The Christmas season So Far

Happy fifth day of Christmas my dear readers,

So far this Christmas season has had it's ups and downs. On Christmas eve the Baron and I went to mass at a church in a neighboring town of Nowhere, La. I sang in the adult choir while there. This was do to the fact that the new pastor of my parents church disbanded the volunteer choir back in the summer and therefor there was no Christmas choir. Most of the members of the now disbanded choir have joined the neighboring towns choir.
Later that evening after all of my siblings and their families arrived at my parents house for our family Christmas party, we opened family gifts. It is a tradition for all of the grandchildren to sleep over so that Santa drops off all the presents at one location. (The grand-kids are now in their 20s.) It was great watching the great-grandchild opening his Christmas presents. He got a slinky, some large legos, a small four wheeler and a few other toys and puzzles. The Baron got Santa to take me a lovely Marian medal, and a Jackie Evancho CD. Santa brought him shirts, pants, socks, undies, and undershirts. Santa was very practical this year. He must of known that the Baron was in dire need of non-holy clothes.

On the second day of Christmas, the Baron and I went after Christmas ornament shopping. I spent all of his money on Catholic Christmas ornaments (nativity scenes, crosses, etc.)

On the third day of Christmas, my father changed the oil in my car and discovered that our CV joint was cracked so it had to be changed (there went another $150.) Then we drove back to Big City, Tx that night.

The fourth day of Christmas was our Anniversary. We were bums the whole day. We went to "Lunch" at 4:00 at Chic-fil-A. The plan was to come home and dress up to go to dinner later in the evening. (That didn't happen). Instead we went to the outlet mall and walked around for a while. Since we ate so late we weren't hungry so we came home and watch Bing Crosby in "Top of the Morning to You." We ate our anniversary cake and drank Mimosas. We then played Lego Star wars on the PS3 together and went to bed.

That leads us to this morning. Nothing eventful has occurred yet. It has been raining all morning so who knows what today will bring.

Women Issue with a minor rant

Well hello blogging world,
Sorry for the long absence but the Baron and I went over to no where, Louisiana to visit my parents for Christmas and to see my gynecologist. I'll split the visit between two posts so if anyone doesn't want to read about the Dr. visit they won't have to.

WARNING WOMAN TALK BEYOND THIS POINT. SKIP TO NEXT POST TO READ ABOUT CHRISTMAS INFO.

Ok now for some of my female readers who don't mind hearing about issues. I went to the gynecologist, who I absolutely adore, on Thursday. He's an NFP only practitioner which makes me very happy. I was pressured by my last gynecologist to take birth control pills to "help" a problem I may or may not have.

A little back story. I've always had bad periods from day one. I remember my first period like it was yesterday because it was one of the most painful periods of my life (and that's saying something). This happened when I was 12 and while at the beach on vacation. Not the best memories of that years vacation. Fast forward to when I was 19 and going to the Gynecologist for the first time. I went to my mother's gynecologist. He was a very nice man, and I always felt very comfortable talking with him. He recommended that I be put on a low dose birth control pill which was supposed to help with regulating my cycles and lessen the pain associated with what he thought was endometriosis. I did this until the year before I planned to get married. This is when I announced to him that I wanted to get off the Birth control pills. His suggestion was to give me the progesterone shot. (Um, no. He was missing the point). I then told him I wanted to do NFP and he laughed at me. He told me that I wouldn't get pregnant with the endometriosis and that we'd have to do surgery to solve the problem. He then told me that if I wanted 15 babies that was fine but NFP didn't work. I was a bit hot under the collar when I got out of that appointment.

I then looked into NFP and found an NFP only doctor on the one more soul website. He is amazing. He told me I probably didn't have endometriosis but that we'd play things by ear. He offered couple to couple league NFP classes and the Baron and I took them. I charted for about six months before we got married and have charted ever since.

On Thursday I went back to him for my annual visit. He said everything looked and felt normal when he did the pelvic exam. He looked over my charts and decided to draw blood to check my hormone levels. He's put me on estrogen cream for a few days at the beginning of my cycle and progesterone towards the middle to end of my cycle. This is supposed to help me to carry a baby by evening out my hormones. He also did an iodine test on me. I apparently didn't do so hot and have and iodine deficiency. I'm going to be on iodine supplements for a while. He also thinks that I might have a thyroid problem. So now you are all updated on the intimate parts of my life. If anyone has had similar experiences let me know. I'm eager to hear that I'm not the only one having issues in this department.

