"Excuse Me?"

I had a pre-natal appointment yesterday at 11:15 am and I got there a bit early. I had hoped they would either see me in a little before my actual appointment time, or at least right on the nose. I didn't get called in until after 11:30, which I didn't really mind too much, because I was reading a magazine that was too good to put down.

After getting called in and placed in a room, answering questions from the nurse, I waited. And waited. Looked around for the non-existent clock and found none, but I did spy another basket of magazines. So I settled with a December copy of some home decor mag and waited some more. Finally the nurse returned only to tell me I needed to move to another room.

I was given a bottle of that orange diabetic testing drink, and I wish I had drunk it while I was waiting. The nurse asked me to drink it after the appointment and then head over to the lab a half hour after drinking it down. I could smell other people's lunches wafting through the air and I was getting hungry myself. The doctor came in to see me after 12:30. She was not at all what I expected, and seemed very rushed. After telling her I was deaf and to please look at me when she talks, she wrote in large capital letters across the top of my file "HEARING IMPAIRED".

She looked to be in her 60's with thinning, short, white hair. She was quite plump, no, more than plump and her pink, fuzzy velour pants showcased the large tire around her waist. I always find it weird to see fat doctors, when they are all aware of the dangers of being overweight. I asked if she would be the one delivering the baby at the hospital and her answer? "If I'm not out of town."

"Excuse me?" I asked her, thinking she meant she would be at conferences or the like.

She looked at my file, noted my due date, and said, "I always go to North Carolina at the end of June. So I won't be here for the birth if you have it then. I also won't be there if I am having dinner. Or if I am tired, then you don't want me there."

With an attitude like that, it may be time for her to retire. She gave me the names of 3 other doctors that she works with and said one of them will do the delivery if she is not there and I actually hope it won't be her. She seemed nice, but the whole attitude thing just turns me off. I want someone that is happy to be there, excited to help me deliver my baby, and not looking at it as a chore. I've been spoiled by having an excellent doctor for the first 2 babies who always felt around my belly and gave very close estimates of the babys' weight and could tell me where the foot or hand was. Then I had a wonderful midwife for baby #3 and she did the same, felt the belly and could tell me the weight and location of the baby. This Doctor did nothing of the sort.

After a quick check of the baby's heartbeat (good) and a measurement of my belly, she left me with some pamphlets on getting my tubes tied. I also had to ask her about the results of the ultra sound and if the baby was fine. A quick look at my file and an equally quick "baby's fine." I made my next appointment (every 2 weeks) and then sat in the car and downed the orange drink. I waited a half hour, walked into the lab only to be told I had to wait a total of an hour after the drink to get blood drawn, not 30 minutes. Argh! I could have drank it in the doctor's office! I read yet another magazine and finally got out of there after 1:30!

I hope the next appointment goes more smoothly, because I am this close to calling up the midwife and going back to her. We almost all went to the doctor's office together because Hubby has never missed a pre-natal appointment with any of the other births and I am so glad that Hubby decided at the last minute to stay home with the girls. Can you imagine 3 little, restless girls crawling up the walls, not understanding why they have to waaiiiitttttt?!? Then again, maybe having 3 restless little girls, would have sped up the waiting time?

Good News, Bad News

The good news is: our refrigerator has been repaired. We spent nearly 3 weeks of cramming everything from two fridges into one and re-training myself not to buy as much as I usually do when I go to the food store. The downside to having only one fridge is having to make more frequent trips to the local food store, 20 miles away, which costs us more in gas. The repairman came this afternoon and found that the fridge had burned out it's relay thingy and after popping a new one in, everything is working like it should.

The bad news is: one of our kitchen cupboards fell off the wall and my mom happened to be the one standing in front of it when it fell. Poor, startled mom slammed the doors shut and held the thing on the counter hoping that someone heard the clatter and would come to rescue her, pronto! I heard it, alright, and I didn't know what it was, but it didn't sound good! Hubby and I both rushed into the kitchen to take over and we managed to get everything out without breaking any more dishes. A couple of bowls broke and a plastic pitcher that happened to be on the counter underneath the cupboard shattered, getting water all over the floor in the process. I'm glad it was mom standing there and not one of the kids, and I don't want to imagine the outcome of that!

