the travelers return

we are back from the family reunion and i am happy to say that no one was hurt in the final days of forced family love. it was another awesome cruise and i was glad to see my sisters. ashley is looking very preggers and we are excited for her to have another boy. i, on the other hand, just look fat. i wish i could put up a nice, cute pregnant pic but they all turn out with me having a double chin (which i do not have, yet) or there is an abundance of fat hanging from my arms. i will see what i can do about having some photos specially edited to show the belly but not the other horrible side effects of pregnant existence. i can not really spend too much time here, my mother-in-law will be here in mere hours!

our alien

we had our sonogram and it is an alien. all of the measurements are right on for the due date for december 2nd. and it is a girl. they took a picture of her privates to show us. joshua is coming to terms with the fact that there will be more females in his house than males. he is just as happy as i am that she is healthy looking and has good measurements. we sent the pictures to a few individuals but i did not force it on any who did not want to see. if you can tell what the blobs look like then i would be happy to send the pictures. to me it looks like an alien. but she is my alien and i love her.

happy 4th!

no rest for the wicked

tomorrow is the big day for us. joshua and i are very excited to find out the sex of our baby. the sonogram is at 9am so i do not have to wait long now. before bed last night joshua placed his hand on my belly and just left it there for a while. i thought he was asleep but then he said he was trying to feel the baby move. these past few weeks i have started to feel small movements but apparently they are too small to feel from the outside. the journal i have says the baby is big enough to fit in the palm of my hand. that seems so small to me considering the movements and my size. i tell joshua that it is easy to tell this is his child because the little one is always moving a foot, always kicking me.
i took the day off yesterday and slept mostly. today i need to finish laundry and really start working on the little one's room. it is piled high with crap that i can not find room for elsewhere. i still have a number of months left but i would like to get something put together soon. the crib is ready for us to pick up we just need to find time to drive up to des moines and get it. i love the fact that joshua's crib is the one we will use for our child; i am sentimental like that.

strange days

some days you think are going to be great...and then you leave your phone at home and your family can not reach you so they call your boyfriend instead who has to deliver the news of a death in the family. on a good note i had a great hair cut and pretty stripes put in my hair today. your stylist should be a form of therapy. one of the guys who works for us is dating a great stylist so we had a good chat while she added my pretty colors. i have decided i can become a trophy wife if given the proper resources and the right motivation. i like to have my hair fluffed and my nails done and all the girlie things.
not much to say tonight. i need to pack a small bag for tulsa and maybe put a pretty color on my toes. good news is that my stepmom bought me a black maternity dress so i already have something to wear. no need to worry, it was not a close family member but those who know me understand that my mom's family is close so i need to be there to be supportive. i actually feel a bit guilty for not being upset. i had not seen her much these last 10 years so it is not someone whose presence i will miss. i hope the family holds up alright.

proud parents

i am starting to wrap my mind around the parenting idea. i have had an ideal pregnancy so i tend to forget at times that we will be parents this year. joshua attended my appointment this week and was able to hear the heartbeat with me. he is very calm and seems not excited at all about the changes to come. the only time he becomes agitated is when we discuss financial matters. he wants to buy a house before the baby comes even though i would rather wait. we are renting a small place and i do realize that more room would do us good but i want to wait for the right place first. i am more excited about getting this place ready than spending hours looking for a house.
we leave for another family trip in a few weeks and i will finally be able to spend time after to change my craft room to a baby's room. i should get the crib from joshua's parents later this summer and then all i need is to convert the dresser to a changing table. i believe my stepmom would rather i buy all new furniture so that she may help pick it out. she has already purchased a new wardrobe for me and several items for the baby. joshua is crazed that we have so many items already for a baby not yet born. my sister gave me her stroller as she is getting a double and it comes with the infant seat and two bases. i am a bit amazed at everything already. it seems i shall not want for much and yet i have dozens of items in the baby registry at babies r us and target baby. still no pictures as i still just look fat. maybe i will feel more up to it soon. i have gained a total of 7 lbs to date, 4 this month. the doctor says that is great.

more late nights

i have started to get my energy back and am able to stay awake late like i used to. i had my usual thursday with the girls and came home to watch a movie after. i am almost like my old self except that my pants do not fit. i still plan to take pictures soon.

summer is here!

i am enjoying happy warm days with no coats. also all the new clothing my step mom bought me. i am starting to show and so now when i wear my regular shirts i look a bit pudgy. the girls in my knitting circle claim i really do not look fat because the weight is all in my belly. i had to get new pants since mine do not fit well anymore.
i guess i should confirm, for those i have yet to speak with, i am having an alien, or a child. the verdict is still out on that one. we should know which version next month. i am thinking about posting a few pictures because i am starting to show. it is a little odd. i have wanted children for a few years now and i am finally starting my little family with joshua. no one told me i would have crazy dreams. i thought i would gain a little weight maybe get sick and complain about my back hurting. instead i have strange dreams and i have lost my mind. pregnant woman lose their minds. i will try to get a picture up soon.

