Updates and such.

Ok... so on to week #29!

Woohoo... in the past 3 weeks we

hosted our annual massive Cookies and Cocoa party (20 kinds of cookies this year! --- and yes, some are in the mail to the lucky folks!)

-Craig found out his job is ending at the end of the month... yikes! (S-- please don't tell your parents, we don't need more worrying) Since then, he's gotten 2 job offers and has had 4 more interviews-- so it will be fine-- but not a happy thing to hear 2 weeks before Christmas.

I "spectacularly flunked" my gestational diabetes screen (the docs words) and then a week later my results on the longer glucose tolerance test were completely normal... so go figure, but it definitely did have me very stressed out for a while there. Probably compounded by the fact that the naughty cat snuck out one night while Craig was walking the dog and was gone-- outside, in the cold and the wet overnight-- I found that out the same morning I found out I flunked and might have to give up potatoes and cookies... not a good thing to hear! Luckily, Tiki cam back after just over 24 hours outside, a little muddy but seemingly none the worse for the adventure, and we are now VERY VERY VERY careful that she does not get out the door. And thankfully, she had been fixed just 3 weeks before, so no worries about suprise litters of kittens this spring!

So end result, cat is home and safe, I am NOT diabetic... (thank GOD)-- I still have an ultrasound on Jan 2nd to check this whole low-lying placenta thing-- and I am on decent insurance starting the 1st-- Craig should start his new job (still here at the Med Center) ---so all of that will make it a less stressful new year.

Tadpole seems to be doing well... I am measuring right on schedule and finally managed to gain a whole 2 pounds! Hopefully I can keep doing well with the weight thing and come out skinnier at the flipside... (yeah, right!) I get my guts kicked out like crazy-- I think Tadpole must like TaeBo, and I have finally settled into "looking pregnant" instead of just chubby which makes me a happy camper. Now if only they made petite maternity pants so I could stop tripping over these freakishly long pants!

I will try and get some pics up of Christmas decorations and events before we head home for the holidays... so stay tuned!

To Ligonier to retrieve the animals

Murph and Tiki spent Thanksgiving at my parents-- and on the trip to retrieve them, we got to visit with my brother and his fiancee-- I only got one picture, but here it is!

Ok.. and a few gratuitous shots of the dog being well... the dog. He is utterly convinced that it is his duty to carry around HUGE branches... and then try and bring them in the house. Silly pup.

He is completely confused as to why he can't get inside, but nothing will convince him to just put DOWN the stick.

Presentation of Log the Third!

Murphy's favorite Christmas tradition took place this weekend with the "presentation of the log". For the past 3 years, the 6ish inches of trunk we trim off the bottom of the Christmas tree in order to fit it in the house has gone to the dog, and he couldn't be happier. He carries his LOG around all year slowly chewing all the bark off. And new LOG is the best because it has lots of bark and is all sticky and sappy and delicious. So, on Saturday, Craig and I got our tree (Craig said the really fat one I wanted was just toooooo big) and presented the Murph with his new toy. I think this goes in the same category of kids liking the boxes things come in almost as much as the toy-- because he goes NUTS for this thing. So here it is, the presentation of Log the Third!






mmmmmmm.....pine sap and bark (see, one VERY happy dog)

"What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs, rolls over your neighbors dog, its great for a snack, it fits on your back, its log log LOG. Its log, log, its big, its heavy, its wood. Its log, log, better than bad its good!"

Progress on the Nursery!

Well, seeing as how this baby is more than halfway cooked, it seemed like time to get cracking on the nursery. Craig and our borrowed middle school kid (child labor is GREAT!) scrubbed all the paste from the ancient wall paper off the walls and got them cleaned and ready-- and then Craig's Dad came in to get the next step underway. Craig and Roy spent the week before thanksgiving sanding off ancient (probably lead based) very very chipped paint, patching walls and then painting everything with a good coat of primer followed by some paint. I had the very stressful job of choosing the paint colors--- yup, it was rough!

I think it turned out wonderfully, and the colors go just right with the bedding I got for a fantastic deal on eBay! I think that Craig is still going to hang a white crown moulding around the ceiling, but if not-- I think it looks pretty amazing right now! Other than that the room needs one more coat of blue on those parts, and then I am going to put some frogs on the wall (basically copying the design off the crib bedding onto one of the walls-- maybe with a few dragonflies here or there.) and then its just furniture and curtains and we are set!

I know the color looks like fluorescent lime in these pictures, but it is really not-- the color is sort of aloe-y and is called "lettuce alone" The bedding I chose is the Sammy the Frog set... you can see it here

Thanksgiving!

Our first Thanksgiving at home... other than a minor self-cooling turkey disaster (seriously... a 15.5lb turkey, fully thawed cooked for 7.5 hours at 350 and STILL was not done... who'd have thought that would happen?!?!) I'd have to say it was a success. I made a turkey (ok, I don't eat it, but I am told it was pretty good-- and Pappy actually asked for seconds which is pretty well unheard of, so it must have been darn good!), Stuffing with Sausage, Mashed potatoes with scallions, Candied Sweet potatoes with pecans, corn, peas, the infamous green bean casserole, rolls (ok, so pillsbury was responsible for those.... but crescents are SOOOOO good), opened the can o' cranberry jelly, and made apple galette with homemade caramel for dessert. (Fantastic stuff by the way!-- got the recipe from epicurious.com)


Craig's dad made these boiled dry peas ("Dad's peas" I am told) that only he eats--- so I will take no responsibility for that-- and Craig promises me that this is something that he has no sentimental attachment too-- just his dad. I suggested that if he wanted to keep that particular tradition going without torturing tastebuds, we could just donate some dried peas every year in honor of them... he thought that would be just dandy.


It was nice to spend the holiday at home, and it was great that Jane and Roy and my Pappy were able to join us (and take leftovers HOME with them!)



Craig with his Mom and Dad





Craig and Me. Not the most flattering photo of me-- but I'd been cooking since 8am-- and I was tired and HUNGRY.

One year ago (ok... so almost 13 months ago.... )

One year ago on November 4th, I was lucky enough to marry my wonderful husband Craig. Its been one terrific year and I am looking forward to all the years to come that we have to share. Happy Anniversary hon!

To celebrate, we headed off to DC-- where due to some fantastic connections through my SIL and her husband we got to stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner. Woohoo! It was wonderful to feel spoiled for a day. We drove down to DC, wandered the attached mall, lazed around (and enjoyed having cable for a few hours!) and then went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Mainly selected because they have guacamole made to order fresh... and well, my husband is a guacamole fan (I'd never had it before we met actually...) and had basically subsisted on the stuff while we were on our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta last year. (ok, so it was guacamole, girly drinks, and amazing fine dining at night) I had cheesecake-- white chocolate raspberry truffle cheescake. YUM. (Cheesecake is healthy for pregnant gals right?!?! lots of calcium!-- just allow me my delusions)





After dinner we headed back to the hotel and were greeted with a suprise platter of cheeses and sparkling apple cider from SIL and her husband. It was a great treat and I felt utterly spoiled by the whole day. Of course... I was asleep by 9pm.... gotta love the pregnant thing. But Craig had cable, so he was pretty content-- and it was nice just to not have to worry about getting up or fixing the house or anything the next day... so a nice lazy sleep in was definitely called for!






The next day we headed into DC and got a FREE parking space RIGHT IN FRONT of the Natural History Museum. We spent the afternoon browsing the fossils and animals and minerals and generally had ourselves a wonderful geeky time that was just right for us.

All in all a great weekend to cap off a wonderful first year.

Halloween and Trick or Treat

We had a boatload of little monsters come by for Trick or Treat-- which for some demented reason, our county did a WEEK before Halloween--- but anyway--- we were MOBBED with kids-- went through over 300 pieces of candy at 1 to a kid! People come to our street from neighboring counties to get more candy (lots of participating houses, all close together)

Plus Craig did this outstanding pumpkin of a Murphy head.

Kim, Ange, and Matt came over to help dole out candy and we snacked the evening away and giggled at cute costumes.

