Done with 101

Today is Aug. 27 and that means Aug. 25 has come and gone and that means my stupid 101-things project is OVER (if not complete). Thank goodness. I don't even feel bad about how many items I left undone because so many of them I just don't care about anymore.

Learning to play the piano is a nice idea but so not a priority in my life right now. Maybe if one of our kids has an interest I'll sit in on lessons. Going vegetarian for two weeks must have seemed like a good idea in November 2007 but every time I considered doing it in the past 1,001 days it seemed tragic. I love eating meat! Blogging about 10 random Wikipedia articles -- why? Et cetera.

----------

I don't remember if I mentioned a while back that I found a box of old books at the dump. I had no idea if they were old and valuable or only old. Last week I finally got around to taking them to a rare-books shop in town. The rather rude proprieter flipped through the box for about seven seconds then told me they were trash. I said, "So I should just sell them at a yard sale?" He snorted and said, "If you can sell them at a yard sale." (I thought, "You don't know much about yard salers.")

His confidence that the books were worthless inspired me to list them on eBay last night and this morning, and so far I'm up $19. Booyah!

Gracias!

Wow, you guys are really generous! And apparently I do know several people who drive a stick shift. Thanks for all the offers on that one. I'm going to go with Amanda (and Stephen). More than anyone else, they can't stop being my friend if I ruin their transmission (I won't!).

If you didn't leave a comment on the last post, feel free to skip the rest of this:

Brooke -- Thank you! I do not have a sewing machine, which is part of my problem. But if I knew how to hem I would buy one. Would you be able to help me pick out a cheap but decent one?

Gail -- I would LOVE your recommendations on banned books! I don't know why I don't ask you for book recommendations more often! (Is that something you like to do, or is it the equivalent of a doctor having to look at the mole on a friend's butt?) I've already read "The Bluest Eye," "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Animal Farm," so I just need two more.

Amanda -- Sandhills Farm to Table is a good idea. Today's box was my favorite yet -- peaches, onions, tomatoes, squash, corn, cucumbers, lettuce and some exotic cabbage variation, which I traded for more squash. And I watched the video on gift wrapping. Melissa is helping me with this too, and Matt thinks I'm qualified to check it off my list. I want to get better at bows and then I will.

Kate -- That is actually very helpful! Thank you! (I like the 9's too.)

Lauren W. -- That recipe looks really promising! I can't believe it has so many reviews and still five stars. I know I'm going to have trouble with the dough rising -- that's always my issue. Someone (Sallie? Maegan?) suggested letting it rise in the attic, so maybe I'll try that with this recipe. Also, you know I want to visit you in Omaha, but it's probably not going to happen before Aug. 25.

Libba -- Thank you for the offer! We need to make a coffee date for sometime soon.

Rachel -- That does not sound terribly annoying, but unfortunately I've already given up on that one. I meant to do it every month of the 1,001 days, and I lasted maybe a year. It's too late to fulfill it now. Thank you for offering, though! Hope your habit sticks better than mine did.

Claire's up and ready to play, so I'm off. Thanks again to all of you!

A favor

My deadline to complete the 101-things project (Aug. 25) is fast approaching. So I have a favor to ask you lovely people: Please review my list and let me know if there are any items you'd be willing to help me check off!

Some are hopeless, I know. Spanish fluency was ambitious back when I made this list and it sure isn't happening now. But what about learning to drive a stick shift? I know I could do it, but I can't seem to find anyone who owns a car with a manual transmission. What about digitizing our hard-copy photos and converting our wedding tape to DVD -- anyone have good recommendations for those? And please, please, does anyone have a recipe for mouth-watering yeast rolls that you're willing to share?

600 seconds

Maybe I should rename this blog "600 Seconds." That's about all the time I seem to be able to devote to it lately -- and that not more than a couple of times a week.

We got back from a fantastic beach trip last night. Seriously, the vacation exceeded my best expectations. Claire slept like a rock for 12 hours every night -- all of us slept until 8, or close to it, every morning. She also took incredible naps, including one marathon 3.5-hourer. Finally we walked in on that one to make sure she was still breathing, and she was just sitting in the corner of her pack-and-play, chilling and, I guess, contemplating life. Who knows how long she had been awake.

