Updates and Jersey Goes to Napa

This week so far is looking a little dull.  Jacob is out of town for training in Denver, so the boys and I are home alone.  I'm just ready for him to be back.  I like having the tv all to myself when he travels, but I just miss him a lot when he's gone.  So far I've been keeping myself somewhat occupied with crafts.  I'm FINALLY working on the paintings for little ladybug's room, but I haven't made it very far.  I was actually thinking I might get really ambitious and try to surprise Jacob when he came home from Denver by having the nursery painted, but I don't think that's going to happen.  I'd like to put beadboard up

and that's not really a project I can tackle myself.  Plus, if we do the beadboard, only half of the wall would need to be painted, so it's not really worth me painting the whole nursery if it's just going to get covered up with paneling.  So...I guess that project will have to wait for a weekend when Jacob and I can do it together.  Actually the picture I found there is a lot like what I'm hoping for since I'd like to paint the room green.

I'm also hoping for a sewing day/night with my mom sometime this week (if I can ever find out where to buy Bernina replacement needles) so I can make the curtains for the nursery.  I always tell myself I'm going to be so productive when Jacob goes out of town so I can really impress him when he gets back, but normally the only thing I accomplish is basically emptying my DVR.

Let me clear up something that might be a misunderstanding.  I saw that someone found my blog by googling "got my first period at Schlitterbahn".  Let's be clear about something.  I didn't get my first period at Schlitterbahn--I got it during rehearsal for the Spring Musical in 6th grade.  Nothing's more of a downer when you feel like you're a hot shot in an Americana skit like feeling like you've fallen into "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret."  So yeah....that was awful.  And come to think of it, I was also wearing borrowed shoes from my friend Nina at the time, which doesn't have anything to do with my period, but does freak me out.  That seems very unlike me to borrow someone's shoes, especially wearing them without socks.  Blech.  So if someone out there got HER first period at Schlitterbahn...yikes.  Condolences.  I've only been there once in my life, and naturally I got my period when I was there.  I think that was my first summer of dating Jacob and I went with his whole family, and wound up with crazy cramps and bloating.  (Unfortunately for them, this wouldn't be the worst period experience we shared as a group)  My apologies to you, dear friend.  I can't imagine dealing with that first period when you're in a bathing suit.  I had a blue sequined skirt to hide behind. 

Well I guess that's all the really pressing things happening in my life right now.  I'm hoping to get some pictures of the house in the next few days to show you guys.  We officially have ZERO boxes left in the house, which is pretty awesome.  I'm ready to get some pictures hung so it starts to feel even more like home.  So far, though, I'm really happy with the house. 

So let's get into the important things, okay.  Real Housewives of New Jersey.  I still am missing a few episodes, but I was able to watch the new episode this Sunday when they go RV-ing in Napa.  It wasn't a super drama-filled episode, but there were some highlights for us to discuss:

Watching everyone pack in the beginning just made me roll my eyes.  HOWEVER, when Melissa is trying to pack for camping and says it could be "Camp Beverly Hills", my head nearly exploded.  Was that a Troop Beverly Hills reference from Melissa?!?!?!   Because if so, she just earned 25 million cool points in my book.  For those of you who don't know, Troop Beverly Hills is Shelley Long's greatest career accomplishment (except maybe the Brady Bunch Movie).  It's a movie that parodies Girl Scout troops and it's AMAZING. 

I swear, when my daughter is old enough, she'll be getting this on dvd for her birthday.  And if she's anything like me, she'll have all the lines memorized by age 12.  I currently still remember them.  I like to think of it as an exercise in preventing Alzheimer's. 

This whole scene with Albie and Chris and Greg asking Albie's girlfriend to move in with them is so uncomfortable.  The good news is that if (when) they breakup, they'll always have that special awkward moment to look back on and be like "yeahhhhh that should've been a sign we weren't meant to be together."  She doesn't look that excited about the whole thing, but how's she going to say no?  The whole thing just totally weirded me out.  Also, her eyebrows are a bit severe to me.  Just my two cents.

