Funky Butt

HGTV - update

2008-06-09T08:19:00.001-07:00

Our epsiode of "My House is Worth What?" will be on HGTV this week! June 10 at 11pm and June 11 at 3am. There's another showing in August at 7pm, but I don't remember the date. Try not to laugh at us too much - I'm sure we look like total dorks!

Knitting pt 2

2008-02-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here are other knitting projects.

This is my 3rd project - a baby blanket made with a "pound of love" yard in denim for Joshua. I thought I was being smooth by making it bigger, but I didn't do it correctly and now there's a large border on one end. :) The edges are all knit rows and the checker board is alternating knit and perl.

Another blanket for Joshua - it's made with denim "pound of love" yarn. It was knit on the diagonal (all knits no perl) with a yard over around the edge to create a bit of a border (that you can't see in this photo).

A snake for Kaitlyn's 3rd birthday. It was surprisingly easy to make. The stripes are all 10 rows of stockingnet stitch. The head used increases I had never tried, and the tail used regular K2tog decreases. The tongue and eyes are stiff felt.

I had a lot of yarn left over so I made a snake for Sydney (Gary's sister's daughter). It's a little different than the one I made for Kaitlyn since the multicolored yarn was used in between each color.

Goodbye Seattle

2008-01-23T09:48:00.001-08:00

It's official, and things are moving faster than we thought possible! Gary & I had been thinking of moving back to the South to be closer to family, so we spent the past few months packing, staging the house, and getting a bit organized. We thought it would take several months to sell the house b/c, well, who hasn't heard about the horrible housing market?! We were even excited to be on HGTV's "My House is Worth What?" because they were going to have a stager come by and give us lots of helpful hints (which we barely used, btw).

Well, all that worry - for nothing!! We listed the house on Friday, and 3 freakin' days later we have an offer..... for $5,000 more than our asking price!!! Today is the inspection and if everything goes well, closing will be at the end of February. I have to work a few days into March, but after that, we'll be driving back across the country to Durham, NC. Hopefully we don't hit snow storms like we did moving here.

I'm seriously bummed to be leaving such a wonderful, beautiful city, but after the past 2 craptastic years, and 4 neices & nephews later, I really just want to be able to see my family more than once a year. I'll miss all of my wonderful Seattle friends, and maybe one day you'll be interested in visiting us on the other side of the country (Eastern Bal Champs, anyone?!). Please keep in touch.

HGTV

2007-12-07T14:39:00.001-08:00

A few months ago, I was randomly looking on the HGTV site to see if they were filming any shows in Seattle. We applied for the only show available, and found out yesterday that we've been accepted!!

The crew will be at our house mid-January taping a segment for My House is Worth What?, but I'll have to let you guys know later when it will actually air.

Knitting

2007-09-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

About 10 years ago, I started cross-stitching so I could do something productive while watching TV. It also helped me keep my hands busy instead of snacking while sitting in front of the boob tube. Over the years, I have made some rather elaborate gifts, which mostly ended up on my mom's walls. I ran out of projects to give away, so I started cross-stitching baby items (blankets, bibs, etc).

Recently, I decided that cross-stitched gifts were too cheesy, so I'm learning to knit instead. My first class, at Pacific Fabrics, was disappointing. It was 6 hours long (3 nights, 2 hours each) and by the end I didn't feel I could make anything by looking at a pattern. The only thing I had to show for my time was a sample knit that I used to practice.

My second class was at Jo Ann Fabrics and we worked on a simple purse. I didn't have any idea what I was doing, so I ended up using all the yarn. What I didn't realize was that I needed to save some at the beginning and end to "sew" the purse together. The teacher found yard that was the closest to my color she could find, which was brown instead of grey. Overall, I think it looks pretty good since it's my first project!

For my second project, I wanted to make something easy, but incorporate something I haven't tried yet. I decided to make a Gryffindor scarf for my niece's christmas present. She's only 2-1/2 and prolly won't "get it", but Tony & Lisa will think it's hilarious!

I didn't do a *great* job on the scarf. I started out with 22 stitches on the row, and ended up with 25! About 3/4 thru the scarf, I thought I had dropped several stitches, so I tried to pick them back up. Apparently, I didn't drop them since I added to the original number, but I have *no* idea what happened. I should've just pulled the whole thing out since it was just one color block instead of making the rest of the scarf fatter. Oh well. It's only my second project, so I'm living & learning.

Here's a close-up of my mistakes.

Now I'm working on a baby blanket for Tony & Lisa's new one (Joshua is due in December). It's alternating knit and purl stitches so that it makes a checkerboard pattern. In November, I'll be taking another class - this one is making socks!

Good thoughts for Mr. B

2007-07-30T08:59:00.001-07:00

Please send Bingham (our dog) good thoughts! We're not sure what's wrong with him, but he's been in "Doggie ICU" since Friday. Apparently, his body is destroying his red blood cells and he's already had 2 blood transfusions. Hopefully, they'll be able to figure out what's wrong. :(

conservative assholes!

2007-04-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Court Uphold Nationwide Ban of Partial-Birth Abortions
Abortion-Rights Advocates Worry Decision Could Signal Shift in Court's Support of Roe

only 1.5% of abortions are done after 20 weeks. i'm guessing a large majority of those are due to medical reasons, and not just that the life of the mother is in danger. what's sad is that the new law really seems to be targeting the group of women that are in the position gary & i found ourselves in last summer. :(

rueda, big hair, and cleavage

2007-04-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of me dancing in Atlanta with the salsa rueda group at GA Tech in Aug 2000. I've learned since then that my legs would look better in heels rather than wedgies, but I think we all look pretty good. :)

marathon man

2007-03-29T09:36:00.001-07:00

a few years ago, i was thinking of something i'd like to do before i die. not just places to visit - but something that would seem out of character for me but would be something to really strive towards. for some reason, running a marathon popped into my head. gary & i had a good laugh about it at the time.

well, i've thought about it a few more times over the years until recently when a friend of mine sent a link to "from couch potato to 5K in 2 months" and asked if i was interested. I WAS! :)

so far, it's been 1 week (been 3 times) and it's not *as* hard as i thought it would be. it's certainly not easy to motivate myself to do it on my own, but it really makes a difference when you make plans to meet someone else at the track. something else that makes it easier for me is not having to watch the clock. if it were up to me, i think watching those seconds tick by SO SLOWLY would drive me crazy. since my friend, kathy, watches the clock, all i have to do is get lost in the conversation. she starts school again next week, but i'm hopeful that she'll still have time to train with me.

YEE HAW!

2007-03-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

We just got some great news! The latest CT scan showed that the mass in my chest (we've named it "Tubie") hasn't changed so they've given us the ok to try to get pregnant again. I'll have to keep an eye on it for a while still (CT scans every 6 months as long as I'm not pregnant), but they think the mass is benign and that I'm ok with leaving it in for now.

I'm sure you'll understand if I don't announce when we're pregnant again since we're a bit leery after last summer's pregnancy. You'll know everything worked out well when you see a cute baby photo next year. Of course, if you're local, it'll be obvious in 8 months. :)

Thanks to everyone for your emotional support this past year - it's definitely not been one of my bests. However, I'm hoping that 2007 & 2008 are *much* better. :D

YAY!

2007-02-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

i just got a call from my dr. and the MRA results show that everything's ok and looks normal! :D

now i can just concentrate on making this year's northwest balboa fest fun for all the attendees!

well, after NWBF i have to worry about the next CT scan in march to see about "tubie", but i'm going to think positively that everything will be fine and we can try to get pregnant again this summer.

nope, just think.... "one day at a time". it worked for schneider, right? ;)

spoke too soon

2007-01-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

Apparently, the results from the MRA were "inconclusive" so I have to do the whole freakin' thing over again next week. >:(

wish for 2007 - that all this medical crap will end soon so i can just get on with my life (try for another pregnancy) instead of mentally living from one medical test to another.

claustrophobic?

2007-01-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

i'm not really sure if i'm claustrophobic. i have my moments of brief panic during random times, but nothing that i would think of as "claustrophobic". since i wasn't sure, i was really dreading having to get an MRA (similar to an MRI, but with an extra piece of equipment over my neck and lower part of my face). however, it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. the stuff they injected for contrast was definitely the worst part since i hate needles (and my vein spurted when she poked me!).

if you ever have to get an MRI, i highly suggest putting a washcloth over your eyes or wearing a sleep mask. it was great b/c i couldn't see how closed in everything was. there was one brief moment of panic when i had to stratch my nose and i realized where the extra piece was located, but i just closed my eyes and thought of something else.

i was in the contraption for about 45 minutes, and it's LOUD! it sounded like bagpipes, windshield wiper, jackhammer, and a swing set. visualization of each really helped to make the time go by since it's not easy being still for 7 minutes at a time.

the injection stuff was weird. i could feel it moving from one arm, thru another and i could even tell when i got to my head b/c i had a weird taste in my mouth. not the most pleasant feeling, but luckily it didn't last too long.

i should have the MRA results at the end of the month. i don't think anything bad is coming back this time, but we'll see. i must say, it's really fucked up to think that there are all the possible problems and yet i still feel perfectly fine. i wish i hadn't gone to the dr to ask about the neck pulsation since i could've been blissfully ignorant and pregnant again by now. *shrug*

getting to know friends (christmas edition)

2006-12-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
mostly wrapping paper, but i'll gift bag it if it's an odd sized present

2. Real tree or artificial?
usually artificial, but gary wants a real tree this year. we'll be cutting one down this weekend.

3. When do you put up the tree?
usually the weekend after thanksgiving, but we're waiting this year b/c we don't want the live tree to dry out too early.

4. When do you take the tree down?
usually around the 5th of january - it's a tradition from when i was a kid b/c that's supposedly when the wise men finally arrived in bethlahem.

5. Do you like eggnog?
i don't think i've ever tried it, but it sounds gross.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
the barbie town house and the barbie purple corvette

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
nope, but i have a christmas village we just found at a thrift store. funny nativity story: my mom gave me all her nativity people and i've been carrying them around for a while. this summer, i was going thru the box and found that the baby jesus was actually this weird looking ceremic thing that my mom made. i wanted to throw it away b/c it didn't match (and frankly, creeped me out!), but i couldn't bring myself to throw away baby jesus. so i made gary do the deed!

8. Hardest person to buy for?
my dad - i can never think of anything he'd like/need other than paperback books and shirts.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
gary - he always makes a list

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
i don't think any gift is really *bad*, but there was a running joke when i was a kid about always getting "mutandi" (underwear) and socks.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
i always mail out cards, but it always stresses me out b/c it's such huge task!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
national lampoon's christmas vacation

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
sometime after thanksgiving

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
remember those paperbacks i mentioned above....

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
brownies & cookies

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
for a long time it was small clear lights, but for the past few years we've used large blue & white lights. this year we're using large multi-colored lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
"carol of the bells" and a few of the "nutcracker" pieces

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
this year we're staying home. hard to travel much when family is 3,000 miles away.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?
i can if i sing the song

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
not sure what we have, but i may be a star or it may be some sort of retro topper

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
open on christmas morning. a tradition in my family (that may be adopted once we have kids) was to open one on christmas eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
too much traffic on the roads and in the stores

23. When do you start playing Christmas music?
i usually start listening to music after thanksgiving

24. What is your favorite gift you have received as an adult?
being able to see family last year for christmas.

25. What is the favorite gift you have GIVEN as an adult?
i don't know if i have a favorite, but i'm happy to surprise gary his year with something that isn't on his list, but i know he would want.

waiting...

2006-11-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

gary & i just got back from atlanta where we got to hang out with family and play with my 21 month old niece. before we left, i got a call from my dr and the surgeon.

my dr was still concerned about my high calcium levels, so i had to have more tests. (i think i calculated that i've given around 10 vials of blood in 3 weeks!) all of those tests came back ok and luckily, my calcium levels have dropped back to normal. i have to go back in 3-4 months to have the levels checked again to make sure everything's ok.

the surgeon said that he talked to a radiologist, and she agreed that the chest mass doesn't look like cancer. she's also not sure what it is - could be a swollen thymus - but it doesn't look serious at this time. the surgeon suggested that we wait until march to do another ct scan to see if the mass changes. if so, it'll need to come out. if not, then we can try to get pregnant again. i wanted to make sure that this really is the course to take (don't want to wait if it's something that should come out now) so the surgeon is going to get more opinions and call me back next week.

more treats than tricks!

2006-10-31T16:52:00.000-08:00

i had my consultation this morning with the thorasic surgeon and the good news is that he doesn't think it's cancer! he's not sure *what* it is, but it doesn't look or act like cancer. at this point, he's going to take my scan and show other specialists to get their opinion and call me back in 2 weeks.

turns out that it's not a mass on my lung - it's actually between the top of my lungs that's near the thymus area behind my heart (which is one of the reasons the radiologist suggested it could be thymoma or lymphoma).

so now i'm waiting to hear whether they think we should have a biopsy (and possibly surgically remove it) or just constantly monitor it for any changes (which means pregnancies will have to be on hold ). i'm certainly disappointed we can't try to get pregnant again (since i'm not getting any younger!), but i'm more glad that it's not cancer and i'll be around to try later.

with all the bad news lately - 2007 better rock nuts!!

still waiting

2006-10-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

i'm still waiting for answers about what's really going on with the lung mass. i learned after waiting for the amnio results last time that the waiting is definitely one of the hardest parts for possible bad news. at least if i knew for sure - yes i have cancer - i could be strong, deal, and move on. but just waiting around for little tidbits of information tends to make me obsessive about it all.

i'm going to try to take my own advice and just not think about it. i have a consultation with a thorasic surgeon next week (on halloween!) and i'll hopefully know more then.

ct scan update

2006-10-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

i had the ct scan yesterday and it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be since i didn't have to get the iodine injection. unfortunately, the results weren't good news. the spot the dr originally noticed wasn't anything, but the ct scan showed another spot near my heart that could be something more sinister. i'll be talking with a specialist soon for them to determine if i have to go in for a biopsy of the mass in my lung or if i can have other non-invasive tests done to determine what the mass is.

think good thoughts for me!

if it's not one thing, it's another!

2006-10-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

around 3 months into the pregnancy, i started hearing / feeling my pulse in my left ear / neck. it was so loud at times that i thought others could hear it. i didn't think anything of it since there's a lot of blood pumping thru my veins for the baby. after the termination, i thought it would go away, but it hasn't, and of course every time i hear it, it reminds me of the pregnancy.

i finally went to see the dr on tuesday (2-1/2 months after the end of the pregnancy) and she said everything seemed fine. i had an EKG (b/c i had a few palpitations during the first 2 months of the pregnancy) and it was ok. unfortunately, the x-ray showed a spot on my right lung. i'm trying not to freak out by telling myself it could be scar tissue from when i had the mother of all coughs 2 years ago when i had bronchitus, but it could be a blockage that's related to the neck pulse thing, or it could be something more dreadful.

i have an appt for a cat scan in 1-1/2 weeks. i'll just have to try to not think about it so much until i get the final results.

it's been 3 years!

2006-10-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

that's right - i'll have been mrs. miller for 3 years tomorrow! it seems like a lifetime, too. gary & i started dating in october 2000 - our first real kiss was after watching the halloween episode of "buffy the vampire slayer" in a friend's parking lot. things were rocky for a while (even breaking up twice along the way), but these last 3 years have been the happiest of my life. to share so many ups & downs with your best friend is something i would never trade.

we've done so much in those 3 years:
* we got married on oct 4, 2003
* honeymooned in niagara falls
* quit our jobs in december 2003 and drove across country to seattle (i think we got here january 2, 2004)
* gary found a job in march 2004, then another in december 2004
* my job history is a little longer - got a temp job in march 2004, found a permanent job in may 2004, got a new job in april 2006, but i'm leaving it to start another in 2 weeks
* bought our house in may 2004
* had our first pregnancy from march-july 2006

i think all of these are on lists that cause the most stress in a marriage. however, the odd thing is that i think it really just made us stronger along the way.

so, gary, if you're reading this - i love you, hon!

politics hitting close to home

2006-10-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

when we were dealing with the termination of the pregnancy, i was (understandably) wrapped up in what was going on personally instead of thinking of outside factors. i still have a hard time dealing with the grief occasionally, and i find that i still read stories about others that have gone thru the same thing to help me move past this and look forward to the next pregnancy. i read a pretty powerful article today that reminded me of the horrible politics of what women like me have to go thru every day. the writer also terminated due to a poor prenatal diagnosis, but brought to light how scary it would be to be in our situation if the closed-minded politicians had their way and banned abortion - even for medical reasons.

"Now, it's like the Stone Age, it's like a Muslim country here," says the doctor who performed my procedure. "This is the most backward law, it is not for a civilized country. If this was Iran, Iraq, I wouldn't be surprised. But to pass this law in the United States, what is this government doing?"

there were a few quotes from the article that reflects exactly how i've felt over these past few months:

I don't remember much from those three days. Walking around with a belly full of broken dreams, it felt like what I would imagine drowning feels like -- flailing and suffocating and desperate. Semiconscious. Surrounded by our family, I found myself tortured by our decision, asking over and over, are we doing the right thing? That was the hardest part. Even though I finally understood that pregnancy wasn't a Gerber commercial, that bringing forth life was intimately wrapped up in death -- what with miscarriage and stillbirth -- this was actually a choice. Everyone said, of course it's the right thing to do -- even my Catholic father and my Republican father-in-law, neither of whom was ever "pro-choice." Because suddenly, for them, it wasn't about religious doctrine or political platforms. It was personal -- their son, their daughter, their grandchild. It was flesh and blood, as opposed to abstract ideology, and that changed everything.

For months, I hid from the world, avoiding social outings and weddings. I just couldn't bear well-meaning friends saying, "I'm so sorry." So I quarantined myself, and would try to go about my day -- but then, bam, heartbreak would come screaming out of the shadows, blindsiding me and leaving me crumpled on the floor of our house. It wasn't that I was questioning our decision. I knew we did it out of love, out of all the feeling in the world. But I still hated it. Hated it.

read the article

end of phase 1

2006-09-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

phase 1 of the fat smash diet has finally ended! it was a difficult 9 days, but i feel 10x better than i usually do. i weighed myself this morning and i've lost 6 pounds. i'm sure i would've lost more if i had excercised more than 5 out of 9 days.

phase 2 will last for 3 weeks and luckily i have a lot more options with my food. i'm happy b/c gary said he'd try to do phase 2 with me!

fat smash

2006-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

when i was pregnant, i had only gained 4 pounds during the 5 months. unfortunately, b/c i'm so out of shape, each pound felt like i had added 10. since i have a few months before we can start trying again, i've decided to do something about it.

yesterday was Day 1 of Phase 1 of the fat smash diet. fat smash is a 90 day program created by dr. ian - the nutritionalist on VH1's "celebrity fit club". luckily, phase 1 ("detox") only lasts 9 days b/c it's basically eating nothing but fruit & veggies (except potatoes) and 2 cups of brown rice and 1 cup of plain oatmeal a day.

part-way into day 2 and i'm freakin' hungry! but you know, not really hungry so that my stomach is growling, just hungry b/c i'm not stuffed to the gills like i am usually. the hardest part is going to be breaking thru the mental part of eating for comfort.

there was a saying i heard a while back that i keep telling myself. "you should eat to live, not live to eat."

i just wish a few more staches were allowed b/c i just don't feel satisfied on fruits & veggies alone. maybe i'll just have to fill up on sweet potato fries. :)

i took beginning measurements and photos, so we'll see how i do along the way.

high school? what was that?

2006-08-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be.

1. Who were your best friends?
jeanette & beth

2.What sports did u play?
no sports

3. What kind of car did you drive?
green toyota corolla (can't remember the year)

4. It's Friday night, where were you?
can't remember - prolly hanging out with jeanette and/or beth

5. Were you a party animal?
hardly! but i remember getting busted on video drinking rum & coke by my dad.

6. Were you considered a flirt?
hahahahahahahaha

7. Ever skip school?
nope, i was too goody-goody.

8. Were you a nerd?
oh yeah, i was. but i wouldn't have considered myself a nerd at the time.

9. What was in your locker?
books, letters from jeanette, prolly duran duran photos

10. Did you get suspended/expelled?
nope

11. Can you sing the fight song?
i don't remember the "fight song" unless it was "dixie".

12. Who was your favorite teacher?
i barely remember my teachers. i guess i liked mrs. jascula (calculus) and mr. warnock was a dork, but i liked band.

14. What was your school's full name?
warner robins high school

15. School mascot?
the demons!

16. Did you go to the Prom?
yeah, i was kinda pathetic. i asked about 7 guys before a guy from northside agreed to go with me. i can't remember his name, sean? i remember the week of the prom, he got into an arguement with his northside girlfriend (we were in communications class together). she didn't want him to go to the prom with me, but i pretended that i didn't hear what they were fighting about. later, he asked if he could cancel and i said "no" b/c i didn't have anyone else to ask. i remember the girl was a real snooty bitch, but sean? was nice enough to take me anyway. i don't remember a thing about the prom except that my high heels were really hurting my feet and i ended up dancing with a group in the middle of the dance floor.

17. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
i would, but only steer myself in a different path for my future. maybe have the nuts to ask guys out i liked instead of mooning over them until they thought i was a stalker. :)

18. What do you remember most about graduation?
all i really remember is that while someone was giving their speech, a dog ran all the way across the field, up to the podium, and then pissed in the potted plant. we all laughed but the speaker never knew what was so funny.

19. Favorite memory of your senior year?
going skinny dipping and streaking around the neighborhood with jeanette & beth. especially fun was a few weeks before i left for college - we snuck out wearing nothing but towels and went to visit a guy (corey) that i was dating. on the way home (4am) we saw a cop car make a u-turn and follow us for a long time. we were so scared the cop would pull us over and we'd have to get out of the car wearing only a towel. my mom was waiting up for me and tried to punish me by taking away my car priveledges, but i didn't care b/c i was going to college soon and she had to drive me to work!

20. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall?
we didn't have a senior wall.

21. Did you have a job your senior year?
yup, worked at the krystal's near my house and wore the lovely brown & orange polyester uniform.

22. Where did you go most often for lunch?
lunch in the cafeteria. i would share cheese on wheat crackers and salad with jeanette. i tried cheese on wheats recently and they're not as good as i remember.

23. Have you gained weight since then?
unfortunately, yes.

24. What did you do after graduation?
went to columbus college (columbus, ga) for 2 years then graduated from university of georgia (athens, ga) in 1992.

25. Where have you lived since high school?
columbus, ga
athens, ga
satellite beach, fl
warner robins, ga
marietta, ga
atlanta, ga
edmonds, wa

26. Where are most of your classmates?
i have no idea. i've only kept in touch with beth, jeanette, jason joines, brian frey, and recently connected with toby.

27. Are you going to your ten year reunion?
already attended

28. Who was your home room teacher?
mrs. jaskula

29. Who will repost this after you?
maybe jeanette if she has time.

superhero

2006-07-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

has anyone seen the new reality show on sci-fi channel called, "who wants to be a superhero"? i'd never heard of it (mainly b/c i never watch sci-fi), but it was mentioned on this week's "best week ever" on VH1. the show is really cracking us up, but our absolute favorite character is Major Victory. the guy is a freakin' hoot!

finally, some good news

2006-07-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

i got a call from the genetic counselor on friday about the blood tests gary & i took and down's is NOT genetic in either of us! we're so happy! unfortunately, the case with the shrimp seemed like it was a pretty rare occurance (where are those odds when we play the lottery?!), but it's great to know that the likelyhood of it happening again is going to be the same as anyone else my age (1 in 216 at the age of 36).

we're going to wait a while to try again to give my body time to re-adjust back to normal, but we're definitely looking forward to trying again.

[my mood is listed as "sore" b/c we spent all weekend tearing up carpet and putting down foam in preparation for the laminante flooring. hopefully it'll all be done by the end of next weekend b/c it sucks sleeping in a queen sized bed when you're used to a king!]

when it rains......

2006-07-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

... it definitely pours!

we've been having trouble with a clog in our plumbing. when we turn on the upstairs garbage disposal or run a load of laundry, the gross stuff comes up thru the downstairs shower drain. usually gary would clean it up, we'd say we should call roto-rooter, and then we'd forget about it. well, a couple of weeks ago, i ran a load of laundry, went upstairs and then forgot about it until later. i came downstairs and found that the bathroom and about 2 feet of carpet surrounding the bathroom was totally flooded - with all that gross junk from the pipes! the water from the bathroom was cleaned up, and gary rented a rug doctor to suck the extra water from the carpet. roto-rooter came out the next day, said it was a bad clog, and things have been running fine since then.

last week, we started noticing a strong musty smell in the downstairs. we'd been talking about renting the rug doctor again and giving it a really good cleaning since it was dirty anyway from us walking on it and bingham's random pee spots. last saturday, gary cleaned the rug, and by sunday afternoon we noticed a really gross rotten food smell. it wasn't until then that we realized that there's prolly gross gunk and mold under the carpets, and probably in the walls surrounding the bathroom b/c of the flood. ugh!

so, we're meeting with the insurance guy today to determine if there's mold in the walls. if so, we'll prolly file a claim and have them pay for the wall repairs and carpet replacement. well, we've decided to put wood or laminant floors down instead of carpet (easier to replace a few boards instead of the entire carpet if it happens again). if it's determined that the walls are ok, we'll just eat the cost and replace the carpets ourselves. it wouldn't be worth making the claim for a few extra hundred bucks since we'd then be "on probation" for 3 years.

final update

2006-07-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

thanks to everyone for their support. it's been (and will be) rather difficult, but the doctor confirmed friday morning that the baby had down's.

i'm feeling ok - a little dizzy and of course not fully there, but everything seems to be going ok (no complications).

pregnancy update

2006-07-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

well, we finally got the results back today and it wasn't good - the baby has down's. gary & i have discussed it many times over the past few months and we both agree that we're going to terminate the pregnancy. we're waiting to hear about making an appt, but it looks like sometime next week. we're hoping that the reason for down's wasn't something genetic in either of us - that it was just a fluke.

thanks for everyone's support. it's been a real help to know that folks out there are thinking of us.

freaky fetal facts

2006-06-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

i receive email notices every week about my current pregnancy week (18 weeks). today's email had a couple of factoids that made me realize how amazing the whole process is.

* hair is beginning to sprout on his/her scalp.

* If you are having a baby girl, she already has 6 million eggs formed in her ovaries.

amnio

2006-06-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

thankfully i survived the scary appointment yesterday. we had another ultrasound where they checked for more markers of possible down's, another talk with the genetic counselor, and the amnio (). the ultrasound tech was able to measure everything they needed to (kidneys, spine, legs, arms) except for the heart, and everything was like it should be. the counselor said that if they were able to see the heart, they would've been able to drop our chances of down's to 1 in 10 (instead of 1 in 5). so, we're feeling pretty good about the baby being ok. we won't know for sure until the amnio results come back in 2 weeks.

the amnio was super scary! i ended up bringing a magazine in the room with me and holding it in front of my face so i wouldn't see anything. originally, i started watching the ultrasound (they want to make sure they don't poke the baby with the long ass needle), but once i saw the needle in i sort of freaked out and just stared at the ceiling over the rim of my glasses (so everything was blurry). the actual experience wasn't so bad - needle didn't really hurt when it went in, but it took a hellishly long time since they had to fill 4 vials with fluid. i think i started to panic around the 3rd vial - not b/c it hurt, just freaked me out b/c i imagined i could feel the fluid coming out. i think i felt worse coming out of the room than going in b/c my limbs felt weak and shaky (i was trying to avoid thinking about it ahead of time so i wouldn't panic as much in the room).

so, overall, i survived even though i still tear up when i think back on how creepy it all was. as gary says, we're not going to panic just yet about the possible results until the doctors give us something to worry about. we're pretty positive that the baby's going to be ok.

oh, and according to the ultrasound, they think it's a girl. :)

going in for more tests-

2006-06-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

genetic counseling is required for anyone who is over 35 and pregnant (at least thru my health care). so, back in may, we got an ultrasound, had genetic counseling, and had blood taken. about a week ago, i had to go in again for more blood tests. the lab compared the 2 samples to determine the likelyhood of the shrimp having down's.

i guess i was a bit naive, b/c i've been thinking everything was fine. b/c of my age (35), my regular chances of having a baby with down's is 1 in 275 (less than 1%). during the ultrasound, they measured the neck membrane and said that it was the right size, which dropped our chances even more (by 40%). so, basically, i had put it out of my mind for the last month - with no worries.

i got a call monday with the test results from the blood work. my odds have jumped to 1 in 5 (20%) of the baby having down's. of course, i was upset & in shock, but i knew we had to do what i've been dreading...... the amnio test. for those that don't know - amnio is when the doctor sticks a 7 inch needle into my belly to pull fluid directly from the uterus. since they're pulling the baby's actual dna, they can tell with more certainty if the baby has down's, spina bifida (i think), and other possible problems. they can also determine the sex of the baby. it'll take 2 weeks to get the results back. oddly enough, i think the wait's going to be hard, but not as terrifying as dreading the procedure itself!

wish us luck & think good thoughts!

looks like i'll be showing soon....

2006-06-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

this coming friday, i'll be 4 months pregnant. feels weird to think still since i'm not really showing yet. apparently, that will soon change!

"By the end of week 16, your baby is approximately 6 inches and weighs 2 ½ ounces. Your baby is preparing himself/herself for a growth spurt over the next several weeks. Your babys head is more erect now than it has been in the previous weeks of pregnancy. His/her ears and eyes are situated in their final positions. These three things are giving your baby a more normal appearance than he/she has had up to this point.

Several of the more complicated body systems are also beginning to function including your childs urinary and circulatory system. Your babys heart pumps around 25 quarts of blood per day. However, by week 40 this amount will increase to 1,900 quarts per day!"

i was having a really rough time for the week surrounding memorial day weekend. i felt really bad (headaches, restless legs & arms at night, stomach aches, etc). i finally called the nurse last week and since none of my symptoms were really high on the pain chart she said it was pretty normal. i was feeling better over the weekend, but still too tired to stay awake past 10:30pm.

this friday, we're taking off to interview day care centers. some of you may think it's still early since i won't be going back to work until around march, but some parents say that we've already waited to long b/c the waiting lists for good day cares are outrageously long. however, we'll be looking into some home care centers which don't seem to have such a long wait. also on friday, i'll be giving the second round of blood for the blood screen to test for down's. we should have the results sometime next week.

we saw it!

2006-05-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

we had a dr appt yesterday, and we were hoping to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. apparently, it was not to be. since the baby's still so small (about 3 inches) and my uterus is tilted back, my doctor was unable to locate it.

instead, she had us go to a different hospital (the place where i'll deliver the baby in november) to get an ultrasound. it's wasn't a panic thing - she just wanted to make sure that the baby's ok before our genetic counseling appt next week. so, no heartbeat - but we got to see the baby instead! BONUS! there's only 1 (whew!) and it has all it's limbs. at this point, that's all we can really tell (won't know the sex for another 2 months).

updates

2006-04-23T16:26:00.001-07:00

it's been a few weeks, so i thought i'd update folks on the pregnancy. things are still pretty much the same - nausea, tired, bloated, and hungry all day. today is 11 weeks - so only one more week until i'm in my second trimester. i'm hoping things calm down a little then, but i'm bracing myself for little change. it's very weird to feel like i've finally gotten a handle on something, then it all goes out of whack in one day.

i actually threw up on monday morning (that's the only time it's happened so far). i realized it was b/c i didn't have anything in my stomach. so now, when i get up in the middle of the night i have to make sure to eat a cracker or two and i eat a little bit again when i first wake up.

last monday i started taking pre-natal yoga since i'm feeling stiff and out of whack. i really don't get the appeal of yoga - at least not the people who are fanatics. i find it extremely boring and a little too hippy-dippy. so i'm just looking at it as an hour of stretching which is what i'll need down the road. maybe i should get a DVD to do at home - problem is that i tend not to do stuff at home when there's not a scheduled time outside the house. maybe i'll talk gary into doing it with me. :)

next week is our first exam - we may be able to hear the heartbeat then. the week after, may 17, we get our first ultrasound. i'm curious to know if there's just one shrimp in there or multiple! eep! i don't really think i'm having twins, but it is something i think about since i haven't seen in there yet. that's also the time where we'll get genetic counseling and the blood test to determine if the baby has a possibility of having down's. to all you ladies out there that want to have babies - do it before you're 35!! just kidding - but your chances do get higher when you turn 35. i think i read a book yesterday that said that under 35 - 1 out of 1,400 have down's. at 35, 1 out of 350, and by 40, 1 out of 100. i don't really feel like the shrimp isn't healthy, but it is a scary thing to think about until you know the results.

other than that, i started a new job 3 weeks ago. it's been weird adjusting to that and the pregnancy changes at the same time.

in my face!

2006-04-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

i've been sailing along my pregnancy for 9 weeks and i thought i had it good (except for constantly being tired and hungry). well, the party's over! i officially have morning sickness (well, not "officially"!) and it sucks! good thing today's sunday, but i can't imagine how i'm going to deal with feeling hungry and on the verge of throwing up at work all week! i'm hoping it's a weekend phase and i'll go back to "normal" tomorrow morning. if not, at least the first trimester is almost over.

i think i've been pretty good about my food intake. well, i haven't been super great, but my snacks are mostly healthy. as a matter of fact, i've lost a little weight (few pounds) and i wasn't able to exercise much this week. hopefully i'll be able to only gain the healthy range (20-30) by the time the "shrimp" comes in november.

my first outburst

2006-04-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

so, i finally had my first emotional outburst on tuesday night. it felt kinda weird to be out of control of my emotions, but i just wanted to roll with it since i knew it was eventually going to happen.

that night, we were preping the walls to paint the nursery. gary was on a step ladder taping the trim for the ceiling, and i was taping the window frame. he brought his arm down to get another piece of tape, but his elbow hit me right on the top of the head (where i had 2 bobby pins). it was like he was pulling some crazy wrestling move on me!

it really hurt a lot, but i knew it was an accident - no biggie. but as soon as i put down the tape, my eyes started watering and i had to leave the room to bawl my head off. i think i cried for about 10 minutes! gary, i think, was a little confused for a minute there - couldn't do anything but hug me while i cried. i finally pulled myself together and got ready for bed. about an hour later, i thought to myself how weird it was that i cried so hard over something like that, and how i felt like i had no control over it.

luckily gary waited until the next day to tell me that it hurt him enough that it bruised his elbow.

new addition

2006-03-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official. There's going to be a new Miller in the family! :) We found out Friday that we're pregnant, and it was confirmed by the nurse on Wednesday. Oddly enough, the due date is my own birthday, November 25. I feel bad for "Bud" having a Thanksgiving birthday, but hey, at least it's not a Christmas birthday!

It still doesn't feel real yet - no morning sickness, nothing really out of the ordinary yet. I did start to feel "swimmy" yesterday (a little dizzy headed), I'm occasionally very tired at random times, and I've been feeling pressure in my stomach at night (which keeps me awake until I go to the bathroom). But luckily, nothing bad.

Gary's been really sweet - he's definitely going to be hands on through this whole thing. Which of course makes me feel better about this important change in our lives!

2 things

2006-02-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

Two Names You Go By
1. Theresa
2. Beedie (by Gary)

Two Parts of Your Heritage
1. italian
2. austrian

Two Things That Scare You
1. flying
2. scary movies - especially the "pop 'n lock" special effect from "the ring"

Two of Your Everyday Essentials
1. moisturizer
2. glasses/contacts

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. wedding ring
2. black/grey/tan stripey socks

Two Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love)
1. laughter
2. trust

Two Physical Things that Appeal to You About the Opposite Sex
1. strong arms
2. nice legs

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. dancing balboa
2. crafts

Two Things You Want Really Badly
1. my family to live near us
2. my yard to magically clean itself

Two Places You Want to go on Vacation
1. castle tour of germany & austria
2. ireland/england

Two Things You Are Thinking About Now
1. how i'm floundering at work with no direction (that's why i've posted 3 blog entries today!)
2. chocolate

Two places where you like to shop:
1. michaels
2. book stores

Two favorite web sites
1. whiteheat.org forum
2. google mail

Two pets you had/have
1. bingham aka mr. b aka doug aka dougie fresh aka reefer
2. don't have another unless you count the slugs & spiders

Two Favorite Sports
1. nothing
2. nothing

Two things you did last nite
1. watched "the aristocrats"!
2. passed out early b/c i hadn't gotten much sleep from co-running balboa fest

Two shows you like to watch
1. buffy the vampire slayer
2. the simpsons

grey's anatomy - BOO!

2006-02-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

grey's anatomy had a slow start in the beginning, but the past few episodes have been really great - especially the 2 parter in february. but the end of sunday's episode pissed me off! the show had great potential - bringing the brad pitt look-alike into the mix, cristina & burke, etc. but the ending with george and meredith?! no freakin way! and i'm not just reacting in a "shut up! i didn't expect that" way - it's more of a "that's stupid, i don't want to watch anymore" kind of a way.

my husband usually doesn't care much about tv, but it was one of the first things we watched after dropping everyone off at the airport. we were both excited to see what would happen next. but as soon as meredith took of george's shirt, gary walked out of the room & didn't return. i wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't watch it again.

i'm in love!

2006-02-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

i totally feel like lorraine b/c i'm in love with a pair of dance shoes. heidi from cleveland wore them to balfest this past weekend and they're amazing! i wish i could justify spending the $200 on yet another pair of shoes that i can't try on in advance.

thanks everyone!

2006-02-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

holy crap - what an amazing weekend! luckily, i was able to dance quite a bit (since gary was doing most of the running around) and i just have to say.... I LOVE BALBOA! thanks to everyone who attended and helped out - we definitely couldn't have done it without you.

i can finally sleep now. :)

one more week!

2006-02-13T09:31:00.000-08:00

it's almost here - president's day weekend... which means NW BALBOA FEST! we're working on all the last minute details, and it's going to be lots of fun! i can't wait to dance with all those great leads and see my friends!

i just caught a freakin' cold from gary, but hopefully it'll be gone by then. at least it's not bronchitus like last year.

war of the worlds?

2006-02-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

on friday, i watched "war of the worlds" - the one with crazy tom cruise. that evening, around 5am, i woke up to the worst wind storm i've ever heard (other than when i was in a tornado). the power was out, my dog was freaking out, and frankly i was a little disoriented. i tried to go back to sleep, but gary & i started seeing brief flashes of light. i thought it might be lightning (which would be odd for seattle), but it didn't flicker like lightning.

gary got up to see what was going on and he said that the flashes of light were green! additionally, we heard a weird metallic sound we've never encountered in our neighborhood. since i was still sleep disoriented, i started thinking of "war of the worlds" and maybe this was it - the aliens were coming! it didn't freak me out, b/c really, all i wanted to do was go back to sleep. :) we never really figured out what it was, but we think it might've been the power company working on the lines.

WA-HOOO!

2006-01-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

we just got the results of bingham's toe amputation - seems it was a benign tumor and that the amutation got everything. no reason to expect a re-occurance, and he'll be fine!! :D

he got his stitches out on monday and he seems to be doing well. he walks normal for the most part. he only limps or holds it up when he's been walking or running on it a lot. i'm sure it'll take a while to get used to no longer having a toe on that paw.

baby on hold

2006-01-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

we were planning on trying to get pregnant this month, but as luck has it, i caught a really bad cold (?) dec 27 and i'm still sick a week later. of course, it's right during the time i would be ovulating. sheesh! well, that gives me one more month to get my act together - maybe lose some weight and try to eat better. i missed the cut off for yoga classes thru my city's rec center, but hopefully i'm motivated to use my treadmill more (once i'm not sick anymore - excuses, excuses!).

:(

2006-01-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

since november, our dog, bingham, has been limping - favoring his right front paw. turns out, it's not as simple as we hoped it would be.

dec 21 - he had an x-ray and the vet determined that the bone in one of his toes has disintergrated. they're not sure how it happened, but they said his toe needed to be amputated so they could run tests. it could be anything - an infection that caused the bone to disentegrate, a tumor, cancer, dunno.

dec 28 - his toe was amputated. the vet said he was in a lot of pain, so they gave him a higher dose of morphine. luckily, we arrived from florida in time to pick him up that evening. bingham didn't look like he was in much pain - just really doped up! the total bill was a bit over $1200. eep!

he's had a few bandage changes and we got to see his toe the last time we were there (jan 2). it looks like it's healing nicely. bingham doesn't seem to be in pain, but he does favor the foot (obviously). he's walking ok - and even ran some yesterday. i think the stitches can come out at this saturday's appointment.

we should know some time this week about the cause of the bone disentegration. *fingers crossed* that it's nothing more than a random infection. we would be crushed if bingham has cancer! :(

happy holidays!

2005-12-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

only 1-1/2 more days of work, then i'm off for 13 days!! woo hoo! gary & i will be flying to florida tomorrow night (11:30pm!) and we'll be there until next wednesday. it'll be really great to see family for the holidays and to play with the new babies. :) sucks that i only lost 5 pounds before seeing everyone, but they're family - they don't care what i look like. :P

awesomely bad luck!

2005-12-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

sheesh - the unexpected bills have been kicking our asses lately! here's what's happened so far:

we were putting out halloween lights and something caused all the lights outside to die. in my attempt to spot correct (since kids were going to be showing up any minute), i flipped all the breakers to see if one had tripped. nothing fixed the lights (we figured out the problem 2 weeks later), but i realized later that night that the computer had taken a surge and completely died! it was an old computer (1997), but we hadn't planned on replacing it so soon. we bought a new one from dell for $800.
gary's car wouldn't defog and smelled like antifreeze. we took it in and they said the heating core (?) was broken so they had to replace it. $650
on the way to getting his car fixed, he got pulled over for speeding (39 in a 25). $140. there are NEVER any cops in that area. not sure why they picked the first snowy day of the season to stake out our neighborhood.
we were driving to see the "lights of christmas", and gary's car broke down on the off ramp (35 miles from home). someone tried to help us by jumping the battery, but it wouldn't work. so we had the car towed ($60) to the same place that fixed his heating issue. they said that his fuel injector needed to be replaced. $600. then they told gary that the fuel gauge isn't working - stuck on 1/4 tank. hmmm... it was working perfectly fine before they took the dash out to fix the heating. but they won't admit it's their fault & wanted to charge us $200 to fix it. we have a sneaking suspicion that we may have broken down b/c we actually ran out of fuel instead of an actual problem with the fuel injector. i already had trust issues with car garages - i think they're all crooks and you're lucky to find a good one. well, we'll never go back to the ford harris dealership on aurora ave, and i suggest you don't either!
bingham's paw has been hurting him for about 1-1/2 weeks. he doesn't cry out but he limps and holds it up so there's no pressure on it. we took him to the vet ($60), and they couldn't find anything wrong with him by looking. they gave us muscle relaxers and told us to keep him off his feet for 2 weeks to see if it gets better. it hasn't gotten better, so now we're making an appt for him to get x-rays ($550) in hopes they can find out what's wrong. it sucks there's another extra expense, but he's our buddy & i hate thinking of him in pain! and i'm nervous about him being put under - some doggies don't wake up afterwards! :(

other than that, it's just been an expensive few months!! $4,000 for a shower in the downstairs bathroom, $660 for the flights to florida, $100 for a 4 hour car rental on christmas day to drive from st.pete's to melbourne, and probably close to $1000 for our anniversary trip to LA.

flying again

2005-12-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

i'll be flying again in 2 weeks, but it's for a much longer time. however - it's definitely worth it! we'll be flying to florida to spend 4 days with gary's family (mom, sister, brother-in-law & niece) in st.petersburg, then we'll be driving to the opposite coast to visit my family (mom, brother, sister-in-law, and niece). it's been a while since we've seen family and it'll be really great to see them for the holidays!

my birthday

2005-11-28T13:54:00.000-08:00

i had a pretty good birthday (weekend). for thanksgiving, we went to joon & lorraine's and there were a lot of folks there (about 15). lots of food (of course), then we watched some tv (a bit of "office space") then kareoke for the girls and phil ;) while the guys played poker. by 10pm, i was definitely ready to go home!

on friday (my actual birthday), we went to see "harry potter & the goblet of fire" at the neat-o deco theater in edmonds. lots of families there, but we sat in the balcony so i didn't hear the kids talking thru the movie. i thought the movie was good (considering they had to cut a lot out of the book just to make it 2-1/2 hours). i think the dorks that are nitpicking the finer details (don't like the movie b/c it didn't fully follow the book, dumbledore actor isn't as good, etc) need to get a life. just enjoy them for what they were - an entertaining movie, and and entertaining book!

for dinner we tried an italian restaurant in a neighborhood near the UVillage then had dessert (chocolate & peanut butter crepes and hot spiced cider) at another restaurant. after, we had tickets to see "forbidden xmas" in fremont. it was pretty funny, but there was one annoying girl in the front row that laughed way too loud at every single joke. seemed like she was trying too hard to be "cool". *shrug*

the rest of the weekend was putting up/shopping for christmas decorations. we have a pretty awesome yard this year! lots of lights & a mod looking christmas tree made from pie pans & lights. we're starting to see more houses decorated - YAH! :)

i'm offically 35. mid-30s. sucks.

i've felt like my youth is just speeding past and i don't sit back & enjoy it while i can. now i'm in my mid-30s and i feel like i haven't made the most of my time so far. not sure what i would have to accomplish before i feel like i could look back & say "yeah, i really enjoyed my 30s."

martin donovan

2005-11-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

wow - the martindonovan.org stories keep getting better! of course, this one's the best - i actually received an email from martin donovan!

I don't know your name but I thought that now that you have bought martindonovan.org I would contact you to say how much I marvel at your steadfast commitment to your site devoted to my work. Needless to say I am deeply flattered by your creation of this site. It is always nice to know that somebody out there is paying attention to one's work.

Awesome. :)

harry potter!

2005-11-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

i'm pretty excited about the new harry potter movie coming out next weekend! those books have been a major part of my life since july and i'm going thru withdrawls. :) sucks that i have to wait 2 years to read the next book. maybe i should've waited until then to start reading the series.

new shower

2005-10-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

we're having a new shower installed in the downstairs bathroom. finally!! we had several bids previously & they were so expensive! $10,000 & $12,000! for just a shower! luckily, we found someone that would do it for about $4,000, and they started on monday. it's going to be cultured marble (stuff they pour to size so there are less grout lines and it lasts a long time). we have white ("white heat" actually!!) with a few red stripes mixed in. the plumbing is in now and monday the put up the cultured marble. i can't wait to see the finished product. i'll post a photo when it's done.

LA trip

2005-10-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

surprisingly, we had a really great time in LA. the plane ride wasn't as bad as it has been (i think b/c i read that "fear of flying" website), the drive from vegas wasn't bad, and our hotel was a cool art deco place right behind the hollywood/highland mall next to grauman's chinese theatre. http://www.hotelcelebrity.com here's a rundown of the vacation:

saturday - arrived in vegas & drove to LA. unfortunately, the mapquest directions sucked and we were kinda lost in heavy hollywood bowl traffic. gary's new slogan for mapquest: "we get you kinda near where you want to go." we were supposed to meet up with some dance friends for drinks, but we arrived later than planned. so we ended up eating a late dinner at mel's dinner.

sunday - we walked around hollywood blvd. funny story - we got on the elevator to view the hollywood sign. at one stop, the doors opened and spiderman got on board! definitely a surreal and welcoming experience to LA. :) i got my photo taken with a really bad chewbacca (really bad mask!), but it was funny with us both waving at the camera. let me just say - that whole street is pretty sad. other than the tourist area (that's basically 3 blocks) the rest of the bldv is filled w/trashy stores (cheap cheap items), sex shops, and pimp stores. if you stand back & look at the buildings you can see how beautiful the area prolly was 60 years ago. in the afternoon, and old friend of mine, christopher (whom i haven't seen in prolly 10 years), and his wife, picked us up and drove us around the city. LA is certainly as big as everyone says it is!

monday - we went to the erotic museum on (of course) hollywood blvd. it's was pretty interesting - especially the arts & crafts section. we drove into the canyons to see a friend of ours, lila. her husband was a balboa legend and recently passed away. i was glad to have the chance to see lila while we were in town to give her a little support. unfortunately, we couldn't stay long b/c we had tickets to "the tonight show". it was a pretty fun experience! but if you go, make sure you get in line early b/c we almost didn't make the cut! guests were kiera knightly, jim norton, & the killers. later we had a nice fancy dinner in the mall near our hotel.

tuesday - we went on the WB tour which was a lot of fun! some highlights: we saw matt leblanc getting into a golf cart as we drove by, we saw the little girl from one of the new shows (something that's on after "lost"), went onto the set of the parents' mansion from "gilmore girls", and took photos on the original "central perk" set (the stuff is original, not the location of the set). after the tour, we went to meet the bus that took us to the CBS studios to be in the audience of "4 kings" - a new show on NBC with seth green. they showed us the pilot and then we sat thru the taping of a new show. it was pretty funny - made us laugh hard at a few jokes. we were on the front row & the warm up comedian kept handing us his watch whenever he wanted to do different stunts. pretty fun experience! afterwards, we met up with matt & rebecca. matt used to be in a band with gary in tennesee. side note: matt has been on several tours with beck, and sang the "expedia dot com" and "jumbone" jingles. we went to dinner at a french restaurant, then hung out with them at their lovely house.

wednesday - we went to santa monica and spent the day walking along the shopping district, the pier, and the beach. oh, we also played putt putt which gave gary some interesting ideas for the course he's building in our back yard. for dinner we met up with the dance friends we were supposed to meet on saturday. i'd actually never met them before, but gary hung out with brian at several dance events in the past. they were both very nice & i enjoyed our dinner a lot!

thursday - we got up early to dive back to vegas. we gave ourselves an extra 2 hours to get thru LA traffic, but we didn't even get stuck except for 1 time! the flight back wasn't as bad as usually b/c gary let me play spider solitaire on his laptop. :)

so - a great anniversary trip, for sure!

more fear of flying

2005-10-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

i just found this on a website:

Loss separates us and leaves us open to feeling lonely and vulnerable. Many fearful fliers developed their fear in their twenties or thirties. As we age many of us have new families that we care about. When we fly off and leave our children or spouses behind we may feel afraid that something will happen to ourselves or our loved ones. We fear we will never see them again. Also, as we age we become more aware of just how fragile and dear life is. The older some people get the greater their fears get.

i wonder if this is what i've been feeling since moving to seattle and leaving my family & friends on the other side of the country. i've been more nervous about driving on the highway (even though i drove myself across country when moving here), and i'd never really been afraid to fly. i'm getting better with the car thing (even though gary prolly doesn't think so :P ), and i'm hoping that more research on flying will help.

leaving for LA

2005-10-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

our second anniversary was on tuesday, oct 4. for the cotton aniversary, i got gary a UNC blanket for him to curl up when watching the basketball games, and he got me a smoothie maker (yum!) and put 2 pairs of socks on the top. :) since he had to leave for a conference in las vegas on wednesday, we decided to take a week off & visit LA since this may be the last anniversary where it's just the 2 of us. i'll be flying to vegas tomorrow, then we're driving to LA in the afternoon. i've never been, so it should be fun (especially since it'll be sunny & upper 70s). :)

i've been really nervous about this trip for a while. at first i thought it was b/c i felt unprepared, but now i just realize it's b/c i absolutely hate flying now. i'm so freakin' terrified to fly that i get squeemish when i see anything plane-related on tv. i've flown quite a bit during my time, but lately i get scared at any little rumble of turbulance. i think it started with my trip to cleveland last year for the all balboa weekend - the flight was bad enough that it even freaked gary out for a second or two.

riding in cars doesn't bother me (even though i know statistically i'm more likely to get hurt by car than by plane). but i'm on the ground and if i get hit it's almost instant. if you're in a plane and there's an issue - that's a LONG way down to the ground! with several minutes of sheer terror! and unfortunately, i keep thinking of those things as i'm flying. i've taken to looking at other passengers around me and seeing how calm they all are. if there was something out of the ordinary, they would be looking nervous, too. to give you an idea of how nevous i am.... i'll even talk to the strangers next to me to keep my mind off things. for those of you that know me - that's a HUGE deal since i usually shy away from talking to strangers & would rather be left alone.

luckily, gary's on the same flight as me on the way back so i can talk to him & keep my mind off things.

and after this trip - an even longer one to orlando for christmas. eep! thankfully, gary's with me on those flights, too. :)

enough already!

2005-10-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

i'm so freakin' sick of seeing danny bonaduce in the news & on tv! he's just as bad as lindsey lohan - drastic measures just for PR. attempting suicide?! maybe he should focus more on healing his PERSONAL issues, than worrying about getting back in show biz. is anyone even watching his VH1 show? does anyone even give a sh1t about him anymore?! i think it's great he wants to go to therapy to work out his issues, but i really don't think that broadcasting it to the nation is the way to heal. it makes it seem insincere - like he's just doing it to get back on tv. *shrug*

ok, that feels better. now i'll just go back to fast forwarding the commercials so i don't have to listen to his annoying gravelly voice!

off the pill

2005-10-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

gary & i talked about our timeline for having a baby next year, and time snuck up on us pretty quickly! since we're going to start trying in january, i stopped taking the pill this month. i thought i had a little more time, but next year is almost here. i'm scared and excited at the same time. :)

alias

2005-09-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

HOLY CRAP! vaughn died! i didn't think it would happen b/c there were a ton of interviews where they denied the rumors. but then they kill him in the very first freakin' episode!! i'm holding onto the hope that maybe syd, vaughn & jack faked his death so he's free to pursue his father's past.

Sweet!

2005-09-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

i've been running a celeb fan site for quite a while dedicated to martin donovan. soon to be located at www.martindonovan.org i haven't updated it in a while since there hasn't been much going on, but he's recently been in "dead zone" and fans have been checking out my site. last week, someone from SOAPnet contacted me & wants to put a banner on my site for 3 months to advertise for the showing of "pasedena".... and they'll give me $150!! sweet - all that time i spent working on my website will finally pay off! i guess that means i have to finally update the site. ;)

new tv season

2005-09-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

bones: i thought the pilot wasn't that good and the freaky looking bones girl was annoying. i watched the second ep & it's gotten a little better - even though the bones is still a little annoying. plus david boreanas looks good with his shirt off.

supernatural: i think the show scares me too much (yeah i'm a whimp!). i saw the pilot episode and they already used that "pop n lock" special effect like the girl from "the ring" (and that effect really creeps me out).

how i met your mother: i love alyson and doogie, but i thought the show was lame. i'll watch it again b/c i like those actors, but i may end up deleting from my season pass.

reunion: i actually liked the pilot. seems a little like nighttime soap opera meets mystery show. desperate housewives without the humor. i can see the possibility of it becoming too melrose place, but i'll check it out again in the meantime.

i almost forgot about nip/tuck since they took last year off. i didn't think it was possible, but the son looks even worse! good episode though! can't beat a steamy threesome sex scene!

house: i stopped watching that one last year after about 7 episodes. i got tired of the same thing happening every week. person dying, house misdiagnoses, house or one of his doctors figures out the rare disease, person ends up living. BORING!

lost: i didn't watch it last year, but i watched re-runs over the summer. i'm officially hooked. it's fun to have a cliffhanger at the end of almost each episode instead of at the end of the season.

alias: definitely looking forward to the new shows starting up! same with desperate housewives and grey's anatomy.

csi (vegas): i usually watch this show, but last year it was at the bottom of my season pass & only watched it occasionally. the season finale was AWESOME, but i'm still leaving it at the bottom of the list.

does anyone watch "will & grace" and "ER" anymore?! speaking of W&G, did anyone catch "situation comedy" over the summer? i thought both sitcoms sucked, but it was interesting to see behind the scenes of putting together a pilot. i do think that sean hayes needs a little more time in the biz before he starts spouting off like he knows it all though. i imagine that after this year (when W&G ends) that he'll have a hard time getting another job.

mom's in town!

2005-09-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

my mom's coming to visit tomorrow, and she'll be here for a week. i'm pretty excited about her visit. it'll be nice to show her around some more and hang out, and i can really use the time off since i had such a crazy busy summer at work.

i don't know what we'll do while she's here. we're hoping to go to mt. rainier on saturday (if it doesn't rain), and she mentioned something about wanting to check out "old churches". i've already warned her that seattle isn't "old" compared to the east coast. maybe i'll see if she wants to go to the underground tour in pioneer square. i've been twice already, but it's usually pretty interesting.

"Curvy" Gap Jeans

2005-08-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

i heard about the new "curvy" line of jeans at the gap, so i decided to try it out since i'm never able to fit into jeans. see, some of us women have curves where our hips are smaller than our waists.

i was looking thru their selection & i noticed that they came in 2 sizes - "low rise" and "ultra low rise". so the clerk asks if i need help and i said that i'd like a pair of jeans where my butt crack won't show. she gives me a few of the curvy style and a non-low rise style.

false advertising - that's for sure!

"curvy" felt just as straight as the other style, and BOTH would've been showing of a considerable amount of butt crack!

am i asking for too much from the garment industry to come up with a pair of jeans that are age appropriate and don't require an (shutter!) elastic waistband?!

reality tv

2005-08-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

the trend of reality tv is so annoying on so many levels. but then i think "that's just less tv for me to watch during the week" when a new crappy show is introduced into the lineup. well, i think i have to get off my high horse and admit that i do watch reality tv. let's see if i can think of them all:

* celebrity fit club - i'm mesmorized by their progress, but i guess i could lose that weight quickly, too, if i had the $$ for personal trainers.
* america's next top model - i get sucked in whenever they show all the episodes back to back on vh1.
* surreal life (occasionally) - this season is annoying b/c janice & omarosa shouldn't be encouraged anymore and balkie is a total perv.
* rock star INXS - gary started watching it, so i ended up seeing a few episodes. i don't actively watch it, but enough so i know the players.
* kathy griffin (on bravo) - i can't stand her when she's on random shows (oprah, etc), but this show is rather entertaining.
* situation comedy - gary watches this one and i catch it occasionally.
* american idol - reality shows are like soap operas - i'm not interested unless i've seen a few episodes and i know who the players are. i usually try to avoid this show b/c the singers are so bad, but i fell pray during the season where fantasia won. now i'm back to actively avoiding it.
* so you think you can dance - i caught the first 2 episodes b/c i was hoping minn & corina ((bad ass lindy hoppers from LA) would be on the show. but they weren't, so i stopped watching.
* tommy lee goes to college -- i think i saw 1-1/2 episodes, but the editing is SO HORRIBLE and the show SO LAME. i'd rather play spidar solitaire for an hour.
* last comic standing - i used to watch the show occasionally, but didn't like it enough to tivo it.
* fear factor - i used to watch this b/c gary liked it, but i think the show became boring - same ol' same ol'.

all of the other shows that are alike - big brother, survivor, millionaire, etc....... i wish the cast would drop into obscurity after their run. i heard a quote from omarosa about how she thinks she's a big star. um.... hardly! and showing "battle of the network reality stars" just encourages these leeches to continue topping each other for the spotlight.

harry potter

2005-08-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

i'm a newcomer to the "harry potter" books. gary bought 1-5 for me last christmas, but i just started reading them. i'm part-way thru #3 and i'm enjoying them more than i thought i would since i was afraid that they would be too "kid-y". i've seen the first 2 movies, and of course now i want to rent #3 this weekend.

the only downside is the annoying strangers that want to talk to me b/c they see me reading the book. no, i don't want to gush about how much you love harry potter. and no, i don't want you disrupting my reading so you can share a moment with me. this never seems to happen when i read my other books - prolly b/c they're always about someone dying. :)

maybe i'll make a book cover to use when i'm in public....

babies everywhere!

2005-08-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

i guess i'm at that age where everyone i know is having babies. gary & i are going to try next year. i just realized something - why is it called "starting a family" when people have babies? wouldn't getting married actually be "starting a family"?

penguins

2005-08-22T15:21:00.000-07:00

gary & i saw "march of the penguins" over the weekend. i was a bit surprised that the movie was such a huge hit. don't get me wrong, i enjoyed it, but i thought the movie moved rather slowly. seemed like something you would normally see on 'animal planet' rather than the movie theater.

the babies were awfully cute, though. :)

New blog!

2005-08-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm finally jumping on the bandwagon and starting my own blog. 'Scuse me while I get used to everything and put actual content up.