She also loved the beach more than ever! We didn't get that much time out there because it rained almost every day, but she was awesome. We set up a big canopy thing Terry gave us, spread a quilt beneath it, dumped out a bunch of toys and plopped her in the middle of it all, and she was in heaven. We set our chairs up just outside of the tent and actually got to read while keeping an eye on her.

On this quilt she finally crawled for the first time. She has been doing this crab walk thing for a while now -- it's like a crawl, but instead of going on her hands and knees she goes on her hands and feet. Anytime she can "walk," she does, but on this quilt there was nothing to grab onto, so she was reliant on her crab walking skills to get to the sand, which was the main thing she cared about. Eventually she got so exhausted she couldn't manage the crab walk and she resorted to crawling. The most amazing part was that no matter how tired she got, she never fussed on the beach. She really loves the outdoors.

We met most of our stated goals (reading, napping, shopping, eating). Most of the shopping this time was for Matt -- every few years he needs a new round of work shirts, T-shirts, etc. -- but I did buy a new perfume to replace my emptied Clinique Happy Heart (per No. 89 on my 101-things list). The new favorite is DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom. Yum.

I also bought two pairs of the only shorts I really like, J. Crew's 3-inch chino shorts. There was a good sale on them at the outlet store, and they had a lot more colors than they have online. I now own a grand total of four pairs of shorts. Mostly I just wear skirts or dresses in the summer.

Oh yeah, we watched the "Lost" finale, plus the retrospective that preceded it and the Jimmy Kimmel Live that came on after it. Hugely disappointing!

The finale was SO frustrating -- it didn't satisfactorily answer any of my burning questions. What was the Dharma Initiative all about? What was the deal with the numbers? Was Whitmore a good guy or a bad guy? Etc., etc., etc. And the very end was over-the-top cheesy, not to mention inconsistent (Penny's there, but not Nadia?). I knew that not all of those loose ends could be tied up, even in 2.5 hours, but it was even worse than I expected.

Jimmy Kimmel totally underdelivered too. The "alternate endings" they promised, which were the main reason we stayed up until 1 a.m., turned out to be jokes, and not even funny ones. The talks with the actors were pointless, too -- they seem to be as clueless as I am.

On the way home from the beach we listened to a podcast about the finale and someone said, basically, if you were invested in the characters, you probably were happy with the finale, but if you were invested in the story, you weren't. Apparently I fall into the latter category. But enough of that.

Last but not least, happy anniversary (yesterday) to us. Eight years and counting!

In brief

I'm getting in a bad habit of starting posts, getting interrupted and then never finishing/publishing them. By the time I return to them they're usually so outdated it's not worth it. And generally speaking I try to make this blog at least somewhat interesting to at least some of the readers. But it also serves as a journal of sorts for me, so before I forget ...

- Claire made it all the way through Mom's Morning Out last week, and she has made it through Sunday school and church two weeks in a row. Not perfectly -- she still cries some and I think requires a lot of one-on-one distraction from a variety of gracious and patient volunteers -- but I'm very hopeful that her separation anxiety is starting to improve.

- Mom, Amanda and I (no babies! Thank you, Matt and Stephen and Dad and Ron!) went to Chapel Hill Friday and Saturday for a miniature version of our annual girls' trip, a tradition we began the year after Mom's liver transplant.

Before babies, we had slightly more ambitious destinations (New York City in 2008, Greenville, S.C., last year), and we stayed for three or four days. Next year, with four babies between Amanda and me, our "trip" will probably be a morning in Carthage, but I'll still enjoy it. Any time is a good time with the two of them.

- I finally used that massage gift certificate Matt gave me for Christmas, thus checking No. 39 off my 101-things list. Being pregnant again has already rendered me unable to complete a few other items (e.g., give blood at least five times and visit an amusement park -- I'm not going to go if I can't ride the roller coasters). I did not want a soon-to-appear baby bump to get in the way of the massage. Thanks again, babe!

- The details aren't finalized yet, but this store in Knoxville, Tenn., is probably going to sell my picture frames! I will be really excited if it works out!

