Happy Holidays!

I finally took the time to edit my blog(s) a bit to make them a little more design-y. As it were. The thanks really have to go to Julia for pointing me in the right direction of how to do it.

I enjoy it. I'm going to edit Ryan's blog a bit more, since it's not my favorite design right now, but it was my experiment.

I'll add the couple of websites I used to find backgrounds and the instructions. And if you have more html knowledge than me (which, despite getting an A- in the stupid 4 credit class my last semester of college, I have not retained any knowledge of), then you could probably do much better.

Now what I need is a good graphic design program (like Photoshop) for my lappy. Actually, I could use a new lappy too -- maybe a slightly better Mac than the 4 (almost 5!) year old lappy I currently use to check email and hack the web. I could be doing that on my old Bondi Blue Original iMac if I wanted. That was the greatest Chritmas present EVER! (like that Lexus commerical, except I'm not getting a Lexus) Especially right before I went to college.

Jake is getting sick, mostly from working his partially sick body (as it has been all year) to the limit trying to shovel, mostly because I couldn't shovel. We really need a snowblower. Badly. It's probably time to try to find a used one from someone around these parts. We just don't have $350.00 to plunk down on the cheapest new one.

I'm not totally sure of what the exact plans for Christmas are, but I have a rough estimate of what is happening.

Dec. 23, 24: Me = off; Jake = worky work
Dec. 24th - going to my aunt and uncle's business in Brookfield to see them and my cousin, his wife and their kids with my parents for a while. Then, we'll probably come home and just hang out, open presents and such.

Dec. 25th - going to Mom and Dad's house for more presents, snack and I choice Italian food for Christmas dinner. Poultry has not been doing well with me and I figure that Dad probably doesn't want to do a terrible amount of cooking.

Dec. 26th - day off to rest and chill out; probably drive up to Luxemburg? Not sure.

Dec. 27th - Christmas with Jake's fam? Not sure the schedule for this either. Def coming home this night though.

Dec. 28th - Spending time with my other aunt and uncle and cousins at their house in Elm Grove; we usually do this every year, usually the Friday before Christmas, but this year, it's at the end, just because of the way that Christmas falls. This is usually just relaxing and hanging out. Which is good, b/c I will have to go back to work the next day (Jake too). Some day, I will have enough vacation to take off the two weeks at the end of the year.

I have to work Monday and then I am off the rest of next week. It will be AMAZING! I haven't had a vacation since July! Seriously. I wish I hadn't wasted sick time/vacation in May -- I took an extra day vacation (which I could have used for next week) and a whole sick day for no reason when Josh was down for the day. It was fun at the time, but now, when I could really use the extra time to carry over to next year, I don't have it. I just went off on a big rant there, and then I realized -- GET IT OVER!! Some women don't get jack squat. Be glad you get to take 6 weeks off with your new baby.

We have plans to Christmas shop today, but we'll see. I wanted to get out kind of early and it's 20 mins to 9 right now. I don't want to go out with all the crazies, esp. since it snowed yesterday and nobody was out.

All christmas'd up

First, I would like to congratulate Josle and Liz on their engagement! I am very happy for you both! :)

Second, we have, since my last post, which was a long azz time ago, Christmas'd up the house. We have our tree, sporting several shiny ornaments, stockings are hanging from the coat rack, the top of the TV is all decorated with holiday stuff. I also have my Christmas village out on the table and a small set from my Grandma in the bay window. I have pics, but I'm too lazy to post at the moment.

Snow, snow and more snow around here. It's ridic. Seriously. The pattern that we have from the beginning of the year hasn't changed one bit. Snow squall/storm after snow whatever keeps passing over.

We did put up Christmas lights on the front porch in the freezing cold on Saturday and put them on the deck today. It was slightly less cold, since it was cloudy.

We also have a Christmas present or two purchased. I didn't want to go crazy this weekend, since we're a little bit tight on money right now. We have to wait until I get a paycheck on Thursday to really purchase gifts. Then, we have to make sure we're going to make all our payments for the month. I'm not too worried about it, but there is always that concern.

St. Nick brought Jake a new coffee grinder. He really likes it. If you use it on the counter, it sounds like a jet engine taking off.

I suppose....

A post is in order.

Actually, I was reading a friend's blog and she is very crafty. In reading her blog, it reminded me of the time right before the wedding back in 2005 when I was in the FARTS compy lab working on my programs and was going to test print a few to make sure they were going to work out before I printed them at home. Okay, truth is, I was probably going to print them all in teh compy lab, but not all at once. I was really just going to test a few and be done.

I had special ordered paper -- a very cool iridescent purple -- from this craft/scrapbook place in Rice Lake that I frequented when I was working for the summer in Shell Lake. It was ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS for said paper. I got it in the summer of 2004, so I had managed to hang on to it for the whole year, unscathed.

When I got to the compy lab, I set the bundle of paper down next to the printer and was working at the computer. Some lab workers came in to tape a new sign to the printer and decided that they were going to take the whole thing of paper. I still have NO idea what happened to it, to this day, because they fucking lied about taking it!!! I even sent Jake and probably Josh over to teh main lab office to talk to the guys. And they didn't even admit taking the paper. I even went up to the campus police the next day to file a police report, because it was $125.00!! They couldn't do much, but I felt better about things. At least if the lab workers showed up with the paper, there would be a case open.

I don't know who else would have taken it. It wasn't worth anything to anyone. Maybe they didn't take it, but I never found it in any trash. Maybe I'll blame the person who called Maggie a whore on my "The Knot" website. Which I was sorry that I had to delete before I could have The Knot trace who had posted it. I have a few guesses who could have done it. Andrea did ask the main suspect, who said she hadn't done it, but she was a pathological liar, so who knows?

Up until this point, I had totally forgotten about it. Seems like a different life, you know? :)

I have so many projects that need my attention right now. I could use a month off from work. Baby cross stitching projects, crafty projects, a room that is going to have to be turned into a nursery, etc.

But, alas, work is work. As long as I don't have to work more than 40 hours this week, I'll be totally okay. But, I am really far behind with my shit at work and when I had just caught up, I got all behind again. Plus, my apathy for that place really makes it hard to be there and do stuff. I would really like to change departments, but there really isn't much that I would be good at doing yet, other than what I am doing. Once we get the new person in the mix, I think that things will be better.

Le sigh. I really need to not think about work. Maybe I'll just go work for Yakob at his Starbucks store. They have good benefits, don't they?

29 years old

Not much different than 28.

However, I said that all I wanted to do is make it to my birthday and I would feel okay about things. And I did. So, officially, Jake and I are having a baby...again. No problems on that "making" part. ha ha. I'm 12 weeks along now and it's still going okay, so I feel relatively confident that things will turn okay. I do most of my writing about it on a different blog, so just check my side bar for the link, if you feel like reading about it.

