Ok, so I know I wrote a small book already this morning, but I have to write this blog right now, while it is still in my mind.

I had a conversation with my Mom last night (already mentioned in my blog this morning) and during the conversation we talked about some of our guilty food pleasures. It was very entertaining, so I thought I would share.

Once of the few things I have wanted, needed, craved while I have been pregnant has been milk. I've never been a big milk drinker, sure with cake or chocolate, but not just a glass of milk. Now, I drink a 16 ounce glass every night... and boy if I don't get my milk, my body lets me know I'd better get some fast! This is what started the conversation spinning in the direction it soon took on.

Everyone knows that pregnancy and heart burn go hand in hand. For whatever reason my (and Mom's) brain thinks "drink milk" like it will help. In reality, milk doesn't help heartburn but we do it anyway. Well, one day I was at the grocery store, Tancy must have been working days because I was by myself (which isn't unusual) and in her truck. I was very close to the dairy section and the most horrific heart burn kicked in. I see that they have the teeny little cartons of heavy whipping cream, which I love! I figure that'll kill the fire in my belly, I'll get one and drink it. Now I have always loved whipping cream AND half and half. I could drink it... and would if it weren't for the fact that my ass wouldn't fit through the door and people who talk about me if I truly drank either one. This particular day though, I don't care! So I grab the tiny little carton (smaller than the milk cartons you used to get in school) and head to check out with all my groceries. I pay the lady and head out to the truck.

I get everything loaded up and get myself in the truck and buckled in and grab my little carton of heavenly goodness. I open the corner and drink right out of it. Just as I take it from my mouth I see a lady in a car looking at me like "Is she drinking heavy whipping cream?!" I look back like "Yes I am!". I am incredibly disappointed though because it isn't nearly cold enough. I close it up and head home. I unload the groceries and put them away, put the carton in the fridge and try not to think about it so it can get cold enough.

Now I could have easily chugged this tiny little carton all at once, but I nurse it. I force myself to make it last. I don't allow myself this deliciousness ever and I don't want it to be all gone in a day. I do manage to make it last a few days. I feel just a little guilty about it, I mean, it really isn't something that anyone should drink! And I could totally see myself getting carried away if I allowed it... and wouldn't that me great, heading in to the doctor and weighing in... having gained 20 pounds in a month and explaining that one?! I don't even want to think about the speech I would be given on that one. The bad thing is, I feel the same way about half and half... I could drink it even easier because it isn't as thick and filling, so I could get more in before I felt full. You see, I've given this much thought.

Presently, I know this about myself and I have even stopped buying the half and half because I don't trust my pregnant mind to resist drinking it! Crazy I know, but as much milk as I drink and it is only half as good as half and half... I'd certainly be big as a house and it'd cost a fortune!

This is the only true guilty pleasure I have with food right now. Well, maybe I should say dairy cause I can tear up some whipped cream! OMG! That's another one of those things I don't keep in the house. That creamy sweetness... yumm!

Now, there was a time that I could eat a half a can of icing without any problem. I don't know if it was depression and the sugar was like a drug that soothed it or what... but if it was in the house I might get a table spoon and have a bit. I'd put it back with every intention of stopping there and before I knew it I was going back for a second or third. I haven't done that in a very long time. As a matter of fact, I've thrown partial cans of icing out (used only part on a cake) because I don't touch it unless its on a cake or something of the like. Strange huh?

I know of a lady, when she was having her toughest times with stress and food who would come home and grab the peanut butter, powdered sugar and a spoon. She'd get a big spoon of peanut butter and then roll that around in the powdered sugar and eat it. Then repeat until whatever need she had was satiated. Mom and I discussed this and she used to do the same thing, only she liked granulated sugar... she liked the crunch.

That revelation led me to confess my craving for "crunchy" food. I never know what that food will be till I find it... a crisp pickle; a really well toasted, thinly sliced bagel; it varies each time I crave the crunch.

So, I have two questions for you.
1. Why is it we crave things that tend to make us want to hide that craving? (Icing, peanut butter with sugar, heavy whipping cream, etc.)
2. What is your guilty pleasure when it comes to food?

I dedicate this post to my Mom. She said I could blame my love of heavy whipping cream and half and half on her... she personally puts the responsibility for that on her Dad! I'll take it, its mine and its entertaining to me to laugh with her about it. Just one of the many things I love and enjoy about my Mom.

Good Sunday morning all. I hope this finds you all doing well. Possibly there are some of you still in bed sleeping as I type. It is just after 8:00.

Wow, yesterday evening turned out to be more productive than I thought I might be. When Tancy left for work I was talking to Casie on the phone. They had gone to the "Treasure Trunk" or something like that where there are lots of kids clothes either on sale brand new or consignment. She found a ton of stuff for Marlie at a steal! She was very excited. That's probably the longest conversation she and I have had in a while (and the second one that day) which made me very happy. I miss talking to her, about everything and absolutely nothing.

After getting off the phone with Casie I coordinated responses for my second post for more free items on craigslist. There was a girl (about my age if I had to guess) who was about 10 minutes away at her parents house and wanted the items. Hey, first come, first serve... I want it gone! LOL. I think I have about gotten rid of everything I can. Yesterday's load makes 10 boxes total, that aint too shabby! After the girl left from picking up the items I continued working on moving piles from here to there, throwing out what I could, putting away what I had a place for and setting the rest aside for later. I did manage to get all our picture stuff in one large tote and that moved to the side. Which doesn't sound like much, but it was taking over our love seat. That's one of those projects that will be put to the last because it isn't as important as furniture and painting and just putting shit away in general. So I am happy to have it contained to one spot now.

I blogged a bit (you know this already probably) and then set about something for dinner. I made some rice-a-roni noodles while I checked in with Mom and Dad. They worked in a new light pole in the side yard and cleaning up around the house yesterday. I wanted to make sure they hadn't killed each other or worked themselves silly. Just good to be able to check in. I miss them sometimes more than I know really what to do about it. I talked to Dad first, then Mom. Over the course of the conversation I managed to unload the dishwasher and reload it. I made dinner, ate and put my dishes away. I had my cookies and milke and put that away. And I also swept the kitchen floor. Quite productive for talking on the phone huh?! Before long though it was time to get off the phone, they were both tired and heading to bed soon... and if I was going to actually get some of the bigger work done I needed to get started.

I wasn't feeling very productive at the time to be honest. I would have been fine to stop there, but it was only 7:30 (pre-time change) and that was way to sit and do nothing. The nights are long enough when Tancy is at work, doing nothing makes them feel twice as long. So I decided to start on the office. Again, my heart really wasn't in it. I moved the folded up kennels out first and then the broken down boxes we had been saving for packing. I swept the floor and contemplated stopping right there. It truly was a battle just getting started. I talked myself into another small bite by moving the file cabinet. (Now, before you start fussing at me, it has felt on the bottom and it sits on a wood floor... it slides very easily, no real physical labor there.) But before I could do that I had to move the printer stand (it's on wheels people, jeeze! ). So I get that all moved around and dusted off... wow, that made me feel like a terrible house keeper. It was all covered with paperwork or the printer or something, but it was all dusty from having the dogs kennels in such a small space. So little by little I removed items and dusted until I had it all cleaned up. Now I am thinking I could probably stop here and finish the rest tomorrow night. But that just doesn't set well with me (I don't really like to procrastinate) so I take a bigger bite and start going through the contents of the file cabinet. Wow, we've stashed a ton of shit in there for a while now. I put all the stuff I've been keeping for a scrap book for Me & Tancy in a small tote about the size of a shoe box and proceed to thin the rest. I have cards back from I don't know when. I keep almost all the cards I have been given. I like to be able to go back and look at them later if I want. But now, for the sake of organization, cleaning and nesting I am clearing out all but the really sentimental stuff. That goes in the little tote too. And I must say that I'm pretty proud when I keep it contained to that.

