***Working 2 years in Market Research taught me that only 1.5% of women are pregnant at any given time, so I realize I should limit pregnancy talk to get a broader audience. :)

BUT - I've got baby on my brain, so bear with me!  Just 7 more months and I'll appeal to more of you!***

I've known I was pregnant for the past 5.5 weeks and can't stand the thought of waiting 11 more to find out if little bugger is a boy or a girl.  I'll never understand why patience is a virtue! 

Seems like everything I buy has a red clearance tag.

A few weeks ago, I picked up an IntelliGender Gender Prediction Kit at Target.

It's recommended you take the test anywhere after 10 weeks.  I'll be there in 6 days so I took the test today.  Again, I'll never understand why patience is a virtue!

You basically pee in a cup, swirl it for 10 seconds and then WAIT for 10 long minutes.

Then you read the results.................

It's not as easy as pink = girl / blue = boy.

BUT I THINK IT SAYS WE'RE HAVING A MOMMA'S BOY! 

Compare the color strip with each corresponding gender for yourself!!!  Do you think the urine is more yellow (girl) or green (boy)?

Holy smokes.  Now I look at the pictures side-by-side and have no idea what we're having.

I'll have to buy another kit.

Lemon Bars

I have LKB to thank for my darling husband.

Last night Ben found a recipe that he had to try - Ina Garten's Lemon Bars.  After our fantastic Jimmy John's dinner tonight, Ben just upped and started baking them. 

He made the crust, squeezed the lemons, sifted the powered sugar - the whole 9 yards.

They turned out FANTASTIC!  You should try them.  The recipe is here!

Look at that man sift!  He told me, "I add more powdered sugar than the Contessa".

Fetus 134,325 : Mickey 0

Hi friends!

This baby is kicking my rump!  I'm convinced we're either having quadruplets or a dinosaur because this pregnancy has been nothing like carrying little Piper in my womb.

Here LKB is out-of-town and I feel like I'm dropping the ball (I mean blog). 
Tomorrow I'll get my creative juices flowing, or bribe Ben to do a guest post.

Ciao!

Heading to the BIG EASY!!!!!!

Relaxing, reading books on the front porch, smelling spicy familiar scents, walking around the French Quarter- pretending like we live there, seeing old friends, listening to music on the steps of Jackson Square. Tomorrow. Can't wait!

See you in a week.

I'll leave you with this, it's yummy! 

Nutella Puff Pastry Dessert

1. 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed (from a 17.3 pkg.)
2. 1 lg. egg beaten for an egg wash)
3. 7.oz. nutella, roughly 1/2 jar (13 oz.)
4. 1 tbl. sugar
5. sea Salt to sprinkle
6. 4 Tbl. hazelnuts, whole, toasted and chopped
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange puff pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet.
8. Form a 10 in. square and fold up the edges, just a little. Poke the middle of dough several times with a fork. 
9. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar
10. FREEZE for 15 min.
11. Transfer to oven and bake until pastry is puffed and golden, about 15 min.
12. Meanwhile roast hazelnuts in oven and then roll on a towel to remove skins and chop roughly
13. really good, and most things you can just keep on hand to make whenever you want

PSYCHO Suzie's

Psycho Suzies is an interesting spot. It's located in N.E.Mpls-- a ways from Farmington! We had the girls along, it was a fun evening, but to enjoy the best area in the restaurant, you had to be 21. We ate in the lower dining area, and then took a peek at the +21 as we were leaving- VERY COOL.

For dinner we ordered beer battered onion rings-- good,

pickle roll-ups- very good,
even though you can make these
at home, it was a nice addition-

dry rubbed chicken wings- a salty, sweet, spicy flavor---worth driving there for!!!!

And we finished with a pine nut, roasted garlic, cheese pizza- it was ok, a little too much garlic for me.

Ab and I had fancy drinks- we wanted to order the girls a non-alcoholic version- but they don't have anything other than pop- weird! What do pregnant ladies do or people that just don't want alcohol. I thought that was a bit strange. Overall we had a good time. I would go back, but only for the upstairs, dining. They have live music and it would be great fun with a few couples- so try it!

this is the VERY COOL upstairs dining

C'mon Spring...

We are pretending the weather is nicer out by adding plants to our abode.



I love the pot as much as the Bird's Nest Fern that fills it!



This Dracaena was once expected to spruce up our whole entry way, but does better in a empty corner.



Love the Tropical Fern, but I picked it for it's pot!  Sweet, eh?



Cute little Cyclamen.  It's been around forever.



This Boston Fern is full of life!



Are we in Hawaii, or did we just buy a Hibiscus plant?  Oh poo, it's the latter.



Hey Hibiscus, come in get in my hair where you belong.



Piper picked out these Tulips.  We'll soon find out if she has a green thumb!

Our dear friends had a little boy, so we are planning to bring them this Orchid plant.  I may never go visit just so we can just keep the plant here.  Not really, but wowzer - BEAUTIFUL!



Well, fellow Minnesotans, at least we can pretend it's beautiful outside by sprucing up the inside.  If this snow doesn't melt we're going to buy birds, to really make spring seem real.

