Updates

Sorry it's Tuesday and I am just updating my blog about my weekend now but I haven't been feeling good. I went to the doctor today for my round ligament pains and she is starting me on physical therapy because the pains are so bad I am having a hard time walking, sitting, moving... I've been in bed for two days. UGH! B started his new job on Monday so I am alone evenings. It will be nice once the baby is born because we will not need daycare but being sick and alone isn't really fun right now. I have my Gizzy though..

Happy B-day to my sweet baby Gizmo he turned 3 on Monday. I felt bad that I didn't have a party for him this year.


So my weekend was filled with spending time with people that I love.

Friday, I headed over to Rachel and Caitlin's for a BBQ and to watch the debate. We had an awesome meal and I got to hang out with the Rachel and Caitlin's kids Eli and Bella. Rachel packed my car with lots of baby stuff and I headed home.. Thanks Rach and Cait for everything..

Saturday I met Lanee for lunch at the Olive Garden. We had a nice lunch and then headed over to Burlington to see if I could get some ideas for the baby room. I saw a lot of things that I liked but didn't buy anything.
After Burlington I headed over to Mary's. I wanted her to go with me to Babies R US to look for baby bedding. We ended up finding a set that I LOVED!! I bought it even though I didn't really have the money too. It's so cute. I will take a picture once I get into the new house and get the room done.
When we got back to Mary's B was there working on their trees. He took one tree down and trimmed another. I felt bad for asking him to come over and do that since he had been doing side tree work all weekend. i told him that we could do it a different day but he had all his saws so he just wanted to get it out of the way.

Saturday night B and I had a big dinner date at Wendy's. We are saving every penny for the big move in a few weeks and money is a little tight. After dinner we just went home and relaxed.

Sunday I woke up and headed to church the topic was Money and I really didn't feel like thinking about money. After church I got some lunch and headed home. B went to watch some football and I took a nap.
B came home and made me dinner and watched Desperate Housewives with me. He is so sweet. He treats me like a princess and will do anything for me and I am not the easiest person to deal with especially when I am pregnant.




That was my exciting weekend. I am sure that once the baby is born it will be a little more interesting.. Stayed tuned.

TFT-Food

Since moving into my second trimester eating has become so much more enjoyable. I've talked about food in the past but my love for food has tripled since becoming pregnant. The first 3 months I was so sick and hated most foods but now that I am feeling better I have found my appetite again(boy how I've missed you). One good thing about my cravings is that usually I crave healthy things like fresh salads and fruit. I don't crave fast food and still feel guilty if I eat it. Most of my cravings come from a smell. Yesterday a guy at my work had cucumbers and now I am craving them so bad I won't stop thinking about then until I get them.

Here is a list of my top favs right now, it will change next week.

Fresh green peppers(I could eat a whole one by myself)

Fresh green beans

Olives olives olives (mostly black but I love the green ones too)

Chow mein with LOTS of celery (homemade)

Popsicles

Salads

Soup

Stuffing

Pickles (sweet and dill)

Tony loves sweet potatoes

What are some of your favorite foods or meals??

Tony's Baptism

Sunday was Tony's Baptism. It was a great day with the family. Tony is the best baby.

Lori and Tony. All Tony needed through the ceremony to keep him happy was Mom's hand.

My Brother and Tony

Not sure why this picture turned out blurry. I can't wait to get my new camera.

My Niece Jess and Step-Sis Syd with Tony


Since it looks like I am having a boy Tony will have a little boy cousin to grow up with. They will be a little over a year apart. I can't wait to see what they think of each other.

Gopher Game

I work for a pretty large trucking company and they move some of our MN sports teams like the Twins, Wild and the Gophers. My work was nice enough to give us all free tickets to the Gopher game on Saturday. I invited my Brother, Tony and Lori. Lori had to get ready for Tony's baptism the next day and couldn't make it. Brent had to work and couldn't make it either so it was just My Brother Jay, Tony and me. It was a nice bonding day with my Bro and nephew. We all had a great time and Tony was amazing as usual. No fussing or crying. He was even on the jumbo tron.

We had the BEST seats!! Front row. The band was awesome. They did the thriller dance. VERY COOL!!

This just shows you how good our seats were. Goldie came over to shake Tony's hand

Jay and Tony

This is how Tony sat for most of the game. He loved all the excitement.

We had on matching sweatshirts.

The cheerleaders loved Tony. They came over to say hi to him. I wasn't quick enough with my camera though.

All of us outside the game.

Tony was soooooo good.. We stayed for the entire game. It was a great day!!

