I've been spoiled!

Since winter hit, we've been heating with our woodstove. Because wood is currently free, we haven't been rationing it.

Now, I have three logs to last me through the day because I, stupidly, told Ben last night not to cut any for today because we had enough. Three measley logs.

So here I am, putting off heating the house because I want to save the logs for when Morrigan wakes up, since she can't quite figure out the concept of layers yet. I'm shivering, teeth chattering. And the thing is, it's only 65 degrees in here. It's not THAT cold.

But oh, leaving the bed this morning was a feat of will power all on it's own...

Works for me Wednesday: FAFSA

When I decided that I wanted to go back to school about a year ago, the decision was not made lightly. Morrigan was about 8 or 9 months old. We had just moved two hours across the state. Money was tight and motivation was a bit lacking.

But I knew if I put off school any longer, I would never go back.

After some soul searching, I decided to try it. Luckily Columbus has a very good community college downtown (Columbus State Community College) that would be within reasonable (less than an hour) driving distance, reasonably priced, and had a degree program I wanted. I applied.

The told me about the FAFSA - The Federal Application For Student Aid. At first I laughed, thinking Ben made too much for us to qualify for anything. I don't consider us 'poor' because we live fairly well, have regular meals, and our house stays a balmy 68 degrees. The school urged me to apply anyway.

I did, and to my surprise, I got funded. Fully funded for tuition and with the option of a student loan for books. I've also recently found out that when Ben goes back to school, he will receive even more benefits than I am because we have two students in the same house.

So if you're thinking of going back to school, please don't brush off the FAFSA. Even if you don't think you qualify, you really should put in an application just to make sure. It's not hard, and it's all online. All you need is your previous year's tax return and your W2's.

For more information, please see www.fafsa.ed.gov

Dear Doofus...

Dear Doofus...
The kid's play area at the mall is a play area... not a babysitter. I realize that your new spiffy cell phone needs to be set up and it must be DONE. RIGHT. NOW, but meanwhile, your child is trying to climb on, bite, and otherwise torment mine. If you would look up from your finger fiddling more than once an hour, you might see this.

When I asked you "Is he yours?", it was a hint. I was hoping you would see that your child currently had his teeth embedded into my kid's arm. But no! You just smile, nod, and go back to your phone... Not once actually looking at your child.

Now, to get your child to take his teeth out of my kid's skin, I have two options. Forcibly remove him, in which case I would probably be singled out for either kidnapping or abuse, or taking my child (who was playing nicely and having a BLAST) out of the play area, which would break her little heart.

Or, you know, you could watch your kid like you're supposed to and keep this horrible fiasco from even starting.

So, please, dad on the cell phone... Look up once in a while. At least check on your kid. And please get that kid a mouthguard... those teeth are sharp!

Thanks!

Boring classes and wasting time

This class is a joke.

I'm in a computer lab, supposedly to look up Chemistry topics. The programs we have to choose from are literally in DOS and from 1998. We have another hour in here before he'll let us go. It's... idiotic.

I'm so bored. It's hot in here. The baby keeps kicking and I keep contracting. After this, only Dose & Calc and then I can go home... but meanwhile, this sucks major monkey balls.
I also haven't meal planned yet. I'll probably try to throw one together tonight after I get home and see what's in the pantry left over. We have a couple of pounds of ground beef and I want to make some chicken white chili. But other than that, we'll just have to see.

Ben's not online, either, and he should be... I'm bored. Actually, nobody's online really.

Stupid ass chem teacher. :(

"And nothing goes up there!"

Last night was a bit stressful.

All throughout the day, I had been 'leaking' a clear, odorless fluid. Not a lot, but enough that I had to change underwear. I called Kathy, thinking it was nothing, and she called back (sounding a bit worried) and asked us to come visit to get it checked out.

Apparently her first thoughts were that my water had broken or had a 'tear' in the bag. She said if that was the case, we'd be in the hospital on steroids and antibiotics for as long as possible and on complete bedrest. Understandably, this idea scared the crap out of me and Ben.

We went over there and she did a few little tests. One was negative, the other could have gone either way. She sent us home with four more herbal supplements and three big rules:

1. Nothing goes up there (with a Look at Ben).
2. Call her if anything changes
3. Rest! Take it easy.

So now I'm on a sorta-not-really-bedrest situation. I think I'm going to drop my speech class because A, It's stressful as hell, B, it's early in the morning, and C, it's stressful as hell.

Here's hoping baby doesn't come early. :( If it's just extra mucuous, that's great. Just anything but a broken water. In a couple of days, Kathy is going to test me again. Meanwhile, we're in limbo. :(

Grocery List Tuesday

I do a grocery list a bit differently than most people, I think. I'm a big fan of not over-buying. So, what I do is I compile a list of every ingredient needed for the week. I write that list down. Then I go 'shop' in the pantry and mark off everything I already have. Whatever is left is what needs to be purchased! It works really well, and it keeps us from overloading.

I find Recipezaar's shopping list feature very helpful. :D

So, here's the list for needed ingredients this week.

• Dairy

Plain yogurt
Parmesan cheese
2 gal milk
1 Pkg of shredded cheddar
2 boxes of stick margarine
1 tub of spread margarine
8oz sour cream
1 doz eggs

• Canned/Dry

1 can tomato soup
28oz stewed tomatoes
56oz kidney beans (these are the only beans I buy canned because of the toxins in them)
ketchup
29oz of green beans canned
Oatmeal
Raisins
Hamburger buns
2 loaves of bread

• Meat

2 lbs of sausage
3 lbs of ground beef

• Produce

4 onions
2 heads of garlic
1 green pepper
celery
10# of potatoes
lettuce for salad
tomatoes (if priced right)
carrots
pears (in season) for fresh fruit

• Frozen

French fries

Menu Plan Monday Nov 10-16

(My plan starts on Tuesday because Tuesday is our grocery day. :) But I plan on Monday.)
This week is going to be a bit lean because Ben missed a day at work during the Job Fiasco, so we're operating on 12 hours less pay than usual. However, this is the chance I've been waiting on to raid the pantry and get rid of/eat up all the stuff that has been sitting around for, well, forever.

A lot of this pantry junk is, well, junk. There's a lot of boxed foods and canned foods. Most of it is before I 'converted' to from-scratch cooking. So trust me, these are not 'typical' meals in our house! LOL!

Lunch is fend-for-yourself. I put all my dinner ingredients in a separate cupboard so that they can't be snacked on ahead of time. :D

• Tuesday, 11th

Breakfast: Egg, potato, sausage, and cheese stirfry
Dinner: Crock-pot chili, salad, cornbread
Night Prep: Pre-make cinnamon rolls for Wed.

• Wednesday, 12th:

Breakfast: Cinnamon rolls, fruit, yogurt
Dinner: Hamburger helper, salad
Night Prep: None

• Thursday, 13th

Breakfast: Pancakes, yogurt with fruit
Dinner: Sausage and potato soup, salad, sweet dinner rolls
Night Prep: Prep green beans, put chicken in fridge to thaw

• Friday, 14th

Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins, toast, fruit
Dinner: Baked chicken, scalloped potatoes, garlic green beans
Night Prep: Pan up meatloaf & stick in the fridge

• Saturday, 15th

Breakfast: French toast, yogurt
Dinner: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, baked beans
Night Prep: Defrost ground beef (if needed)

• Sunday, 16th

Breakfast: Oatmeal, cinnamon toast, fruit
Dinner: Sloppy joes, french fries
Night Prep: Make pot pie and stick in fridge, grate hash browns

• Monday, 17th

Breakfast: Eggs, corned beef hash, hash browns
Dinner: Chicken pot pie, au gratin potatoes
Night Prep: ???

A Year in Retrospect

When Ben first brought up the idea of moving to the country, I immediately shot it down. "The country" brought up images of fat old ladies in straw hats, grubby kids playing in the dirt streets, and overalls. After a month or so, he brought it up again. He promised me horses and an orchard, so I promised him one year.

"If I can't get used to it in a year, we'll move back." I told him. He agreed.

A year later, here we are. I can't say I'm fully adjusted yet. However, I am realizing that many of my pre-conceived notions of "The Country" are wrong. And, despite my city-girl-half, I do believe I'm starting to like it out here.

However, I still don't have horses or an orchard. Grr.

Now, what's changed in the past year? Lets see...

