NESTING: LESS RECEIPTS CLUTTER

People said that with pregnancy, your motherly nature will start to kick in and that you will start "nesting."  Basically it's like a momma bird who prepares the nest for the baby bird.  I too have been in the nesting mode these past few weeks.  I have been trying to tie up loose ends of old projects and organize the home to be more efficient as our responsibility increases with the coming of the baby.


One of the things that I have been neglecting since we moved to the house is clearing up the receipts clutter and entering them into our expense reports.  Since we moved in, all receipts went into a drawer like this.

Four months into settling in, I just never got around to that.  The receipts kept building up.  The expense report was four months behind.  Every time I opened the drawer to sort the receipts, I was turned off by how messy they were.  


Lately, however, I have had this urge to organize and get a method down for our receipts clutter management and expense report update.  So I pulled out ALL the receipts from the drawer, face the reality, and get going with the project.  And here they were once pulled out from the drawer.

Then I got myself a $3.00 folder from Office Max and put the months as the label.

I unfolded and organized the receipts by months.  Then I started entering them into our expense report (that goes by month too) while keeping them in the folder still till our next tax cycle.

Now, the drawer looks VERY clean.  And when we have receipts to enter, they will go to the appropriate month in this folder.  The more organized we can be from the start, the easier it is for me to keep our expense report updated.  So far, this method works for our family.  I think I will go either weekly or bi-weekly with the expense report update this way.  No more four months behind for us.

Hope your house is not as cluttered with receipts like ours.

SO, IS IT A MANNY OR PIDDY?

It's a ..... 




Yaaayyyyyy!  Praise the Lord!!!!  Thank you, Lord!!!!

FIRST GIFT

His first gift is a cuddly blanket from Google.  Mucho gracias, Google.

MARCEL, "MISSING MAXIE"

When Marcel's Maxie Tank is getting empty, this is what happens.





At first he didn't realize that I was taping him.  After he found out, he then started to get really nervous ("grogi") and later acting "sleepy" at the end.


May this turn your frown upside down!

MOTIVATION

There was a fellow who was an over-the-hill linebacker, several years out of college and far, far over his playing weight.  He had tried every diet, every program, with no success.  One day a good friend approached him and said, "I can help you lose weight.  I've got a diet that's never failed."  So his buddy gave him these instructions: "Take this letter, jog over to this address tomorrow morning, and ring the bell.  When the door opens, read this letter.  You'll know what to do."

It sounded strange but he agreed to give it a try.  The next day he got dressed, jogged over to the address he was given, and rang the bell.  He was surprised to see a beautiful woman in jogging clothes answer the door.  He ripped opened the letter and read, "You can have her if you can catch her."

She took off, and he ran after her.  But he was in no shape to keep her pace.  So he began to eat right and train, and each day he would get a little closer to her in the chase.  Finally, he was within an arm's length of the woman.  He knew tomorrow would be the day.

The next morning, he arrived at her door, rang the bell, and the door opened to a girl who weighed almost 400 pounds.  She was holding a letter that read, "If you catch him, you can have him."  And he took off without looking back.

Motivation ... motivation.  It's that important huh?  What compels you and I to obey the Lord?  Let's pray that the answer to be the GRACE.  His grace should motivate us to live a God-honoring life.  His grace should inspire us to grace-living.

"What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" -- Romans 6:1-2

May this be a blessing!

CRAVING: DODOL GORENG

Several days ago, Ci Kiki blogged about her grandma.  It then reminded me of my grandma.  She passed away a long time ago when I was only 13.  While Ci Kiki's grandma left a God-fearing legacy behind her, my grandma left a memory of childhood food and snack for me. :-)


Growing up, she was the cook at home.  She always prepared hokciah meals for our family and made VARIETY of snacks for the grand kids.  With this pregnancy craving kicking in every now and then, I was then reminded of Ama's Dodol Goreng (fried sweet rice cake).


