Shout Out

Bryan is out of town for the baptism of his good friend Jon. So I thought I would try to clean the whole house while he was away. And here's how that went:

We used to have two vacuums. One was a large upright vacuum with no attachments, and the other was a small handheld vacuum with the option of an edging attachment. The little one went kaput, so we have been using the large one for everything for a while. But as you can imagine, the edges got severely neglected for several months. So we finally bought a new vacuum.

Last night, I took our new vacuum on it's maiden voyage, with the thrill and excitement of vacuuming all the carpet in the house and all the edges! It was a good workout, and it took me at least an hour. But I should probably tell you that half of me was saying, "You're gonna regret this tomorrow..." And the other half was just telling the other half to "Shut up! This is uber-exciting stuff, getting all the edges clean! Back off!"

I knew the second half was right, so I kept on going. But I found out that the first half was also right when I went to bed. I tried to stand up, and literally couldn't because of the pain. Some of you may think, "Oh, sure, your back would ache after bending over the vacuum for an hour." No, no, no, no, no. You, my friend, have never had sciatica. It is not just "Wo, is me, my aching back." It is severe, acute, shocking pain that hits the nerves in your lower back and shoots down your legs and up your back, rendering you entirely unable to use one or the other leg. Or in my case last night, both legs at once. Could. not. stand. up.

So on and off all day, I hobbled around, trying to take it easy, but still overdoing it at times.

And there came a point when all I could do was lie on my bed and do nothing. Thank heaven both kids were taking a nap at the time (that never happens).

So when our good friends Lara and Jeremy called and invited to take me and the kids to a movie and feed us pizza, I was very, very grateful. After dinner, Jeremy also took my car and put gas in it for me. I feel so blessed to have great friends like them.

And tomorrow our other good friends Bryant and Jeanne invited us over after church to pass the rest of the time that Bryan will be gone.

And I should probably tell you that both of these good friends are going through their own trials right now, but are still reaching out to silly (stupid) old me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

P.S. The housework I got done? You guessed it: vacuuming.

The Dumbest Thing I Ever Did to Fit In

Okay, so you all know what it's like to be 13. Add severe shyness to the mix, and you get *trying to fit in* versus *trying to disappear*.

So those of you who know me very well and those of you who share my musical hobby will enjoy this story from my adolescence:

In my 8th grade English class, everyone was reading some book about something. And for some reason, the teacher wanted us to stand up in class and sing some song. Solo. So about half the class went before I did, none of which were in tune. (The other half also were not in tune.)

So what did I do? I also sang it out of tune.

On purpose.

So I wouldn't stick out.

The end.

Why are babies naked in utero, anyway?

After picking Bryan up from work, Caleb had this epiphany:

"Mom! I know how you can get clothes on the baby! Just take some clothes and eat them, and they'll just go on the baby."

At first we thought he was making a joke, until he was offended that we were laughing at him.

We're Renting...

Or I'd fix the quirky quirks in this house. But they do amuse, if you look closely.

The light and medicine cabinet are not centered with each other. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? (Oh, and those are shoe pockets hanging over the door, if you're wondering.)

To the right of the medicine cabinet, you will find this quirk. Yes, the sink is just slightly too big, so the door frame had to be cut to fit. (Tell me, because I'm not an architect or decorator, is it really that hard to measure before you purchase and install?)

No, I cannot open this drawer unless the oven is opened first.

I'm not sure I'll be able to give this room's dimensions very well with the pictures I took. This is a view of the left side of the room.

This is the view from the side of the treadmill looking back.

This is the view from inside the room looking out.

This is the other corner of the room. I'm not sure how come they put the wall and ceiling together like this. Anyone have any clue?

This is the only piece of this in the whole kitchen.

One last half-step up, and then another trip step that you can't even see because it's only half a centimeter up from the last half step. Does that make sense?

