Becoming an author

I think a lot of people out there have an ambition to write a novel. I actually saved a fortune cookie fortune from about 3 years ago that is taped on my computer monitor – it reads “you are a lover of words, someday you will write a book.”

I like the idea of writing for the following reasons:
1) Like blogging, it’d be cool and good for my ego that someone actually wants to read what I have to say
2) Better than blogging, I’d actually be PAID to write!
3) What if my book turns out to be a great American classic!? Don’t I owe it to the world to put it on paper? Ok, this might be an exaggeration… but you never know!
4) What a neat way of getting famous – for doing something that requires actual intelligence/skill (versus being in the email forwards of the Darwin Awards or something like that)

Jim and I brainstormed writing a self-help book together (which I believe I blogged about before). If I had to write one on my own though I think I’d steer myself to what I know best – romantic mysteries. As recently discussed with Lisa though, this genre has several downsides for the author:
1) it’s hard to take any romance seriously (there goes #3 above!)
2) Half the population isn’t interested in this genre (Lisa suspects that the spouses of said authors don’t even read their wives’ books)
3) There are hundreds if not thousands of romances published annually – you’d have to work hard to get yours to rise above the masses
4) I’d need to do quite a bit of homework to really nail a good sex scene (pun ½ intended)- they’re always fun to read but I can imagine they’re difficult to write without being cheesy.
5) So if I do pen a really great sex scene all my friends and family might wonder and joke about what runs through my head (or through my marriage) in real life!

Yeah, this sounds hard…maybe I should go back to my original creations – a childrens’ board game and my new passport idea….

Home Selling, Take 1!

After hours of cleaning and organizing (who knew that washing windows was like an hour-long job!?), we were ready for our prospective home people when they came at 8:00 yesterday evening. The husband couldn't join his wife for the tour so she brought the wife of my co-worker who recommended us to them. We walked the outside of the house and both ladies were really impressed with the lot’s size and space. The kitchen went over well, as did the “very clean” basement.

Becky said that she thinks her husband, Jim, will definitely want to come see the house first-hand so I hope they’ll call about a second tour.

Only kicker to this is that they don’t want to buy but rather they want to rent which isn’t our preference but is doable. We’re more inclined to consider the renting option because they’re friends of friends and, after meeting Becky, she’s the type of person that I’d be friends with in real life so I’d trust her to take care of the house.

Even better than this news, however, was the email waiting for Jim when he got into work today – a hit off his work’s intranet site where we listed the house. A fellow employee wants more information on it as a potential place for her parents. YES!!!!!

Goal is to put a FSBO sign in the yard and at the neighborhood entrance this weekend.

Week 39- 1 to go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby's ready to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) Your baby's organs are fully developed and in place, and the outer layers of skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

If the week passes and your baby stays put, don't panic. Only 5 percent of babies are born on their scheduled due date. And your baby can't make you wait indefinitely for her arrival.

My Take: Dr. appointment this morning went really well – I’ve lost a pound since last week bring my total weight gain to 37lbs. Nicole’s heartbeat was 152 (normal), and I'm 75% effaced/2-3 cm dilated. Making good progress!

I'm past the nervous stage and onto the excitement stage. I'm not even worried about the epidural! I really really really look forward to getting back into my normal clothes again – it’ll be like getting a whole new wardrobe!

The doctor’s parting words this morning were “see you in a week, if not before” – let’s hope he’s right! Greg’s out of town until Friday night so anytime after that I'm ready when she’s ready.

Weekend of 6/22/07

Friday: The big Father’s Day Morton’s dinner was AMAZING! We got all dressed up and headed downtown to enjoy our complimentary dinner for the contest I won. The server was excellent but Mom and I felt bad when they presented our entrée options and the lobster they showed was still alive, trying to crawl of the plate onto Dad’s lap! He was too cute to eat! We had shrimp and bacon-wrapped scallops for an appetizer, salads, filet mignon, sautéed mushrooms, grilled asparagus, the fluffiest mashed potatoes I've ever had, cheesecake and lavacake for dessert. It was fabulous!!

