now that THAT is over....

well that was quite the stretch of 2 weeks.

man, i'm tired. still. ugh.

first i started a new full time job. ok, that's a good thing, right?

it is. BUT. i had already committed to working at the local fair for 4 days. and those days? of course coincided with my first weeks of working. which meant that i worked 12 days straight before i got a day off. then? 1 day off, 1 shift at the fair and then boom. off on labor day and then right back into a work week.

plus? i have an event sat until 2ish. not that i'm complaining. i'm just really eyeing sunday when i can sleep in.

in the good news department, i got about 8 leads from one of the booths at the fair and when i started calling them yesterday, i booked a party. woot! so maybe, just maybe, that whole "paying for the time i spent in the booth & working the booth for free" thing might be starting to pay off. we'll see what the order totals look like.

back to work now. if i can stay awake long enough, that is.

and that's when things went splat & i fell off the face of the earth

so.

it's been awhile. a great while. i'm aware.

i'm also aware that i am most likely writing this purely for myself. which is totally fine with me. it's an outlet.

things have been hectic since i last wrote. back in OCTOBER of 2010.

this is what's been going down over here:

• we went to texas for christmas and saw my brother & his wife & vrock's family.


• we came home and i had surgery on my foot, a little more than a year after i first injured it. (long story)


• after surgery, i couldn't walk for EIGHT WEEKS. ugh. i do not reccommend that with a 16 month old in the house.


• i had been getting a flow of business going, then couldn't do anything do to surgery.


• vrock, unable to find work here, opted to move to texas to look for work in april.


• vrock, unable to to find work in texas, moved home at the end of june.


• i got a job at the end of may and worked there until mid-july when i quit because i HATED IT.


• the same week i quit, got a call from an agency that found me online. i didn't get the first placement they put me up for, but i DID get the second contract they put me up for.


• which means, I GOT A JOB!


• and of course, both businesses are starting to BLOW UP!

bottom line. add in a now TWO year old, getting up at 5am to get to the new job, working the fair a few nights to promote the businesses, booking parties, and trying to find time to sleep and you've got ONE MEGA TIRED MOMMY!

but, i'm back. while i have time during the day to actually breathe.

hope you check in occassionally and say hi!

taking the plunge

no, not that plunge. we're already married, remember?





and no, not that other one either. we. are. NOT. PREGNANT.





ok. so can i tell you WHICH plunge i'm referring to?





SELF-EMPLOYMENT. yikes!!





it's becoming glaringly clear that for whatever reason, i'm just not destined to get a real job. anytime soon. at least that's how it feels.





case in point: last weeks' job interview. for an advertising company. sounded pretty good on the careerbuilder.com website. so i applied figuring i wouldn't even rate a phone call since i have zero sales experience. not only did i get a call, i got an interview. okay. so i went. and about 1/3 of the way through the "pre-interview" (yes, she basically called it that), i realized that this was one of those 100% commission gigs. um, no thanks. i fully understand that my unemployment will not last forever. and that we both need to find a job, any job so that we will be able to pay our bills. but a job where they DON'T PAY YOU? um, no. because as far as i'm concerned? a 100% commission job is a job that doesn't pay you. with a 14 month old? that's not really an option. so i deliberately gave a bad answer to ensure that i wouldn't get called in for a 2nd interview. mission accomplished!





that leads me back to the SELF-EMPLOYMENT thing. back in august we went to the fair. at the fair was a book booth with a "ask me how to earn income from home" banner. so i asked. and was intrigued. and looked into it some more. and by the end of the weekend, had decided to sign up as an independent consultant. i've done a home show (with a few in the works) and worked a fair & some other "booth" events. i'm set to work a book fair with my sponsor & finally earn my first bit of commission. yes. commission. see, this is also a commission only type job. but? these books sell themselves, so i have no fear about it. and? i don't have to leave this everyday.

because really. who would WANT to leave THAT FACE everyday for 10+ hours? sure as HELL not me!

so i've been doing the book thing since the end of august. and have made sales of roughly $1000. cool. but i'm not quite as busy as i'd hoped. and since i figured that i should probably take the bull by the horns, i'm also signing up tomorrow to be an independent consultant for pampered chef. i figure that between the two i should be able to bring a decent amount of money in. maybe not enough to replace a full time income for me, but then i'd only need to get a part time job to supplement my SELF-EMPLOYMENT! those words still scare the crap outta me!

