This Is What Happens When You Watch Too Much Bollywood While Pregnant

Give Mira a sticker, and you’ve got a 90% chance of it ending up in the same place every single time:



What is it about the middle of her forehead that screams I need some decoration here! ?

I think she’ll be requesting a package of bindi jewelry for her birthday next month.

PS – Yes, she has a permanent case of bedhead.

PPS – No, it cannot be tamed with any amount of styling product.

PPPS – Yes, I tried everything. Embrace the tousled look.



Haiku Friday: Weed or Flower?

Haiku Friday
My backyard is a
sea of yellow – beautiful
yet unwanted buds

Who decided that
dandelions are nothing
more than evil weeds?

If it wasn’t for the fact that my entire neighborhood believes that dandelions should be eradicated from the planet, I’d be able to enjoy the golden blanket across my backyard. Actually, I still think they’re pretty, and while I’ve eradicated them in the front yard, I don’t want to use harsh chemicals in the areas where my kids play.

By the way – thanks for all the garlic suggestions last week! I can’t wait to try out some of your ideas!

Also, I’m walking in the March for Babies here in Columbus this weekend – if you haven’t donated to the March of Dimes yet, please consider helping me reach my goal in the walk! I’m walking not only in honor and memory of those touched by prematurity in my life, but I’m also walking in memory of Maddie. I’ll have purple balloons at the walk, keeping them with me as a reminder and then setting them free at the end.

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON’T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will delete any links without haiku!



Not Quite Ready For Primetime

I’ve spent the past two days working 12 hour shifts at the hospital for my last quarter of nursing school, and in that time I’ve been reminded that my interests aren’t exactly the same as the average public. Take this exchange at the nurse station:

A nurse: So, do you work while going to school?

Me: Well, kinda. I work from home as a blogger.

All the nurses around me: *blank stares*

Another nurse: What’s that?

Me: Um, you know…writing about your life or a specific topic on the internet? Creating communities around shared interests?

All the nurses around me: Oh, uh, OK…don’t know what you’re talking about…mumble mumble…Hey, there’s a hockey game tonight, right?

I keep forgetting that not everyone likes to blog and share parts of their lives online. In fact, the average public may know about blogs, but I’m still on the geek edge of society.

I’ll admit to having some pretty varied interests that some might call strange. Some things you may or may not know about me:

– I’m an internet geek, but I’ve been known to dress up in medieval clothing. At one point I decorated my living room with tapestries and swords on the wall.

– I still like cartoons as well as sci-fi TV shows, and I love video games when I get the chance to play them. (You should have heard me squeal with glee when I got my new Nintendo DSi.)

– I can’t cook and I’m a lousy housekeeper, but I can knit and sew. So I guess I’m domestic in an upper class Victorian kinda way.

– I dislike soaps, but you can bet I watched the reality game show Who Wants To Be A Superhero? I also love Jeopardy.

– I was in a sorority in college (go AEPhi!) but we were probably the most unpopular sorority on campus. We were the Omega Mu’s of the real world. Our common phrase? “I never thought I’d join a sorority…”

– I’ve never been what you’d call “popular”. At the same time, in those few fleeting moments of my life when I was at my closest to being popular, I can tell you I found it boring. To be popular felt so bland and vanilla – I didn’t like trying to hide my weirder quirks to please everyone.

I know I’m not alone here, so let your weird flag fly – what are your quirks or odd interests?



Devilishly Good Deviled Eggs

Now that Easter and Passover are finished, I’ve still got a dozen eggs sitting in my fridge waiting for some use. If you saw the dinner I attempted to cook tonight, you’d know that I’m a failure when it comes to turning ingredients into any kind of edible food.

I do love eggs, though, and over a year ago I found a microwave egg cooker that gives me perfect hard boiled eggs. (As I’ve said in the past – if I can microwave it, I will.) But hard boiled eggs can get boring. What I really need to learn is how to make deviled eggs.

There are a thousand recipes for deviled eggs out there. Some use mustard, some mayo – I’ve even seen one with curry. But my favorite deviled eggs are those made by my grandmother.

My grandmother got her recipe from her mother, who probably got it from her mother. It’s one of the most simple deviled egg recipes – my grandmother grew up during the Great Depression, learning to cook with limited resources and supplies. Telling my grandmother that others use mustard or mayo in their deviled eggs will earn you a look of scorn from her as she replies, “What do you need all of that for in your eggs?”

Here it is:

Ingredients –
Hard boiled eggs
Salt
Pepper
Apple-cider vinegar
Sugar

Directions –
Cut eggs lengthwise and scoop out the yolks. Add some salt & pepper and mash the yolks. Then add equal parts apple-cider vinegar and sugar until the mixture reaches the desired consistency. Scoop the yolk mixture back into the eggs and chill.

That’s it – easy, right? Of course, she has no specific measurements of how much to add of each ingredient, which is why I will never attempt to make them myself. Equal parts means nothing to me, but I’m sure many people could figure it out. These are the best deviled eggs – a little sweet, a little sour, with the full flavor of the egg coming through.

So while I’ll never make them, I’m happy to stuff myself full whenever my grandmother brings a tray to our house. And seeing how we have some eggs to get rid of right now, I might beg her to make some more for me when she visits this week…

What do you do with your leftover eggs from Easter? Parent Bloggers and the American Egg Board want to know your best egg ideas in this week’s blog blast.



Haiku Friday: Garlic Quandary

Haiku Friday
Now that I’m cutting
back on sugar and fat, I
need food with flavor

My flavor of choice
is garlic – stinky, of course,
but oh so yummy!

In a moment of
delirium, I bought garlic
bulbs at the grocery

I can’t cook. So I’ll
ask you: any good garlic
recipes to share?

I’m not sure what possessed me to buy two bulbs of garlic at the store the other day, but now they’re sitting in my kitchen, waiting for a use. I’ve always loved foods heavy on garlic, especially Italian dishes. Yes, I also keep a large supply of mints with me at all times, too. I’m considerate like that.

Seeing how I required a Google search to learn how to even peel garlic, it’s no surprise that I don’t know what to do with it.

Anyone have any good recipes that feature garlic?

To play along for Haiku Friday, follow these steps:

1. Write your own haiku on your blog. You can do one or many, all following a theme or just random. What’s a haiku, you ask? Click here.

2. Sign the Mister Linky below with your name and the link to your haiku post (the specific post URL, not your main blog URL). DON’T sign unless you have a haiku this week. If you need help with this, please let me know.

3. Pick up a Haiku Friday button to display on the post or in your sidebar by clicking the button at the top.

REMEMBER: Do not post your link unless you have a haiku this week! I will delete any links without haiku!