Well frack. Frack frack frack frack frack!
I took the glucose tolerance test at the ob/gyn and I failed miserably. Which means next tuesday I have to go back for a 3 hour glucose tolerance test. Oh, what fun; I may have gestational diabetes. Which means the party is over; I must control my diet now. Bah!

I was pleasantly surprised when I got home today: Jon and our friend Jeff not only cleaned out the baby's room, they set it up! Crib, chest of drawers, everything! Dang, guys; I'm so verklempt right now *sniff*! Jon flew to Atlanta to pick something up so I can't slobber all over him until he gets home later.

I have been having vivid dreams now for a while during the pregnancy; some have been hyper-wierd but none pornographic. Many are based around the last thing I watched on TV before going to bed, which means I had Battlestar Galactica dreams Sunday night and 24 dreams Monday night. Fortunately (or unfortunately, if that's what floats your boat) the 24 stuff did NOT involve Jack Bauer tying me up and shooting me in the thigh or torturing me with electric current and demanding to know where the terrorists are.

Saaaaaaay.... maybe I ought to have a Band of Brothers marathon!

Week 27

Didn't write much last week because it was such a boring week. I didn't have a single doc's appointment. The most intelligent conversation I had was with Big Fat Kitty, who I found standing on the kitchen counter last Wednesday.

Me: Kitty, why are you on the counter?
BFK: Meow (walks over to the sink, looks at it)
Me: Let me guess. Your water dish is empty?
BFK: Meow! (leaps of counter, scampers into laundry room. I follow him)
BFK: (standing next to his water dish) Meow, meow meow!
Me: There's water in it! What are you whining about (closer look) oh. Icky. Ok, I'll change it.
Me: (Goes to sink - drain drain, scrub scrub scrub, fill fill fill)
Kitty (from laundry room) MEOW!
Me: Hold your horses! (goes to laundry room and places dish of clean water next to impatient cat)
Me: Damn, what did you do to your water? It looked like you soaked your dry food in it. Bleah!
Kitty: Lap lap lap lap lap lap lap lap lap....

And no, I am not exaggerating this exchange. Cats may not be the sharpest tools in the shed, but they *can* communicate quite effectively when they want to.

I realize I forgot to tell you the amount of chicken to use in the Arroz con Pollo recipe. It normally calls for a whole chicken cut up, but I used 4 legs and 4 thighs. I much prefer dark meat.

As to the rest of the week, all I did was eat arroz con pollo for lunch and dinner. I still have some left over! For breakfast I had cornbread, of course.

I realized something quite interesting Thursday. I had one of my little "moments" and while I was crying miserably on my slightly miffed cat's belly, part of me stood back and just really listened to what was going on in my head. I now know exactly what is causing my moods: stress. Yeah, I know; no shit sherlock. Hey, YOU may have been able to see it, but I didn't.

One thing I got out of that book on introverts is how overwhelmed we get when we look at the big picture of anything. The stress that sets off these crying jags is caused by how overwhelmed I am at well, everything. The pregnancy was the cherry on top (and one can view the progesterone overdose as the chocolate syrup). This stress is caused by worrying about my marriage, this pregnancy, what I'm going to have to do when the baby arrives, trying to take care of the kid and my husband, will I ever skydive again, will my pregnancy interfere with my job, etc etc etc etc until: meltdown.

Right now when I'm feeling nice and happy and calm, I know I just have to take everything one step at a time, and just concentrate on one tree or two in front of me and not the whole frackin' forest.

Speaking of my pregnancy, same old same old. I am getting HUGE. I can tell a difference between me this week and last. Baby is getting more active; matter of fact Saturday at a Mexican restaurant, the kid was kicking the heck out of me and Jon got to feel it. I couldn't decide whether baby was saying "send more salsa!" or "Ow, mom, that's too picante!"

I'm starting to have difficulty sleeping (mainly because I have to take a piss every 15 minutes). I am putting a pillow between my legs and it does help me sleep on my side, but every time I wake up I am drenched in sweat and I'm worrying about how icky my pillow is getting. I'm definitely feeling the kicked up metabolism, which is great now that it's starting to get warmer. Bleah.

It's good to have my honey home. He is now a Master Rigger, and to celebrate we're buying him a sewing machine off Ebay. I teased him I'm going to buy patterns and cloth and he can practice by making baby clothes. Still, that would be a good skill to have. I'll have to have him show me how to use the machine once we get it.

