Things I hate & love

My friend Katie from work and fellow blogger (check out here blog here) has given me another creative blog suggestion.  She has asked me to write about 10 things I currently love and 10 things I currently hate.  It's kind of late so I am going to trim this down to 5 of each, but hopefully it will be a good post anyway!

I'll get the hate things out of the way first!

1.  Dog hair- I am trying to adjust to being a dog mommy but something that I will never accept is dog hair all over!  In order to keep up with Indy's shedding, he requires constant brushing, plus daily vacuuming and lint rolling.  He is not allowed on the couches yet his hair sticks to all of the borders of the couches.  Here is an example of one day's lint rolling to clean the perimeters of our two couches!  It takes me a minimum of an hour to adequately lint roll and vacuum.  Does anyone have any dog hair removal suggestions for me?

2.  Cancer- I am sure everyone hates cancer and I will never forgive this disease for taking my beautiful Mom from me.  I hope a cure is found someday.  In the meantime, I look forward to honoring her at my annual sale.  So far we have one family we will be sponsoring from this year's Crocheting, Crafting, & Cooking for a Cure sale this September 12th.  One of our sponsored families is a local family whose young mother has cancer and her children's ages are 9, 6, & 3 and the mother is friends with one of my co-workers.  We will be giving them an all expenses paid, cancer free day of fun after the sale.  If anyone has an additional family to nominate, please contact me.  We are looking for families who have a parent with cancer and children under the age of 18.

3.  Bills- I am sure no one likes bills, but I really hate them!  Some days my bills keep me up at night just trying to budget well and keep track of all of our expenses.

4.  Charley horses- This has been one of the most annoying parts of my pregnancy.  Compared to what some people endure, I really can't complain, but these sharp leg cramps that hit in the middle of the night are a real pain.  I bought a new body pillow today and am hoping to get some better sleep.  The bigger I get the more uncomfortable sleeping has become.  But it is all so worth the end result of my little girl!

5.  Never having enough time in the day!  I feel like summer is flying by already!  There is so much I want to do and see, especially before the baby comes, but the days seem to go faster and faster.  I am trying to remember to take time to enjoy the little moments of each day.

10 Things I love:

1.  The little kids in my life- My nephews bring so much joy to my life.  I absolutely love being an aunt to these two and I am so happy we are getting to spend extra time together now that it is summer.  Our planned sleepover was unfortunately cancelled last weekend because both Tom & my older nephew were sick.  Hopefully we can pick another date soon.  Their birthdays are both in the next two weeks and I can't believe they will be turning 8 & 5.  I am planning out their cakes and I hope they always know how much Tom & I love them.  My other favorite little kids belong to my best friend Stevi.  I love watching these two grow also!  Juliet had her 2 year old birthday today and I had so much fun at her party.  Leo, my godson made me an awesome perler bead craft shaped like a yogurt with fruit in it and I got such a kick out of it.  He is so smart and I love having him "quiz" me on all the stuff he knows.  I am thrilled that my sister-in-law and Stevi are also friends and that we all spend time together. Here are some shots from Juliet's birthday: 

2.  Living on the North Fork- I absolutely love where we live!  We recently went to a fun tractor show that Tom really enjoyed.  I also love being able to go to all the farm stands to get fresh veggies and fruit whenever I want.  

3.  Going to the beach with Tom's truck- another great part about where we live is having close access to the most beautiful Long Island beaches!  Last night we took his truck out to Shinnecock, parked right on the sand and even had a BBQ.  When the beach isn't crowded (which it wasn't last night), I feel like we are on our own private beach!

4.  Indy- I know I just complained about his dog hair, but I promised Tom I would include Indy on the love list too!  I am enjoying having a dog to greet me at the door and what's been the most fun is taking Indy for a daily walk with us.  The 3 of us are benefiting from these daily walks and I am trying to be as fit as possible as I get closer to my due date.  I really like when we take Indy for a walk by the farmland in our neighborhood.

5.  Cooking on the BBQ in the summer-  even though Tom is our main grill master, using the BBQ in the summer is so quick and easy.  I like to do meats and vegetables on the grill and trying new recipes.  Plus it keeps the house from getting hot from not having to use the oven.  I made these yummy BBQ drumsticks the other day!  

