Your Eyes Do Not Deceive You

I got dressed...and went out! (Of course it was to church...you guys should know that.)  I'm glad I never got rid of the black dress with the girdle liner in it.  It was perfect for today.  It was chilly when I woke up (31!) and we had frost on the grass and my car.  I wore the warm dress with my interesting gray striped vest, which I bought on eBay about two years ago.  This is only the second wearing of the vest, I find it hard to use.  I think if it were a full sleeved cardigan, I'd probably wear it a lot.

Uhhh, pardon the newspaper on the table.

That's better.  Black Target dress, gray striped vesty-cardi, black Avenue boots.

Fergus doesn't want me to have nice hair.

I'm 9 weeks now.  31 weeks to go...phew that sounds far away!  I think this may be the first time in a long time that I am looking forward to summer, because I'll get to meet my baby!  Spring in Florida is always one of my favorite seasons.  Everything is warm during the day, cool at night, and so green.  I understand why people are snowbirds (up north during summer, in Florida for winter and spring)...the weather is just lovely this time of year and I'm so enjoying it!  But summer?  I'm not a fan.  And I'm going to be 9 months pregnant during the hottest time of the year...for the THIRD TIME!  (Missy's birthday is July 29th, Bucket's is July 5th!)

The stockings were hung by the window with care...

By the way, the girdle liner inside this dress didn't hurt Fergus.  The dress was loose on me, I just wanted to wear something with 3/4 sleeves on a chilly morning.  If anything, I felt like the girdle showcased Fergus quite well, except what I'm showing is leftovers from Bucket 15 years ago, and not Fergus.  But I'll claim it, lol.  Fergus!!!

Just to show some vintage cuteness.  I painted this wooden ornament when I was kindergarten!

Well, That's More Like It

I woke up this morning shivering. Shivering?  I threw back my blanket, ran into the kitchen and checked out the thermostat. 31!!! At last, Christmas weather!  I finally did decorate my tree, and decided that this Saturday would be my cleaning day.  And that is what I did all morning.  I feel great, my house looks better, and it smells better too.  Here's what I did today:

1) Washed my quilt and all the potholders.
2) Made breakfast and had coffee.
3) Cleaned off the dining room table, just so I could use it as a folding table for all the laundry that was piled up.
4) Hung my clean quilt outside instead of using the dryer.
5) Cleaned and sanitized the counters, microwave, stovetop.
6) Ran a load of dishes.
7) Folded and put away last week's laundry which was clean but just waiting on me to finish up.
8) Talked to my husband who is still in NC...praying he makes it home for Christmas Eve, which is his birthday!
9) Convinced my mother-in-law not to buy me one of those nasty sugar free cakes for Christmas.  Don't feel sorry for me that I can't have dessert; I'm making my lower-sugar pumpkin pie and I'm perfectly happy with that!
10) Took a long hot shower, washed my hair, shaved my legs.

Things I still need to do:

1) Clean my bathroom before Mr. R gets home on his birthday.
2) Buy Missy's gift; no worries, she knows I don't have it yet.  I can't buy this without her; we're buying her a new mattress for Christmas.
3) Wrap a few gifts, but I'm practically done.
4) Go grocery shopping.
5) Sweep and mop, I love this Christmas tree but it's dropping needles like crazy.
6) Drive Tiger to his girlfriend's house for dinner.
7) Figure out what to make for dinner for me, Bucket and Missy tonight.
8) Clean my desk...goodness I just can't keep that thing clean!
9) Make the pumpkin pies for Mr. R's sister's house for Christmas Eve.
10) Take a nap!

Still no pictures of me, since I'm old and tired, but I do have other pictures to share today!

Look at my handsome son playing bass guitar at the Christmas concert at his high school!  He's knocking out a jazzy version of Jingle Bells here.

I made this ornament for my 5th Christmas.  I'm so glad my mom took the time to date stuff when I was younger.  Hard to believe 1980 was thirty-two years ago!

A boy and his cat are rarely separated.

Missy and Tiger, being goofy one night.

Crap on a Cracker

I am so sorry, I have just not been in the mood for much.  The murders in CT has made me terribly, terribly sad.  Even if I wasn't pregnant right now, I know I would be in tears over the senseless tragedy.  I have a tree finally, and I put up the lights.  Then I stopped.  The kids don't seem to care much.  I am almost done with my Christmas shopping, just Missy is left.

The weather doesn't help.  Tomorrow's high is 82.  I have a hard time feeling Christmasy when I am still wearing tank tops and flip flops.  I am craving chocolate right now, but too tired to drive anywhere and we have none in the house (trust me, I looked.)  Over the weekend, I suffered from a painful lump on my right labia (sorry if TMI) which was so enormous that I had trouble walking or sitting.  I actually felt it burst while I was driving, and it was filled with blood.  I'm still swollen but it's gone down quite a bit and I can sit comfortably now.

