The inevitable happened, I caught a virus. Preggo women have supressed immune systems, something about keeping the body from refusing the baby. Yay. I got my flu shot this year just in case and managed to make it through the holiday season without getting getting diseased. A testament to my less than friendly personality. It has it's upsides, much to my hubby's denial.
The bad news, I have a cold. The good news, it's not a real bad one. I'm used to ones that make you wear all of the skin off your nose with tissues and every time you lie down you nasal passages drain. You know what I'm talking about right? This one is not so bad. I'm having a hard time with lung capacity. It was already bad since baby is already 18 weeks along and for reasons I won't bore/gore you with my uterus is much farther up in my abdomen then it's supposed to be. I was already having trouble climbing stairs, the cold hasn't helped any. I'm not terribly congested but every time I try and do something, you know, like go potty, I'm practically panting by the time I get there. I keep thinking I've rested enough and try to go do something like make a short Costco run. I can do it. But that's about it for the entire rest of the day. Ah, the superwoman syndrome.
The hubby has been suffering worse than me. He isn't sick but he is off today for the holiday so he got to take care of all the little things that I normally do. Poor man. I passed off the morning school kid drop off to him this morning. Normally the kids would have the day off too but they had a snow day a few weeks ago (totally unheard of out here but hella fun none the less) and they used this holiday as a make up day. Of course the snow day was supposed to be a half day. The make up day? Full day. The hubby doesn't mind taking her to school on the days he has off but I, of course, do things in the morning that he probably is not used to doing. I have this check list of stuff to make sure get done before the kid is dropped off and really, I don't even notice it. The poor hubby, his check list isn't quite so long. So I woke (barely) enough to remind him this morning what needed to be addressed. He got half of it done. Poor man. I was less than gentle with him once I got up and realized he dropped the ball. He had already taken care of my invalid ass all weekend, I think this morning was the last straw. He had already made my breakfast and was in the middle of folding laundry (the laundry he did the day before) and pretty much had had it with me. I don't blame him, my morning self is even worse than my normal bad attitude self. Add to that my illness and I was super fun to deal with. I left to go to work right after and gave the hubby a chance to settle down. I lasted about 30 minutes at work before having to come home. Like I said, super woman I am not. We went to lunch and it was all good. The hubby? He's closer to superman than I am the female version. He was back at the cleaning thing before I even made it home from work.
So here I am, whining on the web about having a cold. While the hubby is hard at work keeping me fully stocked with Airborne and the household running. On his days off. Poor man....
Monday, February 21, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Daddies and their daughters, a very important relationship
This is a subject I'm always going on about when I hear a woman has terrible choices in men and the resulting crappy relationships. You show me a woman who has crappy taste in men and I'll bet you that she had dad issues. Go ahead, try it sometime. The next time a gf bemoans her crappy relationship history ask her how she got on with her dad. How he treated her, what they did together, if he was around at all. It can be overcome but still, it's important.
All you dads out there do you realize how important it is to be a part of your little girl's life? I know that guys like to play ball with their sons and all but many men just don't get how important their relationship is with their girls. He's the guy who sets the example for all other males in her life. He's the one who shows her how women are supposed to be treated and just how much respect she can expect to get from them. VERY IMPORTANT JOB HERE DADS. Long term ramifications. Seriously.
This past Friday, the Friday before V-day (which I'm not much of a fan of), the girl's school had a "Me and My Guy" dance for the girls and their father (uncle, grandpa, male role model,whatever). It was so damn cute I just couldn't stand it. I was good, I remembered a week prior to make an order for a corsage and boutineer at the florists. Like I said, these are the days when standards are met. The kid needs to know exactly what to expect from a boy taking her to a dance so we're doing this one right. Her daddy doesn't get home until late so I took care of it for him but he's the one who presented it to her so it counts. I was the driver, there's not enough parking at the school for a ton of cars so it was just easier that way. Plus it gave me a chance to see the daddies in their suits and dress shirts and girls all dolled up and excited. It was so damn cute I can't even begin to tell you. Those little girls were SO excited. Their daddies all very indulgent. This was the first year they did this dance and I'm pretty sure the turnout must have been overwhelming. I talked to the PTA mom who helped organize it the month prior. I told her to expect every girl in that school to be there with their dad. The student body didn't disappoint. Much to my delight (and I'm sure that of all the little girls) it seems as though most of the daddies in our school district know how to spoil their little girls. As it should be right?
The kid wanted, specifically, ruby red lipstick. I did her hair and make up, the lipstick is one I have but never wear. Too red! She looked so cute though and it's what made her happy so I wasn't worried about it. The hubby wore his Mickey Mouse tie (yes, those are rows of little gray Mickey heads on that subtle looking tie) and was very happy to leave work early so he could be home in time to take his little girl to her first dance. Beyond cute....
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Give them and inch...
Got an email from the hubby yesterday. He had jury duty summons, didn't get picked (much to his dismay), and got home early. Let the dogs out of their crates, he and the kid went upstairs to play on the computers or something, and he came back downstairs to this:
Dogs are not allowed on the couch. Mostly. They smell and no matter how often you bathe them they make the couch smell like dog. That's just the way it is. Especially when the dog is like 65lbs. More dog = more smell. That's Jaynie making use of the unloved couch. He may have thought that the couch was getting lonely with everyone upstairs, who knows. If we are in his presence and he wants on the couch he always asks by placing his head on the couch. He rarely if not never will just jump on. If he does it means he's pretty damn desperate for couch lounging time. No, I don't know what causes this need but I can understand it. He's not allowed up there without permission though and he's more often than not, refused. We caught him on the couch twice that afternoon. This time and then once more after I got home and was working in the kitchen. The back of the couch faces the bar in the kitchen so I couldn't see him. When the hubby came back downstairs he busted him. Funny too, normally when we see him he knows he's busted and just gets off the couch. This time he must have been pretty dead set on couch lounging time because he just gave us the droopy eyed look you see in the picture. Didn't even bother to lift up his head. Kinda like he was saying "It's not like you guys were using it".
Yeah, like he owns that couch...spoiled little shit.
Dogs are not allowed on the couch. Mostly. They smell and no matter how often you bathe them they make the couch smell like dog. That's just the way it is. Especially when the dog is like 65lbs. More dog = more smell. That's Jaynie making use of the unloved couch. He may have thought that the couch was getting lonely with everyone upstairs, who knows. If we are in his presence and he wants on the couch he always asks by placing his head on the couch. He rarely if not never will just jump on. If he does it means he's pretty damn desperate for couch lounging time. No, I don't know what causes this need but I can understand it. He's not allowed up there without permission though and he's more often than not, refused. We caught him on the couch twice that afternoon. This time and then once more after I got home and was working in the kitchen. The back of the couch faces the bar in the kitchen so I couldn't see him. When the hubby came back downstairs he busted him. Funny too, normally when we see him he knows he's busted and just gets off the couch. This time he must have been pretty dead set on couch lounging time because he just gave us the droopy eyed look you see in the picture. Didn't even bother to lift up his head. Kinda like he was saying "It's not like you guys were using it".
Yeah, like he owns that couch...spoiled little shit.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
It's all a numbers game...
You'll have to forgive my pregnancy centered blogging for the next 26 weeks or so. My body is no longer mine, it's just on partial loan while I incubate the newbie. I have been subjected to yet more maternal-fetal tests and am reminded how pregnancy is much like gambling, specifically craps. The worst odds in the house and it can all be completely reduced to numbers. Especially when of 'advanced maternal age' ie over 35. The chances of miscarriage: 20-35%, chance of Down Syndrome 1 in 190, birth defects 1 in 400 at age 35 1 in 400 at age 40, risk of autism goes up 18% with every 5 years mom increases in age. I'm sure I could go on but quite frankly reading these statistics is depressing. Realistically the percentages are still good that my baby will be perfectly normal. If I don't miscarry. I have a multitude of friends with both success and disappointment stories. Many have had at least 1 miscarriage before a successful pregnancy. I have 1 friend (parents of my kid's classmate) who recently had a baby with a chromosomal defect. It wasn't Downs but he does have a few issues that will need physical therapy. So I suppose the statistics are great, as long as you aren't that partial one percent right?
