Life Without Dragons

River Dog

2012-01-30T09:10:00.000-08:00

River was our fifth pet, our second dog. Lets face it, she never was a great fit with our lifestyle. River was very energetic and she needed real obedience/discipline. DH and I are pretty sedentary and we have no "stick to it" so to speak so real discipline did not happen. She can be so incredibly cute and sweet at sometimes! She loves to lay as close to you as possible (or on top of you), and despite our fears she was good with baby, very concerned if baby was OK. However, she also would chew up anything, she had some resource guarding issues, she would get restless in the evenings and want to play fight with our other dog in the middle of our small family room. She has such short hair that she has no tolerance for cold. The short version of this story then is that when we decided to move to Minnesota, we had to seriously consider what to do about River. There was three main problems - our general lack of control of her, her being unwelcome at our interim home of my parents house due both to her temperament and my mom's allergies, and finally the problem with her cold tolerance. We ended up deciding we couldn't keep her and if at all possible it would be better for her to be left in Ohio where the weather is not so extreme. We found a rescue for her to go to, but at the last minute my aunt and cousin decided to take her in. We are simultaneously very relieved and happy to have her in a good home, and very guilty feeling because (1) we feel like we "dumped" her on my cousin, who has taken in many dogs that her friends/family have made poor decisions in adopting and (2) we failed to live up to our own standards of pet ownership.

And that is what this post is really about, the fact that I feel like a complete hypocrite. I think I have always been sort of a hypocrite when it comes to pet care, but this takes the cake. I have always believed that when you take on a pet they are not just a possession or a luxury, but a living creature you are responsible for and cannot just decide to get rid of because it would be convenient. I generally dislike the idea of getting rid of a pet for any reason besides their own best interest. This is why when I talk about our decision to re-home River I tend to emphasize the weather, but in all honesty the pure convenience had just as much to do with it. The fact is, I am a hypocrite and need to deal with that and probably will feel guilty for the next ten years about giving up River. That, and as nice as it is to not deal with her bad behavior, I really do miss her cuteness.

In Duluth

2012-01-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of posts I want to write that I have not gotten to because the last week has been so crazy. I do intend to post about our dog, River, that we left in Columbus. I would also like to make a "farewell Columbus" post. Hopefully I will get to both of these in the next week as things settle down, but I thought it was important to first tell you all in the blogopshere that we made it safe and sound to Duluth.

Sunday - We went to my Grandma's house in Mt Vernon, where we met up with my brother, older sister, and BIL. Benji got to meet his Great Grandma and one of his Great Uncles, as well as the two uncles and aunt.

Monday through Wednesday - We spent these three days packing, cleaning, repairing. My BIL brought his truck and a 28 foot car trailer for us to pack into. He also has mad skills when it comes to anything carpentry related, so he set to work fixing the various things pets have eaten or broken. We never would have made it out of that house without all of their help. I was tied down by baby and physical limitations, so my sister did the majority of the actual packing into boxes while the boys did all sorts of cleaning and moving furniture and packing into the trailer. It was an insane three days!! Wednesday night the house was entirely empty and we stayed in a hotel nearby.

Thursday - After an hour at the house for final walk through and to pick up the pets, we were on the road!! But then we hit traffic leaving Cbus, and then we stopped because the guys decided we needed a heavier duty trailer hitch, and then our Buick had a nearly flat tire... but we did get moving eventually and amazing enough Benjamin was not the cause of any of the delays. He was a champ, mostly just slept while I was incredibly productive with the pump for breast milk. I averaged 2.5-3 oz per pumping, and this was off of one side each time! I was not expecting to do that well. We drove all the way up to Manistique MI that night, where my sister with her vet connections had arranged for us to be able to leave the pets overnight in a vet clinic. The night itself was rough. The baby had slept so much during the day he did not want to sleep much overnight and he wanted to be held all night. I took the brunt of the lack of sleep on so that DH would be alert to drive... not fun.

Friday - After Breakfast with my sister's vet friend, we made the last 6 hrs of the drive to Duluth. It went relatively smoothly though we hit some bad weather in Wisconsin that slowed us down, but we made it eventually. When we got to my parents house the sun came out like some cheesy made for TV movie. I again was tied down by the baby while everyone else helped move us in. We are staying in two bedrooms in my parents house - one has the bed and one dresser, the other has a couple more dressers, our desktop computer, our rocker, and all the baby stuff. It was a challenge to figure out what needed to come off the trailer and what could stay on there "in storage" - quite stressful actually and there are still some "necessary" items that has not been found, but all the help was amazing.

And that is the story of our move! DH starts his new job tomorrow (Monday). I need to get us unpacked, get our address switched over with everyone, start applying for jobs, and start looking for housing. What an adventure! We really took the plunge and are In Duluth!

Three Weeks Old!!

2012-01-25T23:35:00.001-08:00

Benjamin is now 3 weeks old! We introduced the pacifier and he likes it a lot. It has made breastfeeding slightly more difficult, but no major problems, it just takes him longer to latch. It certainly hasn't hurt his nutrition - as of yesterday UW weighed 9 lbs 13 oz!! Holy chunker Batman! He still is eating pretty much every two hours. How much sleep I get varies greatly from night to night. I am actually typing this on DH's phone at 3am waiting for him to be asleep enough to put down.
Today is a day of firsts for him. It is moving day! First road trip, first crossing of the Mackinac
Bridge, first motel stay... By tommorrow night he will have been in four states!
My recovery isn't going as fast as I had thought it would. That has become (literally) painfully obvious in the past three days as we have packed etc. I still have a lot of muscular and skeletal pain in my nether regions, and intermittent skin/stitch pain. My tolerance for standing is very low. But it is improving so I am sure things will return to normal eventually!!

Two Weeks Old!

2012-01-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Benjamin is 2 weeks old today! How crazy is that? It simultaneously seems like we have had him forever and like we just got home. He is the cutest baby ever, though I may be biased, and he is growing so fast. We already have one newborn outfit that he wore his second day home and then when we put it on him a day or two ago he hardly could stretch his legs in it. We weighed him on Monday and he is up to 8lbs15oz - that is 9 oz weight gain in 6 days! What a big growing boy. He still eats like a champ, too often for my liking but we are working on having better feedings with more time in between... I will let you know how that goes. He has a lot of head control! Its crazy how much he can hold his head up sometimes. We go through a lot of diapers and almost as many outfits. He has a lovely habit (which I had heard of with boys), of peeing as soon as we get his diaper off. Fun stuff. His umbilical cord fell off on Saturday night and he had his first bath yesterday. He actually seemed to like the warm water!! I will try to post the videos from that bath on google+ . That is all I can think of to update you on... did I mention is is adorable?

Confession

2012-01-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

I admit it. I am incredibly anxious about the upcoming move. Not so much the logistics, but as much as we have wanted and talked about moving to Duluth, actually having it happen so quickly is incredibly nerve wracking. I worry if we are making the right decision. I worry about whether the finances will work out. I worry about if we have more here in Columbus than we realize and will regret the move. I worry that DH will be unhappy. I worry that I will be unhappy. Those are the big ones.

I keep returning to this George Eliot quote, a mantra of sorts, "Some discouragement, some faintness of heart at the new real future which replaces the imaginary is not unusual." Its a reminder that what we imagine something will be like is never actually how it feels when it happens, and that that is normal and we need to give ourselves a chance to adjust to change, even change we want. OK. I am not sure that is what George Eliot meant at all, but this is what it means to me.

I just wanted to admit how nervous I am. That is all.

Weight

2012-01-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

My weight history:

In high school I weighed around 145lbs and considered it a healthy, athletic weight.
I went off to college and gained some Freshman weight, oscillated between 150-155 lbs. If I put any effort into losing it whatsoever (like giving up soda for lent), I would drop it off easily.
I went to Europe in Spring 2005 and gained a ton because of yummy food, got up to 160-165, but I lost it rapidly when I got home and went back to oscillating between 150-155.
At the end of 2005 I got engaged and made a New Years Resolution to work out, took a step class (loved it!), cut back on soda and snacking, and dropped weight, gained muscle, it was awesome. I got down to my goal weight of 145 lbs, which I still considered my healthy weight, and then kept dropping weight as the wedding day approached. On my wedding day I weighed an amazingly light, sleek, sexy, slender 142 lbs.
Of course that weight did not stay off and was happy to stay around 150. I went to grad school and used the gym regularly but not hardcore. Then I slacked off for a while and gained weight, got up to 155, maybe 160. I made an attempt to lose this weight again, but it wouldn't come off even with some better attempts on diet and gym.
In 2009 I was diagnosed with hypothyroid, which explains the sudden inability to lose weight. I was hovering around 160 pretty much no matter what I did.
I gradually crept up to 165-168 range because I was trying to get pregnant and did not want to exercise too hard or limit calories too much. I finally got pregnant and had said that this range (165-168) is my pre-pregnancy weight. At 5'8", this is the cusp of overweight w/a BMI of 25.5.
Through the first trimester I gained almost no weight, maybe a couple of pounds. I had moderate weight gain in the second trimester, and then put on a ton in the third trimester. DH and I watched in suspense as my weight crept towards 200lbs. When I hit that, we watched for it to reach 203, so I would weigh the same as football player Barry Sanders at the peak of his career (he was also 5'8"). I did hit 203. I even had one weigh in at 206, but I would say my end pregnancy weight was 203-204 lbs. In other words, I gained a total of around 40 lbs.

So what is this post really about? It was spurred by finally having a chance today to get a post-partum weight. I had no idea what to expect. I feel relatively slender all considered. My belly is down to "pooch" size, and I don't see exactly where weight needs to come off. Today my friends came to visit and I had them bring a scale, as ours has been out of commission for quite awhile. The results? 172 lbs. Holy Crap. I never imagined it would be so low!! I mean, it could be off by a few pounds, but any number in that ballpark is amazing! I guess it really was the "right kind" of pregnancy weight (all baby and water etc).

That means that I only have 5-10 lbs to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight. And my "pooch" is still shrinking on its own. AND, according to my husband, all my weight gain is currently in my boobs. LOL. Granted, in an ideal world I will keep losing beyond 165 lbs and get back down to 155 at least... but, its nice having such a great starting point.

The Move

2012-01-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

About 12 days left in Columbus and counting. There is a ton to do, and I have not been focused on it at all of course with a little man to take care of. Unsurprising. Now that I can use the stairs more than once a day (although I am still sore and limiting exertion), and people have started to come to help, it is time for me to pull this back onto a front burner. Some random info about the move, in case you are interested:

- My ILs are here this weekend. Their main purpose for the trip was to meet our little bry guy, however since they are here, and really all baby does is sleep, they are going to help us in the packing/cleaning department.

- My friend R who moved to CA last fall is in town for a visit, hoping we can tackle my closet tomorrow in an hour or two. It is hard to figure out what to keep and what to purge when I am not even sure what will fit me next week, let alone in 6 months.

- The brigades arrives on Jan 22nd - My older sister, BIL, brother, and FSIL. They will be here for about three days helping us pack, clean, and do some minor fixes around the house. They are even bringing the 28 ft trailer we will be packing into.

- Those four, plus DH, will be driving, with 4-5 pets, to Duluth. I will probably be flying with baby.

- When we get to Duluth, DH, baby and I will be living with my parents. They have cleared out two bedrooms for our use. The cats will be headed to my sisters heated garage/workshop, and the dog(s) will be with us at my parents house.

Wish us all a lot of luck - we need it!!

The First Few Days

2012-01-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

Its hard to describe what the first few days with a new baby is like. I feel like you either have already been there, or you have no idea and are not going to "get it" no matter what I write. But, I figure I should try.

First, in terms of hospital/insurance, the birth time of 1:55am was a great advantage for us. The day the baby is born is "day zero" no matter what time of day the event occurs. If he had been born before midnight, Wednesday would have been day zero, Thursday day one, and we would have been discharged Friday morning. Instead, Thursday was day zero, Friday day one, and we got released Saturday. It basically gave us a full extra day to recover and get used to baby while in the hospital. This made being released much less nerve wracking then it may have been otherwise.

DH and I are pretty laid back. I thought this was true, but this experience (the beginnings of parenthood) has confirmed it. In the delivery room, the midwife kept saying "she is as controlled as an epidural patient." I believe this means I was able to listen to her directions and follow them even though I was in pain. Then, on our second day in the hospital, a nurse came in to go over all of the "release" directions with me and she got 5 minutes in before asking "which child is this for you"? And she was shocked when I said the first, she said I was not acting like a first time mom. She is not the only nurse that commented that we were "doing great" and "very calm".

But I am getting off track. What I wanted to say is that the early days, this first week, has gone so fast and so slow. As a new parent, time just slips by. As new to breast feeding, I immediately started thinking in terms of 2 hour chunks, which fly by. In the hospital and when we first got home I could never tell where they went. At night especially. You feed the baby, change a diaper, maybe use the restroom yourself, go to lay the baby down, and realize that theoretically you should be up again in an hour or less to do it again. This of course will get better quickly as baby sleeps longer, as we no longer need to wake the baby up to build supply, but it was quite surprising early on. And while this time is slipping by so quickly, you also can't believe how long it seems you have had the baby. The nurse commented late Thursday that baby's behavior would change as he reached the one day mark, and it was astounding to both of us he was not yet a day old.

Similarly strange to the passage of time is the passage of worries. As a new parent, there is worry after worry, and when you are amongst them, they seem so permanent, and then they resolve and you realize you really were only stressing about something for hours but it seemed so crucial or impossible for that short time. For example, I spent most of Saturday late morning/afternoon worrying that he was having trouble latching with my milk in. By Saturday night he was latching like a champ, and looking back on how the day went I realized I had spent a lot of energy on a problem that occurred and resolved in a matter of hours without almost any active action from me. It had seemed so much more significant than it was. And that is how the first week of parenthood is - you spend a lot of energy and time worrying about problems that will hardly last because you and baby will learn. So, best to relax and enjoy it!

He's Here! - Birth Story

2012-01-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

Benjamin Robert was born on January 5th at 1:55AM!!! Labor went really well, I was very fortunate and could not be happier with my birth experience.

The Birth Story (this is not horribly graphic but still may be TMI for some peeps)
I was in labor all day Wednesday, but not very painful at all, and contractions were somewhat irregular so I was not sure it was the real thing. When I got home aound 3:45pm they got slightly worse and regular (7 minutes apart), and then stayed that way until DH got home around 6pm. We sat for a bit, he walked the dogs, and then I went up for a shower. After the shower the contractions worsened significantly. I ended up getting sick/vomiting. DH came upstairs to clean it up and I sat down in a camping chair in front of our computer. A few minutes later my water broke... and boy there is a lot of it! DH and I could not believe how much there was! It was actually fortunate where I was sitting and all because its a cheap chair and it is water resistant material, so the water pooled instead of going all over the floor. DH immediately started rushing around - put the dogs up, got me clean clothes and such, packed the hospital bag, loaded the car. I got dressed and gathered myself and we headed down to the car, and off to the hospital. I got "checked in" around 8:20pm and was 5cm dilated with contractions about 3 minutes apart. I refused the epidural when I got there and did not have to refuse again, and hardly even thought of it. I think that once I got to the hospital I probably spent 80% of the time with my eyes closed. The time line gets really iffy at this point for me. It went so fast though. I had a lot of back labor. After a while on the yoga ball and then in a rocking chair I really needed to use the restroom, but I know this can be a "trick" your body plays so I asked my nurse and they checked me out, I was up to 7 cm. I went to try and use the bathroom and this posture worsened the sped up the contractions significantly. We moved back to the bed and it seems like only 2-3 contractions later they were setting me up to push. Those were the worst though - the contractions when I wanted to push but they said I was not ready. Once we started pushing it was much easier. Painful but pain that I knew was productive and had more control over. I pushed for awhile, but neither DH or I really know how long. It was longer than they expected, they kept saying how close to done I was but it just kept going, turns out the baby was sort of stuck crowning and did not want to come the last inch. When he did come it was so sudden, I thought I would be pushing forever and then he was there and they put him on my chest. It was weird, even before they said anything or I could see anything I just knew it was a boy. It is an amazing experience and I am really proud of myself for doing it the way I intended and so happy it all went to smoothly.

Here is the beautiful results:

New Years Resolutions 2012

2012-01-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

My New Years Resolutions in 2011 were quite ambitious, and many of them went out of the window as soon as I got into the process of being pregnant. That said, I did make some progress on some of them, and completed others. I am going to focus on what I did accomplish for a minute. I did watch several new classic movies. I did try many new groups and musicians (by new, I mean new to me, like Guns & Roses, etc). I did read SOME books that were recommended to me. All of this happened in the first quarter of the year. I did go to a new location - Boston. I Did go to 3 performances in Columbus (Les Miserables, The Hobbit, A Night with the Captains). I did try new restaurants in Columbus, and tried some new activities in cities that were old to me - like going to the Brown's game in Cleveland. I ate better (more fruits and veggies) and took my vitamins regularly. I did get a sewing room set up, got new carpet, and cleaned out the yellow office (admittedly, to make it a nursery). I am not going to list all of the things I failed at, but I did do somethings I had planned to do. I guess the good thing about making LOTS of resolutions is your bound to complete some of them!

Now, onto 2012. It is hard to choose resolutions for this year because there is a number of complicating factors, the biggest obviously being the fact I am about to make one of the biggest transitions in life and become a parent. I have no idea how this will go and whether some my ideas for resolutions are under or over ambitious. On top of this, there is also the move to Duluth, so my living situation will be quite uncertain for sometime, making it more difficult to make resolutions about anything involving physical organization, cooking, food, etc, which are popular topics for me. That all said, I do want to make some resolutions because I enjoy working towards goals. I will reevaluate these in March (after the first quarter) to see if they are still viable a nd if there is anything I want to change or add

1. Reading - Read for at least 10 minutes each day, either an adult book or articles. Read 24 books throughout the year.

2. Blogging - Post at least two blog posts a week, with the intention for one to be baby update related and other to be non-baby update related (not meant to exclude other commentary on parenting).

3. Record Keeping - Take more pictures and videos. Keep up to date with a baby book, and perhaps pair this with a weekly or monthly journal to jot down how I am doing as a new parent.

4.Get a new job in Duluth

That's it for now! Wish me luck.

Farewell 2011 - The Year of the Pregnancy

2011-12-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

With each passing moment, it becomes more and more likely, and is now almost entirely certain, that this baby will not arrive in 2011. I find this a bit unfortunate both for the normal reasons (I am ready to be done, people are waiting on this baby, I want to meet the baby, I want the tax deduction, etc), and for the reason that 2011 has been "The Year of the Pregnancy" for us and it would be fitting if it ended in this year. The process of us getting pregnancy started in January. I started taking medication in February, and we got our BFP in April. We spent the rest of the year doing plenty of things, but everything was shaped around this pregnancy - planning for the baby, enjoying our time left as DINKS (duel income, no kids), preparing the house, the pets, and ourselves for this next adventure. Needless to say the year flew by. I am sure the next year will go even faster.

So what is this post really about? It is my last post of 2011. It has been a year full of good anticipation and preparing for change to come, and lots of good fortune. I am hoping our fortune continues into 2012 and this child comes into the world of its own accord very shortly, very healthily, and without too much drama. Thank you 2011 for being a good year, I will toast to you tonight before toasting to a great 2012!

2011 Recap

2011-12-31T14:53:00.000-08:00

January - I started the year ambitiously with several New Years resolutions and made steady progress on them.

February - Things went south at work as new policies began to be introduced that did not make sense in terms of productivity, and morale started to go down the toilet. We hosted our traditional Super Bowl party and had a good time.

March - I struggled with motivation, mostly because the medications I was on, but I couldn't really tell most people that. Morale continued to worsen at work. Aaron got a motorcycle. We went to see Les Miserables

April - We got our BFP (Big Fat Positive!) - the news that we were pregnant, though we did not feel very secure about it. We went to my coworker's wedding. We hosted a massive formal dinner party that involved a murder mystery as well.

May - We started/continued to announce to the world that we were pregnant. We visited our friend in Illinois and spent my Birthday in St Louis.

June - DH flew to Duluth for an interview. Because of this uncertainty, our social calendar was on hold, though I did go to the big Short North garage sale. We made it to the second trimester. I narrowed down my expectations for completing New Years resolutions, and then totally failed to continue working on them.

July - We spent Independence Day with our friends in Columbus. The final Harry Potter came out. .I felt baby move for the first time.

August - My parents visited for a nice long week. My In-Laws visited. I enjoyed ample use of the Worthington Farmer's Market. I took up swimming.

September - We went on a great Baby Moon to the East Coast! Then I got really sick and was hospitalized overnight. I spent the rest of the month recovering from this.

October - We hit the third trimester. I had my baby shower and lots of people came in for it, it was great seeing everyone!! I dressed as a wrecking ball for Halloween.

November - We took our birthing class and really cracked down on our "to do" list for baby. My ILs came for Thanksgiving.

December - DH applied for and received an interview for the job in Duluth. DH and I decided we were taking the plunge to move to Minnesota. We celebrated Christmas alone, "Jewish style". My ILs visited for the New Year with the hopes baby would arrive... so far, no go.

Not the News You Expected, but Awesome

2011-12-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

Everyone is anxiously awaiting to hear when I have the baby, that they are healthy, how big they are, whether they are a boy or a girl.... well I still have not had the baby. I hope to go into labor any day and satiate this anxious waiting and excitement for you all, but it has not happened yet and as I am new to this, I could not even guess if I am getting close or not. My doctor does want to induce pretty quickly with the due date past, but the date is not set and we would prefer to avoid pitocin.

That said, I do have huge, life changing, giant, exciting, nerve wracking news that has nothing (or very little) to do with baby. DH and I have accepted a job offer for him in Duluth!! He starts on January 30th. Yeah. In case you were curious, we are insane. Who decides to move to Northern Minnesota in January with a four week old kid in one of the worst housing markets ever? On top of that, it is a pay cut for DH and I will be temporarily unemployed once my maternity leave ends. But it was sort of a "take the plunge" or don't moment. We have talked about moving to Duluth for a long time, and we knew it would be difficult, that DH would have a paycut. It is sort of like if we did not take this particular job it meant we were deciding that Duluth was not an option based on the general Duluth economy. We considered carefully together as a couple and ultimately decided that we want to give it a shot. We know it will be really tough financially, and the timing is poor, but it will put us in a location where we are surrounded by family and friends, where we have at least 7 adults who will drop anything to come to our aid if we need it (my parents, siblings and siblings spouses). We just imagine being able to go to my parents for dinner on a random weeknight, having people to call when our car breaks down or we run late and need the kid picked up from daycare, or having people to swing by with groceries when we get sick... etc etc etc. The decision was money versus everything else, and everything else won. If we are young and naive and it is the wrong decision, well, I guess you live and learn, but its a mistake we are willing to risk.

So of course there are a million new stressors. We need to replace at least one of our cars - the 300c is rear wheel drive and it won't work for the Minnesota winter we are jumping into. We have to sell our house, which of course has lost value since we bought it and is a mess. We have to figure out where we are moving to, where our stuff is moving to, where our pets are moving to, and how it all is getting there. I need to start looking for a job that will let me start in mid February to March. If I do find a job, we will need to find childcare. All of this on top of the fact that any day, any minute, I could go into labor and start the biggest adjustment of our lives as we welcome our first child. Exciting times, stressful times. Wish us luck :-)

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night

2011-12-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

Today was DH and my first Christmas with just us two, and probably if we are lucky our last - not because it was bad, but because we will have a child to celebrate with from now on.

We got up at our leisure. DH walked the dogs while I cooked breakfast sausages (sort of) like my Dad was doing back in Minnesota. While the sausages were baking we both wrapped presents. Then we made hot chocolate and sat down and unwrapped gifts and ate breakfast. After this was done, we looked at each other and were like "what now?". DH suggested we go to a movie, so after reading all the possibilities, we decided on The Descendants, which is "that one with George Clooney in Hawaii". So we headed down to Lennox and enjoyed the earliest showing. For the record, it was quite a good movie and I really enjoyed it. We made a bet - DH thought I would cry, I thought I would tough it out. He was right. His prize? Making me figure out where to eat. When the movie ended at like 1:30 we were both hungry so I said we should try China Dynasty. We drove over to it, and it was packed, had an hour wait, and a set menu/buffet for $30. No thank you on the wait or price. So we googled what was open but only found a list that was from 2010. We drove down through the Short North to downtown w/out finding anywhere open that was supposed to be. We figured out a lot of the places were opening later in the day, like 4pm. So, we decided to go to another movie. We went to Arena Grand and saw Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. It was very entertaining, much better than I thought it would be, but my standards were very low. After the movie we drove to Tip Top and had dinner there, then headed home, walked the dogs, called our families and friends, and settled in for a typical evening of internet and television.

Overall it was just a really relaxing day. We enjoyed spending all the time together and just going with the flow of things. Of course it would have been nice to be with parents and siblings and such, but since that was not an option we made the best of it and had a good time.

Now if only these occasional Braxton Hicks would turn into real labor. LOL

Quick Update

2011-12-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

DH has been out of town since early yesterday morning. I am about 50% of the way through his trip, crossing my fingers (and legs, lol) that I don't go into labor. Obviously it is still early but I can't help but be paranoid, especially since I have had a lot more cramping etc (which could be early contractions) in the last couple of days.

I came home from work at 11am today. Used sick time for my own mental health. The ridiculous pregnancy hormones were messing with me. I also was really tired, and I have no idea why. I mean, besides the obvious "I am 38 weeks pregnant", I got plenty of sleep last night and it was good sleep. (Only got up once overnight to pee, only woke up once because of being uncomfortable). So I am home napping this afternoon.

I thought I had a bunch more to say, but that is it for now!

Another Year Has Passed (2011) - 3

2011-12-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

Exercise #31. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
- experienced pregnancy
- stayed in Cbus for Christmas

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I will write a whole other post about this!!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
2 cousins... welcome Graeme and Maggie!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not close enough for us to go to a funeral, thankfully.

5. What countries did you spend time in this year?
Just America. We did take a trip that took me through some new states though!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A child!! Jobs in Minnesota.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I am hoping the birth of my first child, though it is still upcoming! Seeing the heartbeat for the first time.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
carrying a child for 9 months

9. What was your biggest failure?
I totally and utterly failed at my New Years resolutions in general, because I got distracted
I was not always as good of a friend as I could have been
I was self centered.

10. Did you suffer any serious injury or illness?
GI Bug leading to Dehydration resulting in an overnight hospital stay, but it was all OK

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A baby moon with DH. Priceless time together!!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
DH has been awesome taking care of me this year.
Everyone who has been so great and generous in helping us prepare!!

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and/or depressed?
The tea party
The media

14. Where did most of your money go?
baby stuff, medical stuff

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The upcoming birth of our first child! Smaller things - visits from my parents, ILs, the baby shower, Harry Potter 7.2, Twilight 4.1 releases. Baby moon to Boston. Hosting Thanksgiving for the first time.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
That song that hamsters dance to in the Kia Soul commercial
Baby Baby Baby

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? fatter!!!
c) richer or poorer? richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Laughing (can you ever do this too much??)
Cleaning. People say this never makes the list of things you wish you had spent more time doing, but really our habits are abominable.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressing, internet using (ironically)

20. How did you spend Christmas?
We will be in Cbus, but not sure what we are doing.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
I am totally in love, there is no more need for falling :-)

22. What are the main websites you used?
Gmail, Columbus Nesties message board, facebook, blogspot

23. Did you write anything worth reading this year?
no.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
My normal reality trash. Top Chef Just Desserts, Project Runway, Chopped

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I try to avoid hating people, it never brings anything good.

26. What was the best book you read?
I hardly read anything this year, and none of them were master pieces, so I will go with "Already Dead" which is a vampire book that was quite entertaining.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
At the beginning of the year I listened to a lot of classic rock etc and learned that I like some of those old classics, like Pearl Jam and Guns N Roses

28. What did you want and get?
a pregnancy

29. What did you want and not get? Jobs in Duluth, a lottery win

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Harry Potter 7.2

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 27. I have no idea what I did. I think we were in st Louis with the ILs and went out for dinner?

