Sunday: quilts

I finished a quilt! It still needs to be ironed.

Saturday: trimming

This morning I went outside, intending to trim some bushes in the front. However, I had two problems: 1) I had branch cutters, not trimming shears and 2) I like pruning more than trimming. So which I did do some trimming, I did take off more large chunks of bush that I was planning on. I think it is a good thing though, as the bushes are getting a bit overgrown.

While I was outside I realized that I yard sale was going on two houses down. So I stopped by and ended up with a baby carrier. I thought of Clay and Jess because I remember when they got their baby carrier at a garage sale too. The thing has a lot of snaps, hooks, and buckles, but I still managed to figure out how to put it together. Yay!

Friday: end of the week

Yay! It's the end of the week. Unfortunately, I have a long list of things to get done this week...so I'm already preparing myself for an unproductive(ish) weekend. we'll see how it goes. I am excited because I bought some new sheets. We never found the bottom sheet of the second set after we moved and I figured that if we ever found it, three sets would be fine.

Tonight we played Dominion with people and it was a lot of fun

Thursday: brownie

Tonight I made a brownie. It's only one brownie before it's cut, right? And I was really just getting rid of some old food...it was an 9x9 size, which I never make. It is usually too much brownie for just Ben and me but not enough for a group function. And I told myself I would clean after I got the brownies ready for the oven but the oven wasn't at temp yet.

I managed put away one ingredient before the oven was ready. lucky me!

Wednesday: Sid

When the thought of food makes me nauseous, I think of Sid.

(photo from here)

Sid hopped into a backpacker's backpack when they were exploring the jungle. The backpacker went home to their home on a farm. (Sid passed TSA security by being on his side and the TSA agent being distracted. Sid survived by eating snacks in the backpack and the condensation from bottles/cups put in the backpack.)

There Sid met Harriet.

(photo from here)

That's all the farther I've gotten. Usually at this point Sid is on a fence rail.

Stay tuned for the next installment: what do Sid and Harriet say to each other? What do they do together?

Tuesday: today

I suppose today could have gone better, although it really wasn't bad. I got a runny nose at 11am and it will not stop running. I was also supposed to have an OB appointment, which I was looking forward to, but it got canceled 10 minutes before the appointment. I also finished the Hunger Games trilogy. it was really good, but the book ended. the end of a good book is always sad.

I did manage to make a delicious curry though.

Monday: red dots

A bunch of little red dots appeared on my face today. I'm assuming it's a pregnancy related thing but there didn't seem to be any official info on the Internet.

I was going to take a picture, but went to bed instead. Maybe tomorrow if they're still there.

Sunday evening: why do you hate me?

Sunday nights make me throw up.

Literally.

Only Sunday nights.

It's annoying.

Saturday: Charlevoix

Today we spent the whole day with the extended family...it was fun.

It started out with some monsters.



Then Ben wake boarded.



We went on another boat ride



and watched fireworks and a boat parade

Friday: the best trip ever

Tonight we were going up to Charlevoix and a little bit in front of us a semi-truck turned over onto the side of the road, spreading what it was hauling all over the road. So we had to stop. What could it be except an Entermann's truck filled with donuts?!?!

So we helped to clear the road and in exchange for our help we got to eat our fill and then fill up the car with donuts. I packed them in!


Wouldn't that have been awesome? Ben and I spent a lot of time figuring out all the details...it couldn't just be a regular donut truck because we were driving the company car and the donuts needed to be packaged so it wouldn't make a mess of the car. But they still had to be good donuts.

Thursday: shift

Today I was typing and realized that I always use the right shift key on the keyboard. It means that sometimes my left hand has to take over a few of the keys that the right hand usually hits. Although most of the capital letters were supposed to be hit by the left hand (at least for the things that I was writing).

Then I tried using the left shift key. It didn't work so well.

Wednesday: It's here...our trip home

I received my response from JetBlue tonight about getting a refund after our travel disaster. They gave us both $100 credit (at least that's what the email says...I haven't verified it). So I have a great offer for you...you can have our credit for a reduced price. Maybe $75 each? Or really the first offer that we get. I figure that enough people travel JetBlue that they must have some good luck. Anyway, without further ado, our story. Oh, there is further ado. Sorry it's so long. I had a lot of time to write it while waiting. And Ben and I might not agree exactly with the time frames...I really only checked my watch a few times.