We have crossed a few hurdles already and I'm thankful for every one. First off was getting pregnant. Our first was a total fluke so I didn't figure we'd have too much of a problem repeating the oops. Wrong. I'm sure age had plenty to do with that too, it's been almost 10 years since that last pregnancy. Damn we're old. We tried for over a year and then decided to try Clomid. I've had a few friends try it, none have actually gotten pregnant when using it. It does carry a risk of multiples so there is that. The women I do know who used it have all gotten pregnant eventually. One several years later on her own, the others the month after stopping the Clomid. This is what happened to us. You only take the pill for 6 consecutive months, then you stop. We got pregnant on month 7. No multiples, thank gawd. The first hurdle after conceiving is having a viable pregnancy. That means it's in the uterus (ectopic=bad) and it has a heartbeat. I had a co-workers wife who got pregnant at the same time as I did with my first pregnancy. We went for our first ob visit in the same week. Mine had a heart beat. Hers didn't. They had to do a D&C. Really tragic. Needless to say when I went in for my first ob visit this time around, high up on my list was to hear the heartbeat. This being 10 years out from the last we didn't even have to do the doppler thing, I got an quickie office ultrasound. Got to see and hear the heart beat, measure the fetus, and determine the age of the pregnancy (which I was off on calculating) at that point (7 weeks). Freaking awesome and I mark that as the first hurdle post conception.
The next hurdle was the obvious 12 weeks. Highest chances of miscarriage occur then, my chances of keeping this one inside for the duration of baking time went up as of 1 week ago and, of course, continues to go up as time passes. It's a numbers game, remember? As a bonus of the whole advanced maternal age ob's send you to a specialty clinic along with their routine care. This specialty clinic has genetic testing and it does the testing for chromosomal abnormalities. You sit with a genetic counselor and he/she goes over all the genetic abnomalities and your liklihood of having them go wrong with you kid. You go through your race/lineage, any issues your relatives have had and it takes forever. You would not believe what tests they have available now. We opted for only one test because we're a 'mixed race' couple. I'm only half white, my moms from the Philippines so we're a mutt family. It lowers your risk of a ton of genetic abnormalities, kinda like a pound puppy as opposed to a pure bred.
We opted to do the ultrasound at 13 weeks known as the nuchal translucency. It measures the fluid at the base of the baby's skull (profile) and if it's thick it's indicative of a chromasomal abnormality. There's a blood test also but it's to be compared to another blood test taken at 15 weeks so we won't get results from that test for awhile. We did the ultrasound today and everything looks good. Normal amount of fluid at the baby's spine. Hurdle #3 jumped. Downs is a super big deal for us. We aren't rich and we don't have an at home parent. I have no idea how other people can raise a Downs child but we know we just can't do it. It's one of those make or breaks in life and the sooner we know the better. Others would handle it differently I'm sure but we have discussed it before, we just could not hack it. I have the option of asking for a amniocentesis, the only for sure way of ruling it out but again, it comes with it's own risks. I will only do an amnio if all other tests lead us to believe we have a problem. Today's visit put our minds at ease. It's not a for sure thing but it doesn't open up other questions either and I'm good with that. I'd show you the ultrasounds but it's really really hard to make out the baby because it was super active. Back arches, kicks and punches and rolls, the ultrasound tech had a rough time getting a profile picture so she could get the measurements needed. I can make out the baby but I think anyone that isn't as adept at reading ultrasounds would be hard pressed to see anything at all. Next ultrasound is at 18 weeks and that's when we'll probably find out the sex and it'll be much easier to discern a whole baby.
Hey, other good news on my end of the deal, my nausea is almost completely gone and I have yet to gain any weight. I already had too much extra, I'm thinking my body is smart and utilizing what it already has. Don't worry, I still keep myself well fed but the nausea kept me from over eating. I'm going to try and keep up with that theme and not go overboard. I love my food but I am too old to be packing it on.
So all is well so far in old preggers mom land, wish me luck going into trimester #2, it's really the only decent trimester there is!
We have crossed a few hurdles already and I'm thankful for every one. First off was getting pregnant. Our first was a total fluke so I didn't figure we'd have too much of a problem repeating the oops. Wrong. I'm sure age had plenty to do with that too, it's been almost 10 years since that last pregnancy. Damn we're old. We tried for over a year and then decided to try Clomid. I've had a few friends try it, none have actually gotten pregnant when using it. It does carry a risk of multiples so there is that. The women I do know who used it have all gotten pregnant eventually. One several years later on her own, the others the month after stopping the Clomid. This is what happened to us. You only take the pill for 6 consecutive months, then you stop. We got pregnant on month 7. No multiples, thank gawd. The first hurdle after conceiving is having a viable pregnancy. That means it's in the uterus (ectopic=bad) and it has a heartbeat. I had a co-workers wife who got pregnant at the same time as I did with my first pregnancy. We went for our first ob visit in the same week. Mine had a heart beat. Hers didn't. They had to do a D&C. Really tragic. Needless to say when I went in for my first ob visit this time around, high up on my list was to hear the heartbeat. This being 10 years out from the last we didn't even have to do the doppler thing, I got an quickie office ultrasound. Got to see and hear the heart beat, measure the fetus, and determine the age of the pregnancy (which I was off on calculating) at that point (7 weeks). Freaking awesome and I mark that as the first hurdle post conception.
The next hurdle was the obvious 12 weeks. Highest chances of miscarriage occur then, my chances of keeping this one inside for the duration of baking time went up as of 1 week ago and, of course, continues to go up as time passes. It's a numbers game, remember? As a bonus of the whole advanced maternal age ob's send you to a specialty clinic along with their routine care. This specialty clinic has genetic testing and it does the testing for chromosomal abnormalities. You sit with a genetic counselor and he/she goes over all the genetic abnomalities and your liklihood of having them go wrong with you kid. You go through your race/lineage, any issues your relatives have had and it takes forever. You would not believe what tests they have available now. We opted for only one test because we're a 'mixed race' couple. I'm only half white, my moms from the Philippines so we're a mutt family. It lowers your risk of a ton of genetic abnormalities, kinda like a pound puppy as opposed to a pure bred.
We opted to do the ultrasound at 13 weeks known as the nuchal translucency. It measures the fluid at the base of the baby's skull (profile) and if it's thick it's indicative of a chromasomal abnormality. There's a blood test also but it's to be compared to another blood test taken at 15 weeks so we won't get results from that test for awhile. We did the ultrasound today and everything looks good. Normal amount of fluid at the baby's spine. Hurdle #3 jumped. Downs is a super big deal for us. We aren't rich and we don't have an at home parent. I have no idea how other people can raise a Downs child but we know we just can't do it. It's one of those make or breaks in life and the sooner we know the better. Others would handle it differently I'm sure but we have discussed it before, we just could not hack it. I have the option of asking for a amniocentesis, the only for sure way of ruling it out but again, it comes with it's own risks. I will only do an amnio if all other tests lead us to believe we have a problem. Today's visit put our minds at ease. It's not a for sure thing but it doesn't open up other questions either and I'm good with that. I'd show you the ultrasounds but it's really really hard to make out the baby because it was super active. Back arches, kicks and punches and rolls, the ultrasound tech had a rough time getting a profile picture so she could get the measurements needed. I can make out the baby but I think anyone that isn't as adept at reading ultrasounds would be hard pressed to see anything at all. Next ultrasound is at 18 weeks and that's when we'll probably find out the sex and it'll be much easier to discern a whole baby.
Hey, other good news on my end of the deal, my nausea is almost completely gone and I have yet to gain any weight. I already had too much extra, I'm thinking my body is smart and utilizing what it already has. Don't worry, I still keep myself well fed but the nausea kept me from over eating. I'm going to try and keep up with that theme and not go overboard. I love my food but I am too old to be packing it on.
So all is well so far in old preggers mom land, wish me luck going into trimester #2, it's really the only decent trimester there is!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
12 down, 28 to go. Maybe.
Weeks that is. I am now into my second trimester which at my advanced maternal age means I've made it through the very high risk time. Not that something still can't go wrong, it's just more likely now that I'll make it to the end with a live product. My first pregnancy lasted 39 weeks which is why there's a maybe in the title. I think it's not so much a function of fetus being ready as my body kicking it out. I'm 5 feet tall and by the time I hit 39 weeks I look much like Violet Beauregard after the dessert part of the bubble gum (name the movie). Not a pretty sight. I didn't even go into labor at 39 weeks. My water broke and nothing happened. It was kinda like my body was done but the kid had no intention of leaving. Let's hope we don't have a repeat of that or it'd be an immediate c-section. I don't want to be eviscerated again. As common a practice as it is I did not enjoy it at all. Yeah yeah I got kid out of (not quite right but almost) blah blah blah but it was still another week in the hospital. A week from Hell and I managed to have a nice little nervous breakdown. That nobody noticed. Seriously, the healthcare system is severely lacking here. 2 years healing with severe post partum depression and again, no health care worker or doctor noticed. Now you know why I don't want a repeat evisceration. I mean c-section. Yeah same difference right?
