Rosemary for remembrance

Melt me like butter

2011-06-16T14:15:00.003-05:00

Liv sang with me last night. She's been singing off and on for a while, but last night she sang her "sleepy time" song with me. Usually she tells me "NO Mama NO!". She was so sweet last night. She put her head on my shoulder and sang with me as we went up the stairs to her room.

Sleepy time has come for my baby.
Baby now is going to sleep.
Kiss Mama good night and I'll turn out the lights and I'll tuck you in bed with your covers tight. Sleepy time has come for my baby.
Baby now is going to sleep.

To Remember.....

2011-04-07T09:35:00.005-05:00

There are so many things I want to remember about Liv at this age. She is so funny and her vocabulary is growing in leaps and bounds. She's starting to talk in full sentences, although "there he is" is still more of a sound then individual words. She says "Peas" for "Please" and mixes up "me" and "you".

She found her Tu-tu and was so proud to have put it on herself.

She loves to play in the dirt. She insisted on wearing that hat to dig in her "garden". Yesterday when I got home from work, she was excited to show me the tree branches she had "planted". I'm going to have to get her something to plant in the planter. Any suggestions?

She watches far too much TV/Computer, but she is limited to : The Wiggles, Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, with the occasional Caillou thrown in. She can move from website to website and play the video's and games by herself.She loves to go to the play ground. For some reason, she calls it Tball. She's never seen a T-ball game and has no idea what it is, so I have no clue where tball comes from.

Little Bit is 2 today

2011-02-04T10:15:00.004-05:00

I truly cannot believe she is 2 today. Where has the time gone? This past week she's had a language explosion. Mostly because Grammy came for a visit last Saturday and has been working with her. When asked "how old are you?" she'll say 2! and try to hold up 2 fingers. Melts me into a puddle. I so wish I could see more of her. The 1 1/2 hours I get after work is just not enough. It's killing me. Especially since I'm back at the restaurant 3 nights a week. I'm glad Zalebaby is home with her, but it still makes me want to scream. I'm going to stop here. This is suppose to be about my beautiful baby-girl's 2nd birthday.

She loves to tell me NO! and she always says Daddy! when she doesn't know the correct name for something. She loves to help clean the kitchen and she has her very own broom to help sweep. She is terrified of the vacuum and will run screaming from the room if you get it out of the closet. My little bird will eat anything I'm trying to eat, but turn her nose up if I try to feed it to her on her own plate. Loves to do the Electric Company Slide---Hey You Guys!-- She loves to color and often wants Daddy to draw Elmo for her so she can color all over the picture. Liv is the queen of puzzles and goes through her stack of them every day.

My Eskimo baby:

Grammy got her a wooden table and chair set for her birthday and she is so excited over it. She moves from chair to chair having tea with her dollies. I could just eat her up. More Please!

Tickles with Grammy:

Liv's new ears!

2010-12-21T11:19:00.003-05:00

My girl got tubes in her ears yesterday. It was very, very quick procedure. From the time they gassed her until she woke up was less then 15 minutes. I was surprised that she didn't wake up crying, she was quite on the way home until she puked up the apple juice she was given after waking up. They told me not to be surprised if she did puke, so I wasn't worried. She was kinda cute about it. She pulled out her gummy, looked at me wide-eyed and said uh, uh then puked. I was there to catch it and afterward she was just fine. I guess only a mother would think her kid was cute as she puked....

I miss him

2010-11-23T13:36:00.002-05:00

It's been a week since we had to put Tater down. I still keep looking for him. For such a little grumpy old man, he's left a huge hole my heart.

Cruising

2010-11-11T08:56:00.002-05:00

I love going on cruises. This last one was a blast. I just wish it would have been longer so I could have gotten some down time. 3 nights is not enough.

This cruise was different from my other cruises because we went as a small group. 4 couples, no kids. All the grandparents came into town to watch the babies. It was bliss. Don't get me wrong, I missed Liv terribly. I checked in with my Mom compulsively, but it was so nice to be able to have a few (too many) drinks and go dancing and not have to worry about paying the piper in the mornings. I got to sleep as late as I wanted...bliss. pure bliss.

We left Atlanta around 10-10:30 on Thursday. A&A rode with us. We picked them up at 9, then went to Waffle House to start our vacation. So we were a little later then our intended start time. The other 2 couples (H&E and M&P) dove together and left about 10 too but they live on the other side of town and had their own agenda. Since they thought we were leaving at 9 we sent them random text messages the whole way to the hotel, telling them we were farther along on the road. When we were about an hour from the the hotel, we told them we were at the pool...it was fun with all the smack-talk texting going on, it made the trip much faster. Even with the sit-down lunch we had at Bob Evan's they only beat us to the hotel by 1/2 hour.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites Thursday night, E had enough points to pay for 2 rooms, Yea E! and the hotel has a weekday happy hour with free drinks. Guess what we did? Yep, we indulged ourselves, then got a taxi van to take us to Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights. $75 per person. ouch. but in the name of vacation we went.

Horror Nights was a lot of fun. It was also a lot of standing in line. They had 8 haunted houses, 6 "scare zones" and a couple of the everyday rides open. We saw 3 of the haunted houses,3 scare zones and did Jaws, Men In Black and the Mummy ride before the park closed. Not to shabby considering the haunted house lines were 45 minutes to 90 minutes long (I timed the houses themselves and they took 6 to 10 minutes to go thru) The last time I was at Universal I was pregnant with Liv, so I couldn't ride any of the fun rides, so my favorite part was riding the rides and being tipsy during it. I can't say I've ever done that before.

We got ourselves up and moving in time for the free breakfast, which at Embassy, rocked. I had a made to order omelet, juice and hash browns. It was just what I needed after all the drinking the night before. We checked out, went to CVS for a few forgotten items (not mine!) and started the 45 minute drive to the Port.

Embarking was a little off. The first half was smooth, the lines were short and went fast. Then the card machine broke. Dun, Dun, Dun!!! so we sat and waited 45 minutes until we could get in the line to board the ship. The good part about that was our rooms were ready when we got on and we could drop off all of our stuff.

This was my first cruise with Royal Caribbean and I found the Monarch of the Seas to be exactly as I expected it to be. My only gripe was the bathroom vanity. It was nice and large, but nowhere to secure your stuff. Carnival Celebrity's bathroom was better.

More tomorrow......

Poor Baby

2010-11-10T08:40:00.003-05:00

Liv has the ear infection that won't die. We've started our 4 round of antibiotics. sigh. At least it doesn't seem to hurt her. I really hope this antibiotic works because the next treatment is a shot 3 days in a row.

Grammy, Zalebaby and I took Liv to the Aquarium then to Johnny Rockets for lunch afterward. She had a blast.

Tease

2010-11-08T15:50:00.003-05:00

I wanted to write a recap of my little cruise vacation, but I don't have enough time today at work. (actually working at work?!? Who'd of thunk it?) So here is a little tease...

Sunset the first night....

The Governor's Mansion ....
Atlantis.....

Rocking Horse

2010-11-05T19:04:00.003-05:00

My Cousin Tommy brought Liv a rocking horse when he stopped to visit on his way to Florida. It's a copy of the one I had as a kid. His dad, my Uncle Charlie made both of them. It is now Liv's favorite toy. I can't blame her. I remember loving mine. It was in the kitchen and I would ride it while Mom was making dinner.

I'd post the video but blogger isn't being cooperative.

I've got nothing....

2010-11-04T14:30:00.002-05:00

I wanted to challenge myself to posting every weekday. In the past couple of years, that's been the thing to do in November, but I've never been able to do it. I haven't read about anyone doing it this year, but I'm going to give it a try. So, this bit of fluff is my post for today.

closet time

2010-11-03T11:04:00.002-05:00

I would like to throw away all the clothes in my closet and start over.

I made a good dent in my closet in October, I tried on all my clothes and if it didn't fit, it went in the goodwill bag. 12 kitchen bags later, I have a pared down closet. I however dislike most of the clothes I have left. I'm going to have to learn to live with it. Or I can get out my sewing machine and fix it. It's too bad I don't have any garment fabric that I like.

Zalebaby and I have made a budget and we're sticking to it. I'm happy with that, as we are paying off the debt that we acquired while he was out of work. So I am just going to have to practice some self restraint and save up for a few pieces of clothing that I am drooling over. It's not easy. I have no self restraint......wish me luck.

Voting Day

2010-11-02T10:37:00.003-05:00

I voted, Did you?

She's the best reason to vote.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T18:53:00.004-05:00

She spent all night taking the candy out of the treat bowl and putting it in her bag. When all the candy was in the bag she'd tap the bowl and ask for more. I dumped the candy back into the bowl and we'd start all over again. Over and over again.

{this moment}

2010-10-15T12:30:00.004-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link at Soulemama to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Have a wonderful weekend!

end of summer fun.....

2010-10-06T14:48:00.002-05:00

She went to her first invite from school birthday party.....She did very well and had lots of fun.

My life is filled with Snot Bubbles.

2010-09-13T10:02:00.006-05:00

Poor baby- A cold with an ear infection, mama chasing her with wet wipes and a nose going raw. It's no wonder all she wants is to do is cry.

She had her first sick doctor's visit. We didn't see her normal Dr. but another in the center. I loved Dr. Segal, Liv didn't burst into tears when she walked in and let her examine her without much protest. Either Liv liked her better or she was just that sick. Can I say I really want one of those touch thermometers the nurse had? a 3 second touch and she was done. That would be worth $100 to me. Next payday, I'm getting one.

After 3 days of antibiotics, she's feeling better, there is much less crying and snot bubbles, but there is a reason for no pictures.....

Yellow River Game Ranch

2010-08-19T10:18:00.004-05:00

So, I've been lazy and I didn't post about our day at the Yellow River Game Ranch. It's about time I remedy that. Here's a bit from their website:

"Stroll along a mile-long trail on 24 wooded acres and encounter over six hundred highly sociable birds and animals indigenous to the state of Georgia. White-tailed deer, bunnies, buffalo, sheep, kid goats, black bears and a bevy of new-born animals are waiting to be fed, admired and petted on a "nose-to-nose" basis. We specialize in "people-friendly" wildlife."

