Rainbow Pico De Gallo

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this amazing recipe, but as soon as I make it again I'll put up a picture.

Ingredients:
1 red tomato
1 orange tomato
1 yellow tomato
2 onions
1 tbsp lime juice (I just squeezed half a lime until I thought it tasted right
1 tbsp cilantro

Dice the tomatoes and onions, add the lime juice and cilantro! Very simple and very delicious, especially great with homemade tortilla chips.

Hey Jude

I have a baby, his name is Julian. He's this baby:


But sometimes, he's this baby:


Lately he's been this baby:


Let me be the first to tell you, keeping glasses on a baby is not an easy task. It's been a few days and he's finally stopped pulling them off for the most part, and watching his transformation has been amazing. Julian has a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity, or R.O.P. Dr. Eyes says it's not bad enough that he'll need surgery, but it is bad enough that he will need glasses for most likely a long time. When he first tried the glasses on, his mouth dropped open and he looked at every inch of the doctor's office like he had never seen it before (which is kinda true, because it was only our second visit). Going out to the car, he started to pull the glasses off, so we gave him a break on the ride home.

Now, he examines every aspect of daily life with such intensity that I begin to think, maybe I should appreciate the beauty of our world that much. He stares at flowers so curiously, and touches their intricate petals gently like he knows at his young age they they are something very special. He slides his fingers across blades of grass, and giggles if they tickle him just right. He pets his Curious George plushie like thay are going to be best friends forever no matter how many times he throws up on the poor monkey's face. I feel like, as much as I want to be responsible for showing him the world and educating him about all of the lovely things in it, he's always going to teach me more than I could hope to teach him. So thanks, Julian. Thank you for the beautiful days we spend together.

-Love,
Mommy <3

A Window in My Life

After all, that's what a blog is right? A window into my life? Well, Nate and I have some amazing conversations, and I'm going to make the habit of posting the more hilarious dialogues here to share with you, internet! So here you go. Just to give a bit of backstory: I've been sick lately, often, so I was a *little* worried that I might have contracted the STD known as pregnancy. I asked my dearest fiance Nathan to procure for me one piss stick, and this conversation took place soon after it's purchase.

me: uhm, would it be weird if I peed in something now to use it to test with later?
because I want to have pee ready right away
and if I pee now I won't have to pee when you get home

hey.andrea.its.nate: I wouldn't do that
it might alter the test

me: no it wouldn't
not if it's in a bottle

hey.andrea.its.nate: I wouldn't
I still wouldn't

me: hrm then I guess I'll hold it
until you get home

~ten minutes later~

me: dude I'm so peeing and saving it

hey.andrea.its.nate: no
do not do that
just pee and take the test later
my god

me: gah no fine I'm going to hold it forever

hey.andrea.its.nate: you are not 5 and this is not christmas morning

me: I'm never going to pee again

~five minutes later~

me: I peed in a cup
but it's sealed and in a cool dark place!!
It's less of a "cup" more of a "thing-the-sunflower-seeds-came-in-which-is-empty-because-I-finished-them-today"

hey.andrea.its.nate: oh god
bye

me: okay bye, but FYI that's how you keep things fresh! It'll be good for like 6 months.

For those interested, I was totally not pregnant, just sick which still sucks. Also, I've found my camera which means more posts starting asap, because tomorrow I'm going to buy a bike tire with my grandma and she normally says great things, like that one time that she pointed to a bag on the floor and exclaimed "Those are dicks!" to which I responded "No Grandma, I know it's been a while but that's a bag." and then she laughed and blushed and informed me that the contents of the bag belonged to her neighbor, Dick. She's still a pretty rad old lady, she like farts all the time and tries to blame it on things like car doors. Why must car doors suffer for this cause? Idfk, car doors don't even sound like farts, I have never understood this. Anyway, bike tires tomorrow, and then in the future hopefully pictures and posts concerning yoga in the park on Saturdays, slimfast diet working or not working, a weekly craft group, and mom stuff. Yep, so adios muchachos.

Oh don't you wish I had my camera?

Well, it's 30-Minute-Recipe Day. No pictures, sadly. Why? My camera has left the nest, gone of to college. Film school actually, yep. She'll be back whenever I find her. Too bad so sad. Anyway, today's recipe is Cheap and Easy Pasta Bake. Nothing special here, just a quick, cheap, easy, awesome dinner. I like to make this when I'm watching my brother and sister.

1-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2-Boil water.
3-Add penne pasta for the amount of people you want to serve.
4-Grease a glass casserole dish that will be big enough for your penne and some extra stuff.
5-Drain penne when it's finished, and pour it back into the pot.
6-Stir tomato sauce into penne so that each noodle is coated.
7-Spread a thin layer of penne in the bottom of the dish, then sprinkle mozzarella on top, repeat until all of your penne is used up, then coat the top with one last layer of cheese.
8-Bake until cheese is melted (about 12-15 minutes) and enjoy!

This recipe is easily customizable because you can stir whatever you want into the pasta/sauce mixture. We usually go with garlic, onions and mushrooms, but feel free to experiment!

Warm wishes,
Andi

Renovation For The New Mobile Home

Okay, we're planning the remodel for the new house. The carpet is up, and we're going to put plywood flooring in. I know what you're thinking: "Plywood? The hell? That's going to be ugly!" Well, I thought so too, until I saw this:



Lovely, right? It's a little bit retro, still quite modern, and definitely unexpected. To put this floor throughout the whole house I'm estimating it will cost $200-300 which is great for our shoestring budget. More beautiful pictures and the tutorial can be found here. I'm so relieved that I found a great flooring solution because I spent all morning ripping up the ugly brown shag carpet that was in the house already. Oh, did I mention is was soaked in cat urine? Yes, Cat urine. It smelled awful, horrible, I don't think I will ever forget the stench. Can you guess my reward for going through that? Ugly linoleum! Yay! Seriously though, it's very yellowed, white and sparkly gold linoleum. I cannot wait to cover it up! I have another morning of cat-pee-fun-time-extreme tomorrow. Oh joy.

New home!

We have signed the papers to own a mobile home! It's blue, and a 2 bedroom, possibly 3 with a little work. It has icky carpets that need pulled up, some of the paneling needs replaced, new flooring would be nice, it needs a new shower/bath stall, and some paint but other than that it's in good shape! Pics soon maybe.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yay I'm 20!! Today hopefully I'll be getting a camera so I can take some pics of my new sewing machine and fabric. Also, I'll be able to put up pics of whatever I get. Yay updates later!