New Foods

It’s FRIDAY!!! I'm going to my parents to see Ryann tonight and tomorrow morning I set off to ___ Akron (I’ll assign an adjective when I get there and check it out) to see Sarah!

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My father is one of those guys who orders the same thing every time he goes to a restaurant. Somehow, he’s also that guy that always complains he ordered the wrong thing. One would think the answer to this problem would be to try something new, but we all know how people are in general about new things.

I try to not be “that” person and try new things on a semi-regular basis. Probably the easiest area I find to do this in is new food. I’ve sung my love song for Taco Bell before, but I've branched out and tried about 10 new menu items over the last year and have actually found some new “regulars” from doing so (specifically Mexi Melts- yum!). Recently my new expansion is yogurt flavors. I used to be just a Strawberry Banana girl but in the last 6 months I’ve tried Strawberry Cheesecake, Pina Colada (a new favorite- it has real coconut in it!), Vanilla, Chocolate Mousse, and today I'm trying Orange Crème which tastes just like a cream-cycle.

Even Jim’s in a kick of trying new foods. He was a typical only child when it came to dining – if he didn’t like it once as a kid he never had to eat it again and therefore missed out on some great things along the way. New things he’s tried in the last year: he ate Peruvian with me last weekend, now eats blueberry bagels with raspberry cream cheese, organic peanut butter, PB&J, shrimp stir fry, and a homemade quesadilla. I'm proud of him!! He’s never had Ramen noodles before though, and while it’s not particularly healthy or delicious, I feel it’s my duty to catch him up with the rest of us previously poor college students.

Any other suggestions are welcome!

Week 26

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs a little under 2 pounds and measures about 14 inches, from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she's born and takes that first breath of air.

My Take: Yesterday something cool happened- I watched my stomach as Nicole kicked and I could see it all happening from the outside! Wacky!!

I went to Wal-Mart, even though I claim I never shop there if I don’t have to, to see if they had any cute maternity clothes for cheap. What I found was surprising – a lot of styles in the Juniors section are cut baby-doll style (as in fitted around the chest, flowy from there down) and are very doable (and cute!) for me in my current condition, even if I triple in size. And they’re a heck of a lot less expensive than clothes that have a maternity label. I got a linen sundress for $12.88!

What did this teach me?
1) Don’t limit myself to the maternity section
2) There are a lot of “fashionable” styles that “regular” people shouldn’t be wearing – if it fits a 6 mo. pregnant lady, non-pregos probably shouldn’t be wearing it as there’s no way it’s flattering
3) When this whole time period in my life is done I need to consider rule #2 above and evaluate my closet for uncomplimentary clothes and get rid of them

Sellin' Bars

I work in an office so I just expect that a few times a year co-workers will bring their kids’ candy/catalogs/whatever around to peddle it for a school trip/new uniforms/whatever. Today was one of those days – a box of Worlds Finest Chocolate bars showed up on the break room table. Now, if you haven’t seen a WFC bar recently, let me warn you that they have shrunk. Perhaps to compensate, there are more flavors now offered – almond, milk chocolate, crisp, and my personal favorite, caramel.

I had my turn at selling said candy bars in 7th and 8th grade when we made $.50 on the $1 for our 8th grade Washington DC trip. My secret weapon – bring a kid cuter than myself and look pathetic outside of K-Mart. That cutie- Greg. Man could that kid sell almond bars. Anyway, most of my trip ended up being paid for by the time Spring of ’93 rolled around.

Who sold candy for Greg though when it was his turn?

Weekend of 3/23/07

Friday night we headed up to Dayton to see the Erdahl’s. They were nice enough to change plans very last minute and come down to Cincy last Saturday because of the uncertainty of Lindsay/Ryann’s progress. Anyway, we had meatloaf (with this really amazing sauce), these awesome cheesy potatoes that I had 3 helpings of, and then brownie sundaes for dessert. Mmmmmmmmm!