Barring all that drama though my primary job in life right now is to continue on as I've been doing so far. You figure for a minimum of 40 weeks my body is not my own. I am an incubator at the whim of whatever hormone my body decides to pump in volume at any given point in time. My first pregnancy I only had a food craving once somewhere in my second trimester. I suddenly was drinking milk by the gallon and I hate milk. It lasted a few weeks and was really weird. This time around I've been getting random food cravings like daily. I know it's one of those pregnancy norm things but I find it really strange. One day it was asparagus. For the whole day. Oddly I did not get asparagus that day but I did eat a lot of veggies. The veggies have been a go to thing also. Fruit to a lesser degree too. This is a good sign I think since only once was I craving french fries. I rather that kind of balance than the opposite right? It could be worse, I could be all into fried foods and sweets. I've been on the big side of pregnancy though (6-9 months) and I do not have any room for excess fat. I'm waaay too short for that luxury. Violet, you're turning violet! I understand all you really need though is an extra 100-300 calories a day to grow one of these suckers. I figure with my 'advanced age' (I love that term) and consequent decreased metabolism I was probably already getting enough as it was. So I've tried to keep it the same just spread out more through the day. Seems to be working so far. We'll see how long that lasts...
28 more to go, I'll be going to the maternal fetal specialists next week because, you know, advanced maternal age...wish me luck!
Barring all that drama though my primary job in life right now is to continue on as I've been doing so far. You figure for a minimum of 40 weeks my body is not my own. I am an incubator at the whim of whatever hormone my body decides to pump in volume at any given point in time. My first pregnancy I only had a food craving once somewhere in my second trimester. I suddenly was drinking milk by the gallon and I hate milk. It lasted a few weeks and was really weird. This time around I've been getting random food cravings like daily. I know it's one of those pregnancy norm things but I find it really strange. One day it was asparagus. For the whole day. Oddly I did not get asparagus that day but I did eat a lot of veggies. The veggies have been a go to thing also. Fruit to a lesser degree too. This is a good sign I think since only once was I craving french fries. I rather that kind of balance than the opposite right? It could be worse, I could be all into fried foods and sweets. I've been on the big side of pregnancy though (6-9 months) and I do not have any room for excess fat. I'm waaay too short for that luxury. Violet, you're turning violet! I understand all you really need though is an extra 100-300 calories a day to grow one of these suckers. I figure with my 'advanced age' (I love that term) and consequent decreased metabolism I was probably already getting enough as it was. So I've tried to keep it the same just spread out more through the day. Seems to be working so far. We'll see how long that lasts...
28 more to go, I'll be going to the maternal fetal specialists next week because, you know, advanced maternal age...wish me luck!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Where the heck did my sunbelt go?
I'm not a snow person. I don't do skiing or snowboarding, sledding doesn't really float my boat either. Driving in the snow sucks ass and damn snow is cold. I was born and raised in San Diego and it was good. There was no snow unless you got some wild hair up your ass and drove to it. I remember doing that once or twice in my life. Like I said, snow doesn't really do it for me so I didn't go out of my way to find it all that often.
By some set of unfortunate events when I was 20 and (sadly) married to my first husband I found I was living in Maryland, DC area. They use heat pumps in those homes because (get this) it doesn't get that cold in the DC area. I think we got 4 feet of snow the first year I lived there. Did you know heat pumps don't work in the snow? Yeah, found that one out the hard way. I've been leery of the cold ever since and consequently make it a point of staying in the sunbelt for the rest of my life.
Well apparently San Antonio is just mostly in the sunbelt. You know, like during the blazing heat of the summer. The first year we moved here there was a ton of rain that winter (06) and it got cold enough to ice over some. Really neat looking, not too bad to drive in. Mostly because 1)They shut the freeways down and 2)I wasn't driving a Jeep back then. Word to the wise, unless you're a young male adrenaline junkie or an older male denying the reality of age then you really shouldn't be driving a Wrangler. They are suicide machines and manuals (like the one I drive) combined with the ever so smooth suspension are just about the most uncomfortably rides a vehicle could possibly come up with. Seriously, just avoid them like the plague they are.
This year we have some rain (nothing like 06) but damn has there been some cold spells. Like as in right now, DAMN IT'S FREAKING COLD OUTSIDE. Seriously, it might as well be snowing. It'll be below freezing tonight and the next 2 nights. In the 20s tomorrow night. THE TWENTIES. News flash, that's too fucking cold. Just sayin'....
I had to buy a new temporary wardrobe as of late (you know that whole round baby belly thing) and I mostly geared it toward when I'd be big. You know, this summer. Where less clothing is better. Thing to note, a woman's body changes faster with a second pregnancy. I will be 12 weeks tomorrow (insert excitement here peeps, 12 weeks is the magic number for out of the super danger zone of dropping said fetus from uterus too early) and where as I have not gained any weight (insert more excitement here) it's been rearrainged to the belly. Jackets may still fit but they don't zip up anymore. And here I thought I was going to get off easy with the whole 'limit to the new wardrobe'. I shouldn't need to buy a maternity winter coat if my third trimester is in the midst of a Texas summer right? RIGHT? Apparently not. Dude I just can't take the cold and good lordy be it's fucking cold out. The upside is that I've always wanted a double breasted pea coat. Now I have one! It's kinda nice too since it's cut in such a way that you can't really tell it's a maternity coat. That much fabric just looks like a short woman bundled from the cold. I told y'all I was going to enjoy this pregnancy right? I decided that wearing what made me happy was a priority in that enjoyment. Plus somebody stole my sunbelt.
I'm kinda pissed here, where did my warmth go? And whose ass do I have to kick to get it back? Freaking Texas.
By some set of unfortunate events when I was 20 and (sadly) married to my first husband I found I was living in Maryland, DC area. They use heat pumps in those homes because (get this) it doesn't get that cold in the DC area. I think we got 4 feet of snow the first year I lived there. Did you know heat pumps don't work in the snow? Yeah, found that one out the hard way. I've been leery of the cold ever since and consequently make it a point of staying in the sunbelt for the rest of my life.
Well apparently San Antonio is just mostly in the sunbelt. You know, like during the blazing heat of the summer. The first year we moved here there was a ton of rain that winter (06) and it got cold enough to ice over some. Really neat looking, not too bad to drive in. Mostly because 1)They shut the freeways down and 2)I wasn't driving a Jeep back then. Word to the wise, unless you're a young male adrenaline junkie or an older male denying the reality of age then you really shouldn't be driving a Wrangler. They are suicide machines and manuals (like the one I drive) combined with the ever so smooth suspension are just about the most uncomfortably rides a vehicle could possibly come up with. Seriously, just avoid them like the plague they are.
This year we have some rain (nothing like 06) but damn has there been some cold spells. Like as in right now, DAMN IT'S FREAKING COLD OUTSIDE. Seriously, it might as well be snowing. It'll be below freezing tonight and the next 2 nights. In the 20s tomorrow night. THE TWENTIES. News flash, that's too fucking cold. Just sayin'....
I had to buy a new temporary wardrobe as of late (you know that whole round baby belly thing) and I mostly geared it toward when I'd be big. You know, this summer. Where less clothing is better. Thing to note, a woman's body changes faster with a second pregnancy. I will be 12 weeks tomorrow (insert excitement here peeps, 12 weeks is the magic number for out of the super danger zone of dropping said fetus from uterus too early) and where as I have not gained any weight (insert more excitement here) it's been rearrainged to the belly. Jackets may still fit but they don't zip up anymore. And here I thought I was going to get off easy with the whole 'limit to the new wardrobe'. I shouldn't need to buy a maternity winter coat if my third trimester is in the midst of a Texas summer right? RIGHT? Apparently not. Dude I just can't take the cold and good lordy be it's fucking cold out. The upside is that I've always wanted a double breasted pea coat. Now I have one! It's kinda nice too since it's cut in such a way that you can't really tell it's a maternity coat. That much fabric just looks like a short woman bundled from the cold. I told y'all I was going to enjoy this pregnancy right? I decided that wearing what made me happy was a priority in that enjoyment. Plus somebody stole my sunbelt.
I'm kinda pissed here, where did my warmth go? And whose ass do I have to kick to get it back? Freaking Texas.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Ever seen a cow hit by an SUV?