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A healthy birth before the year ends hopefully!! Nothing else comes to mind

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
maternity cute

34. What kept you sane?
DH, friends and family

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
It does not really change.Johnny Depp is always on top

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I was pissed at everyone in congress for their general lack of progress and cooperation.

37. Who did you miss?
Everyone who does not live in Columbus!!

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Some new nesties!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?
Stay on the sunny side

40. What word or phrase sums up this year?
Pregnancy!!!

Anothe Year Has Passed (2011) - 2

2011-12-14T16:54:00.001-08:00

Exercise #2
The instructions are simple:
Post the first lines of the first entry of each month of the past year.

January
Of all the ways I thought I would spend my New Years Eve, sick with sinus yuckiness and a massive headache that would send me to bed by 10pm was not one of them. It was a perfect storm of various headache catalysts, and probably the first time I have not stayed up until midnight since I was a toddler

February
I'm an icey girl, in an icey world... liking plastic (scrapers), its fantastic...

March
Things I learned in the last few days:
"paczki's" are polish pastries (sort of jelly filled donuts) that are served on Fat Tuesday.

April
HP1 - warm, cheerful, comfortable, wondrous, embracing HP2 - mysterious, curious, naive, confused, youthful

May
Things that did not get done over the weekend: starting my sewing project, straigtening the disaster that is my office.

June
I know. Its been a while. And its not like things have not happened, because they have. I am not sure exactly why I have been avoiding posting.

July
I was thinking about how the U.S. is far from the only country with red, white, and blue as their flag colors - the other obvious ones are UK, Australia, and France. However, the U.S. is the only country to become so fixated, but that is relatively common.

August
My parents arrived on Monday afternoon for a visit - just in time for my appt, so they got to hear the babies heartbeat, which was a lot of fun!

September
As Promised - the picture "catch up" session!!

M, R, and I at the Farmer's Market in July. We snapped this pic because we were not sure when the three of us would be together again, and its good we did. Since the pic was taken M went to Mexico for extended research and R moved to L.A.!

October
I know, I know.. I spent SO LONG "catching up" on the trip that I now have not had a current post for three weeks... But this is the only place I have that detailed account of my trip because I did not keep a journal on the trip like I normally do, so it was really more for me than for you.

November
If you are sick of me only blogging about pregnancy, then you probably should not bother reading this post. I can't help it, it of course dominates my life. I feel like I am a very boring person right now as most of my energy and thoughts are pregnancy related, whether it be what I need to eat, how tired I am, or something I need to ask at my next appointment.

December
I am pretty sure the answer is "yes!" to all of them... but this is what is new with me.

Another Year Has Passed (2011) - 1

2011-12-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

If you read this blog regularly you may recall I have three end-of-the-year MeMes to complete, not to mention resolutions to discuss. Here is the first.

1 minute ago... I was trying to load my Cbusnestie message board, which is down.
1 hour ago... I shopping with DH for a new digital camera.
1 day ago... I was watching Giants vs Cowboys on Sunday Night Football
1 month ago... It was Veteran's day weekend and I was relaxing, trying to get stuff done for baby.
1 year ago... I was enjoying a random day off with DH before heading to Duluth for Thanksgiving
1 decade ago... I was a senior in High School, waiting for college acceptance letters.
1 lifetime ago... I think I was in revolutionary in Russia

5 minutes ago... I was on facebook discussing my new camera purchase
5 hours ago... I was on the phone with my friend in Georgia
5 days ago... I was 37w pregnant, feeling as miserable as I have this entire pregnancy
5 monthes ago... I was super excited because Harry Potter 7.2 was about to come out!
5 years ago... I was celebrating my first Christmas as a married woman, living in an itty bitty apartment by OSU campus with our tiny Christmas tree and our one cat, Nox.

Big Changes Ahead

2011-12-11T17:57:00.001-08:00

There is so much going on here, and so little at the same time.

DH is interviewing for a job in MN this upcoming Friday. He will be gone Thursday-Saturday. Hopefully baby does not come. I don't think the baby will come, there are not many signs of progress, but I can't help but be nervous about it. We will see how contrary this baby is I guess!! We will have even more stress if DH is offered the job, some big decisions to make as it could be a very stressful move, and would also be choosing to lower our income significantly, but we would be where we wanted to be, and closer to a family support system. There are SO many variables and some big decisions upcoming.

Because of this interview, a lot of stuff that was on my baby "to do" list is being put off, because its things that are counter productive if we end up moving soon, like finishing hanging decorations in the nursery, assembling the crib (we have the pack&play up and running for those early months), getting the second car seat installed, etc. Its a holding pattern in many regards.

I know I have not been posting much. I don't know when I got out of the habit of posting, but I did, and I definitely want to get back INTO the habit as this blog is about keeping people up to date on my life, and with the baby people will want even more updates. I am pretty sure this will be one of my New Years resolutions.

Last weekend we went to get the Christmas Tree. I have pics from this, but our camera has died, so I can't get them off easily. I will need to borrow someones camera to switch memory cards with, or find someone w/a card reader. Also, we need to replace the camera ASAP. Its a horrible time for it to die. We are debating getting an SLR, but I think we will end up with a point and shoot for now, especially with all the uncertainty. Its difficult to decide. But, the house is all decorated for Christmas. I bought stockings for DH and I since we don't have any here in Columbus, having never spent a Christmas here.

If the house decorations are not enough to get us in the Holiday Spirit, I also had a number of Christmas celebrations this week, the two most notable being our Annual Holiday lunch on Friday with my work unit, and the Nestie Christmas Party on Saturday night. Both were great and I got great secret santa gifts.

In one final note, I wanted to comment on something that won't matter to anyone except the nesties that read this. So a few months ago (August/September), there was a huge bit of drama on my message board I use and it split into two. The new board was meant to me more welcoming and inclusive than the old board had become. I am still a member of both boards. This week there were parallel posts that allowed real insight into how different the two boards are even after such a short time separated. On both boards there was a post about the Duggar's - the TV reality stars of "19 Kids and Counting" who just experienced a very late (20week) miscarriage on their 20th pregnancy. On the new board, the response was overwhelmingly and exclusively "that is so sad/tough, would never wish that on anyone, its making me tear up, can't imagine how hard that is for them" etc etc etc. On the old board the response was "that is sad, they really shouldn't be trying for kids, they are not being good parents" etc etc etc. I am pretty sure when I need support I will be posting on the new board, thank you very much.

Is this Normal?

2011-12-03T06:51:00.001-08:00

I am pretty sure the answer is "yes!" to all of them... but this is what is new with me.

Is it normal that....
... I have to pee every time I go from seated to standing position?
... my ankles are routinely the size of large oranges?
... my "morning" sickness and related food aversions are back?
... I keep getting anxious for no reason, or about things that I can't control, like hospital bills and the baby's position?
... my hands swell, especially at night, and the finger joints hurt?
... I am feeling like we need to get everything done for the nursery NOW, even things that don't really need to be done before the baby arrives?
... after never questioning it for one second in my entire life, I am NOW questioning if I will like being a parent?

I think that about sums it up. As I said, pretty sure this is all normal for 36w2d pregnant. 25 days to go. I am trying to get a lot of walking done, keep that baby weight where it needs to be to naturally progress towards labor. I may even get a yoga ball for work. As mentioned I am a bit "morning" sick again, which sucks by the way. DH is doing good though in taking care of me.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:59:00.001-08:00

Its that time of year where the whole country pauses to "give thanks". Being thankful, or giving thanks, is all about recognizing and appreciating the good things in our lives. We spend so much energy on a normal day thinking about what we do not have - time, money, health, sleep. It is good to take a day to think about what we do have. Thankfulness is inherently a positive emotion, it is essentially taking the time to focus on the positive things rather than any negative things, and really we all would be a little happier and healthier if we made a daily effort to remember what makes life good.

So, what am I thankful for? What makes my life good? There are so many things. I am very fortunate. I have a loving and entertaining family, great in-laws, a wonderful husband. We all employed and healthy. DH and I have our own house and space, and things to fill it with that keep us safe, well fed, and entertained. Of course this year, the big thing is that I am so happy to be pregnant and be waiting on this child to make its appearance (in due time!). These are all pretty stereotypical. But the general theme here is - there is almost nothing in my life that is bad. Of course there are some minor things we would like to change, but ultimately they are minor things, ultimately I am probably one of the luckiest people on earth, and it could change any time, but for now, I am thankful for it.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I

2011-11-18T10:36:00.001-08:00

As you all know, I am a Twi-nerd... a twilight fan, soon to be a Twi-mom. Today is the opening day of the fourth Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn Part I. As it opened today, the midnight opening was at 12:01am this morning (last night).

I love midnight openings. There is something in the air! The excitement, the joint purpose, the celebration. Its a crowd experience unlike any other. I have been told that I should take advantage of midnight openings while I can, as when the baby arrives they will become an impossibility. I am not sure if this is entirely true, but they certainly are much easier now then they will be in a month or two. So, I took yesterday and today off work and indulged my addiction. Why two days off? Because when I went to the HP8 midnight showing in July at 16th it took my ALL weekend to recover afterwards and I thought a little preparation would shorten the recovery. So, yesterday I spend the day relaxing, napping, laying down, I went swimming, walked the dogs with DH, basically trying to be as relaxed, comfortable, and well rested as possible. Then, at 8:30pm I headed over to the theater and met up with my aunt and cousin. We had tickets for "The Twilight Experience", a special double feature where they showed the third Twilight movie, Eclipse, at 9:30pm before the midnight release. It was a ton of fun! It was good seeing Eclipse on the big screen again and having all the crowd reactions, oohs, ahhs, and applause. The midnight came, and the real excitement!!

***** THE FOLLOWING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*****

In short, I loved the movie!! I recognize a million flaws in it, a million things that people who see and think "wow, is that cheesy" or "what?!?", and I still love it. I recognize some significant and substantive changes from the book, and I still love it. Where to even begin? The movie starts out with the wedding (or pre-wedding events) of Bella and Edward. The screenplay filled this with good laughs and sentimentality, punctuated by some serious moments that indulge us with some of Edward's history and Bella's subconscious fears about the upcoming events. Everything is very well done visually. In the actual wedding/reception, they add a lot of little tidbits that were not in the book, but they all are fitting. The most important scene from the book, Jacob's visit, is very well done. I feel like in general, Taylor Lautner's acting was much improved in this compared to the previous three movies. The wedding scene between Jacob and Bella is awkward even in the book (WHY oh WHY is she talking to him about her sex life with his rival??), but the movie makes it work somewhat naturally. Wedding accomplished, we are off to the honeymoon, where Kristen Stewart and the directors do an excellent job conveying the wedding night jitters and Bella's "morning after" fantasies, which are perfectly interrupted by Edwards sullen self-deprication. There are some CGI issues with some of the water scenes, both the wedding night in the ocean, and later a waterfall scene. While they cut some to get to the pregnancy reveal, the reveal itself is spot on, with Edward freezing up, and the realization of both the positive and negatives of the situation.
The transition to Jacob's perspective is somewhat rocky, but I am not sure what they could do better. You can't exactly have a section break in the movie. Everything surrounding the pregnancy and Bella's declining health was masterful. Another moment of CGI awkwardness came w/the wolves. Here though I am not really sure what they could have done better. How do you make giant telepathic wolves communicating and fighting with each other not see cheesy? LOL. Because it was consistent with the movie, I loved it despite the difficult execution.
Here really is the major plot change. In the book, the main source of conflict through this section is (1) suspense about Bella's fate, and (2) Jacob's internal struggle about what to do - his torment over losing Bella but inability to let her die. Neither of these is sufficient to drive a movie plot as they are both extremely low key/internal, so the screenplay adds a level of drama by having the conflict between the two wolf packs drag out extensively and even come to physical blows at the birth of Renesme. I am not a huge fan of this but I understand entirely why they did it and think that they managed to pull it off decently.
Ok, think that is enough review. They are releasing Breaking Dawn Part II in November 2012. Don't know why they are waiting that long, but they say they are. We will see whether I get to go to this "last" midnight release, as I am uncertain what movie will warrant it for me once Twilight is over.

All Positive

2011-11-16T15:57:00.001-08:00

A couple of my coworkers were talking about pregnancy and two of them said they hated being pregnant. I chimed in and said that I loved being pregnant, which seemed to catch them off guard. I can't imagine hating it. One coworker responded with "well, if you have an easy pregnancy..." And while I certainly have not had a hard pregnancy by any means, I wouldn't say its been easier than average either, with the extended nausea well into the second trimester, the hospitalization, sciatica, swelling, etc. I have spent much of the pregnancy physically unwell or uncomfortable, which I think is pretty normal. But I still love it.It is a brief 40 weeks that I have no idea if I will ever get to experience again, a time when the external world smiles upon me and wishes me the best of luck, when everyday is full of anticipation and preparation for a coming joy. I don't have to worry about whether I look chubby, I have an excuse for everything - acting stupid, being overly emotional, making mistakes. It is 40 weeks of precious memories - feeling babies movement, the look on Dh's face when he feels the baby move, laughing at myself for crying over ridiculous things, being able to snack and eat without feeling guilty, outgrowing my clothes, outgrowing my maternity clothes. I get to buy tons of stuff w/out feeling guilty. Its a pretty awesome time.

From a deeper, less materialistic perspective, while pregnancy is physically difficult, it is psychologically awesome. There is always something good in your life. If your work is frustrating, your house dirty, if you are tired, or throwing up, or the weather is not what you want, you still have that buzz, that knowledge, the idea in the back of your head that there is a little future child in their growing, and as the pregnancy moves on, the baby is moving and kicking and reminding you of its presence. What is not to love? How could I not be happy? How could anyone who wants to be a mother not be in love with this time?

Sometimes I wonder how much the difficulty I had getting pregnant contributes to this optimism and, well, basic underlying joy. If I had gotten pregnant easily, had multiple successful pregnancies, would this just be "another pregnancy" where I had to put up with morning sickness? Would I focus on the loss of brain cells and the physical discomfort rather than the amazing thought of a coming child and the scientific wonder of the baby's development? If I did not have the contrast of the dark months (lets be honest, dark years) of waiting in uncertainty and hopelessness, would I appreciate the pure hope and anticipation that pregnancy is?

I don't know. I like to think I would have loved being pregnant no matter what, but I also recognize that my perspective might be a little different than some. Imagine spending years trying to get something, trying to find something that you hoped would be the best part of your life, something you seem to have no control over, never knowing during those years if it was even possible. And then it happens. It comes with some negatives, some pain, some crying spells on the kitchen floor over ridiculous things, with new anxieties and stresses, but it comes with the knowledge that what you thought might never be, will be.

That is why I love pregnancy.

Childbirth Class

2011-11-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

If you are sick of me only blogging about pregnancy, then you probably should not bother reading this post. I can't help it, it of course dominates my life. I feel like I am a very boring person right now as most of my energy and thoughts are pregnancy related, whether it be what I need to eat, how tired I am, or something I need to ask at my next appointment. Despite my efforts not to always be talking pregnancy, it comes up more than I intend, sometimes simply because I feel like I have absolutely nothing going on. This does not bother me too much for the most part because I am happy to be pregnant, but it occasionally worries me that other people are annoyed. Oh well!

So DH and I spent all day on Saturday at a Child Birth class at the hospital where we plan to deliver. It just happens to be the same hospital where the popular Lifetime series, One Born Every Minute, is filmed. Anyways, it was 9am-5pm, plus a hospital tour. Unsurprisingly, it was a bit overwhelming. The morning was spent discussing the anatomy/physiology of childbirth, how baby's position affects it, how mothers positions before and during labor effect it, positions to use during labor, and relaxation techniques for labor. In the afternoon we looked at medical procedures and options that might come into play - both what possibilities were and when they might be used. We also talked about post-postpartum recovery and the hospital experience. I liked the class because it seemed to start out with the assumption you would not be having pain medication.

I am not really one of those people who is afraid of labor or childbirth. I guess I fall in the "woman have been doing it for a million years" camp. In fact, most of my fears are more related to the people and society surrounding me than to the process of childbirth itself. I am not afraid of labor pain, I am afraid of doctors and nurses "forcing" medical procedures on me I don't agree with.(I know they can't literally force me). This ranges from trying to get me to induce when I don't want to, to trying to get me to use pain meds I don't want, to moving to a C-Section before it is actually medical necessary, either because they are being over cautious or because it is convenient for them. Riverside is a great hospital. We chose it because it is level 3 both for adult and neonatal care. That means that if something goes wrong, if either I or the baby need surgery, emergency treatment, etc etc, we will be right there able to get it and not have to deal with being transferred anywhere else. However, it is also a hospital where 85-90% of mothers get epidurals. When I told one of my friends I was delivering at the hospital where One Born Every Minute is filmed she was horrified. She tried to play it down, but it was pretty clear her opinion on the matter. She related to me an episode where a mother wants to have a natural birth and the nurses are making fun of her in the nursing lounge. It does not exactly inspire confidence.

Perhaps you are reading in between the lines here and thinking or asking "is she saying she wants to go for a natural birth?". I guess the answer is yes. The more I learn about picotin, epidurals, and other interventions, the less I want them. But I am not some crazy hippie "natural is best" chick. I don't want a water birth, the idea of home birth terrifies me, and I don't have an elaborate birth plan with meditation and breathing routines planned to make it some "holistic emotional experience". Its more like I land on the option of going "natural" when I consider all of the evidence. I guess it is also a continuation of the "woman have been doing this for millions of years" theory as well. Really I guess it started with my general dislike of the entire concept of an epidural. I am by no means criticizing woman who want one - as with all medical procedures, its a cost benefit analysis and for me the costs out weigh the benefits. They are sticking a needle into your spine and numbing nerves that give you motor control in your legs. That sounds like a procedure I will avoid if at all possible. It probably helps make the decision easier considering I have read the medical records of 1 or 2 women who have had long term effects of epidural. I just don't want to mess with my neurological system if I can at all help it. The statistics about slower labor and increased c-section rates, plus unknown ultimate impact on the newborn are just icing on that cake. So once I decide no epidural, it does not take much to conclude that most interventions are bad for me. For example, Picotin, the drug most commonly used to induce labor or to speed slow labor, causes contractions to be much stronger than natural and thereby increases the need/desire for epidurals. I guess when I look at everything combined it is not any one intervention that bothers me, its the fact that once you start with one you get wrapped up in these cycles of possibly needing so many others, and ultimately significantly increase your risk of requiring major surgery (caesarean). I don't want any of it, its not for me. In an ideal world, I would be able to deliver in a hospital, but not even have an IV. I know this is not an ideal world though (as evidenced by my desire to be in a hospital!). I know that a lot of times you end up with little choice. Your baby is breech, or in distress, or your labor just stalls out, etc etc etc. But I will do what I can on my end to make this happen "the old fashioned way". I just really hope that I only end up fighting mother nature and my own weaknesses on this and not my doctors and nurses as well.

Baby Showers All Around

2011-10-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my Aunt threw me a wonderful baby shower. It was at Biddie's Coach House in Dublin. I can't thank her enough for being so great. My sisters and mother also assisted. They made a Dr Seuss theme to go along with my primary colors. There were a total of 14 of us there and I think everyone had a good time. We had high tea, lots of games, and great presents of course. Thank you to everyone who came! It was so nice to have everyone there, it is probably my over-emotional pregnant self, but I just am very happy with how it went and how much fun it was.

On top of the excitement of the shower, it meant that my mother, mother in law, and two sisters all came. It was a packed house, but a lot of fun. I wish they all could have stayed longer and I hope they all come back soon.

The week was uneventful. I had book club and I carved some pumpkins. I want to post a review of the book club book as well as a parenting book I am reading and loving, but not tonight.

Today I went to a baby shower in Cleveland for my cousin who is due right at Thanksgiving. Time is flying by! I am now 31 weeks, 2 days along, only 60 days to go, and that is assuming baby does not decide to come early. I want to post about some health things, and about my lovely stretchmarks, but not tonight.

I am going to bed now. LOL. I am SO exhausted from the trip to Cleveland it is ridiculous. Who knew driving could be so tiring?

Pregnancy Update

2011-10-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

(1) I don't have gestational diabetes!! Yay!!

(2) Baby measuring right on track.

(3) Feeling TONS of movement, and freaking DH out with it.

(4) I got stretchmarks literally overnight. They were not there when I went to bed and they are there this A.M. Coworker states same thing happened to her. I swear I am bigger than yesterday too. If I have stretch marks at 30 weeks, that does not bode well for the total amount I get!! LOL

Hospital Bills and Health Care Issues

2011-10-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

I know that lately this blog has become just a list of what I do each day, I apologize if it is boring you. I think it has been like that for a few reasons. First, it is what some of my blog readers are looking for I think, the people like my parents who I don't talk to all that often but want to know what is going on in my life more. I may put something here that they did not know about in our phone and text conversations. Second, its easy. Its much easier to post about the random things that happened over the weekend than to delve into various thoughts and questions, some of which are controversial. Third, it is just how I have been feeling. I have not had time or energy to mull over anything really interesting lately, I spend a lot of energy just making sure I am doing what I can to be healthy for baby and to not feel like crap.

So, how about a ranting post for a change?

We got our bill from the hospital. Looking at the itemized list is ridiculous. There is something seriously wrong w/out hospital's charge people. I am not saying we got charged too much either, I am just saying that the itemized list is all wrong. I mean, the point of an itemized list is to explain why your bill is what it is, not to list random prices the hospital has assigned to things. This is how you end up getting charged $56 for a dose of Tylenol that, as they bill even stated, I administered to myself. What is costing money is not the tylenol, but rather the record keeping, and the nurses care and the doctors expertise, and the well equipped hospital that was ready to deal with me if things got worse. So why doesn't my bill even mention these things? Instead it has all of these physical items, like "IV Therapy, $2780.80". Really? The IV cost $2780? I don't think so. I would much rather see "IV equipment use 24 hrs $1000, Nurses IV monitoring $1780.80" than this, or however they actually explain the expense when they come up with these prices. I know its a matter of semantics, but I am just saying whats the point of an itemized bill if it does not really tell you how the costs are incurred?

Of course we are among the lucky who have health insurance and we will be paying much less out of pocket than this itemized list totals, which is another can of worms I am not going to get into involving just what is broken about our healthcare system in America. I have to say seeing this bill gives me a little more sympathy for the plethora of claimants I have every week that say things like "I can't afford to go to the doctor every time my condition acts up because I don't have insurance" or those who beg us to expedite their case because of the medical bills they are facing. The fact is that not getting medical care can affect your ability to get disability, because if you don't have your own treatment then all we have to go on is a one-time exam. This one time exam will be pretty good for things like back problems, chronic lung disease, etc, but it will not give us any real perspective if you have severe seizures or migraines or asthma attacks or anything like that. Or lets say, if you have cancer that you have not been able to get treatment for because you don't have insurance. There are some really sad things that happen to people in this country that do not have insurance. Back when we were in training we worked on a practice case (using a real person from a long time ago), who was diagnosed with cancer and told to report for tx. She did not see anyone for six months because of money problems/lack on insurance. When she went back to the doctor 6 months later they told her there was nothing they could do for her as the cancer was to advanced. Of course she got disability at this point, and then died shortly after. Yet we are supposedly the "best" country in the world (or thats how many American's view it!).

I recognize there is no perfect healthcare system, and I also recognize that there is not enough resources in the world to give everyone perfect healthcare, but there has to be something that makes more sense than what we are doing now.

Productive Yet Relaxing

2011-10-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

It has been a very good weekend, both relaxing and productive. Friday we went out to eat with a friend. We went to Mac's Cafe. It was quite good and had good prices! On Saturday I got up and headed to the farmer's market, then rescued DH from the gas station he was stranded at (he forgot his wallet and ran out of gas while trying to go buy dog food). Then I ran errands - pet food, fabric store, maternity pants, Great Harvest Bread, Target.

Everyone keeps talking about rising grocery prices... I have not noticed these too much, but what I have noticed is the increased PET SUPPLY prices. Says something about my lifestyle, eh? Cost of our dog food, cat food, and rawhide are all up. The correct size of rawhide has become difficult to find- Target used to have a bag of 5 bones of the correct size (about 5-6 inches long) for around $10. They have stopped carrying that bag entirely and have raised priced on all of their other packages/sizes. Its a bit frustrating, but such is life.

After all those errands, my feet and legs and back were killing me, so I went off to the pool and floated around for awhile, stretched, swam. It definitely helps! Getting in the water relives the pressure on my joints, especially my back, and gives me the freedom to move and stretch in ways that my balance and strength won't allow me to do on land. I don't do much cardio, but I do a little, and the water keeps me cool so no worries about overheating, no jolting motions, so its all good. Anyways, I came home feeling much better, though admittedly my feet still hurt!!

I spent the evening watching football and baseball. It did not go so well. While OSU came out fighting, especially Braxton Miller who had way more confidence and better decision making than we have seen, things went downhill in the second half. Braxton Miller unsurprisingly got hurt. Let's call him (setting aside legal/moral issues) Mike Vick Jr. He is small, good at scrambling, he can really make plays, and gets hit WAY TO OFTEN and WAY TO HARD to not have injury issues. Also in the evening I taped off the last little bit of the nursery that had a mistake in the paint and started painting it.

Sunday we did a little house cleaning, watched a lot of NFL football, finished the painting, spent a bit of time working on cleaning out the second guest room (or what is going to be the second guest room...).

Today, Monday. I have it off. I don't really like the hero worship of Christopher Columbus. He did not discover a new world, other people had been here, and he did not make good decisions or smart decisions about his discovery (uh.. like why do we have "indians" in America? Because he was clueless....). Despite all of this, I don't mind taking the day off! These random holidays off is one of the very few remaining perks of being a state employee. My plans for today? Well, I got up early and did Laundry and some dishes. I have a handyman coming in to re-install the closet doors in the nursery (That we took out while it was being used as an office), and when that is done, I am going to head out to see a friend I have not seen in 3 months (she was on field research in Mexico). Should be a good day, followed by short week!

Baby Baby Baby Oh

2011-10-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

I know, I know.. I spent SO LONG "catching up" on the trip that I now have not had a current post for three weeks... But this is the only place I have that detailed account of my trip because I did not keep a journal on the trip like I normally do, so it was really more for me than for you.

I recently turned one of my old blogs into a book - http://lost-in-europe.livejournal.com/ - into a book. Specifically, the section that talks about my time in Europe, and it sort of reminded me exactly how cool a detailed account of trips and such can be. It jobs so many good memories that I have not thought about in years.

As for the past three weeks since I got back... first, I can't believe it has been that long. My appetite returned about a week after I got out of the hospital, which was really great since I was having to force myself to eat even near 2000 calories for that week. Now I am eating everything in sight, which is good for the most part, though I still have nausea sometimes (mostly in the morning). I also have lots of heartburn. I read in a magazine that I should "eat small meals, avoid spicy foods," etc. I don't follow these rules because they don't actually help. I can eat a single yogurt and get terrible heartburn... so why should I avoid food I want? Thats about as small and mild a meal as you can get...

DH and I went to a baby sale last Saturday (a week ago today). It was a lot of fun. We bought some books and toys and clothes. We even bought a little Christmas outfit. We don't expect the baby to be here by Xmas, but if they show up early, we are ready for an adorable Christmas picture! And since it was all used, it was all nice and cheap. I still need to wash it all, and we need to get somewhere to put it, like a dresser. Its time to really crack down and start getting baby stuff done. So far, our baby items consist of 1 carseat and stroller (will need a second car seat), and the little stuff described above (from the sale). I also got an adorable stuffed elephant from a friend. My shower is set up, which is exciting. I am not planning to register, which I have a feeling will throw some people for a loop. But, I just don't feel the need to pick out every toy and piece of clothing and washcloth etc, the ladies that are coming know WAY more about baby stuff than I do. I don't expect to get any really big items anyways. I hope people don't get annoyed and feel "set free" instead, but we will see what happens. Its all gifts and we are not counting on it to set us up, so I will be thankful for anything I get.