Alex came over and helped hand out candy til it was dark enough for him to trick or treat and then he took Craig and Kim trick or treating. He was pretty funny all covered in black on the porch-- the cauldron of candy at his feet--- he would sit very still for the little ones, but older kids... he'd scare the crap out of them. MANY were surprised that it was a real person in there when he tapped their candy grubbing hands with that sword.

The cutest kid of the night was 2-3ish... he was dressed as a lion-- he crawled on all 4 up the stairs to the porch and roared. He earned extra candy. Later in the evening, his Mom came by and asked if Craig was a Mad Scientist (he was) because her son had asked-- turned out he was a pediatric cancer patient and wondered if the folks who mix up his chemo are funny looking like Craig!! So, I said an extra prayer for that kiddo and was amazed that he could be so sick and still be a "normal" kid.

On a lighter note--- Murphy and Tiki took part in Halloween this year--- Tiki somewhat unwillingly, but she is a cat, so what can you expect!?

Murph's ready for his letter from Hogwarts! (and flying lessons)Tiki, well.... she thinks she's supposed to be making up the potions, not be an ingredient! But meanwhile she will exercise her mind control skills on you--- so watch out!

We've got hot water!!!!!

The hot water heater has been the bane of my existence for the past year-- it makes barely enough hot water for a 10 minute tolerably warm shower and don't even dream of filling the tub--- Craig has heard me complain many times (and had to deal with my refusal to try and shave my legs with goosebumps) that we need a new one. Apparently my grumbling finally sunk in and this weekend he decided to attack the problem of the water heater.

After getting it drained and flushed to get all the gunky sediment out-- he pulled out the heating elements--- they were corroded and disgusting. So, after another run to Lowe's (they still are promising to finish our kitchen someday....) he'd picked up all the necessary pieces and installed new upper and lower elements into the tank-- and no leaks!

This morning I was able to take a gloriously HOT shower (and I made sure to test out just how good this would be by taking at least 20 minutes)--- WOOHOOO!!!!!! Yay for my husband, and for hot water!!! Tub test coming soon-- but at least I can now shower without freezing!!!!!

Murphy's Home!!!

Murphy's finally home. My in-laws had kidnapped him for a MONTH-- and, well. it was well past time for him to come home. So yay! My puppy's back.... and shedding all over my house, sleeping on the bed, and chasing his toys down the stairs, just like he's supposed to.

Unfortunately, his precipitous return home was caused by his attempt to eat my MIL's teeny dog like creature. It seems to have most likely been a problem of two intact male dogs in a house with one female dog--- and not enough discipline--- and well, the Murphinator is about 6-7 times the weight of Charlie-- so it wasn't a fair battle-- but we're still very confident that Murph isn't going to go cujo in the night and try and eat us or anything. He's just too submissive to humans to really be a worry.

But my pup is home, and he's happy to be home, and we're happy to have him home!!!!!!

(and Charlie is home with the ILs from the vet and seems to be on the mend too)

Pumpkin Carving!

Craig, Kim and I carved pumpkins last night-- general hilarity enjoyed by all-- but here are a few snapshots of the evenings work.

The final result!

HersheyPark in the Dark 2007

This weekend was the annual PSU gang goes to the park in October weekend. Along with the normal crew of Becky, Brian and Eric-- Bob was back home from Afghanistan (and the deep south!) and able to come along too. Barb and Jen (and Marc) weren't able to make it this year, but-- I'm pretty sure someone drank their share of the beer just in case.

So we spent a lovely brisk night walking the park and I ate a variety of fried foods and held sweatshirts while everyone else spun themselves silly on the rollercoasters.

Here are the boys (it took 5 minutes to get them lined up... sheesh, I didn't think I'd be running kids through the park for at least a few more years!!!!?!?!?!) But at least I captured them all laughing, so its a pretty good picture all in all.

Got one picture of the gang from college

One pic of the whole group... Craig's one of us now, whether he likes it or not!

And I am finally tall enough (as long as I wear thick sneakers) to ride all the rides at the park without adult supervision (ok... not that I would always consider the folks I was with as adequate "adult supervision" but still!) We decided to memorialize this momentous occasion with a picture.

Of course, they couldn't let me enjoy that for too long before reminding me that I am still short (or ankle biter height as they put it) by demonstrating my usefulness as an arm rest.

All in all, a great evening and I am very lucky to have nutty friends who still think nonsense like this is a great way to spend a weekend!

OK Mom, Here you go!

Here I am at ~20 and 1/2 weeks pregnant.
(by the way, this is the least flattering photo of me, hmm... EVER)

My poor pants won't button anymore, but the stretchy-waist ones are still too big (well... unless I want to wear them as SUPER low riders!)

I'm still down ~5lbs from where I was before I got pregnant-- but, I am starting to slowly work my way back up-- so hopefully I won't get lectured by the OB next visit.


So... yeah, stuck in that middle phase. But people I know around work are starting to guess I am pregnant and not just enjoying 7 big turkey dinners every day.

Random notes

I added a new link to the sites to check out-- Claudia has started a blog... and she's the greatest (and currently the largest supplier of baby stuff (its like crack to me) that is super cute) So check it out!

Also, I had Craig take a picture to mark the Tadpole being half-baked (on a semi-related side note, the best flavor of Ben and Jerry's EVER!) -- and I am currently debating if I am brave enough to stick it on here... I think it makes me look, hmm, pudgy is probably the best word instead of pregnant-- If I work up the guts, I will try and get it on here this evening.

Happy Friday!

Deborah Kerr, September 1921- October 16th, 2007

Actress in one of my favorite movies of all time. Sad to see her gone.
But she outlived co-star Yul Brynner by many years. (Smoking kills)



Now if only I could get this message across to my father-in-law and his damn cancer sticks.

HAHA.. for once one of these quizzie things was relatively accurate-- or at least gave me an answer I liked.

You're The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

by Douglas Adams

Considered by many to be one of the funniest people around, you are
quite an entertainer. You've also traveled to the far reaches of what you deem possible,
often confused and unsure of yourself. Life continues to jostle you around like a marble,
but it's shown you so much of the world that you don't care. Wacky adventures continue to
lie ahead. Your favorite number is 42.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Any takers? What did you get?

Vampire Kitty!!!

Craig managed to cut his foot open last night-- and after a quick consult with my mom we decided it was not an ER worthy injury. So today though, he FINALLY has a check-up appt and they will check on his toe and at the least give him his VERY VERY overdue tetanus shot. Why are guys such wimps when it comes to dr visits??--- I swear, if it weren't for the injury, he'd still not be going for the shot.


I will say the injury itself I missed, I was inside when he got home-- and opened the door cursing. I walked over and he is dripping blood all over the floor. I got him a paper towel to try and sop up the mess and so we could see just what damage he had done. Meanwhile, Tiki wanders over and decides to explore her vampire side by licking at a drop of blood on the floor. Craig then freaked out-- I mean hollering like a mad man at the cat. She tore off quite confused to hide for a little while. When I came in from the kitchen with more paper towels-- I asked what they heck that had been about. His answer "I didn't want her getting a taste for blood" Ah yes dear, the cat is going to go dracula on you at night... silly boy.

Craig then dripped his way up the stairs and we got his foot cleaned up, antiseptic-ed and bandaged. Wings were slightly delayed due to the hijinx-- but all in all things are fine. He's got a half-dozen bandaids wrapped around his toe-- the duct tape ones-- those are seriously the best thinsg ever-- but since the box I had did not contain the "man's big toe" size -- I've got a bundle of them stuck all over to keep it on. We'll see what the doc says when he goes in.

Lesson learned-- time to get a real first aid kit-- and more bandaids.

Bits and pieces from the weekend.

Craig's birthday party went well... I made a TON of paella, and it was almost all eaten-- and it turned out pretty well too--- this was the first time I had baked it instead of finishing on the stove. It definitely is easier to finish off baking than on the stove (and requires less watching) though you do miss out on the socarrat (crusty yummy burnedish rice on the bottom of the paella) This version was with chicken, shrimp, mussels, and some actually very good chorizo (thank you wegmans!) If anyone needs/wants a recipe-- let me know!

