Things I'm Learning...

• Dasani with Lemon is no longer a good thing!
• Lunch must be eaten very slowly and with the thought that, "I'll feel better after some of this gets to my stomach."
• Sweets are just not going to do it for me. Now that's mean!
• Gingersnaps? They're ok...probably just one when I feel the need for a little tummy calming moment.
• Ginger ale, on the other hand, is fabulous!
• Did I mention that it's mean that most sweets just sound terrible?
• There's no way I'm going to gain any extra weight if I keep feeling like this.
• I know I'll feel better by dinner time.
• Just about any kind of food can bring on a sizeable case of heartburn.
• It'll all be worth it in the end...
  
  
  

Did You Know?

The Texas Horned Lizard (or horny toad, as we called them as kids) is the Texas State Reptile (so named by the Texas Legislature in 1993)? Apparently this little creature is threatened in Texas. That's so sad...we used to have a horny toad that lived in the back yard. It had a name but I don't remember it. I'll have to ask sis when she calls today.

There is a new punctuation in town...the Interrobang. Check it out...who thinks up these things?

Ugh...

Not that I'm really complaining or anything, but I think morning sickness has kicked in. And it appears that it's not going to limit itself to the morning. I've just felt icky all morning. I've had my chocolate milk (good protein) and I ate a cracker (I had some in my desk) but it tastes like it's been sitting around for awhile.

I have a lunch meeting today and it's BYOL (bring your own lunch). I hope I can think of something to pick up that won't make me ill during the meeting.

Today's Appointment...

I didn't get to see the doctor today because he was sick...and has been for two days! Not like him!

I did go ahead and visit with the nurse because I had several questions...and I wanted to get some bloodwork done.

The nurse told me about the ultrasound report...the sonographer could see (I don't know how!) the place that was causing the spotting, but it appeared to be healing. That's a very good thing! The nurse also gave me some Prometrium (progesterone suppliments) as a just-in-case thing. Just in case my last miscarriage was due to low progesterone, she put me on this. It's a little weird to be taking a drug that was not originally intended to be taken by pregnant women...it even says so in the little folded informational leaflet! However, I'm very glad that I'm taking it now because I was a little worried that low progesterone is what caused the miscarriage...and I know this because of all my medical knowledge...yea, right!

Anyway, this appointment and the ultrasound really helped to ease my worries. I'll go back to the doctor next week to see him and find out how my bloodwork went.

Hope the Little Pebble is all comfy in there!

Divine Mrs. M Burgers!

Last night for dinner, TC took me for hamburgers at my favorite place...Ron's Hamburgers. He prefers Little Mike's, but Ron's has these things called Texas Toothpicks...battered and fried onions and jalapenos. I don't like jalapenos, but I'll endure them for some of this tasty treat!

So, we're looking at the menu and we notice that they have sausage burgers...half sausage, half ground beef! Holy Cow!!!! TC and I split one and it was delish! We've been telling everyone we know how delicious the burgers were that we had at the Divine Mrs. M's house on her birthday. I hope they aren't her husband's family secret recipe!

Oooohhh...it's not even lunch time and I'm hungry!!

Houston...We Have a Heartbeat!

I just got back from the sonographer's. It all went well. She didn't give me any reasoning for the spotting this weekend, but we got to see the baby! The little pebble measures at 6 weeks, 1 day which are my calculations exactly based on my ovulation date. Interestingly enough, this means that the baby isn't any more than 4 weeks, 1 day old. Yes, it's all complicated and sometimes confusing.

Ok, back to the good stuff. We also got to see the heartbeat! It's too early to hear it, but we could see it on the screen just fluttering away. The sonographer measured it at 107 beats per minute the first time and 105 the second. That's fabulous! Now, if we can just keep all the hormones flowing around like they should, we'll be great!

Here's a picture of the little pebble...only 0.27 centimeters long!

First Ultrasound

I'm having my first ultrasound today. Well, it's not actually my first one...I had several at the two different ERs I visited with my miscarriage.

