CRAZY? ? ? I was crazy once!

Going Dark January 18, 2012 to protest SOPA

2012-01-17T23:21:00.001-06:00

I am setting my blog to go dark to show my support in the anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA movement.

I will also be contacting my legislative representatives to have my opinion heard regarding these issues.

My blog will be back up Thursday, January 19,2012.

I'm sure both my readers (Hi Mommy! Hi Sissy!) will live without my un-updated blog until then.

Should anyone happen to stumble upon my blog and wonder how I did this easily, see this site ---> http://torbit.com/blog/2012/01/15/stop-sopa-js/.

They have a javascript plugin that you just copy and paste. They even provide simple instructions for its use. It is set to automatically activate and deactivate, so it will only appear on your blog for one day.

Some websites to refer to:
Sites Going Dark to Protest SOPA/PIPA
SOPAStrike.com
Why SOPA is Dangerous (Opinion Piece)
A Different List of Companies and Sites Going Black
Another Site Explaining Why So Many Are Going Dark
Just Because Obama Says He Won't Support SOPA Does NOT Mean it Won't Go Forward in Legislature - and PIPA Will, Too.
Yet Another List of Those Going Dark

I have included so many different lists of companies and sites who have said they are going dark simply because each one is a little different, in terms of the sites listed. It is important to remember Google, Facebook, Twitter, and several others have said they will not go completely dark, or will only run some type of banner or graphic on their pages displaying their support of the anti-SOPA/PIPA movement (referred to by some as Occupy SOPA).

One more thing. I am doing a simple copy-and-paste of this post to put on my other blog, which has the same readers as this one (Hi, again, Mommy and Sissy!).

It's not much, but if every blogger opposed to these bills would do this, the impact would be heard across the nation. If you DO NOT want SOPA and PIPA to pass through legislature, please consider tweeting with the hashtag #SOPA, making all your sites (blogs, webpages, etc) dark for 24 hours, and letting your Congressmen and Senators know you will not support this bill, and they will lose your vote if they support it.

If we don't all take a stand together on this, we will only gain more government censorship. That is never a good thing.

New post on my other blog

2011-08-31T02:19:00.000-05:00

Hey, y'all. I've posted a new entry on my other blog, . You're all invited to run over and check it out.

I've decided to focus my efforts on that blog as I get myself back into the habit of blogging. My personal life caused quite a turmoil for a while, which made even finding time to blog near impossible.

Hopefully before too long I can begin to update this blog, at least on a semi-regular basis.

And yes, I know my link above is crappy. I forgot how to make it all purrtiful, and I'm blogging from my phone. It's also after 2AM, so waaay past my bedtime. All that combines to equal I'm too lazy to figure out how to make it purrty right now. But I promise to do so before I post my next link. Even if I have to get my lovely seester to tell me how. (Hi, Belle. Love ya sissy!)

Anyway, come on over to my other home if you'd like. The door's open, just come on in.

Read for the Record Day - October 7, 2010

2010-09-17T14:48:00.001-05:00

This year's Read for the Record Day is set for October 7, 2010. On this day, you can read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats online for free at WeGiveBooks.org. You can create your own profile on the site, and pick from several literacy-minded campaigns to donate your books to. For every book you read online, the organization will donate a book for free to the campaign. The goal is to promote early literacy in children, and to get more books into the hands of children. You can pick from campaigns supporting Haiti, local libraries, East Africa, Asia, Volunteer USA, Jumpstart (the recipients of the donations through the Read for the Record Day), and many more.

Please visit the website for specifics on how this works. Please support childhood literacy. Read to a child.

I love reading. As a child, I would read anything I could get my hands on. I demanded my Mom put the cereal box in front of me each morning so I could read it as I ate. I would read the same box every time I ate cereal, until the box was empty. I even read the ingredients list and nutrition facts! I attribute this to my mother passing her love to read on to me by reading to me often. As I began to read myself, she would let me read to her. As a toddler, she read Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone to me
so many times I could "read" it to her. I had heard the story so many times, I could recite it to her from memory.

Now, as a mother, I read to my children. My youngest had a small library before he was born. Our friends and family bought him books for us to read to him. I buy a new book almost every time I step into a store. Of course, right now he listens for about thirty seconds, and then wants down to play. But I still read the book, and show him the pictures. One day, maybe he'll thank me.

Read to a child today! It WILL make a difference in their lives.

Evidently, I'm not as domestic as I thought.....

2010-08-16T13:38:00.002-05:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

A Scrapbooking Class Giveaway that I wanna win!

2010-07-15T17:24:00.000-05:00

Andrea over at Mommy Snacks has a cool scrapbooking giveaway on her blog. It's a chance to win one of two free online scrapbooking classes from Jessica of The Mom Creative. Check out Andrea's post on Mommy Snacks here.

Comment Moderation has been activated

2010-06-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

I hate to do it, but I don't really blog anymore, and it's really annoying to visit my blogs to delete spam comments. All comments are now moderated. Hopefully in the future I can change it back to unmoderated. Probably when I start blogging again. One day, right??? :)

Lactation legislation included in the Healthcare Reform Bill

2010-04-28T16:03:00.002-05:00

Before I begin my post, let me preface it with this disclaimer:
I care not if you breastfeed or chose formula for your child. Your child, your boobs, your decision. I made mine, and you are entitled to yours.

I care not your political beliefs, and I don't want to hear them. This is not a blog about politics. I am entitled to my own political beliefs (and also to keep them private if I so wish). You are entitled the same consideration. So is everyone else reading this.

I do not care if you like our Presidents, Congressmen, or Senators. I don't like some of them either. They were elected. Now deal with it until the next election. If you don't like a bill they are considering, write them. If you are against one political party and in favor of another, volunteer during the next campaign season.

I am posting this simply to enlighten lactating mothers of their rights, as included in the recently passed "Healthcare Reform Bill". I don't care if you supported passage of this bill or not. I don't care if you are a Tea-partyer or not. I don't care about your political, ethical, or moral beliefs in the least. We are all entitled to our own. I DO, however, care about MY rights, and as an extension, YOUR rights.

Any inappropriate comments left here, or elsewhere on my blog, will be removed. If you've linked to this post, please feel free to leave me a note saying so. Any comment along the lines of "Stupid Senate, Stupid Congress, Stupid Healthcare Reform," etc. will be deleted. So will comments arguing breast vs. bottle, Republican vs. Democrat, etc.

I just found out about this tiny little feature of the recently passed, much-debated Healthcare Reform Bill recently passed. I don't care whether you were for or against this piece of legislation. I couldn't care less if you like it or not. I just wanna get these fact out there so that those who need them have them. If this interests you or someone you know, please link to this. I didn't know about it. I'm sure there are other women out there who are lactating, working mothers who really could use this information.

The below passage comes from HR 3590 (AKA the Healthcare Reform Bill passed by the U.S. Senate on December 24, 2009 and the U.S. House of Representatives on March 21, 2010. President Obama signed this act into law on March 23, 2010. This is now Federal Public Law 111-148.) Section 4207. I have copied and pasted it from here.

SEC. 4207. REASONABLE BREAK TIME FOR NURSING MOTHERS. Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938

(29 U.S.C. 207) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(r)(1) An employer shall provide— ‘‘(A) a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk; and ‘‘(B) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. ‘‘(2) An employer shall not be required to compensate an employee receiving reasonable break time under paragraph (1) for any work time spent for such purpose. ‘‘(3) An employer that employs less than 50 employees shall not be subject to the requirements of this subsection, if such requirements would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business.
‘‘(4) Nothing in this subsection shall preempt a State law that provides greater protections to employees than the protections provided for under this subsection.’’.

This is great news for lactating women. You are now guaranteed under Federal law (as long as your employer has at least 50 employees) unpaid breaks and a private room for expressing breastmilk. You no longer have to pump in a dirty bathroom. Your lactation room must now be free from view AND intrusion from coworkers and the public. This means you are entitled to a door that locks, to maintain your privacy and dignity while expressing breastmilk.

This is a step up in recognizing the importance of breastfeeding our children. This is a step up in recognizing a mother's right to breastfeed even after returning to work. This is Federal Law recognizing our children's right to be comforted by breastmilk even after the first two or six or eight weeks of life. This is Federal Law recognizing that I chose to breastfeed my son until he is ready to wean, and I have the right to expect to not lose my milk supply after I return to work.

Please pass this news on. Feel free to pass on the link to this blog. Let's get the word out that a new Federal law is giving this to those mothers who choose to breastfeed their children.

Also, please know that I am posting this exact same entry on my other blog, also.

Prayers, please, for little Noah and his family

2010-01-07T23:23:00.001-06:00

I believe I've posted about this family before. Little Noah was shaken by a daycare worker in April 2009. The trial against the woman who did this begins soon. Please check out the blog Noah's parents set up.

http://www.noahsroad.com/?p=285

I have three requests for anyone reading this. 1.) Let them know we all care about their precious son. 2.) Pass the word on about Noah's journey and this prayer request. 3.) Then join me during the week of the trial, and every day, in praying for this family, especially this beautiful child.

Thank you all.

A new blog

2009-11-29T12:19:00.003-06:00

I have started a new blog. This new one is anonymous. Names have been fictionalized to protect the guilty (including myself).

However, I screwed up from the beginning.

I linked that blog to this one (as in, I created them under the same profile). As a result, while this blog will stay here, will stay listed in the Blogger directory, and will be recognizable by search engines, it will no longer be listed on my Blogger profile. Also, my name on my profile has been changed, which resulted in my name on all blogs being changed. Kinda would defeat the whole purpose of picking out names for all of us if you can still click on my profile and arrive here, where I unfortunately didn't have the foresight to leave us all completely anonymous.

It was kinda on-purpose, so I would have one dashboard and one Google account to handle all my blogs and stuff. I just thought I would have more flexability when it came to having them be associated with one another on the 'net. Ya know what I mean?

Long story short, This blog is staying right here. I'm still gonna neglect to post here, just like always. It's just a little more incognito over here now. And in the future, general homemaking/working mom/food/recipe/menu stuff will be there, not here. Our daily life stuff that interests mainly only family will be here. New teeth, rants, raves, gripes, etc... I still plan on this being the place to air all our dirty laundry for the world (and by our, I mean my whole family, not just those who reside with me on a daily basis). And some of it could end up over there, just with a less personal touch, and with more regard to what is/isn't professional.

For those who read Mrs. Newlywed's blog before she went underground for a short while, think of it as being like her blog, with less emphasis on fashion and travel, and more on raising kids while working, etc. Completely anonymous. Hopefully funny and much-read.

Meanwhile, check out Rubber Duckies and Rice Cereal. I hear it's a really cool blog (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). At least, I hear tell it WILL be, after it gets going. Not all of the sidebar content has been created yet, and there WILL be ads after I add them. I'm doing an experiment, to see if I can get it off the ground and make a little money off of it. (Money to go to savings for additions to our house, college fund for kids, vaca money in the future, etc. Not to pay bills. Just so no one worries that we're starving or losing our house or getting our electricity shut off or something. No happening as of now. Pray to God we're never in that situation again. I mean money's tight, but just to the point of careful budgeting and not buying a lot of unnecessary crap and all that.)

My family is obligated to check it out, visit often, and promote it/blog roll it, etc. And please, pick up on the names I've created for all of us (Angst and Belle will remain in use, since they're already so popular), and use them often when speaking of my new blog. Leave it anonymous. As in, don't tell the world that it's me (your daughter/sister/etc.) behing the keyboard over there. Since Rubber Duckie is intended to (hopefully) have more exposure to the public my Crazy blog, I'd like for us to not fall victim to identity theft, stalkers, and the like. Feel free to leave Crazy in any existing blogrolls. Just don't publicly link the two. Thanks in advance for your forced participation in this. (And no, I don't feel bad in stealing Angst and Belle's nicknames. We know where the names originated. I'm stealing them to combat confusion amongst us.)

Oh, and if anyone would like a shout-out on my blog (ya know, writers and such that I may know - you know who you are) I can do it anonymously, without telling everyone that we're related. Just let me know.

Oh, one more thing - I created a gmail account (rubberduckiesmom - AT - gmail - DOT - com) for the new blog, so it wouldn't be tied to my personal email. Those who know my personal email are invited to use either account. I now have to log into iGoogle with my gmail, so I'll be just as likely to see your email there as I would if it were sent to my normal personal email account.

I haven't worked out all the details of how I will juggle keeping one blog so anonymous while not being so protective on the other. I think I'm going to eventually go through (soon) and change all the names on my Crazy blog, just so I won't be paranoid.

For Seester... with love <3

2009-11-12T15:29:00.000-06:00

I saw this today, on V's blog, Not Even A T-shirt. It reminded me of you. You may not feel this way today, or even tomorrow. (For all I know you do... point is, I'm not sure how you stand on the issue yet, but anyway.....) One day, you WILL feel this way about a certain current situation. And you will know exactly what I meant when I posted this.

This one's for you, Sis. I love you.

One day, you'll be ready. And you will. And you'll (eventually) feel stronger for going through this and not letting it consume you in the end. One day. Just keep this in mind until then, knowing that one day you'll decide to take this route. And you won't care about this forever. One day, this will all be a distant memory, and you'll have something better, and then, on that day, this won't matter so much anymore. I promise. One day, you'll just wake up and be over it, and you won't ever look back. One day.

I love you. :)

Update on Granddaddy's status

2009-11-11T16:55:00.000-06:00

This isn't really much of an update. I just wanted to say that we went to visit him last night. It was a rush to get there. I got home at 7pm, fed Mikey his cereal, and strapped him in his carseat. We were at the hospital at 7:40. Mikey was VERY upset with us when we got there. He cried all the way to the hospital. He knew it was almost bed time, and he couldn't fathom any reason for us to be going anywhere right before bed time. He was fine once we got there.

It was a surprise to Granddaddy. He didn't know we were coming. I think seeing his great-grandson really made his day. He talked to him a little while. I was disappointed because I had meant to take my camera to get pics of him with Mikey, just in case..... I thought my camera was in the car, but Michael couldn't find it. :(

I didn't get much information out of him regarding hid diagnosis or test results. He has three kidney stones, two in one kidney and one in the other. He has an enlarged prostate, which has a "spot" on it, but not sure if it's cancer or not. He has a "spot" on his spine, again, not sure if it's cancer. He has an ulcer on his foot from the last time he fell. The bruise got so bad it's now ulcered. He hurts from his lower abdomen down through his legs. He can barely walk across his hospital room and back (with help).

He has had x-rays, scans, a bone scan, I don't know what all.... They want him to go to the nursing home for in-patient physical therapy for a few weeks. Last night he told me he was going to the one on West Hobbs Street, but today Michael told me he was going to the one across from the hospital. I hope not. I guess we'll see.

Then he told me that they had made new wills a few years ago. Not sure what they say. I told him I didn't care what they said. My exact words were,

"I've had 26 really good years with the two of you. I'd love 26 more, but if either of you are going to have to suffer for me to get them, then I'd rather just keep the memories I have and let that be enough. I'd rather you not suffer any more than you have to. I don't care about the house or money or car or any of that. Just the memories I have. That's what's really going to last, anyway."

Then he almost made me cry. He said what I had been hoping I wouldn't hear from him.

He said, "I'm just ready to go home to the Lord. I'm ready to be with my Momma and Daddy and son."

And Michael and I realized that he was crying. And it ripped our hearts out. That's the first time Michael has seen him cry. It's only the third time I've seen it. Once when Granny Kyle died, once when Daddy died, and once last night. I think he's dying. I think last night he was telling us goodbye, just in case......

I'm not ready for any of them to leave me. I just had my son. I want him to remember them when he gets older. I want him to have more than pictures and stories from us. I want him to have his own memories of these four great people, these people I love so much. I remember Granny Kyle a little. I used to go visit her with Granny when I was little. When she lived on Hine Street, in that little-bitty house. Before she went to the nursing home. I wish I had known then what I know now. Back then I was just bored while we visited. Now I could sit and listen to her talk for hours, telling stories about her growing up and how it was back in the good old days of her youth. I want that for my children. It just doesn't look like I'll get my wish.

Truthfully, I wish they could stick around for another 26 years for my son. Without pain, and illness, and everything else they're going through.

It seems like every time something good happens to me the last few years, someone dies. We got married, Memaw died. We had mikey, and now I really do believe Granddaddy is going to die. Very soon. Why can't something good happen to me without someone dying? Just once?

Now I'll be satisfied if I get to have all four of them for my son's first Christmas. I hope they all make it until then.

Meanwhile, I still haven't talked to Belle, and she (as of last night) still hasn't been to see Granddaddy. Too wrapped up in herself, I guess.

And now, for my 90th post, I bring you bad news....

2009-11-09T15:59:00.001-06:00

I called Michael from work today after lunch. Guess what he told me.... Come on, just guess....

Granddaddy is in the hospital and has been since an ambulance picked him up Saturday. Granny said they think he might have prostate cancer, along with whatever else they find when they get all the test results back. Great.

The best part? My sister DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO TELL ME!!! Mike told Michael today.

I could have visited him yesterday, while I was off work. Instead, I get to leave work at 7pm tonight, go home, get my husband and son, drive to the hospital, get there around bedtime, visit for 10 or 20 minutes, then drive home. Then we all get to go to bed late (mostly my child, who likes his 8pm bedtime and will protest VERY LOUDLY if he is late about getting to bed).

Thanks heaps, Sissy.

I love you, no matter what. I just wish you had told me.

This week in our life: Big Milestone!!

2009-10-23T16:03:00.002-05:00

So, we had the 4-month checkup Tuesday. (I worked all weekend, night shift, so was in a great mood Tuesday afternoon after about 4 hours of sleep or less). Stats from the checkup:

25" long
41 cm around the head
and 16 WHOLE POUNDS and not a bit more or less on his weight!

Michael is at or over the 50th percentile on all three growth indicators. The doctor is satisfied he is properly reaching all his development milestones. He got 1 oral vaccine, and three in his legs. At which point we almost cried with him. Keep in mind, Mommy was helping to hold him.... Daddy was standing in the corner, and ended up with his eyes shut and his back turned to us by the last shot. He hates being there for him to get his shots. And my goodness, he screamed and cried ten times worse this time than the last. I had to nurse him after for several minutes to get him calmed back down.

And for the big one..... CEREAL!!! Yes, he had his first bowl of rice cereal mixed with warm breastmilk Tuesday evening after we got home. AND HE LOVED IT!!! He takes after my side of the family with that. We love our cereal. :) We had a small problem yesterday morning with his cereal. The spoon hurt his gums every time we gave him a bite, so we had to put the cereal into a bottle. (Yes, our spoons are padded. They even turn white if the food is too warm for baby's mouth.) At least, I think it's his gums. Has to be, judging by his response every time we gave him a bite. He was fine every bite, until the spoon touched his bottom gums. I don't know if his gums being that sore means his teeth are withing days or a week or so of coming through the surface or not. I do know that until then he had no problem with the spoon. He had cereal a few times before then, always with a spoon, and never had any problem with him gums.

Hey Momma, do you remember how old I was when I cut my first tooth? I have my baby book, but I've been too lazy to dig it out to see when I hit all the major milestones. (I know it doesn't mean my child will hit them the same time I did. I was just curious, and I think it would be fun to anticipate and see how close he comes.)

Oh, and did I mention he can't have any other kinds of solid food (carrrots, peas, etc.) until he hits the 6-month mark? This is due to the possibility of allergy development if we start earlier than that. Oh, and I'm going to try my hand at making baby food at home. I feel better making my own. There's a baby food recall out right now, in fact, for Plum Organics Apple & Carrot baby food in Portable Pouches due to the possibility of BOTULISM. No thank you. At least if I cook and freeze our baby food, then I know where it's been, how it was cooked, and what's in it. The only reason he's getting Gerber store-bought rice cereal is because I don't know how to make that. If I did, I'd be making it, also.

OK, I'm off my soapbox now about store-bought baby food.

EDIT TO ADD: I took tons of pics of the first cereal feeding. I'll be putting a lot of pics on Shutterfly ASAP. No promises when. I work Friday through Sunday day shift this weekend, then Tuesday night through Thursday night, so......

Totally awesome....

2009-10-01T19:49:00.001-05:00

I was reading all the 500+ posts on my Google reader (been a week or two, ya know) and found this:

Flash mob at Oprah - courtesy of V at Not Even A T-shirt

Apparently, when the Black Eyed Peas did the Oprah show last month, the entire crowd did the Flash dance to "I Gotta Feelin'". How awesome is that?

So visit her blog and check out the video she posted. I'm too lazy to do it myself.

Besides, I'm posting single-handedly (literally) with the babe attached to my boob. You're welcome very much for that bit o' info. (Sissy tells me quite often that I tend to over-share when it comes to bodily functions and other tidbits of TMI.)

Oh, and a baby-update post forthcoming sometime in the future. Short version: still teething, rolling from belly to back every once in a while, rolling from back to belly (on the bed, if you're laying beside him to create a dip in the mattress), and can sit if supported.

Also, we somehow kept Chris' flu from spreading to any of us.

PSA: A movie you don't wanna watch (for Momma & Sissy)

2009-09-18T16:21:00.002-05:00

Shawshank Redemption.

Normally, I LOVE Stephen King movies, no matter which it is.

But as I watched this with Michael the other evening, all I could think of the whole time was Buddy.

I almost cried during parts of this movie. And almost cried afterward, while trying to fall asleep.

So don't watch it. Or anything like it.

O...M...G... (it's the flu!)

2009-09-14T14:46:00.003-05:00

Cue lame '70s horror flick music.

Chris spent all weekend at our house, per the usual. Yesterday, as I'm getting ready to go to work, Cindy and Eric come over to cook dinner for Michael and take Chris home. She kissed him on the head and he felt like he was burning up with fever. We checked, and it was 100.2. The we checked the baby, who felt fine 30 minutes before but was by then feeling warm, and he had a fever. Then we checked Aaron, who mentioned he didn't feel well. Guess what? He had a fever.

