That. Was. Awesome.

I just watched my Tivo'ed episodes of "Scott Baio is 45 and Single" and "Rock of Love" - starring my boy, Bret Michaels from Poison. They were both highly, highly entertaining. The Scott Baio show is actually somewhat interesting - he has hired a life coach to find out why he's 45 and hasn't been married yet, and he has to confront his ex-girlfriends to figure out what is wrong with him, relationship-wise. I'm not a big Scott Baio fan, but it was pretty cool.

And, "Rock of Love" - I mean, come on. I don't even need to explain why watching 25 bleach-blonde idiots (for the most part) fighting over Bret Michaels is awesome. It just is. Especially just noticing how many times Bret says "awesome" and "party."

Awesome.

good read

For those of you who like chick lit, but you are looking for something that isn't cheesy, then might I suggest The Hazards of Sleeping Alone by Elise Juska. I read the whole thing this weekend and it's the best book I've read in a while. In full disclosure I must admit that the other book I'm reading is What to Expect in the First Year, which, although not categorized as a horror book, is scaring the holy living hell out of me.

10 days

Ten days to go until my due date. This has been a festive week, which included a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning, a hospital trip on Tuesday night (when I was told I was probably in early labor and would have to return maybe that night, or maybe in a week, who the hell knows) and a general increased feeling of yuckiness as each day goes on. Without going into too many details, I will say that although I've never been in this position, I really feel like things are moving along. A lot of why I think that is physical, and some of it is mental. I have been working my ass off at my job, knowing every night when I leave I might not be returning for three months. Nothing makes you more efficient than that thought. I am so relieved it's the weekend now, because I'm just so exhausted at this point. We don't have a lot planned, which is actually great.

And the wait continues.

Jimmy wears his sunglasses at night

It is way to &*(!^&* hot out to write anything, so I give you this delightful photo entry.

huh.

I find myself at just about the strangest time of life I've ever experienced, so far. "Strange" is the only way to describe it - I've got 2.5 weeks to go until my due date, and, having surpassed the 37-week mark and also having stronger contractions and a "dropping" baby, this thing could happen at any time. I feel different, physically, than I did even a few days ago. I am scared s***less as well, about all of the painful stuff, and I'm so hopeful that everything will be OK, and I'm so excited to meet the baby - and, to balance all of that huge, major, life-changing stuff, I'm still working full-time and trying to complete huge, big projects at my job and the rest of life is rolling along as it always does.

This weekend I saw my friends a lot - we had a post-Fourth of July party yesterday and a birthday party today - July is the month for birthdays amongst my friends' kids (with another one soon to be thrown in the mix), so I see everyone a ton this time of year. As I left the party today, I realized that this might be the last time I see everyone before the hospital. Two weeks can go by really fast, and everyone's so busy, and I never see people as much as I want to anyway. So it's entirely conceivable that I won't see any of my closest friends until after the fact. I'll talk to them, of course, but see? Maybe not.

It's funny, because I try to downplay the whole baby thing - even on this blog, and in conversation, and in life in general - I am certainly not the first person to have a baby, just as I wasn't he first person to ever get married, so in both instances, I try not to act like it's this huge deal. I don't want to be one of these people who acts like I'm the only one who has gone through this, and as if my experience is so original (I know I've already mentioned this before).

But the thing is, it's original to me. And right now, I can't believe that I can focus on anything else, besides this huge, ginormous life event that's about to happen. But I can. I can sit here and debate with you whether Nicole Ritchie is really pregnant (OK, I guess it's in the same category) or talk to you endlessly about work, or gossip about whatever.

But one of these days, one of these minutes, everything is going to change. And that is always, always hovering in the back of my mind. And it's just so strange.

I have a feeling

So, today, all of the sudden, I have this feeling that something's going to happen; specifically, that this baby is coming soon. I'm not sure exactly why, and Lord knows I could be (and hopefully AM) completely wrong, but there's something about the exhaustion, the very heavy feeling in my big ol' gut, and perhaps the fact that people are exclaiming at how much I've "dropped" that has me feeling that this thing is coming sooner rather than later.

Or, perhaps, it's Jimmy that's making me feel this way.

Greg and I have always maintained that Jimmy is going to have some sort of major health crisis right around the time I give birth. When anything has been amiss during this pregnancy - whether we were scared it ended, or I got a weird result back, or whatever - Jimmy managed to have a raging ear infection, or a swollen butt, or whatever. You know, because he needs the attention.

Because I'm such a fabulous pet owner, I didn't notice until yesterday that Jimmy's famed toenail, the one he lost in the bloodbath of '06, was gone again. I didn't notice that he lost it, but I have noticed he seems especially obsessed with his foot lately. The thing I noticed more was how he was doing his trademarked "sit'n'spin" twirls on the rug, which indicates when he needs to have his anal glands expressed, so he was off to the vet today anyway. The fact I finally noticed his missing nail was just something else to ask the vet about.

So, Greg took young James today, and $83 later, he has a freshly squeezed butt and antibiotics he has two take twice a day (for his infected nail area) and a solution that his foot has to be soaked in three times a day (again, for the nail area), and, oh, we need to keep his foot dry, and keep him from chewing on the area. Yeah right. YEAH RIGHT.

Is this it, Jimmy? Is the baby coming soon? Or do you have something even more ridiculous cooked up for a couple of weeks from now, when I'm really due? Will it be back to the warm butt compresses twice a day? Or something else? Because having to deal with soaking your foot three times a day at 8.5 months pregnant is really awesome enough, I swear.

(this picture is of Jimmy, contemplating his next bid for attention)

I have not been this excited about a movie since RENT

Wahoo! E! Online has confirmed that Sex and the City, THE MOVIE, will start filming this fall! When my beloved series ended a couple of years ago, it seemed that this was never going to happen - that Kim Cattrall and Sarah Jessica Parker hated each other, and Kim wanted more money, and all this stuff that may or may not be true (the ladies will not confirm it) - but who cares - because now they are going to make it and I am sooooooo haaaaaaaaaaappy. I heart this show so much - even the sanitized TBS repeats -and the idea of its return in movie form is just plain awesome.

Your Pregnancy: 37 Weeks

And below -the beginning of the weekly email I received from babycenter.com today:

Congratulations! Your pregnancy is officially full-term. Your baby can arrive any day now.

Holy crap.

fourth this

So I took today off of work -took a precious, precious personal day - so I could get my house ready for Fourth of July. What kind of stupid ass plans to have a bunch of people over three weeks before she's due? Me. I'm that kind of stupid ass. It's hard, y'all, to bend over and clean stuff. It hurts. I'm having contractions (not "real" contractions, the Braxton Hicks kind) that are getting more intense because I continue to not just chill out. I still don't feel like we're ready, but due to last night's insomnia, I'm beat now. It's time to lie down.

Is anyone proud at how much I'm blogging lately? I think I deserve a golden prize. Or maybe I would deserve a golden prize if my posts were interesting in any way. OK, maybe I deserve a silver prize.

justice

So let me get this straight - Paris Hilton had to serve her prison sentence, but Scooter Libby gets pardoned by GWB from his?

ok, now we're really ready

We came up with a boy name. You know, just in case. It's a boy. Which it's not going to be. Because they told me it's a girl. And I'm totally mentally prepared it's a girl. But if it's a boy, he will have a name. And that name is _______________________. (Seriously - did you think I would tell?)

Lisa pointed me in the direction of a birth story over on Amalah - she's a funny DC-area chick who has a very entertaining blog. After I read the birth story I started reading the rest of her blog - it's pretty good and quite amusing. While she blogs about everything (not just her kid), there are much more kid-centric blogs over at Strollerderby that I've started reading a lot. I highly suggest the Baby Daddy one - pretty funny stuff from the point of view of a first-time dad.

I think this is a pretty good time to be a first-time parent, what with all of the info and blogs and everything on the interwebs. You just basically realize that no matter how original you think your problems are - someone else has had them.

I bought this

Except the one I bought was the Product (RED) one, you know, to both improve my karma by having some of the proceeds go towards helping people (dudes, I am obviously very focused on my karma right now) and also because I was tired of using Greg's old, beat-up iPod. So, not surprisingly, it's red, not black. This is not an official iPod, but it's an iPod Nano, 4 GB. I think storing 1,000 songs is all I'm going to need, because it will force me to clear things I'm not listening to out if I want to add more. Anywho, I can't wait for it to arrive so I can load it up with all of the stuff I'm going to want to listen to while I'm sitting in the hospital in excrutiating pain. If that doesn't deserve a soundtrack, I don't know what does.

In other news, it's been a pretty productive weekend so far. I've done tons of laundry, and have washed all of the clothes and bedding for the baby. The nursery is in decent order, although nowhere near done yet, it's coming along.

Last night we went out for a craaa-zeee night out on the town with Alan and Todd. It was great to get out amongst the people after doing chores all day, plus Alan took some pretty scandelous photos that I'm sure he'll post on his blog. Well, maybe they're not scandelous. But they were pictures.

