This is not normal

Our under 20 pound little cavalier Maya has a snoring problem. Seriously, is it normal for something so small to be this loud? She literally does this sometimes with her eyes open. Ugh, Maya, I love you, but stoppppp!

Like I said, not normal!

Life catchup!

I used to take so many more pictures, and then I sort of fell out of the blogging routine, and stopped taking all the pictures. But, I still blogged about the random stuff I did that nobody found amusing except maybe like 4 friends (including my mom) who were procrastinating doing things that were much more important. To you four readers - enjoy! I've found a few random pictures that have reminded me of things to write about!

Also, I really miss Charlie. Last night I just wanted him in bed next to me to cuddle. He told me to use pillows and I said I needed his nightly face stubble and hairy legs to warm up my feet, haha. I think we're almost at the 8 week mark - 2 months - of him being gone.  Same thing happened last time - this is when it gets tricky and I REALLY start to miss him. Not that I didn't before, but this is when it gets a bit harder. I am so grateful his deployments average 4.5 months. I know he goes more frequently than the guys who have to go for 9 months to a year (seriously can't fathom him being gone that long, those families are heroes). Even if he has to go more often, I'll take it. The broken up time makes it doable.

I've been enjoying learning my new sewing machine and am loving it. I have always been crafty and good with my hands, and even though most of the work is on the computer, I definitely have to cut things etc. I told Jaren I would open an Etsy shop called "Aggie-zines" and give Clara a penny for each sale for her college fund since she named me Aggie.

Today I made this Turkey with a monogram for a friend.

Charlie said it looked better and I asked him if he could even notice or was just being nice, and he told me that the lines looked straighter, etc. Husband passed the test :-)

I still have a lot to fix - for example the pattern I picked for the body of the turkey doesn't fit for the front pattern, the design on the fabric is too big (I completely overestimated how big this design was). Also, I would have probably done a darker pink outline for the middle. You live you learn! I've told my sister in law a million times I wish she was here to teach me in person, but she has seriously been the best "online teacher" in the world, and is constantly answering my questions and giving me advice. (Kind of like Stacy, my pastry chef friend, who gets asked a million baking questions - how long does yeast live, etc etc). I have good friends.

Even though she's only been my sister a short time, I have learned a lot from Sarah.  One thing (besides how to monogram and appliqué, ha!) is about communication without your own agenda. She is so good at listening to me and being kind about her response. Maybe it's a southern thing, maybe it's a classy thing, but I think it's an intelligence thing too. She has a way of giving answers/feedback that even if she disagrees with you, she would never directly say it. She sort of leads you to your own answer, and really wants it to be what you want, without pushing an agenda. I feel like most people give advice based on their own agenda. Sarah - I don't know if you even know that you do this, but I've noticed it about you and keep meaning to tell you, so here is a very public way of saying that I learned a great value from you in this!!!

Let's back a up a bit from the sunshine and ponies sap before this prego starts crying alone in her bed writing her blog. We had a very rainy August. And September. Usually July is just hot and August is ridiculously hot but this summer we had an outrageous July, and then tons of rain in August and September - more than usual!

Taking that picture was totally safe..... (no really actually I pulled my phone up to get the directions to where I was going and snapped it accidentally haha).

But we also had a few rainbows, including one that was HUGE. It seriously was over the entire city, from beyond one side of the mountains to the other. The cell phone picture does it no justice at all.

My friend from high school Rachel and I have lunch almost every Friday and a couple weeks ago our friend who graduated with us was actually able to join us!!! It was SO nice to have three of us there together.

Me, Sara, and Rachel.  And of course my water bottle makes a cameo :-)

I've found a new favorite food category - crackers! Love love love. I think it's because for so long it was all I could keep down. My new favorites - rosemary and olive oil triscuits:

I am subbing at an elementary school and they have snacks for everyone in their teacher room. I found out today that I am NOT a fan of the sun dried tomato triscuits. I seriously had to contain myself from spitting it out, and seriously considered doing that! I've also learned that I could never be a teacher for any grade lower than like 3rd grade. One on one or in small groups, I love em. Hell, I used to work with 2 year old special needs kids and not only was I really good at it, I LOVED it! But it was 1-1. Big difference.

