltering heat outside, has resulted in having to take off my wedding bands for the time being.  It's been 2 days and I honestly miss them.  I'll be getting a cheap placeholder this weekend. 

The hospital tour has been done, complete with making husband carry around the pack of Huggies that we won in the raffle.  I was hoping it would help the concept of baby sink in for him seeing as he doesn't get the pleasure of having the little one bouncing around on his bladder.  Next step is to look through all the books my friend just gave me.  Husband gets a copy of "My Boys Can Swim" as some light bathroom reading, while I get the more serious task of formulating some kind of "birth plan" (a/k/a best laid plan most likely to go awry).   

I miss sushi.  While tempura rolls and baked scallops are still delicious, a fatty piece of yellowtail nigiri has never sounded so good.  It's so hard to resist the bacon wrapped hotdog vendor in the parking lot outside of Big Lots.  I want to dive face first into a venti iced (and Irish) coffee.  I could really go for a medium rare filet. 

In more crafty stuff, I'm making great progress on the cross stitch piece, and nearly done with the blanket that I've been working on.  For those of you who are knitters, I'm sure you can sympathize when I say that I hate seed stitch!!  Only 10 more rows and I'm done though...I can make it!  My sewing space is non-existent right now, but I am still formulating crafty plans (which I will likely never find the time to execute) in my head.  I want to sew blankets, and accessories, create wall art, make a mobile (airplanes or hot air balloons?), sew ridiculously cute baby pants out of ridiculously cute boy fabrics.  The list goes on...

As I look forward to the next couple of months, I realize that there just seems to be so much that I need to do - baby related and otherwise.  This year has been a whirlwind of a time, but a wonderful one where I'm truly excited about the next chapters to come. 

Daily Dish - Carrot Cake

Having mastered the pumpkin muffins that I shared last year, round 2 in my mission to learn how to bake is carrot cake.  Yes, I could have gone for something less involved, but where's the fun in that?  I'm still amazed that I actually made this, didn't burn it, or have it collapse on me.  It's not the most beautiful thing I've ever produced (i.e. I have no frosting skills) but it tastes damn good, so we'll call it a success!

I reviewed quite a few recipes online and read some of the comments/suggestions, and came up with the following recipe. Enjoy...

Carrot Cake 4 eggs 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups all purpose flour 2 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp ground cinnamon 3 cups grated carrots 1 cup chopped pecans 8oz can pineapple (drained) 1 cup raisins Preheat oven to 350.  Grease and flour two 9" pans.   Beat eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until smooth. Stir in carrots, raisin and pineapple. (I included a couple of teaspoons of the pineapple juice). Fold in pecans. Bake for 40 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean). Cool in pan for 10 mins, then transfer to cooling rack to let cool completely. Frost!  (I used a cream cheese frosting recipe that I also found online, below). Frosting  1/2 cup butter 8oz cream cheese 4 cups confectioners sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract

Next up, I'll probably go back to something more basic. I sense an oatmeal raisin cookie in my future...once I've eaten all the carrot cake that is!