So I called work and told them I wouldn't be coming last night. We ate and they took Chris home. He went to the doctor today. Type A influenza. Great. Oh, goody. So I called work and they told me to stay home and not risk getting all my co-workers sick. So I'm on family sick leave tonight, too.

We have to take our little man to the pedatrician tomorrow afternoon. If he gets a high fever, we'll go to the ER. Aaron has an appointment at 3:00. He's on his way there now.

I've already told Momma about the outbreak at my house. She was just here yesterday, but left bfore we discovered everyone was sick. Chris spent Friday afternoon at a friend's house, so we called them to let them know. The friend's mom is pregnant, so I felt she really needed to know to be on the lookout for symptoms.

Much joy here. Everyone stay away for the next week.

I don't feel so well, either. No fever so far. Just feel blah. Not sure if I'm projecting the kids being sick on myself, or maybe it's just me coming off night shift. Hopefully I'm not sick, too.

Now for a bit of sunshine peeking through the flu fog: my milk supply is a little better. I'm still seriously considering fenugreek, though. We'll see.

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back......

2009-09-11T22:52:00.006-05:00

I'm back! After almost 4 months of no blogging, I am back. I promised my sister I'd come back to blogging, so here I am.

So, tonight is my first night shift since coming back to work. And it's off to a really shitty start. My child is at home with Daddy. And how's it going for the two of them, you ask?

HE.WON'T.SLEEP.BECAUSE.I'M.NOT.THERE.SO.HE.CAN'T.NURSE.
RIGHT.NOW.TO.FALL.ASLEEP.....

Great. So now, of course, I feel like the crappiest Mommy on the face of the Earth. Yeah, it's sweet, he can't sleep at night without Mommy. But he's at home right now, fighting sleep and inadvertently irritating Michael because HE WON'T SLEEP AT NIGHT WITHOUT MOMMY!

On top of this, I get chewed out for being in the bathroom pumping when they needed me to go out and do a few minutes of work. "Where have you been the last hour? I needed you go to untag RCIC. I had to send Chip to do your work because we couldn't find you...."

Great, make a Mommy who's about to cry over her baby refusing to sleep feel even worse, why don't ya? Sorry my milk is trying to dry up, and it took me an hour to get it to let down to my pump, and then I only got just under 3 ounces, even though I haven't pumped or nursed since before 6:00, which was over 3 hours before I started trying to pump.... Two weeks ago I could get 4 ounces or more in less than that time. I spent my whole 7-off nursing my son every time he acted hungry, trying to up my supply. I wouldn't let him fall asleep nursing until he had emptied both breasts each time. You'd think it would increase my milk. But no. It's no better than it was at the end of last week, after working four days.

The really sucky thing is, My friend KW just had her baby September 1. She can nurse her son and THEN pump 8 ounces, which she is freezing for when she goes back to work. How is that fair??? He's ten days old. He can only eat two or three ounces at a time. There's no way she needs to be making that much milk. And her mother keeps mentioning it to me, which is just great. Talk about making me feel like a failure because my boobs won't do as I command. But no, no empathy for me. Just on and on about how productive KW's mammary glands are, while I sit here trying not to cry sometimes over the thought that I'm slowly losing my milk and I'm going to eventually give up on trying to breastfeed, waaaaay before either of us are ready. It's not like I have gallons frozen or anything. I've been lucky to make enough at work for a couple of bottles the next day. And the stress from missing my baby when I'm at work, trying to work, not making enough milk, and feeling guilty for not pulling my weight around the house are NOT helping my milk supply any.

Bless Michael's heart. He doesn't say anything about me not pulling my weight around the house. Every once in a while, if I'm off work, he'll ask me to do a load of laundry for us. Or to cook us something quick and easy. That's about all he every asks. I'm still doing the grocery shopping and menu planning and all that. Aaron usually cooks dinner, even when I'm off work. I've never had to worry about taking out our garbage or cutting grass. I think he knows I'm tired and stressed. He tries to do almost every bit of it so I don't have to. Bless him.

So, to recap: Work sucks. My child refuses to sleep tonight without Mommy. Michael is irritated at the lack of the baby sleeping. My milk is drying up. Today is September 11,2009, which is the eighth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, and also the second anniversary of Toney dying.

I'm thinking of taking a daytime-only position, if they'll give me one. I'll lose most or all of my overtime, and I'll be working Monday through Friday every week, so there'll be less days off. But maybe it'll be worth it to be home every night. I don't know. I'm so tired right now. Tired of worrying about my milk, and pissing people off at work over my pumping taking up so much time, and worrying about helping clean the house, and.... Everything.

God, I wish I didn't have to work. Especially tonight. What I wouldn't give right now to be a stay-at-home mom. I guess I should be thankful I even have a job, much less one that pays so well. I just can't help but be so sad over everything I'm missing.....

If my milk supply would cooperate, and my boobs would let down better for my pump, it would be a tremendous help.

I am literally sitting here at work, with tears streaming down my face over all this. Maybe something will resolve itself soon.

I'm going to the bathroom now to wash my face and try to pull myself together before they need me to do something, which will require facing co-workers with red puffy eyes and a tear-stained face. If anyone made it through my rambling, emotional post, then bless you.

Also, another post with baby updates will be posted sometime later, depending on how busy we are the rest of the night. We're bringing a unit down tonight for some repairs, so we may be slammed pretty badly.

P.S. to Mom - Please know I'm thinking about you today. I'm sorry I didn't call to check on you. If it makes you feel better, Robbie wrote me on your birthday and I haven't sat down to write him back yet, either. I don't know yet what to say to him. Not much has changed. There's only a couple things new to tell him. And he can only have 5 pics at a time, so I don't know what they did with the rest of the 18 that I sent him last month, but he said for me to not send anymore right now, so....

But please know I am thinking of you.

Update from today's doctor's visit

2009-06-09T18:40:00.002-05:00

Nothing. Next Thursday we'll talk about options for induction dates if I've not delivered yet. Yay. I do have a slight backache coming and going, so there is a glimmer of hope. I didn't even have her check me for dilation today. Not worth the cramping after the internal exam to possibly hear "nothing happening". So no idea if I'm getting closer or not. I figure I'll know when contractions start. There;'s really no way to know when, even if I know I'm beginning to dilate, so why bother?

In other news, my SIL will have her c-section Friday morning at 7AM if she's not delivered by then.

I took my brother $40 today. I woke up at 3AM dreaming about him. Then, at 7:30 when my alarm woke us up for our doctor appointment, I woke up dreaming about Daddy. Little sleep was had last night. I took a 3-hour nap this evening.

I'm off to convince my husband that we need to find a place in Athens to get a big salad with everything in it (cukes, ham, bacon, maters, cheese.... everything.)

Are we there yet?

2009-06-08T17:23:00.004-05:00

OK, so I stopped working a few weeks ago. The swelling in my ankles wouldn't go away. Not to worry, as soon as I stopped working it went back to normal pregnancy swelling. We've been filling our days with visiting friends and family, cleaning, and relaxing.

I'm due in 17 days. No progress as of last Thursday. We go back in tomorrow for another weekly checkup, including internal to check for dilation and effacement. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The baby dropped a couple of weeks ago. He seems to really enjoy headbutting me in my nether regions, as well as my bladder. He has actually hurt me so bad that a few times in the last few weeks I could do nothing more than lay on the couch and cry due to the stabbing pain (AKA lightning crotch, since it feels like lightning has struck you in the crotch area, for those that aren't familiar with the term). My poor husband kept telling me one night, during a really good round of headbut-momma-in-her-no-no-spot, how sorry he was that I had to go through that particular side effect of late pregnancy. I swear, my first child NEVER did this to me. I think I would remember the lovely feeling of being stabbed repeatedly up my va-jay-jay, even nine years later.

Had some pain in my lower back all afternoon yesterday and all night last night. Just a dull, not exactly constant, ache in the lowest part of my back. Went away this morning. Had hoped it was a sign of impending (like in the next week) labor. Alas, the back pain is gone. Crap. I was so hopeful yesterday evening, when even rest (sitting, reclining, laying) didn't help.

My sister-in-law will be having her c-section Friday to deliver the twins if she hasn't had them by then. She had a lot of complications having her first child, and has already been hospitalized twice for preterm labor in this pregnancy. Due to the previous complications and the fact that she's having twins, her doctor strongly suggested a c-section whether labor starts naturally or not. She's due in less than 5 weeks, so her doctor says the babies should thrive even at this point. Please pray for her and the girls. We don't expect any problems, but you never know...

My grandfather is having surgery next Monday to correct/patch his hernia. The surgeon will go in through his belly button, patch the hernia, keep him for observation for several hours, and hopefully send him home the same day. Pray for him, please.

Part of me is jealous of my SIL. I got pregnant first, we planned and tried for our baby (her pregnancy wasn't planned to happen this early, she got pregnant before they wanted) and I'm due 10 days before her, but her babies will probably be here before ours. I do feel blessed, though, in knowing that all is expected to be perfect with her babies, no matter when they get here. In the end, the health of our family is all that really matters. As long as all three babies (her two girls and our boy) are healthy and thriving and don't need any medical intervention, I'll be happy. I've worried a lot about her and the girls. She's had a lot of problems, and has had to fight at times to keep them in and baking, as they should be. Thankfully, she has made it well past the date her doctor set as the "we-aren't-gonna-stop-it-if-you-go-into-labor-after-this-day" milestone. We all breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that. It's been pretty cool, being due so close together. We hit the same milestones at pretty much the same time. We've been able to compare belly size (for the first 6 months, until her two babies outgrew my one). We have belly pics of the two of us together. We were both obviously pregnant for my baby shower, which resulted in some really cool pics, as well as funny conversation.

Her son knows there are babies in Mommy's belly, even if he doesn't exactly understand what that means. She can ask him where his sisters are, and he does the cutest thing. He lifts her shirt to reveal her bare belly and pushes her belly button (or as she calls it, the eject button) with his finger. He'll do it to me when I ask him where my baby is. So cute! He's only 16 months old, and that smart already. He remembers where the babies are. Amazing.

My step-son broke his arm a few weeks ago, on May 23. He's fine, but most of his summer will be spent in a cast. He broke it the Saturday before school ended. Three days of school left, and my kid can't use his arm to write. Thankfully, his class had already finished all their assignments and grades were already calculated when it happened.

The last few weeks have been filled with tragedy in our community. Three deaths in less than 4 weeks.

A dear friend of ours passed away Saturday night, from pancreatic cancer. His visitation is tonight, with the funeral tomorrow. Please pray for his family, that God may guide them through this very difficult time. He had a son (18) and a daughter (around 11 or so). His nephew died just months ago, at the age of 16. The last several months have been especially hard on this family. We may or may not go to his services. The thought of a midday burial, in 90+ degree heat, while almost 38 weeks pregnant does not sound that great to me. It was bad in March when Michael's grandfather died. It sounds worse now. If we do go, we may just do the service and not the burial. If we get out of the doctor's office in time to go. My appointment is 9AM. The funeral starts at 11.

Another aquantance of ours dies late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, from a car accident. His wife was in the truck with him when they wrecked. She had to be flown to Huntsville Hospital. Their truck flipped, and both were thrown (not wearing their seatbelts). The cab of the truck landed on him, and he was pronounced at the scene of the accident. She is expected to recover. We just found out about them this afternoon. His funeral was to be at the graveside this afternoon. Due to the late notice (I stumbled on the news article on the local paper website while looking up the arrangements for the OTHER funeral) we did not attend.

My last day of work, a high school classmate of mine died in a car accident. His wife was injured, but has physically recovered. They just got married last July. At the time of the accident, they had a 6-week-old son, their first child. Truly a tragedy. Their life together had just began. Now she is a widow with an infant son who will never truly know his father. Also killed in the accident was a man who lived not far from us, a man we knew in passing. We weren't friends with any of the people involved, but my heart aches for them. Either Michael or myself knew all three people involved in the accident. This is the first member of my graduating class to be lost since we graduated in May 2001. Hopefully it is the last for a very long time.

As my time draws near to have our child, updates will probably be as sporadic as they have been the last month (meaning, one or two a month) until I get things back together. I just have absolutely no energy to do more than required of me right now. No burst of energy to nest. Nothing. I will be sure to post after delivery some time, and to post a birth story in the (hopefully near) future. More than that can not be promised.

Hopefully today's hour-long shopping experience in Wal-mart will help jump-start something. So far, nada. Hopefully, I will hear of news in the dilation/effacement area tomorrow morning. Hopefully, all the hospitilizations in my family's very near future will end very well.

For Momma: A Post on GF eating

2009-05-14T13:56:00.003-05:00

I saw this on my Google feed, and thought I'd link it for my mom and anyone else who sticks to a GF diet. A guest blogger named Carrie posted this over on Erin's blog, 5 Dollar Dinners. It has lots of good links to other GF blogs, as well as other GF info. Check it out!

As promised, my gifts from yesterday!

2009-05-14T09:48:00.012-05:00

My husband did good! He went to Tractor Supply (yes, I know, sounds really redneck, but they have the cutest stuff for gardens and yards). They had a welcome mat I had wanted, and he was going to get it for me. (It had a full-color picture of a brown horse standing in a barn door, and said "Welcome Friends" on it. Beautiful!) They sold it Monday. So he went in serch of other stuff I might like. (Basically anything in the store to decorate our yard and with horses on it.) He bought me a wall plaque and two garden stepping stones. Check 'em out!

My new awesome garden stepping stones

They are made of cast iron, so they'll last forever. And talk about heavy. They weigh over 5 pounds each!!! (He thinks they're something to hang up. I thought so, too, but I thought they were awful heavy to be hanging decorations. I found out what they really are when I went looking for a picture of them, since I didn't take any. I also hadn't seen these yet, or I surely would have had a fit over them before yesterday.)

And my new wall plaque. I love it!

Right now the plaque is hanging on my living room wall. I already had a nail there, left over from Christmas stockings. But the wall where it is hanging is so dark, you can barely tell this is hanging on it. I'm going to have to find somewhere else to put it, preferably outside somewhere.

I also have to find somewhere for my stepping stones, where they can be seen. Not sure where yet. If I put them in the front flower beds, they'll be covered up when my elephant ears get big. If I put them in the flower bed where the hose connestion is, they'll get buried in mud. If I put them around the pool, they'll get buried in the mud from splashing water out of the pool. (Wait, the kids wouldn't do that, would they? Surely not! That didn't happen ALL last summer, every time we got in the pool. And no one else got in there splashing, either! Especially with a couple of their girlfriends! 'Cause adults don't do that, and our kid and his brother and friends are too well behaved, and they've had better examples than that!)

I could put them in the flower bed by the horeshoe pits, but they'd be the only thing there besides drift wood. There's not a single plant on that side of the house, in all of that hugely long space.

I don't know. I'll worry about that later. Like maybe the next day I'm off work (Monday).

I also got beautiful gifts from Grandmother and Papa. They bought me a receiving blanket with a frog on it, two bib/burp rag sets (I Love Grandpa and I Love Grandma, of course!), a set of thermal pajamas, a boxed outfit set, and an outdoor clock. The clock is cool. I can't wait to hang it on the tree out beside the pool.

My sister brought my presents for my birthday and Mother's day to me Monday while I was off work. She bought me a pack of baby boy onesies, a set of children-sized clothes hangers, several sets of scrapbook stickers and embellishments for the baby's scrapbook, a "sisters" picture frame, and a beautiful candle with a saying on it about sisters. ("Sisters keep each other's secrets, bear each other's burdens, nudge each other's laughter, & hold on tightly to each other's love.")
My wonderfully awesome Mommy got me a breastfeeding book, but I don't know which one. She had to work last night, so she's bringing my present by later in the week. (That's OK, 'cause don't tell her, but when I went shopping Monday I forgot all about Mother's Day the day before, and I forgot to buy everyone's presents! Even though I did talk to them all on the phone and wish them Happy Mother's Day Sunday. So now I'll have to go this Monday to pick them up, and take them to everyone. If I don't forget again! Sssshhhh, it's a secret! But I guess that makes us kinda even. Maybe if she finds out I haven't bought her anything yet for Mother's Day, she won't feel bad about not being able to see me yesterday. She did call (of course), and it was good to talk to her before she had to go to work.)

My BFF brought me a birthday card. She's the only one working in her house right now, and so she's the only one able to buy groceries and pay the bills for her and her parents. She didn't have to even bring me the card, but I appreciate her thinking of me. :)

Cindy and Eric bought me a bouquet of flowers. They were beautiful! All different roses, carnations, and several other different flowers. Very colorful, and gorgeous!

Oh, and for the third year in a row, guess who won the birthday club dinner from her favorite Athens BBQ joint..... That's right, yours truly won the free dinner plate from Lawler's. Again! So, guess where I'm making my husband take me for dinner soon! (Maybe for lunch Monday?) Not that it'll be hard to get him to go. He loves Lawler's as much as I do.

It's my party......

2009-05-13T17:53:00.003-05:00

Happy birthday to me! My dear, sweet, loving husband bought me a present today, despite my telling him repeatedly that he didn't have to go get me anything. I'll report back tomorrow on what, exactly, it is. Poor thing, he got left to pick it out himself with no help from me. Not even a hint or suggestion. I just couldn't for the life of me think of anything I wanted.

His first words to me today were "Happy birthday". He remembered before I did that my birthday was today. I have lost my mind, ya'll. My husband had to remind me that I turn 26 today.....

My feelings as the weeks close in on us

2009-05-13T17:44:00.003-05:00

Aaaaannndddd, I just sent my bosses an email confirming when I will take my light duty and maternity leave. It feels weird to send that message. Makes the countdown seem that more.... I don't know.... Looming? Pressing? Those aren't quite the words I'm looking for, but they give just about the right connotation, except they aren't joyful enough at the same time as being inevitable. Imminent, maybe? I don't know.

I'm sure you all get where I'm going with this. I'm overjoyed, thrilled, eager, impatient that the time is drawing so near, yet I'm also anxious, doubtful, unsure, afraid. I'm sure anyone who has been in my shoes knows exactly how I feel. Overjoyed at the new life to love, thrilled to be given this blessing, eager to meet our child, impatient for him to be born. Anxious about my ability to care for him correctly, doubtful over my knowledge of children, unsure how to react, afraid we'll make the wrong choices. I mean, I can change a diaper, or feed him, bathe him. I'm not afraid I'll drop him or break him somehow. I've been around newborns before, and helped care for them. But this is different, this one is mine. We have to care for him at home with no help around the clock. I'm sure we'll manage just fine. It's just been so long since I've helped bathe a newborn, or......

I'm sure every new parent has these feelings. I'm sure we'll be just fine. We'll do what parents have done since the beginning of time. We'll figure it out. And if we run across something we can't figure out, we have family and friends who are parents, and we have the internet, if all else fails. After all, it's too late to turn back now. :) Even if we wanted to. (Of course, we wouldn't dream of it.)

These feelings are just new to me. I didn't have them last time. Of course, I didn't have to worry about bathing her that first week, or what to do if she starts crying and won't stop no matter what I do. So of course I didn't have them last time. I didn't have to worry about it. This time is a whole new ball game. Right now, I feel like I'm riding in the first car of the world's tallest, wildest roller coaster. We're paused at the top, a moment to catch our breath and collect our thoughts. Soon we'll be on our way down, and up, and around the track, travelling faster than we ever imagined!

Time to take a deep breath, hold hands, close our eyes, and just sit back and relax! I'm sure we're in for the most intense, most thrilling, most satisfying ride of our lives! I wouldn't trade it for anything, and it hasn't even really begun yet!

Wanna ride with us? Stick around! I'm sure all the ups and down will be posted right here!

Pregnancy Update - 33w 6 d

2009-05-13T16:55:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow I will be 6 weeks away from my due date! Sweet, huh? Why yes, yes, it is! That means it could be 3 weeks, or it could be 8 weeks until we have an outside baby (as opposed to our current inside baby)! :) Hopefully more toward the 4-6 week side than 8.... I love being pregnant, but I'm ready to meet him already! (I know, not until he's ready... But still....)

Anyway, I just realized I forgot to post an update after Monday's appointment with Roberta, so here it is:

Baby seems to be head-down (yay!), although no ultrasound to confirm (boo!).
He also is around 17 inches long, head to toe.
Roberta measured Mike's heartbeat at 140 bpm (good, strong heartbeat!).

My BH contractions (Sissy, see this post for a reminder in what those are! j/k....)seem to be OK for now. We did discuss them, she said no more than 4 an hour. Also, an increasing number per day, or seeming to progress (shorter intervals between, more intense, lasting longer, etc....) would be cause for concern. Basically, if they stop when I rest and drink water, then it's OK, which I already knew. (Just wanted Mom to know that I did ask just to be on the safe side. Plus, I figure she needs to know how much they hurt (oh my God, do they hurt!!!) and how often I have them, so she can guage the health of my pregnancy,possible time frame until we start worrying about internal checks and real contractions, blah, blah.....

She also thinks likes I do, baby is putting some pressure on my cervix/bladder, causing some of the intense, stabbing-like pains I feel during a BH contraction sometimes. Again, she said no big deal, see the above regarding BH contractions.....

Back on the 27th at, I think, 10:30 or so, for our next checkup. I think this will be our last two-week checkup. Should start in on the weekly checks after that. Except that my next appointment is on a Wednesday, and I have Mondays off. So I'll need to try to reschedule. If not, I guess I'll work Monday instead of Wednesday that week.

We bought Mike's "dresser" Monday, too. Yes, he has a dresser and an armoire in his room, but this is for our bedroom, for his stuff while he's sleeping with us.

Cheap, functional, small enough for our room but big enough for the main things we need, reusable later as storage for other stuff.... What more could we ask for? We also bought more baby stuff... Teething rings, newborn mittens to keep him from scratching himself, bottles, nipples, wipes....