i should be sleeping

i have this weird problem recently having to do with being tired all the time. i come home from class and can not keep my eyes open long enough to study or do any reading. i decide to take a nap and then two hours later wake up feeling better. this is fine except that i have trouble sleeping sometimes after my nap, even if i am tired. i know it is mainly hormones making me tired but there must be something i can do to get around this problem. i have tried staying up and not napping but that just makes me cranky (and we know joshua loves me when i am tired) and then i tend to sleep for 12 hours. it is nearly midnight, i am exhausted and unable to sleep. i do not want to take anything because i tend to get more tired with medication. maybe this will simply be a good time to get caught up with my blogs. i got a new camera for my birthday and will try to post some pictures. it even takes 30 minute films so i have a fabulous one of a certain someone in drag at a benefit show! if not properly bribed i may post it soon.

hopefully more to come...

no time to clean

Life has turned into a roller coaster again. I just got back from a two day conference in Wichita, meanwhile Joshua had a meeting with a town north of Wichita about setting up a wifi project. He then headed to Tulsa for some computer boards, a PE stamp on some drawings, and a meeting with the guy who runs Tulsa metronet. He left Tulsa around 10:30 and ended up having to stop half way for rest. After arriving in Lawrence he went straight to work and finished his presentation for Friday. It is now 9am and he is just now home. I am up and about ready for class. Once I am finished with school I have a work project due and my knitting circle that takes place every Thursday night. Joshua will leave this evening for Wichita and give his presentation in the morning. He will rerturn home tomorrow night and we will get a few hours together after work. Saturday I am headed home for a barbecue thrown in my honor and Joshua will be playing the role of a leprechaun in the St. Patty's Day parade. I return Tuesday and will head back to work because my boss will be out Wed and Thurs for her chemo treatment. This is very typical.

spring

apparently i am not alone out there in cyber land after all. i assumed that no one would read my blog since it has been months without a post. my vet sent a donation to the local vet school in cassady's name. they also sent me a condolence card right after it happened. for those i have not spoken with, cassady went into kidney failure and we decided to not prolong his suffering. it was a very hard week but joshua helped me through it.
in other news, we are trying to have a baby. i am sure this will also be shocking. it must be part of my martha stewart phase. i will try to keep up to date with this developing story.
i really do like spring. winter is not my favorite time but spring and fall are beautiful seasons.

in a weird mood

it is late and i am sitting up surfing in bed. no real reason, just insomnia. that has been happening a bit lately.
i miss my cat.

better now

the cat and i spent most of yesterday morning in vet offices. we went back to the one i have been using with joshua there to help. everything worked out well but we had to go to a specialist in kc. that cost another $250. turns out it is probably just a bad case of a feline herpes outbreak. i told the specialist it was the week before finals and he said that maybe cassady was stressing for me. funny.
i am not so mad anymore. we have two sets of eye drops three times a day, a goo to lick off his paws, and two more liquids to shove in his mouth. looking forward to finals!
i was inducted as a member of phi alpha theta yesterday. joshua attended and took one picture. just one. and you can not see my face. boys.
we are going to work on finances now so we can make things better. did i mention the hundreds i spent on the cat? joshua has been helpful about it.

do not mess with my cat

There is nothing like going to the doctor to make you feel stupid for skipping science class. They can tell you anything and you will believe it simply because you know no better. After a $30 co-pay and $15 for the generic medication, hopefully, you are on your way to better health. That is if you have insurance. If not you had better hope the doctor accepts payments or you may have to stay after to wash dishes. I ran up a 10k doctor bill when I was 21 because I did not have insurance. I have some now. The cat does not.

Now imagine it is not you who are sick but your cat. If you are like many your cat is a member of the family and there is nothing you would not do for the sick animal. The problem is you still skipped science class and therefore have no clue what the vet is talking about.

This is exactly what happened to my cat Cassady and I. One day Cassady’s eye swelled shut, I decided to wait to see if it got better the next day. I was not rewarded for my wait as he seemed worse the next day. Fortunately, my vet had an appointment for me first thing the third morning. By this time both the cat and I are miserable.

Everyone at the Lawrence Veterinary Hospital seemed very helpful and caring at first. The receptionist gets me right in with what I will call the nurse for a lack of a better idea. She does the usual, weight, temperature, and symptoms while we wait for the vet. We have a few moments so I tell her about how he gets colds all the time with sneezing and mucus. Then the vet arrives to look important and sound serious. He tells me, after a cursory look, that it may be an abscessed tooth or a tumor and that we will need to sedate him and take x-rays. At this point I should add that my childhood pet died of a tumor in his ear.

I tried not to get emotional because it is the week before finals and I knew I was stressed. Then comes the good news, it may run as much as $465 and some odd change. They drew up an estimate for me to sign and I agreed instantly because I just wanted my cat to be alive and healthy. Then I left him there. I received a call later from the vet saying that all of the x-rays and tests were complete, meaning all my money spent, and I could pick Cassady up around 3pm. Moreover, he had no clue what was wrong. The nice nurse showed me how to administer the meds and how much and often. We went home.

Three days later the cat and I were both just as miserable. I called the vet back and the nice nurse lady answered. She sounded genuinely concerned and suggested I come in the next morning to see the other vet in the office who has years of experience with cats. This remark sounded odd but I let it pass.

