drifting away...

Supposedly, the final word is that we do not have to move out of our house.  It is always possible that it will change again, but I did find out that they will not begin any work on our property until Sept. 1, so we at least have a few more months before we have to worry about anything.

The whole deal has changed significantly since the beginning.  As of right now, the worst case scenario is that we will lose access to our driveway for a couple of months.  This isn't really a big deal though, because we also have a horseshoe drive in front of the house that we can park in if need be.  There will be big trucks full of rocks and dirt driving back and forth on the side of our house, but it should be during the day when we are away at work anyway. 

The best part is that we will be able to relax, adjust to the new baby, and enjoy the summer without being disturbed.  It was kind of exciting thinking about moving into a new house, but really will be much better this way.  Now I can get back to cleaning and getting the house ready for the baby without worrying about having to move.

I was a little bummed out today to have to come back to work after such a nice long weekend, but I had a very nice surprise waiting for me in the mail this morning. Alicarose sent me the best baby gift! She had told me she was sending something, but I had actually forgotten about it when I went down to get the mail today. I ripped open the envelope and found the cutest little Boston Red Sox outfit for Zachary. I can't wait to see him in it! And, because I'm such a nerd, I had to take a pic of it with my camera phone so you all could see it too.


[b]THANK YOU ALICIA!!![/b]

I should be sitting back relaxing today, but instead, I decided to take advantage of having the house to myself and get some work done around here.  My bathroom has been in desperate need of a good cleaning for a while, so I tackled it first when I woke up this morning.  I scrubbed and scrubbed until it was spotless.  Now it looks so pretty and clean and smells wonderful too!  After that I took a break to check my e-mail and grab a sandwich for lunch, took a shower, and then went to the grocery store.  I got home, put all the groceries away, put in some laundry and did the dishes. I finally called the pediatrician's office and finished my pre-registration forms and faxed them to the hospital.  Now I'm sitting here debating whether to go clean my kitchen or start working on the slideshow for my brother's wedding.  I'm thinking the slideshow may be the better choice.  At least I can sit down while I do that.  So much for my relaxing day!  I do feel better knowing that I actually got some things accomplished today though.  Plus, when hubby gets home tonight, we can actually relax and enjoy the evening.  The most amazing part of the day so far (knock on wood) is that my mother hasn't called me even one time!

I had my 36-week check-up today and once again everything is going great.  Next week the doc will start checking my cervix for signs that the baby is getting ready to come out.  Hubby and I are both getting very anxious!

Somehow, my mom convinced my boss that we are all caught up on everything and managed to get us the day off tomorrow.  This means I've gotta work my butt off the rest of the day to make sure everything is done, but it also means that I get a very much needed 4-day weekend.  It really couldn't have come at a better time.  Hopefully it will give me plenty of time to catch up on some sleep as well as get some things done around the house that I have been putting off.

As of today I have been told that we may not have to move after all.  It seems the contract has changed and now the house may not have to be torn down.  They tell me this after I have spent the last 3 days completely stressed out and after spending the last two days completely exhausting myself looking at houses. 

At this point I'm not really sure if I'm more relieved or irritated.  The prospect of a new house was becoming very appealing to me, however, the timing was about the worst it could get.  I'm just tired of getting jerked around.  I knew when I moved into the house I'm in now that it was not a permanent thing and that I could have to move at any time.  I was prepared for that.  I wasn't prepared for them changing their minds every couple days and not knowing what was going on.  I just want a definite answer.  Plus, I don't want to waste any more of my time looking at houses if we aren't going to move.

This weekend totally exhausted me.  I am more tired now than I was Friday afternoon and it's only going to get worse from here.  I don't have the time to elaborate right now, but here are the highlights of what happened:

• Hubby and I attended an all-day childbirth class on Saturday.  It really was rather pointless.  I may have learned a couple things, but I found that I already knew almost everything they went over.


• Saturday morning I found out that I will most likely have to move before the baby is born, which means sometime in the next few weeks.  This means that we have to find another house, get my boss to buy it, and move in probably a maximum of 3 weeks.  That is not going to be easy.  Hopefully, the baby won't decided to come early.  Plus, in the middle of that, my brother is getting married!