1. "Food" used to be whatever came in a box from the supermarket or whatever drive-thru was closest. Now our meals are 90% from-scratch... and we still eat out, but less often.
2. Spiders were cause for panic and screaming. Now, I gently shoo them back into whatever corner they came out of. Or else squish them if they're in my way. Or if I'm feeling ruthless.
3. Owning chickens used to be the tagline of a joke. Now we have about 70 of them. (Have you ever heard a bad rooster try to cockle-doodle-doo? Oh man, it's fully. They sound like they should be shot.)
4. Corn used to come in a can or in a feed bag. Now, we skim the fields after the harvest and pick up missed cobs.
5. I used to wonder who the heck heats with wood anymore? We have electricity for that! Well, guess what? Now, we have a wood stove. And I'm realizing how much misplaced faith we have in electricity.
6. Fat old grannies in straw hats? Yea... they exist. But they're nice, and they share fresh vine-ripe tomatoes with us. I think I can handle the straw hat. :D
   

Pregnancy update - Yay, third trimester!

I want to say this pregnancy has been worse than Mori. Both in mental exhaustion and physical discomfort. I don't know if it's because I'm chasing around a 1-year-old, running a household, and going to school while pregnant or if it has something to do with the actual pregnancy, but either way, it's rough.

I get days like today where I am just unable to do anything. I want to do things. I START to do things. But two minutes into it, and I'm either out of breath, having a contraction, or just mentally unable to continue.

Even standing and folding laundry is a huge task. Add in having to chase around Mori, keep her out of the kitchen sink (she's learned to move the chairs around and climb... hurray... feel my excitement?), pull her out from behind the futon... you get the idea.

It's days like this that I am ashamed to admit that Mori watches disney movies... for a good part of the day. It's not something I'm proud of, but it is darned convenient.

Yesterday, we re-arranged the livingroom. It's been about a year since we've moved any furniture around, and I was getting antsy. Ben was amazingly helpful, listening to me and moving all the furniture where I wanted it. He didn't argue or ask questions or anything. It made me feel really good.

So, now, the desk is right across from the window, which allows me to sit in the sunlight in the morning. We put the futon across instead of against a wall, which splits the room into two quite effectively. The second half will turn into either a play area/toy storage area for the kids or a dining area with our diningroom table. I haven't decided which would be more convenient. Right now, the kids don't have a play area... but at the same time, our table is stuffed into the kitchen with very little room to negotiate.

So, we'll see with that. However, this setup makes me happy and seems like it's more organized, and maybe a bit more 'zen'. It also condensed the living area of the living room into a smaller, more family-friendly area.

Once it's fully cleaned up, I might post pictures. :)

It's freaking COLD!

It's 34 degrees outside.

What happened to fall!? Seriously, I love winter, but some more of that nice 50-degree days would have been nice. And it's been snowing! In October! (okay, almost november, but still!)

I forgot how bitter Ohio winters can be.

Of Baking, Speeches, and Jobs

I think I was a baker in a past life.

No, I'm serious! I find great joy in baking. I like making cookies and breads and just about anything that involves flour, butter, and sugar. I like cooking too, but I don't "get" cooking. I "Get" baking. It makes sense to me. We eat a lot of baked goods in this house. Baking is also stress relief. I feel so good when I peek in the oven and find 12 little orange pumpkin cookies puffing up to their fluffy goodness. I would love to open a little bakery one day.

So one of the classes I'm taking this quarter is speech. It didn't occur to me until recently that part of a speech class is, well, giving speeches.

I had to give my first speech last Wednesday and was terrified. I had too much information and ended up rushing through it with some stuttering and going over the time limit, but all in all I must have done pretty good, because I got 190/200 points. Tomorrow we get a better report of what we did right, wrong, and what could be improved.

Also, Ben got a new job (with a raise!) that he starts Monday. It's a 9-5 job this week, which means we had to find care for Mori. Luckily a girl downtown who I know from the Columbus board offered to help out. I told her I needed her for Monday and Wednesday, but now, thinking about it, we don't have school on Wednesday... so I might go ahead and have Ben drop Mori off anyway and take a day to myself. JUST myself. It would be very, very nice. Good golly, I could sleep in, and take a bath, and maybe get some housework done...

Ugh. Housework. Speaking of which, here is today's To-Not-Avoid-Doing list:

• Call Paypal and get them to reopen my account.
• Search for Tracfone phones (Walmart?) and pricing.
• Pick up the livingroom
• At least get all the dishes done in the kitchen
• Bag up icky produce to throw to chickens
• Do something with the apples... Applesauce?
• Get all the laundry put away
• Pack up Mori's bag for tomorrow
• Do some homework
• Lay out clothes for me and Ben tomorrow
• Set alarm extra early for tomorrow
• Vacuum kitchen and livingroom
  

versatile, cheap, and fulfilling! Homemade pizza!

Since I started cooking from scratch, I've found that one of the best meals we have is homemade pizza. It's cheap. It's very, very filling. And it's SO versatile. And it's EASY! I have about six different crust recipes, four different sauce recipes, and plus all the toppings... different cheeses, meats, veggies. All that jazz. We never have the same pizza twice (unless it's pepperoni... that's a pretty common one). I use the bread machine's dough cycle to make the crust, which makes it much easier. I just pop in the ingredients and wait, then roll it out and add stuff and throw it in the oven! It turns out wonderful every time.

Recipe for parmesean pizza crust and cost breakdown:
(Note: prices are estimates and based on Aldi prices)
3 cups whole wheat flour (.20/cup, $.60 total)
1 1/2 cups water (free)
1 pkg of wheat yeast ($.37)
1/2 tsp salt ($.05)
1/2 tsp sugar ($.05)
1 1/2 tbsp oil ($.05)
1/2 cup parmesean ($.20)

Toppings:
Sauce ($.50)
2 cup Mozzarella cheese ($1.90)
Pepperoni ($.50)
Chopped onion ($.10)

If you're not using a bread machine: Proof yeast. Add in other ingredients and mix until dough forms. Let rise about an hour, punch down, let rest about 15 minutes. Roll out. Stick with fork numerous times to allow 'airholes' through crust and make sauce stick better. Add toppings. Bake at about 350 until cheese is turning gold and crust is golden.


Total for the pizza, not including energy usage to oven-bake: Less than $5
If you make your own mozzarella or buy in bulk, it could easily be less than $3 per pizza.

The way I do it is I make sure the crust is thick so it'll fluff up really nice (and it does... the pizza in the picture ended up being almost half an inch thick after baking!). That way we get 'full' with the cheap stuff (the crust!) and the toppings are 90% for flavor.
Ben takes a few slices to work the next day and he says it's just as good, if not better, reheated.

And I meant to take a picture of the pizza after baking, but, well, it was gone too fast. ;) Even Mori had a slice!

Dear Kids in Class...

Dear Teenagers,
I understand you think your cell phone use is taking over your life. I understand that you think texting is a life-or-death activity. I understand that your phone has two hundred neat ring tones and sounds and doohickeys that go 'ping!'.

However, you're in college now. The teacher kindly asked you twice to put your phones away for the class period. Note that she didn't say "put your phones on their lowest setting/vibrate". No, she said put them AWAY. She says this at the beginning of each class period, so please don't tell me you forgot.

If you decide to blatantly ignore this rule, please remember the teacher can see you... and hear you. So can the other students. You phone may be on vibrate, but it still goes "BZZZ! BZZZ!", which is not only distracting and annoying, but extremely obvious. Please don't hunch over, hiding your phone in your lap. It's obvious, dude. Seriously. How many other kids do you see staring at their crotch with their hands in their lap?

Please don't text during class. I understand it's an OMG-IMPORTANT-MSG! but it can wait. Really, it can, I promise. The clickky sound that the buttons make as you push them distract me enough as it is... when you've got ten kids in one classroom doing it, it makes me want to scream. And, yes, kids. Texting is USING YOUR PHONE.

Not only is this distracting to me, but it's extremely rude to the teacher. Extremely. Rude. You don't want to be rude to the lady who will be determining if your GPA remains 4.0 or drops to a 3.4.

So put away the f*cking cell phones before I put them away for you.

Kthx,
Ket

----------

Rant over.
Hi guys!
So yesterday Ben got two more large loads of wood. (Say that ten times fast.) He was talking about putting it in the barn because he thought it would get wet. Jokingly-but-serious, I told him not to worry about it, because we haven't had rain in a long time and would probably go on not having rain for a while.

So what happens? I wake up this morning and it's raining. #*$&*#.

I really don't want to go to school today. Or rather, I really don't want to leave the house today. It's icky! And cold! And in here, it's nice and warm because we fired up the stove again last night. I'm in one of those moods where I want to take my blankie (yes, I have a blankie) to school with me and rub it against my cheek like Mori does. Do you think they would notice?

At least it's a short day. Only three classes. I hope it's not raining when I start home. I'll park in the garage today to keep from getting soaked.

Now, off to find something for breakfast and ignore the McD's temptation.

TGIS: Thank God it's Sunday

I find it highly amusing that, as you get older, things start going backwards.
Make sense? No? Okay, let me explain.

Back in highschool, I distinctly remember the "Thank God It's Friday!" drama. EVERY Friday. "Ugh, I'm SO glad it's Friday... I'm so sick of school. I want to be at home."

