the borscht

So the recipe that I used was kinda in my head and kinda referenced the mennonite girls can cook recipe a bit.

I used 4 cups beef stock, 2 cups water and a bunch of glugs of V8 that I had in the fridge. Then there was a half a small cabbage, 1 huge potato, carrots, about 3, 2 stalks celery and a whole onion. Also one pack lean ground beef that was cooked before and drained and a can of tomatoes. AND and dill, lots of dill, some basil, oregano and salt and pepper.

It took a while before it started tasting borscht-ey cause the cabbage needs to give it its awesome flavor. Its way better the next day though.

I prefer it with some sour cream stirred in as seen in my cup of soup.


Sooo good. The sun is shining, I think its time for a walk after this hockey game is over.

Patriotic

We have our flag up in the window today. We only just got it a few days ago, so I thought it would be nice to have up for the last game of hockey and the closing ceremonies. I'm very nervous about this hockey game. We are watching it and waiting for the borscht to cook (that is cabbage tomato beef soup for those who may not know).

I can only imagine how crazy it must be at Molson Hockey house and just downtown. I am staying away from that mess today.

(I used pipe cleaners to tie the flag to our blinds). :)

something different

there, its different. I was getting sick of how it was looking. Hopefully I can make it more personalized later, but this is good for now.

how to be creepy 101

It was hockey night a couple nights ago. It was the night we lost to the USA. Beth and Kathryn came to watch and there was beer and chili and snacks and things. They all had fun it seemed and then we lost. Bummer.

After the game was over, they got on to the topic of how to look most creepy in a photo. To demonstrate, Tony used photobooth to show them how its done.

Tony: "You must always tilt your head down and then smile. As long as you tilt your head downwards, you will look creepy."

Everyone had to get in on the action.

Bunch of creepers...

Olympic fun *Now with pictures*

So the plan was to head downtown for Olympic fun with the family. Unlike so many people who were fooled into taking public transit, we drove into the city. Oh there was no traffic, there was parking and it was awesome to feel like we won.


Had to get a shot of all of us infront of the huge Canadian Flag. I felt so awesome wearing my mittens. Mikaela thieved moms mittens for most of the day. She looked cute with them too. Aria has a Canadian toque that she had from the last winter Olympics.


We were determined to go to the Art Gallery. 1. Its BC's Pavilion, 2. Its free and 3. They've all never been inside it before. Tsk tsk! I am happy to say that I went with Coley and it was awesome. So much for Winter Olympics, Aria calls them the "Spring Olympics". Very fitting as we saw all the cherry trees in bloom outside. It was a gorgeous day out. It must have been like 14 - 15 degrees.



So pretty! The line up was around the block for the art gallery, but it was only like an hour or 45 minute wait cause that line was moving fast. I overheard someone in line say that some people only went in for 1 exhibit. To wait an hour and not see the whole thing seems silly to me. We did it all.


Very cool Technology thing going on in the BC part of the Art gallery. Touch screens are awesome. I was also thinking in my brain how everyone touches it of course...promptly used the hand sanitizer after that exhibit.



We then made the trek to see the flame. We saw the Sardis Drum band guys playing. They were awesome. They looked a little tired, but they were doing a great job and had a big crowd around them.


Unobstructed view yay. This was through the glass. We squeezed in right to the front.

fence...oh well.

Dad saw Russian TV doing interviews of this guy. We assume he is an athlete of some kind or coach. I love their sweaters that they have. One of my favourite things was listening to all the different languages that were spoken in the city.


Obviously Mr. Russian Athlete, you will not win if you smoke. Maybe that's why we smoked you in hockey.


After dinner at the Spaghetti Factory (which was awesome) we headed to Stanley Park. We walked along the sea wall for a bit and Mikaela almost fell off...it was low tide though, she would have only hit the rocks dont worry. I swear we must have been super tired cause we didnt even see that there were stairs near us that the girls could use to walk down to the ocean. They were wanting to go and considered jumping down to get shells. We also didn't notice that we were sitting on a bench looking for the Olympic rings when we realized that the rings were right in front of us on a barge type thing. The angle we were sitting at was just the side view so in our defense, they didn't look like rings.


