Yesterday I was panicking because I've been bleeding quite a bit so we called the Dr and she said to come in as soon as possible. Unfortunately I was stuck in the middle of nowhere while Brian did his route and I had no way of getting to the dr.  We didn't even make it to Auburn until after 5:00.  So we went first thing this morning. I just had a exam with a different dr because Dr O wasn't there. But the nurse who's been with me since my last pregnancy was there and told me what to do.  I had a quick ultrasound to make sure the baby was okay, and not only is it okay, but it is huge! There is no more flipping around for it; it looked stuck. It's at least twice as big as the last ultrasound. I could even see its heart beating through its chest. However, I am forbidden from travelling, walking long distances and lifting anything. 

MLIA sucks

I didn't think a website could fail at life. However, mylifeisaverage.com, known as MLIA, most certainly does. I realized this last night while reading it. A certain post caught my eye:

today, after a long battle with Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS), a condition that causes severe seizures, my younger brother died last night. This is his favorite website and he could never get a post o it. Here's to you, Luke Andrews.

Awww, isn't that sweet? You want a tribute to your brother, huh? But wait! Is...Isn't NAS the same disease from Johnny Mnemonic starring Keanu Reeves? Why yes it is! Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS) is a FICTIONAL DISEASE FROM A MOVIE!!!

MLIA, you fail because you are gullible enough to post anything, and you are too lazy to fact-check. Now as how 90% of the posts consist of "I love Harry Potter and my boyfriend built me a blanket fort" it makes me realize that the entire site is comprised of 11 year olds. I realize that I am simply too old for that ridiculous site.

ps. Happy Birthday Codi!!

Sonagram of the baby - 10 weeks

I went to Dr. O's for a routine checkup and my 10-week ultrasound.  I already had an ultrasound at 6 weeks, but at the time it was the size of a grain of rice. Today we could clearly see the baby's body flipping around. It would not stay still long enough for a photo.  The pics were taken while it was in mid-flip. I also had blood drawn for genetic testing and the nurse asked if I was going to have twins. I told her that I only saw one baby in there so I don't think so.

Wedding Photos

Here are some wedding photos. I will be married one year on November 23rd.

Next Iron Chef

Today’s challenge is simplicity. The chefs scrambled to get a traditional cooking dish, such as a bamboo steamer or a hot pot, and they had to make a simple family dish. It was intense! I personally would have chosen the bamboo steamer and would have made Shumai Wontons. I’ve played enough Cooking Mama to be confident in my Japanese cooking ability.  I totally got 100 points on that level.

The face of the day was Freitag’s dish. Another chef called it bland! HA haha ha! Then she shot back at that chef by saying her dish was overpowering. Chef Mehta was voted the best simple dish. He made curry and rice. You can’t get much simpler than that.

Next, the chefs were split up into groups of Greek, Italian, and French cuisine.  We’re excited about the guy making dolmas.  It’s one of dh’s favorite foods and I would love to learn how to make. Unfortunately, it’s going to be his interpretation of the dish and it may be nothing like the original dish.

And the loser of the night is...

Nobel Prize Rant

I can't believe Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize! He hasn't done anything yet! Sure, he has great promises - better health care and an end to war, but he hasn't accomplished either one yet. If I was to stand on the street corner and promise everyone better care and happiness, "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage", they would call me a nutball. But the Nobel Prize committee said Obama's promises were too good to ignore.

Well, at least he isn’t like Wangari Maathi, who won the award in 2004 and then later stated that HIV was created by white scientists in order to eradicate the black population. Now that’s batshit crazy.  And then Al Gore won the prize in 2007 for his work raising awareness about global warming. This isn’t about me not believing in global warming. Cause I don’t. It’s the fact that his Tennessee mansion burned through 22,619 kilowatts in one month – that’s more than most people use in a year!

In 1994, the prize was awarded jointly to Yassar Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin.  Peres was responsible for developing Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal, Rabin had some very questionable actions during his term as Defense Minister, and one of the Nobel committee members resigned in protest of award a known terrorist, Arafat, the peace prize. Ironically, Gandhi was nominated several times but never won once.

So, just because someone wins the Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t mean shit.

Next Iron Chef premieres tonight!

Today is the premiere of Next Iron Chef. We are diligently watching for the downfall of Amanda Freitag, who constantly puts contestants down on Chopped because their food is either too spicy or too strange. Hopefully the criticism from fellow chefs will finally force her to eat humble pie (even if it is spicy).