Now? I thank god it's Sunday. I go, "I'm so glad it's Sunday! Tomorrow I get to leave home and go back to school!" while dancing and throwing confetti.

See the backwardishness?

Don't get me wrong. I love being with Mori, and most of the time I love staying home. But 'staying home' is literally 'staying home'. We have no car and we live 15 minutes away from the nearest, well, anything. Four days of enforced homebound-ness can be excruciating, especially if Mori is having a bad day.

However, school! Oh, school. School not only gives me adult (or semi-adult, depending on what class we're talking about) interaction, but also gives me a whole day in which I am not chasing around a 1-year-old. Am not changing diapers. Am not listening to squeals of "COOKIE!".

I can, at school, stop, sit, and think. I can eat lunch without interruption. I can do homework without dear child stealing my erasers and trying to stuff them up her nose. I can look around and see PEOPLE.

It's glorious. So glorious.

So, anyway. Ahhem.

Today has started out great. Not only did Mori wake up in a great mood, but she also ate 90% of her breakfast without throwing it, sat quietly through half of Cinderella while mommy caught up on math homework, allowed me to change her diaper, and went down for her first nap with no fuss or hollaring. Rarely do we get a morning this... peaceful. And not only that, but mommy got a shower - a real, soap-and-hot-water shower, all by herself during kidlet's nap.

Peaceful.

On the list of Things To Not Avoid Doing today includes:

• Making brownies with a new, yummy-looking recipe.
• Call to cancel bike insurance.
• Finish Speech homework.
• Poke and prod at the wet (and probably moldy) towels that have been in the corner of the shower since last, um, month. Try to remember to tell DH to pitch them.
• Load up the dishwasher
• Try to sell Mori's old halloween costumes
• Go through more baby clothes. Will they ever stop?
• Laundry. 'nuff said.

Not too huge of a list today. So heeeeeerrrrreeeee we go!

Chicken is chicken is chicken

Last Monday was the first day of my Calculations & Dosages class. We started off with an introduction; name, major, if we had kids, etc. A lot of people were listing their animals, so I decided I was going to be cheeky.

"Hello. I'm Ket. I'm majoring in veterinary. I have one little girl. Four dogs. Oh, yeah, and 95 chickens."

The class paused. My teacher peered at me. "95?" She asked. I nodded. Class resumed.
Later on, the instructor was going over the class rules.
"I don't care if you eat a bag of chips or a candy bar," She mentioned. "But if you bring in steak and potatoes, you'd better bring enough for all!"
Me being my cheeky self, I piped up. "I can bring in roast chicken!"

One of the girls sitting down the row squeaked. "Wait." She said. "You actually eat your chickens!?"
I kinda gave her A Look. "Well, yeah." I said, wanting sorely to add (and what else would we do with 95 chickens?).
Her face took on a horrified look. "You mean you slaughter them?"
"Uh... yeah." I said, peering at her. She gagged, but by now I was curious. "Are you a vegetarian?"
"Well, no." She said with a valley-girl twang.
Confused, I asked "So... you eat chicken?"
With a teenage-girl e yeroll, she goes: "Yeah... but it comes from the store!"

I waited a moment to see if that statement would click in her head. Meanwhile, our teacher is looking between us with a pained, I'm-trying-not-to-laugh look on her face. The class was silent.
After a minute, I realized that this girl just didn't get that chicken = chicken... whether it's from the store or in your backyard. Either way, the bird dies...
"Yeah." I said, and turned back to the front of the class and opened my book.


Now, this isn't the first time this has happened. I got a similar response when I mentioned in a chat room online that I slaughtered chickens. "Well, yeah I eat chicken, but it comes from the store!" It seems to be... well... a pretty common response. Despite the lack of sense of it.

Next time, I'm going to reply with "Yeah, and someone slaughtered that store chicken too, I bet!" all cheery and smiley-faced.

No-Bake Oatmeal Fudge Cookies

Two years ago, Ben gave me a recipe. "This never works for me," He said, "But maybe you can make them. If you do, I'll marry you. Or something."

Apparently, Ben's lack of cooking finesse stepped in every time he tried to make these delightful cookies. Mostly, I believe this is because time is crucial in this recipe, and Ben... well, he's just not very observant. I can see him leaving the fudge on for five minutes (it's supposed to be on for ONE) and getting a block of fudgey mess instead of cookies.

But anyway, here's the recipe. It's egg free, but milk and butter are essential. I've never tried it without the peanut butter but I imagine it would still work. (EDIT: I tried it without peanut butter... and it was melty and gross. Apparently the PB is needed after all!)

No-Bake Oatmeal Fudge Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Butter
Pinch of salt
3 TBL cocoa
2 Cups Sugar
3 Cups Oatmeal (Quick oats work best)
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Tsp vanilla

Directions:
(I have gotten the best results by using a wooden spoon for all mixing, not metal or plastic!)

Mix milk, butter, salt, cocoa, and sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to a rolling boil. After it hits a rolling boil, boil for 1 minute. Time is crucial - too much and it will solidify too quick, and too little time and it won't solidify at all!
After one minute, remove from heat. Mix in oats, peanut butter, and vanilla.
Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. DO NOT scrape the saucepan! Let cool until set and firm. Fudge should not be shiny; it should be pretty dull after it sets.
I don't recommend using the fridge to set these... They turn out more sticky and less firm.

This makes about two dozen medium sized cookies.

Problems?
1. Fudge doesn't set and is still sticky and runny after more than 20 minutes: You didn't boil the mix long enough.

2. Fudge is crumbly and doesn't hold it's shape: You boiled the mix TOO long.

3. Fudge is grainy, has a sand-like texture: The sugar didn't melt all the way OR you scraped the pan, scraping accumulated sugar crystals into the cookies.

4. Cookies disappear minutes after they're firm: Hah. :D This isn't a problem! It's the expected outcome! As you can see in the picture, two of my cookies have 'mysteriously' disappeared... and they're not even all the way firm yet. XD


Anyway, today I'm making three batches of these for Ben to take to work tomorrow. I'll probably end up making another whole batch just to keep here at home and munch on. :) Enjoy!

I've been awake since 4:30AM...

Stupid. I think I have a UTI. It's painful. And we don't have a family doctor who can get me in quickly. Cranberry juice, here I come.

I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and then this morning I woke up around 4-4:30 and just could not go back to sleep. I took a shower, tried to relax, and have been alternately staring at the wall and reading old journals. I'm hungry, but I know if I leave to get food Mori will wake up, and Ben probably won't wake up with her. I have finals today. My crotch hurts and I feel like I have a constantly full bladder. I don't want to spend four-six hours at school doing nothing. I'm hungry.

However, due to a sporadic cleaning last night, the house looks good. The floor is vacuumed. The dishes are done. Laundry is caught up. It feels good.

But damn, I'm hungry. And I can't find my hairclips, which would be nice to pull my wet hair off my neck.

I must be insane. Regarding school, at least.

Alrighty, so, when I found out I was pregnant, I had a plan in mind for school. I'd take summer quarter full-time, loaded with classes. Autumn quarter would be half-time, to accommodate a growing baby-belly (and the misery that comes with it). Winter I would take off, because who can go to school with a newborn? I'd resume full-time for Spring, which starts in March.

Perfect plan, perfect timing, says I.

However, that just got blown to bits. Lots of itty bitty bits. Because if I half-time it in Autumn and don't go at all in Winter, I won't have the pre-reqs I need for the vet tech program in time.

So now, Summer finals are Monday. And I'm scheduled for 13CR for Autumn. Granted, they're mostly 100-level classes, so they shouldn't be that difficult, but still. (Chem 100, Math: Calculations/Dosages, Speech and Algebra 2). Autumn goes from Sept. 14th-ish to right before Christmas. I'll be about 8-mo pregnant during finals. I must be insane.

And to top it off, I can't take winter quarter off - I have to be at least part-time, otherwise my financial aid gets all screwy and I won't have it for Spring. So I've got a line-up of online classes that I think I can handle, including Business Comm, Med. terminology, and "Freshman" seminar.

And then Spring I start with 200-level classes, and by Fall I should be taking the VET schedule, which is, ah, well, INSANE.

But anyway, there's a scholarly update. Cheers!

(Oh! And SPORE came out yesterday. Now I have to hunt down a copy. MINE, I say, MINE!)

I screwed up... But we survived!

Hello! We're back from Saint Louis!
Saturday was hectic. I mean, major hectic. It all started well, though. There I was, doing laundry, washing some dishes. Morrigan went down for her afternoon nap and I thought to myself "Maybe I should look up our flight times for tomorrow so we don't miss it!"

I sat at the computer, loaded up Expedia, and got our itinerary. "Dum, dum, dum." I thought. "Okay, flying out on Saturday the 30th at 6:55am... wait, wait. Saturday? HOLY SHIT! That's TODAY!"

