cheer up sleepy jean

Sadly, my childhood crush is gone.

My cousin and I spent countless hours watching Monkees reruns and reenacting them when we were little. Davy Jones was always my boyfriend. What a dreamboat. I'm a little sad about his unexpected and early departure. Rest in peace, Davy Jones. Thanks for being my first "boyfriend."

Anyway, back to life. Back to reality. (back to life, back to reality....)

I had my monitoring appointment yesterday. My uterine lining measured 16mm (8mm+ is a good number), there were no big follicles (big follicles = big nono in an FET), and the bloodwork came back normal, so we are still on for a March 6 transfer! Woohoo!

We've also decided to transfer one embryo. At the end of the day, I realized that I have a parental duty to protect these embryos and give them the best chance they have at life. I do not want to knowingly increase the chances of preterm labor or developmental delays or even prenatal or neonatal death for either of them. I also have a responbility to parent G-man. If I get pregnant with twins, I would probably have to go on bedrest and not be able to enjoy the G-man's second year, never mind his third year when the babies would actually be here. He is part of this family, and his needs are a big factor (and rightfully so!) in this decision. Mr. T. is like 100 percent sure. I'm like 65 percent sure. Which, yeah, I don't get, either, when you lay it all out like the way I just did.

But, again, it's about trusting God, decision by decision and moment by moment. Sometimes, I just feel like He's saying, "Tina, do you trust me? I totally got this."

Yup. He totally does.

1977

That's the year I was born.

That's also the year that the American Eagle stores were founded.

American Eagle is the store that I reluctantly went into after a futile trip to all the "grown-up" stores in the mall, searching for an outfit for our upcoming outdoor photo sesh (so excited!). On a whim, I decided to go in and see if there was anything that might work.

I spotted a cute dark grey dress and hesitated before taking it off the rack....and then hesitated again before heading to the dressing room. I mean, would anything in this store even fit me?

But I headed over and asked the nice teenage boy to open a dressing room door for me. There were clothes strewn about, and he loudly yelled, "OH.MY.GAAAAWD."

I should have run away right then.

But, I tried the dress on. It was actually cute. A little short, but cute...and pretty flattering. I thought to myself, "I wonder if this is a dress or a long shirt? Would I need to wear tights underneath? Do I have leggings to wear with it? I do really like it....I wonder if Spanx might make it look even better...."

My reverie was interrupted by the two girls in the dressing room next to me who were having a very serious conversation.

"I looooooove that on you! It looks amazing!"

"Oh, thanks!"

"I mean, oh my gosh, we're like the same size!"

"I know! We should be roommates in college!"

"Oh my gosh! Totally!"

*insert high pitched, very excited squeals*

Uhm, yeah. I felt old. I haven't been in college since...well, maybe since these girls were born.

These girls have probably never even HEARD of Spanx.

I bought the dress. The cashiers were trying to convince me to buy a "cute" necklace with primary colored feathers in it to go with the dress (confirmation: it is a dress). I politely declined but they kept asking if I wanted to try it.

Then the lady signed me up for a rewards card and asked when I was born.

*ahem*

"1977."

She stopped asking me to buy the feather necklace after I said that.

Nice.

For the record, the dress still has the tags on it. It's cute, but has some ribbon ties that I'm not over the moon about. I might have been over the moon about them in 1992.

But, alas, it's not 1992.

Anyone want to volunteer to be my personal shopper this weekend???

i dreamed a dream

Something hormonal must be going on (no, I'm not pregnant--AF showed up this weekend for the first time since I got pregnant last February). I've had really wacky dreams this week. Actually...maybe it's the AF hormones (pronounced hor-moh-neeeees, btw).

Anyhoo, my first vivid dream was the ever-recurring, "OMG my calculus final is tomorrow and I haven't been to class, turned in any homework, or know anything!" Ugh. I have those dreams about once a month and they FREAK.ME.OUT. Luckily, I passed calculus back in high school--and passed my AP test, barely! By the grace of God. And I never had to take math again.

Except once a month in my dreams. Fun.

My second vivid dream was of me showing up at a place where people were having a party. And I wasn't invited. It was way awk. Way.

Last night was the best of all, though. I was hanging out with the Pioneer Woman! At her house! And my task was to make waffles. Like...the easiest thing. Except it was all wrong. Her kids came over and looked at me with disgust and said, "It's ok, Mom will be over to fix it soon." Sure enough, she came over, looked at me like I was an idiot because I didn't even have the right plates on the waffle iron, and made the most perfect waffles. She had orange shag carpet and nasty stained laminate counters. And she was kind of mean. Like...an evil Fringe parallel universe Pioneer Woman. She kept shoving her foot in my face...then I woke up and realized it was G shoving his foot in my face. HA!

Oh...I guess I should also tell you about the dream where I was walking down the grocery aisles and the whole time I could hear G babbling, but I didn't know where he was. I was jolted awake when I heard a thud and a loud cry. Uh...yeah, we had been hanging out on our bed after morning nursing, and I fell asleep for a minute, while G decided to utilize his new highly advanced scooting skills to scoot himself right off our bed, while babbling the whole time. Whoops.

