I've Been Busy

Salutations!

My Life as a Suburban Goddess has been extraordinarily busy the last five years. I started this blog as a way to talk out thoughts and feelings and just generally assure myself and the friends who read it that I hadn't dropped my basket. Yet.

Many things have changed. Some have stayed the same.

My husband Dave is still a web developer.

Our oldest daughter, Alli, is coming up on 14 this year. Aishlinn, who was born right before my heart attack, is going to be six in a couple months.

We also had the surprise of a lifetime - trust me, it was a doozy of a good one - with the addition of our son, Albert Alexander. I know it's such a big name for such a little boy; we call him "Xander" instead.

He is the product of a botched vasectomy (Love you, honey) and one egg that escaped. I was six weeks pregnant before I even went into the doctor - I seriously thought I was dying with all the nausea and bloating I was experiencing. I thought for sure my liver was failing. Nope.

The nurse I see for my INR checks told me, "Your INR has been consistently low for the last six weeks. I bet you're pregnant!" I smirked at her and told her "Shaddup". (Because seriously, she and I have that kind of relationship.) After my INR visit - still coming back low - I had my doctor appointment. She did a physical exam. Then I told her my INR nurse's comment. She decided to do a pregnancy test "Just in case". I peed in the cup. Then waited ten minutes. The doctor came back in and said, "Okay, let's take a look here at those te-- OHMY."

My heart stopped for a full three seconds. "What? WHAT?" I was panicked, sweating, and felt hot and cold. I thought for sure I was going to pass out.

The kindly doctor turned the screen towards me, pointing to a yellow highlighted line of words across the screen. "PREGNANT ------ POSITIVE". I nearly did pass out at that point. My vision narrowed to the words on the screen, stunned into silence.

I knew I couldn't get too excited. I could barely drive home. I kept feeling like this was either the best day or the worst day. It was up to me to tell Dave though.

I cornered him upstairs when I got home. "Hey... they know what's wrong with me."

He stopped and sat on the bed. "What's up?"

"Hah... yeah... Guess what? I'm pregnant."

"FUNNY. Really, what's wr-- ," he could see the sincerity in my eyes. I'm sure that the huge-ass smile of disbelief on my face didn't hurt, either.

And so, after many, many, many trips to my Hematologist, the Cardiologist, and the Perinatologist, we were scheduled for a c-section on February 14th, 2013. Yep, our boy is a Valentine's baby.

I am still a Domestic Goddess, as I like to call it; much of it is due to the fact we still have a toddler at home and childcare is expensive. I do enjoy spending time with my kidlets as well, though.

I did my first 5K with a couple friends last summer 2014. I'm still happy with myself and my body, but I know I can always be healthier, however, I'm in better health than I was five years ago.

Instead of harassing the people on the Interwebs, I now bug my childrens' teachers, write and edit fanfiction for random fandom friends, and occasionally dream of being able to sit down to finish writing something besides a ten minute post that I can ONLY do because Xander is sleeping. After I put another load of laundry in. Or figure out what needs to come out of the freezer to defrost so my family doesn't starve. Fat chance of that - literally.

DIY Breast Pump?

So Dave and I were lying in bed Friday around 11:30 at night and we started talking about some of my fears of breast-pumping/feeding and how, while I would love to just breast feed, it's always good to have a milk supply in the freezer instead of having to use formula like I had to with Alli.

Then, we got around for some reason to talking about the FoodSaver vacuum sealer that we have. And Dave started talking about how we should work on retro-fitting it to make the motor into a working breast pump.

WHA??????????????

I think the first words out of my mouth were "Uhhh NO. Let's stick your manhood in the vacuum and see how you like it. I don't need my nipples ripped off!"

We'll be buying my breast pump, thank you very much.

O. M. G.

Dave and I got married November 1st, 2008.

Yes, it was beautiful - the tent was tremendously gorgeous. Our guests were fantastic - some of them even helping out prior to the ceremony.

We did start late - people kept coming upstairs to see ME of all people, who was trying to finish getting dressed - and people in the house kept TELLING the guests where I was getting ready, and they kept coming upstairs to visit! lol

The food, provided by my friend Josh and his lovely and patient wife Kim, was AWESOME!