Speaking of little kiddos, I miss my little Clara. Jaren, are you reading this? I miss you guys!!! Please text me 374534 times today to make up for the last week of missed texts. Thanks iPhone upgrade. Actually, I don't mind the changes in the upgrade, I just don't like that texts and emails and calls aren't working properly without wifi at all times.

I made a list today, and including me, there are 14 pregnant women I know, (including two of my sisters in law), due between next month and the beginning of May!!!! Crazy. I may even be forgetting some. Love having people to share the experience with :-) Girls - if you're reading this - let me know if I can practice my sewing for the little ones!

One more pic because little Lee is just the sweetest little cotton fluff marshmallow snow puff puppy:

See you all tomorrow for the weekly belly pic and update - 17 weeks yesterday, post comes on Friday :-)

Bubbas update in pictures

Look at my babiesssss!
How precious is this picture of Maya sleeping?


And Odgie (who needs a hair fix) being all snuggly?


But best of all take a look:



Oh that's not just Maya. Lee was being so lazy he wouldn't move when I made the bed.


Yup, that's him to the left of Maya!

Eventually he realized he should get out and I quickly got it on video.

Here's Maya studying her Tanakh:

 

And spooning her rat toy:

And Aubrey spooning her Lee (I guess she mistook him for a stuffed animal):

And a very ragamuffin looking Odgey hiding under the dresser:

Okay not a doggy but definitely my favorite "bubba":


We got to FaceTime the other night and he had a pretty bad connection so it looked like he had a black eye. Thought it was funny, and now I love this pic just cuz I miss him so much.



And not MY bubbas, but definitely the sweetest, happiest picture I've ever found on Pinterest.


Try not to smile - I dare you!

Bourbon chicken, some catch ups, and another deployment

Hey blog world! Remember me? No, you don't? Please forgive me for abandoning you. I just felt like I had nothing interesting to write about. But I do miss it and I love accounting for my boring lil life, so I guess I'll continue. Plus Charlie left this morning on a deployment so I want to account for what is happening since I delusionally think he'll care :-) Love you sweety!

 I made some yummy crockpot chicken the other day but didn't snap any pictures (whoops). It looked like crockpot chicken, haha! My dad randomly said he liked Bourbon chicken, and that he decided he likes "alcohol in meals" even though he doesn't drink a drop (and never has!). I knew Charlie would love it so I looked up a few reference points and came up with my own formula:

Pam spray (for the sides of the crockpot)

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp ginger

1 tbs garlic

1/2 cup whiskey

2 chicken breasts (for charlie)

4 chicken thighs (for dad)

*I would have done 4 breasts for Charlie but he was leaving on his deployment the next day*

I cooked it on high for 4 hours. It was yummy! Sorry for the lack of pictures.

Okay so more catch up will come soon but for now I'll just share some fun pics.

Here is Maya burying her little head in me at a sweet moment at Starbucks right after we got back from italy (yes I realize that was at the beginning of May).

I love when she does that! And sheesh, I look old. Can we speak about the fact that I recently had a birthday, but as you all know, I turned 24 yet again.

Charlie got me this for my birthday:

Amazing! Now I just need to find embroidery software compatible with Mac. I'm surprised by the lack of options. He also got me some boxing stuff which we'll now have to wait to use until he gets back in September.

My favorite part was probably this card from my parents:

Seriously - most fitting card! Almost made me less jealous of the European cruise my parents were on, lol!

I got a visit from this little one later in my birthday week: 

My how she has grown! I can't believe it's been a year since you stayed with us little "mazy" I miss you and your momma, but am so glad you're not too far in AZ.

