Almost Candid

My yearbook pictures!

2008-09-08T21:58:00.002-04:00

Lisa pointed out this website and I just couldn't resist! Here are mine:

1964

1966

1968

1978 (this isn't too far from my actual hair!)

1982

1996

And like Lisa, I couldn't resist doing Madeleine.

So Upsetting

2008-06-06T10:16:00.006-04:00

An elderly man was injured in a hit and run in Hartford, CT and no one stopped to help him. Article here.

Warning: This video is disturbing, but unfortunately real life.

In the article, a witness said he didn't know how to help the man since he was bleeding an unconscious. For those who would react as this man did, here are a few things you SHOULD do:

Instruct someone to call 911
Immediately check the victim to see if they are ok
Comfort the victim
If you know CPR or any first aid, apply those techniques
Instruct someone to run after the cars that hit him to get the license plate
Have cars stop on both sides of the road to create a road block instead of driving around him

Most of all, be present in the situation. This isn't a movie. This isn't a video game. This is a man who was hit and severely injured. One minute and 35 seconds passed and NO ONE helped him.

What is wrong with people?!

House of Destruction

2008-05-24T11:39:00.003-04:00

We're redoing our kitchen! Yay! No more orange counter tops!

Now I'm left with no kitchen and a heck of a lot of dust!

Stumble Upon it!

2008-02-26T11:05:00.002-05:00

Check out this cool site. You can add an add-on to Firefox and find brand new websites based on your interests. You can also give your opinion and read others opinions about your favorite websites. There's so much internet and so little time, this helps you find things that interest you faster.

Stumble Upon

What's the Bzz?

2008-02-19T13:51:00.005-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's either update Madeleine's blog or update mine, and quite honestly, most people would rather read hers.

But I did want to let my friends in on this cool things I've signed up for. It's called BzzAgent. It's completely free, and all you have to do is give you opinion (good or bad) on products they send you as well as surveys online or websites you visit.

I've already received a free Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner. All I have to do is use it and talk to people about it and then report "buzz" about what others said. A friend in my mommy group told me about this, and she has received a free sonicare toothbrush, bottles of coppertone sunscreen, 1 Eucerin Lotion, 10 tv guide magazines, a bunch of chapstick, listerine whitening strips, 3 jars of grey poupon, a shower radio, etc.

Anyway, it's totally legit and not some crazy pyramid scheme or anything. I'll probably be posting things here on this blog when I see or use cool things from it. You know, to create bzzz. (Actually I already did it with the Free Rice website).

Help feed the hungry and expand your vocabulary!

2008-02-09T10:40:00.000-05:00

Every time you get a vocabulary word correct, you donate 20 grains of rice to feed the poor!

Free Rice!

Yay!

2007-12-10T09:26:00.001-05:00

Madeleine finally likes her sling. I think it's because she can sit up in it unlike before where she had to be in a cradle-like position (never a favorite of hers). So when she gets fussy I just slip her in there and do things around the house.

Only bad thing is she won't let me sit down with it.

WW update

2007-12-03T10:19:00.000-05:00

I meant to update this sooner, but well... I didn't.

Anyway, I lost 1.2 pounds over Thanksgiving! Not my ultimate goal of 2 pounds, but hey any weight loss over Thanksgiving is good enough for me.

I have another weight in tomorrow. We'll see how it goes, I haven't been able to get much exercise in this week.

I did it!

2007-11-24T10:20:00.000-05:00

I've joined Weight Watchers.

I managed to lose all 30 pounds from my pregnancy with no trouble. I was already back to prepregnancy weight by my 6 week postpartum check up. It's easy to do when you have a fussy baby and no time to eat or sit down.

So now I want to lose at least 20 pounds that I had gained somewhere between my late 20s and now. Last years miscarriage did a big doozy on me. So I decided to join WW since so many of my friends and my mom had great success on it.

It's been a week and a half and I lost .8 pounds. Ha! But that's ok because they only want nursing moms to lose 1 pound a week.

I did set a ridiculous goal for myself this week, though. I want to lose 2 pounds over Thanksgiving. Yikes! We'll see if I can do it. I have three Thanksgiving dinners to eat. Two have already gone by and I did pretty well. I have one more tonight. The biggest of them all, but I'll keep the ultimate prize in sight and hopefully not over do it.

P.S. By the way, Donnah asked for an update on the whole gallbladder situation. Really there isn't much of an update, which is good. I've had no episodes since the middle of September, and I don't think it's because of my diet either because I know I've had fatty meals since then. Who knows what's going on. If I'm still episode free until my next appointment on Dec. 18 then I'm not going to have the surgery yet.

The Computer is finally here!

2007-11-14T11:28:00.000-05:00

I love it! It has Windows Vista which allows me to use Google Gadgets, which are like the Widgets on Mac computers. I always liked that feature. It runs so much faster as well, and it has a card reader so I can easily upload my pictures. Oh and it's GREEN! Yay!

Yesterday was a great day!

2007-10-29T21:08:00.000-04:00

First, I became an auntie! Mathijs Lucas Tague was born at 10:02 pm (I think) by c-section. He's 8.08 lbs and 20.5 inches. Alicia is doing well, but sore and a little drugged up. I hope to post pictures soon!

Second, Madeleine was baptised yesterday. She did very well during the actual baptism, but pretty much needed walking around for the rest of the time. She just didn't want to stare at the back of someone's head the whole time. Good thing though is pretty much every baby cried at some point, just that Madeleine was the first to do it.

Third, the Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in four years. It's pretty amazing. Although I have to be honest, between the Red Sox and the Patriots, not to mention Boston College right now, these huge wins are almost commonplace now. It's a great time to be a Boston sports fan.

Lastly, I got a free mattress last night. Yup, I am one of the Jordan's customers that bought something last March while they had the promotion that if the Red Sox won the world series the furniture would be free. The only thing that is a bummer is that I wish we bought the more expensive mattress now!

Yay.

2007-10-22T11:55:00.000-04:00

Well it looks like I have gallstones. Yuck.

I have an appointment with a specialist on Friday so we'll know more then. Right now, I haven't had an attack for almost three weeks. I really don't want to have surgery nor am I really able to have surgery right now.

Oh well. We'll see....

Breastfeeding for 11 weeks!

2007-10-19T12:15:00.000-04:00

I've made it to 11 weeks with breastfeeding Madeleine. It took a lot of hard work at the beginning, but now it's cake, and I love it so much. I'm so glad I was determined to make this work no matter what. And we did have our issues with flat nipples (TMI), nipple shields, books and message boards making me feel guilty about the nipple shield, weaning from the nipple shield, talking and meeting with three different lactation consultants, over a month's worth of thrush, acid reflux, overactive letdown (and for those of you who don't know what that is, just watch out when you're sitting across from me when I'm nursing. You might get milk in your eye!) oversupply, and let's not forget a somewhat colicky baby.

But things are great now. And I love the moments where I'm lying there with her and she's looking at me with so much love in her eyes. I can't imagine anyone NOT wanting to have that amazing bond with their child. Only I can give her this experience, and I'm going to take full advantage of it.

Let's Add to the Craziness

2007-10-06T15:55:00.000-04:00

I'm getting old. I've been having these "attacks" of nausea that turn into a backache and make my chest feel kind of tight. It's happened 6 times in the last month and a half. I finally went to the doctor on Friday since it's obviously something that's not going away. She said that it suspiciously sounds like my gallbladder and I could possibly have gallstones.

So now I get to have an ultrasound in two weeks to see if I have this. And if I do, I then need my gallbladder removed. I guess it's common to get them in fertile women especially those who have been pregnant recently because I guess the extra estrogen in my system aggravates things.

I have no idea how I'm going to have surgery with a young infant. She said I'd be out of the hospital the next day, but man that's a lot of pumping I'll have to do. Luckily I've built quite a stash in the freezer.

So I'll keep you updated on what happens next. Until then, I have to eat a low fat diet. Yay.

Update: Good news and Bad news

2007-10-04T13:08:00.000-04:00

First the bad news. The praying mantis was discovered by the cats yesterday. Although I'm afraid of bugs, I never want to see something tortured and eaten. Domino just get flinging it around. It put up a good fight though because I saw Domino jump back a couple times. My mom and aunt were over and we kept having to look away though because we felt so bad.

The good news is that Matt found it this morning hanging out on the screen again! It survived all three cats! Matt took it outside and let it go because he says they're good bugs. They get rid of bad bugs.

So I'm glad the praying mantis is safe, but I'm also glad it isn't on my screen porch anymore!

And then I saw this...

2007-10-02T14:13:00.000-04:00

I was holding Madeleine on my screened in porch yesterday because she likes being outside and looking around. So I'm walking around with her and then I saw this:

Don't see it? Here's a closer look:

A praying mantis. I said "Oh Holy Mother of God" and quickly went inside. Having a fear of all things buggy, when I first saw this I immediately imagined it jumping 20 feet from where it was and pecking my eyes out. Even though it's not a bird and hence would not be able to peck....

I have become an attached parent....

2007-09-28T14:40:00.000-04:00

Attachment parenting is something I never thought I would do. I often found AP parents to be somewhat militant about their beliefs. Always hold your baby, never let your baby cry (if you do, you're a bad parent), breastfeed your baby on-demand, sleep with your baby at your breast through the night, never give your baby a bottle/pacifier only the breast, etc.

But you know what? I might not be an attached parent, but my baby is an attached baby. I now co-sleep with my baby, I nap with my baby at my breast, I hold her the majority of the day, I respond immediately to her cries, I own a sling (although she only stays in it for about a half hour), I didn't introduce a pacifier until 5 weeks old (although she's really not interested in it), I didn't introduce a bottle until she was six weeks old, and she is only bottle fed if I'm not around.