I could go either way on Chris and Albie's roommate, Greg, but I'll tell you who I LOVE--his dog, Deloris.  You guys, I read that his dog is named after Whoopi Goldberg's character, Deloris Van Cartier (aka Sister Mary Clarence) from Sister Act.  I CAN'T EMPHASIZE HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS.  You know, people want to hate on the gays, but this?  This is genius.  Greg just earned A LOT of respect from me.  More than I might be able to quantify.

As I was watching the episode, I was wondering why Greg was tagging along on this family adventure with the Manzos, but now that I love him so much because of his dog, I don't blame them for bringing him.  I'd never want to let a mind like that away from me, either. 

 

Had I known that this whole group had been diverted to Houston because of Hurricane Irene, I would've planted myself at IAH and refused to move until I met them.  Sure, security might think I'm a terrorist for my crazy behavior, but what they SHOULD be concerned about is Teresa's hairline. 

That's much more of a threat to our nation's security, in my opinion.

I can't tell you how crazy I'm going watching them doing all this shopping at Camping World.  What do they plan on doing with all this stuff they're buying five days from now when they don't need it?  You're not going to be able to carry all that stuff on the plane!!  The more crap they put in their carts, the more angry I get.  THIS IS SUCH A WASTE OF MONEY.  There are MULTIPLE couples here in financial difficulty.  Yet, here they are, spending $5000 on camping gear they'll probably throw away later in the week.  They have like 12 carts worth of stuff they're buying.  I think that's a bit much, right?!?!

When they pull into the RV park, Teresa is freaking out about it being a "parking lot".  I hope the camera catches the look on her face when she finds out what the dump station is for....

Melissa and Teresa grabbing each other's boobs is...so weird.  It'd be strange if they were really close.  It's stranger knowing they sometimes hates each other.  I love my sister-in-laws, I really do.  But if any of them ever grabbed my boobs...God help them.

I'm going to bring this up once, and then I don't ever want to discuss it again because it makes me so queasy.  Listening to Rich and Kathy talk about their sex life is bad enough, but having to see his blurred out erection makes me want to barf.  I seem to recall Rich telling his kids not to invite their friends over for a pool party because Teresa was going to be there and he didn't want his kids to get embarrassed in front of their friends.  But seeing their dad walking around with a boner on national tv, that's not embarrassing, right?!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!  Ugh, that is so nasty.  I am so humiliated for their children.

Poor Kathy is bragging to Jacqueline and Caroline about having a conversation with Teresa and how it went well.  She obviously doesn't realize Teresa was looking to start a fight over the whole "my mother's recipes" comment.  That whole thing is just one more example of how Teresa can get mad at people but they're never allowed to hold her to the same standards.  She's mad at Kathy for saying some recipes were actually her mom's, which Teresa thinks is a dig.

 But when she went to Kathy's dessert tasting, she made a tacky comment:

 

To me, that seems pretty passive aggressive and hypocritical, but I'm sure if they bring it up at the reunion, she'll just pull her normal "It was a joke!  Funny!  Ha-ha!"  Every time she says that defending something she's done, I want to claw at her face.

This whole recipe thing is such a stupid argument, anyways.  I'm not sure why she thinks that because her mom made something, her mom copyrighted the recipe.  Either way, YOU didn't come up with it.  So what difference does it make when you're going to put it in your book and profit from it either way? 

Squirrel hunter

Earlier today there was a squirrel on our garage roof. Andy hasn't been able to rest since.

Deep Thoughts

So I've been meaning to write a real post lately, but seeing as Dana is out of town right now and I'm super exhausted, it just hasn't happened. We moved into our new house last Friday (HUZZAH!) and have been going nonstop (or so it feels to my sore feet).

Since I'm too tired to write about anything important, I'll just give you some snippets of what I've been thinking about.

I've been sitting in the recliner a lot over the past few days because it makes my swollen feet feel way better. I'm not sure what it is about that chair, but the second I sit in it, the baby goes crazy. She's always gettin her Bill Cosby on in that chair because my stomach goes full-on Jello Jiggler. It's pretty wild. Also probably kind if gross to look at.

I'd like to apologize to my fellow HEB shopper who was shopping in the pasta aisle with me the other day. I promise, if I had known you were there, I would not have been singing Mariah Carey's "Honey" aloud. My sincere apologies. Also, "Honey" was not playing in the store, so I have no idea why I was singing it since its not 1999.

