CSN Stores Again, and a giveaway

Can we say procrastinator and indecisive?  I've been working with CSN stores, just like nearly every other blogger out there it seems (CSN has been busy in their promotions department!) but never managed to order anything to review, because there is so. much.stuff.  Seriously.  Lighting, shoes, toys, office supplies, baking supplies, dining room furniture, bedroom furniture...what to choose?  If you guys haven't checked out CSN, or don't know what I'm talking about, you should take a peek.  Their dining room furniture is gorgeous, and while I love my table (and my tablecloth!)....our Sunday family dinners are about to swell again, up to 13 regulars, plus friends (and with 3 adult/teen kids, there are ALWAYS friends in attendance.)  Our table + folding table is already feeling a little crowded.

ANYWAY, I ordered something to review, and I'll show you that when it arrives.  CSN contacted me again- would I like to do another review or giveaway?  Ummm...yes?

So.  Leave a comment on this post to be eligible for a $40 gift code to CSN stores, good for ANYTHING they carry (but not shipping.  Because...they don't carry shipping.  Make sense?)  I'll draw a name on Monday, August 2nd!

--Myrnie

---Edited: PLEASE remember to include an e-mail address, if you don't have one set up on your profile!  You don't have to spell it out: something like madebymyrnie(at)gmail(dot)com is fine.  I want to contact you if you win! :)

Walking and Heart Beats

What I did this afternoon, while the girls played

You guys are so fun, I love sharing happy news with you :)  Thanks for all the well-wishes.  I am half a week from being officially "second trimester" and am so happy to have energy and enthusiasm back.  I didn't realize how sluggy I've been...until I wasn't.  heh.

I went for a walk tonight for the first time in a long time, and stopped to say hello to a friend from our former congregation who is expecting her fourth in September.  She proudly showed me around her garden, and we had a great chat.  I've been realizing that I'm an introvert (which I knew) and that I've been lonely...and you know what, my friends have too.  Definitely need to be better about reaching out and contacting people- we got so wrapped up in our own concerns the past few months, with my pregnancy and my husband's new company.  I've been lucky to make some amazing friends in this area, and I want to keep them!

My second "baby" appointment was this afternoon- it was amazing to hear that tiny heart beat for the first time.  The baby was lined up perfectly with my own bloodways, and we could listen to both our heart beats together.  I had to laugh to myself- you and me kid, we're in this together.  It's a little weird to me to be in a new duo separate from everybody- it's just me and the baby, growing together, for the next 6 months until we finally get to meet.  That feels very holy to me, as it should feel.  It was nice to hear the heart beat- it always make the pregnancy real to me.

Do I Look Fat to You?

Aunt LoLo says I don't. But she also says I don't look pregnant, so then I whack her up side the head and go eat another piece of pie. Because that's the appropriate response to darn near ANYTHING when you're 3 months pregnant.

Although so many of you have written to me to say "Haha! You sound just like you're pregnant!" (See: copious mentions of food aversions and sloth-like behavior) this hardly seems like an announcement, but hey! Now it's official! (And after realizing that my baby grew from the size of a green olive to the size of a PLUM the last two weeks...well, that would explain the sudden need to cook, wouldn't it? Sakes alive, I've been hungry!!) And, umm....this ALSO explains my sudden insanity.

To everyone with whom I have day to day contact....I am truly sorry for how crabby I am, and please don't try to speak to me until I've eaten. It's not pretty.

Meals for the Week

I did it, I wrote it down...so this is me, making sure I don't forget that I have ACTUALLY planned meals for this week!  (Plus....I admit that I forget that I know how to cook sometimes, and come to read these archives to remind myself: "Oh yeah!  I DO know some good recipes!"

So.  There's a lot more meat this week than I normally include, but my freezers are out of control*, and I'm trying to work on that before summer passes me by and I haven't done any stocking up!

Saturday: glass noodles with shrimp and cucumbers

Sunday: marmalade roast chicken, green salad with vinaigrette, boiled potatoes with green onions and sour cream, cherry (?) pie, mint ice cream (Shred extra chicken for frozen casseroles)

Monday: (bread making day) grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, mochi for dessert

Tuesday: (egg day- I trade piano lessons for eggs) biscuits and fried eggs, sausage

Wednesday: spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread

Thursday: fish sticks and mac and cheese

Friday: sandwiches?  