The department welcome party was... odd, Kim and I went, we felt-- old. 5th years, how the heck did that happen. But hey, the director of my grad program now knows we're expecting ("No really, I don't want a beer" is apparently a dead give away)

Outside of that, work has been beyond frustrating this week-- people do not follow directions-- and then I get screwed. GRRRR. Just do what you're supposed to do and it will work, if you do something else then I have no idea how to fix it. I wrote instructions for a REASON.

On the Tadpole front-- still no signs of squirming munchkin that I have noticed (yeah yeah, I know, its early, thats normal blah blah blah...) but at the follow up doctor's appointment to the ultrasound the kid was apparently moving about cause she kept having to try all over to get the heart rate. She'd have it for a second and then lose it and then look around awhile and catch it-- so that made me feel better. I also got the ultrasound report-- and it said Tadpole was "mobile"-- so I will take their word on it even though I sure never saw it. As with every OB appointment I have had, they moved my due date up AGAIN. So now they are telling me the 2nd. A couple more visits and this kid will be a Leap-Year-Day baby. Which quite frankly would be cool, yet kinda weird. Do you celebrate Leap-year birthdays on the last of February or the first of March???

Or would you prefer cheesy lounge singer-televangelist version?

I want one of these!

Scientist invents computer pillow to stop snoring

"A German scientist has come up with a solution for snoring -- a computerized pillow that shifts the head's sleeping position until the noise stops."

This is just to torture my mom. (wink wink)

Ok... how cool would have it been if just ONCE they did the disco/reggae version?!?!?!

A couple peeks at the Tadpole

Had the Ultrasound, I left mildly dissapointed but not sure why exactly-- who knows. Craig says he saw Tadpole kicking and all that, I really just didn't-- I was at a weird angle to the screen and couldn't tell when the kiddo moved versus when the tech moved the wandy thing.

Tadpole was not interested in getting in position for much in terms of pics so the tech was jiggling around to try and convince them to move-- with minor success. They got all the anatomical stuff they wanted-- the kiddo has a bladder, stomach, diaphragm, spine, 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 head with two eye sockets, one nose, and at least one lip (couldn't really tell you more than that)-- the tech said there were 2 kidneys-- but to be honest, you'd have to imagine them there, cause they looked just like everything else in there. (grayish streaky blobs). Tadpole had a heart with 4 chambers-- heart rate is about 153 (pretty much hasn't changed at all the whole time since the first time we "saw" it)-- And it appears that the skull has a brain in it.

All in all-- everything seemed normal from what I could understand. Tadpole measured in at 18 weeks (like they should) and she guesstimated weight at about 9 oz (plus or minus an ounce)

The actual doc peeked in for about 30 seconds at the end, took another look for 5 seconds and headed out. He had no comments on the baby only on that I have what might be mild placenta previa-- so I'll have to be checked again later on to see if it moves or not. His only comment on the kiddo was when asked "everything we measured seemed normal" -- not exactly a polite or social guy.

We did get a couple of pics on a disk and I thought I would share, so here you go.

Craig and my munchkin, at 18 weeks~ Enjoy!

A profile shot.

One left arm.

A left leg they tell me.

Other famous stuff that happened on October 2nd!

I share a birthday with:
Ghandi (1869)
Don McLean (1945)
Sting (1951)
Kelly Ripa (1970)

Big Happenings:
1836 Darwin returns to England aboard HMS Beagle
1950 The comic strip "Peanuts" 1st appears, in 9 newspapers

2 hours 8 minutes... and counting

Its my Birthday!

Today is my 26th birthday and at 3pm I get to see the Tadpole. Should be a good day!

So far I got ecards today from Dad, Pepsi, my local country radio station, and my college ex-boyfriend's twin brother (yeah... go figure that one out)-- I'd already gotten a card from the in-laws and Becky and Brian (who somehow always manage to be on top of that stuff!)

So now its time to wait impatiently through the morning until ultrasound time! (6 hours and counting!)

Craig's Birthday

Today is the dear husbands birthday, if you ask him, he is turning 21-- but first thing he said this morning when he woke up. "I'm old, you're married to an old man" So I think the big 30 is hitting him a little bit.

I made peanut butter brownies with chocolate frosting to cheer him up-- stay tuned for a review on those.

If you see him, Wish Craig a Happy Birthday!

More Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Some lingo for the Pirattitude impaired to help with the celebratin' of the day.


Ahoy! - "Hello!"
Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa! Get a load of that!" which today makes it more of a "Check it out" or "No way!" or "Get off!"
Aye! - "Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did."
Aye aye! - "I'll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over."
Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. "Arrr!" can mean, variously, "yes," "I agree," "I'm happy," "I'm enjoying this beer," "My team is going to win it all," "I saw that television show, it sucked!" and "That was a clever remark you or I just made." And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!

Hopin' you and your crew have a good mug of grog to toast the day!

Its International Talk Like A Pirate Day!!!

More later (time for me to check what crawled out of the bung hole)

Wegmans wonderful wegmans!

Mechanicsburg PA now has a brand spanking new Wegmans! YAY! Thats only about 25 minutes away. They opened Sunday, guess where I was?? That's right, I dragged Craig along to the food mecca for a gloriously piggish tour of the new store. It was a ZOO.

But, excepting the mobs of people-- we enjoyed our trip. First, at every corner there were free samples... fruit, fresh mozzarella (my biggest weakness), bagels with LOWFAT!! scallion cream cheese, breads fresh from the oven-- you name it.

Amazingly, we did not do TOO badly there-- We came home with Prima Donna Cheese (extra aged, super delicious)-- and half gone from dinner, red pears (organic, but tasty which was why we chose them), tiny new red potatoes, pencil thin asparagus (that was 1/2 the price Giant has wanted for their monster thick ones for the last month!), paella rice, DIGESTIVE COOKIES!!!! (best things ever, and even the chocolate coated ones!- got hooked on those in Spain), two fresh breads--- one a loaf of ciabatta and one a foccacia like-spinach parmesan bread (sampled that one twice!-- also half gone from dinner last night)-- Then Craig found the deli counter-- We got some yummy looking (but not allowed for me) salamis and then I saw they had lomo. Lomo is a Spanish cured pork loin that you slice for sandwiches and stuff. Its a whole tenderloin rubbed with pimenton (smoked paprika) and garlic and some other stuff and then dry cured--- the texture is jamon serrano or prosciutto like--- but YUM. They also had jamon and prosciutto-- the poor jamon hadn't been sliced at all, and if I could have justified eating it (or the price) I would have taken some home with us. But-- all in all a super successful and amusing day at Wegmans.

I hope to get back in a few weeks and check it out more carefully when it is not such a nut house-- we couldn;t get into the prepared food section at all, cheeses were SWAMPED, and I couldn't even SEE the butcher/seafood counters-- another time though-- because now its just 25 minutes away!!!!!!!

YAY! I'm getting a new niece!

Craig and I got some exciting news yesterday-- Craig's sister and her family got the referral for their adorable baby girl who is currently waiting for them in Vietnam. We are both hoping for them to get over there quickly and bring her home for good! (And really, she is adorable... fuzzy haired and wide eyed--- I saw the picture!)

So yay to the whole family down there-- we're so very happy for you guys!



In other family news-- Christina is having a rough go of it-- so if you can spare a few minutes to say a prayer for her and my little brother-- they'd both really appreciate it!


Oh! And today marks 15 weeks pregnant for us! So far so good.

100 days...

So today marks 100 days pregnant.
Not that this is any particular milestone, it just made me remember back to my senior year of HS when 100 days before commencement the headmistress would hold a dinner/picnic to celebrate our coming graduation. It was a good picnic, I have pictures of me on a hammock at the headmistress's house cozied up with her black and white mongel mutt (he was a cute thing, and I was VERY VERY pet deprived at boarding school) I have pictures of 10 of my closest friends piled into a red picnic table on the lawn eating dirt. The head of the kitchens made us that special dessert in hand painted flower pots-- which we got to keep-- with gummy worms and edible REAL flowers-- there is something funny about girls at 17 and 18 dangling pudding coated worms to eat and it makes me smile to remember how young we were and how everything was soo exciting back then. I still keep in touch with some of those gals... not too often any more, but thinking back on senior year and those last 100 days-- I know I was a pretty lucky kid to be able to be in a place like that and make all the nutty wonderful friends I did. I'm lucky in that my HS does all the arranging for alumnae events, and they are VERY good at it-- so we all still have current addresses and twice a year updates on where and what we are all up to. I'm hoping that some of us may be able to get together at Thanksgiving to go watch some of that demented basketball known as Brownie-Spider.