Well, I'm sad to say that I have had my worst travel experience. We were sitting in the airplane (there was ac at least) and heard that the doors were going to close in five minutes. Ten minutes later, there was a big hydraulic leak in the landing break. Then the flight was canceled. period. They led us back to the terminal and left us at gate two. This felt like the middle of no where, especially since we had left from a completely different section. They told us to sit anywhere and listen for the announcement. do they not realize how hard it is to hear announcements in an airport? we tried finding out information and standing in lines that didn't move for the next two hours, while hearing rumors that we would be bused to Santo Domingo. But nothing was done in those two hours...there was just mass confusion. a whole plateful of people that were confused.

finally they said that they were going to take us back to the checking area and we could choose one of two options...to stay in Punta Cana and try to get a flight tomorrow (no guarantees) or take a bus 3.5hours to Santo Domingo to try and get a flight. Emphasis still on try. ok, we formed a line and started moving again. No problem. We got to immigration and since they had to check every passport, our line got lost. No one knew where our bags were going to come out, nor where to go after we got our bags. Someone said carousel two, a bit later they changed to carosel two. someone was trying to help at this point at least.

Then we ran to check-in, where tempers were starting to flare. Not that it really mattered...the computers were down and so no one was rebooking anything. one more line to stand in that didn't move. The person in charge then said that there were 60 seats (for about 130 people) and we were going together on the bus in an orderly manner. Ha. He tried, I'll give him that. Ben and I barely made the last bus, but he had to play the pregnancy card (although he had said pregnant people could get in the first bus). Three cheers for the kid.

The bus ride was nice. our driver drove quickly and caught up with the first bus. And we got to see a lot of the country...a big church, a big bridge, cows and birds grazing in a field, tobacco (we think), and stores in several cities. then all the stations at the Jet Blue counter were manned, which was nice. tempers were still a little high, but after the ride in an air conditioned bus, people were doing a lot better. the airport was almost empty, so customs and such went very quickly. the power went out briefly, but luckily turned back on after about thirty seconds.

Well, this flight ended up leaving 2.5 hours late. I think they delayed the plane by thirty minutes for us, but we would have been fine anyways. There were paperwork problems, so by the time we got to NY and were waiting for our luggage it was 3am. Oh, the nice attendant at Punta Cana did give us one of the seats with extra leg room though, so that was nice.

Then we went to check back in and I was disgusted at the service. The attendant said "no" to our request for food vouchers without even checking anything. (As a side note, we were so late that we didn't ask for a hotel. Some other people we talked to later got a $50 voucher...there is no place near the airport where the voucher will cover.). Then the manager came over and we told her the story. In the meantime the attendant is rather rude and surprised that we are going through NY to get to Chicago...but that is how connections work. TWENTY minutes later we finally get a food voucher for $8 a piece. I'm not sure how $8 can be considered a good compensation. We went pretty conservative on food (but still got a meal) and had to pay an additional $10.

Then to top everything off Ben's tray table didn't work on the last flight and we werent sitting together, so he had to stay awake to hold his drink.

We got in 12 hours late. Twelve hours doesnt sound too bad, but when you consider that we were now required to drive home after little sleep (I.e., no motel for the night) and the terrible service, it all adds up to the worst traveling I've ever done.

Tuesday: quilting

Today I managed to convince myself that I shouldn't go to bed at 7:30pm (because that really is too early). I had been wanting to do some quilting again after doodling patterns on graph paper yesterday.

So after not having touched my sewing machine in over two months, I finished quilting Quilt 6. (To be fair, it was almost finished.)

Tuesday: The News

Ben and I are happy to announce that we are having a baby.

A baby! We're excited and scared at the same time.

I've been writing blog posts about it for a while now and just published them. You can follow the label "child" below or just click here.

I am due January 3rd. It was a pretty rough 1st trimester, but things are slowly improving. The last two weeks (including vacation) were better, although I'm still having some sickness. My pants are getting rather tight and if I have long enough shirts I've just been leaving the top button undone. I got a belly band but it is a bit uncomfortable and tight. I might try again if my pants actually start falling down or I'm wearing a short shirt. We are going to find out the gender, but I'm not sure if that is going to be the end of July or the end of August. I think that is really all the information that I have.