Apparently dipshit me booked the flight a day early on accident. So, there I was, 12:20pm on Saturday, looking at an itinerary that said the plane had left six hours ago. I immediately busted into tears and called Ben.

"Ben!" I said. "I screwed up. The flight's gone! The flight's gone!"
Ten minutes later, after he could get me to coherently tell him what happened, he made a brilliant suggestion. Call the airport and see what we can do.

I called American and told them how much of an idiot I was. They said "No problem, people miss their flights all the time. Just bring in your ticket and we'll fly you stand-by tonight."

Tonight? But Ben was at work! So, after I hung up with American, I sheepishly called Ben back and told him to come home so we could rush to the airport to rush onto another flight and not have to pay $300 extra for new tickets.

He did, and we did, and we got on a flight. Two hours later we were in STL.

Over all, the trip was good. Stressful, tiring, and definately wore me out, but it was good. Ben met a good chunk of the family and still hasn't divorced me (an amazement in itself) and mother behaved herself remarkably well. We spent a whole evening with daddy and Brad and Nina, playing Wii and showing Mori their turtle. We had lots of eat-out food, which my body did not quite agree with, and got back in one piece.

Now today, it's off to school for final exams and off to work tomorrow for Ben. Morrigan graciously slept all through the night last night, which means so did I, and it seemed to recharge us pretty well. To complete that recharge, I'm going to First Watch to have a nice, alone, quiet breakfast before throwing myself back into the throes of student life.

Ciao!

Saint Louis... ugh.

Sunday morning (like, super early) we head to Columbus International Airport to hop on a plane to Saint Louis. We return on Tuesday.

I'm so not looking forward to this. Sunday afternoon is a family reunion on the Phillips side--the crazy side. My mother, her siblings, her mother and father... I have a feeling it's going to be a disaster. Poor Ben, who has to meet all these psycho people, is probably going to divorce me upon return to Columbus. ;) And I wouldn't blame him one bit.

I still can't believe I let myself get guilt'ed into going. Our friend Melissa is going to take care of the animals for us, which rocks. We're going to have to put the car into long-term parking for a few days. I was thinking about getting a hotel in STL but I can't imagine how that would work unless we rented a car, which is so expensive that we wouldn't have money LEFT for the hotel. I'm NOT looking forward to trying to get Mori to sleep the two nights we're there. (Sigh.)

On top of that, I bet I won't even be able to see any of my friends. Fuzzy, Mikki, Sra, Tony... I MISS them, darnit. However, we WILL see my da... and not just for lunch at work with him one day (as mother dearest suggested). We will a good chuck of day with him. The only problem is, of course, getting there and back... ARGH. I hate flying out there. I always end up trapped at the house because of no car.

Oh, well. At least Ben will be there with me to fend off the Lori-psycho.

Days Go By, Unfortunately Too Fast...

I've been getting my days mixed up. Yesterday I ran outside as the mailperson was driving away because I thought it was Saturday and didn't want to go to the post office. She looked at me like I was crazy and asked if they were super important. When I said "Not really, I just wanted them to go out before Monday." and she looked at me like I was crazy.

I woke up this morning believing today was Sunday. I just looked at our calander and I'm a day early. Blaergh.

It's hard to believe Mori is 13 months old. I mean, in all seriousness, where did time go? And now i'm halfway through with this pregnancy, too... I can remember being halfway through with Mori and thinking it took forever! I guess things go by faster since life is so hectic. Good-hectic, not bad-hectic.

I have to put a note here that my Bio100 teacher is awesome. We had a quiz and one of the questions stumped me... I knew the answer but had no idea the word for it. So I put some mumble-jumbo down and tried to explain WHAT it was instead of what it was CALLED and he gave me full points. I really enjoy that class... it's a shame that it's ending.

Just one of those update... thingies.

It has been hectic in life! Whew!

Sunday I was in Dayton all day, hanging out with Rachel and Britt and the kids. We had fun, but poor Mori got so tired! On the drive home, she woke up and had me throwing french fries back to her to keep her happy. XD And then we picked up Ben and he kept her entertained.

Monday we drove down to Cinci to help Ashley and Craig move. We ended up being there until almost midnight and getting home around 3am. Mori didn't even wake up when I moved her from her seat to her crib, she was so tired. I have to say, I felt pretty useless 'helping' them move and had a near-death experience with a few bites of mushroom. Ashley's dad actually got up to fix me something different (nummy burgers) and I felt bad for inconveniencing him... ahwell. It was fun.

Tuesday was hectic trying to get back into the groove of things, and Wednesday I had school. Yesterday Mori and I were both sick, and now today we're still sick but not as bad. So, things are finally getting to normal!

Tuesday is a midwife appointment. :D I'm excited to see how things are going. Wednesday I have a school final, and then Sunday-Tuesday we're flying out to Saint Louis for my mom's family's reunion... not quite looking forward to that. :( Mori will love it because it's a new adventure but I just do not want to deal with my mother. Sigh. I think we might get a hotel instead of staying with her.

Anyway, there's an update. ;) Ta ta for now!

Of Vinyl, Oatmeal, and Family Reunions

Ever since Mori was born, I have been in love with vinyl.

It's not a very 'crunchy' thing to be in love with. I can take or leave my glass cookware, I can hee-haw at my BPA-free plastic, but I don't think we could live without vinyl.

Because, lets face it. When your dear, dear husband (gee, thanks, Ben) gives your one-year-old daughter a big bowl of oatmeal in her high chair, allows her to feed herself, and then doesn't clean up after her? Oh, yeah, and forgets to tell me the chair is covered in oatmeal? Well, vinyl is nice. I can pick off dried oatmeal, scrub it down with a soapy washcloth, and 'viola!' Clean vinyl.

However, I really should make Ben do it. Since, yaknow, he's the one who started the whole mess.

Saturday is the Keister Family Reunion... Ben's side of the family. Ben is not going. However, I (apparently), am. WTF am I going to do for hours with people I've never met who have never met me when I don't even have my husband (AKA the Buffer)???? His parents are going, but still. I really don't want to be swamped by people I don't know, in a city I don't know, without him. Seriously. It's his family.

Next time the Phillips side (read: psycho side) of my family has a reunion, I'm so sending him without me to drown.
Rant over.

Energy, moods, and kids

It's amazing how in-tune Mori is to me.

I felt my blood sugar drop about half an hour ago... and I mean honestly felt it. One second I was fine, playing with Mori, the next second I felt like crap. Poor Mori reacted in the same way... she went from fun and giggling to crying.

I hate being pregnant. I honestly do. Some women have that 'glow'? Not me. I have zits. Some women breeze through the first trimester? Not me! Nope. I get puking, passing-out, losing-weight months.

I find it amusing that the only thing I like about being pregnant is feeling a bump and the actual labor.

This morning I did manage to get two loads of laundry and a load of dishes done, though. I also bought some solar cells on Ebay to play around with and try to make a panel out of. I've had lots of water and moved Mori's previously-unused toy container to the kitchen, where it's now half-filled. I've checked on the chickies and dogs.

I still have to:

Write an essay.
Clean dishes off the cpu table.
Get Mori's toys all put away/organized.
Empty vacuum and vacuum kitchen and livingroom.
Pack up yarn.
Go through livingroom and pick up all the freaking trash.
Do another load of laundry.
Stick chicken in the oven for dinner.

If I can get all that done by 7pm, I'll be happy with my day.

Also, this is the first day in my pregnancy that I've kept down both my prenatal and my fish oil pills. Normally I bring up at least the fish oil... but today I kept them both down! Yayy!

Signing out,
Ket

Tragedy of the Doran Family

Tuesday, July 22nd, Bette (aka "Granny") Doran passed away.

It was a shock to everyone, because she was happy and seemingly healthy Sunday at Morrigan's birthday party. She was 81 years old and died of a brain aneurysm.

The services were today. Ben and I went. It was... rough. It's still rough. Despite only knowing her about two years, Bette was much like a grandmother to me... she accepted me from the first day, even before Ben and I were married, and I really treasured our relationship. She thought the world of Mori and was overjoyed to hear about baby #2. She was a sweet, wonderful woman who was full of love and compassion, and she will be missed.

She is survived by her husband, Al; children, Gayle, Rusty, and Mike; grandchildren Ben and Dan; and great-grandchild Morrigan.

Please spare a brief moment of silence for this remarkable woman. May her soul rest easy in Heaven.

Thank you.

-Ket

Lately I've been in a "what-if" mood.

What if, I hadn't moved to Ohio? What if I hadn't met Ben? What if I hadn't joined the army? What if Mori hadn't been born?

Life would, obviously, be completely different.

