Author Archives: Cindy

weekend recap, pink hair edition

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This past weekend we had a visit from the lovely and delightful Brittany. She and I have been chatting online for a while, she lives in South Carolina, and she was in dire need of something that approximates a vacation. So yeah, I invited a stranger from the Internet to stay at my house. I met Dave on match.com, so it didn’t seem like that big a deal to me.

And of course, she’s darling. I want to adopt her as my, um, well I’m not old enough to be her mother, but I guess she could be my little sister or niece or something. And Catie freaking loved her, as I expected.

Catie & Brittany

Catie & Brittany
Seriously, they totally bonded in less than 5 minutes. The only problem was that Brittany’s name was hard for Catie, so sometimes she’d call her “Britty” and sometimes she’d call her “guy.” As in, “C’mon, guy, let’s go this way!” (I swear, that’s an actual quote.)

Catie & Brittany working on their laptops
I think Catie is ready to sign up for her first Twitter account. (“OMG my parents suck. They made me sit in time-out and all I did was throw my toast butter-side down on the carpet! Injustice!”)

showing off her toy lizards

Brittany has an insanely nice camera, I’m really jealous of it. We got some fantastic action shots of Catie.

Toddler On The Run

chasing Mommy around the house

And one extreme close-up for good measure.

HI!!!

We had a great time. We ate a ton of food, we played with Catie, we geeked out with our cameras and computers, we had lots of long talks. And on Saturday night, after a couple of cocktails, we ended up on Room 704’s blogtalkradio show. (If you decide to listen to it, we’re on in like the last 5-10 minutes. And it’s mostly Brittany, not much of me. I was too busy refilling our beverages.)

So yeah, it was a great weekend. And I think we even convinced Brittany that Raleigh is a nice enough place that she’s now trying to find a job and an apartment in this area. Which would be very cool, I’m always in favor of having friends that live nearby.

P.S. To follow up on the last blog entry, we’re officially making an offer on house #2 tomorrow morning, but I don’t want to talk about it for fear of jinxing it, so SHH! We’ll talk more about it later if the guy accepts our offer.

real estate update

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I’ll write more about our weekend later (because man, it’s been a fun one), but forgive me here while I talk about buying a house and hopefully don’t bore anyone to tears.

Last week, Dave and I went house-hunting with our realtor again. I was trying not to panic, but it was looking like we were going to be homeless after July 31st unless we magically found our dream house. On Thursday, Dave had to work, so it was just me and Cara (our realtor friend) looking at houses, and pretty much everything we saw, I hated. A few of them were nice enough houses, but it just wouldn’t have been a good fit for us. Either they were too small, or they didn’t have any trees around (a pet peeve of mine; I hate it when neighborhoods are built and all of the natural foliage is cut down), or there wasn’t a place that we could’ve turned into an office for Dave, or the driveway was too hilly (visions of Catie in a few years learning to ride a bike and wiping out in the street = no thank you). There was always something that made it a no-go. So I was starting to get a little discouraged.

All of us (including Catie) went out house-hunting again on Friday morning. Aaaand now, it looks at though we’ve found not one but two houses that we really, really love. One house is in the perfect neighborhood and location, the yard is gorgeous, but the house itself has a couple of (really minor) features that I’m not crazy about (i.e., the pantry in the kitchen is really small). The second house is absolutely, 100% perfect, but I’m not totally in love with the neighborhood. I mean, it’s really nice, and it has a lot of great features (neighborhood greenway, pool, playground, etc.), the neighborhood just isn’t as aesthetically pretty as the first one. So, hmm, which to choose? Oh, and both houses are pretty much exactly the same price. Way to make the decision even harder.

Want to see them to get a better perspective of what I’m talking about? Of course you do.

This is house number one:
House #1

And this is house number two:
House #2

I know, right? They’re both really, really pretty.

