Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 2009!

We hope this Christmas letter finds you well. A lot happens and changes each year and we wanted to share some 2009 highlights with you.

This past April 5th we celebrated our first wedding anniversary! In early March we took a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate the occasion. John had been there several times prior but this was Karen’s first visit. During our five day vacation we stayed at the beautiful Bellagio hotel with the magnificent fountains, saw several shows including the Blue Man Group and “V” Variety Show, walked through many amazing casinos, and went up the Stratosphere.

This summer we found out that Karen was expecting. Baby Lewis is due March 5th, 2010 and we couldn’t be happier. Oh, and our families are pretty excited too! It’s been a pretty good pregnancy so far, once getting over the 1st trimester nausea and tiredness, of course! Baby moves a lot and is already a strong kicker. We’ve just started cleaning out our office which will become the nursery sometime soon after the new year.

John is still working as a Department Supervisor of the Kitchen & Bath and Appliances departments at the Eden Prairie Home Depot. His schedule bounces around quite a bit forcing him to work crazy “retail” hours, but he enjoys his job. This summer John got the opportunity to play softball on a community league for a team called the “Hoppers”. Their team was the league champs and John had many good plays and hits! While John’s not playing he’s usually cheering on the Minnesota team of whatever sport is in season.

Karen is still working in the Account Management department at the Young America Corporation (Chanhassen office) by day and is currently teaching piano lessons on Tuesday nights at the Chaska Music Studio. Karen had several opportunities to perform musically this past year. She played bassoon in the pit orchestra for Chaska Valley Family Theater’s The Sound of Music in February and in our new church’s orchestra in November. She also played piano for several church services and a couple weddings throughout the year.

Wishing you lots of love this Christmas season and throughout 2010,
John, Karen & “Baby” Lewis

29 Week Pregnancy Update

Last Tuesday I had another doctor's appointment and now I start going every 2 weeks instead of every 4. At the last appointment I had the glucose screening test and then just the regular checkup. The Truol that I had to drink for the glucose test actually didn't taste that bad, kinda like a thick orange pop. I just got the call today that the results of the test look normal and there are no signs of gestational diabetes! This is good news especially with all the hassel we're having with my abnormal antibody screens. My hemoglobin is just under where it should be. (The nurse said it should be reading at a 12 and mine is an 11.8. They'll keep monitoring it and I may need an iron supplement but nothing out of the ordinary for late in the pregnancy.)

Everything else read as normal at my exam and my doctor did a pelvis exam just to make sure I wasn't having contractions and that the baby was still where it should be. I was a bit bummed, however, because in the last 3 weeks I gained 6 pounds. I'm up to about 24 pounds gained total. A lot of my maternity clothes are starting to get a little tight but I know this is when the baby is going to start growing pretty rapidly. I think others notice too because almost every day I'll get someone asking me how much longer. When I say "March" I get the reaction of "Ohhh...." Really though, it should go pretty fast after the Holidays.

Friday night I experienced BIB's hiccups for the first time and then again last night. I first thought I was feeling my own pulse but then remembered reading that if I felt steady, rhythmic pulses in my tummy it's probably the baby's hiccups. Last night they lasted a little longer than Friday night and then BIB started moving around so the pulses didn't just stay in one spot but kept switching spots in my tummy. That was pretty fun to experience.

The baby's kicks continue to get stronger and stronger and I think that if BIB could talk to me right now I'd hear, "Hey Mom, I'm running out of room in here!"

Not Me Monday #37

At John's dentist appointment he did not get told that he has a cavity, has to get another filling redone and has a bone chip remaining from when he got his wisdom teeth removed. Looks like three more appointments for him in the near future.

It snowed big-time last Tuesday. I still had to go in to the studio to give my piano lessons and I did have one family call in that they didn't want to go out in the conditions. My drive from Chanhassen to Chaska was a piece of cake - hardly anyone on 212 and the streets in Chaska were nicely plowed. John, however, stopped to make a return at Best Buy after work (right before I was making my commute) and as he was driving home he did not get stuck in a "parking lot" on 212. There must have been an accident somewhere between EP and Dell and that's why I hardly had any traffic to deal with. It did not take John about an hour to get home from Eden Prairie.

I did not get told last Monday that my company has to do more "cost-saving" initiatives for the new year. We still haven't heard yet if it's going to be cut hours, cut pay or head-count reductions. Please be thinking of us.

John just finished up inventory last week. His department did not end up with a .64% swell in inventory for the year. His loss prevention person told him, "John, you've got to start giving the merchandise to the customers after they purchase!"

When I went to my chiropractor appointment on Saturday, my chiropractor did not give me the look like Oh boy, where do I start?! Needless to say, I needed the adjustment, five cracks in all. I still do not feel 100% but I do feel better. There are just a lot of body parts shifting around right now.

Saturday afternoon/evening I was not determined to finish up the bulk of our Christmas shopping and I think we were successful. Just a few odds & ends to get still but for the most part "we're done"!

Sunday we had a mini-cookie baking day at my parents' house with my mom and sister. Rachel was making treats for her college friends. John came over right after work with the intention of eating and running but did not end up staying the entire day!

My grandparents were over at my parents' house on Sunday too and it was so nice to see them. My grandpa had another scare the other week but it was nice to see him with his spunk back. He was sampling all the treats that we made and joking around with the best of 'em. Grandma looked really good too. She still has pain in her arm but thankfully does not have to have surgery, just has to go to physical therapy and get acupuncture for the pain.

Cookie Baking, Recitals, and Lewis Bowling Fashion

Every weekend (especially now that Christmas is getting closer) seems to be packed full of family activities and fun. Last weekend was no exception. John's aunt Kathy hosted a cookie baking party (girls only) for the Lewis women. Everyone brought something already made and something to make that day. We actually ended up with more cookies than that since some people brought more than 2 kinds of cookies! After everything was baked and decorated we put everything on the dining room table and divied up the goodies. It was a wonderful day and I brought home lots of tasty treats for John to enjoy. I put a few pictures below but you can view all pictures from the day by clicking here.

Sunday afternoon was piano recital day for the Chaska Music Studio students. I only had 4 out of my 5 students play but enjoyed listening to students of all the piano teachers. What talented kids!

After the recitals were over I quickly headed over to Eden Prairie where the Lewis clan was bowling for John's sister Dawn's birthday. (Don't worry...I didn't bowl, just watched). A lady a couple lanes over was sporting quite the fashion statement so everyone had to try out the look and see if it improved their game. I think a few more strikes were produced after rolling up the pants. Again, I put a collage below, but you can view all the individual pictures here.

Third Trimester Here I Come!

Within the last couple days I made it to another big milestone in my pregnancy. I just entered into my third trimester. That means I am now 28 weeks pregnant and have about 12 more weeks to go. I cannot believe how fast time is flying. My sister and I were just talking about how these last few months are going to go even faster. Here is our reasoning: December is full of the Christmas bustle and always comes and goes before you know it. January we will be painting, arranging, & decorating the baby's room and going to birthing classes. February is just plain a short month anyways with only 28 days this year! So the baby will be here before we know it! I know with all this going on time will probably start to slow down for me as I get more uncomfortable in walking, sleeping and doing just about everything I do daily.

But for right now I still feel great. The only things I have to complain about right now is that I must have pulled something last weekend in my hips/pelvis because I've had a pain in my right hip for the last week and have literally been painfully limping around. I have a chiropractor appointment today so I am counting on that to get me back in line. What they've told me in the past is that one leg gets longer than the other which makes complete sense as to why it hurts to walk.

