Sandy’s Blog

I have noticed since the last time I blogged, that how things change so quickly. My last blog was how we bought a house but nothing more. Well we are finally moved in and all settled (finally) in our place. We really like it and all the unpacking is done for the most part. Now we are just trying to get the nursery set up before the baby comes. The crib, dresser and changing table are up and my shower is on Sunday so I am sure we will have lots of baby items to put around here after that. We already have a few baby gifts from my work shower and family already.

It is amazing how fast this pregnancy flew by. I found out in late March which was when it was still cold out and will give birth probably in early December or possibly late November which it will be cold again. I am finally starting to look like I am pregnant. However, I have been really careful what I eat since I wasn’t super thin to begin with and didn’t want to gain too much weight.

Soon I will be blogging about my new baby but until then I still have a little more to go and enjoy my life the way it is before everything changes.

After months of looking and wondering if we would be able to find a house in time before the baby comes, we finally found a house. It seemed like everytime we would find something we liked, someone else would already have it. We looked all over the place. Of course we only had a certain area since we didn’t want Jason to have a longer commute than he has now. Once we have the house, I will be applying to work at home so it won’t be as big of an issue to me.

So, then we found this house. The only thing was another couple was also interested in it. We put a bid on it last Friday. They were supposed to look at it Friday night. So, the waiting game began. We got a counter from the seller on Saturday and negotiated. So, we finally heard back on Sunday that they had accepted the offer. We were really happy.

We had the inspection on Thursday and a few minor things need to be fixed. However, nothing major that would prevent us from getting the house. We are hoping to have closing the first week of September and then we can move in Labor Day Weekend. It would be great since we would have an extra day off.

I would post pictures on here so instead I will be posting them on our website and on facebook.

We went for the ultrasound yesterday and found out the question we had been wanting to know. That we are going to be having a little boy. I am thrilled. We got to see the baby moving around and he is definately an active one and definately has Jason’s ego. He was smiling and waving at us showing off for the camera.

Today, I had a doctor’s appointment. It wasn’t anything too big. We got to listen to the heartbeat with the fetal monitor that the doctor had. It was pretty cool sounding. The heartbeat is 150 beats per minute which is really good. I then had some bloodwork done for tests. However, we got to schedule the exciting next appointment which is the 19 week ultrasound. We scheduled it for July 10th. If the baby cooperates we will be finding out if we are having a boy or a girl. I am happy with either as long as the baby is doing well and healthy.

I am doing well so far. I haven’t had any complaints so far the whole pregnancy. In fact luckily it has been fairly easy. I feel lucky to have escaped the morning sickness and all the misery with that. So, I do feel quite lucky. I have had a few aches and pains and some tireness especially at the beginning but overall it has been really good.

Today I am 15 weeks and 2 days along. I am going to buy my first pair of maternity jeans tomorrow. I finally reached that point where my clothes are getting tight. In fact my jeans have been but I was wearing transitional band that helped. But, it is time to buy maternity jeans. A few weeks ago I tried some on and they were too big so I decided to wait a few weeks.

It’s with great joy to announce that Jason and I are expecting our first child.   We are 11 weeks along and mom-to-be and baby are doing just fine.  Call us a bit old fashioned, but we didn’t want to announce until we had made it most of the way through our first trimester.

We had our second visit with the doctor today, and we were able to hear a good strong heart beat.  The due date is 12/2/2009, so we’re expecting the snow storm of the decade to fall on Central Indiana that week.   Now that’s Jason’s dad’s birthday, so we know what day he’ll be picking in the baby pool.

At this point, not much else to tell, our house hunt continues and we hope to find something this summer.

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns may have flipped around their season. Led by tumbling wide receiver Braylon Edwards, who announced his team’s return to Monday night after five years by sticking an Olympic-caliber cartwheel and back flip during pregame introductions, Cleveland ended New York’s 11-game road winning streak with a 35-14 win over the defending Super Bowl champions.  

Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson, whose job was in serious jeopardy just a few weeks ago, threw one of his two touchdown passes to Edwards, cornerback Eric Wright intercepted Eli Manning and returned it 94 yards for a touchdown and the Browns (2-3) finally looked worthy of a prime-time TV slot.

Anderson finished 18-for-29 for 310 yards, Edwards caught five passes for a career-high 154 yards and Jamal Lewis scored on a 4-yard run for the Browns, who won a Monday night game for the first time since 1993 and handed the Giants (4-1) their first loss, leaving the Tennessee Titans as the NFL’s only unbeaten team.

Manning was picked off three times and the Giants, so dominant through their first four games, were roughed up by a Cleveland team running out of time to make good on lofty preseason expectations.

