She can make a cherry pie, quick as a cat can wink its eye.

All week I've had Burl Ives singing "Billy Boy" running through my head. It didn't help anything when my friend, Jill, posted all about the cherry pie she had in the oven.



Still house hunting... ish. We've got aps in at two places, one that we would dearly love to rent, but we might not get, and the other that we can have if we want, but aren't sure we want. Landlords in both places are pretty darling...I think in the second house they're a little too darling. I kinda get the feeling that the wife would like to smother me and our little somebody in unsolicited love and grandmothering. I have a feeling that with 5 grandmas, this baby is gonna have enough extra love... maybe...

All that aside, the hunt is still on. Way too many questions. Do we put in our 30 day notice on Monday? Do we extrend our lease by a month? Do we move northside, or stay south? Do we give up on trying to find a house and go with the townhomes down the street from us? Do we start packing, or settle in until September or October?

I don't know. I do know that we're doing a lot of praying. I do know we need to keep praying.

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Baby has decided that he likes sugar. A lot. Sugar means he goes hyper active for several hours. Generally long enough to make me nauseated and dizzy... so we're limiting sugar.

He's also growing. I think this week is a major growth time for him. My belly has been insanely tight, and I've had a whole new set of side/abdominal muscle pains. I've also slept about 12 hours a day for the last three days, and it hasn't been enough. After two or three weeks of lots of energy it feels a little depressing to be dragging again, but I figure it's just a phase and I'll be back in a couple days.

"Find the baby," as Quinn calls it, has been getting easier. There's rarely a moment when he can't feel baby's head, or knee, or butt within seconds of touching my belly. It's fun. Lots of fun.

Still debating names. Elliot is still his middle name, and we're down to two first names, I think, though we do occasionally still make up new lists to cross everything off of.
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2 weeks ago Quinn came home fried 'cause they were changing up the scripts and commision requirements again. The next day he applied for a promotion that he was told he didn't have a chance at, and a couple days later had a message that he was accepted. So, after only a week on the new scripts, he switched to an 8-5 schedule for training, which means time off the phones, then next week he goes to noon-9.

So, for the week we're tasting the "normal" schedule that people live with. Not sure I like it. He gets home as drained as ever from work, but after leaving first thing in the morning. Our evenings aren't nearly as fun and energetic as our mornings have been, so I'm looking forward to getting back to *our* normal.

One of the perks of the schedule though, was getting to go to the Wed night service at Central. Last night a darling internation student from India was being supposed to be being interviewed, but really she just talked for an hour with a few comments from the fill-in who was leading for the evening while Pastor Mike is in Orlando for his nephew's graduation. She was odd to listen to, 'cause she was so foreign, but had been in the states for 7 years and had all the isms that American college kids pick up, and almost no accent.

Her testimony was pretty incredible. Her family moved from India, where they had been born into the highest class of Hinduism, to Oman, then her Mom left the country to go to school for a year and the three siblings and their dad stayed behind. During that year, her mother met a taxi driver who spoke her language, which was enough of a comfort to her after being such a stranger and so alone, that she accepted his invitation to go with her to church. She attended for about 6 months before she went home for break. During the flight home she prayed to Christ to free her from Hinduism and let her be a Christian.

From there it was a long story of how Christ revealed Himself over and over, how the familly was persecuted by their Indian relatives, how their brother was freed from the demonical power that had held him since his mother had made a covenant with one of the Hindu gods before his birth, and etc. It was all very powerful. I found myself frustrated as the leader for the evening turned it into a lesson on being a good witness with your life, by doing small things for other people. Especially after the student spoke directly about how easy it is to become casual and relaxed in our walk with the Lord, when as a Hindu she was devoted to night and day worship and a life that showed her faith, and how often she is convicted that Christ deserves countless times the devotion and dedication, yet we fail to so much as speak His name on a daily basis.

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Signing out for now. Need to throw together a casserole for Quinn to take to work tomorrow. It's "food day," which I think is a disgusting concept, but his coworkers get a kick out of it. Aparantly I was raised a little on the hyper-sanitary side of things, 'cause I think it's gross to eat food that people you don't know prepared in kitchens you've never seen, after it's been sitting on a buffet being picked through by dozens of random people for several hours...

And So...