anyhow, that's where i am at this point. trying to take control of my own destiny and make some good things happen for my family. i figure if i'm going to "sell" something, then it might as well be something i love & something that my family can use. because let's face it. who doesn't LOVE books & pampered chef??

has it really been 3.5 months since i last wrote? it seems so much longer than that!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back. at least for a bit.

what have i been doing you ask?

surprisingly, not much.

here's whats been happening since we went on vacation in may:

• after getting back from hawaii, we made plans to go to texas to see vrock's family. then we actually went. to texas. in july. yes, i am an idiot.
• vrock was forced to "retire" from his job due to lack of work.
• i continue to look for a job, any kind of job, and it continues to be an excercise in futility.
• my bff came to visit the weekend before my birthday and took me to see her husband in concert! (ok, ok. so he's only her husband in her head. DON'T tell her that! LOL)
• i sort of started my own business last week. not much has come of it yet, but i'm hopeful that it will at least bring a little money in the door.
• jdogg turned ONE! (how in the hell did that happen? i told that boy he wasn't allowed to grow up!)
• vrock & i have seriously considered moving to texas, provided that he can obtain a job with the company he had to "retire" from.
• we continue to prepare to go to san francisco at the end of the month for my brother's wedding. those preparations included buying a tux for jdogg. OMG! so! freaking! cute!

and while all of that has been exciting/caused anxiety/thrilling/sad, i find that time is zooming by and i never seem to have time to do ANYTHING without major planning sessions. and even then, if it's not something ESSENTIAL? it doesn't make the cut.

for someone who doesn't work outside the home, is living with family (and therefore not really responsible for "household chores"), and is still drawing unemployment, i have NO IDEA where all of my time goes!

my dearest blog, i really haven't abandoned you....

i've just been extremely busy with this................

hopefully you can forgive me. we're on vacation at the moment, but i promise to attempt more updating once we return to our crazy life!

dear blog, i really didn't forget about you.....

i'm wondering if i've hit a wall with the blogging.

yes, i have a 6.5 month old that keeps me very, very busy. but lately i've gone WEEKS without even thinking about blogging. i could chalk that up to being so wrapped up in the baby that i barely have time to think. Or to the fact that he doesn't sleep in his crib for more than 2 hours without me having to get up and get him. (by which time I'M EXHAUSTED so he just ends up in our bed for the remainder of the night.)

i could blame it on the energy i'm spending praying/hoping/willing vrock to get the most recent job he applied for. or that after a winter of no colds whatsoever (yay vaccinations!) i've got the sore throat from hell and since i'm still nursing at night i can't really take anything for it. (although, if this keeps up, i'm going to take something!)

but i think the answer that feels the most right is this: i don't know what to say anymore. i don't necessarily want this blog to become a commentary on the day to day life of the baby. yes, i love him and think he's adorable, but i know that not everyone wants to hear about his daily activities.

my life has become an endless string of taking care of the baby. i'm fine with that, most of the time. but i'm pretty sure it would bore the hell out of the few readers i have to report on his adventures. besides, who else would find it amusing EVERY TIME he grabs himself during a diaper change? LOL

benefit 4,928,761,350 of being unemployed & living with your folks

it's really handy when you do something tremendously stupid to not have to worry about mundane stuff. like work. or carrying your child around. or how to feed yourself when your room is on the first floor but the kitchen is on the the second.

thursday night i was cold. i've been cold at bedtime for the last week or so, primarily because our bed is located directly below the only window in our room. that means that even though the window is completely closed, when it's say 20 degrees outside (which it has been at night for the last week or so) that even if you have the heat on in the room, there's still a cold spot right where you put your head down when it's time for bed. i don't know about you, but if ANY part of me is too hot or too cold when it's time for bed? i can't sleep.

so i decided i was going to get the nice, fluffy, warm uw huskies blanket that i got for christmas two years back down from out of the closet to put over the comforter on the bed. vrock is a furnace so i'm not allowed to have an electric blanket on the bed. that means that if i'm cold, i have to pile blankets onto my side of the bed. fine. i can do that. i pulled the office chair over to the closet, braced it against the dresser, and climbed up. there was a little wobble, but no big deal. i've done this a million times. up, grab the item in question, and down with no problems. not so much this time.