So far, I have received a gift card to Joann Fabrics from Jake's mom and dad, plus a card; and a card from Jake's Grandma. Oh, plus, a picture frame from Jake -- a digital picture frame. I wasn't expecting it, so I was quite surprised, but it has really grown on me, and I love it. It's pretty sweet. And it will display baby pictures every well, when we have them. :)

I don't know that I will be getting much from my parents other than dinner. They didn't ask me if I wanted anything or not. Some years, they ask me what I want and other years, it's just dinner out.

The only bad thing about getting dinner for my birthday is that I've been pretty nauseous for the past 6 or 7 weeks, so eating is really limited. I haven't really gained any weight and my tummy is a fairly decent size at this time. I mean, I think that if you saw me, you'd just think "fatty", but me, myself can tell that it's really baby. So, I'm hoping that I won't gain a terrible amount of weight. I had pretty much to begin with. I want to be one of those women that lost 30 pounds after baby comes. But, I think that dinner will have to wait until after I am feeling better.

But, I'm not "really" 29 until 2:06 pm. So, I'll enjoy my last couple of hours of being 28. ha ha. :)

3 years is too long and too short

I feel fortunate on this day that I can pretty much go see Branden whenever I want. or at least shout out a "hi" to him as we drive by. We live a mile or two away from the Cemetery.

It's amazing to me that it's been three years. I can't believe how different I feel about life compared to three years ago.

I miss you Branden. Very much.

If I could have a drink for you tonight, I would. I'll drink to you in spirit.

I heart you all.

I wish that I could slow down to remember that a little bit more.

Glad that I had the chance to go

It was worth the entire $135 I had to spend on the tickets/parking pass. Even with the loss. Because they fought to the bitter end. Well, ok, not Sup. But, everyone else showed up and was a gamer.

Because, even, with a loss, I may never have a chance to say that I went to a Brewers playoff game. I mean, my dad made the most sense to me today, in that, during his life time, the Brewers were in the playoffs 3 times (including 2008, obviously). 2008 was the first time he got to go. They couldn't afford to go in 1982 (with a 2 year old and all...) and Dad was 5 or 6 in 1956 and 57.

I just wanted to stand in the stadium for as long as I could. I even had a little tear in my eye. The whole stadium cheered even at the end, when they lost. As the bullpen was walking in from center field, Torres raised his hat and then threw it in the stands. I wish more players had come out and just waved to everyone at the end. I'm sure they were too upset. They didn't want to be done, I'm sure. It's going to be a long off-season for some, I think.

So, here are a couple of things that I hope for next year:
1. Give Sveum a year at coaching. See what he can do.
2. MARK!! Open up your checkbook and pay CC! We want him back. DIDIMAO!!!!

I really wish Jake and I could splash out on a 9-pack of tickets for next year, but it's too much money. Maybe someday. When we pay off the credit card and get more financially stable. Not that we aren't now, but there's more that can be done.

I have a cold this week and it really sucks hardcore. I don't remember the last time I was sick with a cold like this. Sore throat, cough, stuffed nose. Ugh. This week is going to be LONG....I'm dreading it already.

Well, I'm going to enjoy having the cats sit with me and possibly some Cherry sugar-free Jello. If it's ready.

VOLKSWAGON....

I had Arby's for dinner and I ate WAAAAAAAY too much. Sick.

I feel like throwing it all up and starting over. gross.


Nothing new in the world. Mark and Josh Lee stayed here twice on their way to/from Detroit. That was fun. Saturday, GNate came over and Yakob, whom I forget is in town now. They also stayed last night, just for the night.

Work is work is work. Always a challenge to make it to the end of the day. Its been very quiet and very boring around work. Hopefully, they will hire a new person and we can change around some of the stuff we are doing. Phyllis does SO much right now that things are not evenly divided and while she has work to do all day, none of the rest of us do. Well, okay, I don't and that sucks.

It's still for suckers.

And this concludes the weekly (or semi-weekly) waste of internet.

Longest week EVER

I swear. I'm thinking that some of it might have had to do with the fact that this should have been my last week before maternity leave was going to start, but that ship sailed. So, I'm bitter.

That and dealing with stupid people. Ugh!

At least my headache from work goes away when I get home and settle down. I'll probably go get food with Jakie when he gets home and maybe go to Target.

Nothing going on this weekend. Maybe get our trim for the basement and paint that tomorrow, so if the Packer game is boring on Sunday, we can install it.

And this concludes this waste of bandwidth.

I guess it's been a bit here...

The sinus thing is gone. Hooray for drugs!

However, I am convinced that the drugs mimicked the symptoms of pregnancy for a while, making me think that I was, even though there wasn't too much of a chance for that. V. weird though. I am still in the middle of my longest cycle EVER but expect it to be over soon. Then, back to trying. I think that if I'm not knocked up again and a good way into a pregnancy by the end of 2008, I'm going to put things on hold for a bit and train to run the 1/2 marathon up in EC...but, it's hard to sign up for it when you don't read the future.

I think that there's a good chance that we will be by the end of the year though, so I'm not too worried about that. I think that we've got the timing down to an art now. Plus, it really helps to do all that charting and shit that you can do to tell when the best time is to "go".

Going up to the Netherlands this weekend. Luxemburg. Should be good. My only request was to go to Hobby Lobby in Green Bay on Saturday. Other than that -- nothing else. I don't care what we do.

The printer is awesome. It inspired me to get my wedding scrap book out and actually pick out paper for the backgrounds and keep it downstairs so I can use it when I get my pictures sorted out.


We're quickly coming up on the due date of the first baby. I'm not sure if it makes me sad or not. I'm more consumed with trying again than worrying about the past. I hope. I tell myself that, but...you know. I do think sometimes that I really should be sitting here, over 8 months, with a cute little nursery to create, but that will come in time. It really will. I know it.

Oh! And I went to the new doctor -- he's really great. Older and pretty good. Knows what he's talking about, which is always good. He said that he believe that the 'heart-shaped' thing wasn't an issue, esp. since they didn't notice it during the first pregnancy in February, but did notice it in July. Made him think that it corrects itself in my case and probably shouldn't be an issue. He said that he could do thyroid testing and some other tests, just to make sure that everything is a-ok, but he also said that the second time was just a blighted ovum -- in other words, just shitty luck. However, he's much closer to home, so I feel good about that. And, they have later appts and the office was MUCH MUCH quieter. He thought that the next time, I would be just fine.

So, my thoughts are that we'll go one more time here and see what happens. If we lose it again, I think that we will probably proceed with testing me to make sure my thyroid is working right and I don't have auto-immune disorders or a clotting issue or something that could be treated and worked on.

So, let's all cross our fingers that the third time is the charm!

Pictures and other things

So, we got this printer on Woot. Kodak EasyShare 5300. 45.00 plus 5.00 for shipping.

