Mildly Amusing Musings

Preggo Dreams

2010-02-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, so, here's the thing. This blog has always been filled, since its inception, with absurdities from my life. When I lived at home it was filled with my little siblings, after I got married it was filled with my husband, and now it's filled with lots of pregnancy weirdness. I make no apologies.

I've always been a vivid dreamer. To this day I can still remember a few nightmares from my childhood that were very real to me and haunted me for months. Thankfully, as I got older I rarely had nightmares, but I still had dreams which often fooled me into believing that they were reality. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and roll over to look at my journal to make sure I wasn't operating under the assumption that something I dreamed had actually happened.

When I got pregnant my dreams became even MORE real. At first I only had pregnant nightmares, which were horrible. I think they were probably based in the huge amounts of fear I harbored during the first part of my pregnancy. But I've been letting go of those fears more and more lately and as I've done that I've found that I continue to have baby dreams - but now they are happy baby dreams. And what's more... some of the are totally hilarious.

A couple weeks ago I dreamt that I gave birth to a boy. He was chubby, naked and all blue (like all babies are when they first come out) and I birthed him standing up. His head was perfectly round. He started crying and we named him Gideon. And you know what - I actually felt the joy that I think most mothers talk about when they describe holding their baby for the first time. I woke up feeling really happy and excited and wanting to hold my baby RIGHT NOW. Also, I was convinced Baby Snider was a boy.

Then, last week, I had a hilarious dream. I dreamt that I gave birth, in a birth pool, in my grandmother's living room, to a girl this time. Except, instead of being a newborn, she was a year old and wearing a pink shirt and pink and green striped pants. And know what else? She was fully conversive. In fact, she told me, as she climbed out of the pool (perfectly dry) to play with some toy ponies on a chair, that she wished to be named Amy.

I told her no. "I don't feel like any of my children should be named 'Amy'." She just looked at me like my intelligence was very lacking, like I couldn't possibly be her mother because I wasn't smart enough. "But" I continued "You could be named Abigail and I could call you Abby. Would that be satisfactory?" She paused for a moment and then told me that yes, she thought that would be just fine and then she returned to her ponies and I went back to baking bread (in my grandmother's kitchen). Also, I woke up convinced Baby Snider was a girl.

Oh, God, you have made life beautiful with the ridiculous. I praise you for your care of my sense of humor!

Also, something that warmed my heart: Ellie informs me that Peter, my little brother-in-law prayed for me last night during family worship and he prayed "Dear God, please help Elisabeth's baby to come soon and help it not to hurt very much, Amen." Peter, from your mouth to God's ears.

I like the way those Snider boys pray.

At 12 Weeks

2010-02-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

I was able to hear Baby Snider's heartbeat today! We could hear Baby Snider moving on the doplar but the midwife was having trouble finding the heartbeat. I told Baby Snider "It's ok to come out of hiding, Mommy just wants to hear your heart." And eventually we found the heart beat. So precious! It was fast, but not as fast as I expected from what other people had told me. It was so funny think "This is my baby that I get to hold in a few months!"

Our midwife also showed me how to feel where my uterus was. It's just peeking over the top of my pelvic bone now. This also means I'm getting bigger and I'm not going to stop growing anytime soon; over the next month Baby Snider will quadruple in size!

I've been feeling a whole lot better as I transition into my second trimester. (I'm 1/3 done baking this baby!) Something funny I've noticed; that my sneezes have become truly epic! I'm not sure why, but over the past few weeks I've noticed that whenever I sneeze there is a tremendous amount of force behind them! A circumstance I happen to find hilarious.

Silas bought me some lemons for me to eat to help with the morning sickness, which is mostly gone now, but sometimes makes an appearance when I first get up, or when I forget to take my prenatal vitamin. He bought me this kind I had never seen before called Meyer Lemons. They looks like little oranges and they taste like sweetish lemons. Basically they're amazing. How did I live without them before? I know not. I know not.

A couple people have asked me if I have had any weird cravings, and I can't really say I've had that many. I've had cravings that are unusual for me, such as oreos, which I never was a big fan of before this pregnancy; there's peach yogurt, which I also never liked before this pregnancy. And for some reason it occurred to me that bananas would be amazing on top of pizza - but I never tried it because Silas and Britt wouldn't let me.

There was also the incident with the jar of salsa con queso. I was eating it with chips, out of the jar and I ran out of chips. I considered finish it off with a spoon, but instead I used a couple oreos. Silas was thoroughly disgusted and, I think, regretted buying me both the dip and the oreos, but hey, it was yummy.

Silas is just great about everything. When I'm feeling bad he brings me things home from the store. When my back is hurting he rubs it till it feels better (Seriously, the dude should have been an osteopath). He's like magic. He even made me dinner twice this week! I can't say enough good things about that man.

Here's what my baby belly looks like as of now:

Stayed tuned for the next Bi-weekly Pregnancy Update at 14 weeks!

I wrote my first computer program.

2010-01-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

And this is what it does. A button appears, like so:

Then you push the button and a new window opens that says this:

The name of my program is "Immaturity" and I am ridiculously proud of my achievement.

