But I’m growing a human and let me tell you that is tiring! Also we’re now at the stage of the game where my kid likes to use my bladder as a stuffed animal/punching bag/pillow. So that is some fun right there. So I haven’t actually done much besides grow the little person and relax when I get home, with a dash of internetting too.
Halloween is tomorrow and I think it will be another low key year. We hardly get any kids so this year I think we’re putting a bowl of candy out and going on the honor system. I’m super ok with this. Seriously we had 7 kids last year…which might be the most we’ve ever had since we moved here. Funny story the neighbors told us when we first moved in BUY ALL THE CANDY there are so many kids. Liars.
It’s a let down to me because I love Halloween. I really like seeing all the costumes and stuff. But our neighborhood is slowly killing the joy of the season for me. Well, that and stores already have Christmas candy out!!!
What to do with it? Well, naturally there will be the general laundry and other adulting duties to complete. But we have some other plans in place. Like a birthday party for one of our favorite three year olds. Let me tell you getting the gifts from Amazon was a monster pain in the ass. Which involved them sending me a whole new set of gifts with one day shipping.
Why? Well, it seems their tracking text feature was super buggy telling me it would arrive one day when in reality they had arrived the day before during a horrible 8 hour downpour. Which wouldn’t have been bad, but there were books in the order and yeah…those couldn’t be given as a gift. Long story short Amazon came through and made it right in record time. So I’m looking forward to the party.
There’s also church. I missed last week as I didn’t feel well. But I found I missed it. Weird right? Yeah I don’t get it either, but there we are. So I’ll hit up the Saturday night vigil mass. Good times. Then dinner out because who doesn’t like going out to dinner?
Of course I might just keep listening to Hamilton…
That still leaves two days. To be honest I haven’t really thought much about what I’ll do with those two days beyond needing to do some work on the nursery. There isn’t much time left to get things ready before the little one makes an appearance. So we’ll have to put the petal to the metal. So stay tuned to see what I do with the other two days. Unless of course I just veg in front of Netflix…it could happen!
…by the same token don’t tell me girls/women can’t like either. Because I will flip out. Where’s this coming from? Well, I stopped into my local Starbucks for an after work treat/keep awake treat to stay up for The Blacklist. The barista was talking to another about a customer who told them girls can’t like Star Wars, because apparently science. As in we “don’t get it.”
Right Ben?
I had to ask what they were talking about. When they told me I just sat there with my jaw open for a bit and even forgot my order! I love Star Wars! The mister and I watch it on VHS every Fall (we don’t allow that remastered shit in this house). Granted my favorite is Return of the Jedi. Which is apparently what a majority of women prefer. Most guys love Empire Strikes Back. I think I like Jedi because it ties up the story nicely. BUT I also obviously enjoy the other two movies too.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise…
Anywho apparently the male customer also made mention that Star Wars and Star Trek were the same…uh no sir, no they are not. The only thing they have in common is that have “star” in the title. One is WAY more SciFi than the other (Star Trek). Star Wars while it has sweet scifi elements (ships, hyperspeed, etc.) is based around The Force. Which for me is HEAVY on the fantasy level of things. While Star Trek is all about exploring the future seeking out new life and new civilizations…SCIENCE people.
In all honesty I like them both. What’s not to like really? Granted I know there are people out there that prefer one to the other and who just don’t like either (Yeah they do exist). But I think I like Star Wars just a little more than Star Trek. It’s probably The Force that does it for me and the love story between Han and Leia (I know). But Star Trek is awesome and I love all the tech they get to play with!
So do you prefer one over the other? Let me know in the comments.
Seriously, I haven’t done a whole lot this weekend. Continued to grow a person. Met a friend for lunch. Had a little me time at a local Spa. And of course continued to listed to Hamilton the Musical (can you wear out iTunes?). Exciting right? In all honesty it was the perfect weekend. Now to get ready for another week of work that will thankfully lead to a three day weekend.
The soundtrack was released last week and it seems everyone and their brother is listening to this one. Honestly this is not the typical musical I usually listen to. The music is a mix of rap, hip hop, and traditional style Broadway (the last is the one I’m most used to). So I wasn’t sure if I would really like this. I listened to all the previews of the songs. Then I listened to the previews again. Twenty minutes later I purchased the soundtrack and haven’t stopped listening since then. Yes, it is that good. You should probably go download it now and come back to finish reading this.
Did you do it? Eh you’re loss if you didn’t. The music is upbeat, catchy, and engaging. Added bonus it presents US History in a fun way so that you don’t realize that you might be learning something while singing along. Lin-Manuel Miranda portrays Alexander Hamilton and well, damn the man has a voice! The surprise on the soundtrack was finding our Jonathan Groff has a cameo as King George! I almost didn’t recognize his voice, but oh my god his portrayal is hilarious (and great).