I can count on one hand the times I've regretted moving to Ohio... and not necessarily the move to be with Ben, but even the move to Dayton to begin with. This is one of those times. On one hand, I wouldn't have Ben, and Mori, and Scout. On the other hand... I would have friends. Good friends. Aged like fine cheddar. Friends who know me as well, if not better, than I know myself. Friends I'm not nervous around or careful around or not myself around because they know me. They know my quirks. They know my touch obsession. They don't care.

Fuzzy and Mikki are still in Saint Louis. Tony, and Sra. People I could call and say "Hey, meet me at Steak n Shake!" and someone would. Or I could say "Come over." and that night, someone would be curled up next to me, just for the comfort of physical touch. Not even sexual... just touch.

I didn't realize what a blessing it is to have friends like that until I lost them. And Tony... I loved Tony too much to honestly love him. Now I realize that.

And it would be different if it was like Mikki, where he was at school, but could come home... I'm never coming 'home'. Future plans do not include moving back to STL, or even really visiting STL that much. I'm stuck here, in Columbus, feeling 95% friendless, my 'touch' meter woefully low. Missing the closeness, and the freedom.

Hell, even my "Ohio friends" aren't here. They're in Cinci, or Piketon, or Dayton - two hours away, at best.

So, where would I be now, if I had never moved? Probably living at home. Probably going to Meramec. Probably working at Steak n Shake or the mall. Hopefully on the track to a degree. Maybe with Mikki? I'd be there to help my dad. I'd be there to bitch about my mom to Fuzzy or Mikki. I'd be there to visit Beej and help Reggie as she gets ready for the Navy. I'd be there for my grandparents... because they're fading fast.

I'd be THERE. I wouldn't have to have a hasty flight to STL when my dad's back went out, because I would have been there. I would have held his hand while he cried.

Fuck, even Jan is back in STL. Even he was there. He was there. And I hate him because of it.

But I wouldn't have Ben.
But I do have Ben, and that's almost a problem. Because he's not like me. He can go days without touching... He has no 'need'. He's not a social person, he doesn't 'need' friends. He's happy with his metal and computers and whatever the fuck else he brings home from work. Emotionally he's bland, so laid back it's hard to even figure out what, if anything, he's thinking.

There was never a more mismatched pair as us. Touch-obsessed social butterfly city girl versus emotionally carefree loner country boy.

And yet... I love him.

Where is the justice in that? Why did I have to give up so much for... this? To be lonely, depressed, looking around and saying "What about me?". To feel forgotten... ignored, and since it's not his fault, I can't even retaliate. We've talked it out, we've tried to compromise, but in this situation it's just moot. You can't change the core of your being... and our cores are so radically different that we'll never fully mesh.

But knowing that, and accepting that, doesn't fill this raw, gaping hole. And this half-wish for time to turn back isn't eased by knowing life will stay this way, probably forever.

I think I like stabbing myself repeatedly...

Mentally, at least.

I tend to dig up things that shouldn't be dug up. Just to inflict the pain upon myself. Friendships or old relationships that really don't need to be rememebered, people who I haven't spoken to for years, that sort of thing.

And, then, of course, I contact these people... and have nothing to say. "Oh, hey, remember me from, uh, four years ago? Yeah! How are you?" You can only keep a conversation going for so long when you start off like that.

Why can't I just let things go? I dunno. Maybe it's nostalgia. Maybe it's masochism. Maybe i'm yearning for that time when such-and-such was going good or who knows, maybe I'm just fucking lonely.

Despite having friends, none of them are close... and even if they were, they're not the kind of friends you attach yourself too, you know? I'm really hoping school will help this, because I'm a bit sick of being alone.

Anyway, kudos. Just had to think out loud.

My... head... ugh

I swear I have a headache the size of Montana. Pounding, throbbing, right behind my left eye. It's driving me kookoo.

Ben came home two hours early yesterday because he wasn't feeling good. He walked in, went "Oh, Mori exploded the house!", looking around. I giggled. "Honey, she does this every day... I just spend a half hour frantically cleaning it up before you get home!"

So now he's seen the carnage that is our daughter.

Do you think an IPod would be considered a "school expense" if I used it at school? Cause, yeah, on that two hour drive, I'd like to have some music. Yaknow, to listen to.

I had this weird dream about school last night... Basically I want going to classes and I kept going to the wrong one, but I didn't have a copy of my schedule so I didn't know which one to go to? And a couple of people from high school were there, making fun of me because I kept going to the wrong class. So, of course, this morning I jumped on here and memorized my schedule... again. It hasn't changed in two weeks.

We close on the house in a couple of weeks, too. We finally sold it... Got a little less than Ben wanted but enough to pay off his bike, which will free up $200/month to pay off everything else. Helllllloooooo, snowball! I also plan on stealing a good portion of the sale money to repay the stupid student loan and get it over with so I either don't have to borrow again or can pay off what I'm supposed to be borrowing. I've heard so many horror stories about student loans that I don't really want to mess with them, but I also don't have the $500 or so out of pocket that it'll cost for all my books, calculator, supplies, etc. Sooo... give and take, I guess.

We have a visitor until monday... a (looks purebred) Boxer puppy who I found trotting limply down the side of the road. His front paw is pretty much mashed... If we had the money for the vet, I'd keep him, but it'll cost a good $200-1000 just to fix up his paw, and we just don't have it... So I guess Monday he goes to the dog shelter, where they will probably put him down because THEY can't afford to fix his paw either. :-/ He doesn't have tags on, but he does have collars, so maybe he's chipped and they can scan the chip. And figure out who he belongs to. He seems like a real sweet dog, and I hate to think they won't take care of him. :-/

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm going to go curl up with my book and enjoy the half an hour I get while Mori naps. Tata!

16 Days 'til Schooooooolllll

I'm so. freaking. excited.

School starts the 30th, which is in 16 days. The day after school starts, we have our first midwife appointment. The next week or so after that, we'll have our first ultrasound.

But mostly I'm excited about school. Loan money should be coming in within the next week or so, in which case I will quickly flee to the book store on campus and load up on everything from binders to a $150 calculator. And then, for two blessed days a week, I will be 'stuck' at school. All day. 10am to 8pm. And, (forgive me if this is a horrible thing to say) Mori won't be with me. Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter to pieces, but I literally can't remember the last time I have gone anywhere without her. Even for just an hour.

And then there's the whole career thing. Obviously I'm excited to be finally on track. Within two years, (maybe 2 1/2, due to baby #2) I should be graduated. I can pick up a part-time job as a tech. And also hopefully go to OSU for a zoology Bachelor's. And then? Once the kids are in school? Hello, grad school!

Also, I will be 12 weeks pregnant next week, which gives me one week for my hormones to settle before school. Hopefully the nausea, food aversion, etc etc will fade away after the first trimester.... if I remember right, it did with Mori.

Speaking of pregnancy, I've noticed a few things different about it this time around. A few things are the same, like not wanting to be near milk or eggs, but there's a few subtle differences too. Like, this time around, I'm not puking as much, however, I have more cravings and food aversions. Last time I would eat anything, but I'd have to puke it back up.

Also this time I'm remarkably horny and gassy... not a good combination. And why do we shorten 'combination' to 'combo'? It's not combOnation. Curious.

The past few days I've also been feeling more energetic and 'up'. For two or three weeks there, it was hell... I didn't do *anything*. Now, I'm back to my old half-assed cleaning routines and such. Yesterday I even vacuumed! And this past few days I've been working on cleaning out our linen closet and bagging up half of our 10,000 sheets and blankets for charity. Next, I think I'll tackle the kitchen... I'm already decluttering our clothes as they go through the wash. Mori's toys need to be gone through, but most of them are okay. We've got a million books that we never read but I absolutely hate getting rid of books, so we need to find a new storage system... right now the bookcases look like props from a B-rated horror flick... You know, reaching towards you with clawed books, saying "Come! Come read me!"

The chicken house is almost done. All the framing and the roof are done, but we need to stick the tin up on the sides and add in the nest boxes. We put in the order for the chicks... in a few weeks, we'll have 50 baby chicks delivered right to our door! How... weird.

I also want to get into beekeeping. Ben does too. I'm thinking for his birthday (October) I might get "him" a starter hive... and then get some bees for it next spring. Of course, it wouldn't be for "him", it would be for "us", but lets not split hairs. XD

The chickens ate my grapes, which really need to be planted. It looks like the stupid bunbun got to my strawberries because there is one plant that looks nibbled at, and it's dying. Cody dug a bunch of holes in our corn field, and the tomato plants are brown. Obviously we need to plan this whole garden thing better. XD

Kudos!

My one and only fear about babies...

In general, pregnancy, birth, and kids don't scare me. I'm very confidant with my body, especially after having Mori, and honestly I'm looking forward to the actual labor. Of course, the pregnancy kinda sucks, but oh well, it's liveable.

The thing that terrifies me the most about parenting is the chance that we could have a special needs/early/something-wrong situation. This is why I refuse to have more than three children... in fact, two is stretching it.

