6.30.2010

Learning how to live off what you can afford is part of growing up!

Today was hubby's day off from the cell phone store and I decided to help him gather up and take out the trash since he now has to take over my chore of cleaning out the kitty litter box (cuz I'm preggers and there's something in cat urine/feces that is horrible for pregnant women and babies to be exposed to).

http://almightydad.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/throwing-away-money1.bmpAnyways, I had bought some bananas and strawberries when we went grocery shopping a little over a week ago as I had read that banana strawberry shakes and smoothies are great for pregnant women and I found a simple recipe online for it and thought I'd give it a try. Well... I made one and it didn't taste too great. I like fruit flavored drinks but when it comes to straight up eating fruit, I've never really been a fan of most types, strawberries being one of them (I hate the texture) and bananas it really depends on my mood. Since the smoothies tasted gross I had no desire to make anymore (at least not with the receipe and all the others called for ingredients we didn't have) and of course I didn't eat the fruit for the previously mentioned reasons.

Cleaning out the bad, spoiled food out of the fridge while hubby took care of the litter box it was quite clear that the bananas had gone bad, as they were completely brown, and while some of the strawberries had shriveled up, there were others I was unsure of so I asked hubby what he thought.

He said they were all bad and wasn't too happy, grumbling about how I wasted money on food I didn't eat (I did point out that I know he eats strawberries so it's not like he couldn't have helped himself to them).

http://api.ning.com/files/G4pCztZsSY9bLt-kDupAv-8S1LK6vIz*9xuYLXH4Tk*LdzRMLr*Yw33c5VjwSS0VCuYOK9c1JmfZzGoVijVWpqmthv9GaFLt/20sb_member.pngThat got me thinking briefly about our spending and the 20sb.net Blogger Carnival, in which this time around it is being sponsored by Charles Schwab and the topic is "Friends and Money."

I went to the Schawb MoneyWise site and took their Financially Fit quiz - I scored a 52 which was average, but I don't know... I think we do pretty well, all things considered.

To be honest, I've never been one to keep to a strict budget - I write out what I need to pay each month and when and don't really pay attention to where the rest of the money goes.

Yes, this is bad, but hubby is almost anal when it comes to making budgets and sticking to them, so I guess his anal-ness about budgeting balances out my spending as it makes me more conscious about what I spend out of our joint account. Especially now that my hours at my job got cut in half and I'm only bringing in $500/mo.

We have our joint account where all our bills come out of, as well as food and entertainment. Then we each have our own sort of "allowance" if you will - I take $50 out of my paycheck and put it into my personal account which covers gas and lunch for myself and the rest I can save. When I was doing Mary Kay, I also used this account for that and I pay off the MK Visa I opened for my inventory out of this account as well. Hubby was donating plasma twice weekly and was using that $50/wk as his "allowance" to pay for gas, food and anything else he wanted to save up for, but since he hasn't done that lately, he takes a certain amount out of his dayjob paycheck. He also puts a certain amount of each check into our savings account too.

We've never really had a whole lot of debt - we each have a car loan, I have Mac loan still and my MK Visa which will be paid off very soon. We also pay our cable/internet bill, electric bill, rent, cell phones, Netflix, WoW accounts (when we subscribe), cat food, groceries, car insurance and health insurance (which automatically gets deducted from hubby's paycheck, as it's part of his UPS benefits).

When it comes to spending the rest of our money we try to be thrifty.

  • When we decided to get Droids, rather than pay the $199 after rebate or whatever despite hubby and bros working for Verizon, we decided to go to Best Buy and get them for around $100 each (which we saved up for). 
  • When hubby needs work pants/shirts/shoes or ties we tend to visit Walmart first. 
  • When I go clothes shopping or need shoes, I tend to shop at places like Kohl's, Target, Walmart, Old Navy and Gordman's where you can really stretch your money as they always have great sales on stuff and I use coupons when I can. 
  • We buy almost everything we can on sale
  • We may eat out quite a bit on the weekends, but we're smart about it - occasionally we go to places that have 2 for $20 deals (Chili's and Applebees) or sit down places that offer entrees for under $10 (TGI Fridays, Lino's, Gerry's and Denny's where hubby gets a UPS discount!); the rest of the time we go to fast food like Taco Bell, Sonic or Wendy's where we can both eat for around $10 or less. When we get pizza, it tends to be a $5 large pizza from Little Caesar's or we use coupons for Pizza Hut or Domino's (just the other day we got 2 large pizzas for $6 each!)
  • Ever since I stopped working at a movie theater and no longer get free movies, we've made a point that when we go to the theater we rarely pay full price for a ticket - when our local theater chain was Kerasotes, we usually waited til a movie was on the $5 Buck Club and now that it's AMC, we take full advantage of the $5 Weekday pass where all movies are $5 Monday-Thursday.
  • In college, I quickly learned it was much cheaper to buy whatever I wanted to drink from the liquor store and take it home than go out to the bars, sometimes pay a $5 cover and spend $3+ on a watered down drink. I think this is largely in part why I never got into going out to the bars.
  • I take full advantage of online activities where you get rewarded - I've taken enough market research surveys to where I can get $30 in Borders rewards credit or a $25 Gamestop giftcard; I've earned so many Amazon giftcards from my VH1 focus group that I was able to save them up and get us a Wii console set, an extra Wiimote, several games and accessories as well as exercise equipment, movies and books;  I cashed in the points I earned on my personal checking account for $70 in Best Buy giftcards.
  • When we have this baby in February, despite originally planning on just using formula (my mom didn't breastfeed me or my sister and my aunt didn't with my cousin), I'm actually starting to consider maybe pumping breastmilk instead, so we can save on the cost of formula. Also, we've been lucky enough to have my parents offer us the crib my sister and I used and a friend of hubby's has even offered one of their carseats to us - 2 less "bigger" baby items to spend money on! A good friend of mine who had their 2nd child was telling me about all the deals she got at the local Sharestuff stores and I'm planning on checking it out for clothes and other stuff once we know what we're having!

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Growing up, my dad made good money working for Dean Foods. And while they could afford to send me and my sister to private school and afford the name brand clothing when I went through that phase in junior high and buy us a car for our 16th birthdays, we lived in a basic middle class neighborhood and while my parents weren't cheap, they were all for saving on the cost of things and buying things on sale. To be honest, a lot of people that know me had no clue to the kind of money my dad was making back then as my parents didn't flaunt it and spend it on luxuries that weren't needed - instead they saved what we didn't spend and even invested some and also made regular donations.  

Even when my dad got cut from Deans in their merger with Suisa Foods, we had his severance for a good year or so and after that and in the years to follow until he recently found a job that stuck we were still doing okay and there was very little change to our lifestyle because my parents had money in savings to help us out when my dad was inbetween jobs.

From the time I was little until I got a job I always got a weekly allowance if I was good and did all my chores that week - it started out when I was maybe 4 or 5 and increased $1 each year; by the time I got a job I think I was getting at least $10 a week. Starting in 6th grade, I also started mowing our next door neighbor's yard, and occasionally the yard on the other side of that one and made some from that. This combined with my allowance taught me about saving. I remember spending a good portion of that first summer (1996) saving up for a portable CD player. When I had enough for it, dad took me to Best Buy and not only was the one I wanted on sale (around $100), but it came with a travel pack of accessories and I think I had enough left over to buy a new CD too. This is the first thing I really remember working and saving up towards.

When it was time to go off to college, I didn't have to worry about student loans because from the time I was little my parents started saving up a college fund for me so there would be money to cover it - they didn't want me to graduate with a ton of debt right out of college. My college fund covered my tuition, room & board and textbooks/supplies so when I lived in the dorms the only things I needed to spend my own money on were entertainment, food outside the dining hall and anything else I might want (ie: clothes, shoes, CDs, movies...). I worked part-time as a page designer at my school's student newspaper and while it was minimum wage, it was enough for all that extra stuff.

