Wasting Time

Since I no longer can use my favorite drugs, ie wine, a hot bath, or decent TV I have turned to other things to fill my loneliness and boredom. My newest addictions come in the forms of video games. Now let me be clear I am not my husband so my skill is somewhat lacking in these fields. For my birthday Brad bought me a Nintendo DS. My MIL bought me the game Elite Beat Agents. All I can say is that for such a cheesy game it is totally addictive. SO much so that I already beat all of the game on the easier setting. I believe that on my own I have never before played a game until the credits rolled. I must say I was a little sad to see there wasn't another level for me to conquer. So before moving on to the next difficulty level I turned to yet another birthday present. You see Jens and Megan gave me Super Paper Mario for the WII and for the past two days I have been sending a lot of time flipping through the dimensions. Unfortunately now I am stuck because I am too lame to know how to make my Mario jump high enough so I had to turn off the game until Brad comes home to help me. I guess this means that I should start doing things like laundry instead.

Tomorrow I am heading back to my parents for a week. I will be taking the train there as everyone feels I should not be driving for that long. I plan to take my laptop with me so I can surf the net from my folks house. This means I may post a little while I am there but I will definitely be reading all of you guys so don't disappear on me. About my post yesterday, I was kidding when I asked if it was due to me, that kid and his family had problems long before and long after I ever sat for them. I truly believe that he had no chance in life to do better because the role models he was surrounded by were poor at best. I believe that the whole family had and have mental problems that are not treated. That being said the distance between their house and my families is larger than it would seem to say that it is across the street. My parents house is actually quite a ways off the street to begin with and other than pulling into our out of our driveway we never see the neighbors. So the situation wasn't scary for them just bizarre. Like I said you often see people on the news after an event and hear them say they could see that there were problems all along and you think to yourself that would never be you being interviewed, however yesterday when I heard the news I wasn't all that surprised. I will say this apparently wasn't a random shooting and he did know the person he shot. I know nothing more than that but it isn't like he went on a rampage.

Now I have posted three days in a row. I hope for all of you that have been nagging me about my lack of posting will feel full from all the posting I have done this week. I would savor the posts if I was you because I am fairly sure I won't be posting tomorrow. Have a great weekend everyone. Be safe.

And they are letting me become a parent!

SO I just got a call from my Mom telling me that the kid across the street, who is now 25 and no longer a kid, murdered a 62 year old man last night. I babysat him from the time he was 2 until about 4 and I stopped because quite honestly the whole family was WEIRD! Anyway if my fine early nurturing skills brought forth such a great human I have to question God for allowing me to reproduce. Well I am hoping the damage was done by the environment he grew up in and not anything I could have done. Actually I was far too young to be babysitting anyway because I was only like 10 when I started watching him. I don't know anymore details as to the murder or why he did it but he has already admitted to the police that he did it. My Mom said there have been 3 cop cars across the street searching the house since before she left the house at 7 and they are still there now. She only found out what happened because the news called her to see what she knew about him. She didn't say anything. Heck the only thing we really do know about the family is from 21 years ago. However it was one of those times when someone says so and so did this and we weren't shocked in the slightest, sad really when you think about it.

In completely unrelated news today is my bestest friends in the whole wide world birthday. SO go on over to Susan's blog and wish her the happiest of birthdays. Hey while your over there you can remind her that she is older than me. Hope you had a great day Pooh!

Prime Time

SO I remember in days gone past when from 8-11 at night there were things on tv that were worth watching. I remember being excited that this or that show would be on on this night and life would revolve around the box in the living room. So why now that we have state of the art High Definition tvs and about 1000 channels is there nothing but crap on? Ok sure there are a few shiny exceptions from the crapfest that pollutes our airways such as Heroes, thank you for finally coming back. But for the most part tv sucks. I mean really if I hear about Sanjaya one more time I am going to shoot someone. I choose not to watch the show because frankly they just aren't that good anymore and I would rather do other things than listen to Randy say Dog a million times an episode. Where have all the good shows gone. Are we so lacking in creativity that all we have to offer society is crappy reality shows or games shows. Where have all the writers gone? Are they now on the freeway exits with signs saying will write for food? To illustrate my point the latest heavily published show to come to prime time is Bingo! Come on your kidding me right. Unless you are under 8 years old or over 75 bingo is just not cool. Please even movies like Throw Momma from a Train tells you Bingo players are a lower form of humans. Now I mean no not to offend you if you are a hard core Bingo player but I have worked the Bingo circuit in my life and I can tell you these are not the kind of people I would watch on tv. I remember working those nights in High School to raise money for our Drama department and hoping to make it out alive. These people were scary! I will assure you ABC I will not be tuning in to your Bingo show and I hope no one else does either. It is time to stand up and demand better programming. I for one will be watching more movies or playing more video games if this is the programming I have to look forward to.

