Burning Down The House...

Want to know what really caused this economic crisis? Watch!



(Youtube keeps having this video shut down... I hope it doesn't have to do with this fact that it places the blame of the current crisis completely on the shoulders of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama)

Blogs of Note...

Gidget Goes Home

also

Baby Cheapskate

please also see:

Mama Manifesto

Happy 100th Post!

Random thoughts for a Monday morning:
1) Dole Ruby Red Grapefruit juice is not nearly as good as any other grapefruit juice I have had. Overly sweet and not grapefruity enough. Bummer.
2) The snowbirds are back. This means more traffic in the morning and more traffic in the afternoon, all behind extremely slow drivers that are in the left lane with blinkers on the entire length of the 347. Why are the snowbirds here already? It is 101 degrees on the second to last day of September. Surely there is more comfortable weather elsewhere.
3) On that note, not only is it 101 degrees here in Phoenix at the tail end of September, but there is already a Christmas display set up at the Fry's grocery store close to my office. WTF!?!? And then it occurs to me - only 87 days until Christmas! And only 47 days until 99.9 KEZ starts playing Christmas music 24/7 on the radio.
4) While we are on the countdown theme, only 12 weeks until my Maternity leave starts. Perhaps I should contact the maternity HR rep so I can get the ball rolling on that whole thing.
5) Husband felt the baby kick for the first time on Saturday night. The initial response was a look of shock and delight. Now I just think he is slightly weirded out that I have a 2.5 pound small being the size of an eggplant beating the crap out of me from the inside out. Only 13 more weeks, little guy!
6) Hello 3rd Trimester!
7) Why will I need every last second of the next 12 weeks to be ready to be gone for 6 weeks from work?

MBA in Accounting? or just plain' ole MBA?

For the last, oh, long time, I've been working towards my MBA at the University of Phoenix. I picked Accounting because I was somewhat interested in taking a role as a Risk Analyst for my company, and I also picked accounting because it was the longest program and I wanted to postpone my student loans forever and ever. Regardless of what direction I opted for, University of Phoenix has me complete all my "regular MBA" courses first. I assume this is in the event that I lose steam and want to drop out, I will be closer to graduation and decide to stick around anyway.

Anyway - as of tomorrow, I will be starting what could potentially be my last class at the University of Phoenix. In 6 weeks, I will have completed all the necessary coursework to graduate with my MBA. If I want to stamp the Accounting specialization on after that, I have to take 6 more courses.

Here is my dilemma... I am so done with so school. I have taken to procrastinating quite badly lately. All I want to do when I get home after work is sleep - I really don't want to get online and contribute to group work and online discussions about business. Oh, and finally, I'm not so convinced that I want to work as a risk analyst any longer. I'm kind of a people person, and at times I worry that our risk analysts spend too much time with numbers and not enough time getting to know the customer. Of course, that is what I'm there for - to work with the customer. Not to say that I wouldn't change my mind at some point and want to work in risk - but even if do change my mind, the MBA in Accounting isn't a requirement, I would still be qualified for the job without it.

IF I decide to just cut it short to a plain ole' MBA, my last class would end November 5th. With Baby G arriving at the very end of December, that would give me 7 solid weeks of nothing being able to relax through the holiday season after work before our first child is gobbling up my attention.

So - why do I feel guilty? I want to be done and finished, but I feel like I'm letting someone else down. Will my children look down on me later in life for not having the accounting title strapped to my degree? Will husband and I buckle under the financial stress of having my student loans come due again in January instead of May?

My potential last class starts tomorrow - I better make up my mind, and fast! (although I feel like I have already made up my mind to just make this class the last one...)

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On a side note, I start my new Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) today. My company is awesome, and has rolled out a company wide initiative to allow for flexibility in scheduling. It has always been available, really, but they have officially rolled it out and training everyone on how to use the program. I was looking at doing 4x10's (four 10 hour work days with a 3 day weekend) but that would have been a bit much for me, and a bit of a strain on my team with one already out on maternity leave. For now my schedule is 9x9. I work nine 9 hour days, and then I have every other Friday off. My first "off" day will be October 3rd, along with the 17th and the 31st! Hooray for having Halloween off! Yay!

Excellence in Advertising...

