One Week

One Week
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

He's Here!

Handsome Boy
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

December 17, 2006
14 hours of labor
8lbs. 2oz. 20in.
Much love and happiness

I was just over at The Zero Boss and followed his link to a web site for urban parents called Babble. It actually looks like a very cool site that I may frequent often. Anyway, the first article I read I absolutely loved. It's about breastfeeding. Oh, yes I plan on breastfeeding; at least trying it. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. I have an extremely intelligent, and healthy 17 year old who was exclusively formula fed. She graduated from High School a year early and is in college. Oh, and I lost all 50lbs. of that pregnancy weight within 8 months of having her, without trying.

The Smiths - Stop Me If You Think You´ve Heard This One

Remember when MTV used to play music videos? This brings back memories of watching 120 Minutes and The Young Ones. Those were great days.

Bladder Control Test

UGH! Today I had an ultrasound done. It was a little late, but now I have an idea of how big Baby G may be right now (7lbs.). What was really interesting, was to find out that had I had this ultrasound earlier, like I should have, I would have been put on bed rest; my cervix is way too small. As the Tech said today though, "that doesn't matter now." I am full-term now so I don't need to worry about being as careful. What sucked about the whole ultrasound thing though was that they said I HAD to drink 6 glasses of water one hour before my appointment so that my bladder would be full. I have spent the past two weeks waiting for this appointment in a state of fear. I didn't even drink the whole six glasses this morning, I only had 4 and a half! By the time they called me in, I was about to cry and almost couldn't lay down on the table. The tech felt so bad that she took a really quick picture of my cervix and said I could just go pee before she continued with the rest of the ultrasound. AHHHHH! I spent the rest of the ultrasound alternately in pain from having to lie on my back or being really happy to see my perfectly formed little boy. Aaron massaged my back while we watched the screen, and we got to see Baby G sucking on his right index finger; it was too cute!
I'm just glad the day is over.

Full Term

photo sharing">
Full Term
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

I am now officially full term. I'm 37 weeks pregnant and in just about a week and a half, I'll be 37 years old. YIkes!
I have a feeling this kid may come early. Luckily we have all the basics; I'm even doing better this time around than I did with my daughter. My daughter slept in a drawer for her first month because her father and I couldn't afford a crib at the time. Aaron and I can afford a crib this time around, but we are surrounded by friends, family and such good people that we didn't need to buy one. I feel blessed to have such good people in my life now and to have a little boy coming into my life.
My daughter will be here in less than two weeks; the day after my birthday. I'm hoping Baby G will hang in there until she gets here because I would love to have her with me while I am giving birth to her little brother. I know that things never turn out the way we expect so I am just gonna go with the flow and it will all work out how it works out.

The Crib

The Crib
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

The final piece of baby equipment is now in our home. Now we just have to find room for it in the bedroom. We got the crib for free from a very generous couple who were getting rid of all their baby stuff. We are so grateful to them for their generosity. I am really happy that it matches my Pooh sheets!

This Is How I Am Spending My Maternity Leave?

I had every intention, when I got up this morning, to gets some cleaning and organizing done today. What did I do instead? I spent the whole day at the computer. I at least got some pictures printed for family members with no computers. Here's a list of the links I enjoyed today:

1. Troll Baby
2. a garden of nna mmoy
3.Fathom
4.finetune
5.Notes from the Trenches
6.BabyCenter
7.The Jean-Paul Sartre Cookbook
and my most favorite link of the day:
8.No Christmas For You

Hopefully tomorrow I will get my butt in gear and get some cleaning done.

Almost Ready

Yesterday Aaron and I went out to get a few things we still needed for Baby G. We first went to Sears to check out car seats, then Toys-R-US, then Target. We went back to Sears for this car seat after all the research I have done for the past month, so I am very happy with our purchase. Then, while at Target, I finally got my breast pump and Baby Bjorn carrier (thanks to my wonderful co-workers who threw me a baby shower before I left and gave me some gifts cards, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!)