Grad school goes on and on with no predictable end, so there is no "100 days" dinner in sight for this period... but that's just the way it is, plus I think a lot of the people I know in grad school would not be as entertained with "dirt" as a dessert (all the sadder for them!)

On to Trimester 2!

This morning was the rescheduled OB visit. Why rescheduled? Because 2 weeks ago (and 2 weeks before the original appt) I got a phone message that my 8am appointment had to be rescheduled for the doc to go "an emergency surgery". Now perhaps it is just me, but I am not aware of any EMERGENCY that you can schedule 2 weeks in advance-- they'd be a lot less, well EMERGENT if you knew when they were going to be. So anyway, my 10:30 appt (be there by 10 to sign in or else)-- Craig and I get taken to a room at 10:55, then sit for another 25 minutes til the doc comes in. GRRRR-- you already rescheduled me for YOUR convenience (I am not buying the planned emergency thing) and then you are LATE for my appointment-- I don't think so. ARGH. Not much I can do about it, but grrrrrrr....

Anyway, covered the basics, I'm fine, things are ok, I can finally eat again, lalalalala... all ok. She tells me the hair loss thing is "normal" -- and should go away eventually (by eventually she means by 6 months after delivery) and all is in good shape there. Then she pulls out the Doppler thing and we get to hear Tadpole! YAY! She had no trouble finding the heartbeat or anything so we found out right away that Tadpole's heart is thumping away at 16obpm she tells me (though the screen on the gadget said 154) and that is just where it should be. So that is all happy dandy news. I think Craig is glad that for a day or two I will be less neurotic about it all since all looks well and we should be in good stead for the next while. So after waiting an hour and 20 minutes, the actual appointment was all of 5 minutes long-- 3 of which was the doc trying to figure out why they'd never told me I had a UTI after my last visit and why I wasn't on anything for it!

We got the next round of appointments set up-- the BIG ultrasound (the one where they look at all the anatomy stuff and those kinda things) is on October 2nd! (which will be one heck of a b-day present!) and then the next visit with the Doc on the 5th. So, no appointments in September, and then we get to "see" the Tadpole again. YAY! So on to Trimester 2, when hopefully at somepoint I will start looking pregnant and stop looking like I ate 3 lunches at a time.

Starting year 5-- That makes it... Jesse and the Glowing Mouse?

Another exciting year of grad school has begun. Marked by the halls swarming with confused first year med students so damn certain they could cure diseases in the hallway with one hand behind their backs (and maybe blindfolded) and absurdly proud of their green scrubs, another year of me hiding in the lab is here.

Lab is same old same old this week, I am still plugging away at the paper and trying to get my mice to behave. My super important took me two years to breed this damn mouse mouse, FINALLY got a tumor... (this is a good thing) so I am checking on it semi-neurotically to make sure it keeps going normally and all that-- I need this thing to live and the tumor the get big so that I can hypothetically graduate some day. So, keep your fingers crossed that this little gal is doing ok. I think I should name her... hmm, what though? I'll have to think about that!

I am now 12 weeks pregnant and wonderfully, somewhat able to eat again! (ok, don't let me jinx myself there-- its been 2 days) I have actually managed to eat DINNER for the last 2 days-- and I am hoping that this means that soon I will have regained control of my stomach! Craig and I went to my parents for the weekend and I got some stretch-y clothes-- my jeans are too snug these days even with the weight loss-- so I have been rubberbanding them to give me a few more days-- but the end of these is quickly approaching.

My next doctors visit is Wednesday--- I am excited/nervous about it-- I'm looking forward to getting some confirmation that things are going well and hopefully reassuring some of my fears-- I did not expect to worry so much-- well, at least not until Tadpole was going to school or dating or something-- but I am. So I think I may get to hear the heartbeat this time-- and from my insane reading of books and internet-- if the heartbeat is normal at that point, then the chances of my making it to a healthy baby go WAY up... which would be nice to hear. So I have to make it through 6 more days of nutty worry until the appointment-- and then 6 more months of worry about Tadpole til I can see them, and then... well... many many many more years of worry about everything else.... sheesh... I just never expected this.

Outside of that, Craig's out of town for the weekend for a Bachelor party. My parents are in town for corvette week. And I'm hoping to get some of the house dug out this weekend while I have it to myself. I am feeling less like a zombie, most of the time, so maybe some work will actually be accomplished (unless its 90+ degrees again)

Thats it from here. I'll try and get some fun science up soon!

Another week down...

Sometimes my boss will say things that give me hope that SOMEDAY I may actually graduate. Someone in the lab made a comment about hoping their family's genetic diseases and their husband's family's diseases balance out in their kids... and the boss said genetics don't work that way... but I was able to explain that for multi-gene traits, that sometimes it could be possible that they do... and then comes the phrase from the boss "You know, talking like that comes from people who are almost ready to graduate." Ahhhh... now if it were only really true.

I am pretty sure this whole baby thing will set me back a ways in terms of when I graduate. I am hoping its not more than a month or 2 delay-- but in reality, who knows. I am very lucky that my boss is really understanding and seems excited for us, but -- well.. I still have to convince my committee that things will be ok. I think that should go ok as well. I am making pretty great progress on my thesis research -- and they have been happy with my progress on that-- and I am working on writing my first first authored paper (ok, technically, my 2nd-- but my undergrad research advisor was a lazy bum and never submitted it after the revisions)-- and my PhD research is WAY cooler than my undergrad stuff- so thats ok too.

Ugh.. its just a little bit of a headache.

Outside of that, I am finally working on this paper-- I've got 6 pages written so far! (and thats single spaced, normal font too-- with no pictures!) but its yet to head off for any editing, which I am truly dreading. I am just looking forward to it going out and having it DONE with. The writing is my least favorite part of science. I can deal with the mixing chemicals, mouse surgeries and tedious molecular biology procedures-- but writing, blah blah blah. It does give me a nice excuse to plop my bottom at my desk every day though-- so I am enjoying that! Our lab moved to a new room in November, and now we can have food at our desks-- so I can snack and drink my lemonade all day if I wanted (and well, if the Tadpole would let me!).

Nothing too big in Tadpole news, I am 11 weeks pregnant today (well... ok, today, yesterday, tomorow-- depends on whose due date we are using. I figured the 6th, the OB the 4th-- so we'll split the difference and call it the 5th of March) Apparently that means I have just about 2 weeks left in the first trimester-- I can't wait for them to pass! Because when they go I have the promise of my stomach returning to its normal purpose of actually being hungry and digesting food. Interestingly, it is an odd assortment of things that I actually am eating these days... strawberry fruit roll-ups, fudgesicles (see, that's calcium), pears and strawberries, and vanilla wafers, and microwave buttered popcorn have all been pretty appealing. I am trying to gak down some meats and such when I can-- hot pockets have been doing ok most days at lunch. Its not the most balanced diet-- but I figure its better than continuing to lose weight everyday. I've got vitamins and the same calcium supplements I have been taking for a while-- so hopefully, it'll be just another few weeks and I can get into the whole "eating for two" part of pregnancy. I've got my next doc visit in 2 weeks... so I am anxious to have a professional opinion that everythings looking good.

It seems I am sharing one symptom with my soon-to-be sister-in-law. She apparently can NOT stand the smell of pepperoni either since the whole chemo thing started ... how weird is that?! Speaking of Christina, please keep her in your prayers, she's back in the hospital for her next bout of treatment leading up to her transplant. So pray for a speedy and total recovery so she and my little brother can get themselves hitched.

Most Fabulous Wonderful Bestest Chocolate Dessert/Cake Thing Ever!!!!

My Intern brought in the recipe for his mom's amazing chocolate cake. I will share it here-- hope you enjoy! I've eaten the final result, but never made it for myself-- so I will let you know if I figure out any more tricks!