Andy and Oscar have already become quite accustomed to their new backyard. When I get up in the morning and let them out, they both ignore my instructions to potty and just immediately throw themselves down in the grass to sunbathe. They lie there, faces towards the sun like lions, getting vitamin D. I really think it might be lightening Oscar's fur because I was noticing today that he's become much more brown lately.

My sugar cravings have not gone away. I am constantly thinking about how amazing a snowcone and a doozie from American Cookie Company would be. I'm thinking that may be what I request for my birthday meal. I'll just follow it up with some insulin.

This Friday is Jacob's flex day, which means he will be home all day. Anyone want to estimate how many hours of cleaning will be done? I expect he will start on chores around 7 am and I don't think he will stop until dinner time. I won't say I'm necessarily excited about it.

Some nights when I'm taking my shower, I think of this super depressing story my mom told me once about some friends of hers. The wife was prone to seizures and the husband made her promise to never shower while he was gone in case something happened to her. Well one night she was tired and decided to take a quick shower before he got home. Yada yada yada, she died and it bums me out. She also told me a similar story about a couple who went golfing and the wife got hit by a golf ball to the head. She died too. I pretty much think of that whenever I drive by a golf course. Which blows since we have a golf course in the neighborhood. So if you're ever in need of a good cry, my mom reads the obituaries everyday and I'm pretty sure she could fill a Rolodex with sad stories.

In the last week, I have watched all of season 4 of Breaking Bad. If you're looking for a show to get into and you like (sometimes intense) dramas, I highly recommend it. And if you tell me you'll watch it but haven't had the time, and I find out you're still watching reruns of The Closer (ahem, Tom), I swear I'll cut you out of my life.

Welp. Guess that's about it. Like I said, I would REALLY like to get a real post in one of these days, it's just been busy busy here lately. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this picture of Andy, guarding the house from a comfortable spot in the game room. It's hard being a guard dog.

Nomadic Dogs

So far, I'd say these boys love their new house.

Lazy Dog

It's just a lot easier to guard the window from a comfy chair.

RHoNJ: The Gorgas do Therapy

Well there's nothing exciting in my life to report, currently.  Things are hectic but certainly not exciting.  Today I spent the entire day calling utility and insurance companies for rate quotes.  So...yeah, things could be more fun in these parts.  Tuesday night, Jacob went out with some friends to enjoy the freedom of having a weeknight to hang out since the next day was July 4th.

Unfortunately for me, they decided to go to an outdoor bar, so I couldn't go due to the almost certain guarantee that there would be smoking.  What I did instead was eat Whataburger and sit around watching tv for several  hours.  If that isn't American, what is?  The good news for you is that while I was sitting around with the apartment to myself, I got to watch the most recent episode of Jersey.  Shall we?

Let me say that I basically ignore any scene where Teresa and Joe are having a conversation.  It's just not worth the time and effort to try to figure out what they're talking about and how they can convince themselves they're right.

 

I found their "how did Jacqueline get the idea we're building an apartment?!" conversation mind-numbing.  I saw the building they were discussing, and to me it looked much more like a small house than a garage.  But you know me, I'll always side with Jacqueline.  At some point Rosie shows up to have a talk with Teresa.  Again, I didn't pay attention that well because Teresa contradicts herself too much for me.  My ears did perk up when Teresa made the comment that Kathy never really accepted Rosie when they were younger because she hated that Rosie is gay.  I am VERY anxious to see how that plays out at the reunion at the end of this season.  I can't imagine Kathy being mean or not liking anyone, let alone her sister, so I'm pretty sure that gay or not, she's always been good to her sister.  So..yeah.  That part about treating her sister badly was probably not true.

Later, Kathy and Rosie are discussing Rosie's love life and Kathy is trying to encourage her to go out and meet someone.  She offers to go with her to a gay bar, saying that she's never been to one before.  WHAT?  How is that possible?  She's like 40 and her sister is a lesbian.  I'VE been to a gay bar.  In College Station, TX....So I'm not sure how Kathy's never been before.

