kapachino

Category: conversations

  • quick takes

    Another round of randomness coming at you! (Linking up.)

    one

    Fair warning that it just might start to get very crafty/nesty up in here. Our new carpet will be installed in a couple of weeks, and we’re painting our bedroom this weekend. I have barely touched the back half of our house and so this is really inspiring me to fix up our room. It’s such a sad state of affairs in there right now and I would love to have a happy master bedroom. I have plans, people. Will be sharing them soon.

    two

    I’m also spending almost every spare moment working on my niece’s stocking. Here is what it looks like so far:

    stocking far

    The lighting is kind of weird here but you can see just how far I have to go. So far I’ve just embroidered and sequined the gold stars and sequined/appliquéd Santa’s hat poof.

    stocking close

    Here’s a close-up; it’s still kind of hard to see the poof but I think I got the hang of the appliqué and I hope the rest will get better and faster. So it’s not much progress so far really. But I’ve never done this before, so time has been spent doing research and watching tutorial videos and practicing. Look for weekly updates on this process.

    three

    I discovered a new crafty blog this week, and it made me so happy to see that she’s a cross stitcher! What was even more exciting is that she has a shop selling patterns, and is doing a seasonal sampler subscription program. I decided to sign up for the autumn sampler subscription, and even though I’m not sure how I’ll fit it in, I’m going to attempt to keep up with the stitching each week and share my progress here too.

    Look at the cuteness though!

    Autumn_Sampler_Sneak_Peek_2

    Any current or wannabe cross stitchers out there that I can enable into doing this with me??

    four

    We had a bit of an up and down week around here. First we discovered that our mortgage increased by almost $300 a month, so that was not fun. Then my car broke down and we were 90% sure we were going to have to buy a new one. All this right after we had placed our carpet order, which was a big expense for us. So stressful when we’re trying to save for new baby! But then the car got all fixed for under $500, and a doctor’s expense we thought we were going to have to pay ended up being totally covered by insurance, and the carpet guy took pity on us and gave us a discount. All in all more than we wanted to be spending, but way better than it could have been.

    five

    Last night was kind of a bummer for me because I came home ready to make dinner, spend time with the family, and work on the stocking. But as soon as I stepped in the house – it was so hot and stuffy in there – I got a wave of nausea and fatigue so strong that I couldn’t even stand up. I laid down on the couch so of course Meredith wanted to lie on top of me and roll all over my stomach. David could tell I was down for the count so he took Meredith to his parents’ house and I ended up sleeping the entire evening starting at 6:30. I woke up briefly at 8:45 to brush my teeth, throw the diapers in the dryer, and feed the dogs, but otherwise I was OUT. I’m better today though, so it seems it was just a weird pregnancy thing and not a real sickness of any kind.

    six

    “Meredith, what is mommy going to have?”

    “Baby brudder.”

    “Where is baby brother now?”

    “Right dere.” (Points to my tummy)

    “Very good!”

    “And cake?”

  • sleep conversations, vol. 2

    My husband talks in his sleep sometimes when I’m waking him up, and it’s awesome. Here’s a sample of some things he’s said lately.

    ***

    On a Saturday when he was going in to work

    Me: What time do you want me to get you up?

    Him: Get me up for the gay pride parade. That’s when I need the most help.

    ***

    Me: Time to get up, love.

    Him: You SAID I had 48 hours.

    ***

    Him: Did you see that profile?

    Me: Profile for what?

    Him: The magazine.

    Me: You’re doing a profile for a magazine?

    Him: I thought you were writing one on me.

    Me: What magazine?

    Him: Hustler.

     ***

    Me: Time to get up, love.

    Him: I thought you were going to do the ratings.

    Me: what ratings?

    Him: The quarterback ratings.

    Me: I’m in charge of the quarterback ratings?

    Him: Well not in charge of them but you promote…(unintelligible mumblings)

    Me: I promote what?

    Him: I thought about Meredith being a star athlete.

    Me: A quarterback?

    Him: On a men’s team, if she can get a sex change operation.

    ***

    Him: That’s a pretty cool name for your girl group, I like it.

    Me: Oh yeah? What’s our name?

    Him: Untraceable.

    Me: So are we a super secret spy group?

