Hello, there...

Well it's been a while since my last substantial post, so I feel obligated to write something. What, I'm not entirely sure, so I'll just ramble on about some of our recent happenings...

Mike went deep sea fishing with his Dad yesterday! Hooray! He caught some Croaker and some "Spot Fish"...not sure if that's the technical term for it, but hey. My major concern with this trip was that they'd get out to sea, and Mike would fall in the water and be eaten by a shark. Now, some might say that this is rather silly, but others might also realize that this worry of mine stems from my completely irrational fear of SHARKS! EGADS! So, when we were little, mom and dad belonged to the Iona Swim Club, which was awesome. We would spend lots of time at this community pool, and I have many fond memories of their night-time pizza pool parties and whatnot. However, I pretty much REFUSED to go into the deep end of the pool. This is because at one point when I was too young to actually swim in the deep end, I was just sitting by the edge soaking up the sun and enjoying kicking my feet in the water. I noticed a large black square at the bottom of the pool. Being ever the inquisitive little thing, I asked my older brother (it was Scott or Sam, I forget which...) what that black square was! The Answer: It's the gate where they let the sharks into the pool after it closes. And so, my irrational fear of being eaten by a shark IN A SWIMMING POOL was born. And it just made me fear sharks in general. I really believed that beneath that black grate (which I now know was a filter...) there were sharks just pacing back and forth, and I, for one, was not going to be anywhere near when they finally acted out their evil plot to break through the grate and eat all the tasty kiddies in the deep end.

Fast forward a few years to the summer after my 9th grade year in High School, when I spent the summer in El Cajon (sp?), CA with Jerry, Sara and Taylor. On our first trip out to the beach, I was just having a blast riding the waves and swimming it up with Jerry. Then, Jerry got a very serious look on his face, and said "we should go in". I didn't want to, so I told him I was going to stay out for a bit more. "No, really, we need to go in for a little while." "Well why the heck do we need to go in right this minute???" I asked... The Answer: It's getting close to feeding time and we don't want to be out here when the Sharks come in. And I bolted out of the water so fast I almost lost my bathing suit (which is hard to do when you're wearing a one-piece). Not only did I beat it out of the water, but I continued to sprint across the beach to where Sara and Taylor were playing in the sand. Several minutes later, Jerry found our spot and I did not appreciate his laughter.

So, that's where the whole irrational fear of sharks came into play. And yes, I was deathly worried that my husband would be the victim of those vicious man-eaters while he was out at sea off the Delaware Coast. You can ask him how many times I made him promise not to get eaten by a shark. Like there's anything he could do about it if the situation arose...Anyway, to my great relief, he did not get eaten by a shark. HOWEVER - he did have to endure several hours of storms. AND - they did CATCH sharks. Most of them were little baby 1-footers, but one guy caught a 3-footer that he kept. And honestly, if there were little baby 1-footer sharks out there, WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE WAS LURKING IN THE DEEP! AAAAAAAHHHHHH! I don't even want to think about it, it makes me queasy.

In other news, I'm going back to work next Monday. Hooray! No, no I'm not going back to Palmyra. As if! Last week I took the state civil service exam for the temp clerical pool. I passed (yippee!) and apparently had one of the higher scores, because they want me to start work ASAP. So I'll get my specific assignment sometime in the next day or two, and start it on Monday. It will likely be one assignment until I decide I don't want to work anymore. I'm thinking I'll probably go through the end of October, but if I'm feeling lousy before then, I may call it quits earlier. We'll see. But for now, it'll be nice to have something to get me out of the house. There's only so much time I can spend by myself and not go crazy. And by the time I get to work, it will have been just over 2 months since school ended, so I feel sufficiently rested and whatnot. Plus - it will be nice to have a little extra income, especially with a little Bean on the way.

So, I'm eating some awesome banana bread right now. My sister Anna gave me the recipe she uses, and it's totally awesome. This is the FIRST TIME I ever made my very own banana bread, so I feel very proud and domesticated. Well...domestic, anyway. It's very yummy, and I used the whole wheat flour and low-fat sour cream like she suggested, so I feel much less guilty about eating it. And I also just got home from the gym, so that also lessens my guilt. Why should a pregnant lady have guilt about eating anything in the first place? Because my doctor told me at my last visit that I've put on more weight than I should have at this point:( That made me sad, momentarily, but when I look in the mirror I don't think I look that bad, so I say BAH! to him. I also think some of it might be that I really didn't go to the gym AT ALL during the first trimester because I was so sick all the time, and was working which made me tired. But since my first trimester ended, I've been hitting the gym like a beast, lifting and doing cardio and whatnot. So, like Chrysta says, I'm choosing to believe that part of the weight gain, at least, is from the muscle I've been building up since the end of my first trimester. Boo-yah.

Mike and his dad have been working on the house. Their latest project has been the basbeboard heaters! We currently have radiators running off an OIL furnace. This, given the current economic conundrum facing our nation, has not been good for our bank account. SO. We decided to run electric heat and oil heat supplementary to each other. So far they've installed a heater and thermostats in the kitchen, living room, and our bedroom. Now all they have to do is put one in Bean's room (that's for this weekend...) and we're all set!

Oh yes, important update! Our friends from Church, Chad and Cheri, had their baby! And it was a GIRL not a boy! And they named her LUCY and not Bellini. Boy, can I tell you that I am relieved! That is one dream I was really hoping wouldn't come true:) Chad and Cheri had decided not to find out the sex of their baby until she showed up, and Cheri also decided, for that reason I'm assuming, to have her baby shower after baby was here. SO, that's where I was this past Friday night! And the baby is so so so cute, and she got TONS of adorable little outfits, and onesies and all that good stuff. We played a game where you had to answer questions about nursery rhymes, and I learned that I know absolutely NOTHING about nursery rhymes. So I think I'm just going to make up my own. Ok, here we go... I'll call it, "MONKEY MAN"

Monkey Man, Monkey Man, how do you do?
I'm doing fine, and Thank You!
Monkey Man, Monkey Man, how do you swing?
I wrap my tail around branches and fling!
Monkey Man, Monkey Man, how do you peel bananas?
I ask my friends to help me, they hang out in cabanas!
Monkey Man, Monkey Man, how do you fling your poo?
I get my target set, and aim it right at you!


Ummmm...ok, so that's not great. But it's a start. Feel free to share it with your kids.

Anyone else watching the Olympics obsessively? If you answered YES, you're a liar. Because you are currently reading this blog, and NOT watching the Olympics. Bah! I particularly enjoyed watching Phelps and crew take down the French team in the 400 relay. How amazing was that Lezak split? Pretty freakin' amazing. Serves those French right for all that trash talking they did! Also, how about our top American hope in the Badminton losing bad in the first round? I believe his name is Rai, and he just looked off form. And he'd beaten Lang (from Finland) the last time they met in tournament play, so it should have been a win. And what the heck was going on with our gymnasts in the qualifying round? I couldn't believe the injuries! And then everyone just looked shaken. I almost fell out of my chair when Lukin fell over after her dismount from the uneven bars...crazy. I'm just really, really really enjoying the Olympics. In fact, it's on tv even as I type this, so I'm not missing a beat. OH! and I really enjoyed watching Brazil destroy Russia in womens indoor volleyball! Brazil is so beasty! Makes me miss it so much:(

Ok, enough for now. I need to go make some Croaker for dinner.

Oh yeah, Bean is scheduled to arrive in 97 DAYS! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?