I had a few scares this weekend, so I called to request another blood test before my appointment tomorrow. I'm thinking it will ease my mind if we can discuss the results at my appointment instead of waiting until Wednesday and getting the results over the phone. The sweet nurse, Carol, said that she thinks I'm far enough along to be able to see something. I know that it's too early to hear the heartbeat, but we might be able to see it. And if we can't tell anything by the ultrasound, we'll go ahead with the blood test. Either way, I'm going to be giving some blood today or tomorrow! Gosh, I sure hope something good happens just to make me feel better.

More DHL Drama

So, I finally got a check in the mail from DHL to reimburse me for the lost package that I shipped out over a month ago. The check was for half of what I paid for the shipping. I email them and they tell me that DHL only charged the mailing outlet $5 for the shipping and the mailing outlet charged me $10. What's up with that? I understand making a profit, but a 100% markup? I thought that Mary Kay was the only company that did that.

Sigh...

A Little Scared...

I'm just a little worried about the Little Pebble today. I'm trying to stay positive and I hope that my appointment on Tuesday will ease my mind...but sometimes it's hard. I guess we'll just enjoy the weekend!

A Little Thursday Morning Humor...

I've gotten this several times by email, but it's just too darn funny!

How To Shower Like a Woman

Take off clothing and place it in sectioned laundry hamper according to lights and darks.

Walk to bathroom wearing long dressing gown. If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

Look at your womanly physique in the mirror - make mental note to do more sit-ups/leg-lifts, etc.

Get in the shower. Use face cloth, arm cloth, leg cloth, long loofah, wide loofah and pumice stone.

Wash your hair once with cucumber and sage shampoo with 43 added vitamins.

Wash your hair again to make sure it's clean.

Condition your hair with grapefruit mint conditioner enhanced.

Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red.

Wash entire rest of body with ginger nut and jaffa cake body wash.

Rinse conditioner off hair.

Shave armpits and legs. Turn off shower. Squeegee off all wet surfaces in shower.

Spray mold spots with Tilex.

Get out of shower. Dry with towel the size of a small country.

Wrap hair in super absorbent towel.

Check entire body for zits, tweeze hairs.

Return to bedroom wearing long dressing gown and towel on head.

If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

How To Shower Like a Man

Take off clothes while sitting on the edge of the bed and leave them in a pile.

Walk naked to the bathroom. If you see wife along the way, shake wiener at her making the 'woo-woo' sound.

Look at your manly physique in the mirror.

Admire the size of your wiener and scratch your butt.

Get in the shower. Wash your face. Wash your armpits.

Blow your nose in your hands and let the water rinse them off.

Fart and laugh at how loud it sounds in the shower.

Spend majority of time washing privates and surrounding area.

Wash your butt, leaving those coarse butt hairs stuck on the soap.

Wash your hair. Make a Shampoo Mohawk. Pee.

Rinse off and get out of shower.

Partially dry off. Fail to notice water on floor because curtain

was hanging out of tub the whole time.

Admire wiener size in mirror again.

Leave shower curtain open, wet mat on floor, light and fan on.

Return to bedroom with towel around waist. If you pass wife, pull off towel, shake wiener at her and make the 'woo-woo' sound again.

Throw wet towel on bed.

If there is anyone among you who did not laugh at the truth behind this, there is something so very wrong with you.

What's the Buzz...

We just got back from seeing Jesus Christ Superstar at the local musical theatre. And this theatre is gooo-oood! The review in the paper wasn't a very good one (thbbbbpt), but I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

There was one little bloober...Jesus fell off the cross in the very last scene in the show. I hope I haven't ruined the ending for you. They stopped the show and after 5 minutes, started the show again for the final 1 minute.

The music was incredible! Of course, I'm kinda partial to it since I played in the pit for the show when I was in college (and my co-flute player was the Divine Mrs. M). Yes, the two flutes beautifully played that little flute duet.

Well, off to bed!

100 Years...

...100 Movie Quotes

I love these shows that AFI puts out. However, I tend to get board in the middle, so TC and I flipped between this and The Real World: Austin. I was a little upset that there were no quotes from Princess Bride! And there are plenty of good ones: "Aaaaaaaaassssss yyyyyyyyyooooooouuuuuuuuu wwwwwwwiiiiisssssssssshhhhhhhh!"; "Have fun stormin' the castle!" and the ever popular, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Oh, well...such is life.

poor little kitty 

A few more symptoms...

