catch up

I haven't blogged in a few days, I've just been super busy. Last Friday I woke up to a call from J that his grandfather had passed away. We all loved Bumpa, and his absence is going to be hard on the whole family. On Sat J had planned to go to the Navy - Notre Dame game with his mom, and they went anyway and had a nice time. My sister, Susie, had the weekend off at 'bucks, and a teeny bit of homework, so she drove down and spent the day and night - we just hung out, but we had so much fun :)

We drove up to Muskegon on Sun and drove back home Mon night. It's about a 4 hour drive from here - not too long for two old pro's from Tech, right? WRONG! That drive always wears me out, blahhhh.

Tues was a catch up day, Wed felt like a catch up day, although I'm not quite sure I accomplished anything and yesterday we had Peanut's last ultrasound. Peanut was being extremely active, even the technician commented on the acrobatic abilities of my tiny Peanut. This time she was able to measure everything and we have a healthy little baby, and the doctor knows Peanut's gender, but we still don't - and that makes me very happy!

Today I've been working around the house and finalizing plans for Thanksgiving. Next Wed we leave for Gatlinburg - I ended up renting a cabin, and we should be there during the color peak, which is a nice surprise because I just assumed their color season ran about the same as Michigan and Northern Ohio's. For the record, Tennessee is much further south than Ohio, so obviously the season changes come later. And we're going to Dollywood - and I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about that!

That is all. Have a good weekend!

craving

This one is terrible.

I am seriously craving a huge, frosty pilsner of BEER.

Does this mean I am gestating a future frat-boy? Or just a future Alph Gam?

thanks,and eewww!

Thanks so much for all of the vacation ideas. I'm writing them all down and creating a new file for "Vacation!" in my filing cabinet. J has 15 days of vacation left for this year, he can roll five over to next year, the rest are use-it-or-lose-it. I've decided we are not going to be in this situation next year; I am going to hold him down and force him to plan our vacation time for next year before he plans his work schedule.

I've decided we're going to Gatlinburg for 5 days just before Thanksgiving. I really want to go to Dollywood, and hiking in the Great Smokey Mountains, and everything is supposed to be really pretty for the Christmas Season. Today I need to decide if we are staying at a B and B or renting a cabin. I feel the strong pull of daily maid service.

Here's the eewww! I just swiffered our bedroom. I must be related to Chewbacca, the hair ball that came out from under our bed was beyond disgusting. You would have thought I never clean. So gross. Reminded me of the hair ball they snaked out of the AGD house plumbing.

On that lovely note - have a great day!

vacation

J and I are in need of a vacation. All year long we were planning on going to Niagara Falls and Toronto during the summer. But then Peanut came into the picture, and I wasn't feeling too well, and now it seems a bit cold for the Falls.

This is where you come in. I need a vacation spot. We don't want to spend a ton of money, and would prefer not to fly - we're just looking for a fun and relaxing, reasonably priced, vacation. We're also looking to get away for at least a week, maybe a bit more. My only stipulations - not Vegas - if I'm going there I want to be able to drink, and not camping - sleeping in my own comfy bed is hard enough right now, I don't need to be on the floor in a sleeping bag.

spooky

Tonight the Trick-or-Treaters will be out! I am so excited to get rid of all of the candy I've been buying. It seems like I am always reaching into my candy stash, and the only way that will stop is if the candy is gone.

I carved four pumpkins, I'll post pictures later. One is supposed to be J's, but I had to help him design it. I felt like I was helping a three year old - "Do you want eyebrows?" "Should they be scary or happy?", etc. That's the last time I carve a pumpkin for him - next year I'll just make more for myself :) Also, this year I made two of the pumpkins into lanterns by drilling holes into them, I like the way they look - very Martha.

Four big pumpkins = tons of pumpkin seeds. It took 3 hours for me to roast all of them, and I'm tempted to take them to the neighbors because I can't see us eating all of them by ourselves. But they are salty and delicious!

I can't wait for Halloween to be over, because the Meijer commercial with the clown reflection in the freezer scares me. There's just something about clowns that is not right.

weird dream

Last night I had the weirdest dream.

