Speed Trap

Yesterday, I went to pick up Rob and Christy at the airport. On the way home, I got my first ever speeding ticket. I was speeding, but not intentionally. It was a true speed trap and I thought the speed limit was 70. It wasn't. It was 55. So, I got a ticket and I have to go to traffic school. Since it is my first ticket ever, it won't go on my insurance or my record. Oh, well. Matt was so nice to me when I expected him to (not actually care but) tease me. He said that it was his fault because he should have realized how tired I was and how far I had already driven that day. (I had already been to Tampa in the morning with Pam and I went to Orlando to the airport. Florida people, you get it, right?) I had offered to go get them in my car by myself, since my car gets much better gas mileage but doesn't really fit four of us all that comfortably. And Pam, Jared, and Jordan were at our house, so it was nice of one of us to stay and hang out with me. So, my philosophy is that I will take this ticket and divide it by the number of years I have been driving. In that case, it wasn't that bad at all.

We are taking Rob and Christy to Disney, to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. Christy is really excited, since she hasn't been since she was eight. She printed a map of the park and made a list of things she wants to do. We are having lunch at Tony's Town Square Restaurant (it's the restaurant that Lady and the Tramp eat spaghetti and meatballs behind in the movie). I'm looking forward to it. I am going to save all your posts to read tomorrow on my cell phone (since I am way behind from being busy with company) while I wait for the other three to get off the bumpy rides that I can't go on. Mainly the mountain rides, Space, Splash, and Big Thunder. Nothing jerky or overlly bumpy. I'm not worried about things like Pirates or Haunted Mansion. And I need to go to sleep now! We are getting up early tomorrow because Christy wants to be there when the park opens.

Busy

Today has been very, very busy. In the morning, we had the walkthrough on our house. This was the one where they show us how to use everything. We have the final walkthrough next Thursday and close on Friday.

After we got back, I went with Pam to pick out her wedding dress. We had to drive to Tampa, to the nearest David's Bridal and it took us an hour and a half to get there because of traffic. She picked out the dress that I liked the best (and now I feel that I was too much of an influence but I don't think she could have been convinced if she didn't like it the best anyway). She bought the dress and brought it home today. We are very efficient. She also got the bra and a veil, but the veil had to be ordered. She's wearing my fluffy slip thing and probably borrowing my tiara.

I'm nearly done cleaning the house for company and we are picking up Rob and Christy at the airport tonight. (They don't get in until 10:00pm.) Rob was one of Matt's roommates in college. I'll be meeting Christy for the first time tonight. I've very excited to see Rob again (cause I love him) and I'm excited that I get to meet Christy before the wedding. (When she'll be all busy and I wouldn't really get to know her at all.)

Pam, Jared, and Jordan (Jared's younger brother, home from Iraq) are on their way over and we are going to dinner at the Alehouse.

Oh, and on the way home from David's Bridal, Pam and I stopped at Target for four minutes (literally, we timed it) and I bought two pairs of maternity jeans, two tops, and a pair of shorts. One pair of jeans didn't fit (but I am hanging on to for a while anyway, as they were too big but not ridiculously too big and were on sale) and one pair was highly ugly and uncomfortable. That pair, and one of the shirts, which looked weird, are going back. So, I ended up with one shirt (the same blue one from before, but brown this time) and a pair of jean shorts. I am not having luck with the maternity jeans. I think I am going to have to order online.

Celebration Throughout the Land

Because look, we did it!!!!! Thanks, so much everyone who helped and participated, donated and shopped!

Shopping and Dogs

I got a couple of new shirts yesterday. We went to all the stores that you guys recommended and more. I was most impressed with Sears because they had a fairly good selection of stuff in styles that I liked. I got three shirts there, two at JC Penney, and two at Burlington Coat Factory (which was a messy disaster). I think I am good for a little while.

We just had a TV repair guy come to our house to replace a part in our TV. (The bedroom TV had a yellow line down it, still under warranty.) The little dog hates strangers of all types. He barks, he growls, he quakes in fear, he retreats. This is all our fault because we accidentally didn't socialize him when he was a baby. The little dog hated the TV repair guy, of course. He hid in the other room the whole time he was here. At the very end, Matt and I were standing in the bedroom with the TV repair guy, checking to see if the TV was fixed. Of course, the little dog, requiring our presence for his protection, had to come with us or he would have been alone and likely died in the other room. The TV repair guy was ignoring the little dog completely. That is the little dog's ideal situation. In this situation, he slowly sneaks up behind the strange person and begins to sniff them. I cannot tell you how many times I have snorted laughter into my hands while a repairman/deliveryperson/etc. has their behind surreptitiously sniffed by my tiny dog.