Pizzelle princess

I have spend my morning making pizzelle's. I have acquired my mom-in-law's pizzelle recipe handed down my the Baron's Sicilian grandmother. The are more substantial than pizzelles I've had in the past. So far I think I've done a good joy. As of now I have 9 dozen pizzelle's for a party tonight. I've also made my highly coveted eutoufee. Now to pack the car with gifts and to make rice. I'm off to take a lovely well earned bath. I'm hopping the Baron take my advice and goes to cut his hair. It's starting too poof out everywhere. The recipe pizzelles is included below.

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Old Fashion Italian Pizzelle

Make 9 - 10 dozen small pizzelles

Ingredient:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 TBS shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp backing powder
1 tsp amise oil or other flavoring oils put a bit more if using extract due to evaporation of alcohol (I used about 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
2 TBS honey
5 cups flour

Directions:
1. Beat egg and sugar gradually till smooth. (I recommend using an electric standing mixer)
2. Add butter, shortening, flavor and honey.
3. In a new bowl sift flour and baking powder.
4. Slowly pour together till smooth. Will make thick dough like substance.
5. Roll into 1 to 1/2 teaspoon balls and place on press. Follow press instructions.

It's another fish Friday (1)

Today was a semi-bum day. I woke up with the baron this morning for work but was still tired. The plan was to go to the store (since I didn't yesterday despite the plan). Instead I had a great long warm bath and washed my hair which tends to be an event since I haven't cut my hair in almost three years. But I didn't want to go during rush hour which really lasts till almost 9:00 around here. I decided to nap instead. The Baron had a luncheon at work so I knew he wasn't coming in for lunch so I didn't have to cook lunch and have it ready for a specific time. Well that nap ended up lasting till 1:30. I was shocked when I woke-up. I hurried and ran to the post office and the grocery store. I know, I know, It's Christmas time and everyone is rushing around to get their package off to be received before Christmas. I stood in line there for an hour and a half. By this point it was 3:00. I then went to the grocery store. It was a zoo there too. It took me till 5:oo to get home, forget wal-mart. It was starting to get dark. It took me 45 min to drive the 2 miles back to my house. By this point the baron was home. He took a nap while I cooked dinner which worked out great.

There was this recipe for fish I've been looking at week after week. Tonight I decided that is what we were going to have for dinner. It is fish in a tomato sauce kind of thing. Very Italian. I made a few changes to it but surprisingly it was darn good. A bit more seasoned than I expected because everyone kept mentioning how bland it was in the comment section. (I think my alterations may have been the trick). I have included the recipe below. I'm also going to explain the alterations under the recipe. If anyone tries it let me know what you thought.
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Fish Fillets Italiano (original)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound cod fillets

Directions

1. In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until softened.
2. Stir in tomatoes, olives, parsley, and wine. Simmer for 5 minutes.
   
3. Place fillets in sauce. Simmer for about 5 more minutes, or until fish turns white.

My variations
Ingredient:
- I substituted Talapia for Cod.
- mushrooms
-1/2 can of Rotel original (! used a whole can and it was too hot)
- dried parsley because I didn't have fresh
- Italian seasoning
-Cajun seasoning on seafood
- 1 lb shrimp shelled
- a few twists of fresh ground paper mill
- salt and accent sprinkled on fish and shrimp

Directions
1. I sautes for almost 20 min.
2. I added the mushrooms and rotel at his point. I cooked it on low for about 15 min while I shelled the shrimp.
3. I cooked till the talapia started to call apart and all the shrimp were pink which took more than the 5 min they recommended.

Roses, lunch, and a shopping trip

Today for lunch my husband brought me roses. No he didn't go out to get them on his way home from a store, but went out to our rose bush and cut them himself. This for some reason makes me feel even more loved than if he had paid big bucks for them. I think I'm one of the only women who get home grown roses in December. Sure we don't have an abundant supply like in the spring when unexpectedly I may receive two the three dozen roses waiting for me when I get home from shopping. In most cases with feeling loved it's the little things that matter.

