10 random thoughts and comments

I don't have anything exciting to say today. Just a typical Monday. Here are some thoughts that I am having as of today.

1. This weekend we went on a retreat with our class. It was completely awesome. (thanks April for all the planning. You are awesome.) It really uplifted Cody and me and gave us a lot to think about and pray about for our marriage. I will post pictures really soon.

2. Grey's Anatomy is such a good show. You should watch it. Last night's episode was really sad because of this love triangle and then this character who had to die. Alyssa called who Dr. Shepard would choose, but I foolishly held out hope to the end. I love TV.

3. I cannot believe today is the last day of October and November is tomorrow. What is up with that? When did time start flying by so quickly.

4. I am congested. I guess the campfire did me in a little. I have started coughing up drainage. I hate that feeling. It is even a little worse because Carley prevents me from taking much medicine.

5. Today my new Bellybra arrived. It is an all in one maternity support belt/maternity bra. It is something hilarious to see. I will add a pict. just to make you grin. We will see how it goes. Aren't you jealous?

6. I got the cutest pictures of my niece, Lauren, in the mail. People, if you do not have a niece or a nephew, you have got to get one. They are the bomb.

7. I got to share a room with Amy B. on the retreat and see her sleep apnea mask up close. It is all you think it might be and more. She was a great roommate and her mask adds a lot of character to her. The Bowmans are moving across town so we won't be 5 houses away anymore. I don't like it one bit.

8. Shanta and Ken drove in from Dallas for the retreat. I love, love, LOVE them. The received some horrible directions from the website of the camp which caused them lots of frustration getting there, but they were troopers and kept a great attitude. They are so wonderful and it was such a retreat to see them.

9. This is the first year in a long time I have not dressed up for Halloween. Am I old?

10. I wish the Mayo's would move to Lubbock.

That's it, folks. Have a good evening. Trick or Treat.

not the lingerie you were expecting

I would like to introduce you to the newest surprise of pregnancy for me. Meet the Maternity Support Belt. Here it is worn by a lovely Motherhood model. This band of 3 huge velcro straps and large elastic band can be purchased for a mere $15.00. I know you will want to add it to your Christmas list. Here are some reasons your doctor might require this to be worn at all times during your pregnancy:

1. You start having severe cervical pains because of the stretching your pelvis is undergoing.
2. Your baby is trying to wiggle her way into the birth canal when she is only 29 1/2 weeks along.
3. You have done too much walking, standing, presenting, and your body is saying, "Hey, this kid is getting heavy".
4. Your child very well could be large.
5. The only position you are comfortable in is a squat.
6. If you don't do something, bed rest could be in your future.
7. Your friends at bible study pray for "domino".
8. All of the above

Yep, folks, #8, meet my new handy man back support maternity accessory. I know you are jealous. You now know what to ask Santa for when you sit on his lap. :)

I am spoiled! :)

Yesterday I came home from work to an immaculate home. There is nothing like walking in the house to a mopped floor, dusted base boards, scrubbed toilets, and sparkling sinks. The best part of all was, I didn't have to do it. Now before you go try to steal Cody away from me, we pay a mother and daughter-in-law duo $40.00 to clean our house once every 4 weeks. I absolutely love it. I know that some of you might think it is a waste of money and that I am lazy on my housewife duties. You are right. It is a luxury. It is awesome though. Last night we could lay on the couch and watch a movie without having chores to do around the house. It was great. I love life's little luxuries. It is so nice with both of us working to have someone help out on stuff like that. Anyway, I had to tell you I am spoiled, but happy. Isn't that the way we should feel every once in awhile? So, my cyberspace friends, go treat yourself. Splurge on something that improves your quality time with your hubby or makes you smile and allows you to take a nap in peace. It is worth it! :) Happy Saturday.

post workshop thoughts

Warning: This is going to be a way random post and I am not really sure what I am talking about on half of the issues.

Today I went to an all day workshop entitled, "Preparing Children for an Changed World". Most education workshops SUCK! The presenters are old, retired people who like to make money off of staff development where they provide no real meat or application to their thoughts. Today's was totally different. It was really amazing and thought provoking and I am a REALLY tough audience. Anyway, the speaker William Daggett Ed.D. was incredible. He is a former teacher, administer, parent of 5, and he was the Secretary of Education for the state of New York. (shout out to Ken Murray) He has been a paid consultant for the state of TX for the past few years and is a renowned speaker in the education realm.