My husband, however, scoffs and says "There are no images, amateur." Which leads me to break out into a stylized rendition of "Just you wait, Henry, Higgins" which goes something like:

"Just you wait, Silas Snider, just you wait!
You'll make me brownies but you pleas will be too late!
You'll be broke and I'll have money
because MY programming's funny!"

Anyways. I'm proud of me.

The Honeymoon Mustard is Gone!

2010-01-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

This title probably requires a little bit of explanation, but not much. This is no metaphor. I mean, quite simply, the bottle of mustard that we bought on our honeymoon is gone. Today I went to make the amazing better-than-subway sandwich I've been making every day for the past week (it's my newest craving) and I used the very last bit of the honeymoon mustard. And it made me sad. Let me tell you why.

When Silas and I got married we had no money. I don't mean we had a little money. I mean we had no money. Silas had just finished his last month of Ameri-corp and didn't have a job yet. He had his last Ameri-corp check mailed to Oregon, but none of the banks would cash it since he didn't belong to any west coast banks so we had no source of money until we got back to Pittsburgh. We paid for the rental truck but had no money for gas or hotels or food. The morning of the wedding we had about 20 dollars to our collective names. But God provided for us.

Through the generosity for friends and family all of our needs were met and without us even having to ask. The morning after the wedding we went to the store and bought a Styrofoam cooler and all the makings for sandwiches. And that's what we ate everyday for lunch, and a couple times for dinner, for our entire 10 day road trip. I never got sick of it and every time I ate a sandwich I was was thankful that God had so wonderfully provided for Silas and I.

It's been over 5 months since then. Silas got a marvelous job two weeks after we arrived in Pittsburgh he now has lots of opportunities ahead of him. God has blessed us with innumerable blessings and I was reminded of that as I threw away the empty bottle of honeymoon mustard. I was a little sad because I really enjoyed the adventure that was our honeymoon and I'm sad that it's over.

But then I was also encouraged, because I know that our road trip was just the beginning of our adventure. We'll have more over the years and we'll continue to see God's goodness in our lives as we watch him provide for us. I'm so glad I get to have this adventure and I'm so glad I'm sharing it with Silas.

To Whom It May Concern (Namely, everyone I've talked to in the last two months.)

2010-01-22T07:48:00.000-08:00

To full appreciate this you must imagine this letter being read with a very British accent i.e. Emma Thompson.

Dear World,

My recent gravidity has caused me to behave in ways I am less than proud of. My Mother, however, always taught me to take responsibility for my actions, whatever the cause. So I write this as an apology to my husband, my friends, random strangers on the street, and to the lovely people who read my blog and who have had the misfortune of experiencing my grumpy and generally horrible manners over the past few months.

I am now feeling much, much better and am ready to take on the world with my former patience and cheerfulness. To my husband: I would like to promise lots of tasty treats to make up for the endless weeks of craziness from me. I realize that's A LOT of cookies, but I shall endeavor to do so, regardless. To my friends: I am ready to leave my house once more and look forward to seeing you out, about and at parties at my house. To random people on the street: Your fly is unzipped. To my blog readers: I promise that I shall again be capable of blog posts that do not include complaining about the injustices perpetrated toward me by the child in my womb.

With love and cupcakes,
Elisabeth

My Husband is Cute

2010-01-21T08:01:00.000-08:00

Me: You left something important at home today.
Silas: I did?
Me: Yes.
Silas: What?
Me: Look down at your hands.
Silas: I left that at home?
Me: Yes, yes you did.
Silas: Yay!!!
Me: What?
Silas: I was afraid I lost it on the bus.

The Snider Family at 10 Weeks

2010-01-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

What's going on with Baby Snider:
Right now Baby Snider is about the size of a strawberry. In scientific terms, Baby Snider is no longer an "embryo" but a "fetus"and now looks much less like an alien and much more like the tiny person that Mama and Daddy Snider will get to meet in 7 months. Baby Snider has little teeth forming in his or her mouth and there are precious little finger prints on Baby Snider's tiny hands. Right now Baby Snider looks something like this:

What's going on with Mama Snider:
Right now Mama Snider continues to feel not so great. She's been feeling a little less tired but much sicker. She can't wait to get to the second trimester, only 4 more weeks till the morning sickness and exhaustion fade into a distant memory. Time seems to be going fast. Ten weeks gone already! A full 1/4 done with the baby baking. Mama Snider's body is happy to be pregnant, though, and has already blossomed a very, very large baby bump. Right now Mama Snider looks like this:

What's going on with Daddy Snider:
Right now Daddy Snider continues his usual routine of working at Showclix with the addition of spending a little extra time rubbing Mama Snider's back and telling her not to be so grumpy. He recently bought the family an xbox and is thoroughly enjoying his purchase. On Friday he's flying to New York to interview at Google and he's very excited about seeing the Googleplex there. He's also enjoying his last few months of having long hair since he's shaving his head this Spring and donating it Locks of Love. Right now Daddy Snider looks something like this:

Confessions of a Headband Hater

2010-01-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

You know when you say that you hate something and your sister-in-law tells you you're just jealous? Sometimes your sister-in-law is right.