I want to make special note that Lisa is a great sport. We taught her a card game, Shanghai, the week before and she wasn’t fully grasping the concept (it was 11pm in her defense). Anyway, SHE asked if we could play it again on Friday so she could give it another shot. Not only did she play the whole thing through (about an hour or so) but she did really well. Granted my generous husband kept his guard down and gave in to her (as he always does, he has some weird affinity for her that perhaps I should be suspicious over… they even have a nickname for themselves: E Squared. hmmmm... I'm teasing of course!). Anyway, great night in general.

Perhaps even better than Shanghai, however, was Lisa finding PM Dawn's "Die Without You" on the VH1 site for us. First of all - they're black!? see the vital things I missed in middle school without cable TV?! What a frickin' amazing song!! And Lisa owes the tape (somewhere)!

Saturday: This was our date day and we bummed around the whole afternoon and watched movies and just generally spent time together. Awwww, we’re adorable, I know *gag*. We tried Peruvian food for the first time together at this new place down the street. Jim briefly considered having beef tripe (cow stomach) until the waitress made a face while explaining it was “chewy” that indicated he should avoid it. It wasn’t bad but I doubt we’ll go back- too many other good ethnicities. My parents met us at the theatre where we watched Breach (B+) and then we headed home for some general chatting.

Sunday: got up, ate breakfast, went to church, babysat Alex (who was SO good and we didn’t even permanently damage him!) while Sarah and Danny house hunted, and then went bowling. We won ¾ games and lost the first one pretty much solely because of me (I didn’t even break 100). Then we headed home for cod and 2 hours of the Discovery special Planet Earth. Interesting series.

Anyway, that’s it from here! Have a wonderful Monday!

They're Coming! They're Coming!

One of you crazy people is finally listening to my shouts of Cincinnati being the best city on the planet!! The citizens of Porkopolis warmly welcome the Williams to our German town! HOORAY!!

Where are these people?

When you go to a hair salon (note I said SALON, not barber or shop like a Great Clips) all the folks doing hair normally have great hair themselves. I always look around when I'm in the chair and think “why can’t I have modern and cool hair like her?” Every last one of them is stylish, well-colored, and neat (no frizzies, even “messed up” ponytails look chic!) when you’re there.

Where are these people in the real world? I never see those same hair folks with the ideal styles just milling around the mall or the grocery store. I see lots of people with "girl next door" hair like mine, but nobody I could pinpoint as a hair stylist outside of thier professional environment.

Also, in the year + since I had my acrylic nails taken off, I never seem to see anyone with fake nails either. I'm chalking this up to the reverse of when you buy a new car and suddenly see “your” car all over- since I no longer have perfect nails I see no one else with them either...

25 Weeks

How your baby's growing: Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but she's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. Her hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born.

My Take: Nicole is shy. I feel her move around every day but somehow she completely avoids all other people. I had Megan and Jim touch my tummy yesterday and *BAM* she quits wiggling. People are going to think I'm making it up!

Side note- when I was holding Ryann last night she (Nicole) was kicking a lot. Maybe she’s a jealous kid too? Ha!

Flawed = Ideal

I really like people who aren’t perfect and don’t pretend to be. It makes me appreciate them in general so much more because I think they’re honest (if you can say something unflattering but true about yourself I know I can trust you in general), personable (friendly enough to be open about things that aren’t necessarily roses and sunshine), and genuine.

Some examples (and 2/3 of these have been publicly stated in blogs so I don’t feel too bad repeating them, besides, I'm using these people as illustrations of folks I LIKE):

1) One of my vendors just had a new son about a month ago. I asked him how his oldest daughter, the new big sister, was reacting to the baby. His response: “She’s cute sometimes, then, when we’re not looking, she hits him. She’s got some jealousy issues but we’re working on them.” FINALLY, someone who will confess their kids aren’t flawless and adorable all the time!

2) Viki admitted that when she went for her Idol competition that her legs shook with nervousness. THANK YOU for saying so – I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets performance anxiety! She made me feel much better about my own apprehension now that I know professionals face the same issue.

