Too Many Books

So. Hubs and I were so excited when we arrived at my doctor's office this morning. We kept giggling over silly little things. We couldn't wait for the ultrasound! Seated in the plain-ol'-exam-room, I explained to the nurse (I'd never met this particular nurse) that hubs and I were like giddy little school kids, because we were meeting with the ultrasound tech to hopefully find out the sex of our little bundle!! I refrained from squealing be excited for us! "Um, what? The ultrasound tech isn't here today..." I wanted to punch that nurse in her face. So, she took some blood from my arm (birth-defects-tests) and said she would talk to my doctor. My doctor came in and said, "So, you thought you'd be having an ultrasound today?!" She sounded confused, as if I'd told her I thought pregnancy itself only lasted four days or something. " Yeah. Because that's what you told me the last time I was here, at my twelve week appoi

It was soooo hard to sleep last night! I'm headed to my Dr.'s appointment at 9:30, and I can't wait to find out if this little person growing inside me is a little guy or a little gal. I had the weirdest dreams last night -- hubs family and my family were "there" and throwing us some huge luncheon for the big reveal. It was utter chaos. At one point, I had to walk down a street to get to hubs (I was trying, frantically, to locate him so that we could ride to the Dr.'s appointment together.) I ended up getting a ride from these four women on a float of some kind. One painted my nails. *Must stop watching America's Got Talent.* Randoms! Anyway, there's still time to enter my elusive gender-bender giveaway. Is it a boy or a girl ? (Pink is so pretty...) Leave your guesses in the comments below or on the original post. I'll be back later with results. SQUEEspice. Best. day. ever.

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm scheduled for an ultrasound at my 16-week OBGYN appointment. At my last visit, my Dr. told me that her ultrasound tech can "almost always" determine the sex at 16 weeks! She told me so that I could be prepared to find out (i.e. invite hubs to come with me) and to decide whether or not we want to find out the sex ahead of time. (We do! We do!) So, tomorrow morning I'll get to find out if I'm having a boy ( squee ) or a girl ( SQUEESPICE! ) baby. (I'll be happy either way. In some ways, I'm sure a boy would be ideal. He would be all protective of me, and I would get to dance with him at his wedding some day, and boy sports are waaay more fun than girl sports. Boys would probably be cheaper. Etc.) (But I secretly really, really, really would love a girl.) So, all-knowing blog world, place your bets below! Here's the skinny (oh, ironic adjective) on my pregnancy to help you determine your guess! * Chinese gender ch

If you don't follow me on facebook, you aren't aware of the excitement I had this weekend. You clearly weren't privy to my latest status update, in which I admitted that I spent my Saturday evening sleeping. See, hubs and I watched the USA in their World Cup finale, and then we decided to have a little nappy. We crawled under the covers at 5:00 pm, and I figured we'd sleep for a couple of hours. Hubs wanted to go to the driving range in the evening (he's like all into golf now. Preppy, collaredshirtspice!) and I wanted to do a bit of housework aimless twittering, reading, and writing. So, imagine my surprise when I woke up to complete and total darkness. The sun was down, the clock said 10:49 p.m. Whoops! Yeah, my nap lasted six hours. What? You got a problem with that?! (Don't cross me, I'm preggers.) I got up, ate a large bowl of chocolate ice cream, read, watched a little late night boob tube... and before I knew it, a couple hours slid by. Hubs

Well, it's a two-fer this week! You get your usual dose of TMI Thursday and a pearl of wisdom from my husband... all in one fail swoop. (I am the queen of cliche, today, apparently. By the way.) Also, for the second week in a row, hubs humor will come from a reality tv anecdote! (On the couch during prime time is really the only point in the day that we communicate with one another. You understand.) So, I was getting my guilty-pleasure-sized dose of American's Got Talent last night, and these adorable sisters auditioned -- they sang a moving rendition of Miley Cyrus' It's the Climb . (Yes, I teared up a little. I'm pregnant. And therefore allowed.) See, these sisters (along with their two other siblings) suffer from Cystic Fibrosis. The were never supposed to be able to sing well -- and their life expectancy is only 35-40 years. So sad. It was heart-wrenching to watch them overcome all odds, musically speaking, and the standing ovation from the crowd just

(Warning: I'll be whining.) I'm so  over the constant fatigue that is already overtaking me. How can I be so tired? How much more exhausted will I be when Baby arrives? Maternity leave will be like a little slice of stay-at-home-heaven, but I'm already dreading the inevitable (god, yes, it's completely inevitable) return to my full time job and the cost of good daycare. (The superb places in Louisville seem to run about $190.00 a week. If I had $200.00 extra a week, I'd either have a much healthier savings account or a hell of a more stylish wardrobe. And probably an iphone.) How do people do it? How do single parents do it? It defies comprehension. I'm trying to get on some money saving budget, and the biggest thing that I can cut out is having Panera and Schlotzsky's and Qdoba and Chic-fil-A and Jersey Mike's Subs on my weekly lunch menu. It's hard to cut out those yummy lunch choices, though, when all I'm craving is Chicken Nachos o

