I'm a Hobbit

Sorry that it's been so long sine I last posted, but I've been busy and exhausted. Luckily, the morning sickness is mostly gone, but has been replaced by being unbelievably tired all the time. There are times that I swear I could go fall asleep on one of the benches in the lobby at my work. The benches are not cushioned.

Anyway, the reason that I believe I'm becoming a hobbit is because I eat like two of every meal. Seriously! I have first breakfast right when I wake up each day. Then I eat second breakfast when I get to work. Then I have first lunch between the two missions, and second lunch after the second mission of the day. Then I have a mini-dinner at about 3:30 to get me through the drive home at 4. When I get home, I have a small snack and fall asleep on the couch until Ben gets home. Then I make real dinner (or we get real dinner delivered since I'm having trouble standing the smell of stuff cooking sometimes). It's crazy how many times I eat a day! And I've lost two pounds in the past couple of weeks. Weird.

Today I got to go maternity clothes shopping since I have two pairs of pants that fit me for work. Even though I've lost weight, my hips are opening up and my belly is getting a little rounder, so I need looser, more supportive pants. Now I just need to find work pants to accompany all the cute work capris that I ended up buying today! :)

Nighty-night!

P.S. Thank goodness my little baby ticker is showing my baby looking more like a baby now, it looked way weird when I first posted it!! :) My baby is now a little bigger than a strawberry and is making a quarter of a million neurons EVERY MINUTE! That just blows my mind. But it also explains why I'm so dang hungry all the time!

I Pity the Fool

Morgan, this one's for you:

Mr. T Belongs in the Bible

New Kids on the Block are BACK!

This is NO April Fools joke. The New Kids on the Block are staging a reunion.

Hang Tough on this...

Seriously. Who woulda thunk it?

Thank Morgan for the heads up. I'm SO there. April 4th, Today show on NBC.

Notice Anything New?

I'm pregnant!! Yay!!!!!!!!! I'm over 6 weeks pregnant, and I can't believe this happened so quickly. I super excited.

For the first couple of weeks after we found out, it seemed surreal, but now that the morning sickness has hit full force, it's not so surreal anymore! I've been lucky and haven't actually gotten sick, yet, but the nausea has been pretty bad from time to time. But my aunt suggested something that has seemed to help. Her friend said that keeping saltines by her bed and eating a few before even getting out of bed helped her get through morning sickness. So for the past week now, as soon as my alarm goes off, I eat a few saltines, let my stomach settle, then I get up and go eat oatmeal right away (and take my prenatal vitamin).

I'm due November 18. I'm going to be a mom. Weird. But good. :)

Two Whole Years

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Aunt Sher and Lefty! Lefty became a part of Aunt Sher's life exactly two years ago today. Lefty has turned Sher's life around. Before Lefty, Sher was tired, lethargic, and just all around not the woman I knew when I was a little girl. Since Lefty came around, Sher has been peppy, motivated, and wrinkle free (apparently she irons a lot since Lefty came around). Congrats on two year together! I couldn't be happier for you both!

BTW: For those of you who don't know, Lefty was my kidney. Two years ago at this moment, I was still groggy and pushing my morphine button repeatedly. The nurses explained the morphine button to me while I was still in the Recovery Room, so I thought that every time I hit the button, I got a bit of morphine. But you really only get it every ten minutes. A couple of days later, Percocet became my best friend. But if I had to do it all again, I would do it in a millisecond.

So what do you think this is about?

Ben said: "I better get some in my Easter basket!"

Jennie said: "That better be a big Easter basket."

Lefty is Famous!

OK, so Lefty may not be truly famous, but she's being spotlighted on Illinois' Donor Registry website, go check it out: Donor Diary

For those of you who don't know, Lefty is my left kidney who now resides in my Aunt Sher's right hip.

BTW: I will post about the cruise later.... I'm still playing catch-up at work and at home.

Wednesday Funny Pick-me-up

In case you're all depressed that I'm at a resort and you're not, here's something that had me laughing so hard, I darn near peed my pants in the public lobby of a hotel while reading it:

How Did You Get Here Blog

Now I just need to find out how I can look up how people find MY blog. Not that anyone else ever reads my blog except my husband, my sister and various friends and family members.

I swear, just to get more people to my blog via Google, I'm just going to start adding random words at the end of each blog just to get a new reader.

Apparently, butt crack, butt hair, or anything with butt in it is a great way to attract people. I also like getting the Transformers fans who randomly stumble upon my blog thanks to the one (now two!) reference to BotCon that I went to a year and a half ago.

Celebrity Soulmate

OK, so I got this from Jessica who got this from Stacy (who??).


Take the Quiz

I'm a little iffy on this... I wish I knew what other choices I had for a celebrity soulmate. Brad is not my favorite... but I guess he's not bad. I liked him in the Ocean's trilogy (HA, he made a trilogy) and he was sexy as hell in Legends of the Fall.