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you have a safe and fun weekend!

a dirge

Goodbye, cursive handwriting
Whatever will I do?
Technology will kill you
So horrible, but true.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I'll be here all week.

One of the highlights of my 2nd grade life was learning cursive!

I was so excited about learning cursive that I may have practiced how to write in cursive the summer before 2nd grade.

Yeah. I was that kid. What's it to you?

In case you're wondering, there is a point to this post, today. I almost cried this morning when I heard a story on the radio about how a growing number of states are no longer including cursive handwriting as part of their curriculums.

Frankly, I know the "whys" of such a tragedy--it's because kids are learning everything on computers. Penmanship has been replaced by typing speed. iPads will replace paper. Kindles will replace textbooks. Surely, this also means that libraries will soon go into extinction, as they are replaced by the internet.

Did you know that one of my favorite smells is the musty odor of old books in a library? True story.

Sorry. I don't even have the words to say how sad this is making me.

But as you can see...I am a sad panda today.

That is all.

whatnot wednesday

Time for another Whatnot Wednesday!  God bless Elizabeth for giving me this out to post something because I'm not prepared to post about our weekend.  I'm still recovering and haven't uploaded the pictures yet.

• So...remember when I said that I will think of things that would be perfect for a WW post, but then will promptly forget...and that I will think of starting a list, but then I will forget to write them down? Yeah, I still do those things...but...I started a list a few weeks ago!  I present to you, my list! 

• I'll get to my list in just a sec, but I'd like to discuss a couple of non-list related points. 
• First, this list goes to show that I am not really a list person. Tom is. He has lists EVERYWHERE. On his phone, on random scraps of paper and post-its, on notepads, on our shared calendar. EVERYWHERE. I realized I'm not really a list person, because when I looked at this list, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say about 3 of the 4 items. And the 4th item, I only remember because I wrote it down 10 minutes ago, right before I took this picture. So, no...I don't make a lot of lists, and when I do, I defeat the point of making a list because I don't put enough descriptors to be effective. The lists are in my head, people. And my head provides me what I need to know, just when I need to know it. When it doesn't, I figure I didn't need to know it. This philosophy drives Tom crazy.
• I was just re-reading what I wrote and the word list looks funny to me. Does that ever happen to you? You write down a word you've written a million gazillion times before, and then you look at it and it looks funny to you? Like...you're sitting there thinking, "Maybe that's not how you spell it?" Even though it is? And the longer you look at it, the funnier it looks to you? 
• My handwriting as evidenced by the photo has multiple personalities. I am a little embarrassed to post the photo because those are my scribblings and not my "neat" penmanship, which can also evidence multiple personalities even within a single sentence. It just shows I have a personality, friends. I embrace it.
• So...the photo above was taken with my new iPhone and the Instagram app. As a loyal Verizon customer, I used to be a Droidee, but when iPhone came on to the network, I couldn't help myself. I know a lot of people say Droid is a superior phone, what with their platform capabilities or whatever, but I realized...I am not techie enough to appreciate what the Droid can do. I'm just enough of a lemming to be an iPhone user. I have tasted the Apple juice (or is that Kool-aid?) and I am in love. I am also in love with Instagram, as are many of my friends. The filter on the above is my favorite...1977...it's the year I was born, and the polaroids my parents took of our little family back then look exactly like that. Another filter is called Apollo. That's my high school's name--I loved high school. I know...who loved high school? I did, that's who! It was my density to own an iPhone and the Instagram app.
• Speaking of density...Tom and I were watching a Back to the Future trilogy marathon this weekend. I heart Michael J. Fox. He was my teen idol. Sigh. Anyhooooo...in BTFT 2 Doc comes back to take Marty and Jennifer (who was played by Elizabeth Shue in BTFT 2 but not in BTFT 1--a fact that only became evident to us because they played it back to back [to the future-hahahaha]) to the future. Where they didn't need roads, because all the cars were flying by then. To the future. To the year 2015. I turned to Tom and said, "Did he just say the year 2015?!?!?!?!?!" LOL! Interestingly, when they went back to 1955, Doc threw Marty a walkie-talkie so they could communicate. Walkie talkies and flying cars. Coming to you in the year 2015. You heard it here...second. :)
• Okay, so now that push has come to shove, my list seems lame. I mean, do you really care to hear about how much I love Spam the processed meat, but despise spam the type of email? Or how I prefer my drinks to be ice cold or piping hot, and how I drink my drinks really fast to avoid lukewarmness? Or how we have a fancy awesome DSLR, but I don't know how to use it to take great photos and am looking into maybe taking a class (any suggestions out there)? Yeah, I don't think you care. But...isn't that the point of a Whatnot Wednesday? I mean, did you really care to hear all of that stuff before this bullet point? Maybe not, but I hope you enjoyed it. Because I sure do enjoy reading everyone else's WW posts! So link up and join Elizabeth's party!!!

  

whatnot wednesday

Time for another Whatnot Wednesday!!!

Remember my post about how Tom called me Andy Rooney after reading a WW post? Yeah, after he read that, he read my post back to me in our Andy Rooney voice. Rude.

