I am ready to deliver my baby. But nothing is happening.

I had a Creative Memories Workshop today. Four people showed up. We had a good time organizing and creating. I was able to get through all the photos I brought and put them in chronological order by year. And then for each year, as best as I could remember, I put the photos in order by month. I have another box full to go through still. That might prove harder since some are photos of my husband's from we were married.

I was told by everyone who came that the enjoyed themselves and that I need to do it again. I plan on it, but I am going to wait until January. That will give my some time to get used to being a mother of two.

I have been getting a certain kind of spam email for a while now, and frankly I am tired of it. I don't know what to do about it, and interestingly, the email that comes is not always my address, yet there it is in my inbox.

I emailed Verizon today about email abuse. Fat lot of good that did. I got a canned email message saying that someone might look into it and get back to me it they need more information. I was not to count on anyone really helping me. They gave me some web sites to check out for email blocking and such. When I followed the instructions to do that, the menus they talked about were not available. So I called Verizon. After much ado, I was informed that the links I was looking for were being updated and would not be available to view until Nov. 5th. I wasn't about to keep getting these email spams at least 7 times a day until then. I decided to delete the email address they were attached to, and I created a new one.

My new email address now corresponds to my Creative Memory business.

What To Pack

My dad surprised my mom with a trip to Williamsburg for her birthday. I was in charge of packing for her. With not living in the house for six years and only seeing her clothes on her for short spots of time, I know I over packed. Three pairs of khakis in the hopes that one would be the right one. Two pairs of jeans. One pair of brown pants. Six long sleeve button-up shirts, all which I knew fit, but didn't know what her preference would be. A few short sleeve shirts and two snuggly warm shirts. The woman has way more jewelry than she wears, so I just guessed at that. And luckily her toiletries bag holds most of what is in the bathroom cabinet. I certainly don't know what she uses in preparing for the day and getting ready for bed. My dad couldn't even really help, and he lives with her, using the same bathroom.

Well, apparently I did rather well. My mom had all she needed. And she had a fabulous time and was totally surprised. My parents had gone to Williamsburg for their honeymoon, so it was a nostalgic time also.

My daughter is continuing to amaze me.

I just saw E take the rest of her banana peel off her banana and throw it away. Then she came and told me she threw out the yucky. Now having finished her banana, she went and got her cloth and wiped her hands and mouth (of course I had to do a supplemental wiping.) And while I was vacuuming, the vet called to verify an appointment for Monday, and I didn't hear the phone, but E did. She took it off the hook and brought it to me.

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A very important note. Watch out for FLYING PIGS! Dell Customer Care called (yes, they called me) about a $75.00 coupon (they upped it from $50.00 to $75.00 apparently - I wasn't going to correct them) I have yet to receive, but have been assured I would have by now. I told them to send it USPS, not email, since email has obviously NOT worked. So, now I have been assured that we should get it in 7- 10 business days. I am not holding my breath.

I don't remember if I have talked about my issues with Dell, so here is some background information. There was a rebate offer if you purchased a computer and signed up for Verizon DSL at the same time. So, we bought a refurbished Dell computer and signed up for Verizon DSL for a year. Filled out the rebate form. Received a post card saying that because we didn't include our order number (the form never asked for it,) the rebate was being denied. I called. Fast forward a year and about 1,000 calls later. NO rebates for refurbished computers, but I could have a $50.00 Dell coupon instead. Fast forward five months and, again, many calls and three emails later, I still have no coupon. Well, blow me over Dell called me today.

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I had a doctor's appointment today. I didn't get to see her. I left after waiting fifteen minutes in the office waiting room and fifteen minutes in the exam room. I could hear the doctor talking with other patients during my appointment time. Tell me how could she possibly be backed up by 8:50 in the morning? I made my appointment the earliest I could, and I still ended up waiting and then eventually leaving. I had my daughter with me, and her attention span does not afford waiting forever to see a doctor. She was done waiting, so we left. I have a new appointment with a different doctor. In fact, the one who was interested in Creative Memories products. Maybe I'll get a sale out of this.

Today marks 34 weeks of pregnancy for me. While I fully enjoy knowing there is life growing inside me, my precious son, I do not enjoy the relief map of veins down my legs, the pressure under my belly, the heartburn that has crept it's way into my evenings, exacerbated by my prenatal vitamins (don't ask me why they have become a catalyst for upper digestive tract gas - I am burping the most horrendous tastes and it hurts my throat.) And a cough I have recently developed causes a most embarrassing situation.