3) Lisa owns up to the fact that she sometimes gets jealous of others who have babies. As a person who will have a baby, her forthcomingness about this helps me be a more sensitive friend (hopefully) and makes our relationship better (we don’t offend one another on the subject if at all possible).

A big HOORAY to those real people out there! I commend you!

I failed. : (

I’ve always been good at tests. I do my prep, take the evaluation, and normally come out on top. Today was not one of those days.

I went to the OB this morning and failed my glucose test. Grrrrrrr. This means that I have to take this “really bad” (the OB’s words) fasting test where they draw several vials of blood an hour for 3 hours while I sit and do nothing.

Further, I got scolded for how much weight I gained since my last visit – 7lbs. I'm supposed to be at 1 lb. per week which means I'm 3lbs. too fat.

The culprit on both: Juice. Dr. Nerendran said that drinking juice every day like I have been is like taking a glucose test every day. Further, it’s what’s making me gain weight. While it’s good that we can pinpoint the cause of both issues (weight gain and bad blood sugar) it’s frustrating because I’ve been intentionally drinking the damn juice! I caused these problems myself!

So now I'm on a water and milk-only fluid limitation for the next 3 months. My only saving grace to this whole thing was that even though I’ve gained 7lbs in 4 weeks, I'm still only at 15lbs. total which is the low end of the 15-20 that’s normal for my stage. Her goal for me is 2lbs. between now and my next appt. on April 17. I am not happy.

Introducing...

Ryann Nicole Templin

Born on 3/18/07 at 12:03am

8lbs. 7 oz.

It was a very long process to bring her to the world, but I'll let Lindsay explain when she's back on her feet.

Ryann has tons of dark brown hair and these poofy cheeks that are made for Grandma kisses. I think EVERYONE was surprised she's a she, even the doctors apparently claimed all day they thought she'd be a he!

She's adorable!

Lindsay's in Labor!

Her water broke this morning and they went to the hospital around 10:30am. They gave her Pitocin becasuse contractions hadn't started but she's on her way now. We were told to expect an evening delivery. :)

Friday, 3/16/07

I did something in the middle of the night I said I wouldn’t do – I got frustrated with Jim because of a dream. In it he was roughing me up a bit and we were being all white-trashy and arguing. It eventually came out that he was having and affair with some co-worker named BeBe. Anyway, I got up, it was about 3:30am, got a drink and came back to bed. But, totally illogically, I was irritated at him. It didn’t help that I was worked up and there he was, sleeping peacefully on his side of the bed. Ah well. I guess the fact that in my next dream, I was the one having the affair makes up for it and he can be mad at me now? Ha ha!

I'm taking a half day today which I'm really looking forward to. I'm heading home around noon to make tacos for lunch for Jim and I and then we’re going to do a tour of a local daycare for Nicole. Immediately following, we’re going to pick up my grandparents and take them to see what our new house will look like by doing a walk-through of the model in Lebanon. We’ll eat dinner at the Golden Lamb afterwards which will catch me up with the rest of the city who I think has all dined there before me. Should be a good time!

Week 24

Because my due date got moved up 3 days (to the Fourth of July), my weekly updates have been moved from Saturdays to Thursdays now…

Your Baby this Week: Your baby's growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when she was just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, that makes for a pretty lean figure, but her body is filling out proportionally. Your baby's skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, her brain is growing rapidly, and her taste buds may be working now. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.

Your baby can hear more and more now, and you may even notice her startle at loud, sudden noises. But she's probably getting used to the regular noises she hears around the house, such as your dog barking or the roar of a vacuum cleaner. Many new parents are surprised by how unfazed their newborns seem by sounds like these, but if you think about it, they've had months to get accustomed to them.

Your Body This Week:The top of your uterus is now an inch or so above your belly button, which means it's about the size of a soccer ball. With the skin on your abdomen and breasts stretching, you may feel a little itchy now and then. If your skin is dry, keeping it well moisturized may help. You may also find that your eyes are sensitive to light and feel gritty and dry. This is a perfectly normal pregnancy symptom known as dry eye. To ease your discomfort, use an artificial tears solution to add moisture. Are your shoes feeling a little tight? Swelling is partly responsible, but pregnancy hormones are loosening the ligaments all over your body, causing your foot bones to spread apart.

