I went back to kempo class on Thursday. My gi fits (it's a miracle!) and I still remember some of the material I was learning before I got pregnant. I can't go back as often as I used to, but he's opened up the studio in the mornings for open workouts, so I can go in during the morning for reviews and working my strength back up for class.

But, boy, am I sore! Not as sore as I expected to be, but still sore.

Doesn't help that I was rearranging the bedroom yesterday, too. The place was driving me NUTS. It's horribly cluttered, covered in clothes, and I wasn't able to walk in there. It needed work STAT. It's still in progress, but I can see a positive outcome!

The other challenge I've had lately is not necessarily something everyone wants to read, so it's behind a cut.

( Of Babies and Boobies )

Lastly, the laptop seems to be having issues. The backlight has been blinking out, and the computer turns itself off sometimes. I have to powercycle it to get it to come back on (that is, I have to take out the charger and pop out the battery). It's not had an easy life, so it's getting a little long in the tooth. But it's not a good time to need to buy a new laptop; especially not an Apple laptop. And I'm really not crazy about going to a Windows machine, even though I can get a discount on a Dell through Mary Kay. I don't know . . . I do know that I have to back this thing up fanatically for a while and somehow store all my bookmarks. I need to go through and write down all my passwords and logins, too.

Right now, though, I really ought to make some phone calls and go back to cleaning my room. It needs to be done, and I don't want someone else to do it, so I'm the one to do it. Tonight, I'm going to my parents' house so they can get some grandparent time and I can get a bath and some sleep. Hopefully that will help my state of mind . . .

Laterz!

( UPDATE: Of Babies and Boobies )

I cleaned my bathroom yesterday!

I know . . . what's to be proud about that?

My bathroom was a wreck, and I hadn't cleaned the floor in far, far too long. It was GROSS. I purged a bunch of stuff to take to the women's shelter (if they'll take it) – shampoos, body wash, perfumes – mopped the floor, and cleaned the sink. I sort of wiped down the toilet, but forgot to brush the bowl. I also didn't clean the window panes, which are all wet and moldy. Oops. But the rest is done! :)

I also planned my dinners for this week, and shopped accordingly on Monday afternoon. I'm planning so I will use up stuff in my freezer, then I'll start using Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way, which I bought a while back in order to start planning my dinners better. I hate it when stuff goes bad in my fridge. Food is not getting any cheaper!

Now, I just need to get the rest of my house under control . . . Slowly but surely!

I woke up LATE today. But I went to bed late last night (early this morning, really). Sweetie has been up for a few hours already and is off at my brother's house, fixing his wireless network. It's a gorgeous, sunny day. I should be productive!

My living room is covered in bags of baby stuff from my shower on Saturday. I really ought to figure out where I'm going to put it all. :) At some point, I'm going to have to face my closet. All that pre-pregnancy clothing is going to have to go somewhere else and make way for maternity/post-partum and baby. We got several gift cards to Target, so we'll probably pick up some more metal mesh shelving to set up in the bedroom to keep all the baby stuff close at hand.

In the midst of this, I also need to go through all my old Mary Kay stuff and do an inventory list. Last Tuesday, I did what I didn't think I would ever do again, at least not this early: I re-signed up to sell Mary Kay. However, this time, I have a director who I LOVE and I'm surrounded by people I know, so it's not as scary or confusing this time.

Even before that guest event I went to last Monday, I had been staying up nights writing out a plan of action to run this business debt-free. I accumulated a lot of debt last time, making orders when I didn't have the sales and making an initial inventory order when I didn't have the resources (or know-how or motivation) to sell it off. In fact, a lot of the credit card debt is mine alone. And I don't want to get a J-O-B to pay it off. I want to do it a FUN way. :)

Part of the speech the National Director made last week included this statement: "Hm, I'm being asked to sell a product I love to people I like. How hard can this be?"

I feel exactly the same way.

I believe wholeheartedly that my skin has been nearly perfect this entire pregnancy due to Mary Kay products. I have never had such great skin in my life (well, after puberty) since using Mary Kay products. I like the company. I like the product. I love my new director and new fellow consultants. It feels right! :D

And, because I made my decision overnight (I'd filled out an agreement to win a free starter kit that night – feeling like I was going to throw up, because I wasn't sure I was ready and I definitely didn't have my husband's blessing yet), I earned this gorgeous ring:



The tag was still on it: $45.00.

I rarely get excited over jewelry, because I wear so little of it. Here's how excited (and proud) I am of this particular ring: I took off my high school class ring, which I've been wearing for the past twelve years straight – even in my wedding – to wear this one for the past few days.

I thought it would be hard to get my husband's okay, because he knows how much debt I could go into. I couldn't ask for it that night, so my director held the agreement and my check for me till the next day, when I could talk to him. I couldn't go to sleep right away and I couldn't stay asleep that morning when he got up – but I also couldn't form coherent sentences before he left for work. SO, I emailed him, laid out my reasoning, and told him I'd thought about just going for it without asking but I didn't want to start out that way. I also bribed him with steak. ;)

He was very happy that I'd asked. I got his permission with the condition that I not impoverish us. :) I called my director and had her mail the check and agreement that day, and I went to the meeting that night to be pinned. I still felt a little like throwing up, but this time it was excitement. :)

My goals:
-Pay off credit card debt (without going into more debt).
-Make some extra money that will give us some freedom to do things we wouldn't be able to do on a Soldier's salary.
-Pay off car debt.
-Fund Sweetie's lasik eye surgery.
-Eventually buy a house.

