Top TV Shows....and Alias.....

So Alias tonight made me cry. I didn't think it would, but with my hormones raging, well....you know.

Normally I hate to watch TV or be a slave to a scheduled "remote time." But this season it's hard. Here's a line up of my favorite shows so far :

Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy
Extreme Makeover : Home Edition
Alias
Lost
CSI
Surface
Bones
Threshold
Medium (didn't watch last year, but have seen both episodes so far this year....we'll see)

I don't know how I find time to watch all those shows. The funny thing is, Daniel loves to watch the adult programming. I think he just likes the background noise...

Which shows can you not live without?

As my beautiful husband pointed out : I forgot the ONE SHOW I truly cannot stand to miss, and will rearrange my whole schedule around : HOUSE. Hugh Laurie is brilliant.

Completely Unexpected Surprises

Has anyone ever done something completely unexpected for you? I mean, gone out of their way to be so helpful or nice that it literally astounded you? That happened to us last night. We were just sitting here playing on Daddy's one night off this week, and our doorbell rang. We both looked at each other, because neither of us were expecting anyone. So when we opened the door, there stood Wezie. She had brought us meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and carrots that Preston had made. My jaw dropped. Here was someone interested only in making our night brighter and in making someone else's life easier. I wish I could be more like that. Thank you so much Wezie, Preston, and the kids. We'll be eating your meatloaf tonight and thinking of you fondly!

Internet Anonymity....

Ever notice how the internet is like the ultimate cocktail? I worked as a bartender for a long time, so I know what I'm talking about. The guy who had a rough day at work, and has one too many at night so you take his keys, pin a note to his shirt and call him a cab. But in the meantime, he has insulted your staff, you, and the guy sitting next to him. Why? Because alcohol lowers your inhibitions. It's dangerous in that way. In the same way, the internet is dangerous too. It affords you this veil to hide behind. The normally meek and mild mannered individual suddenly becomes the chat room spitfire. People say things they would never say to someone's face, just because they feel like they can.

So, I got to thinking, what is it about the internet that people find so intriguing that they have to suspend all sensibility and become someone who they aren't in real life?

The answer I came up with : the internet feeds needs for people. Different needs for different people. Some people crave human interaction during the daytime while they are "stuck" at home with their kids. Some people like to update their stock portfolio automatically all day long. Some people are addicted to internet games. Some people are addicted to, well, other internet things. But then you have the people who are either : a) so downtrodden in their daily lives by others around them, b) meek and mild and never say a work in their real lives, despite the way they are treated (by a spouse/significant other/parent/etc), or c) mean-spirited in real life AND internet life. THESE are the people who crave the internet anonymity. These are the people who hide behind names like "wildcat64" and "hellraiser." They are the people who "speak their minds" and expect others to just get out of the way or agree. They are the people who make it their daily business to go about spouting hurtful things to strangers they've never met. Does it make them feel good? I can't say. I can only imagine that it fills some void for them. The only thing I can say is: at least they aren't saying these things to peoples' faces. And I take some small comfort in the hope that the majority of these people don't act that way in their day-to-day lives. But I worry about what causes them to behave that way. And I really don't think there's any way to fix it.

Repeat c-section

Scheduled for October 11 at 7:00 in the morning. I have to have an amnio the day before at 9 am, to determine if Zoe's lungs are mature. If they are, we have a baby the next day. If they aren't, we repeat the whole process a week later. It's naptime.

From bad to WORSE? Frying pan to FIRE??

So, we had the Truly Nolen man out today, because I heard noises in the walls of Daniel's room the other morning. Sunday morning, to be exact. The man goes up into our attic and immediately I hear, "WHOA!" And he pops his head down and says "you're not gonna like this." Because, of course, I'd already regaled him with stories of the great mouse infestation of 2005 at our last house. So I say "oh yeah?" And he just shakes his head and continues on. A few minutes and here he comes. "Well, Mrs. Newberry, I can tell you with a fair degree of certainty that you do not have a mouse problem." Then, before I can feel relief (keeping in the back of my mind that he said I wouldn't like what he was going to say), he says, "nope, what you've got is ROOF RATS." My jaw literally dropped. "R-r-rats?" Oh my gosh. You have got to be kidding me. The worst part? "Yep, you've got them and there's a fresh one up there that must have gotten into some of that poison that's been laid out. I'm going to go back up and fish him out...believe me you don't want to deal with that smell." I just nod stupidly and hand him two grocery sacks like he asked. He tells me something about once he's done getting the carcass (EEK!!) down he's going to walk the perimeter of our house to determine how they were getting in. I just nod again.

So, here's the deal....we have roof rats and apparently they're super common on this street. The beautiful 2 story house two houses down just had this same guy out for the same problem. Apparently they like our neighborhood. And they REALLY like our house. "There are literally thousands of droppings in your attic...fresh, new, you name it." And since rats are ferociously territorial, he thinks it's likely a family system. So, I throw out a feeble joke "great we've got Rat Corleone and his 'family' living in our attic." He gives a hearty laugh and a sympathetic look. The good news is : we can do something about it. And we are. But the thought of rats in my attic....he said the good thing is that unless they've chewed a hole into the interior of the house, they'll have no interest in coming into the house itself. Great. That's comforting. The other "good" news? The one that was dead was a small one, all in all (with tail) only 18 or 19 inches long!!! That's the size of a NEWBORN.

