What a long and strange day... it seems like everything went the opposite way that I expected it to today, yet everything managed to be "ok".
This morning I was supposed to head in for my anatomy ultrasound - that's the one where they tell you if you should paint the walls blue or pink. My father-in-law's girlfriend was going to come and watch the girls while I went to the ultrasound. Unfortunately, she had some unforeseen auto troubles (understatment of the year from the sounds of things!) and she couldn't make it. She didn't know until the last minute that this would be an issue, obviously, so I was caught a bit unaware and didn't have time to get another sitter. Thus, I did what any mother would do and I braved taking 2 toddlers with me into a cramped ultrasound room with a technician that hates people, much less small people. I stocked up with snacks, drinks and electronics to make the trip as painless as possible. Then the bribing began...
"Be good and don't cry, then we can go to McDonalds, ok?"
"Ok mommy, I like McDonalds."
"BURGERS!"
Thank God for small miracles. They actually heard what I was saying, understood it and cognitively decided to go with the flow for once in their tiny lives. They were quiet in the waiting room and then they sat patiently in the corner on the floor in the ultrasound room playing on the iPad TOGETHER - a miracle in itself - while the tech hmmed and hawed and did her thing. I didn't get to really watch the ultrasound because my husband wasn't there and I didn't want to see the gender. Instead, I had her write it down and put it in an envelope to look at later with him.. results to follow!
Anyway, it worked out better than I could imagine and I rewarded the kids with McDonalds a la picnic style in the living room. I've been avoiding Mcdonalds for the majority of this pregnancy for fear that I'd get addicted like with my first. That didn't happen. In fact, it turns out that I can't stand McDonalds food anymore. It tastes and smells horrible. So that's refreshing...
Then, for whatever reason I had only planned on making meatloaf for dinner. It's not my favorite meal and I can't think of any less exciting way to find out the gender of the baby than over a plate full of meatloaf. So, that plan got nixed. Instead, we warmed up leftover seafood chowder from the other night that was amaaaazzzinnnggg (I should seriously post that recipe) and the hubby picked up lobsters... or planned to. He went to our usual store and somehow there was a run on lobster and they were sold out. That's amazing since it's not really lobster season anymore. So, he had to go to a different store that's like 20 minutes away and get lobsters there for the exorbitant price of $9/lb. Crazy!
Again, it didn't work out like we had planned, but in the end he got lobster. As a bonus, they sell crab legs at the store he went to, so we really had a feast.
Anyway, we unveiled the gender after the meal and the results will be to follow. We haven't told the families yet since it's so late, so we want to let them know what the newest member of the family will be first.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Pregnancy Journal: Week 17
This is the tail-end of week 17. In fact, tomorrow I cross into the 18-week territory..
This week I've had more of that lovely pre-pubescent looking acne explode all across my face, neck and even my chest a little bit. I picked up a bunch of samples the other week for moisturizers and face washes, but so far nothing is helping. I've discovered I have oily and dry zones, with acne crossing into both areas effortlessly. Fantastic. I definitely didn't have this problem with other pregnancies, so I don't even know where to begin.
I've been incredibly anxious the past week for my upcoming ultrasound. It's the big anatomy scan where they reveal the gender, but my husband can't come, so there won't be any revealing going on. Instead, the tech will (hopefully) discreetly slip the results into an envelope for us to open together at a later date - though I'm not sure when. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to try to guess based on what I see on the screen. lol
I also have my father-in-law's girlfriend coming up to watch the kids while I go. I have a "regular" sitter that has watched them twice, but both times she has left a mess in the epic proportions, so I'm hesitant to call her back. $20 minimum and 2 weeks worth of picking playdough out of a dark carpet doesn't really amount to a lot of fun on my end. Not to mention I can't decide if she's developmentally delayed or not and I'm not sure how she'd react if anything really went "wrong" while I was gone. That kind of scares me... bottom line, if you can't trust her, you need to get someone else. My father-in-law's girlfriend has been on the scene for a little over a year now, so I guess she can be trusted, not to mention the kids like her, so that helps. We'll see how it goes... I know my father-in-law would love for us to call them (as in both of them) one weekend to watch the girls since they are the only grandkids he gets to see. The family has been really cold and downright rude to her, so I'm trying to be the more "open" one since everyone deserves a chance.