• My dog managed to pull himself out of his collar not once, but twice, Sunday afternoon, leaving hubby and I (and our wonderful neighbors) to chase all over the neighborhood after him.  The second time he ran off we could not find him at all and I was freaking out.  I was very afraid he would be hit by a car as we live on a pretty busy street.  Hubby fi nally managed to find him sitting at the front door of a church about 1/2 a mile from our house.


• We spent all afternoon Sunday looking at houses.  We found one that hubby and I both really liked.  It's in a great neighborhood and has almost everything that I want in a house.  The only problem is that it is a bit higher priced that what my boss told me he would spend so it may take a little convincing.  The best part is that it is ready to move into immediately.  It wouldn't really need any work, with the exception of painting one room.  We are going to look at some more houses tonight though, so we'll see if we find anything better.

That's it in a nutshell.  I have a feeling this week is going to be a bit crazy as we really need to find a house immediately.  Wish me luck!

I usually try not to write too much about my job on here just because I wouldn't want the wrong person to find it, but things here at the office are just getting out of hand.  For the last couple of weeks there has been major tension and fighting between my mom and my boss.  I have tried, as much as possible, to stay out of it.  My mom is very frustrated with him and he is getting rather frustrated at her as well.  The result has not been very pleasant for anyone else working in our office.

Here's a little background info.  My boss is an alcoholic.  He has been having problems with this for several years now.  His drinking and erratic behavior have cost him his marriage, the respect of many of his business contacts, and quite possibly will cost him his business in the near future.  He went through a very nasty divorce with his wife.  He and his wife continuously use the children as a way to get back at each other, which in my opinion is just wrong.  He is pretty heavily medicated thanks to his Psychiatrist, but it still isn't helping.  He often displays very irrational behavior.  Most days it is difficult to carry on more than a 1 minute conversation with him.

Another issue that seems to come from all of the things above is that he no longer wants to come to the office to work.  Personally, I don't have a problem with him working from home as long as he is available by phone when we need him and drops by from time to time to sign checks or other miscellaneous things we may need him for.  The problem is that he doesn't keep himself available.  He often has girlfriends over during the day and won't answer his phone.  He says he is always available but in reality he is not.  I can do most of my job without him, but occasionally there is a need to talk to him.  My mom usually has to contact him several times a day and most of the time is not able to get him on the phone.

His father also works out of our office and tries his best to keep an eye on him.  Sometimes his dad seems oblivious to the problems going on, but recently he has been keeping himself a little more aware.  He knows most of what has been going on between my boss and my mom.  He has overheard some of the arguments between the two of them.  So, he will go in and talk to my mom and try to calm her down and see if there is anything he can do.  A couple days ago, my mom was really upset after a conversation she had with our boss so his father went in and talked to her about it.  She basically spilled her guts to him, hoping there was something he could do.  He said he would talk to our boss about things.

Apparently, he did have a talk with him.  Lastnight a little before 1:00 am, our boss called my mom and threatened her.  He basically said that if she ever talked to his father about him again that it would not be good for either her or her daughter (me!).  She's not really sure if he meant just our jobs or otherwise.  Basically, he scared the crap out of her.  She said his tone of voice was very threatening.  She said he sounded very erratic and not like himself.

Most likely this will amount to nothing.  Hopefully today he will have calmed down and forgotten about the whole thing.  What is a little frightening is that we know he has threatened a couple of other people here lately to the point that they obtained a restraining order against him.  In our case, we depend on him for our paychecks and for me, even my house.  It is not like we can just avoid him.  I'm pretty sure that his dad would make sure we were taken care of if anything did happen.  That's just the kind of person he is.  But, it certainly leaves me with an uneasy feeling today.  I know my mom is really shaken up as well.  At least I only had to hear about it second-hand.

I know I can be a bit picky at times, but I was just wondering how many bloggers actually go back and edit what they write.  I know we all probably have a few typos here and there or post something quickly and don't take the time to review it.  I know I certainly have my fair share of misspelled words and grammar errors in my blog.  But, most of the time when I write something, I do go back over it at least once to check for blatant errors.  Sometimes I even check it twice, depending on how much time I have.

