Holiday Hiatus and a New Blog

Wow, so much for getting a new blog up every week!  Getting ready for the holidays and taking care of a 3-month-old kind of took up a lot of time the past two weeks.  We had a good holiday though.  Saturday before Christmas, we had the family party with Scott's stepsiblings. 

Christmas Eve was spent at my brother-in-law's house, with Scott's Mom and Stepdad, Aunt and Uncle, and their kids, and Aurora was of course passed around throughout the family.  Games were fun this year...I came in second in Inflatable Cactus Ring Toss :)  Christmas day, we drove out to my Father-in-law's house in Romoland (out near Perris, CA), and again, Aurora was passed around the various family members in attendance.  The next morning, we drove from Romoland to Glamis, to spend the evening with my Mom and her boyfriend.  By then, Aurora was about done.  She was tired of being stuck in the carseat (not that I blame her), and she was sick of being passed around.  And we still had another day of travel to go. 

Overall, she did pretty well.  She fussed a little bit when we were driving through the mountains, but not so much that it was unbearable. 

So Scott got me "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", and I've decided to undertake a journey through the history of cinema, and I will be chronicaling this journey in my new blog, entitled "1001: A Cinematic Odyssey".  It'll have a bit from the book's review, and my own review as well.  So if you're interested in film at all, check it out!

My New Shop!

I am pleased and proud to announce the grand opening of my new shop, Liz's Creations, on Etsy.com.  I have handmade soy candles and jewelry, and will be adding some cross stitch pieces and other items soon!

Here's the link:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lizsanford

Dammit...

I had something I wanted to post today, and didn't get a chance when it was on my mind, and now I've forgotten what it was...

Damn.

(Late) Post-Thanksgiving Post

Repetitive title FTW!

Anyway.

Thanksgiving was good...lots of family, lots of food, a personal challenge (that I rocked); good times were had by all.

Wednesday night, we went to dinner with Scott's Mom's family...Bonnie has a cousin (I think) whose son is going to school at Cal Poly Pomona, and is out in CA and away from his home for the first time, so they invited him down for Thanksgiving. He was a very nice young man, and I enjoyed seeing that part of the family for Thanksgiving (we don't usually do T-day with them, opting instead to drive out to Romoland for dinner with Scott's dad, but since this was the night before, we got to see them).

Cooking fell to me this year, we all agreed that it would be easier for Scott's family to come to us than for us to travel out to them, and I welcomed the opportunity to entertain. It's something that I do far to infrequently for as much as I enjoy it. I did Christmas dinner last year, and that was about the same scale...it was actually the same group of people, except for Aunt Rhoda (who was greatly missed, but she opted to spend the holiday with a friend who was going to be alone for the first time, which was very cool of her). Everything that I made for dinner (and I use the term "dinner" loosely...we ate at around 4) I've done before, except for the turkey and the cranberry sauce. I helped with the turkey at my father-in-law's house last year, so I was reasonably confident in my ability to make it successfully. The cranberry sauce, however, I didn't have any experience with. I've never been a big fan of cranberry anything, so I've never had a reason to work with them raw. Scott likes cranberry though, but he's not a big fan of the canned cranberry sauce, so I decided I would try to find fresh cranberries and make it from scratch. Luckily, I live near two hippie-ish stores, and found them quite easily. I was expecting a big challenge: having to find weird ingredients, straining out skins, mashing up the pulp, etc. I have to admit to a slight feeling of disappointment when I read on the bag of cranberries what the recipe was. Here it is (for a 14-oz bag of cranberries, though I suppose you could use more or less depending on how thick you want the sauce): boil 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar, add cranberries, boil rapidly until berries pop open. In my cookbooks, I did find a few different recipes, such as a cranberry-orange chutney, that were more complicated, so maybe I'll try something different next time I make it. Anyway...it went over very well, so I count it as another cooking win in my book! (Yes, I did taste it, just in case it was the artificial, high-fructose corn syrup laden junk that I didn't like...turns out, I just don't like the taste of cranberry.) We also celebrated Scott's cousin's birthday; her 19th. We had the most delicious chocolate cake I've ever had, and I've had a lot of chocolate cakes. A lot of damn good chocolate cakes. Happy birthday, Stef!

Friday and Saturday were fun; we spent the whole time at home with the baby, save for a short walk to the grocery store and going to see Improv Shmimprov.

Sunday was great...Curtis and Rene came over and we played "Zombies!" Rene and I had never played before, so that gave us a little bit of a disadvantage, and despite a slow start Rene came back strong and beat us all. For lunch I made our leftover turkey into a tasty pot pie :)

This week I've been a bit lazy...Monday I mostly played video games, and Tuesday I finished up making candles for etsy. And then there was today...Aurora's 10-week checkup. She's doing well, growing well, her length, weight, and head circumference were right where they should be. Then there were the immunizations. The first one was fine, it was an oral one, and she did fine. Then came a shot in her right thigh...she looked a little shocked at first, and when the second shot went in, her face went completely red and she let out a shriek like I've never heard before. It was awful. I know they're for her own good, I just really wish there were some way I could convey that to her. After I got her back in her clothes, in her carseat, and her pacifier back in her mouth, however, she was fine and has slept most of the rest of the day. And so goes another adventure in parenting. Not looking forward to the next round of shots :(

*Edit: Bonnie's relative goes to Cal Poly San Louis Obispo, not Cal Poly Pomona.

Busy Weekend!

Somehow we've gotten back into the habit of booking our weekends up to the point of being jam-packed.

Friday was the usual trip to Fullerton for Improv Shmimprov; it was a good game, my first time seeing new Shmimprover Jason Booth. He's a pretty funny guy, and I'm glad he made it onto the team.

Saturday was game night with Alayne, Chris, Jill, and the Hollands (and all of our kids were there of course). Oh my goodness do I love Killer Bunnies! I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to unleash the chaos and anarchy of the Mystery Urn, but we're all old folks now and it was after 10 pm when I drew it, and I had the choice to either end the game or play the Urn...I thought Alayne might shoot me if I played it, so I chose to end the game (didn't win though...James had the magic carrot).

