Snowflake or Raindrop?

Where do they come up with this stuff???

You Are a Raindrop

You are a natural listener. You're truly interested in what other people have to say. You listen to your own heart most of all. You believe that it's important to understand yourself. You're so intuitive, it's like you have a sixth, seventh, and eighth sense. You grasp the deeper meaning of things. You try to be good with whatever happens in life. You find your contentment from within.

Are You a Snowflake or a Raindrop?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Leaving With a Shopping List?

I know I'll want to get cool stuff at the company store, but this conference trip has me keeping my eyes out for a few other things in Baltimore, MD.

I keep trying to find cool thank-you cards to send out since Maggie's birthday party last week, but haven't had much luck so far. Maybe something will jump out there? And how excellent would it be to have a unique baby christening gifts that no one else could show up with since I got it out of town?

The one thing I'm sure I'll be able to find is something to bring back for my favorite little girl. We like adding books from new locations to her collection, but I think last year in Philly I ended up getting her a stuffed animal. We'll see what Baltimore has to offer (besides a great time with friends!).

And We're Off!

And by 'we', I suppose I mean me and a mouse in my pocket?

I'm pretty excited to be on my way to Dove Chocolate Discoveries National Conference to see old friends, taste new products, and learn lots about working my business!

Unfortunately for all of you, most of the new stuff isn't actually fit for public knowledge/consumption til September! Watch this spot and I'll announce what I can soon :)

Not for Lack of Trying!

So I'm just at the mental point of packing so far. I've decided what I want to wear on which days. I wanted to try and pick up another pair of shoes today, but it doesn't seem to have worked. I wasn't after any fancy nike inflict wrestling shoes or anything - just a pair of black dressy-ish sandals. I have some brown ones, but one of my outfits is definitively black. And I'm a total snob about that. I do have some plain black flats that will have to do. But wouldn't these have been cuter??

Wordless Wednesday - My View

Back to Food!

Now that I'm done with all my glucose tests and just bulking up the baby for the last couple of months, food is sounding good again!

I haven't eaten at one of my favorite restaurants since the night before my one-hour glucose test (which hasn't been much more than a month, but feels much longer than that!). We met with an insurance guy (yay for free food!) who talked about life insurance for me and hubby. I'm officially, yet again, old. But at least he didn't push the issue of medicare supplement plans yet, right?

Today has some fun eats lined up. We're meeting with Maggie's fiance and his family for lunch at Olga's, then later on hubby and I are attending our birthing orientation at the birthing center. I figured it was fate that Logan's Steakhouse sent me another buy one-get one coupon via email that's only good today and tomorrow. Hopefully we can fit it in after the class!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Made it through the big ole party on Saturday, now spending a few frantic days getting ready for Dove Chocolate Discoveries' National Conference in Baltimore, MD this weekend - YAY!!

So glad the heat wave seems to be done (for now, at least!). I looked back to see what the weather was like the summer I was pregnant with Maggie, and I found that temperatures were on average a few degrees BELOW normal! Maybe last week's exhaustion was in part due to heat, despite my efforts to stay in air conditioning ;)

I think Maggie is getting ready to grow again! She's still asleep, in her own bed! I need to get moving, but I don't want her to have any trouble finding me (if I were in the shower or downstairs) when she finally does wake up.

I sure am going to miss my lil girl this weekend! I've been hyping how much fun she'll have spending time with Daddy. And reminding her to talk to me on the phone when I call!

Fun Week!

I have so much I need to get done this week, but so much of it is segueing into fun stuff and visiting - yay!!

My aunt from Colorado is currently in town for a class reunion that was last weekend, so she and my parents came out to visit on Monday. We had a nice visit and delicious beef kabobs for dinner. This wouldn't have taken the whole day, but we needed to go to the credit union to deposit my checks from Friday and to the grocery store before they were coming over.

Tuesday I had a midwife appointment (where I found out I passed my glucose test - yay again!). Since we were on that side of town, we met up with friends for some play time and dinner. Maggie was also very intrigued by a couple of small babies at the restaurant for dinner. Why do they group all the kids together at the restaurant? When we arrived, we were next to a SCREAMING toddler (younger than ours). Thanks! And all the tables were so close anyway, I learned a lot about apidexin from the conversation on the table on the other side of us. Oh well.

Today we left early (for us) to meet up with a friend with a truck who took us to get Maggie's new (to her) bed. Of course we couldn't just hope the three kids would enjoy enough of each others' company crammed in the back seat all day, so it evolved into another playdate once the work was done.

I'm still plugging away on the old to-do list, but most things are disappearing by means of elimination, instead of completion. I'm sure the parties this weekend will be fun no matter what.

