I was reading my "week-by-week" pregnancy book a couple days ago and came across a part that gives you "safety tips" while pregnant. These are things you should be doing at all times to prevent accidents like falling down and running into things and the likes of which most of us don't do on a day-to-day basis but could possibly become prone to once pregnant. After reading the first tip, a light bulb came on. I had never thought of this! In fact, I had an incident last night because I was not doing precisely this! Are you ready for the golden nugget of widsom???
1. Keep your eyes open and always be aware of your surroundings.
I wonder how many pregnant women have missed this eye-opening (pun intended) fact!! Obviously, if they weren't following this tip, they would have missed it because you can't read if your eyes are shut. duh...Anytime I see a pregnant woman out and about, I'm going to approach her and, if she has her eyes open, congratulate her on reading this book. She's obviously taking all the right measures to ensure a safe, sound and accident-free pregnancy. I myself have been more attentive to what I'm doing and have mentally taken note of the fact that my eyes ARE open when I'm walking around and driving. Those could be the more dangerous times to NOT follow this tip. Last night, when we were walking back out to the car after seeing Seven Pounds I experienced the effects of not following the tip fully because I tripped on a hidden tree root in the grass and almost fell. This was after Waylon had just done it and I was about to begin laughing at him for not "paying attention to his surroundings". Then I had to point the finger to myself. I will do better though. Another tip was to always use handrails and walls when going down stairs or walking on walkways. I've taken extra care to make sure that everytime I go down or come up the stairs of my apartment, I am holding on to the rail. Who knows how many times it has saved mine and my baby's life!
ok, ok...all joking aside...there WERE some good tips in there, I was just a little taken aback by the first one. Obviously there are women who don't keep their eyes open at all times or pay attention to their surroundings or they wouldn't have felt the need to put that in there. I'd love to hear the story behind that...
In other news...without jinx-ing myself, I am on my 3rd day of being without nausea!! I'm so excited!! It has felt so great to not have to rush to the kitchen and eat as soon as my stomach starts feeling queesy, or worry about going anywhere for fear that I will get hungry and start getting sick. I've also, believe it or not, gotten a little tired of laying down all the time. I mean, I love to sleep and lounge around, but it really does get old after a while. So today and yesterday even, I've actually gotten some cleaning and organizing done. It felt pretty good! There have been some major areas in our apartment that have been needing organizing and cleaning out. I haven't got it all done by any means but I've started, which feels good. I can do a little each day and feel like I accomplished something other than being a sick pregnant lady.
Yesterday I went to lunch with my friend Stefanie and we ate at Jason's Deli which is always good then went to Barnes & Noble to spend my gift card that I got from my aunt-in-law for Christmas. First of all, I have to say that B&N is one of my most FAVORITE places to go!! I could literally spend hours there. Needless to say, I was pretty stinking excited about getting to spend $20 there. We walked around for a while browsing and looking at all sorts of stuff. Then I settled into the section that currently has my interest: pregnancy. We looked through several books and pregnancy journals and stuff and I finally settled on getting this adorable journal called "The Belly Book". The edge of it is even rounded, shaped like a pregnant belly. It's a journal strictly for the 9 months of pregnancy with spots for belly pictures as it grows, sonogram pictures and lots of places to fill stuff in about cravings, aversions, mood, energy level, family experiences and many other things. I really liked it and have already filled lots of stuff out. I am going to put the sonogram pictures in today in their little spots. It's fun to finally have a book I can put pictures and stuff in. I'm really looking forward to getting bigger and feeling the baby move. Tuesday I go back for my 3rd appointment and will get to hear the heartbeat again. This time Waylon will go with me so he'll get to hear it too. I'm definitely getting more emotional so I predict I will probably shed a couple of tears of joy this time. I've been getting choked up over the smallest, silliest things lately. It's really been in the past couple of weeks that the emotional thing has hit. We went and saw three very emotional movies this week: Valkyrie, The Curious Case of Benjamine Button and Seven Pounds. I cried in all of them but I think the one that got me the most was Benjamine Button. I won't give it away or anything but the end had me almost sobbing! If I hadn't been with Waylon and my uncle Jamie, I probably would have completely lost it! It's been a long time since a movie has had that kind of effect on me. Anyways, if want a nice long drama with a lot of crying moments, go see Benjamine Button. It was very good.
It's almost 1:30 and I expect Waylon will be getting home from work soon so I want to go get my shower in. We have a party to go to tonight and I still have to go to the store and get the drinks and some sparkling cider and grape juice. I'm looking forward to spending some fun times with friends. Hope all of you have fun, safe New Year's plans!
love,
Steph
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
oh the merriment of the holiday season!
I'm finally back writing another blog. It feels like forever since my last one! Well, this Christmas has definitely been a different one than any other I've ever had. I guess that goes for our entire family. Don't get me wrong, it's not different in a bad way, just different, which I knew would be the case since this is our first married Christmas together. This year, my parents drove up to Massachussettes to be with my sister and her family, which was great for them. They are still up there this week. I know my sister really enjoys having them there and my parents love going up and spending time with their oldest daughter and grandaughters. Waylon and I drove over to Cross Plains, which is a really small town, to be with his parents and grandparents. It was a really good time. We drove down Wednesday afternoon after Waylon got off work and came back Friday afternoon. Since there isn't much in that town to do, we got to relax and spend lots of time with his family with no distractions of the big city. I did feel nauseous a lot and had to lay down a lot but I still enjoyed it. We got to see Waylon's dad for the first time since October when he was in the motorcycle wreck. He's recovering very well and looks so much better than he did in the hospital. He has had a little bit of memory loss and has a difficult time remembering short term stuff but the doctors say this is normal when serious head traumas and that he will recover in 18-24 months. It sounds like a long time but at least there is hope that this will not be a permanent problem. He was in great spirits though for someone recovering from such a serious wreck.
On the pregnancy front things have been chuggin' along. I'd love to say that I haven't had a lot of nausea but that would be a lie. Lately (the past 3 weeks or so), I've started getting severe nausea in the evenings accompanied by bad headaches. I've had to cancel plans with friends and stay in bed due to this which is not cool at all. I'm ready for this symptom to go away, I'll admit. I also got really dizzy the other night and started blacking out. This was due to my hunger at midnight and I think I got out of the bed too fast to go to the kitchen. I've never had to eat so much in my life! I feel like that's all I do!! Normally I would love this, I love to eat. However, there hasn't been a lot of food that has sounded good so I've had to eat constantly but without having the desire for anything in particular. That's super frustrating. Also, I can't eat a lot at once so I'm having a lot of left overs when I order food or fix myself stuff. I hope the eating levels out and I get some sort of plan figured out and find some foods that are always appealing to me. I'm almost out of my first trimester which is a relief because there's a lot less danger of losing the baby after that. I'm also looking forward to the feeling better part. We have a trip to Orlando coming up in three weeks through my school with the cheerleaders and I really want to be feeling good during that trip. I don't want to be having nausea and headaches all week, that's for sure. I won't be able to ride very many rides, but it will still be fun. Waylon gets to go too and he is going to have a blast at all the parks, getting to ride all the rides there. I'm just excited to get to see him have a lot of fun!
This coming Friday my friend Renay is going to be induced into labor. Renay and I have been friends for several years and she's having her first baby and it's a girl! I love the name she picked: Claire Jordyn. I think it's perfect. I can't wait to see her baby and am looking forward to going over there this coming Friday and being there for all the excitement. This will definitely give me a jolt of excitement for my coming baby!
One thing I've had a lot of lately is apathy towards cleaning my house. It's a complete mess and I just can't muster up enough care to do anything about it! I have done a few loads of dishes in the kitchen but I can't seem to get anything else done! It's really frustrating because I know I'm going to want to be coming home to a clean apartment next week when I'm back in school, but that just doesn't seem to register in the motivational part of my brain. ugh...
Tonight I'm going to try to go to my Monday night Mary Kay meeting. I haven't been to one in weeks, pretty much since right before I found out I was pregnant. I hadn't been feeling good so I missed a couple, then I found out I was pregnant and continued to feel sick in the evenings and super tired so I just haven't made it back. I feel really bad and I do miss all the ladies there. Tonight is casual night and we're having a guy come speak about how to file your taxes so I really need to be there to learn all this. I'm just worried I'm going to get sick and have to leave or not get to go at all. Let's hope for the best!
Well, I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and that the New Years greets everyone with happiness! I'm going to a party Wednesday night at my friend's Stef and Jared's house. Looking forward to it and hoping for a night of feeling good! (read: no nausea or headaches!!) Don't worry, there will be no alcohol at this party, we are among Christian friends and it will be a games and hanging out type of party.
I'm going to sign off now and probably make a trip to the library to return a book and get a new one. Have a great week and thanks for reading!
love,
Steph + 1
On the pregnancy front things have been chuggin' along. I'd love to say that I haven't had a lot of nausea but that would be a lie. Lately (the past 3 weeks or so), I've started getting severe nausea in the evenings accompanied by bad headaches. I've had to cancel plans with friends and stay in bed due to this which is not cool at all. I'm ready for this symptom to go away, I'll admit. I also got really dizzy the other night and started blacking out. This was due to my hunger at midnight and I think I got out of the bed too fast to go to the kitchen. I've never had to eat so much in my life! I feel like that's all I do!! Normally I would love this, I love to eat. However, there hasn't been a lot of food that has sounded good so I've had to eat constantly but without having the desire for anything in particular. That's super frustrating. Also, I can't eat a lot at once so I'm having a lot of left overs when I order food or fix myself stuff. I hope the eating levels out and I get some sort of plan figured out and find some foods that are always appealing to me. I'm almost out of my first trimester which is a relief because there's a lot less danger of losing the baby after that. I'm also looking forward to the feeling better part. We have a trip to Orlando coming up in three weeks through my school with the cheerleaders and I really want to be feeling good during that trip. I don't want to be having nausea and headaches all week, that's for sure. I won't be able to ride very many rides, but it will still be fun. Waylon gets to go too and he is going to have a blast at all the parks, getting to ride all the rides there. I'm just excited to get to see him have a lot of fun!
This coming Friday my friend Renay is going to be induced into labor. Renay and I have been friends for several years and she's having her first baby and it's a girl! I love the name she picked: Claire Jordyn. I think it's perfect. I can't wait to see her baby and am looking forward to going over there this coming Friday and being there for all the excitement. This will definitely give me a jolt of excitement for my coming baby!
One thing I've had a lot of lately is apathy towards cleaning my house. It's a complete mess and I just can't muster up enough care to do anything about it! I have done a few loads of dishes in the kitchen but I can't seem to get anything else done! It's really frustrating because I know I'm going to want to be coming home to a clean apartment next week when I'm back in school, but that just doesn't seem to register in the motivational part of my brain. ugh...
Tonight I'm going to try to go to my Monday night Mary Kay meeting. I haven't been to one in weeks, pretty much since right before I found out I was pregnant. I hadn't been feeling good so I missed a couple, then I found out I was pregnant and continued to feel sick in the evenings and super tired so I just haven't made it back. I feel really bad and I do miss all the ladies there. Tonight is casual night and we're having a guy come speak about how to file your taxes so I really need to be there to learn all this. I'm just worried I'm going to get sick and have to leave or not get to go at all. Let's hope for the best!
Well, I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and that the New Years greets everyone with happiness! I'm going to a party Wednesday night at my friend's Stef and Jared's house. Looking forward to it and hoping for a night of feeling good! (read: no nausea or headaches!!) Don't worry, there will be no alcohol at this party, we are among Christian friends and it will be a games and hanging out type of party.
I'm going to sign off now and probably make a trip to the library to return a book and get a new one. Have a great week and thanks for reading!
love,
Steph + 1
Friday, December 19, 2008
quick-pre-Christmas update
Just wanted to check in with "all" my readers and give a little update before the holidays. Today was officially my last day of work for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!! It was such a relief when I walked out of my classroom today. Not that the past few days has been difficult as we've been watching a Spanish movie. Still though, I was ready to not be there anymore. So this afternoon I went to lunch with a friend and then met my mom and went Christmas shopping. I bought the first gifts I've bought all year for my niece Katelyn and my brother-in-law Mike. I still have to get a gift for Madelyn, my other niece and get my sister's stuff wrapped. After I get all that done, I'll be able to shop for everyone else. Shopping normally wears me out but today I was so exhausted by the time we got done with our 2 hour shopping trip. I couldn't believe how tired I got and how quickly. Now we have to go to practice at Church for our Christmas service Sunday which will be great, I'm just tired and not in the most spirited mood for it. I also have the Woolbright Christmas celebration all day tomorrow and it's in Sachse which is almost an hour away so that will probably be an exhausting day also. I'm ready for Monday when I don't have to really do anything or go anywhere.
The belly is still growing and I'm really starting to feel just plain ole' fat. I've also been having some bloating and crampy feelings in my stomach which feels awesome of course. At the end of my work day I'm exhausted, grumpy, usually have a headache and just want to sleep. Yesterday I got home feeling aweful and got in bed in my work clothes and slept for 2 hours. It felt really good. I guess I'm going to have to start taking more naps.
Well, I'm going to stop here because I need to print some music off for practice tonight and run by Walmart to get some stuff done. Hope everyone has an awesome Christmas!!!
Love,
Steph
The belly is still growing and I'm really starting to feel just plain ole' fat. I've also been having some bloating and crampy feelings in my stomach which feels awesome of course. At the end of my work day I'm exhausted, grumpy, usually have a headache and just want to sleep. Yesterday I got home feeling aweful and got in bed in my work clothes and slept for 2 hours. It felt really good. I guess I'm going to have to start taking more naps.
Well, I'm going to stop here because I need to print some music off for practice tonight and run by Walmart to get some stuff done. Hope everyone has an awesome Christmas!!!
Love,
Steph
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Already showing???
So I (and many others who have enjoyed pointing this out) have noticed lately my growing belly. Now, everything I've read so far indicates that I should not be showing yet, however, my body is singing (or growing) a different tune!! The first picture is me at 5 weeks right after I found out. The second picture was today; I'm in my 10th week. I know some of it is fat, but I really haven't been eating more than normally, AND I've actually LOST weight from before I was pregnant. So...that being said...WHAT THE HECK???! How is my stomach already so large??? Any thoughts??
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Baby update!
I had my second appointment today (I'm in my 9th week) and it went very well! I got to hear the little heart beat!! I was so excited!! I wanted to start crying but I held it together! It was so amazing hearing my baby's heart beating right inside my belly. I couldn't believe how it made me feel. Then I got to have another ultra sound and actually SEE the heart beat! It was awesome! I don't have the new ultra sound picture scanned into the computer yet so I'll have to post it later but there's a lot more to see now, although it's still a little peanut! It's amazing and awesome how life forms and so exciting to see each stage of life forming. I also found out that I should know by my 17th week what the sex of the baby is. My doctor was very nice and personable and I think I'm going to like her. I just can't wait to know what I'm having!! It will be so exciting to know and be able to start calling it by it's name. Which brings me to my next update: we have boy and girl names!! Since there are so many pregnant people around me I'm going to go ahead and announce them so that no one steals mine! lol. jk, but seriously, I don't want any awkwardness in the future weeks if me and someone else came out with our names at the same time and we had the same name picked out. Anyways, without any further ado:
Boy - Julian Bryce
Girl - Brooklyn Alivia
Now, I'm not saying these are set in STONE but I'm pretty sure I love them both! The only reason I would change either of them would be if I came across a name that I loved even more and just KNEW it had to be that one. So let me know what you think of my names!