when my parents built the garage (where the 5 of us are currently living) they put an apartment over the garage and a bedroom with a bathroom downstairs. they also made 9 foot ceilings, so you HAVE to climb onto something to get anything out of the closet downstairs. ideally that something would be, i don't know, a STEP LADDER, but i digress. the basket that the blanket was in is VERY light. 2 blankets, a pair of slippers, a pair of gloves, and i think a scarf is all that is in the basket. so i knew that it would be no biggie to grab the blanket.

EXCEPT.

i didn't know that vrock had also put an armband for his ipod in the basket. this wouldn't be a big deal except that he just kind of tossed it into the basket, meaning that it landed on top of the blanket. again, not really a big deal. except. when i pulled the basket down towards me to grab the blanket out, the ipod thing fell out. and startled the shit out of me. which caused me to lose my balance and fall.

luckily i didn't bang my head on the crib or the bookshelf that is right next to it. unluckily, i heard a distinct SNAP as i landed on my foot. i was sure that once we went to the er and got x-rays that there would be a break somewhere. luckily i was wrong and it's just very badly sprained. but man. it HURTS! i spent all of friday, saturday, and most of sunday in bed with my foot propped up and icing it off and on. and today it's STILL all kinds of lovely shades of purple and yellow.

the er doc didn't give me enough pain meds to last me to my follow up tomorrow with my regular doc, so i'm raiding dad's pain meds from his surgery last month. (only after checking with the pharmacist that they're safe to take while breastfeeding.) they make me sleepy though, which is great for at night but not so much for during the day. today i finally ventured upstairs, but had to have my mom bring the baby up since i don't trust my balance enough to carry him yet.

what a great way to spend a weekend, huh? on the plus side......it's not broken. and? vrock has been pretty awesome through the whole ordeal. after 4 days of being an invalid though, i'm ready for it to heal and to be able to walk on it without pain. we'll see what the doc says tomorrow about the timeline for that.

i know this though........i'll never use a chair to get something out of the closet again!

time flies when you have an infant

not much has changed around here.

except that this:

has become this:

he's perfect. and gorgeous. and we've never been happier. especially since we're actually getting some sleep these days! i'll try to write more often, but with that gorgeous little being around, it's amazing that i get anything done. LOL

reasons 461,925,873 thru 461,925,877 of why i haven't posted

need i say more??

not dead.......yet

just zombified. you know, because of this......

and of course, munching on these...........

and while i miss my sleep, desperately, i've never been happier.

and this? is what they call a holding pattern

so last week i went in for my 37 week appointment and was VERY excited to learn that i was already dilated to 3cm and 75% effaced. it has been MISERABLY hot here the last few weeks (today? FREAKING 100 degrees! wtf??) so i was excited by this development because as anyone who has been pregnant knows, the last month is THE WORST as far as being uncomfortable, etc. when i went in today, i was hoping for some more dilation, but figuring i wouldn't get quite that lucky since it's apparently VERY unusual to be 3 weeks prior to due date and be 3cm already. i, unfortunately was right. no further dilation OR effacement.

DAMN!

i wasn't super surprised, but i was a little bummed out. i have been EXTREMELY uncomfortable with all this heat. i'm good at 75 degrees when i'm not knocked up. i can deal with 80 as long as there is a breeze. it's been WAY hotter than that the last 2-3 weeks and it's forecast for mid 80's into the end of next week. THIS SUCKS! all that being said, i am VERY ready for little dude to make his appearance, although i'm TERRIFIED about what to do AFTER he's here. LOL i know, i know. i'll be fine once i get the hang of things. i know this. but i'm still starting to freak out a little.

so my next appointment is on monday. something had BETTER have changed (in the correct direction!) by then! LOL

in other news, we had a bit of a scare yesterday in that when we tried to go to babies 'r us in order to get the rest of the things we really NEEDED for the baby, the car wouldn't start. at all. nothing. no lights, no "door ajar" binging. nothing. thank God we have AAA. turns out it was nothing more than a bad cell in our battery, so we just needed a new one. but still. i think vrock had a minor stroke thinking that we'd have to pay exorbitant amounts of money to get the car fixed. (we bought it used, and it's still under the original warranty, but it's only 3 years old.) the battery price was more than i wanted to pay, but it's done and we're back in business.

