wanna see my bowling ball?

i just realized i never introduced you to my goop, at least via my belly. so, today is your lucky day. as you can see....the child is large. im only 25 weeks...and look at that belly! gah. i am convinced he will come out 6 foot 11. my sister kept saying that while she was shopping for him, she skipped over newborn sizes because she's positive he'll be born way too big for them. funny, how she thought so already seeing as i haven't seen my sister since july & she hasn't seen the belly. oh, right....did i ever mention...i don't live in my hometown? yeah. long story short (i'll make it longer some other day...) i moved to charlotte, nc with husband over 4 years ago and happily ever after. we're both from buffalo, ny - aaand, we will be again in a few years.

here's the fully-clothed belly. everyone tells me it looks like i'm literally carrying a bowling ball under my shirt. sweet. thanks guys.

last night hubs and i rocked dinner. he finished up work right when i got home, and came downstairs to get the grill fired up. it was a sick 80-some degrees (we're so ready for full-blown fall it's not even funny), so we figured we'd do the grill thing. when he opened the door to the deck, however - a hilarious 20 minute battle with the spider from hell ensued. i love husband, and despite what i'm going to say he is plenty macho. he is terrified of spiders. as am i - to the point where i can't even get close enough to kill them, so in his defense...he at least has the courage to murder the bastards. this thing was unnaturally enormous, and exceptionally disgusting. he armed himself with a can of raid and a broom....and switched between spraying at it, swatting it, and squirting it with water. by the time he finished attacking this thing (to the point he felt safe being anywhere on the deck in order to grill), i had already made the applesauce for the next night's (now tonight's) dinner. i don't know why i've never made my own applesauce before. it was seriously easy, and seriously DELISH!

my bff, the queen of homemade baby food told me how to make it. her daughter loves it (and since husband's taste buds resemble those of a 5 year old) i knew he'd love it too. i wanted to make it last night so it had plenty of time to chill for tonight's dinner. and, to free up some time considering i've never made homemade mac & cheese before and im going to venture into that world tonight.

pregnancy suck of the day: last night, i peed right before bed (hot right). and as much as i searched my brain, i couldn't recall drinking much in the evening. yet, around 3am i had to pee SO BAD my entire body hurt (i have this weird pregnancy thing, that instead of getting the urge to pee like normal, i just get pain. lovelyyy). my whole belly was cramped, yet i was fighting with myself since my alarm was due to go off in not long anyway. i finally got up and went, the pain decreased - but never went away completely. it STILL hurts! and i'm afraid it might have shifted my tumor (yeah, another story for another day...) because it hurts the most right where the tumor is. im walking like an old lady with a brand new hip replacement.

ps - bloom is doing triples this weekend! what the heck, grocery stores! are you trying to kill me!! i'm going to plan on skipping that one...unless, i don't make out as well as i plan to at lowe's this week. they'll be my weekend back up plan.

monday menu garbage

i keep seeing those menu planning monday banners all over the place. i cannot plan every single meal & snack husband and i will eat, because i'm way too lazy to think that far ahead. but, this whole grocery shopping pimpness that has become my hobby lately is saving us money. and planning dinners ahead of time will do the same, seeing as it cuts down on those pesky $20 trips.

this week i was able to make my menu post-shopping (well, shopping round 1, because triples is still to come) with things i have on hand. before this new style of shopping? i never had things "on hand". i always thought rachel ray and her "ya know, whatever kind i have on hand" comments were bull. but it's incredible, the things you stock up on when you get them for nearly-free.

yesterday, i got my first free item. granted...it was sort of "cheating", because it wasn't that i mixed a sale & a coupon....it was that i had a coupon that literally said "free". i decided to go ahead and get it now, because i figured with triples coming it would be cleared out of there. it was...a bottle of french's worcestershire sauce (did i spell that right?). there are so many recipes that call for a dash of that stuff, and i've always just skipped it because i never thought to buy it.

i have yet to enter the world of overages. and i hear lowe's doesn't honor them during triples. so, possibly during the november HT triples.

oh, oh! another deal. have you heard of those febreze candles? they were on the shelf at lowe's originally priced around $7.50 if i remember correctly, and it was closeout priced at $5.00. i had a $.75 coupon (that doubled, taking it to $1.50 off)...so i got it for $3.50 - not bad. i thought about waiting until wednesday or friday, because the coupon would triple instead and then cost me $2.75 - but i figured there will be a lot of couponing ladies in the area that hung onto that coupon & would scoop up the closeout priced candles. soo, i took a chance. if i could find that coupon again, though...i'd get another. i got the apple spicey whatever it's called candle, and we lit it last night - it smelled like an apple pie was baking. sooo yummy!

oh, right, the menu...

monday: steak, baked potato, green beans
tuesday: pork chops, homemade mac & cheese, broccoli, homemade applesauce
wednesday: ham steaks, mashed potatoes, corn
thursday: spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread
friday: pierogies, fries, corn (subject to change based on triples trips)

i'm not thrilled about the steak tonight, because you know...me and beef = enemies. but, it was freaking $3.50 for a huge one at the store yesterday (and i eat such a small portion, that i just hack a chunk off and it still sufficiently fills husband's belly). plus...ya know, the whole iron thing. boo.