Here's the truth. I love headbands. LOVE THEM. I love headbands with bows. I love headbands with flowers. I love headbands with feathers. I even love headbands with with shiny blingy stuff on them! Deep inside me there is a Blair Waldorf just begging to claw her way to the surface and satisfy her need for headbands in every size, shape, color and design!

Here is more of the truth. I cannot wear headbands. Put one on my head for more than 2 minutes and I have a splitting headache that will not go away and if left untended will quickly turn into a raging beast capable of sacking Carthage single handedly! Yes, I have what is commonly referred to as a sensitive head. Which makes no sense because I can wear scarves (which sometimes are almost as cute as headbands.) with no problem. But pop a headband on me and I'm destined to cry.

Here is even more more truth, if you can handle it. I am ridiculously jealous whenever I see someone wearing a cute headband. Yes, yes that does mean you, Natalie. And you, Elizabeth. And especially you, Remy and Christina! You all disgust me with your cuteness that I am unable to attain! Oh yes, guilty of one of the deadly sins, right here.

Here is even more more more truth. I want boys. From my body, I mean, I want to have seven sons. I like boys. I think they're pretty easy going. They break things - yes. They hurt themselves and others - yes. They run around screaming and pretending to be Indians/monsters/soldiers/zombies - yes. But they will (hopefully) be relatively drama and emotion free. Oh yes. I like boys. But I want just three girls so I can live vicariously through them and turn them into little headband wearing Blairs.

The end.

The Evening and the Morning

2010-01-13T08:21:00.000-08:00

Disclosure: This blog post is full of complaining. Not I-hate-my-life complaining. Not even I-wish-this-would-change complaining. Just I-feel-better-when-I-laugh-about-things-that-happen-to-me complaining. It's all about finding the humor. Carry on.

I was tired and ready to go to bed at 9:30 last night. I didn't go to bed until 2:30 this morning.

Last night I climbed the stairs to my bed fully intending to fall asleep within the next 30 minutes. I usually talk to Silas while I fall asleep - but he was out with friends so I brought a couple pregnancy books up with me so I could read myself to sleep. I got really absorbed in this one book and I soon realized I had been reading it for over an hour and I was falling asleep. Perfect, I thought, just what I had intended. And I got up to turn off the light.

No sooner had I crawled back into bed and swathed myself in my big soft comforter than I realized Oh crap! I have to pee. If this is TMI for you I highly suggest you not read my blog over the next nine months, as I really do think that this phenomenon of me-having-to-pee-and-then-telling-you-about-it is going to stop any time in the near future.

Now, there are four stages of having-to-pee-in-the-middle-of-the-night. The first is realization. It is usually accompanied by expletives and a profound desire to either kill yourself or wet the bed. The second is denial. This is when you tell yourself you're just paranoid and you definitely do NOT have to pee. You are a human! You can control your urges! You can wait until the morning! Sadly, the third stage usually doesn't take place until about 20 minutes after the first stage. This is acceptance. And it usually happens when you finally come to the conclusion that you simply cannot go to sleep while containing lake Erie inside your body and that raging storm inside you must be quieted. The fourth stage is hate. Hate yourself for not getting up 20 minutes sooner. Hate the air for being so cold. Hate the stairs for trying to kill you. Hate the light in the bathroom. Hate the toilet seat for being so freaking cold. Hate the neighbors, who seem to be having a good time downstairs, for not being as tired/miserable as you are. Hate the stairs again.

Anyway, all that happened at 11:00. Start to finish that takes about 30 minutes. So by 11:30 I was tucked away in my bed again. It took awhile to get back in sleep mode but it finally happened and I began to slip out of conciseness... and then my husband got home. Our stairs are really loud. I don't think I realized till last night just how loud they were! Don't listen, I told myself, stay asleep... slip back into happy oblivion! I knew I could do this. Just stay asleep until Silas comes up. Ok. Hmmm. Ladadadada. I wonder how long it will take him. NOOOOOO! GO BACK TO SLEEP SELF! I ORDER YOU! Crap, I'm waking up. No, no, I'm awake.

"You're home sooner than I expected." I wonder if he can hear me downstairs. "Yep." Contact established. "Are you coming up soon?" I'm fully awake now and want to unload everything I learned from the book I was reading that has been in the back for my mind this whole time. "Yep." Good, good, this won't be so bad. Twenty minutes later "Are you coming up?" "Yep." Ten minutes later I go down stairs "Why did you get up! You look like you just woke up! You should have stayed asleep. I'll be right up!" I laugh "Oh, honey, I have NOT gone to sleep yet." Ten more minutes down stairs while Silas finishes a project.

Finally about 12:30 we head up to bed. I'm all excited to talk - Silas clearly wants to go straight to sleep. Bickering over whether we should talk or whether we should sleep ensues. Silas wins and goes to sleep. It is now well past 1 AM.

I realize I'm thirsty. Really thirsty. Begin the four steps of I'm-thirsty-in-the-middle-of-the-night which are pretty much the same as the four steps of having-to-pee-in-the-middle-of-the-night. Except for some reason I never made it back to bed. I got side tracked and spent an hour on the couch checking facebook, blogs, and generally wasting time. I finally feel sleepy and head up to bed. Again.