Our menu:

Fruit Board :
Pears, Plums, Grapes, Apricots, Apples, Pineapple

Cheese & Nut Board:
Swiss, Pub cheese, Caramelized Onion, Truffle, Dubliner, Tomato Basil Gouda, Herb Gouda
Walnut, Almond, Pecans, Figs, Dates

Salad:
Apple & Pear Waldorf on Baby Greens

Soup 1:
Lentil (Vegetarian)

Soup 2:
Pumpkin

Entrees:
Roast Buffalo
Turkey
Smoked Turkey Legs

Vegetables:
Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Wild Rice & Mushroom sautee with Vidalia Onions
Roasted Butternut Squash
Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Gravies:

Turkey

Dark Beef

Roquefort dressing

Bread:
Petite Baguettes, White Buns (made by Linda), Dark Rye Buns, Wild Rice Buns.

Oy. It was a lot of work for Josh and Kim, and my parents who helped out by letting them use their commercial kitchen for food prep because it was much closer than anything else in the area.

April, Dave, and Allison

I was abducted by aliens!

Just kidding.

I think we all know and realize that time flies when you are having fun...and sometimes not so much fun.

For the past two months, Dave's been getting used to the new schedule - up at 4am, out the door by 5 am to ride the bus to St. Paul for nearly 2 hours. Work for 8.5 hours respectively, and wash, rinse, repeat in the opposite bus order to get home.

I am still getting up with him at 4am.

We are both exhausted.


However, wedding planning still moves forwards. We've had a couple adventures and a few moments since June:

• We went to WineHaven (Chisago City, MN) & Eichtens (Center City, MN) and enjoyed a day of food and wine tasting. Eichtens raises their own buffaloes and cows and make their own FABULOUS Gouda cheeses and buffalo summer sausages amongst their delicious bistro/cafe and shop area. WineHaven happened to have a wine tasting the same day we headed out to Eichtens.... and so we tried a few varieties. We've already decided to get the Honey Wine and the Merlot from there for the wedding.
• Dave, Alli, and myself headed out to Howard Lake, MN for the 3rd Annual Garlic Festival; put on by the MN Sustainable Farming Association. They did a wonderful job and we enjoyed things ranging from
• demos from Minneapolis area chefs that work with the understanding of sustainability,
• belly dancers (not what I'd have thought - a few white chicks doing some pop music moves, more power to 'em - I've seen REAL traditional belly dancing though...),
• kids games & art, garlic ice cream (YUM), fresh raw gourmet garlic (It BURNED!)

Then... we hit the MN State Fair this last weekend. On Sunday early morning, we headed out on the Southwest Transit to the fairgrounds. It was a long day full of sunburn, good food (elk burger, porcupine meatballs, beef sticks, funnel cake, cheese curds, strawberry smoothy), and needing more water than I got which resulted in my crabbiness for about an hour. Yes, poor Dave. lol

We saw most of a wood chopping competition, walked around one end and saw the skate park portion with guys on bikes, hunted down food favorites (cheese curds), and waited in line for Sweet Martha's Cookies for about 15 minutes. Well worth the wait. It was fun to see the sights and smell the wonderful foods.


We also hit the Little Farmhands area for kids. Cute! Alli got to put on an apron and pick up some corn kernels, and 'feed the cows', 'milk the cows', drive the hay on the 'tractor' - John Deere of course, and 'grow' vegetables.
Here, we have Alli and Daddy. They gave the kids free John Deere sun visors made from a foamy material and emblazoned with their symbol.

Seriously, they had sunflowers that were REAL
and taller than Alli! Heck, they were even taller than me.













We also went to the Eco Experience - where Dave had been working for most of that week previously. Since Dave works for the Pollution Control Agency, he offered his volunteer services to help out at the Eco Experience photo booth - essentially, he was the 'man behind the curtain' running the technology aspect and making sure that as people came through, had their photo taken with signs saying why they promised to bring their own bag, and made sure that those pictures showed up on the Reduce.org website.

As a momento....

All said, we probably spent about two hours just going through the Eco Experience. Sustainability is something that everyone should think about. Compost when you can - we live in a townhouse and we are looking for ANY way that we can do that. We have been recycling and separating as needed with all our waste as well for a while already, but still, you feel like there's always more you can do to contribute to a healthy Mother Earth.




Alli, hugging Bernie the Burn Barrel at Eco Experience. Bernie tells people how bad for the environment burning your garbage is. He has a lot to say about keeping the environment and air clean and clear - and that just because your parents and grandparents did it - doesn't make it right!






