Week 9- Adventures in Pregnancy

 

I wish I could say more positive things about being prego. Don't get me wrong, we are beyond excited about our little bundle... But pregnancy symptoms have gotten the best of me! This is when I start to hate Facebook. No one tells the whole truth on there, or maybe I'm just a baby who may have gotten the short end of the stick. 

This morning sickness thing is for the birds. You can read until you're blue in the face about every sign and symptom imaginable, but no one tells you how overwhelming it is to feel nauseous constantly... And for weeks on end. The emotional toll is unreal. Definitely an eye opener. 

Eating seems out of the question. When I'm finally able to convince myself of eating something (like soup) I feel better for a split second, ok maybe ten minutes, then it's back to miserable. I keep "reading" that by the second trimester I will start to feel better. Here's to hoping for better days!!! 

Overdue for a rant....

So, in the past week I've seen two posts in regard to people being mad at the person parking in a "special" spot in the parking lot.

1. someone was undoubtedly perturbed by the fact that a seemingly "non-pregnant" person parked in the "Expectant Mother" parking spot. Now, granted, she might not have been pregnant and could have been abusing the privilege. However, if she was and wasn't showing, she could have had the worst nausea known to man and just wanted to run in and run out.

Who the heck are we to decide who gets to take advantage of a spot or not??? It's like a movie I saw once where they let the kids keep hitting in the Tball game because there were "no outs". What? Who cares. There is not going to be a monitor making sure that each person parking there is an expectant mother, just like there aren't an infinite amount of outs in baseball. There is always a reason for something, but there are always those people who will cut corners to get a closer parking spot.

2. Then I saw another post from a person about another person who had used the handicap parking spot and in their opinion, that person was NOT handicap, but simply overweight. So this person complaining is a doctor now?? Interesting.

My dad has a handicap sticker. You can't tell that he is handicap. He looks normal. Isn't overweight. Doesn't have a walker or wheelchair. And yea, he might abuse the privilege sometimes to get a closer spot at the rodeo or grocery store, but his lungs and immune system aren't like ours - being outside is more dangerous for him than us. Walking long distances is harder on him than us. Have you had a double lung transplant lately? Didn't think so.

Think before you... think, really. Don't even let the thought cross your mind when you see things like this. It makes you an ugly person inside, spiteful and bitter. It is not our place to judge but just to do what is right. Don't tell me you've never cut a corner, or told a white lie to get ahead or come out in a better situation, because that my friend, would be a true lie.

Plus, if your husband is like mine, you get used to walking far distances because he ALWAYS parks in the back. Unless I get lucky, he drops me off at the front then parks.

The end.

I saved some money!

I found out this weekend that someone actually reads this thing so that has motivated me to share some of our home updates.

We didn't do too many projects but one I did saved us hundreds of dollars! And I'm usually not a bargain shopper!

A red buffet really caught my attention for our new dining room. The few I liked and kept seeing, like the below, were anywhere from $400 to $2000!

So I decided to look on craigslist for an easy to refinish table. I am so bummed I never took a picture of the original. I emailed the seller but never heard back. Oh well... 

The one I found was perfect but needed work. The light brown buffet I found had green trim and plain wooden knobs - very country cottage. I paid $150 for the table which might seem a little high but once it was done, it was worth it! 

I removed the doors and knobs then sanded the table, painted it a few different red's, decided on one, and painted the whole thing with a little roller brush. I was really freaking out at this point because it was SO BRIGHT! I really thought I botched it all up! 

The next day I busted out the black glossy polyurethane stain. I really had no idea what I was doing. I poured it into the paper dish (it's left over from kolache factory! haha) and it went all over, oops! It's not like paint! Maybe everyone else knew this, but me. 

I knew I wanted the top of the buffet darker than the rest so I layered on the stain. 

The secret to getting it to look this way was using a paper towel and NOT taking your time. The gloss stain goes on really slick and very dark. Have a paper towel handy to GENTLY wipe it off as you go, then run your regular paintbrush in the same direction as the wood grain, to get the desired effect. Your paintbrush will also remove some stain, too. If it's too light, do another coat. You can't wait too long, I found, because then it starts to get clumpy and you begin to pick up more of the stain than you might intend. I left the cracks alone.

I reassembled the doors, changed out the knobs and VOILA! Overall, I am pretty pleased! 

The metal wood candelabra on top of the buffet is from westelm.com (yes, I need to add candle sticks!) and knobs are from coolknobsandpulls.com

I apologize for the night light plug-in. They are all over our house. My husband is obsessed :) 

PS- I know there are professional refurbishing queens out there that are/will critique this but, for the little I knew about staining and sanding and painting, I think it turned out great! I might even try again! That just goes to show you that YOU can do it, too!