Fuggedabowdit.

The Greatest Invention....EVER?

The dishwasher. That little box beside the sink in just about every household in America. It cleans our dishes, makes cleaning up at night easier than snapping your fingers, and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy about disinfecting our dishes. So, when it doesn't work and we have to do all these things ourselves, we are left to wonder : Just HOW do people live without a dishwasher? Especially people with kids! When we moved into our new house we discovered that our dishwasher doesn't work. Well, that's not really true : our dishwasher doesn't cycle through its cycles and the soap dispenser doesn't work. So, in essence, it runs but it doesn't clean (and it certainly doesn't disinfect) our dishes! And to top it all off, the water in our kitchen doesn't get very hot (and it takes forever to get as hot as it does) so if I want to disinfect our dishes I have to boil water and soak our clean dishes in the boiled water. Either that or I can add a drop or two of bleach to our dishes. But this makes unpacking really difficult -- I want to wash our dishes as they get unpacked so they can be used, but washing by hand is next to impossible with a toddler around!

So, how in the world did people in the "olden days" do it? And how do people today survive without a dishwasher? Since we have American Home Shield on our new home they can give us the money from repairing the dishwasher and we can use it to "upgrade" our appliance.

What's awful is : we had to replace our refrigerator before we could really move in because something was terribly wrong with our old one! And then, to top it all of our dryer stopped working so we had to buy a new one (we bought a washer, too, since who knows when they'll have that great a deal on them and what if our washer goes out too?). Add to that the oven doesn't work properly (but, according to the repair man : it does....maybe he should try taking 25 minutes to bake a can of biscuits, then he can tell me it works properly), but we're pretty much stuck with that.

The upside? Once the appliances are all replaced, we'll have all new appliances! DUH. ;o) That means that things we wanted/needed for Zoe and her room are falling by the wayside for the "necessities." But with her impending arrival, things are stressful inside my brain.

I'm hoping I'll get some rest soon, though.

"Call me anytime..."

When people say this, do they reall mean it? I know I do, but you know what I mean. Someone says "call me anytime if you need anything!" And you can't help but wonder, what if I called you and said "Hi! My feet hurt and are swollen beyond recognition because I've been on them all day, my blood pressure is sky high, I've been cleaning and doing way too much today, and to top it all off my family needs dinner tonight! Would you mind bringing us dinner?" Of course I'd never have the nerve to do something like that, as tempting as it might be! I just wonder sometimes if people are sincere in their offers, or if I were to call would they think oh great she thought I was sincere! The answer is probably simple : most of the time people mean it and other times it's merely a reflex (almost like getting hit by the DR on that special spot on your knee) and the person who said it wishes they could retract it (on the off chance that you actually think they are sincere). I don't know though, do you?

PS -- more tomorrow, but HOW DO PEOPLE LIVE FOR YEARS with no DISHWASHER????? I CAN'T STAND IT!!

Stomach aches and non-talkers....

HOW do you know when your baby has a tummy ache? Especially if they can't tell you, "Mom my tummy hurts?" Well, I guess we deduce by the contents of their diapers. My wee one had two really gross diapers yesterday. We're talking send a letter to the President because aliens landed in his diaper. I can only guess that his tummy hurt him, but the day before he seemed OK....he just didn't eat much at dinner, which is normal. But how do you stop yourself from feeling like a bad Mommy because you didn't know his tummy hurt? I guess like all things, it comes with time.

I've got to go sweep the floors while he's asleep. Who knew hardwood floors could take so much upkeep?

SCARED (MORTIFIED, actually)

Driving home from Target tonight we were passed on the right by a woman driving a small green car with no lights on. It was after 8 pm (CST) and the sun was down. It was dark. The only reason I know the car was green is that she passed us right next to a gas station that was all lit up and I could see the car color. Well, at the light where I needed to turn left to get to our house I look over, thinking maybe I'll roll my window down and tell her that her lights aren't on. That is when I notice that her husband (boyfriend? brother? who knows?) is HOLDING an infant. A small baby girl, who doesn't look any older than 6 months. She's not in a car seat, the woman driving the car hasn't bothered to turn her lights on, and it looks like it's going to storm. The light turned green. She sped off straight, I was frozen to the spot. Car behind me honked at me. I jumped forward, saying a prayer for that baby girl. Lord help me, I will be thinking about that baby forever and ever.

Papa's Hat

Daniel found a hat I had bought for Papa some time ago. He decided to put it on last night. SO CUTE!

Hurricanes....

There is nothing like a natural disaster to send people into a panic spiral. The Albertson's by our house is out of gas. I don't know why, exactly, but I can only assume that people are afraid of gas prices rising after Rita hits.