In other news...
We finally met with my friend and the caterer, Josh, this week. Wonderful meeting. Unfortunately I think we made it a tad too long - I didn't get his email about his wife feeling poorly and could we make it a short meeting until the day AFTER. I sure felt like an ass. Sorry Joshy! My email at work apparently dislikes me intensely - but only SOMETIMES.

Thursday night this last week was Alli's Open House. She's heading into Second grade and frankly, her teacher seemed nice, but I'm a bit worried about Alli and her Math skills that we worked SO hard on last year... and haven't used much of this last summer. Her reading is perfectly fine though as she loves to read anything and anywhere.

Time will tell I suppose.

Dave and I went on our first date in about a month last night. To the Claddagh Pub in Maple Grove. It was wonderful! The food was plentiful and delicious - melt in your mouth good. Dave had a drunken steak that was a prime piece of meat with Jameson whiskey. I had the more mellow but still fantastic and homey shepherd's pie. Accompanied by a Guinness for myself and a Newcastle Nut-brown Ale for Dave, it was truly an enjoyable dinner only made better by our dessert of Tipsy Bread Pudding. Yum!

Afterwards, we headed out to the local mall to have our ring fingers resized - I'm a 7, and he's an 11.5. I'm putting it in print so he doesn't argue with me later right before we order our rings. lol

Anyways, we need to get the invitations printed out tonight and things addressed. We need the RSVPs by October 6th and are offering the option of RSVPing online or by phone, or lastly, by snail mail.

Still so much to do, but we are looking forward to it!

The Tardis Cake Fiasco

I wanted to do something nice for Dave for his groom's cake.

We had seen a while ago an "action shot" on the Thinkgeek.com website a bride and groom and a Tardis cake. Yeah, notice that their cake and mine look NOTHING ALIKE.

Now, for those of you whom aren't familiar with what Tardis is, it's basically a dark blue phone booth that has the words "POLICE BOX" on it. Dr. Who uses it as his time traveling vehicle as he visits the future and the past.

Not familiar with Dr. Who? Don't worry, I wasn't either. It's a pretty neat BBC show that Dave loves. So.... me, being the loving, devoted fiance and having time on my hands and having watched one too many Food Network Cake Challenges.... I did it.

You'll see the slowly sliding frosting that pulls down my perfectly square designs. I didn't expect it to be easy mind you, but even the slight amount of frosting to coat the sides was slooooowwwwwllllyyyyy sneaking down towards the cake board on the bottom. Stupidhead cake.

At least it tasted good, despite the 4 wooden skewers:

• 4 boxes of Betty Crocker Spice Cake mix. Prepared as stated on the back of the box.
• 4 containers of Betty Crocker Cream Cheese frosting
• 1 jar of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter
• 1 entire squishy thing of Blue food coloring (needed at least 3 of them to make it as blue as it should have been)
• 9 inch square cake pans
• over 5 total hours of free time

I mixed 2 of the containers of cream cheese frosting with the 1 jar of pumpkin butter and used that as 'cement' between the 6 layers total that I made. Cut it down a bit, frosted the whole thing, had Dave scold me, put in skewers to make sure the whole thing stood up.... and then, when he saw the finished product, he said I should probably do a 2D version instead of the 3D version I made. Arrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!!! *L*

Don't worry. The cake was gently dismantled and one part was put in a container and frozen, another part set aside for me to take to work, and then the remaining part was turned into what I like to call a "Franken-Cake". It's a sad sack of deliciousness with scary blue frosting and looks like a small hill under the frosting. The side is tilting the to left. It feels like I look: defeated.

Back to the drawing board!

Updates

Things have healed much here. :) We are focused on the future and the near wedding.

Dave has also had a job offer from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. So, yippee! A continual income instead of the contracting will be a huge benefit to our family. Also helps that he's getting paid WAY more than peanuts. *G*

The downside is that I'll be assuming all pick up and drop off for Alli during this summer AND when she starts up school again in the Fall. This means that my schedule is now changing from 7:30am to 3:30pm, Monday through Friday to 8:00am to 4:30pm Monday through Thursday, and working 8am-2pm on Fridays. I won't be able to flex a lot of time, but at least Alli and I can have our Friday afternoons/evenings together this summer and do mommy-Alli stuff.