Wordless Wednesday - the New Bed!

Sharon Osbourne (A Guest Blogger Post)

Thanks for the article from Glenda Hanson

You know who I have really come to like? Sharon Osbourne. I know crazy right? When did she become an actress and judge? Who would have guessed that a wild woman that married Ozzy Osbourne would become a gracious lady who is helping decide who has the best talent?

Well that is who she has become. I think she presents herself with great character and poise. She is always so well dressed and her makeup is always well done. She does wear more makeup than I would care to wear but on her, it looks great. Her critiques of the contestants seem right on. I was watching her on my satellite tv, that I got after getting http://www.directstartv.com, last night and her display of emotions when that young girl sang was so real. It made me feel like I was there as I cried along with her.

I wonder where I can find out who does her hair? I would like to get some tips to make my hair look that. I like the color and the style. Although I think I may keep it a tad bit less red. That may look funny on my darker skin. But who knows, maybe it wouldn't. I will have to ask my hair stylist what she thinks.

What's Your Social Style?

You Are Creative

You are a true original, and you inspire more people with your creativity than you realize. You're always doing or thinking something new. You live on the cutting edge. You are unpredictable and zany. People know that they can't expect consistency with you, and they love that! You are a great problem solver, and no one can throw a party like you can. You definitely know how to have fun.

What's Your Social Style?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

More to Love

I am really, really enjoying our new house, even with all the work I want to do to make it ready to show more friends next weekend. A couple of rooms that really help it to work for our family are Maggie's big bedroom, and our mostly-finished basement. The reason these two do so much to eliminate clutter is that they hold most of Maggie's toys. Before, we had our living room always full of toys. Even when Maggie and I spent some time putting all the toys in boxes, they were still visible. Now? Out of sight - out of mind, right?

The other part of our finished basement was probably really cool a few years back. There's a built in shelving section that holds a tv well, but unfortunately, it doesn't hold as large a tv as hubby would like to enjoy his games and movies on. Once Maggie gets a bit older, she'll probably be comfortable hanging out and watching movies on the VCR there. Right now, she says she's 'lonely' if she spends much time down there without me. I'm a big fan of built in shelving, but by the time our family is right to get some real use for it, hubby will probably already invest in dlp lcd projectors or something else fancy to watch movies.

Final Countdown

Maggie and I had such a fun time at her cousin's birthday party today. I love hanging out with my family and seeing the girls have such a good time together.

But enjoying their party so much has really elevated my awareness of how much I need to do before Maggie's birthday party and our open house next weekend. And unfortunately hubby doesn't have any availability to help out with this stuff this week, so it's all on me. A lot of it I know I'm not physically capable of, so I'm having to sort the list down to a real 'need' basis and still get some help.

Any suggestions for how to get some of this off of my list most efficiently?

• Powerwash deck
• Powerwash play structure
• Replace rope parts on play structure
• Put roof on play structure (not going to happen, but a girl can dream, right?)
• Install pony tire swing on extension (not yet installed) to play structure
• Remove molly from family room wall, re-spackle and paint, then put up the decorations I actually want there
• Unpack last few stray boxes
• Go get new bed Maggie wants for her birthday (it's about an hour away...)
• Arrange for neighbor to cut lawn, and additionally to weed-whack under play structure
• Figure out where to stash broken adirondack chairs that should go to the dump, but really won't make it there in my car before next weekend
• Weed landscaping near house
• Arrange to have a cake picked up by someone on their way to our house on Saturday (I'm thinking a Costco cake would be good, but I don't have a membership)
• Get pinata fillings
• Friday: Go shopping for food to grill at party on Saturday

Oh, yeah, and Tuesday is already booked pretty solid. And I have chocolate tasting parties on Thursday and Friday night.

I thought last week was my tough week for the summer, but I'm tired just reading everything I want to do this week!

YAWN!

I can't believe I'm still awake! When Maggie and I got up this morning, I knew it would be a busy day, but even more stuff got added to the schedule - and accomplished!

We woke up at the crack of 9AM (don't hate!) which ended up being the perfect time for Maggie to say hi to Grandpa as he stopped by to get some parts he needed to go work on the boat trailer. After fixing us some breakfast, I decided to check my email and of course got sucked into other stuff. We still made it out the door by a little before noon, which was my goal.

Unfortunately, we found out that hubby's debit card had been 'compromised' and someone was living it up in CA at our expense - yikes! I made a few extra minutes to call and make sure he knew nothing about it, and to have him call and cancel the card ASAP!