We also bought a duffel bag to start packing for the hospital. So far it has my new fluffy houseshoes, Michael's new tennis shoes, his two new pairs of jeans, his two new t-shirts, his new pack of socks, and the few snack items (Dum Dum suckers, snack crackers, and spoons) we bought to have with us. Yes, I realise the bag is more for me than him. He has clothes already packed because we bought them Monday, and I went ahead and packed them so I wouldn't have to try to figure out where I put them later. Next Monday I plan on packing my stuff. We may have to buy another duffel bag. This one is only a 24" bag.... What can I say? We don't travel EVER, so we have no luggage.

I guess over the next two weeks, we'll also be installing the car seat base in my car. I can just see my husband, trying to figure out the LATCHes to install this thing without my help, while I sit in the hospital room, waiting for him to finish so we can be discharged to go home.... LOL. I think I'll handle, or at least oversee, this one. I tend to do better with written instructions than he does.

This is my last week working on shift. Beginning next Tuesday, I'll be working four 10-hour days, Tuesday through Friday. This will go on hopefully until the last Friday of this month, at which point I will take my leave. The position I'll be filling on light duty will be a desk job, where I'll be able to get up and walk around if I need to, but I won't have to be on my feet as much as I am some days right now.

I found a new blog today.....

2009-05-13T13:02:00.003-05:00

Noah's Road is a blog written by the parents of 6-month old Noah, who was shaken by his daycare provider on April 20, 2009. He spent almost three weeks in PICU. He is home now, doing somewhat better. Due to waiting to go to trial, his parents can't give many details, even of how Noah is doing physically. Their journey has been difficult, and surely won't become easy any time soon. Their son is going through physical and occupational therapy, and seeing neurologists, opthomologists, and who knows what other kind of medical specialist.

Please go by their blog and read their story, and pray for them tonight. If you have children, remember to hug them tight, and kiss them goodnight, and tell them you love them. Remember to thank God that they are healthy. There are so many out there who were born sick or grew sick, so many who may not make it home. So many who may not see their first birthday. Thank God my children are healthy, so far. I can't imagine what these parents must be going through.

I don't know if it's all the hormones in my body getting ramped up to prepare for labor or what, but I'm sitting at work crying over this little boy's story. If anyone walks in the room, they'll all think I'm nuts. I don't understand who would be capable of doing something like this to a five month old child, or why they would do this. This was a childcare worker who should know better. I guess it's not up to me to understand, though. It is for God to understand.

Please pray for this family. When they dropped their son off at daycare, he was happy, healthy.... "Normal". I can't imagine what terror they must have felt when they got the phone call that changed their lives forever. What anger I think I would surely feel for the woman who did this. The heartbreak they feel every night, as they sit up watching their child sleep. I can't imagine......

Food Review - Great Value brand pizza

2009-05-12T11:04:00.004-05:00

I used to love Great Value brand pizzas from Walmart. Similar in taste to national, name-brand frozen rising-crust pizzas, but more economical. They were a good value for the money. We bought them all the time.

It's been a while since we bought one. Yesterday, during my "I-don't-care-what-we-buy-I-didn't-make-a-list-I'm-too-tired-and-spaced-out-to-care-let's-just-buy-a-bunch-of-stuff-and-figure-out-a-menu-later" grocery shopping experience, we grabbed two Great Value frozen pizzas, a pepperoni and a three-meat. Both were "rising Foccacia crust" pizzas. I noticed the box has been changed, but hoped the quality and taste were still there.

It wasn't. Quality, maybe. Taste, definitely not. The three-meat pizza had sausage on it that was so spicy, I scraped it off my pizza. The pepperoni was OK, I suppose. I did not like the crust on either pizza, nor the sauce. I like a saucy pizza. My mom would have loved the amount of sauce on these. (It was barely there. My mom doesn't like pizza dripping with sauce, which to me is the best way to eat pizza.)

General consensus around my house was the same as my thoughts. None of the five of us liked either pizza. And we love pizza around my house! (Well, except for my husband. He likes a really good pizza, but he isn't a pizza LOVER like the rest of us. The rest of us could eat pizza every day for the rest of our lives and be happy.)

I will not buy these again. I only bought them for the sake of saving a buck or two on each pizza. I will definitely buy DiGiorno or Freschetta next time, and spend the extra money gladly.

I will add, these are the only two we have tried since they (apparently) changes their pizza recipe. I can't speak for the pizzas with other toppings or crusts.

Anyone else tried them? Did you like them or hate them?

Menu Plan Monday - one day late

2009-05-12T10:33:00.004-05:00

Menu Plan Monday is hosted at I'm An Organizing Junkie. Head on over to check out other menus from fabulous bloggers.

Yesterday we went grocery shopping. I did not make a menu or grocery list for the week. We winged it when we got to the store. Good thing, I guess. Halfway through the store, I was out of breath, but determined to finish. So we took a break, slowed our pace, and finished the job. After checking out, I sat in the car while Michael unloaded our buggies.

Keep in mind, we didn't just go shopping at Piggly Wiggly. No, sir. Walmart. See, there were still things we needed for the baby, little things like rubbing alcohol and cotton balls and such. We also needed chlorine for the pool, a bag to pack for the hospital, and a cart for baby's clothes the first few weeks or longer (while he's rooming in with us). I should have known I couldn't do a full-on Walmart trip anymore. Thankfully, soon I will be on leave, and the couple of trips I am likely to take to town before I actually have to go to the hospital, I can spread out over a couple of days each week if I need to.

OK, now down to the actual business of the post: our pitiful menu for the week.

Monday, May 11, 2009
Frozen Pizza

Tuesday,May 12, 2009
Sub sandwiches
Chips

Wednesday,May 13, 2009
Spaghetti (not sure if we have meat for this or not - may be meatless spaghetti sauce, but I don't care at this point)
Garlic bread

Thursday, May 14, 2009
Chili dogs
Fries

Friday, May 15, 2009
Frozen Lasagna (yes, late pregnancy has me resigned to frozen over homemade, but again, I don't care)
Garlic bread

Saturday, May 16, 2009
Sloppy Joes
Ruffles

Sunday, May 17, 2009
I don't know yet, whatever we can find to throw together (again, I don't really care at this point.)

I just remembered, we did buy a large box of corn dogs. If we have enough left, maybe we can have them for dinner Sunday. Or the guys can eat some red beans and rice or something we have in the cabinet. If I don't like what they fix (ala, red BEANS and rice), then I can eat a sub sandwich again, or leftover sloppy joes or something.

Sorry some of my menu items leave much to desire this week. I'm exhausted, mentally not physically, and having a hard time holding my thoughts together to form coherent sentences when I speak. I can not mentally handle all that goes into making a real menu and grocery list right now. Give me a break, I'm almost 34 weeks pregnant. Guess my mind knows I have better things to deal with.

Maybe I'll make the guys come up with a menu, one full of all-time faves that I can shop for and cook from memory. Then I can do like I did two weeks ago, with the list and cooking instructions and all. On the other hand, sandwiches and hot dogs will save a lot on the brain power and electricity and prep time involved in menu planning. Maybe I'll just leave it as-is the next few weeks. It was easy to shop this week. Actual groceries consisted of:

3 pounds of sliced cheese
6 pounds of various lunch meat (turkey, chicken, ham)
two loaves of bread
a big pack of hot dogs
a 12-pack of hot dog buns
a 12-pack of hamburger buns
3 packs of sub rolls
I forget how many cans of chili sauce, I just grabbed somewhere around 8 and threw them in the buggy
a jumbo can of Manwich sauce
two frozen pizzas
a 3-pound frozen lasagna
Chips
I also bought water, Mountain Dew, milk, eggs, sausage, food for work, and such (basically staples in my house)

I know for sure I have spaghetti sauce and noodles at home, and I think at least a few loaves of French bread (or some other bread) and a couple of pounds of ground beef frozen. If not, oh well. I don't care. We'll have spaghetti with garlic hamburger buns or something, or no bread at all if we don't have any acceptable substitute in the freezer. If we don't have any ground beef, we'll have meatless spaghetti and nix the sloppy joes for something we do have. Everyone should just be glad we actually have any food at all.

Frugal Friday

2009-05-08T12:01:00.005-05:00

Frugal Friday is hosted over on Life As Mom. Check it out for great frugal ideas!

My frugal tip today is for laundry detergent. Being pregnant, I prefer to buy those big jumbo bottles of laundry detergent and fabric softener. You know the ones:

I keep mine on the shelf above my washer for easy access, and because if it drips, it goes right into or on the washer for easy clean-up. I don't have to pick a heavy bottle up over and over, straining muscles best left unstrained at the moment. Besides, it has always hurt my wrists to pick up a big bottle of detergent. They're too heavy for my carpal tunnel to manage.

To cut down on our costs, and because it's more environmentally friendly, I reuse our big jumbo-size bottles. When we get low on detergent or softener, I buy a regular or medium sized bottle at the grocery store. The bottle is normally big enough to fill our jumbo bottle up halfway. I then fill our bottle the rest of the way with some water.

It's a thrifty way to fool the guys. They don't know my secret. My reason behind this is, no matter what size load they wash, they use the same amount of detergent and fabric softener. Also, I have a Downy ball and Tide Kick we use in the wash for dispensing detergent and softener. The guys will fill each dispenser all the way up, no matter how soiled or large the load of laundry is. This keeps them from using too much.

Only I know the secret of the detergent. My husband caught me during the watter-adding step of refilling our bottles this way once. He thinks it was because we were almost out of detergent, and I was tyring to make it stretch until grocery day! In reality, I do this every time we open a new bottle! I have trained the guys to not throw away my big bottles when they empty. Doing this has seriously decreased our consumption of laundry products.

I used to wonder why we ran out of detergent so fast. I started keeping track of the number of loads we were getting out of one bottle of detergent and fabric softener, and secretly watched them do a few loads of laundry. That's when I figured out what was happening. We weren't washing that many loads of laundry, they were using almost waaaaayyyyy too much detergent each load! We now get the "recommended" amount of loads out of a bottle before I have to buy another one. So far, so good. I just make sure the guys are all gone or outside when I refill our big dispenser bottles. If they catch on, my great idea might not work anymore! Also, I try to do this after all my laundry is done, so the soap bubbles inside the bottle have time to settle down before I need to use the detergent. Just a personal preference of mine, I guess. I've never noticed any difference if I use the watered-down version right away or the next day.

Another thing to note, I don't know if they've ever noticed the difference in the thickness of the detergent or not, but I started this about the time Tide swapped around their formula and started charging almost twice the old price for the same amount of loads. I think that if they noticed, they may be under the impression that the "formula swap" in Tide may have something to do with the detergent looking a little thinner than it used to. It isn't much of a difference, just a little thinner looking after everything gets mixed together thoroughly in the bottle. I end up with about a 70/30 mix of detergent and water, so there's more cleaner than water in there, which helps keep it slightly on the thicker side.

Yes, I know, I'm crazy. Nutty as a fruitcake, right here baby. But it works on my guys. That's all that matters. :) Some days, you have to be on your toes around here to keep ahead of the guys.

And also......

2009-05-07T12:02:00.003-05:00

I feel sooooo much better today, thanks. I woke up still sleepy, due to the 5 or 6 bathroom trips I made last night, not to mention the 10+ times I turned from one side to the other trying to get comfortable. But MUCH less general fatigue. I think taking yesterday off did the trick.

Yesterday, we slept until the tornado sirens woke me up. At that point, once I figured out that the sirens were really sounding, I figured I better turn the TV on to check it out. I had been woken up just a little before by thunder. (In response to the [literally] house-shaking thunder waking me up, I promptly turned over and went right back to sleep. Priorities, you know???) Turning the tv on woke Michael up. Of course. So we got up and watched thelocal forcasters broadcast all warnings around us.

Then we got dresses and went for breakfast. We stopped by Ann and Randy's to visit for a few minutes. Went home. I fetched the paper and mail, and curled up on the couch with a blanket and the pint of Butter Pecan we bought at S&Z. Michael swept and mopped the living room while I lay on the couch watching. (Hey, he forbid me to do work in the house yesterday.) On a trip to the bathroom, I noticed the toilet could REALLY use cleaning. And the floor needed to be swept.

So, I shook out the bath rug and folded it up to lay on the sink. Then I realized that I was "dusted in" the room. I had shook out the rug all over my socks, and in between me and the door. Smart, huh? So I got the broom, and swept up just enough of the dust from the rug to give me a path from the toilet to the door. I moved the trash can, toilet scrubber holder, and book basket.I swept behind the toilet and sink. Scrubbed the toilet, and wiped it down. Threw the scrubber away (thank God for disposable toilet scrubbing pads), and told my dear loving husband that he could finish sweeping the other half of the bathroom. I did end up eventually putting back the toilet scrubber and book basket. He put back the trash can and bath rug.

After that, I didn't do anything the rest of the day. I refused. I stayed on the couch 90% of the rest of the day. If not for the trips to the bathroom, to get something to drink, now I'm hungry, etc., I would have stayed on the couch 100% of the rest of the day.

Anyway, all that to say, I did almost absolutely nothing yesterday but lay around, and today I feel 100% better. Well, maybe not 100%, but more like I felt five or six weeks ago. Like I can manage working until Sunday evening. Since my next day off is Monday. Which will be spent paying bills, buying groceries, and going to the doctor. Yay. (Actually, yay to the doctor's appointment, boo to everything else.)

As promised: An update on weight gain

2009-05-07T11:48:00.004-05:00

My mother is concerned about my health, and is worried I may be eating too much too often. Normally this would cause a "WTF?" reaction in me, but this time it doesn't. My mother is concerned about this for good reason. She has a genetic auto-immune disease, Celiac disease. It is hereditary. She also has been diagnosed with a gluten sensitivity or allergy. (Sorry, pregnancy brain is keeping me from remembering, and I'm too lazy to go through my archived emails on the subject right now to figure out which.)

Since she has both, all three of us kids (myself, my seester, and my brother) each have a 100% chance of having at least one of these conditions/diseases, if not of having both. Celiac can cause devastating effects in pregnancy, in severe cases. We have wondered if I have Celiac, since I exhibit several of the symptoms. My mother is worried that my gigantic appetite is connected to Celiac. (Don't worry, none of this offends me, since I, too, am shocked some days by the sheer amount of food I have to consume to keep my stomach from screaming at me every few hours!)

Anyway, the purpose of my post: my total weight gain for this pregnancy. Yesterday morning, after my trip to the bathrrom and before getting dressed, I weighed myself. I weighed in at: 166.2, for a total weight gain of 21.2 pounds. Pretty good, I think. I still have 13.8 pounds, give or take, that I can gain and be in the "normal healthy weight gain" range. Last time, I gained something more like 40 pounds. Of course, last time I was alotted that extra gain by my doctor for health concerns. So far Roberta says I'm right in range for weight gain, and have been so far the whole pregnancy.

This morning, I weighed 166.6 pounds, but I didn't have a BM yesterday, so I'm discounting that extra 0.4 pounds. :) Even so, that would only put me at 21.6 pounds. Well within the so-called "norm".

And also, the guys at work are now making jokes on how many times a day I eat. They're all good-natured, as they all are married and have kids, so they know what's up with my 5 meals a day. :) Most of them have said their wives ate like this in the last weeks of pregnancy. The women I've talked to at work all say they did, too. I think my Mom was maybe just "abnormal" in her eating and appetite. :) [Just kidding! Love you Mommy!!! XOXOXO]

Cleaning a window-type air conditioner - posted for Susan

2009-05-05T16:37:00.003-05:00

Susan posted her Tackle It Tuesday chore over at 5 Minutes for Mom. She cleaned up her portable air conditioner. I thought I would post more detailed instructions on how she can do this and get every bit of gunk out of it (or as close to it as possible without tearing the whole thing apart). I have, after all, cleaned one or two (or thirty) of these before. So, in honor of Susan's post, here's my method for cleaning window-type air conditioners. (I apologise in advance, but I have no pictures for you. Two years ago we bought our house, and we're fortunate enough to have a central heating and cooling unit, so I no longer have the joy of dealing with this chore two to three times a year. Anyone who does this and posts pictures can feel free to post their link in my comments below for everyone else.)

It's that time of year again. My Southern brothers and sisters most likely know what I'm talking about. For those who have window air conditioning units, it's time to take them down and clean them really good. When you live in an area that regularly gets high temperatures near or over 100&degF for weeks on end in the summer, this can be your most important spring-cleaning related job. Sometimes, it has to be repeated again in mid-summer at least once. A clean unit just cools better than a dirty one.

Don't be afraid. It won't hurt you to do this. All you need are:

someone to lift the unit and carry it outside to the driveway/patio/wherever
degreasing cleaner
a scrub brush
a hose with sprayer
a screwdriver (to fit the screws holding the outer cover on)
a nice, cool morning (preferably) so you don't sweat yourself half to death while you wait on your house to cool back down

Here's what to do to get started.

Unplug the unit. Take it out of the window/wall sleeve/etc and carry it outside. Place it in the driveway, on the patio, on your porch.... Anywhere that has a hard, relatively flat surface that will produce the least amount of mud while you're doing this. It does no good to clean your air conditioner, then get mud all in it. Take off the cover if there is one (should be held on with screws). Soak the coils down with your water hose, then with a degreasing-type cleaner (just the el-cheapo dollar store or store brand version; or even better - a natural degreaser). Matter of fact, spray everything you can (not electrical controls, etc.) with the cleaner. Spray the air vents, the front grill (where the filter goes), everywhere. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes or so. You may need two or more bottles of cleaner. You want to soak this baby down really well. Don't be shy.

Scrub the radiator with a brush (one with metal bristles will work best, but any scrub brush will do), being careful to not bend or crush the "radiator fin" part of the coils. Scrub the other parts of the unit with a nylon-bristle scrub brush (a dish-washing brush or fingernail brush will work great here). Hose out the unit very well, especially the coils. Rinse until the water runs clean and all of the cleaner is washed away.

Let all the water drain out of the unit, and let the unit dry thoroughly before putting the cover and any other pieces (vent pieces, etc.) you may have removed back on. After dry and the cover is back on, put the unit back where it belongs. Making sure the unit is COMPLETELY dry, plug it up and give it a try for just a minute. Bet it works better!

Dish detergent and a fingernail scrub brush are excellent for cleaning the front filter on a regular basis, also. It will remove all the greasy, gunky buildup and dust better than anything I've found.
Just do it in the morning, before it gets hot (or warm). Turn your unit off, remove and wash the filter. Don't scrub hard enough to break the filter, it doesn't take much pressure to get it clean this way. The sprayer attachment on your kitchen sink will work well for rinsing the detergent from the filter. (While you're at it, why not clean your dryer's lint filter this way, too? You've already got the necessary detergent and scrub brush out. You can let the two filters dry together.) Let your filter (air conditioner or dryer) get completely dry before putting it back in your machine.

I am lucky enough to have central air now, but it hasn't been but a couple of years since I lived in a place that had a window air conditioning unit in one window of every room. (It really does get that hot here in the summer!) I always liked to hang my filters outside in the shade to dry (we had a covered porch I could hang them from). The heat outside, plus the breeze blowing, dried my filters really fast. I never tried it in the sun, so I don't know if this would hurt them or not.

The main things to remember are:
1. Natural cleaners are best for this, as you'll be doing this outside, and you need to be mindful of what chemicals you put on/in the ground. What you use may run off into your town's drinking supply. Some products will be more preferred for this than others. If you must use a non-natural commercial cleaner, try Dawn dish detergent, diluted in water and poured in a spray bottle.
2. Let everything dry thoroughly before putting the unit back together, plugging it up, etc.
3. This is best done now, before the need for air conditioning becomes greater. I speak from experience when I say, you don't want to wait until the middle of a 95+ degree afternoon to HAVE to do this because your air conditioner quit cooling your house.
4. Clean your removable filters at least once a month, preferably every week or two. It will help your unit work better, and last longer. Try to clean them in the mornings, when the need for air conditioning isn't as great as late afternoon.

Update on yesterday

2009-05-05T12:28:00.003-05:00

So, yesterday was not a day of rest. We dropped the car off for an oil change and went to St aple's for another filing box so I could work on my kitchen table. Then we went to Lowe's to buy Michael a new skilsaw and saws-all, and me a rug pad for our living room rug (it slides across the hardwood - not too safe).

Then it was off to Jody's Optical to see my seester. She had bought me a present, and she wanted me to come pick it up while we were in town. Guess what she got me.... The book Love You Forever!!! I've been looking for it every time we go to Wal-mart, and haven't been able to find it. Well, she found it and bought it! SQUEEEEE!!!

Then we walked down to Piggly Wiggly for a few items that we had run out of. I just went grocery shopping last Monday, but I've been eating 5 times a day, sometimes 6!!!

Then it was time to go for my checkup at Roberta's. We got there and signed in. I noticed the waiting room was empty except for us, but I thought maybe it was just because Dr. Carlota was out of the office. The receptionist noticed we were there, and told us that Rpberta was out delivering a baby. We could either wait, come back at 2:30 (it was 11:30 right then), or reschedule for next Monday. So we rescheduled. Next Monday it is.

After rescheduling our appointment, we went to see if the car was ready. It was in the garage on the rack when we pulled up, so we waited. After getting our keys from the mechanic, Michael called and ordered us bacon cheeseburgers from S&Z. I followed him until he pulled off there. I went home, got in the mail, and waited on my burger. After eating, he cut grass and cleaned up the yard while I worked on the table.

I got the table half cleaned off before dinner time. I threw away half of the stuff I cleaned off the table. If it wasn't ours, it got thrown away. (We still get junk mail for people who lived there before us, and for Mamaw. It sometimes gets lost on the table.) If it was an old newspaper, it got thrown away, read or not. Junk mail, garbage or shredder. Bills that have been paid, filed. Coupons, stored in coupon organizer or thrown away. All Michael's screwdrivers and stuff he's piled up there, taken back out to the shed with his other tools. Unread magazines, dumped in a shoebox-sized plastic tote for reading or giving away. (Maybe I can use some of them for reading material during my maternity leave and hospital stay?? All I know is, there's no way I'm throwing away Better Homes and Gardens, American Baby, and Michael's Field and Stream magazines without looking through them first.)