Now we just need a crib and we should be set. My bags are packed for the hospital, Baby G's clothes are washed and put away, and we have all kinds of accessories. Now, if I can just get my apartment clean....

He Can Be So Sweet When He Is Sleeping

Sleeping Kitty
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

I took this just before leaving for the doctors office this morning. He looked so sweet I had to get a picture. The poor thing has been a hellian lately because he is going through so much change with the baby on the way. He has been very needy and whiny and just plain irritating. I can't really blame him though, he's been our spoiled only child for 5 years, and now things are changing. His routine is all scrambled and mom and dad are focused elsewhere most of the time. Hopefully he will be okay with the baby.

Maternity Leave Rocks!

I am officially on maternity leave now. My last day at work was Saturday and it's been so great not to have to worry about getting enough sleep to make it through work the next day, or how tired I will be at the end of the day. The nesting instinct is slowly coming on; I've gotten the pantry cleaned out and today I cleaned out the freezer to make room for the frozen meals I plan to cook this week. Sleeping is still not going well. I am so sore after a 2 to 3 hours that I just toss and turn. I usually just get up for a few hours and then go back to bed for a couple hours; take naps during the day. It's also nice to have "me" time before Baby G gets here. I am very much looking forward to him being out in here in the world; not only so I can drink again and enjoy my venti quad caramel machiattos, lol, but I just can't wait to see him!

I N S O M N I A

Ugh! For the past month I have been waking up after 3 hours of sleep and not able to go back to sleep for about 2 or 3 hours. I can only sleep 2 to 3 hours at a time. Is this my body's way of preparing me for what's coming up?

The Final Countdown

9 month belly
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant. I got the baby clothes and blankets all clean and put away. I am exhausted most of the time and I am sooooooo big I can't stand it (OVER 200 LBS!) I have 2 working days left before I start my maternity leave; Saturday will be my last day. I get 4 whole months! WooHoo! I seriously thought I would only get like 6 weeks, but the state of California see pregnancy as a disability...soooo.... I can definitely say I feel disabled. Work is almost impossible now. I usually just show up and walk around the store delagating everything, which as a manager I have to do anyway, but I really like to be "working". Getting down to get a book on the bottom shelf for a customer is a major pain and there aren't a lot of projects I can work on when I can't lift or bend. Standing at the cash register all day is out of the question because my feet swell up so badly. So I am very much looking forward to being off work for a few weeks before the baby gets here.
Aaron and I do have a name picked out, but l won't be posting it. I haven't posted my daughters name either and won't until she is 18 and I have her permission (only a few months till then, omg!). For now I'll call him Baby G. :)
I had my baby shower last Saturday. It was a really nice, low-key get-together. I got some cool stuff, but had to do some more shopping yesterday to pick-up the necessities we didn't get because the shower was so small. I truly love everything we got, and most everything came from my list.
I really would love to be getting my apartment clean, but the energy required to do it only lasts for about 15 minutes so not much is getting done. My place is a mess and it's driving me crazy. I am hoping the nesting will kick in soon.

8 months

8 months
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Not really anything new to report. I am big, like a beached whale, and tired and looking forward to my son being here. It's almost 6 in the morning. I've been up since 3 am. I needed a glass of water and just decided to stay up. I played a game, read some blogs and now I'm posting. I'll probably go back to bed after this.
I can only sleep for a few hours at a time right now. After 3 or 4 hours I get cramps in my hips and legs, I think it's all the extra weight because it's only on the side I am laying on that it hurts; if I turn over it goes away and the other side starts to hurt. Just a couple more months, people keep telling me. Ugh!

