Vikki's Bday Party!

Susan and I went to our friend Vikki's 60th birthday party today up in Toano VA. We met them through our old neighbor Lina, and they are all part of St. Bede's Catholic Church---and everytime we meet with them, they have lots of GOOD food! This time was no exception. They have a beautiful home in a community called, "The Retreat."
This is Vikki in her beautiful white dress:

Me, Susan and Vikki:

Vikki and her delicious bday cake with what I think was cream cheese-type filling:

Here are some pictures of the never-ending food they had, which was ALL home made, except the fried chicken:



Also, Vikki's daughter Eileen, was John and my sponsor at our confirmation at St. Bede's Easter Vigil:

This is Eileen's husband Chuck, holding a guest's adorable little girl:

Here are Eileen and Chuck's cute smart little ones named Peter and Daniella:




And here's my old neighbor Lina (she now lives over in Queens Lake)who was the start of it all:

And here is Father Abe from St. Bede's, who confirmed both John and I earlier this year, and convalidated our marriage. He also patted my belly to say hello to Lucas!

So, we had a very good time, and even brought a bunch of the food home for everyone here! John is on a fast-cruise til tomorrow night, so hopefully there will still be some for him to enjoy. It's nice to have good people around to influence you- especially when they are good cooks!

Buying for a Boy

Now that we know for sure we are having little Lucas, we already want to buy everything we see! We did another round of gift registry scanning yesterday at Target and BabiesRus...list is getting long! We saw some little new born outfits on clearance at target- here they are- $1.98!!!!

Mccain's VP pick

Well, when I first heard he picked a woman (a relatively unknown woman at that), I was shocked and kinda let down; I expected him to pick Romney, who is well-liked by conservatives and is a lot better to look at it than John Mccain. But the more I think about it, the more I realize this is an INGENIOUS move! I mean there are endless reasons it seems, that Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin was the best choice.

*First of all, she is also easier on the eyes than Mccain (hard to do huh?) and I might even say Romney too!

*Besides the fact that Obama is predicted as not getting a big 'bounce' usually expected after convention speeches, his speech's effect is being overshadowed by news of Mccain's radical choice.

*It pisses off Democrats because a female Vice President is as much of an historical event as a black man being elected President.

*She will undoubtedly attract even MORE former-Hillary (women) voters.

*She is VERY conservative, which is the fanbase Mccain needs to appeal more to, since he is closer to the middle of the road. She is very pro-life which is a huge plus for conservatives who were days ago worrying he would pick pro-choice Tom Ridge.

*Her oldest son Track, 19 yrs old, is currently serving in the military, which would prevent democrats against the war on terror from saying, "why don't you send YOUR kids to war then?"

*She lives in Alaska, and is FOR ANWR drilling, because she knows it's benefits will outweigh any consequences- especially considering that the reserve is not very populated with wildlife.

*She is much younger than Mccain, and makes him seem less 'old-fashioned.'

*but mostly, SHE IS INTERESTING! She's part of the NRA, was a commercial fisherwoman, likes to hunt, and is a former beauty pageant winner. everything a man could want! She has five kids, oldest 19 yrs, and youngest 5 months- her decision to have him despite having found out he had Down Syndrome, was applauded by the pro-life community. She has done photoshoots for Vogue Magazine where she said, "They had me in a bunch of furs," but she said she doesn't wear fur; she puts it up on her walls! I thought that was funny.

After Obama bitched about Palin's inexperience, and her having been a small-town mayor, these are my favorite responses:

Campaign spokesman Jill Hazelbaker: “It is pretty audacious for the Obama campaign to say that Governor Palin is not qualified to be Vice President. She has a record of accomplishment that Senator Obama simply cannot match. Governor Palin has spent her time in office shaking up government in Alaska and actually achieving results — whether it’s taking on corruption, passing ethics reform or stopping wasteful spending and the ‘bridge to nowhere.’ Senator Obama has spent his time in office running for President.”

The campaign’s Michael Goldfarb adds: “She’s the Governor of Alaska and was the mayor of a small town, meaning she has more executive experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden put together. But more than that, given Barack Obama’s comments earlier this year that small-town Americans “cling” to guns, religion, and xenophobia out of economic anxiety, it’s troubling that Obama’s campaign has now attacked Governor Palin for having been the mayor of a small-town, as if that wouldn’t qualify her to carry Senator Obama’s bags.”

Booyah!
SO can you tell I like her? She makes me like Mccain a little more. Good job Mccain.
Here's a photo of her when she was in a beauty pageant in 1984:

20 week Ultrasound Appt!!