I'm even looking at that pink Cadillac as something I would be willing to drive, after all. Maybe my son could drive his date to high school dances in it. :)

I do have a lot of work to do to get myself to the point of meeting these goals, but I did the math, and if I sell just $200 a week, I can pay off one of our credit cards in a year. That's a long time, but if I didn't do it, that credit card would still be sitting there with a big ol' balance a year from now. I believe I can do better than $200 a week, but that's my "Start Small to Get Big" approach at this point. I'm about to have a baby, so starting out (and continuing on) like a cannonball might not be the option I can take.

Certainly doesn't mean I shouldn't try, ;), but I have to be realistic this time around. I can still dream, but I need to be realistic about my goals. At least the baby will be helping me get up early in the morning, and will be a constant living reminder of the life I want him to have. My husband is a good reminder, too, but he's also the main breadwinner. It's easy to fall back on that when business isn't moving along. But we're also looking more job options in the face, including deployment later down the line (maybe), and I want my husband to have choices. Heck, if I do really well with this, maybe someday he can be a Mr. Mom or stay home and write or build computers, or whatever he wants to do.

I've mentioned before that I'm afraid of this next presidential election. I suddenly have this urge to do everything I can do to help us become financially free – unafraid of bills and tax time. I'm not willing to go into real estate investing, like my dad wants to do, or try to start my own business from the ground. This is the best opportunity I've come across for me. And it feels really good. :)

And I actually looking forward to Seminar this year – the registration for which I will be funding with the money I make from my sales/commission, or I will not go at all. That's my deal with myself. And Sweetie might come with me! :D

I feel so good about this decision this time. Now I just need to get crackin'! :D

I went to a Mary Kay event last night. I couldn't sleep when I got home. Too excited! Also, I think there might have been some caffeine involved. At any rate, I didn't get to sleep until after 1am.

I woke up before Sweetie's alarm so I could go to the bathroom, but my hip was hurting, too. I tried sleeping on my left side, but heartburn kicked in. I flipped to my left side and the cat joined me, but then Sweetie was getting up. My heartburn subsided a little, but I realized I was HUNNNNGRRRRYYY. This is not just morning munchies, here – it was full throttle I-need-breakfast-right-NOW. Also, I was still excited from last night.

I got up, ate some cheese, helped Sweetie with his lunch, made some tea, ate some more food, and now I'm back in bed (where it's warm) to use the computer for a little while.

I have an urge to clean out the back room today. A STRONG urge! It's just freakin' cold this morning, so I'm going to give myself a chance to sleep a little longer (although I don't think it will happen), then get up, shower, and dig into that pig sty storage area.

I only have a few months to use it effectively before we move again. I want that time!!! Not to mention it just needs cleaning. Sweetie's getting a shiny new computer soon. It needs a nice home! :D

More about Mary Kay later.

I'm still resisting the urge to write about politics in this blog. Unfortunately, that means that I have a lot to say, but I'm not going to say it, and my post is going to be shorter than it often is. I might write a few essay-type-things and post them over at Gather.com, since I have an account there that I never use. It seems like a better forum for ranting about idiot conservatives and socialistic democrats.

I'll just say this much: I live in fear of election day. It's not going to be pretty.

----

THAT said . . . Sweetie helped me clean the bedroom and hallway out this weekend, and we set up the baby cage crib in the bedroom (a Graco Pack-n-Play, and just the right size for the house!). It's currently a baby-stuff storage device, since we don't have anywhere to put all the stuff we've been getting. There are three bags of clothes I need to go through, and Shiva, Destroyer of Closet Monsters is on top of it all, as a mighty protector. I'll have to take a picture. :)

There is still too much of my clothing lying around, but at least the stuff I can currently wear is mostly folded and sort of put away. I need to go through the stuff I can't wear and Spacebag it or get rid of it. We Spacebagged two comforters and a blanket, and I was impressed how small the package got. Hopefully, the cat doesn't decide it's a tasty snack before I can get it put into the closet (she eats plastic). I'm hoping Spacebags end up saving us a lot of packing grief in the future. It's a pretty handy concept! :)

Man . . . it's just past 10:30, and I'm falling asleep already . . .

I'll go over and update tiny_socks, but in case you don't read it, you should follow this link to my husband's blog to read what his fortune cookie said this afternoon. :) AWESOME! :D

It's that time of year again!

I have to admit to being a sappy lover of Valentine's Day. We rarely get very romantic, we never do anything very special, and I can't even get candy this year – but I LOVE the colors and the theme of the day. Thus, I've changed my theme to "Hearts and Daisies" to commemorate the month. I might change it back to what it was later.

I woke up before my alarm this morning, but went back to sleep till it went off. I even hit snooze once (only once! Amazing!). Then, I got up, put on a sweatshirt, and started cleaning the bedroom. A little. I wanted breakfast first.

I ended up abandoning the bedroom once I got some books boxed up and the bookshelf freed that I wanted to use in the kitchen as a pantry. It wasn't a very heavy shelf at all, so I moved it, myself, and ended up reorganizing and cleaning the kitchen while talking to sweetsusie on the phone. I also took a break to put together a laundry cart that I've had for months that is supposed to hold all the bottles and random stuff in the laundry room to keep it out of the way. I cleaned off the washer and dryer (they were GROSS!) and swept in there and in the cat room. I reorganized a few shelves in the cat room, too, and then went back to work on the kitchen.