all of that rigamarole with the battery totally shot yesterday though. so today after the doc appointment, we went to babies 'r us. we didn't get EVERYTHING that was left on the registry, but we did get the things that i think we needed the most. we still have a good chunk of the money my brother & his fiancee' (the godparents) sent for the bambino, so we just moved that money into the baby's bank account until we need to buy something else for him.

since it's been so damn hot, we decided to go to one of the local casinos so vrock could people watch and i could gamble, a little. money is very tight for us these days and while i probably should have just left it in the bank, i wanted to play just a bit. so i went with $80 and hoped for the best. i'd been to that casino in june when my bestest friend in the world was here for my baby shower. i can't remember if i won, but i think i either broke even or won a little bit. (on a side note, vrock & i went to our other local casino last week to see the gallagher comedy show. we played for about 2.5 hours and came home with $50 more than we left with, which promptly went in the baby's bank account. LOL)

anyways, so today i was doing ok, and then all of a sudden i was down to my last 10 cents. (i used to play nickel slots. now? pennies all the way!) i would have had to cash out had this last spin not been a winner of some kind because that machine's minimum bet was more than a total of 10 cents. so i spun. and hit the bonus. right on! this particular game is called "great wall" and i found it last month when i was there. the bonus consists of free spins where you can accrue points & "picks". after the free spins are up, it takes you to the "picks" page where you choose from various ying-yang's and get either points or free spins. so this first bonus i won $121. WOO HOO! not bad for literally being down to your last 10 cents! i decided that i'd play until i was at 100 and that way i'd still be coming out 20 bucks ahead of where i'd started. i spun a few times and nothing. so i cashed out. i was going to leave, but decided "what the hell"? so i put my money back in and spun and hit another bonus. this time? i won 50 something in the bonus. i played for a bit and tried to get my total up to $160 which would have doubled my initial funds for the day. i didn't get there, and decided to cash out at $150.

all in all? not bad for less than 2 hours work. i won $70, so even after i subtract the $40 that i gave vrock, i still walked out $30 up. not bad, not bad at all.

tomorrow will be a stay at home day to do laundry and to see what all we have for the little dude that we'll need right away. and hopefully the walking around today helped jiggle things so that he's thinking more about coming OUT OUT OUT already! LOL

oh, and i'll be spending a fair amount of my day with my feet elevated. i'm tired of vrock teasing me about my "elephant feet". they are SO swollen it's not even funny.

we have reached week 36

and i am SO FLIPPING READY for this little boy to be born.

the hip pain is gone, but now it's settled into the the center of my hips (as opposed to being just in one hip or the other like it was before.) so that means everytime i roll over in bed, i hurt. lovely. i'd still rather that than the pain with every other step that i was dealing with.

i've started on the weekly doc visits. last week i was VERY excited that i'd only gained 1 pound from the previous visit, 3 weeks earlier. woot! that was good. i go back tomorrow so we'll see how well i did this week. the doc told me last time that everything looked great and on track. i see my regular doc this week & next and if nothing has happened by next week, we'll schedule the induction for the due date. (i see his partners the last few visits, so i want to make sure it gets scheduled, just in case.)

tomorrow is also my mom's birthday. she's going with me to the appointment and the plan is to go to lunch after and then to see harry potter. (vrock has no desire to see it, and mom reads the books, so it works out.) depending on how crowded the theater is will make the decision if we actually see the movie or not. if not? i'll be back up there next week for another appointment and will go see it then.

i'm almost done with the twilight series, with only about 250-300 pages left in breaking dawn. still can't really understand what all the fanatacism is about with that series. it's no harry potter, that's for sure. it's been an enjoyable read, but i'll be selling the books to the used book store when i'm done. no need to re-read them.

got some bad news today, but i'm not really ready to share, as it's not my news to share. i would really appreciate some extra prayers though. any good thoughts would be great.