Well this morning, Friday August 29th was the day we have been anxiously waiting for--our 20 wk ultrasound appt to find out the gender. Unfortunately we both assumed the appointment was at 9:45am, (since we have one on wednesday at that time) so we stayed up late at our friend's house for Game night.
*game night was fun as always, but I came close to winning twice and John or Jim stole my thunder!
Anyway, we got home late, and though John slept soundly (since he had just gotten off of overnights and stayed up all day thursday) I couldn't sleep! I was excited and anxious about the appointment. I hadn't felt any more kicking and I was feeling some cramps/what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions. I woke up at 4am, and then again at 7am, and then to the alarm clock at 8am. I decided when I went downstairs to get some water, that I would check and just make sure the appt was at 9:45am, but of course I was mistaken- it was at 8:45am! I woke John up and we left as soon as I was dressed.
We had the appt this time at Mary Immaculate Hospital (which is where we will most likely be having the baby) and it is in the next city south to us, Newport News. We arrived late, and had to register with the hospital first...then I realized I didn't bring my insurance card etc! We were already panicking because we knew it would probably have to be rescheduled for next friday since they only do them on fridays, but thankfully the receptionist Anja, quickly found my information from past blood tests I had done there and we were registered in 2 minutes. We went upstairs to the OB ultrasound office, and it didn't matter that we were late- so were they! The ultrasound technicians did the actual ultrasound, but the doctor was coming down from Richmond and got there a little later. They were not supposed to allow us to take pictures/video, but they were so nice that they did anyway! The pictures aren't the clearest but it's a healthy 11 oz 19 wks 5 dys old baby! this one is kinda spooky- looking right at you! The baby's foot is right on it's head! AND what we have all been waiting for (John wasn't the best with operating the camera, but he was really excited!):

Yes, I was right all this time- We've already been calling the baby 'Lucas,'-I knew it was a little boy! I dreamed about it a while ago, and they say pregnancy gender dreams are 90% accurate! Our due date is pushed forward by one day according to the measurements, which means our due date as of today, is January 18th 2009, which is my sister Susan's bday, AND John's brother Kevin's Bday. We are registering at Target and Babies R' Us and will be sending our invitations for my baby shower soon!
Recently Johnny has been talking to the baby at night and he usually says, "LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER!" We both knew all along*)

Elise, Kevin, Ayden & Alex

This is my friend Elise. We were friends in high school, and soon after John left for boot camp in 2003, she and I talked briefly about enlisting together. I moved to my sister Sarah's apartment in Canoga Park, and a few months later she called me leaving for boot camp! She served as an information systems technician in Japan for a few years, where she met her husband Kevin. They were re-stationed to San Diego where Elise had her 2 boys, Ayden (2 yrs) and Alex (8 mos.) and she is now done with the Navy. At my suggestion they requested that Kevin be re-stationed to Norfolk VA for his re-enlistment. They all flew out last week, and are going to be living in military housing until they find a house. They will probably be about an hour south of us but thats better than 3000 miles! They had a lot of things taken care of out here in Williamsburg, since they had both their cars shipped to our house, and one of them needed a new battery. But we had fun seeing the babies. Here are the few pictures I took, including some at lunch at Fridays right before Ayden barfed up all his food!

WE felt the baby kicking!!!

I am about 19 weeks, and have been thinking I felt the baby move every now and then, but not so sure. Well, today (again while playing guitar hero lol) I felt the baby kicking above my belly button! I felt it pretty strong and constant, so I made John put his hand on it, but it stopped. I was about to go take a shower, but while I was about to, I felt the baby move against my own hand and ran downstairs saying, "JOhn you have to be able to feel it- i did!" I layed down on the couch and john put his band above my belly button, and he was so happy to not only feel it, but see my belly twitch! From all the kicking and movement, we think the baby must already be upside down--not to mention that he/she has strong legs! I was able to videotape it a little, but if you can't tell when the kicks are, just believe that John and I did feel them! It was very comforting to feel confirmation that our baby is alive and 'kicking!' Now we are even more anxious to see the ultrasound next friday*.

Game Night II

We had game night again last night; I am the only one yet to win a game so far. It was still very fun and they fed us too! (A very good chicken stir-fry and rice*) We got to play with Alex a little more again before he went to bed. Here are some pictures:



And here is that strategy game we recommend learning:

Shawna, Jim, John, and Myself:

I even had a linen metropolis that looked like a Mcdonalds, and Jim still beat me. Next week guys, I'm coming back with a vengeance.

My new shirt!

Yes, it's off-center- but I intended for it to be 'slightly imperfect.' I ironed it on today before going to target. The employees did a good job of restraining themselves *).

If you ever met my dad...