Near the end of my sophomore year (Spring 2004) I was finishing up my basic art requirements for my Vis Com major and several of the other students were talking about getting their own Mac Powerbooks for the next semester, as with our Vis Com classes starting in the fall, it would be much more convienent to just be able to take a laptop to class and work on our projects that way then have to trek across campus outside class to work on them. It made sense and I looked into getting one myself - all the serious Vis Com students I knew had one of their own. They were a bit pricey, even with the student discount (roughly $2000!) but they did offer an Apple Loan for students. I called my mom, as it said I needed a co-signer (I had no previous credit) and she agreed to it, as the minimum payment was like $20 and I could easily cover that, plus it would help me build credit. Well, I learned the hard way that paying just the minimum balance is not good as you get nowhere thanks to interest rates! Up until about 2 years ago or so I hadn't made much headway, but I made it a point to pay at least $50 a month if not more when I could and I'll finally have this thing paid off in about a year or so if not sooner!

For Fall 2006, I ended up taking the semester off - I got sick for a good week or 2 at the beginning of the semester and missed those weeks of class and while it would have been excused, taking mostly studio classes all but 1 of my instructors said I was too far behind to be able to pass their class. I looked into it and if I dropped out by a certain date I could get a certain percentage of my tuition back, so rather than spend a full semester's tuition for just 1 class, I dropped them all and got that percentage back. My parents were too thrilled but since I only had a few semesters left, they told me I had to go back the next semester. Also, since I wasn't in school I was going to have to pay my own rent, food and utilities during this semester off (I was living in an apartment with 2 roommates by this point) since the college fund wasn't going to be able to cover that and an extra semester of school. This prompted me to talk to my boss, explain the situation, and get my hours increased. I spent a good 4-5 days a week working and it was actually pretty nice not having to worry about a job and school at the same time! By the time I went back the next semester, I was promoted to management at the theater and although I could have asked my parents to have the college fund cover my rent and stuff again, I continued to pay it on my own - it made me feel more grown up and independent.

Around this time, I also got my own cell phone plan. I had been on my parent's plan since I was 16 but their contract had recently expired and they were shopping around where they wanted to go, as US Cellular was a bit expensive when it came to nationwide coverage. Keeping with my "grown up independence" streak, I saw a deal for T-Mobile with a phone I really liked so I went for it (I ended up switching to Verizon a year later when my contract was up cuz T-Mobile's coverage sucks outside major cities).

http://afrocityblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/falling2-money.jpgIn the months after I graduated college, the only financial ties I still had to my parents were my car and health insurance. I was working nearly 40 hours a week, making about $10/hr and got nearly $1000 in my tax refund. After sitting down and crunching the numbers, I realized I could afford a newer car so long as my payments were around $200/mo with insurance being around $100/mo. I decided to go for it and bought my first car all by myself - no cosigner! It felt great!

Seeing how my parents lived and spent their money really taught me quite a bit about saving and living within your means, not spending money for the sake of spending it or blowing it on things you don't absolutely need - if you really want something, save up for it and if you still want it, then go get it. (On a side note, comparison shopping is awesome and with the internet, it makes it sooo much easier to do nowadays!) They also taught me about how to stretch a buck - while I mentioned, my parents weren't cheapskates, but why shop at the department and name brand stores for everyday clothes when you can find the same kind of stuff at discount stores for a fraction of the price? Why even pay full price when you could find something similar on sale or on clearance? (I love clearance racks - I've gotten suede boots for $20 and cute casual/dressy sandals for $10! All my cocktail dresses were $20 or less!). Same with food - in most cases, the store brands are just as good, if not better than the name brand stuff and cost a lot less.

I guess I should be more conscious though about buying food I most likely won't eat...


Disclaimer: This post is part of the 20SB Blog Carnival: Friends & Money, sponsored by Charles Schwab. Prizes may be awarded to selected posts. The information and opinions expressed in this post do not reflect the views or opinions of Charles Schwab. Details on the event, eligibility, and a complete list of participating bloggers can be found here.

MJ and WoW - where were you?

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Sorry for no post last week - I didn't really have a topic/post prepared so I just decided to take the week off from Warcraft Wednesday... but now it's back!

A little over a year ago exactly (on June 25, 2009) the King of Pop - Michael Jackson - died.

Where was I when I heard?

Why, I was in WoW of course!

I remember hanging out in Dalaran, most likely on my Boomkin. Hubby was doing something on one of his characters and I was standing around waiting for something/anything to happen (our raid wasn't for a few more hours).

Some kid started talking over Trade Chat about Michael Jackson being dead. No one believed him though, I mean people joking about celebs dying in Trade Chat wasn't exactly uncommon. But then a few others chimed in as well.

Curious, I turned our TV to one of the news stations, but there was no info. I then Googled and noticed a few articles on sites like TMZ but again, not the most reliable source. I kept the TV on one of the news channels (CNN Headline News I believe) and eventually they mentioned something about MJ going to the hospital.

A few other people in Trade Chat must have been watching too, as we all started clarifying that he was at the hospital, not dead yet. But by then the Thriller/Smooth Criminal jokes were already flying back and forth in Trade Chat.

By the time he pronounced dead I was already in my raid.

But yeah, thanks to WoW, I was notified to turn on my TV and watch the news, otherwise I probably wouldn't have heard about it until people started posting on Facebook!

Keep doing the Michael Jackson dance, you male Night Elves!
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6.29.2010

My experience with Twilight

While I've written about it  before, with the release of the 3rd film in the saga coming out tomorrow, I thought I'd share my experience with the Twilight series.

It was Spring 2007 and I remember my roommate coming home from her job and all excited about this new book series she had just finished reading. She admitted, the books weren't that great, as the main character was like one of the overly obsessive lovey-dovey girls you see in animes and often want to smack around because of their stupidity, but... it has vampires in it! She insisted I read the first book in the series (which only had 3 books at the time) and left it with me.

I read the first few chapters but wasn't really that into it, so I sat it on my nightstand and kind of forgot about it until a month or 2 later when she asked me what I thought, if I was finished yet.

I picked it up again and finished it in a few days. It picked up quite a bit the more I read.

http://larryfire.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/twilightbooks.jpgWhen I finished that one, I left it on her bed with a note asking if I could borrow the next one in the series, since she was already at work and I would be at work by the time she got back. When I returned from work later that night, the next one was sitting out for me.

I read that one in about 2 days (it was quite the easy read) and borrowed the last one and finished it by the end of the week.

I thought they were okay - nothing great, but easy reads and they kept me entertained while I read them. I definitely wanted to bitchslap Bella for most of the last 2 books though, especially for the way she treats Jacob once Edward's suddenly back in the picture.

By the time the 4th book came out in August 2008, my roommate and I were no longer living together - I had graduated and moved back to my hometown, and wanting to read how the series ended I bought the book the weekend it came out.

It took me 2 weeks to read that piece of crap!

Seriously, it was one of the dumbest books I think I've ever read. The ONLY interesting parts of the whole book were the chapters told from Jacob's point of view, as they were a nice change of pace from the rest of the book, as told by Bella.

And again, Stephanie Meyer threw out all lore and created her own, as (*spoiler*) Bella and Edward have a half human, half vampire child and while normal lore would be that the child would grow up and be destined to slay vampires (ie: Blade) well, of course that can't be the case in Twilight... although that WOULD make for an AWESOME ending to the series - their child grows up and stakes them and the entire clan! Also, the books builds up this vampire war between the Cullen clan and friends vs. the Volturi and then it doesn't happen. Almost as big a letdown as the final showdown in Harry Potter!

After I finished it, I tossed it in a box to be sold at a garage sale, although the people in my parents neighborhood must be smart, as no one bought it!

When the movie came out, I gave it the benefit of the doubt - I mean the books had such a huge following by this point that they had be decent, right?

Wrong.

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I saw it with my former co-manager buddy at the theater and my old roommate, although she had already seen it the night before. Aside from us, there were 6 others in the theater and they seemed really into it. Us on the other hand, we had our own running commentary on it much like the traditional film screenings were accustomed to. Honestly, that was the only thing saving me from not falling asleep - we kept ourselves entertained. The special effects were laughable and the cinematography was just horrible - HORRIBLE! My roommate had a paper to write on bad cinematography for a class she was taking at the time and she said this movie provided her with more than enough material for it!

When the 2nd movie came out a year later, I debated going to see it, as the first one was so bad. But all the girls I know that I had seen it said it was much better than the first one, both visually and story-wise.

Not wanting to see it by myself, hubby agreed to go see it with me, so long as I got him drunk beforehand because he didn't want to be sober and bored the whole time. Although his drunken antics and commentary were quite humorous, we unfortunately had to keep them to a minimum as despite the movie being out for a month already, the theater was still packed on a late Saturday night and we had a couple of middle aged women sitting in the row in front of us and they seemed to be getting annoyed. Needless to say, I was SOOOO bored!

Hubby said he'd go see the next one with me if I got him drunk again first, but to be honest, I don't feel like suffering through another Twilight movie. If anything, I'll wait til the Rifftrax version is online and we'll watch that one, as hubby finds the Rifftrax versions to be great, lol...

I think I'd much rather stick to my True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse vamps, weres and supernatural creatures, thank you very much!

6.27.2010

Entourage premieres tonight!

Keeping in line with sharing about the premieres of TV shows...

Tonight marks the season 7 premiere of Entourage on HBO.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs330.snc3/29123_396738466686_6459871686_4396033_8194776_n.jpgLike I've said previously, this show is basically the male equivalent to Sex and the City.

The premise is pretty simple - Vincent Chase is a young up and coming movie star after talent agent Ari Gold saw him in a Mentos commercial and noticed his potential, taking him under his wing in LA and making him a film star. The series follows the ups and downs of Vince's career as struggles to stay on top while finding movie roles he likes and wants to do. Joining him in LA from their home in Brooklyn are his older brother Johnny "Drama" who was a lead actor on a 90's cult sci-fi show called Viking Quest, best friend Eric "E" Murphy who eventually becomes Vince's manager, and other best friend Turtle who serves as Vince's driver and errand boy.

Throughout the series each of the boys comes into their own - Johnny struggles to get back in the business after having been gone for so long, as he hates being dependent on his baby bro; Eric attempts to go somewhere as a manger and even as a producer at one point, but struggles throughout the series with both, as well as managing Vince's career and takes it hard when Vince fails as he feels like it's his fault for not being a better manager; he also struggles with love as things are on again, off again with the lovely Sloane (who's also the daughter of Ari's former partner); Turtle struggles with making a name for himself, finding something he's good at to make a living, he also eventually has a cute relationship with Jamie-Lynn Seigler from The Sopranos. Ari also struggles with juggling his family and his career, building up his talent agency empire - also, he feels Vince is his star client but when his agency begins to grow, he struggles with making as much time for Vince as he used to.


See? It's like Sex and the City for guys!

What's also neat about this show is that Mark(y Mark) Whalberg is one of the executive producers, as the show is based loosely around his early life and career as an actor trying to make it in the Biz, only toned down a bit as they didn't want all the drugs/violence he was involved in to be included. Also, there's TONS of celebrity cameos - some playing other characters, others (such as Anna Faris, Gary Busey, Bob Saget, Seth Green, and Jamie-Lynn Seigler) playing fictional versions of themselves (although Bob Saget does make you wonder...).

We started watching this one back in January when the "edited" version premiered on SpikeTV (the only difference is that the nudity is slightly toned down and some of the language is edited) however SpikeTV kept changing the night it aired with every seasons worth of episodes (which got very annoying!) so we just got the whole series on the computer and caught up that way and on onDemand.

The only thing we're confused about is how they're marketing this season so dramatically, like you would the final season of a show... but online it states the show still has like 3 more seasons left as well as a theatrical movie to officially end the series.

If you like shows about a group of friends and their adventures together and don't mind a little R-rated nudity and language be sure to check out Entourage! New episodes air Sunday nights on HBO at 10:30/9:30c

I'm Going Places!

Tasha over at Random Musings of an Overactive Imagination just recently gave me the "You're Going Places" Award!


Like I said previously, I love getting these little blog awards - it means a lot to me and it gives me the warm fuzzies, plus I think they're so neat too, as they get passed from blogger to blogger... really cool! I hate it when I see people get these various blog awards and then they don't follow the fun little rules or even bother passing it onto others, as that's the whole point of these - to pass em on!

The rule for this award is, I have to write down where I see myself in ten years.

In 10 years... I'll be 35. I see myself still married, with 2 kids close in age and maybe a younger one trailing behind them. Hubby will have been promoted to full-time by now and only working that 1 job instead of 2, so he'll be able to spend more time with his family. I'll still be doing graphic design stuff when I'm not busy being a mommy. We'll have a house just the right size for us, which is exactly what we want - a ranch with a master bed and bath and a nice rec room in the basement as well as a computer/office room down there and plenty of space for our kids to play indoors and outdoors. Some may think just being a mom with work on the side is boring and not exciting, but it's what I would love to have for my life! Oh yeah, I'll have a nice car with air conditioning in it too and my iMac at home in our computer/office room so I can do all my design work on that, as those things are sweet!

I am passing this award onto...
If you accept, please follow the rule and answer the question "Where do you see yourself in ten years" and then pass the award along!

6.26.2010

Smell Aversions

Yesturday I discovered 2 smells that make me want to gag:
  1. Fresh Cut Grass
  2. Newly Paved Pavement
I went outside yesturday morning to go to work and got hit with the smell of fresh cut grass, as the lawn maintenance guy had been buy the day before. This smell was soooo disgusting! And on the way home I drove past a guy on a riding mower mowing his property and just the quick whiff of it made me want to gag.

Also, on my route to and from work there are several construction zones, one of which just recently laid new pavement down. I drove through this one and instantly started getting nauseous at the smell - gross!!

Considering my car doesn't have a/c and I have to drive with the windows down in the summer, well... this is going to be a fun summer!

1 more month!

Today is June 26.

Our first ultrasound is on July 26...

WE GET TO SEE OUR BABY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1 MONTH!!!

I'm soooo excited - I can't wait for the ultrasound and to finally see our little kiddo!

Like I said elsewhere, I don't want to wish summer away, but I wouldn't mind this next month to just fly by!

6.25.2010

The days of the Boy Bands

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At one point or another we've all had to deal with the phenomenon known as the Boy Band.

Growing up in the late 80s and early 90s I remember when New Kids on the Block was all the rave!

http://freemusicbox.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/new-kids-on-the-block.jpgWe were only around the ages of 5, 6, and 7 when these guys were popular, but my childhood best friend LOVED them and had at least 1 if not 2 of their cassette tapes, as well as a Jordan doll. She also had NKOTB bedsheets too. While I remember dancing around to Step by Step with her and singing along to the chorus of Hang Tough (oooh oooh oooh HANG TOUGH!), I really wasn't THAT into them. They were way older and we were just little kids. My friend said I HAD to pick one of the boys to like though, so I chose Donnie, as I liked his leather jacket (see? even from an early age I thought bad boys were hot! lol...).

I remember going to my grandparents house one summer (they live in Pennsylvania) and was watching VH1 and was thrilled that some Gloria Estefan video I had been waiting all day to watch finally came on. Right as it started though, my older, 2nd cousin Erin (she was about 10 years older than me) came running down and popped in a VHS tape - I was really upset! The video I had been waiting to watch was only a few minutes long and yet she couldn't wait. She told me what was on the tape was better than what I was watching and that I would love it. I wasn't convinced. She pushed play and it was some New Kids on the Block videotape, with footage from on tour or something - I just remember they were on a tour bus or somethign and there were TONS of screaming girls. How was this better than what I was watching?! I got very upset and stormed off, declaring her videotape was dumb.

I guess I was just too young to understand the appeal of boy bands at the time.
It wasn't until I was in junior high that I understood. 

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In spring of 7th grade (1997), Hanson was all over the radio and TV with their song MmmBop. It was an innocent, catchy little ditty and girls like me ate it up - I bought their albums, I had the piano songbook (which I can still pull out and play to some of em!), I bought all the Tigerbeat type magazines with their photos in it... I think I had a biography book too! The 3 blonde brothers from Tulsa were a hit. Being just slightly younger than the middle brother, but just slightly older than the youngest, my favorite was lead singer Taylor - I thought Issac was goofy looking and for the longest time I thought Zac was a little girl! What I liked best about Hanson though was the fact that unlike most of the other boybands that came out in the late 90s, they actually wrote a lot of their own music and actually played their own instruments - I thought that took more talent that learning choreography.

At the beginning of 8th grade, the Backstreet Boys craze was in full swing, with the release of their debut US album, and the song and video "As Long as You Love Me" which made us girls swoon. They had hit after hit with this album, including the previously released "We Got It Goin' On," as well as "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," "I'll Never Break Your Heart," "All I Have to Give," and my favorite "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)." I remember buying the enchanced CD single for "Everybody" as it included the full-length music video that you could play on your computer - I thought it was such a great video! The boys get stuck in a haunted house for the night and things start going bump in the night... Brian turns into a werewolf,  Nick into a mummy... AJ looks like the Phantom of the Opera... Howie is a vampire and Kevin is a 2-face Jekyll/Hyde looking character. I remember my friends and I trying to do the dance they all do at the end too - many a fun times at sleepovers! Here's the video in case you want to see for yourself:



I loved it and must have watched that video waaaay too many times! My favorite BSB was a toss up between buddies Nick and Brian (who nicknamed themselves Frick and Frack). I had a friend who was HUGE into the Backstreet Boys - she had EVERY album and single you could find, enough t-shirts to last her probably 2 weeks before having to do laundry (I admit, I helped fuel this, as it was easy to get her birthday and Christmas gifts!) and I remember traveling to Toronto for our 8th grade class trip via charter bus and finding at the truck stops mini BSB buttons! We all got 1 of each and wore em proudly! By the time the Backstreet Boys put out their 2nd album, Millennium, I had pretty much moved on from them.

http://webspace.webring.com/people/nd/dbovela/breathlessnsyncwebring/nsync_logo2.jpgAt the beginning of 2nd semester in 8th grade, N*sync made their debut with the single "I Want You Back." Like the Backstreet Boys, they had catchy songs and could dance. I only thought Justin and JC were cute though - the rest seemed a bit out there in the looks department. Their 2nd single "Tearin' Up My Heart" was another catchy one I liked too. I remember buying their CD but I wasn't really impressed with the other tracks - most of them were pretty slow and sappy... my N*sync phase died out rather quickly.

At the end of 8th grade, my cousin who is 2 years younger than me, came out and stayed with us for 2 weeks, starting with my 8th grade graduation, and then we took her back to Pennsylvania when we made our annual trip back there. She got me hooked on this goofy, ridiculous song "When the Lights Go Out" by this British band Five. The single was only $2 so we each got one. When we went to my grandparent's house (the got some of the best music channels out there back then!) we would watch the hilariously stupid music video for the song. We deemed them the "bad boys" of boy bands because their lyrics were more sexually charged and explicit ("babe I swear you will succumb to me... when the lights go out!" and their single dropping of the f-word in the song) and they break into the bowling alley for their video. We had a fun time singing along to this one though, even though we both agreed it was pretty stupid!

Check out the video:



Freshman year of high school one of my friends got into 98 Degrees and Nick Lachey. I never really did though - their songs ("The Hardest Thing" "I Do Cherish You") were too mellow and sappy for my taste. I remember visiting my cousin the next summer - she had their CD too, and I about died laughing at the intro track where the woman is all "It's 98 degrees... and rising!" like it's a national security alert or something - sooooo bad! lol...

Right before my sophomore year, LFO (which stood for the stupidly named Lyte Funky Ones) came out with their Abercrombie and Fitch approved song "Summer Girls." Considering most the girls at my school wore A&F, I couldn't get away from girls singing this one at lunchtime - so annoying! I personally thought the song was stupid, but my friend that bought the 98 Degrees album also bought this one and tortured me with it! lol...

And there you have it, my brush with boy bands over the years

I'll admit, from time to time I'll listen to some of my favorite BSB/Nsync/Hanson tracks (as well as that ridiculous Five song) for a trip down memory lane. To this day, Hanson and their debut album is probably still one of my favorites - I LOVED that CD! I also admit, I like a lot of the stuff of Justin Timberlake's 2nd solo album too.

Which boy bands were you fans of? Who were your favorite members?

6.24.2010

It's baaaaack!

That's right - tonight marks the return of the animated sci-fi comedy hit Futurama!

http://chud.com/articles/content_images/173/Futurama_title_screen.jpgCreated by Simpsons creator Matt Groening and originally airing on Fox (just like the Simpsons), it's timeslot got shuffled around quite often during it's original run from 1999-2003 and while it was never officially canceled, Fox stopped buying episodes after the 4th season, putting it out of production.

The show got a second life though as it began airing on Cartoon Network in the late night Adult Swim block along with other Fox shows like Family Guy and King of the Hill and just like Family Guy, it gained an even bigger following than it did in its original run. I never really watched it during the original run but I got hooked watching it late night during Adult Swim when I was in college (it was around 2005, when we moved into the apartment) and grew to love the characters!

In 2005 Comedy Central acquired the rights to the show and after the contract with Cartoon Network expired, Comedy Central started airing all the episodes, as well as breaking up the recent DVD movies into 4 episodes each and airing them that way. In summer 2009 they announced that all new episodes (26 in total) were being created and would begin airing summer 2010.

The all new season starts tonight and fans of the show are excited to once again see the Planet Express crew back in action in all new adventures!

http://images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20090610/425.ad.futurama.061009.jpg
For those not familiar with Futurama, the show takes place 1000 years in the future. We learn that Phillip J. Fry was a pizza boy who unwillingly fell into a cryogenic chamber on New Years Eve 1999 and woke up New Years Eve 2099. He eventually comes in contact with his distance nephew, The Professor, and begins working for him and the rag tag delivery crew of the Planet Express, including one-eyed captain Turanga Leela, cynical sarcastic robot Bender, Rastafarian accountant Hermes Conrad, spoiled rich engineer from Mars Amy, and lobster alien physician Zoidberg. Fry does his best to adjust to life in the future, where travel between planets is no big deal and robots and aliens are just like humans in a diverse universe. Also, celebrities from the past are preserved in the future via their heads kept in aquatic chambers.

It's a pretty amusing show, as each episode is a different adventure with social commentary (remember Poppers) or pop culture parody (remember the Titanic episode), or even a message thrown in (the episode where the Leela gets a 2nd eye to fit in).

While it's from the creator of the Simpsons, I'd say in most cases it's slightly toned down (although I guess Bender could be the equivalent to Bart) and it's nowhere near the "obsceneness" of other animated adult cartoons like South Park or Family Guy. It's a fun adult cartoon with a sci-fi, futuristic twist to it.

If you're interested or a fan of the show, be sure to check it out tonight when it makes its return on Comedy Central at 10/9c.

6.22.2010

Toy Story 3 & Persons Unknown

http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/replicate/EXID1486/images/toystory3_0003.jpgHubby and I went and Toy Story 3 today... I must be getting emotional in my old age!

10 years ago the only movie that got me teared up, let alone crying, was My Dog Skip and that was only because the dog in the movie looked very similar to the dog I grew up with for like 14 years (only she was black and white instead of brown and white with a shorter tail).

Now... it seems like more and more movies in the past few years have gotten me teary eyed. Whether it's a daddy-daughter emotional scene, movies involving beloved pets (I teared up near the end of Bolt), relationships (Up) and now toys, I can't help but get a little teary-eyed and have my lips start quivering. Fortunately I'm able to hold back before anything starts streaming down my face - I'd prefer not to cry in a movie theater thank you - with the exception of My Dog Skip.

http://vrempire.com/Image/BlogImg/20100219-ToyStory3Barbie/Toy-Story-3-Barbie-Ken.jpgToy Story 3 was just as good as everyone has said it was - it had the great humor we've come to expect from the Disney-Pixar films as well as the emotional heartwarming/heartfelt story. While there were a lot of hilarious parts, some of the funniest came at the expense of Ken doll, as he's clearly metro-sexual with his huge and vibrant wardrobe despite the fact that he refuses to accept and admit that he's a "girl's toy." While I could see there being a handful of emotional parts that some would cry at, I think the biggest emotional scene came near the end, as that was when I started getting all teary-eyed and my lips started quivering - it was VERY emotional! I'm glad with how they ended it though - while it's left open for future installments, the way this one ended was on a good note!

The basic premise (you can read my full review here) is that Andy is now 17 and is about to go off to college. He hasn't played with Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the gang in years, as they've been stowed away and forgotten about in his abandoned toy chest. His mom tells him to decide what to do with his toys before he leaves - he can put em in the attic, donate them to the local daycare or throw em out. Some stuff happens and they accidentally end up at the local daycare, but soon learn things there aren't what they thought they'd be!

What I found neat, aside from all the fun easter eggs, is that the little boy that voiced Andy in the first one 15 years ago and the 2nd one nearly 11 years ago is also Andy at age 17. Just like him, I too have aged with the franchise, as I was 11 when the first one came out in 1995 and now it's 15 years later and I'm hoping *someone* gets me the trilogy box set for Christmas this year (my sis has the first 2 on VHS - I didn't run out to get them though as I heard there was going to be a 3rd and figured I'd wait for the box set - same reason why I don't own any of the Harry Potter movies yet - I'm waiting for the full box set after the final movie is released).

Also, watching the movie, having played the video game for the first one, I could see sooooo many different levels that are most likely in the video game for this one - having to climb and manipulate all the various objects to get out of the Caterpillar room and eventually the daycare and the landfill... It was pretty funny catching my mind picking up on these things while watching it! I almost want to get the game for Wii just see if I was right!

Regardless, go see it!!
*****************

Also, has anyone else been watching this TV show called Person Unknown on NBC?

I saw the previews for it awhile back but missed when the original airdate was so hubby and I watched the first 2 episodes on onDemand last week and just watched the 3rd tonight.

http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/entertainment/personsunknown-cast.jpgIt's pretty interesting!

The premise is that 7 strangers - devoted single mother Janet; mysterious jack of all trades Joe who reminds me of Christian Bale; marine McNair; pathological liar and mental patient Moira; Tori, who's the rich socialite daughter of the former head of the CIA; Charlie who has a bed-ridden wife and is played by Ferris Bueller's Alan Ruck (Cameron); and aggressive used car salesman Bill - are all kidnapped and when they wake up they're in a hotel in a mostly empty town that has constant camera survillence.

No one there knows for sure why they were taken from their lives and families and put there and despite their best efforts to band together to escape, their unidentified captor has thwarted their attempts thus far. I said the town is mostly empty, as there is a night manager at the hotel who states he was offered a job, accepted it and when he woke up he there in the town, as well as a staff of Chinese workers that run the only restaurant in town (which happens to be a Chinese restaurant) where the hostages get their daily meals. Also, there is a reporter that witnesses the camera footage of Janet being taken from her local park and thinks it's strange that the story is being written off as a mother abandoning her daughter when it's clear she was abducted - the more he dig into her background and case the more dangerous things become, as someone doesn't want him to know and expose the truth.

As intriguing as this series is, I'm glad that it's just a summer filler series, as there's only so much the characters can do in this deserted town to keep the show interesting. Plus, we're all dying to know why they're each there and who is holding them all captive!

This show comes across as part mystery mixed with drama and it's a little bit reminiscent of Saw without all the gore, as they were all kidnapped and are being held hostage and are being psychologically tormented (Janet is given a fortune cookie and a gun telling her she must kill in order to go free after hearing her young daughter on the telephone; pictures in an ice cream parlor haunt Janet; a random TV shows Bill an image of Charlie being violent; they all get a brief taste of freedom before it's pulled away from them; they get a gift of 3 gasmasks and have to decide who gets to use them, as buildings begin to be filled with gas... etc.) yet they don't seem to know what they have in common or why they are there.

It airs Monday nights at 10/9c and is also available on onDemand - this is a summer series I definitely recommend, as it's quite interesting!

6.21.2010

What is wrong with Miley Cyrus and her parents?!

So I know a lot of people lately have been commenting about Miley Cyrus' latest video - Can't Be Tamed - and commenting about how racy and sexual it is for a 17 year old with a tween fan base, but did anyone catch her performances at the recent MuchMusic Awards?

I didn't either, but I just a few clips of it on E! News and wow... what are her parents thinking?!

This is the outfit she wore while performing "Party in the USA":
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2010-06/54460394.jpg 
Can you say teenage jailbait vixen?

And here's what she wore while performing "Can't Be Tamed":
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2010-06/54460383.jpg 
Yes, that's lingerie... on a 17 year old. At the beginning of the performance she came out with a matching silky wrap too which she stripped off.

Seriously, what the hell are her parents thinking? Yes, she's a teenager, but no, teenagers don't parade around in lingerie that one would wear on their wedding night!

A lot of people have said what she's doing is no different than what Christina and Britney were doing 10 years ago. The difference though between Miley and them is that their main fan base was closer in age to them - Miley went right from her kid-friendly Disney Channel show to this and the majority of her fan base are tweens and preteens. When Christina and Britney came out, I was a freshman in high school - only 2 or 3 years younger than them - and while they bared their midriffs, the sexuality really wasn't that in your face; their fashions weren't really that out of tune with what high school kids were actually wearing. And again, they were right around the same age as their target demographic. Yes, they too were on a Disney's New Mickey Mouse Club, however they were was a brief hiatus between the show and their music careers taking off.

As much as Miley's living up the moment right now, her transition to "growing up" wouldn't be as shocking or disturbing as it is if she took a good year or 2 away and then broke out with a new image/sound/whatever, spacing herself from her Hannah Montana image and fan base.

Watching the latest Miley video and her performances at the MuchMusic Awards, I feel dirty, knowing she's not even legal and she's strutting her "goods" around like that. Billy Ray Cyrus should be ashamed for his lack of parenting - my dad would shoot me if I ever went out in anything remotely like that in public, let alone in front of an audience!

"Growing up" does not mean you have to strut yourself around sexually like there's no tomorrow. 

There's plenty of young females in Entertainment who have kept their clothes on - take Kelly Clarkson for example, she's the original American Idol and has sold millions and millions of records. Her music is pretty positive and well, you don't see her strutting around in lingerie! Even the Olsen Twins, despite the one having anorexia (which she admitted to, addressed it and got help for it), are some of the richest girls in entertainment due to the kid-friendly empire they built; they too have grown up but you don't see them strutting around in next to nothing! And Natalie Portman's another strong female and former childstar who made a great transition into growing up without turning into a trainwreck - she even went to Harvard and graduated! And those are just the first few off the top of my head.

Yes, parents do have a responsibility to control what their kids watch and listen to, but you can't shelter them from EVERYTHING - it's not possible. Even if you don't allow it in your home, they'll get exposed to it elsewhere or behind your back - I remember as a kid, my parents wouldn't let me watch MTV, but my best friend's parents didn't care if she did and her 2 older brothers were always watching it, so from time to time I would catch some of it over at her house. In Jr. High I used to sneak watching TRL in our basement after school. I also wasn't allowed to listen to Top40 music in the early 90s because my parents didn't think songs like Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" was appropriate for a 6 year old. But again, my best friend's parents didn't care if she did so I would hear that stuff we didn't listen to in my house at hers.

With the internet now, kids watch and listen to almost anything - I forget who it was that blogged about it, but someone pointed out that just going down the iTune's top tracks recently and listening to the 30 second clips of them, one of the rap songs had swear word after swear word in it, just in a 30 second clip! Any kid with half a brain knows how to work iTunes. And with Youtube, while some videos require you to sign in and confirm you're 18 to view them, any kid that can do math can figure out what year they need to put in to make themselves 18. I agree, parents should be monitoring what their kid is doing online, but a lot don't. And who knows what images they're being to exposed to with the click of a button?

I think if these Hollywood parents would actually parent they could prevent their kids from turning into the trainwrecks that have become oh so common in Hollywood these days.

Take Lindsay Lohan for example - she had a very promising career and a lot of the big names in Hollywood she worked with all stated she has a talent for acting and could become great. However, look what happened - she started hanging around with the party girls of Hollywood and got too involved with drugs and alcohol to the point where her career suffered. Maybe if her parents took the time to parent her and teach her and guide her she wouldn't have turned into the trainwreck she has become. Even look at Britney now and her comeback - a large part of it is due to her family stepping in and keeping her in check at 28 years old - if her family didn't intervene and help put her back on track she'd probably be dead by now.

http://www.gossipsauce.com/files/gs_billy_ray_miley_cyrus_090823_m.jpg 

It's pretty sad that parents like Billy Ray Cyrus seem to think this type of behavior and dress is "normal" for a teenage minor and do nothing about it. Last I checked, unless your child is emancipated, they're still your responsibility until they are of legal age and you still have the final say in what they do and wear!

Father's Day and Breaking the News to our Families

We told our families yesturday for Father's Day.

We had breakfast with my in-laws in the morning. We got my father-in-law a fun card that said "Grandpa" on it several times and signed it with our names and "and baby." He read it and then stopped and was like "Grandpa... Grandpa?? Really?!" as my mother-in-law's eyes got all huge, her face was all lit up as she exclaimed "Oh my gosh... OH MY GOSH!" She was thrilled! Granted this isn't her first grandchild - hubby's older brother has one that will be 3 in July and him and his wife are expecting their 2nd in late September/early October. The difference is though, they live several hours away near the Quad Cities, whereas me and hubby are about an hour away from my in-laws and my in-laws are in town at least once a week if not more, so this will be their first "accessible" grandchild that they'll get to see in person on a regular basis.

Since it was Father's Day, the place we ate breakfast at was giving the father's a free trip to the sundae station for dessert. They brought one cup for my father-in-law and jokingly hubby asked if he could have one, as he is technically a father, his kid is just still in its mommy's incubator, lol... the waitress thought it was cute and went ahead and gave him one too!

We went over to my parent's house for dinner to celebrate Father's Day with them.

Like my father-in-law, we gave my dad a "Grandpa" card, and since my mom's birthday was on Friday we gave her a "Grandma" card. We gave the cards to them after my dad opened his other presents first (saved the best for last!) and told my parents they had to open their cards at the same time. My dad finished reading his first and was like "Grandpa?" and my mom noticed hers said "Grandma" and they both were like "really??" with their faces all lit up. We confirmed and they were all excited. It took my sister a moment for it to register and then suddenly she exclaimed "OMG I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT?! I CALL DIBBS ON BABYSITTING!!" lol... it was pretty funny!

Next, my dad called my grandparents (as we all still needed to wish him a happy Father's Day too) and I told my grandpa that he gets to be a great-grandpa again (one of my cousins has a step-daughter as well as an infant, so ours will be the third great-grandchild on dad's side, and the 2nd on my mom's side). Pap (my name for grandpa on dad's side) was excited and he put my grandma on the phone so I could tell her too - she was thrilled and asked all sorts of questions.

After we talked to them, my mom called her dad to wish him a happy Father's Day and to tell him the news too - he sounded excited. The last person to call was my aunt that I grew up around and her and her family live just down the street from my parents. Mom was like "So I finally got my birthday present" to which my aunt responded "what is it?" and my mom was all "A BABY!!" My aunt freaked out and said she'd be there in a matter of minutes, as she had to come see us, lol... lo and behold, she was there in about 3 minutes tops, with a gift in tow! (I guess she keeps presents on hand "just in case"). She gave us a baby blanket and a bunny head attached to a smaller blanket - they're more girly, but she said if we have a boy it could still work when he's little, as it doesn't hurt to have extra blankets. She was asking questions and started talking about how we can have the baby shower at her house, to which my mom was all "WHOA WHOA WHOA! You had the bridal shower! I want to do a shower!" and my aunt was all "well... traditionally the immediate family doesn't throw it..." and my mom was all "Screw tradition - I want to throw a shower!" lol... it was pretty funny! I told them the 2 of them they could duke it out as I don't really have a preference as to where it's at, lol...

So yeah... that was our excitement for today - we posted it on Facebook later this evening for the rest of our friends and extended family (aka cousins) to see.

And the moment you've all been waiting for...

I wanted to post this a few weeks ago, but decided it'd be best to wait til we told our immediate family first, just in case any of them stumbled across this blog.

I'm pregnant!
(that's what the lighter pink lines mean!)

I had a feeling I might be, as just days after ovulation I was feeling so tired to the point where I had to take naps in the afternoon, I was constantly hungry and I had some minor abdominal cramping going on too. 11 days after ovulation (on June 11) I finally took a Pee on a Stick test (or in my case, pee in a cup and use a dropper to put some on the strip) that morning when I woke up and I actually took 3 of them just make sure (go go Dollar Store!) and they all came up positive - the 1st 2 were pretty obviously, the 3rd was lighter but still positive. The next 2 days I had very light brown discharge which I believe was the implantation bleeding, which is normal.

Despite the 3 positive tests though, I was still worried my period would show up later that week... but it didn't - I'm officially a week late and hopefully it stays that way for the next 8 months! I haven't really had any morning sickness yet, but I do get a little nauseous at night when I'm trying to go to bed, I get the occasional headaches, my face is breaking out due to the extra hormones, and I have the frequent urination symptom too, in addition to the exhaustion and hungriness.

I am currently 5 weeks along (as they start counting from the first date of your last menstrual cycle, which is usually 2 weeks before ovulation), and my estimated due date is February 20 or 21, pending which calendar you go by. Our baby is about the size of a piece of rice or a baby tadpole. This week it's heart should start beating as its organs are beginning to form. (It looks like a little alien - like we should expect it to pop out of my chest or uterus like the one does in the Spaceballs parody, lol...)

Unfortunately my OBGYN clinic doesn't do first appointments til 10 weeks, so we won't get to see our baby til the ultrasound and first appointment on Monday, July 26 - 5 more weeks... booooo! I can't wait to see it, as that will 1)put me more at ease and 2)make it actually set in that this is happening - it's a little hard to actually believe it when you have no bump yet! hehe...

We won't know the sex until late September/early October, as you can't really tell until about 20 weeks. If we have a boy, I'm painting his room to look like the first level of Mario Bros, with the blue sky and the reddish/brown bricks with the blocks and castle and various Mario characters, lol (and if we don't have a boy, I'll just do this for our playroom instead, lol...) I also want to try and see if I can get a Mario Kart mobil made, with Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach and Bowser in their respective cars hanging off it, so when it spins it looks like they're chasing each other, lol...

It's exciting too, as my closest friend that lives up here just had her 2nd kid 3 months ago, so our kids will be about a year apart and can do preschool and other things together; hubby's older brother and his wife are expecting their 2nd this fall so our kid will have a cousin around the same age AND one of hubby's cousins that lives nearby and his wife are having their first child this fall too, so there will be another little kid in the family about the same age as ours! Plenty of playmates already!

Our BIG Announcement and How We Spent Father's Day

For those that follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know by now the big announcement/memory that I mentioned in my last post that I said I couldn't yet share on here.

Well, since we informed all the immediate family today, now I can!

I'm pregnant! =D
(that's what the lighter lines in the window mean!)

I got bit with the baby bug awhile back, as I've always wanted to have kids someday and it seemed like this past year or so there was always someone every other week announcing on Facebook or telling me in person that they were having a baby - needless to say, while I was thrilled, happy and excited for them, I'll admit, I was a little jealous deep down as I wished it was me, lol...

Anyways...

We had a plan that hubby would get promoted to full-time at his third-shift job, then we'd buy a house, and then we'd start a family.

Well, that plan wasn't really going as planned, thanks to the recession.

Hubby's been at the top of the list for that promotion for nearly a year and a half now, however in order for them to promote him to full-time, someone in the district needs to leave for a spot to open up... and well no one wants to give up their job/retire right now obviously, so that unfortunately hasn't happened yet. This meant putting the rest of our plans on hold, however last fall my parents offered to loan us money for a down-payment on a house (with the understanding that we would start paying them back once hubby gets his promotion to full-time, in which case we'd be able to pay them back relatively quickly), so we started trying to get pre-approved. That's been one headache for awhile, but we should be good to go this summer/fall (if not, heads WILL roll, lol...).

Hubby was working the Verizon kiosk at the mall this past spring and I guess all the little kids running around the mall at Easter time did some good, as I kept getting text messages from him talking about one thing or another some cute little kid was doing or wearing out at the mall. He confessed, his biological clock was starting to tick too. I was thrilled, as before this point, while we had discussed having kids "someday" he didn't really make any mention as to how soon that someday would be, so I figured it'd be best not push it until he started showing interest.

In April, after one of his messages where he said he can't wait to have a little kid of his own, I asked him if I should pick up my next set of pills or not, as I was on my last week. We talked about it, discussing that it would take at least a cycle or so minimum for the pills to get out of my system and that even if we did conceive this summer we wouldn't be due til after the new year and that gives us plenty of time to find someplace bigger to live, whether be a house or as a last resort a bigger apartment. And even if something happens, a baby sleeps in a basinett for at least the first 3-6 months, so technically we wouldn't even need a 2nd room til then. We thought about it and decided it wouldn't hurt to start trying.

So we did in April. It took us 2 cycles, as I was charting temps and everything and it appears we conceived at the tail end of May.

I had a feeling I might be, as just days after ovulation I was feeling so tired to the point where I had to take naps in the afternoon, I was constantly hungry and I had some minor abdominal cramping going on too. 11 days after ovulation (on June 11) I finally took a Pee on a Stick test (or in my case, pee in a cup and use a dropper to put some on the strip) that morning when I woke up and I actually took 3 of them just make sure (go go Dollar Store!) and they all came up positive - the 1st 2 were pretty obviously, the 3rd was lighter but still positive. The next 2 days I had very light brown discharge which I believe was the implantation bleeding, which is normal.

Despite the 3 positive tests though, I was still worried my period would show up later that week... but it didn't - I'm officially a week late and hopefully it stays that way for the next 8 months! I haven't really had any morning sickness yet, but I do get a little nauseous at night when I'm trying to go to bed, I get the occasional headaches, my face is breaking out due to the extra hormones, and I have the frequent urination symptom too, in addition to the exhaustion and hungriness.

I am currently 5 weeks along exactly (as they start counting from the first date of your last menstrual cycle, which is usually 2 weeks before ovulation), and my estimated due date is February 20 or 21, pending which calendar you go by. Our baby is about the size of a piece of rice or a baby tadpole. This week it's heart should start beating as its organs are beginning to form. (It looks like a little alien - like we should expect it to pop out of my chest or uterus like the one does in the Spaceballs parody, lol...)

Unfortunately my OBGYN clinic doesn't do first appointments til 10 weeks, so we won't get to see our baby til the ultrasound and first appointment on Monday, July 26 - 5 more weeks... booooo! I can't wait to see it, as that will 1)put me more at ease and 2)make it actually set in that this is happening - it's a little hard to actually believe it when you have no bump yet! hehe...

We won't know the sex until late September/early October, as you can't really tell until about 20 weeks. If we have a boy, I'm painting his room to look like the first level of Mario Bros, with the blue sky and the reddish/brown bricks with the blocks and castle and various Mario characters, lol (and if we don't have a boy, I'll just do this for our playroom instead, lol...) I also want to try and see if I can get a Mario Kart mobil made, with Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach and Bowser in their respective cars hanging off it, so when it spins it looks like they're chasing each other, lol...

We told our families today for Father's Day.

We had breakfast with my in-laws in the morning. We got my father-in-law a fun card that said "Grandpa" on it several times and signed it with our names and "and baby." He read it and then stopped and was like "Grandpa... Grandpa?? Really?!" as my mother-in-law's eyes got all huge, her face was all lit up as she exclaimed "Oh my gosh... OH MY GOSH!" She was thrilled! Granted this isn't her first grandchild - hubby's older brother has one that will be 3 in July and him and his wife are expecting their 2nd in late September/early October. The difference is though, they live several hours away near the Quad Cities, whereas me and hubby are about an hour away from my in-laws and my in-laws are in town at least once a week if not more, so this will be their first "accessible" grandchild that they'll get to see in person on a regular basis.

Since it was Father's Day, the place we ate breakfast at was giving the father's a free trip to the sundae station for dessert. They brought one cup for my father-in-law and jokingly hubby asked if he could have one, as he is technically a father, his kid is just still in its mommy's incubator, lol... the waitress thought it was cute and went ahead and gave him one too!

We went over to my parent's house for dinner to celebrate Father's Day with them.

Like my father-in-law, we gave my dad a "Grandpa" card, and since my mom's birthday was on Friday we gave her a "Grandma" card. We gave the cards to them after my dad opened his other presents first (saved the best for last!) and told my parents they had to open their cards at the same time. My dad finished reading his first and was like "Grandpa?" and my mom noticed hers said "Grandma" and they both were like "really??" with their faces all lit up. We confirmed and they were all excited. It took my sister a moment for it to register and then suddenly she exclaimed "OMG I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT?! I CALL DIBBS ON BABYSITTING!!" lol... it was pretty funny!

Next, my dad called my grandparents (as we all still needed to wish him a happy Father's Day too) and I told my grandpa that he gets to be a great-grandpa again (one of my cousins has a step-daughter as well as an infant, so ours will be the third great-grandchild on dad's side, and the 2nd on my mom's side). Pap (my name for grandpa on dad's side) was excited and he put my grandma on the phone so I could tell her too - she was thrilled and asked all sorts of questions.

After we talked to them, my mom called her dad to wish him a happy Father's Day and to tell him the news too - he sounded excited. The last person to call was my aunt that I grew up around and her and her family live just down the street from my parents. Mom was like "So I finally got my birthday present" to which my aunt responded "what is it?" and my mom was all "A BABY!!" My aunt freaked out and said she'd be there in a matter of minutes, as she had to come see us, lol... lo and behold, she was there in about 3 minutes tops, with a gift in tow! (I guess she keeps presents on hand "just in case"). She gave us a baby blanket and a bunny head attached to a smaller blanket - they're more girly, but she said if we have a boy it could still work when he's little, as it doesn't hurt to have extra blankets. She was asking questions and started talking about how we can have the baby shower at her house, to which my mom was all "WHOA WHOA WHOA! You had the bridal shower! I want to do a shower!" and my aunt was all "well... traditionally the immediate family doesn't throw it..." and my mom was all "Screw tradition - I want to throw a shower!" lol... it was pretty funny! I told them the 2 of them they could duke it out as I don't really have a preference as to where it's at, lol...

So yeah... that was our excitement for today - we posted it on Facebook later this evening for the rest of our friends and extended family (aka cousins) to see.

It's exciting too, as my closest friend that lives up here just had her 2nd kid 3 months ago, so our kids will be about a year apart and can do preschool and other things together; hubby's older brother and his wife are expecting their 2nd this fall so our kid will have a cousin around the same age AND one of hubby's cousins that lives nearby and his wife are having their first child this fall too, so there will be another little kid in the family about the same age as ours! Plenty of playmates already!

I PROMISE to you, my readers, this won't turn into a mommy blog or a pregnancy blog - I have another one set up for that. I'll probably mention on here some of the more exciting or fun stuff, like I do when I post about Tiger, or the rare times I mention fitness/working out. Eventually I'll tweak my banner after we have the baby, to include it in our animated family portion (which currently is me, hubby and Tiger), so don't fret - this blog won't change too drastically or dramatically over the next 8 months!

6.20.2010

Awesome Lego Art Creations

Awhile back, in a post I made mention of some Lego Rammstein videos, well a friend on Facebook post a link to this site that has 35 of massive Lego creations.

Here's some of my favorite:

Lego Church of Christ
http://media02.hongkiat.com/amazing_legos/church_of_Christ.jpg

Lego Aircraft Carrier
http://media02.hongkiat.com/amazing_legos/aircraftCarrier_2.jpg 

Lego Table (I want one!!)
 

Lego London
http://media02.hongkiat.com/amazing_legos/london_eye.jpg 

Lego Mona Lisa
http://media02.hongkiat.com/amazing_legos/mona_lego_mosaic.jpg 

(click link for more photos), with working sink, an uncomfortable bed and more!
A close up picture of the fully functional house, which was built using 3.3million differently coloured bricks 
Bright idea: James stares through a multi-coloured window as light pours in the home 

Lego Dragon
 http://media02.hongkiat.com/amazing_legos/lego_dragon.jpg 

Lego Obama Inauguration
 
Lego Mount Rushmore
http://www.brickartist.com/gallery/Rushmore1.jpg 

Lego Polar Bear
http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/polar_bear/w6.jpg 

Lego Yankee Stadium
http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/yankee_stadium/28.jpg 

Lego Times Square
http://media02.hongkiat.com/amazing_legos/times_square.jpg 

Lego Volvo
http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-2004/2004-Volvo-XC90-LEGO-Replica-SA-1280x960.jpg 

How awesome are these?!

For more pictures of some of these as well as plenty other AWESOME Lego creations, be sure to check out the article here.

6.19.2010

Yay Awards!!

Angela, over at High on Life, gave me this awesome award last night:


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_25jC9n_D3R8/TBwi5J2W9TI/AAAAAAAAAbA/flNo_64M8wA/s1600/SuperCommentsawardfor_blog%5B4%5D.jpg 
The Super Comments Award!

I LOVE getting awards from other Bloggers because it means that other bloggers have noticed me, which is a great feeling (who doesn't like getting recognized by others?? Especially on teh internetz when there's millions of other people out there!). I also think they're so neat too, as they get passed from blogger to blogger... really cool! I hate it when I see people get these various blog awards and then they don't follow the fun little rules or even bother passing it onto others, as that's the whole point of these - to pass em on!

Now, like many of these awards, there are a few rules that go along with receiving it:
  1. Thank person who nominated you.
  2. Copy the award. Paste it in your blog.
  3. Link to the person who gave me this award.
  4. Answer the 10 questions that come with the award.
  5. Nominate of few of your favorite bloggers for the award.
I am passing this Super Comments Award onto all my "super" commentors...
Soph from Pinkie Larue
Eleni from RPG Called Life
Matthew from The Big Show at UD

Honorable mentions (as Angela also gave them the award and I'm not expecting them to post this twice, hehe) go to both:
and Melissa at Who Says I Can't?

Thanks to all of you for regularly leaving me comments on my blog posts - I really do appreciate it! If you weren't mentioned, but feel you too deserve it - go ahead and take it as well!

And below are the 10 questions to answer

6.18.2010

Oh Sookie...

The Official True Blood Facebook page posted this one the other day and thanks to several friends it keeps popping up on my newsfeed, so I thought I would share it with you.

Snoop Dogg apparently is a True Blood fan and has quite the thing for Sookie (and Tara) and made a fan video to her. Love all the references too (Merlotte's, the dancer's dressed like Sookie in her Merlotte's outfit, the mentioning of Bill and Eric...)

Check it out (video is fine, but lyrics may be NSFW, so wear headphones if you must!)

To Infinity and Beyond - a look back at Toy Story 1 and 2

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_utpn85k5ndo/S38v5P_J4bI/AAAAAAAAAJw/mw1r8Sd4oxE/s1600/flashbacklogo.jpg 

This weekend, Toy Story 3 opens in theaters and I'm soooo excited (like many others my age) to go see it soon!

I thought for this week's Flashback Friday we'd take a look back to the first 2 films in this trilogy.

http://dgt1.net/manny/mblog/images/toy-story-by-pixar-thumb.jpgThe original Toy Story movie came out at Thanksgiving 1995 (and did you know that Joss Whedon was one of the writers?) and I was 11 years old, in the 6th grade.

This was the first major Disney/Pixar film and I remember how groundbreaking the animation was for the time - prior to this, there weren't really any good well done computer animation films out there. It also had a great voice cast too, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen providing the voices for main character Woody and Buzz, with ensemble cast of other familiar voices (including Jim Varney aka Ernest, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts, and Pixar regular John Ratzenberger).

The movie was widely popular and spawned off an animated Buzz Lightyear Star Command tv show. At various Disney theme parks they included a Buzz Lightyear ride, where you ride around through various scenes and shoot handheld lazor cannons at various objects to gain as many points as you can.

http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/1136966400/_i/10141465/1.jpg
There was also the Toy Story video game that was released in spring 1996. I had it for the Sega Genesis and thanks to a cheat code that was published in Disney Adventures magazine, I was able to finally beat it over time. Now the first few levels were pretty easy to figure out - in most scenes you played as Woody and you could swing from objects via the pull cord in your back - but some of the later levels were pretty hard. I remember there was one where you race around inside the Claw Machine, on a timer, and have to find a certain number of the alien toys. The levels in Sid's house and backyard were some of the more harder ones, as they involved solving puzzles and creating contraptions to work your way around the level. The last level you get to race RC Car down the street and try and make it into Andy's moving van - this one took a lot of practice! It was a fun game though... now I'm half tempted to go hook up my Sega Genesis and give it another play!

In 1996 a sequel was planned, but originally it was to go straight to video until Disney looked at it and saw how great the imagery was.

http://www.canvaswrapped.com/images/art/fs/Toy-Story-2-Movie-Poster.JPG
In Thanksgiving of 1999 Toy Story 2 was released.

I remember it was chaos trying to get tickets to go see it that opening weekend - all the shows were sold out and you had to buy tickets way in advance - we tried to go opening day, but ended up getting tickets for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon show.

In this one, the story focuses more on Woody and his past and we were introduced to plenty of new characters with more great voice actors - we had Cowgirl Jessie voiced by Joan Cusack, Barbie voiced by The Little Mermaid (and local area native) Jodi Benson, as well as characters played by Wayne Knight and Kelsey Grammer.

Honestly, I thought this one was just as good as the previous one!

I was a sophomore in high school by this time and my sister was 6 and a half. She was too little to take to the movies when the first Toy Story came out, but we had that one on VHS and she would watch it over and over, so she was excited to see the 2nd one on the big screen.

http://www.kaboodle.com/hi/img/b/0/0/91/c/AAAACxwzzVAAAAAAAJHKGg.jpgShe LOVED Cowgirl Jessie and really wanted one for her birthday the following April. Only problem was... it was near impossible to find one! We looked in every store, called around - hardly anyone carried them and the ones that did were out of them for awhile and didn't know if they'd get more in. This was before everyone bought stuff online regularly too so that wasn't really an option either. We went to Walt Disney World that summer though and frantically searched through all the stores at Pleasure Island for this doll. We got lucky and finally found one! She talked too which was a bonus!

10 and a half years later, Toy Story 3 is here!

What I love about the premise of this one, is that instead of just continuing where the 2nd one left off, it actually does take place 10 years later, as Andy is going off to college and there really isn't a point for his old toys to still be kept in the house, so they get donated together to a nursery or preschool and have to adjust to their new environment, all the new kids, and all the new toys that already live there.

The great thing about these movies is that both kids and adults alike can enjoy them! Most of the toys featured are timeless and like all Pixar movies, they were in adult humor as well so the parents are just as entertained.


http://www.pixartoystory.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/toystory3-wp-1920x1080.jpg 

Did you see the first 2 Toy Story movies? Do you plan on seeing the 3rd installment?