Hehe we match! Yes I look not so cool in my winter coat, but its the only one that doesn't leave me feeling sick from being squished into it. I have a way to wear it and we can all breathe without issues.


All the photographers were gathering at a specific spot to get photos of the Canada Place Sails. It was getting too cold so we parked near that spot and watched them from inside the car all huddle and take pictures of the sails. Some with tripods (good job), other with cameras with the flash on...(doh!). Poor guys with their flashes going off...thats just not going to cut it.


Dried apricots in the car were awesome, so were the muffins and things mom packed.


Time to go home. Tony was working at school till 11 pm. He's been doing that a lot this week. Last night he came home at 9. That was a treat! We had chili and seedy bread with butter.

flexing and the other scar

I got a photo of his scar, his is not easy to see on the picture, but its there. We might match!

I went to UBC today and saw part of Tony's group project and how it works. Its supposed to read muscle signals or something to drive a little tank/truck thing. He was flexing with electrodes on his arm. I very much enjoyed watching him flexing.
I still haven't gotten the photos from my olympic excursion, but I will pester Aria again. I want to see them.

The bird plays this new game where he flys from his perch and lands on my right hand. Sometimes he stays on my hand and sleeps, most of the time he hops onto his food dish, eats a bit and then takes off to the perch. This cycle repeats every couple minutes. I think he needs something amusing to entertain him other than making a perfect landing on my hand.

I cannot wait for the next episode of "The Office". Pam has her baby I think and I have been waiting to see what happens.

Finally heard back from the prenatal guys and we have a class to go to late march. Better late than never and I am glad we got in. I was worried that we wouldn't get into a class before this baby comes. Prenatal in a day was the best we could do. Tony gets to come and it looks like I miss my very last class before I have to stop school. :(

that's gonna leave a scar

Well mom says it will. I think it might even look like Tony's scar on his finger. He got his from chopping wood with an axe when he was little. I will see if I can get a photo of his scar when he gets home. I might not be awake for that though, as last night he was at UBC doing school till 11 pm.

I got this from chopping an onion with a dull knife for hockey night chili 2 days ago. I haven't done anything this bad ever. I knew it would be bad when it almost felt like I cut all 4 fingers with the knife. I didn't really look to see what happened, I only saw blood streaming down my hand and thought the worst.

With my hand over my head in I grabbed the cleanest tea towel and started yelling "I CUT MYSELF!" When that didn't grab his attention, a curse word came out and then the "I THINK I CUT ALL MY FINGERS THERES BLOOD EVERYWHERE!" got it.

He looked at it and said if it didnt stop bleeding in half an hour we would go to the hospital. The word "Hosptial" sent me into panic mode. I was bawling on the couch with my hand over my head when Tony's Mom and sisters came over. Great...I didnt have dinner done and I was on the verge of getting taken into a hospital. Everyone wanted to see my injury. Tony's mom gasped....PANIC AGAIN in my brain. Beth said it wasn't that bad.

After calming down a bit when Beth told me that, she became my kitchen helper cutting the rest of the non bloody onion and garlic and did finished my chili. Bleeding stopped a while ago and Tony helped me wash the blood off my hand without getting my finger wet. He got out the polysporin and band-aids and teased me about needing the biggest sized band aid (since I hadn't looked at my own wound officially).

I haven't looked at it until today cause since everyone else looked at it, the concensus was that it was pretty bad, bad enough that I could have gotten stitches if I wanted. I only saw it tonight when the band-aid from yesterday fell off in the tub. Didn't realize it until I found a floating band-aid...eww. Kinda like swimming pool band-aids, but at least I know where mine came from.

5 things

5 Things I am looking forward to:

This baby being born, making chili tonight, Tony coming home from school, watching curling or Olympics, and seeing the pictures from yesterday

5 Things I did yesterday:

Made breakfast for Tony and his sisters, Went to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown, saw the Olympic Flame, did the Art Gallery with the family that has never been EVER, and saw the Olympic rings from Stanley Park.