Madeleine is a "sensitive" baby. She is always alert and wants to take in the world at all times. She is so open to all sensations that she has no ability to calm herself to go to sleep. Therefore, she becomes so overtired that she begins to fuss. Here's what I think she's thinking when she's alert and starting to become tired:

"Oh wow! Look at that! Look at Mommy's face! She's talking to me! *Smiling* *Cooing* Oh I'm so excited I need to move my hands and feet around! Ooo! Those arms and feet are really going now! It's too much! I need to slow them down! Ah! I can't slow them down! Oh no! They're going faster! Ack! I just hit myself in the face! Oh no! Mommy's still making faces at me! She's too close! TOO CLOSE! Ah! I just let out a poop! It felt too weird! TOO WEIRD! Oh no! I have the hiccups! Ouch! They hurt too much! Ouch! The reflux! *Starts whimpering* Ack! What's the noise! Oh no! It's me crying! It's too loud! TOO LOUD! *Crying louder* Ahhhhh! There's too much going on! I'm tired! I need to sleep! I can't slow down! Make the noises stop! Make Mommy stop! Help! HELP! HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP! Someone hold me! Stop the arms and legs! NOW! PLEASE! It's getting out of control!"

So we hold Madeleine. We swaddle her tight. In fact, she's too wiggly and strong for the simple "Swaddle Me" blanket. We had to go straight to the "Miracle Blanket" that actually wraps her arms up inside the swaddle before wrapping the whole blanket around her. She's pretty much swaddled 90% of the day because the sensation of her arms and legs are just too much for her. We use the exhaust fan over the stove as a white noise to calm her. The running joke is she needs the sound to quiet the voices in her head. Although that may be funny, it's probably pretty true!

I read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and although I like the idea of not letting her be awake for more than two hours (she stays awake one hour tops!), I am completely unable to put her down in her crib/pack 'n play. We tried to put her down in her pack 'n play for three days, and you know what? She got worse. We're only now reversing the side effects of her becoming overtired by this. She needs movement or someone close. Leaving her to "cry it out" will never work (and I didn't believe in this for an infant as young as her anyway). While some infants may whimper and protest a little and then fall asleep, she'll whimper and protest and then that overstimulates her so she'll whimper and protest louder which overstimulates her more and then she's full on crying and now we're in a vicious circle. So although I like the ideas in this book, it probably won't be much use to me until she's about 4 months old.

I also read (still reading) "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (thanks Lisa!!!) and this is probably what is going to work for Madeleine at least for the next month or so. She needs tight wrapping, loud shhhing, lots of jiggling, and lots of sucking. She's not a big fan of the 4th "S" which is side lying. She likes to be up on our shoulder most of the time. Could be the reflux problem. This book says you might have to hold your baby 12 hours out of the day (hello! *raising hand*) but this is a 50% decrease in what she was used to in the womb.

So my baby needs a fourth trimester. Which means I've now become an attached parent, but you know what? Madeleine is happier, more rested, and so are her parents!

Let me show you my crib!

2007-09-23T15:51:00.000-04:00

So poor baby Madeleine has had a tough go of it since about two weeks old. She's had thrush for over a month now and we're finally on Diflucan to hopefully clear it up for good. My milk supply has also been very "abundant" which causes her to gag, choke, cry, and have a lot of gas. Because of these two things, she hasn't always slept well, and we eventually started holding her in our bed at night so she could stay asleep.

I've been to my pediatrician about seven times in the last month because of these two things. They also diagnosed her with reflux and she's on medication for that.

But here's the thing, I don't think she has reflux now. I've gone from two doses of medicine to one a day and she's perfectly fine. I actually think we've misdiagnosed my oversupply/forceful letdown that was giving her trouble.

So today, after reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, she's finally taking a nap in her pack 'n play. Something she hasn't done in a long time. Of course, it took me 45 minutes of me sitting with her and patting her and putting her pacifier back in her mouth, but she's finally asleep. We even have a whole color coded excel spread sheet showing her awake and sleep times.

Here's hoping this works and we have a much more rested baby (and rested parents) very soon!

Madeleine finally has a blog!

2007-09-22T18:50:00.000-04:00

She's been begging and we finally let her have her own blog! Check it out!

Sling!

2007-09-10T09:36:00.000-04:00

I bought a sling yesterday! We're hoping this will help me get around the house more since Madeleine has reflux and really doesn't like being put down. Of course I love holding her, but my back doesn't.

Update

2007-09-01T20:28:00.000-04:00

We're still alive. Just have no time to even check email recently. But Madeleine's own blog will be coming very soon, hopefully. She's been begging to blog about herself, so we've decided to let her try it out and see how it goes.

Here are a couple pictures to keep everyone occupied.

Baby Madeleine Ruth is here!

2007-08-09T09:26:00.001-04:00

Don't have any time to write but I'll post pictures. We're so in love with our little girl. She was born Friday, August 3 (Mr. Ellis' birthday) at 8:32 pm. She weighed 8 lbs 5.5. oz and is 21 inches long.

There's an end in sight... kinda.

2007-08-02T15:06:00.000-04:00

So my doctor didn't even check me today at my appointment. I guess since I haven't really had any contractions, there was no point in her telling me my cervix was still closed or 1 cm dilated. She did send me for a non-stress test at the hospital though. Basically they hook up two monitors to monitor the baby's heart rate and movement. The point is to see the heart rate rise when it moves.

After about 20 minutes the nurse came in and said she didn't like what she was seeing. She said it could be because I was lying in a slightly reclined position on my back. Me slightly freaking out, the nurse had my roll to my left side. After about ten minutes the baby liked that a lot better and everything was ok. So no induction today.

But!

The induction is set for next Thursday. So there is an end in sight if I don't go into labor. My doctor offered to induce me as soon as Monday, but I stayed strong and said I'd wait until Thursday. For those of you that don't know, the thing with inductions is basically you're making your body go into labor when it isn't ready. So this means the labor is usually much longer, they need to put you on pitocin which creates more intense contractions than normal, and there is a higher chance of having a c-section when you are induced too soon. So since I don't want any of those things, I'll take the chance that my body will go into labor (hopefully) before next Thursday.

Please send me labor vibes or anything else to get things going! This baby needs to come out!

Hey! How are you feeling?

2007-08-02T08:05:00.000-04:00

That's the infamous question a pregnant woman gets throughout her pregnancy, and it pretty much is tenfold once the due date comes and goes. I know people are just anxious and really do care, but after a while you just don't know how to answer it!

So I guess there will be no July baby for us this year. Now I've pretty much expected it and always told people to expect it as well, but now that it's a reality it's a little disappointing. Oh well. I know the baby will have to come some time!

Oh this also means the eggplant parm experiment did not work. The only result we got from it was Mr. Ellis throwing up about three times during the night. This is because Mr. Ellis has poor portion control and took the biggest piece of this multilayer parm as his meal. No one should have that much cheese.

I have been having some mild contractions and just feeling pms-y, so I guess that's better than nothing. I have a doctor's appointment at 12:15 today, so we'll find out where I stand and probably will be scheduling an induction date. Sigh.

So to pass the time, I made a banana bread yesterday, because quite honestly, what's better than banana bread? Even though it was 90 degrees out and I had to turn my oven on. Here are some pictures of the bread fresh from the oven. I had a piece immediately.

I also figured I'd include some pictures of the nursery. It's not completely finished. We need to hang some pictures on the wall, which we're still trying to figure out what that should be. We might do the whole name thing, once this kid has a name, and then maybe include some pictures taken of the baby and us. I don't know, we'll see. As of right now, the baby will be sleeping in our bedroom, so there really isn't a rush.

Here's what it looks like when you enter the room.

This is the crib and glider.

This is a closeup of the crib.

This is our somewhat organized closet.

These are the little elephants we painted around the room. Mr. Ellis made the stencil.

Today's the day..... or not.

2007-07-30T12:34:00.000-04:00

Well today is my due date. Yippee. Unfortunately there hasn't been much sign of progress and it's never good when your OB at your last appointment says "We can talk about induction dates at the next appointment". I really would prefer not to be induced especially if my body isn't showing any signs of laboring (right now I'm not dilated and the baby is still high up) because those labors can be very long and can end up in a c-section. It seems like she'll let me go until next Thursday, Aug. 9 which works for me.

I'm still hoping for the full moon to help get things going. It was full last night and there have been studies that show many women will have their water break around that time. I'm all for that.

Also, if you haven't voted in "the poll", I moved it over to under my profile. I find it funny that I've had 8 votes yet over 100 visitors since then. I know some are repeats but there are many that aren't. So if you don't know me, don't be bashful about voting. It makes things more interesting.

So to get labor going, I found this article online about eggplant parmesan. This restaurant boasts that over 300 women have gone into labor within 48 hours of eating their eggplant parmesan. They will even give you a free meal gift certificate if it doesn't work. It sounded pretty good, so Mr. Ellis and I took it upon ourselves to make the recipe. We had no idea what we were in for.

This is the tomatoes boiling in preparation for the marinara sauce.

This is after Mr. Ellis cut up THREE eggplants that the recipe called for. It said to weigh them down with something for an hour.
This is the marinara sauce once it had all the spicy goodness added to it. Although I would say it could use a little less crushed red pepper flakes since I found it almost too spicy and couldn't enjoy the other flavors (I'm sure Lisa would disagree!).

This is the beginning of the eggplant frying.
This is after an HOUR of eggplant frying, and we were only halfway through.
These are all the eggplant slices we had left to fry!
This is when I finally finished all the layers and topped it off with the 1.5 LB of mozzarella cheese.
And this is the finished product.
It was quite tasty although as Mr. Ellis commented, he didn't think it was so great that it needed 3 1/2 hours of preparation! It's almost like a eggplant parmesan lasagna. There is so much cheese, so you'll either have a baby with this or a major heart attack. Either way, you're guaranteed to end up in the hospital.

(By the way, these pictures were taken with our new Canon S5is. We had a Canon G3, and we still really like it but this has more megapixels and we originally thought of getting a video camera, but decided against it and looked for a higher quality camera that takes movies as well. We looked into the G7, but for $100 more we didn't think we were getting much more for our money. We also looked at the Sony DSC-H9/B that Lisa uses but ultimately we were more used to using the Canon menu and interface, although it was a very tough decision.)

Boy or Girl?

2007-07-22T17:18:00.001-04:00

So as most of you know, we have chosen not to find out the sex of the baby. I decided to add a poll to this blog for you to weigh in on what you think the baby might be. Feel free to post a comment, as well as any suggestions for names or when you think the baby will be born, etc.

I'll give you a list of things that I've experienced through my pregnancy if you think it might sway your decision on the gender.

