Florida Cleaning

We went to Florida this past weekend to start cleaning out Darryl's dad's house so Darryl's sister and her family can move in soon. We didn't get as much done as Darryl had hoped, but I think we made a good dent in what needs to be done.

Yesterday we went to the Methodist church in our hometown (this is where Darryl's family went to church when he was growing up and where his sister still goes to church), and I saw tons of people I hadn't seen in years. In particular, I saw my best friend from elementary school. She now lives in the Atlanta area, but she was having her new baby christened yesterday. I haven't seen her in probably fifteen years. Anyway...

And that's it.

Cleaning, Movies, and Such

Yesterday, during Amelia's "daycare day," I was actually productive and marked an item off my summer to-do list: I cleaned out her room/closet. This involved boxing up the clothes that no longer fit and re-organizing some drawers and things. It was a bigger job than I anticipated, but I'm glad it's done. I have to confess that I wanted to get a little teary-eyed as I put her hospital things--her blanket, bracelet, Northside Hospital t-shirt, coming home outfit, etc.--in their own special box. I know this sounds cliche, but I can't believe how quickly she's growing up.

I had hoped to organize my kitchen, too, but I at least was able to sort through expired food in our tiny pantry (c'mon...everyone has expired food in the pantry, right?), and threw out enough stuff to give Amelia her own space for formula and food.

Darryl was out of town four days this week and three days last week. Now he's home for a while. Thank goodness.

I did manage to watch two movies this week after Amelia went to bed. The first one I saw was 27 Dresses. When this movie came out, I rolled my eyes at it and figured it would just be a formulaic romantic comedy, but for some reason, I decided to pick it up at Blockbuster. Anyway, the movie was formulaic, but it was more entertaining that I had anticipated, and I actually kind of liked it. Academy Award winner? No. Decent romantic comedy that a tired mom (or dad, or person in general) can follow? Yes.

The other movie was Enchanted. Y'all, I adored this movie. Funny, smart, satirical, endearing...and Amy Adams is incredible. And it is very family friendly, if that's a concern. I highly, highly, highly recommend it.

And if I can coax myself out of this chair with my coffee by my side (and Amelia's in an Exersaucer, no worries), I will have walked four mornings this week. I think I'm going to do it.

Fun Tuesday!

Amelia and I had lots of fun yesterday afternoon! We went to Kim's house, where we met up with Kim, Miss "Mac" (Kim's daughter), Sabrina (friend/former guidance counselor at our school), and her two kids Connor and Suzanna. We had a blast eating some good food (mozzarella bites, chips and salsa, fruit and dip, cupcakes), playing (well, the kids played while the adults chatted), and swimming. It was a whole lot of fun, and it was definitely good for this mom to get out of the house and interact with some adults!

I could kick myself for not taking my camera, though. Amelia had the best time in the pool, and all the older kids reminded me of myself at that age as they performed numerous water stunts ("Look at me!" "Watch me!"--My parents swear that they could have just gone anywhere with a pool for summer vacation and I would have been content.)

On another note, kind of...Amelia's latest "cute" thing is that she likes to communicate with me through the bars of her crib. She'll grab the bars and put her face close to them, and I'll do the same on the other side. She just smiles and laughs. Let's hope that's the only "through the bars" communication we'll ever have with each other in our lifetimes. :)

Cupcake #1-B: Key Lime Cupcakes, the Remix

Well, I tried Max's recipe (posted in the comments for the first Key Lime cupcake, if you are interested), and it is really good. It is definitely easier than the recipe I tried last week, and I think the results are just as good, if not better. I did add a couple of tablespoons of key lime juice (bottled, I confess) to the frosting just to give it a bit of a twang. So, thanks Max. I think I've found my key lime cupcake!

I'm not going to bother with a pic because these cupcakes, on the surface, look exactly the same as last week's...lime wedge and all.

(By the way, I had 1-1/2 cupcakes last night--I had the half to determine if I wanted lime juice in the frosting--my dog enjoyed the other half. And of course I had to taste the finished product. Other than that, I did pretty well with eating "lighter," and I also walked yesterday and today. Just wanted to clarify.)

Ugh, that stupid ticker

Well, I faced the music and updated my weight loss ticker.