About a year ago, when we first moved here, John and I had breakfast at an IHOP. I first noticed this man at a table near us eating by himself because he was sitting in a scooter like my dad used to use. As I told John about 'dad being with us,' I noticed even more similarities. He not only rides around in his scooter, he wore a collared denim work shirt with pens and junk in the front pocket, had a mustache, and wore the same bifocals. So I felt it was pretty special, and we've seen him since in home depot.
I had told Susan about this 'dad' guy and now that she lives her and works at the walmart (close to both the IHOP and home depot) she sees him pretty regularly. She saw the obvious similarities too--we always felt it was a 'special visit' when we saw 'dad'. Well a few days ago Susan saw him and talked to him. He was riding around on his scooter in walmart and she introduced herself to him! He unfortunately doesn't play guitar and his name is "MELVIN." lol. She told him about how he really reminded her of dad and he let her take a picture of him:



Well, we are a little disenchanted since he isn't exactly like dad, but if you had ever met my dad you would not be able to ignore the resemblance- even in the way he sits hunched over. He's still a nice reminder of our loving and very tolerant dad for us though.

Try My New Hobby

For all you puzzlers, here are some puzzles I am working on if you'd like a shot. You can see the puzzle a lot better if you click on the image to enlarge it. Then you can print it if you want. Sorry about the instructions being blurry or cut off- if you can't figure out a puzzle, ask me.


This one is pretty self explanatory; all 5-letter answers, either clockwise or counter.

Here's another Syllacrostic; combine available syllables for the clues (#'s of syllables are in parenthesis)

This one is a little different and has a few extra steps. The answers that go in the web, are all 5-letters ending with an "N". The clues on the left are 4-letter words, so for example, #1. is 'meow.' You then find a clue on the right whose answer is a 5 letter word with those four letters...which would be "d. females," ="WOMEN". Get it? In the end when you have solved it correctly, the outer ring of the web (1-18) will read a title of a Walter Lang movie- i don't know who he is either.

ENJOY!!!!!!!

My 24th Bday!!

So sad John had to be on the ship for 3 days and miss out on my birthday--lets hope he doesn't miss the baby's bday! He can't even call, but he's coming home late tomorrow night/saturday morning. I am sure we are both doing our new hobby (logic puzzle books) and going to sleep, he's just in a tiny bunk with a bunch of guys, and I have a big comfortable bed to myself!
Well, I am 24 years old, almost 18 weeks pregnant, although I look a lot bigger than that right now because Susan just spoiled me with my favorite Red Lobster dinner! Norman shared in the spoiling with some snow crab legs:




And here's the dessert that mom and I made yesterday:


We gave some to the neighbors so we wouldn't eat it all, even though being pregnant, I am allowed 300 extra calories---meaning one extra shrimp.

Global Warming= ManBearPig Myth

SO, if anyone else is tired of hearing about 'climate change,' and how 'we can stop the crisis' etc everywhere you go or look, or what you watch or listen to, read on. If not, (*if you choose to adopt the propagandistic mantra and act like your green shirts and hybrids are making a huge difference on the temperature of the planet) then only read on if you dare, sheeple.

*puts down her gun and religion she bitterly clings to, to blog about this cereal issue.

I recently listened to a George Carlin skit (who I don't typically agree with or like) but he made some good points about self-indulgent 'environmentalists.' So I was reading up on it a little bit and the more you realize how old and huge and virtually indestructable the planet is, the more ridiculous and useless these "We can solve it" ads seem. Aside from the fact that the typical environmentalist is only concerned with what I call "pseudo-issues", and supports many selfish stances that directly harm/kill others for nothing but to protect their own comfort, by advocating this fraudulent issue, they are in fact doing more damage to the economy than they would like to think. There is always a lot of circular logic and of course blaming society/government/capitalism. Take your pick. But mostly what I despise, moral relativism , which conveniently excuses everything they do or don't do.

Back on track here, television weathercaster and chief meteorologist John Coleman has called global warming, "a fictional, manufactured crisis, and a total scam." He even goes so far as to claim that the global warming scam is "a threat to our economy," and one of the reasons the price of food and gas has skyrocketed.

*on a sidenote, isn't it ironic that merely mentioning the idea of drilling on our shores has significantly decreased the price of gas?

And Coleman is the founder of the Weather Channel, (no longer affiliated with it) and says The Weather Channel has become part of the global warming scam. Coleman even supports suing Al Gore for lying and in part, threatening the country's stability, economically and otherwise.

Evidently, the chart that Al Gore used in his sci-fi flick "An Inconvenient Truth," was part of a 113 page report titled, "Understanding and Attributing Climate Change." The chart which shows the 'hockey stick' sharp increase in global temperature, has since been declared fraudulent information by Stephen Mcintyre and Ross Mckitrick, a Canadian economist.

*Another sidenote, Al Gore's movie's scenes with the glaciers melting etc, were shots taken from action movies, including "The Day After Tomorrow" in which they used STYROFOAM, a non-biodegradable polystyrene plastic...

One of the groups at fault for manipulating statistics and how they are interpreted, is NASA. First of all, why is government money being paid to NASA for space exploration? I find it very unnecessary for the country (which many people like to say is in a recession, on it's way to another 'Great Depression')to pay for such an expensive hobby. I think the rich 'cultural elite' (i.e. George Soros) should be paying for stuff like that instead of donating to the ACLU and moveon.org etc.