The hunt is officially on. Quinn's last final was this morning and immediately after we were touring a rental. It's a no-go. Old windows and no central air unit would mean sky-high utility bills all summer. 'sides, it was next door to a BBQ and I have a feeling the smell would have been overwhelming after a while. It was cute though... the same thing with a central air unit would have been nice. Landlord was a grouch though...,

I spent the last hour going through several websites, gathering addresses to drive by in the morning. We want to move in 4 weeks, so we kinda need to get on this. I've got 13 addresses...

We're kinda picky. We've got a set price range that we're not willing to go over on. Quinn's requirements are a big living room, lots of windows and a garage. Mine are good floors (I love that everyone is going to original hardwood in all the old houses. Makes so many of them so much better) a decent kitchen, I want a dog, and trees...  central heat and air are a must, though if the rent is low enough window units aren't the end of the world. We like the older houses, in the quiet neighborhoods full of elderly people who have been living there since the 50's and 60's. We're looking at some duplexes, but prefer a house. I've got a 900-1100 sq ft minimum in my head. Southside of town, preferably SE... etc.

So far our problem has been cheap landlords. Lots of houses that fit our description, but have $500-1000 worth of minor repairs needed that the land lords are too stingy to make happen. Drives me crazy. All these darling little houses that need new trim work, or new flooring in the kitchens, maybe an updated bathroom... but the landlords want people in and out and don't want to spend a penny more than they have to.

That's kinda why we're looking at duplexes. People seem to take better care  of them...

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Anyway, I'm totally overwhelmed with it all today. 4 weeks is NOT long. Especially when you don't have a place lined up to move into.  Half of me is screaming to just wait it out until something pops up on craigslist with a little old lady as the landlord who just wants her people to be happy, but the other half of me is dying to get the whole thing over with so I can get settled in and decorate a nursery and plant flowers and play piano while we wait for our little somebody to come along.

*sigh*

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Went in for a consult with a urologist on Monday that turned into a 2 hour appointment and a cystoscopy. If you don't know what it means then I'll fill you in: Cystoscopy: UNHAPPY.

Yeah.

Got home at noon and went to bed. Had really severe abdominal pain all flipping day. Didn't get up 'til 8 when I moved to the couch. Spent a lot of Tuesday in bed too, but also let Q chauffeur me all over Springfield, buy me lunch at Mudhouse and dinner at Pizza Hut, etc. Still hurting today, but not dysfunctional, so I'm back to life, thanks to Tylenol and cold pizza. Life is good.

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I've got the other three members of a wedding quartet coming in 30 minutes to practice for a wedding on Saturday, and I've got a pile of stuff in the middle of the livingroom that has to be put away and a vacuum cleaner waiting patiently to be pushed around. Oh dear. Better run...

Thanks for reading!

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Okay. Strike 90% of that. Practice is tomorrow afternoon, not today. I now I have 16 houses/townhomes/duplexes to drive by. I'm making dinner, after which I think I'll go for a drive and see how many of these I can knock off the list. It would make Quinn's morning tomorrow much happier if the list wasn't quite so long.

I also need to call my Mom and tell her I won't be making it out there for piano lessons tomorrow, which I had bumped from Monday because I felt so rotten after my dr visit Monday morning and had it in my head that practice was today... lol. I'm such an air head these days.

Cheating for dinner. Using an Asian Sides rice packet to make a stir fry. So bad. I so don't care.

I think I'll go make a strawberry lemonade. Yeah. That sounds happy.

There are some morning...

"There are some mornings when I wake up and I'm just glad to be alive."      
                                   -A Friend's Facebook Status

I gotta say, EVERY morning when I wake up I'm glad to be alive. So very glad. I have such a happy, fulfilling life, such a beautiful marriage, such a wonderful Lord who guides each day. Granted, there are days when I wake up and say "Lord, only You know how I'm gonna get through today," but so many times He's proved that He CAN get me through those days that now it's almost exciting to wake up discouraged, 'cause I can't help but KNOW that He will get me through. All I have to do is let Him.



I was telling Sally about water aerobics this afternoon and she thought I should share one of the girls' insights.

T was telling M that she had been out partying way late the night before, but had had multiple arguments with bartenders because she would ask for juice, or tea, or pop, and they'd object, saying "but there's nothing in that!" (Duh, The woman is 7 months pregnant. It's pretty obvious) She was talking about what a revelation she's been having about partying. She's gone out with her friends as much as ever, but hasn't touched an alcoholic beverage for 7 months. She said she misses it, but at the same time, her life has been hangover free and she's still having just almost as much fun as she ever did before she was pregnant... so she's gonna maintain something of an alcohol free life after baby too, 'cause she loves being able to go out and be out late, but still get up early and function the next day.