Here's a picture of the tiny bump from last week. You have to squint a little bit :)

Sunday: more relaxing

Today was another nice and relaxing day. We went to church but mostly chilled for the rest of the day. We did manage to sneak in a few chores though.

Saturday: a day with the family

Today Ben and I went to my parent's place and got to see Nathan and Liz. It was a very nice and relaxing day. I'm pretty sure that I was in the hammock for almost the entire afternoon.

Wednesday: we win

This morning in training we got to do to a hands on exercise to demonstrate continuous improvement. We started at two fake bumpers per minute (although there were a bunch of "problems" that we didnt know about). By our third pass we were making one fake bumper every 7.5 seconds. I was in charge of putting the unpainted nut on.

We beat the previously known record by two bumpers in five minutes. Because we're awesome.

Tuesday: this and that

I saw I broken down motorcycle by the side of the road today. I don't think I've ever seen that before, which made me wonder if it is because there are less motorcycles on the road or because motorcyclists take better care of their motorcycles.

I contemplated buying more underwear while I was at Target today so I wouldn't have to do laundry. Now I'm contemplating wearing used underwear if I can't drag some up from the dregs of the underwear bucket. I expect I can find something, but I don't know if it will fit well.

I went to the doctor to get my ear checked out because I still couldn't hear anything after something happened in the pool. It turns out that I just have a lot of wax and the pool did something to push it down a bit. So the doctor flushed out my ears. It was rather gross how much was in there, but there isn't much I can do about it. And now I can hear!

update: I found some clean underwear so you can rest comfortably tomorrow knowing I didn't have to reuse any.

Monday: first day of work

Today was my first day of work. It was mostly training, so really rather boring. They did have some cool desks though. When you need a computer/keyboard/mouse they can come out of this storage unit on the back of the desk. It was cool.

I also finished earlier than expected so went to meet my fellow workers. They weren't really expecting to see me until Friday, so there wasn't much to do. Oh well, it was a pretty easy day overall.

Sunday: we're home

We got home today after the worst traveling I've ever had. I'm going to ask for a refund. When I don't get it, I'll share the details.

But at least we're home. I expect that some people we were traveling with are still at the airport.

Here we are in the airport with Dusty and Laura. We were supposed to have left before got there.

Saturday: review

I'm in the plane, so I thought I'd take some time to write a review of the resort.

As a disclaimer, I had a lot of fun there and would definitely do the trip again.


We'll start with the hit and miss items.
1. The food. Most of it was just ok, although we had some bad things and some very delicious things. For the most part it seemed to be substance rather than carefully prepared, although everyone had found some favorites by the end of the trip.
2. The service of the restaurants. Some days we were waited on promptly and never lacked for anything. One night we waited 45 minutes to place our orders and one morning I never got anything to drink at the buffet.
3. Towels. They usually had towels in the morning for the beach, but when we wanted them in the afternoon they were often out. They usually got more within an hour.
4. Housekeeping. One day our toilet didn't get cleaned (and it needed it) and we only had one bath towel. However, about twelve hours later housekeeping brought more towels and remade the bed after our nap. Besides that It was fine...nothing special nor anything bad.
5. Key cards. Everyone in our group had their key cards turn off a day or two before they were supposed to leave. I don't understand why, but it was rather annoying.
6. Room location. We had asked that all four rooms be close together and that was completely ignored. They couldn't have been further apart. I'm not sure if we could have asked sooner to prevent this or if they just ignored the email.
7. The Bulter. Some of our group had a very attentive butler, while we had a slightly hard time getting a hold of ours. He told us about the room service, but then didn't give us a menu.
8. aroma therapy. At the beginning they ask what aroma therapy you want in your room. Ben and I got something once, but no one else got anything.

And we'll end with the good things.
1. Grounds. They were beautiful, well maintained, and clean.
2. Rooms. The rooms were nice...a large open area, nice bed, sitting area, and balcony. The showers had a head on top and some side spouts. We could fit eight people in the room pretty easily.
3. Restaurant seating. I don't think we ever had to wait more than five minutes to be seated with a party of eight.
4. Things to do. We only attended a few shows at night, but between the shows and the daily activities there was no reason to be bored.
5. The beach. It was beautiful. The ocean bottom was a nice sand. there was some seaweed, but it wasn't bad. There were kayaks, boogie boards, and snorkel gear to use. (Although there wasn't much to see by our beach)
6. The special elegance club. This extra part was worth it. There were some snacks close to the beach and pool that you could just grab. It gave you access to close bars and emptier pools. It also provided a nice air conditioned area where eight people could play games.
7. The street vendors. If you negotiate well, you can get items much cheaper than the gift stores. However, they were only there one day for a limited time
8. Drinks. Drinks were easy to get.

