The Great Closet Debacle of 2009

I swear I didn't use to be this crazy emotional. Sure, I had some bad days where I would just completely lose my shit and just start crying. This, however, was just ridiculous. Let me explain: I decided that I wanted to reorganize the clothes closet. Notice that I don't call it the bedroom closet because it is actually in our office. 'Why is it in the office?' you may ask. Well, that's because we live in a weird old house and if we had the bedroom where it was supposed to be it would be right smack dab in the middle of the upstairs. And if you wanted to go from the living room to the bathroom or kitchen you would have to walk through the bedroom. Oh, and we have no doors. When I got pregnant, we moved the bedroom downstairs and the office upstairs so we could at least have a small amount of privacy and be close to where we wanted to put the nursery. Yes, the nursery is in the basement but don't worry, now that we have replaced the glass in the lights is actually quite bright. Additional aside, the idiot who lived in this house before us not only painted the basement light blue and bright orange (yes, you read that right: light blue and bright orange) but he also painted the backing of the glass in the light fixtures making the basement ridiculously dark.

Back to the closet. So, it's upstairs in the office. And I've had some crazy weird energy for about one hour everyday and I wanted to clean it out and make it look presentable so if the doors accidentally get left open (*cough*Brian can't close anything *cough*) I wouldn't be totally ashamed of people seeing it. Also, I knew there were a bunch of things that needed to be donated or sold since we don't wear them anymore. It started out fine but about half an hour in, after I'd pulled out all of Brian's clothes and then rehung his dress shirts I was trying to move the tie rack and it hit me in the head. Okay. Not terrible. I'm somewhat clumsy, I can deal with the occasional idiot move. But then, then, I couldn't get it reattached where I wanted it. Also, I had tried calling Brian three times (yes, I'm needy sometimes, I'm pregnant, leave me alone) and he had hit the ignore button every time because I wanted to ask him about some suits I had found in the back of the closet and whether or not he wanted to keep them. So, I left him a really angry message and then dissolved into tears. I am pathetic.

Another side note: I flipping hate this schedule. Brian has to be at work because the stinking scholarship dinner is next week and it's not that I want him to be home all the time, but he takes less vacation time than everyone else in that office and hello I'm giving birth in three weeks, I would occasionally like for him to be home to help me do all the stuff I want to do before then. Most of you don't know that the same dinner was the Thursday after our wedding so we had to wait a week before we could go on our honeymoon and he was working the whole time. Grumble grumble.

Well, I won't bore you all with the details of finally getting the closet put back together, but here are the results:

I know it still doesn't look all that great, but trust me this is a vast improvement. Also, please ignore the tubs you see in the living room, that's just my ceiling leaking all over the place.

NFL Picks, Week Seven

Still not feeling well (or not feeling well again). Short picks again this week, mostly.

GB at CLE: Some logo beats no logo. Packers.
SD at KC: Chargers
IND at STL: hahahahahahah. Colts
MIN at PIT: Purple is so much better. Plus, the Steelers are kind of sucking it up this year. Vikings.
NE at TB: Battle of the two-letter-abbreviation teams! Patriots.
SFO at HOU: Last week showed that the Texans' logo, a two-tone cow skull, is superior to the Bengals' logo of a stripey B. This week will show that it's better than the letters S and F inside an oval. Texans.
NYJ at OAK: Although the Raiders' logo is better, I can't ignore the fact that A) they suck, and B) their head coach may have tried to kill somebody during preseason. Jets
BUF at CAR: I like the Panthers' logo better than the Bills, even though they wear teal. There are entirely too many teams in the NFL that wear teal or some other form of hideous green. Oh well. Panthers.
CHI at CIN: I'm just gonna keep picking the Bengals, just for funzies. Bengals.
ATL at DAL: Falcons.
NO at MIA: Duh. Saints.
ARI at NYG: Hmmm. Probably the Giants.
PHI at WAS: Snort. Please tell me this isn't the Monday Night Football game. That's pathetic. Who would put Washington on Monday Night Football? Eagles.