A Little Get-Away

my first robin of the season

This is not quite in the neighborhood. But if you are heading to South Dakota or anywhere off I90-
The Amboy Cottage is worth the extra 1/2 hr. it takes to get there. I was down in Fairmont visiting my mom for a day, going to the Amboy Cottage Cafe is always on our schedule.

chicken vegetable soup

Lisa makes everything fresh and delicious and grows a lot of her own vegetables.
The Amboy Cottage has been featured on The Jason Davis show.


After you have finished lunch you can wander across the street to an antique store, where we have found many treasures.  A couple stores down from the Amboy Cottage is a yarn/knitting store that Lisa and her mom Maria own- lots of wonderful angora!!! And finally at the end of the street is a cute store called Sweet Cicelly.
So lots of good things if you want to venture out of the city.

Chicken Salad with Homemade Raspberry Vinigrette
sorry I ate my dessert before I could get a picture, Raspberry Bread Pudding-mmmmm.

Fooood!

Growing this baby has made my mind mush.  The only thing I think about is food!

Here's a delicious, cheap, easy March recipe I got from LKB.  I made it on St. Patrick's Day, but you could probably get a good deal on some cabbage and whip this up tonight.  :)

It's so simple.  Here's the play-by-play:

Chop 1 medium onion and saute it in 2 Tbsp. butter until slighly browned.

While sauteing the onions, chop an entire head of cabbage.  Rinse it and then add it to the onion mixture.



Add the rest of the stick of butter (It's decadent like that) to the onion/cabbage mix.

Optional:  Add some cooked meat to the onion/cabbage mix.  I added about 1/2 cup of bacon crumbles.

Cook on medium heat until the mixture cooks down - about 30 minutes.

Add cooked egg noodles.  I tried to be good and use whole grain noodles.  I'd use regular next time, but if you're in a healthy mood, go ahead and try the whole grain!

Drain noodles and add to the butter, onion, cabbage, (bacon) mixture.

Add lots of salt and pepper!

ENJOY!!!!

My leprechauns and I did!



Everything Girl

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ekate









I first experienced Erin Kate at Solomon's Porch, singing a beautiful song-not a dry eye in the place.
I thought," wow, how cool to be so talented." Then by chance I drew her name to do her daughter's portrait. At Solomon's Porch we have portraits of everyone who would like them, hanging in our sanctuary. I signed up to be one of the artists to do portraits and was excited to have this connection with Erin Kate.

This is my portrait of Lillian

Last fall I was included in an art sale at Solomon's Porch and was surprised to hear that Erin was going to have jewelry to sell there. I had no idea she was an artist as well as a singing artist.
Her pieces of art are amazing to say the least!
As we were chatting I was kind of apologizing for myself  not being focused on one thing. Some artists like to only paint, only do pottery etc. I really like to do a lot of things and get bored doing the same thing.  I do jewelry for awhile, then paint a little, then do photography and  back again to something I did a few months ago. I thought of it as a negative. Erin smiled and said," you are an everything girl." as she is too.   I love it-   it really does make me feel better- I had never thought of myself in that way.
THANK YOU- Erin!
Ok- here are a few of her things. With Mother's Day coming up, or someone having a baby. anniversary, birthday- anything- she will have something you will love.

Erin has a studio/shop at:
http://www.orchardarthouse.com/

Be sure and check it out for hours etc.
I've seen pictures of it and it looks very cool.
I haven't been there yet, but want to---

Hey, anyone --give me a call and we'll go to Orchard House and then lunch.

What a better way to spend  a spring day.
Check out Erin's art here
Here is my little treasure .....................................love it!!!!!

She's an "Everything Girl"
What more can I say!!!!!!!!!

DIY playlist to........ bring on SPRING!!!!!!

Rain Rain go away...

When the little girls were around one, I made this "spring- bird song" cd for Finley, Piper and friend, Claire.

 Even though it's raining- we can listen to spring and dream of it- it can't be too far away.

I did this for the little ones, but it can be revised for us too.( I have the playlist on my ipod) I bought the songs on itunes, $1.29 a song, at the most- not bad-

For the cover of the cd, I used photoshop- put a picture of them with a title of the cd. You could also use a drawing that the kids have done themselves, or just tape pieces of cardboard together- the size of a cd case. You make it as complicated or as easy as you want. On the back I put a list of the songs-  

so here you go:

1. Rockin' Robin                              Bobby Day
2. Three Little Birds                         Elizabeth Mitchell
3. Wake Up Little Sparrows             Ella Jenkins
4. Robin in the Rain                          Raffi
5. Bender                                          Birdie Busch
6. Blackbird                                      Sarah McLachlan
7. Beautiful Bluebird                         Neil Young
8. Here Comes the Sun                      Beatles
9. Little Bird Little Bird                     Elizabeth Mitchell
10. The Cuckoo                                   Ella Jenkins
11. Mockingbird                                  Carly Simon and James Taylor
12. Tip Toe Through the Tulips           Tiny Tim
13. Free Little Bird                               Lisa Loeb
14. Bluebird                                          Devendra Banhart
15. Three Little Birds                            Bob Marley
16. There's a Blue Bird On Your Windowsil    Doris Day

Pour yourself a glass of fresh squeezed oj, take a vitamin D, sit back and listen to your tunes !!!