I start throwing things out. You know, when you start digging through paperwork and "junk" drawers and you find those things that make you wonder why you were keeping it?! All that, trash! I thinned out my files for bills as well, I pay most everything online, so I try to only keep the top page of a phone bill, say, where I've written the date and amount paid online. The rest of the bill gets thrown away. I try to keep these records for a year. Since I hadn't gone through my files in some time, I had quite a bit to get rid of. That made me happy too. I re-organized the file cabinet a bit to make more sense to me and put some key things aside from the other stuff. Then I started going through the stack of papers waiting to be filed. Wow! Why do I do that?! Everytime I tell myself, once I get it all filed away again, that I'll stay on top of it and only have a few things to do every week or two. But everytime, without fail, 6 or 8 months later I am doing the same damn thing again. I've never liked filing! But I got it all done. Thankfully. I'd love to say that I'll stay on top of my filing, but we both know that's unlikely. I have some mail on the table I need to look at now and either file or pitch, but I just don't have it in me at this point. I sweep the floor again after moving everything, move a few things into the livingroom, put a few things on the table to deal with later (I really need to find a big enough sewing box and also a craft box... but again, there are more pressing things currently). I have a few more things in the office to do, but it is very nearly ready to become the pantry now. The bulk of the work has been done in there, now I just have the trash can to remove and the folded up book shelf to find a new home for. I am pretty proud of myself... for not wanting to do it, I have gotten everything done I wanted in the office for one night. I look at the clock, its midnight (with the time change). Even though, at this point, I could probably work some more (funny how accomplishing something will do that for you) I decide to call it a night.

I let the pups out once more to potty before bed and then we head to the back. They have been sleeping on the couch while I was in the office working. But that doesn't stop them from immediately hitting their bed. I hit the tub. All that dust on stuff and the dust in the papers has got me feeling filthy and itchy. The warm soak feels so good to my tired bones. My body really has taken a beating in the last 5 days. My belly is sore, my guts hurt (literally the upper part of my belly - where my guts are - is tender), Lillie must be feeling a little crowded with all my hunching over to work because even the space she's in feels tight and sore. I manage to shave my legs, it was 78 degrees here yesterday and I wore sweats because my legs were too freakin' hairy for words. Give me a break... it hurts to reach for my toes, I am pregnant, it's been cold and who really cares?! LOL. After a quick pass of the razor, cause seriously reaching my ankles at that point wasn't fun or comfortable, I wash all the dust and yuck off and make my way to the bed. Scout has been right by my side (she loves to drink the bath water and lick up the bubbles if there are any... I do not allow her to do this, it creeps me out... but she sits by the tub just in case) through my bath, but once I am out of the tub she heads for the bed.

I need a snack so I grab a can of crushed pineapple and a fork, drain off the juice and head to the back with it. I think I watched "Tool Academy" on VH1 while I ate, I couldn't say for sure. I do know that I sat upright, indian style in the bed. I just felt so much pressure in my belly when I laid down, very uncomfortable. Probably something every pregnant woman feels, but its hard not to worry that I'm putting too much on my body lately when it is so uncomfortable. That and I dreamed Friday night that I had miscarried and my doctor told me it was my fault for taxing my body the way I have been. Just a dream, I know, leaves an impression never-the-less. I sat upright in bed for a while and finally settled in to lay down. It still took a while to find a comfortable place, but I finally did. I know I watched TV but I couldn't tell you what. Around 1:00 I started to fall asleep. Ahh, that's so wonderful after a long day and hard work. It was a normal night of up every hour or so to pee. It's so frequent now that I can pretty much get there and back without fully waking up... that was the toilet, right?! Haha!

At 4:11 I am awaked to the sound of Scout shaking her head vigorously and her ears slapping against her face.This is a new thing she's picked up in the last week or two. She does it obsessively. I take the opportunity to pee and figure she had an itch and she's over it. I crawl back in bed (still not fully awake) and am so ready to welcome full on sleep (TV is off and its cool and quite) when she starts the obsessive part. I start out talking calmly to her, "settle down Scout and go to sleep". That doesn't help, so I get up and rub her ears and ease her to laying down hoping to settle her... she just gets hyper focused and I have to find a way to refocus her. I get back in bed and she starts licking (her other obsession). This is the most disturbing sound during waking hours and when you are sleepy it is absolutely disgusting and infuriating. Now my tone isn't so nice. "Scout! Knock it off and go to sleep!". Yes, I know she is a dog and yes, I know I am talking to her like a person... believe it or not when she's not hyper focused these words work very effectively. She does stop the licking at my urging, but now the head shaking has returned. It's in like 45 second intervals. I am getting pissed at this point. She's pacing the floor around the bed and I am speaking loudly now "Scout, I am not kidding! Lay down and go to sleep!" I am really regretting the fact that her kennel is broken down in the utility room right about now. Poor Hemmi is sleeping soundly... when I am not fussing at Scout. He does look up at me like "Hello?! I am trying to sleep here, could you keep it down?" Yes, also a dog.  I get out of bed, she goes to the door. I am ready to throttle her! I tell her to get to bed. She walks over and I force her to lay down and try to roughly soothe her into submission and a new focus. Doesn't work. I get back in bed and the whole fiasco starts again. I don't know whether to cry or kill her. By this time its nearly quarter of 5:00. I am at a loss and I am so aggravated that I couldn't sleep right now if she stopped. Which, of course, she doesn't. So, I have a chat with myself and decide the best thing I can do is stop reacting. No matter how much she shakes her head, for how long, I will not respond (negative attention is still attention). Aside from when she licks, cause that's just gross, I do not make a sound. After about 10 or 15 mintues she does settle down. Then she resumes for another 10 minutes. Then settles, then resumes and finally gives it up and goes to sleep. Only because I had been focused on calming myself down through this was I able to go to sleep once she did. I am guessing it was sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 before that happened though.

I heard Tancy come in and Scout do the head shake and both dogs are at the bedroom door. I let them out and ask her to let them potty (this usually allows me and Tancy to sleep a while longer without the dogs being ready to go out earlier than we like). She does and then the three of them head to the back. I tell her about my night (it's presently 6:45) and about really, really wanting to harm Scout just a little more than an hour ago. That hyper focus is one unfortunate characteristic of a lab. We talk for a bit, catching up with each other... Scout starts licking. Tancy tells her to stop, she doesn't, Tancy gets up and gets her attention and she settles down. The pups are asleep fairly quickly. Once we stop talking Tancy is too (her headache and neck eased after taking the Ultram, but her knee still hurts) I, however, am not going to be going back to sleep. I lay in bed till 7:45 and TRY my very best to go back to sleep. But finally decide it just isn't going to happen. I get up, bring the pups with me and start my morning ritual of coffee and feeding the puppies.