I'm sad. Basically between all the post-funeral food and the cupcakes, I've gained six pounds.

Here are my resolutions for this week:

1--Walk at least four mornings this week.
2--Eat just a couple of snacks--preferably fruit or at least something lower than 100 calories.
3--Eat a light breakfast and lunch.

So I guess my shorts being tighter wasn't just my imagination. Sigh.

Saturday Realizations

--The problem with making things like chicken enchiladas and cupcakes is that I eat them. My shorts are tighter. Salads and fruit this week, people! (Except for our get-together, Kim. I'm totally eating then. And I'll bring something with key lime.)

--Sloping parking lots are a real pain when you're dealing with a child in a shopping cart. I'm just saying.

--For every project I check off the list, I think of about three more I want to accomplish. I told Darryl that I'm really trying to take one project at a time, but it's hard. This weekend's project is to get the playroom/guest room finished. My next project is going to be organizing the kitchen or Amelia's room. (True, she hasn't been here long enough for it to get out of hand, but I need to box up clothes that don't fit and redo some drawers and so forth.)

--The summer is passing quickly. We have something going on the next three weekends...and then it will be just a couple of weeks until school starts. What?!?!?!

I'm now off to work on my project...

Chicken Enchiladas

Yesterday was Amelia's daycare day, so I got a much-needed haircut and made chicken enchiladas.

These enchiladas were really good; my only complaint is that they needed more salt. I have no idea how much more to suggest, so I would just salt to taste.

I actually found this recipe on another blog, but it gave credit to the source. I highly recommend these (with more salt, of course):

Sour Cream and Chicken Enchiladas
Recipe by Rebecca Rather

Ingredients:

1 store-bought roasted chicken (3 to 4 pounds)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
8 ounces button or cremini mushrooms, sliced (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups (32 ounces) sour cream
1⁄2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles, undrained
1 (10 ounce) can tomatoes with green chiles
1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt (My suggestion: Salt to taste)
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (about 3 ears), or one 8 oz. can corn kernels
1 cup canola oil
12 corn tortillas
2 1⁄2 cups (10 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9X13 inch baking pan with butter or cooking spray.

Remove and discard the skin from the cooked chicken. Pull the meat from the bones, shred it into bite-sized pieces, and set it aside in a large bowl.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, mushrooms, and garlic and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the sour cream, heavy cream, green chiles, tomatoes, salt, and pepper until smooth. Cook until warmed through, being careful not to let the mixture boil. Reserve 2 cups of the sour cream mixture for pouring over the casserole. Stir the corn and chicken into the remaining sour cream mixture, which will be used to fill the tortillas.

In a large skillet, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. Using metal tongs, dip each tortilla in the hot oil for a few seconds on each side, until softened. Stack the tortillas on a paper towel. Spoon a generous line of the chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla, roll it up, and place it, seam side down, in the prepared pan. Pour the reserved sour cream mixture evenly over the tortillas and sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Bake uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the sauce bubbles and the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

Note: I had TONS of filling left over, so I just poured some extra on top and along the sides (and still had more left over). I think you could really get 20-24 enchiladas out of this recipe.

Cupcake #1: Key Lime Cupcakes

Y'all, I've been obsessed with cupcakes lately. I look at blogs of bakers who specialize in cupcakes; I look at books of cupcakes. (I've also been obsessed with mini-cheeseburgers--"sliders"--lately too...maybe it has something to do with mini-versions of bigger foods or something.) Anyway, I've decided that I want to get in on this cupcake action, so last night I made key lime cupcakes.

I didn't find the perfect recipe on the Internet, so, in a very-uncharacteristic-of-me-like fashion, I took a cupcake recipe and adapted it (it didn't have enough lime juice in it for my taste, so I added more), and a frosting recipe (again, adding more lime juice). (I say this is uncharacteristic of me because I'm very "go by the rules" when it comes to recipes.)

At first, the results were disappointing. The cupcakes themselves were ugly and sunken in the middle. And still not lime-y enough for my taste. The frosting was better (a cream cheese/key lime mixture), but I thought the result wasn't worth the effort. To make my concoction look prettier, at least, I added a lime wedge for garnish.