Saturday: Last week we distributed a flyer about our house to start to get some traction on it for selling. In just about an hour we had a bite and someone who wanted to come see it ASAP. Yeeeeaaaahhhh… wasn’t counting on that and so we worked our tails off organizing the basement, packing up stuff, cleaning out closets, etc. It’s not even near done (we crossed off only 5 of 24 to-do items) but now that they’re officially coming to tour on Wednesday of this week we’ll be full-out running to get stuff done. It's all little cosmetic stuff (ie laying new mulch) but there's enough of it to do that it's a bit overwhelming. Nicole officially can now NOT come until Thursday.

We also got to spend some time with Greg and Lindsay at their graduation party that night. Good times, good occasion! Congrats to both again!

Sunday: I packed up a lot of Nicole’s stuff while Jim went to visit God for us at church. As soon as he got home we headed up to see the Erdahl’s PHAT new house in Troy. It’s gorgeous! We were mostly there to celebrate Dr. K’s graduation from medical school (HOORAY!) and hang out with their friends and family. Fantastic food, beautiful house, hot couple.

I'm going to try to talk my boss into letting me take a half day tomorrow and Wednesday to prepare for our tour. So much to do and no time to do it in with work in the way and all! :)

I Have an Opinion on Everything: Wedding Attire Edition

There are some things that I just can’t wrap my head around… like why people would wear jeans and a cut-off t-shirt to a wedding. What barn did you crawl out of and how do you justify in your head that the same outfit you mow your lawn in is appropriate for a wedding ceremony?!

I wasn’t even at the wedding (Jen & Tom were) this happened in last night but, sadly, it went down at my wedding and I’ve seen it at others. Jen said there was actually a guy there who was wearing a hat that said “I Y Bikinis” on it. WOW. The invites even clarified “summer semi-formal” on them!

Who controls the education rights?

I found out last night that my cousin is going to be changing his major from Industrial Design to History at the start of his sophomore year of college. This change sparked conversation about the value of a degree.

Years ago when Jim and I first discussed whether we’d pay for our child’s undergrad education, I was on the side of what was done for me – parents pick up the tab for the degree and give the gift of no debt upon graduation. Jim, who had his whole undergrad paid for by scholarships, took the side that some help could be given but it’s a life lesson in responsibility to have the kid pay for at least part of their own education.

While both of us generically view a college degree as a stepping stone to earning real money, my chemist of a husband placed significantly more value on a business, science or engineering degree as they have the highest earning potential in the real world. My vote was let the kid study whatever they want to, including liberal arts.

Fortunately for our kids, Jim’s come to see my side a little brighter and has crossed the line to agree with my education-financing philosophy.

Which brings me back to my cousin who’s now making the jump from a well-paying degree to one with significantly less job opportunity because it’s more limited in scope...

As my aunt/uncle are paying for his degree, do they now have the right to redirect what school he goes to (one less expensive) based on the fact that the monetary value of the degree is less?

My viewpoint is biased because I have a very expensive degree ($20K/year +) in secondary education (low-earning potential job) but I used those skills acquired during college to land my current job. Even though my degree says I should be earning $30K/year or so, my income from my sales career, derived from having that degree and the associated skills, is higher. Therefore, I think that it is that it’s still worth it to pay a high tuition for a degree from a reputable school, nearly regardless of the degree acquired. (Side note: I'm a huge believer in the fact that the college experience itself is equally important to the "receipt" given at the end and worth the price paid for 4 years of schooling.)

Thoughts?

Week 38 - 2 to go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby has really fattened up. She likely weighs between 6 and 7 1/2 pounds now (boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls), and she's probably between 19 and 20 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test with your pinky! Her organs are fully developed and in place, but her lungs and brain — though developed enough for her to function now — will continue to mature right through childhood.

