The Cutest Kid Ever

This blog has been lacking Andrew cuteness for awhile, so I thought I'd remedy that.



Now I know that I look absolutely horrific in this picture (you can even see the panel of my maternity jeans, how tacky!) but Andrew looks so dang cute I just had to post the picture anyway. He's usually too busy to snuggle with me, so when he actually does, I'm in heaven.

If he's not the cutest thing ever, I don't know what is. My little boy rocks.

Stupid--I mean Super--Tuesday

To say that we were disappointed in yesterday's election results would be an understatement. Being the pessimist that I am (I have the mug to prove it), I am pretty much convinced that it's over for Romney. However, there is still plenty of hope for Obama, and I like him quite a bit. So here's the question that John and I are pondering...come voting day (March 4th here, nice and late...I could go off on how we need to change the primary system, but I won't) do we vote for Obama in hopes of him beating Clinton or do we still cast our votes for Romney, the person we really have wanted to win all along? Considering yesterday's horrible results for Romney and great results for Obama, I think we're both leaning towards voting for Obama. Whatever we can do to keep Hillary from winning the Democratic nomination. I still think Obama is generally a bit too liberal for my tastes, but I can see him actually being different and bringing about positive change. Clinton and McCain are the same old tired Washington bureaucrats that this government is full of. Fortunately for us, Texas doesn't require people to register by party, so we can vote whichever way we want. Go.....Obama??

Mardi Gras: Fat Tuesday (yummy)

Today we decided to celebrate Mardi Gras with some Cajun fare. Since I hate seafood, I decided to make Chicken Andouille Gumbo and some good old Southern biscuits. I'm not a particular fan of gumbo, but I thought it was pretty good and John really enjoyed it. Andrew even ate some of it! I loved this new biscuit recipe, it was so tasty and easy.


For desert I attempted a Chocolate Doberge Cake, which is a New Orleans classic. It's a four layer chocolate cake with chocolate cream filling and chocolate icing. My kind of cake! Clearly it had major issues appearance wise (let's just say there were some issues) but taste wise it was AWESOME. Yummy.


I also made a Key Lime Pie for John to take to his work's Mardi Gras lunch. I've never made Key Lime pie before, but it was actually pretty easy. The hardest part was probably just finding and juicing the stupid key limes (it didn't help that our little hand juicer broke and I had to go to Wal-Mart *shudder* at 10pm to get another juicer). John's not a big Key Lime pie fan ("too limey") but apparently it was pretty popular at work, as it disappeared in a matter of minutes.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roule!!

Chipotle Overdose at Last

So the day that I thought would never come is finally here. I think I've finally overdosed on Chipotle. See, the beautiful (and dangerous) thing about the location of our apartment complex is that it's close (as in a 5 minute walk to) a lot of shopping and dining. We've got Michael's, Old Navy, Children's Place, Best Buy, Target, Whataburger, Fuddrucker's, the wonderful Denton mall (anyone remember University Mall in Orem before it got remodeled? That's what this mall is like), Sonic, lots of other places I don't care about, and of course Chipotle. What's nice is that they're so close, but when you're in the apartments you can't see them or really tell that they're there unless your apartment is on the outer edges (which ours isn't). Andrew and I really like to go on walks and we usually end up over in that area (soooo dangerous). I've been having serious Chipotle cravings for the last, I don't know, two months or so and those cravings usually result in us walking over there and eating at Chiptole.

I honestly think of a Chipotle burrito as heaven in a tortilla. It's just that good (have you tried their guacamole?!?!). And Andrew loves it too! We can get him a quesadilla and side of rice for $0.80. Plus the people there are so nice and helpful, and I think they're starting to recognize me....Anyway, we've been eating there a lot lately and I think today it finally did me in. I think I've just had one too many burritos--for the time being, at least. What's really scary is that a couple of weeks ago Andrew and I were walking to Target, and as we passed Chipotle Andrew pointed and said "Yummy rice, yummy rice!" and threw a tantrum when we didn't go in and eat. I'm thinking we've definitely been too often if he recognizes it that easily.




Since Chipotle has been my major pregnancy craving this time around, I think we need to get the baby this onesie. Hehe. I think he's the one who has really been craving it.