This morning, though, I tried them again after they spent the night in the fridge. They seemed better. I don't know...the verdict is still out.

Here's a pic:

Father's Day, This Week, Etc.

I meant to give a shout out to the important dads in my life on Father's Day, but the one time I had the opportunity to blog on Sunday, I was having Blogger issues. So here are my belated Father's Day greetings...

Happy Belated Father's Day to my dad, who celebrated his first Father's Day as a grandfather this year. Amelia has him completely wrapped around her finger. This is my favorite picture of my dad. It was taken at the hospital the day after Amelia was born; you can tell he was excited to be a "Papa"!


And also belated Happy Father's Day to Darryl. Sunday was bittersweet for Darryl; it was his first Father's Day as a dad, but also his first Father's Day without his dad.

Amelia also has Darryl wrapped around her finger, of course, but she is very fortunate to have him for a father. Darryl is definitely a "hands-on" dad, and there is no task he can't handle. We're both thankful he is in our lives.

This pic is obviously from the "early days" of fatherhood, but I love this picture. It looks like they are both checking each other out. :)

Other than Father's Day, not too much is going on around here. Amelia and I have been hanging out together. Monday, we met Kim ("Theatre Director") and Sabrina (another co-worker friend) and their kids for lunch the other day, and that was fun. We have plans for some pool time together later this week.

And that's about it. Exciting, huh?

My Day so Far

6:45--Amelia wakes up; I feed her.

7:00--Amelia plays in her Exersaucer while I drink my morning coffee. I decide that today is going to be the day that I begin walking in the morning. It will help my feelings. It will be exercise. I'm pumped.

7:15--I get dressed in my "walking" clothes.

7:30--Darryl leaves for work. I dress Amelia in a cooler outfit as it is already warm outside.

7:45--I can't find my keys. (I have to drive to my preferred walking area--it's not even a mile away, but we live on a curvy road and I wouldn't dream of walking that road, especially with a stroller.)

8:00--I still can't find my keys. Remembering Darryl had them last, I call him. He tells me a few more places to look.

8:15--I still can't find my keys.

8:30--I call Darryl because I still can't find my keys. He says he'll come home to help me look.

8:40--Figuring that walking is a bust today because Amelia is fussy and it is getting hotter by the minute, I decide to put her down for a nap. I'm successful!

8:45--Darryl comes back home to help me look for the keys. The dog barks upon his arrival and wakes up an irritable Amelia.

9:00--I find the keys in the side pocket of the diaper bag. Darryl says, "I remember putting them there now." I feel stupid for not checking there. (But Darryl never puts anything in the diaper bag.)

9:01--I try to rock Amelia back to her naptime sleep.

9:30--Amelia is still not asleep.

9:45--I feed Amelia again.

10:00--Amelia still won't go to sleep. I give up and get ready to go to the pool with her. Amelia is grouchy about getting in her bathing suit because she's sleepy, but won't sleep.

I'd just like to say we spent more time going to and from the pool than we did actually at the pool.

I'd also like to say that while Amelia slept about 20 minutes in the car on the way back home, she still won't go to sleep.

I'm tired.

Edited to add: Amelia finally went to sleep at 3:00. I'm trying to decide whether or not to take a much-needed shower or a much-needed nap. And I just realized it is Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th, indeed!

Grey's

I finally watched the Grey's Anatomy finale. I'm usually a tough critic of this show (Meredith hate, depressing story lines, gross couplings like the Izzy-George deal), BUT I have enjoyed this show lately and thought the finale was awesome. Finally...a happy season ending! And now that Meredith has finally decided to get to the root of her issues, I might like her better.

So many great moments...Bailey's realization she had to make cut something out of her life to make her marriage work (and then passing the clinic to Izzy), the Cristina-Hahn showdown in the O.R. and the Chief's admonition to Hahn afterwards, George's case to the chief that he deserves a second chance, the success of Mer-Der's clinical trial, and of course their big kiss at the end. And on top of that, we learned that bad things happen to your body when you are submerged in quick-dry cement. (I had no idea!)

I really don't expect a response to this post, but I was so happy with the ending that I just had to talk about it. :)

Amelia playing

We moved the bed out of the guest room and into a storage unit. The sofa bed is coming Saturday. I love the fact that Amelia has all this CARPETED room to play around in...she seems to like it too.

