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Bored

This is what I made today out of boredom. I have a fancy writing tablet for my computer, and this gave me a chance to play around with it.

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Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Recipe

We are members of a local Farmer’s Market, so we get lots of produce each week and then have to figure out what to do with it! Since it’s Fall, we are getting gourds like crazy, which I will not complain about because I LOVE them!
Here’s the latest thing we did with our weekly pumpkin: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese.
3 to 3.5 cups of uncooked small shells
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups skim milk
1 cup of pumpkin (We used real pumpkin because we had it.)
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup Fontina cheese
1/4 tsp sale
1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/8 tsp black pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 375F. 
  2. Cook pasta in boiling water. Drain.
  3. In a pot, melt butter. Whisk in flour and milk slowly until thick. Let cool.
  4. Add pumpkin puree and mix into pot.
  5. Add cheeses, salt, nutmeg, pepper into pot. 
  6. Combine the sauce with the pasta, then bake for 30 minutes. Let cool before enjoying!
It was pretty good stuff! I am thinking the canned pumpkin is probably going to make it more orange and give it more “pumpkin flavor,” because they use a combination of tasty gourds for canned pumpkin (–that’s right. It’s not actually pumpkin in the can!). 
I would make this again and play around next time with pumpkin pie spices to see if that increases the Fall flavor. 

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Freebies – Tack Set

Everyday at work, I have to make a little graphic here and there for something I’m working on. Sometimes it’s a post-it note or arrow or something, but I always think about the awesome resources that are online. Unfortunately for me, I can’t use a lot of the free stuff out there because my company is commercial, but it got me thinking…maybe I should make some little graphics for other people to use.

Maybe it will help others for websites, blogs, bulletins, etc. If you want to use these, that’s cool. If you want to credit me, that’s cool, too. Just send me a comment!

Tackset.zip

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Stuffed Animal Organizer

So maybe I’ve been Pinterest-ing a little…but what a good way to organize stuffed animals! They always seem to fall off shelves and take up space on flat surfaces. Tada! Thanks, Peter!

By the way…if I knew that blackout fabric was this cheap, I would have totally made my own blackout liners for the white curtains we just bought! Just wanted to write about this in case anyone is reading and doesn’t know this either :).
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How Do You Do, Third Trimester?

Today marks the beginning of the third trimester. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. Everyone says the second trimester is the best, because your energy has returned, and you’re not that big that you can’t move or breathe. I’m starting to feel the weight of my belly lately. I know I may not look that big, but an extra 15 pounds can really make a lot of difference when it’s in the middle of your body!

My legs are still killing me in the middle of the night. It is really quite pathetic…. Trying to put pants on in the morning is probably comedic relief for Peter. Just lifting my leg high enough to put it into a pant leg is torture, so there is lots of moaning and groaning. Luckily the lower back pain has subsided (for now), so I am crossing my fingers that I might have a few weeks without this stupid leg pain, too.

Peter and I bought some white curtain’s for the baby’s room this weekend and hung them up with a new curtain rod. They look wrinkly for now, but I think I am going to put the word out there that I’d really like a fabric steamer for my birthday :).

If you are easily offended stop reading now! While we were hanging up the curtains, I sneezed and peed a little. It was the first time that happened, and it made me laugh really hard. Peter thought it was funny, too. I guess I should carry an extra pair of underwear with me now — especially if this becomes a daily occurrence. *Crossing fingers — please don’t let this be a daily occurrence.*

My little owl lamp arrived in the mail, and it is perfect for the room! It lets off just enough light that changing diapers will be fine, but it’s not too much light.

This weekend we went to visit some friends down in NC, and we had a great time. It’s so nice to see them being successful with their pizza business. The place seems really popular, and the food is delicious! If you are ever in the OBX, stop by Pizza Stop. Yum!

Also, my grand-mom and I went to Panera to pick up some pastries, and I grabbed a Pumpkin Spice Latte while we were there (decaf). It was pretty good!! I would rate it higher than 7-11 lattes and somewhere below the Starbucks ones…but totally good enough! I highly recommend trying it. They also have delicious pumpkin muffins if you are a pumpkin-lover, which I am.

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Flipping

I took for granted the ability to flip over in my sleep. These days I find myself waking up, wanting to flip onto my other side, and having a hard time getting the momentum needed to make the flip.
I’ve had a lot of soreness around the spot where my legs connect to my torso, which makes my legs feel like dead weight in the middle of the night; this just makes flipping even more difficult.

It normally turns into some late-night grunt fest. Don’t get excited, folks. Grunting helps get the momentum you need to flip. This is what I’ve learned.

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Week 26-27 Belly Pictures

Jeanne has been asking for belly pictures, but I still have not gotten used to my growing physique. So here are a few pics of this past week.

Week 27 – Day 1
Blurry but you get the idea 🙂

Week 26 – Day 6
Yes, it’s a bathroom pic.
My mom wanted to see my new shirt.

Week 26 – Day 7

By the way, after months of wearing Old Navy clothes that have been way too big and haven’t fit me right…I think it was totally worth it to buy a few good essentials from Motherhood Maternity. Now I feel like a somewhat normal woman again :). It’s just not Fall without cute sweaters!

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Owl Love Discounts!

I just wanted to share that ModCloth.com is having a deal right now where if you sign up for a new account, you get $20 your order of $50 or more. (Here is the referral link if you are interested: http://sharethelove.modcloth.com/a/clk/4r1Lcc)

This was very exciting news to me, because I’ve been wanting this owl lamp but didn’t want to spend $56.99 on it. Now my order was $40, which makes me not feel so bad about it. Yay!

Nocturn Owl

Plus this fulfills my need to buy something for the baby’s room. Now I feel accomplished. This child will have a lamp.

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Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops

I am a huge pumpkin spice fan, so I decided to experiment one day and see what happened with cake mix + can of pumpkin. Every time I bring these cakes/cupcakes/cake pops somewhere, people always tell me how great they are.

Since a bunch of people were asking for the cake pop recipe for the Pumpkin Spice cake pops I made for Rachel’s bridal shower, I figured I’d post it!

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Just follow the directions on the cake box but don’t use water. Use the can of Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Mix in its place. For example, if it calls for 1 cup of water, use 1 cup of Libby’s.

You may need to check on the cake a few times, because it slightly alters the cook time but not by a lot.

Once the cake has cooked, I took it out of the pan while it was hot, put it in a mixing bowl, used a spatula to chop the cake into little crumbs, and then let it cool.

Once cooled, I added half a tub of vanilla frosting to the mixing bowl of cake crumbs and rolled this mix into little cake balls.

Then I took the cake pop (lollipop) sticks, dipped them in melted chocolate, and quickly inserted them into the cake balls. You only need to dip them about 3/4 of an inch or so. The melted chocolate on the sticks helps “glue” the stick to the cake.

Next, it helps to freeze or cool the cake pops in the fridge to help them stiffen up a bit. After about 20 minutes of being in the fridge, dip the cake pops in melted chocolate, and sprinkle as needed. You may have to tap the cake pops on the side of the melted chocolate bowl to get the excess chocolate off.

Let cool in a styrofoam block.