I also created temp files in one of my file boxes for crafting ideas, recipes to add to my MasterCook software, paint samples for painting our bedroom (one day, I hope), and stuff like that.

I also cooked dinner last night! Lemon Pepper Chicken, mashed potatoes, shells and cheese, salad, and Texas toast. (Easy cooking with Lawry's Lemon Pepper marinade. I don't marinade - just pour it over th etop of the chicken pieces, add a little water to the bottom of the baking dish, and bake until the chicken is cooked through.)

After eating dinner, I got Aaron to put up the leftovers, I neatly stacked my file boxes and stuff back on the far edge of the kitchen table, out of the way. (Mainly so we could walk through the kitchen around the table this morning!) After stacking everything up there, over half the table was clear! Yay me!

Then I went to bed. I was exhausted. I woke up this morning still tired. I started to cancel my overtime today, but the thought of missing out on duoble overtime made me come to work anyway. I'm going to tell my boss today that I'm canceling tomorrow. It's only regular time-and-a-half overtime, so quite a difference in the amount of money lost by canceling tomorrow instead of today. I may have them cancel one overtime day each week from now on, giving me two days off and five days on. Or I may have them swap me to 40 hour weeks until I take my leave. It depends on how I feel after I work the rest of this week (except tomorrow).

New Item: SaraBear Diaper Caddy

2009-05-03T08:21:00.006-05:00

Meet the SaraBear diaper caddy. Totally cool, awesomely stylish, completely practical. Bigger than the caddy I already have. They come in several colors, so finding one that fits with the style of my house shouldn't be too much of a problem. If it is, I can always make one, right? I'm thinking, a little fabric, a basket, and some iron-on hemming tape should do the trick.

But why, you ask, is this such an awesome thing for me to want several, or at least a few? Because, dear readers and friends, my baby's room is upstairs, and our room is downstairs. I know it's not practical. But that's the way my house is built. And it's not practical or feasible to move our room to the upstairs right now. Not enough time, too much stuff, you get the picture. Plus, my doctor won't want me to go up and down the stairs for the first couple of weeks or so anyway.

We already have one (not a SaraBear, and not this color), and I've already started putting stuff in it. (Mainly because we needed the extra space that big box of diapers took up. You know, so we could go buy more diapers.) I'm thinking, one for the living room and one for the bedroom. That way, I won't be sending my dear, sweet husband upstairs five times a day for diapers and wipes and diaper cream and...... Seems smarter to me. I could buy or make one (preferably buy, of course. We all know how this is likely to end if I try to make one now....) to match our living room. This one would kinda match, but not really.

The one we have already matches both the bay's room and our bedroom. By having two caddies, hopefully it will eliminate having to bring one caddy from bedroom to living room, then it's time to go to bed, and in the middle of the night you realize you left the darn thing in the living room. Kinda fits in with my motto: Work smarter, not harder.

Note to self: also need to buy two or three plastic rolling cart-with-drawer thingies for storing baby stuff in the bedroom the first few weeks. Since there's no need in even trying to clear out a dresser drawer. It won't ever happen, unless it gets done during my leave while I'm nesting. Also need one or two more under-bed storage boxes for our bedroom. Or some space bags. Either way, they're just going to be storing old sheets and stuff I really don't need right now, since they don't fit my bed. And don't forget to look for some kinda diaper caddy to match the living room, SaraBear brand or not.

My crazy pregnancy/labor dream

2009-05-02T15:48:00.007-05:00

Ok, so I know pregnant women are supposed to have really weird, extremely out there dreams at least a few times while they're pregnant. I haven't had but one or two so far. The one I had last night takes the cake, boys and girls. Fair warning, it's a doozy. Some might even think it's kinda graphic, sick, or just plain TMI. What I'm describing below does have a certain EWWWWW factor about it. If you read what I've written below, don't complain about it later when you can't get the images out of your mind. You've been warned.

The dream went like this:
It was time to be expecting the baby any day now. The bag was packed, carseat installed. Ready to go. And then I went into labor. My water broke. For some unknown reason, I decided to deliver the baby at home, myself, with no doctors or medication or anything. I could feel my contractions mounting, but they didn't hurt. I mean, I could feel the squeezing and pressure from the contractions, but they didn't hurt.

So I was sitting on the couch in our living room, except it was our couch, but not our living room. I had a clock, and we were timing my contractions. The whole family was at our house. I mean whole family as in both my and Michael's sides, plus our friends.... People everywhere, except no one was in the living room except me and Michael.

The time finally comes for me to push. So I sit back on the couch, and the baby's head pops through my.......... Stomach. Seriously, like in Alien. He crowns through my uterine wall, through my abdominal muscles, through my skin, and his head pops out of my stomach, just above and to the right of my belly button. He was face up and looking straight into my eyes, drawing his first deep breaths with no help. He didn't cry, only smiled instead. And it didn't hurt at all! Then, I reached down, grabbed his head, and pulled his body out of my stomach through the hole his head made. There was no blood, no gore, nothing. Just a clean baby and a hole in my stomach the size of a key lime.

Don't ask me how my child's head and body squeezed through a hole in my stomach the size of a key lime. I mean, I know they squeeze out of small, ummm, holes to begin with when you deliver them. I just remember, in my dream it seemed so odd that an entire baby could stretch that little bitty hole in my stomach enough to get out without ripping me wide open.

After I pulled him out, we clamped and cut the cord. Still no pain. Michael held him. Then my placenta began detaching. That's when the pain hit. More a stinging sensation that a stabbing one. Like I could feel my placenta peeling itself away from the wall of my uterus. After it detached, I pulled it out through the hole in my stomach and threw it in the garbage. Then I went to the bathroom, bandaged the hole in my stomach, and changed clothes. The hole left a little jagged scar on my stomach after it healed.

I told you, weird. Funny thing is, today I woke up with my stomach hurting in the exact spot that busted open in my dream. I think he was either headbutting or kicking me in that spot while I slept. It is sore today. Almost like it's bruised on the inside.

Crock Pot Tortilla Soup/Taco Soup (Recipe Two-fer!)

2009-05-02T08:41:00.005-05:00

I know this isn't on my menu for this time, but this is SO GOOD!!! Of course, you could cook it on the stove all day, too. For stove top preparation, bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a low simmer and let it sit and cook all day.

Crockpot Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

2 or 3 frozen chicken breasts (Split halves, boneless skinless, whatever you have. You can also use thawed chicken breasts if you have them. Point is, you can throw them in frozen if you forgot to thaw them!)

2 cans chicken broth or other broth (chicken will be better in this, but use whatever you have)

1 can Mexican style stewed tomatoes (could also use Rotel, Italian style, or plain stewed tomatoes)

1 can blackbeans, rinsed

Frozen or canned corn (Use as much as you like, doesn't matter. Just pour some in. Any kind, Mexican style, whole kernel, etc. As long as it's whole kernel some-kinda-corn, it'll be OK.)

1 small can (8oz) tomato paste

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder (or 1 to 2 cloves fresh garlic, finely diced)

You can also add whatever else would sound good to you. Diced carrots, onions, celery, green chilis; hominy, Tabasco, bouillon cubes..... (I like a little lime juice, just a few drops, to give it more flavor.)

Directions:
1. Dump everything into your crockpot or stew pot. Stir it a few times, just to mix it all up.

2. For crockpot, cook on low all day, or on high for 4-6 hours. Of course, no need to stir the pot while it's cooking!

3. For stove top prep, bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and cook on low at least 6 hours, up to all day. Stir this a few times when cooking on the stove top to prevent sticking or scorching, etc.

4. Before serving, pull out chicken breasts and shred. Return chicken to pot.

Top this with guacamole, salsa, avocado, sour cream, tortilla chips, Fritos, shredded cheese, or anything you like. (I like some sour cream, shredded cheese, and salsa. I like some tortilla chips on the side for dipping into this.)

To turn this into taco soup, use 1 pound browned ground beef instead of the chicken. Leave out the garlic. Cook as directed above.

Either of these variations can be made in a double batch and then what's left after dinner can be frozen to eat later. Which I suppose makes this a double two-fer recipe, doesn't it? :)

The irony of my life......

2009-05-01T09:15:00.003-05:00

I go to a blog I read to see her update, and I see this:

Oh, the irony.

If anyone is interested, the link from this ad is:
Celiac Central

I tried it. It basically asks if you have any of the more common symptoms, or have deen diagnosed with certain conditions, and if you have an immediate family member diagnosed with a condition like Celiac. It then provides a printable copy of the form, with suggestions for talking to your doctor. It offers no opinion on if you are likely to have a disease like Celiac, saying only that "multiple symptoms" may indicate a need for testing.

My first blog award

2009-05-01T08:39:00.007-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I was given my first ever blog award. Buckin gave it to me. Her blog is Rubber Baby Buckin Bumpers. Now I must pass the Zombie Chicken Award on to other, more worthy, bloggers.

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…"

And now for the passing of the torch.... I ~~like~~ love the blogs Buckin handed this award off to, but in the interest of passing on new blogs, I will pick:

The Heir to Blair (yes, I know... GTFO! I'll probably get an eviction notice from her for this, but I'm still gifting her this award... It's all Buckin's fault!)

Obviously You're an Idiot - a quite truthful look at all the stupidity around us every day.

$5 Dinners (menu plans and recipes, most of which are cheap to make, but still delicious!)

I'm an Organizing Junkie (the home of Menu plan Monday)

A Year of Crockpotting (she doesn't post here as much as she used to, but this lady used her crockpot EVERY DAY for a YEAR! There are tons of crockpot recipes here!)

Honorable mention goes to my mom and sister. They both work a lot, so don't update much, but I'd fight off zombie chickens to read their stuff, too!

Now, Sissy or Mom, email me and tell me how to add my award to my side bar!!! I'd try to figure it out, but my brain refuses to cooperate today! It's so bad, spell-check is my BFF today, along with other remedies..... (Mountain Dew, Cheez-its, blogging....) I have literally edited this thing like, 5 times since I originally posted it. I keep finding things wrong with it.... :/

Dear Sissy,

2009-05-01T07:56:00.004-05:00

I will not delete the recipe posts. I promise. They will be here until Blogger do us part. I am tagging all of them, so they'll be easier to find later on. I know you can only cook Chef Boyardee, Hot Pockets, frozen pizza, HH, oven toast, and mac and cheese. I feel bad for whatever guy you ever marry. I can see what your weekly menu would look like. Maybe I can fix that before that time comes. I sure hope so. Either that, or you need to marry a chef! Just remember when cooking for Mom, these are not GF, so appropriate substitutions need to be taken.

If I do not forget, I will try to come to Jody's Monday. I have a checkup and an appointment to get my car serviced, and I need some more breakfast stuff for work, since I didn't buy enough the other day, and I just realized today that I'll be out halfway through next week. :)

You know, I just realized something. You may actually be onto something with your cooking abilities. It would be mucho easier to walk into the grocery store with this list:

12 cans Chef Boyardee
4 boxes Easy Mac
4 pounds hamburger meat
4 boxes Hamburger Helper
1 box instant potatoes
10 frozen pizzas
10 boxes Hot pockets
2 loaves bread
5 boxes cereal
2 gallons milk

Five nights a week you could cook:
Monday - Chef Boyardee
Tuesday - Pizza
Wednesday - Hamburger Helper, Easy Mac, and instant mashed potatoes
Thursday - Hot Pockets
Friday - Cereal and oven toast

That would give you 20 meals, plus extra Easy Mac and cereal. That would feed two people lunch on the weekends. You could stop at drive-throughs for breakfast every day at 1:00. (You know, since Sonic serves breakfast all day, and they have new CroisSonic sandwiches! Did you see them? They look sooooo good! And their breakfast burritos.... MMMMM!) The other two nights you could go to Sonic or Subway or Arby's. Every once in a while, skip the Hamburger Helper in favor of KFC, Captain D's, Krystal's, Little Cesar's, Bojangles, Wendy's, Hardee's, Zaxby's or Papa Johns. You know, for variety.

You may be on to a good idea here. I'm gonna have to try this menu myself for a week. Of course, I'd have to triple the shopping list, throw in 10 extra boxes of Hot Pockets, 2 gallons of milk, 4 dozen eggs, two boxes of sausage patties, a case of canned biscuits, coffee, sugar, and some MD and breakfast stuff for me, just to feed us that one week. Still cheaper than my normal list though!

I love you seester, and I hope this gave you a laugh or two! You know I'm playing. (But seriously, that menu and grocery list I made for you doesn't sound half bad right now!)

Love,
Big Seester (and getting bigger by the day, it seems!)

Sausage Bread [AKA Sausage Balls (not the kind you think it is)]

2009-04-30T17:02:00.003-05:00

Another absolute favorite. This does not make those little round things concocted out of sausage and bread and such and served as finger foods at parties. No sir. This makes little pieces of toast, topped with sausage and melted cheese. Pure heaven any time of day. Delicious later in the day after they've become room temperature. Just as good tomorrow after reheating.

I grew up eating this for breakfast at my Granny's. She always served it, and we always ate it, with a big bowl of Argo brand canned peaches. We dunk our sausage balls in the peach juice before we eat them. My brother-in-law loves these, but he thinks I'm crazy for eating them with peaches. I think he's crazy for not trying it with peaches. Sadly, it is very difficult to find Argo peaches today. I know of one or two grocery stores in my town that carry them, when you can find them. Other brands of canned peach slices just don't taste right with this. They're OK, just not right.

Sausage Bread (AKA Sausage Balls)

Ingredients
1 lb breakfast sausage
1/2 to 1 loaf Velveeta cheese
1/2 loaf sliced white bread

Directions
1. Crumble sausage into skillet and brown over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain excess grease from the pan. (Grease interferes with the melting of the Velveeta.)

2. While sausage is cooking, cut cheese into small pieces, to aid in melting.

3. Add cheese to browned sausage in skillet and heat until cheese is melted, stirring to mix.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F.

5. Cut bread slices into quarters. Pile sausage and cheese onto each piece.

6. Place bread on rimmed baking sheets. Bake 3 to 7 minutes, until bread is toasted.

7. Serve with a can of peaches in light syrup on the side. Of course, the syrup is for dipping, and the peaches are for eating with the sausage balls.

The only hints I can think of for this recipe are to make sure you don't burn the sausage or cheese, and don't toast the bread too much. I've never, ever made these and frozen them. They do, however, make excellent leftovers.

Hobo Dinner

2009-04-30T16:35:00.004-05:00

A family favorite from my childhood. Much cherished by my family. Another of those meals that my guys just PURPLE PUFFY HEART LOVE. Well, maybe not purple puffy heart, since they are guys. But ya know where I'm going with this.

Have Celiac or follow a gluten-free diet for some other reason? Go to Gluten-Free Southern Cooking to see how my mom converted this recipe to GF. She has Celiac, and this was one of the first recipes she converted to GF so she could still eat it. That's how loved this recipe is.

I have no idea how well this freezes, since I've never tried. Also, as always, with my crew, I have to make a double recipe just for dinner. A double recipe of this usually leaves us with one or two servings for someone for lunch the next day, if we're lucky. However, feeding my guys (sometimes up to 4 of them, plus me) usually equals cooking for 12 people or more. And then some nights we're lucky if there's leftovers for someone to eat for lunch the next day.

I do know that this recipe makes excellent next-day leftovers. We never throw these leftovers out. They don't stay around long enough. Also, I've tried this using Lil' Smokies sausages instead of the smoked sausages. My guys hated it. I got told to never, ever cook this using Lil Smokies again. (Did I mention they normally love Lil Smokies?) Also, this does not do well in the crock pot. I've tried, more than once. It left lots and lots to be desired. I always cook this fresh.

Hobo Dinner
Should serve, like, 6-8 normal people

Ingredients
1 pound smoked dinner sausage (then kind that's like kielbasa)
4-5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-3" chunks
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 2-3" pieces (or 1 small bag baby carrots)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 a soup can of water
1 small onion, sliced and rings separated

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Place potatoes and carrots in a 9x13 baking dish.

3. Slice sausage into 1/2" thick pieces and spread evenly over vegetables.

4. Spread onion evenly over sausage pieces.

5. Mix soups and half a soup can of water in a bowl. Pour evenly over onions.

6. Cover tightly with foil.

7. Place in oven and bake for approximately one hour, or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.

My helpful hint for this recipe is to place a cookie sheet under the baking dish. This usually ends up getting in the bottom of my oven and burning there. Save yourself the trouble. Use a baking sheet or cookie sheet. Even if you have one of those oven liner thingys in the bottom of your oven like I do. It'll come right off the liner thingy, but it stinks when it drips down there and burns.

Tater Tot Casserole

2009-04-30T16:00:00.003-05:00

This is a family favorite! Basically, all it is, is chili-cheese tater tots! Who doesn't love that?!?! Whenever I'm asked by my guys "What's for dinner?" and I answer "Tater Tot Casserole", there's nearly a stampede right then and there. This also freezes well. Details on that under the helpful tips section of this post.

Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 (2 pound) bag tater tots
2 (10 oz.) cans hot dog chili sauce
2 cups shredded cheese (any)

Directions:
1. Pour tater tots into a 9x13 rectangular Pyrex dish or other such baking dish. Cook per package directions until tater tots are crispy and cooked completely.

2. While tots are baking, cook meat. Set aside. (I like to boil my meat in a big pot of water and then drain the water out. Less fat, cooks quicker, doesn't burn and get all crunchy like browning meat on the stovetop in a frying pan can. See the tutorial on the tutorial on Southern Plate that Christy Jordan wrote for more information on this.)

3. Mix chili sauce into the cooked, drained meat. Heat through.

4. Pour chili sauce over crispy tater tots. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at whatever temperature your oven is already set on for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

Some helpful tips for cooking this dish:
1. If freezing, assemble without cooking the tater tots or heating the chili sauce. Let the ground beef cool before assembling, but go ahead and mix the meat in the chili sauce before pouring over the tots. If you do heat the chili sauce, let it cool before you pour it over the tots. Trust me, if you cook the tots before assembly, or pour hot chili over the tots before freezing, you will have yucky, soggy tots. Not cool! After assembly, wrap well and label. Don't forget to label with cooking directions, too! This way, if you need your husband or teenager to start dinner, you can thaw this in the fridge the night before, then call when you need it popped in the oven and just tell them to follow the instructions on the label you made!

2. If you freeze this, it can be cooked two ways. The first is to thaw in the fridge overnight, then bake at 350°F about 20 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese is melted. The other is to unwrap and throw it in the oven frozen. Then you would bake it at 350°F until heated through. I would guess 30-45 minutes, but I've never done it this way, so I'm not sure.

3. If you're worried about your cheese burning due to the increased cooking time after freezing and thawing, but don't want to cover it with foil while baking (so the cheese won't stick to foil, of course), then try this. Assemble the casserole, everything but the shredded cheese. When you bake this, bake for all but about 5 or 10 minutes of the time called for. Take it out, add the cheese, then bake another 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

4. Short on time? No need to cook the tots if you need to throw this together really fast. It will just make for soggier tots if you don't cook them until they're crispy first. Plus, it takes about as long to cook the ground beef as it does the tots, unless you have ground beef already cooked in your freezer, like I do.

Have any more suggestions? Share them in the comments.

Mini Meatloaves

2009-04-30T13:16:00.007-05:00

I love meatloaf. Love it! Also, I love cooking meatloaf this way. I hate greasy meatloaf, swimming in all that fat from the ground beef. I also hate meatloaf covered with a nice burnt layer of what was tomato sauce or ketchup. So, this is how I cook my meatloaf. This also freezes well. I'll include that in the instructions, too, in case someone out there is interested.

Mini Meatloaves

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef (chuck, etc.- whatever kind you prefer)
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs, crushed saltine or Ritz-style crackers, etc. (again, whatever you have - this is great for using up old, stale bread or crackers)
1 package meatloaf seasoning (I usually use McCormick, just because that is what's available in my stores near here. I probably should look into making my own, though.)
1 (14oz) can italian diced tomatoes
1 (small? 6oz?) can tomato sauce

For most of these ingredients, I just use whatever I have or can find on sale. All the grease that cooks out of this will drain away, so I'm not concerned about buying low-fat (80/20 or 93/7 or some such) beef. Also,I try to stretch our grocery budget just a little, so I usually buy the store brands of canned goods when I can. As stated above, about the only thing I don't buy store brand is maybe the seasoning, because I don't think I've seen store-brand seasoning. I could probably make my own cheaper, especially if I also made my own taco seasoning, etc. I may look into that. But for now, store bought it is.

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Get out your broiler pan and the rack that goes with it. I love using my broiler pan for cooking meatloaf. All the slits in the pan let all the nasty grease drain into the bottom of the pan, keeping my meatloaf high and dry, you might say. If you don't own one of these, you can use any pan with sides deep enough to hold the grease. However, I really do suggest you go out and get one if you don't have it. You'll thank me for it later.

2. Spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray. This helps the meatloaf not stick to the broiler pan, or what ever pan you're using.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs, milk, and tomato sauce together. Add seasoning and bread crumbs (or which ever you're using). THEN add the meat, mixing well with your hands.

4. While your hands are still covered in the meatloaf mixture, grab the meat by the handfull and shape into a ball/loaf shape. Place on the broiler rack (or other pan). Continue until you've used up all the meat.

5. Place your pan of meatloaf in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until meat is cooked all the way through. If you like, you can spread tomato sauce or ketchup or whatever your family prefers over the loaves, before or during cooking. I don't like it, so I omit this part.

Some helpful tips for making mini meatloafs:
1. A muffin pan can be used, also. Just spray the pan before you fill it. Press enough of the meat mixture into each cup to fill it over. Place muffin pan on a pan deep enough to catch any grease that runs out of the muffin pan.

