Driving slow on Sunday morning

It's been a busy past few days! Which I don't really mind, except that I haven't had a lot of time to review for Monday's in-class study session. Knowing me, though, I probably wouldn't have studied this weekend anyway...

Friday we took our downstairs neighbors up to Bountiful for a little going-away party. Well, for their going-away party. First off, their little girl was soo cute on the drive up. Second, as the wife confided in me later, Gary's a little bit crazy when he starts to talk and drive at the same time. We all made it though. :-) It was a fun little party, and funny because it was pretty much divided by girls and guys the entire night. Our husbands are all so loud, though, that it worked out all right. We didn't get home until after midnight... I was definitely ready for bed at that point. Our poor neighbors, too - they moved on Saturday.

Of course, that meant I rolled out of bed at 9:30 the next morning and went down to help their little moving party (at 10)... in what ways I could. (However, I bet our neighbors got up long before to make sure everything was ready for the move. They're such good sports.) Really, I didn't do much. Fortunately there were big, strong men there to help out... I just kept the wife company pretty much and helped pull stuff into the main room so nothing would be forgotten. I still managed to go up and down the stairs a lot, and it was pretty hot even at 10/11, so I was pretty worn out by the end. I think, lucky dogs, they headed off this morning, hopefully early. Maybe their daughter will sleep in the car a little...

Gary wasn't feeling very well Saturday morning, so he was worn out, too, and we had a few chill hours. Played a computer game together for a while, and decided to use these sweet movie tickets I'd found (for cheap!) and go see Cowboys and Aliens. Which... I still personally am not a big fan of the title, but I guess it's based off of a comic or something by the same name, so some fans might have been upset if they changed the title. Speaking of fans, I had this funny couple sitting next to me, where mostly the wife but occasionally the husband would get really into this movie. From the beginning throughout I could tell when she liked what happened cause she would start clapping. Not loudly, fortunately, but she was so animated. It was almost too funny to get annoyed at. It was a good movie, though - not too intense or scary, yet still leaving me wondering how they were going to resolve it right up to the end.

I heart date nights, by the way. We had fun. I didn't go right to bed after... but pretty soon. Soo tired. And I vaguely remember Gary waking me up when he came in (and I think it was my fault, since he probably tripped on the cord of my hairdryer), but I fell back asleep real soon after that, too.

And now I get to go to work. Yay for missionaries needing to eat. Hopefully this will be one of the easier ice cream shifts.... But you know, at least I get to work with ice cream. Yummy. And I get off in time to go to the last hour of church, which with our current reverse-block schedule is the most important. (Especially because I'm supposed to lead the music!) I think, though, that I'll try and get the last Sunday shift off... Baby belly is starting to make things difficult, and not just because I'm tired.

Baby steps

Today has barely begun, or so it feels like anyway, yet I've actually accomplished some things. I haven't accomplished the remaining 20 pages of my reading for class today (which is what I should be doing...) but I finally put the stroller together and figured out how to get most of it to work. I also made it to Babies R Us and bought a monitor, since they sent me a coupon. Every once in a while, I consider buying something I'm not sure we'll need just because they sent me a coupon, and then I realize they send me an email almost every single day telling me about deals. But 20% off is a pretty good coupon, and we've decided by now that a baby monitor would be a good thing to have.

Here's something funny, though: we got this sweet gift card to Babies R Us, which is why I don't really look very many other places for baby things just yet, and last night when I planned this trek, I fully intended on using it. However, when I got there today, I looked at the baby monitors, checked out a couple other things, and when I got to the register, pulled out the debit card and payed. "Gift card" did not even cross my mind. Maybe it's cause I was tired. And I didn't realize what I'd done until I was half way home. I just laughed at myself.... If "pregnancy brain" really does exist, I definitely have it.

Okay. Time to continue on with those twenty pages. (Side note: the textbook assignment was 40 pages, so I'm not just complaining about a fairly reasonable twenty-page reading. I chauffeured my grandma and her husband (and his seeing-eye dog) to my cousin's wedding reception yesterday up in Salt Lake, so I haven't had all the time in the world for the reading, though I've probably had enough that I just didn't use well. I wasn't complaining about the chauffeuring, either, I only meant to imply that it took up a little more time than your usual jaunt up to Salt Lake for a ring ceremony/reception.)

Not exactly getting it off my chest

Today hasn't been the most splendid of days. I thought I was okay (though tired) when I first woke up, but it appears that my somewhat rough evening was rougher than I first imagined. Either that or the humidity really got me down.