She used to make this for our afternoon snack.  Once she had finished cooking the Dodol, she would call me and my cousin to sit with her by the fish pool at the back of our house and enjoy the Dodol with iced sweet tea (with straws).  :-)  Hmm, slurpp.


Well, since we don't have Dodol where I live now, I got myself a pack of Nian Gao (年糕) instead and made this quick recipe for my afternoon snack (minus the iced sweet tea and Ama).  It's not exactly Ama's dodol goreng.  But again, it's good enough to satisfy my craving.


Manny/Piddy, in case you want to try Dodol Goreng in the future, here you go the recipe.  It's quite yummy lhooo!!!!  And it's very easy to make too.  Enjoy!

CRAVING: LAPCHANG RICE

This week, Marcel is craving for Lapchang Rice.  He always refers to it as Chinese Fried Rice.  Although I find that the term "fried rice" could be misleading as the cooking does not involve frying the rice, I just "process" his request of fried rice to the actual dish he wants.


It's really easy to make.  You can find the recipe here.


I put lots of shiitake mushrooms in it because I need the Vitamin D from them during this pregnancy.  And I let Marcel have all the Lapchangs since I don't like them.  Feel free to modify the recipe to your family's liking.  Enjoy!!

FIRST TRIMESTER WITH MANNY/PIDDY

Verse that Comforts Us
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." -- James 1:17


We waited 4 years for this opportunity to come.  God definitely has the right timing for everything.  And Mamah couldn't ask for a better husband than Papah.  It's worth all the wait for Papah and Mamah to be on the same page because having a supportive husband does make a MAJOR difference.  Papah had made this pregnancy a lot more enjoyable for all of us.  Now I understand why this is called a JOINT pregnancy.



On Manny/Piddy
Whoa, lots happened to you, Baby, in the first trimester.  Not only that you made Mamah's womb as your new home, but also you have been growing so rapidly from the size of a poppy seed to a peach.


From the two ultrasounds that we had so far, you seem to inherit Papah's characteristics.  You're very active, love to toss around and suck thumb while sleeping, always smile first when you respond to noise and movement, and love to cuddle.  Oh one more thing, you are very efficient like Papah.  Once you heard that the ultrasound's done, you turned away and minded your own business again (sleeping).


Also, you joined us in the trip to Maui to celebrate Papah's project launch.  You behaved really well during the trip and ate a lot for the first time in the last 3 months.



On Mamah and Papah
Mamah didn't really have major morning sickness.  I probably had it for 2 weeks total.  Come to think about it, it's probably more psychological.  I had morning sickness the week I learned about the pregnancy and the week after we returned from Maui (I guess I needed a longer vacation?).


As far as craving, Japanese Ramen from Santouka was my go-to meal.  But that's about it since I did not have appetite for meat nor vegetables.  Just carbs.  Papah, on the other hand, had MAJOR cravings from ropang (roti panggang a.k.a. Indonesian toasts) and nasgor (nasi goreng a.k.a. Indonesian fried rice) to Korean burritos and Thai Pad See Eew.


On the physical changes, Mamah lost 3 pounds because my appetite dropped significantly.  Additionally, Mamah has minor Chloasma (brown spots due to exposure to sunlight) on my right hand.  Hopefully they don't stick around.  But if they do, they will remind me of my first trimester with you for sure.



Things that We Learned

• Quick exercise (for me: swimming) goes a long way.  It boosts up the energy, appetite, emotion, and lets me sleep better at night
• Power nap does exist.  Up till before the pregnancy, napping always meant 2 hours for Mamah.  Now I know that a quick nap can go a long way too
• Papah got his "pregnancy craving" from Agong.  When Ama was pregnant with Papah and Cek Io, Agong was the one with the major cravings -- not Ama.  I guess craving is also hereditary?  LOL
• Keeping this great news about the pregnancy just to the two of us for a little while really made it more special and intimate.  We had time to treasure our excitement and anxiety together without outside's interference (including our immediate family members)

CRAVING: ZUPPA SOUP

Remember I didn't eat the remaining half of the Okonomiyaki and leave it as a "surprise" for Marcel (here)?  Well, it's because I myself was craving for Zuppa Soup a la The Valley in Bandung.  If you have never had one before, this is how it looks like.  So yummy.  You should go to The Valley and have this the next time you visit Bandung.