Gotta run and get ready for church. Yes, church! I have to start making make face known there again if I want to get this baby baptized. I know, I know, I'm horrible.

36.5 weeks and counting....

Wide load comin' through!

now we're ready.

I have bought not one single item of clothing for this impending baby. I have always felt like I was jinxing it. But as I get countless reminders from babycenter.com, pregnancy magazines, and friends to pack my bag for the hospital, I knew I had to have the perfect "coming home" outfit for the baby. And for all of the truly wonderful things we've been given, I just couldn't pick one thing.

As I was walking by BabyGap tonight, on my way to return some baby clothes to another store because we already have waaay to much, I saw the Product (RED) display at the front of the store and immediately had to check it out. Greg and I bought our Product (RED) shirts at the Gap the first day they came out last year - come on, when Bono tells Greg to do something, he does it - so when I saw this onesie, I knew I had to buy it. HAD TO. It was too perfect. I am hoping that instead of jinxing everything, instead it brings us good karma, as half of the proceeds go to help people with AIDS in Africa. I know, I know, I could have just written a $15 check and had all of the proceeds to go help people, but I want my baby to be an activist from DAY ONE. And I know khaki green isn't really a "girlie" color, but really, is this baby's mother very girlie either? I think not. Well, except for the huge belly.

hot fun in the summer

Yup, we took not one, but two trips to Babies R Us tonight to stock up on gear. We had to go to the Manchester store to pick up the changing table/dresser because it wasn't in stock in New Britain. Also bought loads of other stuff, like diapers and wipes and glamorous things like that. Slowly but surely, we're getting ready.

cake and punch....

....are two wonderfully delicious things I let myself have today. Today was my surprise baby shower at work. It ruled because I got nice gifts and I gave myself a free pass to have cake and punch. And it. was. awesome.

I heart sugar!

tick tock tick tock

That's my internal countdown clock. I'm due one month from today. I feel this overwhelming urgency to get so many things done - the room isn't ready, I don't have my bag packed for the hospital, I haven't washed all the baby clothes in Dreft, I haven't installed the carseat - etc, etc, etc - we don't even have a single diaper in the house. And we're gonna need those diapers the second we realize this is really happening, because I think we're gonna crap our pants. It still seems somewhat unreal to me.

Here's a little snapshot from my weekend. I started to feel like the house was disgusting. We are in a real state of transition - we are getting the nursery ready, which means everything in there had to be moved somewhere else, and Greg is doing all kinds of major yard projects, and it feels like everything is is a major state of disarray. So I felt the need to clean the kitchen in a serious way. So I'm bent down, trying to clean the bottom of the fridge, and I could hardly stand back up. At this point, I can hardly hoist myself out of bed, never mind out of a crouching position. So, I started to cry. I cried and cried and felt so sorry for myself, because I couldn't do the cleaning I wanted to do.

Something else from my weekend - I told Greg that, this is IT, we only have a few truly free weekends left, after this we'll have a baby and we'll need to get a sitter, so we've got to live it up! Here's us living it up - yesterday we went to Home Depot and Borders, and then home for the rest of the day. Greg did yard work and I sat there and read/fell asleep. Today I went to a baby shower.

Obviously we know how to party like it's 1999.

Don't stop....

So, I've seen like 3.5 episodes, mostly by mistake, of "The Sopranos." Greg's a fan so I tried the show out a long time ago, but it wasn't for me. Too violent. But I've read many, many opinion pieces about the finale, and I feel like I've seen it myself. Which is why I found this campaign video of Hillary Clinton's, which is a spoof of the last few seconds of the finale of "The Sopranos," to be pretty amusing. Check it out.

oooh...that's gonna leave a mark

So today was our childbirth preparation class. It was supposed to run from 8:30 to 5, but we got out at 3 instead. Thank God for it too, because I had reached my limit for things-that-will-freak-me-out-to-the-point-of-not-sleeping. Actually, it was really informative - learned a lot about the stages of labor, which range from "ouch" to "*!&*(!^&*!^&*^ ouch" and the glories of epidurals, natural childbirth, c-sections, labor positions, episiotomies (yeesh), all that stuff. We also got to watch a video which featured four women going through different kinds of labors - with drugs, without drugs, with a doula, a c-section - it was somewhat horrifying to think that's where I'll be in less than six weeks. But, at the same time, it was kind of cool - because, holy sh**, that's where I'll be in less than six weeks.

I wish I could blog more, but I'm tiii......zzzzzzz

Remember all of those other times I've complained about being tired? Either here on the blog, or in real life? Or perhaps I sent you an email, complaining about being tired? I had no idea what tired was.

I can't believe how exhausted I am these days. My eyes are literally shutting when I'm driving home from work at 4:30. I want to stay longer - I have so much work to do - but I can feel my brain shutting down beginning around 2, and by 4, I'm cooked. I come home, and find the chores of eating dinner, doing some laundry, getting my lunch ready for the next day, cleaning Jimmy's ears and giving him his medicine, and maybe writing some thank you notes too much to even think about. I slug through these easy-in-real-life things and try to stay awake until 9:30. If I've done that, I let myself fall asleep. Of course, I'm up half the night with leg cramps and bathroom trips.

Right now, I feel bad for my dogs. All I want to do is lay down in bed and read, but Greg isn't feeling well so he's already in bed, and the dogs hate it if they don't have anyone to hang out with at night. So I'm staying up with them for a while, so they don't feel abandoned. I can't wait until we don't have to lock them out of the bedroom anymore.

I had my 34-week appointment today. Six weeks to go. I continue to not really gain weight, but my gut is still growing, which is good. Starting my next appointment (in two weeks) I go to the doctor every week, and they start checking to see if I'm progressing in terms of dilation and all of that. I won't go too much into it, as Alan doesn't like when I talk about "lady business." On Saturday we have an 8.5 hour childbirth prep class. I'm kind of dreading it because I'm scared about childbirth and I think the class will make me more anxious.

Speaking of anxious, I think I'll go read another chapter in What to Expect the First Year.

yesterday was quite the day

The reason is, because it was my big baby shower (surprise!) and the Tony Awards!

Now, I'm no fool. I knew a baby shower was a'comin'. But I didn't know exactly when. I told my mother a long time ago that I wanted it to be a surprise. At the same time, we were running out of days it could take place. Greg told me that we were supposed to go to brunch with two of his work colleagues at Avon Old Farms yesterday. This is not an impossibility at all, so I was all like, "ugh," but I went. How happy was I when the room was full of people I knew instead? With a big 'ol table of lovely presents and a big brunch to eat? Oh yeah - I gave myself a free pass on the diet for the afternoon. A girl has got to enjoy her own shower. I stuffed myself silly and didn't feel guilty for one second.

I got lots of pink, girlie things and lots of stuff we registered for, and it was great. However, it was just another event that really made it seem like this was actually going to happen...and soon.

This picture is of me and my friend Cheryl, who is due six days after me. I feel like I'm starting to look......jolly.

So I went home after and crashed hard, but did manage to stay awake for the whole Tony Awards ceremony. I am such a nerd - but this is a huge night for me. I heart the Tonys hard. The Spring Awakening cast rocked it - and that show won eight Tonys (I think) including Best Musical. It's so cool to see a show that's original, young, rockin', and cool get the shiny trophies it deserves. Not that I have seen it - I just have the soundtrack - but from all accounts it's worth seeing, and I hope to see it soon.

happy birthday, puppy pup

Today is Junior's fourth birthday. He is the best dog I will ever have. No offense to Jimmy, or any other future pups - I love/will love them all tremendously. But Junior is not only the number one pup of all time, he kind of represents my transition into so-called adulthood.

Taking care of a dog isn't easy. Unlike cats, who can take care of themselves for days at a time if you leave them enough food and a clean litter box, dogs need constant attention and care. Junior was great as a puppy - he was housebroken in just a few days, and got LOTS of attention from people everywhere we went. People would say, "Is that a GREAT DANE?," all incredulous that this little 18-pounder would soon be the 125-pounder he is today.

Some people aren't so in love with him. They think because he's big, he's some sort of vicious dog. But all you need to do is spend five minutes with him to know he's more sweet and loving than any human you know.

Some people also felt/feel the need to tell us how "short-lived" Great Danes are - as in, "Oh, is that a GREAT DANE? You know, they don't live very long." Thanks. Should I now mention how your grandparents are looking mighty old, and might not have too much longer to go?

Junior was instrumental the day I got engaged. Greg gave Junior the ring box and then called me upstairs to say that he had thought Junior had something of mine. Of course I was pissed - we were, and still are, constantly prying things out of his big jaw that doesn't belong to him - so imagine my surprise when I found out what he really had. There was no better way to get engaged, in my opinion, then to include the whole family.