Dave will be taking the bus from Minnetonka to St. Paul which means he'll be leaving extra early and coming home barely before 6pm each night. More of the daily routines will be my responsibility - getting dinner on the table, helping Alli with homework, etc. - whereas before they were shared. It'll be a hard adjustment, but nothing I haven't already done as a single mom before. And Dave, you better read this and realize that just because you are working outside the home doesn't mean you're excused from HELPING! So there! :P

And onto the wedding/handfasting planning. Oy! Who knew napkins and linens were so expensive? Probably every other woman who's done wedding planing.

It's all in the details, you know? Each person's table setting is going to amount to around $10 each - including glass goblets, coffee cups and saucers. Don't forget the coffee pouring items, and the salad forks tongs, the wicker bread bowls, and OHMYGOSH, don't forget the TENT and sidewalls! We'll also need a tent heater, and while we're at it, crap, we might as well find a generator to beg, borrow, or rent. *L*

So yes, it's been exciting. We have an appointment to see Aarcee Tent and Party Rental
on Monday at 5:30pm. Because of Dave's analytical nature, I even made a spreadsheet detailing everything. Holy buckets. There's way more than I anticipated. I will say this though: the price isn't nearly as bad as I thought for what we've listed so far.

Anyways, Alli starts summer camp on June 12th, Dave starts his new job on June 11th, and the fun really starts then.

Flatulent Funnies (well, to me at least)

The other night I was in the process of falling asleep, cuddled close to Dave; fortunately facing him.

Cocooned in my own little sleepy world, I heard a LOUD sound that made me shake and wake myself up.

Dave had farted. It sounded like a sonic BOOM to me.

Apparently I said, more than half asleep," Oooh! That was loud. It scared me!" in a small little voice. Then I promptly giggled as he laughed a full belly laugh ...and then I fell back asleep.

So now, at random intervals Dave will repeat the "That was loud. It scared me!" in a falsetto voice and we both giggle. I know. We're weird.

103.9

no, the above is not a new radio station.

it's the temp that dave reached all by his talented self last night despite ibuprofen, and other 'nsaids' - then i took kathleen's advice and shoved some acetaminophen down his gullet and his fever started dropping.

and a nice cool bath where i put buckets of water over his head while he breathed in through clenched teeth.

he has the flu.

and i am exhaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddd.
and i have to work tomorrow.

and he is doing better. thankfully. but i am pooped.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

I am exactly 8 weeks pregnant today. I have no fear in sharing this as I went to see my Perinatologist for the first time this morning.

They performed a trans-vaginal ultrasound ... lo and behold! A baby with a heartbeat of 164 beats per minute was clearly visible!!

This was entirely a surprise and completely unplanned - in fact, Dave and I have been working in the OPPOSITE direction as I was on Coumadin (which crosses the placenta - no good) and according to my Hematologist he wanted me to wait until this summer to go back on the Lovenox (safe for baby, pregnancy good).

Luckily, although I went into the doc about 4 weeks ago because I thought I had a urinary tract infection and they diagnosed me as pregnant, I haven't had any issues. Praise the Gods. No bleeding, no cramping; just nausea and the occasional minor headache..... and FOOD CRAVINGS that have been driving Dave nuts. *L*

Seriously? I was craving chilli and ate a whole can for lunch yesterday. It was SO GOOD. And I paid for it by feeling stuffed for 7 hours until I ... well...let's just say the juice helped me out with getting rid of that bloated and miserable feeling. *L*

According to my Perinatologist, Dr. Fairbanks (a lovely, well-organized physician, very caring and astute) even though I'm considered to be high risk due to previous pre-eclampsia with Alli, and my blood disorder issues, she was reassuring when I asked her what my chances of full term birth were and she looked me in the eye and said "I would say you have a 98% likelihood of having a happy, healthy baby." I then asked if it was okay to tell people and she said "I don't see why not! A heartbeat is a wonderful thing." It put my mind at ease and put me on guard for taking care of myself - which between Dave and myself, we've been doing quite a good job. :)

He loves me so much...he's been making dinner for the last month - letting me ly down on the couch and catch a 15 minute snooze while he preps dinner, and then runs to pick up Alli from the bus. When he and Alli return, he then completes dinner prep and has been taking care of the kitchen for the most part. My HERO! :)

We finally told Alli tonight and she is ecstatic about being a big sister. My best friend Kathleen, and my other friends Beckah, Jenn, Sheila, etc.... they were all told and are excited for us as well.

