List of things so I don't seem boring

I am working the West Coast shift right now, which is 11 AM - 8 PM and the work came to a sudden grinding halt at about 7:30, which I love, but which leaves me with nothing to do since Facebook is blocked while I'm VPN'ed in to the ERI network. So I decided to make a list of things that we have been doing, so that we don't seem so boring.

• Yesterday we went to the wedding of my good friend Kora to John Lehman. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Lehman! Makes me think of when we got married and all the great advice we got, all the marital counseling, and how we thought we were prepared AHAHHAHAA!!!! Let me stop laughing about that part and continue.
• Saturday morning we rode our bikes to the park to hang out with our Community Group. This was probably our last time with the Suttons before there are 3 of them - Mel is in the hospital right now being induced. Bob is keeping us updated via Twitter.
• Due to everyone being pregnant right now, I am learning more than I ever wanted to know about the way doctors and hospitals deal with pregnancy and birth. I am not going to go into my personal feelings, because I know there are a lot of different ideas out there, and I want to say that everyone should do what they feel comfortable with. But for the most part, the more I learn about how doctors and hospitals deal with pregnancy and birth, the more angry I get.
  
• I got my mesh scooter jacket Saturday and wore it to ride to work today. It doesn't feel hot at all, it has great ventilation!
• Posted the pictures of Trent & Virginia's baby shower on Flickr, if anyone is interested.
• Christian saw what appeared to be a mountain lion during his morning bike ride today! Dallas Animal Control did not understand or care.
• By the end of this week I should know my work schedule for the next 2 months. I am really looking forward to that, since it has been difficult to plan things not knowing what shift I'm working until the last minute. Alternatively, we are going to 10-hour shifts where we only have to work 4 days a week. This means there will be some nights that I will have to be online and can't do the things I'd normally do. But it also means that I won't have to use vacation days to take 3 or4 day weekends!
• We saw Wall*E last night and it was awesome! Everyone should see it!!
  

If anyone can think of anything else that I have done that might be considered interesting or exciting, please do feel free to post a comment!

New Helmet: Like an orange on a toothpick

Although I ordered it 2 weeks ago, there was a problem with the wrong item being shipped, and today I finally received my new scooter helmet! Check it out!!
I immediately took a picture with my iPhone and emailed it. My sweet husband sent a text message, wondering if it might be the right size?, while my best friend emailed to-the-point "You look like an alien"
Despite the disproportionally large size of my head now, I am very excited because now I will no longer be hit in the eye with bugs and debris, and the sun shade will really help with the squinting. Not to mention my head is now fully protected.

As soon as I got excited I got bummed again, because it turns out I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, meaning I can't drive the scooter to work :-( Well, see you on Friday, new helmet!

OH yes, I have a blog!

Someone reminded me today that I do, in fact, have a blog. Regardless of how long it's been since I actually posted :-)

This weekend we made a quick trip down to San Antonio to attend the baby shower of some friends of ours and had a nice relaxing time. We were able to leave early in the day on Sunday so that we got home before midnight! That is always nice, driving until midnight 2 days out of the weekend really tires me out for the week ahead when we have to do it.

So, I was hoping to wait to post until I have some pictures of the shower but I haven't had the chance to upload them yet and I think it will be Wednesday before I do.

In "revelations" we realized this weekend that we did not know any couples who are now not pregnant, have their first baby, or are trying for their first baby. Then we thought again and we might know 2. We confirmed only 1 out of the 2, though, so you never know.

While we wait for that, here are a few scooter-related items I have been drooling over. Thanks to the ladies on the Scooter Diva forum who have told me all about the proper safety gear, I had no idea. I don't want to leave any part of myself on the pavement, thanks.

* DROOL *

Bedroom remodel

I have finally decided to post pictures of how I painted the bedroom, since I finished the curtains this weekend. I am a little reluctant to do this yet, because I am still convinced that I have yet to find the perfect bedspread and/or pillows that will really tie the room together. But, the search is taking longer than I thought and I think it might be next year until I get that part figured out, so here we go.

BEFORE:

AFTER

You can ignore the demonic-looking cat on the bed. That is why we have to stick with dark colors, and we don't actually sleep with that bedspread - it is for keeping the cat hair off the duvet underneath :-)

I couldn't find curtains I liked so I bought 4 twin flat sheets and made them into curtains. I'd really like to find a nice bedspread or pillows that would tie in the brown and green. And we do plan to get real nightstands at some point...but there it is!

Biobag, "Flavors of Entanglement", and TMI

Several people have asked me about the "side effects from medicine" that I mentioned in my last post, so this is the TMI (too much information) part of the post, feel free to skip ahead. It turns out that at the age of 30, I have developed the beginnings of adult acne. When I realized this I went immediately to a wonderful dermatologist who has me on the Retin-A cream. This makes my skin peel. Its very tiny peeling but I feel like it makes me look like I have a kind of peach fuzz, and it is embarrassing to me!! I have been trying to remind myself that this means it's working. Hopefully it will stop soon.

OK, so now for a few reviews.