Well, I guess I typed a little more than I thought I would. Weird.

NFL Picks, Week Six

Too tired to be witty or to check my record from last week so here's just a quick pick list

HOU vs CIN Bengals

DET vs GB Packers

STL vs JAC Jaguars

BAL vs MIN Vikings

For your viewing pleasure and just because its fun to make fun of him:

NYG vs NO Saints

CLE vs PIT Steelers

CAR vs TB Panthers

KC vs WAS Redskins

PHI vs OAK Eagles

ARI vs SEA Cardinals

TEN vs NE Patriots

BUF vs NYJ Jets

CHI vs ATL Falcons

DEN vs SD Broncos

The Good List

I've been a bit of a Debbie Downer lately and for that I do apologize to you, dear readers. So today, despite my heartburn, back pain and sleep deprivation, I'm going to focus on the good things. My list of happy

1. I'm 35 weeks today! That means that I only have about a month left until my due date. We went for my (hopefully) last ultrasound this morning. Everything looks great. She's growing exactly the way she should be and currently weighs a little more than 5 pounds. Also, they did a 3D Ultrasound for the first time. She looks like an actual baby and not just a blob!

2. Tiny baby clothes. So I admit to going a little crazy at Gymboree the other morning and then suffered from extreme guilt and buyer's remorse. However, I took back all but one thing and now I feel a lot better. Look at how cute this jacket is though:

3. The movie Stardust. I know I've mentioned it before, but right now this is my favorite movie. People always say that if a movie (or music, book, etc) puts you to sleep, you must not like it very much. I beg to differ. There is something very comforting about this movie. It's like a warm blanket of happy and, if I'm having trouble sleeping, all I have to do is turn it on and I'm asleep within five minutes. Now, if only I could figure out a way to set my DVD player to repeat so it would stay on all night and the menu music wouldn't wake me up.

4. I finished my first knitting project in about two years. Granted I haven't actually worked on anything in a very long time, but it's still nice to have something completed and I can say, "Look what I made! Aren't I cool?" In addition, I have plans for future projects. I'm going to make a matching hat to go with this scarf (eventually) and currently I'm working on a tiny purple baby scarf which will also have a matching hat. My friend Cecily lent me a book of Harry Potter themed projects for an easy hat pattern and I want to make Hermione's knitting bag too!

5. Del Monte Fruit Chillers. I could eat an entire box of these in one day, they are so delicious. Plus, it's made with real fruit so bonus nutritional value!

6. Grilled cheese sandwiches and alphabet soup. I feel like such a kid when I eat this, but it's so tasty! Unfortunately, I don't make very good grilled cheese sandwiches. I know what you are all thinking: How hard is it to make a grilled cheese? Not very hard, but my dear husband makes them much better than I do so I only get to eat them when he's home for lunch.

7. I got a random refund from my old student health insurance (seriously, the charges were from 2002). WTF? Awesome though!

8. Borders' Iced Hazelnut Toffee Mocha. Do I need to say more? Even substituting decaf espresso for the cold-brewed coffee, it is still one of the tastiest beverages on the face of the planet.

Well. That completes my list of happy. I leave you all with my weekly (sorta) picture. Here I am at 35 weeks.

Also note, that sweater is not a maternity sweater. It is one I bought from H&M about two years ago, but it is so long and big and schlumpy that it still fits over my eight month pregnant belly. Awesome.

Alien!

This is what it feels like is going on in my uterus right now:

Food!

Behold! Lamb with Mint Ragout. Brian added his to some spaghetti while I ate it straight up. Delicious!

NFL Picks, Week Five

It's that time of the week again friends! Last week I went an astounding 12-2, beating Brian by one game. Suck it!