Well, I don't love the lamp. But it's actually the different colors that drive me nuts. Not because they are different colors of paint, because that only makes sense to create the shadow effect...ish, kind of thingy. But the problem is that this color of paint is not used anywhere else in the room. It is used in the living room, and also Savanna's room. Is that weird, or is it just me?

The upstairs bathroom has this beautiful orange shade, along with gold blinds. Is it just me, or do they clash?

This thing (what is it called, I don't even know?) goes all around Caleb's room. It was not applied evenly, so it doesn't match up at the end, and you can see where it starts to get crooked. Again, I ask, is it really that hard to measure?

Here I'm just displaying the lack of taste in paint colors. The wall is light green and the door is light yellow. You can just barely tell the difference. Is it just me, or should there be more of a contrast? (Again, not a decorator here.)

Not only do I not love this color, but you will find these drips in every room, on every wall in the house. And even on the carpet. Is it really that hard to tape so that the paint job is even and perfect?

What is this, you ask?
I don't know. A shelf? A TV stand?
Nope, and it isn't the other side of the stairway, and it doesn't have a door, so it's not storage. ???

Security system next to my nightstand. Sure, it makes sense to have the emergency buttons right next to my head if there were an emergency in the middle of the night. Does it make sense to also have them in perfect reach of a two-year-old? (The owners also have small children.)

Just painting part of the door frames on either side of the sliding door.

Not sure what that hole in the ground is for.

Okay, so I don't like this tiling at all. But did you also notice the weird angles of the sink, tub, and shelf (?)? Maybe I'm just not getting the modern style of things...

You can't really tell, but the walls are painted a very light pink. Why, OH WHY? To match the beautiful magenta-ish color?

This is the bottom of a closet door. This chunk was cut out to fit over...

The baseboard at the bottom.

One wall with this wallpaper. Does it match anything else anywhere in the house? No.
Also, to turn on the light and the fan, you must first flip up the left switch, and then use the remote to turn them on.

Just point and click. ?????

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our quirky house.

Seriously?!!!

I just wanted to tell you about how my morning went, and it's only 10:25.

First, I dropped Bryan off at work just after 8:30. I meant to get out of the house 10 minutes sooner, but I'm finding it more and more difficult to be punctual with two kids. Basically, I need to get up earlier, and I'm very aware of that.

Then I drove over to Costco to buy supplies and food for the Primary Activity tomorrow. Did you know they don't even open until 10:00??? Seriously?!!!

So I went to Wal-mart instead, because it's close to Costco, it's open 24 hours a day, and it's cheap. Since it was fairly early in the morning, I found a very close parking spot. It was the first one on the row, but I had to drive against the arrow to get it. I'm not sure if that's legal, or if anyone even cares that early in the morning. No cars were coming, and I safely pulled into the spot. Score! I didn't have to haul two kids very far to get into the store. As I got out of the car and started opening the door for the kids to get out, a very large lady walked past me, muttered "Stupid!" and glared at me. I said, "Excuse me?" but she kept walking. All I can figure is that she thought I stole her spot, which was really only two cars closer than the next available spot. She had to walk an extra 14 feet, poor thing, on those overly taxed knees. Seriously?!!!! And there's no way she missed the fact that I had two small children and am very pregnant. Well, after all is said and done, I feel sad for anyone who gets that upset over something that small. She must be a very sad, angry person. It would be very sad to be that sad and angry all the time.

I went to the post office next. Last time I sent stuff from the post office, I used the flat rate boxes, and probably spent more money than I needed to. So this time, thinking I'd save myself the hassle of boxing stuff up at the post office with two ornery children, and thinking I'd save myself a chunk of cash, I boxed up my own stuff and had it all ready to go. All I'd need to do is pay for it and go. No. No? It actually cost half the price to put it in a flat rate box this time. So with two ornery children fighting, getting into things, and screaming, I unpacked the first box, repacked the second box, intermittent with breaking up fights and telling my kids to "Stop!" about 5 times. Seriously?!!! Does anyone know the Post Office rates so I can save myself this hassle next time? Errrgh.

