An afternoon at Ikea

So I've been quite hormonal, to say the least, these last few days. In my opinion, more hormonal and teary towards Mr Siili than I have most of this pregnancy. I just can't help it. I also know Mr Siili is a bit stressed about the arrival of Paxlet, especially as it can happen at any moment, yet nothing seems to be happening. But it would be nice to feel that Mr Siili would be a bit more supportive towards me and again, I know part of these feelings are hormones. Yay.

Yesterday, started off lazily enough. I hadn't slept too well with many wake-ups throughout the night, so I slept in a bit (10am or so). Once I did wake up, I read a book in bed for a while and then chatted with a friend when she called. After waddling downstairs, I made Mr Siili and I a smoothie for breakfast and then decided to tackle the bananas that were ripening and getting spots. I won't eat bananas when they get spots, but they are perfect for freezing for later smoothies or baking. While peeling and putting the bananas into the freezer, I decided to make some banana bread. It's a simple and totally delicious recipe that I've made hundreds of times before when I worked in the coffee house in the US. (See the bottom of this post for the recipe.) While waiting for the banana bread to bake, I sewed a button a pair of Mr Siili's pants, fixed a tag/hanging hook on a towel and then continued working on making a hooded towel for Paxlet.

The towel I'm turning into a hooded-towel for Paxlet.

Rusty helping me with said hooded-towel project.

A friend from work was supposed to come over in the afternoon, but I decided to see if she wanted to wander around Ikea instead. She was up for it! I was able to get out of the house and chat with a friend. Score!

I ended up buying more things that I had anticipated, but they were (almost) all things we needed or Mr Siili and I had discussed previously. Two of the items that Mr Siili and I had discussed the day before and that morning were a metal shelving unit to put under our stairs for storage and a night light I wanted for Paxlet's room, I got. The other items that weren't so recently discussed but I bought anyway were 2 duvet sets, a serving tray for under the cats' food bowl, some clips to hang our curtains, a bath mat and outdoor rug. The one item that I just had to buy, that we didn't really need, was a cute crib border that was a model piece and thus discounted. Long story short, we wandered around Ikea for almost 4 hours!!

Ghosty lamp @ daytime

Ghosty lamp @ nighttime

The rest of the evening was spent idly around the house, going to sauna and video-Skyping with my family. All-in-all, it was a decent day, even if there was an under-thought in my mind most of the day wondering when Paxlet would make his entrance.

The Banana (sans nuts) bread, already more than half eaten.

Banana (Nut) Bread
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoon soft shortening (margarine)
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed banana
mix the above ingredients

3 cup flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
mix

Add 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Pour into a well greased bread pan (bundt cake pan works too!)
Let stand 20minutes, if possible (I rarely, if ever do this)

Bake for 60-70 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean) at 300F

Just Heather's notes: I quite often double this recipe. The loaves freeze well.
With the bananas, the more ripe they are, the sweeter they are for the recipe. In the coffee house (and even now), we'd use bananas so ripe that they were very brown and spotty. We'd freeze the 'nanas ('cause we'd get tons at a time) and then thaw them as we need them. The "banana slugs" mush easily and are great for baking. :)