Nothing else that interesting going on in our life here. Work is work and I'm already ready for Christmas break! It's so cold and windy today I felt like I might die from hypothermia walking to my car tonight after the basketball game at my school!
Hope everyone is enjoying the cold weather wherever you are!! Merry Christmas Shopping!! :)
love,
Steph excited mom-to-be
Boy - Julian Bryce
Girl - Brooklyn Alivia
Now, I'm not saying these are set in STONE but I'm pretty sure I love them both! The only reason I would change either of them would be if I came across a name that I loved even more and just KNEW it had to be that one. So let me know what you think of my names!
Nothing else that interesting going on in our life here. Work is work and I'm already ready for Christmas break! It's so cold and windy today I felt like I might die from hypothermia walking to my car tonight after the basketball game at my school!
Hope everyone is enjoying the cold weather wherever you are!! Merry Christmas Shopping!! :)
love,
Steph excited mom-to-be
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
back at school
I'm happy to inform everyone that my time back at work has NOT ben nausea-filled! It's been tons better than I expected! Not that I haven't had nausea, oh, I HAVE...but it's not near as bad as it was last week. I guess staying busy all day and having my mind on work keeps the nausea abated. It does flare up though when my stomach starts getting empty so I pull out the ritz crackers or saltines or triscuits (whichever I have on hand at the time) and eat a few and it goes away after a while. I have had to sit a lot while teaching because I'm still getting out of breath and tired after standing for long periods of time. I'm just so relieved that it hasn't been miserable all week. I've already made it through half! yay!
I heard that when you're pregnant, you have more vivid dreams and they get kinda crazy. Well, lately I've definitely been having some vivid dreams and they are kind cooky. A few nights ago I dreamt that I applied for an office job at a hospital (during the school year, mind you, while I was still teaching) and was offered it and was planning on quitting teaching in the middle of the school year to take this hospital job which doesn't pay half as much. In the dream, Waylon kept asking me how they could offer me a job after only having one interview...it seemed to be something he just could not understand. It was really random and wierd and when I woke up from it I felt kind of panicky wondering if I had REALLY gone and done that. Last followed up with another great dream! I actually had my baby. For half of the dream my baby was a girl and I hate to say it but she was a really ugly baby!! I'm talking she had this HUGE abnormally bushy uni-brow!! In my dream I was so embarassed I didn't want to take her out in public b/c everyone would stare and I would just say "yes, I know my baby is ugly." It was aweful!! I remember thinking "I can't believe I had an ugly baby...I mean, where did it get that uni-brow from??!!" Then, midway through my dream, the baby turned into a normal looking baby boy! The wierd part is, I was aware of the change and was relieved it was normal looking! lol. Then I would take the baby out with me to run errands but leave it alone in public places and then realize I had left it and start panicking while trying to find it again. It was a very disturbing and crazy dream. I don't even know if I should be writing about it...but here I am, writing about it. Anyways, I just need one night of normal dreams after that! PLEASE!!!
Another thing that disrupted my sleep last night was Waylon getting up at 2am to throw up and have stomach issues. It felt like it lasted forever and then when he finally came back to bed, he left our door open and the hall light on. I couldn't fall back to sleep for a very long time after that. Needless to say, I'm really tired tonight and very ready to hit the sack and fall to sleep quickly.
I'm going to cut out here because my eyelids are wanting to close. Hope everyone has a great week and upcoming weekend!
love,
Steph
I heard that when you're pregnant, you have more vivid dreams and they get kinda crazy. Well, lately I've definitely been having some vivid dreams and they are kind cooky. A few nights ago I dreamt that I applied for an office job at a hospital (during the school year, mind you, while I was still teaching) and was offered it and was planning on quitting teaching in the middle of the school year to take this hospital job which doesn't pay half as much. In the dream, Waylon kept asking me how they could offer me a job after only having one interview...it seemed to be something he just could not understand. It was really random and wierd and when I woke up from it I felt kind of panicky wondering if I had REALLY gone and done that. Last followed up with another great dream! I actually had my baby. For half of the dream my baby was a girl and I hate to say it but she was a really ugly baby!! I'm talking she had this HUGE abnormally bushy uni-brow!! In my dream I was so embarassed I didn't want to take her out in public b/c everyone would stare and I would just say "yes, I know my baby is ugly." It was aweful!! I remember thinking "I can't believe I had an ugly baby...I mean, where did it get that uni-brow from??!!" Then, midway through my dream, the baby turned into a normal looking baby boy! The wierd part is, I was aware of the change and was relieved it was normal looking! lol. Then I would take the baby out with me to run errands but leave it alone in public places and then realize I had left it and start panicking while trying to find it again. It was a very disturbing and crazy dream. I don't even know if I should be writing about it...but here I am, writing about it. Anyways, I just need one night of normal dreams after that! PLEASE!!!
Another thing that disrupted my sleep last night was Waylon getting up at 2am to throw up and have stomach issues. It felt like it lasted forever and then when he finally came back to bed, he left our door open and the hall light on. I couldn't fall back to sleep for a very long time after that. Needless to say, I'm really tired tonight and very ready to hit the sack and fall to sleep quickly.
I'm going to cut out here because my eyelids are wanting to close. Hope everyone has a great week and upcoming weekend!
love,
Steph
Sunday, November 30, 2008
My pseudo-Thanksgiving post...with an update on other stuff too
Lest you think I'm not thankful because of my lack of a "Thanksgiving post", I actually spent a long time Friday typing one up, even posted a cute picture of Waylon and I after decorating our Christmas tree and then when I clicked on "publish post" it said there was an error and to hit the back button on my computer. So I did that and yea, the whole post was gone! I was so irritated I just decided not do retype it. So now I'm going to do a pseudo-thanksgiving with other stuff post.
Our Thanksgiving did go very well. We went down to Waco to spend the day with Waylon's extended family. We had a great time. There was TONS of food and lots of people too. I did feel sick for a good portion of the day but since we were at a good sized home, I was able to lie down a lot. That helped. It was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple and I really enjoyed it. We spend Wednesday night with my parents for Thanksgiving and just went out to eat. That DIDN'T go so well for me as far as eating went. We went to On the Border and I did fine eating chips and salsa and tortillas. When our plate got there, it was a different story. I took one bite of my cheese quesadilla and my stomach churned and I knew there would be no enjoying that meal. I ate tortillas for the rest of the evening and it was downhill from there. We went back to my parents where I curled up on the couch with some pillows and a blanket and watched a movie on my brother's laptop. I felt a lot better after lying down, but felt really bad for being such a downer at our Thanksgiving time with my family.
I have to say that as far as my pregnancy goes, this week has been the worst in terms of how I have felt physically. I have had nausea for most of the day, everyday and have had to stay in bed a lot. As much as I like sleep, I was really looking forward to this week off to do a little Christmas shopping and buy a few more decorations for my house for Christmas and really get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy Thanksgiving day. While I DID enjoy having this week off, I felt yucky most of the time. I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow. If I had an office job, it would be much easier to face. I could go in, sit at my desk and work at my own pace and not worry about other people. As a teacher, I have to be "on" all day, keeping kids attention and dealing with mis-behavior. I don't see that working out well for me while being nauseous and tired all day. This will be a big test of my fortitude. I suspect I'll be puney and pathetic though, unfortunately. One thing I do know: if they DO try to give me trouble, they're going to be spending a lot of time in the office because I don't have the energy to fight with them right now. It'll just be out with the trouble-makers. One thing I've found to help the nausea is eating. constantly. I'm not used to that so I have been having to scrounge around the house to find things to eat when the nausea sets in. Tonight I went to Walmart with my mom and picked up a lot of food. I got a lot of fruit because that's what's been sounding good to me. I've already eating a plum and an orange. I hope the fruit will fix another problem I have been having lately...that I won't go into detail about. :) (you're welcome) On top of the pregnancy sickness I've also come down with a bad cold. I've had sinus congestions, sneezing, coughing, headache and sore throat. The only thing my doctor will let me take, Sudafed, doesn't seem to do much for me. That has made me feel worse I think than I would have if I had only had the pregnancy symptoms.
Amidst all my sickness, Waylon has come down with the flu. He woke up last night around 3:30am and he had it coming out of both ends. sorry the the TMI...So we're just a pathetic couple of people right now. He's still having issues tonight, though no vomiting. I feel for him...it was horrible sounding last night - like he was being tortured while throwing up. I had never heard anything like it. (not that I've heard tons of people throwing up or anything)
To make all matters "better" we're down to one car right now because Waylon's car broke down last Sunday and we still don't have it fixed. It's supposedly going to cost around $1000 to do so. We're contemplating fixing it or just getting another cheap car. We paid $1500 for the car so I feel like $1000 to fix a car that we only paid $1500 for would be like buying the car all over again. It's frustrating and I don't know what we're going to do about it but we do have some friends who have a truck they aren't using that's in really good condition so I think we're going to use it until we can either get Waylon's car fixed or get another car.
Right now I just want to get through the next three weeks of school and then we have our 2 week Christmas break. I'm REALLY looking forward to that! Hopefully I won't be as sick during that break - that would be nice to be able to enjoy it a little more. I'll be nearing the end of my first trimester (Praise the Lord!!!) and will be looking forward to having more energy and less sickness...and finally seeing my belly grow from the baby and not from the food I'm eating. :)
Well, I'm going to stop here. I need to get ready for bed and prepare myself mentally for tomorrow. yuck.
Hope everyone had a wonderful week of Thanksgiving!!
love,
Steph
Our Thanksgiving did go very well. We went down to Waco to spend the day with Waylon's extended family. We had a great time. There was TONS of food and lots of people too. I did feel sick for a good portion of the day but since we were at a good sized home, I was able to lie down a lot. That helped. It was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple and I really enjoyed it. We spend Wednesday night with my parents for Thanksgiving and just went out to eat. That DIDN'T go so well for me as far as eating went. We went to On the Border and I did fine eating chips and salsa and tortillas. When our plate got there, it was a different story. I took one bite of my cheese quesadilla and my stomach churned and I knew there would be no enjoying that meal. I ate tortillas for the rest of the evening and it was downhill from there. We went back to my parents where I curled up on the couch with some pillows and a blanket and watched a movie on my brother's laptop. I felt a lot better after lying down, but felt really bad for being such a downer at our Thanksgiving time with my family.
I have to say that as far as my pregnancy goes, this week has been the worst in terms of how I have felt physically. I have had nausea for most of the day, everyday and have had to stay in bed a lot. As much as I like sleep, I was really looking forward to this week off to do a little Christmas shopping and buy a few more decorations for my house for Christmas and really get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy Thanksgiving day. While I DID enjoy having this week off, I felt yucky most of the time. I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow. If I had an office job, it would be much easier to face. I could go in, sit at my desk and work at my own pace and not worry about other people. As a teacher, I have to be "on" all day, keeping kids attention and dealing with mis-behavior. I don't see that working out well for me while being nauseous and tired all day. This will be a big test of my fortitude. I suspect I'll be puney and pathetic though, unfortunately. One thing I do know: if they DO try to give me trouble, they're going to be spending a lot of time in the office because I don't have the energy to fight with them right now. It'll just be out with the trouble-makers. One thing I've found to help the nausea is eating. constantly. I'm not used to that so I have been having to scrounge around the house to find things to eat when the nausea sets in. Tonight I went to Walmart with my mom and picked up a lot of food. I got a lot of fruit because that's what's been sounding good to me. I've already eating a plum and an orange. I hope the fruit will fix another problem I have been having lately...that I won't go into detail about. :) (you're welcome) On top of the pregnancy sickness I've also come down with a bad cold. I've had sinus congestions, sneezing, coughing, headache and sore throat. The only thing my doctor will let me take, Sudafed, doesn't seem to do much for me. That has made me feel worse I think than I would have if I had only had the pregnancy symptoms.
Amidst all my sickness, Waylon has come down with the flu. He woke up last night around 3:30am and he had it coming out of both ends. sorry the the TMI...So we're just a pathetic couple of people right now. He's still having issues tonight, though no vomiting. I feel for him...it was horrible sounding last night - like he was being tortured while throwing up. I had never heard anything like it. (not that I've heard tons of people throwing up or anything)
To make all matters "better" we're down to one car right now because Waylon's car broke down last Sunday and we still don't have it fixed. It's supposedly going to cost around $1000 to do so. We're contemplating fixing it or just getting another cheap car. We paid $1500 for the car so I feel like $1000 to fix a car that we only paid $1500 for would be like buying the car all over again. It's frustrating and I don't know what we're going to do about it but we do have some friends who have a truck they aren't using that's in really good condition so I think we're going to use it until we can either get Waylon's car fixed or get another car.
Right now I just want to get through the next three weeks of school and then we have our 2 week Christmas break. I'm REALLY looking forward to that! Hopefully I won't be as sick during that break - that would be nice to be able to enjoy it a little more. I'll be nearing the end of my first trimester (Praise the Lord!!!) and will be looking forward to having more energy and less sickness...and finally seeing my belly grow from the baby and not from the food I'm eating. :)
Well, I'm going to stop here. I need to get ready for bed and prepare myself mentally for tomorrow. yuck.
Hope everyone had a wonderful week of Thanksgiving!!
love,
Steph
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
the calm before the storm
Today I woke up when Waylon was leaving to go to work and decided that no matter how bad I felt, I was going to get some stuff done around the house. It is a mess and it's depressing me to be here in this state. So I got up and puttered around the house for a bit - checking my email and all other online stuff, taking Rowf out to potty, etc - then went to Dunkin Donuts to get me some breakfast. We were out of milk here so cereal was out of the running. I was feeling a bit queezy before leaving to DD's for breakfast but after I got home and ate my sesame bagel w/ chive cream cheese (mmmmm!!! My FAVORITE!!) I was feeling quite good! I decided that while I was feeling this good I would tackle our bedroom and get as much done as quickly as possible before the nausea set in. Thus my title "the calm before the storm" - hoping this calm stays for a while before the next storm of nausea hits.
It was a little overwhelming to start with b/c our clothes (clean and dirty) were strewn about the entire room and I literally had to pick things up and smell them to decide if they needed to be washed or just put up. I know, that's disgusting and such bad house keeping. Unfortunately, my husband and I both have the bad habit of not putting our clothes up after we wear them or after they are washed. Well, I got everything put up or put in a laundry bin and I even vaccumed!! My mom would be proud of that! I never vaccuum. I hate it. So does Rowf. He saw me wheel it out of the closet it stays in and off he ran to hide. He's such a brave dog...
after that, I decided I had to get my fake nails off. I've kept up my nails for quite a few months and have enjoyed having the acrylic nails and having my hands always look nice, but the excitement of that has gone away. I desperately have been wanting them off as they have gotten too long and for some reason they just suddenly annoyed the heck out of me! So I sat down in the bathroom with the trash between my legs and a fingernail clipper and began the painful process of taking them off. Ouch!! It hurt REALLY bad! I got them all off though and my hands are grateful for it! Typing is so much easier and faster! Although my nails now look horrible and scratched and weak, they will grow and soon I won't even be able to tell. Either way, it's a relief to have them off. :)
Now I have to decide which room to clean next. I'm still not feeling nauseaus so I want to continue cleaning until I absolutely cannot do it anymore. I think I'll do the kitchen first because for some reason, if the kitchen is messy, the whole house feels messy. Plus, it's easy, I just put everything into the dish washer!! After that I'll probably clean the living room then my office. This saturday I'm having my Mary Kay Holiday Open House. I sent out invitation post cards to it this past weekend and am hoping my customers will be calling to set up shopping appointments. What I'm doing is basically opening my house as a Mary Kay store and letting all my customers come during their own scheduled shopping appointment and have hassle free Christmas shopping. I'll have all the newest products on display for everyone to see and try and I offer free gift wrapping and delivery. They also get to use any Christmas bucks they earned from previous purchases (they earn 1 for every $10 they spend with me throughout the year). Some women have like 40 Christmas bucks!! I hope they come so they can spend it! I'm also a little worried that no one will come. Since it is the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the weekend of black Friday I have a feeling they will all be shopping elsewhere. I may have to pick a different weekend to do this next year. We'll see how it goes. This is part of the reason why I HAVE to get my house cleaned too.