They are the place where unreleasable animals go to live. We had a great time feeding and petting the deer. I was surprised by how small the deer are. I'm use to the white tail in PA, nearly twice the size of the deer on the ranch.

Her favorite place

2010-05-21T12:52:00.002-05:00

For some reason, she loves the dog crate....

if it's been too quiet for too long, I can usually find her there. I'm waiting for the day I find her sleeping in there. I love how Lucy is guarding her.

Mother's day adventure

2010-05-20T10:39:00.006-05:00

We went to the Renaissance Faire!

I worked at the Pennsylvania Ren Faire from the age of 14 until 21.

Yes, I was a major geek.

It amazes me that there are touring groups from when I was working in PA still performing today. Not that I got to see any of them perform on mother's day....Little Bit was not having anything to do with sitting still, there was too much to see.

She was kissed by a kissing wench:

It was a busy, busy day.

Liv's first Ice Cream Cone

2010-04-02T11:07:00.004-05:00

Liv's first Ice Cream Cone......a story in pictures.

Olivia 1 year old...

2010-02-10T14:11:00.008-05:00

OMG. It is so hard to believe that she is a year already. Last night was the first night that I can remember that I didn't take a bottle upstairs for her morning feeding. I washed all the bottles last night and will put them away when I get home tonight. We've had her using a sippy cup for juice and water for the last month or so, so now we're giving her milk in them too. No more formula either. We ran out of formula yesterday. Zalebaby is excited to not buying formula anymore, but I'm sad that my baby is now a toddler.

Wahhhh!! I want to have the cuddly baby back. Not that she isn't a lot of fun now, I love to watch her think. Reading to her is fun, she likes the books that rhyme and she loves to turn the pages. Liv loves anything musical. She even sings along with her toys. Not that she uses real words, but sing she does.

Giving Grammy Kisses:

After the Smash cake:Randy is responsible for the icing in her hair. As soon as her hands were good and messy, Randy started asking her "how big are you?", "How big is Liv?" Just so she would put her hands in the air and on her head. What a mess.

alas poor cake, I ate it well!

Her party was a "smashing" success. Grammy came down from Pennsylvania on Thursday and stayed until Monday afternoon. Which meant Zalebaby and I had a date Saturday night.

What a lovely night out. We went to ECCO, a hip restaurant in downtown/midtown Atlanta where Randy works. He took the menus from us and ordered the dinner for us. We started with a meat and cheese plate that had the best aged Gouda I've ever tasted, followed by fried goat cheese, rolled in honey and pepper (drool) and Piquillo peppers stuffed with braised shortrib (I don't like cooked peppers, but this dish was wonderful!) then we shared a salad :Mixed local lettuces with pickled fennel, blood orange and hazelnut. For the entree, we had Saffron risotto with a meatball and Pork chop schnitzel with fennel, orange and pecorino. I didn't care for the meatball, but the saffron risotto was to die for. The Schnitzel is something I'm going to be dreaming about for quite a while. I need to ask Randy to get the pickled fennel recipe, I want to try to make that dish at home.

Santa

2009-12-23T12:25:00.002-05:00

The visit with Santa went better than I expected.....but I wish they would have taken the picture while she was looking at him rather than the camera. She was enthralled with his beard.

Now she needs Boots.....

2009-12-17T09:41:00.002-05:00

'cause boots are made for walking........

of course, she walks like a drunken sailor, but walk she does.

This as been a busy month for my little girl. A lot of first:

She took her first long car trip north to see Grammy for thanksgiving, an 11 hour drive (we night drove, that made it so much easier-not that she slept the whole way because she didn't)
She had her first completely real food meal...thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and cinnamon apples. Big mistake as she is now refusing to eat any baby food.
She caught her first cold, thank you Grammy and Ella-bella.
Her first tooth started to come in while she was sick, quickly followed by the 2nd tooth. Poor sleepless baby (and mommy) can't breath and hurting gums.
Her first steps happened right after we got back from Pennsylvania, over the last week, she's progress to her drunken sailor stagger.

I'm so fricken proud of her.

Thank you!

2009-11-11T09:33:00.002-05:00

Zalebaby, thank you for your service to our country. I'm proud of you. You are a great father.

Feeding Little Bit.

2009-10-21T09:17:00.003-05:00

Alice.com is having a Gerber Baby Food Giveaway. Alice.com is a Mother's dream. They are a non-perishable online grocery store.....With FREE Shipping. Their prices are about the same as a normal grocery store and it has this awesome instant coupon feature.

For the giveaway, Alice has asked us to blog about the question:

What’s your best baby mealtime advice or feeding tip?

My best tip is keep distractions away during feeding.

Easier said than done, I know. At 8 months, Little Bit is far more interested in everything around her than in eating. The dogs, Daddy, even the ceiling fan is more compelling than Momma and the spoon....unless she gets to hold the spoon, of course. She's really good at getting the spoon into her mouth, but getting it there with food on it, not so good. I like to give her a couple of banana puffs to work on while I'm heating up her baby food. It keeps her busy and works on her fine motor skills. The puffs are great because they dissolve fast. She is still toothless, but she is oh-so-eager for real food.

I don't have a current picture of her eating, so this one a 5 months will have to do!

Uh Oh, We're in trouble now!

2009-10-01T14:35:00.003-05:00

It all started with this:

The bouncy chair. We introduced her to it at the end of August. Liv loves to bounce. She will try to bounce when you are holding her, loves to bounce on mama's squishy belly.

The Wiggle came next:

I love that wiggle. She still gives me that happy wiggle first thing every morning when I get her up.

Here is where she figured out how to get up on her hands and knees, she's so proud of herself. Rightly so! (September 9th)

I recorded this Wednesday 23:

She had it down pat by the weekend. I spent the whole weekend chasing her around the house. It was so much fun, but, Oh Boy, do I need to baby proof!

Zalebaby sent me this one Monday morning:

She is doing her best to get to a sitting position. It's been so exciting to see her learn and grow. She'll be 8 months on the 4th, I wonder how long it will be before she starts walking? Zalebaby thinks it will be by Halloween. I doubt it, but I'll let him dream. Me, I'm still looking for her first tooth.

R.I.P. IV

2009-08-25T14:34:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again. It's time for Carl's R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge. I love being part of it. I've stretched into a new genre of stories by being part of this group.

This year I'm going to do:

Peril the First:

Read Four books of any length, from any sub-genre of scary stories that you choose.

The Challenge is from September 1st to October 31st. I think I can manage to read 4 vampire/supernatural books by then, baby or no baby.

My pool of books include:

The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine, (currently on my nightstand) a vampire story
Spectre by Phaedra Weldon , (also on my nightstand) a supernatural story
Strange brew, edited by P.N. Elrod. (on my nightstand---ok, so it seems I have been gravitating in this direction lately) Witchy short stories
Pride and prejudice and zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.by Grahame-Smith, Seth (sigh, also on my nightstand and the one I'm going to read first, as it is due back to the library on the 2nd) Zombie story
City of bones by Cassandra Clare (in my library queue) Supernatural/demonology story
Dates from hell by Harrison, Kim (also in my library queue) Supernatural short stories.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other people are reading in the challenge, so I can find some new scary books to read.

My girl is stubborn

2009-08-19T13:09:00.004-05:00

Liv was so funny on Sunday. She refused to take a nap that morning. I tried to put her down for her 10 am nap, she screamed like I was poking her with a pin. She fussed and cried all morning. I gave up fed her early, at 11:30, She fell asleep as I was trying to feed her the baby food. Watching her nod off, then jerk awake to eat another bite was hysterical. When she'd truly fallen asleep, I got her out of the high chair, which woke her up and she screamed at me for waking her. I couldn't do anything but laugh at her as I put her down for her nap. She even pouted at me and whimpered in her sleep when I laid her down. too cute.

6 months

2009-08-11T12:49:00.003-05:00

Dear Olivia,

I can't believe you are 6 months old already. I still find it hard to believe you are ours. It is so wonderful to have you in our lives. Mummy and Daddy love you to pieces. You can roll from you back to your belly. Most nights you sleep on your belly, Marty McFly style, with your butt in the air.

You can hold your bottle and feed yourself, mostly. You've been eating baby food for a month and the only thing you don't seem to like is Peaches. You love sweet potatoes, carrots and heaven help me, peas (you take after your dad that way) Applesauce gets a thumbs up, bananas are ok.You can almost sit by yourself. You tend to lean forward and prop yourself up on your hands, rather than sitting up, you are almost there. You sleep though the night now, mostly, and you can put yourself back to sleep. That is so wonderful.

We took you to your cousin Sascha's 1st birthday party: Daddy gave you a pretzel.This is what you thought of it:I can't wait to see what is next.

I missed it.....

2009-07-02T13:05:00.004-05:00

Zalebaby just called. Liv rolled over, all on her own today. Yay Liv! The only thing that makes me feel better about missing it, is that Zalebaby missed it too. ;-) He left her on her back on the floor, playing with her gym. When he came back, she was fussing because she was laying on her belly. She hates belly time. Not only had she rolled over, she had wiggled herself around 180 degrees. It's time to start baby proofing......

It's so hard to believe she's 5 months old. Where did the months go?

Dear Olivia

2009-06-22T14:13:00.004-05:00

Dear Olivia,

Thank you so much for finally sleeping from 9:30 until 5:30. (3 nights in a row!) Mommy really appreciates it. I also love the early morning coos and cuddles we've been having. Please keep up the good work.

Love,

Mommy

Olivia's Birth Story

2009-06-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

I woke up like normal on the morning of the 4th, tired and grumpy. I went to the bathroom and found that I lost my mucus plug. Yes, it was as disgusting as it sound. I pee'd, wiped and went "eww....that must be my mucus plug". I didn't think much of it, as the plug can fall out anytime in the last month, it is just suppose to be an indication that things are getting ready to go. I did have a just-in-case thought, so, since I hadn't packed my hospital bag yet, (hey, I still had 3 1/2 weeks to go) I gathered all the stuff I wanted to take with me that was upstairs and put it in a duffel bag in the closet. The I got ready and went to work. I didn't even wake Zalebaby up to tell him about the mucus plug. At work, someone asked me when my last day was going to be. I told them I was going to work until I went into labor. Ha-ha!