Anyway, here's to hoping tomorrow goes well and maybe in a future post I'll reveal the gender!
This week I've had more of that lovely pre-pubescent looking acne explode all across my face, neck and even my chest a little bit. I picked up a bunch of samples the other week for moisturizers and face washes, but so far nothing is helping. I've discovered I have oily and dry zones, with acne crossing into both areas effortlessly. Fantastic. I definitely didn't have this problem with other pregnancies, so I don't even know where to begin.
I've been incredibly anxious the past week for my upcoming ultrasound. It's the big anatomy scan where they reveal the gender, but my husband can't come, so there won't be any revealing going on. Instead, the tech will (hopefully) discreetly slip the results into an envelope for us to open together at a later date - though I'm not sure when. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to try to guess based on what I see on the screen. lol
I also have my father-in-law's girlfriend coming up to watch the kids while I go. I have a "regular" sitter that has watched them twice, but both times she has left a mess in the epic proportions, so I'm hesitant to call her back. $20 minimum and 2 weeks worth of picking playdough out of a dark carpet doesn't really amount to a lot of fun on my end. Not to mention I can't decide if she's developmentally delayed or not and I'm not sure how she'd react if anything really went "wrong" while I was gone. That kind of scares me... bottom line, if you can't trust her, you need to get someone else. My father-in-law's girlfriend has been on the scene for a little over a year now, so I guess she can be trusted, not to mention the kids like her, so that helps. We'll see how it goes... I know my father-in-law would love for us to call them (as in both of them) one weekend to watch the girls since they are the only grandkids he gets to see. The family has been really cold and downright rude to her, so I'm trying to be the more "open" one since everyone deserves a chance.
Anyway, here's to hoping tomorrow goes well and maybe in a future post I'll reveal the gender!
Monday, November 11, 2013
Too Many Obligations!
Does anyone else feel like they just have too many obligations these days? I was looking at the ole calendar with the hubby and we realized we pretty much have something every weekend until 2014. That was insanely depressing. The worst part is that everyone and every thing is in another state, so we have to drive a minimum of 1 hour each way to get to the nearest relative/friend/event.
When will we Christmas shop? On the way to or from someone's house or party? When will we finish project like putting away the patio furniture for the weekend or installing insulation in the attic? Heck, I haven't even had time to CLEAN the attic, let alone install insulation up there.
Part of the reason life is so crazy is because nobody in my husband's family is getting along at the moment. So, not only do we have Thanksgiving with his mom, we also have to make time for his dad, his aunt, etc. It seems like every time I turn around someone isn't getting along with someone else and then the whole party dynamic is wrecked and you can't invite everyone to a single event because they won't get along.
I'm really close to just saying no to everyone and selfishly taking a weekend to do what matters - relax, take care of things around the house and spend time as a family outside of a car.
When will we Christmas shop? On the way to or from someone's house or party? When will we finish project like putting away the patio furniture for the weekend or installing insulation in the attic? Heck, I haven't even had time to CLEAN the attic, let alone install insulation up there.
Part of the reason life is so crazy is because nobody in my husband's family is getting along at the moment. So, not only do we have Thanksgiving with his mom, we also have to make time for his dad, his aunt, etc. It seems like every time I turn around someone isn't getting along with someone else and then the whole party dynamic is wrecked and you can't invite everyone to a single event because they won't get along.
