another year older

My parents came up to visit for my birthday this weekend. We took them to Nebraska Furniture Mart since they had never been. My mom was looking for a blue foot stool and a western type picture. It had been awhile since I had been there. We also went to Cabela's. My Dad enjoyed the tent sale of 75% clearance. He bought some coverralls.

For supper we went to George Brett's on the Plaza. We walked around and went into some stores before we ate. I had a KC strip sandwhich that was really good. I had a birthday cake and cookie at home that we had for dessert. I received some nice presents--pajamas, necklaces, a shrug, maternity tee shirt, baby photo album, and DVD's. The best present was being able to spend time with my family. It really meant a lot to me.

My parents left Sunday morning to go back home. They had to get prepared for preaching and doing the song service for the retirement home that night. We ate at Planet Sub with some friends after church. I wanted to get my free sub for my birthday!

I teased Dust this morning about having a wife that is almost two years his senior. This is the time of year that I feel old and it lasts until Dust's birthday.

liar, liar, pants on fire!

It is true that if you tell a lie and don't confess, then you have to keep telling more lies to cover up the first lie. I have always been embarrassed about how small I am. Everybody always used to make a big deal about it. If someone found out how much I weighed, I would never hear the end of it. So, I started lying about my weight around 6th grade. Sometimes I would add about ten pounds.

The weight issue came up when I got my first driver's license at age 16. The license bureau just takes your word for how much that you weigh. They don't put you on a scale. I lied about my weight on my driver's license by about 5 pounds. Three years later when my license came due, I had to lie again to cover up from the previous lie. I wish I could say that the lying has ended but it hasn't. Two weeks ago, I went to get my driver's license renewed again. The man at the license bureau asked me, "Are you still 102 pounds?" I thought to myself, "I am not that now." He isn't going to believe that I haven't gained a pound in six years. So, I added a few pounds and told him that I was 105. I figure that I will be that weight soon enough and who knows, I might not be able to loose the baby weight that I get.

new office suite and new hire

The company that I work for shares office space with an accounting firm. My boss thought it was time that we get our own office suite. Right now we share a receptionist with the accounting firm. When we get our own suite, we will have to hire our own receptionist. Also, when I take a maternity leave someone will have to do my job.

We were lucky enough to find some space for rent in the building that we currently work. My boss loves the deli on the first floor and he doesn't want to leave it. We are renting a suite on the 6th floor and it is getting renovated as we speak. I will have my very own office! I have never had that before. We will probably move in at the beginning of April.

My boss hired a lady to be our receptionist and to learn my job. She has worked with us two days so far and she is quite interesting. One of the first questions she asked me was: "Was your pregnancy planned or an accident?" I was shocked because I would never even ask my good friends that question! I told her planned. She likes to chat a lot and is very outgoing. She is the exact opposite of me, but I think we can work together fine. I am going to enjoy how my boss reacts to her in the future. He is obsessive compulsive and anal about how things are done. When she was helping me put checks into envelopes, she was making a stack of them on the floor. I looked at my boss and could tell that he was cringing inside. She was also just tossing the check stubs on his desk, and he likes them lined up in corresponding order. I think they might clash. I did give her the heads up on his OCD once he had left for the day.

It's a Boy!!!

Dust and I are having a baby boy!! I kinda knew it was a boy and told people early on that that's what I thought. We got 14 ultrasound pictures of the baby!! There is one that has an arrow that is pointing to it's private parts. The lady performing the ultrasound hasn't been wrong about the sex of the baby for 11 years. I think we can be confidant that it is a boy. We spent about 30 minutes in the ultrasound room looking at the baby from all different views. It is one active child!! It moved positions about 3-4 times during that 30 minutes. Dust and I might have a handful with an active boy on our hands!

Stay tuned....

