Pink, Pearls and Perspective

Hey everyone! I hope you all had great weekends, they just go by too stinking fast. We scored about 12 hardly worn baby outfits at a yard sale for $15 yesterday AND I finally found a dress for a wedding next weekend so it's been a successful weekend! And a super cute new pink sweater to wear on my b-day!

We've decided to do our nursery in pink and brown, like pretty much the rest of the universe having baby girls, and I think we may have most of the decor picked out. We ventured up into uncharted suburban territory Friday night and ran into a Joann's fabric/craft store to look at fabric. We came out with a sample of chocolate brown fabric with tiny pink embroidered spots that are so light they look pink. It fits in perfectly with our scheme, so we're going to order that and get my mom to sewing. =) Brent picked up some pink samples of paint at the HD last week. We finally picked out one that isn't so Pepto it's nauseating and it also has the nice brown undertone our whole house has. He just bought a quart to see if we could stomach it, so I spent some time this afternoon rolling it onto some of the walls and I think it looks really nice! After I finished painting I went to change back to "regular" clothes and realized I still had my pearl necklace on from this morning, when I paint I do it fancy. =) We're not doing all the walls in pink, and with the curtains, furniture and artwork it shouldn't end up too bubble-gum gorey! I'll have to take some pics for the private blog to compare alongside with the furniture and bedding pics I have up there already.

For some strange reason I decided that I'd like to knit my baby an afghan. I have never knitted a thing in my life and don't even have a clue where to start, but I classify myself as a smart person and I think it's something I can tackle. I picked a little book up at Joann's and 3 different colors of yarn as well as some needles. When I got home I realized I had bought a crochet book and all the stuff for knitting. This project really isn't starting out so well! I watched a few videos on YouTube and don't have a clue how to knit. I went online and requested several videos and books from the library that I can pick up tomorrow, so hopefully I can figure out how to do this..... I think I'm going to back off trying to do a tri-color blanket and just focus on one color for this first one!

I ended up with 3 workouts last week, last week was a tough one since I have a class on Tuesdays and we also had my boss's birthday lunch one day. I'm still happy with 3, though! I am now FULLY in cotton workout gear, no tech stuff fits anymore. It's a sad day! My birthday is coming up on Wednesday of this week, so it might be a light workout week this week, too. I am able to help Brent more with the phases of the current stair remodel, so I'm burning some extra calories at home! I spent this afternoon washing floors and also painting (in a large, well ventilated space!). AND, I got 12 of my 20 required hours for this year of CPE knocked out last week! (As a CPA I have to get 80 hours of professional training every 2 years, but at least 20 each year. Which I can speak from experience that they do audit, stupid auditors. =) ) I may go ahead and do some additional courses this year since next year will likely be a bit of a roller coaster around here. So, it's been a very busy week but so much is getting accomplished around here and things are starting to come together and be a lot less stressful in our household. (Although our washer - which will be 10 in January - acted up this afternoon. As much as I've wanted a super hot new stackable front loader I'd prefer to hold off on yet one more large purchase for at least a year! Between expensive nursery furniture, baby stuff in general, one last piece for our living room, and an impeding used car - we are purchased out!)

And lastly, I'll leave you with a semi-workout related tale of perspective. I've mentioned on here Pippin's been "acting up" lately. He's actually not been in trouble for a couple of weeks, until last Thursday. His primary temptation is my gym bag, for no apparent reason. I didn't take it to work Thursday because I knew I wouldn't be going, and sure enough Thursday afternoon its contents were spread all over the kitchen floor and he'd chewed a pair of (clean) undies up. We put him in timeout for 45 minutes - which he has come to anticipate so I do think it's working. Brent and I were talking about it later to try and figure out why he's so obsessed with my gym bag. I said I wondered if he liked to get into it since I always take it with me in the morning, and perhaps it's his way of saying "please don't go, stay here with me". Brent looked at me and said "I think he likes to get into it because it pretty much always smells like sweaty crotch."

