Body frustrations... Warning, Rant!

image from here

Warning! Not a 'for boys' post. Just skip this one, fellas...

OK. So there are all these 'helpful' people out there on the web who have these names for body shapes and once you determine what your shape is, you can do some 'helpful' exercises that are more tailored for your body. Right? Riiiiiight.

Here's the list: which I borrowed from other sites. (I made bold the things that describe me.)

Ruler (or Banana):
Tend to be waif-like and slim.
Shoulders, hips, waist almost same size.
Very little indentation at waist.
Tend to put on weight in stomach and bottom, while maintaining slender arms and legs.

Hourglass:
Well-proportioned upper and lower body.
Shoulders and hips (almost) same size
Dramatic indentation (> 6") at waistline
Tend to gain weight all over your body, especially hip and chest area.
Strictly female shape.

Spoon (or Pear):
Larger lower bodies and smaller upper bodies.
Shoulders narrower than hips (commonly found in women).
Tend to gain weight below your waist.
Small chests and flat stomachs.

Apple:
Inverted triangular shaped body
The bust measurement is larger than the hip measurement.
Large chest and bust for your frame.
You carry most(or a lot, more now than ever post baby) of your weight around your midsection.
Usually have slim legs, hips, and bottom. (this doesn't fit me at all though!)

Cone:
Wider shoulders than hips (usually found in men) (awesome :( ).
Bigger on the top half of their bodies than on the bottom half.
Slim hips and a large chest and stomach.
Tend to gain weight above the waist or bottom.


I am NONE of these! And it's not just that I'm a big girl (and I know I am). My little sister (who is a size 2) has the same body type as me and fits in none of these categories either.

Our shape? Same all over. We put on weight all over our body equally (well, I do. She looks fabulous and is a personal trainer!) Arms, legs, butt, stomach, but oddly enough, never boobs. (Go figure.) We are muscular all over with shoulders like football players and not terribly wide hips (unless we gain weight then we get wide in the front and back first) and big legs. Very strange. In the past when I have been in shape (lets face it, that was high school), I still had large muscular arms and legs, and no waist or breasts to speak of.

Why is this body type not mentioned? I know other girls like this! It makes shopping horrible because anything that is made in 'women's' size (what is that about anyway? I'm only a 'woman' if I'm fat?! What are the size 0-12 people? Girls? I mean really...I digress) are made for big women with curves and by curves I mean boobs and butt. So I am left with these fabulous dresses for girls my size with saggy little pockets of fabric where alleged breasts should be, but never are. It always looks weird! I've almost decided to just make my own clothes. Mostly it's dresses that frustrate me, so when I want to look nice, it's harder.

As I struggle with all of this, I am reminded of what the pastor said recently...
"I look at myself and all of my flaws and say 'I will work harder to fix them'. This is tremendous pride."
My weight issues are not just 'over-eating' or not working out. They are deeper and I know it, a symptom rather than the problem. I need healing in this area first and to think I can heal myself is laughable. So one day at a time, one prayer, one better choice, on a journey, but still...can I just look cute in a dress while I journey?

OK. End Rant.

Days into days

Who put time on fast forward? Seriously. Stop it. My tiny baby is HUGE (relatively) and it all just seems like a blur with one day melting into the next. Has it really been nearly 6 months since she arrived? Have I REALLY been sitting on my butt and not exercising for that long? My brain says no, but my waistline says yes.

I feel like I'm being thwarted on the working out front. First I nearly broke my toe and could hardly walk and now that my toe is feeling better, I have a cold. If I don't want it to linger, now should probably not be the time to wear myself out with a new exercise program. Sigh. I'll get there. I WILL! Now, it's off to the grocery store while the baby sleeps and the hubby keeps her. That is the ONE perk of an unemployed hubby. I don't have to hire a babysitter! Wheee!

Bump update - 30 weeks

I miss my old face. I don't like all the extra (swollen) nose and (chubby) chin I have from this baby! This too shall pass...

Just thought I'd share this. I don't feel myself lately. This week has been a never ending round of swelling and sore places. I think my joints are starting to really relax and it is not a comfortable feeling. The Dr. confirmed this week that the large something I've been trying to get baby girl to stop pushing out of my right side is her bum. She does it so much I go lopsided sometimes! It's not a pleasant sensation, but I am glad to know she is moving and healthy.

Insomnia continues, mostly due to how uncomfortable it is to sleep lately. Poor Geek! I sleep in a nest of pillows and I am amazed there is any room for him in the bed. I almost nightly shake him awake to rub my arm or shoulder. He is VERY long suffering for me. Thanks Honey! The baby girl is very wiggly and I am very forgetful. I am carrying her low (thank Heavens for a long waist! I'm not half strangled yet) but the down side is she just pounds on my bladder. I stand up, she shifts and I have to pee...right then.

On the up side, the Geek and I have been having a very sweet season with lots of great conversations about our little girl and things we'd like her to learn. He is quite enamored over 'his girls' and tells me every day how cute I look. In my mind, I more resemble a beach ball, but it goes my heart good to know that my hubs finds me beautiful in all stages of life, not just when I am at my fittest.

Getting brave...here's the belly. (with pig tails)

I am now an official Stay at home Mom, even if she still IS on the inside. What can I say, it sort of a low maintenance job right now... My sweet co-workers gave me a nice going away party and mini baby shower! It was very fun. Here is the cake, which I thought was the cutest.

A sweet sugary baby carriage!

I'll miss the people I worked with since I wont' see them as often. It's a strange and wonderful thing to wake up with nothing to do all day except what I choose to do. It won't last much longer so I am grateful for each moment!

whining and complaining

I gotta get it out somewhere. The carpal tunnel in both hands has stepped up. In the right hand it is excruciating. I wake up in the night crying it hurts so bad. The Geek kindly rubs my arm and hand for me, somehow without fully waking up! I can't hold a pencil for longer than about a sentence, but I am still able to type a bit here and a bit there. I really miss journaling. I was keeping a journal for our little girl and lately I have not been able to write to her the things I want to tell her. It makes me sad.

I have enjoyed this stage of pregnancy though. I am showing enough that for the first time a friend walked straight up to me and put her hands on my belly remarking that I really 'look pregnant'. Since I grew up with not a lot of personal space and am a pretty touchy-feely kind of girl, I don't mind it from friends. Strangers I might have a problem with unless they were a sweet old lady or something. As I hauled my belly from one side to the other (rolling over in my former life) I lamented to the Geek this morning while we snuggled that it was simply not fair that Giant pandas could birth something that, in proportion, would be the equivalent of me having a kitten. I could handle a kitten! Even if I had to live life with a pouch, it would be a good trade off, to which the Geek gave a horrified look at the thought of his little wife with a marsupial pouch.

I also gave my notice this past week at work. I am going to make it through the end of September (week 30) and then will be an official Stay-at-home mom. I have a feeling the 'mom' part of that will be exceedingly easy until she decides to be an external child and until early December I'll just be 'staying at home.'

I have found some relief for my arm pain and that has been to go 'floating.' I can't really do laps this week until my shoulders get better (ice packs 4 times a day), so I just float around in my little skirted maternity swim suit. Weightlessness is highly underrated.

-----------------laugh break------------------
...The Geek is WOWing this morning while we sit here in the Sunday morning quiet, me in the laz-y-boy blogging and him at his desk in our shared office and some random scent has drifted through the room. I listed off the things it could be and he replied..."wow. I got the first two scents, but the rest are in the 'sub-nasular' range." hee hee!
------------------end laugh break------------------

Too much for my hands

While I think there are lots that are too big for my hands, I had not yet put housework on that list. Now I must. Just like the horrendous weedeating episode that had me laid up and struggling with a numb arm for days, apparently doing dishes and vacuuming does the same thing. So, since I can't hold a pencil to journal, I type. With the pillow under my arm and the mouse at my left hand! Sausage fingers are not a good look for me.

grumpy

No sleep, no feeling in arm. Do not want to be awake right now. Don't understand how people can live on no sleep. It is cool outside though. I think I'll like this little break of almost fall weather.

Slowly disintegrating

I'm sitting at my desk with a pillow under my arm, an ice-pack on my shoulder, and my feet up on a sporty 'office ottoman'. It's only 9:30 am and already I've begun to eat my lunch which I should be holding off on, but can't help eating because I'm starved! I should have done a bigger breakfast this morning, but didn't have time in attempt to catch the bus. That didn't much seem to matter since I missed my connector express and had to ride the slow bus to work. Boo! Some days it doesn't pay to get up at 6am. My bursitis is flaring up again and I miss the good ole ibuprofen these days! It's funny the things that our parents did (Drink, smoke, take ibuprofen etc) and we turned out fine on but are such a HUGE no no these days. I'm not sure what it does to the baby, but just mention it and watch the health care professionals all fly into a tizzy!

So it's 'crank up the home remedies' time. Massage, salt soaks, ice-packs, whining until hubby rubs that particularly aching part. Hee hee :)

I went to a little soirée last night and saw another pregnant girl from church who is about 2 months ahead of me. She has gained 25 lbs, but it is all in the belly. She said she didn't know where she was going to put the next month and a half of weight gain! She said she has not had any problems or noticed any particular things gone squirrelly with her body. Of course she is younger, more fit, but actually when we discussed it more, she admitted to having some of the same symptoms I'm having (fatigue, lightheadedness, thirsty and hungry a lot, aches and pains here and there, etc)- minus the whole right arm feeling as if it's about to fall OFF part. It's nice to know I'm not alone. (just more whiny about it obviously) It was fun to discuss babies with her. She didn't know what she is having but she admitted that when she and her husband 'looked away' during that part of the ultrasound, she sorta peeked through her fingers. Not that this could tell us inexperienced observers a single thing! It took the tech typing 'GIRL' on the screen for me to believe her. All those squiggly black and white images could be ANYTHING!

In the mean time, I called in pregnant yesterday and spent the day icing my shoulder and napping. I felt much better after that, but have to do the same thing today if I want to continue to feel better. I wish I could call in pregnant every day!

See dis? I feel dis.

Imagine if this (dats a grapefruit people) had been implanted inside your abdomen and every time you rolled over in bed, you felt it. Now try to get some sleep. Sheeyeah. Right.

Avoid this couch!! (not ours...ours is now industrial strength)

We bought our furniture about 2+ years ago and it all came with a lovely warranty that lasted about a year. Two weeks before that warranty ended, we heard an ominous 'sproiiiiing.' Wouldn't you know it, a spring, or really a springy metal band popped loose. We had the tech out to fix it and sighed a sigh of relief. We thought we'd gotten it taken care of before it was too late. HA! Those little springy bands have kept popping off! One here, two there, I flip the couch over, remove the dust lining and put them back, and then staple the dust lining back on.

Then Christmas came. Lots of people sat on that couch through out the holiday season and my papa occupied it for afternoon naps. I knelt on the couch one afternoon to look at something behind the Christmas tree and "SPROOIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGG!" Almost half of the springy bands popped off! Since Christmas we have avoided that couch. There are other chairs in the living room and I didn't want to think about it! But tonight, friends are coming over and there is not enough room for them all without that couch. So we flipped it over, removed the (now shredded...thank you, cat!) dust liner and surveyed the damage.

Things I noticed about a Rooms To Go Couch:
1. The entire thing is constructed of pressboard (plywood!)
2. There was not a single nail in the whole thing. Only Large Staples
3. Whoever put this thing together was going for odds. In other words, if I shoot enough staples in here, maybe some of them will come in contact with the two things I am attempting to connect. (This didn't happen often)
4. Springy Bands SUCK! They make this horrible noise unless they are coated in plastic this little plastic bit and guess what happens when they come unhooked? You got it! The plastic bit goes flying and becomes instant cat toy.
5. It is hard to fix something right when it hasn't been made right in the first place!!
6. All in all, RTG couch is crap. I hope it makes it a few more years and then will become a dog couch.

The Geek and I, after MUCH railing against RTG and the crappy construction of the couch, finally came up with a solution involving wood screws and washers...don't ask. But the odds of those bands popping loose again are pretty slim now, thanks to the DIH (Do it herself) musician!! The price was high though. I bruised my sternum leaning over the bottom of the couch while wrestling with springy bands, and a couple of times they got loose and cut my forearms. Not to mention whatever padding they had in there I must be allergic to because my arms were red and rash-y for a few hours.

Now if we can just keep the cat from hiding our socks and underwear in his secret cat nest inside the couch!

Snow - you are such a tease

Happy Valentines Day to all of you and for those of you who think Valentines Day sucks and one should be miserable and ignore the manufactured Greeting Card conspiracy to make everyone celebrate in the sappiest way possible, I'm sorry. Happy Day anyway. It takes a lot to be that miserable. I should know. I used to be in your camp. It gave me heartburn to be that full of angst, so I couldn't stay there. I tried. The whole bitter, angst-y artist thing doesn't work for me. My mama said it best..."Girl, you are a red rubber ball! Nothing keeps you down for long."

But I digress. This post is about snow...or lack there of in Nashvegas. I was office bound while all the lovely swirl was happening outside so didn't get any photos. The photos above are from a couple of people who managed to get pictures yesterday on Flickr. Just so you can see the pitifulness of it after a few hours. The dusting we got was beautiful and made a white world outside my window, but didn't hang around. I know, for those of you in the north who say "snow is the WORST! I can't wait for it to go away, all the sludge, wet, and mess...", let me just say this: I grew up in Texas. 'Nuf said. I am never, ever, ever, going to get sick of it. I'll always think it's beautiful, even if I AM cold and I wish it had stayed. So there.

My...wasn't that petulant.

Stay at home dog mom - strikes back!!

Still no job, but I can't say I'm sad. I spent most of yesterday in PJ's reconciling our bank statements and monitoring the dog, who, the night before last, threw up a plastic Kroger bag...I know...the life of luxury! Can't say that I miss filing or sorting paper clips or anything remotely like that. I am finishing Christmas cards, meeting a friend for lunch and in general, getting the home life back up and running. No word yet from my recruiter, but if I don't hear from him soon, I'll start looking for something to do with my time.

Lots of crazy life is coming down the pike. My parents might be coming for the holidays, and after 8 years of asking, nay, begging them to visit I have to say I am a smidge unprepared. I guess I never thought they'd actually come! Silly me. So now, we have 1 bed (ours), a couch that is not great for sleeping on, and have just abandoned the upstairs of our house in preparation for renovation. I guess we have to move things around again! Plus, it looks like we'll be eating Christmas dinner around the coffee table if I don't lay my hands on some cheap seating. Other than that, bring it on. We are going this weekend to the tree farm to cut a tree and have lots of fun with new friends. I am very excited about it!

As for being a stay at home dog mom, I have a Freckles on a mission. She has the trash buzz and we can't seem to barricade the garbage secure enough to keep her out of it. She breaks chain, bends steel...(just kidding about the steel part) It's like those bears that get hold of people food and the have to be re-located because there is no breaking them of it. No matter that it'll kill her, she doesn't care. So for now, she is restricted and I am off to home depot to get some stronger chain. (not to chain her up on BTW, just to chain the door shut so the cat can still get in, do his business and get out. And she CAN'T get in. That's the plan anyway.

Blog, I knew you were trouble!!

At the end of the day today, I got called into my super's ('MS' for short) office where I was informed that I was "not a good fit" for the office. I asked for a little clarification, "constructive feedback" I called it, and that's when MS mentioned my blog. Apparently while I was out sick yesterday, MS tracked down my blog somehow and read, not a few entries, but the entire thing. Years worth! While that did wonders for my blog rank, it also lead MS to believe that I'd been blogging on the company time. (untrue) MS also mentioned the photos of archaic computers I'd taken and said it was "not appreciated." They were 'large university type institution's' personal property (never mind that most of it's bound for the garbage). That's the first I heard of that being against policy. I sat through the hours of training for this job and never once did they mention anything like this.

While I sort of sat there in shock (and tears, yes, I'm very emotional), I felt as if my journal had been read. Not that all of you don't read this, but I invited you! I know you. If strangers read it, then fine, but they don't use it as 'evidence' against me. Now, several hours later, I've begun to discover what was really underlying my anger.

• Fear - it tops the charts. The Geek is being hired on to his new job and while great, there is this one little thing. The whole month of December that he will receive NO PAYCHECKS. We had been counting on my puny paycheck to tide us over. Perhaps we should count on something (or someone) bigger.
• Hurt - Here is this person whom I have continually worked so hard to be kind to, in spite of the fact that MS treated me as if I am 12, smacked me on the back of the head with either papers or hand so often that I had to actually ask them to stop. The same person who has watched me with a wary eye from the first week and 'jokingly' expressed a fear that I would take away their job. Now I am not being heard, I am not being understood, I am not being respected in ANY WAY. I am being falsely accused of things that are now costing me my job. When pressed, MS mentioned other things...not completing tasks fast enough (how fast do they want them?), having trouble staying focused(yes, I'm on meds for that), and a list of 'little' things that somehow never got mentioned along the way but also are contributing to my termination. I feel devalued. I worked my butt of doing the most menial crap!! Any human would have trouble staying on task. Yet, I came back, day after day and did it. I was honest and told my boss that I was struggling with that work and asked for something to break up the monotony. MS gave me More menial crap work and I did that additional in between the other menial crap. I said that this being my first foray out into Corporate America, which MS knew, I would have liked to know that I was actually doing something wrong so I could stop, change course, get better. "Nope," MS said. "You're just a temp." In other words, disposable, replaceable, not worthy of respect.
• Helplessness - nothing I said could change the mind of my boss. And believe me I rage against that feeling!
• Embarrassment - MS knows more about my life than I want them to. If I had wanted MS to read my blog, I'd have sent them the LINK!
  
• Sadness - because to lose a job, for me, is to fail. I hate to fail. I know it's not truth, but it's how I feel.
• Joy - I don't have to go back to this job!! EVAAAAR!!! Good-bye shredding and shredding and sorting and logging, (BUT NOT READING) and hauling files. Good-bye sorting through 12 banker boxes FULL of paper and recycling all the manila folders and PAPER CLIPS! Good-bye paper cuts. Good-bye being hovered over and questioned about being online when I'm at lunch. Good-bye stuffy unfriendly vibe of the office and 'calming' blue walls. Good-bye nervous and suspicious people. I don't have to be told I'm working TOO HARD or TOO FAST and then be fired over working TOO SLOW. Good-bye horrible cube and dreadful plastic plant. I shall not miss you. I will miss the people who were kind to me, who joked and tried to make me feel welcome in this uncomfortable place. Next time I'll listen when my gut tells me something is wrong and I'll say, 'this isn't a good fit,' BEFORE I get terminated.
  

It's been a rough/long day. I moved the blog to further aid our anonymity and my right to free speech, if you are wondering why the new address.

Hotmail, I think we should break up

I know that you and I have been together since I was 18, but things have changed. You were so young and cool then with your little red stamp! I remember it had an 'H' paving the way for the future. You were so cutting edge, so 'in the now'! You showed up, just when I needed you and you didn't bring your baggage into the relationship. Granted, I had to choose this totally weird name to be with you, but it was worth it then. I mean, the other option was my University's crap email system called PINE. Which some idiot hacked and spammed the life out of everyone, making it unusable. Yes, even in 1996. I know. It was was a sign of things to come.

Oh the innocence of you. What we had was so sweet. No MSN or crazy microsoft gradoo hanging around. It was just the two of us. I loved you hotmail! Little did I know, not long after we met, you began your sordid little affair with Bill and all his money!! I'll never understand your relationship with him. He's such a NERD!! I guess money can make you turn a blind eye when you are in bed with a geek. But even your secret big bad sugar daddy forgot to pay the light bill and where were we Christmas day, 1999? IN THE DARK!! Even I know not to trust a sugar daddy.

Your attempts to change for the better never worked. You said you installed a security system, but your "security system" was really your idiot friends standing guard at our front door, shoving everyone I know and love aside and making them wait in the yard. I had to go outside and and escort them in myself!! Even if I took the time to point out my friends to your guards and say, "Let this one come see me. Remember, she has on a green shirt and jeans and her name is Julie"...well, then every moron who showed up in a green shirt and jeans your idiot guards just let in the door, but still stuck Julie out in the yard, waiting. Forever. Until she went away after 5 days. It was rough, but we got through it. "At least," I thought, "he's trying!"

You went and got help. Tried to grow with the times and the next thing I know, you are coming home in flashy silk suits with a stray blond hair stuck to the lapel. You fixed your teeth, dyed your hair, went on a diet and I never saw it coming. Ok, that's not true. I had a small clue when I saw the icon of things to come. I just didn't think that she'd show up and shove me out the door! Hotmail, if I had wanted your stepbrother Outlook, I could be wit HIM. But the truth is, I didn't want him. I wanted you.

So I guess people change, they grow apart, they create mergers that the other partner isn't happy about. I put up with the MSN thing and the teasing about your name and how hotmail could be 'hot male'. I was FAITHFUL Hotmail! Why Hotmail!? All my friends left. They got gmail or yahoo or other cool new endtags to their emails, but not me. I stuck around. And this is the thanks I get in return?

Fine, be 'live', be 'cool', get that windows logo tatooed to your butt! You can have all the younger crowd swarming around you, but they will never love you like I did. This generation is fickle. You are always going to have to dye your hair that color. They'll never let you grow old gracefully. Someday, when you are tired and aching with the gadgets that load you down, you are going to look back and ask yourself, "Why did I ever let her go? She loved me for who I was!" but by then, google and I will have settled down, raised a family and I will have forgotten about our life together...almost.

Then again...

Apparently writing in Spanish jumps you up a grade...

Man...

WHY?!! WHY?!! I iz smart too!
Well as a side note, I hear that newspapers are written at a 6th grade reading level, so at least I am accessible.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it's because I purposefully misspell things to make a point or to write kitty pidgin.
Por Ejemplo: This is s n f! (which it is not) OMG Mom! It's NBD. (and that's what I have to tell myself.
Yup. That's it.

Nashville...but not

Fox had a new show on called Nashville and this weekend, just for kicks, I watched it online. The result was like walking around downtown stoned out of my head! There were all the familiar things about my town put up with all this plastic people and strangeness! What's that show...The Hills on MTV! That's what it reminds me of!! A faux reality TV show!! All this crazy manufactured drama with the HUGEST HAIR I have seen since I moved here from Texas. All the girls on that show, even the "extras" are blond with huge white teeth. They must have gone and culled Graham Central Station on a Saturday night! I was waiting for Fido and other cool places to show up on the screen, but alas, they stuck to the stereotypical places. Key locations I saw were been Loser's (which I've never heard of), the walking bridge, Tootsie's, and lots of drive-bys of downtown, also this apartment complex I have walked by a zillion times on Belmont Blvd! Surreal. About halfway through the first episode, I was thinking "I'm sure how I feel about havin' my town bastardized in this way."

It's a good thing I don't have to wonder about those feelings any more since the show has been taken off the air. I did a little boogie dance when I read those words in the forums. I began reading them when I realized there were only 2 episodes and at this point in the season there should be more posted.

So Nashville's rep was saved by low ratings!

OMG technology!

work, originally uploaded by Ariana in Nashville.

The days are getting colder. It was quite chilly standing at the bus stop today. I was glad for my 2 fleeces and gloves and a hat I made. Once I was actually on the bus, I melted like ice-cream in hell, but that is beside the point. The one great thing about Matt when he sleeps is that his body temp must rise to 104 or something, because it's like having a great, hairy water bottle next to me. I loves to snuggle up in the nites... Plus I can never extol the virtues of the goose down duvet (we don't need no stinking sheets) enough. Perfect for all seasons! Bus activities today included: working on my new knitted Tam. I made one in blue, but it turned out too big and not deep enough. It doesn't stay on! So its back to the drawing board, or needles or scrap paper...whatever it is I use to make up and edit new patterns! I digress.

Anyhoo, back to my post. So my new temp assignment has been, erm, strange, to say the least. Yesterday I sorted and inventoried old electronic equipment, including this:

Thinkpad 300 - with sticky stuff...ick.
Originally uploaded by Ariana in Nashville



and This:

Toshiba Satellite Pro 425CDT-yeah baby!
Originally uploaded by Ariana in Nashville



which as you can see, don't so much resemble laptops as BRICKS!! If not bricks they are of "lappy" fame.



Quite the education. Then I spent the next 4 hours trying to break into a passworded computer, Brand name: Kaypro. Have you ever heard of a Kaypro? I had not. "Large University-Type Institution" must have gotten them on DEEP discount.
So hacking the Windows XP was not so fun, but v. challenging and I beat it!! I was so proud of me. I iz smart too! The reason why I cannot post pics at work is because of the EXTREME oldness of my work computer. Ok, I am being a little harsh. But when the front of my "large Nashville based distributor of computers" Brand computer has 2 USB ports on it, but the 'puter doesn't supply enough power to those ports to run a 256MB FLASH DRIVE, we are verging on obsolete, in my opinion. I miss my old assignment technology. At least there I had a lappy that could run a flash drive, could port in an external hard drive, had a place to insert my wee SD card to upload photos while on "Large University-Type Institution" time (JK if you are watching...I was on a break! Really!)

I can't be Stuck!

As much as I would like to be in Texas right now, I am sitting in Lexington, TN with my little orange VW bug. I was so proud to finally own the car of my dreams, but here I sit with the cold (hot actually, that's why we're like this) hard facts. My bug can't hack road trips any more. We have to get hauled back to Nashville. Little Naartjie got overheated and began to ruin her own engine! So it's a rebuild for us. In the mean time, I am bummed that I can't do my road trip. It was going to be Longview, Austin, Longview, Houston, Dallas and home. The whirlwind tour. I have a niece to meet and family to see. I can't be stuck!!!

Labor Day and Ernesto to boot!

Well, another year off to Southport, NC and now it's home again, home again jiggity jog. We flew into the airport at Raleigh and had to wait 3 hours for my bag to get off the plane. Matt carried on and he had his with him. There was supposedly lightning on the tarmac and they wouldn't let anyone out there to take the luggage off. Then it rained for the next 2 days and the power went out! Good thing it didn't last all the time we were there. Ernesto blew through and left the next day a bright and sunny but with wild waves. We rented mopeds for the day and drove all over Oak Island, but swimming was not an option unless we wanted to find ourselves halfway out to England. The next day we rented the mopeds again and had a grand swim in the ocean. It was lovely. Matt's dad and step-mom put us up at their lake house and we played board games every night and watched movies. Anyway, it's home again for us and to our surprise we found that it had turned Autumn while we were gone! It's been lovely ever since.

Be vewy, vewy quiet. We is hunting houses.

It's either feast or famine with these posts, right? Matt and I are looking for a house to buy here in Nashville and it has not been going as well as we would hope. There are lots of homes for sale, but not many in our price range and not many that our bank will approve because of the type of loan we are applying for (mostly because we don't have a huge down payment) It's hard to leave it in God's hands when we are so very eager, but it'll work out as it should. For now, I want to let you know that we are moving our photos to Flickr.com very soon and I find it to be so much easier than creating photo albums and then publishing them on our site. It's so organized and fun! Look for the change over soon.