We wanted something that would print pictures easier than the one that's in the basement. And it SURE DOES! :) However, it's a refurb and the printer has problems with the printhead, so we immediately had to get a new one and now it works fine. It prints really nice pictures too. Jake is testing it.

So, I did get drugs for a sinus infection and I have felt better. My cheeks still hurt a bit from time to time, but I don't have the constant sinus headache anymore. Hooray! Thank you drugs.

I also have an appointment with the doctor that my GP recommended. It was kind of strange/funny. His assistant called and just gave me the name of the person that he recommends for high risk patients to go to. D'oh! Oh well. I kind of knew that I would be high risk, but to hear it out loud...blah. But, there was a cancellation, so I have an appt on Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm, so that's really great. I don't really know what's going to happen at it, b/c once I told the appt lady that I had been referred by Dr. Olson and that I had m/c's this year, she didn't really ask many questions, which makes me think that they knew the basic reason why I was calling.

We'll see what happens. More updates to follow. For now, off to try to stay awake until 10pm.

Make it stop...

So, on Friday, while at work, I started feeling yucky. My head hurt, I felt like I had a fever, sick to my stomach...all that crap.

It was on and off Saturday, but Sunday it was back and hasn't really left.

So, now I'm worried that I have the dreaded sinus infection that doesn't seem like a sinus infection. Plus, another girl at work has a sinus infection, so I'm a little worried. I'm going to the doc Thursday AM though.

And I get to have a cavity filled tomorrow! FUN! *roll eyes*


And finally, in the world of doctors, when I was making the appt with my GP, I checked to see if they had received my records yet and they hadn't...curious.
So, I called the old place and they finally called me back after 5 hours to tell me that they never got my release form. WTF!!!! So, I asked if I could just pick everything up -- which I can do (and if they told me that, I would have just done that last week!!!), so I'm picking that up Thursday afternoon and will attempt to drop if off on my way home...we'll see. I will probably ask about making an appt for the next appt -- like when I should make one for, so I have it set up. Hooray. Maybe we can get somewhere here. I'm not waiting for #3 to happen before I get tested for stuff. Two is two too many.

The Olympics are pretty sweet. And now my sudafed has worn off (after an hour), so I will go to the place where I don't have to think anymore.

It seemed like a good idea at the time

So, I just moved my grandmother's desk that I inherited in 1999. It's a "real" piece of furniture -- you know, solid wood. Well, mostly anyway. It's really heavy.

The worst part of moving it was that I have really strong legs, but am totally unable to transfer as of that force to my arms, so I have to solely use my legs to move the darn thing.

But, it's moved. Yay! And I don't have to run today! Now, I can move the glasses cabinet to where the desk was in the guest room and put the extra end table in there for the TV. I decided to move it in there, b/c it just takes up room in the living room and we could move the couches more toward the TV. But, I'm think that the end table might be too big for the room, so it might not work out that way.

I'm really happy with the guest room at the moment. It's a lot more empty -- it's a room instead of a room that the junk was going into. Having the basement really helps a lot.

I'm considering having a kind of housewarming party (finally!) around my birthday. We can really get everything to where we want it and have enough room to have more than two people over. Okay, well, maybe not that far into the future, since the deck would be unusable at that point, probably, but soon. I think.

It's been a long year.

So, yesterday, it was determined that the reason that Jake has been feeling so horrible for months on end is not depression or anxiety or a virus or whatever. He's had a sinus infection! For months! The ENT doc took about 2 seconds to figure it out. So, he's on the antibiotics and feels a TON better, b/c he knows that he's not going crazy. Now, you're probably wondering why he didn't notice he had a sinus infection, as I did. B/c it's not in his front sinuses, where it would really be noticeable and would really hurt. It's all in the back, clogging his throat and ears and making him feel yucky all the time. Crazy. I've never heard of such a thing. I, however, feel that if he didn't blow his nose so hard, it wouldn't force all that crap back into those back sinuses and ears. That's probably why this happened this way. Oh well. What can you do? At least he'll get better now! yaay!!! :)

I don't know what project will be next around the house. Maybe attempting to refinish the guest room wood floor, as a test to see if we could do the living room floor. I think that re-doing the bathroom might be next summer. I know that Jake owes Josh some help in Luxemburg with their bathroom, whenever that happens. I'm mostly handy with a paint brush. But, I want a new bathroom.

A project this winter may be fixing the back splash in the kitchen. Which would involve ripping of that crap back wall (whatever that shit is) and putting new drywall up, patching and tiling whatever we decide to tile. A trip to HOBO might be in order to look at tile again. I found some sweet tiles there that I would really like for the bathroom. So, there must be other stuff there too. I think that eventually, we will redo the kitchen floor with cooler tiles as well. We know there's a good sub floor down, so all we would need is new, nicer tiles.

My final thoughts for today are that when making blueberry pancakes, you should always ALWAYS use real fresh blueberries. No frozen. I disliked blueberry pancakes until this morning, when I made pancakes and threw in fresh blueberries for Jake. They were amazing!

Feeling inspired...

So, I just added some "new friends" on f-book yesterday. Mostly kids from the neighborhood that I have known since I was 6 years old. One girl that I was friendly with in HS and was a fellow horn player. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed talking to her and hanging out with her. Also, the wife of one of those friends, whom I feel that I have a lot of stuff in common with, yet, we're completely different. I am feeling inspired by her adventures since she has moved up here. Makes me want to do lots of things. Creative, crafty things.

One of the things she did was make her own upholstered headboard for their bed. And now I want TWO! I have a guest bed downstairs and our bed upstairs that could both use one. Maybe a project for after I move all my sewing shit downstairs into the new room. Which I am thinking would be a good project for this weekend. I have some shelves I want to build to put down there -- I don't want to store all my stuff in plastic tubs anymore.

Also, I want to have a garage sale to get rid of all this extra shit we have -- which includes clothes, shoes, misc. kitchen stuff, and other random stuff that is just taking up space and frustrating me.

In the world of fertility/infertility news...

Just waiting for my records to get sent to Dr. Olson this week. They only send them once a week, so it won't be Thursday, possibly Friday until they are sent out. I'm assuming that they get mailed over to him, so it will be Monday or Tuesday before he gets them. I wish that I would have asked if I could just come out and pick them up and deliver them myself...oh well. They are my records. I still could, I suppose. Tomorrow is only Wednesday. But, I will call next Tuesday and see if he received anything from them and to ask about the next appt. with him. I have all the other info that I need. And I have a strong feeling that I've said all this already. HA! I just checked, I didn't! I want to get this show on the road. Although, we're not really "not trying", so...whatever happens, happens.

Also, I'm considering starting a separate blog about this whole journey towards having a baby. What a journey it has been so far. Perhaps I will not feel so bad having more "graphic" contact there too. I sometimes hesitate at putting the "gory" details here, as it were. If blogger had cuts OR if I knew how to use this thing better, maybe I could win at this game. Not that I want everyone to read the gory details, etc., but this is real stuff that is happening and sometimes I need to get it out in the open to move on. Plus, I'm crazy. Ask Jake.

