Look what my husband made me!!

Okay, he did not really make it. He just stripped about 3 layers of paint off. And the paint stripper did not work. So he used this heat lamp and a scraper. It took weeks and weeks. Then he stained it several times. Then he put some sort of shiny stuff on it so it would not be sticky and stink anymore.

Even Quincy says it's pretty. I agree, although the picture does not do it justice. The lighting in our bedroom is bad. It's the one on the left.


Pretty cool, huh?

If you have a minute, there was an article about my husband's band in the local paper this weekend. Click here to read the article. Click here to hear the band.

When it rains, it pours!

So I had that interview last week, haven't heard anything from it. Not dwelling on it though. The principal of a local high school called me after 9 p.m. last night for an interview today. It lasted an hour. I think I could have talked more, because a lot of it was him explaining stuff about the position to me. Then he brought in the head of the English department, who explained more. At this point, I was convinced he was going to offer me the position then and there. But, no! He shook my hand and said that he'd make a decision by the middle of the week, maybe sooner, and that if I was the right person for the job, he'd call. Anyone good at interview nuances?? It didn't seem especially positive to me.

About the one I'm waiting to hear from, it was an EA position. That means not really a teaching position, just assisting. Basically, that's less pay. $1450 a month before taxes and insurance vs. $3600 a month before taxes and insurance. Still, if they call, I'd take it because I don't know about the other one.

As an added bonus, I got a phone call a little while ago asking to interview for yet another position at a middle school. That's my ideal, by the way. I want to teach 6th or 7th grade. I feel much better about the classroom management at that age. Also, the interview is with my assistant principal from the high school I graduated from many years ago.:) That makes me feel good about it. It is at 8:30 in the morning though. :(

Places I Would Like to Live...Someday

We probably will never live all of these places because we would have to move a lot and I hate moving. I've been thinking a lot about other places I would rather be than Middle Tennessee. Here's a sampling:


Chattanooga, Tennessee. I've been here many times and I love the feel of it and it's not Middle Tennessee.


Evansville, Indiana. I just love this town, plus it is close to New Harmony, which my family has gone to every summer for years.


Brevard, NC. Just the other side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.


Colorado Springs, Colorado. Just at the foot of Pike's Peak, it's beautiful.


Portland, Oregon. I've re-watched Rachael Ray's "$40 a Day" set in Portland many times and it makes me want to go there. But then, so many places I'd like to live are because of Food Network.


Seattle, Washington. Again, seen it on Food Network and HGTV and I think it looks like a great city!

It seems like a lifetime ago

(I wanted this to post on 8-21, but it's 12:10 a.m. on 8-22 and I just got home from work so that wasn't possible)

In 1999, I turned 26 years old. I was married to my first husband and we found out that I was pregnant in February or March. We were excited, especially once I got past the 12 week point that I had miscarried at before. We went for the ultrasound and they didn't say much really. Then I went to see my ob/gyn the next week and he said that, based on my ultrasound, he was referring me to a maternal-fetal specialist in Nashville. An appointment was made for me to go in mid-May. No one had told me that anything was wrong at that point.

My mother took me to Nashville for my appointment. When we got to the specialist's office, they did another ultrasound. The tech who did it said nothing. She just said that she would get the doctor and he would explain it to me. She also went and got my mom. The doctor came in and explained that my baby had no kidneys and no bladder and that there was very little amniotic fluid. Did I remember having a gush of any sort? I said that I didn't. He explained further that the amniotic fluid is what helps the baby to learn to breathe and that with no kidneys, there was nothing that could be done for my baby. Essentially, this was a condition incompatible with life. He offered to do a placental biopsy that day to try and figure out what went wrong. Was it genetic? He didn't know.

The biopsy itself didn't hurt. It was a large needle and he stuck it through my abdomen into the placenta in my uterus. While he had it in there, he wiggled it around because sometimes that could cause a miscarriage. I was on Medicaid at the time and would have to carry until I delivered if I didn't miscarry. I went home not knowing the results of the biopsy.

I think he called with the results the next day. That's the only part I don't remember. The baby was a boy and was genetically perfect. It was an an anomaly or a series of anomalies, really. He had Potter's Syndrome and, if you look it up, it really does say, "This condition is incompatible with life."

My life carried on. Although, there was no baby shower. No baby gifts. No baby anything. Just this baby who remained inside me and only lived because of that. As the summer wore on, I grew a little larger. Not much since there was no fluid. Potter's babies develop smaller than normal babies because they are in a cramped space. He kicked and moved often though. It just hurt much worse than when Quincy kicked and moved because there was no cushion.

Finally, after midnight on August 21, I went into labor. I went to labor and delivery, where I was already 5 centimeters dilated. They hooked me up a fetal monitor and offered me an epidural. By the time the anesthesiologist got there, I was at 10 centimeters so I got a spinal block instead. Prior to that, they gave me Stadol, which didn't help much. I remember a few pushes. Someone switched off the fetal monitor. No one said anything.

My first son, Christian, was born and died on August 21, 1999.

Bits & Pieces

I have a whole lot of random things swimming around in my head so I'm bulleting this post.
Things I've noticed today:

• Staying up til 5 a.m because I can't sleep and then getting up at 9 really makes me feel like I'm coming down with something

• It also kills any motivation I have to call about open positions
  

• My boobs feel like they are on fire. Supposedly, I could cure this by not drinking caffeine. Not gonna happen.

• Good job interview means I am assuming I got a job and we all know what happens to people who assume, right?

• Bob the Builder was teaching my child what a camera obscura is earlier. I even listened.

• The Wonderpets talking directly to me kind of freaks me out. Also, it's a little weird when they hand me celery and apple. It reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, which creeps me out. Yet, I feel a bit of admiration that they are breaking the 4th wall on Nickelodeon. It's very metatheatre. See, I paid attention in grad school!

• Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that a men's haircolor marketed to Baby Boomers is called Touch of Gray? Not just because it's meant to cover gray, but also the hidden reference to the Grateful Dead song of the same name.

• A watched pot really doesn't boil.

• Also, if I don't watch chicken'n'dumplings, even if they are on low, they will stick.

I had a lot of observations today for someone who did pretty much nothing except lay around the house. I did go to Tractor Supply Company, where Quincy threw a fit because we would not buy him a pink tractor ride-on toy with pedals. Yeah.