Calling Sara, Laura, Katie, Ginger, Tammy and Amy

If you are just now checking my blog, go down a few entries and leave a comment with your response. This is my way to give a shout out to all my girls. I have more posts coming, but don't want to lose your responses in the mix.
Rachel, can you be responsible for telling Katie and your mom that their responses are being anxiously awaited?

One of My Favorite Things

This is just one of my favorite pictures. Do you guys remember from my Bridal Shower? Andrea brought the cutest hat of all and didn't wear it til the end of the Shower. Andrea, thanks for putting it on and letting us take a picture and then granting me permission to post it on my blog. You did, right?
I keep this picture at my little vanity and it makes me smile all the time. Hooray for cute, wonderful friends.

Questions for y'all

Quick check on my friends.

Wendy: How are you doing? I have been thinking about you the last few days and wanted to call you today. I don't have your phone number. Could you email it to me?
What is your favorite thing about Texas? Least favorite?

Sara: So good to talk to you today. If you had a weekend without the kids, what would you do?

Rachel: In your dream life, would you rather have a published book or free travel for life?

Liz: Tell me a bit about your M.M.A. What is your favorite media to work with? Also, is there anything that you don't do well?

Gina: What is the best thing you have done this summer? Seems like you have had fun running here and there. I'm a little jealous as we haven't done anything summery. We even baled on camping.

Laura: Are you still dating that same guy? I check on your blog daily to check in on you, and am waiting to hear some mention. If you don't want to comment on a public blog about it, go ahead and email. But, I need to know.

Katie: The other week I was with some friends and Creme Brulee came up. Boy do I love your culinary talents. Someday when I am really wealthy I am going to hire you to come out once a month and make me some of that magical stuff. What is your new favorite recipe? P.S. have you ever commented on my blog before? Do you read my blog? Why have you still not given in to the peer pressure and started your blog? Huh???

Andrea: How was your visit with your parents? What did you guys do? Also, are you a pet person? I feel like you aren't, but was just thinking that you would be my friend that could have one of those annoyingly small dogs and it would seem fitting. Just curious!

Bronwyn: For everyone that doesn't vist Bronwyn's blog, you should. Look what you missed. Do they get cuter? Okay, so Bronwyn, do you have a baby book yet to fill in? I feel that this is a must because I lived my whole life without a baby book and as the youngest of 5, I felt shafted until I was....well, forever. What are you looking forward to the most, nervous about? Anyone wanting to give Bronwyn unsolicited advise (well, at least unsolicited by her) feel free to leave a comment on her blog. She loves comments! Can't wait to see Henry!

Amy: Hello there friend. Are you going to be living in Utah indefinitly now? I loved the idea of having a friend in Seattle. That was my favorite road trip destination.

Um, okay, who else reads my blog?

Ginger: I miss you. Any new adorable pictures of Thomas? "I need, I need." When do Camille and Casey get home? If we have a girl, we are going to name her Camille. Good name, huh?

Heather: How is life treating you girl? Aside from the school frustrations? How are your parents? Do you ever hear from the Ford's or the Facer's? I miss our ladies nights out with them.

Tammy: Congrats on losing 10 lbs. How is that going? My favorite little treat was those packets of three Hostess 100 calorie chocolate cupcakes. Yum! Have you gone over to visit the girls lately? If you haven't you should. Bring Sarah too! Then you can blog about your visit and I can feel like I was there. P.S. Tell Sarah to update her blog. I don't know that she reads my blog, so pass it on.

Okay, I guess I'm done. If you didn't get your own personal question, just let me know that you are a huge fan of my blog and I will shoot you off your very own.

Lots of love, friends!

More of Me

Here's me at 17 weeks. Not too different, but just wanted to share.

P.S.
Bronwyn is most likely going to have her baby in the next few days. Can't wait for Henry James! Hey Bronwyn, does he have a middle name? Can't remember.