i'm going to try to keep updated on this the next month or so, but i can't promise anything. i'm in countdown mode. 28 days to go, should he be stubborn like his parents and not come until his due date. that will be my luck. LOL although, with only 3 chapter submissions and the final left to take for class, that could be a good thing. at least then i'd HOPEFULLY be done with class and wouldn't have to worry about having to still take the final!

sloth, thy name is tbooty, or why i haven't posted lately

all kinds of interesting things have been happening out in seattle. (ok, not really, but there have been a select few.)

mostly the reasons i haven't posted can be boiled down to this:

1. i'm just generally feeling lazy the last few weeks. i've been told this is normal.
2. i often THINK about doing something (posting/laundry/errands) and that's as far as i get. this does not bode well for my post partum period. LOL
3. i've found that while the extreme exhaustion of the first 16 weeks of pregnancy has not returned, i AM more tired than i was from weeks 17-30. case in point, i wake vrock up in the morning for work and go back to sleep when he leaves around 8am. then? even though i went to bed at 1am? i end up sleeping until around 11am. unless i'm going somewhere where i have to leave/arrive at a certain time. weird.
4. i'm already feeling overwhelmed about the baby's arrival. we don't have all of our "gear" yet. no stroller/car seat (although that's just a matter of mom & i going to target together.) we have a bassinet. we have a pack 'n play (that we may just have him sleep in for the first few months due to space issues). we have a crib mattress, but the crib is still at my brother-in-law's. but there are still quite a few things we registered for that haven't been purchased yet. it's kind of stressful.
5. i am SO UNCOMFORTABLE at this stage. between the HUGE belly, the hip pain (so. very. hard. to. walk!!!) and the intermittent ankle/foot swelling, i am PAST being ready to reclaim my body.

the baby shower was good. none of my bridesmaids showed up, including the one who threw the shower, but 2 of the 3 had valid reasons. still, it REALLY upset me. UNTIL. my best friend in the world surprised me by flying up from utah for the weekend. BEST FRIEND EVER! after that i didn't really care about who hadn't shown. her being there made up for it more than 100 times over. of course, she made me cry though. bitch. LOL (don't worry, i TOTALLY got her back when i wrote out THAT particular thank you card. LOL) we got a fair amount of stuff, but of course not everything that we actually NEED. LOL go figure. it's ok. i've still got about $250 in gift cards/cash (not including whatever amount my brother is sending) to get the necessities that we don't yet have.

i'm up to chapter 13 of 18 in the transcription class, which means after i get back the chapter 13 submission, i have 4 graded transcripts left before the final. i'm not sure if i'll be able to start work before the baby is born, but we'll see. it'll be cutting it close, what with me only being 44 days away from my due date. it'd be nice to be able to start before he gets here.

i also had a job interview on monday (long story), and while it seemed to go well, the sacrifices it would entail (2 months unpaid leave, paying for childcare, no guarantee of job being held) make it so that i've never wanted to NOT get a job offer before. they were interviewing all of last week, so in theory i should hear something by wed of this week. like i said, it'll be one of the few times in recent memory that it won't hurt my feelings if they go in another direction. LOL

and i THINK that catches us up. the next 6 weeks are going to be an interesting ride. i'm ready to reclaim my body for myself. LOL let's see when this little boy decides to make his debut. i'd like him to wait at least until 36 weeks (7/14) but ANYTIME after that is totally fine with me! (plus, that would negate the 10 family birthdays in august that we're looking at currently. LOL)

i swear i haven't fallen off the face of the earth....at least not yet

i believe i owe you a post about the trip.



the trip was fantastic. it was the first time in TWENTY (count them!) years that my entire immediate family (all 4 of us. LOL) were in hawaii at the same time. both my brother & i have managed to go see our grandparents while our parents have been there over the last 20 years, but this was the first time we'd all managed to be there together. and it was awesome.

between vrock totally loving my grandparents (they love him too!), asking my grandpa for his blessing to name the baby after him (of course, he's THRILLED!), and talking about my brother & his fiancee's wedding next year, PLUS celebrating my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary AND mother's day, it was just an AWESOME trip.