I would like to say that at this point I finally went to sleep and proceeded to get a good 9 hours of sleep. But something horrible happened. As soon as I started to fall asleep my tummy grumbled. AHHHHH! NOOOO!!!! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING TO ME! I completely skip step 3 of being-starving-in-the-middle-of-the-night because there is absolutely no denying that my stomach just yelled at me. And if I force myself to go back to sleep (I've done it before.) I am going to be violently ill in the morning from letting my blood sugar drop too low.

(See, I have this baby inside me that sucks all the nutrients from my body so I have to eat more often to keep my blood sugar up so I don't puke, pass out, or pass out in my puke.)

So, I resist the urge to wake my poor, exhausted husband up and make him bring me food and I drag my butt out of bed for the umteenth time in 4 hours. I want a banana. Of course I ate the last banana the previous afternoon. I look in the fridge. I just want something light. Penne and chicken in vodka sauce. Nice. Not light. Rice and poppyseed chicken. Nice. Not light. Bowl of homemade frosting. Nice. Definitely not light. Cup of yogurt. Perfect.

I curl up on the couch to eat my yogurt. I wrap myself in a blanket and proceed to open up my laptop. Stalk my friends... and my friend's friends on facebook. Complain to the Internets that I'm not asleep. Finish my yogurt. GO TO BED. Yes. Really. I honestly went to bed. Finally.

Only to be woken by my husband at some ridiculously early hour. He overslept and was late for work because I had kept him up arguing last night and now he needed me to drive him to work then return the zipcar. No time for shower. No time for eating. Just time for driving. I did however, avail myself of the opportunity of having him trapped in a car with me for fifteen minutes and unloaded everything about the book I wanted to tell him last night

I'm home now. I'm tired. I need to do laundry because Silas has no more clean clothes. But I'm going to bed instead because I simply cannot do laundry in this state. That is all. Goodnight/morning/afternoon/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa, Martin Luther King Jr. Day/ect...

At 8 Weeks

2010-01-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

The Cons

I am tired, ridiculously tired, all the time. I go to bed exhausted. I wake up in the morning wanting to take a nap on the couch, an urge which I frequently yield to. Even going up the stairs makes me want to haul out a sleeping bag and collapse on the floor!

I've learned that I need to restrict myself to one outing a day or face reality of being an overly tired pregnant person who lacks mood stability.

This child is sapping me of all energy and it's not even born yet!

I feel sick unless I'm shoving food down my throat. Best cure for morning sickness I ever heard of. In addition to the bagels and cream cheese cravings I am now also desiring red popsicles with a passion that can only be described as single-minded.

Last week it was fudgesicles. I ate the whole box, pretty much by myself. I even resorted to eating them when Silas wasn't around so he wouldn't ask me for one so there would be more for me!

I'm not particularly proud of that fact.

My back hurts, my neck hurts, my head hurts.

Last week Silas rolled over at 7 AM to rub my back because I was complaining about it.

SEVEN AM! I think he loves me.

I'm itching. All over my body and it's horrible. I have to take my clothes off and apply lotion twice a day.

And there aren't even mosquitoes involved.

I cry about anything and everything at the drop of a hat. My poor husband.

When I apologized about the mood craziness last night he said "It's ok. I love you. And I knew what I was getting into. *pause* Well, actually, I didn't. But it's still ok, honey."

Isn't he the sweetest! That pretty much makes me want to start bawling right now.

I love my husband.

The Pros

In eight months I'm going to have a little Snider baby.

And all in all I'd say the Pros far outweigh the Cons.

Silliness With Jason

2010-01-07T05:09:00.000-08:00

For New Year's Silas and I drove up to Iowa to visit my family there. It was a whirlwind of a trip; we left on Thursday and were back by Sunday. But it was really nice to see everyone, especially Jason, who I hadn't seen since his bone marrow transplant in the Fall. Here are some silly picture we took during our visit. I love the Photo Booth on my mac and I love this little boy!

If you want to take a few seconds to pray for Jason's continuing recovery that would be great, as his family received some confusing test results this week. The numbers could mean nothing or they could mean some not so nice things. Thanks :)

Peace out.

2009; A Year In Review

2010-01-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

In January:
I had no idea my life was about to be turned on its head.
I went to a ball.
I found out my cousin, Jason, had cancer and flew to Iowa to be with him.
I miss my brother while I was gone.
I also began my relationship with Silas, but my blog wasn't allowed to know about that yet.

In February:
I continued to live in Iowa and spend my days at the hospital with my cousin.
I started to realize that 2009 was going to be a huge year for me.
I vlogged for the first time.
There wasn't really much blogging going on in February because I was really busy with my family.

In March:
I decorated my room and posted pictures. Also, if you look you'll see there's a picture of Si stuck to the chalk board, so I was starting to let hints of Silas appear on my blog...
I discovered Josh Ritter.
I posted about Katie on her birthday.
I had my first Reuben and got involved with RUF.
I made this cute hat.

In April:
I got a little more overt about Silas.
As I prepared to go home, my aunt and uncle took me out to eat as a going away present.
I flew home to Oregon.
I made Cake Pops.
I went to the beach with my family.