Then I decided to take all the food for the Primary Activity over to the church so that I didn't have to hassle with unloading it at home, and reloading and unloading it again tomorrow. So after making four trips, I noticed that there were people in the room next to the kitchen. Did they come out and help me carry stuff in? No. Did they even hold the door open for me? No. Seriously?!!! If they were in a meeting, I'd understand. But they weren't!

Finally, I came home. I accomplished everything on my to do list for this morning, ran into a bump every step of the way, and I'm exhausted. Seriously.

Your Questions

I'm not a big fan of "tag blogs" mainly because I like to do my own thing. So I've gone back through recent comments you have left, and I shall answer your questions:

1. When are you due? April 2nd

2. How far along are you? 28 weeks and 5 days

3. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl? It's a healthy baby boy.

4. What did you think of The Book Thief? I quite enjoyed it. I appreciated the perspective of a civilian German experiencing World War II.

5. Was that a real pet in the crib with Caleb and Savanna? Nope.

6. How are you doing? Thanks for asking! Well, today was a crazy day, and I couldn't wait to put the kids to bed. But other than that, I am finding time to be (I think) a good mom, take care of my Primary responsibilities, be a good wife (I hope), teach voice and piano lessons, and be huge and pregnant. But you will not find my house spotlessly clean, and you may catch me having a nap from time to time. I'm not superwoman, and I'm not trying to be. My main goal (and only New Year's Resolution, for that matter) is to be a happy mommy. And sometimes that means things don't get done. And sometimes that means the kids go to bed early, and I don't feel a bit bad about it.

7. What do you have to do to be ready to walk out the door? Well, I like to shower, etc., and get dressed (even those don't always happen). I like to wear at least mascara, but I have given up my old notion of being completely groomed before walking out the door. I think being a mommy did that to me. Seriously, if my kids are dressed, and I'm dressed, we're doing good!

8. What do you spend your money on? Well, I think the best way to define my spending habits is that I don't spend much money on anything. We're still in the mode of "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." Most things we own are hand-me-down. And proud of it!

9. What do you splurge on? Well, Bryan bought a treadmill (that he's wanted for 6 years, by the way) this year, does that count? We are also planning on purchasing a new (used) van soon. Oh, and I like to buy Carmex because it's the only stuff that works. Granted, it's only $0.97 plus tax at Walmart. Some day, when we have more disposable income, we want to buy a new mattress, new furniture, and new decorations. And maybe buy Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup instead of the generic stuff. We'd also like to own a home some day, which is probably why we still shop at DI, Goodwill, and Walmart.

10. When do you buy Valentine candy? I don't. I don't like it. Unless it's dark chocolate. I'm still sick from Halloween...

11. What is your Family Night song? I think it's called "Family Night" from the Children's Songbook. However, we are learning a new one that I really like: "The Family Is of God."

12. Is whistling the same as whistle tone? No, whistle tone is a range of singing that is super high, so it sounds kind of like whistling (Mariah Carey used to do a lot of this, before she ruined her voice). I cannot produce this sound.

Two Questions for You

Each morning for a week or so, I have been contemplating the time (or lack thereof) I have to get ready for the day. Some days I can take a shower, get dressed, do my hair and makeup. More often than not, I just barely have time to do what is necessary to get out the door and nothing more. So then I started wondering, what do you find necessary to get out the door?

Something else I've been thinking about is the way other people spend their money. People usually spend their money on what's most important to them. And I find it fascinating to discover what is important to people. Although I tend to gravitate toward sales and cheap prices, there are a few things I have to splurge on. I guess I really have two questions here. What do you spend your money on? And what do you just have to splurge on?

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Nah...

28 Weeks

It's Official

We have a healthy baby!

And for those of you who can read ultrasounds:

This one is my personal favorite. The baby had two hands and one foot right next to his face. It's getting pretty squishy in there!