My Incentive to Bathe

I don't like to shower as much as the average person. Most of my friends and family are well aware of this fact. Although, since I've gotten a job as a receptionist in a fancy dining club my self presentation has become a bit more important. I am the first thing the hungry people see upon entering the facility. Soooo, I make sure to shower at least every other day and sometimes I do it two days in a row if my hair is sticking up like Frankenstein. With all this time being spent in the dreaded place of cleanliness I have discovered a new avenue to fun and it is quite a simple change. Ready??? Just sit down. Sitting in the shower is so much more fun than standing. I discovered this one day when I was contemplating if the level of funk was too much to carry around with me all day or not. I was thinking about how much more I enjoy taking baths (very time consuming but relaxing) rather than showers (less time consuming...not so relaxing) and it dawned on me to lower all my necessary cleaning supplies from the caddy to the tub's edge and sit my butt down, and I had the time of my life. Everything else of my get clean routine has remained the same except a few turns. I begin facing toward the water to get my initial rinse. Next it's time for the shampoo which can be applied while facing the water but I highly recommend turning your back to the indoor rain to rinse (Note to Females: You should lift one cheek up off the tub to keep the soapy water from pooling around and irritating soap sensitive areas). I always turn back around to apply my conditioner because you have more space to stretch out and it is easier to avoid water in your hair while the conditioner soaks in (soak in time=body washing time). It also puts you in the optimal position for soap application. See, when you are facing the water it hits you in the stomach region, avoiding unnecessary splashes to the face yet providing adequate leg coverage to keep you from getting cold. On with the soap (my favorite part). The minute you get your lather going the tub becomes quite slippery. I was immediately taken back to my childhood when my sisters and I would turn the tub into a slip-n-slide. I am sure this game was not exactly allowed by the parental figures because it was rather dangerous. We would coat the tub with soap and shampoo and conditioner...anything that made it impossible to stand. Of course we were little kids so the impossible quickly became possible. We assumed the starting position standing as far back in the tub as we could until our feet gave way to the gunk beneath it and we slid out of control to the other side where the faucet awaited a flailing arm or leg to scratch. No serious injuries ever came of it...not that I can remember...and it was so much fun. Freakin' hilarous I'm tellin' you. Something about not being able to stand up goes hand in hand with uncontrollable laughter. So anyway, when you lather up, the tub becomes slippery so you can do spins or forward/backward slides and it's very entertaining...especially when you wash you butt-cheeks. You have to keep from slipping onto your side when you lift one to wash it. I use the ability to spin to turn my back to the water to rinse soap off my back and conditioner out of my hair and face wash off if I remember to use it. I feel everyone should try this, just once...It just might change your life...you may actually enjoy the shower ( i guess some people already do...that's just hard for me to understand). Just remember, be careful not to bust your noggin. Also, it is important to set the temperature of the water a little higher than you would for a standing shower. By the time the water gets down to you it isn't as hot as you'd have anticipated. Go forth and good luck. Most importantly...have fun!!

I want Sunshine

I must say old man winter needs to hurry up and go into hibernation. Spring was buoyantly on it's way with crocuses and daffodils showing their pretty faces. Then, just like Kentucky weather, the temperature plummits into the thirties and doesn't get much past the forties for an entire week. Some may be used to this cycle of beautiful to dreary and back again, and in the middle of the winter when everything is dead anyway, I cherish those 70 degree days, but when the flowers and trees are beginning to bloom and there are tiny snow flurries falling from grey skies it just pisses me off. It's like mother nature tricked them. Oh here's some rain and sunshine and above freezing temperatures for all you little creatures of spring...flourish and make people smile and then see if you can withstand the snow. It is just cruel. I woke up on Tuesday thrilled that school was the only thing I had on my agenda for the day. I dressed in my warmest sweatpants with legwarmers and all, and proceeded to Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) to learn about various pathogens. As soon as I left my house I couldn't wait to get back and not leave again until the weather straightened itself out. Blame it on the horomones but I was so saddened by what I saw on my little adventure that I almost actually cried. The daffodils looked so sad. They were facing toward the ground and drooping over like a giant just came and stomped all their loved ones into the ground. I simply couldn't take it but somehow managed to hold back my tears. I just had to avert my eyes whenever I passed a cheerless little bundle. I'm just glad it wasn't the tulips. Being my favorite flower of all times I am sure I would have lost it completely and had to stay indoors until May, when (hopefully) the thirties would be a thing of the past. So hurry it up mother nature...I am in need of some sunshine and color in this world. I want to roll my windows down and feel the breeze on my skin as I drive around town and I don't want to have to turn on the heat to enjoy it. Perhaps for my birthday, which is in 20 days, my needs will be met. Until it happens I'll just indulge in some photos.