Look how cute she is:

And guess what? This 1.5 year old is potty training! Birdie, whatever's in your water, we all need it!

"Peepee peepee!!!" She knew when to tell use and went in the potty. Amazing!

I actually got Charlie to take some pictures with me before he left, which is a huge accomplishment since he hates when I take pictures of him or us.

Haha this one is funny:

Check out his multi cam two piece flight suit!!! Too bad he can't wear it here when it's this hot.

I'll miss you my love, and can't wait to be with you in December. I love you!

Atlanta part 2

Currently craving: honeydew melon, even though I just ate three slices. Also, the Big Bang Theory. I haven't watched it in about a month and I am craving an episode! Maybe when I'm done blogging I'll see if I can find an episode to watch online.

The night we stayed at my sister's house, she and her boyfriend Jason (Jay-z), randomly brought up the fact that they walk every single night, and that there are lots of dogs in their neibhorhood. They decided they would offer to walk their neighbors' dogs, since they walk anyway, and Jason LOVES dogs. We were joking that it was their new business venture, and Jason started working on an actual flier.

Tell me that's not hilarious - he made up an e-mail for it!!

Odge must have a friend in their neighborhood who saw the posting because Jason got this e-mail:

I live in Las Vegas.
Can you walk me and my brother and sister?
My owners will testify to the fact that I am not at all obstinate, know how to turn right and also turn left and I will never run away and hide when you come to pick me up for walks.
I am interested in hiring your service for the week of October 20th.  Please can you check your calendar and let me know if you are available?
Licks and barks,
Odge

And Post Dog Walkers response:

Dear Odge,

Thank you for your interest in Post Dog Walkers Inc. For a dog, you have a remarkable grasp of technology, e-mail, and English, and we have no doubt that you will succeed in Post Dog Walking Academy.

Licks and barks, Post Dog Walkers  

Hehe, cracks me up every time. The reason for going to Atlanta besides seeing my sister was for a conference through the Center for Israel Education. Well, my mom picked awful timing to share these e-mails with me. It was literally during a lecture about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and I had to try so hard not to crack up out loud.

My sister and Jason dropped us off at the hotel on Sunday morning:



The conference was A-MAZ-ING. Seriously, amazing. Not a detail was left behind. It was so well run, and the content was so intense, overwhelming, and amazing. At several points my mom looked at me and said "for all the years dad has been trying to explain so and so to me, I finally get it". She specifically said this concerning the Israeli political system.

There was food at the conference ALL THE TIME.  Breafkast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack. There was also always a line up of coffee, sodas, and fruit from which you could choose. The food was amazing - different every day and really gave me some ideas for future meals once I have regular access to a kitchen again: chicken stuffed with mushrooms and spinach, halved tomatoes with tuna salad, tofu kababs, chicken "breaded" with pecans and a peach sauce, and on and on! I loved it. Here is some stuffed whole fish I had:

The white stuff is white asparagus, not slimy french fries!

And here is another delicious meal:

That was salmon with mango sauce and I definitely took a few bites before remembering to snap a picture!

One of the mid-afternoon snacks was a watermelon and feta salad! If you remember my post about my mom's creative cooking, you may recall that one of the salads she makes is this exact one, but she adds mint. There wasn't much left by the time I got to it so it doesn't look appetizing, but trust me, it was delicious.


I didn't really get to take too many pictures while there so that's all I got.

The first day of the conference, we ran into a woman named Felicity who my mom somewhat recognized, and they realized they both moved to Israel from South Africa around the same time and lived on kibbutz together. Felicity was wonderful and has a niece who blogs as well, and I had just told Felicity about chia seeds when we pulled up Cara's blog and saw a post about them! Cara's blog is http://eatdrawlive.com/ - Jessi, follow this, they have a lot of paleo stuff!



It was wonderful for my mom to reconnect and she even picked up some of her old South African sayings such as "put on my costume" instead of bathing suit. I definitely lol'd at that one.