The Best $8 Ever Spent

Tonight John and I ditched our ward campout to go and see Randy Travis at the Rock County 4-H Fair. I have very few times had that much fun. Think girls back to Harry Connick Jr. at the Hollywood Bowl. Similar experience for me. I will tell the obnoxious story of the old woman tomorrow, but for now, I am still in this little cocoon of happiness.

The Fair entrance was $8 and you didn't pay any extra for the concert. Does it get better?

Oh, and the boys

Here are the puppies.
Yoshi is 8 months, Max is 18 months.

Another picture-16 weeks

I have taken lots of pregnancy pictures, but just never seem to get them up.
This one was taken tonight. I am 16 1/2 weeks pregnant and couldn't be feeling better. For those of you who don't know, John is convinced it is a little girl. He started out really wanting a boy and has been decided for a long time now that he was wrong and it is a girl. If so her name will be Camille Noelle (Cami for short).
I feel her move several times a day and it is the most thrilling feeling. They are really small since she is only the size of an avocado, but it is so fun.
We don't find out for another 3 1/2 weeks if we will need to find a new name and change our perception of our child. We'll certainly let you know. For now, here is a picture of me in all my pregnant glory.

Why I am a Million Years Old

I have no idea what the heck Facebook is all about. Anyone?
I get the idea of finding friends that you haven't talked to in awhile. Nice. But then there is the "Bob threw a care bear at you." What the...? What does that even mean? Am I so out of touch that somehow that gained social significance and I am the only one that doesn't understand that? I mean is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Then the even more confusing 'Friends for sale as Pets' application. I got this little invite that says 'Rufus has purchased you as a pet. See how much you are worth.' Well, let me be very clear. I know that I am worth more as an individual than whatever dollar amount is now attached to me as a chipmunk, goldfish or whatever animal that I somehow resemble.
I'm not even sure when I got a Facebook page. I must admit that I have never thrown a Care Bear or sent someone a virtual flower/hug/hamburger/Trans-Am or any of the other random computer gifts. I just don't see the point. Does anyone? I mean if I have friends that only know that I care about them because I spend my time spamming them with Facebook crap and not actually because I call them or spend time with them, well then, I am a horrible friend. Sorry, I am getting a little worked up here.
Another significant point of interest for me: When was it that people lost all common sense and started paying REAL money to purchase PRETEND computer stuff???????? I admire the genius that came up with this because lets just say Millionaire. The fact that there are enough individuals in the world that say 'Hmmm,yeah that's a good idea. I'll pay $5 to buy a pretend flower to send to my (possibly pretend)friend on the internet' is a little mind boggling to me.
Sorry about my little tirade here, but I'm very obviously a grandma now and am so out of the loop that I don't think this is cool and really find it extremely annoying.
So, if you are reading this and the temptation has ever occured to you to send me ANY Facebook invitation, forget it. That is a prompting coming from Satan himself. I don't want to play any pretend game on the computer with you and I don't want to be 'owned' by you.
Okay, really I am going to be done, but to anyone who spends more than 10 minutes on Facebook a day, please for the love, find some other hobby. Maybe one where you are interacting with living people and/or real things.

To Pox or Not to Pox...

Lately, I find myself Poxing anyone and anything that gets in my way. It originally started with the not so beloved Sun Prairie Area School District (SPASD for short). Then I moved on to any Mazda 626 on the road. My previous experience with said car certainly warrants this move.
I apparently have driven by the District office too many times now because poxing things is becoming far too regular of an occurance. Now I am poxing any person who acts like a moron in my vacinity. Then I start to feel quilty about that. I would hate it if anyone actually got sick due to my nastiness. Not that I feel that in reality I have the power to do that, but still.
So, I need to start surrounding myself with happy thoughts, so I can leave behind me the world of the nasty pox.
Hope all of you are having a pox-free week.

Remind Me to Never...