I guess Brent's probably got this one figured out. =)

Will Work(out) for Food

Hey everyone! Today is super exciting because the Office will be back tonight! Woo hoo!!! It's about time!! That has to be the best show, EVER.

Anyway, it's been a busy week with lots of stuff going on. The gas shortage in Nashville is getting much better, it's not nearly as difficult to find gas but it's still overpriced and a lot of stations are out. I took some pics to post later of what our gas stations looked like last weekend. I can't believe I paid $3.55 about two weeks ago and Brent paid $4.20 last Friday. Today I saw a sign for $3.99, which is the cheapest I've seen since Ike came through.

On the workout front, I've gotten in 2 so far and will have my 3rd for the week tomorrow. Tuesday a class I take at work resumed for the fall, so I won't be making it to the gym on Tuesdays anymore. Today was our department lunch for my boss's birthday, so it's been one of those weeks where other things are more important, which is A-OK.

Yesterday was a "member appreciation" day at the gym, so when I got there they had pizzas, juice, bananas and the popcorn machine going. I heart the popcorn machine! Next time Brent asks me what I want for my b-day I am going to say a popcorn machine + a prenatal massage! The WHOLE time I was working out all I could think about was how great a piece of pizza would be after my workout, it was right next to the machines, just calling out to me!!! So I did my workout, changed, grabbed a bag of popcorn (that's always upstairs) and headed down for pizza - only to be greeted by 4 empty boxes. SO CRUEL. Seriously, the whole thing is just odd - to have that sort of food for everyone - but I love it! I'd much rather have pizza than some whole grain nutrition bar, especially these days! Anyway, I cursed the fat hussies who ate all the pizza and headed back to work, crossing paths with a fellow coworker on his way in. I told him about the pizza debacle and we shared our disappointments. A while later he stopped by my desk and gave me a few bananas - he had raided the free banana stash on his way in and brought me a few! In my upset state I had completely forgotten to take any of them. How nice!

I have great coworkers and now that I am enormously pregnant they are all even nicer. From bringing me back bananas, to getting donuts for me at meetings so I don't have to get up, it pays to be preggers! Today we had a fire alarm - which happened RIGHT as a meeting I'd been in for an hour and a half ended. I REALLY had to go to the bathroom, but you never know if it's a real fire or not, so I evacuated like everyone else. After 20 minutes outside (on a beautiful day) I was ready to POP. And of course there was a line of women in the bathroom once we got to go back in - but they all ushered me ahead of them and let me skip. Baby growing has benefits!

Time to go, we've got to eat and then it's OFFICE NIGHT!!! WOOTTTTT!

Got gas?

Hey all! Sorry not so much posting on here lately, most of what's going on around here is more suited for the private blog, so I'm keeping my biz in those parts lately. I think at some point I will probably only post there, and just use this one for exercise/getting back into pre-baby shape only. There are too many creeps and psychos in this world, those that you know and those you don't, for me to really be all about posting my life publicly, and esp the life of babygirl. And honestly, who doesn't have a blog these days?? It's getting a little much. There are some people's narrow-minded pea brains I wish I'd never seen the inside of......

I guess the main news around here is our big-time gas shortage. Nashville is pretty much out of gas. It's weird to drive around and see most gas stations roped off with caution tape because they have none, or no prices up on the signs because there's nothing left to sell. I rarely fill my tank up, usually I'm running late to work when I realize I need gas and since a tank lasts me right at a month, I typically put in some random amount before jumping in and rushing off. I ended up getting about 3/4 of a tank about 3 days before Ike and I'm really glad I did! On the other hand, Brent hasn't been so lucky. He needs gas about once a week, and got stuck having to get some the day of Ike - when price gauging started - and then needed a refill yesterday, when the massive panic and huge lines started (and even more price gauging). He had to drive all around the 'burb he works in to get gas, and for the first time ever we have premium in our car! The only station that had regular had massive lines (that extend into streets, etc) & would've taken him at least 30 minutes to get through. Our news is full of footage of people being lined up down streets, police called into various areas to help control "gas rage" and radio stations have people calling in just to let you know where you can get gas! Even our neighborhood message board has messages of people helping others find stations. It's crazy stuff. Here's an article on CNN about it...

