CAUTION: Woman In Progress

A puppy for each arm is always the best idea. When asked if she'd brought one of the puppies to give to baby brother, "Nooooooo." The nursery waiting area where we waited on Ethan to arrive has an area with a bench surrounded by mirrors. Alyssa used the mirrors to cure her boredom. And I used the mirrors as a fun photo op tool. Ain't she the prettiest little thing? :) Nana and Bobo introduced her to her baby brother. Enthusiasm? Not so much, actually. Fascination, a little. More like, "Dats baby," in the sense that there was a baby in the room. The fact that it'll be going home with her soon hasn't computed yet. She's fascinated with the camera...both a blessing and a curse. A curse because I can't let her see my camera without her wanting to look at "pishurs" and a blessing because it's a great babysitter when I need to keep her occupied. lol We had to coax her into even sitting on the bed with her mama, much less have much t...

I was on my way to take Libby to the vet with a little swelling issue when Mama called. Sis2 thought her water had broken and she was waiting on the doctor's office to call her back. By the time I got out of the vet's office ($74 poorer with some meds for the DP) when Sis2 called back and asked me to hurry. Doctor's office had told her to come on in to the ER and she needed to get Alyssa dressed and some things packed and such and no one else had made it home yet. I pulled into the apartment lot about the same time Mama did and she got Sis2 packed while I got Lyssa dressed and by then Goofus was there and they whisked away to the hospital with us hot on their trail. I think we were all a little dazed. This wasn't the way we'd planned it, at all. She was scheduled for a c-section on Friday and they'd already made plans to be moved into their new house by Thursday. But you know the old saying, if you want to make God laugh, tell him YOUR plans? Yeah. We're so...

But when am I ever? LOL Will try to do the weekend review tomorrow if I'm here. May take off to go help Sis2 with some packing business. But if I'm here, ya'll'll get to hear all about pre-moving moving and baby showers and how tired I am. I know ya'll're so looking forward to it, right? ;-)

So if you recall yesterday's post, (if you even read it!) I bought a couple of throw pillows for the bed. I got them in red because I don't want to have to replace the lampshade on my lamp (and can't find one I like anyway) and Sis2 said I needed something red on the bed to tie it all together. Soooo...enter red pillows. But I can't decide what looks best. Without any pillows? Both pillows? Just the lumbar? Or just the round one? The devil pup, being the ham that she is (sooooo not like her mama. hehe) insisted that the only adornment I need on my bed is her. So I asked her to do something cute. And this was all she gave me. I can't decide if she was going for sexy or pitiful. Hmmmm... But then she started grooming herself so I figured it was time to wrap up this photo session. (Especially considering that in at least one of the shots I took and didn't post, she was revealing a little bit too much TMI on her grooming. *rolls eyes*) So, m...

Took the morning off of work. Was supposed to go to doctor for blood work and then go help Sis2 pack. But she changed her mind. So instead, I went to doctor and then went shopping. Well, I take that back. I went for a chicken and biscuit and cappuccino and THEN went shopping. But I got bored so I came to work after lunch. Didn't really find anything while shopping. Thrift stores around town suck. The only one that has anything good charges WAY too much. The only purchases I made were at Wal-Mart, of all places. Imagine that. lol I bought two throw pillows for my bed and a pair of sandals that had been marked down to $5. And that was it. Picked up lunch from Wendy's--got one of the new applewood bacon burger things. The picture looked awesome. The burger? Meh. I mean, it's nothing special. Mostly just messy. (Meaning, I'm wearing it.) I'd rather had the baconater. More cheese. hehehe And so here I am. At work. Boring ya'll with my blog. Yay me. ;-) Or should I s...