Ultrasound

We had another ultrasound last night and the tech said that there is a 75-80% chance it's a boy. I didn't like the tech as much as I liked the first one I had. She didn't really talk to me at all and seemed to not know what she was doing. We have our 4D ultrasound scheduled for 10/29 so we will be able to confirm the gender then and we will also be able to see the baby a lot better. I am excited for that one. I made sure to make that appointment after my 20th week so we can see the baby a lot better.. Ok off the the shower. My Brother and I are taking my nephew to his first football game. We all have matching Gopher outfits. I will post pics later.

Best Friends

I've blogged before about my group of BFF's and the bond we all have. My girl Kristi wrote a poem on her blog today that brought tears to my eyes and sums up exactly how I feel about my girls.. Check it out. BFF Poem

Happy Friday!!

TFT

My TFT isn't really a TFT.. I just wanted some help with a new title for my blog. Just me just doesn't seem like a good title anymore since I have another human inside me.. Any ideas?


Also I have the BIG ultrasound tomorrow. Hopefully the baby will cooperate and we will find out what it is.

17 Week Photo

Today marks my 17th week and I thought I would post a picture. I feel fat and ugly but I know I will regret not documenting this.

I was alone tonight so I did the best I could taking these pics of myself.

Weekend Update

Hello, I know I am late with my weekend update but I wanted to get some pics uploaded. Friday night I went over to my BFF Mary's house. She made a yummy pasta dinner and you know I love food. We hung out and watched a movie and I headed home around 10 pm. Saturday we went out to dinner with Mary and her husband Troy. We went to La Casita and normally I love this place but I wasn't too happy with the food or the service.. After dinner we all decided that we wanted to go bowling..

Mary and me

Mary and Troy

We had a good time and it turns out that Troy is so good at bowling he could be a pro.. I did ok, Mary got worse as the drinks came (sorry Mary) and B did pretty good on his second game.

It was nice to go out. I can't remember the last time I went out.

Sunday I went to my friend Vicki's. She and I used to work together and haven't seen each other in months. She had a lot of baby stuff for me and a lot of maternity clothes. YAY!!! We went out to brunch and then I headed home.

It was a nice weekend. I hope every ones weekend was good.

Happy Friday!!!

THIS PICTURE CRACKS ME UP!!!

New banner

Thanks Kristi for making me a new fall banner. Love ya!

Half way there

We are half way to the weekend. YAY!!

People told me that I will have strange dreams while pregnant. Well last night was my first strange pregnancy dream. I dreamt that the doctor took the baby out of me to see what it was and then put it back in so I could carry the baby to term. WTF!! Oh by the way it was a boy.

Disclaimer

I wanted to let everyone know that my previous post is something a friend forwarded to me not my personal view or opinion of Palin. I want everyone to feel welcome to post their thoughts and opinions on this. If you think this is false or if you back it up and would like to share please feel free.

Wrapping up and a little bit of politics

Sunday I started to notice a lot of pain in my jaw. It hurts to eat and to yawn. I think this maybe why I’ve been having headaches lately. Once again I missed work Monday. I swear from all my ailments and this pregnancy I would be surprised if I don’t get the boot. I am really trying to get 40 hours in 4 days so at least I can say that I made up my time. Losing my job at 4 months pregnant would really suck.
I am going to the dentist next week so maybe they can help me out with my jaw issues.

A friend of mine emailed this to me. I wanted to share this with everyone. I am not trying to push any of my political views, although I will say I am a democrat and proud of it.

Excuse the format. I cut and pasted it and didn't feel like going through and fixing it. Give me a break I am pregnant and lazy..

Share your thoughts on this if you would like...

DEAREST, BRILLIANT WOMEN FRIENDS,
I'm the least political person I know. And I've never been one to categorize myself as a "woman writer" or a "woman anything." But I've begun to lose sleep--literally--over the upcoming elections and the thought of what our country could become if McCain/Palin are elected. So I've decided to become more pro-active, if only to wear myself out so I can get some rest!


THERE ARE TWO LETTERS COPIED BELOW. I intend to answer the first, and I urge you to do the same. Take five seconds--send a reply to the email address at the bottom. And then forward it on (blind copies please!) to your own circle of amazing women friends.


The second letter lists the books Ms. Palin would prefer us not to read, including "Our Bodies, Ourselves" by Boston Women�s Health Collective, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "My Friend Flicka," and Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. No kidding.