Basketball...Deflated

With the wonderful NCAA final four tournament upon us I have gotten overly used to the sound of screaming crowds, squeaking shoes and ref's whistles. Infact, I am a little too used to those sounds. Everywhere I look there is a T.V. with basketball proudly being displayed and numerous bystanders sucked into the action. When I was at work on Saturday, the big function for the evening was Tates Creek High School's senior dinner dance. Many of the seniors, who paid for a ticket to the event, didn't make it past the room where the food was. Coinsidently this was also the room with two T.V.'s. I guess they just really wanted to get dressed up for that night's series of games. Now that the only team I give two shits about watching anytime of year (UK) is officially out of the tourney, I would be completely satified if I didn't see another basketball game until next years UK season is up and running. I suppose all the feelings I am experiencing this year are a result of the fact that I now live with a boy...a boy who loves basketball. In fact he has a huge interest in sports as a whole. If he is in control of the remote and South Park, Real World or American Idol aren't on then it's a good bet that ESPN, ESPN2, or Sports Center is. What's a girl to do? Luckily we have two 27" televisions in our one bedroom apartment. I go to the other room and indulge in some Discovery Channel, TLC, or whatever movie I find on TBS, AMC or USA. I've been told that the effects of March Madness are contagious and it can actually be fun once you begin filling out brackets and tracking your wins and losses. The truth is I wouldn't know where to begin with a bracket. I know nothing about teams other than UK. I take that back...I know that Florida's coach is Billy Donovan and we hate him (Thanks Dad), and another rival of ours is Duke. (Now that I'm posting that as information I know, I hope I am right!! Although I a pretty sure I am. I do know for sure that we hate Billy Donovan.) So I suppose I would choose my winning teams based on their geographical location, team colors, or mascot. There would be some games I just wouldn't be able to decide on a winner. Like today, Bradley vs. Pittsburg. These teams names, as the appeared on the scoreboard, read Brad on top, Pitt on bottom. BRAD PITT...see my delima? Together they make Brad Pitt, how could you pick one over the other? They are so perfect together. I just don't think there is any hope that I will ever catch March Madness. I am just no good at even thinking about it. For all of you out there still in the runnings...the best of luck...May the best team win!

All is well in utero!