Numbered List

1. I know, I haven't posted my menu list for this week. Sunday we didn't have real dinner because we both ate lunch so late. (Hi, Barb!) Monday, my mother-in-law was here and we went out. Tuesday I did the weeks grocery shopping and we had a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Tonight, Matt is taking me shopping and we'll probably eat out. Thursday, Matt's got plans to have us go to dinner and to see the new Indiana Jones movie with Pam and Jared. (They are taking the day off from work and they work nights.) And on Friday, Rob and his fiancee are coming to visit us. So, I really am not making any dinners this week.
2. My brother-in-law Mikey is coming down to help us move! Hooray! He is staying for ten days (or so, I haven't counted exactly). I love Mikey! He's so nice. He's nineteen now and I've known him since he was seven. (Yeah, Matt and I have been dating a long time and friends before that.) Mikey likes to stay with us because I cook good food for him. He is such a good audience to cook for ("Jen, this is so great that you must be trying to kill me.") that I make anything he wants. One time he came to visit me and said, with sad eyes, "Jen, you usually make brownies for me when I come." He had brownies within forty minutes.
3. The carpet is in the new house but I haven't taken pictures of it yet. It looks nice. I'll take pictures soon. I've also promised a good profile shot of me but I haven't gotten around to that yet either. Maybe on Monday for week 14?
4. I'm wearing a maternity shirt for the first time today and I am very self conscious. Self conscious, just sitting here in my living room, by myself.
5. Matt's taking me shopping tonight for some more clothes, since I am tired of having my pants unzipped. I like shopping with him because he always tells me if something looks good or not (and if it doesn't, he says that it is the shirt's fault) and I can always trust him. We will be going to all the stores that all of you recommended.
6. There was just a knock on the door and I got flowers from Matt's parents. The flowers appear to be dead, but perhaps they will come back to life when given some water, as they were shipped dry. Luckily they came with a vase, as all of mine are in storage, waiting for us to move again.
7. Matt came downstairs to see my flowers. He had been shaving his head when the flowers were delivered. His head was all patchy and he had a crooked mohawk down the back. I laughed really hard.
8. I ate half a chocolate bar with hazelnuts for breakfast. I bought myself some cinnamon bread to make toast with, but our toaster is in storage (because it is broken), so I have to make the toast in the oven. I am less inclined to do that, so I ate the rest of my candy bar. Now I shall have lunch. I'll eat something real, I promise.
9. Rob and his fiancee are coming for the weekend! I've never met Christy, so that is exciting. And we haven't seen Rob in years. I am thinking since Thanksgiving-ish 2004? He came down to help us move into our last Florida house. His wedding is in a month and a week.

Miracle Cures

Oh, I forgot. My mother-in-law* also brought my husband some berry juice that is going to cure his diabetes and his knee. Wonderful. We are very excited. I am so sure this is going to work. I mean, why use modern medicine when berries can create insulin and grow cartilage?

(Matt has no cartilage in his left knee. His bones rub on each other. Ouch. A medical research facility is growing a whole bunch of his cartilage in a lab and storing it, with the thought that some day, someone will figure out how to put it back in. Matt is one of the youngest patients (he was fifteen) to have this injury, so the odds are good that he will be in a trial for this someday.)

*My mother-in-law used to be a nurse. Her belief in all this ridiculous stuff always seems so at odds with that fact.

Gag Me

My mother-in-law is finally gone. She was here for something like eighteen total hours, eight of which I was asleep. But I could not wait for her to leave! (I was speeding on the way to drop her off at the airport, totally out of character for me.)

Apparently, when I got pregnant, I also lost my mind. At least that is what everyone seems to think. Obviously, I am stupid and cannot do any research on my own. Did you know that you can't go near cats when you are pregnant or your baby will die? I am also not allowed to go to Mexico on vacation. (Probably wasn't going to go anyway.) Not one thing that she told me was actually true at all.

When I first saw her, the first words out of her mouth were "hi, Mama, how's the baaaaybeeeeeee?" (I am against that kind of spelling, but otherwise you wouldn't get the point.) My answer was "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you had forgotten how to speak like an adult and by the way, I am not your mother, so never call me that again." Unfortunately (well, fortunately for family peace), I only said that in my head. I actually said something like "hi, fine, I think I am going to go to the bathroom before we get back in the car." For this, I got a knowing look, a smile, a pat on the shoulder, and immediately escorted to the nearest bathroom. (For the record, I didn't have to go at all, I just wanted to avoid her until the initial greetings were over.)

And in case you are wondering, I can still force my pants to zip (but not button) if threatened with the fear that my mother-in-law will try to touch my stomach. By sucking in my stomach the whole time she was here, I managed to convince her that I am not showing.