So, my Weight Watchers diet continues. I am now down 17 lbs.! Woohoo! It's funny because, now, whenever I look at food, I just see their "point values." So...this am, after I got into work, I headed downstairs to get some breakfast. If I hang a right, I head toward our cafeteria and get the most sensible breakfast option: oatmeal - 6 pts. and very filling. But I hung a left, and headed toward Dunkin Donuts instead. Usually, I get a bagel, but dude...bagels and cream cheese have an 11 point value! As I stood in line, I looked at the delicious donuts and thought...that donut has a 6 point value. I could eat 2 and only eat one more point than a bagel. The little bagel angel and donut devil sat on my shoulders while I waited in line, whispering in my ear. Here's how the convo went:

• Bagel: "I'm more filling."
• Donut: "But I'm yummier. And technically less points. You could have two of me!"
• Bagel: "But he's fried!"
• Donut: "Whatevs, he's still more points than I am!"
• Bagel: "But you love me!"
• Donut: "Carbs are carbs."
• Bagel: "Think about eating my toasty buns."
• Donut: "You missed eating your obligatory 'National Donut Day' donuts."
• Me: "Oh, yeah! I owe you one, donut! Thanks!!!"

So I picked the donut. And now I'm hungry again. Ugh. Lesson learned? Donuts are the devil--don't listen to them!

One of my fave names is Isaac. I like the meaning...which is "laughter." I floated the name to Tom while we were thinking of names for G, but he poo-pooed it. Well, I still love the name. And yesterday, when we picked G up from daycare, the teachers were gushing about how much he loves to laugh. One teacher said he was just sitting there while she was talking to another teacher and cracking up--she said that if she didn't know any better, she would swear that he understood everything they were saying! Well, it didn't surprise me because G is one laughy little baby. It's really not that hard to make him laugh. It's sweet. It's a good thing that I LOOOOOOVE his name, but it brought the name Isaac back up for me. So I was thinking, if we are ever blessed enough to have another boy, maybe we should name him Isaac. Except, if we did that, he'd probably be one of those serious, never laughing babies.

Call me old-fashioned, but one of my pet peeves is when men practically run you over to get into the elevator first, or cut you off to go out of a door only to let it slam in your face. Or when a pregnant woman or elderly person comes on the metro and no one offers their seat. It happens on a daily basis and I see it and it really makes me mad! Once in a while, I'll be extra mad and call Tom and tell him he better not do that.

Speaking of mad and Tom, I had another one of those crazy dreams where Tom is cheating on me. Last night, I dreamt that he came home and told me he was going to leave me for Karen, who lives in Adams Morgan. We don't know a Karen in Adams Morgan. Nonetheless, I woke up REALLY mad at him. And I made him apologize. He used to resist these insane requests (until today), but I think he's decided the path of least resistance is the best one...so he apologized and reassured me that he is not leaving me for Karen in Adams Morgan.

On that happy note, this edition of Whatnot Wednesday is over! Link up and join Elizabeth's party!

whatnot wednesdays

Yay for Whatnot Wednesdays!!!



It's been a while since I did one...but I seem to have these daily moments where I see or think of something that would be perfect for a Whatnot Wednesday. Then I forget. Then I think of something else and say to myself, I should write that down for a Whatnot Wednesday. But I figure I'll remember. But I forget.

Uh....

I just had a brainfart.

What was I going to say?

Oh yeah. I remember. Tom reads my blog...but only when I prompt him to do so. After reading a Whatnot Wednesday a few weeks back, he said, "You're like Andy Rooney!" "Say WHAT?!?!?! How rude!" I replied. See, whenever we watch an Andy Rooney segment on 60 minutes, Tom and I always look at each other and say, "Uh...he's the most random crazy old man I've ever seen." (Or something to that effect....)

Yeah.

Thanks, honey.

So...did I mention Grant started eating green beans this weekend? Yes...he did. When I fed it to him for the first time, he kept spitting it out and gagging. So when I took the green beans to daycare the next day, I said, "Can you try giving him half first? He didn't like it at all yesterday." Of course when I came to pick him up, they exclaimed, "Oh, Mommy! He loved it and ate the whole thing!"

Sigh.

Those are the moments where a working momma's heart kind of sinks.

But...the moments aren't THAT sad...because I'm always trying to get over the fact that they call me "Mommy" and not by my name. Is that weird to you, or is it just me?

Do any of you get those deal of the day emails? Like Groupon or Living Social? There are so many out there now. Of course, I've managed to sign myself up for everything, so my email box is littered with deals of the day. I've decided that they are evil evil evil. They make me want things that I never knew existed or even needed. But I read the email, and think, "Wow! 59% off for cat grooming? I must get it! What a deal!!!" Except that I don't have a cat. And then I close the email and delete it. And I have lost 30 seconds of my life, never to see those 30 seconds again.

