Teaser Tuesday — When Two Become Three

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should Be Reading. Here’s how it works:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“When you feel angry at your spouse, ask yourself, ‘What do I want from my spouse right now?’ and then try to turn your anger into a request. I have found that when one person is angry at his spouse over something, that anger is often a secondary emotion.”

– When Two Become Three: Nurturing Your Marriage After Baby Arrives, Mark E. Crawford, PhD pg. 52

Miscellany

I ordered and received a new pair of glasses a few weeks ago. I’ve been wearing them on the weekends, usually when we don’t go out, but because I overslept today, I’m debuting them at work.

We were part of those on the East Coast who got a dumping of snow, but not quite the two feet that many of those near D.C. received. It was still enough for my work to close Friday and for us to be house-bound Saturday. I got to help Hubby hang some drywall (mostly I assisted in moving a cut piece and then holding it in place while he secured it with screws). I was suprised by how heavy the drywall was, but really enjoyed being able to help.

We were able to get out of the house Sunday and go to a Super Bowl party. I don’t think I watched any of the game, but spent a lot of time talking to the other ladies there, eating and playing with a sweet baby. We also found out that one of our friends is expecting a baby in the middle of August! I’m excited that there are two women I really enjoy spending time with who will have babies the same age as ours!

When we came back from the party, we noticed quite a bit of ice had formed on our door handle:

It was still there when I left for work this morning, probably because it was only 18 degrees!

Completely unrelated to our weather, my office had no water and no heat this morning. It was a cold morning with lots of long walks to the bathroom, but fortunately, everything was able to be fixed by about 11.

Bump Watching — 21 Weeks

Credit.

Hubby and I are both super excited we’re having a boy! It was funny, because before our appointment, Hubby said, “I know its a girl. I’m so convinced I don’t even need them to look. I just know.” Both my parents thought it was a boy, and they were right!

Absolutely no doubt Junie is a boy!

How far along?: 21 weeks!

Total weight gain: I have no idea. 10 lbs maybe? They don’t give me an update at the doctor, and I like it that way. If there’s a problem, they’ll tell me, but otherwise, I’m not going to worry about it.

How big is Baby?: I don’t think they told me at our appointment, but I do know Junie weighs about 13 ounces and is in the 57th percentile for gestational age. Apparently, you want your baby to be between the 40th and 60th percentile — not too big, not too small, so they were happy with this.

Maternity clothes?: Mostly. I have one pair of non-maternity pants a friend gave me that are a couple of sizes bigger than I wore pre-pregnancy, and should fit for another week or two. I also have a couple of select pre-pregnancy tops that are still fitting okay, but just barely. Next week, I’m not sure they will – if how much I want to eat is any indication, we’re about to hit a growth spurt.

Stretch marks?: No new ones! Guess all that cocoa buttering is working!

Sleep?: Still pretty good. I sleep with a body pillow on my left side most of the might, then switch to my right with no body pillow for a couple of hours with a little bit of back laying thrown in to help relieve the pain in my hips. Don’t worry, I don’t lay on my back for more than a cumulative hour over the course of the evening.

Best moment this week?: Gender reveal day, cupcakes and a little bit of clothes buying!

Movement?: Not a whole lot. I felt some yesterday, one that seemed pretty strong, but none really today. What I feel is still pretty light, but they told me I should definitely feel movement and know its the baby by the end of 22 weeks.

Food cravings?: I stalked the ice cream man in the grocery store because he was getting ready to put out Girl Scout Thin Mint ice cream and I had to have it, but other than that, nothing particular.

What I miss: Stomach sleeping.

What I’m looking forward to: Spilling the gender beans to friends and the rest of the family and registering with Hubby.

Milestone: Finding out that Junie is a boy!

This week you get me in my PJ’s. Last night was a late one, and I came home and immediately changed in to PJ’s, before taking my weekly photo. Oh well. Enjoy!

LOST — LAX

I cannot tell you how excited I was for the season premier of LOST! I was a little worried I’d have a hard time staying up for the whole thing, but I made it! I am seriously ready for some answers, especially what the deal with the light/dark thing is about, Jacob, Locke being dead but not dead, and Claire and Aaron. Also, a great deal of my note taking was done in ALL CAPS to show my shock and surprise and some of the things going on. I’m going to try to stay away from the caps lock key for this post.

That said, here’s what we learned this episode:

• The bomb worked! Kind of. Flight 815 does land at LAX, but the Losties are also still on the island. Even Desmond makes it on the flight!
• Ben really did kill Jacob! I wasn’t sure at the end of last season if it worked, but apparently it did.
• Juliet is dead (sob!!) but she somehow knew the bomb worked.
• Evidently, Jacobs not-so-friendly friend / the man pretending to be Locke is also the Smoke Monster.
• You can keep the Smoke Monster from attacking you by drawing a circle and standing in it. If you get out of the circle, Smokey can eat you. It does look like the circle needs to be black sand or powder of some sort — gun powder?
• Not-Locke tells Ben he wants the one thing the real Locke didn’t – to go home, which means the island isn’t actually his home.
• Richard somehow knows Jacob and Smokey from way back when.
• Sayid isn’t dead!