I think I still look pretty good for being 28 weeks along. I can tell by looking at my ankles that I am retaining a little fluid but otherwise I have mostly just grown in size in my belly. While I can still squeaze into my pre-pregnancy winter coat I think it's about time to move the steering wheel back a bit since it's rubbing against my tummy, especially when I'm all bundled up. I've been asked quite a bit if I'm having crazings and I am not having any more than before I became pregnant. Breakfast foods like French toast and pancakes are probably the one thing I ask for the most and that's because I like the carbs and putting syrup on them is a treat.

BIB is continuing to get stronger and stronger. The latest thing we've noticed is my stomach getting hard bulges while the other areas are still pretty loose. I guess that means BIB is moving from one area to another. I also had it the other night where I put my hand on my belly and I could feel this lump kind of moving in circles beneath my hand. It just is so cool to know that our little son or daughter is in there!

Oh, and I actually heard back from Dr. Rousy, my blood doctor twice within the last couple weeks. He said that he still doesn't know the underlying cause of the abnormal test results and since I am so healthy he doesn't think we need to be alarmed at this time. I might have to have frequent hemoglobin tests as we near the end of the pregnancy and also send my blood in for type and cross match as we get near the end. I shouldn't need a blood transfusion when I'm delivering, but should have the tests done so they have blood on hand just in case. I also have to go get another antibody test done in 4 weeks just to make sure the antibody levels haven't gone up.

I think that about covers the last couple weeks. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions on how things are going and I'll be sure to cover them next time.

Hungry?

A conversation between John and me over the weekend. I know it's true, but just was cute how it sounded.

Me: Why am I always so hungry?

John: It's because BIB is eating all your food!

In Everything, Give Thanks

I know it's several days past the holiday, but wanted to take a moment to share some pictures from the Lewis family Thanksgiving celebration as well as a few Thanksgiving thoughts.

Here's a picture of John holding our now one month-old niece, Alexa.


The Lewis "kids". It was such a gorgeous day out!


Mama & Papa Lewis (after all, we couldn't let them get a picture of the kids without having to get a picture of their own!)


To view the rest of our Thanksgiving photos, click here.

This year in particular, we have so many things to be thankful for. Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, it's not too late to stop and say "Thanks":

• We are thankful for our loving families and the many friends that are in our lives.
• We are thankful that we and our families still have our jobs while people all around us are suffering from unemployment.
• We are thankful that we are being given the chance to become parents. In just a few short months baby Lewis will be here. We're so glad that everything seems to be going well so far. I am also glad that I am have the privilege of receiving prenatal care throughout my pregnancy.
• We are thankful for our new, healthy, baby niece, Alexa, and are excited to watch her learn and grow.
• We are thankful that my Grandpa Gennrich successfully made it through all his operations and treatments this summer. He is still recovering steadily but surely. We are thankful for the knowledgeable doctors and staff who were able to care for him during his many weeks in the hospital. We are also thankful for the doctors who will be working on my Grandma Gennrich during the next couple weeks when she undergoes surgery on her arm.
• We are thankful that, while there are U.S. soldiers fighting overseas, we may live in peace in our country. Also, that we live in a country where there are so many freedoms, including religion.

If you didn't on Thanksgiving, try to take a few moments this week to think of the things you are thankful for.

Not Me Monday #36

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful. Next stop, Christmas! Here's the Not Me's from last week.

I am not still waiting to hear the results of my blood tests from the 19th. I am assuming that no news is good news.

John (and me too but mostly John) did not overeat at the first meal on Thanksgiving meaning we weren't hungry for the second meal. However, we aren't ones to complain about good food and we definitely had plenty of it on Thanksgiving.

I did not give up Black Friday shopping to sleep in and relax all weekend long. We did make a few purchases like a camcorder and digital SLR camera from Best Buy, however - our Christmas presents to "us". We actually originally ordered a new point and shoot but then decided to upgrade to an SLR. Hopefully I'll have fun playing around with it.

John's departments' schedules did not get rewritten several times throughout the previous couple weeks. This meant that he did not lose his opener for Black Friday morning and have to cover his three departments (appliances, kitchen & bath) all by himself. He did not double his weekly sales plan. He was supposed to sell $90k but ended up with $180k for last week. Way to go!

I did not get lots of extra sleep over my 4-day weekend. Why is it though I was still super tired today at work?

We did not put up our Christmas decorations tonight. It's amazing what we can accomplish when there's no new shows to watch on TV!

Pregnancy Update - 26 weeks on the 26th

Thought it was about time for another update on the pregnancy.

On Thanksgiving I hit the 26 week mark - only 14 more weeks to go. And, if you've been paying any attention to the ticker to the right you also will have noticed that I'm into the double digits of remaining days! I know I can make it!

On Thursday, the 19th, I had my blood doctor appointment. He told me that I seemed to be really healthy and he never would have picked me out of the crowd for someone having this antibody problem. But I guess he enjoys a challenge so he had me give 7 viles of blood for sampling. Basically, he wants to figure out which proteins the antibodies are attracted to. I still haven't heard the results of the tests but I will be sure to post once I get the call.

Then, on Friday, the 20th, I had my latest doctor's appointment. The baby's heartbeat was normal and I am also measuring where I should be for this stage in the game. I guess the best news was that so far I have only gained 18 pounds! (Of course, now that we just celebrated Thanksgiving who knows where I'm at!) It was kinda funny because I didn't gain any weight since the appointment before, but I know the baby's growing because I definitely got bigger and the baby's kicking stronger and stronger each day. They say that average weight women should gain 25-35 pounds throughout their pregnancy. I know plenty of people who went over that and it just takes longer to get the weight back off.

My sister stopped by last Wednesday night and she was finally able to feel BIB kicking!

Last Sunday John and I did some major grocery shopping and I think I over did it a little because ever since that trip I have been moving a lot slower and am a lot more tired. It might be time for another chiropractor appointment or maybe it's just because I'm getting bigger!

I have been doing a lot more work in the office, soon to be nursery. We picked out a light olive-greeny paint color that goes really well with the bedding set we're currently thinking of. John was also finally able to run the vacuum across the office floor. Progress is finally able to be seen with my decluttering work.

Here is a picture of me at 25 1/2 weeks for those of you who I haven't over Thanksgiving.

Not Me Monday #35

John did not dress up withthe table decorations at Angie & Jim's wedding Saturday night...


This did not remind me of when he dressed up in the table decorations at his friend Sarah's wedding! Good times!


We did not sleep in on Sunday morning (skipping church) only to run into our pastor at the grocery store around lunch time... whoops!

I did not have to get my car fixed last week. I got two new tires - definitely needed for the upcoming winter - exhaust fixed and new spark plugs. My car starts right up now and no weird noises when driving!

John did not have to work overnights Tuesday and Wednesday of last week which meant that I did not have to spend my birthday night by myself. At least we were able to have lunch together.

I did not barely feel BIB moving all last week. I think it's because I was so on-the-go from Tuesday morning until Thursday late evening. When John and I finally got home from the groom's dinner and I laid down on the couch BIB started kicking again. I think the baby could sense all the stress of the week and was glad I was relaxing.