Then I sit to blog. And here I sit still. I figure I had a little better than 4 hours of good sleep. Today should be alot of fun. I don't feel tired right now, but I sure would like to still be curled up in bed with Tancy. I think I might be able to get a coat of paint on the walls in Lillie's room (could have actually done it last night, but thought that might be pushing it) today while Tancy sleeps. Then tonight I can focus on the crap piled on the table and my neglected laundry (which reminds me I need to put the towels in the dryer). Maybe I can also finish sweeping the floor and then mop it. That'd be great.

My mongrels are both sleeping so deeply that they are dreaming and running and barking in their sleep. Bastards! I should flop my ears against my head and lick my ass so loudly it wakes them! Ok, so that's not only a bad idea, but not going to happen... I'm just saying! I will say this, Poor Hemmi, he's such a chicken. I was working in the office and found some old keys, they of course jingled and he barked like someone was breakin' in the joint! This happened on more than one occasion! When Tancy worked her first night shift and he did this it freaked me out completely (cause you don't always know what the hell he's barking at). But now, I just chalk it up to him being a big old scaredy cat! I mean he barks like he'll rip the throat out of who ever he thinks is coming in the house. It's almost humorous. But I'll tell ya, if I were already feeling skiddish, that bark would throw me right over the top. I usually just tell him its only me and laugh, he eventually calms himself and quiets down. I swear, our dogs... an ass lickin', ear floppin', neurotic mess and a fericious chicken! I love them dearly and could kill either of them at some point in the night.

Well kids, I think that about wraps it up for now. I hope you all slept soundly last night without any irritating interruptions in  your sleep. I also hope that you all have a great day today. Suppose to be another gorgeous day today here. And since I shaved my legs I can actually wear shorts! Yay!! God there's still sooo much to do. Taking these little "bites" as I call them, trying to be smart about how much I do and how far I push it, really drags shit out... Work went alot faster when I just worked till I couldn't any more. But, it could be worse, I could be on bed rest and not able to do any of it... so I'll be glad to be able to take little "bites" out of the work to be done.

Have a great day! Enjoy the weather. Get out and do something fun!!

Love to all!

Hello all. I know, I know, twice in one day after a week of silence!! Wow!

Today I tried to send off an item at the post office, turns out they closed at noon and I got there shortly after 1:00. Oh well, I slapped some extra stamps on it and sent it on its merry way. I picked up lunch and headed back home. Tancy was catching up on my blog and looking up fish to paint on Lillie's wall. We had lunch and chatted, caught up on everything since she left for work the night before. We both slept terribly and had nightmares. Her night was interesting, as was mine. Our day really wasn't that interesting... she had an awful headache and her knee was bothering her... I was trying to get all my gears turning in order to accomplish a little bit that day and this evening.

I walked next door to talk to our neighbor who does landscaping. He's gonna come take a look at our back yard and advise us as to what to do with it so it isn't a perpetual mud hole or dust bowl. He thinks our best bet might be mulch... he's been working on their yard for as long as the house has been built (7 years at this point) and grass has been a constant struggle due to the type of soil we have. He's also gonna tell us what he would charge to re-grade (or grade for the first time to be more accurate) the front yard and put in a few small step downs to help with the erosion of the road frontage (i.e. big ass hill). I talked to him quite a bit about the yard... now that we are planning to stay here a while longer, the back yard is top priority, but we'd like the yard in general to look better than it does. As I said before, we have a list of projects to undertake here in the next little bit. I'll give you a run down in order of importance (to me):
*Walk in Pantry
*Attic Ladder and Flooring
*Upright Freezer
*Lawnmower (either fix the old one or buy a new one, depends on best choice)
*Storage in the Master Bath
*Finish out the stand for the aquarium (nicely enclosed)
*Deck (we'd like to cover the existing deck and extend that with an uncovered "patio" level)
*Yard - Back (grass or mulch... not sure yet)
           - Front (grade and grass)
*Outbuilding (so Tancy not only has a place to keep her tools and such, but also a space to actually work!)

It's a tall order, I know... at least it looks that way when you put it down to a list like that. But, Tylor is going to help us with the Pantry and Attic, so that's two that should go pretty smoothly and quickly. The freezer is just a matter of money, no real work to be done there. The lawnmower, also a matter of money. If it costs more than a couple hundred to fix it, by our estimation, we are better of to buy a new one (yes, brand spankin' new). We shall see, will have to get an estimate on that.
The Aquarium stand is all Tancy... but I don't think that one is a big undertaking... just a matter of enginuity. LOL.
The deck, now that's a bit of work to be done...
The yard will be a matter of money, David will do the work.
The outbuilding, well, that could go either way... money or money & work depending on the best choice for us.

I'll keep you posted on the progress. LOL. This afternoon, since Tancy's been gone I've rid us of 4 more boxes of "stuff". A girl came and picked them up not long after Tancy left for work. I also managed to put quite a bit away and get all the picture stuff in one (large) tote until we are ready to work on that. Who knows when that will be!! It was a big project to start and now it seems to be larger since we've put it off for so long.

My hopes for this evening are:
*File away all the paperwork in the file cabinet so that there are stacks of papers scattered every where. Also to clear out some of what is already in the file cabinet that we no longer need.
*Get the office ready to become the pantry - clean the floor and move out the items that will not stay in there.
*Put a coat of paint on the walls in Lillie's room (this one is the least likely at this point). As much as I'd like to do it, my heart just hasn't been in painting the last couple of nights.
*And if I am feeling just full of piss and vinegar I really, really need to get the floors done... at least swept.

Right now I am accomplishing nothing, but I am taking a little break, so that's ok. I am trying to figure out what to do for dinner. I don't want much of anything, but I am hungry and my heart burn is terrible (it has been for days now... getting old!). If I hope to keep going, I need to add energy of some sort, so I should probably make a decision soon.

This nesting shit really wears ya out! LOL. I wish I could say that I've been working hard the last two days, but honestly, I haven't. I have worked, and I've tried to work smart... but I haven't worked hard since putting the book shelves together. Wow, that was a rough morning after! I am still sore in places from that. I just cannot stand the clutter everywhere and its really time to either find a home here for it or find a new home for it. Honestly I can say I have been getting rid of as much as possible. I am 10 boxes of stuff down so far. At this point I don't have much else to get rid of. I have two pairs of roller blades I have listed to sell (at a freakin' steal) and my leather motorcycle jacket listed (for a steal) as well. Other than that, everything I've gone through, I've down sized. Yay me. Tancy's been great too, I have to give her credit.

Well, I need to get moving again. Get something to eat and then bite off another small chunk of work to be done. I hope you are all having a great night tonight. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous, it was 78 degrees here today! I can't believe just days ago we had snow on the ground and it was freezing cold!

Love to all!

Please save this for the next time you hear someone say
they have to get rid of their pet because they have a baby.  














Within the heart of every stray lies the singular desire to be loved. A dog is truly man's best friend.
If you don't believe it, just try this experiment.
Put your dog and your spouse in the trunk of the car for an hour.
When you open the trunk, who is really happy to see you?

Hey kids! How's it hangin'?! Haha!! Seriously, I hope this finds everyone well. I started fussing at Mom and Aunt Jan and then I stopped blogging (in all fairness I haven't known whether I am coming or going). But I am back to rectify that now!

The last time I posted it was the start of Tancy's week off. Boy did we make the most of that! We made a trip to the beach and took a ghost tour. That was awesome!! I haven't downloaded the pics yet to see if we captured anything but I have to tell you I felt alot.

