4 Mintues

I have 4 minutes to have this done on Friday....


1. I need to write things down during the week for this post on Friday. I think of things and always assume I will remember them but never do.

2. I was worried the person I stole this idea from was upset that I stole her idea but she left a comment on my blog last week so I'm assuming things are okay.

3. I might be taking Mandie to meet her paternal Grandmother this week. Paul has not spoken to his mother in 4 years and has no intention to, but I feel like she deserves a chance to meet her granddaughter. I'm nervous.

___* It is now after midnight so this didn't get done on Friday...but unlike my friend I don't have a witty Friday name for my post so I guess it is okay.

4. I have a thing for grab bags and similar things...not knowing what is in there really makes me want to have it so I can see what is in there.

5. I did several crafts this week and I am really proud of how they turned out. I also cooked several new meals that turned out really good.



6. For the first time in several years we are getting money back from our taxes. YAY!

7. I am feeling very ambitious about doing some things to make our house nicer. I'm just hoping I remain motivated and actually do things.

8. I am REALLY looking forward to starting our gardens this year. Last year though it was probably not impressive to anyone else, we had the best garden we have ever had...so this year I want to do more.

9. I recently started using Pintrest and I love it because it motivates me to do things.

10. I use military time. I have since I joined the fire dept in high school ..I just feel like it's more logical.

__Finished @ 00:11hrs

10

10 things about me ...

1. I bought a Smash book this week ...I'm excited about putting things in it.
Smash Book

2. I want a pet jelly fish.

3. I was very spontaneous as a child and now I am very much a "Type A" person.

4. In 1994 I asked for and got Stone Temple Pilots Purple on cassette for Christmas.

5. A few weeks ago Paul snuck a pack of Papermate Flair felt tip markers in 16 different colors in our stuff at Target then surprised me when we got home. Yay colors!

6. I feel guilty that I let Mandie watch so much T.V.

7. I have a new obsession with repurposing t- shirts.

8. I am super worried about my Dad's trip to Thailand. With him not being in very good health I worry that he won't make it back home. He needs this trip though.

9. I have been practicing my math skills on Khan Academy that site is amazing.

10. I am very competitive.



I did shave my dog last week.

Stolen Idea

Every Friday a person I know posts facts about herself...I want to get better at posting more often, and like the idea of being introspective so I'm stealing her idea. Thank you Catrina.

1. I like to write but I am not the best at spelling, and I don't always use proper punctuation.

2. My tortoise Shellie died this week. I had her for just under a decade. I am not sure what happened, but I feel guilty that I have lost so many pets recently..it makes me question my role in their deaths. (I didn't strangle them or not feed them or anything, I just wonder if I could have done more to prevent what happened.) I feel guilty enough that I didn't even post about her death on FB.

3. I ate almost an entire box of Honey Nut Cheerios this week and I don't feel bad because it's better than the crap I probably would have eaten instead.

4. I like the idea of naps, but I am bad at them.

5. My sister and I are socially awkward and have no friends so we are best friends with each other.
(I don't think I'd want it any other way.)

6. I decided I want to shave my dog so I want to do it right now! I tend to get certain ideas in my head and I become very focused on that one thing.

7. I hate the smell of milk.

8. I don't like getting my hands gross with food, but since I've had a baby I've gotten over that pretty quick. (The same goes for getting food on my clothes ..I used to change as soon as I could if I spilled something on myself, and now I've gone entire days with food smeared across my shirt.)

9. I am a sucker for infomercials ...luckily I have the self control and lack of money to keep me from buying anything.

10. My desk is a disaster area that I really need to organize. (After I shave the dog.)



My sister and I
(Yes, we have the same parents.)

Eggies

So a few months ago my sister called me and was all excited telling me to look up Eggies online. I look it up and the infomercial is amazing. I can have hard boiled eggs and not be bothered with that pesky little shell. However as amazing as it seemed I did not rush out and buy them. A purchase as important as this required research. I Google "Eggies Reviews" and things similar to that and find nothing that should really deter me from purchasing these interesting little egg pods. No one has said anything amazing about them but no one has really said that their aren't amazing either.

I still do not rush to buy them, and this is a good thing because on a random trip to the mall and a visit to the AS SEEN ON TV store I find them on sale for $12.99!! I snatch them up because they are going to solve all of my life's little problems and I take them to the register.

At home I technically have no need to boil eggs so it takes me several days before these little beauties become necessary. But as the need arises I can no longer find the instructions. (And they aren't available online because then everyone would know their secrets.) Fuck! Well I wake up my husband who has just finished a 12 hour overnight shift and ask him in my panicky voice "Where are the instructions for the Eggies!"

So now instructions in hand and divorce pending, I get ready to make my Eggies. Each pod is four pieces so I begin dismantling them so that I can grease the inside. (Yep I just gave away a secret and there are more to come.) During this process a little rubber-band like washer piece comes loose and I spend probably 10 minutes trying to put it back on. (Yes, at this point my traditional eggs could have been boiled; but I am determined to see this magic.) So I finish greasing them and put them back together and remove just the smaller cap where you drop in your raw egg. I admit that I am not graceful at cracking eggs but I don't feel that I am a complete failure at it either. I now have to crack eggs and drop them into a hole that is just a smidgen bigger than a quarter. The first egg drops right in. Great! I am better at this than I thought.

The next egg I lose a little egg white on the counter....

