We’ve had our first bit of winter weather this weekend. Ice, sleet, a bit of snow, the works. Poor pugs trying to climb down the deck stairs to go potty was quite a site. My husband is a safety freak so at the first mention of winter weather by our local weather guys Jon was glued to the tv. He’d furiously switch between the local weather station and the Weather Channel yelling at the tv “Where’s the big radar picture?? How can I tell what’s coming our way if you won’t show the big picture?!”. I also heard him yell at one point “The stupid Weather Channel is just like MTV now. No weather, just shows about weather! What the @#$%??”

He was off work on Saturday and was glad for it as he is a manager at a grocery store and if you live in the South you know what happends when they predict ice or snow…a stampede of people at the grocery store grabbing all the milk and bread they can find because a prediction of 1-3 inches means you may not see daylight for weeks people and for God’s sake they shouldn’t have to go that long without milk and bread!

Turns out his store had to close early because of the weather on Saturday and Jon had to work overnight just in case of a power outtage. Apparently Jon’s boss has him confused with Electric Man- able to produce running electrical current with a snap of his fingers! So Jon parked the car at the top of our hill and made his way to work overnight at the store. Now, let me explain what this meant for me this weekend:

1. No sleep Saturday night as Ike & Kea knew Jon wasn’t there and that means they must bark non-stop all night in tag team fashion.

2. Constant supervision by my husband of me all weekend.

I haven’t left the house. At all. He wouldn’t even let me out to check the mail. He just knew that the moment I touched down outside of the house I’d slip and break a hip or something. I was allowed to take the dogs out back though. Joy. Now, it was cold and nasty out all weekend so I really didn’t mind staying in. It just cracks me up how he springs to action and turns into such a zealot about it all.

We did watch 2 movies this weekend though. Thank you Jesus for Netflix. Cellular and Garden State. Cellular featured Jason Statham who we both love and was a clever movie we thought. And I just love Garden State. It’s not Jon’s type of movie usually, but even he laughed like crazy at the knight scene. How could you not?

Music

I was Challenged by Lisa to list 10 songs from my mp3 player:I don’t have an mp3 player, so I’ll just list some from my cd collection that are on heavy rotation in the car.

1. “Beyond the Sea” – Bobbie Darin

2. “Careful” – Guster

3. “Tainted Love”- Soft Cell

4. “One Eyed Fiona” -Lyle Lovett

5. “She Will Be Loved” – Maroon 5

6. “Uncle Alvarez” – Liz Phair

7. “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” – David Frizzel & Shelly West

8. “Hot in Herre” – Nelly

9. “Better on Holiday” – Franz Ferdinand

10. “Break Your Heart” – Barenaked Ladies

What is the total amount of music files on your computer?

118. All are there because they’ve been uploaded from cd’s. I’m not tech savvy enough to know about mp3’s and all that. I need to learn though. It’s embarrassing when your 52 year old uncle has hundreds of mp3 files and you don’t even know how to get 1!

The last CD you bought is:

2 Soundtracks: Garden State and 13 Going on 30. You can listen to both all day and not tire of them.

What is the song you last listened to before this message? “Tilt ya head back” – Nelly with Christina Aguilera

Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

1. “I Will Always Love You” – Dolly Parton (although I like the vocals on Whitney’s version better)

2. “There You Are” – Martina McBride (our wedding song)

3. “You Were Mine” -Dixie Chicks

4. “What a Good Boy” – Barenaked Ladies

5. “Evangeline” – Matthew Sweet (the entire Girlfriend album actually)

Who are you gonna pass this stick to (three persons and why)?

1. Laura because she is an enigma.

2. Ani because I bet she listens to a lot of good music.

3. Rachel because I bet her music collection is even more eclectic than mine!

What an adorable way to raise money for pug rescue! I’m a sucker for vintage prints anyway, and I love a good martini, but add a pug and I’m sold! Click on the picture to enlarge.

Here is a better pic of my new nephew Joey- he’s more alert now with his eyes open more. So sweet- he makes all these little coo noises when he eats. Click on the pic to enlarge.

Now, on to my first nephew, Jake. This boy will be 2 on March 30. Even so, at the tender young age of 22 months he has learned how to play pinball on the computer! Marc, his dad, taught him how to push the space bar to work the right flipper, and Marc (or you if you’re lucky) works the left flipper. If Jake were any smarter it would be illegal! He’s got amazing hand-eye coordination. And he knows how to give you five, up high, down low, you’re too slow. Folks, get ready for the most adorable red haired, blue eyed President of the United States someday. Ok, ok, so I’m a little biased. But look for yourself! This is Jake playing pinball with my Mom, his Gigi.

I go through spells where I won’t see a movie for a while, and then I’ll watch a ton. Recently I’ve watched quite a few: The Village (in bits and pieces, but I’m in no hurry to watch it all the way through), Little Black Book, Cinderella Story, First Daughter, Master & Commander, Paparrazi, and The Station Agent. Please, if you haven’t seen The Station Agent yet, put it in your queue. I loved it- such a sweet movie that was unexpectedly funny and very human.

I have a list a mile long of movies I want to see right now- especially most of those up for Golden Globes and Oscars.

My FIL’s birthday is today. We just got back from having dinner at their house. Mmmm, steak. Thank goodness I have a husband who doesn’t mind grilling in the cold. My FIL is a judge and we got him the coolest present, but it’s not in yet so I can’t show you. Dag! Although, his other present came in and he loved it. He’s famous for wearing mostly black or grey all the time, so much so that he’s been asked if he was in the clergy. I found this black t-shirt for him that says “I’m only wearing black until they make something darker.” Perfect!

I have a few things up on eBay right now. Someone out there has to be a fan of Arena Rock right?

Bethanie asked how am I doing and I’ve been wanting to write a wee update on all that so here goes. I am thrilled for Sara and Marc about the birth of Joey. I am thrilled for our entire family that we’re blessed with another sweet, healthy baby. I am extremely grateful to Sara for inviting me into the delivery room again so I can experience birth in person. She knows I may never see my own children being born. And that was really the only time I was sad during the whole Joey’s birth experience. Knowing that since this is their last planned child, that Joey’s may be the last miracle of birth I may get to witness. So I’m pretty excited about how happy I am with all this. No poor me tears.

Jon, on the other hand, has had a rough couple of days. I think he’s been so caught up in caring for me that he hasn’t processed his loss until now. He’s upset that it’s just not fair that while others get to have such easy family planning, that we have to go through interviews and home studies and extreme debt (unless we can come up with the money) in order to have a family.

Talking to my mom this morning about Jon’s feelings made me realize something. She said we need to make room in our lives for children, and thank God we didn’t have any with what we’ve been through over the last couple of years. That had we had kids to care for on top of my health issues that we’d have truly lost our minds. She’s right. So maybe now that things are shaping up we will actually have room in our lives for children.

My new meds seem to be working out nicely. I have one more follow up with my Dr next week to make sure I’m doing well enough on these meds. I’m sleeping better. I’m throwing up less (twice last week, once so far this week). That’s a huge improvement over the every day puking I was dealing with. I did have a panic attack last week, but got over it pretty quickly. Since the d&c I’m not bleeding or cramping anymore. I don’t shake as much now that I’ve had a med change. Things are looking up.

I’m really thankful that I have this blog as an outlet and my bloggy people as support. While on one level I’m aware that I’m posting rather intimate information on the world wide web, I know that without the whole blog community and forum that recovering from everything would have been so much worse. I’d have felt so much more alone. So thank you bloggy peeps!