babies, babies everywhere

Is it just me or is everyone pregnant or trying?  DON'T worry, I'm not experiencing the itch, but I have started noticing those around me who have...

First of all, my sister is trying (she may get mad that I'm sharing this on the internet, but I only have a few faithful readers, so we should be good).   This is actually quite exciting, but the hard part is that it hasn't happened for her yet and I know she is bummed about it.  I'm teetering on the line of am I asking her about it too much or not enough?  My intentions aren't to bring up a sore subject or annoy her with my wish to be an aunt, but I also don't want to shy away from mentioning it if she needs someone to talk to.  Getting pregnant isn't easy for everyone and I'm trying to respond in just the right way.

Next, a few of our friends are pregnant.  Jake's best friend shared the news about their little miracle on the way a few weeks ago and a good girlfriend of mine told me at our Christmas gift exchange that she was happily expecting as well!  I'm thrilled for them, both couples were trying and are so happy about their news.  On top of that, Jake's friend/co-worker/business partner's baby girl was born this past Monday... Sienna is her name and cute is her game.  Maybe that doesn't seem like a lot of babies to you all, but it does to me.  That doesn't even cover the people we know who have had a baby in the past year... and there are quite a few of them.  

Again, I'm not personally in a hurry for a little guy... or girl, but babies are growing on me more and more.  I've always liked kids, especially 6 months and up, but I'm even starting to take to infants.  Of course, my original preference of 6 months and or 15+ pounds remains, but I've noticed I'm not as afraid of the bitty babies as much.  I suppose this is a good thing seeing as how, Lord willing, we'll be meeting our fair share in the coming months!

snowed in

Virginia Beach saw around 14" of snow over the holiday weekend, which is crazy if your familiar with the area.  I've lived here my whole life and can honestly say I've never seen it snow that much.  The best part was how it stayed white.  Most of the time when it snows in VB it quickly gets dirty from traffic, etc. but this time since it fell on the Sunday following Christmas no one was working to clear the roads and no one was really driving... people were just outside enjoying the snow!

We (more like Jake) tried to play with Tank in the snow, but he wasn't interested at all.  As a matter of fact, he took the initiative to walk himself back to our front door and when I let him in ran right upstairs, jumped on our bed, and nestled himself under the covers.  Usually he has to be wherever Jake or I am and he especially loves to be outside, but snow and rain are his exceptions, so we've learned.

On another note, while we enjoyed the blizzard outside, we weathered the wintery season inside our apartment as well.  Yes, thats right, we had NO heat.  About a week ago we noticed our old school heater wasn't working very well, which isn't surprising really.   After I heard some interesting and new whistling sounds come from it multiple times I decided to actually call our complex to have it checked.  On the 22nd I called and that day they came out to take a look.  The guy told Jake everything looked fine, but when he went to show Jake how to properly use the thermostat he couldn't get the heat to turn on at all.  I think Jake got a bit of satisfaction out of this, seeing as how the guy was basically suggesting we didn't know how to work the thermostat.  Anyway, he said there was in fact something wrong with it so he'd have to tell the complex.  The next day we got a call that they'd be replacing our heater entirely and would install it on the 24th.  We hung around the apartment all day only to have no one show up and received word that this was in fact the case at 7pm; they rescheduled for Monday.  Keep in mind that this was an exceptionally cold weekend... the same weekend we got 14" of snow!  Monday comes around and there is no word from the installer, our complex calls to say that they won't be doing any jobs because of the weather.  At this point I'm pretty mad and so is Jake.  We've spent our entire vacation dressed in layers, wearing socks at all times, and with multiple blankets on the couches and our bed.  The complex sends over their main maintenance guy who after a few minutes reports that our heater isn't broken it just need to be cleaned so it can run smoothly.  No joke, thats what he said.  As happy as I was to hear it wasn't going to be another day without heat, I was mad about needlessly going without heat for days.  Time that wouldn't have been wasted if the first service guy knew a thing about heaters.  And that isn't an assumption I'm making, its a fact!  This guy told us that the other maintenance guy who answered our initial call wasn't good with these issues, more specifically saying, "Eddie doesn't know anything about heaters, it just isn't his thing."  Isn't his thing?  Then why did they send him to answer the call about our heater?   I don't think I'll ever be able to answer that seeing how sending him defies logic.

