Miami Moment in Kansas

Every morning I eat a piece of fruit for breakfast. Yesterday when I went grocery shopping I saw the most beautiful mangoes. I just had to get a couple of them. You see, I'd never eaten a mango until I moved to Miami. At the school I taught at they had really old mango trees with tons of fruit on them and around this time of year they would start dropping off. Besides fighting the squirrels for them, you also had to fight off the kids for them. Whenever we would hear a thump sound you immediately started running to see where the mango fell. Teachers would get to school at 7am to search the ground for new mangoes. You get the picture. So here I was this morning peeling my wonderful mango that I bought and thinking "ha ha.. here I am in the middle of the country in KANSAS and I'm peeling a mango." It's not as fun as getting one free from a tree though. Honestly, I have missed Miami in some ways. Especially my friends and coworkers and the fact that people like to dance in Miami. I also miss black beans and rice... but one of the things I miss is running toward one of those trees and finding the perfect mango lying there for free. If you've never tried a mango... go and get one!! They are at Super Wal-Mart. :)

Pitching Tents

Caution: This is not for young viewers, so make sure your children are not around when you watch this.

This is a clip of a preacher that has a slip of the tongue that I thought was really funny. I hope you all do not find it offensive.... but I had to post it.

Baby Barreth Update

Well... I went to the doctor today and everything looks good with me and the baby. I'm 33 1/2 weeks along now. The doctor told me that the baby is head down. Now I will go every two weeks for the next four weeks and then every week until we have little baby. She said "you're going to be sick of seeing me" and I said "no I won't, I'm nervous." She told me I'd be nervous in labor and then nervous about having a little tiny person to care for too. So the nerves never quite go away. On a lighter note... I bought a boppy pillow and a sling carrier off of Craigslist for $5 each. (you know me and Craigslist) Anyway... the picture of the bassinet is one I got off of Craigslist too. It's for the first few months when I want the baby to sleep beside the bed. I think it's really cute.

Highly Recommended

I just would like to recommend some products I've been using for a while. No, I'm not a part of some pyramid scam and I'm not going to ask you all if you bought any. My brother-in-law Jake bought me a basket of bath supplies for Christmas and these products are made by a company called Windrift Hill. They use goat's milk for their products and they live in Montana. I have honestly never used lotions or body butters that would even compare with this stuff. It's FANTASTIC!! All I can say is that without this lotion and body butter stuff I would have molted already in this dry Midwest.. not to mention my ever expanding girth. Here is their website. It's interesting to read about the goats at least. Enjoy!

http://www.windrifthill.com/

Songs

These are some songs that I enjoyed today. I'm not sure I totally "get" the fields of gold one, but I love it anyway. I really love the words to the other one.

The Three Stooges

Happy Early Mother's Day

This CRACKS me up!



M is for the moan and the miserable groan
From the pain that she felt when I was bo'n!
O is for the oven with its burnin' heat,
Where she stood makin' sure I had somethin' to eat!
T is for the time that she stayed up nights,
And took my temperature when I wasn't feeling right!
H is for the hard-earned money she spent,
To keep clothes on my back and tried to pay da rent!
E is every wrinkle I put on her face,
And every worry that I caused when I stayed out late!
The last letter, R, is that she taught me respect,
And for the room up in heaven that I know she'll get!

Signs of Spring

I set up Baby Barreth's crib with sheets and the bumper and all today. I got the bumper from my sister and my mom bought the crib. It's the Jenny Lind style. Doesn't it look pretty?
Ben bought me some tulips the other day and they are beginning to open!

We have a forsythia bush in our front yard and back yard. I love the blooms! Do you realize how long it has been since I have experienced a spring? By the way... it snowed here on Saturday and Sunday... not enough to accumulate, but enough. (can anyone say CRAZY?)

Blooms on one of our trees in our back yard. Ben has been out in our back yard faithfully for several days now watering and seeding and walking around in his shoes with the nails. It was warm enough tonight to have our dinner out on our back deck. It was really nice.

Bird house in our back yard.
Things I like about spring:
daffodils, the feeling of really cold water going down my throat, cucumbers that we had tonight for dinner, not having to wear a coat, watching Ben get excited about grass, neighborhood kids coming out to play, thinking of summer and watermelons. As you probably noticed, many of these things have to do with food. What can I say?