Don't worry, I have no photos for this blog post. I figured I get that out there from the get go.
First, a wee bit of background. We live in suburbia in the 7th largest city in the US. Sadly this particular city has deep ties to it's Podunk roots so we still have no fine cuisine and a plethora of cows, goats, and redneck morons well within city limits. There are 2 loops that run through San Antonio, and inner (410) and an outer (1604), we live just outside of the 1604. Freeways in Texas have these things called access roads. They're basically 2-3 lane roads that run parallel to the interstates in only the direction of that side of the road. So if you want to turn around you have to go under or over the freeway to do so. It's kinda like what Mega blocks are to Legos. If you can't handle driving on the freeway just take the access roads. Same thing just goes a bit slower. They're also what we fall back on when there's ice on the roads and they shut the interstates down. There's a reason for this back story, promise.
We live far enough out that our hood used to be a pretty damn large ranch. Basically what the rancher (who as I understand is a very hard man to deal with) did was sell all of his land except what boarded the 1604 to home builders. Excelent business move (barring the real estate crash which screwed him, hehe) since once all those homes were built there would be so many families there that the commercial real estate bordering the 1604 would then be worth a small fortune. In order to not have to pay insane taxes though the rancher has continued to live on the land he has left and keep a very small herd of cattle on it. Realize that the traffic here, while not city insane, is still considerably more than your normal ranch sees. Plus the access roads may not actually be freeway but people still haul ass on them. I know I do at least 50 when I get on them. Do you see where this is going?
We moved here at the end of 2006 and we don't see the cattle on the land that often and we have never seen one on the road. This evening me and the kid were on the way home from the grocery store and both of the access road lanes were closed off with at least 5 emergency vehicles all over the place blocking it off. We were shunted to the left turn lane (where I was turning left anyway, you know, where the ranch is) and of course we look over to see what idiot hadn't figured out how to drive (San Antonio drivers are worse than any I've ever seen, seriously). We then saw a cow (still alive) sitting down with it's legs tucked under it and a large rope of blood hanging out it's mouth. I have seen all kinds of animals hit by cars when I worked in a stream of vets offices as a vet tech. I mean I've had a Canadian goose that was hit by a truck (survived, I don't know how), a chinchilla hit by a car (survived briefly which was a miracle unto itself), and a multitude of dogs and cats hit by cars. I always found it disturbing to one degree or another as one would expect. This though, wow. I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones or just the fact that the animal is just so damn big but wow. That was freaking DISTURBING to see. I had to make an effort to not fall apart since I was, you know, driving. And you I'm not a large animal person. I've worked with horses and they're ok, I can handle them sorta but they still intimidate me. But cows, I've never touched one and never felt the need to. It's not like I've found them to be sweet adorable cuddly animals that break my heart to see hurt (like smashed kittens on the road, you know) but this was just awful. I think I'm going to have nightmares about this one and it wasn't even dead! I mean I don't know if they were going to have to put it down or not but she was 'with it' when we drove past. Damn I hope they at least shoot her up with some pain killers...muscle relaxers..some better living through chemistry. The SUV that hit here was oddly not totaled, not sure if it still ran though. Must not have been going as fast as I normally go on that road. I swear if I hit a cow in my Jeep I'd have rolled it a few times. I think I'll be going slower on that access road from now on....
PS if you're from San Antonio and get offended by the fact that I call it podunk you need to get out more. And yes, I am not from this city, I'm from a real city. SHOCKER. Don't expect you moronic comments to be posted, I just delete comments made by podunk rednecks.
First, a wee bit of background. We live in suburbia in the 7th largest city in the US. Sadly this particular city has deep ties to it's Podunk roots so we still have no fine cuisine and a plethora of cows, goats, and redneck morons well within city limits. There are 2 loops that run through San Antonio, and inner (410) and an outer (1604), we live just outside of the 1604. Freeways in Texas have these things called access roads. They're basically 2-3 lane roads that run parallel to the interstates in only the direction of that side of the road. So if you want to turn around you have to go under or over the freeway to do so. It's kinda like what Mega blocks are to Legos. If you can't handle driving on the freeway just take the access roads. Same thing just goes a bit slower. They're also what we fall back on when there's ice on the roads and they shut the interstates down. There's a reason for this back story, promise.
We live far enough out that our hood used to be a pretty damn large ranch. Basically what the rancher (who as I understand is a very hard man to deal with) did was sell all of his land except what boarded the 1604 to home builders. Excelent business move (barring the real estate crash which screwed him, hehe) since once all those homes were built there would be so many families there that the commercial real estate bordering the 1604 would then be worth a small fortune. In order to not have to pay insane taxes though the rancher has continued to live on the land he has left and keep a very small herd of cattle on it. Realize that the traffic here, while not city insane, is still considerably more than your normal ranch sees. Plus the access roads may not actually be freeway but people still haul ass on them. I know I do at least 50 when I get on them. Do you see where this is going?
We moved here at the end of 2006 and we don't see the cattle on the land that often and we have never seen one on the road. This evening me and the kid were on the way home from the grocery store and both of the access road lanes were closed off with at least 5 emergency vehicles all over the place blocking it off. We were shunted to the left turn lane (where I was turning left anyway, you know, where the ranch is) and of course we look over to see what idiot hadn't figured out how to drive (San Antonio drivers are worse than any I've ever seen, seriously). We then saw a cow (still alive) sitting down with it's legs tucked under it and a large rope of blood hanging out it's mouth. I have seen all kinds of animals hit by cars when I worked in a stream of vets offices as a vet tech. I mean I've had a Canadian goose that was hit by a truck (survived, I don't know how), a chinchilla hit by a car (survived briefly which was a miracle unto itself), and a multitude of dogs and cats hit by cars. I always found it disturbing to one degree or another as one would expect. This though, wow. I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones or just the fact that the animal is just so damn big but wow. That was freaking DISTURBING to see. I had to make an effort to not fall apart since I was, you know, driving. And you I'm not a large animal person. I've worked with horses and they're ok, I can handle them sorta but they still intimidate me. But cows, I've never touched one and never felt the need to. It's not like I've found them to be sweet adorable cuddly animals that break my heart to see hurt (like smashed kittens on the road, you know) but this was just awful. I think I'm going to have nightmares about this one and it wasn't even dead! I mean I don't know if they were going to have to put it down or not but she was 'with it' when we drove past. Damn I hope they at least shoot her up with some pain killers...muscle relaxers..some better living through chemistry. The SUV that hit here was oddly not totaled, not sure if it still ran though. Must not have been going as fast as I normally go on that road. I swear if I hit a cow in my Jeep I'd have rolled it a few times. I think I'll be going slower on that access road from now on....
PS if you're from San Antonio and get offended by the fact that I call it podunk you need to get out more. And yes, I am not from this city, I'm from a real city. SHOCKER. Don't expect you moronic comments to be posted, I just delete comments made by podunk rednecks.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Brought to you today by the number 10.....
Two tens actually. For those of you not in the know (like you missed the FB post) after 1.5 yrs we have finally managed to begin the procreation process for the second time. Apparently I'm not that easy a breeder, go figure. We are presently at 10 weeks and yes, I know, most people in my precarious position (Advanced maternal age, such a great title to be tagged with) don't tell the world until 12 weeks but back in the real world it just wasn't practical. Which leads me to the second 10, that's about how long I'll have had (in years) between my 2 children. Hiding it from the 9 yr old was going to become difficult right quick.
You see my mother in law flew out Christmas day to spend a week and a half with us. She'll be here for my first real prenatal appointment (I've already been once but apparently it doesn't count) (?) and she has 2 sons so the pregnancy/grandchild thing is a super big deal for her. Super big deal. FYI I'm not telling my own mother until I have to. Preferable never but I'm a realist. So maybe she'll figure it out in the 3rd trimester. Anyway the mother in law likes to buy all of the maternity clothes (fucking awesome). She did it for my sister in law for her one pregnancy (they tried to have another but she was in her 50's by then, no go) and she did it for me when I was pregnant with my daughter. Now since she lives in San Diego I knew that there would be some shopping involved in this visit. Shopping of the preggers nature. This basically made it so we kinda needed come clean with the kid because she's no dummy. She figured out the secret of Santa last year all by herself. Trust me, she'd have noticed something was up a lot sooner than my idiot mother will. And I'm ok with that. So we decided we'd tell her on Christmas day as an extra bonus gift. She's dying for a girl. Mother Nature being what it is she has a better than 50% chance of it being a girl. I always wanted a boy but really, I think it'll be a girl. Murphy's Law right?