We don't have too many places to go this weekend, so we should be able to conserve gas, and Brent can always drop me off at work if I end up having to give him my car with gas. Ironically we do need to do some car shopping, but this weekend just isn't the right time for riding all over town! We started looking last weekend, and have a few various models (used) in mind to replace the Jeep. We haven't spent much time on the car hunt yet, mostly because I will be sad to see it go and also hate to spend money on something so valueless as a car. But I can't see myself hoisting a baby in the back seat of a Wrangler, so it's time to get serious! Tomorrow we have to drive out the suburbs to order our crib and nursery furniture, and that's about as far as we'll have to go from the Eastside this weekend.

On workouts, I got in 2 lunch workouts. My goal pre-preg was 4/wk and now it's 3/wk. Monday was out because of our ultrasound date day, then Tues I was off-site at a meeting all day. Wed was way too gorgeous for the gym, so I did walk 1.5 outside at lunch in the wonderful weather before spending Thurs and Fri at the gym. And I still walk 1 mile each afternoon with a coworker, so babygirl and I are still burning our calories. Although prob not enough for the cheesecake we treated ourselves to from the Cheesecake Factory last night. =)

Ok, that's all for here! Have a great weekend!

Mini-Me or Mini-He?

I thought about being mean and posting about our weekend, the famous celeb we saw at our fave burrito place, subsequently following him in our car after we left, about Pippin's fab new daycare/kennel and some cute screen shots of him playing via their webcams. Maybe even some excruciatingly boring details of my 4 workouts. But I know you really don't care about that so much today, right?

Our ultrasound went great! Our tech was super sweet, and that's probably one of the best jobs in the world. (Except for when it has to be one of the worst jobs in the world.) It was a completely surreal experience. All this time they tell you you're pregnant, and you certainly look it, but it still just doesn't quite sink in until that machine clicks on and you see this person absolutely kicking the fire out of you and just dancing around.

And of course you're glad to hear that baby is healthy and everything looks to be normal. But you want the goods, right?

Since the day they got married,
He'd been praying for a little baby boy.
Someone he could take fishing,
Throw the football and be his pride and joy.
He could already see him holding that trophy,
Taking his team to state

But you know how the song goes from there, right?

But when the nurse came in with a little pink blanket,
All those big dreams changed.
And now he's wrapped around her finger,
She's the center of his whole world.
And his heart belongs to that sweet little beautiful, wonderful, perfect All-American Girl.

Yup, we're having a feisty little girl! All the salty-loving, hair growing, face breaking out, pukey nauseated predictions couldn't have been more wrong. There's going to be a new pair of pink Nike onesies and tempo track shorts and a brand new Daddy's girl around here.

We spent the rest of our day out shopping, had lunch and gourmet cupcakes outside on a beautiful fall day and just enjoyed our time together. (And man am I beat!) We've got some pics to scan and maybe we can take some of the video off the DVD we got to put up on the other blog. But for now I've got some cute new pink onesies to put up and a girl name to come up with. =)

Election Year Polling

Just a few hours to get your vote in! =) (Note that there is NO option for both!!!! Or more than one!!! )

Online Surveys & Market Research

TGIF!

Hey everyone! Thank goodness it's Friday! I can't complain, the week's gone by quickly and next week is going to be a good one - the big U/S is Monday at 9:00 am! Woo hoo! I can't wait to give "it" at least a he or she. And hopefully hear that all is well in there and growing according to plan.

Since we've got our airfare and hotels for our trip to California, the only major thing left was booking a "hotel" for Pippin to stay in while we're gone. We normally leave him at his vet's and they take really good care of him but he doesn't get much play time and since he'll be away from home 8 nights (due to our flights) I want him to stay somewhere a little more fun. SO, tomorrow morning he has an 'interview' at a new kennel nearby. It looks like such a cute place, he'll get daycare play all day, a mandatory afternoon nap, and then be crated at night. Several places nearby don't crate at night, and our wildman really doesn't need to be left roaming with no supervision with other dogs in the evening. His interview will last for THREE hours tomorrow. They slowly intro him to other dogs, they want to see how he is with us, how he acts when he leave, etc. I hope he passes!!!! They also have live webcams, which I love!