We returned home to snow! That's right, 4". Everyone was all a stir. Ok, so here's my thing... I am from Louisiana and we rarely get snow in Louisiana, which means we are incredibly unprepared when it happens. However, this is the difference between North Carolina snow and Louisiana snow... we stay at home. No one freaks out, no one acts like the world is ending... there's always some redneck with a bucket on his tractor to clear the road between him & Momma... and outside of that we play in it for as long as it will last (which usually isn't very long). Here, in North Carolina though, man you would think the end of the world had come! They shut down school, ok, I get that, I don't want my kid on a bus with someone who can't drive in the snow. They shut down work, again... that's an attempt to keep unexperienced drivers off the road, so ok. Problem is, they don't stay off the roads!! There's still some redneck clearing the road between him and Momma, I got no problem with that... but there are those who want to get out and drive all over god's creation at break neck speeds and end up in ditches, yards, trees, etc. Honestly, it is just ridiculous the way people behave here during snow. I was told "you just don't understand, we aren't prepared!" I said "honey, I am from Louisiana, ya'll at least know its possible... when it happens to us, not only are we not prepared, we are generally unsuspecting... but it isn't the end of the world." Oh well, that's my rant.

The snow is only just gone and it's nearly a week later.

We kept it low key the day we got back from the beach. We were both worn out and I hurt. Walking, riding, it was all alot to do for me and my body was letting me know that it had enough! I'd sit for a while and get up and do a few things in the house, then I'd sit for a while and get up and do a few things. It hurt to do either and I'd been sitting for quite a while, so I figure moving was a good idea. We decided that we would start unpacking the items we had packed when we put the house on the market and start on Ms. Lillie's room. So although my wheels were turning, I was exhausted. We were in bed fairly early.

Tuesday we got up and headed to the chiropractor. I talked to him about the issues I was having from walking and sitting at this point and how to handle that... especially with a long road trip coming up. He told me what I had been doing was right, to listen to my body, sit when I needed to and move when that felt right. He said, as far as the travel goes, keep an ice pack and heat if possible (which my wonderful Mother-In-Law bought me a heated massage seat for Christmas which works in the car) and constant stimulation. He said stop as often as possible also, even though it is hard to make yourself do. He said a 2 day trip of that distance is smart, that one day would most certainly be pushing it... this I know already. My back was so tender I jumped when he touched it to find where I needed adjusting.
From there we went to Petsmart. We got both of the dogs groomed (bathed, nails, teeth, ears... and for Scout they used this "shed-less" stuff to keep her from shedding so badly), we've never done this before... part of it is to get them used to being touched by people other than us, their feet, their mouths, their ears... and just different environments. Helps with a baby coming. Another part of it is that right now I can't manage to get them both bathed... and our bathroom is completely wrecked by the time we do get done bathing them. So, we were happy to have someone else have the mess and probably still do a better job than we do. We will do it again, but it wont be a regular thing.
We brought the dogs home and Tancy started working on the crib. We'd gone to Lowe's while we were waiting on the dogs and gotten acetone and mineral spirits to strip the old varnish and the new varnish we wanted. We got most everything we needed for the work on the baby bed. But we also wanted to go ahead and get the paint, so I made a list of colors and how much, looked at the bedding again (was suppose to bring the valance with me for comparison but LEFT IT!) to remind myself of the color scheme and headed out to the Lowe's here by the house. I ended up with a gallon of a soft but bright yellow for three of the bedroom walls. I got what I am calling a "key lime" green for the furniture. It is a soft "tropical" green color. I also got a soft tropical blue for the one wall that will be the mural. I also got several of the "sample" cans of really bright tropical colors for the fish on the mural wall. Bright yellow, orange, coral, a pinkish color, purple, blue, green and a white and black for outlines and accents. Again, these are all bright colors for the fishies... we are incredibly excited. Just seeing the room cleared out makes me happy already. I can finally start to see a baby in there.
We decided to go to Ikea to check out a few things. I wanted a cubby unit for the bedroom and we thought they might have some deals. Now, don't get me wrong, they have some really cute stuff.... BUT, wow on the prices of the furniture. Personally for that price, it should come put together. So, we left with some ideas, but nothing in hand. We did manage to get a baby gate on our way home (not for the baby already, lol, for the dogs... I'll explain in a minute). We also got some ideas on better organization and storage space in the house which is very encouraging.
When we got home I rested and Tancy put up the baby gate. Now for that explaination. In our quest for more space, storage and just better use of the space we have, we have decided to stop using the dogs kennels (which we use to feed them their meals and put them in when we are going to be gone for a while). Also, when the baby comes, Tancy feels sure that Scout is going to want to sleep on the floor next to the crib. However, if they have free run of the house at night, they will roam all night and that isn't restful for anyone. So, with the baby gate up at the end of the hall, we can limit their access to the house while allowing them a space while we are not home. They've started eating in the utility room, so far that's going well. We close the bedroom doors and put their bed in the hall when we are gone and they stay there, again, so far, so good. At night we leave our bedroom door open (this is something I have to work on while Tancy is on nights) with the other bedroom doors closed for now and the gate up. They still sleep on their bed in our bedroom, which is good... they don't feel the need to walk the hall all night. But I wanted to start this process while Tancy still had a few days at home so we could work out any kinks together.

Wednesday I got up and headed to the credit union to deposit a check and then to Target to look for the same items we had looked for at Ikea. I found the cubby and got it, I meant to pick up the white one and somehow got the cherry one... that's another part of the story though... Our friend Gary, who has been sooo excited about helping us with Lillie's room was coming over to help paint and stain (he's also very protective of me and the fumes). I got back with not only the cubby but new blinds (the ones in that bedroom are shot... I have been slowly replacing blinds in the house... I only have the back bedroom and our bedroom to replace now) and a curtain rod for the valance. While Tancy was working on the bed I started unpacking. Ugh. We
have too much shit. Good news is that neither of us are pack rats and agree to give away what we don't need/want. Gary got here around 3:00 and immediately jumped in to help Tancy. I was feeling a little unsure of my next step and they came in to talk to me about what the next logical step was. I don't ever wonder what I need to do next... but I feel so limited with what I can pick up or move or be around at this particular moment that I am having some trouble. I do end up going to Lowe's to get Kilz for the furniture priming. Gary gets started on that when I get back and Tancy is already staining the end pieces of the crib. Everything is ready to be stained, but the temperature is getting too low to continue on with that.
Gary had to leave around 6:00 and we leave shortly behind him. We head back to Target to return the cubby, I need white... the cherry wood wont match, we need the white (which we wont have to paint either). We are also getting the canvas storage totes that fit perfectly in the cubby (you might remember I bought some a while back, but they wont work, damnit... but I am keeping them for the closet). We also end up finding two black bookshelves that will work perfectly in the living room for our books and such. We have a ton of books! The shelving is relatively cheap (what I was looking for in furniture I have to put together) and well worth it cause now I can unpack all our books and probably have a space for all our games as well! Yay!! We head home, exhausted!