I'm really close to just saying no to everyone and selfishly taking a weekend to do what matters - relax, take care of things around the house and spend time as a family outside of a car.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Product Review: Ken's Steak House Marinade & Sauce
My husband and I LOVED it. I opted to use it as a "sauce" rather than a marinade and holy yum, it was fantastic. I was in a pinch at dinner time and just dumped some over semi-frozen boneless thighs, then popped them in the oven to bake. The smell of the sauce filled the house and it was like being in one of those Japanese steak houses. Score one for the sauce. Next, I whipped up some stir fry veggies, fresh from the freezer and added another bit of sauce to the pan. Done. Finally, I made a little minute rice to serve it with. Here's a tip when making minute rice - season the water with complementary spices and it will flavor the rice as it cooks, seasoning each grain perfectly. I used salt, pepper, garlic powder and ginger powder.
When my husband got home, he immediately commented on how good dinner smelled. Of course by this time I disposed of the bottle and took all the credit, but in reality it took just minutes to prepare, plus time to bake. Like I said, I even used partially frozen chicken thighs, so these marinades and sauces really help on nights when you didn't do so well at planning ahead, but still want an excellent meal. I'll definitely be buying more at the store, possibly in other flavors, to keep in the pantry for emergencies or nights when I want takeout, but not the work of getting takeout or the price that accompanies the unhealthy choices. This sauce is sodium free and a healthy way to really satisfy a Chinese food craving.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Pregnancy Journal: Week 16
Today is the last day of week 16. I'm getting pretty good at posting at the end of the week... Anyway, it was extremely uneventful. I'm looking forward to my ultrasound in 2 weeks where someone (though not necessarily me) will find out the gender. My husband is going to try to "spill the beans" and see about coming with me to that one so we don't have to wait to find out, though I don't mind waiting.
This past week my nesting instinct has kicked in. Every corner of my home is getting cleaned and organized... I'm not sure if that has to do with the baby or the fall, but either way it's looking good! I hate having limitations on what I can do though, especially in lifting things because it means I have to wait for my husband to get home a lot, which is no fun. I feel bad that he had to put up the fence by himself and get the washing machine in by himself too. :-/
Anyway, that's about all that's new. Oh, and my old pants finally don't fit. I can't even suck it in and force them anymore.
This past week my nesting instinct has kicked in. Every corner of my home is getting cleaned and organized... I'm not sure if that has to do with the baby or the fall, but either way it's looking good! I hate having limitations on what I can do though, especially in lifting things because it means I have to wait for my husband to get home a lot, which is no fun. I feel bad that he had to put up the fence by himself and get the washing machine in by himself too. :-/
Anyway, that's about all that's new. Oh, and my old pants finally don't fit. I can't even suck it in and force them anymore.
Monday, November 4, 2013
When It Rains, It Pours
As the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours. That's been true for me the past week or so. First, my computer started acting up. It was going slow, barely chugging along and the spinning wheel of death was my constant companion. It got to the point where it just wouldn't function.. at all. It was awful.
My husband was optimistic. He thought he'd just run the disk utility and all would be well. The disk utility found hundreds of errors with iTunes. That seemed promising, so we faithfully restarted and waited... and waited... and waited. It still ran slow. He reset the PRAM and some other crazy thing that only computer geeks know about using ultra-secret key combinations during start up. Nothing worked. Finally, in a fit of anger he said we'd reinstall the OS. We tried... and we got an error. It couldn't be installed. It said we could try again, so we did and this time the error came up even earlier. This wasn't a good sign. Finally, on the 4th try it worked and I was able to restart, hoping my computer troubles would finally be over. Nope. No such luck.
At this point, it was pretty clear we had a bigger issue than either of us wanted to deal with. My husband sighed and resigned to the fact that it was my hard drive. At this point the newsletter I produce every month for the Moms Club was several days late and the hate mail started to flow in. Wonderful! We got a new hard drive and spent all of Friday night working to backup his hard drive on his computer, install the new drive in his computer, transfer the files to the new drive, backup my computer, wipe his old hard drive, and then transfer all my files to his hard drive. That was super time consuming and of course we ran into as snag - my computer couldn't even backup the hard drive. It wasn't recognizing the external drive we were backing it up to... so I lost everything between October 3rd and Friday night.