I dreamt J and I were on vacation and we had my friend Holly and her two children with us. We also had the young son of one of my Mary Kay clients, three little boys (actually J and his two brothers as children), and Eli and Peyton Manning. For some reason we had a gigantic suite with a whole mess of beds, but only one bathroom.

Holly and I slept in one bedroom with all of the assorted kids, and J roomed with the Manning brothers. The kids wanted to go swimming but for some reason little J and his brothers were wearing snow suits. It was highly chaotic, and the housekeeping staff kept barging in to refill the little bottles of shampoo, bars of soap and shoe-shine towels.

J and I kept trying to get in some alone time by locking ourselves in the bathroom, but the Manning brothers kept barging in.

I woke up confused and disoriented.
Any insight into what this dream means?

rigth now...

J is on his way to Wendy's because I MUST have a Frosty.

Yep, it's essential to life.

this and that

I had my ultra sound on Thurs. It's a good thing we didn't go in expecting to find out Peanut's gender - because someone was VERY shy. In fact Peanut was downright uncooperative, after 45 minutes of trying to get baby to roll this way and that the technician told us to come back in three weeks.

So we will have another "photo session" soon :)

This weekend we made apple butter with Holly (my OH friend) and her family. This was so cool. Her family has been making apple butter over an open fire in this huge copper kettle for around 120 years. Two weeks ago we went to Amish country to buy the apples and apple cider, and we had a schnitzing party (peeling, coring and paring) on Thurs. so everything would be ready. Holly's dad started the fire at 7 AM and seven bushels of apples and twenty five gallons of apple cider went into the kettle. By 6 PM we were canning machines. We ended up with 130 extra-delicious jars of apple butter, and one bowl to eat from all night long.

On Sun. we drove up to Troy to go to a cider mill with my parents. It was so nice to see them even for just a few hours, and my mom made the yummiest stew and a German's Chocolate Cake.

In other news I have been working! Which is exciting because I don't feel like I've been treating my business like a business since we moved (9 months ago). I haven't put in too much effort, but I've seen huge results. I was queen of sales and bookings at my meeting last night - which means I got to wear a tiara and sash (cheesy, but I love it!). And I woke up this morning and held a class, so today is already turning out to be productive :)

clean teeth

I went to my new dentist this morning, so now my teeth are all clean and happy :)

I've been so much better about scheduling personal appointments since we moved. I loved my GYN from before we moved to Indy, so I made sure to schedule that appointment as soon as we moved to town - now with Peanut on the way I'm scheduled there all of the time. I also went back to my previous family practice, but I'm looking at switching because I don't know anyone who uses them as their pediatrician. We found a new eye doctor right away because J's glasses were falling apart, and my contacts were running out, and we are both already scheduled for our yearly exams. And now we have the dentist squared away for both of us.

It's so nice to know that these things are taken care of, that they are no longer looming over my head - just another item on a long list of to-do's.

Speaking of appointments, Thursday we have THE ultrasound planned, but I'll disappoint all of you because we are not planning on finding out if Peanut is pink or blue. I'm excited to keep it a surprise. I feel like so few things in life are truly surprises, I just couldn't resist creating my own.

Happy Tuesday!

home again

Last night I cam back from Pittsburgh - I was there for an MK retreat.

I really like going on the little trips, I get to see my extended group of MK girlfriends, and I get extra training and I am always really excited about my business when I get back.

Enough procrastinating from me, time to get back to work!

know what?

I really, really, really like Gummi Bears.

thanks, erika

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) -
Tigger Liberty

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) -
Vanilla Thin Mint

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) -
A Lan

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) -
Pink Monkey

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) -
Rose Warren

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) -
Lanal (but I think Broal is cooler)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) -
The Pink Quaalude

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) -
Amos Waine

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) -
Angel Truffle

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Ann Thurston

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) -
Grant Greenville

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) -
Spring Rose

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) -
Apple Sockie

14. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) -
Muffin Maple (hmmm... hippie or country clubber/)

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) -
The Knitting Storm Tour (HA)

88 degrees

Today's high is 88. I no longer fit into my shorts/capris, even if I fold in the waist band and leave them unzipped or use a hair tie to extend the waist. So I'll be sweating in my maternity jeans.