Dust and I are supposed to find out if we are having a boy or a girl on Tuesday, February 14th at 2:30 pm. It is Valentine's Day, so I know that you all will have better things to do than check the blogs. Hopefully, I will have time before 5 pm to post the results. I can't wait!!!

outward appearances

We had a card in our door from KC Florist.com when we got back late Tuesday night from my grandfather's funeral. The card said that they delivered our flowers to a neighbor's house because we were not home. What kind of a crazy deal is that? Someone could have a dishonest neighbor and say that they didn't receive any flowers.

When I left for work on Wednesday, I drove slow to find the address that they delivered our flowers to. It was two houses down from us. I cringed when I saw what house it was because I am scared of those neighbors. The man has a shaved bald head, earrings, tattoos and usually has a mean look on his face. The woman is a chain smoker in her garage and is constantly on her cell phone. She always has a mean look on her face and always goes inside her house when I drive by.

When I got home from work, I debated on whether or not I should go over to their house. I could hear my mother's voice in my head. "Do not go to a stranger's house alone without Dust. It's too dangerous." Dust doesn't come home after work on Wednesdays because he has a class. I called Dust and asked him what I should do. We decided that we would wait until Thursday so he could go with me.

I was sitting in the recliner watching "Lost" on Wednesday night when the doorbell rang. I still had my work clothes on, but was wearing a robe over them because I was cold. For some reason I knew that I shouldn't change into my pajamas that night. I got scared and ran to a window. I couldn't see a car. I knew the person could hear the tv. My mommy always told me not to open the door to strangers, especially at night. I decided to look through the door window and ask, "Can I help you?" I saw my scary neighbor holding a vase of flowers. I opened the door and told him I appreciated him bringing them over. He didn't sound scary at all. He seemed rather nice. I guess I shouldn't judge people on the outward appearance.

thoughts

I have a lot of thoughts about these last couple of days regarding my grandfather's funeral. I don't want to bore anyone with the details. I also don't want to air all the dirty laundry for all of blogland to see. Here are some random thoughts in bullet form.

• Don't waste years holding anger inside of you. Forgive and forget. It is easier said than done. : ) Reconcile relationships with family.
• Seize the day! Do whatever it is that you have always wanted to do.
• Don't do things under obligation. Get out of things that you don't want to be in.
• Tell your loved ones that you love them.
• There really needs to be a funeral director that directs "traffic" at the coffin at the viewing. There has to be a better system. Maybe the family shouldn't stand at the coffin to greet people. They should stand at the doorway.
• A funeral home employee was at the gravesite after the funeral to catch people that had not signed the guestbook the night before. There was no one else around and I asked her if relatives could sign the book now. I didn't get a chance to sign it the night before. She told me that I could sign it later once we got the book back. How rude! I couldn't believe that she wouldn't let me sign it. Not even ten minutes later, my mother hollars for me to come and sign the book. My father was signing it and he handed it to me. I signed it and handed it back to the lady. I bet she felt stupid.

grief and selfishness

My nerves have been really bad today. I can't seem to calm down. I received a phone call this morning from my mom and she had bad news. My grandfather died this morning. He collapsed in the bathroom and paramedics couldn't revive him. He had been battling cancer off and on for the last few years. The cancer began in his prostate. He underwent treatments and was fine for almost two years. Last November he had radiation treatments for cancer cells in a different part of his body. About a month ago, the doctors found a cancerous tumor on his spine. My grandfather had recently finished radiation treatments for that tumor. In some ways his death was a surprise and in some ways it wasn't.

I was also feeling really selfish today when I found out that his funeral is Tuesday at 2 pm. I had been looking forward for Tuesday at 2 pm because that was my scheduled sonogram to find out the sex of my baby. I have been counting down the days for that moment for the last two/three weeks. I can't miss my grandfather's funeral to go to my most anticipated doctor's appointment. I will be calling the doctor's office early Monday morning to reschedule.

Dust and I are leaving tomorrow (Sunday) after morning church to go be with my family. Dust and I are also taking off two days of work. My grandfather's viewing/visitation is on Monday and the funeral is Tuesday.