Thursday morning we get off to a slow start. I am up nearly two hours before Tancy. I cleaned out the fridge, which was desperately needed, loaded the dishwasher, start laundry, pay bills, balance the check book and create a couple of posts on craigslists for the stuff we are giving away and selling. I have a response almost immediately to two of them, pick up around 6:00 PM. Yay! I am already tired but I am also excited about the progress that can be made today. About the time Tancy is getting up I am headed to the back to put my work clothes on. I start unpacking and creating piles of what... just trying to categorize what goes where. By the time I am finished I have added more boxes to our "go away" pile and more to come probably. Once I get to a certain point (Tancy has now also brought all the boxes out of the office into the livingroom... that's all the boxes now at least) I start putting together the book shelves we got. Wow, what a pain in my ass. I end up needing Tancy's help with a few things, but I am pretty proud of doing it by myself. She's painting the furniture at this point. It's looking great and we are both getting more excited by the minute I think. Once the first book shelf is together we move the corner shelf out (that her Papaw built) and into the kitchen and move the book shelf in against the front wall of the house. I move piles around again and then start building the second book shelf. I get it all put together, probably in half the time and go to stand it up and the f*@#*&% thing breaks right in half! I scream and am near tears... all that hard work. I don't know what happened. Tancy comes in and helps me get it put back together... she suggests taking it back, it shouldn't have done that, but I can't bear that thought... please just help me get it right and if it works, lets keep it... I don't think I can take that one back, get another one and start all over again. We do make it work and we put it on the wall to the carport making a "L" on the walls with the book shelves. Now I really am exhausted. I honestly don't know what I moved on to next, but I know I left the bookshelves for a while. Tancy started trimming in the walls for the yellow paint in the bedroom. When she finished up in there I had her come in the living room and hand me books and stuff so I could just stay in one spot and organize everything on the shelves. I got all the books on the shelves and the games and still have some space. The lady came to get the free items early, around 5:00 and was taking them to a family who had lost everything to a house fire. The fella buying my leather motorcycle chaps came around 7:30 and once he left we pretty much melted into the couch. I did manage to move the clothes around and then get a bath. Tancy followed shortly behind. I climbed in bed and took a Tylox, my entire body hurt. Tancy, unfortunately, had to work to stay up because she was starting nights on Friday night.

Friday morning I got up and paid some bills. We got in Tancy's federal tax return so I wanted to allocate those funds before we managed to spend them. LOL. I paid off a medical bill we had from Tancy's surgery, I wrote a check for our part of the beach house for the family vacation in August, I also took care of some other bills we have coming up and then moved the rest into savings for safe keeping. I talked to both Tancy's Mom and my Mom and before I knew it I had to get moving to leave for my appointment. I headed in to the chiropractor just in time. My back was tender, but didn't need adjusting, so that was good... I didn't screw anything up with all the work. But I have been a good girl, not lifting anything heavy. From there I met Linda, our realtor, to bring her all her signs and her lock box. She was kind enough to withdraw the house for us (even though our listing isn't up) so we don't have to worry with viewings and all that mess right now. She took me to lunch and we discussed business as well as personal. Before it was all said and done she approached me about possibly working for her, from home, taking care of some paperwork, inspections, etc. I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon, but it was nice that she thought of me. It may never come to fruition, but again, its flattering. After that I headed to Cornelius to pick up a car seat and stroller to bring to Louisiana with us in April. It will be for Mom to keep there. More than anything it will come in handy when I fly, I wont have to bring those two big items with me. And since I am planning to fly in September for a visit this is great! It's in good shape and the stroller will work for a while. The car seat is only rated for 20 pounds, so it will have to be replaced sooner... but I got them at a good price, so I can't complain.
I came home and Tancy was already up. We visited for a while and caught up. She had already taken all the boxes and trash to the dump while I was gone. She also took the whites out of the dryer and put the darks in. Yay! I so appreciate the little things like that. I work on trying to figure out what I am going to do with my evening once she leaves for work. I have already talked to Gary (he is very excited about the painting) but he is in Georgia at a funeral for a good friend of his. My heart broke for him, he sounded so down. I send Mandy and Lauren a text about a "painting party"... but hear nothing back.
So Tancy leaves for work and I am not far behind her. If I do paint, I need rollers and paint trays so I head out for that. I also need to drop two pieces of mail at the post office, I go by there first. I really need stamps and to send out another article to Casie, but they are closed so I'll have to do that another day. I leave the post office and head to Lowe's. I get the rollers, trays, stirrers, etc. Wow, the money just goes so fast! I don't even want to think about how much money we have spent on the baby's room so far, though I could tell you to the penny if I needed to. While I am there I also check out prices for a few of the projects we are going to tackle very soon. Wire shelving for the now office, soon to be walk in pantry. Check. An upright freezer which will go in the utility room once the shelving is completed in the pantry. Check. About the only thing I didn't check out is OSB board for flooring in the attic and a pull down... I don't really know what I am looking at, so why take the time? Tancy or Tylor will have to do that. We have asked Tylor to come help us on the pantry and attic so we can get it done faster. Also, it helps him out because we'll give him some cash for it and with the limited amount of hours he is getting at work right now, every little bit helps. Tylor is incredibly capable and that's a good feeling, if neither of us can help him, he can do it himself and it will be done well. And, honestly, its an excuse to have him at the house. We miss him.
Anyway, I come back home and decide that I really don't want to paint tonight. My body is so sore, I might be better suited tonight to take it easy. So I start putting some things away, arranging if you will. I put the mason jars back on top of the cabinets with all the things that were there before. I unload the dishwasher and reload it. I put a trash bag in the can and remove all the crap sitting on the counter. I empty the bag of magnets from the fridge, pick out what to keep and pitch the rest. I then start on the spare bedroom closets. I need to pull everything that isn't baby related out of the front bedroom closet and re-organize the back bedroom closet. I manage to do this with relative ease though I start to feel like I am chasing my tail... in one room, out and into the other room (they are side by side), out of that room and into the other room. LOL. Once I have that all done I start bringing the baby stuff sitting in the living room into Lillie's room. I manage to put the storage bins in the closet on the wire racks and that's at least a start. I also bring the bedding in and set that in the closet floor for now. That's done. Yay!
Next I fold the load of clothes on our bed and put all that away. I put away the curtains that came down out of Lillie's room an pack all the "go away" stuff into the livingroom. I need to post another ad on Craigslist, but I need to ok a few things with Tancy first. I decide that's about all I am going to do and start my bath water. Its nice to sit and soak for a minute, which doesn't last long... I don't seem to have the patience lately to "soak". I end up with a snack before fully settling in (a can of mandarin oranges). It is well after midnight before I manage to start to drift. I am awake again at 3:45 and stay awake till about 4:00.

I hear Tancy come in and send the puppies out to her so they can potty and go back to sleep for a bit. She comes to bed and we talk... for way too long. We both finally shut up and go back to sleep. I didn't wake up until 10:48!! It is now 12:23 and I have been blogging for about an hour and a half at this point!

So kids, its time for me to get the hell off of this computer for a while. I may or may not blog again tonight. I am so tired at night and just don't want to do anything but veg out in front of the TV once I stop. I have so much more to blog about, but it will just have to keep. I think I've provided you all with enough to keep you busy reading for a while anyway. LOL.

I hope you all have a great day today. It's gorgeous here!!

Love to all!

Good morning all. I hope this finds you all doing well. Healthy and happy and maybe even starting your weekend already too!

I paid some more bills this morning (as in paid off) since we got my federal tax return in. That always feels good, to pay off a bill, especially when they are credit cards. We've been working really hard on budget since before Christmas. We've done really well at times and not so good at others. We did manage to pay for everything at Christmas without credit cards, so I was really proud of that. I have our tax money budgeted out as to where it will go already, nothing frivolous this year... paying off bills, baby stuff (will start with the baby bed and changing pad and then whatever we still need after the showers), and getting the lawnmower fixed. I am sure you will remember that we bought a used riding mower last summer... well, it seems to have some electrical issues, go figure! We have debated buying a new one OR getting this one fixed. I suppose it will depend on how much money is left over after we take care of the other things on the list. We only paid $400 for it. I am not saying that is a steal, only that you'd expect issues with something that would normally cost four times that.