NASA has admitted to the misinformation regarding the decade with the largest temperature change having occurred in the 1930's NOT the 1990's. In addition, the temperature change was less than a degree and "was not actually, if at all, the result of mankind's activities."

I don't think there is any doubt that the temperature of the planet changes- but the facts are that there has never been any recorded data to prove that it was ever a significant change, or that it isn't part of the earth's normal fluctuating pattern, or that it was entirely caused by our plastic bags and charmin use. The real outcome of this inflated (yet discredited by experts) non-issue has been a money-making business for it's proponents, and something to make many careless people feel like they are doing their part in the world--which would be fine by me, merely a nuissance,a free country's right to capitalize on ignorance, if it weren't actually threatening the economy.
Ironically, some NASA people (who are urged to keep out of it) are supporting Coleman's claims. Walter Cunningham, a retired astronaut and pilot of Apollo 7, and USMCR-retired physicist, has written an article debunking the global warming myth titled "In Science, Ignorance is Not Bliss." You can find the article on many sites including www.launchmagonline.com in which he says:

"I believe in global climate change, but there is no way that humans can influence the temperature of our planet to any measurable degree with the tools currently at their disposal. Any human contribution to global temperature change is lost in the noise of terrestrial and cosmic factors.

Our beautiful home planet has been warming and cooling for the last 4.8 billion years. Most recently, it has been warming—be it ever so slightly—but there is nothing unusual about it! The changes and rates of change in the Earth’s temperature, just since the Industrial Revolution, have occurred many times in our climatic history. While climate scientists generally agree that the Earth’s temperature is always changing, not many of them would say that humans are responsible for those changes. "

And ends with:

By law, NASA cannot involve itself in politics, but it can surely champion the role of science to inform politicians. With so many uninformed and misguided politicians ignoring the available science, NASA should fill the void. NASA is synonymous with science. Allowing our priorities to drift away from hard science is tantamount to embracing decadence. NASA will surely suffer; and politicizing science is killing it.

I do see hopeful signs that some true believers are beginning to harbor doubts about AGW. Let’s hope that NASA can focus the global warming discussion back on scientific evidence before we perpetrate an economic disaster on ourselves.


Just some information to balance out the lies.

Game Night: Cities & Knights of Catan

We went over to our friend's Jim & Shawna's house to play with their adorable (almost) 2 year old Alex, and then to play a board game. Last time we played Scrabble and ate some pasta with alfredo sauce. This time we ate Papa John's and played a new game (for us---they are pros at it!) called "The Cities & Knights of Catan". It was a very strategic game, and complicated to learn, but very fun! It was basically teaching the concepts of capitalism lol. I would recommend it, but you have to play with people who can teach you everything- it's a lot to keep track of. John in fact ended up winning of course lol.

My New Haircut

Here is my new haircut. Supercuts screwed up what I wanted; I wanted it long in the front and short in the back, instead she cut it one kinda short length. Susan ended up cutting the back when we got home. It's okay now, and John liked it VERY much*. He had been on a 3-day stint on the ship, came home at about 2am, snuck into bed in the dark and I kept putting his hand on my head...he didn't get it for a while, but when he did, he was pleasantly surprised. He is leaving at 4am tonight for another 3 day stint...and will be gone on my 24th BIRTHDAY on thursday the 14th. :( Here are some crappy pictures where I was trying to show the angle of the cut:

NASTY BUG!

Above is the original picture for Sarah to see how big it was. The window pane is about 13 inches.

I had to do a bug one just for Brianne! lol.
This picture above was taken in my backyard. This bug is at least 2 inches. Very nasty. The eyes are all far apart and bulging! I looked it up and found that it's a "cicada" which in many countries is a 'stir fried delicacy'. Imagine how crunchy AND full of goo they are. They have a pretty annoying song too. I found this animated picture on wikipedia of a baby one breaking out of it's skin...isn't that disgusting?

My neighbor Dillon's Bday Party

This was about a week ago, when my neighbors had a barbecue and party for Dillon's 12th bday. Lots of fun and food!

My little brother Norman

Norman is 13 yrs old, and the youngest of all six of us. He will be starting 8th grade next month! AND he is a Guitar Hero pro, which I will prove with video soon!

Here he is with my former best friend Shmoopy. Both dogs love Norman, but Shmoopy always naps with him.

Here he is at the beach, after John buried him and I stepped on him. Fortunately there weren't any jellyfish that time, because the next time we went to Buckroe Beach it was full of moon jellyfish!

And this was the most recent one at our neighbor Dillon's birthday party. They were playing volleyball. I took a better picture but Norman is so insecure already, that he deleted it and said he looked "gay."