A Case of Mistaken Identity

Have you ever had that awkward experience where you think someone/something is someone/something they are not.

Like you think you see a friend walking by. You say hi and they turn around. Only you see that they are not your friend but a complete stranger.

Awkward.

Or when you were a kid and you were shopping. An adult walks up next to you with the same pants as your parent. You tug on their pant leg and ask them a question. Only you look up to see a stranger staring down at you.

Awkward.

Well that happened to us last night. Only not so much with a person.

Last year for my birthday Kase took me to Pigeon Forge. We shopped and ate at a place called Connors. For our meal we shared an appetizer sampler and the most delicious plate of nachos. I am not talking Taco Bell nachos. I mean a HUGE plate full of chips, beans, guacamole, cheese, green onions, jalapeños...OK you get the picture.

Lately, I have been craving these nachos bad. Real bad.

Last night, we were running errands in Turkey Creek when suddenly I see a Connors. The beholder of the coveted nachos. We decided this would be our valentine treat. (Ok I really decided and Kase is nice to me seeing that I am growing his child and all.)

So we park. We go into the restaurant and get a table immediately. I visit the restroom facilities. An employee chats with me at the sink and is super nice. Quick service, clean restrooms, nice employees, delicious nachos. This place rocks!

That’s when it happened. I returned to our table and found Kase looking grim.

“Either this is not the same Connors, or they have changed their menu” he says.

I glance through the menu. Nope. No nachos. No appetizer sampler. Just expensive stuff that I don’t really want to eat. “But the restaurant has the same name with the same sign in the same font and everything!” I was starting to get really worried.

“What are we going to do?” I say very panicky. “I don’t want this stuff. I don’t want to pay money for stuff I don’t want to eat. Let’s leave.” I look over the menu again just to make sure we didn’t miss the nachos, or a section with cheap food.

I was ready to bolt for the door without a word to the waiter. (We only had waters on our table.) But Kase is polite and says we need to tell the waiter we’re leaving.

At this point the waiter shows up to our table with bread. I told him we had to go. Kase said we had a phone call and needed to leave. (Which was true because I had received a phone call at some point and we did need to leave.)

We got the heck out of the nacho-less place. Apparently Connors in Pigeon Forge is different than the Connors in Turkey Creek. I should have known.

Awkward.

Now does anyone know a place that has really good nachos? I know I could make them myself, but they just don’t taste as good.



P.S. Everyone thanks for all the advice from my last post. I really appreciate it. I’m sure I will be asking for more!

P.S.S. Erin, I went to the Ross in Turkey Creek and got some super cute maternity tops for super cheap. Thanks!

Advice Needed: Apply Here (or whenever I see you next)

If there is one thing that I have noticed about being pregnant, it is that everyone has advice. Don’t’ get me wrong, I need advice and lots of it. (I will get to that part in a minute.) But lately I have been getting advice on things that I don’t want. I am sure this problem will get worse.

Here’s how it goes:

Unneeded Advice: At this point I am still fitting into some of my regular clothes. However, for some reason several people at my work keep insisting that I go out and buy a bunch of maternity clothes. One lady even texted me on a Friday night to remind me that I need to go shopping for maternity clothes, as if my expanding belly and unbuttoned pants were not enough to remind me.

I am going to get maternity clothes. If fact, with help from my Mom I have purchased a few things. But I don’t have money just lying around to go buy a new wardrobe that I will only use for a short time. I will get there. No rush.

Needed Advice: Where is a place to buy cheap maternity clothes?

Unneeded Advice: People like to comment on my appearance. Apparently being pregnant gives everyone the right to be rude without actually being rude. Example #1: A coworker walked by at work and called me chubby. Perhaps it was a joke, but I don’t find it funny. Example #2: Another coworker (do you see a theme?) commented that since I have been pregnant my face has been really red and broken out (more than normal). I am glad you pointed that out. Then she told me about a girl she knew that ended up with boils on her face. Thank you. I really needed to hear that. Now I have another thing to worry about, getting face boils.

Speaking of bellies. People at work keep asking me if I am sure that everything is fine because so-in-so that they know who is pregnant is as far a long as I am and they are showing a lot more. They say I should double check with my doctor that everything is OK. Just FYI I have checked with my doctor and everything at this point is fine. I am a tall girl. I have lots of room for a growing baby.

Needed Advice: Is there a magic lotion that will make my belly not itch as much? Anyone?