And that's what he is. A true part of this family. One of my all-time best friends. The best lap dog EVER. Greg and I knew we were going to start to try to have a baby last year, so a couple of years ago, we thought it might be a good idea to get Junior a friend - to help him understand that while we might incorporate others into our family, he was still very important to us. Hence the arrival of Jimmy on Christmas, 2005. Soon, Junior will have a little sister to play with. And although people are trying to freak me out about the dogs' reactions to the baby, I know Junior will take it all in stride.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, puppy pup!!

Note: I'm sure I've posted this picture before, but I just find it hilarious.

meet the itchy

I don't mean to brag or anything, but I think this is a particularly disgusting and impressive patch of poison ivy on my leg. You're welcome.

day off

So, I managed to work so much this week that I went well over "normal" hours yesterday and am just completely taking today off. I'm so very happy about this, because I'm totally beat and I don't have a whole lot planned. I'm supposed to go to lunch with a friend of mine - and that's hardly a difficult obligation. Looks like it's going to be a gorgeous summer day (albeit quite hot) so that's good. What I should really do is some work around the house, but we'll see how ambitious I get.

Greg's been really great lately doing a lot of the heavy lifting around here. He's been doing a ton of work on our yard, which is a several-years-in-the-making job. He's also done a major purge of the garage and basement, and has completely cleared out the room that will be the nursery. We will probably go pick out paint and carpet today, or at some point this weekend, and he'll do that too. I feel badly that I can't do much other than to tell him what I want done, and while that sounds ideal, it's really not. I want to help.

In the meantime, I've been reading the latest Alex Cross novel by James Patterson, Cross. It's really good, although I have trouble keeping my eyes open at night to read it. I'm hoping to make a big dent in it today. Greg got me hooked on these James Patterson books while we were in San Diego. I love when I find an author that I like who has already written a ton of books. I feel like I'll have something to read for a long time. I also just read the book Dedication by Emma McLaughlan and Nicola Kraus. These are the same authors who wrote The Nanny Diaries, which is coming out in movie form this summer, I believe. Dedication was a pretty good book - didn't rock my world or anything, but worth taking out from the library.

That's it for me. Have a great weekend.

the return of the itchy

Poison ivy, you are not my friend.

Perhaps one of the most embarrassing, yet often-told, stories of my youth is the one when Heather and I, when we were maybe in 5th or 6th grade, thought it would be cool to get poison ivy. We had never had it before, and something about the shiny, forbidden plant was very alluring to us. So one afternoon we sauntered over to the patch that grew near the garage at her house, and, well, basically rubbed it all over ourselves. And, ah, sweet lady luck blessed us both with the itchies a few days later - and although it was initially very exciting to see the little red bubbles, we soon realized that actually having the poison ivy rash basically sucked big-time arse.

Although it was a lesson learned, since then, I have had poison ivy many times. One memorable time it was on the rim of my eye, and the next morning my eye was swollen completely shut. Sweet (and attractive!). Last summer I got a particularly hideous patch on the back of my leg - so hideous that I decided to take a picture of it and set it as the wallpaper for Greg's cell phone. You know - as a cute reminder of me and how lucky he is to be married to me.

The poison ivy is back with a vengance this season - we get a lot of it in our yard, and when the dogs come in, so do remnants of the vile plant. So far this year I've had patches on both my arms, my back (Jimmy likes to rest his arm on my shoulder when he sits on the back of the couch, and I must've have been wearing a tank top the day he brought in poison ivy dust), and now my foot and bottom half of my right leg.

I wish I could say it was exciting, like it was back in elementary school, but, alas, I f-ing hate it, and I hate being itchy, and this is why I'm blogging at 5:30 a.m. - because of the return of the itchy.

bits and pieces

Some random happenings in my life right now:

I am tired. I have had two extremely long work days in a row, and I'm beat like it's Friday. It's truly a phenomenon how exhausted I am these days. Oh well - 7 weeks to go.

I have burned my belly once again on the iron. Now I have two matching scars in almost the exact same place because I misjudged how big (or small) my belly was while ironing. What a dork.

I scored a pediatrician! Wahoo! I know, I know, I'm a grown-up, boring, etc, but this was high on my to-do list and I'm very happy.

I'm psyched that the Kathy Griffin show on Bravo, "My Life on the D-List," is starting again tonight. I love that show. I know a lot of people find her annoying, but I think she's hilarious. Plus, she has a new stand-up special that is on right before.

The diabetes diet is rolling along. I've lost about four pounds, which is interesting, considering I'm supposed to be gaining a pound a week, but the doctor says it's OK. My levels have been really good, and all in all I'm getting into much better eating habits.

I saw the movie Knocked Up last weekend and it was really quite good. Not as laugh-out-loud funny as I expected, but I liked it.

That's all I gots.

the simple life

I feel like a horrible person when I say I feel a little bit of glee that Paris Hilton is off to the slammer for 23 days, beginning on Monday. She's just one of these so-called celebrities who are famous for no real reason except being extremely wealthy and social. If she did things with her money, like, you know, help other people and stuff, I would have much more respect. But it seems like she just looks at life as one, giant, glitzy party just for her.

Party's over.

just like Britney, he's not that innocent

Jimmy realized this week that he hasn't been to the vet in a while, so he decided to develop yet another ear infection and, as a bonus, swollen anal glands. So, it was off to the vet this morning to get the glands expressed and another round of ear medicine. The thing is, he's getting the ear infections from eating Junior's food (Jimmy has super-expensive fancy food that doesn't give him ear infections, but he doesn't like to eat his food. The ironic thing is, Junior loves it.). You would say, well, why not feed them both the same fancy expensive food, but we get Junior's food at cost and, let's face it, he's a big pup who eats big bowls of food. As it is, Junior's food=a lot of money every year. We don't want to spend the extra $$$ on food we don't need to buy. So the vet suggested feeding Junior at specific times and making sure Jimmy doesn't get to the food. But we free-feed the dogs, and with everything going on in our house now, we don't want to change something else in their schedules. So we're going to change Junior's food to something else we can still get at the Puppy Center, but with different ingredients, so hopefully Jimmy's ears will not be affected. I know this isn't the best solution, but it's the best solution for now.

reason number one million why I'm glad I don't work in the food industry anymore

People are freakin' out of their minds.

Did you hear about the Wendy's manager who got shot because he didn't give a guy enough extra chili sauce?

My gut, redux

Back by popular demand - my gut. Here's what 32 weeks looks like, kids! Doesn't Junior look excited?

here comes the sun

I love love love reading Dooce.com, but her most recent post has been on my mind a lot, and not in a good way. She has once again been diagnosed with skin cancer - not the super-bad kind, melanoma, but the other kind (still bad, but can be taken care of) - and it has me reflecting on the many, many hours I have spent grilling myself in the sun since my teens. Like Dooce, it's not that I don't know that the sun is bad for me - of course the sun is bad for me, everyone knows it - but there's just something about having a tan that makes me feel like I look more alive. Of course, the irony being that a tan can make you very dead.

I'm half Italian, and I definitely have the skin of that side of my family, so I know I'm at a lesser risk of skin cancer than people with very fair skin. Still. Since I have been severely burned a couple of times in my life - to the point of blisters - I have this horrible feeling I'm not going to get off scott-free.

I have all kinds of freckles and things I didn't have in the past, but so far, they seem "normal." And over the past several years I've been much more diligent about putting on the sunscreen and not getting fried. I just don't have the patience or the time for sitting out in the sun like I used to anyway. But I'm increasingly afraid that my past is going to come back to haunt me, so I'm constantly checking myself to make sure nothing looks weird.

Ah well. I guess the good thing about staying in the shade (you know, besides avoiding more skin cancerous sun rays) is the fact that it will help me not to look 100 years old when I'm 40. That's always a good thing!

role models

I can't tell you how exciting it is to think about the fact that Lindsay Lohan, who recently got in yet another alcohol-and-maybe-coke-fueled car accident and is now back in rehab, again, all before she turns 21, is a huge role model for young girls. This is mostly exciting because I'm having a girl, so now the stories of celebrities-gone-bad that have so often entertained me leave me feeling slightly unsettled. How bad is it going to be in 10 years, when I'm dealing with a pre-teen? If Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, etc, are the girls to look up to now - how egregious will the behavior of the future's role models be?

I shudder to think.

memorial day

So today is Memorial Day, which is never a big deal in terms of picnics or things like that in my family. I did go over to Heather's for a small little barbeque, and that was fun. I can't believe how warm it is outside. What a difference a year makes - the wallpaper on my computer at home has a picture of me feeding ice cream to the pups around the same time last year, and I'm wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. Today I'm in a tank top and shorts. I'll take the summer stuff any day. It's kind of weird how much I'm feeling the heat this year - usually I love sitting in the sun (even though I know it's horrible for me and my wretched skin) but this year I'm shade girl, or inside girl. Something about carrying around a big ol' watermelon just makes you want to stay cool.