Stuff and more stuff

DO you ever have so much to say that you don't even know where to begin or what to really say. I have been in that place for awhile trying to figure out what to post and talk about that has been going on in my mind and in the end nothing is coming out. I have been deeply concerned by current events and I thought about posting about those, but now I think that I don't need to get up on my soap box here. I hope that things will ch age due to current events and that in the end we will have a safer place to raise our children, two or four legged depending on the reader. I guess in general I feel like they should focus our energy on the things that are important and not worry about babblings of idiots.

I got a job last week doing some data entry from home. It is really easy and makes some extra bucks. It is great because it is something I can continue to do once the baby comes. I think it will take some of the pressure of Brad if I am at least contributing some. It does mean that my computer and I are seeing a l0t more of each other. This is fine but it does take a toll on my back. So I guess this is another reason I haven't posted much is I am actually working from this computer.

The baby and I are doing well. We go back to the doctor on the 8th of May and we will get an ultrasound that day to truly determine the sex. Apparently even though the ultrasound tech was sure it was a boy it was apparently too early to tell and at that stage all babies have outy organs. So we will see. I am starting to get bigger and if you know me you can tell I am showing. If you don't know we well you just think I am even fatter than I was before. Actually I have lost 11 pounds as of my last appointment. When you consider that a normal pregnancy would have gained 10 by that stage I guess it means I have lost the equivalent of 21 pounds. That means this is the best diet I have ever been on. Anyway below is a picture of me taken a few minutes ago in the office. You all can decide for yourself if I look pregnant or fatter, just don't tell me if you think fat cause it might make me cry.





Well I have more I could say but I am meeting friends for dinner so I best be going. Have a great weekend everyone.

Another Year

As of today I am another year older. Well I guess I am really only a day older than yesterday but some smartass assigned a larger number to today. Usually my birthdays are different, I look forward to them and let everyone know hey my birthday is coming. This year it kinda snuck up on me and all of a sudden it is like oh yeah it is my birthday. Usually I look at this day and think what will be different about me in this year of my life. Last year at 33 I became a wife and changed who I am legally. I thought that was a huge change, and in a lot of respects it was, but really in my mind it didn't change all that much because I was already fully committed before that. This year though as I stare at 34 I know this is the biggest year of change ever. This year the events that unfold will truly change me forever and there will be no going back. If I thought changing my last name was going to change the care of who I am, it is nothing compared to the change in title I shall soon receive. This year I will become a Mom.

I look at that title and hope that I can live up to what it means. I hope that in the 34 years I spent preparing for this change I have learned to be the type of Mom my Mom would be proud of. I hope to be fair and patient. I hope that I will always love first and to act with that love. I hope that I can disciple correctly, following through on what I say. I hope to be fun. There are so many things that I can only hope that I have the tools to handle when they come my way, that I should be petrified. The thing is I know I had the greatest role model, and through that I think I am ready. I have learned that I will make mistakes and that it will be ok. There will be triumphs and pitfalls along the way and that they will balance each other out.

So anyway here I am another year older. Preparing to begin my life in a whole new way.

Vacation

I am leaving first thing in the morning and getting on a jet plane to go see the inlaws for passover. I will be back next week to tell you all about my adventure in travelling. Right now I am very tired and need to finish up packing so that all will be ready for the trip. Everything is going well here and the baby seems to be doing well as well. I am starting to feel flutters everyonce in awhile so that is pretty exciting. Today he was stabbing me in my left side with something on and off throughout the day. I told him to quit it but like any other child he plainly ignored me. I see we are off on the right foot. Anyway I have got to get going see you Thursday or Friday next week.

California

California
Originally uploaded by The Eye of Brad.

Here is why living here sometimes sucks. The other day while I was pumping this extremely overpriced fuel I was stopped by a begger asking me for money. I was a little more tired and grumping than I normally am so I responded. Are you kidding do you see the price we are paying per gallon of gas? DO you really think while I am being prison raped is the best time to ask me for more of my money? He responded yeah and it is only gonna get worse. Then he looked at me looked at the price marquee and slowly turned and walked away from the gas station. I guess he decided we weren't the best place to beg for money.

Oh the things you will miss

This shall be a mostly visual post of things that I miss while pregnant.



For our next offering picture it full of steaming hot water and the jets full blast.



Just because this is worth mentioning again and because I really want it, I give you the third offering.