Saturday we spent traveling to family functions. Sunday, I got up early and began to do my chores. My washing machine has been loud since the day I bought it, but lately it has been REALLY loud. I threw a load of clothes in to wash and part way through the final spin cycle, it kicked the bucket. Literally - the drum dropped into the basket. At the same time, something locked and you couldn't turn the drum by hand anymore. The clothes only made it through part of a spin cycle, so they were soaking wet. I knew from Googling and talking to other moms that repairing a bearing or locked drum on a front-loader was more expensive than replacing the machine, so off to the store we went.
I was determined to not spend too much, so I was looking at clearance models. Front loaders are horribly expensive these days! I couldn't find anything in our price range, not even clearance models. When we bought our set, we paid $599 per piece and it wasn't the bottom of the line machine either. Now, they seem to start around $799 and they go way up from there. A cheaper alternative is the top loader HE machine. We tried 3 stores and at our final stop I found a beautiful LG top loading HE machine with all the bells and whistles a girl could want on clearance (it was a return) for $449. The original price was $999. WOW, what a deal!
Here's the funny part - that deal was at Sears. The store I swore I'd never ever shop at again. Well, they redeemed themselves a little with that one. The salesman was very nice and they got it off the floor and to the loading dock in under 10 minutes. We were there about an hour before they closed on a Sunday and nobody seemed to be hurrying us along. It was a nice change compared to the snow blower incident of 2013. I declined the extra protection plan though because quite honestly, I don't want to deal with the Sears repair team. No thanks!
So that's my tale - first the computer, then the washer. About $700 later, we were back in business. Oy!
My husband was optimistic. He thought he'd just run the disk utility and all would be well. The disk utility found hundreds of errors with iTunes. That seemed promising, so we faithfully restarted and waited... and waited... and waited. It still ran slow. He reset the PRAM and some other crazy thing that only computer geeks know about using ultra-secret key combinations during start up. Nothing worked. Finally, in a fit of anger he said we'd reinstall the OS. We tried... and we got an error. It couldn't be installed. It said we could try again, so we did and this time the error came up even earlier. This wasn't a good sign. Finally, on the 4th try it worked and I was able to restart, hoping my computer troubles would finally be over. Nope. No such luck.
At this point, it was pretty clear we had a bigger issue than either of us wanted to deal with. My husband sighed and resigned to the fact that it was my hard drive. At this point the newsletter I produce every month for the Moms Club was several days late and the hate mail started to flow in. Wonderful! We got a new hard drive and spent all of Friday night working to backup his hard drive on his computer, install the new drive in his computer, transfer the files to the new drive, backup my computer, wipe his old hard drive, and then transfer all my files to his hard drive. That was super time consuming and of course we ran into as snag - my computer couldn't even backup the hard drive. It wasn't recognizing the external drive we were backing it up to... so I lost everything between October 3rd and Friday night.
Saturday we spent traveling to family functions. Sunday, I got up early and began to do my chores. My washing machine has been loud since the day I bought it, but lately it has been REALLY loud. I threw a load of clothes in to wash and part way through the final spin cycle, it kicked the bucket. Literally - the drum dropped into the basket. At the same time, something locked and you couldn't turn the drum by hand anymore. The clothes only made it through part of a spin cycle, so they were soaking wet. I knew from Googling and talking to other moms that repairing a bearing or locked drum on a front-loader was more expensive than replacing the machine, so off to the store we went.
I was determined to not spend too much, so I was looking at clearance models. Front loaders are horribly expensive these days! I couldn't find anything in our price range, not even clearance models. When we bought our set, we paid $599 per piece and it wasn't the bottom of the line machine either. Now, they seem to start around $799 and they go way up from there. A cheaper alternative is the top loader HE machine. We tried 3 stores and at our final stop I found a beautiful LG top loading HE machine with all the bells and whistles a girl could want on clearance (it was a return) for $449. The original price was $999. WOW, what a deal!