2. For freezing, either use a muffin pan, or line baking sheets with wax/parchment paper (whichever you have). When using muffin pans, spray each cup before filling. Fill and freeze until the meat is frozen solid. Transfer to zippered freezer bags and freeze. When using baking sheet, spray the wax paper with cooking spray. Shape each loaf by hand and place on the paper, not touching. Freeze until frozen solid. Transfer to freezer bags and freeze.

3.) This recipe doubles and triples easily. Monday I cooked 5.3 pounds of hamburger meat into meatloaf. (Yes, all of it was for eating that night and leftovers the next day). I used: 5.3 pounds meat, 1 (14 oz) can Italian diced tomatoes, 1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce, whatever stale saltine/Ritz/oyster crackers I had in the cabinet (pulsed them in the blender to crumble them up quickly), 5 eggs, two packs of seasoning, and enough milk to hold it all together (1/2 to 3/4 cup? I don't know, I just poured some in the bowl). I mixed it up following the directions above. It made 19 mini-meatloaves (each was a gull handful of meat), which filled up my broiler pan completely. I had to cram them on there, touching. It only took them about 75 minutes for them to all be cooked completely. I checked with my meat thermometer, and every one was 190°F or more inside. This fed 7 adults (some of which ate two or more loaves), gave me a plate (with 2 1/2 loaves) for lunch at work Tuesday, and left 5 in the fridge for the guys to eat Tuesday.

4. Alternatively, you could double or triple the amount you need when you make this. Cook what you need and freeze the rest. Dinner in a flash later, with only a minute or two of extra work now!

5. To cook after freezing, just place on the pan you want to cook them in (still frozen) and put them in the oven. It'll take longer to cook, but there's no defrosting needed. In fact, defrosting is really a waste, because then you'll probably have to reshape each one before baking.

6. If you want to make traditional meatloaf (one big loaf) this recipe works, too. I find it takes less time to bake if I make mini loaves for each of us, so that's what I do. By all means, use a loaf pan and make one big one if that's what you want. Or better yet (in my opinion), shape it into a loaf and place it on a broiler pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. All the grease still drains off, and it's still one big loaf.

7. When using a broiler pan, spray both sides of the rack with non-stick spray. Also spray the inside of the bottom pan. Trust me, easier cleanup later. The slots in the top pan will collect tiny pieces of meat and gristle and such as they cook out of the loaves, and then you'll have to scrub to get them off. Trust me. Spray the whole pan. You'll be glad you did.

8. Be careful when taking the broiler pan out of the oven when your meatloaf is done. Hold that pan even and level, and don't slosh it around. If you don't watch it, you'll pour hot meatloaf grease all over yourself. Not fun. I poured it all over the toe of my leater and suede work shoes the other day. I didn't burn myself, but I could have. Thank goodness I wear my shoes even inside.

Anyone have anything else to add? If you do, leave a comment!

Recipes for menu plan, April 27 - May 10

2009-04-30T13:12:00.003-05:00

As promised, I am working on recipes for the menu I posted. I will post each of these separately, so I can link to them in future menu plans. So, expect a lot of posts from me today until???

(I have nothing better to do, as I'm stuck at work and trying to avoid doing too much today. Sounds lazy, but the ligaments in my stomach hurt yesterday and this morning from all the walking I did yesterday while I was here, so I'm trying to not push it today. I'm not hurting right now {knock on wood}, and I sure don't want to start. So I'll be taking up time on the computer this afternoon, hopefully.)

Updated at 5:30 CST
OK, I have posted a few of my recipes, and linked them to my original menu post. I'll finish the rest later. It's almost time to go home! I still am going to post:
Lemon Pepper Chicken
BBQ Chicken
Beef Stew

I would post my recipe for lasagna, cube steaks, pork chops, and garlic bread, but the lasagna was frozen Wal-mart brand, the pork chops will be shake-n-baked, the cube steaks will be fried as-is (with a little worcestershire and water for marinade) and covered in a white flour gravy made from a package, and the ComputerGenius made the garlic bread. One day, I will post these too. But I couldn't expect the guys to cook my lasagna from scratch, etc. I'm lucky they're cooking the things they are. I tried to go easy on them, one night of real cooking and then one of heating something. So far it's working out pretty well. Last night I had to make the cheese sauce for the broccoli. Poor ComputerGenius burned the batch he made (Velveeta and milk). He forgot to stir it for too long. :) He cooks like me!

32 week belly pics

2009-04-30T12:48:00.003-05:00

I realized it's been a while since I have posted any pics anywhere of my ginormous (and still growing) belly. Here you have it. I am exactly 32 weeks today. I went at lunch time and took these in the bathroom mirror at work. It worked out well, considering I wore a navy blue shirt and black belly band, which makes me look more slender. ;)

After I took these two pics, I went outside to email them to myself and promptly sat in water on the bench I chose. Then I called my husband to ~~harass~~ say hi to him. Then, on my way back inside, some random guy remarked to his buddy walking with him that "Her water broke!" Men. {sigh} So smart. I know I look big, but I really hope my water doesn't break eight weeks before I'm due! And if they think I look big now, wait another month and see what they think!!! :)

Project Procrastinator's Party

2009-04-30T11:37:00.003-05:00

I'm joining in on the Project Procrastinator's Party at The Inspired Room. Click on the link for more details, and to follow along with us.

My project will be my kitchen table. I hope two weeks is enough time for me to do this. But I really need to get it done, so here goes. **deep breaths**

I will take a pic tonight, and post it then. It's horrible, and I am ashamed to show you what it looks like. I'll be truthful, though. Except that technically, I have to start on my project before a pic is posted, because I believe my camera is on said table. Easy to get to, it's not buried under all the piles, but it's still there.

Also, in the interest of truthfulness (is that a word? My pregnant-brain can't remember right now....), I will dump all my work stuff on it before taking said picture. That's where I dump it every night anyway, mainly because the table is the right height for me to pack my bag in the mornings and pick it up without bending over, which would NOT go so well for me right now if I tried. That's my excuse, anyway. Really, I've dumped my stuff there every day for the last (over) two years, and I'm not stopping now. We don't eat there. My pic later will prove why we don't eat there. That and, frankly, my couch is more comfy after twelve and a half hours at work than any kitchen chair could ever hope to be.

So, I'll add my pic to this post later tonight via the magic of editing. Until then, imagine Mount Saint Helens piled on a table, ready to erupt at any moment (AKA, all my piles of stuff sliding off into the floor AGAIN).

Pig flu

2009-04-30T11:26:00.003-05:00

Crap, people in Madison have THE FLU. Maybe it's swine flu. I know! Let's close schools and cancel athletics for several days! Their parents are still going to go to work. If THE FLU is being spread, their parents can give it to other parents at work, who will take it home to their kids, so it'll be in schools from Scottsboro to Florence soon! YAY! While there's fifty of use here all day, every day, passing plague and who knows what else around. I swear, if anyone gives me ANY kind of flu (or cold), I will seriously injure them!!!!

You've all been warned!!!

I wonder if Chris is still playing baseball today, or if that's cancelled, since the state cancelled ALL high school athletics for the next few days. Wonder if that applies to little kids, too?

Uh-oh, someone just coughed. I have to go find a can of Lysol now and spray everything within my reach. And rub myself from head to toe with Germ-X AND Purell.

Just kidding. For now.

Gah... Still behind the times.....

2009-04-29T10:38:00.003-05:00

I just figured out that Google Reader gives you the option of creating folders to store blog feeds in.... DUH! I was wishing Blogger had that function, then I thought, "Why don't you hop on over to Google, and check out the Google Reader? I bet you can organize your blog feeds there." Guess what??? Of course you can. And I've been dealing with my Blogger Dashboard for how long, when I could have been using Reader???? Why didn't someone tell me this?!?!?

Edited at 12:24 to add:
So, I added all my blogs from blogger to Google Reader. I gave each one a tag so I could remember why I had followed these blogs (after I had to open some of them and scroll through trying to figure out why. But that's because I just weeded all my blogs out, and subscribed to a few new ones, which still left me with less blogs to follow than before!). I'm figuring out how to use the reader, and I have to say, I think I like it better than Blogger's reader. Google automatically tells me if there are any new updates since I last checked out all my feeds, so I know if I need to waste time trying toscroll through posts or not. I just scrolled through about the last week of feeds, and then marked all of them as read, so I can start off with "0 new". I figure if I haven't read them, I don't need to, right??

To-Do List update

2009-04-28T17:51:00.003-05:00

It's been a while, so I think I need to update on my progress of wading through my massive to-do list.

I cleared everything out of my office closet except papers that need filing or scanning and trashing. I organized all my pens, pencils, markers, labels, etc. into bins. I put everything back in the cabinet neatly. I put items of a similar type (writing utensils, notepads, sticky notes.....) together in the cabinet.

I bought a few more pieces of maternity clothes. I could use a few more shirts, but I'm almost there, so trying to hold out on buying more.

I cleaned our ceiling fans. I also went through the house and dusted all the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. While I was in the bedroom dusting, I cleaned the TV and dusted the entertainment center there. (Bonus points for me!)

I pre-registered at the hospital. Now I'm ready to go, in 6 to 8 weeks..... :) (Still have to pack my bags, wash some of the stuff baby will need the first week, get all that stuff downstairs, and buy a couple of those plastic carts-on-wheels to hold his stuff for the first few weeks, when I don't feel like and can't physically go upstairs....)

I got my hair cut! And my eyebrows waxed! I think it's been 8 years or longer since my hair has been this short. The longest layer is down to barely past the top of my shoulders. Now I can go in for a trim when I take my maternity leave before the baby gets here, and I'll (hopefully) be good to go there for a couple of months (until about the time I get ready to go back to work, give or take).

Our glider came in, and has been assembled. Yay us! It only took about 15 minutes to put together. It was just about 12 screws or so. So easy!

I bought a breast pump. I couldn't decide, so for now I got one from Walmart, an Evenflo single electric pump. Then one of the girls I work with offered me hers. I just have to buy new valves and stuff for it. It's a Medela. So if my Evenflo gives out, like a lot of people said will happen, I have a back-up.

I bought new, bigger nursing bras. Walmart doesn't sell anything that I could find above a DD cup, so I had to settle for going up a band size for now. I really need a 38F. I had to deal with a 40DD. It still fits pretty well, for now. If they'd get a little bigger soon, it would fit perfectly. I don't want to have to keep buying bras that probably won't fit once my milk comes in. I have so many better things I could spend that money on every month or two. I now have around 6 or 8 bras that I've bought the last 8 months, that don't fit anymore, and 2 that I can wear comfortably. Pitiful, isn't it? I do have a girlfriend who is giving me 2 new bras, I think a 38F and one maybe larger than that??? I can't remember.... She never wore them, she didn't get big enough for them.

So that's where I stand with THE LIST right now. I can live with that. Nesting is starting to set in. I get home from work and look around at all the things I need to do, but am too tired for, and a slight panic starts to creep in. So I take a deep breath and try to convince myself to not care, and so far it works.

Grocery Shopping for April 27-May 10

2009-04-26T17:10:00.002-05:00

This is not a full grocery list, as I've not been shopping yet. I still have to check my freezer and pantry for items we already have that I don't need more of. I also need to give my list a second glance, to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. This is simply a plan of where I will buy some of the items I will need.

Piggly Wiggly has several items on sale that I'll need. PW brand milk is $2.59 a gallon!!! I can't believe my good luck. A few weeks agon, it was that cheap, and after I got home and two gallons were gone in a week, I kicked myself for not buying more and freezing it. This week, if I have room in my freezers, I plan on buying two gallons for the fridge and one to freeze.

The Pig also has ground chuck for $1.79/lb; boneless pork loin (2 per pack) for $1.97/lb.; family pack of chicken leg quarters for $0.69/lb.; certain varieties of apples for $1.99/3-lb. bag; and red globe or black seedless graped $0.99/lb.

A full list of Piggly Wiggly sales items for the Athens area this week, along with other sales prices for other stores, can be found at Two Thrifty Sisters.

I'll update once I go shopping tomorrow.

Menu, April 27-May 10

2009-04-26T16:47:00.012-05:00

Menu Plan Monday is hosted at I'm An Organizing Junkie. Go here for lots of recipes and menus, made by other bloggers and linked to her site.

Now that the initial MPM disclaimer is over..... :)

So, I've had problems with dinner lately. Mainly, I left the guys in charge. Since they're guys, dinner is never decided on or started until I get home. {Cue huge eye roll. Men.}

Since they can not decide anything (admittedly, this is probably mainly to avoid making me mad)I have laid out a plan for the next two weeks. It includes two meals a week prepared by me, and the rest are made by them. My list includes cooking directions, and instructions to put insert name of frozen meat, veggie, etc in the fridge to thaw for tomorrow night's dinner, total approximate time they should allow for dinner prep AND cooking, and such. Surely between the four of them they can manage, right?????

So, without further ado, my menu plan for the next two weeks.

Monday, April 27 (Trisha cooking)

Mini Meatloaves
Broccoli & Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Shells & Cheese
Rolls

Tuesday, April 28
Lasagna
Garlic bread

Wednesday, April 29
Baked Potato Bar
Broccoli & Cheese

Thursday, April 30
Tater Tot Casserole

Friday, May 1
Corn Dogs
French Fries

Saturday, May 2
Hobo Dinner

Sunday, May 3 (grill)
Cube steaks with gravy
Mashed potatoes
Shells and cheese
Whole kernel corn
BBQ bread

Monday, May 4 (Trisha to cook)
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Baked Potatoes
Shells & Cheese
Salad
Texas Toast

Tuesday, May 5
Shake N Bake pork chops
Chicken flavored rice
Mashed potatoes
Green beans
Rolls

Wednesday, May 6
Sub sandwiches
Fries

Thursday, May 7
Sausage Bread
Peaches

Friday, May 8
BBQ Chicken
Mashed potatoes
Shells & Cheese
Baked Beans
Rolls

Saturday, May 9
Beef stew
Grilled Cheese

Sunday, May 10
Chili Dogs
French Fries

I am working on posting the recipes for these. I would just copy and paste my instructions I'm leaving the guys, but since some of the prep will be done ahead of time, and there aren't any measurements included in their instructions (other than one can of this, one zipper bag of that, etc.), it won't do anyone else any good.

And now for a pat on my back and a toot of my own horn.... Not only did I make a menu for the next two weeks. Not only did I make and print a grocery list, organized by store aisle, for this menu. I have begun planning the next menu after this one!!!

Ray's Surgery

2009-04-24T06:24:00.002-05:00

Ray is going in for pre-op right about now. His actual surgery starts around 7:30. The doctors expect about 4-5 hours in surgery. They won't know how bad the damage is exactly until they go in. They aren't completely sure exactly how bad the heart attack was, or whether they caught it at the beginning or end. They said he might have been working up to a big one when he arrived at the hospital. Or he may have been having one big light heart attack for days. We don't know yet.

Prayers, please.

Update on BFF's dad

2009-04-23T13:22:00.001-05:00

Barring any further complications or heart attacks, Ray is scheduled to have open heart surgery Friday. If something happens to him before then, they'll go in immediately. The heart attack he suffered seems to be a major one. It has damaged somewhat the front portion of his heart. The doctors in Huntsville told the family that if Athens hadn't stabilized him when they did, he wouldn't have made it to Huntsville.

Please continue with the thoughts and prayers. You can send your thoughts to her on Myspace. She's checking them, even if she can't update often.

Doing a Drive-By post-and-run.....

2009-04-22T14:44:00.002-05:00

I'm at work, and have a job to do at 3:00, and have to go potty before then, so this will be quick.

I just got a call from Michael (at work, which he never does unless it's can't-wait-have-to-call-right-now emergency. Lori's dad had a heart attack sometime just a little while ago. Don't know exactly when, but they've sent him to Huntsville Hospital via MedFlight, so it doesn't sound really great to me. I haven't talked to her yet, so I don't know any real status.

Keep her in your thoughts. Let her know you're thinking about her. I'll call her in a bit, and check again tonight with her. Maybe we'll know more then.

Today is 30 weeks!!! T-minus 70 days and counting!

2009-04-16T15:59:00.003-05:00

From BabyGaga, the crappiest of all pregnancy sites (but a good description of this week's activities, and i haven't gotten any better ones in my email yet):

Week 30: Goodbye monkey baby, hello roly poly!

Fetal development in pregnancy week 30:fetus in seventh month

The light is visible at the end of the tunnel! Your oversized self and amazing growing baby have finally reached the single digits (in terms of weeks till birth)! The fine lanugo hair that has been growing all over their little monkey-like body is going to start falling off this week in preparation for the big day. But don’t be shocked if they’re hairier than you’d anticipated, some babies keep their lanugo until after birth. Still, it’s not any cause to be concerned as it will fall off eventually. No surprises here: your little porker is getting even cuter with increasingly pudgy arms and legs this week thanks to the ever-growing layers of subcutaneous fat. In terms of numbers, your baby should be weighing in at around 3 pounds 12 ounces (or more!) and be nearly 16 inches long.

And how's mom doing? On a very serious note: you should make sure to determine both you and your baby’s blood type. It’s extremely important for everyone. In the case that you and your maturing babe’s blood types don’t match there’s a chance you could produce antibodies that could potentially attack and harm a future fetus. It is rare, but with modern medicine, the problem is easily corrected and little cause for concern if dealt with properly.

As for the ongoing joys of being in your third trimester: your not-so-fun symptoms are just intensifying this week, so it might not hurt to slow down a bit and focus on yourself. If you’re feeling extra fatigued, you’ve probably joined the sleeping shouldn’t be this tough when I’m this tired club, especially if you’re experiencing a lot of back pain and general discomfort. If you’ve been pushing the exercise thing, then this is the time perhaps to cut down on the physical activities and focus more on getting proper sleep (if this means buying a pregnancy pillow, then do it!). Oh and all that moodiness? Just go with the flow emotionally. This doesn't mean letting the hormones win and becoming a complete psychotic. Instead, feel the feelings, but know that the drama you’re feeling is largely a result of increased adrenaline thanks indirectly to hormonal swings—not because things really are that dramatic and merit adult temper tantrums. The clincher symptom for this week: it’s highly likely your libido has gone on sabbatical. This, as far as we’re concerned, is perfectly natural in your condition.

And now for my thoughts on the above info:

Glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As long as it's not a train. Also glad for single-digit week count until D-Day! WOOT!!!!!

Blood type not an extremely big issue here. I mean, of course I'm concerned over it and I truly hope it doesn't create any problems. But I'm a negative blood type, so my midwife automatically gives me Rhogam, at 28 weeks and right after delivery, to greatly reduce the risk of complications should the baby be born with a positive blood type. I also have no idea what my dear husband's blood type is, much less if it is positive or negative, so this could be a potential concern. I've already had my first shot, which cost me $43.00 to pick up at the pharmacy. I almost choked over the cost. That was WITH INSURANCE!!! But, I guess nothing could ever cost too much when it comes to baby's health, so I paid it, and will file it on my HCSA for reimbursement, anyway, so....

I do feel extra fatigued. When I get off work today, i will have worked 50 hours this week, so no wonder. my boss is threatening to cut me back to 4 10-hour shifts a week until my leave. I hope he waits a few more weeks, at least, so i can try to get in at least some of my overtime for the outage first. The extra money would be nice in savings. :)

Moody? ME???? Surely not. I'm never moody. I don't know what they're talking about.

Libido? What's that? I'm more interested in a full night's sleep at this point.

With all that said, I would like to point out that the pain I was having yesterday continued until I went to sleep last night, off and on. Doctor said not to worry, unless it gets worse or has signs of labor associated or something like that. Then I should call right away and/or go to the ER. The pain has been pretty much abscent today, except for a couple of times, but the baby was moving then and I think he caused it.

I'm hoping for a quiet weekend. Tomorrow I have pre-registration, haircut, grocery shopping, etc. to do in town. Hopefully the rest of the weekend we can relax and chill, just the two of us. Starting Tuesday, unless my boss gets his way, I'll be working 75 hours a week, at least for a few weeks. Mondays will be my only day off. Joy. I may work the extra hours a few weeks and then go to 40-hour weeks. Who knows? It all depends on how I feel each day.

To Do List and general update

2009-04-15T16:48:00.005-05:00

Yay! More stuff done!!!! My shower is done. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who came , and for all the wonderful gifts! I am so grateful that so many people love our child and are so excited for us, that they would take time out to come to my shower. I never imagined we would get so many beautiful, nice gifts! Thank you cards are coming soon!!

Now, for my To Do list:

1.) Debbie (bless her) got bored at my house while Aaron was trying to fix Dave's computer one evening, and she scrubbed my microwave!!! Can you believe it? I could have kissed her!
2.) I filed all my 2008 HCSA receipts, and have gotten reimbursed for them. I managed to file enough receipts to use up everything in there from last year. I also went ahead and files some from this year, that I could find. Since I filed them, I have made a manila envelope to hold receipts until they're filed, so I can actually find them when I need them.
3.) Michael had Aaron clean the carpet upstairs. He had to clean his room, since it was his dog that peed and pooped in there, so he cleaned the little 4 foot by 5 foot landing at the top, too.

Really, in all actuality, I only personally completed ONE thing from my list, but I'm still counting it all. Hey, a pregnant gal takes credit for everything she can, right??? ;)

Also, I have discovered Google Documents. Totally awesome! I mean, I've known about it for some time, but never used it. Today, I have begun uploading documents to the site. Now I can access them from any computer with an internet connection. Good thing, since I have docs scattered across the desktops of most of the computers at work. I'm trying to gradually get them all loaded onto Google and sorted into folders and deleted from the hard drives. One small step towards being organized. I'm also doing the same for my email, since I'll frequently make a personal document and email it to myself so I have it at home and work. This will help clean out my inbox. :)

My glider came in that Michael's parents and sis/bil bought for us. We're going to put it in the living room for now. We'll be getting that put together this weekend, if he didn't do it today. Add that to the to-do's. Also, thank you cards for the gifts we've received, ordering my breast pump, grocery shopping, getting a haircut, pre-registering at the hospital, and buying larger bras (again). It never ends.

