If we had a pet

Chad and I do not have pets, nor do I think we will ever have a pet- too much responsibility. If we did however....this would be our pet.

You can see more photos on http://www.kittywigs.com/ My new favorite " I need a good laugh" website.

FYI, most of my plans for Saturday were ruined when I found ANTM marathon...oh well!

Happy Memorial Day! Would you like to come over for a grilled Hebrew National hotdog and chill on the new deck???? Yum!

Off to a good start

First of all, I hope the hope the birthday parties for Bella Rose and Anna are a big hit!!!!

I love when I'm productive on the weekends. When Chad's out of town (he's in Ashville, NC and Greenville, SC this weekend with his other 80s band, Stone Cold Fox) I can either just do nothing or I get a lot accomplished. So far it looks like this will be a good weekend. I made cupcake for my good friend Ty Finch's daughter's bridal luncheon this morning. They're supposed to be a deep red to match the dresses, but...red's hard to make, so I went the pink route :-) I did burn the cupcakes yesterday and had to remake them- oh well, you can't do everything! if you've ever taken a cake class, this is just tip 2D from Wilton. It's so easy- you squeeze and this cute flower comes out. People think they're hard to make, but it's all in the tip....

Chad worked so hard on the nursery this week. I am in LOVE with the carpet in there- it's like you're walking on a cloud. Here are a few pictures of the nursery so far....

Note the deadly bumper..... looks dangerous right????

...and the wall o' storage with the Murphy bed. It needs a little paint, but it'll work for now- so easy to lift and fold back into the wall- yeah Chad!!!!!

Off to drop off the cupcakes. I'm aiming to come home, plant flowers around the mailbox, pressure wash the front walk, and potentially make a baby blanket for Corey and his wife Randy's new baby. It'll be here before I know it, and baby William won't be far behind. Those are the plans, we'll see , I may end up watching America's Next Top Model- there's got to be a marathon on today and taking a nap.

Treats for pregnant women.....

Using my new found link skills thanks to Sunday.....

I should've put this in the original post- Today is Bump Day at Baskin's Robins- yep, I'll be there tonight :-) Free soft serve for all girls with a "bump" I wish it was the mint chocolate chip.....

Getting ready

So we are in full speed ahead mode getting ready for baby William at our house. Chad has just about finished the nursery- he did an awesome job getting the Murphy bed and all of the cabinets built. Hopefully the whole thing will be finished by this weekend and I'll be able to get some pics up. We went to Lowe's to look at carpet and they had unfortunately mispriced some super thick, super sweet, plush carpet as this cheap berber, so we bought it :-) It was a steal. I should maybe feel badly about the pricing error, but the flooring zone manager- whatever that is- priced it and cut it for us, so..... I don't feel too bad. Chad's putting in the carpet today- and it was so cheap, he's doing our bedroom too- yeah! I LOVE new carpet!!!!! Check back this weekend for pictures of that!!!

We went to our first baby class last night. It was the last in a series at the hospital where we'll go, but I didn't want to take all of the other classes- who wants to see how big the epidural needle will be? Not me. I just wanted to know what you do with them when they get home- so we skipped everything except for this class. They had cake and all kinds of party stuff- apparently for the "graduation." Here's Chad behaving with the baby.....

And one of Chad playing around trying to make the baby look like it was taking notes.....

Chad was enamored by the babies- well, baby dolls. Ours was not the cutest, he was squinty eyed, but Chad played with him all night, while I, the mother, took copious notes on how to care for the baby. Apparently you can't use bumpers anymore. Someone should've told me before I remade mine about 4 times to get it just right. It's monogrammed minky fleece- we have to use it! I'll think about that one. Chad has become a professional swaddler. At the end there was a table full of babies- it was kind of creepy.

One more baby class for us this week- my doctor, Dr. Storck (yes, that's really her name- adorable right?)- asked me to go this one so she'll know more about it. It's called- get ready- "Expressions"- I'm thinking it's about signing with your baby- nope it's on pumping. Chad may not be quite as enthusiastic about this class...... It's Thursday night and we're going to go look for birth announcements from Hatch Show Print before class- that part I know he'll love.