I did have an appointment as soon as I tested positive. My doctor is paranoid because of that whole brain explosion thing 3 (was it 3?) years ago. I thought I was only about 5 weeks along so we didn't know if we'd see anything on the ultrasound. Turned out at the time I was 7 weeks along (wow, impressive math skills Michelle) and we got to see it on the ultrasound (doesn't look like much at that point) and most exciting, I got to hear the heartbeat. This is big for me. At my age (37) my eggs are old and there are a multitude of different things that can go wrong. The heartbeat tells me, at the very least, it's alive. I had a co-worker whose wife got pregnant at the same time I did with my daughter and she ended up getting a D&C because they never found a heartbeat. That's gotta suck. There's also a high risk of miscarriage, most of the women I know around my age had at least 1 before getting a viable pregnancy.
I have high hopes for this pregnancy. The last one was at a kinda precarious point in my life, was only really dating my present hubby, and we had no idea how the relationship was going to work out. And there were a variety of other health issues in the beginning so I was pretty much miserable on top of being hormonal. I don't have any happy memories of that pregnancy. Or for a good 2 years after either. It's been almost a decade since then though and I'm determined to have a pleasant, if not happy, pregnancy. I'm not worried about labor and delivery. I know all the horror stories and I have some of my own. And just so ya know, an aneurysm hurts WAY WORSE than giving birth. May you never find out the hard way. I know what I do and do not want. I have people (no, not the hubby) who will be there for me and will either kick out or beat the crap out of anyone who goes against my wishes. It's good to have some serious beotches at your back in the L&D room. Everyone needs at least one. I also don't have family telling me what I'm doing wrong. I'm a mom, my kid, my word is law, they can piss off.
I'm so glad I'm not a first time mother anymore, that was HELL. I have high hopes for this one. I may have to kill a few people who piss me off but I have no problems with that. I'm a chemist, no one can hide bodies as good as me.
Did I mention that (as an added bonus) my kid saw me in the shower yesterday morning and told me I didn't look like I was pregnant. She also said that her friend (a boy whose mom recently had a baby) said I didn't look pregnant either. I didn't want to pop her bubble and tell her it's because mommy already has too much of a belly on her and if mommy was skinny you'd be able to tell. No, I thanked her and told her it was a sweet thing to say. The child is built like the hubby, stick thin forever, so she doesn't need to know that there are those of us who will always be a bit round. May this next one have the same luck and get the skinny gene. Wish us luck!
You see my mother in law flew out Christmas day to spend a week and a half with us. She'll be here for my first real prenatal appointment (I've already been once but apparently it doesn't count) (?) and she has 2 sons so the pregnancy/grandchild thing is a super big deal for her. Super big deal. FYI I'm not telling my own mother until I have to. Preferable never but I'm a realist. So maybe she'll figure it out in the 3rd trimester. Anyway the mother in law likes to buy all of the maternity clothes (fucking awesome). She did it for my sister in law for her one pregnancy (they tried to have another but she was in her 50's by then, no go) and she did it for me when I was pregnant with my daughter. Now since she lives in San Diego I knew that there would be some shopping involved in this visit. Shopping of the preggers nature. This basically made it so we kinda needed come clean with the kid because she's no dummy. She figured out the secret of Santa last year all by herself. Trust me, she'd have noticed something was up a lot sooner than my idiot mother will. And I'm ok with that. So we decided we'd tell her on Christmas day as an extra bonus gift. She's dying for a girl. Mother Nature being what it is she has a better than 50% chance of it being a girl. I always wanted a boy but really, I think it'll be a girl. Murphy's Law right?
I did have an appointment as soon as I tested positive. My doctor is paranoid because of that whole brain explosion thing 3 (was it 3?) years ago. I thought I was only about 5 weeks along so we didn't know if we'd see anything on the ultrasound. Turned out at the time I was 7 weeks along (wow, impressive math skills Michelle) and we got to see it on the ultrasound (doesn't look like much at that point) and most exciting, I got to hear the heartbeat. This is big for me. At my age (37) my eggs are old and there are a multitude of different things that can go wrong. The heartbeat tells me, at the very least, it's alive. I had a co-worker whose wife got pregnant at the same time I did with my daughter and she ended up getting a D&C because they never found a heartbeat. That's gotta suck. There's also a high risk of miscarriage, most of the women I know around my age had at least 1 before getting a viable pregnancy.
I have high hopes for this pregnancy. The last one was at a kinda precarious point in my life, was only really dating my present hubby, and we had no idea how the relationship was going to work out. And there were a variety of other health issues in the beginning so I was pretty much miserable on top of being hormonal. I don't have any happy memories of that pregnancy. Or for a good 2 years after either. It's been almost a decade since then though and I'm determined to have a pleasant, if not happy, pregnancy. I'm not worried about labor and delivery. I know all the horror stories and I have some of my own. And just so ya know, an aneurysm hurts WAY WORSE than giving birth. May you never find out the hard way. I know what I do and do not want. I have people (no, not the hubby) who will be there for me and will either kick out or beat the crap out of anyone who goes against my wishes. It's good to have some serious beotches at your back in the L&D room. Everyone needs at least one. I also don't have family telling me what I'm doing wrong. I'm a mom, my kid, my word is law, they can piss off.
I'm so glad I'm not a first time mother anymore, that was HELL. I have high hopes for this one. I may have to kill a few people who piss me off but I have no problems with that. I'm a chemist, no one can hide bodies as good as me.
Did I mention that (as an added bonus) my kid saw me in the shower yesterday morning and told me I didn't look like I was pregnant. She also said that her friend (a boy whose mom recently had a baby) said I didn't look pregnant either. I didn't want to pop her bubble and tell her it's because mommy already has too much of a belly on her and if mommy was skinny you'd be able to tell. No, I thanked her and told her it was a sweet thing to say. The child is built like the hubby, stick thin forever, so she doesn't need to know that there are those of us who will always be a bit round. May this next one have the same luck and get the skinny gene. Wish us luck!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Food for thought
Every once in awhile I flit across an interesting human behavior article on CNN (or maybe Time even, I like them both) and it gets me thinking. I know, I know, dangerous thing me thinking and all. This particular article was very short and to the point
Babies go to school to teach
And what it basically said is that they bring a baby in to class to see if the kids can understand what the baby is feeling through body language. The original point was to help build a more peaceful and civil society through children. What they found was that it reduced bullying because they could empathize better. And all they did was expose them to a baby and her momma and asked them about body language.
Seems simple doesn't it? But the fact the third graders learned important social behaviors from it tells me there are some bigger social issues going on here. Apparently empathy isn't something you're born with, it's something you learn. Where do you learn it? Your parents (I'm assuming here)? TV (more likely)? And don't you think many of these children would be able to see this momma baby relationship at home or with friends that have baby siblings?
And there's the rub huh? With the whole 60's sexual revolution women earned the right to be equal (yeah right) in the work force so now we all get to go to work for 10+ hours a day. And come home, cook, clean, do homework with the kids, get them ready for bed, and sure we've got plenty of money for multiple children. Now that both adults are working and we spend all that money on child care. Because we earned the right to be in the work force and pawn our children off to child care businesses. I have a problem seeing how we're so much better off this way. Now that we can mass produce offspring and pay a business to raise them for us.
So these children are learning about relationships and empathy by having someone other than their mom (who can't possibly have the time or money for another kid) and somewhere other than in their own home. Because, you know, the public schooling system, in theory, is not responsible for building the basis with our children's morals but in the end somebody has to do it. It's not like parents have the time for it any more right?
See, it was a short article but I think they left out a whole bunch. Talk about not seeing the forest through the trees. Or maybe I'm just hormonal today. Lord knows it's always a high possibility.....
Babies go to school to teach
And what it basically said is that they bring a baby in to class to see if the kids can understand what the baby is feeling through body language. The original point was to help build a more peaceful and civil society through children. What they found was that it reduced bullying because they could empathize better. And all they did was expose them to a baby and her momma and asked them about body language.
Seems simple doesn't it? But the fact the third graders learned important social behaviors from it tells me there are some bigger social issues going on here. Apparently empathy isn't something you're born with, it's something you learn. Where do you learn it? Your parents (I'm assuming here)? TV (more likely)? And don't you think many of these children would be able to see this momma baby relationship at home or with friends that have baby siblings?
