Houston, we have a penis

I didn't have to fake my sonogram like Miranda in "Sex and the City". I was genuinely excited to see a penis.

Stumbling down Memory Lane

I woke up this morning with a lot on my mind. Going back to work after a three day weekend, scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow, thinking forward to the end of June and my 10 year high school reunion. I feel pretty lucky that 10 years after high school I will be going back to see the people I started adulthood with and know that I didn't end up so bad. I may have bigger boobs and a larger BMI number than I left with, but I also have a great husband, an amazing little girl, a baby on the way, a job and great friends.

As I drove in to work I was thinking of an old friend, Jessica McMakin. Jess and I were speech and drama geeks, but her and her sister, Annie, were also the two Mormon girls that taught me a lot about music. I may have known about the Rolling Stones, the Ramones, Jimi Hendrix, Bad Religion, and others, but these girls always had a ridiculous amount of cds and musical moods that helped in creating the soundtrack to my teenage years. I wouldn't probably have come to love Weezer's "Pinkerton" if it hadn't been for these girls.

On S&D trips we'd listen to my cd player in the back of the bus, and the following songs were a couple that I still retain a fondness for. I don't know if I'll see Jess in June, but I imagine our catching up would include detailed renditions of the bands we've seen, the new music we're in to, and a recounting of the shenanigans we'd get up to.





Becky Pemble is engaged! Becky is another friend from Colstrip, and we've been friends since the fifth grade. Becky was also another friend that I have some musical memories of. One summer my sister and I went camping with the Pembles. We stayed next to a pond outside of Ashland, and gave ourselves mud beauty treatments with the mud from the bottom of the pond. Becky and her sister would come with my dad and us kids to Mountain Man Rendezvous in Red Lodge, and we'd dress up like frontier girls and get sunburns on our noses. It was the closest we got to playing dress up when we were in high school, and I can confidently say that the memories we still have of those summers are pretty fond for both of us.

Back when tapes were cool, Becky and I both loved Weezer, and shared a fondness for disco music. These were a couple songs I could find that remind me of her.





As for the ultrasound tomorrow, my main thing at the moment is wanting to go in with a name idea for both genders. We've retained the boy name we picked when Elora was in utero (Colter Bryan), but a girl name hasn't been forthcoming. My M.I.L. (mother in law for short) suggested her dad's middle name for a girl name. The name itself is escaping me, but somehow it came to be Meggie in my mind. Meggie Marie. "Marie" is my mom's middle name. Since she's been begging to have one of her kids name a grandchild after her, and since "Darla" is not a name either of us want to give one of our kids, "Marie" is something I can definitely live with. I think I'd like "Meggie" rather than anything I would need to shorten.

Thad and his dad spent all weekend working on the basement. They got nearly all of the drywall up, and Thad finished up the small areas that hadn't been drywalled after his dad left yesterday afternoon. They framed the closet, and built the wall that will seperate the bedroom from the bathroom. Now we just need to mud, paint, and put in some flooring, then the bedroom will be ready for a bed, and there is enough room for an office between the bedroom area and the closet. It will be really nice when it's finished. The bathroom plan is still in the works, but that can be done later. Once we can get the bedroom set up we can set up the new baby's room upstairs.

Well, I'm going to stop rambling for right now. I haven't posted pictures of the best burgers ever that Adrienne and I made during a recent trip to C-Town. Those will be posted, but I've been lazy about getting the pictures uploaded. Don't hate me for my procrastination.

Should I read Pajiba in the morning?

I love Pajiba for it's witty reviews of movies, television shows, and books. I didn't think I'd love it for the political view points on our current economic situation, but the people that commented on this recent movie review all had me furrowing my brow and thinking really hard about where we are at right now, and what it's going to take to get us out of the mess we're in. Read the review of the movie "I.O.U.S.A." and then start reading the comments below. I'd love to hear thoughts, because it's time that we start talking to our congressmen and our elected officials and tell them EXACTLY what we want to see happen. For too long citizens have been the silent receivers of whatever the government decides to do. There are people out there that force change, whether it's in the form of laws or the form of public awareness. If we sit idly by we will never see the change we want.

