Ransom

This quilt is being held ransom. It will be exchanged for two (yes, TWO) Christmas stockings. One for Jon, one for baby.
You know who you are, so-called stocking maker.

School's REALLY out for summer

Hooray! I made it! Four of my forty students didn't, but hey, I did. Too many kids came today--I was pretty disappointed. The deal is, everyone is allowed one unexcused absence. Since day one, I've encouraged my kids to save it for today. Well, I had four kids in my morning class, which was perfect, but I had TEN in my afternoon class. Grr. So I was mean and made them do all sorts of meaningless work (grades were already turned in). I'm allowed to be mean--I'm pregnant, and it's not my fault they made silly decisions.

One job down, one to go

Yesterday was my last day at Sylvan. Weird. I've always found quitting jobs strange. In September it would've been 2 years since I started working there. It's been a good little after-school job. Although I am looking forward to the free time, especially once school gets started again. I will miss my friends there, though. That's always the worst part of quitting.

Summer school

Two more days...I think I can make it. I think.

37-week appointment

Another normal checkup. Half a pound gained. A little progress. Everything's great. Definitely good to know.
I asked if he could put me on bedrest the last two days of summer school, but he said no. Then I told him that it wasn't worth it to go into labor now, since I was almost done with school. And then I said that maybe I'd even want to wait until after "Pirates of the Caribbean" came out. I'll probably go into labor in the middle of that movie.

If I only had a video camera

Teaching is full of new, sometimes shocking experiences.
One of my students, Cody, has pretty much been failing summer school since week one. I met with his mom after the first week to talk about what he needed to do and make up. She's written notes, and I've replied, but as of yesterday he still had a 47%. He just sits in class and does nothing. So yesterday after about an hour of simply holding down a desk, I moved him away from his friends. Then with about 50 minutes left in the day, when his behavior hadn't changed, I put him in a desk that was facing the wall about 2 feet from me. He proceeded to argue with me and tell me how he wasn't going to work there and he could only work back at his other desk. I told him that we'd tried it his way for 17 days, and his way earned him a 47%, so we'd try it my way. We seriously argued for about 10 minutes, at which point I realized that I was actually arguing with him (crazy), so I grabbed his info card and walked over to the phone. Then the crocodile tears start--please don't call my mom, I promise I'll do my work, etc, etc. Right...we're past that. So FOUR times I dial his mom's number, and he keeps hanging up the phone. Not okay. So I go up to the office to call, and he follows. As I sit in the secretary's desk to call, he gets on his knees and is begging me not to call. Then as I continue, he starts bawling and wailing and ROLLING AROUND on the floor! The principal walks out and looks at him and looks at me like "what on earth is going on?!" He listens to my conversation and understands, and the mom said she'd be right over to pick him up.
Apparently he cried until he left, and wouldn't leave the floor. The worst part is, I think his mom is still bringing him back these next 3 days! Argh--why!? Spare us.

Not really a convenience

Today when I went grocery shopping on base, I parked in the pregnant spot. I figured I may as well use it before I'm not pregnant anymore. The thing is, the Commissary is set up like WinCo. You enter on one side, but exit on the other. So I was REALLY close to the entrance, but far from the exit. So I didn't really think it was that much of a benefit.

Ah, Louisiana

Student: Mrs. Steele, how come you use so many syllables?

(I'm assuming he was asking why I actually enunciated).

Who needs rest?

Jon had to work today. At 6 am. An hour earlier than normal. Which means up at 4:30. Granted, they might think that he just had a week off, but most of you know that taking kids to camp is about as far from vacation as it gets. So after one day of actually being off, he's back at work again. For an unknown amount of time. At least he's not the fire alarm this time.

Thank you, American Classifieds

I sold our double mattresses from the spare bed for $50! Since we no longer have a spare room, we had to dismantle the bed and find a new home for it. We're putting the frame in the attic, but the mattresses wouldn't fit there, and in the shed they'd just turn into a mouse condo. I'm going to list our queen box spring next week and see if I can't make some money off of it, too. The funny thing is, we'd just give them away, but as my Dad says, people are scared by free things--they tend to think something is wrong with it. And I won't turn down $50 for something that is actually a good product.

