My mother spent the weekend with me.
I love my mother dearly, something that hit me like a brick when I left home for college in 1994.
But I don?t know what I would do if she lived in the same area as me, because sometimes we just don?t mesh.
I know her intentions are good and she just wants her first baby to be happy and healthy (physically and mentally). Which is why I choose to see her actions this weekend as good and only looking out for me.

I will not get bent out of shape because she didn?t like my maternity wardrobe. Instead I will graciously accept her offer to purchase me more clothes (that she picked out) and wear them (because, in her words, I must ?properly cover my belly and butt?). And now that I am wearing them, I am comfortable and feel pretty. (Plus, I have scored a bunch of free clothes- woo-hoo!)
I will not get bent out of shape because the condition of my house does not meet her standard. Instead I will graciously welcome her offer to come and clean my house next weekend. I may not let her touch the disaster area of a bedroom, but the kitchen, bathrooms, and living room are welcome to her duster and 409. And really, do I need to be on my feet that much these days?
I will not be offended when she doesn?t enthusiastically embrace the amount of work left on the fixer-upper we currently live in. Instead, I will let her talk to McDad about it and if he feels it warrants a ?talk? with his son-in-law, then so be it. D can handle my parents and McDad does embrace the amount of work left on our house. And McDad can then talk to my mother and tell her to Calm Down.
I won?t be upset when she talks about how bad my diet is for me. Instead, I will let her talk about the low-carb lifestyle and when she is gone, proudly reach for the bread and make myself a sandwich. When I am able and ready to be committed to a specific weight loss program, I will proceed (with caution).

I love my mother and how she embraces life. She hasn?t had the easiest time but she loves God and praises Him for all He has given her. She taught me that I am God?s Princess. She has forgiven me for not being a spectacular daughter. She even forgave me for the pain I put her through in childbirth (though I learned this weekend that her labor was only 2 hours!). She has three wonderful daughters who are smart and on their way to better things. Her life will also change in October when she takes on the new role of grandmother. Her grandchild, Future President Crumley, will proudly call her Veija, and Veija will proudly buy FPC lots of books to embrace the written word.

I spent the weekend with my mother.
And now I miss her.

I was wondering, if I were still a student at Covenant and needed to fulfill my Cross Cultural credit, would taking time off to be a contestant on The Amazing Race count?

If the answer is yes, and Colin was a student that I got to grade, he would so be failing the course. And Christie? Just break up with him now. Quit the race and the relationship. He just isn’t worth it.

For those of you who are interested, Garden State will be playing at the Bijou starting this Friday.
And if someone else already posted this, sorry I obviously didn’t read your blog.

Plus, does anyone know where I can buy the soundtrack other than amazon? (Like an acutal brick & motar store?)

Matt Baldwin has a very interesting article over at the Morning News about Tricks of the Trade.
Some are helpful to remember when dealing with your mechanic and others I knew because they are from my field (Desktop Support & Technical Support). And I really appreciated the photographer’s trick because it will help next time we want to take a picture of our current children- Lively and Maple.

About 3 weeks ago I took an hour long nap and when I woke up my left wrist hurt. I thought I slept on it wrong and it would eventually be ok.

This past weekend we worked hard and I painted the baby’s room. I thought I was clenching the paint roller too hard because on Monday morning my right hand and wrist were very sore.

So, 3 weeks and my left wrist is still hurting and now my right wrist is also sore and both are getting increasingly weak.

Yesterday was a doctor day and when I complained (in the nicest possible manner) about the soreness and weakness I learned something new.

Did you know that pregnancy can cause carpal tunnel syndrome?

Now, I have complained about my swelling sausage-like feet before. I will admit to that. But my hands and wrists have never really been a concern for me. Sure, my rings got too tight and I had to move them from my fingers to my necklace. But I never would have thought that the swelling could cause me pain like this.

The solution to this problem are wrist braces that I wear in bed and when I am not working (computer stuff, cleaning the kitchen, getting dressed, etc.). The braces keep my wrists immobile to force the swelling down. I’ve only had the braces for a few hours (and don’t have them on right now) but we will see how much relief I can get.

And the good news is that this condition will go away after the baby is born. The bad news is that the baby isn’t due for at least 7 more weeks.

If I ask you to open my water bottle, don’t laugh, just help.

Wondering what you are looking at? Yeah, me too. Stop staring.