My Take: The one thing Jim and I agreed on during our hospital stint on Monday is that we’re both eager to see what Nicole will look like. Jim “can’t imagine” her with any other hair color than his, I'm not so sure (I was blonde and still “am”). Thanks to recessive genes we know she’ll have blue eyes and unattached earlobes.

Appointment this morning was not as great as normal because I gained more weight than I wanted to (any). Nicole’s doing well and the doctor still maintains she’s going to be a small baby (hooray!)- Mom says don’t count on that 'cause they told her that too with Greg and he was a pound+ more than me. I'm 1cm dilated and 50% effaced – making good progress.

I still feel really great- moving at a slower pace but still have quite a bit of energy. I hope this keeps up when she gets here!

A little baby excitement

Around 3:00pm yesterday I had quite a bit of clear fluid loss- enough to get my pants noticeably wet and make me wonder if I had sprung a leak. My baby books mentioned that some times your membranes can rupture but the baby acts as a cork and prevents the rush of fluid normally associated with your water breaking. Anyway, I wanted to make sure so I called the doctor who wanted to be sure and consequently sent me to the hospital.

Now, before I continue, recognize that I do not have a baby yet…

So I left around 4:40 and headed to Mercy. I waited around for a half hour for the nurse to see me which had me antsy but afterwards I understood – she was with me for about 45 straight minutes, so it’s no wonder there was an initial delay. She hooked me up to a baby monitor (watching heartbeats which were stable around 148) and a contraction monitor. I had had non-painful contractions much of the afternoon, but it was really eye-opening to watch them being tracked on the little graph paper where you could see the peaks and valleys of contraction-no contraction every 3-5 minutes.

Yeah, every 3-5 minutes was pretty stable which made the nurse think something may be starting… Ultimately the contractions continued from around the 3:00 time when this ordeal started until we left the hospital around 8pm. So, once the doctor FINALLY arrived and I got checked out firsthand by her with a very painful device, she proclaimed there was no rupture and sent me home. Had there been a rupture they would have ultimately induced me to start the "real" contractions.

What I learned:
1. If I'm not in pain or soaking a towel with fluid don’t bother calling
2. Being in the hospital is BORING
3. The monitors are really really cool. If I owned one I’d just sit on my couch and watch it for hours

Weekend of 6/15/07

What a weekend!! We were so busy I felt like it was almost a long weekend… which made getting up this morning NOT fun.

Friday: Our original plans cancelled on us so we were open to accept an impromptu grill-out invite at Jon & Kristi’s. Good food, good company, nice wrap-up to a boring workday

Saturday: Jim bought a book on selling your own house since Greg’s going to grad school and saving money by continuing to live at home. He (Jim) hands it to me on Friday night and instructs “read this book this weekend”. While flattering that he thinks I can read a whole book in a day and a half, it was a challenge that now I had to live up to! So, Saturday I spent about an hour and a half with the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) book, trying to learn about title companies, escrow, and financing. Semi-interesting though hard to fully understand as I’ve personally never bought a house to have experience with these things. Good thing Jim’s been there, done that.

Megan, Stephanie and left early afternoon to go to the spa for massages/pedicures (thanks to a gift certificate from our former boss). They had a cushion with a big hole for my stomach and two divots for my breasts that went on top of the massage table so I could lay front-down. What an odd sensation after not having “laid” on my stomach for 7 months!

I unsuccessfully ran some errands then read more of the FSBO book until Jim came home from Spencerville around 7. We decided to go out for Mexican and on the way the Sentra stopped working literally while we were driving. Same symptoms as this winter that cost us $1100. We did end up getting to dinner around 8:30 after taking the car off at Car X and after I ate my enchiladas an exciting thing happened – Nicole dropped! It was an odd feeling because I literally felt her move from high on me about 2 inches lower – suddenly the weight of carrying her was resting on my thighs as I sat! When I saw Mom the next day she unprompted commented on the fact that I was now carrying lower. Things are getting closer! Lindsay said that Ryann dropped about 2 weeks before she was born. That would put Nicole’s birth on July 1 if the same rings true for me!

