I'm sorry for the lack of posting lately. I've been working on many, many things.
<ul>
<li>lack of money has led me to take a temporary job at the Y</li>
<li>keeping an extra child this week while his regular caregiver is out of town (again with the no money thing)</li>
<li>beginning participation in a medical research study (once again, NO money over here)</li>
<li>making a gazillion cards (see announcement below)</li>
<li>planning more bachelorette festivities</li>
<li>trying to find time to start exercising again (to go along with the diet I've got underway)</li>
</ul>
I'll be back to post more later this week, but for now, I just wanted to say:
<strong>
Head on over to <a href="http://aisforbeautiful.etsy.com">my Etsy shop</a> today while the gettin's good. I am clearing out shop over there to make room for a bunch of new stuff coming at the beginning of September. Plus, prices are going UP so this is your last chance to get some cards for $2 and some for less. Go take a look! Everyone can use beautiful handmade cards for something or other!</strong>
<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dsc04749.JPG" alt="Best witches! Halloween card" />
<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dsc04755.JPG" alt="tree cutting Christmas card" />
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
If only I were 40…. uh, kidding…
To the vast majority of you who voted in <a href="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/blog/2008/08/07/quick-poll-for-you/">yesterday's poll</a>, you were absolutely correct. I've seen <a href="http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/">Batman</a>, <a href="http://www.themummy.com/">The Mummy</a>, and <a href="http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/wall-e/">Wall-E</a> all within the last month and in my opinion Wall-E was <strong>by far </strong>the best of the three.
The Mummy was absolutely terrible. Seriously, awful bad. Batman was so-so. Dark? Definitely. Action packed? For sure. Left open for the sequel? Of course. But in my opinion, Heath's excellent acting wasn't enough to keep me on the edge of my seat and make me ignore the roll-your-eyes ending.
Wall-E on the other hand, I was expecting very little out of. As <a href="http://sarahsouth.blogspot.com/">Sarahsouth </a>would say, it was <a href="http://sarahsouth.blogspot.com/2008/06/wine-country-getaway.html">AB FAB</a>. It was predictable and cute, which normally would not make for a good movie in my mind. But the fact remains that Wall-E kept me pondering for days and that's my family's criteria for a good movie. We <em>still </em>walk around my house saying, "Waaaalllll-EEEEE" and "Eeeeee-vaaaa" in funny robot voices and we saw that movie a month ago. Plus, we got to take Julianna with us and that was fun.
Now that that's settled, let's talk about some other stuff.
---
Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and while I didn't see <em>my </em>OB I did see a brand-spankin' new doctor at that practice (as in Monday was his first day). It was my first check-up since the D&C and my first check-up at home. Everything checked out fine and the routine pregnancy test I took was negative so that was good. So what's the problem? The problem was that at first he told me that I would have to wait 6 months before trying for another baby.
When I heard six months my jaw probably hit the floor. I was expecting him to say something like 2 to 3 cycles since I have known MANY people that were able to start trying again after 2 or 3 cycles. He explained that if I were 40 then he would say go ahead and try after 3 months because of the affect of age on fertility, but since I'm only 30 years old the standard textbook directions say wait 6 months and that's what he advised.
Then! Then, he started talking to me about contraceptives and needing a prescription for the next six months and I was all, Whoa-slow-down-there-buddy-and-wait-just-a-minute. He said something about was this pregnancy planned...? So, yeah, after talking to him about this pregnancy and how long we tried and how regular my normal cycle is, etc he agreed that we could start "trying" again after three months. Phew!
He did say that if I were to get pregnant earlier than what was recommened then we would obviously just take it as it came, but that in order to lower the risk of having a miscarriage again he would still wait at least 3 months.
You all know I'm a little impatient, right? Can you imagine my family having to deal with me over the next six months if he had stuck with the textbook?!
Anyway, the bottom line is that it was a good visit. Everything is fine and we're going to start trying again in about 3 months. Yay!