Word from wherever Ashley is being held is that she got a skull tattoo on her hand to remind her of her favorite bar she likes to go to.  Hang on a minute while I LOL FOREVER.  Seriously, you guys.  This girl gets dumber every second and I LOVE IT.  Also, I love that she's trying to convince people she's really tough and hangs out at a bar with skulls.  Honey, nobody's watching Sons of Anarchy and thinking "yeah, I bet Ashley from RHoNJ goes to those kinds of bars."  I don't see that clown strollin into a biker bar with those ridiculous lip injections.  NOT GONNA HAPPEN, PRINCESS.

I have to say, I can't tell what's happening at this family dinner of Rosie and Kathy.  I'm so distracted by their mom, who looks like the Italian version of Sophia from Golden Girls,

 that I can't figure out what's happening in this story she's telling about her childhood.  Why did her mom give her to her aunt???  And why does that mean she didn't love or feel any connection with her biological siblings?  I understand they didn't grow up in the same home and she didn't realize they were her siblings until she was much older, but she would have spent time with them and she would've grown up thinking they were her cousins, so....unless she's some sort of dissociative sociopath, shouldn't she have some sort of feelings for them??
 
One thing that's really great about Teresa is how she makes no sense.  While getting dressed and ready for therapy, she's talking to her daughters, saying "I'm going to lunch with Uncle Joe!  I'm trying to keep the family together."  But then in her interview, she's like "I don't want to tell my girls I'm going to therapy because I'm embarrassed and they're too young to be involved."  Well if they're too young to be involved, and you don't want it to be an issue, why make the comment that you're trying to keep the family together?  All that's doing is reinforcing that there are issues, so you're getting them involved; regardless of where they think you're going, they know that things are bad and they'll ask questions.  Or wait...are they not allowed to ask personal questions either?  That's probably a betrayal in Teresa's book.

I missed the caption of who this is having a talk with Jacqueline at her house, but I'll assume it's her dad.  Her dad looks a lot like Abe Vigoda, right?!

Anyways, they discuss the situation between Jacqueline and Teresa, and he says that it's a one-sided friendship because Teresa never asks Jacqueline about things that are going on in her life, like what's happening with Ashley.  I get what he's saying, I really do.  But I have to say, I'm like that, too.  I don't like to ask my friends/family about things in their lives that I know are stressing them out.  If they bring it up and want to talk about it or vent, I'll talk all they want, but otherwise I don't want to bother them about it because I HATE constantly being asked about things that are bothering me.  If I bring it up, I want to vent about it.  If I don't, don't ask because I'm supposed to be keeping my blood pressure down.  So in this case, I really don't think that's what makes Teresa a bad friend.  She may just not like bringing up things she think will stress her friends out.

When Joe Gorga and Teresa meet up at the therapists office and Joe (HER BROTHER) says to her, "you're wearing red.  Red's a sexy color."  GROSS.  That is so weird and disgusting.  Good thing they're already at the therapist's office.

You guys, I don't even know how to recap/breakdown this therapy session, but it is a JOKE.  And how they got the HR Mediator for 30 Rock, Jeffrey Wienerslav to be their therapist, I don't know.

I am so bummed I can't find the picture of Rosie's first communion, because that dress is INSANE.  She could've been going to her first gynecological exam in that dress.  The good news was that, despite several (okay maybe like 3) minutes of googling for the first communion dress, I was able to find a runner-up:

 I can't watch this adventure in the gay bar.  It's making me too uncomfortable.

Back to Joe and Teresa at therapy--Teresa's insistence to share the RV with her brother to prove the doctor wrong about them fighting is incredible.  "Oh you went to school to help people with their problems?  I think it's pretty obvious I know what to do here and am more qualified to make good decisions. Also, I'm pretty level-headed when I'm upset, so it's no biggie."

"I got this."

The article about Teresa and Joe's parent's house is crazy.  "Who knows who put that story out there?"  And then she tries to imply it's Jacqueline.  DON'T BLAME THIS ON JACQUELINE.  Thank you, Joe for calling Teresa out for saying that if she had the money, she'd buy her parents a house (but since she doesn't, Joe should be doing it) while wearing Christian Louboutins and carrying a Louis Vuitton purse.  Isn't it obvious from that conversation that she leaked the article if she's basically repeating everything it says as soon as she's off camera and thinks they can't hear her?  Teresa, you're not going to outsmart the camera guys and production crew.  You're not going to outsmart anyone.  Not even Milania.  So...yeah, I think she pretty much outed herself as the source for that article.