Last night I got completely caught up with Heroes and I even watched an episode of Chuck. I think I'll have to get the first season on DVD of Chuck and watch that, it's very funny and cute. I have to really be careful because I get so addicted to television shows. I would rather sit and watch several episodes of a TV show than a movie. I think TV shows are getting better than the movies being produced these days. The plots are more interesting, the characters are better, the acting is great. In fact, I was thinking after seeing the movie Twilight, they should have made it a TV series instead of a movie. I know they probably make WAY more money as a movie, but the TV series would have been better, more involved and would have been able to include every aspect of the book in it. I would have really enjoyed the series. They could even make it a miniseries for each book and not have to run it for an entire season. They could also market it so that you had to buy it or something or rent only and not show it on TV so they could make more money. I don't know, it just seemed like they could have done more with it. I guess I'm just biased to TV shows. I love them! Right now, the shows I make sure to keep up with are Grey's Anatomy, the Office and now Heroes since I've watched all episodes online. I missed the beginning of Prison Break so I'm going to have to wait for it to come out on DVD to watch it b/c their website only has the 3 most recent episdoes available for viewing so I can't watch it from the beginning. That's my other favorite show that I've watched in the past.
I did get some bad news today. On Sunday, Waylon's car broke down on the way to a shooting range so he had it towed to a nearby shop and they looked at it yesterday and called him today. The problem is a blown head gasket which apparently will cost anywhere from $800-$1000. We don't have this kind of money laying around obviously so I don't know what we're going to do. He is going to be using my car this week since I'm out of school and next week he will have to take me to work first then go to his work. Thankfully they just changed his hours to where he goes in at 9 so he will be able to take me to work first and make it to his work in time. He also gets off work before me so he will be able to pick me up when I'm done with school. I know lots of people survive with only one vehicle and we can do it for a while at least, it's just hard after you've gotten used to having two cars and being able to go do whatever with your car and not having to think about it. Now we will have to plan everything out for the use of our car. So far financially we've been getting by just fine, God has been making our money stretch in ways I didn't know it could. We haven't gone without anything we have needed and have had things above and beyond what we need. I know he will get us through this also. Waylon's car isn't worth the $1000 it would take to repair it but we also don't have any extra money sitting around right now. We would have to save up just to get another $1600 car which is what Waylon paid for the car he has now. I know something will work out, we just have to pray and look for God to open a door or provide for us like He always does.
Well, I better get back to housekeeping before I get to feeling sick again. Thanks for reading and I hope all are having a great week of pre-thanksgiving planning!
love,
Steph
It was a little overwhelming to start with b/c our clothes (clean and dirty) were strewn about the entire room and I literally had to pick things up and smell them to decide if they needed to be washed or just put up. I know, that's disgusting and such bad house keeping. Unfortunately, my husband and I both have the bad habit of not putting our clothes up after we wear them or after they are washed. Well, I got everything put up or put in a laundry bin and I even vaccumed!! My mom would be proud of that! I never vaccuum. I hate it. So does Rowf. He saw me wheel it out of the closet it stays in and off he ran to hide. He's such a brave dog...
after that, I decided I had to get my fake nails off. I've kept up my nails for quite a few months and have enjoyed having the acrylic nails and having my hands always look nice, but the excitement of that has gone away. I desperately have been wanting them off as they have gotten too long and for some reason they just suddenly annoyed the heck out of me! So I sat down in the bathroom with the trash between my legs and a fingernail clipper and began the painful process of taking them off. Ouch!! It hurt REALLY bad! I got them all off though and my hands are grateful for it! Typing is so much easier and faster! Although my nails now look horrible and scratched and weak, they will grow and soon I won't even be able to tell. Either way, it's a relief to have them off. :)
Now I have to decide which room to clean next. I'm still not feeling nauseaus so I want to continue cleaning until I absolutely cannot do it anymore. I think I'll do the kitchen first because for some reason, if the kitchen is messy, the whole house feels messy. Plus, it's easy, I just put everything into the dish washer!! After that I'll probably clean the living room then my office. This saturday I'm having my Mary Kay Holiday Open House. I sent out invitation post cards to it this past weekend and am hoping my customers will be calling to set up shopping appointments. What I'm doing is basically opening my house as a Mary Kay store and letting all my customers come during their own scheduled shopping appointment and have hassle free Christmas shopping. I'll have all the newest products on display for everyone to see and try and I offer free gift wrapping and delivery. They also get to use any Christmas bucks they earned from previous purchases (they earn 1 for every $10 they spend with me throughout the year). Some women have like 40 Christmas bucks!! I hope they come so they can spend it! I'm also a little worried that no one will come. Since it is the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the weekend of black Friday I have a feeling they will all be shopping elsewhere. I may have to pick a different weekend to do this next year. We'll see how it goes. This is part of the reason why I HAVE to get my house cleaned too.
Last night I got completely caught up with Heroes and I even watched an episode of Chuck. I think I'll have to get the first season on DVD of Chuck and watch that, it's very funny and cute. I have to really be careful because I get so addicted to television shows. I would rather sit and watch several episodes of a TV show than a movie. I think TV shows are getting better than the movies being produced these days. The plots are more interesting, the characters are better, the acting is great. In fact, I was thinking after seeing the movie Twilight, they should have made it a TV series instead of a movie. I know they probably make WAY more money as a movie, but the TV series would have been better, more involved and would have been able to include every aspect of the book in it. I would have really enjoyed the series. They could even make it a miniseries for each book and not have to run it for an entire season. They could also market it so that you had to buy it or something or rent only and not show it on TV so they could make more money. I don't know, it just seemed like they could have done more with it. I guess I'm just biased to TV shows. I love them! Right now, the shows I make sure to keep up with are Grey's Anatomy, the Office and now Heroes since I've watched all episodes online. I missed the beginning of Prison Break so I'm going to have to wait for it to come out on DVD to watch it b/c their website only has the 3 most recent episdoes available for viewing so I can't watch it from the beginning. That's my other favorite show that I've watched in the past.
I did get some bad news today. On Sunday, Waylon's car broke down on the way to a shooting range so he had it towed to a nearby shop and they looked at it yesterday and called him today. The problem is a blown head gasket which apparently will cost anywhere from $800-$1000. We don't have this kind of money laying around obviously so I don't know what we're going to do. He is going to be using my car this week since I'm out of school and next week he will have to take me to work first then go to his work. Thankfully they just changed his hours to where he goes in at 9 so he will be able to take me to work first and make it to his work in time. He also gets off work before me so he will be able to pick me up when I'm done with school. I know lots of people survive with only one vehicle and we can do it for a while at least, it's just hard after you've gotten used to having two cars and being able to go do whatever with your car and not having to think about it. Now we will have to plan everything out for the use of our car. So far financially we've been getting by just fine, God has been making our money stretch in ways I didn't know it could. We haven't gone without anything we have needed and have had things above and beyond what we need. I know he will get us through this also. Waylon's car isn't worth the $1000 it would take to repair it but we also don't have any extra money sitting around right now. We would have to save up just to get another $1600 car which is what Waylon paid for the car he has now. I know something will work out, we just have to pray and look for God to open a door or provide for us like He always does.
Well, I better get back to housekeeping before I get to feeling sick again. Thanks for reading and I hope all are having a great week of pre-thanksgiving planning!
love,
Steph
Sunday, November 23, 2008
nausea and other cool things about my pregnancy
So now that I'm passed six weeks, I'm starting to feel the real effects of pregnancy. For the past three days I've had a pretty much constant stream of nausea. Friday got bad enough at school to where I had to finally sit at my desk and ask the kids to come to me to have me initial their work. Yesterday, I had it pretty bad in the morning (no throwing up though) and then off and on for the rest of the day. Today has been the worst by far. This morning was pretty bad getting up and ready for church, then at church when we were practicing our music I was pretty nauseous and couldn't sing without getting out of breath and needing to stop singing. By the time church started though it had gotten a lot better and I was able to sing through the entire service. I still felt pretty nauseaus though and it never fully went away. We had our church Thanksgiving meal tonight so I decided to make green bean casserole and stuffing for it. In order to make that, I needed to make a trip to Walmart, which required a call to my mom to go with me since Waylon was going to the shooting range this afternoon with the guys. Off we went to Walmart and got that trip done pretty quick without me up-chucking. I was very thankful for my mom being willing to come over and take me. Thanks mom!! For the rest of the afternoon until about 5, I laid on the couch and watched new episodes of Heroes on Netflix through our XBOX 360 which was pretty cool. I hadn't watched ANY of this new season and on our Netflix we have the option to watch instantly from our queue. I would be watching it now but Waylon invited my brother and my cousin Paul over to watch a movie through our Netflix so I'm kicked off it for now. I'm still feeling nauseaus though...ugh. There are a couple of other negative symptoms my pregnancy is bringing on that I won't go into detail over except to say that one is very painful everytime I have to go to the bathroom and the other is in my upper half of my body and it's something that I'm afraid will keep being sore and hurting for a while until after I have the baby even. These are not pleasant and I'm not thrilled about them. My mom keeps telling me to relish all this though because the end result is something I will never regret going through this for. I agree with her completely, it's just hard to relish nausea but I will try to do it in the best spirit I can!
Our church Thanksgiving meal went really well tonight. There was SO MUCH FOOD!!! That's something our church is really good at proving - no one will ever go hungry. One part I enjoyed a lot was talking to to of the younger girls in our church who are also pregnant right now. One is a new girl who has begun coming since our door hangers have gone out in the past month. Her, her husband and daughter have started coming to our church and have been a nice addition to the church family. She's due with her second little girl on December 3rd - so she's really close. The other girl pregnant is one of our members, Crystal and she is due in April. Then there's me, due in July. So we have three different phases of pregnancy represented in our church. The three of us sat at a table after eating and talked about pregnancy and marriage. They of course, had much more to say about pregnancy having both had kids already. I listened intently of course enjoying all the stories! It was nice to have someone to talk to who really does relate to you directly about everything you are going through! I know my family is so excited for me but at the same time I don't want to kill them with pregnancy talk so it's nice to have some preggo's around to talk to. I also have two cousins who are pregnant right now as well: Lydia and Grace and we talk through our blogs and myspace and email since neither of them live around me. I feel good having so many pregnant women in my life to be able to go to with any questions and concerns and stuff. It's really comforting for me. I'd love for my sister to be pregnant too!! I think she might like that too. :)
I did something yesterday that I never thought I would enjoy, until I got married. I went and saw a movie at the theatre ALONE! lol. I know it probably doesn't sound like that big of a deal. Used to when I would see people at theatres alone (back when I was single) I found it so depressing. I wondered why anyone would ever want to do that. After yesterday, I think it's going to be something I do every once in a while, especially with movies I know Waylon won't want to see, like Twilight, which is what I saw yesterday at 11:50 am after going to have lunch at Waylon's work. I've read the entire Twilight series and loved it so I was really excited about seeing the movie. I knew Waylon wouldn't want to see it and I didn't know anyone else my age who had read the series and wanted to see the movie so I decided since I was over at his work which is near a cheap theatre I would stop by and see if there were any showings around that time. It just so happened that a showing had just started and I didn't miss even a minute of the movie itsself. It was a very enjoyable experience and I was able to enjoy the movie without worrying if Waylon was enjoying it or not. That's one thing we don't always agree on, which movie to go see. He is pretty picky about movies and I'm much easier to please when it comes to that. If a movie is entertaining, that's all I care about. Waylon likes it to be realistic and have a deep plot and all that. I mean, I'm not saying I don't enjoy well made movies, I do; I just don't discard a movie entirely if it didn't come together in every aspect, and Waylon does. lol. He's quite the movie critic. :)
I think I'm going to stop here because my right arm is starting to get tired. I'm going to try to keep up with my blog more often than I have. I've just been feeling so tired all the time that I haven't wanted to expend the mental and physical energy to write a worthwhile blog. lol. I'm sorry! Thank you for reading and sticking around for me. I hope to keep up with many of my new experiences as a preggo!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
love,
Steph
Our church Thanksgiving meal went really well tonight. There was SO MUCH FOOD!!! That's something our church is really good at proving - no one will ever go hungry. One part I enjoyed a lot was talking to to of the younger girls in our church who are also pregnant right now. One is a new girl who has begun coming since our door hangers have gone out in the past month. Her, her husband and daughter have started coming to our church and have been a nice addition to the church family. She's due with her second little girl on December 3rd - so she's really close. The other girl pregnant is one of our members, Crystal and she is due in April. Then there's me, due in July. So we have three different phases of pregnancy represented in our church. The three of us sat at a table after eating and talked about pregnancy and marriage. They of course, had much more to say about pregnancy having both had kids already. I listened intently of course enjoying all the stories! It was nice to have someone to talk to who really does relate to you directly about everything you are going through! I know my family is so excited for me but at the same time I don't want to kill them with pregnancy talk so it's nice to have some preggo's around to talk to. I also have two cousins who are pregnant right now as well: Lydia and Grace and we talk through our blogs and myspace and email since neither of them live around me. I feel good having so many pregnant women in my life to be able to go to with any questions and concerns and stuff. It's really comforting for me. I'd love for my sister to be pregnant too!! I think she might like that too. :)
I did something yesterday that I never thought I would enjoy, until I got married. I went and saw a movie at the theatre ALONE! lol. I know it probably doesn't sound like that big of a deal. Used to when I would see people at theatres alone (back when I was single) I found it so depressing. I wondered why anyone would ever want to do that. After yesterday, I think it's going to be something I do every once in a while, especially with movies I know Waylon won't want to see, like Twilight, which is what I saw yesterday at 11:50 am after going to have lunch at Waylon's work. I've read the entire Twilight series and loved it so I was really excited about seeing the movie. I knew Waylon wouldn't want to see it and I didn't know anyone else my age who had read the series and wanted to see the movie so I decided since I was over at his work which is near a cheap theatre I would stop by and see if there were any showings around that time. It just so happened that a showing had just started and I didn't miss even a minute of the movie itsself. It was a very enjoyable experience and I was able to enjoy the movie without worrying if Waylon was enjoying it or not. That's one thing we don't always agree on, which movie to go see. He is pretty picky about movies and I'm much easier to please when it comes to that. If a movie is entertaining, that's all I care about. Waylon likes it to be realistic and have a deep plot and all that. I mean, I'm not saying I don't enjoy well made movies, I do; I just don't discard a movie entirely if it didn't come together in every aspect, and Waylon does. lol. He's quite the movie critic. :)
I think I'm going to stop here because my right arm is starting to get tired. I'm going to try to keep up with my blog more often than I have. I've just been feeling so tired all the time that I haven't wanted to expend the mental and physical energy to write a worthwhile blog. lol. I'm sorry! Thank you for reading and sticking around for me. I hope to keep up with many of my new experiences as a preggo!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
love,
Steph
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
my little bean!
