:: Brinna's ::

:: Friday, December 31, 2004 ::

Wow, it's been 2 weeks nearly since I've written. Andrew arrived and we saw some more blimp hangers in the San Francisco area..we really enjoyed visiting the one in Tillamook, OR (and the cheese factory!! Fresh cheese curd can't be beat..). We came home and watched a few movies, and basically relaxed a couple days. Then we took off in the middle of the night for Grand Junction, CO. We got there Tuesday evening. Over the course of the week we rented movies, made turkey tamales (much better than turkey leftovers like sandwiches all week), went sledding, drove to Ouray to see Box Canyon's falls and the hot springs pools (I'm allowed to bathe in the cooler pools, and can enter the hot pool, as long as I keep my upper body out of the water), and, of course, opened the massive pile of presents under the tree. As someone said: 'the number of presents under the tree has reached a new level of obscenity this year'. Which turned out to be a bad thing: there was an excellent number in average, but Katie, Sammy, and possibly Daniel as well, had far, far too many presents. Even they got tired of opening them. Sammy had almost no reaction at her new bike which she'd been asking for for quite awhile. It was stressful by the end. We were all worn out. We drove back Tuesday night, with my sister along. It was discussed, and decided, that I should move back to Colorado while Andrew is gone. I can see a midwife, I can be not alone, and I can hang out with Britt again. I feel a bit bad about leaving Angela here, but we haven't talked very much lately anyway. We'll go down to the Army's Transportation office and they'll pack our things into storage so I don't have to worry about the house. We'll see how long that takes to get done...

I am now in my second trimester, and showing for sure! I had to buy some maternity pants. The ones I really wanted were huge--falling off of me, and a size small. I had to buy the ones that had elastic tops (but not the panels!), and I still took them in around the thigh area. I don't know if I'm abnormal, but I don't have that huge of thighs! Do they expect all women's body types to suddenly change now that they're pregnant? Good grief!

Speaking of getting bigger though, so far it's all belly. I supposedly lost a pound since last visit, but they also switched to a new scale, so who knows. I certainly haven't been watching my weight! I stopped working and started pigging out. (What do you expect, it's Christmas season!!) So I don't know what's going on, but I'm not worried. I'm only 14 wks pregnant after all!

:: Brinna 3:20 PM [+] ::
...

Hello and Happy Sunday!

What do you all think of my festive new snowflake background? I can't believe it took me so long to put it up. The cool thing is, it's translucent kinda, so you can change the background behind it. I tried it with the plain white behind the tickers but it was distracting.

Well, some people have asked me, how does Andrew feel about having a baby? I never really knew what to say. He didn't really seem to want one, it was just a fact that I was pregnant. He hadn't thought about it too much. He'd originally wanted to wait until we were 25. Then he went to the grocery store with one of his buddies (and the buddy's little girl) after we got back from the airport (I'd forgotten to buy him whole milk... :)). When he came back, he hugged me and said, 'we're going to have a baby!' It was kind of surprising but wonderful, because being pregnant I'd started to get kinda paranoid that he didn't really want the baby, that it was just something that was there...even though I'd seen him with other children and he'd seemed to have a lot of fun. I'd tried not to think about it but was still bothered. So I was very glad when he said he'd decided he did want a baby, that he was happy I was pregnant. Unfortunately, unless I move out to Alabama, or go see him, he's going to miss 4 months of it...

We've decided to drive out on Monday night, so we can hit the mountainous areas during the day. We'll stay in GJ about a week. So get the trailer ready, Kristi!

:: Brinna 3:08 PM [+] ::
...

Today is the last day I have to sleep alone, unless something drastic happens. So I might as well post in advance for tomorrow. (Happy Birthday, Kristi!!!!)

Today was supposed to be my last day of work, but it turned out that last night was. It hurt like heck to walk after a half hour and didn't stop. By the end of the night I was limping around. If we weren't seriously understaffed I would have gone home. So this morning I called the doctor about it, and he told me to come in so he could check it out. Turns out my joints are inflamed, or something around my hips and butt is. I assume from working 40 hrs a week. So today was the first time I've ever not gone to work when scheduled to...and the first time I've ever called in sick. Anyhow I'm really glad I decided to quit. Unfortunately, if I hadn't quit I would still be 'rehireable', because the reason for quitting would seem to be purely medical. Oh well, I'm not too worried--it's not like I'll be working anywhere for a good while, with a baby!