I've got nothing else new. I wish that I would have done some sort of exercise tonight. Maybe I could go downstairs and trying to see if the Playstation is really hooked up right and play DDR. Maybe....I've lost the "baby weight" from this last PG so far, so now we're on the next 4 pounds. If I wasn't terrified of mosquito bites, I would probably go outside and run in the evening.

I love how much Ned Yost hates the media. It makes me giggle. And I really dislike Trenni on FSN.

Okay, I have to get this lappy off my legs. I'm burning up.

Feeling better about lots of things...

Many things have happened since last week...I finally miscarried, which was hands-down the worst pain I have ever felt in my whole life. It was much, much worse than the last time. Jake said he came home and I was yellow, white and blue. My jaw was yellow, cause I had just thrown up, white for the same reason and pain and blue b/c I had huge bags under my eyes. I'm not sure how I made it through it all, but if Jake hadn't been there, I probably wouldn't have.

But, the blood draws are going well. On the 22nd, I was still around 5,000. But, I m/c'd on the 25th and by the 29th (this past Tues.), I was only at 178. My next draw is on Aug 12th and I would think that I will be at the "not-pregnant" state by then. woot!

But, I am manifesting my sadness about this m/c differently than last time -- this time, I can't ever stop doing stuff. It's weird. I was super busy at work, which was great, and if I sat around for an hour at home, I would get really upset. Better to just keep moving. I am trying to start running again. We went once for a short run a week and a half ago and that was hard. Then, on Tuesday, I went out at about 8pm, b/c I couldn't watch the Brewers any more. I ran for 3/4 of a mile w/o stopping. Just me and the sound of my footsteps. Oh, and the occasional car or truck. Trying to lose that weight!

I also made an appt to talk with my GP today to get an idea of where to go from here. He wanted me to get my records transferred to him (easily done), find out what kind of infertility coverage I have (it's 100% covered after the deductible is met!) in case some testing of that sort needs to be done, and find out what doctors in the area are covered (most of them). I feel much, much better about everything too. It's amazing. I almost just needed someone to tell me what to do, b/c I wasn't getting that from the other place. It was great. So, as soon as he looks at my records from the other place, he can determine where we need to go from here -- if he can treat me as is (I'm starting to think that I'm skewing towards high risk more than not) or if he needs to refer me to a high-risk OB full time. At least he can help me make a good decision. If he can be my OB/GYN as is, great! If not, at least he can help me make an informed decision about my care, instead of picking and choosing, like last time. Because that worked out oh-so-well.

I also have an appt with a doctor that a few of the women at work go to see Aug. 27th, but I may end up canceling it if stuff works out with Dr. Olson. I hope it does. It took me about 10-15 mins to get from my work to his office. Sweet.

Anyway, enough wasting of bandwidth here. Just have to spew this all out, so it's out of my brain! :)

Same old, same old

Just wasting bandwidth here.

Nothing new to report. Everything moving along smoothly with everything. I'm starting to have my doubts about my OB/GYN's office again. I was okay again, but I had my first blood check on Tuesday and they didn't call me back about it. And they haven't called to see how things are going (btw, the answer is slowly...)

The tech lead position opened in my area yesterday and I'm going to apply for it. I don't know if I'll get the job, b/c I assume that there will be others interested, and they have been there for longer than I. But, I know that if I don't get the job, I'll probably be moving on from my current job soon. I can't stay and do that job forever. I'll go insane.

And, like everything I do in life, with out more responsibility, I stop caring about improving. I can think of many instances where this is true.

Well, the Today Show is on now, so I should probably go to work. There's a big lunch and meeting today, so I don't have too much time to actually work today. But, free lunch! From Saz's! :)

Round Two...

Has ended (or will end) the same as round one. Bleech. I'm really not looking forward to it.

I was, or I guess, I am 8 1/2 weeks pregnant, but this one will end the same as the last. However, the difference with this one is that we ever saw anything that resembled a baby with a HB this time, so it seems less painful. I'm just waiting for everything to happen now. And since I can stop my progestrone drugs, it will probably kick in pretty quick, which is a good thing. No need to drag everything out for weeks and weeks on end. I think that if I hadn't been on those drugs, it would have started for us already...

They found the HB at 7 weeks, but nothing ever after that.

At least I can drink beer again for the rest of the summer. Kind of looking forward to that. AND trying to start exercising and lost some of this weight that I put back on this year.

Plus, they are going to refer me to a clinic that is much closer by to have my blood taken, so I don't have to keep driving out to Waukesha. However, I am also going to change to my GP doctor, who also delivers babies, for the next time, b/c he's much closer to our house and he also delivers at Waukesha Memorial as well. I do like the place I go, but they treated me very strangely this last time, which I thought was odd. After the m/c is complete and everything is okay with that, I will probably tell them that I am going to switch docs and have my records transferred. No reason to do it right now.

So, what can you do? Nothing. We're kind of stretched for money right now too, so I'm thinking that it would be an okay thing to wait a bit longer...whenever it happens, it happens. :)

However, on top of all that news today, I think that I have food poisoning too, from something I ate over the weekend. My stomach is Killing me and I feel like I haven't slept in days. It's not good. I'm just trying to eat something of substance, so I've got some sort of energy. I'm hoping that by nightfall, I will be feeling better. Cross your fingers for me.

laters.

We have an another room!

Yay! It's painted and everything. Includes working lights and electrical outlets too. I'm really excited. The electrician came on Saturday and did the finishing work and he's supposed to get back to us about moving the meter and the outlet for the air conditioner. We just need to contact an HVAC person to move the air conditioner. But, everything is looking good.

We are going to start putting the flooring down (for under the carpet) and the lattice that we are going to use on the ceiling is on sale this week, so I think that we'll be pretty well settled in with everything by next week.

I don't know when we'll have the final inspections or anything -- we're kind of waiting for the electrician to call the electrical inspector to find out if he needs a new permit or if we can use the old one. I should have Dad call him tomorrow (b/c he's going on vacation Wed) to see if he found the answer out. Otherwise, I'll have to write a letter or call the inspector to get an extension on the "due date". ha ha.

I'm really ready to empty out the downstairs bedroom and some stuff from upstairs to that room. Then when Jake wants to hang out with people and I'm doing something else, he can hang out downstairs.

Otherwise, nothing much going on. Count down to my vacation: 4 days! woot.

We almost have another room!

The basement has begun to move along nicely since the inspections were finally done at the end of May. In fact, my dad is downstairs right now, sanding the second layer. Then, we can get the finishing parts in there and make everything smooth and nice. The drywall still needs to go on the back side and stuff, but that can be done anytime before the final electrical inspection.