With love to all of you,
Lynn

Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,

We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the
announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the
Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere
partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and
rudderless Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and
her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for
our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth
control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative
energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she wanted to ban books and
attempted to fire the librarian who stood against her), gun control, the separation of
church and state, and polar bears. What's more is that she has legislated in favor of aerial gunning of wolves and bears:
Despite strong scientific, ethical and public opposition to aerial hunting, Governor Palin has

� Proposed paying a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf.
� Approved a $400,000 state-funded propaganda campaign to promote aerial hunting.
� Introduced legislation to make it even easier to use aircraft to hunt wolves and bears.

To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation to become the second-most-powerful person on the planet.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother,
or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash,
incompetent, and altogether devastating choice for Vice President. Ms.
Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments
that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for,
and that we've so demonstrably benefited from.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate
or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to
disagree, publicly.

Therefore, we invite you to reply here <mailto:womensaynopalin@gmail.com>
with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this
country (or in support of women living in this country), do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.

Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.

We will post your responses on a blog called "Women Against Sarah Palin,"
which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your
reply at your earliest convenience. The greater the volume of responses we receive,
the stronger our message will be.

Thank you for your time and action.

VIVA!

Sincerely,

Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
New York, NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com <mailto:womensaynopalin@gmail.com>

**PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! If you send this to 20 women (and men too) in the next hour, you could be blessed with a country that takes your concerns seriously. Stranger things have happened.


Friends and family:


Let's spend a few moments browsing the list of books Mayor Sarah Palin tried to get town librarian Mary Ellen Baker to ban in the lovely, all-American town of Wasilla, Alaska. When Baker refused to remove the books from the shelves, Palin threatened to fire her. The story was reported in Time Magazine and the list comes from the librarian.net website.


I'm sure you'll find your own personal favorites among the classics Palin wanted to protect the good people of Wasilla from, but the ones that jumped out at me were the four Stephen King novels (way to go Stephen, John Steinbeck only got three titles on the list), that notorious piece of communist pornography "My Friend Flicka," the usual assortment of Harry Potter books, works by Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain (always fun to see those two names together), Arthur Miller, and Aristophanes, as well as "Our Bodies, Ourselves" (insert your own Bristol Palin joke here), and the infamous one-two punch of depravity: "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Little Red Riding Hood." But the cherry on the sundae, the topper, is Sarah Palin's passionate, religious mission to clear the shelves of the Wasilia Public Library of that ultimate evil tome: "Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary." That's the one with "equality," "free speech" and "justice" in it.


Go over to your book case and take down one of the books you'll find on the list (I know you've got a couple) and give it a read in honor of the founding fathers. Then tell me I'm not the only voter who doesn't want this woman within thirty feet of the United States Constitution.


Onward,
J.D.


Sarah Palin's Book Club
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L�Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy�s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer�s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It�s Okay if You Don�t Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley�s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O�Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo�s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women�s Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil�s Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid�s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won�t by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster�s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth

Como Zoo

Saturday morning I woke up and headed over to Mary's. I told her that I would watch her kids while she and her hubby Troy went up north for a family party. I decided to take Taylor and Chase to the Como Zoo. I haven't been there for a while and I thought the kids would have fun. It was a beautiful day but man was it PACKED!!!

We started out in the butterfly exhibit. It was amazing.

Taylor loved all the butterflies.

This big guy licked the wall for about an hour. I thought it was pretty funny to I thought I would take a picture of it.

Chase climbing in the giant jungle gym

Taylor on the bumper cars

YEEHA

After the zoo we headed back home. We order some pizza for dinner and then had movie night. The kids were very good for Mimi.

We all passed out around 9 what a day...

Monthly Girls Dinner

Once a month my BFF's and I get together to make dinner. This is something that we started a few months ago to keep us all close. We have been friends since we just girls. It is very important that we all maintain our friendships and I am very proud of the fact that I have had such a close group of girls for so long. We have been through our teens, twenties, death, birth, marriage, pretty much everything. I have a special relationship with each and everyone of my girls.

Me, Mary, Lanee Sonja and Kristi Kris

Ok, enough of the emo stuff.. This stage of my pregnancy has made me more emotional and more loving. I will take this any day over the first 3 months where I was what I call a raging B*TCH. I didn't want to be touched or really even talked to. I was so sick and I really didn't know if I could take much more but I got through it and am feeling much better.

Ok so back to my girls night. Friday we all met at Mary's for pizza night. Although I love to cook it seems that a pattern of me watching everyone do all the work has started. That's bad.. Oh well. My girls love to cook too so I don't think they mind.

Sonja, Mary and Lanee chopping up all the pizza toppings.

Sonja and Lanee

Poor Kristi was on a time crunch to get a wedding video done for a wedding the next day. She is good at multitasking.

I had to take a picture of this because if you notice how much alcohol is in the blender compared to the margarita mix. That's Lanee for ya.. HAHA..

