Thank you!!

Wow, girls. Thanks! I now have a bunch of new recipes that I want to try out. I've actually printed them off already. Just what a pregnant girl needs is yummy sounding recipes. I can't wait (and neither can the baby- he's hungry)!

However, I didn't actually get to use any of them on Saturday. We went to get a 3D ultrasound of the boy early in the afternoon (more on that later) and we ended up getting home SUPER late. Way later than I wanted to. Commence the panicky wife running around in a stupor. "How the hell am I gonna cook all this FOOD?" and "OH MY GOD I DON'T EVER FEEL LIKE HAVING COMPANY OVER ANYWAY."

My husband, sweetly realizing that his pregnant wife was already a little hormonal, decided to take matters into his own hands. He called our guests (the guy in the couple happens to be his good friend) and suggested that we just do some appetizers for dinner. I guess they were cool with that idea and said they preferred something casual anyway.

So... I did make my fabulous taco dip, which is really easy and requires zero cooking. I was going to make a few more dishes but Jason refused and forced me to pick up some easy frozen appetizers from the store. Oh, and Snickers ice cream. Yep. He forced me.

We ended up having a very relaxing evening puntuated by fattening easy food, a movie, and almost zero dishes to clean. And ice cream. Lots of ice cream. I promised them I'd make better food next time, and whip up some of these fabulous new recipes from my internet friends. But I still may stick with ice cream for dessert.

Lesson: You can feed people dog food, and they will adore you if you serve Snickers ice cream for dessert. All is forgiven, all is forgotten. :)

Help me

So, we're having a couple of people over to our house on Saturday night. Apparently my husband has told them that I'll be cooking dinner. This makes me nervous. Not that I am a bad cook, I'm just not very creative and nobody's ever told me that I make great food.

Most of the time when we have get togethers at our place, they are of the casual variety. I'm talking pizza, or a quick pasta. Come to think of it, we usually get some kind of take-out when we have guests. Maybe this is a good indicator of our laziness.

Anyway, I've never been great at "entertaining." And now I am stressing. What can I make for dinner this Saturday? I need something simple but good. I'm not even opposed to a bunch of really yummy (impressive looking) appetizers so everyone can fill up on those. But I need help.

Any suggestions?

Happy F'ing Valentines Day

How did you spend your Valentine's Day? Aw, how nice. You got to relax in a hot tub with your sweetie, drizzled each other with chocolate, and then ate each other for dessert? Sounds divine.

How did I spend my Valentine's Day? It started by waking up to six inches of snow outside, with freezing rain on top. Fun. Now, lots of people might be able to call out of work when Mother Nature takes a big white dump, but not me! I work in television news. You know, that glamorous business where I am so lucky to be on TV everyday? Ha. Snow days mean crazy work days. And snow means I MUST get to work. Even if I live 45 minutes away from said work.

I get my ass together, bundle up, and jump in my car. Thank god I have four wheel drive, because the snow/ice combo is not fun. I can barely get out of the driveway. The street isn't any better. It hasn't even been plowed yet.

I manage to get on the highway, and things are looking up. There aren't too many vehicles on the road, and even though there is lots of snow, it's not hard to drive through. I start to relax. Stupid girl.

7 miles into my 45 mile journey to work, I come upon a major traffic jam. Turns out that a bunch of tractor trailers are getting stuck in the snow while climbing a small hill. And lots of them are stuck. And the tow trucks come to rescue them are getting stuck, too.

It is now 8:30 am. I sit there, not moving an inch. For FOUR hours. Four fricking hours. By 10:30, I have to pee like nobody's business. By 11:15, I get to watch in jealousy as the driver sitting in front of me gets out of his truck, whips out his weiner, and colors the snow yellow. At this point I wish I had a penis. By 11:30 I am so sick of all this and so bored that I TAKE A DAMN NAP. Sitting on the interstate, sleeping in my car. This is how confident I was that we were not going anywhere, any time soon.

During all of this, I am in touch with my work. I mention that I am so frustrated I wish I could just drive a few miles south and go home. They say they don't care how long it takes me to get there, but I had better get there, because it "wouldn't be fair" to let me go home just because it has taken me five hours to travel 7 miles. Nice.

