Monday, June 30, 2008

Pay It Forward

Alright, do we all know about Swistle's Massive Pay It Forward Contest Plan?? It sounds really fun, so why not??

No. I do not know what the prize will be, but I promise it will be fun. Probably a box with several random FUN things in it. Probably things from Target, because isn't that the most fun store you can think of?

Anyway, the contest starts today--Right Now, actually--and ends Friday, July 4th at Midnight (central standard time). The winner will be chosen July 5th (using a random number generator, which I will, um, have to figure out exactly what that is). (Hmm. . . I may be a the lake actually SO my winner may have to be announced when I get back. I am going to have to figure that little detail out). Wow. It sounds like I do NOT have it together. But don't fret, it's gonna work out and the prize will be fun!! In fact we can inaugurate posting pictures to this blog with it (because really, isn't it about darn time I fancy this place up a bit?). So, there's a plan. I will shop for the stuff and when I announce the winner I will ALSO post a picture of the Sure to be Fun Prize!

To enter just leave a comment (you can choose to answer the questions below--because that just sounds like fun--or you can just put "I'm in" or whatever, totally your call) in this post and make sure to either leave a link to your blog or your e-mail address so I can let you know if you win!!!

Questions:

1. What is your all-time favorite movie?
2. What is your favorite thing to do if you have an afternoon all to yourself?
3. Because I am still pregnant, and therefore interested in food. . . What is your favorite snack?

(edited to add: Just to Clarify--and to reinforce the whole POINT of the pay it forward--the winner of this contest should have her (his?) own contest. You know "Pay it Forward")

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Two Things

1. The neighbors across the hall have GOT to be the rudest people on the planet. I don't know how many times I have been walking out my door the same time they are walking out there door. . . and nothing. The first time I smiled brightly and was about to say hello. But then I was caught off-guard by rude faces and flat out being ignored. Now all I can do when I see them of how much I dislike them. I'm not trying to be buddies with them or anything, but geez.

2. I really, REALLY want to eat a turkey sandwich from Subway. Turkey, cheese, mustard, pickles, oil/vinegar, salt and pepper. I can almost taste it I want it so bad. But I don't want it toasted. I have gone through all these weeks of pregnancy following the no cold lunchmeat rule. . . and suddenly it's killing me. I wonder if someone will be able to sneak one into the hospital.

Dreamy

Up until last night I don't think I had really had any dreams about giving birth. All the books/websites talk about dreaming about the baby and giving birth, but not me. But, with last night's dream we can officially say I had a dream about giving birth.

In the dream it was about 7:00 at night. Someone comes in and says they just got off the phone with the doctor and I have two options. 1. Come to the hospital tonight and they will induce labor and it'll all be done my midnight (to which I hilariously said "Do they think I'm some kind of birthing superhero?") OR 2. Come in the next day, but it would take much longer.

The whole time I just kept saying "but, I'm only 34 weeks. Don't they know that's too early?"

That's about all there was to it, or at least all I can remember. Probably it would have progressed further had I not had to--you guessed it--get up to pee.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Wash, Dry, Fold, Wash, Dry. . .

When is laundry (almost) fun?

Well, it is nearly fun when you are washing baby stuff for the first time. (I'm sure this will wear off with time). At any rate, I washed all the baby clothes this weekend. And the receiving blankets, quilts, etc. It was certainly a task that took a lot of time. But, I don't know, folding up all the little clothes and putting everything away in the nursery really was fun. Things look they are really starting to come together.

My husband is gone for the week. Our church needed more adults to help out with a youth trip at the last minute, so he is doing that. My dog has recently been taken to my parents house for an extended stay. She is staying there until the baby gets here and we get adjusted. I feel bad, but at the same time I think she'll be happier. She is the center of attention with my parents and I think she'd feel a little neglected right when the baby arrives if she was with us. At any rate, the apartment is so quiet with my husband and the dog gone. I'm just lumbering around wishing there was something better on tv. Any suggestions?

My goal for the week is to get all the stuff from the baby showers put away. I'm about halfway through, but right now I think I need more containers because I want things to be organized!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Catching Up

Well, I just did a really long post to catch up. And Blogger ate it. So now you get the short version. Which sucks. But I'm too irritated to type it all again.

*Got haircut. Have bangs. Not much taken off length. Added layers. Love.

*Baby shower last weekend. Lots of stuff. Baby stuff is so cute.

*Another baby shower this weekend. Very excited to see girls from my old workplace.

*Nesting instinct needs to kick in so I can get stuff done.

*Childbirth classes are over. Still do not know answer to lingering question: Will I really know how to recognize contractions?

*Gained 9 pounds over the past three weeks. Going to grocery store after work. Cleary it is time to incorporate more apples, less cheeseburgers.

*Mmmm. . . cheeseburger. . .

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Sudden Urges

So, I'm sitting here at my desk. Working.

Someone walked by and I smell their hair. It makes me want to buy new shampoo.

Last time I bought shampoo I bought these huge bottles and I said I was NOT going to buy shampoo/conditioner again until those bottles were gone. Months later. . . up until this very moment I was fine with my current hair washing situation.

Now I really just want to buy new stuff.