Anyway, we have plans for the weekend. Really its more like Sunday and Monday. We are spending some time with Sandy and that's her weekend. I am looking forward to it, just getting out of the house for a bit. That's always nice. We shall see.

What else? Hmm. We are taking the dogs in to be groomed next week, their nails need to be done and just a good scrubbing... its easier at this moment to let someone else do it. Their nails, Hemmi's specifically because they are solid black, are just so hard to do without hurting them sometimes. So we'll let the pro's handle it! LOL. I have two chiropractic appointments next week, the adjustments seem to be helping with the constant headaches I was having, so that makes it completely worth it for me! I also want to schedule another maternity massage. My dear parents are so sweet that they have seen fit to provide for me to have a few massages (the lady at the spa was also influential with regards to rate). I greatly appreciate all that my parents have done for me and continue to do for me. I hope they never doubt that.

Today we are suppose to meet a good friend of ours for lunch or just spend some time. He's coming through our little town on his way from one appointment to another and is making some time for us. We are always happy to see him and spend time with him. As a matter of fact, before too long I need to go put some real clothes on! LOL. I don't know yet if he is coming by the house or we are meeting him some where in town. After that we don't really have any plans.

Oh, I think I told you about meeting the roller girl. I am working on some of the girls to go with me to the season opener. I got all excited about going and then realized that Tancy works that night. I am excited enough about it that I will go by myself if necessary, but I am hopeful that some of the girls will want to go. Never can tell.

I scheduled the classes I am taking at the birth place. One is a Infant CPR class, I have been wanting to take a CPR class for years so I am glad to finally have it on the schedule. Another is their Breastfeeding class. The hospitals lactation consultants teach this (that seems obvious now that I've typed it) and start you out with some basics as well as help to ease concerns and stress most mothers-to-be already have about breastfeeding. The last one is Birth & Beyond. I think that one is also pretty self explainatory. They give a tour of the hospital, talk to you about what happens when you arrive, basically do a dry run of it all for you so that you know what to expect. They cover pain management, what and when. They cover birthing techniques (hopefully giving you a clearer idea of what might work and time to decide what you want for your birth plan) and also what happens after the baby gets here, tests, feeding, nursery vs. room, etc. Tancy will be able to attend all classes with me except one of the Birth and Beyond classes. She also will not attend the CPR class as she's not only had the training, but actually had to administer CPR. She said I could "update" her. She probably knows more now than I will after a class at the hospital... she did all those things and more in the Navy and Coast Guard, I would hope that she would know more. LOL. So I am excited about these classes, the distraction during the day, the preparation they might provide and just knowledge in general. With regard to breastfeeding I want to take in as much information as possible prior to Lillie making her debute!

Dad will be here in a couple of weeks. I am so looking forward to that! I can't believe we actually talked him into it finally. I've been trying to since we moved here. Mom makes trips by herself and I enjoy that so much. The time with her is wonderful. We get to just goof off and enjoy each other. Dad hasn't ever made a trip by himself. I realize that the relationship dynamic is a bit different, maybe Dad's don't make trips by themselves to see their children... I don't know. At any rate I am tickled as I can be to have him come. I want to go to the "Tender Box" here in Charlotte and check out the cigars, etc. there. Outside of that, I don't really have any plans, just looking forward to the time with him, just us. Tancy will be in training during the day, so he and I will have plenty of time to do whatever we want to do. Honestly, I can't wait! I know it will be a great time.

After Pops leaves, we have just a couple of weeks till we are in Louisiana. I am also looking forward to that. It'll be good to be home for a few days with my family. That's always good. I am going to try really hard not to just wear myself out completely while we are there. We are going to make the trip there in two days and back in two days... hopefully that will help ease the cramping that I get during a long trip.... it will also take the pressure off of me and allow us to stop every 2 hours to get out and walk around, stretch, etc. We cannot make the trip like we normally do, it just isn't possible for me, so taking it in two days will hopefully eliminate the temptation to do so. I think we should make it there on Friday and then we will probably leave out on Tuesday (two days to get back and then a day for Tancy to recouperate before returning to work). For now that's just a guestimate.

I hardly slept last night. The puppies settled in and went soundly to sleep... but I just couldn't seem to get comfortable. I was tired enough. But Lillie was moving around and kicking me (I actually have a theory that she is head butting me... because it's all down so low and last ultrasound that is where her head was... I am sure she moves around... but that's my theory), she wasn't ready for sleep yet so that meant I wasn't either. I have been getting hot at night, not sure why, but uncomfortably hot. The kinda hot that either wakes you up from a dead sleep or prevents you from even dozing off. I pulled the covers back, the fan is on and the heat is basically off (down low enough as not to kick on). I slept uncovered for a portion of the time. I know it was after 1:30 before I ever even started to feel sleepy. I know I woke up at 3:00 and turned the TV off after a bathroom break. I know I heard Tancy come up the steps at the house (which means I wasn't sleeping soundly). I went back to sleep after she got in bed, but the puppies decided they were ready to get up... it was either get up with them, or let them keep her from sleeping, so up I went. That was 9:00. If I had to guess, I might have gotten 5 hours sleep, but even that wasn't good, sound, deep sleep. Maybe tonight will be better, Tancy will be home. But honestly, I don't think it has alot to do with that... more Lillie keeping me awake now to prepare me for what's to come!

Well kids, I should probably go shower and get some clothes on. The day is looking fairly gray and if I allow myself I can pretend it is still early morning (which prevents me from being very motivated). So, I look at the clock to remind myself it is 11:00 and the day is passing quickly. Got some "chores" I'd like to get done today, so I'd better get off my ass!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I probably wont post again for a few days.

Love to all!

Hello all. I hope this finds everyone healthy & happy. Mom and Dad are no doubt in Georgia, at Casie & Chuck's by now. I am sure they are soaking Marlie up and taking it all in. Just the thought makes me happy.

So, today was fairly uneventful. I paid bills and balanced the checkbook... yay! I didn't even get up till 10:00, that's right, 10:00 AM. What's more, I was asleep by 9:15 last night!! I fixed the pillows the way the chiropractor told me to and OH MY GOD! How comfy... it's like being craddled by clouds. I was out in 5 - 10 minutes tops. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I woke up at 9:45 and thought I'd been asleep all night (bladder doesn't let me sleep for very long sometimes). I woke again at midnight, boy I was hot... so hot I got a glass of water, looked in the bathroom mirror and my face was red. I slept for the next couple of hours uncovered just cooling down. I am a human heater! I woke again at 3:00 and then again at 4:45. I don't think I will have a complete nights sleep again for quite some time, just the nature of things. My bladder is preparing me for midnight feedings and all that comes with a new baby I think. I could be delusional and think that she'll come home from the hospital sleeping through the night, but I know better and have never been good at pretending! Anyway, I woke up when Tancy got home and made another potty run and then slept from them (about 7:00) on till just shy of 10:00.

I made plans for the weekend. Tancy and Sandy originally planned to camp. The weather is going to be raining and cold and just plain nasty all weekend, so camping in the pop-ups really isn't going to work out. I think we will all be happy with the back-up plan though. That took up the evening it seems.