John and I did not start cleaning out the office to get it ready for the nursery. We worked for a couple hours last night throwing out old paperwork and taking down John's desk. Pretty soon we'll have to pick out a new paint color! Any suggestions?

Angie & Jim's wedding...and John in a suit!

This past Saturday John and I were able to attend my good friend Angie's wedding. Much planning had gone into this wonderful celebration and the big day was finally here. To view all of our pictures from the wedding, click here.


Angie and Jim saying their vows.


Angie asked me to play piano for the ceremony.


John got a new suit for the occasion. He looked so nice!


Family picture... (You might see this again on your Christmas cards...)


"The girls"

Not Me Monday #34

About time again for another one of these Not Me posts to update everyone how the past weeks have been going. So much has happened. Here goes...

When John wrote his schedule for work last week, he did not forget to schedule himself for 5 days and only schedule 3. Whoops! Luckily that was easily corrected.

John and I did not become aunt and uncle last week when his sister Kristin gave birth to our first niece, Alexa Laraine. John was able to go the hospital with his family while she was in labor on Tuesday and visit for awhile. Too bad the baby was born at just after 8:00 when visitation hours ended so all he saw as she was wisked away was her forehead. Alexa is such a cutie and we're thankful that everything seems to be going well so far. We were able to stop in and visit on Friday night with the rest of the Lewis clan. Congrats, Kristin & Patrick!

I was not sick with a bad cold last week. You know it's bad when I had to cancel my piano lessons on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I still had to work because one of my co-workers was out with the flu and it was one of the busiest weeks I've had in a long while. I have Gennrich blood and am tough so I was able to pull through ok.

BIB is not letting me know that he/she is healthy by giving me stronger and stronger kicks every day. I still have 4 months to go...I can only imagine! I really enjoy feeling them, though. It's a nice reminder that there's new life inside me. Also, one of my new pastimes at work is watching my belly move. John is still enjoying feeling the baby kick and has seen my tummy jiggle a few times, too.

Sunday was not our official welcome as new church members of Trinity. They recognized us during the service by having us stand up where we were sitting and then had a luncheon afterwards.

My belly is not growing expotentially...In fact, at Angie's B-party on Saturday night, someone did not ask me when I'm due. When I said I was due in 4 months they confessed they thought I was due next month... :( ouch!

While printing Angie's wedding programs yesterday, I did not have to send John out to Target for ink twice. I guess the last free ink refills we got at Walgreens aren't registering in our printer anymore. It's time to break down and get new cartridges.

We did not put together a really nice and thoughtful Christmas list because we were told they were "due" only to find out that no one else had turned theirs in! Christmas will be here before we know it and I would love to get as much shopping done before I get to the 3rd trimester as I can.

I Feel Great...Too Bad I'm Sick!

I don't know if it was my chiropractor adjustment on Saturday or my new found way of sleeping with a little pillow under my belly, but my body is feeling great lately! I just feel like I have so much energy and nothing hurts!

This weekend had me going between playing in the orchestra at church, going shopping and out to eat with the Lewis's. I was tired at the end of every night and maybe it was the lack of resting that contributed to this lousy cold I have. It started on Friday and seemed to be better on Saturday but came back strong yesterday. The runny/stuffy nose was pretty much gone this morning but left me with a nasty cough and sore throat. You know it's bad when I cancel my piano lessons and can't go to the hospital to see my sister-in-law deliver my first little niece. :( Hence the title for this post. My body feels great and I want to keep moving, but I know the best thing for my cold/cough is just to rest and take it easy.

John has been such a trooper and has made many trips to the drug store to pick up cough drops and approved OTC drugs for me to take (as well following up with me to make sure I take them!) I don't know what I'd do without him! John is at the hospital right now awaiting the arrival of our little niece and we both can't wait to meet her. Yay! (My mom is filling in for John tonight and bringing me homemade chicken noodle soup and Mucinex to try and get me better!)

22 Week Updates, Thoughts and More!

"I miss my waist!" I seem to be saying that a lot nowadays. It is getting harder to tie my shoes and even pick stuff up off the floor. Getting into bed and getting comfortable was even a big chore until John gave me a little step to help me up. What a difference about 4 inches makes, but I think the difference is that I can sit down on the bed and be right in position to lay down.

I have definitely gotten my appetite back in the last several weeks. And when I'm really hungry, I'm really hungry. It's funny because after I eat a lot of food it seems like I can actually notice that my belly has gotten bigger.

So, last week at my 21 week doctor's visit I was told that my bloodwork that was retested last week still came back with weird results. I have a persistently positive Coombs antibody screen. If anyone thinks they know what this is please feel free to shed some light. Otherwise I'll just have to wait until I see the blood doctor on the 19th. :/

I have been feeling a lot more movement lately and even starting to notice patterns of movements. I especially feel movements about an hour or 2 before and after lunch and then around 9 at night. I love feeling the kicks when it's during the day and not disturbing my sleep. Monday morning BIB woke me up before 5am with really strong kicks. Until then I had only felt movements very low in my belly. But that morning they were right at the top and so strong I could almost see my stomach moving! I wasn't ever able to get back to a good quality sleep after that and Monday wasn't such a great day at work because of that. It's only going to get worse. On a good note, John is starting to be able to feel the baby move slightly! I'm excited that the kicks are getting strong enough for him to share in a little bit of the fun.

I will be playing bassoon with our church's orchestra on Sunday. I haven't played in awhile and I can tell! I think I only play on about 4 pieces so it shouldn't be too bad even though we have 2 services to play for. I thought it was especially funny that at rehearsal on Wednesday, as soon as the flutes (who were sitting in front of me) started playing, BIB started moving! I couldn't help but think, "that's not ok...our baby cannot like flute music, especially not these flutes!" I guess I'll have to get lots of brass and bassoon music so BIB gets used to those sounds. However, the encouraging part was while I watched the orchestra and choir rehearse "Praise to the Lord" (which I am not playing on), BIB was moving the entire time! I will not object to that :)

I'm not one that likes to call much attention to myself, and I really haven't told that many people openly that I am expecting. I guess I figure they can figure it out on their own after enough time. And that is what one of my little piano students did at his lesson a couple weeks ago. He asked, "What, are you like having a baby or something!" So, I think all of my other families know now (even though most of them kind of saw it coming - who am I to try and trick moms!) and I hope I can dodge the "what are you going to do after the baby's born - we don't want to lose you" questions for a little longer.

I took a look at my November schedule recently and couldn't help but be overwhelmed at everything that's coming up. Church orchestra on the 1st, Angie's Bachelorette party on the 7th, new member Sunday at church on the 8th, Angie & Jim's wedding on the 14th, Kristin's baby will be coming on or around the 13th, playing at the Moravian church on the 22nd, not to mention Thanksgiving and other random family birthdays! Whew!

One of the reasons for not having a post for a while is that I am just so tired when I come home from work. I'll see what I can do to write again sooner, but if you don't hear from me it's because I'm just taking it easy! Have a Happy Halloween, everyone!

It's a...

...Baby!

We had our 20 week ultrasound tonight and everything looks great! I put two of our favorite pictures below, but if you want to see all 6 pictures they gave us you can click here. At the end of the ultrasound I asked our technician if she could tell the gender. She thought she knew early on but then the baby decided to sit down and was pretty camera shy. I guess it's a good thing we didn't really want to know anyways. We'll just have to find out in another 20 weeks!