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA! (thanks for the reminder, Melissa!)

mmmm carbs and sugar

Tonight we went to dinner with two of Greg's friends who are up in CT for the weekend from Delaware. We went to dinner at Pepe's in New Haven, and it was the first time that I had ever been to the pizza joint. I know, I know, pizza isn't exactly a diabetic's friend, but I only had one slice and it was delicious. I think I could have had at least three. After that, we went over to Libby's, an Italian pastry shop, for dessert. I made Greg get lemon Italian ice, and I had a tiny bit, and it was heavenly. Greg's friend got some sort of chocolate mousse treat that looked so good I wanted to stuff my face in it. But I held back, which took a decent amount of restraint on my part. I'm definitely going back to those two places after this whole diet nonsense is over.

bookworm

I looooove to read. It's my favorite hobby. I've been a bookworm since I was a little kid, and it surprised no one when I went on to be an English major in college. I still love to read. I read everything from trashy gossip magazines to, you know, real literature. The top thing I spend my disposable income on is books. Most of the time, I read one or two books a week, and that can add up.

"But Amanda," you are saying to yourself, "Why not go to the library? The books are free there, you know."

Here's the thing - I have always had a difficult relationship with the library. I have never been good at returning books on time. I remember about nine years ago when I applied for a new library card when I moved to a different town and they tracked down the fact that I had forgotten to return Hamlet to my hometown library when I was in high school. I also had my library card privileges completely revoked when I failed to return a movie that I had taken out a couple of years later. It's not that I don't want to return books and movies - it's just that I forget. Or I'm lazy.

Greg goes to the library, and recently he took a bunch of James Patterson books out for me. I just finished up the last one, and I thought, "Well, there's a good $30 saved." I decided that since I'm going to have to start spending money on big-ticket items like daycare and diapers, maybe I should try to save some money where I can.

So we headed off to the library this morning. Now that I have my brand spankin' new last name (well, not really new - we've been married for going on three years, but still, it's a new identity for this library felon) I was free to open a fresh new library account without any of my old baggage. When the nice librarian asked me if I had a library card somewhere else, I hesitated for just a second, and then said "no." I find it's good to start out a new relationship with lies.

Then I headed to the New Fiction section, and immediately found a bunch of books that I want to read that I would have inevitably purchased. I was in heaven. I know I sound like kind of an idiot - I mean, everyone knows that the library=free books - but it's been so long since I've gone to one that I kind of forgot the joy of bringing a pile of books up to the counter and walking out without having to crack open your wallet. Sure, you have to deal with other people's food stains on the pages and the books are often sort of beat up, but that didn't really dispel any of my library happiness today. And my town's library is a good one! So I'm pretty psyched. Let's hope I don't ruin everything by falling into my old bad habits.

throwing down the challenge

So, Alan and I were emailing today about our blogs, and whether they were super boring, and whether we cared, and stuff like that. My last email to him was to blog a lot this weekend. He said the same to me. So, like, remember way back when (uh, was it six months ago?) when Alan and I blogged for two weeks straight, just to see if we could do it? Well, the challenge is back on. I'm tired of clicking around and seeing the same boring entries for days at a time. Anyone in? Anyone? Bueller?

Let me kick it off with some super-exciting news. I got my oil changed, two new wipers, and two new tires today. Hells yeah. Oh, and speaking of hell, it's hotter than, you know, out there right now. I mean, I heart summer and all, but we could take it down about ten degrees.

See? This blogging all the time thing is gonna be AWESOME.

sorry, Charlie

Well, here is the exciting conclusion to yesterday's post - yes, I did manage to stay awake for the whole finale of "Lost." Not only that, I woke up in the middle of the night and started thinking about it. Guess it made an impression. It was a really good episode. I won't say it was the best "Lost" episode I have ever seen - I'll save that honor for the season one finale - but it was sufficiently action-packed and had enough twists to keep me guessing until next February (my favorite part was the realization that the flashback was a flash forward). That's right - eight more months until we get to see a new episode!

Oh, and it was Charlie who went to the great island in the sky. I was never a huge Charlie fan, but he's been really engaging the last couple of episodes - Dominic Monaghan really took his character to the next level, I think, over the past couple of weeks. Also, if the guy who plays Ben doesn't get nominated for an Emmy this year, it's a huge tragedy. He's so awesomely creepy.

Here's an interesting interview with Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) from E! Online

Also, an interview with Damon Lindelof, one of the producers of "Lost" that sheds some light (or no light at all) on what's up for this show in the future

the whole goal of my life right now....

....is to be able to stay up for the season finale of "Lost" tonight. In real life, staying up 'til 11 is not a major issue, but it seems to be these days.

Sad? Oh yes, beyond words. But this is my ultimate goal of the evening. The thing is, yeah, I could TiVo it and watch it tomorrow night, but then the damn Internets will screw everything up for me and tell me what happens before I watch it. See, a major character is supposed to die tonight. And I don't want to mistakenly glance at MSN's entertainment news tomorrow morning to see that Terry O'Quinn or Matthew Fox or some other Lostie is out of a job.

So. Either I will stay up and watch the whole thing, or I will fall asleep and then get up early to watch the end before I go into work tomorrow. Or, God forbid, look at a computer.

OMG, the Bachelor finally picked the right girl!

If you know me, you know that one of the most embarassing things I will admit about myself is that I watch "The Bachelor." It's an incredibly cheesy dating show, where every episode features "the most dramatic rose ceremony ever!!!!" and often includes some pretty sweet catfights between the ladies fighting for the lucky guy who is The Bachelor. This year, it was a Navy lieutenant who was a very nice guy - smart, good-looking, all that jazz - he actually seemed fairly normal and non-ass-like, which is unusual for "The Bachelor."

Last night was "the most romantic finale ever!!!!" and it came down to Bevin and Tessa as his two final choices. Now, in all of the seasons I've watched this show (and "The Bachelorette") they NEVER pick the girl/guy that I want them to. Well, this time Andy came through for me and picked Tessa. I liked her because she very often seemed kind of horrified at the whole "Bachelor" process, and wanted to bail a few times, but genuinely seemed to like the guy enough to hang in there. She seemed as normal and smart and regular as he did.

Now that they are engaged, do I think they'll make it forever? I think they have a much better chance then pretty much any other pairing I've seen on this show. But how real is reality TV romance?

Now excuse me -I have to go watch PBS for a while.

oh my God, could my blog get anymore boring

So, the gestational diabetes saga continued yesterday with my trip to see the nutritionist.

We went over my diet prior to diagnosis (carbs, carbs and more carbs) and I told her some of the changes that I've made since diagnosis last week. She put me on a meal plan, basically restricting me to a certain number of grams of carbs per meal. She also gave me a list of general food and how many carbs they include. So, for example -instead of a whopping bowl of Cap'n Crunch (mmm, tasty) I can have a proper portion of plain Cheerios (1 cup) with splash of milk, for a total of 30 carbs for breakfast. AND THAT'S IT. I am also supposed to eat three snacks a day consisting of 15 carbs each, and lunch and dinner should be 45 carbs each. When measuring out my carbs, I need to look at the nutrition labels and make sure I'm sticking to the proper serving, or I'll blow it. For example, 1/4 of a bagel is 15 grams of carbs, so if I ate one whole bagel from Dunkin Donuts it would be 60 carbs - twice as much as I'm supposed to have for breakfast! Also, I need to subtract any grams of dietary fiber out from the total number of grams of carbs.

And that's not all. The nutritionist suggested that, although my doctor told me I didn't have to, I should do blood testing one to two times a day. At first I was like, "hells, no" but she said the magic words - if I found that my glucose levels were on the lower side of the range, I could add in some more grams of carbs - and oh, how I will desperately want those five extra Cheerios in the morning!

So, to wrap it up - my diet now consists of blood tests and lots of math. But I need to have perspective, because in the long run, I'm sure it will be good for me to get on a better eating path as a lifestyle.

However.

reality

Today we went to visit a potential daycare. After pregnancy tests, doctor's visits, ultrasounds, blood tests, and everything else, I think today was the day Greg realized we were having a baby. It really kind of made it all real.

The place was really great, and a real contender. At the same time, I felt sad, because I feel like I just want to have this baby before I have to think about giving her up to someone else for the bulk of my work week.

walkin' on sunshine

So, like, as recently as nine months ago I was practically a professional walker. Walking is my main form of exercise - not wimpy stroll-like walking, I mean power-walking at about a 12-minute-mile clip. I've lost a lot of weight this way, and find it the least reprehensible of all the exercise choices (although it's still awful, because I would always rather be sitting on my butt). Anyway, since this whole pregnancy thing, I've pretty much given up walking (not in general, just for exercise. I'm not that lazy - I don't make people carry me around). However, I have learned that walking is good for controlling blood sugar, so I decided that I should take it up again.

Boy, is walking different when you're hauling around 29 1/2 weeks of pregnancy.