Eight Months and Counting

Today I start my eighth month! Almost there and I can't believe it. Here I am in my choir outfit in the backyard. We always joke and say that jacket looks like something the golden girls would wear. I have really grown in my seventh month. I'm starting to feel a bit heavier and like I need to walk like a cowboy. I had a wonderful baby shower yesterday and I'm really getting excited about becoming a mother. Just looking at those tiny outfits blows my mind! I do wonder more and more about whether it is a boy or girl, but it is kind of fun not knowing. The hard part is choosing a name! I "think" we've narrowed it down to two names if it is a girl. It will either be "Gwen Rebekah Barreth" or "Bronwyn Rebekah Barreth". I wanted a Welsh name because Ben grew up over there and my name is Welsh. For a boy we are still thinking and toiling. I like the name "Roman Jack Barreth" and Ben likes "Franklin Dean Barreth". Roman because we spent our honeymoon in Rome and I think it sounds strong. Jack is a family name.. Ben's great- grandpa. We knew a Franklin on Ben's Grandma's side that was a very kind and wonderful man that lived well into his 90's and was married over 70 years when we met him. He made a good impression on us... and plus, Ben thinks it sound friendly. My hesitation with Franklin is that I don't want it to turn into "little Frankie" or "Frankfurter" or something like that. I like the name Dean, but several people have told me they think of Jimmy Dean sausage. AH! Do you see how hard this is? Anyway... we're not sure about the boy names.

Indian Chai (Tea)

Yesterday I had my Indian friend, Sonia, come over for lunch. I introduced her to the world of quiches and she taught me how to make Indian chai (tea). I've had it in restaurants, but I wanted to know how to do it myself. Sonia has been gracious enough to teach me a few things in regards to cooking Indian food (my favorite cuisine) and let's just say it ain't easy. Everything is pretty much eyeballed as far as measurements go. Below I have converted what she showed me into measurements as best as I can. This tea is delicious and soothing and if you use decaf tea bags like me, it can be decaf as well. She said Indian people drink this twice a day... maybe more.

First you start out with two cardamom seeds. Yes, yes, I know... it is not an ingredient you normally have in your cupboard... but it's worth buying! You probably can get them at health food stores for sure, but maybe even Wal-Mart. They are part of the ginger family. Here's a picture of what they look like.
You crush these seeds with a rolling pin or anything you want. The more you squish them, the more flavor you'll get. Then you put 3/4 C of water in a small sauce pan and set temperature to medium high. (I put it on 7 on my stovetop) Then put the crushed seeds in there (including the husks) and also about 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar. When that gets boiling you put 2-3 tea bags in there and let them swim around until the water turns like a garnet color. I pulled the tags off of the tea bags first before putting them in. When it looks garnet colored you take out the tea bags and put in 3/4 C of milk in there. Let it heat up to a nice low boil. (I turned down the heat a bit after taking out the tea bags- to maybe a 5 or medium heat) When it boils take it off the stove and strain it through one of those wire mesh strainers into cups and enjoy!

My friend said that the cardamom seeds are soothing, but if you want a little more spice you can put ginger in there instead of the cardamom seeds. So... if you use ginger (which probably would be easier to find in the store) you take like a bit of ginger the size of from the top of your finger until the first line in your finger and peel it and chop it up. You put that in the water before the tea bags and then just follow the same directions. She said that the ginger one you usually make in winter because it makes you warm from within. Since I'm always hot right now she said that it would be better with the cardamom seeds for me. If you try this... let me know and tell me how you liked it!

Crazy Cycle

Here is the cycle that I am now on almost being 8 months pregnant.

I wake up about every 3 hours desperately needing to go to the bathroom.
I then realize that I am very thirsty so I go over to the bathroom faucet and drink about 10 hand fulls of water.
After I've gotten up, put water on my hands and moved back to bed and positioned all of the pillows I have gotten my heart rate up to like a brisk walk pace.
Just as I've gotten all the pillows in place and I'm telling myself to just take deep breaths and calm my heart the baby starts kicking.
When that stops I doze for about 45 minutes and the cycle begins again.

Ben tells me instead of 10 handfuls of water just to have 2 and it would be much better. ha!