Cute puppies

Our neighbor's pit bull had puppies, and they just started hanging out outside yesterday. They are soooo cute! The only problem is that he doesn't really take care of the dogs that he has in the first place, so these poor things are huddled at the side of the house (not sure where mom is), and they're COVERED with fleas. It's so sad.
The mothering insticts are turned on in Deeds and Smalls, but Kronk is pretty confused. This is the first time he's seen puppies. Granted, they're pretty terrified of him, too.

The anniversary roses

Granted, this pictures was taken at 3 days old, but they're still gorgeous.

In Her Shoes

I know I'm behind the times (since I'm rating movies that have been on DVD for a while), but "In Her Shoes" is a really good movie. It was in my first Netflix shipment, and I chose it because I knew it'd get here when Jon was gone, and I wasn't so sure he'd want to see it. But in reality, I'd say it's a really great drama--you don't have to be a girl to like it.

Bad day

Today was not my favorite day of summer school. For some reason I was already a bit short-tempered, and it was as if the kids knew it. Although usually when the know it, they avoid making you mad. Today it was if they tried. I had this group of about 8 students who kept going back and forth, back and forth--none of them wanted the other to have the last word. They're my 7th & 8th grade class, but they were acting like a bunch of 2nd graders. Then in my afternoon class, a kid threatened to come on the last day of school and shoot everybody. And he's one where you sort of wonder if he just might do it... He looks almost exactly like Screech from "Saved By the Bell," and his name is even Dustin (the real actor's name). He gets picked on a lot, and I think this was his way of retaliating, but making gun threats at a school is pretty similar to making bomb threats at an airport. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, and then I only have one more week!

36-week visit

I will post all of the "gory" details as a comment for the benefit of my male readers, but suffice it to say my appointment went really well. I put on a few pounds, so I'm back up to +15. They stole more blood from my arm. And things are really progressing...I can't believe this is going to happen soon!

Spoiled

My husband sent me gorgeous roses at work today--a dozen red & eight peach. They look beautiful. I'd take a picture, but he has the camera at camp, and I can't find our old one at the moment. Anyway, I love getting flowers at work and making everyone jealous :).

3 years!

Happy Anniversary to us! On the one hand, it seems like it has flown by, and on the other hand it seems like it was an eternity ago that we were married in that little church in Texas.
Regardless, I don't know how I survived for the first 25 years of my life without him!

Home body

In the last two days, I've noticed that I don't really want to do anything, I just want to be at home. Ironically, I've made plans with friends every night that Jon was gone so that I wouldn't be bored. But I have this overpowering urge to just go home and watch TV/movies, and not go out anywhere. Maybe a bubble bath, bed by 9. It's probably due to the fact that I'm experiencing this exhaustion that everyone's been telling me about. Oh well, only 8 more days of summer school!

Wal-Mart

Sometimes I wish that I wouldn't run into any of my students while I'm out in the "real world". I saw two of my summer school students at Wal-Mart on Monday (they're both failing), and of course they give huge hugs and act all buddy-buddy. Which is fine, until the next day in class when they feel like they're your friend and act like they're invincible. I know this isn't always the case, but with these boys, I wish I'd hidden behind the Tums display.

Grocery shopping

I had two thoughts as I wandered around doing my weekly grocery shopping.
1. How is it that in three short years I've forgotten how to cook for one person? I seriously found myself in the frozen food aisle looking at chicken pot pies, frozen pizzas, & fish sticks (I'll have you know I bought the fish sticks--good for the Omega-3 fatty acids. Or maybe it's Omega-6. Who knows). I guess I'm just too lazy to make myself fajitas or enchiladas or apparently spaghetti.
2. I miss paying California produce prices. Would you believe me if I told you that a watermelon here is between $4-$5? Cantaloupe was $3.75 for one. Strawberries & blueberries are $2 or $3 for a little basket. Am I just imagining when we used to pay 10 cents/pound for watermelon in Cali? Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I sure do miss my summer fruits. I can't afford them at this point!