Here's the article that got my wheels a-turnin'.

Home on a snowy day

Elora has had a pink eye for two days, and now we're staying home and administering eye drops. Tomorrow she'll be going back to daycare, but today is just me and her, watching cartoons, cleaning the tub, and maybe popping in a classic flick like The Matchmaker or Zoolander. I think she'd like Zoolander for the funny faces and the pretty colors. Maybe even Home for the Holidays or Strictly Ballroom. God, the possibilities are endless.

The laundry is all done, the dishes are done, so the only thing to really do is eat and clean the bathroom up. And eat. I've got leftover Roasted Chicken and Wild Rice Soup and some brown rice chips to just snack on all day. It's the perfect day for a sick kid and no need to go anywhere or really do anything.

Hope everyone enjoys working today.... suckers. BWAHAHAHAHA.

Planning

This week has marked a new era in the Swan household..... we've begun the quest for affordable life insurance. We met with a Primerica rep last week, and this weekend we saw him again and he gave us the skinny on our finances and had a plan to get us debt free in 10 years. Which is great, really, but there were just a few things about the policy they set us up with (not definite yet) that I'm unsure about. First of all, I can't probably get insured. Considering that I'm the one with the lung condition and the cancer history and all that stuff I kind of find it, well, IMPORTANT to have some type of affordable coverage. It doesn't have to leave a fortune to my family, but enough to pay for the funeral and make sure that Thad isn't feeding the kids cat food while he lives on a single income until his sugar momma comes charging up on her white steed.

So now that we've written a check we await a call to set up some at home blood work. But before I actually give blood or urine or even a booger-laden kleenex sample I'm going to do some homework. I'm going to get a few quotes, see if a company would automatically exclude me for coverage for medical reasons, and at that point I'll decide if I call and cancel the check or if we'll just get insured and shop around a little more before cancelling.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we try to find affordable term life insurance. My kid just let out a blood curdling scream. Better find out what she did to herself. Bye!

Big Ol' Belly

I'm 17 weeks this week and I took this picture last week after getting showered one morning. I'm able to wear some of my work pants without a problem, but my jeans are either maternity or held up with a Bella Band.

Random stuff....

First off, Elora got her first haircut today. She's 26 months old (2 years and 2 months) and this is the first time she's been to the salon. There are some kids that have had well over 6 haircuts by this age, but she never was one of those "born with a head full of hair" babies. We got a little certificate with her name on it and everything. Thad's cousin's ex-wife, Dannette, did it, and she cut both Thad's hair and mine tonight as well. Family haircuts = Kodak moment (Thad took pictures on his phone, so I'll try to get one or two up soon).

Secondly, I "fired" someone today. "Fired" is such an ugly term, but calling it "termination" doesn't really make it sound any more pleasant. No details, but all in all I'm ok with how this went, seeing as it was my first time doing this type of dirty work. I've been a supervisor for over a year, and before today everyone either resigned or stopped showing up. So this was good "real world" experience, even though it was not fun at all.

Thirdly, we're having Beef Stroganoff tonight. I love stroganoff, I could seriously make it at least once a week and never get tired of it. The sour cream, the cream of mushroom, the egg noodles, all of which combine and always taste amazing together. It's super easy, and never leaves me disappointed. I love having a staple in my recipe box that is always great. Plus, it beats the hell out of Hamburger Helper any night.

Lastly, it's raining. I love the rain, and I can't wait for the days to get warmer when we can open the windows during a rain storm and just enjoy the clean smell and the sound. I'm sure I'll be lamenting the rain soon enough, such is my fickle personality, but for tonight I'll just imagine it making everything green and Ireland-like in preparation for St. Patty's Day tomorrow. Note to self: remember to wear something green.