The reason I bring this up is because I just happened to see a post in the recent blogs list titled "Star Wars in awesome".  If you wrote this and it is actually what you meant to write, please correct me, but I'm assuming it should read "Star Wars IS awesome" instead.  Perhaps this blogger was just in a hurry and didn't have a chance to check over their post, but it can't take more than a second or two to at least check your title.

This whole thing got me to thinking.  I'm certainly not an expert in grammar, but when I go to a site that has constant spelling mistakes and bad grammar, I'm not likely to go back.  It's just not worth my time to try to sort through their words and make sense of them.  When I go to a well written blog, however, I usually come back to read more.  Hopefully most people that read my blog would consider it to be well written.  I'm constantly editing myself after I have written an entry and get very irritated when I find a mistake.

So, how many of you are anal like me and check over your blog entries before and after you post them?  Does it bother you when you post something with a mistake in it or do you just let it go?

p.s.  Please don't point out any grammar or spelling errors in this post.  I was in a hurry to get outta the office!

Apparently my site is down that I host my pics on so my layout is kinda screwed up at the moment.  Things just aren't going my way today!  :x

Several months ago, I think in February, I signed myself and hubby up for a one-day childbirth class.  I opted out of the 4-week course because hubby never knows for sure when he'll be off work, so I figured a one-day class on Saturday would work the best for us.  I scheduled us for the class and then put it in the back of my mind knowing that it was quite a ways off yet.  A couple of weeks ago, hubby asked me when it was and I told him May 28th.  I was certain that was the day. 

You may remember that a few weeks ago I re-formatted my computer and lost a bunch of my e-mail.  Well, included in that e-mail that I lost was the confirmation for the class.  For some reason today, I just happened to remember that I had printed off the confirmation and stuck in my desk drawer.  So, I opened up my drawer and started looking for it because it had the class times and a list of things we need to bring with us.

When I finally found it, I looked down at the page and found that the class is actually on May 21st, not 28th.  This Saturday!  I am so glad that I discovered this before we missed the class.  I feel really stupid for mixing up the date.

The good thing is that hubby is not on call this weekend, so I don't have to worry about him having to go to work.  The bad thing is that I promised him if he didn't make me go see Star Wars III during the week that we would go to a matinee show on Saturday so he can get his fix.  He was not very happy with me when I called to tell him that I got the dates mixed up.

So, it looks like I may get to go see Star Wars tonight.  I really don't like going to movies during the week because it keeps me out too late and I'm exhausted at work the next day.  But, I know hubby really wants to go see it, so I may have to give in.

My blog is officially Firefox compatible.  I don't know about any other browsers, but it should look ok in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.  Too bad the browsers can't just all work the same! 

Today was my 35 week check-up at the doctor.  Once again she told me that everything is just going perfectly so far.  I've only gained a pound and a half since my last visit and my blood pressure and everything else was right where it should be.

June 22nd is starting to seem like it's not very far away.  Only 5 weeks left to get ready...if little Zachary doesn't decide to come early!  I would be okay with him coming a few days early as long as he waits until after my brother's wedding on the 11th. 

Normally, I'm not one to complain much about content on the internet, but in this case I find myself just getting more and more fed up.  I realize that the internet is public and people have a right to post whatever they choose on their blogs or web pages.  However, I think the amount of porn and junk ads on tblog is getting out of hand.  It's no wonder why the pages load so slow.  Almost every time I scan down the recent posts list, over half of the new posts are either porn sites or drug advertisement sites.

When I first came to tblog, I fell in love with it immediately.  I love the community here and all of the wonderful people that I have gotten to know.  I loved reading new blogs and meeting new people.  There were a few sexually or otherwise explicit blogs that I chose to stay away from, but overall, tblog was a nice community.  Back then, I would have recommended it to anyone that was wanting to start up a blog.  Now, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.  In fact, if it wasn't for the friends I have made here, I would have been gone long ago myself.

It's too bad that there isn't a way to limit the content on some of these blogs.  I'm not normally for censorship, but in this case I think it has become necessary.  There are a lot of young kids that use tblog.  There are even teachers that have set up classroom sites on here.  If I were a parent of one of those kids that was required to use this site for schoolwork, I would be extremely unhappy about some of the sites here.