Now, off to watch football for the rest of the weekend. Though if I am good I will spend at least a couple of hours trying to clear out our red office. When we cleaned out the nursery to paint it all of the crap that had been stored in there, a lot of holiday stuff for example, got moved to the red office. Now we need to clean the red office so that we can put the futon in there and have two guest rooms instead of one. I have a feeling that the shower (10/22) will be the first of many times we have multiple guests staying here in the next year or two.

East Coast Babymoon (Park 4)

2011-09-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

Thurs, Sept 8th 2011, continued: So DH drove us into Philadelphia. Our hotel was booked on hotwire again and was sort of a chic modern number, great location though, right next to city hall. Unlike the Sheraton and Boston, which was the kind of 4 star hotel that is 4 stars because they take great care of the guest, it was the kind of hotel that is 4 star because it has artwork on the key cards, perfume at the entrance and customized music track in the elevator. As soon as we got checked in we headed back out walking. We walked over to a large indoor market, similar to the North Market hear in Columbus, and I got a Philly Cheesesteak, which was tasty. All filled up, we headed out to walk to the Museum of Art, which is famous mainly for being the stairs that Rocky runs up. The walk to the Museum of Art is all tree filled boulevard, its supposed to have international flags out lining it, but none of them were up. The weird thing about this walk was that while the trees and museums and fountains implied they expected people to walk this stretch, the traffic and pedestrian traffic layouts were total nightmares. You frequently had to wait at 2-3 cross walks to make it across one intersection. We did eventually make it and got some good pictures on the stairs. By this time the sun was setting and we headed back to the hotel to watch the NFL opener.

Friday, Sept 9th 2011: We got up on our own schedule, got moving, grabbed breakfast and walked over to Independence park to visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. We got our tickets for the Independence Hall tour and as we walked over to start it I started to feel quite unwell. DH considered just booking it outta there and letting me rest, but I wanted to stick it out and figured it was just pregnancy nausea crap. We did the Independence Hall tour, it was pretty neat, impressive how small the room was that the Declaration was written in, we both thought it would be bigger. Then we headed to the Liberty Bell that had a huge line to get through security. DH and I realized while we waited in line that we had NO idea why the liberty bell was significant. Turns out there really is no reason! LOL. What I mean is, does not have that much historic relevance. It was used as a symbol, and that is the bigger deal. As soon as we finished this we headed back to the hotel to get our car and head out of town as by this time I was feeling quite unwell. We took the Subway back to quicken the process.

A final note on Philadelphia - it is called the city of brotherly love, but their reputation, as sports fans for example, is of being anything but compassionate. I have to say that pretty much everyone we dealt with enforced the reputation rather than the motto. People were rude, you heard people swearing at each other on the street. There were homeless people everywhere. It was not exactly a friendly place to be.

As discussed in my previous post, I felt worse and worse as the day progressed. We went down to our friend's house in Baltimore and I tried to act like I felt OK. We grilled out, I got eaten by mosquitos, we hung out, talked a lot, watched a comedian, and went to bed early.

Saturday, Sept 10th 2011 I was feeling even worse in the morning, but did not want to wreck our limited time in Baltimore and limited time with our friend, so we went ahead and went down to the inner bay, walked around, saw all the ships, looked around the lighthouse. We almost went to the aquarium but DH could tell that while I said I was up for it really I was not, so instead we grabbed "lunch" and then headed out. I feel bad that I felt so cruddy while I was there, but it was still nice seeing our friend. DH drove the entire way back to Columbus because I was feeling so bad. We made it back around 9:30PM and I hit the sack. See my hospital post for what happened the next day...

Overall, it was a great trip. We are REALLY glad that we spent the money and time to do it, because we will not have that kind of freedom (in either regard probably) for a long time to come. It was just nice to concentrate on us for a bit without the stresses of work and pets and house and baby prep. We also got to see tons of new things, go to new states, and explore part of the country I have never been to. DH pointed out that we hit 20% of the country by states, lol: OH, PA, NY, MA, RI, CT, NJ, DE, MD, WV

East Coast Babymoon (Part III)

2011-09-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Sept 6th 2011
Unfortunately, DH woke up feeling not great on Tuesday. He had allergy symptoms. He thinks they were due to the "dead bodies" he breathed in during the tour of the crypt. Much more likely it was just the weird and new pollen, or perhaps some dust from the old sites we visited. He dragged himself out of bed anyways and we headed out on foot from the hotel to locate the nearby Boston Public Library, which was only about 3 blocks away. We went in and started to walk around and it was super unimpressive, just modern functional library, not even that big. Then I noticed this through way and we walked through and BOOM, beautiful courtyard, big sweeping staircases, murals and statues, and awesomeness. We wandered through it all, very neat, but they are not using all of the neat rooms for actual books, so that was a bit less exciting. Kind of a strange set up in my opinion. When I had got my library fix we walked across the street to look at Trinity Church. We did not go in, but it is really cool architecture. I was totally starving so we stopped at a place called Finagle my Bagel and I had breakfast. We walked back to the hotel and changed, then walked over to Fenway to take a tour. It was pretty neat! It is a very old ballpark, and while I am not a huge baseball fan, its still neat hearing all the history and legends associated with the place, and I always like getting in press boxes of pretty much any sports venue, such a different perspective. After the tour we walked back to the hotel, stopping for a slice of pizza along the way. DH was really not feeling well, so we decided that he could go nap while I went off and explored a few sites in the city he wasn't interested in. I hopped on the subway and headed to Harvard University. When I got there I stumbled upon the start of a student-lead history tour and joined in. I went with the tour for about 15-20 minutes, but I was not really enjoying it. It was raining, and the tour was so, I don't know, pretentious? Self satisfied? All of these historical stories about how Harvard screwed over Cambridge or any of those things. I wandered around campus a bit on my own, and then headed back out on the subway. I took it to MIT and wandered around their campus a bit. It feels so full of potential. Walking their halls was a bit like being in a science college commercial, because you really would just walk by a random window and there would be a nanotechnology lab behind or other things. From their I walked across the river, looked at the sailboats, and up the hill to my hotel. It was quite a long walk, especially in the rain, but I had realized that we only had one more full day in Boston and it would probably be rainy then too, so I better see what I can! Back at the hotel I went swimming, then crawled in for a nap. We went out and got a quick dinner from a place called Boloco (boston local) that was sort of chipotle-esque , with a bit more variety, and the coolest soda machine ever. We spent the night in bed watching football and relaxing, hoping DH would feel better the next day.

Wednesday, Sept 7th 2011
Luckily, DH did feel better after his afternoon/evening of rest. We went to breakfast at a place called The Pour House that was recommended by the concierge. It was a casual place, delicious hash. I think DH liked his pancakes as well. We then took the subway over to the same stop that we had ended our Freedom Trail tour on. It was a rainy day, but neither of us really minded. We walked over to the U.S.S. Constitution and the navy yard it was located in. We walked briefly through the museum, explored a WWII destroyer that is dry docked there, and then took a tour of the USS Constitution. It is the oldest commissioned navy vessel afloat in the world. Commissioned means it is manned by active duty navy, afloat means that they can still sail her, and do so a couple of times a year. There is a boat in England apparently that is also commissioned, but is dry docked. It was pretty cool to see it all, hard to believe how old it is and how much action it has seen. It is most famous for a battle during the war of 1812. It is nicknamed "Old Ironside" because the construction of the sides, using a combination of woods native to the U.S., made them virtually impenetrable to cannon balls of the period. Of course it has seen lots of restoration, but they keep as much of it original as possible. After the tour we walked up to the Bunker Hill monument and looked around their a bit. The combination of my pregnant status, the long walk we still had to our next destination, and the poor weather (very thick fog) made us decide NOT to climbed the 100+ steps to the top of the monument. We wound our way back across the river to the North End (remember, the Italian District), and had a nice, slightly late sit down lunch at a Italian place, which was tasty, then picked up a canolli from Mike's Pastries. We had both kind of had it with being on our feet by this point, so we headed back to the hotel and then decided to go see a movie. We went and saw Crazy Stupid Love. It was quite good, funny and sweet, and neither of us saw the "twist" coming at all! Well executed, definitely a feel-good type film, not so realistic. After the movie we walked back to the hotel and just relaxed, watched some TV for awhile, then went back out for a late dinner. We just walked from our hotel and looked for a place, ended up at Mass Ave Tavern. They were nice and casual, they had a live trivia game going, but we did not join in, which turned out to be good because the question structure was very odd. The food was delicious! I had hummus w/veggies, mac&cheese, and half of DH's burger. I would go back for the mac&cheese alone in a heartbeat!

Thursday, Sept 8th 2011
We got up, had breakfast a quick breakfast, and checked out of the hotel. It was pouring cats and dogs outside! DH started out driving, got us out of the Boston w/some traffic delays, then out of MA. We went down through Rhode Island, which was cool, right through Providence. I took over driving and headed out of RI, into Connecticut. I was surprised by how pretty the area is, hills and trees, quite nice. We headed down through Connecticut into NY, actually right into NYC! I drove though the Bronx and the northern edge of Manhattan! Impressed? I am. I am very proud. Anyways, across the George Washington bridge, down to New Jersey, switched drivers again, and DH took us into Philadelphia. (more to come on this evening later...)

East Coast Babymoon (Part II)

2011-09-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

Monday, Sept 5th
The weather was gorgeous. We took the subway the short distance to "downtown" Boston. It was not a far walk, but as we were planning to walk all day, we did not want to add on a mile at the beginning. We headed to Boston Commons where we met our tour guide. He was dressed as "Bully", a cooper's apprentice who actually witnessed the Boston massacre. He was dressed in period costume. What were we touring you might ask? It was a walking tour of the first half of the Freedom Trail. It is basically a walking path through old Boston marked by a red trail that goes to many of the major historic sites. Boston is old... really old. It seemed just about every other corner had the oldest of something. Boston Commons is the oldest public park in America. It was originally a literal commons, grazing pasture for the town's livestock. From there we walked up to the Old State House, which is this gorgeous gold-domed building. I thought it was crazy that the entire dome has only 12lbs of gold leaf on it, stretched so thin! I would think they would need repairs all the time. From there we walked to the Old Granary Cemetery. It has many famous graves in it. We learned about how John Hancock was the "King of Boston" because of his wealth. He funded pretty much anything that needed funding in the days of the revolution, including the poor Sam Adams (also buried there), who might be considered the first career politician, as he really had no other trade and no money of his own. Also, Sam Adams was short, ugly, and very anti-alcohol. He believed the revolution would usher in a recurrence of earlier puritan ideals and called himself the last puritan. This makes it especially hilarious that there is a beer named after him. That picture on the beer is actually of Paul Revere, who was also buried in this cemetery. Paul Revere is an interesting character because he is so over-hyped. In all reality, it would seem he had very little to do with anything. Not that he did NOTHING, he is just way more famous that he deserves credit for. Also buried in this cemetery was Joseph Warren, a name we don't really hear about, but he would likely have been the first President of the U.S. if he had not died at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Another famous grave in this cemetery is that of Benjamin Franklin's parents. From the cemetery we walked to the old city hall, which has a few interesting features. First, it is on the site of the first public school, which John Hancock and many other revolutionaries attended. America had a ridiculously high literacy rate for the time period and public school availability is one of the major reasons. Second, it is right next to the King's Church, which the representative of the king so considerately built on a puritan graveyard. Third, in front of it is the oldest statue of Benjamin Franklin, which he actually posed for during his lifetime. From here the path wondered by a couple of other sites which significance has honestly slipped my mind at this point. We walked by a church that was one of the largest public spaces in the town and therefore served as a meeting place for many of the revolutionary meetings, including the one that started the Boston Tea Party, which by the way is one of the earliest examples of nonviolent protest. Eventually we ended up at the square where the Boston Massacre occurred, and we learned all about how it was not really a massacre so much as a riot. I never did quite decide if learning about all of the propaganda, lies, and exaggerations used to start the revolution were reassuring or disturbing. On one hand, disturbing because we tend to put the revolution in such a pure light when really it was full of all of the normal political corruption. On the other hand, reassuring because maybe, since that all turned OK, we really have not strayed that far from our roots with what goes on in politics today. Our tour ended at Fanuiel Hall and Marketplace, where the tour guide revealed that he really was the decendent of the Bully character was playing and had researched him through letters he wrote his mother during the revolution, which was pretty neat.

After tipping him handsomly, because it really was a great tour, we walked into Fanuiel Market. It had come highly recommended, but it was way overwhelming to me, and DH does not like food markets that much. I needed a seat and a I needed it NOW, which was not going to happen with the chaos in there. It was labor day, and it was packed. So, after walking through it quickly we exited and found a nearby sit down restaurant where we sat out on the sidewalk in the shade and ate yummy fish tacos. Feeling much rejuvenated, we continued our Freedom Trail walk by going into Faneiul Hall, "cradle of liberty", where many of the original meetings leading up to the revolution took place. It is well preserved and pretty neat. After that there was quite a hike to the next site. On the way we walked by the country's oldest continually operating restaurant, through an old market place that had fake bronzed refuse (like tomatos and lettuce etc) on the crosswalks, into the North End, the Italian district.

This is when the weirdest, coolest, most random part of our entire trip happened. The whole area was packed because the weather was great and it was a holiday. We were walking up the main street in the North End when we heard cheering ahead, then out of nowhere a bicycle rickshaw comes out of the crowd, and in the cart is a man in a yellow shirt holding the Stanley Cup. I kid you not. The Stanley Cup. In a rickshaw. We were in total shock. Was that really the Stanley Cup? What just happened? We spent the next half hour (and indeed several days) just looking at each other at random and saying "in a RICKSHAW". We watched the local news that night that confirmed that the guy we saw had the Stanley Cup in that neighborhood that day. He was taking it to a local Children's rehab center near the arena and then left on a bicycle. Wow. In a rickshaw.

So, after slightly recovering ourselves, we continued on the Freedom Trail, and found the Paul Revere house, where he lived for quite a while. It had been restored to be like what it would have been like when he lived there. We paid to get in and take the mini-tour, and it really was not worth it. We wanted more info about the man and his life, what we got was random minutia about life during that time period. We moved on and next toured the Old North Church, famous for being the steeple where 'one if by land' was lit. We got in on a tour of the bell tower and crypt, which was pretty interesting but not as historical as we would have liked, though it was neat seeing how the bells work, and its really complicated. From here the Freedom Trail took us to another cemetery, most notable for the fact that the British troops took up post there during the Battle of Bunker Hill. From here the trail took us down off of the hill the North End is on and across the river. By now it was 3:30 and we had been walking and touring, minue the 45 minutes for lunch, for about five hours. We both admitted we were tired and ready to head home. So, we found the nearest subway and headed back to the hotel, where I took advantage of the beautiful pool (with its retracting roof open, looking out at the prudential building and other nearby sky scrapers), and DH took a nap. All rested and cleaned up, we ventured back out for supper to the Top of the Hub, a fancy restaurant at the top of the Prudential Center. It has a gorgeous view to say the least, and the food was quite good. We did not get dessert there because nothing stuck out, so when we finished dinner we spent the next hour or so just walking around the area in search of dessert. We tried to find something local, but nothing popped out, so we did Cheesecake Factory, which was delicious. It was a really long but great day.

East Coast Babymoon (Part I)

2011-09-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Friday, Sept 2nd: We were going to try to get out of town early, but DH had some issues at work and was later getting home. I tried to relax and not stress about it, because as he pointed out, whats the point of stressing about it when the purpose of the trip itself is relaxation? So I chilled, straightened the house etc until he got home, then we headed out. We drove up to Erie, PA; I really wanted to at least cross the state border to feel like we had made some progress. There we checked into a really overpriced Comfort Inn with the most unprofessional lady, "Tina in Training" (that is what her name tag said). The real moment of hilarity was when we walked into the room - it had the queen bed we requested - and a set of bunk beds, completely decorated w/marine life! So we spent the first night of our vacation sleeping under the watchful eyes of a manatee...

Saturday, Sept 3rd: Got up, had the complimentary breakfast and hit the road. We drove up Buffalo NY and then crossed into Niagara Falls, Ontario. I don't know if it was just because we were only planning to stay the day or what but our customs check seemed to take about 1/4 of the time everyone else's was taking, and I am totally OK with this. We circled around and found parking, hopped out of the car and headed for the falls. I have been to Niagara before, but DH had not. Comparing them to my memory, the horseshoe falls were the same as I remember and the American/Bridal falls were bigger. The real difference though was that I don't remember all of the build up - hotels, restaurants, etc. I remember it being much smaller/more open. Not sure how much of that is in my memory and how much is things actually changing. Anyways, we looked at the falls for a while then went down and got in line for the Maid of the Mist. It was quite the line, but luckily mostly in the shade, and it moved faster than I expected. The Maid of the Mist was WAY better than I remember. In my memory, it did not get close enough to the falls and I couldn't see anything, just mist. This time we definitely could see things! It was really cool, and so refreshing to get covered in mist since it was a pretty hot day. After the boat ride I was totally exhausted and just wanted off my feet and wanted nourishment, so we went to the first sit-down restaurant we could find, which happened to be Hard Rock Cafe. I had never been to one, so I guess I can check that off the list. It was kind cool seeing some of the memorabilia, but I am just not a big enough music fan to fully appreciate it. Feeling very much refreshed we ventured back out into the heat, which had dissipated somewhat, and walked all the way up to the head of the falls, stopping for photo ops along the way. We got tickets for the Behind the Falls caves and then walked around a bit waiting for our turn. My feet were starting to get very tired by this point. We went down and saw the falls up close, also way better than I remembered. At this point we were both ready to get off our feet, so we headed back to the car and looped back to the United States, waited a LONG time to cross the border but it went smoothly. We stayed in Batavia, NY at a Clarion Hotel that beat the Comfort Inn both in price and comfort. No evil sea life! We had good local pizza. We also saw an "Antique Archeology" truck at a gas station, I don't think it was being driven by the guys on the show (American Pickers), but DH does not think they have any other trucks.

Sunday, Sept 4th: We took our time getting going in the morning, but did not sleep in too long. We were taking 90 pretty much all the way across NY, which was kind of annoying because it is a toll road, and therefore you have really limited access to rest stops and food. This was not good for my picky pregnancy stomach, but we managed. It was weird also, as soon as you hit Albany or so (still a good distance from the coast), you could just feel the population density increasing. More traffic, more people, totally different feel. We made it into Boston around 4pm. I was driving and DH was navigating. We sort of got a mini tour of the area thanks to this fact, as we had to circle twice through the greater area before making the right turn to end up at our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton in the Back Bay area. I wish I could take full credit for booking the room, because it was awesome, but I used Hotwire, which means I did not know which hotel I booked until I had paid (I knew the neighborhood, the rating, etc). Anyways, they put us in a river view room on the 25th floor that was just incredible. Additionally, the hotel is attached to the Prudential Center. Prudential Tower is the second tallest building in Boston and has its own mall pretty much. This proved to be highly convenient throughout the stay. Anyways, when we got into Boston I was STARVING, so we just ate in the food court there, they have this great fast food place "Cheese in a Box" that does grilled cheese! From your basic white bread and American cheese to gourmet piles of meat, veggies, spices on foccacia or something. Stomach satisfied, we just started walking. We walked and saw the Christian Science complex, which is very pretty. We walked over to the fens and to Fenway (baseball stadium), then looped back to our hotel, stopping for frozen yogurt along the way at a place called Berry Line. I thought it was great, DH thought it was too much like real yogurt. LOL.

Ok.... I don't want to inundate you with a post so long no one reads it, and these were really the "short" days of our trip! Perhaps I will write about Monday, our busiest day, tomorrow!

Also... there are pictures on facebook, so I did not feel like reposting here.

My First Hospitalization (in my memory at least...)

2011-09-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

If you read this blog regularly you are probably either waiting for me to post about my trip to the East Coast, or depending on how you know me, you may be waiting to hear more about my recent hospitalization and how I am feeling. Let me get the bad out of the way before the good, and also talk about what is more immediately relevant to how I am doing at the moment. Don't worry, the story is not that bad, just sucky. gross too probably, TMI, but its what happened.

On Friday we were in Philadelphia. In the morning after waking up normal and a normal breakfast we walked from our hotel by City Hall down to the Independence Hall area. I did fine with that walk, we got tickets for Independence Hall and began to walk over there, and while we were waiting for that I began to feel week and tired. We went ahead with the tour, swung by the Liberty Bell, and then took the subway back to the hotel to get out of town since I was not feeling well. We thought it was just normal pregnancy fatigue. We drove to Baltimore, stopping at Cracker Barrel along the way where I forced some food down, but it did not help like it normally does. We got to our friends house in Baltimore and I was still feeling gross, but I thought it was still just pregnancy nausea and tried to hide/downplay it, made plans to grill dinner, hung out, but then when dinner was set in front of me (a burger), I could only eat a tiny portion of it. I felt gross all night, went to bed early, got up and vomited the burger and juice/soda I had eaten back up at 6am. Got up feeling horrible. I thought by now it might be something more than just pregnancy nausea, but still nothing so extreme that I was sure. I sipped some juice but couldn't eat any breakfast. I did not want to wreck our plans so we went down to the inner harbor in Baltimore and walked around. I was very fatigued and the smells of food were killing me. We walked up and down and saw everything without touring anything, then went to a food court for lunch. I got a mango smoothy and sipped at it, and ate 1 or 2 of the fries. After lunch we dropped our fried off, packed up, and headed out of town. I slept some on the way home, but was really miserable, feeling nausea and muscle soreness and general miserableness. I kept trying to sip juice and water because I knew I must be dehydrated. When we stopped around 4:30, everything I had eaten/drank all day came up again. I continued to try to sip water and we got home around 9:30pm, I pretty much went straight into bed and laid/slept, sipped water a tiny bit, took a Tylenol for the severe muscle pain and eventually fell asleep, until I woke up with diarrhea at 3am, then for diarrhea and vomiting at 5am, 6am I just stayed up and kept getting sick. I was SO THIRSTY, my mouth was so dry, and I just felt miserable. I tried to sip water, and it just came back up, I tried to suck ice and it just came back up. I was so thirsty I did not care it was going to come back up, so I tried a caffeine free Pepsi because it sounded good and used it to take my thyroid meds. I very slowly drank like maybe 1/3 of the can and it seemed to be staying down. By this time DH was up and asked if he could do anything/get me anything. I told him I was going to call the OBGYN as by this time 36 hrs since I had kept any solids down and hardly any liquids in the same time. So I called and they told be to head to labor and delivery at Riverside assessment for dehydration, so we headed straight there. When we got there I was off the charts for keytones in my urine and dehydration (a positive sample ends up as making the strip dark purple, mine was instantly dark purple and ended up turning black). I also had elevated BP (which is the opposite of how my BP has been trending during this pregnancy). They hooked up a monitor to my belly and found the baby right away, the baby had super active throughout the entire illness or I would have been to a doc sooner. Anyways, the baby was doing great, so they took those monitors off and hooked me up to an I.V. and gave me Zofran, then after I had two full bags of IV fluids they asked me to try and drink a half can of pop over the course of an hour and eat a saltine. I didn't make it and managed to throw up the pop they gave me, the pepsi, and loads of other fluid that I had no idea where it came from. At this point they gave me something stronger for the nausea and omitted me. The new med knocked me out for awhile. When I woke up my mouth was SO DRY, I asked and received ice chips and very slowly had some of those. I laid there all day eating an ice chip at a time and watching football with DH, pretty miserable, later in the afternoon I asked for more and was given a Popsicle, which went OK, then cranberry juice. Around the time DH went home to walk the dogs my fever suddenly spiked (it had been very mild). They gave me tylenol, but it still had not broken after an hour. It got up to 101.4F, and then suddenly dropped. I was still physically miserable and had a rough night with diarrhea, chills, hot flashes, but I did not throw up. They came and drew more blood at 5:30am. I woke up with a really bad sinus type headache a bit later and turned the TV on. They came in and said my labs were OK and my temp was fine, so if I could keep down a solid breakfast they would release me. I managed to eat oatmeal, bacon, and orange juice and while it was not super appetizing to me, it did not come back up, so after checking the baby again (still doing great, kicking the monitor, etc), they released me home. They said that there has been a GI bug going around that the OBGYN warned them about and it was probably just this as my other labs came back normal (no infections or anything).

Since getting home I have been trying to eat every couple hours and making myself drink even though I still don't feel great. I have had really bad headache/sinus symptoms but I think they are resolving now. I feel so crazy weak and fatigued, and I feel like its improving so slowly (along with my willingness to eat), that it is going to take me weeks to feel normal again. I hope I am wrong. I am just glad baby has been OK through all of this and I am doing my best to not end up at L&D again. I know I won't feel like going back to work tomorrow, but I am going to try and at least go in for awhile because our sick policies put up a bunch of paperwork/bureaucratic crap if you stay out three days in a row straight. I can always come home if I feel weak or can't keep up with hydrating etc while there. I have plenty of sick time. The only good thing that came out of this? We know our way into Riverside now, so DH will know exactly where to go if there is another emergency or hopefully when its time to deliver!!

What a sucky dramatic ending to a great week... a great week I will hopefully tell you about it soon.

Picture Catchup!

2011-09-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

As Promised - the picture "catch up" session!!

I took my parents to see the giant corn, always a good time! LOL

Aaron and I on our 5th Anniversary

My parents when they visited, love this pic!!

So, I picked this picture using a thumbnail because it looked like it showed my belly best... so look at the Belly and not my face! This is also from our anniversary, 7/22

And this too, anniversary again!

DH sent me flowers on the day I turned 20 weeks! It was so incredbly sweet, I have been meaning to give him kudos on here forever!

Farmer's Market Weekend

2011-08-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

I try to go to the farmer's market as awesome as possible, but I have not made it since my parents were here (the first full weekend of August), so to go yesterday and see it in full swing was very exciting, and I could not resist buying quite a few ingredients. And, being excited by those ingredients, I have not been able to resist eating them all weekend...

Saturday evening and Sunday Afternoon: A McIntosh apple, sliced it up and put it lemon juice with a handful of farmer's markets grapes (nothing like grocery store grapes, but more wine-like), drizzled and mixed the fruit with honey, then added enough Fage greek yogurt to coat. Delicious! Would be even better if I had some walnuts to candy or something.

Saturday night and Sunday Noon: ate some of the fresh salsa I bought premade! Spicy and wonderful!

Sunday Morning: Farmer's Market Omelot - three eggs, a big handful of fresh sliced basil, a solid portion of diced tri-color cherry tomatos, and a chunk of fresh feta chopped up. So tasty!

Sunday Afternoon: Homemade, from scratch Coleslaw (my first ever attempt at Freshmade coleslaw) - I mixed together a couple heaping tsps of mayonaise, sour cream, a healthy dose of apple cider vinager, tsp of brown sugar, dash of onion salt. Let that sit and mix together while I sliced up a mini head of cabbage and a fresh sweet red pepper (not a bell pepper - a much thinner, longer sweet pepper, don't remember the name). Mixed the veggies into the sauce and let it sit for a half hour before digging in. Quite yummy!!

What fresh produce does that leave me with for the next few days? 1 small eggplant (I am thinking some sort of eggplant blackbean casserole?), one green sweet pepper (again, not a bell pepper), more tri-colored cherry tomatos, more grapes, more mcintosh apples (I bet one would mix in really well with that last portion of coleslaw...), and a basket of fresh brussel sprouts.

I love fresh produce.

Good, Bad, Ugly

2011-08-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

The Good: Its Friday. Baby is the length of a spaghetti squash. I am feeling more and more movement. Football is on.

The Bad: Baby's movements add to my nausea. The comp time thing I explained a couple of days ago is not going to work, I will return to work after maternity leave with NO LEAVE. I need to get ant traps.

The Ugly: Our younger dog River is sick. Don't know if she ate something and its clogging things up or if she has a bug. Loads of diarrhea and vomit = fun stuff. She is still eating and defecating though, so hopefully things work out. (yes we have contacted a vet).

Talkative Day...

2011-08-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

I tried to do a big "picture catch up" post last night w/pictures from our anniversary, my parents visit, and a couple of other things, but they would not upload and I was not in the mood to give it a second go. I will try again soon.