Bug juice

When we went to bed Thursday night the forecast was still looking iffy for camping, but by Friday morning it was entirely changed, predicting a gorgeous, sunny day and mild temperatures at night. And most importantly, no rain. After lunch we dropped Claire off at Mom and Dad's and went on our way. By the way, Claire enjoyed her staycation at least as much as we enjoyed being gone -- click here and here.

We camped (thus marking No. 91 off my 101-things list) in Uwharrie National Forest, which is somewhere I think everyone should go more often. It's less than an hour away but feels like a different world. We set up tent about a quarter-mile from a lake and spent the afternoon exploring some trails, then started the campfire around 5 p.m. and settled in around it.


We knew we'd forget something. Unfortunately, it turned out to be OFF. Fortunately, the smoke seemed to keep bugs mostly at bay, and Dad had provided us with plenty of wood to keep the fire going strong until bedtime (we even had enough for a morning fire).

It was a primitive camp site -- no bathroom facilities, no running water, etc. -- so in my opinion one night was the perfect amount of time. Just long enough to feel like you're roughing it.


Saturday, we ate a late breakfast at the Troy Bojangles, picked up Claire from Mom and Dad's, and got home with enough time for me to have a long hot shower before Meg's baby shower. It was a fantastic, refreshing getaway. Thank you again, Mom and Dad!

Gifts

I'm mad at myself for slacking off on blogging this week, because there have been several things I meant to write about that I can't remember now. This is how things become permanently forgotten!

Today Matt's dad helped me check off No. 9 in my 101-things list by giving us these two beautiful stained-glass windows!
I absolutely love them. He actually had several and he offered us our pick, and Matt and I agreed that these were our favorites. I think he meant for us to take just one, but he generously let us have both of them.

They'll be perfect in our next house, in downtown Aberdeen. I'd love to figure out a way to have one of them put into the front door. That might be impossible if it's code for exterior doors to be steel-packed, which I think it is, but they'll be great wherever they go.

----------

Speaking of things that I forgot to blog about and of my 101-things list, last Christmas Matt gave me an awesome present. He is a wonderful, thoughtful gift-giver. The first birthday gift he ever gave me, back in 1996, was a plush robe and a shower radio, which just goes to show how well he already knew me. (The radio died before too long, but I wore that robe until after we were married.)

One Christmas he rounded up gently used copies of every Anne Lamott book for me. Another year he gave me a huge gift card to my then-favorite store, Express, which might sound generic but was meant to counteract my cheapness. (It worked: I bought everything I wanted from there, guilt-free, for, like, two years.)

In 2009, his Christmas gift to me was a big three-ring binder titled "List Help." It was filled with tabs like "Wilkes," our street name (which consisted of a satellite image of our street labeled with the neighbors' names -- No. 7); "Times table" (the 12s -- No. 98); "Maps" (nine pages of detailed maps from WorldAtlas.com -- Nos. 81 and 82); and "James" (the full text of the book of the Bible -- No. 2).

He also arranged to borrow a video camera to document our personal property for the insurance company (No. 85), promised to convert our wedding video to DVD (No. 32), and gave me a gift certificate for an hour-long massage (No. 39). The total package was fantastic. And now it's part of the permanent record.

Thanks to Tripps

Dear Tripps of Southern Pines,

Just a quick note to thank you for making my day yesterday. My husband, daughter and I went to your restaurant after church with a group of friends (had planned to eat leftovers at home, but once someone mentions your scrumptious Sunday brunch it's hard to resist). We were seated quickly even though there were 11 of us, including three babies, and our waitress was great.

While a few of us got our food soon after ordering, the rest of the table had to wait quite a bit longer for theirs. We were preoccupied with conversation and complimentary muffins, so although we did wonder where the rest of the food was, we didn't mention it to our waitress. Apparently she or someone else spoke up on our behalf, though, because much to our surprise the manager came over to our table, apologized for the timing, and said those of us who were still waiting would not have to pay for their food.