I know I had other things to share but I can't remember them at all! Brent should be home soon from getting his haircut and then it's time to head out for some dinner! Yay!

Pippin vs the Shop Vac

This is why projects at our house take a little longer than usual. (And yes, Brent's vacuuming up drywall dust and basically everything we own is regularly coated with that much stinking dust.)

Note the massively wagging nub of a tail. Additionally I hope if anyone ever does break into our house that they do it with power tools. Because they would be so screwed.

So Productive!

I think I can feel pretty good about this weekend heading into another Monday. We've had some relax time & gotten a ton of stuff done, too.

Friday was gross and rainy thanks to Hurricane Gustav, so we got some takeout and brought it home to watch a movie I'd rented from the library (free!). We wanted to try something new, and people are always raving about Bolton's Hot Chicken Shack so we thought we'd check it out. The building isn't much to look at, and you have to knock on a door to let them know you're there if you don't slam the door long enough. There was a family eating there when we arrived who filled us in on "the rules". They were RAVING about their chicken, and gave us a lot of tips on what to order. I seriously thought I was in for the BESTMEALEVER because they'd drive from totally across town just for this chicken. I always love some catfish, but it seemed a shame to not try the hot chicken, so we decided we'd get one hot chicken plate and a hot catfish plate and share. (We share most of what we order when we eat out, we're a team all the time!) The service was wonderful and so friendly, but I've got to say the food wasn't all that. The catfish was really good - I ordered medium heat, and it comes with some hot sauce and hot mustard on top, along with pickles and onions. It had a really nice flavor, and the extra heat was nice, but Eastside Fish has way better catfish. For my sides I had their mac and cheese, which was really good, and greens. I wouldn't normally order greens, but the family we had talked to raved and raved about the greens so I figured I'd give it a whirl. Yeah, I still don't like greens. Just a personal preference, really. The main disappointment came in the chicken. It was just......dry. And it wasn't very big. I didn't care for it at all, I don't know if it was just overcooked or what, but it really wasn't good and was so small it wasn't easy to share. The heat was nice, we ordered Hot which was enough to make your lips burn a little but not too badly. But yeah, major disappointment, but I'm glad we finally tried them out.

We curled up and watched Waitress. It was really cute and funny, and made we want pie. I do get pretty frustrated watching movies like that because on TV pregnancy lasts such a short time. The "mean husband" called her "Chubs" once and Brent thought it would be funny to try that one on me since I laughed during the movie. Note to people: That's only funny on the movie. The whole time I thought the "other guy" was Jason Bateman. It turns out he has a major look-alike, and I'm not the only one who thinks that!

The rest of the weekend has been all about getting things done. I've bought clearance clothes online at Old Navy and Kohls for major discounts, ordered some CPE for the year - and even ordered some courses on tax deferred college savings and flexible spending health accounts because those will both be things applicable to use with babyontheway, booked our hotel rooms in San Diego for our babymoon, mowed the yard, did laundry, dug some more sweet potatoes, and started cleaning the house since (hopefully) most of the dusty, wretched drywall is done. Whew! And Brent's been busy on the stairs, cutting the oak treads, installing risers and so on and so forth. In some ways they are really starting to look like stairs, but there's still a lot left to be done.