We got the letter regarding the placement of the electrical meter and the air conditioning unit and I'm still not sure what the hell any of it means. I'm hoping that Jake's dad might have more insight into electrical codes for meters and such, but I'm STILL not sure what we have to do to fix it. The letter was incredibly vague (first of all) and second: the idiot at the City sends the letter June 11 and tells us that we have until July 3! to fix it. JULY 3RD!!! Are you fucking kidding me? That's less than 3 weeks from the date that I received the letter -- how the fuck are we supposed to get all of that fixed in three weeks -- especially since the letter says that we have to move the air conditioning unit and the meter? Or something. I'm not really sure to be honest -- like I said, it's really vague, for something so specific.

And on top of that, my dad STILL hasn't called the electrician about it!!! Geez. We've know since the inspection -- if it were me, I would have called right away to find out what the fuck we were supposed do. I'm so frustrated with all of this. If it were just us, we would have just done all this sans permit.


Anyway....

Angrybot.


I have 10 business days left until vacation -- I don't count the weekends, because I don't have to do anything. ha ha.

I have a countdown on my computer at work.

Nothing much else going on. Just here to express my frustration at the whole permit situation in the City of West Allis. :)

Happy 3-day Weekend!

Best thing ever. Ever!

I needed it. And it's been magical. We've planted the gardens (Saturday) and I got sunburned a bit, which kinda sucks. Then Jake and Ben from White House came over, as did G.Nate and they all hung out on the deck for a few hours and then husband and G.Nate came in to watch the rest of the Brewer game and then it was bedtime.

But, the gardens are done and they look nice. Sunday, we finished the veggie garden and bought a new patio set for the deck, with better chairs, a bigger table and an umbrella. Then, we sat around, watching the Indy 500 and the Brewer game, both of which were not very good. at 2:45, we went over to my mom and dad's and then we saw the new Indiana Jones movie, which was really good. It was very entertaining and the time flew by. Then we went to this supper club called Bobu's, which was okay. It was a good meal and they really needed the business, so it was fun. It was for our anniversary, b/c we've been married three years as of Wednesday!

I can't believe that it's been 3 years, but I will probably say that a lot, with every anniversary, you know?

Today, we went and got an umbrella stand and outdoor speakers for the deck, so it's really really nice to sit out on and listen to Brewer games and grill or whatever. We're totally set and it's very cool.

Of course, I get to go to back to 4 days of balancing and settlement tomorrow at work and I am praying that they didn't decide to shut down a server over the holiday weekend or anything...knock on wood!

Nothing else new to report on this end. Bye bye.

Maybe time for an update

It's been a month. Too long, me thinks.

Things are very much the same.

Quick pop quiz:

Q: Is the fastest way from Madison to Edwardsville, IL through Chicago?

A: No! Unless you miss the turn to Rockford and don't notice until you're in Schaumburg.

Whoops.

So instead of getting to STL at 11:30 pm on last Thursday, we got there at 1am. Oh well. It was fun. It was different. I don't think that I had ever been there when Ryan wasn't. It was okay though. Leo is even weirder with Ryan around, however. He hides in the basement all day now. *Shrug*

But, we saw the Symphony and that was fun. One of the bit parts in Candide at Lincoln Center (the one that's on DVD that I LOVE LOVE LOVE) was in the concert -- he sang the tenor part in the Carmina Burana. I never realized what a weird piece of music that is. It would make an excellent music history paper -- how DO the opening and the finale of the CB relate to the rest of the piece? Oh well. Too late now.

Otherwise, we just hung out and did whatever, which was good too.

MFSO: Concert was Saturday. Worst concert ever. They played Beethoven 7 and it was ridiculous! I was really embarassed and I didn't play on it. *shudder*

Oh well, I keep playing in it. It's good for me. :)

I'm being picked on to eat, so I will go.

Chalk up a win for '00'

Supposedly, I get my stimulus check on Monday, b/c my SSN ends in 00 and I am the first person on the tax return. woot.

I guess it's a good thing. I don't know that I will be spending it all immediately. We'll see what happens.



Also, we were cleaning downstairs and we found not one, but two RED spiders. Creepy. I'm creeped out right now. It was yucky.

Finally,

The Channel 10 Auction is on TV now until May 4. Neat. I like just leaving it on for noise.

Okay, now! The end.

Ho-ly Crap!

Man, I was just going back and reading over old posts from right after the accident and so forth....

Was I ever broken or what? geez. I feel like I'm reading someone else's life almost...I mean, I remember all that stuff happening, but good lord. Ridic.

But, I have gone through just about every single life change a person can possibly have in the past 2 1/2 years. Marriage, new job, moving, buying a house, changing jobs, death, miscarriage...should I just round it out with a divorce? Ha ha! Then we could get married again and it would be an excuse for everyone to get together again and drink it up! :)

Despite my current state of jobiness (i.e., I love/hate my job), I have never been more content in my whole life than I am right now. Maybe it's because Jake is at work! Kidding. :)

Yakob is coming to stay tomorrow night? Maybe? I told him he could.

The electrician came today and it was alright. It's about $650.00 to finish everything in the basement. He's coming May 8th to finish the rough-in on the electrical, b/c some of the stuff just didn't get done. But, that price is worth the basement getting finished and having Jake stay sane.

Re: JOB. I am seriously considering applying for another job -- one that I think that I might like a bit more. I'm not sure though. I will consider it for the time being.

OOh! That reminds me. I was going to do some work at home tonight and instead I've fucked around on the internet. whoops! I'd better get to it. I don't want to stay late tomorrow.

Later!

As time goes by

Nothing much to report.

I'm glad that it's more spring-y around here now. It's less depressing that way.

Work has been terrible basically and I'm really fucking tired of it. It's not been busy for the past couple of weeks, but now it's just impossibly slow. So, I can't win.

Progress on the basement continues to be slow as well. The guy is coming Thursday to check things out and hopefully we can get the City in here to check it so we can keep moving. I picked out carpeting and paint this weekend, so that's taken care of.

Everything else is very much the same.

I need a break.

I am convinced

That I have this learning disability. I only really have problems with flipping numbers around (which happens to me a lot) and the geometry thing (I really liked geometry in HS and I suffered through the other years of math)

Funny how I work in a job that depends on my using of numbers correctly.

Like I said, it's not severe, but it still affects me at some points in life. Mostly because I never realize that I have said/written said number backwards.

But, at least it's sort of a real problem.


Battlestar was amazing. Watching it again makes me realize how far off the path the show got last season and how much fun the first season was. My favorite epsiode, by far, is still '33 Minutes' from season one. Having to jump every 33 minutes...so sweet. I can't wait for this season to unfold. I still don't know if Kara is a Cylon or not. I can't decide. She must be though and here's my reason -- she was the only one not on the ship for those 2 months. So, when the Cylons triggered the remaining 5 cylon types, only 4 appeared. If it was someone else, we would know who all five were already. Make sense?