it was a little too warm for me, what with the humidity and the whole "i'm growing a person so my internal thermometer is all out of whack", but vrock loved the weather, even the humidity! we didn't "do" a lot while we were there, until my brother got there. most of our days were fairly lazy, with the most strenous things we did being walking downtown throughout the shops and eventually going to the beach. (my bro & his fiancee' ended up coming in later than planned because her grandmother died a week or so before the trip. that was a major bummer, but i'm really glad that they decided to come anyways. i think it was therapeutic for her.)

the highlights of the trip were these gems:

• vrock, my bro, dad, & grandpa having daily "cocktail hours" starting around 3:30pm complete with each one smoking a cigar. (vrock & my brother do not normally smoke AT ALL and dad only smokes pipes/cigars every once in awhile.) grandpa was definitely in his element as he held court with the boys.
• everyone hanging out in the pool room at my grandparents playing pool and just enjoying the family time.
• my brother & his iFlip getting some of the best sound bites EVER from grandpa!
• and of course, seeing grandpa's reaction when we asked for his blessing to name the baby after him. it was priceless and something i'll never forget.

vrock is ALREADY talking about next years trip. he wants to make sure that they get to see the baby in person. i love my husband!

seriously????

i know, i know. i haven't written about the trip yet. i will, promise.

i just need to vent about this first.

when we first got pregnant, i was worried about the normal things: my age (37) being an issue, genetic abnormalities, miscarriage, etc. things that just about every woman is concerned about until she knows that there's nothing to be concerned about.

so we opted to do some genetic testing (first trimester testing & completely non-invasive) to "guide" us in the right direction. fortunately for us, the tests came back with no worries of any abnormalities and we were able to end that particular journey there.

that was in early february. while we were on vacation, i received a call from the billing department of that particular hospital. (not the one i'm delivering at, as that one is too small to have a maternal-fetal medicine clinic that does the genetic testing.) the guy proceeded to say that i had an outstanding bill ($30) after insurance had paid and wanted to know when i would be paying it. i'm in hawaii, and have no recollection of seeing a bill for that amount, so i told him that i was on vacation, if the bill had come prior to leaving i'd have paid it and since i'll be gone for 10 days, i'll have to look into it when i get home. fine he says and i figure that will be the end of it.

so we get home. i get the mail and sort it out. bills in one pile, etc. at this point, (about 2 weeks ago) i'm still not receiving my unemployment yet. vrock is working (huzzah!) but it's only part time. so while we do have some money floating around, there's not a lot that's leftover for extra bills. i put the bills on the desk in their spot and turn to other things.

i get a phone call a few days later from this guy again. telling me again that i still owe $30. now, i'm 27+ weeks at this point and my memory has become more faulty than i'd like to admit (HELLO list writing!), so i inform him that i have NOT received this bill and that i don't care that his system tells me they mailed it, i don't have it and therefore it will be hard for me to pay it. he says they'll send it again. fine. (of course, a day or so later as i'm preparing to pay bills i find it. but it's for $45.08 and NOT $30, so it's not completely my fault.)

meanwhile, vrock's job has become FULL TIME & BENEFITTED (woo hoo!!) and now i can pay the bills knowing that there will be more money coming in. great! so last week i write a check for this particular account and a few other non-monthly bills (we're STILL paying medical bills from his sinus surgery in oct) so that i can mail them in. i check our bank account online about every other day, so i'm glad to see that the check for this particular account has cleared. YAY! no more phone calls from this guy. right? WRONG!!!

this morning i'm sleeping in. (with vrock working full time now, the alarm goes off at about 6:45 and he gets up about 7:20. this wouldn't be an issue, except that 1) the alarm is on MY side of the bed, which means i'm the one hitting snooze and then rolling over to make sure he's awake, 2) i've done this every morning this week because i'm afraid if i don't sort of wake up with him that he'll fall back asleep and be late for work, and 3) last night/this morning i stayed up until 4:30am finishing a book because i'd had a 2 hour nap yesterday.) my phone is almost always on vibrate overnight, but because i'd grabbed it and put it by the bed this morning when vrock left for work, i hear it buzzing.

