So Here's My Life

The things we make,
the food we eat and
the shenanigans in between.

A blog about making things by
MICHELLE SEXTON

Monday, September 29, 2008

High School Reunions & Maternity Clothes.

I am going to my 10-year class reunion in a couple of weeks. It seems that time has flown by so fast, and yet so much has happened since high school, that it also seems like forever since high school. Since I've graduated from high school, I've gone to college, gotten a degree, traveled overseas several times, moved away, had real jobs, gotten married, moved again, and have even gotten pregnant. But even more importantly than all of those things mentioned, I have matured by leaps and bounds mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. A lot has changed over the years. From time to time, I've contemplated whether or not to go to this reunion. I was never in the popular crowd, but I was never one of the outcasts either. I was in band. And I was very proud to be in band. I never felt like an outcast in high school. I had a place to belong. But did I really care enough to go? Hmmm....not really. However, two of my good high school friends and I have decided to attend together. (And just a side comment here, I am WAY excited to see them) Out of all of the people that have signed up to go, other than my two close friends coming, there's only a few that I'm really interested in seeing again. Those that I would like to see (my former band friends) are too far away, can't afford plane tickets, working on their doctorate degrees, visiting family the same weekend, living in Alaska, or don't care enough to come. (Boo on them...ha ha just kidding). But I am going to have a good time. I forked over $100 for two tickets for Joel and I to attend. So I'm going to have a good time. I'm determined. But I'm curious - what is it going to be like? Is everyone going to revert back to their old high school ways, and shun people according to the click that they belonged to? Or has everyone gotten past that? Will those that I was merely aquantances with talk to me now even though I wasn't in their click in high school? I really hate to admit this, but I am nervous (and I'm pregnant, on top of that). I really am. I have no idea what to expect. I'm so glad that I have my two high school friends plus Joel to accompany me to the reunion. It's a strange mix of nervousness and excitement. Has anyone else gone to their reunion?

AND I have finally broken down and bought some maternity clothes. I've really been running out of clothing options with this growing belly, especially for nice occasions (like this upcoming reunion). I now have 3 pairs of actual maternity pants and one maternity shirt. I only plan on getting one more pair of pants. I've decided to spend a little bit more money than I normally would (and consequently get fewer clothes) and make sure that I get clothes that I actually LIKE (within reason of course) - mainly because I feel so uncomfortable and awkward being pregnant, so I would at least like to feel good about what I'm wearing. (besides, who actually wears ALL of their clothes anyway?) Ha ha. You know what? I've come to realize that it takes more effort to look nice when you are pregnant than when you are not. (at least for me anyway) I spend more time trying to piece an outfit together that doesn't make me look frumpy or fat. I spend more time on make up too. I just feel like it takes more effort these days to make the outside of me, my appearance, match the inside. That element of pregnancy has caugh me offguard. I guess some people could come to the conclusion from this paragraph that I've become vain. But if that were the issue, I assure you, I wouldn't have allowed myself to get pregnant!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

State Fair!!

Last week Joel and I went to the State Fair. I have no idea why I love the State Fair so much, but I do. And fortunately, this time I remembered to bring my camera (Lately, I've had a difficult time remembering to bring my camera to fun events. I'm going to blame that on pregnancy) but unfortunately I forgot the change the settings on my camera from the normal picture quality to the highest quality (I like to have my camera set on the highest quality settings for photos because it makes them easier to sell, it they turn out good...I'm going to blame forgetting to change the settings on pregnancy too). But anyway, here are the pictures:


this girl decided to take a nap instead watching and selling the merchandise at the booth she was watching. I wonder if anybody stole anything. Even if they didn't, you should never fall asleep on the job, because someone like Michelle might take your picture. (I've been known to take pictures of people sleeping in random places)


These are the last of the Navajo Code Talkers, who served in World War II. Many people went up to shake their hands. I wanted to, but I was too shy. So instead I took their picture. But seriously, these men are amazing. If you don't know who these men are, I encourage you to click on the link I've included.


The handsome man I married...wow.


The Ferris Wheel


I don't know what this is called. It's the ride with the two things that look like hammers that spin around in a circle.


I don't know what this one was called either. But this is the ride with boat thing that swings back and forth, but you don't go upside down.


The last three pictures are of the same ride. And I don't remember the name of this one either. (I didn't pay attention to the names). This one had several little car things that held up to four people in each car, lifted off the ground, spun in a circle, and moved up and down at different times. If that makes any sense.





I've had several people ask me how I took these pictures with the light streaks. So in case you are wondering, here's the explanation - You have to use a camera where you can control the settings manually. What I did was I left the shutter open longer than normal (about 2-4 seconds, depending on the picture). And just in case you don't know what the shutter is, it's the part in the camera that opens up to let in the light. The longer you leave the shutter open, the more light, and the more blurry the pictures tend to be, but in this case, that's ok because it left the light streaks.