In the closing minutes, Browns fans chanted “Over-rated” at the New Yorkers. Aside from some more silly penalties, the Browns were superior to the Giants, who had reeled off 11 straight wins — 12 counting the Super Bowl — outside of New Jersey since Week 1 last season.

But Manning was not himself and New York, which embarrassed Cleveland during the exhibition season, missed an opportunity to open a two-game lead in the brutal NFC East.- Courtesy of WKYC.com

My analysis: I still can’t believe we won this game. I was so prepared for a loss that I turned on the game and couldn’t believe it.  I originally planned to go to bed around halftime because I was sure the Giants would be killing us.  To my surprise they weren’t.  So, I stayed up the whole game and went into work a half hour late.  It was such an exciting game. It reminded me of the days when the Browns used to be good.  I hope those days are ahead of us.  What would be really sweet would be if we could beat Peyton Manning and the Colts.  Living in Indianapolis I would like for nothing more for the Browns to beat the Colts.  It would be sweet especially since I could trash talk my co workers.

It seems unreal.  We are really leaving Corpus Christi.  In some ways, I’m happy to leave here and go back north closer to family and friends in Ohio.  In some ways, I’m sad.  This has been my home for the past 3 years and you get used to everything around you.  You have to move to a new city, make new friends, find a new job. 

When we moved to Corpus Christi, I was totally unsure that I would even like it.  We were moving halfway across the country away from my family and friends. As it turned out, it was a great experience. I made some really great friends here and for the last 11 months I worked at a great job with a great boss.  I enjoyed going to the beach, eating seafood and wearing shorts in January.  I definately will not miss the heat and humidity of the summer time though! Something I won’t be able to do up north.   I remember our first Christmas here.  I thought I would be homesick because there was no cold and snow. As it ended up, Corpus Christi has their first White Christmas.  I still have pictures on our photo gallery and it is a day I will never forget.  The people here were so excited.  Jason and I took the snow for granted but it was just wonderful to see the looks on their faces. It was like a perfect Christmas present.

As I say goodbye to the coastal bend and Corpus Christi, I know I have had a lot of good memories here.  Jason and I became very active at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church this past year singing in the choir and made a lot of good friends.  We will definately miss them.  We will also miss all the friends we have made by Jason working at Channel 6 and I will miss my co-workers who I made great friends with.

But, it is time to open a new chapter of our lives and move forward to bigger and better things.  Living in Corpus Christi was a lot better than I thought it would be when we set foot in this city 3 years ago.   I know it will be a transition like when we first came here, but we will get used to it and make new friends in Indy.  I am excited to be closer to a lot of my family and friends that I have not been able to see much since we moved to Texas in 2004. 

I also want to thank those who were at Jason’s going away party last night at Utopia.  We had an absolute blast.  It is wonderful to know that Jason has so many friends from Channel 6 and some of the other stations as well that care so much about him to come to his party.  I will be posting pictures of the party after we get settled in Indianapolis on our photo gallery on our website. 

For those of you who live in Corpus Christi and are friends, I hope we can keep in touch and I will let you know how everything is going with the new place, a new job and everything else.   I am excited about the new adventure ahead of us but also a little sad to leave my home for the past three years.  We will come back to Corpus Christi hopefully to visit in the wintertime when it is cold in Indiana.   We will never forget the friends we made here and everything else that impacted our lives while in Corpus Christi.

Pop vs. Soda

Carbonated beverages are regionally known as:

“Coke”, in most of the south including New Mexico, and much of Eastern and Southern Oklahoma.  Some older generations of southerners refer to soft drinks as “dope”

“Pop” in most of the upper Midwest  and into the western part of the Northeast, including such cities as Cleveland, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Detroit, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, Minneapolis- St. Paul, Minnesota, Erie, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York; west up to and including the Pacific Northwest and as far south as the Northern half of Oklahoma.  The majority of the State of Michigan (including the Upper Peninsula), especially the Metro Detroit area specifically calls soft drinks “Pop”. (Faygo, a brand of soft drink made in Detroit is an example of this).  In the lower Midwest, such as Southern Illinois, Southern Indiana, and the Cincinnati, Ohio area, “soft drink” predominates.  (Which is why the term is used in Kroger stores, which is Cincinnati based).  The state of Colorado also uses the term “pop”.

“Soda” in the Northeast, the Southwest (California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas), Hawaii, and parts of South Florida (near Miami) and parts of the Midwest (around St. Louis and parts of Wisconsin, especially in the east and around Milwaukee).