I realize there isn't much I can do to change this, but there's my two cents, for what it's worth.

I don't have much to say this morning, just a tip for any of you Audioslave fans out there. You can listen to the new cd here.

I haven't heard the whole thing yet, but I'm digging what I've heard so far. I can't wait for the cd to be released so I can jam to it in my car.

For some reason unknown to me, I feel a little off today.  I have a bit of a headache and my stomach is not quite right.  I'm a little tired and my body just feels drained.  I don't really feel sick, just a little off.

I had a nice, relaxing weekend.  I picked up a few more baby necessities.  My list of "must haves" before baby arrives is getting shorter.  My dad and his wife bought me a diaper bag, so that is another thing crossed off the list.  I did a little more organization in the baby's room.  It is starting to look better.

Other than that, I pretty much just sat around watching movies and reading.  It was a very slow-paced kind of weekend, which was very much needed.  I should be feeling good today, but for some reason I'm not.

This has been a rather slow week at work so far.  So, since I have some extra time, I have begun working on a list of things that need to be done while I'm on maternity leave.  It is much more difficult than I thought it would be.  In the almost 3 1/2 years that I've been working here, I've developed quite a routine that seems so simple to me.  Yet, when I go to write these things out for someone else to follow, it doesn't seem so easy.  There are so many things that I just do by instinct or just because I know they need to be done.  It is really hard to sit here and write them out step by step.  It is hard to even think it out step by step when I'm just used to doing it.

The good thing about all of this is that my mom will be the one covering for me while I'm gone.  When it comes to work related stuff, our brains function very much the same way.  This means that all the stuff I'm trying to write out she will hopefully be able to make sense out of.  Plus, I'm only a phone call away if she really gets stuck on something.  If she gets really, really stuck, I will be able to connect to my work computer from home so I can help out.

In a way, it does make me feel good knowing that not just anyone could come fill in for me without knowing the things I know about my work.  I guess that means that I really am pretty valuable to this company even though sometimes I sure don't feel that way.  Someone who was trained could easily do my job, but if I walked out tomorrow they would be losing a lot of valuable info that is only stored in my head.  I never really thought about it that way before.  I think this may be the first job I've ever had where I was in such a position.  It kinda feels good!

I don't know if the pregnancy is making me even more clumsy than my normal self or what, but I keep finding stains on my maternity clothes.  I'm normally a pretty clumsy person, but I do a fairly good job of keeping my clothes nice most of the time.  But, since I've been pregnant and have such a small collection of clothes that actually fit me, it seems every time I put something on, I manage to spill my food or drink on it.  Last week I spilled my iced tea down the front of my shirt.  Then, when I washed it, I forgot to treat the stain.  I completely forgot about it.  I got dressed this morning and put on the same shirt, drove to work and then discovered that I have a nice tea stain on the front of my shirt and there's nothing I can do about it now.  I just have to look like a slob for the rest of the day.  Oh well, at least I'm comfortable!

I was reading Lynne's post about The Ethics of Blogs and got to thinking. She was talking about how a person should handle coming across the blog of someone you know. Do you read it anonymously or tell the person that you have discovered it and find out whether they mind you reading it or not?

Personally, I prefer that if anyone I know finds my blog, that they let me know. This blog was originally created as an outlet for me. I consider it my space to rant and rave and get my feelings out. I have shared it with a few people that I trust, but would not be happy if I knew my family was reading it or friends who I have chosen not to reveal it to. I maintain a separate blog site, which is linked to my personal website, where I welcome my family and friends.

When I first started this blog, I chose to remain completely anonymous, but over time have become more comfortable with exposing myself. It started out with a link to a friend's band website. At first I thought nothing of it, but eventually realized that with that link, they could trace back to my blog. Then, I chose to link to one of my personal websites. A few people have asked for my e-mail address or my real name which I have no problem giving out to those I trust. As things have progressed, I find myself revealing my identity more and more. One day I expect this blog will be completely out in the open.