The cupboards are made of laminated, heavy, pressed wood, installed in the late 70's/early 80's we think, and that particular cupboard held all the plates and bowls. Upon closer inspection, there were 6 brass screws holding up the cupboard and all snapped off. I am a little wary of the other cupboards now, but none are as big as this one was and none hold heavy items like this one did. After we assessed the situation and made sure mom was alright, I noticed right away that the kitchen seemed brighter! My first thought was, the cabinet is not going back up and we were going to patch the holes, paint-- seems the kitchen used to be mint green/blue-- and put up open shelving instead. A cheaper alternative to replacing all the cabinets, which we'd like to do, but cannot afford at the moment.

After more than a week of living with my bowls and plates on a folding table in the office, I am starting to miss my cabinet and getting tired of the arrangement we came up with. We planned to put the cupboard back up today, after buying new screws, but as it turns out, more bad news: the pressed wood has a bad crack in the bottom board (probably from falling on top of the pitcher) and I don't think it could support the dishes anymore. So we are back to the original thought I had, which was to patch, paint and install open shelves.

I'm tempted to rip out all the other upper cabinets to make the kitchen seem more uniform with open shelving all around. I don't know if that is such a wise thing to do and I need to talk this over some more with the husband. It would force me to de-clutter if we did the open shelving thing, and it would also better showcase all the vintage dishes and glasses we have, too, rather than having them hide behind ugly brown laminate doors. I suppose the best thing to do is try living with a small section of open shelving for a while and see how we like that, before we do anything like pulling down the rest of the cabinets.

Any suggestions out there that aren't costly? We could use some fresh input! :o) There is an Ikea that we can go to if the local hardware stores can't give us what we are looking for.. but our budget is tight, so any ideas would be welcome!

*Sniff!* Ahhhhh!

At long last, I have a clothesline hung up outdoors again! It has been 3 years since I hung clothes outside to dry, but not 3 years since I've line-dried my clothing. We have a clothesline in the basement by the wood stove, so I use that mostly. Anyway, I bought a pulley for being able to hang a line way up high just like I saw one of my neighbors have, and it sat in it's brown bag for ages. With all the posts I've been seeing lately about outdoors clothes drying, my soul has been itching to get my own line up.

Yesterday, I got out the pulley and started eyeing where I wanted it, but it didn't look feasible. Hubby suggested using the light pole and stringing the line to the dogwood. Not my first choice, but it'll do. I already had a load washed and waiting to be hung and Oldest helped with pinning the clothing. There are multiple green things happening here: look closer...
See? Sorry, too close! Forgive the blurry shot, I couldn't get the camera to focus on the knot instead of the background, but can you see what I used for the line?

How about now? Yeah! Telephone wire! How many of you have miles and miles of old telephone wire lying around the house that have no usefulness anymore? With the onslaught of cordless phones and cell phones, there is no need for long telephone extension cords. We've had these wires sitting in a box for the past 3 years, not wanting to throw them away, but not needing them either, until now!

So, multiple green things happening? 1- Recycling telephone wire; 2- Drying clothes outside which reduces our energy usage and saves us money; 3- We are re-using an old Lard tin bucket for the clothespin holder. My soul is at peace.

Challenges

Some time ago, Molly over at A Foothill Home Companion wrote a post about the Remains of the Day. She wrote about how their scraps and peelings go into her compost pile and she found a fascination with the composition of the leftovers and took some lovely pictures. She also challenged us to take photos of our own "remains of the day" and share them.

I had taken this picture long before Molly ever issued her challenge but felt a bit self-conscious about posting a picture of my scraps and thought maybe my readers would think I had a screw loose (or two). For as long as I have had a compost bin, I have always arranged my cantaloupe skins in a bowl like this, to sort of build up the sides of the bowl a little and still have the center to add more scraps into. It always struck me as flower-like and I took a picture. Thanks, Molly, for the courage to share this photo and not feel silly.

