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

Hello Again

It's been a while, I know.

I have been busy working, sleeping, and trying to not throw-up.

But I am going to try and blog more often. We'll see how that goes.

In pregnancy news (if you don't care then just skip this part) I am now done with the first trimester. Atleast, I think I am. Noone has actually explained that to me. But I am pretty sure that the first trimester is 14 weeks. I am 14 weeks and 3 days.

So for my own memory and anyone who cares to read, here is the run down:

Due Date: June 13th

When did we find out?: October 28th. We had the church Halloween party that night and it was fun to know our secret. The next day we went to the doctor and they did an ultrasound. At first I thought maybe it was all in my head. But sure enough there was a little peanut with a heartbeat. Kase’s grin was from ear to ear. Pretty amazing. The baby was 7 weeks and 4 days along.

When did we tell people?: We told our parents that night. They were all very excited. I wanted to tell my parents in person, but I had to settle for over the phone because I couldn’t wait until our next trip home. We decided to wait until 12 weeks to tell everyone else, which happened to be Thanksgiving. More on that later. It was VERY hard to keep the secret. Especially when people at work eat gross things for lunch and made me want to barf on them.

How does it feel?: Being pregnant is weird and miraculous. I mean, I know people have babies all the time, but when it's you it's different. It's amazing that your body can grow a little person. It’s also not as gross as I though it would be. I am prepared for the grossness that will ensue. But so far so good.

How am I feeling?: Better now. I learned that if I eat every few hours, I don’t feel as sick. I have been sick a few times. Smells use to bother me, but that has faded some. I am tired and tend to fall asleep on the couch even earlier than I use to. Some of my pants are tighter than they use to be.

I have felt very blessed because I know I could feel a lot worse. I always thought I would be really really sick. But thankfully I have been able to work and not feel all too bad. I am very grateful.

How has Kase been?: Awesome. He takes such good care of me. He cleans and fixes dinner because I don’t feel like it. He made rice crispy treats for church because I didn’t feel like it. He takes care of me after I get sick. He rubs my feet and lets me nap on the couch. He brings me snacks from the kitchen because I’m hungry and the kitchen seems really far away. Yesterday, he fixed me a bath complete with candles and music. He pretty much rocks. Also, the stories of him taking care of me will be legen.... wait for it..... dary. (Inside joke you can ignore that last sentence unless you’re Kase or you watch How I Met Your Mother.)

Do we want a boy or a girl?: We don’t care, we just want a baby.

Do we have names?: We have a possible/probable boy name. We are having a harder time with girl names.

Am I scared?: Pretty much have no clue what’s going on. But I know things will work out and we’ll learn as we go. I have been worried that something will go wrong. I am a negative nelly as Kase says. I have faith that whatever happens, we will be OK.

So the 2nd Trimester is suppose to be better. Of course, I started feeling better and then I got a cold that won’t go away. So maybe after I get rid of that I will feel better.

Anyways, I need all the advice I can get so feel free to share. Thanks!

Million Dollar Question

Everybody has that one Question that they get asked.


It’s usually an important Question. One for which they don’t know the answer. You meet a person and get to know them just the right amount and then they ask you the Question. You don’t have the answer but you wish you did.


Your Question changes over time as your life changes. For example, as a college student your Question might be “What are you going to do when you graduate?” Or if you’re someone whose been dating a great person who just seems right your Question might be “When are you two going to get married?” Perhaps you have been employed for 40 years and your Question is “What are you going to do when/if you retire?”


These are important Questions and if your life was planned out you would know the exact answer. But let’s face it. Life can’t really truly be planned can it? It’s not that you haven’t asked yourself your Question. It’s not that you haven’t wanted to know the answer to your Question. It’s just that you know that you can’t possibly know the answer. Not yet.


Things just have their way of working themselves out. Then one day you find the answer to your Question. And you know.


What is my Question you ask? That one Question that I get all the time but I never know the answer? Simple. I always get asked the Question: “When are going to have your first baby?”


The thing is, things have their way of working themselves out. And now I know.


My answer is this June.

Giving Thanks

It's almost Thanksgiving.

I am so thankful for my family and friends and the love they give me.

I am thankful for my husband and how sweet he is.

I am excited to sleep in tomorrow, hang out with family, and eat. Especially eating cheesy potatoes. YUM.

One day I will post again. Very soon. Just you wait.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Jack and the Beanstalk

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of helping out in the nursery. Kids from 18 months to 3 years. They are so fun and sweet.

So I am reading them a good book: Jack and the Beanstalk. Good story right?

Here I am reading about Jack selling his cow and buying beans. Growing a huge beanstalk, and climbing up it.

That's when it happened. I remember liking this story as a kid, but I guess it looks different when you become an adult. Or maybe it's because I work for the Department of Justice.

Jack climbs up the beanstalk and finds himself in a strange giant person's house. So really, didn't Jack technically break into the Giant's house? Ok, so the Giant is very grumpy and angry, but wouldn't you be if a person broke into your house?

THEN Jack see's the Giant's prized possession: a magic chicken that lays golden eggs. What does Jack do? Why he STEALS it! So what if the Giant is mean and grumpy. Does that give Jack the right to steal the Giant's magic-golden-egg-laying-chicken? NO I don't think so!

What is the moral of this story? That if you become poor because you made a bad business deal selling your cow, you are justified in stealing from your neighbors?

I know that there are probably different versions of this story. Maybe this version made the story simpler for younger kids and happened to leave out all the important parts that teach a good lesson.

I also know that as a kid none of this ever crossed my mind, and it didn't seem to bother the kids on Sunday. But really, I am not sure I will be reading this story ever again. Jack, I think it's over between us. Bad boys never were my type.

What is the name of your favorite historical person?

Passwords. I have a million of them. As I am sure most of you do. Ones for work programs, email accounts, bank accounts, bill paying accounts, blogger accounts. The list goes on and on. And you can't make all your accounts all have the same passwords because they each have a different requirement. No capital letters, no special characters, one number with a special character, blah blah blah.

Well, if that wasn't enough things to remember (or in my case to write down and hide somewhere at your desk), now they are adding "security quesitons". You know, just in case you forget your password or can't remember which one of your passwords you need at them moment. So the solution is to come up with something else that you..... have to remember! Makes sense right?

Today, at work I had to pick TWO security questions for a program that I use maybe once a week. The funny thing was the questions that it makes you choose from. Instead of the normal questions like: What is your favorite color? or What is the name of your favorite pet? The questions I had to choose from were the following:

- What is your favorite line a move? (That's great and all but what if the line is really long, or what if your favorite line changes between now and when you have to answer this question again)

- What is the name of the city where your parents met? (WHAT? I don't know!?)

- What is your first phone number? (I don't remember!!!)

- What was your favorite childhood toy?

- What was the first and last name of your first date?

- What is your favorite quotation? (See problem with favorite movie line)

- What is your favorite cousin's occupation?

AND HERE IS THE BEST ONE:

- What is the last name of your childhood bully?

WHAT???? How random is that? Who wrote these questions and how am I suppose to pick two questions that I will remember/know the answers to and then be able to remember them again the next time I forget my password. I mean really.