But the thing is, I didn't have time to make the cream soup even though I have the pastry sheet in the fridge.  And Manny/Piddy just can't wait for another two hours to eat.  So I ran next door to the grocery and got myself a Chicken Pot Pie with EXTRA Mushroom (slurrrppp).  It's not quite THE Zuppa Soup.  But it's close enough to satisfy my craving.  No recipe for this since I bought it.  Hehehe.

CRAVING: OKONOMIYAKI

Remember I shared this about Marcel having more craving than me?  Well, here is another one of his cravings these days.  Okonomiyaki.  The recipe can be found here.

I made just 2 of them this time.  Marcel finished 1 1/2 of them in one shot!!!  That's how much he likes this stuff.  He thought that I would eat the remaining half for my lunch the next day.  But I didn't.  When he came home that night, the remaining half was waiting for him to enjoy.  Then he got the BIGGEST smile of the day.  Awww my big baby!!!

CLASSIC JOKE MONDAY

I heard these today:


Q: What is pirate's favorite place to visit?
A: ARRRRRRRgentina


Q: How did a rabbit propose to its girlfriend?
A: With a 14 carrot ring


:-)


Happy classic joke Monday, All.  May these turn your frown upside down. 

CRAVING: NASI LENGKO (LENGKO RICE)

After frying way too much tofu, I decided to make Nasi Lengko for dinner the next day.  I didn't have complete ingredients at home and was not really in the mood to go grocery.  So I put together Nasi Lengko based on what I had at home.  Here is the recipe in case our Manny/Piddy wants to try this again in the future.


This food is from Cirebon I believe.  I grew up eating this every so often when I was in Sukabumi because there's a Warung Nasi Lengko across the street from where my mom works.  Then, when I went to Bandung for high school, my friends introduced me to Warung Nasi Lengko at Gang Mahmud.  Hmmm, so yummy.


The last time I had this Nasi Lengko was like eleven years ago when I was in Bandung.  And I was glad I could share my childhood food memory with Marcel this time.  It was his first time eating Nasi Lengko EVER.  He liked it (he said it tasted like ketoprak ... which I have never tried in my life before).  I liked it. Our Manny/Piddy liked it too.


Hmmm, it's super yummy.  Hope you try out this easy recipe at home.

CRAVING: FRIED TOFU

People said that expecting moms tend to crave for their childhood comfort foods.  Though I don't crave as often as my expecting hubby :-), I find that the above statement to be somewhat true for me when the cravings kick in.


Earlier this week, Marcel and I were supposed to attend a meeting in the neighborhood.  Two hours before the meeting, all of the sudden I really wanted to eat some fried tofu.  I used to have fried tofu and fried tempe everyday growing up.  They're very cheap and easily accessible in my hometown.  As the meeting time was approaching, I just couldn't wait any longer to have my fried tofu.  So I kindly asked Marcel if it's OK for me to skip the meeting in order for me to get some tofu from the grocery.  Marcel smiled at me because I don't crave often normally.  And the understanding hubby that he is, he said that I should skip the meeting and treat myself for some fried tofu.


YAYYY.  I dropped him off at the meeting .. headed to the grocery store .. and made myself fried tofu.  It's really easy to make.  But I thought I would keep the recipe of it anyway.  In case our Manny/Piddy would like to make this one day in the future.


Here is the recipe.  If you fried extra of them, just keep them in the refrigerator.  And then put them in the toaster oven (not microwave please) for 3-5 minutes to heat it through and put the crispiness back to it.  Hmmm, it's so nom nom.  Try my comfort food at your home!!!