kapachino

Category: personal

  • A Day In Pictures: 38.5 Weeks Pregnant

    My due date is ten days away, and I’ve realized that it’s only my demanding job with an hour-plus-long commute that makes me feel desperate to give birth. I’m still really enjoying my weekends, when I get to relax and prepare. I would love to deliver this week for several reasons, but as of this moment I don’t feel like that will happen and I’m psyching myself up for another full week of work. I see my doctor tomorrow, so we’ll see what the plan is.

    Yesterday I decided to document my day in pictures, and this is something I’d like to continue from time to time. So here’s what I did!

    (All pictures taken with the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. They are pretty terrible but I never claimed to be a photographer!)

    9:00 a.m. – Breakfast, with a little reading on the side.

    10:15 a.m. – Waxing appointment. Ouch!

    11:30 a.m. – I accidentally got locked out of the house for a bit, so I took the opportunity to do some reading. :)

    12:45 p.m. – Working on the blog and catching up online.

    1:15 p.m. – Getting ready to go out with David. None of these clothes is maternity! A medium shirt from Gap and a stretchy skirt from H&M.

    2:00 p.m. – We went and saw an afternoon showing of Super 8 and loved it!

    4:30 p.m. – Working on the never-ending task of thank-you notes! I can only do a few at a time because of the difficulties I have with my hands.

    6:00 p.m. – Dinner at Los Cucos with David’s family, yum.

    7:30 p.m. – Watching my new favorite TV show, Secrets From a Stylist with Emily Henderson. She’s adorable (tweets and blogs, which I love) and has great ideas for the home!

    8:00 p.m. – My foot gets a little love from Cleo. :)

    9:30 p.m. – Reading in bed, my nightly ritual.

    10:34 p.m. – Lights out!

    Yesterday was a really nice day. I got a few things done, went on a few outings, and was even a little productive! Today I’ve been doing boring things like cleaning and preparing for the week, but I’m making sure to take breaks and as a bonus I have a massage this evening. :)

    How was your weekend?

  • Lately…

    >I’ve been struggling a lot with energy and various discomforts, especially at work. I’ll update more thoroughly when I do my 36-week pregnancy post, but suffice it to say that I am wondering how I’ll make it four more weeks of working as a nurse full time.

    >I’ve had three baby showers (a major one for family & friends, one at work, and a small one at my craft club) and have two more scheduled (at my husband’s work and at church). We have so much baby stuff now! There are only a couple major things left that would be nice to have. The nursery is completely disorganized and I really want to whip it into shape, but I rarely have the energy to do more than walk in there, take a look around, and walk out again.

    >I’m still recapping The Bachelorette, and I’ve been trying to catch up with old TV shows that I’m sadly behind on. Right now it’s Glee, and next I’m thinking I’ll go back to 30 Rock. We’ve been under-utilizing Netflix and I want to remedy that. At least I’m not discontinuing it until after maternity leave is over! Also, I’m watching So You Think You Can Dance for the first time. So far I like it!

    >I got about a hundred pages behind on the Infinite Jest read-along that Ashley is hosting. I blame it on the wacky page numbering of the ebook version. So I’ve been attempting to get caught up. By the way, I really like the book.

    >My life consists of surviving each work day, spending the evenings collapsed in a lump on the couch reading or watching TV (the only activities that aren’t hard on my hands or body; blogging is difficult because of the carpal tunnel), eating whatever we have on hand no matter how unhealthy, trying to be more comfortable, thinking about preparing for Meredith’s arrival, and various other social engagements including church, family, and friend stuff when I can manage it.

    >I’m just really ready to have this baby.

  • Ten On Tuesday: Randomness

    As usual, thanks to Chelsea for hosting! Is it just me, or are the weeks getting longer and longer? I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday.

    1. How do you pronounce the word aunt? Does your pronunciation rhyme with ‘haunt’ or ‘can’t’?
    Rhymes with ‘can’t,’ because I’m from Texas.

    2. Do most of the people in your life know you blog? Or are you partially or totally anonymous?
    Yes, mostly. I don’t hide my blog from anyone but I don’t announce it either, so the people I work with probably don’t know about it. I’m completely unanonymous, and just try to use discretion regarding what I post.

    3. When you grocery shop, do you prefer to bag your own groceries or do you like it when the store bags them for you? Paper, plastic, or reusable bags?
    I let them do it because I’m lazy. Thankfully  my husband does most of the grocery shopping because I hate that chore. We used reusable bags for a long time until recently when we left them at the used bookstore on accident. So I need to get some more of those.

    4. Do you have a green thumb?
    I doubt it. I’ve never really tried to garden or grow anything. It’s something I’d love to learn more about when I have the time.

    5. If you watch the Food Network, which chef/show host is your favorite?
    I don’t watch it. I’m not a foodie and I don’t really enjoy cooking, although maybe if I watched the Food Network it would inspire me.