Our last offering may be confusing but I will say it is unpastorized therefore a no no

Ultrasound

So here are the pictures we got from the ultrasound we had on Tuesday. Surprise it is a bouncing baby boy. Elijah William will be joining the family in September.

Baby's Room

So here is what the Baby's room looks like so far. My brother's girlfriend is giving me her crib, dresser and night stand set so I just need to go pick those up and the room will be done. I will post more pictures after I pick all that up and then really have the room done. You can see that the cats wanted in on the action.

Stuff

So I haven't been around much and when I have I haven't said much. There is a lot going on right now with my family that I can't really talk about here so that leaves not a whole lot to say. The baby is doing great though so don't worry. I am going to try to scan the latest ultra sound pictures and post them so hold on while I see if it works. So I am sorry I don't have more to say, I promise I will try to update with something even if it is just mindless crud. Well I guess I can tell you that I had a one hour gluclose test yesterday and I passed it so right now at least we aren't worried about gestastional diabetese, so yeah me pass the candy bowl. well that is all for now.

Will be away.

I am leaving in a little bit and heading to my parents for a week I think. I won't get to anyones blog while I am gone so don't think I am avoiding you. This morning my Mom called and woke me up at 6:45 to tell me it was suppose to be a huge rain storm today so I should leave as soon as possible. That is fine but a call from my Mom before 8 am scares the living heck out of me and my heart was beating a billion times a second. I think she realized how badly she scared me because she quickly said everything is fine. Anyway I hae got to get going and start loading up my car. I will talk more later as to why I am making this trip. Don't miss me to much while I am gone. DOn't worry though me and Zy are doing fine.

Empty House

So last week was a long week and I am still tired from it. It was nice having family visit but I think we are glad to return to our normal pace. I am still getting used to sharing my office with Brad. He is loving having his office down here so I guess it is a good thing. Of course now that Brad's computer is down here some things had to get fixed. We finally had a new dryer vent put in because the old one never worked and wasn't up to code. Of course this needed to be done for 5 years but my office didn't rank the work to be done our there to be a wall to seperate it from the garage. The cats love being with us while we are at the computer though so I am getting lots of loves. Sunday after we took sil to the airport we finished cleaning out the garage and we once again have 2 cars in it.

So on to the next drama. I have mentioned in the past that we were having a hard time with our wedding photographer. Well so were a lot of other couples and so we all banded together. The local CBS news is doing a special Valentines Day on how this wedding photographer ripped people off and won't return phone calls. Well now all of a sudden calls are being returned and supposedly our albums will be made. I am hoping that this will get taken care of because if not we will have to sue them for breach of contract and pay someone else to make our album. We are lucky though because early on I was very pushy and got all our proofs and all the pictures on disks. So even if we never hear back from the Crook again we can have our albums made. I guess at this point I would just be happy to have an album to show off of our wedding before the baby comes. I can only hope that it takes less time to create an album than it does to create a whole human.

As far as Zy goes they are being pretty nice to Mommy. I haven't had any vomiting and only a few bouts of nausea. I am tired though and don't sleep through the night. I get starving hungry and then can only eat about a cup full of food before I feel full. Honestly though for the most part I don't feel that different and if it wasn't for 4 pregnancy tests and an ultrasound that said I was I am not sure I would believe it. Thanks everyone for your well wishes and congratulations, it is really nice to see so many people are happy for us. Well I better get going I have more laundry to put in and chores to do.

By the way today is my 2 year blogiversary. After 2 years of drizzle I can't believe any of you are still coming around. Anyway it has been a nice two years and maybe this year I will do better at posting more often.

I'm Pregnant!

So big news around our house is that there is a baby in my belly. On Monday we went to the Doctor and had our first appointment and ultrasound. The babies heartbeat loooks good and is developing well. Seeing the baby made everything feel a little more real. We are so excited to be starting our family and it is nice to see our little Zygote has developed into a fetus. For now we call the Baby Zy because it is what I started calling it to tell it to become a Zygote. Don't worry though eventually the baby will have a real name that we will call it instead of a developmental stage that it has already passed. Anyway Zy is due in September between the 17th and the 23rd depending on what you go by. However that being said I am pretty sure Zy will come whenever it is good and ready. We still haven't decided if we are going to find out the sex because I kind of don't want too and Brad does want too. We will see maybe as that time gets closer I will want to know as well.

We gave our parents the go ahead to tell people after we saw the ultrasound to tell people as once you see the heartbeat at 8 weeks you have less than a 5% chance of miscarrying and we figure if we did at this point we would want the support. Brad's Mom was very excited to share the news and I am sure by now there is a full page ad in their paper letting everyone know we are pregnant. My Mom has only told a few people and is slowly ramping up to tell more.