First challenge was a compelling icebreaker featuring each of the chef’s memory foods. In other words, a particular food item that touches the chef’s heart in some way.

The next challenge was weird food items. Cockscombs, grasshoppers, and jellyfish were just a few of the bizarre food items. Garces (the winner of the first challenge and who had cockscombs) got to choose two chefs to switch ingredients. He decided to give the stinky tofu to his biggest rival, Seamus. According to him, it smelled like a dirty diaper! Of course he added bacon to it. You can never go wrong when you add bacon.

The chef from Maryland had to work with jellyfish. I’ve actually always wanted to try jellyfish. She mixed it into a coconut soup, which totally grossed my husband out. He hates coconut with a passion. Surprisingly, the durian (which grosses me out because of its rancid smell), chicken feet, and grasshoppers don’t disgust him, but coconut does. And oh no! The guy making unlaid eggs totally broke the pasta maker and the stand mixer. He appears to be an absolute klutz.

Chef Amanda Freitag is known for blasting the chefs on Chopped for not cleaning out their meats. But on this challenge she left several bones in her eel! HA HA HA HA! And combining it with polenta was not only super safe and not creative. I hate polenta. It rhymes with placenta. So there.

Chef Appleman, with his unlaid eggs, won the challenge. The guy who had grasshoppers got kicked off, but Freitag is still in the running! We will see how long she hangs on next time on Next Iron Chef!!!

Sorry I haven't posted what I learned each day. I did manage to learn new things, however I was stuck in backwoods Alabama, the land that time and hygiene forgot. So I never got a chance to post. But I'm back and I'm here to review Guitar Hero 5. It has 85 songs!! But is it worth it?


First of all Kings of Leon haven't been around long enough to deserve to be in any video game. The simple fact that they are over-commercialized by MTV means I will never buy any of their albums. HA! And there's only one Muse song? WTF?

I'm still trying to figure out how to make page jumps.

Meteors

Well todays learning experience was a failure. I tried to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower from 3:30 to 4:00 am today but it was very cloudy. The shower is supposed to remain active until the 24th so I will try again hopefully on a clear night.

Purple Sweet Potatoes

More fun than Fried Green Tomatoes - it's Purple Sweet Potatoes! I first learned about this food on Sunday. Their offical name is the Hawaiian Purple Sweet Potato, and they are known as 'uala in the native language. A purple sweet potato is great in desserts as well as side dishes. They are naturally creamy and sweet and can be prepared like any other potato - fried, mashed, baked, etc. They are very good for you. Rich in antioxidants and fat-free, they are especially good for people with diabetes.

A New Beginning

The galaxy constantly has new things to discover. That is why I have decided to learn something new every day this year. There will be a new post every day at 9:00 am detailing what I discovered the previous day. This is very exciting!

Puppies

After watching "Whale Wars", I've decided to look for a slightly more "normal" environmental group to join. It's proven really hard since nothing is available close by. There's not even an Audubon Society within 100 miles of here. I'll have to keep trying.

Dh and I spent all weekend housesitting at his parent's house. Roo, the Australian Shepherd was sleeping in the laundry room at night. Then at 2:30 in the morning, I heard what sounded like a cat shrieking. I woke up and went straight to the laundry room. There, on the floor, was a tiny black and white puppy moving around and shrieking. I ran back to the bedroom to wake DH up. He stayed with Roo throughout the night and she ended up having seven puppies. We have been promised one as a gift.

FailMOM: Kate Gosselin

Reality Shows are a way to learn the proper way not to act. When I become a mom, I hope I never turn out to be like Kate Gosselin. She is the ultimate FailMom. Almost as bad as OctoMom, whom we hate so much we won't call her by her real name. Kate came looong before her. Kate had more kids than she could handle, her fertility treatments were paid by the state, she had plastic surgery, and then demanded a reality show. Long before Octomom.

Her father's church parishioners donated six cribs for her sextuplets, which she reportedly threw out because they "didn't match". Her family lives in a 1.3 million dollar mansion. Her TV show makes up to $75,000 an episode, in which she spends the whole time complaining. I feel so sorry for Jon and I hope he can find someone who can make him happy.

On the show's previews, she states, "Everything is falling apart...I will not give up. I will not lay down and die." No, she will not give up. She will continually exploit her children and abuse her husband to keep up her millionaire lifestyle.





(Huge Thanks to Vancouver Sun and US Weekly for dirt to show how much I hate Kate Gosselin.)

Dream List

First of all, I'd like to thank my dad for buying me concert tickets. I appreciate it.