Making Progress

Today I had my OB visit. My tests all came out great...I passed the glucose screening and I don't have gallstones. I was so happy to hear all that! The only problem I have is that my iron levels are a little low so I need to supplement. The Doctor didn't mention my wieght this visit, I was frankly surprised since I gained another 7lbs. since last months visit. During the last visit she threatened to put me on a diet and told me not to gain more than 2lbs. a month. I'm so going back to smoking after I'm done breastfeeding!!!!
I managed to get pre-registered for the hospital today; it's great to be able to do it online. I also got the times for the hospital tours which we need to do soon. I also spent an hour and a half making up a list of supplies for me and the baby for the hospital and the first six weeks so I can check stuff of as I get it, and pack it. Just a couple months to go....

Recently Reading, Watching, Listening

Having realized earlier that I have missed six months of RRWL postings, I figure I better get back to it. I guess I have been kinda preoccupied lately?

Here’s a list of titles, that I can remember, from the past few months:

Books

1. The Heralds of Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey
2. The Big Over Easyby Jasper Fforde
   
3. The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
   
4. Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
5. Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs
6. Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks
7. The sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks (currently trying to get through)

I know I’ve read more than this, but mostly just pregnancy titles and the rest I can't remember.

Movies

During the past few months we’ve been catching up with television shows we’ve missed because we have not had cable for the past two years. I have to say it’s been nice not having it and being able to watch what I want when I want on dvd. Right now, it’s all about the Smallville.

1. Smallville (we’re up to the end of season 3)
2. The 5^th and final season of Six Feet Under
3. The 4400 Season 2
4. Last Exile (Anime)

Music

Nothing too new here, just the radio, 95.7 MaxFm and my MP3 player.

Depeche Mode’s new album, Playing the Angel has been heard around here a lot lately

7 months Pregnant!

7 months2
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has passed. Just another week and half and I'll be 8 months pregnant. The past couple months have been a roller coaster ride. During month 5 and 6 I felt great; my morning sickness went away and I had gained back some of my energy. Now in month 7 I am tired a lot, I am achey a lot, I have swollen feet a lot, I am in general pain a lot. I can not wait for this to be over, yet I fee like I need more time to prepare. We still need to look into daycare. In this area and at the amount of pay Aaron and I make, there is no way that one of us could stay home; it takes one of our pay checks just to pay the rent. We can't afford day care, but we also can't afford to lose one paycheck. We also still need to tour the hospital. We opted not to take the childbirth classes; we can watch videos at home for free, or almost free and I've been through labor before.
The baby is moving, a lot. He is very active....it scares me just a little, lol. So I have to go clean now.....but I think I would rather take a nap. I also noticed that I have not posted my Recently Watching and Listening posts...I'll have to pick that up again...geez....

So Far Behind

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

I'm so far behind in posting (August 20th!!!) I totally missed posting pictures of my pregnancy for month 5 and don't even have any of month 6, ugh.
I've been busy getting the house cleaned out and organized. My best friend of 27 years came out to help me get things started and on the right track and now I have a much cleaner, organized home. It's still hard to keep it clean constantly; work just wears me out, and who wants to clean after running around on their feet all day?. I at least now spend less time cleaning when I do finally get around to it. We got the bedroom cleaned out and just have a couple things to move out so that we can put in a crib for the baby and I've got drawers for his things now.
The big news this past month is that my evil step-mother has finally left this world. Not only was this woman the epitome of the evil step-mother, she was a hateful, spiteful, evil person who took joy in hurtng others. I cannot describe the relief that I, and a few other people feel right now.
Okay, so I'll post the 7 month pics shortly. If I have forgotten anything I'll post it in the next post.

Back to Fun

I've spent the past two days updating my old personal website. I haven't touched it in about 3 years so it needed some serious updating, and I am still no where near where I want to be with it. It is very outdated. I've been having fun with it again and am glad for the forced time away from school.
I've got another belly pic to post and will do that shortly...or sometime later.... Right now I am exhausted and still need to get some housecleaning done.

It's A Boy!