I'm done posting pictures and blogs now. Ha ha. I've just been meaning to do this for a long time...and had a while to spend on them this morning. But now I need to go and clean the house because Joel's brother is coming in from out of town to spend a couple of days with us.

One more thing - in two more days, I will officially be 12 weeks pregnant and finally out of my first trimester! WORD. I'm so glad. And I've started to feel better these days, less exhausted, but more stuffy noses and tighter in my lungs (from asthma - I have a dr's appointment with an asthma specialist later this week). OH! And some of my teeth started hurting, kind of like when you have a cavity, so I went to the dentist last week, only to find out that it's purely pregnancy hormone related. No cavities. I felt retarded. BUT the good news is that the dentist was nice enough not to charge me for the visit. That made me REALLY happy. And there's the pregnancy update.

And now I really need to finish cleaning my house.

Photos from Wedding #3

I've to post two different blogs with the wedding photos. It's less work.

This was wedding number 3. It was fun and very unique. This was the second marriage for both the bride and groom. The bride moved here from Brazil. Since her family was still in Brazil, they set up a webcam for them to watch the wedding live over the internet. It was very cool.


flower girls' baskets. When they got to the front, instead of sitting down, they kept walking around and around up at the front sprinkling pedals until the whole area was covered. It was too funny.








The bride stopping to wave to her family watching online before she reaches the alter.


The Unity Candle. The front was written in English, the back was in Portuguese .














This is my personal favorite - just because it captures the bond of love, trust, and intimacy between the couple.

After the ceremony, we went the the Petroglyphs to take the bride and groom shots at sunset. There was one minor glitch - A rainstorm rolled in, and prevented the skies from having as much light as I wanted, however, the storm clouds provided very dramatic skies for the pictures....so it turned out ok after all.

Photos from wedding #2

I came across this blog this morning - Boobs Are Not Wallets . And you know what? With a title like that, I was overwhelmed with curiosity, and had to read the blog. You should read it too. It was hysterical!

So here's some of my favorite photos from Wedding number 2.















Monday, September 15, 2008

So how's pregnancy going?

If you would have asked me that yesterday, I would have told you that I HATE it - because yesterday I totally did. You know why? I'll tell you. Because I feel fat. My clothes don't fit. Because I have a lovely issue with acne just below my jawline. Because my emotions are going crazy and it's incredibly difficult to manage them. I'm determined to not use pregnancy as an excuse to freak out at people. It's hard though. I don't get weepy and cry like most women. Instead I lose my patience and get angry...and yes, blow up. I hate it. And the thing is, at that moment, I have no idea why that particular issue is worth getting angry over (because most of the time it's not), but somehow I can't seem to let it go. I had quite the emotional weekend. Several times I totally flipped out over very minor, minor issues - but we won't go there. And that is why I HATED pregnancy this weekend.

BUT today I had a doctor's appointment. And today, even though I'm only 10.5 weeks along, I got to hear my baby's heart beating!! It made my heart happy. And once again, it reminded me that this will all be worth it in the end. I need these reminders every now and then. AND you know what else? When I got weighed today, I only gained 3 pounds since my last visit, which was about a month ago. That is a good sign. I'm happy about that too. (You only need to gain 2 - 4 pounds during the first trimester) AND one more good thing - I'm only a week and a half away from my second trimester. I'm so ready to not feel so exhausted!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

yearbook yourself.

www.yearbookyourself.com is a hysterical site. I found it through my brother-in-law, Aaron's blog. I strongly recommend you guys try it for yourself. Joel and I made excellent use of our family time last night by uploading our photos to this site and laughing hysterically. It's fun. Here's my yearbook photos :

1952 (my grandmother totally wore her hair like this)



1958



1966



1968- My personal favorite.



1978



1988



1990 - ha ha. i totally remember trying to make my hair do the side wave thing in the picture.



1994

And here are Joel's pictures:

1954



1960



1974


1980




1990 (Joel has always wanted a mullet)


1994 (Joel says this looks better than his real picture for this year. I've seen it. It's true.)


1998 (you know, that just happens to be the year that we graduated from HS. why in the world does the guy have to be fat? not everyone in the class of 98 is fat!!)