One week from tomorrow -- in eight short days -- I will get to find out whether this little entity growing inside me is a boy baby or (squee!) a girl baby. I mean: I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I'll only be at sixteen weeks then, but my OBGYN says that her ultrasound-magician-woman can almost always determine the sex at that time. Still, I guess there's always the chance that the baby will be positioned in such a way that we won't get to see anything at all... but why think about that? So, I'm getting all excitedspice. And I can think of only two things: one, getting to narrow down my window-shopping to the cutest ever, teeny-tiny baby stuff in lavendar and pink... or the still-very-adorable tans and blues. The other thing I'm currently obsessed with? BABY NAMES! Here's my short list: Girl (squee!) Names 1. Stella 2. Ava 3. Claire 4. Emma 5. Piper Boy Names 1. Holden 2. Alexander 3. Mason 4. Liam 5. Oden (Okay, let me be ho

Doesn't it figure that as soon as I publicly announced the shelving of my WIP, my first novel, that I would have a breakthrough with it? Oh, the sweet (and, literally, I mean sweet, wonderful, making-me-smile ) irony! I've had a writing breakthrough. I'll be sharing it with you now: I've been writing in third person, so to distance myself from my mc, Laurel, who is very (probably too much so) similiar to me. However, it's been difficult to figure out some of the technique -- was I in deep POV or not? Was I writing with a narrator? It seemed so, because if I wasn't then there may have been a hell of a lot of author intrusion... and wait... If there is a narrator, who is the narrator? Why does the narrator matter? Why would this narrator tell the story? Do I need to know that? Do I even need to address it at all? So, anyway. I had all these concerns. Legitimate ones. Concerns that had me wondering whether or not I should throw in the towel and work on some

This one time, when I was twelve or something, I called in to the local version of the Delilah-love-song radio request and dedication show and requested Bryan Adams' Heaven. It went out to Kevin from Jennifer. I didn't have the guts to dedicate a song to the boy I really liked, nor did I even use his name or my own name. (I mean, I doubt he was listening to the sappy-80's-love-song station anyway. Also, I used to pretend I was dating the white guy from the band All-4-One. No, I mean, I would sit outside on the steps of the deck at my parents' house and have full on conversations with him. I remember making a video tape recording of them singing I Swear on some talk show (pretty sure it was Regis and Kathy Lee) and watching it over and over and over again. Who were your TMI childhood crushes? What lies did you dream up as a child?

Remember Lilu ? She used to host TMI Thursday before she got all klassy and the series was cancelled. Well, she writes another awesome meme-of-hillarity in which she regales us with "the shiz my boyfriend says." This might have to become my newest Wednesday topic. Except, you know, I'll call mine "marital musings" or "hubs is hilar" or something. It's a work in progress. See, hubs is constantly saying really funny things. Sometimes I think, I have got to write that down so I don't forget it! Then, I don't write it down and I forget it. This has been going on for weeksandweeks. So, before it evades my memory, here is episode one: During a typical Monday night -- Amber, watching The Bachelorette -- hubs, wishing he was not Amber: "Come on, Chris L! Kiss her!!!" Hubs: "But she's sick. Maybe he doesn't want to get her nasty phelm germs all up in his tonsils." Amber: "Well, she was sick the nigh

Well. I'm thinking about shelving my current WIP for awhile. (Oh, wait. Two monts without real progress? I think I already have shelved it.) So, I'd like to start writing something new. But, what? Writers, how do you come up with your story ideas? Non-writers, what kinds of books do you like to read? What plots appeal to you? Anyone at all: if you have a suggestion or an idea for a book, leave it in the comments! Don't you sometimes hear about a certain situation and think, that would make the best book or movie? Do tell! (I know, if it's so easy, why don't I just come up with my own idea?!) (Come on, I'm preggers. Throw me a bone.)