    6. Do you like to take baths? Do you take them very often?
    I am not a bath person at all. Especially not for cleansing. I just don’t see how a person can get truly clean from a bath. Since becoming pregnant, however, I have come to see the benefits of baths for relaxation purposes. Nowadays I will take a 10-15 minute Epsom salt soak at night every once in awhile, and it’s nice. I can’t handle much longer than that though.

    7. What color are the walls in your kitchen?
    What little walls there are (the kitchen is mostly dominated by white cabinets and a pink/tan backsplash) are a light green color.

    8. Do you prefer to dine outdoors or indoors?
    In good weather I enjoy dining outdoors, but that kind of weather doesn’t happen too often around here.

    9. Describe your ideal weather.
    It would be sunny but not too hot, maybe in the 70’s, with a slight breeze.

    10. If you could learn any foreign language, which would you choose to learn?
    I know a little bit of Spanish and I wish I was fluent in it. I could get so much use out of that, especially at work.

  • Cube Dog App Review

    The Clever Girls Collective offered me the chance to review this new iPhone app that just came out called Cube Dog. The reasons I wanted to do it are: 1) Since I just upgraded to the iPhone 4 I’ve been rediscovering my love for apps, 2) my favorite games are the simulation-type, and 3) I’m a dog lover, of course!

    Cube Dog just became available this week, and I spent some time playing around with it. The first thing you do when you open it up is design your very own 3D cube dog and name it. If you hit a creative block, just give your phone a shake and a random design will come up! I designed this first one and named him Kiwi:

    And this is the random one I got, and named Sally:

    Once you have your cube dog it’s time to play! There are lots of cute 3D animations you can go through with your dog like playing with a ball, making a phone call, sleeping, and even ninjapup! It’s pretty adorable, but after you go through them once that’s really all there is. You do have the ability to purchase additional animations (and parts for the design of your dog) in the store, though.

    Another cool thing you can do is enter camera mode, which puts your pup in the room with you. Here’s Kiwi in my hand:

    As far as I can tell that’s about all you can do. I was really hoping for more of a point to it, like actually taking care of your pet and maybe seeing it grow. But it is extremely adorable. I think it’d be great to keep kids entertained.

    Here’s a little more about the app:

    Check it out on Facebook also, and watch for a fun contest running June 13-17!

    Disclosure: While Cube Dog provided me with the app to review, the opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Cube Dog, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

  • 101 Goals Update

    It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you on my progress toward my 101 goals. Actually, it’s been awhile since I’ve intentionally worked on these goals, but since I only have about 8 months left until my 1001 days are up I figured it was time to check in!

    Completed so far: 59

    4. Be a vegetarian for a month: I did this for over a month before I got pregnant after reading the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. With all the pregnancy changes I couldn’t keep it up, but I do intend to merge back toward a more vegetarian diet once I have the baby.

    30. Become oncology certified: Passed my exam in November 2010!

    59: Take David to visit my aunt and uncle in South Carolina: We went last week and had a great time!

    60: Paint the entire front half of the house: Other than the tiny bathroom off of the laundry room that needs to be completely redone, it’s all painted! We’ve actually done most of the back half of the house too.

    62: Sell/give away/donate all the books I don’t need or want: We took several huge bags to the used bookstore recently and donated. This will be a constant battle as we acquire more books, but we’ve got a good start.

    93. Complete the Biblica New Testament challenge: I did this with my church and wrote about it on my book blog.

    In progress: 9

    18. Transition to all-natural personal care products: This has been a long process of finding out what I like, but I’m almost there! I’m using up what I have before trying new things, so I still need to find a natural conditioner, bar soap, and deodorant.

    20. Pay off my credit card bill: We’re slowly chipping away at all of our debt. The medical bills came first, and this is the next one to work on.

    24. Implement a system for David and I to save our change: We have a designated spot to place our loose change, but I haven’t yet gone through the process of taking it to get rolled and cashed or deposited.

    36. Watch all of the movies that have won Best Picture: I’ve seen 42 out of 83, and I haven’t made much progress in awhile. This is going to be a tough one to complete because I don’t have a whole lot of spare time.

    38. Read 5 Pulitzer Prize winning books that I haven’t read: I’ve read three new ones, and I have one on my shelf.

    39: Read 5 books of David’s recommendation: I’ve read two so far. I need to get him to recommend a few more.

    75: Send 10 ‘just because’ cards: I’ve sent seven! This will be an easy one to finish.

    81. Donate blood once a quarter: Until I got pregnant I donated blood even more often than this, about every two months if I wasn’t too anemic. Obviously I can’t donate now, and with my anemia problem I don’t know if I’ll be able to continue, but if my counts go back to normal once I deliver I want to get back into the habit.

    92. Memorize Philippians 3: This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, and it’s not too long. I know a decent chunk of it, but I just need to focus to finish up.

    Some of my goals are going to be hard to complete, and they might get relegated to a future list. I’m going to try though!