The Crazies

Today was like any other day.  I woke up, ate my apple (for whatever reason this settles my stomach), got out of bed, put Tigger's food in her food dish and Jack's food in his food dish and got myself some cereal.  I stood there for a minute wondering why Jack was so uncharacteristically eager to eat this morning when it hit me...I had given Jack the cat food and Tigger the dog food!  Luckily, I realized this in time to switch the bowls back (much to Jack's disappointment).  

This got me noticing other little changes that I am experiencing.  I don't normally forget things, but every now and then my mind will go blank and I have no idea what I was going to do or say.  This happened mid-sentence the other night when I was telling Trip something...I completely forgot what I was talking about!  I also have had a hard time falling asleep.  Even when I am exhausted, it takes me at least 45 minutes to lose consciousness.  Most nights I lay awake for over an hour before sleep finds me.  I sleep well until I wake up to go to the bathroom and then I have to go through the whole exercise again.

I have also been having some super vivid dreams.  They are often random, disjointed, and make absolutely no sense, but they are so vivid I can remember more detail than I used to.  I also seem to dream about food.  Totally random foods too, like Cinnamon Toast Crunch (haven't eaten it in years), McDonald's hashbrowns, and bacon.  Ok, maybe bacon isn't so random because bacon is awesome!

The craziest that I have gotten is at night.  Trip and I will usually be ready for bed, and while I am laying there I will just start crying.  Trip will ask what's wrong and then I have to confess my silly reasons for the tears.  Last night he was rubbing my shoulders and I started crying because I felt like I wasn't interesting to talk to anymore.  He actually laughed at me! (which was good because it got me laughing too)  Luckily, I don't experience this particular brand of crazy very often and when I do, my hubby is always there to snap me out of it and talk some sense into me.


Pregnancy has definitely been a wild ride so far!

Captain Jack's new haircut

From Captain Jack Sparrow in all his scruffy glory to a suave looking Handsome Jack...

Before...

and After!

Weekend fun

Since I have started to feel better, I have been taking advantage of going out and being social.  I overdid it a bit this last weekend, but I still had fun!  We hung out with the Clark family and the Sanders on Friday night and ended up playing domino's, as usual.  I finally got some pictures to document the game that has become a favorite of ours.

We love hanging out with the Sanders and we have recently started hanging out with the Clarks.  We love spending time with them...so much so that Tim and Trip have started matching when they go to work.  Bree and I find this pretty amusing and had to document it as well.

We spent Saturday at the Renner's house with the Clarks again.  We had a great time eating food and enjoying each others company.  Trip, of course, enjoys both the adult and the kid time and missed out playing with the kids this time around.  Next time, I told him he should go play with them when he wants to...it's good practice for the near future  :)

I really like the look of concentration on Bree's face

I look fantastic, I know.  You can kind of see the baby bump in this pic though

Jack trying to charm his way into the house...one paw at a time.

Liesel drew this picture for Trip.  The kids just can't get enough of him!

It was a fun weekend and we look forward to spending more time with everyone, especially Tim and Bree's family.  We haven't known each other long, but we feel like we are bosom buddies already.

Lasagna

 

I love Italian food.  True, I love most foods, but Italian food seems to be the one I turn to the most, especially when cooking.  I have never made lasagna before, but I LOVE to eat it, so I finally took some initiative and found a recipe that looked simple and tasty.  I was not disappointed!  This was pretty easy to make and it was delicious.  It was so good that it didn't last very long, even though there are only 3 of us.  Here is the link to the site which walks you through with step by step pictures... http://mylasagnarecipe.com/ 

The site has a lot of lasagna variations and recipes, but the one I used was the No. 1 Lasagna Recipe.

Here is the recipe with my few changes:

Ingredients

• 1 pound of sweet Italian sausage
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1/2 cup of chopped onions
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 (28 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 (8 ounce) cans of tomato sauce
• 2 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
• 1/2 Cup of Water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 2 teaspoons fresh Basil leaves chopped
• 4 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 23 ounces of ricotta cheese.
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg 
• 1 egg
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 12 Lasagna Noodles  

Directions

• Start with the following in a pot.

1 pound of sweet Italian sausage
1 pound of ground beef
1/2 cup of chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic chopped 

Brown the ground beef, Italian sausage, onions and garlic in a pot. 
It takes about 6 to 9 minutes to brown the meat.  I like to use a Dutch oven to cook this
portion of the recipe.  I use a medium low temperature to brown the meat.  It is optional
to remove the grease from the meat once it is finished browning, your choice.  (I didn't use a Dutch oven and I didn't remove the grease either...it wasn't noticeable in the end)

•  Add the following:

1 (28 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
2 (8 ounce) cans of tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
1/2 cup of water

Gently stir this into the cooking meat.  

•  Add the following:

2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon fennel seed (I left this out because I didn't have any)
2 teaspoons fresh Basil leaves chopped
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
 

Gently stir these seasoning into the sauce.
Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer.  Simmer on low heat for 1 hour and 30
minutes  

• Soak 12 lasagna noodles.

The lasagna noodles need to be soaked in hot tap water for 15 minutes. (This was a great idea and kept the noodles al dente) 

• While the noodles are soaking you can make the cheese filling.

Put the following in a mixing bowl:
23 ounces of ricotta cheese. (I actually added more ricotta cheese, so I had about 32 ounces instead)
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg  (I didn't use fresh nutmeg, so I added about 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg from the spice cabinet)
Grate fresh nutmeg over the Ricotta cheese.    

• Add the following

1 egg
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped
Mix these ingredients together with a spoon 

• Now we start building the lasagna layers.

Use a 9×13 inch baking pan. 
Spread 2 Cups of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Remove your lasagna noodles out of the water bath.  Shake water off wet noodles.
Lay 6 noodles across the layer of sauce.
Spread half of the ricotta cheese mixture over the layer of noodles.
Spread 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese over the ricotta layer.
Sprinkle half of the Parmesan cheese over the mozzarella layer
Spread 2 cups of meat sauce over the cheese layer
Lay down the next layer of noodles
Spread the remaining ricotta mixture over noodles
Spread the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses saving  some cheese for the top of the
lasagna
Put the last layer of meat sauce on the cheeses
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. 

• Cover with foil

Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 25 minutes
Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for approximately 15 minutes. 

–Serves 12 people