And what's Pippin been up to? More hell raising! I shouldn't have had a "at least he hasn't done that" thought when a coworker told me on Friday that his dog broke the lawnmower by eating the starter cord. When we got home Friday Pippin had emptied the contents of my gym bag all over the kitchen floor. Clothes everywhere, makeup everywhere, just scattered. He didn't chew on a thing, just spread it all out for no apparent purpose. And then he did the SAME THING today while we were gone to church. So, he's had a few more timeout sessions this weekend, and today when we discovered the mess we didn't even have to chase him down - he went straight to his crate and quietly walked in. He KNOWS, but yet he can't stop it. Next Sunday he is going to church because that dog needs Jesus. I don't even understand - I've had lots of people tell me this showing out is baby related - but I'm spending more time with him than ever, so he's not being neglected, and as our house is still a construction disaster the couple of things I've bought (some clearance clothes) are away in a closet to stay out of the dust.

Have a great week everyone!

Updates....

When he gave us our air-rifles Atticus wouldn't teach us to shoot. Uncle Jack instructed us in the rudiments thereof; he said Atticus wasn't interested in guns. Atticus said to Jem, "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever hear Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

"You're father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mocking bird."

-Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

I'm re-reading TKaM right now (for actually a pretty good reason) and I came across that piece of it last night and it just really spoke to me, so I thought I'd share it. That's such a good book, and it's been a million years since I read it in junior high. I'm reading my old copy of it right now, and it cracks me up to see all my old doodles and definitions of words I was unfamiliar with. Anyway.....

We had a nice Labor Day weekend, nothing great or big in the fun factor. Goal #1 is finishing the remodel right now before "junior" arrives, so about 95% of our time is spent working on that goal and generally keeping the house going. I also spent a good bit of time planning our upcoming vacay to San Diego, and I think I'll make my final hotel choices this weekend, and we have a list of some things we want to do and see.

We did pop by the pool at the downtown Y for the hour of the last day of its season this year. It was PACKED and it was so nice and sunny. We had a great time floating around in the pool and being amused by 3 college Louisiana evacuees and their college-girl banter. 98% of the crowd was just hanging out in the tiny rooftop pool (it's MAYBE 15 meters across, tops!) and then the other 2% - think it's actually a swimming pool. There was one odd couple in some seriously cheap goggles trying to "swim" around the throng of people hanging out. One of the absolute highlights of the afternoon was one of the LA girls telling the guy "Hey Michael Phelps, slow down!!" when he splashed the crap out of all of us. They took big head-bobbing, turtle breaths as they "swam" - this pool isn't even long enough to require even taking a breath. Then when he got to one end he told his little wife (they were prob 22-23 yrs old) that he was going to teach her a new stroke - he didn't know what it was called but he liked to call it "froggy style". That pretty much sent me over the edge of laughter, so we were both really glad we made some time for fun in an otherwise "all business" weekend.

Pippin didn't have the best weekend - he spent a lot of it in time-out. Sunday am while we were gone to church he got his bag of food down and starting his own self serve buffet. Sunday afternoon while we were at the pool he got my purse down, ate a pack of gum, probably a few cough drops and some Charms Blow Pop suckers (great for morning sickness). He got an hour in time out, and then as SOON as he got out he went to where he had hidden another sucker, so back in time out he went. Sunday was not his finest hour......

And then today - I got quite the wonderful package in the mail!!! Chocolate made by - Chocolate Runner Jon!! Yum, yum, and yum are all I really have to say about them!! Brent took some pics of Pippin's nose going crazy sniffing the outside of the box. Totally delicious, and I don't plan to share. =)

I've also got pics to share of our bounty from our garden this year. It's been crazy. We've had SO many tomatoes, and last weekend I started digging up sweet potatoes. The rain from Fran we had last week really helped my peppers, and I should have a ton of additional peppers soon. I don't think I've ever had such a good year for tomatoes or jalapeños, our weather has been so much milder this year and for the most part we've had pretty periodic rain, too.

I got my lunch workouts in on Tues, Wed and Thurs, so I'm a nice 3for3. I know I won't get to tomorrow due to a lunchtime wedding shower at work, but that's no biggie. Some days I really like having no pressure to train for anything specific. Actually, I haven't minded the cutback on training or felt like I'm missing the competitive part of running at all. I think I just have WAY too many things to stress about for training to even make the list right now!

Have a great weekend, I've got 72 posts (!!!!) in my Reader account right now, so I look forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!