All day I had been feeling cramp-y and back achy. I never thought I was in labor, nothing was rhythmical, just a general low level cramp/ache at the end/bottom of my uterus. Around 3:00 I decided I was tired, grumpy and achy enough that I was going to go home early. I was getting kinda worried, because I was still oozing jelly-fluid and it had gone from being mostly clear to bloody and it was freaking me out. So, before going home, I thought I'd better call the Dr's office. (Where I work is between home and the Dr.'s office and I didn't want to drive all the way home to turn around and drive back to see the Dr.)

When I called the office, my doctor had just left to go to the hospital and the office told me to go and meet her there. I really didn't want to go to the hospital, I truly didn't think I was in labor and I didn't want to be the pregnant lady that cries wolf--especially since I had a scheduled Dr's appointment the next day. The nurse convinced me to go to the hospital anyway, so off I went. I called Zalebaby and gave him a heads up that I was going, but not to worry, it was just for a quick check up.

I was totally clueless.

I went in where I was told to on the hospital tour (that I went on the week before). I was checked in and sent to a maternity check-up room. It was freezing in there and deserted. It really creeped me out that there was no-one there. 4 or 5 examining rooms and a big nurse's station, no-one there but me. I waited about 10 minutes in the room they put me in until the midwife nurse showed up. She nicely explained that my office's midwife nurse was in another delivery and my doctor would be by in a little bit. Would I mind if she did an exam? She strapped me up with a fetal heart monitor and a contraction monitor, put my feet in the stirrups and did the exam.

She told me that I was 2 cm dilated and having regular contractions.

HUH?

She flabbergasted me. The little cramps that I was feeling were honest-to-goodness labor pains. The little sheet with the jagged lines doesn't lie. Even knowing that, they still didn't feel like what contractions were suppose to feel like. About 1/2 hour later the doctor came by and did an exam. She told me I was 4 cm dilated and that she was going to give me fluids with an IV and see if the contractions stop. If they stop, I can go home, if they don't, she wasn't going to do anything else to stop them, I'm far enough along to have the baby. She left and the midwife came back in with the IV and stabbed me 4 times before getting the vein (!$!@#$@!!). I hadn't been hooked up for more than 10 minutes when my water broke. While I was all alone.....on the phone with my sister. It was the weirdest feeling. I felt it pop, just like it feels when a water balloon pops in your hand....but it was inside of me. I nearly freaked out when it popped--over the sensation, the fact that the fluid was greenish black and knowing that I was going to have a baby soon. Katie freaked out over the phone and told me to call the nurse. After my water broke, I could really feel the contractions. I could feel the water pulse out of me in time with the contractions. Shudder. Such an odd feeling.

I no sooner hung up the phone on Katie then the midwife came to check on me. I told her my water broke, she looked under the sheet and got still. The scary type of still that nurses do when they don't want you to know there is a problem. (Olivia had been poo-ing in there, she wasn't supposed to be doing that) She told me she was going to get my doctor and left me there, sopping wet and in increasing pain. I'm not sure what was more distressing at the time, being wet or how much the contraction hurt. The contractions went from being irritating to holy shit that hurts as soon a my water broke. They also never seemed to stop. Long painful squeeze that stopped for a second to start all over again. The pain offended me. I was not prepared for it.

I called Zalebaby, told him it was time to come to the hospital and what else to put in my hospital bag and what else to bring. I neglected to tell him he could leave most of it in the car until after the baby was born.....when he finally got to me, he looked like we were going on vacation for a week.

After I called Zalebaby, my phone rang and it was Marian, the CFO of the company, calling me to ask where her keys were (on her desk where I told her they were...4 hours ago) I told her I what was going on and she asked if Zalebaby was there, when I told her not yet, she promptly got in the car and came to sit with me. She was so sweet. I had no idea she was coming and she got to me the same time as Zalebaby. Since he hadn't eaten all day, she went and got him a sandwich. By the time she got back, the nurses had moved me to a birthing suite and I was fully dilated and ready to push, we were just waiting on the doctor to come to the room.

Funny thing about that sandwich. Zalebaby and I had been left alone in the birthing room and he decided to eat it. He brings it over to me, a simple ham sub, and the smell of it had me hollering at him to find me a trash can, in which I proceeded to toss my cookies. Over the smell of a ham sub---while I was starving. I wanted something to eat in the worst way. I had lunch at 12 and it was now 8 pm. I was soo hungry. For future reference, birthing tables have a shelf on the side with a kidney shaped bowl, for just such an occasion. Just so you know.

Fast forward to 9:30. I had been pushing for about an hour or so. I had been given an epidural, which didn't work completely. I had two "hot spots" where I could feel the labor pains. They hurt like hell, but at least I knew when to push. When I first started pushing, the Dr did her exam and told me that Olivia was "sunny side up" which meant she was facing outward rather than inward like she was supposed to be. So the nurses had me laying on my side to push, to try to get her to turn over. We tried both sides and she wasn't budging. When the Doctor check me at 9:30, she hadn't changed position and she was getting a severe cone head from all the pushing. The Doctor suggested getting a C-section, she opened her mouth to give me the reasons to do it and I was already saying yes, ok, lets go. I was tired, hungry and hurting, I didn't care what way she was coming out, I just wanted to meet Olivia.

The Doctor wanted to do a C-section for a couple of reasons.

1) Olivia's poo was a hazard to her lungs

2) She was facing the wrong way

3) My hip bones were not opening wide enough to let her pass through in the direction she was facing, causing the big cone head

4) Didn't want me to push for 4 hours or so before having to do an emergency c-section

5) This is just speculation---she didn't want to be in the hospital for another 5 hours (I was her only patient that night)

Like I said, I happily agreed. The hospital staff got the OR ready and I was wheeled in. I was moved to the operating table and the anaestheologist put my arms in padded blocks so I was in a T position and strapped me down. I needed it because the medicine for the c-section was giving me the shakes. It also made me feel like I had a pillow under my knees. I didn't, but it felt so weird I asked the anaestheologist about it. I could feel them open me up and pulling/tugging on me. Zalebaby, who was sitting by my head, stood up in time to see them pull Olivia out. She immediately starting crying and they whisked her over to the triage cart to vacuum out her lungs and do all the other things they do to newborns. The cart was behind me to my left and I kept craning my head around to try and see her. I wanted to see her in the worst way. Zalebaby was over there, watching her. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was hold her. They brought her to me for a moment while the Doctor and mid-wife were sewing me up, but I couldn't touch her, as I was still strapped down. Then they took her away to do more tests. I fell asleep on the table.

I finally got to hold Olivia about 12ish while I was in recovery. She was born at 10:30. It seemed like forever until I got her, but hold her I did and welcomed her to the world with a boob. Not that I had any milk yet, but hold her and love on her I did.

Pictures for Christy

2009-05-18T15:33:00.002-05:00

13 weeks: Sporting the sunglasses.
Easter Sunday: She was the devil child and screamed most of the day

My sister Katie came for a visit:
Here is a shot of her cephalohematoma, which showed up when she was 8 weeks old:

The Doc's can't tell us why it showed up so late, usually they appear right after birth. She had blood work done and a CT scan, everything is fine and the fluid will be re-absorbed, which should take about 3 months to do so.

1st Week Back

2009-04-03T08:29:00.004-05:00

They say the first week back is the hardest. I hope they are right, because this week has been the worst. I so want to be home with Liv and not at work. Sigh.

Liv at 1 week with Aunt Sandra:

3 weeks

4 weeks

5 weeks

6 weeks

7 weeks

8 weeks
I am sooo in love!

Olivia J came to see us early, 2/04/09

2009-02-13T16:46:00.002-05:00

Olivia surprised us by coming a little early.....I'll write up her birth story soon. Zalebaby took this photo when she was a day old.

4 weeks to go!

2009-01-29T14:37:00.004-05:00

I'm counting down.....4 weeks to go and I'm not sure I can stand it. Not that I'm impatience or anything........

My girlfriends threw me a lovely baby shower last Saturday. a bunch of them went in together and got me the glider and ottoman I wanted. I was shocked and tickled pink! Dodie and her man Ewan got my the high chair I wanted. I'm so over the moon about it all.

The diaper cake was made by Shelby, who helped Lyra express her wild side (for all that she is 20 days old)Megan got her share of cuddling in......Not that I blame her!

And here is Mommy with the baby!
Chele came and she made the yummiest artichoke dip as well as bringing me the cutiest outfit.
The Sweater didn't come from the shower, one of my blogger friends, Maggie Grace Creates made it for Olivia, as well as that receiving blanket and a beautiful scarf (that I'm wearing today and didn't make it in the picture...Sorry!)

Week 34--Who needs sleep?

2009-01-20T09:41:00.003-05:00

Star-Gazer Lilies, my favorite flower. I kinda like the above picture as I don't look as big as I am. In the below picture, I'm much more true to size. My belly measures at 46 inches. Considering my waist is usually a 29.......

I'm waddling all the time now and I only have one pair of shoes that fit. Thank you, water retention.

I still can't sleep. I'm starting to dread bedtime. I doesn't bother me on the weekends when I can just take a nap when I need to, but trying to get enough sleep to function at work, that just makes bedtime suck. I'm sleepy, but I can't get comfortable in the bed, rolling my big belly over is a big production number and it hurts. It's an endless cycle, I roll over because the hip I'm laying on hurts, which hurts my belly while rolling over (and wakes the bean) and I lay on the other side until that hip hurts, or I need a drink or I have to go to the bathroom (which usually happens after I roll over and Bean starts kicking) Arrgh! I am cranky and oh-so-tired.

Who needs sleep?

When my belly button pops out, am I done?

2009-01-14T09:15:00.003-05:00

Not that it has, but I'm really close to having an outie belly button. I'm still doing good with stretch marks, that is I don't have any yet. I do, however, know where I'm going to get them, as I have 4 red dots on the outside of each hip and 1 red dot at the corner of my appendectomy scar. So, I figure in the next 6 weeks I'll get to see some stretch marks. Oh Joy.