Visit these places: (records)
1)Africa: 136° El Azizia, Libya
2) Antarctica: -129° Vostok
3) Record Snowfall:
In 1 month (U.S.): 390" Tamarack, Calif. Jan. 1911
In 24 hours (N. America):76" Silver Lake, Colo. April 14–15, 1921
In one storm (N. America):189" Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl, Calif. Feb. 13–19, 1959
In one season (N. America): 1,140" Mount Baker, Wash. 1998–1999

I thought that 101" of snow this year was bad. Where the heck is Tamarack, CA? I hope all these places are uninhabited.

Just interesting tidbit: It has never rained in the history keeping of Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile. Hello??? Never rained? I get that it is the desert, but still!

4) Most rain in 24 hours: 72.0" at Foc-Foc, La Réunion Island (Jan 7, 1966)

5) Fastest wind ever recorded: 301 mph, in a tornado near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (May 3, 1999)
6)Why does Chicago get to call itself the windy city?
Okay, so I'm not sure what spurred my look into random weather records, but incase you are super curious about other extreme weather facts, check here.

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Thanks Liz for this wonderful idea. My bedroom looks like a war zone right now, so I am going to broaden my search throughout my house. Here are my favorite things in my house right now.

1)Bird Bath: This actually is in my bedroom. I keep it on my dresser (nightstand)and when I take off my jewelry at night, I have a little place of safe keeping until morning.





2) My bookcase: Do I even need to explain why I love this so much? I think everyone that I know that reads this blog will understand. It's the dream bookcase. If you can't have a library with built-in bookshelves, it is a good second.



3) My tablecloth: Bronwyn brought this back from Egypt for me. We use it all the time and it makes me feel loved and like a world traveler without the heat!


4)Framed Card: Just makes me think of all the wonderful friends I have had. You all count!!



5)Banana Bread: Yummy! I bought bananas just to let them get too ripe. A slice for breakfast, another for snack and more for dessert. The all purpose bread.

How to Be a Woman of Elegant Leisure

In a conversation with Rachel yesterday, I was looking for some advice on how to enjoy my life as a Woman of Leisure. Who better than to ask than Rachel?
Her advice is as follows:
1)Get a Moo-moo (or a Kimono)
2)If you smoke, get a long cigarette holder
3)Wear your hair in rollers occasionally
4)Obtain and use a hand held vanity set
5)Exercise the regular Day in Bed
6)Work on correspondence

So, if anyone else is planning to become a Woman of Elegant Leisure in the near future, you have now been instructed in the top 6 How To's.

Recent Upgrade

I had a really proud moment today and I was afraid I couldn't share it with my blogging fans. John assured me that it was blog worthy and since all the people who read my blog are women, I'm not going to worry about offending male sensibilities. (If you are a sneaky guy who reads, but never comments, 1st please comment and 2nd sorry. I'd really be surprised if you are a guy friend of mine and you can't handle boob talk with the best of us.)
So, what's the big news you ask?
I'm a C. Bras that is. I walked into the store today, to buy a sufficiently large bra for my Mama mamas and was overjoyed with the new development. I have always been an aspiring C, but there is really no small baby step goals you can set to get you there. So, breast implants aside, this motherhood business was my only chance.
I hope that you can all secretly share in my moment of joy. I know many of my friends have always been in the 'my boobs are so big, I would share if I could department,' but trust me that this is happy news!
P.S. Brownyn, I will try to add another pregnancy picture soon. You wouldn't believe how many pictures I have to take to find one that looks decent. Still just feeling chubby.

Midget Races

The other day, I was searching our town website to find out info on the 4th of July parade and I found another local happening. It is called the Midget Car Races. Boy was I excited. I was almost giddy about the idea of midgets racing cars. I didn't think calling it that was very PC, but still excited.
I was however very disappointed to find out that the people are full grown and the cars are midget. Now that's not very exciting!! Oh well. Maybe we'll check it out one day anyway, but I'm certainly not in that much of a rush.