I'm very proud of myself. It wasn't the intended plan for the day, but ANY cleaning is progress! And now there's more room in the bedroom, so I can make some more progress in there, too. I still really need to sweep and mop the kitchen, and wash the kitchen footstool (that thing gets NASTY just sitting there). But I've cleaned out cupboards (lots of old food in there that needed tossing), reorganized countertops, cleaned out under the sink (and devised a way to use my sink sprayer without soaking everything under the sink – but I still can't see the leak). My husband now has his own coffee station, and I can reach the knives and silverware without moving things out of the way first. The Brita pitcher also has a new home right next to the sink (there's no point in keeping it in the fridge anymore, honestly; we just use it too fast).

I've eaten lunch finally, and am taking a break to give my back and legs a rest. I need to finish some laundry, though, so I have pants to wear tonight. I should probably also clean off the bed so we can both fall into it this afternoon for a nap before we got to our friends' house for dinner. First, I need a shower . . .

Well, I don't have a lot of time, so I need to get some more things done. Hopefully, I'll get a 35-week pic done today or tomorrow for my icon. I'll try to wear red or pink so it matches the theme. ;)

Orders Extended: Check

ID Card Renewed: Check

Month Portion of Military Access Sticker Replaced: Check

No Change in TriCare Prime Enrollment: Check!


AAAahhh! Life is good. :)


Sweetie got his orders to me yesterday and I took them to the DEERS office on Base. Of course, the DEERS office moved – AGAIN – to a badly-labeled hidden building near Pass & ID (the ID part having nothing to do with Military ID – only DoD badges), just off-base (heh). I swear they do it just to keep everyone on their toes. Can't have them getting comfortable and knowing where things are! That would be crazy! ;)

The guy who's either inputted or helped input our orders every time I go out there was there again, and got me in and out of there in ten minutes or less. I probably waited longer to see him than to get business taken care of. That makes me happy! :) He knew what I was trying to say, which was that the orders needed to be extended rather than renewed, so there's no break in TriCare coverage. He did it in just a minute or two. Then, I got my ID renewed, and the picture doesn't make me look like a troll in a fishbowl. Hooray! :)

My ID was going to expire yesterday, so the arrival of the orders and my handy-dandy POA made it possible for me to continue on an active-duty card (peach-colored) until next September, rather than have a short-term active-reserve card (pink) for a matter of days until the orders might have come in. This is a Good Thing.

Today, Sweetie had the day off, so he came with me to my OB appointment. We went out to lunch after that and then back to the Base to go to Pass & ID, because that's where you get decals for your car (among other things). I'd tried to go right after getting the orders and ID renewed, but they'd closed five minutes before I got there (they have terrible hours!). The month sticker on our car was partially scraped off (happens in the ice and snow), and I'd been notified almost every time I went through the gate (when they weren't busy notifying me that my card was about to expire) that I needed to replace the sticker. We got it done today, so they should stop complaining.

We registered at Target for baby stuff (so much cute clothing!) and then Sweetie got a haircut. One of the guys in my Kiwanis club has a barber shop, and has been cutting hair probably longer than I've been alive. He does an EXCELLENT job on Sweetie's hair, and it always smells so nice afterward. :) Very manly!

I don't remember if there's anything else I was going to write about. I DO need to get this house in order. It's in a pitiful state. :p This is especially important, because I don't want Baby getting sick because I can't keep our room vacuumed or the floors swept – not to mention it would be nice to be at least somewhat organized before having to move again.

ANYway. I need to go post over at tiny_socks. Laterz! ;)

I've been doing laundry for a few days now, and making a good dent in the clothing-all-over-the-bedroom issue. Problem is, I have a LOT more clothing that is non-maternity that I cannot fit into at the moment that I'm having trouble storing out of the way until I get all the laundry done. Oh well – the room's a disaster, anyway. What's another week of chaos while I work to get it undisastered? ;) At least the bedsheets are clean and the bed is made (note: BIG STEP – I'm horrible about making the bed).

I'm starting a "refashion" pile, but I also need to get a donation pile going. I don't need to keep for refashioning [read: cutting up to make new clothes] the clothes that are in good enough condition for someone else to use. At least, not all of them. :)

The living room looks TONS better, but it's still a bit disorganized, too. I got all the Christmas decorations down, including the ivy and lights, which I separated so I could throw the lights away. Tuesday is trash day, and the trash can is FULL. Hopefully I can put off taking the kitchen garbage out till Tuesday evening.

I'm actually happier with the ivy and lights down. It opens the room up more, I think. I laid the rug down that I bought the other day, and I'm sure it's warming the room up. The green is more olive than the curtains, which are emerald, but it ties the couch in, too, and works very well for the room. I'm going to have to be diligent about vacuuming, though, because it's right by the door, and it's hard to keep stuff from being tracked across it. Also, it doesn't show dirt very well (yay!), so I will have to make a conscious effort to remember to clean it. :)

The cat box needed cleaning VERY VERY BADLY the other day, so I started my cleaning spree with the mudroom. The shelves in there still need to be reorganized, but the catbox is now scrubbed inside and out and smelling nice and fresh. I've moved some things around in there, too, so it looks more open and less cluttered, and put the plastic insulation on the window in there. Here's a little feng shui moment for you: I angled the catbox in the corner with a rug in front of it, and it makes me happy to walk in there. Who'da thunk? :)

Unfortunately, all this cleaning makes my back hurt rather severely and my ankles swell. I try to remember to take breaks, but I know I'm not drinking enough water. I finally kicked back and watched a couple movies last night between laundry foldings so I could put my feet up for a while and get a cute little handmade dicebag sewn up for a friend. I need to remember to take a picture of it before I wrap it up today.