Go take the quiz, see who your celebrity soulmate is!

Resorts and Cruises

OK, so poor me has to attend a conference at Tan-Tar-A Resort this week, then I head off to Florida to sail away on the Norwegian Dawn.

Dang, my life sucks... hehehehehehehehehe.

So if I don't post for a while, don't take it personally. :)

Organ Donation

OK, so I'm not in bed yet... I wanted to finish the Oprah I was watching when I got the Snow Day call.

The show is about medical miracles. One of the stories featured was a story about a young man, Jason Ray, who decided to become an organ donor. Unfortunately, he was hit by a car and was declared brain dead shortly thereafter. His family was asked if they would donate his organs, and because of a conversation he had with his mother, his heart, kidneys and pancreas among many other organs, are helping more than three people live their lives.

Now, many of you know that I am already an organ donor. But just in case you were to ever wonder if I want to be one again after I'm gone from this world, my answer is a resounding "YES!" If my heart, lungs, pancreas, remaining kidney, liver, eyes, skin, etc. could be of use to another human being, then they should have what they need. I'd also be OK with them taking my brain, but I've already used so much of it, I can't imagine how much will be left when I die. :)

Seriously, though. If you are not an organ donor, please consider signing your driver's license and talking with your family members about your decision. In the state of Illinois, signing your driver's license no longer is a guarantee that your organs will be donated. If you live in Illinois, you can go to THIS SITE and be registered in less than 30 seconds! If you do not live in Illinois, go to OPRAH'S website and click on your state to become a registered organ donor.

You should still talk wit your family and friends about your decision to donate, though. That will make their ability to deal with your choice a little easier. Please, please, please become an organ donor, you could literally save a life (or two, or more!).

Snow Day!!

I just got the call from my boss that we are not going in to work tomorrow due to snow. Yay! Right now there's at least 3 inches on my back porch. I haven't seen this much snow in a really long time. If I can find my camera, I'll post a picture later.

I'm SO sleeping in tomorrow. Then, I'm going to do some work from home, then I'll clean my house for our SuperBowl party this Sunday. I honestly don't care who wins, I like both teams. So, off to bed I go so I can make the most of my day off.

Nighty night!

Celebration and Words of Remembrance

Wow, these past few months have been a real kick in the gut for me and my family. In August, I lost my grandfather to skin cancer. In September, I lost my mother-in-law to uterine cancer. Two weeks ago, a friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer. Last week, my grandmother passed due to old age.

My grandmother's memorial service was this past Sunday. During the service, I got up and said a few words of remembrance. Here they are:

As a military brat, there was a lot of change in my life. One of the few things that stayed constant was Gramma. You could always count on certain things when going to visit Gramma:

· You were going to be fed. From the moment you walked in the door, she was offering to make a sandwich, heat up some leftovers or get out some Fig Newtons and milk.

· You should not walk around the house without shoes. With all her sewing, needles always seemed to find their way to the floor.

· You were going to be fed. When mealtimes came around, there was barely enough room for plates, glasses, and utensils on the table. It was often filled with enough food to feed an army even though there were only 6 to 10 people to feed.

· If you got in trouble (which we rarely did when she was around), she would take your hand in hers and slap her hand as if she was punishing you.

· You were going to be fed (are you noticing a pattern here?). She always had five or more pies baking or cooling at any given time. Pumpkin, lemon meringue, blueberry, Boston cream, cherry, and her specialty, apple. If not pies, she had crème puffs, pistachio pudding or homemade cookies. It’s amazing our family isn’t in the running for the reality show, “The Biggest Loser.”

I kid about Gramma and food, but you always knew she loved you. The twinkle in her eye as she pseudo-punished you was enough to tell you that she wasn’t really mad, she really loved you enough to teach you how to be better.

Gramma also shared her love of learning. She was such a voracious reader; you never saw her without a book nearby. She impressed upon me at an early age how important education was. I’d like to believe that I teach much in the same way she did, with a twinkle in her eye and a passion for the subject.

I’m so lucky that I knew her for 30 years. I know that she’s happier now; she’s with Grampa and she’s free from a body that no longer allowed her to live as she wanted. I can’t wait to tell my kids one day about their Great-Gramma McCarthy.

Sorry....

Sorry that I haven't posted lately. I tend to go in spurts like that. Post lots and lots for a few weeks, then nothing for a couple. That's just the way it goes.

I was hoping to be posting some great news, but the good news is that Ben and I are now officially "trying." Keep your fingers crossed and send some good vibes our way.

Work has kept me very busy, and I've been trying to cook more when I get home from work, so that leaves me pretty well exhausted and I have little interest in turning on my computer to check e-mails, read blogs and post blogs.