The heartburn has come on full-force! That is not fun at all. I've also made several trips more than usual to the powder room. Hopefully these are all good signs that everything's growing as it should.

As my sis, A, has started to say, "Double Down, Little Pebble!"

The Blaze...

Well, TC and I decided to buy a car today. We had only planned on looking...didn't take the checkbook or the title to TC's Chevy S10. After we dropped my car off at the Nissan house for it's 60,000 mile tune-up, we looked at the Muranos there. TC thought that there was a Saturn house close by...no such luck. So, we ended up at the Chevy house. And a few hours later, we got one of the demo TrailBlazers. Now, here's an exciting part: it's got a third row and the second and third rows both fold down if we need that extra trunk space. Woo hoo!!!

The salesman was very friendly. He and I hit it off very quickly...my name was the same as his mother and daughter's and his name was the same as my dad's. Interesting! He also got the thumbs up from me when he started filling out paperwork and put TC's and my name on the papers.


The Blaze

We have to take it back on Monday for them to fix some of the stains on the seats. They gave us a bit off the price because it's a demo but after we were through with financing, the salesman said he would get the stains and such fixed anyway. So, TC'll get a loaner on Monday while this one's getting all fixed up.

Now, let's hope that we'll need this extra space in the near future...

Dialectize This!

This website is just hilarious. Put in the url of your favorite website (I used the one for this blog) and it'll put the site in Elmer Fudd, redneck and even Pig Latin!

This is hilarious!

This was blog-lifted from another blogger that visited my site...

Gnarly Traffic...

There was some major traffic on the way to work today! Yikes! In one of the completely stopped moments, I noticed a bumper sticker on one of the cars a few lanes over. It said ATREYU. I'm thinking...that cute hero in The Neverending Story (ah a ahhhh a a ahhhhh a a ahhhh). I love that movie...and had quite a crush on Atreyu! Somehow, though, I don't think this guy in an old style BMW is promoting this movie, so I googled it. Ah ha! He's probably into this band. I bet their songs aren't as catchy as the theme song to The Neverending Story...which will be in my head all day now, thank you very much!

If you're interested in where they are now, here's some info I found:

The Childlike Empress - Tami Stronach
Atreyu - Noah Hathaway




Oh, and our roof is finished!

More Drama...

In addition to all the roof drama (and there was an issue about needing extra-long nails at the end of the day yesterday and all the stores that carry them were closed!) we had car drama. TC's truck died! He thinks the clutch went out. It wouldn't take the jump from my car so we had it towed to the nearest car-fixer-upper and hopefully they'll fix it today. Thankfully, we are a two-car family and TC dropped me off at work and took my car to work with him. At least he'll get off work on time today!

It's Cold!

Ok, so it's not really cold (my desktop weather says 70 degrees...better than 140 from yesterday!) but I'm freezing in my office. It's the middle of June and I have a space heater right next to my chair and it feels so nice and warm. Hope I don't fall asleep!

Roof Drama...

Well, they've run into a little problem with the roof. Apparently, the decking is covered in tar and then the rolled composite was put on top of that. The roofers can't get the tar off! So our options are to spend a little less money and just felt and shingle over the tar/decking or spend more money and completely remove the decking and put up new decking. TC is waiting on a price quote on all new decking.

Can I go back to being a kid again?

No Symptoms Yet...

...well, except for that +HPT and blood test!

I'm kinda wishing I could have just a few symptoms (please, not uber morning sickness) just to let me know that everything's progressing as it should. It's only 13 days until my next doctor's appointment and I'll be asking for a second hCG test just to make sure the numbers are increasing like they're supposed to. A woman's got to have some reassurance.

I really wish I felt pregnant...and could just enjoy this rather than have the cautious optimism that I have right now.

Playing House...

Sometimes, I wish I didn't have to be an adult. We're getting a new roof today! What a grown up thing to do! There was a huge hail storm in our area last summer and almost all of the houses around us got new roofs. Ours fortunately (maybe) was spared and the inspector didn't find any damage. Since then, we've had two leaks in the kitchen...but not too bad. We saved some money and we're ready for the roof now.