CIN vs BAL: My heart wants the Bengals to win, especially because of crazy old Chad Ochocinco, but I know history is against them. And purple beats orange. Ravens

CLE vs BUF: After being trounced by the Dolphins last week and because the Browns almost beat Cincinnati, I have no faith in Buffalo anymore. Although it pains me because their logo sucks I have to go with Browns

WAS vs CAR: Sucky team versus suckier team. Hmmm. Panthers

PIT vs DET: Ha! Steelers

DAL vs KC: I will continue to believe Kansas City will lose because they don't have Dick Vermeil anymore. Dallas

OAK vs NYG: Ha! Giants.

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TB vs PHI: Ha! Eagles

MIN vs STL: Ha! (Yes, I'm a broken record) Vikings

ATL vs SF: I like red. But it looks much better with black than with gold. Falcons

HOU vs ARI: Have I ever mentioned that I think Kurt Warner is a sexy bitch. Just kidding. Cardinals

NE vs DEN: So I tried to find the Hank Scorpio episode of The Simpsons where Homer is given ownership of the Denver Broncos, but I was unsuccessful in finding it on YouTube. Let's just say Patriots

JAC vs SEA: It's just a field of teal out there isn't it? Jaguars

IND vs TEN: Apparently the Titans really suck this year even though they were quite good last year. Colts

NYJ vs MIA: I laugh at the Jets because they lost to the Saints last week! However, the Dolphins are the Dolphins. Jets

Two Years

Two years ago today Brian and I finally made it legal after almost six years of dating. I remember waking up at my friends house and being picked up by my sister to get my hair done. I remember that it was 95 degrees outside. I remember thinking that I had brought this on myself because I had been hoping so much for a warm day so we could get married outside. I remember shaking while my dad and I sat in the carriage before the ceremony. I remember good friends and good times. I remember walking through the hotel lobby in my wedding dress and people giving us knowing looks. I remember soaking in the giant bathtub in an attempt to get all the hairspray and makeup off of me. I remember being so tired that we both fell asleep long before midnight. It was the best day of my life. In two years we...

1) Went to Antigua for our honeymoon where I managed to avoid getting a sunburn for four whole days

3) I started a two new jobs. Neither of them provided less stress than working for CPK but for awhile at least the schedule was better. (Until I was opening 5 days a week that is)

2) Went to Las Vegas for cousin Steve's graduation from culinary school. I smashed the viewfinder on my digital camera the first day. It turns out disposable cameras are not that bad.

4) Went to New York for Jeff and Helen's wedding

5) Had a six month string of really crappy things happening. Our basement flooded, our roof had to be replaced, our house got robbed, I got sciatica and an intestinal parasite and I got into a car accident and totaled my car.

6) I went back to school.

7) I got pregnant. This is what I looked like just a few months ago:

8) Went to Florida for Karen and Adam's wedding.

Happy two years to my silly husband!

Tired

I'm tired. Tired of being tired. Tired of feeling nauseous. Tired of not being able to sleep at night because no position is comfortable. Tired of this feeling of panic because I have no idea what I'm doing. Tired of feeling like I've made no progress in cleaning the house. Tired of not being ready. Tired of waiting for the stinking nursery furniture to get here. I'm tired of being pregnant and yet I'm so not ready for a baby.

Ack.

Confession

I like young adult novels. There, I said it. I'm a 27 year old woman who reads young adult. In my defense, however, there is a lot of really good stuff out there right now. (Of course there is also some really really bad stuff out there. *cough*Twilight*cough*. Which I do admit to reading because it's like crack. You know its bad for you but you just can't stop yourself).

My most recent find is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I also have a weakness for dystopian fiction (Aside: another great dystopian young adult series is Uglies by Scott Westerfeld) so I really couldn't help myself. I really suck a summarizing novels but, in essence, two teenagers from each of the 12 districts in this society are chosen to compete in a reality television death match. Only one is allowed to survive. It's is supremely fucked up but fantastic. I finished the whole thing in one day because I could not put it down. And then there is a sequel (Catching Fire, in case you were wondering) and although I highly recommend you read both you will be supremely frustrated when you finish the second book because the third one isn't out yet!

Another note: How to trick your husband/significant other into reading this book, don't tell him the narrator is a girl. That's right. I got Brian to read it and he liked it. Ha!

