I’ve been tagged and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I am currently suffering from tonsilaryngitis flumonia and cannot find my brain in the pile of tissues beside the bed.
Somewhere among the bottles of pills, magazines, and half empty water bottles is my voice, which though lost won’t keep me from posting about these 10 random things, facts, habits, or goals about myself.
I had a massage for the first time today and I am in LOVE with reflexology (rubbin’ da feet) I felt like a new woman, a younger woman who doesn’t spend all day plucking a 30 lb. baby out of perilous situations.
I love the conversations I have with my neice, for starters she’s like one of those 20 questions games, she’s always got the right answer, and she has the cutest little voice that always sounds like she’s asking a question, and she is just so damn cute it makes your cheeks hurt. So yesterday when we arrived to pick up Chibby at Nana and Papa’s house and I made a point of hunting down my neice to get my dose of cuteness. Here’s the conversation I had with my favorite 2 year old:
This is one of those gray cold miserable winter mornings. I’m a big fan of the cold weather as you can see. I’m no snow bunny, in fact I despise being cold and/or wet. I’m sure Freud would have something to say about that but Freud probably never had to mop wet boot prints off the floor or wrestle a 28 lb baby in a too-fluffy winter coat into a car seat. So when I awoke this morning to find my driveway an ice skating rink worthy of the Rockettes, I was not happy. I ventured out only long enough to snap these pictures and dump a gallon of ice melt on the driveway and walk…sorry Rockettes no kick lines here today. I’m sure the ice melt will probably destroy the ecosystem, ruin my sod, and eat through my driveway but save your green freak emails because quite frankly I like my tailbone just how it is.
The one positive about miserable winter days is that you have an excuse to stay inside all day in your flannel pajamas, thick socks, bathrobe, and a wool coat (oh that’s just me huh?) and make these delicious Oatmeal Raisin Bars. At the very least the Raisin Bars are a good excuse to hover over a warm oven and when you feed them to your husband he may even volunteer to cuddle up and keep you warm. What do you have to say about that Freud?
So last year I spent forever pouring over my favorite magazines searching for new recipes to add to the holiday repertoire. I found a delicious recipe from Martha Stewart for a succulent Maple Glazed Turkey. Of course I can be a bit of a slacker in the kitchen. I’m prone to a Rachel Ray style of cooking with dabs and splashes and no actual measurements. Now here’s how the queen of home keeping Martha prepares Maple Glazed Turkey. Below is my Martha-Simplified method.
Inspired but not Tired Maple Glazed Turkey
Ingredients
1 Turkey’s Big Breast (we don’t like dark meat in my family)
Salt
Pepper
Butter
100% Maple Syrup
A Turkey Bag (yes i can hear the shrieks of horror)
Foil
A roasting pan
An apron and some high heels (just for fun)
Prep:
Melt the butter and slather it all over the turkey. Use a basting brush if you’re civilized–just rub it on if you’re a dirty girl! Salt and pepper the entire bird (moderately). Now comes the fun part. Stick the turkey in the bag use foil balls to stick under the turkey outside of the bag so it sits evenly with it’s breasts high in the air. Now stick your arm inside the bag (no I’m not kidding) pour on or brush on (again depends of your level of kitchen finesse) the maple syrup. Coat the old bird heavily. Seal up the bag. ***Now if you’re not a bagger than just prep the bird the same way, cover your bird in foil and baste (that means coat with syrup again) 3 times during cooking.*** You can also use a whole bird and even stuff it! Prepare according to my recipe and stuff and cook as you usually do!
Cooking:
I recommend you consult the tag on your bird as well as the time recommended on the cooking bags. If the bag and the tag differ I usually choose the lowest temp and longest time. Temp the bird with a meat thermometer before you pull it out. Be sure the thermometer hits a meaty part (not bone or and open cavity) so no one in your family remembers this Thanksgiving as the the great Barfsgiving of 2007. 
Don’t overcook the bird or it will be tougher than your Grandma’s toenails. Remove bird from bag, drain juices, and allow to sit for several minutes before carving.
When this is done it will have a slightly crisp and sweet outer skin and delicious sweet moist meat on the inside. This is the perfect Turkey for your Thanksgiving Dinner. It can’t possibly be any easier than this inspired but not tired Maple glazed Turkey.