She did say that based on the measurements she took that the due date was maybe only off a day from the original date we were given at 8 weeks. However, it's always best to use the date given earlier on. She also said that the baby weighs about 13 ounces.

Here is a picture of me from tonight - 20 1/2 weeks!

Halfway There!

I am officially half-way through my pregnancy - yesterday I hit 20 weeks, so 20 more to go. (Hopefully this is the case...I could easily go a few weeks after my due date, but let's be optimistic!) To celebrate the occasion, I officially graduated to maternity clothes and retired my pre-pregnancy jeans and rubber bands. Last weekend my mom was awesome and helped hem up about 8 pair of pants (work and lounge) that I had found at garage sales and on craigslist.

I am definitely noticing myself getting bigger. Yesterday at work I kept finding myself bumping into things with my tummy, for instance, when getting out of the bathroom stalls and opening up the refrigerator door. And it's only going to get worse!

Monday night I have my 20 week ultrasound and John and I are both excited to see BIB again. The last time we saw BIB was at my 8 week ultrasound and you could barely even tell that anything was there. We'll be sure to post a picture as soon as we get home - and maybe even one of me!

19 1/2 weeks - Kicks or Gas

At my last doctor's appointment I was told that I probably wouldn't start to feel the baby's movement until closer to 22 weeks and that gas often times is confused with kicks. However, at the end of last week I started to feel little pokes and twinges real low in my belly. When I kept having the same feelings throughout the weekend I am starting to believe that what I am feeling is really the baby moving around. Right now the kicks are prety short and don't last very long but they're still there. Hopefully within the coming month they will get stronger and a little longer so John has a chance to feel our baby moving around! But for right now he will just continue to rub my belly, kiss it, and say "I love you, BIB"!

Not Me Monday #33

This past weekend was very nice. First, on Saturday we had a birthday party for my Grandma. 75 years! Then yesterday, John and I headed out to St. Paul. Since the weather turned, I started to realize that I had less and less options where clothing was concerned. I found someone on Craig's list who was selling all of her clothes and wanted to see if anything would work for me. She already had several people go through her clothes so not the greatest selection, but I was able to score a few more pieces. Still not anything for too cold of weather but it will get me a little further into the season. I'm pretty good with pants for the time being (especially since I can still wear my old pants with the help of the rubber bands) but may have to purchase a few sweaters or warmer tops as we get closer to winter.

Just two short stories to write about this week for Not Me Monday. They both happened during John and my outing yesterday.

First, since we were in the cities I had to make a quick stop at Schmitt music again to return a book and then buy a few more for another student. Also in the store when I first arrived was an older woman who walked with this really long white stick and almost seemed to have some sort of disability like cerebal palsy, but not quite. Anyways, she talked quite loud and I could overhear her working with the salesman asking for the cheapest type of guitar. When she found out that there was a very basic student accoustic guitar she then proceeded to ask if a banjo or ukelele would be cheaper. Then she needed the cheapest guitar method book and it looked like she was actually going to purchase that. After I had made my method book selections, I thought I would look at some of the wedding books since I am playing for awhile at my friend Angie's wedding. I started looking and the crazy lady was still browsing the store. Since she could only see things about 3 inches from her face it was quite humorous to watch her wander about the store looking at everything that was for sale. It was humorous until she stopped to start looking at the music books the very next section to where I was, that is. She couldn't just browse through the books, she needed to put her whole elbow/arm over my section so I couldn't continue to search or even put back the book that was in my hand. I did not wait patiently for about a minute or so and then finally clear my throat and kind of push her out of the way. I know that wasn't the most polite way to go about it, but seriously, was she really interested in organ music?

Our second incident happened at dinner. Since it is our 3 year dating anniversary tomorrow, we decided to celebrate yesterday with a dinner at Ruby Tuesday's since it was where we had our first date. It was about 5:00 when we sat down and were given our menus bya very unassertive waitress. The food tasted great, but this was not the first time ever that my normally very generous tip leaver husband had ever NOT left a tip. I'll tell you why and you can decide if you would have done any different:

• When she gave us our menus, she didn't go over any of the specials even though they had a big lobster insert that I'm sure would have been very tasty.
• No refills on water. I had to ask for my own.
• John ordered the mini hamburgers which came with fries. Ruby Tuesday's advertises endless fries. I could barely get her to stay at our table long enough for more water. Needless-to-say we didn't get a chance to tell her bring more fries.
• We were only about half done eating when she came and got our coupon and brought our bill. She didn't even ask us if we were interested in dessert.
• After dropping off the bill, we had to sit at our tables for a long time after we were done eating before she came to get the credit card to swipe.
• How could she see that I still had food on my plate and not ask me if I wanted a box to take it home?

There you have it. Have a great week, everyone. Stay warm and stay dry!

More on Dreams...

I guess I'm not the only one having weird dreams lately. This morning while I was getting ready for work, John told me about the dream he just had. I had given birth to a baby boy, but he was locked inside the EP Home Depot for 2 years!!! He finally was allowed out of the store. Poor guy, he knew I had had the baby but didn't know that it was a boy or couldn't even see him until 2 years later.

Anyone else having weird dreams lately?

18 Weeks and Counting!

I still am not feeling any baby movement yet but I do seem to feel different every week.

The headaches that I wrote about last week have seemed to gone away for the most part. Hopefully it's not just a temporary relief and the headaches are gone for good.

I'm starting to realize that all of these pregnancy websites and e-mails that I read really are quite accurate. One of the latest things I read is that your dreams become more vivid and clear. This has definitely been the case this week. And although I haven't had any dreams with my baby in them yet I'm sure that will come. One of my dreams from last night had something to do with me going to Las Vegas with the Duggar family and huge garbage trucks started driving really fast and running people over. I'm sure the dreams will keep getting better.

I know that most of you know that John and I do not want to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl until the baby is actually born but a lot of people have been talking to me about old wives' tales lately. I had heard the tales about the rate of the baby's heart beat and how the mom carries the baby being a way to tell the gender, however, at work last week I heard a couple new ones from coworkers. One of them told me that because I was glowing I'm having a girl. Someone else told me that because I was having such awful headaches that I might be having a boy since the hormones are a little wilder. I guess we're just going to have to wait 22 more weeks to find out which one it is!

Not Me Monday #32

I kept looking forward to the end of September because it means it's getting closer to March (just like I am not looking forward to the end of October), but I didn't want such a drastic change in temperature. Only in Minnesota! Feels like we just went right from summer to winter over the weekend.

This wasn't the most eventful but I'll see what I can do to make it interesting and perhaps a bit humorous. Here goes...

I know I said I was all garage-saled out for the season, but I just couldn't help going to one last one Wednesday night. I did not end up buying a framed picture of a flower for my mom's bathroom. About 5-6 years ago I bought her a similar picture which was part of the same set as this one I just bought. What are the odds? I guess pretty good considering I beat my mom in Scrabble later that night which, if you know my mom, never happens!

I did not run out of Emeril seasoning when making sweet potato fries last Friday. I decided to add some of my own seasoning by first shaking in a little pepper. Oops, the one lid of the pepper can wasn't closed securely from when I made chili the night before and I ended up with a little more pepper than desired. The only thing I could think of while I wiped/washed off the excess pepper was "Good thing Papa Lewis isn't coming for dinner"!