---
Today, I have accomplished a ton. Well, I'm sure when I make the list it won't seem like it, but at least it feels like I did a lot.
<ul>
<li>I finished unpacking.</li>
<li>I finished the laundry.</li>
<li>Loaded and unloaded the dishwaser and then loaded it again.</li>
<li>Hung up <em>all </em>of Julianna's clothes, including the ones that were just sitting in her closet before we left.</li>
<li>Wrapped a present.</li>
<li>Cleaned Julianna's bedroom.</li>
<li>Caught up on all of the message board posts from when I was gone and cleared out my google reader. (*Not important I know, but NOT an easy task.)</li>
</ul>
---
Ugh! I've started a diet again. I figure if I have 3 months in which I <em>can't </em>get pregnant then I might as well lose all I can before then. I'm down four pounds since Monday. I still have about 30 to go. :( Wish me luck you guys!
The Mummy was absolutely terrible. Seriously, awful bad. Batman was so-so. Dark? Definitely. Action packed? For sure. Left open for the sequel? Of course. But in my opinion, Heath's excellent acting wasn't enough to keep me on the edge of my seat and make me ignore the roll-your-eyes ending.
Wall-E on the other hand, I was expecting very little out of. As <a href="http://sarahsouth.blogspot.com/">Sarahsouth </a>would say, it was <a href="http://sarahsouth.blogspot.com/2008/06/wine-country-getaway.html">AB FAB</a>. It was predictable and cute, which normally would not make for a good movie in my mind. But the fact remains that Wall-E kept me pondering for days and that's my family's criteria for a good movie. We <em>still </em>walk around my house saying, "Waaaalllll-EEEEE" and "Eeeeee-vaaaa" in funny robot voices and we saw that movie a month ago. Plus, we got to take Julianna with us and that was fun.
Now that that's settled, let's talk about some other stuff.
---
Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and while I didn't see <em>my </em>OB I did see a brand-spankin' new doctor at that practice (as in Monday was his first day). It was my first check-up since the D&C and my first check-up at home. Everything checked out fine and the routine pregnancy test I took was negative so that was good. So what's the problem? The problem was that at first he told me that I would have to wait 6 months before trying for another baby.
When I heard six months my jaw probably hit the floor. I was expecting him to say something like 2 to 3 cycles since I have known MANY people that were able to start trying again after 2 or 3 cycles. He explained that if I were 40 then he would say go ahead and try after 3 months because of the affect of age on fertility, but since I'm only 30 years old the standard textbook directions say wait 6 months and that's what he advised.
Then! Then, he started talking to me about contraceptives and needing a prescription for the next six months and I was all, Whoa-slow-down-there-buddy-and-wait-just-a-minute. He said something about was this pregnancy planned...? So, yeah, after talking to him about this pregnancy and how long we tried and how regular my normal cycle is, etc he agreed that we could start "trying" again after three months. Phew!
He did say that if I were to get pregnant earlier than what was recommened then we would obviously just take it as it came, but that in order to lower the risk of having a miscarriage again he would still wait at least 3 months.
You all know I'm a little impatient, right? Can you imagine my family having to deal with me over the next six months if he had stuck with the textbook?!
Anyway, the bottom line is that it was a good visit. Everything is fine and we're going to start trying again in about 3 months. Yay!
---
Today, I have accomplished a ton. Well, I'm sure when I make the list it won't seem like it, but at least it feels like I did a lot.