RHoNJ, Episode...Something

Okay so I am STILL behind on Jersey, but yesterday Bravo ran two episodes back-to-back, which I was SO EXCITED about.  About 45 minutes into the first of the two episodes, Jacob called me while driving to New Mexico, so I didn't get to hear everything and I missed the entire second episode.  It's a bummer, but I have 3 pages of notes, so let's see what we can do, eh?

So here's where I'm at: I missed the episode with Rosie coming out and I missed the episode where Jamie gets married.  I also missed the episode where Jacqueline and Teresa get in the huge fight outside on someone's balcony.  (By the way, these could all be the same episode for all I know).  So THIS episode I'll be recapping is the one AFTER that; the episode after the balcony showdown between Caroline, Jacqueline and Teresa, and the episode with Melissa's song release party.  Okay, ready to go?

I missed the first couple minutes of the episode (including the lead in for what had happened the previous week) because Jacob called me to tell me he had landed.  I was able to start watching a few minutes in, and the first thing I see is Jacqueline crying about the night before and her fight with Teresa.  Let me just say that seeing Jacqueline cry is like watching someone hurt a kitten.  I HATE IT.  It's awful and it makes me despise the person hurting her.  How can you be mean to Jacqueline?!  On the flipside, we see Teresa talking (and maybe crying?) to her husband, Joe, upset about what happened.  I don't pity her because she married the guy and she should know by now he's a jerk and she's pretty bad herself, BUT, if I were trying to tell my husband about a huge blowup I'd had with my best friend the previous night and his response was "Well whatever, who cares?" I'd be a little frustrated.  Obviously the guy just doesn't accept when bad things happen to him.  Bankruptcy? Ehh, it's my business.  My friend's hate me?  Ehhh whatever, friends come and go.  My family wants nothing to do with me?  Whatever, move on.  It'd be pretty impressive if it weren't so troubling.  At some point, someone has to be upset when bad things happen to them, right?  Not so with Joe Guidice.  So anyways, Teresa is complaining about Jacqueline and the whole fight (which again, I haven't seen), and she's saying that Jacqueline is being fake by being upset that there was an article saying Teresa was going to jail.  I'm not sure what about her reaction is fake?  Her worry for her friend?  Her frustration at feeling totally left out of her friend's life when that friend is releasing information to the tabloids instead?  Maybe Teresa is just frustrated that Jacqueline doesn't have the same "whatever, find a new friend" mentality that her husband does, and she actually wants to address the negative aspects of people's lives.  When Teresa continues to vent to Joe, he freaks out, saying "I don't care! I heard enough already! I told you what to do--move on."  That is the strangest reaction in the world to me.  Honestly, if I got into a fight with Dana and was complaining about it to Jacob and he said that, I think I would slap him in the face.  DUDE.  Have some compassion and try not to be a selfish ape for ONE MINUTE.

So Teresa says "I'll never forget what she did to me."  What she did?  From what I gather, all she did was ask about your personal life and about the contradictions between what you're telling her and what you're selling the tabloids.  How is that a betrayal?  You aren't allowed to ask one of your best friends questions about their life????  Granted, I'm considering having t-shirts made that say "DO NOT ASK ME ABOUT MY HOUSE" because I get irritated when anyone brings it up, but I don't consider it a betrayal.  I just pity them for not knowing that they're about to get an earful of my venting.

 I just can't with Melissa's phone call with Ryan Seacrest.  I could make the obvious point about how dumb she is for getting her makeup done for a phone interview, but I won't go there.  I muted the whole scene and scratched Oscar's head until it was over.