I am now officially reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - the biggest book on my "read before the baby comes" list that I previously posted. The copy I have is 1455 pages long, which is about average I believe. I am on page 122 - which is both significant in that I am not even 10% of the way through, and that it took me this long to really get into it. The writing is extremely theatrical in nature/narration style. Most of the time, instead of stating what a character is feeling or thinking, Tolstoy describes some physical appearance or characteristic that is a "tell" as to how they are feeling, almost like it is a play and he is describing how the actor should portray the character. I do look forward to continuing it. The story itself is supposed to be of epic proportion - concerning the invasion of Napolean into Russia, but right now it is just your standard society scheming and plotting, courtship and inheritance, sex and death. I do look forward to continuing it and am definitely feeling like I can make it through, which I really did not feel like was an option 1-2 months ago. Therefore, I think my inability to read anything serious in the past couple of months was related to my own psyche - the chaos of friends leaving, stress at work, summer business, and not to pregnancy brain.

DH and I got cable back! They came and reinstalled basic cable for us on Tuesday morning. In the next week or so I will cancel our Netflix. I don't know if I have discussed this decision on here or not. You may or may not know that Netflix announced a significant price increase to take effect Sept 1st. Basically they are going from packages that combine DVD and streaming services to seperate packages for each, that cost the same as what we are currently paying for both. So in other words, we currently pay $9.99 for DVD and streaming service. If we wanted to continue getting the same service we would have to pay $7.99 for the DVDs and $7.99 for streaming, for an overall price of $15.98, a 60% price increase. My response to this was two-sided. The rational/calculating side of me recognized that we almost NEVER use the DVD service and we would probably wouldn't even miss it if we just switched to streaming and continued using Netflix. The less calculating side of me was pissed off big time. A company that's service is totally entertainment can't just raise their prices 60% and expect their not to be a backlash. And in this case, they gave no real justification for the price range - and denied most of the justifications provided by the media (expense increases etc). I felt like the company was being totally scheming and not being honest with its customers. SO, in short. The combination of the price raise itself, the way the company did not explain the price increase, and the impending start of football (which cable is highly convenient for), has made us decide to drop Netflix and get cable again. The expectation is we will keep cable at least through January/the BCS games, and then decide exactly what we want to do. We should have a little wee one then, and we are not entirely sure how that will play out in terms of TV usage. On one hand, DH and I agree that we want to significantly cut back our our media usage when baby arrives (TV and internet crap) - not overexpose them to it, not rely on it, and when they get older, limit their use. On the other hand, we fully recognize that a TV may be our best friend when it is 2am and we are up with a nursing or screaming infant, trying to keep ourselves awake - and that cable will be much more effective at this than broadcast that goes dead at night. So... wait and see wait and see... our mantra on SO many things.

I am clearly in a talkative mood today!! So why not keep it going. Want to hear about my crazy/creepy dream last night? I have spoken to a few people who have "movie" dreams - so I know they are not uncommon, but I am not sure if EVERYONE has them or not. Probably not. What I mean by movie dreams is dreams where you are in a movie - either a character or actor - and are aware of it, but still are experiencing the emotions and realistic feelings of the story itself - or maybe you switch between being a character and an audience member, or a character and a director, or anything like that. This was a movie dream. I dreamt I was in a store talking to the store owner, like a little convenience store. He asked me how things were going and I told him that things were good, that I was going to be in the 3rd Batman movie, and infact my plotline started as soon as I left this store. He seemed very concerned about tis and asked me what role I had and how my plotline went. I told him I did not know how it went exactly, but I was not worried because this was the third movie in a trilogy so I thought there must be a happy ending. He still seemed worried, wanted details on where I was going to start my plotline, what I knew about my role, etc. I gave him what info I had, he just seemed so suspicious, but I thought he was being paranoid. I eventually left the store and walked the block or two to my house where my plot started. I was supposed to go home and meet my husband for a nice datenight in. (Not real DH, a character husband). I went in to the house and something was clearly wrong. All the sudden gunmen appeared holding hubby hostage, and they took me hostage. They were clearly waiting for something, discussing amongst themselves what to do. Hubby and I were crouched in a corner trying not to cause problems. I was afraid, but still felt like things would turn out OK. I thought Batman would break in and rescue us, or perhaps the guy from the store that had been so concerned was actually a hero character. But no one came. The gunmen decided I needed to do something, like call the bank to transfer money or something? Or call the police to try and get batman to come? I am not entirely sure. They took me into the kitchen to make the call. When I came back to the front room, my hubby was hanging dead from the ceiling fan, they had killed him. I freaked out, it was unreal. I did not believe it was happening and tried to get him down, tried to beat up the gunmen, etc. I was yelling at them and too myself that this is not how my plotline went, that it couldn't be. Then all the sudden something clicked in my head and I realized I was not the protagonist of the movie, I was the bad guy. I was catwoman, and this was the little clip at the beginning of the movie that showed how I got to be so hateful and evil. That I was already blaming Batman for my husbands death because he HADNT showed up to save us. I could feel myself turning evil, and I knew there would be no happy ending. Then I woke up. Fun Stuff. For the record- there is a third Batman movie coming out soon, but I don't know how soon. It is the third in the trilogy they are doing, and it does have catwoman in it. That is about all I know about it, so its weird I had such a strange dream. I really don't know what the plot will be and the character of catwoman has always confused me (she just does not seem that evil?). I have not been reading/seeing ads for the new movie and have not thought about it in months, so I have no idea what brought it up. It will be interesting to see when the movie comes out if they do any sort of background for her. Also of interest - this bizarre dream, like earlier mentioned reading issues, is not a product of pregnancy. I know that people have vivid dreams during pregnancy - but really this dream was well within the normal paramaters of what my dreams are like.

While we are talking about dreams, this is actually the second dream of note I have had this week. On Saturday or Sunday night I dreamed that DH got a promotion at work, that he replaced someone above him whose job he was already doing - we were both very excited about it and I was proud. He was a bit worried about the additional stress, but we were both excited about the pay raise. This dream came without obvious prompting. Once again, promotion was not something we had talked about for months and I can't identify a clear trigger. In this case, however, it seems there MUST have been a trigger for it, because on Tuesday DH found out he is getting a promotion! While it won't be to replace someone as in the dream, it will make him so he is getting paid the same ammount as the other people on his team who do the same type of work. Premonition? Possible, but I don't really believe in them for such matters. More likely he did mention in passing something about his annual review coming up or whatever and my imagination did the rest. The point is - congrats DH!!! combine that w/my impending "step up" raise at work and things are looking good for little turtle to come (financially).

Is that enough rambling for one day? I think so. See you some other day...

The Sims

2011-08-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Familiar with the game "The Sims"? Basically, you are controlling fake little peoples lives - telling then when to eat, what job to have, when to sleep, when to pee, everything. Once of the most challenging times in the game is pregnancy. The pregnant Sim is very difficult to care for - if you are not careful she could "leave" (the equivalent of dying). The problem occurs if she gets home from work and exhausted and starving - you get stuck in this cycle where she desperately needs sleep, but is too hungry/has to pee to much to sleep more than 5 minutes, but when you send her to the fridge she falls asleep half way through making the meal, etc etc.

In short... this weekend has me feeling like a Sim!

It began with the football game...

Friday night, DH and I, as well as his work friend Eric that I am getting to know and like, left Columbus around 4pm and drove up to Cleveland to attend the Cleveland Browns vs Detroit Lions preseason NFL game. It was a ton of fun! We had great seats, a couple rows in on the South endzone. It was cool to be so close to the field and also made for some great pictures:

So, the result of the game was 30-28 Lions, which made Aaron and I happy, and did not upset Brown's fan Eric too much as it was preseason.

As planned, I drove home. We arrived home at 2:15am.

The problem being... I needed to work Overtime on Saturday. Preferably 8 hours. And the building was only open for overtime from 7am-4pm.

Why you ask? Because maternity leave in America sucks. Seriously. Makes me want to be in Europe more than any time before. In Austria, you get 16 weeks paid (as well as options for unpaid/partial paid). In Denmark, you get 52 weeks as a couple and can divide it between the father and mother. In America? You are at the mercy of your company, with your only guarentee being 12 weeks unpaid if you are somewhere FMLA applies.

The policy with my employer, the state of Ohio, is as follows:

Week 1-2 You are required to either wait through an unpaid waiting period, or use 2 weeks of your own leave.

Week 3-6 70% pay, can be supplemented by your leave if you want full pay.

Week 7-12 FMLA applies.

I was initially under the impression that when FMLA kicked in, I could just at my disgression go unpaid for those final 6 weeks (preserving a little sick and vacation time for when I came back to work with a 3 month old in daycare). However, it came to my attention that there is a clause in FMLA that makes it even more sucky - the employer is only requierd to give it to you if you have no leave of your own to take. In other words, if I want to stay home more than 6 weeks, then I have to use all of my leave up in week 7,8 etc until I am entirely out of sick, vacation, and personal time, and then and only then can I finish out 12 weeks off unpaid. *sigh*. This puts me in quite a bad spot.

Go back to work and drop a 6 week old off with a stranger/sitter (which for me personally seems impossible... so little) OR return to work after 12 weeks, with absolutely NO LEAVE- can't leave early because the baby is sick, can't schedule a Drs appt, can't get sick, have to scrape time together for upcoming family events like my Brother's wedding and sister's graduation that will be coming up. Both seem equally impossible.

There is the possability, the wisp, of hope. My pregnant coworker found a little policy somewhere in the handbook that implied there is ONE kind of leave you can save through FMLA - and that type is Compensatory Time. Paid time off you earn in liueu of pay when you work overtime. We have not yet confirmed this is true, but until we find out one way or the other, we have to assume it is, because overtime is not expected to last. When the Federal Fiscal year ends in October, we will no longer be allowed overtime, that means there are 6 Saturdays between this weekend and when October in which for me to earn comp time... 2 of which I am planning to be out of town. So I could not miss one.

I know. Way too much explanation. BUT that is why, after getting home at 2:15am on Saturday morning, I climbed out of bed at 6:30AM to go to work for 8 hrs. I still have not recovered. My body just doesn't want to sleep to catch up, despite me needing it, and the messed up sleeping schedule has me sick as well ("morning sick") and unable to find anything I want to eat.

I am a Sim. Sleep a little. Try to eat something, fail. And tomorrow is Monday.

DH asked me if the game was worth it, and it was. The real question is... will the overtime be worth it? I really hope that it will... cross your fingers

Parental Visit 2.0

2011-08-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have a gazillion things to say, lets see if I can remember any of them, or have the motivation to try even!

But I want to start by thanking my ILs for their visit last weekend. They arrived Friday night and left Monday morning. We went out to eat - Ruby Tuesdays, Raising Canes, City BBQ. We went shopping, we went to the Crew game on Saturday night to celebrate DH's birthday. We went to see The Help - excellent movie, I highly recommend it!!

Fat - I am getting there. LOL. Rounder everyday. We had our 20 week U/S on Monday! Everything looks great, it was pretty amazing. The doctor kept being like "Oh!! Look at this" with all this technical stuff he found cool, like the pulmonary artery and the way the umbilical chord looked, etc, he said these aren't things you always get to see. It was really cool seeing the little heart beating, the little toes, zombie face. We did not get to really see the hands because the baby was all over the place.. I swear, it was like an octopus squirming around in there. We did get a good picture of one of the feet. Baby was 50 percentile in all domains. The very first image we got of the baby was the top of the head... maybe that means they are a braniac? As planned, we did not find out the sex of the baby. Gotta save some surprises :-)

Yeah... thats all I got. What happened to the million times I say "I should blog about that". I guess my other news is that I am starting to read War & Peace... 67 pgs down, 1388 to go.

Parental Visit

2011-08-07T11:18:00.001-07:00

My parents arrived on Monday afternoon for a visit - just in time for my appt, so they got to hear the babies heartbeat, which was a lot of fun! It was 140bpm. I have heard such mixed things about what this means for sex that I am totally going to say it means nothing. I am currently 19w3d. Our big U/S is Monday, Aug 15th. We are still planning to not find out the sex.

Because this was my parent's first full visit to Columbus, I had a list of about a gazillion ideas of options to do - both at my house, around the city, and around the state. They helped us out a ton with the nursery and many many other things around the house - they are crazy productive and motivated!! I don't know where I got my lazy gene, because it did not come from them!! The nursery is now mostly painted except for some touch ups, will post pics soon probably! Our garage is clean, front flower beds planted, law mowed, indoor plant repotted, lamp fixed, cabinet door fixed, and many other little things I am sure I am forgetting. Thank you mom and dad for all of you help!! Also, they made our first baby purchase by ordering a glider for us as an anniversary gift! Thanks so much!!

Along with working on the house a ton, we did manage to squeeze some fun stuff in!! We went out to eat at the Pig Iron, Raising Canes (new to my mom!), Buca de Bepo, and Ruby Tuesday. We also had Hound Dogs pizza, which my mom labelled as some of the best store-bought pizza she has ever had! We did a driving tour of Clintonville, Victorian Village, Downtown, and German Village, walked around on campus, went to the Book Loft in German Village, and found this great craft shop called the Golden Hobby Shop that has awesome prices on lots of handcrafted goods. We did a lot of glider shopping and ended up selecting the perfect chair from My Own Room. We spent a great day at the state fair, where my dad loved watching the kids ~~chase around~~ handle pigs and my mom, despite sayins she did not have a favorte part of the fair, keeps mentioning the pig momma with all of her piglets and the big boar (1200 lbs!). Yesterday we went up to Cleveland and saw my mom's side of the family - all three of her brothers as well as some of my cousins and cousin's children, I believe a good time was had by all!!

Alas, their visit is drawing to a close. They spent last night after the BBQ w/various family members while DH and I came home. In a bit here DH and I will leave for my Grandma's house in Mt Vernon where we are having a BBQ w/my dad's siblings, then my parents will come back here for one last night, and tomorrow morning will head off, back towards Duluth. It has been a really great week and I am not looking forward to returning to work tomorrow!!

Old and Young

2011-07-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

I hired a maid service this week to do a good thorough clean in prep of my mom, who is allergic to my cats and short-haired dog, coming this week. It made me feel really young, because I felt like I did not know what I was doing and I did not feel confident to tell them what I wanted done etc. Then, the maid service arrived and the two girls looked way younger than me, like 20 yrs old or so, and then I felt old because here I was, a home owner, telling some college kids what to do.

Weird.

5 Years

2011-07-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

As of Friday, July 22nd, DH and I have been married 5 years!!! Good golly that is a longtime!

To celebrate we went out to dinner at a new restaurant - Park Creek Kitchen. I wanted something that was good, unique food, but not too formal/uptight. We definetly have been to some VERY fancy places in the past for our anniversary - like Hyde Park and The Refectory. They were nice, great food, but we are just not comfortable sitting there, if you know what I mean. So anyways, Park Creek Kitchen seemed to fit the bill based on its website, so we headed there. The atmosphere was just what I wanted. Not too fancy, not too casual. DH had fried chicken over macoroni and greenbeans. The macoroni was wonderful! I had a heirloom tomato salad which was very fresh and tasty and a burger. Both were very good. The tomatos were so fresh and delicious (both in the salad and the one on my burger), they must get local fresh produce. It made me crave more! So overall, great food, but not sure it is worth the prices... especially the chicken.

After dinner we went to see Friends with Benefits; a new romantic comedy that is out. DH pointed out the irony that we celebrated 5 years of monogamy by seeing a movie about casual sex. LOL. We enjoyed it, quite funny.

Heres to five years!!

Pregnancy Update

2011-07-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to update everyone on how the pregnancy is going.

The biggest news -I am pretty sure I have been feeling the baby move! I felt it first late late Thursday night (also known as 4am Friday), When I was going to bed after seeing the midnight showing of the Harry Potter movie. DH has decided this should hence forth be described as "the baby clapped at the end of Harry Potter!!"

People love to ask a pregnany woman how she is doing, and I hate answering. I don't really want pity, or to go into the nitty gritty of it every five minutes, or be described as a whiner. DH and I came up with a great answer for me to use recently, which is "Physically feeling like crap, but in good spirits".

However, on my blog I do want to go into nitty gritty. On going symptoms include:
(1) ongoing morning sickness (to be really detailed... I have not had as much nausea, but my gagging is out of control)
(2) cramps, aches, pains
(3) heart burn
(4) emotional basketcase... tear up at anything, get mad easily
(5) lack of self control... I used to never voice the million of judgemental or mean or controversial things I think every day, now I can't seem to help it... I think this is tied in with the emotional basketcase part.
(6) can't get comfortable to sleep at night, or sometimes to sit
(7) ongoing shortness of breath
(8) difficulty getting up int he morning/fatigue

I think that about covers it, maybe??

Last Weekend

2011-07-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write a lot about this past weekend, but I have been busy and have not gotten to it and now I am afraid I may not have that much left interesting to say about it. Lets see...

MOVIES: I already posted about the bad theater and mediocre movie of Friday night. Well, Saturday night we rented "Machete". You may or may not remember a series of three movies coming out a few years ago jointly called "grindhouse" that paid homage to the old B films that would go straight to certain types of theaters known for their violence etc. Well on those movies they had a bunch of fake previews, including one called "Machete". Then they actually went and made this movie. When we rented it, we were expected basically another Grindhouse movie - lots of fakey gratiuitous violence w/some outlandish plot that did not make total sense. Well, the movie had its fill of gratuitous violence, but we really were both stunned by how much plot and character development it had. It had some serious political commentary. Its plot was somewhat outlandish but ultimately made sense. Very odd outcome. In other "movie" news. I had people over at my house last night to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. It is the seventh movie. The 8th and final movie comes out tomorrow night at midnight. We also watched "Confessions of a Shopaholic" on Monday night. It was a bit painful really. I mean, it had its moments and ultimately served its role as romantic comedy, but you just wanted to smack them all sometimes. Also, we are currently debating our future with netflix. It has been announced they are drastically raising prices on their DVD service. Its more of this nonsense where they are trying to force people into streaming. The problem is while they do have 20K streaming titles, they have over 100K titles on DVD. The streaming service frequently does not have a specific movie that we want and we are annoyed they are trying to force us to use it more as if our DVD use is costing them so much money. We are mad, maybe mad enough to cancel all of our service with them. We will see what happens. We are talking about it.

SPORTS: We went to Roosters, a bar/restaraunt, both Friday and Saturday midday this weekend to watch U.S. Women's soccer in the World Cup. First, I wanted to comment that the prices at that place are great. Feels like prices from 10-15 yrs ago! What actually happened is that we went on Saturday thinking it was the U.S. vs Brazil game, but when we got there and had ordered drinks we figured out it was actually France vs England. We just stayed and watched it. It was very relaxing. The game was slow/laid back and we talked a lot. Then on Sunday we went again, same time same place, this time for the actual US vs Brazil game. Unless you live under a sport-resistant rock you probably have heard that the U.S. won in dramatic fashion. It was much more fast paced game. the refs played a bit to big of a role for comfort unfortunately. The questionable reffing on one play swung the game from the U.S. being up 1-0 to it being a 1-1 game w/U.S. playing a player down and totally demoralized by how it all occured. Luckily they have tougher resolution than I do because they actually played better down a man. Brazil did eventually score again during the first half of overtime, though upon review it should have been called offsides. Somehow, in extra time of overtime (like the 122 minute of the game), U.S. Had a beautiful beautiful cross and header goal to ties things up. So dramatic and awesome. Then the U.S. won in penalty kicks. They play France tonight. It hopefully will be on when we go for Trivia. We may hit up Roosters more often now, unless we decide to get cable again.

Car Show. We went to the "good guys" car show at the Ohio State Fairground. It rocked, but I so don't have energy to post about it Recap is we were smart to go in the morning (8-10AM) to beat the heat, and we want a late 60's Camero (for DH), a 55' Bel Aire (as a family car), and a Shelby Cobra.

Top Ten Reasons Not to Go to Screens a the Continent

2011-07-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

Last night we visited Screens at the Continent, the dollar theater that is closest to our house. We will not be going back, because:

10. Lights are not on in the lobby.
9. Two people sell tickets and vending at one register at a snail pace.
8. Its hard to figure out what theater your movie is in.
7. Their concession products are highly questionable.
6. The movie reels are poor quality and they cut them off before the credits finish.
5. There is no music, ads, or even lights between the movies. You sit in the dark until it starts.
4. No one is cleaning up the theaters.
3. All of the above makes the theater creepy as hell.
2. There is something in the theater that aggravated my allergies, and I don't usually have bad allergies.
1. There is a perfectly good dollar theater at Carriage Place that is the same price and is way way way way nicer and less creepy.

The movie we went to see is Priest. It stars Paul Bettany, who for whatever reason has become a trigger/signal for me to see a movie. The movie was OK, probably 5/10, maybe 6/10 depending on my mood. The concept itself was really interesting and could have been great, the execution was not as great. Some of the acting was poor and characters were not as developed as they could have been. The movie is steampunk/vampire/dystopia. Yeah - that's a lot to combine! I will probably see the movie again sometime, or would be interested in seeing the comic books it was based on.

Red White and Blue

2011-07-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about how the U.S. is far from the only country with red, white, and blue as their flag colors - the other obvious ones are UK, Australia, and France. However, the U.S. is the only country to become so fixated, but that is relatively common. We are one of the most patriotic countries in the world. This has its benefits and its downfalls of course. As this is my Independence Day post - I will stick with the beneficial side. The biggest benefit of course is that it feels great and we have this wonderful celebration of some really great things our country did. America really is an amazing place in so many ways. We may have a lot of issues, and a lot of things that need resolved, but the Bill of Rights, and our constitution, along with the lack of a true class system (i.e. - anyone can rise), have made America a great country.

So how did I spend my 4th of July weekend?

On Saturday I went to the farmers market w/my aunt and cousin. Then I headed over to http://www.andersonsstore.com/ off of Sawmill to get some brats, as I was told they had a good meat counter. In the evening I made potato salad and spinach dip for my Sunday plans.

On Sunday I spent pretty much the entire day getting ready for and then executing a BBQ at my Grandma's house in Mt Vernon. DH road his motocycle up there, which was exciting for him. The menu included the potato salad, brats (multiple varieties), spinach dip with hawaiian bread, marshmallow salad (very midwestern to call this salad :-) ), and for dessert - Rhubarb Crunch! It all was tasty and the company was good. Nice to get some family together and have brats, helped some with my homesickness.

On Monday, I was exhausted! I had spent most of Saturday and Sunday on my feet. So, I spent most of Monday laying around. I did get moving in the afternoon, put some laundry away, and headed off to a 4th if July celebration with my friends down in Hilliard. We met at their appt for snacks and drinks, then walked to the Hilliard fireworks about 20 minutes away. It was a good show, and we were sitting ridiculously close. The finale was an assault on the senses -both hearing and eyes. It was a lot of fun!! The walk back felt like a million miles, LOL, but I made it and we enjoyed some more time with our friends before heading home.

It was a nice, relaxing long weekend with lots of friends and family, lots of good Independence Day traditional activities.

2nd Trimester!!!

2011-06-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

I am officially declaring myself in the 2nd Trimester!! I actually have been here technically speaking for over a week, but I did not feel that way emotionally because I had not had a Drs appt in a month and did not know for sure that everything was going well, but today we heard the heartbeat and everything is measuring right on track!! Also, I am starting to show - at least to people who know me. I have never really had a belly before. When I gain weight/fat (which I certainly have plenty of!) it goes on in my back/hips, not my belly. Now I have a belly! And it will just get bigger and bigger... and if I am super lucky, only a few weeks until I feel movement (though I know that can vary a ton). This pregnancy, as predicted, is rushing by, as is the summer.

So, as of tomorrow, six months until my due date! I promised you guys renewed resolutions back when I first found out I was pregnant. 6 months is a lot of time, and no time at all. My first thing was I was going to re-do some reading goals. I went through my "to read" list on Good Reads and narrowed it down a bit. Here is the list I made:

Classics: War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago, Atlas Shrugged, Brideshead Revisited, Dune, The Trial
Books where I want to see the movie: The Lovely Bones, Do Android's Dream of Electric Sleep? Interview with a Vampire.
Books I think will help me/Interested in philosophy/informational: Man's Search for Meaning, (another book by Milan Kundera), Getting Things Done, Exercise Endocrinology
Series to Finish: Wolves of Mercy Falls, Alvin Maker
Project Book: The Book Lover's Cookbook

The thing is... There is no way in heck I can read all of this. I mean, I certainly have the time, but my concentration is already decreased and I hear it will just get worse!! We will see what happens :-) Basically, I will try to get some of this list read, and I am not going to linger on books that I try to read and can't focus on, I am going to move on to the books that do catch my interest so I can get through as many of these as possible. I am going to start with the next book of the Alvin Maker series.

Organized? Not so much.

2011-06-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I forgot my wallet and today I forgot my cellphone. I just can't keep all of my pieces together! I never could. I cannot even tell you how many times my parents had to bring me things at school that I had forgotten - backpack, assignment, violin, forms... you name it. Or Girl Scouts! I always forgot my permission slip. Sometimes we had to swing by my house on the way out of town to get my mom to sign it. More evidence of my lack of organization.

Forgetting my wallet yesterday sort of messed me up all day. I realized I did not have it when I was at Starbucks in the morning. I had already ordered at the drivethru and when I pulled around to pay, I had no way to pay. Really embarrasing. I had a handful of change. The Starbucks people were super nice and spotted me the drink, and I had enough change to pay for the pastry. I seriously love that place. I tipped them big time today for their kindness yesterday... which is I am sure what they hoped for. LOL. Anyways. I did not have my wallet, so I could not get my normal "mid morning" snack, so I did not feel well pretty much all day.

Today forgetting my cellphone means two things... one, I will be bored most of the day, and two, I can't check to make sure everything is alright in Duluth. Normally I would assume everything was alright with my family unless I heard otherwise, but I had a bunch of bad dreams last night, some of which involved my family in Duluth, so I would really prefer to just get an "all OK!" from their neck of the woods. I have an email feeler out to try and get the confirmation I want, but its so much slower than text. I might have to give them a call from my work phone a bit later today if they don't respond!

I painted pottery w/friends two weekends ago and just got to see the results yesterday. My piece turned out well, and the process reawakened my creative drive. The problem is I really want to go paint pottery again, or do wheel throw or something, rather than completing the artistic/crafty projects I have going already (mostly sewing) that need completing. I also have felt a bit more motivation that last few days w/regards to cleaning, which is definetly a good thing! DH and I sorted a giant mound of laundry on Monday night, and the bedroom is cleaner (or at least less cluttered) that it has been in several weeks. It still could use some vacuuming and such. The pet hair really tends to build up in their because the dogs are in their all day and our larger dog sleeps on the carpet up there at night.

On Sunday we went to a baby shower for our waitress. I know, that is not a sentence one hears very often! We got to trivia every single week, and we have had the same waitress for trivia for the last 2 yrs. Once a week for two years... that is more often and regular than I see most of my friends! She is 8 months pregnant, due August 1st, and had her shower on Sunday. It was a very chillaxed shower - couples (not just girls), basically hanging out on her back stoop/yard, eating food and talking. We did play one relay game and she opened presents, but mainly we just sat there. It was super relaxing, even though we did not know anyone.

In addition to our waitress being pregnant, many of our trivia friends are moving soon. The result is that the era of trivia is about to either end, or change drastically. July 13th will be the last day of "regular" full teamed trivia. If trivia continues after that it will be with a reduced team and a different waitress - it will never be the same. It is sad, and really increases the urge for us to get going on our own move out of town. J&L, the leaders of our trivia team, move to Kentucky on 7/20. Our other friends S&J move to Georgia by 8/2. We have friends moving just north to Sunbury, but they won't come down to Hilliard for trivia and thats the only place we see them. My friend M is leaving for her field research at the end of July, she will be there 2-3 months. So who will still be here? My friend R and her DH J are here for now, but they are like us in planning to move as soon as they can get jobs (for them it will likely be Colorado). Our good friend T is staying in town for at least another year, but as much as we like him, we see him very rarely. That might change with all these other people leaving! I of course still have my nestie friends, and DH has a few work friends, but our base of friends is shrinking dramatically - especially the type of friends that we call up and say "hey, you want to do something?". I guess that is just life. Maybe if trivia fully disinegrates, as I predict, I will start taking a wheel throw class on Wednesday nights.