Sweetie came home last night around 9pm, but the bedsheets weren't dry yet, so we stayed up watching a DVD until they were done. He had to leave early this morning again, but he'll be back on Tuesday night! Hooray! :D He gets to stay home all day Wednesday to study his Russian before going back to take his test on Thursday and Friday (only half-days, so he gets to come home in the evenings), but by Friday afternoon, he's DONE, and back home again! I'm so glad. I've missed him so much!

I have a Tupperware party to attend around 2pm today, but I have a few things to get done before then, so I should get off my butt and get moving. My ankles are looking good right now, so don't really need to have my feet up at the moment. :) I'm just feeling lazy today. I'm running out of time, though. *Sigh*

Long day today.

Kiwanis meeting at 7am, OB class from 9:30 to 11:30, and then a bunch of hospital stuff I tried to get wrapped up (for more info – some of which might be a little TMI, just to warn you – visit tiny_socks. I haven't posted yet, though. I will in a bit.).

I'm home now, putting my feet up for a while and enjoying the peace and quiet. I've slowly been getting my laundry washed, which is a HUMONGOUS task right now. Cienna, you talk about Mt. St. Laundry – I think I have the entire Cascade Range in my bedroom at the moment . . . ;)

But getting it done is nice. Sweetie will be coming home on Friday night, around 9pm-ish, so I hope to have the bedroom a little more squared away than it has been. I might even get the baby cage crate crib up and the rocker moved in there. I at least hope to have the carpet vacuumed and sheets washed. Sometimes, it's the small things. :)

I do need to take down the Christmas decorations. And, for the first time in seven years, I need to separate the ivy and lights and toss the lights. They only half-work, and I can't replace the bulbs fast enough. I might seek out some of the last vestiges of the after-Christmas sales to see if I can pick up some new white lights to put with the ivy, and maybe I'll string it around the bedroom this time. The living room seems somewhat smaller with them up, I think. The bedroom might be more romantic.

Gosh, I'm tired. I'm not tired enough to sleep (well, if I tried I probably could, but I don't FEEL like it), but I'm just weary. I had a flu shot today, and I'm hoping it doesn't come back to bite me. I decided to go ahead and do it, because I'm working with four- and five-year-olds at church until February. Might as well get vaccinated against the kiddie germs! :)

[Time passes 'cause I needed to eat dinner and look over my lesson for tonight. It's now tomorrow – 12:10am.]

I went to church, started class out great and then ran out of ideas (and steam) toward the middle, trying to contain seven rowdy little kids (although, to be fair, it was four rowdy little boys who were feeding off each other's energy level – the girls were very well behaved, for the most part). When church was over, I went to the Family Life Minister's house and played Scrabble with him and his wife and ate sugar-free instant chocolate pudding. Yum! :D

The rain was kind of chunky on my way there from church. We noticed it was snowing about an hour later. We kind of forgot about it, though, and by 11:30, when I was getting ready to leave, there was some significant accumulation on the ground! The minister scraped the snow off my car and I headed out.

The Subaru is awesome in the snow. I hadn't gotten to drive it in the snow yet, so this was kind of a treat for me. :) Fortunately, though, the roads around our house, which can be kind of scary in just the rain, were covered in a very thin layer of slush, so it wasn't so bad out here. I'm kind of jealous that everywhere else gets such beautiful snow and we get gunk, but, really, I'm not going to go out to play in it. I don't have to worry about sliding down my concrete steps. It's actually kind of nice to live where it's a little warmer.

Well, the mountain range has not vacated my bed yet, so I will probably sleep on the couch again tonight. That is, unless I can clean off the bed. I might be able to. Hopefully I can stay on task tomorrow and get the bedroom and living room clean. The catbox also desperately needs emptying and cleaning. It's pretty nasty. :p I just can't ignore it anymore, and Sweetie won't be home till 9pm Friday night – just in time to go to bed so he can get up early and go back on Saturday morning. I miss him . . .

It's not getting any earlier (well, unless you count "early in the morning"), so I should probably get ready for bed. I didn't get much sleep last night, and I should be WAY more tired than I am now. I do feel the wall coming on . . .

Anyway, good night! :)

I keep losing track of the days!

I posted more of a diary post over at tiny_socks yesterday (link to the post). I had a pretty crappy Wednesday and Thursday, except for the evening. I got a nap in the afternoon, which made me feel much better, and then we went out to dinner with friends and then to coffee, where I got to spend time with someone else I haven't seen in a long time.

Today, I went to coffee with sweetsusie to catch up, since we haven't spoken since before Christmas (that's a long time for us!) except via email, and then I got some lunch and went to the hospital, where I had some gestational diabetes counseling.

It's not too bad. The diet they'd like me to keep will probably help my reflux and weight issues in the last ten weeks. I don't have full-fledged gestational diabetes, but my sugars were elevated during the test, and that's not a good thing. They just want me to monitor and diet so I don't have to do anything more drastic (i.e. take insulin pills/shots) to control it.