I experienced hardly any morning sickness.
I carried the baby very high.
My belly looks more like a basketball than a watermelon.
My original gut instinct was boy, Mr. Ellis's original gut instinct was boy, but now we've both been feeling girl.
Every time they've checked the heartbeat it's been over 150 (highest being 167).
The Chinese Lunar Calendar predicts a girl.
I craved granny smith apples, pineapple, and ice cream.
I never had any acne breakouts, and my skin has stayed soft.
Almost everyone has said boy, except for my boss, a 3 year old boy, and Mr. Ellis's co-worker (who told us yesterday he is 68 for 75 on guessing the correct gender).
We've been pretty solid on a girl's name (although we have a couple others) since before we were pregnant, but we've had a much harder time narrowing down a boy's name.
My hair did not seem to grow very fast while I was pregnant, which is unusual since I normally have to shave every other day.

Ok go at it!

I'm back and bigger than ever!

2007-07-19T10:38:00.000-04:00

As Salvatrice pointed out in the last post, I dropped out of the blogosphere. I apologize. I'm just not good at it, but I do promise to make this post a good one.

So I pretty much have 10 days left (after today) until my due date, July 30. I would love to have the baby in this month, but quite honestly I'm not holding my breath. And neither is my doctor, who said apologetically last appointment "Yea, I'm thinking 41 weeks." I do have an appointment this afternoon, though, so I'll update with any progress, but I'd be surprised if there was any.

As my pregnancy winds down to a close, I figured I'd post some things that surprised me or were at least unexpected.

I didn't know how much my back would actually hurt, and how soon it would start. I was in significant pain in April where I ended up sleeping sitting up on my couch for a few nights because it was so bad. Amazingly, this past week my back hasn't hurt at all. I'm guessing the baby moved and I can at least have relief from that. I'm sure if I were to stand for quite a while, though, it would come back quickly.
I also didn't realize your pelvis could feel like it was cracked in two starting at about 14 weeks. It got so bad at points that I couldn't walk for more than 5 minutes. It's not at the point where I just deal with it. I never thought I would be ok with the feeling of having my pelvic bone feel like it was broken at all times.
How few people touched my belly. I was all ready to be on guard, but even friends and family hardly touched it. I never had a stranger or a co-worker come even close to doing so. For this, I am grateful.
I never had anyone say "Oh my god, you're huge!" Thank the Lord.
I DID have people ask my how much weight I've gained. I'm always taken aback at how bold people can get with questions once you're pregnant. Luckily I remained in the recommended weight gain so I could answer without feeling embarrassed.
The reaction I got when I told people we didn't find out the sex. Many people told me "That's how it should be" or "That's great, we did the same thing". I've only had two people (who will remain nameless) give me a hard time about not finding out the sex. Oh and I did have one other person say "What are we suppose to get you for your shower?". Are you kidding me? Clothes were the least thing we needed.
How many people really do ask you "How are you feeling?" And how I would feel unable to answer the question. I think most people want to hear "Fine", but quite honestly I have a small person growing inside of me, so I'm probably not feeling 100%.
How generous people were at my shower. We got 99% of the stuff we needed/wanted. And had to return almost nothing. (See picture below)
How it would actually start to feel normal to feel my belly shift to a completely different shape. There are even times I don't notice the movement anymore.
That I would see the inside of my belly button, and that it would turn completely flat.
How I would not be apprehensive about going to see my OB anymore. I've lost almost all modesty, which I guess is good since a whole bunch of strangers are going to watch me push something far too big out of something far too small in a couple days.
How I would be an expert on my veins and having blood drawn. I have horrible thin veins that "roll", as the nurses like to say. I know a butterfly needle should be used at all times, unless you take blood for a living and have done so for 20 years. I know which veins are good and which aren't. I know which blood labs to go to and which to steer clear from.
How I could fall in love even more with my husband, and the baby isn't even here yet. He has helped me so much, and has put up with my impatient nature lately.
How NON-impatient I have been about finding out the sex and waiting to have the baby. My husband can't believe I still can handle not knowing the sex. I mean, I do want to know, but I know I'll find out when the time comes. I'm also not feeling desperate to have the baby yet either. Maybe when I'm 2 weeks overdue it'll be a different story, but I know it has to come out sometime!
How we still don't have finalized names at this stage of the game, and I'm pretty sure we're going to go with the whole "look at the baby and see what name fits" scenario.
That's all I can think of for now.

So here are some belly pictures I had taken.

These are either 31 or 32 weeks.

These are today at 38 weeks and 3 days.

This one is my bellybutton with my heart shaped hands.

This is Mr. Ellis and myself at a wedding reception in the beginning of June. I look ginormous, and the angle is taken from above because my father-in-law is 6'6".

This is all the stuff we got at my shower! OH! And someone sent us the Chicco stroller (in ORANGE!!! YAY!) that we registered for, but it had not information on who sent it. If you know who might have sent this, PLEASE let me know. I would like to thank them!

This is me trying to sit in the middle of it all. (Mr. Ellis's idea, not mine)

This is the diaper bag, quilt, and diaper cake my mom made for me. She is so crafty! I LOVE the diaper bag.

Mr. Ellis and I spent a weekend in Boston at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. My brother works for them and could get us a great deal on a room. Two sides of the room were complete windows looking over the Charles into Boston.

These are some of the views Mr. Ellis took pictures of.
And that's all for now, folks. I will try to be more diligent about posting.

So.... Are you pregnant or just fat?

2007-02-08T11:24:00.000-05:00

That's pretty much the stage I'm in right now. My boobs have completely taken over my body, and my belly sticks out but not in a cute way. I've made my way over to maternity pants now though, and they feel great! Elastic waste forever! So here's a picture of my progress so far. And yes I had to take it in my dining room mirror and yes, it's mess because the computer is in it right now because the floors still aren't done! So don't mind the weird twisting angle I had to take it at. I did my best.

I also had a doctor's appointment today. Everything is going well so far. I was glad Mr. Ellis was able to come with me because I still get anxious since I'm such a worry wart. We declined to have the prenatal screening since there are so many falst positives, and if I were to get a positive I would have to have an amnio and there is no way I'm getting that done. I'm just putting faith in God and know I can handle whatever He gives me.

But anyway, I've gained a total of 2 lbs so far which my doctor said was perfect. My blood pressure was 112/66 which was awesome as well. I'm also measuring 17 weeks already, and I'm only 15 weeks and 3 days. My doctor said it was really good, so I'll just roll with it. Mr Ellis is hoping for a big baby, and I told him he can put that thought right out of his mind since I'm the one doing all the carrying and pushing!

The only scary moment was when the nurse was trying to find the heartbeat. It took a good 30-45 seconds of her searching all over my belly until she finally found it. The baby was hiding on my right side. I actually let out an audible sigh of relief, and the nurse said "Oh I'm sorry was I scaring you?" I just said I tend to worry.

All in all a great appointment and I can't believe I'm so lucky to have everything work out great so far. It's becoming a lot more real.

Why'd You Done Gone Do That?!

2007-01-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

Well some of you know and some of you don't and some of you kinda guessed, so I guess I'll officially announce it. I've gone and gotten myself knocked up. But the good thing is we totally wanted that! Haha!

So, we're really excited although catious at times because of my previous miscarriage. But I've reached my 13th week today, and we hope to have a new little one sometime around July 30 although I'm planning on sometime in August.

So other than that, I feel good. I had mild morning sickness and quite a few food aversions. I'm not as tired anymore, but can't get comfortable at all at night. And it totally sucks. My back has started hurting me all the way into my bum. So yea, hopefully that stops.

We've had an ultra sound already and saw the heart beating. We also got to hear the heart beating last week. It was very surreal. I don't think everything will really hit me until the baby starts moving. But for now he/she is just our little peanut.

Speaking of peanut, we've already picked out our bedding. Since we're probably going to keep peanut a surprise, we're going to go with green. And since I love elephants, I found the perfect bedding at Target of all places. Here's a picture of it although it doesn't display it well.

Here's the link to the other stuff. If you scroll down you can see some of the other things for the bedroom. We hope to paint the nursery in some sort of green and chocolate brown. Right now we just need to finish doing our wood floors! AAAAAAA!

Get Your Beat On!

2007-01-19T17:45:00.000-05:00

Mr. Ellis found a deal for Donkey Kong Bongos along with the game for about $15. I was kinda excited because although I'm not a fan of video games, I enjoy ones that have anything to do with music like Kareoke Revolution and Guitar Hero. So this game came the other day and to my dismay it's an actual game with no musical qualities to it at all. You just hit the bongos to run and clap to make Donkey Kong doing something else.

Anyway, I had Mr. Ellis play it and eventually decided to film him because it's too hilarious to see him sitting in front of the big tv hitting bongos and clapping like a mad man. (By the way, his bongo technique is a little weak, but you can forgive him since he's an engineer. ALSO, my house is a mess right now since we're putting down wood floors so please excuse the craziness in the background.)

Christmas List goes hi-tech!

2006-12-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

My brother sent me his Christmas list this year (which includes a Dyson vacuum and new Mac, and I laughed) through this site . I'm still figuring it all out, but it seems very cool. You can shop around various sites and add them to you list. Check it out!

Oh and while I'm posting various links, check out this fun link my mom sent me. If you like dogs, you'll think it's cute. Although I'm still trying to think of more commands to give it.

Edited to add: Now you can check out my list! And if you start one yourself, add me as a friend.

2006-11-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

Just a friendly reminder to go out today and vote! Although I love America, I find we as a people have become too apathetic and complacent with the happenings in our country. Today is a day to have your voice heard! Maybe we should spend a little less time today wondering about who in Hollywood is divorcing whom or who's headed into rehab, and care a little more about how our country is working for us and our family. And for those who feel their vote doesn't count, well first you're wrong, and second it definitely won't count if you don't vote. So spend a little time researching your options so you can make an informed decision! Remember there's no excuse to not execute a right we are given that isn't afforded to many in this world.

And this is why I hate bugs

2006-11-02T12:05:00.000-05:00

So I should start off by saying I'm not a fan of most bugs. I can handle mosquitoes and the occasional lady bug, but other than that, not a fan. I'm especially afraid of bees, hornets, wasps and other stinging insects.

So on Tuesday I spotted what I thought was a wasp near the ceiling of my bedroom. Now normally I would run out of the room screaming, close the door shut, and wait for Mr. Ellis to come home and get it. Unfortunately, Mr. Ellis was gone for the night in Chicago, and I was going to have to solve this problem, otherwise I was sleeping on the couch.

