uncle paul's pickles.

and so i bring to you, the recipe portion of this blog! sorry if pickles aren't your thing but they definitely are mine.  and uncle paul sure knows how to pickle a cucumber.  i got this recipe from my mom, who got it from her brother paul. i assume he made it up considering they are called uncle paul's pickles.  or you can call them kristen's pickles if you want :) ok i'm done. enjoy!

Before you start, you will need the following things:

-White vinegar

-Non-iodized salt

-Alum (found in the spice aisle in grocery store usually in a small container, it took me 3 stores to find but kroger sells it!)

-Sugar

-Grape leaves (i got mine at whole foods)  They come in a jar.  Or, if you know anyone with vines, you can always go steal some!

-Fresh dill 

-Fresh garlic

-Large container or jar to stand the pickles up in, in layers.  If you have a left-over large jar from Costco from previous pickles, that would work well.

-Small pickling cucumbers washed clean

Brine

-1 ½ cup water

-½ cup white vinegar

-2 T non-iodized salt

-1 T sugar

Depending on the size of your container and how many pickles you will be doing, you will need to adjust the above recipe for the brine.  When I made mine, I had to quadruple the above ingredients.

Mix above ingredients together in saucepan and heat over med to med-high heat to dissolve salt and sugar, but it does not need to boil.  Let cool a little.

In the bottom of your jar or container, layer grape leaves, fresh dill and garlic cloves (skins removed). Over the first layer, add layer of cucumbers standing up until they can all support each other.  Now sprinkle about 1 tsp. of alum over all that first layer.  Continue layering everything until you fill the jar, ending with grape leaves, garlic and more alum.  

 

When brine is cooled a bit but can still be on the warm (not cold) side, pour over everything in jar.  You may need to make more if you cannot fill jar with brine.  Put plastic wrap over the top and then put lid on loosely.  (Not sure why about this, but that’s what the recipe says)  Set out at room temp for one day.  Tighten jar lid and refrigerate for at the very least 2 weeks before eating.  Better to wait a month.  The longer it sits, the better it flavors.  

 

fish hooks and a dumb dog.

ok friends, i promised crafts, recipes and baby bump.  let's just agree to start off slow here, because to be honest, i haven't done many crafty things in the last week.  we went camping over the weekend and now i have to cater to my "special" hurting puppy. 

we decided last minute to go camping last weekend, so we packed up and headed to camp mckinney at lake allatoona. we got there saturday afternoon and decided to stay til monday afternoon.  well for those of you who don't know, nature is kona's happy place. there's nowhere she would rather be than running through wooded areas, chasing squirrels and swimming in the lake. 
the first night we got the VERY last campsite and were amongst tons of people, so kona had to stay on her anchor leash.  the next night, since basically everyone left we got a lake-front site that was very private and big.  we let her roam free (in our sight of course). 

kona's heaven.

well monday morning we got up early and jon headed down to the lake to fish.  his phone was in the tent and i tried to sleep some more but realized that wasn't gonna happen.  i noticed jon had 2 missed calls from work and since it was a workday, i figured i'd let him know.  i decided to head down to go fish with him for a bit.  he set down the poles and took the phone call while i set up kona's anchor leash.  i turned around because i heard the poles moving and i see kona attached to one.  she has the line in her mouth and is frantically trying to get away from it.  i freak out and try to help her but she is so panicked that she breaks the line.  the bait on the end was catfish bait. it's about the size of a quarter, very stinky and clearly kona wanted to eat it.  what she didn't know was that a hook was inside the bait, which was attached to the line.  turns out when she snapped the line she swallowed the whole bait. eff. 

fishing. seems innocent right?

i start freaking out (typical) crying and in a panic knew we needed to take her to the hospital.  jon agrees and we jump in the truck and google the nearest animal hospital.  it takes us about 20 minutes to get there and kona seems pretty fine and normal the whole way there.  they did and x-ray and sure enough, there was the hook, lodged in her esophagus.  it didn't make it all the way to her stomach and was now located behind her heart. not good.  they send us to a different hospital that is able to perform an endoscopy. 

we get there and the surgeon gives us the death speech, about how anesthesia is basically controlled death, and how they aren't confident they will be able to remove the hook.  their goal was to use a camera with little pinchers on the end, put it down her throat, grab the hook, turn it, and pull it back out through the throat.  if they weren't able to do that, they were gonna try to push it into her stomach, turn it and pull it out through her throat.  if THAT didn't work, then we would need to "discuss our options".  another thing i don't wanna hear.  then they may have to cut her stomach open and basically that would cost us thousands of dollars.  again, i'm a wreck.  luckily, they called us about 30 minutes after we left and said they were able to remove the hook. THANK GOD! $1000 later...