The roofer left the materials in our driveway yesterday. He told us last week that they would drop off the materials and about two days later, start on the roof. He also told us that we would need to remove things from the walls and take breakables off shelves that were attached to the wall. Vibrations from the hammering...

TC assured me last night that there was no way they'd be coming today to start the roofing, so we didn't do anything with our pictures, china and crystal in the built-ins, etc. You see where this is going, right?

This morning, just as I was finishing packing my lunch, the roofer calls. He's finishing up the current project much faster than expected and they can start on our roof today if we'd like. Sure! Forty-five minutes and several piles on the floor and tables and several spider webs later, I got all the stuff moved. There's nothing like a little manual labor in the morning to wake you up!

Guess who'll be putting it all back up?

Current Weather!

I have the Weather Channel's Desktop Weather. What a fun thing to come to work to!


It's Hot!!! 

I'm thinking a supernova or a nuclear meltdown?

**It did eventually fix itself and an hour later, the temperature is only 79 degrees.

Talked to the Nurse...

I talked to the nurse today. Dr. T looked at my quant numbers and said that everything looks good and I shouldn't expect this pregnancy to end up in miscarriage. They put me at 5 weeks...that must be based on my LMP. However, I didn't O until about 3 1/2 weeks later. The average woman ovulates somewhere between days 10 and 14. The baby (a fetus right now) isn't any older than two weeks at this point. My estimated due date is anywhere between February 10th and 19th depending on if you base it on LMP or O. I don't care what the due date is as long as I get to hold my beautiful little baby in my arms next year!

Hormones...

I just got a call from the nurse at my doctor's office. My HCG level on Friday was 38. So, that basically confirms the home pregnancy test. Woo hoo!

Now, this number does me no good without a second number (and possibly a succession of numbers). The numbers are supposed to increase (double every 1 1/2 to two days) and that's an indication of a healthy pregnancy.

My doctor is not in the office today, but the nurse (Kathy) said he will look at the results tomorrow and then decide if they want another blood test done. I hope that they do...it'll keep me from having to get forceful and saying that I want another one done.

Just staying on the precautious side!

As for other symptoms, I'm not having much other than excessive heartburn and I feel like I've pulled a muscle in my stomach region. Hopefully it's just Little Pebble snuggling in for a nice, long rest.

I Passed!!!!

I just got my certification exam results and I passed! My score was 573 out of a possible 800...passing score is 500. The average score for the version of the exam I took is 525, so I'm above average there! Whew! What a rush! I'd have even been happy with a 501. So long as I passed.

After I get my official certification notification (in about two weeks), I can put CFRE after my name!!

Better get that new business card order in!

Ummm...

Why?

Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend with TC's aunt and niece...I'm not sure who had more fun! We celebrated the niece's 14th birthday at Musashi's and I ate every last bite of food on my plate! I just love Japanese steakhouses!

So, after a three-day weekend, it's back to work. I have a grant to write. Thankfully, it's not too complicated.

I hope to have some news today on my certification exam. We'll see what the mail brings today...

Honey, I'm Home!

I just got back from my annual well woman exam. How fun to go in there and tell them I had a positive HPT! The doc told me that I "have pregnant boobs, girl!" He sent me to the lab to get some blood drawn...they're going to check my hormome levels and tell me how far along I am. I'm thinking it's 3 or 4 weeks...still very early.

When I got back home, TC, his aunt and his niece went all out to welcome me. TC got me a big arrangement of daisies, his aunt got me a beautiful Willow Tree Angel...the one of the woman holding her pregnant belly (her name is Cherish) and his niece wrote the most beautiful card. TC also got me a super adorable classic Pooh teddy bear. Yes, I cried!

Now, as my sis (and me, too!) prays every night:

Hold on Tight, Little Pebble!

It's a Positive!!!

Well, it's been about 47 minutes since I got the "pregnant" reading on the home pregnancy test. I'm super excited with a big touch of nerves. There's just something about knowing that my last pregnancy ended in miscarriage. Oh, well. It happened this time and I'm going to enjoy it...all nine months of it!!

