Crappy Travel month

This is typically the time of year that my life gets crazy - and it is crappy because its the nicest time of year at home and I hate leaving! Today I flew to Minnesota for seven days for AEPhi's Convention. Then home about midnight on sunday night, off for Monday, have to work a little Tuesday, but that's ok because Steven's taking me to a free Irish concert in Ridgefield that night (right up our price range these days!) and then its the 4th of July. We leave bright and early on the 5th to fly to Florida to see his parents for a couple days, then in Orlando by the evening of the 7th so I can go to my conference. Steven flies home the afternoon of the 8th and I come home the 11th. Then - I did this one to my self really - I am going to MA for lunch with girlfriends on the 14th, then heading to NH for at least a day at the lake, before coming home to CT on Monday the 16th. Then - that next weekend I have to drive to Philly for work for a council meeting. Finally - if that weren't all enough - August 1-4 I have the staff in to CT for training. After that its smooth sailing with no trips planned and just preparing for Baby Stgermain...

Baby happenings

I am glad I have that pregnancy ticker up there - it reminds me exactly where I'm at with this baby here. When they changed my due date last month I've been really off - I'm two weeks behind where I really thought I was. This past week has been the first time that people really are noticing that I've gotten more of a belly. One woman was really nice last night and said that I don't even look pregnant from behind- thanks!! The doctor said everything looks fine yesterday - I was up four pounds from last month - right on that pound a week track. But I'm only up 8 pounds overall since Feb. Can't complain I guess. Still no movement though and the doctor said that wasn't unusual - so here I am with a bigger belly and nothing to really show for it - come on kid - give me some type of sign you are in there! Probably takes after Stgermain - taking a nap in there and relaxing...

One thing I'm getting a little nervous about is if my maternity clothes will continue to fit through the summer. Some of the shorts I got sit below the stomach so I hope they don't become too uncomfortable. Tonight we are going to an orientation session at a pediatrician's here in Danbury. People say good things about the practice, but I don't know anything about how it all works so this should be good. We've narrowed down a few baby things at Babies R Us - now its just trying to pick the car seat/stroller combo and a glider. I think I'm going to have to get Steven over there again to check them out.

Father's Day weekend

It was a full weekend. We drove up to MA to meet my parents and Colleen yesterday for lunch. The Big Guy and Steven coordinated outfits - nice of them to do that so they matched each other for Father's Day. We had to reimise about our last family trip to Sturbridge when Mom sat with Colleen in the parking lot of Old Sturbridge Village as she was sick and Dad and Greg and I went in and had a fine time. Guess I held us up and spent five hours looking at plaques there - while Colleen and mom sat under a tree. But hey people - that was years ago - can we move on? Just kidding- it was good to see them. And get the hostas they dug up weeks ago for our garden. Steven planted them as soon as we got home last night and they look good. But before we got home we HAD to stop for an ice cream - the usual for both of us - soft serve vanilla for me with chocolate jimmies and Cow Trax for Steven.

Not much happening this week - I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning - my monthly weigh in. And then on Wednesday night we are going to an orientation at Danbury Pediatric Associates to see if we like the practice and potentially pick them as the baby's doctor. I leave next week for Convention, then it will be crazy - I'm not home for more than three days when we leave again for Florida. July will be busy and I can't wait for August to tell you the truth.

Seven things about me

Tina tapped me to share seven things about me - I think it might take a while to think up some good ones - so here goes... and I will tap Colleen and Lucas (since those are the only other two blogs I connect too) to give us seven things as well...

1 - My favorite color used to be dark green, then it was light blue, and now I think its red... since most everything I tend to go towards, whether it be clothes or furniture is red.

2 - I take after my dad - I like vanilla soft serve with chocolate JIMMIES (not sprinkles as they are called here in CT).

3 - I have a dent in the back of my head so I could never shave my head bald without it looking weird.

4- In second grade I lost the class spelling bee which basically set me up for a life filled with anxiety about spelling - thank god for spell check!