Into the Freezer: chicken for casseroles

Out of the freezer: cherries, shrimp, mint, chicken, cooked ground beef, fish sticks, sausage

*It's so bad, I'm going to write an entire post about it.

Tired

If you hadn't noticed....I've  been kind of...LAZY the last little bit.  Hey, it's summer!  Today totally whooped me, but we had fun!

Aunt LoLo e-mailed me last night: "Hey!  Let's make jam!  Tomorrow!  Come, bring the kids in their jammies, let's do it!"  Aunt LoLo is nothing if not impetuous...and welcoming.  Mimi and I managed to sleep in till 8:15 (don't be too jealous, she had too much cheese yesterday and was up from 3:00 to 4:30 crying), so by 9:30 we were dressed and at LoLo's doorstep with all my canning gear, pounds of fruit, recipes, jars, freezer jars...we were quite a sight to see!  The kids splintered off into pairs and we didn't see them until they got hungry again, and we got down to business- I'll have to poach some pictures from Aunt LoLo when she puts them up.  I'm sure there's at least a good shot of my weeny child-sized hands and some madly boiling jam.

We made a double batch of my favorite raspberry-rhubarb freezer jam, and a double (plus a little more) batch of my favorite strawberry jam.  The strawberry jam was pureed completely, because I was using frozen berries, and they always seem a bit like foam rubber when you cook with them later, so I thought I'd just take care of that issue right away!  Two hours start to finish, we had a clean kitchen and a small army of filled jars.  Since most of my canning up to this point has been done alone, after the kids go to sleep, this was a very welcome change!  I still can't believe we got it all done so fast- it probably helped that only one recipe had to be processed in the water bath.  Four hands sure speeds up the process!

The kids got lunch (Ernie was in tears, because she never got BREAKFAST, which she specifically told me this morning she intended to skip when I offered it, but she agreed to eat breakfast for lunch and ate 5 bowls of Cheerios.  And felt much better.  Umm...wow, kid.)  Home for naps, tidy the kitchen, help a Costco fairy unload a trunk full of pantry staples (thanks for saving me a trip, among other things, Dad!)

I should tell you, my dad doesn't mess around at Costco.  I mentioned tortilla chips, he bought two kinds plus a double pack of tortillas.  All bases are covered!  Plus strawberries for the girls, three kinds of flour because he couldn't find the one I'd mentioned until after he'd picked up two other kinds, 2 kinds of soymilk for the Meemster, raspberries, enough cheese to keep us in pizza and pao de queijo for a LONG time, and loads of other goodies.

Loaded all the grated cheese into 2-quart bags for the freezer, gave the girls a snack, transplanted some badly neglected plants into the garden, and got dolled up for a date with hubby!  We missed a 5:00 session at the temple by about 15 minutes and so had until 6:00 to enjoy dinner in the cafeteria- I know totally romantic dinner, but it was the most time I'd spent with him all week so it was a perfect thing.  (I didn't pick up a dessert in the line, but I totally should have- those ladies know their way around Jell-O, and I'm pretty sure it was an ingredient in at least 5 different desserts!)  The man who was serving the food behind the counter was pretty funny- I don't think he heard very well, so it wouldn't have helped to ask, but he practically drowned my plate in gravy.  In hind sight I would have begged off the from-a-mix gravy and just grabbed a bit of butter!  (I had yummy baked parmesan chicken pieces with mashed potatoes and a salad, and the husband had a really veggie-heavy bowl of clam chowder and a soft roll and an ENORMOUS fudge-topped brownie.  I don't think I could work at the temple and eat there every day and not end up looking like a house!)

Oh man.  This post is so long I'm getting tired again.  Sweet Aunt LoLo came and gave the kids dinner and put them all the girls to bed even Ming Wai (she finally agreed to a sleep over, I just finished listening to the girls giggle themselves to sleep.)  We'll have pancakes in the morning, and Friday's in the bag!

