Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Family photos

The family, above. Love my HUGE belly!
Mom and Dad, lookin' good for 60 and 63!

Holy crap my belly's HUGE!!!!


Big Man baby prep.

I stopped home at lunch today, as Big Man has the day off. He'd done the grocery shopping, and had purchased for himself Centrum Cardio vitamins and Fish Oil capsules. Before you think, "no big deal", I have been begging this man for years to take vitamins, and patiently explaining to him that his (maybe) one serving per day of frozen vegetables is wholly inadequate to sustain him nutritionally. He, in turn, would call the vitamins "placebos" and refuse to take them. Apparently, impending fatherhood has compelled him to be a little healthier; he has also been going to the gym regularly, and laying off the junk food. (I'm ready to ask the alien creature in my home who he is and what he did with my husband.) In any event, I'm thrilled and hope it lasts.

In other Big Man pregnancy nazi news: last night, I mentioned to Big Man that it would be good if he baked a cake. Cake just sounded yummy at that random moment. When I came home today, Big Man was just finishing running the mixer because he WAS baking me a cake! And, what a double-bonus, I was home to lick the batter bowl! Batter=lunch of champions! But no, Big Man refused to let me within 4 feet of the batter bowl or the mixer thingies, because batter=baby poison. I explained to him that I've had raw eggs in batter since I've been pregnant and the chances of anything bad happening were pretty slim, but no dice--pregnancy nazi wins again, "No batter for you!"
But, at least I'll have cake tonight! Woo hoo!

Was too exhausted last night to post NC pics, but should get to it tonight.

Also, had a great showing on our house Sunday and our realtor expects a contract in the next day or so...

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Tina Fey = Sarah Palin

I only stayed up long enough to catch the opening skit on SNL last night, but I'm sure glad I did.

Tina Fey is a dead-on Sarah Palin! Hilarious.




There was also a skit of the presidential debate. I'm posting before I watch the clip, but it has to be good!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

North Carolina, or Third World Nation?


This is what every gas station we drove by looked like. Closed.

There is a major gas shortage here in North Carolina. No lie.
Apparently there is a pipeline that ships the gas to NC/TN/KY and it's broken. Most gas stations are closed, and the lines are collossal at the stations that have gas, when they have gas.

We actually haven't done much traveling, because the folks wanted to be sure we'd have enough gas to get to the airport tomorrow. My friend G, who lives about 80 miles away in Waxhaw was supposed to come and visit today, but she just called and she only has 1/4 tank and has yet to find a station with any gas. She thought she could make it here, but needed to know if Hickory had gas. My dad found some this morning, after waiting in a really long line, but told her that it would be a total crapshoot this afternoon. Therefore, G's staying closer to home, and hopes that she and her hubby can find some gas this afternoon. If they do, we will meet for lunch somewhere near the airport tomorrow. Crazy.

No gas here either:

It is just so odd to see; convenience stores are closed and dark, and lots of pumps have garbage bags over them to let people know they are dry. It feels like a third world country. They predict it should end within two weeks, but what bad timing! (But, at least it prevented my mom from trying to drag us to historic locations up in the mountains. She always wants to take me to the Biltmore estate and I decline, and this time it was totally out of the question.) On one of my first visits, we went to the mountains to this place called Blowing Rock which was pretty neat. On the way back we stopped at a local shop for beverages, and they had this local food called "cajun boiled peanuts". Apparently boiled peanuts are somewhat popular in the rural nether regions of North Carolina. I thought I'd try them. I can eat almost anything, at least a bite; I've had smoked seal in Greenland (which was the worst thing ever or so I thought), and lots of crazy shit in my day... Anyway, the storekeeper ladels some peanuts out of the water filled vat, and I pop one into my mouth. Worst. Thing. Ever. I literally ran outside and spit it onto the ground, grabbed a pop out of the machine and chugged it. It was that bad, I couldn't even do the courtesy chew and swallow. Ugh.

The moral of the story: avoid boiled peanuts at all costs.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

I'm in North Carolina. Came down to visit the folks.
Flight was delayed leaving Albany, and almost missed my connection in Atlanta. They moved my connecting gate, and as I was getting off the airport train they were calling last boarding call to my flight. So, I did the 7 months pregnant waddle sprint and was the last one on the plane!
Then, we were grounded for about 35 minutes.

