2011 Greatest Hits

Oh, Boy!
My life changed this year. I had a beautiful son in July.  I had a complicated pregnancy and he was delivered early. The rough start was scary but he is healthy and doing very well.  My Heart's Desire and I are over the moon and love being parents to Babyface. 

The first part of the year was consumed by getting ready for Babyface.  We took lots of classes to get ready for his arrival.  Once Babyface came home from the hospital, I felt like we were in a bunker.  For months we were on his 24 hour a day schedule.  Once he started sleeping through the night, I began emerging from the bunker little by little.  I have continued to take classes and joined several groups.

I was so loved on my wedding day and thought that was the most loved I would ever feel, but I was overwhelmed with love and support when I was pregnant and when Babyface was born.  People came out of the woodwork to love Babyface.  I'm so grateful for all the love pouring into our new family.

It's All Relative
After Babyface was born, everyone in our immediate family traveled from far and wide to come and love him, including some relatives who hadn't been here in ages.  It was wonderful to have family here and for them to meet him.  Everyone brought or made food and took care of Babyface so My Heart's Desire and I could rest. 

Books
My sister handed down her Kindle to me. I had been reluctant to use an E-reader because I love books and spend enough time staring at screens. To my surprise, it is very easy to read on and doesn't feel like reading on a computer screen, which I really don't like.  Also, when I was on bed rest and couldn't make it to the library or bookstore, I still had reading material at my fingertips.  I could download books and just carry the Kindle, which is lighter than a paper book. When we went to Florida, I just took the Kindle and it was the first time I had traveled with no books. 

Family Traditions

My Heart's Desire likes to make Christmas ornaments with mementos from our year.  This year we have a special frame to celebrate our baby's first Christmas.  In addition, we have had professional photographs taken of the baby and our family.  These photographs are family treasures!

Guilty Pleasure
Subscribing to HBO.  We'd lived happily without any premium cable channels for years but I couldn't resist the siren call of True Blood.  Lafayette steals the show.

Used Bookstore
The Friends of the Montgomery County bookstores. They have great books at bargain prices.  Also I have found some books in great shape for Babyface.

Local Getaway

I won a night at the Morrison House in their Valentine's Day promotion of Facebook and it was wonderful. I was pregnant and tired so the night in a fancy hotel room across town was lovely.  We could have done more around Alexandria but once we came across Girl Scouts selling Samoas, I was content.

Merry and bright

This year we traveled for the holidays and the wreath was the only holiday decoration we put up.  No stockings, no holiday linens, no lights. 

At first I felt a little Grinchy, as I do love to make the house festive, but I really didn't need more things to do.  I also didn't make Christmas cookies (gasp!), watch Christmas Vacation, or make a holiday music CD.  It still felt like Christmas.

I managed to watch Love Actually, write Christmas cards, and bake loads of oatmeal cookies. I also played a lot of holiday music.  Our travels were to see My Heart's Desire's 100-year old great-Aunt in Florida and I was glad we went.  The weather was great and I also got to go for a traditional Christmas swim.

Today I got up early and did chores, including cleaning two bathrooms, made a weekend breakfast of baked eggs on an English muffin with cheese, hung out with my family, did five loads of laundry and actually folded it all and put it away, combined two oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars with disastrous (read: inedible) results, went out and got a much needed mani-pedi (my first one in months!) in Mademoiselle, made a half batch of oatmeal chocolate chip bars from the recipe I know is good, shared leftover pizza for dinner with My Heart's Desire, watched an episode of Arrested Development on Netflix (we are hooked on this show), and am going to bed early. 

Grateful

Today I am grateful for: my mentor, the clerk at Macy's who scanned a coupon and saved me $9 on a $44 purchase, having a tank full of gas, finally paying off my overdue library fines (My Heart's Desire is good at many, many things but returning things to the library isn't one of them) so I can check out books, brisk weather, community, and family and friends near and far.

2012

2012 is just around the corner and I am mulling over what I want to focus on in the new year.  In 2009 I set commandments, which were helpful but hard to measure the outcome.  I set ambitious goals in 2010 and reported that I met some of them more successfully than others.  What is it that I want to put into 2012?  What do I want to get out of it?  

The Night Circus

The first chapter of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was so intriguing that after reading it, I immediately bought the book on my Kindle and dove in.  However, was was so intriguing in the beginning of the story became tedious by the middle.  I couldn't wait for it to end.  If it had been a library book, I would have put it down but since I paid for it, I finished it.  The story is interesting and fantastic (A Night Circus!  Magic!  Love!  A Game!  Dreamers!) but it reads like a well-thought out script, rather than a novel.  I also didn't really connect with the main love story.  I have a feeling this will probably become a movie and it has the potential to be a really good one.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

My sister gave me this recipe and it is really good! I liked it so much I doubled it and made pumpkin oatmeal bread too.  The muffins also freeze beautifully. 

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

I also made orange cream cheese to go with them since we were having company. That's right, sometimes I'm fancy. Mix 2T of orange juice concentrate with a half package of cream cheese and a little powdered sugar, then mix with hand blender until fluffy.  It's best to make the cream cheese the day before.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup quick oats (I used old-fashioned)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins (I left out, I don't like raisins in food)
1/2 cup walnuts
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 cup solid-pack canned pumpkin

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; then stir in oats, brown sugar, nuts and raisins.

In a medium bowl, combine egg, oil, milk and pumpkin, blending well.

Stir pumpkin mixture into dry ingredients until just moist. Fill muffin tins with batter and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until tops spring back when lightly touched.

Today I am grateful for holiday music, my new phone, having heat, the spirit of the season, books, and homemade granola.