It's A Boy!
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

My intuition turned out to be correct. I've had a boy vibe all this time and the ultrasound tech confirmed this morning that , yes indeed, were are definitely having a boy! :)

Sleep and Sex

Not that kind of sex...lol. I'm off this morning to find out the sex of my baby ;) Also, this is the second morning in a row that I have gotten out of bed with having had very little, if any, sleep. That Barenaked Ladies song just keeps going around in my head. Every night I get leg cramps from hell; and yes, I am getting enough calcium. I guess this is mother natures way of preparing me for the loss of sleep after the baby is born; just get used to it now.

So, I'm off to get ready for the big ultrasound in which I find out (I hope) if were are having a little blue baby or a little pink baby. :)

The Process of Organization, or Why I Love IKEA

Organizing
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Aaron and I have a lot of junk. We are both over 30 and we both hate to throw things away. We also both work in the retail book business; both of us for more than 7 years each. This has caused an over abundance of books in our home. Over the past year, we have gotten better at getting rid of things we don't need, but with a baby on the way now it is imperative that we get rid of and organize our stuff. With that in mind we headed out to IKEA yesterday and spent the entire day (except for the two hours we were in the movie theatre next door watching Clerks II) going through IKEA and finding things that would help us in our quest to organize the things we can't get rid of. The day was a success. As soon as we got home I organized cupboards and made more room in them while Aaron put together yet another bookcase, in which I inserted little canvas boxes to hide away clutter. We are going back today to get some more of what has worked so well and a dinning room table; I am so tired of eating my meals in front of the television, and once we have a child I am adamant that we have a place for family dinners. Now I just have to finish putting books in the bookcase, and probably getting one more (we only have room for one more in the apartment) and then we have a game plan for clearing out the outside storage to fit more of what's in our spot for the crib in there. Still lots of work to do, but I am happy to see that we are making progress.

Nancy 4 months prego

Nancy 4 months prego
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Here I am...4 months along. I keep promising to post belly shots and never get around to it, so here it is. :)
I'm feeling movement now; usually in the evening after dinner, sometimes in the afternoon after lunch. I've gained 20 pounds...waaaaay to much, but I think some of that is from having quit smoking.

Month 4...Lactose Issues

I have been having such an issue with indigestion that I finally realized that it could be lactose intolerance. I'M PREGNANT AND I CAN"T EAT ICE CREAM!!!! The injustice! So I am going to try to be dairy free for the next few days and see if it helps. I ate a couple of shredded chicken tacos last night with just the chicken and lots of dark green lettuce and I felt fine afterwards; I haven't had an issue yet. My doctor recommended that I supplement with Tums, so I am eating lots of Tums now.
I'm going to try to get a belly shot up soon; I just want to post one that doesn't look like I belong in front of a trailer; in the last one I took I was in my jammies and had my shirt hiked up and my pants underneath the belly...it was bad....

4th of July Fire

4th of July Fire
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Usually on the 4th of July we can sit on our balcony and watch a few fireworks. This year we stayed inside because too many idiots were shooting off guns, but we kept our blinds open so we could see what was going on. At one point we looked out the sliding glass doors and saw a lot of lights and then when we looked next to the lights we saw a lot of fire. Right behind our apartment complex is a big field of very dry grass. There has been a fire here before; luckily our building is far enough inside that we haven't been evacuated yet. Anyway, that was a thrilling as our night got.

Our Baby June 15, 2006

Our Baby June 15, 2006
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

I had my Early Screen Test done yesterday. They did a sonogram and took blood samples to test for down syndrome. I guess cause I'm an old lady now they have to check for that stuff. Everything looked good, but they said that I may be further along than expected. The sonogram shows me to be 13 weeks, while I am 12 weeks now. The nausea is getting better, but I am still throwing up ocassionally. For two days now I have thrown up upon waking, luckily making it to the bathroom first. It's probably because I am not getting up in the middle of the night to eat. Vomiting on an empty stomach is no fun, but I prefer it to vomiting on a full stomach.