And what I still want to know:

• How did Juliet know the bomb worked?
• How exactly did the bomb work? And if it did work, why are the Losties still on the island?
• Who is the man pretending to be Locke, besides the Smoke Monster of course?
• Who are the Temple People? Are they the same as the Others? Jacob’s followers? How did a 815 survivor  become accepted by them?
• What kind of bad things wold have happened if Sayid were dead? How much worse can things get?
• What was Not-Locke referring to when he said  “Hello Richard. Its good to see you out of those chains.”
• Why do things seem to be a little upside down on the alternate 815 flight? Jack is scared of flying instead of Rose and Hurley says he’s the luckiest guy on earth.
• If alternate-Christian’s casket is missing, does that mean there are two Christian’s wandering around on the island somehow?
• What kind of side-effects might there be to Sayid’s healing? Will he be like Ben?

And my current theory(ies):

• When the bomb went off, it created an alternate universe/time stream where the 815 crash didn’t actually happen. However, for the crash to not happen, the crash had to happen so the Losties could go back in time and set the bomb off so the crash wouldn’t happen. So the crash can’t not happen unless the crash happened. Which is crazy, but makes sense when you’re watching Lost.
• On a note completely unrelated to tonight’s episode — could Libby be Whidmore’s other child?

Random moments I liked / thoughts I had:

• I adore Rose and Bernard. This is season will be sad, sad, sad if it doesn’t include a lot of them.)
• “I think we went through time.” “How do you know that?” “White flash. Headache. Can’t hear. Happened to me before.” – Jin, Hurley, Jin
• “Oh God, oh God. This is gross.” My thoughts exactly Hurley.
• It was nice to see Boone Charlie and especially Claire again.
• I’m so proud that Hurley is finally standing up to people!
• Since last season, I have all about Sawyer and not as much about Jack. Sawyer saying he would kill Jack? Eh. I mean, I don’t want that to happen because I want the Losties to get off the island and for Sawyer and Juliet to live happily ever after, but if Jack died I don’t think I’d be overly upset.
• “How could they know where he is? They didn’t loose your father, they just lost his body.” – John Locke (alternate)

Today’s THE Day!

Today is our big 20-week ultrasound! You know, the one where maybe we can find out if Junie is a boy or a girl! I’m excited to find out, but to be honest, I don’t think I’ll be too bummed if we don’t. It just meas I’ll get to go back again sooner for another look, and I can’t complain about that!

In special honor of this day, here are reasons I would be excited if Junie were a boy or a girl:

If Junie were a boy:

1. FOOTBALL. My brother never played football growing up, but I think it would be oh-so-fun to have a little football player. Hubby could coach him!

2. I’ve always imagined boys to be “easier” than girls. I have no idea if its true or not, but at least if I had a boy, I wouldn’t have to worry about my total lack of hair doing skills.

3. Eventually having a teenager around to help with heavy lifting. And grass cutting.

4. Seeing his Daddy teach him to fix things, make thing, and be a man. Be still my heart.

5. I want a “Mama’s Boy.” Hubby has his Daddy’s Girl in our dog, and I want that! (but only for as long as its appropriate)

If Junie were a girl:

1. Have you seen today’s girl clothes? Too. Stinkin. Cute.!!!

2. Enrolling her in dance class. There isn’t much sweeter than a three year old ballerina.

3. Seeing Hubby with his “little princess.”

4. Someone to go shopping with!

5. Dolls, dollhouses, and Girl Scout cookies!

But, in all honestly, I just want Junie to be healthy! I know that no matter if Junie is a boy or a girl, he or she will be (and already is!) their own person. I may have a girl who’s into weight lifting or a boy who’s into dance. And I will still love them. I just want my child to be happy and feel good about who they are. If that’s true, then I think I’ll be happy.

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This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday at Oh!Amanda! Check out the other lists and her blog!

Teaser Tuesday — Now and Then

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Should Be Reading. Here’s how it works:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“Anna looked out the window. The thatched roofs were wrong, the man hitched to the plow was wrong. She was pretty sure this was Ireland, given the accents and the landscape, and that was very wrong. And it wasn’t now, not Anna’s now.”

– Now and Then, Jacqueline Sheehan pg. 58

January Goals Revisited / February Goals

1. Set up my new sewing machine!

2. Make sure I can do all the basic, necessary things, like pull up the bobbin thread.

3. Visit the local sewing shop and see if they offer classes. I didn’t visit in person, but I went online and know they offer classes, now I just have to see if I can take one.