And Sunday was a trip to the Getty Villa to get Aurora some culture! It was my first trip to the Villa, and I must say, I am a fan! I love Greek and Roman history and mythology (for the out of staters in the audience, the Getty Villa is museum set on J. Paul Getty's property in Malibu, and it's a replica of a Roman villa that was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius, and the whole museum is dedicated to Greek and Roman antiquities). We took a couple of tours, got to see the Getty Bronze (originally named Victorious Youth), learned how bronze statues were made in ancient Rome and Greece, and wander around a replica of a Roman garden. I had to miss the first bit of both tours due to having to feed the baby, so I think I'd like to do the tours again in the future. There's also some other tours that look like a lot of fun, like the family tour for kids; I'd like to do that one with Aurora when she gets a little older.

So it was a very packed, but very fun-filled weekend. And tomorrow starts the planning and preparation for Thanksgiving for 9 at our house. So excited! And in the spirit of the time of year, I am thankful to have a wonderful, loving family and circle of friends who I care about very much and would do anything for.

I may not get a chance to blog again until after the holiday, so Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Kids

It's kind of weird the unexpected things that kids wind up attaching to. I have played dozens of songs and lullabies to Aurora, and she seems to enjoy my off-key warbling (much to my surprise), but it's always taken at least three or four songs before she really responds to it. She doesn't actually fuss a whole lot, but she has her moments, particularly in the car. She doesn't really like to be put in her carseat, and she's generally still fussing and crying a bit by the time we get in the car. I happened to put a Dancehall Crashers cd in the player in the car a few weeks ago, and noticed that she really liked one song in particular. Scott thought it might have been the acoustic guitar, but she doesn't respond and calm down until the lyrics start, so I don't know if it's the girl's singing, my singing along with it, or the guitar playing, but this song will calm her down every time it's played. So I'm expecting I'll be listening to it a lot over the next few months, unless she decides to change it up a bit. At least it's a song I liked to begin with :)

Gallstone update 1

I had an appointment with my GP this morning about my gallstones, to figure out what the best course of treatment is. I really like my doctor. If you're looking for a General Practitioner in the OC area, I can highly recommend Dr. Aguilar. She's a bit of a hippie, but she's great. She prefers trying a natural approach instead of turning straight to pills, she talks to you and explains everything really well, and most importantly, she listens to your questions and concerns.

We talked about what the options are, and we agreed that the best option is surgery, since it's the only treatment that's permanent. I was concerned with the fact that Aurora's still so young, and I'm still breastfeeding. She said that for right now, since the ultrasound and labwork don't indicate any infection or inflammation, it's not affecting my pancreas, and it's not causing constant pain, it's something that I can wait for a bit on. Her suggestion was to consult with the surgeon that she referred me to, and to wait until the baby's at least 6 months old. That way, she's old enough that she can interact with other people and she's not quite so dependent on me.

So now I have to make an appointment for a consult with the surgeon.

And then I'll be more than the "Spleenless Wonder", I'll just be generically the "Organless Wonder".

Rather Inane...

In the interest of getting back in the habit of blogging regularly, I thought I'd post something that I'm sure everyone reading this has already seen, but is one of my favorite videos ever. Legos are awesome, Eddie Izzard is awesome, and when you put them together they create a level of awesome that is rarely seen in the world today.

This One's for Victoria

Yesterday I forgot that I wanted to post a recipe, and as with a disturbing number of my regular recipes, this one has a story behind it.

A few months ago, Scott and I had a BBQ with some friends, including some of Scott's coworkers. I made some potato salad, but I didn't use a recipe or write down what I put in it. It was a hit, which is great, but I didn't think about it again until a couple weeks later when one of Scott's coworkers said that her fiance had really loved it and wanted her to get the recipe from me. Well, crap. I didn't have any recollection at all as to what I put in it. I actually dedicated quite a bit of thought to remembering everything I'd thrown in, and I think I've pretty well replicated it, so here's the recipe for anyone interested:

8 medium-sized Russet potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup dill relish
6 dill pickle spears, cut into chunks
2 small cans sliced olives
1/8 cup yellow mustard
1/8 cup spicy brown mustard

Boil the potatoes until they're well done, and then cool completely and cut into approx. 1/2-inch chunks. Add the rest of the ingredients, and stir to incorporate.


I'm not sure it's exactly the same, but as far as I recall it's pretty close. Enjoy!

Neglect...

I know. I've neglected the blog. But I have some good reasons. Honest. For one, there's been the whole "having a baby" thing, but it was a little more than that.

The last couple months of my pregnancy, I was extremely uncomfortable and more than a little pissy, and I felt like if I tried blogging I was going to wind up complaining about stuff, and that the complaining would take over the blog and I would come across as little more than a pathetic, whiny, pain in the ass who nobody wanted to read about. That's not who I really am, that's not how I really feel about myself, and it's not the vibe that I wanted to put out. I'm a fan of the idea of having people read this blog, and doing nothing but complaining about how I feel isn't the way to get readership. So I stopped writing for awhile, and I'm glad I did.

I've been meaning to start writing again, because I actually have worthwhile stuff to say again. So, here I go with my first post-baby blog:

I am sooo loving being a mom! Aurora can be a handful sometimes, but for the most part she is a fantastic baby. She sleeps at night really well, hardly cries, and loves to be around people. We're settling into a pretty standard routine; feeding and cuddle time after Scott leaves for work, I get her dressed and get my shower while she sleeps, then after feeding her again we go out for our morning walk. Thanks to those walks, I'm almost down to my pre-pregnancy weight again, and I'm already fitting in my pre-pregnancy clothes (which I'm super happy about)! She's up and about and playful when Scott gets home, and generally is asleep by about 9 or 10 in the evening. I really only have to wake up once during the night to feed her, and by the time she needs to be fed again I'm getting up to make lunch for Scott. Overall, she's a great baby.

So that's what's going on in my world. I know I've said it before, but I'm going to start blogging more regularly. I won't promise a blog every day, but I'll work on getting one out at least once a week. See you later!

Fiddler on the Roof

Last Monday was my Mom's birthday, so Scott and I took her and her boyfriend to see "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Pantages on Saturday. Topol was playing Tevye, a role he's played over 2,000 times. Needless to say, he was fantastic! Even at the age of 74, he was incredible. Mom had the opportunity to see him live several years ago (I think before I was born), and sharing this with her was a lot of fun. Seeing someone live is so much different than seeing them on film; there's a different chemistry, a richness to live theater that you don't get watching a screen. This is definitely an experience I will be bragging to my kids about 20 years from now ;)

The best part of the evening, however, was that it was her boyfriend's first time attending live theater. Ever. He had a good time, and I'm glad for that. I think it was a bit long for him, considering he's not used to sitting in a theater for 2 1/2-3 hours, but he enjoyed it. Overall, a great experience and a great birthday for Mom.

