28/84

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm 28 weeks pregnant!! We only have 84 more days until Little Miss Junior Mint makes her arrival! Everything of late has been fairly up in the air, so we've gotten NOTHING done (well, except for the whole growing-of-the-baby part...that's well underway).

As for how everything is going and how I feel...I feel very...pregnant. I can tell I'm older this time around, and in worse shape physically than I was with The Boys. I'm still tired, and my blood levels tell the reason: I'm anemic...woohoo!! So I have to buy some OTC ferrous sulfate supplements tomorrow and take them in addition to my prenatals. Hopefully I'll be able to feel the effects of those rather quickly, as we have so much to do in not a very long time. I am still having Braxton Hicks on top of Braxton Hicks. Way earlier than with the other two, but still "normal" according to my OB. If I have anything over 4 in an hour time frame, I'm to go in for a check. I'm up to 3 so far. I can definitely tell they're not real contrasctions, but they catch my breath just the same. Coworkers are starting to question whether I'll make it to the very end or not, and I'm totally unable to answer that question. I worked right up until D-Day with the boys, so anything other than that is abnormal to me. We shall see how things play out.

I went to the farmers market the other day. I scored on some fresh local fruits and veggies for our bbq yesterday (more on that later). As I was leaving, I passed by a little table full of flowers and plants and other such lovelies. I noticed some really tall plants, and when I took a gander at the sign, it said "Tomato plants - 3 for $1"!!! So I snagged 3 of them, cherry tomatoes, simply because if they don't give me any fruit, I'll only be out a buck. I got them planted in one of the sunniest parts of our yard today, so we'll have to wait and see what comes of them. I also grabbed 3 pepper plants (also 3 for $1), but planting the tomatoes really took it out of me, so I'll wait until tomorrow evening after work to make a spot for those. 3rd find was this flower...I don't know the name of them, but I remember them from my youth, and I love them. I think they'll be better as container plants, so I'll have to find a container to put them in, lol. I'll try to post pics of them in the future, and maybe someone can identify them for me.

Our bbq was a great success yesterday. A few friends, wonderful weather, good food. Heck, someone even brought a bottle of wine that I can't drink! (But I'll be saving that bad boy for after LMJM is born). I had to duck out early, as I had a birthday celebration for a friend that had been planned for ions. And only one couple didn't show up, which was dissapointing since we se them so little to begin with (he's out of town a lot). I can't remember the last time I even saw their girls...they're probably huge by now. But hopefully we'll be able to catch up with them soon.

I will admit to laying around on the couch today. BBM has to work (yup, on Father's Day), and The Boys are in solitary confinement for a heavy infraction. Dexter the Attack Cat and I have been lounging; that's his normal routine, and I'm trying to relax my sciatic nerve before I have to go back to work tomorrow. I still have laundry to do, although BBM has graciously advised me that he can get his done tomorrow on his only day off this week. So I'll have some extra time and energy, I hope, to make him his favorite cookies: chocolate chip without the chocolate chips.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Dad's Day!

Who on God's Green Earth?!?!?!

Yeah, who pointed out that I had double digits to go until Little Miss Junior Mint was born? Lisa, was that you? Look, I'm already bitter because not only do you have freshly shelled peas, but strawberry goodness and fresh baked bread?? And since you reminded me, ever so excitedly, that I have less than 100 days to go before my precious little package arrives, time has slipped away and I'm now down to 87 days. Thanks. A whole bunch. Really. :P

That being said, do I really need to explain to you all why I haven't posted for {GASP} two whole weeks??? I mean, I will if I must. But I don't think it's required. I think your imaginations will do just fine. I will tell you this though: there are no signs of a slow-down anytime in the near future. In fact, if anything, I will busier than a one-armed paper hanger between now and the time that LMJM arrives, gift wrapped in a soft pink blanket.

So...I have news. Actually, Big Boss Man has news. But I'm not allowed to say anything yet (okay, so my family knows, but I'm not allowed to say anything to the general public yet). Folks, don't worry, it will be soon...like probably mid-next week soon. Aside from the usual falling in love, getting married, having babies sort of news, this looks to be one of the best things that has ever happened to us as a family. It will also be one of the most stressful, but people go through it all the time in one capacity or another, so we will fare just fine.

Is your interest peaked yet?!?!?

Well, I still can't tell you. How's that for a cliffhanger???

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So the IRS website finally has a mail date for our stimulus check. Granted, we haven't gotten The Letter that says how much we're getting, but still, it's a start (we know how much we're getting, but we haven't gotten The Letter). Depending on what happens, we might not have to use that money for LMJM's room switcheroo, but we'll have to wait and see. Either way, the money is spent already (isn't it always), and will go to good use.