My friends, Angie and Rachel, and I went shopping on Saturday for some supplies for Angie's wedding. We were looking for cardstock, ribbon and vases from IKEA. I did not drag them 4 fabric/craft stores (3 of which neither of them had been in ever before) just to find the exact color of ribbon at the very last store! It was a fun outing despite the crowded stores and we ended up crossing off quite a few things on the list.

John and I had a nice day together on Sunday. It was nice to watch the Vikings game together with the windows open and the fall breeze blowing in. However, once the game ended, we did not decide to go to the grocery store just as the cold wind started picking up and it started sprinkling. Brr....was it cold!

John did not get his 8th Homer Award today for having the top department sales in the region for the month. Way to go - I'm proud of you!

Week 17!

I had another doctor's appointment this afternoon. Really wasn't too bad and she said that everything seems to be normal and in line - praise God! The only big thing that I'm noticing with my body right now is I have been getting pretty bad headaches since this last weekend. Ow!
At my Dr's appointment I learned that:

• I have gained 9 pounds since my very first appointment.
• My blood pressure is right on - only 108 (over a number I can't remember).
• The baby's heartbeat is about 140-145 bpm (last month it was about 160-163 so it slowed down a bit but that's because the baby's growing and getting stronger).
• My uterus is measuring just as it should - just below the navel.
• Most of my bloodwork that I had done at the last appointment came back with flying colors. (There was one test about the blood antigens or something that has to get tested again but they're not worried about that.)
• I need to keep drinking more fluids to hopefully reduce headaches.

My doctor also showed me a few stretches that John can help me do to hopefully easy the pain in my butt that I have been getting when I lay down for even a couple minutes. I guess it's because all the ligaments in those areas are starting to stretch.

I asked her about my little dizzy spell from John and my outing to Target on Sunday. She says I probably got my blurry vision and heat flash because I had bent down to look at an item on the bottom shelf and, since my blood pressure is so low, not enough blood was flowing as it should.

Oh, and she did think that I am very clever for using rubber bands as a closure for my jeans! Most of the maternity pants that I have gotten are still too baggy and feel like they're going to fall down on me when I wear them. So as long as I can keep closing my jeans with rubber bands, I will! They're not just office supplies anymore, folks!

This past weekend John and I were doing a lot of talking about how to rearrange the downstairs to accomodate primarily our "office equipment". I vetoed having our computers housed in the baby's room or our bedroom. I want to be able to relax in our bedroom without the interference of the laptops. I also don't want a office/nursery combo. I figured that when the baby is sleeping is when we'd most likely want to be on the computer and the baby wouldn't sleep. Also, if John comes home late at night from work he likes to use the computer and I don't want any interruptions in the nursery. If we're always moving the laptops out of the room anyways, then why not just put a desk somewhere else? Right now we're toying with the idea of getting rid of the ginormous TV in our living room and replacing it with a flat screen TV to save on space. I mentioned maybe putting a desk below that to also serve a purpose of storing the TV receiver and DVD player... I know it's still early to be thinking about these things but that's just how my brain work sometimes.

John and I also stopped at PetCo on Sunday to check out saltwater fish. Right now our aquarium is a freshwater tank but we might possibly switch it to a saltwater tank and moving the tank into the nursery. How fun would it be to have a couple brignt colored Nemo's swimming around in the tank while feeding the baby or to let the baby watch them from the crib? The fish are definitely more pricy than the fish we currently have but you can't put as many in the tank since they can get quite big. The other things we're considering are the cost and maintenance time. It would require a lot more care to the tank and extra expense with buying the salt and preparing the water. This would definitely turn into a "hobby" but I think it would be fun!

Not Me Monday #31

John and I are having a nice, relaxing night together tonight. While I made tacos for dinner, John did all of the dishes for me. Now we just taking it easy and watching the season premiers for a couple sitcoms we watch together, oh, and also doing the laundry. My laptop was downstairs anyways from the weekend because my friend Angie came over to print some wedding invitations. Like I said in my last post, my baby brain has set in, so we'll see if John can tear himself away from John and Kate Plus 8 for long enough to help me with the Not Me's.

We did not go to our last Twins game of the season two Saturdays ago. I got free tickets from a gal at work who couldn't go because her husband wanted to watch the Vikings game live on TV instead. Since the Twins were leading 8-0 in the 6th inning, we decided to beat the rush out of the Metrodome and leave a little early. I had to stop at the music store and wanted to also stop at Walmart on the way home as well. John wound up with a new winter coat at Walmart for a great price and looks great on him.

John did not break something off underneath the driver's side seat of his car. It's not life-or-death right now but the seat definitely can rock back and forth. Hopefully we can get this fixed.

I am not officially garage-saled out after this last weekend of city-wide Waconia sales. I did not run out of cash on Saturday when I was out. When I saw something I wanted for only 50 cents, I had to run back home just to get a couple quarters so I could make my purchase! Throughout the season I was able to find several nice things for our baby-to-be. Anything else we need is going to have to wait until the shower or next garage-sale season.

I did not accidentally sleep in and missed church yesterday. I hate it when that happens...

John and I went to EP yesterday to look for a suitcoat/sportscoat for him. We did not end up with 2 coats and a pair of black dress pants from JCPenneys for $70 total! Gotta love clearance. Needless-to-say, John was smiling the whole way home!

While we were browsing through Target waiting for JCPenneys to open up, I did not almost pass out. All of a sudden I didn't feel well and my eyes got really blurry and I couldn't see straight. I was able to walk about half-way to the food area before having to sit down in the middle of the clothing section. My head was cold but everything else was really warm. After John got me to the food area he got me water and some hashbrowns and I soon felt better. Don't worry, I will definitely bring this up with my doctor at my Wednesday appointment.

I did not forget my cell phone at work again tonight and have to return back to work after my stop at Cub. Ugh...

Have a good week everyone!

16 Weeks!

Or as I maybe should have titled this, 24 weeks to go! I left subtle hints in my last couple posts, but yes, I am 16 weeks pregnant with John and my first child. We are so excited to be parents but, of course, also have all the other emotions that come along with being first-time parents such as nervousness, fear of failure and just plain not knowing what to expect. Within the last month, I attended 2 baby showers (one for my cousin and one for John's sister, Kristin) and I can honestly say that these are putting me in the right mindset.

I have many friends and family all around me who have recently gone through having a child so I know everyone will be more than happy to offer up advice and support. It'll be great to have such a wonderful support system. However, that's probably one of the things that is also worrying me....trying to be just as good of a mom as all my friends and family have been and live up to their standards. I also discovered that part of my personality is that I like to figure things out on my own and not be told how to do things so not sure how that will play into this yet but if I get frustrated, that's why.

I was told several times at work this week that I have "popped" although I think I look exactly the same and don't notice much difference. All I know is that I am getting quite big already for only being a little over 3 months along. I guess that's just one of the joys of being petite - not many other places for it to go but out! I only have about 3-4 more inches until I reach the steering wheel of my car. This should make the daily drive to work so much fun!

I had the awful tiredness and pretty bad nausea until about week 10-11. Although I only threw up about 5 times, I still felt pretty gross when I got too hungry. The whole tiredness/pregnancy nausea thing is something that one will never fully understand until actually going through it. I have had people describe it to me prior to becoming pregnant but it just doesn't do justice to what/how you really do feel. Needless-to-say, I am very happy to be out of the first trimester.