He flew into Birmingham and was picked up by a skydiver. We met at the dz Friday evening. Every March we hold a 'Safety Day' where we entice skydivers to show up and are given refresher courses in airplane procedures, canopy control, and equipment maintenence among other things. The skydivers who show up get as much beer and pizza as they can stomach, plus they are eligible for cheap jumps on Saturday and Sunday.

Both Saturday and Sunday were windy, but we managed to have a pretty busy weekend. I taught a ground school on Saturday and part of one on Sunday. I made it a point on both days to take naps in the afternoon. It helped me a great deal to tolerate being around so many people for so long.

Jeez I'm in a yakky mood. I better stop now or I won't have anything to talk about the rest of the week.

I made enough arroz con pollo to feed half the Caribbean. Therefore I doubt I will be making anything for dinner tonight. Well, maybe some more cornbread. I have enough cornmeal and buttermilk for that.

Arroz con Pollo:

1 Onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 small sweet green peppers (forget the name) diced
2 slices of ham, diced
Olive oil

Brown chicken in a little olive oil a few pieces at a time. Take out of the pot (big heavy dutch oven is best). Saute all of the ingredients above until softened.

1 can Ro-tel diced tomatoes and peppers, drained (save liquid)
4 cups liquid (including ro-tel). Water or chicken stock or combo
2 cups long grain rice (most caribbean recipes use a medium grain but I like long grain. The water proportions are different take note)
2 packets sazon Goya (or 1 tablespoon of cumin and turmeric)
(Optional) 1 small can of tomato sauce

Add rice and stir a bit to coat grains. Then add chicken back, the can of Ro-Tel, and the liquid. Stir just a little, then bring to a boil.

Once boiling clamp lid on, put fire to low, wait 15 minutes. Open lid, gently turn rice from bottom to top, clamp lid on again for another 15 minutes. Then take off heat, add some green olives, and leave alone for yet another 10 minutes. Some people like to add capers and peas here, too; I don't.

That's it. And it is not arroz con pollo according to gospel! This is my recipe that I have adapted over a long time! So there.

American Idol is boring without someone to watch it with (namely my honey). You need someone to share snarky comments. I'm still rooting for Bo, by the way.

The chicken is marinating. I'm marinating it in the Puerto Rican version of adobo, which is this:

For every pound of meat:
1 garlic clove
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Oregano
2 peppercorns
1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil.

You mash all the dry stuff into a paste and mix in the wet stuff and slather it all over the meat. Refrigerate it for 24 hours or (horrors!) leave it on the counter for 2-3 hours. If you refrigerate it, take it out about an hour before cooking to get it to room temp. For mashing, I love the pilon my dad's wife Ileana bought for me. It's basically a wooden mortar and pestle. I use it to mash just about any garlic used for any recipe. You know what really smells good? Mashing up garlic and fresh ginger. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

I think I've said this before but it bears repeating: I use this adobo recipe on a pork picnic shoulder occasionally. Once you start roasting it, everyone in a 5 square mile radius will spontaneously start to drool.

So what did I eat for dinner? I had an odd hankering for country cooking. First off I made cornbread:

2 cups cornbread
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp oil
1 egg
2 slices of bacon

Heat oven to 450 degrees; in a medium cast iron skillet cook the bacon. Meanwhile combine all the dry ingredients and mix well, then combine all the wet ingredients and mix well. Do not combine wet and dry yet!

Drain bacon on paper towels and drain off bacon grease but leave about a tablespoon in the skillet. Crumble the bacon back into the skillet and spread pieces evenly(some people dice the bacon first before cooking and that works fine). Now combine all the ingredients and stir just enough to combine. Lumps are okay; you do not want to overwork the batter. Pour into skillet then pop it into the oven for 18-20 minutes. You will know it's done when the cornbread pulls away from the sides. Flip it over on a plate. Not a good idea to slam the iron skillet on the plate. Just shake it out.

I also had blackeye peas and collard greens. Here's the recipe: 1 can of blackeye peas and 1 can of collard greens. Heat. Eat.

Blasphemy, you say? Nonsense! They taste perfectly yummy out of a can (I like Bush's peas and Southern collard greens) especiallly if you spice them up with a little of that leftover bacon grease. I can feel my arteries harden as I type. Mmmmmmmmmm!