Today, I ordered my 2nd iPad2*. It's a long story...but when I was in the hospital giving birth to G, Tom said, "Hey, I'm gonna get you an iPad for your push gift." I really could not fathom how a techie gadget that Tom wanted ended up being my push gift. But, he added, he wanted to wait until the iPad2 came out--which was supposed to be in March. So as time went on, Tom said, "OK, so it'll also be your Christmas gift." Oh...kay...then our anniversary rolled around, and it was our anniversary gift...then Valentine's Day...then my birthday...then HIS birthday...and it became a "Happy pushchrisannivalenbirthday" gift. So...when the iPad2 finally came out, we ordered one. And when we got it, I fell in love with it. I was wrong--he was right--the gift was AWESOME.

And then, one week later...I broke it! It fell onto our tile floor and the screen cracked. I cried like a little girl who just crashed her first car (yes...I once was that little girl who crashed her car) as I told Tom. He was like..."uh...." So anyway...long story short, I found out that American Express has 90 day purchase protection for idiots like me. And they refunded our money! I love Amex!!!*

And that's it for this edition of Whatnot Wednesday! Get in here and join the party!!! :)

*These opinions are solely my own and I did not get paid for them.  Apple and American Express have no idea who I am. Although I so so so so so wish they did. :)

whatnot wednesday

Woohoo! Another Whatnot Wednesday! Aren't you excited?

Okay...so here goes...

• Tom and I just finished listening to Tina Fey's "Bossypants" audiobook.  Hilarious!  While I don't necessarily always agree with her politically, I think she's absolutely smart and funny.  Tom really enjoyed the motherhood portion of her book and kept asking me, "Is that true?"  Alas, as a working mom, I could definitely relate to her.  It occurred to me that this is a great way to get Tom to understand the crazy things I feel, see and hear as a working mom...I think I need to find some more funny audiobooks on parenting.
• Audiobooks rock. It makes the long commute so fun. And it's fun to talk about it with Tom. I think we need to get some more.
• My sisters are marathon running machines. I think they are the bomb dot com. They're running in the SF marathon this fall, and when my little sister asked me to come and run with them, I told her that if I'm going to make a trip to lovely SF, I'm certainly NOT going to be running 26.2 miles when I get there.
• Oh, incidentally, my sister is fundraising for an amazing non-profit called WellDone.  Did you know that it only costs $350 to build a shallow well in Africa that would provide clean drinking water for an entire village? My sister's goal is to raise enough for 3 wells, since this is her 3rd marathon. If you'd like to help, go here.
• So...the weather here has been crazy.  I don't have any real Easter pics to post because I dressed G in a sweater on a day where it reached 91 degrees, so I had to strip him of his sweater and he wore a very non-Easterish doggie onesie.  Fail.  In my defense, it was chilly and windy the day before!  Well, you would think that I would've learned but, sure enough, the next day, when I went to pick G up from daycare, I noticed all the other kiddies were wearing shorts and short-sleeved onesies, and G was the only one with a putz of a momma who dressed him up in long sleeves and pants.  When we came home, I dug through his dresser, only to find that he doesn't have very many warm weather clothes...so we have to go shopping, but probably can't go until this weekend.  I win the inadequate mother of the week award.  Yay!
• Oh my...is anyone as excited about the royal wedding as I am?  Tom was like, "Who cares?"  I DO! I DO!  I remember watching Princess Di and Prince Charles's wedding as a little girl.  So magical.  In honor of the royal wedding, I feel like purchasing these:

• Someone in our household has a road rage problem.  It's a problem, folks.  Particularly when you are really mad and want to let the other driver know...and you drive a Prius...and your Prius's horn is a little squeaker.  SQUEAAAAAK!!!!  LOL.  Sorry, hon...you can squeak all you want, but I don't think anyone is afraid of a Prius.

Okay, that's it for this edition of Whatnot Wednesdays.  See ya next time! :)

whatnot wednesdays

I'm linking to a linky blog thing (so eloquent, I know) called "Whatnot Wednesdays" that I heard about through my friend Grace, whose bloggy friend Elizabeth runs.

Like a neti pot for your brain. LOL! Funny, right? Well, I certainly could use a neti pot to get all the random wackiness out. So...here we go.

I actually don't know how to do linky blog things. I need someone to enlighten me about what I'm actually supposed to do here. I find that I'm very technologically behind and don't really want to learn stuff like what this means, or even how to say it. I'm beginning to channel my mother who resisted getting an email address for a few years because she "didn't want to have to learn anything new and everything is so confusing." There is hope, though...once my mom discovered that she could reconnect with old friends and family and, maybe more importantly, watch Korean dramas online, she started becoming a computer hog.

In the year 2011, I think that, in the developed world, there is no reason to not have toilet seat covers in public bathrooms (like my use of the double negative, there?). And when you provide said toilet seat covers, they should actually provide protection and not be a) too thin, b) have holes in them, or c) be placed in a dispenser that does not actually dispense them correctly. My work building management recently changed the seat covers in our bathroom to ones that satisfy (a) and (b) above in an attempt to save money, I think. It really defeats the purpose, though, because I often use 2-4 seat covers to match the quality of one good strong cover.