I've also been issued another challenge, by two of my favorite bloggers: Dj Kirkby and Darth Sardonic. I'm to write a 6-word memoir. I am also supposed to tag others, but seeing as how this has made the rounds lately, I won't do any tagging and instead, will leave it up to you if you want to do this. I had been thinking about this for some time, since Darth tagged me back in March, and this one immediately comes to mind:

If you're gonna eat, eat good.

I know that we all must eat to live, and not live to eat, as the saying goes. The way I look at it is this: instead of eating some flavor-less health-food concoction, eat something good that's good for you! Like say, cantaloupe! Make a fruit smoothie! Make rhubarb pie! Beef stew! Homemade bread still warm with fresh butter! As long as you balance your diet, I see nothing wrong with eating good.

One more challenge has been issued to me by Todos La Vie to share with you some facts about myself. Feel free to do this one also, if it strikes you.

• What was I doing 10 years ago? (1998) I was planning my upcoming May wedding and frantically looking for a wedding dress. I didn't go to any wedding dress store because our budget didn't allow for an expensive dress that I would likely wear only once, so I took advantage of Prom season and looked at white dresses in all the department stores. I found my dress and had it altered and paid only $75 for it.
• 5 snacks I enjoy: homemade banana bread, bagels and cream cheese, strawberry "soup", rhubarb pie, and banana/strawberry/yogurt smoothies
• Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Good grief! This has endless possibilities, and most of the things I would do would be for the betterment of our communities; like encouraging green lifestyles and farming, and setting up a much-needed recycling program in our area. Some of the selfish things I would do for myself would be to help out family with their money woes, set up trust funds for all the little ones, and I would love to build a little family neighborhood of homes with a shared pool, garden and clubhouse.
• Jobs I have had: Cashier at a jewelry/gift shop at the beach, mailhandler at the post office, sign language teacher to pre-schoolers, food prep at Wendy's.
• 3 habits: daily morning check on the computer, daily pre-natal vitamin with dinner, saying "I love you" to Hubby and the girls
• 5 places I have lived: Born in Illinois, lived in Louisiana, moved to Virginia, shared an apartment in Alexandria, Va with Hubby, bought this house in West Virginia 3 years ago.

If you decide to do any of these challenges, please let me know and I'll come right over and check it out! :o)

Bad Timing

Now that I know I have a boy growing inside my belly, that gave me the opportunity to "shop" for baby boy clothes at this past Saturday's freebie sale for us staffers. I get to "shop" twice a year and I look forward to this and eagerly anticipate it, even more so this year since our budget was severely tight, I'm expecting a baby and I only bought 5 outfits per girl on staff shopping night.

Friday night, I felt kind of nauseous and attributed it to being hungry. With family visiting, I kind of put eating on the back burner which I shouldn't have done, being pregnant and all. After they left, I scrounged around for eats but could find nothing to fill my tummy. Everything tasted either too sweet or too salty or too seasoned or too blah. I settled for a banana and milk and huddled under a blanket in front of the TV.

Saturday morning, after a night of frequent trips to the bathroom doing number 2s, I realized I got the stomach virus that Oldest had the week before. I made pancakes for breakfast and one bite tasted like sawdust. I managed to force myself to eat half but it went down slowly and I had to wash it down with milk. I drove the girls and I the 1 1/2 hours trip to the store and it went something like this:

"Oh, I think I gotta poop. Next bathroom is at the gas station 10 miles down the road. I can make it."

We pass the gas station.

"Made it this far, let's make it to the next gas station 7 miles up."

We pass that gas station.

"Ohh, here comes another wave, let's make it to the next stop 10 miles down."