I'm still having a hard time figuring out how to do links for the blog and how to make text line up beside the pictures.... Any help???? Sorry for the poor photo quality, we took pics at class, well Chad did while I was taking notes, :-) but used his cell phone. When I downloaded them I found some other cute ones I thought I'd put up here.

Sweet Maddie after a UGA game.....

Her dad, William, rockin' the jean shorts at the beach back in the day..... I think this is a photo of a video tape paused- I just thought it was funny :-)


By the way if you're looking to kill time at work, click on Sunday's blog and check out her pictures from a wedding this past weekend. I hope this mom looks that good when baby William is about to turn 1. Happy Birthday to her sweet Bella Rose!

Nesting

OK, I am in full on "nesting" mode. watch out! Last week it was the yard, this week it's the nursery. Well, I'm cracking the whip on Chad, which to me is a form of nesting. Chad is making a murphy bed - one that folds into the wall- for baby William- well for when he's older, but I want it now :-) It will be cute! He's doing a fabulous job and is also building a complete wall unit out of it so it will look like built-in cabinets- but you'll have to wait on pictures of that! He did get out the router Monday night to do the edges of all the doors, so I think secretly he is enjoying nesting too.... he even told someone on the phone that he was busy making something,"for his son"- that's the first time we've called him that- he's always baby William. It was funny to hear....

OK, I'm not only nesting for baby William, I have been working on koozies for Anna's third birthday party- it was only going to be a few, but turns out she's quite the popular three year old in Mobile and now there are 31 kids coming. I'm just glad it's Kack's house and not mine. Check them out- all the cool kids in Mobile,AL will be kicking back their...wait what do three year old's drink???? Regardless it will be cold this summer and it will have their name on it... Of course I was slack and didn't cut the strings off most of them- sorry MK, you will have to do that yourself next week before the big shindig.

My favorite toy has been getting a workout lately making the koozies and other things- The Babylock- my monogrammer Chad let me buy two years ago when we finished and sold our first house- a burned out 1939 in a historic part of Nashville. Here's a quick before and after-

The babylock has been working overtime to do the koozies. Not to feel left out baby William has been getting his fair share of things. well I actually made the first thing without his name on it the other day. He has matching bibs, burpcloths, and changing pads. It's almost too much, but I LOVE it. He will one day look back at pictures and hate it, but it makes me happy to look at how pretty, white, and unstained they are right now- oh and pressed. I'm 100% positive I will not iron his burp cloths after the first use, but for now I like to fold and press them- they look so perfect that way! here's one set- I know it's a little girly, but hey, he's a baby, he won't mind the bow on the changing pad, right????

Last thing- back to the yard.... what's going on here? Check out my vincas- something is putting holes in the leaves and munching at the flowers- any ideas? It better not be slugs or I will salt the whole flower bed......

Job well done....

Happy Mother's Day!

We have had an exciting and productive weekend- I love those! Dad and Bets were here and we put them to work! Dad graciously weedeated..is that a word???.... everywhere for us :-) and then helped Chad with the deck. We're 11 boards shy of having a new deck- maybe it'll be finished this week.


They brought their #1 helper- Princess or Roni Dog- whatever you want to call her. It doesn't really matter because she can't hear anymore- but she helped as best she could- she's a good supervisor. Well, not really, because she can't see or walk- but doesn't she look cute???



Dad and Bets brought strawberries up - just look at them- you can't tell me they don't look yummy!!!! Betsy and I made tons o' jam. I did learn a trick- add 1/2 teaspoon of butter to your berries when they're boiling and it doesn't foam- Why? I don't know- I'm waiting for Alton Brown to do a show on jams to explain the science behind that one....
For Mother's Day Chad did a little tree work for me....luckily there were no trips to the ER- A branch came down and somehow it threw the weight off the branch Chad was working on and well- here's where the ladder ended up- with Chad on top. He made it down and I felt better when he just took out the real saw and chopped up all the branches into little bits so I could pile them on the street. Job well done by Team Perry.