Thursday: first thing that doesn't fit

My brown skirt is the first item of clothing that officially doesn't fit. My jeans have been periodically tight (although I now haven't worn them for several days) but still fit. The skirt was not going to close or even come close to closing...unless it was at my true waist, which is not really comfortable.

luckily, I had a plan. It had been too big when I bought it, so I had put two darts in it. I just removed the darts. Yay

Thursday: this and that

We varied our routine slightly today, but not by much. :)

After breakfast we got boogie boards and rode the waves into shore. I'm pretty sure that I don't know what I'm doing, but they made nice floaty things. The few times I let myself go all the way to the beach I got super sandy. Oh well...the boards were still fun.

We had lunch at the CNC again. I had pizza for the first time there and it was really good. Most of the food there has been good. Then nap time and Dominion.

The girls went to check out some "street vendors" that were set up by the shops. I ended up with a blue necklace. I've been thinking that I need a new one for a while now, so the timing was good. The guy said $35. I said $10. The guy said $25 and then quickly saw I was going to walk away so said $15. I said I don't want it for that, he so he said fine. $10. I don't think it is a steal, but I do think it is a fair price. And it is really pretty.

Some pool time followed. There were more jumping pictures.

Then we went back to the steakhouse. They sat us pretty quickly, but that is about were the service stopped. We had one menu ( which was fine because we had plenty of time to pass it around). We had to wait a little bit for drinks, but one of the waiters noticed fairly quickly and got them promptly. I asked for two rounds of bread before they took our order...we probably sat there for about 45 minutes by the time we ordered. I'll grant you that there were two large parties in the me area, but still...

After dinner we went to a room and hung out for a while as it was the last night we would all be here. I found out that Im not the only one that doesn't wear makeup, which was an awesome find. The night was fun and a little sad.

I apparently didn't take many pictures today. We're all going to share photos, so sometimes I just wasn't the one taking them.

Friday: last day

Four of our group left today. We had a nice breakfast and just hung out until it was time for them to leave in the morning.

dusty: who is the governor of Minnesota?
Ryan: Durnham. From the Durnham family.

We then had lunch at the air conditioned buffet place. It had all the same food as the CNC by the beach and fewer people but I didn't like it as much...the lines for the foods I wanted seemed longer.

The beach was next on the agenda. The breeze was so nice,as always, so we didn't get in the water but just read and slept under the shade makers. Ben and I walked the big main pool on our way back...it was nice and curvy with some cool features, but it was also very full and there weren't many extra chairs.

At the Italian place I tried ordering a double portion of raviolis, but it didn't work. I thought he understood me, but somewhere I guess the communication didn't work. Ben and Dusty gave me some of theirs to help out.

Wednesday night: a dialogue

Scene: Amanda is asleep and Ben just finished reading, turned off the light and is cuddling with Amanda

Amanda: Is that Ben? I need to know if that's Ben.
Amanda: Really...is that Ben? it's important.
Ben: who else would it be?
Amanda: I really need to make sure it's Ben.
Ben: sigh. It's Ben.

Wednesday: fun sun take 3

We've fallen into a semi-routine, but it sure is a nice one. we went to the sit down restaurant for breakfast, just to try it out. It was better than the buffet, but did take longer with fewer options. I had a chocolate banana omlette. It wasn't very chocolately...really just ok over all.

Beach. Beautiful with a lovely breeze and nice waves.

lunch and nap.

Pool. More jumping pictures. I got water in my ear.

Get ready for dinner...while showering I got more water in my ear and it didn't come out. I think I can hear most things, but they're a little hazy.

French restaurant. the appetizer (a modern salad with fried goat cheese) was delicious. The seafood trio in vanilla air was odd (and small) (again). The vanilla air was about what it sounds like...it was white bubbles that covered everything and gave it a slight smell, but could barely be tasted.

Tuesday: more fun in the shade

My day today was rather similar to yesterday's. I spent the morning on the beach in the shade reading ( although I didn't go in the ocean). Some people got kayaks for a little bit. I thought it would have been fun to kayak to the Eye of Saroun, who was also here on vacation, with his sunglass, but due to the reef they couldn't do that.

