Updates....

Are all over on the "family" blog: The Pauleys Go to Chicago. At this point, I'm likely to retire this one as I can barely keep one blog updated. And things are bound to get worse once the baby is here.

Not to mention I really need to get my author site up and that'll probably have some kind of a mini-blog of its own.

And a general malaise struck him by surprise

This has been a strange couple of weeks. Some good things, but some very bad things too. My Auntie Dot died. She had been fighting cancer for over a year, so it wasn't unexpected, but it was still a blow. She was really a driving force in the family and it is hard to imagine the family without her. And then this Saturday, Tony's Aunt Teresa died unexpectedly. She was only 47 and one of the sweetest, nicest people you could ever meet.

Tony drove over for the funeral (it's tomorrow), but I couldn't go since Mom & Watson & Pam are arriving by plane tomorrow for Thanksgiving (and, for the record, no, mom, I don't need Watson to drive). Just such a crazy time. And meanwhile, the baby has been kicking away, doing the rumba or swimming laps or something like that. Little reminders of life and wonder amid the sadness of death.

And I'm still all stuffed up, though my cold or whatever it is hasn't gotten any worse. It just hasn't gotten any better. I imagine it would be rather comforting right now to be a bear and go into hibernation for a little while.

But first I need to finish washing the sheets and towels and cleaning out the refrigerator before everyone gets here.

Sunday Chilly Sunday

Well, I'm definitely coming down with something, since I'm a regular snot monster again. I guess I'll call the doctor tomorrow, since I don't want to follow the normal progression down to bronchitis or anything like that.

Yesterday was Jill's birthday party / road rally (i.e. scavenger hunt). It was a lot of fun, even though I wasn't a huge amount of help. Tony's team actually won bragging rights. Mine came in the middle of the pack, which was better than coming in dead last. :-)

Tony's birthday is coming up this week. We're going to try and get together a Big Night celebration for next Saturday. We haven't made a timpano in a while.

Sunny Fall

It's actually been quite sunny here, though the temperature has dropped into the 50's...and sometimes 40's during the day. Yesterday was a bit gray, but today we're once again sunny but chilly. I actually like weather like this a lot. It's the stuff that comes later that I'm not completely sure about.

I think I'm coming down with a cold, so I'm trying to stave it off with tea and vitamin C and things like that. Especially since I'm not really supposed to take OTC stuff. Mostly it's just a tickly throat and a bad headache (which I've had anyway, some kind of pregnancy thing). The headache part is actually worse than the rest.

I'm thinking about firing up the fireplace in the front living room. We haven't used that one yet. It's wood-burning, but with a gas hookup too. Maybe I'll camp out in there all day. Cool weather is a great excuse for a fire. And it will make Harley really happy. He's a little kitty pyro.

Oh, and on the plus side (heh, literally) I might have actually gained a pound! Whoo-hoo!

Yeesh, who knew I'd ever cheer about that.

Eh, whatever

I'm having one of those tired, wintry grey and unmotivated days. I've gotten a few things done, but not as much as I'd like (ok, actually, like I ever get done everything I want to). I just really want to sleep or veg or totally crash out.

Pretty quiet day today.

Though Gracie did half fall into the toilet today.

And tried to play it off like she "meant to do that." Unsuccessfully.

I have some writing stuff I really need to get to, if I can just wake myself up enough to do it. And tons more books to mail out. I need to find a little cart that will fit in my car because I'm getting to the point I can't carry too much heavy stuff at once. Belly gets in the way.

And scale is still staying on the same bloody spot. Grrrr. Still haven't gained an ounce since my last Dr. appointment.

Where's the beef??

I can't seem to *&@!#@!# gain any weight! And trust me, I have never, ever had this problem before in my entire life. When I was super-skinny (a way long time ago in the distant past) it was because I wasn't eating much. Pretty much since I met Tony, it's been a slow climb uphill. And now, now that I actually need to gain some weight, I can't seem to. It's kind of frustrating.

I feel like I am eating enough. Or rather, I feel like I can't really eat any more than I'm eating.