When Tancy left to go to work I left to go to Gastonia to pay the cell phone bill. You see I bundled the home phone, internet, TV and cell phones together. However, it hasn't added the cell bill to the bundled bill yet AND it wont let me pay it seperately... I called in to see if they could do it by phone, they couldn't. They told me though, that it could take 2 to 3 months and they understood the issues with it and I had wiggle room... I don't want to wait 2 - 3 months and then pay that many months worth of cell bills!!! They told me my only solution was to go to an AT&T store and pay the bill there. So, that's where I was headed.

I was really dreading it. I even tried several friends to see about having dinner together, no one was able to join me. Bummer. See, this is why it is hard for me sometimes. I am not by any means knocking my friends... and I know everyone has lives of their own. But when you can make 3 or 4 calls to see if someone wants to have dinner with you... and not one of those calls results in dinner... its hard to feel worse than you did before you made any calls. That's my own thing, I know. Like I said, its no reflection of them. Just trying to work through my its hard for me to reach out sometimes.

Anyway, turns out the trip was totally worth it. The girl who helped me is totally family! She's also a roller girl! When I made reference to Tancy, she immediately took the opportunity to tell me about their next season opener. I totally want to go. I also am considering, again, joining up (after the baby is born of course!). I thought about it after seeing them at last years Pride... but I told myself I was too clumsy and out of shape. I am telling myself this time that I am never gonig to be anything but out of shape if I don't do something to change that. I am not as clumsy as I have believed at times in my life... I am, however, self concious and that can lead to less than graceful movements. LOL. Anyway, it was nice talking to the girl. It's always interesting to me what people will tell a perfect stranger about themselves. Tancy says I have that affect on people. Not sure why, but it tickles me the things I know about people so quickly.

So! I got the dishes done and laundry going (will finish that tomorrow) and tomorrow I need to clean out the fridge. Outside of that, tomorrow will kick off Tancy's week off and I am just going to do my best to enjoy every moment of that.

Tancy did manage to get off the Thursday shift before we are to leave for Louisiana. We were worried about getting there in time with my travel constraints and distance alone. So, with this additional time off we will be there Friday no problem. Yay!

I honestly don't have much else. I want to do a little research online and then settle in, nestled in my bed of pillows. Hopefully I sleep as well tonight as I did last night! I hope you all rest well and have a great night... and if I don't blog again, a great weekend!

Love to all!

P.S. Larisa, not sure what's going on, but I am thinking about you. I am here if you need to talk. Sending you lots of love.

Hello all. I hope this finds you all doing well. No doubt glad to see the mid part of the week over and looking at the down hill side of the week.

Last night wasn't as restful as I had hoped. I was in bed by 8:00, I even made the bed and got all the covers just so before climbing in. The puppies settled in to sleep right away and all was quiet. I was hoping to sleep soon myself... that didn't happen. When I finally did get sleepy things shifted. Hemmi, for some reason, got freaked out. He stayed on my side of the bed, either perched on the bed or on the floor beside the bed whining. He never does this. His ears were pinned to his head and his tail was tucked (not his typical posturing). He also stood in the corner near my night stand when he wasn't on the side of the bed. When I got up, he was right up my ass. I couldn't get him to lay on his bed, which normally he goes to right away. I don't know what was wrong with him. I let them out to potty twice, just in case his tummy was bothering him... not the issue. I gave them water, just in case it was because he was thirsty. He didn't settle down until after midnight. I still have no idea what his deal was. It was around 1:00, I guess, before I went to sleep and then my sleep was very restless, up every hour to pee and just couldn't get comfortable and sleep soundly.

Tancy came in and Hemmi went right back to his corner on my side of the bed... same freaky issue... still no clue what his deal is. I tried to sleep in, but by 8:00 I finally gave it up and got up. Coffee, feed pups, normal morning routine. Before long though it was time to get ready to head to the chiropractor. I like the one that I see (there are several in the office), he's very nice and talks to you like a person... he doesn't talk down or make you feel like its your fault your back hurts. Anyway, he adjusted my back and neck... felt great! He said I adjusted easier this time than last... I could tell the difference. Anyway, he's the reason my two week headache left me for nearly an entire week (it returned yesterday evening after a full day of baking King Cakes) so I really dig him for that! I go back again next week.

After that I ran to the bank to make a deposit and then met our Realtor to pick up some flyers for our sign. I picked up lunch on the way home, I was starving! I ate a few bites and before I knew it Tancy was up. We visited for a while, talked about her taking her vitamins on a regular basis in order for them to help. Caught up on her shift last night... Apparently the guys really dug the King Cakes (she took four, she said a quarter of one was left at the end of shift). One of the guys she works with fell in love with all things New Orleans, so he told everyone about Mardi Gras and the King Cake and all that tradition. He got the baby in one of the cakes and kept it. Another guy was from Mobile, he told everyone that Mobile does Mardi Gras better than Louisiana and to just stay out of Louisiana during Mardi Gras. LOL! He don't know!! He dug the cake as well. There's also a guy that she works with who told her we need to buy a house near him and the restaraunt just down the street for him so I can cook for him each day, that he would guarantee that he and his wife would be in every day! This made me laugh. He told Tancy he LOVES my food. Can't lie, made me smile.

So far she hasn't been able to get the vacation book to put in for April 2, hopefully she will be able to tonight. I really hope she can get that shift off. They weren't terribly busy last night, the night before was a different story! I think they had a great time last night, they obviously ate alot of cake!

Tylor came by and picked up his King Cake today. They are thinking about putting up a fence for their puppies, so we talked about that and assured him that we could put it up if need be. Well, by we I mean Tancy told him it was possible and that she would help. Haha! We visited a while and enjoyed seeing him and then he was on his way.

Tancy and I tried to enjoy a bit more time together before she left for work. This shift hasn't been as hard on me as the last time she worked nights. Maybe I am adjusting? But I have done better about getting things done during the day and being more comfortable at night as well. I think I am always going to be a bit of a scaredy cat, but I am doing better. I don't really have a choice, right?! I mean, once the baby comes, I can't hold up with her in our bedroom at night just cause Tancy is at work. I don't want that for either of us. My next obstacle will be learning to sleep with our bedroom door open, even when Tancy isn't home. Since the puppies started sleeping on a bed in our room (and not in kennels) we have kept our door closed at night to help them settle down and not want to roam the house. So, that one will be a learning experience for all of us!

A car horn just beeped on a commercial on the TV and Hemmi is looking around... I think he's a bigger chicken than I am! Scout is on the other end of the couch, head on the arm, sacked out! She doesn't spook. I guess Hemmi is like me and Scout is like Tancy. That's funny. Especially since Scout drags her butt on the floor!!! (What?! I can't have ya'll thinking that Scout OR Tancy are perfect! And it made me laugh... besides, Tancy hasn't drug her butt on the floor in months! LMAO!!!)

Ah, that was a good laugh. Tancy will be so pleased with me.

Tomorrow I am going to tackle what laundry there is to be done and cleaning out the fridge. I was going to do it today, but after the chiropractor, I just wanted to enjoy not hurting. I thought I might do it tonight... but honestly?! Not going to happen tonight. I am hoping and praying that I can go get a nice bath in a bit and then crawl into bed and be asleep before midnight tonight. I am also hoping, for Hemmi's safety, that he has a better night tonight... honestly, I hope whatever was bothering him last night doesn't bother him tonight. I was worried that something was wrong with him. Tancy said he was just being protective of me... I had to laugh because he spent a fair amount of time with his head facing the corner near the closet... I don't think that was it at all.