Warning: This next paragraph is heartless.

This fear of having a "something-wrong" child stems from a deep-belief in Darwin's theory of evolution. In this day and age, that kind of thinking gets people in trouble. The way I think: I am a healthy, smart, female... I mated with a healthy, smart, male. We have things to give to the society. Therefor, any mutated, not-healthy offspring we have are not fit to carry our genes, and therefor shouldn't reproduce. To me, 'bad' offspring would be inferior. I would not be able to take care of them.

I have a good friend who had a placenta rupture very early on in her pregnancy. The baby was saved (he was 25? weeks, I think.), but will most likely have mental and physical problems his whole life. This situation terrifies me, because if it was me on that table getting C-sectioned, that early on, I would not let them save the baby. It sounds heartless, it really does, but to me, it's common sense. What would that baby ever have to give to the world? In nature, back when we were 'animals', would that baby have lived? No. He wouldn't have. The chances even of mom living would have been slim.

But in this time period, we don't think like that. We coddle. We "help" Nature by saving a life here, prolonging life there. We play god, determining who lives and dies. To believe that Nature knows what it's doing is "heartless", or "disturbing", or "insensitive" or worse. I've been called an "emotional enuch" because I mentioned if I had an early baby, I would probably request no "playing god". If I can't have a healthy baby, I don't want a baby, at all. Because, honestly, I would not be able to care for it. I would not, emotionally, be able to handle it. This is why I hope, and I pray, that this birth will be normal.

I see it in Nature all the time. In my future-career, it will come up. People euthanize animals because of this. They're deformed, so they're put down. They're in pain, so they're put down. It makes sense to me. There are no live-saving methods for a bitch who's just had a stillborn puppy... It's accepted that there was something wrong with that puppy, and he wouldn't have lived anyway. Hell, horses are put down because they're leg is broken, because the effort and time and resources it would take to heal are more than the worth of the horse, 90% of the time.

This is why I could never work with humans, medically. I could never, ever. I would be sued before my first day was over, because humans are worth more than "animals", and Nature's way doesn't apply to us. And, sorry, the whole "But that premature baby you 'killed' could have grown up to cure cancer!" thing doesn't hit me. I don't believe that putting a child, or a parent, through that much emotional trauma, medical trauma, perhaps physical pain, is worth the .0000000001% chance. Call me heartless, callous, or whatever. It's how I think.

I haven't updated in a while...

But I'm going to now because I have to complain and the best place to complain is to myself. Warning: Post ahead contains pregnancy hormones. Read at your own risk.

Ben's schedule is hard to get used to. He has three-four days off at a time, so he's here... all day. Every day. For four days. This wouldn't be bad if I could get over the fact that he is Ben, and not some perfect husband that I concocted. He's a great guy and I love him and that should be enough, right?

But then, there's times like yesterday... He's been obsessed with this chicken house project because he wants to get 50 chickens by the end of June. That's fine, great, whatever, but that's a month away. We have company (my brother and Ben's parents) coming over THIS WEEKEND. And yet when I mentioned him helping me clean up, he seemed to think the damn chicken house was more important.

The house is a mess. The carpets are... gross, due to dogs. There's McDonalds trash all over the yard because Ben didn't take the trash out last night and the dogs got in it. We still have groceries in their bags that haven't been put away yet. There's dishes to be done, surfaces to clean, carpets to vacuum, trash to pick up... and Mori's being a you-know-what.

My nerves feel shot. I'm sick as a dog. I have no, I mean, no energy. I just want to curl up on the couch and cry, except that wouldn't help anything and I can't justify it. My brother won't get ahold of me for his flight information and I'm afraid he's going to cancel, in which case we'd be out $150 that we'd never see again.

And the cake-topper of this whole pity party?

It's my 21st birthday. I don't want to be puking and cleaning and trying not to yell at the child on my birthday. I wanted a happy day, maybe we'd go outside and play in the sun, settle down and read a book... Preferably not be sick.

I have made a solemn oath that I will not be pregnant on my next birthday. This is the second time in a row. And it's not fun.
-------------------------------- END COMPLAINING

God, I can't wait until school starts. I'm so excited. I need my math book and then I won't have to worry about ANY books. It'll give me two whole days to be away from the family (which sounds horrible but I think it will really help my sanity.). I'll finally be on the road to where I want to be. It's exciting!

Oh! And Tuesday we met with the midwife, Kathy. I have to admit, she's pretty awesome. When she learned that Summer didn't help us with the birth cert. paperwork she seethed. She seems very cheerful and understanding, and I can see her being at the birth and really being encouraging and involved. Which is great, since that's what I want with a midwife.

We're going to steam-clean the carpets before the birth. Even though that's OMG-far-away, it's nice to think about. Nice clean carpet for new baby.

I almost told my mom. She mentioned that I was 21 and now could drink, and at first I thought she was being mean, and then I realized that she didn't know. But I couldn't tell her. It's just... not time.

Anyway. Done here for now. Kudos!

Saint Louis and Sickness

So we're back from Saint Louis. The trip to and from was fairly uneventful. We spent Thursday driving, Friday with McCormick and Fuzzy, Saturday with my mom, and Sunday with my dad before heading back home. Scout got to spend a few days at the Spa de Doran because he's a stubborn you-know-what. The other dogs were fine, hiding out in the van, and the chickens left us a nice cache of eggs to come home to.

My mother sent four bags of clothing, a box of blankets, and two bags of disposable diapers with us. She'll never learn. She bought me a nail-thingy set where you buff and shine your nails, and when I tried to explain that 1) I don't care about my nails and 2) I don't have time/motivation to make them shiney, she blew me off and packed it under Morrigan's stuff. It's like she thinks one day i'll magically turn into, you know, a girl.

Now, Morrigan's sick. Debbie was sick and apparently there was enough germs in the air, even though she never touched the kidlet. Poor thing is running a fever of around 101, and we have a doc's appointment tomorrow to get her checked out.

Other than that, life is good. It feels very good to be home.

Also, there's a glass on the desk here with a tiny bit of lemonaide in it... apparently the ants thought it was food, but when they get in it, they can't get out. So there's a layer of ants across the surface. I find it highly amusing.

Happiness is: Realizing a dream

After some conversationing with Meagan and internal thinking, I came to the conclusion that I need more structure in my schooling. It's too hard to juggle everything at home, and I would really enjoy the social interaction with the people at school. With that in mind, I started looking into vet tech programs.

Sure enough, out of the 4 in Ohio, one was right down the street in Columbus. I checked them out, $79/credit hour and summer session starts in 20 days. Sign up was easy, I did the FAFSA, cancelled Penn Foster, and now I have an orientation tomorrow. It seems too good to be true - everything is falling into place. So, we'll see after tomorrow, eh? :D

I'm testing out my green (or not green) thumb. I now have a grape vine planted in the front yard, and an onion plant in a pot in the livinroom. Soon enough we'll be planning our real garden, with all the veggies, and we'll start planting. It's exciting.

Ket

Of Poodles and Big Lots and Waffles

Meagan came to visit for Friday night and Saturday day. I was very very excited to see her, and rightly so - I think we had a blast. Friday night consisted of homemade pizza, wine, and puppies. Saturday we left the kidlet with Ben and went for a day on the town. First was the Needling Yarn in Granville... Oh, yarn? How doth I love thee... Anyway, we just perused the aisles and I got some more Digit. They were expensive, though, and since I only had $40, I scooted Meagan out of there. (Sorry, Megs, I didn't know you were paying! You could have had the red stuff!).

Next was Big Lots. Oh, Big Lots... Yarn for $1! Granted, cheapo yarn, but pretty yarn that was normally $6-$7 on craft-store shelves. We also found a new energy drink that Megs seemed to enjoy, and pop, and diapers and baby toys and dog brushes. After Big Lots, we ran down the street to Michael's, where Megs bought some black and dark blue yarn for her glove thingies. I <3 the blue and may just steal it.

And then, to Waffle House! A great end to a good day. Waffles, ahhh.... self-explaining. Megs and I had a long talk in the car, of which I am grateful of, and she suggested a few things that may just work. We came back to the house to find the husbeast and kidlet in good spirits. I gave Tida a bath, and now he's all sparkly white. He tried to hump Maggie.

Then she left, and we were alone. (Saddness.) Ben and I had a bit of a talk. Yay talk.
Anyway. All is well. Had a good weekend, and now I must go knit a Wee Tiny Sock.

ToodaloO!

Busy days.