My Take: I added the “Your Body” part because it’s more telling of my life this week than the baby part. I have gone up about ½ size in my shoes and have switched from the ones that fit fine in my rack to the ones that used to need thicker socks to wear comfortably. I'm also suffering from bad dry eye at night, even with the humidifier. This wouldn’t be noticeable except for the past week and a half I’ve been getting up at least 2X/night to use the bathroom, take my thyroid pill, pull myself out of a vivid dream, etc., and when I wake up my eyes are painful they’re so dry.

Though he’s probably going to groan that I'm publicly stating this, I made Jim talk to Nicole over the phone yesterday. He said (or claims he said): “Nicole, your mom wants you to move around but your dad doesn’t really care.” I am still all tickled by this. Cheese, I know!

Have I Ever...

I stole this list from Katrin... I thought I would have highlighted more but this shows me that I still have lots of living to do and hopefully a long time to do it!

Have I ever... (maroon means that I have)

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candle lit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights (ironically in AZ)
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (if school theatre counts)
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (marrying Jim!)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

Spanning the Gap

Back in HS the age difference between you and the person you were talking to/dating seemed to be an important fact. Especially at McAuley (my HS that was all-girls) one of the first questions was always where he went to school and then promptly followed by what grade he was in.

One summer I met a guy at Lori Layer’s sister’s wedding (her cousin if I remember correctly) and talked to him for a little bit after the shindig. He was 2 years younger than me and I can honestly say that not long after this fact was uncovered I disappeared. Sounds like a really dumb reason to stop talking to someone, I know, but at the time it was completely logical and merited. That was the only time in my whole life I ever even considered a younger guy.

I don’t know where I originated this notion that the woman should be younger than her husband/boyfriend. One of the best couples I know, Christina and Byron, have a 2+ age gap, her senior, and are a great match.

When I met Jim I knew he was older than me and liked that fact. It didn’t fully dawn on me until after 2 years of dating him that he’s almost 3 full years older than me, but when it did, even at my mature age of 24 at the time, that fact was almost something I was proud of. Like 3 years is a big deal. *eye roll* I see how this notion makes no sense but yet I’ve been thinking it so long it’s stuck in my head as the “normal” way of doing things.

For some unclear reason this age appreciation does not factor in at all when it comes to my friends. While I know how old most of my friends are, the fact that Dale graduated the year before me or that David’s kids are closer to my age than he is makes no difference. I like the people for who they are and we find a lot in common regardless of our age difference, if any.

Am I the only crazy person who thinks this way?!

Weekend of 3/9/07

Friday: Friday was date night for Jim and I. We schedule ourselves pretty heavy normally, so a night with just the two of us is a rare treat indeed. We had dinner, watched some Lost, read, went to bed at a reasonable time. Ahhhhhhhh!

Saturday: Sarah and I met for lunch at the Dayton Mall and then went to pick out material for Nicole’s quilt and bumper pads that she’s making for us (cause she’s the best ever). I thought I knew what I wanted and then I got faced with the wall of fabric. And then aisle after aisle after that. So the sophisticated Victorian Garden theme I thought I was going to have morphed into more of a general garden theme with yellows, blues, purples, green, and LOTS of pink. I think it’ll turn out really cute and Sarah was very patient with all of my deliberating. Upon my return I had to explain to Jim what it is I was even doing as he didn’t know what a bumper pad was or why we needed a quilt. Maybe those books aren’t so comprehensive… ;)

That evening we met up with Jen and Tom at Bravo and came back to our place for Black Forrest Cake and games. Dinner and conversation were, as always, excellent, my luck with Tom (note I did not say skill) at Sequence was severely lacking though as Jim and Jen kicked our butts 9-4. I had bad stomach cramps for the last part of the evening and Tom helped me diagnose the problem to fresh garlic which is has been the common denominator of the same symptoms the 3 previous times I had issues. An unfortunate sacrifice to have to give up, but dealing with shooting pain is not worth it.

