Bunco

I hosted my Bunco group last night and it went quite well. The prizes I picked out were all girly stationery and stickers, mostly from the Martha Stewart line at Michael's. I figured this is the kind of stuff girls have a hard time justifying buying for themselves, just for the heck of it, so they'd be fun things to win.


(And yay for me - I won a prize for most wins, so I ended up with the bundle of goodies on the right side of the top picture.)

Here's a picture of the treats that went on each table:

(See the grapes? Totally healthy!)

And here is the food - multigrain and tortilla chips with salsa and artichoke jalapeño dip:

And brownies (from scratch) and oatmeal cookies:

EdgyK, note the platter. :)

I think everyone had a good time. It was a low-key evening as usual, with everyone just chatting and laughing the night away. Two girls announced their pregnancies (!) which means that a THIRD of our Bunco group is currently pregnant.

It really isn't that hard to host, but I sure am glad I've got it out of the way. I won't host again until next year (if we are still doing this next year). I really didn't want to host with a newborn.

Congrats, Becca!

Becca of A Day in the Life of Smoochy just had her baby girl!! Stop by and congratulate her!

Product Review: Sally Hershberger Style Primer

Sally Hershberger Style Primer for Wavy Hair

I read about this product in Lucky a couple of months ago. Naturally the writer made it sound like a dream product that would magically give me Giselle Bundchen waves. But I decided to try it out despite the hyperbole. Well, apparently my hair is not wavy enough for it to really help in that area. BUT it did give me a great piece-y texture that I love, without looking at all greasy or clumpy which I hate. So I will definitely keep using it. Maybe one of you who has wavier hair can try it and report what it did to yours. (My hair is only nominally wavy. In any kind of dry heat, it goes pretty straight.) Really the only thing I don't like is the smell: coconut. Not my bag. You can find this only at Walgreen's; I paid $12.50.

Nesting, Anth Style

Some girls nest by cleaning. My house should be so lucky. I nest by obsessively but lovingly going through baby clothes again and again. Deena dropped by my house Friday with two big boxes full of baby boy clothes! I dragged Dh to Target on Saturday morning to buy plastic totes and Saturday evening I went through all the baby boy clothes I have amassed over the past few months. It added up to quite a bit, since in addition to Deena's generous gift, I have been scouring the clearance racks and my mom sent a box last month full of super deals she scored at her Target. I oohed and aahed to myself, occasionally holding up particularly cute items and forcing Dh to make some sort of response. For some reason, he was more interested in Terminator 2. There's no accounting for taste.



Image Credit: Science Fiction Film's Visualization of the Unseen

Let's Insult the Pregnant Girl, Installment 47

At Walgreens, earlier today.

Middle-aged female cashier: How much time you got left? (nodding at the large belly)

Anth: Two months.

MAFC (eyes bug out): Two months?

Anth smiles politely.

MAFC: You look just like my daughter did when she was pregnant. She couldn't see her feet.

Anth thinks, Yeah like any other pregnant girl.

MAFC: She gained 96 pounds.

Anth tries not to laugh at the idea that she in any way resembles MAFC's daughter.*

Anth: That poor girl. (Leaves hurriedly.)


*My sympathies to any of you if you gained 96 pounds while pregnant. But one cannot blame that level of weight gain on pregnancy and a bad thyroid. It's just not gonna fly, sugar.

This Week

Date Night

We met up with EdgyK and her husband. Since it was sort of our V-Day date, I was trying to surprise Dh. So I just told EdgyK's husband where to drive. Well, we got to where I thought the restaurant was, instead we see a ghetto nasty knockoff of the restaurant I wanted. Oops. Luckily everyone was so excited to be out on a date, they didn't mind the detour. We did eventually make it to the Mongolian grill place I wanted. Then we went to Cold Stone for delicious ice cream. Here is my ice cream concoction that I recently created and don't think I will ever deviate from as I love it to death: Sweet Cream ice cream with graham cracker pie crust and Oreos crushed in. Sooooo good. Then we headed back to our house and chatted and played Guesstures. All in all very fun and nicely relaxing.