It's almost 1am. So far today, I have:

Woken up at 10 with the kidlet.
Changed the kidlet.
Put diapers in the dryer.
Nursed kidlet.
Went to the post office.
Came home, started making breakfast.
Made breakfast (Pancakes, eggs, and bacon)
While making breakfast, had to fish the kidlet out of the laundry room three times despite the fact that Ben was supposed to be watching her.
Sit down to eat breakfast.
Stop halfway through breakfast to get food for the kidlet and feed her.
Change the kidlet. Spend 20 minutes trying to strap a diaper to her butt and get a new outfit on her because she got food all over the first one.
Put the kidlet down for a nap.
Come back to breakfast, which is cold and still only half-eaten. I give it to the dogs.
Pick up Ben's plate.
Make Ben sandwiches.
Get the mail.
Feed the animals.
Pick up all of Mori's toys.
Sat down to take a breather.

And Ben says I don't work. Ah, ha. Funny shit.


It is now almost 3:30. Additions to my "Have done" list:
Chased Scout two miles down the road and dragged his arse back.
Kidlet woke up - I went and got her and changed her.
Changed my clothes due to kidlet puke.
Washed a load of dishes (by hand). Put away another load of dishes.
Washed the bedsheets and gathered all the laundry.
Bagged up trash and replaced the bag.

Happy Easter 2008!

Happy Easter everyone!

We just got home after a grueling 2 1/2 hour car ride. Mori's being good and Ben is occupied so I figured i'd post here real quick.

We got up around 10am, got in the car, and drove to Cincinnati. Mori was in a cute little yellow dress which, unfortunately, was a little too small. Half way through the day we ended up changing her into some PJ's.

Lunch was wonderful. Baked ham with cinnamon glaze, peas, scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad, applesauce... Nummy, nummy food. After lunch we went to Biggs, because Dan had $60 worth of coupons. We bought $30 worth of baby food (72 jars!), Ben got some vitamins and flax seeds, I got myself some kitchen scrubbies - plastic ones, the ones that don't mold!

After Biggs, we went back to Ben's parent's house. Sheila had been watching Mori, who had, of course, woken up as soon as we left. We dyed some eggs, cracked a few, and then made deviled eggs out of all of them. We got our easter baskets with lots of candy and goodies, and Mori got $5!

As the night drew to a close, we said goodbye and got back on the road. Sheila gave me a little book light so I could knit in the dark, and I have to say it worked very well.

All in all it was a wonderful Easter. I hope yours was as good as ours!

Eggcellent

We have four hens. Lately, it's been warm, sunny, perfect egg-laying weather. The rooster has been doing the humpity bumpity with them, so eggs should be happening... right?

Wrong. Well, at least that's what we thought. Every day I scan our 'chicken area'. Even though they're free-range, they tend to stay in an area of shrubs and bushes up front. Every day, for the past week or so, we haven't seen any eggs.

Until today. As I was scanning, I heard the 'cluck cluck' of a chicken. But I don't see a chicken. So I start looking more throughly. Finally, I find that the sound is coming from a big, huge, clump of TALL grass. More like bamboo shoots than grass.

I part the tall grasses, and look what I find:



Eggs. 20 of them, to be exact. And the chicken in question, Lily, who was in the process of egg-laying when I so rudely interrupted her.

Now, these eggs have come from at least three of the four hens... You can't really see it in the picture, but they're all slightly different colored. Who knows how long they've been out there. My question is, are they fertilized? I would assume so, since Roostie has been busy. If so, how long has it been since they've been laid? Are there baby chicks forming?

I don't want to crack an egg and have a chick spill out. I'm sorry, that's just not my idea of a good breakfast. But if they're fertilized, and the hens actually take care of them, they could become baby chickens, which could grow into big chickens. So do I leave the eggs there, in hopes the hens will take care of them? Or do I pick them up?

I have to say, the ladies picked an excellent job of hiding places. Yes, indeed, they did.

Adventures in Dyeing?

This morning I got the urge to dye some yarn. I had a hank of Knit Picks bare to dye, and Mori was being good, so I tromped off to the Kitchen to mix acid dyes.

This was the result:

I'm calling it "Nebula" and I think it came out pretty good, considering I just slopped some color on it. The blues are vibrant but the purple/red looks a bit 'dusty' so I might try to overdye it, or heck, maybe i'll just leave it and make socks with it.

Mori has her fourth tooth coming in, the right top. She's not very happy with it. My mom somehow convinced us to come to STL the first weekend in April, so that's something to dread/look forward to. Rachel is coming to Ohio soon (yay!) Hopefully not that same weekend.

More later, kidlet's trying to eat dog food.

Let Me Tell Ya, 'bout...

The birds, and the bees, and the flowers, and the trees, and the moon up above... and a thing called looooveee.

Look! Look!



Ahhahaha Spring is on the way!

Things have been good. I finished my Homespun scarf and am now working on three smaller projects: The Companion Cube project from Portal, a stuffed colorful toy ball for Mori, and the ever-present christmas tree skirt. I've been looking through sweater patterns wistfully, but I don't think I have either the patience or the time to actually knit a whole sweater, so that may have to wait.

Knitpicks should be here by next week. Same with my mystery yarn box. The glider should be here any day now. I'm so excited!

I'm hoping the house in Cinci sells soon. It looks great, now that it's fixed up a little. I don't think we're asking too much. The proceeds would really, really help us out. We're looking to put a down payment on this house, pay off a few credit cards and/or the bike, and have a little spending money extra for ourselves. Really, once we get the bike and credit cards paid off, we don't have a lot of remaining debt. We might, actually, be ahead!

I'd like to show Ben how much it means to me that he's working so hard to let me stay home. I can't imagine not being here with Mori. Anyone got any ideas on how I can show appreciation?

Kudos!
Ket

The $150 Challenge

When we got our income taxes back, Ben and I decided that most of it would go into gold, but we would each keep $150 for ourselves. The original number was $200, but we each put $50 into Morrigan's Fund For Toys (tm). So, here I am, fiber-addicted, and with $150 to spend. It went... VERY. VERY. FAST.

So far, the gleans of this spending spree is as follows:







Along with 3 skeins of Caron Simply Soft and 4 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver.

Still to come: Two sets of stitch markers a la Etsy, a "Mystery Bag of Yarn" from Webs, and a Knitpicks order with sock needles from, uh, Knitpicks. I'm so excited.

And for those who are looking for recent little one pictures, here ya go! (Shameless)

Mori's doctor appointment

By the way, Mori went to the doctor for her (slightly late) 6-mo checkup. No ear infection, and everything checks out okay. Doc said look out for top teeth, though, because she was very swollen and to keep tylenol on hand.

We also didn't get any crap about vax'ing. The CNP who checked us out just had us sign a release, and didn't try to pressure at all! I was so happy. I went ahead and scheduled another 9-mo appointment, because I like them so far and would like to keep with them.

Lime/Violet, baby gurgles, and blood

At the moment i'm listening to Lime and Violet, which is (for you non-knitter-types) a podcast about knitting and other random things. I have to say, this is one of their best episodes yet. I'm also working on Ashley's other mitt, which is half done. :D Soon, she will have a pair!

Mori is in her crib, and i'm listening through the baby monitor... and she's just talking to herself. Not crying. It sounds like she's got a toy in her crib that she's talking to. I'd go get her, but if she's happy, let her be happy. Maybe she'll take a nap. Probably not.

The blood part is that I stabbed myself with an overly sharp pencil. And yes, it bled. What a pain.

We get our tax refund this week. Mother dearest is coming Saturday, and i'm hoping that we'll do okay since we're only together two days.

Today, Mori made artwork for the first time. We sat on the floor with a big piece of posterboard and some markers, and after watching me for a few minutes, she got the idea of it. Of course, she tried to use the wrong end more often than not, but that's alright. :D I'm going to try again tomorrow with her, and maybe give that one to mom.

Anyway, more soon. Tata!

I hate nursing strikes

Mori just went two days without nursing. This has happened twice, now. Once when she had her ear infection, where she would latch on but not suckle, and now yesterday and today where she wouldn't even get near it. We've decided that she's teething her top teeth, and it's been hell. Today was horrible. I actually called Ben home from work around 5... on his way he got infant tylenol, and it seems to have worked. Tonight before bed, she nursed for a good half hour, and I couldn't believe how happy I was. She's nursing again! She had me scared.

Because of these last two days, however, the house is a mess. >.< The counters are clean, though. The counters are clean.

Apparently Fuzzy and I are No More (tm.). I'm sad, but not quite heartbroken. We've grown apart. I actually told him I felt like i'd outgrown him, but upon hindsight maybe that wasn't the best way to put it. More like we've just taken different roads and they're not meeting up anymore.

Currently on the needles is the second mitt from the Cabled Knit fingerless gloves. I do believe i'm going to keep the first one (numerous mistakes that are apparent), give Ashley the 2nd and 3rd one, and then make a 4th one for me to match the first one. Make sense? Good? Good.

Rainbow Pediatrics

I just called a pedi for Mori, to have her (much delayed) 6-month checkup. I was actually very happily surprised with the receptionist. There was a bit of a hold time, but then she took all our info and actually called me back instead of putting me back on hold. Mori has an appointment with a nurse pract. in a week.