Our closest local "farm" shut down a couple days ago. Now don't get weepy, I don't mean the actual farm itself shut down. But the parking lot they take over with all their plants and flowers and such every year had it's closing sale on Tuesday. The flowers were dirt cheap, but I resisted and only bought one (and that was for my mom for her birthday...happy Birthday Mom!!). They had a whole table of 50 cents each plants, and they were all so sad-looking that I wanted to buy them all. Their tomato plants were pathetic, dried out and falling over. It made me sad to see that they hadn't been bought by anyone. I should've asked what they did with them when they closed...if they just threw them out, I could've rescued a few of them and tried to get them going again. They have another stand that's a little further out, in the other direction from our home...maybe I should drive by there and see if they're still around.

The weather here has been INCREDIBLE. And I don't mean that in a good way. Hot, humid, and more hot and humid. I know that people have had this weather for awhile in other parts of the country, but still...it was so nice for so long, I'd even take the rain back if it meant the humidity would go away. Oh wait, I think it is supposed to rain later on today. Luckily, BBM is off work, so I get the van to drive tonight. Whew! And somehow, the male end of our hose got bent, so it won't attach to the spigot on the back of the house. I will have to replace that before long so The Boys can continue with their sprinkler play. We have been planning a barbecue this weekend for a few of our friends, and I just don't know how we're going to survive it without melting! That, plus the fact that our A/C has been acting up. The condenser line freezes completely, and we have to turn the "cool" off and just leave the "fan" on to defrost it, all the while, sweating ourselves to oblivion. We think the A/C just needs recharged, but God help us if we get someone in here and they say they won't recharge it because it has a leak somewhere. I just want to turn on the A/C...I don't want to know where it's coming from! (a nod to one of my favorite movies, Baby Boom...if you haven't seen it, get it...it's cute).

Well. I think I'm off to do another load of dishes, and maybe a couple loads of laundry will find their way to the washing machine before I head off to work. Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!!

I've been a busy little bee!!

Well. Since I last posted, my mental state has improved, although I'm still not sleeping well. Thank you, everyone, for all the well wishes. I really appreciate your thoughts.

Now, onto my busy-ness. I haven't really done anything that needed to be done, but I've at least been productive today. First, I want to thank an old friend named Chad, for saving me from the computer disaster that is me. My security system trial ran out a couple days ago (I wonder if I should say that...hackers, beware!! There's nothing on my computer of interest, and as you're about to read, I'm up and running again), so I emailed Chad and asked him what he recommended for a cheap wannabe computer guru like me. He had several suggestions, all of which I took, and everything is peachy keen right now! And it was all F.R.E.E. So thank you thank you, Chad!!

Secondly, I went to Hancock Fabrics today and bought some fabric to fix something that's been bothering me (and The Boys) for quite awhile now. I actually thought I was going to have to break out the sewing machine (gasp!), but I ended up not needing to, thank God...I'm still scared of it.

Let me show you what I was up against (and no one is allowed to comment about the primed but unpainted walls behind the bed...my children were budding artists, you know):



This is the bottom of Beanpole's part of the bunk bed. The lining that covers all the nonsense and mayhem up there has been coming off...for quite some time now.



This is the other end. I guess it hasn't helped the Little Linebacker (who sleeps underneath all this hangy-downy-crap) has pulled and tugged, and pulled and tugged some more.



The middle. The whole thing was just horrifying. And today was the day I finally fixed it. I went to the fabric store and started looking for something, anything, that would replace this laughable piece of muslin or plastic or whatever the heck it was. I ended up buying some dark grey fleece. No special reason, other than it was on sale, and it was all one color, and because it's fleece and fleece is cool.



So I measured. And then I measured again to make sure. Then I cried because I had nowhere better to cut my fabric except on the floor. Then I dried my eyes and cut my fleece anyway, and laid it out over the wooden frame.



It actually looked wonderful, and like I'd imagined it, which was a shocker to me. I also bought some huge thumb tacks (quilter's solid head thumb tacks, to be exact). Now I'll have you know that I'd planned on stapling this fleece into place, since most of the edge is covered anyway. I'll also have you know that I have NO CLUE what a quilter's thumb tack is supposed to be used for, and I'm probably horribly misusing them. But I don't care.

I measured again to find center, and started hammering away, placing a quilter's thumb tack approximately every 9 inches. I folded the exposed edge of fleece under and stretched it just a teensy bit to keep it tight.



I also did some funky foldy edge thing at the corners, but please don't ask me what, because I can't describe it. All I know is that no edges of fleece are exposed, and that's all that matters to me.



See how nice the thumb tacks look? Nice and finished and neat-looking.



Now here's a picture of the finished product, back in the bed frame, me laying on the bed and camera-ing into the upper left corner. Purty.



And there's me in the same spot, but looking down towards the end. Look!! No hangy downy thing!!

And I'm not going to show you a picture of my reward for being so darned Mrs. Fix It today...a hoho and a bottle of caffeine free root beer are calling my name!