Anyway, he talked about the next 5-10 years a lot today and it really got my brain moving. Keep in mind, I know nothing about Social Security because neither Cody nor I contribute to it because teachers and fireman have their own retirement systems. Dr. Daggett was giving these alarming stats about how the baby boomers who are about to retire averaged a birth rate of 4.6 for every one female and our generation X has a birth rate of 1.3. So basically the boomers are about to bust the system and we Gen Xers don't have enough warm bodies to contribute to it. Plus the average length of life is increasing and increasing. All of a sudden I was having a panic attack about the financial status of our world.

Then he talked about the semantic level (for the noneducation people, basically it is the level of difficulty that you can read with 75% accuracy) of high school graduates today. People, it is below a user manual for a DVD player. It was unbelievable. CRAZY!

Finally he said that America is the only nation that pushes English in the form of prose on kids to the extent that we do. The majority of communication in the world is now electronic (i.e. websites, emails, blogs) and that in Eastern countries, their high school literature classes are not on Shakespeare and poetry, but on being able to comprehend and write effective and efficient document literacy instead of prose. He said, "Schools are museums and administrators are the curators." We are perfecting educational and technology trends from the 70's and lying to kids that this will make them successful in the changing world. It blew my mind.

Anyway, we was great and had lots of amazing thoughts even though he stepped on my comfort zone. This is a way random blog, so I'll try to write one more suitable for pop culture tomorrow! :)

a hot distraction

Random quick post:

Monday nights are my favorite night of the week because of our women's bible study. I just love it and I love all the girls in it. (Shout out to my Monday crew) We were in the middle of bible study and a fire truck pulls up and my husband walks up to the door because he needed a house key. A few minutes later, the firetruck pulls back up, he runs in his bunker pants, gives me the key and a kiss and is on his way. Granted, I became momentarily distracted by his appearance and I was nervous when I first saw the truck in case something was wrong, but I love the fact I am married to a fireman. Who else gets those stories?

my cup runneth over

We had a great weekend. Here is the fast rundown.

• Friday night Cody and I met some friends at Joe Allens. These are some of my favorite people in the whole world. Mark and Clay were mere freshman in high school when they were my campers at ACU leadership camps. We developed a special mentoring relationship that turned into a wonderful friendship. When they were in college they would come spend one weekend of the semester at my house. We had a blast. Now Mark and his lovely wife Tara and Clay and his lovely fiance' Jessica are a treat to be around and true friends. It was great for those big wigs from Ernst and Young to eat with their old friend and her husband.
• Saturday began with Siggie breakfast and a ride with my backrow pal Leslie Mayo. She is so awesome and it was great to see her as well as see some of my favorite people I hadn't seen in 5 whole years! We went to the parade and chapel where I sat next to Shanta Murray and could not get enough of her and Ken. We miss them so much. Next was lunch with the Tate twins. Cody and I went on an afternoon Abilene date and then headed over to the Mayos. It was so great. Then we went to the reunion dinner where I was really blessed to see some of my friends I hadn't seen in so long. I loved it.
• Sunday we were back in Lubbock. It was good to see our friends at class. Dean preached an AMAZING sermon that really touched my heart and led Cody and I to have some great discussion. We ate with the Walls, who are so fun and so sweet and such inspirational people to talk to and then Amy and I went to a baby shower. It was a really great day.

This weekend I was reminded how blessed I am. God really surprises us with the paths He leads us on. I wouldn't trade any of it. The time in my life today, married to Cody and pregnant with Carley and surrounded by our friends and family is the happiest time in my life. Returning to college and remembering how God worked on me and provided me with friends who bring me such joy just reaffirmed that.

My cup runneth over.....

pictures of Carley's room

Here are some pictures of Carley's room and her sweet daddy who did all the work!

and two shall become one....Really?