6.  Celebrating our first date anniversary every year- I needed a 6th love item for this post because tonight Tom and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary of our first date.  Every year we re-create our first date, even down to wearing the clothes we had on when we first met in person.  Our beloved Sonoma Grill moved so last year we went to their new location, but this year we opted to try the restaurant, a Japanese place, that moved into their space.  Supposedly a new Sonoma Grill is opening in Riverhead, which we are thrilled over but it wasn't open yet for our celebration tonight.  We had a great time tonight and then we went to the movies to see Ant Man.  I look forward to re-creating this night with Tom forever!  Here are some photos of past first date anniversaries and tonight's!  Next year we will have a 9th month old baby girl!  Of course her and Tom will top my love list today and always!

 Here I am with my baby bump in my first date outfit!

PA & the 4th of July: In Numbers

My friend Katie, whose blog you can see here http://themishapsandmayhemofsolitarylife.blogspot.com/ has done a few posts recently using numbers.  I am going to follow that format to write about our recent trip to Pennsylvania & the 4th of July.

2.5- How many minutes it took to make this awesome horse and buggy waffle at our continental breakfast while in PA.
















5- The number of Amish pretzels Tom & I consumed together over the course of this vacation.  We absolutely love our Roadside Stand where the most delicious, melt in your mouth pretzels are created.  I bet if you go you can't eat just one!




2- The number of Sight & Sound shows Tom and I have seen.  Last year we saw Moses and this time we saw Joseph.  I love the live animals in these shows, and how this massive theater really makes you feel like you have walked into a scene from the Bible.  

150- The approximate price of a fake deer for your backyard.  Tom and I would love one for our yard, but were shocked how much ornamental lawn animals cost!  They even had beagle statues.  But we took some cool photos at this statue place!  For now photos will have to do.





6- The number of times I have gone to GM Nationals with Tom in Carlisle PA.  This year the show was washed out on Saturday, so we went to the Sunday show instead.  There weren't as many cars as usual, so we are thinking about going back for the truck show in August.  I'm up for it, because I will take any reason to go back to Amish country.  This year both my nephews came and I can't deny how much I love those two!  They are still at an age where they think Tom and I are the coolest and when it was time to go home, the boys looked so sad that we cancelled our plans to shop so we could stop for dinner on the way home with them.  Next weekend we are planning to have a sleepover with my nephews staying at our house.  When we saw them yesterday, they were already filled with ideas about how to fill our sleepover weekend!

800- The average number of kernels on an ear of corn.  The open country, filled with corn fields is one of our favorite, most relaxing parts of driving around PA.  Our own corn is starting to sprout up in our garden.  Here are some of the beautiful scenes from our trip.






3- The number of colors in my 4th of July firework cake.  You can read the recipe here: Firework Cake.  This cake was so easy, yet looked really awesome.  I divided the batter into 3 bowls, and dyed a cup in red, white, & blue.  I poured the batter in layers into the pan and once it was cooled, I iced it.  The icing had to also be divided into 3 bowls and dyed with red, white and blue.  It is easier to drizzle it if you microwave it (I found 15 seconds to be the perfect amount of time).  I was very

pleased with how this cake looked and tasted.

















239- Did you know that's how old the USA is?   We went to Tom's aunt and uncle's house for their annual BBQ.  We had a lot of fun, food and laughs.  Afterwards, we went to watch some fireworks from a parking lot near Riverhead raceway.  The baby was kicking like crazy, I wonder if she could hear the loud fireworks!  Next year she will be wearing this cute 4th of July outfit that my friend Lindsay that I work with gave us!

92- That's how old my great-Aunt Jean turned on her birthday today!  She lives in New Mexico now, but I absolutely love and miss my mom's aunt.  She was always so special to my family and her and my Uncle Tony used to go to Lancaster all the time.  It is nice that our favorite place was special to them too!

102- Days left until my due date!  I can't wait to meet our little girl!  Here I am in my 24 week photo!  My baby bump is certainly growing as I am almost at my 3rd trimester.


I got a kick out of wearing my "Toms" t-shirt from Stevi while on this trip.  The baby and I both proudly tell the world who has our hearts!