5 Things I wish I could do:

Travel to another continent, Decide on a baby name, Go swimming in an ocean that is warmer than here, knitting or something and bake a perfect cake from scratch.

5 Places I'd like to travel:

Hawaii, Italy, London, PEI and California again

5 Cute things I've found online lately:

olympic fun

So I was stupid and forgot my camera at home, but being in a family that has a photographer has its perks. Aria, Mik, Mom, Dad and Joy all had cameras and took some awesome photos (which I am sure I will see on Facebook soon).

Started at the BC House (Art Gallery), waited in line for 45 min or so around the block to get it, and it was worth it. They have never been to the Art Gallery before, and it was better cause its free!

Very much liked the Emily Carr stuff that was in there and the DaVinci stuff was ok. No photos of those, it was not allowed.

After that we headed over to the flame. I've never seen so many people as I did over there. Huge crowds. Dad got some awesome shots of the cauldron. Then we headed over to the spaghetti factory. I love that one, its the best one. Listened to some of the people in the table behind us, speaking Russian. Sounds so cool.

Then we went to Stanley Park, saw the rings and the flame from the other side.

I'm feeling all patriotic so maybe I will watch some more Olympics as long as its not ice dancing.

Hopefully the girls will post things on facebook so that I can share them on here too.

I wanted one thing that I could keep from the olympics

and mittens seemed to be the best and cheapest. They are really nice and warm and I like the maple leaves. Don't really care for the Olympic rings on the outer part, but they are still cute.

Now I can wear them when we go downtown on Monday. The family and I are headed down to see the venues and things.

My to do list for tomorrow includes:

-laundry ... le sigh
-exercise
-buy cell phone charger
-talk to bell
-and dust

I hate dusting and laundry, but laundry is piling up literally in my hallway.

Found some cute animals that I am going to use to decorate our room with for the baby. Haven't thought about what I am going to do with them yet, but I want to use pretty coloured paper and do some sort of mixed media type thing.

fixing up things

The before photo:

The after photo:

Stephen Colbert Show and Olympic things

So we woke up super early this morning, or super early for Tony...6:30 ish for him, 6am for me since I couldnt really sleep anyways. We headed out to downtown. Transit wasn't terrible, it was good, but we were on it around 7:30 am. Science world looked so pretty today with all the Olympic stuff on it. Apparently its the Russia house. We didn't go in as there was a huge line. We also found that there was a huge line for the Colbert show and at first that was kind of a bummer until we got a awesome tip from a girl handing out free excel gum ( the ones with the maple leaves on them). She said to just hang out at the stairs cause the line was mostly for people who wanted to rush to the front of the stage.


So we chilled at the stairs kinda away from the line and still had a very good view from where we were. We probably waited 1.5 - 2 hours for him to start things up, but it was good.


I loved seeing everyone dressed up in red and white colours and loved seeing the flags everywhere.

That was the stage, complete with penguins, a moose, snowmen, ski gear and totem poles.


It was tres chilly this morning, and Tony only wore his hoodie. He told me to not bring my mittens (big mistake).


So once we were almost ready, the stage manager told us that we had to raise our hands to let him know we were ok with being on TV. ...no kidding. This could have also been the point where the Goodyear blimp asked the show to have us all wave. "wheres the blimp?" some guy asked Stephen...."well duh, its in the sky!" was the response. It was pretty hard to tell where the blimp was, I think it was behind the trees or behind me. We also cheered Stephen on with his French name, Stephan.


Quite a good morning, we had a lot of fun, and it was so hilarious. So it airs on the comedy network next week sometime, but I think it can also be seen online.

After that, we headed downtown for lunch. I was super hungry from a lot of waiting and having breakfast hours ago.

After that, we headed home, but had to stop and see some of the art near Georgia at the Granville Canada Line station. I like the little lantern trees the best. Tony had to go to school and do work on his project, so I ended up going home. Didn't want to explore all alone today.

2 thirds done already

1 third left to go before this baby is done! yay! Less worried about things now, more just gearing up to get this done so I can see my baby girl.

ohhh and I did get an email back from school finally. Oh man that took so long almost 4 months, but they said I can jump back in from where I left off if I hopefully finish my courses for term 2. Hopefully I can hang on till april to finish term 2 completely.