Sunday: I cooked for about 3 hours (made my first cheesecake from scratch which turned out really well!), we took my aunt and uncle up north to see our model house (which they raved about!), and we went to my parents for Father’s Day. This is a good time to mention that on Friday I got a call from Morton’s Steakhouse informing me that I won an essay contest about why my dad is the “rarest” which earned me/us dinner for 4! Hooray! Dale graced us with his presence and tolerated all the Templin/Wolf bonding. Dessert went over really well, which made me happy, and we got home around 10:30.

Thursday 13

Thirteen Names I don't Expect will Come Back in Vogue Well, the name Nicole is in the 80's as far as popularity for 2006, which suits me just fine! Here are 13 names I don't suspect will make it back to the top 100 list in my lifetime.... 1. Bertha 2. Gertrude 3. Hildegard 4. Herman 5. Bernard 6. George 7. Bernice 8. Lois 9. Grover 10. Mildred 11. Marberta 12. Wanda 13. Hank

Week 37- 3 to go!

How your baby's growing: Congratulations! Your pregnancy is now considered full term — meaning your baby is developmentally ready to handle life outside the womb. (Babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 weeks are post-term.) Your baby probably weighs a little over 6 pounds at this point and measures between 19 and 20 inches, head to heel.

Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children are born blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

My Take: We’ve taken lots of steps in the past week to make final preparations for Nicole’s arrival – the stroller/car seat has been purchased, assembled, and the base is installed (firmly thanks to a handsome firefighter!) into my car. The hospital bag is mostly packed (need to buy a nursing bra and new cute slippers and I’ll be done!). The spot where her bassinet will go is cleared out and waiting for the rocker’s delivery from Mike and Lindsay. Cause we’re nutty like this, Jim and I put towels in the car to protect my leather car seats during transport to the hospital if I'm leaking and put a picnic blanket with a waterproof side down under the sheet to shield the mattress in case my water breaks while I'm in bed.

I thought that dancing at the wedding and 30 flights of stairs at Homearama would do me some good labor-wise, but apparently not. I have a maternity massage scheduled for Saturday that’s been known to start the process for others. The doctor at my appointment quizzed me on when it’s time to call when labor’s started- I got both things right (water breaking and 5 minute apart contractions)! All this being said, when I woke up at 5:21 with some pains this morning, I started to get nervous at the possibility this was the real thing, thankfully it wasn't!

Weekend of 6/8/07

A few highlights from the weekend:

1. The “hole” is coming along (see picture) – we got to take Jim’s parents and his aunt/uncle/cousins to go see it over the weekend when they came to visit.

2. Dave and Rachel’s wedding was WONDERFUL. Couldn’t have asked for better weather, which was great as it was all outdoors. The ceremony was a man-friendly 11 minutes, and the dinner was a great ethnic blend of oriental, Mexican, and Italian buffets. Loved everything about it!

3. Also took in Homearama this weekend with the family (I have friends with busy social lives!)- I was looking for decorating ideas for the next house. Didn’t find as many as I’d hoped and many of the houses were very average. One we were in Mom commented, “I like your new house better and it’s $2 million less”. She wasn’t just being polite… Only 3/10 houses were in the $1 millions, none of them were worth the cost. Still nice to see how the “other half” (2%?) live.

4. I was asked to teach an MBA class this summer (intro to Marketing) but declined as the class starts 2 weeks after my due date and I think I’ll have more than enough going on to keep me busy. Flattering to be asked though!

Getting Older

I get an email column from Aaron Karo, a comic I read back in college who graduated at the same time as me and went though a lot of what I did at the same time I did. Anyway, here’s a line that he wrote this week that struck home all to clearly:

You know you’re twenty-eight when, every once in a while, you turn on Saturday Night Live and realize you’ve never even heard of the musical guest.

Life Updates

1. The House: We have a hole! We went out last night to see the hole and it was… a hole. I thought it should be deeper. Jim and I both thought the footprint was smaller than expected. Ultimately we conceded that we don’t know squat about this stuff and we’ll leave it to the experts. Concrete should be poured this weekend or the first part of next week.

