I'm trying to blog better. I thought I'd spice this up with a picture. This is not our firepit. But it is a firepit and I'm really happy we are getting a firepit this weekend.

Today we took our dog for a walk and the cat followed us the whole way. I love our pets. We were seriously considering for a while giving our cat to a(nother) good home....but we reconsidered. It looks like the meowing litle guy is staying with us. Yes he meows....yes he is strange...yes he is confused a lot...but who isn't, really.

Anyway...

Tomorrow is another doctor's appointment!!
Then Friday night we get to see our friend Whitney who has been living far away in Columbus, Ohio!!
Then Saturday we go to the farmer's market and our veggie co-op and run a few errands for a few upcoming weddings :)
Then after that we'll probably use that firepit.

Anyway....
I can't believe how much my life has changed. Baby coming, better job, eating better, fire pit...oh boy.

yesss

Last night's dinner was phenomenal.

Pork chops, baked potato with sour cream, extra sharp cheddar cheese chunks and butter, salad with cracked pepper ranch dressing, tomatoes and more extra sharp cheddar cheese, a fruit salad with raspberries, strawberries and peaches, and pork tenderloin marinated in Jamaican Jerk sauce.

So good.

This morning was buttermilk pancakes with strawberry sauce and eggs with ham and cheese and a decaf coffee and orange juice and toast, followed by a nice salad for lunch.

I love having a few good meals in a row. Not bad.

This was probably boring to read about....but these meals were so good, I just wanted them to last longer.

Routines?

I love going on walks.

Since we got the dog, we've been walking a lot more. It's such a good feeling just to be out, walking under giant trees, next to the water, or even just along sidewalks with different houses to look at.

When I get out of work, I like to walk. And walking is FREE. You really can't beat it.

I've been wanting to get out to Allegany, Letchworth, and/or Ellicottville just to walk around for a day. Who is with me??

Anyway - I like this routine I have. I think people are either for or against routines. I like sliding into routines....and if I can, I'll keep up with it.

I like waking up, sitting down for some breakfast, and just eating while looking out the window at the trees. It's so nice.

Then, I go to work, come home for lunch, go back to work and come back home for dinner, a walk, and some writing or hanging out or getting things done around the house....or all of that. And then on the weekends - anything goes. Plans or no plans, I still try to fit in something at least as fun as a walk. I can't wait to take the baby on walks. I really can't.

I know that my routine will undergo changes - a lot of changes - but for now I really like what I've got. It makes me happy. I guess that's all I wanted to say.

Thoughts.

"Don't eat the cat". I often find myself saying this to my dog. He then turns his head to his side and slowly walks away from the cat. The dog was, when I said this to him, stopped jaws-open slightly above the cats head. He never clamps down--but I don't let him think that far, either.

"Stop the noises....stop this at once!" I often find myself saying this to my cat. Especially at night. When he is in the bedroom at night, his main goal is to jump on our heads, meow loudly, and then claw at the windows as loudly as possible. When bored of this, which does not easily happen, he has an innate thirst to find something else to make noisy....anything. He will claw at the sheets, he will bat at the posts of the bed. When we take him out of the room, he spends most of the night clawing at the door, which is even better, because it is both noisy and consistent. He somehow never gets bored of that. Fancy that. Fancy cat.

Do I think this is good practice for having kids? I don't think I can compare the two. I think I'm probably going to be up all night every night until my eyes feel like they are going to fall out, and my hair will probably fall out in clumps as I will have no more time to shower and people will start calling me "Zombie-Woman Sally". I added "Sally" because they might forget my name, and "Sally" would be an easy nickname to make up, because clearly it was easy for me to make up just now.

Maybe I'll even wear a fanny pack for some reason.

I grew up with so many kids in the house my mom would forget who she was calling for halfway through calling out for us. "Jon-Mike-Dav-Court-ANDYYYYY". Maybe that will happen to me at one kid. Anything is possible. I did put the crackers in the dishwasher the other day. Maybe I should stop eating so many crackers.

But I don't care about the fact that my life is going to get pretty crazy...I'm too excited to care. I can't wait to hold my little G. Besides...I've had practice, right?

Happy housing

Home improvementing your house (and yes, I'm saying home improvementing because you are always doing something when you are improving your house somehow so I'd rather call it home improvementing because it makes more sense to me)....Anyway...as I was saying...

Home improvementing your house is like playing a game of dominoes.

Or Jenga.

Or any boardgame at all when your cat jumps in the middle of the board and everything goes flying everywhere.

Take your pick.