Chocolate Delight
8oz chocolate (Lindt comes recommended)
8oz unsaled butter
8oz sugar
6 eggs
2T flour
1t lemon juice
cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 375. You will need a Bain Marie. (water bath)

1) Separate egg yolks from whites
2) Melt the chocolatewith the butter in a double boiler until smooth. Then let it cool.
3) Combine egg yolks with sugar until white. Add flour.
4) Combine chocolate/butter with sugar/egg yolks.
5) Beat egg white (I'm guessing until stiff) then add lemon juice at the end.
6) Add delicately (fold?) egg whites into the chocolate/butter/sugar/egg yolks mixture.
7) Grease and lightly flour (cocoa?) a baking dish (I would say in the 6x12 kind of size was what it looked like)
8) Bake 50-55 minutes. Let cool and then refridgerate over night.
9) Unmold (may involve a quick dip of the baking sheet in warm water (like a jello)) and coat with cocoa powder.
10) Enjoy! (that was on the instructions!!)

Fun Science of the Day!

Charades at the Zoo: Orangutans Win!
"When orang-utans want a human to hand over a tasty treat, they use a similar strategy to that used in the game 'charades', say researchers. They repeat signals that work, and modify those that don't, revealing surprisingly sophisticated communication skills."

Or have they just trained us humans to give them the snacks they want?!

Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit...
"If undercooked, a veggie meal can wreak just as much havoc on your gastrointestinal (GI) tract as improperly prepared meat, fish, or dairy products....Many types of beans contain a class of proteins called lectins. Researchers have long known that, if not destroyed by cooking, lectins can cause a severe form of food poisoning with attendant nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea."

I always KNEW there was a reason I didn't like those things!

If all they wanted was to make people sick to their stomach... just get 'em pregnant!
"The handheld device using light-emitting diodes to emit super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths, causing disorientation, nausea and even vomiting in whomever it's pointed at."

Now if only there was a REVERSE switch on this bugger... I would definitely buy one!


OK, thats it in the realm of random scienc-y news for the day.
My interns last day is Thursday-- so I should regain a normal schedule then.

Random updates

So another week of me being a bum has passed and so time for some updates.

Work-- My boss was out last week and today our amazing wonderful lab manager is out. Its been chaos. I want to go back to my nice little world of just supervising myself and my college intern. He's actually done next Thursday-- so this week has been a bit of a scramble to get his data all together and get him ready to present it at the poster symposium. In other news... his mom makes a damn good chocolate cake. The moistest (is that a word??) cake I have ever had. Not too sweet, and then dusted in cocoa. YUM. Its like a cross between a mousse and a cake-- served chilled. YUM YUM YUM. We have been begging for the recipe... and as soon as she translates it out of French... It will be mine. I will try and share!

Home-- My kitchen floor is all done, complete with thresholds and all that kinda stuff. I can finally go in my kitchen barefoot. I also finally got a doorbell button too--- no more touching the bare wires together to signal guests or anything. Plus its easier to pick on the Murph now... the doorbell drives him bonkers.

Tadpole-- Not too much news on that front. My stomach's still not so happy with me-- and well, that kinda is depressing. Its been 3 weeks since I have cooked anything more involved than buttered noodles. And for me, that's just sad. I just have no interest in food. Oh... and one big food aversion is making itself VERY clear. Craig and his love for pepperoni being what it is, its a BIG problem. Seriously one whiff of that stuff and I could have happily thrown him and his "pepperoni quesadilla" out the window last night. ugh. Never had that response before. Craig thinks I am really nuts. Other than that though, Craig's being a really good sport with my being under the weather. I was complaining that I wasn't doing anything "useful" and his response was that sure I was, I was growing our baby. So that was sweet of him. He's also been willing to run out for whatever kind of food I mention I might possibly feel hungry for pretty much whenever I ask-- so he's been spoiling me. I've really been a lazy bum though-- I make it too work and then get home eat a little and go to bed... I don't remember the last time I went to bed at 7 every night!

Things here are good, its blazingly hot-- I want fall to get here already-- then I can get some work done around the house without suffering from heat stroke and we can get started on cleaning out and decorating the Tadpole's room.

Congrats to Mom on her latest triathalon finish! She cut 6 minutes off of her previous best swim time!! Great job!

Introducing the Tadpole!

So, if the title change for the blog and then the picture didn't give it away-- Here's the big announcement-

Craig and I are expecting a new family member-- sometime in early March. I am about 8 weeks pregnant and got my first picture of the Tadpole this morning. I have scanned it in here in all its grainy glory to share with the world.

For those confused by the picture, the baby is the grayish blob inside the blackish blob-- its kinda got a line going through it, that is from the measurements the doc did today-- and is only a part of the computer processing. I am happy to report that the Tadpole is currently about 13.9 mm long (for those not into metric-- thats somewhere around a 1/2 inch) -- and that puts them right on schedule as far as growth and all that.

We also got to "see" the babies heartbeat. Granted it was only about 3 pixels on the little screen-- but they were flickering like crazy-- Apparently the flickering worked out to 150 beats/minute which is I am told just dandy and right where it should be.

So all seems well with the Tadpole! Craig and I are thrilled, both sets of parents and siblings are excited and well... things are pretty darn great!

So I will apologize for the lapse in posting, but I have been feeling kinda lousy (whoever named it "morning" sickness should be hung up by their ears from the rafters -- its more like all day any-- anytime-- don't even think about eating that sickness) Also, posting about normal day-to-day stuff while I knew this seemed kinda weird, but I wasn't ready to share yet. I wanted some more reassurance that everything was going well. And while there are no guarantees-- everything today looked just as it should-- so we decided it was time to spill. (Plus my Mom wants the pictures!) We actually found out we were expecting the same day I got my new station wagon-- so I've been sitting on this secret for a little while now. So please excuse my bad blogger-ness over the last few weeks, I will try and be better-- and they promise that I will soon regain control over my own stomach so that should help too!

New Favorite line of all time

Without spoiling a single tidbit of the book, I have a new favorite line.

"She is nuttier than squirrel poo"

I got the book just after 1 am... finished same day about 6:45 am. Made Craig drive home from the store and all so I could read. :::: sigh::: No more new Potter books. But I did enjoy it!

Hope you are enjoying it too. I will discuss plot stuff on here someday when I think more people will have already finished.

Post #101

I have again been a lousy blogger this last week... my only excuse is well... I'll share next week maybe, but really its pretty much that I am house sitting for a coworker and have no internet at night-- also, her being away means I have to deal with all the nonsense in the lab that comes up. (Where is the _____? Can I mix Acid and Chlorine?? etc)

I ran out at lunch today to get to borders and get my wristband for the big event. The Grand Hallows Ball tonight. I am in the second batch of people to get my book, which means I should definitely have it before 1 am!!!! YAY! OK, so no sleep for me tonight until I finish. And if you are confused as to what I am referring to-- well, you must be blind, deaf, and have buried your head in the sand for the last few weeks because tonight of course is the big release for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can't wait... only 8 hours and 10 minutes left!!!!!!!!!

So tomorrow when I have slept some, and recovered a bit. I will reenter the world-- hopefully not mourning the loss of Harry (please please please let harry, hermione, and ron at least live... oh, and Hagrid... and well, all the weasleys (except percy-0-- he's dispensable)-- and well... yeah... I hope no one really like gets killed, but I know JK Rowling is going to kill off someone important.)

In related news, Craig and his Dad have been working on my kitchen floor this past week-- so I will hopefully come home soon to a nice finished kitchen!!! I'll share some pics as soon as the floor is done.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the movie!)

So last night Craig decided he would take me on a date (crazy boy that one) to see the latest edition in the HP movie series. We got to the local movies early (about 30 minutes before the show) even though we had bought tickets earlier in the day to be sure we got a seat-- and I am glad we did. The place was PACKED-- jam packed. The movie finally begins-- and other than questioning how some people were raised (the 30+ woman behind me with the dry crackly feet who thought the head rest of the seat in front of her was the place to put her nasty feet-- the 17 year olds behind me who giggled and chatted and looked at their glaringly bright cell phones every 2 minutes etc) most of the audience was pretty good. (and thankfully QUIET!)