Stephen Colbert is in town for the Olympics and is taping his show by Science World. I found out that hes taping it tomorrow and Tony and I are going to get up super early (as taping starts at 9:15 am) and go see it. This is one of Tony's favourite guys to watch on the Comedy Channel. I can't wait to see it, he is hilarious.

I shall be charging my camera batteries so that I can hopefully get some pictures and see some other Olympic things downtown.

new sweaters and veggies

went shopping at the "good" mall in Chilliwack, the cottonwood, just to look around really. Aria, Mikaela and I wandered around. We checked out the Hello Kitty things and then shared a thing of chicken teriyaki. Right after we decided to head to bluenotes and oh there was a sale on cute sweaters. Mikaela spotted them. They are the ones that don't have buttons on them, they kinda just hang open, but are longish. Perfect for spring and perfect for me. We all ended up buying one. Mik and I got navy blue and Aria got the last black one. I shall get a picture of it or us tomorrow if I can convince Mik to be a twin.

I love this sweater. Doesn't require any buttoning up, I can wear it when I'm too hot cause its light and it looks kinda dressy.

Tried another weird veggie, but I didn't cook it this time. My momma had cooked rutabagas with the other veggies. I ate a bunch of those today. They were pretty good.



Baby has the hiccups at the moment. I am going to try and sleep later so I can sleep through this 10 hour fasting stuff. Only like one or 2 vials of blood that the vampires need to take so its not as bad. Still bad that I get nervous about it. They will make me lay down, I don't mind. Rather not pass out.

Valentines Day Cake

So proud of the fact that I have no little crumbs in the icing this time. I made sure it was all good fluffy and soft. I had the carmel kisses on hand and thought they would be pretty. They look a little weird, but they will taste good.

The cake is chocolate and its a peanut butter butter cream icing. Its my mini cake pan the 6 inch one, and there will be left overs so the family shall get some too. If not, I had extra batter and made mini cupcakes and still have icing left.

Its tres windy outside and we are trying to BBQ steak for dinner. oh its done! dinner time!

edit: the slice of cake Tony had. He likes it a lot.

You'd think that I'd be more relaxed with a 2 week break...

but the bird was getting to me today and I accidentally pushed him off the desk and he kinda fell on the floor in surprise. He fell of the end near the window and the wall so he couldn't really fly back from that. Stupid bird kept destroying everything in sight from my coaster to ipod cables and paper.

I'm making a small valentines cake today cause I don't feel like waiting for tomorrow. I want to relax tomorrow and Tony has to school, so we are celebrating valentines day today. Fancy dinner tonight and cake. Makes me happy.

Found out also why its so blasted hot in my apartment. The little knob that we have to lay of the floor to turn off the heat doesn't do anything. It turns but doesn't turn the heat off. Gotta get that fixed soon. Just another thing in this apartment that is dying.

So these are the cookies I did a second time with a smaller piping bag tip. Much better than my first batch. I am going to leave them as is, next time there shall be more details in them.


Cake layer # 1 is cooling and then # 2 goes into the oven

olympics are here!

watching the opening ceremonies...which are just across town now. So far its not bad. Kinda wish I could go. There are big protests though, so its good to avoid that.

modge podge

Crafting something different for a change. I've had this mac for a while now and I've kept the box for just in case it dies or needs to be shipped in for service. Well, the box will be beautified somehow. It has a handle and is very sturdy. Not sure what I want to do, but I am starting by taking all the i mac pictures off by modge podging paper on it. So lucky I kept the ikea paper from my shelves, it has come in super handy for this project.

Half is covered in about 1.5 layers of paper and there are drips all over my white fleece blanket. I've spilt green paint on that one too, so now its a handy craft blanket for messy things.

Gotta think up some ideas for this box.

Pink

Feeling all valentinesy today. Pink makeup (cant really see it I know, but its my Hello Kitty MAC lip gloss and lipstick and sushi flower eyeshadow). Felt like being all girly today.