Sunday: We finished Lost Season 2 and while Jim didn’t like the end, I was intrigued. We then ran errands (got coupons for Mike, picked out a stroller, grocery shopped) and went to bowling. My dear husband bowled a 202 AND a 234! Since we only won by 40 for the night (3/4 overall) much credit goes to Jim for his stellar performance that definitely picked the other three of us up that second game and helped us hold onto overall victory through the third game. Hooray! We should be around 5th place in the league I'm guessing.

Week 23

How your baby's growing: Your baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. His skin is red and wrinkled. Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare him for breathing. He can swallow, but he normally won't pass his first stool (called meconium) until after birth. Loud noises heard often in utero — such as your dog barking or the roar of a vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze your baby when he hears them outside the womb.

My Take: I noticed two things on Friday that surprised me. First, I always have a bottle of water in my car and I never buy them. Since water is the best thing for me to be drinking and I go various places all the time to get them (business meetings, to friends, etc.) I always leave with a half drunk bottle in tow and leave it in my car for later (which I’m always grateful when I need a drink and it’s there!).

Secondly, soft drinks are now a dessert. I was in a phone system demo on Friday after lunch and the receptionist brought in those mini Pepsi cans for refreshments. Since I have probably had less than the equivalent of 1 can of coke since I got pregnant (supposed to be avoiding caffeine) and when I do I’m surprised by how sweet it is, my first thought upon seeing those ½ cans of pop was – it’d be nice to have a treat and it’s a manageable size. In the end, my conscience and timing won out and I didn't end up having the drink.

Here's a picture of me from yesterday:

Teaching this fall

I got offered another adjunct position for the Fall semester. All of the full-time faculty are coming back and they get first dibs on their preferred timing for classes. David, my boss, asked if I’d be willing to teach a ½ semester course (still 3 credit hours, just condensed inweeks) on Saturdays from 8am to 12pm. Since I still want to teach, already have the materials done for the class, and thought it would give me a nice little break (starting in Oct. instead of Aug) with Nicole coming, I agreed enthusiastically.

When I told my students about next semester's timing last week in my Sales class, they all whined because it was such a bad time. It then dawned on me – who’s going to be awake/sober/motivated enough to come to an 8:00am class on a SATURDAY morning!? I think their predictions will be correct – I’ll probably have a lot of adult students who work full-time in my class and very few, if any traditional undergrads. Not sure how I feel about that.

Other kicker – the semester-long project I had them do (which got rave reviews) will be very challenging to do in an 8 week time period instead of 15 weeks like I did it last semester. The reasoning there is with a 15 week class I could teach them a topic and give them 2-3 weeks after that to get their portion of the project pertaining to that subject together. This class will only allow 1-2 weeks max to compile their work. That’ll be very rough and I suspect the caliber of work I'll get will reflect that. : (

B-I-N-G-O

Last night I had a hot date with another man: Jessy’s husband. Sean invited me to go to St. James with him to play BINGO and finally last night the schedules worked out so we could go. Now I haven’t been to BINGO in a church/hall for probably 15 years if not more. The most recent BINGO I played was on the cruise and that was pretty low-key.

Anyway, BINGO has come a long way since I last played. For those of you who haven’t been recently either, let me catch you up:

1. There were probably 150 people there of all ages which surprised me because I think of BINGO as a blue-hair’s game
2. Fear not, the “fun” people are still there – the awkward woman with her 20 neon plastic bracelets up her right arm, he old man with his troll doll watching over his cards for good luck, the mid-50’s lady who had little tolerance for poor calling because she’s there on a mission (when we played the corner postage stamp rounds she’d yell “No N’s!” when the caller accidentally pulled one)
3. The pad of BINGO cards I got was 3X4 for a total of 12 cards (squares) per sheet. I was probably the person with the least amount of cards in the hall. For comparison, Sean was watching 30 cards to my 12 and was more accurate at getting all the numbers than I was. Total we played 12 total rounds of bingo each having 2 games per round (used the same sheet for the whole round) for a total of 24 games.
4. “Single Line Bingo” isn’t really that at all- you can win with a straight line, corners, large diamond or a small diamond. This threw me at first because I was watching 12 different cards and had to look for several permutations of winning, not just a simple line. A little more complicated than the days of ole…
5. You can spend a small fortune in 3 hours – not only is the church selling the bingo cards (which this month are on special- up to 36 for a flat $10), but they sell special game cards for $1 and tons of pull-tab games at $1 each. I had enough stuff to keep me busy and active the whole time since I'm apparently a BINGO novice, so I only spent about $15 the whole night. I think the average spend per person was probably about $50. What was nice was that unlike so many other entertainment places, you could bring in your own food and drinks. So, I packed my PB&J, granola bar, banana and water, and didn’t need to visit the concession stand at all (though sitting next to it did make me want popcorn- it smelled so good!).
6. No more is the winning card determined by reading out all the numbers they BINGOed with. Now, each card has a serial number and they plug that number into a computer and the computer says whether or not the card’s a winner. Much more efficient I think.
7. I didn’t win anything. Then again, I’ve never won at BINGO. I did come within 1 twice and within 2 (even on the coverall!) a few times. I think Sean was accurate that I had as many close calls as he did, even with the difference in quantity of cards.

I had a good time. Those stampers, a new thing for me, are a riot- I felt very professional using it! I wish, however, that Jim was more interested in going – it would have been more fun with him and Jess there to get us more riled up about being so close and the agony of defeat.

Boob Tube

Jim and I are not big live TV watchers. There are a lot of great and intriguing shows on that our friends, family, and co-workers rave about, we just don’t take the time to see them. Not that we don’t have the time, we just don’t have the time on a scheduled basis that watching a weekly show on a dedicated basis demands. So, instead, we watch TV on DVD.

We started with 24, moved on to The Sopranos, then Deadwood, and now Lost. Let me say that the format of watching is fabulous. No commercials, few time restraints (if we borrow the DVD from the library we get 2 weeks, our generous friends don’t give us such restraints when we borrow from them), and immediate gratification of knowing what happens next on OUR time table.

That being said, we’re in season 2 of Lost and I'm still really enjoying it. I wonder if the format we’re watching it in is helping that – so many others have said that this season in particular is very frustrating, I'm not frustrated at all. Further, since everyone else on the planet it seems is one season ahead of us, Jim and I have heard all kinds of conspiracy theories about the show. I like this too because it makes me consider all kinds of different angles of the whole plot while I'm watching.

Conversely, we ARE caught up in 24 and are watching it on Mondays “real” time and I think this is the worst season so far. My irratation is the opposite of why I like Lost- I think having to wait a week to see what happens is a driver in my overall apathy of this season’s shows.

After this, I think it’s safe to say that I really only have a desire to watch reality TV on prime time (ie The Apprentice, American Idol, etc.). Fortunately, I think Jim feels the same way.

Weekend of 3/2/07

Friday: worked, sold a deal, locked my keys in my car over lunch like the blonde I am, went to Brazenhead with Chuck and Kristi. Those two crack me up. Poor chuck lost in Sequence making his rant of Kristi beating him at everything valid once again.

Saturday: I used part of my Christmas present and got my nails done at the spa up the street. I had acrylic nails for 5 years but his was my first manicure on my real nails. Holy crap did she do a great job. I look at them constantly! If it weren’t $30 a pop (and only about 35 minutes!) I’d go regularly.

I screwed up my timing on my calendar so I was about 20 minutes late to Rachel’s bridal shower that afternoon. This was some of the best shower food of all time – her aunt should go into professional catering! Rachel also got some great gifts and looked beautiful. There were 2 toddler boys there and two other pregnant women, each having a boy. I’ll admit I did feel kinda special that I would be the only one with a girl coming.

That night Jim and I had Sean and Jess over for a game night. Sean kicked our behinds in pretty much everything and the only time I won was when I was partnered with him. They brought us the cutest little outfit for Nicole – it’s blue with white polka dots and a flower at the waist. They also gave us RUFFLEBUTT tights which we had to explain to Jim. ADORABLE.