I had a facebook friend predict that everyone would get migraines today (that gets them) because the temperature was expected to drop 10 degrees in a very short ammt of time due to these big storms moving through. I don't think it got as hot as was expected yesterday, but there still was a big temperature drop. I was pleasantly surprised to wake up without a migraine, but I had to admit things are touch and go in the sinus dept - some tightness and looming problems. Hopefully nothing comes of it, because I definitely don't want to miss trivia tonight given the above information!!

PS: My Dad emailed me back. Everything in Duluth is fine. Good to hear.

So I should post or something?

2011-06-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

The weather here has been gorgeous. Absolutely fantastic. For the past 6 days it has been partially cloudy w/temps from 60-75 degrees. Wonderful. Today it finally "broke" and rained. It rained on and off throughout the day, and then poured for the last hour or so. Now we are back to partially cloudy.

In other good news, we got a new couch - at least new to us! Our friend who is getting a new free couch from her Grandma (a furniture addict), is giving us her old couch and chair. They are in pretty good shape, way better than our $20 3-5 yr old goodwill couches we have been using. I need to get covers for them due to the floral print, but its nice to have a full size couch!! And for free. DH and I make our priorities pretty clear... 56" television, gaming systems, nice king size bed and 27" flat panel in the bedroom... $20 goodwill couches. LOL. So, a new, free couch is super exciting.

I am officially 12 weeks along in my pregnancy today. People keep telling me "its a good place to be". I tell them it is a good place to be if everything is going well, and I will feel really good about it next week when I hear the heartbeat again! 7 days.

It is summer vacation season. That means that a lot of people at work are out, so I am expected to spend a lot of time each day helping out on other people's desks. Luckily things are under control on my desk, so it isn't a big deal, but it can create some awkward or frustrating situations. Like today my supervisor asked that we concentrate on this one person's quality assurance returns - as in, these are cases that my coworker finished and tried to send out of the building, but it got pulled and checked for quality and rejected in dramatic fashion with a list of a gajillion things to fix. Um. (1) I dont want to find out how many ways my coworker screws his cases up and (2) these are by far the most annoying types of cases to work on, even when they are alone, let alone doing someone elses. Oh well.

That completes my random thoughts for the day :-)

fatigue

2011-06-09T17:03:00.001-07:00

I now feel like I am spending about 50% of my total energy per day trying to figure out what I can eat, make sure I am eating enough, drinking enough, and not throwing up. It is always on my mind. That leaves about 30% of my energy for work, 10% for self care like showering, brushing teeth, etc, and 10% for everything else. That everything else does not leave much room for things like housekeeping, cooking, or friends. Weekends are so much better. Being able to not work while pregnant would be amazing. Seriously. I get less nausea on weekends because I can let my body follow its natural rhythm. I get enough sleep, so the times I am awake I can be fully engaged. Ah. Days off rock.

The weird part is, despite all of this, I am starting to feel motivated again. Unfortunately, if my energy won't support it, motivation does not get me very far. Last week I started to feel motivated around Thursday. I did dishes, cooked for my cooking club, cleaned up, did laundry. I kept all this up for 2 days. Then Saturday night I got massive hives and laid on the couch doing nothing for 5 days. The other part is timing of motivation. Like, right now I want to start a load of laundry and do a few dishes. But I am at work, so this is not happening. Will I have the energy or motivation to do the above stuff at 3:45pm when I get home? Doubtful. Even more doubtful because I am going to the library to drop off way overdue books on the way home.

I know, I am a big fat whiner. So let me just make it clear before I go on that I am very happy to be pregnant and would rather be 10x sicker and more fatigued than give that up. Knowing I am pregnant boosts my spirits, which are on average pretty high. Most of the time even though I am physically miserable and unproductive I have some level of contentment or good mood underneath. (OK. Not when I was covered in hives). BUT anyways, the fact I am happy to be pregnant even if it makes me sick does not mean I feel any better physically or that its any easier to deal with the low energy. In some of the communities I circulate there is a lot of question as to who has the right to complain about what. I have heard it referred to as the "pain olympics". I typically avoid this topic because, well, most people who blog about this topic are saying how stupid the "competition" of misery is and how everyone should be understanding and supportive. My opinion is related, but not so feel good. And I am not sure I really want to get into it here and now. I will just say, that I think that in general people have a right to complain about any bad situation they are experiencing - even if it is not necessarily the same or as bad as other people's situation. But that right to complain does not mean they should expect sympathy from every one of their listeners.

Is that vague enough for you?

Speaking of...

2011-06-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

From Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon was the single parent to two dogs, three cats, and one future child. I posted this on facebook and many people commented that the future child was easy to take care of. I still contend that the future child is the hardest of the 6!! Future Child, hence forth dubbed FC, prevents me from walking the dogs or cleaning up after the cats, drains my energy, tells me not to eat things all the time, and makes me walk slow. But, I still like FC. Quite a bit.

Speaking of FC. I knew from an academic perspective my "morning" sickness could get worse, but I guess I had sort of assumed it wouldn't because it has held constant for 2 or so weeks now and I am nearing the time when morning sickness is supposed to abate (in like 2 weeks), so I was sort of caught off guard over the last couple of days when it significantly worsened. Now I am having issues getting enough calories, and, this is TMI, but I actually vomited for the first time today. Until now it has just been nausea. And can anyone explain to me why tacobell still appeals to me even when I can hardly stomach anything? Anyone?

Speaking of food, I went out for BBQ with a friend on Saturday afternoon - and the resteraunt (Hoggy's) didn't have potato salad!!! What is up with this columbus? All BBQ places should carry potato salad, the end. I went out because I wanted to, but also to make DH jealous. He was doing something to make me jealous - he was at KungFu Panda 2 with my brother and FSIL and I wished I could be there, but I knew he would wish he could go out with me and T for BBQ.
Speaking of DH being out of town, I was amazed by the support I got while DH was out of town. I know I have friends and family here, but I had always wondered in the back of my mind if I really had anyone here I could count on in a crunch, and the answer is clearly yes. Two of my couple friends - R&J and J&S, along with my cousin B, made sure the dogs got walked twice a day. My friend R (same as from R&J) also helped me pick up after the cats. My aunt came over to help with some lingering medical stuff, and brought my veggies I was craving one night. I also had all of these people, as well as 3 other friends in town, tell me I should call them if I needed anything or had any problems. It was pretty great to realize how much support we have here.

Speaking of here versus other places. I am pretty sure I have mentioned on here that DH and I would like to move back to MN, preferably Duluth. Well, the reason he was out of town was for a job interview in Duluth. Unfortunately he did not get the position. It is pretty disapointing. We thought he was a strong candidate because they flew him up there for it (we expected to pay for the ticket), but alas. He got a nice little vacay with my family though. We will continue to apply for jobs. The worst part is today I feel like the weather is just making fun of me and mocking me. Yesterday it was 102 in the Twin Cities and 57 in Duluth, as if to say "yeah, you know there is a big diff between living in your hometown and just making it back to MN!!" and then today it is supposed to be 98 degrees here and it is again around 55-60 in Duluth. As if to say "you know you want to be here, ha ha at you!". I hate heat.

Speaking of heat. I was surprised with a miserable new pregnancy symptom on Saturday night - hives all over my body. Itchy as heck. And yes, heck is itchy. Since that time I have decided I think it was triggered by spending so much time on Saturday out in the sun. Multiple friends have reported that they had this problem while they are pregnant, and I can't really come up with any other trigger or allergic exposure. Note to self - avoid being out in the heat as much as possible, even if its shady and its for something fun. At the moment I am still getting very mild hives under my clothes, or from where I lay at night- you know, any skin surface that is really constricted and gets hot and sweaty? But it is improving drastically every day.

Speaking of something fun, the thing I was doing out in the sun was attending the Victorian Village garage sale. I think its technically called the Short North garage sale, but that is just weird since its not really at the Short North. I went with 4 friends and we had a blast. I bought some VHS and books, but my real treasure of the day is a new lamp, one that is very adult and pretty and both DH and I like. It is blue with red flowers and gold detailing. I would say I would post a pic, but we all know by now that probably won't happen. You all will just have to visit me to see it.

Speaking of visits. I apparently forgot to tell you all about a massive dinner party we had with 10 guests. It was 1930s theme and was a murder mystery party with a formal sit down 7 course dinner, canopes before hand, and coffee afterwards. I am sure it will be the fanciest thing I am ever involved in planning.

Speaking of planning. I have spent the last 3 weeks or so avoiding planning past this week and now am left in this strange situation mentally where everything seems disorganized/unplanned when nothing really has happened to make it such. I seriously have not committed to any plans beyond this week. I have not made decisions about things to do for the summer or thought any more about the baby moon I hope to take at the end of the summer/early fall. I have not thought about what we will do for July 4th or what needs to happen with the gardens or summer projects or revised resolutions for the rest of the year, or anything. Time to start thinking about these things I guess!!

Speaking of thinking... I am all out of thoughts. Hope you enjoyed my post.

Actually I lied. Last thought of the day: It is way to fricking hot. I just tried to walk the dogs with DH and only made it 3/16 of the way around before having to turn around!!

Sleep

2011-06-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the posts I wrote and never posted:

DHs schedule is extremely flexible. It does not really matter when he gets in the morning, or really when he leaves, as long as he is there for about 8 hrs and is getting work done at a reasonable pace. I see this as a huge advantage. DH has started to see it as a curse. Why? Because he has to this point been incapable of establishing any sort of morning routine that has him up and moving as early as he would like to be, because there is no pressure to get to work. I get up like clockwork on work days. 6am everyday. It is just easier for me that way. My body comes to expect it, so that no matter when I go to bed my body is at least somewhat ready to wake up at that time. DH on the other hand faces quite the battle. He typically sets his alarm to go off before mine, perhaps 5:45AM, perhaps so early as 5AM. I would say that 75% of the time he does not get up when this early alarm goes off, but rather just sleeps until after I get up and shower, or even until after I leave at 6:30am. The other 25% of the time he does get up with his alarm, but even then -- the battle is only half over. He will get up, at lets say, 5am, and take a shower. Then crawl back into bed and proceed to sleep until after I leave. Seems really pointless to me, but he loves napping. Does this post have a point? Not really. Just something DH and I have been chatting about recently. I still say he is spoiled. How lovely it would be to say, every once in a while, you know what, I don't feel good this AM, I am going to sleep in an extra hour!! Although, I know from personal experience I would be likely to have the same problem with it as DH does. When I was in graduate school and when I was unemployed, which, less face it, are not all that disimilar, I struggled to get up at a decent hour. What can I say, we are not a very motivated couple. LOL.

DHs sleep habits used to annoy me. Now I tell him to enjoy it while he can!!

The News

2011-06-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

I know. Its been a while. And its not like things have not happened, because they have. I am not sure exactly why I have been avoiding posting. I even have two emailed posts saved from a couple of weeks ago that I never posted. Its not because I am too busy, or too sick. I think it is because I am not sure what I want to say.

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know I am pregnant. If now - guess what! I am pregnant!! LOL.

Let me cover the basic questions:

When are you due/How far along are you? Our due date is Dec 29th - a Christmas or New Years baby is coming! DH wants it to be born before the New Years so we get the tax right off. I will be happy if it is born healthy and w/out incedent.
That do date, by the way, makes me 10 weeks along as of today (Thursday).

How are you feeling? Not great, but I guess that is to be expected. I have had "morning sickness" off and on since week 7 or so. I also have shortness of breath, dizziness, fatigue, and some other symptoms that are not topic for polite conversation.

Are you excited? Over the moon, thrilled, so happy.

Were you trying? (People actually ask this, which blows my mind). Yes. We were trying. Actually, saying we were trying is almost an understatement. We were trying, and if it were up to us this would have happened literally years ago.

Are you going to find out the gender? First, you really mean are we going to find out the sex. Second, no we are not. I don't want to. DH used to not want to. He is wavering, but I won't be swayed.

Do you have names picked out? We have a boys name picked out, have had it for years. I thought we had a girls name picked out, I had sort of been pushing it on Dh for years and thought he had accepted it, but now that it is "real" he wants to explore other options. We are having some difficulty agreeing. DH likes very view girls names and his opinion seems to change frequently. We will see what happens. And no, at least at this point we are not sharing any our name or name ideas.

Have you had a U/S? Yes, actually we are lucky enough to have had two already, one at seven weeks and one at nine weeks. Everything looks good, growth is right on track and at the second U/S the baby was moving and waving his "leg nubs" at us. It is literally awesome. Our next U/S won't be until 20 weeks(ish) and our next appt at all isnt until the end of June, which I find nerve wracking, but I guess thats life.

I know, all the above information is pretty basic. There is more to the story, but I am not sure I want to put it on this forum. But I am hoping this post gets me by any stalled trains of thought until I get around to deciding if I want to put it here or not.

2011-05-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this, you should know by now that I am knocked up!! I know some people hate that phrase, but I find it amusing. 8 weeks, 4 days. It is still really early, but we are excited and hopeful. There are other good things going on as well for us, but I believe that should stay under the radar for a few days.

I expected to get morning sickness (or "morning" sickness), but I was not expecting the fatigue, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Its all for a good cause though, eh? The nausea is so weird. I can simultaneously be cooking/want to eat something and feel like I am going to throw up. The thought of food can make me feel ill, but the smell of food is almost always good (except perhaps Chinese food). Things that shouldn't smell bad at all make me sick (like the smell of wet paper towel?? Not dirty, just wet). I have some other symptoms as well, but they are not entirely blog appropriate. LOL.

Yesterday I came home from work early. It was not a particular symptom that had me down, just a general sense that I needed to lie down. If I am feeling sick to my stomach, or have a headache, or a sore muscles, I can just get myself to work through it - but a general sense of unwellness and desire to lay down? Don't know what to do with that, so I came home.

Another Weekend Past

2011-05-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

Its Monday again, somehow. Funny how that happens, it just keeps coming round. Back to the grindstone. My grindstone is a bit slow moving these days. Somehow I managed to get caught up again (this happens periodically without any rhyme or reason). My work is very cycular. I will have crazy busy periods and lulls w/no logical explanation. I am currently in a lull. The plus side of a lull - low stress, can work slow w/out consequence. The downside - having little to do makes the hours tick by slowly. This morning things have been going on at a decent clip, but I expect it to slow down. And now, for unknown reasons, I have a crick in my neck, which is really annoying me.

But this is not really what I intended to post about. I intended to tell you about my weekend. I hope to get some pictures posted on facebook for anyone interested. Friday night DH and I went to Mellow Mushroom pizza and ate deliciousness (I had the mega-veggie, he has the mighty meat pizza), then went home and watched Young Victoria about Queen Victoria's rise to power, it was very interesting.
Saturday morning, after walking the dogs, we went out to breakfast as Bob Evans, then headed up to the mall where we did some shopping for Derby costumes. This was of course to go to the Kentucky Derby party at our friend T's house that afternoon. We arrived at his door at five PM bearing spinach dip. I was clad in a summer dress and white hat with a large pink rose attached whild DH wore boat shoes, very light khakis, a double-breasted navy blazer, and a hat. We were stylin'! It was fun. Delicious food, good race. The host randomly distrbuted the horses names and had chocolate prizes for win place and show. I was lucky enough to get Animal Kingdom (the winner), and DH got second place! So we have some delicious chocolate now.

Sunday I met some girls for lunch at Panera's (more delicious food), then came home and slept away the afternoon. In the evening we went to "An Evening With the Captain's" - a "speaking" tour featuring three of the captains from the deadliest catch - Johnathon and Andy from the Time Bandit and Sig from the Northwestern. It was very casual and very entertaining. I would say overall that their personalities come through pretty accurately on the show, except they are a bit raunchier in real life. It is not surprising that Discovery Channel cleaned them up a bit, eh? Andy played a couple of songs - one dedicated to Phil Harris (another captain who died a couple of years ago), and one called "Fisherman's Life" which was very good. They told some good stories and they called up Jake Anderson (a popular deckhand from the show) on their cellphones and put him on the mic for a bit. At the end of the night they had three people come up on stage and try to get into survival suits in the regulated 1 minute. I believe two of them would have made it, the third totally sucked and hardly even tried. We also got to be the first audience to see a certain premier of Cars 2. Captain Sig has a voice role as a boat in the opening scenes, so we got to watch that. He had not even ever seen it before last night. It was pretty cool. Makes me think I should go watch the first Cars. Amusing stuff for a fan of the show :-)

Then we went home and pretty much both crashed right away, even though it wasn't that late. Guess the fun of the weekend wore us out

The did and didn't of the weekend...

2011-05-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Things that did not get done over the weekend: starting my sewing project, straigtening the disaster that is my office.

I did have a nice weekend though, both in terms of productivity and entertainment. Friday night DH picked up BBQ on the way home. We ordered from Pig Iron because it is the most convenient for him to swing by. On the phone I ordered Potatoa Salad, but when he go there they told him they did not make potatoe salad anymore. Um. What kind of BBQ resteraunt doesn't make potato salad? That is really messed up... I like BBQ a lot. I like the meat, but really my favorite part are all the sides - corn pudding. potato salad. cole slaw. green beans. baked beans. cucumber onion salad. etc etc etc. Mess with my sides and I might just stop using you... Anyways. We ate dinner without potato salad and watched the NFL draft (day 2). Then we walked the dogs. Then we ran to Target to get a bunch of wants and needs, then we went to City BBQ and got potato salad for dessert. LOL.

Saturday I slept in. DH mowed the lawn and I laid around. We went to my coworker's wedding. The ceremony was at 4:30 PM at the Statehouse Atrium. It was very pretty. It was clear the bride was very detail oriented (totally opposite of me). The reception was at the Antheneum, a banquet hall in an old building a few blocks from the State House. It was a beautiful venue with this cool balcony encircling the room. The lighting was very nice and again the decorations and details were meticulous. The food was delicious, the company (my coworkers), was good. We left pretty early, mainly because the dance music did not suit us (we prefer slow songs, things we don't shame ourselves doing), and because all our coworkers left early. They were heading up to meet at a bar where a band was playing that has a member from our work. I told them that a bar with live music very not our scene. We went home and walked the dogs, watched some Dr Who, and went to bed. This morning my coworkers reported they had a great time at the bar and we should have come. I don't regret not going. Seriously, we just don't fit in when it comes to loud live music. My coworkers also said that they really liked DH and he is a great guy and very funny, which I already knew, but was nice to hear again.

Sunday... we both slept in, and because the dogs had been walked so late the night before (10:30pm), they let us sleep in. Nice. In the afternoon I went shopping with the other female guests for our murder mystery party. We were looking for 1930s formal wear. This is challenging. I mean, think about it. If you have average to slightly above average knowledge of fashion history you probably can picture a woman's outfit from 1990, 1980, 1970, 1960, 1950, maybe 1940, and 1920.... but do you have any idea what people were wearing in 1930? I certainly didn't. I did find something though, very authentic/ actual vintage. It is not attractive by today's standard's, but it makes me feel like I am from a different era, which is sort of the point. Now R&T will have to accesorize me. We are meeting again tomorrow night to go over more details. Sunday night we did Laundry and watched some TV. I loaded up some new stuff on my MP3 player (thank you dad!!), nothing resolution related, but stuff that makes me happy. Although, I did finally get the "best of the Eagles" cd from the library, but I have not got it on my Mp3 yet.

This week looks like it will be busy. I have started up with a new round of cooking club, where we get a new recipe everyweek, so tonight I will be trying this weeks - Taco Rice. Tomorrow night is the planning meeting. Wedneday, trivia. Thursday, getting together with a friend J... and hopefully still getting plenty of sleep. I stayed up late last night waiting for Obama, and now I want a nap. :-)

1/3

2011-04-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is April 30th. Sunday is May 1st. Measuring by months, we will be 1/3 of the way through the year. Time certainly does fly. And as far as I know, it will just go faster.

Work. People keep asking me "has work calmed down?". The answer is yes and no. There have not been any new changes in the past few weeks (since the implementation of the dress code), so that is good. But there is a lot of drama/gossip concerning SB5 going around. (the Anti-Union legislation that was passed in Ohio under the new governor.) Additionally, without OT, and with my low motivation levels, and recent use of a lot of sick time, I have been treading water instead of swimming laps around my pending - just keeping my head above water. Its not bad and I certainly am not behind or in trouble, its just not as pleasant as it was to be ahead and be helping other people out. We found out we will get OT back soon, but because of new rule changes it will only be available on Saturday's and will not help your individual pending. I doubt I will be doing much, especially in May, since I have so many weekend plans already laid out.

I went to a used book sale at work earlier this week. They had universally marked all of their hardcovers as $1 and all paperbacks as $.50. I feel like I robbed them. I bought a copy of Mockingjay and Catching Fire - hardcovers in brand new mint condition, all shiny and pretty, for $2 total. I have the urge to say that if you have never heard of these books you live under a rock, but that is not true. But, they are massively popular. They are the 2nd and 3rd books in the Hunger Games trilogy. Still don't know what I am talking about? I guess that just means you don't follow the literary world/books much. Mockingjay was considered the "savior" or the 2010 financial year for publishers. It is not as big as Harry Potter or Twilight, but it definitely has a following. They are currently working on the first movie, which will star that young actress from Winter's Bone that was nominated for an Oscar. I am both skeptical the movie. The book is a Young Adult book, but it is very violent and dark. I am not sure how they can both please parents and readers. I am not sure how they can show some of the images that were described and not have it be rated R. We will see what happens. THE POINT is that these books are worth way more than #1. Probably $20 a piece new, $15 used. Now I just need to find a nice copy of the first book and I will have added nicely to my book collection.

There are ideas swirling in my head about new projects with regards to the use of our bedrooms, they are such a disaster. With any luck we will be selling out house withint he next year, and things really need to get straightened out a bit. In an ideal world (OK... not in an ideal world... in an ideal world we would win the Powerball and be back in Duluth without caring if we sold this house and have a nice mansion on the lake... but in a realistic but ideal world...), we would
(1) get bookshelves for all the books that are in the closet in the red room.
(2) clean out the yellow room which is currently storage, organize its contents and move the contents to the red room closet in a manor that allowed for future use of said contents.
(3) re-paint the yellow room to a color or shade that doesn't give me a migraine, and reinstall the closet so that it is officially a bedroom
(4) Re-organize the green room so things are findable and move any overflow from it to the red room.
Did I mention we have way too much space? All the above rooms (red, green, yellow) are essentially "spare bedrooms". They all have massive closets. Perhaps I should post picture to demonstrate... perhaps another day.

2011-04-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

It's a miracle. I actually feel like posting!! Aren't you all lucky (or so I like to tell myself, LOL).

So one of my cousins asked me to help out with recommendations of things to do in Germany. I procrastinated on this and then eventually decided to sit down and do it. I wanted to pull out my old Europe stuff to look through and make sure I got everything (names etc) right. I have one assembled scrapbook from my 2001 trip (when I spent 3 weeks w/HS class in Southern Germany), and then a giant box unassembled of random pictures, brochures, journals, etc from my 2005 trip (when I spent 5 months in Austria and travelled around a lot of other parts of Europe). I thought these were all in a nicely lablled box in the one organized closet in my house (in my office/sewing room). My sister LEKT helped me organize it ages ago. So, I opened up the closet and began to look. I ended up pulling every single box out of it, most of which were not labelled, and not find it. I was a bit frustrated. I thought this was the ORGANIZED part!! Turns out that it was in a large box labelled scrapbooks that had been moved to another room. I obviously have too much space in my current house. This story is not really about my trip to Europe, its about my organizational issues. Now my office has returned to complete disaster area because of course being me I did not put a single one of those boxes BACK into said closet. It is not functional, which is unfortunate because I definitely have a project I should be working on. I suppose if I get up the motivation (maybe this weekend?) I will vaguely reasemble the closet and get cracking on that project... we will see.

I had two friends over last night because they are planning a massively complex party. Technically speaking I am planning it as well, but its really their show. It is a murder mystery party. The theme is 1931 English Country Manor. It will be the first time I use my formal China, though I don't have quite enough place settings so it will be mixed with some of my friends. Last night we discussed the 7 course dinner they plan to serve, how the table will be set, how we will rearrange my furniture, how we will dress, who will play what characters, etc etc. It should be fun. And stressful. As I said, I am not really in charge, its just my house. LOL. So maybe a bit less stressful.

Several people I see or talk to in real life have asked about my New Years Resolutions. Suffice it to say they are not going well. They are likely to undergo serious revision in the next month or two. May Day Resolutions anyone? Or perhaps Birthday resolutions?

Speaking of my Birthday (at the end of May), we have arranged to be out of town for two weekends in May if everything goes according to plans. We are going to go to Illinois to see our friends B&R, and then on Memorial Day weekend we hope to take a long weeked in St Louis. Should be good times if it all works out.

Crickets

2011-04-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

Do you hear the crickets??
Wait... I have not been in hear for so long they probably died off or something.
And I really don't have anything to post today, but I thought I should post something.

I hope to get back to meal planning next week. It has been ages. I really am going to try. I might shift to shopping at Kroger. I have been disapointed by my Giant Eagle's selections in a number of departments. Today I went to Kroger on the way home instead of Giant Eagle and its not as far our of the way as I thought.

I am currently on a Pride and Prejudice kick. I love that movie (Kiera Knightley version). Now I am watching the 1980s BBC version. I am five minutes in and already feel like its trying to hard.

I watched Gone with the Wind. I like it, but I don't see why its called one of the best movies every.

That really is all my news....

the movies...

2011-04-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

HP1 - warm, cheerful, comfortable, wondrous, embracing HP2 - mysterious, curious, naive, confused, youthful HP3 - suspenseful, playful, nervous, off-kilter, stimulating HP4 - adventurous, tumultuous, dramatic, grand, aggressive HP5 - stubborn, frustrating, angsty, strained, rebellious HP6 - hopeful, overconfident, romantic, expectant, dark HP7 - tense, lonely, resigned, determined, gloomy that is all

Over and Over and Over

2011-03-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

The motivation crash I reported at the end of February... well it has not swung back up.

And I am in a Harry Potter kick. Which is exactly what my New Years Resolutions were designed to prevent/remedy - you know, read new books and listen to new music instead of listening to the same stuff over and over, because how does the same thing over and over expand your knowledge or improve your life?

But sometimes the same thing over and over again is just what you want. I watched the first 4 harry potters in the last three days. I listened to movies 2&3 on CD about 4 times in the past 2 work day. I am about to go read the second book while watching the fifth movie, because that is what sounds good to me.

You all probably think I am insane. Or obsessed. Its catharsis, what can I tell you? Maybe if my motivation swings back the other direction I will get back to those resolutions...

(For the record, its not up to quota, but I have read 2 books from my recommended list and watched 1 classic movie in the last month. And I am 2/3 of the way through a second classic movie... so I am doing SOMETHING besides Harry Potter... just not as much as I could be).

Friday (ish)

2011-03-25T13:39:00.001-07:00

Another week gone.
No big surprises this week at work. Uneventful. I will take it!!

It got really warm and summerlike here for about 7 days, and now its around freezing again. I am totally OK with that. The warmth was not horrible, but I just wasn't ready for it really to be coming.

I hosted book club last night and therefore my downstairs is very clean. Its nice. It took me 2.5 hrs to totally clean out - declutter, vacuum, dishes, etc. I also made buffalo chicken dip (also known as crack dip, because its addictive). Small turnout - only two people came! But it was still fun. The book was crazy depressing, about what could theoretically happen if someone set off an EMP over the U.S. It made me want to be in Duluth. Everything these days makes me want to be in Duluth. Come on job gods, give DH a job.

Thats it. Animals are all good. No big plans this weekend, just chillaxed. Motivation still low but not bottomed out like it was. Life is good.

2011-03-20T18:22:00.001-07:00

Friday was worse than Thursday at work. Plus I had a migraine. It was not fun. I came home sick and spent the afternoon trying various methods of getting rid of it.

