Thank you...for Thanking Me

Am I the only one who feels a strong, almost overwhelming urge to write a thank-you note for someone giving me a thank-you??

Mike's friend who stayed with us Yesterday was very nice and left us a thank you card on the table as he was leaving with a gift card to TGI Fridays so we could go to dinner. I thought that was very nice and very thoughtful...and certainly unexpected! :) But my first impulse was to have Mike get his address so I could send him a Thank-you card....

A Thank-you for the Thank-you. has anyone ever done this before? I know he was thanking US for letting him stay the weekend. I know that no additional "Thank-you's" need to be sent...but still.....the urge is there.

I did get a call from a friend yesterday telling me she had received the thank-you card I sent her for the gifts she gave me at my baby shower. Her exact words were "Thanks...that was really sweet." In essence, I received a "verbal" thanks for the thanks. So apparrently I'm not the only one.

I, ofcourse, in return, thanked her for calling me. so what is that then? A "Thank-you for calling to thank me for the thank-you????"

Maybe I'm just neurotic, or just very thankful....I'm not quite sure.

Did I forget to mention.......

Conversation I had with Mike this morning.

Mike: Hey Sarah....remember when I told you my friend was gonna come stay with us for a weekend?

Me: Ummm, okay...yeah. (Vaguely remembering a phone call he got last week in which I overheard him saying "yeah, you can stay with us.") ( I don't think we ever had an ACTUAL conversation about this.)

Mike: Well......That's today.
Me: Oh...okay, what time is he getting here?
Mike: Noon
Me: (Looking at clock, its now 8:15 am) And what time are you going to work?
Mike: 8:30 ....I feel bad.....I forgot.

Needless to say, I had a busy morning. I jumped out of bed to clean the house. Started in the kitchen and worked my way through the house. Dusting, vacuuming (Mike did this), mopping, then to the guest bathroom. Cleaned it all up, hung fresh towels and noticed the navy blue guest towels (the only ones that actually match that bathroom) somehow have big bleach spots all over them. Great.

Throw some stuff in the crock-pot for home-made spaghetti sauce so our guest can have dinner, seeing as neither me or Mike will be there when he arrives. This way, it can simmer all morning while I am doing everything else, and be delicious by this afternoone. Great planning Sarah!

Off to Wal-mart to buy groceries. (Cereal and milk for breakfast in the morning...I know...I'm a great hostess) and NEW navy blue guest towels to match the bathroom. While I'm at it, I splurge on a new kitchen dish towel to hang from the oven door. Snazy!

Get home and check the guest bedroom...needs clean sheets. The only spares I have are green flannel with lots of those little flannel "balls" that build up over many many washings. Decide to just wash the red sheets that are already on the bed. They match better anyway. Pull back the bed spread and realize two things: 1. Marlee has been sneaking up on the bed, because there is dog hair everywhere. And 2. these red sheets ALSO have bleach spots all over them. Double Great.

Apparrently I need a lesson on using bleach correctly.

Decide to put on the balled up green flannel sheets anyway....who cares right? They are clean, and on a few hours notice...thats MORE than fair in my book.

Start getting ready to go to work...and remember I am suppossed to be there an hour early today. AND...I told my friend who just had a baby I would stop by for a visit. So, I forget the shower, brush hair and teeth and grab clothes out of the dryer from two days ago..(still haven't quite found the time to fold them and put them away), and head out the door.

As I am leaving, I notice I never turned on the crockpot. My delicious home-made spaghetti sauce hasn't been simmering all morning like I planned. Turn it on High to "make up the difference", and leave.

I DID get to go visit the cutest new little baby. Baby Abigail Violet Jensen...7 pounds 5 ounces. So cute!! She had lots of dark hair, and was so fun to hold. I start getting excited about a new little baby myself. Have such a good time holding the baby, I loose track of time, and leave the hospital a little later than I intended...Making me late to MY hospital for MY work. And when I walked in, it was CRAZY!!!! a Madhouse, basically. Hit the floor running.