And there's the rub huh? With the whole 60's sexual revolution women earned the right to be equal (yeah right) in the work force so now we all get to go to work for 10+ hours a day. And come home, cook, clean, do homework with the kids, get them ready for bed, and sure we've got plenty of money for multiple children. Now that both adults are working and we spend all that money on child care. Because we earned the right to be in the work force and pawn our children off to child care businesses. I have a problem seeing how we're so much better off this way. Now that we can mass produce offspring and pay a business to raise them for us.
So these children are learning about relationships and empathy by having someone other than their mom (who can't possibly have the time or money for another kid) and somewhere other than in their own home. Because, you know, the public schooling system, in theory, is not responsible for building the basis with our children's morals but in the end somebody has to do it. It's not like parents have the time for it any more right?
See, it was a short article but I think they left out a whole bunch. Talk about not seeing the forest through the trees. Or maybe I'm just hormonal today. Lord knows it's always a high possibility.....
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Dennis the Menace
I wish I had a photo for this post, I really do. I'm going to try and make a point of taking my camera in the mornings specifically for y'all and the visual that you really need for this.
I live in a 'brick home, in a school zone, with the doors locked and alarms on' neighborhood (name that song). It's a gated community, and yeah the gates are constantly broken so I'm still not sure why they bother. Regardless, it's a somewhat hoity toity hood and there are different levels of stupid expensive homes in it in different sections. We don't really belong there but I fell in love with the house so there we are. Their are rules pertaining to all kinds of things in my hood, as to be expected with a gated HOA hood. People break the rules all the time but rarely to an extent where they'd get popped. One of the rules is no free roaming animals. Even cats. I like this rule personally because walking my big psycho dog is a beotch if there's a wandering animal about. Impossible really. Mostly it's the super rich homes that let their animals wander. They either don't want to spend the money on a fence that matches, don't really care, or both. They just open their doors and let their pets out. I'm sure they crap everywhere else but their own lawns so it's a double bonus for their lazy ass owners. I don't live in the richy part of the hood though so I only see this while either driving through their end or on the rare occasion I take a 2+ mile walk over there with my big psycho dog.
Recently I've seen a stray in the hood. You can tell it's a stray not because it doesn't have a collar (most of the richy dogs don't) but because of the breed. Best I can tell is that it's a big black pit bull boarder collie mix. Black with a bit of white around it's neck and chest. I was a vet tech for over 5 years, I can often call the mix of breeds. He is neutered and seems nice. I'd like to catch him but it's hard to get him close enough. I know that many of the neighbors have tried because we all want him caught. One neighbor came around to let people know not to call animal control because she wanted him. Too bad she didn't leave any contact info. Idjit. It's been at least 2 months since he was (I'm thinking) dumped in our hood. Lets face it, we're way the Hell out in suburbia and no one owns a pit mix in our hood. Not pretty or purebred enough for our hood. It's gotten below freezing at least 3 times in that time span and he's still doing ok. I'm hoping someone is feeding him or something. I see him just about every morning and occasionally in the afternoon.
Here's the sight that just killed me though. Last night I see 2 women walking their golden retrievers at a decent clip. Goldens are real laid back go with the flow kind of dogs and they don't mind much as long as you take them out for exercise. Along side them is the stray (I've nick named him Dennis the Menace) as if he's totally park of they pack. If you didn't know that he was a stray you wouldn't know it watching him walk with them. It was so sweet, you know that poor dog wants to have home. It was just heart breaking to watch because I knew those women weren't going to take him home. If I didn't have psycho dog I could try to get him but alas, my psycho would flip the hell out.
My mission for today is to get a hold of a slip lead and see if I can't wrangle his butt up. I see him just about every morning at the same time when I drop the kid off at school. I can't get him with the kid in the car but after I drop her off I'm hoping I can con him into jumping in the car. Dogs are such suckers for rides. I don't know what I'll do with him if I do catch him. Maybe wait until everyone gets home in the evening and then take him door to door to see if anyone will either a) take him in or b) donate money for his care. People don't like taking in a responsibility but they'll assuage their guilt with money. Hey, it's just that kind of hood. Then if I can get someone who will take him I can give them the money to get him shots and whatnot. I'd rather not give him to animal care, they're the only ones with room right now and they have a high kill rate. Wish me luck!
I live in a 'brick home, in a school zone, with the doors locked and alarms on' neighborhood (name that song). It's a gated community, and yeah the gates are constantly broken so I'm still not sure why they bother. Regardless, it's a somewhat hoity toity hood and there are different levels of stupid expensive homes in it in different sections. We don't really belong there but I fell in love with the house so there we are. Their are rules pertaining to all kinds of things in my hood, as to be expected with a gated HOA hood. People break the rules all the time but rarely to an extent where they'd get popped. One of the rules is no free roaming animals. Even cats. I like this rule personally because walking my big psycho dog is a beotch if there's a wandering animal about. Impossible really. Mostly it's the super rich homes that let their animals wander. They either don't want to spend the money on a fence that matches, don't really care, or both. They just open their doors and let their pets out. I'm sure they crap everywhere else but their own lawns so it's a double bonus for their lazy ass owners. I don't live in the richy part of the hood though so I only see this while either driving through their end or on the rare occasion I take a 2+ mile walk over there with my big psycho dog.
Recently I've seen a stray in the hood. You can tell it's a stray not because it doesn't have a collar (most of the richy dogs don't) but because of the breed. Best I can tell is that it's a big black pit bull boarder collie mix. Black with a bit of white around it's neck and chest. I was a vet tech for over 5 years, I can often call the mix of breeds. He is neutered and seems nice. I'd like to catch him but it's hard to get him close enough. I know that many of the neighbors have tried because we all want him caught. One neighbor came around to let people know not to call animal control because she wanted him. Too bad she didn't leave any contact info. Idjit. It's been at least 2 months since he was (I'm thinking) dumped in our hood. Lets face it, we're way the Hell out in suburbia and no one owns a pit mix in our hood. Not pretty or purebred enough for our hood. It's gotten below freezing at least 3 times in that time span and he's still doing ok. I'm hoping someone is feeding him or something. I see him just about every morning and occasionally in the afternoon.
Here's the sight that just killed me though. Last night I see 2 women walking their golden retrievers at a decent clip. Goldens are real laid back go with the flow kind of dogs and they don't mind much as long as you take them out for exercise. Along side them is the stray (I've nick named him Dennis the Menace) as if he's totally park of they pack. If you didn't know that he was a stray you wouldn't know it watching him walk with them. It was so sweet, you know that poor dog wants to have home. It was just heart breaking to watch because I knew those women weren't going to take him home. If I didn't have psycho dog I could try to get him but alas, my psycho would flip the hell out.
My mission for today is to get a hold of a slip lead and see if I can't wrangle his butt up. I see him just about every morning at the same time when I drop the kid off at school. I can't get him with the kid in the car but after I drop her off I'm hoping I can con him into jumping in the car. Dogs are such suckers for rides. I don't know what I'll do with him if I do catch him. Maybe wait until everyone gets home in the evening and then take him door to door to see if anyone will either a) take him in or b) donate money for his care. People don't like taking in a responsibility but they'll assuage their guilt with money. Hey, it's just that kind of hood. Then if I can get someone who will take him I can give them the money to get him shots and whatnot. I'd rather not give him to animal care, they're the only ones with room right now and they have a high kill rate. Wish me luck!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Uninspired
Every year I make my own Christmas cards. Not because I like Christmas, I don't, but because I like making cards. If you get a card from me it's 100% made by me. I have a scrapbooking room, it's filled to the brim with an ungawdly amount of crafting things and an ungawdly expensive sewing machine because I quilt too. On rare occasion. The hubby makes fun of me because I have all these hobbies I've put time, energy, and a stupid amount of money into but they lay idle for a year or two at a time. No, really just a year mostly. Every year, at the very least, I unbury my scrapping table (I tend to pile stuff on it throughout the year) and get to the Making of the Christmas cards. I don't have to make many. I don't like a lot of people so my card list is limited to those I like. And those who ask for one. I post up on FB for people to send me their address if they want a card from me. I always get a few takers. Must be an 'in the holiday season mood' thing. The process of making the cards is what I love. Each year is different but that year only has 1 variation. That way I can assembly line the process. One year I had a card that was no less than 12 different steps. It was a nice card. One has to keep in mind though that if it goes past a certain thickness or weight you have to pay extra for postage so I avoid ribbons or fat embellishments.