They also didn't get pissy about not vax'ing. I was just told there would be a form to sign if we chose not to vax.

This is the first pedi phone call i've had that didn't involve me getting ticked...

Blast from the past...

Going through my Hotmail email, I found an email from an old ex from high school with his phone number in it. He was really cool... and I suddenly decided to call him, despite it being more than two years since we've spoken.

I just got off the phone with him, and I think it went well. Not many of those "Silences". Hopefully we can keep in touch. He was cool.

So that's my random, wild and reckless thing for this month.

Siiiiiiiimba

The Lion King is coming to Columbus in August. We are SO going. I don't care if I have to go sell myself on the corner in order to get tickets, this is one of my last chances to see it and WE ARE GOING.

End of story.

Haahahahahaha.

Jumparoo video

Mori in her Jumparoo thingymabob the first day.

Cookies, Johnny Depp, and lets not forget pink stains on the carpet

Mori decided today to spit out some of her medicine on the carpet, leaving a nice, un-removable pink stain. She thought it was great fun. I, on the other hand, (after scrubbing with cleaner for an hour) decided it was not so much fun. After much fuss she finally took the rest of it.

Currently she's sleeping, although for how long is anybody's guess. I'm watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and drooling over Johnny Depp. And Orlando Bloom, to a degree, although he's not as good as Johnny.

I also baked cookies. However, it was from dough that had been frozen from earlier batches, and while they were good, they were not as good as fresh cookies.

Taking the stage from Ashley, i'd like to take a moment to say how wonderful my life is. I have food in my pantry, a wonderful providing loving husband, a wonderous child of my own. We've got a couple of bucks in the bank and things are getting paid off... all and all I have nothing to complain about.

And to leave, with a quote from PoTC:
Johnny: "This girl. How far are you willing to go for her?"
Orlando: "I'd die for her!"
Johnny: "Oh, good! No worries then."

The Jumparoo

This weekend, Ben's parents got Mori this:

I am of two minds about it. Mori loves it. Absolutely loves it. She just bounces away.

However, the Fisher Price Rainforest collection has numerous recalls due to safety issues. Not to mention the hazard of there maybe being lead in it. The toys are gaudy and seem like they're overdone - we've taken two of them off already. I'm not sure if I want her constantly around the lights and noises, which we just took out the batteries.

So I guess it'll be a once-in-a-while-thing. Ben is already using it as a pacifier though. Instead of picking her up, he'll put her in the damn bouncy thing. :-/ I'm not sure if it's worse than Cinderella or not.

We're missing a chicken again. Somehow they ALL got out toward the road in the brush. I'm assuming they'll come back for the night, hopefully.

Earaches and Pink Stuff

Sorry about the lack of posts.. It's been hectic!

Ben worked over 70 hours last week. On top of that, Mori has an ear infection that manifested itself last week. Sunday night she was up until 2am, screaming off an on. By Monday she wasn't better, so I found an urgent care clinic that took walk-ins and we took her Tuesday. Sure enough, her left ear is infected. We left with a script for Amoxacillion and Ben went to work. I went to Meijer to browse/get script filled, and they gave it to us for free! Apparently some kids meds are free there. Whoopie!

Mori hates it. It doesn't matter if I mix it with milk, give it to her straight, or dilute it... each dose is a hassle. On the good side, though, she seems to be feeling better, and she's been sleeping a lot. Today we even took a nap together and she slept a good three hours straight.

Cinderella has been a livesaver.... when she's cranky and not feeling good, she's sit and watch it in her swing and sometimes fall asleep. I feel bad using 'TV' as a distraction, but it gives me breathing time.

Currently on the needles is Ben's socks, finally. They're a rich forest green color that I think I need to order more of in order to knit myself a pair. Maybe i'll knit Mori a pair, too, matching family socks! Anyway, the cuff is done 2X2 ribbing and i'm working on the leg.

Saturday is going to be hectic. We've got three different houses to go visit, and Saturday night I'm leaving the kidlet with Ben so I can go to a mama's blessing for a girl on my community board. Should be fun. :)

Kudos!
Ket

Troubles in Paradise

Now, I love my husband.
He is my other half. He is my support, financially and emotionally. I have no doubt he loves me.
But he does have some failings.

I try my hardest to make him happy. I make his lunch. I let him sleep in. I wash his clothes, make his dinner, clean his house, take care of his child. Rarely do I ask his help, and it's always with something stupid (take out the trash, etc.). I can count on one hand the number of times i've asked him to watch Mori for more than ten minutes.

Meanwhile, I have to take care of her, clean the house, cook the food, try to squeeze in some homework and maybe a little bit of knitting. I take care of all the animals, regulate when they go out/in, pay the bills, keep track of bills, keep track of medical stuff and 401k stuff. I sort the mail, file the taxes, etc...

... See where this is leading?

I'm sick of it, and these are the top 5 things that bug me the most.

1. When I wake him up, it takes anywhere from 3-7 times of me going in there for him to get up. If I use a harsher means to wake him up, such as turning on the light, he gets royally pissed.

2. He would rather starve at work than take the five minutes to make his own lunch. When I have time, sure, i'll make his lunch, but 9/10ths of the time it is an inconvience to me because I have Mori or am in the middle of something. It's his lunch, he's going to eat it - he knows where all the fixings are for it. I am not his mother.

3. He never offers anything. I have to ask. Doesn't matter what it is... taking out the trash, watching Mori while I do homework, making food... I always have to ask. It would be nice, one day, for him to say "Hey, would you like me to do [insert thing here]?". And when I do ask things, I feel bad, because he either makes an excuse about why he can't and I have to badger him, or he acts like it's a big burden.

4. EVERY time he watches Mori, when I get back, all he talks about is how she cried the whole time. I know my child... She does whine a lot, but there are reasons. She's either bored, wants to be held, is tired or hungry or needs to be changed. Rarely does she whine for no reason now-a-days. So he's either not taking care of her, not entertaining her, or ignoring her.

5. The sex thing. I can't remember the last time we had sex. Or cuddled, even. I just don't even have interest anymore because it's such a chore to A, get the alone time, and B, make sure the alone time coincides with his small ass libido.

Okay. I feel better.

Kudos,
Ket

Finances, Overtime, and Vet Checks

Ben's working overtime again. It's going to be another one of "those weeks" where he's out until 3am and sleeps until noon, goes to work at 1pm... rinse, repeat. Luckily (or unluckily, regarding finances) this may be his last chance at overtime. We can definately use the money.

He's talking about trying to go back to first shift. I can't begin to explain the heartache I went through when he went to second shift... and now he wants to switch back, and I know EXACTLY why. No, it's not for me or Mori. It's not to help me out with her at night. It's not to have dinner each night, and to see him each night.

It's because his stupid HAM radio club meets Thursday nights, and the Masons meet Tuesday nights.

He said he wants to switch so "we" can go to some events. HELLO? Where were you when I tried to explain MY events, that I wanted to go to, a month ago when you switched?

ARGH.

Financially we're doing okay, I suppose. The credit cards are slowly going down. The bills are caught up. This month has three paycheques in it, so hopefully we can invest that third one into gold or a savings.

I'm faced with the idea of taking each of our five animals to the vet with the extra money. Legacy has mites - if untreated, they will spread to Fuzza, and maybe even the dogs. Mind you, these rabbits are for the wool... and the mites make the wool fall out. No good. Anyway, Legi needs a treatment of Ivermectin, and they both need annual checkups.

Currently on the needles is a DNA scarf, which I am going to do two rows on before I retire for the night and cuddle with my babygirl.

Kudos!
Ket

Megs and Memories

I found an old CD that has some logs of AIM chats from high school. 99% of them were from my once-best-friend-slash-heart-sister Meagan. It made me sad, so I signed on to AIM and lo! She was on. I messaged her.

I miss her terribly.

I did some bad things to her. A lot of them were not intended to be mean, such as leaving for the Army and not paying rent. Some of them were mean, and meant to be so. We've had a lot of bumps and roadblocks.
But I think i'm going to try to talk to her more, get to know her again. I miss her - a lot. I didn't realize how much until I freaked out because she was online.

So, a few days late, here is my New Years Resolution.

I vow that this year, I will try to right wrongs done to my best friend and hopefully regain her trust to the point where she is once again my best friend.

Kudos,
Ket

Video games

I've just done something new, something i've never done before:

I beat a video game.

Portal, to be exact. Yes, it's a short game, but this is the first game I can honestly say I have completed until the end with no outside help. I made sure to play when Ben wasn't home, so he couldn't influence me.

I'm so excited that I haven't even closed the game yet... I alt-tabbed in order to blog about it. Yes. I'm a dork.

Also, there is honey chicken in the oven and it smells nummy.

That is all.

KET

New years!

Happy new year!

Yay 2008!