I am doing two things when I get home. 1. eat some of my delicious-simmer all day in the crockpot-spaghetti, and 2. go to sleep! Tomorrow is my day-off. Thank goodness for Friday.

What a day.....What a day. :)

Saturday is a Special Day!

For some reason today, I have this primary song stuck in my head. I guess because we have beeen busy this saturday morning. Or, atleast I should say I am keeping Mike busy! :) This is my long weekend off (Friday Saturday and Sunday) before I go back to work, so he has been checking off his "honey do's" for me.

He also got a call at 8:00 am this morning to help a couple from our ward move some of their big furniture into their new house. I went with him to "supervise", and talk to Nicole, one-half of the couple moving. We talked about paint colors and decorating while the boys moved in all the "stuff".

Next, Mike got busy in the backyard. We bought another tree and a few new plants at the Nursery yesterday, and he wanted to get started before it got too hot outside. It's suppossed to be 107 today. Here he is on what I call "beautification detail"....

Mike has recently taken to watching "designed to sell", "sell this house", and any other real-estate shows I enjoy. He has decided adding a few more trees and plants to the back yard NOW, giving them time to mature for another year and a half before we sell will "add a lot of value" to our home. :) The plus side for me is that
1. I don't have to fight to watch these shows. He doesn't mind watching them anymore
2. I don't have to convince him these projects are worthwhile. He's totally on-board. and
3.Its much easier to convince him to let me paint or do some other kind of "home improvement" project. Anyway you look at it, its a win-win! yay!

Yesterday was a fun day too, because I received a surprise package in the mail! I never get surprise packages! My mom sometimes sends things, but she usually can't resist telling me. I was excited to open my mail box and find the key to the "big boxes". I ripped open the package, and there were four beautiful baby blankets inside! Thank you , Thank you, Thank you to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ron, and Kristi and Rhett. We love the blankets! And Rhett...Mike loves the camo one, so that was a good choice! :) They are all so nice, and they have the cutest stitching around the edges. They will be just perfect! And I love the cowboy one too. I can't wait to buy him little cowboy boots and wranglers and a cowboy hat. too cute! Thanks again!

I also have been trying to organize "again" the baby room. My friend Tammy keeps giving me more clothes as her little boy grows out of them. She has two boys and is finished with kids, so as her baby gets bigger, she is giving me EVERYTHING, so she doesn't have to store it. I love this, because I have so much stuff.....and I hate this because, well.....I have so much stuff!!! The baby isn't even here yet, and I am bursting at the seems! This is a picture of one-half of the closet. And in case you were wondering, these clothes are just the 0-3 month ones. Yikes! I bought some of them, and some were given to me. All these clothes here are brand new, with tags. Tammy gave me a LOT of clothes her kids never wore too.

Remember the dresser from the baby room? It is full of 0-3 month stuff too. The things in the dresser are new: onesies and pajamas people have given me, and then the rest of the 0-3 month clothes Tammy gave me. I also have 2 large diaper boxes full of 3-6 month clothes she gave me, and a Tupperware of 3-6 month clothes waiting in the wings for "rotation". All this "stuff" caused me to go through everything again. But its finally finished. The next picture is the tupperware Tammy gave me that only has "warm winter" clothes in it. Most of them are brand new. I am saving them to take to Utah, and then we'll probably just give them away. We don't have too much use for snow-suits here in Arizona.
And last but not least, I did buy another shirt for the baby. hahaha! Mike wasn't too happy about it, but oh-well. I justified it because it is for 12 months. We only have a couple outfits for 12 months, so I figured it was okay. AND...I just thought it was cool. A little bit biker, a little bit rock'n'roll...or something like that. And I got it at TJ Maxx, so it was super cheap. Love TJ Maxx.