One really great thing happened today, though. I had been at work for about half an hour and was uncomfortably folding ham slices (such is the glorious nature of food service) and thinking about all the homework I hadn't done when one of my co-workers came up to me and basically asked if she could work the rest of the shift for me. I do kind of need the hours and don't really have a way of making up for them this week (maybe next week?) but ummm I totally agreed. It freed up several hours, allowing me to at least get half my assignment done and a (small) start on the reading. I'm glad I looked at the reading assignment well ahead of time; probably due to the long weekend, it was quite a long reading, and I probably would have panicked if I tried to do it all tomorrow morning.

ALSO another lovely thing: I got an email from my professor saying we had until 5 to email the assignment to the TA. Awesome. Class gets out at 2:40, so it's not like that's a monumental amount of extra time, but don't you just love getting a few unexpected hours to finish something stressful? I sure do.

.... Of course, I'm clearly having a difficult time sticking to my guns and actually finishing the assignment, hence me writing this. I think I'm going to take a little "break" and do some more of the reading for tomorrow, since that one is "due" at 1 instead of 5.

I think looking at a couple positives made my evening just a little more pleasant. It really hasn't been a spectacular day. My eating habits and procrastination surely did not help, but I like to think they were partially a result of the icky feelings I already had and not solely the cause of icky feelings.

At least I sort of have a game plan to make our lunch tomorrow. It might even be healthy-ish. I might have to recruit my poor hubby to help me do some dishes before then, though, or it might not happen. Poor hubby... I'm such a broken wife right now.

Oh, and random sidenote: I finally took the wedding ring off. My poor swollen fingers were making it uncomfortable. Aaaah.... pregnancy. I love being pregnant but I don't love a lot of things about pregnancy.

Is that what nesting is?

It's funny; the past few days I guess I got tired of doing my usual nothingness, so I decided to tackle our second bedroom ever so slightly. The funny part is that it's not like I don't have other things to do; I have a summary due on Wednesday and a kitchen fuuuuuull of dishes that need to be done. (Maybe that's why I went with the less intimidating project....) I had a small little shower so I started by organizing/putting away the things I got there, then I cleared out the hall closet so I could have a place to put more diapers (also, all the gift bags I've been hoarding). Today I cleaned up the pile of moving apparatus that has probably been sitting on the floor in there since, ahem, we moved here. They don't really have a home, but at least they're tidied/folded/organized. I just have to figure out what to do with the mini Christmas tree and some other random boxes of stuff. And.... a lot of other things.

Oh, and today I also finally took the travel system we bought out of the box! (Stroller, infant carrier/car seat, and car seat base.) The stroller still doesn't have the wheels attached and I haven't taken off any tags really, but at least they aren't just chilling in a box. Next big project? The crib. We just need to actually make a space for it first.

Yeah, this is way more fun than doing dishes. I don't know if this is technically what nesting is, but it makes sense to me. I guess it really hit me the other day when someone asked how much longer I had and I told them about two and a half months. They told me, as most do, "She'll be here before you know it!" Oh. Right, she will. And she'll need somewhere to sleep, and a car seat to come home in. Riiiiight. Still lots to do, but like I said: way more fun than dishes! That's some incentive, anyway. :-)

Back to the scholarly

Well, not having had class so far this week, I honestly have just been taking it easy. Probably both mentally and physically. I still went to work, I still went to the research lab (which is where I am now!), but prior to today I haven't looked at a scholarly article or textbook.

However, since I was supposed to be working on an assignment those days when I didn't have class, I decided it was high time to at least pick a topic and find some articles I could review, even if I wasn't immediately going to start writing. (Of course... I'm doing this in my research lab, where I'm technically supposed to be looking up journal articles on the infant still-face effect. We've been looking up those articles for at least six weeks now, though, so I don't really feel a specific obligation to do so every minute I'm here.)

So here comes the nerd in me: I found some journal articles that I'm genuinely excited to know the results in. Hello! Journal articles are real boring. Even the interesting topics seem to be stifled in journal lingo sometimes. But not always, and it's a trend that is diminishing. I'm probably going to read a few that aren't exactly on my topic just because I think they're interesting (emerging adulthood - or, really, extended young adulthood - is fascinating to me). Maybe I'll find I can do the reviews on them anyway, maybe I won't. I don't do a real thorough job at reading journal articles the first time, anyway, cause I want to find out the results and then how they figured it out, if I need to. Basically I read the very beginning and the end, sometimes the beginning/middle. (For those familiar with journal articles, I almost never read the results section. For those unfamiliar, the results section is pretty much all the statistical analyses, which I could probably understand, but it's much easier to skip to the 'discussion' section where they just say flat out what their statistics meant.)