Did I mention that I had to drive her to the airport by myself this morning? (Matt had a meeting for work.) To the airport that is an hour and fifteen minutes away? Do you know how much stupid advice someone can give a captive audience in more than an hour? Apparently, I was dumb to be pregnant during summer because it is too hot. (Her kids were born in March, February, and June. Mikey, the June, was an oops baby and it is lucky that he wasn't any later in the year or it would have messed up her plans. June is even a bit late as it is.) And I'd better hope that my baby doesn't ever get the hiccups because apparently that drove her crazy.

Ack! For any future children, we will not be telling our families until the baby is born.

Maternity Clothes

Yesterday, I bit the bullet and bought myself maternity clothes. I am tired of none of my shirts covering up the fact that my pants are unzipped. I went to Target and picked out two different shirts in three minutes or less. I expected to not really like one of them and to really like the other. When I tried them on, it turned out the other way around. I will take back the polo shirt (it just looked weird) and keep the other shirt. (I can't figure out how to describe it so much except that it is blue. Wait, I've found an online link.) It is really cute. But Target had a really small selection of clothes and when I went to Sears Essentials later, they appeared to have none. So I am probably going to do some shopping online. Anyone have any suggestions? I have looked at Target and Old Navy so far. Think inexpensive t-shirts and jeans. :)

Blogger Meeting!

Our Florida bloggers meeting was a rousing success. That being said, only Barb and I were able to come! But I had a great time and Barb is totally awesome. We ate Mexican food and talked nonstop the whole time. I came home bubbling with excitement.

We are going to have to try to meet up with everyone else again soon. Hopefully in June, so start looking at your calendars!

Hot!

We went to our free dinner at Bonefish tonight and it was really nice. Everything was good and it only cost us $15 in tax and tip for the whole meal. I ate strawberry shortcake and it was delicious.

Our air conditioning went out today. Now, I'm sure most of you wouldn't have a huge problem with this at the moment, but it was already 89 degrees today IN THE HOUSE. The air conditioner was blowing air, but it wasn't cold. I called the emergency maintenance department and they sent someone out to fix it. Anyone want to guess what the problem was?











Allowing time to guess....









If you guessed that ants ate the electrical wiring in the outside unit, you win! I have to concede to poison outside to keep them from doing it again.

The air just came back on and the house is down to 88 degrees. It feels wonderful!

Poison Vs. Bugs

My mantra has always been: "I'd rather have the bugs than the poison." I stuck to that the last time we were in Florida (Florida is by far the biggest challenge because everything is just so alive everywhere). I'm even stricter about no poison now that I am creating a human in the early stages. But, oh, I am being tested.

Two weeks ago was the quarterly poison spraying of the townhouse block I live in. They spray four times a year, both inside and outside. A week before, I went to the leasing office and waived our townhouse, so that we would not be sprayed.

I was the only person to do so.

So, I am now living in the only poison free zone anywhere around here. (They do blocks of buildings at once, so it's not even just the ten townhouses connected to mine.) The bugs know this. They are well aware that I am living in the safe zone. I don't really mind bugs that much. Except for one kind. Ants.

Well, the ants are marching. So far, there aren't many in the house. I've squished probably ten ants and only in the kitchen and by my computer desk. They are also dying voluntarily as they march around the edge of the kitchen counter (from old poison before I moved in, see why I hate the stuff?) So, we are at probably less than fifty ants that have been inside and they are all currently deceased. But they are marching around my back door. It is only a matter of time before the whole lot of them moves in. I am hoping that we can beat them back for the next two/three weeks until we move to an ant free house. (Which will also have no poison, but it will take them longer to discover me.) I've been spraying soapy water all around the back door (keeps them off for two days at a time) and cleaning the kitchen religiously.

By the way, my background on anti-poison comes from living in Texas. Texas has roaches. I mean roaches so big that you can hear their little feet stomping across the kitchen floor when you are in bed at night. Everyone has them, it isn't a cleanliness thing like it can be in big cities. It is just that we are smack in the middle of their favorite territory and they aren't afraid of us. (Funny story. A family we knew used to live in Malaysia, where they had purchased blow guns. Their teenage boy used to shoot the roaches with the darts when they crawled on the ceilings. Okay, at least it is funny to people who used to live in Texas.) So, anyway, you can beat these roaches over and over with a shoe and they don't die. (They are about finger length long, for those of you who are lucky enough to have never met one in person.) You can cut off a roach's head and it won't die until it starves to death weeks later (I have never tested this personally). But this poison kills them and makes their guts ooze out. (Fun fact: roaches have white blood.) If I can't kill something by whacking it over and over with an object fifty times larger than it, I do not want to be personally exposed to something that can kill it easily. So, no poison for me.