Speaking of bathrooms, there are two mirrors in our work bathroom: the one above the sink and the one full length mirror on the wall. For some reason, one makes me look overly thin, the other overly fat. That is just wrong. I go from being estatic to depressed in a matter of seconds. I guess I could just try and avert my eyes when I'm walking past the full length, but I can't help myself. Sigh.

I'm really thankful that, as an infertile, I am alive in this generation for a couple of reasons. First, obviously, I'm so grateful for the modern medicine that helped us bring the G-man home. But the other reason I'm so thankful is because of the incredible support I've found through friends I met through blogging or Hannah's Prayer. When Tom's being nosy spying looking over my shoulder while I'm checking one of these social networking sites or I tell him about something my friend said or did, he always asks with a little smirk, "Is this a "real" friend or an "internet" friend?" Well, internet friends, you are my real friends. I couldn't imagine going through the ordeal we've gone through without your support. It makes me wonder how people did it even 10 years ago without all the support you can find nowadays.

I love singing to Grant. I love making up weird mommy songs and chants. Currently, the fave in our household...well, maybe not for Tom or Scout, is "Nakey-baby, who's a nakey-baby? Grant's a baby! Grant's a nakey-baby! Nakey-baby, who? Nakey-baby, ha!" I sing that for outfit changes and before bathtime. Yeah, I know. It makes little sense and is totally silly but, hey, G loves it. I've recently discovered that I can change up the adjective and/or noun in that chant. Yesterday it was "Jumpy froggy, who's a jumpy froggy?" Fun times.

Grant loves it when I scat. (I'm using the term "scat" here very loosely, by the way.) He cracks up when I do it. He LOVES this song, which I will leave you with, for your afternoon enjoyment.

holiday birth announcements

Hi everyone!

One of the things that I'm looking forward to this year is sending out Grant's birth announcement.  Since it's so close to Christmas, I've decided to combine it with our Christmas card, partly because I'm not sure I could do both and partly because it's the green thing to do. :)

I just received a promo offer from http://www.shutterfly.com to review their holiday cards in exchange for some free cards, so I thought, why not?  (Yeah...I'm a cheapskate...but I prefer the term "frugal.")

I had been looking through a bunch of websites to find some good holiday/birth announcements.  There are some really cute announcements out there, but I noticed that a lot of them can be pretty expensive, or there aren't a lot of good holiday themed birth announcements, or a combination of both issues.

I like Shutterfly's site overall because I think they have some pretty great options if you're looking for any type of photo card, whether it's simply a holiday card or a birth announcement or, if you're like me, and hoping to combine the two.  Bonus?  It's one of the most affordable sites I've found, too, without sacrificing the style factor!  There are over 700 designs and they range from classic to modern, from sophisticated to cute, and from simple to fancy.  I think they have something that could satisfy most preferences and budgets.  And, I tried customizing some cards and found it fast and easy. 

I've found a few different designs that I really love here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery.  I'm not going to share which one I've narrowed it down to, 'cause if you're going to get one, that would spoil the surprise, right?  But I will tell you that it will include a pic of Grant and Scoutie, provided, of course, that they both cooperate!!! :)  I'm excited and can't wait for Grant to get here so I can get started on ordering our cards.

So...check out the link below if you're in the market for photo cards for the holidays!!!


http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Oh, and if you're a blogger and want to participate in Shutterfly's promo, here's the link for that: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 
:)

36 weeks: boo!

Your baby is gaining about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy hair that covered his body, as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that protected his skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Next week, your baby will be considered full-term. Most likely he's in a head-down position, but if he isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an external cephalic version, where she'll try to turn your baby by manipulating him from the outside of your belly.

Happy Halloween, folks!

This is my second year in a row being bedridden on Halloween--last year, it was because I had some form of the flu.  That was fun.  

And this year, I'm not at the door handing out candy because, unfortunately, I don't look pretty.  I think I need to make an effort from now on to make myself presentable, because I literally scared myself when I just looked in the mirror--and nope, I'm not wearing a costume.

So, Tom has candy man duty, and he's loving it.  He so cheerfully greets the little kiddies when he opens the door and it literally makes me melt.  

And I can't wait until next Halloween because we'll get to dress up our own little trick-or-treater!  I'm kind of a mean mommy, so I may have to subject my Scoutie to costume torture to match Grant's outfit.  Heh.  At least we'll get cute pictures!!! 

greased lightnin'

Why this car is automatic...(hip shake)

It's systematic...(hip shake)

It's hydromatic...(hip shake)

It's greased lightnin'!!!!

Surely, you know this song and the movie it was in.  Because if you don't, I might have to stop being your friend. 

Just kidding. 

Or am I?

Anyhoo...remember my post about Tom's beloved...the green monster?

It only took a whole month after that post, but I'm happy to report that the green monster has left the building!  I felt bad about being so happy, so I took a final picture of Tom with the green monster (note the duct tape holding up the mirror...which fell off while Tom was driving it into the dealership).  

  

I gotta admit, I kind of miss the little gal. 

Okay, I'm over it.  We got the equivalent of one car payment out of our trade-in.  I did a happy dance.  Tom thought we should've gotten more.  Um...yeah.