Finally, at 12:30, we start to move. Slowly. I don't end up getting to work until 2pm. I should have been there at 9:30am. You do the math.

Thank god the drive home wasn't bad. But I get home to find my husband in a crappy mood and here's how the night unfolds. 1. I make dinner. 2. We eat in front of the television. 3. He falls asleep on couch at 8pm. 4. I wake him up to go upstairs and watch TV. 5. He goes up and is asleep before I even get there. 6. I spend rest of evening on computer. To his credit, he did send me flowers at work the day before Valentine's Day, which was nice.

But was I ever glad to see yesterday come to a close. What a shitty day.

Pictures!!

I got off my lazy butt this weekend and I actually took some more pictures! And I uploaded them to Flickr. And I uploaded them from Flickr to Blogger! Deserve major pats on back for this accomplishment.

Though a little dark, here's my most recent belly pic, taken Saturday night before we went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. I'm 25 weeks exactly in this photo.

This one's a little dark too (guess I need to teach Jason how to take pics properly) but I'll share it anyway... close up of the belly. Side note... my rings are a little tight, but I refuse to take them off. Don't wanna have people at the Walmart looking down their noses at me and thinking I'm some unwed mother or something. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And yes, I have noticed that people look at the belly, and then scope out my left hand for a ring. Klassy.

Of course I'll share a nekkid belly shot. I know that's the only reason you come here, anyway. Say it with me... "oh, my."

Though at this point his only duties include random kicking, inciting killer backaches, and contributing to the stretching of his mother's stomach, this boy will arrive soon. And when he does, he'll need a place to sleep. We cleared out his room over the weekend!

And we even taped it off for painting! We did decide on colors... bottom half is a darker blue color, and the upper half is a light cream that matches his bedding. Since we have "babyish" looking bedding and accessories, I wanted to keep the rest of the room understated. Unfortunately, we didn't get around to actually painting. Laziness kicked in and we spent the rest of Sunday on the couch. Ahhhh.

I took a bunch more pics, too... of the recent wood floors we installed and the overhaul we did to our laundry room. I'll have to post those next time. Anyway, gotta get to bed! Nite!

BREAKING NEWS...

Anna Nicole is dead... after being found unconscious in her hotel room in Florida.

Wow. Tragic, but sadly, not completely shocking. Her poor baby girl.

Willpower (or lack thereof)

Uh, oh. We have a problem. What could possibly be wrong, you ask? This:

I am currently 24 weeks pregnant.

Last week I found out that I have already gained 20 pounds.

This means that sticking to a target weight gain of 20-25 pounds for the whole pregnancy is about as likely as Britney acquiring some class, quitting the late night clubbing, and putting on some freaking underwear, already!

So, yep. I am officially getting huge. And at this rate, I betcha I will gain close to 40 pounds during this pregnancy. Forty pounds on a normally petite woman who is 5' 2" on a very.good.day. That spells trouble, my friends.

I swore to myself that I would eat better! Drink more water! Cut out unhealthy food! Yeah, good luck with that, Kel. I am eating somewhat better, but I am having a tough time avoiding sweets and treats (especially the ones that get put out at work for everyone to dig through. Ever stepped back and watched that? Everyone rushing to the food and shoving it in their mouths? Sorta disgusting. But I am right there with them.)

Bottom line is that I just feel hungry a lot! And even though I try to behave, I keep screwing up. Take today for example... I pack a bunch of healthy snacks/lunch options and I still ate lunch out. Here's the breakdown for today:

7am Breakfast: Cheerios & milk, with sliced banana
10:30 am: Mini bagel (120 calories) and lite yogurt (100 calories)
12:30 Lunch: Meatball sub with mozzarella (gazillion calories, and I ate every bite!)
1:30pm: Two homemade chocolate chip cookies (damn coworkers and their baking!)
3pm: Apple

That's nowhere near as bad as other days. Yesterday I had a craving for cheese and I ate nearly a half a block of cheddar. Ugh, I loathe myself sometimes.

Anyway, the only consolation is that I don't seem to be gaining a ton of weight all over. It's mostly contained to my belly, which is growing at an amazing rate. I'll have new belly pics soon. No denying I am pregnant now! And even if you didn't see my belly, the sight of me stuffing my face constantly would be a great clue that there's a baby on the way.