Florida Bloggers Meeting

Okay, ladies, here's the final details. Sunday, May 18th, at 1:00pm at Abuelo's. Here is the address if you want to find your own way there. 3700 Lakeside Village Blvd. Lakeland, FL 33803 (I'm sending out directions via email.) Everyone is invited. If you said you wanted to come and haven't gotten an email from me, check your spam folders because I emailed everyone but haven't ever heard back from two of you. Or leave me a comment here and show up, but tell me you are coming because I will make a reservation. I'll send out an email with final directions.

Weekly Photo Challenge

Here is my entry to the weekly photo challenge at Exposaroonie.

I took these pictures at Universal Studios when Matt and I went for his free wrestling event. This was when we were waiting in line.


This kid was bored and entertaining himself by doing wrestling moves. (He's doing a Shawn Michaels kick, in case you really wanted to know.) He noticed that everyone was watching him and that I was taking his picture and he started to perform for the crowd.

And here are my runner's up.

Of course, he used this as a skateboard.

Just in case anyone is new here, I don't know any of these kids. These are random line kids.

And this isn't a good picture or anything, but seriously, check out this woman's pants.

You Make My Day

Katie at Taking the Statistical Bullet and Maria at Love Will Tear Us Apart nominated me for the You Make My Day award. (Yes, I got tears in my eyes. Oops, there they are again.)

I can't even begin to explain how much all of you have come to mean in my life. Each and every comment I get on my blog or email I get makes my day. (I actually stick out my bottom lip in pouting when I check my email and I don't have any!) Each one of you who has ever commented (with only three exceptions ever, which is pretty darn good) makes my day, every day.

I also have a couple of blog friends that have become real life friends. I haven't met them in person yet, but I can't think of them just as computer friends anymore.

Maria at Love Will Tear Us Apart. She always understands what I am going through and is always there for me. She has always been one of my greatest supporters and best friends.

Lindsay at Very Sleepy People. I love Lindsay and I adopted her ages ago. No, you can't have her, she's mine.

Geohde at Mission: Impossible. Geohde was the first person to ever comment on my blog. (Actually, she was the second, but the first person left one comment and never came back.) Geohde got me hooked on comments and is completely responsible for the fact that I comment on other people's blogs, because I know how much I like it. (In fact, I think I left my first comment ever on her site.) Besides all of that, she is also a real friend.

If I had time, I would go through my comments and list every single one of you, but I have to get back to actual work. So, please, consider yourself nominated and accept that you make my day, every day.

Tagged

I was tagged for this meme by KathyV.

Four things I did ten years ago:

1. I was already dating Matt.
2. I was a junior in high school. So was Matt.
3. I was working as a nanny for a family down the street. I worked four days a week, they had four girls, and I was grossly underpaid.
4. I can't remember anything else particularly noteworthy from this time period at all!

Four things I did five years ago:

1. I graduated college summa cum laude and got the award for most awesomeness in my major. (Sadly, the award was not called most awesomeness, but that is what it was for!)
2. I got married to Matt.
3. We lived in New Jersey in a small apartment that cost more than our much larger townhouse does now.
4. I was working as a daycare teacher at a terrible daycare.

Four things I did yesterday:

1. I had my nuchal scan ultrasound.
2. I got my doppler in the mail (finally, I swear we ordered it three weeks ago.)
3. We told everyone that I am pregnant.
4. We ordered Chinese food at ten o'clock at night and then I wasted it by throwing up. (I am mad about this. I have only thrown up now a total of four times in this three months and I had to lose good, expensive stuff?)

Four shows I love to watch:

1. 30 Rock
2. The Office
3. Ace of Cakes
4. Mythbusters
5. Can we have a shout out for Arrested Development, even though it isn't on anymore?

Four things that make me happy:

1. Backrubs
2. My husband
3. My lovely dogs
4. The thought that I am about to make it out of the first trimester

Okay, I tag Maria, to entertain her on her two week wait.

Out

We are officially out of the closet. People cried and screamed. Everyone is very excited.