the culprit.

we couldn't pick her up until 4 o'clock since she was still knocked out from the anesthesia.  apparently she doesn't react well to it, and when she wakes up she snaps into a panic and is really "odd".  it's been an interesting night and day with a sad, hurting puppy.  her throat has been traumatized so getting her to eat is quite a task.  we have 3 meds we have to give her for the next 10 days and she just walks around the house crying.  it breaks my heart and i hope she feels better soon.  and i also wish she wasn't such a dumb head.  but, truth is that we love this dumb head way too much and would pay thousands of dollars to save her life.  love you kone-head!

drugged dog. oh kona.

this blog is taking a turn. bring on the crafts and food!

i realized, why JUST talk about babies and pregnancy?  as most of you know, i keep my food album on facebook up to date with my most recent meals.  i'm just gonna start a weekly food entry.  instead of posting on fbook i'll just do it here now and along with the pictures, i will include the recipe, source, and additional comments.  so check back in about a week for what was on the menu this week! :)

love.

dollars, trucks and breathing.

this post consists of less baby stuff, more daily life stuff.

first off, only 10 more days until the big gender reveal!  i think i'm starting to second guess myself as the time gets closer.  i don't necessarily feel that i'm doubting my gut, but as it gets closer and closer i realize it could be either! it is a 50/50 chance of course.  krissy d texted me today and told me she's changing her mind to team blue.  also, a friend told me that your leg hair grows longer if you are having a boy. could be a load of crap but my leg hair is definitely growing at a rapid speed these days.  well all this hype (that only i'm creating of course) leads me to the breathing part of this post.  for the last week or two, i've had a hard time breathing.  i can't catch a deep breath of air.  this mostly was happening in the evening but now it's pretty much all day everyday.  also, my heart sometimes feels like its beating out of my chest.  i've experienced this feeling now and again growing up, but never got it checked out or worried too much about it.  it is usually brought on by stress or anxiety.  anyway, i called my doctor yesterday after having a slight emotional breakdown (from the stress of not breathing well) and she wants me to go see a cardiologist next week to make sure my heart is ok. um, scary! she also said that pregnancy is basically a 9 month stress test on your heart. this does NOT help the stress and anxiety factor!  i hope that this is all nothing.  i didn't even realize i was stressed or anxious (i mean come on, i'm a stay at home wife who cooks meals and cleans the house and does crafts.....what's there to be worried about?).  long drawn out story short, i see a cardiologist next wednesday, two days before our anatomy scan ultrasound.  lot's to learn next week!

this weekend amongst all the college and nfl football, we realized we haven't been to church in a while.  i felt called to go sunday so, we went.  the name of the message was "the road to recovery" and it was all about finances.  andy stanley's message was similar to dave ramsey's on this topic.  basically saying, why pay interest when you can make interest?  and how we shouldn't be in debt (car loans, credit cards, etc.).  this is something jon and i talked about doing a few months back but never sat down and started the process.  well, we walk out of the service and jon says to me, "did anything stick out to you the whole time he was talking?" and i said, "yes, the truck. i think our first priority needs to be paying it off. what about you?".  he said, "it was also the truck.  i think we need to sell it".  i was shocked.  that truck is his baby! his truckbaby. not his furbaby or his wombbaby but its very close to his heart nonetheless.  he went on to say that its the mature, responsible thing to do for our family, our finances and our future.  can i just say how proud i am of my husband? he is such a selfless man who always puts others first and i just appreciate and love him so much.  so our hope is to sell the truck, pay off the loan, and make a good chunk to put directly toward our jeep payment.  then it should only take a few more months to pay the jeep off completely and bam! no more debt.  we are even taking it one step further and getting rid of our credit cards and doing the envelope system.  every dollar of our income is accounted for at the beginning of the month and put it in its envelope (ex: gym membership for next year, vacation fund, baby fund, gas money, groceries, etc.).  the same amount goes in each category every month (ex: gas envelope will get $150 a month) with this, you don't spend money before you have it.  you take from your envelope and if you don't have enough, you don't buy that particular thing until you have the money.  on the flip side, you may end up with extra cash in a particular category at the end of the month but it will just carry into the next month (ex: gas gets $150 each month but we only used $120, therefore the extra $30 stays which means there is now $180 in there).  we averaged our expenses in each category from the last 3 months and figured out what amount each category/envelope will get.  it will take a few months to work out the kinks but i feel so great about this change.  we have been bad about spending money before we have it and then find ourselves somewhat scrambling and scrounging at the end of the month.  this will stop that problem.

bye bye truckbaby :(

i'm aware this post is very boring but i'm excited about the money changes we are making.  we have always been very responsible with our money and have never been in "debt" (aka credit card balance) for over a month but this will be awesome.  if this at all intrigues you and you find yourself possibly wanting to do this yourself, feel free to ask me about it. 