Rant

Ok, I just have to rant. I told myself I was going to bed but instead got on Facebook and started reading the comments made in the poll: "Regardless of whether or not you would vote for him, do you think Mitt Romney would make a good president?" Stupid, stupid Kara. It's just bad when I get sucked into things like that. So after reading 15 pages of comments, I have to rant.

If people want to attack Romney for his policies, his record, or even what some view as his tendency to flip flop, that's fine. But attacking because of his religion is just ignorant and prejudiced. It's interesting that these comments tend to come from the "open minded" liberals who ironically think anyone who is opposed to gay marriage is a "homophobic bigot." I won't dignify their thoughts by repeating any of their ill-mannered and just plain bigoted comments here, but it was truly appalling to see that so little tolerance and so much prejudice exists in the people's hearts. It would appear that these individuals do not truly want liberty and equality for all, but would abolish that which is not in line with their own views, creating their own dictatorships in the process.

Now, you may be thinking (as John does) "Why do you do this to yourself Kara?" The answer? I don't know. I certainly don't enjoy reading comments from uninformed idiots. I really liked the one comment that said: "Bad sampling. Most people on Facebook are too young to know diddly or go to Colleges full of 60's radicals for professors." So true! I think that about sums up what I was thinking about the people making these comments. I'm always so annoyed by the 18-25s (or worse, high school) age group; it's almost like they feel the need to be more liberal, outspoken, and just obnoxious in general because they can.

Whew. Ok, I'm done. And I'm going to remind myself not to read things like that anymore. (Editorial comment from John: No she won't!)

I'm Elizabeth Bennet...

So I found this "Which Jane Austen Heroine are you" quiz and shockingly enough, the results say that I'm Elizabeth Bennet. Now that may be because I know that book so well that I could tell which answers belonged to her, but I really did try to answer honestly. For all you other Austen fans (I know there are quite a few of you!) here's the link:

Take the Quiz here!

New Zealand

John and I have been following the primary election rather closely this year, and we're both really disappointed that it seems the presidential election will end up being between McCain and Clinton. Neither of us are particularly crazy about McCain (especially with Romney running and the way McCain has been treating him) and I don't think there's any even need to discuss how we feel about Clinton (blech!). The question is, if it were Obama vs. McCain, would we vote for Obama over McCain? I don't know, he may be a tad bit too liberal for us. It's disappointing that a primary that started out so exciting is turning into the same old same old. I just don't see McCain or Clinton giving us the change that we need. And what's worse, I don't see McCain being able to beat Clinton. Nooooooooooo! This article from CNN's Jack Cafferty is spot on:

"The two apparent front-runners are now Hillary Clinton and John McCain. If nothing changes, this is the choice we will have for president of the United States.

Hillary is part of the monopoly on the White House between the Clintons and the Bushes that goes back 28 years. Her husband is a two-term president, she's a former first lady and current member of the Senate. She's a poster girl for the Washington establishment.

McCain has been a part of Washington for 26 years. A two-term congressman, he's been a senator since 1986. He's been running for president for the last eight years. Another Washington insider.

Ask anyone what they think of our government and most people will be happy to tell you. They are angry. I get thousands of letters a week from people angry about health care, immigration, the war, the economy, you name it. The consensus is our government is broken and our country is in trouble.

The problems they complain about exist solely because of the actions of the Democrats and Republicans in Washington. The political establishment, if you will, that is in bed with the lobbyists and the corporations and, quite frankly, couldn't care less about you.

Except now, at election time, when they need you. They travel the country spewing the same tired rhetoric we have heard for years. And like lemmings, we appear to be on the brink of continuing to send one of them to the White House. Somebody said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well?

Here's my question to you: When it comes right down to it, why won't we vote to really change things?"

Facing this grim possibility, we've joked about moving to New Zealand. I was originally thinking England or something, probably because I've been there before, but my parents were saying they were thinking about relocating to New Zealand (they love New Zealand and have friends there) if Clinton were elected. I think we'll go with them. New Zealand looks absolutely beautiful and it's close (ok, closer than we are now) to Asia, so it'd be a great jumping off point for traveling to the countries I'm most eager to see. I just can't handle the thought of turning on the news and watching that woman address us as the leader of this country. I'm all for a female president, just not her. Pleeeeease, not her.



See how beautiful New Zealand is? I could definitely handle living there.