Front page news? Really? hehehe Okay, okay, so maybe the news wasn't so much about me as it was the dude who donated a bunch of cra...err... stuff to our library, but still. We all know the only reason the pic made it on the front page was because of me. We know that, right? Right? Okay, whatever. I know the truth. Ya'll can all just bite me. :-p Ya'll are just jealous because I'm front page news and ya'll aren't. Get over yourselves, already and face the fact I've always known. The world? Yeah. It revolves around me. hehehehe P.S. That link prolly won't show the "story" tomorrow, so in case you missed it, you didn't really miss anything. That's why I posted the picture with the link. Because the picture's the best part. No seriously. ;-)

Shot some pics of the quilt I received at my housewarming. Had to spread it out on my bed to get it all. It's at least a full size, if not queen. And so perty! If you see a lump on the right... It's a Devil Pup! LOL This is a close-up of one of my favorite squares. Reminds me of a poodle skirt. I always wanted one of those when I was a kid. :) And some more close-ups... The DP was on the move. She enjoyed snaking around underneath the quilt. This square contains some of the fabric from my great-grandmother. If I remember correctly, it's the solid purple and she used it around the border, too. A fun pattern... And the blue piping is from my great-grandmother's fabric, too, I think. To be honest, I was in such awe of the quilt, I sorta missed all that she said about my great-grandmother's fabric. *sheepish grin* And then the DP surfaced again and it was time to fold it away to await the quilt rack I'm going to order/buy soon. There'll be ...

The Master Bathroom before: Butt Ugly light fixture with mix-matched bulbs. And just overall plain. Nothing to see here, folks. Amazing what just a new light fixture (from Wal-Mart's Dream Collection, in satin nickle finish), a coat or two of black paint on the vanity and some new towel hardware accessories can do for a room. Oh, and a new shower curtain, of course. Didn't do any painting in here, other than the vanity, but added art and accessories for a sleek and (hopefully) polished look. New satin nickle cabinet pulls pop agains the black vanity. I'd love to change the counter top in this bathroom, but alas, it is outside my budget. I can live with green. I guess. ;-) (I don't know why this picture looks so crooked. I swear I was standing up straight! ) Guest Bathroom before: A little blah and borning. Very vanilla. The Guest bath after a coat of Valspar's Spring Something or other (i'll hafta get the name and come back and update it. Slipped m...

House setbacks made Sis2 decide she didn't need me to help pack Saturday. Yay. So instead, I busted my buttocks getting my own house neat and tidy for the housewarming the church ladies threw me. I swept until my back ached, pulled out the heavy duty vacuum and got the three bedroom carpets CLEAN. (A first since I moved in in June. lol I've vacuumed, but with the dinky little vacuum I inherited from Sis2 several years ago.) I washed dishes, scrubbed counter tops, washed up all the laundry, chased dust bunnies from their hiding places and even went so far as to dust the crown molding. My cleaning skilz, they got flexed. hehehe Then I got creative and decided that I needed to make the house look a little more finished. As in, hang stuff, store stuff, drag out stuff. Rearranged some of the decore in Emmy's room, cleaned up some crap out of Libby's room, spray painted some crap. Because cleaning alone isn't bad enough. *snort* By about 2, I was give slap out, so me ...

Heck, it's my blog. I can vent if I want to. If you don't want to read self-pitying irrational remarks stop reading now. Have you stopped yet? How 'bout now? So if you haven't stopped by now, be warned. I'm going to whine and let some inner demons show. 'kay? This might fall under "Things you never wanted to know about another person" or "I wish she'd just get over herself already." Here goes... So I didn't realize until just now that I'm still irrationally angry with my mother about something she said this morning. And I know she didn't mean anything when she said it. I don't even think she realized that it might hurt my feelings. And if I weren't such a self-esteem riddled mess, it might not have bothered me at all. But I am a self-esteem riddled mess so I kinda took it personally. What did she say? Well, if I tell you, you have to promise not to get all snotty about my mama 'cause she's still my mama and I...

This has just been one absolutely wild month...and it's only half over! Still so much to do and get done. I feel like I've been constantly on the go. Doing this, that and the other. Between family get togethers, work events, helping Sis2 and Goofus get ready to move--not to mention all the house stuff I've been doing for myself. Heat pump installation, painting everything that will stand still, prepping the house for this Sunday's housewarming--I may not survive it all. lol This weekend likely won't be much better. I'm fairly certain that we're scheduled to return to Sis2's to help her finish packing and junk. Then, if nothing changes and everything goes as planned, we'll be helping them move into their new house! And then the weekend after THAT is when the baby is scheduled to arrive. *pant* Okay, I'm seriously exhausted just THINKING about what all is left to do. If October doesn't kill me, I hope it makes me stronger. lol Last night I stop...