Heading south for...not winter

The munchkin in my belly is doing some travelling. She's definitely lower than she was before. That or she's turned sideways or something. I just know that the shelf I've been using is not as high as it used to be, and I can now feel my belly resting on my thighs when I sit down. And yet, my heartburn is worse...I thought when they dropped it was supposed to get better?! Anyway, Jon calls it the beginning of the end, and this was another "sign" for him (in addition to Murphy) that the baby would come this week. I bet in 5 weeks when I'm overdue and miserable we'll be laughing at how concerned he was this week.

Extreme Camps

Jon leaves for camp this morning, along we 22 other middle & high schoolers. They're going for 5 days (I know, a M-F camp?! Rip-off!) to Tyler, TX, which is just over an hour away, were I to go into labor or something. They get to do all sorts of fun things like play paintball and swim and stay in non-air-conditioned cabins, and have a concert with KJ-52 and Superchick. This is the first time since we've been married that we'll be apart for more than one night, so I'm not really looking forward to it. Plus the fact that our 3-year anniversary is on Wednesday. But I know they'll have a great time, and I'll finish week 3 of summer school and enjoy the air conditioning and not be sad about all of the things that I couldn't do at camp, anyway.
www.extremecamps.com

Star sightings in Bossier City (!?)

So we're going to see "Nacho Libre". We get in line for some popcorn. I joke, "Yeah, let's get in this line so we can make fun of the girl over there groping that guy and showing us all his underwear." As you can tell, in line next to us there's a girl with her hands up a guy's shirt, and he's sagging a little as to give us all a lovely view of his tidy whities. And then he turns to the side. And I say, "Jon, he kind of looks like Ashton Kutcher." And I remember that he's in town filming a movie. And Jon says, "Well, you know who that is with him, right? It's Demi Moore." She had some Shawn Budd sunglasses on, so I didn't really notice her, but it's actually who Jon noticed first. So then they walk by us with their food. And sit in the row in front of us in the movie, only on the opposite side. And suddenly I'm not as offended by the underweary. Strange.

It's done!

Okay, so we still need to build the drawers...
Hooray for the awesome bed!

Almost done...

Both parts are stained, now for the polycrylic coat. (Can you tell we're trying to get this done before Jon leaves for camp in the morning?)

More of Kronk's acrobatic sleeping

Getting closer

Today was a day of precision cutting, sanding, trimming, gluing, puttying, and waiting for glue/putty to dry. We're almost done with sanding & puttying the platform, and should be able to stain it tomorrow.

The bed--Friday night

Kronk, while "trapped" inside, adopted a couch (illegal), pushed a cushion off, and got "comfortable".
We're getting some much-needed rain this weekend, which puts a limit on our much-needed work area. We moved our current bed (the box spring & mattress) into the dining room--remember, the table is our work bench on the patio--and turned the bedroom into another work area. This is handy because it's right next to the patio, and there is a sliding glass door between the two that we opened up. I don't think it's ideal for either of us, but it sure is working. Tonight I stained the base and Jon started making some of the important cuts on the nice wood that will be the top & sides of the platform.

Oh, and for those of you admiring our lovely paneling, our room is the last paneled room in the house, and it was either sheetrock the room, or make a bed, and I chose bed. We can sheetrock later.

Stupid cat

Last weekend there was a smooshed black kitty that looked suspiciously like out neighbor's cat about 200 yards from our house. My initial thought was, "Good, now it'll quit pooping in my plants, and they'll live!" Then I started to feel a little bit of remorse for having that thought, even though I knew Sarah would support me. Sorry, I'm not a big cat person--hence the 3 dogs. Okay, 2 dogs & 1 horse-dog. Anyway, yesterday evening I saw the neighbor's cat sitting in their yard--very much not dead! And this morning? Oh yes, cat poop in the pot where my newly-planted flowers are, and the soil is all dug up & pushed around. ARGH. You cat lovers better hope that I don't run over it on the way to work.