<ul>
<li>I finished unpacking.</li>
<li>I finished the laundry.</li>
<li>Loaded and unloaded the dishwaser and then loaded it again.</li>
<li>Hung up <em>all </em>of Julianna's clothes, including the ones that were just sitting in her closet before we left.</li>
<li>Wrapped a present.</li>
<li>Cleaned Julianna's bedroom.</li>
<li>Caught up on all of the message board posts from when I was gone and cleared out my google reader. (*Not important I know, but NOT an easy task.)</li>
</ul>
---
Ugh! I've started a diet again. I figure if I have 3 months in which I <em>can't </em>get pregnant then I might as well lose all I can before then. I'm down four pounds since Monday. I still have about 30 to go. :( Wish me luck you guys!
funny-ness
If you use Facebook or any of those other social networking sites and you haven't read <a href="http://www.breedemandweep.com/?p=413">this</a> already then you need to go read it now. Long, but purely <em>hilarious</em>.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
quick poll for you
<div class="TWIIGSPOLL"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.twiigs.com/poll.js?pid=15495&color=pink"></script> <div class="TWIIGSPOLLpolllink" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-style: none; clear: none; display: block; float: none; position: static; visibility: visible; height: auto; line-height: normal; width: auto; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 0; outline-style: none; padding-top: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; clip: auto; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: auto; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: right; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0; text-shadow: none; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: normal;"> <a class="TWIIGSPOLLmorelink" href="http://www.twiigs.com/" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: none; border-style: none; clear: none; display: inline; float: none; position: static; visibility: visible; height: auto; line-height: normal; width: auto; margin-top: 0; margin-right: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 0; outline-style: none; padding-top: 0; padding-right: 0; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 0; clip: auto; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: auto; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0; text-shadow: none; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: normal; font-weight: bold;">poll by twiigs.com</a> </div> </div>
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
stories
<strong>Chapter 1:</strong>
My parents left the beach a week before we did and then eventually some of Jonathan's family came down. After spending the entire month with Julianna, Nanna and Pap were having a little granddaughter withdrawal as they were back home alone. We tried to talk to them on the phone at least every other day and one time Jules was having so much fun with whatever it was she was playing with that she didn't want to call either of them. So to encourage her a little I said, "Doodlebug, Pap's dying to talk to you. Let's call him, please." Then began my daughter's first lesson in idioms. She said, "Pap's dying?"
So that was interesting. Trying to explain to a 2 year old all the intricacies of the English language can get tough!
<strong>Chapter 2:</strong>
She's become quite the smart @$s. Jules has this book that came from the Chick-fil-a kids meals that she absolutely adores. It's called <em>The Cooking Book</em>. She also has <em>The Rainy Day Book </em>and <em>The Sunny Day Book </em>but she hasn't managed to collect all 4 books in the series and this fact disturbs her greatly.
She asked us on Sunday if she could go to Chick-fil-a to ask them for <em>The Party Book</em>. (Actually, she said, "I need to go to Chick-fil-a. I need to get <em>The Party Book</em>.") We tried to explain that CFA is closed on Sundays and she replied, "I need to open it!"
<strong>Chapter 3:</strong>
Every time lately that I say Julianna's name in conversation (but not talking directly to her) she says, "You talking about me, Mom?" Like I said, she's becoming a smart butt.
Anyway, when we were on the way home from the beach the other day she started asking for a snack just as soon as we got in the car. When I explained to her that we would be stopping shortly in Laurinburg to eat lunch she adamantly exclaimed, "I not want a LAURINBURGER! I want CHICKEN NUGGETS!" I thought it was so adorable that later at Wendy's I was telling everyone what she said and Julianna just looked up at me and said, "You talking about me again, Mama?"
I guess I should stop telling her stories in her presence and instead just put them on the blog, huh?
<strong>Chapter 4:</strong>
My sister kept Jules the other night and later that night I got this email from my sister:
<blockquote>Jules sat down at the computer last night and said "I'm going to send you an email mail, Whitty"
I know what family she comes from :)</blockquote>
<strong>Chapter 5:</strong>
We were reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Big-Animal-Book-Board-Books/dp/0312490836/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218032904&sr=8-1">this book </a>the other night and Julianna kept asking me to say some of the more difficult animal names for her. Of course, I was more interested in the mom's group message boards and I was half-reading with her. Bad mommy, I know. Well, if we got to one that she couldn't really pmounce I would say, "Can you say kookaburra?" and wait for her to respond.
