Productive Pictures

My last post was beginning to touch on my life as a housewife once again, when I realized I needed pictures.

Here's what took up my day: I made a LOT of pickles. I didn't have my good recipe, so I looked one up which I'm not sure is as good, or as simple. This time around I learned that it's hardly worth it when you have to pay for jars and cucumbers. Next time I make pickles, I will have grown my own, and hopefully will have enough heat-sealing jars saved up so I won't have to buy more. But the prettier jars will be nicer for giving away.

Another project I've started on lately is the guestroom/baby's room. It's been good for storage, and already has a bedroom set. I'm still searching for a crib. Other than that, it's pretty empty, and I'm going to need to make curtains and decorate somehow. I've started collecting frames, and I hope to arrange them on the wall with fun pictures and prints inside. For random frames to work together, they'll all have to be the same color, so here are three I've painted black:
On a side note, I searched carefully for those specific boxes in the trashcan when looking for something disposable to paint on. Tim and I bought some Chicken Cordon-bleu type things at Walmart. They were a great idea, but a little bland for the price. I hope to check out what they're supposed to taste like in the ingredients, and perhaps make some sort of casserole out of it!

I've been looking for a certain type of chair at Goodwill. Perhaps I was looking at the "nicer" Goodwill, but when I finally went out of my way to stop by the other one, I found this!

I've been wanting an extra chair around. I was hoping for one that would look cool by the bookcase, but could be added to either the dining room or the living room if needed. It doesn't look like the most comfortable chair to sit in in the living room, but I've wanted to try my hand at upholstery. Anyway, so here are the colors of our living room I need to match it to:I've had this blue and brown fabric for a long time now, and I finally decided on what to paint the wood!
"Tim, the guy didn't card me for buying silver spray paint!"

"Well, you are pregnant."

"...I guess... and I was also buying 8 lbs of cucumbers and some canning supplies."

Productive again!

The other day, my sister asked me what I've done since I've quit work. Today is only day 3 since quitting, but there was so much to tell her.

Saturday: (last day of work) Before work, Tim and I went with our Bible Study to Lake Tahoe. They showed us the best beach on the lake, and it was beautiful! too bad I had forgotten my camera! Look up "Lake Tahoe Sand Harbor" on google images. Do it! We had sunscreen issues, and ended up with horrible leg sunburns. That night, I went into work for my last few hours!

Sunday: I started helping with LS Kids, our children's church. On days I teach, I'll get to church around 8:00 for a meeting and prayer meeting, then Tim will meet me at 9:00 for service, and then at the 11:00 service, I'll watch people's kids!

Funny Things from the K-2nd grade class:

• Every kid asked me if I had a baby in my tummy.
• The first one was a little girl who started poking my belly button as she asked.
• "My mom's belly is bigger than yours; it's THIS big!" (standing on tip-toes to stick out her belly out even further)
• A little girl tried to kiss me on the lips.
• A kid ran into the lemonade pitcher, spilling it all over the counter covered with papers and snack materials.
• During the commotion, the Coordinator popped in the class for a second to show off to the 7 yr olds that he could catch a cheeze-it in his mouth. (Why he thought that was a good idea is beyond me!) needless to say, by the time we got the juice mess cleaned up, we turned around to find the floor covered in stomped-on crackers!

Of course it was crazy, but I've always believed that age to be insane. It's nothing I can't handle, and even if I didn't like it that much (and I do like it), it'd still be worth it for the preservice prayer meeting!

I read 4 books on childbirth, particularly the natural kind. I got lots of sleep, and did lots of dishes. The last couple days have been very productive, but I think I'll take pictures tomorrow and make a more interesting post about my new projects!

Walmart Greeters

Do you ever notice the Walmart greeters? Last night, I had to get some milk and bread, and I started thinking about them. I always try to acknowledge them when I come in. Usually it's just a smile and a nod. It's not like you can even hear what they're trying to say because of the giant fan on the way in. The best I can do is a vague attempt to read their lips, which hardly ever works because greeters are usually older and mumble.

But seriously, it's their job to stand there and greet everyone who walks in the door, and they're gonna do it, even though no one can hear them, and most people ignore them.

I'm reminded of a line from Galaxy Quest:

Listen, I've got ONE job on this lousy ship! It's stupid, but I'm gonna do it, okay?!

It also reminds me of a TV show about a baby that Eden showed Tim and me while we were in Peru.

Work

My experience in retail is coming to a close. (I have two shifts left!) One thing I've been thinking about lately is how many crazy things I hear from customers, and that I don't have that luxury. I am always watching what I say.

