December Wrap-Up

For the month of December, my theme was cookies and candies. Instead of overloading a post at the end of the month, I wrote up a couple throughout so it wouldn't be so overwhelming -- for you or me! So if you're interested in checking out some great cookies and candies, I've linked you up to my posts where I wrote about them. Enjoy!

But first up, we'll start with my Mom. This month she made some Raspberry Truffle Brownies. I was lucky enough to get to try them!! She sent some to me in my Christmas box and I absolutely loved them! It was a good thing I only had a certain amount because I would have been tempted to eat the whole pan. She got the recipe from Current several years ago, but this is the first time she's tried them. So glad she did! Here's her write-up:
Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Brownies--Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9" square baking pan. Brownie Layer--1 1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips, 1/2 c. butter, 3/4 c. brown sugar, 2 eggs, 2T. coffee (opt), 3/4 c. flour, 1/2t. baking powder. To make: Melt choc. chips w/butter. Cool slightly. In a large mixer bowl beat brown sugar and eggs 'til blended. Add choc. mixture and coffee and beat well. Stir in flour and baking powder. Spread in greased baking pan. Bake 30 minutes or 'til wooden pick comes out clean. Cool. Truffle Layer: 1 c. semisweet choc. chips, 1-8oz. pkg. cream cheese softened, 1/3 c. red raspberry preserves, 1/4 c. powdered sugar. To make: Melt choc. chips. In a mixer bowl beat cream cheese and preserves 'til smooth. Beat in choc. mixture and powdered sugar 'til fluffy. Spread over brownie. Glaze: Melt 2-3 squares of white almond bark and drizzle over truffle layer. Chill 2 hours. Cut into 25 bars. Cover and store in the refrigerator. These are a nice Holiday delight change from a regular brownie; brownies period are rather hard to beat anytime as we all know.

At the beginning of December I made Chocolate PB Ritz, PB Buckeye Pretzel Bites, and Candy Cane Delights.

A couple weeks later I had a bake day with my friends. We made Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Oreo Truffles, Chubby Hubby Truffles, and Fudge.

So there you have it, eight holiday recipes-- maybe one or two you've never tried before! And lucky for me, I got to sample all of them :o) Happy New Year's Eve!

To life... full of sweet things!

Monday Musings: Part 20

Yesterday was Sunday, and Christmas. At the end of the day I was pretty excited because I knew that tomorrow (today) I wouldn't have to wake up to go to work. We have the day off. And I was looking forward to sleeping in and being able to relax some more. Then it dawned on me, in just a few more weeks, this will be true for me every Sunday. What?!?! We'll go to church Sunday morning, relax in the afternoon, and possibly start going to the evening service, but I will no longer have to gear myself up for waking up and going to work come Monday morning. It's such a strange thought! I mean, I haven't been in the work force that long, but it's been enough that I have become accustomed to going to work every Monday morning. The weekend only lasts so long before it's time to get up and start the work week all over again. But now? Now it's all going to be different.

Trust me, I am well aware that taking care of a newborn baby is hardly going to be comparable to an extended weekend :o) I'll actually get less sleep, maybe even be able to do less around the house for awhile, and I definitely won't be getting my one-hour lunch breaks. But I think I'm ready for the change. It's not going to be easy. Sometimes it's not going to be fun -- poop explosions, yeah? I'm very much a realist and don't live in the delusion of -- "Oooooh, a sweet little baby. This is going to be so much fun - cuddling, cooing, and the world will be a magical place!" But I am very interested to see what life IS going to be like once Baby Z arrives on the scene. What will his personality be like? Is he going to have hair? Curly hair? What color will his eyes be? Will he like taking baths? Will he be a good eater? Will he suffer from acid reflux? Will he be allergic to dairy like his dad? It's hard to imagine there's this small human being growing inside of me, yet I know nothing about him! I can't even see him, all I know is that he seems to enjoy rolling and stretching, at least from what I can feel. AND, according to the ultrasound from last Thursday, he has some pretty cute chubby cheeks. Ha ha!

To life... full of the final 37 days of coupledom!

Merry Christmas!

The Birth of Jesus Christ
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Luke 2:1-20

One of those days...

This morning was one of those mornings where you wish you could crawl back into bed, turn off your brain, and see if something better turns up tomorrow. It wasn't that anything bad happened. No one said anything mean to me. It wasn't even a bad day of traffic on the way to work. I chalked most of it up to pregnancy hormones, but that didn't make me feel any better. About midway through the morning I went outside to do an errand I realized it had been several weeks since I had taken my usual lunch break walk. For a number of reasons, it just hadn't been happening... the week before Thanksgiving I was sick, then it was Thanksgiving, then the weather turned cold and rainy, then I got sick again, and so on. I put two and two together and realized that I just needed to get back out there and soak up some chilly sunshine. So at lunch time I zipped up my jacket and put on my boots and it was wonderful!
I really enjoy walking because it gives me a chance to clear my head. I spend a lot of time praying; telling God what's on my mind; working through confusing or stressful situations. And today, I think that was exactly what I needed. It had been too long since I had gotten out there, of my own accord, and just walked.