Other news--midday today the power went out. And stayed out until about 10:30pm. (It's 11pm and I couldn't sleep for the life of me.) So thank goodness I like candles. And for the gift exchange at work, I got a battery operated lamp, silver, blue, and frosted glass with a snowman & snowflakes. I thought it was really cute, perfect for my personality--I'm really glad now that I had it!! :)

:: Brinna 11:57 PM [+] ::
...

Today I'm posting new pics. One of my belly at 11wks2days, and 2 of my trees.

So here we go:


The thing to remember here is, I'm still a week away from the uterus rising out of the pelvis and into the abdominal area. If I feel below my belly button a couple inches I can feel the top of it. Right now it's the size of a grapefruit, and it feels like that's what's inside of me. :) So, I'm showing a bit, but where I stick out, it's not firm like it will be later. It's mostly just my innards being displaced. Kinda gross, huh? Well, pregnancy does weird things to the body.

Anyhow, here's my small tree in the corner of the dining room:




Kinda fuzzy, but you get the idea. On this tree is all the ornaments from my childhood. Well, more like, all the ornaments that aren't silver or blue. That's where this tree comes in:




Later on when my children are larger their ornaments will get their own small tree as well. It only costs $15-20 for the tree, lights, and garlands. Can you tell I love Christmas? 3 trees... :) Thankfully (by mostly chance, since I wasn't really thinking ahead), there really isn't anything breakable on the large tree. The balls are the only thing. Balls can always go higher on the tree, with the non-breakables lower.


Vive la Navidad!

:: Brinna 2:22 PM [+] ::
...

On the 10th day till Christmas....

Today I read a (revealing) review of the Lord of the Rings:Return of the King Extended Edition DVD that came out Dec. 14th. It had the greatest description of a palantir I've ever seen: 'a glowing bowling ball'.

My sister is dying to receive the DVDs of it for her birthday or Christmas. She has an extensive Christmas list, including snowboarding accessories and toe socks. My own Christmas list has not yet been seen by anyone, because somehow Hotmail has been losing the emails I send to my mom. Or her email, Juno, lost them. I tend to believe it's Hotmail, but whatever. The point is, communication via email isn't working! So I said I'd post it here on my blog for all to see. Not that anyone really sees my blog, but that's ok too. The important ppl in this situation do. So here's my list.

Lets see...

interesting scarves...I like light colors (like sky blue, sunshine yellow, light green...although I really don't look that good in yellow...), most shades of pink except super hot pink, and burgundy

makeup...preferably NOT a big kit by the cheapie brands, such as Color Workshop. Good brands are Revlon, Loreal, Maybelline, and Rimmel...Sonia Kashuk at Target would be fantastic (it doesn't have to be a large amount of makeup, I prefer quality to the quantity). They usually make good stuff for holiday promos. The little variety sets are good, because I generally use eye makeup the most., but a good cheek or lip color would be great. Go for berry shades, definitely. And shiny/glossy for the lips, not matte! :)

Steven Curtis Chapman's Music of Christmas CD...the only Christmas I have of his is the Hallmark exclusive CD

the newest CDs of Audio Adrenaline ('Lift' and 'Worldwide') and Newsboys ('Devotion')

novelty socks...something I've grown fond of over the years. Snowmen, snowflakes, butterflies and Hello Kitty are things to watch out for.

Hello Kitty...nearly anything with Hello Kitty on it will be smiled upon, now that I think of it

Vanilla Sugar scent from Bath & Body Works...I have lotion and shimmer, anything else would be fantastic. Example: soap, perfume/spray, bubble bath, scrubs...

The Sims 2, a game for PC...I'm certainly not holding my breath on this one, but I'd love to have it

The Sims: Superstar Expansion Pack...a good deal less pricey, and something I've also been debating on buying for myself

a gift certificate for maternity clothing...in case you've been living like an ostrich, I've got a bun in the oven, and sooner or later my XS/S shirts won't cut it anymore!


