If my baby would sleep at night

I used to make Shawn breakfast every morning. I'm not talking cereal either. Eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, pancakes, omelets; I even tried to replicate a sausage, egg, and cheese mcmuffin once because he basically said he'd rather have McDonalds (rude, right?)
As I got into my 3rd trimester I started going back to bed after he left for work, then I quit getting up at all. Then, well then i had a baby.

There was a window of time when Will was sleeping through the night when I was going to start getting up and making breakfast again (I think I did once) but that window quickly closed. Now the longest stretch of sleep we get is maybe 3 hours at best.

Breakfast isn't the only thing I'm missing. If Will would sleep at night my house would be more organized, I'd bake bread again. Man, I used to bake bread. I would read, oh how I miss reading. I would blog more often; so many times I've started a post and put it off because my brain was too tired to process it. I would write; I have ideas galore for stories or articles I could pitch to web publications, for money. money! but I'm just exhausted. All. The. Time. If you don't get it, you've never experienced sleep deprivation. I mean, my brain does not function the way it should.

Maybe I would even do some of these crafts that I keep buying supplies for.

Maker's Diet: Week 4

Well, this post isn't going to go like the others. Today is Thursday (day 24) and I haven't had my phone to make daily updates. Soooooo, I'll just do what I can.

Last night I had pasta. What what? Yes, pasta. Tomato basil wheat Amish pasta. I've had it before, it's pretty good. It's especially good when you haven't had pasta in a while. My mom cooked it with mushrooms and onion on top. We made mixed berry cinnamon muffins for dessert.

Day 24
Had a couple muffins for breakfast.
Sweet potato for lunch, another muffin.
Chili for supper. It was a recipe from the book, good but not as good as the chili I'm used to.
Another muffin
Mayo Clinic tomorrow.

(today is Tuesday)
Friday, I had pizza and ice cream. Yes, the real deal, diet is off. My doctor was able to find some information about research out of Israel that showed no detectable bio-availability of the drug in the breast-fed baby's system. If insurance companies weren't so dumb I would have taken my medicine Saturday, but they are, so I should have it today.
I've been eating regular food, somewhat cautiously since Friday and the only thing that made me feel terrible was a couple sips of Sprite that I had.
Oh and this morning, this guy had his first normal looking poop since I started the diet, coincidence?



On a somewhat related note, I am pretty sure that I've developed pancreatitis. I've had it before, so I know what it feels like. This time is much less severe but still very painful. I think my medicine should take care of it as well, I hope.

I know this diet has helped people, but I never noticed any positive change with it. A lot of the information in the book about why we should or shouldn't eat certain things has made me question how I eat, however. I don't eat very badly anyway though.

Will I never again eat pork or shellfish? Stay Kosher? Choose goat milk over cow? Bacon?!?!?!
Stay tuned for the answer!

Embracing Mommyhood

Here's something that may come as a surprise to you: I've never taken care of a baby before.
I've always wanted to be a mom but I've never had a bit of practice (at least not alone). In fact, the first diaper I ever changed was Will's.

When we first brought Will home, I was very fortunate to have a lot of help; even though husband's time off was over by the time Will came home. Husband took half-days for a week, my mom came a lot, and Becky took a couple half-days a week. So for the first few weeks home I had help for at least half of the day.

When the time came for me to spend all day alone with Will, I was very nervous. Let's face it, I was scared. To say Will cried a lot in the first few weeks would be an understatement. He cried and I got mad and I cried. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what he wanted, and I mainly just wanted him to stop crying. The only thing keeping me sane was constantly reminding myself of something I read in The Baby Whisperer, it goes something like: I cry because I need your help, I'm little and I can't do it myself.

I would call husband upset and crying, "I can't do this!" On more than one occasion, he came home early from work.