normally, i don't answer if there's no number listed. this one pops up as "private call". now, i know it's not my mom, because she left earlier and her cell number shows up on my phone. the only other "private call" that i know of for sure is my almost 38-weeks pregnant friend who lives about 8 minutes away. i'm her emergency ride to the hospital and since yesterday she was dilated to 1cm, it could be her. so i answer. it's the guy about the bill. he starts his spiel and i'm already PISSED because i KNOW that the check has cleared. i'm civil, barely, as he spits out the info about the visit date and the amount owed. and then i inform him that not only did i ONLY get the one statement (when they were supposed to send me a 2nd since i didn't recall getting a first) but that i've PAID it and IT'S CLEARED THE BANK! (there are few things that irritate me more than someone who doesn't have all the facts getting ready to "tell me off".) he then asks me to FAX him proof of payment.

um FUCKING HELLO??? just how am i supposed to do that? 1) i paid by check you asshole. i'll be DAMNED if i'm going to go to the bank and ask for a copy of the cancelled check because you can't be bothered to CHECK YOUR FUCKING SYSTEM to see if the payment has applied. (the check CLEARED on 5/22. i know monday was a holiday and all but seriously? it should be in your system by now!) 2) i don't have ready access to a fax machine and all i'd have to fax you is a copy of the statement. so i'm PISSED now. i explain to him that it's paid, cleared the bank, etc. he can tell i'm pissed because he then says "i'll just note your account paid then."

good idea asshole. of course, now i'm awake, so that annoys me even more. oh well.

i suppose i wouldn't be so mad about it if i wasn't already irritated from yesterday when the cop pulled me over.

more on that later.

all you get is a few photos from the trip because blogger is pissing me off!

25 weeks & vacation errands

so it was pointed out to me that i haven't posted in almost 3 weeks. (thanks stace! LOL) and with the trip looming up, i figured i'd best post BEFORE we left for hawaii on friday, otherwise it'd likely be ANOTHER week & a half before i was able to post. so, here i am.

i've been unemployed for not quite 2 weeks, and i don't think i've EVER been this busy! it's crazy. here's a sampling of what's been going on the last 2 weeks, broken down by day:

• mon (1st day unemployed) - trip to costco & target, which took almost all day
• tues - trip to the outlets with my mom, and to pick up some baby clothes & a bassinet from freecycle.org people
• wed - errands for the trip & a chiropractor appointment for vrock
• thurs - trip to the nearest joann's with mom to find some cute maternity patterns for later in the pregnancy, along with other trip related errands.
• fri - blissfully NOTHING was planned out and i did some spring cleaning stuff
• sat - one of the local communities has a yearly garage sale weekend, & i went with my folks. scored some good baby stuff (clothes, brand new pacifiers, size 1 diapers) and a few other things and only spent $16!
• sun - pre natal massage & out to dinner with vrock for our 1 year anniversary
• mon - doctor appointment (everything looks great! no issues other than the norm of heartburn & aching hips), lunch with mom, more shopping for the trip & a mani-pedi.
• tues - trip to storage to pick up & drop off stuff, over to a friends' house to drop off some baby girl clothes i'd picked up for her from one of the freecycle people
• today - took my folks to the airport this morning. the rest of the day? probably studying, laundry, clearing out the tivo. stuff that needs to be done, but that i can do from home.

so you see, it's not that i haven't WANTED to write. it's that by the end of each day i've been EXHAUSTED!

now i'm off to warm up vrock's lunch before he leaves for work (more on that later!) and then i can maybe take a nap later this afternoon!

and then there were 6

it's a very freeing feeling to know when your job is going to end. you can plan for things. you have the chance to make sure that all of your "loose ends" are cleared up. as much as being laid off sucks (cobra, unemployment, etc.) it's a good thing to KNOW it's coming. (unlike my friend who walked into her office one day in dec & was escorted out of the building a mere 90 minutes later.)

that being said, in a sick way i'm LOOKING FORWARD to not working. granted, i'll still have my school work to do and all that, and as long as i continue to pass all of my lessons on the first try, i'll be done mid june. that will hopefully translate into a gig working from home transcribing, which means that when this little boy makes his debut sometime in august, i'll have a paying gig. (not sure how the whole "i'm having a baby" thing will translate to the job, but the benefits to the employer are not that many "sick" days since i'm already home.) from what i've been told, around the middle of this part of the class (18 chapters & lessons) i'll be getting a call from the school to set up phone interviews, etc. if all goes the way it should, that should be happening around the end of the month. with the way the grading is timed out (once i turn in something, they have 4 business days to get the graded lesson back to me) i'll only have to worry about 1 chapter while we're on vacation, which is a good thing.