DH's motorcycle also got delivered on Friday, and he is enjoying it.

We went to see Les Miserables last night, and it was quite good. The set is amazing.

Today we ran up to Medina to see my Uncle and Aunt. It was a nice afternoon.

I am really glad I had the weekend to step back and mentally reset for work. Things have been so negative, I need to change my thinking. Tommorrow I will go to work, do my job, and come home. I will not get wrapped up in the drama of rule changes and budget problems. I will not succomb to the miserable mood. It is just a job, not life, not the end of the world.

Workplace Blues

2011-03-17T13:23:00.001-07:00

More changes.

A sense of doom and "they are out to get us" is pervading my entire workplace and slowly my mind. Morale is so low and dropping everyday.

I need to start applying to Minnesota jobs.

News From Columbus

2011-03-16T14:17:00.001-07:00

DH bought a motorcycle!! I have not seen it yet, should be delivered soon. He has wanted one for years. At first I said no because of safety. Then I started working for the bureau of disability and my view changed. For awhile I have said no because of money, but DH has come up with a bunch of ways to save money that don't affect me, that all add up to MORE than a motorcycle:
(1) He is not going to the Kentucky Derby this year.
(2) We are using his work rewards program to pay for my Starbucks habit
(3) I am driving the Chrylser to save on gas money
(4) He is no longer eating out at lunch.
(5) He is changing parking garages to a cheaper option
So, here comes the motorcycle!!!

Other news - I got really excited when I found out that "Deadliest Catch" is coming to Columbus in may! Its a speaking tour featuring 3 of the captains. I am SO excited. Like, jumping up and down excited. DH bought tickets this morning. It will be my B-day celebration, we can go out for seafood and then to see the captains talk!!

Other news - OT has been discontinued, effective immediately mid day friday. They literally sent people home in the middle of the day if they were in overtime status. We are thinking this has to do with how the budget negotiations are going in Washington, since its SSA that pays our OT and SSA that decided to stop giving it to us right now.

Other news - I went furniture shopping with a friend last Saturday. We hit 9 consignment and antique stores across Columbus, and found nothing. I was hoping to get book shelves, but no luck. But, it was a very fun day with my friend. I introduced him to El Vaquero. How do you live in Cbus for 5 years and not know what it is??

Other news - I have two books to read in the next 2 weeks, and I am 50 pgs into one with no motivation. *sigh*.

That is all.

Suppose I should ...

2011-03-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

suppose I should post or something

I have been listening to some music. I admit it is starting to all blur together. I am NOT saying that these bands all sound the same, I am just saying that I don't really have the desire to differentiate between them except the really good and really bad. Most of them are just fine.

Here are some reviews I wrote last week before it all started to blur together:

David Bowie - When I hear this name I think "the Labrynth" (on crack 1980s muppet movie... not like kermit the frog muppets, perhaps we should say Jim Henson puppet movie rather than muppet). I enjoyed Bowie's music just fine, it was not quite what I expected based upon the movie, but who knows when the album I have is from. I believe he is still creating new work today.

Megadeath - remind me a lot of Metallica, unsuprisingly. It feels like they grew up listening to metallica and were like "YEAH!! LETS HAVE A HEAVY METAL BAND! What is a good, heavy metal name. I know!! MEGADEATH!!!". I mean, it sounds like Jack Black picked the name as a spoof in a funny movie. OK. I actually just read their wikipedia article - no surprise it sounds like Metallica - its not a rip off, its a spin off- as in one of metallica's members got pissed and left to form this band.

Motley Crew - lets be honest, I did not really listen listen to this band... I listened to it as in it was playing but did not give it much mental attention. It made good background music? I mean, I don't think its boring or anything, I was just having an off morning. I probably should listen to it again when I have more mental energy for it.

Dear NKOTB and Janet Jackson. I apologize for insulting your lyrics. Yes. They were bad. They were horrible. But it was not appropriate for me to describe them as the worst lyrics ever. That award goes to R. Kelly and I am sorry I implied you were worse than him. Dear R. Kelly. You are a walking stereotype of bad music that parent's complain about. If I wanted to hear about the six different ways you want to or actually are sleeping with a girl, I would call a bad sex hotline. Scratch that. I bet sex hotline workers are more creative than you. I felt like someone was going to to catch me listening to you at work and fire me for inappropriate music. Thanks for making me feel dirty, and not in that good way. I would also like to point out that I am not generally opposed to lyrics about sex. I mean, I love the Nine Inch Nails song "--" that is remixed to the Mario theme. The Discovery Channel song was one of my favorites in high school, and I love Ludicrous's "--". The difference between these and R. Kelly is that they are all fun and creative, not just matter of fact descriptions of being horny or various sex acts.

Other bands/artists I have recently listened to: Phish, Spoon, O.A.R., Sting, Ravel, Vaughn Williams, Ours, Yanni, R.E.M., The Raveonettes, Steely Dan, Paramore, Rush

Fake It...

2011-03-06T10:09:00.001-08:00

I wrote out a decent lengthed post about my lack of motivation but relative productivity. The moral was "Fake it until you make it", or in this case, until you feel it.

I still don't feel it.

Thanks blogger for eating my post. I definitely don't have the motivation to re-write it.

More Work Changes

2011-03-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

This morning my classical radio host's weather report was "rain all day, but you probably figured that out by now". It was not raining though, and it did not even look like rain. It didn't start raining here for about another 2 hrs, but it has not stopped since then. I keep managing to wear the wrong jacket. Yesterday it looked so sunny and nice out I wore my light jacket, only to have it be below freezing. Today I thought "it was cold yesterday, so I will wear my winter jacket", only to have it pour, when it sucks for rain. I guess I should read a weather report or something.

More changes at work, these unrelated to the new director. They have been in the works for sometime, involving the leave policy and discipline grids. They are making it more difficult to take leave on short notice and easier, or even required, for supervisors to deny leave if people's desks are not caught up. When I say desk with regards to work, it means the same thing as pending, which is the same thing as saying caseload. As in, I don't mean my physical desk is messy, I mean my electronic desk, or "to do" list has lots on it, or a lot of things that are urgent or overdue. So in other words, if you are not caught up on your work you can be denied leave, even if it was planned months in advance, even if you have plane tickets, even if it is your only daughter's wedding, etc etc etc. People are not happy. It kind of sucks. It also sounds like they may be cracking down on our ability to flex our schedules (change them from week to week to make way for things like appts, illness, whatever), though I won't know that until I get the training on 3/17. These changes are annoying, but its not the end of the world. I think the biggest issue going on at my work right now is that they are changing all of these policies at once, all in a way that is more stringent or less worker friendly. Essentially they are taking away many of the non-monetary "perks" of the job - casual dress, schedule flexability, leave flexability, and the general sense of contentment and happiness in the building. I mean, when I started there everyone talked about what a great place it was to work, how friendly everyone was, how flexible things were. That has all changed rapidly. Here is the "doom" possability - they currently are removing all non-monetary perks. With or without SB5 (the anti-union legislation being worked on by the state government here), it is extremely probable that there will either be significant cuts in pay, benefits, or the instution of a lot more "cost saving days" (forced unpaid leave). With the federal government budget issues, its possible overtime will be cut. If all of this combines, I forsee a lot of unhappy employees and a lot of people looking to get out of the organization - not a good thing when they are trying to increase the ammt of people doing this job because the caseload is so high. We shall see. I don't plan to leave despite any of these things, unless its to move to Minnesota.

We had classics bookclub last night. We read Alice in Wonderland and went to the Mellow Mushroom, which has giant mushrooms in it, so very fitting. It was annoying that two people cancelled on us when there is only 6 to begin with. 7 now I guess. We had a new girl last night and she fit in great, I hope she liked us and keeps coming.

I am watching Deadliest Catch again. Wouldn't be surprised if I end up watching the rest of season 2 this weekend, I have no other plans, not even a symphony. DH is on call and I just have not made social plans recently. I don't know what it is about this show, but I love it.

My sister closed on a house yesterday. I am super excited for her. I wish I was in Duluth to help her pick out paint colors and such. It is a major fixer-upper, so they won't be moving in for awhile until they can make some changes.

I am hungry, hope DH calls soon and brings home dinner.

The More You Know

2011-03-03T04:33:00.000-08:00

Things I learned in the last few days:

"paczki's" are polish pastries (sort of jelly filled donuts) that are served on Fat Tuesday. Someone was surprised when I had not heard of them. Apparently Cleveland is SO POLISH that its weird not to know this. I suppose it is sort of like being from Duluth and knowing what Lutefisk and Lefsa are. But really, Polish Paczki's are very similar to the apricot "krapfen" I was fed in Austria.

"rap groups" exist. Apparently. I mean, when it turned out the answer to this "rap group" question was Beastie Boys it made sense, I am not sure what else you would call them (of course my knowledge is based on the one song of theirs I know from Rock Band)... but I always think of rap artists, not rap groups. I prefer rap artists I think.

I also meant to post about Oscar Fashion, there were some beautiful dresses, fewer totally ugly things that normal. Here is Mila Kunis, love the dress on her but I could never pull it off:

Then there is this beauty. I mean, I wish I could have looked this adorable when I was 14...

Don't get any ideas Benjamin, I am sure she is too tall for you.

And here we have my pick for worst dressed. One person described it as looking like she had spilled mustard on her shoulders and back, I have to agree. The colors are so hideous together, and this is coming from ME, queen of mismatched.

One last comment, this is Helena Bonman Carter, she is Tim Burton's wife and appears in most of his movies. I don't like this dress, but was surprised by how tame it is compared to her normal get-up. Perhaps actually being nominated calmed her down?

Here is an example of what I mean by crazy outfits:

The interesting thing to me is that the media hardly even comments on her get up. I think she has just made it so clea that she doesn't give a damn what the fashion experts or media say about her clothes that they don't even bother. She is cast off as an "eccentric" who shouldn't be expected to wear something anyone else will like.

I'm a Whiner

2011-02-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

Its February 28th and the day opened with a giant thunderstorm. Its a bit early for thunderstorms in my opinion, but I guess I have to take what I can get. The real question is - is this actually spring or will there be more snow and ice to come? I am betting on more snow and ice. I seem to recall other Ohio years where I did something like clear out my garden bed during warm weather in February or early March and then watched the ground re-freeze afterwards.

I don't even want to think about my success on my various 2011 goals this past (short) month. It did not go well. I freely admit to it. Especially for the last week or so, things just fell apart. Admittedly, willingly on my part. I just lost total motivation. In general it has been a bad month for all types of motivation - whether it be at work, or for housework, or good eating habits, or good spending habits, or projects, or creativity, or pretty much anything. This weekend was the epitome of it. I spent the vast majority of time this weekend sitting in front of a television or sleeping (with some exception of course). I just couldn't get up and moving .... until about 7pm Sunday night, then all of the sudden I was gung ho. How does that always happen? So - My weekend went something like this: Friday night went out to get Pizza w/DH, then watched TV. Saturday, watched TV ALL DAY, until 3:30pm. Then showered, got dressed up and went out for a nice dinner at Michael O'Tooles and to the Symphony. It was a great fun evening. Sunday, got up, watched TV until 2:30pm, then cleaned the upstairs bathroom (thoroughly), then went and grabbed dinner, then watched the Oscars, did some dishes, sorted some laundry. Read. Went to bed.

Originally when I started this post I intended to go through my goals anyways (despite the strong desire to totally ignore them at the moment). I actually even wrote this up. Then I realized that it was just another 3-4 paragraphs of whining that nobody wants to read, so I deleted it. Suffice it to say - goals not going well, motivation to correct this very low at the moment. Such is life.

I can post two more book reviews? Is that less whiny?

Already Dead - recommended by my sister's friend/my friend from high school. Fast paced delicious read, I couldn't put it down. I don't really feel the need to apply the "what can people get out of this?" review type mainly since I really did enjoy it. Admittedly, as "low" fantasy (or whatever the opposite of "high" fantasy is), it is not at all outside of my realm, but thank you Xero for turning me onto a new series. With so much urban fantasy out there it can be tough to decide what to read.

Better Off - This is a book about an academic who was doing work arguing that technology is overused/not as inherently good as society treats it. Someone along the way (an advisor I believe?) pointed out that he really had no evidence/was not speaking from personal expierence. To remedy this he decided to take his new wife off to "Amish" country and live for a year w/out modern conveniences. On my personal scale, I would give this book 2.5 of 5 stars (in "my" rating system, as borrowed from goodreads.com, 2 stars means "its OK" and 3 stars means "I like it"). It was fine and has some interesting ideas, but it had some major issues. Let me get all of my complaints out of the way so I can get to the interesting ideas. First, I am unsure when it was written, or more significantly, how long after the experience it was written. During the text he implies that he wrote it as he was having the experience (living with the "Amish"), but then there are certain comments and the conclusion that imply he is actually writing it at least 5+ years after the experience. That is a big difference in terms of accurately reporting what happened and how he felt about it. It is also clear that the author has an agenda, which is never a good starting point to win my good graces in a book like this. The agenda becomes obvious within the first few pages when he implies that he is inately smarter than everyone else because he claims to have doubted/disliked technology since he was a child. (As you may get from this, I also feel he comes off as arrogant). It is poorly organized and the arguments are poorly constructed. The author frequently drops philosophical or even supposedly academic conclusions in at random, he will be going along giving an account of an event or emotion and then out of no where start waxing poetic about some conclusion as if it is so obiovusly derived from what he was previously saying, which in most cases it is not. The author is neither superb at telling stories nor at constructing arguments. I know, this paints a pretty bleak pictures (who wants to read an arrogant book that has poor story telling and poor argument construction, and was likely written well after the personal experiences it alleges it describes??), but in all actuality there is tons to take from this book.

It raises several interesting questions and some potential interesting answers. The underlying question this book rests on is an incredibly important and entirely neglected one: why are changes in technology uniformally considered to be good? I mean, granted, we call them "advancements" in technology, thereby implying improvement. What makes new technology better? The standard answer would be "it makes life easier!" or "it makes things faster" or "its more convenient". This book is really attacking the very root of the modern idea of "progress." Is it better to have devices to do more and more work for us? What exactly do we gain from it and what do we lose? The author proposes the idea that we have become "slaves" to the machines that are designed for our convenience, and that by "saving us time" they are actually taking away our purpose. The author reports that he and his wife find new meaning and purpose in the simple life. I am not going to be moving to Amish country any time soon, and I don't even buy most of his argument, but I think he has some questions that are worth thinking about.

Work Changes

2011-02-23T03:15:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of changes happening at work. The one that is the most talked about at the moment is a new dress code. People are furious about it. Me, well, I am not excited about it, but its not a big surprise. How can it be a surprise that the new director does not like people running around in sweats and pajamas and various outfits more suitable for clubbing than for work? Granted, our work is incredibly solitary. If I chose, I could go almost all day w/out speaking to anyone at the office. I used to actually have days like that before I made friends - 8 hrs and not even a sentence exchanged with my coworkers. Anyways, people dress badly. I feel like other people abuse the lack of dress code, and I am sure there are people who feel like I abuse it, by for example wearing jeans that have worn or torn cuffs on the bottom.

When they issued the dress code it upset me because the way it was being handled. A week ago Friday (now 11 days ago), we were sat down and told that there was a dress code coming out for Monday. We were given nothing in writing and told it would start immediately. I was very annoyed that we had nothing in writing and that it was being treated so secretively, so top down. I was upset that the new director had not issued any sort of statements as to the goals he is pursuing for the agency or the purpose of the policy change. It came off as a power trip and very passive aggressive. But, the code itself really is not that big of deal for me. I have been pretty much wearing all business casual tops since I started here and its not hard to switch from jeans to khaki's/dress pants.

As it turns out, the messy implementation got better. Apparently not all units had been informed of the same rapidity of change and the dress code actually didn't start on Monday. Now we have a written code that is less severe than they originally projected and the new director has "conceded" casual Fridays. We also have a set implementation date and no more of this confusing crap. So, in my opinion, while it was handled very poorly over the last couple of weeks. it is now sorted out and my worries and complaints have been largely addressed.

This is not true of my coworkers. Their complaints seem to be of the "I hate change" and the "I want to wear anything I feel like!" variety. I had one coworker say "What I really hate about it is that it doesn't even give you an option of dressing down, like what if I am having a bad day or cramps and just want to wear sweats???". Um. This is the point of a dress code. To not give you the option of looking like sh*t. Today they were complaining about the rule that leggings are only appropriate if the sweater/shirt over them reaches w/in 4 inches of the knee. A girl was wearing a cute outfit w/leggings, boots, and a long sweater that will not fit the dress code and the three of my unit-mates were saying "that is totally work appropriate! Why shouldn't she wear it?" Granted, it was very cute, but I am not sure where they are getting their perception of work appropriate from. Would she wear that to a job interview? To an important meeting? Would she wear it if she were giving a presentation? I doubt it.

Anyways. The dress code officially begins on 3/28 now. They have pushed back the implementation and done away with the grace period, as it was obvious people were planning to ignore the code until the grace period was over anyways. There are also people at my office who think they are being all rebellious and genius by planning a "protest" in the form of wearing all black the first day of the dress code. First, why on earth would the new administration notice or care? Second, its incredibly juvenile, "Look at us! We are all sulky that you put a new dress code, but too afraid to break it!!". And there are people who are uber-naive and think that actions like this will "run the new director out real quick". Of course, this is the same person who told us in all seriousness that she does not support cancer research because cancer has actually been cured already and its just a big conspiracy so that drug companies can make money. Right.

So that's the dress code. I am pretty much planning to start following it now. I have been already for the last week. Starting now will give me a chance to fill in any problems with my wardrobe before it is actually implemented. I already figured out I needed new brown dress shows and new socks.

Other changes? They are studying the cost effectiveness of overtime, so I will be working a lot less of it in March and maybe April. This is sad because I was enjoying all the extra money, but its also nice because it means I will actually be working 7am-3:30pm starting next week, and I think I will feel like I have so much more free time to work towards some of my new years resolutions and get some projects done.

There are other little, internal type changes which would take way to much energy to explain. Suffice it to say people are bitching about those changes nonsensically as well, despite how minor they are.

My Saturday

2011-02-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

Woke up to a dog licking my face at 7:30am. Got up. Took the dogs on their normal walk. Got home. Put the dogs in the car and took them to Alum Creek and took them walking on the dam. Stopped at Starbucks. Came home. Took a hot shower. Sat and drank my Latte, watching the first part of "The Shining". Got dressed. Drove downtown with DH to pick up his car. Chatted with my little sister on the phone. Ate lunch. Watched "Law&Order: SVU". Played Rock Band. Went shopping with DH for work clothes (bought new brown close-toed shoes for the new dress code"). Came home. Walked with DH while he walked the dogs. Ordered Pizza. Watched "Angel". Watched "River Monsters". Went grocery shopping. Came home. Had a campfire with DH. At S'mores, star gazed. Took a hot shower. Read. Now watching "Angel" with DH again.

Nice day off.

Compiled From the Last Week...

2011-02-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

Different people have different ability and tendency to understand nuance, or even basic argument. I am very nuance oriented. I spot inconsistencies in arguments, policies, and rules whether or not I want to. I see the implications of arguments, as in sub-arguments that the main argument implies that also can help to support or refute the main argument. This tendency (I say tendency rather than ability because its not something that I honed or something that I choose to be able to do), is why I was a good academic. I am excellent at telling people where the holes in their arguments are. It is also why I was a miserable academic, because I could see the giant holes in my own theories/areas of research and easily thereby easily lost interest. In other words, its an annoying habit and a satisfying habit. I know this is something I am particularly good at, or we could say, above average. Since I am above average at it, I should not be surprised when other people are not as good at it as I am, and typically I am not. But some people are just SO BAD at it, I just can't help but be shocked and I often struggle to communicate with these people. And these are generally not stupid people, they are average or even intelligent people, its just not part of their skill set. These are people who read or hear an argument and only pay attention to the subject, and not to the details. For example, if you argued that oranges are better in fruit salad than apples because the oranges don't brown, they would probably actually "hear" something of you saying "I don't like apples", and respond by telling you that they do like apples and it is weird that you dont. Or if you said "I don't like going to baseball games because the parking is so bad," they may assume you did not like watching television on TV either. These people drive me beserk. I feel like I am constantly saying "thats not what I meant!" only to have another person chime in with the same response. This is more than missing nuance, its totally not paying attention to what the other person is saying, and it is shocking to me how often this happens. Thats my rant for the day.

My MP3 player has been down, so have not listened to much music. BUT I Think my mP3 player is coming back up today. I think it is possessed. I brought CDs to work on Friday and got a couple new groups/artists in: Van Halen (too 80s, but great guitar solos), Bruce Springteen (surprised how different his general body of work was from "Born in the USA", which probably constituted my entire pre-existing knowledge of him), and Wilco - light/alt rock that I very much enjoyed.

(the next day: )My Mp3 Player has resurrected itself. This thing is so weird. Basically, last week was the second time it just stopped working mid song and would not respond when I tried to plug it in. Last time, when I tried to plug it in at home that night it worked. This time I tried 4 different computers before declaring it really dead. Then I waited 3 days. Then I tried to plug it into my work computer, and it worked. I don't get it. Its totally crazy, but I am glad its back up and running.
Some music reviews. I am getting confused about which reviews I actually posted and which I did not, so there may be repeats. In fact, there may be repeats that don't agree with each other since I tend to change my mind (minorly usually) about things.

Janet Jackson - the worst yet. I do NOT want to listen to this again. Everything else was at least sort of like "Eh, it OK". This is the first one that would get ranked 1 on a scale of 1-10. Synthesizer hell, horrible lyrics, total lack of musicality. Bleck!!

U2 - there is nothing wrong with their music, but I just am not excited by it, not moved, and I am listening to supposedly their best of the best, so if this is there best, how mediocre is their average?

System of a Down - highly amusing, not so musical per se, but very interested. It was actually hard to listen to this while I was working because I was trying to listen to their lyrics, which are very interesting, instead of concentrating on my work.

Barbara Streisand - she should stick to Christmas music and covers of classic songs. Her voice is fine, but her lyrics are SO CORNY.

Metallica - I think I may have already commented on them, but now, per some advice from friends, I got their black album. There is nothing wrong with it. I really like Enter Sandman and a couple of other songs. All of the songs would be fun to play on Rock Band, but as a whole the album is just repetitive. Every song has the same sound, and that sound is so heavy. I know. Its heavy metal. But it just gets really old really quickly.

Thrice - I am not even sure this band counts as famous. I have sure never heard of them and they are not on my "list" of bands I should know, but I was interested by their album cover, title, style, etc, so I picked it up. I think because I "picked it out", I really wanted to like it. I listened to it twice, and its not bad by any means, but its nothing special either.

Billy Joel - I listened to him last week and don't remember what I thought. I am trying to decide whether that means I should give him another change, or if he is just that forgettable.

Cher - I love the song "Walking in Memphis" (as featured on X-Files, lol), so I was looking forward to hearing more, but most of her songs are just OK. I prefer her work that really shows off her unique voice, but a lot of the songs on the album I had could have been sung by pretty much anyone.

Green Day - They are fun, I see why they are popular. Its definitely "teen" sounding music, but
very enjoyable.

Josh Ritter - some people who saw my list of "to hear" had no idea who Josh Ritter was, but I had heard the name before. Now I have heard him, and his music is really interesting, lots of variety from song to song.

Limp Bizkit - Some of their songs are really annoying, but on average they are fine. They have a unique sound and a lot of variety, but not exactly my cup of tea either.

New Kid on the Block - Ok. This may make some people angry. I hate them. Like, one step above Janet Jackson. Take all the stereotypes about 80s ridiculousness and they seem to have them. A new "wonderful" surprise at every turn. Did they really just end that song with "peace"??? Yes. They did. Wow. Now, I am sure there are some stupid things I like that I like just because they were from when I was younger and stupider, so I am not judging people who heard this when they are little and are still crazy about them... but I can't take it.

Other random music things: I have been picking up classical music as well, and I have been listening to classical music on the radio in the car a lot, and at night sometimes too. This is more a revitalization of knowledge than a discovery of knew things, since I had quite extensive knowledge of classical music in high school when I participated in the Minnesota State High School Music Listening Competition, sponsored by MPR (Minnesota Public Radio). This weeks selections: Strauss' Lieder, Salieri, Weber's Overtures. I have been trying to get one of Wagner's opera's on my MP3 player, but its having issues due to the way the CD company named the tracks. I need to go through and rename them, which may or may not happen.

To tie things together, I also just finished my first book for my New Years Resolution. I read "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult, as recomended by my little sister. I have read Jodi Picoult and I have to admit I am not a big fan. I described the last book I read by her as "a bad lifetime movie". That description works for this book as well. However, that is really not the point of this resolution and I am likely going to be reading many books that I do not enjoy. Therefore, there are a few questions besides "Did I like it?" that I want to address. These include "What can a person, in general get out of this book?" "What did I get out of this book?" "Could I get more out of this book if I changed the way I was thinking about it?"

So, here it is. I think that books like Nineteen Minutes feeds into a human need for drama. Admit it, you love drama, in some for or another. Everyone likes a little drama in some form or another. Books, movies, message boards, gossip, celebrity gossip, sports... they are all drama. So that is the general purpose of books like this. This particular brand, a kin to the a bad Lifetime Channel movie, also serve as a sort of catharsis. They take scary or dramatic scenarios that can happen in real life - cancer, affairs, accidents, in the case of Nineteen Minutes - school shootings - and they play them out in great emotional detail. It gives you the impression are having all of these emotion expierences outside of your own reality, as if you get to experience what a tragedy is like without actually having your own - playing with fire w/out risking getting burnt. Its a human impulse, and thats what Nineteen Minutes is all about. That is what you can get from this book.

What did I get out of this book? Not the above. I have other sources of drama I enjoy more, and this particular brand is a bit time consuming. Secondly, know that knack I mentioned for picking out inconsistencies and details? Well, Jodi Piccoult is not exactly a careful writer and her book is full of them. I have difficulty looking past all of the inconsistencies and becoming emotionally involved, which is a necessity for this type of book. I also get a bit worried about what harm this book could cause. It is so chalked full of stereotypes I get worried that it will rub off on the wrong people, or subconsciously reinforce false ideas they have about how the world is or should be.

Could I have gotten more out of this book if I thought about it differently? Probably, yes. If I had been able to ignore the inconsistencies and the cliche's and focused on the more interesting points. Regardless of style, a book on this type of topic is capable of raising interesting questions. Perhaps if I focused on these - thing such as what role do parents have in the actions of their children? What is self defense? What roles do school's have in inteferring in the social interactions of their students? - I would have gotten more out of the book. Alas.

Post from Feb 11th

2011-02-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

I have taken writing blog posts at work and emailing them to myself. The problem with this is I have to remember to post them. Here is one written back on Friday:

Internet is slow as molasses in winter today. Naturally this is true because I ended up at work 15 minutes early and just wanted to look at a few things. I have not managed to make it to a single website yet.

My MP3 player died again. I am getting frustrated. This is the second new one I got. Amazon already replaced it once for me. Guess I should stop promoting Sansa Clip. I think its too late to have it replaced by Amazon again and Sansa is not responsive. Time to go to Best Buy and get something cheap (even cheaper than Sansa). *sigh*. It does put a kink in my music listening. I was cruising along. I had just loaded my player with all sorts of new things like U2, Greenday, Janet Jackson, Wilco, Josh Ritter, and many more. I brought a stack of CDs in to listen to today (in the computer), but I know I don't like that nearly as much as having them on MP3 because I hate being attached to my computer by a cord. You all should be taking bets on how many times today I get up to run to the printer or bathroom and do some sort of comical jerk backwards when I reach the end of my headphones cord.