Once I dropped Maggie off at a friend's house, I headed to my annual cardiology appointment. I could almost forget I had heart surgery last year, but no one else seems to trust how healthy I am without documentation from my cardiologist. Without this visit, I couldn't get Wholesale Insurance or be approved for the drug-free birth I'm planning with the baby in a couple months. The doctor once again gave me a glowing review and told me I can now wait 18 months before my next visit. Woo-hoo!!

From there, I had to go coax Maggie back out of our friend's house so we could try and sign a fraud affidavit at the credit union regarding the charges on hubby's account, and then get home in time for my brother to pick Maggie up. She stayed at his house while I went and did a chocolate tasting party nearby.

We finally got home around 11PM, which was just enough time to enter the orders from the chocolate tasting party in time to be included in next week's paycheck. Yay!

And now? This preggo lady has got to get to sleep for another action-packed fun day tomorrow!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

We've had a good week for movies. A few days ago we watched Hot Fuzz (which was hilarious), and then last night hubby remembered seeing Crossroads (give us some credit - not the Britney Spears one) years ago and wanted to watch it again. I stayed awake through both (which is progress for me lately) and enjoyed them.

I'm following this horrible carb-rich diet before I take my three-hour glucose test, and it is wearing. me. out. I'm so tired :( I just want a big ole slab of grilled steak, but by the time I eat everything I 'have' to, there's no more room in my baby-squashed stomach.

I was not-too-bright and totally splashed boiling water on my hand last night while taking a cup out of the microwave. Luckily my poor fingers didn't blister, but a couple are still red on the back from where the water ran from my palm around to the back of my hand. Ouch. I don't think I've ever had a burn that covered that much skin (as opposed to when I just accidentally touch the stove or oven coils).

Maggie just got annoyed with the 'rooster' again as I printed out training materials for our chocolate meeting tonight. I still have no idea where she got the idea that my printer is a rooster. Huh.

Fun Ads

Have you paid much attention to the little sidebar ads that show up on the other sites you use? Sometimes, it's right on. I had an ad the other day about a site that helps find natural birthing resources. Up my alley - definitely! Some of them seem to be running a bit ahead. The computer knows I feel like a big old cow some days, so it recommended apidexin reviews. Thanks for the thought, machine - I'll make a note for when I'm not pregnant.

My favorites (totally against the grain of the valuable recommendation above) are the dessert/chocolate ads. Yum!! Those have gotten me baking - or at least snacking - more times than I'd like to admit. Although sadly, I couldn't tell you what the actual ads were for besides their dessert category. I'm not sure if that counts as effective advertising after all...

10 Random Things for Friday

1. Maggie discovered yesterday that our cat, Audrey, doesn't especially like to wear necklaces. Unfortunately, it was a painful lesson.
2. Only two weeks until Maggie's birthday party and our house-warming/open house. I think things are falling into place...
3. It sure is warm lately. I don't want to turn the air conditioning colder because I think it's in part because I'm so preggo. So I just try to sit really still.
4. Only two and a half weeks til I get to go to Dove Chocolate Discoveries' National Conference. Woo-hoo! That is all in place already (except for finding clothes that cover my cleavage and my belly at the same time).
5. Huh. Apparently I'm not the only one feeling a bit warm. I suggested Maggie play in the basement while I get things together for tonight, but she said she'd be lonely. Hopefully the house will be a little cooler once everything is done tonight and we all get back home.
6. I suppose our walk halfway up the street didn't help us cool off at all ;)
7. I'm waiting for another Vistaprint order, and really hoping the mail delivery person didn't throw this one away, like the last one that never appeared.
8. Of all the things I like better about this house, the post office is not on the list. This is really, really unfortunate, as I can't exactly pick a different one to deliver my mail :(
9. I'm really relieved that our city's fireworks were canceled last weekend. Our plans fell apart, so this gives us another chance to see them - yay!!
10. I think my belly has gotten bigger again this week. I'll try and get a picture up soon. I had a hard time focusing for a self-portrait the other day, so I need to see if it worked, and if not, get hubby's help to take a good one.
    

Worried About Me?

Everything has been going well here, I suppose. Just regular moving/re-settling/life stress has kept me away from the blog.

Lately I sort of miss music. See, I used to use my computer for listening to music while I worked, but now that I have my super awesome phone headset, it sort of steals all the sound. I think what I need to do is buy ipod touch or something to run the sound separately from the top of my desk, instead of my desktop (get it?).

I've got an iPod that I could kind of use for this, but I keep it plugged in to the stereo in my car (or however that set-up is called...). Even at that, it doesn't work well for me, since iTunes and I got in a fight and it downloaded all of hubby's metal music and hardly any of my music. Huh. Sometimes life just isn't fair.