 At one point, Teresa and Joe meet outside in some sort of strange gazebo/koi pond area to discuss the possibility of her going to therapy with her brother.  Joe says he's embarrassed for Teresa for considering therapy.  He then goes on to explain that he fully understands the limitations of therapy, as he was once sent to therapy by his school when he was a child.  He and Teresa say it was the school's mistake to send him and that it didn't work, but something tells me his version of the doctor's office is exaggerated, since it sounds like he's describing a mental institution rather than a psychiatrist's office.  Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Joe being sent to therapy was NOT a mistake on the school's part.  This guy needs serious counseling.  Like complete behavior modification.  Or a lobotomy.  Those are his only chances of becoming someone who ISN'T an idiot douche bag.  Teresa excuses the RIDICULOUS notion of therapy by saying "maybe it'll help my brother--maybe he has issues he needs to get past."  Ummmmm if you think you don't have any issues, I think you're beyond being helped.  She says "it goes against my family values to go to therapy."  OPEN, HONEST COMMUNICATION AND TRYING TO RESOLVE ISSUES SO YOU CAN HAVE HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS IS AGAINST YOUR FAMILY VALUES?!?!  I really do try to see things from her perspective and understand what she's saying, but I cannot figure out her stance on therapy.  I think she doesn't understand what it is, maybe?

On the way to Melissa's song launch and/or cd release party (which, by the way, come ON), Joe Gorga and Melissa are talking about the people that send her mean tweets.  Joe says "you have to be some LOSER to sit around on the internet and say a lot of negative things about people."  Actually I do a lot more than just sit around all day, Mr. Gorga.  Today I went to not one, but TWO, furniture stores.  So, you know, I wouldn't exactly call me a loser.

Can we just take a minute to talk about Melissa's music career?  I mute it every time they play her "music" because I learned that lesson the first time they didn't edit out her singing.  I'm not really sure how many times the Gorga's can throw a party or gather their friends around to debut Melissa's songs before people are like "hey, I brought my iPod, can we just throw that on?" Because I totally would.  I don't have anything against Melissa, necessarily, but her singing makes my brain feel like melting.

At the club/party, when Kathy sits down with Caroline and Jacqueline and they start telling her about the fight the night before with Teresa, I love the look on Kathy's face.  It's a total deer-in-the-headlights look, and you can tell she does NOT want to be in the middle of that fight.  You can tell she's just waiting for a pause in the conversation to be like "You guys, I saw the funniest movie the other night!"  Poor lady, she just doesn't want to ever be the bad guy and doesn't want to say anything mean.  It's actually a great quality, but it's not nearly as fun for tv.

When Teresa walks in and gives Kathy a kiss hello and doesn't even acknowledge Jacqueline, I really wanted to punch her in the face.  Even after the worst fight with my best friend, I can't imagine being that cold.  How can you just ignore someone like that when you've been close for so long??? I couldn't do it.

Teresa and her brother talking about therapy makes me VERY uncomfortable.  Multiple times, Joe says something like "I want to make this work" or "I want things to be like they used to be" and Teresa is like "Joe.  You know I want that.  You know I want you in my life."  The way she stresses it and looks at him freaks me out.  I know she's just socially awkward, but there is an implication in what she's saying that I don't even think the therapist wants to explore.

  In her interview, she again says "hopefully the therapist can show my brother he's doing something wrong."  Nothing like going into therapy with an open mind and being willing to accept some of the blame for the situation.  Well done, healthy adult.

Let me say that drunk Rosie is not nearly as great as normal Rosie.  Drunk Rosie is way too jovial.  And sweaty.  I prefer the angry/scowling Rosie.

I only caught the beginning of the confrontation between Jacqueline and Teresa, due to Jacob's phone call, but I did catch Jacqueline apologizing to Teresa for things getting too heated.  Teresa response is "Sorry?!  Jacqueline.  That's f-ed up!"  What's that now?  Her apology, or her asking you to clarify what you've been telling the tabloids?  Because both seem perfectly acceptable in my book.

Can we watch an entire episode where Chris and Albie narrate all of the conversations/arguments the women have?  Because that would be incredible.

At this point Jacob calls me, so I miss the rest (majority) of the fight between Jacqueline and Teresa and ALL of the fight between Melissa and Teresa.  I'll just go ahead and assume that Teresa was upset about something stupid and she wouldn't accept Jacqueline/Melissa being upset without thinking they were attacking her.  Also, I'll assume that she had no ability to see things from their perspective.  Close enough?  Or as a wise woman once said to me: "Teresa sucks as a friend and as a family member."

At the end of the episode, I see that Teresa has I guess made up with her family and every person that's even sort of related is kissing each other on the mouth.  Now...I get that they're Italian and all, but it's making me think that maybe the reason she looks like a troll is because the family has done a bit too much kissing.  Like, maybe the reason her hairline/body hair is the way it is is because some of her genes are doubled up...

