8 Things You Know You Want to Know About Me...

8 Things About Me

I was tagged by Jenny!

8 TV Shows I love to watch:

1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Eli Stone
4. Boston Legal
5. Reba re-runs
6. Still Standing re-runs
7. Dancing with the Stars
8. Friends re-runs

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Texas Roadhouse
2. Cheddar's
3. Blue Sky
4. Carino's
5. Taco Villa
6. Rosa's
7. The Alley Cafe
8. Great Wall

8 things that happened today:

1. I took a shower
2. I worked/am working
3. I did some laundry
4. I talked to Memom
5. I ate some toast for breakfast
6. I am filling this out
7. My 10 a.m. doctor appointment got moved to 1:15
8. I told our dog to shut up!

8 things I look forward to:

1. The day I get to meet my son, Ethan
2. Thanksgiving next week! My family is coming to Dumas to spend it at our house.
3. I am looking forward to seeing my brother, Stormy and Reese next week. We haven't seen them in over 2 months.
4. The day I get to meet my son, Ethan
5. Christmas and everything that goes with it!!
6. My doctor appointment this afternoon to see if I'm any closer to having this baby
7. I am looking forward to finding out the gender of Bub & Stormy's baby in a few months!
8. Did I mention, the day I get to meet my son, Ethan!?

8 Things on my wish list:

1. A healthy baby boy in the next couple to three weeks
2. Losing this baby belly so I can put my shoes on and get dressed with ease once again!
3. Time with family over the holidays; things will be very different this year, but as long as we're all together, we'll be ok.
4. A new dog to keep our dog company.
5. A cure for cancer
6. Blessed holiday season for friends and family
7. As much time as possible with my son when he gets here!
8. And, a healthy baby boy in the next couple to three weeks.

8 People I Tag:

1. Mona
2. Stormy
3. Karomy
4. Sherri
5. Renee
6. Mandy
7. Mandi
8. Lindsey

Christmas!!!!

You may be wondering why my page is already decked out for Christmas. There are a few reasons. With the impending birth of my baby boy in the next couple to three weeks, I'm going to be a bit busy! Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year, and we don't get to celebrate it nearly long enough, so I'm getting a head start. Thanksgiving is my second favorite time of year, and I'm not taking anything away from that glorious holiday, I just want to be able to enjoy Christmas music and colors for as long as possible since a couple of days will be spent inside the four walls of a hospital room. I'm getting the most awesome gift for Christmas this year - my first child!! What an awesome Christmas season this is going to be for our families! I know as Ethan grows, they will just get better and better and I can barely wait!

I don't know how much, if any, decorating will get done at our house this year. and that makes me somewhat sad. I love Christmas trees and lights and all the fun decorations. Although, it is sometimes a pain to drag out all the Christmas decor, it still brings such joy to my heart. However, I did order us stockings a couple of weeks ago for the 3 of us. It was the best day when they came in the mail - they are just perfect and will last us for years to come! So, we will at least have stockings hung.

Home

"Having someone to love is family,

Having somewhere to go is home,

Having both is a blessing"

Our first home...what an incredible purchase, but what an incredible labor of love! =o) This house, which we've now made home, has brought us such joy, excitement, sweat, tears, and hard work, but such amazing memories! How fun is it to have your own home to begin your new life as Mr. & Mrs.?! Of course, the mortgage payment isn't always "fun", but it brings some sort of right of passage to a newly married couple. It's a small house, but a great house. We've filled it with our things and made it our home, and most especially, it is overflowing with love. I will post a few before and after pictures of the improvements and changes we've made since taking over on December 7, 2007. Wow - I can't believe we've been here nearly a year! We'll start in the living room:
The changes we made in this room are fairly obvious. Paint, new carpet, new 2" wood blinds in the windows, new lighting. On to the kitchen/dining room:

In here, we painted, put 2" blinds in the window, updated the lighting, replaced the nasty oven/stove with a new black one, have a black refrigerator, and just recently replaced the dishwasher. Oh, and also replaced the faucet on the sink. Now, the guest bedroom/nursery:

In here, we painted, new carpet, new blinds, new lighting. The guest part of the bathroom:

In here, we painted, replaced the faucet and are in the process of replacing the towel ring and toilet paper holder to bronze to match the faucet. And, the office/third bedroom:

In here, we replaced the carpet, got rid of the horrible longhorn on the wall and the terrible burnt orange paint, and replaced the lighting. And, last, but certainly not least, the master bedroom:

In this room, we painted, replaced the carpet, lighting, new blinds. We are still working on our part of the bathroom, replacing the faucet in there as well as towel ring, towel bar and toilet paper holder.

We just recently had to replace the heating/air conditioning unit. Our furnace was leaking natural gas, and it was the original system installed in the house when it was built in 1984, so the system was pretty much obsolete. Therefore, we had to have a new one put in, but it works beautifully!