Just thought I'd share my little moment of nerdom: I'm excited to read "Ready or not? Criteria for marriage readiness among emerging adutls" and "Nest-leaving patterns and the transition to marriage for young men and women." Just glad I picked the right major, I guess...

PS. I made a yeast-free, "no-rise sweet roll" (orange rolls!) recipe from Our Best Bites last night, and maybe it's because I've eaten them on a relatively empty stomach both times, but oh man. They are giving me some serious heartburn. I think I'm going to try and call my doctor office today to see if I can take some pill for heartburn, because I get a ton of heartburn and Tums doesn't seem to make it all go away. (Sorry if you really don't care about my heartburn. I'm sure you'll get over it.)

My "new" favorite way to cook quesadillas

Okay. So I'm a compulsive blogger (seriously. I feel like I need to restrain myself sometimes) but lately I guess I haven't been feeling up to it. Why? I don't know. I really did think up a whole rant about why I dislike cyclists (not all of them, just... well, that's another story) and just haven't felt the need to share it with anyone aside from my hubby. I rant to hubby all the time.

Today, however, for lack of a desire to write about anything else, I thought I'd share this amazing tidbit I found on the internet one day while looking for ways to make chicken quesadillas. I used to be part of the "put everything on the tortilla and warm it up for a few minutes" camp, but I have changed my ways and never been happier. I wish I could find the actual website that was my guide, and if I do, I'll umm post it somewhere. I've been doing this most of our marriage now, as I have relied on the internet to help me try new things (with very very mixed results), but since we've been married less than a year, I suppose it's still "new."

Heat your pan on high. Yep, high. I think perhaps if you have a lot of heavy or cold ingredients to go inside, you might want to go with medium high and cook it longer; I haven't been very good about testing this though. Don't wait too long, just till it feels all toasty, and then warm your tortilla about 10-15 seconds per side. Generally after the first side, I like to put my toppings on while the other side is warming. (So I guess that means only really "warm" the one side 10-15 seconds?) Put the toppings on half of the tortilla, cover the pan (don't fold it over!), turn the heat down to low and wait about a minute to a minute and a half, depending on your toppings and how hot the pan was/how puffy your tortilla was. If it didn't start to puff up, wait a little longer for your tortilla to get crispy. When the toppings are melted, you may fold over your tortilla and bask in the crisp outer layer!! I love it.

The only disadvantage is you can only do half a quesadilla at a time. I am willing to work with it though, and besides, I've always made a mess when I try and use two tortillas and lots of toppings. Sometimes I let the pan get too hot and my tortilla puffs up way quickly while my toppings are things like cold meat that I've refrigerated/had leftover. Whoops. You either get a very very crispy and almost burnt-looking tortilla or sometimes I turn it down when I notice it starting to puff when I haven't even finished putting on those stubborn toppings. I'm not exactly a pro at it, but really, I love it so much more than cooking a folded quesadilla for a long time, flipping it to make sure everything heats evenly. And sometimes, when I make a certain meat quesadilla, the salsa I put in with it makes my tortilla super soggy. Unless I do it this way! Hah! Take that, soggy tortillas.

So, in case I was really confusing, get the pan hot, heat up the tortilla a little, and make sure and cover it and turn it down once the toppings are on. Covering it creates a little mini oven from all the heat built up that will melt the toppings while letting the entire tortilla rest on the pan to get crisp on the outside, so you don't have to constantly flip it (and get toppings all over the pan... which is what I do, anyway). I think the internet told me you could pile all the toppings on the middle and just let them squish out when you fold it over; I just find it more convenient to have them on the half you already intend them to be on.

See? I can be very prolific about nothing, when I have a mind to do it. (And all this rambling and lack of pictures is why I'm convinced I would be a horrible, horrible food blogger, even though I still think it would be fun.)

Never thought I'd say this...

I'm going to preface this with a note: I am not a lightweight person. I started my pregnancy probably around 155. That said, today I clocked in at 170 and 30 cm (the vertical length of my baby bump). I've never been so happy to weigh so much. It's sort of been hard for me to gain weight, since food and I have a love-hate relationship during pregnancy. (I love to eat it, I hate to prepare it. Or even choose what to eat.)

I just wish they told me to get my little blood test done sooner so I could know the results. I rescheduled my doctors appointment to make sure I had the "couple days" the doctor's office told me to have... but today the assistant told me that the BYU health center usually takes about a week to get results back. (So why didn't they tell me that before?) Gestational diabetes isn't extremely common or anything, but it would still be nice to know I don't have it.

Huh. Why am I still awake?

Dear IRB...