OH! one more thing.  all i've been hearing about lately is pinterest.com.  naturally, i checked it out and oh my am i in love!  watch out, this blog is about to turn into a baby, craft and recipe blog.  i'm getting so many ideas from that website and its getting my creative juices flowing!

and now for my belly picture.

my belly button is already popping out, dangit!

could it be?

17 days til the big gender reveal! i'm antsy, clearly.

so i had my 16 week check-up yesterday which was boring and took all of about 3 minutes (this of course does not include the 30 minutes i sat in the waiting room).  my doctor checked my pee, blood pressure and all that good stuff.  she also told me that i should set my alarm for 2am and eat a snack to help with morning sickness. eff that.  so she went to listen to the baby's heartbeat and at first we heard nothing. nothing is not what you wanna hear.  then a few seconds later there it was...the perfect little train-like noise.  she said the heart rate was in the 150's. 

so of course i go home and input the newest data into www.babybpm.com.  i've done this since the first ultrasound at 7 weeks.  basically you input the date, how many weeks along you are, and the heart rate.  they then predict the gender.  well, every time (so about 4 or 5 times) it has told me that we are having a girl.  which of course i just think, obviously...i've been saying that all along.

WELL, yesterday was a different story.  it was the first time it gave me a boy result. maybe we really are gonna have a boy! that would be awesome. but so would a girl.  shoot i can't decide! maybe i just want both, haha. 

on a fall note, i painted a mini pumpkin yesterday and made my first apple pie. good things are happening :) next up is homemade apple cider and caramel apple cupcakes.  how do i not have diabetes?

fall is coming!

i sit here on the couch, covered in a blanket and drinking a cup of tea.  my scentsy is on and is filling the house up with "sentimental cider" and the candles are lit.  it is about 65 degrees outside and i am acting as though its in the 30's.  hey, give me a break.  when it stays between 90-100+ (not to mention the insane humidity) for 3 months straight, 65 degrees is a blizzard and a much welcome change.  jon has been laughing at me because i of course made him pull out all of the fall/halloween decorations and proceeded to put up everything fall-like.  he pointed out that its barely september and the weather is going to be in the 80's in just a few days.  but the smarter part of him decided to let me just enjoy this time and go with it.  :)

i wish i could say that the morning sickness is long gone and i use my crazy amounts of energy to workout everyday.  not even close.  this morning i puked.  the morning sickness is nowhere near gone.  luckily though, its gone by the afternoon and doesn't return again until the next morning.  i have to eat absurd amounts in bed, then move around at a turtles pace and even then it sticks around for a good 3ish hours.  gags galore!

i'm not as deathly tired as the first trimester but i wouldn't say my energy level is up either. 

i've begun to experience the joy of sciatic nerve pain.  its when i stand up/sit down/or any random time really where it feels a shooting nerve pain goes from my hip to my upper leg on the left side. fun!  headaches are still happening but not as regularly which is good.  and that's it for complaining!

i am 16 weeks today and the baby is compared to an avocado.  he/she measures 4 1/2 inches long (from head to butt) and 3 1/2 ounces in weight.  apparently he/she is in the midst of a growth spurt.  these numbers are supposed to double over the next few weeks.  which explains why i swear my belly is growing everyday!  its pretty exciting having a bump there.  i'll know i really look pregnant when i get a stranger to comment on it.  still waiting for that to happen, it will be VERY exciting!!

i spent labor day weekend in bolivar, mo visiting one of my very best friends suzie.  it was so great to see her and spend time with her like the old days.  we did our usual: watched about 3 seasons worth of friends and ate junk.  i miss her :(

the 100+ degree weather there on friday to 70 degrees the next day was.....weird.  i think it has resulted in a head cold for me but was well worth it. 

we find out the gender in 3 weeks from tomorrow and i am very very anxious!!!  fall is going to be amazing.  and then the holidays.  life is good :)

15 weeks. blurry, woops.

16 weeks and bumpy! :)