(Also: I love the smell of sunscreen, especially the Banana Boat smell, but all sunscreen generally smells good. I bought some spray on sunscreen and am sad because it smells more like bug spray to me than sunscreen.)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Naptime?

It is raining today. And I have allergies. It's a good day to sleep in, don't you think?

No. I'm not sleeping in. I came to work, but it's a nice thought to entertain. The good news is that the dreary weather has made this office less hot, which is always a good thing. Semi-Interesting fact: I actually like days like this. Rainy days are the best for laying in bed with a good book. And napping.

Tonight's childbirth class is about breastfeeding. I'm actually looking forward to this one because I haven't made my mind up on the issue yet. So it'll be nice to get the information. Right now I am at about 75% that it's what I want to do, but still not positive.

A lady I work with asked me the other day if I was going to breastfeed and I said I wasn't sure. I braced for the worst. The last time this conversation started with a coworker she gave me a lecture. But this time the person was so nice. She said "well, you don't have to make that decision yet, until he gets here it could go either way." I just thought it was refreshing, you know?

In other news, I think I have discovered that is IS sugary food/drink that leaves the bad taste in my mouth. This morning I had a biscuit and no bad taste. The times when I *thought* it was the non-sweet food, it was probably from drinking sweet tea. I had unsweet tea with dinner last night and also no bad taste. With that problem seemingly solved, now I just need to figure out what is causing all this sneezing with the sore throat!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Lunch Today

Me: I'll have a cheeseburger, onion rings, and medium drink.
Waitress: So, what are you having?
Me: Um. . . a cheeseburger. . .
Waitress: Blank look.

. . .

Me: Oh! A boy. I'm having a boy.

Leaves A Bad Taste

What is going on?

Every time I eat I get this horrible taste in my mouth. And it really doesn't matter what I eat. I'm becoming a teeth brushing fanatic. Except this morning. I ate a poptart on the way to work and now I'm stuck sitting here with this gross taste until I can brush my teeth at lunch time.

Tomorrow I will be sticking a toothbrush in my purse.

I have heard of getting a "metallic" taste in your mouth during pregnancy, but that's not what this is. I can't really describe it, other than annoying.

(edited to add: also leaving a metaphorically bad taste in my brain: I am 32 weeks this week and my boobs hurt. Are they getting bigger? I mean, I read that this happens or whatever, but where can they go from here? I am positive I have not mentioned this yet, but current cup size=G. That's right, did you know they made a G? Neither did I.)

Thursday, June 5, 2008

One Where I'm NOT Complaining

Okay, enough with the complaining. I suppose I could talk about some things that I am excited about.

*Haircut. I scheduled an appointment for next Friday. I have not decided what to have them do yet. Short? Just a trim? Can Not Decide. Either way though, I love the way my hair feels post-haircut. Actually I kind of like Sarah Jessica Parker's short haircut on Sex and the City. Now, I know, I know, I've read that a lot of people hated that haircut, but last night on a rerun she had it all curly and it looked so cute. My hair is naturally wavy, but I always blow dry it straight. Stylists keep telling me that it would be super easy for me to make it curly--so maybe with that cut I could imitate her style? Or possibly it could go terribly awry. Good thing I have a week to think about this, because I do NOT want some sort of pregnancy whim haircut going on that I will regret.

*Weight Watchers. This is my weight loss plan for after the baby comes and I'm ridiculously excited about the whole thing. I've done WW before and really liked it. I think the whole counting points/planning menus thing really fits my personality. It's almost like balancing a checkbook. Making sure you eat the correct amount of points, checking off the "healthy guidelines" each day, etc. I am doing WW online, not the actual meetings though. I am literally so excited that sometimes I just go to the WW website and look around. I hope being this excited about it doesn't wear off once I actually start.

*Tomorrow. My husband is playing golf tomorrow at noon, so I'm thinking we can go eat lunch at the club and then I go to the pool while he plays golf. Four hours at the the pool, though, is that too much? Do you think I'll get bored? I am seriously doubting it.

*Lunch. I just had a chicken enchilada for lunch and it was fantastic. So fantastic that I am still excited about it an hour after I ate it.

*Three Day Weekend. No, these have not gotten old yet. It's like every Thursday I'm refreshed with the knowledge that we have an extra day off.

Frying Eggs on my Desk

Well now, the week is almost over and clearly I have not complained enough yet. I once saw a comic strip about the a/c in office buildings. It showed a sign above the thermostat that said something like "$1 to control the temperature for 10 minutes" or something along those lines.

Now, I know I've already mentioned that I am in the "hot" part of the building. I just moved into my new "regular" office on Monday and all week have been seething over the heat. I mean, it's just across the hall, so why is it so hot in here.

Then, yesterday afternoon genius struck. I actually took to the time to look at the air vent (okay, I was glaring at it, whatever) and realized it was closed. CLOSED!! The person who was in this office last was crazy! So I opened the vent, only to realize that it did not help the situation.

The thermostat is set on 73. But, it is actually 77 in here. To clarify how miserable this is for me, at night I am sleeping in an apartment that is 68 degrees with three (3) fans in the room. I think other people in this hallway are hot, but it's hard to tell. See, those people appear to be working when I walk by their offices. I, on the other hand, must look like I am sitting out in the desert.