5- When I was a kid I created a great game called Witchy Poo.... it went like this - I would stand on the front steps of my parents house and have my brother and sister and the neighbor kids stand on the lawn and sing a song "Witchy Poo, Witchy Poo, when ya comin out?" and I'd respond with however I was feeling "After I take a shower, when I've cleaned my toenails..." etc until finally either the kids on the lawn started to drop from boredom, or I felt like chasing them - then i would Yell "Now" after their song and run down and grab the closest kid and they would be out. I don't remember if they got to be Witchy Poo next or if I went back up there - I probably went back up knowing me...

6- In high school I took ice skating for gym class (we had an ice rink in our high school instead of a pool like a normal school) and right before Christmas I was showing off (well not really since I had been figure skating since I was 6 or 7) and tried to do a sit spin and kicked my leg out from under me, landed on my face and skidded across the ice. I had to go to the nurse in a wheelchair and then for the holidays had a nice black and blue on my face. Huge. Could see it in pictures.

7- Finally, in college, I think my freshman year, I got a really bad sore throat and really couldn't eat much for a few days. I went to Cutler Health Center and they did a strep test but sent me to class that day awaiting the results. Well I went to my speech class and the really cute guy in it that I talked to a bit sat next to me that day. I started to feel a little woozey and raised my hand and told the professor I was going to the bathroom, well I got into the hall somehow, cute guy followed me because I guess I looked really pale, and I passed out there in the hall and he had to catch me. They called an ambulance and I went to the hospital in Bangor. Cute guy (Dave) took my bookbag back to my dorm and told my friends where I was. My parents didn't even know I went to the hospital until I told them later - over 18 - can check yourself in - even if you are on your parents insurance. Anyway - a few IV drips later they checked me out saying I was dehydrated and had strep. Thanks Cutler Health Center for sending me to class. The outcome - I became friends with the cute guy Dave - who really was sort of not that smart because we ended up in a few more classes together and I helped him study but he did live in MA and drove me home a few times during school breaks. And then that summer I had my tonsils removed...

I hate ATT Yahoo

OK - when SBC merged with ATT a year or more ago they started switching our email around. At first I didn't mind it - but this morning when I went on to check my email they now have huge ads on the screen that I can't get rid of when in my inbox. Can you say annoying? I pay for this service, we don't use the free yahoo email - this is what we use for our DSL at home and so comes with the stupid Yahoo email. I wrote to them twice this morning because of course there isn't a way to turn off the ads that is readily accessible to someone using the service. All the more reason to switch our DSL - We've never been happy with it and really liked the cable modems we had in Danbury and Redding better. That would mean changing email addresses - but at this point this might be the last straw for me.

Oh - in other news - we got a crib, mattress, changing talbe and assorted other things from Steven's boss yesterday - they have five kids and the youngest is six. It was nice of him and his ex-wife to give us the furniture. Now the big debate - should I get a rocker or a glider? The wife said glider, she had one but used it with all five kids, and I would hate to be the one the broke it since she wants it back for sentimental reasons. Also - bouncy chair and swing, or one or the other? And what one to get? We've started looking at Babies R Us and started a list there - but its all confusing!

Food filled weekend

So on Friday we got the newspaper at the market - we ran in for some brauts for dinner with the neighbors and got talked into home delivery of the paper for the weekends. Just for signing up we got a free paper, a $10 gift card to the market, and a book full of restraunt coupons. Well in the paper they had a whole bunch of festivals and food things going on this weekend so it made it easy to plan out what we were going to do. Saturday for lunch we went to the Greek Festival in Danbury - brought back gyros to Peter and the kids, Steven had a long nap, and then we got ready for the Lobster Back at the volunteer fire department in Sandy Hook - We went with Peter and Liana and for $22 you got either a lobster or steak, corn, potato salad, soup and a drink. Boy a beer would have been good right about then! But no, I had a coke. There was an Irish band supposedly going on at 7 they ended up going on about 8 - we caught a few songs though. Many of which were familar from Mom's CDs that she keeps in the car. Then on the way home we stopped for ice cream - I got the usual - soft serve vanilla with chocolate jimmies. Sunday we were going to go to the Redding Chilli Cook off. But the sky was overcast and the French Open was on. So we BBQd ribs instead. I've realized that I can't eat a lot at a time though or I feel sick - I just sort of pick along at things. Well - the lobster I had no problem with... which was a relief!