Unneeded Advice: I need help with girl names. I admit it. We have a few that we like, but we just can’t decide what feels right. I change my mind everyday. I think I like old fashioned names. There is a coworker of mine that keeps suggesting that I name our baby the same name as her teenage son. No offense, but I don’t want to name my kid after someone else’s kid. That’s weird. At first I thought it was a joke, but now it’s been suggested so many times I think she may be serious.

Needed Advice: I do welcome name suggestions! Just not your kids name. That’s weird.

Side Note: If you are my coworker who has stumbled upon my blog and think or know that I may be writing about you. I am sorry. Just blame it on my hormones and/or stop being weird!

More Advice that I need:

Do you have to use special laundry detergent for baby clothes?
Do you prefer the stand alone high chairs or ones that strap to a chair?
Are the car seats that go into the strollers the best route or two separate things?

I know I still have a while to figure most things out but I am obsessed with looking at baby things online.

I’m sure I’ll have more needed advice later. I need lots. I promise not to complain about any given advice on my blog in the future.

Sugar and Spice

and everything nice.

We're having a girl!!!!

Kase has broken the family trend of having boys first. He's always been a trend breaker. We are super excited. It was so fun to see the little one's face and bones and fingers. The baby was very active. Kase's mom and my mom were able to come with us to the ultrasound. It was so fun to have them there. One of my favorite things is seeing how excited Kase is. I love it.

It was so cool to see the baby move on the monitor and feel it move at the same time. Weird! Amazing that she has grown from a tiny blob to a tiny baby.

Everything looked good on the ultrasound except one of the baby's kidneys looked a little off so we will have to keep an eye on that. It's kind of scary, but I feel that whatever happens she will be ok. Plus it means we get to do another ultrasound that's covered by insurance, and see our baby again.

Any girl name suggestions? We had a boy name, but I think girl names are harder. There are so many!

Guess!

It's that time.

Thursday we go to the doctor for our 20 week ultrasound. (And the only one covered by insurance so let's hope it goes well.) I'm so excited to see our little one. Yes we are going to find out (hopefully) if it's a boy or a girl. (Assuming the baby cooperates.)

So if you want to guess beforehand please do!

I am guessing girl. I just feel like it is a girl. But I'm probably wrong. I will let you know!

Guess away!

This weekend...

was really good. However, it first started out on Friday with my bad lunch experience. Should you care, I will share it with you. If you don’t care skip this paragraph. I can’t promise the next paragraph will be any better though. Friday, it was 2 ladies’ at work birthday. So several of us decided to go out to lunch at a new-old place downtown. It is a new-old place because it use to be some sort of cafeteria I think in the 60s and it has recently been re-opened as a restaurant with retro decor. Sounds awesome right? WRONG! Only if you happen to be super rich and can spend $20 dollars on one lunch. I tried to order something cheap like a side salad or a bowl of soup. Which they only have one soup which is gross and a bunch of expensive wierdo salads. You know the kind with some random gross thing like pickled radishes thrown in. So I ordered chicken with mashed-potatoes and green beans. Then, after waiting forever, they bring out the wrong thing for my coworker across the table from me. She didn’t want to complain because we didn’t have time to wait for them to make something else, but for health reasons she couldn’t eat what they brought. I look at her meal and think "YUM french fries and a chicken sandwich! How did I miss the only normal food on the menu?" So being very generous and desiring of french fries, I offer to trade. Sounds awesome right? WRONG! The chicken sandwich was fish. I DON’T LIKE FISH. So to make a long story short..... I paid $19 for a LUNCH that I didn’t like one bit. (OK the fries were good.) I do not recommend the S&W downtown. NOPE. Kase and I couldve went out on a date and ate together something good for that much!!!

Anyways. So the rest of the weekend was good. Friday we visited my brother-in-law’s family, played and snuggled with the nieces/nephew, and ate pizza. Saturday we took the dog to get her shots and to the dog park. It was fun to see all the different kinds of dogs. I decided our dog isn’t so bad. She was slightly impressed but really just wanted to go home. Dog snob I guess. We also went to a friend’s birthday party. It was Chinese themed with a murder mystery. That was fun. Although I don’t care for Chinese food, it wasn’t so bad. Sunday we went to church, made good food, and relaxed. Monday we went to really good friend’s house and had YUMMY chocolate chip pancakes.

So I just noticed that my life pretty much revolves around food. Sad huh? I’m going to blame that on being pregnant.

Blogging Because I Never Do and I Feel Guilty

One day I will upload pictures. It's just that my internet is slow and my camera is around here somewhere.