In any event, I get to Charlotte, and see Dad, and up walks Mom, and Todd and Amy, (bro and sis in law) who had flown in to Charlotte AS A SURPRISE!!! Awesome! It was Todd's birthday, and the nuclear fam hadn't been together since my Vegas wedding, so Dad flew them out too! How totally cool.

Many pics to follow!
**when I get home, as I forgot my ubs plug and can't upload!**

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Leaving on jet plane.

Posting might be light for a few days.

Headed to the baby doc first thing Thursday, then to NC to visit the folks and my best pal G! Hopefully baby doc won't have any problem with me flying. Should be fine because I have 10 weeks to go. If not, well, I checked Delta's website today and they don't require a doctor's note at any stage in the pregnancy, so I'm going no matter what.

Returning Sunday. But I'll take lots of pics and will post next week.

Got two big ol' packages from Kohls.com today. My super-cool bro sent me a birthday gift card, so I bought lots o' baby stuff. The cutest is a cool mist humidifier that looks like a frog. Big Man asked whether babies need humidifiers. I told him yes. Truthfully, I have no idea, but it's really cute, and isn't that really the most important thing? Also got a pirate outfit (ARRR!) and dinosaur pajamas. What I should have gotten was a ninja outfit, because it feels like there's a ninja in my belly.

I let the lady who works at the coffee shop that I go to every morning (yes, I still drink coffee) rub my belly today (briefly). She asked nicely so I had to say yes. Suckas who cop a feel without asking will still be facing the wrath, though.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Bring on the loot!

My super-awesome Sister-in-Law Amy (who I credit for the shopping/wrapping/sending because my bro's a slacker) sent us our first baby outfits today:

And, extra props because they are not pink! Thanks a bunch guys!

Cat's in the cradle.

This is the perfect example of the difference in the way men and women think:

I've been thinking about our two cats and what will happen to them once we have the baby.

Consequently, I've been giving them extra treats and attention, petting and loving them so they don't feel as ignored/neglected when the baby arives.

Big Man has been showing them extra indifference so that they get used to it.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

From Russia with Love

Gotta love the Russians.
Apparently they didn't take too kindly to Sarah Palin's comment that we might have to invade them if they mess with Georgia again. I don't think I've seen the term "guttersnipe" used in this century, but definitely chuckle-worthy:
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/12-09-2008/106354-palindevil-0

Had another open house today...one woman's been back THREE times. She needs to pull the flippin' trigger and buy my house!

Home with the Big Man (who has tonight off!) watching the Cubs, who, with either a win today or a Brewers loss, will clinch the division. They could go all the way. I'm still pushing to name our kid after a Cub if they win the world series, but now that it looks like its a girl, Big Man doesn't think it's a good idea. I'm still game for Aramis as a middle name, heck, if they win the world series, we could name her Piniella for all I care (middle name)!

Funny story from Big Man's job:
He's been re-training an officer who has not spent much time on patrol to get him ready to get back on the road. Last week, there was a domestic call, and the guy Big Man is training drives up to find the woman who called, in the street, naked as a jaybird. From years of Big Man's stories, I have learned that cops see LOTS of naked people, which Big Man describes generally as "its never good naked". However, apparently this woman was a hottie (Big Man had the night off, so he didn't actually see it, just heard about it). In any event a few days later, Big Man responds to another domestic at the same address, but this time the dude's calling, saying he's been stabbed. Big Man and guy he's training (who saw the naked hottie at the first call) respond, and stabbed dude tells them that he doesn't need their help anymore. When asked who else was in the apartment, stabbed dude tells them only his sister (Big Man suspects it is the formerly naked complaintant). Big Man brings trainee in the apartment to see the "sister" to determine whether it's the girlfriend who stabbed dude called to complain about. Trainee tell Big Man that he's not really sure, it might be, but he didn't really pay much attention to her face the first time!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

A brief history lesson.

So, I waddle into Surrogate's Court today and am in chambers with the judge and my adversary just as pregnant as can be.

The judge asks when I'm due and I tell him "D-Day". He looks surprised and predicts that I couldn't possibly last that long... (meanwhile I'm getting pretty sick of people asking me if I'm having twins or making comments that I look ready to blow).

After we are unable to settle the matter, we head into the courtroom so that we can make our oral arguments on the motion in front of the judge on the record.