Week 31 picture

2009-01-06T16:05:00.002-05:00

I get bigger and bigger every day. I'm in week 32 now, and the picture above was from last week. I went to the Dr. yesterday and everything is going well. I am happy I haven't gained any weight this month. Total weight gain.....21 lbs so far with 8 weeks to go. Go Bean, eat the extra fat I've been carrying. Let me tell you, I have not been starving myself by any means. I've been appalled by how much I have eaten over the holidays, it just I can't eat a lot at one sitting, so I've been grazing on fruit and chocolate....evidently the small (but many) portions have kicked my metabolism into gear. (yes, I do work the protein and veggies in, but I crave chocolate and fruit)

My girlfriend A had her baby shortly before 8pm last night. Those are the only details I have....I haven't heard back from either of them yet. Her hubby called me at 5:30 to come sit with E until her Uncle got there. Unfortunately, I was at the wall-mart by my work, so I called Zalebaby and he ran over to watch E. He pulled up, the hubby (on the porch) hugged E, jumped in the car (A was waiting in the car) and they left. At 7:57 we got a text picture of Lyra. I can't wait to see her!

Sleep.....must have sleep....

2008-12-31T10:20:00.004-05:00

I thought that sleep deprivation started after the baby got here. No such luck on my part. Since Christmas I've been getting 2-4 hours of sleep at a time. It wasn't so bad to deal with while I was off work, but now that I'm back, it's killing me.

I go to bed at a reasonable hour, I'm using pillows like the books tell me to, but it's not working. I sleep for a few hours, then my hips ache so bad I have to get up and walk around for a bit, then I can lay down and sleep for a little while.....then I repeat until it's time to get ready for work. I'm not happy about this new development. Falling asleep at my desk is not a good way to promote job security.......

Any how, now that I'm done B!tching, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Be safe and have fun. Someone please have too much Champagne for me.

That was foolish.....

2008-12-22T10:51:00.005-05:00

I missed my company party on Saturday. All because I did too much and didn't drink enough. I got up early and finished a sewing job (I had a banana and some chocolate milk) then I delivered the sewing, helped install the new sheers, got a massage, met a girlfriend at a local baby store, went to lunch (at 2:30---that should have raised some warning bells) Lunch was great! Fried pickles, tomato soup and a grilled cheese (I had 1 1/2 glasses of water). Then I ran some more errands, winding up at the Library (about 4:00ish), where after picking up a book off the bottom shelf, I came within a heartbeat of passing out. I'm talking tunnel vision, breaking out in the sweats and sick to my stomach. I had to sit down for 15 minutes before I could collect myself to go home. Not a good thing.

When I got myself out of the library and made it home (I skipped the rest of my errands) I drank a big glass of water and went to lay down for a while. I was hoping it would stop the queasy cramping feeling in my tummy. I promptly fell asleep and Zalebaby let me sleep until I woke up on my own. Which was 7pm. My work's Christmas party started at 6 and they were serving dinner at 7. So no party for me. Which is a good thing. I know Zalebaby didn't want to go and I felt better after my nap, but I really wasn't up to being out and about again. I didn't leave the house on Sunday. I learned my lesson. I must get more to drink if I'm going to run around like that again.

Week 28

2008-12-16T09:19:00.002-05:00

Here I am in all my after yoga splendor. Boy am I getting big. I'm so ready to be done with the pregnancy part. I'm starting to get awkward and I'm having weird stretchy pains around my belly. Kinda like cramps but they are very light and take place just under my boobs and slide down the sides of my belly. They are nowhere near where normal cramps would be. I'll have to ask the Dr. about it when I see him on Friday.

I've got 2 more Christmas presents to make, then I'm done. Yay. Not that I've taken pictures of anything I've done so far.....

November's update

2008-12-12T09:56:00.007-05:00

Ok, so I've been procrastinating on writing about the latest events in my life. Mostly due to depression and Christmas present rush. Now that I am done with most of the presents that need to be finished by Saturday and I've caught up with my blog role (yes, I'd rather read about everyone else than post my own stuff) I'm going to sit here and write.

Lets start off in the middle of November. One of my best friends from college flew down from Ohio for a long weekend. She came to see me and to help me organize Bean's room, which is currently the guest bedroom. It was so great to see her, J is a mother of 2 boys that she home schools. I have the utmost respect for her and for all that she and I are the same age, I want to be her when I grow up. I've always thought of her as my "Anne of Green Gables" kindred spirit. She helped me move my bookshelves out of Bean's room and into the formal living room (they actually match the dining room table) where they look great. The she lugged all the baby crap that was in the formal living room upstairs to Bean's room and hid it in the closet that we emptied of all the camping gear and sporting crap (moved to shelves in the garage-Zalebaby wasn't happy about having his golfing stuff in the garage)

We also went shopping. I registered for baby stuff at Target (Target gave me a $20 gift card for registering, thank you Target) She steered me thru the stuff you must have and the stuff that is a waste of money. It was soo much fun and much too short of a visit.

For the Thanksgiving Holiday, Zalebaby and I went to my Mother's house. We left Wednesday morning after dropping the pooches off with Zalebaby's cousin Chel. Thank you so much for watching them, it made the drive so much easier. The drive up went really well. It took us about 10 hours, even with all the pee-breaks. The ride home was so bad Zalebaby is refusing to go north for the Holidays ever again. It took us 13 hours on Sunday to get back and we even left my Mom's a 4 am. We'll go north for the Holidays again, but we're going to a extra day off of work rather than try to travel on peak days.

We went up to my Uncle Ron's for Thanksgiving day. That's been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. Not that I've made it there for Thanksgiving in years....the last time I made that trip was in 2003 I believe. My sister Jill was preggers with Ty, who is the first grandbaby.

That's the only problem with living in Georgia. Pennsylvania is so far away.

Ty and Ronald's new baby Sophia.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. I got to see the new baby (my cousin Ronald's first) and see how much the other kids have grown since last Christmas, eat more food that I should (Jill made these awesome pumpkin chocolate chip cookies) and visit with everyone. Uncle Ron introduced Dale to Skype (we talked to my sister Katie in Germany) I'd been trying to get him on it since Katie moved to Germany in August, but he couldn't be persuaded to try it. Well, it got him all fired up about it. On black Friday, Mom and I went to Babies-R-Us and we picked out a crib and dresser for Bean and she bought it for me (thanks Mom!) They just called me today and let me know I can pick them up, here in Atlanta. Yay! Now to find a friend with a truck.

Brady, Mom and Ty

After we picked out the nursery furniture, mom and I wandered down to Circuit City to see if they still had any of the web cams that were on sale. We lucked out and found the last 1. It was a HD web cam on sale for $9.95. Woot! Mom paid $59.95 for it and got a $50.00 mail-in-rebate. Thanks Mom! I was planing on getting it for myself, but she wouldn't let me, so as soon as we got home, I went on line and submitted the rebate for her, so she should be getting her rebate check any day now. Friday night was spent at Jill's eating Stromboli and playing with the kids.

Mom, Mom's sister-Aunt Gerry and me (Week 26)

On Saturday, I thought I was going to brunch with one of my cousins, it turned out that Mom and Jill threw me a surprise baby shower. I was truly surprised. It was so great to see my aunts and older cousin (and some of the younger ones!) I usually see them and their families Christmas day at our family Church dinner, but its so chaotic and I don't get to spend anytime with them. The shower was great, I got to visit with everyone, play some games (which I lost, badly) and I enjoyed myself to no end. The shower had a great theme. Instead of giving a card with their name on it to identify the gift giver, they were asked to give a favorite children's book and write a note to Bean. I came back with a large stack of fun baby books and a lot of gift cards, since everyone wanted to make sure they didn't over pack my car.

I'm alive.....

2008-12-05T16:42:00.004-05:00

Truly I am! I've been waiting on the hubby to fix some pictures so I can tell you all about our Thanksgiving trip. So I'll get to that on Monday.

Good News----I past my glucose test on the first try. No gestational diabetes's for me. I did get a lecture from the Doc about portion control.....I've put on 21 pounds so far. Sigh. I thought I was doing well, I'm at the end of week 27. Oh well. It is nothing I'm going to stress over.

2008 Chomp and Stomp

2008-11-11T13:44:00.005-05:00

The Cabbage Town Chili Festival was huge this year. Lots of chili was consumed, as well as Sweetwater Beer (yes, over the course of the day I consumed 2/3 a glass of beer......you've got to wash all those chili samples down with beer)

The kids had fun dancing to the bluegrass music and the must have been 50 different craft vendors. If I would have had any extra money, I would have come home with the best onesies for the bean.

Zalebaby is in the blue and he is incapable of letting anyone get a nice picture of him.

Bonus Pictures: 24 Weeks......Please notice the chili stains around my belly-button. The shirt was a present from my friend Heat.

22 weeks

2008-10-30T13:39:00.003-05:00

22 Weeks and counting. I'm getting bigger and bigger. That blur at the bottom of the picture is Tata, or Mr. Potato Head, Zalebaby is responsible for that name. Not me.

GA Apple Festival

2008-10-21T10:45:00.005-05:00

We, Zalebaby, myself and his cousin Chele and her family went to the GA Apple Festival in Ellijay last Saturday. It was about an hour and a half drive to get there. It was a beautiful day for a drive in the mountains.

The kids had a blast. They climbed the rockwall and jumped on the trampolieens. Neither one was brave enough to ride the mechanical bull. Watching everyone else ride it was a hoot.

We walked around and looked at all the crafts and nibbled on faire food....it being the apple festival, we had apple dumplings with ice cream and apple fritters. I bought a peck of apples and on Sunday I made crock-pot applesause. It was super easy. Peal, slice and core apples, toss them in the crock-pot with 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar and what ever spices you'd like in applesaue. I used cinninman, clove and allspice. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, mash if nessary, taste for sweetness, chill. Yummy!

Sorry for the blurry picture!

Must learn photoshop

2008-10-20T10:22:00.003-05:00

Here I am at 21 weeks, 2 days. I really must learn how to photo shop.....I've never seen that under-arm waddle before. Bean is moving all the time now and I'm starting to pinch when I reach for something below me while I'm sitting. I usually feel a movement after I do that, so I'm sure she giving a kick for squishing her.

Zalebaby is being so cute, he's started blowing raspberries on my belly every chance he gets. Makes me teary-eyed. He's also starting making plans for her, like teaching her to play golf, so he has a golf partner.

I got a present this weekend!