Finally, one day, I thought to myself, "why am I so mad? He's just a baby." I really thought about this and I realized I was so mad because I am selfish. Now I know we all have selfish tendencies from time to time, but I didn't realize how selfish I was until I had this little tiny life that needed me for everything. I was mad because I couldn't do anything I wanted to do. I couldn't put him down, I couldn't do yoga, I couldn't blog (I later started blogging from my phone while nursing or rocking), I couldn't read. Although sometimes what I wanted to do was legitimate like eat or use the bathroom, otherwise it was a very self-centered way to feel.

I felt like I had lost a piece of my life or like I had lost myself, my own identity, but I realized this is my life now. Looking down at the completely dependent baby in my arms, he is my life. This is what I do. Not only am I okay with that, I love it. From that day on I feel I've really been able to embrace my new role as a mom. I'm more patient with him and less selfish, I don't get so upset when he wakes up only 30 minutes into his nap, like just now. Sure, it's annoying, especially if I'm in the middle of something, but he's more important than whatever I'm doing, so I don't get angry, I just go in there and pick him up because that's what I'm here for. Sure the books say it's bad if his whole nap is in my arms, but it works (honestly, it's more discouraging than annoying). This baby needs me, sometimes he just wants my attention, sometimes he's just wants to sit in my lap, nothing is more important.

This week I even took it a step further. I realized that there are too many times when I'm holding Will or playing with Will and also checking my phone. It's rediculous how often I check facebook and twitter during the day. Why am I doing this? Am I bored? How can I be bored when I have a cute baby to play with?! So I told myself I wouldn't check either for a week. Now I'm constantly checking blogs. Maybe I'm just craving adult interaction.


P.S. Don't you love it that right at the moment you're thinking, "baby sure looks cute in that outfit," is when he spits-up on it?

These are my rings

Yes, these are my rings. "But rings are meant to be worn on your finger," you're saying. Yes, this is true.


Sadly my rings no longer fit on my finger. I knew this would happen eventually, yet I still hoped it wouldn't. I tried to stretch out the time I could wear them, but after not being able to get them off a couple of times, I decided that the time had come.

I know this is a fairly common thing to happen during pregnancy but it still bothers me; I like my rings on my finger! Shawn tries to say sweet things to help, like how it's not our rings that make us married anyway. I know this is true, but my finger feels naked without them. I might also be a little worried that someone would see my belly and then see my naked finger and think that I am unmarried and with child. The horror!

Sometimes the trying to be sweet things aren't so helpful though. For instance, he pointed out that there was another woman in our childbirthing class with her rings on a necklace (I'm usually the more observant half of our pair, but he definitely pays more attention in childbirthing class, while I'm a total space cadet. Classroom lectures were the same way for me, never could pay attention. Hopefully the results will be the same as school; space-out all year, but when the grades come out you would think I was one of the most focused students). So when I finally figure out which other woman has her rings on a necklace, it definitely didn't make me feel any better. Her due date was Thanksgiving, mine isn't until February! He didn't know though, he was just trying to make me feel better.

Since putting my rings on a necklace, I have forgotten them when I left the house at least twice. I cried a little.

I also wonder what my family members who are completely against the wearing of necklaces thought of seeing me wear a necklace on Thanksgiving.

Dear Will

(I tell myself I will add a photo of the actual journal to this post later, as right now I'm sure my slow-as-molasses internet will not upload it and I don't want to look for my card reader.)

I recently started writing a pregnancy journal of sorts. It's really more like letters to Will. I had really intended to start it a while back but I kept putting it off, unsure of what to write, or knowing what I wanted to write, but unsure about sharing these feelings.

So far, I've mostly written about my fears and worries, and a little about how having a baby in my belly makes me feel physically. I also want to document this time in our lives, so Will can know what our family was like while we were waiting for him to come, and so he can know what the first house he lived in was like. Depending on how long we live here, he may not remember it.

I've thought about posting some of my writings here, but I don't think I want to be that open and this is probably the first time I've held back from posting something personal. I haven't even let Shawn read them yet, though he keeps asking, and I'm sure I will eventually.

