33 Weeks...and Counting!

Well, how about a little update!    With the instant gratification of Instagram (pardon the pun), I haven't had the will to sit down and write a blog post.  But let's get one in before I pop out a little Cesarz baby!!

After many years of infertility nonsense...we got knocked up!  The old fashioned way!!  *wink wink*

A beautiful surprise, which came exactly one week after my sister called and told me she was pregnant (with twins!!).  The Bielski girls were more than doubling our little offspring lot before Thanksgiving, and all were overjoyed.

I've traveled with this little pumpkin all over the great mitten state this summer, and swam in the icy waters of Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior.  I've neglected my gardens and read countless novels on the porch with iced tea in hand.  It's been a beautiful pregnancy, and hard to believe we're in the final stretch.

Not much to complain of...some normal swelling, and the telltale puffy lips of my pregnancies.  Heartburn, lots of peeing, and I'm really craving a cocktail.  It's a mover and a shaker, and may have a pitchfork in there.  When it's not being a little alien and stabbing my with pointy things, it has the hiccups.  So many years went by thinking that I would never feel these sweet things again...so I am beyond grateful for every last little sign that there is a strong and healthy person in my belly!  Now on to gratuitous belly photos.

OMG...remember when I had a waist line?

Long watermelon belly...just like with Coco!

My last trip to Cincinnati to visit with my sister before....

...These two showed up!!!   Meet my little Nephew and Niece,

Jude Henry and Leona Eve!!  

My sister did good ;).

Stay tuned for the big arrival, some time around mid November!

Granola Bars. Do It.

Last night we happened upon Food Inc., a terrifying documentary on the modern food industry.

It scared the shit out of me.

I would probably never sleep at night again for fear of Monsanto eating my young, except I have faith.  I have faith in the small local farmer.  I have faith in my friends and neighbors, and their one or two acres of fresh food.  I get excited by the twenty and thirty somethings sharing canning recipes on Instagram.  We're going to be ok...we have to be ok.  But we NEED to learn where our food comes from, and how to feed ourselves folks.

Having said that, I have a short list of foods that I buy from the store each week.   I'm not perfect.  I buy crates of Little Cuties from Florida, and I'm not delusional in thinking that my cupboard is GMO free.  Fucking Reece's Peanut Butter Cups are labeled as GMO for Christ's sake.   But I try.  I really do.

One thing I buy each week are granola bars.  I hate buying them, but I love throwing them in for lunch and snacks.  Even the healthy organic ones have high fructose corn syrup and crap in them.  SO I MADE THEM.  And they are awesome.   And you will love them.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup almond (or peanut) butter

a good squeeze of LOCAL maple syrup

1 1/2 cups of quick oats

(aside from the oats, the rest of the choices are yours!  fill em' with your faves!)

I used...

1/2 cup coconut

handful of flax seeds

handful of sesame seeds

nuts, cranberries, raisins, etc. etc.

Toast anything toastable on a baking sheet at 350' for 15 min. (oats, seeds, coconut)

In a small saucepan, combine your wets (honey, almond butter, syrup)

Combine the toasted goodies, the wet mixture, and all of the extras (nuts and berries) in a big bowl, and mix it up.

Press it into a baking pan lined with foil for easy removal.  Throw it in the fridge (I keep it in there), and once it hardens DIG IN!!!

xoxo, e.

p.s...Coco loooves them.

My Lil' Gal from Tennessee.

(the pictures I looked at above her as I sang to her each week)

Edwina was my favorite patient.  Ever. And she deserves a little remembrance from me.

She has been on my hospice service for years - always declining just enough to meet hospice criteria, but never too much that she was anything but pleasant.  A tough little gal from Tennessee.

They married later in life, but in their ripe old age managed to put 54 years together under their belts.  She was 98, he is 87.  He took care of her.  Every Day.  Every Night.  He got her meals, helped her to the bathroom, hunted, fished, and gardened for their fresh local food.  I would spend half of my time singing to her, and half of my time shooting the shit with him on the back porch.  I would drag Joe and Coco along too, because they didn't have any family and it was the right thing to do.

He kept the house piping hot with the wood stove blaring...wood he chopped.  She was so tiny and always cold, so while I would be stripping down layers, and trying not to be lulled to sleep by the warmth, she would ask for her babushka and have me tie it tight to keep her head warm.

I never left empty handed.  Veggies, venison sausage, a bag of fresh fillets from that morning's catch - it's not customary to accept gifts from patients, but this was different.

He has nicknames for all of us.  I am "that gee-tar (guitar) lady," the chaplain is "that bald headed preacher man,"  and the social worker is "the one with the big boobs."

When he saw me walk into the funeral this morning, he yelled out "Where's Joe!?"  "He's right in the back" I said.  Joe made his way up and sat with him, holding his hand as they talked.  He said "My pot plant that the Mexican gave me is almost ready...you come over and we'll have us a party"...he said this loudly enough that everyone heard, and everyone was laughing (except maybe the funeral directors.)  But we all knew and loved these two people so well that this made everyone feel at ease somehow.

Edd cried when I sang "In the Sweet Bye and Bye."  That made Joe cry.  Joe is not comfortable at funerals, experiencing big loss early in life.  But I grew up Polish and Catholic - funerals are our thing.  I went to so many funerals growing up, I am comfortable here.  Death is that thing that I am good at, because somebody has to be - right?

She died in her chair, with her teeth in (her teeth that she lost every day).  He was feeding her pumpkin pie as she passed.  We should all be so lucky and so blessed to exit this world in such a way.  Loved.  Cared for.  And Fondly, sweetly remembered always.

xoxo...love love love.