My breast pump will probably be the Lansinoh double electric pump from BRU. I have a 15% off coupon for any pump, and it looks to be the best-rated for the money that they sell. My coupon isn't good until April 17, so I have to wait until then to order.

Grocery shopping won't be that bad. I'll be working every day except Mondays, beginning next Tuesday (April 21) until I decide that I'm crazy for trying to work the outage while this pregnant, or until my doctor says otherwise, or until my bosses force me off shift due to my advanced prenatal state, or until my leave starts the first of June. Therefore, groceries will consist of stuff like pizza, fries, chili dogs, bagged salad mixes and fresh veggies to make side salads, stuff for me to eat at work, and such. Stuff the guys can cook without oversight by me. Because if I have to come home and oversee dinner prep, I'll eat cereal or a sandwich and go to bed.

Since groceries will probably come from Walmart, getting the bras and thank you cards won't be such a big deal. As long as I remember to buy them.

I'll get my hair cut and pre-register at the hospital Friday before shopping. I say Friday because there's rain in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Boo.... It figures it would rain during my last weekend off for a while.

Chris will be staying with us one night this weekend. His visit last weekend got cancelled because Pooh went into the hospital again, so we had to rush to Huntsville.

Monday will bring another doctor's appointment. Can you tell it's getting closer to delivery day? The every-other-week appointments have started. This one should be just a regular check-up.

In other news, Pooh and the twins are hanging in there. So far, so good. They've stayed put a few more days. Her OB believes all would be well if they were to come now, but would still prefer to keep them in as long as possible. The mag seems to have done the trick. At last check, she was back off the mag and on just IV fluids, and her appetite is back. She's been craving baked potatoes. :)

Lori's mom made it fine through her back surgery. They had to completely remove the damaged disk, and "screw" her spine back together. She is home and in some pain, but fine otherwise.

Chris had a baseball game Saturday, that we got to go to. His team lost, but they played really well. Most of their practices last month got rained out. They didn't get to practice as much as they had scheduled, but the kids still did realy well considering this is self-pitch instead of coach-pitch. One boy on the team has never played before this year. He did really well, too. Our pitcher started out throwing his pitched over the batter's head, but he quickly settled down to pitch a good game. He struck several players out. Chris has just enough team mates for the team to play a game (9 players are required). If even one boy misses a game and a sub can't be brought in from the other team at the school, then they have to forfeit the game. Saturday we had one sub player. Chris did well in the game, too. He has really improved over the level he played at two years ago. He didn't play last year, because he lived with his mom and didn't want to play there. It seems to have instilled more confidence in him, which is great. As long as it's confidence and not arrogance. He is quick to point out himself the areas he could improve in. He is also quick to acknowledge his teammates' improvements, good plays, etc. All in all, the boys had fun, and that's what we're all there for.

That's all I can think of for now. Not much, is it??? :) That's what I get for neglecting my blogging like I have the last week or two, I guess. Hopefully I will be able to update more regularly. I had gotten into the habit pretty good, but I let that slip with all we did this past week and weekend.

Passing the word on - FREE - Giveaway - Monogrammed Beach Towel

2009-04-15T12:02:00.002-05:00

Edited to say: this giveaway is over. Sadly, I didn't win.

These are cute, and you can enter at Misadventures of a Newlywed.

Holy Braxton Hicks, Batman!!!

2009-04-15T11:03:00.005-05:00

These Braxton Hicks are killing me! I know that's what it is, because it starts up while I'm doing my routine at work, and stops after I sit down and put my feet up. Also, I can feel my uterus tightnening when it happens. I remember having them last time, except not in the area of my abdomen where they are now, and certainly not this sharp and stabbing-like..... Holy crap!

Either that, or I have a bladder infection or something similar.

Not to worry, a call will be placed with my doctor's office, as soon as they came back from lunch, around 12:30 or so. I would have called earlier, but I didn't think about the bladder possibility, until after they had already transferred their phones to the answering service, so now I can't get through to someone who actually knows something about pregnancy (although bless those answering service operators, they're always so nice when I don't stop to realize that it's lunch time).

The pains have stopped for now, and I will call Roberta's office again after lunch. An update will be posted after that. Also, I will be taking it easy and drinking plenty of water until then. Hopefully, it's BH contractions, and all is well. Hope it's not an infection. Those suckers hurt!!!

For Rosie Lee Warner......

2009-04-09T21:02:00.004-05:00

Today ain't the day for me to be even posting here. My friends and family know why. They also know I want space today, and don't really wanna talk to anyone. Considering this, I'm going to make this short and sweet. I'll try to not get mean or hateful here.

I don't talk about every single thing I'm working toward or researching on my blog. I don't have the time nor energy to sit here all day and update on every little thing I do or think or say. Just because I didn't mention my on-going research on circumcision, doesn't mean I have not put my child's health in the front of my mind. I don't know where you get off talking to people you don't know like that, but in my mind it makes for a very rude individual. Several names to call you come to my mind, only because you come here assuming you know all about me and my situation.

Since you know everything I think or do or say, can you figure out what these words are right now? Hopefully you are smart enough to figure it out.

If you're gonna come here to harass me and condone or belittle me, then GO THE F%$# away. If not, then feel free to hang around. Who knows, you might learn enough manners for me to learn something from you.

I've had a bad day. I'm going to bed. Hopefully today's meaning will not fnd me under the covers.

sigh I wish I could be at home right now........

2009-04-03T01:19:00.002-05:00

This night has sucked. Michael and Robbie got into an argument. I'm told it was over the fact that Michael wouldn't call me at work to see if Robbie could walk to some girl's house. I'm guessing it was raining at that time, although I don't know exactly when this all went down. So Robbie gets all mad and goes to cussing and whatever. I'm not exactly sure what was said between the two of them, but Michael says Robbie was being very disrespectful to him, in front of the company Michael had over.

Long story short, Robbie is back at Momma's. Which breaks my heart. Michael ended up calling me at work to tell me. I have been stuck here at work crying off and on since 9:30. At one point, I cried so hard I started hyperventilating and had to sit down. I'm so afraid my brother will go back to jail before I get to see him again, before I can tell him one more time, face to face, that I love him.

I'm afraid if that happens, he will do something to himself. After all, he tried the last time he was locked up, and they sent him to be evaluated. No one told me because they didn't want to upset me since I'm pregnant, which I understand. I am, after all, the family worrier. I worry about all my relatives, and try to take care of them all. But I can't, there's too much they all need and only one me. There's no where near enough of me to go around. So I'm left to chose what to try to help and what to let go the way it is. But how am I supposed to chose between people I love so much, when they need my help?

I worry so much about my mom, and my sister, and my grandparents. Are they OK? They say they are, but are they really OK? I worry even more about my brother. Will he stay out of trouble? Will he go back to jail? Will he try something stupid again? My sister-in-law, who is *thisclose* to going into labor and having her twins waaaay too early. My stepson. Do we spend enough time with him? Do enough for him? My pregnancy. It was so easy to get pregnant, and it's been such an easy pregnancy, I can't shake the feeling that something will go wrong still. Our bills. We are trying to help so many of our family members that it's starting to strain our budget. Not to serious proportions, but we have had to tighten our belts a little when it came to buying extras this past paycheck. Thankfully, Michael sold that old truck, if the guy brings the money. Another thing not helping the paycheck this past time was the two traffic tickets we had to pay. That was over $300 we could have used elsewhere.The next paycheck should have us back on track. Our finances could be a lot (and I mean a LOT) worse than they are. I'm grateful I have my job. Michael is supposed to go to work Monday temporarily, so that will help, too. Eric finally has enough work for Michael to be able to work with them a little bit. It's been rough on them, too. Eric has mostly been working for other people, not for himself.

I will be so glad when 6:00 gets here. I am so ready to go home and go to sleep. I'm so glad this is my last night at work until the last half of August or middle of September, depending on when I come back to work from my leave this summer. And my baby shower is Saturday, which should thrill me, but at the moment it doesn't help how I feel. Pooh is getting to come. We'll have to get our recliner and take it to the shower or something, because she can't sit straight up. She has to recline or lay on her side. So I don't know how we're going to do that. I guess we'll see. I wish our recliver was smaller. It would be easier to bring downstairs and get to the community center. I'm leaving that up to Michael. I don't have the energy or mental capacity to deal with it right now.

6:00 better hurry up and come soon.

To-Do list update... AKA post #40

2009-04-02T04:33:00.005-05:00

Since I haven't marked anything off my list in a little while, I thought I would post an update. I hate that it looks like I haven't been working on it any. So, without further babbling:

1.) I tried to purchase a few maternity items that actually fit me. The shirts fit, the pants were all too big. Ao I packed the pants back up, and shipped them back to Old Navy for them to exchange for smaller sizes. I have been working toward this item, but I don't feel I can officially cross it off my list until I have both pants and shirts that fit. At least a few of each for now. I'm not buying an entire wardrobe of stuff that will fit me now, because it probably won't fit in a month or so.... I digress.....

2.) I have been slowly clearing stuff off my old desktop computer. It is a slow process because it takes so long to burn a CD from that computer, coupled with the fact that I have limited time to work on this. But I am slowly making headway on this. I guess that's all that matters in the end, right? Again, not marking off until completely finished.

3.) I have begun cleaning out kitchen cabinets. The food cabinets have been done, although not inventoried. I still have the cabinets full of dishes to do, as well as all my drawers in the kitchen, and the tops of my cabinets. Same story as with the computer. Limited time, but making some progress.

4.) I have somewhat updated my calendar, but since this is always gonna be an ongoing thing, I choose to not mark it off the list.

5.) I have made just a little progress under the bathroom sink. I moved all our bottles of body wash, shampoo, conditioner, etc. to the front of the cabinet, and put things like my bath jet thingy and baskets of "stuff" in the back. Again, not completely done, so not marked off. But progress.

6.) I have submitted paperwork for filing on last year's HCSA, as well as some of this year's prenatal appointments (I could not find one co-pay receipt from this calendar year, so it has not been submitted). This hasn't been marked off, because I have not received approval and reimbursement yet. If the one charge from last year's funds hasn't been approved by close of business Friday, I am planning on submitting other charges from 2008 to ensure I receive all $17 and some cents left in my account for last year. The federal government will NOT steal my $17 ad some cents from me, by golly! Not if I can help it!

So, six more items that I have worked on at least a little bit. Better than nothing. Too bad I didn't have my registry down as a to-do. I could actually mark something off. Oh, well, baby steps. Some progress is better than none at all.

Maybe before the outage starts, I can mark these items off my list. I would feel better if I could. I know during the outage not much will get done that doesn't have to be done by me. Clean clothes for work, doctors appointments kept, and groceries bought is about all anyone can expect out of me then. If they expect much more, they will be sadly disappointed. :)

28 weeks

2009-04-02T04:11:00.003-05:00

T-minus 84 days and counting.....

Although I hope I don't make it 84 more days.... :) More like anything over 70 but less than 84 days.

Another way to look at this is, 12 more weeks or less (hopefully not more) to go!

My Week 28 milestone: I actually updated my registry and added almost everything we still need to it. I'm sure my family will be shocked, awed, and amazed. And there's still 2 shopping days left before my shower! LOL.

(For those reading who don't know me in real life, I only say this because all of my family and close friends have been calling and emailing to ask where I am registered at, what do we still need, etc. I'm not grubbing for gifts here. I'm making a joke out of my procrastinating self finally having finished my registry. I have only told those who asked directly about my registry, or what we still need. I have not done anything drastic and greedy, like emailing a list of requested items to people who haven't asked. Anything we get at the shower is fine, even if it's only a "Congratulations" card. Being thought of is better than nothing, and if a basket full of cards is all we get, then at least we know we are loved and our child will be loved by our family and friends. So don't go leaving me any snarky, idiotic comments calling me greedy and telling me what a horrible mother I am for fishing for presents. Again, for the reading-impaired, I only gave this info to those who DIRECTLY requested it. Hopefully, another fiasco like some of the comments left on this post, over a simple remark about circumcision, will not occur here about my registry. If it does, rest assured I will be here to curse someone out next time. Just kidding. Maybe.)

Another week 28 milestone: While I can still wear my scrub bottoms to work, I have had to abandon the matching tops, due to the fact that it is becoming really difficult to get them off once they're on me. And I only have 3 pairs of scrub bottoms that still fit me comfortably.

Also, my beloved Calvin Klein jeans my grandmother bought me for Christmas over a year ago, are about to be stored in the back of my closet. Even though they are low-cut, and were ever so slightly too big for me pre-pregnancy, tonight they feel like I may never peel them back off of my body. They feel so tight on my lower stomach. I had to wear jeans because I didn't wash any of my scrub bottoms for tonight, and I also didn't ask Michael to wash any, either. When I woke up, I found that they were all dirty. So I washed them, and he dried them. No blue jeans for me tomorrow night! Although the extra support under my belly would be great if these pants weren't just a little too tight.

27 weeks, 2 days

2009-03-28T17:59:00.000-05:00

I have 89 days to go until my due date!!!! WOOT!!1

Bet I don't make it all 89 more days. ;)

Have a good evening, I'm going home soon.

Aaron volunteered to cook dinner tonight (Sloppy Joes).

I'm going home to eat, shower, and do nothing.

Blitz-it Friday #2

2009-03-27T13:44:00.006-05:00

For info on Blitz-it Friday, or to join in the fun, click the button above.

I am participating in Blitz-it Friday hosted by Organized Everyday whenever I can. One more small step toward an organized house, ya know? I missed Blitz-it Friday #1, but that's OK. I wouldn't have gotten it done, anyway, since I worked night shift last weekend.

Since I had to work today, I blitzed yesterday. I worked on organizing my kitchen cabinets. They weren't horrible, I supposed, but they bothered me. And people in my house keep eating the food and snacks I buy for me to take to work. Or they'll eat something I have planned for dinner. Then they feel bad when I get on them about it, which isn't exactly fair.

In the interest of fairness to them and keeping my food for me, I went through all of my kitchen cabinets that store food. I took out all of "my" food, as well as all the dinner ingredients I have planned meals around. I put them all on one side of my kitchen, in two cabinets, in a semi-organized fashion (meaning all of "my" food is together, and everything else is grouped by "food in a box" or "food in a can".

I took all the food that has no specific purpose other than "someone" eating it when they want a snack, or I'm not home to cook, etc. and put it in the other cabinets, on the other side of my kitchen. I grouped these into a cabinet of meal-type foods (cans of soup, canned pasta, etc.) and snack food (cereal, popcorn, etc.).

I took all of the kitchen appliances, storage boxes, canisters, etc. and put them in a cabinet, which will also house 2 liters of drinks, sugar for tea, garbage bags (the cabinet is right beside the can, more convenient than across the kitchen in the drawer full of aluminum foil and such), chips, etc.

I actually worked on this for about 3 hours, off and on, while I made a menu for all of April and part of May, using up as much as I can from my stash of canned veggies and rice mixes. I actually went through the dinner ingredients, took out what I had already planned on, made a list of what was left, and found a day to eat it on. We're trying to save a little extra money before the baby is born, so I'm trying to cut down on grocery expenses by using what we have, taking advantage of sales, and using coupons when I can.

My next blitz will be finishing the kitchen cabinets. I still have the cabinets holding my dishes, mixing bowls, and cookware left to do. I hope to get to blitz sometime next week, if not Friday. Monday I am going grocery shopping, and I have to sit down and pay bills (yuck....). I have to work night shift Tuesday through Thursday nights. I have to pick up the keys to the community center for my baby shower Friday afternoon. My shower is Saturday. Maybe Monday after grocery shopping? I can come home, unload the car, put up the perishable items, blitz those cabinets, then organize the canned goods. I can use my breaks during the blitz to pay bills. Sounds like my plan!

Controversy on my blog????

2009-03-27T10:07:00.009-05:00

It seems I had a little controversy on my blog over a recent post, which included my statement that I let my husband have the final decision over circumcising our unborn child after delivery. Here's my reply to the controversy:

For YOUR MOTHER, who says I'm too lazy to do the research:

WE did the research TOGETHER. WE read everything we could find on the internet, books, magazines, medical journals, etc. Obviously, and for good reason, we gave more credence to what doctors had to say over anyone else. IF YOU would take the time to READ my post, you would have read that I have left some decisions up to him entirely, OR have given him a 50/50 say in decisions. I never said we didn't research this decision before making it. You assumed we didn't give any thought to this other than, "Daddy is, so Junior shall be".

Your mother, as far as my mothering skills are concerned, you can kiss my big pregnant behind from here to eternity and back if you don't like what goes on in my house. If you don't like it, don't come here and bother to read it and then leave useless comments on my blog about them. If you do comment, at least leave something useful, other than just calling me a bad,lazy mother. I'll be sure to give you the same courtesy. Maybe next you can comment on my massive to-do list, and how it must mean that my house looks like a landfill and is unfit for adults to live in, much less children. How about going to child services and showing them my list in the hopes that my house will be deemed a health hazard,and therefore should be condemned.

You could learn something from the fact that a father (my husband) is willing to do hours of research on a topic before just saying "yes" or "no". Maybe yours didn't care and let you make all the decisions during your pregnancy and the care of your children. Maybe you're mad because you wish you had done some little thing differently now that you look back. Whatever the reason, I don't think name calling is going to get you anywhere with me.

A more effective method to go about trying to change my mind would have been the one obbermi used in her comment, offering more research material in case I hadn't already seen it.

Now, in regards to everyone:

Thank you, obbermi and K, for having more class than "your mother" had when she came here berating me and calling me names.

And just so everyone knows, the discussion regarding my blog at mothering.com was removed, without my asking or knowledge, due to copyright infringement of my blog. I did not know my blog was being discussed at such length, and sadly did not get to read any of the discussion before it got deleted by the site admin. Pity. Some of it might have been informational, instead of mindless dribble calling me lazy and pointing out how bad of a mother I am. I'll never know now. I was going to post this there, but since it's gone, I thought it better to post here than start controversy over on that site with a new thread.

I realize this is a public blog that anyone can read. I realize I have left comments unmoderated on my blog the interest of free speech and everyone being able to express their opinion. I would hate to have to moderate comments or restrict viewing to invited people only, therefore I probably won't. I like reading other people's blogs if I find a post there on a subject that interests me. I like being able to respond to comments when I read them. Sometimes this could create a wonderful debate on a subject. However, there is no need to call people names and judge them.

Information is always welcome here. Some of it I have seen, some of it I may not have found. Those who just come here, call names, judge others, and generally just make a pest of themselves need to find better things to do.

Momma and Sis, love you for having my back while someone tried to stab me while I wasn't looking. Thanks.

Obbermi and K, have a nice day. Thank you for encouraging research, providing links to research, and for the congratulations you sent me. I pray you are blessed today for being such nice people.

Your mother, just plain go the heck away if you don't like what I say on MY blog. Or at the least, offer more information rather than just name-calling and random berating of me for how my husband and myself chose to raise our children. You can look forward to calling me a terrible mother again on my next post, which will be about how I am leaving 75% of the decision on when to have our next child up to my husband, since he will be a stay-at-home dad.

Organizing update

2009-03-23T04:06:00.002-05:00

Since I finished setting up my new file box, I have been slowly getting all the loose paper around my house filed. Saturday afternoon before work, I filed a pretty big pile of paperwork from stuff like our pool, cordless drills, toaster, coffer maker, etc. That got some of the pile of paper out of my office cabinet filed. I felt pretty good about that. I spent about 30 minutes on it. Sunday I didn't do any. Instead, I read the newspaper so I could go ahead and throw it out.

Also Saturday, I moved a few items around in my office cabinet (my two new reams of paper) so I could store Granny's scrapbooks in it before someone spills their drink on it or something..... She's kill me if that happend. So far it hasn't, but I've been growing more uneasy every day about taking the risk with them laying out on my desk. My dear, darling husband is notorious for accidentally pouring (OK, spilling) his drink into my computer keyboard. Problem solved, potential for accident minimized. For now.

The third trimester is rapidly approaching!

2009-03-23T03:43:00.002-05:00

That's right, when I arrive at work Monday night, I will still be in the second trimester. When I go home Tuesday morning, I will be officially two thirds of the way done with being pregnant with this child!!!!!!!! ***SQUEEE**** I just looked up the exact day for the "swap" and it is March 24. I can't wait to tell my darling husband. This news is sure to instill heart-stopping fear in him for a moment, just like it did me. LOL. Not fear of birth, or raising a child, not even fear, really. More like a, "Holy crap, it's almost done! Soon I'll be at home on maternity leave, doing our final prep for baby! Yay!" kinda heart-stopping moment. For Michael, I have the feeling that when I tell him he's going to give me that deer-in-headlights look, like, "Oh crap, what have we done?!?" That's the look I got when I told him we were halfway there. Then again when we had four months left. Then again when... You get the picture.

I try to keep him up-to-date on how quickly this is approaching, because quite frankly, I have to stop every once in a while and think about how soon this will come to a close on the pregnancy chapters. It's amazing to me how quicky this is passing. To think, by the time Mike is here, it will have been a year since this whole thing started for us. Seems like yesterday we were calling everyone to share the good news. Then yesterday that we were seeing him for the first time, and hearing the heartbeat for the first time, then finding out the gender.... I'm ready for him to be here (on time, not this early!), but at the same time I don't want the pregnancy to be over.

I enjoy this. Right now, I am the only person on earth that knows every move he makes. He can't move without me knowing it (if I'm awake). I am the one he depends solely on for nourishment, oxygen, and so much more. I can sit at work and rub his head if I want. I feel bad that Michael can't possibly know what this feels like. I wonder if he's jealous of the fact that I get to participate so much more in this pregnancy than he can. I try hard to make sure he's as included as he can be. I have left some decisions, such as circumcision and decor of the nursery and the name, entirely up to him (or at least just as up to him as it was me), since I have no real preference and I hope it makes him feel more involved than just providing the sperm that got our child here.