Billing Issue Update

Two blogs in one day??? What is this madness???

Anyway, I FINALLY got a call back from the nursing facility, and the girl that I talked to (who sounded like she'd finished high school and not much further, and spoke with an almost unintelligible accent) informed me that the reason for the mix up was that they had been transitioning to a new office. The payment that I sent in originally hadn't been processed because of a mix up at the post office; they hadn't been forwarding payments to the bank. And the reason we hadn't gotten any calls back was that the voicemails were "getting lost" during the move to the new office.

Why it took them over a month to realize that they hadn't received any payments or gotten any calls about payments is beyond me.

She had no explanation as to why I sat on the phone for 2 hours waiting for someone to pick up.

Her recommendation is that the original payment will probably be processed, now that they've fixed the issue with the bank, so just sit tight and wait for it to be processed because paying it over the phone with her right then would cause a double payment (which makes sense, but still). The only helpful thing she did was reset my bill, so that it's no longer considered past due.

I still think that it's strange that the billing department, of all the departments to have, would be so inefficient.

At least it's closer to being taken care of.

Hershey's Syrup

Last week, I had Hershey's chocolate syrup for the first time in several years. I can't really explain why I hadn't had it in so long, other than the fact that I let Scott pick out the ice cream toppings, and he usually goes with hot fudge and whipped cream. Not that I have anything against hot fudge and whipped cream. They are tasty toppings. But there's something about good ol' Hershey's syrup. I think it's mostly to do with my dad...his favorite part of a meal, much like Scott, was dessert. Some of my favorite mealtime memories are standing in the kitchen, waiting for Dad to scoop out the ice cream either into a cone (always filling the cone with extra ice cream, usually without Mom seeing exactly how much sugar we were getting right before bed) or bowl, and sitting around the table eating it and watching Star Trek or some such.

We had one of our crazy busy weekends this past week. Our Friday plans got postponed due to an unexpected and sudden illness, so we drove up to the Maverick early to see "Reefer Madness" (hilarious show), Saturday Scott's dad and stepmom came over to help with the closet rebuild for the baby's room (it looks awesome) and we went to a party in Long Beach in the evening. Sunday, we went up to my mom's place to help her pack stuff up and clean in preparation for selling her condo, and even though I didn't do any of the heavy lifting or anything, I was still exhausted by the end of the day, and Scott even more so. It was exceptionally hot on Sunday; at least, it felt that way to us, so I suggested having ice cream when we got home, and maybe stopping for fixin's on the way home. We hemmed and hawed and kind of decided that stopping wouldn't be worth it, but as I thought about it, I realized that for whatever reason, I really wanted some Hershey's syrup, so we decided we'd make the stop.

I don't really know if it was a pregnancy craving, or if it was nostalgia, or just that with all the familial turmoil (and everything else) going on I'm really missing my dad, but I had a big bowl of vanilla ice cream with Hershey's syrup on it, and as Scott and I sat and ate ice cream while Star Trek played, I fondly remembered all those nights so many years ago while looking forward to making our own family memories that our daughter will someday look back on with the same melancholy happiness.

Ranty blog

As I type this, my phone sits open between myself and the keyboard, as static-y classical hold music cuts in and out and I hear an occasional computer-generated voiceover saying "Please hold, and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received". This soundtrack has been playing in my ears for the past hour. I am on hold with a billing department, sitting in my swimsuit, because I had planned on going swimming an hour ago but wanted to take care of this first.

The back story: if you'll recall back to the early days of my pregnancy, when I was leaning over the toilet begging for death at least once an hour, my doctor finally suggested at-home nursing care, a solution that I accepted with glee (well, as much glee as I could muster, having not eaten anything in three weeks). A nurse came out, hooked me up to an IV and a pump of anti-nausea medication, and within a week I was feeling almost 100% better. My daily phone calls in to report to my assigned nurse never took more than 5 minutes. A few weeks later, I was able to stop the pump altogether and I've been fine ever since.

Then the bill came.

I wasn't surprised by the bill, I knew it would be a sizable one. The paper had instructions to either send a check or fill in the credit card information on the stub, and send it in to the provided address. I followed these instructions, giving them our credit card information, and didn't give it a second thought. Until about a month later, when the second notice for the bill came. After tracking down the original bill (because the first bill had a different amount on it than that of the second bill, a difference of only a few dollars, but unsettling nonetheless), I scoured Scott's bank account for a charge of the proper amount, as well as any unusual charges, and found none. I still have no idea what happened to this first attempt at payment.

Scott decided he would take the second bill and try to pay it over the phone. He called the number provided once, and got no answer. He called again, the next day, and after being on hold for a few minutes, was sent to a voicemail box. He left a message, and for a week received no call back. He called again, left another message, and again has received no call back.

I receieved a notice in the mail this week, saying that my balance was past due, and giving me the same instructions for payment (also, the amount of this bill is the same as the amount on the original bill; why they can't figure out how much I owe, I have no idea). This time, however, the phone number given had an extension number to call, as well as the name of someone in their "Reimbursement Department". I have tried calling her several times. Every time I call and enter her extension, the computer voice tells me that her extension is busy, to try another extension press 1 or to try her extension again press 3. Pressing 0 to get an operator does nothing, and there is no option to leave her a voicemail directly. It also gives the option to exit, which I tried, thinking it would take me back to the main menu...it doesn't, it terminates the phone call.

One might think that of all departments any company can have, the billing/reimbursement department would be the most efficient. I have now been trying to pay this bill for almost a month, and gotten nowhere. Damn.

Labor Class

If you haven't already read Scott's blog on the labor class, here's a summary: I'm feeling much more prepared for the entire process, but a little overwhelmed and apprehensive about all the stuff that can go wrong.

First of all, I totally lucked out and found my OB on my first try. I found her on a "rate your md" type website, I actually looked her up on three different ones after getting a list of the doctors in my area that accepted my insurance, and the only complaints were from non-OB patients that said they'd had to see her nurse-practitioner on a few occasions because she had a patient in labor. Well, that's something that you have to accept when you're seeing an OB/GYN. That's why the OB is in there. Don't want to deal with it, see a gynecologist who doesn't do obstetrics. Anyway, all of the people who'd rated her as an obstetrician said that she was great, so I called her up and made an appointment. This was at the beginning of 2008, when I was pregnant the first time and wound up miscarrying. Through the entire process of going through that, she and the entire staff were fantastic. I was in a bit of a haze, and they were very nice about explaining that it wasn't my fault and it didn't mean that I'd never be able to have kids, etc., and I felt very confident that when the time was right and we decided we would try again, that I'd be going back to her.

