Recently in Memes Category

I was tagged by that Chick over there for this meme. Since I have so many new readers lately I will bring you all up to speed about me, myself and I. Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with* 5 facts about yourself. Then choose 5 people you want to tag and list their names. Then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they've been tagged. 1. I met my husband in an MSN chatroom in August of 2003. I set eyes on him for the first time in Nov. 2003. In Jan. 2004 I packed up my kids and what I could get into the back of my Explorer and moved us from a tiny farm in rural Georgia to the big city and a townhouse that is Northern Virginia. We married 19 July 2004. In Jan. 2005 we bought a small farm in Central Virginia. My husband commutes daily to No.Va/metro D.C. 2. I was previously married for 14 years before filing for divorce. I have two daughters from that marriage: Colby will be 20 in May and Gracie turned 9 this past Decemeber. Steve has a daughter from a previous marriage: J, age 11, who does not live with us but is here weekly, alternate weekends, and 6 weeks of the summer, plus odd and end school breaks and holidays. At the age of 39, Feb 2006, we had a baby boy. 3. I live in an old Virginia four square farmhouse that is approaching 99 years old. We love it. I knew when I set eyes on it that this was my home. I was sick the entire time we negotiated contracts. Real Estate in this part of Va. is not for ametuers. This is hard-nosed, fast sell, you better have the money to pay for what you want country. Ask anyone in or near No.Va. I have been slowly doing the small projects of fixing up this house myself with the help of Steve when he is not working in his stressful geek job. The upstairs is freshly painted and the children are all settled into their own rooms. It took 11 gallons of Kilz to prime and seal the walls before painting. Not to mention patching, drywall, custom creating a set of closet doors, rebuilding the interior of 1 closet and completing a bathroom. I did all of this in the last couple months of my pregnancy. I wish I had the time and energy to do things now like I did then. We 95% completed a kitchen remodel during Steve's vacation last summer. We work well together. We installed new countertops and crown molding. I also did my own undercabinet lighting. :-) This spring between getting my gardens in and opening the pool I hope to start stripping and sanding the floors upstairs. Some fool painted them with chocolate enamel brown paint. The staircases front and back were also painted in this fashion. The woman who did this is on my shitlist FOREVER. 4. In the years between the birth of my children -1993 - 1995, I gave birth to another bouncing baby boy. I was a surrogate for a wonderful woman who has raised a beautiful family. We are very close friends. We keep in touch. I see her children when she comes to Virginia about once a year. It is one of the greatest landmarks of my life to see her with him. He is not my child. He was a frozen embryo. I was a vessel through which a miracle was performed by the hand of God. I love him but not like my own children. It is very hard to explain my feelings without sounding cold. I love him dearly. He is not flesh of my flesh. He is not my child. He was born in her heart long before he was born of my body. He is her son. There are no secrets. He knows exactly how, who, what, when and where of the circumstance of his birth and he is very cool with it all -often thanking me for giving him a chance to have life and peace with God. He is precious to me in every way. 5. I love pajamas and gowns. I spend as much time as possible each and every day in my pj's. I love cold, wet days with a fire burning and the tv on low in the background. I love to read, crochet, cross stitch, sew, garden, cook, craft, etc. There isn't much I can't do when I set my mind to it. I am a published author. Nearly a dozen years ago I published a local history of the 1861 - 1865 period in my home county back in Georgia. I can walk into the Library of Congress right now and request this book and they will bring it to me. MY dream is to have a PhD in history. At the rate I am having children I may never get the chance to go back to school and finish that dream. For several years I drove a school bus. Of all the jobs I have held (other than Momma) this job paid the least but was the most rewarding and satisfying of them all. Be good to your child's school bus drive. Make an effort to get to know him/her. You can't imaging the difference a school bus driver makes in the life of your child. Why? The school bus driver is the first person your child sees in the morning for school and the last in the afternoon. A school bus driver is (should be) an ambassedor for your public school system. if you are a school bus driver and you don't take great interest in your students you are missing out on one of the best gifts life has to offer. If you do, congrats! You Rock! Wow, that was long winded! Now I have to tag five people. Since so many people have already completed this meme how about all of you nice visitors who look radiantly pretty this morning tell us something about yourself we don't know. You can even sign in as Anonymous. Come on. Play along. who's gonna be first? *I hate the word blog. I will be posting a new recipe later today. ***** It is snowing as I sit and look out my window. The fire is crackling. The coffee is hot. The Walton's are on tv. What a fabulous morning I am having. Although I need a nap. Steven had a very rough night inwhich he did NOT sleep more than 30 minutes at a time. I did everything and had no idea what was wrong. This morning he is sneezing giant gobs of snot. We made it 9 months before he ever got a cold and now he has one every other week it seems. He is building one heck of an immune system but good grief, enough already with this snot and not sleeping!