Baby E's Doctor Appointment

I was only two months late in getting Baby E in for her 18-month appointment! Yay me. And truth be told, I only made the appointment because her pediatrician's nurse started stalking me via the phone. Does anyone else's doctor's office do this??? The nurse was calling every day! (As I check the caller id before I ever answer, I kept avoiding her calls.) So anyway, Baby E weighs 28 lbs and is 2'8". Her shots went really well, the best ever. The nurse who did them (different from the usual vaccinations nurse) was really good - the first shot was over so fast, Baby E didn't even react. She did react after the second shot, however. She had a little soreness in her thighs that afternoon, but today has been running around like normal. She is wearing 2T clothes right now. *Pout* I love her changing and developing, but a little part of me is sad my baby is getting so big and independent.

Jane Austen Party

My friend D threw together a Jane Austen party last night. She just invited a few people who she knew love Jane Austen. We watched Miss Austen Regrets. D has Tivo'ed all the Masterpiece Theater Austen movies. We had a great time. Everyone brought goodies, so we all got sugar highs and most of us were still there talking and laughing at 1 am! That's when EdgyK's husband called asking, "Where are you????" That kind of broke up the party. Ha ha Luckily my husband didn't wait up. This morning I kind of regretted my decision to stay up so late, but not really. It was so fun to have some girl time!

Baby E

As I emptied the dishwasher, I heard "clomp, clomp, clomp!" Baby E appeared in the kitchen wearing my shoes. She was so proud of herself. It was absolutely adorable.

Baby E's pretend phone conversation gets heated.

"Daddy! Let me in!!"

We pose for a picture this morning before church. I absolutely loooooove her dress and am so excited that it fits her now. It's a sailor-style dress with a cute bow in the back. The matching shirt has little dangling hearts on the sleeves. Everyone at church was in love with her.

Making funny faces for Dh.

Playing peekaboo in the bathroom. She peeks every time.

Her first chili. She loved it!

Friday Evening in the Superhero Household

Dh (freaking out about taking the GRE Saturday morning): Our date tomorrow might not happen.

Anth looks up with panic in her eyes as she has been looking forward to said date all freaking week.

Dh: If I don't get at least 1000 on the GRE, I'm going to Mexico. I will be in no state to be around other people.

Anth: Well, that's true. I'll just go on the date by myself then. (No sense in wasting a perfectly good babysitter.)

Five minutes later...

Dh: Crap! I don't have a valid passport. (Pause.) I guess I'll fly to El Paso and smuggle myself into Mexico.

Anth: Just make sure you call me before you go.

Dh: No, then you'll try to follow me.

Anth: No I won't. I don't want to be around you if you do badly on the test. You'll be psycho.

Dh: Once I'm drunk, I'll be fine.*


Now it's Saturday afternoon and I am pleased to report that Dh does not have to smuggle himself into Mexico in order to avoid anyone he knows and get himself into a drunken stupor. He got well above the minimum requirement! Woo-hoo! I am really proud of him. He has been sooooo stressed all week, and freaking out about all the vocabulary words he didn't know. But he did a great job! (And we can go on our date tonight and have FUN!)

* * *

Pregnancy update (31 weeks, doctor's appointment on Valentine's Day):

• I've gained 24 pounds. I'm okay with that.
• Despite consistently measuring 4 cm big in December & January, I am only measuring 1 cm big now. (So why are the stretch marks getting worse???)
• Apparently I really am supposed to take the blasted iron pills.
• The NP recommended I befriend someone with an indoor pool. Not her most helpful advice.

*This is only funny if you know that we never drink.

Serenity on Valentine's Day

My contribution: chocolate-covered strawberries (gone within 10 minutes of their unveiling).

Baby E's contribution: avant garde art piece. Very messy. One shirt sacrificed to the art gods.

Am I not the most amazing flower arranger you have ever, ever seen?

Dh's contributions: roses and cheesecake (much appreciated).

Monday I guess I walked too much (went to three stores). By late afternoon, any walking was quite painful; my hip gave out with every step. As soon as I got E into bed, I stopped walking. Dh gave me a blessing when he got home from work, and a few hours later carried me into bed. It was rather worrisome. The next day I could walk pain-free in the morning; by the afternoon I was in a lot of pain again. Over the past couple days, I have discovered through trial and error that I just need to limit the amount of walking I do. Otherwise, my left hip starts to give out in a very painful manner.