Honestly I have no complaints about this musical at all. I would love to tell you I have a favorite song, but I can’t pick just one. None of them are similar and each holds their own. I could keep going, but it’s getting late and I should wrap this up and get ready for bed…right after I write just a little more…
Anyway, Lin-Manual Miranda is a wonder. He was behind In the Heights which I understand was awesome. I’ve heard some of the music here and there, but haven’t bought the soundtrack yet. But it’s now on my list for sure. While I haven’t seen the musical in person I think Miranda hits it out of the park with this music. He’s also won a whole lot of awards for the show already…color me impressed.
I mean you know it’s a good musical when people who aren’t into musicals at all suggest it to you. Plus it seems like it’s all anyone can talk about. Not to mention that tickets to show are now on sale for shows starting in June 2016! Looks like I’ll be checking this one out when it starts touring…you’ll be requesting this show right Proctors!
In all honesty I haven’t really listened to any Broadway music in an age until now. Call my love of Broadway renewed. In act it makes me want to revisit the musical I started YEARS ago. Yeah that’s write I started writing a musical…no I won’t tell you what it’s about. Instead I’m going to get my bum in front of the keyboard and get back to it. Crazy right? Maybe. But why not right?
I was raised Catholic. I was baptized, had reconciliation, first communion, and was confirmed in the Catholic Church. My first legit job was working in the church rectory after school and on weekends. I once even played Mary at the Christmas Mass. Heck I even went to a Catholic college. While I loved college going to a Catholic college was probably what turned me away from going to church and it all went down hill from there.
I just stopped going. Part of the reason was we didn’t always have a priest at mass in college so the nun who ran the campus ministry ran it. That was weird for me. Plus she would invite us up (when their was a priest) while he was doing the whole transubstantiation thing. Which was so not ok in my book and was a huge turn off to be quite honest. Not to mention that during college my folks had moved about an hour away from the church we’d gone to all my life and the new one was not for me. So again I just stopped going.
Now I’ve been to church for baptisms, communions, confirmations, and weddings (let me tell you full Mass weddings are LONG bring a snack – kidding). However, over the last two to three years I’ve been telling my husband (no we were not married in the Catholic Church and yes we’re totally ok with this) that I wanted to go back. But I didn’t do more than note yes there were two churched in the city we lived in. Why? Probably because I was lazy.
But we’re expecting a wee one and we’ve promised that we’ll baptize the baby. Which means at least one of us joining a local parish and going to mass. That someone would be me. So last night I went to the 4pm Saturday mass at the local church. I even made some snarky posts on the twitter about it.
Hey it could have happened…like I said it’s been a while.
But you know something…I actually enjoyed myself. Except the one bit where the prayers have been changed to “get closer to the latin”. I knew this was a thing, but I do not like the things. But I was happy to see that I wasn’t the one one with the hymnal open to the front where it lists what you’re supposed to say and when. Small favors. But seriously, the music for mass were some of my favorites from my childhood days of attending mass. Plus the readings seemed hand picked just for me.
Plus the priest was a younger man who seemed to really know how to and what to say to engage the younger and older parishioners in attendance. Ok and yes the church reminded me of my church from childhood too. In all it just felt right and like I was supposed to be there. So yes I’ll go back next weekend and see if the feeling persists and go from there. Stay tuned.
So what to do with it…besides all that laundry piling up in the basement? Yeah the nesting phase hasn’t set in yet. I’m told sometimes it never does…sorry hubbins. Then again I still have 14-ish weeks to go so anything can happy. Right so I happen to have a three day weekend before me. What to do with the time?
First, let’s be honest I’m going to need underwear so yeah laundry will have to be done. Little known fact I actually don’t mind doing laundry. I just would love it if I opened the dryer and all that shit was folded because that would be amazing. Think about it, throw in wet clothing….wait an hour open and remove folder clothing ready to be put away. Get on that dryer designer people!
I also plan to write. I cranked out a little over a thousand words the other night in my personal memoirs. Yeah I don’t know why I’m writing this. No one is beating a path to my door to hear my life story. It just seemed like a fun side project to work on here and there. At the very least some day my kid(s) will find it and say “this explains so much about mom”. So you’re welcome future children. I might also work on a few of the NaNoWriMo stories I’ve finished. Writing makes me happy and I need to do more of it.
Gifts need to be purchased for birthdays and anniversary’s too. Birthday is one one of my favorite little ladies and I’m super excited to celebrate with her and her family next weekend. The anniversary gifting is for the hubbins. We’ll be married 5 years next week! But this years gifts are boring…wood or silverware? Really people? Lame. I’m thinking he might just get a book…paper comes from trees, trees are made out of wood…BOOM done.
Reading of the books. Yeah I have quite the TBR pile doing and all this time is the perfect excuse to read at least two to three of them. I promised myself I’d read like 30 before the year is out and I should get on that seeing as I apparently won’t have time to wipe my bottom once the wee one gets here. (I’m sure I’ll have time, but not the kind of time I have now)
Must read all the books!
The main goal of the weekend will be to NOT just sit around and binge on Netflix. After all that is totally a thing that can happen (and has).
My copy of Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) arrived yesterday which was like Christmas because I sort of forgot I had ordered it. Listen a lot has been going on in my life… Anywho I practically ripped the book from my UPS guy’s hands..I said I was excited. Her first book, Let’s Pretend this Never Happened, is one I reread chapters from often.
