Nesting: Day 3

Yes!  Finally... today was a day full of cleaning and straightening energy!  I finished unpacking the rest of the boxes.  I did loads and loads of laundry.  I picked up all the stray items lying around the house.  I cleaned the bathrooms (and scrubbed the floors).  I cleaned out and vacuumed my car.

And now... I am done.

There is no room in my freezer for more food.  My counters are covered with baked goods.  My house is clean and ready.  I've even done everything I can do for the birth announcements (aside from adding a picture of New Baby)...

What will I do next?

I'm antsy and anxious as tomorrow (her due date) approaches.  What if she's late?  What project can I tackle next?  Should I weed the garden?  Rake the yard?  Make some artwork?  Pace anxiously around the house???

Maybe to help her along and make sure she comes tomorrow, I will eat a whole pineapple.  It contains bromelain, which is thought to possibly bring on labor.


I will keep you posted...

Nesting: Day 2

So I really hoped I would wake up today filled with lots of "nesting energy" to straighten up, clean the floors and finish unpacking.  But, of course, my nesting could not be a productive, cleanly nesting... it could only be a nesting that would inevitably cause my floors to become dirtier and my kitchen to become 4 times messier.  (*note: having a dishwasher is amazing.  I didn't realize how much I missed it in Germany, but when you cook four dinners in one day, being able to run the dishwasher twice and have sparkling clean dishes is fantastic.  Especially when you plan to re-invade your kitchen the following day and create an even larger mess.)

So following yesterday's cooking-nesting-fest, I present you with today's baking-nesting-fest!

Now, my ability to remember things during pregnancy has gone down drastically.  Recall the unfortunate "Un-cinnamon rolls"... And the more recent "I think I'll make chicken pot pie for dinner and NOT buy chicken at the grocery store..."  So by the time I decided I wanted to post pictures of my baking extravaganza, it was too late, as the baking was done and the kitchen was a flour covered war-zone.

Fortunately, I chose my baking recipes from some of my favorite baking blogs, and the women who write them are fantastic at documenting the baking process.

So I present my two delectable baked goods for today:

Maple Pecan Pumpkin Bars (which I made without maple...)

courtesy of Gingerbread Bagels

and

Apple Pecan Muffin Cake

courtesy of Lethally Delicious.

I was also going to make a pumpkin quick bread, but the pumpkin bars were kind of a mix between a pumpkin bread and a pumpkin pie so I decided to hold off.  AND, who the heck is going to eat all these treats?  I, of course, devoured a good portion of both recipes "trimming off the ugly edges no one wants" and making sure neither was toxic... however, Bob doesn't like sweets... and unless I go into labor REALLY SOON, the remainder will probably go bad and I'll have to throw it away.  :(

Nesting: Day 1

So I've heard that towards the end of pregnancy most women experience "nesting".  (Read more here)

Well, today was not the day for hoarding newspapers, scrubbing floors or even finishing the last of the unpacking.

It was a day of cooking like a mad woman.

I went to the store, bought 4 lbs. of ground beef and spent the day in casserole making oblivion.

Four frying pans, five spatulas, 3 casserole dishes, 5 other ceramic dishes I dug out of the back of a cabinet, and the rest of my ziplock containers later, my freezer is now stocked with meals for after the baby arrives.  And I have dinner for two more nights this week.

Unfortunately for any other frozen food that wants to reside in my freezer, things will be kind of cramped in there for a while...