2008-10-13T10:06:00.003-05:00

Too Cute! Thank you so much Mary Ann! Not only did I get these pretty washcloths, I felt the baby move. It felt like a goldfish bumping on the glass of the bowl looking for food. weird image, I know, but thats the best way I can describe it. So very weird and exciting.

growing...

2008-10-08T09:13:00.003-05:00

Boy do I need to clean that mirror!...... but I'm growing, I had to take out my belly ring! I can still wear a few of my normal clothes, but I'm finding maternity wear much more comfortable, even if I have to roll all the waistbands. I've been assured I'll grow into into them.

At the doc's yesterday and I weighed in at 153lbs. Last month I was 145. I need to cut back on the Reese's peanut butter cups.

Vacation pictures

2008-09-30T12:04:00.005-05:00

Zalebaby and I went on a little Anniversary/Babymoon Vacation last weekend. We left Thursday and came back Sunday. Not nearly long enough, but I'm saving vacation days for Thanksgiving. I'll be a little too pregnant to travel the 13 hours home for Christmas, so I promised Mom I'd come home for Thanksgiving instead.

We took a trip to Orlando to go to SeaWorld. I really liked the hotel we stayed in. The International Plaza Resort. It was very nice for the price, plus I mentioned it was our Anniversary and we were surprised our 2nd night there with a fruit plate and chocolates.

We walked to SeaWorld, about a 10 minute walk and we walked to Aquatica, which is SeaWorld's new water park. That was more of a hike, 15-20 minutes, mostly because you had to walk a long wind-y entrance road, with no sidewalks, which sucked, but how many people stay in hotels that are that close? I think ours was the only one you could do that from.

My favorite picture:

Don't you want to eat him up?

On Friday, we did SeaWorld. Neither Zalebaby nor I had been there since we were little, so we were really looking forward to it. It didn't disappoint. I thought SeaWorld would be great to go see, since it isn't about rides (I love roller coasters!) The shows were a lot of fun, but I was dissapointed with the Shamu- I believe show. It was a little cheesey and the animals didn't do much. There was more hoop-la than action.

Friday night we went to Universal Studio's Halloween Horror's Opening night. I was exhausted from all the walking durning the day, so I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Zalebaby did, but it was worth going to. It's too bad I'm preggers, 'cause they had the new Simpson's roller coaster open. Sigh. At lease Zalebaby didn't leave me to go for a spin, although it would have been nice to sit down while he was on it. My hips were killing me from all the walking and standing.

Saturday at Aquatica was a lot of fun. We slept in and got there around noon. There was only 1 ride I couldn't ride on, which was a stomach down racing ride. Normally, I would have loved that ride, but with Bean it wasn't do-able. My favorite attraction was Roa's Rapids, which is based on the lazy river idea, but with life vest instead of inner tubes and it has a faster current. It was lots of fun to drift around. I really over did it on Friday, so floating around on Saturday was the best.

Sunday, we went back to SeaWorld and saw the shows and exhibits we missed on Friday. I loved the dolphin and whale show, it made up for the Shamu show. We also spent almost an hour watching the seals play. Then we walked back to the hotel and drove home.

Mom Came to Visit

2008-09-22T14:05:00.005-05:00

Mom came to visit on Friday, she flew in around 4:30 and I dropped her off at the airport at 8am Monday morning. It was a quick but lovely visit.

When she came, she checked a bag and brought a carry on. She filled her suitcase with 48lbs of maternity clothes for me from my sisters. She's got more winter clothes waiting for me when I go up to see her for Thanksgiving. She was too funny with the weighing of the suitcase to make sure she didn't go over the 50 lbs limit.

I've settled on what we are going to do for the baby's room while she was here. I've been racking my brains, trying to figure out how to combine my sewing room and the guest room to free up the sewing room for the baby. Mom talked me into putting the baby into the guest room and leaving my sewing room as-is. She assured me that I'll want to have a bed in the room with the baby. Then we went to a daycare consignment sale with my friend A, who is a month ahead of me with her 2nd child. I found a comforter, bumper, diaper hanger and lamp shade that complement the bedspread on the guest bed, for $15. Sold! I have some wonderful fabric that goes with the set to make a dust ruffle for the crib. Here is the set:

I've also decided to go with a "Once Upon A Time" theme for Bean, leaning more toward Mother Goose than Disney.

What Year Do You Belong In?

2008-09-18T14:49:00.000-05:00

You Belong in 1954

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Pink it is!

2008-09-17T09:26:00.002-05:00

Woot! I'm having a little girl baby. Now I get to make all kinds of fun girly clothes. At least while she's small enough to let me dress her. She'll probably turn out to be a tomboy and never want to wear dresses. Still, I'm going to have fun while she'll let me.

The first shot of Bean at the Dr's was bottom up. The teck no sooner put the wand on my belly then we got to see she's a girl. I saw butt cheeks and 2 thighs, the teck said look, it's a girl! and she highlighted the in-between parts to show us her girly bits. The exam was the coolest. We got to see all of her, all the bones, her heart beating-all four chambers of it, her kidneys and stomach. She even looked at the wand, which made her look like an alien. It was the neatest thing.

Pink or Blue?

2008-09-16T08:16:00.003-05:00

I've got my 2nd trimester genetic screening today....which means they will do another sonogram. The doc told me at the last appointment that we'll be able to see the gender, if the bean cooperates. I'm so fricken excited. I hope Bean will pose for us.

Book review:Breaking Dawn (Twilight Series, Book 4)

2008-09-04T08:07:00.003-05:00

Breaking Dawn (Twilight Series, Book 4) by Stephenie Meyer. Since I have trouble with these reviews, I thought I'd steal a page from Tripping Toward Lucidity's book and review the story by answering questions.
What led you to pick up this book?
I picked up this book because it is part 4 in a series where I enjoyed the first 3. I enjoyed this book and eagerly waited until it was my turn to read. When I signed up for it at the library, I was 365th on the wait list for it.
Summarize the plot but don't give away the ending.
For me, this book wraps up the other 3 books. Bella's journey to conquer her fears and grow into herself and to gain her happy ever after. It had a couple of twist and turns that I didn't anticipate. Overall, it think it was far less intense then the others.
What did you like most about the book?
That the ending conflict was settled without a big brawl.
Share a favorite scene from the book:
I loved the description of the cottage that was built for Bella and Edward.

bump-de-bump

2008-08-28T09:05:00.003-05:00

Something happened between Monday and Tuesday night...........I got a bump! The picture is a little exaggerated, I'm twisted a little bit to get the picture, but I no longer look like I have a beer belly. Yay! --Please ignore my droopy pants, my butt isn't deformed that way ;-)

R.I.P. III is here!

2008-08-26T15:10:00.004-05:00

It's that time again. Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings has issued his fall Challenge and I again am taking him up on his offer. I just love to torure myself. It's not the scarey stories, which I like to read in the fall, its writing the reviews. But, to grow we must be challenged, so write them I will.

I'm going with:

Which is: Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

The Gothic/Horror/Suspense genre isn't something I normally read, although I do like the ghosty fansty/sci-fi. So I've been looking at the other blogger's lists and I've come up with a list of my own. The first two Carl pointed out and they intrigued me. I love the title of the 2nd one.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Ghost In Love by Jonathan Carroll
Underground by Kat Richardson
The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson-- not sure if this one fits in the genre, but it looks good
Touch the Dark by Karen Chance
Glass Houses - Rachel Caine

And what ever else I find. One of the best things about the challenge is all the new books the other blogger's bring to my attention.

Little Bean's Screen Debut

2008-08-20T13:24:00.004-05:00

Woot! I went for my first trimester screen today and I made this video for Zalebaby since he couldn't make it to the appointment with me. Don't listen to me babble please, I was just chitchatting with the Dr. while he was checking out the little bean. Overall, everything looks good, which makes me very happy. I go back on September 16th for a 2nd trimester screening and I'll find out Bean's gender then.

Let Me Out!!!

2008-08-15T13:16:00.002-05:00

I'm dying. It's 2:15 and I'm stuck here until 5. Somebody shoot me and put me out of my misery. I'm the only one in my department today. The only window I can see leads to the hallway not outside and it's cold in here. I've done all my work and am just waiting on the phone to ring, just so I can take a message for the salesmen who are not here. If I had nail polish, I'd be doing my nails just to complete the bad secretary image.

I bet no-one would notice if I sneaked out....

I've got nothing

2008-08-14T10:30:00.003-05:00

I've got nothing to say, but when are my ta-ta's going to stop growing?!?

I did have something funny happen to me last week, but I wanted to wait until I had a picture to post with the story, but the picture thing doesn't seem to be happening yet, so I'll just tell the story.

So, I went to Kroger after work and a guy asked me how many months am I. If it wasn't for his very pregnant wife standing beside of him, I would have clocked him. As it was, I gave him a completely shocked look. After all, I was barely 11 weeks! Now I was wearing a bias cut dress that outlined my belly, but when I looked in the mirror that morning I didn't think I looked preggers, just a little chunky. Needless to say, I've retired that dress until after baby. Not that I mind the idea of looking pregnant, but it was soo weird to have him ask me that.

Zalebaby, sweet as he is, insists I look preggers, not fat. He gets a gold star for that. Now, if he'd only do the dishes.

Cloth or disposable dipers?

2008-07-23T13:50:00.002-05:00

I've been pondering the question. Zalebaby is all for disposable, but I'm looking a my pocketbook.....it just so happens that Baby Cheepskate is having a give away of 12 bumGenius 3.0 One Size cloth diapers to one lucky reader. I can't say no to that! So I've got my fingers crossed. Has anyone used these? Can I get some recommendations? Me being clueless and all.

Little Bean's first picture

2008-07-21T08:57:00.003-05:00

See the 2 little +'s on the picture? In between them is my Little Bean! The bean's measurements indicated it was 8 weeks and 2 days on Thursday, which makes it's due date Feb 28th, one day off of what the original due date calculations said. The Doc said that everything looks good and I got to see Little Bean's heartbeat, it was going a mile a minute. So neat to see. I do have a large cyst on my right ovary, but the Doc wasn't too worried about it. He said we'll just keep an eye on it.

Dr. Horrible! OMG!!!!

2008-07-18T09:07:00.002-05:00

I'm a dork. I've come to terms with that. Please allow me to share it with y'all.