Chicken and Rice Soup: a recipe

Often times, I will glance at a recipe online and end up forming my own recipe form it in my head as the day goes on using ingredients that I have on hand. In the end, the two recipes may not be very similar, apart from the basic ingredients, but my results are pretty good, if I do say so myself. This recipe is a chicken and rice soup that I've now made twice, it was somewhat inspired by Rachael Ray's Chicken and Rice Stoup.

In this adventure, I intentionally over-boiled the rice (by using more liquid than necessary), which causes it to kind of burst. I think it gives it an interesting texture and has the bonus of confusing people who may not realize that it's rice.


Photo by Husband

Warning: This recipe will make your house smell amazing!

You will need:

• 3/4 cup rice (I use white)


• 1 box (4 cups) chicken stock (I like Rachael Ray's Stock in a Box)


• 3 chicken breasts, already grilled and cubed*


• 4 cups water


• 1 carrot, chopped


• 2 celery, chopped


• 1/4 white onion, chopped (about a 1/2 cup)


• 3 bay leaves


• 1 teaspoon oregano


• 1/4 teaspoon thyme


• 1/4 salt


• 1/4 black pepper

What you do:

• In a 3qt or larger pot, boil rice in 1 cups chicken stock and 1 cup water until all liquid is absorbed into the rice, be careful not to let it stick or burn.


• Then add 3 cups water and remaining 3 cups of stock.


• Throw in the carrots, celery, and onion. Stir in all the herbs and seasonings. Bring it all back to a boil, then add chicken and reduce to a simmer.


• Let it simmer for a really long time, I'm talking at least an hour. Then let it rest for a while, it's tired.

I have some simmering right now; I'll probably let it simmer for an hour or more then let it rest for another hour, so it'll be waiting when Shawn gets home from work [I originally wrote this up between 2 and 3p.m. Monday]. I might also bake some bread for dipping.

Notes: none of my measurements are exact and most of them are optional. Well, the chicken, stock, rice, bay leaf, and oregano are pretty important, other than that you can leave out or add anything you want. You can also adjust the amount of liquids added after the rice has cooked, depending on how soupy you want your soup Measurements for herbs are using dried, you can use fresh but you'll need to adjust the quantity.

*I will often cook several chicken breasts at a time, cube them and store them in the fridge to use for quick meals like quesadillas or the Larry's BBQ style "Giant baked potato" I had for lunch (Panama City and Dothan people will know what I'm talking about). This chicken was grilled in a grill pan with olive oil after being seasoned with McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning. You can substitute any cut of chicken you want. The intention of the recipe is to be able to make something that tastes great with items you have on hand; if you have thighs, use them. I usually have chicken breasts on hand because we buy the large bag of frozen breasts nearly every time we go grocery shopping 'cause you can always do something with chicken. This last grocery trip, however, we bought a whole chicken (sometimes we get both) as I'm eager to try "Stretching a Whole Chicken for 4+ Meals" from Passionate Homemaking. Now I'm just rambling.

If you try this recipe let me know what you think in the comments.

A winning attitude

I used to be a winner. By that I mean I used to win contests, it was pretty fun.

I remember getting at least a couple ribbons every year from field day in elementary school, and this was pre-every kid gets a trophy days. My ribbons were usually 1st or 2nd place, if I'm remembering correctly. In middle school I would have got an award for having the highest math average if it wasn't for the teacher miss-grading one of my tests (he saw a minus as a plus, I pointed it out, he tried to say I changed it after the fact [which he should have known I would never do], I cried).

But I'd like to talk more about random contests, raffles as we used to call them. And I'm definitely not going to mention that I was a finalist in a Seventeen magazine modeling contest in 10th grade.


Photo from Flickr user *phototristan


When my dad worked for a certain insurance company, they had annual meetings for all of the members (we were members too). They would serve dinner, talk about insurance stuff. The only time I remember paying any attention to the speakers was one year when they went over some "common" household accidents. What can I say, I may have had two teachers who wanted me to be tested for ADD, but stories kitchen fires and people getting injured while on the toilet could always hold my attention. Best of all they gave away door prizes!