I also have had the immense pleasure of discovering the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice on WE Tv or Oxygen or one of those girlie channels and promptly went out and bought the DVD. I am convinced that in one of my past lives, I was living in England during this time frame. I just love it. I wish it was easier for me to read Jane Austen's books. I have just a hard time following her style of writing, however well it translates onto the big screen.

Nothing much new to report. We're planning a trip to STL soon (in May). It's been close to a year, so it's probably time to make a trip again.

Work has calmed down a lot. We have help (a 4th person again) and one of the other women has taken back all of her work that was weighing her down a bit. And I'm am thrilled, because I'm generally done with my work by 12 or 1pm now, which means that I have time to catch up on other things now.

I think that we should probably arrange a viewing of BSG this season in a group. For those of us who watch. :)

Best Week Ever...maybe

Gearing up for the best week ever. Okay, how about best 10 days ever?

Work is getting better, which is awesome, because I'm less stressed out. I've been so stressed out lately that I almost constantly feel sick to my stomach. bleech. And perpetual heartburn. I feel like I have a weight on my chest all the time. But, hopefully, as my stress level comes down, I will be totally sweet.

Battlestar Galactica starts in over 1 week! I'm so excited, b/c I know that there will definitely be more of a focus on the storyline and less on the stand alone episodes. But, if you want to "catch up" on the whole thing in 8 minutes, go watch the video titled "What the Frak was that?" on scifi.com. It's very humorous. And it makes me so excited for it to start up again, despite Jake's hating of the show.

Starbuck and Apollo are probably my favorite ever. I think the actors just have a natural chemistry together that I like more than others. woot.

Life is quieter now, so that's good. It'll be a good 10 days for me. I'm totally looking forward to it. Later!

It's Supposedly Spring...

featuring 10 inches of snow!

I guess the municipalities and the highway dept have decided that they don't want to salt or plow or sand or anything....

The snow gets compacted down by cars, turns to ice and the snow falls over it. And repeat.


Nims and Luke are here currently. They were going to Cleveland for to see the Orchestra, but they are stuck here. So, we're watching basketball and eating food stuffs.

And I'm out.

Some stuff that has happened

I want to say Congratulations to Jeff and Laura (even though neither of them read this, I'm sure)! I mean, we all knew it was coming, but it's still exciting. I like good news.

I'm back to normal. I don't have to donate blood for testing anymore. Yah!

Although, I had such a bad Monday last week that the highlight of my day was getting a phone call confirming my next pre-natal appt on March 4th, which I obviously didn't need anymore. I guess the offices don't talk or something. And then, my blood draw appt for the next day, Wednesday, they must have cancelled when they were cancelling the other two that I still had on the books. Oh well. I thought it was funny. And like I said, it was the highlight of my day, which lets you know how shitty my day really was. ugh.

It's good to be back to normal. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we're back where we were.

Nothing much going on. Orchestra starts for me on Monday again. Jake worked today, and I'm waiting for him to get home. pretty much the end. ha ha.

No more progress on the basement, because Jake can't get up the gumption to actually work on it. I think that he knows that he's going to have to be on the phone the whole time with his dad and no help. At this point, I'm ready to pay the electrician to do it, so it's done with a minimal amount of fuss.

Jake's home now, so I'll go. bye bye.

More on Moving on...

I think that I should feel very grateful that I had such an easy miscarriage, all things considered. I have heard a couple of horror stores of D&C's, bleeding for months afterwards, etc...

Mine was on it's own, I only had bleeding for a week and my HCG (horomone) levels are dropping very swiftly. I went from 867 last Wednesday (two days post m/c) to a 48 today. Which is good. When I first had the pregnancy diagnosed (for lack of a better word), I was at a 44. So, that's really great. I'm hoping that I'm back to normal by the weekend. I want to call the PA tomorrow and ask her about coming on Monday for a blood draw instead of Wednesday and mostly ask what happens now that I am back to normal.

Otherwise, everything is same old same old. :)

Screw waiting

I'm not waiting. Forge ahead. Next chance we get, we'll keep trying. With a little luck, maybe we can still squeeze a 2008 baby in yet. Now I'll be 29. I don't want to keep waiting.

Plus, if I don't tell myself this, I'll get really depressed.


Okay, that's all I've got.

Back to Normal Life again

Whatever that is...

The second check up was good today. Everything happened on its own on Monday night, so there was nothing to see on the ultrasound today. Which means that I didn't need to have surgery to get rid of things. I'm glad that the PA didn't tell me that she thought that it would happen Monday night, b/c then I would have been expecting it.

So, they had to take blood from me to check my hormone levels and I'm still over 800. I need to be below 10. So, I go back next Wednesday to check again. Once I'm back to below 10 or zero or whatever I need to be at, we're okay to try again. But, I couldn't drink fluids after midnight last night, so when they tried to draw blood, it was nearly impossible. DEHYDRATED! So, they tried 4 times in the office and then had to send me to the lab. I have some pretty bruises forming currently.

It's very weird to me that on Sunday, I was "pregnant" and now I am not. Even though I hadn't really been "pregnant" since 2 weeks before that. But, my body is way more back to normal already. So, I'll probably start running again in March and go back to dieting and such for a bit. Try to get 20 pounds off. You know. Continue on with the New Year's Resolution list.

Anyway...that's all I've got. For now.

And we're done here. For now.

That spotting thing really turned into this: The baby hasn't grown since the last ultrasound and there was no heartbeat at the doctor's today. I go back Wednesday to check again, but I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that we officially (or perhaps unoffically) the first miscarriage of the UWEC group. Go us. woot.

(for those of you who don't know me very well, my way of dealing with things that are emotionally damaging and painful is to make jokes about it...and here we go!)

Hooray for being able to drink again! I've missed you beer.

We'll try again in the future, but not until summer probably. My mom suggested that we take a real honeymoon, since we never took one to being with. An excellent idea.

I am also looking forward to being able to lose more weight for the next round and to running again.

However: I am EXTREMELY Pissed that I didn't run at Disney. I should have. Because the reasons I didn't are now moot. and that ticks me off.

I have to run back into work now, because I only was there two hours this morning and I didn't get shit done.

Just wanted to let my faithful readers know. There will be a mini Jake running around, but not in 2008. :(

What a day...and it's only 1pm

To Yakob:

Explanation of BW3's Thank you Wikipedia for giving me the answers to live. Along with other randomness.

Also, Mr. Yakob: THEY ARE RELEASING THE MST3K movie ON DVD AGAIN!!!! MAY 6th!!! BE THERE!!! aslkdjfalsjdfasjdflkajsdnvoiuasdfn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!

To Josle: No, the baby is not in my heart, despite what that picture on the left says. The baby is where babies are. I'm sorry I didn't answer my phone -- you called almost the same time as my doctor did, so that's why the phone went straight to VM. I still think you're awesome!