Now it's your turn.
So last night Joel and I were sitting at home, when my aunt called. She told us to turn on NBC because my cousin was about to perform on the show, America's Got Talent. Ha ha ha! And to my amusement, there she was, leading a dance team called, "Extreme Dance FX" in a dance routine. So I've put her performance online for all you guys to see. How random to see one your family members on national TV! I haven't seen her since 2004, but it's totally not a surprise to see what she's doing. She's been in dance for a large part of her life. The last time we talked she was talking about teaching or opening a dance studio (can't remember which one it was). And for those of you who are interested, she's my mother's brother's daughter...make sense? aka first cousin on my mom's side. Here's her clip from last night. My cousin, Valerie, is the leader, with the long hair and has pink chunks in her hair.
In the clip, they don't really have any closeups of her until the judging panel, which by the way, gave them great reveiws. Here's a photo of her and her dance crew. She's right in the front.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Today.

Last month I took our car in to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. I got the signature service, which also includes checking the tires for air pressure. After the check up was done, I drove home. As soon as I pulled the car into the garage and shut the garage door, I realized there was a hissing sound coming from the driver's rear tire. So I immediately drove it back to Jiffy Lube and let them know what happened. Apparently the stem in the tire (the part where you put air in) got messed up in the process of checking it. They fixed it, and I left. However, over the last month, we've noticed the car would act funny, and tended to veer to the left. We also noticed the tire was losing air, and would fill it up. I was planning on calling Jiffy Lube and explaining that we were still having problems with our tire, (and weren't having any problems before the oil change) but hadn't gotten around to it yet...until today. Today Joel was driving on the interstate, and that very same tire that we've had issues with blew. On the interstate. How nice. Fortunately Joel was ok, and so was our car. Joel was able to get off the interstate without a problem, put on the spare, and then buy a new one. I'm so thankful that everything was fine. I'm so thankful my husband was ok! So today I was frustrated. Frustrated that Jiffy Lube ruined our tire, and we had to buy a new one. Frustrated that Jiffy Lube's mistake could have put my husband's safety in danger. So I found the reciept, and gave them a call. I was very nice, and polite on the phone (learned it from my husband, people are always more willing to work with you, when you aren't barking at them) and let them know what happened. They said they would pull up our information, and call me back. Joel called them a while later, and was nice, but very stern with them. We are waiting on a call from them, but I think from how the situation went, they will work with us, and compensate us somehow...we'll see.

I've decided that there are two household chores that I dislike strongly (and they hardly ever get done)
1. dusting.
2. washing the windows. (we also don't have kids to put their hands all over the windows, so it makes it a little easier to get away with)

And pregnancy is going just fine this week. Just fine. Nothing too exciting to talk about. The baby has stretched out my lower abs recently, and now it's more difficult to stand straight without allowing my stomach to stick out. I dislike that. I've started to work on exercises to keep those muscles in tact. Hmmm...that's about it. Oh. And I really love cheeseburgers these days. LOVE THEM.

Here's a list of my top cravings so far:
1. CHEESE (I just can't seem to get enough - cheeseburgers (especially), mac n' cheese, string cheese, cheese rice cakes, cheese crackers, cheese, cheese, cheese. )
2. Chocolate. (mostly chocolate ice cream)
3. Muffins. ha ha.

That's about it.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

I would like you guys to know...

that my husband is the best! Yesterday I was having a seriously funky day. And Joel was gone on a business trip (but was coming home later that night). I think my day just started off wrong when I woke up with the crazy bloody nose. Anyway, my day was so blah, and by the time that my husband came home that night from his trip at 9:30 PM, I was feeling a little stir crazy. I had to go out and do something or else I might explode! Ha ha. So he agreed to take me out. First we stopped at Wendy's (fast food) to get me that sandwich I've seen on their commercials (and had to have) called the "Baconator" (two beef patties with cheese and topped with bacon - wow! it was good). And then we went bowling!! (I haven't done that since I was in college.) AND it just so happened to be glow in the dark night with unlimited bowling until midnight!! How fun is that? It's been ages since Joel and stayed out until midnight (I guess we really are getting old), but I had the best time. The best. And it seems that it was just a little more fun than our normal time that we spend together, probably since our days of staying out late are quickly becoming limited, due to the child growing inside of me. I want to enjoy our childless time as much as possible.

So you know that "Baconator" cheeseburger that I had last night. I totally shouldn't have had that. But you know what? I WANTED it SOOO Bad! My will has become so weak when it comes to cravings. It's like I can't think of anything else, until I get it. Tonight I felt the strong desire to have a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit again from McD's. Since we had to run to the store anyway, I substitued the McD's craving for Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Toaster Strudel thing from the freezer section. Wow, it tasted sooo good. (My husband hears that phrase pretty often these days) But you know what? I am totally aggrivated that these cravings seem to have overpowered my will these days. How in the world am I going to manage to maintain my goal weight gain (approved by my OB) of 30 pounds through pregnancy, if I can't even manage to stay within the recommended 4 pounds during your first trimester??? Ahhhh....my will has become so weak. I believe that I have now begun to think with my stomach more than my brain....and by the way, we are going to have doughnuts at church tomorrow! YAY! I'm so excited!! I am so weak. So weak.