Thanks for the memories, Jetta...pause pause pause...NOT. :)  Never again will we utter the words, "We own a Jetta." 

Anyway, Tom and I went back and forth about which car to buy for a while.  Here in our neck of the woods, if you have a hybrid with "clean" plates, you are exempt from some of the carpool restrictions.  Though we commute in together for the time being, you just never know where life takes you, so Tom really wanted to take advantage of this exemption while we could.  We also drive a lot, so we thought a hybrid might be a good choice...you know, to reduce our carbon footprint, yadda yadda.  But if I'm being completely frank with you, we just thought it might be neat to save money on gas and get that darned exemption.

So...we started out looking at the Toyota Prius.  Then we heard that Hyundai was coming out with their Sonata hybrid in the fall of 2010 with rave reviews....nope, not here yet.  Boo.

So we went back to the Prius. 

Then we wondered if we would regret getting another small car, since we were expecting a little one.  So we considered the Toyota Highlander hybrid.  And we went in for a test drive.  Loved.that.car.  Wanted.it.so.very.badly.

Then we looked at the little sticker....which gave us a serious case of sticker shock.....and we went home, calculating the enormous car payments we'd have to make each month.

Oh yeah, did I tell you?  Hybrids come with about a $10K premium.  Yeah, awesome.  And not in a good way.

So then we thought, "Well, what about a Toyota Camry hybrid?  Or should we get a Prius?  Or a Camry?  Or a Prius?".  Well--after sitting in both, we decided that the difference in the interior roominess was comparable.  So, really, we could have gone either way.

I know very well the temptation to get that big "family" car as soon as you are expecting.  Believe me, I know.  But we have one kid right now.  Lord willing, if/when we have our next kid, we may need to get a bigger car...and by then my sweet ol' Honda might decide to leave this lovely world, too.  So...at that point, we might decide that it is time for me to finally get my long-desired minivan (shh....Tom wants one, too....but if he says it out loud, it might cost him man points).

But for now...we are proud owners of...drum roll, please...

A Prius!  Yup, Daddy's got a brand new set of wheels...a brand new set of wheels that gets 50 miles to the gallon(!!!!)...and I think he's smitten. :)

I told you that he would love again. 

Go, "green", greased lightnin'!

you can't have your cake and eat it too

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of the recent Chilean miner rescue.  Now, I have to admit, my husband is the news junkie in the family, and my interest in the news typically only peaks when something big, dramatic and emotional happens....like this Chilean miner rescue.  Ok...and when it involves scandal.  What can I say?  Years of living in LA rubbed off on me--I enjoy trashy news. :)

Anyhoo...about a month ago, I heard that one of the miners' wives, who was at the vigil, heard another woman calling out her husband's name and crying.  Basically--she asked, "Who the heck are you?" and the woman revealed that she was his longtime mistress. 

Drama.  So, of course, although I was already praying and hoping those poor miners would be rescued...this story just made it Days of Our Lives juicy!  (Yes, I watch that show.  Don't judge.  It's a sentimental thing--I used to watch it with my non-English speaking Grandma when I was growing up.)

But I digress.  Initially, both women were reported to have said they would stand their vigil and wait for him.  I was like--"WHAAAAA?" and told Tom that, if I were his wife, I'd wait and push him back down the hole.  (I know....not very Christ-like....sorry, but I'm keepin' it real.)

Well...apparently, Chilean miner #21, Yonni Barrios, asked for both women to wait for him on the platform during his rescue, and his wife decided..."Heck no!" and didn't show...and the footage of his rescue shows him kissing and hugging his mistress.  Boo.

That image made me really sad.  I mean, you would hope that this idiot would have some clarity being down in a mine for 69 days, and be sad that he could cause his wife of 28 years pain.  That his near death experience would make him want to be faithful to her.  But he wanted to keep both?  Idiot.  His wife was a lot more gracious than I would've been--she actually said she was glad he was alive.  At best, I would've given a "no comment."

Sigh.

It makes me love my hubby more.  'Cause when he tells me that he would never even think of cheating on me, I believe him.  Call me a fool...and I know...a lot of men cheat on their wives.  But I do know this...my husband has integrity and is a good, honest man. 

And I'm his lucky wife.  Who just told him I'd push him down a hole if I caught him cheating on me.  Just sayin'.  HAHAHA.

pop quiz

It's Friday!!!  Time for a pop quiz! 

I'll be nice and make it multiple choice, so you don't have to think too hard. :)

Question: What is pictured below?

A. A red velvet cupcake from Red Velvet.

B. What is left after Tina had her own red velvet cupcake.

C. The red velvet cupcake that Tina bought for Tom.

D. The red velvet cupcake that Tina is now thinking about eating.

E. The red velvet cupcake that Grant is asking Tina to eat.  Seriously, he's tugging on the umbilical cord. 

F. All of the above.

Considering Tom rarely reads this blog without my prompting...I suppose I could get away with eating it and he would never know better. 

And it would be for his son, after all.

And in the off-chance that he reads this post, it would just be a great lesson in how much we need to sacrifice for the sake of our children.

