me

I'm eating graham crackers with peanut butter and snack size Hershey bars.
No one ever said I was good at resisting temptation. :)



I need to get to my grandmother's tomorrow to do some more cleaning and get things ready for the estate sale on Saturday. I was going to go today, but the weather was horrible, and I didn't want to take the Evil Overlord in Training out in it. Plus I felt like crap, the weather pretty much just made a good excuse not to leave.


EOiT was playing tug of war with Maggie dog earlier. It was too cute. He's finally getting big enough that they can do stuff like that without having to worry about her hurting him. He's going to be 18 months on the 17th. I can't get over it.

Which is why the christmas tree this year won't have very many decorations on it, at least one the bottom. I've got to get a spot cleaned out to actually put the tree, of course, but thinking I'll have it done by this weekend, latest. Thankfully, prelit tree, so I don't have to worry about stringing lights.

I just watched a program on the History Channel called Earth 2100. It supposes what will happen to the world if we continue on the path we're on now -- dependent on fossil fuels for our energy and blithely going on as everything is infinite, water, food, space to live.

The outcome would not be good as supposed in the show.

So how are we suppose to make changes? Should we only have one child per family? The population growth played a big part in what happened in this possible future. How do you enforce something like? Should it even be a question? I know I want another baby, but what if that's the worst thing I could do for the future?

Obviously, everyone should make small changes where they can, using energy efficient light bulbs, reusable bags instead of plastic bags made from petroleum, trying to support local farmers whenever possible and using mass transit rather than our personal vehicles when we can.

But what more can we do?

Could I use cloth diapers instead of disposables? Sure. But is that going to help with running out of gas?

One of the things that was said was that even if everyone in America makes small changes, that won't be enough. How do we as people get the large companies to stop thinking about their bottom lines, and start thinking about our children and their future?

How do I as one person make the big companies make the changes that will help? How do I get auto makers to start spending more time and money on making affordable electric cars? Because even if they make an electric car, if I can't afford it then how can I make that change?


Should I try growing my own garden? Not a flower garden, but a vegetable garden. What about fruit? There's only so much that I could grow here in Alabama. What should I do about other types of food?

The program did what it was suppose to, I think. It's given me more questions than answers. It's got me wanting to talk about changes that we can make, and how to make the most necessary changes that will require help from everyone.

I'm posting this everywhere because I want to open those lines of communication. I want to hear what everyone has to think.

Okay, so I'm posting this a few hours early. Oh well. :P

MIL: well, we don't really want him to come on the 13th anyway.

Me: what's wrong with the 13th? we got married on the 13th.

MIL: You did? oh. Well, still, whenever he decides to come....









0_0

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm. If you are thinking, surely she doesn't mean me- then you should probably read this twice.

1) The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is "Congratulations!" with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you an ass.

2) Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase 'my baby'.

3) On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it. The same goes for the name of the baby.

4) The body of a pregnant woman should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5) Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance, and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is 'You look fabulous!'.

6) By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don't need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.

7) There is a reason that tickets to L&D are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to 'help out'. If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.

8) If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

9) The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less.

I hope this helps- it sure makes us feel better.
Signed, All Pregnant Women

so everyone has probably heard about Chrysler by now. (here, if you haven't.)

this will affect us.

if J can find a job doing something similar to what he does now, it probably won't be at as much pay. If he can't find a job doing like he does now, he'll definitely not be getting paid as much.

so my idea of wanting to be a stay at home mom is probably going to be going right out the window. it's something that I was really looking forward to. something that I never realized I wanted to do, until the opportunity presented its self to me.

so here I am now, eight & 1/2 months pregnant trying to figure out if I should start applying for jobs now, or wait until after the alien gets here, and then start looking for a job.


J's not stressing over it right now. Yes he's looking into other options, and we've discussed (and will continue to discuss) what might have to happen in the future. But we only found out about this today. And like J said, he'll more than likely have a job until they inventory and send the parts back to Chrysler. So a little longer than June 9th.

I had to get this out of my head. i haven't been sleeping well at night, and I know this will keep me up thinking. like how i shouldn't have quit my job even if it was more stressful than i could handle. or how i should have started looking for one as soon as i quit.

i need to stop blaming myself for decisions that we made.

got J to "help" me rearrange our room to make room for the alien & his things.


...so by "help" i mean, he did all the work. :P


have the temporary crib up, which makes me happy. feels like we're a little more prepared. have a feeling someone is going to try and come early, and at least having that done makes me feel less worried about it.

next saturday is our birthing class. and then the saturday after that will be the baby shower my mom & sis are throwing. saturday after that will be baby shower/family get together that mil is throwing.

after that, i'm not planning a damn thing. :P

do have a friend throwing a diaper party for J, need to figure out that.

okay, so I'm going to go through perch's list to find people.

right now though, i just want to get rid of the error message.

lets see...

i'm trying not to disappear off the face of the internets, but it's really hard. i'm using twitter a lot to keep up with the important people. the ones who won't let me leave. plus some of them have my phone number. some of them even know where i live. :P

still not working for anyone keeping track. looked into getting a job, but right now, it's just nearly impossible. and i like the idea of being a stay at home mom, if we can swing it.

alien has 6 more weeks to bake, and will probably be late. after that, i might really fall off the internets for a while.