PS: I suppose you could add sugar to this cornbread if that's what floats your boat (bleah!). I can't tell you how much, but I can tell you when doing the separate mixing you add it to the wet ingredients. It's the one exception to the rule of quickbread recipes.

In other news, Jon seems to be really enjoying his course. He's learning a great deal about sewing and the guy teaching the course is a nice fellow who is letting Jon stay at his place for the week. It's a nice break for him, getting away from the same old routine. He's also planning to go get his airframe and power plant mechanic's ticket before the baby arrives; that's a 12 day course. I think it's a great idea for him to go do these things before d-day; not just to get them out of the way, but to relax and recharge before he's up to his elbows in used diapers.

Also I had a pregnancy-induced moment of sheer stupidity yesterday afternoon. I had gone to the bank to deposit some checks; on the way back at a stoplight, I waited for the light to turn then I went right through a red light. The light had only given a green arrow to turn left. I scared myself pretty bad. Fortunately I didn't get into an accident.

I say pregnancy induced because I have noticed increased absent-mindedness and clumsiness, which is common in pregnancy. I have been fairly successful in combatting the clumsiness by moving a hell of a lot slower than I normally do. I still drop things and stumble a lot. How do I combat absent-mindedness, especially when I drive? Scary crap! I could have gotten into an accident, and gotten hurt and what if I hurt or killed the baby? Yeek! My hair is turning grayer as I type. I need to be vigilant.

Last but not least, this review is dedicated to Helly and Alan: Sing along! Who lives in a pinapple under the sea? Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!!

Week 26

I had the blues on Friday, and Saturday morning I was crying again so I went home from the drop zone to collect myself. Besides the standard Fur Therapy, I also watched 4 episodes of "SpongeBob SquarePants". I highly recommend SpongeBob Therapy; that cartoon is so silly and absurd I can't help but laugh my ass off.

I slept a little and went back to the DZ in the afternoon and I was feeling MUCH better.

I've watched a few SpongeBob episodes, but now I have TiVo set to record as many as possible. What got me in a SquarePants mood? I had to review The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and I spent the entire time just howling. I'll post a link to the review as soon as it gets posted. My favorite character on the show is of course Plankton, a tiny plankton who wants to rule the world. You know me and characters who aspire to be Evil Overlords! That scene where SpongeBob tries to scrape Plankton off his shoe was so hysterical I had to rewind and watch it 3 times. I'm sure my kid thought he was on some kind of crazy carnival ride.

Speaking of, the kid didn't move much on Saturday. On Sunday, when I was in a MUCH happier mood, he was practicing his gymnastics routines again. I wonder if my moods and his activities are correlated? I shall have to pay attention to that.

Sunday morning I drove Jon the the Birmingham airport, because he had a plane to catch to Las Vegas. He is there getting his Master Rigger's ticket. A senior rigger can pack reserve parachutes and make minor alterations to parachute gear. A master rigger can do major alterations and repairs, including manufacturing gear. So that begs the question: what am I going to do this week?

COOK!

I have a couple of recipes I haven't made since I married Jon because he didn't particularly like them, like my beloved Puerto Rican arroz con pollo. I'm going to make that Tuesday ( tonight I have to make the chicken marinade). Not sure what I'm going to make the rest of the week but I have a strong feeling I'm going to be recipe blogging a couple of days here.

Speaking of cooking, I'm not sure I mentioned it here before: I am very curious as to what kind of food people in poorer countries feed their children after weaning them. I'm saying that because I'd like my kid to have an appreciation of a wide range of foods, including the spicy types. Now I'm not going to feed him ground-up habaneros but I still wonder how parents acclimatize their children to spices? I sense a fun websearch in my future.

Also, during my third trimester (which starts technically in a few days) I'm going to work on not eating so many sweet things and eating a larger variety of foodstuffs. I don't know if this idea is so much hoo-hah, but there's a theory that kids tend to have their food preferences shaped by what their mothers eat because they can taste what mom is tasting.

Then again, there's that Urban Legend that if you eat a lot of spicy foods your child will have a fiery temperment. If true, I will be giving birth to a Tasmanian Devil. Heh.

Yesterday I went to the Saturn dealership in Huntsville to have the front end of my car realigned. The day before I replaced the 2 front tires which were wearing unevenly so Jon thought it would be a good idea. I had some time to kill so I went to a nearby bookstore and wandered a bit.