A drive that should take 4 hours is taking people over 12 hours. They've closed 45 South and opened all 8 lanes to Northbound evacuees. I can't begin to imagine the horror the New Orleans evacuees are feeling at the prospect of being in yet another Cat 4 storm, with the potential to be a Cat 5 by Saturday afternoon.

What causes hurricanes? What causes them to be so vicious? We should be thankful, I suppose, that they are something that can be anticipated unlike so many other so-called "acts of God." After all, there's no other natural disaster that we can plan for like we can for a hurricane. As long as everyone does their part, all of the people should be out of harm's way long before the storm actually hits. I say SHOULD, simply because you are going to always have the stubborn hang ons who insist they can "weather" the storm. And it's difficult to find as much pity in my heart for these people as I'd like.

I don't know what to think about this hurricane. I pray that everyone gets out of there and when Rita does hit, with her full wrath, that there will be nobody left for her to destroy. I just sincerely hope that everyone gets out of harm's way before the storm hits. After all, we've had plenty of advance warning.

Daniel is so cute

He's having so much fun at ARK School, and it's amazing to see how much like a sponge he truly is. He tries so hard to do the sign for "please" and since he and I have worked on "thank you" and "more" and apparently they are working on those in ARK School, too.....pretty soon he won't want to talk anymore, which is funny because he babbles pretty much constantly. If only I could understand him.

And he's growing up so quickly....he pretty much puts himself to sleep at nap and bedtime now, and he's on a fairly set schedule. I suppose when Zoe gets here, that will all change...but you never know. He loves to be rocked until he's calm, and I usually sing to him at night time. It's funny, people always told me when he was little bitty to just "let him cry it out" and he would sleep through the night. Amazingly, he started sleeping through the night without me having to resort to that. Although I will admit to trying it twice. It's just not in me to let a baby cry for no reason. So now, I have a happy and secure 19 month old who knows if he truly needs Mommy or Daddy, they will be right there. What a wonder.

Memoirs of a bullfrog

So here we are, in our new home and I should be ecstatic. And I am. But I'm also not. We have discovered that when we moved in our oven doesn't get hot, our garbage disposal doesn't dispose of garbage, and our dishwasher doesn't run. Well, I take that back...it runs. and runs, and runs, and runs, and never advances beyond where you set the dial. It literally ran all night long the other night. And I was too exhausted to realize it until I got up the following morning and it was STILL "washing" my dishes. Add to that the fact that when we first got here, our fridge went kaput and we had to buy a new one, and now our dryer has decided to die. I hesitate to even say "what next" because there are still other major appliances that could say "oooh, me, me, me!!" So, I hold my breath and pray nobody decides to help us fill the Fort Worth City Dump with more broken down appliances.

In addition, the DR has me concerned. She said she doesn't want me going past 38 weeks of pregnancy, which would mean a scheduled c-section sometime around the 17th of October. 2 weeks early, and only 4 weeks away. That just doesn't give me enough time. But here's the kicker : she'd like to take her at 37 weeks (meaning sometime the week of October 10) but the problem there is manifold : 1) I'd have to have an amnio to determine if Zoe's lungs are fully formed, 2) Michael's show in Irving doesn't close until the 15th of October so I'd be completely alone at the hospital after the birth, and 3) that puts her arriving here really, really early....and I'm still not prepared for her arrival. Yes, she has a bed, and a room, and it's pretty much "ready" for her, but there is so much more to it than that.....mentally and emotionally I'm not ready for her arrival. I need some more time to prepare. But I suppose, like all things, it's God's timing and not mine. Just so hard to accept sometimes.

how

how do you prepare yourself for the arrival of another child? how do you open your heart to the possibility that yes, you can love another child as much as your first? how do you look at yourself in the mirror, without hating yourself for even thinking that in the first place? how do you reconcile looking into your child's eyes and thinking "soon, little one, your world is going to turn upside down" with the inescapable joy that has somehow wormed its way into your heart? how do you know life will be changed for the better after the arrival of the new baby? how do you afford two children? how do you take care of two children under the age of 2? how do you do these things and maintain your sanity?

Wow it's been a long time.

We're finally in our new home. And just as soon as I can find the cord to lift photos from our digital camera, I will post pictures. Until that time...here is a quick update.

We moved in on the 7th of September. Michael got a gig in Irving doing a show at the last minute. So he leaves the house at 6:30 and returns at midnight. It's fabulous for him, not so fabulous for us but we're OK. We make special time during the week for Daddy time with Daniel.

My due date is rapidly approaching. October 31 is the due date. Guess what, my DR doesn't want me going past 38 weeks (that's October 17th) and she wants to do an amniocentesis at 36.5 weeks to determine if the baby could come on October 10th. Good thing her room is almost ready, huh?

We registered at Target and we're going to Babies R Us tomorrow. Registering for a baby with a toddler along is interesting....Daniel wants to handle everything and he kept trying to get the scan gun. Like Father, like son!

I'll update more later, but right now I'm exhausted. I go back to the DR on the 23rd.