Today we had chicken with onion, peppers, and mushrooms with cheesy rice. I know what your thinking O wow, she must have worked hard on that. Nope not really. I defrosted chicken breast, seasoned it, cooked it for 5 min then poured the left over onions, peppers, and mushrooms (making their third and final appearance. First they were for steaks, then appeared in fajita , now they are chicken topping.) The cheesy rice was my husband's favorite creamy four cheese rice a roni. So yeah not as fancy as initially imagined is it. The reason we had this for lunch is because I need to go grocery shopping. I know, I've been needing to go for days but I really like getting down to the bottom of a supply before going and getting more food. We are not near the end however the ecentials are running low. Bread, eggs and milk have all disappeared. While out I'm going to make sure to pick up some things for pizzelle's. Pizzelle's for Christmas are a family tradition in the Baron's family so I'm going to try it out. Wish me luck.

Mrs. Clause might have to pick up some Christmas presents if she's got time. This year Mrs. Clause might be a bit cheap and check out goodwill and resale shops. Why pay full price when you can buy second hand... right?

Love at first sight... Well more like love at first chat.

How the Baron and I ended up where we are. Well I guess this story actually starts long before we actually met each other with my previous boyfriend. I met Sterling at a retreat held at a catholic school one Sunday. Sterling and I became friends and talked on the phone for years. Every Sunday between one and four thirty he would call and we would talk. We eventually started dating but since I was the only one who could drive and was only allowed to drive on the opposite side of town from where he lived things were strange. I was a junior in high school and our little romance slowly fizzled as my faith strengthened and his waned. By the Christmas formal our relationship reverted back to being best friends and I found myself giving him pointer regarding how to woo another girl. By happen stance I hung out with sterling at a math tournament and got to meet his best friend's parents. His best friend wasn't there because he was on a conformation retreat and was unable to make it to the math tournament. (This becomes kind of important later.) I forgot this meeting almost as quickly as it had happen. Time went on and Sterling and I started hanging out more on the computer and less time on the phone. Possibly due to the major phone bill we were racking up and the fact that my mother took umbrage with the fact my best friend was a guy. One day at this point it's Easter, Sterling uses my computer and screen name to talk to his best friend who isn't being allowed to use the phone. Little did I know that this happen stance was a turning point in my life. After Sterling's mother drove to come pick him up I introduced myself through a chat to his best friend. I explained that I was Sterling's ex-girlfriend and that I new a bit about him. I thought he seemed like a nice guy and we began talking through the instant messenger system and e-mails. (I still have all the e-mails he sent me and some of the instant messenger chats). His parents were even more strict than mine and that's saying something so he wasn't allowed to talk to me on the phone after about 7:00 p.m. As teenagers do we managed to get around this by a loop whole. We discovered one day that just before the phone would ring at his house the modem in his room would flash three times. So every night at 9:30 when I'd go to bed I'd call him and he'd pick up the phone before it would ring. We talked this way for hours. Our friendship grew and blossomed, the day had come when we were to meet in person for the first time. We had been friends by phone and internet for about six months at this point but had never met face to face. The Baron had been working at this little Italian restaurant and we decided that we'd meet there because it was a bike ride from his house and his parents wouldn't think anything of him going to work to pick up or drop something off. We were to meet there. Well that meeting almost didn't happen because we didn't recognize who the other was. I had brought my niece who was four years younger than me for the meeting. She pointed out that there was this guy standing at the window looking very Anxious. Well that was when I made my move and went up to him and asked if he was "Baron". He was. I found out that he only had about 20 min because it was his dad's birthday and his family was having a special dinner. We ended up staying 40 min and he did get in trouble for being late. (That was a bit of foreshadowing). I remember thinking "God thank you for letting me meet him." And "guys like him don't date girls like me". We met again for a band competition, and our third "date" was the state band competition. As regular teenagers we snuck around trying to see each other in secret so that we didn't get parental flack. My much older brother (he's 20 years older than me), caught us going to the movies together once and gave him the third degree but it didn't seem to phase him. O did I mention that the Baron was only 16 at the time and I was 18. We began to date publicly our senior year in high school. (Remember that family I met at the math competition, yeah come to find out it was the Baron's family. So technically I met them before I met him.) We ended up going to a few school dances together but we didn't go to the same school, in fact we lived about 30 miles away from each other. I tried to see him as often as I could, driving into town almost every weekend just to see him when he'd get off of work. By the time graduation came along I was in love, although I don't think he'd admit it I think he was too. We had decided to go to two different colleges about 600 miles apart. This meant that we would be having a long distance relationship. We both got cell phones. I think the unlimited calls within network, and our trusted instant messenger system saved our relationship.

