Sooooooooooooooooo Tired...

They weren't kidding about the first trimester exhaustion. It's really hit me this week. The past two days I've taken a two-hour nap until 8:00 and still fell asleep at my usual time. For me, that's pretty bad. As a matter of fact, all I've been thinking about since I got home from work is taking a nap. My bed is calling to me.

In other news, the horrible noise in my office has finally ceased. Nothing but the glorious sound of silence. Yay! I wanted to hug the tech when he came in today and made it stop. :)

Have I mentioned that I'm tired? Cause I really am. As an extra-added bonus, I was also pretty nauseated today too. Still haven't thrown up though. I heaved a bit on Monday, but nothing actually came up, so that was fun. Darned hormone surges. Guess it just means that all is still going okay in there. So that's hopeful. :)

Why Monday Nights Kill Me

Cause I'm a television junkie, that's why! So many good shows...all on one little night. Including two of the most intense shows we enjoy, Prison Break and 24. Not to mention Heroes, How I Met Your Mother (second funniest show on tv, in case you haven't tried it...The Office being number 1), Studio 60 (which is now in hiatus), and CSI Miami (gotta love the cheese factor). At least there aren't any Tuesday shows worth watching, so we catch up on the Monday shows then.

Today was a sad day in B&N land. Our cafe manager, who is also one of my favorite office-mates and work friends, is moving to Florida tomorrow. So today was her last day and it was very sad. :( We're going to miss her lots. And now I'm going to have to share my office with another icky boy when the new cafe manager moves in next week. Blah. At least we had a fun last lunch together. Carrie, Jen (the already-missed cafe manager) and I went to the Chinese buffet place in the mall for lunch. Yum! Another day of a blown "diet", but we had to do something. I'll just have to be really good for a couple weeks.

Are You Ready to See Some Naked Men?

So, despite the poopy weather, we still went to see the show. I'm glad we did...it was terrific. So funny! I gotta say that those guys have a lot of guts to do that in front of an audience day after day. They really do go totally naked...although some clever lighting keeps you from seeing too much. Lots of butt though. Heh. The singing and acting were all top notch too. My friend Rebecca is really good in it...but she's always really good in everything I've seen her in. :)

The food was pretty good too. We went to the Sunday brunch show, so it was a good mixture of breakfast foods and their regular fair. Good thing I already decided to splurge food-wise today...there wasn't much there that you could consider "diet fare." Plus you get a free glass of champagne when you go to the brunch show. Mine went to Becky, of course. She was happy with her couple mimosas.

I highly recommend going to see the show if you get the chance. Lots of fun...although I would leave the men at home (as we did). I can't wait to go see another show there. I think we might go with Grease for the second show. They're also doing Fiddler on the Roof and Dreamgirls, which I wouldn't mind seeing too. So many shows, so little money.

Ouch...

I'm really missing Advil right now. This morning I woke up a little stiff. Nothing too unusual, so I didn't really think anything of it. Then I decided to get myself some breakfast. As I was reaching up to put the cereal back into the cabinet, I somehow managed to pull something in my back. It hurt. A lot.

I couldn't move for a minute, then I managed to bend over to try to stretch it out. It didn't help. I got back into bed and made enough noise to wake up Ed, who rubbed it for me. That definitely helped, but it's still sore. And it keeps stiffening back up. Not a fun morning.

Hopefully tomorrow morning will be a lot more fun...if the yucky weather stays away. Becky, Mom and I are supposed to go to the new Toby's Baltimore theater to see my friend Rebecca in The Full Monty. Yay! It's a brunch show, so we'll get a good meal (it will be my food splurge for the next couple weeks) and see a fun show. It's been getting some really good local reviews, so I'm excited. I love the theater. Becky and I got my mom the tickets for Christmas. The three of us are going to this one, then Mom gets to pick out another show that the five of us (Ed and Scott will be dragged along) will all see together.

If the weather cooperates and we get to go, I'll let you know how it is. I haven't been to this theater yet, but I've heard good things about it. It's in the travel plaza on Boston Street. Not too far away, so maybe we can still talk Mom into going even if it is a little wintry out. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

My Brain is Numb

Can you believe that the tech still hasn't come out? That's three days in a row with that noise. I'm going to have nightmares about that server tonight.

Speaking of dreams...I've had three baby dreams (that I remember) already and all three times it was a boy. Maybe that's just what my sub-conscience is rooting for. It would preserve my role as my grandmother's favorite. ;) Seriously...she is dying for a baby boy in the family. She has five granddaughters and one great granddaughter. When Becky told her that she was having a girl, she said, "A boy would have been nice." Gotta love it.

As far as my hubby's job goes, he's going to sell Afflack insurance. It's scary because it's straight commission, but he has excellent earning potential. If anybody knows anyone who owns their own business or who works for a local business that doesn't offer it yet, please let us know. He really needs some good contacts to get the business off the ground. His ultimate goal is to earn enough so that I don't have to work full-time. Although I won't hold my breath that it will happen anytime soon. He's trying though and I love him for it.

