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!)