By the time Joshua and I returned from the movie later that night I was about to cry from looking at my poor, miserable cat. Joshua decided to Google it and in two minutes had the answer. Cassady has a very common case of feline herpes. The key word in that sentence is common. I am just glad that my job making $10 an hour was enough to cover the $465 vet bill. I am going back with my digital voice recorder. The cat and I are pissed. We want the money back and proper treatment.

happy birthday cheryl!

it is officially dead week. our library has decided to stay open 24/7 and service coffee, tea, and cocoa. this is a good thing. i may just take them up on that. i continue to work hard at the papers i should have written weeks ago. i still have made no progress on my african warlords paper but all the others are coming along. this is really all my life is about currently so no fun to report. except that joshua and i did go see 'for your consideration.' any who want to laugh at hollywood should take the time to catch this flick.
today is my sister's 30th birthday and i called her earlier. all is well in t-town. they went out to celebrate last night and cheryl got a tattoo. i forgot to ask what of. no more time for now.
must write papers...

out from hiding

i never finished the paper on african warlord politics but i did get a few pages into it. now i am plugging away at my historiography and hoping i am moving in the right direction. it is nine pages currently and i am no where near finished. this is a surprising change of pace as i am usually short, not long on my papers. today is to be devoted entirely to writing as i still have a paper on kwame nkrumah i have not even begun writing that is due wed. i am not sweating it because i have done all the research.
we are slowly crawling out from the ice. i liked the snow but the ice was a bit dangerous. i nearly wiped out many times. now if i could only get joshua to finish with the garage so i can park the car there. it would not have helped much this time as the ice prevented me from getting the car up the driveway. i was a fun game though, i would drive up and the car would slide back down. i finally had to park in the empty house next door's driveway.
must be short today as i need to spend my writing energy on school papers. i wonder if i could just turn in my blog url and ask for a grade from it?

winter wonderland

i skipped classes today to write a paper and the entire world turned to ice. i got out last around noon and the rain was becoming harder. by 1pm it was icing and by 3pm it was a complete mess.instead of writing my paper i decided to take a short break to watch black hawk down (i am doing african history, it was 'research') and never made it back to writing. joshua then came home and recanted a tale about getting up and going to work at 3am and nearly burning down the office with a faulty toaster. the smoke detector did not go off until the office was full of black smoke. and then the absent minded professor did not notice the alarm for a bit. by the time he got to the toaster flames were shooting out if it. i arrived several hours later to find the front door propped open and only the new secretary in the office. she had no idea what happened. i
nearly peed myself after hearing thatjoshua burned his bagel and almost took everything out. i guess it was more entertaining after the fact. i want to go find the toaster and take a picture but the wind chill is around 9 currently and ice is still falling from the sky. i will try to keep up on this one.
on a good note- joshua is cutting a deal for 700mhz spectrum so we will not have to fight cingular over the bleed from their 850 into our 900. this could be a very big deal. toaster burning aside, he had a good day.
things are going better for us after he lost his temper the other night.
if i remember i will put up a few photos, joshua has yet to get them off the camera for me and he took it away so i can not retrive them. this post rambles, but what of mine do not?

more from nc

I visited Mary and Tim! It was just as you might expect, we talked so much that hours passed and we did not even notice. Joshua had to call to see if I was ever coming home again. I will try to take time later to tell more; I just wanted to get something up.

greetings from nc

i decided to post briefly while i waited for mary to show up for our day together. my excuse for not posting has been that i am too busy and at this moment i can not seem to get any work done. joshua has taken to watching random utube videos and it is annoying. i will try to put up a few photos soon of my travels in north carolina. it is beautiful here and very relaxing. if it had not been for the fact that we traveled on black wednesday it would have been a nice trip. i scheduled the first flight out of kansas city and when we arrived there was a 10 minute wait at the sky cab. we flew through nashville and things were not too bad there other than the food lines were enormous. when we arrived in raleigh/durham the airport was so packed that there was little room to walk as the people were standing or sitting on every available spot. turkey was fabulous and i stuffed myself. more to come.....hopefully.

fun with elections

how about a little teaser for now...

Lawrencian
I edited this because the link did not work. Search for the article titled Protesters Greet President Bush in Topeka.

more of the same

this weekend was great. i went home to help host a 50th birthday party for my mom. most everyone showed up and we all ate too much food. she loved the quilt i made her and the cake from merritts was almost as good as the price tag. the problem is trying to get caught up after taking a day off to go to town early because of other people's problems. i think i am getting better at it. i have two papers due next week and a midterm. if i spend all of my time working on them i should get ahead enough to begin working on the historiography due at the end of the semester. who cares if the house is a mess? the laundry is clean and the cat is sleeping on it as we speak. if i get tired of writing i can always fold and put it away. so basically life is normal. i did get a letter from roddy saying that boot camp was fine and he is joining the 101st airborn. i should be proud but i am scared for him. i know this is what he wanted and i should support him. in other news, larissa and i are making another knitting friend who comes to our thursday night group. it is nice to have that time to get away from school and work and housework. and it is nice to have girlfriends.