Tomorrow Brad's sister and boyfriend are going to paint the babies room for us. I know it is early but this is when their visit is so we are just going with it. The room will be done in classic pooh and I can't wait to see it. So that is what has been going on around here, I am tired though and need to rest. I am sure there will be much more news later.

Construction

Well we are almost done with the construction at our house and things are looking great. Today my SIL Julie and her boyfriend Sean arrived to visit with us for the week. We have lots of activities planned and will be very busy. Tomorrow we are going to every quilt and fabric store in the greater Los Angeles area and then meeting up with my bro for dinner. Wednesday we are headed to Disneyland for a full day of fun. Julie and Sean will stay the night there for their anniversary and Brad and I will come home. Brad will work Thursday and Friday and I will keep myself busy during the day and then Thursday night we will go back to Disney and pick them up. Friday Julie and I will do girlie bonding stuff and what not. I am not sure what the weekend plan is but I am sure there will be some.

Yesterday we had a Super Bowl party and we were all thrilled that the Colts won. We have so much food left over I think we will be having brownies for weeks. I realized I broke a man law by baking on game day. But sometimes you gotta break the law. Nothing much else to talk about that I can think of right now, so I will say see ya until later.

Time savers

So Brad takes a class on Wednesday nights and so he doesn't get home until almost 10. On those nights I try to hold out and eat dinner with him but I don't want to make a big meal so late at night. So I have found Bertolli meals for 2 in a bag. They are the best thing ever and cook in just a few minutes. The portion is a good size and the meals are tasty. I would say if you want a quick meal for 2 people you should definitely try these. I love stuff like this and so I thought I would ask, what product do you use that saves you time and is worth the price?

On Saturday my fight against Brad's cold came to an end and I lost. I have had a head on the verge of explosion since then. I am finally feeling better today and I can actually breathe through my nose. I have gently explained to Brad that he is not to bring home any more germs and if he does I will kill him. I have bought a vaporizer and it really helped me to sleep through the night. It has also helped with Brad's snoring so maybe it was what we needed all along.

Well I think I am going to go now. I don't have much else to say and I feel like baking so there might be chocolate chip cookies in my future. I will know if Brad has read this by how quickly he looks passed me and starts searching for cookies.

Ok I will post already

Monday was the 2nd anniversary of the day Brad proposed. We went to a restaraunt called Pecorino and the food was great. We ate so much that night and had a great time. Pecorino is a type of cheese and quite frankly my husband is obsessed with it. The funny thing about that is that when I met Brad he hated cheese and only tolerated it on his pizza but he preferd more sauce and less cheese. Now this man is ordering a cheese plate and savoring it even more than I am. It is funny how things change. Brad and I are really happy and things are going well.

I have been keeping busy and don't have a lot that I can talk about on an open forum like this right now. Our home owners association is crazy right now and I am trying to get to an even keel on things. We are also doing some home improvements that we have been meaning to do for awhile now. In a few weeks Brad's sister and boyfriend are coming to stay with us for a week and I am trying to get Brad's office turned into a bedroom for them to stay in that will also be cat free since they have cat allergies. Getting my girls locked out of a room though is not as easy as it sounds because Z can open doors.

It is raining here today which is nice to have some wintery weather. Rain is the closest we get to winter here. Although it has been cold enough to actually need the heater we paid to have fixed last year, so I glad we finally have working heat. It was cold enough here this morning that Brad actually wore pants to work instead of his usual shorts. Well that is all I have to say now so I will post more when I have more to say.

Happy cHannukah

SO things have been a little crazy around here lately. Recently I ended up becoming a member of the board for my homeowners association. While I thought that I would simply be joining the board and helping out for a year it didn't really turn out that way, and now I am the president of the board. It seems as though the old board made some poor decisions and now there is a mess to clean up. So I have been running around like mad trying to get locks out to residents to be rekeyed and then get them back and have them installed in the gates. Then while dealing with that we had to solve a problem with the gates in my house that have a ten inch gap between the ground and the gate. So now they are remaking my gate and then they can install the locks. Dealing with the other homeowners and the board are less than fun.