Every year I go to a card/scrapbooking forum (Split Coast Stampers) to mooch ideas from others. I call it 'gaining inspiration'. Sometimes I totally copy the idea, other times I modify it for the particular stamps I own. There are pages and pages of card examples in their gallery. Some of these things wouldn't even fit into an envelope and were obviously made for the sake of making, not mailing. Others are so detailed and involved I'd need an art degree to re-create it. Lovely, just not practical. This year I was at Michael's getting some figurines for the kid's yearly project and I found a stamp set on sale that I just could not pass up. I went to look at the gallery on Split Coast Stampers to get 'inspired' with the intention of starting, if not finishing (whoa), my cards for this year. For the first time ever I did not see a single one that caught my eye. Not one. I mean there were dozens of beautiful cards, just none I wanted to re-create. Normally there's at least a few that I will want to re-create bad enough to even buy the stamp set/embossing panel/shape cutter that I'd need to make it. This time, not so much. Odd too since most of the stamp manufacturers have a new holiday stamps set out that is to die for. At least one! Not this time. At least nothing that caught my eye. So sad...
Regardless the stamp set I had found inspired me enough so that I'm pretty sure I can come up with something all on my lonesome. Not my ideal but you know, I can be creative too! I think. We'll see huh?
On that note if you'd like to get one of my super special handmade Christmas cards then email me/pm me your address and I'll put you on the list.
Every year I go to a card/scrapbooking forum (Split Coast Stampers) to mooch ideas from others. I call it 'gaining inspiration'. Sometimes I totally copy the idea, other times I modify it for the particular stamps I own. There are pages and pages of card examples in their gallery. Some of these things wouldn't even fit into an envelope and were obviously made for the sake of making, not mailing. Others are so detailed and involved I'd need an art degree to re-create it. Lovely, just not practical. This year I was at Michael's getting some figurines for the kid's yearly project and I found a stamp set on sale that I just could not pass up. I went to look at the gallery on Split Coast Stampers to get 'inspired' with the intention of starting, if not finishing (whoa), my cards for this year. For the first time ever I did not see a single one that caught my eye. Not one. I mean there were dozens of beautiful cards, just none I wanted to re-create. Normally there's at least a few that I will want to re-create bad enough to even buy the stamp set/embossing panel/shape cutter that I'd need to make it. This time, not so much. Odd too since most of the stamp manufacturers have a new holiday stamps set out that is to die for. At least one! Not this time. At least nothing that caught my eye. So sad...
Regardless the stamp set I had found inspired me enough so that I'm pretty sure I can come up with something all on my lonesome. Not my ideal but you know, I can be creative too! I think. We'll see huh?
On that note if you'd like to get one of my super special handmade Christmas cards then email me/pm me your address and I'll put you on the list.
The basics
If you haven't figured it out by now the holiday season is my least favorite time of year. It shouldn't be, I have a school aged kid (they always love Christmas) and the vicious grip of summer has been released by this time of year. Well kinda, this week (Thanksgiving week) it'll be in the 80's all week long. For us that isn't bad though and we consider that the beginning of winter (no real fall). It's a Texas thing, move here and you'll understand. Still, I hate this season. Oddly it's not even really dealing with family or making the food. We don't live near family except for my mom and we avoid each other for the most part. What bothers me the most is other people's behavior. The holiday season brings out the asshole in everyone. Driving in this state is scary enough as it is. Texas is by far the most horrid state for drivers in the nation. I've driven on both coasts, in the middle and even New York city, which wasn't bad at all. Texas drivers suck balls. It's astounding to see the kinds of moronic mistakes they make. Add the holidays in the mix and that's it, nightmares-r-us.
Shopping at something as basic as the grocery store during the season? REDUNCULOUS. I tried to get everything I needed for Thursday's dinner purchased by this past Saturday. I was almost successful. I forgot the gravy. No I do not make my own gravy, it's too easy to buy it in a jar and I can't tell the difference in taste. Yes, I do the whole turkey dinner thing all by myself for just me, the hubby, and the kid. Yes, it's a lot of food but when I got the turkey I called the hubby to let him know that some how (miraculously) the thing fit in our freezer. He then asked, just to make sure, if I bought one big enough that we'd have left overs. Let's think about this for a moment. The average small turkey is at least 10lbs right? Maybe? Close? There's 3 of us and one of us is 9 years old. How much of that bird do you think we're going to eat? Yeah, not all of it at once.
We have a thing for turkey leftovers in our household. A week out, when everyone else is sick and tired of them we're getting sad because we don't have anymore. I make a turkey noodle soup with matzoh balls (basically the same as my chicken noodle soup with matzoh balls) which is always a hit with the homestead. Yes, it's made from scratch, no it's not hard at all. I can even whip it together after coming home from work for dinner that night. Seriously easy as long as the chicken or turkey is already cooked. That's what I use those roasted chickens at the grocery store for. I also make left over mini turkey pot pies using a muffin pan, pie crust (pre-made, I don't have the patience to make pie crust), green bean bake (the Campbell's soup version), and turkey. There's a more fancy version here : Second day turkey and string bean pot pies
But you can change it up of course, I don't bother with the milk or chicken broth. We also have a thing for the basic turkey sandwich with just mayo salt pepper bread and turkey. You know, the old standby right?
For the dinner I do the most basic turkey day dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes (yes, I leave lumps in and I don't mash them into some semblance of soup), gravy (from a jar), green bean bake (Campbells soup version), stuffing (no cranberries or walnuts, I use olives, celery and water chesnuts), and a dessert. The turkey is not brined. I tried that one year and we all hated it, too salty. I do mine in a bag and I've always had awesome success with it. I grow my own rosemary and do a rosemary butter rub with it and it's divine. Ahh turkey...
The dessert we've tried different things with. The hubby doesn't like cakes or pies for the most part so I've got to get creative. I tried a pumpkin cheesecake one year but the damn crust wouldn't come out of the pan. Rock freaking solid. I personally love pumpkin pie from Costco but it's HUGE and the hubby doesn't like pumpkin pies. Last year he finally tried pecan pie (yes, homemade, soo easy!) and he fell in love with it. I'm sooo glad too since I love it. I decided my adventure this year will be a small twist the Pioneer Woman did on her throwdown with Bobby Flay, I'm making the whiskey maple cream sauce to go over the pie. Whiskey on pie...just can't go wrong with that huh?
This prompted an alcohol purchase and of course I didn't have my hubby with me so I had to wing it. Lucky me they had a taste testing at the Costco alcohol section I was shopping at last Saturday. FYI I don't drink alcohol. Never learned to like the taste so I am not a good judge of alcohol. I went with the one that didn't make me cough. Sound about right? Yeah well it's going into a sauce anyway.
So yeah, with the exception of the whiskey cream sauce going over the pie my turkey day dinner is super basic. Might I also add I don't know why people spend so much time on these dinners. Turkeys are just big ass chickens and as long as you follow the instructions normally on the package somewhere (lbs and minutes to be cooked) you're golden. Everything else is just as easy. So not a big deal and it doesn't take all day! Well peeling potatoes can take awhile but really that's it. Even if you make your own cranberry sauce, it's easy peasy! I don't. The kid LOVES the kind that comes in a can. Works for me...
So how about you guys, do you make your own dinner so you can get left overs? I swear even if it was just me and the hubby I'd still make my own dinner. I hated going to see family and listen to their bs just so we could eat. Yes, the holidays are so not my fav time of year.
Shopping at something as basic as the grocery store during the season? REDUNCULOUS. I tried to get everything I needed for Thursday's dinner purchased by this past Saturday. I was almost successful. I forgot the gravy. No I do not make my own gravy, it's too easy to buy it in a jar and I can't tell the difference in taste. Yes, I do the whole turkey dinner thing all by myself for just me, the hubby, and the kid. Yes, it's a lot of food but when I got the turkey I called the hubby to let him know that some how (miraculously) the thing fit in our freezer. He then asked, just to make sure, if I bought one big enough that we'd have left overs. Let's think about this for a moment. The average small turkey is at least 10lbs right? Maybe? Close? There's 3 of us and one of us is 9 years old. How much of that bird do you think we're going to eat? Yeah, not all of it at once.