The court attorney comes over to me just before the argument and points out that the judge looked so surprised about my due date because D-Day is actually June 6. December 7 is Pearl Harbor Day.

Hopefully my legal argument in front of him today was more impressive than my knowledge of American history!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Same old same old.

I've been kind of a slacker about posting for the past week or so.

I've been really busy, blah, blah, blah.

But really. Work's been insane with oral arguments and court appearances, not to mention the winding down of work at the current firm. Volunteer work with the SPCA is crazy--we have a big event this weekend, and frankly, when I get home, I just want Big Man to feed me and rub my belly. I do not, however, want strangers to rub my belly, ever, despite their desire to do so. Life ain't no fun when you're 7 months pregnant.

And, football season has begun, which means there is a complete moratorium on any non-football related activity from noon until bedtime on Sunday. The Bears are only 1-1, but I'm 2-0 in my fantasy football league. I am up against the Big Man this week, and the trash-talking has begun. Yeah, I talk a lotta smack. My mouth writes the proverbial checks that my ass can't cash. Fun!

My boys at AofG have a post about cool wives; reading it today made me realize that I had to step up my game a bit. I'm about ready to marry Mrs. Vandelay who left hubby bacon and chocolate cake when she went to church on Sunday. Talk about a dream breakfast. Since I read the post, I've been thinking of chocolate cake all day. Oh, and bacon too.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen me lately, I'm in full on waddle mode. My belly is huuuuge. I will get the big man to take some pics to post tomorrow.

Dropped the house another $10k so we can unload the damn thing before D-Day. Did I mention that the due date is, actually D-Day? The more pregnant I get the more appropriate it seems.

Anyway, Cubs game is on, and they actually look like they are going to maintain their solid lead into the playoffs. I wish I could believe that they won't shit the bed in the post-season, but they are the Cubs. Anyway, I promised Big Man that if the Cubbies won the world series we could name our baby after his favorite Cub. As an earlier post pointed out, that is Aramis Ramirez. So, friends, the baby girl name I told you may be subject to change, IF the Cubs pull it off.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Hot Tamale!

I've been having some brutal baby-induced heartburn. I charged Big Man (who took the day off) with the task of finding me baby-safe drugs. He did some research today and found a website that swears that Hot Tamales candy (by Mike & Ike) has some magic ingredient that will prevent heartburn. He went out and bought me some (along with Rolaids just to be safe).

Since the doorbell just rang delivering my pizza and wings, I'll be sure to test the theory after I chow.

In any event, it's a good excuse to eat some candy right after dinner!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

A birthday tradition.


A father-daughter tradition.
Every year, since I was probably two years old, my dad has bought me roses for my birthday. At first, it was a rose for every year old I was. As a kid, it was always something I looked forward to, the roses from my daddy. After I turned twelve, the roses started back over at 1 or something, ie I did not get 35 roses this year. This year, it was three white, and five coral roses in a really pretty arrangement. It is something that I look forward to every year, as I have come to know that they will always be coming, and I will always have roses from my daddy on my birthday. I told the Big Man last night that he will need to come up with a birthday tradition for our daughter, because I have enjoyed this father-daughter tradition immensely. Love you Dad.

Friday, September 12, 2008

The stress trifecta.

It's been a bad week for posting (sorry Dad!).

Busy.

Between being pregnant and selling my house, I decided that there was not quite enough stress in my life, so I've decided to give notice at my job and join a new law firm next month. This should allow me to have a much more flexible schedule for mommy-dom and also to earn more money, etc. I did, however, just settle into a new firm this year, and now have to move, notify clients, etc. Fun!

I turned 35 this week. Big Man aka Pregnancy Nazi took me out to dinner Wednesday, and suggested I have a birthday glass of wine. One. (This from the man who called the energy drinks I bought "retard juice" and said I shouldn't drink them.) I declined. Not because I didn't want to have a glass (honestly, I'd like about 6 glasses), but because I LOOK SO PREGNANT! And in this silly small town, where (a) lots of people know me due to politics and (b) as an interracial couple we certainly stand out, I didn't think that it would help my political or professional reputation to be seen drinking. I am sure the word on the streets would be that I was throwing them back, hugely pregnant, etc. No exaggeration. It happened once before. I was at a restaurant/bar near my house after I had recently won my first election as Supervisor, I was talking to one of the cooks about the election, and it was raining, and he was going to walk home, and I gave him a ride (literally around the corner). The next day, my cousin Dave was having lunch there with a friend, and the son of the man I'd beaten in the election was telling them the story of how the girl who beat his dad in the election went home with the cook the night before. No lie. As I'm working on growing my professional practice, I don't need to have any crazy rumors floating around...