The movie got going, and not 20 minutes in, the film starts to skip-- the bottom half of the picture was on the top half of the screen and all-- it was just unpleasant to watch. Eventually someone in the audience (after ~3-5) minutes of this got up and went to find an employee to fix it, they did and then 45 minutes later it happened AGAIN. Same result-- a person on an end eventually went out and asked for it to be fixed. The film also went blurry a few times and the sound level was poorly managed. After the movie let out, I went to find the manager. I was pretty displeased that for the crazy price of movie tickets, they could not have someone to WATCH the projectors to be sure they worked. I know when Grammam worked at the movies when I was little and we used to "help" that someone was usually up there to keep an eye on it all. So I explained to the manager that this was unreasonable and I was unhappy with the theater. She tried to get out of it for about 2 seconds and then asked if we wanted a refund. Well yes, thank you I would-- but I would rather have not had my movie repeatedly disrupted! She gave us back the money we had paid for the tickets and we left the theater. Craig's comment on the whole thing "I should take you out more often, you're a cheap date!".


Now, on to my thoughts on the movie itself--
I enjoyed it, I found it better than Prisoner of Azkaban on details-- and a good bit more accurate on plot than the goblet of fire movies-- so that was a nice surprise. I was disappointed in the scenes selected to be cut from the film-- some of my favorite parts of the book were missing. As always-- the movie did not explain everything as fully as the book-- and took a few other liberties-- but I think the general plot was pretty close to the book. I was sad to see the fight scene clipped at the end-- but I understand not everyone wants to sit through a 6 hour HP movie like I would (crazy folks out there apparently some of them have LIVES!?!?!) Umbridge is delightfully evil and bureaucratic-- and very very pink. Really a scream. Kreacher gets cut out a lot, which is kinda sad-- he was funny in the book.

So overall-- I would give the movie a 3/5 on accuracy to the book, but I would rate it a 4 or maybe a 4.5 out of 5 in terms of fun and enjoyable movie. So go on, go see HP#5-- its fun, exciting and a little spooky.

HP #5 Movie Tonight!

Tonight, traditional wings night will be cancelled as Craig and I head to the movies to catch one of the most awaited summer films-- EVER.

Thats right, the next edition of the HP sequence came out today (and I was asleep! at midnight) so we are off to see it this evening. I can't wait! I have decided that I probably shouldn't dress up as well... the cape and hat might be a little toasty considering the heatwave we are in the middle of. BUT-- I AM SUPER SUPER EXCITED! Plus... LESS than 10 days til Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows comes out... what a great July!!!


Other than that, a slow and somewhat blah day at work--- so I will keep trudging through the afternoon with the happy evening to look forward to.

Oh-- and a good recipe! We had Grilled Pacific Pork Kebabs with Pineapple Rice last night-- pretty tasty, quick, and even made Craig do the cooking! (that's my kind of meal!) This recipe was from Everyday foods. I have been a fan of this magazine for a few months now-- since Claud sent me a subscription. The recipes I have tried have all been pretty good-- and pretty easy-- I would recommend checking this magazine, or at least the website out! (even though it is by nutty martha stewart)

La Torta Final!

(Ok, so that's the last cake)

Our last cake decorating class was this past week. I finally got the pictures today and thought I would share. This is one more example of the everpresent buttermilk cake-- though this time flavored with a little orange blossom water and then soaked with a mandarin orange syrup. This cake was filled with mandarin orange (clementinas in spanish) and frosted with a normal buttercream. We then covered it with fondant and did the fondant drape in the colors of the flag of Spain and then I made a little gumpaste flower to stick on the top. Tada! the last cake for class... so now I just need to get a few cake jobs to make some money with all I have learned!

Ratatouille--

Go see this now. Seriously, leave the computer running, hop in the car and get to the theater now. This movie was GREAT! (plus, with the sweltering heat-- the movies are a perfect place to be!) Craig and I both loved it. The animation is amazing, the plot is funny and its an all around fun movie. At least five times during the movie I thought to myself-- that's not animated, it CAN'T be!

So the only lingering complaint is that I don't know what Ratatouille is or how to make it??!!?! They never got to that part. (well, I know its a "peasant dish" and has zucchini in it?)

New item added to my wish list... my own "Little Chef".

Way to go MOM!

My Mom ran her 5th? 6th? Triathalon this morning in somewhere godforsaken wisconsin they are referring to as "Chicagoland" Beyond the fact that at 50 she is going way faster than and far more dedicated than I am at 25-- its really cool because she's doing GREAT. Seriously, how many people do you know who can swim for 1/2 mile, bike 12 miles, and run 3.1 miles-- nonetheless finish it all in one morning! Mom's time this year was 2 hours 19 minutes and 12 seconds--- pretty darn impressive.

So way to go Mom (and Dad, her coach, cheerleader, driver, and equipment manager!) we are both super proud of you. (and envious of your great committment to fitness and yourself!)


FYI-- these triathalons are run by Danskin and the Susan G Komen Foundation--- they are exclusively for women, and have special oppurtunities for survivors of cancer. They are not run super-competetively-- it is the pride in accomplishment that seems to be the driving force. If you are at all interested, check out more information here!

Ratatouille?

So as if my days are not yet full enough of rodents-- my plan for tonight is to go see the new disney-pixar film

I will try and get a review on here soon. I have heard good things about it, and the clips I saw looked both funny and cute. And well, a mouse who can cook is way way way more cute and exciting than a mouse with a boob job-- well, at least for most people!

Outside of that, I've got some catch up work to do around the house (eg... clean the kitchen and the bathroom!), Craig's got to get the lawn mowed before Murphy gets swallowed by some sort of prehistoric mutant grass, and we've got to get to work on digging out the cellar and the nursery. Stay tuned for more hopefully this weekend.

Tuesday again!

Its tuesday again, and wonderefully I finished work at 1:30pm and WENT HOME!! Yay an early nap! I was up at the crack of dawn (thanks evil noisy neighbors-- will vent on that later) but at least I got my cake baked for class tonight-- so it could be worse!

The weekend visit to my parents was nice-- I got to work at the basket party for the firehouse and Craig got to haul gravel and help reframe the garage. So it was busy and all that, but a nice visit overall. I even finally dropped off my VERY late mother's and father's day presents-- so that was good too. We then hurried home to meet Craig's parents and return the weener-mutt YAY! They hung out for dinner (homemade fajitas-- want the recipe?) and then headed home the next morning.
So we are now down to our normal contingent of pets-- and no poo or puke to be found!

Temporary control of the house has been regained!

A few quick notes

1) We're heading to my parents out in the boonies of western PA for the weekend. Murphy will be run ragged up and down the hill and generally be as happy as a dog can be-- plus he'll get spoiled rotten by my grammam and her never ending peanut-butter bone supply-- he likes visits to my parents. We are taking the weener along--which should be interesting. Tiki is staying here with Kim to check on her... she will also be spoiled rotten.

2) The new car is still behaving wonderfully-- and we are heading out there to show it off!

3) Monday will be a great day cause the weener is GOING HOME!! Jane and Roy are back from Ireland this weekend and will be retreiving her on Monday... YAY!!! That's good for the weener to be back on her normal life and good for me cause there will be no more poo piles or dog fights during the night while I try and sleep.

4) Fourth of July means a day off work! And we have free hersheypark tickets that expire on the 4th--- so we may take an extra day off to do that next week too... should make for a very quick work week.

5) The new microscope is super-duper, and I can work it better than my boss, and he was THRILLED with the results I took yesterday and showed him this morning... so making me look good at work is always a nice bonus-- I think he's convinced to start writing this paper so I can get it out!!!!! (and FINALLY have a first author paper)

I've been slacking

Yes, I have been slacking on the blog. Its mainly the result of the incredibly cool new imaging system that we got in our lab. I have spent more than 8 hours being trained on it-- and the rest of my time playing on it since yesterday morning. It is the neatest thing. It is a microscope that is completely automated... touch a button on the touch screen abd VOILA! your picture. It takes BEAUTIFUL pictures of my glow in the dark mouse boobs! Also, it will take movies! It is a spiffy piece of technology with more buttons, knobs, and adjusters than I know what to do with yet... I will be hiding in the dark a few more days-- and then I promise, I will share some cool pics and be a good blogger and post more again.