Greg and I did a few little loops around my neighborhood, and I was winded. WINDED! And we only were out there for like 15 minutes, and definitely not going fast at all. But it's better than nothing and I have to build up my stamina again. I'm also going to try to start lifting my little 10 lb weights when I'm watching TV again. I used to have arm muscles, you know - but the weight lifting was another casualty of the pregnancy.

For now, however, I need to sit down.

I am oh so original

I remember when I was coming up with the title of my last post, "sugar and spice and everything nice" it sounded somewhat familiar, as if somewhere, long ago, perhaps on another blog, I had used a similar title.

Except that it wasn't so long ago and far away. It was four days prior, when I titled my post "sugar and spice."

Sigh. They say the mind's the first thing to go.

This has been an interesting weekend, trying to avoid carbs and sugar, basically feeling like I'm starving to death but trying to do right by the baby, and really, really wanting to talk to the nutritionist, so I can figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.

At least I have the "Survivor" finale to look forward to tonight! Yes!

sugar and spice and everything nice...

...is pretty much what I won't be eating for the next 11 weeks.

Today was my three hour blood test for gestational diabetes. First of all, I had to fast before and through the test, and a pregnant lady does not like to fast (neither does a non-pregnant lady, but my urgent need for food is much more, well, urgent now). Also, the disgusting sugar drink had twice as much sugar as the other one I had to drink, so this time, I was sort of loopy and tired and sick-feeling about a half hour after the test and for the rest of the day, including now. I had four blood tests, and I just got off the phone with my doctor's office who told me I was borderline on two of the four tests, so basically I guess I'm a borderline gestational diabetic. Poop.

All day long, I've been convincing myself that if I have it, it's not that big of a deal, and my diet needs help anyway, etc etc, but I'm disappointed. I have done research on GD and the top concern with this disease is that the baby will be too big - if I'm intaking too much sugar, then the baby's pancreas can start producing too much insulin too - and get to be a big, fat, giant baby. I read some scary stuff that if you have severe gestational diabetes you can have a stillborn baby, but the nurse assured me that I was nowhere near that point - that that would be uncontrolled, very severe diabetes.

Now I have to go to a special nutrition class through the hospital that will teach me about what I should and shouldn't eat. The nurse told me I can have some bread, some cereal, some fruit, but to stay away from concentrated sugars, like candy, cake, cookies, ice cream (as my friend Heather put it - anything worth eating). The other sugar/carbs I do eat will have to be in smaller portions than I'm used to. If you know me at all, you know it's those kinds of snacks, plus an extreme amount of cereal and breads, that have carried me through this pregnancy. Now I have to learn to be friends with more vegetables and proteins. Happily, I don't have to do the many-times-a-day blood tests that you have to do if you have full-on GD.

Ultimately, I'm sure this will be a good thing for me and my diet, as long as the baby is OK. I'd pretty much eat cardboard for the next 11 weeks if that ensured that she'd be alright.

But it doesn't mean I won't be a wee bit cranky every now and then. But I just have to remember how lucky I am.

I'm a failure baby, so why don't you kill me

Continuing my trend of failing pregnancy blood tests, I didn't score well on the aforementioned glucose tolerance test. I came back around 130-something, and anyone with a score over 130 has to go for a super-awesome, not-annoying-at-all three and a half hour test. So Thursday morning at 7:30, I'll be at the lab. This time I get to get my blood taken after fasting all night, then I get to drink the gross orange stuff again and get my blood taken, and then three more times (once each hour). AWESOME.

I have already done some research on gestational diabetes, and know a couple of people who have had it. Seems like I would have to do a major diet overhaul (what? my carbs and sugar diet isn't working?) and test my blood a few times a day to see how things are going. Sometimes insulin gets involved, but I think that if it's really bad. Not sure. I'm going to take this one one day at a time.

But I did get to wear a cute tank top that my cousin lent me today, so that's cool.

sugar and spice

Tomorrow morning I am kicking off the week with a glucose tolerance test. This is basically a test to see if I've developed gestational diabetes. It's a routine test, and as with many of the "routine" things about pregnancy, I am fairly sure I will fail. I have no real reason to believe this, I just do. Anyway, when I get up, I'm to drink this super-sweet orange drink. Then I have to go to the lab, where they will draw my blood exactly one hour after I've finished the drink. I also have to get some other routine bloodwork done.

I mean, seriously. What better way to start a Monday?

the musings of an extremely tired person who has been up since 4 a.m.

Ah, insomnia. You are back, like a sinus infection you can't get rid of. I had heard with the last trimester, insomnia becomes a big issue. You'd think, what with the exhausting job of housing your ever-expanding baby (and ever-expanding everything else) you'd be more capable of sleeping for many hours in a row. But no, no, no, you're completely awake in the middle of the night. And instead of falling asleep, you start thinking about calming topics like, oh, I don't know, labor and delivery. Ooooh - calming.

So I gave up and got up around 5 this morning. I think one of my main problems is I'm ready for bed by 7:30 most nights. I fight the tired for as long as I can, but I fall asleep around 9-9:3o, no matter how hard I try. So then, naturally, I'm up in the middle of the night. But I cannot remember the last time I got 8 hours of sleep. Seriously - I have no idea when that was. 1999 maybe? I wish I were kidding.

But anyway. At least it's Friday. This has been a pretty crazy week. I'm still coming down from the car incident (Greg tells me it wasn't really a car accident, but I hit something with my car, and it was an accident, so I think it's a car accident, but whatever) of Wednesday morning, and work has been really really busy, so I'm very pleased that it's Friday. I noticed yesterday I was starting to get a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions (basically, fake contractions where your belly gets really hard) so I think I really need to take it down a notch this weekend. Perhaps I'll go to bed at 8:30 instead of 9.

Something else we've been dealing with this week is the return of the ticks. The dogs have brought in several ticks, and we've become quite concerned that I'm going to end up contracting Lyme Disease and passing it on to baby. Now, note - no one cares if I get Lyme Disease - including me - it's that we don't want it passed on to Amanda Junior (no that's not the name). Well, I don't want to lie -I really, really don't want to get Lyme Disease - but I really, really really don't want to pass it on to AJ. So maybe I am ready to be a mother. Anywho, we've taken to keeping the dogs completely out of the bedroom, and they are extremely distressed, because they usually sleep with us. Of course, all of this has made me cry uncontrollably at least two times so far, because I have images of the dogs feeling rejected, sad, unloved, etc. When, in reality, they are probably like, "WTF? OK, whatever."

Unless my feet start swelling up like balloons today (and I have no reason to believe they will, except sometimes they just do), I'm going to go get a pedicure this afternoon after work. I am unnaturally excited about this. Although everyone has been so nice to me lately and telling me how great I look, all I can see are the bags under my yes and the general puffiness of myself, so I want my toes to look pretty. As with everything else I do, I looked it up on babycenter.com to make sure it was OK, and since there's no proof that I'm going to break the baby by getting some nail polish on my toes, I'm there.

WOW - I don't think I've ever rambled so much on my blog. Have a great weekend everyone.

just call me crash

So this morning I had my 28 week appointment with my doctor. There is something very "official" about 28 weeks -you're in the third trimester, you have to start looking out for symptoms of pre-term labor, you have to get a glucose test - you know, fun stuff like that. So my appointment went well.

The rest of the day, not so much. I was pulling into a space in our parking garage for work, and I somehow managed to push the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal, basically slamming my car up and over the curb and through the bottom rail that keeps your car from going through to the cars below. (I was on the top floor.) The bottom rail broke off and hit the two cars below, and somehow I managed to stop my car before it attempted to follow. I completely freaked out - I was really scared about the baby, above and beyond anything else, and to top it off, I really don't know how to handle a car accident, especially when no one else is around.

The very nice woman who is in charge of the garage took care of calling the guys whose cars I hit with the rail, as well as the people who manage the garage. Everyone came out, forms were filled out, the guys whose cars were on the receiving end of the rail were both very nice - one decided to just let the whole thing go (his car had minor, minor dings) and the other said he'd just get a quote and we could handle it however I wanted, either just pay him or through insurance (his door had a decent scratch on it). My car, on the other hand, is pretty beat up - the hood is all scratched up, the bumper is a bit out of place and scratched up - but mainly it seems cosmetic.

I called the doctor and she said I should be OK - to beware of any cramping, etc, that might happen, but she's sure I'm fine, and these things happen a lot. So as long as baby is OK, I will be thanking my lucky stars.

I feel like such a moron though. Guess it's time to go back to driving school. I never get in car accidents - this is not the time to do it, that's for sure. I'm just glad everyone was so super-nice to me, and I'm sure being a crying, pregnant lady had something to do with it. Sometimes it's just nice to see that people can be cool about stuff, and see the bigger picture.

In the meantime, I'm at home. I feel a little achy, but that's from the impact. I'm sure tomorrow I'll feel stiff. I guess it's just time to start taking it slower.