The one problem I have found with being more open about my blog is that I continually censor myself. I know that I have written some things that would be very hurtful if certain people were to read them. In fact, at one point I went through my archives and deleted several posts because of that reason. If I really wanted to open this up to my family and friends to read, there are several more that would need to be deleted as well. Recently, I have found myself being more vague about personal details in my writing and have been putting more thought into things that I say about others just in case I am discovered. But, it makes me wonder how truthful I am being to myself when I do that.

For a while, I actually was keeping another private blog that was password protected for those days when I just really needed to get something off of my chest. However, keeping up with 3 different blogs became rather difficult and I really missed the comments and feedback from other people. Eventually I just deleted the entire thing.

I do realise that this blog is entirely out in the open and that at any time someone could figure me out. I know the more personal details I include make it even easier to find me, especially when I post pictures of myself, my family and friends. I just hope that if anyone does find my blog and figure out that it is me, that they would have the respect to at least let me know they are reading it.

As far as the question of it being ethical to read someone's blog that you come across...I have a hard time figuring that out. When it is posted on a public platform, such as the internet, I don't know that I can say it is wrong. Based on my own personal morals, I think it is wrong. However, I'm not sure that I could resist the temptation if I was the person who found a friend's site.

First of all, I hope all the moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. I had a nice time celebrating my first official Mother's Day.

I actually had two very nice surprises for Mother's Day. When I woke up Sunday morning I had a very sweet card from my hubby, as well as a beautiful pair of sapphire earrings that match my wedding ring. I knew he was up to something Friday afternoon, but the surprising part is that he didn't let slip what my gift was before he gave it to me. He is usually so anxious when he buys me a gift that he slips up and I have already figured out what it is by the time I get it. This time it actually was a surprise and I loved it!

We got ourselves around and headed out for church. We went to the early church service and then to Sunday School afterwards. When we walked into our classroom, we were greeted with a surprise baby shower. We received a couple of Wal-mart gift cards and some hooded towels and washcloths. Everyone did a great job keeping quiet about it and I was truly surprised! I certainly didn't expect anything like that!

After church, we met up with my mom, my sister and her family, and my brother and his fiance for a mother's day dinner. We had a nice dinner with them, visited at my mom's house for a little bit afterward and then headed home.

When we got home, I laid down on the couch and took a nice long nap. Then hubby and I spent the rest of the evening watching movies.

It really turned out to be a great day. It was one of the most relaxing days I have had for a while!

Almost 2 years ago my hubby and I moved into a house that is owned by my boss.  It's not really in an area that we would have chosen, but he offered us very cheap rent and we just couldn't refuse.  It's a fairly decent house, a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, with a finished basement.  It could use a little sprucing up, but as renters we just haven't been inclined to put a lot of money into it. 

The house sits on approximately 80 acres of land that my boss also owns.  We take care of probaby 2-3 acres and the rest is a wooded area behind the house.  For the last several years, there has been a huge highway reconstruction project going on in the area.  The house is just southeast of "the triangle" where 3 major highways meet.  For the last year and a half or so, my boss had contracted with one of the construction companies to let them use some of the dirt and rock on his land.  That contract is now up, but another company is now trying to contract with him to dump dirt on his land.  They are offering him quite a large amount of money to do it, but they still haven't worked out the details of the contract.

I wouldn't have a problem with this at all except that they are looking at using the area that my house sits on as the access point to the land.  At first they were just talking about re-paving my driveway and sending the trucks in that way, but they also need an exit.  From what my boss told me yesterday, that exit may have to be where my house is sitting.  If that is how they decide to do it, my house will be demolished.

Fortunately, my boss is a very caring person and he told me yesterday that if they have to take the house down, he would put up the money to buy another house for us to live in and rent it to us at the same rate as we are paying now.  We would be able to pick a house (within a certain price range) and he would basically buy it for us.  If we choose, we could do a rent-to-own type of deal and eventually the house would be ours.  It actually would be a pretty good deal for us.  We really want to buy a house, but right now we are not in a financial position to do so.

Basically, everything is still up in the air.  I don't know what is going to happen until they come to an agreement and sign the final contract.  If we end up having to move it will most likely be around August, which is not long after I have the baby. 