You know, if I could do a study right this very minute, I think I would do it on nutrition intervention. (I say right now because I haven't taken the time to see what sorts of studies have already been done in this regard....) I just read an article about potentially taking severely obese children out of the home to help them have a better lifestyle and lose weight. They mentioned at least three different cases where the child lost significant weight within a year. However, two points were made that I think are more significant: one mother fed her son McDonalds because she worked two jobs and didn't have time to cook. The article itself said healthier food is often more expensive. I suppose that might be true... if you only wanted to eat ramen and mac and cheese. (Even then, I bet I could argue that buying pasta and sauce would ultimately be cheaper.)

So what I'm interested in now is do nutrition classes work? I have very mixed feelings about removing a child from their parents/caregivers, and that seems like the next most logical conclusion. One of the commenters suggested nutrition, budgeting, and meal planning classes. Sounds brilliant... but would it really work? I mean, parents of severely obese children tend to have their own weight management problems, so it could either be a win-win or a completely unwinnable situation.

On a random tangent, that mother who worked two jobs and fed her child fast food might be interested to learn that sometimes working two jobs can add up to being more expensive than just working one. I watched an interesting little clip for one of my classes where this finance guy looked at a two-income household and found that between commuting, daycare, and the cost of fast food from not having time to prepare lunches and things, (and apparently second incomes get taxed more than primary) this woman was bringing in only a few thousand a year. Wow! Not to mention the sacrifices in time they were making, because they had to juggle two children, so the couple rarely saw each other except on Sundays or something. Is it worth the extra 3000 a year? Anyway. Long random tangent.

I would be very interested to see if having families (yes, the whole family) attend a sort of nutrition class for a month would ultimately affect their eating and health over the course of a year or five years. Because really, if it would, then it seems a much better solution than removing kids from the home. Even if it were only temporarily, as the article suggested, wouldn't the problem come back once the kids returned home anyway?

The downside? I also read an article about government spending and the debt ceiling. People who feel they can't spend money on "healthy" food (which I still maintain is usually cheaper than premade food, it just costs extra time) probably won't find the money to attend a nutrition class. So who would pay for it? I guess it would probably cost less than throwing more children into foster care.

Sometimes I look at the state of people in America and it makes me sad... I guess I just have a lot to be grateful for, even when things aren't going as smoothly as we hoped.

Glucose

Today I had another pregnancy adventure! The short glucose test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. Found out my aunt had it with her last pregnancy... but I guess it goes away after birth. I could handle that. I sort of thought it was a life time thing, and I thought, that would be such a bummer! I should probably eat more like a diabetic anyway... I don't want to think too much about that though.

So - the test! All I knew is I would have to take a glucose drink and then an hour they would draw my blood. I'm discovering that I must be somewhat paranoid, cause I thought that I was forgetting about all sorts of rules and what I couldn't eat and that this drink might be thick and nasty and, and, and.... I wasn't looking forward to it. All in all, it was relatively painless; the worst part was that I had to wait an hour in between, and while I meant to be studying, I just watched the food network that was playing in the little lobby, and the cute little kids that came in, too (poor things I think all had to get "poked"). The glucose drink was described to me as watered-down Sprite, but since I'm not exactly a Sprite connoisseur, I can't judge the truth of it. All I care about is that it wasn't even close to a gross medical brew. It was, well, very very sweet. Almost unpleasantly so, by the end. Fortunately it was only about the size of one of those mini water bottles, otherwise it would have been harder to drink. The taste was pleasant, and I would have enjoyed it all if it weren't so sweet. Haha. Go figure - a glucose drink is sweet...

Anyway, I'm going to find out the results of my lovely test on Friday when I go see the doctor. I could possibly find out sooner, but I don't feel like investigating. I'm just glad it all worked out... (I forgot my doctor appointment was this week, and they wanted me to do it "a few days before," and I lost the lab test order... fortunately they were able to fax it over).

Next test.... midterm. I can't just sit around for an hour and watch Food Network for that one, unfortunately, so I need to study. I think I can, I think I can....

Emotional

I saw a pregnancy comic the other day where a husband was standing by his crying wife in the kitchen. The text underneath is simply, "The water's just taking so long to boil..."

That's how I feel right now, except replacing water with something equal silly. Maybe not quite that bad, more akin to when you were a kid and found out your friend couldn't make it to your birthday party. Like it was the only day the whoooole year you would see them. Such trauma.

I should get over it, I just feel like I'm going to start bawling at work, which would be really unfortunate. I mean, I haven't heard much about health codes and crying while preparing food, but I imagine it's frowned on. (Don't worry though; like many silly things, I'll probably stop worrying about this one soon enough.)