Family issues

It's official. My dad is moving out of the house Friday. He didn't even stick around long enough to make it to the 1st therapy session which happens to be on Friday. I'm so mad at him. I just want to yell at him or something. I wrote him a short letter but I didn't send it. I'm too emotional right now. What part of Til Death Do Us Part and Forsaking All Others in the marriage vows did he not understand? 33 years later at that!! I just don't get it. I've lost respect for him. He's hurt my Mom and he's hurt his family. It breaks my heart to hear my Mom cry. It breaks my heart that the marriage I've always looked up to as one to strive for is breaking up. I don't know how to move past it. I don't want to talk to him at all. I don't even want to see him. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be very hard this year. What do I say to my boys when they want to know where Grandpa is? I can't believe this is happening to our family. If you pray, please pray for our family and for me. I'm taking this pretty hard and the last thing I need is to get stressed out. I'm sure I'll be better tomorrow but tonight is tough.

It's the Great Pumpkin!

Am I the only one who doesn't "get" Charlie Brown? I never cared for the shows when I was little and I still don't. What is it about CB that everyone loves? I know it's a classic and all but I still don't get the appeal. I did let the boys stay up and watch the Pumpkin one tonight. All I can say is that they did sit thru it. I'm looking forward to Christmas when all the good classics come out!

Speaking of pumpkins, we carved our tonight. Let me rephrase that- I carved them tonight. Logan told me what to do but neither of them would stick their hands in there to help pull out the guts. My 2nd one didn't come out so great. I was using a Mickey Mouse cutter (came with a kit) and the pumpkin got too thin inside and started breaking. Oh well...it's only for another day and then the trashman gets it. Here is a pic:

Pregnancy update

So I'm 19 weeks now! Only 1 week to the halfway mark. I've had a cold for the past couple of weeks and with it came one of the most unaPEEling parts of pregnancy. One I never had to deal with before- peeing when sneezing or coughing too hard! Ugh!!! Seriously, I do my Kegels. Guess I better start doing more!

I did feel the baby kick outside my tummy the other night. That was very cool! It hasn't happened since but I still feel a lot of wiggling going on in there.

There is a big advantage to being pregnant and that's that you can send your hubby out for donuts at 9pm and he'll go willingly. I guess it could be that they sounded really good to him at that moment too.

And finally, despite the late night donuts and McDonalds I've had recently, I've still only gained approx 12-13lbs. Yea! I know it will go up quickly in the 3rd trimester but at least I know I'll lose it once he/she is born- or most of it at least. I lost all my pg weight the last 2 times within 6-8 weeks of giving birth. Hopefully the trend will continue!

School Zones

Why do we have them? Noone seems to care that the big flashing yellow light means SLOW THE HELL DOWN!! Everyday I see people fly right through them without even touching their brakes. Where are the cops when you want them? Thankfully, at the time I go through them, the schools are already in session so there are no kids around but I guarantee these same morons would probably fly through regardless. On a different note, I really hate that the Brandon High school zone is still flashing 90min AFTER school's been in session. Do they really need it that long?

Again? and more misc.

Now our new room's AC is out. WTH?! I guess the power outages and surges we got this weekend fried the electronics inside so it only blows air- not COLD air. Glad it's under warranty! I still have to deal with 86 degree temps in this room for a few days. Argh.

Big news is happening with dh's job. I can't post anything at this time since noone else knows yet. I'm really hoping things will look up for the business and dh too. More to come on that...

Ahh what else...I had a teacher conference at Logan's school last week. Academically, he's far ahead but he's always happy to do schoolwork and never complains about being bored so that's good. They said he's a joy to have in the classroom. I was told he is an immature 5 yr old though. I never really thought about it but what they said made sense. He cries alot, he doesn't do as much for himself as he should before asking for help (ex.opening packages at lunch) which is very much my fault and we're working on that, he has a problem with staying on one thought and he has periods when his brain just doesn't seem to connect to what you are saying. Like he's told to line up behind the line leader and he goes to the wrong door. When you point it out, he looks at you blankly. I can only work with him on a few of those, the rest will come with time and patience I guess. Maybe this is the maturity gap "they" talk about between boys and girls? I have no idea.

Pregnancy update- still no pictures. I suck. I'm 18 weeks though and I'm really starting to feel the little pops/movement more often. I also feel Braxton Hicks which I don't remember feeling with the boys. Our big U/S is on November 19th! Can't wait!!!!

That's all I have at the moment- boring I know. We can't all be as witty as Julie. LOL You'll just have to love me for me.

Food & Wine Festival- Take 2

My GF and I went to the F&WF today. Just the 2 of us- NO KIDS! Yea!! Unlike last year, I couldn't do all the fun rides but we did do a few new things. She had never been on Maelstrom in Norway or the Journey to Imagination, never been to Club Cool or the Innoventions buildings so I got the show her around a bit. She liked the watermelon soda at Club Cool the best, not so much the Beverly. LOL She was okay with it until the bitter aftertaste. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.


Peru...Arroz con Pato- Roast Duck with Cilantro Rice

New Zealand...Marinated Seafood Salad - Chilled Bay Scallops, Shrimp and Squid in a Lime Dressing (One of the favorites of the day-sorry it's blurry)

France... Escargots Persillade en Brioche - Provence-style Snails with Garlic and Parsley in Brioche (this was my Fave and gf's fave on a different level- we went back and had seconds!!)