Guess I'll have to stop by Home Depot on the way home to get that anti-cat stuff for the plant.

Why I'm glad I'm teaching summer school

If I didn't teach summer school, I'd have too many days that were the same. I can pretty much tell you what I'd do nearly every day. I'd get up, and go to the gym. I may get up with Jon, or I might sleep in--that would vary. I'd do various organizing/cleaning projects around the house, like getting the kid's room in "final" order, cleaning up the office, and finally taking that pile of stuff in my bedroom to Goodwill. Oh, and I'd spend money. It's not good when I have free time to shop. It may initially be on something I need, but while at the store, I'd surely find something else too tempting to pass up. I'd read a lot--and since my ideal is doing that at Starbucks, that could cost me $4/day. I'd probably convince myself that I was in labor, and then ten minutes labor decide that I wasn't. That would happen several times a day, especially with the B/H contractions I've been having. I would get the quilts done for Jeff & Cindy, which would actually be a good thing. I'd spend time dinking around on the internet, and blog many, many more senseless things than this post, which is pretty random.
So, I guess I'm glad that I'm earning upwards of $2500 (barring early labor, of course) rather than spending it. Plus it makes the days go by faster. And I don't pounce on my husband the instant he comes home because I've been bored and had no real human contact/interaction all day. He appreciates that.

No, thanks

Here's a good reason to not get in trouble with the law while in the military:
A Master Sergent was on trial yesterday for negligent homicide (he hit a stopped car while driving down the freeway and killed a 15-year-old). His potential punishment? Twelve months in correctional custody (um, in military prisons, you have NO rights--they can do whatever they want to you, including physical violence, etc, and making your life in general MISERABLE. It's not like regular jail). He could be reduced to Airman Basic (the lowest rank), and he could get his pay docked by 2/3. And then a dishonorable discharge after said year. Now, I know he wouldn't have many expenses while in jail, but he's been in the military for a long time, and having your pay reduced to 1/3 of what they give 18-year-olds...not good. I would imagine that's around $500/month. Maybe.
Then again, this is something that I love about the military--I feel that their punisments are fairer, and more appropriate on a variety of levels. Hmm.

Project trial

I know it's probably a Southern thing, but I decorated these burp rags (cloth diapers) with some ribbon. I received some at my shower that were much cuter, and I thought maybe I'd try my hand at it--it could be a potentially cheap gift to give! I think I have to bring my own burp cloths to daycare, and (not that it would really matter) they wouldn't get confused this way.

Another genius in the making

Mrs. Steele: Okay, this warmup is exactly like the one we did this morning. There are five sentences, and you need to correct the errors on your paper.
James (cute, but not at all bright): Ms. Steele, it says, "Aren't their no milk." That doesn't make sense.

Honestly, how am I supposed to respond without being sarcastic?

Out of my league

One of my eighth grade summer school students came up to me yesterday and asked if my stomach hurt when I was pregnant and how I knew I was pregnant. She said her stomach was hurting, and then I couldn't tell whether she said she was two weeks late, or two months late, or in two weeks it would be two months, or what. Something like that, with the bottom line being that she was late. This is when I decided that I wasn't necessarily equipped to deal with this particular problem (I'd buy her a pregnancy test and then be at a loss as to what to do next--who to put her in contact with, etc.). I emailed the GMS counselor, and she put me in contact with the counselor at the school where I'm at (I didn't realize one was there for the summer), and I sent the girl to talk to her. Yikes. I'm 28 and pregnancy still scares me a little bit--this girl is probably 13 or 14.

Only two of us left

So the girl at church who was due four days before me had her baby on Sunday (I just found out today). It's her second, and apparently she had her first baby early, too. But still. Reality check. As Jon said, maybe we should pack a bag.

Flat tire

You should not drive over a nail in a Nissan Pathfinder. It's bad news for your tire. And your budget. Keep that in mind.