Now luckily hornets are usually half dead by this time of the year, and they're just looking for a place to get warm. So I was brave enough to go back in the room and take a closer look. Upon inspecting this slow crawling insect, I notice it wasn't a hornet at all but a scary long bug with lots of legs and big antennae.

Here is a poorly drawn version of the scary bug in its actual size:

This presented a whole new dilemma. I had no idea what kind of bug this was, thusly I had no idea what kind of super powers it had. My belief is all bugs have super powers and usually try to trick you into believing it cannot do certain things such as leaping, flying, biting, stinging, revealing hidden wings, turning into a completely different bug altogether. My feeling was that since this bug was crawling so slow it certainly had a hidden super power. I felt it was most likely "leaping off of the wall at me to tear my face off". Well maybe not tear my face off, but certainly to scare the heck out of me that I would remain paralyzed in the fetal position in my room until Mr. Ellis came home.

So upon the suggestion of a friend, I tried spraying hair spray at it hoping it would shrivel up and die. Now this probably would have worked wonderfully except I couldn't get myself to stand any closer than about ten feet away and my hair spray probably had a radius of about five feet. So I just ended up with a whole lot of hair spray landing on my carpet and bed. I then turned to air freshener, which definitely had a greater radius, but seemed to have little effect other than have the bug fall off the ceiling consequently making me scream. I continued to spray for another 30 seconds, but this bug seemed to be not affected. It did manage to crawl back down into our heating vent were I was hoping it was going to die. But subconsciously my theory had changed on what super power it had. I suspected it didn't have the "leaping off the wall at me to tear my face off" super power, but a much worse super power: "armor of steel that could quite possibly help it survive through nuclear war." This is definitely the most troublesome super power since without me probably setting it on fire, I was not going to be able to kill it. But I managed to sleep on Mr. Ellis's side of the bed with the covers over my head hoping it would not come out to get me.

But I should have known better that it wouldn't come back. As I went into my bedroom today and picked up my cat Betty, I found the bug underneath her. Of course the bug was still alive because my cats don't like to actually kill the things they find, they just like to watch them and maybe paw at them a couple times.

I tried to turn Betty around and have her look at the bug again, telling her to "Go get it!". But all she did was sniff at my finger and then felt things were getting too weird and crawled under the bed. So I grabbed my other cat, Domino, off the bed and put him near the bug. After turning around a bit and looking at me with the "what is going on lady?" look, I had to forcibly put his head right above it for him to notice. Of course, he only stared a bit and then meandered off.

I again tried in vain with the air freshener, hairspray, and even Tilex bath cleaner all to no avail. And I'm saying I poured these things on the bug, but it still crawled around on the carpet. It eventually made it up to my cats' scratching post. At this point I figured I had a good enough angle to hit it with a rolled up magazine. Although I didn't want to get as close as I had to, and I feared it would stick to the magazine I was holding, I felt I had no option. I hit it twice and it still was moving, so I reared back and gave one last smack. And so far it has remained motionless for the last 2 hours.

But I don't give up hope that it will come back to life after the stunning effects of the pummeling wear off...

Question

2006-10-27T11:03:00.000-04:00

What does it say about me that I created a myspace account so I could be one of Jenna Fischer's (Pam Beesley from The Office) friend?

I just love The Office, and Jenna's blog and myspace page is so fun. Plus I secretly wanted to create a myspace page just to play around with all the fun things you can do. Kinda like why I have a blog and don't really update.

Come create one with me! I'm entirely too old to have one and have no desire to meet people online, but it could be fun if I have a little community of my friends. Email me or post a comment and I'll direct you to my page (which has absolutely nothing on it). I'd post a link, but well I don't want all the people who search for "candid braless" to come and hassle me (as if they would!)

My Favorite Song of the Moment

2006-10-20T10:33:00.000-04:00

I had to edit this post because although I had set it to not do auto play (which worked for me) it kept playing everytime my friend Lisa happened by. And since I post so infrequently, I figured I'd do her a favor.

What I've been doing for the past 6 months...

2006-10-18T12:54:00.000-04:00

Right. So as usual I haven't posted in a while, but I guess that's my style.

This:
Is what has taken up the past 6 months.

No I'm just kidding. It's something I did in 2 days last week. It's a cute little baby bunny hat for my friend, Lisa. I would have modeled it on a cute little kid, but since I don't have one handy, my skein of pink yarn volunteered for the job. And did mightily well, I must say.

I do pretty well on the whole creativity thing and knitting stuff, but I always seem to have trouble actually getting this thing sent off. Don't worry, Lisa, I promise this will be in your possession before Studs is born. Or at least by the time he's 3 months old since that's what the size is.

I also figured I'd include a less than attractive picture of myself and friends at the ultimate beer fest we attended in North Carolina. It's a pretty wonky angle because Mr. Ellis used his go-go-gadget arms to take the picture.
And yea, that's about it for now. I figure the people who need to know what I've been doing the past 6 months already know, and all others reading this blog don't need to be privy to that information. Hence the title of the blog! Peace out!

Could there have been a different ending?

2006-06-26T07:42:00.000-04:00

I was watching Sports Center this morning, and saw a segment on this story. I can't help but wonder how things would have turned out for these young children if there weren't guns in the home.

Just saying....

I'm such a copy cat! Meow!

2006-06-23T10:22:00.000-04:00

Lisa just redid her blog template. She found her new template here Since there were some cool designs there (much better than the crappy one I had going) I decided to redo mine as well. And here it is! I'm super psyched. It's a happy design.

Can I get a do-over on that?

2006-06-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

Upon further review, I am not a big fan of the Tuesday Night Book Club. I watched the second episode and realized I couldn't get over the whole scripted feeling of it. It's a little too obvious that there is a storyline written. Along with the crazy background music! Ahhhh! I'll probably still watch it just for the trainwreck aspect, but I rescind my recommendation of the show.

Thank you. That is all.

Oh Britney!

2006-06-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

So Matt Lauer is interviewing Britney Spears tonight on Dateline NBC (I have it set to record on the DVR). I saw a clip of it this morning, though, on the Today show. What has happened to this girl? Doesn't she have a stylist? Doesn't she have a PR person? This interview is not going to help her cause and have the paparazzi stop hounding her. It just makes her look more pathetic.

Now I've never been a fan of Britney, and I certainly don't feel bad for celebrities that don't have much privacy. (Hey I'm a teacher and get paid NOTHING, but I knew that going into the business so I'm not going to whine about it.) But some part of me does feel sorry for the young girl that didn't have any guidance on making good and appropriate choices. She was encouraged to be a sex symbol and not show too much intelligence. And well, look at where it's gotten her. I mean my 20s were crazy enough, I can't imagine how she must feel. I'm sure she has no idea of who she really is. And what's even more scary is she is a mother and has another on the way. Don't get me even started on how unfair and ridiculous I think this is.

But anyway, I've decided since she obviously doesn't have a stylist or PR person, I am volunteering my services. I'm going to offer 10 suggestions that will help her immensely in the public eye as well as her own life.

Stop bringing Sean Preston out in public. If you want the paparazzi to stay away as well as keep your child safe, don't run around town carrying him in your arms. The paparazzi will eventually give up.
Stop chewing gum in public, especially during interviews. This is never attractive.
Stop it with the hair extensions, especially extra fried super blond ones. You were cute when your hair was short.
Get a manicure. Bitten fingernails with the small speck of worn nailpolish looks extra trashy.
Start wearing more natual makeup. Frosty eye shadow and lipstick is very 80s, and it's a decade we all regret.
After having a child and being pregnant AGAIN, it's time to start wearing longer skirts and pants. That means below the knees. You're not a teenager anymore, honey, you're a mom.
Along with the pants, you need to wear tops that cover those pregnant breasts. Bearing that much cleavage only makes you look fat. Granted you're pregnant, but that doesn't mean you have to look unattractive.
Stop making shows about your life. "Chaotic" was a mess and did nothing for your image. It only made you look more immature and dumb.
Always, and I mean ALWAYS, wear a bra. There is no exception. None. Yup even those "cute" tube tops (which you shouldn't be wearing anyway) need to have support. You're boobs are HUGE and there is no excuse for you not wear a bra. Welcome to your 20s, Britney. They only go down from here.
This one is probably obvious, but divorce Kevin Federline. You know you made a mistake, we know you made a mistake. You've only gone downhill since he's entered your life. We'll forgive you and probably respect you more if you make this decision.

No need to thank me, Britney. Just implement these pieces of advice and get on the road to a better life. Your children deserve it.

Hello! Guilty Pleasures!

2006-06-14T08:49:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm really not addicted to the tv, but I decided to record "Tuesday Night Book Club" on ABC. And I just watched. Oh my God! This is gonna be one of those sinful guilty pleasures. It's Laguna Beach (which I hate) meets Desperate Housewives meets Sex in the City meets people in their 30s and not teenagers! Yippee skippee!

Someone please tell me you watched it too! And if not, well for God's sake watch it next Tuesday!

Oh and by the way, I have a book club, (well had a book club since it's been defunct for about a year) and when I first started watching this show I was thinking "Our book club is NOTHING like this!". Then the more I thought about it, we probably would spend about a half hour talking about the book and then the rest talking about our lives and such. I don't know if we're quite as scandalous as these ladies, but we do share a lot (Hello Laura!)

Windfall

2006-06-09T10:38:00.000-04:00

Yea, I know I haven't posted in a while. Sometimes I'm just not inspired to, you know?

Anyway, anyone catch the new series on NBC last night called "Windfall". I tivo'd it and watched it this morning. It's about this group of people who won the lottery and how it affected their lives. It's totally 90210 (Hello! It even has Luke Perry in it!), but with a money aspect to it.

I actually really enjoyed it. I'm super psyched another show like this has turned up. So cheesy yet so good!

Pursteria!

2006-04-18T10:56:00.000-04:00

I've been busy knittin' me up some cabled purses. The first one ended up being kinda small so I ended up having to change the purse handles I bought. I still like it though and I enjoy the surprise fabric I used to line it. Unfortunately this was my first foray into hand sewing and it isn't the neatest, but it works.

The second purse I tried to make bigger and I enjoy the handles I used. It's definitely one I'll be able to hold more than just my cell phone.