My mother kept warning me that my great guy was a great catch and wouldn't stick around for me. With time I started to believe her. For the first year of college I'd see him on school breaks when he'd come home to see his parents but during the second year his parents moved to Tx. I thought for sure that was the end. But no he would make special trips to come out to see me staying at my parents house for school breaks. This continued for about four years. Their was talk about getting married but I refused to get married before I was finished with school. I graduated with a BS in speech language pathology in December of 2006, Second in the university. At this point he was still pursuing his BS in mechanical engineering and had a year of school left. I went to another in state university to get my MS in communicative sciences. This meant we had to wait another three years, till I finished all the course work required for a masters. Into the second year of masters degree, after the Baron had a job and had paid off all his student loans (I refused to marry someone in debt.) The Baron proposed on a beach just after sunset. We planned to get married Dec. of 2009 a week after I graduated with my masters degree. Things didn't go quite as planned but we got married December 28th 2009, my sister's 25th wedding anniversary. I graduated with a MS communicative sciences and disorder May of 2010. One year into our marriage I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. I love being a house wife while waiting for my dream job to come along so I can get my full certification, and start our family. We are waiting till I have full certification so that if I want to stay home with my babies I won't have to go back to school in the case of me for whatever reason needing to go to work to actually make a living to support our family. So that's how we got here.

What's on the Menu? 1

Last night the Baron asked for corn dogs. I guess he got a craving or something, but I was really hungry for Genghis Grill as the afor mentioned post said. And being the wonderful husband he is, he set aside his wants and sacrificed to make me happy. So today the menu is Corn dogs and curly fries for lunch. Yeah I know what your thinking, that sounds like a little kids lunch but hey who says that only little kids can eat fattening so not good for you food. Corn dogs, mac and cheese, and French fries always seem to send be back to childhood. Maybe tonight if it's not to cold I can talk the Baron into walking to the park to play on the swings, and maybe feed the ducks. Can you tell I'm feeling nostalgic today. Dinner we'll have spaghetti and meatballs maybe with a salad. What can I say. Those are the ingredients I have in the pantry.

Maybe next "What's on the Menu?" entry will be more creative and exciting. One can hope.

Well that didn't last long

So last night the Baron and I went out to eat at Genghis grill. I always enjoy going and to top it off we had a free bowl so we ate cheaper than usual. Only thing that could have made it better would have been double point Monday. As usual, after we left Genghis grill I got a craving for ice cream so we went over to our local supermarket and got some (much cheaper than going out for ice cream). We then went on a little bebenture (my sister-in-laws word for adventure when she was little) to look at Christmas lights in the area. On the way home the Baron noticed that his car was running a little warm. When we got home we noticed that his radiator fluid was very low and there was a spot on the pavement. I thought we were finished with this problem. Guess it wasn't only the water pump. Now I guess we might have to take it to the mechanic. So for now we are back to one fully functioning car. This means I'm going to end up being home bound again which is a drag because I still haven't finished my Christmas shopping. Guess I'll just have to go after the Baron gets home in the evenings instead of spending time with him. Only slight problem with that is that it gets dark so early and I don't want to go out in the dark alone in Big City, Tx. Hope this problem gets fixed soon.

Couples Study

Last night the Baron and I went to a couples bible study at the church we teach conformation classes at. We've been going to the bible study for a few months now. It's nice to talk about marriage and how God helps us in our marriages. Most of the married couples have been married for much longer and have kids, but we all help each other by sharing things about our marriages. Last night we had a pot luck. It was quite nice. I enjoyed it very much. I brought my etouffee and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I'm looking forward to continuing our studies in Feb. when we do our Lenten study on the seven last words of Christ.

The Weekend

This weekend the Baron and I drove down to my parents house in one stop light, La. It's only four hours away but that drive wipes me out every time. We drove there after the Baron came home from work on Friday, which means that we got to my parents house at about midnight. We had a Christmas party at a cousin's home on Sat after going to mass at a little catholic church.