My doctor appointment on Friday went well. Heart beat was 156...and I've gained, well.....the doctor said I am doing "great", but it seems like a lot to me. Not quite 20 pounds. Double Yikes! Although she tried to re-assure me it wasn't that much, and I was on the low side of the normal limits, it still feels like it might as well be 100 pounds. Ohwell. Can't wait to hit the gym in a month (or so). I'm definitely ready. The Dr. also said she would be surprised if I had a baby larger than 7 pounds. She said my belly is still "relatively" small, and she expects around a 6 pound baby. That was somewhat of a relief to me. A little over a month to go.

spontaneous

Mike and I decided to be sort of "spontaneous" this last weekend. Thursday night he asked if my parents were still going to St. George for Labor Day. When I said "yes", he said "well let's go!" So, we got up early Friday morning and headed to St. George in the new SUV, with our dog in tow. (I put blankets over the seats so Marlee couldn't get her hair everywhere....as requested by my slightly OCD husband) :)

We had a great time. Adam ended up driving down too, so that was fun. The boys went golfing on Saturday. Mike was really hoping to "whoop" my dad, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. My Dad had his best game ever, and kicked everyone's...you know. but a funny story....

Mike kept talking about this "sandwich" my dad had bought for him. He told me multiple times how nice that was of my dad to buy him this "sandwich". He just kept talking about it. I was thinking..."so he bought you a sandwich...big deal!" I was so confused as to why, of all the meals my dad has bought for us on vacation, this sandwich seemed to be so important.

Well, the boys went golfing again the next day, and my dad started talking about the "sandwich" too. And then he said how much the sandwich really improved Mike's game. and THEN I had my "ahhaaa" moment. They weren't talking about a sandwich at all....but a SAND WEDGE. You know....a golf club. ha ha ha! I felt like the biggest idiot! I think I should just chalk that up to "pregnancy brain."

Anyway, we had a great weekend. And thanks to mom and dad for letting us spend the weekend with you! Love ya!

Nursery, atlast

My Bedding for the crib and nursery finally came a couple days ago, so I have been busy trying to finally put everything together. Mike even helped with the "decorating", and putting everything together. Man...kids are EXPENSIVE!!! I can't believe all the $$$ we have spent, and there are still a few things we would like to get. Now, these are WANTS, and not NEEDS....so we'll probably just have to make due without them. I really wanted to get a nice, plush rocker from Ashley furniture, and we also wanted to buy a video camera. But I think for now, these things will have to wait. You know, seeing as we have no more money. That kind of puts a damper on buying, well......anything. Oh, the joys of parenthood.

Anyway, here are some updated pics of the almost completed baby room.

This is just a "general overview". Mike hung up the cars and trucks on the wall. He was VERY excited about the way he positioned them....so I think they are just going to have to stay like that. :)

a view from inside the crib

A friend of mine from my Ward made this for me, and it just happened to match what we had already bought. Mike hung this up too.

And this is the baby swing Mike's family bought for us. Mike was WAY excited to get this, because he said "you can just leave the baby in there for HOURS, and they LIKE it!" We'll see about this. But it is very nice. Thanks Romers!! :)

Thats about it for now. I have to go to work :( Maybe I'll post more tomorrow about all the "other" changes going on around our household. Lots and lots of changes these days.

I'm it???

I guess I was tagged...so just doing my official blogging duties. thanks Rach.

Jobs

• McDonalds Drive-thru gal


• Claimjumper Waitress


• Jolly Jacs fireworks (STILL my all-time favorite job ever)


• Manual labor grunt for the City of Evanston, mowing and wacking weeds and picking up garbage. (STILL my least favorite job ever)


• Secretary for the Urban Renewal Agency in Evanston


• Medical Laboratory Technicial - Ogden Clinic, Ogden Utah


• Medical Technologist - ARUP, Salt Lake City


• Medical Technologist/Blood Bank Specialist - Sun Health, Phoenix AZ

Weekend Getaways

• Flagstaff for camping
• St. George
• Or just to Sam's club to get a hot dog and an ice cream.