Thank Heavens For Brother-In-Laws

This weekend was pretty hectic, and Sunday night was really no exception.  After driving from our apartment out to Spring to have dinner at my parents, I got to the area and my warning light for low tire pressure came on.  That's never good.  I pulled over to check on the tires, but none were noticeably low, so after a call to Jacob to make sure I could go the 5-7 miles to my parent's house before adding air, I was on my way.  Getting to my parent's house, my brother in law, Jonathan, was helping me check the tires to see which was low.  It took him about 4 seconds to be like "umm it's this tire."  I'm telling myself it's because he's exceedingly smarter than I am, but really I think it has more to do with the fact that I'm pretty oblivious and didn't hear the hissing sound coming from the rear wheel.  After just a minute of feeling for the leak, Jonathan found the big nail stuck in my tire, which unfortunately had found itself lodged in the side, rather than the tread, meaning it could NOT be patched and I would be buying a new tire.  About this time, my sister Ashley pulled up with her family. Thanks to her handy and extremely helpful husband, Philip, my (increasingly) flat tire was pulled off in no time and my spare was put on.  While Philip worked diligently on my tire, Jonathan called around to see if any place would be open for me to buy a new tire at 6pm on a Sunday so I didn't have to drive all around Houston on something that looked like a pool floatie.  The Walmart in front of my parent's neighborhood told Jonathan that they weren't accepting any more cars that day, despite their automotive center being open for 2 more hours.

Thankfully Jonathan doesn't take no for an answer, so he called another Walmart that was only like 5 minutes away, and they said I could go there.  Once the spare was on, I headed out with my sister, Ashley, who was kind enough to spend the next two hours with me at Walmart while my car was being fixed.  It wasn't a complete waste of time (for me at least) since she walked me through the baby section to point out things I needed for my registry.  After 2 hours and $115, the tire was fixed and we headed back to my parent's house for dinner.   I know it could've been worse, and I'm really REALLY thankful I had Jonathan and Philip there to basically take over the situation for me while I stood on the curb, killing ants.  I'm just so sick of paying for these unexpected expenses (like the $300 cell phone bill we got today), and it's not really fun to feel like you're hemorraging money right before you close on a house. 

Anyway, like I said, it could have been way worse, so I'm super grateful to Jonathan and Philip (and Mandy and Ashley for letting their husbands basically ditch them to help me) for being there and being so helpful.  So thanks again, brothers!  Love you! 

Jacob went out of town today for work.  He'll be back tomorrow, so it's no big deal, but it's the first time I've been alone in this apartment and it's really weird.  Andy agrees with me--he's spent the entire evening either by the window or by the door.  I think the poor guy is really going to have a hard time relaxing without Jacob here.  I'd say the same for Oscar, but it'd be a lie.  He's been sleeping the entire day.  Although, in the last hour, I've noticed that the swollen gland he has on  his eye has busted.  Gross, I know, but it's really killing me.  I've wiped quite a bit of blood off his face and I have a feeling I'll be calling the vet first thing in the morning if he's still keeping it closed when I wake up.  Poor guy.  I probably need to just pay to have the surgery done to remove it, but I don't want to put the poor guy through that.  Hopefully he'll feel better in the morning once it's scabbed.

So they replayed last week's episode of RHoNJ tonight.  I didn't catch the whole thing, since Jacob called me while he was driving from Midland to Carlsbad, but I'm REALLY hoping they will play the episode from TWO weeks ago, so I can see the fight that started it all between Jacqueline and Teresa.  Regardless, I took notes during the episode tonight, so I'll probably be blogging about that sometime tomorrow.  Be on the lookout.

Working Puppy

Sweet guy loves to help his dad get some work done. He also loves how the laptop keeps his face warm.

Voila!

I finished my first craft for the baby's room tonight! It's the yarn wreath I made a few months back that Oscar chewed up one day. It's still chewed up in one spot, but I covered it with these felt flowers I made. A special thanks to Hannah who came to Hobby Lobby and helped me focus. I'm pretty sure I would've spent a ridiculous amount of time in the aisle with the felt and either come home with something I hated or nothing at all. Overall I'm really happy with it. It was a cheap and fairly easy project, which gets high marks in my book.