We're getting RAIN! RAIN RAIN RAIN!! No snow yet. Just rain. Jake just shoveled 2 inches of slush ice off the driveway and out of the garage. Thank you winter. I figure as long as the house doesn't flood and we don't still have 2 feet of snow on the ground after this, we'll be good. But, I do have a feeling, tomorrow morning, it's going to be 5 inches of ice covered by 5 inches of snow. YUCK. Never mind that all the municipalities in the Greater Southeastern WI area are OUT OF SALT. No SALT. yikes. Jake went to the grocery store early today and he said is was the worst off roading he'd ever done.

I had a bit of spotting this morning, which SUCKED and scared the crap out of me, but I think it was because I was working WAY too hard yesterday, painting and stuff, but I had the on-call service page the on-call doctor and he did NOT make me feel better about it. Basically, he told me a bunch of stuff that I already knew or was total common sense.

It has stopped now, but I'm pretty much just sitting around all day, which is boring too. Oh well.

Hopefully, things go back to normal (where I didn't really feel pregnant) tomorrow and I'll be fine. But, now I have to worry about something again. Bleech.

I'm going to have some soup now, which I am very excited for. Oh! And if you really like tomato soup, Panera has some AMAZING creamy tomato soup right now. Plus Turkey Bacon Bravo. oh mi gosh. so amazing. I wish I had some right now. Or Orange Chicken plus Key Lime Pie Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. Or anything from Maggiano's. I wish I was rich. ha ha. Can you tell I'm hungry?

If everyone else is doing it....

why the heck not?

Seems as if there were a lot of updates today, so I'll jump on the band wagon here.

Nothing much to report on the pregnancy front. I'm little bit bigger around the mid section, which is mostly just irritating. Looks like one too many doughnuts. Or chicken wings. hmmm.....chicken wings. Speaking of that, Jake and I went to BW3's on Monday night and it was AMAZING! But, I haven't really gained weight or anything. I'm really tiring not to gain too much.

I still have a little bit of a bruise from my blood draw from my appt a week and a half ago. I don't know how that happened -- the nurse (I thought) did a good job with the draw. Oh well.

Half the framing is up in the basement and the other half is going up tomorrow, probably. That's exciting.

I'm SO tired of snow!! and cold!! and fucking winter. Go away! Too bad it's supposed to snow again Sunday. bleech.

Valentine's was fun. Jake had to work at night, so he left me my gift -- a huge box of Godiva chocolates and I got to just hang out alone, which was nice. I also managed to figure out how to rip my MST3K dvd's to my iPod and since my mom has a TON of them that she purchased over the internet that I want to rip. So, now I have more to "watch" (i.e. listen to) at work. hooray! Jake got the 4th season of Scrubs for Valentine's. Lucky him. :)

Well, I guess that's all I've got. The end.

Moving right along!

So, yeah, back from the doctor today. Didn't have to have the exam part, because they just did one in November, so that was the best part! They just did the ultrasound part and the doctor was really nice. I'm very excited about having her for a doctor. There's only one (obviously from the picture) and so far everything looks good. I'm right where I should be, 8 weeks, due Sept. 15, 2008. The baby's heartbeat was 153.

So, we're a little more excited, because now we know there's actually something going on in there. Pretty sweet.

I have to see the doctor every four weeks until I get to 28 weeks and then I think she said it's once a week after that...she kind of would trail off every once and a while and I was nervous. And we will be able to find out boy or girl on May 1st.

So, that's the haps from baby town.

Nothing much else going on. More snow on the way, so that sucks. I'm just hanging out at home tonight. Pretty sweet.

Has time slowed down?

I swear time has come to a grinding halt.

Work has been SO SO SO SOOOOOO boring lately. Nothing is going on. I can barely fill a day with work. Seriously. Then, I have to ask for all this extra shit to do. Oh well. I start something new tomorrow, so I am very hopeful that it will fill 2-3 more hours in my day. I almost wish something would break, so I could have something or other to do that is interesting.

I DID remember my rant from the other day and it goes like this (this won't be a 'Colin-style' rant): Hey, Comedy Central! Go fuck yourself! You pull Futurama from CN, who showed the cartoon at a decent time of night (10pm) and you go and play it at 7 pm, because you can't pull time away from your fake news programs at that time of night. Oh, and you fucked over MST3K and took that away from me too. Jerks.

See, not bad. I just miss watching Futurama.


Being pregnant = wine drunk (Yakob, you know what I mean). I seriously have that 'wine drunk' rage going on sometimes. Like Friday, for instance. I was ready to drink a beer at 8 am on friday I was so pissed. And then, just like magic, GONE!

One more week until doctor. Then, i will poked and have things and areas looked at and...yuck. Donating body fluids and such too. sick. But, at least I get an ultrasound for dating purposes (to see how far along I am REALLY), and I'll get to see something.

Being pregnant also = HUNGRY!!!!! When I am hungry, I HAVE to eat RIGHT NOW!!!

Okay, well, anyway, I think that I have done enough damage for tonight. I ate a shit load of Qdoba tonight, so I feel like throwing up now. sick.

I totally wanted to rant today...

but now, I can't remember what I was going to rant about. It was gonna be good too.

Oh well.

Thanks for all the congrats and stuff. It's pretty different, I'll tell ya. I'm so tired all the time. I get more tired and more tired over the week. Like, Monday, I could be up until 10:30, then Tuesday, 10, then last night, I was fighting to stay up until 10:15pm and now, tonight, I am already tired at 8pm. Gosh.

I have cats on me right now and I'm watching Futurama, which is sweet.



I'm going to go ahead and recommend a movie to everyone, if you haven't seen it: Grandma's Boy. Totsweet.

It's Adam Sandler's production company and it's starring that guy who was his best friend in The Wedding Singer -- the one that's in a lot of his movies. Maggie got it for Jake for Christmas and it was pretty much hilarious.


Finally, I talked to Nims today, post surgery, and he sounded really great, so that was awesome. I'm really glad that he came out of it better. Science is amazing.

Okay bye.

New Year's Resolution #1....In Progress

That's right. I said it.

I'm going to be someone's mom. And Jake is going to be someone's dad. Scary, huh? ha ha.

We're having a baby. Due mid-September. So, let's be honest, now my blog will be mostly devoted to yapping about that, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

To be honest, I knew the minute I was. I had heartburn at work. I never have had heartburn in my life, except for three weeks ago. Among other things. Like being fraking tired all the time. And hungry.

So, I'm almost 6 weeks along. Another many many many weeks to go.

To be truthful, I'm not too excited about everything yet, because it doesn't really seem real. I'm not terribly different and life is pretty much same as normal, except I can't drink, obviously. Which, for me, is a huge giveaway that something is going on. Because I usually drink.

My first doctor appt is on Feb. 5th. I'll be 8 weeks then, so I'm hoping that will be enough time to see something going on down there.

