I’m “Honor”able

I got some really good news today. I’ve been invited to apply for the Honors Program at my university! I’m so excited. Now I have to do up a resume of my accomplishments and write a 250 word essay about something particularly meaningful to me (I’m pretty sure I won’t have a problem doing that). Now I’ve got to list all of the things I’ve accomplished. Do you think one thing qualifies as a resume?

If I do get into the program, I’ll have to maintain a 3.0 GPA (I’m pretty sure I won’t have a problem with that either) and take a couple of special classes. I’ll also be eligible for other special programs (similar to internships, but different) and a $1500 per year scholarship. I’m so psyched by this.

At any rate, I wanted to write more and in more detail, but I’ve got a test to study for and an application to finish. I just wanted to share my good news somewhere. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Boring Wednesdays

I’m really tired today. I don’t have much energy for hunting down work and it’s certainly not coming to me. I think today’s just going to be short and sweet. I have a math exam to study for and a baby blanket to finish.

That reminds me, that blanket… Well, of course, I’m a new knitter. Just taught myself. So that means I’ve ripped out my work about a hundred times already. I was at a point where the pattern was coming naturally and then BOOM! I messed up and didn’t notice for a while. That’s incredibly frustrating. Still, I like it and will keep going forward. No, I won’t be starting a blog about it.

I’m also working on my javascript skills. Wish me luck with this. I’m not very good at it. I want to eventually code my own plugins and have to learn the language. I wonder if that’s too much on my plate. We’ll see. I always get started on this stuff and never finish. I’d really love to do some tutorials, but…

See? Wasting more time. Time to get off this computer and get busy.

Easter with the Family

We went to dinner at my in-laws yesterday, because my parents-in-law are leaving town today to go wait for a new baby to come. I completely let my diet go to the wayside, but probably should have taken some diet pills beforehand. My mother-in-law loves to cook with butter, so everything was really rich. I had my first episode in a long time after eating there. My blood pressure shot up to 149/94¹ and I just felt like I was going to go in a coma. I’m pretty sure I gained 5 pounds when I was there too. The food is pretty unhealthy, but it certainly does taste good.

There was also some talk about the flood, too. Some family members haven’t been north to see what was going on and argued that it couldn’t really be that bad. Yes, actually it is that bad. People are getting reverse 9-1-1 calls because access to their homes is getting cut off. One family even lost their home because the fire department couldn’t get there in time to get the fire under control. When we drove past it yesterday (from the highway) it looked like there was a new lake where part of the town used to be. In one spot the water is only inches from creeping up on the highway. Of course, the people who live there are blaming everyone but God. And the people downstream are blaming the people who live there for living there. It’s getting crazy. One person even said our congressman isn’t doing his job and the flood is his fault. Wow. Talk about getting crazy. Anyway, the dam was built to protect property in the more populated areas and now the people north of the dam are raging mad. I don’t blame them, but it’s really not any person’s fault that there’s a flood right now. I mentioned that to family members and they laughed. Some of them blame the Corps of Engineers and think the government is letting the farmland get flooded on purpose. HUH? That’s just crazy.

Today we’re going to spend the day with my family. That ought to be really interesting. My people are a lot more rowdy than Steve’s people, but they don’t cook with butter. So, hopefully I’ll survive the day without seeing my blood pressure go crazy.

1. I used Pee Wee’s blood pressure monitor to check. [↩]

No Bed For Pee Wee

We’ve been spending a lot of time concentrating on baby clothes for Pee Wee’s munchkin. Every time I see some cute little boy’s outfit I want to buy it. Of course, the outfit isn’t any larger than 3 months, so… At any rate we’re looking at cribs finally. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that the baby won’t come until his due date, but a crib is pretty important. Don’t you think?

We were going to let him sleep in the crib/bassinet combo thing, but have decided against that. I can’t let him have Mags’ crib because it’s a 4-in-one and we’re using that for a toddler bed. So we’re going to have to buy him his own bed. That means that I have to convince Steve to take us to Burlington Coat Factory or Toys ‘R Us to find a crib. Have you seen the crap that Wally world offers? I’m pretty sure it’s full of lead paint. Who wants their children (or grandchildren in my case) to sleep next to lead paint from China? So, we’re looking at a little bit more in price, but higher quality. Plus, the people that work for Burlington Coat Factory are treated much better than those poor folks at Wally World.

Unfortunately, Steve doesn’t want to take us all the way to the town north of us to buy the crib. I’m about up to my eyeballs with that man. He’s making me crazy. For instance, today I found out that he didn’t order delivery for Pee Wee’s new bed. I even argued with the woman at the store that there was delivery, because we specifically talked about it¹ and then found out that he didn’t pay for delivery!!! This man told the woman at the store that we would pick it up Thursday (today) or Friday and guess what…. WE DON’T HAVE A TRUCK!!! So, instead of paying the $30 for delivery the day we ordered the bed and getting the bed the day we expected it he had to go pay for delivery the day the bed was supposed to be delivered. Isn’t that nice?