It's funny when you think about it though. I'm due October 7th. Dave's birthday is October 9th. Even if they decide to schedule me for an early c-section, my sister's birthday was September 21st.... which made me pause. :) And then we are still getting married November 1st. Oy! So MUCH to do this year - and I haven't even gotten into how my little brother, Alex, who's 19 this November is going to moving in with us this summer and staying for the length of Le Cordon Bleu cooking program...or longer.

I'm looking forward to the challenges this year is going to be bringing. Aren't you? *L*

Guess who turns 38 today?

Happy Birthday my Dave!

In true Dave fashion, he didn't want us to make a big deal out of my birthday. And yes, he got his wish. I was good. *G*

Good thing I'm getting a new lappy

While Dave and I were debating ways to load a funny video of Alli to YouTube or wait, I decided to head downstairs and let him finish his technical ways to see if he could figure it out.

I came back like half an hour later and attempted to start up my computer. Lo and behold, I got a black screen of DEATH. AAAHHHHHH!!

Of course I turned and ran right to Dave.

"Honey! Honey! My lappy won't load up! What were you doing??"

He looks at me and tells me he just shut down the programs and gave up trying to load Alli's video. He has no clue why it won't even give me the welcome log-in screen.

After a few minutes of conversation I decide to go back downstairs and watch a movie and clean. He is deep in thought.

Two hours later I come back upstairs, ready for bed and he is STILL working on my laptop. Sweet, sweet Geek.

My sweet and loving geek stayed up until 2am to turn my laptop into Frankenstein and brought it back to life. He came to bed, I was barely awake; "honey, I saved your stuff!"

"Stuff" to me means that he just saved the last 7 years of digital files, pictures of my deceased sister, Andrea, Alli's life beginning at age 2.... so many wonderful memories. My sweet and loving man.

And so I say, after he brought it back to life and now has a back up system set for me to back up my lappy to a place on the web constantly unless I turn it off, it's a darn good thing he is who he is .... AND that I'm getting a new lappy. tee hee.

Some days, I wonder

And I'm sure you do, too - why I'm marrying Dave - especially after that last post. Peeing in the sink. Sheesh!

Trust me, he really IS housebroken. You have my word on that.


My nerd is a geek of the highest order. He moved halfway across the country to be with Alli and I, knowing it would be easier for him to move to a telecommute position, than it would be for me to up and leave here and try to find work and affordable daycare in DC. He worships the ground I walk upon - most of the time - and he can be the sweetest man alive (except when he sneaks upstairs and scares the SHITE out of me while I'm doing laundry), and he loves spending time with us. He is the reason Alli will probably grow up and become a scientist after their numerous experiments they've had with dry ice, and the planting/potting that took place yesterday. He teaches her things I could never think to....

But the real reason I love him is his quirks. The way he thinks about things - his thought processes boggle my mind because his brain never seems to sleep. Seriously, he codes in his dreams! But when he is single-minded and focused just on me, or our family, it makes it all worth it. By "all" I mean: All the weekends he has worked, all the hours he has had to eat while fixing code he broke, and trying to help, but not quite knowing what to do and then making a problem bigger. Typical male, that.

Sure, he hasn't remembered to pack my lunch on a consistent basis for the last few weeks, but he's had code and the conference on his mind. He's been right grumpy lately, too while playing catch-up constantly. But when he heads to bed with me and holds me, it makes almost everything all right.

So yep. Mark the calendars.Circle the last week of October and the first week of November. We still haven't narrowed an actual date down yet. I'm hoping that will come with the ring. We've picked caterer (shout out to Josh & Janan!), still searching for a good reception and ceremony location, still need to find a dress, and figure out what the hell kind of theme we're really going for. Piece of cake, eh? Ahhh crappies. We still have to figure out the cake, too. Flowers. Other dresses. Officiant. Does the list ever end? Thank the Gods we have a little less than 18 months left to plan.

Hot Fuzz and other tales

Dave and I have 4 bathrooms.

One on the main level, two upstairs, and one in the family room in the basement. Remember this. It comes in handy later.

Last night, in anticipation of Mother's Day and me kinda bugging him for a 'date night' movie, he was able to find "Hot Fuzz".