We told our families -- well, I wanted to wait, but I knew I'd have to, because of the 1/2 Marathon. I told a little white lie -- a lie of omission, if you will. I didn't finish the 1/2 Marathon, this is true. This is because I did not run/walk/anything. I trained all of 2007 for something I ended up not being able to do. That kind of sucked and I was disappointed about that. I guess it was for a good reason, but still. I better have a baby in 9 months or I'll be pissed. PISST!!!

I'm waiting to tell work until at least after my doc appt, but I don't want to wait to long because they will need to know, since my 12 week leave will fall over the back part of 2008. I counted. I'd have to be back at work on Dec. 8th or something -- like 3 weeks before Christmas. I wonder if I'll be able to keep my job. Yikes. I was thinking about asking to work from home sometimes too. Plus, I have to let work know sooner, because my dad wants to brag that he's going to be a grandpa to people at work too. :)

So, anyway. You know. all that. In other news, we got a very nice phone message from Nimbies Bro-in-law saying that he made it through the surgery and was doing really well and Sis-in-law was doing well too. Nims gave him a list of people to call and say that he was good and I was grateful. I would have worried. I'll probably call his BIL back and say thanks for calling and see when Nims is okay to speak to people on the phone.

My dad is coming over to help us start on the basement tomorrow morning before the big game and then we are going to the house of family friends to watch the game -- back in the 90's, we used to go over there all the time to watch games and I don't even remember the last time we were there to watch. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure how people will be sitting out at that game. It's SO COLD outside. I'm still freezing right now and I'm wrapped in a blanket and sweater and I'm still wearing my hat.

Anyway, I'm going to wrap it up here. Feel free to leave a message. :)

It's Cold

Guess what -- IT's COLD!!!! Jeeebus.

IT was icy on the way home today too. I went sideways on a hill for a little bit, but I stopped eventually.

Also, I have a cold. Just a little one. That kind of sucks. I have now determined that I get sick from going from warm to cold very quickly. That or flying on airplanes. My mom is sick too -- sicker than I.

Rul rul excited for Packers on Sunday night. That's going to be one of hell of a game.

And now I have to go.

I need a vacation from this vacation

Well, I have returned from Florida! I was a good time. I didn't do as well as I hoped in the Marathon, but that's okay.
The weather when we arrived was in the 80's for three days! It was amazing. I made Jake wear shorts one day. The first day, we were up at 5 and out by 5:30 am and were down in Florida by 12 noon.

Thursday:

noon: Lunch in Pepper Market at the hotel (most amazing Chicken quesadilla I've ever had)
rested in hotel room
2:30pm: Bus over to Animal Kingdom to see the animals, etc etc etc. Did some of the fun rides there
5 pm: Back to hotel to change for din-din
6: Dinner at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

Then, bed.

Friday:
Noon to 9:30pm: EPCOT! My most favorite place down there. I love the retro-ness of 'Future World" and the World Showcase. Spaceship Earth (in the big golf ball) is my favorite ride. I love that thing. Rode it twice while there.
Saw the fireworks at 9: Illuminations. Had a good spot for them totally by accident.
Where did we eat dinner....hmmmm.....Italy. Had Penne Caprese, which was penne with tomato sauce, basil and fresh mozzarella. Amazing.

Saturday:
1/2 Marathon
Spent time at MGM and then rested a lot. Oh yeah! And we went to Downtown Disney to the ESPN Club and sat outside near the entrance and watched the snow storm Packer Game in 70 degree weather. woot! And they won and it was amazing!
Dinner was at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge near Magic Kingdom. Next time we go down to Disney, we will be staying at Wilderness Lodge. It was so pretty there.

Sunday:
Hung out all morning and afternoon. I know that we might have done something, but what I don't remember...Oh yeah! Went back to ESPN club for a light snack of lunch (which turned out to be WAY too much food) and then watched the charger/colt game -- watched the rest at the hotel and went out to the Magic Kingdom at 5pm and did the fun rides -- Pirates, Haunted Mansion, etc. Watched the fireworks at 8 pm right from the grounds and then ate in the Comtemporary Resort at California Grill -- they were out of the dinner that Jake and I both wanted, so that sucked. PLUS! 9:30 pm is WAY too late for a dinner reservation, unless you're European or South American.

Monday:
Back to Epcot for lunch and walked around the World Showcase once more. Then, back to hotel, as were were all wiped out. Ate dinner at the restaurant at the hotel and it was bedtime.

This morning, we were up at 4:45 am Eastern time (think about THAT), and here I am sitting on my couch, typing this at 1 pm. Jake is napping upstairs. The cats are extremely happy that we are home. They are laying over on the other end of the couch, looking content. :)

The only bad part of the whole trip was the constant eating and I am now 5 pounds heavier than when I left. So, I need to hope on the treadmill and start walking two miles a day. Plus, I need to do that anyway. I'll start tonight, I think. It'll be good. :)

Anyway, I'll have the pics I took on Facebook soon. maybe. If I remember. I have to go back to work tomorrow, so we'll see if I remember or not. woot. I should really do some laundry. I don't have any clothes left.

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all the silly people in EC who talked to Jake for an hour yesterday and almost froze him. We did really want to be up there for New Year's, because most of the time, it's the only time that we see everyone, but it was not in the cards this year. :(

However, I am 9 days away from going to Florida and running that stupid half marathon. Too bad that I've been sick with the flu (or something...) for the past 5 days. I try to run on the treadmill and I get dizzy. I'm pretty much just going to wing it. My dad thinks it's a bad idea, but that's because he's twice my age and he couldn't do it. I will recover. Or, in reality, I will be too slow and they will pull me off the course. Which is pretty much like, whatever.

My dad is also going to run with me (or walk...) the whole way. I don't know how I feel about that. I like to go out alone, so that will probably put me off my game even more. Oh well. I guess that I'll get over it.

At least I only gained 2-3 pounds over the holidays here. That was a positive sign for me. I don't have to worry about having gained a bunch of weight right before I go out. Now, I just need to not gain 5 pounds while in Florida, which is what happened last time I went (2004) and is what started this whole mess of me having gained all this weight in the first place. Every extra 5 pounds and you think, that's it! I'm not gaining any more weight...and then it's another 5 pounds, until you're 30 pounds more than you started at. whoops.

Anyway, I think that I'll set some goals for myself this year (1 & 2 are kind of contradictory, but that's okay)

1. Have my first child
2. Lose 20 pounds over the course of 2008 (see? they contradict)
3. Keep running/walking
4. Pay off the tuition credit card
5. Save $1000

Those are all more long term. Short term goals include: starting and finishing the basement room, finish painting the upstairs, get all the boxes put away around the house, get a new kitchen sick, buy new living room furniture

Those aren't really goals, those short term ones, just more stuff that I want to get done. And I guess that's kind of a goal in some small way.

Well, I'm going to move on today, but I just wanted to say Happy New Year and I hope that everyone's 2008 is amazing. I think that mine will be. :)