When you would come in the door you got a ticket and sometime during the evening they would draw tickets and give away items they normally sold in their office like onions, honey, nuts, and jellies? Eh, I don't remember what they all were, but I do remember that I won them. For several years in a row I won peanuts, one year I won peanuts and honey! I have no idea how I won two prizes, did I have someone else's ticket? Did they call the same number twice? I don't know, but it was pretty exciting. Did I like peanuts? Not one bit if they weren't hot boiled peanuts, but did I eat those peanuts? You betcha, I did. I even dipped them in the honey the year I won both.

I think part of what made it so exciting is that I was always surprised to win. One year, I was feeling pretty lucky, but winning still surprised me because, well, what are the chances?

When I was in high school Coca-Cola had their "red hot summer" contest. It wasn't all about entering codes online like those types of things are now, it had something to do with this card you got from school and calling a toll free number to check if you've won. Anyway, pretty much right away I won free Jazzercise classes (I didn't go). Then I figured out that the prizes had to do with the zip code were you lived, so I called and changed my zip code to the zip code of a then friend who lived in Orlando. Next thing you know, I won tickets to a Black Eyed Peas concert. Of course, this was in 1998 and no one knew who The Black Eyed Peas were yet; I didn't go.

There was also a time when I was a member of some teen girl website, I don't remember what it was called, but they probably spelled "girl" with a u instead of an i, and I entered some contest that I didn't really even care about and won. The prize was pretty cool though, it was a pink guitar strap from Built by Wendy (she no longer makes guitar straps, btw), designed by Courtney Love along with a guitar pick with someone's initials on it. Wendy's? Courtney's?

Then, in 2004, when Pedro the Lion's album Achilles Heel was coming out, I noticed a banner on HM where you could enter to win the album. I entered and a few weeks later, without any warning the album arrived in my mail box. I had forgot about entering until it arrived.

It's a been a while since I've won a contest or drawing and I've come to think maybe it's my attitude that is the problem. When I won all of those contest, I never anticipated winning but I definitely didn't have the negative attitude about contests that I do now.

Most of the time when I see contests now, I think to myself "eh, I'm not going to win." Sometimes I don't even enter because I feel like "what's the point, I'm not going to win." Where did this attitude come from? When did it start? I want to somehow align it with a series of disappointments that happened after high school, but I can't seem to make that theory fit.

Perhaps if I changed my attitude back to a winning one of "hey, I could win" I might actually win something again.

What I learned from pregnancy nutrition books

Like any expectant mom, I want to do whatever I can to ensure that my baby is and will be healthy. One thing I was concerned about was my eating habits. Even though I make sure that I take my prenatal vitamins everyday, I know they are no substitute for for healthy eating (and they do not counteract bad eating habits).

I really wanted some ideas for meals that would give me and Will a lot of nutrients we need while not forcing me to eat 1,000 extra calories a day instead of just 300. I didn't know if these books would really be useful to me, so I checked out two from the library instead of buying them. The books I chose were What to Expect: Eating Well When You're Expecting and The Pregnancy Cookbook. I really only read much of the first one since I didn't realize when they had to be returned to the library, but I'm not disappointed.

I'm not disappointed in the fact that I didn't really get to read them, that is. After going through just the first bit of What to Expect, I realized that I don't eat that bad after all. I'm not saying the books are useless by any means, I'm sure for a lot of people they would really help. But do those who would be helped by these books ever care to pick them up? If your eating habits are terrible to begin with maybe you do try to do better when you're pregnant, but what would I know, mine aren't that bad.

The book has a little quiz in it too to help you see how much adjusting your diet really needs. This quiz may have been the most amusing part of the book to me; I was just shocked at some of the answer choices. Seriously people, the creamer in your coffee is not going to fulfill your baby's calcium requirements.