11 Weeks 4 Days

Had my second prenatal Dr.'s visit on Thursday and got to hear the baby's heartbeat; it was nice and strong. The baby is becoming more real to us everyday. I really never thought that I would have anymore kids, but here I am. My morning sickness has been so bad that the Dr. gave me a prescription for Reglan, and if that doesn't work (which it's not) she also gave me a prescription for Zofran. Hopefully, the sickness will be over shortly, I'm almost to the end of the first trimester. Time to go vomit.....

The New Daily Routine

I'm in Week 10 now. Most of my days usually follow this routine now:

Wake Up
Eat
Check Email
Shower
Vomit
Brush Teeth
Leave for work
Spend day at work wanting to die
Come home
Eat
Try really hard not to vomit
Vomit
Go to sleep

When will it end?

This morning sickness crap is really getting old. I spent the whole night with my head in the toilet and now I have to leave for work in an hour. I so wish I had a desk job, with my own office, so I could sneek in naps. I was so tired yesterday, I spent most of the day napping, so I forgot to do laundry; and a million other things I was supposed to do. Now, I have no matching socks to wear to work. Today is 9 weeks. If I am lucky and this goes like my pregnancy with my daughter 17 years ago, I'll be over this in about 6 weeks.

Sweet Aaron

He just got home from work and I told him what happened. He's on his way to pick me up some Rolaids and Gatorade.

That Was the Worst Vomiting Experience of My Life

Okay...so the BIG news! As of today, I am 8 weeks pregnant! :) I'll try to get in here weekly, or every so often to update my progress. My last pregnancy didn't make it to 8 weeks and I certainly didn't feel this sick, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. If I can just make it through this morning, noon, and night sickness, I'll be okay. My doctor says I am doing fine. I have an ultrasound picture of the baby at 6 weeks and 6 days and I think it'll be awesome to show it to him or her one day. :)
Right now though, my throat is on fire from vomiting up my entire dinner I ate 2 hours ago!!! I don't remember ever throwing up this much. Ugh!!!

Back To Reality

End of Day 2
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Disneyland was fun, a lot of fun, but now I am fully back to the reality of work and school. I've got some other things going on too, and as soon as everything is confirmed, I'll be posting about it. Here's a hint in the meantime; I had to quit smoking and drinking coffee this week ;)

I Need A Vaction From My Vacation

Just got back from Disneyland...will post pics soon....

Citibank Sucks

Please go to Aaron's Blog and check out his story on how Citibank has recently screwed him (us).

Recently Reading, Watching, Listening...

The month of February was a tough one for me. I've been busy with school and work and trying to make something of my life. I've been depressed and started therapy. So not much reading, watching, and listening has been done. Here's a short list for the month of February:

Books:

1. Life's A Bitch and Then You Change Careers by Andrea Kay
2. Morning Has Broken by Emme and Phillip Aronson

Movies:

1. Babylon 5 (season 5)
2. Firefly

Music:

95.7 Max FM

That is pretty much it for February. Hopefull March is better to me, though it's not getting off to a good start....

The Good Old Days

Got this in my email this morning from a friend. God, I miss those days!
*********
Aaaa the good old days.......
Go back...

Before the Internet or the MAC
Before semi automatics and crack
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...

Way back...

I'm talking 'bout hide and go seek at dusk.
Red light, Green light.
Playing kickball & dodge ball until your porch light came on.
Mother May I?
Red Rover
Hula Hoops
Running through the sprinkler

Wait...

Watchin' Saturday Morning cartoons
Mighty Mouse, Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Donald Duck &
Mickey Mouse

Walking on stilts stilts, roller skating on the street and playing
and hp-scotch
Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar
Christmas morning...
Your first day of school

Bedtime Prayers and Goodnight Kisses
Climbing trees
Getting an Ice Cream off the Ice Cream Truck

A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers
Jumpin' down the steps
Jumpin' on the bed
Pillow fights
Runnin' till you were out of breath

Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt
Being tired from playin'
Your first crush...
Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up 7UP" in the classroom

Remember that?

