Vin Diesel

So, here is the poor little puppy that my sister found in the middle of the street, literally. She was driving over to a friend's house when she spotted the pup taking a nap in the road. She pulled over the car, got the puppy and waited around for a moment to see if anyone came calling. It had a collar, but no tags. And thus it came home to our house. I believe it is a Daschund/Mini-Schnauzer mix (2 dogs I am not real fond of), and it's one of those dogs that is soo ugly, it's adorable. House broken, kennel trained, mellow, loving, smart, all the things you want in a dog...why has no one claimed him? Because of all these wonderful characteristics, my mother has decided to adopt him, unless the owner finally comes knocking.

The name "Puppy" seemed to stick, as he had already learned to come to that calling by the 2nd day of foster care. But when Timothy, my youngest brother, heard that, he said, "What? Hello no. That dog's name is Vin Diesel." Done, and done.

They kind of look alike, do they not?

Well, That Finalizes It

I have been in denial for the last 4 weeks that my Summer has truly come to an end. I started school on August 4th, and have even had a quiz since then, but that didn't convince me. Even the pool hours changing to coincide with school didn't do the trick. The big kicker for me, was the end of our Royals Bowling League.

For the final baseball game, we all got together for a tailgate. The game went into eleven or so innings, I think so that we could go out with a bang.

In case you were curious, my average NEVER got better. I shall be a 127 bowler for the rest of my life.

GO ROYALS!

How to Kill a Baby Bunny

The other night, Tali caught a baby bunny in our backyard. By the time Matt and I got out there, and made her drop it, she had already done some major damage. The bunny seemed to be paralyzed from the waste down. Having always grown up with animals, many of whom had caught baby bunnies, I knew it was up to us to finish the job. By us, I, of course meant Matt, there's no way I could do it. All of this brought with it vivid memories of my hunter father simply placing the pained baby rabbit in a trash bag and stepping on it's skull, like an insect. So, naturally, when I call him to tell him about it, he suggests stepping on it's head. Not going to happen...

When I asked Matt what plan of action he had decided on, he replied: drowning. Wait a minute! Isn't that a long death? He told me this is what his neighbor did, and "he's a nice guy". I wished I had a syringe with whatever they use to euthanize animals, that would be less violent, at least.

So, after these few options, I realized, everybody has a method for "humanely" killing small animals that have been injured by their own pets. Who knew!?

Here is a sample of what was suggested to me:

-Putting it in a papersack and dropping a rock on it's head.

-Running it over.

-Put it in a pillowcase and smash it against a wall or concrete.

-Suffocate it.

-Break it's neck.

-Shoot it.

-Blow it up.

Morbid, I know. But these weren't all my suggestions! I got these from some very ruputable people.

When it Rains, it Pours!

Perhaps my general view of life has become negative for the moment so everything seems bad, or perhaps I am having a stroke of bad luck, who's to tell?

1. Slow leak from the upstairs bathroom plumbing, requiring complete destruction of the shower.

2. Box Spring too big to fit upstairs, requiring complete destruction of the staircase (and also a nail impaled into my heel...probably will eventually become infected.)

3. Poor previous paint job in to-be nursery bedroom, requiring some mudding/more effort than originally planned to paint it.

4. Sister found a lost puppy which has not been claimed for the last 5 days, therefore we (I) am feeding and housing it, only adding to the chaos and destruction of my home. (Will have own post, eventually.)

5. First quiz in Neuroscience did not go as well as expected.

6. Tali killed a baby bunny, which sent me into a fit of anger then sobbing.

7. Tali developed a horrid case of explosive, pure liquid diarrhea, while Matt was in Atlanta. So I came home and had to bathe both her and Tater, and clean out the huge kennel, only making my back pain quadruple to the point where I am not even sure heavy narcotics would help. Oh, and not to mention had to open all windows in the house to get some fresh air in there...man her shit stinks.

8. Matt and I are both coming down with a cold or the flu.

9. I recently had my blood glucose test done to check for gestational diabetes, and it was 9 above the upper limit, therefore I have to do this 3 hour blood test procedure. Seriously, 9 above? Couldn't it have at least been 30 or something so I felt it was more worth my time? No, right now, if it can go wrong, it will.

10. YTBD... (Update 8-26-08) Tali did it again, walked in the front door, and bam! That horrific smell. At least this time Matt was present. Now her hair is falling out, so I have to take time out to take her to the vet on the busiest/most stressful week of my life, to date. Maybe she is sensing how out of whack things are around the house and is having some anxiety issues?


On the plus side, I got a really cute pair of shoes the other day.

Welcome to the 3rd Trimester.

As my induction into the 3rd trimester, I got vomiting. Oh, how I missed waking up from wonderful, sweet slumber to cower over the toilet. My theory on this one is not the hormones, oh no, this is directly from the baby. All women "carry" differently, and instead of having the basketball-under-the-shirt look, my child is growing vertically. Therefore, it is shoving my stomach further, and further up so that soon there may be no difference between it (my stomach) and my actual esophagus. If I lay flat, or tilted, or just lean back really, I get a bit of regurge. So, I think I will just stop there and let your imagination run wild as to why that might cause vomiting in the late night hours.