“Tonic” is used all over eastern New England although the usage is becoming archaic.

“Soda pop” is used by some speakers, especially in the Mountain West.

“Drink”, “cold drink”, and “soda” are locally common in Southern Virginia and the Carolinas , spreading from there as far as Louisiana.

“Cold drink” is the phrase of choice in New Orleans, Louisiana.

At many restaurants in the U.S., one finds that the products of a single major beverage producer such as The Coca-Cola Company or Pepsi Company are available.  While patrons requesting a “coke” may be truly indifferent to which cola brand they receive, the careful server will confirm intent with a question like “is Pepsi OK?” Similarly, 7 UP or Sprite may indicate whichever clear, carbonated, citrus- flavored drink happens to be at hand.  The generic uses of these brand names does not affect the local usage of the words “pop” or “soda” to mean any carbonated beverage.

An interesting correlation to note in the United States is that states where “soda” is predominant toward democratic candidates in presidential elections, whereas states where “pop” or “coke” is said more often give their electoral votes to republicans, although exceptions occurred in 2004 in Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona and Missouri.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_pop

Another cool page is the pop vs. soda page.  It shows a study, which you can actually participate in of which parts of the US say it what way.  There is even a map.  It’s pretty cool.  http://popvssoda.com:2998/

In my point of view, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio so I have always called it pop.  Even when I went east to Mansfield University in Mansfield, PA I still called it pop.  Granted, most of my classmates called it soda, because they were from the east.  I did meet a few people from Western PA who called it pop.  After looking at this map, I was pretty darn close in offering my conclusion.  I always said people east of the mountains (in PA) called in soda and west of the mountains called it pop.  In the map it turns out that Clearfield County PA is the border for soda and pop and looking at a map it’s where the mountains start. 

After moving to Texas, I still call it pop even though most people here call it soda. I think it’s something you grew up with and will call no matter where you end up moving. 

Well,  I can’t believe I turned 31.  My birthday was this past Thursday.  30 never really hit me probably because at the time we thought we were going to get hit by Hurricane Rita so I really didn’t think about it.  But, I turned 31 and think, “boy I’m old”.  But, I guess it isn’t really that bad. 

I had a good birthday.  Jason took the day off work.  We went out to eat lunch at TGI Friday’s and then went to the dollar theatre to see “Cars”.  We hadn’t seen a movie in the theatre probably since “Wedding Crashers”.  So, it was a good day.

Yesterday, I went to the salon for my present Jason gave me… a hair cut, manicure and pedicure.  It was wonderful.  I hope that I get to do that more often.   Jason had a surprise party planned for me, but it didn’t work out because our air conditioning died around 5 or so.  So, he had to cancel.  I was kind of surprised he would have planned it during the Ohio State game but he said he didn’t realize it was the night game when he planned it.    So, we ended up going to TGI Friday’s instead with a few friends.  We’re going to have a game night next weekend instead since the party got ruined.  All in all, it was a great birthday!  I want to thank all of you who sent me birthday wishes! 

1.You mastered the art of cheating and cramming.
2. One word: Kairos. (Or some other sort of hardcore retreat.)
3. At one time, you liked your uniform.
4. You got kicks outta being able to wear you PJs to school.
5. You have a way of making yourself look so innocent when everyone knows that you really aren’t.
6. It cost you 100 bucks to park in the school parking lot.
7. Everyone hugged each other to greet people.
8. At dances, you formed an all-girls circle where no guys could take over.
9. You’re blonde, once were, wish you were, or just act like it.
10. You violated as many dress codes as possible and when you get caught, you pretended that you ‘didnt know’.
11. You have countless obsessions with guys you have never even met or never talked to.
12. At least one of your friends thought that she was pregnant by junior year
13. You have NO problem joking around about being a lesbian.
14. You spent many a religion class listening to your teacher preach about the Church’s take on premarital sex, abortion, and the death penalty.
15. You SERIOUSLY don’t know how to shut up.
16. “Remember whens” are your specialty.
17. At least one of your friends names are Sarah, Katie, Megan, or Lauren.
18. Guys ask you if you still have your uniform and if you would wear it for them.
19. Your skirts stopped fitting, but were too cheap/lazy to buy new ones, so you just pinned them.
20. Shaving your legs was optional, even when wearing skirts. Actually, putting any effort into your appearance was optional.
21. Whenever guys came on campus, the entire school knew their names, cars they were driving, which school they were from and eye color within minutes.
22. Rumors that are so not true spread like wildfire through out the school.
23. KNEE HIGHS WERE A MUST!!!!
24. You could buy beer in your uniform for the after school sessions