Highlights of telling:

1. I called my sister first because I knew it would make her happy to be the first one to find out. I called her at work (I emailed her and told her I was going to call her after work and she fussed at me until I called her at work). I asked her if she would like to be an aunt. She said no. I told her it was too late. Then she got really excited and shouted to everyone within hearing distance. She says that the picture of the hand looks like a foot and more specifically a cat's foot.
2. I called my mom and asked her if she would like to be a grandmother. She squeaked out yes and then cried. She asked me what colors we will using in the nursery and has started working on a quilt already.
3. Whenever I talk to my dad on the phone, the conversation begins with "Yo, the JB" (JB were my initials before I got married, that is what my dad has called me since I was born) and I say "Yo, the dad." So, this time, after my mom handed my dad the phone, I said "Yo, the grandpa." He said "what's going on?" And then I said "well, weren't you listening to the first statement?" He then told me that my mom's ears were going to fall off because she was smiling so big.
4. Matt's mom informed Matt that she will be able to tell the gender of the baby based on looking at me and my amount of radiance. Matt has never heard any of those old wives tales before and he informed her that was witchcraft. He then told her that she could guess all she likes and that she was 50% likely to be right.
5. Matt's littlest brother is still in college. He was going into the dining hall when Matt called him. Matt told him and Mikey said "Holy cow, holy cow, holy cow, hang on, a lot of people are looking at me." So, he is very happy and he is going to call us back after he eats dinner.
6. Everyone else is happy but their stories were less interesting. My mom hung up the phone with me saying "now I have to call everyone I know."
7. Oh, and I sent my mom the ultrasound pictures (actually, we sent them to everyone) but my mom reviewed them over the phone with me. She couldn't see the baby in the earliest one I sent her (you know, the humanoid one). So, I circled it in Paint and then sent it again. Then she wanted to know what she was looking at so I was trying to describe the nose. I then drew an arrow pointing to the nose and sent it to her. She said "that's what I was looking at!"

So, everyone is happy and there is no going back now.

Appointment Update

I am back from my nuchal scan. I don't have the results yet. But the technician said that everything looked good. The baby's heartbeat was 157. It is measuring twelve weeks, two days- one day ahead (again, by my dates, not the stupid OB's dates). (Technically, since I usually have 26 day cycles, it is possible that the baby is measuring exactly on or one day small. But I figured if I counted by a 26 day cycle, I would have to fight with the OB's office every time it came up. I figured this was close enough. But by my calculations, I ovulated on Sunday, not Monday.)

Only the main office has an ultrasound technician. (I usually have my appointments at the satellite office and the OB does all ultrasounding.) So, Matt and I went to the main office and it was SO much nicer than my normal one. It isn't that much further, I am thinking about maybe switching. The ultrasound machine at the satellite office has a screen that is about two inches. This ultrasound room had a big screen TV on the wall. It was awesome. We saw the baby blown up to about two-year old size.

The only problem was that my placenta is on top of my cervix. The technician asked me if I had any bleeding. Ah ha, the cause of the bleeding is discovered! But the placenta is only a little bit on top of my cervix and she says that she thinks it is moving up. So it really shouldn't be a problem. I have another appointment (in the good office with the giant screen) in four weeks to make sure that it has moved. This technician was really good too, showing us what everything was and letting us look for a long time.

Now, pictures of the wiggly baby. This is a close up of the face. (As soon as she put the probe on my stomach, she exclaimed "the baby is in the perfect spot, I am going to measure right now!" We like babies that behave themselves.)

And a teensy hand, with four fingers and a thumb. The ultrasound technician said it was so cute. (See, independent verification that I have a wonderfully behaved and adorable child.)

Look!

Look! Up there! A new header for my blog! I am just SO COOL now that I cannot stand it.


This header was created by Calliope. She customed designed it just for me. You should have her make one for you too! I have been wanting my own header for ages and ages. Then, Cali posted this post and I immediately thought "perfect!"

First I emailed her and told her that I had no idea what I wanted. Then I went to sleep and dreamed about a header. I woke up and found that she had already made me a really cute one! But I asked her to make my dream header and she didn't even complain that she had already made me a header. So, she made it with my picture on it. And I told her it looked too much like me! She did it again. Now it was amazingly perfect, so I put it on my blog. Wait, I forgot the part where she had to teach me how to put it on my blog. Okay, she taught me how to put it on my blog. Then it didn't fit perfectly because of the layout I have. She resized it and did something to the colors to make it even more beautiful.

So, get your own beautiful header! It's affordable! She designs, she creates, she fixes! She doesn't complain no matter how many changes you make! (And believe me, you can't be more annoying than I was.)

Do you think that perhaps this post has more exclamation points than perhaps any other post of mine ever? Can you tell that I am excited to have the coolest blog ever?

Closet

Tomorrow morning is my nuchal scan. If everything is looking good with the baby (just in general, not so much based on my Down Syndrome odds), we are coming out of the closet. I am surprisingly terrified about this. Matt asked me yesterday if I was excited to tell everyone and I realized that no, I am not excited at all, I am terrified. I am afraid of tempting fate. I am also afraid of always having to act excited and not scared. I am also not looking forward to answering "fine" ten million times when people ask me how I am feeling. (Matt, sweetly, asks me once a day and only once a day.) I don't want people touching my stomach. I want to remain in my terrified cocoon without having to put on a mask for the world.