The other thing that I am really noticing right now is that my pregnancy brain/baby brain has fully set in. I first came to terms with this the Saturday before last when my mom and I were driving from EP to visit my sister at Augsburg. Instead of ending up in Minneapolis, I somehow drove to Eagan and had to have Rachel give us directions over the phone on how to get to her place. I later had a little argument with her roommate (who I have met a dozen of times) over what her name was. They finally convinced me that they were telling the truth and I was wrong - hate it when that happens. At work I noticed that it sometimes takes just a little longer to interpret our client's e-mails and to type coherent sentences. Thank goodness for spellcheck and for this post turning out as well as it did!

Not Me Wednesday!

My wonderful father-in-law gently reminded me last night that I haven't blogged in awhile...and you know what? He's right! I thought I'd do a mid-week Not Me post until I find the energy to write a post about something a little more thoughtful. I'll start with today and work my way back a couple weeks - or as much as I can remember.

Today at work, our new company president of 2 weeks did not tell our Account Management team that instead of having the option of moving from Chanhassen to either Edina or NYA, we all would be relocating to Edina. Not sure how I feel about that - not that I mind the driving, just was hoping to avoid the city rush-hour traffic. Hopefully gas prices go down because our wages aren't going up!

Last weekend we had a family get-together for my mom's family. It was really nice to see my aunt and uncle, Ardys and Norman, again. They live in Wyoming and I haven't seen them in about 6 years. It was nice for them to meet John and talk for awhile. The reunion was pretty fun too 'cause we got to hang out with our cousins for the afternoon and have a fish fry! One of the highlights of the afternoon was not providing commentary for the dog hitting on cats action that was going on while everyone was talking. It was definitely pretty gross and I don't think they've ever had anything like that on the Animal Planet!

Also, before the family reunion last weekend, my Mom had the opportunity to shoot a gun for her first time. Not too bad, but after about 6 shots my uncle did not finally tell her that she needed to close one eye, look through the scope and line it up with the box she had been trying to hit!

Last night John was going to help his Dad install a new door in their newly remodeled bathroom (which is coming along beautifully, btw) and John and I were going to go out for dinner afterwards. Since we couldn't find our Ruby Tuesday coupon we decided to use our Outback Steakhouse gift card that Kristin gave John for his b-day. When John was halfway to Chanhassen he called me up only to tell me that he did not forget the gift card on the kitchen table. I had him turn around to go get it. Installing the door went pretty smoothly for what I know about installing doors and then we were off to the restaurant. When we arrived in the Outback parking lot, we did not discover that the Eden Prairie location has gone out of business! Since we didn't want to drive to Burnsville or Bloomington we just ate at Bakers Square. Who would have thought they had closed?!?

Two Saturdays ago my mom and I were headed towards the cities and decided to stop at a garage sale just about 10 miles from our place. It turns out that they had a bunch of small maternity clothes for me. I was able to snag over a dozen pieces of clothing for only about $16. When I got home and tried on one of the pairs of pants, I did not find $6 in the pocket! Every time I tell the story about me unfolding the folded bills in the pocket and how I said, "I kept thinking, 'please be a $20, please be a $20... shoot, just a $5' and then when I look at the next bill I'm thinking, 'please be a $20, pleease be a $20...shoot, just a $1'", everyone says, "Hey, why weren't you wishing for a $100!"

Have a good week, everyone! More to come!

Not Me Monday #30

Finally, after a several week hiatus, Not Me Monday is back! You can attribute this to my 3rd day in a row feeling like a human again. To celebrate this, I cooked John a real homemade dinner tonight for the first time in about 4 weeks. I don't want to jinx it but maybe 10 weeks is the charm :) Seriously, if you know me like I think you do, you'll know that the last 4 weeks have been rough. When I don't clip coupons, shop Rainbow on Wednesdays for double coupon days, grocery shop more than the produce aisle at Mackenthun's, cook/bake, do any type of housework, you know I'm not feeling well. I'm pretty sure everyone who reads these posts knows what I'm talking about but if you don't, sorry, you'll have to wait until my next post.

I know that lots of stuff happened since I last gathered my thoughts here for you guys, but seriously, you think I can remember everything? Here are a few of the highlights: My parents had a going away party for my brother, Kevin, who moved out to Washington state to work for a year. Grandpa is still on the mend after yet another unexpected surgery. I've been trying to hit as many garage sales as I can (you know what I'm shopping for!). John had a team building event with the EP HD management tubing down the Apple River. Carver County Fair was this past weekend so we braved the heat for a few hours and went up. I got to spend some time with high school friends at Angie's bridal shower.

Ok, enough of that, on to the Not Me's!

John did not sunburn his legs while tubing down the Apple River on Thursday reclaiming the long lost title "Red-legged Lewis". He did not end up driving a carload of people, over 100 miles roundtrip!

I did not have 3 "episodes" within the last week and a half. Thankfully I'm doing better now.

John did not have enough of work last week and decided to take a personal day on Saturday. I'm glad he did because we could spend some together time watching movies and at the fair. Fair was fun even if we didn't buy the $1700 Waterless Cookware set after watching the hour demo! At least we were sitting in front of a big fan which kept us nice and cool on that extremely humid day.

Our big living room window did not kill a little bird. I was watching TV on Friday after work when I heard a loud thump. Nothing in the room had fallen over and when I looked outside at the patio I saw a bird laying there. Good thing for my burly and awesomely brave hubby who didn't mind disposing of the little creature.

My coworker did not think I was going to faint when a dog roamed into my cube today at work. I know toy poodles are pretty harmless but when you're not expecting them they can seem very ferocious.

Our kitchen is not a complete disaster again. John washed all the dishes sometime this weekend, but thanks to my zuccini baking and dinner making, it's back to how it was (or should I say, how it usually is?). Be on the look-out, by the way. Some zuccini cake just might be headed your way.

Have a great week everyone!

Not Me Monday #29

Another short post again this week - and a day late again! I was busy making John some lasagna last night so didn't get around to blogging. I even got some rice lasagna noodles and made myself a pan. I guess for my first-ever lasagna attempt it turned out rather well.


John's softball team, the Hoppers, did not lose the last game of the season. This game was not their only loss. Ehhh, it was a make up game, doesn't really count, right? They were still the league champions. Yeah!

I did not think there was a very moldy cherry underneath our coffee table and get pretty grossed out by it. When I told John to get rid of it he laughed and said it was only a green smoke-bomb.

John did not get a letter from his District Manager at work about his customer service. When I asked him if it was because of good customer service he said, "Yes, it's because I'm awesome!"

I did not play a bassoon duet at John's home church on Sunday. It went well over all. It's nice to praise God with the talents He's given me.

John and I went to buy a new camera after church on Sunday to replace ours that has a little water damage. We did not pick out a very bad one because all of the pictures are turning out grainy. I think we'll see if we can't clean ours up a little bit more and make due for a little longer.

Kevin's pirated copy of Marley and Me that he bought for $1 in Africa did not have a scratch/defect in it preventing John and me from finding out if Marley really does die in the end.
Grandpa did not have to go back to the hospital last week. He's hanging tough though and will pull through. He is a stubborn German after all and letting go that easily!


Have a good week, everyone!

Not Me Monday #28

I was not told by almost all of my faithful readers that I hadn't written a post in a while (you know who you are!). Sorry about this...It's not that I've been that busy lately, just not very motivated.