Unfortunately, I'm not a terribly consistent person. Eating at the same time every day is nearly impossible sometimes, especially when my husband is gone, like he is now. He is helpful in making sure I eat dinner in the evening, and something more substantial than what I would eat on my own. So I'm going to have to set up reminders for myself and possibly keep a food diary, so I have a record to keep me on track.

Speaking of which, it's past time I ate dinner . . . I'd really love a steak, but since I don't have one, I'll probably settle for eggs and toast. Reflux is acting up again, so nothing sounds good at all. But, I have to eat something. Oh well.

I'm hopefully going to be diligent in the next few weeks about cleaning the house. I'd like for at least part of it to be ship-shape and sparkling by the time Sweetie comes home. I bought a rug for the living room, because the floor is so cold. It's stripey and matches the walls and curtains, and will hopefully warm the room up.

Well, I should cook something before the wind knocks out the power. I can hear it beginning to bluster out there, and the power flickered a couple times a little while ago.

Until later!

I still haven't cancelled the cable. (D'OH!!! I'm SO ashamed . . . )

Celebrate Jesus ended well, although with a skeleton crew. We had enough people to give a few people breaks who needed them, but we had to leave one scene unstaffed and up to the viewers' imaginations. Oh well – has to be done. I came very close to laying down the law to a couple of our actors who kept coming in for food and drinks without being told they could (it's not a big deal if we have alternates for them, but when they're abandoning their post – and young enough to stick it out for a few hours, for goodness sake – I am not sympathetic). The only things that saved them were the fact that it was the last night, I was very tired and in pain (my pelvis is beginning to complain more frequently) and didn't want to get up to chase them down. My helper person hadn't been able to make it that night, so I was using my husband as a go-between, but also as an alternate actor. I obviously did not impress this fact on some people before they went out to act in their scenes. That was my fault, and part of the problem. But it wasn't that big a deal in the long run. If I saw them inside, I kicked them out. Good enough. It's over now!

Our septic is pumped and usable again, but needs repairs, which will rip up the backyard a bit when they get into it. I'm glad I haven't worked very hard to landscape the place.

It's nice to be back home again, except that I'm once again faced with a messy, undecorated house and my lazy, unmotivated self.

Today I'm resting. This weekend was non-stop, and I was sleep-deprived and in pain. I didn't want to push myself any farther. I do need to get SOMETHING done, though. At least I've already scrubbed the shower and sink last week. The Magic Eraser (and cheaper, off- and store-brand versions) is MUCH more convenient, and easier on the septic, than chlorine bleach. It's also more reusable and I'm less likely to bleach my clothing (or worse, the clothing I've borrowed) by accident. Wish I could use it on my white towels. But I've learned that OxyClean will actually whiten things if they're left to soak overnight. Will have to try that!

Umm . . . it's 2:30pm, and I'm still in PJs. I should fix that.

I've been listening to talk radio a lot, and have been suppressing the urge to make political comments in this blog. I don't know how long I'll be able to suppress it the closer we get to election season, so be ready to either ignore or face some longish rants about issues you probably don't care about.

I can't believe Christmas is next week. Dang. It snuck up on me again . . . Maybe I will decorate in October next year . . .

Our concert went well on Saturday, and here's a review, comparing us to the Seattle Symphony. He uses a bunch of high-falutin' language and was merciful about our false starts and glaring missteps, but he seemed to favor our performance over the larger, more professional Seattle performance. I think I'm flattered. :)

Ummm . . . Yep. I'm entering the third trimester with a bang. I'm huge and not sure how I'm going to get bigger. Baby still has a little space to move around, but he's beginning to protest lack of space more often. I WILL get around to updating my preggie blog, I just keep not doing it. Too much going on!

It's Monday – I have to remember that. :)

The borscht feast was a huge hit, but I forgot to take pictures of it before serving it. I was really hungry. :) Of course, not everyone liked it, but that's okay. Beets are one of those veggies that people either love or hate. I'm really proud that it came out so well. I've never tasted it before, so I really didn't know what we were in for. It tasted like beets and beef broth – very hearty – and was excellent with a dollop of sour cream. YUM! I'll have to make that again sometime, perhaps with meat added.

Two loaves of beer bread disappeared quickly, as did the Chinese chicken salad. Although I think my husband ate a quarter of it, himself. ;) I love cooking for soldiers. They're always appreciative of good food (or even mediocre, if it's homecooked).

After eating and cleaning up, Sweetie and I were free to go. It was about 1:30 or 2pm by the time we hit the road, which allowed us to get over the pass in the daylight. We reached our destination just after dark and relaxed with Sweetie's aunt, uncle, and cousin until we couldn't stay awake any longer. I'd only gotten about three hours of sleep the night before, because I failed to prepare anything during the day and did it all after I got home from choir practice at 9:30pm. I was up till 2am, but I wanted to make sure everything was done and I had to think very little before packing the car.