I'm 3 weeks and 5 days along...but that's based on my last AF.

My due date, based on my ovulation date, is February 19th. How nice to have a little love baby!

So, Little Pebble, I hope you feel safe and warm down there in my tummy. Please find a nice spot to latch on to and know that I'll take care of you forevermore!

xoxo

If You're Bored...

I just added a new link to the blogs I read sometimes. I can't remember how I came about this one, but they have some pretty kooky stuff. Check out this post and link...Uncontrolled. I warned you (and they do, too). The site they send you to is pretty addictive...even if you don't get how it works!

If You're Into Star Wars...

...check out this flash movie. It's about 5 minutes and it's pretty big, but it's a hoot. Be on the look out for Tofu D2 and Princess Lettuce.

Kinda corny...


...couldn't help myself!

Feels like Friday!

I'm off tomorrow, so today feels like Friday. That's a good thing! TC's aunt and niece (who'll be 14 on the same day as the devine Mrs. M's 1 year anniversary) are coming to visit for the weekend and they'll be here this evening. We're very excited...I actually think TC's aunt is more excited than his niece!

Random thought...

My mint is growing nicely, although I might have killed some of it. I love mint! It smells good and just makes me think of fancy things. A family friend of ours makes this spectacular mint tea (it's got tea, orange juice, mint and a simple syrup) that I just love! And I do not want to buy mint at the grocery store...too expensive. So, I've been taking the mint garnishes from our desserts at Abuelo's (I always have the flan and TC always has the margarita pie) and sticking them in the ground next to a water faucet outside. They're actually growing new leaves! My dad has put some mint from their yard in a gallon jug and he's going to bring it when they come to visit next month. Mom says he's got a jug of dead stuff. Dad's just sure it'll green up. We'll see...

Where's George?

Where's George is an interesting hobby of mine. You can track your bills and see where they go. Of course, it requires writing on the bill (or stamping...that's what I do), but that in itself is not illegal. No defacing going on here!

So far, I've only entered about 281 bills and I've gotten hits on 73 of them. Some of them have even been hit twice (and one has been hit three times).

I just got a hit yesterday, in fact. It was a bill that I sent with TC on one of his business trips to Kansas City. It got hit by a kid in South Dakota.

Of course, this whole project relies on people to see the website on their bill, go to that website, and enter the bill they have.

It's pretty interesting!

Customer Service Bad Dream...

I don't think it has quite escalated to a nightmare...but let's give it a few days.

About two months ago, a Beauty Brands opened up just about a mile from my house. I was very excited about this because they carry salon products that I like and they have the brand of shaving cream that TC has decided he likes. In the past, I've usually just paid my sister to buy the stuff at her store and mail it to me. Now, I've got my own store to buy it whenever I want!

The store had been open about 1 week (should that have been my first clue?) and I decided I was going to schedule a manicure for a Saturday morning. I called on a Monday and scheduled it for the following Saturday. No big deal. My appointment was at 9:00 am so I got there about 8:45 and went to check in.

"What's the name of the stylist you booked with?"

Ummmm...I can remember my own name better than a random one of a stylist. I don't know who they scheduled me with. The poor lady working the computer couldn't figure out how to look through the schedule by customer name instead of stylist name (not real user friendly if you ask me!). So, she looks at all the appointments scheduled for 9:00. My name is no where to be found. Ms. Blonde asks for assistance.

Ms. Brunette says, "What is the name of the stylist that's giving your manicure?"

I still don't know this information. After several clicks of Ms. Brunette's mouse and some keyboard taps, she finds out how to look up an appointment by customer name. What a concept!

Apparently, from the time I scheduled the appointment to the day of my appointment (a mere 5 days, mind you) Kim no longer worked at the company. And no one thought to see if she was scheduled for an spa services?!?

No problem. Another girl was supposed to be coming in at 9:30. She can do a manicure then. Unfortunately, this girl didn't have an appointment until noon, so she wasn't planning on coming in until 11:30. The called her about 10:00 and got this information. She drove as fast as she could and got to work about 10:30.