Pregnancy Update

Okay,I've had a few requests as of late to update on my pregnancy and share pictures. Well, I have taken a few pictures and although I feel like I look pregnant, when I look at the pictures I realize I just look chubby, so I have hesitated in sharing until I look pregnant.
It is 5am. I am up with the dogs and feeling brave, so I guess I'll share.
I have to say that this pregnancy thing has been cake for me. I'm hoping now, that I haven't made too many enemies, but I really only had two weeks of slight nausea and that was really it. My only real symptom (pardom me boys) is the boob issue!!! I can't complain too much about that, but do I still have to wake up with sore boobs? Just curious.
I am 13 weeks along, so technically on Friday I will be done with my first trimester. It really has flown by and I'm excited for this second part. It's supposed to be even better than the first trimester.
Every once and awhile I get a little nervous or freaked out about things like, I don't actually know how to give a baby a bath, but then I realize that really that can't be too difficult. They are little, don't move too much and you just wipe them down, right?
There is one thing that actually stresses me out and that has to do with the lovely time of year that I will be having this baby in the frozen north. I haven't referred to Wisconsin that way in quite some time, because we have had a lovely spring and summer (minus rain and mosquitos). Most of you know that I don't really do well in the winter time. This past year, my loving mother sent me a happy lamp and life was better for me, but I am kind of nervous about having a baby/getting no sleep in January of all months. It is however a great time to hibernate
I don't know exactly what is included in a good pregnancy update, but for the record John is convinced we are having a girl. He constantly talked about having a boy and then one day that all changed. I however have had absolutely no impression on the matter and will just be happy for another dr's appt where I hear the magical heartbeat. We will find out girl/boy in August.

Report on my life of leisure

Well, it has been a few weeks now of my luxurious leisure living, so I figured that it was time to report.
My first week off, I was quite productive, running errands and doing things that have been neglected lately. So, I felt busy and like I was making progress.
Second week- Girl's Camp. Still busy, but not very satisfying. I am glad to be home. Luckily, next summer, I will have a little bundle of an excuse not to go to Girl's Camp. Just another really exciting part of being pregnant.
When school let out, I decided that I was going to dedicate the week after camp to relaxing and reading. Saturday, I spent the day in bed reading Vienna Prelude. It is the first of a series of books about WWII. I have previously put a moratorium on Holocaust books. In my mind, it was a pretty permanent one. So, when a friend gave it to me, she insisted that it wasn't really very Holocausty. The swastika on the front should have indicated to me that she was lying. I read it anyway. It was a good book and up until the last 100 pages, I was not feeling too depressed. Until of course the father (previously in Dachau) was now reunited with his daughter and the shell of the man was stuffed in the trunk so they could escape Austria. I mean there is only so much that I can take.
So, now I am reading The Alchemist and really enjoying it. It is a fast read and full of thought provoking ideas. Wishing that I was Liz right now.
I still have six books in my pile to read this week (or soon). Here's the list:
1)Twilight- Vampire book written by a mormon author. If you are thinking that it is not exactly the kind of book you would expect me to read either, trust me, it isn't. At least by description. I have been told by everyone that has read it that it is really not that vampiry (though I'm pretty sure that I will find these folks lying as well) and it is really good. I was out with a bunch of friends who had all read the book and they couldn't stop talking about the characters. I just want to be in the loop. Hope it is good.
2)Cry, the Beloved Country- I don't know if I should read this in my emotionally compromised situation, but I've read almost 3/4 of it before and I got too depressed and had to put it down. I figure with a little break from the Nazis, I might be ready to tackle it again.
3)Little House in the Big Woods- Nice, fun return to my childhood
4)Reading Lolita in Tehran- I've started this book about 4 times when I didn't have time to read, so now that I have nothing else to do, maybe I'll finish it
5)The Quilter's Apprentice- no idea if it is any good. found it at the thrift store. The title is such a dream though, so I'll give it a try.
6)Big Stone Gap- finishing out with a good re-read.

I may not finish this week, but that is my upcoming reading list. Plus Pride and Prejudice with the reading gals.