So after a while she got really irritated with the way I was "reading" with her. I am semi-paying attention when I hear her say, "Can you say owl, Mama?"
My parents left the beach a week before we did and then eventually some of Jonathan's family came down. After spending the entire month with Julianna, Nanna and Pap were having a little granddaughter withdrawal as they were back home alone. We tried to talk to them on the phone at least every other day and one time Jules was having so much fun with whatever it was she was playing with that she didn't want to call either of them. So to encourage her a little I said, "Doodlebug, Pap's dying to talk to you. Let's call him, please." Then began my daughter's first lesson in idioms. She said, "Pap's dying?"
So that was interesting. Trying to explain to a 2 year old all the intricacies of the English language can get tough!
<strong>Chapter 2:</strong>
She's become quite the smart @$s. Jules has this book that came from the Chick-fil-a kids meals that she absolutely adores. It's called <em>The Cooking Book</em>. She also has <em>The Rainy Day Book </em>and <em>The Sunny Day Book </em>but she hasn't managed to collect all 4 books in the series and this fact disturbs her greatly.
She asked us on Sunday if she could go to Chick-fil-a to ask them for <em>The Party Book</em>. (Actually, she said, "I need to go to Chick-fil-a. I need to get <em>The Party Book</em>.") We tried to explain that CFA is closed on Sundays and she replied, "I need to open it!"
<strong>Chapter 3:</strong>
Every time lately that I say Julianna's name in conversation (but not talking directly to her) she says, "You talking about me, Mom?" Like I said, she's becoming a smart butt.
Anyway, when we were on the way home from the beach the other day she started asking for a snack just as soon as we got in the car. When I explained to her that we would be stopping shortly in Laurinburg to eat lunch she adamantly exclaimed, "I not want a LAURINBURGER! I want CHICKEN NUGGETS!" I thought it was so adorable that later at Wendy's I was telling everyone what she said and Julianna just looked up at me and said, "You talking about me again, Mama?"
I guess I should stop telling her stories in her presence and instead just put them on the blog, huh?
<strong>Chapter 4:</strong>
My sister kept Jules the other night and later that night I got this email from my sister:
<blockquote>Jules sat down at the computer last night and said "I'm going to send you an email mail, Whitty"
I know what family she comes from :)</blockquote>
<strong>Chapter 5:</strong>
We were reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Big-Animal-Book-Board-Books/dp/0312490836/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218032904&sr=8-1">this book </a>the other night and Julianna kept asking me to say some of the more difficult animal names for her. Of course, I was more interested in the mom's group message boards and I was half-reading with her. Bad mommy, I know. Well, if we got to one that she couldn't really pmounce I would say, "Can you say kookaburra?" and wait for her to respond.
So after a while she got really irritated with the way I was "reading" with her. I am semi-paying attention when I hear her say, "Can you say owl, Mama?"
there’s no place like home
Well, we made it home safely and it's so good to be here. As we were packing up the car to leave the beach Julianna threw a few little fits because she didn't want to go home. I didn't want to come home either, but back to reality has to come sometime, right? And she gave us plenty of entertainment on the way home, but more of that in a minute.
As you can imagine, I had a TON of stuff to get done quickly after being gone all month long. There were a few things that I should have taken care of before I left and I never got them done so I took yesterday and Monday to work on those things. Plus I had the usual grocery shopping and such. Now I'm starting on the laundry and trying to get things put away. I have a stack of bills to pay and no money to pay them with and I have been following up on my job leads which are going nowhere fast. Today I am going to work on filling out a substitute teacher application with the school system.
Fortunately, my sister took Julianna for one night since she had missed seeing her all month so Jonathan and I got to have a date night. (So nice! I slept until almost 9 am!!! Can you believe it?) We ate dinner at a very-overpriced restaurant that we had a gift certificate for and then used our movie certificates and went to see The Mummy, which was HORRIBLE. Seriously, it was one of the worst movies I have seen in a while. As the hubs said afterwards, "You've gotta see a bad one every now and then" so it's OK. It was nice to have the night to ourselves. It helped ease the stress of having a sudden overwhelming amount of things to do and made the transition from vacation a lot easier.