Here's the funny part - that deal was at Sears. The store I swore I'd never ever shop at again. Well, they redeemed themselves a little with that one. The salesman was very nice and they got it off the floor and to the loading dock in under 10 minutes. We were there about an hour before they closed on a Sunday and nobody seemed to be hurrying us along. It was a nice change compared to the snow blower incident of 2013. I declined the extra protection plan though because quite honestly, I don't want to deal with the Sears repair team. No thanks!
So that's my tale - first the computer, then the washer. About $700 later, we were back in business. Oy!
Friday, November 1, 2013
Help, My Mac Is Running Slow!
I live on my computer. It's not just my gateway to Facebook, it's my bread and butter. I work from home and I use it everyday. Additionally, I hold a volunteer position with our local Moms Club chapter and I make the monthly newsletter for the group. Not being able to use my computer is an issue.
Unfortunately, at the moment anything more taxing than using Safari just crashes the whole dang thing. I get the rainbow wheel of death and the whole system just goes to shit. Not awesome. That really limits my ability to work (and consequently earn money) as well as producing the club's newsletter.
Even better is that the damn thing decided to die right before the end of the month, which is my busiest time at work and when I produce the newsletter. Fantastic.
I've been scouring the internet for advice and I've found out a couple of things: 1.) If you type in Pages (the name of the word processor on a Mac), you get a whole bunch of junk that is not related. Also, Pages itself does not have a usable help section. Annoying! 2.) It turns out that having a slow Mac is not an uncommon problem, but either I'm not fluent in geek or they made these things REALLY F-ING HARD TO FIX. I'll go with the latter, though it's probably a touch of the former as well.
I keep searching and hopelessly grasping at straws. Half of the "fixes" address only one of the many many problems I am having. You see, my computer is slow, Pages won't open, existing newsletters appear to only have 2 pages versus the 18 that actually exist, NOTHING WILL CLOSE, my Apple mail is just a giant shit-show and I keep getting this super annoying script error message in Firefox that probably has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that my computer hates me. Oh, and don't even try to get into the Applications folder on the hard drive. Actually, don't even try to open the hard drive in general.
After Googling myself crazy, I've determined the problem is either the hard drive, the battery, a corrupt file somewhere along the line, a plug-in, some other bit of hardware not previously listed, the memory or possibly Pages itself. I may also need to uninstall and reinstall Firefox.
Well hell, that doesn't really narrow it down at all.
Before you throw your nose up in the air and say I should just bring it to an Apple store to see a genius, let me point out that it's no longer under warranty. I'm rocking a Macbook Pro circa 2008 that was handed down from my husband. The hard drive was upgraded in 2011. It has also had the ram upgraded to the maximum amount. My other issue is that I don't live anywhere near an Apple store. They like to hide those things in cities and I have this extreme phobia of driving in cities with small children and electronics while New Englanders do death circles around me. It's just a bad idea. Speaking of cities and New Englanders, what the heck is with the roads being exactly wide enough for 1/2 a Prius around here? I drive an SUV. A big SUV. I don't fit on these dainty little streets and I refuse to downgrade to anything small enough to cause instant death when someone inevitably slams into me. Anyway, the Geeks at the bar always do the same thing, they turn the computer on while they attempt to look cool, try the most simple thing that anyone with access to Google has already tried, plug some little doodad into it, say "hmm..." then tell you they will have to do something a little more advanced that will take a while. Thanks a-hole, I figured it was something "a little more advanced" than what I could find with a Google search. Then they always want you to leave the computer with them and come back to pick it up later like getting there once wasn't quite enough fun. Meanwhile, the kids are screeching in the background because they want the newest iPad that's on display and convenient at their height and you're like yeah right, I'll just drop $500+ on something made of glass that requires a blessing from the Pope, a handle of whiskey and a PHD from MIT to fix. No thanks!