I might as well admit my first thought was that I wished my meal was one of the delayed ones -- who wouldn't be willing to wait 10 or 15 minutes to eat for free, right? But your brunch and bottomless coffee are well worth paying for, so this was just a fleeting thought. The rest of the food arrived just a couple of minutes later.

At the end of the meal, when we were all thoroughly, happily stuffed, our waitress told us that there was no charge for any of us; the whole table had been taken care of. Needless to say, we were surprised and delighted.

No doubt about it, you went beyond the call of duty. I don't think the management at most restaurants would have even acknowledged our lopsided wait, much less comped eight adult meals to make up for it. I left Tripps with a good taste in my mouth (in more ways than one) and I'm happy to spread the word of your excellent customer service.

Thank you again for such a wonderful experience.

101 things update

I've knocked off some good ones recently in my 101-things quest:

5. Learn how to apply eye makeup. I guess what I had in mind when I wrote this was to get lessons at the Clinique counter or something, but instead I've just been paying attention to the blurbs in Real Simple where they give you eye makeup tips. I've collected a few eye shadows and eye liners when I've been shopping and spotted a sale, and I've been practicing wearing them when I'm in the mood.

Last week Amanda complimented my eye makeup and told me I should check it off my list, so I am. I doubt I'll ever wear much more than mascara on a daily basis, but it's nice to know I can kick it up a notch if I want to.

10. Establish a grocery-shopping, coupon-clipping system that works for me. My accomplishing this is all thanks to Amanda, who really knows how to save money and freely shares her knowledge. In a nutshell, my "system" consists of: a) alphabetizing coupons in a three-ring binder and b) every week shopping at two or three grocery stores and one or two drug stores (after perusing their sales papers) for the best store sale/coupon/rebate matchups.

When I find a fantastic deal I stock up, and I keep a close eye on our food/toiletries/household inventory to avoid paying full price for anything. I now save more than I spend on virtually every shopping trip, I'm learning the "market" for the products we buy most frequently, and we have tons of excess to donate.

22. Write an opinion letter to our local newspaper. I actually did this in June 2008 and just realized I never checked it off my list.

43. Figure out a way to get paid for blogging that doesn't involve ads. I just signed on to be a Thomas Nelson book review blogger. Basically, they send me a book "of my choosing" (the selection can be VERY limited -- which is the only reason in this world that I'm reading about Diamond Rio right now), I read it and write a 200-word review on this blog and Amazon. The book is my payment. I'm hoping to enjoy most of the books enough to keep them, and the others (like the Diamond Rio one) I'll sell.

87. Become more intentional about observing Advent. Our church is emphasizing Advent more this year than it has in the past, which has been helpful and good. We had a churchwide Advent dinner a couple of weeks ago, and everyone got a handout with scriptures to read every day of Advent. Lighting Advent candles, making Advent wreaths, etc., is fine, but for me, these daily readings have been the biggest help in observing Advent.

Brain break

I've been trying extra-hard to be productive today, but the editing site just went down and I'm being held hostage by the baby sleeping against my leg, so here I am. Claire's four-month appointment was today (a little early -- she'll be four months on Nov. 2) and she got great reviews. :) She weighs 14 pounds and is 24 1/2 inches long. Her head is still on the small side but it's growing. She took the shots like a champ, which is not to say she didn't scream bloody murder, but she did calm down quickly.

Afterward she and Matt and I went to brunch at Old South Diner. Although it's nice to break up the day with lunch, sometimes it's nice instead to have it out of the way so you can sit down and get some work done. Or blog. (It was also nice to run into Mom, who was having her hair cut next door.)

November, which among other things is National Blog Posting Month, is just a few days away. Although I've committed to NaBloPoMo (post every day for a month) several times, I've gone through with it only once, I think -- the first time, two years ago. But since I'm frustrated with my lack of blogging as of late I'm going to go for it again. And so is Rachel, I think. Right, Rachel? :)

Problem! I just realized this is my last chance to complete NaNoWriMo (spit out a 50,000-word novel in 30 days) for my 101-things list. I actually started NaNoWriMo last year -- I don't remember whether I even told anyone except Kate. Regardless, I quit after about three days.