Nevertheless, we had a lovely Christmas and even enjoyed an extra day off because of the snow!  I watched some movies I got for Christmas, baked and ate cookies, and cuddled on the couch with Tank.   Vacation days don't get much better than that.

I've also been lying

So, we just recently told our apartment community that we have Tank... and by "told" I mean admitted it, after being confronted with a notice on our door.  Don't judge me.

I don't know why I let this tiny lie omission of the truth perpetuate to this point, but I did, and I'm embarrassed.  In case you haven't already figured it out, Jake is what some might call, frugal.   And I use that term lightly, because Jake doesn't mind spending money on things he understands or values, its anything that doesn't fall into those categories that he has huge issues with.  So as you can imagine, Jake was not excited about the non-refundable pet deposit and monthly fee; thus why we waited to say something.  But that is neither here nor there, because its out in the open now and the fee is non-negotiable.  Period.

Jake’s way of coping with this fact is to send me the following text message:

"Merry xmas.  I’m returning your presents and putting tank in a box"

Please excuse any errors in the above, I wanted to keep it authentic.

This is life though; you win some, you lose some, and you spend too much money on unavoidable things.  And I don't want to hear this could have been avoided if we didn't get a puppy in the first place.  Number one, that is just a ridiculous thing to say and number two, owning a puppy was on my 30 Before 30... which you know isn't optional.

Could you walk away from this face?  If you say yes, you're a liar and no friend of mine... or Tank's.

 

I've been cheating

Don’t worry it’s a loveless affair, but I have to admit… I’ve been spending time writing on another blog.  I’m awful.  I meant what I said in my last post about trying to get back into the groove, but with having to write for my company’s blog a lot lately, I’m drained.  By the time I get home, the creativity is gone and I definitely don’t want to sit in front of a computer.

Do you forgive me?  I hope so.

A few things have happened since Thanksgiving.  There was of course the whole Black Friday experience, Tech won the ACC Championship, I made cookies and an apple crisp from scratch, we decorated our apartment for Christmas, and Jake started wearing his “Believe” t-shirt every day since December 1st.

In other news, I’m almost finished Christmas shopping & bought the most recent Twilight movie, Eclipse, but haven’t found time to watch it.  Life’s tough.

Jake declared that he officially finished all of his shopping today, which has me intrigued.  I sent him some ideas for gifts, but they were all niceties and not necessities, and if you know Jake then you know that if it isn’t practical he isn’t buying it.  So I’m not sure what Santa is bringing this year.  Here are some things from my wish list (of course, I don’t expect to get a single thing, let alone multiple things from it):

1.    a new raincoat
2.    the first Harry Potter book (I’m behind)
3.    a scarf- I can’t get enough of them
4.    one of those tervis tumblers with a lid for my sweet tea
5.    bananagrams (fingers crossed Alison and Will pull through)
6.    a framed picture of Tank for my desk (Jake has 3 pictures of Tank up at his work)
7.    a shelf with hooks and baskets for our entryway, although I hate asking for house things for xmas
8.    a few seasons of my newest obsession, Bones, on DVD (that actually wasn’t on a list before this one)
9.    the Twilight ornament (of course!)
10.    a Starbucks gift card to feed my chai tea addiction, with 2 pumps of Pumpkin Spice (I’m sort of hoping my mom gets a bunch of these from her students though, because she doesn’t go there and probably would share them with me instead)

Is it weird that I just shared things from my list?  I thought it could make for a nice post Christmas blog.  This way if I posted a picture from Christmas day holding my new Twilight ornament and tumbler up close with a huge smile you’d really appreciate it.  Can you picture it?  I can.