So, this afternoon we’re meeting up with our realtor again to look at both houses and try to do a side-by-side comparison of them. And as much as I hate making decisions, I’m feeling pretty good about this one, because I’m pretty sure that we’d be happy in either place. So I’m trying to relax and trust that God or the universe or whatever will make sure that we end up exactly where we’re supposed to be. Cross your fingers for us. I’d really like this decision to be made so I can start planning our next steps (like, you know, the actual move).

looking for my party dress

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I’ve got a bunch of stuff swirling around my head right now, but most of it is not really all that interesting. I doubt any of y’all really want to hear about:
* This chapter I’m writing, which is due on Friday, and has got me all sorts of stressed out. Oh, and how yesterday I drew the most awesome diagram of an Active Directory-integrated DNS zone in the entire history of diagrams of DNS zones. Yeah, baby.
* The fact that my house is a mess (because of the aforementioned book deadline) and it’s starting to gross me out. I’m already making a mental list of which tasks I’m going to tackle as soon as I’m done writing.
* House-hunting and my ridiculously long list of criteria, and how we sort of like this one new development, but there are a whole bunch of risks associated with new developments these days, and oh my god, how am I supposed to make a decision like this? Whine whine, woe is me and my privileged little life. People are losing their dream homes left and right and I’m debating over whether to buy resale or have a house custom-built for us. Yeah. Poor me, I know. Shut up, Cindy. God.

So instead, let’s talk about BlogHer. Because I’m going.

BlogHer '09 In Real Life

It’s next month, and I’m already getting a little nervous. As it turns out, when you go to BlogHer, it’s not just the conference itself (which is on Friday and Saturday), but there are also a bunch of parties. So, I’m flying in on Thursday evening, and I’ve already RSVP’ed to two different parties that night. And that’s just Thursday! Before the conference has even officially started!

”The

And I’m also going to the Room 704 party that night (alas, their badges aren’t working).

The parties are at different times, so that’s fine, I should be able to attend both. But here’s the thing: everyone dresses up for these events. And my wardrobe consists mostly of jeans and hoodies. Seriously, you should see the shoes that some people plan on wearing. (Hi, Heather!) It’s crazy. I’m definitely feeling the pressure to cute-ify myself up a bit. (Yes, I just used cute as a verb. Shush.)

So I’m now shopping online for dresses that I can wear on the plane, so I can arrive at the hotel looking gorgeous and ready to party. It’s only an hour and a half direct flight, but you know, it’ll be July. So the sweatiness (and ensuing shiny forehead) is a concern. And I need a dress with at least a little bit of sleeve. Because as much as I might act like my flabby upper arms don’t bother me and I’m fine and “yeah, I’m cool with my size 12-ness” in person, I also know people will be taking pictures at these parties. And if I see photos of my flabby upper arms, my whole self-acceptance facade will fly out the window, and I will cry and beg people to delete the pictures of me. So that’s no good. But it does make it harder to shop, since it seems that most dresses are sleeveless.

I did, however, manage to find these online (thank you, Macys.com – now if you’d only make linking easier so I don’t have to copy & paste everything):

black & white dress
I think this one is my favorite. It’s so pretty and looks like it would be very flattering.

black & white patterned dress
I honestly can’t tell if this is flattering or not because of that ridiculous pose the model is doing. But I think I might like it? Maybe?

brown dress with cap sleeves
I’m not sure what I think about the brown, but it also comes in black. It meets my two requirements as far as covering a little bit of arm and not being too clingy on my tummy area. And if worn with the right bra, it might actually give the illusion that I have boobs. Hmm.

black & white print dress
I don’t usually like all-over prints on me, but something about this dress really appeals to me. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s cute.

little black dress
This one might work, since I know I won’t look nearly as severe and dead-behind-the-eyes as the model. I probably won’t lean on walls like that either.

What do y’all think? Votes?

As for the shoes, I think I’m going to have to find some cute ballet flats or something, because I refuse to be That Woman who wears heels through the airport. Maybe I’ll toss something cuter in my bag to change into once I get to the party, but I haven’t figured that part out yet.

the big-girl bed

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Sometime back in April, we bought Catie a big-girl bed. She was really getting too big for her crib; she hadn’t attempted climbing out, but she easily could have if she’d tried. Mainly it was just becoming obvious that she was uncomfortable. She’d roll over and bump into the rails, she’d get her feet stuck through the slats, etc. Most of the time it would lead to her waking up in the middle of the night and demanding to come sleep in our bed, and Mommy was more than a little tired of that particular routine. So I found a mattress store that had a good sale going, picked out a cute girly headboard to go with the twin mattress set, and figured it was done. The sales guy told me we’d have the bed in two to three weeks.