Germany... Spaetzle with Creamy Mushroom Ragout

China... Pork Pot Stickers & Chicken ShaCha with Peanut sauce


Spain- Spicy Calamari Stew with Saffron Rice (sorry blurry- hard to see if it was in focus)

Canada...Maple Custard with Almond Crumble, Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup


India...Indian Rice and Coconut Pudding (this was good last week and terrible this week. It tasted like the fruit had gone bad or something. Almost fizzy tasting too. We tossed it after a couple of bites)

Driving home


Oh and for Julie and her people watching hobby.
This is what pedicures are for people!! Ewww

Congrats

To the USA women's gymnastics team for winning the gold in Worlds and to Shawn Johnson for winning the gold in the all around! What a cutie she is too. I can't wait for next summer's Olympic games!!

Foodies

Our family went to the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot (Disney) today. We go a couple of times or more usually each year we have passes. We ate and ate and ate around the world today. Tried a lot of new things- some good, some not so good. I didn't take any pics of the food but here's our breakdown if anyone is going soon.

New Zealand-
Lamb Slider (Roasted Lamb with Mustard Sauce on a toasted roll) The roll wasn't toasted and the mustard sauce had no tang to it, much less flavor. The lamb was very good though.
Kiwi and Custard Roll- dh and the boys liked it. It was much too mushy for me. The flavor was okay though.

Greece-
Greek Salad with Pita Bread- this wasn't as good as last year. Not enough olives in it. Logan liked it though. It didn't have a lot of onions this year though which to me is a huge plus!
Spanakopita (Savory Spinach and Cheese Pastry) this wasn't as good as last year either. Not enough cheese to it.
Karydopita (Walnut and Coffee Cake) it was good- reminded us of carrot cake without the icing

France-
Quiche au Fromage de Chèvre (Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato Quiche) This was very tasty. I didn't care for the sun dried tomato on top personally, but dh loved it.
Coupe de Sorbets (Champagne, Framboise and Chocolat Blanc-Champagne, Raspberry and White Chocolate Sorbet ) Yum!! This came in a glass like a trifle- all layered together. You could try each individually or the 3 together. Either way this was good. Even the champagne flavored one was delish!

Oklahoma- Route 66
Pecan Pie- dh loved it. I'm an okay fan of pecan pie in general but it's never my 1st pick. It was good though
Peach Buckle- dh loved this one even more. It was like a pie but the crust seemed to be like a thick shortbread. Needed more peaches IMO.

Turkey-
Meze (Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Eggplant Puree and Turkish Black Olives with Pita Bread)- the salad part was okay and dh ate the olives but we both thought the eggplant puree was nasty!!
Manti- (Spiced Beef Ravioli with Yogurt and Paprika Butter) this would have been better without the meat in it IMO. Not something I'd get again.

India-
Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Paratha Bread- dh enjoyed this but I didn't care for it. Needed salt or something. Bread tasted like stale pita bread.
Samosa with Tamarind Sauce (Spicy Pea and Potato Pastry) I really liked this one. I wish the tamarind sauce had been warmed up though. It was ice cold. Dh enjoyed this as well.
Indian Rice and Coconut Pudding- Everyone liked it. Very creamy, great flavors!

Ireland-
Chilled Potato Leek Soup with an Irish Cheddar Cheese Stick- YUM!! I wasn't sure about cold soup but this was very good!!
Boxty Potato Pancake - with Bacon Chips and Kerrygold Garlic and Fresh Herb Butter- Won't get this again. I didn't expect it to be filled with some kind of veggie too. I expected something very different. The potato pancake itself was okay as was the butter.
Irish Cheese Plate and Brown Bread with Apple Chutney and Kerrygold Irish Butter- Dh ate this and liked it. The boys loved the chutney. It was too syrupy sweet for me. The butter was well... butter!

There were a lot of new culinary displays to see as well as new entertainment and crafters. They seem to have stepped it up a bit this year. If you have a chance to go you should!

Just for you

Since Julie thinks my mind is somewhere else, here's a new blog. The reality is, I haven't felt like there was much to talk about as you'll soon see. Ha!

Let's see...the boys are both better. No more sickies in the house. Logan never did get his birthday party as he was sick that day as well and I had to call everyone and cancel. Robert reinstalled all our flooring and did a darn good job! There are a few finishing touches that have to be made still but hopefully we can get it done and get the house semi organized. He also fixed our dishwasher. He's turning into quite the handyman. Who knew?

Logan is enjoying school. He's learning bible verses and all kinds of cute new songs. I really wish I could afford private school for him next year but I have to think of 2 other little ones' educations down the road too. I don't have an extra $4K for Logan's tuition and then multiply that by 3 when the others start school. Come on lottery!!

Ian is a little Handy Manny around the house. Had I not already bought him some Christmas stuff, he'd be getting toy tools for Christmas to play with. He loves dh's screwdrivers, measuring tapes, etc. He pretended to fix our dining room table last night. He also took scraps of the laminate flooring and tried putting them together in the doorway where the Tmolding will go. He's smart in his own little way. I'm betting he'll be the one puttering around the house, fixing things, taking apart things, etc later in life. I'll post pics after I upload them.

I'm nearly 16 weeks now (yes, have to put a pg update!). Can you believe it's been 4 months? I had my 1st midwife appt last week. The baby had a HB of 152. Nice and strong. I go back in another week or so for that oh so lovely PAP and more bloodwork. Can't wait for the ultrasound!!

Speaking of which, my sister finally had hers and she is having a GIRL! I asked if she was sure this time since her ds was supposed to be a dd all the way up until he was born. She said yes though so we'll have at least 1 girl in the family now.

I'm sure there was more I was supposed to post, but I can't think of it now. Be back soon!