Stinky House

Monday night Kevin was helping with some things around the house.  He volunteered to do dishes and I let him!  When he ran the garbage disposal, he said something wasn't right.  He felt like the water wasn't draining and our line was backed up.  We are familiar with this problem because it's happened at least half a dozen times since we've lived here.  We called our plumbing company and they came Tuesday afternoon.  I went ahead and ran the dishwasher before they got here to make sure things were still backed up (which they were - we had a river in our garage after I did that).  I told the nice plumber that I thought he needed to get under our house and look at our lines, since that had never been done before.  Several minutes later he came back up and said he didn't have good news for me.  He started telling me about our pipes, how they are deformed and laying on the ground....... and I just stopped him mid sentence and told him I'd wake Kevin up so he could tell him all this information (I knew I couldn't accurately relay all these problems to Kevin). 

The plumber and Kevin climbed under the house together.  Once they came out, he gave us an estimate of $1000 to replace a majority of the pipes (which needed done) and Kevin said he wanted to talk to me about it and we'd call them back.  After he left, Kevin went to Lowes to price the materials.  It came to just over $100.  He said he knew exactly what needed to be done, and felt confident he could do it... it would just a lot of hard work and time.  I told him if he was up for it, then do it - I'm always up for saving money! 

I didn't anticipate how bad my house would start smelling.  The first reason why it smelled so bad was I couldn't do dishes for 3 days.  I cooked all day Tuesday and half of Wednesday, but by dinner Wednesday I was completely out of clean pots and pans.  We had Little Caesars for dinner Wednesday (and it was delicious!).  Thursday for lunch I fixed the kids PB on paper plates and I used my last clean cookie sheet to make bagel bites for dinner (served on paper plates).  The second reason my house smelled so bad... Kevin cut that old pipe last night around 4.  His first cut was easy - nothing came out and the line was dry.  His second cut, he found the clog!  Not only did he find the clog, but he was soaked from head to toe in the nasty water/food that had been backed up.  That smell came right up into the house and I was gagging!!!  I lit a candle and that helped a bit.  Kevin, with the help of my Dad, and our neighbors tools, got done last night right before 7:30.  I was able to do one load of dishes last night, another this morning, and get all my pots and pans hand washed!  I have never been so excited to do dishes in all my life.  No more stinky house and this pregnant girl is Happy about that!

Little Caesars 3 meat pizza and cheesy bread!  $12 and delicious! 

Only When I'm Pregnant - Week 11

This post is a couple days late - will explain the reasons for that in my next post...

This week has been really good!  I'm getting bursts of energy back (which means my house is slowly looking less like the county dump) and I'm not feeling the need to take a nap every day.  My sense of smell is still out of this world, and that's hasn't been a good thing this week.  No new or weird cravings.... and I didn't gain any weight this week!  That alone makes it a successful week!  I have my next doctor's appointment Monday and I'm really looking forward to hearing that little heart beat again!

I've been really bad about taking a weekly picture.  I have to be ready at 6:45am if I want the picture taken (that's when Kevin goes to bed).  I'll try to get better about it....... no promises........ I did have thoughts all week about cutting my hair off.  I'm also sad this is the last time I'll get to wear that purple shirt this summer.  I love it!  

 

Lunchmeat While Pregnant

I have REALLY been wanting hot ham and cheese sandwiches!  They sound good about every day for lunch, and even for dinner, but I try to limit myself to one a day.  I had heard you weren't supposed to eat lunch meat while you are pregnant and I wondered just how true that was.  (I just avoided it my first 2 pregnancies because it never really sounded good anyways.)  I did some investigating and found out about a little bacteria called Listeria.  The article said several thousand people get very sick from this bacteria every year, but women that are pregnant have the worst complications (miscarriage, preterm labor, or even death - yikes!).  BUT if you heat your lunch meat until it's steaming, that will kill the bacteria and it's safe to eat!  Good thing I like HOT ham and cheese and not cold ham and cheese!!!  I feel safe to indulge in what Baby wants now :)
P.S. My all time favorite ham and cheese is from Sams Pizzeria on the west side.  It's a little hole in the wall place but all the food is fantastic there!!!

*The Best* Moisturizer

I have a dry hair problem, dry nail problem, and to top it off, a dry skin problem. I have found a wonderful solution to my dry skin... Mary Kay Intense Moisturizing Cream! My MK gal gave me a sample to try. It's a thick cream that leaves my dry skin feeling completely satisfied. I've also noticed when I put it on before my foundation my skin looks so smooth and even! If you have dry skin I HIGHLY recommend this product!!  I keep wanting to do a picture of me with half of my face using the MK Intense Moisturizing Cream and the other half using just regular moisturizer so you can see the difference~!  (I just am usually half asleep when I put on my make up that I don't remember until it's too late!)  I will try to remember this week and get a picture posted!