Actually, this picture is the result of many weeks of manual labor. These are the painted walls and a few of the new ceiling panels that have been installed. (Where there is white on the walls is where trim will be, so don’t go getting picky about my paint job.)

If you look at this and wonder “What the..?” don’t worry, you aren’t the only ones. I think that this creative vision is one that will only be realized by people who aren’t involved in the creative process once the job is complete. Heck, I only fully got the concept last night when we put in the second panel.

Our inspiration for the baby’s room came from this chair. The ceiling is a larger version of the stripes on the slipcover.

We would like to thank Home Depot and Behr for the provision of the best color matching kiosk that we have ever seen. We took the slip cover in and were able to scan in each color from the stripes and the colors that the kiosk returned to us were perfect matches! If you are someone who cares, here are the colors and where they will be used:
Dreaming Blue (Walls)
Tropical Splash (Walls and Ceiling)
Skyline Steel (Trim & Ceiling)
Winter Lake (Ceiling)
Neptune Blue (Ceiling)
Stone Fence (Ceiling)
White (Ceiling and possibly the closet)

We still have several steps to go in this process, but getting the ceiling panels up last night was a great accomplishment. Not only did it get some of the wood out of our way, but it is instant gratification. And since the ceiling is the first element of the room that D thought of, it is neat that it is coming out so well.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find the Tylenol.

We worked hard.

The baby’s room is moving along, thanks to some coats of primer and paint. All the wall colors are up. All the ceiling panels are primed and sanded. We have some of those panels painted. We will continue to paint this week and once they are all pretty in their blues and greys, D will begin to place them on the ceiling.

My body aches today. My right wrist and hand are sore because I have a bad habit of clenching the paint roller when painting. My knees make me feel old and worn out as they seem to barely be able to keep me up at times. My feet are still slightly swollen but at least I am able to put my shoes on.

But for all the soreness, it is worth it because progress is happening and I got to help.

But the weekend wasn’t all about hard work.
We got to visit Home Depot.
The Olympics started and we checked in on one of the many stations televising the different sports when we would take a few minutes to sit down or eat lunch. (Our favorite sport so far- table tennis.)
Our friend Es had a surprise birthday lunch on Sunday. While at her house, we watched Iraq beat Costa Rica, the USA Men’s basketball team loose, and then some Australian men loose at beach volley ball (to the US).

But the most precious memory I have from this weekend was when we kept nursery at church. It gave me a glimpse into the not so distance future.

D was holding one of the many little ones in the nursery, keeping her happy and occupied. She liked to grab on to the train table and pull herself up, finding toys to put into her mouth. At one point she sat back down on D’s knee and then suddenly pitched forward bonking her head on the table. (Hey, accidents do happen. No need to go calling DCFS.) She cried and he tried to comfort her and then we noticed that the child had a bloody nose.

While I was ready to freak out and get the mother, D took the baby into the bathroom, wiped up the blood (getting a few spots on his pants) and tried to keep her happy. Her nose quit bleeding almost as quickly as it started and when we explained it to her parents (at the end of church because I didn’t go get the mother) they were so cool about it. The baby even fell asleep in his arms.

It was a nice glimpse of how D will be able to handle what comes our way when the baby arrives. And, I think, a testament that parenting skills aren’t necessarily learned from a book, but can just come up from somewhere inside of you.

I can’t believe Julia Childs died.

I mean, I know everyone dies at some point, but it is just a tad surprising.
She was the first cook I remember seeing on TV and I thought she reminded me of Aunt Margery’s friend, Dot.

Today we have a slew of television chefs that owe their graditude to that talented woman.

I will miss her.

Well, not this space but this space… for a very exciting announcement coming very soon!

(See, I just don’t know blogging protocol here… I don’t want to steal other people’s chance at making their own announcements, but I know there are loads of people waiting for some kind of news. So I am going to be horribly mean and just tell you to keep your eyes on that blog there.)

I offer this article up to any English teacher or professor who teaches literature. I think it should be required reading for any contemporary literature class.

My favorite lines include:
“If a large portion of a largely illiterate or aliterate population claims to be reading the same book, that’s known as “damning with faint praise.” Although it does explain John Grisham.”


“Hollywood made a movie out of it? So what? Hollywood also made Baby Geniuses and gave Ed Wood a career.”


“It may surprise you that reading doesn’t require a big time investment. Carry a book with you everywhere. When you’re waiting in line, crack it open.” This makes me think of Rory Gilmore.

Enjoy!