First off, if you liked "Shaun of the Dead" (based off American zombie films), you'll love "Hot Fuzz" (based off American cop-buddy movies like "Bad Boys") - same quirky, slapstick Brit humor that caricatures American movies perfectly. We loved it - two thumbs up!

Around 2am, we've finished "Hot Fuzz" and are onto "The Prestige" (which I have to tell you, I thought it was pretty stupid - seriously, magicians.... excuse me, ILLUSIONISTS, out for revenge against one another, and it turns out at the end Illusionist A actually has a twin that you've never heard tell of the entire movie and that's how he does impossible tricks).

Well, I really have to pee and I head to the bathroom and tell Dave to keep the movie rolling because I know what's going to happen - the wife is going to drown during a water chamber escape sequence (which sets up the vengeance scenario). He stops the movie anyways and says he has to pee so bad, I'd better hurry up.

I tell him, "Go on! We've got 3 other bathrooms and a sink in this one!"

He comes back with "Don't you dare me...."

Keep in mind, we are both tired, a bit cocky, and I'm a tad cranky right now with my period and all... "I dare you to pee in the sink!" flies out of my mouth.

I laugh nervously and he looks at me, and proceeds to cross to the sink and pee in it.

I don't think I've been so shocked at him about anything as I was last night. Seriously, who pees in a sink???? Walk the 50 feet upstairs to the other bathroom and go!!

Ugh. I made him clean up his mess - yes, the area has been sanitized.
And then I told him I would have to blog about it.

Never dare your mate after midnight to do anything. They just might follow through. Oy.

What have I been up to?

Dave made it to his Minneapolis-based web developers conference "CF: Objective"; at which he had such a blast it's scary. It ran the dates of May 3th-6th. Kathleen came from Sandstone to help with getting Alli off the school and picking her up from the bus. It was good to see her and I know Alli loved having Aunty Kathleen around. :)

Seriously, the first night at Sofitel (Thursday), I called him after midnight and he was half in the bag. Funny. He never drinks at home....
The second day (Friday) that I talked to him, he told me he was hanging out with a bunch of old, married web developers for the most part, and was in Nerd Heaven. (Let me take this chance to thank Jared, apparently the main organizer, at CF: Objective--- Thank you for keeping him safe and sound, and letting him hang around other nerds just as cool as you. :))

Saturday, I went shopping to a bunch of new age shops with Beckah (we missed you Jenn!) and Alli, who had a great time. Costco came first, and then the delicious Little Oven. Yum! Stonehenge, Eye of Horus, and Evenstar were quite nice little shops. We are planning an extended treasure hunt in June/July for additional shops...

Work is work is work. I seem to be inundated lately with requests that are time consuming and quite repetitive. I am still waiting to hear about one of the other positions I applied for. It would have been nice to know by this Friday like the supervisor has promised, but for the grace of the Gods go I... sigh.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This weekend I am experimenting with food. Friday night Jenn and Beckah came over (Alli was a terror while Jenn attempted to teach her the names of the strings. Oy.

I attempted to make red rice with chicken - arroz con pollo. Most of it came out good, but the rice on the very bottom was a bit crunchy. I suppose as long as everyone lived past the rice and chicken, it's all good. A really yummy fruit salad was our dessert...

And then... they went home and I passed out.

Alli and I were going to Sandstone but I just didn't feel like driving an hour and a half. Tired, crabby, crampy...yuck. Ladies, we've all been there I'm sure. No one wants to move when they feel like every motion could cause a flood in your lower region. *cringes*

Saturday we hit Target though and finally picked up some more potting soil and pots to plant various seedlings Alli has brought home from school.

As a family we tilled the soil in the pots, re-potted Alli's tree she received from school for Arbor Day, planted some sweet pea seeds, and some other things. Dave really got into it and is now putting out terrarium style bags with tomato seeds and chili seeds in them in hope they will sprout for us to plant.

This is why we need a place with land. Our balcony can only cut it for so long with plastic pots and window planters. We do have green thumbs and would like to plant and nurture things to watch them grow. No matter how entrenched in technology that he and I may seem to be, we do have that nurturing spirit we would like to pass onto our children. One thing is certain; we will be having our own garden wherever we may buy a house. I will demand it. :)

I'm good at taking tests

Did I tell you dear reader that Dave shaved on Saturday?

