Utter Failures

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” — Ernest Hemingway We love traveling, and we knew that if we had kids we'd still want to travel. We're lucky to have family dispersed in different areas of the States -- South Bend, Atlanta, Detroit, Lewisburg, Charlotte -- and we really enjoy those trips. Jeremy and I have had long conversations on road trips, listened to audio books like Dune, Ender's Game, A Song of Ice and Fire (my second time reading it and his first), The Name of the Wind, The Wise Man's Fear, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, The Legend of Drizzt, and more that I've forgotten. We're listening to American Gods right now. I've also sung him many renditions of Billy Joel songs -- he's always so appreciative of that. With Alice (who's almost two), driving at night has been the best way to travel. It's easier with fewer cars on the road and a sleeping toddler. But for...

Why Me? A follow-up post to the original - Here . My disclaimer for all the things below is this: I am not perfect. This is meant to show a before/after comparison but not to say that I have anything figured out. Second disclaimer: This post is going to sound completely loco to some of you. That's ok. You might completely get what I'm saying, you might understand parts but not others, or you might not agree with anything I say! You're welcome to pass on reading this, of course, but if you do choose to read it, understand that I'm coming from the perspective of being a believer in Jesus and also that this is a retrospective on something major that happened years ago. Time so often gives you a perspective that you don't have at the beginning. Also please know that it took a lot of working myself up to write this because I'm a very private person and tend to not share this type of thing publicly, so please be gentle with your responses. =) 1. Empathy. ...

Now that it's fall, it's time to divulge a (not very well-kept) secret. I hate summer -- truly hate it. There are a lot of reasons for this. First, I hate being hot and sweaty. Second, my fibromyalgia flares up a lot in the heat and humidity. Third, and the point of this blog -- I do not tan. I burn. Not a little burn that turns into a nice tan. I really burn. You know those risk factors for skin cancer: fair skin, blue eyes, etc? I am pretty much a poster child for those risk factors. Sunburn and I have a long, antagonistic history. Let's begin with high school. As a pale (pasty white) teenage girl in the '90s and '00s who had a pool at her house, well, let's just say it wasn't the ideal situation. This was the era of tanning bed mania. While everyone was tanning, I was by the pool getting sun poisoning. I didn't often wear sunscreen because it wasn't cool. At least, I didn't think so. My friends rubbed oil to deepen their tans. I turned...

I know this thought isn't revolutionary -- I don't know if I heard it from somewhere or if I just sort of learned it on my own and put it to words. But sometime around college it occurred to me that when you say "yes" to one thing, you have to say "no" to another. In the example of college, if I said "yes" to this class, I would be saying "no" to others. "Yes" to shopping meant "no" to studying, etc. Later on, the personal applications changed, but the idea stayed true. "Yes" to paying the energy bill meant "no" to whatever thing(s) I had in my Amazon cart. Or, more personally, "yes" to spending Christmas with this side of the family meant "no" to that side. "Yes" to game night with friends meant "no" to date night with just the two of us. None of the "yes" answers in my examples are bad. None of the "no" answers are either. It's ...

Fails of the week:  1. Was cooking supper... Jeremy picked up groceries for it. I forgot to have him get cheese. Cheese is a main ingredient in said recipe. Thank goodness for kind neighbors who have cheese. 2. Decided to do annual baking of pumpkin muffins. Instead of 1 1/3 cups of canned pumpkin, I used 1 1/3 cans of canned pumpkin. Also since I was doubling the recipe, I actually used 2 2/3 cans. I ended up throwing out a TON of "batter" that was ruined. And yes in theory i could have done the math to balance out the ingredients but everything else was already mixed and I didn't have a bowl big enough to balance it out.  3. Made coffee but forgot to put coffee beans in the grinder part of the coffee pot. So I made hot water.  4. Took off Alice's diaper and lifted her to put her in the baby tub and she peed on me. (That was kind of funny, actually.) 5. Went to friends' house for game night and Alice had a blowout on their couch. Thankfully they have three chil...

So you guys know how I feel about kids in general. "Meh" describes it pretty well. Unless I like you, in which case I probably like your kids too, so don't stress. I posted several times about being pregnant. Here , here , and here . Now it's time for the last post (7 weeks post delivery...sorry. I've been tired and busy!) So here's the tl;dr recap. I went into labor 5 days after my due date. The night of July 9, I started having contractions that progressively got closer together and stronger, so I started tracking them and getting myself ready mentally. The went on through the night for hours, but around 4 am when they were about 7-8 minutes apart, they just stopped. I know because I fell asleep and awoke around 9 am very confused. I called the OB who told me to come in and get checked out. The doctor on duty that day said that he would be delivering that night at the hospital and would probably see me then. He said to go home and wait (and rest!). So...

 A few of the funny/random/rude/odd things I've heard in the past 8 months: General statements and questions: Once you're a mom, that's all you are. (Completely untrue and kind of depressing actually) Your husband will see...you'll be getting rid of that office [for the baby]. (The office was originally set up for me to work from home and for us to both have our computer space...and it remains intact) Is that a real baby in there? (Nope I just got fat, and JUST in my stomach.) How are you doing without coffee? (HAHAHAHA) You don't look pregnant at all! (Um, thanks?) Where's your baby bump?? (I hid it.) Is the nursery ready yet? (ad infinitum) (This wasn't rude at all. It was more the repetitive reminder to me that no, it was not ready...) What's your birth plan? (It is to go to the hospital and have the baby and return home thereafter.) You shouldn't be _____ when you're pregnant: painting (It was non-toxic, no fumes pai...