I was mildly concerned about the fact that I would have to deliver at Hoag hospital in Newport Beach. It's not the closest hospital to us, and in traffic can take almost a half hour to get to. However, after this class, I am much more confident that it's the right choice. I'm very happy with their procedures, security measures, and the general level of care given to the entire family. Everyone gives birth in a private room, with a pull-out bed for dad or whoever else is there. The baby isn't taken from you right away the way they used to do, and they go so far as to not allow any visitors at all the first hour after birth. It's just mom, dad, baby, and whoever else was coaching/cheerleading. After this initial period of isolation, everyone's taken upstairs to the private recovery rooms, where you can have visitors, but they need to be buzzed in and out by the nursing staff. They inspect packages and backpacks/purses upon leaving to prevent abductions (Hoag has never had an abduction). They keep the baby with you all the time, they do tests in your room. They also keep you for about twice as long as most hospitals. So overall, I'm feeling much more confident in this particular choice.

In the class, we went over all the things that can go wrong. Wow. There's a lot. And most of it you don't have any control over, and neither does the doctor. There's not really much we can do except hope that everything goes the way it's supposed to.

And so begins the (approximately) 10-week countdown. I have the feeling that it's going to go much quicker than I am anticipating, but then again, the whole pregnancy's gone much quicker than I anticipated.

Vegas, baby! (Day 2)

Day two of Vegas was Friday. We got up, had a nice breakfast in our room, and then ventured out to the strip to make a second stop at the ticket broker. As the very cool line wrangler had mentioned the day before, the Blue Man Group tickets were on sale at approximately 60% off; the seats we got are normally $101, and we scored them for $42! Since we had the tickets vouchers so early, we headed over to the Venetian to pick up the real tickets and avoid the crazy line that would inevitably form just before the show started. The Venetian is a gorgeous hotel! I'd never been inside before, and it was really cool to wander around and just look at stuff.

In fact, we realized that there were a few more of the hotels along the strip that I hadn't been inside, that I wanted to see the inside of. So, armed with our list of free stuff to do and the thought that I especially wanted to see Treasure Island, we set out to go wander. On a side note, getting in and out of the Venetian via the front entrance was a bitch and a half due to the Michael Jackson tribute/photo op outside the entrance to Madame Tussaud's. I can't seem to understand the amount of fuss that has been made over this man. I understand and acknowledge that he made a profound impact on the music industry, but he's been living an extremely self-destructive and self-indulgent lifestyle for the past 15 years, and his death really didn't surprise me at all. And I'd like to know where the hell the tribute to Farrah Fawcett is? She was an active advocate and lived her life doing her best to serve and help those who didn't have the advantages she did and yet, her death is just forgotten and glossed over in the wake of Jackson's. It just doesn't seem fair. But that's really not the point of this blog, so I'm going to get off the soapbox and continue with the vacation :)

I was a little disappointed with Treasure Island, to tell the truth. The outside was fantastic, the pirate ships were pretty damn cool, and the island-y stuff was awesome, but once you get inside it's only kind of vaguely ship-themed. None of it the stuff there jumped out at me as being particularly awesome though. We went back down to see the animal habitat that was supposed to be free at the Mirage, but they were charging for it so we decided against it, but by then the lion habitat was open at the MGM Grand and we also wanted to see that. It was super crowded, so we only got a few steps in before my claustrophobia wouldn't allow me to go any further, but there were two lionesses lounging up on top of the walk-through tunnel about 4 feet above our heads. It was so cool to be 4 feet away from a gigantic lioness, and almost be able to hear her snoring!

After some more wandering, we headed back to the resort for a short nap before the Blue Man Group show. Just after waking up, our friend from CG showed up (he and a buddy were going to be staying in the second room for the night), and we hung out with them for a bit while we ate dinner, which was cool since we don't see Dinko very often.

The Blue Man Group show was...indescribably awesome. I've never seen a show like it. It's almost impossible to explain what they do; it's a mash-up of awesome percussion performance, awesome blacklight show, audience participation stunts, among other rad stuff.

We were going to meet up with Dinko and his friend after the show, but logistics just didn't allow for that to happen so we said we'd do breakfast or lunch with them the next morning and went to do some more wandering. Our travels took us to the Paris hotel, and past a bar with dueling pianos. Scott can't resist a piano bar, so we stopped in, thinking we'd stay for a few songs and have a drink and then head back to get some sleep. That was at about 10 PM, we didn't leave until 1:30 AM. Needless to say, they were pretty entertaining. The challenge they'd given themselves that they would be able to play any hit song from the 50's or later, and they were only stumped 3 times the entire night. They played everything from "Master of Puppets" to "Behind Closed Doors" (someone thankfully paid them to stop the latter halfway through the song). The only bad part was that the cheap booze they served Scott gave him a bad headache, and he was feeling pretty crappy most of the next morning...but that's a story for the next blog!

Day 3 coming soon!

Vegas, baby! (Day 1)

I love Vegas. I love hanging out and partying, the strip clubs, the shows, I'm not a huge gambler but I've come to love the penny slots at Casino Royale (where Scott's favorite craps tables are), and also a game that Alayne got us hooked on at Harrah's called Triple Shot, plus it's close enough to road trip (and I love me a good road trip!). However, being pregnant, I was a little apprehensive about deciding to go for the 4th of July, since it would be hot and possibly really uncomfortable, and because we were staying off-strip at our timeshare and we would have to find a way up to the strip anytime we wanted to do anything.

It turned out our apprehension was all in vain; we had a blast! I found a list of free things to do, we decided we would go see what tickets were available at the ticket broker and wing it on shows, and there would be a fireworks display on Saturday evening that we would go watch.

Staying off-strip didn't turn out to be a problem; we were staying at the Tropicana Ave. location with our timeshare, it's about two miles southwest of the strip, directly down the street from New York New York and the MGM Grand. When we needed to get to the strip, we would drive up to New York New York, park in their structure, and take the monorail anywhere we needed to go. We didn't take a cab a single time we were there; we got three day monorail passes and took that the entire time.