My yummy pizza!!!

State Fair

I just wanted to share some pictures from the MN State Fair.

Two trips to the fair and no cheese curds but plenty of pickles. I had deep fried pickles, pickles on a stick and pickle dogs. UMMMMM...

Brent and me on the sky ride. I love it you can see the entire fair.

I was trying to get a picture of the crowd

My Brother Jason and Niece Jess on the slide

Jess in the kids farm

Tony found his thumb at the fair this year

My Bro looking at the wall of shame. All these deer were killed by poachers.

Any one that knows me knows I don't eat pork because of my love for pigs. It's strange I know. but look how cute this little guy is.

My Brother eating a turkey leg. These things cost about 7 bucks.. He shared it with all of us. I don't think anyone can eat one by themselves.

ABC's

A= Attached or Single: Attached
B= Best Friend: Mary, Kristi, Sonja, Lanee
C= Cake or Pie: I like cherry pie
D= Day of Choice: I love Sundays in the fall
E= Essential Item: Hair binder
F= Flavor of Icecream: chocolate soft serve from Mcdonalds
G= Gummy Bears or Worms: Both
H= Hometown: White Bear Lake
I= Indulgence: Food
J= January or July: July
K= Kids: Yes in about 6 months
L= Last movie I saw at a theater: Sex and the City
M= Musician: Areosmith
N= Number of Siblings: 3-Tracy, Doug Jr and jason
O= Oranges or Apples: Both
P= Phobias or Fears: Lots of birds around me at one time
Q= Quote: Let go and let God
R= Reason to Smile: I am going to be a Mom in 6 months
S= Season: Spring & Fall
T= Travel Dreams: I want to take a road trip all over the USA
U= Unknown fact: I have never had a cavity in my life (I’m stealing yours Kristi because I am in that club too)
V= vegetarian or oppressor of Animals: I have a hard time eating meat but I do except pork
W= Worst habit: Procrastination!!
X= Xray or Ultrasound: I had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and I will have another in a few weeks
Y= Your favorite food: I love everything
Z= Zodiac sign: Aries

Happy Friday! Enjoy my random ranting.

First off I just want to throw out there that last night I made THE BEST CHOW MEIN!! No lie!!

This weekend I promise to upload pictures. I’ve been told by Helmey that if I don’t I suck. It is sorta sad how lazy one can get when she is with child. I am, however starting to get my energy back. YAY for second trimester!! I am also less annoyed and less crabby. Man it was a hard 3 months.

I will say that it is a hard thing to swallow when your friend’s that are single and without children slowly start to fade away. I was told that it would happen but I guess I didn’t believe it until now. It is also crazy to me how your core group will always be there. There are 5 of us and we have been friends since childhood. I thank god everyday for each and every one of them.

Me, Lanee, Mary, Sonja and Kristi

Speaking of my girls tonight is our monthly dinner. We will all be gathering at Mary’s to make individual pizzas. Kristi says that she is going to take a belly shot of me.. Hmm I am not too sure about that Kristi Kris.

I think B is going to head over to Roger and lanee’s house to hang out with Roger (Lanee’s Hubby) and Troy (Mary’s hubby). They are lost without us. HAHA

I really want to head out to the Renaissance Festival tomorrow. It’s a close second on my list of things I love. The State Fair being number one of course..

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Labor Day

Ok so this is getting ridiculous. Last night I was sitting there doing nothing and I was like HMMM maybe you should upload your pictures and write about your trip to the fair.. Did I do it? Nope! I am just LAZY!! UGH I hate that about myself right now. So you will get my fair pictures and my trip to the fair in about a year.

Since I haven’t really blogged in FOREVER I will start with my Labor Day weekend. Friday I was going to go over to a friend’s house but I had really bad heartburn. I think it was heartburn; I’ve never had it before. Well whatever it was it wasn’t fun. Saturday B and I went to the fair again. It was super hot but as we got into the evening it was so nice. I will post pictures someday.

Sunday, I didn’t do much but just hang around the house. Monday I went to visit a very dear friend of mine that I haven’t seen in over a year. She and her partner had their second baby back in Nov and I still hadn’t seen her. That’s bad. They have two children Eli and Bella. I wished that I would have taken pictures. Bella has the biggest squeezable cheeks. She is a doll. Eli is 4 and I just can’t believe what a little man he has grown into. We went to one of favorite old hang outs the Chatterbox. We had lunch and played Nintendo. It was so nice to see them. Rachel gave me Bella’s old car seat. Thanks Rachel.

I am starting to show a little. I think it’s time to start taking pictures of my fat belly. UGH..