Two of the main leaders of the conference with the Adelson teachers.

When we exhaustedly finished the conference on Friday afternoon my sister picked us up and we went to pick out her bridesmaid dress. We ran to trader jos (oh how I have missed you) and even got some burrata cheese! Burrata cheese is essentially mozarella, one stage before, so it is very creamy in the middle. I made a mini little sandwich


My sister has been dabbling in cooking and made a savory bread pudding:


Recipe adapted from here.

More on the Atlanta trip in the next post, I don't want to bore you to death in one post, so I decided to split it up. Speaking of splitting things into trilogies, I have not read nor do I intend to read the 50 shades trilogy. I heard that not only are they poorly written and beyond awful, but that the books don't "end"; as if the author wrote one long book and arbitrarily split it into three thinking "I can make more money this way". Well ha! I just 50 shades of grey'd my long posts about atlanta into a trilogy. I'm sure I was much more enticing.

Paul Calhoun: Future test pilot? No, future dog stylist.

When Charlie had his bachelor party one of his friends stopped over on his drive from Charleston, SC to his new base in CA where he will be a test pilot. Test pilots often become NASA astronauts and as far as jobs go, it's about as badass as you get.

Paul and I decided Odge needed a new hairstyle.
Before:

Awwwww, look at my cute little gender confused bubba!

Odge has tried the no ponytail thing before and ended up looking like this:

Not too bad but not my favorite.

Paul accepted the challenge.
His tools:

(that's water in the dish)

The process:






And the result:

Odge has a mohawk!

From the side:


It lasted about 5 minutes. Poor Odge.

Ladies, he's single, and I don't mean Odge.  Test pilot and dog stylist? Don't miss out!

Perfect Saturday

We woke up early compared to our schedule lately, at around 715 and went to hike at Red Rock. We met one of the spouses Nikki and her pit/lab mix. We did a bit over an hour hike. I HATE going downhill especially when it's climbing. Im such a baby. I also had a runny nose because of the weather and didn't bring tissues. I felt so high maintenance, but then Charlie did point out that I sounded like I have a cold (I don't, just wind/allergies etc). I was so proud of myself hiking w/no breaks. I know it's not nearly as intense as Masada but that was a wake up call to start stair climbing and it helped!

We went over to my parent's house to hang out for a bit and decided to go to brunch. My dad goes to sweet tomatoes every weekend and really wanted to go but I was starving from the hike and wanted breakfast as did Charlie so we convinced him. We told him we'd go tomorrow. We went to the griddle in the vons shopping center and it was eh. Not totally impressed w/the menu. I would have rather gone to babycakes!

We noticed a new boba shop so my mom and I went in and when we came out this is how we found our men:

Twins! So cute.

Mom and I went to my house while the boys did boy stuff (probably broke something on the computer) and we discussed some details for the summer (she'll be visiting etc etc) and spoke about some other mommy/daughter stuff and then made a menu for tonight. The Sals are moving so we invited them for dinner along with Adina and Rick and my parents' 80 year old Japanese neighbor whose husband passed at NINETY-EIGHT! Amazing. What amazing people that my parents think to invite her. My mom said she was so pleased and asked what she could bring, and my mom said anything she wants, she doesn't have to, so she's bringing sushi! Note: invite her to my house too, it's a mitzvah.

I baked my famous Ilana Shapiro cookies (well my cookies now since I only make that recipe!) and took a batch over to Sheila at the front gate. Mom is giving one to someone and I am bringing the others to Jaren's tonight - she and Jessi and I are making posters for Roger and Joe's return. Roger comes home on Wednesday and I think Joe has about 3 weeks (hopefully!). Here are some of the cookies:


If you haven't made these before, please reference this recipe. They are perfection. Big and chewy and just yum. The secret is a, you have to have bread flour, and b, you have to refrigerate them for at least an hour before you pop them in the oven!