Other than that, all is well. Matt felt the little one kick for the first time last week. I feel it moving constantly and even catch my stomach twitching out of the corner of my eye at times. In fact, at our most recent appointment, the doctor was listening to the heart and turns to me and says, "I guess I'll leave it alone, it just keeps kicking me."

I know it is WAY too early to say it, but I am going to anyway, I am ready for this kid to be out on its own. Some women love pregnancy, guess I am NOT one of those women. I would like to sleep comfortably, and I would like my upper back to stop spasming, and I would like to eat or drink something after 6pm, and I would like to go for an all out run to the point of absolute exhaustion, and I would like to not have the constant urge to sob or laugh. I know things don't get easier with it on the outside, but at least I will have comfortable sleep in the few actual hours I get...

(Whoa! Didn't realize I looked that huge!)
But if this is all I have to put up with to have a healthy, beautiful baby, then it is all worth it.

What Would You Do for a Good Night's Sleep?

Apparently, the Prairie Village - 1940'2 - Cape Cod/Ranch style homes were not meant to house the modern Queen size mattress. Matt and I decided that if I am to stay in school, while being uncomfortably pregnant and then caring for a newborn, a really good mattress is a requirement. So, after a bit of shopping, we found the all new, made to order, Simmon's double pillow top, memory foam with some ridiculous number of coils that are stiffer on the rim so you don't feel like you're going to fall off, mattress. After paying for this beautiful creation, he turns to me and says, "I hope you know I think of this as an investment in our future." (Which he has since repeated on multiple occasions.) While deciding on this particular mattress, the thought crossed our minds that it might not be so easy to get it up the stairs. Our previous 25+ year old queen mattress went up no problem, but the box springs had proven so difficult we had to remove the door frame (and by "we" I obviously mean Matt). But mattress are flexible and box springs haven't changed in size, right...?

Right! And wrong. The mattress did, to my great surprise, go up without a hitch. The box springs, well, the picture shows it, 10 stairs had to be removed. 10! We only have 12 stairs before you hit the top. Is it really necessary to add width to box springs? If I'd known we (Matt) would have to destroy our house to get this one up, I would have up-graded to the King! Here is Matt with the old mattress set. All that is left to do at this point is put the stairs back together again.
"How am I supposed to get up there?"
Oh, and while we are on the topic of demolition...

We are supposed to be working on creating a nursery, but to have a nursery, you must have an empty room. To have an empty room, you must rearrange and move furniture. Upon removal of a bookcase in the upstairs office, we discovered what appeared to be a wet wall. This turned out to be the product of a slow leak behind our shower.

Got to love old houses!

No AC + Hottest Weekend of the Summer = Family Vacation?

Our family vacation took place July 31st - August 3rd at Bunker Hill Ranch & Resort (I mention the exact dates because this also just so happened to be the hottest weekend of the Summer - you know, the weekend when the news reports at least 6 cases of an elderly lady dying in her home because the AC broke - that weekend.) Resort was an understatement! This place came fully loaded with kayak's, canoes, a tree house, a sand volleyball court, ping pong table, shuffleboard, a library, private cabins, insects, a playground, a cave, a mini-old-fashioned schoolhouse, a mess hall and a river. Granted, the cabins had no AC, nor any general air circulation whatsoever. And the volleyball court was not so much filled with sand as it was twigs, stones, thorns and other things that hurt to step on when barefoot. And the shuffleboard court? had a giant crater in the middle causing the discs to fly every which way. And the schoolhouse was locked. And the treehouse taken over by spiders. And the cave...should I even get started on the cave?

So, this cave ended up being a quarter-mile hike, straight downhill. I am talking, we had to use a rope tied to trees to help us down. May not sound bad, but as we all know, "what goes down, must come up". Suffice it to say, taking a 2 year old might not have been the best decision. Especially without a diaper bag...guess caves give you the shits. Something else became very apparent after this excursion in 119 degree heat index weather, my family is really fat and out of shape. The 6 month pregnant lady was one of the first ones up, Matt almost had a heart attack, Timothy found multiple "fat kid stops" along the way (this means a big rock) and well, it was just damn hot.


The highlight of the weekend would have to be the rock skipping. This photo shows Matt's attempt to skip a 70ish pound rock while kayaking. I think it is going to be the new big thing in sports, the ERSA: Extreme Rock Skipping Association.


Overall, quite an interesting weekend. We all survived. Maybe we will try an earlier weekend in the Summer. Or maybe we'll never go back...

Happy Birthday To ME!

August 6th, 1982

Yes, I am 26. What is so special about my birthday this year is that I also had my first day of lectures for school. This is a landmark in my life, I have NEVER been in school before ON my birthday. I should have taken fruit snacks or cupcakes, but unfortunately my class size has increased from 20 in grade school to 250!