For instance, he decided he wants our children circumcised. I let the decision entirely up to him. Our son will be circumcised in the hospital, before we go home. The nursery ended up blue and brown, after Michael saw how beautiful the baby stuff at BabiesRUs looked. We had decided on crimson and white, but when he saw the blue and brown and asked in the store if we could get that instead, I told him yes. (Besides, blue and brown is one of my absolute favorite combinations!) I told Michael I wanted to name our son after him, but that if he didn't want to, we would chose a different name. He insisted we name him Junior, so Junior it is.

I digress. Second trimester over. Third timester starts Tuesday. Wow. How cool is that? Somewhere between eleven and fifteen weeks from now, and our son will be here. (Hopefully no sooner than that, but within that range, the sooner the better!)

A quick update

2009-03-20T12:05:00.003-05:00

Since my seven days off were filled with out-of-town guests and drama, I thought I'd post a quick re-cap of what little I accomplished (that was planned) while off work.

*Menu was made, and groceries bought.
*I bought a shelf to go beside my freezer. I put all my paper goods, extra laundry detergent, etc. on it.
*The boxes that were stacked where the new shelf is were brought out. I went through the THREE boxes of bathroom stuff (makeup and OTC medicines that were several years old, bath gift sets I can't use that are several years old, etc.) and threw away two boxes of stuff that wasn't any good. I still have the one box of bathroom stuff I kept, and a box of lids to my Glad bowls and such that I have to go through.
*Bought a new file box, with a lid, and new hanging and manilla file folders. I have transferred all my files from my old crate to the new box. I used up almost an entire box of hangng folders and a box of manilla folders for this. I kept my old folders that were still useable. I'll be throwing out my old ones that are falling apart, which is mainly some of the old hanging folders. I still have stuff in piles and my office cabinet that I need to file.
*Got part of my kitchen clean (mainly stuff you could see).
*Crib is up and covers are on it. Still have wall art to hang, and a recliner to clean in there.
*Cleaned some pics, docs, etc. off the old desktop for transfer to the laptop or archiving.

I'll be working night shift this weekend, so not much will get done by me. I have my 26-week checkup Tuesday at 10:30 (after working Monday night), so nothing will get done Tuesday, either. After my appointment, it will be nap time.

Maybe Wednesday, I can get something else done.

My To-Do List for the next seven days

2009-03-12T17:24:00.009-05:00

Starting tomorrow, I have seven whole days off from work. And a lot to do around the house. It sucks that it'll be raining, but maybe I need a week of rain to keep me in the house.

I seriously need to declutter my whole house and finish unpacking all the boxes before the baby gets here.

So, in the interest of "maybe-I'll-get-more-done-if-I-hold-myself-accountable-here", here's my to-do list:

Tonight:
1.) Call Granddaddy to wish him a happy birthday.
2.) Throw a frozen pizza-or-something in the oven for dinner.

Tomorrow:
1.) Sleep until at least 8 AM. (sooooo tired from working this week)
2.) Possibly take our friend Sherry to Huntsville to the doctor for her 12PM appointment (Chopper has to go to B'ham for an appointment with one of his doctors, so he can't take her).
3.) Quick clean through the whole house (dishes, laundry, sweep, etc.)
4.) Cook something for dinner (TBD what exactly that would be)

Saturday:
~~1.) Robbie's birthday (need gift suggestions???? Anybody????? Email them to me please.)~~

The rest of the week:
1.) Clean off kitchen table.
2.) Go through the two totes and several boxes of stuff in my kitchen. Toss anything I don't need and can't give away.
~~3.) Clean out office supply cabinet. Organize contents.~~
4.) Clean desk.
5.) Clean off some of my stuff on my old desktop to try to get it to run better. Burn files to disk or transfer to laptop for access or organizing.
~~6.) Clean out stuff beside upright freezer. Buy a shelf for the things I'm keeping (paper towels, toilet paper, kleenex, laundry supplies, etc.).~~
7.) Clean fridge.
8.) Clean out kitchen cabinets. Clean on top, too.
9.) Clean oven?? (If I can stand the cleaner - Fume-Free but still, sometimes it bothers me.)
10.) Clean my poor, filthy, no-hope-for-it microwave.
11.) Scrub stove top and sink with Barkeeper's Friend.
12.) Clean windows in kitchen and dining room. Wash curtains while I'm at it. Dust blinds, too.
13.) Scrub kitchen and dining room floor. They're so nasty, even mopping leaves them dirty. Clean baseboard and cabinet kick plates while I'm there.
14.) Put together baby bed. Wash linens for bed and put them on it.
15.) Finish hanging wall art in baby's room, since what I have left has been reserved to center over crib and fill in gaps in wall.
16.) Take belly pic and pics of baby's room. Post all to blog and Photobucket.
17.) Buy some clothes I actually fit into. (Involves a trip to either Madison Square Mall - torture - or Bridge Street - torture, plus I don't know how to get there - because no one in Athens sells maternity clothes.)
18.) Clean out my dresser and closet (at least the clothes portion, preferably the boxes, too). Then have Michael clean out his closet and dresser.
19.) Clean off my bedside table.
20.) Finish blue and brown blanket (already done crocheting, just need to finish adding tassel fringe on both ends).
21.) Buy new porch lights for Michael to hang.
22.) Buy a coffee table and new end table for living room so I can give Bobby my old end table as promised, since he already has the one I didn't have room for after we bought the new couch. And since we've already bought the new rug for the floor.
~~23.) Clean off the entertainment center in my bedroom.~~
24.) Get three rolls of film developed. Have them loaded onto disks so I can archive them without having to scan each picture.
25.) Set up my new scanner and pics I'm working on on the kitchen table, which has been designated "My Future Scanning/Scrapbooking Table" by Michael.
26.) Work on scanning Granny's scrapbooks so I can give them back to her.
27.) Clean under my bed.
28.) Update calendar.
29.) Scan photos and archive on CDs after sorting.
30.) Clean recliner.
31.) Clean under bathroom sink.
32.) Clean under kitchen sink.
~~33.) Organize doctor's statements and BCBS EOBs for easy access and filing on HCSA (before April 2). (actual deadline is April 15th, but I procrastinate, hence the earlier date, to motivate me).~~
34.)Fill up donation boxes as I go through each to-do on this list.
35.) Clean pictures in the living room and bedroom. Dust furniture and knick-knacks.
36.) Pull up carpet upstairs and down the stairs (Michael to help with this one).
37.) Clean ceiling fans. Clean cobwebs from ceilings.
38.) Menu planning and grocery shopping.
39.) Pantry/fridge/freezer inventory.
40.) Thank you notes for shower gifts.
~~41.) Pre-register at hospital.~~
42.) Haircut.
43.) Transfer docs to Google Docs.
44.) Glider assembly.
45.) Order breast pump.
46.) Buy bras.

This is a general to-do list, I don't really expect that I'll be able to get it all done in 7 days, even with Michael's help. [So no having a fit over how long it is, MOM... :) ] But at least I can keep up with my list and update what's done as it goes. And add to it as I need to.

A declutter Challenge for tomorrow

2009-03-12T17:16:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow We're Decluttering (Organising Queen's Blog)

Declutter your blog feed reader of blogs you don't particularly read AND bookmarked favorite websites you don't use. So, if I make a folder under "My Documents" to store ones I check occasionally, but not a lot, does that count? LOL. Hopefully, I'll get around to this one. I also probably need to file my favorites that I actually use that haven't been filed under category folders yet, for easier access and a neater Favorites list.

I am almost POSITIVE my mother (**hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge**) could probably use this challenge, too. I've seen her blog rolls and links listed on the sidebars of her blogs. Way worse than mine. And my blogger feed is the only feed reader I use, so HA! I only have one feed to declutter.

Whenever I get to do this (sometime in the next seven days) I'll post my results.

Gluten Free: 5-layer Cookie Bar

2009-03-12T16:51:00.002-05:00

Just for my mom:

I found a recipe that looks yummy today. 5-layer Cookie Bars. It looks and sounds just absolutely delicious.

Also,
Gluten-Free Shopping Guide.

123 Gluten Free makes and sells GF products, and has recipes and such on their site.

Don Wiss's Home Page has lots of links for GF/CF/milk allergy, etc. sites.

For GF recipes, try:

Authentic Foods

AllRecipes.com (also has non-GF recipes

Gluten.net

Karina's Kitchen

Epicurious (also has non-GF recipes)

Now, a recipe, copied and pasted since it is waaaaay down on the page I found it on, and most of that page isn't GF-related (although I did link to the page to give credit to the source):

From the blog, Green Gourmet Giraffe. (This has been copied and pasted directly from Green Gourmet Giraffe's blog with no editing on my behalf.)

Condensed Milk Macaroons
(From Best Gluten Free Recipes)
Makes about 30 bite size macaroons

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup desiccated coconut
½ tin (200g) condensed milk
125 choc chips (I used white) OR chopped dried apricots

Mix all ingredients together. Drop in teaspoonfuls on a greased or lined baking tray. Baked at 150 C for about 15-20 minutes or til just turning golden brown. (Don’t let them get too well cooked – I once threw out a batch that I gave a few more minutes in the oven.) I found the mixture seemed to fall apart a bit and made an effort to shape it into balls but when baked it held together easily.

Snow and illness

2009-03-01T17:35:00.003-06:00

We woke this morning to snow! And not just a few flakes, either. Although the snow on the ground had already melted, there were still three and four foot high snowmen standing in my neighborhood at 1:00 this afternoon. Poor Chris, we didn't go out and play in it. That kid is seriously deprived. Instead, I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then he played Wii.

While I was cooking, we went out and gathered up a huge bowl full of snow for making snow cream. Mmmmmm. Michael woke up, still sick, around 5 AM, and said it was snowing big, wet flakes at that time. Apparently, it came down pretty hard. At 9 AM, when he woke me up, it had already stopped and there were a few inches on the ground and cars. I'm not a cold-weather person, so I went out in it just long enough to gather up the bowl of snow. Then later, just long enough to make it into the car and take Chris home.

While we were gone taking him home, I was afflicted with what I presume to be whatever Michael and Bobby are/were sick with. My head felt like I had enough sinus pressure built up in it to explode. It started throbbing. So far, no fever. Michael said his fever broke very early this morning (like, 4 or 5 AM). Right now, we're both curled up on the couch under a pile of blankets. We thought we were both just sick, because we couldn't keep warm, even under blankets and comforters. Then some of Michael's friends came over, and told us that it really was that cold in our house. It seems our central unit is screwed again. We have it set on 75, and yet it's only 62 degrees in our house. So we pulled out the space heaters. Great. Sick, cold, and a screwed up heater. Lovely. We'll be calling the company that installed our unit tomorrow.

Hopefully, I won't progress to being as sick as Michael. If I am, I'll be calling in to work in the morning. We'll see.

And thanks to both of us feeling crappy, our baby bed, which we picked up Friday evening, is still sitting in the room upstairs, unpacked but in pieces. hopefully, next weekend it'll be put together. Maybe. I know there's no way I'm going to mess with it, the way I feel. At least we still have three and a half months to get it up. :)

A joke - How you know when you've been married too long

2009-02-26T05:46:00.002-06:00

I found this on a blog I stumbled upon. The blog is http://viznine.blogspot.com/. Caution: I have not explored this blog, so I cannot guarantee the content. From first glance, it looks OK.

Now that credit has been given, on with the joke:

Three women -- one engaged, one married and one a mistress --- are chatting about their relationships and decided to amaze their men. All three buy black leather bras " stiletto heels, and masks for their eyes.
After a few days, they meet over lunch to compare notes.

The engaged women says:

The other night when my boyfriend came over, he found me in the black leather bodice, tall stilettos, and a mask. He said, "you are the woman of my life. I love you". Then we made love all night long.

The mistress says:

I met my lover at his office and I was wearing the leather bodice, heels, mask over my eyes and a raincoat. When I opened the raincoat, he didn't say a word -- but we had wild sex all night.

The married woman says:

I sent the kids to my mother's house all excited about having alone time with my husband. Had the lights dim, candles going, I was wearing the leather bodice, black stockings, stilettos heels and a mask over my eyes. As soon as he came to the door and saw me and said,
"What's for dinner, BATMAN

Crib is in

2009-02-26T05:25:00.002-06:00

Hopefully, it will be up this weekend. I will post pics of Mike's room when we get the crib put together. So happy! Now the only piece of furniture missing is our glider and ottoman, to be ordered later.

Free Movie Rental from RedBox

2009-02-26T05:13:00.004-06:00

At work, a discussion was had about the new RedBox DVD rental kiosks that have been popping up at Walmart and McDonalds locations near here. I hopped online to see what the deal was, since none of us had tried them. Sounds like a cool concept. DVDs are $1 per DVD per night. Rental is with a debit card. Movies are due back at 9pm the next night. Late fee is $1 per movie per night, to be charged to the debit card used to rent the movie. Movies can be returned at any kiosk. So I can pick up a movie in Ardmore when we go to visit the in-laws (since we usually stop at McD's, which has a kiosk there) and return it later at Walmart in Athens. Selection near where I live is kinda slim, but for a small town it's pretty decent. You can hop online to find the nearest kiosk, reserve movies (rental fee starts when movie reservation is confirmed, so don't reserve too far in advance of pickup), or browse selection of an individual kiosk.

Also, (the free part) if you sign up for emails from RedBox, they'll send you a free rental code good for one movie for signing up, a weekly email, and promo codes at an unspecified rate. If you sign up for SMS text messages on your cell phone, you get a promo code every Monday. Go to to sign up or for more details on how the kiosk works. Be sure to read the FAQs under the Help section for more info on how RedBox works.

To me, this RedBox thing sounds like a cheap date night. Or cheap family fun night. Whichever you prefer. Even cheaper with the free promo codes! As a side note, my sister-in-law has tried it, and seems to like it OK.

Armoire is up!

2009-02-18T19:37:00.004-06:00

So, I convinced my husband (no big amount of convincing necessary) that we needed to carry the armoire up the stairs, piece by piece. So he carried it all up for me. We got it put together, and it looks great. The only problem is, the stupid holes pre-drilled for the cam locks were too big, so we had problems trying to get them to stay attached. I'm going to have to glue some of the pieces together. Mainly, the drawer fronts to the drawers. Then it should be good to go.

We're still waiting on our crib. And we still need to steam clean Michael's recliner, which is already in the room waiting to be cleaned. Other than that, we're well on track to get all this done before June. :) I may whip this procrastination thing I have going yet! Probably not, but it does make me feel better to think of all the work we accomplished while I was off work.

I had the coolest thought today. The baskets I bought at Babies R Us during our mega shopping session worked perfectly in the armoire. I had room left over on each shelf inside it, but not enough for more baskets that size. I have lots of little stuff already that I need somewhere to store. I have these little boes with drawers in them for my sewing stuff that I will use one day. I tried one, and it worked well.

So after measuring the space left inside the armoire, off to Big Lots we went. I wanted to get four more cases of the G2 type Gatorade, which Big Lots was selling for $6 each. No Gatorade in the store. They're out of it. :( But they DID have the little organizers with drawers, like you would buy from Walmart for your desk, etc. They will be perfect inside the armoire for feeding spoons, thermometers, nasal aspirators, etc. until we actually need them. So I bought 2 little ones and 2 big ones.

While there, I also bought more scrapbooking stuff (that stuff is addictive), a baby blanket, a few onesies, an infant toy that makes noise and such.... And to think, all I wanted was some Gatorade that they didn't even have! LOL.

Some of our friends asked Michael why we were doing a nursery when the baby won't be in there much. The answer is: BECAUSE WE CAN and BECAUSE I WANT TO! They think we're nuts for doing so much in there, when the baby will be sleeping in our room for at least the first several months. Whatever. My money, my house, my child. They can bite me. Really, I don't mind them asking. It doesn't really make sense for us to do all this. Until you realize that we will may be moving our room upstairs sometime in the future (according to my loving, incorrect husband). I would rather add on to our house, and then not have to worry about moving upstairs. We'll see.

Enough writing for now. Dinner should be ready. Tonight, chili. Mainly because I haven't frozen the ground beef we bought yesterday, so I didn't have to thaw anything at 6:00 to cook dinner. Love to all.

Belly pic - 20 weeks 2 days

2009-02-16T23:23:00.004-06:00

Been meaning to post this for over a week now. Lori took it on Feb. 6 when she was at my house. I'm going to be huge by June! Makes me glad I haven't bought a bunch of maternity clothes yet. They wouldn't fit by the end of this pregnancy.

Without further ado, my glorious, already big belly. And don't even try to say it's not. I have already misplaced my toes. So don't even try to lie and say I'm not that big yet. Trust me, this picture does not do my belly justice. It's obvious to strangers, even when I wear a t-shirt, that there's more in there than Quizno's and chocolate cake. Lori's mom predicts a good eight pounder or more if this keeps up. At least it appears he'll be a good healthy weight at birth.

Today, I am 21 weeks and 4 days along. This leaves 129 days until my due date. This morning, my weight was 155.8. This makes a total weight gain of 11.2 pounds. According to the American Pregnancy Association, total weight gain so far should be 9 to 19 pounds, so I guess I'm right on track. I'm not holding my breath, though. I bet I make up for being in the lower half of this "normal" range before delivery. :) As long as I'm somewhere in this band, and Roberta says all is well, I guess that's good enough. This also means I can continue with my daily chocolate cake time, too.

Out of the last 8 days, I've worked in the baby's room for at least a few hours a day (most days, several hours) every day except Valentine's day. I was tired, so we took the day off. So far, we have washed the walls (Michael has become OCD about this. He's washed them once with me, and probably three more times solo.), cleaned the carpet I hate so much (want to put down hard wood if we have the money in the budget right now), put together a shelf/drawer set we bought at Lowe's, put together the changing table, hung new curtains and blinds, organized all our baby stuff in the furniture we have so far, put up a new ceiling fan and light in the dormer, put up a new light in the hall at the top of the stairs, hung a shelf in the bathroom upstairs, and painted shapes (circles, stars and ovals) to go on the walls. Today we hung most of the shapes. I kept several to use to fill in the walls after we pick up our armoire (waiting at Wal-mart right now) and crib (somewhere in "shipped" land, between the warehouse and store) and hang the wooden letters we bought to spell out the baby's name on the wall above the crib. Tomorrow we will go grocery shopping and pick up our 140 pound armoire that has to go upstairs before we put it together. Hopefully I can convince my husband that we need to open it and take it up a couple of pieces at a time. Michael and Bobby had a rough time with getting the changing table upstairs in the box, and it was 30+ pounds lighter.

Well, time for bed. I don't have to go back to work until Friday morning. 14 days off is nice. :)

A preview of the baby stuff bought today

2009-02-06T16:52:00.003-06:00

Ok, so I jumped on the 'net to "approptiate" some pics as a preview of today's aquisitions. Without further ado, the pictures.

Our lamp.

We bought only the blanket from this set. We didn't bother with the rest. I'm creating our own set, from pieces from here and there.

And we got this blanket.

More to come later!

Bought stuff for our nursery today.....

2009-02-06T16:31:00.005-06:00

So, we got our income ta refund deposited today. We used it to buy baby stuff. When we got to Babies R Us and Michael saw all the beautiful blue and brown stuff, he asked if we could change the colors of the nursery. SO guess what? Since I LOVE the color combination already (I want to do our bedroom in blue and brown), we changes our minds. So now everything will be blue and brown. We got blankets, sheets, baskets, clothes, stroller, carseat, high chair, playpen, swing, and I don't know what all else. We spent over $900 there. Three buggies later, the back seat and cargo area of our car were full. I'll post pics later, after I unpack everything and put it all together.

Then we came home, balanced the checkbook so I wouldn't forget, and ordered our furniture. Over $800 of furniture. Pics to come of that, too. I'll have to go swipe the ones off the website, since I have to wait for all of that to be shipped.

Michael had a cool idea for the walls. We aren't painting them. He wants to take 8 or 10 inch strips of wood and paint it blue. Then stencil on a brown pattern TBD. Then put it up on the walls about halfway up, kinda like a really wide chair rail. He thinks this will give the walls some much-needed color. I agree. So we'll be doing that, after I find stencils I like.

Since we changed the colors of the nursery, I guess the red carpet has to go. Yay! I hate that carpet. Later we'll be putting down hardwood like we already have downstairs. I want to do both bedrooms upstairs like that anyway, so this will be a good excuse to get one of them done.

Pics of all the new stuff to come later. We need to wash the walls and steam clean the carpet before we unpack everything and put it all together. Maybe a few days or more before we get all that done. Michael doesn't want to be tripping over everything while we clean. Can't say I blame him. And yes, we're going to go ahead and steam clean the carpet, because it'll be a few months before we rip it up, and we con't want all our nice, new baby stuff to smell from the smells trapped in the carpet. Stupid dog and his habit of peeing and pooping in the house at night. That room will now be off-limits to the little ankle biter!

Attention: My sister has made a request....

2009-02-05T12:02:00.001-06:00

So she got her own tag for my blog. There you go Seester. Happy Birthday. Now I don't have to buy you anything, 'cause you are important enough to have your own tag! Aren't you special??? :)

Today is special......

2009-02-04T17:57:00.002-06:00

Because it's Wednesday! This means tomorrow is the last day I have to work until I have TWO WEEKS OFF!!!

Just kidding. Happy 21st Birthday, Little Sis! I love you!

Quick update - AKA my 17w3d "Almost halfway there" freak-out

2009-01-18T16:34:00.004-06:00

I have almost reached the halfway point of this pregnancy. Wow. Halfway there. Five more months. Considering I will work one of those months in "outage mode", then that really only leaves me with 4 productive months to get EVERYTHING done... Oh CRAP! We've bought a few onesies and a couple of cases of diapers and a few other things we KNOW we're gonna need, but that's about it. I've picked out my nursery furniture. Then I checked and half the set is on back order, so I may have to pick out something different just to make sure it gets here on time. We know what theme we want to go with, depending on whether the baby has a penis or a vajayjay. I haven't registered, picked out bedding, painted, cleaned out the nursery, bought baby clothes, or anything like that. There's still carpet to clean, walls to wash, a glider and ottoman to pick out, a house to organize, clutter and "stuff" to go through and trash anything I can, boxes to unpack from when we bought our house eighteen months ago, Chris's scrapbook to work on, the baby scrapbook to start as soon as the gender is revealed to us.... OHMYGOD! Four more months is not enough time. Not with the way I work, days this week, nights next week...... For Pete's sake, I just ordered my first few pieces of actual maternity clothes today. I'll have to buy more ASAP. My scrub tops for work are almost too small in the belly already. I guess sooner or later I'll resort to wearing maternity jeans and t-shirts to work, just so my belly will stay covered.