vrock's mom & sister are moving into a different house next month & they want him to come out and help them move. if he's still not working, that's not a huge deal, as they'll pay for his plane ticket. since i won't be working either, we've been debating the idea of me going with him, since after the baby is born i won't want to go ANYWHERE, much less to texas. so we'll see what happens. i can take all my school stuff with me, it'll just depend on how much i'm getting from unemployment & how much/if he's still getting unemployment. not to mention, our childbirth class starts on 5/5 (we'll be in hawaii) and runs every tues night. i don't want to miss any more than the one we have to miss since we'll be gone. so there's that to consider too.

a lot going on in the next couple of weeks but it's all good. and i feel calm. which is always a good thing.

t-minus 11

work days, that is.

eleven days. that just seems so weird!

it also means that i'm 4 weeks & 1 day away from leaving for hawaii for a family reunion of sorts. which means i'll get to see my brother & his fiancee' for the first time since she became his fiancee' in feb and that they'll get to see me for the first time since we told them at christmas that we're pregnant & asked them to be the godparents. all in all, i expect it to be a great vacation. i just hope i can find some decent maternity shorts between now and then.

and speaking of maternity clothes, why is it that if whatever article of clothing you're looking at ISN'T a solid color it's HIDEOUS??? i can't quite figure this out. i've found ONE, count it, ONE cute maternity top. (ie: something that ISN'T just a tshirt/tank top) ALL of the others that i've actually seen? FUGLY! i don't get it. you'd think SOMEONE would figure out how to make ALL maternity clothes cute. what's even worse? you find a cute shirt (in other words, you like the cut, etc.) but they've made it in the WORST possible print possible. i'm sorry. i don't feel the need to look like a circus tent when i go out in public.

that being said, this is what my maternity wardrobe consists of:

1. 1-black tank top
2. 1-grey tshirt
3. 2-royal blue tshirts (1 v-neck, 1 rounded neck)
4. 1-black tshirt
5. 1-red tshirt
6. 1-red polo type shirt
7. 1-cornflower blue tshirt style, with tie-backs
8. various xl or xxl victoria's secret/old navy tank tops
9. 3-pairs maternity jeans that i only have to pull up every other 5 minutes
10. 3-pairs black maternity yoga pants (SO COMFORTABLE!)
11. 1-pair jean shorts
12. 1-pair cotton type shorts (that i'm not sure will fit by hawaii)
13. 2-pair grey maternity pants, suitable for work

that is IT. i may have 2 other tank tops that are specifically maternity, but it's a bare bones wardrobe. i'll be 25 1/2 weeks by the time we leave for hawaii. i'd toyed with the idea of getting a maternity swim suit, but i may just try to wear one of my tankini's instead of buying something. i can't find ANY cute little sun dresses or anything like that to wear in hawaii, so this will be challenging.

any ideas where i can find ANYTHING that's cute? i've planned an outing to the local motherhood maternity at our outlets, probably the week after i'm done with work. (mom & i will no doubt also hit the carter's outlet there too, for the little guy.) i've gotten the few things i have at target & penneys. help!

all the news that's fit to print

i guess i have to make this a quickie since blogger says it's got a scheduled outage in 10 minutes!

1. we found out at our ultrasound on monday that it's a boy! vrock is thrilled and while at first i wanted a girl, i'm thinking that maybe having a boy first is a VERY good thing. so there's that big news.

2. i found out today that 4/17 will in fact be my last day at my current job. this is not a huge surprise to me, as i was supposed to be out of here on 1/16. my boss did try to see if he could keep me, but it was a no go. while i'm bummed about the fact i'll be losing that income, i'm not really bummed that i won't be working here anymore. the people are great, don't get me wrong. i just think i'm ready to be doing something else than financial stuff for a long while. i've been doing this since 8/01 and i think it's time for a change.

and if i can collect unemployment while i finish my transcription course AND only have to pay 35% of my cobra costs (thank you Mr. President!) all the better.

plus, this means i don't have to buy anymore maternity work clothes!