(I am so not kidding, the air just kicked off--just right this very second)

Everywhere I go is hot. The car is hot. I have the a/c in that sucker cranked up to the max. It is sometimes hard to hold a conversation with my husband in the car because I can't hear over the air.

I am counting down the hours until the weekend (which, thank God, starts at 5 pm today). At which time I will promptly stand in front of the freezer for 72 hours.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Reasons Why

Maybe it is because I am so tired. I tried to catch up last night, but couldn't sleep.

Maybe it is because I just looked at an old friend's recent wedding pictures on Facebook. It was beautiful. But, we aren't friends anymore and it was hard to not imagine that in other circumstances I would have been there.

Maybe it is because I found myself a little jealous of it all. Everything looked perfect.

Maybe it is because the pictures of my own wedding are stuffed away in boxes. Even the pictures that once hung in our parents' homes have been taken off the walls and put away somewhere.

Maybe it is because all I have wanted to do this week is go to the pool, but I won't be able to go again this afternoon.

Maybe it is because we didn't go to Childbirth Class last night. I feel guilty, like I should have been there and also nervous, because what if I missed something important?

Maybe it is because I know that I should be doing something more productive this morning, but I'm not. I'm tired of asking questions about how to do this and how to do that. I know it's all part of a new job, but I feel like a pest.

Maybe it is because I feel like my life has gotten so small. How many friends do I not talk to anymore?

Maybe it is because of something I can't quite put my finger on.

Or, maybe it is just because I'm pregnant? I hope it's that one. And I hope things swing the other direction soon.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

ER

Last night we got to take a trip to the emergency room. My husband plays city league softball and got hit in the back of the head with the ball. Hard. At about 9 pm. Interestingly, there was another guy in the emergency room with a city league softball injury. Clearly this sport is more dangerous than I expected. Good thing I personally have a no sports policy (I am so loving this idea of the "policy", by the way) because of my lack of coordination. Back to the point--this is the second scary injury he has gotten since we got married and scarier than the first, to be sure. It was all very dramatic, until he said something that made me laugh. That's right. I am obviously a terrific wife. My husband has a minor concussion and I'm laughing with the nurse IN THE ROOM.

Anyway, I don't know if it was caused by the hit or just from being freaked out, but my husband had a stutter pretty much the whole time we were there. When the nurse asked if he normally stutters (he does not) he said "yes, my wife says I talk like Foghorn Leghorn." (FYI: Foghorn Leghorn is the big rooster on Looney Tunes). Now. . . he said this because in college once he was joking around and I did say he sounded like that rooster. It was so hilarious, the nurse was just kind of like "okay. . . ." and we informed her that no, he does not normally stutter. I kept trying to not laugh, but the nurse heard me. She asked if I was okay. I really think she thought I was upset/crying. They also asked if he was allergic to any meds several times and each time he said "just cats." Then he got a CAT scan.

Am I the only person who does not know what to do in emergency situations? I am not a person who freaks out. But I worry, keeping it on the inside, obviously. I think maybe sometimes it comes across like ambivalence, but mostly it's just a lack of knowing what to do. In addition, my mother-in-law is a nurse, so especially with my husband I kind of feel like she must know what to do so maybe I should just observe and not be in the way. Ugh. I hate situations where I don't know what to do.

Things this morning are better. He seems back to normal, but he does have a headache.

So, after a few hours in the emergency room we ended up sleeping at his parents house. He was still wobbly and we thought it would be easiest to just go there instead of trying to climb the stairs at the apartment. I thought I would go to work this morning, but after waking up an hour early to call his work to say he wouldn't be in I realized I was dead tired. I called my work and said I'd be late. So, I am currently laying in my bed typing this while I should be getting dressed because I told them I'd be in at 1:00 to work a half day. I am still really tired but I guess I should just be telling myself "just four hours. just four hours."

Also, my husband is at a job interview as we speak. I hope he gets this job. It is only ten miles from where we live, versus his current job which is 70 miles!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Grievances

While I wouldn't say that I'm in a Bad Mood, per say, I would say that I am whiny today.

*Texas

You are hot. I know you've always been hot and blah blah blah, but you are too hot for my current pregnant self. I'm warning you that I'm only getting more pregnant by the day, therefore the situation is worsening.

*Construction Crews

I realize that whatever you are doing will benefit everyone in the future (or whatever) but you are currently a pain in the butt.

*Headache

I don't need you today. I'm already tired, so this senseless headache is only making things worse.

*Swimming Pool

Why are you so far away? Why are you not, let's say, located in my office?

*CPA Exam Review Course

Could you be less boring? Please?

*Office Thermostat

Why does everyone think 75 degrees is sufficiently cool? It is not. Plus, I think the thermostat must be wrong, because this 75 feels like 85. Have I mentioned yet that my office is in the hottest part of the building?

*5:00

Getting here rather slow today aren't we? Come on, show up. I know it's Monday. I know it's stinking hot outside. But do us a favor and hurry up, would you? Then we can both take a break.