In May:
May was a super crazy month. That is all there is to it.
My brother was born.
I made my Mom a cheese cake for Mother's Day.
My brother Daniel turned 14 and I made him a Millennium Falcon cake.
My brother, Rainor, and I started exploring breakfast places in Florence.
Silas proposed to me and made his premiere on this blog.

In June:
Mostly I blogged about wedding plans...
The Shoes
I turned 20 and made trifle. Silas also sent me chocolates.
I went shopping for wedding dress fabric with my girls.
The Veil
Margaret came over and we put together my dress.
The Invitations

In July:
I made these amazing muffins.
I had this hysterical conversation with Silas's little sister, Hanni.
I made a test wedding cake.
I drew a comic of my life.

In August:
I did not blog very much. Whether this was because of business due to wedding plans or lack of non-wedding inspiration, I know not.
I went on my last vacation with my family.
Walter turned 2.
And of course, I got married.
The my camera broke on our honeymoon :/

In September:
We arrived in Pittsburgh.
I posted the 4 pictures I had from our roadtrip.
I let you tour our home. Part 1 and Part 2.
I posted a bunch of silly pictures of Silas and I.
The G20 came to Pittsburgh and craziness ensued.
Also, I began posting wedding pictures:
The Wedding; Part 1

In October:
The Wedding; Part 2
The Wedding; Part 3
The Wedding; Part 4
I discovered the secret to perfect pie crust.
Mildly Amusing Musings got it's own domain name and I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo in November.

In November:
I posted alot of interesting things. I'm not sure if alot happened in November, or if it just seemed like it because I blogged every single day.
Silas taught me to use bullets.
I made Glazed Apples and Sausage.
I joined the Bone Marrow Registry in honor of my cousin, Jason, and explained why.
I discovered Joanna Newsom.
I discovered the perfect bread recipe.
Silas, Britt, and I went to a Toby Mac and Relient K concert.
I discovered I was lactose intolerant.
MARGARET SENT US CHILI!
I posted pictures from the wedding booth.
I made dairy-free pizza.
I completed NaBloPoMo! Yay!

In December:
I butchered my hand.
We got Google Phones!
Silas and I found out we're going to have a baby.
I posted embarrassing pictures of Ellie, Margaret and I.
Silas and I have an awesome Christmas.
Then we packed it up and went to Iowa City to spend New Year's with my cousin, Jason, and the rest of my family.

This has been an incredible year for me. I hope that next year will be every bit as wonderful and I hope the same for you. Blessings!

A Christmas Adventure

2009-12-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

Silas and I decided a couple weeks ago that we wanted to go see a movie on Christmas. Firstly, because we didn't have family to hang out with on Christmas morning (the first time for either of us), and secondly, because Sherlock Holmes was premiering on Christmas! We're both huge fans of the books, so when I suggested we go see the movie, Silas was in enthusiastic agreement and bought tickets.

Christmas morning we rose at a reasonable hour (before nine) and opened the gifts we had bought for each other. (Silas got me some amazing cookbooks and I'm really looking forward to trying some of the recipes therein and sharing them with you.) We sat around in the mess of wrapping paper and gifts, eating pita chips and goat cheese and pondering what our mothers had always told us about picking up after ourselves. We then decided to leave the mess since we'd probably have to clean up all the Christmases ever after.

Shortly thereafter we set out for the South Side Works theatre. Silas had gotten a zipcar for the afternoon so we didn't have to take the bus. I'd only been to the South Side once before so Silas gave me a tour while he hunted for a parking spot (All the parking garages were closed.). We got there early because neither of us had really eaten a good lunch and we wanted to stock up on overpriced popcorn. But upon arriving at the theatre, much to our dismay, we found it closed. We had bought tickets for he noon showing and the sign on the door said they weren't opening till 1:30. Silas called the ticket company.

Meanwhile, we climbed back in the car and headed towards Water Works. Traffic was horrible. I had assumed that on Christmas people would be staying home, that people had done all their traveling the day before and were just going to rest at home. Not so. Traffic. Was. Horrible. Thankfully by the time we reached Lowe's Theatre Silas had gotten through to the ticket people and they informed him that the theatre had canceled our showing without letting us know. They were sorry and would refund our tickets.

Lowe's was clearly open. In fact, we had trouble finding a parking spot that wasn't a mile away. We were very happy to find that there was a 12:45 showing of Sherlock Holmes that was not sold out and promptly got tickets and since we had time, we headed to the theatre restaurant upstairs. I ordered a Reuben the size of my face and Silas ordered a ginormous wrap. So good. Next time we go see a movie we'll definitely eat there again.

Movie time. After thirty minutes of previews the movie finally started. It began as expected for a Sherlock Holmes movie, but as it progressed I grew worried. Were they screwing with the original Sherlock? Were they turning him into someone he wasn't? Are they ACTUALLY throwing in the whole super natural thing? The answer to all of these was, thankfully, no. The ending was just as it should be in every way shape and form and Silas and I both left the theatre two satisfied Doyle fans.