Random Science Tuesday (yup, its that time again)

Fake Sugar can give you very REAL cancer-- well, at least if you are a rat.
"Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame -- widely used in soft drinks -- might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats."

"The CSPI said the Acceptable Daily Intake of aspartame in the United States is 50 mg per kilogram of body weight, equivalent to a 50-pound (20 kg) child drinking 2.5 cans of diet soda a day, or a 150-pound (68 kilogram) adult drinking about 7.5 cans a day.
The Italian researchers found a cancer risk at the very highest doses -- double the U.S. Acceptable Daily Intake."

So watch out for the aspartame-- don't panic, but start phasing it out.


Cool new lab grown skin grafts actually work!
"To have an off-the-shelf skin replacement product that can be used in large numbers of patients will revolutionize the treatment of burned and skin damaged patients,"
Check it out here!


Darwin would be Sad: Galapagos Tortises Are in Danger (and so are the iguanas, birds, and other various unique creatures)
"The United Nations on Tuesday declared Ecuador's Galapagos islands in danger as booming tourism and immigration threaten giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies unique to the archipelago."

Here's hoping they can get that under control-- cause a trip to the Galapagos is still VERY high on my list of dream trips... (right up there with back to Spain with Craig in tow, and Italy, and Ancient ruins in Greece)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My new car! Isn't she pretty.

All in all, a great day yesterday!! We got the Blazer traded in... and miraculously-- it started, and the AC worked and the 4-wheel drive worked when the appraiser was trying it out... and well, I guess the time we spent washing and waxing it on Sunday paid off-- cause they traded it for more than I was hoping for!!!! Yay!

So now the subaru is my car, and it runs nicely and the AC works, and it has a CD player and doesn't seem to drink near as much gas as the Blazer--- so I am overall pretty excited.

Plus it fit my basic car shopping requirements-- It doesn't guzzle gas, has modern safety equipment (eg- air bags and ABS) it would hold a 100lb golden retreiver (Murphy) and will hold a car seat. And as a bonus is has All Wheel drive-- so I am very happy with what I got-- oh and it only cost one arm and part of a leg-- so that was a nice bonus!!!!

Super great day yesterday-- topped off with yummy grilled hot dogs on the spiffy grill-- and even with the good hot dog buns for toasting-- the new england style ones. They toast so much better than the plain ones. YAY!

Introducing my (hopefully) new car!

You can check it out at this site! Assuming I can get the blazer in on Monday to work the trade out, things are all set... well, in this case-- even if they blazer doesn't get traded in, I think we can swing it. I did a pretty darn good job negotiating the price (I am definitely not paying what it is listed at)-- so I am excited!

and its Red!!!

This after test driving every other car in the known universe that was 4 door with a hatchback. Craig is thrilled cause its a subaru like his, and I am excited about the whole 26-32MpG. YAY... and did I mention its Red?!?! And I get a CD player, and I get AC and unlike the blazer lately-- it should start, and its All-wheel drive, and well... I am just really very excited to have a new car!

Stay tuned on Monday for even more excitement!

Weekend ahead

Another week almost over and I can't wait for my weekend. This upcoming week looks to be obnoxiously busy, but between then and now I have 2 whole days off... with no weddings, parties, appointments, or committments. The plan for this weekend-- a little cooking, a little cleaning, and maybe some shopping for a "new" car.

I've been looking around online and now I need to go try out some cars and see what I like. Should be fun-- with the Blazer I never had any choice, it was just presented to me as a take or leave it-- which don't get me wrong, I loved that car-- I just am looking forward to picking something out myself. I am kinda thinking I might like a "hatchback" style this time-- it will offer me some of the things I liked about my blazer-- while being smaller and better gas mileage. We'll have to wait and see what I find.

me and my big mouth

Well, this afternoon, I got myself in trouble. I am participating in a mentoring course this summer and today's topic was DIVERSITY. Ah yes, if there was a topic more likely to cause me to vent my political and personal views it would have to be firearms or taxes. Its a close tie for all three.

Anyway, academia, bastion of far leftist thought that it is, may not have been the smartest place for me to expound on my beleifs. I think I am more worried because the head of my department heard my statements-- and I am pretty sure now thinks I am a member of the KKK. Honestly, nothing could be farther from the truth. I do not ever judge people on the color of their skin, only on the work that they do, the way they treat others, and the honesty in their hearts. Stating this got me into trouble. I take my philosophy to be against afirmative action.

AA judges people first on the color of their skin, not on WHO they are and WHAT they can do. I never want to be judged on different standards than people around me-- not based on my height, weight, ethnicity, family background-- anything. I have NEVER claimed special treatment based on those things (ok, other than a step ladder)-- and I never will. I want to know I am worthy of what I acheive. I think this basic right to know you are due what you acheive and that it was not handed to you unevenly is proper for every person.

I understand that sometimes AA gives people chances they would never have gotten without it, and that sometimes people succeed due to these chances. But I also have seen people use AA to get away with doing less work, use it as an excuse to try less, and use it to get a position and then be unqualified for that position. I think these are all invalid uses for the AA policy. I would much prefer a gender/race blind application process for colleges and jobs. Let the best candidate get the spot end of discussion. All this regulation of what percentage of any student body or office needs to be of each certain ethnicity is frankly ridiculous.

Diversity should be fostered not forced. Diversity takes many forms-- I have friends of different religions, races, politics, upbringing, sexual orientations,money status and who knows what else. I didn't pick them because they were black or lesbian or whatever. I picked them becuase they make good friends.

Why can't academia rely on its oh so touted "colorblindness" to develop diverse student bodies? Why do they have to rely on laws and altered standards??

ok, enough venting. Here's hoping I don't get signed up for sensitivity training or something now. I am not ashamed of how I feel about this stuff... but by now I should have enough self preservation instinct to not spout off in front of professors I know are way way way way far left of me. (Craig by the way, thinks I should have gone further with explaining why AA is not a good plan)

Is it real? Should I believe it???

Someone posted online what the ending to HP#7 is. Is it real? (having read it, I hope not) Granted the person who posted this one says they are doing this to convince people not to read it because the Pope told them that this book is leading young people to paganism--- but still.... I have to wonder if someone somehow really has gotten the ending.

Would you read it if you knew where the ending was?

Can't wait for the book (and the movie)

Woohoo...

WOOHOOO! Look what was in my email box when I got back from seminar!!!
After 2 years with no raises, no cost of living increases, no hope of it ever getting better.... we get a whole extra $500/year. Not wonderful... and not what the keep promising us. But a heck of a lot better than nothing!

"Dear Students,
I am pleased to inform you that graduate student stipends for all full-time PhD students at the COM will be raised 2% for the 2007-2008 academic year to $21,187.
Consistent with the principles established in the past, this stipend will be paid over 12 months as follows:

Fall 2007 - ½ time graduate assistant - grade 16 - $1764.00 per month August through December
Spring 2008 - ½ time graduate assistant - grade 16 - $1764.00 per month January through May
Summer 2008 - wage payroll as graduate lecturer/graduate researcher -$1773.50 per month in June and July

Please remember that your summer wages are subject to tax witholding, so the amount of your summer checks may be slightly less than $1773.50 depending on your personal situation; please budget accordingly.
Dr. Verderame"

(this last part about the taxes pisses me off to no end-- it was changed to be like this under the table with no chance to complain-- just last year)

wussy cake instructor

And one quick vent... our cake class was cancelled last night-- because it RAINED. Yes that's right... 1 20-minute thunderstorm and our teacher cancelled class. OF course, she didn't do this until 6pm... when we were already on our way to get there. So we (and 2 other people from our class of 5) ended up a Micheal's only to be informed we'd driven out there for NOTHING. GRRRRR.

So class is pushed back one week now. Next week will be lesson 3... and then into July to finish the course.