OK, freak out over. I feel better. I know it'll get done, if I get off my butt on my days off and do it. Lately I have had no motivation to do anything other than eat and sleep. I'll have to change that. I think my work/sleep schedule has a lot to do with it. My poor body doesn't know if I'm coming or going, on top of being invaded by a foreign person with whom it has to share everything. I have to work nights next Tuesday through Thursday night, but then it's 3 weeks of day shift. Hopefully then I'll take on a more regular schedule and I'll feel like actually doing something during the day other than sitting on the couch watching TV and surfing the internet.

The good news is, as of January 6, I've only gained about four pounds the last 17 weeks. I want to gain a little more than the minimum recommended weight, but I want to stay away from the upper end of "recommended", and I definitely DO NOT want to gain over the recommended amount. I think 30 pounds, give or take one or two, would be good. I gained over 35 pounds last time, but I was a teenager, so it was recommended for me to gain a little extra then. Not this time. This time I get 25 to 35 pounds. Period. And I intend to aim for closer to 30 than 35.

Funny, four pounds gained equals a belly so big people at work are starting to notice it under my scrubs. Good grief! I'm going to be a lot bigger than last time, I think..... :)

Update on OB appointment and Granddaddy

2009-01-09T05:08:00.002-06:00

Great news from my last appointment, which was Tuesday. The baby's heartbeat was 150! That is in the upper range of good, strong, and normal. Blood pressure is good, so no problems there. I have gained 1 pound since my last appointment. Which means more cake and ice cream for me this month! LOL. My next appointment will be Jan. 29 at 9:30 AM. Let's all hope the little bug shows off the goods, so paint and bedding and gender-appropriate cothing and such can be bought!

This child is already practicing to be a gymnast, it seems. Especially when I am trying to sleep. Kinda like his/her big sis was. I started thinking I felt the first flutters two days before Christmas, buut thought it might be gas or my horrid constipation/food digestion. Now it's obviously a baby. Still can't feel it from the outside, but I can sure tell when the baby gets all fired up and ready to turn cartwheels.

I bought a home heartbeat monitor at Walmart this week. It says it may not work until the third trimester, which is still more weeks away than I care to try to count at 5 AM. Thursday marked 16 weeks completed for me, so give or take two more months until then. I tried anyway, but wasn't too surprised when all I heard was the rumbly in my tummy. A small moment of good future parenting for you: The monitor takes a 9V battery to work. Guess where the only 9V batteries in my house are. If you guessed smoke detector, you are correct. With the assistance of a chair from the kitchen table, and the 9V battery from the detector in the living room, I heard my own stomach. Then I re-packaged the monitor and had Michael put the battery back where it should be.

I also bought a body pillow to keep me from leeping on my stomach. It doesn't hurt yet, it's just uncomfortable. So I slept with it. The next morning I woke up with my knee hurting me. It hurt so bad, it hurt to touch it. I don't know what is up with that.

Granddaddy was discharged from the hospital Wednesday afternoon, with an oxygen machine for home use and portable tanks for the car. We picked up the glass for his car yesterday. Then we drove to town to pick up his car and drop it off to be repaired. (Thanks sis!) Granddaddy had his PET scan yesterday. I will call this afternoon before I go to work to see if he got his car back and if his test results are back.

Time to get ready for bed. I have to put my blankets back up on the bedroom windows so I can sleep today. Poor Michael has been asleep on the couch all night. he wouldn't go to bed without me. I bet he sleeps on the couch all weekend. That's his usual spot when I have to work night shift. Poor guy. He says he can't sleep in the bed without me. Personally, I love the few days a month when I have the bed all to myself. He puts off too much body heat. And, every once in a while, there's nothing like a king sized bed all to yourself. Especially considering I sleep diagonally in the bed. And there's no one putting off more body heat than an oven. Or stealing the covers.

Update, December 14

2008-12-14T15:01:00.004-06:00

OK, so I'm now in my third month. I am tweleve weeks and 3 days today. My next doctor's appointment is January 6 at 10:30.

My mom remembers having an ultrasound at three months with my little brother, and we found out he was a "he" then. I don't think my doctor is doing another ultrasound until February. I will be sure to take a DVD-R just in case.

I have finally gotten to the point where some of my jeans are too tight to wear when they're buttoned and zipped. So today I ordered a belly band from http://www.babybeminematernity.com/. I ordered it this morning, and I've already received a shipment email! And today's Sunday! Talk about fast service. I got the Mommy+Daddy=Me band. So cute! I thought I'd get just one for now, to see if I like them before I buy a lot of them.

Got my husband a Wii for Christmas. He got me a laptop. Everyone's happy. Got Chris Guitar Hero 3 (Legends of Rock) for the Wii. He doesn't know yet. He found out yesterday that Daddy has a Wii, and now he has informed us that he needs us to get him Guitar Hero 3 for it. So we did good there!

Gotta get back to work!

Update from the lazy pregnant lady....

2008-12-06T05:29:00.004-06:00

Since I haven't blogged in FOREVER.

Last prenatal appointment was Dec. 3. Had our first ultrasound. We have A baby with A heartbeat. (Thank God, no twins that we know of! For those that don't know me IRL, I have a very strong family history.) Picture from ultrasound below:

AWW, how precious! We were so excited! Our next appointment is January 6. I will be 15 weeks and 5 days. Probably too soon to tell baby's gender. Which means the earliest we will probably know is February 6. BOO! :(

Now for a shout out: My mom finished her NaNo novel by the deadline. I have read the first half of it, and it rocks! Way to go, Momma!

Morning weight yesterday morning was 148.6. This afternoon (when I woke up to go to work) I weighed 147.2. Whatever.

WARNING, slightly TMI follows: I do know that when my 6-day straight run of constipation finally ended, I lost 2 pounds in a matter of a couple of days. All I can say is YAY for Minute Maid Orange Juice Plus Calcium (the "high pulp" variety). It saved me from certain unpleasantness and pain, amongst other possibilities.

OK, TMI moment over. Other pregnancy symptoms are surprisingly absent for the most part. I still tire easily. I try to take care to not overdo it on the physical activity. I had ordered a prenatal yoga DVD from a seller on Amazon, only to have my money refunded due to the title not being in stock like they said. I had hoped to get into it. I have read that prenatal yoga will make carrying the baby during the later stages of pregnancy easier, and also helps make birth easier for most women.

I have been getting headaches a few times a week, too. Nothing too major, a Tylenol or two makes them go away relatively quickly. I'm sure it doesn't help that I can't take my beloved sinus pills during pregnancy. Roberta told me my faves were no-no's. I tried saline nasal spray, but it makes my throat hurt when I use them. Considering a neti pot, but I really hate having water up my nose, so we'll see. Momma and Grandmother swear by their neti pots. I'm not entirely sold on the idea. Even though during the summer I can always breathe more easily for a couple of days after a nice swim in the pool.

I got all my Christmas decorations up while I was off work. That was a major undertaking, even though I put up less decorations than usual, I think. There's lots of stuff I left boxed up in our closet. I put up the tree last Friday with Michael's help. I decorated it Saturday. I put up houses and other decorations through Monday. Took Tuesday and Wednesday off, pretty much. Wrapped all the presents we have so far except for 4 or 5 Thursday night while I tried to stay awake as late as possible. That was a feat! I wrapped between 20 and 30 presents in 3 hours. Of course, I cheated. They all went into either bags or already-decorated boxes. I've decided to take it easy this Christmas and conserve my energy for more important things. Like procrastinating against doing all the decluttering and organizing of all my "stuff" that I keep promising Michael I will do soon. I really have to start getting it done. At the rate i'm going, it's going to take until after my maternity leave is over next August just to get my kitchen/dining room done!

On a brighter note, it's almost time for me to go home and sleep! Yay!!!!

Oh, while I'm still here: ROLL DAMN TIDE!!! I'll be awake today just in time for kickoff! I'll get to see most of the game before work.

Update for 11/2 - Oh Crappy Day!

2008-11-02T09:07:00.003-06:00

9:07 AM
I still feel nauseated every time I eat. And that extra hour of sleep last night didn't help. I read somewhere that a pregnant woman laying on a couch watching television burns more calories and expends more energy than a man at the gym doing bodybuilding workouts. It must be true, because I'm exhausted.

My sinuses are killing me. It is making my head hurt. And my neck. I want a nap so bad right now..... Stupid job, stupid work. Interfering with my ability to nap all day.....

3:34 PM
I feel a little better. Not as nauseated. My sinus have loosened a little. That has lead to my neck and head not hurting anymore. (For now.) Still want a nap. I've already told Michael that dinner will be frozen pizza or corn dogs, I don't care which as long as I don't have to cook for more than 10 or 15 minutes when I get home. Then it'll be a shower, and bed.

More pregnancy update

2008-11-01T16:45:00.002-05:00

Also, nausea (what little I've had of it) sucks! I was nauseated last thursday, so I spent my entire only day off feeling like warmed up crap. Now today I've been nauseated on and off all freaking day. Ugh! Last time I was pregnant, I was NEVER nauseated. Why can't every pregnancy be like that?

And I have acne. I rarely had bad acne as a teenager, but now both cheeks are covered in tiny pimples. It feels almost like sandpaper with all teh little bumps.....

SO, boredom at work leads me to you now....

2008-11-01T15:54:00.004-05:00

First, a big welcome to my sis, who finally gave in and joined our mother and myself in the world of blogging. My mother blogs so much, she has 5 (yes, five!!!!) blogs.

Now on to bigger, more important information: my pregnancy update. I was 6 weeks yesterday. Today I am 6 weeks and 1 day. I'm a fat cow. LOL. No, really. Wait until you see my weight as of yesterday at the end of the post. (No fair peeking ahead!) My back hurt so bad last night that I couldn't sleep. I am so tired, I'm ready to resort to taking naps at work (not quite, but almost!). I am physically exhausted when I wake up in the mornings. I sleep 8+ hours at night, but when I wake up I feel like I haven't been to bed at all. And I actually do sleep through most of those 8+ hours. The past few nights I haven't even gotten up to go to the bathroom. Needless to say, I am SO glad I get an extra hour to sleep tonight. Now if we can just get to bed on time.

I am so excited. Our first prenatal appointment is next Thursday. Hopefully, I'll be far enough along to see a heartbeat. And maybe there's only one baby there. I don't know if it's paranoia or mother's (and father's) intuition, but for some reason we both think there really might be two in there. You can already SEE the difference my weight gain has made, more so than those few pounds should be showing. Either that, or I'm farther along than we think. Or I'm just a fat cow. LOL. I have to stop this weight gain now, or else I'm going to end up gaining too much before next summer. I'm on course to gain 35-45 pounds EASILY over the course of this pregnancy. And that's only if my weight gain stays close to what it is now per week. That's not counting the fact that you usually put on more weight during the second trimester, and the first half or the third trimester. People at work can tell that I've already started gaining weight. The pants I bought a month ago that were too big FIT ME NOW! And my almost brand new bra that I got two months ago? KILLING me right now. I can barely get it on without my boobs looking like I duct taped them. The band is thisclose *making thisclose gesture with my thumb and index finger* to digging into my skin, or should I say fat. I've already told my dear hubby to be ready to go by Walmart after our doctor's appointment next Thursday for me to get a couple of new bras to do me until I outgrow those, too. Thank God I get to wear scrubs to work. They have drawstring waistbands, so I should fit in those for a while. I don't know what I would do if I were already outgrowing my work clothes.

I should have an ultrasound picture to post next Thursday. Will also email it to family members and close friends, so all can see. Michael's sister, who is due in February, told me that the doctor I'm using (she uses the same one, based on my recommendation) does DVDs now of your ultrasounds. I'm planning on taking a DVD-R and a videotape, just in case. I'd rather have a DVD. I may be able to rip it and post it to the internet somewhere for everyone's viewing pleasure. Maybe email it? I'd post it to YouTube, but then I can't cover up my name, etc. on the ultrasound. Mommy/Sissy, any other video sites you know of? I can't post a private YouTube video, can I? I don't think that's possible. I'll have to figure something out. Don't want to have to email it to everyone, but I will if I have to.

And now, the best news of the day: my little brother will be home in 3 (yes, THREE!!!!!!) days!!!! YAY!!!!

Morning weight (forgot to weigh Thursday, so weighed Friday instead): 148.4
Total weight gain so far: 3.8 pounds (in 18 days?!?! are you KIDDING me? can we say COW?!?!?!)

Pregnancy Update - 5 weeks 2 days

2008-10-25T15:32:00.003-05:00

No nausea the last two days! Yay for me! Maybe Thursday was a fluke, maybe I ate something Wednesday that didn't make my stomach happy the next day. I'm gonna say it probably wasn't undercooked meat, because that don't fly with me. I'm a "steak, well-done" type of girl.

Pregnancy Update - 5 weeks 1 day

2008-10-24T13:59:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was my one day off this week. It was a milestone day for my pregnancy. I reached 5 weeks yesterday. I woke up nauseated and stayed that way for almost the entire day. (Not nauseated today, thank goodness.) I realized my first appointment with Roberta is two weeks from yesterday. I weighed yesterday. 147.8 pounds.

I went to Granny and Granddaddy's yesterday. They told me my brother may be home November 4, two days before my first appointment. That's really good news. Maybe he'll actually get to come home that day. Then he'll be home to hear the good news after my appointment. (He already knows I'm pregnant, I mean the good news from my appointment.) Maybe I can upload an ultrasound video afterwards. Or at least pictures. My doctor usually does an ultrasound at almost every visit.

Total pregnancy weight gain: 3.2 pounds

Just a quick update

2008-10-21T09:25:00.004-05:00

The big news: Chris' team won their football game Saturday by 31 to 12! It's the first game they've won this season. He even got to play quarterback on the last play of the game.

Now, on to the pregnancy update:

Still feel tired a lot. More symptoms are beginning to slooooowly creep up. My breasts are starting to feel more tender. My back and legs are starting to hurt more. And I have to pee every 10 minutes. Last night when I got home from work, I had a headache and a fever (99.6). Tylenol took care of it, and I woke up with no fever. Maybe it was a fluke thing. I'll keep an eye on it.

Got two of the books I ordered in. What to Expect When you're Expecting and the What to Expect Pregnancy Journal and Organizer.

My first prenatal appointment will be November 6. Hopefully, we'll get to hear a heartbeat. Roberta used to do an ultrasound every visit. I hope she still does. My belly is so bloated it's had to tell if it's baby or bloat. Would like an ultrasound on the first visit to date the pregnancy. By my calculations, I'll be 7 weeks on that day. This makes me due around June 25. If I actually got pregnant a month ago and had a preiod even though I was pregnant, that would make me almost 11 weeks, and my due date would be May 30. Big difference. Although I do really think I'm only 4 1/2 weeks right now (will be 5 weeks Thursday). I suppose we shall see.

Weight gain so far: 2.4 pounds. Have decided to weigh every Thursday morning, as a way of keeping up with the weeks.

My blog

2008-10-15T11:48:00.001-05:00

Is it just me, or is the right side of my blog messed up? Anyone know how to fix it?

Good news in my house...

2008-10-15T11:17:00.000-05:00

I found out Monday that I am expecting. Michael and I are thrilled. I found out two days after his birthday. I'll be due in June sometime. My first prenatal appointment is November 6 at 10 AM. Last time (nine years ago) she did an ultrasound at every appointment. Maybe she will this time, too.

I have to say, I don't FEEL very pregnant. None of the usual symptoms. I've been so hungry the last week, that's about it. I gained 1 1/2 pounds yesterday (no kidding!) but surely some of that is water retention or something.... Although I did eat five (yes, five) times yesterday.....

The only reason I tested when I did was so I could say that I had to wait a few more days for my period to show. I tested on the earliest day possible, for some reason.

Guess Michael's gonna have to put up the swimming pool as soon as it gets warm enough next spring. Being in the third trimester in the summer in Alabama will not be fun. I think I'll have him put it where it'll be shaded in the afternoon. To minimize the sunburn and heat while I float around in it.

And of course, while we will be happy no matter what, I would prefer a girl and Michael is hoping for a boy. For a girl, I'm thinking either Winnie the Pooh (complete with murals painted on the wall) or blue-and-brown nursery:
(bed set and accessories by Amy Coe for Babies R Us).

For a boy, an Alabama crimson-and-white room. I'll hang my mom's autographed picture of THE BEAR in it, too.

Any thoughts from anyone?

Chris's football update

2008-09-30T05:24:00.000-05:00

So far, 0-2 on the season. We lost to the Athens 2 (they have several teams, so many kids in this age range signed up for an Athens team). But my baby made a tackle, and his mom said you could hear me cheering halfway down the field, above everyone else's cheers.

I had to work Saturday, but I am told they lost that game, too.

But I have confidence in our kids on the team. And even if they lose every game this season, as long as they had a good time, that's all that matters.

Some parents irk my last tater. They act like it isn't good enough for their kid to try to do their best on the field, be it baseball, basketball, whatever they do. As long as Chris does his best, I don't care if he never wins a single game, as long as he had fun doing it. He's 10 years old. It's not like full scholarships to college are riding on how he does this week on the football or baseball field. And he's still so young, he's only just now learning how to play these sports. He will improve with time, and if he doesn't, at the end of the day all that matters is that he tried his best and he was happy doing it.

100 Books and a quiz

2008-09-29T22:51:00.000-05:00

The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six.Here’s what you are supposed to do:*Look at the list and bold those we have read.*Italicize those we intend to read.*Underline the books we LOVE .Share this list in your blog, too, if you like.

I intend to read all of them, even the one's I've already read. It's on my 100/1001 list, to be posted here when I am finished writing it. Since I am going to read all of them, I am not italicizing any of them, but I am bolding and underlining as appropriate.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Bible
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Complete Works of Shakespeare (A good portion, anyway!)
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
Emma - Jane Austen
Persuasion - Jane Austen
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Dune - Frank Herbert
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
Ulysses - James Joyce
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Germinal - Emile Zola
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Possession - AS Byatt
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Charlotte's Web - EB White
The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Watership Down - Richard Adams
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

To be fair, I have read portions of a lot of these, thanks to Literature class in middle/high school, or beginning the book and not liking it, and so not finishing it. I did not take credit for that here, because I feel that would be cheating.

In other news, a blog I read had this on it's website. I took the quiz, here are the results. Forgive me, whomever had this first, i can't remember who's blog I found it on. Let me know if you think it was you, and I'll give credit if it was.

Take the Quiz here!

Messed up schedule...

2008-09-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

So, work messed with my schedule. Due to some people going into license training, and others going to a dayshift-only tagging team, I am being moved from Group 1 to Group 3. I worked Friday night, took off Saturday night to go to Chris's two (jamboree) football games Saturday, and worked Sunday night. I will be off Moday. I have to work Tuesday through Thursday, dayshift.

I still have to redo my work schedule calendar that I gave everyone. Momma, do you know if I can share a Google calendar or something like it with people? It would be easier for you, Becki, Granddaddy, and Grandmother to know my schedule if I could. At least, it would be easier for you and Becki. I don't think anyone ever looks at the paper schedules I printed everybody. If I can't share it, I'll just make and print new ones I guess.

Now on to the important topic of football. Bama won big time (ROLL TIDE). Auburn beat Mississippi State 3-2 (better luck next time to the Dawgs).
As for Chris and his team:
1st game, vs. Elkmont - won 12-7
2nd game, vs. East 2 - lost 16-0

Found a new website, www.orgjunkie.com. She does Menu Plan Monday, where a bunch of bloggers post the coming week's menu on her site each Monday, sometimes including recipes and grocery lists. Last week, 351 people posted their menu. Today, 162 people have already posted, since around 3:00 yesterday afternoon. Maybe it will give me ideas. I have run out of new foods that I can actually get Michael and Bobby to both eat, and I'm tired of eating the same stuff over and over. At least they both LOVE Hobo dinner. They request that almost every week.

I'm tired, and I'm glad it's almost time to go home and sleep a few hours.

My first post....

2008-09-13T05:03:00.001-05:00

So, this is my first post. I joined some time back, to read a few specific blogs. Now I'm back, to read my mom's blogs (HI MOMMY!). She has gotten back into her writing, which I am proud of. She used to write such fantastic stories and poems and songs.... That was before a very dark period in our family history. She seems to have gotten herself back on track finally, and I couldn't be more proud. After what she has been through, I had begun to wonder if maybe the past had damaged her too much. I should have realized that she is stronger than that. She just had to do this in her own time, not mine or anyone else's.

Momma, if you're reading this, I am SOOOOO proud of what you have done the past 120+ days. I am proud that you have been through the fire more than once and came out on the other side each time, a little singed, but maybe not completely burnt. I am proud that you have finally, in your own time, come far enough to begin writing again. It may not pay much right now, but one day it will. I expect full updates on the NaNoWriMo you're doing, as well as your other work.

Momma, remember, God made women the stronger gender, emotionally and mentally, because He knew we would need it to survive all life throws our way. Hopefully, our emotional and mental workout is over for a while and we can relax.

For those who don't know her yet, my mother is a three-time widow (none of which was her doing, thank you very much) who is also a recovering addict, a writer, and a mother of three, including myself. Se already has been through more than some people twice her age. She is an amazing example of strength and courage. She is also an amazing example of losing it all time and time again. For what she has been through, and her ability to come out on the other side, I applaud her.

C*R*A*Z*Y? ? ? I was crazy once!