Hypothesis

I have a theory--a hypothesis, if you will (Wendy & Pam, you can correct me, because I'm sure I'm taking some liberties with this word)--about having a baby. You see, I wonder if it can't be compared to getting married. I mean, there are obvious differences. But I also feel like there's a lot of build-up & preparation for both. Months of planning & buying & getting everything ready. Then the big day comes, and you realize that the only important thing is the end result (that we end up married/that we're both healthy). And then your life is never the same, and you're not quite as prepared as you thought, and there's a lot of trial and error. And you have someone who you'll love for the rest of your life for whom you would gladly give your own life. That's what I'm guessing, anyway.

New links

I've finally added a few links that I've been meaning to add--one to a girl in our youth group, Megan, and I decided that Amberlee's blog is finally worthy to be linked to mine :). Oh, and Wendy, I changed your link from saying "Jeff & Wendy" to just "Wendy". I figured since I was trying to be more accurate...

A good read

Jon and I recently read Intimacy : A 100-Day Guide to Lasting Relationships by Douglas Weiss in our small group. I think we can both highly recommend this book. It's great in a group, although you could also do it on your own. As with any book, you may find parts to weed out, but we both found very, very practical applications. It's a really down-to-earth book. Granted, we're on day 3 of our 100 days :).

Referral #1

Well, I had to refer my first student to the principal today. She was talking to this other student, and when I told her to work quietly, she blamed him. I reminded her that if she was facing forward and not talking, I would only hear him, and then he'd get in trouble. She promptly replied, "Shut up talking to me." I confirmed that she was, in fact, directing that comment to me, and then sent her packing. Sadly, that's only the first of two possible strikes. She's even a Greenacres student (although I don't know her)!

Ready?

It's scary that I'm feeling more & more ready for this baby. I'm pretty sure that I'm smack in the middle of my nesting phase, since I've been using my gift cards like crazy. But now I'm to the point where I'm not entirely sure that I need anything else. Well, there are some things I can think of for me, like button-down PJs that aren't flannel, some certain undergarments I'll need after the baby's born, and a few other minor things. But overall, if she was born today, I think we'd be okay. Well, I'd have to do A LOT of laundry, since I haven't washed anything yet, but one of my friends would come do that, I'm pretty sure. Hmmm...I think I just guaranteed myself a late baby, didn't I? Oh well, 5 more weeks, plus the late part.

Cutest gift ever

My friend Dez and I (and our husbands) share the desire to turn our kids into little punk skaters. This came in the mail today--soooooooooo cute!

34 weeks (well, almost 35)

This is definitely not my best picture (seeing as I was in the middle of talking, and it's not a great angle), but it is of all of me, as promised.

Project update--our bed

This is the main part of the platform, where our mattress will rest. It'll get the top & sides of the platform that will be the "pretty" part this weekend, perhaps.
I put two coats of polyurythene on each of these lovely slats.
The base is nearly done in this picture (although it's completely done now). The holes are for drawers--two on each side.
I'm painting the platform base black just to protect it.
Jon's getting the platform base together.

Will update soon

Our computer is having some issues right now, hence no project pictures. I promise, I have tons to post, and even remembered to take a belly picture (with my face in it for Ellen). So as soon as it's up & running again, I'll catch you up on our world.

Oh, and Sarah, you're not allowed to play any of my guessing games any more.

Caliber of summer school students

Ms. Kimbrough: When you get back from break, you'll have an hour and 30 minutes to finish your assignment.
(Break)
Ms. Kimbrough: Remember, you have an hour and a half to finish.
Student(s): But before you said we had an hour and 30 minutes!

Project update

We're continuing our project this weekend, so hopefully you'll be able to tell what it is by Sunday...
Hint: It's not for the baby. She's spoiled enough as it is.

15 more days

One week down, three to go. Hooray for surviving week one of summer school. It wasn't too bad, either. The only problem is, it's only going to get worse--at least it will if it's anything like last year. The kids start to get to know one another, and are able to collaborate on their misbehaving schemes. You hate to say that a leopard never loses its spots, but sometimes it is true.