Strawberries

Schnucks has their 2lb containers of strawberries on sale now!  They are delicious & very sweet! (I've actually had very good strawberries the last couple months so I think this is going to be a good year for them!)  Go get some while they are on sale!

Looking Forward To...

If February was any predictor of March's weather, I'm SO ready for March!  Some things I'm looking forward to this month are:

1. My Easter flowers blooming!  I saw a couple yellow blooms today and I can't wait for them all to bloom!  My sidewalk is lined :)
2. Daylight-Savings time beginning!  (March 11!)
3. Starting our family walks by the river in the evenings.  Allie goes crazy over the puppy dogs we see down there.
4. I have my 12 week appointment on the 12th!  We'll get to hear that heartbeat again and start making some guesses on the sex!  (Even though I feel like I already know what sex Baby is....)
5. I will start my 2nd Trimester ---- hoping my afternoon naps will be less frequent and I can get this house back in order!  (Please don't stop by without my knowledge or you may get lost is the clutter!)
6. St. Patrick's Day!  I use to over look the holiday, but last year I dressed the kids in green, we made rainbow cupcakes, and we really enjoyed the day! 
7. Going to go see The Vow... I convinced Kevin we needed to see it. C'mon date night!
8. We are going to be doing some serious yard clean up the next several weeks (maybe months).  I'm really looking forward to having a backyard I can enjoy where the kids can run wild (and I don't have to worry about them falling in any holes, stepping on any rocks or nails or old fence posts).
9. Kevin grilling out for us!  He bought a new grill last year and he LOVES using it, so I'm going to take advantage of that several days during the week.

Only When I'm Pregnant - Week 10

This week has been looking up!  No more nausea, less food aversions....... but on the down side all my "regular" jeans are getting really tight (half I can't even wear), and everything I eat seems to be sticking to me! Every time I step on the scale it goes up by at least a pound.  That's pretty discouraging.  I've tried to eat healthier this week - well sort of.  I bought lots of fruit then I decided I needed to make fruit dip to go with it, and that isn't healthy.  It was good though! :)  I have a soft spot for seasonal candy, and this week I pretty much devoured a bag of RainBlo egg gum (I made sure to floss a few times this week since I ate so much sugar), and the SweetTart gummy bunnies are what I have my eye on next!  Oh right... I'm supposed to be eating healthy......
The other fun thing I did was buy Baby their first new thing!  I found a very sweet/soft/cuddly blanket at TjMaxx that's white and green.  Allie has two blankets similar to it (that are pink and white) and she loves them, so I actually may go back at some point and buy a second one!  We do still have some bigger things we want to buy (new bottles, possibly a breast pump, bedding) so I'm trying not to get carried away with the "little" stuff that we already have.

Garden?

The last two summers I've really wanted to have my own vegetable garden.  The idea of "living off the land" sounds so cool to me (the secret Amish woman in me is coming out)!  The problem isn't the desire to have a garden, it's rather, I have no idea where to start on such a huge project.  It seems like every other house in the summer has a garden, so I keep thinking it can't be that hard.... but when I start to research where to begin I just give up and feel overwhelmed. The second biggest problem is it's going to require a lot of man hours to get the beds built.  Since I'm pretty much relying on Kevin to do 100% of the manual building work, I've got to get him  motivated to have this garden too!

I know I like the look of a raised garden bed the best.  Actually our backyard has zero landscape and I think it would be pretty to have something like this!  (I really like the painted ones best but I don't see the husband agreeing). 

I want to start out easy.... I thought about growing cucumbers, zucchini, and possibly tomatoes (for homemade pizza/spaghetti sauce and salsa!).  Maybe in year #2, I'd try some peppers, corn, and strawberries!  I'd also really like to grow our own pumpkins for the fall too!  Not sure where I'll get with these gardening plans this summer, but I'd love to start the process soon!  Any tips or suggestions you have - pass my way, please!

Happy 40th Anniversary

My in-laws celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last week.  We went to dinner at the Log Inn to celebrate.  After a 2 hour wait to be seated, and an hour wait for the food, we were ready to eat... and the food was worth the wait!  It was great!  Happy Anniversary Margaret & Jerry!

Hayden's Haircut

I do many things around the house, and 4 years ago, I added hair dresser to my list of duties!  I started by cutting Kevin's hair... with scissors only (someone at work asked him if his hair dresser had turrets... his first couple hair cuts weren't the best!), so we decided to invest in a nice set of clippers.  They cost about $45 but have paid for themselves multiple times now!  I also cut Hayden's hair.  He is very squirmy and doesn't love getting it cut so we don't do it too often.  But, momma decided it was time!  Here's his before and after pics. 

 A little bug-eyed in the after pic, but he looks so much better!