Christmas was good. We went to my parents for the long weekend. It was nice to relax, eat good homemade food (especially the smoked turkey) ,and visit with family. We got to spend time with my parents, sister, brother, sister-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother. Well, you get the point.

My sister made me the cutest diaper bag/blanket combo for which to carry around little peanut’s stuff. I love it.

My mom and dad gave us a vacuum, which I am super excited about because the dog sheds like a maniac. I am surprised she still even has fur left to shed.

My brother and sister-in-law gave us the cutest doormat with our family name on it. I kind of want to frame it because I don’t want people using it to wipe their feet. It’s true.

The little peanut got some cute gifts too! I am excited to organize it all. Yes, I’m a dork.

But the best part was spending time with family.

I can’t believe this year is almost over. It seems as though it just started. It has been a good year.

I am going to copy other people and do our year in review:

January: My first month of being without school. It was awesome. We went on vacation to Disney and Universal in Florida.

February: It was a quiet month full of work for Kase and I, and school just for Kase. We celebrated valentine’s day with heart-shaped pizza.

March: I turned 27 and we took a weekend trip to Gatlinburg. A hotel room with a fireplace and a jacuzzi with outlet stores next door. What more could you ask for?

April: We got a car so we’d both have a way to drive to work. It was suppose to be Kase’s car, but for some reason I drive it everyday. Hmmmm..... interesting.

May: This month was full of graduations. Two of Kase’s brothers graduated, one from highschool one, with his masters degree. I also went to my cousin’s graduation from the Tennessee School for the Deaf.

June: This month was sort of uneventful. Lots of family birthdays and baby showers to attend. We went to see Back to Future on the big screen. Awesome.

July: I traveled out of town for a week for work training. Kase turned 26 and we celebrated by going to see lots of movies.

August: To celebrate our 3rd anniversary we traveled to Los Angeles and San Diego for vacation. It was so relaxing and a fun adventure. We ate the best burrito I have ever had.

September: Kase’s brother, Scott, got married. It was so special to be there for their wonderful day. I also survived babysitting our two nieces and nephew. All by myself. Overnight. We were expecting a little one of our own, but didn’t know it yet.

October: Kase lost his job. We found out 5 days later that we’re having a baby. Good timing I think. We got to see a picture of the little tiny peanut and hear his/her heartbeat.

November: I threw up a lot this month. On an unrelated note, we saw my sister sing in her highschool’s concert. She is awesome. I questioned if that was really my sister up there. I think maybe one of us might be adopted. She is super talented. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Kase’s parents. I love cheesy potatoes.

December: We heard little peanut’s heartbeat again. Kase grinned so big. We celebrated Christmas with my family and are so grateful for our many blessings.

We had a great year. I have a feeling 2010 will be even better. Happy New Year everyone!

Dear United States Postal Service (may I call you USPS?),

I am writing in regards to the strain that I sense in our relationship. I feel that we have been drifting apart for quite some time now. I am not sure if it’s me or you. (Although I am kind of sure it is you.)

The past few times I have visited you, you have made me wait. Keep in mind this was BEFORE Christmas time. On more than one occasion, as I approached one of your employees in a friendly manner, I was treated very rudely. I’ll have you know that the envelope I was trying to mail was NOT too thick and DID have enough postage. Another time, I did not know the difference between registered mail and return receipt mail. I would’ve simply appreciated a friendly explanation, instead of a grumpy "talking to".

It seems that your employees just don’t like me. On your TV commercials they are always so helpful and friendly, but when I come to visit they almost act as if they wish I weren’t there. Perhaps, you’re thinking it is something that I am doing. Am I being friendly to your employees? Yes. Am I visiting your office at the end the day right before closing time? No. Am I mailing hazardous, restricted, or perishable mail? Never, I usually just need to buy stamps.

No, USPS, I don’t think it’s me. Maybe you are in denial about your own problems. The last time I visited you, I noticed the rope with attached sign that read "form line here" was gone. I asked one of your employees what had happened to it. She said you had taken it away because you felt it was not friendly enough. No, USPS, it is not your rope that I dislike or that makes me feel that you are unfriendly. In fact, I liked that rope. Now I don’t know where to stand exactly and I am not sure your employees realize that I am in line and in need of service since they never make eye contact with me. It’s not your rope, you have other problems that need addressing.

USPS, I hope we can fix our relationship. I will continue to try. Maybe one day we can work this out. Otherwise, and I hate to say this, but I will have to see what brown can do for me.

Sincerely,

Your Devoted(ish) Customer