As an expecting mom the best rhythm in the world has to be the rapid "woosh-woosh-woosh-woosh" of my baby's heartbeat. No matter which of the many moods I may find myself in during that hour at the doctor's office, that sound instantly brings a smile to my face. It offers a sigh of relief and a jolt of excitement all rolled into one. Beating strong at 141 beats per minute, right in the middle of the normal range for baby (120-160), gives me hope that our child will have a rather boring medical record like that of both it's parents. We'll soon find out for sure though. Today they took my blood (like 6 different viles of it) to test for "everything" as the nurse put it. One test they are doing what is commonly known as the triple screen test which is offered to expecting moms to screen for such birth defects as down syndrome, nueral tube defects, and trisomy 18 ( a defect caused by an extra chromosome #18 that results in mental retardation and major heart defects). It was my understanding that we will not know the results of the test until my next visit on April 19, 2006. I am definately looking forward to that date. It's six days after I turn 23 and they will be performing the second ultrasound. I will be close to twenty weeks at that time and we are hoping that the baby will reveal if it will be one to sit or stand to pee. Twenty weeks is the usual time that the professionals can determine the sex of the baby with the baby's cooperation of course. I have heard instances where the baby simply refuses to position itself to a point where it's bathing-suit parts can be identified and other times quite the opposite letting it all hang out. Everyone who asks me if it is a boy or a girl always follows with the question "what do you want it to be?" after I tell them I don't know the sex yet. I think that is a silly question. I have no other children and therefore no experience with boys or girls. I just want it to be here alive and well and happy...although I have felt like it is a boy since I first discovered I was pregnant. So if we are to be blessed with a little girl, a few mind adjustments will need to be made. Even if the baby decides to keep us in suspense regarding it's gender at least we'll have a few new pictures to share with everyone.
Pictures that look a bit more human than the first (left...Head is big ball on the right). The body should be a bit more proportionate to the head and the arms and legs will be easier to identify than in their nub form.
Quite an interesting journey I have embarked on and it's only just begun. There was a young lady, about my age, I would guess, with a big ol' belly in apparently excruciating pain. So much so that Matt wanted to tell the nurses to hurry up and get her in there before everyone else in the waiting room. She was definately in labor and when we'd make eye contact it seemed as if she was telling me...See what you have to look forward to...then a pain filled squeak would slip out of her mouth followed by a long inhale and a forceful exhale. I must say I didn't envy her but I did want to comfort her, to hold her hand and rub her back and say you are woman, let yourself roar. I hope the best for that young woman and her new baby. Today is the day that her life changed forever...well, no, I guess that was nine months ago when she heard the news "you're test was positive." I know that's when mine did.

In the Kitchen

Recently I have been exploring my abilities as a chef. Not so much to my suprise I am pretty good. So far I have successfully made chicken cordon bleu, a great batch of french fries, spaghetti(not hard, I know), pancakes (take time to master), and various other little things that are not hard. My not so great concoctions...guacumole and my second batch of French fries. We'll start with the guac. It wouldn't have been bad had I not started off reading a recipe for guacumole salsa which requires that chopped onions be added rather than food processed onions if any at all. So I ended up with something I would call onions with smooshed up avacados. I don't like onions ever really so I considered this dish mostly a failure. I had onion breath from about 7 p.m. when I first tasted the "guac" until I woke up in the morning. That quickly reminded me of my dislike for the onion.
Now lets talk about the complete failure of french fry mission 2. It wasn't so much that the fries were slightly over done that made this mission a complete failure...it was the events following preparation of the potatoes that we're still dealing with that gets the grade of big fat "F"! Here it goes...Sunday evening: "Mmmm...french fries," my pregnant taste buds made up their mind and there was no turning back. I peeled the potatoes over the sink rather than the trash this time thinking, we have a disposal, it'll enjoy some potato skins this evening. Not true. As I washed the skins down the growling drain I realized the water was tornadoing around in a very unnatural fashion. "What's wrong?" Matt asks. "Oh nothing...there is just a lot of water in there," I reply confidently hoping that everything would be O.K.. With the potatos cut into perfect french fry shape I began to fry. Well, I guess the oil may have been a bit too hot because like I previously mentioned, most of the fries were slightly overdone and that is the only thing I could attribute to the potato scented haze that filled our 1 bedroom apartment, not to mention the extreme burning sensation Matt and I were both experiencing in our eyes. So after eating disappointing batch two Matt checked out the sink that wasn't seeming to drain...hummmm?!?!
"Did I break it?" I queried.
"Not sure yet," he replied sounding a bit dismayed.
We had discovered a leak about a week before this whole incident but nothing too severe. So he takes apart the pipes to find nothing but potato clogging the way. If our sink was human the risk of heart attack was 100% with death as the only outcome. We knew this was a project beyond us and called in the maintenance men who came on Monday to routinely snake the drain...no positive outcome. Meanwhile the bathroom sink decideds it too wants to be clogged. They diagnosed the kitchen sink with rusted out, leaky pipes and a fractured disposal and told us they'd back in the morning to fix the leaks and snake to bathroom sink, but we would have to wait for a new disposal to be ordered. Tuesday (today), noon rolls around. No longer morning I decide to call and see where they are cause by this point not being able to use the sink or dishwasher was causeing the kitchen to become rather disgusing. They come, they work, they fix the leaks...they get a call from the guy in the apartment across from me that his sink is leaking...Oops!!
As expected the disposal would be in on Wednesday and everything would be as good as new. I asked if I could run the dishwasher and was given approval from both the men. I loaded it up and went to brush my teeth in my nasty, freshly snaked bathroom sink only to return to the kitchen to see a waterfall spewing from underneath the sink. Water seeped halfway throughout my kitchen and nestled comfortably under my fridge. I called Matt's brother Mike to see if he could help me get my wet/dry vac out of their attic and pull my fridge out so I could clean it. Unfortunaltey no answer from Mike or Matt so I called maintenance once again. For the third time Tuesday they came to apt. 20 to assess the leaky sink and concluded it was spraying violently from the fracture in the disposal and in fact it wasn't safe to use the dishwasher. The man kindly pulled fridge from it's designated cubby in the wall so I could use my nice clean towels to soak up the water. Now perhaps it is evident to all why this french fry attempt was a complete disaster.
It has been quite a fiasco and I've ended up with a kitchen even dirtier than before (with the exception of the floor...it's really clean!), a dirty living room (had to move stuff from kitchen into there to prevent further water damage), a dirty bathroom (from the snaking), a dirty hallway (from everything under the bathroom sink having to be removed), and having to wash dishes by hand for the time being. Maintenence men are supposed to fix things however, they seem to leave a bigger mess than there was when the problem was in full swing. Needless to say I learned my lesson about potato peels...the disposal doesn't like them and may even be allergic.