Moving wouldn't be so bad.  Our master plan was to try to stay in this house for 5 more years until we could get one of our loans and a few other bills pai d off and then to buy a house in a better school district.  It would be just in time for Zachary to start school which would work out well.  If this happens, we will hopefully be able to get in a better area much sooner than we planned.  I hate the idea of moving so shortly after I have the baby, but it could work out to be a good thing for us.  I just hate not knowing what is going to happen.

I had yet another check-up with the doctor today.  She says everything is looking good still.  The baby seems to be in the right position (head down) and is growing at a steady pace.  Unfortunately, I'm growing with him.  I really was ok with the pregnancy weight until the last few weeks and now it is starting to get to me.  I'm just hoping that I don't have too much of a hard time losing the extra weight after I have him.

Otherwise there isn't a whole lot going on.  My focus this week is to work on finding a pediatrician and to get my pre-registration forms done for the hospital.  I also forgot until lastnight that I need to get the pre-certification from my insurance company.  If I get all of that done, maybe I'll make a few more calls around to child care providers.  I've spoken to a few, but so far they are all pretty high priced or they don't have any openings.  It just seems like there is so much to do to get ready for this little guy.

In non-baby news, it looks as if we are going to have some pretty nice weather this weekend which means hubby should be able to get the veggie garden planted.  I am so looking forward to fresh tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers this summer!

I never thought I would be saying it, but it is kinda nice to get back to the calmness of the office today.  This weekend was so busy I could barely catch my breath!

As soon as I got home Friday night, my hubby was ready to go do something.  He wanted to get out of the house, so we went out to eat and then stopped by our friends' house where we hung out the rest of the night.  We didn't leave there until about 1:00.  I barely got any sleep that night because my head was so stuffed up.

Saturday morning I woke up with puffy eyes and a huge headache.  I went back to bed for a while, then had to get up and shower so we could go tour the hospital.  The hospital tour went great.  I feel better about things now that I have seen the delivery rooms and know exactly where I'll be going.  Hubby was the most happy hearing that they have a food menu he can order off of whenever he wants to eat.  They also have a snack room that he can help himself to 24 hours a day.  As you can see, he was concerned with the really important stuff!  The hospital I am delivering in has a pretty nice maternity center.  Hopefully it won't be too bad of a stay.

After the hospital tour, we ran a couple errands and then found a neighborhood garage sale going on.  We stopped at a few of the sales hoping to find some useful baby stuff, but didn't have any luck.  We then headed home and I crashed on the couch for a couple hours.

Hubby woke me up around 5:30 and told me I better get ready for the Sarah McLachlan concert.  So, I got up and around and just as we were about to leave, my phone rang.  It was my friend Amy saying that she was in town for the night and wanted to get together.  Since we rarely get to see each other, we decided to meet up after the concert for a bit.  We went on to the concert which was wonderful.  There is just something about Sarah's music that gets to me.  She announced to the crowd that she had a bit of a cold, but I still thought she sounded great.  I really enjoyed the show and as reluctant as he was to admit it, hubby really enjoyed it too.  My only complaint was that it got a bit too hot and my seat got a bit too hard about halfway through the concert. 

After the show we headed over to Tanners to get some food and meet up with Amy and Lisa.  We sat there and visited with them until about 1:30 when we decided it was time to go home.  I was very glad that I had gotten a nap in, otherwise I would have been dead by that point. 

Sunday morning we had to get up to go to church after very little sleep.  We went to my dad's for our regular Sunday dinner, then hubby helped my dad set up a small vegetable garden in the back yard.  It ended up taking much longer than he had anticipated and we didn't get out of there until about 4:30.  On the way home we stopped by a friend's house and borrowed their tiller so we could start working on our own garden.  When we finally got home, hubby went out and tilled the garden up while I worked on laundry and cleaned up around the house a bit.  Finally, at about 8:00 we decided it was time to quit working and relax.  We were both exhausted by then so we just camped out in front of the tv for a bit. 

I'm still exhausted today, which means probably that very little will get done.  Hopefully I can catch up on some sleep tonight to make up for what I lost this weekend!