My list is still not complete with all the changes and improvements I want to make. I think my list grows everyday, to the dismay of my husband - I know he wishes I would just stop wanting things! The things on that list, so far, are new counter tops in the kitchen, a new front door, new windows (these are quite leaky and drafty), and a new hot water heater, a new sink in the kitchen, new lighting in the bathrooms, new hardware on the cabinet doors in the kitchen and bathrooms. I realize all this can't be done overnight; just some things to work toward as budget and time allows. But for now, we are enjoying the improvements we have made and we love our house!!

Today...a Day that will go Down in History

***If this post offends anyone, well just get over it. I'm not going to apologize for voicing my opinions and beliefs.***

Ok, so everybody knows what today is. If not, well, you must live in a hole because for about the last year, it's all we have heard about. I don't like to get into politics much because I realize not everybody shares my opinions and points of view, and frankly, I'm not educated enough in the subject to dwell too deeply into any heated discussions. I have to say I'm just as ready as the next person for this day to be over, but I'm even more tired of the coverage, the lies presented to this nation, and the one-sided media views of our candidates. I'm not 100% Republican; however, more times than not, I will vote that way because their platform is more in line with my beliefs than that of the Democratic party. But, in the event, I'm ever off my rocker and feel the Democratic candidate is the best man for the job, he will get my vote. This election year is DEFINITELY NOT one of those off my rocker years! I am amazed every day in the people of America, and the lies they believe. Their reasons for voting for this Messiah-like Democratic candidate are crazy - they are not thinking things through, and I'm constantly taken aback. I've heard reasons anywhere from "I'm voting for Obama because he's black" to "I'm voting for Obama because I'm young and I've never seen a President get assassinated." Seriously?!!? I don't care if he was green and purple polka dotted, the color of his skin should not be the main reason people vote for him. Yes, today, history will definitely be made...we will either have a man of color or a woman in the White House. I joke that my #1 reason for voting for McCain is Obama himself, but in all actuality, my reasons are much more thought out and deeper than that. Even if Obama wins the election, I can at least say I did my part to keep him out of the White House. I simply cannot stand by and support someone who won't even support the spirit of this great nation. This is America, the greatest nation in the world, and ONE NATION UNDER GOD, and we, as American citizens, are among the most blessed people in the world. This man won't even salute the red, white and blue that so many have fought and died for. He wants to change the national anthem to "If I Could Teach the World to Sing"?! What the...?!?!?! Our rights and priveleges as Americans MUST be protected, or we will loose them! I'm not saying I agree with everything Bush has done in the last 8 years; but I can say he has kept this war off of American soil. Also, people are so quick to blame him for everything, but they (Dems in particular) don't take into consideration that Congress is Democratic, and that Bush doesn't have the power they believe he does. There are very few things he can do on his own without Congress's approval. Clinton left this country vulnerable and Bush has gotten the blame since day one.

I'm not trying to convince people to vote McCain; I'm just asking and praying that people consider all the facts (not lies) presented and seriously think through their vote. I just hope by the end of the day, my faith in the American people and this democracy will be restored.

5 weeks and counting...

Wow, I can't believe only 5 weeks until Ethan's due date. It's crazy how quickly this pregnancy has flown by. Somedays, I'm more than ready for him to be here (the days I look down and see cankles instead of ankles and days it is uncomfortable just to walk to the kitchen to get a bottle of water). Then, there are days that I'm not ready and want him to stay in my belly longer. Those "good" days are definitely more abundant than the "bad" ones. I have a feeling I'm really going to miss his kicks and movements - such an amazing feeling! We are definitely ready to meet him though and begin our life as three instead of two.

However, I don't feel that I am anywhere near ready to bring a baby home. Do all new moms feel this way? Poor Ronnie, I've been in panic mode the last couple of weeks and have demanded so much from him, but he's such an angel and usually follows my orders...haha. We have put his pack-n-play together and taken it back apart (just so I could rest easier that all the parts were in the box). We (I say we, Ronnie, actually) put his stroller together and we installed his car seat in the Explorer. How can such little people require such BIG things?!?!

It didn't look this big in the store!! Oh well, I feel blessed to have a vehicle big enough to allow room for the car seat. I can't wait until there's a baby in there!

Anyway, his room is so NOT ready! We do at least have him a bassinet, so he'll have somewhere to sleep when he gets here. Our reasoning for not having the nursery ready yet is we have 3 bedrooms: our bedroom, my office, and the guest bedroom/nursery. My office is full of desk and work-related stuff, and the room is small, so no extra room to put a crib in the office. The guest bedroom is even smaller, and currently has the guest bed up. We are going to have so many people coming and going and staying with us after Ethan gets here, so we feel like keeping the guest bed up for a little bit is the best option. Once everybody goes home, we'll get a crib and fix his room up. Besides, he'll be sleeping in our room for a little while anyway. However, the fact that his room is not ready for him has me majorly stressed out, although I'm fully aware of why his room isn't ready and I know it will be in a matter of a weekend when we get ready. I just have to have something to worry about and stress about, I guess, because that's just how I operate. =o)

So, as we reach the end of this amazing journey, these parents-to-be are excited, scared, stressed, terrified and anxious, but so ready to meet our beautiful little boy!!