Easter Thoughts

2006-04-16T09:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! Although I enjoy Christmas time a lot , Easter is a celebration that brings new beginnings and great hope. I always enjoyed Holy Week in college because of the great rebirth the Church goes through.

But this morning I was also thinking about how Mary must have felt during this time. How hard it must have been to lose her child and even worse to see him die in such a horrific way. Throughout the Bible she showed such incredible strength and this was someone who was so young.

This leads to me to what I have been pondering a lot this week: Strength. I often recalled the saying "God doesn't give us more than we can handle". I always thought this was true and often turn to it when I think my life is getting a little rough. This week, though, I couldn't quite understand why God thought I would be strong enough to go through everything I've been going through the last three weeks. (I can't believe it's only three weeks, it feels so much longer than that.)

And by the way, in no way am I comparing myself to Mary or her hardships. I realize there are so many others out there that have it so much worse than I do, which is a reason why I'm able to remain so positive.

But nonetheless, it hurts and I feel sad sometimes. I often find myself asking why? Why would God want me to handle this? Why did He think I could?

Then this answer came to me: maybe I couldn't handle what would happen if things didn't turn out this way. What if things went to term only to find out something was terribly wrong or I'd be forced to make decisions I am incapable of doing? This seemed like a revelation to me. Although this event has hurt me and made me sad, it IS something I can handle. And possibly something much more difficult was avoided because of it.

It doesn't make this any less difficult to deal with, and I'm not sure it's the correct answer, but it does help me find peace with it.

I Heart Memes

2006-04-12T10:23:00.000-04:00

I found these memes (what does that word mean by the way? I'm an idiot) about books and music. Enjoy.

Directions:
Bold the books you've read.
Underline the books you have sitting on your shelf.
Italicize the books you're planning to read.
~~Strike through the books you have no desire to read.~~
(Put parentheses around the books you have never heard of.)

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
(His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
~~The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien~~
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
(One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
(The Secret History - Donna Tartt)
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
~~The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis~~
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
(Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
(Atonement - Ian McEwan)
(The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
~~The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway~~
(The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood)
~~The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath~~
~~Dune - Frank Herbert~~

No idea where the list of books came from, but I'm glad I've read at least half of them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song titles that come up to answer each question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see me? "Where Do I Begin" Chemical Brothers (I think that pretty much says it all)
Will I have a happy life? "Cherish" Madonna (I guess if I cherish what's around me, I will?)
What do people really think of me? "Batucada" Towa Tei (Uhhh, yeah I don't know what that means, maybe people don't understand me? Hahaha)
Do people secretly lust after me? "Reminiscing" Little River Band (Is that a yes?)
How can I make myself happy? "Roll Out" Ludacris (I won't even post the lyrics to this song, but it's my biznaaaaaaaaaaassssss)
Will I ever have children? "Underground" Ben Folds (Uhhhhh.....)
What is some good advice for me? "Candy" Mandy Moore (I guess I need to eat more candy)
What do I think my current theme song is? "You've Made Me So Very Happy" Blood, Sweat, and Tears (I like it!)
What song will play at my funeral? "Afterglow" Vanessa Carlton (Sounds good to me)
What type of men/women do you like? "Good Bad Right Wrong" Kaiser Chiefs (Yea I like to change it up a bit. Keep me guessing)
Why am I here? "It's Coming Down" Cake (See just like I can't figure out this answer, I can't figure out why I'm here)
What will people remember me for? "Caoineadh Cu Chulainn (Lament)" Riverdance Soundtrack (Anyone know Gaelic?)
What song will I get stuck in my head tomorrow? "Son of a Preacher Man" Dusty Springfield (Alrighty then.)
Are there people outside waiting to take me away? "Neon" John Mayer (She buzzes just like neon, neon.)
What will this year be all about? "When We Dance" Sting (Neat.)

Say no to crack, kids.

2006-04-11T13:24:00.000-04:00

Because apparently that was what I was smoking when I thought working at a grocery store would be all right in an effort to earn extra money. As some of you know I've been working there since the end of February. Well I quit today.

Here are some of the observations of the work environment I was subject to in the last month and a half.

A woman with a PhD in science was working there and felt she was above everyone else even though she applied for the job and did the same things as us
Same woman went out to gather carriages on two separate occasions and was shat on by the seagulls, consequently causing her to say she would never do it again without protective gear
Same woman walked out on the job when asked to get carriages again saying she didn't have to do this, she had a PhD! (hello, you're working at a grocery store!)
All customer service people are supposed to share the duties of getting the carriages from the parking lots. 4 of the people I work with brought in doctor's notes saying they had various conditions that didn't allow them to do this work. These same people all go out to their cars and smoke two cigarettes during their break.
A mentally challenged guy was hired to work weekdays and help out with carriages. The customer service manager ended up scheduling him only on weekends, when there are a thousand high school students working.
The same manager (she's 25 and has always worked at this grocery store since high school. I don't believe she has a college degree.) only promotes and hires kids under 25. The most recent promotion was of a 22 year old guy who consistently showed up 90 minutes late to work. In the afternoons, a 17 year old high school student is managing all of the employees bagging and cashiering. And he got this job because he's cute.
We are supposed to suggest the "extreme value" to all of the customers otherwise they receive the item free. The person who sells the most is given a whopping $5 gift card. The same customer service manager took away this reward because she felt some people were making up their totals. When asked how she could tell this, she said she couldn't, she just felt some people were.
In order to receive sale prices in the store, all customers have to have a store "rewards" card. They do not have to pay anything for this, just fill out a form. In my job, though, I had to sign a sheet saying I would not make up a card number or use someone else's card if a customer forgot theirs, otherwise I would be fired. Therefore, I had to have customers yell at me and say they would never come back all because of a piece of plastic they didn't pay for. (Mind you in my training, the biggest message we got was "the customer always comes first".)
The manager of the entire store always says with a big smile"Hi Heidi" whenever he sees me, as if he knows who I am really well. Well, he does this every time except when I have my jacket on and it's covering up my name tag.
In all of my training I was taught by using passive aggressive techniques. All in an effort to make sure I knew I wasn't in a power position.
The customer service manager gave me a ten page review that my trainer was to fill out to make sure I understood all the skills of the cashier/bagger job. When I asked, what I was supposed to do with it, she said "Just check all the areas that you're suppose to know (something the trainer was to do) and hand it back in to me." Very effective.
Someone today walked out on the job after two years because she wasn't put on a cashier before someone else.
I had to watch a stupid video during orientation all about team work. There was even a ten minute segment with a song about this. After a month and a half, I feel like I have just left high school all over again.

So anyway, I'm out. I'm not sure this really conveys exactly the experience I had there, but I suggest to anyone considering working at a grocery store to find another option. Even if it's panhandling.

Why Are You Here?

2006-04-10T12:46:00.000-04:00

Alrighty. As some of you know, I keep track of who visits my site. Why? Just 'cause.

What has always intrigued me, though, is how people find this blog when searching the internet. So I went back and viewed the last 43 searches that led people here, and I'm going to list them for you. I like to categorize them into "appropriate" and "inappropriate" categories. (Although some appropriate ones might be a little sketch)

Appropriate

bighoopla
candid (10 searches)
candid curvy
candid fun
child molesters
crate and barrel dune flatware
dd cup bra
felted purse patterns
foam tactile issues (my personal favorite)
g cup bra
sjp lovely dress photo
too formal for semi formal
victoria secret formal attire
"what the fresh hell is this"

Inappropriate

braless candid (6 searches)
candid braless (9 searches)
candid nude
candid nude camp pictures
"lindsey lohan" nude
nude britney spears
nude candid mom

Ok first, the britney spears and lindsey lohan ones are pretty much a given. But one might think "well at least there are twice as many appropriate searches as there are inappropriate". But if you look closely "braless candid" and "candid braless" total 15 searches alone! What do those searches even mean? I mean if you're going to search for porn or something why would you search those two words?! It seems ridiculous.

Now I know I'm going to get even more scary perverts coming to my blog now that this list is up. But I'm hoping maybe someone will comment and enlighten us with just what exactly is one searching for when you use those two words. And once you let us know, stop coming here!

A Change

2006-04-09T18:47:00.000-04:00

I figured I needed to spruce up the blog a little. The old one wasn't as inspiring anymore. Unfortunately in doing so I had to redo all the changes I had made to the old one as well as putting in all my links again. Ugh. So yea, this is my new home for now.

Anyway, as my few readers are aware, I haven't had the best past two weeks. It was one of those things that can either make or break you. My boss, who is aware of what happened, said it's something that can make you feel empty inside(since he has experienced this as well), but I responded with "Actually it's brought me a lot of clarity".

My friend, Laura, posted this in her blog recently. And it pretty much sums up what I have been experiencing the past two weeks.

Although no one really truly understands what I have been through (just because they haven't experienced it themselves), I feel I was given the gift of seeing how truly blessed I am with the friends and family I have. When everything happened in just a few days, I had my family immediately by my side as well as friends calling me and sending me flowers. Although it didn't take the pain and shock away, it did help me stay positive. My friends have helped me laugh and enjoy my life, even through some of the saddest points.

I also realized just how lucky I am to have a husband as amazing, strong, and wonderful as Mr. Ellis. Even though he is experiencing this difficult time with me, he has supported me and carried me in an effort so I never have to feel pain. Although he's a quiet spirit sometimes, his feeling and love are deeper than any I have experienced.

If anything, all this "stuff" has humbled me to the point that I now realize I will have to forever work hard to deserve these people in my life.

What's in a dress?

2006-01-12T13:10:00.000-05:00

So my husband's company is having their "holiday" party this weekend. It's at the Top of the Hub in Boston, and it sounds like a good time. Unfortunately, it's "semi-formal" attire, and I have very few dresses to pick from and that look good on me. I have this dress from about three years ago that I was supposed to wear to this same party, but the party got cancelled or something. My worry, though, is it too formal for semi-formal? It's black but comes down to my knees and has a cream colored "opening" in the back. Otherwise it's pretty understated. I guess my worry is if it's too long for the occasion. Although my belief has always been it's better to be overdressed than underdressed. I'll post the quick pictures I took of the dress and I would love your opinions (although quite honestly I'm not sure I have any other option other than this pink/mauve kind of dress that makes me look super pale).

Happy Knit Year!