We have a thing for turkey leftovers in our household. A week out, when everyone else is sick and tired of them we're getting sad because we don't have anymore. I make a turkey noodle soup with matzoh balls (basically the same as my chicken noodle soup with matzoh balls) which is always a hit with the homestead. Yes, it's made from scratch, no it's not hard at all. I can even whip it together after coming home from work for dinner that night. Seriously easy as long as the chicken or turkey is already cooked. That's what I use those roasted chickens at the grocery store for. I also make left over mini turkey pot pies using a muffin pan, pie crust (pre-made, I don't have the patience to make pie crust), green bean bake (the Campbell's soup version), and turkey. There's a more fancy version here : Second day turkey and string bean pot pies
But you can change it up of course, I don't bother with the milk or chicken broth. We also have a thing for the basic turkey sandwich with just mayo salt pepper bread and turkey. You know, the old standby right?
For the dinner I do the most basic turkey day dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes (yes, I leave lumps in and I don't mash them into some semblance of soup), gravy (from a jar), green bean bake (Campbells soup version), stuffing (no cranberries or walnuts, I use olives, celery and water chesnuts), and a dessert. The turkey is not brined. I tried that one year and we all hated it, too salty. I do mine in a bag and I've always had awesome success with it. I grow my own rosemary and do a rosemary butter rub with it and it's divine. Ahh turkey...
The dessert we've tried different things with. The hubby doesn't like cakes or pies for the most part so I've got to get creative. I tried a pumpkin cheesecake one year but the damn crust wouldn't come out of the pan. Rock freaking solid. I personally love pumpkin pie from Costco but it's HUGE and the hubby doesn't like pumpkin pies. Last year he finally tried pecan pie (yes, homemade, soo easy!) and he fell in love with it. I'm sooo glad too since I love it. I decided my adventure this year will be a small twist the Pioneer Woman did on her throwdown with Bobby Flay, I'm making the whiskey maple cream sauce to go over the pie. Whiskey on pie...just can't go wrong with that huh?
This prompted an alcohol purchase and of course I didn't have my hubby with me so I had to wing it. Lucky me they had a taste testing at the Costco alcohol section I was shopping at last Saturday. FYI I don't drink alcohol. Never learned to like the taste so I am not a good judge of alcohol. I went with the one that didn't make me cough. Sound about right? Yeah well it's going into a sauce anyway.
So yeah, with the exception of the whiskey cream sauce going over the pie my turkey day dinner is super basic. Might I also add I don't know why people spend so much time on these dinners. Turkeys are just big ass chickens and as long as you follow the instructions normally on the package somewhere (lbs and minutes to be cooked) you're golden. Everything else is just as easy. So not a big deal and it doesn't take all day! Well peeling potatoes can take awhile but really that's it. Even if you make your own cranberry sauce, it's easy peasy! I don't. The kid LOVES the kind that comes in a can. Works for me...
So how about you guys, do you make your own dinner so you can get left overs? I swear even if it was just me and the hubby I'd still make my own dinner. I hated going to see family and listen to their bs just so we could eat. Yes, the holidays are so not my fav time of year.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Since it's been awhile for pictures...
I have a camera, a really lovely one at that. I posted about getting it way back when but sadly y'all don't get to see pictures from me all that often. That's because I suck about actually using said camera. So pathetic. But I have used it a few times these past few months. Only a few times though. And for those of you not into reptiles this will hold no entertainment value.
You see I had a few new happenings in the vivariums in my house. The monster big ass Vietnamese mossy frogs (T.corticale) that were the size of a man's thumb finally popped all 4 legs, sucked up their tails, and came out of the water. Finally, real frogs!
The first one to come out of the water, notice the small tail remanent
You see there are 2 mossy frogs here if you look close. They're the 2 blobs that look just like...moss...
But wait, there's more! First weekend of November NARBC came to Houston for the first time. They didn't advertise it worth a damn though so while there were a lot of vendors there weren't a lot of people buying. Sad because this means they probably won't come back again. BTW, NARBC is one of the biggest reptile shows going. It's awesome. So I was getting into the whole gargoyle gecko thing already. I bought 3 6 month old clutch mates the week before going to the show so when I saw they had some there I ended up buying one. Shocking? No I didn't think so. The new one is 13 months old and no, I can't tell the sex of any of these guys yet. They have to get bigger. I've taken to naming them after orange sodas since they are all considered to be of the orange variety (they come in red, orange, and black and white but the colors are not always all over them, mostly just hints). Their colors change depending on levels of aggitation or day and night. "Fired up" is when they are darkest, normally at night. "Fired down" is when they sleep during the day, yes they are nocturnal. So now we have the orange sodas...
Nehi
Fired up
and fired down sleeping all funky like they are aught to do
Then my smallest Orange Crush semi fired up while sleeping
Then there's Fanta, totally unfired and looking like whitey
And lastly Sunkist, my scardy cat who is getting more and more used to me. He's semi fired up.
For reference that water dish Sunkist is next to is one of those 2oz containers you get dipping sauces in. The 3 youngest ones (not Nehi) are 3-4 grams each. Nehi is a whopping 8 grams. They'll get much bigger 40-60 grams, at about 2 years of age. I got these guys because they are VERY easy keepers (unlike the dart frogs) and the kid wanted something she could hold. She asked for a bearded dragon and I don't like their toes. The geckos have cute toes. And there you have it, obviously Michelle has some strange reptilian toe fetish. Again, surprised? No? I thought not.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Winter, love it or hate it?
Well I'm bored at work with a brief amount of time on the internet. This always results in some random brain blop of thoughts for you. My deepest apologies.
Texas has almost been released from the tenacious grip of summer. It's only going to have a high of 82 today, woot! Please note that the opinions that follow are from a woman stuck with her husband's Jeep. The one that has broken a/c. Again. We've had it 'fixed' 5 times in the last 1.5 yrs of ownership. Fucking Jeeps.
I know people who absolutely dread the coming of winter months. I find that if you live in the sunbelt the dread is not so intense. My minion at work is really into tropical so he loathes winter. Which down here in hot land is not so bad. Really. It's not like San Diego but hey, I can own a house here so there's a trade off right? My minion would be happiest in Florida. Or maybe Hawaii. I could pass on Florida but Hawaii I'm sure I'd be game for.
My hubby and daughter love it when it ices, they think it's cool. As long as I don't have to drive in it I like it. I think those 2 wouldn't mind living in the snow though (freaks) so I don't count their opinions. Well, that and neither of them have actually lived in a snow city before. They just don't know....
I was living in the Washington DC area for 6 years. No thanks, not my thing. Mainly because people don't know how to drive in the snow worth a dick. And those snow plough drivers are psychotic. Scary as shit.
So hows about y'all? Winter, love it or hate it?
Texas has almost been released from the tenacious grip of summer. It's only going to have a high of 82 today, woot! Please note that the opinions that follow are from a woman stuck with her husband's Jeep. The one that has broken a/c. Again. We've had it 'fixed' 5 times in the last 1.5 yrs of ownership. Fucking Jeeps.
I know people who absolutely dread the coming of winter months. I find that if you live in the sunbelt the dread is not so intense. My minion at work is really into tropical so he loathes winter. Which down here in hot land is not so bad. Really. It's not like San Diego but hey, I can own a house here so there's a trade off right? My minion would be happiest in Florida. Or maybe Hawaii. I could pass on Florida but Hawaii I'm sure I'd be game for.
My hubby and daughter love it when it ices, they think it's cool. As long as I don't have to drive in it I like it. I think those 2 wouldn't mind living in the snow though (freaks) so I don't count their opinions. Well, that and neither of them have actually lived in a snow city before. They just don't know....
I was living in the Washington DC area for 6 years. No thanks, not my thing. Mainly because people don't know how to drive in the snow worth a dick. And those snow plough drivers are psychotic. Scary as shit.
So hows about y'all? Winter, love it or hate it?
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Peppermint ice cream
After Halloween I believe the year goes down hill. Fast. I'm a Scrooge, I think I've told you guys this before, yes? Thanksgiving is ok because it has that food thing going for it. The kid doesn't like it so much though because I had that aneurysm that one Thanksgiving. I can understand her misgivings. Christmas just bites. It's only redeeming quality is Christmas music. That I can do. The commercialism disgusts me as do all the frantic people who suddenly lose the ability to function during the months of November and December.
The big thing I love about the holiday season, and might I add that I share this delight with my mother in law (let it never be said that we don't share some commonalities), is the seasonal peppermint ice cream. It rocks. I'm not a huge ice cream fan, I can go long stretches of time without it, but this stuff. Oh yeah, it's the stuff.
The big thing I love about the holiday season, and might I add that I share this delight with my mother in law (let it never be said that we don't share some commonalities), is the seasonal peppermint ice cream. It rocks. I'm not a huge ice cream fan, I can go long stretches of time without it, but this stuff. Oh yeah, it's the stuff.
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