The Odds Are Not in His Favor

Maybe that title is a cheesy reference to The Hunger Games. Would you judge me if it was? What if I told you I was going through withdrawls after reading all three books in six days? I bet you'd still judge me.

Your judgment is neither here nor there today. Today, we're going to take a brief moment (and post) to chuckle to ourselves that the Cupcake seems to have daddy sensing skills in the womb. When Shannon is around, she is quiet as a mouse. As soon as he's lost interest in staring at my belly or waiting for her to kick him in the hand, she does some new, spastic, Lady Gaga-inspired dance move that makes my whole stomach jump.

I feel like she may be taunting him. If she is, she is clearly already taking after her mother who has a rotten streak a mile long. And who enjoys terrifying her husband at every possible opportunity by hiding in random places throughout the house, quietly waiting for him to pass by.

She makes me laugh already.

Sloth

I would like to say that I started the year out right, blogging on a consistent basis and keeping up with things as only I can pretend to be able. It just wasn't the case, though.

I have started out the year this way.

Tired.

I think the three weeks of vacation that I took from my job have unintentionally turned me into a sloth. I miss nine hours of continuous sleep. I find myself falling into bed around 9pm to ensure that I'm getting said nine hours of sleep even though it means that I don't have a real life five days of the week. In all reality, it's getting kind of silly.

In an effort to combat the sloth, I did 1 1/2 hours of Wii Fit Plus Snowball Fighting last night. Tonight, I'm hitting my favorite Piloga class (pilates/yoga combo, in case you didn't get the weird name reference). At some point, I might actually attempt to do a cardio class that will effectively wipe the floor with my face.

All this being said, I am only mildly hopeful that I will put the sloth at bay. I feel as if the sloth may take residence, in some ways, until the spring. Until the arrival of longer, sunnier days perhaps.

I feel as if I need to toast the arrival of the sloth.

Stocking Stuffer Idea #2: Microphone Tongs

I originally found these little buggers on the Yahoo! list of "things no one wants."

I have to respectively disagree, though. They're fantastic, and I think they'd be a hoot in someone's stocking this Christmas. Hint hint, husband.

If you need them for Christmas, or, well, any sort of gift giving situation, you can find these awesome tongs here.

Radvent 12/17: Entertaining

I consider the above photo to be epic in its epicness. I mean, we look rough. We look really, really rough. And you know what? The party the night before was one of the best I've ever been to in my 30 years. Truly.

It's interesting that today's topic of journaling is discussing parties. For one, I'll be attending a pretty fantastic NYE party at our good friends' house. I'll be frank with you, any party that is based upon appetizer creativity is right up my alley. We'll be play Rock Band 3, noshing on good eats, and imbibing in our favorite cocktails. I really can't think of a better way to spend my NYE.

______________________________________________________________________

Write out some ideas for a party that you want to host in the next four weeks

Who will you invite?      What will you do?     Where will it be?

What will you serve?       How will you decorate?

______________________________________________________________________

Shannon and I are obviously not hosting our friends' party, but that doesn't mean that we're absolved of all responsibility. Since we don't have to plan everything, I'm going to talk about what I am responsible for. I say "I" in as much of a couple way as I can seeing as Shannon will not participate in the making. He will participate in the eating, though. We (I) are (am) in charge of bringing our appetizer and dessert selections to share with the rest of the gang. We (I) couldn't be more stoked to stretch our (my) appetizer muscles. We (I) have tossed around ideas ranging from the good to the horrible, but here are some of the things that are hanging out in our (my) appetizer brain right now.

• fried macaroni and cheese balls
• spinach and artichoke dip
• homemade roast red pepper hummus
• vegetable tartlettes
• goat cheese and cranberry-stuffed jalapeno poppers

I'm most excited about the idea of stuffing spicy peppers with creamy goat cheese and sweet cranberries. I might try this tomorrow just to see how it all turns out. It could go a few ways.

Let's be honest, though. Any (or all) of these ideas could be created in my kitchen in the next few days. I have very few qualms about spending my vacation time putting around in my kitchen. It's one of the delights of my time off, really. Of course, I know there will be plenty of baking that will happen as well. I have a laundry list of cookies that I still need to make. With that being said, I've already determined which dessert will be accompanying me to the NYE gathering.

RUM CAKE.

I don't need to say anything more than that, do I? This is how I feel about rum cake.

I might also feel this way about running. I was getting ready to run my first 5K when that picture was taken. So, yeah, I feel very thumbs uppy about rum cake and running. Maybe in that order, maybe not.

Either way, I'm taking a rum cake. THUMBS WAY UP!