It's a Date

It's great having my husband home. We went on a cheap date the other night (and I say, a cheap date is better than no date). We went to the Little America hotel to see the lights.

The lights are mostly LED type lights - pretty cool.

This coat makes me look bigger than I really am, but that's okay . . . it's just all baby :)

And the best part was the $.50 ice cream cones afterward. I should have taken a picture of those too - I mean, the ice cream cones are huge - what a bargain for $.50.

Random Pictures

Ken loves eating "greens". I've never been a fan of eating greens, but I've eaten more of them since we've been married. Yesterday he came grocery shopping with me - he picked out the vegetables - and was so proud of the giant bunch of Swiss Chard that he had picked out. It was actually quite yummy after it had been sauteed in soy sauce and garlic.

I am at 28 weeks (almost 29) and to quote my boss, am "finally starting to look pregnant". I can't believe I only have 12 weeks or less to go - that just doesn't sound like much time. We're slowly gathering/ accumulating stuff - thanks to our friends, Amber and Andy, we now have a car seat and stroller. Thanks guys - we miss you already!

Random Thoughts

* The bathroom is a work in progress. Every day I come home from work to find that some work has been done. I'm hoping that it gets finished by the end of this next week. And the good news is that since it is the Maintenance man that lives above us, the condo complex is paying for the repairs and we didn't have to deal with insurance or anything "fun" like that.

* The co-worker that told me a few months ago that I was really getting big (when I was barely showing), told me yesterday that I have started "waddling" when I walk.

* Ken is home for 3 weeks!

* Christmas shopping is done . . . now it's time to start the baking, but since Ken is home, and enjoys baking, he can help with that.

* I have a cold, and have been carrying around a roll of toilet paper with me everywhere. I wonder how long it will take me to go through the whole roll?

* My replacement at work was fired yesterday, due to being unable to do the necessary tasks. Now the fun of training starts all over again when a new person is hired.

* I love getting Christmas cards, especially the ones that have letters inside telling me all about what the person/family has done. I feel kind of bad that I'm not doing Christmas cards this year, but I knew I just didn't have time or money for that this year. Merry Christmas everyone!

I Love the Snow . . .

. . . I just don't like to drive in it.

On Monday, it snowed here in Flagstaff. Approx. 18" to be exact. And then the wind blew all night - resulting in lovely drifts and ice frozen to the car. I didn't take a picture of the car covered with frozen snow or a picture of me digging my car out with a cookie sheet (we don't own a shovel), but I did take a few other random pictures (mostly for Ken's benefit since he is in Phoenix and missing all the fun). Before I left work on Monday, one of my co-workers volunteered another one of my co-workers to help me put chains on my tires. I took him up on the offer, but the funny part was that I ended up doing it while he watched, because he'd never done those kind of chains before and I had. Thanks Les Schwab for easy tire chains!

This picture, taken just outside of our condo, doesn't accurately reflect the huge amount of snow, but it's the best I could do on my way to work.

This picture, however, of my co-worker's car, gives a little better representation of the huge amount of snow that fell. She left her car at work on Monday night and had fun digging it out on Tuesday afternoon.

It's a big parking lot, but it's still a lot of snow - see how it's almost up to the top of the light post? Crazy!

It's supposed to snow again on Thursday - Saturday, but hopefully it won't be so much in such a short amount of time.

It's Never as Easy as it Seems

Ken has a mantra: "It's never as easy as it seems". This is usually said when in the middle of some home improvement or other such project. He says it so often, that I've teased him about putting it on his headstone.

Yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work, I could hear a dripping sound in our bathroom. I figured I just hadn't turned off the faucet tight enough, so I gave them a good tightening. A few minutes later, I can still hear it; perplexed, I start searching more intently and discover that there is water dripping out of the ceiling. Never a good sign. It's still early, so I wait about 20 min, until I know that the guy upstairs is just about out the door to head to work (if I haven't previously mentioned it - Larry is the maintenance guy of our complex.), and then I head upstairs to tell Larry about the leak apparently coming from his house. He tells me that he has a crack in his bathtub, and he had just taken a shower. Supposedly, the tub repair man had told Larry that he could use the tub, and that it wouldn't leak down below - hhm?

Larry comes downstairs, looks at the leak, and determines that they'll have to cut a small square of ceiling out - about 5x5, replace it, paint it, and it will be as good as new. But they'll get that all done while I'm at work. I give him a key, and head to work.

At 6pm, I come home to find Larry greeting me at the door - again, not a good sign. He explains that the water damage was worse than he thought. Did I mention that less than 1/4 cup of water had actually dripped through the ceiling? We walk into the bathroom and I find this:

A close up of where the water was actually coming out.

And along the top by the shower head - where no water was coming out.

And my favorite - this gaping hole on the opposite side of the shower. Apparently water can travel quite a distance.

Larry came this morning to get a key so that they could finish fixing everything, and determined that things were still wet and they'd have to wait until Monday to fix it. And so, "It's never as easy as it seems." and hopefully all will be well on Monday night when I get home from work.

By the way, should I have been excited that life gave me something to blog about . . . even if it wasn't such a good thing?

Honest Scrap Award

One of my "blogger" friends, Brenda, awarded me the Honest Scrap Award. In pleasant surprise, I accept and will pass it along to other bloggers who will be named later.

There are rules to this deal. They are as follows:

1. Present this award to 4 others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design or those who have encouraged you.

2. Tell those people that have been awarded the HONEST SCRAP AWARD and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

3. Share “10 honest things” about yourself.

So, here I go: 10 "honest" things about myself.

1. I hate to drive, but I don't know if I could ever give it up and rely entirely on public transportation. Perhaps a chauffeur would be the answer?

2. I tell Ken that I'll be happy to move anywhere we have to when he gets a job - but am I really being honest with him and/or myself?

3. I am too blunt and am afraid that I often offend people.

4. I'm excited to be a mom, but worry about the transition from working outside of the home to working inside the home.

5. I have discovered during this pregnancy that I am quite vain about my looks and size. Hopefully one or the other will return to normal after the baby comes ;)

6. I have learned to enjoy cooking and secretly think it would be fun to have my own cooking show.

7. I hate crowds and think that is one reason I have never had a desire to visit China.

8. Ice cream and candy are my weakness, and I would probably eat much more of it if I had more money, and if I wasn't so vain about my size (see #5).

9. Someday I think it would be fun to get a paying gig to be a back-up singer.

10. I'm afraid my children will never know my parents, due to their age.

And now to name 4 other "Honest Scrappers":

Amber

Robin

Tera

Nancy

Congratulations ladies!

My Saturday Project

I happily spent the majority of today piecing together Wazel's baby quilt . . . and I only had to unpick one time. Now for the hard part - quilting it. I'm hoping I can figure out an easy pattern that I can quilt on the sewing machine. And by the way - it's 3 shades of purple not purple and blue as the picture looks.