(To see the Eye well, you need to enlarge the picture)

But it does mean that they paddled past me so I got to see them. Then three of the five and Katy walked by on the beach. Hmmm. Why didn't they stop? Then three different people and Katy walked the other way on the beach. Hmm...that probably isn't good. It turned out Dusty and Laura's kayak had a leak in the bouanancy part of the boat and it flipped and was just a pain to deal with. So while it is almost a fun story now, everyone was exhausted when they got back to me because they had either paddled a sinking boat or walked the beach a gazzilion times.

lunch was hot. It was then that I realized that I probably should have gone in the ocean, although it was nice to be dry for most of the morning. We all went and took naps (yay a/c) and played Dominion before adventuring out again.

We adventured in the pool.

The Italian restaurant was very good, but I ordered the ravioli and got five raviolis. I'm happy with small portion sizes, but that was a little bit too small. nicely, Ben gave me some of his dinner too.

And this evening Laura sang Karoke and did a pretty good job...definitely better than the guy before her. While we were waiting we played pool and ping pong. It was rather dark and the ping pong ball was the same color as the walls, which made it rather hard to play.

Monday: Happy July 4th

Today was also very pleasant, although it started out a little rough. I thought the buffet in the special place was going to open at 7:30, but it didn't. I don't know what time it opens. I was able to swipe a yogurt and then went to the big breakfast buffet. I got my food and ordered a water. It never came. Sure, I wasn't there for very long, but long enough to really want the water. Needless to say, I was a little grumpy when I got back.

Anyway, the day proceeded at I quickly got into a better mood. The girls played in the ocean and took jumping pictures...You know, the ones where everyone is up in the air at the same time? turns out that I'm really bad at jumping and the four of us were really bad at coordinating. But it was fun. We ate on the beach for their 4th of July cookout.

Then we started a large game of dominion. multiple people had brought their decks and we modified the rules a bit, so it worked out just fine having more people than suggested.

We went to a Japanese hibachi for dinner...it was ok. They were liberal with the soy sauce(on everything) and it was loud. Then we saw a circus act. It was fun sitting next to Katy as she had a running commentary and things that were hard and easy and what she could do. She said the difficulty level was beginner-medium, but at the same time they werent working with a stage set up for circus so it's understandable.

Saturday: we made it!

We made it to the resort! It's dark out so you can't see much, but the place looks very and and the rooms are great! We all congregated inDusty and Laura's room after getting settled in for a nice time of talking and eating ( and drinking). Well, the food wasn't great. We just ordered a bunch of room service and it left quite a bit to be desired. But there were plenty of things to drink and some chocolate in the fridge to tide us over.

We found the Minnesotans in the Chicago airport and it was a lot of fun traveling with them. It's been a while since I traveled in a group and while only being with Ben is nice, it's also nice to be in a group...especially of people that you haven't seen for a while.

Sunday: having fun

Today was a wonderful (and relaxing) day. We swam in the ocean (the sand is so soft), swam in the pool, had a nice dinner, and enjoyed being with friends. One of the reasons that it is fun to be with other people on a trip is that you aren´t the only one taking pictures. At one point people were doing crazy jumps into the pool and so if two camera took pictures on burst mode we could usually get a good shot. (This is a public computer and I don´t have the correct cable, so I can´t put any pictures up right now.)

So it´s really Monday morning and I came down to the lobby way to early to make dinner reservations (early but neccessary). Room service leaves something to be desired so I thought I´d pick up breakfast while I was down here. But the breakfast isn´t out yet and I still have 15 minutes. So now do I stay or do I leave? Stay tuned.

Saturday: hurry up and wait

Yesterday we made it to Chicago with ease. We were super glad that we werent going out of chicago though, as we saw three long backups. The worst, on i80 probably went on for half the time we were on it.

Then this morning getting to the airport went amazingly smoothly. We did a stay and park, so we got dropped off exactly in the right spot. We got seats for the first flight (they Weren't assigned online so we were a little nervious) and all the lines went quickly. Now to find a few more of our party and continue on!

Friday: and we're (almost) off

We're about to leave for vacation! Just a few last things to do and then pack up the car with our bags and we're leaving!

Woo-hoo! I'm super excited for the trip.