Anyway, this is just what I feel like, after trying a few things with our house...and hearing the stories of other hard working home improvementers....and of course after watching the classic movie The Moneypit with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.

We were going to paint the room for the baby. First, though, we had to take off the wallpaper from 1973 that was grasping tightly to the walls. Once this happened, we saw water damage. The water damage led us to see the roof was leaky.

I will break down what the plan WAS: take down wallpaper, paint room, and voila!

I will now break down what the plan MUST BE: take down wall paper [check], discover water damage [check], get the roof fixed [tomorrow?], get the walls fixed, get the walls painted, switch the floor (hot pink rugs from the previous owner....I'd rather have something slightly more neutral....especially because we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl yet)....add furniture and wall decals and voila!

Anyway - we shall see how this improvementing goes. Good luck to all of your improvement(ing)s.

And I call myself a person who blogs....

Well, I don't really call myself a person who blogs. But, maybe I should start, because maybe that would be a good enough reason for me to write more.

I could blame my pause on writing on many, many things. I'd rather just blame myself. It would be more honest of me. I DID buy a set of three very pretty Vera Bradley journals to write in during my period of non-writing in this blog....you know, I bought them so I could jot something down here and there....I gave one away, I kept one, and I lost one.

Then, I gave the one I kept for myself to Steve one night because we couldn't find any paper anywhere in the entire house and he had to go to the grocery store for more than 7 things and I read it's really hard for Americans to remember lists of more than 7 things because they're programed to remember things like phone numbers with 7 digits and blahblahblahblahblahblahblah but ANYWAY the point is I begrudgingly let him borrow that one pretty journal I had been journaling in (so to speak) and he promptly lost it.

The journal.

And we've been trying to save money so here I am...I don't have to buy a pretty journal when we have a COMPUTER. I'm being way more "green" this way. Way more "modern". Way more in touch with the world around me. Journaling is kind of like belonging to a clique of just you and yourself and whoever happily finds it and reads it just to see how weird you are. THIS way I can publish whatever I feel like and then more people can see how weird I am. It's way better this way, really.

Anyway, that's why I haven't been on here.

That and I've was busy quitting my job, getting a new way better job and also finding out I was pregnant.

Man I should have re-started my blogging months ago, as my life clearly got juicy and the only people I was telling were people I actually saw in person and a journal that was lost.

But, I blame myself. And now that the blaming part is all over and done with, I can move on and talk about whatever is on my mind.

Let's see......
hmm.....

Well, first off, being pregnant so far is something that I love. I love the eating (and I have actually been eating better than I normally eat, which makes me feel better, which makes me think I probably should have started eating better a long time ago but I am glad I am eating better now).

Also, I love the sleeping. I used to sleep like a bear, don't get me wrong, I would literally fall into a state of hibernation after work, especially in the winter: it would go --I'm home, get the flannel Jammies on, get my hot cocoa on, get my blankets on, get my sleep on. Anyway- now I'm still sleepy but I've always loved sleep sooo....it's a plus to feel sleepy when you like to sleep, that's basically what I'm saying here.

Thirdly, I love feeling the baby kick. It is the most amazing thing ever and it's great. I have noticed that there are kicks when I have something sweet, kicks when I am listening to fun music, kicks when I'm about to go to sleep, kicks kicks kicks. I like these kicks. I wonder if it means the baby will like to walk, or the baby will like ice cream, or the baby likes the same music I like...or maybe it just feels nice to stretch the ol' legs out every once in a while. Either way....I would agree with any person who ever said they liked it when the baby kicks (and they are pregnant).

Another thing I have noticed about being pregnant is that I get hot way easily. This never used to happen before! I was always so very cold, even sometimes in the summer.

Also I forget things a little bit. Like that crackers do not go into the freezer when you are putting them away and that soap is not shampoo. Little things like that. Not bad, though, keeps life pretty spicy.

Speaking of spicy (as in amazing), Steve and I have planted a flower AND vegetable garden and our house. It is very colorful and we actually "tend" to it. This is very, very great. We are also doing other home improvements....but maybe I could talk about those some other time.

Because right now, it's pretty close to my point of hibernation. So tired. My eyes...I can't...really...keep them open. I'm so dramatic. I'm just kinda tired. I think that's enough for my typing for one night.

So, have a good night, everybody. And...MAYBE...I will write again soon....

(I like the whole "ending with a cliff hanger" thing....when I'm writing, not when I'm reading, but I don't have to read this....but actually neither do you....anyway I should really go. Maybe I'll be back soon. That was my point. Maybe).

Night!