We finally got our house listed, about four weeks after we meant to. Now that the punch list is (mostly) complete, the challenge will be to keep everything clean and ready for short-notice showings. We can't move until we've been here two years (Dec. 21) anyway so I don't think our procrastination will hurt us.

I'm already dreading the move itself but looking forward to the next place, wherever it may be (the plan is to rent while we build). I love trying out different houses and neighborhoods. Maybe because we lived in the same house all my life (Mom and Dad still live there), maybe because I like change and variety, maybe because it's the only way I can stay on top of clutter. Whatever the reason, it's a good thing, because being married to a builder means you're in for a lot of moves.

101-things update

The great pizza-slice debate. Have I written about this before? If so, I apologize, but it came up again while we were laying sod last week, and it's killing me.

Picture a slice of pizza. If someone told you to take a bite from the top of it, would you bite at the pointy end or at the crust? Please leave a comment with your answer and whether you're male or female.

The rest of this post is a draft I wrote a full month ago but apparently never published. Oops.

I just gave a much-needed update to my poor neglected 101-things list. Since I started this project way back in November 2007, I've come to see that some of my items were way too ambitious (becoming fluent in Spanish), way too ambitious as well as entirely unnecessary (memorizing the location and name of all the world's countries, capitals, mountain ranges and bodies of water), or simply so unappealing that I've decided not to try (going vegetarian for two weeks).

Others are hard to measure (do I genuinely like and understand football? Am I truly confident and competent when parallel parking)? How do I treat the item about trying every class at the gym, when I no longer have a gym membership? I didn't plant a tree for Arbor Day this year, but last year I planted 10; can I check it off my list?

I've erred on the conservative side, not considering things completed if there's any doubt. But awhile ago Matt went through the list and declared I was being too strict. I may not have gone through my closet one particular time and done a massive clean-out of clothes that don't look good on me, for example, but I do this on a smaller scale every few months, so the effect -- a closet full of clothes I actually like and wear -- is the same.

So with the full support of the person whose job it is to keep me honest, I'm checking off:

11. Get published in a non-local magazine
28. Learn to really understand (and like?) football
58. Make a list of all the words I still don't know how to pronounce and look up their pronunciations
59. Go through my closet and donate all the clothes that don't look good on me
61. Keep a maintenance log when I get a new car

(I'm not quite convinced I'm a confident parallel parker. If I were, I'd know for sure, right?)

That puts me right around the halfway point. Several of my freebies, such as finishing my Clinique Happy Heart and memorizing the 12's times table, are still not done, but they will be. I'm very optimistic about others, such as visiting someplace with a whole lot of snow on the ground (BURLINGTON! OMAHA!) and getting rid of my toenail fungus (I found out about a pill you can take, but I have to wait until I'm done breastfeeding). And the ones that, in retrospect, were ridiculous to include (learning shorthand), I'm comfortable writing off as a reason to donate to World Vision -- my punishment, per No. 100.

Flashback Friday

I was never one for taking lots of pictures, but I've gotten better since we bought a digital camera a few years ago. I love knowing immediately how a picture's going to turn out, I love that every attempt at a good shot is free, I love being able to crop easily and I love how easy it is to share digital photos with friends. Thus, the last three years of my life are better documented than my previous quarter-century.

One upside of the slow real estate market is that I've had time for back-burner projects such as scanning old photographs. I have one album of high school pictures, one album of college pictures, a wedding album, a wedding showers/honeymoon album, and a big box containing a jumble of miscellaneous other photos from my life.

No. 31 of my 101 things is to digitize ALL of these pictures. Don't worry, I won't subject you to all of them. I don't even intend to scan every one of them myself. But it has been fun going through them, and until it stops being fun, I'll be posting some of my favorites here.

In honor of my first Flashback Friday post, I thought I'd go with some old-school Matt soccer pictures. A perk of being on the yearbook staff in high school was getting to rifle through the gazillions of pictures our photography staff took, and claim those that didn't make the cut. These were taken in the fall of our senior year, about six months after the fateful ski trip.

I kept one of these on our refrigerator for years, even after we were married, until Matt convinced me that it was a little too strange to be greeted by a half-naked 17-year-old (even though it happened to be him) every time we needed the milk.