Friday, September 5, 2008

I had a strange night.

Actually it was early this morning. I woke up at about 5:15 AM this morning because of a nose bleed. (I get those every once in a while, due to severe allergies) It bled off and on for nearly a solid hour. I know, you're suppposed to go to the hospital after 20 or 30 minutes of bleeding, but whatever. I'm fine now, and I didn't lose that much blood. (I've had way worse) But let me tell you, waking up from a dead sleep with a bloody nose, is the WORST way to wake up. It's so hard to concentrate on stopping it when you're falling asleep! Anyway, I got it to stop with out flipping out and went back to bed. I layed in bed for nearly 45 more minutes before I could fall asleep. For some crazy reason, I was so freakin' cold. So I put on socks and an afghan over the covers. Still cold. I went and got a fleece blanket and covered myself with that as well, and was finally able to fall asleep. So weird. Needless to say, I slept in quite late this morning, until 10 AM in fact.


Now to change the subject. I have several exciting and semi-exciting things to share with you.

1. So, by now, I'm pretty sure that you guys all know that I'm pregnant. My due date is April 10th. It turns out that I'm not the only one pregnant. My sister and brother-in-law, Jeanette and Aaron also just happen to be pregnant. And their baby is due April 1st!! How exciting is that? Total coincidence. Neither of us knew that the other was pregnant until a couple of weeks ago. My parents are way elated to be getting their first two grandchildren only weeks apart. How fun.

2. I am now 9 weeks pregnant, and working my way into the last month of my first trimester! Woo Hoo! I'm so eager to get out of my first trimester. I hear the second one is way better, and you feel way better too. As much as I love napping (which I do) I'd really like to NOT have to take a nap every afternoon any more - keeps you from getting much accomplished.

3. I recently did something that I promised myself I would do about 5 or 6 months ago. I have enrolled into the New York Institute of Photography! I'm very proud of myself. What I love is that with each course that you take, you have up to three years to finish - which is totally what I need right now since I have a baby on the way, but hopefully I'll be able to at least finish the first one before the baby is born.

4. Joel has officially been accepted into the smart people's club, which ironically is called, MENSA. (Which in spanish means stupid, but in Latin means something smart) Ha ha. He had to take an IQ test and score high. He did. Being a part of this group is supposed to look great on resumes.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Dang it!

I have just learned that you cannot eat lunch meat or hot dogs unless they've been heated until they're steaming! Ahh! And not only that, you can't eat soft cheese like Brie and Feta either. Oops. 2 months pregnant, and this child is already putting restrictions on my life! I already can't eat sushi for at least the next 7 months. It seems as though that my diet is being restricted to boring, boring foods. Blah. This baby is changing my whole entire life...already! Goodbye strenious cardio workouts, goodbye slim figure, and goodbye fun foods! I guess that this is where that sacrificial element of motherhood must take effect. It's still sinking in....

Despite my frustrations, I still want this baby. (Just in case you had any doubts)

Monday, September 1, 2008

September!

Happy September Everybody! (And Labor Day too) I'm always so happy when September comes around. As much as I love the summer (and I really do), I'm always glad for a break from the heat and look forward to fall coming. And this year, in particular, I'm looking forward to the months going by quickly so we can get to APRIL! (the baby is due in April)

Today is overcast and cool. Such a nice change. The clouds have covered the mountains completely, and it looks as if there aren't any mountains there. So cool. To celebrate Labor Day today, I'm going to wear a pair of black pants with an elastic waistband that I bought on Friday. I had no idea that when I got pregnant that I would suddenly be in love with elastic waistbands. So dorky. These days I've been searching through my wardrobe to find clothes that do not squish my belly - more of a difficult task that I thought it would be, since I've pretty much always avoided purchasing clothing with elastic waistbands. Why am I talking about this?

Anyway, I am looking forward to spending a day with my husband, playing with our dog, grilling steaks, and relaxing - something we don't get to do very often without having to leave for some obligation like church, work, etc. Yay!

I allowed our pastor to announce to the church that I'm pregnant (because I was in a good mood and willing to handle the attention). It wasn't that bad. Kind of like ripping off a band-aid quickly. But a lot of people came up to me afterward and said that they knew that I was pregnant. I told them, "No you didn't." Ha ha. Mostly just to tease them. But I guess that they had figured it out. My behavior has changed over the last two months (I haven't been as talkative and bubbly), and I have a little bit of baby bump anyway, so to the observant person, pregnancy may have been obvious. But since a lot of them had figured it out, they weren't so shocked by the news, and they didn't come and attack me with words of congratulations, and strange pregnancy questions and comments.