So I went in for the ultra-sound today at noon. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be because I had some other "pressing" issues on my mind...like the fact that I had just drank 25 ounces of water in less than an hour (they asked me to drink 32 and I just couldn't make it) and I had to pee like a racehorse!! That's all I could think about! I was squirming around in my seat trying to find a position that didn't put as much pressure on my bladder but that was to no avail. When I finally got in to see the ultra sound tech, it wasn't any better - he was pressing down so hard with the little ultra sound thing that I thought I would just pee right on him! lol. But he said everything looks the way it should. Baby Perrymam (my little bean) is just a tiny little thing inside a dark spot that could be seen on the ultra sound. I have pictures to show of course and I'm so proud of my little "dark spot" on the screen! lol Here he/she is!!
My baby is that dark round circle - everything around it is my uterus and the big dark area right above it is my very full bladder!
Here is a picture at a different distance. What a perfect little embryonic sac! lol. You can't even see the embryo because it's so early. They said I'll have another ultra-sound done in a couple of months and I'm really looking forward to that one because there will be a lot more to see!
After the doctor's office we went to lunch with my parents, did some laundry over there, went to Walmart for a few items then came home where I crashed. I was exhausted! I think the stress and worry I was feeling last night coupled with just the physical tiredness you get with pregnancy all came down on me at once. All I wanted was my bed...and Rowf curled up next to me. It was perfect.
Now I'm going to actually cook dinner, something I haven't done in probably well over a month, or more. I'm using the recipe of a friend from work and I'm really excited about it. We're having baked Salmon with baja chipotle marinade, parmesan couscous and a vegetable...haven't decided which, probably something canned. Now that cheerleading has slowed down I feel like I may have the desire to cook more and I need some extra healthy meals to consume!
well, for now, that's all I'm going to write. I think the fish is done thawing so I'm going to go check on that. Thanks for all the prayers, I really do appreciate them. I thank God who was watching over me and is always in control no matter how out of control I feel. We always lose sight of what He has done for us and what He will do for us when we put our faith in Him.
Good night!
Stephanie
My baby is that dark round circle - everything around it is my uterus and the big dark area right above it is my very full bladder!
Here is a picture at a different distance. What a perfect little embryonic sac! lol. You can't even see the embryo because it's so early. They said I'll have another ultra-sound done in a couple of months and I'm really looking forward to that one because there will be a lot more to see!
After the doctor's office we went to lunch with my parents, did some laundry over there, went to Walmart for a few items then came home where I crashed. I was exhausted! I think the stress and worry I was feeling last night coupled with just the physical tiredness you get with pregnancy all came down on me at once. All I wanted was my bed...and Rowf curled up next to me. It was perfect.
Now I'm going to actually cook dinner, something I haven't done in probably well over a month, or more. I'm using the recipe of a friend from work and I'm really excited about it. We're having baked Salmon with baja chipotle marinade, parmesan couscous and a vegetable...haven't decided which, probably something canned. Now that cheerleading has slowed down I feel like I may have the desire to cook more and I need some extra healthy meals to consume!
well, for now, that's all I'm going to write. I think the fish is done thawing so I'm going to go check on that. Thanks for all the prayers, I really do appreciate them. I thank God who was watching over me and is always in control no matter how out of control I feel. We always lose sight of what He has done for us and what He will do for us when we put our faith in Him.
Good night!
Stephanie
Monday, November 17, 2008
Short...
I went to my doctor today. I don't even want to talk about it right now b/c I'm so frustrated with them. They did not make a good first impression at all. Tomorrow I have to go back to have an ultrasound but I don't know what time yet - I have to call at 9am. It's a long story that I don't have the stamina to re-tell right now. I will be in a better mood tomorrow after the ultrasound and a chance to talk to the doctor herself and not a medical assistant or whatever it was that I dealt with today. I don't think she thought through her voicemail that she left on my phone which left me stressed and worried all night. I've been praying constantly for God to take the worry out of me and for me to put my trust in him that everything is going to be just fine tomorrow. It's not very easy when you're dealing with incompetent people. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go in to work tomorrow or not. I may be worthless with worry until I get to go in to the doctor. We'll see...I'll definitely update you tomorrow, hopefully with very positive, good news.
Steph
Steph
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Yes, I'm pregnant
As you can see at the top of my new page, I am pregnant...5 weeks to be exact. My old blog site would not allow me to post a baby ticker that shows the progress of my baby so I switched sites. I'm still trying to figure out how to import blogs onto here though so that might take some time. Waylon and I are very excited about this new bundle of joy that will be joining us in just 9 months. I could not believe it when I saw the two lines on the pregnancy test! We had only been trying for about a month and a half! It's such a surreal feeling when you find out for the first time as I'm sure the experienced moms out there already know. I started freaking out! Of course, I found out while Waylon was at work so Rowf was the only one there to celebrate with me. He was a good companion though as he gets excited about anything. I will be posting more later but right now I'm going to rest from blogging a bit as I have been working on this all morning trying to figure out how to import my old blog and have not been able to yet. Thank you for reading and I look forward to keeping a regular blog on here!
love,
Steph
love,
Steph
Saturday, November 1, 2008
the longest week of my life...
I was so thankful at 3:48pm today -- you can't even imagine. That's the time my last class period of the day lets out and it means I'm done till 8:30am Monday morning. I don't know if it's the fact that it was holloween week or what but the kids were crazy this week...and I'm not over-reacting about this at all! Today, for the first time in my teaching career, I saw one of my female students go completely nuts. I mean, she lost it, and to make it worse, it was at an administrator. I felt bad because it was about me - I wrote her up yesterday for refusing to do her work in class - but the administrator took it all in stride because she's used to being cussed at. See...that's so not me. I would not have sat there taking it with a smile on my face like she did. Anyways...let's just say that wasn't the only thing that made me want this week to be over with. Next week can only be better...I keep telling myself that.
and so I look forward to tomorrow...
Tomorrow I get to go to a spa with the "girls" and get a massage, facial, and pedicure!!! How cool is that?!?! I'm sooooo looking forward to the relaxation and special treatment. I never get pampered like this so I'm really counting on it bringing me lots of relief. That's at five. Earlier in the morning I have a coffee-Mary Kay - baby gift-giving - date with a friend I haven't seen in a very long time. I'm really looking forward to that. It will be a day for me to do some stuff I enjoy, with nothing demanding or requiring my attention. Hard to imagine...I know.
I don't know who all is with me on this but I'm SUPER psyched that Halloween is over and we are moving on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! This is my absolute FAVORITE time of year and I'm really looking forward to our first holidays as a married couple together. I really want to start some personal family traditions for the holidays that we can pass on to our kids and our grandkids. I'm not creative though so that might be a challenge and something tells me Waylon won't be a huge help in that department...Any ideas from my readers? I'm open to suggestions. ;-) I love the crisp air, the smell of holiday candles, fire-place smoke in the air outside, shivering in the car early in the mornings when I first get in (and therefore making me look even MORE forward to the coffee I will stop and get on my way to work) and all the other little things that become part of your life this time around. I love Christmas music and really want to find some great Christmas CDs to have playing my apartment at all times during December. I love setting the mood for Christmas. I'm also having my very first "dinner party" - only two of the guests don't even know about it yet. I should probably get on that. I'm going all out for it too...little Christmas gifts for everyone, decorations, cooking, baking...the whole nine yards. It's going to be so fun!
November is also my month for my Mary Kay "Holiday Open House" where I will be opening up my home as a gift shop for all my clients to come and do some personalized shopping with free refreshments, free gift-wrapping and free delivery AND at the same time, being able to avoid the crowds as it is by appointment only with no more than two people at a time so I can give them the best service and so they can relax without worrying that someone is waiting for them. I'll be having that on November 29th and hopefully be having all my clients show up to that. I will be putting a lot of effort into the decorations and hopefully my apartment will look like a winter-wonderland that day!
Another MK project going on in my unit this Christmas is our adopt-a-grandparent program. We pick a retirement home and go out getting businesses or groups of people or even just individual clients to sponsor a grandparent for $20. We give them a nicely wrapped gift with a little card on it saying who it's from, we deliver it to them, and we have banners that also will show everyone who provided a gift. If any of my readers are interested in this, please let me know and I can give you more details. It's a very self-less thing to do this Christmas for a small amount of money that will be making several people's day. For some, sadly, this will be the only gift they receive this Christmas. I hate to think about that.
I'm excited to see what this holiday season will be bringing. We do know that we will be going to Waco to spend Thanksgiving with Waylon's side of the family. I'm looking forward to that because it is always a good time with them. Hopefully Waylon can get more than just Thanksgiving off from his work...otherwise it will be a very short trip. I'll have the whole week off which will be nice. I need a break from school. I really feel like I'm getting burnt out. Next week is our last football game so I am going to be getting a little release from my crazy schedule, which will rock.
Well folks, I've now yawned about 7 times which tells me I've got to hit the sack. Check out the updates made to my page about books I've read and am reading. I'll have a little info on the Twilight series I just finished.
hasta luego,
Stephanie
and so I look forward to tomorrow...
Tomorrow I get to go to a spa with the "girls" and get a massage, facial, and pedicure!!! How cool is that?!?! I'm sooooo looking forward to the relaxation and special treatment. I never get pampered like this so I'm really counting on it bringing me lots of relief. That's at five. Earlier in the morning I have a coffee-Mary Kay - baby gift-giving - date with a friend I haven't seen in a very long time. I'm really looking forward to that. It will be a day for me to do some stuff I enjoy, with nothing demanding or requiring my attention. Hard to imagine...I know.
I don't know who all is with me on this but I'm SUPER psyched that Halloween is over and we are moving on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! This is my absolute FAVORITE time of year and I'm really looking forward to our first holidays as a married couple together. I really want to start some personal family traditions for the holidays that we can pass on to our kids and our grandkids. I'm not creative though so that might be a challenge and something tells me Waylon won't be a huge help in that department...Any ideas from my readers? I'm open to suggestions. ;-) I love the crisp air, the smell of holiday candles, fire-place smoke in the air outside, shivering in the car early in the mornings when I first get in (and therefore making me look even MORE forward to the coffee I will stop and get on my way to work) and all the other little things that become part of your life this time around. I love Christmas music and really want to find some great Christmas CDs to have playing my apartment at all times during December. I love setting the mood for Christmas. I'm also having my very first "dinner party" - only two of the guests don't even know about it yet. I should probably get on that. I'm going all out for it too...little Christmas gifts for everyone, decorations, cooking, baking...the whole nine yards. It's going to be so fun!
November is also my month for my Mary Kay "Holiday Open House" where I will be opening up my home as a gift shop for all my clients to come and do some personalized shopping with free refreshments, free gift-wrapping and free delivery AND at the same time, being able to avoid the crowds as it is by appointment only with no more than two people at a time so I can give them the best service and so they can relax without worrying that someone is waiting for them. I'll be having that on November 29th and hopefully be having all my clients show up to that. I will be putting a lot of effort into the decorations and hopefully my apartment will look like a winter-wonderland that day!
Another MK project going on in my unit this Christmas is our adopt-a-grandparent program. We pick a retirement home and go out getting businesses or groups of people or even just individual clients to sponsor a grandparent for $20. We give them a nicely wrapped gift with a little card on it saying who it's from, we deliver it to them, and we have banners that also will show everyone who provided a gift. If any of my readers are interested in this, please let me know and I can give you more details. It's a very self-less thing to do this Christmas for a small amount of money that will be making several people's day. For some, sadly, this will be the only gift they receive this Christmas. I hate to think about that.
I'm excited to see what this holiday season will be bringing. We do know that we will be going to Waco to spend Thanksgiving with Waylon's side of the family. I'm looking forward to that because it is always a good time with them. Hopefully Waylon can get more than just Thanksgiving off from his work...otherwise it will be a very short trip. I'll have the whole week off which will be nice. I need a break from school. I really feel like I'm getting burnt out. Next week is our last football game so I am going to be getting a little release from my crazy schedule, which will rock.
Well folks, I've now yawned about 7 times which tells me I've got to hit the sack. Check out the updates made to my page about books I've read and am reading. I'll have a little info on the Twilight series I just finished.
hasta luego,
Stephanie
Saturday, October 25, 2008
It's like I'm living in a new home...kinda
So it's been a while since I did this, however, I still wanted to post the changes I made in my apartment. Now I know it's not going to be anything super wonderful or cute-sie oreven impressive. Remember who we're talking about here...me. I'm not an artistic person when it comes to decorating and organizing. I have to say though, I'm very proud of the purchases I made and I feel like it has made a huge difference in how I feel about being in my apartment. Just he little splashes of color and actually having decorations on the wall makes a HUGE difference!! I'm just posting a few pictures to wet your palet. There will be more to come in the future. So...without further a-doo (I know that's nolt how you really spell it so stop thinking I'm an idiot already!) here are my before and after pics!!!
Before: After:
Before: (living room with shirtless husband included) After: (clothed husband - upgrade!!) ;-)
Before: (Mary Kay "office") After:
So there are a few pictures to show you first of all, how messy I was, and secondly what I did with what I had. I was pretty proud of myself. Waylon always happened to be in the living room when I took the pictures in there so you will have to excuse his shirtless condition. He doesn't really always go around shirtless. Pantless, yes, but shirtless no. haha. jk!
I've also taken some of the tips from my book on organization that I got from Barnes & Noble so I will be taking some pictures of those. Right now I have several hundred cheerleading pictures that I need to give to the varsity sponsor so I don't have a lot of room on my camera, plus it takes forever to upload b/c it has to go through EVERY SINGLE picture on my camera. This has really kept me from wanting to take pictures because then when I want to upload them, I have to go through the other 250! Anyways, I am going to post a couple of really cool pictures I took at some of our games so you can see how talented my squad is. I'll actually leave you with a picture of the two stunt groups showing off their amazing "scorpion" stunt. I love this picture because it looks so cool and it shows my girls off well. Here you go!!
Isn't that so cool looking?! They are so good. I'm impressed every day that I watch them perform.
Anyhoo...I'm pretty tired and need to get some sleep. Waylon is long gone to dream land and I think I will go join him. I stayed up to watch the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy and to post this blog (don't you feel special??) Today was a long day. I went in to my old job (where Waylon currently works) to do a drop-off catering. It ended up being kind of a pain-in-the-rear b/c on my way back I got stuck in ridiculous traffic on 635 for a really bad wreck that looked like it included at least 5 cars if not more. We went from 4 lanes down to 1 and in DFW traffic, that's a bummer. Took me an extra forty minutes to get back from that catering than it normally would.
I leave you with this question:
why do drive-thru ATM's have braile on the panels where the keypads are? Take some time to think through what I'm asking...let me know if you come up with an answer...
good night from your decorating guru,
Stephanie
Before: After:
Before: (living room with shirtless husband included) After: (clothed husband - upgrade!!) ;-)
Before: (Mary Kay "office") After:
So there are a few pictures to show you first of all, how messy I was, and secondly what I did with what I had. I was pretty proud of myself. Waylon always happened to be in the living room when I took the pictures in there so you will have to excuse his shirtless condition. He doesn't really always go around shirtless. Pantless, yes, but shirtless no. haha. jk!