Come to think of it, I hope he doesn't think of this post as displaying him on a worldwide refrigerator.

What a hottie, though, right? And he gets better with time. Lucky me!

Sleepy Jenn

Let's start at the very beginning: Amanda, Mom, Granny, Joy, Gail and Renee are my heroes tonight. That's all I have to say about that.

It snowed enough to cover the yard but not the roads and we had to go to work on time today. Although a snow day is always welcome I wasn't that disappointed since we'd been out of the office since last Tuesday and I had some catching up to do.

I was going to write about Lent today but instead I'm going to write about a couple of funny dream situations I've had recently. Because I know how much fun it is to hear about someone else's dreams.

Funny dream story No. 1: Last night I was dreaming that I was at a high school basketball game and the guy sitting beside me was being so annoying, trying to flirt by making fun of me, which is the main way most high school guys know how to act, which is why I've never been too fond of them. I got more and more irritated until finally I turned to the guy and said to him "Will you LEAVE me ALONE!" and then I punched him twice, which is odd since I've never punched anyone. Well, once, but that's another story.

Anyway, the funny part is that during that dream I really did hit Matt, hard, while asleep. I hit his shoulder but another few inches and it would have been his face and he probably would have reacted out of instinct ... it would have been fun to explain all the bruises. Instead we both woke up and I apologized and he was kind of flabbergasted but then we just fell back asleep.

Funny dream story No. 2: For a few days last week I had the nagging feeling that there was something I'd done that I could check off my 101-things list, but I could not think of what it was. I remembered thinking "Oh good, I can check this off my list" and I felt like it was something spontaneous, not planned, but that was all I could remember. And the times that it crossed my mind I was always driving or in bed or somewhere else besides in front of a computer where I could just read the list and be reminded.

Finally I realized: I'd dreamed of going to an amusement park, which is No. 36 on my list.

That reminds me. Have I ever written about the time in college when I dreamed a final exam was going to be held in a different classroom than where we regularly met? I woke up the morning of the exam (it must have been an 8 a.m. one, because there was no spare time to just get there early and check things out) "remembering" the professor reminding us not to show up at the usual spot, but I couldn't find any record of the new exam location in my notes.

It was a lecture course in which I didn't know anyone well, and I had to call one of the few people I at least knew how to get in touch with and basically say "Am I crazy?" and she basically said, "Uh, yes." That was embarrassing.

On that note, I'm off to bed.

Merry belated Christmas!

Happy day-after-Christmas to everyone! I can't believe how slack I've been about posting, but the last week has been so busy. Between tearing off that wretched wallpaper, then sanding and Kilzing the walls, last-minute (of course) shopping and wrapping, lots of Christmas get-togethers and an overload of editing work, I haven't had time to think about much else.

We had a great Christmas that started out with breakfast with Charlie and Liz, our great family friends (Mom and Dad's BFFs who now live in Kentucky), who are staying with us this week. Then Matt and I exchanged gifts. He gave me an upgraded fleece (I live in mine and after about six years it's looking pretty ragged) and I gave him a thing that lets him play his iPod through the receiver. He said I can check No. 53 off my list.

At lunchtime we went over to Matt's mom's house for finger foods and gifts and, most importantly, Riley time. As usual we received WAY too much but none of us got as much as Riley. :) I have to brag on what Matt and I gave her. SO CUTE. There were a couple of others, but some of the pregnant readers of this blog will be receiving them soon, so I won't ruin the surprise by posting pictures of them yet. (If you are one of those pregnant readers, DO NOT go to my Etsy site before the next time I see you! And I know you're not pregnant but that goes for you too, Lauren G.!)

I searched and searched for really fun, unique onesies to give as Christmas presents/baby shower gifts and didn't have much luck so Matt and I decided to make our own. We spent a good chunk of Christmas Eve designing and making these and it was so much fun. They might not seem that awesome if you don't know Jacob and Carrie, but Jacob's obsessed with fantasy football (and had a really good year this year), he's a huge Panthers fan (and Riley Cat is Riley's nickname), and both Carrie and Jacob could eat Jersey Mike's subs every day of the week.