Old bananas

Old bananas may be one of my favorite things. You can make them into milkshakes, yum....Smoothies- the healthy version of a milkshake- yum, or banana muffins which is what I plan to do with this old banana. It has been sitting on my desk all week at work. I've been meaning to eat it, really I have... But it was too green, then a few days later I wanted cake instead of fruit, so now it's almost bad- perfect for muffins. I'll make them in the morning with a new recipe from Courtney.

My dad and Bets are coming for a trip this weekend with princess- my old puppy. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice, dad and Chad can finish the deck..well almost finish it. I saw a deck with a cool bench surrounding it, so I think we need that- item # 1002 for Chad to do!

Bets and I will be attempting to make strawberry jam from berries they are stopping in Greenville at Beechwood Farms to get this morning on their way up. Fresh strawberries-Yum- they may be better than old bananas..... If I knew how to put a link to Beechwood like everyone else adds links I would..... so sad.....

If you are in the neighborhood, stop by- you could sterilize jars(how fun!) or just grab a jar for your morning toast....

mmmm, poundcake

So sad!!!! This is our last peiece of poundcake from last weekend. It was so yummy, and so bad for you, and we loved every bite of it! After several requests here is "my" poundcake recipe. Well, really it's William Rutherford's(who needs a blog...and baby William's namesake) grandmother's recipe, but I entered it into the Williamson County Fair and won with it, so it's the one I use.... Enjoy!

Ready Betty’s Pound Cake

Ingredients:
2 sticks margarine (room temp)
½ cup Crisco (room temp)
3 cups Sugar
5 jumbo eggs (room temp)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure lemon extract
1 cup whole milk
3 cups cake flour
¾ tsp. baking powder

Directions:
Cream margarine and Crisco together
Add sugar a little at a time and beat well
Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Add vanilla and lemon extract to the cup of milk.
Combine flour and baking powder
Alternate adding mild mixture and flour mixture (sift this as it is added). Start with milk and end with flour.
Lightly grease and flour pan. Add batter to pan.
Place in cold oven. Set oven at 325° F and cook for 1 ½ hours.
Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean. I always find it takes closer to 2 hrs, but then again this is one of the four things I can cook....

FYI the top of the cake is the best- you know the crunchy part. Don't let your husband try to eat all of the top- it wouldn't be fair. And it's extra yummy when it's cold, like straight from the fridge cold, with a big glass of milk...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it..... A pregnant girl should npt post recipes- now I want to make it again.

April Showers bring.....

Our big project this week was "landscaping" one side of the yard. My "to-do" list for Chad has about 101 things on it- and he despises yard work. I did however manage to get him to dig a lot of holes and pick out some plants last weekend. We got them in the ground and got it mulched with a few flowers this week. We have had so much rain in TN the last few months- I guess I shouldn't complain, but I'm ready for the sun! OK, so here's the before and after pic of the yard...

All of the plants are Minnie Pearl style right now, I need to cut the tags off. It doesn't look like much, but it's a HUGE improvement and I really

appreciate Chad's digging :-)

While we were driving to the Home Depot to get plants I saw this and thought "Baby William has to have this!" Now Bets and Dad have said they'll get us "any" swingset we want. I wish they meant this one, but I'm almost positive they didn't. We could pay for college or get this.... Maybe on Sundays when the store is closed we can sneak in and let him play on it :-) What kid wouldn't want this????

Baby William did get an awesome surprise in the mail- a sweet ride from The Best Friends Club in Mobile (Mary Katherine, Anna, Paca Mike, Jammy, and Sue-Sue, Shelly- the whole gang...if she had a blog I would put a link to it ....) The box talked about it being the "Ultimate Jogging Stroller for the High Performance Athlete"...uh, I guess that's me- a high performing athlete :-) I do like to eat Clif Bars- does that count as being high performing??? It was a wonderful surprise and I can't wait to put him in it and cruise around the park near our house. The picture's not that great- it's bright yellow and navy blue- perfect!...do you see the new deck in the background????

Chad and I are going to be busy working on the nursery and new deck before dad and Bets get here on Friday. Here are a few starter pics- I'll post after pics as soon as we have them.

Man, this is a boring post, but...maybe things will become more exciting this next week.