We made great time getting there, we left Thursday morning at 10, and got to the resort at 2 (check-in isn't until 4, so we had to wait a bit for the room to be ready, but they were totally cool about it and even gave us three free rentals from their DVD collection to compensate). After making a list of the shows we were interested in seeing, we headed over to the ticket broker to pass the time and get tickets for a show for the evening. While in line, we were chatting with one of the line regulators, who turned out to be super cool and gave us a really great tip about having Blue Man Group tickets at a bigger discount the next day, so we held off on getting tickets for that and saw Love Thursday instead, and also got a great discount voucher for Benihana before the show. Yummy.

Being just the two of us, they sat us with 6 other people around the grill. We met a very nice older couple from SoCal who were there with their adoreable grandchildren. I was very impressed with how well-behaved and polite the two teenagers were, especially being from LA. There was also a very nice younger couple who lived in Vegas, they were out on a date night away from their three kids. When it came up that I was expecting, I got fawned over a little, which was kind of fun :) We talked about babies and families, as well as theatre and living in the aread that we all lived in. It was a very pleasant dinner, and it was really cool to just chat with total strangers.

And then it was off to the Mirage for Love. Our tickets had come with complimentary admission to the Revolution lounge, this funky little post-modern bar with some awesome installation art pieces. Unfortunately, my camera wouldn't fit in the small purse that I brought, so I couldn't get any pictures of them. The one weird thing I have to say about the lounge is that it has the coolest bathroom I've ever seen. There's two entrances, one marked Men and the other Women, and those lead into a room with a round fountain-style sink. As you walk in, off to the left there are women's stalls and off to the right are men's stalls. No barriers, no walls. It's semi-coed. It sounds strange, but it's actually pretty cool.

The actual show was awesome. I've never seen a Cirque du Soliel before, and it totally lived up to expectations. I really enjoy the Beatles, and watching it paired with such incredibly talented dancers and acrobats was fantastic. It was a little long, especially after having driven all morning and afternoon, and my body is just about at the point where I can't be in the same position for very long without being uncomfortable, so by the time it was over I was very glad to be able to get up and stretch.

We decided to call it a night after that; it was about 10, it had been a long day, and I hadn't gotten my preggo nap. So back to the car, and back down the street to the resort for a good night's sleep.

Day 2 coming soon!

Troubling news...

I know I haven't posted in awhile, and I didn't mean for my return post to be so depressing, but I really feel like I need to post about this for the sake of being able to mentally process it better.

I received a phone call from my mom early this morning telling me that a young man that I'd gone to high school and church with had been killed over the weekend. We weren't great friends, I actually thought he was kind of a jerk in high school, and though I hadn't seen him in several years, I knew he'd grown to be a real stand-up guy, a proud member of the Navy, and a great father.

I guess I'm troubled by this news mostly because it's brought the issue of my own mortality up to the front of my mind. I've been saddened by the recent celebrity deaths, as well as the recent deaths in my family, but they haven't really effected me the same way. This young man was only a year or two older than me. Logically, I know, something could happen at any minute and I'd be gone (yes, I know, a morbid thought, but it's true), but that's always a thought that's off in the back of my subconscious, not right up at the forefront of my mind. I honestly don't really know how to deal with this...while it doesn't directly effect me, I am very saddened for his family.

My heart goes out to his family and friends, and I hope they can find some peace in their time of grief.

Damn, Almost Forgot...

The most exciting thing about this weekend is that I got to stop the drug pump! I still have some reglan in pill form in case I start feeling sick, but I'm no longer hooked up to the pump at all. In fact, they're sending someone to pick it up and take it back tomorrow. Hooray!!!!

So Much to Blog About!

It was kind of a busy weekend...lots to talk about!

We got the Wazza, Inc. site up and running! (And when I say "we", I mean mostly Scott). If you know anyone who's looking for videography services, send 'em our way. Scott's been working on this for awhile, so it's nice to have it done and looking good.

I added a couple of tomato plants to my patio garden. They're pre-started, so they're already growing a bit, but there's no fruit on them yet. I'm so looking forward to my own fresh, vine-ripe tomatoes!

We went to Curtis' Shmimprov show Friday night, and as we got out of the show to go to our car there was a freight train stopped at the station that the theatre is across from. As we walked to our car we over heard someone saying that someone had died, so we joined in on the conversation. Turns out, someone had either jumped in front of the train deliberately or been playing chicken and lost. Everyone in the group kind of lamented how sad it was, and then went on their merry way. Scott and I, however, have a different opinion (yes, this is going to turn into a bit of a rant, and I'm sorry for that). I can't really bring myself to feel bad for someone who gets hit by a train. They're either trying to get hit, or pretty damn stupid. I've heard of people getting hit because they have headphones on so loud that they can't hear it; well, number one, walking along tracks that are still in use is damn idiotic in the first place but if you deliberately apply a device that will hinder your ability to hear you're just asking to be removed from the gene pool. And if you're playing chicken for a cheap thrill, again, you're asking for it. And if you're trying to get hit, well, maybe you're right and the world really is better off without you. I just can't feel bad for someone who's dumb enough to get hit by a train.

And now, on a happier note, we had family over for dinner last night, kind of an Easter-y thing, and it was really nice. People brought stuff for food so I didn't have to worry about all of it, and we went down and grilled some nice tri-tip steaks. They were HUGE! But they were very very tasty. It was nice to spend the evening with family; living down in south county while they're up in Whittier makes it difficult to see them as often as we'd like.

16 weeks!

Today marks 16 weeks in my pregnancy. I'm still doing really well with the lowered dosage of reglan, so I'm hopeful that in the next couple of weeks we'll be able to stop the pump altogether. So exciting!

In garden news...I bought trellises for the peas and cucumbers (if the cucumbers sit on the dirt they have a tendency to rot from the bottom up, so I have a trellis in the hopes that they'll get big enough to hang over the trellis without being so big that they fall off the vines). The cucumbers still aren't quite tall enough to reach the bottom tier of the trellis though. The peas, on the other hand, watch out! The peas are already starting to attach themselves to the trellis and getting taller by the day. I can't wait for them to start sprouting peas. The lettuce isn't growing quite as quickly, but it's getting there. It may just be that they're not going to grow as tall. Speaking of lettuce, that reminds me of my tip for if you're going to start your own garden: don't use clay pots! I know a lot of people love clay pots because they're heavier and all, but in reality, they're more prone to breakage and they absorb the water pretty quickly. I have one of my lettuce plants in a clay pot that I happened to have before I started the garden, and I have to water it about twice as often as the other plants and it's still not growing as well as the other lettuces, which are in a glazed porcelain pot that doesn't absorb the water. The plants that are doing the best, however, are the ones that I have in these huge plastic pots that I got. I think it has to do with having more room for their roots to grow.