I know we don't have to tell. But we have to tell at least Pam and Jared, as they can see me. And if we don't tell the family members soon, they are all going to be mad we waited this long. (In fact, I am expecting a little annoyance that I've already known for two months and not told anyone.) Plus, everything is looking more than fine this time and I don't really believe that I can jinx anything. But I am still scared.

For those of you who have come before me, how did you handle this? Did you just hide your insecurities from everyone else? I know that is what I will do, but I am also a terrible liar. I am going to have to get some nice answers prepared for all the questions. (By the way, what kind of stupid question is "are you excited about the baby" anyway? Does anyone expect me to say no? It seems like people ought to realize that it is a stupid question.)

I am twelve weeks today. Yes, the ticker says twelve weeks, one day, but it is wrong. It was a day off for a while when it was down at the bottom and then corrected itself without me doing anything. (I tried to fix it, but all the information was entered correctly.) When I moved it up to the side, it went a day off again. I assume it will fix itself eventually again. I am guessing it is some kind of error due to leap year. But my weeks switch over on Mondays, for those of you that care.

Stand Up

Last year, on Mother's Day, our church asked all the mothers to stand up for a round of applause. We had been trying then for months and I sat as all the women around me stood to be recognized.

This year, I am telling all of you to stand up for your round of applause. If you are a mother. If you are a mother to children that didn't get to be born. If you are a mother to children that haven't yet been conceived. If you are a mother in the past. If you are a mother in the future. If you are a mother in the two week wait. If you are a mother who has suffered nothing but disappointments.

I still consider you a mother. Stand up for your round of applause.

Picture Saturday

We didn't go to the house yesterday, so sadly you had to wait until today to drool over my washer and dryer.


Here I am, with my washer and dryer. They are so beautiful! (Notice the big t-shirt I am wearing and the strategically tied long sleeve shirt, even though it is like 95 degrees today.)

This is Jared's dog, Coby, who loves me. She's deaf. Whenever I am at their house, she sits at my feet so that I can pet her with my feet or puts her head between my knees like this so that I can scratch her ears.

Back to the house. This is the dishwasher, recently installed.

And the faucet on the kitchen sink. So very pretty!

The stove and oven. Unfortunately, gas stoves were not an option, so I had to get a stupid electric one.

And this is a giant, unknown bug that Trin and I found outside the apartment. That is my hand so that you can see how big the bug is.

Lottery

I've been winning a LOT of international lotteries lately. I just won the Microsoft British lottery for like 300,000 pounds. But, I didn't respond to the email. Oh, well. I figure if I win a real lottery, they probably won't just email me to claim my money. Plus, it is likely that I would have to, you know, enter first.

Lots of new stuff is happening at the house. I haven't been over there with the camera yet, but I will try to go this afternoon. So, perhaps, if you are very lucky, you will get to see my new stove and my new washer and dryer this afternoon! (I am drooling over the washer and dryer. I admit to actually kissing them.)

Exposaroonie!

PhotoPie is out and Exposaroonie is in! This week's challenge was bad habits. Well, I am ridiculously good and angelic. But I have a few bad habits. I present you with: Chocolate!

Picture taken of my empty wrappers (seriously, I am about to start buying these things in bulk) sitting on my stomach.


And my other bad habit is apparently not cleaning the bathroom mirror.

I promise a better belly shot later, but it was requested and this was the best I could do on short notice. Yeah, it's a terrible picture. I know.

Oh, yeah, Vote for Me!

Lumpy

I've always been slim. My condition is starting to become fairly obvious to the general public. I am catching people taking quick glances at my mid-section. It is not so obvious yet that anyone would dare ask, but there are starting to be glances by strangers. (We are coming out of the closet after my next appointment, so probably next weekend. It is only Pam and Jared that we have to fool for another weekend, as they are the only ones who can see me.)

The master closet door is in the wrong place in the new house. Apparently. We went to sign some papers at the office yesterday and the house lady asked us why they were tearing up our bathroom. We had no idea, so we went to look. We found a giant hole in the bathroom wall and one of the builders (Ed) looking at house plans. Apparently, in the confusion of our house first being under Andrew, and then Juliet, and now apparently Ed as well, the closet door was put in the wrong place. They are covering up the old one (in the bedroom) and tearing a hole in the bathroom for a new door. Matt and I prefer it the new way because now we can put our dresser along that wall. I will have to go over tonight with the camera to capture this for you.