On Sunday morning at 5:30 I woke up rather suddenly to the sound of a cat yacking. I sat bold upright and started screaming "No no no no get off the bed, GET OFF THE BED!" Brad than jumped and said "What did I do?" The cat leaped to the floor and puked all over the carpet. We thought that was it and that I had saved the bed but in mornings light we saw we had been to late. We pulled off the duvet cover and saw that it had seaped through. So with a little resolve dual action cleaner we again had a pure white duvet. I put our other cover on and was thankful we had 2 covers that we got as wedding presents. We kept an eye on Pixel and she continued to puke all over the house. I thought maybe she had a hairball and so I gave her some hairball medicine. Well a few minutes later she was again throwing up. So I began trying to box her up so we could go to the vet. Round one went to Pixel, round two also to Pixel. It was looking pretty grim and I was unsure I was up to the task. So with no regard to the safety of my precious boobies I cornered her and picked her up and forced her into the box. After swiftly closing the door I surveyed the damage, well my chest was pretty scratched up and there were random scratches all across my body. I got Pixel to the vet and after an exam and x-rays they found nothing wrong with her and told me to give her Pepcid. I spend the day and two hundred and fifty bucks to be told to give her a 5 dollar over the counter human drug. What the hell is the point of that. Well today she hasn't puked all day and so we may not have to take her back to the vet.

Brad gave me XM radio for cHannukah. I installed it into my car myself and I was very proud of the job I did. I can be quite handy when I want to be. I have really loved having the satalite radio in my car and at home. I have listened to music and read on the couch which is a nice way to spend time. Also XM has made a cHannukah station so that Jews have a place to hear their music. I hope they will think about keeping a Jewish station as it would be nice to have a place that place our worship music. It is funny their are somthing like 6 Christian channels all year and only one Jewish station and only for the 8 days of cHannukah. Anyway I hope that all of you no matter what you believe in have a good holidays and spend some time with those you love. It is this time a year that I am reminded how lucky I am to have the great family I do and that I still can spend time with them. We will be heading to Napa on Saturday to visit my family so I will probably not be around much next week.

I am going to try to spend some time tomorrow updating all my links so if you are moving let me know so I can finally have the right links for everyone.

Wild Animal Park

 
 
 
So here are a few pictures from my families trip to the wild animal park. You will see the first picture is of my Mom being so brave to be in the presence of kissing Giraffes. I will give her a hard time for this picture but they are amazing and intimatidating animals. It was so amazing to be so close to the animals. It was also fun to see little C's reaction to the animals. Early in the day before we were on the tour she said she wasn't going to touch them. When it came time to feed the giraffes and the Rhinos you couldn't keep her away. We all had such a fun day and it was nice to spend time with the family. After the park we spent all week together shopping cooking and eating. A full tummy was had by all.

So this is one of those posts where I have so much to say I will accomplish none of it. I guess the important thing is I am alive and doing well. I am catering tomorrow night for Brad's work so I will let you know if I make it through alive. Have a great night everyone. 

I think I have a problem

What does it say about you when most of your hits from google searches involve the word chocolate in some way? Do I need a chocolate intervention. Do you want to know my other most popular hit is "in the doctors stirrups." Seriously have I not typed anything more worthy of people reading? I am beginning to worry about how interesting I seem if this is how people find me. I am also learning that there are a lot of people out there that want chocolate Oscar statues, I am wondering if I should make a mold and start selling those as I get googled daily for it. I guess this is as good of a time as any to say why this blog was called chocolate cars in the first place. When I started this blog I was making chocolate MINI Coopers and selling them to the MINI club we belonged too. They were pretty detailed and took a lot of work. Since it was the only really unique thing I could think of about myself at the moment I named the blog Chocolate Cars. Perhaps not the greatest story in the world but at least now you can stop wondering about it. Apparently all the pictures of the cars are on Brad's computer though so I don't have one to post.

My almost niece's birthday party was very cute and we had a great time. I am trying for almost aunt of the year so I made her birthday cake. One of the Mom's was raving how light and fluffy the icing was on the cake, she said it was like professional icing. I thanked her for the compliment and then explained that I am a chef. She said oh so it is professional. I guess I never really thought of myself that way. Anyway the icing wasn't really difficult or brilliant it was just whipped ganache, something I have been making since before culinary school. Actually it was sort of an accident when I couldn't get it to thicken up to cover a cake and I didn't understand the properties of ganache. I figured it had whipping cream in it I would whip it and see what happens. What happens is you get a really fluffy chocolate mousse like substance that sets stiff. So I don't come off as a total snob I will explain that ganache is half cream half chocolate by weight. You heat the cream to just under boiling and then take it of the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute and then stir with a whisk until all the chocolate melts. It will start off really liquidy and when it cools it will firm up. You have eaten it in the center of a chocolate truffle before.

Ok now go ahead and google chocolate and see how quickly you find me.