No, no, not just a simple trim here and there; he shaved his ENTIRE beard/goatee/fumanchu and mustache OFF.

We're talking gone. No more facial hair.

He had tried to explain to me that when he was working years ago, co-workers used to call him 'baby Dave' because without facial hair, he looked so young. I pooh-poohed him and dared him basically to shave it all off.

HOLY SH&*%&%*$!!!

Mind you, he's MY man and I love him and think he's hot, while other people look at me strangely. Without his facial hair he not only looks younger but I think he's *MAJOR HOT* in MY book. *L*

Seriously, I couldn't look at him straight for more than half a day. The first kiss between us, without him having the beard... was weird. It felt like I was cheating on Dave with.... Dave. He joked, saying "Ahh..we'll have to come up with who's name you call out later, baby." and wiggled his eyebrows at me. I just about fainted. *L*

So we had a nice, physical weekend beginning on Sunday because we couldn't very well be physical at Kathleen & Charlie's house - that's just rude for visitors to fool around in their host's house, in my humble opinion.

Needless to say, Dave & I have been exhausted. hee hee hee.

Well, tonight he tells me grudgingly that I passed the test.

The test for what? I ask him.

He stops and says he doesn't know if he should tell me and I have to promise not to get upset with him and to not take it the wrong way.

I agree, all the while thinking in the back of my head that I messed something up, or he's going to tell me that I have a larger ass than Mercury... it could be anything.

He goes on to tell me that his two previous girlfriends FREAKED OUT when he shaved his beard. As in they told him they hated it and for him to NEVER do it again.

And here I am, LOVING it and thinking he's the hottest thing to rock my world in ever, without the facial hair. No wonder his ego .... and other parts... felt larger this weekend!

Dave is a garbage picker

There was a potluck last Wednesday.

It was decided that I would make granola bars and some No Pudge Fudge Brownies.

Granola bars were made and cooked without issue.

No Pudge Fudge Brownies were in the oven whilst I was working on my parent's website, sitting in Dave's office with him and he was working while listening to music.

I had set the timer.

But I never heard it.

I cremated the No Pudge Fudge Brownies at approximately 8:40 pm on Tuesday night. I was quite PO'ed and felt Dave should have lowered his music. As I quick took them out of the oven, with the scent of misery and burnt fudge dreams in the air, I decided to quickly scrape the pan of what I could and soak it before they hardened up. This I did, and put the charred remains into a piece of random foil and threw it away in the garbage.

Keep in mind, burnt beyond recognition; will taste awful and ashy. In short, nothing good will come of it.

Dave rummages through the kitchen after I've yelled at him for having his music too loud and it burning the brownies. He wonders where I've put them. I tell him they are ruined and are in the garbage.

What does he do?

He goes into the garbage to CHECK.

Secondly, he takes the foil pouch containing the charred remnants OUT of the GARBAGE and starts to check it out, proceeding to EAT part of IT!!!

Men. Boys. Fools. Let's just feed them from the garbage cans from now on I guess. It might save on money.

Ew.

Things I Don't Assume

After talking with Matt about Dave adopting Alli, I realized that it's something that Dave and I have never really talked about. I know why I've never brought it up - I didn't want him to feel pressured into doing something he really didn't want to. Although I know Dave loves Alli, right now, another man is footing the child support bill.

I went to talk to Dave in his office after dinner and asked him,"I know we've never talked about it, but DO you want to adopt Alli?" I hastened to add,"You don't have to if you don't want to."

Dave cocked his head to the side and looked at me, asking guilessly,"Why wouldn't I want to adopt her? I'm Daddy to her now, might as well go all the way." He smiled and laughed at me a bit.

I was just kind of floored.

He responded additionally with,"There was never any question that I would adopt her in my mind."

So... apparently, he's already decided he'll be adopting Alli if Matt agrees to it.

Some days, Dave just melts my heart.

How was your Valentine's Day?

I didn't think Dave got me anything - and seriously, I would have been fine if he hadn't because of something he said the other night.

We were sitting on the couch together, snuggling, and watching that awesome USA cable show, "Monk".

Dave turns to me and says, "You're my Trudy." My heart seriously melted right then and there. He goes, "No, seriously, if something happened to you, I'd turn into him," he pointed at the actor Tony Shalhoub working as Mr. Monk on the TV.