This is only going to be available until Sunday so, watch while the watching is good.

I just love me some Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion (drool, slopper).

Woot! A Contest/Give-A-Way!

2008-07-16T09:03:00.003-05:00

Dana over at Old Red Barn is having a Contest/Give-A-Way of a beautiful Quilt made from the Ginger Blossom fabric collection. I'm drooling in the worst way. Not only does she make wonderful soaps and sugar scrubs, but her quilt is stunning! Go check her and her quilt out!

Vickery's Bar & Grill at Glennwood

2008-07-16T08:26:00.004-05:00

My birthday dinner was at Vickery's (I made a point to remember the name last night) It's amazing what you can remember when you aren't drinking.

Vickery's is a lovely little neighborhood restaurant and dinner was yummy, what I could eat of it. Meat is so not agreeing with me right now. One bite of the fried chicken and I was done. Shudder. The mac and cheese on the other hand, was fricken to die for. Crunchy on top, soft and gooey underneath. Yum. I want more.......

We finished up my evening with a trip to see my favorite 1 year old (and his parents of course!)

It was fun to sit and have a quiet evening with friends.

I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my Zalebaby, the best MaGoo a girl can have.

Snap, crackle and pop!

2008-07-15T14:40:00.002-05:00

It's my birthday today and I am so looking forward to dinner with Zalebaby. We're not going anywhere special, just to a restaurant that a friend manages....which is not to put down the restaurant, food's great---I can never remember the name of it. We always call it Little David's restaurant ;-)

The little bean was misbehaving something fierce this morning, but has settled down now and I'm interested in food. The eating thing is driving me crazy, I've actually lost weight. I'm eating all the time, but it's not sticking.

My 1st Doctor's appointment is Thursday. I'm excited! I can't wait to see the little bean.

To beat the queasiness....

2008-07-02T08:46:00.003-05:00

Morning Sickness is a misnomer. It's not just mornings! My body is substituting nausea for hunger pangs. I don't get hungry anymore, I go straight to queasy. What fun! I've learned that if I eat a special K bar before I get out of bed, I don't get queasy before I'm out of the shower and ready to go downstairs. Then I eat yogurt before I leave for work. When I get to work, I make a pack of instant oatmeal and then I'm OK until 11, when I have another special K bar. Then Lunch at 12, fruit around 2:30 and one more special K bar at 4-4:30 to tide me over until I get home, where I'll have a snack of some sort before I make dinner.

At this rate, I'm going to be a blimp, long before the little bean gets here.

If only I could find a way to have a nap around 2pm. Drat that work thing. I wish it wasn't necessary.

Details.....

2008-06-26T09:22:00.003-05:00

Christy wanted details:

"I want an update! How are you feeling? Have you told anyone in your real life? How did you tell your hubby? Details. I want details!"

So here's the story.

I told Zalebaby I was pregnant on Wednesday, the day I was my period was due. Not that he believed me, but I was pretty sure. The wait from Wednesday to Saturday was a killer. Every time I went to the bathroom I expected/was afraid to see that I started bleeding. I never did. I was taking care of a friends animals while she was out of town and on Saturday morning, on the way back from letting the dog out, I stopped at CVS and got a pregnancy test. (why do they sell them 2 to a box?--Now I have an extra one laying around)

Zalebaby insisted on reading me the instructions. I had to pee so bad it hurt.....I ignored him and peed on the stick while he was trying to read the instructions. I put the cap back on the stick and laid it down on the bathroom counter to wait the 3 minutes. Zalebaby couldn't wait that long and went in and picked it up as soon as I came out of the bathroom. He was so cute. He picked it up and said "congratulations Mommy". Awwww. I responded with "thank you, Daddy. See? I told you so!" He'd been teasing me, giving me grief about not being late, I just miss counted days..... He called his dad a few minutes later, to tell him I'm "probably" pregnant. Too funny.

I called my mother and told her I had bad news. That I wouldn't be able to come home for Christmas this year. My Mother, the drama queen, gave me a hostile "why?". I giggled and told her I would be about 8 months pregnant...she got all excited, then said "you can still drive home for Christmas" Sigh. I don't think I want to do a 13 hour car ride that pregnant. It would probably take 14 hours with all the potty breaks!

I told some of my friends about being preggers on Sunday at a little pool party when they wanted to know why I wasn't drinking with them. I called my sisters on Sunday and told them the news, they were excited for me. Hockeywife is disappointed that she won't be able to meet the baby until the summer, as she will be in Germany until April.

I'm feeling a little queasy. Isn't 5 weeks a little early for this? I get queasy before I eat and after I eat. I'm ok while I'm eating and then I'm fine about 1/2 hour after I stop eating the queasy goes away. It just sucks.

I'm craving naps. Going to bed early doesn't help, I just wake up earlier and stare at the celling. I just want a ten minute nap here and there.

I made an Dr.'s appointment, the obgyn doesn't want to see me until week 8, so I'll see them 7/17, 2 days after my 36 birthday.

Well, Christy, you wanted details..... ;-)

The wait is over...

2008-06-23T08:37:00.002-05:00

NOW WHAT!?!

waiting is so hard

2008-06-18T12:37:00.003-05:00

I hate this time of the month. The waiting. To bleed or not to bleed, and how do I feel about either option. I'm "due" today and this is the first time since I've gone off birth control that I haven't started early. I'm working really hard, not to get excited. Trying not to jinks myself. I feel like writing this is a jinks too, but I would rather babble it here, to the blogsphere, then to get excited to my hubby and friends and be wrong. I'm giving myself until until Sunday before trying to pee on the stick. I'd really hate to get a false negative.

It's been six months of trying...as much as I enjoy the trying part....I'm getting worried. sigh. I'd like to be preggers before my 36th b-day.

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

2008-06-12T12:09:00.001-05:00

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

You are sophisticated, modern, and high class.

Your taste is refined, but you are not picky.

You are often the first to try something new.

You are emotionally expressive and sensitive.

You're effected by everything around you.

Your friends appreciate your open heart, but they are afraid of hurting your feelings.

You love to be in love. You crave romance, whether you're single or not.

You feel lost when you don't feel passion... you need someone to adore.

The Chocolate Oracle

Midsummer Night's Dream review...sort of.

2008-06-10T11:44:00.006-05:00

The last part of my Once Upon A Time Challenge is to read Midsummer Night's Dream. Midsummer Night's Dream is my hands down favorite Shakespeare play. I've seen it performed at least 20 time if I've seen it once. Sometimes it's good, other times it is horrible. One of the things that makes the difference is whether or not the actors understand what they are saying. Don't laugh. You'd be amazed at how many times I've seen the play where it was obvious that the actor didn't get the meaning, the sense of the lines. So I thought I'd share my favorite monologue with you.....and what I think the meaning is.....

HELENA :
How happy some o'er other some can be!

Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.

But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;

He will not know what all but he do know:

And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,

So I, admiring of his qualities:

Things base and vile, folding no quantity,

Love can transpose to form and dignity:

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;

And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:

Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;

Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:

And therefore is Love said to be a child,

Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.

As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,

So the boy Love is perjured every where:

For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,

He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;

And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,

So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.

I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:

Then to the wood will he to-morrow night

Pursue her; and for this intelligence

If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:

But herein mean I to enrich my pain,

To have his sight thither and back again.

To Paraphrase, nay to sum up:

I'm happy for Hermia, but I'm pretty too! Why won't Demetrius see that anymore? He use to love me, now he loves Hermia! I love him, all his faults are charming to me. He is acting like a child, making promises then denying them. I will tell him of Hermia's plan, even though I am betraying my best friend, just to try to get him to see me again, hopefully to love me again.

To me, that is what Helena is trying to say. This monologue was one of my favorite audition pieces. Even if Helena is a whiny little pain in the ass.

Book Review: Legend by David Lynn Golemon

2008-06-06T08:49:00.003-05:00

From Wikipedia--The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity.

So for my Mythology section of the Once Upon a Time II Challenge, I went with Legend by David Lynn Golemon. It is not classified as a Fantasy or Sci-Fi book, but as a thriller. It is about the search for El Dorado. It's kinda a modern Indian Jones story. There is global power conflicts, scientific backstabbing and secrets, kept for centuries. The mythology of the story is in the myth of El Dorado and the Aztecs who built it. It was a good read, but I wanted to read more about the clever way the Aztecs protected their treasure, rather than the modern politics around finding it. I probably won't pick up any more books by Golemon, his style is heavy on the mechanics of weapons and fighting. While I love a good fight scene, I'm not really interested in all the bells and whistles of tanks and guns.

Book Review: Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

2008-06-04T08:29:00.003-05:00

Goose Girl by Shannon Hale was a fun quick read, a re-telling of the classic fairytale. I loved the way that Shannon Hale fleshed out the story, providing the Goose Girl's background as well as adding the more psychic than magic powers to the story. I also enjoyed Isa's personal growth journey, her learning to trust herself and stand on her own two feet.

My Google Reader is overflowing with entries....

2008-05-30T09:40:00.003-05:00

Hi Everyone! Sorry for the long absence. I went on vacation. Zalebaby and I decided to stay at home and be tourist in Atlanta. With the cost of gas, it was much cheaper to stay at home (no hotel bill, no boarding the dogs bill) and do day trips around Georgia. I did insist it be a true vacation and refused to cook all week. Ya me!

We went on vacation from May 17th to May 26. When I picked the week, I picked it because of a day Atlanta Braves' game. Zalebaby wanted to go to a business man's game, as he has never done that. I had no idea that Monday was Memorial Day. I so loved the bonus day off!

I'll tell you more about vacation when Zalebaby gives me the pictures (he's a photoshop god) but here is the only one that came out good with my stupid camera (no, it's not stupid me, I made ZB take pictures with my camera as well as his to prove that there was something wrong with mine!)

Me at the New World of Coke. It was much better than the old World of Coke. We wouldn't have even gone to WOC if it wasn't for the CityPass that we bought.

Before and after

2008-05-16T09:52:00.003-05:00

Before you sits 80% of my book collection:

I only thought about taking a picture after I removed the books from the folding bookshelves I've used since college. We're re-doing the guest bedroom, since the bed has been sitting on the floor since we've moved here. We rent, so please ignore the blue sky wallpaper, it came with the house.....but look! Brand new, grown up bookshelves! Thank you IKEA and my stimulus check!