I've also taken some of the tips from my book on organization that I got from Barnes & Noble so I will be taking some pictures of those. Right now I have several hundred cheerleading pictures that I need to give to the varsity sponsor so I don't have a lot of room on my camera, plus it takes forever to upload b/c it has to go through EVERY SINGLE picture on my camera. This has really kept me from wanting to take pictures because then when I want to upload them, I have to go through the other 250! Anyways, I am going to post a couple of really cool pictures I took at some of our games so you can see how talented my squad is. I'll actually leave you with a picture of the two stunt groups showing off their amazing "scorpion" stunt. I love this picture because it looks so cool and it shows my girls off well. Here you go!!
Isn't that so cool looking?! They are so good. I'm impressed every day that I watch them perform.
Anyhoo...I'm pretty tired and need to get some sleep. Waylon is long gone to dream land and I think I will go join him. I stayed up to watch the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy and to post this blog (don't you feel special??) Today was a long day. I went in to my old job (where Waylon currently works) to do a drop-off catering. It ended up being kind of a pain-in-the-rear b/c on my way back I got stuck in ridiculous traffic on 635 for a really bad wreck that looked like it included at least 5 cars if not more. We went from 4 lanes down to 1 and in DFW traffic, that's a bummer. Took me an extra forty minutes to get back from that catering than it normally would.
I leave you with this question:
why do drive-thru ATM's have braile on the panels where the keypads are? Take some time to think through what I'm asking...let me know if you come up with an answer...
good night from your decorating guru,
Stephanie
Friday, October 10, 2008
Update
I just wanted to post an update about Waylon's dad, my father-in-law. For those who didn't know, this past Sunday evening he was in a bad motorcycle accident and was taken to the hospital in San Antonio and was in the Sever Trauma ICU. He broke several bones in his face and his collar bone and had bleeding in his brain as well as swelling in the brain. We got the call halfway through the day on Monday and Waylon and I left as soon as the school got a substitute in there for me. When we got down there, the doctors were not giving him a very good prognosis. They were saying it didn't look good and weren't giving him good chances of survival. Well, I'm happy to report that by Wednesday when I left to come home, the bleeding and swelling in the brain were gone, he was able to open his eyes that were previously swollen shut, he could hear us and follow commands and he was moving his legs quite a bit on his own. He was still on a ventilator so he is unable to speak yet and wasn't conscious for long periods at a time but he did know we were there and made huge improvments. He has basically cleared the "critical" zone as far as the doctors not knowing if he will pull through - it should be moving forward from here on out. While they haven't given us details, we do know just from the extent of his injuries that it will be a long recovery. His family has been great about going down and seeing him and Mitzi, his wife has been by his side at every visiting hour time slot. Waylon stayed one day after I left and I know it was hard for him to leave his father but we did have to get back home and work. :( It was a tough week but God was at work and so many of our friends and family were praying. We are so thankful to all who lifted Don and his family up in prayers. We are also thankful to the Lord for once again showing how loving He is and that He is watching over us and listening to our prayers.
Keep praying for his continual recovery and thanks again to all who remember him in your prayers!
Stephanie
Keep praying for his continual recovery and thanks again to all who remember him in your prayers!
Stephanie
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Preview...
I am beginning to finally get to the point where I will be designating specific time during the week, probably just one day a week, to organizing and decorating my apartment. I feel like we might be finally finding our "groove" here in our schedules and as crazy as they may be, I'm going to start scheduling my time to include some organization and decorating time. It needs it and if I want to have company more often and be able to feel proud of my home, I need to do something with it other than just keeping it tidy.
I'll start with my office/den because that's what needs to most organization. I have all my Mary Kay stuff in there and that definitely needs to be better organized. I also want to set up a system for keeping better track of my bills and making sure they get paid on time. I've been late a couple of times lately with paying bills simply because I forgot and didn't have the bill in a place where I would see it and remember to pay it. I also need to start filing things away after I pay them. I'll have to get some office organizers to help me in this but I think it will be money well spent that will keep me more sane and on track. I read today online that in your office you should have a nice decoration or something pleasing to look at within 90 degrees either way of your computer screen to give your eyes something pleasant to rest on when they need a break from staring at the computer. Right now all we have is a poster Waylon wanted that has lots of guitar chords. It's a cool poster but it's not pretty or "pleasant to look at" really. I need to find a nice decoration or maybe hang some prints of Waylon and I on that wall. I think I also need a desk calendar with big boxes to write stuff in for important dates. I want to start keeping track of all my family and friends' birthdays, but I need somewhere visible that I would see regularly to keep that on. I want to start sending out Birthday cards for birthdays and anniversaries. Anyone who knows me, knows this will be a HUGE accomplishment as I have NEVER been good with cards!
The next room that needs decorating would be my living room. There are a couple of things on the wall but nothing really exciting. We even have a really cool long picture frame hanging over our TV...with no pictures in it! I hung it up there to get it out of the way, not thinking it would take me this long to put pictures in it. I want to give it a more "cozy" feel and I also want to decorate it for the upcoming fall seasons. I LOVE those decorations!!
The third room will be our "dining room" which doesn't have a lot to work with but I want to find either a nice big picture or wall art to hang over where our table sits, OR a set of several wall arts that go together that would look cute in an arrangement.
Third would be our bedroom. This will be last only because it's the room people see the least so it would just be for our own viewing, but it still needs to be decorated. We need some drapes to hang on our window, more wall decorations and just a little "something extra" to make it not so drab. We will be living here for a while since we're trying to get completely out of debt before getting into a house so I want to feel as at home as possible and make it as pleasant as I can to be in. I'm not a super artsy person to start with so I'm going to call on some friends who are really good at this stuff to help me out.
As I make progress, I will be posting pictures up of what I've done with each room; thus the title of my blog today: Preview. I'll probably take a before and after picture so you can see the difference too. It will be fun! You can also evaluate what I've done and give me suggestions if you see something that looks awkward - I will try to not take offense!! lol. jk, I WON'T because I know I'm not good at doing this so any suggestions are going to be welcomed.
So, here's to a new "beginning" in my apartment! Pray for me and keep those ideas coming!! Any money saving tips for organizing or decorating would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks for reading my blog!
Stephanie
I'll start with my office/den because that's what needs to most organization. I have all my Mary Kay stuff in there and that definitely needs to be better organized. I also want to set up a system for keeping better track of my bills and making sure they get paid on time. I've been late a couple of times lately with paying bills simply because I forgot and didn't have the bill in a place where I would see it and remember to pay it. I also need to start filing things away after I pay them. I'll have to get some office organizers to help me in this but I think it will be money well spent that will keep me more sane and on track. I read today online that in your office you should have a nice decoration or something pleasing to look at within 90 degrees either way of your computer screen to give your eyes something pleasant to rest on when they need a break from staring at the computer. Right now all we have is a poster Waylon wanted that has lots of guitar chords. It's a cool poster but it's not pretty or "pleasant to look at" really. I need to find a nice decoration or maybe hang some prints of Waylon and I on that wall. I think I also need a desk calendar with big boxes to write stuff in for important dates. I want to start keeping track of all my family and friends' birthdays, but I need somewhere visible that I would see regularly to keep that on. I want to start sending out Birthday cards for birthdays and anniversaries. Anyone who knows me, knows this will be a HUGE accomplishment as I have NEVER been good with cards!
The next room that needs decorating would be my living room. There are a couple of things on the wall but nothing really exciting. We even have a really cool long picture frame hanging over our TV...with no pictures in it! I hung it up there to get it out of the way, not thinking it would take me this long to put pictures in it. I want to give it a more "cozy" feel and I also want to decorate it for the upcoming fall seasons. I LOVE those decorations!!
The third room will be our "dining room" which doesn't have a lot to work with but I want to find either a nice big picture or wall art to hang over where our table sits, OR a set of several wall arts that go together that would look cute in an arrangement.
Third would be our bedroom. This will be last only because it's the room people see the least so it would just be for our own viewing, but it still needs to be decorated. We need some drapes to hang on our window, more wall decorations and just a little "something extra" to make it not so drab. We will be living here for a while since we're trying to get completely out of debt before getting into a house so I want to feel as at home as possible and make it as pleasant as I can to be in. I'm not a super artsy person to start with so I'm going to call on some friends who are really good at this stuff to help me out.
As I make progress, I will be posting pictures up of what I've done with each room; thus the title of my blog today: Preview. I'll probably take a before and after picture so you can see the difference too. It will be fun! You can also evaluate what I've done and give me suggestions if you see something that looks awkward - I will try to not take offense!! lol. jk, I WON'T because I know I'm not good at doing this so any suggestions are going to be welcomed.
So, here's to a new "beginning" in my apartment! Pray for me and keep those ideas coming!! Any money saving tips for organizing or decorating would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks for reading my blog!
Stephanie
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Freaky Friday
Today I had my Mary Kay debut party...It was awesome! I had a lot of fun and I got to see some people I haven't seen in a long time and catch up and hook them up with some great products. It turned out really well. I think had been stressing over this all week without realizing it. I have a huge knot behind my right shoulder blade which I get when I'm stressed. Besides worrying about my debut party today, I have had a stressful week. Nothing in particular, just overall stressful for whatever reason. Which leads me to tell you about Friday morning...trying to get to work....
It all started when I decided that since it was one of our few jean days, I didn't need as much time to get ready so I would stay in bed an extra 15 minutes; we'll call that Mistake #1. Once I got up, I realized I still had to take Rowf out to potty, get my lunch ready and put on make up ---which as of late is taking longer since I'm making an effort to always look put-together no matter what I'm wearing. So...the time I finally left my house was 7:30. I NEVER leave the house that late...EVER. Once in my car, I decided that I would stop at McDonald's for a quick drive-thru breakfast since it was pay day and since there was a McDonald's "on the way" (which means it was right off an exit which also happens to be the WORST exit/area on loop 820 as far as traffic and bad lights goes). We'll call that Mistake #2. There was already really bad traffic on the highway which is not normal for a Friday but my rationale was that since I would be poking along on the highway, I might as well pull off and get something to eat since I would be going anywhere soon. I get to McDonalds and the drive-thru line is wrapping around the building so I go across the street to Chick-Fil-A for some of my favorite chicken minis. They also have the line that goes around the building. I decide to forgo breakfast as this point and get back on the highway (7 minutes wasted already). I go over to the access road to do so and what do I find? Another long traffic line to get on the freeway. I decide to stay on the access road and pass all this traffic up and get on at the next on ramp. This is definitely Mistake #3: after driving down this access road almost 2 miles, it felt, I come to find out that there is NO "next on ramp" -- you have one option: take a left across the high way and get back on it going the opposite direction. At this point, I'm getting really, really, really annoyed with how my morning is playing out. I look down the highway a while, in the direction I need to be going and see that the traffic doesn't let up as far as the eye can see. Great...I'm so angry at this point I could spit - in my own car!!! It's already 7:50 at this point which, on a normal day, I am already at school sitting at my desk checking my email. I finally get back on the highway going back to where I just came from, get back off, and do the u-turn and get back on going the right direction. I felt like I was going in circles; I was. After 20 minutes of going 5 miles and hour, we finally get to the "problem" holding up all the traffic: a semi, broken down in the middle lane of the highway just where it goes down to two lanes!! Perfect!! I finally get past all the rubber-necking and get on my way to school going a nice 80 miles an hour. It was test day and I needed to get their tests ready and write my board for the day, which I had left to do for that morning thinking that it was Friday and there wouldn't be traffic and I wouldn't have a hard time getting to work. I do end up stopping at a McDonald's very close to my school because at this point I'm angry and extremely hungry and slightly sleep deprived. I need my coffee and I need my country style chicken biscuit. I get both and eat on my way to school. When I drink my first drink of coffee, I feel warmness running down my hand. My coffee cup lid was "defective" and was leaking out the sides!!! GREAT!!!! now I had coffee all over my hands and then when I wiped it off on my seat, my hand felt sticky. It just got better by the minute. When I finally did get to school, two of my male students where standing outside the school and approached me about why I wasn't there early to help them study for their tests. They seemed disappointed. I felt bad -- I've let my students down on a day when they need me the most, test day. From the time I got into my classroom, everything got a little better. I was thankful for that, although still a little grumpy and a couple of students who decided to try to be smart with me got the raw side of me. Oh well, it's going to happen. I was just so glad the day ended by the time 3:48pm rolled around. I'm thankful this whole week is over. Next week can only get better...right??
So how was your Friday morning????
I'm going to go get some shut eye. I would like to put some pics up here of my apartment and some "married life" photos. I just have to take some, then I can post them! I've been slacking in the photography department. Sorry guys...
hasta luego!
Steph
It all started when I decided that since it was one of our few jean days, I didn't need as much time to get ready so I would stay in bed an extra 15 minutes; we'll call that Mistake #1. Once I got up, I realized I still had to take Rowf out to potty, get my lunch ready and put on make up ---which as of late is taking longer since I'm making an effort to always look put-together no matter what I'm wearing. So...the time I finally left my house was 7:30. I NEVER leave the house that late...EVER. Once in my car, I decided that I would stop at McDonald's for a quick drive-thru breakfast since it was pay day and since there was a McDonald's "on the way" (which means it was right off an exit which also happens to be the WORST exit/area on loop 820 as far as traffic and bad lights goes). We'll call that Mistake #2. There was already really bad traffic on the highway which is not normal for a Friday but my rationale was that since I would be poking along on the highway, I might as well pull off and get something to eat since I would be going anywhere soon. I get to McDonalds and the drive-thru line is wrapping around the building so I go across the street to Chick-Fil-A for some of my favorite chicken minis. They also have the line that goes around the building. I decide to forgo breakfast as this point and get back on the highway (7 minutes wasted already). I go over to the access road to do so and what do I find? Another long traffic line to get on the freeway. I decide to stay on the access road and pass all this traffic up and get on at the next on ramp. This is definitely Mistake #3: after driving down this access road almost 2 miles, it felt, I come to find out that there is NO "next on ramp" -- you have one option: take a left across the high way and get back on it going the opposite direction. At this point, I'm getting really, really, really annoyed with how my morning is playing out. I look down the highway a while, in the direction I need to be going and see that the traffic doesn't let up as far as the eye can see. Great...I'm so angry at this point I could spit - in my own car!!! It's already 7:50 at this point which, on a normal day, I am already at school sitting at my desk checking my email. I finally get back on the highway going back to where I just came from, get back off, and do the u-turn and get back on going the right direction. I felt like I was going in circles; I was. After 20 minutes of going 5 miles and hour, we finally get to the "problem" holding up all the traffic: a semi, broken down in the middle lane of the highway just where it goes down to two lanes!! Perfect!! I finally get past all the rubber-necking and get on my way to school going a nice 80 miles an hour. It was test day and I needed to get their tests ready and write my board for the day, which I had left to do for that morning thinking that it was Friday and there wouldn't be traffic and I wouldn't have a hard time getting to work. I do end up stopping at a McDonald's very close to my school because at this point I'm angry and extremely hungry and slightly sleep deprived. I need my coffee and I need my country style chicken biscuit. I get both and eat on my way to school. When I drink my first drink of coffee, I feel warmness running down my hand. My coffee cup lid was "defective" and was leaking out the sides!!! GREAT!!!! now I had coffee all over my hands and then when I wiped it off on my seat, my hand felt sticky. It just got better by the minute. When I finally did get to school, two of my male students where standing outside the school and approached me about why I wasn't there early to help them study for their tests. They seemed disappointed. I felt bad -- I've let my students down on a day when they need me the most, test day. From the time I got into my classroom, everything got a little better. I was thankful for that, although still a little grumpy and a couple of students who decided to try to be smart with me got the raw side of me. Oh well, it's going to happen. I was just so glad the day ended by the time 3:48pm rolled around. I'm thankful this whole week is over. Next week can only get better...right??