So yesterday was interesting. As I mentioned, I left early to go meet HPH and the power company inspector. Was supposed to meet HPH at 2 for the filter vent cover thing and the inspector was supposed to be there at 2:30. *shakes head* HPH didn't get there until 2:15 which, isn't so bad, I don't guess, but I'm all about punctuality. If he'd said "Between 2 and 2:30", yeah, that'd be fine. But he said 2. So I rushed home to get there in time and ended up waiting. Not a big deal, really, except having to wait got me really worked up with anticipation. LOL When he did get there, though, he did his thing with the new filter vent cover and I'm pretty sure wanted to wait in his truck until the power company guy got there. He sat out in his truck doing whatever for about 5 or 10 minutes before he finally came in. Avoiding me? lol So he did finally come in, though, and I invited him to sit and we ended up watching Food Network and trying to think of thi...

So I did actually make the coffee. *sigh* I rushed home all giddy, swept the floors, changed into my good jeans and fluffed my hair. Went around the house to make sure it was still clean. And then I waited. When he hadn't shown up by 6 I thought, okay. I'll make the coffee. I guess my thinking was that maybe God was waiting for me to make up my mind. And too, I thought, he might actually appreciate it since it was getting cool outside. So I made it. Poured myself a cup and waited. Turned the porch light on at about 6:30 and sipped my coffee. At around 7:00, he called. He wasn't coming. All the rain we'd had that day had interfered with the job he was doing and he was still working. Wasn't sure when he'd get finished. We talked for like maybe three or five minutes. Long enough for me to giggle stupidly a couple of times, him to complain about the rain and make arrangements to meet today before the inspector came to check out the unit and stuff. And then that was...

So the lights did get installed last night! Yay! Now I've definitely gotta paint the guest bathroom walls, though. The new light fixture is a bit shorter than the old one and on either side of it is some lovely maroon. Yes. The former owners at one point had MAROON bathroom walls. Yikes! Hopeful painting will get knocked out sometime this week. Not tonight and definitely not tomorrow night. So maybe Thursday or Friday night? That is, if I don't have a date Friday night. hehehe Nah, I'm pretty sure I won't, but it's fun to think about. Heat Pump Hottie called last night while my uncle was working on the lights. You remember I told you about how he said he'd hafta come back to install the filter vent thing? And remember how I totally screwed up by suggesting that my dad could meet him out there for that? Well, last night when he called, he asked me first about meeting with the electric company for inspecting the unit so that my financing can be approved. TH...

So I decided to finally start carrying through on some of my bigger DIY's. The ladies in the church decided last minute that they want to throw me a housewarming party at my house next Sunday. So I'm thinking, okay, I'd like to have some of my ideas implemented before then. I'd already begun prepping the bathroom vanities for some painting--had them taped off, cleaned and the door pulls and toilet paper holders removed. Had the paint bought. Just needed to get the actual painting done. Went home yesterday afternoon and got the ball rolling. Do you know that oil based primer STINKS? Ugh. Like, gosh awful intoxicating stink. And I made a mess with it. I think I may have gotten it too thick...you're only supposed to put on a light coat. But I was in the groove and maybe got carried away. Ended up with a ton of the stuff on my hands. And did you also know that unlike latex paint, oil based primer does NOT wash off with soap and warm water? Yeah, I kinda k...

Not that my family, you know, broke Facebook for anyone else. Although if it were possible for a single family to break the second largest social networking site on the Internet, it'd be mine. No, my family ruined Facebook for ME. Now I don't really participate in a lot of the applications and games and such that FB offers. I mostly use it to update my status, post pics and keep in touch with friends I don't see much of elsewhere. And by "see" I mean, Internet friends who I met elsewhere but who, for whatever reason, no longer frequent the community where we first met. In the past, FB, my blog and a couple of web communities have been my on-line escape from life aka "the real world." Meaning, people I see all the time anyway. I like having friends around the world who are SEPARATE from the people I sit next to at work and have dinner with at holidays. Stupid me, I used my REAL last name on FB instead of my pseudonym of "Hunter." A decision I wi...