2. The Kid: … has got to be out of room. Her rolling is sometimes painful as it’s so strong and forceful on my stomach. I’ve been wrong with everything else with this pregnancy (the fact that I was pregnant, her being a boy, etc.) but I'm expecting her to come early. Putting that in writing probably means she’ll be 2 weeks late.

3. Kid Stuff: the crib is in and they’re going to hold it for us until we move to the new house. We found out that Toys R Us carries the pattern that I wanted for our stroller/car seat so we’re buying that tonight. Jim’s co-worker was confused why we were going out of our way for a specific pattern for the travel system then she realized and exclaimed “oh, I forgot, this is your first kid.” :P ha ha

4. Teaching: I got my Spring semester reviews back and they were awesome. My overall effectiveness average was a 4.78/5.0 as rated by 24 students. Class value was a 4.82/5.0. My lowest score was a 4.52/5.0 on “makes me work hard” – oh, I can fix that! My favorite part of the evaluations were the unprompted 3 write-ins of “The best teacher I’ve ever had at XU” and 2 “Karen deserves a raise”. I'm so glad my boss reads these things!

Social Responsibility

There was a woman who called into my morning show the other day that got my mind going. The situation was like this:

Her sister is a long-time drug user who’s been in and out of jail over the last several years. She just had her third child, a son, who has birth defects like his two older brothers as a direct result of the drugs his mother used while pregnant. This woman who called in is now adopting this new baby and has asked her sister to please stop having children as they are all mentally and/or physically challenged because of her capriciousness and all of the boys have been taken away from her. The sister refuses.

My issue with this:
1) this drug user obviously can’t take care of herself or the children she’s bringing into this world
2) this woman’s addiction and irresponsibility have directly and forever negatively impacted the lives of her children
3) the state and its taxpayers are now financially responsible for taking care of these children and she is not held accountable in the slightest

So what’s the answer? Whose job is it to hold her responsible for her actions and the damage she causes to those around her?

Do you tie this woman’s tubes and physically restrict her from having more children and causing more harm? Is it the government’s right to take away that ability from her, even if it's the government who has to clean up the mess for years and years? If you do physically restrict her from having kids, what happens if in 10 years this woman cleans up her act and wants children that she would take care of?

Do you lock her up in jail or a treatment center (also at the state’s expense) away from men so she can’t get pregnant and hopefully gets better?

What should be done?

36 Weeks- 4 To go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby is still putting on the pounds — about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is a little less than 19 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the creamy substance that covered and protected her skin during its submersion in amniotic fluid. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, which will stay in her bowels until birth. This blackish mixture, called meconium, will become her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Babies between 37 and 42 weeks are considered full-term; a baby born before 37 weeks is pre-term and after 42 is post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position by now, which is optimal for a smooth delivery, but if she isn't in the next week, your provider may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position manually, by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

You might also notice that your Braxton Hicks contractions are a little more frequent now. Be sure to review with your practitioner exactly when and where to call her when you think your labor has started. As a general rule, you should call when you start having regular contractions coming every five minutes for about an hour.

My Take: I had a doctor’s visit this morning (I'm going every week now). Here are the stats and life updates:

• My blood pressure: 100/62
• Nicole’s heartbeat: 170 (my honey nut cluster breakfast was blamed for this)
• I have gained exactly 29.5lbs. since I got pregnant
• I am now 1 centimeter dilated
• I'm getting a Braxton Hicks contraction roughly 1/day (not painful, just makes my already firm belly like a rock!)
• Jim is reading the Labor chapter of my What to Expect When You’re Expecting book and I'm gaining more respect from him by the day!

Seeing the pictures of Karen’s nephew (born 6/5/07 at 8:20am) freaked me out a bit – in under a month those pictures will be floating around but it’ll be MY kid friends are holding. Even with 7 (8) months for this to sink in it’s still not fully real.