And yet, after about two months of kvetching almost constantly, suddenly I am feeling very serene about being pregnant. Maybe because the end is in sight. Maybe because of the blessing Dh gave me. Yesterday and today I have been able to just enjoy Baby's kicks and rolls, I have let go of the anxiety about my house being messy,* somehow right now I am able to just be. I hope this feeling stays because it is marvelous.

* * *

The limited walking leads to an excess of energy on my part. I have to expend it somehow: check out my craftiness. I have been crocheting as I watch season one of Gilmore Girls. Somehow I never saw this show. I just finished the first disk and am enjoying it.


*Dh found Baby E's missing shoe. It was under a pile of his clothes in the bedroom. I made no comment. Impressive restraint, no?

The Big Reveal

The winner is...Christy! She is so fabulous, huh. You should go over to her blog and tell her so!

1. I cleaned toilets to pay the bills during college. True. For a month. And I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to do it, too. I got off work at 7:30 and would go back to sleep for a few hours until my classes (being me, my first class that semester was at noon). The only way I was able to function at work was because it's completely possible to clean toilets only half awake. And boys? have the worst.aim.ever. So gross.

2. I broke my clavicle trying to do a headstand when I was thirteen. False. My mother did. I've yet to break a bone.

3. I was briefly engaged to a Jewish guy in my hometown in NY. False. I've never even dated a Jewish guy. Though there were many of them in NY. Not so many here in Oregon.

4. I was treasurer of the College Republicans for a year. False. I went to one College Republicans meeting with my roommate. I think she was like the VP or something. I don't really remember.

5. I married my college roommate's ex-boyfriend. True. My old roommate and my husband dated in high school. I met him (through her) when she was engaged to someone else and high school was ancient history. But I love saying it because it sounds so shocking. Ha ha

6. I learned to cook from my French Canadian grandmother. Heavy on the cream. False. I never lived very close to my grandmother, didn't spend much time around her. The only thing I remember her teaching me is how to roll a ball of yarn. And she's only nominally French Canadian, since she was born and bred in upstate NY.

7. My future husband and I decided to date exclusively on our second date. False. Try the opposite.

8. I caught mono from my high school boyfriend. False. I got mono over the summer between my junior and senior years of college. My boyfriend who was in CA for the summer teased me profusely about how I might have caught the kissing disease. (And no, I didn't catch it from cheating on him! Ha ha)

30 Weeks

No sooner did Baby E get over the runs, then we all came down with the same cold. Not being able to breathe sucks.

75% done. My hips are getting more unhappy, and so is my back. Baby's parties continue to be frequent and super fun. I'm starting to get the disrupted sleep and frequent trips to the bathroom that come in the third trimester, but still less heartburn than when I was pregnant with Baby E (thank goodness for that!). Lots and lots of dreams in which Baby has already been born. Braxton-Hicks more frequent, and sometimes painful.

We talked to my bil this evening, heard Baby J (my new niece) making adorable newborn noises. I'm getting more and more excited to cuddle and give loves to Baby #2!!!!

Book Review: The Goose Girl

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. YA fiction, but after enjoying the Twilight series more than I thought I would, I decided to give it a try.

Two marks against: the end feels very rushed, like Hale got tired of writing and just threw it together. Also I found the extreme innocence of all the teenaged characters to be super hard to swallow. Long winter days, many teenagers cooped up in a great hall, no sexual tension, much less unintended pregnancies. Yeah right.

That said, the story is fun and compelling and it's a quick read. I liked the main character and enjoyed watching her develop through the course of the book.

Fun but shallow. 3 stars.

Since Everybody Else Is Doing It

I might as well too.

Presenting...

The Superhero Girl Edition of Six Lies and Two Truths!