As The Belly Expands...

I haven't blogged in awhile. Not necessarily because there hasn't been anything to blog, but partially because I've been busy and partially because every time I get some time to myself I feel like sleeping instead of typing. I'm still on the reglan pump and the zofran, both of which make me sleepy. Plus being pregnant makes you sleepy in general. Good news on that front though...my reglan level has been lowered twice and I'm still doing pretty good on it, so it's looking like I can be off of that within the next two weeks (I know, I've been saying that for over a month, but this time it's looking like it could become a reality). I've gotten back up to my pre-pregnancy weight (I lost about 10 pounds during the morning sickness phase), so that's also a good thing. I'm growing out of my old blouses VERY fast. I was a little worried about a boob falling out while I was at the chiropractor yesterday. And the most exciting thing (to me, at least), you can almost tell from the front that I'm pregnant. It's been apparent from the side for a few weeks, but now it's almost obvious from the front.

I'm now having trouble concentrating (and typing...) so I think I'm off to take a nap.

Plant update

So I realized that I haven't posted about my plants in the past few days. They're getting so big!!! Especially the peas, which I really didn't think would take off the way they have been. I'm already needing to get a trellis for them so that they don't attach to the side of my balcony. The shortest one is about 4 inches tall. The lettuce is being a bit slow, and I'm not sure if it's just because lettuce grows slowly or because it's not going to make it. The cucumbers are happy just being little seedlings for the moment; I don't know how big they're going to get but the guy at the garden store said I may need a trellis for them as well. I'm looking forward to being able to harvest them!

Well, I Suppose It Had To Be Done

In pregnancy news, they lowered my dosage today, so I'm now only getting a quarter of a mL of medicine per hour instead of a third. They may be able to completely wean me off the medicine in about two weeks. I'm so looking forward to not being on this anymore, but I really have to try not to push myself too hard. I do have a tendency to do that, especially when I'm as busy as I've been lately, and I have to remember that I have to take care of myself first.

I'm getting sick of my sugar craving. I'm also craving other things, like fresh veggies, which is good, but about every other day I get an insatiable sugar craving. Seriously, I bought Kool-Aid at the store today. I don't drink Kool-Aid. But I'm supposed to be avoiding drinking only straight water (my nurse's orders, since it's kind of harsh on the stomach when you're sick...it's starting to drive me crazy), so I was getting drink mixes that I can water down a bit and still be getting fluids. And I saw the Kool-Aid, and thought that it looked delicious. So I picked it up. Strange. I just have to remember to keep my teeth brushed as much as I can because I don't want a ton of cavities once this is done.

Also, I bought the stretchy pants. Scott's pants were starting to get tight on me, so I needed the expando-pants. I bought 5 pairs, hopefully I won't need any more. I need to get some dresses and skirts though, for special occasions. Though, one of the pairs that I bought are kind of khaki slacks, so I may be able to get away with dressing them up.

Well, I think that's about it and my meeting's supposed to start soon. Take care everyone!

Baby Stuff :)

We had an appointment with obstetrician yesterday, she checked out the heartbeat and we were able to hear it and everything. Yay! I never realized how incredibly awesome just hearing that little heartbeat would be, but right now it's just the most fantastic thing in the world. I have to schedule an ultrasound for between 18 and 20 weeks, and then we'll most likely find out if it's a boy or girl. I also have to do some blood work for the genetic testing, I have a deadline for that, and I'm already getting nervous about that. I don't like having blood drawn, and I don't like having to wait for the results. The results take about a week to get in. But thus is the life of a mom. I'm also feeling much better. The medicines that I've been taking have been working very well, and I'm not getting sick hardly at all anymore. And I'm finding that the better I feel, the more I'm liking being pregnant. Go figure!

Jim Broadbent Rules!

I saw the trailer for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" yesterday, and if I wasn't excited for the movie before I totally am now. When reading the book, I had trouble "casting" a certain character in my head. He had to be sort of on the pompous side, and not really a fop, and he was just a tough character to cast for me. I found out while watching the trailer that Jim Broadbent is going to be playing him. Now, I'm kicking myself for him not being the first person I thought of! He's so perfect for the role. He's able to show the remorse that he needs to show later in the story, but still be the big peacock that he needs to be early on. I've already been looking forward to this installment of the movies, and now even more so. Yay!

Thoughts on My Cat, Decaffeinated Tea, and Work

I have about an hour before my day explodes, so instead of being responsible and getting ready for the day, I'm blogging.

I have the most intensely attention-loving cat I've ever met. Seriously, I have never met a cat who loved to be paid attention to the way Cleo does. Nobody would ever know it, because besides a very select few outsiders, Scott and I are the only ones she will come out of hiding for. Some people don't even know we have a cat. She's a half-Siamese mix, too, so she's loud! There are nights when she'll yowl all night long because she's lonely. But when we had another cat to keep her company (RIP Antony), she didn't like him. So we're hesitant to get her a playmate, especially with the baby on the way, because she doesn't adapt to change very well. During the hubbub of the wedding, when we had a ton of people over and the house was crazy, she starting losing hair (faster than she normally does), losing weight, and getting sick almost every day. I don't think she wants a playmate anyway. She just wants the loves from her humans. I feel bad because I've been busy and working in our office/bedroom for the past two days, and she's not allowed in here, and so she's been out and kind of lonely. So she's started getting into stuff at night. The laundry, the trash, the guest room closet, etc. I think I just need to pay more attention to her.

Because of the pregnancy, I've cut back on my caffeine consumption (I haven't cut it out completely; I'd go crazy if I couldn't have a Coke every once in a while). That being said, tea is one of the few things that's soothing my tummy at the moment. So I'm drinking decaf. It's not that bad, I've been having it very hot and with some sugar, but I can't wait for it to get warm enough to make sun tea. I bought a jug and everything. I loved sun tea when I was a kid. It's delicious. So I'm looking forward to some nice big jugs of sun tea this summer. Hehe...jugs...