On the agenda for today:
<ul>
<li>laundry and putting clothes away</li>
<li>working on a few blog designs for some people </li>
<li>find out which days of the week I enrolled my daughter in preschool this fall</li>
<li>write a few thank you notes</li>
<li>wrap a present</li>
<li>catch up on work emails and find more job opportunities</li>
</ul>
<strong>What are you doing today?</strong>
As you can imagine, I had a TON of stuff to get done quickly after being gone all month long. There were a few things that I should have taken care of before I left and I never got them done so I took yesterday and Monday to work on those things. Plus I had the usual grocery shopping and such. Now I'm starting on the laundry and trying to get things put away. I have a stack of bills to pay and no money to pay them with and I have been following up on my job leads which are going nowhere fast. Today I am going to work on filling out a substitute teacher application with the school system.
Fortunately, my sister took Julianna for one night since she had missed seeing her all month so Jonathan and I got to have a date night. (So nice! I slept until almost 9 am!!! Can you believe it?) We ate dinner at a very-overpriced restaurant that we had a gift certificate for and then used our movie certificates and went to see The Mummy, which was HORRIBLE. Seriously, it was one of the worst movies I have seen in a while. As the hubs said afterwards, "You've gotta see a bad one every now and then" so it's OK. It was nice to have the night to ourselves. It helped ease the stress of having a sudden overwhelming amount of things to do and made the transition from vacation a lot easier.
On the agenda for today:
<ul>
<li>laundry and putting clothes away</li>
<li>working on a few blog designs for some people </li>
<li>find out which days of the week I enrolled my daughter in preschool this fall</li>
<li>write a few thank you notes</li>
<li>wrap a present</li>
<li>catch up on work emails and find more job opportunities</li>
</ul>
<strong>What are you doing today?</strong>
Friday, August 1, 2008
stories
Chapter 1:
My dad and Julianna quickly developed a routine with each other down here. One of the first few days we were here at the beach they headed to the swimming pool as usual right after Jules woke up from her nap. They played until she was ready to go and then Pap convinced her to head to the ocean to ride some waves for a little bit. They stopped by the potty underneath the building first and then they headed out to the ocean for a while. When they came back upstairs I noticed right away that Julianna was wearing her swimsuit backwards. Dad told me that he had some trouble getting it back on after they went to the bathroom at the pool. She must have worn her bathing suit like that out on the beach too. Luckily she was with her grandfather the whole time so maybe people understood...?
Chapter 2:
I can't remember now what I was doing one day a couple of weeks ago when Julianna looked up at me and exclaimed, "Mama! You not paying attention to me!" That certainly did the trick and she got my attention for sure. I was laughing so hard about her sincere honesty that my side began to hurt.
Chapter 3:
My little girl? She wants to paint billboards when she grows up. We were riding down the road the other day and Jules mentioned something about not being able "to get up there" as she pointed to the billboards. We told her that yes, she was right - the only way to really get up there was if we were the men who painted the billboards. Julianna replied matter-of-factly, "I need to be a painter. I want to go way up high and paint the billboards!" Now when people ask her what she wanted to do when she grew up she can say that she always wanted to be in advertising - she wanted to be a billboard painter. Although it is strange indeed, she has her first life goal.
Chapter 4:
I've been wanting to go to Senor Frogs ever since it opened in Myrtle Beach three years ago and last night I managed to convince my brother and sister-in-law to go have dinner with us there so that I could get my free nachos. We figured that if we went kinda early (around 6, 6:30) that it wouldn't be too crowded and non-kid friendly since we would both be taking youngins. We didn't have to wait too long once we got there and Julianna was pretty excited about it. She kept walking towards the place pointing and yelling, "Look at that frog, Ya'll!"