What a day.

three movies

I caught up on my movie rentals this weekend, and saw and recommend these three:

Notes on a Scandal - Yeah, it's pretty messed up to watch Cate Blanchett have a love affair with a 15-year-old, but Judi Dench rocks it in this movie. It's pretty much depressing but still good.

The Queen - Interesting to see what all of the fuss was about with Helen Mirren taking on the role of the Queen of England during the time of Princess Diana's death. Although I was obviously aware of when she died, I wasn't really invested in it, so it was interesting to see it from this perspective.

Stranger Than Fiction - Definitely a good idea for Will Ferrell to do a movie like this, where he plays a more serious, "normal" character. There are some sad parts, but I really liked this movie a lot. Also, I heart Emma Thompson.

can I get an AMEN!

Apparently, my one-true-love favorite store, Target, has realized that pregnant ladies do not want to wear shorty short shorts in the summer. This is the only store where I've managed to find longer maternity shorts, not the super high-rise ones that are so popular with people who have better legs than I do. Go Liz Lange! Go Target!

my 200th post!

So this is my 200th post, and luckily, I have decided to not complain about something. In fact, I want to actually give props to living in New England, which I rarely do. The thing I've noticed in the past couple of days is how spring just seems to....happen. One minute, you're freezing your butt off, it's snowing, everything is dead...and the next minute, the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and the temps are soaring. Now, I know that we've had an early taste of summer this week and that the weather will surely moderate to more normal temps for this time of year, but still. It's a pretty glorious time to be outside, and it's so great to see everything come to life.

how pathetic is it...

...that I really feel like I've accomplished something by clearing out all of my TiVo'ed shows? I've watched everything that's mine in the "Now Playing" queue (don't worry, Greg still has stuff there, so it's not like it's empty) and I feel like I've completed a major project.

Seriously, on a scale of 1 to 10, how pathetic is this? I'd say about an 8.

holding the door

Here's the thing about being pregnant - people, sometimes complete strangers, will be nice to you in a way that they may not have been previously. Like, if you drop something, they'll pick it up. Or they will stop their car to let you cross the street. Or, for example today: I was rushing to grab the elevator in the parking garage where my car relaxes during the work day. Usually the group of people will let the door shut, and, assumedly, laugh their way all the way up at my misfortune. Today, they held the elevator door for me. However, it was with a caveat, as one woman in the elevator told me - "We only held it because you're pregnant." She said it in a joking way, but still.

Oh well, guess I'll just take advantage of the niceness of humankind for the next 14 weeks, until it's back to the regularly scheduled rudeness.

celebrity encounter

OK, so I will once again mention that I don't write about work on here, but I will say that I was in New York for the past couple of days for a work conference, and at one of the functions I met Hunter Bell from what is probably my second-favorite show of all time, [title of show]. He was super-nice and I must say, it was pretty exciting for this theater nerd. I will now, AGAIN, urge you to get your fannies out to the store and buy the soundtrack to their show, because you will not only enjoy the music, you will laugh and laugh. Or check out their really funny blog on their website.

In other news, I'm just happy to be home now. I'm exhausted and thrilled that it's almost the weekend. If you have no plans and want to check out some local theater fun, I'll be hanging out at SCT this weekend for our production of Grease. And since, as we all know, Rizzo turns out not to be pregnant at the end, I am not actually in the show. But I'll be working house and helping out as much as my swollen and tired feet will allow (by the way, I was not complaining about pregnancy there - I was being descriptive!). I am also very happy that the weather is finally supposed to be nice this weekend. The 70s! Holy crap! It hasn't been that warm since....January.

you know what? I take it back

In re-reading my last post, I just want to smack myself. You see, I promised myself that I wouldn't be one of those pregnant ladies who complain about the whole thing all the time. And in real life, I've really tried not to. But putting it out there on the internets is the same thing. There are so many women who try so hard to get pregnant, and go through painful fertility treatments, sometimes for years at a time and with no luck, and I have had it relatively easy in comparison. There have been some scares throughout, and I feel like I have a right to complain about those things (which I have not really done on the internets) but I can't bear to listen to/read myself complain about stuff like leg cramps and bloating. Because, geez. It's not like I didn't expect these things. So I take it back.

PS: Re:Melissa and Lisa's comments on my last post - having a little rump on your bladder is the CRAZIEST feeling ever. You feel like you're going to pee right there on the spot! I'm not complaining - I'm just sayin'. It's nuts!

complainy mcwhineypants

This has been such a crraaazy couple of weeks in my life. I feel like I never went on vacation - any zen-like effects of spending time in the sun are completely gone. Most days I feel like I'm running around in 20 different directions and nothing is getting done quite right. I can divide up my problems into three categories: work, pregnancy, impending parenthood.

As for work, well, I don't talk about work here. Suffice to say there is a lot going on right now, and with 15 weeks to go (at most) until maternity leave, I've got a ton of stuff that has to be completed before then. 15 weeks may seem like a long time, but time has a tendency of flying by in a very inconvenient way.

As for pregnancy, well, I'm now 25 weeks pregnant, and winding up the second trimester. I feel very physically different than I did even a couple of weeks ago - I'm bigger, the baby is moving around a lot more, the sciatica is absolutely excruciating at some times. I feel like I'm short of breath at some points, I have some pretty spectacular heartburn episodes, there's numbness in my leg on occasion, and I'm overall just feeling really tired and slow. Which, when you have a lot to accomplish in your regular life, doesn't really work. Anyway, blah diddy blah blah blah. It's just the same crap you hear from any pregnant lady (and believe me, I'm eliminating some of the really distasteful issues that have cropped up), and I'm sure no one wants to hear it.

As for impending parenthood, well, holy shit. And that's all I can really say about that.

Now, aren't you so glad you read this post?

weekend update

This is a picture of the sunset in San Diego the last night we were there.

Lisa said she missed my weekend updates. So here you go, Lisa, this one's for you:

Friday: Today I have to continue cleaning my house, because we are hosting Easter and my family will be descending on Sunday and I'd prefer they didn't think I live in a pigsty. It's actually not to bad as it is right now, but there is still plenty of work to do, and I tend to get obsessive-compulsive about it. Hey, looking back at the beginning of my blogging career here at Blogger, I was talking about the same stuff. Easter. Getting the house ready. Cooking. Life doesn't change much sometimes. Anyway, today is also my mother's birthday, so I will swing by there later, and then tonight, we are going out for Greg's birthday (which is tomorrow) with his parents.

Saturday: Although Saturday is Greg's birthday, we will be going out to breakfast with my mother and brother to celebrate her birthday. Then I have to do a ton of grocery shopping and start some of the cooking aspects of Easter, like making the desserts. I also have to try not to stress out at Greg about everything that has to be done, because, after all, it's his birthday. Too bad, because I'm really good at freaking out the day before people are supposed to come over.

Sunday: Easter. Hopefully we will eat, drink, and be merry, but I'm not sure how merry I'm going to be while trying to cook a meal, since I am total crap at cooking. Frankly, I feel sorry for my guests.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that I have to finish up work on the Grease playbill. Not sure when that's going to happen.

aaand..she's back

This is a picture of some seals (or sea lions?) in La Jolla.

As expected, San Diego was awesome. The weather was perfect every day, and we had a lot of fun. Every day, we did something touristy in the morning/early afternoon - went to the Gaslamp District, Coronado Island, San Diego Zoo, La Jolla, and the Midway Navy boat (huge ass boat that fought in WWII) - and then in the late afternoon we hung by the pool. I did a lot more walking around than I expected, but it's good for me. I was extremely sad to come home - seriously, I had tears in my eyes when I was going to work this morning - but I guess that's all a sign of a good vacation. It was really good for Greg and I to spend some quality alone time together. Things have been so stressful lately and it was a good break. And now that we're back in CT, we wonder - why the hell do we live here? If it wasn't for our families and friends, we'd definitely be on the West coast, or at least in warmer weather on the East coast. I can't stand this cold crap anymore.

Now I am going headfirst into an extremely crazy week - Greg's birthday, my mom's birthday, production stuff for Grease and we're hosting Easter. Arrrrghh!

FYI Tomorrow is my one year anniversary on this blog. Whoo hoo! Hasn't it been sooooo interesting? And enlightening? And what not?

my weekend at the thea-tah

This was a pretty theatrical weekend for me. Friday night I went to see Wit at Hole in the Wall, starring my friends and fellow thespians, Todd and Alan. It's a play about a woman who is dying of ovarian cancer - you know, a show that's just begging to make you laugh. I jest- but actually, there were a decent number of humorous moments, as promised. The woman playing the lead character was excellent - so many lines to memorize and so many emotions to cover - I definitely don't think I'm ready for that level of performing yet. In fact, I know it. Todd and Alan were very good, although Todd's character was kind of a jerk. Well, maybe not a jerk -just obsessed with his career. Anywho, there are a couple of weekends left, so go see it.