Hmmm....nothing else I can think of at the moment. Andrew's Christmas list is very short...all he wants is money. Feel free to give him it in the form of something you actually took the time to pick out, of course...but also, don't feel bad about giving him simple money. After all, he asked for it...he won't be offended.. :)

Anyhow, not much else going on. I'm taking it very easy with my days off. My last 2 days of work are Thursday and Friday. Lately I've been having a pain in my pelvis that is sometimes annoying and sometimes scary. Fortunately, I've asked around a bit and it's common in people who've been overworking their bodies (like me). Basically, the bones and ligaments are loosening so a baby can make space for itself, and so you'll have enough of a space in your pelvis for it to get out of there in a few months. If you aren't taking it easy, it tells you, because you're probably throwing your pelvis out of alignment...really stressing it out anyway. So now I'm extra glad I quit. I've heard that for some people it hurts to be hugged! How awful would that be?

Only a couple more days until I can find out if it hurts to be hugged...

:: Brinna 2:32 AM [+] ::
...

Well,
yesterday was interesting. I was on the way to work and the power went out--traffic lights included. It took at least twice as long to get to work. I felt like I was in a huge city, with all the bumper-to-bumper cars! We just treated the lights as 4 way stops. I wonder, though, if there were accidents before they decided how to treat them?

Also on the way to work, I decided that I would see how the day went, and then decide for sure if I was going to hand in my note of notice. If it went well, I'd probably stay; and if it didn't, I wouldn't. The day started out well enough--but by the time it was over I think it might have been the worst night I'd ever had there.

We had a party of 40 in the back corner, of screaming t-ball age kids at their christmas party. (Why take t-ballers to a brewpub??) I and probably my best friend at work covered that party. Drinks, appetizers, and meals all were being ordered--and being put on separate tabs. It wouldn't be so bad if they actually stayed in one place. Most of my food got delivered to the wrong people, and the right people never got theirs. We ended up with one large check of things to void at the end of the night. Somehow they all ended up mostly happy and miraculously, we also got decently tipped. Maybe it was the fact that all the parents were drinking.

Well the party by itself wouldn't have been bad...but I had a regular sized section on top of that, and as it usually happens lately, the busy section. I had 4 tables when the party arrived, and more while it went on. I was getting pretty stressed. Then one of my tables was getting very upset. I'm not sure why, really. I managed to keep their drinks full and deliver their food in a timely fashion. All I forgot was a side of ranch, even though I remembered lots of other condiments. (I can't remember everything, ESPECIALLY now that I'm pregnant. They're lucky it was only ranch they didn't get.) Anyway, they wanted to speak to a manager, saying their service was terrible. I just about cried. The one person you'd expect to be sympathetic, the manager who has a kid (the only one who's been pregnant), wasn't at all. I really did cry a bit when the table next to the one who was mad, told me to not take it too hard, that I was doing an excellent job, especially under the circumstances. They were very nice people. I actually made pretty good tips for the night, $110. (Great tips would be $130.) I've regularly gotten more tips than the servers around me the past week, but I'd rather get about $40 and have a relaxed night, then run around stressed all night and get $80. Maybe God's giving me some bonus money before I leave. :)

Anyhow, it turns out that since I only gave a week notice instead of 2 (despite the fact that the weeks after, the restaurant is closed for the holidays), I'm 'unrehireable'. So I can't be transferred to a different department. They were like, 'you should have talked to us before you turned it in..' As if I'm going to talk about quitting with the person I'm quitting because.

Only 2 weeks until Christmas! 1 week till I see Andrew again...

:: Brinna 10:45 AM [+] ::
...

Great thanks go out to 'K.N. Senko', my ol' partner in crime, my best friend since before I got hitched. She told me how to slap my ticker into the blog template so you have to look at how far pregnant I am every time you come. ;)

Yesterday I decided, after talking to a few people, I will quit my job. So I went in to HR (Human Resources) and checked out the jobs I could transfer to. The only decent one right now (besides Valet Driver, which I'd need a CA license for) is Garage Cashier. I'd sit and wait for people to leave the garage. I could read and crochet and listen to my own music for hours. I also wrote a little note of notice to my current manager, but I couldn't give it to them because the office was locked all day, and I didn't want to just hand it to him. So I'll do it today when I go in. So I'm getting ready to put away the mass of black clothing I own (which I wouldn't be able to wear much longer anyway--new uniforms, remember), and crack out the real winter clothes, like cute sweaters and (gasp!) holiday socks. If you were caught wearing anything other than 'color-coordinated' black socks, you could get written up. Good gravy that manager was strict. I wore pants with a slight reddish tint one day and only avoided getting written up by the other manager forgetting to.
Just one more week...than I'm free AND my hubby's here!