I found the book the counselor suggested. I have all ready ordered it from Amazon, but I went ahead and ripped through it at the book store. Many things in "The Introvert Advantage" were quite interesting, and I was surprised by the amount of things I read that applied to me. I get exhausted if I'm around people all day (like at the drop zone) and that is a big indicator of introverts. What I didn't know is that introverts work off of their long term memory and have problems coming up with snap answers to anything immediately because it takes them longer to access the information they need. I thought I just had a problem communicating. God knows Jon gets frustrated when he asks me a question and I don't say anything for a while.

Introverts tend to be able to express themselves clearer when writing as opposed to speaking. Ha! They tend to have meltdown in high pressure situations around a lot of people and sometimes go completely blank. Ho! And of course, introverts need "me time" or they get really cranky. Hee!

It had a section about people involved in high-risk activities, like skydiving. According to statistics, extroverts outnumber introverts 3 to 1. In skydiving I'd say it's more like 20 to 1. I can't remember exactly why, but it involves brain chemistry.

My car was ready to go before I could really absorb any of the advice the book had on coping with the extrovert world, but I did realize how much I tried to work against my own nature, thinking something was wrong with me.

In other news, a few weeks ago Jon became upset because he has gained a good deal of weight since I became pregnant. Many dads-to-be do, of course. I don't think it's caused by any sympathetic or mystical connection - moms tend to cook, mom is eating like a horse so makes a buttload of food, dad eats whatever's in front of him.

So I promised to help him, by setting him up on a fairly simple don't-eat-so-much diet. I make all of his food, and he consults me when he has to eat out. Of course I think he should know what a sensible choice is by now, but I realize it's easier for him when he has someone else making most of his eating decisions for him.

Today he realized he's all ready lost 6 pounds, which put him in a good mood. Having him in a good mood is so worth the extra work. He tends to forget that when I met him and fell in love with him he weighed more than he does now (hi, honey!), but I want him to be happy with himself.

I figure I can help him drop at least 20 pounds before the baby arrives, then after a month or so of chaos I'll be jumping on the bandwagon to lose this incredible ass I've gained. And I'll probably weigh as much as he does!

I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright, bright, bright, bright, sun shiny day

I had an appointment with my psychiatrist this morning. She's happy with the results of taking Zoloft, and so am I. I described it to her as being able to think clearly again. Or perhaps the best way to put it was I had all these voices drowning the real me out and now I can hear myself think again.

Look at the ticker at the top of the page. Double digits, woo-hoo! Last night I woke up about 2:30 and hit the head. Came back and Mini-Jon insisted on practicing his gymnastics routine for about 20 minutes. Hey, I don't mind. Yet.

After feeling guilty numerous times about some of the choices I've made concerning the baby (namely not breast feeding), I started web-surfing for information and observations from other folks. One interesting shit storm was started by an article that appeared in Newsweek. The article was basically about women trying to do everything. Three bloggers I read made comments on it. One was by James Lileks, where as a stay-at-home dad he doesn't sweat the same things women do and Fisks the article pretty hard. Of course, some other SAH dad(I forget where I read it) observed that he could "feed my kids Cheetos and Jack Daniels, and let them play with hypodermic syringes in the middle of the street" and people would still tell him he was doing a great job. On A Small Victory, a woman blogger talks about the Cult of Motherhood and how many mothers tend to be judgemental towards other mothers, probably because they are trying to justify their overworked behavior.

Which led me to this fascinating blog: Chez Miscarriage. She has several absorbing entries about drive-by mommies ("other mothers frequently say crappy things about other mothers"). The comments section is eye-opening.

Incedentally, her blog is a remarkable journal about infertility and well worth perusing.

But I learned some things from all of these articles. A: I'm not worrying so much about all the choices I need to make. B: I won't be so judgemental about other people's choices. If I have said anything here that was a drive-by, feel free to smack me if you ever see me. I have to say I have not been hit yet by anybody or maybe I simply didn't take offense. I've certainly gotten a lot of interesting advice.

Oh! Some people have touched my belly. Funny, I didn't take offense by that either. First off they were all friends; second they all did it with such reverence it was funny.

Week 25

Sorry I didn't update yesterday. Jon and I went to our first counseling session and I was too nervous to write. I won't go into detail about the session except to say I think it went well. Jon likes the counselor, too, so we'll be going back to her.