I was tagged by Kim for this meme. I AM: incredibly happy with my life. I WANT: to see my children grown and married and with their own beautiful babies. I WISH: we were independently wealthy because I want to be able to quietly do incredible things for other people. I HATE: whiney people who never do anything more than whine about their problems and never take the initiative to better themselves. I MISS: many things, places and people we left back in Georgia. I FEAR: I have sheltered my kids too much. I HEAR: my baby cooing as he plays in his bouncy seat near me; the sounds of my children playing outside; my mother every time I open my mouth. I WONDER: what my baby's voice will sound like when he is able to talk to me. I REGRET: never having finished college. I AM NOT: the easiest person to get along with. I DANCE: when no one is looking or I have had too much to drink. I SING: when I am driving. I CRY: at the drop of a hat especially when watching my children; when I have been pushed to the outer limits of anger. I AM NOT ALWAYS: on time, nor do I manage to get cards and letters mailed out on time. I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: a comfortable home for my husband and children. I WRITE: alot more in my head that I do with visable words. I CONFUSE: myself. Often. I NEED: to lose weight. I SHOULD: save more money. I START: a summer class at the community college at the end of May. I FINISH: most of the things I start. I TAG: Miz S., Reahan, MommaK

Blackbird's show and tell is at the request of Chantal who wanted to see our junk drawers. I am trying so hard to get organized and keep things cleaned out that I don't have a big junk drawer like one might find in the kitchen when we lived in the townhouse. This junk drawer is in the cocktail table in the living room. It has ink pens, pencils, tape, various sized batteries, and odd papers I haven't gotten rid of yet because, well, I haven't. No other reason. There is also a spare watch band and a drill bit. A drill bit Steven asked for several months ago and has yet to open much less actually use. Some of you may remember from an earlier show and tell my husbands junk drawer in our bedroom in his nightstand. It is not a typical junk drawer. Not at all. This is a special junk drawer just for him. This is my husbands junk food drawer. I keep it filled with snacks and things just for him lest the kids eat everything and when he wants something it is all gone. We should all be so lucky to have someone fill the junk drawer with lovely things of junk for us. Like chocolates and mints and cookies and chocolates and coffee and coupons for bubble baths and magazines and tall cool drinks for moments when a child isn't needing us. Alas, this is not a perfect world and no one does that for those of us who do that for them.

Blackbird's Show and Tell this week is our favorite chocolate for Kim. Please go visit Kim and give her lots of love. She has had an absolute beotch of a week. And now chocolate, whch doesn't right every wrong, but makes dealing with shit a little easier. My favorite chocolate bar is not expensive. It is not gourmet. It is not even grown-up candy. It is a simple Mounds bar. Almond Joy's got nuts Mound's don't Because Sometimes you feel like a nut Sometimes you don't I do NOT like the almond joy. Just the Mounds. Thank you. Now I have had excellent chocolate. The best Belgian and Dutch chocolates to be found. Sinfully delicious. Chocolate truffles, chocolate liquers, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, expensive sinful chocolate. If I were to become a chocolate snob most definitely it would be the decadent Dutch and Belgian chocolates I chose for myself from the chocolateer in Holland several years ago. I love dark bitter sweet chocolates. Milk chocolate, meh, not so much really. I love Godiva, Lindts, Cadbury (eggs) and others as well but for comfort and just because I want it, Mounds please. When I am craving chocolate and there is no candy bar in the house I slip off to the mudroom and open the freezer and search for a my secret stash of ... ... Tim Tams! Mmmmmm. The dark chocolates are my favorite and I only have one package left. I am hording it like a rabid dog because once it is open it will be gone quick! Can't have that. I am very happy knowing that if I want I can go to the freezer and have timtams with my coffee but for now I am just keeping them safe and protected by not opening them. I need tim tams and cadbury eggs ... omg I need to get my easter order in! I need a shipment from downunder ASAP! What have I been thinking of lately? I am now in a panic because I must needs have tim tams for Easter! You Aussies are pretty damn lucky to be able to walk into your local super market and just pile tim tams into your shopping cart. Although some flavors I would walk right by and never twitch. Yucko on the caramel. :-s When my friend sent me tea tree oil I should have remembered the timtams!! Alas I have been too comfortable with the stash in my freezer and let the importance of timtams and cadbury eggs to the Easter basket slip right by. It is a sad day indeed.