Thanksgiving was awesome! I ate so much, I looked like I was in my ninth month. I was pretty sure I hadn't been that big that morning! Thankfully, I was less rotund the next morning. Note to self: There isn't as much room in there as there used to be! I'm going to have to be extra cautious at Christmastime. :)

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I went to Wal-Mart the next morning at 8am to hit the sales. Othello is a small town, and Wal-Mart is pretty much the biggest store they have. The parking lot was as full as any other day, and the shelves were not picked clean. The store wasn't crowded, either, which was nice. I was there for the exercise, because I knew I'd eaten a lot the night before and would eat more over the course of the weekend, and I'm not much of an impulse shopper – especially since I know rent is coming out in a few days and I had no way to check the pending transactions in the bank. I did get a couple things, though, some gifts and some little items I needed.

We spent the day around family, watching movies, talking, eating, and playing with the kids. My nieces are incredibly cute. :) Exhausting, but cute. ;)

We went home on Saturday morning-ish, with leftover turkey and some premade sandwiches (nothing beats sandwiches made with leftover turkey). We vegged and watched Law & Order on DVD while waiting to go out to dinner with Sweetie's parents. We ate at a local steakhouse, which was EXCELLENT, and went to bed pretty early. It's been feeling later than it really is lately, which is probably an artifact of Daylight Saving and Washington's gloomy, short winter days.

We went to early service Sunday morning and came home for lunch – more turkey leftovers! I made an awesome turkey salad, which I ate on wheat bread with cheese and cranberry sauce. Yum! :D I'm looking forward to it again for lunch today.

The house is an utter disaster – Sweetie pulled some boxes to go through out into the living room, and I just haven't gone through them yet (by the way, this is totally me). So, yesterday afternoon, I pulled over a filing box, dug out my filing folders, and started organizing papers that have been boxed for way too long. I found some great stuff! I did get rid of extraneous stuff that we don't need, but I kept college papers and memorabilia and some other paperwork. My filing box is full, so I have to get it from the living room to the office, clear the stuff away from the filing cabinet, and start loading that bad boy up. It's a six-drawer monstrosity that I should have put to use the moment I got it. I should have had Sweetie move the box last night.

While filing, my nose got stuffier and stuffier. By evening service time, I had yellow mucus and a headache, so I wasn't going anywhere. Sweetie played hooky from church to spend the evening with me, and we watched more Law & Order while I finished filing.

I'm not sure I slept much last night, between my clogged head and aching hips. I don't have a fever or a sore throat, thankfully, but I've been sneezing like crazy. I'm convinced it's allergies that snuck in while I was adjusting between our climate and the frozen, dry air of Eastern WA (not to mention my dusty, filthy house). Some Sudafed seems to be helping, as is the Neti Pot I bought, anticipating sinus issues this winter.

The Neti Pot is weird. You pour water through your nose. The drawing in the instructions has a woman smiling while she's irrigating her nasal passages, which could only be because it's such a ridiculous thing to do. Really good for you, but it feels silly. :)

In an effort to get something done this morning, I started to replace white Christmas lights that have burnt out, but I bought the wrong voltage. Not only that, but one string doesn't like to let go of its bulbs. Now I need to go find the right bulbs and maybe a tool for getting them out of their sockets. Bleh. :p

Well, I'm hungry again, and I should get back to doing something useful. Hopefully I can get more filing done today; I'll probably just bring a few folders at a time down to the cabinet so I don't have to lift the whole box. Pregnancy has its drawbacks.

This is also a really long post. Hope you made it to the end! :) If so, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Laterz!

We cleaned the living room on Friday, and I finally got to all the shredding I needed to do. At the bottom of the basket was the green notice from the department of licensing that my tabs on the Subaru needed to be renewed. Usually, I mark on the paper when I've paid it, but this time I had an odd feeling ... like it's possible we never actually did renew the tabs ...

Sure enough, I've been driving around with tabs that expired in August. I renewed them online, but I'm having them mailed to me. Hopefully they will arrive by Tuesday, but I do have to go into town tomorrow. Watch that be the only day in a month and a half that a cop actually pays attention to them and pulls me over.

I'm planning on printing out the receipt, so it shows I've purchased them and they will be arriving in the mail.

I can't believe that happened! That's NEVER happened! I have no idea how that got into the shred pile!

****

In other news, I had a fantastic idea for rearranging the house to make it more inviting, and maximize space. Sweetie helped, too. I want to move the dining table into the living room and put it in the corner by the windows (which I will need to clean, because eating next to spiders and dust is a little too close to nature for my taste). We're cancelling the television service, so the TV can go in the corner where the couch is now and the couch can go on the wall where the TV was. That will make sitting over there much more comfortable, as it will be on an inside wall.

We'll take the baker's rack (cum writing desk) out of the bedroom and put it where the dining table is now. That way, there will be more room for Baby in our bedroom. I can put a set of cheap shelves up, too, for dried goods and cans and whatnot, so I don't have to bend down so much in the future.

We really have to do something about warming the house up, too, without running the heat too much, so I need to be thinking seriously about wall hangings and curtains. Time to hit the thrift stores and fire up that fancy-shmancy sewing machine! I wonder how quickly I can make a patchwork quilt ... ?

****

Oh, important announcement: Along with cancelling the TV, we're going to be cancelling the internet, as well, so that I can become a more productive member of this household and society. The internet has been a horrible distraction for me lately, and I find that I'm not getting anything done that a responsible homemaker should be doing. It's getting to be a problem.

After a few months, we'll get DSL and a land line. Paying for phone service is much more practical than paying for crappy, bottom-end cable TV that I've stopped watching. I will miss out on Heroes every Monday night; but, hey, that's what DVDs are for! :D

****

I have only a few minutes of power left, so I've got to go. Laterz!