Shopping spree

I went on a bit of a shopping spree at Target yesterday, and it was very fun. I used the gift cards that I'd received to fill in some "holes" in my registry--pick up some things that I needed. The purchase that I was most excited about, of course, were some of the bins to put in my closet. It looks so cute!! I still need a few more for the left side, and some big ones for in the room (for diapers, toys, blankets, etc.), but I made a pretty good dent in it.

This is when I decided that babies need/have A LOT of stuff. Okay, maybe I shouldn't say need, because if I only had one sheet/blanket/bottle, I'd make do. But there are a lot of things that are nice to have with babies, like swings and bouncers and strollers and pacifiers, and I'm not really sure what we'd do without showers & gifts. I guess we just wouldn't have those things. I'm grateful to friends & family for helping our munchkin get off to a pretty good start in the material world :).

34-week checkup

Aside from waiting for two hours in the doctor's office, everything was great. I can't believe I only have 6 more weeks!!! Yikes. And when I go back in two weeks for my next appointment, they'll start being weekly ones. That will certainly make it go faster, I think. They said I lost 3 pounds, but I'm not sure they did it right. She weighed me, walked over to the chart and said, "it said this, right?" and I try not to pay attention, so I wasn't sure. I guess in two weeks if I've gained a ton, we'll know it was wrong. But with the amount of baby shower cake that I consumed, I find it hard to believe.

Thunderstorms

We had some awesome thunderstorms last night. Granted, I wasn't very excited that they occurred during "Last Comic Standing" and our local station lost our feed to NBC, but it was still neat. We got close to 2 inches of rain in about 45 minutes, then it continued to rain on and off all night.

Name game

So after months of thinking we had a name, Jon and I are now scouring baby name books trying to actually decide on one. Well, and I guess we never really had a middle name. This is what we get for thinking we'd decided at 18 weeks!

Cool gift

This is one of the more awesome gifts I've received--a teacher left it in my classroom yesterday. It's a bear that has a little motor inside that plays those womb-heartbeat sounds. It'll play for 5 minutes, then shut off, but has a sound & motion sensor so that if the baby started crying, it'd start again. It also came with a little "silkie" blanket that will hold our smells and be comforting. I'm not sure if that's different from any other blanket, but it is very soft--satin on one side and some other soft material on the other.

Baby shower pics (thanks, Charlotte)

The ladies from my small group who put together this amazing shower. L to R: Carol, Leighann, Windy, Blair (in back), Charlotte, and Annette.
Aura Lynn was in charge of handing me gifts (since bending over while in a chair isn't really possible).
Tiny little satin shoes that my friend Renae (and her mom) gave me.
The cute cake setup.
The gift table--don't you love the colors of the shower?
Some of the younger guests--Micah, Laurel, and Aura Lynn.

Hiccups

I know that no one will think it's as cool as we did, but our baby got the hiccups for the first time last night. It took me a few minutes to figure out what it was. Below is a link to some video that I tried to get of my belly bouncing (I'm never good at embedding the video--don't ask me why).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stj6PJv6h3M

* Warning--it's about a minute long, and pretty repetitive, so don't feel obligated to keep watching. It's mostly me trying to get good angles to see the movement. Oh, and you can notice some nice little poison ivy spots (they're pretty small now).

I hope I didn't just jinx myself

So, I'm worried about how I said summer school was boring. I'm afraid that my classes will now turn into a zoo. Today did have it's stressful parts--I couldn't make any photocopies, I misplaced the master for our vocabulary list (once I could make copies), and the principal got hit by a car while he was riding his bike this weekend, so he wasn't there to handle all of the first day drama. Oh, and the printer in my classroom is broken, so I couldn't print anything that I'd planned on printing. And halfway through the morning session the lightbulb burnt out in the overhead projector. To name a few chaotic moments.