So. Email your guess to morganlf21 at hotmail dot com. Don't leave them in the comments, yo. If you're the first person to guess correctly...hmm...I will mail you something fabulous. Which will probably arrive BEFORE 2009! You lucky thing, you! It will probably a mixed cd of fabulousness because I think I can manage that.*

1. I cleaned toilets to pay the bills during college.

2. I broke my clavicle trying to do a headstand when I was thirteen.

3. I was briefly engaged to a Jewish guy in my hometown in NY.

4. I was treasurer of the College Republicans for a year.

5. I married my college roommate's ex-boyfriend.

6. I learned to cook from my French Canadian grandmother. Heavy on the cream.

7. My future husband and I decided to date exclusively on our second date.

8. I caught mono from my high school boyfriend.



*Yeah, I totally stole that prize idea from Isabel. What about it?

Book Review: Fieldwork

After six long weeks, I finally finished Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. It took me a long time to get into the book, and even after getting into it, I didn't feel very compelled to read it until quite close to the end. And yet, once I finished it, I felt very satisfied and pleased with the book as a whole. Its characters and feel lingered with me after I was done, which for me is one of the marks of a good book.

The book was interesting on many levels - it tells the tale of a expat living in Thailand who is gradually consumed by researching the life of an anthropologist who murders a Christian missionary in the remote northern part of the country. I liked learning about Thailand (I've never been), I loved the glimpse into foreign fieldwork (in college, I "cheated" and did mine in America), and the third-generation missionary and his family were also fascinating. Berlinski skillfully wove his story, gradually drawing out my curiosity until I was indeed frantically reading late into the night by the end. Thankfully he did finally clear up why the anthropologist killed the missionary (I got a little worried he wasn't going to).

My one complaint is he gets a bit long-winded during the subplots, which is a big reason the book was hard to get through.

Good, solid read, though not for the unmotivated. Four stars.

All Over the Place

Let's say as a hypothetical situation, a church leader recently gave a rather pointed lesson (not pointed at me). If I criticize her lesson, is that the same as criticizing her? If I criticize her lesson, is that same as not sustaining her as a leader? Okay obviously this is not a hypothetical situation. Anyway, it's not like I need to take any action regarding this lesson, it just rubbed me the wrong way. How does one criticize a leader (privately, just to a friend or two) but still continue to sustain her? I certainly don't think sustaining is equal to letting a leader say whatever she wants. I suppose the key for me is to make sure I maintain humility (or rather......get some humility ha ha) and stay close to the Spirit.

***

Why are there stretch marks? I don't want to jump around in a bikini, but is it really so bad to want to look hot for my husband? Why do I have to redefine hot to include stretch marks? I do get the impression that women care more about these things than men, but hi! I'm a woman! So I care about them!

***

My husband is working overtime every week, taking a graduate class, preparing for the GRE, and is sick. I am almost seven months pregnant and spend my days trying to entertain a toddler. I feel like all I did today was tell my daughter: No! Don't touch! Stop that! and barely keep a grip on my temper. My house is completely messy. Groceries are still sitting in their bags in the entryway from this morning. I can't find one of Baby E's shoes because my house is so frickin messy. I wish there was someone to slough the extra off onto. Instead, after Baby E went to bed, I crashed on the sofa for an hour. When Dh got home from work, I'm sure he was not happy that the house was trashed and no dinner was ready.

Super Deals and Saturday Night

Here are the deals I scored at the Gap outlet last week. I didn't take a pic of Dh's new shirts, because guy clothes are bo-ring. The pink top with the 3/4-length sleeves is the one that was $1.97. When a shirt is that cheap, you are basically required to buy it.



Isn't this onesie just too, too cute?!?! The heart is actually a little button.

Oh, and Baby E had to get in on the shot.

Saturday night I went to a M@ry K@y party at my friend's house. I was late (of course). The first thing the girls had me do when I arrived was turn around so everyone could see that I do indeed not look pregnant from behind. Ha ha This made me love them all forever. I had fun being bratty and goofy with friends and somehow left with another lip gloss. I came home wearing a lot more makeup than normal, and found Dh studying this:


Poor Dh has to take the GRE in two weeks and is understandably freaking out. The graduate school just barely started requiring that applicants take the GRE. Dh is kicking himself that he didn't apply a year ago and thus avoid the nasty GRE altogether. Oh well. Hindsight's 20/20 and all that.

29 Weeks