It was great to see the whole family again. I always love the great homemade food at these family parties. As the next generation of ankle biters ran around and had a grand ole time, the older generations talked loudly among themselves. We played crazy Santa and I got a really nice iron art piece which will look great in my new green kitchen above the window. The Baron got some Cajun injector stuff for me to cook with. Over all it was a nice trip home.

My back story

Warning this may be a very rambling blog post.

I grew up in a very small town in south Louisiana. I was born to old parents (Daddy was 43 and my mom was 40) and raised as an only child. My siblings are 20, 18, and 16 years older than me. I grew up with very old fashioned catholic morals. Before I was born my mother was told to abort me due to some health issues and her age. As can be seen by the fact I'm here, she refused to do so and everything turned out just fine.

When I was in first grade I was diagnosed with a severe to profound case of dyslexia. This is why some of my posts may have misspellings, punctuation, and capitalization errors.

I struggled through my first year of first grade with a very old school teacher who thought I was lazy and was able to repeat the grade with a reading specialist. I still believe to this day that the decision to hold me back that year was one of the best decisions my parents ever made.

Fast forward many years to my junior year in high school. I met a really sweet guy through a mutual friend. He accepted me just the way I was. It didn't seem to bother him that I was a paradox of knowledge. At that point I was reading on a third grade level but was top of my high school class. We began dating that year and continued to date throughout our senior year.


The time came when we needed to apply for college. I was fifth in my class and could have gone to school almost anywhere but my parents would only pay for me to remain in state. I got into all of the universities that I applied to but decided to go to Nicholls State University where they had a dyslexic program and where I had been offered two full paid scholarships. My great guy was not originally from Louisiana and wanted out as soon as possible. He applied to many out of state colleges and ended up settling for UT Austin. This meant that we would be having a long distance relationship. My mother kept warning me that my great guy was a great catch and wouldn't stick around for me. Well she was wrong.

My great guy did stick around. We talked on the phone for hours each day. He was my long distance support system through the hard days of college. I graduated with a BS in speech language pathology in December of 2006, Second in the university. At this point he was still pursuing his BS in mechanical engineering. Their was talk about getting married but I refused to get married before I was finished with school. This meant we had to wait another three years, till I finished all the course work required for a masters. I went to another in state university to get my MS in communicative sciences and disorders and graduated in May of 2010.





My wonderful guy remained by my side for the long haul. We got married Dec. 28th 2009, almost nine years after we began dating and almost eight of them spent apart. Since then I've been a stay at home wife who loves her job of taking care of the house and serving her husband as a good wife should. I'm working on being the good wife from Proverbs 31:10-31.

I Won! How exciting.

I entered the Full of Grace Monday Give away and have won twice. About a month ago I won a pretty pearl rosary and just last week I one a beautiful pearl bracelet. I am very excited to have won. You too can have a chance to be a winner. Just go to A Woman's Place on Monday morning and sign up. It's fun and free. Not to mention you can read her blog which she updates almost daily. She's got some great gifts that you can buy thought her online store.

Hello Blogging World

Hello Blogging world,
This is my first blog ever. I'm not quite sure what this blog will turn into but at this point I'm going to just talk about my life.

This week has been very busy. My parents have come from LA and that means a slight change in my schedule. My amazing father has come to save our cars, relay our carpet after the minor flood in the middle of the house, fix the roof and paint our kitchen. Between the Baron and I we only had half a car. The Baron's car needed a new water pump and my car needed it's left drivers side mirror reattached. Thanks to the handy dandy father we now have two working cars. He relayed most of the carpet in our two halls caused by our toilet overflowing for what seems like no good reason. Now we just have to wait for a floor guy to come and re-seam one of the halls. The roof has been repaired in the spot that was leaking, and my kitchen is slowly changing colors from pail beige to a Kelly Bunkport Green. Not bad for an old dad if I have to say so myself.



My mother and I have been putting up Christmas decorations. We have decorated the mantel, my sofa table, and our front formal living room where the tree is located.




Like I said it's been a busy week. O and to top it all off both the Baron and I are coming down with colds. I say my parents brought it down with them. One can hope that we are both well
enough to make it to our family chirstmas party this weekend.