Awesome.

hello, peanut

For awhile I thought it was just gas, but I have decided that I can officially feel Peanut moving around. It's light, and I only notice it when I'm not busy with something else, but I think it's amazing.

I am in love with my Peanut :)

PS - J brought home an MTU shirt for Peanut, so cute!

sucked in

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I just lost 45 min of my day because I was sucked into the wig show on HSN.

I'm just as shocked as all of you.

in the air

Right now J is in the air on his way to Houghton. He's going up with the recruiting team for Tech under the guise of giving lectures on ethics in business. I know he's really going because he wants to hang out at the DT.

Also in the air are about 10 million mosquitoes. They've been really thick ever since the torrential rains and flooding; we had a cool spell last week and I thought they had died down. Today it's warm and there are so many flying around my backyard it looks like it's snowing. I think I'll stay inside, even though I really wanted to go on a walk :p

thank you, come again

Just for Mel, it's my list of careers.
I was hoping "Martha Stewart" would show up in my list, but apparently someone already has that career.

1. Convenience Store Operator
2. Principal
3. Florist
4. Fashion Retailer
5. Interior Decorator
6. Art Director
7. Advertising Account Executive
8. Antique Dealer
9. Art Dealer
10. Sports Marketer
11. Entrepreneur
12. Marketing Specialist
13. Stylist
14. Librarian
15. Humanitarian Aid Worker
16. Tour Guide
17. Retail Salesperson
18. Craftsperson
19. Potter
20. Animator
21. Dental Assistant
22. Fashion Designer
23. Venture Capitalist
24. Investment Advisor
25. Media Buyer
26. Child and Youth Worker
27. Special Education Teacher
28. Teacher Assistant
29. Clothing Manufacturer
30. Bed and Breakfast Proprietor
31. Recreation Director
32. Early Childhood Educator
33. Addictions Counselor
34. Restaurant Manager
35. Caterer
36. Cosmetologist
37. Funeral Director
38. Industrial-Organizational Psychologist
39. Publisher
40. Hotel Manager

sometimes...

...you wear stretchy pants.

I have to admit that I'm digging my new maternity jeans. No zippers, no buttons; the Amish may be on to something.

emma's first day

Emma's first day of kindergarten was last Wednesday. Her mom had to work so I got to take her in for her very first day :)

She looked so cute - her hair is super curly, but if you put it up while it's wet, it looks nice and sleek and you get one huge sausage curl. We optimized the sausage factor by doing pigtails, and we of course used her new sparkly butterfly barrettes.

I had borrowed my brother's truck to bring home a couch from Ikea, and Emma - who attends a local farming community school - hopped out of the biggest, shiniest truck on the lot. I got a few looks from the other moms, haha!

I have to admit that I cried a little, Emma is my special little buddy and she's growing up too fast!

Best part of the morning? As I was leaving the bus drivers asked me why I wasn't going to school today. I thanked them, but let them know it'd been 10 years since I'd attended high school :)

weekend recap

We had so much fun!

We did everything we planned, except for having dinner at the Antlers in the Soo. We walked in and put our name in, but it was so much trashier than we remembered, so we had a really nice meal at the Ramada instead.

Mackinaw Island was fab. I forgot to bring my phone and I was sad because I was going to call Sonya and hopefully find her for a quick hug. But while we were walking up to the Grand Hotel we ran into her :) She was cute as ever and she had Olive with her. Olive is one great dog!

I walked the bridge on Labor Day, I was finisher 17,660. There was a little problem with the return buses, it was kind of a big problem - a two-mile-long line of sweaty, tired walkers. So we shelled out the big bucks and took the ferry to the Island and then back to St. Ignace. The ferry ride was actually really refreshing.

On Monday we drove home, and my mom took pictures of me sleeping in the car. Thanks Mom!

Here's a picture of my dad pointing out the water line as we rode the Soo Locks boat tour. :)