I will tell you about one thing that made me smile: the counselor asked me if we knew about the Myers-Briggs Personality types. I smiled, nodded, and said "INTP". She described herself as "%100 I" and so am I. Jon had never heard of the types so she gave him a brief rundown. Jon hasn't taken any tests, but I'd bet money he's an ENFP. Anyways, she explained some things to Jon about being an introvert, putting it into words like I've never been able to do, and suggested to me to read a book The Introvert Advantage, which she recommended for learning how to handle living in an extrovert world better.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm doing just fine, baby is doing just fine. We're both growing - that's just about it. I'm still not tired of feeling him move. We may have decided on a name - Brendan - but we still have maybe 3 months+ before having to commit. I'll still refer to him as Mini-Jon for now.

Next week I actually have NO doctor's appointments. That's a switch. I have an ultrasound and a routine test for diabetes the week following.

I like Nancy's pantryblogging. Too bad I don't have a damn pantry. Boo! I keep meaning to buy some shelving to put in the laundry room to use as one.

Every day Mini-Jon kicks are stronger. He was pretty active when I woke up this morning and Jon got a good feel of his movements. Now I'm amusing myself by trying to actually see my belly poke up when he moves but so far I haven't seen anything.

I had my first pregnancy-induced moment of clumsiness yesterday. I slipped on a comforter and came down flat on my ass. Fortunately there was a futon between me and the floor otherwise that would have hurt a bunch. I was just scared.

I'm sleeping well and adjusting to sleeping on my side. Sometimes my hips ache but it's nothing serious. Yet. I had an omigod moment this morning when I realized it's almost the end of February and March/April/May are the last 3 full months of my pregnancy. Yikes!

Unfortunately my ramblings are probably going to be more and more centered on my pregnancy. It seems to be an obsession shared by all pregnant women - and considering my body is a perambulating baby machine right now, I can see why.

I do have one non pregnancy related thing to share: The death of a hero. I linked to a blog because the news link was to the New York Times, which requires registration. Bleah!

Courtesy of my brother, who needs to update his blog:

An Asian was trying to exchange yen for dollars at a US bank ...

He says to the clerk, "Yestoday I get two hunat dollah fo yen, today I get one hunat eighty, why it change?"

Clerk shrugs and says, "Fluctuations."

Asian guy fires back, "Fluc you white guys too!"

Huge, theatrical sigh. While as a states rights advocate I can't blame the court for not wanting to hear the case, it really is annoying that this is a law here in Alabamastan. We have a problem here with state funds, and some busybody lawmaker is worried that someone is going to buy an artificial vagina.

So if you live here and are absolutely jonesing for a fake johnson, you will be reduced to buying it mail order. So much for some small businesses and the jobs and revenue they generate.

Jon finally got to feel the baby move Monday night. Pretty nifty. Mini-Jon was doing the Can-Can in my belly after we ate dinner. I guess he likes stir-fry.

We watched American Idol Monday and Tuesday. My favorite Monday was Bo Bice while Jon preferred Scott Savol. I agree Scott has an amazing voice, but he is in need of an extreme makeover stat. We agreed Tuesday on Carrie Underwood. Even if she loses, someone will make a lot of money signing her to a contract in Nashville.

The ob/gyn appointment went well; I really like the woman doc. She had depression when she was pregnant, too; she was telling me stories of her troubles and it made me feel better talking with someone who has been there and done that. If I can't get my own doc when I go into labor, she is my 2nd choice by far. With my luck I'll get the grumpy bastard who thought I just wanted drugs.

If I really had the money I'd buy one of those fetal heart monitors and listen to the kid's heartbeat all day.

Looks like today is random thought day. I'd like to close with a pirate joke I lifted from a friend:

A pirate walks into a bar and the bartender notices that the pirate has a steering wheel attached to his private parts. The bartender asks the pirate "Sir, are you aware that there's a steering wheel attached to your private parts?" And the pirate replies, "Arrrrr! Aye, and it's driving me nuts!"

jon,sandy, aidan

jon,sandy, aidan
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

No, this isn't a photo from the future. 2 weekends ago our pilot Rick brought his family out and the baby is his son, Aidan. Jon got a kick out of playing with him.

The kid's head is big, isn't it?

Week 24:

I am starting to waddle and the kid is moving around a lot. The baby books say I'll need to start keeping track of his movements soon because the lack of movement can be a sign of 'fetal distress'.