So how was your Friday morning????
I'm going to go get some shut eye. I would like to put some pics up here of my apartment and some "married life" photos. I just have to take some, then I can post them! I've been slacking in the photography department. Sorry guys...
hasta luego!
Steph
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Follow up to last post
We did it last night...Daphne now has a new home. I cried before we left the house, on the way there and after we left. It was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. No matter how frustrated I had gotten with her, I still felt bad giving her to someone else. I remembered everything I went through with her, nursing her back to health when she was so little. It still makes me sad today. It's quiet around the house now...it will take me a while to get used to that. I better stop writing about this before I start crying again...I can feel it coming on again and I had a headache all day today from all the crying I did last night. I can't imagine how it must feel to give your own baby up for adoption. I could never do that. This was brutal enough.
Steph
Steph
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Doing the hard things...
Waylon and I have decided that we are going to get rid of Daphne, for sure this time. We've been talking about it off and on for a while. He has been totally for it for quite some time. I have been on the fence about it. I'll get REALLY frustrated with her at times and at that point be totally ready to give her to the first person that comes around and then she'll fall asleep on my lap and I'll see how cute she is and not want to give her up. The fact of the matter is, right now, we just can't have two dogs. It's too much for our already busy and full schedules. She's a great dog, but she needs so much more attention than we can give her and she needs somewhere where she is able to run free and expend all that energy she has pent up. I will miss her at times but I know we're doing the right thing and I hope to find her a great home. Anyone on here who knows someone looking for a dog, please let me know or let them know about me. You can give them my email: stepher1980@yahoo.com if they are serious about taking her. I'm going to post her on freecycle.org also and hopefully find someone kind and caring who wants a good little dog to play with and keep them on their feet. She will definitely do that! She has been quite an ordeal since we got her, what with the getting pneumonia for a month (and costing me over $1000 in vet bills!!!). She's great now though, lucky person who takes her after me. They're getting a very expensive dog for free.
Well, I think I'm going to go right now. I still have to make a trip to Walmart to get a shelf of some sort for all my Mary Kay inventory, get stamps to mail out my thank you notes from my wedding (finally!!) and also stamps for my Mary Kay debut party. I'm having that next Saturday morning at 11am. Anyone interested in coming, please let me know. You are more than welcome!!
I just needed to write about the dog and kind of rationalize for myself why we are getting rid of her. It helped. Thanks for listening.
Steph
Well, I think I'm going to go right now. I still have to make a trip to Walmart to get a shelf of some sort for all my Mary Kay inventory, get stamps to mail out my thank you notes from my wedding (finally!!) and also stamps for my Mary Kay debut party. I'm having that next Saturday morning at 11am. Anyone interested in coming, please let me know. You are more than welcome!!
I just needed to write about the dog and kind of rationalize for myself why we are getting rid of her. It helped. Thanks for listening.
Steph
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Here's to first successes!! And hopefully many more!
I just wanted to do a little cheer for myself for a little, yet big, accomplishment tonight. I got my first outside sale with MK tonight! It came from a referral and my customer was looking for a Spanish-speaking consultant...which I am. :) I called her up, got her address, took all my stuff over there and she just kept asking to try this and that and kept picking more and more stuff to buy. I was thrilled! Not only did she have a great experience but she took a couple of business cards to give to her family members who use MK but don't have a Spanish-speaking consultant to buy from! I was pumped!! I'm having my debut party the 27th and need to get on the ball getting my invitations sent out. I hope lots of people come. It not only will help me get my business jump started, but it will also be fun for anyone who comes and there will be lots of cool product to try out. So if you read this and you live near me and you want to come and you haven't got an invitation in the next few days, TELL ME!!! I want you there!!
ok, that's all...just had to get a little excited. Toodles!!
Steph
ok, that's all...just had to get a little excited. Toodles!!
Steph
Sunday, September 14, 2008
On life, ministry, and a revisit to 9/11
Although today I have been VERY tired, I feel like I have a second wind on life. Let me explain. On my last post, I wrote about feeling like I was running out of steam. I really was feeling bogged down and tired and kind of beat up physically and emotionally. The only person to blame for that was myself. I have allowed myself to get that way, to start thinking and focusing on the negative and I haven't been close to the Lord in a while. Every since getting married, I put my quiet time on hold, getting caught up in the excitement of being married and all the responsabilities of running a home. It was kind of like I told God "Thanks for bringing me to this amazing point in my life, I'll take it from here." I realized that today and my mind set has changed. I realize I need to make time again every single day for some alone time with God. Without that, everything I do is going to bog me down and make me tired. I haven't filled my cup with His strength and I've been trying to do it all on excitement and personal strength alone. It's not possible!! So, today, I was revitalized and my vision has changed and I'm ready to face everything, with God this time back at the wheel. I think He probably looks down at us when we're doing all this and struggling and thinks to Himself, "Why on earth do you WANT to do this alone when I can carry you through it?? I WANT to help you!!" And yet, here we are, "beating at the wind" as one of the writers of the Bible said...it's all vanity. So here's to a renewed spirit in me and a "fresh" start that will hopefully be a longer-term change. I know I will have to renew this spirit from time to time but if I keep God in control, it won't have to go so long before I finally do it again.
Part of the reason for this renewal of purpose and focus was what we studied in Sunday school today and then what our Sunday evening study was over. I was hit over the head twice today with the realization of what I should be doing with my life. First, in Sunday school we did an over-view of the book of James. This book focuses on how to be a "mature" Christian. While reading through it, so many things stood out that I don't do that I should, therefore showing me that I'm clearly not as mature of a Christian as I so often thought. It brought to surface the fact that the number of years you are a Christian doesn't affect how mature you are, it just shows how long you have had to become mature...regardless of whether you are or not. I have to say that in the past couple of years since my dad started GracePointe, I have matured a lot. I've gone through some difficult times which were brought on by myself and had some inner turmoil as to what direction I was going to go in life. Thankfully, I chose to continue my path serving God and not the alternative: serving myself. That's not to say that I haven't still struggled with serving myself and my desires, but God has brought me back time and again to Him, showing me how powerless I am without Him. So, I have matured, but I'm still not anywhere near the mature Christian that the book of James speaks about. That made me really want to change things about myself that have needed changing for a while. It's true what they say about not being able to change until you want to and you make the effort to. I want to change now. I want to grow into a mature Christian that God can use beyond where I am right now. The second time I was poked in the conscious today was at our Class 301: Discovering your Ministry study tonight at church. We have a series for the members of our church that starts with 101 which is for people interested in becoming members of our church and it explains what we believe as a church and what being a member of our church means. Class 201 is about maturity and growing in your walk as a Christian. Now class 301 is focusin on developing your ministry and doing what God designed and called you to do with your life. I realized as we were going through the "how" of finding your ministry, that there are so many things I enjoy doing and I don't know exactly which one to focus on. Right now I'm working with the women of the church on a special song. I used to direct a women's choir at the previous church we attended and it was really something I enjoyed and the women enjoyed. That would definitely be one of the ministries I would want to be involved in. Another one that I had started up but can't do right now because of time constraints was the women's book club. I enjoyed that, but it was hard finding a time when all the women could come and then they were even having a hard time finding time to read the books. Maybe in the future it will be something that can be started up again. Youth has also been a passion of mine. I taught junior high Sunday school at our last church and I loved it. I really enjoy working with youth (I teach high school Spanish and really enjoy it despite the behavior issues) and we don't have a youth group as of now. Waylon also has a passion for youth and feels called to be a youth minister. We both feel like starting a youth group would be something we could do together and serve whole-heartedly in for our church. That's definitely something that takes A LOT of prayer and hard work to build and maintain. With Waylon going to school right now and working, it will be hard for us to do a lot for that, but we do have plans to start it in the future. I know that if we are prayerful and always seeking God's timing and will, He will lead us at the right time. I'm really excited about finding my ministry though and developing it and seeing the ministries that the other members of our church are lead to. I feel that this year is going to be a year of growth for our church as we already have aproximately 6-8 new people in attendance and two new members back at the beginning of the year. God is blessing our church and we have a great core group that is dedicated to building it up and bringing in new people. With my Mary Kay business just beginning, I feel that I can even use that as a way to minister to the women I meet and even the women at my church with free pampering and giving them gifts they will love. I want it to be a positive thing in my life, and not something that makes people want to avoid me. I am doing it for extra money, however, the more I get into it, the more I see that it is also a way of connecting with women and filling a need for them and doing it in a loving and caring way. I hope I portray that towards the women I encounter and do business with.
The last thing I wanted to write about was 9/11. We just celebrated the 7th year anniversary of that tragic day. I still can't believe it has been that long. I was doing laundry at my parent's house tonight and the History channel had a documentary on with pure footage, no narration, of 9/11 from several on-lookers and pedestrians who were video taping the whole thing. As I watched it and heard the cries of fear and shock and saw the thousands of people in NY city running for their lives and finding shelter, I was reminded of how dangerous this world has become. It brought back all the anger I felt 7 years ago when I was watching it happen on TV and driving to school, listening to it on the radio and finding out that it was a terrorist act. To see footage of the real people who went through it, of the fire fighters who went into the first tower and never came back out alive, the buildings burning and people jumping out of it...it was horrifying and so sad. I can't imagine being there and witnessing it all and watching two towers collapse with thousands of people inside. It's so sad, I just wanted to write a little bit and reflect on it and be prayerful of the people who lost their family members 7 years ago and hope that it doesn't take another tragic even like 9/11 to bring our nation back to God.
On a quick side note...I'm not a political person by any means as far as knowing a lot about politics. I do get informed about presidential candidates and I do vote every election because I want to have a say in our country's future. I have to say that the more I see on Sarah Palin, the more I like her. She is shaking things up quite a bit and I think she's going to make this a much closer race than many democrats give her credit for. I have to admit that McCain was not my number one choice in the primary's - I did not vote for him, however, I will be voting for him in the upcoming election simply because I would rather have him in office for 20 years than Obama for 1 day. I would have rathered have Hillary as a president than Obama, and I can't stand any of the Clinton's!!! - so maybe that gives you a hint of how I feel about Obama. Either way, this year, the elections were looking pretty grim and un-exciting until Palin showed up on the scene out of nowhere. A lot of folks think that McCain did himself a huge dis-favor by appointing her as his running mate. Well, from all the press and interest in her, I think he has done himself a HUGE FAVOR. She is making me feel 10 times better about voting for him as president. I think she did a great job on her interview this week against liberal idiot Charlie Gibson who kept trying to corner her into saying something wrong. Un-biased media my butt!! She stood up to him and didn't back down and didn't show any fear or weakness when he was bullying her and I was proud of her. She's good people in my book and she has my vote. Like I said before though, I'm not really a political person and there are aspects about every candidate that I don't like or don't agree with. But I have to chose someone, and that most definitely wouldn't be Obama. No thank you - I want America to stay great, thank you very much!
Well, well, that was probably the longest political "rant" I have ever gone on. lol. I didn't even plan on writing about that, it just came to mind when I was thinking about 9/11 and all the catastrophe's the Bush administration has had to deal with in his term. He had a rough time and I really think he did the best he knew how and felt that was best for the country. That doesn't make him perfect or mean that everything he did worked out like he had planned, but he still did better than any citizen who complains about him would have done. They would have us be sitting ducks, waiting for another attack on our country, imposing fear at every corner.
Ok, that's it for tonight. I'm getting all worked up!! I need some rest tonight to get my week started off right. Good night all,
Perrymans out
p.s. what do you think of my new layout?? I like this one a little better I think. It's simple yet, looks really cool. Let me know your vote!
Part of the reason for this renewal of purpose and focus was what we studied in Sunday school today and then what our Sunday evening study was over. I was hit over the head twice today with the realization of what I should be doing with my life. First, in Sunday school we did an over-view of the book of James. This book focuses on how to be a "mature" Christian. While reading through it, so many things stood out that I don't do that I should, therefore showing me that I'm clearly not as mature of a Christian as I so often thought. It brought to surface the fact that the number of years you are a Christian doesn't affect how mature you are, it just shows how long you have had to become mature...regardless of whether you are or not. I have to say that in the past couple of years since my dad started GracePointe, I have matured a lot. I've gone through some difficult times which were brought on by myself and had some inner turmoil as to what direction I was going to go in life. Thankfully, I chose to continue my path serving God and not the alternative: serving myself. That's not to say that I haven't still struggled with serving myself and my desires, but God has brought me back time and again to Him, showing me how powerless I am without Him. So, I have matured, but I'm still not anywhere near the mature Christian that the book of James speaks about. That made me really want to change things about myself that have needed changing for a while. It's true what they say about not being able to change until you want to and you make the effort to. I want to change now. I want to grow into a mature Christian that God can use beyond where I am right now. The second time I was poked in the conscious today was at our Class 301: Discovering your Ministry study tonight at church. We have a series for the members of our church that starts with 101 which is for people interested in becoming members of our church and it explains what we believe as a church and what being a member of our church means. Class 201 is about maturity and growing in your walk as a Christian. Now class 301 is focusin on developing your ministry and doing what God designed and called you to do with your life. I realized as we were going through the "how" of finding your ministry, that there are so many things I enjoy doing and I don't know exactly which one to focus on. Right now I'm working with the women of the church on a special song. I used to direct a women's choir at the previous church we attended and it was really something I enjoyed and the women enjoyed. That would definitely be one of the ministries I would want to be involved in. Another one that I had started up but can't do right now because of time constraints was the women's book club. I enjoyed that, but it was hard finding a time when all the women could come and then they were even having a hard time finding time to read the books. Maybe in the future it will be something that can be started up again. Youth has also been a passion of mine. I taught junior high Sunday school at our last church and I loved it. I really enjoy working with youth (I teach high school Spanish and really enjoy it despite the behavior issues) and we don't have a youth group as of now. Waylon also has a passion for youth and feels called to be a youth minister. We both feel like starting a youth group would be something we could do together and serve whole-heartedly in for our church. That's definitely something that takes A LOT of prayer and hard work to build and maintain. With Waylon going to school right now and working, it will be hard for us to do a lot for that, but we do have plans to start it in the future. I know that if we are prayerful and always seeking God's timing and will, He will lead us at the right time. I'm really excited about finding my ministry though and developing it and seeing the ministries that the other members of our church are lead to. I feel that this year is going to be a year of growth for our church as we already have aproximately 6-8 new people in attendance and two new members back at the beginning of the year. God is blessing our church and we have a great core group that is dedicated to building it up and bringing in new people. With my Mary Kay business just beginning, I feel that I can even use that as a way to minister to the women I meet and even the women at my church with free pampering and giving them gifts they will love. I want it to be a positive thing in my life, and not something that makes people want to avoid me. I am doing it for extra money, however, the more I get into it, the more I see that it is also a way of connecting with women and filling a need for them and doing it in a loving and caring way. I hope I portray that towards the women I encounter and do business with.