4. Read at least one book on labor and delivery. I read one, and started but didn’t finish another. I’ll post more on these later.

5. Call the hospital and sign up for their Labor and Delivery class as well as their Child Care Basics class. I decided to wait until after our appointment tomorrow to do this.

6. Get better about cleaning regularly. Better, but there’s still room for improvement.

7. Eat at least 2 servings of vegetables a day. Maybe not every day, but I think I came really, really close.

8. Send Janeth a letter! I didn’t, and I even got a letter from her!

9. Sew something.

10. Memorize two passages of scripture. Halfway — I memorized John 3:30.

11. Finish reading John. Yes!

12. Start taking reusable shopping bags places other than just the grocery store. I don’t think I went anywhere other than the grocery store, but I did take my bags every time I went, so I’ll count it.

Not horrible, but not great either. I am happy with what I accomplished this month (including doing some things that weren’t on the goals list, but maybe should have been).

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Since February’s a short month, I’m going to try to keep my goals relatively short and simple as well.

1. Write Janeth a letter.

2. Thread my sewing machine and attempt to sew something.

3. Buy a gender appropriate outfit once we find out if Junie is a boy or a girl!

4. Clean something every weeknight.

5. Take my reusable grocery bags with me when I buy household supplies at Wal-Mart.

6. Sign-up for Labor and Delivery class as well as Child Care Basics through my hospital.

7. Memorize two passages of scripture.

8. Read the book of James.

9. Catch up on my “Expecting” devotional book.

10. Do something fun with Hubby!

Bump Watching — Week 20!!

Week 20 — halfway there! OH. MY. Really? Halfway? I cannot believe it! Here’s what the bump is looking like these days:

Not too big of a change (if any) from last week, but when I got dressed yesterday, I felt HUGE. I think it was mostly the fact that the sweater didn’t “wrap around” my bump so to speak, and also the fact that it is all-over bigger than what I would normally wear, so I can wear it as I grow. Also, how cute are the bump/heart pictures? This shirt says “What’s Love” in the shape of a question mark. Its one of the three shirts designed for a new Wednesday night topic for our students at church (this one, designed by yours truly!). I couldn’t resist some photos when I put this on!

I’m still feeling really great; still tired, some soreness and heartburn, but nothing that makes me feel truly bad or super uncomfortable. The one thing looming large in my mind these days? FOOD.

Normally, I try to eat fairly healthy, but I’m not a huge veggie fan. Being pregnant, I know its super important to get lots of fruits and veggies, and lots of different variety in your diet. This is challenging for me since I’m a routine person even down to what I eat — I’ve eaten the same thing for lunch at work for over a year. So I’ve made a few small changes to my diet to try to get more fruits and veggies in and try to make sure I get a variety of foods. Here’s what I typically eat these days:

Breakfast

* 1 cup Multi-Grain Cheerios with skim milk OR Weight Control Quaker Oatmeal with dates (lots of antioxidants!)

* String Cheese

* Half a grapefruit

Morning Snack

* Banana

Lunch

* Multi-Grain English Muffin with butter OR Chicken and Rice Soup OR Tuna

* Apple Sauce

* Grapes OR Clementines OR yogurt OR Carrots and Ranch Dressing

* Crackers OR pretzels

Afternoon Snack

* Yogurt OR Granola Bar

Dinner

* This is where I try to get a lot of my veggies and variety so in a typical week, I might have: pot roast with potatoes, carrots, rice and salad; chicken pot pie with salad (LOTS of veggies!); fettucine alfredo with chicken and spinach and salad.  I do try to change dinner up quite a bit from week to week.

Post-Dinner Snack

* Ice cream. Different flavors, but always ice cream.

I also like making smoothies occasionally as a way to get more fruit, and things I typically wouldn’t eat plain, like blueberries. I’m a blueberry fan, but only in muffins, pancakes, or blended up.

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Tuesday we go back to the doctor and will hopefully find out if Junie is a boy or a girl! Hubby and I have both finally decided that we’re leaning towards girl, so hopefully we’ll find out something concrete soon. I think I’m going to try to wait to announce here until Friday though. We shall see if I can hold it in though.

Job Frustrations

I’ve been a little frustrated at work lately. Don’t get me wrong, I really, really like my job, but sometimes, working under and for someone is just a little frustrating. I was ready to pull my hair out Tuesday afternoon, when I received an e-mail from my boss.

A little background to this; if you don’t know, I am the Ministry Assistant to the Student Pastor at my church. We have several series planned for Wednesday nights in the coming months, one of which uses Crayola crayons as an illustration, the other of which uses Legos as an illustration. That’s about all I know about these two series.

Enter my e-mail:

Boss: Hey, contact Lego and Crayola and see what they can do for us for our upcoming series. We need to get on this!