I've picked up video editing for some work that we're doing and it's a lot of fun! I'm really enjoying it. I have some exciting projects coming up in the next few weeks, and they promise to be very fun. This has the promise to be a thing that I can keep up with for quite a while, though I don't quite know how that's going to work once the baby's here. But I can make it work. Just work while the baby's sleeping :)

On the Horizon

So I've started learning video editing. I'm really enjoying it. It's a lot of fun; frustrating at some points, but that's mostly because I'm still learning how to use the software that we got. We bought a copy Pinnacle Studio version 12, and it's awesome! I'm editing HD content in real time without so much as a pause between functions. I'm still learning my way around most of the features, but so much of it just automatically does what you want it to do it's amazing. I very highly recommend this product for anyone going into editing (not that I have a whole lot to compare it to, but it's freakin' cool). There's just so many projects coming up that I'm sooo excited about!

On a completely different note, my plants are starting to sprout. I didn't think they'd sprout this early, but they're quick little suckers. The only problem is that when they sprout I have to move them to a sunny location and this morning the sun seemed to be something that we'd be seeing very little of for the next few days. It's come out a little this afternoon, but it was also very very windy, and I'm a little worried that the wind is going to kill the little seedlings. Oh well, if it does, I can always try again!

Crazy Rant

I'm going to preface this by saying that for about a year I worked in a grocery store. A very busy grocery store. I did many jobs: cart hauling, bagging groceries, cashiering, some bakery, cleanups, customer service, I even went to the night crew and did some stocking for awhile. It occurred to me then, as it does quite often now, that a lot of customers are dicks. If I describe the kind of customer you are in this rant, I can't really say I apologize because I don't. Bad customers piss me off. Just know that this is NOT a personal attack on you, it's just a rant because I was talking with Scott last night about grocery stores in general and now this stuff is on my mind.

I was very fortunate in my teen years to have an incredibly supportive mom who said that as long as I kept up my grades she would be happy to financially support me so that I wouldn't have to split my responsibilities between a job and school (within reason, I gave up a lot of "privileges" for the sake of being able to concentrate on school). However, when I was in my second year at a local community college I realized that maybe school wasn't the thing for me at the time and I should go a different route. So at the age of 20 I was faced with having to find my first job. It was difficult, but a friend told me they were hiring at the store he was working in, and I should put in my application and he'd put in a good word for me. Within a couple of weeks of doing that, I had the job. This buddy of mind did warn me that it wasn't exactly all it was cracked up to be, but I figured no job is, right?

First of all, the store I would be working at required joining their Union. Great. I was going to have to pay for the privilege of working. Whatever. Dues weren't that bad, so I figured I could take the hit to my paycheck (turns out I could, and it didn't hurt that bad...I wasn't getting rich anytime soon, but still). Second, pretty much every job at that level sucks. Every job. Mostly because you always have to deal with customers or their aftermath (unless you're nightcrew, which is a whole other nightmare). And with every job you run into a different kind of customer. So from an insider, these are the kinds of customers you run into in each area of work. I know nobody's perfect, and I'm probably guilty of some of theses at some point or another, but for the sake of the poor minimum-wage employees of the grocery store, please try not to be any of these customers:

• Cart hauling - If you're one of those assholes who props the cart up in the planters and figure "it's their job to get it", go to hell. Straight to hell, do not pass Go. Because the cart haulers do not only have to deal with getting that cart, but trying not to scratch up the cars in the parking lot for fear that some other asshole sees them bump their car and the complain to the manager. Or worse yet, if you park in another part of the parking lot and leave your cart in front of another store, screw you. Yeah, it takes up part of a shift, but a lot of times getting in trouble for leaving the parking lot isn't worth it. They put the little cart collectors everywhere, I have never seen a store with less than about 8 different cart collectors, pretty evenly spaced, and it's not that hard to walk the 10 extra feet to be polite to some poor sap who's only working here to pay for school, you lazy bastard
• Bagging groceries - If you have a specific way you want your groceries bagged, fine. Pay attention when the bagger asks if you want plastic or paper, or if you've brought in your own bags (I cannot stress this enough) PUT THEM ON THE CONVEYOR IN FRONT OF YOUR GROCERIES! Most baggers don't mind doing a special bagging order, such as paper-in-plastic, plastic-in-paper (strange, yes, but I did have someone ask for that once), and they really don't mind using your bags because then they don't get reprimanded for using too many bags (yes, that happens too...you'd think the companies making multiple billions of dollars a year wouldn't care about the plastic bags that cost .003 cents each, but they penny-pinch wherever the hell they can). What they do mind is getting halfway through your order and then getting yelled at because you weren't paying attention and you left your canvas bags in your cart.
  
• Cashiering - This job and the Customer Service desk have a tie for interacting with the most customers. They see all manner of asshole. I once had someone hand me a $5 bill to pay for milk, and when I gave him his change he told me he'd given me a $20. In front of the store's bookkeeper, who sided with me. He raised such a stink with my manager that they had to close my register (the only express lane open during the busiest part of the day) to audit it. To be fair, that was just one example and he really was trying to cheat me out of 15 bucks. But that kind of thing happens all the time. People come up and quibble about the price, and then bitch at the cashier when the person doing the price check takes longer than 5 minutes. Don't do that. Chances are they either can't find the product or got asked a question by a customer who didn't know they were doing something. Patience is a virtue, and if you're in that big a hurry just come back for it later and leave it at that. Also, if you're going to eat something in the store, open up something with a bar code. If you eat something measured by weight, someone has to then go get another one so that you can be charged. If you're really that hungry, and you don't want something like chips, just go to the service deli. They have premade food that's not all crap, and they give you a bar code with it. A lot of stores can even charge you for it there, so you can show the reciept at the cash register (or they'll put a sticker that says "PAID" on the bag). That's always appreciated too.
• Bakery - I didn't do a whole lot of bakery, but I had a friend in this department and she said that it's a pain. There's a ton of daily stuff to get done, and then on top of that you have to deal with customers. A lot of time it's kind of dark in their little corner, and if they're in the back or busy with something they don't always see you right away. Be patient. Don't yell at them for not being at your beck and call right away. They're doing the best that they can. And if you need something written on a cake, for God's sake get there during the normal bakery hours. They are a hell of a lot more comfortable writing on the cakes than the regular clerks. I flat out refused to write on cakes. If you're getting a cake and you don't want chicken scratch on it, get there before 6 PM. It's not that hard. Do it on a Saturday if you work. Have a friend do it. Or better yet, get the cake done somehwere that actually does cakes. But don't be bitchy because your precious snowflake's cake doesn't look absolutely perfect if you couldn't get the regular bakery person to do it.
  