Movies

• Pretty much anything with a happy ending
• Nothing Scary or bloody or violent
• no rated "R"s

Where I have lived

• Evanston, WY
• Roy, UT
• Ogden, UT
• South Ogden, UT
• Bountiful, UT
• Phoenix, AZ

Vacations

• Las Vegas and California lots of times
• Portland
• San Antonio, TX
• Mexico - Cabo San Lucas, Cozumel
• Belize
• Haiti
• Honduras - (Actually the Roatan Islands off the coast of Honduras)
• Grand Cayman Island
• Puerto Rico
• St. Thomas
• Jamaica
• Florida
• the Bahamas
• Spain - Alicante and Valencia
• Hopefully all over Europe when Mike is finished with School. Atleast thats MY plan. :)

Foods

• Anything my mom cooks - especially spaghetti and chicken bundles.
• Anything as long as I didn't cook it.
• but NO: beans, or tomatoes. YUCK!

If in a "jam" with my spouse, tactics used to get out of the dog house:

1. apologize
2. give him a hug
3. do the "booty dance"
4. repeat if necessary

Ha Ha. just kidding. We don't fight too much. Usually a simple I'm sorry, I won't do it again, will suffice.

Websites:

• Blogs
• www.postsecret.com
• www.people.com
• all digi scrapbooking sites and stores
• potterybarn
• and most recently, anything having to do with "meal planning". I need all the help I can get.

I'd rather be: NOT at work, which is where I am right now. Home with Mike getting a back rub and a foot rub. And skinny again, and shopping for new clothes at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

Next to be tagged:

No one!! Let this little blog tradition die with me! Yes!!!!

Only because you asked so nicely

alright, alright. So, I know its been awhile. Rachel called me from work to politely remind me I haven't posted for a LOOOONG time, and what was she suppossed to do at work if I had no new blog entries for her to read? So, because you asked so nicely...I have a few new things.

First of all, thanks to EVERYONE who planned (rachel and mom) and came to my baby shower. It was really fun, and so nice to see everyone. It really meant a lot to me. I think this baby is definitely now well-equipped. Now, I don't know how well equipped the PARENTS are to take care of the baby, be he certainly has all the supplies he needs. Thanks again!!! :) I know rachel already posted this picture, but as far as unflattering pregnancy pictures go, this one's not too bad. So, I figured I would post it on my own blog too.

Now, to some of the fun things. Atleast I think they are fun. I bought my stroller and car seat. You should have seen me and Mike at Babies R Us trying to figure out which one to get. Talk about hilarious! We had no idea what to look for. I was getting really frustrated because I kept trying to push them around the store, and they wouldn't move very well. I was thinking..."All this modern technology, and they still can't invent a stroller that is easy to push?"

I looked over at Mike and he was really laughing hard, because I was so frustrated. He gave me a big hug, and then reminded me that I have to FIRST.....unlock the wheels. :)

Yes...I have a lot of learning to do. Thankfully Mike can help me.

Anyway, After UNLOCKING all the wheels, the strollers were much easier to push around. We decided on the new Chicco Trevi stroller and car seat. I couldn't wait to come home and put it all together. So, this is what they look like.

The car seat attaches to the stroller to make a "travel system". It just snaps on and off, and is really quick and easy.

So, those were my big purchases for the week. I was really tempted to try and put Marlee in the stroller and push her around the neighborhood, just for fun. But, I decided I wouldn't be able to get her into it without a struggle, and it just wasn't worth it. But I like to push it around the house, and Marlee just follows me around while I push it. I think she'll be a good companion for walks when the baby comes.

And last but not least....A Baby picture! I sweet friend Janeal gave me a 3D ultrasound last Thursday while I was in Utah. The pics turned out really well. I am amazed at how much detail they can get now. He kept opening and closing his mouth and sticking out his tongue. So that was kind of funny. Rachel thinks he has my nose. I think he's still kind of squished in there, so its too early to tell. But only a couple of months and we'll find out. So, here's his cute little face.