I'm not finished yet...

Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer.
Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars.
Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.

Class Field Trips
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.
When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and another quarter a
miracle.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to
carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When your parents took you out to eat and you were so cool.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to
the
fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in
fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs,
gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And
some of us are still afraid of em!

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember
that!"

I want to go back to the time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "monopoly"

Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.

Being old, referred to anyone over 20.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people"
rides at the amusement park.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.

Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for
giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate, ultimate weapon.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest
protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!

Let the Embarrassment Now Commence

I was over at Mir's today and she posted some pictures of the old days of scary hair and big glasses. Being that I had to go through those days as well while I was growing up, I thought it would be fun to join in and post my own, so here goes, let the embarrassment now commence:

Scary Black Glasses
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Here I am @ 6 years old in my big black framed glasses

I wanted to be Hayley Mills?
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Here is where my hair decided that it didn't want to be straight in any way, shape, or form, any longer.

Hair Progression
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

At the top is 5th grade; puberty hits and hair gets scared. Next is 6th grade and the hair has gone full on freak out. By 8th grade I gave up on trying look good. I put the glasses back on.

OMG
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

Circa 1991. I dare anyone to beat the freakiness of this hair, glasses and pants combo! Even my own daughter wants to get away as quickly as possible. LOL.

Recently Reading, Watching, Listening...

I thought I would try out a once a month post of the books, movies, and music I have read, watched, and listened to over the past month. I figure a monthly thing will be easier for me. So here goes:
January 2006:

Books
1. Harry Potter #4 (I know I am way behind...I took 3 years off because I am surrounded by him everyday at work)
2. Her Mother's Daughter by Linda Carroll
3. I Don't Know What I Want, But I know It's Not This by Julie Jansen
4. Night by Elie Wiesel

Movies ( I love You Netflix!)
1. Duran Duran Live From London
2. The God Who Wasn't There
3. Manor House
4. March of the Penguins
5. The 4400

Music (I use a Dell DJ 20)
1. Journey
2. The Smiths
3. Hall & Oats
4. Duran Duran
5. Various 1970's

I think that completes the lists for this month. I could throw in Video Games, but I've only been playing Sims 2 sporadically, most of my other free time is spent on school work. :)

New Template

After much searching I finally found a template I really like. I picked it up from Free Blogger Templates There are some very nice templates there. The templates aren't "busy" as with most other template places I've seen. The instructions are easy to understand if you have any experience with HTML, luckily I used to hand code my old website so it wasn't that difficult. The argyle suits my studious nature. :)

Blog Template

I got a comment a couple days ago that was more a question than comment. I decided not to accept the comment, but instead just post about it so that I can answer as best I can for more than one person. I know from experience how frustrating it is to work with these templates. I'll try my best to answer the question. Essentially she wanted to know how I got my template posted. If I were to try to do the same thing again right now, I would have to start from scratch. I just spent the past 3 hours trying to figure out how to post my own template (as you can see it hasn't worked yet). I am great with the design aspect; put me in front of PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro, and I'll come up with some beautiful designs; I can even make a nice web site, but throw all those Blogger tags in and my brain goes dead. Really what you have to do, once you have your new template code, is to read through your current code to see where to copy and paste the code into. That is how I work it, just reading the code and copy and pasting where appropriate; also lots of previewing until I get it right.
She also wanted to know if putting up a new template would erase pictures and whatnot already on the blog. Well, if the picture is part of a post, in the main area, no; but you will want to save all your links and other postings from the nav bar, this will be erased and you will have to copy and paste what you want there again. The best thing to do is read the help files on the Blogger Dashboard. Hopefully this was helpful in some way.