Oh, but the belly. The belly keeps getting bigger and bigger. I realized yesterday I couldn't zip up the jacket I was wearing. And my belly button, which was never super deep, is now getting pretty flat. It hasn't popped up yet like a meat thermometer/timer, but I can see it coming.

Oh well. I'm off to go eat some more.

Letters & Packages to "Any Solider"

I got a forwarded email today from my MIL about sending out Christmas Cards to "Any Wounded Solider" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and thought it sounded like a great idea. But being the suspicous Internet user that I am, I looked it up and I found out that such packages can no longer be delivered and, apparently, have been tossed out since 2001 (!!). There's a press release about it at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center site. I'm going to reproduce part of it here in the hopes that this will do something to combat the hundreds of wrong messages out there (when I put my search in google, a ton of hits came up; all of them saying what a good idea it was to do this...which it obviously isn't, not anymore). So feel free to pass this on (which is something I would normally not ever ask someone to do).

Walter Reed Army Medical Center officials want to remind those individuals who want to show their appreciation through mail to include packages, letters, and holiday cards addressed to 'Any Wounded Soldier' or 'A Recovering American Soldier' that Walter Reed cannot accept these packages in support of the decision by then Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Transportation Policy in 2001. This decision was made to ensure the safety and well being of patients and staff at medical centers throughout the Department of Defense.

In addition, the U.S. Postal Service is no longer accepting "Any Service Member" or "A Recovering American Soldier" letters or packages. Mail to "Any Service Member" that is deposited into a collection box will not be delivered.

Instead of sending an “Any Wounded Soldier” letter or package to Walter Reed, please consider making a donation to one of the more than 300 nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping our troops and their families listed on the "America Supports You" website, http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/

Other organizations that offer means of showing your support for our troops or assist wounded servicemembers and their families include:
http://www.usocares.org/
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/tooursoldiers/
http://www.redcross.org/

As an add on to this, I just found this site: AnySolider.com which allows you to send a package intended for "Any Solider" but to a specific contact, so that the package will be distributed.

20 Week Baby Photos

Well, it's a boy, as we found out on Monday. I figured it had to be, since I have no idea what to do with a boy. After all, the kid is bound to be as stubborn and persnickety as his dad. I just hope he's taller than me. :-)

Here's one of the funky 3D scans. The baby's still a little skeletal looking at this stage, but hey, he's only 12 ounces right now and about 9 inches long. He's got his arm up by his head, if you can't tell.

Here's the proof of boyhood, with a handy arrow as placed by the ultrasound technician. I guess it's a "butt up" kind of view.
Here's a pretty good scan of as much baby as will fit in one image frame now. The tech counted up fingers and toes and measured everything and everything looks good. All the stuff that's supposed to be there is there and everything is about the size it's supposed to be.
Here's a little bitty foot.
And a little bitty fist. It didn't look like he was shaking it. We did see him yawn on screen though and he might have been sucking his thumb at one point. He's a definite wiggler. I think the nickname might have to go from "peanut" to "squirmy."

Weightiness

Well, for the first time ever in my life, I've had a doctor tell me I need to gain weight. ;-) Seems I'm gaining a bit slow. We're officially at 20 weeks right now and I've just gained a total of 4 pounds so far. We're half way. I can hardly believe it.

We had the 20 week ultrasound today. Got some good pictures. We've got a real wiggler. The ultrasound tech was surprised I haven't been able to feel the baby yet, considering how much movement was going on. But it's about the time when I should start feeling it soon.

Well. Off to eat something. Gotta keep up my end of the deal.

Soap, soap, soap

I made soap yesterday with Erin, one of our neighbors. She's also at home during the day and she was interested in learning how. We had a lot of fun. It's more fun to do projects with someone than alone. She'll be back today this afternoon when it is time to cut the soap.

She's a nice lady and just unloaded a bunch of maternity clothes on me, which was nice. I don't think I'll have to buy much now. She's close to my height (a bit taller) and has two young boys. Real cuties.

We made two batches of soap. One has shea butter and rose hip oil (and cinnamon fragrance and red kaolin clay) as the non-standard ingredients (by non-standard, I mean not one of the base oils I use: castor, palm, olive, coconut, etc.) and the other was Illipe butter and tea tree oil. Hopefully they all come out alright.