DH and I went to see Black Swan last night. If you do not want to know any more about it, then you should stop reading. It was a very interesting movie. I am glad I watched it, but I doubt I will ever watch it again. And Natalie Portman deserves the award for best actress, even without seeing any of the other nominees... although I have heard great things about Blue Valentine and I think its the next thing on my list to see. Anyways, Black Swan is about mental illness. I think a few things makes it really successful. First, the camera work really takes you into the movie. You are not an objective observer, you are caught up in the world of the character is caught up in. In many ways it captures the "unreliable narrator" concept often used in writing but hard to put into film, where normally the audience gets to see what actually happens instead of what the character perceives (a notable other movie that would capture the unreliable narrator is Fight Club, also ultimately about mental illness, though in a much more cartoon-esque way). The second thing that really makes Black Swan work is the sheer complexity. While the movie centers on the main character's descent into madness, there are so many other conflicts going on. Essentially, Black Swan could be a decent movie even without the mental illness, though much less interesting, less likely to be up for awards, and less likely to make anyone think about anything. But it would have a rising young ballerina, anxious about succeeding, dealing with the sexual advances of an experienced and powerful director, an overbearing mother, and a social structure of ballerinas where when one gets her dream the others lose theirs (and therefore they are incredibly competitive). Having all of these competing forms of drama all be trumped by the menal illness is quite interesting, and also with the unreliable narrator you are left asking what parts of these other dramas actually existed and what is only in the main characters head. It is clear that the relationship between Nina and her mother is not normal, but is it not normal because her mother is unnaturally overbearing, or because her mother has to take care of her because of her mental instability? It is clear that the other ballerinas are bitter about Nina's success and want some for themselves, but are they actually doing anything to suggest they wish her ill will? The movie was quite good, and the more I think about it, the more I think it was actually great. I expected it to give me weird/bad dreams (the mark of a good dark movie), but it did not. Maybe that would have been different if I had seen it right before bed instead of 5pm.

OK. Off to work. Bis spaeter!

Singers and Down Time

2011-02-08T17:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry I don't post often anymore. There are multiple reasons. First is that I am back to not being able to post at work, and as explained before, end up with very little computer time at home. Second, my day to day life just isn't that interesting and I feel like I repeat myself a lot. Third, to be honest a lot of the things that occupy the bulk of my mental energy are things I don't want to post about. But I am still enjoying posting about my progress with regards to expanding my music/movies/books horizons and I don't mind throwing some tidbits in about my day to day life. Sorry if it gets boring for everyone! You are, of course, welcome to stop reading, though that might make me make a frown face :-(

Last week in music, I inadvertantly had a sort of "singer" theme going. I listened to Elton John, Michael Buble, Neil Diamond, Nat King Cole, Fiona Apple, Carpenters, Jimmy Buffet... and probably some I am forgetting. A definite change from my previous Alice in Chains, Metallica, Soundgarden, Guns & Roses etc play list. I don't really have an opinion on most of these singers/artists. I don't like Fiona Apple. Jimmy Buffet's music was much different than I expected, probably in a good way. The CD I have of Michael Buble was a cover of a bunch of old classic songs, which I enjoyed very much but perhaps does not show me what he is all about. There were of course John Elton songs that I recognized, it was cool for example to hear the original "How wonderful life is, now that your in the world", (which I believe is actually called "your song"?) as I have been enjoying its incorporation into Moulin Rouge for the last several years. I also recognized a handful of songs from Carpenters, merely out of their quirkiness I think (interplanetary crafts). In general, all of these singer types are fine, and some of them have particular songs I really enjoy, but they are not something I need to seek out.

This weekend went by so quickly. It was enjoyable and productive and relaxing, but now its gone. Time is like that a lot of the time, eh? Friday night we just hung out. I played some Rock Band, watched some TV. Nothing in particular. Saturday morning I was supposed to meet some girls for a "walking group" at Highbanks Metropark. I was the only one that showed up, but that wasn't so bad because it was a nice walk and a good chance to clear my head. I just took some unscheduled me time for the rest of the morning. I went to the library and sat and read/wrote, I went to Panera's and had some coffee, sat by the fire. After that the road conditions/weather sent me home, where I played some Rock Band. Then, the weather improved again, I headed up to Polaris and looked for a terracloth bath robe. I have been looking for one forever, they are not exactly easy to find at the moment, as everything is polar fleece. I did eventually find one though and am very happy with it. I now have a full range of robes for all of my drying and cuddling needs. While I was at the mall I also stopped by Game Stop to see about trading in a game. I did not end up trading it in, but I did manage to talk myself into purchasing the Keyboard for Rock Band. Back home we ate dinner and watched Das Boot (DH had never seen it), and then I tried out the new Keyboard. It is fun, a nice addition to the game. The only problem is that I have 280 songs, and only 63 of them have keyboard parts (only those that came with Rockband 3). 63 is still a lot though, I guess, and if I get bored of them I can always download more. LOL. I am such a Rock Band addict at this point, its ridiculous.

Yesterday was the big game. I slept in until 9am and then spent most of the day cleaning/prepping. Our first floor is quite clean right now!! I always say "lets keep it that way" but that never works, although it has been better recently than previously I would say. The game was a lot of fun. We actually had two TVs set up, the main one in the family room as normal, and then the smaller TV from our bedroom was set up in the dining room for those people who really did not care about the game and were there to socialize. We had a ton of food, good drinks, the game was great and the team everyone was cheering for won (The Packers), so it was a big success I think. It was our fourth Super Bowl party, and perhaps our last, or at least our last of this nature. So many people are leaving this coming summer, scattering across the country as they find professorships or get near the end of graduate school. It makes it feel like we need to get moving too, off to Minnesota where we want to really settle in, but unfortunately the job market is not cooperating. Oh well. Patience.

Now its back to work, although I really want a nap.

Ice World

2011-02-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

I'm an icey girl, in an icey world... liking plastic (scrapers), its fantastic...

We got freezing rain overnight, a lot of it. It turned our yard and driveway into a skating rink. I don't mind, it was kind of fun. It took 10-15 minutes to dethaw my car this morning, but the drive was not bad once I got going. DH stayed home since he is allowed to work from home occasionally. Work place was half empty, that was kind of fun too. It is supposed to be even worse tomorrow - more freezing rain overnight and then snow in the morning on top of all that ice. I expect to be able to make it to work, but who knows who else will!!

It is now the second month of 2011. Time is really really flying, it is hard to believe how fast it has gone so far. In terms of resolutions, I am doing pretty well. Instead of listing all of my successes, which are many, I will discuss the handful of failures. First, exercise. I have just not managed to find the place for this in my routine. I might need to think of some alternate forms of exercise to make it more manageable. Second, pictures. I have taken <20 pics this month and not of anything at all useable/interested. Some ice shots over the last day or two, and a picture of the pets here and there, thats it. Third, I have yet to really start my reading resolution, just have not got around to it, but I am not worried. It is only 40 books. Last year I read 85, so even if theoretically I don't get cracking until July I should be OK. It would be good to start though.

Other things are going well - cooking, cleaning, new music, new (classic) movies, more varied diet, less fast food.

Thats all I got for now folks. My Rock Band that was downloading an update just loaded... got to go rock it out!!

Intact Internal Thermometer

2011-01-22T07:07:00.000-08:00

I went out this morning to walk the dogs and got about 10 feet and thought "this is pretty cold." I spend the next several minutes of the walk trying to decide if it was really as cold as I thought it was, or if I had become a wuss and my internal winter temperature was broken. About 1/4 the way around our block River was clearly starting to get cold, so I turned back. So we got home after a half walk essentially and I checked the temperature. It is 4 degrees, which is about what I was thinking (single digits that is). I was happy to find out that my intenal thermometer is indeed intact, and that I did not wuss out by bringing She-with-little-hair back inside. It is a beautiful morning though, sunny and crisp, with virtually no wind.

In other news... not much.

How about more music reviews?? A quick note first, I listened to a little more Grateful Dead yesterday morning and they grew on me a bit, they have a lot of throw away songs but there were one or two with a great beat and sound.

Band: Pearl Jam
Pre-Existing Knowledge: I knew that they sang "Alive" on Rockband, which is one of my favorite songs to play on there, I love the guitar solo. Also, DH said to me about a month ago that he thought I was a closet Pearl Jam fan becuase how much I liked "Alive" and because I knew all the words to the song about the motorcycle crash (which was madly popular one year at summer camp).
Opinion Now: Turns out I was a closet fan. I love tons of their songs, I like the singer, they have some interesting lyrics, and I love the guitar parts. I sort of want to buy their entire collected works for Rock Band now.

Band: Def Leppard
Pre-Existing Knowledge: Virtually none. I only know of them because they occasionally get mentioned at trivia. Oh, and they can't spell.
Opinion Now: To me, correct or incorrect, their sound is the epitome, or perhaps the archetype of "80s rock". If you had asked me to listen to them 5 years ago, I would have absolutely hated it, but Rock Band has significantly increased my ability to enjoy a wide variety of rock, and while I will not be buying their album or anything, they aren't bad.

Band: Alice in Chains
Pre-Existing Knowledge: I guess the theme of the morning is Rock Band, because my only pre-existing knowledge of this band is that they sing "Man in the Box", which is one of my favorite songs to sing and guitar at the same time on Rock Band.
Opinion Now: I do like their sound, but after listening to about 15 songs, I really feel like they are "one trick ponies". All of their songs sound the same and even share similar word and lyric choices. I have another 15 songs or so to go for them, but I don't see the pattern changing anytime soon. Its another band, like Rammstein, that is good angry music, but I would only want one or two songs of theirs on my play list.

Band: Diana and the Supremes
Pre-Existing Knoledge: I know the name, I knew that they were "classic" and that I probably knew a lot of their music, but I had no idea what it was.
Opinion Now: I recognized about 75% of the songs, this is one of the cases where I just never assigned a name to the music, a frequent problem for me. They are fine, but nothing I would seek out.

Some Reviews

2011-01-20T16:39:00.000-08:00

Band: Dave Matthews Band
Pre-Existing Knowledge: I knew they were wildly popular in the 90s. One time someone told me that since I liked BNL I would probably like them, so I listened to one song online and hated it.
Opinion Now: I don't like him (still). I dislike the singing voice, and the instrumental part/music leaves something left to be desired, its just not quite satisfying - you are sort of waiting for something to happen and it never does. There was one song I recognized from the radio on the album I listed to, "Crash Into Me." It is an OK song, but again just not quite satisfying

Band: Grateful Dead
Pre-Existing Knowledge: I knew that they sort of have a cult-like following, some people are madly obsessed with them and you still see their symbols and t-shirts a lot of places, they have that messed up teddy-bear logo. I also knew they had a lot to do with drug culture.
Opinion Now: The music was fine, low key. I don't really understand the obsession, I assume now its all totally the drug thing, their lyrics are packed full of drug references. There is one song that prominently featured "High on Cocaine, Driving that Train."

Band: Rammstein
Pre-Existing Knowledge: I knew a lot about them already, I already knew I liked "Du Hast" (there biggest American Hit) and "Feuer" from the movie XXX.
Opinion Now: I like them, they are super good angry music and its fun trying to translate the lyrics. It is so much easier to sound mad in German than English!!

Band: Fleetwood Mac
Pre-Existing Knowledge: Very little, a vague sense about not being sure if they were country or rock.
Opinion Now: I listened to about 40 songs of theirs, and came to the conclusion that their big hits that I did know (without knowing I new - "You Can Go Your Own Way"), is their biggest hit for a reason, because they have a lot of weird stuff, a lot of different sounds. There were couple of other songs I really liked by them, but there were also several songs that I would throw out.

Band: Cat Stevens
Pre-Existing Knowledge: Almost none. If you put a gun to my head I would have guessed Jazz singer.
Opinion Now: Low key, kind of hippie, not bad but nothing to write home over.

Band: Eagle Eye Cherry
Pre-Existing Knowledge: I remembered their hit "Save Tonight" from my high school years, and liked it, but I knew nothing else.
Opinion Now: I like him quite a bit. He has the same quality to his voice that the former singe rof BNL had, and the music while not anything superb has a nice sound and rhythm.

Band: Bush
Pre-Existing Knoweldge: None
Opinion Now: I like them quite a bit, nothing specific sticks out but I would listen to them more.

Band: Brigadoon (OK, not a band, a musical)
Pre-Existing Knowledge: Its a musical, it involves Scotland
Opinion Now: I enjoyed the music, seems like a fun story, would like to see it and am going to see if there is a movie version to add to my netflix queue

Band: The Irish Tenors
Pre-Existing Knowledge: Classical/operatic singing group
Opinion Now: They are quite enjoyable. I especially liked some of the more folksy Irish pieces and learned the origins of some words I did not know before.

Band: Lisa Marie Presley
Pre-Existing Knowledge: The less than popular daughter of Elvis Presley, more famous for being famous than for her musical career.
Opinion Now: There is a reason her music isn't what she is known for.

Band: Bon Jovi
Pre-Existing Knowledge: They recorded "Its My Life", which was madly popular when I was in Germany in High School, and I like that song
Opinion Now: I think I did not get a very representative album, it was VERY country. It was not what I expected at all but I did enjoy it.

Band: Gustav Holst - The Cloud Messanger
Pre-Existing Knowledge: I have hear Holst before, but no particular piece or fact about him stuck out.
Opinion Now: It was a very beautiful piece and I will likely pursue more of his choral work int he future.

Band: Tenacious D
Pre-Existing Knowledge: Jack Black's band, a few songs from Rock Band that I liked playing.
Opinion Now: I like them!! They have a Heavy Rock yet somehow acoustic sound, predictable but highly satisfying, ridiculous lyrics and of course I love Jack Black's craziness.

Band: Rolling Stones
Pre-Existing Knowledge: Epically famous, have a magazine names after them.
Opinion Now: I am holding off judgement. I managed to get an album that was entirely acoustic ("stripped" down).

MLK 2011

2011-01-17T15:00:00.001-08:00

Today is Martin Luther King Day. I have it off because I am a state employee. It is one of those holiday's where I don't do anything to celebrate and feel guilty for having it off when it is so pointless.
The one MLK related thing I did was listen to an NPR story my dad sent me about the way in which the "I have a Dream" speech is being treated like commercial property and not like a political/religious message that can inspire current leaders. It was pretty interesting. I also spent a very brief ammount of time thinking about why we have the day off and how I think MLK would probably want to celebrated. I honestly did not come up with much, besides perhaps the obvious of doing something to promote civil rights.

But, that sounds like way too much work. So what did I do today? I got up early and made breakfast, did some cleaning, started (and nearly finished) the process of getting all of my songs loaded into Rockband 3. I have had the game for almost three months and have hardly used it for two reasons (1) It did not have all the songs in it yet and (2) It is a very social thing for me and I have not been willing to have people over due to my carpet. Both of these are getting solved this week, because I also had a carpet guy visit my house this weekend and am having new carpet installed in my living room, dining room, family room, and stairs on Wednesday. The price is a steal, seriously. We went out to lunch at City BBQ, and ran some efficient errands.

Overall it was a good day, though I have to admit I am really lame and am not quite sure what to do with myself now that I have had an entire free day and have no plans this evening... what a ridiculous problem to have.

Live from Grandma's

2011-01-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am broadcasting live from my Grandma's house. She is sitting about three feet to my left reading a TIME magazine. Patriots vs Jets is on the television, and my Uncle Curt is across the counter cooking dinner, beef stew I believe.

Dinner is soon and I just wanted to sign on and cover a few things I have been meaning to mention.

First, in completing my New Years Resolution from 2010, I incidentally read the entire work of Jane Austen. I think that is an additional accomplishment that deserves recognition. I also read Ulysses, which is one of the hardest books known to man. So, go me.

Second, every team I root for in a playoff situation seems to lose. I really really really do not want to see a Bears v Steelers Super Bowl, I couldn't win because at this time I do not want to see either of these teams win. Hopefully New England comes back and breaks my losing streak.

Third, I have not yet decided whether to host a Super Bowl party. I was planning on NOT hosting this year because last year at the end of the night DH said we wished we had not done it and he did not want to do it again because he had seen so little of the game, but then when I asked him about it last night he was all neutral/even for it. A girl can't win. I will ask around and see who all would come and make the decision that way.

Fourth, my latest pet peeve/diatribe is the misuse of the concept of "fair" and "unfair". I think people use it to apply to to many things. Maybe I already mentioned this, but I just wanted to bring it up again. When you use the fairness concept to apply to things that are outside that realm of conception it just is setting yourself up for unhappiness/disappointment. It implies you are "wronged" when bad things happen. Like my Uncle today was talking about how it was unfair that the potatoes looked good but actually had bad frozen spots. OK. That sucks, but it is not a question of fairness, potatoes cannot treat you unfairly, nor can the weather that froze them.

That is all for now, I am being beckoned to make salad.

LONG Update.... becoming a trend

2011-01-15T12:48:00.000-08:00

Another week has gone by.

Monday was the national championship game between Auburn and Oregon. Since it was on ESPN we went to a friends house to watch it. It was a very sloppy game and we stayed up too late.

Tuesday I came home early from work, I just didn't feel like being their and our schedules are very flexible. I was tired from the previous night, so I took a nice nap and then we had a quiet night in.

Wednesday I went to Trivia. I actually helped out with some of the answers, which is not very common. I guessed that Lays Potato Chips were started in 1936, the answer was 1937 (it was a 10 yr range). I deduced that Kiefer Sutherland was not Canadian by use of the pro-Canada commercial that ran during the olympics and featured a lot of big Canadian actors (the group was debating between England and Canada). It was a fun night.

Thursday was another quiet night in.

Friday I came home and cooked Spaghetti. We watched I'm Still Here, the film in which Joaquim Phoenix pretended to retire from acting and try to start a hip hop commercial. This attempt was documented by his brother in law who was supposedly making a documentary, but in actuality Joaquim was acting. Almost no one new this (friends, agents, the general public). The movie is very weird, I would say intense. I actually think people will have one of two reactions. I think a lot of people would just be like "Did I really just waste 2 hrs of my life for that?", but hopefully some other people would be like me and it would make them think about a lot of things. The thoughts lingered and I ended up having a disturbing dream, maybe even a nightmare depending on you definition. It was an existential crisis dream, a failure dream. Any movie that can give me a meaningful/disturbing dream gets 5 stars in my opinion.

Today I went in and got some overtime in, then I ran some errands that turned out to be quite frustrating, including circling looking for a UPS drop box and an hour at a very grumpy post office with poor service and even more ridiculous international rates. Then I stopped by Wendy's and their service seemed so incredibly great after the USPS that I had half a mind to call the manager and compliment them. LOL.

Now a quick update on my goals--
I did not listen to much music this week because I have had more MP3 Player issues, but I am getting it back up and running today, and will be adding five new albums:

crash by Dave Matthews Band
The Very Best of the Grateful Dead
Diana and the Supremes, #1 Hits
Teasar and the Firecats by Cat Stevens
Stevie Wonder Number Ones

I also watched my first classic movie (of 20). I watched To Kill a Mocking Bird. It was really good. While I had read the book, I did not remember some of the details. That book was seriously groundbreaking, some of the issues it dealt with, and in such an interesting way. The movie was very well put together and well cast. I highly recommend it.

In terms of books, I have three of the recommended books in my possession now, but have not started them because I need to finish up something for book club first. I plan to start The Secret soon. I still have some open recommendation slots if anyone is interested.

Organizationally, I did arrange to get my new carpet. They are coming on Monday to measure and bring samples, installation will be a couple days after that. I did some cleaning in my office to move towards making it a sewing room. The unexpected consequence of this was that I picked up my violin and "fiddled" around a little bit. I think I may end up using it as a music and sewing room. DH and I also did some joint organization, we had a "date" set up this weekend to go through a few trouble spots in the kitchen that were bothering DH. We cleaned out the junk drawer, the upper dry-food cabinets, and the area next to the stove where spices etc tend to get stacked resulting in spills and dog messes (when they steal, lets say, a big jar of paprika off the counter).

Health - made breakfast 4/5 workdays, cooked two dinners at home, exercised once, ate fruits and veggies everyday. I still have not managed to get out a camera. Overall things are going well though.

Other random things
I worked 23 hrs of overtime in the past week. Yay money!
My coworker, who I have been significantly helping with her caseload, resigned to pursue other options, the work was making her way to stressed. It was probably the right choice for everyone.
Looking forward to watching NFL playoffs this afternoon!
Trying to decide whether or not to go to my Gmas tomorrow.
DH is on call, which is kind of stressful, but so it goes.
DH and I have a "date" next weekend to clean out the front closet.

It is really strange for me to have a three day weekend and have nothing planned, makes me feel a bit anti-social. I tried to plan something the last minute but nothing came together, so I guess I will just have to entertain myself.

More on Music

2011-01-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

You may all be sick of music posts. But I am not, and its my blog, so oh well for you. LOL.

I have been trying to come up with a good way to "cover my basis" on this massive music project I am undertaking. I tried to make a list of all musical genres, so I could try to cover them all, but I am just not sure how it breaks down, and I am sure there are types I do not even know about.

I also started compiling a list of groups/artists people think I should know, which has gotten quite lengthy. I think there are probably some obscure groups on it because some people recommend what they like, not what they think is commonly known, which is fine, but I can't sort it out.

I am also taking specific recommendations from friends, like I did with the books, so feel free to put in your recommendation.

I am also looking for a place/way to keep lists of everything that is going on with my "expand my horizons" project that will be easily linked to from my blog and accessible from work. I am not sure what this will be yet or if it even exists, and it is made more complicated by the fact my work blocks more websites everyday (blogspot has been re-blocked by the way)

ANYWAYS. All boring-to-you, but interesting-to-me administrative comments.

CDs being added to my MP3 player this weekend:

The Essential Alice in Chains
Pyromania by Def Leppard
The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac
Greatest Hits - Guns N Roses
Metallica
Liebe ist fuer Alle da - Rammstein
Rearview Mirror - Pearl Jam
YoYo Ma Plays the music of John Williams - his classical music, not soundtrack work

A quick update on some of my other resolutions. I made breakfast 5 of 6 days this week, worked out twice, ate fruit and veggies everyday, had soda on two days (counting right now), had one home-cooked dinner, and I have washed all of my dishes. I have not started any of my January projects. I have 32/40 recommendations for books, so I should be able to find 8 more victims, but you are welcome to make a recommendation if you have not. I have not started reading them, but I am not worried about it because last year I read 86 unique books (and a bunch of those I read more than once), and the year before that I read over 100 books, so 40 books is easy, which was sort of the point. It leaves room for books I want to read, and it is not as high pressure as the page count goal in 2010. I have not watched any "classic" movies, but I do have To Kill a Mockingbird from Netflix right now, so that should be remedied soon. I have not used my camera, which is perhaps the most glaring failure. I meant to take it with me on the dog walk today and get some dogs-in-snow photos, but I had just woken up from my nap and was a bit groggy.

Snowy Evening

2011-01-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

Its a nice, snowy evening. It snowed about 2 inches between 1pm and 7pm. This unfortunately caused mass chaos in Columbus. It took me an hour to get home, a drive that is normally about 10 minutes, maybe 20 at rush hour. I was supposed to go to a friends house tonight but decided not to venture out to the highway after Dh's report of it's chaos.

I was supposed to go running today, but I didn't because of the snow. Instead of running, I shovelled. As far as I am concerned, shovelling is AT LEAST as good as running when it comes to a work out, especially when you consider the way I run (slowly and not very long) and the way I shovel (vigorously). I even shovelled the neighbor's walk/drive for good measure.

Other news in New Years Resolutions, they are going decently. Its interesting going around and trying to get recommendations on books and music and movies. It is interesting to me how hard it is for people to "get" what I am doing. I have had to answer/rebuff the question "what are you looking for?" or "I don't know what you would like!" or "this site is a great way to find new music you like." I know it may be really novel, but I am not trying to find new music/movies/books that I like. If I do like these things, then thats great, but this is more about expanding what parts of the world (of art in these cases) I am exposed to, like it or not. In the case of the books, it is about taking on new perspectives and trying to see what you can get out of all types of books. In the case of the music and movies, it is about understanding those references and such that people make, knowing what people are talking about when they discuss popular or classic movies and music. Is that so hard to understand?

Maybe I am just a complete nerd.

January Music

2011-01-02T15:52:00.000-08:00

I went the library this afternoon and picked up a bunch of random music to put on my MP3 player. The list:

Desireless by Eagle Eye Cherry
Golden State by Bush
The Dark Knight by Hans Zimmer (Soundtrack)
The Pick of Destiny by Tenacious D (Soundtrack... sorta)
Stripped by The Rolling Stones
Amnesiac by Radiohead
Survivor: The Official Soundtrack by Russ Landau and David Vanacore
Casablanca by Max Steiner (Soundtrack)
Brigadoon by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner
We Were Soldiers mixed (soundtrack)
The Very Best of The Irish Tenors
Now What by Lisa Marie Presley
Lost Highway by Bon Jovi
The Cloud Messanger: A Choral Fantasia by Gustav Holst (2 disc set)

I am not sure if this is going to be enough, I have A LOT of music on my MP3 and listen to it for many hours a day, but I have several requests into the library and will add them as they come in, though many of them have LONG wait lists. I think I am 400 something on the wait list for Eminem's newest album, and 40th on the waiting list for some Metallica. Etc

New Years Resolutions 2011

2011-01-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

Ready for a ridiculously complex, and overly ambitious set of New Years goals?
Here they are:

1. Expand my Horizons
A) Read 40 books that have been recommended by other people - I am still taking recommendations. I have about 20 recommendations so far.

B) Watch 20 new "classic" movies - I am also taking recommendations for this, so far I only have two of these picked.

C) Reload my MP3 player with new music at least once a month - I want to completely clean it out of my old music except for my Harry Potter "soundtrack" standbyes that dont really count as music and I use daily

D) Travel to One New Place - Hopefully this will be internationally, but we will see what happens, may just be a new state

E) Try one new experience - restaurant, locale, entertainment - at each "old" place we go (such as Duluth, Kansas, St Louis, Cleveland).

F) Go to 3 concerts/plays/performances in Columbus

2) Take More Pictures - Don't go more than a week without picking up the camera, or in short, make picture taking a habit

3) Healthier Living Habits
A) Make Running a Habit - With or without the dog, lets say 3+ times a week?
B) Make Cooking Breakfast at home a habit
C) Make Portion Control a Habit
D) Remove the Habit of drinking Soda
E) Make eating fruits/vegies a Habit
F) Improve Vitamin compliance -
G) Reduce Fast Food as a Habit

4) Organization (Monthly Goals)
Complete the following tasks each month: (changes possible based on need and life events:)
January - Set up Sewing Room, Take Dry cleaning, Get new carpet
February - Clean basement and streamline Laundry situation
March - Clean out the Red Office and find shelves for all books
April - Clean out and organize garage
May - Plant Veggies, Plant flowers, replant maple tree
June - Trim all outdoor plants, refinish deck
July - Deal with CDs, Videos, and DVDs
August - Organize pictures and scrapbooks
September - Organize recipes
October - clean up garden for winter
November - Rake Leaves
December - decorate for Xmas, get pictures printed

5) Organization 2.0
A) Make a list everytime before going to the Grocery Store
B) Wash dishes as they are used, except during large projects or social occasions
C) Continue use of Chore Chart

In order to track my progress, I will be creating a label for "Goals". Under this label I will try to do a review of every book/movie/travel experience I have, catelogue my completion of monthly tasks, and give periodical updates on how the other goals are going.

Here is to a great New Year!! *TOAST*

To Catch You Up...

2011-01-01T05:48:00.001-08:00

Of all the ways I thought I would spend my New Years Eve, sick with sinus yuckiness and a massive headache that would send me to bed by 10pm was not one of them. It was a perfect storm of various headache catalysts, and probably the first time I have not stayed up until midnight since I was a toddler.

I know, I owe you a substantive post before I go off posting about all my goals for 2011, so here it goes.

DH and I spent Christmas with the ILs. We went to St Louis Wednesday before Xmas, where we had a nice evening of opening presents. I practiced their piano and picked up "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", they played the Wii, we all watched some TV and generally enjoyed each other's company.

