sixty days left and a weekend recap

I was reading another blog earlier and saw that they were only 58 days away from their due date...  'Hmm...  we must be a week or so away from that countdown,' I thought.  I was a little surprised to learn that we're a mere sixty days away from ours.  Yikes.  Time flies when you're pretending labor won't happen!

We had a fun-filled weekend to say the least...  Friday we had family game night at our place, and stayed up until past 1am, which is later than I have stayed up in months.  Brunch Saturday with Jami and Laura, who trekked a whole hour to our side of town just to eat with us (and pick up their Farmer's Market bounty).  I give them credit...  I have trouble putting on clothes and walking across the street on Saturdays.  They are a motivated bunch!  Saturday night we went to the East side for dinner with fam, and had a Neighbor Cookfest yesterday. 

I made braised short ribs for the first time, and I highly recommend this recipe.  I didn't let them sit overnight, but I swear they were amazing without the extra step.  I managed to spend an extra thirty minutes in the store, searching for a few of the more obscure ingredients (crème fraîche?) only to find that the recipe didn't even really need them (and that sour cream is a respectable alternative)...  The meat and the gravy it produced was A-Mazing and it has quickly become my new favorite meal.  (Hint: the prep was the bulk of the work, since that took me a good solid ninety minutes, the remaining cooking time of 3 hours was a breeze, aside from the first-time-braisers-maintenance as the juices overflowed onto the oven floor.)  Thanks, Stephanie, for keeping us company and helping with dessert -- we made little apple pie tarts in a cupcake tin that were SO easy and SO good, that if I hadn't made up the idea, I'd think I'd stolen it.  Before we knew it, it was 9pm and we were all in a food coma on the couch, lounging while the Amazing Racers did the opposite of lounging. 

We have our 3rd Tri Ultrasound tomorrow, and I couldn't be happier to see the kitten again.  It's been since early August since we've caught a glimpse of him, and he should be considerably bigger now...  Average size is about 4½ pounds, and about 16" long.  If he's still following their early predictions, he should weigh about thirty pounds.  We'll see tomorrow!

tremors, a clambake, and a pineapple

All day today, Daniel has been rumbling around in my belly, just like the worms in Tremors.  I just hope he doesn't try to pull any jackhammers down the street with his teeth.

This past weekend FLEW by...  we went to Kennedy Cocktail Hour on Friday night, had a quick visit from some out-of-town guests (hello, Shareen!), had our condo's Clambake Saturday, and recovered and went to the movies yesterday.  Why is it that I always feel like I need a weekend to recover from the weekends?  We had a bit of luck with the clambake, since it was supposed to be in the nineties Saturday...  we had some much-needed shade in the spot we chose in the garden.  We have the best neighbors, if I've never mentioned it before.  Great people to have dinner parties with, who feed our cats when we're out of town, and who bring early birthday gifts unannounced (Thanks, Stephanie) and homemade peach pie (Thanks, Greta.) 

Here's a slideshow from the festivities:



In Kittenland, Daniel is now the size of an average pineapple, without the leaves.

Soon to come, what it feels like to be turning 35, and a hundredth post celebration, which probably just means more of the usual!