What I learned from these books is that I could be a lot worse off. Evidently a lot of people with very poor diets before and during pregnancy still end up with relatively healthy kids. Does this mean I'm going to give up and start eating bread and ice cream for lunch like I'd like to? No way, but it does mean I'm not going to feel bad about the handful of pepperonis I just ate because I don't do it every day.

Hello baby bump, goodbye clothes

I first had to buy maternity clothes when I was around 9 weeks along, but I could still fit into some of my pre-pregnancy clothes and all of my shirts. A few weeks ago though, my bump really popped out, to the point where I could only wear maternity clothes. So, I decided since we were/are hoping to move soon anyway to go ahead and pack up all non-maternity clothing.



This is what I'm left with, minus a few things that were in the hamper.

It's not much, but it does make deciding what to wear a lot easier. Not that I had a lot of clothes to begin with, in fact, Shawn has more clothes than I do. Even though I had just got rid of a lot of items right before we got married I still had several things that I didn't really wear or didn't even like. Now my closet just has items that I actually wear in it (except for that one skirt that I've never worn and the one next to it that I haven't worn in years. I should probably say goodbye to those).

When I originally planned this post it was going to say something about how it was good to get used to a smaller, simpler wardrobe anyway since we will be moving into a house with no closet space, but that's not happening anymore.

Words that raise my "no way" flag on real estate listings

• Townhouse (they mean duplex)


• Close to FSU (variables include: great for students, walk to campus, etc.)


• Split floor plan


• In town


• Pool home


• Crawfordville


• Northwest


• Galley kitchen


• Located in (any name here) development


• 1 bath

And what's with houses being described as "cream puff." Since when is a tasty pastry an adjective describing a house?

A Slow Goal

Due to reading In Praise of Slowness and some other thoughts that have been swimming around in my head lately, I've decided to go for a new goal.

My new goal is to cut out pre-made or over-processed foods. I guess I don't know exactly how to define the type of food I'm talking about. I'm talking about things that people made from scratch 30 years ago but now we depend on mixes or frozen boxes for.

This isn't a big leap for us; I already cook nearly every meal we eat at home and most of our grocery shopping is already from the perimeter of the store. I haven't bought frozen pre-cooked chicken fingers or bagel bites since we've been married (5 months today!). Those used to be my go-to lunches, so if I can cut those out, it won't be hard to stop the rest. I already no longer buy canned vegetables, they're either fresh or frozen fresh, and we don't buy pre-cooked meats other than pizza toppings. So for us this means no more Bisquick pancakes (I've made pancakes from scratch many times, so not a biggie), no more brownie or cookie mixes (everyone loves these anyway), and no more Kraft mac & cheese.

The last one will be the hardest, I eat mac and cheese for lunch all the time. Don't get me wrong, homemade mac&cheese is no stranger to me, this is just one area where convenience has me so won over it will be hard to break the habit.

Thinking on this same topic last night I asked Shawn what he thought about getting rid of the microwave. I don't think that idea went over too well.

The Many Reasons We Need (Want) a House

Oliver: our puppy is going to be very big—huge, the vet says. He has gained about 10lbs a month since we got him and still has a ways to go. We need somewhere to put him where he can play by himself other than our tiny balcony. We also need a place where we don't have to worry about him trying to make new friends with people who really don't want to be his friend when someone takes him out without a leash.

Money: payments for several of the houses we've looked at would be cheaper than our current rent.

No more elephants: I really don't know how the people upstairs make so much noise.

Garden: I really want to plant a vegetable garden. Actually, I want to do this: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!

Buying the cow: We'll have room (hopefully) for a freezer so we can buy a half of a cow.

We're having a baby: Okay, the baby isn't due until February, but I'm sure it would be a lot easier to make the move into a house before then than to wait until our lease is up and move with a 2 month old.

I'm pretty sure I had a lot more reasons than this when I first wanted to post on this topic, that's what I get for being a slacker.

Change is in the air

Wow, I'm blogging, you're shocked, I know.

A lot has changed since I last wrote here.
I got married!

I'm this close to being getting my BA.
We got a puppy!