The last thing I wanted to write about was 9/11. We just celebrated the 7th year anniversary of that tragic day. I still can't believe it has been that long. I was doing laundry at my parent's house tonight and the History channel had a documentary on with pure footage, no narration, of 9/11 from several on-lookers and pedestrians who were video taping the whole thing. As I watched it and heard the cries of fear and shock and saw the thousands of people in NY city running for their lives and finding shelter, I was reminded of how dangerous this world has become. It brought back all the anger I felt 7 years ago when I was watching it happen on TV and driving to school, listening to it on the radio and finding out that it was a terrorist act. To see footage of the real people who went through it, of the fire fighters who went into the first tower and never came back out alive, the buildings burning and people jumping out of it...it was horrifying and so sad. I can't imagine being there and witnessing it all and watching two towers collapse with thousands of people inside. It's so sad, I just wanted to write a little bit and reflect on it and be prayerful of the people who lost their family members 7 years ago and hope that it doesn't take another tragic even like 9/11 to bring our nation back to God.
On a quick side note...I'm not a political person by any means as far as knowing a lot about politics. I do get informed about presidential candidates and I do vote every election because I want to have a say in our country's future. I have to say that the more I see on Sarah Palin, the more I like her. She is shaking things up quite a bit and I think she's going to make this a much closer race than many democrats give her credit for. I have to admit that McCain was not my number one choice in the primary's - I did not vote for him, however, I will be voting for him in the upcoming election simply because I would rather have him in office for 20 years than Obama for 1 day. I would have rathered have Hillary as a president than Obama, and I can't stand any of the Clinton's!!! - so maybe that gives you a hint of how I feel about Obama. Either way, this year, the elections were looking pretty grim and un-exciting until Palin showed up on the scene out of nowhere. A lot of folks think that McCain did himself a huge dis-favor by appointing her as his running mate. Well, from all the press and interest in her, I think he has done himself a HUGE FAVOR. She is making me feel 10 times better about voting for him as president. I think she did a great job on her interview this week against liberal idiot Charlie Gibson who kept trying to corner her into saying something wrong. Un-biased media my butt!! She stood up to him and didn't back down and didn't show any fear or weakness when he was bullying her and I was proud of her. She's good people in my book and she has my vote. Like I said before though, I'm not really a political person and there are aspects about every candidate that I don't like or don't agree with. But I have to chose someone, and that most definitely wouldn't be Obama. No thank you - I want America to stay great, thank you very much!
Well, well, that was probably the longest political "rant" I have ever gone on. lol. I didn't even plan on writing about that, it just came to mind when I was thinking about 9/11 and all the catastrophe's the Bush administration has had to deal with in his term. He had a rough time and I really think he did the best he knew how and felt that was best for the country. That doesn't make him perfect or mean that everything he did worked out like he had planned, but he still did better than any citizen who complains about him would have done. They would have us be sitting ducks, waiting for another attack on our country, imposing fear at every corner.
Ok, that's it for tonight. I'm getting all worked up!! I need some rest tonight to get my week started off right. Good night all,
Perrymans out
p.s. what do you think of my new layout?? I like this one a little better I think. It's simple yet, looks really cool. Let me know your vote!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Running out of steem
I feel like I'm starting to run out of steam. My schedule is catching up with me and I'm more and more tired each morning when my alarm goes of at 6am. Today I didn't even get out of bed until 6:20 after I had already hit the snooze 3 times. I hate that feeling in the morning when you just REALLY don't want to get out of your warm, comfy bed. At the same time, I've been thinking a lot about my MK business and how to get it started. It's exciting and kind of scary at the same time. I want to approach people about it, but at the same time, I don't want them thinking (especially friends and family) that the only reason I'm around is to make money off them. I think this is the hardest part about this line of work. I really just need faces to practice on right now. I'm giving another one this Saturday and I'm going to make sure to do it up right! I'm going to do everything the way I saw the lady at our last meeting do it. And even though the person I'm giving the facial to is a very good friend, I'm going to act like I would around someone I didn't know well and do my best!! I feel like if I don't make myself think that way, I may relax and slip up around close friends and family or not be as professional. I don't want that to happen. Anyways, if any of my readers are interested in a free facial to help me hone my skills, please let me know. Some of you I will be calling soon, when my schedule slows down but please, please, please let me do a facial on you! I would love it and you would too!! Parties are also good because as a hostess you get free stuff. So there's just a little "plug" for my new business. I'll be calling you soon so be expecitng it!!
I'm keeping this short. I'm tired.
Peace out.
Steph
I'm keeping this short. I'm tired.
Peace out.
Steph
Saturday, September 6, 2008
The blog that took all day to write...sigh...
I went to my first MK meeting today. It was fun and interesting to watch. I have a long way to go to be like these women though. They are so put together and they all look so great! I thought I was doing good wearing my dress and putting on a full set of makeup! I felt so drab compared to them. They all have their nails done, jewelry on, hair done and perfect and I do mean PERFECT makeup! I could just stare at some of them. lol, I didn't though so don't worry. The meeting got me pretty excited when I saw how many people were willing to come to the "Muffins and Makeovers". Now that I see it in practice, you are really just bringing women to meetings to get makeovers and a chance to try out the product. I guess there are a lot of women out there who will do that. I didn't think there would be - then again, sales has never been something I have tried. So I learned a lot then after the meeting was over, I sat and spoke with my director about inventory options and having my debut party. I'm going to have one hopefully on the 27th at my mom's house....yea, mom, about that...I'll be asking you about it later this afternoon when I see you! lol. I hope a lot of women will come. It's going to be fun and of course, there will be food and plenty of product to try out! My director, Jennifer, is a wonderful woman with a great story who is very energetic (most MK women are) and very encouraging and uplifting. She prayed with me at the end of our little meeting. I think I'm going to like her... A LOT! Tomorrow I'm supposed to go over to another team-members house for a little training session in the afternoon. I think that will be really good for me so I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm sure some of you are thinking "How is Stephanie going to teach me about using makeup??" -- I wondered the same thing since I've not been a huge makeup user during my life. This is a learning experience for me too!
On to other stuff. I need to pick a song out today for the women in our church to start working on tomorrow. I really want to get the women's musical group going again. It was something they all enjoyed, I enjoyed and the church was blessed by them. They are really good and there's just something about a group of women singing and harmonizing together that just sounds great! I can't wait. I kind of already have a song in mind, I just have to see if we still have the CD and the music book for it. I'm also excited about Christmas music! I love Christmas!! It's my favorite time of the year! I love how the air is charged with energy everywhere you go and you smell coffee and sweets all the time and it's just a magical time of year to me, even if we ARE in Texas and don't get much snow to complete the Christmas feeling. Nevertheless, it still has that feeling and I'm all about feelings!
You who are reading don't know this but I started writing this blog around 3pm this afternoon and it's now 10:30pm and I'm finally finishing it! I've been taking breaks to clean and get things done around the house that I needed to. I also had music practice at 5:30 so I took a break then too. Today we traded out a dresser for the one we had. My parents just bought another investment house to rent out and the previous owners left a dresser. It's not new by any means but it's MUCH better than the one we had! Ours had flakes of the varnish coming off on everything and it was really old. This one is old, but solid wood and no flakes coming off. It's also a darker wood and narrower so it doesn't take as much space up as the other one. Bryan (my brother) and Waylon had a good time taking the old one down and bringing the "new" one up. lol...not really. I helped by taking down the drawers so that the dresser was lighter. The new dresser got me in the "cleaning" mode so Waylon and I organized our room and it looks 1000 times better than before! I threw out a ton of "stuff" that I didn't use and didn't even realize I still had, therefore meaning I could throw it out and not miss it. Our room is much better, but now I'm noticing how bare it is. Nothing really on the walls except for one picture I hung tonight of Waylon and I. I really need to get something up on the walls in there. I need to get stuff up on walls period because our whole apartment is bare, however, that falls under the categories of wants really and therefore not something I can afford to spend money on right now. We are tighter this month for money than we were last month. Maybe I can make a few extra bucks with my MK. We'll see...I'm hoping I can!
Well, I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted and have been yawning constantly since about 3 this afternoon so I think I should definitely try to get some quality sleep time. Good night folks and sorry if this blog seemed a bit "off" since it was written throughout the day.
Have a great Sunday!!
Steph
On to other stuff. I need to pick a song out today for the women in our church to start working on tomorrow. I really want to get the women's musical group going again. It was something they all enjoyed, I enjoyed and the church was blessed by them. They are really good and there's just something about a group of women singing and harmonizing together that just sounds great! I can't wait. I kind of already have a song in mind, I just have to see if we still have the CD and the music book for it. I'm also excited about Christmas music! I love Christmas!! It's my favorite time of the year! I love how the air is charged with energy everywhere you go and you smell coffee and sweets all the time and it's just a magical time of year to me, even if we ARE in Texas and don't get much snow to complete the Christmas feeling. Nevertheless, it still has that feeling and I'm all about feelings!
You who are reading don't know this but I started writing this blog around 3pm this afternoon and it's now 10:30pm and I'm finally finishing it! I've been taking breaks to clean and get things done around the house that I needed to. I also had music practice at 5:30 so I took a break then too. Today we traded out a dresser for the one we had. My parents just bought another investment house to rent out and the previous owners left a dresser. It's not new by any means but it's MUCH better than the one we had! Ours had flakes of the varnish coming off on everything and it was really old. This one is old, but solid wood and no flakes coming off. It's also a darker wood and narrower so it doesn't take as much space up as the other one. Bryan (my brother) and Waylon had a good time taking the old one down and bringing the "new" one up. lol...not really. I helped by taking down the drawers so that the dresser was lighter. The new dresser got me in the "cleaning" mode so Waylon and I organized our room and it looks 1000 times better than before! I threw out a ton of "stuff" that I didn't use and didn't even realize I still had, therefore meaning I could throw it out and not miss it. Our room is much better, but now I'm noticing how bare it is. Nothing really on the walls except for one picture I hung tonight of Waylon and I. I really need to get something up on the walls in there. I need to get stuff up on walls period because our whole apartment is bare, however, that falls under the categories of wants really and therefore not something I can afford to spend money on right now. We are tighter this month for money than we were last month. Maybe I can make a few extra bucks with my MK. We'll see...I'm hoping I can!
Well, I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted and have been yawning constantly since about 3 this afternoon so I think I should definitely try to get some quality sleep time. Good night folks and sorry if this blog seemed a bit "off" since it was written throughout the day.
Have a great Sunday!!
Steph
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Something new...
So I made the decision to sell Mary Kay. Yes, I did it. I'm shocked myself at the fact that I'm doing this so please save the negative comments if you have any. :-/ This is my year for trying new things...cheer sponsoring, getting married (lol...I'm not trying that out, it's just new), selling Mary Kay...it's kind of scary! I hope I make it through the year without dying of exhaustion! Anyways, for any of you ladies living around me and anyone you know who likes to buy Mary Kay products, let them know that I sell now. My personal website is: www.marykay.com/stephanie.perryman and you can actually order from that website. I am going to try to do most of my selling with just word of mouth, passing out books and letting women know that I'm selling it. I don't like the idea of pressuring someone to host a party when they really don't want to. I've had that done to me before and it isn't a good feeling. Mary Kay doesn't have any quotas I have to meet so I'm free to sell however I want to. I might have a "debut party" which is just an invite to get all the women I know to come over for a party to let them know I'm selling now. (it kind of sounds like I'm talking about drugs when I put it that way) Anyways, I just wanted to put up this information on here and let everyone know that I am selling MK. I've already had a couple women at work and a couple of friends say they would buy from me so that was encouraging. :) Thanks girls!!
In other news...
I made it through the first week of school and my first game with the cheerleaders. The week went well, no problems with any students and no screw ups on my part! Score! lol. I had been really worried about what kind of classes I would be getting and hoping that they would be well behaved and so far, I've got that. I know a lot of them won't show their true colors for another week or so but I do have some genuinely nice kids who I think were just raised to be nice and polite. I also have several who wrote on their student data forms that they really are excited about taking Spanish and that they have high goals for their grades. That's always a good thing to hear about your students...it's really encouraging. Sabrina (the other Spanish 1 teacher) and I have gotten ahead on our lesson planning which is awesome. It feels good to be ahead of the game on that front. My only concern at this time is finding time for grading. I have to go straight from my classroom to cheer practice Monday-Wednesday from 4-6 and then Thursdays are our game days which requires me to be at both JV games (There is a JV Blue team and a Gold team). That's a long day! Our game this past Thursday was in Wichita Falls and I didn't get home until midnight! Needless to say I was exhausted on Friday morning when I woke up. Today I also had to get up early for our fundraiser serving breakfast at 7:30am. I'm thankful this was the 2nd of three fundraisers that will be held on Saturdays (at least to my current knowledge). I don't mind doing that work though because it's paying for my trip to Florida in January. ;-) Plus, I'm getting paid extra for doing this and I have to admit it has been sorta fun. The girls are all pretty nice and sweet and fun and I get a kick out of watching them do all their tumbling and stunts. (look at me, using all the right terminology! oh yeah!)
I'm excited we got paid yesterday because now I can go buy some real food. We've been eating so much macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles and frozen dinners. I'm actually looking forward to cooking something and having a good, non-frozen meal for a change. I've cut out lots of coupons to use and made my grocery list and marked the food I have a coupon for so I don't forget to use them. I'm going to become the coupon queen! I want to find the grocery stores that double and triple the coupons and go there too. Long live the coupons!
We swept and mopped the kitchen, hallway, dining room and "dog closet" (i.e. washer/dryer closet with no washer/dryer in it) today. Wow! I didn't even notice the floors were that dirty. The main part we wanted to clean was the dog closet b/c it was beginning to smell like urine and doggy doo-doo. ugh! It took a while after mopping twice for the smell to completely go away. I think we need to find a better place to put the dogs. We are still going back and forth about what to do with Daphne. She has her good days and then her bad days and most mornings are really frustrating with her. I set my alarm to about 6:20ish and without fail she wakes up and starts whining and howling about 15 minutes before I have to get up! It's so frustrating!! Why can't she just be quiet in her kennel and wait till we get up?? We always let her out as soon as we're out of bed, it's the same routine everyday but she's not catching on. She just whines anytime she wants something. It's really annoying. So...we're still trying to decide. Waylon is completely ready to get rid of her, no doubts about it. I still have my doubts and feel bad every time I think about it. So if anyone knows of anyone who wants a dog and would take good care of her, let me know. I'd love to give her to someone who has time and energy and desire to have her and would love her and give her a good home.
Now, I'm really tired and need to get a little rest before going to practice. Thanks for reading again!
Steph
In other news...