Quiet Times

The pastor at the church we've been attending gave an interesting idea for quiet times. He said that when he first became a Christian he really didn't know how to feed himself spiritually. He'd read the Bible and not fully understand or didn't know what passage to read when he'd sit down for his quiet time. I identified with that. I sometimes go through spells where I don't know what to read and when I do I find it hard to make practical applications. Well... I'm trying out his idea and I thought I'd share it with you all. Basically any passage, including lists of names that you wouldn't normally think would "speak" to you... have something to say about who God is! He set out to read 3 chapters a day, so he'd write three sentences for each chapter he read.

You read a passage and then you write down three sentences.

1. Historical- tell in one sentence what is going on in the passage.

2. Doctrinal/Prophetic- tell how this foreshadows Christ and His Kingdom.

3. Inspirational/Personal- tell how it personally applies to you or a prayer to the Lord.

"The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever." (Psalm 119:160 NKJV)

Nice Meal

Ben and I both enjoyed this dish. This is the first time I've made it. I like making new recipes and trying them out. The problem I find with some of the Rachel Ray recipes is that you have to have so many ingredients that seem "exotic" to me. I mean, who grew up with their mom buying fresh herbs and shallots? Anyway... here it goes. I didn't use the thyme because I didn't have any. Also... if I were to make it again, I'd put slightly less cider vinegar in and I'd probably cut the chicken up into chunks instead of having the breast halves. Also... give the sauce a good 8-10 minutes to simmer to let the apricots get nice and tender. Enjoy!

Chicken with Sweet Raisins and Apricots on Toasted Almond Couscous
from the book "Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats"

3 T extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
4 6-oz boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 T fresh thyme leaves (from a couple of sprigs), chopped
1/2 C sliced almonds
3 1/2 C chicken stock or broth, divided
1 1/2 C plain couscous
3 T chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (a generous handful)
2 T unsalted butter
3 large shallots, thinly sliced
2 T all-purpose flour
12 dried, pitted apricots, halved
1 C golden raisins
2 T cider or white wine vinegar (eyeball it)

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 T of the EVOO (twice around the pan). Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and chopped thyme. Add the chicken to the hot skillet and cook on each side for 5 to 6 minutes.

Toast the nuts in the bottom of a medium sauce pot over medium heat until golden. Transfer the toasted nuts to a dish and reserve. Return the pot to the stove top. Add 1 1/2 C of the chicken stock and the remaining tablespoon of EVOO, cover the pot, and raise the heat; bring the broth to a boil. Remove the pot from the heat. Add the couscous and parsley to the stock, then stir. Cover and let the couscous stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the cooked couscous with a fork and toss with the toasted almonds. Cover to keep it warm while you make the sauce for the chicken.
Remove the chicken from the skillet to a plate and cover with foil. Return the skillet to the heat and add the butter and shallots. Cook for about 2 minutes. Dust with the flour and continue to cook for 1 minute. Add the apricots, golden raisins, and cider vinegar. Whisk in the remaining 2 cups of chicken stock and turn the heat up to high. Simmer the mixture until thick. Add the chicken back to the skillet, coat in the sauce, and heat the chicken, about 1 minute. Serve the chicken and some sauce over the almond couscous. It makes 4 servings.

Baby Barreth's Room

Well... here is the final product of the footstool for the baby room.












Here are the pictures that are hung in the baby room. The pictures are bad because the flash is reflecting on them.











Here's another picture hung in the baby room.













Here's another... just in case it's a girl. :)













Here's a puzzle I glued together.













The changing table.


















I bought these floating shelves for one section of wall in there. I think they turned out pretty nice. The sign says "Home is where your story begins." I also have a 4D sonogram picture of Baby Barreth in the frame.















Here's the rocking chair area. This rocking chair was given to me by Ben's grandma. It was her mother's chair. I like the history behind it and I think it's beautiful. Notice the snazzy footstool. :) That lamp there is one I had in my room through high school and I used to love it because it gave a nice pink glow instead of a harsh light.














This is as you are standing in the door. The crib is not 100% together. You can see I have some pressed flowers in the window in a frame. My mom got me that one spring. This is the baby room so far.