That's all for now. Hope this was long enough for you, Erin! ;)

The Most Annoying Noise in the World...

I have a lovely little office at work that I share with about 4 other managers. Mostly though, it's mine. It's also the home of the big-ass server which runs the store's computer system. I usually like the server because the heat that comes off of that bad boy makes my office nice and toasty. Today, however, I wanted to kill it.

About 11:00 this morning, the thing began to emit this horribly high-pitched noise that wouldn't stop. It was just a constant squeal that wouldn't go away. We called support services around 11:30. They said that they were pretty sure it had to do with the store's wifi system. They are sending out a tech...TOMORROW AFTERNOON!!!

So, once again I have a headache today, but at least I can attribute it to a specific cause this time. My boss let me leave a little early, so that was the only bright spot of the day.

In other news, the nausea has slacked off today. Just a brief moment around noon, but that could have been from my body reacting to the torture of the squeal. Good times....

We're Such Suckers...

So I had to go to this "Great Tastes" event downtown on Saturday to sell books for B&N. There was a booth across from us for one of those "we'll deliver meats to your home" businesses. They were doing a drawing for a free freezer-full of food, so I filled out his little slip to enter and figured I'd just ignore the calls. Unfortunately, my husband who is looking for a better job with the baby on his or her way, answered the phone thinking it might be someplace he applied to. He then proceeded to make an appointment for the guy to come here tonight.

The short of it is that we start service with them in April. Oh well...it is a decent deal and I don't have to worry about shopping for meats. Plus we'll wind up with a big ol' freezer out of it. We're paying for the freezer, but little by little. I apologize in advance for the couple of you that may get phone calls from the company. He gave us free stuff for referrals. ;) Just say "no" if you're not interested. We mostly put down Ed's friends. Hehehehehe...

In other news, the nausea hit me again like a ton of bricks around 11:00 this morning. Maybe it wasn't my imagination yesterday after all. And I'm still tired. And now I'm hungry because the meat guy was here for an hour and a half. Guess I should go make dinner. Blah.

Symptoms, Maybe?

So we had our evil Monday Manager's Meeting today and I spent the second half of it trying to keep my breakfast down. I can't decide whether I was really feeling nauseated or if it was my mind playing tricks on me. I can tell you that I was okay about 10:00, but I'm now exhausted and I have a killer headache. But that's not too different than most Mondays.

I'm feeling happy right now because someone who's been promising to do a show for me finally nailed down a date! Woohoo! We're in a bit of a money pinch right now, so I need to try to get more shows on my calendar, but nobody's cooperating. Blah. Maybe my "Mystery Host" party next month will help get me some bookings. If you wanna come, just let me know. It's at my sister's house and the more the merrier.!

About the Name...

Awhile ago, Erin started a "recipe blog" that she wanted me to post on. In order to do so, I had to create a blog. So I went the easy route and just called it "Cook with Amanda" after my Pampered Chef thing and my P.C. e-mail address. I never figured I'd do anything with it. But, since I'll all knocked-up now, I figured I'd document it. But I was too lazy to come up with a new name for the blog, so "Cook with Amanda" it is. Gotta love my tag line about the "bun in the oven" though. At least I find it amusing. :)

The Secret of My Fertility

Yes, that's right. I'm pregnant! Apparently all I have to do to get pregnant is to stop trying! Believe me, we're thrilled...but you just gotta laugh at the way life works sometimes. In short, I finally accepted the fact that I needed to get healthier before I got pregnant. So Ed and I decided to stop trying for about 6 months or so to try to lose as much weight as we could. Our diet officially started January 6th. I got my last period on January 16th. During the time between those two dates, we weren't "fooling around" because of my Christmas injury which kept me from being able to bend or put any weight on my knee.

So, really, the first month we weren't trying...BAM! I'm with child. It's still early, but we're being cautiously optimistic. Mom and Becky are both thrilled. As is Ed's family. One of the things I'm most excited about is that if all goes well, my baby will have two cousins so close to his/her age. According to the online due date calculators, I'll have my baby on or about October 23rd (I know...another October baby). So my Claire-Bear will be a little over a year old and Kaylee (Wendi's yet-to-be-born daughter) will be about 7 months old. Yay!

Hopefully I'll be able to get to the doctor soon just to confirm. Although I doubt 4 pregnancy tests (thanks Val!) can all be wrong. In the meantime, I'm going to be as careful as possible and really watch my diet. I lost a little over 20 pounds since the start of the diet so at least I'm used to eating better. I just have to figure out how many calories I now need each day to keep the baby nourished, but to keep me from gaining more weight than necessary. I believe that someone my size needs to only gain 15 pounds through the pregnancy. So that's my goal right now.

I'm not sure when I'm going to share this blog with everyone. But you know me and my need to share, so I'm sure you'll all know soon. I've decided the more positive thoughts and prayers coming my way, the better!