Yesterday my mother and I took our annual trip to New York City to see a show. This year we went to see The Drowsy Chaperone. It's about a man who loves old-time Broadway musicals, and while listening to a recording of one of his favorites, it comes to life in his living room. It's very clever, especially the parts that poke fun at theater itself. The first line made me laugh - "I hate theater." A great way to start a show! The weather was good for our trip, which was a miracle, because usually it pours. My mother bought the impending baby a little Yankees outfit, which is sure to enrage all of the Red Sox fans in my life.

Today I've been cleaning like a madwoman and trying to get ready for our trip. We have a couple of different people staying at our house and it really needs a cleaning. Tonight I have to stop by Grease rehearsal to drop some stuff off (thereby completing my theatrical weekend). We leave on Tuesday, so if I don't blog before then, have a spectacular week!

holy freaking crap

I just signed up for a childbirth class.

do you know the way to San....Diego?

I think we're all about done looking at that picture of my gut, huh?

Once again, I've been remiss in my blogging. I've been busy planning a couple of trips. The first comes on Saturday when my mother and I take our annual trip to NYC to see a show. We're going to see the musical The Drowsy Chaperone, which is supposed to be pretty good. Of course, and as it happens every year, it looks like it's going to be a rainy day. I'm curious to see how I fare in New York with my need to find a bathroom every 15 minutes (more glories of being pregnant). I'm sure we'll have fun.

Next week, Greg and I leave for a week in San Diego. We were there a couple of years ago and really found it to be the best place on Earth. It's nice that we agree about how much we both love it too. I'm nervous about being so far away (because I'm pregnant, not because I'm going to get homesick - although I will miss the dogs) but I look forward to getting away. It's been a pretty stressful few months.

Not to compete with Alan's high level of nerdiness on his blog lately, but I was very excited to see that one of my all-time favorite websites, weather.com, has switched from their winter picture to a nice floral picture, reminding me that today is the first day of spring. Happy spring, everyone!

remember me?

Remember me? Yeah, I'm the one who writes this here blog. I'm sorry I've been so absent - basically, I feel very boring lately and I don't want to put people to sleep with my blog entries.

For those of you who don't get to see me much, you can see by the picture here that I'm actually starting to look pregnant. For a while there I was riding that fine line of "do I look fat or pregnant?" but now I think I've rounded the corner to where strangers will think I'm pregnant. Not that I have anything against being fat, because, well, I've been fat before too, but I've been growing this baby for 21 weeks now, and I want something to show for it! Plus I hear people are nice to pregnant ladies.

You know who wasn't very nice to me? The jackhole who stole all of my CDs out of my car last night. Because I'm an idiot, I didn't lock my car doors. Well, maybe it's the daylight savings time or maybe it's the fact that it was very warm yesterday, but the local morons were obviously out in full force last night. Not only did they steal about 15 CDs, they also stole the box of Frosted Flakes I bought after work to bring into work today (I often like to eat cereal for lunch, mainly because it doesn't make me sick). I lived in not-so-nice sections of New Britain and Hartford, and no one ever touched my car. I move to lovely suburban central Connecticut and this is the second time someone has helped themselves to what was inside.

Can you see Junior in the background of that picture of me, looking so excited about his impending little sister? Don't let his casual stance fool you. While writing this blog entry, I heard him and Jimmy arguing over something in the living room. I went out there and sure enough, they were fighting over an Atomic Fire Ball that Junior took off the kitchen counter, got out of its wrapper, and was proceeding to eat. Luckily I was able to pry it out of his mouth before he really was able to eat much of it, because I can't imagine how one of those candies would feel as it was traveling down the gullet of a Great Dane. Or how that agony would most likely manifest itself all over the rug.

CCSU is playing tonight in the NCAA tournament! Whoo hoo - go, alma mater! I mean, there's not a chance in hell that they'll win, but still. We CCSU alumni have been standing in the shadows of UConn for long enough. And where's the UConn men's team now? Huh? Huh? Yeah, sitting home and watching TiVo like the rest of us, I bet.

Have fun in the snow tomorrow!

it's freezing out there, and all I see is pink

I know my title doesn't make much sense, but I swear, the sub-zero temps hasn't frozen my brain. It's just that the two topics occupying my brain right now is the cold and something pink-related.

First off- dang, it's cold! I am so glad that spring is almost here. If it were December or January, this weather would be much more depressing. But I think we can tough out some cold if we know we'll be wearing flip-flops and capris soon - oh God, I can't wait.

The other thing is - as most of my beloved readers know - I had an ultrasound on Monday and found out that I'm having a girl - which I totally 100% suspected anyway, but at least I know my girl-vibes were valid. I have been asked why I am not blogging more about the whole baby/pregnancy thing, and mostly it's because a lot of it is personal stuff I'd rather not put out on the Internets - we've had some issues, we continue to have issues, but things looked good yesterday and she's moving around like a maniac! It's crazy to feel this alien being inside me squirming around. What a nut. We have a name picked out but it's top secret until July.

That's all for now. Off to go try to find some pants that fit.

my Hollywood boyfriend does it again

Last night we went to see Zodiac, starring my Hollywood boyfriend, Mark Ruffalo (and some other people, like Jake Gyllen-whatever and Robert Downey Jr). It was really really good. Although the movie was well over two hours, I never got bored. It was based on the real life story of the Zodiac killer, who was a serial killer in California in the late 60s-early 70s. They never completely solved the mystery of who it was, so it's not like the movie has a nicely wrapped-up ending. But still, it was really interesting. And although Mark Ruffalo had terrible sideburns and an even worse wardrobe, he was still great. And the other people were good too. Go see it!

remember these guys?

It's been a while since I posted any pics of the pups. Enjoy!

kick me baby one more time

(Did you get my Britney reference with the title up there? I'm still feeling sorry for her. I have Britney on the brain.)

So here I am, in week 18 of pregnancy, i.e., the most stressful time of my life. We are still in the midst of some stressful testing, and ugh ugh ugh, anyone who tells you it's a glowy, happy, smiley time, is, well, luckier than me. But it's had its moments, don't get me wrong. This week, I believe I have finally felt some movement that is not gas-related (and if you are saying ewww, stop right here, because everything related to pregnancy is gross, and has at least some "ew" factor to it). Anywho, you know if you have gas, you can feel some sort of "bubbles" in your stomach? Well, that's a lot of what it's like to feel a baby move around at first. You sit there and contemplate every single sensation that you feel, and think, "is this it?" "is this it?" until at some point, you realize that if you actually did have that much gas, you'd probably just explode.

So I believe The Troublemaker (that is what it is being called this week, in my nicer moments) is making its move. Communication from the other side is strange. I guess it turns out I'm not just getting fat!

random

Here are my thoughts at the moment:

I feel badly for Britney Spears. She's such a mess, and never in my life did I ever think I would look at K-Fed as more put together than she is. But such is the case, right now. I hope that girl gets serious help, although ditching rehab twice in one week doesn't bode well. I feel like she's about five seconds from overdosing or something. What a mess.

My show with Alan, Love Letters, was great. We got lots of very nice compliments and it was fun to see everyone there. Probably the hardest part of this show for me was holding my face straight when people were laughing. We got a lot of loud laughs at certain parts, and for some reason I really had to control my face not to break out into a smile. Anyway, that was my last performance for a while.

I can't fit into my pants. Really, that's all I can say about that.

Why is there no good TV on Wednesday night? I know Lost is on at 10, but I'll be asleep by then. My TiVo is empty of anything good, so I think I'm just going to hit the sack early. What a winner.

last hurrah

So, tonight is Love Letters. This has been a really hellacious week for me personally (never get pregnant unless you are prepared to deal with stress you never imagined possible - and believe me, I'm a professional stresser) but today I need to shut off my brain and focus on the show tonight. I'm excited about it, because I enjoy this show so much, and I'm thrilled to be able to do it again, with my friend and fellow blogger, Alan. Even though it's a "staged reading," I feel there's a lot more to it than just reading a script. If you do it right, you go through that script many times, so you've got it half memorized, and so you can really dig deep into the emotional aspects of the characters. My character really takes a downward spiral, and it's a lot of fun to play, if not completely emotionally draining. I hope I can do it justice tonight, after a particularly emotionally-draining week.

The other kinda weird thing about tonight is, this is my last hurrah as far as performing goes for a while. It's not like I'm retiring from my little community theater side-career, but I don't think I will be this actively involved in a show again for at least a couple of years, what with the new production at home in five months. Community theater has been such an enormous part of my life for the past 15 years or so, and I've really found another family among the many amazing, fun, talented, funny, exceptional people I've worked with on dozens of shows. It's not like I won't be "behind the scenes" still - I'm still on the board of directors in Southington, and I'll help as much as I can, but it's going to have to take a backseat to whoever will be occupying the carseat.

Thanks to everyone who is coming tonight.

let it...snow? ice? what is this?

