Big purchase weekend

You'd think we were made of money the way we were spending it this weekend!

Well the one purchase is something that we had budgeted for. We bought ourselves a brand new patio set! I tried to find pictures online from the Lowes website, but no such luck. I will have to try and snap one tomorrow. When Andre and I were living at my grandmother's house the one thing we loved was sitting out in the backyard in the summer enjoying our meal. We're really looking forward to being able to do this in our own home this coming summer.

Our second purchase was a total want of mine, this was a "treat":

For those of you that have been living under a rock for an extremely long time this is the Nintendo Wii. I thought that it might get Andre and I out of the sit-down-and-watch-tv-till-bedtime-rut that we have been in for what seems like forever. It's worked at least one night.

Tonight we played two games of bowling before I tried my hand at boxing, and won! The fun lasted until I came back into the rec room from the changing over the laundry to find Mikey our cat sprawled out on a table sleeping and Andre sleeping on the couch. Oh how I wish I could've taken a picture!

So we'll see how often Andre uses it. I think the boxing alone will serve as wonderful therapy after a frustrating day at work for me. He has been talking about checking out the different types of games they have, so I think that the Wii will grow on him eventually over time.

The Business of Being Born

A friend of mine is a doula and offered to let me borrow her copy when she heard that I had never seen it before. Now I am in the healthcare field, and have many friends who are parents so I consider myself fairly informed of the different options out there when it comes to giving birth.

This movie was a huge eye opener for me. I know that a homebirth isn't everyone's cup of tea (not mine either---a little too "granola" for me), but I think this movie should be a must see for all couples out there who are expecting a baby, or those people out there that are considering having a child. I think quite a few people out there think there is only one way to give birth, and this can't be farther from the truth.

A very good documentary. To view the trailer click on the following:

A talk with my mother

So I was out with my mother on Sunday (as I am almost every Sunday) and I had to start griping about our stupid doctor's office and their new policy on no longer pre-booking appointments. That led to me telling my mother about why I was calling to book an appointment. I don't know why I did. Maybe I feel like I should, maybe I'm just a wierdo, who knows.
So I tell my mother that I was calling the doctor because I need to talk to them about why the hell I bleed every single farking time Andre and I have sex (that, and the fact that I've only ovulated once in seven months). It's been happening since I went off the pill about 7 months ago. I know, you're probably yelling at the computer screen as you read this, but I kept thinking it would stop. It didn't, in fact it's gotten worse. It's put a damper on our sex life to say the least.
So, like I was saying, I told my mother. Then I told her that I was talking to some friends and they questioned whether it could be Endometriosis, or Cysts. Both of which have popped into my brain. Then out of the blue, she tells me that she has/had Endo. (Insert why-the-fark-didn't-you-tell-me-about-this-earlier face here) My aunt also has it. My grandmother and great-grandmother also had complete hysterectomies before they were 50. We don't know why though.
So who knows what happens from here. I plan on calling my doctors office on June 8th, on my next day off to book an appointment to get this ball rolling. I don't know what they will or won't do, but I would like to have some answers. Most of all if we're going to have a bitch of a time trying to have a child later on down the road I would like to know sooner rather than later.

Confession time

I've been using night cream since my 30th birthday. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone!

Yummy lemon lime cupcakes

I have a subscription to Canadian Living magazine. The May 2009 issue arrived with cupcakes on the cover. YUMMMMMY! Now I was just waiting for a occasion to make some. My opportunity arrived with Mother's Day, or in our case, Mother's Day on the May long weekend. Here is the recipe:















Lemon Lime Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp each grated lemon and lime rind*
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

(*I used the rind of one lemon and one lime. The lemon is easier to grate for the rind. My grandmother asked what the black things were in the cupcakes, so I think I will just use the lemon rind next time.)

In a large bowl, beat butter with granulated sugar until fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in lemon and lime rinds and lemon juice.
In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; stir into butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of the milk. Spoon into paper-lined or greased muffin cups*.
(* I ended up filling them almost 3/4 of the way full, and they didn't rise over the edge of the muffin tin.)
Bake in 350 degree oven until cake tester inserted in centre come out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool.

Butter Icing
3/4 cup butter, softened (I ran out of butter and used 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup becel margarine, it was fine)
3 3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In bowl beat butter until light; beat in sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. beat in milk and vanilla. Makes about 2 1/2 cups, which the magazine said was enough for 12 cupcakes, I found I had quite a bit leftover. I tinted it with some yellow paste colouring.