Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, & my 100th post!

I hope everybody has a good Christmas! And that you all get what you wanted under the tree. Even if you didn't, there is always those nice gift cards and you can buy what you wanted.

This is my 100th post! I think it is a good number to end the year. Most of you had your 100th post many months ago. Some of you joined us recently, and aren't quite there yet.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

See you all next year!

the heartbeat

Today I had a doctor appointment and Dust met me there. I wasn't sure if we would be able to hear the baby's heartbeat. I thought it might be a little early still. If not, I thought it was a good idea if Dust came just so he could see the office and meet my doctor.

Dust may have been a little uncomfortable. There was another man in the waiting room though. The nurse told me that there was a good chance that we would hear the heartbeat because I had a small build. Apparently it is easier to hear the heartbeat on smaller women. I was so excited and glad that Dust was there. Dust met my doctor and we talked a bit. She brought over the Doppler radio looking thing over and placed the device over my belly. I was worried for a little bit because she had a hard time finding the heartbeat. "There's the baby," she said. "It was moving around on me." The heartbeat sounded like a helicopter noise at a distant. Dust's coworker told him that it would sound like a helicopter and he was right. How cool!

That experience made my pregnancy seem more real now. I really do have a baby living inside of me!

"fear of rejection"

I bet the title "fear of rejection" may sound a bit weird because you immediately think of what a guy fears when he asks a girl out. I think the title can also be applied to what I am writing. It has to do with making new friends. I have a hard time asking someone to do something on the weekends with Dust and I because of a fear of rejection. Here is a story that happened to me that will illustrate my point.

A few years ago, a man Dust knew invited him to some event that he had tickets for. I thought it would be nice if I asked the woman relative of this man to do something. She said yes at first and I got excited to get to know her better. We were going to go to a movie. Later she asked if her sister could come. Of course I said yes. I did think it would be nice to get to know her too. A few days later, she asked if her best friend could come and also her sister's best friend. I couldn't really say no. I was hurt that they each wanted to bring their best friend. I thought the point of the whole night was to get to know each other better. I can't really get to know you if you have your best friend there.

Another story. Dust and I invited a couple to go out to eat with us. We paid for their meal as a gesture of kindness. We seemed to get along great. The conversation seemed to flow naturally. A few weeks later, I invited them over to our house. We played some games and talked. Since I had initiated two outings, I decided to wait for them to ask us to do something. That call or invite never came. I was really hurt. I don't know what happened.

I was thinking about all of this today because of some thoughts I had after Sunday School. We talked about the two conversations that happen when you are talking to someone.

the surface: whatever it is that our mouths are saying.
the heart: does it communicate that you like or dislike the person?

I realized that if I dislike someone, it does show up in the way that I communicate with that person. When I talked with the people in the above stories after the events happened, I communicated to them that I did not like them. I feel so bad about that now. They probably had no clue why I wasn't being that friendly with them. They probably think that I am stuck up. Maybe the moral of this story should be: if someone hurts you, let them know about it. I have a hard time telling someone that I was hurt by something that they did or did not do.

crazy weekends

Drew's sister graduates college tomorrow with her MBA. We will be going to the ceremony. Drew's parents will also be there, so it will be nice to see them also. We will have to miss Crazy and Jimbabwe's party. How sad. Hope everyone has a good time!

We are going to try to make church on Sunday. I need to turn in my Christmas cards! Hopefully we can rest that afternoon. The following weekend will be busy also with Christmas! We are attempting again to spend time with both sets of family. We will be the traveling fools.

Pride & Prejudice

I saw the new movie of Pride & Prejudice last night and I loved it! The previews looked good and I am always up for a romantic movie. I went into the movie knowing nothing about the characters or the plot. Can you believe that I have never read the book or even seen a different movie version of it?

I thought about what the book Blue Like Jazz said about Pride & Prejudice. "You will know the heart of a woman if you read Pride & Prejudice." I thought about how Elizabeth fell in love with Mr. Darcy. She had some major grieviences with him and some things he did. Because Mr. Darcy loved Elizabeth so much he corrected the wrongs that he made. He brought Mr. Bingley and her sister Jane back together. He also saved Elizabeth's family from shame by finding Lydia who had run off with that soldier guy. Mr. Darcy even paid for their quick wedding. After doing all of that, how can Elizabeth not love Mr. Darcy? Actions definitely speak louder than words.

I'm losing it!

I just went to make me some Ramen noodles. Yes, I really do like eating Ramen for a snack at night. I put the noodles in the bowl but forgot one important part--the water. I walked away from the microwave and went to check my email. Dust asked me what was that smell? I opened the microwave door to stir my noodles and noticed that it had no water. I laughed and added the water. The water got all brown and I thought, "I haven't put the seasoning in yet." I burned the noodles! The bowl reaked of the burn smell. I was so mad! Dust said that it wasn't a big deal because I only wasted 15 cents.

My second attempt at Ramen is now in the microwave. I should go check on it. My lack of sleep is really messing me up.

Busy weekend

Friday night we went to Buca's on the Plaza to eat with the young married's group at our church. We met at the church and carpooled. Our reservation was at 8:30 pm, so we walked around the Plaza first. We went into Gap and Barnes & Noble. Our waiter at Buca's was really energetic and made it fun. I was amazed at how long the hallways went back in the restaurant. I actually got lost on the way back from the restroom. I had the chicken parmegiano (sp?) and it was really good. Dust and I had the leftovers on Saturday.

On Saturday, we went to Wal-Mart to buy some mouse traps. I didn't mention this earlier, but my cat Autum did catch a mouse and ate it whole. I was so grossed out! Our cat has been prowling around the stove and our living room couch. So, we think there has to be more mice. We caught up on our tv shows Lost and Martha Stewart Apprentice. I also put up our Christmas tree and decorated it. After that we watched, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." It was the original "Rat Race" movie. It was too long and I got bored with it.

Sunday, we went to Sunday School and church. After lunch, I made an appetizer and a dessert for our home group party. My mini cheese balls turned out ok. My dessert was Oreo Rocky Road bars. I was worried that they wouldn't turn out. Everyone seemed to like them at the party though. We sat around and ate. After eating, we played the game Outburst with boys against the girls. Unfortunately the boys won, but not by much.