The vet says he is either part Mastiff or Saint Bernard. In case you don't know, those are both considered "giant breed" dogs. She said, "he's going to be huge." So this will be fun.

In addition to these changes, changes will be happening here too. I'm going to try to focus more on my original goal for this site, which is to write positive posts about things that make me feel uplifted (keep me from sinking) in hopes that they will help someone (even if it is just one person) who reads it. Among these posts, which will probably vary from life things, to things in the news, to thoughts on scripture—like I've done on some of my previous sites—I will be writing more reviews. Right now I think the reviews will mostly be books that I enjoy and/or have a good message, but there may be an occasional CD or movie review as well.

If you have anything you would like to see reviewed here, let me know by emailing Reese@Ohbuoyancy.net
That's all for now.

Of Another Time and Place

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that I am of another time and place; I should have been born in England in the 17th century.

I have a preference and tendency to use (without thinking about it) Old English. I use "dreamt," not "dreamed;" I think the word color should have a "u" in it and many other things along these lines. I've always preferred British punctuation, especially when it comes to quotations. In American English, punctuation marks always go inside the quotation marks at the end of a sentence, no exception. The English way makes so much more sense; for example, with a question mark, if the question is what is in quotes then the mark is inside the quotation marks, but if the question is the whole sentence, not just what it is being quoted, the question mark is outside of the end quotation mark (How many times did I say "quotation"? Three. Did I ever say "quotation?" No.)

Just now, I was reading some 17th century literature and nearly every noun has its first letter capitalized (yes, I used a z and not an s, but trust me, it was not without hesitation). If you check my work from elementary school (not that you could do that, that would be weird) you will see that I did this more often than not.

Finally, when I was in elementary school we were still taught to use the Oxford comma. For those of you out of the punctuation nerds loop, this is the comma before "and" in: Red, white,(this guy to the left here) and blue. We've driven the Oxford comma into non-existence, but he's there for a reason and I refuse to give him up!

It's all crazy!

The times when I've had the most to post on the various blogs I've had are times when nothing else required much mental energy. Right now school requires most of my mental energy and a lot of my time. Lately I feel like people I know who aren't in school don't understand this. Yes, you work, and yes, that's very important, but your work doesn't have homework and papers to write. Unless you own your own business or have a very stressful job, you can hopefully relax and let go once you're off for the day. School doesn't work like that. It's not a big deal, but I wish people were more understanding.

However, I'm very excited about going to see mewithoutYou tonight, hence the title.

In the church not of the church

I love God. I like church, at least half the things about it, that is. I like learning about God and understanding things in a different way. It can be helpful, uplifting, and make me face issues I need to deal with. I guess what I'm really saying is that I like the preaching and teaching part of church.

I don't like the politics of church. I don't like most of the fellowship (read: people getting together to gossip and be overly dramatic about everything while being highly critical of those outside their circle). I don't like the judgment and stereotyping: how the inside is high and mighty, their wrongs are okay (sure when they realize they're wrong they can ask and be forgiven, but so can anyone who is sincere) while everything outside is basically evil. Yes, the "outside" stereotypes the inside as well, but is the inside doing anything to break that trend and mold? From my perspective, ("on the fringes" maybe) the inside strengthens that negative stereotype in 85% of their interactions with the "outside."

This is only part of it, but I believe that too often the people of the church forget that they're in the world, there's other people out there and they matter to God just as much as you do. They matter even more, remember the parable of the lost sheep?

Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

But instead of creating community with others, people of the church create an insiders clique.
Jesus made friends with sinners, people who were not part of the church circle.

Mark 2:13And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.

For me, while I'm "in the church," I'm also in the world, which isn't all bad, after all it's the world that God created for me to be in for a time and I have a purpose here. I am not of the world, but I'm also not of the church, I'm trying my best to be of God.

For now, I think watching church on TV may be my best choice.

Procrastination

Procrastination does some weird things to me, or has weird side-effects, I guess. Today I should be working on one of the four papers I have due, but have I? Far from it.