Once we had returned to the warmth of our hybrid zipcar we turned out attention to letting the A. family know that we were ready for them to pick us up. But. Silas's phone was dead. Someone had taken the time to charge her phone on Christmas eve, but that person was not Silas. So I was given with the job of performing a battery transplant on the phones. Now, let it be known that I get VERY carsick - but I accomplished what was required of me without puking, though I threatened to do so no less than two times.

By the time we got in touch with the A. family we had arrived at the Pitt Union where we had to drop the car off. Our ride was 20 minutes out and it was very cold. It was a rainy and windy Christmas and one of us thought it would be a good idea to wear a skirt and knee socks this morning. This person was/is an idiot. It was freaking cold. After a time (about three minutes) the person wearing pants grew tired of the skirted one's complaining and agreed to go out in search of a warm place that was open on Christmas.

We had to walk several very cold and wet blocks before finding refuge in a Subway that was run by an Indian family. The McDonald's across the street was even closed! So I drank about a gallon of water (I was suddenly really thirsty.) and Silas got his usual diet soda (He maintains that aspartame does not cause cancer and that he likes the taste. *frown*). We rested there for about 15 minutes while we observed the kinds of people that spend Christmas at Subway. People watching - yay!

Eventually we headed back over to the Union where the A.'s picked us up and we headed to their house for the ham, twice baked potatoes and CONGEALED PRETZEL SALAD; OMNOMNOMNOMNOM! SO GOOD! We also played "Origins" which was super fun. I tied with Ben A. for first place. The A.'s gave me my first maternity clothes, which I'm super excited about! I really needed them, honestly, cause none of my "normal" clothes fit me anymore.

All in all - it was a fabulous holiday. I'd like to leave you with a picture. This is a picture of my husband's amazing hair which I want. On my head. Right now. This instant. I will even take the beard if I have to for hair like that. *sigh* My husband is so handsome.

Wordless Wednesday; My Mini-Me

2009-12-23T09:59:00.000-08:00

(In posting this I am shamelessly admitting to copying Amanda. I must confess I'm a little jealous that my mini-me lives 3000 miles away. But I know Amanda won't be mad because she's just fabulous like that. (Also, just excuse all these words, if you will.))

The Three (Epic) Graces

2009-12-22T08:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when I should be at the laundromat washing underwear and I find myself sitting on the couch eating bagels and cream cheese instead, my thoughts turn back to the days when I was less old/mature and more fun/ridiculous.

Those days involved lots of different people, but two of my biggest partners in crime (As in, those who most often participated in my ridiculousness, not the actual biggest.) were/are Margaret and Ellie. Together we formed "The Three (Epic) Graces" and also, the less widely known "Elisabeth and the Cotton-Headed Ninny-Muggins". I'd like to share a few memories with you of that time in my life.

If you have a medical/psychological condition that does not allow you to laugh and/or scorn/judge others, I advise you to leave this blog now.

This I call "Two Angels and a Cynic". As far as I can tell, it is the earliest picture of The Three Graces together.

I call this one "Dirty Hippie with Two Normal People". Taken after an intense game of softball on my sister's birthday. (This was a moderately less intense game for Ellie, who tried to run to third base instead of first at one point. Homeschoolers.)

This one I call "Three Girls with Oreos and Long Hair". Taken after Silas and I had our engagement pictures taken. (Ellie and Margaret stood behind the camera being very bossy the whole time.)

I call this one "Girls in Glasses Confused at the Presence of Three Grapes". Taken after the baby shower for my Mother and Tommy Gunnar. (I was very, very sunburnt that day.)

This one is called "One Must Romance Cheesecake in Order for it to be Consumed Correctly". Taken after a particularly wonderful parish group. (In which food was smeared in the face of Margaret. Not by me.)

And this last one I call "Three Girls Incapable of Fitting an Entire Scoop of Ice Cream into Their Respective Mouths". Taken after a barbecue at a friend's house. (As far as I can recall, this is the last of the food pictures the three graces ever posed for.)

That is all. Hope you enjoyed. With any luck The Three Graces will be reunited again soon so we can get together, eat food, shop, sing, and experiment with wax. Peace out.

At 5 Weeks

2009-12-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

Our baby is 5 weeks along at the writing of this blog post. He or she is only about the size of a sesame seed! But already God is knitting Baby Snider together so that he or she can join us out here in about 9 months. There will be important things happening in my womb every day until Baby Snider is born sometime at the end of August or the beginning of September.

This week the most fascinating development that is taking place is that Baby Snider's heart is going to start beating for the first time. He or she is only the size of a sesame seed, and still, Baby Snider has a beating heart. How amazing is that? Answer: Very, very amazing.

If you see me in person this week, you might think you see a baby bump, but no, I'm just kinda fat. I probably won't start showing for another month, possibly two. I do feel really boated, however, and I feel fatter than usual, but that might just be because I haven't been feeling well and because I've been eating a ton and a half.

I feel so hungry all the time. Even when I don't feel like eating because I'm nauseated; I'm still hungry! So far I've only had normalish cravings. Plain bagels and cream cheese is my latest, I've eaten two this morning. The amazing thing about cravings, though, is that you feel so satisfied after you eat - I love that!