I am almost over this constantly tired feeling, and I'm grateful for it.  Yesterday I took a nap which felt great, but I didn't today because I had so much to do.   My hair seems to be recovering from the constantly greasy feeling, and Missy took me to get a hair cut last week for Christmas.  I haven't taken a single picture of myself since, although the cut is very nice and I should.  I didn't make it to church last week or this week; between feeling awful and trying to catch up on so many chores, it just didn't happen.  But I am looking forward to our beautiful Christmas Eve ceremony next week.

I'm sure I'll get some pictures in this upcoming week.  Be patient with me.  Being old and pregnant is harder than I thought it would be!

Ten Things I'm Grateful For Today!

I am not taking a picture today.  I went to bed without taking a shower last night and I am Miss Greasy Head.  Maybe another day.  But I woke up feeling great, and so happy and content, that I just had to share!

1) I am happy that Mr. R and I splurged on a solar panel for our home and we have unlimited hot water.  I cannot WAIT to take a long, hot shower on my lunch break today!

2) I had a conference for Bucket yesterday.  And while I am not a fan of the school system in my area, I met a few dedicated, concerned teachers yesterday who truly seemed to care about my son.   I never felt that way when he was in middle school!  I am hopeful that high school will open many doors for him.  He has a new "case manager" who helps all children on the autism spectrum, and we traded emails and she invited him to a special club on Mondays for the spectrum kids to hang out and make friends.  I hear all they talk about is video games.  LOL.

3)  I am grateful that I have both short and long term disability so that I can take time off next summer to be with my new baby!  I had such crappy jobs when I was pregnant back in the 90s that I only took three or four days off before I had to go back to work.  Right now, I'm planning on at least two months off, and I'm hoping I can go for three, but that depends on how Mr. R's job is doing next summer.

4) I am grateful that the decaf I bought seems to be doing the trick.  While I'm still tired from both being pregnant and going cold turkey off caffeine, at least I still get to have my tradition of a warm cup of joe in the mornings.

5) I am grateful I woke up to a rainy morning.  I just love rain.  It makes my house feel cozy and precious.  I am pretending it is 50 degrees colder than it is, and that it's actually snowfall outside my window.  A girl can dream.

6)  I am grateful for the 24 hour Christmas music station on my cable.  I'm jamming to "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" as I type this.  I love Christmas music!

7) I am grateful for a 15 year old boy who found me falling asleep on the couch at 8:30 last night, made me go to bed, and then cleaned the kitchen for me (although not perfectly.)  He knew I needed some sleep!

8) I'm grateful that I'm making onion encrusted chicken strips tonight.  It's like grown up chicken nuggets and I love them!  I'm also very grateful that I feel capable of eating again.  Being hungry and being disgusted at food at the same time really stinks.

9) I'm so incredibly grateful to a sweet husband who calls me several times a day to ask me how my sugar levels are, how my back feels, if I've had a nap, and if I'm eating right.  I'm sure it's the pregnancy hormones, but I'm just so in love with him right now.  I get weepy even thinking about how much I adore this man.  I'm so sappy, I can't help it. 

10)  Very grateful that I don't suffer from hyperemesis like Duchess Kate!  I can't imagine being so sick that I end up in the hospital.  I did have a friend who had it as well and she was so miserable.  And also thanks to Duchess Kate for taking the heat off me; more people care about her baby than mine! 

And that's it...what are you grateful for these days?

I Owe Him Big

Look at what Mr. R got me for Christmas.  By the way, I got him nothing.  We promised each other not to buy anything, and then he showed up with this at the last minute.  Man.  Hard to top it.

Prenatal vitamins = nice nails!

I can't stop staring at my beautiful ring.

I broke my engagement ring years ago.  This gold band is the original ring; my husband bought the emerald ring (my birthstone) and had it welded to my old engagement ring.  Plus my wedding band is there too, so it looks like I'm loaded with bling.

That man better be careful.  People are going to think he loves me and stuff.

A Beautiful Day In Central Florida

I particularly hate living in Florida in the summer.  But winter?  It's so nice out!  Today was 80 degrees, slightly overcast, and just lovely being outside.  Here we are at Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte Springs, just north of Orlando.  It's just me and the boys, Missy was at a friend's house.

Checking out the beautiful fountain.

Did NOT want his picture taken.

Ignored me as I took his picture.

Trying to run from me, as I take pictures.

"We hate you, Mom."

Luckily, they were willing to take a few pictures of me.  Which is when I realized that my hair looks like crap and I need to wax my eyebrows, stat.

I thought I looked nice...but I see that I was wrong.

Today is Ginger's due date!  Take a few laps around the lake, maybe that will help.

Beautiful light, beautiful nature.

Don't all lakes have 40 foot Christmas trees?