I should make up another batch or two to use up some more of the oils I have. They don't last indefinitely. In a "it's a small world" note, Erin's husband is a chemist and he works for the same company that I'd bought most of the oils from. Bizarre.

Memories

Having some trouble sleeping lately. Partly it is the can't-get-comfortable thing and partly it's the terrible-pregnancy-heartburn thing. What is up with that? And then when I do get to sleep I either wake up because a) I have to pee again or b) I was having a really funky weird dream (and I'm not even mentioning when Harley, Grace and Tony start snoring in unison).

The dreams are really weird. And very random. Last night I had like 3 dreams about a guy I used to go to middle school with. We were friends, but not close friends (I was really more friends with his sister Colleen) and it wasn't like I ever had a crush on him or anything. So it's really weird to have dreams about someone I haven't thought about in years. The brain is very random.

So I attempted to look the guy up this morning, just to see what he was up to. I don't know that I actually want to contact him (after all, we haven't talked in literally at least 20 years), but it doesn't seem like I have to worry about it either way since he's got one of those names (William Wickham) that makes it impossible to find the person you want. Seems there was a famous William Wickham back in England, some years ago. And there's no way I'm combing through 2 million web pages to find the William I'm looking for.

But, in wandering around looking, I came across http://www.gradfinder.com/ which is a free service similar to classmates.com and reunion.com. So I registered and found another blast from the past -- a guy I went to Prom with in the 10th grade (or maybe 9th?) (Derek Gage). We weren't dating, but most of my friends were seniors and I wanted to go (and, presumably, they wanted me to go too) and celebrate with them. I hung out with a bunch of the artsy people (like Laura DePuy, who I ran into again in St. Pete years later -- actually went to her wedding...she's now Laura Martin and even has her own WikiPedia page...she's a colorist for graphic novels...man, I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people, I don't think I've talked to her since then). Derek was one of them and he volunteered to take me along. Actually, I don't know that he volunteered - maybe he was volunteered. Hard to say at this point.

Now I'm trying to remember the names of the other people we all hung out with. There was Mike, who worked at Pizza Hut (and absolutely refused to eat the pizza) and who always wore an old army jacket. Geez, what was his last name? Maybe I'll have to drag out my yearbook.

I moved to Mississippi not long after that (after dad died and the icky bad period started up) and lost track of a lot of people.

You know a funny thing? I actually went to 6 different Proms in high school. That makes me sound like some really popular girl, but that really wasn't the case. Though, looking back, I probably could have been (if it hadn't been for my terrible self-image, etc. etc.). Geez, was I skinny and I always thought I was so fat. I think I might have been borderline anorexic back then. I was a size 0. Of course, I was also 4' 11". Not that I'm any taller now and I'm w-a-y out of a size 0.

Hmmmm. I looked up another old Prom date of mine, who also happened to be an artist. Kris Meadows. Looks like he's doing pretty well too (though he didn't quite look like that in high school but heck, I sure don't look like I did in high school either). We actually met when I sat as a model for an art class at CFCC in Ocala (my mom did too; I have no idea how we got into that...I think she had a friend in the class and they thought it would be cool to have some "Asian" chicks in to model). Not nude or anything. :-) I actually still have the portrait Kris did of me. And now he's a fairly well-known portrait artist. Go figure.

I don't actually remember much of that Prom, but I do remember what happened on the way there -- we passed a dead body in the middle of the road. You don't forget something like that, especially in the days before cell phones.

Gah, who did I even go to the other Proms with? One was with Stephen DuBose (he was a nice guy -- that was in Mississippi...wait, maybe that was two with him...his and mine?). There was that Shane guy...what was his last name? Though his friend Viktor, the Swedish exchange student, was much nicer. And maybe one was just by myself, junior year. Or maybe I went with someone. I don't remember. I just remember the horrible pink dress with the crazy shoulder wing-things. The 80's. *sigh*

Anyway, now that my brain has spewed and the heartburn has died down a little, maybe I can actually get to sleep now.