• Cleanups - If you drop something, let someone know. If you see something's been dropped and there's nobody cleaning it up, let someone know. Nobody likes having to sidestep through spaghetti sauce, and everything's a lot easier to clean up right when it's dropped than an hour later after it's had the chance to spread out. If you see someone cleaning something up, don't expect that they're going to drop what they're doing just because you have a question. If it's a simple question, like "What aisle is cat food on?", that's one thing. But don't come up asking the exact location of the pickled pigs feet, premade hollandaise sauce, or vegan chocolate chips are and think they're going to go searching with you. (On a side note, if you're a clerk, know your store and products. I've asked for maraschino cherries and been told to go to the produce department, and I actually have asked for vegan chocolate chips (in a hippie store no less) and been led to the chips and dip aisle.)
• Customer Service - This is undoubtedly the worst job in any store. People only go here when there's a problem (or to cash in their $3 lottery scratchers). Companies have taken the phrase "The customer is always right" to an absurd extreme (if you're interested in examples of when the customer is not right, read http://notalwaysright.com/). Basically, people have come to the understanding that if they shout and someone long enough, that person will get their manager, who will then be shouted at until the customer gets their way or that person has to get their manager. People can't deal with the disappointment of being wrong anymore. Generally, store employees know their policies better than you do and aren't willing to lose their job to give you the satisfaction of being right. If you're wrong about something, you're wrong. Nobody's perfect. If the policy is that they can't return something, ok, you're out a few bucks. Lesson learned. Being wrong is only bad if you don't learn something from it.

So yeah. Don't be any of these customers. For the sake of the sanity of the minimum wage stockboy trying to get through high school.

Bold Steps

I have a confession to make. My name is Liz, and I'm a habitual crafter.

I love crafts. I love craft stores. Homemade things make me squeal. A friend recently told me that as a baby gift she would crochet a blanket for me, and I was absolutely delighted at that. I love my home being filled with things about which I can say "That was made by so-and-so, it was a wedding present", or "Yeah, I made that 'cause it looked cool". That being said, until last year, my crafting prowess was relatively limited. I learned to cross stitch from my mom as a kid, and I can kind of sew clothing, but other than that and kid's crafts I was pretty limited.

All that changed last year. I decided I wanted my wedding to be personal. I didn't want a bunch of material "stuff" that meant nothing to me. Part of this was fueled by wanting to be on the frugal side for the wedding (it's a party...yeah, the biggest party of my life, but still just a party), and part of that was fueled by just wanting to do things my own way. So I bought a book on floral arrangements. I found out that I really like it, and I'm relatively good at it. With the exception of about three arrangements, the bouquets, butonnieres, and corsages (which my brother and sister-in-law did because I had gotten too sick), I did all of the flowers myself. I did the invitations myself, from a package I found in the wedding aisle of my favorite craft store (of course, because I was doing them myself, when I was proofreading them I missed that I'd gotten the date wrong and had to notify everyone on my guest list, but that's a different story). I even took up beading, so that I could hand-make my bridesmaid's jewelry, and found out that I'm good at that too. Also, unrelated to the wedding, I got more serious about my crochet. I'd learned the basic stitches, but never really tried anything with any sort of pattern, but I started a baby afghan that was still classified as easy, but more than basics easy, and I really enjoyed it. It's a little frustrating when I mess it up and have to take out a row or two, but it's a lesson in patience. And finally, I picked up the most complicated cross stitch pattern I've ever tried. It's still very much a work in progress, but it's looking good so far. All of these things I plan on continuing to learn at and cultivate in myself in the coming year.

On a less craft-related note, I've also decided to start a patio garden. I've wanted to grow my own veggies for a long time; my grandpa used to grow his own tomatoes, carrots, and other stuff, my uncle grew his own tomatoes and peppers, and there's just nothing that can compare to freshly picked, home-grown veggies. I'm starting small, with some lettuce, peas, and cucumbers, but I'm totally excited about having my own crop in a few weeks.

Overall, I'm super-excited about what new domestic paths I'm about to embark on this year. Wish me luck!

Morning Blog!

So I thought I'd share some of the early details of my pregnancy with everyone, partly because it's almost comical and partly because it's something that all women who are or are thinking about becoming pregnant should be careful to pay attention to.

Along with early pregnancy comes...MORNING SICKNESS!!! Fun fun fun. Or, in some women's cases, All-Day-Long Sickness. Almost every woman gets morning sickness in some form or another, whether it's just mild nausea in the morning or something much more severe. I was one of the lucky ones who was sick all the damn time. It got to the point where I couldn't go in to work because I was throwing up every hour, regardless of whether or not I'd eaten. I thought that was going to be the worst of it. For a period of about three weeks, everything I ate just came right back up. Salad, potatoes, even popsicles. During this time, I was in communication with my doctor, and she tried three different medications (phenergan, zofran, and reglan), but none of them proved very effective. Finally I got to the point where I was so dehydrated that I had to go in to get hydration therapy. Basically, it is what it sounds like; they were trying to rehydrate me via an IV. I did this in the hospital for two days while I waited for my insurance to approve having it done at home. They also decided that the best thing for my nausea, since I still had a little over a month left in the first trimester, would be to put me on a continuous pump of reglan. That's helped a TON. With that, I only had to have the at-home IV for a couple of days, and now I'm back up to eating solid foods and being able to drive myself around.

My condition is called hyperemesis gravidarum, and it only effects about 2% of the pregant population, so chances are you won't get it. However, if you think you might have more severe morning sickness than the average woman, get help. You should be able to keep down a popsicle or ice chips or something, and you shouldn't be throwing up even if you haven't eaten anything. I don't recommend just swallowing a bunch of pills just because you don't want to deal with it. Just communicate with your doctor regularly, and if you think there's a problem don't hesitate to call her in between appointments. That's what she's there for.

Obligatory Intro Post

Every good blog needs an intro post, so here's mine:

I'm a happy, (mostly) healthy 20-something pretty much just living my life. Why is this interesting to anybody? Normally it wouldn't be. But funny (and not-so-funny) shit just keeps happening to me. And I figured I'd finally share it with the world. So sit back, relax, have a cup of coffee (or tea, if you're not into coffee...maybe some cocoa...with Khalua...or Baileys...damn, I've been pregnant too long).

Anyway, the first story for my blog will be following shortly. Welcome to my crazy world!