Summer school is boring

I know, I know, it's my job to make it exciting. But 3 1/2 hours is a long time to have one class, even with diverse activities. This is why I could never teach elementary school. Besides, during the year if you have down time, you always have papers to grade or lesson plans to write. On the first day of school, there's nothing to grade, and I have all of my plans done. So while they worked on their essays, I daydreamed. Great.

Kronk doesn't really like balloons

He's mostly scared of them. We tied one to his collar to see if he'd play with it, but he just laid down and pouted. And when Jon popped one of them near him, he froze. He was pretty freaked out.

Baby shower

Saturday was my church baby shower. It was absolutely wonderful. While my friends that planned it may call it "memorable," niether the guests nor I noticed. My friends took most of the pictures, so I'll have to post those when I get them. These are the only two pictures that I do have, and the balloon one was taken at home afterward when I was trying to be creative. Anyway, I got lots of cool stuff, and had tons of fun putting it all away and looking at it again when I showed Jon.

Back on the juice

I'm covered in poison ivy (again). It's been about 9 months since my last steroid-worthy case, though, so I figured I was due. I'm not exactly sure where I got it, although I suspect perhaps it grows at church, and I met some during the Crawfish Boil. It started out this time looking more like hives of some sort, so I took plenty of Benadryl & Zyrtec, but this morning I noticed the telltale signs of poison ivy--even on my right eyelid, which is pretty puffy. The real reason of this post is not to gain sympathy, however. It is to celebrate the fact that I have an off-base OB who will call in steroid prescriptions for me. You see, I'd have to call and get authorization to go in to the ER if I went the regular-doctor route. And let's face it--this would not be triaged as any sort of emergency. So I'm glad that at 9am I can call my doctor's answering service, and be popping pills by 10:30. I'm secretly hoping my eye swelling will go down before my shower this afternoon...

Baby quilt

Here's a picture of the quilt that came from those cheap remnants that I bought. It's been done for a while, but I finally took it to the laundromat to wash it (the frayed edges will burn up my dryer).

Flip flop exchange

I participated in a flip flop exchange, and today I received my first pair in the mail! It works much like a chain letter--send a pair the the top person on the list (there were only two), and then give the letter to six friends. So at this point, at least I broke even.

Feeding your baby

I went to a class on feeding babies last night, and it was actually pretty helpful. Let's just hope that I remember everything that I learned...

You can blame this post on my recent insomnia

So I've decided that choosing a baby name can be somewhat like going out to dinner--you don't know what you want, but you can definitely veto some. Here are some definite "no" names...
Margo--"'And why is the carpet all wet, Todd?' 'I don't know Margo!'" (Christmas Vacation)
Julia--I'd always call her Julia Goulia (Wedding Singer)
Emma--Wouldn't want anyone to think I was copying Ross & Rachel
Amber--psycho student that I taught last year
Michelle--"This one time, at band camp..."
Cher--"Clueless" and "Do you believe in life after love"
Abby--The Welches' dog, crabby Abby (thanks, Jon)
Mary-Kate, Ashley--should be obvious..."you got it, dude!"
Elaine--too annoying on "Seinfeld"
Summer--if you say "Summer Steele" quickly enough, it sounds like "Superstar"...Mary Katherine Gallagher
Sally--"When Harry Met Sally," and the Peanuts character
Pauberly--while it is a great combination suggested by my brother- and sister-in-law (Paul & Kim), I don't think it'll work. Maybe if I were of a different race, it'd work here in Louisiana. And to throw in their second cheesy joke, my response to that name is "pauberly not".
Hermione--She can bug me sometimes in HP, and no one would know how to pronounce it (I didn't until like book 4). Oh, and I'm not British.
Apple, Shiloh, Suri, Violet, or any other strange celeb baby name
Yzma--while Kronk was a great pick from "The Emperor's New Groove," this name isn't
Helen--aka "Elastigirl"

...and about this time I decided to get up and read a book. I'm sure I'll come up with more tonight.

Newest project

The wood for our next project has moved in to our dining room (and the table is back on the patio, serving as a work bench). I'll post updates, but I'm not telling what it is yet.
No real reason, just thought I'd give some of you some feelings of suspense.