A Tribute to the Altima

So the Altima is gone - we got a call yesterday afternoon from a guy that wanted to see it. Steven met him and the guy made an offer that was $500 less than we wanted, Steven said sorry he'd only go down $200. The guy gave him his card and said to call if he changed his mind. Well I got home a few minutes later and Steven's phone rang and it was the guy again coming up another $100 - so we settled on a price $300 less than we had put on the sign. Its a good thing because the driver's side window motor is going and there have been some strange sounds here and there. But - after six years of reliable transportation it is a little sad to think that when I get home today it won't be in the driveway!

I bought that car all by myself in Virgina with a little help from all the savings bonds that my grandmother had bought for me while I was little. I think it was a pretty good deal - but my monthly payments were a little high until we were able to pay it off after the wedding. I put about 124,000 miles on it - driving up and down the East Coast. It was somewhat sporty - I enjoyed the sunroof and the CD player - but in recent months its been a little bit of a pain - now the iPod gets in the way of the cup holders, there are more dents and scrapes, I know it will need a new altenator (I've never replaced it) and there was a little shake to it as it idled at a light. But I knew that car - I am sure I'll get to know the Jeep in time but its still new to me. I remember the first time I drove from Lynchburg to Massachusetts - particuarly on 84 somewhere in PA with the sunroof open enjoying the breeze. I hope the new owner likes finding glitter in strange places throughout the car (thanks to our families on our wedding night- I can't believe I gave Greg the keys to "put a present in our car") We still found glitter when we were cleaning it out on Sunday! There have been numerous trips to Methuen for holidays with presents piled in the trunk and the back seat. And - I need to now go to Ireland again to get a new bumper sticker for the Jeep - the old one wouldn't peel off the Altima. So - please humor me with a moment of silence for the good old Altima...

Elgin Ave is no longer a mouse free zone

For those of you that remember our Redding cottage - I wouldn't move in until Steven assured me that he had taken care of the mouse problem. So when we were looking at houses two years ago one of my criteria for the inspections were mice - did they find droppings, holes mice could come in, etc. Elgin ave passed the test. Until last night. I've always had this feeling that the garage would surprise me with little ugly rodents. We've found a couple dead ones on the driveway left by my cat neighbors (I hate cats too - shake my fist at them when I see them- sorry for you cat lovers in the family but I just never got the love for them). Last night I had weeded a little and was opening the garage to throw them away in the weed bag when something scurried across in front of me and under the shelves on the other side. I screamed and threw the weeds and Steven, Peter and Liana (who were in the yard next door preparing for croquet) came running. Steven didn't believe me that it was a mouse. Peter says they get moles in the yard and it might have been a mole. But I have seen a mole - Steven caught one in the basement of the Redding cottage and unfortunately I got a look at it dead in the trap. I REFUSE to enter the garage until Steven sets traps, poison, and anything else to get rid of the mice. I might even make him create a trash bin like Peter and Debbi have which is away from the house and not in the garage. But right now the garbage is in a sealed tight huge plastic garbage can. The lid is shut and I see no way for a mouse to sneak in. I'll keep you all updated on the mouse situation as it develops...

Monday - again... yuck

And its been raining all day - yesterday was pretty cloudy all day. I volunteered in the morning for this 5K race/walk for the Volunteer Center - turnout was pretty small. Then in the afternoon Steven and I went to see Pirates of the Carribean - I liked it but it was long. We've got the Altima cleaned up and a sign on it and parked it in front of the shopping plaza around the corner. But with the rain today I doubt that many people will stop to look at it. I'd buy it! Let's see - a little shout out to Colleen today - I bet wedding plans are already in full swing after Ken surprised her this weekend with an engagement ring. I'd like to see pictures please! Oh - and also to Greg and KP - adding Bear Lynch (puppy, not really a bear) to their family.

Things around Elgin Avenue are pretty typical - other than the fact that I for some reason can't stand bananas this week. Which is too bad because I was eating a lot of them. I'm going to have to switch fruits...