What should I eat for lunch? Remember, I work at home, so I can actually cook myself lunch, but it still needs to be quick. I've been craving sandwiches lately because I can't have them. I don't even LIKE sandwiches. Matt eats ham (yuck) and swiss cheese (yuck) on brown bread (yuck) for his lunch and it looks SO good. So, what do I do to the lunch meat? Heat it to sizzling, right? Then I am allowed to eat it, right? Now, can I bring it all home from the store and sizzle it all at once or do I have to do it right before eating it? Lots of non-sandwich suggestions would be good too. What did you have for lunch today?

Two Things

First of all, I just got one of those bella band things in the mail. (Except mine is a Target band, since I love Target.) I refuse to ever wear pants without it again. It rocks and I am never taking it off. Why didn't I get one of these before now? (Ah, yes, I remember now, too terrified.)

Second thing. Look what Pam has living in her backyard:
She's named it Thomas and her dogs love it. Ah, Florida. Land of stuff that is alive.

All Together Now

Okay, everyone all together now. Pray, hope, and wish for Maria and Cole's little embabies. Her transfer is today. Now, I am psychic and I know it is going to work, but we are all going to help it along with the force of our will. That's right, use the Force. I really, really want this to work and I will have severely upset with the Universe if it does not. Seriously, I will cry a lot.

So, everybody, all at once. All day long. Use all of your powers and tell those embryos to stick in there for another thirty eight weeks.

Hear that, embryos? There is no better place to be! You will be very comfortable. She'll buy you candy! (When you get teeth. Or before, whatever.) Ice cream! Cake! Playgrounds! No chores! Seriously, she is offering premium living conditions. (Watch me get in trouble in ten years when her kids demand cake and no chores and have something in writing to back them up.)

Stay!

Bored Yet?

Look, landscaping!

Trees, bushes, and grass! The sprinklers work too.

The hood over the oven! (No oven yet.) I chose black appliances. They look nice with the cabinets, right? Right?

Look, plugs! We also have air conditioning ducts and such. You are lucky that I didn't take pictures of all of them!

Attack!

Allow me to present you with a reenactment of what JUST happened at my house.



(Clicking on the image zooms in. At least it does on MY computer.)

Yes, a raccoon just looked over the fence. I was just working away at my desk (in full view of this window) when Trin started barking RED ALERT. I glanced at the window, expecting to see a kid on a bike or something similar. No, a raccoon, looking over the fence. I then looked to where my camera sits EVERY SINGLE DAY but it was not there. (Blame Emily and Ashley. I took my camera upstairs last night to take my picture for my Exposaroonie Weekly Photo Challenge. Then I didn't take the picture because I laid down in bed instead. But blame them, it is clearly their fault.)

So, camera-less, I ran to the sliding glass door and began banging on it. (The plan is to scare that raccoon away good so it doesn't come back. They have apparently become wise to my plan of leaving the garbage inside the fence.) Trin continued to bark like crazy. The raccoon stared at me for a good ten seconds (thinking "I could take you") before running away. After it got a good head start, I let Trin outside to bark at it. (As part of the scare-away plan, but also keep the cute doggy safe from crazy-out-in-the-daylight raccoon.)

But, the reenactment photo looks almost exactly like the real thing. I have looked back at the fence about a million times since this happened.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is really just a recipe post for meatballs because you already know how to make spaghetti! (Actually, you probably know how to make meatballs too, but a boiling pasta post would be boring. And my meatball recipe is weird.)

Okay, so we'll start with a beaten egg and throw in some terriyaki sauce. (I don't measure, so you can't either.)




Now, crush up about this many crackers.

Use a plastic bag and a rolling pin. A rolling pin is so much easier than using one of those little poundy hammers.

Add your cracker crumbs to your egg/terriyaki sauce mixture. It gets kind of an oatmeal-like consistency. (I hate oatmeal.)

Cook about a cup of rice. This is instant brown rice, that I cooked in the microwave.

Add one pound of ground beef. I posted the pictures of me opening the ground beef because I HATED these little rolls of ground beef until I figured out how to use them. So, in case any of you still hate them, here's how to love them. Use a sharp knife and slit right down the side of the package. (I used to try to pry the metal things off of the ends and that does not work at all.)

Then squeeze the meat out of the slit.

Here are all the ingredients in the bowl, ready for mixing. I decided to throw a little more terriyaki sauce in there. (I over did it a bit, you might not want to add the extra.)

Use a big spoon and mix everything up.

Dump the meat mixture out on to some wax paper. Make it into a rectangle shape. (I just folded the wax paper around it so that it stayed nice and even and didn't get my hands gross.) Score the meat with a knife into even squares. Mine was a six by four, I believe.