A few inhibitors

I just want to let everyone know that I am not with the times. I don't have a digital camera so pictures will be scarce however I will make great attempts using what resources I have to keep them up to date. Also, generally I haven't a problem in the world spelling but as I enter my second trimester the effects of what I have heard called "pregnesia" or "baby eat brain" syndrome seem to be setting in. My spelling ability has been on the decline for about a week now. Thank God for ABC check but bare with me if I forget to push that button once in a while. I think that is all I wanted to say with this post but I may have forgotten something...if so, I'll be sure to write it down as something to post later.

Spring Break 2006

The second day of my spring break 2006 I find myself falling into the trend of the blog...not lying on the beach or deep sea fishing...not even galavanting around my own town to check out the lastest new/old fashions at Black Market or Jonk. So what made me decide to take the plung...Well with the temperature outside a mere 45 degrees (or something else less than pleasant) and the need to be at home to greet the maintenace men, my entertainment went to the internet to view my sister Amber's blog and I was able to conquer my "lousy blogger" fears. With my new found bravery I realized my resources and abilities to inform and entertain are not as limited as first imagined them to be. I am an active 22 year old (23 in a month) pregnant woman, I go to school and learn about microorganisms (gross but interesting), I hold two jobs yet still manage to work only part time, my friend base includes some amazing, talented people like Joshua Pettyjohn and Heidi Zehnder (Heidi would be enough to run a blog about with all the ludacris things that happen in her life) and a lot of my friends are getting married. So while I may not take too many outrageous, envy-envoking vacations or go party my ass off in my free time (or on spring break for that matter. I was acutally preparing to go to school today when I was so kindly reminded by my boyfriend that I would be the only one there cause everyone else is in Florida.) I have fun and adventures that are worth babbling about even if only for my own satisfaction. Hope everyone enjoys and I keep up to A+ blogger standards.