It's Friday. I'd be more excited if I didn't have to work till 5pm today, but alas, we're having a special thingamajig in our department and I have to cover the ref. desk so that the bosses can be social. Allegedly, I volunteered my services. Apparently when my boss says "Jana I need you to cover," and I say, "Yes, ma'am," that means I'm volunteering. Didn't know saying no was an option. lol I hate working till 5, though. Not only does it make my day seem super long (since I get here at 7:30) it also means that I'm leaving in the midst of all the nasty five o'clock traffic. I hate five o'clock traffic. It's nearly impossible to get off campus at five. Traffic bumper to bumper, folks pulling out in front of folks, pedestrians streaming across crosswalks en mass. Ugh! It'll take at LEAST 30 minutes just to get out of the parking lot and into the flow of traffic. But, I do what I must because, hey. At least I have a job, ...

Everyone has them, right? Those little personal issues that when pointed out by others really gets us steaming? Yeah. I've got my fair share. I'll admit, I can be more than a little touchy on some subjects and moody as hell. With that said, the pastor hit on two of my hot button issues last night. And I know he was just trying to be funny (he thinks he's a riot and loves to tease) but my hot button issues don't give a flying fig if you're "just picking." Mama hit on another hot button issue this morning. And I knew the instant I stepped off the elevator with my toasty cream cheesy delicious bagel and noticed that it wasn't quite ten o'clock (meaning she wasn't back at her desk from her break yet and instead, still in the lounge where I was headed) that she'd hit it. And still, I got annoyed. If I hadn't been meeting my friends for break in that very same lounge, I would have turned around and enjoyed my bagel elsewhere. But noooo, I had...

You may already know this about me, but I have a slight fascination with things that go bump in the night. Hence my love for the series Ghost Hunters and ghostly movies. (And TV shows like A Haunting .) And you may recall the story of the ghost I felt I lived with for seven years. And sometimes I feel like it's ME that's haunted, and not necessarily the places I've lived. Because I never told ya'll this, but not long after I moved into the apartment last year, I had an experience very similar to the sort of experiences I had at the old lake house. The being woken in the middle of the night by a heavy presence looming over me, the bed shaking and once I SWEAR I heard someone giggle, though I wasn't certain if it were a supernatural being or some kids outside my bedroom window. But it was only the once and it scared me just a wee bit. And then, not too long ago, I experienced the same sort of experience at my new house. The bed indenting as though someone had just sa...

Friday was fun. I played hookie from work and Sis2 and I celebrated her birthday. Back in the summer while Emmy was here, we'd taken her to paint pottery. While there, Sis2 and I decided that for her birthday we'd go just us and paint whatever we wanted to and just make a day of her birthday. So that's what we did. We each painted two pieces of pottery each. I don't know that mine will turn out all that well. Especially with the first piece I did. It was a bud vase and I got a little creative with the top portion. Which wouldn't have been so bad if I had any talent whatsoever at painting. Which I don't. So fingers crossed it's not hideous. lol I think My second piece ought to turn out pretty cute, though. I kept it simple. Maybe a little too simple. But there's nothing wrong with simplicity, is there? Sis2 is awful when it comes to deciding on what she wants to do. I usually have a pretty clear picture once I pick out my pottery piece, of what colors I ...

So not much has been going on with me other than the family crap. I had a funny anecdote to share yesterday and got sidetracked with my ranting and forgot it. So I s'pose I can share it with you now. You know, ever since I got the DP, I've had this paranoia of locking myself out of the house when I take her out to do her business. At the lake house I had a spare hidden outside for just that reason. At the apartment, though, I didn't feel safe hiding a spare outside. Living in town, the vibe against such a thing is strong. So I was always just really careful about not even pulling the door all the way shut. It's a habit that stuck with me after I moved into my house. Or so I thought. That little still small voice (you know, the one that probably comes from God and tells you to do the stuff you know you need to do for whatever reason? Yeah, that one.) had been telling me for WEEKS that I needed to hide a spare key somewhere outside. For weeks I kept saying, "I nee...