2006-01-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

So I've been knitting up a storm recently. I managed to knit my family some scarves, although I don't expect them to wear them. I just did it as a fun project really.

This first scarf was for my sister-in-law. It's a skinny scarf knitted out of cotton. I realized how unforgiving cotton was once I was done with it. It definitely doesn't hide any mistakes.

I knitted three of these scarves. One for my mom (hi, mom, I know you found this through Lisa's site :) ) one for my grandmother, and one for my mother in law. It uses some Lion Brand Homespun ( a yarn I realize I don't like) and some suede yarn as well as a fun fur. It was fun to experiment with, and it's cool if people don't actually wear it.

This next scarf was knit with Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick. I made two of these, one for my dad and one for my brother. They were quick to knit, but weaving in the ends from all the stripes took almost the same amount of time.

This "Flower Pot" purse I knit and felted for Lisa. I also knit a little flower to go on it. It probably should be lined inside, but I haven't figured out how to do that by hand yet (I don't have a sewing machine). This was really fun to knit, although I'm not sure it's really practical for Lisa. Ha! Oh well, she can hang it on a door knob or something. :)

Once I told my mom that I was knitting a felted bag for Lisa, she said she wanted one too. So I knit this blue one really quickly for her. I think I would have liked to do a different design, but I was sort of crunched for time. My mom said she lined it with some fabric and put a velcro closure inside. I'm interested in seeing how it turned out.

I knitted this fingerless glove with some leftover yarn. I call it my computer glove because it keeps my "mouse hand" warm.

I'm knitting this scarf right now that has a really cool cross hatch design. The picture I took is blurry though, but you get the idea.
I'm also knitting a wrap around sweater with some really cool boucle my brother and sister-in-law gave me for Christmas. I ran out of the yarn though and I'm having a touhg time finding the same color.

So when I was talking with my mom about what she was doing with the purse I made, she said she thinks I should make my own purses and sell them. I think that would be really fun, but I would have to come up with my own designs since these are patterns that I followed and therefore copyrighted. So although I wouldn't just start this tomorrow, I think it would be something interesting to try. I've been visiting this website called Craftster
which is now my favorite site ever. Anyways, I found that people haven't had much success selling things on Ebay (and I did a little research myself without much luck either), but I did find this awesome site called Etsy. It seems much less expensive than Ebay. Anyway, I know my brother could design a cool logo or something, and I can also get cheap business cards if need be. Plus I could just get the word out. Anyway, just thoughts going through my head. What do you think?

Numbers Meme

2005-12-09T12:59:00.000-05:00

Saw this surfing the net. I was bored so I thought I would do it. Hope some of my friends choose to do it as well. I would love to read their answers.

The Numbers Meme

TEN random things you might not know about me:

I get annoyed when the cashier bags my stuff before running my credit card.
I am allergic to dogs.
I have tactile issues.
I always smell something before I taste it.
I would love to have a breast reduction.
I sleep in the nude.
I am against capital punishment.
One of my favorite smells is a wood stove.
I talk to myself sometimes when I'm in the shower.
I think David Letterman is sexy.

NINE places I’ve visited:

Ground Zero, New York
Disney World
Antigua
Seattle, Washington
Many places in New Brunswick, Cananda
Quebec City
Montreal
Toronto
Las Vegas

EIGHT ways to win my heart:

Be very witty
Be very candid
Be honest and sincere
Be enthusiastic
Love drinking coffee and coffeeshops
Love lying around and talking
Make me feel like a princess
Sing, play a musical instrument, or write

SEVEN things I want to do before I die:

Visit Australia
Have two children
Give my parents grandchildren before they die
Live in another country
Meet someone famous
Make a difference in someone's life
Take time off from my life to do something for charity

SIX things I’m afraid of:

Bees
Things that feel weird
Heights
Getting in a car accident
Losing my husband
The world never finding peace

FIVE things I don't like:

Peanuts
Guns
War
Lindsey Lohan
Britney Spears

FOUR ways to turn me off:

Be completely self centered
Laugh at those less fortunate
Drink and drive
Smell really awful

THREE Things I do every day:

Surf on the net
Drink coffee
Knit

TWO things that make me happy:

My husband
My cats

ONE thing on my mind right now: Will anyone actually read this?

Day Two of Blogging

2005-12-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

I'm posting in consecutive days. Woohoo! It's snowing here and I'll try to take some good pictures. It's awesome to live amongst the trees now because it looks so beautiful. I always love the first snow fall.

I wanted to point out this man's christmas lights display. Only a computer geek would take that much time to do something that intricate. It's pretty amazing though. Here's a link to the story behind the house and how it works. And sadly here's the link to the story of him being forced to shut it down.

What the fresh hell is this?!

2005-12-08T12:50:00.000-05:00

Can you believe I'm about to post twice in the same day? I know I know, things can't get any better.

Anyway, I was thinking. Throughout the year I always think of things I would love to receive as a gift, yet when I'm asked to make my yearly Christmas list nothing comes to me. Now I don't need anything, and quite honestly now that I'm 30 I shouldn't really expect much. But nonetheless, my parents wanted a list and it took me a good two weeks coming up with something.

So here is my suggestion. I'm gonna post mine in the hopes that maybe others have this same issue and upon seeing mine will get some ideas for their own. THEN, they can post theirs in the hopes that I will be inspired by them. Kinda like a pay it forward thing, but with less charity.

Of course I have a very limited amount of readers (probably about oh... zero,) but I'll do this anyway if for nothing else to humor myself.

Heidi Ellis's Christmas List 2005

Dell DJ Generation 1 car charger (I tend to only listen to my DJ in the car so this is pretty crucial)

Cavallaro B Single w/ Pocket and strap ( Most won't know what this is or care to have one, but it is an outer flute case and you can find it at www.fluteworld.com )

Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely perfume

Gap Curvy jeans size 8 (whiskered wash)

Loose-leaf tea in berry, spice, or peppermint flavors ( I recieved this really cool tea pot last Christmas but I have no teas to put in it)

Yarn and knitting supplies or a gift certificate ( I have become a knitting fanatic and have so many patterns I want to knit. I'll eventually post my projects, but right now some are gifts.)

Stitch & Bitch “The Knitter’s Handbook” (Again, the knitting...)

Crate & Barrel “Dune” silverware and serving set (to add to our silverware)

Cat beds that attach to the windowsill ( Although now I've found out that my cats may be too "big boned" for this lovely feature so this might only be good for the waif-like cats)

Mellamine mixing bowls (colorful bowls, but my chemical engineering husband told me they are not microwave safe unless I like to burn my hands. Which I don't.)

Home Depot gift certificates (New house needs lots of updating)

Old Navy gift certificates

NY & Company gift certificate

Home Goods gift certificate

Victoria’s Secret gift certificate

KMS molding paste hair product (This stuff works great but is quite expensive)

Chinois with pestle (This is great for making apple sauce, yet I know it's cheaper some where other than Wilimas Sonoma. Hello? $84? Uhh yea. No. And why is it called "chinois" which means Chinese in French?)

Memory foam slippers size 8 or 8 ½ (I saw these at Linens N’ Things and they look so comfy)

Pajama bottoms (preferably flannel) at Old Navy

Yea so that's my pretty lame list. I'm pretty certain it will not be much of an inspiration to many, but I thought I would try.

The Usual Update Post

2005-12-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

Hello again.

Time to come back from my few months off of posting to do one all-consuming update post. Blah. Oh well, I'll try to post more but I doubt I will. Just like I'm bad with email, I'm bad with posting. I often think of stuff to post, but I'm usually in the shower or the car and that doesn't allow for much convenience. Such is life.

So here are a couple things I can update you on.

1. Way back in October I turned 30. I wasn't the stereotypical freak out person because honestly I was actually looking forward to it. The 20s were great but sometimes challenging and tumultuous times, so I'm ready for a new decade. The only thing I find quite disturbing is I still feel like a kid sometimes or at least a young adult. And well... I'm not. It probably has something to do with me interacting with kids between the ages of 10 and 15 all day. And the trouble with this feeling is that I'm supposed to starting thinking (although I've been technically thinking for 4 years) about having kids, and my mind is still in its young 20s sometimes. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up at some point and when I do have kids I'll have to go with the flow. Something I'm not very used to doing.

2. Some of you know I have some slight "issues" with Christmas time and traveling between my parents' house and my in-laws. This year my husband was supposed to take care of this and have us go to one place on one day and the other on the next day (we're trying to set it up this way now before we have kids) and unfortunately I've arrived back to the point of traveling between the two houses on BOTH days again. Absolutely ridiculous. I think I might have to go on strike.

3. I've started checking out this blog called Google Video of the Day and I find this specific video both annoying and ridiculously funny.

4. These shirts are frickin' hilarious. I'll try and post some of my favorites.

My favorite is the last one. Too funny.

Ok the amount of time it took to upload those silly pictures was far too draining. That, and the fact that everything I'm typing or clicking is on some 2 second delay. Truly annoying. So I'm gonna leave this for now and will try to post more regularly. If my life gets any more interesting...

Uhhh yea. . . we'll pretend that never happened

2005-10-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

So I'm gonna just pretend that I haven't let two months roll by without an update. Why you ask? 'Cuz I gotsta. There is just too much to update people on, and truthfully this is my blog in all its glory and unglory and I'll do whatever I damn well please. Including run-on sentences and general incoherentness. Haha! Freedom!

Ok anyway. . .

It's pretty much craptastic out today. And well . . . it has been for the past three weeks basically. We're caught in some sort of rain/wind/coldness vortex that I sure as hell don't like. We had such gorgeous weather for the whole summer all the way into October, and then BAM! Craptasticness. And the stressful thing about it is I don't know what to wear. I can't fully commit to the sweater yet, but I sure can't wear short sleeves. AND, and, and I bought these great shoes at Payless. (Yes, I shop at payless. Got a problem with BOGO?)

I'll even show you the shoes

So my problem now is wearing these in the rain. Bah, life. Ahh well.

This rain also made our grass grow to about waste deep. And since Mr. Ellis likes to use old jury-rigged lawn mowers, he's the only one who can cut it. So yesterday, I sat him down during a short dry spell and said "Look it's going to rain all the rest of the week, you MUST mow the lawn before neighbors come and demand we move." I felt bad for him, but quite honestly there were moments of dryness where he could have gotten it done. Hopefully it's one of the last times we have to mow it this year.