Aerating the Yard - Ninja Style

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of all this do-it-yourself stuff indoors, Spring comes along and there are a hundred other jobs to do outdoors. The latest pain-in-the-butt has been the grass in our yard. We had several places where water accumulated over the winter and I thought we might have a drainage problem. However, I read on the Internet that I might be able to "aerate" the soil to remedy soggy spots and help grass grow deeper roots etc.

I could have rented an expensive super-industrial-strength-power-aerator from Home Depot. But I'm cheap. So first I bought a "garden cultivator" ..... basically a stick with cowboy spurs on. It's *supposed* to aerate your yard, but they forget to tell you on the box that you have to apply a great deal of pressure, as if a female hippo is wearing tiny little cowboy boots on your yard. Cute idea, but it takes a HUMONGOUS amount of effort to aerate a patch about as big as one lawn chair. Not cool.

Although it looks big and scary up close...













From far away you can tell it's just a little stick with some spikes on... pretty pathetic if you want to grind up 9000 square feet of dead grass in your yard. Admittedly this thing scared the poop out of my mom's dog Rusty, so that did give me some satisfaction.









Anyway onto our story. So I've been researching online about these sandals with spikes coming out that you simply wear when you mow your grass and they aerate the lawn as you walk. My grandma (fountain of all wisdom) said that my Aunt Jo tried something similar but considerably more red-neck by hammering nails through her shoes. This struck a certain chord with me that I can't explain. Maybe it's because I had previously glued sparking metal to the back of my shoes for fun on my scooter. Maybe it's because I'm cheap and didn't want to buy the real thing. Maybe it's because I need one more stinking project to keep me busy. Who knows.

So of course tonight I spent an hour hammering nails through my shoes to surprisingly pleasant results. Enter, The Dragon, baby! (Bruce Lee reference for those over 60 reading this)















... and here's a ninja pose for those who want to try this at home:


















Now all I need is about 8 hours to walk around my lawn in circles. Hopefully the neighbors won't call the police or anything. I know what you're thinking: what an awesome way to save a whopping $17 bucks right! .... And as long as I don't step a rock when I walk and the nails don't back-protrude into my heel it barely hurts AT ALL! Yet another home do-it-yourself project executed flawlessly.

New Projects

My newest projects included planting some beautiful pansies my mother-in-law bought for me this weekend. I have one pot on the back porch and one on the front. Aren't they beautiful?
Also... I am recovering and painting a little footstool for the baby room. I am going to paint the wood white and then I'm going to recover the cushion part. Here is the before shot.

and this is the fabric I chose. I know, I know, it looks a little like "hey! I'm eccentric!", but I don't care. Those things on there are little blue coral bushes. :)

Billy Belly

For those of you who may not know my husband that well let me tell you, he's really funny. Although I don't think he'd categorize himself as a musician, he is very musical indeed. He goes around much of the time singing some song that he has made up or modified. For example, the other day he got an e-mail from a job recruiter (he's trying to help my brother get a job) named Shane. He then spent the next 15 minutes singing "Shane Shane Shane...Shane the recruiter" to the tune of "Chain of Fools". What ended the 15 minutes of Shane the Recruiter was me laughing and telling him to stop. Below is a wonderful example of a song that Ben wrote. To get the full effect you need to hear the tune and all. I'm still working on him letting me film him singing it, but he's a bit reluctant to do that just yet. I tell him it could be the next craze on youtube or something. Oh, and by the way, I asked him to sing it to me a while ago so I could write down the words. Anyway... Billy Belly.

There was a boy called Billy Belly
He ran away from home
He wouldn’t listen to his mommy or daddy
Wanted to go it alone
Billy Belly barely bit a bit of jelly
Walking down the road
His mom and daddy calling out after him
Billy Belly come home

Billy Belly belly big
Billy Belly barely become
Billy Belly bad he be
Billy Belly come home

Billy Belly robbed a store that day
Stole a Cadillac
Needed money for the long journey
Wasn’t coming back
Billy Belly barely bit a bit of jelly
Driving down the road
Shiny car filled with lots of money
Billy Belly come home

Billy Belly belly big
Billy Belly barely become
Billy Belly bad he be
Billy Belly come home

(bridge) Billy… Belly… come home
Billy.. Belly… come away
Billy Belly’s gone alone
Billy Belly’s gone insane