Is it my imagination, or is everything out there about pregnancy and childbirth designed to make an expectant mom feel guilty? I pass a billboard on highway 31 between Hartselle and Decatur that says "Children were born to be breastfed". I told Jon about this nice message and he read me the riot act, telling me not to try to live up to other people's expectations. I love my husband for moments like this.

I have another ob/gyn monthly appointment where I'll get to meet the last of the doctors in the group. This doc is the only woman doc on staff. I still hope I get my original doc when the moment of truth arrives. I'm just most comfortable with him and Jon likes him too. Jon wasn't impressed with the other doc he met and neither was I.

I'll also be scheduling the 26 week 4D ultrasound. I know we already had one, but I can't get enough of looking at the little fella.

The weekend went fine; I had a bad sinus headache Sunday so I took sudafed (which is 'allowed') and it knocked me out. I woke up around 1 and Jon was fighting with Big Fat Kitty for mattress space. So I picked the cat up and put him outside the bedroom and shut the door on him. I don't think he was happy about it because when I got up this morning he meowed my ears off. I think he was offended.

Oh! New review or two. I have to agree with my editor: the Ray review was kind of disjointed. I think I rushed it. On the other hand, it should be painfully obvious I'm more comfortable voicing an opinion on genre movies.

I think Mini-Jon had hiccups this morning. I also think he's still laying sideways because I felt the movements simultaneously on both sides of my belly. Naturally he stopped before I could get to Jon and let him see if he could feel it.

Just because I'm bored -


The Way I Cook:

Here's my recipe for General Cho's Chicken. I will give step-by-step instructions of how I cook:

6-7 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cubed. If you can't find boneless skinless chicken thighs at your grocery store it sucks to be you. Use chicken breasts, but lower the cooking time. Or you can debone and skin the thighs yourself. Again, it sucks to be you.

7-8 tablespoons cornstarch, made into a batter with one egg white and a little water. Too thin: add more cornstarch. Too thick: add a little water.

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon peanut oil

Put all these ingredients into a bowl. Let it sit for a while as you heat up a bunch of oil for frying. I like to use an iron dutch oven, because when you put things in it for frying, the temperature doesn't fluctuate. Put heat on medium high.

Cook the chicken in small batches for about 7-8 minutes. You might need to separate the pieces once you drop the pieces in or they might stick together. Drain on paper towels and transfer to even more paper towels on a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven.

Start cooking rice. This is how I cook it on an electric range: 1 cup long grain rice to 1 1/2 cup of water and a pinch of salt. Set pan to high and when it starts boiling, put lid on and set heat to lowest setting. Do not molest the rice for 20 minutes. Take off of heat and leave the pan alone for another 5- 10 minutes. Never at any point during cooking should you mess with the lid. Don't do it, I say. After 30 minutes total you are free to take the lid off and eat the rice.

While the rice is cooking:

2-3 cloves garlic
1 knob of fresh ginger, about the same mass as the garlic.

Dice these finely and set aside.

2 bunches green onions

Clean, separate green from white, cut green into pieces 2-3 inches long. Save the white parts for something else.

1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoon Huy Fong chili sauce
1 tablespoon sugar (or splenda, other artificial sugar sucks for cooking)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil

Combine and stir well. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of szechuan sauce if I can find it.

Heat 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a wok or big skillet on medium high. Dump chicken in then sprinkle with ginger and garlic. Your ginger and garlic will not burn as easy if something is in the pan first. Add the green onion and stir to heat. Eventually add the stock mixture and stir until thickened. Spoon on rice (if you start this process right after you take the rice off the heat [but are still leaving the lid alone] you will time everything just right).

As you might notice, MY General Cho's Chicken resembles in no manner the General Cho's chicken you find in Chinese restaurants. Too bad; this recipe was modified to my and my husband's tastebuds.

Valentine's Day seems to be the most despised non-holiday out there. Personally, it doesn't bother me, even when I didn't have anyone.

The trick, I think, is to not go hog-wild. For instance, I got my squeeze 2 cards(one from our cats), some candy (dark chocolate, which he adores), and a little stuffed tiger that growls and vibrates when you pull its string.

My honey got me a card and some pretty flowers. All told I think I spent $20 total. See? Nothing insane, just a few hokey (and very appreciated) "I'm thinking of you" things.