I think when we actually buy a house, I'm going to need to add another bookcase or 2.

Yummy! Spicy Banana Cookies!

2008-05-08T09:13:00.003-05:00

Zalebaby and I have been eating bananas like they are going out of style, 'cause they help with his heartburn, but after a while, it gets old. Like the bananas that turned soft and brown hanging on the holder. So I decided to try out the Spicy Banana Cookies recipe I found a couple of weeks ago at sticky, gooey, creamy, chewy . Drool. Yum. They were really easy to make and the only thing I did different from the recipe is I added extra chocolate chips and left out the nuts. I hate to say it, but I didn't get any pictures. I took them to a dinner party and they were gone in no time flat. I'm hoping that Zalebaby leaves a few more bananas to get over-ripe so I can make some more cookies......I bought an extra large bunch of bananas at the store to help to make the cookies happen.....there is nothing wrong with hedging your bets, right?

Magic Bites/Magic Burns.......Review

2008-05-05T11:50:00.002-05:00

I love reading, I hate writing.....which is why I keep doing these bloody Challenge. The challenge for me is to actually write the Review. So today, I'm going to review 2 books by the same author, Ilona Andrews.

Magic Bites and Magic Burns are Urban Fantasy books that are set in a world where Magic and Technology work, but not at the same time. It's kinda like Magic and Tech are battling it out over who's rules the world is going to follow, Einstein's or Merlin's. This world also includes Were-animals and Vampires. With the Vampires, there is a twist. The Vampires are not your run of the mill, blood-drinking Hunky Bad Guys, vampires are more-or-less mindless creatures who are controlled by "The People". Which are, I think, humans who have an extra mind skill, who can control the by putting their consciousness in vampire's mind which allows the "rider" to control the vampire's body. The stories take place in Atlanta (which is where I live) and is one of the reason's I picked up the first book, Magic Bites. In Magic Bites, we are introduced to Kate Daniels, who is a mercenary that deals with paranormal problems. She is strong woman with a bad attitude and a secret. You gotta to love that, I know I do. She is blindsided by the murder of her Guardian and hunts down his killer.

In Magic Burns, Kate's got a new problem. How to save Atlanta (and the world) from Celtic Ghouls bent on killing all of human kind. In this book, Kate is even more of a bad ass then the in the first book, plus she has more depths as a person, we get to see her reason things out and we get a little closer to finding out her secret....well, we do find out her secret, but we still don't know what it means or why she is in this jam....And! There is a tease of a romance starting. I'm so loving that part. I'm dying for the two of them to get together. I find the way the tension is building up to be very sexy. It's going to be hard to wait until next year for part 3. I'm not known for my patience.

May Day

2008-05-01T09:05:00.004-05:00

Happy May Day! Flowers for everyone and it's time to dance the maypole! Did you wash your face in the dew this morning?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

May Day has been a traditional day of festivities throughout the centuries. It is most associated with towns and villages celebrating springtime fertility and revelry with village fetes and community gatherings. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the Maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons.

I love to dance the maypole. I use to do it everyday when I worked at the PA Renaissance Faire. It was one of my "duties". Rough job, right?..... You know what? I don't think I've ever dance the maypole on May Day. heh.

If you are a geek and you know it, clap your hands!

2008-04-21T08:24:00.001-05:00

So, I'm a geek, I know it. Here's the proof. I spent the past week re-reading the first 5 books in a series so that I could read the new (to me) number 6. I will do this for almost every series. It's a sickness I tell you.

Zalebaby just laughs at me. "At least you get your money's worth out of your books."

There are only 2 series that I collect that I won't re-read the entire collection, The Eve Dallas series by JD Robb and the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. Both are simply to big to re-read all the books before my desire to read the newest overwhelms me.

One of my favorite things to have happen, is to find a new-to-me author that I love, who has a large collection of books published, so I can delve into their worlds and enjoy the stories, without having to wait for the next book to be published. Talk about being a literary addict......there are worse things to be addicted to, ya know?

Review: The Outlaw Demon Wails (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows, Book 6)

2008-04-09T09:57:00.003-05:00

Now this one is on my Challenge list. I very much enjoyed The Outlaw Demon Wails (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows, Book 6) by Kim Harrison.

The Outlaw Demon Wails is the sixth book in the Hollows series. I really like the series, but I wouldn't recommend picking up this book if you haven't read the other 5. That being said, it was a good read. It definitely had a new tone to the story writing. Rachael is trouble with a capital T. If there is a safe choice or a dangerous one, she'll go for danger every time. At least that was the way she operated in the other 5 books. In this one, she spends a lot of time fighting herself and her instincts, to stay out of trouble....which of course, puts her in even more trouble.

I'm wondering if there will be a book 7. Harrison has wrapped up most of the plot lines of the series, but she did introduce a few new ones. I know if she writes more books set in this world, I'll read them.

Review: A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C Bunce

2008-04-09T09:00:00.005-05:00

Although this book isn't on my list for the Once Upon A Time II Challenge, it certainly falls into the fairytale category....well sort of, as it turns out to be work of ghosts, rather than fairies.....

A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C Bunce. This was a wonderful retelling of the classic Rumpelstiltskin. One of the things I enjoyed about it, was the way the story was structured around the Mill. The building itself was a major character in the story, with it's own will and personality. Charlotte Miller, our heroine, starts out the tale not believing in magic or curses. She is a strong willed, determined person, and the fairytale element of the story creeps in slowly, changing her perception of the world. I love the journey she takes, from sorrow to joy, never loosing her determination to do the right thing, no matter how hard it is.

What Fun!

2008-04-04T08:25:00.004-05:00

I had the best time last night with Teresa. She rocked and was so funny. We talked about everything under the sun. I was a little nervous about meeting her, what was I going to say? What if we have nothing in common other than blogging? I was so afraid my shy side was going to come out and tongue tie me. (you'd be surprised by how often that happens) But no, she made me feel comfortable right off the bat. She's just like her blog, warm funny and down to earth......and a little -ahem -earthy. It's too bad we got together on a school night, some weekend this summer we are going to have to sit down with a couple of pitchers of Margarita's....and see just how raunchy the conversation can get. Tee-hee! (maybe we could talk Mary Ann into coming for a visit this summer)

She made me the best box of goodies:

I'm so looking forward to playing with fabrics she gave me and I love, love, love the bracelet her daughter made. I was so excited to see one of her signature button dragonflys. The green sun catcher is going to be hung on my patio doors so I can see the light thru it and I love the little cardinal sitting on his nest. He is destined for a spot on my Christmas tree. Thank you so much Teresa for all the goodies. I can't wait to see you again! What a great blogging date.

Two Shoes

2008-04-02T08:53:00.005-05:00

Sorry, no pictures of the Stromboli, but yum! So very yummy! I remembered to bring my camera downstairs, but did I take any pictures? Nope! By the time it came out of the oven, (at 9pm!!) We were sooo hungry and it smelled so good, we dove right in, camera forgotten. So this morning I took shoe pictures like so many of my favorite blogers have been posting lately. Jen over at Scissors. Paper. Glue has started a Shoe photo swap. So cute and such fun. I didn't join the swap, but I thought I'd offer up my favorite shoes. Please forgive the blurry-ness. I think I need a new camera--my pictures look good when I view them after I take them, but when downloaded.....blurry. I've corrected as much as possible, but I'm still not happy.

Wedding Shoes:

I had an outdoor wedding in Maui, so I wanted wedges with an ankle strap to walk on the grass with. Do you know how hard that is to find? I spent all summer trying to find a pair. I found these at the end of the summer in the Kenneth Cole store. I adore them and I love the fact that I've been able to wear them after the wedding, especially since I'd paid more for them then any other shoes in my life, which is not saying much, as they were on sale for $90. But then I got my wedding dress at Macy's for $80.....

Girly Party Shoes:

I don't remember where I got these, but I always feel pretty and feminine in them

Carb Coma

2008-04-01T14:06:00.003-05:00

Guess what I did all weekend? I love, love, love this book. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. My diet has gone right out the window. So far, I've only made 2 of the breads, the basic brioche dough and the peasant loaf. Both were yummy, so yummy. I've been making cheese toast like it was going out of style. I'm dying to make the calzon or the stromboli. I have enough dough left in the fridge to make one of them tonight. Now if I could just remember to pull out my camera I'll have pictures for you tomorrow.

I'm not surprised.....

2008-03-27T09:32:00.002-05:00

This does not surprise me. Although I would rank my artistic side higher than the computer side.....

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Anime Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Social Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

The Once Upon a Time II Challenge

2008-03-24T14:26:00.003-05:00

Yay! It's that time of year again, it's the start of -The Once Upon a Time II Challenge!!! I did this Challenge last year and I found so many new authors to read, so when Carl V over at Stainless Steel Droppings made the announcement, I started compiling my list.

I'll be doing Quest the Third which is:

Fulfill the requirements for Quest the First or Quest the Second AND top it off with a June reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Quest the Second is: Read at least one book from each of the four categories. In this quest you will be reading 4 books total: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology.

So my list of books (which I reserve the right to change up at any time) are:

1) Fantasy-Magic bites by Andrews, Ilona

2) Folklore- Swimming without a net by MaryJanice Davidson, a modern mermaid story.

3) Fairy Tale- Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, I've read another of her stories for the 1st challenge

4) Mythology- Legend by David Lynn Golemon, is a stretch, it's a thriller about the search for El Dorado. I may replace this if I find something not set in today's world....but I'm excited to read this one.

I'm so looking forward to everyone's review and find new great reads.

Lucky/Not So Lucky

2008-03-17T08:19:00.003-05:00

I had an interesting weekend.

Friday Night: Atlanta, GA

Area: Cabbagetown

Interesting Occurrence: Tornado

Saturday Night: Savannah, GA

Interesting Occurrence: Tornado

Personal Damage: None.