    Him: No you have math stuff like compasses…

    Me : (disappointed) So we’re a girl math club?

    Him: But you rock. You’re a rock band that sings about math.

    ***

    Find the first in this series here.

  • Weekend Activities, Self-Reflection, and Baby Hair Control

    So I had a really good weekend. It was a perfect mix of productive and fun. I could have possibly used a bit more relaxing at home time, but you can’t win ’em all. I was so proud of all that I had accomplished on Saturday that I was bragging to David at the end of the day.

    Me, with smug satisfaction: …and I even showered, and shaved my legs, and plucked my eyebrows, and completely groomed myself!

    David: Honey, MOST people do that.

    Me, not quite so smug: Well, so do I, OBVIOUSLY. Just…not all the time.

    ***

    Because of some things that have happened lately I have been examining myself and how I handle conflict. I have come to the conclusion that it is near impossible to make me angry, and I am probably the most forgiving person I know. I’m not saying that to brag, because it can actually be a significant fault. I will look for any and every excuse to not be upset with someone, even if they really don’t deserve it. And if someone, like my husband, is upset with a person for good reason, I will immediately take up that person’s cause in order to smooth things over, when what I should really be doing is supporting my husband. There’s nothing I hate more than a broken relationship, but I need to make sure not to let that come in between my most important relationships of all.

    ***

    I took my computer to the Apple store in the mall yesterday to visit the Genius Bar. It was kind of embarrassing because it’s like 5 years old, the edges of the keyboard are peeling off, there is a huge black line through the screen where it got bent, and it’s just overall obviously old, dirty, and slow. I felt sort of bad for it in there with all the shiny new things. This one still works, though, and I feel an affection for it since it saw me through nursing school. I even named it, although now I know someone with that name so I’ll keep it to myself. But it had stopped connecting to the internet at our house which is quite inconvenient. I’m saving up for a new one, but it’s slow going. Anyway, the point of this whole thing is that I was in the mall, and there was Christmas music playing and all the holiday decorations were up. I’m not against premature holiday-celebrating, but it did kind of surprise me, and then I realized that Thanksgiving is only two weeks away so it’s not truly premature. I think I must be in another world somewhere and time is passing without me realizing it.

    ***

    You must have noticed that this post is of the random variety, so I can’t let it pass without talking about the baby. Specifically, that her hair is out of control. It is completely bald on one side, sort of bald on the other side, and the rest of it is getting SO long. It swoops completely to one side like an emo kid, has a huge swirling cowlick in the back that refuses to be tamed, and basically from the side she looks like she has a horse’s mane. It is what it is, but still, we’re into hats these days.

  • The Secret To A Successful Marriage

    I was checking on one of my patients, a sweet eighty-year-old lady, and was about to leave the room when she caught my hand.

    Her: Are you married? Let me see your ring. (Looks at ring.) Ooh, that’s so pretty! How long have you been married?

    Me: About a year and a half.

    Her: Aww, I bet he’s a good one.

    Me: Yep. I love him.

    Her: I think that’s so great. I’ve been married for sixty years now, and I still love mine. Of course when you get older it’s different. It was really hard when we found out that I had cancer, but you have to go somehow! My husband and I dealt with it and then he told me we’d just be together till the end. I told him we’d better be! He’d look like a dog if he divorced me now. And then he said he guessed it would make his widower possibilities pretty bleak.

    Me: I’m glad you can keep a sense of humor about it!

    Her: Well, you have to.

  • A Competitive Sport

    Over the weekend David and I found ourselves discussing our respective domestic chores. Since we were left with nothing but applesauce, hummus, and pickles in our fridge, it was time to go shopping. After a brief discussion about what we needed David said to me, “You’ve let us run out of some things lately.”

    Feeling an assault on my wifely skills, I immediately responded on the offensive. “Who do you think cleans the house and does your laundry? Who is planning this week’s meals and is going shopping?”

    He came right back with, “Who cleaned the floors the other day? And you may go on a big shopping trip once every two weeks, but I buy a lot of little things that we need in between.”

    Realizing that the direction the conversation was headed wasn’t ideal, I swallowed my pride and said, “It’s not about who does what. We’re a team, love.”

    He responded, “And I just want to make sure you know I’m the better teammate.”

    IT’S ON.