Blackbird's Show and Tell is butterdishes. My butterdish is actually a crock. More specifically it is a butterbell. It is about 4 inches tall and holds 1 stick of butter. I found this crock in an old shop after I moved from Georgia to Virginia. It is used every single day because one of our favorite food items on the table at every meal is bread and butter. Not margerine. Butter. There is more than appearance to this little crock. It is also more than just a dish in the refrigerator to store butter. This crock has its beginnings in the days when there was no refrigeration. This piece of earthenware allows butter to be stored at room temperature on the counter for about a month without spoiling or need for refrigerating. How can this be? Surely as butter is a dairy product it will spoil without being stored in a cold place. The secret is in the seal. How it works is by using water to make an air tight seal. The butter remains fresh, creamy and most importantly, spreadable. My butterbell is old. It is chipped. It is cracked. This does not take away from it. I think it adds charm. If something should happen to this dish I will replace it. If I can't find an old farmhouse crock I will buy a new one. I like it that much. BTW, I paid $1 for it. ******* Yesterday I had a lovely surprise when I stepped out my back door. The UPS guy and the mail carrier had delivered packages to my door. One was the baby's birth announcements and the other was a tidy brown box with "fra-gee-lay" stickers on it. The box had no card. It also had no return address lable on it that I could find. But I had a heads up and knew who it was from. In the box was this lovely bedtime prayer for children in a distressed frame in green very similar to the color I painted the babies room. How lovely, I thought. Mary had emailed me that she sent a gift and forgot to put the card in and so mailed it separately. I was thinking Mary was so very thoughtful to remember the color of the nursery and to send something that coordinated. And I loved the distressed look of the frame. I was planning to email her and ask if the frame was handmade as a craft project. As I stood at the table and opened the rest of the mail, I came across a card that was from Mary. It and the box arrived by different means but at the same time. As I read the card the story of the framed prayer was revealed, making it all the more special. I didn't ask Mary if she minded that I post the card (I hope she doesn't) but I think the thought and the sentiments contained are lovely and loving. In my babies nursery is a piece of Mary, her girls and her mother. How can a baby not be anything but happy in a room surrounded with items that were heartfelt and sent with kindness and goodness from beautiful hearts? He. Can't. Thank you, Mary. I do love the gift. It also reminds me of my childhood. This prayer, or one very similar, a variation, is the first prayer I learned aside from saying the blessing at our table. I said it every single night of my childhood and just before I sleep now, even though I say my grownup prayers, I still say my childhood prayer as well. Now I lay me down to sleep I prayer the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen. Those words are very important to me. I have taught them to my children and will teach them to my baby boy. Life doesn't get much better than the one I am living right this very minute.

Blackbird's Show and Tell this week is to see our eyes. I wear glasses but they cause a glare in the photos. My eyes are dark, almost black. My mood either darkens or lightens them. Anger makes them the darkest and closest to black. I have contacts but I don't wear them often. I have grown comfortable in my glasses. I like glasses. Sometimes I hide behind the glasses. BTW, you can't look into the windows and see my soul unless I want you too. *******Updated to add - I have no idea where the weekend and the first few days of this week went. I woke up yesterday and realized it was Wednesday and I hadn't visited any of you. I had barely managed to turn on my machine. Have I mentioned I can't type and breastfeed? I can't. It is the one multitasking thing I can't seem to do. I am breastfeeding alot. Did I say alot? I meant MUCH. All the time. Or so it seems. If I am not breastfeeding I am changing diapers as a result of the MUCH breastfeeding. And the diaper changing? It is MUCH also. Oh, and I am not complaining just explaining my whereabouts. I am in love with this baby. It is MUCH too.

For Show and Tell Blackbird wants to see something close up. I couldn't decide what to show. At first I thought about up close shots of the beautiful flowers that are still arriving since we were in the hospital. Then I thought maybe the baby's feet would be interesting but the photo came out blurry because the camera didn't focus the afternoon he was born. What you can't really see is my paranoia at baby mix ups in hospitals and I had Steven draw a smiley face on the underside of his right big toe to mark him as our baby. Yes, I am a dork, but I am a PROTECTIVE dork. Instead you get to see an up close photo of the other man in my life when he was 1 day old. It is hard to believe he is pushing toward 9 days old now. But I don't think the newness will ever wear off. I have so many things I want to tell you all but I am having trouble sorting them out and getting them in print. I promise soon the birth story and a lot of other things too. I have taken to pen and ink on paper to try and get the words out. I am currently struggling through a couple dozen thank you cards I must write and send, trying to find time to see the dentist, getting the girls up to the optometrist office to pick up new glasses and contacts, baby well check-ups, a husband who had been burning up with a fever and suffering what seems like a bad cold or maybe a touch of a flu like virus for 2 days now and won't take time to rest, and oh, did I mention, breastfeeding around all of the appointments and driving time. I need a secretary to keep up with all the advanced planning for breastfeeding to be able to go anywhere. Not that I am complaining! I am loving this mommy stuff!!! He is an excellent eater and sleeper! But he nurses for 1 solid hour at a time otherwise he is awake and nawing on his hands like he is starving. My milk has come in and he is getting plenty (he GULPS when he drinks) but we MUST feed every two hours or we pay for it with a fussy restless baby. See why I need to schedule EVERYTHING?