We got up "early" this morning and cleared the trees and blackberries from the front and side yards. Well, most of the trees from the side yard. At least the one in front of my kitchen window and the one encroaching on my neighbor's yard are gone. There are a few little ones that still need to be taken out.

I also walked around and checked my "crops". I managed to harvest some blackberries from the vines we cut out of the front yard, but I still have some in the back yard. The grapes are ripening, but have a few days to go yet. The plums are near fully ripe, and several have already fallen to the ground. The apples are taking their time (as always), but there are already a few on the ground. I need a ladder!!!

I was going to post a photo documentary here, but my camera's batteries died, and I can't find the charger anywhere . . . I guess it's time to clean the house . . .

Whenever I have batteries that work again, I'll get the pics transferred and show you the work we did. I can't believe how much we got done with just a pair of loppers, pruning shears, and a shovel. Wow. :) The mountain of evil, eeeeviiilll trees and blackberry vines on our concrete slab is something to behold.

And I'm WIPED OUT. I need to declutter a bit in the living room, though, before I really take a rest. We're gonna spend some time with Sweetie's parents tonight, so I need to get crackin'.

Laterz! :)

Well, I was more sick over the past few days than I've been productive today, but, hey, my couch cushion covers have been washed (twice, to get the musty smell out), my huge pile of dishes have been washed, and my kitchen floor has been swept AND mopped. That's pretty darn good, since I've barely gotten anything done in the past few weeks. I really need to be MORE productive, since it's nice to have a clean floor and counters. Heck, I even have candles burning. :)

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were pretty icky in the morning sickness department. I really wasn't sure if I was going to claim any longer that morning sickness hasn't yet made me throw up. But I managed to keep everything down, and felt much better after dinner. Today has been good, though, so far.

I'm running out of battery power, so I'm going to wrap this up. Tonight I'll be eating dinner at my parents' house and playing cards. I've been working on getting more people hooked on Phase 10 so I have more people to play with. :) My parents are both hooked, especially since they haven't beaten me yet. They have plenty of chances. I got another friend hooked on Wednesday night, and she beat me twice out of three games. :)

I should probably take a shower, then, if I'm thinking about going out. :)

Laterz!

I stayed up till dawn today, which isn't saying too much, seeing as dawn comes early 'round these parts. Still, four in the morning is four in the morning, and it's crappy whether you're just going to sleep or just getting up.

I need sleep now. My bedroom is downright sparkly, roomy, and organized. Perfect for a comfy mid-afternoon nap. Can't wait for Sweetie to see it! :) I should hopefully hear from him tonight, too! :)

I've been chillin' a bit, since I've done so much work last night and this morning. I decided to create another queue in my Netflix account just for TV and series discs. Sweetie and I like to sit and watch episodes sometimes, instead of a full-length movie. I have probably twice the number of discs, total, than I had in the single queue, but now it makes more sense.

Okay, must sleep. Twitching at the keyboard. SOOOOOO tired. Bye!

I'm staying up extra late tonight to get my bedroom cleaned out. A girlfriend of mine is going to come over tomorrow to help me move the furniture, and I want there to be plenty of room to do so, since we're on kind of a tight schedule. I can probably do most of it myself, but it would be beneficial to have two sets of hands for some of the more clumsy furniture.

I'm currently waiting for the carpet powder to set before I go vacuum in there. Then I will see about getting the bed cleaned off so I can crash for a few hours. I'll finish clearing out the detritus tomorrow morning. At least I've got the laundry all sorted and ready to be washed. Hopefully it doesn't take me a decade to finish! My living room is already taken over by clothes that I've folded and stuck on hangers. Get this, I even ironed stuff. How gung-ho is THAT? ;)

I didn't realize how tired I was till I sat down. My watch just beeped, so I can go vacuum now. I'll write about my interesting/exciting news later.

Later, gator!

Today was fairly pleasant. I went to my high school alma mater to help judge presentations for this new graduation requirement that seniors need in order to get their piece of paper. During this time, I came face-to-face with my senior-year AP English teacher and my guidance counselor, who were also helping with the project. They remembered me after a moment. :) After that, I went up to visit the choir teacher, who I'm not sure I've seen since before my wedding almost seven years ago.

That was very pleasant. He was happy to see me, and he let me sit in with the chamber choir and sing with them! They have a new version of Elijah Rock, which, though somewhat complicated in places, was actually pretty easy to pick up. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to sing with the first sopranos, and the very last notes of the song are high B, C, B, and A, respectively. I actually hit a high C — without warming up. Huh. It must be the room, or the teacher! :) I haven't hit a clear high C since college, if then!

I got to spend some time with a friend, too, which was also pleasant. I was a little late for my class tonight, but I still got a good workout. I've been gaining too much weight lately (although some of it might be water retention right now), and it's getting to me. I don't want to buy new jeans unless I've lost a couple sizes!

SO, I'm trying to eat more salads and attempting to stay away from too much bad-for-me food — and too much food, in general. Salads are supposed to help with menstrual cramps, I've heard, so I might as well get a head start on that.

I should also start doing extra workouts during the day, on my own, and walk the dog. It's getting light so early and staying light so late, it's not like I can use daylight as an excuse. :) It started raining again, though. Besides, I need to try out the Haltie my sister-in-law lent me. It's supposed to take control of the dog's head, and instead of him choking himself with a pinch, choke, or regular collar, I'll just pull his head to the side so he can't walk forward any farther. Brilliant! If it works . . .