This line of thinking reminded me that it's going to be important to do the same thing once Baby Z arrives. I'll need to spend time alone, exercising, processing -- any, or all of the above! And in recent weeks I've also been realizing how much I miss my regular running/exercising routine! Truly! I know many people who would laugh at that, but I honestly can't wait to get back out there and run! Walking HAS been a nice change of pace and I've enjoyed being able to take a day off if I feel like it, walking slowly, trying some yoga for the first time, just the more leisurely pace of exercising while pregnant. But I can tell I'm starting to get the itch to start up again. And if things are mostly "on schedule" I should hopefully be able to start up again in March which will be a nearly perfect time of year to get out there again!

Making these connections and processing my thoughts, I also realized in just over a week it will be time to ring in 2012! I haven't given my New Year Goals much thought, but I think over the next week I will start combing over what I've accomplished this year and see what I can come up with for the next. I love writing down goals and achieving them. I don't think I've ever had a year where I've achieved every single one, but that bothers me very little. Because accomplishing one or even a few of them feels successful in my book! Have you thought of anything you might try to achieve next year? Maybe you can join me in the coming days with reflecting on this past year and gearing up for the next one. I know our lives are about to change immensely in 2012. What does 2012 hold for you?

To life... full of changes!

Monday Musings: #19

According to my pregnancy ticker, I have 44 days to go until we meet Baby Z. I remember how excited I was when I finally hit 199 days to go... now where did those 155 days go? I'm not sure, but they passed a lot quicker than I expected. I feel like I could have used my time more wisely. Like, why didn't I go ahead and make the burp cloths for him when I wasn't so tired and the holidays weren't taking up my evenings with sending Christmas cards, wrapping gifts, cleaning, and baking?

In the next 44 days we will be celebrating Christmas, New Year's, moving (packing and unpacking), buying his crib and setting it up, *hopefully* purchasing a glider/rocker and a dresser, setting up the nursery in our new apartment, taking a hospital tour, going to doctor appointments, along with our usual work schedules. I have an inkling that the time isn't going to drag, but rather that I'll be catching my breath trying to finish a project when I tell Lovebug it's time to go to the hospital! I admit, I think I might be thankful for the busyness because I've heard from many women that those last few weeks can really drag because you are getting so anxious to have the baby. And I think that would drive me nuts! I guess we'll find out :o)

Baby Z has been moving around a good bit. At the moment, it feels a bit like Dora when she rubs against my legs; except it's a human, rubbing against the inside of my uterus, and using a good bit more pressure. (Good description, yeah?!?) It's strange and cool at the same time! We get to go in on Thursday for another ultrasound. I'm excited to see how much he's grown! I've been reading that he should weigh around 5 lbs. and be 17-18 inches long! That's going to be a huge difference from our last ultrasound 15 weeks ago!

Tara and I had a combined baby shower at work last week. It was a lot of fun! We had some wonderful food and got a lot of nice things to use for our little ones.


Thanks to everyone who made it a special day for us!

To life... full of a flurry of preparation!

When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

Last Saturday a couple of my friends came over to join me in some more holiday baking.

There was a lot of dipping... we melted vanilla almond bark and covered pretzels.
Then we melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and dipped more pretzels!

We crushed up some oreos, mixed in some softened cream cheese, rolled them, and then DIPPED them into semi-sweet chocolate AND vanilla almond bark.

If you're wondering why it seems like the girls did most of the work, it's because they did :o) I was feeling a little under the weather, so I didn't want to get my hands all over the rolling and dipping and share my germs. I stuck to mixing and making the fudge since it required cooking.

This was my favorite combo of the day!

We tried a new recipe Chubby Hubby Truffles. Pretzels, peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, and DIPPED in chocolate!


These babies were not as easy to roll into balls. The mixture was a little dry, so I added some more melted butter, but they were still pretty chunky. They simply had character...

And after a couple years of trying different recipes, I asked my mom for her fudge recipe. Well, technically, I got it from my sister (thanks to both of you!) and have decided, I shall try no other recipe. It was creamy, chocolatey, required no thermometer... it was just plain delicious. I've already made another batch to have on hand over Christmas weekend.
We had a fun day and each got quite a few treats to eat and share!

To life... full of melted chocolate!

Monday Musings: Installment 18

Being sick is not fun.

Being sick while you are pregnant is even less fun.

It makes reaching for the kleenex box - which is just out of reach - painful, because you've stretched too far.

It makes the many trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night more annoying because you get up, go, come back to bed, blow your nose until you clear a passage so you can breathe again, situate yourself on your pillows just right, roll over because you're not comfortable, mouth-breathe for awhile so you don't feel like you're suffocating, try breathing through your nose again, get annoyed because you hear yourself breathing, finally drift off, and then pop your eyes open because you realize you already have to go to the bathroom again.

It makes you more tired because not only is your body fighting off the sickness, but you're pregnant too, so it's like a super-sleepy tired. But for three nights in a row I woke up right around 2 AM -- alert and hungry. It's the first time I've actually eaten something in the middle of the night while being pregnant! Then I wasn't able to go back to sleep so I read for awhile. It was so bizarre for me because I've pretty much NEVER had trouble sleeping, especially when I'm sick. But while awake, I came to the realization that in approximately 8 weeks, I'll probably be up around that time feeding, consoling, or changing my baby's diaper. When I thought of it that way, it didn't seem so bad :O)

Last night I slept the best I had in 4 days. I woke up this morning feeling SO much better. I'm still on the mend and definitely not 100%, but I'm thankful I'm sick NOW and not during my Christmas break and hopefully not when Baby Z arrives!

To life... full of emergen-C packets and hot chai tea!