It was so novel to her and the others... something they'd never thought to do. Turn down alcohol? Who'd have thought?

Duh. Another something to be thankful for: I was raised with the mentalitly that you can have fun without being drunk.

*sigh*.

Stupid world.

Headed to class... praying somone besides Beth is instructing tonight. ;)

-Joanna

Lord You Have My Heart...

...and I will search for Yours.
Jesus take my life and lead me on.



My house is a mess. My dishes are piled up. My bathroom needs scoured. My laundry closet is full of dirty laundry needing to be run up and down the stairs to the laundromat in the basement. *sigh*

It's really a very small amount of work when I actually jump in and start doing it, but it can be so hard to get the umph to go at it. kwim?

25 week appointment today. Means I have to do the glucose tolerance test. I doubt I'll tolerate it well... I can't even drink a can of regular pop without my system crashing. BUT, that stupid bottle of orange syrup has been in the door of my fridge for a month, taunting me, and I can't wait for it to be gone. I'm not touching the package of oreos (double stuffed) that's sitting by my head 'cause I know I will be absolutely ill if I eat any extra sugar with that filthsome bottle... but they're calling me...

Quinn is bringing home bread in a few minutes so we can have BLT's for lunch. He texted from class asking if we had sandwich stuff. Seems he's craving a cold cut... he craves food WAY more than I do. Like the oreos... those were his idea at 11:30 last night, so we made an emergency Wally-world run for him. hee.

To be completely fair; he had 2-3 hours of studying ahead of him and really just wanted something to snack on.

And I've been craving pizza for a week.

Generally speaking, I can't tell a difference in baby's activity that seems to be connected to my caffeine intake, but Sunday evening we went out with Logan for dinner and I had 4 huge glasses of diet coke. About half way through the third glass the little guy was doing somersaults. lol. It was even more noticeable 'cause I was eating... and when I eat my stomach gets sooo tight...just like a puppy. hehe. I'm not sure whether he was on a buzz or griping about having his space compressed by my chicken tenders, but he was sure trying to make a statement of some type.

I've started having some very odd dreams about him... Too odd to write or describe, really. I'm assuming this is a normal pregnancy thing....

Seems my husband's family has a neurosis about babies ending up in the washes. 14 year old Tabi said she always had dreams about Nick, the youngest, ending up in the washer, and now has dreams about Becca's baby, Ella, getting stuck in the washer.  Becca said she had dreams about Ella in the washer over and over while she was pregnant... I'm gonna have to see if there's a family ghost or something in their history that is haunting them. bwahaha.

Got to spend almost an hour visiting with my oldest brother, Jason, last night. I took brothers Daniel and Micah over there to watch the Spurs game when I left Mom's house after piano lessons yesterday. I wasn't planning on staying, but when I walked in Jason handed me a Klondike bar and before I knew it I was sunk into his couch and as happy as can be. Poor Tonia was sleeping with a fever, but it was good to visit with Jason. Praying he gets a little more work lined up soon, but it's always fun to watch him try out new directions, career wise. He started out as an optometrist's assistant, then went into sales and set some nationwide records back when Chase bank was still Bank One. After that he sold insurance for New York Life, then ended up back at Chase. Currently he's selling web designs and seems to be doing really well with it.

He and Toni have also picked up jewelry making. Toni has always dabbled with it, but now they're selling it. They make some fantastic stuff. I'll have to get some pics and post them. Jason says they get a lot of their ideas from Bones, which is, in my opinion, brilliant. Bones wears the coolest necklaces ever. As does Angela.... and the coolest clothes.

In case you didn't know... I'm kinda obsessed with Bones. I don't watch more than 2 or 3 episodes in one sitting though, 'cause it can get way overwhelming. I have a lot of girlfriends who are madly in love with Booth, and I have to admit that he's pretty special, though I haven't had a genuine tv crush in several years, due to being madly in love with my ultra hot darling of a hubby...

Seriously though, who doesn't love the Deschanel sisters?

Alright. Shutting up now. Quinn's home and it's time to make food...and in 24 minutes I have to drink my sugar dose. Pray for me.

The sea is His...

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

Psalms 95:5

In my opinion, plastic production ought to be banned. There's enough of it out there that if companies want to harvest it, they can do that. But that's just me...