Instead of going out to dinner, I made General Cho's chicken, which is Jon's favorite. We watched "Spider-Man II", a nice romantic film for the evening. No, I'm not kidding. Jon had a rough day yesterday (business related) so he made himself some tasty frozen alcoholic beverages and got hammered. We tried to watch "24" after the movie, but Jon fell asleep so we'll watch it tonight I suspect.

I woke up Jon this morning by putting the stuffed tiger on his face and pulling the string. Jon was more amused than I thought he'd be.

We have figured out our weight training set conundrum. Currently it resides in the room earmarked for Mini-Jon. We will be moving it (or rather, he'll be moving it) to the dining room. Or table and chairs will probably be relegated to the room upstairs (the only room upstairs) which holds all of our leftover furniture.

My dad and his wife, Ileana, just bought us a BUTT-LOAD of furniture for the baby's room (thank you so much!) so we will need to make room as soon as possible.

Big Fat Kitty

BFK
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Ain't he cute? I figure we can put a little saddle and harness on him and mini-jon can ride him around the neighborhood. Okay maybe not.

Week 23

I had a great weekend, even though my chili didn't even place (whaa!). Oh, well. This way people know that the contest isn't fixed and it gives me impetus to refine my recipe for next year.

Sunday was rainy so I spent it at the drop zone reading The DaVinci Code, which was surprisingly enjoyable. Dan Brown's take on the Holy Grail reminded me of some of Tim Powers books, where he did extensive research and weaves facts and historical accounts into his stories. Brown isn't that good of a writer, but he did crack a fun yarn.

Powers, on the other hand, wrote a trio of books that I simply adore: The Anubis Gates, a time-travel story; On Stranger Tides (my favorite) with Pirates, Voodoo, and zombies; and The Stress of Her Regard about vampires (intensely original vampires, I might add) and 29th century Romantic poets.

The few people at the drop zone were pretty astounded because I finished a 400+ page book in a little under 6 hours. It's not like I was reading a treatise on thorax surgery! Reading for pleasure is such a lost skill. I don't read very much any more for pleasure, although I *do* forsee many Dr. Seuss books in the future...

I have 2 new reviews up, and I should have a 3rd up either today or tommorrow.

I feel good today. I am thinking some not-so-good thoughts, and I think it's because the weekend is coming up. Most of the bad crap seems to happen on the weekends.

Oh, well - I'm going to be defending my title as chili champion for the DZ's annual chili cookoff. I'm trying a completely different recipe based off of one I saw on "Good Eats". You know, I watch a lot of cooking shows, but that's the only show where I actually try recipes I've seen. TiVo rules; have I mentioned that before?

Happy Birthday to my favorite redheaded actor - his 34th. I'm hoping I might actually see him in something *new* this year - maybe BBC America will pick up "Escape from Colditz" soon. Or maybe Chromophobia will get an american release (not that it will ever be shown in north central Bumblefuck, Alabama) and I can drool over him *and* Ralph Fiennes. Not holding my breath.

Kitty

kitty
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Here's a pic of Big Fat Kitty. Fur Therapy is a big part of our lives, and he excels at it. I ought to know; every time I vacuum the house I throw away enough fur for 3 more cats.

More American Idol last night - they're still doing the weeding process. It is as I suspected; some of the chosen few were chosen for padding only to be cut in the judges minds before they could get going. For serious Drama Queenage you can't beat that show.

I feel really great today. I slept like a brick and actually had the energy to join Jon for a workout. I haven't been exercising lately - I quit when I started having athsma problems. It's so easy to be lazy. Anyway, I used light weights and felt good about it afterwards. The baby responded by doing some push-ups of his own.

Have I mentioned that I'm feeling him move? I can't remember if I did. At first I couldn't tell if it was the baby or intestinal rumbledge, but now it's obvious. He has given me a few really good hits in the last couple of days.

I read a story recently about a 26 week old baby who was removed from her mother because of preeclampsia and is just now going home from the hospital. I just hit the 23 week mark and every week that goes by I feel better about the kid's chances. I'd rather be closer to 36 weeks of course.

I don't think it's the Zoloft that's making me feel better, although I could be wrong. It usually takes a while before Zoloft takes effect. I am experiencing one side effect although as a pregnant woman I don't mind so much. Let's just say it's a common gastrointestinal side effect and leave it at that.