Open house tomorrow, and lots of upcoming posts, so stay tuned faithful reader (Dad).

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Baby says:


Only double digits now!

Happy to report that I'm now out of the triple digits of gestation time remaining, and am in the double digits--only 99 days woo hoo! I think I know what it feels like to be incarcerated and counting your time until you get out, scratching another mark into your cell wall each night to commemorate one more day until its over. Three. More. Months. Exactly.

Why is it that total strangers feel the need to talk to me and ask me if I'm having twins? Some are curious about whether I'll breast feed, because that's a perfectly appropriate topic of conversation for the aisles of the grocery store between strangers, no? Fortunately, no stranger has touched my belly yet, but I have decided that when the first one does, I will gingerly reach over and place my hand on his/her belly just to invade their space too. WTF?

I went to some garage sales yesterday, and scored about a million articles of baby clothing for about $40. What a deal. Obviously, nothing but the best for my little peanut--I made sure I didn't buy anything stained, or very worn. These days, I'm all about baby on the cheap. Anyway these were all name brand clothes like Osh Kosh and Carters, and stuff that I probably wouldn't actually buy except for special occasions. Does it make me a bad mom to be to expect to buy my baby's clothes at the least expensive places because the baby cannot possibly care if the onesie is from Wal-Mart or Macy's? Plus, if I buy clothes for my baby from Wal-Mart, I am helping babies in third world countries to have factory jobs (think: nimble little fingers for sewing) and put formula on the table, and I'm sure my baby would want to help that cause. And from what I have been able to ascertain, anything the baby wears will inevitably become covered with spit up and poop and all kinds of fun substances. So, bring on the used baby clothes!

I have also decided that I need to get a really cool halloween costume. Something designed for pregnant women--I would like it to look like one of those creepy half-formed twin things that sometimes end up in people is coming out of my belly. That should scare the kids who come to the house. I am on a mission to find something...ideas appreciated.

Chillin' with the Big Man today. Football season is here, and the Bears are on tonight. Hopefully it won't go to late as I have a family court trial in the AM...

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Ode to Bean.

Not beans. Bean. One of my best pals, from way back...whose birthday is Monday. (Bean, didn't get a card yet, so please accept this in lieu!)

The story of Bean. (as best as I recall)

I was a snotty kid from suburban Connecticut. My parents had an idea one day...to move from Fairfield County to upstate New York. Fun! Get out of the rat race! So they packed up the family, and in the summer of '83 or so, we moved to Fonda, New York, population: more cows than people. It was summer, there was a pony farm next door, and we had our own street and a bitchin' inground pool. But, alas, poor B was all alone, and the kids next door were all at least 4 years older than me. At ten, I would have been happy to play with them, but they were teenagers, and I was a nuisance no doubt. (Although in later years, one of them would become one of my other bestest friends.) So, I asked one of the neighbor girls where I could find another kid my age to play with...after all, school was a month away! They told me that there was a kid named Bean nearby. (*not her real name, but a nickname I use to this day.)

I think I rode my bike to Bean's house, introduced myself and asked her if she would like to be my friend. Bean, at that time, was a cool kid, with an older sister, and a dad who was the school's athletic director and football coach, and who undoubtedly did not need to make friends with wayward strangers. Perhaps I stalked her. Perhaps she liked my pool. In any event, Bean decided that I wasn't so bad and she became my first friend. We were in the same grade, and our birthdays were two days apart! How cool!

Over the years, Bean probably spent more time at my house than at her own, particulary in the summertime when she and my mom would compete for the best tan while I swam in the pool until my blond hair turned green. We had sleepovers, passed notes, played soccer and softball together, talked about boys and nearly everything that girls do.

We had big hair. It was the 80s. This was us in the earlier days, the days of perms and hairspray (but Bean's hair was natural curls):
We hung out a lot. We joined clubs, went to football games, faked our IDs to get into bars, shopped a lot, and then we graduated, and headed to college. HS Graduation 1991:

I headed to Chicago, and Bean to Oneonta, NY. Bean married Doug, her high school sweetheart, and they have three awesome kids. I still try to see her whenever she comes to town.