Little Girl: "Are you pregnant?"

Me: "Yep!"

Little Girl: "With what?"

What I wanted to say: "an alien."

What I said: "A little boy!"

Me: "And can I just get your name with that?"

Lady: "Penny *****"

What I wanted to say: "That's my dogs name!"

What I said: "I really like that name a lot!"

Me: "We're out of the smaller bags, so you're gonna have to get this big one."

Lady: "That's okay! These bags are so cute!"

What I wanted to say: "Yeah! they've worked as excellent barf bags throughout this pregnancy!"

What I said: "Yeah! I re-use mine all the time!"

Serenade

This is Tim's serenading song:

Listen to it.

All These Things by Stephen Speaks

When I first met Tim, he'd sing it to his friend Jon to be funny. Before too long, he had learned it on the guitar, and not too long after, he began to play it for me.

It's pretty cheesy with lines like "Maybe it's her eyes, gently searching my soul [...] but I think mostly it's her smile" But it's also got a few good ones like "...or her eyebrows when I do something stupid." and "Maybe it's her smell, the lotion she wears, or how my hands smell like Country Pear for days."

Like it or not (it's too familiar a song for me to decide), I only have to hear the first few notes, and I know I'm about to be serenaded. Practicing before church, Tim would only have to play those notes on the guitar to get my laugh from across the room.

This morning, Tim was playing his guitar. I stepped outside to feel the temperature, and I heard the beginning of the song. "Oh no!" I thought. "I'm not in there to receive it!" I was back inside in a second anyway, only to hear Tim singing something like this:

Maybe it's her face, black and white with a spot

or how she snorts and jumps around.

Maybe it's her nose, gently searching my crotch,

but I think mostly it's her gas.

That's as far as he got serenading the dog before we were both laughing pretty hard.

But it makes me think of the endless verses that could be written about our dog's features.

A few Baby Things

I am in the process of putting in my two weeks notice at work. I have one week to go. I quit for a few different reasons. First, being on my feet for 4-6 hours at a time has gotten harder. It's not great exercise, and it renders me useless for the rest of the day, preventing me from getting real exercise.

Just now, I was having trouble spelling exercise. I've noticed that in the past half year. I switch around the C and the S, or I think there's a Z in there somewhere. It gets to the point that when I back-click on my misspelled word, the correct one isn't even an option! Embarrassing, I know. I just asked Tim how to spell it and remarked "Tim, this is so weird. The word has become foreign to me!" He replied with, "Uh oh! Exercise has become foreign to you. That is not a good sign!"

I also quit work because there were a lot of things I had planned to do during this pregnancy, and I never got much of a start on them.

Like, for example, finding a used, inexpensive crib and other baby supplies. (A friend at Bible study told us that in all their wedding planning, his wife never let him use the word "cheap." "Inexpensive" sounded much more classy and didn't imply poor quality as well.) So I'm doing my best to find inexpensive, not cheap baby supplies. We will be down here for a year longer, and then we've got to try to move everything back home. And besides, every mom is different, and I think I may be the type who doesn't use many of those baby products that the magazines say you just have to have.

I'm interrupting this train of thought to talk about the baby himself because he's been kicking like crazy the whole time I've been writing. The first feel-able kick happened on my way to Kansas last month. Two weeks followed where I tried to get people to feel the subtle nudges that only I could feel before. As soon as we began to fly to Peru, it got to the point where one could simply watch the kicks. I'll have to be very huge and ready for him to be born before I could get tired of all the kicking. I'm sure it can hurt at that point, but right now it's so much fun to watch, and it makes me feel like there's actually a person inside me.

When we found out we were pregnant, it didn't feel real. When we first heard the heartbeat, it was confirming, and pretty cool, but even the ultrasound didn't make the baby as real to me as feeling him move around. Sometimes it's like he's doing somersaults. Sometimes it's a little nudge on one side. I've had nudges on several sides at once like jumping jacks, and a limb that sticks out and just pushes outward for a moment. I've even had a clear, head-sized lump on the side of my belly for a while. Yesterday at Bible study, it was like he was trying an Uma Thurman-style escape on the upper right side of my stomach.

So in the next few weeks, I will enter the last trimester of this whole pregnancy, and I will do it with more time on my hands. I hope to enjoy this stage, and to document it (for the next time I'm in the first trimester, hanging my head over the toilet, and needing some reminding) and to put into good use that nesting instinct that's kicked in!