BioBag

In our efforts to go progressively more green, we have stopped using plastic grocery bags altogether for our groceries, but were still using plastic in our kitchen trash. I had read about BioBags, which are biodegradable and compostable, so I picked some up at Green Living last time we were there. This is my second week to use them. Due to the amount of things we can recycle and our curbside recycling program here in Dallas, we only go through about one kitchen trash bag every 7-10 days. I am not actually composting anymore but that is a different and longer story. The first week, right before I took the bag out of the trash can and to the trash bin behind our house, I emptied an entire kitty litter box into it in addition to the trash already in it. This was a bit harsh, I know, but I wanted to test it to it's limits! FAIL. It sprayed a fine line of kitty litter throughout the house on the way out the door. I thought, OK, that was a little too much. This week I only put our regular trash into it. (I guess there were some wooden BBQ skewers too) But when I went to pull it out of the trash can - it had already started decomposing! Oh no! Half of one side of the bag had disintegrated into nothingness. I had to carry the whole kitchen trash can out to the trash bin in back. Then I had to hose out the kitchen trash can. Gross!! I have 10 more bags left in the box, so I am going to keep using them. If it gets any better, I will let you know. But my early conclusion is that these bags would only work if you change out the trash every 3-5 days before the bag has had a chance to disintegrate.

"Flavors of Entanglement" by Alanis Morissette *

OK, so I love many of the songs on this album, currently my favorite is "Straitjacket", because it talks about someone who drives her crazy because they don't listen and I feel like that at work sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love my work, but I do work with some completely insane people, too, mostly because they don't listen. I think that Garrett would like the song "Citizen of the Planet". The song about missing someone ("Torch") is so real and sad that I can hardly listen to it without being extremely glad I am married and won't ever have to go through that again, but also filled with sadness thinking this might be how I feel if I were to be widowed when I am old. She still has several songs about her struggles with people-pleasing ("Tapes", "Moratorium") and control ("Incomplete"), which I think is what I always identify with in her albums. Anywayz, thumbs up to this album! :-)

* rant * Look here, if you start reading this thinking of Alanis Morissette as only the artist who sang "You Outta Know" in 1995, you might as well stop reading. In my opinion, although that was her biggest hit, it was the worst possible portrayal of her music and her attitude toward life. Even if you only listened to the rest of that one album "Jagged Little Pill", you could tell that she is actually a spiritual and peacefully seeking person. She has had many albums since then, all of whom have outlined her increasing spirituality, if not her continued failure in love. This is not to say she is a Christian artist, far from it. But, I think the way she writes of accepting things and letting go is very much a characteristic that those of us who follow Christ should have. * rant *

I am still here

I have things going on inside my head that I don't necessarily blog about, most having to do with side effects from the medicines I am taking or have quit taking. So that is what has been up with me. But, upcoming: my review of the Wii Fit and Alanis Morissette's new album, Flavors Of Entanglement.

Scooter in the wind

This morning there was precipitation falling from the sky when I went to meet Mica and Mel so I could not ride the scooter there. I thought there was no hope for riding to work, but right as I was getting in the car, the sun came out! So I hopped on the scooter and the ride to work was uneventful. There was a little wind but it was not too bad. The scooter is small so it didn't catch much wind.

The wind was a different story when I left work! It is something like 35-40 mph out there I think. At one point, at the beginning when I was on a cross road with no trees around, I was blown into an entirely different lane than where I started. Fortunately this trip was taking place at 3 PM and hardly anyone was on the road. I discovered that it was best to walk the scooter across cross roads, and that if I stayed under 10 mph I would have more control. So I made it home and by the time I got into neighborhood areas, there was not much problem because the trees broke the wind.
That was my first adventure with the scooter.

New Scooter!

We just got it, and it is 10 PM, so we tried taking pictures in the dark but they aren't great. Keep your fingers crossed that I can actually drive it tomorrow, since we forgot to get the cord to charge it from the seller. I just need it to hold enough charge to get to Einstein Bagel and then to work and back!

Patience - UR doin it wrong

Since I work only 2 1/2 miles from home, we always feel like it is a shame that I have to drive. But, with Dallas weather often getting up to 100 degrees by 8 AM I can't ride my bike because I would be a sweaty mess by the time I reached work. Also, it would take a significant amount of time due to the circuitous route through neighborhoods that I'd have to take to avoid major highways. But an electric scooter would be perfect because it would go faster than a bike and I wouldn't be sweaty....or at least, not as much. Some sweat is pretty much a given, even if you're only walking between the car and a building.

We did go look at some Vespa scooters, but it turns out that since they run on a mix of gasoline and can go at pretty high speeds, you actually need a motorcycle license for them, as well as insurance and vehicle registration. While we are keeping that in mind for the future, that is not our current intention. Plus, it would still use fossil fuel.

Then we found this ad on Craigslist. Oh yes, Craigslist has everything. Compost, hubcaps for our Mercedes, scooters....So yesterday we drove out to the suburb and took a test drive of the scooter and loved it! We had to talk to our community group first but now we are ready to buy it!! Unfortunately, there are timing issues and the matter of finding a truck to transport it home. The Mercedes is still in the shop and Christian is having to drop me off at work. It is supposed to rain on Friday. I am ready for the scooter RIGHT NOW!! I am really having trouble being patient.