My attempts at making little hearts failed when the bird thought he'd join me. Finished icing some cookies and those will get pictures tomorrow hopefully the light is better.

Last class before the break is tonight. Homework is done, feeling so relieved. Now to get through the olympics in one piece and take a evil blood test next week. I hate thinking about how it takes 3 hours, but that's ok, its worth it in the end I guess.

Feeling baby move all the time now. Shes getting much bigger. One week till I am in the third trimester. :O Shocking its almost over. So scary. Thinking about being a parent for a baby and having the baby and then how to take care of it is crazy and I gotta chill out.

rolling

I think this morning was the first morning I woke up and felt baby rolling around hard core in there. It was like she were doing somersaults while I was trying to sleep.

Maybe she didn't appreciate that I had to roll over myself to get comfortable, but she was a rolling around. It was very strange because I am used to her kicking pretty well now. I cant control it though and everything feels like its going sideways and back again when she does this. I should have turned on the light to watch and see what it looked like, but I was too tired so I just laid there wide awake for a while.

27 weeks done! Not long now.

breathe

I just can't seem to catch my breath today. It feels like I'm needing to remember to breathe more deeply all the time.

I know what this all is. Its happened before a couple times. Once before my wedding on my last day of work at stream, and again at eBay a couple times when I was working a lot. Its stress. Its like a panic attack, but I can still breathe and stay calm, just not well.

Tony thinks I am burnt out. That could very well be. It started before I went out for Starbucks this morning. I had lots to do before homework could start and when I got home I did it all and then this stupid homework is just killing me.

Maybe a break and some tv will help me calm my brain down.

weekend away

I had fun this weekend. Got picked up by my parents and we headed out to chilliwack for Superbowl Sunday. I've never watched a whole football game before, but this one was pretty good and I got to learn about how to play it. We also had awesome football food like wings, dip and croustini, chili and more. Aria made the bunt cake and I helped her a bit. She did all the decorating and that, I just helped add and mix things to her batter.

It turned out really well and would have been great with milk (ran out).

Rough sleep last night though, I wasn't in my own bed surrounded by my fluffy pillows and I paid for it when I woke up. Hips were stiff for a couple hours after I woke up. I am sure that I woke up Aria with tossing about. I felt more like a thrashing fish for part of the night. She slept through most of it apparently.

Chili for breakfast was good. I did not eat the cake even though it tempted me.

Then when mik left for school we headed out to go shopping and looking. That was lots of fun. Aria and mom bought me a few outfits for the baby.

I don't really thing about what I want anymore. My birthday is coming up in a month and I don't have a clue as to what I want for me. I want to feel more ready for this baby and I feel so not. Still have a few more months to go, but its always going through my mind cause it doesn't help that there is a little kicking reminder sharing my body.

This birthday is a quarter of a century for me. I don't think I will be upset about it as much as Tony was about his because baby is coming and I had always wanted a baby before this birthday. Close enough that baby is due in early may. Spring baby :)

doodles again

I was doing so well and keeping up with the dishes and I let it slide for 2 days and its like all the dishes decided to be dirty all at once. What I wouldn't give for an apartment with a dishwasher. Le sigh.


Couldn't get it outta my head. I was thinking about it while waiting at the doctors office. Looking at this now doesn't help cause it makes me need it more. I don't have any in my freezer. :( Been trying to be good about treats and things since I made a lemon curd tart thing a couple days ago.

The tart didn't turn out as I would have liked, the pie plate thing I used was too big for my recipe and therefore it all fell apart when I tried to slice it. It tastes awesome even though it comes out in a big pile of mush and crust. Next time it will be better. I am a citrus gal so there will be a next time.

new crib

There it is, all set up and ready to go. The thing on top is the changing table and it has little places for diapers and wipes and things. Very cool. When she gets older, we can take the top part off and use it as a playpen or a place to sleep. I also moved the small bookshelf into our room today and then some of the baby's things.

I would also like to add that the very old bear in the bookshelf in the middle is not the baby's, it is mine. His name is Thaddeus and I've had him since I was a baby.


These ones are hers. They will sit on the shelf and wait for her to arrive. They can be loved like my bear is.