In other news: My vacation is almost over. It started out great. I got to help my sis move into her new place and got to spend some great quality time with her and my nieces. It was a really nice weekend, and I am so happy to have her living so much closer. I've spent the past few days putting some order into my own place. Aaron and I have so much stuff in our little one bedroom apartment, it feels very congested and stifling. I've managed to keep the livingroom and kitchen clean for two whole days in a row, lol. We'll see what happens when I am back to the daily grind of work and school. I have not done much else. I feel like I need another week or two. I've been watching a lot of Digital Life TV with Aaron; cool show, I love Robert and Patrick. I still miss Tech TV.
What I have gathered from my week off from work is that I really love being at home, a lot. I love having the time to keep the place in order, I love having the time to myself, I love being free to do what I want when I want. If I could figure out how to go back to part-time work while supplementing my income with something online, I'd be a happy camper. First I'll have to figure out that CSS stuff.

Sleeeeeeep

I need sleep!!! OMG! I need sleep!!! I'm running late this morning, because I started falling back to sleep!!! after my alarm went off. It's freezing cold and I've had about 3 hours of sleep and I have to be at a meeting in about an hour. And, I'm sick again. Gah!!!

Good Days Are Nice Surprises

When most everyday is an uphill battle; when just getting out of bed and going about your day is a huge struggle, and everyday just plain sucks; it feels like a nice surprise when you have a good day. I had a good day today. I had a good day at work today. Now, I will go knock on wood and hope that the rest of my day goes as well.

Two Things That Don't Go Together

Vodka and house cleaning. The vodka was great; the house cleaning never got done. I have a horrible hang-over. Two other things that don't go together: hang-over and home work. I've got lots of homework to do today. Ugh!

Current Playlist

Had too much fun downloading music today...Here's what I am currently listening too.

December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)- Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
It's Still Rock-n-Roll To Me - Billy Joel
Hot Child In The City - Nick Gilder and the Time Machine
Looks Like We Made It - Barry Manilow
Follow You, Follow Me - Genisis
Wild World - Cat Stevens
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer

Did I mention my eclectic (or just plain strange) taste in music ;)

I think tonight will be a good night for some vodka and house cleaning.

Wireless Wonders

Aaron just got me a wireless broadband router!!! Finally, I have the freedom to go anywhere in the apartment without wires!!! With my laptop, that is. ;) Can you tell how happy I am? :)

Back to Work

Christmas and New Years are over; my daughter is on her way back to her dad's; my sick time off from work is over; and now it's time to go back to work. I am filled with dread. I'm still sick and I didn't get the "time alone" I needed to re-energize. I still hate my job and I just can't figure out how to get over it and move on. Maybe this will be the year I finally make the big changes in my life that I keep putting off; we'll see.

New Template

What do you think?
I think it's a very pretty background. It may take some time for me to get used to, and it will do until I can figure out how to create a template on my own. I had my own web site for years and can design pretty much any background, but with all the coding involved with the blog, I'm feeling a little behind and unsure of how to proceed. I spent the day just being very confused and finally gave up and got a template from somewhere else.
It's back to work tomorrow after having been off due to sickness for the past 5 days. Even though I will not miss the sickness, I will certainly miss the free time. I was really starting to feel better; more relaxed. Oh well.

I did it!

Well, got my Flickr account started and got pics of my funky xmas tree up over there on the side. My daughter and I were decorating, we didn't have enough lights, or ornaments, or anything else, and once we got the white stuff up and stood back, we died laughing. It looked like white trash xmas. SO the white stuff came off...

I've managed to get most of my homework done, now it's off to work on getting a new background up here.

Sickness Sucks

I've been sick with bronchitis this past week. Yesterday I was starting to feel better, so I decided not to take to cough syrup with codeine when I went to bed...bad decision. I feel horrible this morning. I am achy all over and I got no sleep last night.
I was trying to get pictures up yesterday, but can't figure out the new HELLO format so, I am going to switch to Flckr; I just have to sort through the pics and resize them and hopefully today I'll have them up, if I can get some homework done first.
I had a nice two week break from school and now it's back to the grindstone. Just a few more months and I'm done....