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!

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!

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!

countdown

so today's the 5th.

that means the following:

in 18 days i have my ultrasound and hopefully find out if we're being blessed with a little boy or a little girl.

in 43 days i'll be working my last day at my current job. (unless something happens between now & then. there IS a small possibility that i'll leave BEFORE 43 days, but i'll keep that to myself for the time being.)

in 57 days we leave for hawaii for the family reunion/my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.

somewhere between all these milestones, i need to finish my online transcription course (almost done with the first half and averaging 92% for the class so far!), interview for transcription jobs (that will start 14 chapters from now, once i'm halfway through the 2nd part of the class), go shopping for hawaii appropriate clothes (i think i have maybe 3 pairs of shorts that MIGHT fit by then since i'll be 25 weeks by then, if not, consignment stores here i come!) and various other things.

oh yeah, i also have to come up with a guest list for the baby shower my friend is planning for me. granted, i'm almost done with that, but still. it's one more thing to do. on top of all the reading i'm trying to cram in before the baby's born (plus that allows me to get rid of a lot of books too!) i almost wish i had the money for a kindle, so i could take like 5 books with me to hawaii and be able to read easily! hint hint stace! LOL

is it friday yet?

it's not that i don't enjoy being at work. i do. i mean, that's where i get the most of my internet surfing time. it's just that this weekend we're going out of town.

here are the reasons why i'm itching for it to be friday:

we're taking the train and vrock's NEVER been on a train. frankly, he's more excited about that than he is about the fact that we're seeing poison on his birthday.

and? it's vrock's birthday on saturday.

and? we're seeing poison in concert & going somewhere neither of us has been. (salem, oregon for those that want to know.)

and? not only am i having a birthday cake awaiting us at the hotel when we check in, but i also have a FABULOUS present to give him. so i'm ready for it to be friday already. so i can enjoy the surprised look on his face.

and trust me. i WILL get a photo of the surprise. maybe not when he sees the cake, as i'm not exactly sure when that will get to us. it's supposed to be in our room when we check in, but it might be delivered shortly thereafter. that reminds me. i need to make sure to pack some tupperware or something to bring the leftover cake home. :)

hallelujah! it's working!

so i tried to post on friday. i typed the whole entry up, hit "publish". and exactly nothing happened.

blogger, it seems, was on the fritz.

i looked today while i was at work and this screen? the create a post screen? was all kinds of screwed up. wtf?

so what did i do instead of blogging today? i did research. you would think that by "doing research" i'd mean for something work related. you would be wrong.

vrock & i have been talking about the feasability of attending the vancouver 2010 olympics. it's only going to be about 5-6 hours away. we could take the train (for CHEAP!) and if we were able to get a hotel room with a kitchenette? we wouldn't have to spends mass quantities of money on food. plus, how cool would it be to actually get to go to an olympics? it will, most likely be the closest one ever to us, unless seattle gets awarded one down the road. we'd get to go to another country. (yes, i've been to canada once before, but it was 1986, for expo 86 and i was in high school, so i didn't get to do anything cool.) and since we didn't go on a honeymoon, i'm guessing that this could be a suitable alternative.

even if it will be almost 2 years that we'll have been married by the time it rolls around.

now, if he only gets the job he interviewed for today, we can start putting a chunk of money away for this "rainy day". wish us luck.