I am not just a little worried about my upcoming bassoon gig at John's home church this Sunday. I'm playing a bassoon duet with a man that goes to the church but I've only practiced a couple times so far which isn't much considering I haven't played since the Sound of Music. Luckily I just got a bassoon student at the CSM (Chaska School of Music) to get my mindset back.

I did not stub my two little toes on my left foot on Friday night. John and I were both in the office. He was talking to his Dad on his cell phone when my phone rang. Expecting the call, I tried to hurry out of the room and answer the phone at the same time. I answered the phone fine but I couldn't get further than my desk since my foot got caught in my power cords and I stubbed my toes in the process. Ouch! They are still black & blue (and red) from Friday's incedent.

John did not have to work the opening shift the last four days in a row.

We are not looking for a good (and affordable) digital camera repair shop since we got water in our camera on our Grand Marais trip and most pictures are coming out cloudy. Any suggestions?

John did not install a new faucet for our downstairs bathroom. It's really purdy!


That's all for now, folks. I'll update later if I remember any more.

Mike's All Star Game

Last weekend John and I had another opportunity to watch his brother play baseball, this time at his league's All Star game. The game took place at Siebert field on the U of M campus. Mike's team ended up losing but overall it was a nice outing.

I was primarily entertained by the father of a player on the opposing team. Smiley's dad was, how should we say it? Very unique in every way and very obnoxious. If anyone has any upcoming sporting events to attend you might want to study up on the cheers I collected from this man. I think I managed to write down his entire repertoire. Enjoy some of the cheesiest cheers ever!

• Just like a good poker hand, we've got to hold 'em.
• Just like an usher, let's sit him down.
• He's in the checkout lane, let's ring him up.
• Paper or plastic, your choice not his!
• Let's set the table.
• Table's all set, time for lunch....Lunch time!
• Lunch time ain't over yet.
• Bases loaded, smorgasboard.
• Make it come to you, you've got all you can eat out there.
• Thank you, come again, have a good day.
• Let's make it hurt. Let's cut the ball in half.
• Just like a good golf game, let's put it in the hole.
• Need a bus driver, let's drive them home.
• Just like Saturday Night Fever, Stayin' Alive.
• Just like a good camera, focus!
• It's not a restaurant, gotta help yourself.

I got my external hard drive back!

I meant to write about this subject in my last Not Me post but forgot about it until now. I had been without my awesome 500GB external hard drive for over a month now. I was so worried I lost all of the pics we had stored on it instead of on our laptops. After several phone calls to Western Digital's tech support (India) we figured out that it wasn't the hard drive itself but merely the power adapter cord had failed. They promised to send me a new one for free since it was covered under warranty. A couple weeks went by and I didn't see anything in the mail. Several more phone calls later I was told twice that the power cord would be shipped immediately. Last week I not only got one cord but two in the mail! I guess it pays to wait patiently for a while. Good things come to those who wait and hopefully these cords don't fail me this time.

My husband. My hero. Reason #37

So, you might not have read my Not Me Tuesday! post this week yet but last weekend was extremely crazy. I love to bake and had volunteered to make several pans of bars for my cousin's grad party. Well, in the process, I think I got every bowl and spatula dirty that we own. And we have quite a few. I did one sink full of dishes sometime during the weekend but as you can imagine that didn't even make a dent. I only wish that I had taken a picture of our messy, messy kitchen. Since I had to be at work at "non-summer hours time" on Monday morning (and was even late for that) I didn't get dishes done in the morning.

Here's the good part...When I walked in the house after getting home from my Monday night lessons I saw that my wonderful husband washed, dried and put everything away! Ok, so everything's not necessarily in the right spot, but I don't have to do the dishes!!!! I told him I'll make him brownies whenever he wants! It was so nice to go get Chinese food and relax last night with my wonderful man!

Not Me Monday? #27

It is not Tuesday night when I'm finally recapping everything that happened last week. Where to start, where to start! I hope I remember everything and I promise pics of the busy weekend will follow soon.

My brother, Kevin, returned back to the states from his couple month PT affiliation in Tanzania. John and I went to welcome hime home on Monday night after my lessons. Rachel hosted the party in her summer Augsburg apartment, my parents made lasagna and I brought the homemade ice cream. We did not find out that the Pictionary poptarts that I bought Kevin do not actually let you play Pictionary on them! My did not leave early to get home to his township meeting just to find out that it had been cancelled. Just his luck.

John's Hoppers softball game was not rained out last week. At least I can go see the make up game next week!

Wednesday was Grandma and Grandpa's 55th wedding anniversary. Grandma cooked us (sans John who was working) a nice celebration dinner to celebrate accordianly. Kevin worked on Grandpa's leg and found him the perfect desk chair to prop his leg up on to relieve the swelling...ahem... Grandpa did not ask if the pecan pie ice cream I made him came with a prescription, like eat twice daily....It turns out, however, that Grandma has been giving him a custard cup full every day at 3:00. Grandma thinks I've been picking on her a lot in these posts so I'll have to give her a rest in the upcoming weeks...

The weekend was approaching fast and I knew that this would be one busy weekend. I did not have a couple of weak moments thinking about everything that I had to get done but John was there to encourage me and get me through it.

Friday night I started baking the 4 pans of bars that I wanted to make for Aaron's grad party on Sunday. I had to start on Friday since Kevin's PT graduation was on Saturday. Pictures to come soon. The graduation itself was wonderful. Rachel and Yvonne did not make me walk 6+ city blocks to get back to the parking garage they parked in. I felt like I was going to pass out. Bryan Rassmussen did not drop one of the reception cake plates on the floor and get frosting on the floor. He quickly cheered up when we saw another lady drop her piece of cake on the floor and then kick it under the cake table!

Saturday night - yes, after the grad ceremony - John and I had his parents over and we took them to the Lake Waconia Marching Band Festival. They had never been to anything like this before and we wanted to spend time with John's dad for Fathers' Day. It was a beautiful night and best of all, no bugs! All 15 schools that marched were wonderful and we hope to go again next year. After the parade ended we went back to our place where we did not give them a taste test of everything I had been baking lately. They got to sample the pecan pie ice cream, grasshopper pie ice cream, cookies and cream ice cream, peanut butter brownies, rhubarb streussel, and cheerios bars. I don't think they minded one bit!

John did not have to go into work for a 6-8am meeting on Sunday morning. He did not get a Homer award given to him from the store manager. Too bad he doesn't remember what she said about him since he tuned her out because he was thinking it was someone else! Congratulations, John!

John made it home just in time to make it to church with me and after that we packed up all of our bars and cut watermelon and headed to Michael's baseball game on the way to Aaron's grad party. It did not rain off and on throughout the two half games we ended up seeing.

Cousin Aaron's graduation party went pretty well. It was very humid and continued to rain off and on throughout. Luckily I was on bar duty so I spent a lot of time in the basement putting bars on trays. Too bad all the food wasn't in the basement because the bars did not start to melt and get soft sitting in the garage.

Needless to say, John and I were both extremely exhausted at the end of the weekend. We got home and made a big bowl of popcorn, however, John took a Tylenol PM for his headache and did not fall asleep shortly after. Right before I went to bed I realized that since I am taking next Friday off of work I needed to work 8 hour days the rest of the week. Didn't go exactly as planned since I slept through my alarm on Monday - oh well - they know I'll get to work eventually!