I think I laughed for 3 hours straight after watching this commercial. GE needs to hire these guys :)



The Nesting Place has the most fabulously awesome Halloween decorating ideas up on their site! Can't it be Halloween already?!?! I'm so excited that it is on a Friday this year! I'll be dragging husband outside to hand out candy once again this year - hopefully we will get lots of trick-or-treaters! Check out the Nesting Place Halloween decorating ideas here.

And finally, why is it impossible for me to get someone to pull the weeds out of my damn backyard. I have called FIVE companies. FIVE of them. Four of them have not bothered responding, and 1 left me another voicemail saying they had to see my backyard to give me a quote. Give me an effing break. I described the situation down to the height and frequency of the weeds, and even gave the dimensions of my backyard. WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO KNOW!?!?! I don't need an exact dollar amount! I just want to make sure you aren't going to charge me $500.00 to pull these bushy weeds out of the ground. *Grumble*

On a happier note, I can now feel Baby G on the outside of my belly :) It totally caught me off guard - I had my arms crossed over my belly and felt a kick or a punch of some sort. My belly actually kind of poked out a bit. Weird!!!!! But it made me smile nonetheless! I can't wait to be able to predict it somewhat so I can show the Husband.

Finally - Greta interviewed The First Dude on her show tonight. What a great guy :) He seems very down to earth and really represents a typical working father. I continue to be excited for the republican ticket!

Pregnancy Health, House Cleaning, Nursery Decorating

Yesterday I mentioned that I had been waiting in the drive thru at Jack in the Box. It sort of struck me after re-reading my post this morning that this whole pregnancy has not turned out the way I wanted it to. I knew that while Baby G was in my womb, I had full control of what nutrition he would get by making sure I ate the same. I have to say that I'm pretty dissappointed in myself. I don't eat too atrociously, but I ate FAR healthier before getting pregnant. I have never in my life eaten out so much or exercised so little.

Of course, I'm not one to beat myself up over it either, but I wonder if I will send poor Baby G into shock if I correct my behavior now? How pissed will he be to be deprived of skillet burrito's from McDonald's?

And I haven't exercised one time since finding out I am pregnant. If I were to hop on a stationary bike and pedal for 20 minutes, well, I'm not even sure I could make it 20 minutes at this point. But if I could, what would happen? I'm pretty sure I would pass out and die, lol, and that certainly can't be good for the baby.

I know what most of you will say - ASK THE DOCTOR! I did. She said just take it easy and everything will be fine. Don't run any marathons, but taking a nice long walk around the neighborhood won't hurt anything.

So, since I will be one of those mother's that makes the "ewww, yucky" noise every time we pass a McDonalds or other fast food establishment as I pass baby carrots to my toddler with a nod of approval, I had better cut the little guy off from all this junk food now! Afterall, they say that if you want your baby to have a taste for brocolli, you should eat plenty of it while they are in the womb.

Today is a big house cleaning day! I'm feeling pumped and motivated to do some major cleaning. I'm going to give this Flylady business a try, but I still want to mostly have a clean house when starting it and then use the Flylady system to maintain. Can't wait to no longer be living in CHAOS :)

Finally, Husband's parents called yeterday to let us know they had picked up the crib. Extremely exciting! That has me in somewhat of a panic as I realize that I need to finally get things straightened out enough for the baby to have a place to sleep! And of course, there are many projects I will be undertaking for the nursery, such as decopaged lettering to spell out Baby G's name for a wall hanging.

Remind me to charge my camera so I can take pictures of all this as it progresses!

Forevermore...

I'm not sure if any of her other songs are any good, but Katie Herzig plasters a smile on my face with her song "Forevermore" off her album The Apple Tree:



If you don't have an imeem account I think it will only allow you to listen to a 30 second clip, but it is still a sweet song :)

And speaking of fun songs, I was waiting in the drive thru at Jack in the Box (excellent nutrition for the baby, I know) and the most awesome song came on the radio that I hadn't heard in such a long time - I couldn't help but turn my radio up full blast and start rocking out!



I got lots of interesting looks, but whatever, who cares about what uptight drive thru critics think.

Other silly songs that you must hear and love? How about Dragostea Din Tei by O-zone, a Moldovan group that was never really popular here in the US, but they totally should have been!



Happy Saturday, everyone - enjoy some happy Saturday music :)

Do you need to pray at work?

People say the damndest things.