Made it pass that one and so it went, setting little goals to make it to the next bathroom all the way to the store. By the time I got to the store, I was miserable, but determined to "shop". After several trips to the bathroom and the go-ahead from the boss to shop, I was too weak to get out of the chair. I would stand, only to be forced back down with light-headedness and another painful wave rocking the belly. What made it worse was the baby kicking where it hurts.

Thankfully, the other staffers helped me shop after they did their own shopping and asked me what I needed. They helped me get baby boy clothes and clothes for the girls in their various sizes. I managed to roll the chair over to the maternity section and pick out a few pieces for me to tide me over the last 2 months and the next few months after while my body still has baby weight. I sent the girls to pick out books and movies and whatever else they wanted. Instead of staying until 7pm to go through the donated clothes we didn't touch yet, we left to go home so I could be where I belonged: in bed.

Sunday was our last day at the store, and I felt well enough to go in. I wasn't 100 percent, but better than the day before. I picked through the donated clothes, bagged up the freebies, and said good bye to all the staffers. Won't be seeing them again until the next sale, unless they decide to visit when the baby arrives. It was a good sale, but I am glad the 6 weeks are over. Things will return to normal again around here, and I can catch up on all the stuff that needs to be done.

I'm going to go and crawl back into bed and rest.

It's a...

Boy!! We are having our first boy!! Wow! I can hardly believe that I have a little boy growing inside my belly!

We had the ultra sound Thursday night and how lucky that we had family over for the night and they were happy to watch the girls for us so we could go to the appointment on our own. Imagine our surprise when the technician pointed out our baby boy's *ahem* equipment! First thing that popped in my head was "my, those are some big balls!" Next thing that popped in my head is that song: AC/DC's "Big Balls"! I managed to keep those thoughts to myself until we finished the ultra sound and walked out to the car. Then I blurted out to Hubby what I was thinking and Hubby laughed and said, " Now I have someone I can sing that song with!" Hubby then started belting out the song and I have not been able to get that song out of my head ever since!

We have asked family members if they wanted to know what the baby was, and the majority of them all know by now. So this is why I am posting this. I cannot contain it any longer and just had to share my excitement with all of you!

The due date has also changed a little bit and is moved up to around June 22. Baby currently weighs around 3.6 pounds and so far looks good. I am feeling great at 7 months pregnant and looking forward to new adventures with a baby boy.

One Spring Day...

You know how they say "A Man's best friend is his dog"? In my husband's case, it's his cat. Charlie the cat is a bruiser. You call his name and he will come running. If you lean down and wait, he will stand up on his back feet and bump you on the chin. Hard. He's a bumper! If you go for a walk around the yard, he'll walk right along with you. A couple of days ago, we had a lovely Spring day, and Hubby decided to burn some of the leaves around the woodpile. Charlie came along and meowed for some attention. When he meows, you listen!


I spread an old moving blanket down on the ground to relax on and watch the girls play. Of course the girls eventually crowded me out and took over the whole thing! They were imagining one of their books to be a laptop computer and what a serious face Youngest has as she listens to Middle explain the lowdown on a computer program!

After I got chased off the blanket, I decided to go for a walk around the property. We have about 7 wooded acres on the right hand side of the house and one of these days, we'd like to thin out some of these trees to make it look a little more park-like. Much to my surprise, I spot a patch of bright green popping up in the middle of the trees. Looks like a renegade patch of lilies! Makes me wonder if once upon a time this was all cleared at one point and then the previous owners just let it all go. There is also a humongous rhododendron in the middle of the woods a little farther away and I am talking elephant size here!
We worked on the little kitchen garden patch and got all the manure and extra dirt worked in. We pulled a blue spruce out of the area and it left a gaping hole that needed to be filled in. The patch is all ready to go and as soon as there is no more frost in the mornings, I'm going to plant! As we were dumping the manure onto the dirt, Middle asked what it was. I told her it was 'cow poop.' She looked around and asked where the cow went. I had to laugh and then explained exactly how we came to buy cow poop in bags. Tell you what though, it was easy to keep them out of the dirt after telling the girls there was cow poop in there!