So.very.tempting.

my favorite things

Have you heard?  In honor of the 45th anniversary of The Sound of Music film, Oprah reunited the cast of the film as well as the real Von Trapp family singers for her October 29 show.  OH HAPPY DAY!  This is my favorite musical of all time!!!!!!!! 

Oh, Christopher Plummer--there are so few men that mom and I both drooled over, and you are one of them.  They don't make 'em like you anymore.  You had me at "Edelweiss."

And here's a factoid about me that you all don't really need to know...but I was Mother Abbess in our high school production.  I cringe when I think about my actual performance, but it was so fun to be in it!  And, although Mother Abbess didn't get to sing it in the film version, she (I) got to sing the song My Favorite Things in the stage version! 

Oh wait, I forgot to say, it's OCTOBER!  Holy moly!  I can now officially say that I'm due next month.  Whoa.  And just so that doesn't seem totally out of the blue, I can tell you that October is one of my favorite things, because it is when fall weather kicks into high gear.

So, in honor of October and The Sound of Music, here are few of my favorite things (in no particular order...some serious, and some just plain silly):

• fall, and all things fall--including the foliage, brisk, cool air, and pumpkin anything;
• and while we're in the seasons mode, the holidays--specifically, Christmas!--and Christmas music at any time of the year;
• sisters;
• the quietness that descends after the first snowfall;
• grant's "good morning!" kicks;
• good conversation over good food with family and friends
• staying in on a rainy day and listening to the sound of the raindrops beating on my window;
• pedicures (which reminds me...I need one, stat!);
• pretending like I'm in a music video while I'm walking down the street;
• sleeping in late with my hubby;
• puppies!!!!;
• historical, majestic buildings;
• ellipses....;
• hearing my mom sing "The Lord's Prayer" and "The Holy City"; and,
• mindless, predictable chick flicks and lit, and sports movies.

Hmm...interesting list (to me, anyway).  In no way is it complete, but I didn't want to bore you anymore.  What are a few of your favorite things?

Happy October!!! :)

wishful thinking

I wish I~

paid more attention in 7th grade home economics and took an interest in sewing;

knew how to take a good photograph;

practiced piano more;

wasn't always so concerned about what people thought about me;

let loose more often and broke a few rules when I was younger;

listened more and talked less;

gave more hugs and said more I love yous;

wasn't so afraid to fail;

learned to see shades of grey rather than just black and white; and,

took time to revel in every moment and every stage of my life,
instead of always looking forward to the next thing.

an officer and a gentleman

Dear Grant,

I want to share something that happened to me this morning with you.  Since appah is away this week for work, I've been taking the bus in.  It's been mostly okay, although doing all the morning routines with Scoutie by myself has been a challenge because I've had to wake up extra early to get everything done and get to the bus station on time.  On time for the bus, sweetie, is how my high school basketball coach defined being on time: if you're 10 minutes early, you're on time; if you're on time, you're late!

Well...it was extra hard to wake up this morning, so I got a late start.  I thought about cutting Scoutie's routine short, but that wouldn't be nice.  The poor dear has to spend all day alone, after all.  So...I got to the bus...on time.  Which means, I was late and, at that point, it was standing room only.  Since it was drizzling outside, I decided to just stand on the bus ride in until the first stop, which was about 45 minutes away. 

You can't see me...but I look very pregnant right now.  And I can be a bit unbalanced when I walk.  So when I got in the bus, I knew people would try to avoid eye contact with me because they wouldn't want to offer their seats, and they wouldn't want to feel guilty about it.  Even still, I was a little surprised that not one single person offered me their seat.  Not that I blame them--45 minutes is a long time to stand--and I was really willing to do it.  But I will tell you, baby, that if I saw a very pregnant lady walk in the bus, I would offer her my seat.  And I have to say that about 2 minutes after the bus pulled away, I started feeling guilty because I knew that if the bus stopped suddenly or if we got in an accident, I was really putting you at risk.

Anyway, about 15 minutes into the ride, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  A nice man said, "Please, sit down."  And I actually said it was okay.  But he insisted that his back hurt and told me that he wanted to stand.  Now, after I sat down, he started doing back stretches and such, but I'm not sure if he was doing them to make me feel better or if he really did have a backache.  In any event, I was touched.  Not a minute later, another man, who happened to be in uniform, stood up and offered his seat to the lady who was standing behind me.  She declined, but he insisted, and so she sat.  I couldn't help but smile and feel so happy, even on this drizzly, dreary Monday morning.

Call me old-fashioned, but I really hope that you grow up to be like these men.  I think it is really neat when men hold doors open, offer their seat, let a lady on or off the elevator first, and are just really considerate when it comes to other people.  It's not because I think women are weak or incapable, but it is because I think it shows that you respect them.  In fact, it's important to show respect to everyone. 

I hope that when you are given the opportunities to be a gentleman, that you remember your very pregnant mommy standing in the bus on a dark and rainy Monday morning and the kind man that offered his seat to her.

Love,
Mommy

she takes a lickin' and keeps on kickin'!