Seriously Apple, when your crap doesn't work, I don't want to look at new products. I'm not one to say oh golly gee, that last one was so damn fun I think I'll buy another. No, I'm like anything with an Apple logo on it better not be within my site or death rays will shoot out of my eyeballs as I go ballistic and curse every single one of the color-coordinated self-proclaimed geeks that are probably only working at Apple to get a discount on the latest iPhone.
AHHH! I hate computer problems!!!!
Unfortunately, at the moment anything more taxing than using Safari just crashes the whole dang thing. I get the rainbow wheel of death and the whole system just goes to shit. Not awesome. That really limits my ability to work (and consequently earn money) as well as producing the club's newsletter.
Even better is that the damn thing decided to die right before the end of the month, which is my busiest time at work and when I produce the newsletter. Fantastic.
I've been scouring the internet for advice and I've found out a couple of things: 1.) If you type in Pages (the name of the word processor on a Mac), you get a whole bunch of junk that is not related. Also, Pages itself does not have a usable help section. Annoying! 2.) It turns out that having a slow Mac is not an uncommon problem, but either I'm not fluent in geek or they made these things REALLY F-ING HARD TO FIX. I'll go with the latter, though it's probably a touch of the former as well.
I keep searching and hopelessly grasping at straws. Half of the "fixes" address only one of the many many problems I am having. You see, my computer is slow, Pages won't open, existing newsletters appear to only have 2 pages versus the 18 that actually exist, NOTHING WILL CLOSE, my Apple mail is just a giant shit-show and I keep getting this super annoying script error message in Firefox that probably has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that my computer hates me. Oh, and don't even try to get into the Applications folder on the hard drive. Actually, don't even try to open the hard drive in general.
After Googling myself crazy, I've determined the problem is either the hard drive, the battery, a corrupt file somewhere along the line, a plug-in, some other bit of hardware not previously listed, the memory or possibly Pages itself. I may also need to uninstall and reinstall Firefox.
Well hell, that doesn't really narrow it down at all.
Before you throw your nose up in the air and say I should just bring it to an Apple store to see a genius, let me point out that it's no longer under warranty. I'm rocking a Macbook Pro circa 2008 that was handed down from my husband. The hard drive was upgraded in 2011. It has also had the ram upgraded to the maximum amount. My other issue is that I don't live anywhere near an Apple store. They like to hide those things in cities and I have this extreme phobia of driving in cities with small children and electronics while New Englanders do death circles around me. It's just a bad idea. Speaking of cities and New Englanders, what the heck is with the roads being exactly wide enough for 1/2 a Prius around here? I drive an SUV. A big SUV. I don't fit on these dainty little streets and I refuse to downgrade to anything small enough to cause instant death when someone inevitably slams into me. Anyway, the Geeks at the bar always do the same thing, they turn the computer on while they attempt to look cool, try the most simple thing that anyone with access to Google has already tried, plug some little doodad into it, say "hmm..." then tell you they will have to do something a little more advanced that will take a while. Thanks a-hole, I figured it was something "a little more advanced" than what I could find with a Google search. Then they always want you to leave the computer with them and come back to pick it up later like getting there once wasn't quite enough fun. Meanwhile, the kids are screeching in the background because they want the newest iPad that's on display and convenient at their height and you're like yeah right, I'll just drop $500+ on something made of glass that requires a blessing from the Pope, a handle of whiskey and a PHD from MIT to fix. No thanks!
Seriously Apple, when your crap doesn't work, I don't want to look at new products. I'm not one to say oh golly gee, that last one was so damn fun I think I'll buy another. No, I'm like anything with an Apple logo on it better not be within my site or death rays will shoot out of my eyeballs as I go ballistic and curse every single one of the color-coordinated self-proclaimed geeks that are probably only working at Apple to get a discount on the latest iPhone.
AHHH! I hate computer problems!!!!
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