Mele Kalikimaka!

:: Brinna 10:18 AM [+] ::
...

Lately I've got some decisions to make. Of course, most don't need to be made right away, but usually when I encounter a fork in the road I like to pick a path right then.

The less pressing decision is, should Andrew and I buy a different car? Our current car is fairly nice, it's paid off, and is reliable thus far. But, it's been in an accident before we got it, so who knows how good the frame really is--and for whatever odd reason has no rear center seatbelt. So when my kiddo is born it would have to go on the side, which isn't the best choice. Not that the center is an option in a Mazda RX-8--there is no center rear seat...but I think that since there will be a kiddo, we'll wait until Andrew actually has a civilian job with dough to get a pricey car. Back to the Scion tC idea...or another Echo. We both liked the Echo. The tC IS loaded, and cheap..but poor mpg. I really like the Mazda3, but I'm not sure about Andrew. The telescopic wheel feature on it is fantastic, I finally felt comfortable with the wheel/pedals ratio for the first time in a long time. Perfect arm rest height...good performance. But anyway!

Before that, I have to decide if I want to keep working where I'm working. I no longer enjoy my job. I can't stand the head manager (which happens to be the one I see the most of)--every day, there's something that gets me irritated. Earlier this week they announced a change of uniform. We're going dressier...first it was dress shirts and vests and ties of some sort (in a sports bar/brewpub!!), now it's a shirt similar to a polo shirt. I've always HATED wearing polo shirts. I would wear an APRON at Hastings so I didn't have to wear the polo! Anyway, basically any job you work at in food service, you have to have your hair pulled back. Pretty standard. Well here you have to have it 'off the shoulders' too. No low ponytails, no side ponytails, no pigtails...the worst thing is, they don't tell you this before hand. You just have to keep trying new hairstyles to see what they'll lecture you on. I also got lectured on doing a crossword puzzle when there was literally NOTHING to do. Everything was done...we'd even cleaned everything. There was nobody in the restaurant. This manager is completely inflexible. I'm supposed to get every Tuesday off--it's in my availability. Yet I get scheduled for nearly every Tuesday. I told them I wouldn't work later than 11pm Saturday or earlier than 11am Sunday, so I can go to church. Yet I get scheduled for these times. I just tell them I won't be showing up for work if they don't change it. The worst thing is, I'm working the most out of any other employee there--5 days a week, all 8+ hour shifts, and I'm the pregnant one. I'm the tired, liable to be grumpy one. I've asked for less hours, but no. Sooo....I could try and get transferred within the hotel (unlikely, considering it's the slow season right after Christmas, and the adjacent also in-hotel restaurant is closing for remodeling after Christmas for 3 mo. so those employees will be redistributed as well), or I could try and get another job in some other place until April, or, I could just take the next few months off. All you who read my blog, feel free to email me with thoughts on my employment. I enjoy having a job, but this job is no longer enjoyable, and I have way too many hours! And after Christmas, I will likely have so few tips it's a waste of time to be there...

:: Brinna 10:59 PM [+] ::
...

Today, I think it is safe to say that I'm past my phase of not wanting to eat. I'm not to the point of wanting to eat a lot yet, but that will come! Next month, I'm told, I'll get ravenously hungry, because starting in the 4th month, the baby REALLY starts to grow. I'm looking forward to it. At the moment though, I'm simply thankful that the feeling of early pregnancy is back (as in, before the 5th or 6th week)--simple loss of appetite. I don't feel hungry, but I have nothing against food. My stomach and throat don't feel tight anymore.

My dog is now neutered. Everything seems to be going well, I had to get one of those over-priced collars to keep him from licking the area. What can you expect of a dog? Now I just have to see if it helps with his marking. The rest of his housetraining is going great.

I asked my boss yesterday and he said there shouldn't be a problem with me getting my time off for Christmas, so I'll assume I got it all off. I pick Andrew up in San Jose on the 18th, and return him the 1st, and in between we'll go to Grand Junction, which sounds like it's getting enough snow to be white this year. :)

22 sleeps until Christmas! Woohoo!!

:: Brinna 11:12 AM [+] ::
...