Tom and I have been in the market for a new car for a while.  We've enjoyed our first five years of marriage without a single car payment, and it's been nice.  We both got our cars around the same time in 2000, so they're both over 10 years old now.  But, with my sincerest apologies to Tom in advance for this next statement, I think my Honda Accord far outrocks his VW Jetta.  I could go on and on about why, but let's just say that we've poured about 5 times as much money in maintenance and repairs into that car than we have into the Honda.  And I think my sweet old girl has at least 5 years left in her.  I will say that the Jetta beats out the Honda only in one area: she has heated leather seats.

We've been waiting for Tom's Jetta to finally kick the bucket so that we can justify purchasing a new car.  Tom has lived with two major issues since the beginning of their relationship -- the bumper never stays on and the Jetta burns oil like there is no tomorrow.  But, in recent years, he's had to watch his beloved's list of ailments increase exponentially.  Although this car causes me much grief, I will say, it's nice to know that Tom's a fiercely loyal guy who sticks by his loved ones til the end.  ;)

Anyway, things have been going downhill rapidly for the past few years, but Tom's loyalty has won out and we've kept her around.  So...when the gas gauge broke, we said, "Not yet."  Then the cup holder broke and part of the console fell off, but Tom superglued them back on and we said, "Not yet."  The tabs on the power window buttons broke off, but we could still manuever the suckers, so we said, "Not yet."  The AC broke, and we just decided not to drive it during the hot days of summer and said, "Not yet." The visor broke, but Tom hasn't used the visor much anyway, so we said, "Not yet." 

Then...it was time for the Jetta's annual safety exam and the automobile gods said, "Pay $400 or go directly to car jail...do not pass go."  And then we said, "OK, maybe it's time."  Of course, we were already thinking that it was time to get a new car since Grant is coming in a couple of months, so this was pretty much a done deal already.  But fate, in the name of Bambi, sealed the deal.  Recently, Tom was driving his beloved to work, and was no more than 1 mile from our house when he saw Bambi dart from the side of the road (it's deer mating season here in the VA, folks, so be careful out there!).  And poor Bambi decided to run into Tom's beloved...and here's what happened to the beloved:

Which is not bad, considering what Tom thinks happened to Bambi.  But man, this girl just won't die and obviously doesn't want to leave Tom because she's making herself as unsaleable as possible.  Should I be concerned? ;) 

I think I'm going to have to prepare a special car funeral service for Tom when she's actually gone.

Something tells me, though, that once we get our shiny new car, Tom will learn to love again.

starting small

It is said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  Well...in my quest to conquer the chaos (organized as it may be), I've taken my first step--a shiny sink!  Behold the beauty (please try to control yourself as you gaze upon the awesomeness):

Isn't it pretty?  Hubs is beyond happy that I'm starting this quest.  He hasn't offered a cleaning service deep clean yet, though.  Hmph.  My sink is wiped, and so am I! :)  Good night!

flybaby friday

Tom and my family (and probably some of my old roomies) know my love of....well....maybe the better term is high tolerance for clutter.  I like things to be in piles and I think my brain works well that way.  It drives Tom nuts because, on this matter, he is exactly the opposite of me.  He hates clutter.  My grandpa hated clutter.  So does my dad.  So, growing up, they'd just throw anything away without discrimination...and at least once a week I'd find my homework assignments or important school papers (like field trip permission slips!) in the trash, and would pray that they didn't have kimchee stains on them.  (Sidenote: my mom and my sister, Jen, are the biggest perfectionists I know and hate clutter...but they were a little more discriminating when they'd move my stuff.)

Right now, I have to say that our clutter situation isn't that bad...but that's because there is only one of us cluttering things up...while the other is desperately trying to declutter without pissing said clutterer off when she can't find that letter that she put in a pile 8 months ago.  Poor guy.

But with the little man on the way, I realized that my habits need to change, lest I pass them onto my son and find the house becoming a complete disaster.  There are many many many traits that I hope Grant picks up from his dad instead of me, and this is definitely one of them.  But I gotta do my part, too!  However, it's overwhelming...this idea of changing this habit that I've had for over 3 decades.  So when I discovered a new website via one of my online forums today, I was skeptical, but definitely hopeful.

On this website, http://www.flylady.net/, the FlyLady aims to take people from chaos to a clutter-free home gradually, one baby step at a time.  Her first task for newbies is to develop the habit of keeping a shiny sink, and then she has daily tasks for you to complete around your house. She's all about developing good routines that are quick and manageable.  She frequently reminds her followers that your house didn't get "that way" in one day, so it's not going to get clean in one day either.  SO...I'm putting this on my blog for myself, really, in hopes that it will keep me accountable.  I have to admit...part of me wants to hire a cleaning lady to come and do a deep cleaning so I can start this as a maintenance routine...but there's no day like today...so I'm going to start it tonight.  Maybe Tom will be so excited to read this entry (are you reading this, honey?) that he'll agree to hire a cleaning service.  Probably not.  Haha.

I don't know if this sudden desire to live a clutter-free life is the result of my nesting instinct, or if it's because I really want to change.  Regardless, it's worth a shot.  So, here I am, world...the newest FlyBaby.  I'm gonna go home and make my sink all nice and shiny.  :)