Hi! My name is Kim and I am a wife and work at home mom. I don’t believe that my prowess for cleaning and crafting means that I have to be frumpy and working at home doesn’t mean that I can’t be a professional. I’m hopelessly addicted to root beer, magazines, my camera, and my kid. I sweep my dust bunnies under the rug before I have guests. I wear high heels to the grocery store and this is my blog about life, love, and a little bit of everything.
Coming soon to this very blog: Blow-your-mind-yummy recipes, product reviews from a real life mom, a book of the month, ideas to keep work at home moms sane, wacky wal-mart wednesdays and more!
Where’s Kimberly? Why hasn’t she posted anything? Why no new pictures of Jacob? I know you’re asking all these questions and the answer is I’m in over my head, I’m too busy to post and the new pics of Jake eating, playing in the tub, and trying to stand are all still stuck inside the camera.
This blog will be undergoing some serious changes as soon as I’m caught up with my proofing, have the house on the market, and know whether or not we’ll be moving into a new house or an apartment. In the meantime if you find yourself wondering what Jake looks like…come on by I could always use a hand!
Jake’s adoption was finalized this morning. Of course he was in a great mood (he always is) and it was just us, the judge, our attorney, my parents and my 14 mo. niece. The whole finalization took 3 minutes…he said everything was well in order and we had to take an oath and then he signed the papers and off we went.
I don’t think the magnitude of the day caught up to me until we made it outside the courthouse. I looked over and caught tears in my mom’s eyes and and maybe some in Dads and I stopped, looked up and the blue sky and I said “I just have to say WOOOOOOHOOOOOO”. Of course bellowing out in front of the courthouse earned me some strange looks but I didn’t care because it was all I could do not to skip down the street kissing perfect strangers and screaming yipeee! By the time we made it to the restaurant for lunch I was calm but I’m saving some more woohoos for the giant party we’re having this weekend…a weenie roast of mass proportions, all decked out, tons of food and fun! I’ll be sure to post pictures later.
To all you first time waiting APs…this time last year I thought we’d never get a match…looking back today that wait, that anguish seems like nothing at all. Adoption is worth every ounce of effort and tears…keep your chins up and soon you’ll be screaming woohoo into the big blue sky!
I’ve been meaning to blog about this for awhile now. A couple of days ago I was grocery shopping and this woman walked by and stopped to admire Jake (my kid is seriously cute so this happens a lot). She asked me “does he get his blue eyes from your husband?”
***now i walk a line with telling people that jake is adopted, it’s his to tell so as he gets older I’ll say less, but i really don’t want him to think that there’s something wrong with not looking like me or my husband so sometimes i put on my adoption ambassador hat as i did this day***
I said “no actually he gets them from his birthparents.” The woman looked at me then said “can I ask you something?” which usually means someone is about to ask me a highly inappropriate question about my son or my fertility or something…okay let me have it lady…”so do you love him like–”
I didn’t even let her finish her sentance I blurted out “like I am his mother, I don’ know any other way to love him…he is my son and yes I love him just as much if not more than I would love a child that I gave birth to…”
The woman then burst into tears. Oh god what have I done? Here I am in Wal-Mart with a well dressed woman standing there with her hand on my sons head bawling her head off. She then tells me that two years ago she placed a baby boy in a closed adoption and she’s been worried ever since that his adoptive parents don’t love him like he is their own. I told her something she needed to hear. So then I started crying too gave this perfect stranger a hug and told her I don’t know an adoptive parent that wouldn’t give their life for their child from that first moment. How terrible to not know where your child is, if they’re loved, how do you even move on from that. Jake is loved, oh so loved.
Jake is making progress like crazy this week. We were all playing on our bed in the morning this week and he stood up all on his own…he fell over right away and has been trying constantly since. He’s done with the walker and the jumperoo he would much rather be on the ground or on the move. We just bought the Baby Einstein “Baby Signs” video and he’s already picked up the sign language for “milk”. He’s all about the pursed lips and popping his mouth too. When he eats you can hear him “smack smack smacking” clear across the house. And he’s recently found a great love of getting in the tub with mommy when she’s taking a relaxing bath. Jake just insists on getting in and plays and splashes until he gets all pruney.
We’re very excited to have a court date for Jacob’s adoption finalization. April 17th we’ll be heading to the courthouse to make our family a forver family. April 21st our friends and family are joining us for our first HUGE party in a while. We’re going all out with a weenie roast, big fire, smores, tons and tons of great food (of course I’m cooking up a storm) music, and lots of fun. We’re even closing our lincoln service center in honor of jake’s big day. I’ll be sure to post pictures. Speaking of which, a few from this weekend.