Moving right along

Talk about not skipping a beat!! The Walker's don't know what it means to take it easy. Let's examine the facts- we hadn't seen each other in 6 years and in two weeks became official, we defied the odds and got engaged after 6 months, and 6 months later you bet we got married, we closed on our first home within 2 weeks of making an offer, and now we are gearing up to make it our absolute dream home. 

Cannot wait to get all the items in that are on order!!!! Painting will be going on in a few key rooms- kitchen, dining and bedroom. Then the finishing touches!!! I will be posting before and after pics for everyone in about 2-3 weeks! Can't wait. I love our home and I know we are going to love it even more soon! Considering an open house or Super Bowl party!!! 

Stay tuned!!!! I'm even refinishing a piece of furniture! 

Exercising

My First Amendment right, that is!

Lots of media attention for the duck dynasty guy, Phil Robertson, lately.

There are a few issues/thoughts here that come to my mind – lots of time in the car road tripping to Disney World produces this kind of blog post (you thought this was going to be about our trip, didn't you??).

· If this was a person of the LGBT community, it would have the same media attention and the premise would still be the same – freedom of speech

· The media portrayal of Phil Robertson is as hypocritical as a black (excuse me, African American) calling a white (oh sorry, Caucasian) person a “racist (insert white slang here)” or visa versa and with other races! A white person (Caucasian) calling a Mexican (Hispanic???) a bad word but yet, the Mexican is the racist? Think about it. How “okay” is it for someone to call someone else hurtful words and stereotype them but yet, the one being ridiculed is the racist and in the wrong? That’s gross. You could argue and say racism is a freedom of speech, sure. Does that make racism ok? In my opinion, no, but others might think differently. Same goes for what Phil said – just because you and your dog don’t agree or do agree, whatever, it doesn't matter! That’s the beauty of the freedom of speech and the world we live in.

· Similarly, I saw a few posts about him being a ‘dumb redneck’… That’s hypocritical and, who are you to say he is a redneck? What the heck is a redneck? You’re no better for calling him names than he is for exercising his right to free speech – say what you want! Arguing his ‘redneckness’ doesn't make you the winner of this debate, just sayin’!

· There was a part of Phil’s conversation with the reporter that was cut off… He says, “we never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ‘em, give ‘em the good news about Jesus – whether they’re homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ‘em out later, you see what I’m saying?” That is so foundational for any Christian – do not judge, spread the Good News of Jesus, love one another – it’s not rocket science (or Christian Science for that matter)!

· And in case you missed it, here is an official statement from the Robertson family - http://duckcommander.com/news/robertson-family-offical-statement. My favorite part is this – “Phil is a Godly man who follows what the Bible says are the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Going back to point #2 – LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF – do not judge others or blame them based on a stereotype.

· I don’t mean to offend anyone or shove religion down anyone’s throat… that’s not the point. The point is freedom of speech. I have plenty of friends in the LGBT community, several are very good friends of mine, and I would never and have never thought “differently” of them. You want to hear about Disney World? Lots of lesbian and gay couples – everywhere. And we could have cared less. We were there to see Disney world, not spend our time muttering words of hate under our breath. The point is– love your neighbor as yourself, whether or not you’re lesbian, Muslim, gay, purple, Mexican, Hindu, what the heck ever.

· Hey Jack, and another thing – he is human. Have you never said something that caused you to immediately smack yourself on the head and think “why did I just say that?”? I do it all the time, unfortunately. The curse of the blabber mouth. If he had said the comment in point #3 before whatever he said about the LGBT community, the media still would have cut it out. Or, better yet, if he had said it in a slightly different way, what would they have done? They saw an opportunity to exploit someone, so they did it! They feed off all the idiots (including me) who support one side or the other. But, I have a blog and you will listen to what I have to say – Ok? Thanks! Kidding.

· ALSO – FYI – YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ OR LISTEN TO THE CRAP YOU SEE IN THE NEWS! Surprise, surprise – as much of a right as it is to speak freely, it’s also your right to look away and ignore. But thanks for getting to the end of this post!

Just calm the heck down, please?

I like the show, actually. I didn't like the thought of someone throwing us a Duck Dynasty theme wedding shower, but the show is decent. It’s mindless television but a good, moral, clean type of mindless. I don’t like hunting or camo or ducks but it’s someone’s lifestyle and that’s why people watch… we, the human RACE, are obsessed with others’ lives. Tell me you’re not and I will laugh at you because you’re engaged in at least one of the following - you’re reading this, you have a facebook, and/or you watch at least one reality TV show.

Case closed - Happy, happy, happy freedom of speech!