Today I came home, ate, washed dishes, that's all normal. (Prepare for a really long run-on sentence) Then, I washed the sink, threw away gross stuff that didn't belong to me, thoroughly cleaned the counters, the stove, the microwave (that I hardly use), the cabinets, the fridge, the table, the tv, the trash can, swept the floor, dusted, wondered what to do about those nasty drip pans on the stove, didn't have any aluminum foil, googled it, decided to soak them in soap and ammonia, was going to swiffer with the wet jet, but was out of batteries because I put them in my Wii Fit, which is in Panama City, washed towels, made sweet tea, perused the interwebs, ate a not-quite-up-to-par peach, got annoyed with asmallorange.com because my site was down, searched for courses that may have opened that I could add to my summer or fall schedule, added History of Central Asia, then saw my site was back up and blogged about it all. Now I'm going to make some spaghetti.

Matchmaker, matchmaker

What would you do if you saw someone you knew on match.com? An ex? Someone you went to school with?

One night Amy and I were browsing match for just these types and find them. Amy finds an ex and I find this guy I went to school with.
During my first stint at GCCC there was a guy in my radio classes, JP we'll call him, 'cause that's his name. JP liked attention I guess, he talked with a fake Australian accent, we all knew it was face, yet he still went on insisting it was real. Occasionally, when he would slip up and not accentuate words enough, or at all, and someone would call him on it, he would just say he'd been in the states so long that the accent comes and goes. Then we would talk about him behind his back, good times. Don't get me wrong though, other than this weird reach for attention, he could be a really nice guy when you spoke with him one-on-one.

Maybe a couple weeks later after finding him on match.com, Amy and I are on a quest for pizza and stop at Gumby's, which seemed to be the only pizza place open after 10 on a Friday night, weird. We go in and I immediately recognized the guy behind the counter and he clearly recognizes me because he begins to speak in a well out-of-practice fake Australian accent. Gumby's just has a tiny lobby—it's not a dine-in restaurant, so we're cornered. I don't let on that I know him and don't have an opportunity to say to Amy, "this is that guy." So he slips up on a word and Amy calls him out, he shrugs it off. I'm having such a hard time trying not to laugh. When I get the chance, I text Amy and it's good I did because she thought he looked familiar and almost asked him how she knew him.

So we leave and we're both cracking up as we walk back to the car. Of course, we're talking about him and there he is standing behind the building talking to a coworker. I don't think he heard us and the laughter resumed with added hilarity once we were safely in the car.

Thanks Doc

I get these cramps sometimes in my feet or legs when I lay down to rest or sleep and sometimes when I get up. I also get random cramps in my hands throughout the day (not every day). This has been happening for a few months. So, I Google it, find out they're referred to as nocturnal cramps.
What deficiencies can cause these cramps? B-12 or potassium. My multi-vitamin has B-12 but no potassium.
Research potassium and what foods are high in it. Get a website that also lists medications that can affect potassium levels - Prednisone increases the release of potassium in the urine.
Why hasn't my doctor checked my potassium? I've had blood work done 3 times since I started Prednisone the first time, they never ordered a check of my potassium.

The Pros

Much bigger room with a full size bed.
Only one roommate.
My own bathroom with a tub, not just a tiny shower stall. I've never had a bathroom all to myself.
Ceiling fans.
We haven't used the A/C or heat at all since I've been here.
Windows that open.
I'm on the top floor, which is also the second floor.
No elevators, I hate elevators.
My own secure wireless network (no special login for the internet so FON works).
Having more friends close by. Amy is less than 10 minutes away, that's closer than when we both lived in Panama City.
Quiet.
A lot of walking - campus is huge, I need the exercise.
Parking is a beast - this is a pro because it's my only complaint and if that's so than I'm doing pretty good. Plus I think it's getting better or maybe I was getting there too early.
I like being an English Lit major.
I had to choose a minor and had a hard time choosing but went with history. I'm currently taking 20th Century Russia and finding it very interesting.
Beautiful.
Winter exists!