He kept his hand covering his face most of the time, but moved it a little for this picture. Although SOME people were expecting him to be "prettier" :) I,ofcourse, think he is cute just the way he is. :)

In with the new and out with the.....baby?

As promised, some more pics of what has been going on around our house this week:

This is the future baby room. It used to be our home office. We have spent a LOT of time getting it all cleaned out. Now, all our office stuff is condensed Here...


This is now our "office Nook". It was quite a challenge condensing a whole office into a 4 foot nook. We had to be creative. Hence, our next inventive solution.



This is our umm....."night stand." Alright, when we got rid of our big desk in the office (DI picked it up Friday), we needed a place to store our paper work. So, we bought a filing cabinet at Sams Club, and it is doubling as a night stand. :) I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with that one. And, we actually DOUBLED our storage space, because the old desk only had one drawer for filing. This obviously has two. And I think it passes for a night stand quite nicely. Hey...when you don't have a lot of room, you have to be creative.

Next, we decided to go to Ikea and buy shelves (which we used for the new office nook) But Ikea is definitely one of those places, like Sams, Costco, Lowe's...etc, where you can walk in wanting one thing, and walk out spending tons of money on everything you never new you needed. We didn't do too badly. We bought a welcome mat, the shelves, and these:


They aren't too exciting...just curtains. but they do look better in person. Mike thinks we should have gone a little darker, for more contrast. But I reminded him that "all the design books I've read say bedrooms should be light and airy." :)

Alright, that was kind of an inside joke. When Mike and I helped my mom paint their master bedroom in Wyoming, my dad didn't like the color. He thought it was too dark, and justified his feelings with the statement above. It still cracks me up.

Okay...now one more new thing. The end of the summer is actually a PERFECT time to buy one of these, because they are all on sale. Funny, because the end of the summer is when you can actually start USING one again. But since Arizona seasons are opposite of everywhere else, we got a steal of a deal on a new patio set. And by next month, the weather will be perfect to sit outside in the evenings. So excited for this.

So, there you go! All the exciting new updates to our home.

I also had a baby shower today that some friends of mine hosted here in AZ. It was really fun, and we had a great turn out. Rachel requested pictures of all the presents...but there are just too many. I think this child is starting to be really well equipped. It was fun to get together with all the girls and talk about baby things. Its starting to make me more excited. Its hard sometimes being away from home, and away from family. But all the people who showed up today reminded me that I made a lot of good friends here, from work and church, and Mike's school. So, I am very lucky.

All things new

Well, its official! I have a new CAR!!!!! I love, love, love it. We got the 2007 Toyota RAV 4 Sport edition. Its a V6, and has 4 wheel drive. and umm....did I mention that I love it? :) I don't have much time to post more right now. But more will come later, for sure. I also took pics of all the other new things going on at the Romer household, which I will post tonight. But for now, here is a sneak peak!

just a minor freak out....don't panic

Well, I looked at my blog today, and noticed my ticker on the top said I had 78 days to go until my due date. I don't know why, but for some reason, that just makes it feel so much more sooner than 80 days, or even 82 days. And then I realized tomorrow I will be 29 weeks, and that is PRACTICALLY 30 weeks, and that just sounds so.....soon! Just having a minor freak out, and realizing that yes, I infact am going to be in charge of an actual person soon. Just feeling a little overwhelmed.

On a side note, (and a less scary one) Hopefully we will be getting a car tomorrow. Mike is going to the auction here, and there are about 8 - 2007 Toyota Rav 4s. We are going to try and get the red one, which is the only V6. I've never had a red car before, so that would be kind of fun. Anyway...with that many options we should be able to get SOMETHING. So hopefully tomorrow I will be able to take pics of the new things I have bought for my house, AND my new car. woohoo! Cross your Fingers!