Already, I don't like my clothes to be clingy at all - it just makes me feel ill to be squeezed by anything. I've folded up my jeans and doubt I will pull them out for the rest of my pregnancy. I'm definitely preferring elastic waist skirts and pants right now as anything that is remotely tight is really uncomfortable. I'm thinking about getting a belly band - has anyone else used them?

That's all from the Snider home for now - I have to go fold laundry. LAUNDRY IS TAKING OVER MY LIFE!

First comes love, then comes marriage...

2009-12-16T06:11:00.000-08:00

Posts have been a bit scarce around here of late, the reason being that I have felt enormously crappy the past couple weeks. My poor Silas has had to put up with more griping and general craziness than he should have to. I laid on the couch and complained and cried all last week, with a few happy exceptions (I won the scone-off on Saturday!). And Silas patiently tried to calm me down and make me feel better.

Everything started like this: My lactose intolerance symptoms that had gone away when I went off of dairy came back, at intervals, for no apparent reason. Thus began my complaints of "My tummy hurts!" I was tired, so the housework pretty much fell by the wayside... And worst of all, I turned into a complete and utter emotional wreck. My poor husband. Poor, poor Silas.

But we are not dumb people, Silas and I. And he and I, we began to suspect. On Monday night our suspicions were confirmed when we discovered that I am pregnant; Silas and Elisabeth are about to become Mama and Daddy Snider! How exciting is that? VERY FREAKING EXCITING!

(Also, I claim that this explains my mishap in the kitchen.)

Feel free to post your questions in the comments section and I shall answer them in a post in the near future (Pending pertinence).

Love from Elisabeth and Baby ( I won't speak for Silas - though I suspect he loves you all in a roundabout sort of way...)

Early Christmas Presents

2009-12-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

Silas and I were really hoping to be able to home to Oregon for Christmas so that we could be with family. But by the middle of last month it became clear that a trip to home wasn't going to happen. Silas's work schedule, among other things, made it pretty much impossible for us to go. SO! Silas and I got ourselves a consolation prize. Google phones!

The red one is mine and the black one belongs to Silas. They have touch screens and do all sorts of spiffy things. We can talk, text, surf the internet, talk on instant messenger, check up on twitter, download incredibly cool apps, and my favorite feature, plan bus routes with the integrated GPS system. The latter is especially useful when one is out shopping in freezing weather

I've wasted far too much time this week selecting ring tones for all my friends and family (My brother's ring tone is Britney Spears' Toxic.) and learning to do ~~sodoku~~ sudoku puzzles. So I now have an actual Pittsburgh phone number - it's like I live here or something...

Despite the early Christmas presents, we're still stuffing stockings for each other, that is, if I would go ahead and get the stockings MADE. Peace out!

EDIT: And how could I forget to talk about the amazing barcode scanner app my phone has!? Anyway - it's awesome.

Mishap in the Kitchen

2009-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

"I've never cut myself with a knife before" I told my Mom as I recounted my latest unfortunate mishap. "I doubt that" she said "But I can't recall it ever happening before." And neither could I, or I wouldn't have made such a presumptuous declaration. What happened is as follows:

Silas and I were having people over for brunch in honor of our friend's birthday so I had made two very lovely quiches. When I went to bake them, however, my oven refused to work. Silas and I did all that we knew to do and it still refused to turn on. Our guests were to arrive in thirty minutes and I needed a back up meal so I decided to make Kitchen Sink Omelet. I was in an enormous hurry when I began chopping onions and the knife slipped.

Next thing I knew my thumb was bleeding all over the place and I could see the skin under my thumbnail for the first time in my life. I had sliced it top to bottom all the way through. It made me ill to look at it so I made Silas take care of it. He did a good job, especially since he loathes blood and the very sight of it makes him sick.

Initially, I had to wrap it up to keep my thumb together. But I was able to take a picture of it while I was changing the bandage yesterday.

Nasty isn't it?

NaBloPoMo Completion!

2009-11-30T23:06:00.000-08:00

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

30!

(Is the word "day" starting to look weird to you?)

30 posts in 30 days. Yes.

Simplicity

2009-11-29T18:47:00.000-08:00

Bread and water never tasted so good.

Dairy-Free Pizza

2009-11-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

First of all, I would just like to say THANK YOU to everyone who offered advice to me regarding my allergy, whether in the comments section, via facebook, email, or in person. I really, really appreciate it so much. I had no idea there were so many people that I knew who deal with the same thing! It's encouraging to see so much feedback.

For all of you who warned me against soy, thank you, I promptly did a little research and came to the same conclusion as most of you had about its ill effects. Soy milk is kind of the devil. My mother suggested I look into making either almond or rice milk. So I turned to google and found some great tutorials on how to do both. Since we don't yet have a blender or a food processor, I opted to try making rice milk first, as it doesn't require either of those appliances. It was super easy and it works great in all the recipes I've tried it in.

What I'm going to share with you is a recipe I created to fix my pizza craving. Next to ice cream, pizza is the food I am most loathe for forsake. So I began scheming as to how I could consume said food without becoming violently ill. What you'll need is:

1 recipe of Elisabeth's favorite bread dough

2 cups of chopped cooked chicken

3/4 cup chopped onion

5-6 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbls. flour

2 Tbls. olive oil

1 3/4 c. rice milk

Any pizza toppings you like; peppers, mushrooms, sausage etc...