It's been (gasp) 25 years since Bean and I became friends. I love her like a sis. Happy Birthday Bean!

Friday, September 5, 2008

McCain Pain

All you need is a magic marker to make the McCain signs more accurately represent what electing him would mean for America:

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Republican=Hypocrite? You be the judge.

Props to Vandelay @ AOFG for posting this from The Daily Show. Perhaps the best example I've seen of the ridiculousness that is the right wing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvOc2jej35c

Unfortunately, even with the youtube instructions, I can't manage to embed it. I suck.

Watching the Giants game, and damn, they look good, although I am not a fan, at all.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Cash for books.

A few blogs ago I wrote about a website, cash4books. Definitely worth the trip if you have not-so-old textbooks. One of my law school books was worth $38 and they paid the shipping. And, it was a book I have never had a need for in practice. And the books can even have highlighting and underlining. Just type in the bar code number and they will tell you how much they will pay. I sold one of Wes' books (a short paperback) for like 75 cents, but hey, that's 75 cents I didn't have before I sent it in. So, prices vary.

If you have academic books, and they are gathering dust, and you'd prefer beer money, head to the site. I've put a link to the left because, in the interest of full disclosure, if you sell your books to them, they might send me a little something too. Seriously though, all I did was print a prepaid label, drop it at the post office, and a check came the next week; pay pal transfers are even faster. Money in the bizzank!

The joys of football season.

Big Man is having his live fantasy football draft tonight. Every year, he rejoins the league that he was in with his police partners in Michigan. It's a big to-do of phone call and rankings and pre-draft preparation. I know he misses his best friend/former detective partner a ton, and he looks forward to this every year.

The draft is live via computer, and everyone but him is at one house in Michigan, having a draft party and posting their choices live on the computer, which Big Man can watch and then make his picks when it's his turn. Somebody remind me that next year it would be a cool surprise to fly him out for the draft. A blog I love (airing of grievances) has a guy that flies from Arizona to Florida every year for a fantasy football draft, and NY to Michigan is like half the distance!

Anyway, Big Man gets this look. On rare occasions. When he's really jazzed. Like a kid in a candy store, only cuter. He has popped downstairs a few times to grab a pop or a snack since the draft began, and fills me in on his picks, Bears defense because he reconsidered and thinks there's no reason that they shouldn't be great this year...and he just has this light in his eyes because he's happy and excited, and it just makes me melt.

Somebody remind me next summer to conspire with his buddy and plan a surprise trip for him!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Labor-less weekend.

What a nice long weekend.

I did absolutely nothing. Read three novels, cooked dinner each night, and chilled. Lovely.

I've been on a bit of a slushie kick lately. Off the iced coffees and onto slushies. There's a Fast Trac near my house which has the best ones ever. They taste like icy jolly ranchers candies, and they have green apple and watermelon, my faves. Picked up one today! Yum! So far, the only perk to this whole being pregnant thing seems to be I can eat the most random things that come to mind. Did I mention that when I bought the watermelon slushie today, I got a bag of beef jerky to go with it? Yum! I'm sure that sounds simply awful to you dear reader (Dad), but it was damn tasty to me! In fact, just typing it makes me want to go back to get another slushie!

Stopped at Wal*Mart yesterday; one of my last visits to that pit, thank goodness. That's because there is a Target opening in town on October 12, and once it's open, there will never be a need for me to return to Wal*Mart, ever. Woo hoo! Anyway, I spend about 20 minutes looking at baby clothes. I didn't buy anything, but was absolutely fascinated with the "preemie" size stuff. It looked like it would fit a baby doll instead of a baby; was really pretty cute! I thought browsing the racks of onsies and stuff would make me all gushy and stuff, but nope. I'm still feeling shockingly practical about this whole thing--came home and checked out Craigslist to see how cheap I could get some used baby stuff for...

It's a lovely day and I really feel like grilling, but I am rather inept at the charcoal grill. I guess I'm okay, but constantly need the help of the Big Man to tell me when to flip, etc. Since it's pretty warm, I don't want to subject him to grill duty tonight, particularly in light of my record-breaking 3 nights in a row of cooking. So instead of steaks or burgers, I'm making pizza. (Hey I didn't say they were great dinners, just dinners I made!)

Turning the big 35 next week, so I'm like, halfway dead. Commence midlife crisis!