Headin’ south toward the border goes Billy
To get away from the crowd
Feeling good, Billy’s on the Tele
Nothing to stop him now
Cross the road to get some fries says Billy
Hit by a truck
Falls over and dies poor Billy
Must have been bad luck

Billy Belly belly big
Billy Belly barely become
Billy Belly bad he be
Billy Belly come home

An Easter Story I Forgot To Share

The church we have been going to for about a month had three services on Easter morning to accommodate visitors. Ben, Pam and I went to the first service at 8:30. The pastor made a comparison between Jesus and the Passover lamb. He emphasized the perfect timing of all of that and much to our surprise he brought out a real 3 week old lamb. It was so cute! Right at the point where the pastor was reading how the Israelites would kill the lamb it started bleating! He took out a big machete and I thought it my head "if this guy kills that lamb, I'm not coming back here." Fortunately, he didn't kill it but used fake blood to show how the Israelites did the door frame and stuff. Something I didn't know was how well sheep can see. The human can see about 170 degrees around themselves, but a sheep can see about 270 degrees around themselves. Wow! After that service I told Ben I don't think I can ever eat lamb again, but today my mother-in-law bought lamb chops at the market, so I don't think it bothered her.

On another note, today when we went to the market I was looking at all these spices that this guy had and I saw one called "funugreek". I asked the man what you use that spice for and he said "well, it helps new mom's milk production." I had never heard of that before! He said to boil it and then eat it with honey. I happened to be going to a baby shower tonight, so I took some of that funugreek and put it in a baggy and put in a honey straw and an article as an extra present to the stuff I already got her. (by the way, you're not supposed to eat it while pregnant because it's supposed to be a uterine stimulant- don't worry I let her know) So when the moment came for her to open her present and she pulled out the little baggy you can imagine my face when she said "is this pot?" and then as I was laughing I tried to explain what it was!! Stuff like that happens to me all the time. Oh well....

Thoughts on a Thursday

Over the past few months I've been going to an aerobics class for pregnant people once a week. Last night before we started we were comparing belly buttons and talking about how we felt and about decorating baby rooms. Everyone's experience is so different and I was thinking last night before going to sleep that I need to try to write some of the small things down so I can remember what it feels like for me to be pregnant. How fast the time is going! I'm sure I'll feel that way when the baby comes too. Anyway... so here are some things to remember about how I feel at this point of my pregnancy.

1. It feels like I have a very large coconut lodged in my lower abdomen that I have to kind of figure out how to bend and move around.

2. When the baby moves it sort of feels like when your eye twitches. I often feel it move as I am waking up in the morning now. I like the gentle reminder that it is there and it is growing.

3. Although intellectually I know a baby will come out in a few months, I feel like when it does that it will be the biggest shock of my life to see a person with eyebrows and eyeballs looking at me.

4. Last night the aerobics leader was asking this other girl and me (our due dates are about 3 days apart) when we were going to a childbirth class. The other girl is going to one and I have decided not to go to one. My doctor said I could choose and the funny thing is that I don't feel guilty.

5. Naming someone is very difficult... so I hope our baby is happy with whatever we end up choosing.

6. I haven't really had that many cravings to speak of, but here lately I really want grapefruits really bad.

7. Sometimes my lower back feels very tight and warm showers seem to help.

8. The borrowed baby bed came yesterday and I'm anxious to see what it looks like set up.

9. I find some similarities to being pregnant and getting married. I used to say that if you go into a bakery and say "I'd like a cake" they'll say, "that will be $20." But if you make the mistake of saying, "I'd like a wedding cake" they will look you square in the eye and say, "that will be $300." I've found having a baby can be a time when a lot of people buy a lot of stuff for emotional reasons and I try to keep everything is perspective.

This is me on Easter morning.

The Hawk is Back!

... and he's hungry! (cue scary music)

So this afternoon I saw the hawk in our back yard again, only this time he was EATING SOMETHING! Not a brownie or popcorn folks, but something that USED TO BE ALIVE!

Since this hawk is clearly here to stay I think we're going to have to come up with a name. So I've preemptively named it (i.e. without Meredith's approval) "Bob" the hawk.

Very exciting stuff. Here's the video: