:: Brinna's ::

:: Friday, September 22, 2006 ::
:: My 101st post! I missed titling the 100th...but, THANKS for the bean dip, Mom!! ::

Well, what's happened in the past two weeks...lots of course!

Andrew came home finally, last Wednesday. He got to stay home all of Wednesday after he graduated at about 11am, which was very nice. He was supposed to get 2 days off extra on the weekend, but he only got Monday, because they decided to send him to the field on Tuesday! For 3 weeks! Rrrr. Fortunately he surprised me by coming home that evening. They pushed it back to the end of the week, today. Fortunately, he's only going to be gone until the 9th, two and a half weeks. Just long enough to miss the Columbus Day 4-day weekend. Total bummer considering he missed the Labor Day 4-day while he was at NCO training. Go Army right?

Well this past Tuesday I went to a local sewing machine store and bought a new sewing machine. How exciting, right? Well not really that exciting because instead of a fancy Bernina I got an industrial sewing machine. Pretty simple, not even a zigzag...but very fast and much better quality. Raising the pressure foot with your knee is so convenient! I will still use my portable sewing machine but this will be much better for what I've been doing, and be helpful if I decide to start selling my own designs/creations. The money came from a bank account my dad's side of the family had been adding to on birthdays and Christmas for years, to go towards college. I still plan to go to college at some point but I think since it's going towards a job it's a wise use of the money. It was about a thousand dollars, and the sewing machine cost about $850. Then I bought a clothing iron like my boss has, for $125, which she has had for awhile and is still working great, and does a waayyy better job than my humble $10 iron I got from Big Lots. :) I don't know how much of a difference there is between regular irons and supposedly professional irons like Rowenta which cost $100-200, which you can get from places like Jo-ann's. When I worked with the lady in Lynchburg doing sewing she used one of those and it didn't seem that great. Also, I hear they don't last very long. The iron I bought actually has a separate container for the water, you don't pour it into the iron. It has tubing between the water bottle/tank and iron.

Andrew and I watched the whole 2nd season of Lost this past week. I'd seen every episode when it aired, but he hadn't, being in Korea. I don't do that for any other TV show. It's funny, I wasn't even obsessive about seeing each episode as it aired...if I was at home, I'd watch it. I still went traveling all about last year. But it happened that I traveled when it was a rerun that week. (Not too difficult I guess since there was a lot of rerun weeks last season.) I went to Virginia and watched the show with Debbie...the days I was on a plane were Wednesdays, but reruns. I flew to Korea for 5 weeks and it was all reruns while I was gone. Crazy. Unfortunately this year I'm actually going to have to go through the pains of programming the VCR, even if I catch every ep Andrew won't, and Kristi's not here to tape everything...sigh. :)

This past week I received a wonderful package from my mom, completely unexpected. Two containers of Frito-Lay's Hot Bean Dip! Thank you so much, Mom! I haven't had any yet, I'm saving it for when I finally remember to make my own corn tortilla chips like we did in 4-H. But they're on the counter just waiting for me. Yum! My bean dip was okay but I prefer wrapping it up like a burrito to dipping in it. I didn't use a recipe..I just dumped some beans in a blender (I got pintos instead of refried) with some jalapenos. Unfortunately Andrew's $15 blender he got in Korea wasn't quite up to the job, so that was it's final task. It started sparking and smelling just awful...it went in the trash can. At least I still have my own blender I use for smoothies. Maybe next time I'll mash them instead of blending? Or actually (gasp) bring out my Oster food center? Haha...

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

Hello all,
I suppose I need to recap the past week. To start, I had an uneventful drive to and from Virginia, aside from some heavy rain in Charlotte. I probably almost got in a wreck at least once but I don't remember the specifics. I usually almost get in a wreck at least once on road trips, and I think of all the trips I've taken it's been my fault once.

The hardest part of the visit was finding somewhere for Alice to sleep. We did not sleep well with her in my bed, she kept waking up and wanting to nurse. We tried her sleeping in Sarah's room for a couple nights, that worked for me and Alice but Sarah wasn't sleeping well. I tried getting her to sleep in Johnny's room, where my bed was set up, and me sleeping on the couch, but he wouldn't stop playing on the computer long enough for her to get to sleep. Oh well...I visited the Lees while I was there, they were very happy to see us. It's too bad Andrew couldn't come. Overall I didn't do much while I was there, just spent some time with the family. We watched a season of Scrubs, I'd never seen it before. It was alright, better than most shows on tv, but I really prefer Arrested Development.

I finished only two knit things for work, I'm not sure why I didn't do more. I'm trying to get another one done before I 'report' to my boss. It's slow going, I'm not sure why.

Today was Alice's wellness visit, she's pretty well still. :) Nothing wrong with her, still never been sick. (It's the breastmilk and lack of daycare.) It was also my first OB/ pregnancy visit, that went well too. I didn't have to pee in a cup, I'm not sure why...the only thing that really happened, was that I got my due date confirmed. And the method used also confirmed there's only one baby in there, cause I got an ultrasound! Yay! They have it on hand for physical therapy but my midwife swiped it and measured my baby from crown to rump. I have no idea what that measurement was but it said I'm right on for my estimated due date, April Fool's Day. I always get interesting due dates! But of course I expect to be exactly one week overdue. I didn't get to hear the baby's heartbeat but I got to SEE it beat and the baby wriggle around. Hallelujah.

Nothing much going on else, just trying to knit and eat enough so I'm not so starving I feel like puking every 3 hours. I went grocery shopping and got only a couple frozen meals, I mostly got fresh fruits and veggies and some canned goods. I've been eating frozen Stouffer's for awhile. Yummy but tiring and probably kinda fatty. I'm regaining some energy and with it, motivation to cook more than frozen taquitos and chimichangas. Which are definitely fatty. Also got some jalapenos and pintos to make my own hot bean dip, I wouldn't say I'm craving it but you can't find Fritos Hot Bean Dip ANYWHERE down here. I'm lucky I can find corn tortillas, cause the flour ones are crap. Who's got a good flour tortilla recipe?

:: Brinna 3:35 PM [+] ::
...