The third egg I lose a majority of egg white to the counter and my hands are covered in egg.

I now have little select-a-size paper towels wadded up on various spots on the counter.

I get the rest done. (I could have boiled two sets of eggs at this point.)

I place the eggs into the pot of water just as the instructions state and begin boiling ...

Soon there is a layer of egg white on top of the water and even as I attempt to turn it down we have imminent boil over about to occur. Yes I know that it boiling over may not be the Eggies fault but there is way more stress happening that would normally happen if I were boiling eggs.

When they finished boiling I become even more disappointed as I struggle to remove the eggs from their silly little pods, which I then realize that unlike egg shells I'm going to have to wash.

The outcome is six kind of sad looking eggs that took me somewhere near an hour to boil. (If it wasn't an hour it felt like one.) And 24 plastic pieces that need to be cleaned. Yes, the eggs tasted fine but were eaten with resentment and resentment never tastes good.

So my last post was on December 29th, 2010 and I posted about being hugely pregnant. On December 31st, 2010 after 12 hours of labor (9 of which involved no epidural), they cut me open and ripped out the most precious human being I could have ever imagined. Mandie Joseph Chevitanondr was born and immediately became the center of our world.

It has been 7 months now and I can still just stare at her sleeping. We dread each milestone as it approaches because it means she is growing up (too fast); but we also celebrate each adorable moment. She has gone from a cute helpless little slug baby, to a gorgeous just shy of walking tot.



As much as I wish we could just freeze time I look forward to seeing what the amazing little girl will become. She has already shown her stubborn determination by crawling and standing, well before babies typically do. She loves music and has shown a specific taste for classic rock, which her Dad and I rarely listened to before her. (I think she has a crush on Freddie Mercury.) And she shows her compassion for others with hugs and kisses for her family, as well as her pets and stuffed animals.

She has so much to learn, discover and contribute to the world that I feel privileged to be there while she does it. I love my little Nugget, and I look forward to helping her learn and grow. But for as long as she will let me, I will kiss her peaceful sleeping little face and wish her the sweetest dreams at night and greatest adventures when she wakes.

Jellyfish Hotdog

It's been over a year since I have posted to this blog. It's been a busy year and there were probably plenty of things I could have posted ... but I didn't.

In the time I have not posted I have managed to grow another human being. We are just days away from seeing the results of this effort. The first seven or so months went by fast, but this month is at a stand still. I am on bed rest, and that is probably why I am taking the time to post now.
To get to this point we had to go through IVF. The process of going through infertility treatment was an interesting and humbling process. I have taken off my pants for more people in the last 11 months then I could have ever imagined ...especially considering that I was paying them. The process to get pregnant was fast though; we went to Shady Grove Fertility in February and were pregnant by April. By May we "graduated" to an OB and I had a whole new audience to take my pants off for.
My pregnancy has been easy. I had no morning sickness and never even really felt nauseous. For the most part, until I got huge I didn't even really feel pregnant. Right now though at almost 10 months I am huge and uncomfortable. I still don't feel that bad, but my blood pressure has decided it's not going to cooperate and the baby has decided that she is not coming out.
We are excited and ready for her to be here. Her room is set up, and all her cute little baby things are taunting us while we wait. Our due date is 5 days away, but I won't complain if she shows up sooner. We are excited to see what our little jellyfish hotdog looks like.

I don't like making decisions about food...

I am not a real big fan of fast food with all the moderately quick food available at places like Panera and Pei Wei, but if necessary I will eat it if the option is going to be fast food or no food. So on the way to work we stopped at Taco Bell. As we come in through the entrance furthest from the counter another guy, who appears to be in his early 20's and looks kind of like a skater, has come through the side entrance and is standing by the rails intended to corral customers like cattle to the registers. After a few moments of us pondering the menu the guy asks us if we know what we are going to get. We tell him no, and that he can go ahead. At this point he moves closer to us and asks if we will pick his dinner for him. What this guy does not realize is that:

1. My husband, my friend/co-worker and myself are not very social and immediately become a little panicked when the conversation went beyond "no you go ahead".
2. I have trouble picking my own food and even more so picking food for a stranger.
3. I don't know how hungry he is.
   

We try to politely ignore him when he asks us again if we will pick his food for him. He goes on to explain that he doesn't like to have to pick his own food and that having so many options on the menu makes him nervous. He then offers to buy dinner for the one of us that will pick his food for him. What this guy doesn't realize now is:

1. By forcing this on us when we politely tried to ignore him he has freaked us all out and created a very awkward situation.
2. While he is talking about this I am thinking that if picking food is really this difficult for him he just shouldn't eat. (And by shouldn't eat I don't mean -not eat out in public, this is a stranger I don't care if he eats at all.)

We finally move up to the counter. My friend orders first; she does not order for the stranger, nor do I expect her to. I make my typical dollar menu selections, but being nice I order two of each item for the strange man that has now joined us at the counter. My husband orders and I prepare to pay, because I figure if buying the guy a three dollar meal will make him go away it will be worth it. Stranger Danger whips out a credit card and buys all of us dinner.

So in conclusion for being polite we all got free meals and Stranger Danger did not murder us in the parking lot. However it was the longest most awkward wait for our food ever, and then we forgot our drink in our hurry to exit the building and get away from him.


Epilogue:
I ordered a soft taco, nachos and a crunchy potato taco (that isn't as bad as it sounds).

I never did eat the soft taco...I wonder what happened to it?