Blackbird has asked to see our computers for show and tell this week.

We have many machines in our house. They are all networked into a wireless network because I will not let Steven drill and knock holes in the floors and walls of this house like he did in the townhouse. The network is code named "Graceland".
	Our Network, code name Graceland, is run by a machine that Steven built many years ago. Her name is 'Cilla, in honor of Priscilla (the freshly married, black dyed hair, very young, wife of Elvis). She controls internet access, file shares and who knows what else. She runs 24/7 and is only shut down the week we go on vacation. On occassion she has to be rebooted due to power outages or something with the stupid cable company.
The companion that serves as a file server is known by the code name Red, in honor of Red West. Red is not running right now. I don't even think he has been running since we have been in this house, the reason why escapes me.
	Steven's workhorse, you-name-it it-is-on-there machine with tons of RAM is Elvis. This machine was the #1 machine when I met Steven. This is the macine he used to telecommute for work and the machine we chatted on for a month or so before a phone call was initiated.
His old laptop was LisaMarie but she has been retired as LisaMarie2 and his new laptop is now LisaMarie.
	Each of the girls have their own machines: Colby's is AnnMargaret
J's is NannerSammich
	Gracie's is HoundDog
I have 3 machines of my own. My HP Windows machine is Pink_Cadillac.
	My frankenmachine I built from an old HP I had that runs Linux is TheColonel.
My laptop I got for my birthday this past August is Memphis.

This is the machine I use every single day for every single purpose. I also share and the kids use it when they need a fast work horse game playing machine and are too lazy to go play on their own. It is a Toshiba Satellite P-35 S605 with a 17inch monitor. I love my laptop. Because my monitor has much real estate when I make graphics I often make them too large forgetting that I see things much smaller with my 1440x900 resolution. 800x600 seems soooo primitive now. I am now off to the doctor for my weekly fetal monitoring session. See you all later.

posted early

Thirteen Things about Angie 1. I did not paint the nursery. Everything is ready I just need to get in there and actually do it. 2. Instead I took a nap. 3. And another nap. 4. The boxes from Amazon arrived with all the baby shower gifts. 5. Thank you all again. 6. I took a photo of the 38+ week belly. 7. I have never shown a belly photo and don't know why I am now. 8. I know the mirror needs to be cleaned. I don't feel like doing it right now. 9. Does this qualify for half nekkid thursday? 10. I did pack my bag for when we have to go to the hospital. 11. If I ever go into labor. 12. Did I tell you all that I am so ready that I am miserable? 13. I am. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. MommaK 2. Raehan

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Thirteen Things about Angie 1. I have not seen the movie but I have the soundtrack for Walk The Line. Wow! Joaquin Phoenix! Who knew that boy could sing? 2. I spent yesterday in a pre-diabetes class for gestational diabetes. The doctor recommended stressed ordered that I attend the classes and follow the 'self management' program because I failed the fasting blood glucose test with a 95mg/dL. According to everything I have read and all the research I can find the target for pregnancy is between 60 and 100 mg/dL for fasting. How did I fail? I am seriously going to question him next week about the results and also question who set the target levels and why are they below all others I can find? 3. I am pricking my fingers 4 times a day and using a freestyle monitoring machine. I have to test my glucose every morning before I eat, 1 hour after every meal. It doesn't hurt but after a few days I wonder if my finger tips will be sore. 4. I am told that I have to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks. What I am supposed to be eating in many cases is way more than we are accustomed to eating. I had to force myself to eat a sandwich before bedtime last night. Eating before you go to bed is what makes you pack on the pounds. 5. They better not say 1 word when they see how the pounds will jump onto me FAST. I mean super fast. We do not eat that much food in a day. What are they thinking? I'll have to start eating the time my eyes pop open until bedtime. :-/ 6. Steven went with me to the classes. He has been very diligent and helps me test by getting everything ready and prepping the machine. He is such a good nurse. 7. While we sat in the class yesterday watching a video I took his hand and laid it across my stomach. Bump. Bump. Bump. Bump. In perfectly timed rythm. The baby had hiccups that lasted almost 10 minutes. 8. Sometimes I am easily amused and entertained. 9. It is raining here today. I can but I refuse to walk in the rain. 10. Having needed an antibiotic to get over a very bad head cold/sinus infection, having suddenly developed laryngitis I don't think it is such a good idea to walk around in the cold and rain this morning even though I am supposed to walk daily. 11. I have no idea what to prepare for supper tonight. I am sick of food and it being thrust in my face all day long. 12. I am listening to Johnny Cash. I got several nice cd's and books for Christmas. They make it very easy to do nothing but sit with earphones and read. 13. Johnny is cool as hell but George Strait is the man. Yummy. He has an innocent yet very playful and mischeivious smile -just like my Steven -who is also very yummy. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! MommaK Raehan

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants