The World Outside

I've been pretty wrapped up in my own life the last few weeks/months. I'm not a big fan of the "news" anyway - it's usually depressing, left-wing propaganda - and I think it's terrible to invade the lives of the celebrities (but I'm as a big a gossip as they come about it when I DO hear anything). But I feel I need to make a note for posterity about the events in Hollywood this week. First, Ed McMahon passed away. Very sad, but he had lived a long life and left his mark. Then Jon and Kate split up. I can't imagine the pressure having twins and sextuplets would put on a couple, much less how much it was compounded by their show (which I did enjoy when I managed to catch it), and their lives being in the public and subject to that kind of scrutiny. But the worst part is those poor kids. It's hard on any family when the parents separate, I know. At least they have each other.

Yesterday, was a double-whammy: in the morning, Farrah Fawcett passed away. She'd been battling cancer (there was even a documentary about it, I guess - I had just heard that the day before - see how out of the loop I've become?), so it was somewhat expected, but still sad. There were specials planned for later in the week that were bumped up to last night due to the news of her passing. The shocker was in the early evening when the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died suddenly of cardiac arrest. He was 50 years old (which when I type it, sounds like a reasonable age, but I think of him as too young). He is such a megastar that his death superceded Farrah's - an icon in her own right. He's been out of the limelight for some time, but was apparently planning a comeback tour that was to start later this year. It's weird to think he's gone. I was never obsessed with him like many my age were, but I did like most of his music and thought he was a great performer. He kept getting stranger as the years went by, so that overshadowed his talent for people younger than me. A guy I work with is 25 and he said he never understood what the big deal was about MJ. But he is just too young I think - his memories of him are the ones after he got Bubbles and the oxygen tent and married Lisa Marie and was arrested for child molestation. My memories are of Thriller , the moonwalk, the veritable Beatlemania that ensued, his one sequined glove and white socks with black shoes, scenes of people the world over - even China - going crazy for him.

I think when someone passes away, regardless of whether it's a celebrity or not, it makes you stop and think, count your blessings, take stock of what's important in life, and bring the focus back in. Which is why, for now, I'm going to bring that focus back to my own little world and leave the outside out.

Bye-bye House

We are officially out of our house. We signed the title over yesterday and picked up the check today. I'm sad - the longest I ever lived anywhere was the duplex, and that was 4.5 years. I've been at this house for 4.25 years, so almost as long. There are limitations when you rent, or live with your parents, so this was my first real home that was my own, and of course, DH's and my first home together and S's first home. The move did NOT go well. Let's just say there was a lot of miscommunication, and it took much longer than it should have. It didn't help that it's been incredibly hot here - the heat index was 110 yesterday. But we're done. For now. We had to put the househunting on hold until next week. Monday night DH helped cater something, and Tuesday night he went to the T-Bones game, so tonight and tomorrow night he's getting ready for the Lenexa BBQ, plus tomorrow night he has softball. Then of course the BBQ is this weekend.

I think I forgot to mention why we are househunting again. The inspection came back from the house we bid on and the roof and AC will need to be replaced within the next 5 years, and the plumbing is polybutylene which we found out is a bad thing. Due to all these factors, we wanted to have the price dropped or money allocated towards fixing all of them, and that didn't happen, so we chose to walk. So we are at my in-laws' house indefinitely instead of just a couple of weeks.

S has done fairly well with the transition, considering. She keeps asking to go home, and I tell her that Grandma and Grandpa's is our home, too, for now. But she's not been sleeping well which has been hard on all of us. Plus the heat has been affecting everything at their house as well - it's a 2-story and the AC doesn't get upstairs much which is where we are staying. It's been 85 degrees or more in our bedrooms. Luckily S's room has a window unit that keeps her room reasonably cool, and my father-in-law installed a ceiling fan in our room yesterday. So sweet of him. It's really just moving the hot air around, but it's at least helping a little bit.

Yesterday, DH wasn't feeling very well, so he had gone to lay down in S's room since it was cooler than ours. She wanted to see him, so I told her she could give him a hug and a kiss and that would help him feel better. She was so cute! Hugging him and saying, awww, and putting her favorite blankies and stuffed animals on him for comfort. She's going to be a wonderful big sister.

After his nap, DH felt better enough to go to the game, but we decided it would be best if S and I stayed out of the heat. I was disappointed because we played the Winnipeg Goldeneyes, and it would have been S's first sporting event, but it turned out to be a good decision because the game went into extra innings and finally got called around 11:15pm due to lightning. While Rob was there, he ran into the girl who first introduced us. We had been friends in high school, but when I was away at college, found that our interests sent us in separate directions. She was, of course, surprised to learn we'd gotten married. Kind of crazy that he saw her after all these years.

Second baby syndrome

Poor baby R already has second baby syndrome - I've hardly blogged at all about this pregnancy, and I haven't scanned in any of the sonograms yet - maybe next week. But honestly, this time around has been a piece of cake. R, do Mommy a favor and be just as easy to take care of when you come into this world as you are in the womb. :)

I'm so glad this week is finally over. Work was insane - my supervisor was gone so I was working extra hours to keep up with my stuff and cover his. We had the sonogram Wednesday and then we put an offer on a house, all of which was exciting. We've begun packing in earnest - we'll try to get most of it done this weekend since we're going to move next weekend. Since the house we bid on is empty, we may be able to close by the end of the month. If that's the case, we'll just store our furniture in my parents' garage instead of getting a storage unit. Hopefully that will all be ironed out by next week so we know where to take everything Saturday.

