The dining room went from this...
...to this! Still work to do, but wow...
The kitchen got painted (goodbye hideous border!)
The new dog is settling into his new home! More on him to come...
The living room painting is in progress...
And we finally trimmed the bushes that were taking over the front yard!
You know its been quite a week when at 6:30pm, you’re contemplating going to bed…lol
I’m discussing the topic on Our Mommyhood today!
So head over there, and tell me what you really think! Or if you’re not an anonymous blogger, what you’re ok with your mother-in-law knowing you think… 
Oh there are SO many reasons why I blog anonymously…lol
Because I can rant.
And today’s rant is about Mom Prejudice.
A status today on FB was a college friend asking for support as they were putting their daughter in a big girl bed and taking away her paci…only a mom could understand, but its a rough night at the X household…would love some encouraging words from moms out there!
At the risk of sounding like a whiner…why can’t I understand?! And why can’t I offer some stinkin support?!?! I may not be a mom, but I’m not stupid. I can understand that it must be heartwrenching to see your child upset. And even though you’re trying to do whats best, your child is miserable which must be agonizing. I understand that! But nooooo, I’m not a mom so I couldn’t possibly have anything to say!
Which irritates the crap out of me, because she’s practically saying that I have nothing to offer to someone who has kids simply because I don’t have any. And I swear this is the ONLY place where that happens in normal society. I’ve never had a heart attack either, but I’m not precluded from giving well wishes or encouragement just because I haven’t had one!
I totally get that until I have my own kids, I really don’t have the depth of understanding that someone who has kids would.
But I still think that next time she complains on FB about something stupid, like an earache, I’m going to tell her that I would offer support but as I have never had an earache, I’ll refrain. HAH!
Ok, I feel better now. lol
I got to thinking about something- how much planning ahead should you do for a baby? I mean I know you should be doing some things, but I mean how far do you go with that? My SIL Belle put it out there like in April that they wouldn’t be traveling for Thanksgiving when she was expecting Baby Belle- but then regretted it when we were talking on Thanksgiving Day. I’m wondering how crazy it would be to host the family for Christmas if I had a baby in October?
So my question is- how far do you remove yourself from obligations and such when you have a newborn? Belle and her husband almost segregated themselves starting right before Baby Belle’s due date, which is great on some levels- no plans to travel, projects finished, nothing to distract them from just enjoying the first couple months of Baby Belle’s life. And yet it came off as a little ‘elitist’, if that’s even the right word. Like they could NOT be bothered by anyone or anything. They even told my MIL to come like two weeks after the baby was born, and while I’m sure they didn’t think it was outrightly rude, it was rude. My MIL never said anything, but I was insulted for her. It was her first grandbaby! I’m getting used to my SIL and her disinterest in anything family (or at least surface interest, because as a good Southerner she has to pretend to like us) but it felt like they were shutting out the world with the birth of their baby.
As it turned out, PPD kicked my SIL in the teeth and my MIL (and SIL’s MIL) were out there round the clock for the first three months anyway- but still the question remains in my mind…is closing off your little family when the baby is born a good thing? I get the concept of not having obligations, like its probably not the time you want to do a cross-country trip. But once Baby Belle’s due date came and went, they were bored and looking for even more things to finish up before baby arrived.
But in many aspects, that’s exactly what I want to do. I want things to be DONE before baby gets here. I have lists now, long before pregnancy- think how the lists will be when I do actually get pregnant?? Belle and husband had the basement done, the house projects done, big projects finished and everything caught up- and I keep thinking about how nice that would be, not having to think about what you could/should be doing. Having time to enjoy your newborn baby, who wouldn’t want more of that? Or just spend whatever time you have not holding/changing/feeding a baby on important things, like sleeping!
So what would the things be that you Would, or Would NOT want to have going on with a newborn?
Let me tell you about wallpaper.
Aside from being pestilence and the bane of my house decorating existence, its like a fricking weed. You can’t kill it!
I was so irritated after the Dif spray gel didn’t work well that I Googled best wallpaper removal system and found a You Tube video using the Wallwik system. I was immediately sucked in (excellent advertising!) and ordered it. The sheets were amazing! They held the water onto the walls so it all got damp- the newer wallpaper (and by newer I mean ~20 years old) peeled right off, but even the older wallpaper (~50 years old) scraped right off. I so should have asked for free Wallwik in exchange for blabbing about it, because it is such amazing stuff that I really can’t shut up about it. Seriously!
Wallwik sheets in action!
And once the wallpaper is up, the painters work their magic! I’ve got three colors going through the house…
'atmospheric' for the office and dining room...
'pale honey' for the master bedroom and living room...
and 'soft chamois' for the bathroom, guest bedroom, foyer, kitchen...yeah, pretty much the entire rest of the house!
Really really can’t wait to put up the Before-During-After photo album, once the House of Dreams is finished… 
Dear Honey,
This is your mother speaking.
Well the good news is - I am NOT pregnant! The bad news is – your Mother never forgets! Yes dear one, I will never forget your kind, supportive, sensitive reaction to my latest crisis.
Let me clarify so that when you see your name X’ed out on my will you will remember why.