So, 2 1/2 hours...and one free manicure later, I left.

*******

Now, a few weeks later we found out that TC's aunt and niece (she'll be 14 on June 12) would be coming to visit us for a weekend (it happens to be this coming up weekend!). I've got Friday off and TC has to work the first half of the day. I decided I'd give Beauty Brands another chance and schedule a manicure for all three of us. I scheduled them a month ago.

TC needed some shaving cream so I went to BB yesterday to buy some. I thought, "what the heck...I'll confirm my appointments." Again, the new lady couldn't figure out how to look up by customer name (I thought that the stylists names had transfered to my PDA, but no such luck). She kept asking me if I had three appointments with the same stylist. I told her (4 times, to be exact) that I had scheduled three appointments at the same time with three different stylists...so we could all get a manicure together. This is apparently a difficult concept.

Is it surprising that they only had appointments recorded for two of us? They were able to get the third one scheduled at the same time. I'm still not sure though. I'm going to confirm them again tomorrow.

Then I think I'll be through with their salon services...

Baby Blanket...

No, it's not for me. It's for a friend who's baby shower was today. I had so much fun making this little blanket! I used a different yarn than the pattern and a smaller hook so it came out much smaller, but it's for a baby, right?!? How big does it need to be? I added the ruffle around the edges to give it a bit of oomph. I need to get started on another one for a friend that's due in September. I just love to crochet...


Plaid Baby Blanket 

News of the Weird...

Ew, gross!

I'm guessing this is where they go if they get flushed...or after a romp on the beach?

Did you watch...

...Hit Me Baby 1 More Time last night? I thought it was going to be some kind of special concert. Nooooo...it's a series! And I'm going to have to watch it again in spite of several train wrecks last night. Arrested Development was by far the best performance. I don't think I even knew who they were when they were popular. But Tiffany, now that was someone I was excited to see! And boy, was she not good. Yikes! Maybe their stage sound was messed up or something. The whole show (except for A.D.) sounded like a so-so American Idol show.

The Knack (My Sharona), Vanilla Ice (Ice Ice Baby) , The Motels (Only the Lonely), Tommy Tutone (867-5309) and I guess one more will be the artists next week. Is it bad that I know pretty much all of the words to Ice Ice Baby?

I'm loving the 80's flashback....

Bible Study...

I had Bible Study this morning. I remembered to set my alarm for 4:45 AM (instead of PM like I did last week). The book we're doing is very interesting and I'm really enjoying it...even if we are only in the third chapter. So far, the author has talked about being thankful for the mundane, every day things we do; it is all in preparation for our greater purpose. God is preparing us for that and instead of constantly asking, "What is my purpose in life?" we should focus on the fact that God knows where we are going and all the little things (like laundry, going to work, cooking, etc) should be done with praise in our hearts.

That's something to think about...

Move Along...

Nothing interesting to see here.

Cruel Joke!

Last night after dinner, I was enjoying my strawberry shortcake skinny cow ice cream sandwich and I saw a commercial for this. Good heavens...ice cream, chocolate ganache...I think I need some of this! And not that my skinny cow tastes bad (it's actually pretty good...but the chocolate flavor is not!), but this must taste better.

So I go to the website and find that it's only available in regional markets...and I'm not in one of those!

The horror...

Free Credit Report!

Umm...that sounds like this is going to be spam...but it's not!

Today, June 1st, is the third phase (open to all Southern States) of allowing everyone in the US access to their credit report. For free! My husband, TC, has been getting his credit reports from all three reporting agencies once or twice a year since we bought the house in 2001. It's probably because when we first tried to get approved for a loan, the bank called us and told us we had been denied due to a foreclosure on my husband's account. Now, neither one of us have ever had a late payment on anything and we didn't rack up huge credit card debit. TC was MAD but we finally figured it out. The lady at the bank kept looking at our reports and said that we both had too high of a credit score (that's good) to have this foreclosure. Well, it appears that some bonehead doing the research only matched records on name and not social security number. Once they realized that even though my husband and this other guy had the same name, they didn't have the same social. Whew! But, TC checks it regularly to watch out for weird stuff.

It looks like all is good with my credit.