In May, I called to find out where our bed was; by that point, it had been over a month since we bought it. The guy on the phone said, oh, I don’t know why he told you 2-3 weeks, that headboard was a custom order (WTF? I just picked it out of their catalog, maybe everything that’s not a floor model is a “custom order”?), so it’s actually more like 4-6 weeks. I was annoyed, but ok. What can you do?

Now it’s June and still we had no bed. So I called them after a very bad night’s sleep for Catie (and hence us too) and asked them where the eff my bed was. The guy said there was a problem with the headboard, and it’d take at least another 3 weeks. I basically went ballistic and he offered to go ahead & bring out the bed itself without the headboard, and then they’ll deliver the headboard when it arrives. FINE.

So, we got the bed. And Catie? Freaking. Loves. It.

First she had to give it a bounce test.

she immediately started bouncing on her new bed

Then we told her, no jumping on the bed. And I got this look.

this was the look she gave me when I told her not to jump on the bed

But seriously? I think she’s sold on the whole big-girl bed thing.

I think she likes it

Even her little fleece baby blankets, that she has slept with since she was itty-bitty because she likes to soothe herself to sleep by sticking her finger through the washing instructions tag? Yeah, she is officially shunning her baby blankets now, because she adores her bright-colored bedspread with the butterflies and flowers all over it.

So far she’s had two bedtimes and one nap in the new bed, and she’s going down without a fight. (And last night she slept through the night for the first time in, um, a while. So YAY for that!) She even seems excited to go to bed. I know this will pass, the novelty of the new bed will wear off. But hot damn, this is awesome, and I’m planning to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

P.S. Don’t shop at Mattress Warehouse. For real. Gah.

awesome lasagna recipe

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I think I’ve only posted recipes once or twice before, but my lasagna is one of the things I’m proudest of, so I’ve decided to share the recipe. Keep in mind the quantities are HUGE because I make two lasagnas and then freeze one for later.

You need:
* 2 packages of no-boil lasagna noodles
* 4 eggs (you can use egg substitute, doesn’t make much difference)
* 30 ounces of ricotta cheese (some stores have the jumbo 30-oz. container; if not, get two 15-ounces)
* 8 cups (32 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)
* 1 package grated Parmesan cheese (about a cup, I think?)
* 2 – 2.5 pounds of ground beef (I buy the extra-lean stuff)
* 3 jars of marinara sauce; I use the generic store brand, usually the “flavored with meat” kind
* One small bunch of fresh spinach, chopped (no specific amount, just personal preference)
* 1 package (8 ounces) of sliced mushrooms, chopped
* Either an eggplant or 2 zucchinis (whatever your preference; I’ve done it both ways & it’s great either way), diced into pretty small chunks
* Salt, garlic, basil, oregano

To cook it:
1. Cook the beef and drain it. Put the beef back into the pot, add 2 1/2 jars of marinara sauce (leave 1/2 of one jar for later), and add the mushrooms and eggplant/zucchini. Let it simmer for a LOOOONG time. Like at least an hour. You want the meat to get really tender, and the veggies to cook down to the point where they’re basically unrecognizable (at least to your average 2 year-old, who’s part of my target demographic when cooking this dish). Add garlic, basil, and oregano while it’s cooking.

2. In an extra-large mixing bowl, combine your eggs, ricotta cheese, Parmesan, and half of your mozzarella (so, 4 cups/16 ounces). Also mix in your chopped spinach, and add a little salt.

3. Get two 9×13 baking dishes. Spray with Pam, and then divide that last 1/2 jar of marinara sauce to cover the bottom of the dishes (keeps the bottom noodles from getting dried out & crunchy). Then comes the fun part: putting it all together. Your layers should go like this:
* One layer of no-boil lasagna noodles
* Meat/veggie/sauce mix
* Ricotta/spinach mix
* Mozzarella cheese (part of that other 4 cups you had lying around)

Repeat, and that should just about use up your ingredients. You can make it a 3-layer lasagna if you like, but I think that usually ends up being way too dense and it just doesn’t taste quite as good. But, you know, to each their own.