We got to a table pretty quickly and as the bartender was standing on the bar pouring free shots of tequila straight into people's mouths I was wondering what I'd gotten my child exposed to at the ripe old age of two. Well, it was so loud in there that we couldn't hear the waiter enough to give our order. He was a jerk anyway. My sister-in-law jokingly asked Jules if she wanted to go up on stage with her and dance to which wide-eyed Julianna replied with fascination, "No, thank you." At one point they got everyone to get up and stand on their chairs to do the YMCA. It occurred to me then that Julianna didn't even know what the YWCA was so after a really quick lesson so got the hang of it and went to town. She had a blast! So after a little bit Jules starts saying over and over again, "I need to go up there, Brittany! I need to go up there and dance with you!" We could hardly convince her otherwise. Jonathan finally just started telling her that she wasn't old enough yet.
My daughter, doing the YMCA while standing on chairs at the bar since the early age of 28 months.
<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dsc05378small.jpg" alt="How to do the YMCA - Part Y" />
<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dsc05377small.jpg" alt="How to do the YMCA - Part C" />
My dad and Julianna quickly developed a routine with each other down here. One of the first few days we were here at the beach they headed to the swimming pool as usual right after Jules woke up from her nap. They played until she was ready to go and then Pap convinced her to head to the ocean to ride some waves for a little bit. They stopped by the potty underneath the building first and then they headed out to the ocean for a while. When they came back upstairs I noticed right away that Julianna was wearing her swimsuit backwards. Dad told me that he had some trouble getting it back on after they went to the bathroom at the pool. She must have worn her bathing suit like that out on the beach too. Luckily she was with her grandfather the whole time so maybe people understood...?
Chapter 2:
I can't remember now what I was doing one day a couple of weeks ago when Julianna looked up at me and exclaimed, "Mama! You not paying attention to me!" That certainly did the trick and she got my attention for sure. I was laughing so hard about her sincere honesty that my side began to hurt.
Chapter 3:
My little girl? She wants to paint billboards when she grows up. We were riding down the road the other day and Jules mentioned something about not being able "to get up there" as she pointed to the billboards. We told her that yes, she was right - the only way to really get up there was if we were the men who painted the billboards. Julianna replied matter-of-factly, "I need to be a painter. I want to go way up high and paint the billboards!" Now when people ask her what she wanted to do when she grew up she can say that she always wanted to be in advertising - she wanted to be a billboard painter. Although it is strange indeed, she has her first life goal.
Chapter 4:
I've been wanting to go to Senor Frogs ever since it opened in Myrtle Beach three years ago and last night I managed to convince my brother and sister-in-law to go have dinner with us there so that I could get my free nachos. We figured that if we went kinda early (around 6, 6:30) that it wouldn't be too crowded and non-kid friendly since we would both be taking youngins. We didn't have to wait too long once we got there and Julianna was pretty excited about it. She kept walking towards the place pointing and yelling, "Look at that frog, Ya'll!"
We got to a table pretty quickly and as the bartender was standing on the bar pouring free shots of tequila straight into people's mouths I was wondering what I'd gotten my child exposed to at the ripe old age of two. Well, it was so loud in there that we couldn't hear the waiter enough to give our order. He was a jerk anyway. My sister-in-law jokingly asked Jules if she wanted to go up on stage with her and dance to which wide-eyed Julianna replied with fascination, "No, thank you." At one point they got everyone to get up and stand on their chairs to do the YMCA. It occurred to me then that Julianna didn't even know what the YWCA was so after a really quick lesson so got the hang of it and went to town. She had a blast! So after a little bit Jules starts saying over and over again, "I need to go up there, Brittany! I need to go up there and dance with you!" We could hardly convince her otherwise. Jonathan finally just started telling her that she wasn't old enough yet.
My daughter, doing the YMCA while standing on chairs at the bar since the early age of 28 months.
<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dsc05378small.jpg" alt="How to do the YMCA - Part Y" />
<img src="http://www.aisforbeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dsc05377small.jpg" alt="How to do the YMCA - Part C" />
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