Mom and Dad leave tomorrow to go to Georgia to see the McCorkles (hehe) for Casie's birthday... and of course to see their grand-baby. Mom is very excited. I am sure Dad is too, I just haven't talked to him in the last couple of days. I think they will get there late tomorrow if I remember correctly. I hope they have a great time! I wish I was going too.

Well kids. I am ready for a nice soak in the tub and then relax in bed and wind down. I would so take a sleep aide if I could... all I can really take is Tylenol PM and that makes me feel like shit the next day, so I wont be trying that. I am going to go with a relaxing bath and see how it goes from there. So, with that, I am outta here!

Love to all!

P.S. Ok, Mom, Aunt Jan... one week... I will be looking for a blog from each of you. I know you can do it!

Hello all. I hope this finds everyone well, healthy & happy. It's Tuesday evening, 6:23 currently. I am worn completely out!!

So here's the run down of my day. I slept till about 8:00 - 8:30 I guess, then up to have coffee and tend to the puppies (normal routine there). I watched a couple of episodes of PRS (Paranormal Research Society), I can't watch it at night when Tancy's working cause I am a chicken, so I watched this morning. Then I got started on my day of baking... little did I know it would take all day.

I ended up baking a total of 9 (counting the one from last night) King cakes. I put the cake boxes together, gave them an egg wash, made the icing (purple, green & yellow thank you!), put purple, yellow & green tissue paper in the bottom of the box for decoration, put the cake in the box with a baby for each cake, put icing on each cake (again, purple, yellow & green) and put Mardi Gras beads in each box. I started on the cakes at about 10:00, I didn't finish until 2:00.

It was alot of work, but it was also alot of fun. The cake itself isn't "authentic" king cake in my book, but it tasted good and was edible (haha), so I was happy with that part of it. Next year, if I make King Cake again, I will be looking for a better recipe. I was pretty pleased with all that I had accomplished... and they looked great. I also managed to clean the kitchen and cook dinner. All I have to do before I end my day, at this point, is put the left overs from dinner in the fridge and was the pot it is currently in. Everything else is done. I am really proud of that.

I will have to clean out the fridge tomorrow. I had hoped to do that today, but that just didn't work out. I am already paying for being on my feet all day and am completely, bone tired. I don't think I can take anything else on this evening. I put ice on my back earlier, then had a warm bath. Before I got to bed I will take some Tylenol... and I am thinking that isn't going to be very long.

Today is Casie's birthday. I hope she got my card in time. I can't believe she's 26!!! Where does time go? Seems like we were kids just yesterday. Far from kids now. I got some pictures from her, Chuck decorated the house in Mardi Gras theme as a surprise to her for when she got home. I know she had to have been very surprised and very happy. I hope they have a great evening together.

Well kids, as I have said before.... I am tired. I will take a moment to fuss at Mom and Aunt Jan... Mom, you haven't posted in more than a month, Aunt Jan, I believe you are right there with her! Come on ladies, I know you can manage a few minutes during a week to post something.... I get to hear about not posting when my computer is broken... you can surely post! I baked 9 king cakes and still post for Christ's sake!!! Haha!

Alright, I hope ya'll have a great night. Enjoy the evening.

Love to all!

Hello all! Wow, I don't even know how long it's been since I was last able to blog. I hope that you have all been doing well since the last time I was on.

Let's see... All the fixes for the computer didn't work for us. We ended up taking the computer to one of the guys she works with. He had to completely clean the computer, removing EVERYTHING on it and then start from scratch. It's working fine now... faster as well, he was able to disable some unnecessary start up programs when he "rebuilt" the computer.

We had the weekend together, we spent most of that time riding around looking at or for properties. We both truly enjoy that time together, just us in the car, radio going... either singing along or talking about whatever. Lately it is probably the best quality time we get together. Plus we both like seeing new things and just being out and about. No luck with finding a place, but we had a good time anyway.

I bought the bedding for Lillie's room. I hadn't planned to do so just yet, but they were no longer going to carry it in the store, it was the last one they had, and it was on sale (at a great price). So, I got it. I also got a little outfit with a big floppy hat for the beach for her. Soo cute!

I've done really well keeping on top of the household stuff, the dishes are done each day, the laundry has been kept up and the house has stayed in order for the most part. I had a bad day last week and I cleaned the house from top to bottom... I am talking sparkling. I had hoped it would help me feel better, it didn't... but the next day, when I worked through it all, and my house was clean, that was GREAT!

We had dinner with some friends last night. They told us they are preggers... no one even knew they were trying!! I am so very happy for them. I won't say any more because they haven't made an "official" BIG announcement yet and I don't want to announce anything for them.

Today I got the bright idea to try my hand at making a king cake. I went and got what I needed after Tancy left for work, I have the dough made now, waiting on it to rise and then I will bake one small cake (it's ALOT of dough) to see how it turns out... I am hoping that it turns out well and I can make a few cakes for Tancy to take to work to share. Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday (and also Casie's birthday) and so if I am going to make it work, I'd like it to be for tomorrow. I was going to stay up and bake and decorate tonight, but I think if one turns out, I'll do the rest tomorrow. My leg is numb and my back/hip hurts on that same side. I'll refrigerate the dough and start on it again in the morning.

Let's see, Saturday Tancy felt Lillie move for the first time. She was so excited, so was I. That's an awesome thing. I mean, I have been feeling her move for a while, but Tancy hasn't... it was a great moment for both of us. I look forward to the many more to come.

I went to the chiropractor on Wednesday of last week. I haven't had a headache since... so obviously it helped from that perspective. My back still bothers me and my leg is still going numb. Some of that, I believe, is just going to have be the way it is until after Lillie gets here. The chiropractor said its a good possibility that she could be pushing on a nerve or the main artery in my pelvis. Either way there isn't much to do to relieve that. I have been trying to put ice on my back, as directed, when I can so that it keeps the inflammation down. I go back on Wednesday of this week.

There are a few things coming up that I am really excited about... I'll share more about that later. Right now I am just enjoying those things myself. Unusual for me not to share, I know, but right now its nice to hold on to it and enjoy it on my own.

Casie's birthday is tomorrow. Wow, 26!!  Gettin' old there Case! LOL. Looks who's talkin', right?! I hope that she has a great day tomorrow! I also hope that she got my card in time!

I am completely exhausted at this point. I got groceries today, came home and unloaded them. I took a nap with Tancy for about an hour.... bad choice, didn't do anything but make me want more. Then I left and got the stuff for King Cakes, came home, unloaded and started baking. I am worn out. I don't know why... but honestly, I could sit right here and pass completely out!

I have most of the software back on the computer. I have a few other things to be done, but I got the big stuff done. I'll do the small stuff a little at a time. The printer is on, the print server is working, I put Microsoft Office and Outlook back on the computer and the Blackberry software. So, I made good progress today with that.

I had hoped to clean out the fridge and load the dishwasher (keeping the dishes done each day) tonight, but I am pretty sure that just aint gonna happen at this point! I need to check the dough in a minute and see if it has risen enough... if not, it is quite possible that I might cover it and let it ride till tomorrow. I am just that tired. A bath and bed sounds divine!

Well kids I have talked an awful lot about me and not said much about anything. I hope I haven't bored you too badly. I will blog again tomorrow at some point and hopefully my thoughts will be a little more put together. I am sending all my love and positive energy out to all of you! I wish you all a great week and a WONDERFUL weekend.

Love to all!