I have to kick my lazy habits, though, and that's going to take some work. I have a goal to get the bedroom clean and rearranged by the time Sweetie gets back. Shouldn't be too hard, except for the laundry, which I might bag up and take to a laundromat. Dunno.

Anyway, I've been staying up WAAAAYYYY too late this past week, so I'm going to go to bed now and attempt to sleep so I can get up early tomorrow. 'Night!

Okay, so I'm not wearing a skirt, and there's no one around to flip it up (what, didn't you guys have Friday Flip-Up Day in elementary school?) — but I do have a LOT of laundry to turn over.

The first load has finished washing, so I need to dry it. I'll throw in a load of delicates in-between and hang them to dry. Heh, I'm kind of glad I don't pay my own water bill. ;) I do wonder what it looks like, though, sans dishwasher. Believe it or not, despite the dishpan hands, I don't mind not having a dishwasher. I always had to rinse and pre-wash everything, anyway, so it seemed a huge waste of water and time. Not to mention it heated the place up in the summertime!

I have two sinks, but I've taught myself to keep the drainer in one of them, because if I don't, they'll just pile up in both sinks and I'll have to move stuff off the counter to put the drainer there. The way I have it now, the dishes pile up in one sink, and I MUST do them, because I have nowhere to put them — I like to keep what little counterspace I have. I've been trying to start the habit of doing the dishes every night to keep the sink clear, but I go through motivational phases, and they still pile up sometimes.

I'm really loving the How Clean Is Your House? show, though. I learn lessons from other people's mistakes, not to mention there's a lot of great cleaning tips from the hostesses of the show (who can give a firm reprimand while also calling you "My Love" and "Darling" — it's absolutely endearing). Only problem is, I don't have any English-to-American equivalents for some of the cleaning products they use, so I'm not sure I'd be able to find them in a conventional store. But it might be a fun search! :)

In other news . . . Sweetie has drill this weekend, so I've packed my Saturday with activities, and my Sunday is full of family! Next week, I hope to have my singing voice back. I'm still struggling with a stuffy/runny nose and gunk in my throat and I'm hoping it doesn't decide to rebound. I MUST be able to sing next week! Next Saturday is the big concert!

If you're a friend in the area reading this and want to see the concert, go to the Bremerton Symphony website and click on Tickets and Information. Apparently, you can buy tickets online up to the Friday before the concert (next week). Alternately, you can call me this week to tell me you want to go and that you'll pay (by check) for me to call up and order you a ticket, myself. I get them 20% off, but unfortunately I can't afford to buy everyone tickets, unless I have payment ahead of time. And, since I have to mail in my deposits, I can't send in cash, so it must by by check. I'll send out emails, too.

Okay, I should get to work. The bedroom is a disgrace!

Well, mostly. :)

The living room is swept and organized (and rearranged to make it look bigger — hooray!), the clutter is gone from the flat surfaces (including the kitchen table), my kitchen is swept AND MOPPED (wonder of wonders!!!) and wiped down. I need to clean off the refrigerator and get rid of some of the containers up there (or shove them under the sink), and vacuum between the fridge and the cabinets. It's kind of scary. ALSO, my hallway is VACUUMED, including the corners and edges, and my bathroom is wiped down (except the shower, which needs scrubbing again) and swept. I haven't mopped in there yet, but I did scour the edges with a cleaning wipe.

God bless the inventors of the cleaning wipe. I have three HUGE jars from Costco (Kirkland brand — more for my money), and put them all to good use yesterday.

Now, I face my bedroom and the office: The two worst rooms in the house. Ugh. :p Well, I suppose the laundry room is a close second, but it's much smaller and will be a matter of just finishing the laundry that's in there (blankets and other random things) and figuring out a place to put it. The laundry in the bedroom will take days. :p It takes about three hours to finish a load of laundry from wash to dry — not including folding, ironing, hanging up, or putting away. My water pressure is horrible, so it takes half an hour for a supposed six-minute quick-wash. To fill the whole thing and run a normal load, it takes one to one-and-a-half hours — then an hour or more to dry. I'm sticking to about one load a day, which is as much as I can keep to before tiring of it and letting it pile up. I hate doing laundry.

Anyway, I'm very proud of my clean house. We weren't able to have friends over last night, so we invited my parents-in-law, instead. I grilled hamburgers and we all sat at the table. I think that's the first time we've had anyone over for dinner since Sweetie's R&R. If I can keep up this clean, we can have people over a lot more often! :) AND, we can have dinner around the table every night — or every night I'm able to cook.

I hope this is the start of some really healthy habits. It's about time I grew up a bit.

EDIT: I guess my DVR decided to clean house, too, sometime between noon and nine, and erased EVERYTHING I had recorded, including my scheduled recording settings. I had to track down my scheduled recordings and reschedule them. This means I lost last week's Jericho, and I didn't get yesterday's Heroes. >:( Thankfully, I can get Jericho online (eventually), and yesterday's Heroes on Friday. But I also lost three episodes of How Clean Is Your House? from yesterday, too! How upsetting! >:(

FURTHER EDIT: The CBS website hosts Jericho for free, but requires RealPlayer to view it. I refuse to install RealPlayer on my computer, no matter how much I want to see that episode. I guess I'm just outta luck. :\ Dang.