Hey! Where have you been?!

2005-08-05T09:32:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Remember me?

So yea, I took a small break from blogging. Not that I was doing a stellar job of it before, but at least I was blogging more than my friend, Laura. But I knew I had to start up again when even she was giving me shit about not blogging enough.

So let's see if I can sum up what's gone on in the past couple months.

Last I left you, I was going camping with Mr. Ellis. He and I had a good time, but unfortunately our type of camping isn't "trailer-ful" enough to really blend in to our campground. We pretty much were one of two tents in a sea of RV's, so needless to say we will not be staying at that campground again. But! We did manage to make a trip to Freeport, ME and go to fabulous outlets where I got many a deal including a cool quilted hammock that is out in my lovely back yard.

After that camping experience we went camping again, but this time at Alexandria Bay in upstate New York (almost Canada) over the 4th of July. We had the best campsite I've ever stayed at. It was on the St. Lawrence river and we camped on a cliff with an area to jump off into the river. Sadly, because of my fear of heights, I did not do that, but Mr. Ellis did. We also went to Boldt Castle on Heart island (which is actually shaped like a heart). Check out the history of the castle, it's a very sad story. Of course, the boys that we went camping with had a competition on who could make the biggest fire, so most nights I spent burning off the first layer of skin on my face from sitting next to a roaring fire. All in all it was a very good time, even though the drive was a bit long.

During my time away, we also got to eat in the .406 club at Fenway and get a tour around the good old park. We were given this priviledge because of my brother's financial advisor. Anyway, I'll include some pictures on the events.

Lisa also graced New England with her presence in July. We went out and about in Boston so she could revisit her old stomping grounds. It was a hot day though, and she and I definitely did not wear appropriate walking apparel, but it was still a lovely day.

And then to the big event of the summer: moving to our new home. I am now officially old. I live in the burbs, I have more than one bedroom, I have a yard, and I can see the stars at night. Ahh well.... I guess life goes on. The moving experience was horrendous though. We moved ourselves and, of course, picked the week that was mid 90's and high humidity. This is a great way to lose weight though, just in case you thought you might try it. Our cats weren't too happy at first, but once they found our screened in porch we can almost never get them to come inside. We also have bird feeders and two bunnies that live in our yard for their enjoyment. Most recently my life has consisted of taking down wallpaper, breaking down walls, putting up sheet rock, sanding, and pretty much living in dust. Very fun. Actually it is quite fun to be so creative with the house and see the results in the end. Although we haven't really gotten to the results yet, just the destruction.

Let's see.... some small things are I highlighted my hair (successfully) with Herbal Essences highlights. It was on sale AND I had a coupon. So bonus all around. I'm also enjoying watching the show Brat Camp. At first I thought it would be ridiculous, but I've enjoyed seeing these kids make strides in becoming more mature and responsible.

I'll have to write my own post about my Honda Element, since there has been quite a discussion about it (and other cars) over on Lisa's blog. I just can't do it right now, since it has taken me an hour and a half to write this along with figuring out Blogger's new way of posting pictures (which I am still on the fence about whether I like it or not).

Pitching a tent

2005-06-24T08:58:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't updated in so long.

I'll be in a tent this weekend in Maine if you need to find me. And hopefully you don't because the people who happen upon my blog when doing a search, search for words like "candid braless" which is scary. I don't like those people checking out my stuff, so quit it!

I just don't get this

2005-06-17T12:50:00.000-04:00

Molester Kept List of Suspected Sex Acts - Yahoo! News

"Police searching the home of a convicted child molester discovered handwritten lists of more than 36,000 children's names — mostly boys — and codes that appear to indicate how he abused them."

"Although police said Schwartzmiller appears to have spent much of the past 30 years in California, he has been arrested on child molestation charges in New York, Arkansas and Washington. He also served prison time in Idaho for child molestation in the late 1970s, and is wanted in Oregon on sexual assault charges involving a minor."

How is a man like this not behind bars forever? This pisses me off. I remember a discussion we had senior year in high school English class about the death penalty. I was the only one in my class that was against it, and even my teacher said "But what about all the child molestors?" Well you wanna know about all the child molestors? There living next door to you! Ugh. 36,000! Disgusting.

Going back to The Academy

2005-06-13T12:53:00.000-04:00

Well I just got word today that I'll be having my 10 year reunion (it's been 11 years, actually but no one took the initiative last year) on September 3.

So since I never really had a huge consequence before to lose 15-20 pounds (other than I don't like how I look!) I now have to lose about 2 pounds a week to get to the goal by then.

Ugh.

I guess I should keep a positive attitude since I have no other choice but to do it. Ha!

I'll keep you posted. Hopefully there will be something to post about! Yikes!

The Sith Sense

2005-06-10T11:14:00.000-04:00

I'm somehow addicted to this. Although I must say, the King from Burger King scares the hell out of me.

By the way, I have stumped it quite a few times, but it's still very addictive!

Get your daily fix of something FRESH!

2005-06-09T06:19:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm up way too early, but since my house is a sauna I can't sleep. (By the way, no dice on getting the AC compressor fixed. Yay! We get to spend more money on a house we'll be moving out of in the middle of July! Yay!)

Anyway, surfing blogspot, and I found this BRILLIANT (that's right, Lisa, rainbow letters again!) site. That totally made my morning! He is so getting linked.

Oh God! I think I'm gonna...

2005-06-08T12:05:00.000-04:00

Found this post about this cologne.

Seriously? That's what it's called?

Am I suppose to give this as a gift for my dad on Father's Day?

If I did, I'd have some f'ed up relationship going on there.

Keep cool, man!

2005-06-08T10:30:00.000-04:00

I'm having a fantastic smoothie right now. I got it from You, The Owner's Manual book.

1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 medium ripe banana (I had a frozen one)
1 cup frozen raspberries (I'm using mixed berries)
1 tbsp orange juice concentrate (you can also use half a tbsp 100% orange juice and add an ice cube)

Makes 2 servings

And also on the keeping cool front, our central AC went out last night. Of course just in time for the home inspection on Friday. Ugh. And of course it's 90 today, tomorrow and Friday. Matt luckily knows someone who can work on these things and hopefully we won't have to spend $1000 right before we sell this place!

On the home front...

2005-06-06T12:22:00.000-04:00

We accepted an offer on the house this weekend. Very exciting. We got pretty much what we wanted for it, which is good since we could use all the money we can get. Ha! So now begins the process of home inspections and such, but hopefully it will go without a hitch. We're planning on closing in July, and hopefully closing on the other house around the same time.

"Dis" respectable Job

2005-06-03T10:57:00.000-04:00

Ok so most of you know I teach private flute lessons. I love my job and love the freedom it gives me. I also think I'm pretty darn good at it, and I know a lot of my students enjoy taking lessons with me. But the one thing that aggravates me the most is when people don't show up for their lessons. Now I'm fine with people missing a lesson in general, but can I at least just get a call?

This frustrates me most on Friday afternoons. I teach two lessons on Friday afternoons in a town about 40 minutes away (This is a whole other story about my crazy schedule, but I won't bore you.). It's a 12 week deal. Out of the 11 weeks so far, one of the students has shown up 6 times and notified me twice out of the 5 missed lessons. The second student has shown up 5 times and notified me 1/2 time out of the 6 missed lessons. I say 1/2 because I sat around for 15 minutes and finally the mother showed up to tell me she was sick. Yea, thanks.

Now what makes it worse is I have to teach in a school conference room that is located in the school office. So a couple times now I've actually gone in, set up the music stand and flute, waited around for an hour, then left. People think I'm a freakin' psychopath.

More than once I've given my cell phone number to the moms to let me know if they aren't going to make it. Nope, no dice.

I realize I get paid for this, but it's just common courtesy. I drive 40 minutes down and 40 minutes back for nothing on a Friday afternoon.

I've left messages with both students today to remind them their final lesson is today. (I almost decided just not to show up, but I'm not that passive aggressive.) We'll see if they show up. I think Vegas has the odds at 20-1 they don't.

**Update** Well the first student showed up about 10 minutes late, but at least showed up. I sat in my car waiting, by the way, because there was no way I was gonna look like a fool again. The second student (the one who's paid almost $300 for 12 lessons and has only shown up to 5) called and said she would not be coming. Must be nice to have money to throw away....

Anyway, hoorah! I'm done with that silly ass job.

I'm Wicked Smaht

2005-06-03T10:54:00.000-04:00

Appoggiatura. That's the word that won the whole spelling bee. I know what it means, and I even know how to do it.

Neener neener! Music rules.

Ok. I'm done now.

Edit: Actually I'm not. I found this post through a link on Lisa's website. This guy sums it up fantastically.

Help the girls out

2005-05-27T09:57:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention I watched an Oprah episode last week about bras. I definitely know the importance of a good bra, but the expert they had on the episode seemed to go against all my bra beliefs.

I was once measured at Victoria's Secret because the girl didn't believe me when I said I was a 34 DD. I saw the defeat in her eyes when she found out I was correct. Neener neener! (The gals at What Not to Wear helped me with making the girls look a little smaller. Ha!)

Anyway the expert on Oprah was telling some women they were 32 G! Hello?! G? What the hell am I then? The expert did make a good point that you might want to measure a little lower than right under the breast so the band stays down low and doesn't ride up. But who the hell sells 32 G?! Or 32 DD for the matter! Anyway, here are some of the tips the expert said.

Where to Wear Your Bra

According to Susan, the perfect position for your breasts is midway between your shoulders and your elbows. And your bra should be level front to back. Susan says most women wear their bra bands too high on their torsos and throw their measurements off. "Most women," Susan says, "keep going up in the back [increasing their band size] instead of getting a deeper cup. We want to keep the back lean and small so we can lift the bust. [The bra band is] like a bridge, if it's properly planted at the base, it can lift."

Susan says there are obvious clues your bra is the wrong size:

If your cups runneth over, it's time to go up a cup size.

If your cups dimple, it's time to go down a cup size.

If you have the dreaded back fat, you probably think your bra is too tight, but you're wrong—your bra is too big. Wearing the bra lower on your back with a smaller band size will completely eliminate the back fat.

If your strap falls down, that means your bra band is riding up and you probably need to go down a band size.