Not Me Monday #26

Just a forewarning that this wasn't the most exciting week around here...Grandpa is still in the hospital and we went with my parents to go visit him on Thursday night. First we went to the MN Zoo Great Clips IMAX theater to see Night at the Museum II with my parents and my sister. Then we were off to Fairview Southdale to visit Grandpa. He's doing much better and hopefully will come home soon so he can regain his strength since this next weekend is going to be jam packed full of stuff!

Now for the Not Me's!

John was not the winning run of the softball game on Tuesday. Hoppers are still undefeated!

There was not a propane tank explosion at the Waconia Farm Supply store last Wednesday. There was one fatality and unfortunately, it was a brother of one of Brian's friends. So sad.

I stopped at QuikTrip to pick up some bags of milk on my way home from work on Friday. I saw one of the workers bagging up the left-over donuts which they sell 3/$1. I did not wait around a little longer so she could finish packaging them up and put the price stickers on them just to bring some custard filled donuts home to John. Now I know, they bag them up between 4-4:30.

Saturday, I did not go to my parents' to mix up four - yes, you read it right - four batches of ice cream custard. I spent all Sunday putting it through the ice cream maker. Lots of work. I told John I'm done for the summer now and he thinks otherwise because the peanut butter ice cream won't last him the entire summer. What's the occasion? Kevin's coming home from Africa, for one, and had some special requests. Also mixed up a batch for Grandpa so he can "celebrate accordianly" his return from the hospital and their 55th wedding anniversary this week!

I did not give the ok to turn the air conditioner on last night. Remember that really hot week in May? I told John then that we had to wait until June to turn on the AC and we made it half-way through June!

I'm sure I'll have lots to write about next week. Kevin's coming home tonight and his PT graduation is on Saturday along with the Lake Waconia Marching Band Festival. Then, my cousin Aaron's High School graduation open house is on Sunday and I've agreed to help out with the food as well as bring several pans of bars and cut up watermelon. Sunday is also father's day! Whew!

Have a good week, all!

Not Me Monday #25

My Grandpa Gennrich was not in the ICU Wednesday-Sunday because of a blood clot in his foot. He is doing lots better but will have to have surgery for his aneurysm in his knee.

John's softball team, the Hoppers, are not 6-0 for the season and are not the only undefeated team in their division. Go Hoppers!

John did not get us free Twins tickets for last Thursday's game. The seats were awesome - 5 rows behind the Twins dugout. We did not get annoyed with this lady who must have thought that these sections were general admission. She thought she could sit in whatever open seat she wanted to. After getting kicked out of about 4 seats by the actual ticket holders (even on both sides of us) she finally left the section.

I did not decide to make a double batch of Rhubarb Bread on Saturday and just have enough flour to finish. I should have checked my flour supply before committing to using 5 cups of it in the recipe.

We did not go through all of John's clothing yesterday and weed out about 1/3 of what was there. He wasn't wearing it anyways and it was stuff from his High School and Iowa days. Just making room for new!

We did not freeze at Michael's baseball game yesterday. 51 degrees for a high at the beginning of June is no ok. The highlight of the game, was when Michael did not get a tee-ball home run because of several overthrows.

Cheap Summer Outing - Twins Game!

Thanks to summer hours I already was planning on working only a half day today since John had the day off and we wanted to spend some time together. We were trying to think of something cheap to do in the cities and were just going to get some free museum passes from the library when all of a sudden John got a great opportunity at work. One of his co-workers had tickets to Thursday's noon game that he was willing to give to us! I wasn't extremely busy at work this week so I figured it'd be ok if I only worked 3 hours that morning. I worked until 11 a.m. and then John picked me up. From Chanhassen we drove to Fort Snelling and took the lightrail to the Metrodome. All we spent was $8 for two round trip lightrail tickets since parking there is free and we didn't eat anything at the game this time. The best part was that the seats were 5 rows up right above the Twins dugout. There were several homeruns during the game which made it a great game to watch. Twins won 11 to 3 against the Indians!

Click here to view individual pictures from the game.

Not Me Monday #24 - Revised

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. For this week's Not Me Monday post, I've included some pics to help tell the story of what did not happen last week. Here it goes...

John and I did not decide to carpool to work on Friday. I started at 8:30 and he was supposed to start at 10 and pick me up at 3:00. Because of customer issues, it was not after 3:45 that he finally showed up at YAC.

John did not accidentally knock over the full water glass sitting on his nightstand during the middle of Saturday night.

This is not a picture of our first strawberry from one of our two strawberry plants. I think this is the plant that is supposed to produce the "very large" berries. This picture was taken memorial day weekend and the berry got ripe enough to eat but still didn't get any bigger!

We did not attempt to clean our patio cement on Thursday. The pressure washer we borrowed from John's dad was not defective and we did not end up using the garden hose instead. (This picture was taken Memorial weekend, too, before we cleaned the patio.)

I finally finished the DVD storage boxes I was making, so John did not have to alphabetize all of our DVDs.

The next two pictures do not prove that I fit into John's Boys Choir jacket he wore in elementary/middle school. His parents just found it in the attic while cleaning last weekend and thought I might like it. Since it fits you just might see me wearing it around!

Gma & Gpa's Memorial Day Photo Shoot

I mentioned in my last post that we have an impromptu photo shoot with Grandma and Grandpa Gennrich, just a month shy of their 55th wedding anniversary. I only hope that John and I will be together and happy for that many years. Hope you enjoy the photos below. For a look at a few more photos, click here.

Not Me Monday #23

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Here's my Not Me's from last week and the weekend:

I did not really enjoy working my summer hours shift last week. I was soooo relaxed each day before I got to work - very nice.

Thursday night did not seem like Friday night because we had the night free of bells since it's over now. We did not go to see Angels & Demons in the theater.

John did not have to work every day of Memorial Day weekend. That also meant no free time for him. He was either at HD working or visiting family.

We did not sign the final papers for our refinance on Friday night.

I did not make my first two batches of homemade ice cream this weekend, pineapple and peanut butter. I mixed the custard up on Friday night and then put it through the ice cream maker on Saturday. I ran the ice cream maker outside to keep the ice and rock salt mess out of the house. It was just a bonus knowing that it probably annoyed our neighbor, Roger, who usually sunbathes on his patio!

John did not run out of propane just before going to make our hotdogs for dinner on Friday night. Then, when going to grill our pineapple skewers at his parents' house on Saturday, he did not discover that they just ran out of propane as well. The pineapple still taste good after grilling them on a stovetop grill pan, though.

I was not incredibly sore from doing my new EA Sports Active workout program. I guess I didn't realize how out of shape I really was.

My sister and I were not bored on Sunday afternoon resulting in a "Senior" portrait shoot of our Grandma. She didn't want her pictures posted on this blog but maybe I'll sneak one in here this week. Rachel and I took pictures of each other, too, and it was funny when we looked over at the playground behind my parents' house to see about seven little girls just watching us wondering what in the world we were doing. Good times...

Everyone did not gang up on me when we were playing Hearts at my parents' place on Saturday. I was not a sore loser. I was in the lead until the last hand when John beat me by only 3 points!

I did not go with my parents to help my sister move from one Augsburg apartment to her summer apartment today. I remember those days when I moved out of my GAC halls and Rach was always there for me then so it was only fair. Her summer apartment looks wonderful and very spacious. I'm very excited for her!

Our main DVD player did not decide to stop working tonight. What is it with us and electronics lately?

I did not have one of the best weeks/weekends that I've had in a long time. Hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Memorial Day, too! See ya soon!