Dad dropped Charlie off and took the dogs to their house (he missed them) and then sent me this picture of Odgie cuddling with "squirrel". Squirrel is actually a stuffed dog (that is totally disgusting) that Odge has had since I was in college or something like that. The picture was really unclear and dark so I didn't instagram it, I DOUBLE instagrammed it. That's right!


Okay Jessi is here and I'm being totally rude and finishing this. Plus I need to wake up Charlie and make my pizza from the pizza dough I made. Reports on that later, and the recipe I made up if it's a success.

Pre-risen

Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning has been going on. And by that I mean I spent many hours attempting a wreath and about one cleaning. Charlie did drain the pool:


Apparently you're supposed to do this every like, 8 years, and the prior owners hadn't done it once. So we rented a pool pump/drain (no idea what it's called) and did it.

Doggies, don't fall in!

They don't seem too interested. (whoa, I almost typed to instead of too).

Last night while eating a batch of fresh kale chips (literally off of the pan I made them on) I had the idea to keep the pool empty since we will be in Alabama for June and July, so we could save a huge water bill! My mom and Katy were over but since my mom was sharing the kale chips with me and Katy hadn't dug in yet, I made Katy e-mail Charlie from my mom's computer. The e-mail said something like: Hey sweety, I have an idea, why don't we keep the pool empty until we're back and save a huge water bill? By the way, what the HECK is all the stuff in the gym room?"

Well let me show you what I found in the gym room, interspersed througout granola bar wrappers, silverware, and paperwork:

It was NOT in the laundry basket, just all over there. I guess I did do spring cleaning beyond the hour of organization. When my mom saw it she asked if I was sure I wanted to marry him. What a ridiculous question. I just need to make sure to go in there more often to clean it. If I don't go into the office for two days it looks like a frat house.

I forgot to take a picture of the kale chips but it was super easy and delicious. I literally just took precut kale, put it on a sheet pan with about a tbs of olive oil, then took a lemon wedge and sprinkled it, a tiny salt, and fresh parmesan cheese. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes (although I think next time I"ll do 15 minutes). I don't usually do parmesan but the Moutnains left me some when they left.

I also roasted brocolli and brussel sprouts in some balsamic and olive oil. Katy and I ate almost the whole batch for dinner. I was STUFFED off of vegetables.



This was already dug into. You don't use etiquette at the Maddox household, just dig on in!

The living room (and kitchen area) is a wreck because I am organizing everything. Mom came over to help but first we ran to hobby lobby to get the finishing items for my wreath (almost done!!!!). Mom had an MRI done and she did not have a tear which is good and bad. Good because it's not a tear, bad because there's no surgical solution. Just needs to endure the calcium until it dissipates.

We sat her down on the couch with a heating pad and Katy and I started working on the bookshelves in the living room. Katy and I both have one of our degrees in psychology (my other is math and her other is premed I think), and we were laughing because we were like mice that go and do something inefficiently several times before realizing what the quickest route is. We kept going around behind a couch side table before realizing we could go the other way (duh!), before realizing we could just move the original side table! We have lots more to do and she's coming over soon to finish the job.

Charlie came home from work early and he kissed me hello and proclaimed "you smell like kale" and I proclaimed "you smell like alcohol". Thank GOODNESS he went out and had a little fun (I know he only had one drink but still!). He has been working nonstop and so he and Rob went and had a drink after work. He seriously comes home most nights and this is what happens:

This is from a couple nights ago. Odge loves his daddy and his favorite spot is to crawl on top of your legs right in the crack between them.

So if you're wondering why on earth the wreath is taking so long, ask yourself: would you be able to work on it when this little bubba crawls right in?

Mom can I sit there?

I looked over to Charlie to help me but Maya was taking all his attention:

(notice the ladder in the background? For our bookshelves)


The dogs nicknames have changed to Lazy, Stubborn, and Annoying. Can you guess who is who?

Lee - help me out here, get up!


No mommy I'm comfortable. Go watch Big Bang Theory.

I guess I'll finish the wreath another day.