I said screw it because there is no way I'm finding a 32 DD or F! Instead I bought four new bras (34 DD thank you) online at Victoria's Secret because they are having an awesome sale. I unfortunately can rarely find my size in the actual store.

Also, Oprah showed these fantastic sports bras for more endowed women. They are a little expensive, but I'm willing to pay a little more in order to get less bounce! Ha!

Going back to Cali!

2005-05-27T08:47:00.000-04:00

My brother just got a new 9 week old puppy. It's a miniature schnauzer and toy poodle mix, commonly called a schnoodle. Hahaha. No really, it's called a schnoodle, I'm not just be brilliant with my humor.

Anyway, her name is Cali. And here are a few pictures of her. I'm going to see her tonight. I've hearding she's a peeing machine. Lovely!

Oh and by the way, there's a new DogBlog. If you haven't checked that blog out, it's fantastic!

Bo was robbed!

2005-05-26T10:43:00.000-04:00

So Carrie Underwood is the next American Idol. Or should I say Country Idol? Now don't get me wrong, she has a great voice but for the majority of the season she looked more like a 50s housewife than a modern teenager. And what's worst of all is her performance skills were so contrived and robotic. Zero charisma. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised since she had been primed to win this thing since the beginning of the season. It started off with her own farm girl story being told during the auditions to Simon praising her in the media and saying she's the one to beat. Pretty much a blonde, country version of Kelly Clarkson.

I guess I'm somewhat happy Bo didn't win. I don't think he needs the cheesy American Idol title with his country rocker status. I just hope 19 Entertainment allows him to put out a quality record and not fill it up with crap just to get it out soon.

"I'm in Love"

2005-05-24T16:09:00.000-04:00

That's what Tom Cruise said yesterday when trying to explain his hyperactive (read: annoying) behavior yesterday on Oprah.

I made it through about ten minutes of this ridiculous interview and after feeling nauseaous, I just stopped the recording and deleted it. What the hell is wrong with him? I actually hate him now. My belief is anytime someone professes so loudly that they are in love with someone, and so and so is so perfect, and their relationship is so wonderful, they're lying. As Kevin Federline so articulately put it "Love is love."

What is up with all these Hollywood stars acting like 12 year old school girls. Ugh.

Oh and for those of you who didn't catch this episode (lucky you!) check out some screencaps on Defamer.

Priced to sell, this will not last!

2005-05-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

Since Lisa was talking about her house, I figure I'll give an update on ours instead of taking up her whole comment area. :)

So we had our open house this past Sunday. It went really well, although don't ask the cats about it since they had to sit in carriers for over two hours with us in the car! We had 19 families come and check it out, and one offer did come in but it was too low and our house had only been on the market for 6 days.

I just had to do a mad dash of cleaning around the house because we have two more people coming to see it today. *Fingers crossed* I would absolutely love to be able to coordinate the closing dates of this house and the one we're buying. Of course, since it's my life I'm sure that won't be the case. ;)

I guess I should also give a couple of other updates since I've been so horrible at this recently. Let's see.... Britney and Kevin's "Chaotic" was absolutely ridiculous and Laura left half way through the show because she was so annoyed. Needless to say I will be watching it again tonight. :) Of course I'll also be taping the big American Idol finale. Bo better win because if I have to watch Carrie stand there and belt out a song with her robotic movements one more day, I'll scream. Vonzell was robbed!

I can tell the Red Sox will be putting me through another wringer of a season again. Can we please win three in a row? Anyone? And for those of you wondering why Edgar Rentaria isn't doing so hot, it's because I have him on my fantasy baseball team. I also have Curt Schilling. Sorry. I'm just a bad luck charm.

All right I'm posting this because I have a mother of a sinus headache at the moment. Rain= sinus headache for me. Pooper.

And I'll also want...

2005-05-19T12:38:00.000-04:00

I got this email yesterday concerning music lessons. At least that's what I think.

Can this be for real?!

Hello Friend,
I learn you are a music TEACHER, and i'll want you to please let me know the kind of music you teach or the music teacher you know and what he teach.Please,and also i'll want you to email me the kind of instrument you have or the type of instrument the teacher have , and i'll also want you to email me the amount you charge per hour for teaching.I will be waiting for your response. Thank you. N.B please email me directly on (taken out just in case this guy is real) i'll be expecting your mail
REGARDS
JOHN

You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but....

2005-05-17T11:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, I just finished watching the Britney Spears and Kevin Federline interview on Ellen. Now because I know about the "Pimp" jackets that Kevin and his groomsmen wore at his own wedding, I already knew this couple wasn't high class, but this interview just sealed their fate as white trash.

The two of them could not have been more inarticulate, making the whole interview quite uncomfortable. Plus with Miss Spears chomping on gum the whole time, it made them seem so completely immature. And these two are going to be PARENTS, people! (Sadly Kevin is already a parent to two illegitimate children. True class.)

Some interesting points made in the interview: 1) She's the one who proposed 2) He turned her down at first 3) Neither one could give a good reason about why it's good to be married 4) Britney doesn't read the magazines she just looks at the pictures 5) Kevin thinks love is good enough and didn't want to get married.

I never believed for a second that Britney was a genius, but even an idiot can see by the way Kevin sits on that couch, the way he dresses, the way he talks, how he answered some questions, and the fact he left his pregnant girlfriend for Britney that he is not nearly quality husband material.

Either way, I'm totally watching that train wreck of a show of theirs. I need a good laugh.

PostSecret

2005-05-16T13:48:00.000-04:00

Check out this blog. A gentleman has somewhat of a living art project going on where people send him postcards revealing secrets they have never told anyone. I find it fascinating.

PostSecret

A ha!

2005-05-16T12:43:00.000-04:00

Sober Worm Spawns German Spam - Yahoo! News

This is what I have! I've been going "what the f***!?" Everytime I open my email lately because I'll have about 35 emails all in German for no particular reason. My favorite one is titled "The Whore Lived Like a German" Heeheehahaheho.

Red or Blue?

2005-05-13T09:47:00.000-04:00

I took this quiz to see exactly where I fell on the whole conservative/liberal thing (as if I didn't know). Hahaha! I find it interesting I'm liberal everywhere except personal responsibility. I guess concerning that issue I really believe people need to be responsible for the choices they make in life. I don't believe in fate or luck controlling our lives. Choices we make for ourselves or people sometimes make for us are what determine our position in life.

Your Political Profile

Overall: 30% Conservative, 70% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

Good Betty

2005-05-13T09:08:00.000-04:00

Well I'll never say I have a favorite kitty (out of my three), but Betty seems to understand me the most. :)

Today I picked her up though

And her paw went down my face, consequently leaving a big scratch down my cheek.

Now I look like a big dumbass, but what else is new. At least she apologized. Haha!

Teaching the Perfect Sudent

2005-05-10T13:04:00.000-04:00

So I have a fourth grade female student that is already the perfect flute player after 7 months of playing. Well according to her, and really isn't that what matters? Seriously, though, I have a significantly difficult time teaching her and physically dread her lesson every week.

She started taking lessons with me soon after she signed up for flute at school. Needless to say, she was still in the beginning stages of playing and just trying to get a consistent sound on the flute. Lessons with these beginner students are as follows: me teaching them new fingerings, me correcting them on breathing techniques, and me showing them how to practice an entire song.

Well not with this girl. I learned quickly when I would point out she didn't finger something correctly or help her when the sound was coming out that this wouldn't be an easy relationship. Tears would well up in her eyes (which I would feel completely horrible and guilty about since most of my students laugh and have a great time in their lesson) and she would say she already did it that way, it's just the flute that isn't working. Or even better, I had told her to do it the other way (the wrong way) and she was just following that.

Now I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Well you just aren't encouraging enough with her and you're only criticizing." Oh no! I am constantly encouraging her and praising her on even the most minute things to get her to just even trust me. For instance, I often ask my students to define a new term we had gone over the previous week so I would know they had understood the meand, and when I did it with this student she would give me some made up answer and when an explanation of the correct answer was given she would tell me I had told her the "incorrect" answer the previous week or she would claim that's what she had said.

To be honest, sometimes I've had to keep myself from laughing at the audacity.

So anyway, I finally had a talk with her just to try to get things flowing a little better. I told her when I correct something or point out a different way of doing something, it isn't that I am telling her she's a horrible person or completely wrong, just that their is a better/easier way of doing it. I also conveyed the message that I wanted to work as a team and in the past few lessons I felt she thought I was somehow working against her. She seemed to get the message and I gave her a moment to speak her piece as well, but she didn't say much other than she understood what I said. I think she was actually surprised that someone called her on it.

So the past few weeks have gone somewhat better, although I have been a lot more accomodating to her and just let her do her thing figuring eventually she'll let me help her. But yesterday was just the ultimate. We were going over a piece and I wanted her to work on the final part (the most difficult part, all of four measures though!) She complained that it was difficult. I told her it was, but if she took it in pieces and tried to be patient she would see great results kinda like riding a bicycle, we don't hop on and immediately ride away perfectly. And her response to this was "Well I've always pretty much been perfect at riding a bicycle", so I said well name something that you might have had to work at before you were perfect at it. And she sat there for a moment and then gave me a sheepish look, pretty much saying "I can't think of anything I'm not good at".

And I just gave up and laughed.

I Heart Firefox

2005-05-09T15:26:00.000-04:00

Critical Flaw Found in Firefox

Just a warning to those of you who love and use Firefox. Hopefully they'll be fixing this soon.

To Blog or Not To Blog?

2005-05-09T12:08:00.000-04:00

This really the question. I have tried blogging before with some success, but haven't stayed motivated. Now that I know my friend, Lisa, has started a blog I'm all motivated again. Actually what I get motivated about is adding all the cool links and changing colors on my set up. Maybe I should just design a web page instead of actually writing my thoughts down?

What's unfortunate is I have a billion ideas running through my head all day, and I constantly think "Hey I gotta write about this!", but when I actually sit down the ideas all just fade away. OR I have so many things to write about and don't want to look silly updating my blog all the time.

Oh well. We'll see how this thing goes. At least (or at least I'm hoping) this will be a good way to keep in touch with some friends and hopefully they'll start blogs of their very own!

First entry

2005-05-08T09:33:00.000-04:00

Right. So this is just my first entry to help me set up this crazy thing.