Red Pencil Diaries

I was just reading my friend’’s blog (Cletus the Fetus countdown), which made me remember being pregnant a year ago. It was about this time that I really started to feel Zack move in my stomach last year. At around 23 weeks, I felt some good twitches and “rolls,” but it was about 25 or 26 weeks when I could lay in bed and Dave could see my belly move. That’’s when it got exciting—he could SEE what I was feeling. I would lay in the hospital bed with my gown pulled up and we’‘d sit and watch him move and sometimes Dave would catch the movement and be able to feel it with his hand. I was so amazed then. It was then that I truly realized what an amazing thing was happening inside myself. And it was then that I started to really know that things were going to be ok. He was moving inside me. He was growing. He was fine. I just had to stay in bed and make sure he stayed that way. I look back at my ultrasound pics from the last week in July, 2004… I saw his hands, feet, face… And now I see him climbing on a chair and standing in front of the TV banging on it with his hands… my how fast they grow up! lol

First of all, thank you to all of my friends for coming to my party! Oh, and any new friends too. I was a bit tipsy and I tried to socialize as much as possible. Not sure if I got around to visiting much with everyone though. We had a nice time, and lots of drink.

On Sunday, my family came over and we made pizzas (Dave made home made pizza dough) and it was all yummy. We also had a cake (with 34 candles for me and also my brother’’s girlfriend whose birthday is the day after mine and who is also 34). Another great time. I still have pizza and cake left… and I’‘ve eaten just way too much all weekend.

Friday night was also a lot of fun. We had a wonderful dinner at Come Back Inn and then a really fun concert on the waterfront. It was just tooooo freaking humid though. I sweated through my clothes and while dancing, felt a bit too dizzy and had to sit for a bit. We drank a white russian early in the concert (traditional drink for Lebowskifest), but had to resort to a diet coke and one of those icee frozen treats later b/c of the heat and sweating. Was too fun, though. And great to get out with friends (just me and Dave). Overall, I had a great birthday weekend. And now I need a nice calm day to recover. It’’s too hot outside today, so Zack and I are just gonna hang out here at home.

It’’s my birthday. So I log into msn.com and it says to check out what happened in history on my birthday, so I click… It lists others with whom I share my birthday: Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams, and Janet Reno. Several years ago, we charted my sign… I was a triple cancer; sun, moon, and ascendant (i think that’’s it) in Cancer. And according to that reading, I should either be a genius or insane. So… I guess maybe I am in good company. I wonder if Ernest or Robin are triple Cancers too?

I’‘m watching an NBC special report… apparently there are more “incidents” on the tube in London. They have no real concrete idea what is going on, other than 3 stations have been closed and there are rumors of smoke and possible bomb spottings. The world is a very scary place. But the news people are just theorizing at the moment about if this is a bomb, and one went off, but no one was injured, maybe the terrorists couldn’‘t get the right chemicals to make a proper bomb, so it might have been a less potent bomb… I hate when they start making things up and get the world in a tizzy when they don’‘t even know the details yet!

I need to go clean some. We need to get the house in shape for my birthday party on Saturday. We’‘ve been really working on the kitchen, so things in there are a bit… messy. I scrubbed the floors in there last night. Well, half of the floor. I also stripped some of the final bits of wallpaper and painted part of two walls. I need to go paint a bit more. But it’’s looking fabulous. I just wish it was all complete. sigh More work ahead, but it’’s worth it.

I just got an email from one of my favorite stores… Sephora. And upscale very posh, hip cosmetics store. There isn’‘t one here in Louisville, so the only times I have ever gotten to go to the actual store have been when I have gone to Las Vegas (or some other large city). I got super excited because in this email, they were announcing the grand opening of their newest store… in Cincinnati. Hey, I’‘d prefer a new Sephora store in Louisville, but Cincinnati is a lot closer than say… Chicago, which was the closest store to the Louisville area. I emailed a friend of mine and suggested that we plan a trip soon… and then realized how silly I am. I don’‘t usually consider myself to be a material girl. I like well-made, nice things. But I’‘m not a brand snob or anything. A lot of my clothes (these days) come from the clearance racks at Target. lol… but I still do love to splurge occasionally… and a nice splurge for me is cosmetics and beauty items. I love things that smell good… bath soaps and lotions. And wonderful lipsticks and glosses that taste good and give me a nice pucker… And anything to play up my eyes… I guess I’‘m really just a girly girl.

We’‘ve been working so hard on the kitchen. Drywall, electrical, paint, sanding, primer, tile… it’’s insane. We’‘ve gotten a lot finished, but we are far from complete. So on Saturday evening, we’‘ll have some friends over for my birthday, and they will get a sneak peek of what our final kitchen will look like. I think the “preview” might look a bit shocking to some, though. The color we are painting it isn’‘t exactly a “traditional” kitchen look. But once I get all my pieces in place, I think it will look great.

I can’‘t wait to get it totally done, but I have a feeling I’‘ll be sanding and priming and painting cabinets for the next few months. It’’s taken me 3 days to get just one part of them done—and I’‘m so exhausted. We have upper and lower cabinets and the “island” to go. But it will be so worth it. The kitchen was always depressing to me. Dark and soooo much wood and tacky wallpaper. I have stripped out that ugly paper and our cabinets will be white—once we are completely finished painting them. The kitchen already seems so much brighter! I have a feeling I’‘ll enjoy spending time in there once we get things the way we want them. And it will definitely make the house seem more “put together” because we’‘ll have one more room decorated and in working order.

Here’’s a link to our photo gallery where I posted a couple of pics of my new tattoo(s). I think they turned out great.

Oh, and by the way… Happy Anniversary to my blog. It’’s been 3 years since my first post! Woohoo! I know I don’‘t quite make it a daily thing, but I try to make it at least a weekly thing. Anyway, Happy 3 Years to my blog. Yay me!

On Saturday, Dave took me to Tattoo Charlie’’s on Preston. I got a new sun/moon tattoo on my shoulder that’’s based on a crop circle that was in a wheat field in England in July of 1997. I bought it from the Pat Fish website (she’’s a fab tattoo designer from California who does amazing celtic work). The guy who did my tattoo was Boda. He’’s very cool and does great work. I’‘m very happy with it. I also got the tattoo on my leg updated. I had the small pink star made into a shooting star and added a green star for Zack. It actually didn’‘t hurt very bad. After about 15 minutes, it kind of went numb and I was just sitting there waiting for him to finish. I would post pics, but I have no clue how to put one in my posting. Anyway, big big thanks to Dave for my early birthday present. yay Dave!

We had the family over for our cookout/fireworks celebration. It was a lot of fun. The kids all claimed to be bored, but I think they enjoyed it too. Zack was good and slept through all the fireworks. When it was just barely dark, the kids started the “is it dark enough yet?” queries. So I finally gathered them all in the yard and lit sparklers for them. My nephew kept trying to kill lightning bugs with his sparklers. Our friends Chili and John stopped in. Chili wired together the last two packs of sparklers for a nice bright (if brief) flash of light. Then Dave and Joe decided we needed to have bottle rocket time. Then came the bright colored mortars and roman candles. It was a great show. Not quite Zambelli quality, but good for a backyard celebration. I dread going out and surveying the damage in the light today, though. I can already see red and blue streamers blowing outside our living room window from the deck. Dave is back asleep. He got up with Zack this morning, but got Zack to go back to bed after his bottle. So now they are both asleep. I need some breakfast before Zack wakes up again. It’’s gonna be terribly hot today. Not sure what I’‘m gonna do. Guess we won’‘t be going outside much. I feel the need to get out of the house though.