I find myself not enjoying this pregnancy like I did when I was pregnant with E, and I feel guilty. I want to enjoy being pregnant, but my body is making it very hard.

Tomorrow I am calling my OB to discuss either a different prenatal vitamin or something to take care of all the gas and heartburn it has started producing. I thought that part of the problem was that I was laying down right after taking it. I take it right before bed. So, I thought that I would take it earlier. But last night instead of just maybe 20 minutes of the gas heartburn issue, I had three hours of it. Tonight I am not taking my prenatal vitamin.

I had scheduled a Creative Memories workshop for today. No one signed up ahead of time and no one came. I also had a Get Together, sort of. Two women and the hostess. I didn't go through the normal presentation. Really all we did was talk about the hostess's trip to Alaska and look through her partially completed album, and the two guests looked through the catalogs and placed orders. Sales for the Get together were great, but I didn't get any new hostesses. I actually didn't even get a chance to ask them if they wanted to host. I have their numbers and will be giving them each a call. They are interested in coming to a future workshop.

My Get Together scheduled for last night was postponed until a week before my due date. I am optimistic even if E was born a week before her due date. I told the host if my son comes early than we can just have her Get Together in my hospital room.

I have been feeling lately that God has called me to be more involved in my own church's ministries. I had been attending a Bible study for women at my cousin's church, because their was none at my church. They met on the same day as MOPs did at my church. So, I was not attending MOPs. This year I felt God calling me to attend MOPs. I also felt that He wanted me to be involved in the leadership. So, I have decided to take on the responsibility of MOPPETs coordinator. I am in charge of the childcare ministry of MOPs.

I watched two DVDs about MOPPETs and leadership positions in MOPs yesterday. They helped a lot, and I am all excited for my new role. I have to get planning, though, so I am ready for our next meeting.

I am missing the Bible study with others that I had lsat year. But there are two women in my church who want to start something, so I am hopeful.

Save-a-penny

I forgot to mention in my weekend musings about an interesting find I had. While changing E's diaper on Sunday, I noticed something shiny. Yep, she apparently swallowed a penny, and we didn't even know it. And if not for my keen eye, we would not ever have known it. We witnessed her filling the diaper and didn't notice her having a harder time of it. I guess passing a penny isn't much different than normal functionality.

My what interesting things fill my day as the mother of a two year old.

We had our last family of three vacation this weekend. Since our second child will be joining us in the middle of November, we aren't planning on going on any trips during that month. We are planning a trip to the cabin in two weekends, but my parents will be joining us.

We headed off to the Jersey Shore Friday evening. And the trip that should have taken us maybe two hours, afforded us three and a half fun hours together in the car. On one of our detours G made the comment that he always wanted to know where the road we were on went. Surprisingly E didn't nap the entire trip. And also surprisingly neither did I.

We had a relaxing weekend of reading, watching TV, spending time together, playing on the beach, and walking on the boardwalk. Tragically we didn't get to play any games. We didn't think we would get to the beach, because we woke to rain on Sunday. But by the afternoon it was sunny and beautiful.

Saturday night we went out to dinner and quite possibly experienced our worst dinner night out with our daughter. She hadn't napped and was hungry, a rather lethal combination for a two year old. She felt that if she couldn't have something, it should get tossed somewhere. She also has recently begun to hit, kick, or head butt when she doesn't get her way. She had at least three time outs, which my dear husband administered. And to top it off, between the time we ordered and when our food came, there were several tables that we noticed where the patrons were seated, they ordered, their food was brought out, they finished eating, and they were wrapping up their time at the restaurant. And of course when our food finally came, after I mentioned to the hostess that we were still waiting for our food, it was luke warm and our waitress, who had gone missing, did not apologize for it taking so long. After she took our order, we didn't see her again until she brought our food. She didn't get a very good tip. E fell asleep on the way home, helping our sanity.

Lunch on Sunday was delicious pizza on the boardwalk and went a lot better then the previous eating out experience.

Our time on the beach was a fun experience. E didn't have a problem with the sand, as in her last two encounters with it. She happily frolicked along beside us. She did however feel that touching the water with her toes was unnecessary and only consented to stomping in a very shallow, nearly non-existent tide puddle. I did savor the small prints her feet left behind in the packed, wet sand. She also enjoyed digging in the sand, covering our feet with it, and smashing "castles" G built.

We left to travel home much later that we planned, because we forgot about washing our linens and towels, and because we just take forever to get ready to leave. But thankfully our ride home only took us an hour and forty minutes, much better time than going. E and I both fell asleep for a portion of the ride.