Yesterday was my nephew's first birthday party, and to celebrate his birth, the adults played a little volleyball in my sister's backyard. My sister, dad and I were trying to hold our own against my brothers-in-law and my hubster. So, I made two amazing plays in a row. First, I had to slide on my knees to hit the ball -- I have the grass stains on my jeans to prove it -- and I got it across the net and scored a point for my team! Soon after, I jumped to hit the ball and got us our serve back and stuff. (I'm so sporty.) Except, when I came down from the jump-move, I felt like I tweaked my right ankle a little. I was all, "I'm fine, I'll shake it off..." So, I played another minute longer. Then, I reached down and felt this bulge to the left of my right knee. I apparently burst a blood vessel or popped a vein or something. I was pretty much terrified that I was going to die of a blood clot. Still kind of am. I'm going to see my OBGYN/ nurse

God, I suck at blogging lately. Anyway. A few things: Preggo-vision I've got to stop watching those baby shows on the Discovery Health Channel. Most episodes are graphic, stress-inducing, and wrap up with happy endings that make me cry. Baby Dreams I had a dream last night that my baby was born, like, yesterday. He was a boy, but he was the size of a toddler and could pretty much walk and talk. I was like, "What do you want your name to be?" He had a big nose. He looked a lot like hubs side of the family. I sort of woke up in a cold sweat. Number Two For the first time in two days... this morning... It was heavenspice. o-face Hubs and I got busy a couple of nights ago. The reason I was willing is because he bribed me with the last ice cream drumstick. I'm like a chocolate prostitute. He paid me in the form of a frozen treat for sex. Yes, that is hillarious. However, the official TMI part is that the sexy-time was even more enjoyable than usual. May

God, I miss a lot of things about not being pregnant. Like fitting into all of my pants, for instance. Pardon me, but I'm feeling a little sensitive about my appearance. I found out that during the four weeks between my first two OB-gyno appointments... I've already gained a whopping five pounds. Apparently, it's all in my middle. And I just don't mean my front-middle. (You could land a jet plane on my ass.) But, it's worth it -- because I'm making my own version of one of these: Secretly, I hope my own little one turns out exactly like my niece. I mean, my little one has a lot of competition. Carley is the yinspice to my yang. And sometimes, when we're at outdoor wedding receptions and she is watching the bride and groom dance their first dance as husband and wife, magic happens: (this photo = lovesssssssspice) So, come on, little baby-in-my-belly. Turn out cute. Or I will sell you on the black market and use the money to get liposuction. *p.s

Friends and fellow bloggers are concerned that their favorite blogger -- the adorable, witty, tongue-in-cheek writerslashbankerslashbabymaker Amber Murphy -- has not blogged in the better part of a week. (*see disclosure at the end of the post) Former school mate Ashley Stone , recalls Amber's last post. "I remember it was last week sometime, Wednesday, I think. She posted this google-image-game meme, where you attach photos to questions like Where is your hometown? and What is your favorite beverage? I remember it, because I posted the meme -- played the game -- the very next day. I sure hope everything is alright." Tina Sandoval , virtual wife and soul mate, became concerned when she realized Amber hadn't posted last Thursday. "It's so rare for her to miss an opportunity to overshare," Sandoval noted, eyes wide with concern. "And I am pretty sure that the only time she did skip a TMI Thursday, she posted a special TMI: Friday Edition the 

Roni at Fiction Groupie tagged everyone in this meme. I'll play! 1. Your Favorite beverage: 2. Your hometown: Bedford, IN (Current City: Louisville, Kentucky) 3. Your favorite TV show: RIP... everybody. 4. Your Occupation/You are in school for: I is a banker. Went to school to be: 5. Your first car: (No, seriously.) Go ahead -- laugh it up. 6. Your favorite dish: I miss stuffing you in my mouth. 7. Celebrity you've been told you resemble: Ellie Kemper from The Office. (Okay, also Pam Beasley... don't remind me.) 8. Celebrity on your "to do" list: My God, Ryanspice. You're beautiful. 9. Favorite Childhood toy: Ryan Reynolds. Oh, also -- Hey! Mine doesn't didn't talk. 10. Any Random picture: When I first saw this, I was thinking... pregnant Barbie? Then I saw the liquor bottles. Consider yourselves tagged... and have fun!

Vacationgate 2010 Hubs has decided to go with my family and me to Destin next month! (He says he told me that he "would go" on the day I told him I was pregnant, which was smack in the middle of Vacationgate, when hubs did not want to go... nor did he want me to go and stay in my parents' condo for free. If you'll recall, I was going to go regardless.) So, I booked our condo today. Instead of me going for free, hubs and I are both going and spending $749.00 for the condo alone. Hubs didn't want to be left out after all. But, you know. It's cool. This will be our last babyless vacation. Who needs new windows anyway? 2010 Reading Challenge May was a productive reading month. I've now read a total of 34 books this year. If I can read 16 books in the month of June, I'll be halfway to my goal of 100 books for this calendar year. Word. (Or, should I say... words?) WIP-Progess Still slim to none since learning I am "with child" eight-