Sidenote: DH got Knorks as the giveaway at the T-Bones game the other night. A Knork is a knife and fork version of a spork. It pretty much looks like a fork, but supposedly you can cut better with the edge. It reminded me of my old roommate who came to visit from Mexico who at one time stated that he thought that sporks were the best invention ever. Granted, it was on a float trip after a long day on the water, so the validity of his statement is questionable, but he couldn't stop singing their praises from dinner until we went to sleep in our tent. I'll have to tell him about Knorks and see if he feels as strongly about them.

Ultrasound results!

This morning we had the Level 2 Ultrasound at St. Luke's Hospital. The baby looks great - praise God! S did really well considering it took about 2 hours since they were running late. She didn't like that I couldn't hold her and was worried about what they were doing to me. We found out it's a girl! DH was a little disappointed, of course, but he's also excited for S to have a little sister to play with. I told him we may just have to try one more time for a boy. ;) We'll see...

Random Stuff

I finally got to wear socks and shoes today! Ever since my ankle injury from S's bed collapsing, I have been wearing flip flops or mules. It was nice to be able to wear socks and shoes today. Especially since it poured down rain and hailed for a bit.

We put an offer on a house today - there are 2 we really like and we picked one that's near Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park. Too bad we won't be living there yet in 2 weeks for the Lenexa BBQ. :)

S started saying the funniest thing. When she tries to do something and it's not working, she'll say, "Come on, guy". It's weird hearing what you sound like coming out of a toddler. Next thing you know, she'll be saying "dude" - yikes.

Tomorrow we go for our level 2 sonogram. Praying the baby looks healthy!

SOLD!

Life has been pretty crazy the last few weeks. We sold our house last week - yea!!! So we've been househunting a lot. We've found several houses we like, and several lots we like - just none that we like enough together. It's actually been much easier than I thought - we've agreed overall for the most part. But it's difficult with a toddler in tow, so we've been trying to either only go to a couple after work, or have someone watch her for a few hours on the weekend while we hit ten at a time. Yesterday we tried to go to a few over a long lunch. We may do that again.

My friend from high school came to visit from California with her two boys over Memorial Day weekend. It was so good to see her and meet the kids!! I hadn't seen her since her oldest was born - 8 years ago! And I'd never met her youngest. Her phone wasn't working here so that made things a little more complicated than we'd thought, but we still were able to get together a fair amount while she was here. Saturday morning they came by our house. That evening I went to another one of the high school girls' houses where they were hanging out with her family. Sunday we went to a friend's daughter's 3rd birthday party. Monday we had a big picnic at Antioch Park. It was so much fun. Six of the seven girls from high school were there with their familes, plus all of our parents. Tuesday I had to go back to work, but my friend and her boys met me for lunch. I was sad to see her go. Hopefully it won't be so long between visits next time. :)

Last week I ended up with a cough that I think was from allergies from being outside so much. It kept me from sleeping much which was a bummer. Saturday I went scrapbooking which was fun. Sunday we were supposed to go to DH's cousins' grad party, but we were househunting longer than we thought we would be, so we weren't able to make it. Another cousin is having a grad party this weekend so hopefully we'll make it to that one.

A girl I used to work with and her husband will be in town this weekend - yea! We are going to grill out with them and then try to meet up with some other friends later. Another friend from my old job will also be here for her sister's wedding the following weekend so we're going to try to meet her and her husband for brunch Sunday. It's going to be hectic again. I need to find time to start packing, too...

My sister and her husband safely returned from their trip to Cozumel. No swine flu or drug war issues to report. :) They went deep sea fishing and and my BIL caught a mahi mahi - the biggest fish he's ever caught. Can't wait to see pictures! They went snorkeling and a fish bit my sister's finger. :) They also got to go on a safari jeep ride which she said was fun. My BIL was telling me that the swine flu panic combined with the bad US economy has really been detrimental to the resort. Over half of their revenue comes from cruise ships and because of the fear of swine flu, none had docked there for awhile. The first one in three weeks landed while they were there. Their hotel was only at 25% capacity. Hopefully things will start to get better soon.

My sister left for NYC yesterday to start her new job with Michael Kors. Very exciting! She will be there for 10 days or so for training before going back to St. Louis to be able to work from home. Jealous! MY BIL is going to fly out to spend the weekend with her which will be nice. I can't wait to hear how it's going.

Work is still really busy for us and my supervisor will be at a trade show next week. It's good to be busy, but I'd like it to slow down a tiny bit. Monday was pretty stressful!

S had a rough morning. She had a nightmare around 5am, so I went in to lie down with her for a bit. Then she had a huge temper tantrum. Around 5:30am she settled down and we got something to eat. Then when we went to lie down again around 5:45am, she wanted to lie down in our room with Daddy. That was a mess because he had to get up for work at 6am so she wasn't asleep yet and we tried to no avail to get her back to bed. So we've been up for awhile. After he left for work, things were going fine, but then she had another tantrum around 7am. She's so tired from being up too early. But I made her go have her fit in her bed until she settled down, and finally she wanted me to close the door and she fell asleep. (I don't think I mentioned, we ended up deciding to just return the whole bedroom set so she's sleeping on the mattress on the floor.) Unfortunately, I'm going to have to get her up in about 10 minutes so we can leave for me to get to work on time. On that note, I better go finish getting ready!