Saturday, October 20, 2007

To be a Criminal, To Birth a Child, and the coveted RUSSIAN TEA RECIPE!

Okay, first of all, here are the measurements for the Russian Tea mix:

2 cups Tang
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Instant Tea (although I think this could be upped to 3/4 cup or more)
1 pkg Dry Lemonade
1 tsp Cinnamon (also could be upped)
1/2 tsp Cloves (also could be upped)

When I make it by the mug I put about equal amounts of tang and tea, use lemon juice instead of dry lemonade (or leave it out altogether) and give the cinnamon and cloves a good shake until I think it smells just right. But when I kept the container of mix, these were the amounts I used!

Yesterday I DID end up going back to the grocery store to buy Tang, and sugar which I had run out of and needed to make the dumpling sauce, and I bought a Dr. Pepper too... and boy was I glad I went! I ended up having a little bit of excitement!

So I was checking out normally and the cashier lady was acting REALLY strange... moving really slowly, giving me weird looks, and then looking past me very obviously, staring at someone else, like she was trying to get someone's attention or like someone was doing something weird behind me or something. I thought there was something mentally wrong with her. So when she finally finished (she didn't bag up my groceries right away--instead, she messed with her change drawer for awhile) ringing me up and bagging up my things, I left, only slightly irritated that a 3 item transaction could take that long. I went to my car and was messing with my Dr. Pepper and had the heat on high and the radio up loud and there was suddenly a knock at my window. When I looked up I saw a police officer standing there! After being flustered and not being able to turn off the radio, I opened the door and he said that I matched the description of someone they were looking for and could he please see my ID? He was very nice and friendly and after he looked at my license he just said, "Nope, you're not her! Sorry to bother you" and went on his way. Haha!

I am proud to say that the apple dumplings were a real hit last night at dinner! It was really fun to see Pat and Joe again; they tell some of the most hilarious stories. AnnLaura and Aurelio was there too, which was fun. But everyone loved the dumplings and the sauce and I was sooooo glad they did because you never know how first attempts are going to turn out. The best part was the pot I kept the sauce in--it was the small lidded crock I got at the Feast that has little blue fish all over it! I looooooove it. And right now I'm drinking some really funky tea out of the mug that was from the same potter. Maybe I will post pictures of them tomorrow or Monday--when I post the picture of the NEW BABY SLING that AnnLaura gave me last night, which I am modeling with Theodore as the very patient rider. It's a fabulous sling, I really love it. It's soooooooooooo pretty. She is so nice to me.

Before we went to the cottage I went to Goodwill to get John Mooney a cheap windbreaker because he'd lost his somehow and needed one for the game today (the IU-Penn State game, which is the whole reason Pat and Joe are here.) While I was there I found a cute blue baby sweater that is blue enough to be good for a boy and just ruffly enough to be good for a girl. It's cute. And only $2!

Today was our childbirth class. It was pretty fun, really. The best part was that we learned the procedures for our hospital which makes a big difference, really... you can read all you want in the childbirth books, but if your hospital doesn't allow something, then what good has it done you? So I now know that it will be a-ok for me to listen to Kate Rusby while I'm in labor. Which is very important to me. I also found out that there are hardly ever babies in the nursery because they so encourage babies to room-in with you. The only really unfortunate thing I found out was that Christopher and Gracie won't be able to visit me because they are not my children. That makes me a little bit sad--but knowing that people only usually stay in the hospital for a day or two makes it better... they can come over and meet the dinosaur at our house!

Tonight I play at the Delphi Public Library for their Coffee Beat thing. It's Kim, me, Ian and George tonight and our band name for the night is "Hoot and Annie." We never practiced so we'll see how it goes.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Annie that is SO funny, I put Pia in my newborn sling to show Angelica how it worked and I remembered putting her in there once before when it arrivied in the mail when I was pregnant with Zita. We have very patient cats.

Anonymous said...

Also don't let hospital rules intitimdate you. Remember, its not like they can kick you out. If you break one rule make sure it is the "no eating in labor rule." You need your energy. Just have Martin slip you some candy barsor something on the sly.

I hope I am not scandalizing you. :)

Anne said...

Oh I can't wait to see the sling! I've become a bit obsessed with slings, which is pretty funny because I don't often need to use them, but I tend to want one of each anyway!!

And thanks for the recipe!

Annie Hatke Schap said...

The RN giving the class warned us that they won't give you anything but liquids once you're at the hospital and she admitted that it's a pretty stupid rule. She said it's just in case you need to have surgery, but OBVIOUSLY it's pretty dumb that they ask you to do the hardest physical work of your whole life without giving you anything to eat.

And about the slings, Anne: AnnLaura is very obsessed with slings too and she DOES have about one of every kind!! All different colors and fabrics and styles... and we agreed that once you become hooked on using them, they really should be treated as more of a fashion accessory for you than just a boring baby carrier. :)

Anonymous said...

are milkshakes considered liquid?

Hey, the airports consider peanut butter a liquid, so you should be able to eat that, too... : )

LauraSuz said...

Dumpling sauce?! Now, I want the recipe for that!