Birthday

Yay! It's my 3rd birthday!!!

First off, we went to an indoor inflatable play area, where mommy and I had a lot of fun.

And so did Ahna and I. Well, Ahna felt a little sick afterward, but I was fine!

No birthday would be complete without a timeout. See my poochie lip? That's my specialty.

Uncle and I went down a few slides together too, but he was tired. Me, I was just tired of having my picture made.

I went down by myself too!

When my friends arrived, we all went down the slide together with our mommies.

Later that day, we all went back to my house and played outside in the cold. We played basketball and soccer.

And we dug around in the yard. I even found a really long root that went to a tree outside the fence!

NaNa was ready to go inside.

Mommy bought me a vegan cake, so everybody at my party could enjoy it.

I don't like the singing--it hurts my ears.

We got to eat cake and watch a movie!

And then it was time for PRESENTS!

My friend's mommy made me a chef's hat. I love to pretend to cook, and sometimes get to help the grownups when they really cook.

My NaNa, Ahna, Uncle, and RaRa gave me a special book where they took turns reading the pages to me and recorded it.

I got some wooden fruit, cupcake play set, cars, Handy Manny, giant sunglasses and straw hat, kite, and lots of other cool gifts. Mommy and Daddy gave me a train table, too!

I was so glad my friends got to come and play with me on my birthday. One of my friends was sick and couldn't come though.

This is what my bedroom looked like after we all played together in it. My Ahna says it looks like I had a really, really good birthday!

A few meals we had while on vacation

When we were visiting J for his birthday, we had a few occasions to eat out or try new things:




The Berliner from Sluggo's, with salad and mashed potatoes



Pecan-encrusted seitan with salad and collards

I can't remember! This is what my mom had, and I think it was the Italian sub with salad and mashed potatoes.

While we were visiting at my sister's home, we had the chance to try one of the new Tofurky pizzas. We could only get the cheese variety. It was pretty good, but nothing extra-special. Hopefully we can try the other varieties eventually.

On our way back home, we stopped in Atlanta to visit a friend, and we went out to dinner at Soul Vegetarian. Mr. GV got to have some onion rings for the first time in forever. They typically are not vegan.

Here you see the country fried steak, sweet potatoes, and macaroni and cheese--all vegan and all delicious!

Barbecued kalebone, collards, sweet potatoes, and cornbread.

One of these days we will be around for their weekend brunch. We would *love* to try it.

When we came back home, we brought J with us for 2 weeks. We stopped for lunch at The Wild Cow. It was PACKED! There is a whole saga about how long we waited, then the 4 of us scrunched around a 2 person table, then jumped when the first larger table came open--even before they had the dirty dishes cleaned off. The staff was working hard, but with such a crowd it took a while to get our food. J was sooo happy when his cheesy bread (which he promptly made into a grilled cheese sandwich) arrived. We requested some apple slices and got that soon after.

The adults had our usual dishes and dessert, and I was a bit too harried to get a picture of any of those.

Because I don't ever want to forget this story

You see this tree? It's a wall decoration in J's bedroom. And I just heard the best story ever involving this tree!


J decided one day last year (when he was 2) that he needed to water this tree. And the window happened to be up, the window that leads from the backyard. Oh and also the hose was turned on.

Yep, you guessed it! J took that hose and squirted water through the window, trying to water his tree. From the sound of it, the tree (and the rest of the room) got quite a good soaking before his parents caught him!

J told me this story when he was staying with me in February. We were talking about hide and seek, which led to him telling me the story of one time when he got in trouble when he was hiding, which led to him telling me (unprompted) about getting in trouble for watering his tree.

Well, at least he had good intentions!

Lil' bit of shopping

I am currently out of town with Mr. GV, who is attending a continuing education conference. My cold is mostly gone, just the lovely lingering symptoms you have for a couple weeks. Thankfully my pain is much better too. I have a test next week to see what's at the root of the pain.

Unfortunately Mr. GV caught my cold. What a switch! We don't get sick very often, but when we do usually he brings it home from the hospital and gives it to me.

Yesterday after dropping Mr. GV at his CE I decided to do some shopping. First off was Target. My one good deal there was noticing that the bike rack we had looked at in the past was on clearance, for under $30. I was thrilled to have found that deal. Next I went to Books-A-Million, where I looked around for a long time but only came out with one book, the last in a series I am currently reading.

I stopped in at Bed Bath and Beyond because I had a $5 coupon and I have been looking for a special frame lately. I was so thrilled to find it there!

Then it was on to Old Navy. When I walked in I was handed a $5 coupon that was only good for one more hour. I found 3 shirts that I really liked, and they were on clearance. Of course it's not a good idea to buy "just because" you have a coupon, and I know that. But I am very low on shirts that are not T-shirts, so I decided to go for it.

After that I picked up a couple veggie subs for Mr. GV and I, and it was back to the CE center I went. We had a nice little lunch in a gazebo on the grounds. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the center, waiting for Mr. GV to finish, as I was all shopped out and had brought along my hometown newspapers and a good book to read.

Today is very similar, only I have spent the day here in the center. This afternoon we will go to a pet store for dog and cat food and the grocery for a quick pick up of a few things we can't get at home.

I think the photo below pretty much sums up why I haven't been posting. These items are my best friends right now. Yes, I've got a pretty good cold that is making me feel kind of rotten. To make matters worse, I'm pretty sure I've got an ovarian cyst that is acting up at the same time, so that is causing lots of pressure and pain that brings me to my knees. No, I'm not an M.D. but my symptoms are textbook, and last fall a cyst was noted on an ultrasound, so I'm just going with it. Hopefully that will resolve itself in a few days.

Needless to say, I don't feel like looking through pictures for blog posts, and there are no meals being cooked around here right now. It's just me, 2 pups, and a kitty, all lying as still as we can. And I don't think that makes for very interesting blog posts, you know?

I'm sure I'll be up and ready to post lots of pictures in a few days. See you then!

Nanner Puddin'

One of the things Mr. GV used to love before we went vegan was his mother's banana pudding. His mom now insists that she can't cook for us since we changed our eating habits, so I decided to pick up where she left off.



I found an easy recipe at this link: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/05/southern-style-banana-pudding.html.

The finished pudding--so delicious, and only around for a couple of days! No baking needed, since there's no meringue on top. And frankly we don't miss that part at all.