Marriage is the most wonderful and blessed experience that I have ever known. Most of the time it always seems to make sense. Cody and I are on the same page on most everything except....Home improvement. We are totally different on house projects. For so many couples it seems like home improvement is a bonding experience that just really strengthens couples, but for the Nelson's, it is high stress. When we were engaged, we painted my kitchen. I seriously thought after a day of working together, he was going to ask for his ring back and I was going to throw it at his eye! Our first married summer we stained the fence, luckily the stain was not the verbal blood shed we had gone through in the process. For us it comes down to the differences in the way we work. We are both hard workers. I like jobs completed quickly and efficiently, Cody works carefully and methodically. I would rather paint for 36 hours straight with no breaks or food so the job would be done. Cody would rather paint for 36 days at one hour a day to make sure it was done right.
Currently in the Nelson home, we are converting our guest room and office into one room so we have a room for Carley. Her nursery is almost complete and I love it. Cody did it all and he did awesome. (I was not allowed in there so we didn't fight). Lubbock people, you need to stop in and see her room. Well, now we are trying to get the office/guest room into one room. Cody has been working slower than Christmas on it and this Saturday I decided to step in. We did well for a long time until we got to decorations. He feels like a quality decoration must involve a fire truck, hydrant, badge, etc.. I think it should be a fun room filled with pictures of friends and of course my John Denver and Star Wars memorabilia. We will make room for all of it. We will get it done and it will be great, but I was reminded that the process of 2 becoming 1 is not always smooth and it isn't always the big things that make it hard. It is the little preferences that we admire in the other until it infringes on our personal preferences or plans. Any ideas on how to do home improvement together? Are you with me at all?

"I miss you"

This phrase, "I miss you", is one of the most special phrases in the world to me. I was reminded of that a few times this weekend.

1. My niece Lauren Ashley O'Rear has been in town since Wednesday and she is staying until next Wednesday. Clint had to work in Vegas and Alyssa joined him for the weekend. I have been able to see Lolo every day and it has been AWESOME! When I call her from work, she tells me she misses me and she loves me and that she wants me to come to Nana's house. It is so precious. I love it that she says stuff like that so freely.
2. For those of you who don't know, my husband, Cody is a fireman he works 24 hours on then 48 off. So every third night he sleeps at the station. His schedule is awesome because we get so much time together. Not everyone gets to have their husband bring them Taco Villa for lunch, or mow the grass while you are at work so you can be together at night, or gets to watch Dr. Phil together in the afternoon. The time that it gets hard is at night. We really miss eachother. I am really thankful that we still have the opportunity to miss eachother. Not all wives and husbands get to say that and it really does make us treasure the nights we have. It means so much when he calls from the station in front of all the guys and says, "I miss you so much. I wish I was there". I love it.
3. I am gearing up for Homecoming weekend this weekend in Abilene. So many of my friends I have really missed and I get to see lots of them on Friday and Saturday. (Kelly, it kills me you won't be there) I have been reading everyone's blogs and starting to make plans. (Kacy, publish on my blog so I can get your email address) So many of the blog postings and emails are ending in, "I miss you and I can't wait to see you". It makes me feel so loved.
So to you all out there, "I miss you and I hope to see you soon".
Have a great day.

Your Last Meal

Several of us were out eating on Friday night and types of pizza came up. My pal, Amy, brought up Chicago style pizza vs. New York style pizza. It led to a RANDOM discussion about food. At that moment, I rattled off what my last meal would be if I was on death row. (I told you it was random) Here was my answer:
2 pieces of sausage and cheese pizza from Giordano's in Chicago
a muchaco from Bueno
a bean burrito and an Apple Burrito from Taco Villa
A buttered biscuit from Chic-Fil-A
and for dessert, the Cookie Monster at Cheddars (with no nuts)
I know it is a lot of food, but it is my last meal afterall. (I am watching the Biggest Loser right now and the guilt is setting in)

So, what would your last meal be???

Why do we do it?

Today is the first Saturday morning in forever I have been able to just lay around. Cody taught EMT classes all morning and I have been a lazy couch potato. It has been great. I started flipping channels and found "Steel Magnolias". I had not watched it in forever so I settled down to read People magazine and revisit this 80's classic. HOLY COW! I forgot how sad it is. I have been laying on the couch crying for a solid 45 minutes. I was paralyzed, I couldn't change the channel, couldn't get up, all I could do was lay there and cry. Cody walked in and sees me and immediately assumes something real is wrong. Then he sees the movie and asks, "Why do you do this to yourself?" I have no answer. Any thoughts?