Details:

Friday afternoon, my girlfriend Elli (who lives in Amsterdam) came into Atlanta for a visit. Zalebaby and I went to Heat's house in Cabbagetown, along with a bunch of other friends, to meet Elli and her husband and go to dinner. We all went to dinner at a Mexican place a couple of miles away in the Virginia-Highlands. On our way back to Heat's house, around 10 ish, we noticed the stop-lights were out around their house and the power was out on the block. No biggie, that usually happens when it rains that hard.....so we went in and lit candles and hung out for a while. Then one of the girls gets a panic phone call....is everyone alright?

It freaked us all out. None of us had been listening to the radio on the way back from the restaurant. We didn't know that a tornado had ripped the roof off of the lofts that are 300 yards down the street from Heat's house. In the dark we couldn't see a thing. When we stopped by Heat's on the way to Savannah Saturday morning, we could see the damage. wow.

Like I said, we went to Savannah on Saturday. Guess what happened there? There was 11 of us that went to Savannah for the festivities. We were roaming Riverwalk after dinner (more like wiggling thru the crowds, getting beer spilled on you with every step) when J tripped and twisted his ankle- the irony of this is he doesn't drink. J and A were sharing a room with Zalebaby and I, so we decided to get him back to the Motel where he could put his foot up, leaving the rest of the gang to enjoy the crowds. I was so over the crowds. During the day, it was a lot of fun, after dark, not so much.

I was a good thing we went back when we did. We had no sooner gotten back to the motel and settled in, then the power went out. A was in the shower and she yelled at us to quit fooling around and turn the lights on! We propped the bathroom door and the room door open so the emergency lights could give her enough light to finish up in there. We dragged the chairs out onto the walk way and enjoyed the night air. (we were on the 2nd floor) Our friends, fortunately, had left river walk before the lights went out and were wandering around City Market looking at the vender's when the power went out down there. Imagining trying to get out of river walk, in the dark with that many people jammed into it scares the bjesus out of me.

So our friends make it back to the motel and we are all sitting around, talking and drinking, the tornado siren goes off. Lovely. The tornado didn't set down anywhere near us, but enough is enough! What a weekend!

worry and frett.

2008-03-12T08:32:00.002-05:00

All the Details have been ironed out and Zalebaby and I are going to Savannah for the weekend. Well, really just overnight on Saturday. The dog care has been arranged, the hotel is booked, Zalebaby is excited and I am dreading it.

We're going with a bunch of friends who want to do the St. Patty's day parting. I'm not looking forward to the drunk party crowds that Savannah's St Patty's day weekend seems to be. I say seems, since I've never been there during St Patty's day. I love Savannah, it is so beautiful. I'm a bit of a history junky and love to do museum tours. I'm whiny because I don't want deal with the hassle. Boy is it going to be a hassle. I'd be less whiny if we had planed this earlier and gotten a hotel room on river street and we could just walk out the door and do as we please, but the planners of this adventure got a hotel in the outskirts of Savanna and are planing on driving in so we can party on river street. Like that is going to work out well. Hello---drinking and driving? Not to mention parking is going to be a joke. I know that there are going to be shuttles, so I'm going to do some research and find out where the stops are.

This party weekend is so not the break my heart, mind and body are crying for.

This and that a'la Christy

2008-03-04T12:08:00.007-05:00

This and that a'la Christy:

I'm a bit disorganized lately. I'm not finishing what I started. I've been using my nautical purse, but I haven't added anything to it yet. I'm thinking I'm going to add an applique whale to it. Very simple to do, if I'd just sit down and cut out the whale.

I also scored big when I went thrifting. I've been meaning to take pictures of the patterns, but it hasn't happened yet. I picked up 10 to 15 1950 patterns in my size (unheard of!) at .25 each! I found a wrap dress that is adorable. I so want to show it to Erin at Dress A Day. She would so get my love for it. Pictures, soon, I promise!

The cause of my worse than usual disorganization? Lost Odyssey. My Tax return came in last Friday and briefly I was rich. Then I paid the bills and bought myself a treat. It's the first true RPG (role-playing game) I've had for the 360. I am so addicted. This game should keep me occupied for a month, at least. The high-def graphics blow me away. So far, there is only one thing I'm not thrilled with, the world is not 360 and I can't look thru the characters eyes when I move around. It doesn't stop me from wanting to play. Last night I only stopped because it was the season finally of the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Parting shot:

This was parked outside of my office this morning. To bad I didn't see the sales rep, I so would have hit him up for samples!

Thrifting

2008-02-29T11:33:00.002-05:00

I'm going to an estate sale tomorrow. I'm really excited about that. I went to them all the time before I moved to Atlanta, since moving here, I've fallen out of the habit. It might have had something to do with all the Friday night Parties I went to when I first moved here......but I'm not quite sure how...... ;-)

Help Please!

2008-02-25T10:06:00.006-05:00

I broke my sewing drought last night and made a purse. I cut it out months ago and it sat by my machine waiting to be sewn. Since NASCA was in rain pause most of last night I decided to put it together. (NASCA is my dirty little pleasure, it's all the pretty drivers going fast) It turned out OK, but I like the inside better than the outside. So, the outside needs some jazzing up. That's where I need help, so please, please offer some suggestions! (I'm looking at you, Mary Ann and Candi)

The outside:

The inside:

I could take it apart and reverse it, but the pockets are too short to be of any use on the outside, I would loose anything I put in them. I used scrap fabric to make it and I don't have enough to make deeper pockets.

Detail:

So, help me out. What can I do to make the bag less plain? Or is it OK as it is?

Total Eclipse of the heart.....

2008-02-21T09:01:00.005-05:00

I'm showing my geek side.....
Zalebaby and I went outside last night around 10:30 and got to see this. It was so very cool. I've never seen a lunar eclipse before. It seems every time one was occurring, we had cloud cover. Even for this eclipse, we missed most of it due to the clouds (and where the moon was...had to wait for it to get high enough to see over the other houses) but it was thrilling to see the moon last night. Not for another 3 years, Dec. 21, 2010 will there be another total lunar eclipse.

In high school, I was lucky enough to go to the "rich" school. I lived 4 houses into the school district. High school sucked, its no fun being the geeky poor girl in the school where all the doctor's kids went to school. One of the cool things about the school was it had a Planetarium. I loved astronomy class. The teacher was crazy fun and the subject matter kept my attention. It was one of the few classes I enjoyed. I so wish that I could have had more classes like that.

My so called sewing room

2008-02-19T08:56:00.005-05:00

My sewing room is haunting me. I even walked in it yesterday and looked at the piles. Piles of fabric, piles of stuffing, piles of patterns, piles everywhere except on the treadmill that I haven't used in months. I keep that free so I will use it. Or so I tell myself. Sigh. I need another sewing job to kick myself into gear. I've been wanting to make a table runner and placemats. I've got plenty of fabric to do it with, but I haven't wanted to be in the sewing room to do it. I must clean it.

I've also been thinking about making a hand pieced doll quilt. I want something that I can work on in front of the TV with my hubby. He gets a little whine-y when I go upstairs and sew after work, unless its a paying job. Plus, I like to sew to the TV and I don't have one the the disaster area I call a sewing room.

bonus Picture: hubby and my niece at Christmas

Roses smell sweet

2008-02-14T14:25:00.002-05:00

I'm so lucky. My bosses got me roses and a card for Valentine's Day. Totally surprised me and made my day.

He's Coming Home

2008-02-06T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yay! Zalebaby is on his way home. I've missed him terribly. It's been rough being sick as a dog and not having him around to baby me. It's been worse, what with his family situation and me not being able to be there with/for him and being sick. Now the poor baby is driving home thru the tornado's, in the rain, with a cold of his own. I pray the trip goes smoothly for him. I can't wait for him to get home so I can baby him. If all goes well, he should be home around 9pm tonight, which gives me enough time to get home from work, clean the house and change the sheets before he gets there. I might even have enough time to take a nap.

Sadness

2008-02-04T10:49:00.000-05:00

Zalebaby's mother passed away early Sunday morning. This was not unexpected as she had cancer and when we saw her over Christmas, she was on a downward spiral. He got the call last week that he needed to come home, so he left here Friday afternoon and did the 14 hour drive to Upstate New York. He spent Saturday with her, talking to her and making her laugh. He feels good about that. Zalebaby loves to be the funny man.

What he is not so happy about is having to be the strong one and handle all the details. He is the only one of the 4 kids that doesn't live in that podunk town. He's the only one to escape from their trailer-trash lifestyle. Believe me, they could keep Jerry Springer show going for a month. That includes his mother's husband, never to be confused with his Dad. So all the stuff that should have been taken care of long before his Mom got this bad, never got taken care of. Or even talked about. So guess who got stuck with it? I wish I was there to comfort Zalebaby, but a small part of me is really glad I'm not. I couldn't be nice to most of his family. I lost my father to cancer 12 years ago and they way his mother (and the rest of the family) handled everything makes me angry to tears.

She didn't have to die this way. She had Colon cancer and if she'd gone to the doctor at the first sign of trouble, she could have beat it. Instead, she waited until her bowels shut down then went to the doctor. At that point, she still had a good chance of beating it. She was given chemo pills, but stopped taking them because they made her sick. The whole thing just makes me so mad. My Dad didn't have a chance against the cancer and she throws it all away.

Sorry Christy, yesterday was a sick day....

2008-01-30T10:56:00.000-05:00

So what do you take to stop the diarrhea when you keep throwing up the Imodium AD? I've also learned that grape poweraid makes for neon lime diarrhea. Just a fun fact to start your day. I'm done with the ralphing and (keep your fingers crossed) with the diarrhea so I'm back at work. I'm so ready to go home and laydown.

Da Da Dum

2008-01-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

I love reading blogs. I get all kinds of crafting and sewing ideas. I love reading everyone else's life stories and the recipes...Woot! I love the cooking blogs! When it comes to me putting fingers to keyboard.....not so much. I don't know what to write. When I do something crafty, I always seem to do it at the last minute and don't take any pictures, so I don't really want to blog about it. During Christmas, I made 2 wonderful simple wraps for friends of mine. Did I take pictures? nope. So.....no proof that I made them...why blog about them.....it's a vicious circle. Which takes me back to the start of this post. I love reading (and commenting on blogs) which is why I feel like I should have one. I want to give back, but I'm not doing such a good job of it. So I'm going to challenging myself to post at least twice a week (I'm trying to set a reasonable, attainable goal). Hopefully it won't be complete drivel, but I'm going to give it a try.