Me: Okay, but what do we want? Is this something specific or just a copyright question?

Boss: Call them and find out.

Me (thinking): I can’t really find out what they can do if I don’t know what we need!

Me (thinking some more): Ah! He did mention at one point he wanted a giant crayon, maybe I can find one of those!

I manage to find a giant crayon (sold through Crayola’s Easton, PA store either in person or over the phone only), and get that information. Still nothing on Lego, except I remember he wants some kind of giant sculpture.

Me: What kind of sculpture do we want from Lego?

Boss: I don’t know, just find out what they can do.

Me: It would be good if we had some details to give them when we call, even if its just a few options, because they be able to do some things and not others. The more information we give them, the more they can give us.

Boss: Just call them figure out what they can do then we can figure it out.

Me: Oooookay.

Lego Company Guy: Hi, how are you?

Me: Fine thanks. I’m calling because my boss is planning a new sermon series for our students and wants to use a 4 ½ foot tall Lego sculpture as the illustration. I don’t know what he wants, but do y’all custom make Lego designs?

Lego Company Guy: Hold on one moment, let me see what we would need to do for you in this case.

Me: Okay.

Lego Company Guy: Okay, what you would need to do is go through our Model Donations Request department. That’s an e-mail address, and it takes about 5 business days to hear back. I know that’s a little inconvenient, but right now, that’s the process we currently have set up.

Me: That sounds great – thanks so much for your help!

Me: We have to contact Lego’s Model Donations Request people through e-mail and it will take at least 5 business days to hear back from them.

Boss: Oh, so we need to know what we want before we contact them?

 Me: Yes.

Aaaaah! I could have saved myself an hour of work if he had just listened to me in the first place! My job is to make what he wants happen, and I’m happy to do that, but sometimes I need just a little bit more information than he gives me to make that happen.

Getting to Know Me

I don’t normally do these types of surveys on Facebook, though I have done a few here, but my aunt tagged me in this one and said she was most curious about my answers, so I decided I had to fill it out! Check it out and see if you learn something new about me! *I have no idea why WordPress decided to stop my lovely formatting part way through. *

1. What time did you get up this morning?
A little after 7 am.
2. How do you like your steak?
Medium, but only if your medium is nice and pink in the center. Otherwise, medium rare.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Sherlock Holmes
4. What is your favorite TV show?
LOST
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Honestly, I’m not sure. But I’d love to live in the house diagonally across from my parents. I think.
6. What did you have for breakfast?
Blueberry pancakes, half a grapefruit and Instant Breakfast.
7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Southern!
8. What foods do you dislike?
most vegetables
9. Favorite Place to Eat?
Charlie’s Crab or Carlos Brazilian Cuisine

10. Favorite dressing?
Ranch

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
RAV-4

12. What are your favorite clothes?
Something comfy — right now, pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
1/2 Full

15. Where would you want to retire?
Some place pretty, with lots to do, but relaxing — little traffic.

16. Favorite time of day?
Morning.

17. Where were you born?
Savannah, GA

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
College Football

19. Who do you think will not tag you back?
No one since I’m not tagging anyone.

20. Person you expect to tag you back first?
See above.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?
Please see number 19.

22. Bird watcher?
Not really.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Morning.

24. Do you have any pets?
Yes, Glacier the Wonder-Puppy.

25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share?
We’re having a baby!

26. What did you want to be when you were little?
An archeologist.

27. What is your best childhood memory?
Being given permission to hit my brother as hard as I wanted. Or, a nicer memory: my 6th Safari-themed birthday party.

28. Are you a cat or dog person?
Definitelyprefer dogs, but don’t mind cats.

29. Are you married?
Yes.

30. Always wear your seat belt?
Yes.

31. Been in a car accident?
Yes, but wasn’t hurt.

32. Any pet peeves?
Impolite, un-thoughtful people. Drivers who don’t merge responsibly.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Cheese!

34. Favorite Flower?
I don’t think I really have one, but I do like sunflowers.
35. Favorite ice cream?
Mint chocolate chip.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Toss-up between Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A

7. How many times did you fail your driver’s test?
Oh let’s not go there.

38. From whom did you get your last email?

Target.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Ballard Designs.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
I’m only spontaneous when I plan to be, which isn’t often.
41. Like your job?
Absolutely.

42. Broccoli?
Steamed.

43. What was your favorite vacation?
Either Sea World of Colonial Williamsburg with my parents and brother.

44. Last person(s) you went out to dinner with?
Hubby!

45. What are you listening to right now?
Hubby watching Terminator: Salvation.

46. What is your favorite color?
Blue

47. How many tattoos do you have?

None.

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz?
None.

49. What time did you finish this quiz?
6:47

50. Coffee Drinker?
Of flavored coffee, used to be.