NFL Picks, Week Four

Last week I posted my best record yet of 12-4. Hooray for me.

DET vs CHI: So apparently Detroit won last week for the first time since 2007. Goody for them. That still doesn't make them a good team seeing as they lost to Washington. I'm gonna have to go with the orange C. Chicago

CIN vs CLE: Ha! Cincinnati

OAK vs HOU: Is Oakland good this year? I don't really know or care. The rules of the logo clearly state that the bull with a Texas flag should win. Houston

SEA vs IND: Hrm. I don't have much faith in the Seahawks. Plus, did you see the hideous lime green uniforms they were wearing last week? Indianaoplis

TEN vs JAX: How is it that the Titans have yet to win a game this season? Weren't they pretty good last year. Hmm...maybe this will be the week. Plus the Jacksonville logo is kinda ugly. Tennessee.

NYG vs KC: Ha! Giants.

BAL vs NE: If Bill Belichick wears his awesome headband and cut-off sweatshirt this game is an easy win for New England.

TB vs WAS: Oh Washington! You lost to the Detroit Lions last week and won against the Rams the week before entirely on field goals. Plus your logo sucks. Tampa Bay.

BUF vs MIA: Dolphins might not be able to run on land and we're still working on those hands instead of flippers for catching. But at least they are more graceful than Buffalos. Miami.

NYJ vs NO: For some reason all the analysts think the New York Jets are the gods' gift to football this year. But Drew Brees is probably the best quarterback in the NFL. And is damn sexy to boot. New Orleans.

DAL vs DEN: Denver has a better logo. Flaming horse mane anyone? And I'm so over hoping the Cowboys won't totally suck. Denver.

STL vs SF: As much as it pains me to pick the hideousness that is San Francisco's color scheme, I just can't imagine St Louis can win. San Francisco. And then there is this:

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SD vs PIT: Come on Steelers. Pull yourselves together this week. For me. Pittsburgh.

GB vs MIN: Oh dear. If I have to listen to them talk about this game anymore I think I might scream. Yes, Brett Favre is competing against the Packers for the first time. Blah blah blah. I don't want to get into it so let's just say I like purple. Minnesota.

In other news, Brian just got back from Philly last night and already he is gone again. Sad Kirsten.

Kirsten, Budgeting Queen!

Ever since losing my job or, more accurately, after having to quit because of my ankle injury, I have become a housewife. Also, uber-cheap shopping queen! For the longest time, I avoided store brands, not because I thought they would be worse than name brand products but because I was not familiar with the store brands here (aka Schnuck's). At home in Washington, I knew what I was getting when I bought a store brand and had become pretty comfortable with it. The change came when I realized that every cent I could save would be a massive help financially and it all started with the store-brand waffles. Half the cost of Eggos and just as tasty! As an aside what is up with the 16 pack of waffles being three times as much as the ten pack? That does not make economical sense. Usually, when one buys a larger quantity package, the price per unit would go down. Weird. Anyway, now I go out of my way to see if there is a store brand of whatever item I'm buying and I check to see if it is in fact less than the name-brand. (I did crack and buy Quaker brand oatmeal because Shcnucks didn't have Strawberries 'n Cream except in the variety pack. Poopers.) Yep. I am super cheap!

Are you bored yet? Well, how about we talk about freezing things? I like to put stuff in the freezer. Pita bread, hamburger buns, leftover meat. Not cooked meat of course, just whatever I didn't need for a recipe but couldn't buy in a smaller quantity. Currently in there: cheese ravioli, one steak, turkey breast tenders, veggie burgers (homemade), pita and burger buns, waffles and fruit pops. Also frozen berries for my smoothies. Another good trick. Giant tub of Schnucks yogurt is really cheap, add a little bit of milk and frozen fruit of your choice and you get a delicious smoothie snack which costs way less than it would if you bought it out.

Now, if only I could make myself always want to cook because there are days when I would much rather just go out and have someone else make my dinner for me. Still have to work on that, but I'm getting there.