We spent the afternoon at Terry and Dan's and just as we were leaving I started to feel sick. We needed to go straight to Granny's to have Christmas with our family, but I lay down for a few minutes first to see if I would feel better. I called them to say we'd be there but a little late and not to wait on us to start eating (nothing ever starts on time with our family anyway).

Five minutes later I started throwing up and Matt called back to say we wouldn't be coming after all. I was sick for about six hours but then I slept all night and this morning I feel not quite 100 percent, but better. Thank goodness, because if I were the only person in the world to experience sudden-onset second-trimester "morning" sickness, that would not even be funny. I think it was just something I ate.

Now I have a big platter of deviled eggs that aren't going to be eaten before we leave for Atlanta tomorrow. Any takers?

Quickie

I don't even know where this week has gone! I was just sitting here waiting for Matt to get off the treadmill and realized I haven't blogged since Monday ... wow. I guess time always flies at this time of year, especially for procrastinators like me.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday and today shopping and am THRILLED with my purchases, which warrant a post of their own, coming soon -- probably tomorrow. I think I'll finally be able to check off No. 53, "Surprise Matt with a gift he loves" (but I probably shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch) but that's not even what I'm most excited about.

Last night we had the Christmas party for Bible study and at one point Libba (not to be confused with Lib) started telling this story about a dog she had growing up (in Africa): "Well, we thought it was a Kenyan mutt, but it turned out to be a pure-bred black lab ..." and for some reason it was so funny to me. I don't even know if it was what she said or just how she said it, but I have thought about that and laughed again like 10 times today. So thanks, Libba.

OK, Matt's done running. Later.

Monday, Monday

I have a lingering cold that's driving me crazy! It started rolling in on Thursday and was in full force by Friday. I seriously never get sick -- and I know a cold doesn't count as sick -- but I'm ready for this to go away. My throat hurts, my nose is raw, my head feels like it's floating somewhere way above my body. Matt's being really sympathetic considering that the way I feel is essentially the way he felt (because of allergies) every day of his life until he started taking five medicines a day last year.

Matt's birthday was Saturday and we just kept it low-key with dinners Friday and Saturday. Jacob was pushing hard for a surprise party but I would have been sleeping on the couch for a month. Every year I love Matt's birthday because it makes me feel young for the next nine months.

Besides that, we had a really relaxing weekend -- movies, football, final Christmas decorating, church, books borrowed from the community college with our shiny new free library cards. Qualifying was as simple as showing our driver's licenses. The college library's hours are better than the Southern Pines library's, as is the selection -- we have free access to 47 other community colleges' collections. We got an enthusiastic tour from the librarian and free oranges from the library director. There's free wi-fi, a reading room and an art gallery. Plus, it's only about 10 minutes from our house.

I'm getting close to checking off No. 3, "For all of 2008, send a snail-mail birthday card to everyone I love." When I was making my 101-things list I almost wrote that as "an on-time snail-mail birthday card" but thank goodness I didn't. If you have a November birthday and I didn't get to see you last month, your card is in the mail today. If your birthday was months ago and you haven't received a card, please let me know ASAP so I can send it out. And I'm sorry for any oversights. I've done my best this year but I bet some people have slipped through the cracks.

-----------------------
Riley picture of the day

You are the bomb.com

Thank you to everyone for the flood of comments and emails in response to yesterday's post! I often think about the proverb that "shared joy is a double joy (and shared sorrow is half a sorrow)" and all of you are proving it true.

A special thanks, too, for cumulatively leaving me more than 20 comments (and counting) on that post! You guys can take the credit for my checking off No. 94, "Write a blog post that draws at least 20 comments, even if I have to beg."

The baby blog address is http://ababyinjuly.blogspot.com/. I'm also linking it on the sidebar for easy access. I won't promise to update it as frequently as I update this blog, because pregnancy-wise there isn't a lot to say right now beyond "I'm tired ... I'm tired ... still tired." I suppose that will change, though.

Again, many thanks for the vicarious joy (Dad's phrase)!

P.S. The daily baby Riley has returned!

