Im back ladies!

I have been crazy busy...in and out of the house for several weeks. I havent been napping. But I think Im finally prepared for all that needs to be done AT home. The only exception is I want to craft so desperately, but I have lil time for anything else. I would rather put it off and make things easy on myself. For instance, I bought all my greeting cards this year. I didnt bother making them - as you all know - I always make em. Shocker right?
But Im back online and checking all my internet accounts and actually opening all my email. Including the ones from my shopping departments, like GAP, oriental trading, JCP, Amazon, etc. I have been avoiding most of these emails and sites for the past 4 months. If I pay attention to every last one of them I could be on the internet most of my day, starting at 9am and next thing you know its 230p and time to pik up Rhy.

So back to blogging and sending out greetings. I have been busy planning my baked goods that I will hand deliver. Dom suggested we purchase these personalized cookie tins (filled) from Oriental trading, 6 tins for $9.99. I would have purchased 18 and used the coupon from the magazine ($10off). But after we ran thru cost and shipping and the estimated arrival. It wasnt worth it. I wanna get these things outta my house ASAP, like within a week. So I have only immediate family to worry about. So Im bak to original plan of baking something and handing them out with cards. As usual, in rhonda Fashion, I was gonna make tons of baked goods PER PERSON and hand them out. Cuz I always think that quantity is better than quality. I know terrible rite? But by now Ive surrendered that thought and figured a lil $1 container from DOllar Store would suffice with peppermint candies and a quik card is enuf acknowledgement for anyone. Right? I mean what do people expect ... Im expecting and their lucky Ive even decided to do this . lol! Plus we are all in an money crunch situation, right?
So thats the plan . But I still have to bake pumpkin bread Cuz its the easiest to do in large qty's. and I still have to make several batches of Applesauce cookies, wrap and hand out to others.

Usually I make my moms famous sugar cookies and hand decorate all of em with royal frosting but that job is SOOOOO tedious. There yummy and so worth it but not right now. I can hardly sit in a chair upright for more than 20 mins without pain and having a strong urge to urinate. lol!

So applesauce cookies are a good sub and they have all the holiday spices (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc) in 'em so I figure it'll suit.

LAst night I tried a new recipe from internet for Chicken Tetrazinni. So yummy! Its a meal Rhy eats at school and hates. I wanted to try and see how gross it really is. SImple recipe. Nothing fancy or difficult. I had everything on hand. I chose to do the simple version rather than Giada de Laurentis version. She always does things the HARD way. Have you ever noticed she loves to use a food processor. ONe! I dont own a food processor. So most of the time I change the channel before she even begins tocook. Makes me depressed. LOl! Heres a quik descript. of what was involved.....

Chk Tetrazinni

cooked chk breast, tenderloin, or whole chik deboned
cooked spaghetti noodles, boiled in chk broth, sprinkle with EVOO after draining.
in separate pan, sautee onions and grn pepper in 1/2 butter (not a paula dean recipe, mind u)
Then add to sauteed mix, can of cream of mushrm soup, 50z evap milk can, pound cheddar cheese or velveeta block. after mix is melted pour in chk and noodles. mix well. add to baking dish, bake 350'F for 30 mins. Yum-o!

We had this with our traditional spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and garlic breadstix. IT was delish! Rhyan again, not liking marinara sauce nor alfredo sauce, chose to eat her plain noodles with an apple, and salad drenched in ranch dressing! *grunt* why cant this kid eat any of my food? Seriously, if it doesnt come wrapped in a mcds container she wont eat it! *scream*

whatever happen to the simple life?

Dominick and I have been goin crazy organizing and planning for this month. And now its here and it still feels like were going bonkers!
We've been going and going and going, its crazy busy here with other peoples plans, our plans, and the like!
We are so sleep deprived and the new kid hasnt even arrived. We have gone through sooo many To-do lists and marked plenty of things off - its never ending. Im a list-maker and when things need to get done - I make a list! A chart! a binder! complete with title covers! what a geek, right! Im so type A personality like that. lol! Really its a sickness.

Im have been completing list and making new ones for whatever new comes my way and I think this is why im stressing out. Cuz my lists arent marked off! eeks!!!!
I have my hospital bag complete, baby bag ready, christmas cards sent out, gifts ALL wrapped, christmas dinner completely planned, kitchen organized, some of the rooms straightened out as much as possible (when you live with a pack rat like DOm) and pantry stocked.
All I have to do is some baking for hand delivered gifts and spend some QUALITY time with my 5 yo. I need to do one last hurraah with her. I do everything with her, all the time. So its kinda hard to find something special to do with her without it being service for others OR spending money on junk (which I know she'll love). I want it to be very special cuz as soon as that kid arrives we will be so busy esp. if the breastfeeding pans out.
Whats the nicest way to tell people to stay away atleast for a month - until we feel comfortable enuf for others to visit the baby during this cold season.
I told DC that I was gonna send out lil inserts (inside xmas cards) with a brief description about our concers with the Swine flu and the baby visits. But! he got really offended and said we would just vocalize it to them when time comes. *grunt*
So I told him no visitors to hospital or house the first few days and that info was backed up by the nurse at the hospital while touring the LAbor & Delivery Ward! The RMCHCS hospital said due to the conditions of the H1N1, there can be no more than 2 visitors at a time per patient. If your sick with any slight symptoms, stay Away! So that'll be nice with exception of Rhyan. No children under the age of 15 are not allowed in Hospital. So forever how long Im in the hospital - she will not be able to see me! Which..... will be very difficult for ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I havent been away from her more than a day - since 2005! *awe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

The planning and tasks we've been doing are not ridiculous - there realistic! we have so much to do. clean! get rid of excess junk. We have absolutely no room in this house with all the junk we've collected. So we've had to rid our closets to make room for the new member of our family.

OH! by the way....we have yet to set up our tree. We just put away the Halloween decorations last night (All the way up to the attic). Its amazing how much u realize u make a great team with your partner - only when one of you are incapacitated. I cant lift heavy things and poor DC had to grunt his way from the garage to the attic opening in the hallway! I wanted to help so badly. I hate to see him struggle. But hes such a trooper. He did all the work, completely capable, by himself. but you just wanna help out people - u know?
So after my lists are complete. Dom hits me with "his" TO DO LIST! which makes me upset. Its down to the last qtr and he says he has all these things he needs to prioritize. *LOUD GRUNT*
Why?!?!?!?
Why couldnt he have taken care of this earlier! Why!?!?!?
He always does this to me. I cant stand it!
Oh!!! yea!!! by the way he also throws at me - that he has atleast 3 projects at work he needs to complete before he takes leave for the b-a-b-y comes!
So Im thinking I have the next 3 weeks to spend the evenings with my hubby before Ryan goes on break, before my mother comes to stay for 2 wks, and before the lil ones pops out of the oven! BUT NOOOOOOO!
He has to work Saturdays, and come home late monday thru friday for the next 2 wks, AND AND AND go to work an hour early every morning. So not only are we not eating dinner together, but we dont even see him before he leaves for work in the morning! *screams*

*Sigh* but I guess this is all to be expected with another person in our family. right? So there goes my once simple life with just the three of us. Goodbye! See ya again never. But on a happier note we have one more time to experience all those cranky moments while fixing a bottle, steaming poopy diapers that need changing and all those silly giggles we hear when another lil one makes our baby laugh! *sigh* Life is great and so are babies! love u all and have a good week!