Pull the meat off along your score marks and roll into balls. Put the meatballs into a big pan. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

When they get all nice and brown (and smell delicious and sizzle on the bottoms), they are done. Take them out of the oven. Squish one meatball into oblivion to make sure they are brown all the way through. If they aren't, stick them back in the oven for a while.

Put your lovely meatballs on top of pasta and sauce. We use lower carb pasta (hence the rotini instead of spaghetti) and I make my own sauce using pureed canned tomatoes. (Get pureed canned tomatoes, stick in a pan, add a couple of spices- mostly garlic and onion powder, and lots of parmesan cheese. Jarred tomato sauce has tons of sugar in it! Sugar! In pasta sauce! It is crazy.)

I should also add the steps of telling your tiny dog to stop whining the whole time you are making the meatballs. He likes meatballs and he likes to assist me when I am making them by informing me (over and over) that he can taste test them for me. He got a couple once they were done.

I've Been Spotted

Okay, first things first. There was a basket full of baby kittens outside Wal-Mart today. The only reason we don't have one now (or two) is because Matt and I are both allergic. I mean, seven week old kittens, how much cuter can you get?

Matt and I have had a bet on which of us would be recognized first. (I mean, by someone we knew from when we lived here before who didn't know we were back.) Matt and I both thought it would be him and he's been dreading it. (He didn't like a lot of the people he worked with before.) I thought it would be him mainly because most of my people were children and they don't have the longest memory spans for things that happened years ago.

Well, I won today in Wal-Mart. I was walking up one of the aisles and I saw Ivory, a little girl who was in my summer school. She was walking towards me and when she saw me, she actually stopped in her tracks and stared. I looked at her in mock surprise and excitement. Then she ran to me and gave me one of those firm kid hugs around the waist that I have missed so much. (I think those are the only thing I really miss from teaching. Well, the kid hugs and the hilarious, ridiculous things they said and did.)

I am actually pretty surprised that she remembered me as well as she did. She was in my summer school and her mom taught in the daycare. Ivory would come to our school after she got out of school (she went to public school) and would hang out with my class when we were on the playground. She liked me lots and everything, but I wasn't her teacher except for summer school. She didn't really see me all that much.

I talked to her parents for a while. Her mom told me that she no longer works there and that the school is probably going to be closing. (I actually heard that it was going to close right after I left and I am surprised that it is still open. It sucked.) Ivory told me that she is in fifth grade (she was in second last time I saw her) and that her grade point average is 3.33.

Overall, it was a very satisfactory encounter that made me grin the rest of the time I was there.

Weekend Update

Every night before/as we go to sleep, Matt and I watch DVDs of Seinfeld. We both like the show, but we've seen them all many times. This makes it perfect for bedtime entertainment. It is interesting enough to keep you from thinking and keeping yourself awake, but familiar enough that it doesn't keep you awake.

Last night, I went to bed long before Matt. I turned on the Seinfeld DVD. And fell asleep before the menu loaded. When Matt came up hours later, the menu was running over and over. I figure that is a fall asleep time of about forty seconds.

***

I've had to add some side dishes to my weekly menu list on the sidebar. I may have to add vegetables next because apparently when I don't right them down, I don't make them.

On the other hand, I am really excited about this week's menu. It sounds really yummy right now. (And yes, I plan the menu myself every week.)

***

I've now thrown up a total of twice for this whole pregnancy. The first time was after I cleaned out the refrigerator and found a cucumber that was so old, it was limp and leaking. The second time was just now, a week later, when I was in the shower and just thinking about that cucumber.

I will not be buying any more cucumbers until December.

***

Someone asked me a little while ago where I am weeks-wise. I have a ticker at the very bottom of my blog. (See, way down there.) Do you want me to move it up to the side where it will be easier to see?

(Also, I'll be eleven weeks tomorrow. Last time at eleven weeks, I had an ultrasound that declared an empty uterus. Although, I don't know what they were thinking because I lost the sac after that, a lump of something else, and more blood than I thought could have fit in there.)

***

My pants now only button if I lean back. Sitting up straight, nope.

You Are What You Eat

Yes, that is my doughnut maker next to the jar of pickles. Yum.

(I didn't actually eat them together, just in quick succession. And it was good. Matt was disgusted.)

A Picture is Worth...

What is the point of having a tiny, little dog if you cannot shave geometric patterns into him for your own entertainment?

House Update

We got the date for the closing on our house. It will be May 29th. (Yes, I had only one other appointment scheduled for all of May, my doctor's appointment, and they are at the EXACT same time.)

So, here are some pictures of the house.

The countertops are in! Here is a shot that shows the countertop, the cabinet, and the tile floor together.

And here is a close up of the countertop. It is granite. Matt wanted granite and I picked the color.