long weekend

Without having to take a picture of my new resin birds, this is the closest I could find to them. We have a "Kirkland's Home" in the new Target plaza, and while they don't offer many shabby or cottage gift items, they do have some garden decor thats very cottagey. I had been looking for some shabby chic style birds to go with my flower arrangements, and they had a set of three garden resin ones with coupon for 9.99. The shapes are similar to the birds above, but, they are more distressed and look almost like they are mossy. They are lovely! Two of them are sitting on my cocktail table in the living room, and the other is in our nearly finished guest bath. This was my one treat for myself this weekend as we are on a budget.

I am exhausted. I refilled my EMLA numbing cream for my tarpal tunnel syndrome (like carpal tunnels, but in the feet) with a generic, and it spreads very thin and doesn't absorb as well. I wasn't able to get to sleep until 3:30 Friday evening (or rather early Saturday morning!) and while Duane attempted to let me sleep that a.m. and feed the twins himself, Tilly is so happy in the mornings and squeals very loudly and I found myself excited to see them even on only 4 hours of sleep. We were supposed to have company so I had planned on a nap- that didn't work out either. Instead I groomed two of our dogs- the shihtzu and the schnauzer, and bathed one other. Duane bathed his schnauzer that I groomed as he is difficult. Our company then called Sunday and asked if we still wanted them to visit if their two year old had vomited three times the night before. I am such a germaphobe- NO WAY! So, Wayne came over and helped Duane decide what we needed to replace on our central air unit, and he ended up having the nice dinner with us that I had hoped to share with his wife and adorable adopted son. I felt silly having such a fancy dinner for Wayne only, but he said he enjoyed it and complimented all the right things!

Here was the menu:

Caribbean grilled pork tenderloin
Roasted corn with cumin and ground red pepper
Red potato and dill potato salad
Mandarin Cake with Pineapple frosting
Sangria (I have my ob's permission to have one glass a week of pure wine, but we make it into a punch to further weaken it just to be extra safe)

Mandarin Orange Cake

INGREDIENTS

* 1 (18.25 ounce) package butter recipe cake mix
* 4 eggs
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2 (11 ounce) can mandarin orange segments
* 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
* 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
* 1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil and can of mandarin oranges with juice, drain second can of mandarin oranges and add half of that (reserve second half for topping). Beat until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
4. To make the topping: In a large bowl, beat together pineapple with juice, reserved half can of mandarin oranges and dry pudding mix until blended. Stir in whipped topping. Spread on cake. Serve fully chilled.

(There will be topping left for other cakes or fruit desserts)

This cake is perfect for summer. I posted the recipe as I made it- the original calls for less mandarin oranges and a yellow cake mix made in a 9 by 13 pan. The extra oranges give it a much better flavor, and although omitted from the original frosting, make it taste so much more summery! And why anyone would make such a pretty cake in a 9 by 13 pan is beyond me- it looked gorgeous as a bundt with the topping piled up high on the top and sides. Duane and Wayne each had two large slices after dinner.

After Wayne left the twins went down for a nap, and then that evening we went to our friend Sam and Tonyas home and swam in their pool. That was the best part of the entire weekend. The twins love swimming, and being in the water gave me a nice "anti-gravity" feeling as far as my expanding abdomen. I am carrying about 4 pounds of babies now at 26 weeks 4 days, and approaching the third trimester. In the evenings I feel so awful after dinner from the lack of room for my stomach and uterus in my abdomen to co-exisit, and my pelvis feels like its going to drop right to the floor! Duane has been helping me into bed in the evening, but the mornings aren't hard. Laying on my left side all night takes all the pressure off my cervix and pelvis and then I am back to being able to carry the big twins around during the day. In the evenings now Duane is carrying them for me. We may buy booster seats for their play pin so I can start feeding them in their playpin during the day instead of lifting them in and out. They sure are good little babies... thats why its so important when Duane is home to do lots of extra activities with them, as I am becoming more and more restricted by my abdomen in what I can safely do during the day.

Well, its time for the twinkies to have breakfast, then we are ALL laying down for an a.m. nap!