July 8, 2009

I don't know what you're going to be doing on 07-08-09, but I'm going to be having a baby!

In reality, only about 5 percent of babies are born on their due date -- but my point is, I'm pregnant!

We're really excited about this development. The best part is that our baby will be in the same grade as Amanda's baby Brianna (ETA April 20), Carrie's baby Riley and Melissa's yet-to-be-named new baby boy (ETA April 13), all of whom live here in town. Lib, Maegan and Sallie are also expecting babies that will be in the same grade -- I love it! London and Dylan will be just enough older -- a year or two -- to teach all of our kids everything we don't want them to know.

I love knowing that this happened exactly when it was supposed to happen. As counterintuitive as it may sound, there's real freedom in not being able to micromanage every area of your life.

I also love knowing no one will ever bug us again about when we're going to procreate! Seriously. Many, many thanks to our families for not being those people.

Please pray with us for a healthy baby!

And don't worry, this is not going to become a blog focused on pregnancy and babies. Those usually bore me to tears. However, and I admit this may seem contradictory, I have started a separate baby blog. Let me know if you want the address.

P.S. With this announcement I'm checking off No. 27, "Have a baby in my belly."

Tennis today

My friend Carla who I played tennis with in high school went on to play college tennis, become a tennis pro, get her MBA and open a tennis store here in town. The store happens to be next to Chick-fil-A so sometimes when Melissa and I eat at CFA we walk over afterward to say hi to Carla (we were all on the team together for one year, until Mel graduated). Every time I walk in that store I get sad that I haven't picked up a racquet more than a couple of times in six years.

A while ago I asked Carla to keep me in mind if she heard of anyone close to my age who might want to hit around sometime. There are a lot of tennis players around here but most of them are senior citizens. A couple of weeks ago I got an email from a woman (in her early 30s) who'd gotten my name from Carla after mentioning that she needed another singles player for her team. This afternoon I'm going to meet her and another woman on the team and hit around with them for a couple of hours. I'm afraid of how bad I might be but mostly excited to play!

The league doesn't officially start practicing until January and matches aren't until March, so I'll have time to improve my game if I decide to join the league. I'll have to join the USTA to play on the team, which presents the major potential problem -- their team is a 4.0 team, and if USTA rates me a better or worse player than that, I can't play with them. That is lower than I was rated in high school but I have no idea how far I might have fallen.

Since I haven't played in a USTA tournament since the '90s, I have to rate myself based on a series of questions about my skill level. And I have to join USTA before I can do that, which of course costs money. We'll see how things go. Joining a tennis league is No. 20 on my list, so I hope it all works out. But for today, I'm just looking forward to playing tennis on a gorgeous fall afternoon.

Weekend update

NFL cheerleaders are all over the Internet but actually getting to talk to them is harder than I would have guessed. I finally have a confirmed interview with one of the Redskins cheerleaders and am still hoping to line up something with a couple others. This is going to be a fun story.

This weekend I went to Charlotte for Lib's baby shower, which was, by design, more like a baby party, with an evening start time, alcoholic beverages, and no games involving melted candy bars in diapers. I got there Saturday morning and got Lib to myself all day until the party started, so I loved that. I thought about spending the night but ended up driving home late Saturday and was really glad I'd done so the next morning when I got to sleep in before church. Sunday afternoon we did nothing but watch football and eat and I took a two-hour nap.

Matthew just told me that someone put a campaign sign in front of one of our spec houses! Annoying! As if it weren't bad enough that one appeared in front of our office last week. At least that area is technically town property. Does anyone know if it would be illegal for me to take it down, though?

One time I walked up to my own car to find that someone had put a campaign bumper sticker on it -- naturally, not for a candidate I supported! Luckily, it came right off.

This weekend I bought about 15 birthday cards because I have fallen far behind on my 101-things resolution No. 3 to send a birthday card to everyone I love this year. If you have had a birthday since May, you probably haven't gotten a card from me and you may think I don't love you, but never fear, it's on its way soon.

P.S. Thanks to the lovely Swank girls, Jessica and Petra, for providing free coffee to our whole office this morning! It was a nice way to start the week.