Ok, so first you're going to take your bread dough after it's risen once, shape half of it into a bread loaf and press the other half into a cookie sheet to make a pizza crust. Let it it rise for an hour. Then take the crust and poke holes everywhere except the edges where you want the crust to be puffy. Brush it with olive oil and sprinkle with basil and oregano. Bake for at 400 degrees for ten minutes.

While the crust is baking saute 1/4 cup of onion, 2 cloves of garlic with the olive oil. After a few minutes add the flour and saute a further minute or two. Then add the rice milk. Whisk constantly till thickened.

When the crust comes out of the oven, cover it with the white sauce, the chicken, the remaining onion, remaining garlic, and whatever other dairy-free toppings you desire.
Bake until the sauce is bubbly, roughly ten minutes. It should look and smell amazing.

(And don't forget to then bake the bread when the pizza is done! You might have to make your husband a chicken sandwich if he, horrors, doesn't care for it.)

I found that this pizza is surprisingly satisfying despite the lack of cheese. The white sauce makes of for it, to some extent, with its creamy consistency. It might need extra salt also, again, to compensate for the saltiness of the cheese.

Sadly, Silas felt the lack of cheese pretty keenly. And while he thought it was ok, but remarked after two pieces "Not my favorite thing you've ever made." So I guess next time I make this I will make half of it normally for Silas. Poor guy.

My husband is not often wrong. But honestly, this is incredible. You should try it, even if you don't have problems with dairy.

Wedding Photobooth

2009-11-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

When I think about our wedding, one of the things I look back on with the most satisfaction is the photobooth. I saw an idea for this on several wedding blogs and I wondered how I could implement this splendid idea in Silas and I's wedding. I talked to the lovely Miss Jessica and she consented to set up the booth and take pictures for us.

And we got marvelous results. Silas and I looked at the pictures together about two weeks after the wedding. We weren't sure what to expect at first but by the time we finished looking all we had to say was "We have the most awesome friends and family ever."

My brother, Rainor.

Mr. and Mrs. S.

Our DJ, Ryan.

Lynae, Hanna, and one of our photographers, Natalie.

Katie with an inside joke.

Andre. Or Louis. Or Gabe. It's really hard to tell with the wig/feather boa/bird's nest. (EDIT: It appears this is actually my brother-in-law, Abraham. Bad sister-in-law!)

Andy being deep.

Katie and my sister Christa... not being deep.

Andy and Amy.

Peter being silly. And mathematical.

Ellie being glamorous.

Ian being Ian.

Janice being sweet.

My brother, Daniel. And no, I don't understand either.

Mr. and Mrs. P. I laughed out loud when I saw this one.

Louis and Natalie. An Oregon Gothic?

The Pittsburghers who flew out for our wedding!

Back row: Jesse, Christi, Mike, and Emily F.

Front row: Britt, Emily R. and Elizabeth

It's the Silas tummy!

Back row: Jesse, Christi, Elizabeth and Mike

Front row: Emily F., Emily R., and Britt

Thanks everyone for being so awesome!

All photos in this post courtesy of Jessica Swan.

Things I'm giving thanks for in 2009

2009-11-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is, by no means, a complete list.

I am thankful for my husband, Silas, and for all the things I've learned from him since we've been married.
I am thankful for all the support that Silas and I had from friends and family to make our wedding happen.
I am thankful for the way in which God has provided for us since our marriage and that He continues to do so even now.
I am thankful for an easy transition into the city of Pittsburgh, especially the bus system.
I am thankful for City Reformed, the church family I have recently become a member of.
I am thankful for my Mother and for Silas's Mother, both of whom are always ready to share their wisdom and experience.
I am thankful for the life of my cousin, Jason, and for the opportunity I had to spend time with him earlier this year.
I am thankful for my Macbook - a present from my aunt. Eternally grateful.
I am thankful for the complete stranger that helped me get a piece of furniture home the other day.
I am thankful for God's continuing grace in my life.

To that angel, Margaret.

2009-11-25T14:58:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of thanksgiving, I would just like to say that I am ridiculously grateful for a package I received on Friday. It looked like this:

I was curious. Very curious. I opened it up and found this card.

I became MORE than curious. I pulled away the paper and found this:

It cannot be. It simply CANNOT be an entire box of...

NALLEY'S CHILI!

AHHHHHH!!! SERIOUSLY!?!

Turns out, our very dear friend, Margaret, heard about the horrible lack of decently gross canned chili in the state of Pennsylvania and rectified the situation. To convey the deep seated joy and gratefulness which Silas and I feel towards said angelic being, I would like to share with you a poem I composed.

To That Angel, Margaret

No more shall I call you Marge,

Or Maggot, or Mags or Mark.

Nor shall I compare thee to a slug

Or a woman with no heart.

For by a gift of love and friendship

Your reputation has been cleared

Your name has become hallowed

And your person is endeared.

For ever after upon consumption

Of chili mac, that most glorious food

Your name shall be blessed repeatedly

With every mouthful chewed.