I made it through the first week of school and my first game with the cheerleaders. The week went well, no problems with any students and no screw ups on my part! Score! lol. I had been really worried about what kind of classes I would be getting and hoping that they would be well behaved and so far, I've got that. I know a lot of them won't show their true colors for another week or so but I do have some genuinely nice kids who I think were just raised to be nice and polite. I also have several who wrote on their student data forms that they really are excited about taking Spanish and that they have high goals for their grades. That's always a good thing to hear about your students...it's really encouraging. Sabrina (the other Spanish 1 teacher) and I have gotten ahead on our lesson planning which is awesome. It feels good to be ahead of the game on that front. My only concern at this time is finding time for grading. I have to go straight from my classroom to cheer practice Monday-Wednesday from 4-6 and then Thursdays are our game days which requires me to be at both JV games (There is a JV Blue team and a Gold team). That's a long day! Our game this past Thursday was in Wichita Falls and I didn't get home until midnight! Needless to say I was exhausted on Friday morning when I woke up. Today I also had to get up early for our fundraiser serving breakfast at 7:30am. I'm thankful this was the 2nd of three fundraisers that will be held on Saturdays (at least to my current knowledge). I don't mind doing that work though because it's paying for my trip to Florida in January. ;-) Plus, I'm getting paid extra for doing this and I have to admit it has been sorta fun. The girls are all pretty nice and sweet and fun and I get a kick out of watching them do all their tumbling and stunts. (look at me, using all the right terminology! oh yeah!)
I'm excited we got paid yesterday because now I can go buy some real food. We've been eating so much macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles and frozen dinners. I'm actually looking forward to cooking something and having a good, non-frozen meal for a change. I've cut out lots of coupons to use and made my grocery list and marked the food I have a coupon for so I don't forget to use them. I'm going to become the coupon queen! I want to find the grocery stores that double and triple the coupons and go there too. Long live the coupons!
We swept and mopped the kitchen, hallway, dining room and "dog closet" (i.e. washer/dryer closet with no washer/dryer in it) today. Wow! I didn't even notice the floors were that dirty. The main part we wanted to clean was the dog closet b/c it was beginning to smell like urine and doggy doo-doo. ugh! It took a while after mopping twice for the smell to completely go away. I think we need to find a better place to put the dogs. We are still going back and forth about what to do with Daphne. She has her good days and then her bad days and most mornings are really frustrating with her. I set my alarm to about 6:20ish and without fail she wakes up and starts whining and howling about 15 minutes before I have to get up! It's so frustrating!! Why can't she just be quiet in her kennel and wait till we get up?? We always let her out as soon as we're out of bed, it's the same routine everyday but she's not catching on. She just whines anytime she wants something. It's really annoying. So...we're still trying to decide. Waylon is completely ready to get rid of her, no doubts about it. I still have my doubts and feel bad every time I think about it. So if anyone knows of anyone who wants a dog and would take good care of her, let me know. I'd love to give her to someone who has time and energy and desire to have her and would love her and give her a good home.
Now, I'm really tired and need to get a little rest before going to practice. Thanks for reading again!
Steph
Monday, August 25, 2008
Surviving the first day back to school...and more
Well, the first day back has come and gone and here I stand: breathing and alive! It was our first day on the semester schedule which was different since our class periods are shorter by 20 minutes and our lunch is 4th period instead of 3rd. We have 2 more teaching periods than last year so it feels like you are being really repetitive by the time 5th, 6th, and 7th periods roll around. I kept asking the kids by that point if we had already covered certain information because it felt like I had just talked about that five minutes before. That part was a bit tedious but we're past it now so it should be getting better from here on out. So far as I can tell I'll have great classes. I was looking forward to meeting the kids and they were all polite and quiet. I remind myself that we ARE on the first day still...so that could change. I'm really hoping it doesn't change too much though! I also had my first day of cheer practice and I felt kind of useless there. When they had us break up into our squads and work on our cheer for the upcoming pep-rally, I really had no input...I don't know anything yet! After they had practiced a bit I asked them to practice "those lift things you were just doing" because they were having problems with it and they all looked at me like I had 3 eyes and corrected me in that they are "mounts" not lift things. lol. I felt a little stupid but they all laughed afterwards and moved on and no one seemed to remember it after 30 seconds. As I spend more time in there I will learn more terminology and figure out what is what. Until then, I'm just a warm body, gaping and the twists and flips and splits these little skinny girls can do. It's amazing to see what the human body can do when trained properly. I can't even touch my toes!! I feel very inadequate being their coach right now. I hope this will be the motivation I need to get back into shape. I will never be able to do the acrobatics they perform but it would be nice to be a little more fit around them. I look obese right now in their presence! ugh!!
I continue to learn the challenges of being married. It's been three weeks and I'm loving it but already seeing where some areas we're really going to have to work on in order to keep things running smoothly. I love Waylon and he has been a wonderful husband for a first timer! haha...we're both first timers, I just thought it was funny to say that. Anyways, I get all excited when I think about how we have the rest of our lives to spend together and get to know each other and see all the ways God is going to bless us and use us together. I really get excited when I think about our future children and how they will be and what they will grow up to be. It's really just a very exciting time of life. I hate that right now at the beginning of our marriage we are having to spend a lot of our evenings apart with him being in school and me working late, however, the time we do have together we do our best and being together and just enjoying one-another's company. I already feel at home with him and if I wake up in the middle of the night it's a huge comfort knowing he's right there beside me.OK, OK, OK...I'll shut up now!! I know some of you are wanting to barf right now b/c you have been married long enough to be past this little infatuation of mine or whatever you want to call it. :-) I just like to think about it and write about it and if you don't want to read it, you don't have to! lol. I hope you do though...hehe
I have biscuits in the oven and I need to make some gravy to go with them so...good night and have a great week!!
love,Steph
I continue to learn the challenges of being married. It's been three weeks and I'm loving it but already seeing where some areas we're really going to have to work on in order to keep things running smoothly. I love Waylon and he has been a wonderful husband for a first timer! haha...we're both first timers, I just thought it was funny to say that. Anyways, I get all excited when I think about how we have the rest of our lives to spend together and get to know each other and see all the ways God is going to bless us and use us together. I really get excited when I think about our future children and how they will be and what they will grow up to be. It's really just a very exciting time of life. I hate that right now at the beginning of our marriage we are having to spend a lot of our evenings apart with him being in school and me working late, however, the time we do have together we do our best and being together and just enjoying one-another's company. I already feel at home with him and if I wake up in the middle of the night it's a huge comfort knowing he's right there beside me.OK, OK, OK...I'll shut up now!! I know some of you are wanting to barf right now b/c you have been married long enough to be past this little infatuation of mine or whatever you want to call it. :-) I just like to think about it and write about it and if you don't want to read it, you don't have to! lol. I hope you do though...hehe
I have biscuits in the oven and I need to make some gravy to go with them so...good night and have a great week!!
love,Steph
Thursday, August 21, 2008
What's my name?
The name change ordeal has begun. I had been waiting for our marriage license to come in and it did last week. I've been carrying it around with the intention of getting my new social security card change, drivers license, bank account, work stuff and teacher certification stuff changed...but hadn't done a single thing with it...until yesterday! I took the first step towards making me a Perryman on paper: I changed my name at my bank! I'll be getting new checks and a new debit card with my new name! I can't wait, it's going to finally start looking official. My school has already changed my name on the master schedule so my students will have Mrs. Perryman on their schedule. My mail box at work also already has Perryman on it. It is an odd feeling not seeing Woolbright. Anyways...it's a long journey with many steps but I will get there one day!
On the subject of school...the week has really flown by for me. It's been a good week. I got the room change that I requested so I will be upstairs, closer to my fellow Spanish 1 teacher and out of the roach and mouse infested room I was in. Not that the other room was a horrible room in and of itsself, the location was great, right by an exit where I could park right around the corner and see my car from my window. I'll miss that part, but I'm still more happy upstairs. I'm also closer to the lunch room with the refrigerator. Another perk about the new room is it doesn't have a zillion papers left over from the teacher before me and I have A LOT more shelf space which I hardly had any of in the other room. Overall it's going to be a great move. The only problem at this point is that I didn't move my stuff from my old room to the new room until TODAY at the END of the day! Don't ask me why I waited this long...it irritates me. There was a lot going on and we were getting lesson plans ready and stuff but still, I wish I hadn't waited until today. I'll have to stay late tomorrow probably to finish decorating it and getting everything exactly the way I want it and even then it probably won't be complete for another 3 weeks while I work out all the kinks. I'm excited though.
I found out that the first game I'll be performing my "cheer sponsor" duties at is an away game in Wichita Falls. This requires me to leave school at 2:00pm and miss 6th and 7th periods. I also get to ride on a bus that is designated ONLY for the JV Cheerleading squad which for some reason was funny to me. There will be plenty of space...that's for sure! I think there was mention of the possibility of taking a "short bus" which I think would be a better option. I'm looking forward to going to the practices next week and beginning my duties as their coach. It's kind of exciting. :-)
Do you know what else is exciting? I get PAID tomorrow! I have NEEDED this paycheck since about the the week after I got it! Half of my last paycheck went to last-minute wedding expenses and we have been living off what was left over after my bills were paid and what little Waylon had left over after wedding expenses and tuxedos and the honeymoon expenses. We were running very low on mula so I'm very, very, very excited about getting paid tomorrow and hoping the new raise for the next year will be on it. That would be fantastic!
I have had no luck with getting Daphne adopted. Everytime I think about it, I get sad and feel bad. I would rather give her to a family or person I know will take care of her, but no one I know wants her. She hasn't been so bad lately though (as I say this Waylon is having to get up and go to our room and get the dogs out after they have sneaky-ly opened our door and gotten in). Maybe she knows something's up?? Poor thing. They are very cute together when they start playing or fighting. It will be wierd not seeing her little perky ears around if we end up giving her up for adoption. I have found a local adoption agency that is supposedly a "no kill" agency but have not had the guts to call them yet. I'm a wuss. I would really just rather he behavior get all better and not have to get rid of her at all...this is unrealistic since I'll be spending even LESS time with her starting next week. Oh well, a girl can dream, right?
We have a praise, which I chose to leave till the end to make sure that end on a positive note: Waylon has a job. This one is legitimate. It's an hourly wage with set hours that work perfectly with his school schedule. It's nearby also. He will be reading water meters for one of the neighboring cities. He will walk 5-7 miles daily and he's really working forward to that part...NOT! lol. He is happy to have the job though and it was a huge relief to me. He filled out all the paperwork today and found out he will have benefits as well, something he hasn't had in a long time at a job. He has a couple of interviews between today and Monday when he has his first day on the job so something phenomenal might pop up between now and then but at least we have a guaranteed job! Praise the Lord! I knew God would provide and He did and it didn't take very long. I hate to admit it but the thought popped through my head that God may put is through a test right up front to test our faith in Him by allowing Waylon to not find a job for several months and us have to live on one salary. I know it's unrealistic since he actually could get A job, maybe not a good paying one, but a job none-the-less. God still may be putting us through a test that we don't even know about as of yet, but I'm glad it doesn't include Waylon NOT having at least a decent paying job. :-) I do get stressed out when I think of even the possibility of not having ends meet on any given month. It gives me knots in my back.
So...there was a little update on our lives as of late. The apartment still isn't pristine like I would like it, but we are working on it. I plan on cleaning the bathroom and sweeping and mopping the kitchen this weekend...GASP! Try to stay composed people, yes, this is Stephanie talking. ;-) I'm learning what it feels like to take pride in how the place you live looks like. It's a humbling experience. la-dee-da!!
It's 10:10 and I need to get in bed so I'm not exhausted tomorrow when I'm going to have to be doing all my setting up in my room.
Night!
Steph
On the subject of school...the week has really flown by for me. It's been a good week. I got the room change that I requested so I will be upstairs, closer to my fellow Spanish 1 teacher and out of the roach and mouse infested room I was in. Not that the other room was a horrible room in and of itsself, the location was great, right by an exit where I could park right around the corner and see my car from my window. I'll miss that part, but I'm still more happy upstairs. I'm also closer to the lunch room with the refrigerator. Another perk about the new room is it doesn't have a zillion papers left over from the teacher before me and I have A LOT more shelf space which I hardly had any of in the other room. Overall it's going to be a great move. The only problem at this point is that I didn't move my stuff from my old room to the new room until TODAY at the END of the day! Don't ask me why I waited this long...it irritates me. There was a lot going on and we were getting lesson plans ready and stuff but still, I wish I hadn't waited until today. I'll have to stay late tomorrow probably to finish decorating it and getting everything exactly the way I want it and even then it probably won't be complete for another 3 weeks while I work out all the kinks. I'm excited though.
I found out that the first game I'll be performing my "cheer sponsor" duties at is an away game in Wichita Falls. This requires me to leave school at 2:00pm and miss 6th and 7th periods. I also get to ride on a bus that is designated ONLY for the JV Cheerleading squad which for some reason was funny to me. There will be plenty of space...that's for sure! I think there was mention of the possibility of taking a "short bus" which I think would be a better option. I'm looking forward to going to the practices next week and beginning my duties as their coach. It's kind of exciting. :-)
Do you know what else is exciting? I get PAID tomorrow! I have NEEDED this paycheck since about the the week after I got it! Half of my last paycheck went to last-minute wedding expenses and we have been living off what was left over after my bills were paid and what little Waylon had left over after wedding expenses and tuxedos and the honeymoon expenses. We were running very low on mula so I'm very, very, very excited about getting paid tomorrow and hoping the new raise for the next year will be on it. That would be fantastic!
I have had no luck with getting Daphne adopted. Everytime I think about it, I get sad and feel bad. I would rather give her to a family or person I know will take care of her, but no one I know wants her. She hasn't been so bad lately though (as I say this Waylon is having to get up and go to our room and get the dogs out after they have sneaky-ly opened our door and gotten in). Maybe she knows something's up?? Poor thing. They are very cute together when they start playing or fighting. It will be wierd not seeing her little perky ears around if we end up giving her up for adoption. I have found a local adoption agency that is supposedly a "no kill" agency but have not had the guts to call them yet. I'm a wuss. I would really just rather he behavior get all better and not have to get rid of her at all...this is unrealistic since I'll be spending even LESS time with her starting next week. Oh well, a girl can dream, right?
We have a praise, which I chose to leave till the end to make sure that end on a positive note: Waylon has a job. This one is legitimate. It's an hourly wage with set hours that work perfectly with his school schedule. It's nearby also. He will be reading water meters for one of the neighboring cities. He will walk 5-7 miles daily and he's really working forward to that part...NOT! lol. He is happy to have the job though and it was a huge relief to me. He filled out all the paperwork today and found out he will have benefits as well, something he hasn't had in a long time at a job. He has a couple of interviews between today and Monday when he has his first day on the job so something phenomenal might pop up between now and then but at least we have a guaranteed job! Praise the Lord! I knew God would provide and He did and it didn't take very long. I hate to admit it but the thought popped through my head that God may put is through a test right up front to test our faith in Him by allowing Waylon to not find a job for several months and us have to live on one salary. I know it's unrealistic since he actually could get A job, maybe not a good paying one, but a job none-the-less. God still may be putting us through a test that we don't even know about as of yet, but I'm glad it doesn't include Waylon NOT having at least a decent paying job. :-) I do get stressed out when I think of even the possibility of not having ends meet on any given month. It gives me knots in my back.
So...there was a little update on our lives as of late. The apartment still isn't pristine like I would like it, but we are working on it. I plan on cleaning the bathroom and sweeping and mopping the kitchen this weekend...GASP! Try to stay composed people, yes, this is Stephanie talking. ;-) I'm learning what it feels like to take pride in how the place you live looks like. It's a humbling experience. la-dee-da!!
It's 10:10 and I need to get in bed so I'm not exhausted tomorrow when I'm going to have to be doing all my setting up in my room.
Night!
Steph
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