Anyone who's seen "Monk" knows that the title character is basically OCD to the Nth degree and cannot shake hands, is afraid of milk, and a whole host of other neuroses. His wife Trudy was a reporter who was killed in a car bomb attack more than a decade ago in TV world and it drove Monk over the edge to the parody of humanity he appears as in the show.

I thought that was just the sweetest thing coming from Dave. Awwww.

But still, the boy did FAR more than I expected. He had some beautiful, gorgeous red roses sent to me from Calyx & Carola florists to my work. And then when I got home, he had the ever-traditional Vermont Teddy Bear waiting for me. This year he got me
a pirate bear we decided to name "Scurvey"

A nice, quiet dinner with Alli, and then a couple hours of uninterrupted...TV. Yes, we watched television and then passed out around 10:30pm. I still wasn't feeling well and my leg was bothering me. More on that in the next post.

Still, it was a wonderful Valentine's Day. :)

What I did this weekend

Dave worked. I chilled with Alli, watching "The Sound of Music" amongst other family favorites of her choice. Yes, my daughter likes musicals. I can't help it.

Dave and I had the best weekend we've had in a long time - so good in fact, I apparently suffered a *ahem* "sports injury" as we like to call it. *giggles*

Well, my leg has been hurting on and off since our activities this weekend, and it started to worry me as it seemed similar to my previous experiences with DVTs (deep vein thrombosis - translation: blood clots); my left leg is slightly swollen by half a centimeter more than my right, and there's a certain tautness in the back of my calf....

So I dragged Dave and Alli with me to the ER for moral support tonight. We arrived there around 6:45pm and left none the worse for wear about 9:50pm, tucking Alli into bed by 10:05.

The docs performed an ultrasound on my leg to verify there were no DVTs - after waiting for a while. Honestly, I was cool with it - we packed some coloring books and markers for Alli to keep her occupied - and there were sicker people than I waiting to be seen. I heard something about a car accident at one point.

Anyways... the doc pronounced me fine - making sure to state it's 85% reliable. Geeze. That makes me feel better.

And the standard line "Go back to your doctor if you feel any changes for the worse, yada yada yada...."

So now, we are home. I've learned 2 things: always bring snacks to the ER, and don't try to be too active all in one weekend. hehehehe.

Of Medicine and Men

I get that men don't like to go in and see the doctor. I really do.

I walked in the door tonight from work to Alli yelling down the stairs, "Mommy's home! Daddy's ready to goto the doctor, Mommy!"

Oh boy.

You know it has to be bad if he's taken a shower, and is ready to walk out the door to Urgent Care right when you walk IN the door.

Dave has had a pain radiating from his neck and into the back of his head for the last 4-5 days. At one point we wondered if it was a tumor ("It's not a tumor!" became a staple of conversation), and another offered diagnosis from me was 'tension headache'.

Well by tonight he'd had enough and couldn't take the constant pain anymore.

We went to a new Urgent care for us called "NowCare". It was a nice, clean office. After a 35 minute wait Dave was seen. Alone. He figured he could handle seeing the doctor by himself, although I had my doubts. You know men - they only tell you what they want you to know. For all I know, he could have asked the doctor about having one of his balls removed and I wouldn't know!

Anyways... he came out about an hour later. Diagnosis: Tension Headache or.... Meningitis.
Yeah, those are a bit far apart in diagnosis.

Seeing as Dave hasn't been exposed to any place tropical or around a Meningitis possible person/place/thing, the doc ruled that he was having an extreme case of tension headache and gave him a 'shot in the butt' per Dave's description. Although he couldn't explain to me exactly what that shot did or the name of it... he did just show me the band aid as he was getting undressed for bed. Yes, thank you honey. I needed to see the band aid to prove you weren't talking out your ass about the shot who's name and effectiveness you can't tell me about.

So we filled his prescription for pain meds/migraine meds at Walgreens at 7 o'clock at night and didn't get out of there until after 8pm. I swear, it's like a black hole that just sucks you in to buying crap while you wait for the meds to be filled.

He also purchased a neck messager that buzzes and uses heat to help ease tense muscles. Icy Hot was also on the list. Despite Dave's claims there is a warning on there, I could not find one in regards to "Do not use Icy Hot on genitals". Hmm.

So we are home, he's been poked, heated, fed cereal, and we are going to bed. Hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.