I am 52 years old and have never skipped a period – truly! Other than when pregnant I have gone 41 straight years – like the energizer bunny- I have a gift for being regular. If there was a support club for regular menstrual cycles, I could be the ambassador. Anyway I missed my period – whoa. That made me sit up and take notice. But then I am 52 years old and you are supposed to stop this monthly ritual sometime, so tried not to over think it. One week went by, two weeks, and then three, no problem. Then wham – I threw up. Yes, just like that, I threw up my lunch. I was folding your fathers underwear (I don’t think there is a correlation) standing over the dryer and all of a sudden I got *the feeling* - watery mouth, light headed, queasy with a capital Q. I dropped his shorts and made it to the toilet just in time. The rest of the afternoon was spent on the couch sleeping it off. The strange thing was I didn’t feel sick. No upset stomach, gas, venomous belching. Nothing. Next day, same thing. I am doing dishes at the kitchen sink and wham. I threw up right into the sink. Oh, for Pete’s sake. Back to the couch, another nap. Day three I was ready for it. I walked around with an empty plastic bag in one hand and a Kleenex in the other. Sure enough about 2 pm it happened again. Well, this is a puzzle, I think I will stop by my darling daughters house and share.
Queen B. – “Honey, I have been feeling strange ……” And I give you my list of symptoms. Isn’t that why I paid your way through nursing school?
Honey B. – “No period, check. Throwing up, check. Sexually active? Urp, now I want to throw up. Good grief Mother, don’t be dumb – YOU’RE PREGNANT!”
Queen B. – “Honey, no, that couldn’t be it ….. For goodness sake I would be 70 at the poor child’s graduation!”
When I saw the tears rolling out of the corners of your eyes and I knew immediately what was happening. “Oh Honey, I am so sorry to be so insensitive. I know you want to be pregnant so badly. Oh baby, I am so, so sorry ……….” I was at your side in a flash, being the best Mother I know how, loving, comforting, holding you as you —– sprayed Diet Dr. Pepper out your nose and all over your shirt! You were laughing! You couldn’t speak, you were bent over the side of the couch gasping, and don’t try and tell me you have asthma – you were laughing!. Any conversation that ends with you needing to change into dry underwear means you were laughing! Well, humpf!
I headed immediately to Walmart where they conveniently place the pregnancy tests next to the worlds largest collection of condoms. After an enlightening conversation with a tattooed young man with a ring in his nose about the pros and cons of latex versus lambskin, I went home and took the test.
I am NOT pregnant! Thanks for caring!
Love from your Mother,
Queen B.
I really have no idea what I want to do when I grow up.
When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a writer. And teach high school English until my writing career took off. But when I graduated high school I wasn’t healthy enough (long story) to head off to college for that English degree, so I chose to do generals at the local community college- and why do generals when you can get a nursing degree? Working as an RN while I finished my English degree sounded like a great plan.
So ten years later, here I am a few classes shy of another nursing degree, and not an English degree in sight. Hmm. Although I have a great career in nursing, and I’m on the fast track to nursing leadership. I just need the graduate degree to back up all the experience I have, and I’m there.
But sometimes, despite the awesome career outlook, I think about the writing that I do. Here on my blog, on other blogs, and writing projects that I have in the works. I think about that and wonder/hope/dream that someday that could be my full-time job. That it could be enough to support us financially the way my nursing career does. But who has the time? I have a book proposal that’s been sitting on my hard drive, almost done, for four years. Blogging is done on weekends, and I never feel like I’m able to do it justice.
And so I find myself at a crossroads.
I have great momentum in my career…but the more promotions I get, the further away I get from patients. But to walk away from this career path and back to patient care would likely extinguish any momentum I’ve built. Pursuing the degree necessary would extinguish any free time I still have with my current workload, in turn meaning little to no writing. But I have the nursing world on a platter, I could do exactly what I’ve fantasized about and become a nurse leader who shapes what nursing is.
Or I could go back to being a staff nurse, and reclaim my spare time to focus on my true passion. Because maybe someday it could be both a job and a passion.
But reality says that there are thousands upon thousands of people who would like to write as a full-time job, and who am I to think I have what it takes? Sometimes my dream of writing full-time seems to be just that- a dream. Because who would throw away amazing career prospects on the oft-chance that maybe writing would pan out.
So here I sit at the crossroads. And I write.
Don’t miss the Naturally Knocked Up Giveaway, click here!
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It makes me sad when a way cool blogger that I loved to read has a baby, and then the blog turns into 100% baby pictures.
After about six months of nothing but baby pictures- truly, not a single non-baby post- I just deleted two blogs from my Google Reader.
Sucks.
That’s all.
This giveaway is now closed, congratulations to our winner, Kaitlin from Ah My Married Life! 
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So now that we have the House of Dreams, I feel like we’ve moved out of the hypothetical planning stage and into the pre-planning stage. Yes those are real stages!
But seriously, the big hitters on the Baby Bucket List are being crossed off quickly, we’re getting closer! Which means I need to make sure my body is as ready as possible to support the healthiest pregnancy possible- which means…
Its time for another giveaway! And this one is really good!!
I’ve decided to take Naturally Knocked Up’s eCourse, 12-weeks of learning about how to increase the odds of conception through natural living and nourishing foods. And one lucky winner will get to do it with me!
The course is 12 weeks, and includes a workbook, podcasts, video tutorials, and worksheets- all the information you need on the following topics:
For more information, check out the information page and see everything that’s discussed in the course! Its a $96 value, but is simple to win by leaving an entry comment when you do any of the following!
This giveaway will be open until midnight CST on July 14th, 2010. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and the winner contacted via email.
And even if you’re not the lucky winner, no worries because you can just enter HONEYB at registration and get 25% off!
Happy giveaway, good luck!!
follow the b.