Glass Noodles with Shrimp and Cucumber

In search of a dinner for tonight, I thought about the "glass noodles" (mung bean thread noodles) that I keep in the pantry- they're quick to make, love sauces, and don't heat up the kitchen. Granted, our 65-and-cloudy days don't CARE if the kitchen is heated up or not, but I do! Tonight I had cucumbers, basil from the garden, and "poached shrimp." Gosh, I love that euphemism for "I filled a pyrex cup full of water and nuked some frozen shrimp." Drained and set aside to cool on ice, they were pretty good. The girls topped their noodles with just cucumber and yoshida sauce, but the sweet chili sauce and soy I coated mine is was perfect. Do you like spicy? I do. Nuanced, and balanced with something else sweet or smoky, I love spice!

This takes about 20 minutes from pantry to table, dirties on pan, and some bowls. Definite win!

Serves 4
Glass Noodles with Shrimp and Cucumber
4 bundles glass noodles (mung bean thread noodles)
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, chopped a few times into large pieces
cucumber, halved, seeded, and sliced
5-10 shrimp, cooked
2-4 Tablespoons oil
basil leaves
Sauce (sweet chili sauce, soy, terriyaki, etc.)


Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a wok over high heat until it smokes- add the onions and garlic, and stir for a few minutes until they smell good and are softened. Scrape into a bowl and set aside. Add more oil to the wok if you need to and let it heat. Add noodles and stir fry quickly until translucent, about 2 minutes- they want to stick together, so stir and separate and lift as best you can. Scrape noodles into a bowl and set aside.

Let everyone make their own noodle bowls, and top with sauce.

Chatty

• I signed off of Facebook a week ago today- I was surprised it had already been that long!  I'm glad I did- if you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit OCD.  (Or CDO...right?)  A constantly updating stream of information just isn't a good companion for me!
• With all the novels I read, I'm thinking I should set up a deal...1 substance-free fantasy story, 1 gardening book.  One book about Girls Who Do Things, one church book.  At least I've worked my way through the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and have started back at Genesis!  Good thing I'm a fast reader, at least for brain-candy YA books.  I'd guess I read...about 100 pages an hour?  I finished the big honkin' Harry Potter book (was that #7?) in about 5 hours, maybe 6, back before Mimi was born.  

She likes to read too- read herself right to sleep!

• I realized yesterday that boys and I just don't get along.  Once, as I sat in the lawn chatting with a friend, her 20-month-old picked up a softball-sized rock and lobbed it at the back of my head.  Yesterday, awfully proud of a little 5-year-old boy who agreed to come up front and help lead the junior primary in "Do As I'm Doing" I got him to pound my fist in the hallway yesterday while we picked up kids from the nursery.  Pound it once!  Pound it twice!  Pound it again!  With a "good job" I turned away to go through the nursery door...and he pounded me in the stomach.  No more punching!  Ouch!  Obviously, I was a bit nauseous through sacrament meeting yesterday- ugh.  
• What's on your to-do list today?  I have kitchen work (we're out of chocolate syrup, yogurt, and bread) and some gardening chores- my cilantro and lettuce bolted over the weekend, and my bibb lettuce didn't get watered and flat-out died.  I have some plants that need more space, so hopefully they'll be transplanted today, and some seeds that I need to just sprinkle wherever I can find space- cosmos, carrots, baby's breath, sunflowers, hollyhock, nasturtium.  It might be too late....but it's still so cold outside!  We had a week of 90-degree weather, and we're back to the 65 and cloudy.  
• I let the girls go to a birthday party instead of taking their regular naps.  It was fantastic- pizza, rainbow cupcakes, a pinata, and enormous park, and Ernie's best friend was there too.  Is it terrible that she never actually played with the birthday girl?  They're not very good friends, but they were school mates and the birthday girl was included in Ernie's recent celebrations.  There were tons of kids there, all splintered into little groups of 2's and 3's doing their own thing.  
• We gave the little girl a store-bought present.  On the one hand, it was nice for the gift to not stand out...but on the other hand...it didn't really stand out.  Ernie was confused when we were leaving and I showed her the gift I had packed in a bag.  "But Mom...we BOUGHT that!"  "I know, but did you make her a present?"  "No..."  Wish we'd had our act together a little more.  What do you think- we love giving handmade gifts, but I'm sure most of her friends prefer dolls and toys from the store.  What do you give for gifts?

(My kids would be over the moon with a basket of rocks...but maybe not everyone would be?)