Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Emotional Rollercoaster

It is funny to look back on this whole pregnancy process and to see the different stages of emotions we have gone through. At first it was fear and a bit of grieving for the lifestyle we were leaving behind. This is not to say we didn't want the baby, but it is just being honest with the first feelings I at least had in my mind. We were originally planning on waiting another 2 years, but you know what happens when you plan too much in life.

Then we moved on to the relative excitement with a lot of fear. How can this possibly work? Can we still live in this area? How will we take care of him?

Finally, we crossed the point this weekend where we are ready for the guy to get here. I can't wait to hold him in my arms, read to him, play with him, and eventually talk with him. I am looking forward to the "new normal" in our lives. It is strange to think that within two weeks we will experience something that will completely change us forever, but it still feels so surreal and distant. Yep, I know that pretty soon I will be changing diapers, feeding, and waking up at all hours...but I am not quite there mentally. I guess this is what people talk about when they say you are never completely ready to be a parent. All we can be is ready to surrender our plans and ideas of how we can control the situation to our loving and faithful God.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Best Pizza Yet

Well, I made the best pizza yet today. I used the same dough, but it was made today, not one day ahead. I made a different sauce, used an italian cheese combo and went with the good old pepperoni/pineapple combo. Chase that down with a oregon honey beer from TJ's, and you got yourself a good meal.

DH(hel)L

That's right folks. If the devil has a preferred shipping carrier, it is definitely DHL. We have used their service a total of two times. Each time we were unaware that they would be the service used, and each time I have wondered how a company with such poor customer service and polices can possibly stay in business.

Each time they have tried to deliver our packages at 10:30 on a weekday. They never buzz our neighbors, and they wonder why we aren't their to pick it up. This has to happen all the time to them if they are unwilling to buzz other neighbors or are not able to change the shipping address. Also, FedEx and UPS both have the ability to send out a notice to a driver that the person is home or to reship same day if they happen to be in the area, not DHL. And, to top this all off, someone tried to ship baby stuff to us. They called to have them ship on Saturday, which apparently is a big hassle, and they were told that WE would have to pay $15 for the Saturday shipment. Oh well, no major deal, and the person shipping it to us was going to reimburse us the cost. Except that when DHL came today, they charged us $15 per box. So, we had to shell out $30 for two boxes, one with baby bedding, and the other with diapers. That's right, we paid $15 to have a box of diapers delivered on a Saturday. Seems about right to me.

At least I can trust our capitalistic market to weed out a company with this kind of business practices.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Oatmeal Stout

Tried a bottle of the Stockyard Oatmeal Stout last night from TJ's. It was a pretty decent bottle of beer with a hint of chocolate and coffee. Not sure if I would make it a regular compared to something from Deschutes Brewery, but you can't beat the price and the ability to buy it by the bottle at Trader Joe's. Plus, as a bonus I got to shop on Earth day, meaning I could put my name in the drawing for every hour. Have we ever won something for bringing a bag in to TJ's? Of course not. But it will not stop me from trying.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Softball Blog

Okay, so maybe this should just be a softball musings blog. I swear I will post other things one day.

We won by slaughter rule last week. Yep, you read that correctly...there is a team worse than ours. I think this was more indicative of how bad the other team was, and not a sign of us turning it around. We are probably middle of the pack, but put some hard hitters against us, and we will make errors galore.


Three more weeks and the baby is here! I cannot wait to hold the little guy in my arms. But what is up with the unsolicited baby name advice? If I don't ask for it, don't give it! And don't go shouting out names you hate...what if one of them is the one I love? Come on people!

Just barely missed the weekly post

Monday, April 14, 2008

Slaughterhouse Softball

I'm not saying our team is awful, but it is pretty bad to lose two weeks in a row by the slaughter rule...although I think this league calls it the "Mercy" rule. That doesn't make it sting less.



The good news: it is a fun group of people, and we are having fun together.


The bad news: Joe Torre is pissing me off with his lineups. How many times do I have to watch Pierre start over Matt Kemp? Uhhh, the insanity just keeps going.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Softball

Oh yea, we got a softball game for tonight. My new goal for the team is not to lose by the mercy rule...yes, this has already happened, and it was quite sad.

Hot Days

Man, what is going on with this weather for the weekend. I can handle the 78 degrees with a breeze, but I really do not want 94 for tomorrow, please don't let it happen.


I picked up Rock Band for the 360 the other day, and I was a little nervous about the investment, but I had a gift card sent to me from Best Buy for $100 for buying an HD-DVD add-on for the 360, so win/win on that one. I gotta say, this game is way fun. Now I just need to find some people that want to rock out (Shannon is not a big fan of video games), so if you are out there, come on over and let's rock together.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Total Embrarrasment

That's right...I am a total embarrassment to the blogging community. Well, I guess total is a little harsh, but when it comes to writing my own thoughts and publishing myself, I have royally stunk it up. What, the last post was over 7 months ago, man, that is really sad. I have a new goal. I want to at least write out or share some thoughts and moments at least once a week. If I do more, than great, but let's be realistic, I don't lead that exciting of a life.

I am smack dab in the middle of reading "Cannery Row". I love Steinbeck's writing. The vivid imagery and similes he comes up with make me laugh out loud while I am reading, which I am not afraid to do whether I am alone or in a room with Shannon.

Speaking of laughing out loud. I love taking walks around Pasadena while listening to NPR shows on the iPod. I wonder what it looks like to motorists when they see me laughing out loud on the sidewalk to one of the shows I frequent (This American Life, Wait, Wait, or Car Talk).

That reminds me...in this digital age we live in, I am having trouble telling the crazies from the phone freaks that are attached to their blue tooth headsets. Back in the day, if someone was talking out loud at a cross walk, you kept your distance. Now I don't know if it is just their poor reception and inability to walk 20 feet without calling someone on the phone. And seriously, people, can we please hold the phone calls until after you are out of the check out line at Ralphs. Are we that oblivious to proper manners that we are willing to let someone ring us up without acknowledging their presence? It reminds me of the customers that came into the bank on their cell phones...they would toss the deposit at me and keep talking on the phone. I really wanted to just stare at them and wait until they were done, but then all the impatient people in line would get upset for waiting over two minutes.

That is all.