Take for example, my appearance. At least 2 or 3 times a day, someone from my office comments on how tired I look. "Gosh, you sure look tired... are you getting enough sleep?" Well, no, but even when I do get enough sleep, I still look like this, so I guess I just look awful. But I'm fighting back. This morning I slapped some black eyeliner under my eyes so it will look like I stayed out partying all night by choice, not that I'm just poor tired pregnant lady.

And then at the ASU Football game on Saturday, a friends husband came by to say hello to us in the stands. It had been a few months since he had seen me, so I expected a comment on the size of my stomach. I did not, however, expect to hear "Oh my god, you've got gigantic cans!!" Ummm.../floored. I tried my best to be offended, but I just couldn't be. At least he didn't say "God, you sure do look tired."

My immune system is not holding up very well at the moment, and I've felt the crud creeping on for about 24 hours now. I'm tired, achey, congested and tired. Did I mention that I am tired? I wonder if I look tired? All of these things make this whole "working" thing really hard to suffer through. But I continue suffering like a trooper. According to an email I received from my friend Valerie, I need to pray at work. Do you need to pray at work? Here are some possible signs:

*If you have ever though about poisoning, choking, punching, or slapping someone that you work with
... you need to pray at work

*When you hear a co-worker call your name and the first thing that crosses your mind is, "What the h*&^ does she want now?" and you try to hide underneath your desk
... you need to pray at work

*When someone comes in an announces, "Office meeting in 5 minutes," and you think, "what the f*&% do they want now?"
... you need to pray at work

*When you take some vacation time and come back to find a mountain of paperwork sittong on your desk because no one else would do it and you think "Sorry A## M#$%^& F%&#S"
... you need to pray at work

*If you avoid saying more than hello or how are you doing to someone because you know it's going to lead to their whole f*&^$# life story
... you need to pray at work

*When your computer is mysteriously turned off and you want to say, "which on of you sons of b*&^%$# turned off my computer?"
... you need to pray at work

And since I am not a particularly religious person, I just keep counting the days until maternity leave starts and I can forget about this work place for a few months.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Pregnancy Update

Had an appointment today, and I must say it went well. My blood pressure was fine and baby G's heart was thudding along strongly at 165 beats per minute. Everything is moving along nicely, and I need to start thinking about the baby shower and all that will be involved with "Babygaiting 2008." Well, obviously it will involve football and beer - but I've got to do some planning, starting with the invitations. Since Baby G's nursery will be decorated in a Sport theme, I'm thinking we can get pretty "sporty" with the invitations. After all, the main theme of the baby shower is going to be the ASU football game! I bet I can find some nice scrapbook paper at Michaels and go from there.

The bug to fix up the house is getting worse. I need husband to install flooring (French Oak Laminate from Lumber Liquidators):


















And then I need my home to magically not be a cookier cutter typical AZ home. Everything I want to do makes zero sense, and since I'm having trouble identifying exactly how I want to decorate or what my style is, I tend to just freeze and do nothing. I really think my style tends to fall into the "Country Living" category, but does that really work in the Desert?

Any maybe country isn't the right term? Eclectic cozy? That sounds more like it...

Wake Me Up When September Ends...

If you asked me to name all 12 months in a calendar year, the month I would be most likely to forget is September. Not sure why - but between August and October, it seems like such an uneventful time of year. But, not this year. This year I'm paying attention. As I snuggle with a snoogle in my bedroom watching the RNC, I notice that the sun is setting much earlier. The air feels different, and my body seems to be relaxing as it is granted reprieve from the relentless Arizona heat. Ok, not really, it is still in the low 100's here, but it won't be for long.

This year, I'm noticing the little ones walking to and from the school (less than 1/2 a mile away from my front doorstep... CONVENIENT!!) in their new school clothes. I'm realizing that in not so many years my little man will be making that same trek.

This year I'm thinking about things like Halloween, and Halloween costumes for babies. I'm thinking about what kind of killer beef stew recipes I can whip up for my family that I should start practicing now so they are perfected by the time Baby G is eating solids with the rest of us. I'm thinking about how I can make my home a cozy comfy place to raise a family in. Do people "decorate" for the fall? Because I feel like decking my house out in orange, red and yellow leaves on top of various types of squash.

This weekend, we received our first gift for Baby G. Family friends from Tucson stopped by our home while we were off tailgating for the ASU game and dropped off a lovely assortment of onesies and receiving blankets from Carter's. I was so dissappointed to have missed them and appreciate the duds very much, as I'm sure Baby G will :)