And now to go bake off some wings! Its Wing night... tonight's flavors
Store bought chile-lime
Semi-Homemade honey BBQ
Jesse's Hot as she can figure out how to make them Hot Wings
Sweet and Spicy Ginger Soy Wings (new trial recipe)
YUM!

Science Tuesday!

Your Salad is Tommorrow's Dirty Fork: Turning plants into plastic
"Chemists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., have come up with a way to efficiently and cleanly turn such naturally occurring sugars into plastics, making Tupperware from trees a real possibility."

Your smoking is hurting the kiddos: AKA... no duh, I have been telling people this since I was 5... AKA Why doesn't my Father-in-Law quit already?!?!
" Babies with at least one parent who smokes have five times as much cotinine, a nicotine byproduct, in their urine than infants whose parents are non-smokers, UK researchers report."

Back when I was your age, Pluto was a Planet; Pluto falls even farther behind Eris
"The decision was a dark day for Pluto lovers. Still, they held out hope that the icy world would remain the heavyweight of the Kuiper belt"


That's it from the random roundup of today's amusing science news. Hope everyone feels a little smarter from their reading, or at least can win a random bet or something.

Bits and pieces

It seems Craig has managed to pick up my cold. So hopefully he's not sick for too long. I am finally feeling better after going to bed at 7 last night-- yep, you read that right. I slept from 7pm until 7am... and finally feel almost human. Now if I could only stop coughing like a 70 year old chain smoker I'd be back to normal. Winnie had another day with no messes-- YAY! She does have the most painful ear splitting bark though--- ugh, I sure hope she doesn't do that all day while we're at work. 5 barks is enough to make me want to try and chop out her vocal cords.. I can only imagine what the neighbors think after a day of that noise.





I've got a long and hectic procedure at work today, so I am hoping to be out of here by 5. The one thing I can say about this procedure is that when it is done I have TON of data. So its nice to show the boss that I can be productive-- it just makes for an unpleasant work day. Keep your fingers crossed that it works!


Here is one pic of a previous run of this experiment. The procedure takes mouse boobs (yes, the techinical term) and turns them into a soup of single mouse boob cells. Then I can run those cells through a machine called a flow cytometer that lines them all up single file and looks at them. It looks at them for what they have on their outsides--- (that is, are the tags I stuck on there)-- I can then see how many cells that have a certain tag (A) also have other tags (B, C, etc)-- then I can quantify how many cells are A+B vs B+C, vs A+C--- which tells me something about the kind of cells that make up the mouse boob. The big problem for me is that I put a LOT of cells in, but only the ones circled in the picture are the ones that matter. So it takes me a long long time to get enough of the important cells--- oh yeah... and it takes me 6+ months to get a mouse with the right combo of genes to be old enough for the experiment--- so there is a lot riding on it working right--- cause if it doesn't I have to start over with breeding more mice-- YUCK!









Other than a big science day, we have cake class tonight--- no actual cake this week, just working with fondant and gumpaste-- we're learning carnations, "fantasy flowers" and daisies. Should be a quick and easy class. I'll try and get some pics up tomorrow for everyone to see.






Also-- if you have any recommendations for an affordable reliable car-- 4 door, decent gas mileage (ok, so anything will be better than the blazer was), has a radio, good safety record, would hypothetically hold a car seat and associated progeny related crap, that doesn't look awful-- please, let me know.
The blazer is dead (may she rest in peace) and I need to find a new car. I figure I am going to have the new one for a bunch of years, so practicality is important. All suggestions of models or makes are welcome!

The dog days of summer

A very happy, very wet, very tired Murphy!

After snoozing the morning away on Saturday and a quick lunch at Moe's with Kim. Craig and I headed over to Shelley and Erin's with the Murphinator and some movies. We hung out in the pool for the afternoon to beat the heat (did I mention I kinda hate summer)-- and then grilled up some hot dogs and kielbasa and watched some movies. (Pursuit of Happyness-- very good, I enjoyed-- wholeheartedly recommend and Open Season-- kinda blah... except for the last 25 minutes where the animals attack-- brassiere clad deer antlers being used to slingshot toasting forks with flaming marshmallows-- maybe a kids movie? not a great plot-- some funny moments)

Murph LOVED swimming, and though we left behind enough fur in the pool to build at least 3 more dogs-- he had a great time swimming with their lab Nick. We had to eventually lift the murph out of the pool and make him rest-- he would have swum himself into exhaustion. He was a very very very happy dog.

In an added bonus... adding some Murphy kibble to the weeners diet seems to have helped! no messes on friday night, saturday at all, or sunday!!! woohoo. (she was eating out of his bowl anyways.. so we just went with it)

Craig and I at the Reception

Congrats Mike and Leah! Well, the wedding went off without a snag. After keeping the groom busy and calm on Friday night-- and making him go to bed-- and doing my best to convince him to eat on Saturday morning, I was there from noon on to run errands, get blood out of the best man's collar (hooray for the tide pen!), fluff skirts, retie corsets, calm nerves, repeat instructions, alter the bride's gown so it wouldn't fall off and distribute tissues. My days as a wedding planner were fun--- but EXHAUSTING! I have no idea how Kim did it all-- and did a WAY better job then I ever could have. This cameraphone pic is from midway through the reception-- we finally got a chance to relax and enjoy!

Craig, Kim, and I stayed til the very end (1AM!!!) to pack up gifts and clean up the hall. Craig and I were THANKED by the newlyweds by name in their toast.. which was incredibly sweet (and utterly unnecessary)-- we were happy to help out and glad to be able to wish them well on their big day.

I was given a centerpiece to take home, and as long as Tiki stays out of it-- it should last for a few days-- and it is certainly very pretty. I will work on getting a pic of it on here.

At the rehearsal

Just a quick cellphone snap shot of Mike and Leah at their rehearsal. The church was lovely-- a church in the round with all sides in stained glass. Beautiful! Particularly with the afternoon sun shining through-- everything was in colors.

FYI-- the muttley

FYI... the Weenie is on thawed pre cooked meals that MIL sent with her. They look like brown rice with ground beef, peas and carrots. I am worried that they may be contaminated, and continuing to feed her them may be the problem-- she's been getting sicker the longer she has been on these "baggies" of food.

The internet has lots of ideas-- I may try some chicken (no fat) with some plain oatmeal (a different grain)-- so hopefully tomorrow I can try that. The vet sites I have been reading suggest having her off food and water for 12 hours to try and clear everything up--- so we may end up trying that too. She's still gobbling down food and water without pausing to breathe--- so maybe giving her stomach a chance to settle for a little will help. (At least, I sure hope so....)

Keep your fingers crossed.

FINALLY! A post that won't mention poo.... (well, I won't mention it after the title)

I have been given "permission" to start writing my first paper in grad school. This paper will be on the stuff that I took to the meeting in Colorado in March and a little bit more. I am finding it very very very hard though to start writing it. Writing anything with my boss is a challenge for me. We have VERY distinct writing styles and neither of our styles suits the others at all. My drafts do not come back with editing on them, they come back with the same thing rewritten in my bosses words. This has been extremely frustrating for me over the past few years and I am not looking forward to the debates that will have to happen on this paper. I want to feel like my paper is MY paper- and I know that my boss is the "expert"-- but outside of the atrocious grammar I display on my blog-- I know how to write. If there is one thing St. Tim's teaches its girls-- it is how to write well. My writing is more clear and much more simple than my boss's. It gets the same points across, but in a much more reader friendly manner. I do not oversimplify things-- rather he tends to over complicate them with obtuse vocabulary and odd sentence structures. I really want to get this paper written and published by the fall-- I am just hesitant to start what I know will be an unpleasant couple of months to get it done. I need the authorship to get myself a job when I am finished with grad school, and getting this paper out would be a huge help with that as I will be first author.

So really, I am just procrastinating on starting this paper til I haul in these last trailing bits of data that should be finished next week or so-- and then I have to knuckle down and get it written. I have figures worked out for the most part-- and I like doing that part and I am good at it! Its just this writing that is the big road block. Keep your fingers crossed that my boss recognizes that this is MY turn to write a paper-- and he has help EDIT it not rewrite it. That will be best for everyone's sanity.

(Photo is a sneak peek of part of one of my figures-- one mouse boob! in green!)