4. Take one of those dishes, cover with foil and put in a 375-degree oven for 45 minutes. Then, take the foil off and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. (Disclaimer: my oven is kind of weak, so I usually end up bumping the temp up to 450 degrees for those last 15 minutes because I like the cheese to get all golden brown on top.)

5. For the other lasagna, cover with heavy-duty foil (if your 9×13 dish has a lid, all the better) and put it in the freezer. When you want to cook it, you can either let it defrost for two days in the fridge (which I usually don’t have patience for), or you can put it in the oven at 250 degrees for about 60-90 minutes to thaw it out completely before you cook it.

This is one of my favorites because it’s an all-in-one meal. It’s loaded with meat & cheese (protein, yay!) and it’s also chock full of veggies. It’s been taste-tested by two different toddlers (namely, Catie & her cousin Elizabeth) and they both love it and clean their plates when it’s served. So if you have kids, that’s definitely a bonus.

Bon appetit!
P.S. I’ll get back to real blogging soon, I promise.

moving on

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When we moved from Seattle to North Carolina last year, it made sense to rent a house. We didn’t know the area very well, and we wanted time to explore and figure out where we wanted to live. Also, we didn’t exactly make money on the sale of our house, so we needed some time to come up with something that would approximate a down payment on a new place.

And here we are, ten months later. Our lease is going to expire in 60 days. Our landlady wants to know if we’re going to renew our lease for another year or if we’re going to move out. We have a little money that might be enough for a down payment. Our credit is just ok – it’s certainly not bad, but it’s not great either; we’re pretty firmly in the “average” range – and we weren’t sure if we would qualify for a mortgage or not. Sure, it’d be nice to take advantage of house prices being so low, but if banks are being stingy about handing out loans, we weren’t sure if we could work it or not.

(Incidentally, our pain-in-the-butt landlady is one of the primary reasons that I want to move. Everything is a headache with her, and everytime I talk to her, she’s always rude and snippy. Can’t. Stand. Her.)

I decided to contact our realtor here and ask if she knew someone we could ask about a loan. She gave me a referral, and it turns out that, lo & behold, we actually did get pre-approved for a mortgage! Which is really exciting, but now we just have to, you know, find a house to buy. No big deal, right?

So that’s going to be taking up a lot of my brainspace between now and August 1st. I’m much less stressed out about it this time than I was last year – moving across town versus cross-country? Yeah, not much of a comparison there. Of course moving sucks, and it’ll be a huge headache, and I’m sure I’ll bitch and moan through the whole process, but it’ll be nothing compared to our last move.

Plus, when it’s all said & done, we’ll have a place that’s really ours. This place has always felt like a house where we’ve just set up camp. We have our books in stacks on the dining room floor, because why bother buying new bookcases? It’ll just be more furniture to move later. This has never felt like a house where we could have people over for parties or anything; I would love to be in a house where I could have people over and not be embarassed about the visible litter box or the boxes that are still in the sunroom that we haven’t unpacked after ten bloody months. I especially can’t wait to get settled in a house that we can make changes to, so we won’t have to live with hideous wallpaper anymore.

Catie & her Daddy
Exhibit A: ugly fruit-oriented wallpaper in our kitchen. And I swear some of those figs look like testicles. It’s all I ever see when I look at the walls.

I’m worried about Catie, because I know that our last move was really hard on her. I expect this one will be easier; the people who are in her life now (her cousin Elizabeth, her friend Kiersten at daycare) will still be part of her normal routine after we move. But I also know she will be heartbroken to leave her friend McKenzie (and vice versa, really; McKenzie knocks on the door every single day to see if Catie can play). So it’ll be rough, but we’ll manage it.

whee!!

Plus, you know, an added benefit of home ownership is that we might be able to get a playset for the backyard. And judging by how much she loved playing on Elizabeth’s yesterday, I think that might be a pretty big selling point for her.

Now, off to find that perfect dream house…