Well, I'll try and post more often.

Happy New Year!

OK, so better late than never, right?! Sorry that it has been so long since I posted, but it's been a busy start to the new year. Since January 1, I have:

• been to the DMV
• registered to vote at the local courthouse
• bought an awesome (he made me say it) new TV with hubby
• rearranged our house for the new TV with hubby
• had a dinner party for 8
• returned to work

Plus many other little things....

• knit my first baby hat
• still working on a baby blanket for my sister (no, she's not preggers, but she might have a baby by the time I finish this dang thing...)
• started reading a kick butt book (more about that later)

So here's a picture of my first baby hat on the lucky recipient, Aidan, otherwise known as Cubby (Cutest Baby Ever).



And wouldn't you know it, the day I give it to him, he happened to wear an outfit that matched! Isn't he a cutey-patootey? Those little chubby cheeks are perfect for tickling, and now he laughs when I do that!

Now to the kick butt book:

This book is not only good for women who are currently trying to get pregnant (like me), but also good for women who are not. So basically, every woman should read this book. In less than two weeks, I have learned more about my body, especially my reproductive system, than I ever learned in 30 years of life before! It's an amazing book. Gentlemen (OK, there's like 4 of you who read my blog regularly...), if you love the woman in your life, you will buy her this book. It's a super easy read (the author is very good), and contains useful information for every woman, no matter phase of life that she is in. Ladies, you HAVE to read this book!

What would you do if...

I got this e-mail from a friend a couple of weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to answering it...

What would you do if:

1) The President of the United States called you?
Teach him how to say "nuclear." 'noo-CLEE-uhr'

2) You won the lottery?
Buy my grandparents' cottage on Cape Cod, give money to my family (especially my parents to pay them for all the extra school they paid for for me), get a new car, give money to charity each year, donate money to the Challenger Center

3) You got invited to be on a reality TV show?
Depends on the show I guess...For American Idol I'd sing my lungs out for Simon and my Dawg. For Biggest Loser, well, I'd be a little upset, I'm not that big! For Beauty and the Geek, I'd darn well better be the beauty...

4) You caught a friend stealing from you?
Never speak to them again

5) You witnessed a murder?
report it

6) A random stranger offered you candy?
Um, luckily, I am an adult, so candy isn't that important to me... oh hell, who am I kidding? it's candy! Free candy! Woo hoo!

7) MySpace and Facebook closed?
whospace? what?

8) A genie granted you one wish?
Duh, I'd wish for more wishes!

9) You lost your favorite possession?
things are not that important to me...now, if someone stole my hubby, we'd have a throw down with me opening one giant keg-o-whoopass

10) You found 10 dollars on the ground?
Woo hoo! Free money! I'd give the free money to a charity.

11) Your date throws up on you?
Thank goodness I'm not dating anymore... although my brother-in-law had to catch his wife's vomit a couple of weeks ago... poor guy.

12) Someone cut off a chunk of you hair?
Pay her and go along my merry way.

13) Your favorite celebrity comes to visit you?
Dang, who is my favorite celebrity? O, of course! Oprah! Um... if she showed up I'd probably freak out. I'd have one of those major conniption fits, jumping up and down, screaming at the top of my lungs, crying the ugly cry.

14) You were stranded on an island with nothing but the ability to make one phone call?
I'd call the President and ask him to rescue me as thanks for teaching him how to say "nuclear."

Elf Yourself!

Check out my brother, sister-in-law, their cat Loki and dog Raja as elves! Click HERE!

Jesus Doesn't Like Cutters

In case you didn't already know, Jesus doesn't like cutters. I learned this on Sunday night when my family made the traditional annual trek to the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine. My mom, dad and aunt were in another car, and my hubby and my sister-in-law and I were in our car.

We approached the Shrine's entrance, patiently waiting in the line of cars. The line had to be at least a mile long, barely moving. We inched closer and closer to the entrance. Then, from the lane to our left, a car slowed down (having not patiently waited in line like the rest of us) and turned on its blinker to enter our lane. From the back seat I hear my sister-in-law Chelsey say, "Don't let him in or you'll go to hell; Jesus doesn't like cutters, you know."

So, the driver of the silver mini-van in front of us is going to hell. Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas House

Here's what our house looks like for Christmas:



Just kidding! That's the gingerbread house I worked so hard on. OK, so it's not super duper, but boy did it taste good! Here's our house for real:




Our cruise is only two months and two weeks away. Yay! Oh yeah, in case I haven't told you, we're going on a cruise in February. Can't wait.

The Most Amazing Video

Yes, Morgan and Jessi, this video is TRULY amazing.




Enjoy.

You've now had your mind blown. Courtesy of a real rocket scientist (Dr. James Rice)I listened to tonight. You're Welcome.