Here's my and my husband's dream list:
1. My husband and I would like to take a cruise to Alaska.
2. We would like to finish school.
3. We would like an oven. Which looks like this only a lot more modern.


4. I'd like to backpack across Iceland.
5. Fix up my video site because youtube is way too corporate. Youtube is nothing but political ads and mtv videos. Not like when I joined when it first started. Way to be loyal to your original members, assholes.
6. Become a ninja.
7. Make more music videos and hopefully win the national title.
8. Go to a Red Hot Chili Peppers Concert.
9. Grow an herb and flower garden in our backyard. with hot peppers too.
10. Go snow tubing.

For my 23rd birthday (which is April 15th), my sister took me to see the Flight of the Conchords in Atlanta. It was amazing! The set started with the girl who plays Mel doing a stand-up routine. She was funny, especially the scene where she played with a pan and a spoon.

The Bret and Jermaine came out wearing their robot costumes. I was excited; however, they never played "The Humans are Dead"! I was waiting for that song! My favorite new song is "Hurt Feelings". The only thing that was awkward was my father insisted on coming. And he made me dress very nicely. It's a concert, everyone else was wearing jeans. I don't need a chaperone. But other than that, it was fun. I'll post pics later.

Puppies

Yesterday we went to pick up a male Golden Retriever for Lady. Also we found a male Australian Shepherd for Roo. Which can only mean one thing: purebred puppies! My in-laws promised to give us one of the puppies. I really don't want a golden retriever because they're way too big and hyper. I wouldn't mind having one of Roo's puppies, because I like Roo.

Oh yeah, we spent all day painting the house but we still don't have a front door. Still waiting. I'll post pics later.

Poem for an Angel

UGLY SHOES
I am wearing a pair of shoes. They are ugly shoes, uncomfortable shoes. I hate my shoes! Each day I wear them, and each day I wish I had another pair. Some days my shoes hurt so bad that I do not think I can take another step. Yet, I continue to wear them. I get funny looks wearing these shoes. They are looks of sympathy. I can tell in others eyes that they are glad they are my shoes and not their shoes. They never talk about my shoes. To learn how awful my shoes are might make them uncomfortable. To truly understand these shoes you must walk in them. But once you put them on, you can never take them off. I realize that I am not the only one who wears these shoes. There are many pairs in the world. Some woman are like me and ache daily as they walk in them. Some have learned how to walk in them so that they don't hurt quite so much. Some have worn the shoes so long that days will go before they think about how much they hurt. No woman deserves to wear these shoes. Yet, because of these shoes I am a stronger woman. These shoes have given me strength to face anything. They have made me who I am. I will forever walk in the shoes of a woman who has lost a child.
~author unknown~

This is a poem posted by cowgirl on thebump.com to help make sense of it all. Some things happen without reason, but reason still is not comforting. It is hard to say goodbye to someone you have never met face to face, but whom you have held in your heart.

Life on the Road.

On my ipod: Takin care of business by BTO

I've been very busy this past week since my brother-in-law formed a courier company and asked us to join. My husband and I share a car, my 1995 chevy cavalier that has 204,000 miles on it and we've been driving all over the state making deliveries. Hopefully we'll make enough in a few months to buy a decent hybrid. We're about to embark on a two day delivering spree in a few hours.

OKAY, so just a few minutes ago, my teenage sister calls me from school. She said that her teacher wanted her to call because she forgot a pencil. ??? I asked to speak to this teacher, but she was too afraid to speak to me. I told my sister that her teacher had no right to waste my time for such a stupid reason and she needs to give her a pencil, and if she has any problems, then call me again.

Hear this teachers: Don't be that much of a dipshit and force your students to embarrass themselves for such a lame reason. When I get back, this teacher and I will have some words.

St. Patrick's Day

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I decided to write this post ahead of time and show y'all what happened last St. Patrick's Day. I decided to forgo the usual spring break destinations of Florida and Mexico and instead head to London. I have never been anywhere colder in my life. Despite the dreariness, it still was a lovely city to visit.





Amidst the cheer of St. Patrick's Day, there were those determined to end this war. It was amazing. And don't worry, I won't post anyone's name here and I'm not posting any of my close-ups. If we did this in America, we'd be shot be riot police in no time:


Ha! Fuck you Bush!!

Our protesting was soon interrupted by POPE STILTMAN!!

WTF?! It's time to get to a pub.
I hope this year's St. Patrick's Day will be as fun.

Realization

I realized that the only reason I failed my chemistry exams is because the only element I recognize is the element of surprise.