On Thursday we left for Kansas. We were planning to take two cars, largely because I do not do great in back seats with regards to headaches and car sickness. But the ILs talked me into going in one car by assuring me the front seat. This worked out great for me, but I am not so sure that it worked out for the three (MIL, SIL, and DH) who were crammed in the back seat. I believe one time during the trip, MIL, who is generally very good tempered, made the comment that whoever said the Honda CRV is a five-passenger vehicle should be shot because there is no way that the middle seat in the back should count. Luckily, I was in the front seat, or driving, for the entire trip.

Anyways, Thursday night we arrived in Kansas. We had some trouble getting into Grandpa's house where we were staying because of a lock problem, but DH saved the day with some careful maneuvering of his pocket knife. On Friday we spent the day doing some last minute shopping. In the evening we briefly visited Grandpa in his apt and then headed over to Aunt Barb's house for some fun with Aaron's cousins. It was a lot of fun. We met a ridiculous bulldog named Louis and drank too much. On Christmas we relaxed in the morning, then went for lunch at Grandpa's cafeteria, then back to Barb's house for more good food (Lasagna) and the White Elephant gift exchange. It was a good Christmas.

On Sunday we headed down to Independence KS to see MILs side of the family and celebrate Xmas again. We had the full Christmas dinner this time, with Ham, Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and other yumminess. We did another white elephant exchange. In the evening after everyone had left we played one of the white elephant prizes SIL had won - The "You know your a redneck if ___" board game. It was stupid. It was not very well thought out in terms of goals, and we quickly discovered that Jeff Foxworthy's jokes are not the funniest of possible options.

On Monday we made the trek back to St Louis, stopping in Springfield along the way to eat at Cracker Barrel with our college friend Ben and his girlfriend. It was great seeing them. Back in St Louis we enjoyed another nice evening with Dh's family, and an early bedtime. I think we were all glad to be back in normal sleeping situation.

On Tuesday we made the drive back to Columbus. The puppies were very glad to see us and we got settled in nicely. Unfortunately I was also starting to get sick. We both worked Wednesday and Thursday, and both had yesterday off.

Now it is 2011, a new beginning so to speak. A new beginning as much as each individual chooses to make it one.

I Did It!!

2010-12-31T11:40:00.000-08:00

I know you have all been waiting for it. I did it. 40,000 pages. Here is the list (in date order of reading):

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1/2)
American Gods (1/2)
The Unlikely Disciple
We are on Our Own
Blue Sky July
The Remains of the Day
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Water for Elephants
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The Hindi Bindi Club
Catching Fire
The Amnesiac
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Tender Buttons
Kim
The Stranger
Picasso
The Tenth Circle
Living History
Extras (Uglies #4)
Emma
Coraline
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
More Book Lust
B is for Bad Poetry
Sense and Sensability
Inkspell
Sense and Sensability and Sea Monsters
Three Men in a Boat; to say nothing of the dog
Mr Darcy, Vampyre (unfinished)
Cold Spring Harbor
Someone Named Eva
The Mazerunner
Alvin Prentice
Franny and Zooey
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Chocolate War
Wuthering Heights
Bed in a Tree
Our Town
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Washington Sqaure
Harry potter and the sorcerors Stone
Dracula
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Cry, the Beloved Country
Organize Yourself!
Island
The Beautiful and Damned
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Ocean Sea
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Society Without God
Ulysses
Family Reunion
Eclipse
Wake
Breaking Dawn
The Red Pony
The Reader
Speak
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In a Sunburned Country
Half Magic
Blindness
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
The Guy Not Taken (partial)
Things Fall Apart
The Iron King
The Owl Service
The Fairy-Tale Detectives
The Plot Against America
The Magician's Book
The Lightning Thief
Into the Wild
The World According to Garp
Middlemarch by George Eliot
A Great and Terrible Beauty
Iron Daughter
Simply in Season
Mansfield Park
Les Miserables
Forever
Od Magic
Shiver
Blood Diamonds
Mockingjay
How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel
Northanger Abbey
Love in the Time of Cholera
The Book Thief
It Walks in Beauty
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Vicar of Wakefield
400 Soups
Persuasion
Linger
Beautiful Creatures
My Sister's Keeper
Twilight
New Moon
Silas Marner
Deciding the Next Decider
The Scarlett Pimpernel
Beautiful Darkness
Everlost
Elsewhere
Pride and Prejudice
Kafka by the Shore (unfinished)
Running the books (unfinished)

End of the Year MeMe's

2010-12-27T19:21:00.000-08:00

If any of you have been reading my blog for more than a year, you know I have an "end of the year" blogging routine, three me-me's I have been doing for quite sometime. Here we go:

Exercise #1

1 minute ago... I was checking my new years resolution note on Facebook
1 hour ago... I was watching "Two and a Half Men" with ILs
1 day ago... I was in Independence, Kansas celebrating Xmas
1 month ago... I was enjoying some time in Duluth after Thanksgiving
1 year ago... I was on vacation from my new job with the state of Ohio.
1 decade ago... I was a junion in high school, finding a new group of friends and trying to stay out of fights
1 lifetime ago... I think I was in revolutionary in Russia

5 minutes ago... I was trying to read a book "Legends of Time", it was not going well.
5 hours ago... I was in the car, driving the ILs back from Kansas
5 days ago... I was driving to St Louis to start my Xmas vacation, listening to "Elsewhere" on audiobook.
5 monthes ago... I took a trip to New Jersey to hang out with my old blind camp friends
5 years ago... I was a senior in college, engaged to the love of my life and working on my 4.0 GPA

Exercise #2
The instructions are simple:
Post the first line sof the first entry of each month of the past year.

January
Its officially 2010. I am sitting in my family room watching Hell Boy with three cats and a big, sleepy black dog. It is snowing outside. Life is good.

February
The Weekend in Review: Watched The Philedelphia Story with friends, after a tasty potluck of cajun chili, cornbread, and butterscotch pie. It was great seeing people and the movie is hilarious.

March
This Saturday was the beginning of Purim. This is a Jewish holiday that has an annual party in my group of friends.

April
Tuesday I made a quick trip up to Cleveland. My little sister and mom are on a cross-country mother-daughter road trip for my sister's 16th Birthday (which was back in January), on her Spring Break.

May
Last weekend was a bit crazy! DH went to the Kentucky Derby with some people he works with. I was invited, but not interested. So, it was just me and the dogs

June
It is really hard to believe it is June already. Five months of the year gone. I am starting to think organization is impossible. For my birthday cake I had another three-trip to the store mess to get it done.

July
I have not been blogging as much as I would like to lately. I feel like my recreational computer time just keeps decreasing. Of course, some of the reasons are good - because I have been going out so much, because I have started walking at my breaks to get a little extra exertion into my day, and other similar things.

August
Today, I have the great pleasure of working 11 hrs. That would be 7:15 AM to 6:45 PM with a half hour lunch. That is a LONG day. And why am I putting myself through this? For the love of a sister. Tonight my little sister is flying into town and staying for 12 days.

September
Last night I went to the monthly Nestie Dinner. It was in Hilliard this month. We actually have a pretty good system going where the dinner rotates days of the week and around the city.

October
It is rapidly closing in on two weeks since my last post. An unintentional lapse sparked mostly, I believe, by my brief but rabid dedication to Les Miserables, which I finished on Wednesday night.

November
The title of this post used to be a cool marketing invention. Now it is very much over-used. And here I am, contributing to its overuse by putting it as a post title.

December
They have cut off access to blogspot at work, along with several shopping sites and other things. It won't be long before they get around to blocking my last remaining favorite link, my nestie message board.

Exercise #3
1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
- Worked full time the entire year
- House broke a puppy/took her through obedience

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I will write a whole other post about this!!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not close enough for me to get to meet the baby!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not close enough for us to go to a funeral, thankfully.

5. What countries did you spend time in this year?
Just America, went out to New Jersey a bit, and of course around Ohio, to St Louis, Kansas, and Minnesota.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Just a few key things

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
My memory does not really work like that. Memories I will have from 2010 include some great days spent on a lake in New Jersey, a nice Thanksgiving in Duluth, a car trip to Kansas, The NFL hall of fame, and River

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I dont know if I really achieved anything this year? Reading 40K pages? (Assuming I complete this on Friday :0) )

9. What was your biggest failure?
I totally and utterly failed at my New Years resolution to get organized. I am so disorganized it is scary sometimes.

10. Did you suffer any serious injury or illness?
Dog bite? Sprained ankle? Nothing serious.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Chrylser 300C

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Those who repealed Dont Ask, Don't Tell
Everyone who helped raise money for Haiti

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and/or depressed?
Despite my efforts to not become jaded, things become worse every year. Lets go with the general alarmism in American media.

14. Where did most of your money go?
We saved a lot, and had a lot of little luxuries

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Trip to Duluth at Thanksgiving, Aaron's surprise trip to Pittsburgh for his Birthday, my sisters' visiting, Harry Potter movie coming out, Eclipse coming out

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
California Girls by Katie Perry, just because it is so overplayed

"Felt Good on my Lips" just because I like it.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? about the same, maybe sadder
b) thinner or fatter? fatter
c) richer or poorer? richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Laughing (can you ever do this too much??)
Cleaning. People say this never makes the list of things you wish you had spent more time doing, but really our habits are abominable.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying , Eating

20. How did you spend Christmas?
In Witchita, had some great Lasagna at Aunt Barb's house

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I am totally in love, there is no more need for falling :-)

22. What are the main websites you used?
Gmail, Columbus Nesties message board, facebook, blogspot

23. Did you write anything worth reading this year?
Maybe a poem or two, thats about it though.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
I really like Deadliest Catch. It has not been on in a while though and I no longer have cable. I have been watching Doctor Who on Netflix

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I try to avoid hating people, it never brings anything good.

26. What was the best book you read?
So many to choose from... I read 85 books this year (including repeats), and rated 11 of them 5 stars. Best Adult Fiction: Middlemarch, Best Young Adult: Mockingjay, Best Nonfiction: The Unlikely Disciple, Best Reread: The Book Thief

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I knew I liked Pink, But I actually bothered to get her Album "Funhouse" and have really been enjoying it. I am not very musically diverse, I tend to listen to the same things over and over.

28. What did you want and get?
vacation to Duluth, a visit from Mich, Rock Band 3, Lots of nice xmas presents

29. What did you want and not get? Jobs in Duluth, a lottery win, other things

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I loved Eclipse, and Harry Potter 6. I wish I had a list of movies I have seen like I have a list of books, but I don't. Easy A was also great.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 26. I have no idea what I did. I just looked it up on my blog. Apparently I had a relaxing long weekend and baked a delicious chocolate orange cake. Mmm. Chocolate orange cake.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
no comment

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
Presentable Casual, but mismatched

34. What kept you sane?
DH and consolation prizes

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
It does not really change. I like Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt and Vin Diesel's voice. LOL. Maybe add the Twilight boys if that is not too creepy. I loved Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland. I know, I am weird. The Wallstreet Kid is growing up nicely (he used to play that annoying guy on the disney channel, who knew he would be a serious actor one day?), and the guy who plays the main character in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is nice.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I was pissed at everyone in congress for their general lack of progress and cooperation. PS: The tea party is NOT the answer to this problem.

37. Who did you miss?
Everyone who does not live in Columbus!!

38. Who was the best new person you met?
There was one week this year where I met two new people and liked both of them. That is NOT common for me. I tend not to like people. One was a new nestie to book club, another was a friend's coworker.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010 ?
Sometimes you have disapointments in life, but everyone has disapointments in life. It is not that "life is not fair", its that the concept of fair and unfair simply does not apply.

40. What word or phrase sums up this year?
Waiting

Christmas Magic in the Air

2010-12-21T06:13:00.000-08:00

The christmas spirts are smiling on me at work today.

Last night I finally loaded all of my christmas music onto my MP3 player. I unfortunately could not find my favorite album, Sleighride, but I do have about 200 other songs including the entire Raffi album and Barenaked Ladies album.

It was snowing on my drive to work today.

I gave my Christmas cards out and people were amused by the "hee hee hee, ho ho ho" of my toy Santa cards. (I actually used about 4 different cards, so not everyone got this, but everyone seemed happy with what they did get).

A friend of some people in my unit brought bunch of Christmas cookies, including all of my favorites: Holly Leaves (like rice crispy treats sort of), soft molasses cookies, peppermint cookies, and a new possible favorite, chocolate covered mint oreos. (Edited to Add: Turns out she did not bring soft molasses, they are chocolate, and they are delicious)

Unfortunately the christmas spirits do not seem to have control over Football outcomes. Otherwise either the Vikings would have won (so I was happy about real life football), or Matt Forte would have scored a touchdown (so I was happy about fantasy football). Now I am out of the fantasy playoffs and my real life team continues to suck.

Pictures from Duluth

2010-12-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

Any questions?

Yep

2010-12-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

I know. It has been FOREVER (or two weeks?).
Blogger is accesible again at work, so I have no excuse. I don't really want or need an excuse though.

Life is good. We leave Wednesday for our Christmas travels spanning across Missouri and Kansas. The Christmas shopping is done, the packages that need shipped are shipped. We did not manage to get a Christmas tree this year, but that's OK. I think if your Holiday is more stressful than fun you are doing too much. The exception to this of course is if you have kids who you want to do everything for. But being currently childless, I think we should do as much makes us happy, and not more.

I have been thinking about my new years resolutions a lot and have some good ideas. I will tell you more when we get back from our trip. It involves new music, books, movies, and habits. I may reincarnate the organization dragon in a whole new, and possibly more-accomplishable form.

Is accomplishable a word?
Oh well.

In case I don't make another appearance, Happy Yule!!

Go Play Fetch

2010-12-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

They have cut off access to blogspot at work, along with several shopping sites and other things. It won't be long before they get around to blocking my last remaining favorite link, my nestie message board. I feel like everytime I go onto it I am increasing its profile in our security system and likening the chances of it being blocked. I really would like an internet phone, but at the same time cannot justify the $400/yr price tag. Especially when there are so many possible changes in the future.

DH has started applying for jobs in Minnesota. We have not heard back about any yet. If he finds one, we may be moving within weeks. If he does not find one we may be here for ages. I may need a new car. Other costs may arise. We have been saving like crazy for the last three monthes and our bank accounts are starting to show the effort. It does not hurt those numbers that the stock market has been turning back around.

I have had so many thoughts for blog posts to write over the past week, but none of them have panned out because I don't really spend much time on the computer at home. Right now I intended to write a nice long post with lots of details and maybe even pictures, but I have a headache and really don't want to. So I resort to something I have been using all to commonly, the laundry list of thoughts and topics:

- I ran with River the last three days (Thurs/Fri/Sat). Very short, but I did it.
- Had Girls Day with some friends, went to a craft fair and then sat around and gossiped. Candied Cranberries are amazing.
- Made a chore chart this evening. More of a visual cue as to what we have done and need to do rather than directions for what specifically to do each day
- December marked the start of a new reading challenge. I once again was not lucky enough to get to create a task, but its always fun seeing what other people come up with.
- I am about on pace with my reading new years resolution
- I am starting to develop my new years resolutions for next year
- River ate another library book (goodbye $40). Why does she have a taste for those instead of my books which would be like $2 to replace?
- She also re-removed the pom off my hat that my Mom reattached while I was in MN. I don't know why she likes removing the pom and I don't know how she got access.
- My head hurts
- I have started to shower at night instead of in the morning. This is related to my running (in the evening), but also to goals for future changes to routine
- I really need to eat healthier
- I got more pictures printed for my office
- I am caught up at work
- Everytime I hear about people's health issues I analyze them from the Disability perspective
- I love half priced books
- Eclipse came out DVD this weekend, I went ahead and bought the BluRay/DVD pack w/all the extra trimmings.
- I have some Xmas decorations up but we have not yet got a tree. Apparently a lot of the tree farms are having issues and were not open long this year (as in, they already closed for the season??). So we are going to get one precut. Hopefully tomorrow night.
- I want to bake something fun.
- I have secret santa's to buy for.
- I am getting near done with Christmas shopping, just a few more people to go.
- We made our plans for Xmas and are taking a couple extra days compared to usual to see if that makes the travelling less troublesome. We will be out of town for 6 days.

I have to go. Gandalf wants to play fetch. I know this because he just brought me a pair of socks balled up from the bedroom, dropped them at my feet and started "meowing".

Arriving Home

2010-11-29T19:16:00.001-08:00

Coming from home, arriving home, always very confusing.

I don't like flying. Its so convenient though, and I am a rational person, so I set aside the underlying conviction that all my planes are going to crash ans concentrate on the fact it is a statistical improbability. This rationality unfortunately can't help what the changes in altitude and cabin pressure combined with cramped quarters and less than fresh air do to my head and stomach. Luckily these unhappy effects usually wear off after an hour or two on the ground.

Arriving back in Columbus today was surprisingly relaxing and nice. We came home to a much cleaner house than I have grown accustom to thanks to DH's efforts before he left. The pets were all happy to see us and River was surprisingly sedate/controlable. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and thus have a freshly stocked fridge with lunches and snacks for the week. I have so far retained some energy and motivation and got my bags all unpacked and some cleaning done before relaxing for the evening.

Some other updates:
- River: Turns out the reason she is more sedate/controllable than usual is because she got into a tussle with my cousin's dog (our Dog Sitter) while we were gone. While I am not happy that she started another fight, or that it resulted in some injury to both her, the other dog, and my cousin (all minor, don't worry), I am very glad that it seems to have knocked some sense into her. She seems to realize now that she is not the biggest dog on the block and maybe she should not start something all of the time. This was evidenced by he behavior when we fed them tonight. Grim was eating out of both dishes and instead of being assertive or pushy or aggressive, River sort of stood near the bowl that Grim was eating out of at the moment and cowered for a minute or two until I got up to sent Grim back to he own bowl.

- Reading: I did not do much reading while I was in Duluth, but it would appear I got enough ahead before leaving and did just enough reading to stay relatively on pace. I mostly read a Soup Cookbook while I was there (400 Soups). I have read cookbooks before, but now I have learned the lesson that when you choose a cookbook to just read through it should not be one that repeats the same type of recipe over and over and over and over... the point is, with one month and one day left, I have 4542 pgs left to read, or approximately 141pgs per day. Time to get (keep) cracking!!

- Motivation: As mentioned, still going strong. Upcoming plans for this month include starting to run with river (for real). I hate running. I absolutely hate running. BUT, there is not other solution to the equation that has remained a hassle in my life for some time. That equation is that I have limited ammount of time (t) outside of work. In this time (t) I needs to meet all of my personal and household needs, including socializing/recreation (s), household duties (h) and pet duties (p), and health activities such as cooking healthy meals and exercising (e). This would suggest a simple equation

t = s + h + p+ e

But, as anyone that cannot afford to either stay at home full time or hire a made knows, this is pretty much the hardest equation in life. Increase h a little at the cost of s and end up depressed due to social isolation. Don't put quite enough time into p and end up with a dog that keeps you up all night or chews your shoes. Most of all, of course, the goal is to get the numbers right and maximize your utility (that is, your happiness). For a very long time I have been saying I was going to somehow increase p and e in this equation, and for sometime it has not been happening. Increasing two categories at once is not easy. In fact, for me it has been impossible. The solution? Running. Running would allow me to kill two birds with one stone by simultaneously spending time on p and e. This would effectively increase the ammount of t by changing the equation

t = s + h + (p+e)/2

Of course, this is not entirely accurate as there are parts of personal health (e) and pet duties (p) that are not combined, but to keep this simple I will pretend that exercising the dog is the only component of p and exercising myself it the only component of e.

Enough vague nerdery for you? Ok. I will stop.

Now, if only I could find a way to combine cleaning my house with socializing... want to visit LEKT??

Thanks for the Food

2010-11-28T21:13:00.000-08:00

It is my last night in Duluth and I just thought I would write a quick blog post before heading to bed. It has been a fun trip. As usual, it both feels like I have been here forever and that it is too soon to leave. DH arrived here safely on Tuesday night. We spent out time here enjoying my family's company, and eating lots of good food. We got on a horse once - I rode on a short trail ride with my sister while DH only got on for a minute or two for a photo op. We had a tasty Thanksgiving with good company. We went to a bunch of tasty restaurants including a new family favorite, Duluth Grill. We watched football, played some board games, assembled some jigsaw puzzles, looked at some Christmas lights, and walked some dogs. It was a fun, relaxing trip, a nice way to recharge. Now it is time to go back to my "real life" and get back into the swing of things. I hope to carry some motivation and energy with me and get some things in order at home in the next month. I hope everyone had a great holiday!!

DULUTH!!!

2010-11-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

I made it safely to Duluth.

I meant to post a couple of days ago about the adventures of packing, but I was too busy at work to do it. I was trying to clear my desk off before I left (figuratively, or clear my electronic desk as the case may be), and that kept me very busy. I did not quite succeed in that, but I did get it in pretty good shape and manage to leave the nasty ugly task that I was dreading undone, which is mean of me, but now my supervisor will probably do it while I am gone, and because my desk is in such good shape other than that she won't be mad or even think it unusual.

Anyways, packing. I am bad at it. Speaking of organizational issues... and I feel like packing for a long trip home is the worst. I never know what I may need. I need lots of warm bulky clothes as it is Northern Minnesota, but I also need lighter clothes for indoors. I need nice clothes to wear out when I visit old friends and for the Holidays, but I also need farm clothes that I can wear out with the horses or to play in the snow, but I also need clothes that is warm and comfortable to where under winter clothes when I am going around town. I need to pack winter boots and a coat, and also a warmer coat/parka. I need warm lounging clothes and pajamas. Do you see how this multiplies? So, instead of thinking through it logically I just start throwing everything in a bag, and therefore end up over packing. When I was done unpacking last night, I realized I probably brought something like 50-75% of my normally-used wardrobe, which by the way is just way too much. Oh well.

Anyways, I am in Duluth now. Life is good. DH will join me next Tuesday. Until then, he is stuck with our Bandersnatch (otherwise known as River). I meanwhile have been introduced to my parents two new dogs (one of which is actually my sister's on reserve). Ellie is an ancient Golden Retriever who seems very quiet and is very cute. Maya is the biggest Newfoundland I have ever seen. Massive. I thought our past Newfoundlands were big, apparently not.

A Real Day Off

2010-11-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

First, a small reading update. In the last three days I have finished two books - The Book Thief and It Walks in Beauty. I now have read 33265 pages total, meaning I have completed 83.16% done with 86.84% of the year gone. To complete my goal I will have to read 140 pgs a day. That is a 5 page reduction in my per-day quota. Another way to look at it is if I still intend to read 145 pages a day (as my last post dictated), then I am 2 days ahead of schedule. I will take it, especially since I am over half way done with Harry Potter 7 and Persuasion at this point. In an ideal world I could get a good 5-6 days ahead before leaving for Minnesota next week, so when I fail to read much there (which is likely), I will still be in the running.

I had Thursday off. It was lovely. It felt special, and DH and I have no idea why. We felt like we could do anything that day. DH asked the good question - why don't we feel that way every weekend? They are all ours to do what we please with, yet they don't have the same sense of freedom that Thusday had. After some doctors appts in the morning, we went out to breakfast at a chain restaurant I had never been to called First Watch. It was fine, but I prefer Bob Evans breakfast. Then we ran some errands, went to Half Price Books (where I of course got a few new books, including Good Poems, an anthology of poems chosen by Garrison Keilor, which certainly will be part of my reading list now), and then went to the dollar theater for a movie. We saw the new Wall Street - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. It was a bit slow, but I decided that I really liked it. I thought the characters were interesting and realistic, and the acting was fantastic. DH did not like it, partially because he thought none of the characters were likeable or sympathetic. I disagreed. After much discussion about it, we came to the conclusion that he judges characters more harshly than real people and I judge them less harshly. When we got home from the movie we watched the original Wall Street, which was also fine, but nothing special. We went to bed crazy early and I did some reading, of course.

Stupid Ankles and other Rambles

2010-11-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

You know that ankle I twisted last week? Well, its still bothering me. Partially because I am an idiot and partially because my ankles suck. I am an idiot because I assumed it was not a big deal despite feeling that twinge of sprain and did not elevate, ice, or rest it. My ankles suck because... well, they just do. We have weak ankles in my family. My sisters and I have all had multiple sprained ankles. It was an annual occurence in soccer for me to sprain one, if not both ankles. My first sprain was in 8th grade and I got it walking across a tennis court. Notice: walking, on a flat surface. Talent. The joke has always been that I tripped on one of the lines. Anyways, the point is, my ankle still hurts and I need to start treating it better, you know, like I sprained it.

In other news... um. Maybe I don't have other news. This week is nice. I get tomorrow off. I am going to Trivia tonight. I am getting a lot of reading done. I am reading good books. I had a book club last night that was a lot of fun. I am looking for another book club. I am always looking for more book clubs. We might start one at work. I am already thinking about next years new years resolutions. I have not given up on getting organized, but I need to make it more concrete if it is going to happen. Did I mention I have tomorrow off? And I don't intend to spend it organizing. I do intent to spend it reading. Maybe we will go make a chore chart. DH is taking it off as well, just for kicks.

Um.. I think thats all? Bis spaeter!

OH! And two more books came into the library for me:
Linger by Maggie Steifvater, and
The Scarlett Pimpernel (another book for a book club).

My Reading Task

2010-11-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

I have fallen a bit behind with my reading goals and its crunch time. With how poorly some of my other resolutions are going I really want to finish this one. Just to remind you, the goal is 40,000 pages. As of tonight, I have read 32305. That leaves 7695 pages. A different perspective: 85% of the year is gone and I have reached 80% of my goal. A different perspective: there aer 53 days left, so to reach my goal I need to read an average of 145 pages a day. Thats a lot. We will see what I can do. Here is a tenative plan:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - 592 pgs (for book club, I am actually half way through this)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 759 pgs (I am about 100 pages in, want to finish it before the movie comes out next week)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - 328 pages
Alvin Journeyman by Orson Scott Card - 381 pages
Persuasion by Jane Austen - 304 pages
Everlost by Neal Shusterman - 313 pages
Mike and Mike's Rules for Sports and Life - 208 pages
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - 467 pages
It Walks in Beauty by Chandler Davis - 368 page
As You Like It by Shakespeare - 320 pages

Total: 4040

Those are the books I currently have fromt he library or am in the middle of... looks like I need to find 3500 more pages. LOL

EDITED TO ADD:
Ooh! Two new books just came into the Library for me -
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia - 592 pages
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult - 448 pages

Those would bring the total to 5080 pages, leaving 2615 more to find.

I don't know if you can tell from these lists, but I am already instituting techniques to make this happen. Almost all the books listed above are what I would call "easy reads". There is no way I will be able to read 7500 pages in two months of things like Nabokov and Dickens. I have to read things that read fast and that are enjoyable/keep me reading. Another way to get more pages is to read poetry and plays, both of which have more pages for less time in general. In some ways, changing what I am reading to reach the goal is a let down, but in other ways I think its a good thing. For the next few weeks I will only be able to afford to read things I enjoy, if a book is slowing me down I should just skip it. This is not something I normally do and I think it could be good for me. After all, isn't reading a book you don't like sort of a waste of time?

Disorganized Thoughts on the Weekend

2010-11-08T06:03:00.001-08:00

On sunday we "found" an hour. Neither of us remembered it was daylight savings time (fall backward), until "noon" on Sunday when DH tried to turn on the NFL pregame programs and found nothing on. It was a beautiful, magnificent discovery. I spent the extra hours playing Sims 3. DH spent the extra hour sleeping through a movie. Ah, the joys of the weekend.

We did almost no cleaning this weekend, which based on the state of the house was really bad of us. I found I just couldn't care that much when I would rather be doing other things. I went shopping with a friend and bought about 10 new tops. I am wearing two of them right now and love them. On Friday night we went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and then to see Easy A, which was a hilarious movie. I love Emma Stone. We watched Clash of the Titans on Saturday night, which was pretty boring for an action movie.

Football was good. Vikings won. I lost in fantasy. The Browns beat the patriots in an exciting game. It was not close at all, but it was exciting because how unexpected the blow out was.

My schedule coming up? 3 days of work. Thursday off. One day of work. The weekend. three days of work, then I leave for Duluth.

I will be in Duluth in 9 days. HP7 comes out in 10 days. I am excited. Life is good.