Right so the tittle of this post….well it’s from the book. Wise words Jenny received from none other than Neil Gaiman. Side note I really want to be friends with Jenny and Neil. Seriously, they seem like really fun people to hang out with AND I think they’d “get” me. Maybe. Or they’d get a restraining order, stay tuned.
But he has a point…sort of goes along the lines of fake it till you make it. But as usual Neil Gaiman says it better. It’s the whole being British thing. I like to write. Sometimes I even write a lot here on this blog. But do I think I’m good at it? Well, no one’s offered to pay me lots of monies to turn my shit into a book…so no, no I do not. But this chapter taught me to ignore that and just run (or type) with it.
So that’s what I’m going to do. Keep writing and see what shakes out from it. Is any of this making sense? If it is color me impressed. If it isn’t you need to read Jenny’s books…then perhaps you too can “get” me.
But I will tell you a few things I am certain I am good at:
Cursing – not proud of this one, but I have come up with some GEMS lately. Apologies to the wee one who I’m certain I have taught to curse already. Forget Momma and Dada we’re heading straight to f*ck you. (sorry mom)
Eating everything in sight – Um hi pregnant. If there’s food and I can eat it (gluten free) I will. End of story.
Sarcasm – Have you read this blog?
NOT saying things out loud that would only get me in trouble – Pretty self-explanatory.
So there are things I don’t have to pretend to be good at. Now to carry that over into things I think I’m bad at and you know just pretend I’m good at them. This should be easy right? Hahahahahaha!
I’ll also leave you with this gem from the book. Because Benedict Cumberbatch AND Alan Rickman…Jenny KNOWS me! (Also yes a full review will turn up eventually when I finish reading)
The hubs and I have begun chatting about names for the wee one. And of course we wonder about the following question from said kid down the road…
Yes, yes we did.
I mean I went through this as an older kid. I wasn’t happy with the name my parents picked for me. I won’t lie, I considered changing it. Of course I didn’t. In fact I learned to like my name. Though I do have moments where I do wish I had been named something else.
So what names are we looking at. Sorry folks, that’s between me and the hubs.
Though I want to know. Do you like your name? If not what would you want your name to be? I also want to know how you settled on your own kids name(s)? Let me know in the comments.
The second part of our trip brought us to Hershey, PA because chocolate and pregnant women go together…it’s a thing, trust me. To my knowledge I have only been to Hershey once, for their winter festival thing. Which is nice but cold. This time it was melt all the chocolate hot! After checking in at the Hershey Lodge we headed up to Hershey Gardens (we had free tickets – sweet right?). The gardens were really pretty, but again I tire easily these days so we stayed an hour and change.
But we did get to see the butterfly house (more photos on the Facebook page)
I think these were Queen butterflies.I thought this one was really pretty too.
We spent a lot of time with the butterflies. Sadly I didn’t get any to land on me or the bump. I won’t lie, I thought that would have made for one cute photo! Apparently in the summer there are over 500 butterflies in the butterfly house…that day there were probably over 100, but nowhere near 500.
As I said we didn’t spend to much time in the gardens because I was tired AND I could feel my allergies wanting to kick in. Considering I can’t take allergy meds right now staying longer or better yet sticking my face in the flowers would have been a bad idea. But we did get photos of a few sweet water features and hubs caught a photo of me playing bamboo…I think…
It’s a heart! Awww.Me in all my tired and sweaty glory.
Back to the hotel we went for drinks and dinner. Oh and game playing. Sadly we couldn’t get a couple sharing a table with us to play. Then again they weren’t bothering to talk to one another (just their phones)…lame. We planned out day two and I then called it a night.
Day two we went to visit the Hershey Story and Museum (again more free tickets from our hotel). It was interesting to learn a bit about Milton Hershey and all that yummy chocolate. After lunch we headed to Chocolate World! Which is basically where you buy ALL the chocolate. We did take the free tour of the factory – which you could hardly hear over three robotic cows singing some really annoying song. But hey free Kit Kat’s at the end (which went to my husband).
After the tour we decided to cough up the cash to make our own Hershey bar. Which while fun is not as hands on as you might think. Or as they lead you to believe. For example we were given plastic aprons and hair nets…which uh we didn’t need at all. It was more of a scan your ticket at this kiosk and press buttons. Then behind glass you got to watch your bar being made. Would have been much cooler if we could have added the mix-ins and chocolate…oh well.
With that done we did a “little” shopping for ourselves and friends/family (ok the shopping was first, but you get the idea).
SO MUCH CHOCOLATE!
Hubs and I each picked one of these up…at the hotel because it was actually cheaper….
On our final morning in Hershey I had planned to check out Zoo America. But my hip and back were not having anymore walking around. Sprout was done with vacation and she/he was taking my back and hip with her/him. So we headed for home with a lot of sweet memories. We’re looking forward to taking the wee one back to Hershey some day (when the park is open) and to share the fun with her/him.
Gal In The Grey Hat 