So the big snow storm the weather peeps have been getting their panties in a twist over for the past few days (pardon the expression - a friend of mine says it and I think it's funny) has turned out to deliver about an inch of snow in my area and now all kinds of ice. I'm working from home today - although I guess I don't have to, because today was just declared a "snow day" - wahoo! So reminicent of my school days, when I just begged that they would read "Southington" on the school cancellation lists on the radio. Now it's easier to find out - you can just log online and hear whether you have to go to school. No waiting for them to push through most of the alphabet before they got to "S". So, I'm spending Valentine's Day with my actual valentine, instead of my work peeps and my show peeps (we were supposed to have rehearsal for Love Letters tonight, but that was canceled too).

Sorry I haven't been blogging a lot. Life has been pretty crazy, and not with stuff I want to blog about at the moment.

Happy Valentine's Day!

entertainment bits

I'm still shocked by Anna Nicole Smith's sudden death. I'm sure it will turn out to be an overdose of some sort, but her life, especially lately, has been tragically sad.

I just watched last night's episode of "Lost." It was interesting, but it wasn't awesome as had been suggested by just about every media outlet. I'll still watch, but my interest level has waaay dropped.

Don't forget! Next Saturday night is my and Alan's performance of Love Letters. It's going to be my last performance for a while, so you're not going to want to miss it.

can you spell this?

I just finished watching the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Super cute. I loved it.

some random television thoughts

What is UP with "Studio 60"? When this show debuted, I really liked it, but the more I watch it, the more it's really starting to annoy me. The language - the way people speak - is just sooooo...contrived. And everyone seems so self-righteous. I swear, if Greg didn't like this show, I wouldn't watch it at all. I still watch it because it's one of the few things we enjoy(ed) together. But seriously, Aaron Sorkin, get over yourself.

The big "Top Chef" finale is on tonight. Because the webmasters over at Food and Wine magazine obviously can't handle themselves, they accidentally managed to post an article about the winner (one of the prizes is a feature about the winner in that magazine) online for about 15 minutes the other day before they realized their mistake and took it down. So, yeah, I now know who wins. I will not comment on that, but I will comment on how disappointed I am with the cast this year - the only reason I'm happy Marcel made it to the end is because the rest of the cast just basically acted like douchebags the whole time. Focus on the food, people. So, once again, I get to the finale of a show and ultimately don't really care what happens. But I'll watch, of course, however probably not until tomorrow, since I already know who wins.

This is perhaps the most painful of my TV thoughts - I don't really care about the return of "Lost" next week. It's so crazy because I basically lived for this show two years ago, and now...meh. I'll watch it, sure, but I recently read an interview with one of the creators who said that they are going to focus much more on the relationships now, and less about the mysteries on the island. They think everyone cares much more about whether Kate is in loooooove with Jack or Sawyer. Ohmigod, I so totally don't care. Give me mystery! Give me action! Give me adventure! Give me Locke! Not some stupid drippy love story between three people that clearly have emotional problems anyway. Bah.

Luckily, my old standby "Survivor" starts up next week, and "Amazing Race All Stars" soon thereafter. Wahoo!

two words

So I was just driving home from work and I heard someone on the radio talking about a survey that asks people to give two words that described them in high school and two words that describe them now. I thought that was interesting, and came up with my words right away (actually they are not single words, but whatever).

High school:
*drama geek
*rocker chick

Now:
*theater geek
*in transition

OK, now it's your turn!

Because Lisa told me I have to

Lisa told me that I have to blog more, so here I am. Good Lord I am tired today. I have had two nights in a row of rehearsal for Fake, a staged reading I am doing at Thomaston Opera House tonight. Thomaston is about a half hour away, so it's been a loooong week of driving and late nights. I know two nights in a row isn't a lot, but I'm out of practice for my "rehearsal schedule" life, so it's been tiring.

Why is it so cold? I ask this rhetorically, because obviously, the answer is because it's winter and we live in Connecticut. But man oh man, I got used to having spring-like temps smack dab in the middle of winter. I suppose I shouldn't complain - in just a couple of months, it will be real spring, and not global warming spring.

I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend, I hope. I have the reading tonight, and tomorrow night I'm going to a party at my friend Deb's house to reunite with my Simsbury theater peeps, but other than that, I am praying it will be low key.

I hope you all have enjoyed this incredibly boring post. See Lisa, that's why I don't post!

United 93

United 93 is one of those movies that I've been wanting to see, but I've never really been in the mood for. When are you in the mood to see a movie about one of the worst days you can ever remember? Last night we watched it, and I'm glad we did. While it was incredibly depressing, it was also oddly inspiring - that these ordinary people, people who could have just as easily been you or me, managed to overcome the terrorists on the plane and take it down before it made it to Washington. It is not a movie for the faint-of-heart, but it will remind you and amaze you about the regular people who became heroes on 9/11.

one night only!

I think everyone must be very excited about the opportunity to see Love Letters starring myself and Alan - I mean, seriously, when you get the chance to see two of your favorite bloggers LIVE ON STAGE? Together? Rarely, I would think. The only thing that would be better would be if we were reading our blog entries out loud.

Tonight we had our first rehearsal. It does figure that most nights I can be found sitting on my arse on the couch, but when I actually have to go out somewhere, winter decides to kick in and it starts to snow. Ah well. It was fun. I really do like this show a lot. I did it about four years ago and it's interesting to do it with another director and (very talented) actor (and hopefully without the bronchitis I had last time).

So if you want to see me and Alan get romantic - and who would want to miss that?? - don't miss our big performance on February 17. You have to get tickets in advance! Let me know if you want to come.

Grease is the word

So, I'm helping out with auditions for Grease in Southington. Anytime I watch auditions for a musical, I realize how much I lack the cojones to sing and dance in front of other people. Do a straight show? Sure, no problem at all. I love it. But I really can't sing (like, not even "Happy Birthday") and my dancing skillz are even worse. When I was watching the auditionees up there learning the dance combination, all I thought to myself was, "If I had a month to learn that, I couldn't." Yet these 16-year-old girls were getting it down in two seconds. I guess we all have our talents, and when it comes to musicals, mine come everywhere else but on stage (unless it's doing a set change during a blackout).

if it's too loud, you're too old

So Greg's band, KERMIT THE BAND, played out last night at Center Street Pub in Southington. (That's funny - when I typed "pub" the first time, I typed "pup" instead - guess you can tell what I'm usually writing about.) Anyway, it was fun -they had a decent crowd, although the room itself was kind of strange. They've gotten so much better over the past year or so, but I am still strongly encouraging them to learn more big '80's songs, because people love that sh*t. Next gig is at La Boca restaurant in Middletown (great salsa!) (the condiment, not the music) on February 2. I strongly recommend you put it on your calendar! I'll even share my salsa (maybe).

baby got back

I know, I know, I went from being the most frequent blogger ever to the least frequent blogger ever. It's been an achy-breaky week for me. On Sunday night, I coughed, and subsequently pulled what seems to be a pretty major muscle in my back. Having had back problems before, I decided to use some of my sick time so as not to make it worse and end up in the ER. I took off Monday and Tuesday, and finally went back to work Wednesday. Today, I have somehow pulled another muscle in my leg that is making the front of my leg hurt and it's kind of shooting up to my abdomen. Is this even possible? So, yes, I haven't been blogging. But as you can see, I would just have been complaining. And who wants to listen to that?

Al Gore is so full of it

It's a good thing there is no such thing as global warming, otherwise I'd think it would be odd to have a 72-degree day on January 6 in Connecticut.

Oh, Top Chef, how you torment me

So, the thing I'm loving about "Top Chef" this season, is that they've got this character (oh wait, I guess he's not a character, he's a real person) Marcel, and he's kind of a d**k, in an immature, socially retarded way, and all season everyone's really been hating on him. He's got this chick Betty just about ready to kill him since episode one, and since then, it seems like everyone else has turned against him, including the relatively benign Sam and Ilan, both of whom threw big fat hissy fits at him during last night's episode. But the thing is, everyone is being so horrible to him at the point - what with Ilan trash-talking his dish to the judges during the actual competition and what not - that now I actually feel sorry for him. That is, until he goes and does something d**kish again, which, inevitably, is five seconds later. By the very end, I really was rooting for either Ilan or Betty to get booted, because I really just felt bad for Marcel. Happily, the screechy Betty is gone. But Marcel? Lay off the foams.

It just makes me happy because usually there is a clear "good guy" and "bad guy," but in this case, I just can figure out who is who. Bravo really has some kick-ass reality TV shows.

(This blog entry won't make sense to anyone except Melissa, but I really felt like I had to get it off my chest. Perhaps you'd like me to blog about the TiVo'ed marathon of "America's Next Top Model" that I've been watching? I thought not.)

Happy New Year, y'all

Hope it's a great one for everyone.

In the meantime, I'm still sick, glued to my couch watching a marathon of "Ugly Betty" that I TiVo'ed yesterday. What a great show!