What's happenin'

1. I get to babysit Ryann tomorrow! Mike’s getting a table from Lisa so I get the honor of watching my niece for the evening. I'm VERY excited.

2. We got a call from the project manager of our house – they’re breaking ground TODAY! We’ll have a hole by the end of the day! I'm going to go take pictures tonight. Concrete should be poured by the end of the week.

For reference, this picture was taken 2 weeks ago and we're standing about 10 feet into our land. The property we bought (.45 acres total) extends all the way to that black dot (a gas meter) near my right shoulder. That road to our left is the private drive for the lots that sit behind ours. Click on the picture to enlarge it and get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

3. Now that the house is more of a reality (actual visible progress is starting), Jim and I are getting more in the mindset of what will happen to our current Fairfield house. Our hope is to sell it to Greg, but we’re realistic that perhaps not all the stars will align (my over-achieving brother wants to start grad school in the winter). We’re putting together the list of projects to do to make the house ready to sell to whomever – mulching, basement organization, brush removal, etc. Of course none of these projects sound like fun, but all make a big difference on the appearance of the property.

4. Foot swelling went down for about 3 days but is back with a vengeance this morning. I head to the doc tomorrow and will ask to make sure that other than elevation there’s nothing I should do (or worry about).

5. Tonight we head to the hospital for our maternity ward tour. On our visit we’ll stop by and see Karen C who’s nephew, Nicholas, should be born by then!

Weekend of 6/1/07

Friday: work was SLOW- boring projects led to a long day. I did have a highlight at the end when Sarah W stopped in and brought me flowers! :)

That night Lisa and Kendall spoiled us with these amazing cheeseburgers, salad and chips. Jim & Kendall played some Wii and Lisa and I chatted up a storm. Nicole actually made an appearance (apparently she likes Kendall’s burgers too!) putting Lisa on a very short list of friends/family who has felt her move in utero. It was very sad to realize that was out last shindig in their current house. :( I know their new house will be amazing, but I liked THIS house!

Excitement on the way home: We got pulled over. UGH. It's so nerve-wrecking for me to see those lights behind the car, even if I'm not driving. Anyway, the guy was really nice and let Jim off with a warning (78 in a 65) which we VERY much appreciated.

Saturday: As I was reading People and Jim was studying, Dave P called and asked Jim if he would step in as his Best Man that evening for Dave/Carole’s vow renewal ceremony (Dave’s brother got sick). Of course Jim was honored to do so and his wife was delighted to see him all dressed up. The ceremony, my first renewal ceremony, was beautiful – the flowers were gorgeous, Carole looked “hot” as Tom and Meghan pointed out, Dale played wonderfully, and the whole event was incredibly touching and meaningful.

Sunday: Got up around 8 (on a weekend?!!?) and did some around the house stuff until we left for OSU around 11. We went north to see the OSU Dental School graduation ceremony for a few of Jim’s friends (a groomsman and the reader in our wedding grad’ed together coincidentally enough). Nice ceremony, John Glenn gave a funny commencement speech, but it was WEIRD to hear them call out Jim’s friends as “Dr. Robert Yoxthimer” and “Dr. David Bernal”. I think it was kind of weird for them too!

When we got home we ate dinner and watched The Prize Winner from Defiance, Ohio, a movie Kendall let us borrow on Friday. I think I cried about 4X during the movie. Some parts were just so sad/happy I couldn’t help it! Great acting, good plot. B+ (not an A because I wouldn’t want to watch it again – who likes crying so much!?)

Some Morning Thoughts

1. My feet are SWOLLEN (see picture from last night). Jim propped them up for me in bed while I slept and they looked almost normal by the time I woke up. That progress, of course, is all gone now that I'm up and moving around again.

2. I think that the Michigan travel commercials are excellent. If you’ve haven’t seen one, here’s the link to just one of the many they've been putting out. Very professional and emotional. Makes me want to go to Michigan.

3. Is there a woman out there who doesn’t like that Winnie the Pooh song, Pooh Corner?

4. I got to eat with a SPORK today - what a great invention!