So, now my poor child has to sleep on that hard-as-a-brick bed until next week sometime. Isn’t that nice? I blame it all on my husband. I hope that my child can sleep between now and then. You never know when that sciatica pain is going to hit. She really needs that pillow top. This man is making her suffer needlessly to save $30 and I don’t appreciate it.

In other news, my future grandson has some really cute booties and I’ll have to take some pictures to share. I’m pretty sure his little feet will come out wearing a (baby) size two because his mama’s got some flat, funky feet and I’m not really sure, but I bet his daddy’s got some ugly boats floating at the bottom of his legs. I pray that my grandson will at least inherit the cuteness of my feet.

It’s the least that he deserves after today.

1. ”It’s right around the corner”, I told her. [↩]

Little Bits of Green

Since we’re entering a recession (or in the midst of one, depending on who you ask) it’s a good idea to consider going a little “green” to save some “green” (or whatever color your money is). There are a few simple ideas listed here, including: riding to work, switching to tankless water heaters, choosing to plant trees in a community park as a family outing (or new hobby as the article mentions). Whether you’re trying to save some money or save the planet, every little bit helps.

This past summer we added more insulation to the exterior of our home and had our furnace and AC tuned up. Recently, we had maintenance on our old washer and dryer- instead of buying a new one. Because we just added to what we already have it cost a lot less. With regards to our siding and insulation, our heating and electric bills have been about 25% less than usual, even with the higher amount of snow fall this year.

We’ve also decided to plant another tree in our yard- to shade our house and keep the cooling bills down. We have three really tall maple trees in our front and side so I want to put one in the back of the house. Since our yard is so big we can afford to do that.

Other things that we’ve been doing is recycling aluminum and buying milk with recyclable bottles (I don’t know if it’s available all over, but ours comes from a local dairy that supplies our regular grocery). We also compost every available thing we can (kitchen waste, non-glossy paper, dog hair from the vacuum). That keeps our trash to a minimum.

My next task will be to switch to greener home products. I’ve learned a lot of different cleaning “recipes” from watching “How Clean is Your House” on BBC America. I really feel that I can get my house clean enough without all of those potentially hazardous chemicals mucking up my air.

I’m not sure what else we’ll try. Maybe the tankless water heater, after our warranty is expired with our current one. I’ve seen those on home improvement shows and am pretty impressed with them. Anything that will keep our operating costs to a minimum, but not really interfere with our quality of life. I hate to say it, but I’m not going communal for all of this. One little step at a time.

That’s all it takes, right?

And Four Hours Later

I was wrong when I wrote that everything was going well with Pee Wee. We went for her “growth” check ultrasound yesterday and they noticed that there was some “funneling”. Seems that is just a fancy term for the cervix opening from the inside. So it was only seen through a transvaginal ultrasound¹. The tech wanted us to wait for the doctor to see what we should do.

Now, Pee Wee and I both said that the fetal/maternal medicine doctors knew her cervix had opened (though we both assumed it was obvious from eyeball examination) and that’s why she was on restricted movement, blah blah blah. We ended up talking to one of the doctors on the clinic staff who had actually come in to check on Pee Wee when she was in the hospital.

This is where I was wrong. I thought we had some decent doctors here. Um, huh?

First, the doctor didn’t recognize Pee Wee. Secondly, she informed us that she didn’t have the ultrasound that was done at the hospital and so couldn’t compare the two. She wanted to admit Pee Wee again. Well, before we told her she’d already been in the hospital. Didn’t these people share notes?

So, we ended up going over to the hospital so the fetal/maternal medicine specialists could do the same flippin’ ultrasound to tell us - FOUR HOURS LATER - that Pee Wee’s cervix was exactly the same as when she was discharged three weeks ago. Before we left, I made sure to talk with another doctor from the clinic and request that the records from the hospital be forwarded over. This doctor assured me that all the records were sent over this time and were previously. Really? Well, why were we here then?

See, Pee Wee’s appointment was late in the day. The doctor’s office closes at 5 pm. The doctor would have had to stay over to about 5:15 pm to compare the two ultrasounds and find out that NOTHING HAD CHANGED and she probably would have missed drinks with the girls. Much better to drive our financial costs up and cause us inconvenience than to stay for a few minutes longer.

Anyway, when it was all done, I was mentally exhausted. Yes, Pee Wee was aggravated too, but she lets me do all the worrying and get worked up. I went up to bed and imagined I was sleeping on a memory foam mattress, fell right to sleep and then woke up sore from head to foot. Yes, my tension followed me through the night. Lovely. I wonder if I can charge the clinic for that? Wouldn’t that be nice.

1. The baby is fine. [↩]