Sunday: Jim took me maternity shopping which was sweet of him to come along and give me his opinions on things. I got two tops which cost enough for me to use my Macy’s coupon and save $10. I wish there were more things I liked in the price range I'm willing to pay…

The other exciting thing that happened on Sunday isn’t really my news, it’s Jenny’s, so I’ll let her tell it… :)

Week 22

How Your Baby's Growing: Your baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches and almost 1 pound. Her skin will continue to appear wrinkled until she gains enough weight to fill it out, and the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her head and body is now visible. Your baby's eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks some pigment.

Her pancreas, essential for hormone production, is also developing steadily. Your baby's lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath her gum line. You won't actually see her first tooth until she's around 4 to 7 months old unless she's one of the rare babies who's born with teeth (1 in 2000 babies is born with a tooth).

My Take: Sarah and Danny got Jim a book, The Everything Father-to-Be Book, to pick up some tips before Nicole arrives. Along with that, he’s been reading the Consumer Reports Baby edition as well. It’s very touching to see him trying to prepare for the baby to arrive, further, he’s now constantly giving me tips (many I didn’t know!) and trivia like “at what age is a kid supposed to…” Last night was when is a kid supposed to stop using a pacifier (1-2 years).

He also did some good research on cribs, strollers, car seats and swings via his books. I think we picked out a stroller model but I want to go back to the store and see/push it in real life before it makes the registry officially.

It ain't easy being green

I am a green nazi. I love trees so much that after a meeting where I petitioned our sales team to electronically submit orders rather than printing them out, a co-worker put a post-it note that said “HUG ME” on the leaf of one of my office plants and set it on my desk for when I returned. I went so far during our office move to collect everyone’s scrap paper that they had initially thrown away and I made Jim lug a 3 feet tall stack of it a half mile from the car to to P&G to be recycled.

Therefore, people who waste paper frustrate me to no end. A guy in my office just printed out a 100+ page cell phone bill so he could get 14 pages of summary out of it. Why it’s not worth 5 extra minutes to go through, find those specific pages and print just them is beyond me. Instead, a ¼ of a ream of paper and X amount of ink was just wasted so he could manually pull them out of the stack and then throw the unneccessary sheets away. Salt in the wound I tell you. The recycling bin is 3 feet away from the trash can and 90% full of my papers since no one else seems to contribute to it.

Sometimes I feel my battle really is a lone, uphill one. No one else, at least in my office where the offences are hourly, seems to care. Somehow though this fact makes me feel like I need to care and conserve that much more to make up for each of the people who don’t.

"Made It"

No one would argue that the world and “today’s generation” is more materialistic than past generations or even “our generation” (which is funny since even I say that in reference to the “youngsters” who are only like 7 years younger than me and are probably technically in MY generation). People seem to feel the need to surpass the success and wealth their parents (a convenient benchmark) accumulated over 25 years as quickly as possible.

Cases in point:
My brother has a friend who has a 100” projection TV. He’s 25.

One of my uncle’s proudest accomplishments is that he pays more in tax than his father made during the highest earning year of his career.

I think deep down we all want to prove we’ve “made it” and that we’re successful at what we do. Material things are a convenient way to showcase that fact. Obviously some people take that too far, end up in debt and while they appear to be well-off, they’re really struggling and emotionally breaking as a result of the stress. I certainly don’t advocate anyone doing that.

I expect that many of us have a “made it” item that they hope to acquire at some point in their lives (whether they want to admit it or not). Something they know indicates success; even if others don’t fully appreciate its value (sometimes that facet makes it even better!). It seems that at Jim’s work, very high-end watches are a common signifier.

I used to think that my item would be an original piece of art. Not a Picasso or anything, but something that cost several thousand dollars and I buy it just because I can and stick it in some room with a museum light over it. The older I get the less that particular acquisition seems important, but the concept of some thing hasn’t died in my mind as something I “should” do. I just haven’t come up with what to replace it with yet…