How Fitting

I marked the end of my first full day as a summer-stay-at-home mom by going to Walmart with bright orange spit-up carrots all over my shoulder and shirt sleeve. I realized this while I was in the store, of course.

Thank you.

Summer Plans

I feel as though my summer vacation really started today because today was my first day being home since school got out.

Amelia spent a few hours at her daycare so that I could get a few things done--buying groceries, cleaning out the fridge, running errands. She's actually going to spend a day a week there so I can do such things and have a little "me time." Trust me...that makes me a much better mother.

I don't really have any "big" summer plans. I do, however, have a list of things I'd like to accomplish at some point:

--I need to cook more meals at home, and I need to figure out how to do that with a 7-month-old who tires of any activity (jumperoo, exersaucer, toys) after about 15 minutes. I managed to make a casserole tonight, but Amelia traveled from the jumperoo to the exersaucer to the high chair to the crib while I cooked.

--I want to get some official portraits done of Amelia. I set aside some gift money for this purpose, and the photographer is actually someone we know from church, but I need to actually make the appointment and show up with a cooperative child.

--I need to frame photos I already have and display them in our house. How pitiful is it that Darryl and I have exactly one framed photo of Amelia in our house, and it is a pic from when she was 6 weeks old?

--I need to organize the clutter in our house. We're actually converting our guest room into a play room (with a sofa bed for guests), and that will help.

This post was rather boring, wasn't it?

First Swim!

Today Darryl and I took Amelia for her first swim. I had a feeling she would love it because she absolutely LOVES taking a bath, and I was right. She doesn't even care if water gets splashed in her face. Her favorite thing, though, was having Darryl hold her high in the air and then dip her legs in the water; she just shrieked and laughed! Here are a couple of pics. Darryl looks a bit odd in the first pic (sorry, babe, but you do), but I couldn't really crop him out very well. :)

Mr. Benny

Benny and Amelia, Easter weekend

I had plans to write this really poignant post about Darryl's dad, but now that I'm sitting at the keyboard, I don't really know what to say. How do you really comment on someone's life in a blog post, for Pete's sake?

Mr. Benny was such a presence in our family. Over the past week, we've shared our favorite "Benny memories," and they are quite extensive...and hilarious. Every one of them made us laugh. Even as we were driving with Darryl's brother and sister and their spouses to the funeral home to tend to details and make arrangements, we were joking about how he would probably be disappointed that we weren't buying his casket from Costco. That man LOVED warehouse stores, and even a few weekends ago when he came to Atlanta for Amelia's baby dedication, he was able to muster up the strength to walk the aisles of Costco.

On Christmas mornings, he would give each of us two plain white envelopes marked with just our name, and each envelope was filled with cash. One was for our birthday, and one was for Christmas. It didn't matter if the birthday was in June or October, he gave it all out on Christmas Day. (And cash always fits, right?)

He often called things by the wrong name. My favorite example of this was several years ago when Darryl and his brother, sister, dad, and I went to the Sugar Bowl, and Dayton (Darryl's brother) wanted to go to Cafe du Monde for beignets. Mr. Benny kept calling them "beagles." (He also kept asking why they didn't serve bacon and eggs.)

When he called on the phone, his conversations usually started with, "What's going down around the town?"

He loved dogs, and boy, did they love him.

Even though he wasn't the most outspoken with his emotions, I often saw him kiss his grandchildren on the head when he held them in his lap.

I think what makes me the most sad is that Amelia will not know her grandfather or her grandmother on Darryl's side, and they were both remarkable people.

We will miss him.

Update

Many of you probably know that Darryl's dad passed away Saturday, not long after I posted that last blog entry. I'll post more about him later because I do want to say a few things about him (all good, of course), but my brain is too tired at the moment. It will have to wait until I get home.

People have been coming by in droves, and I've eaten more ham, homegrown veggies, cakes, pies, casseroles, fried chicken, and other comfort foods than I care to mention. (I think it is safe to say that my weight-loss ticker is no longer accurate.) The funeral was yesterday and it was really a great tribute, and now things are winding down a little.

Darryl and I are going home Saturday. I probably won't blog again until then.