Long Trip Home

I can really only describe yesterday as a long trip home but I am finally here and happy to be so! I woke up at 5:45am yesterday morning in Germany to get in the shower. We were ready to walk out the door at 6:45am for the airport (only after I got dinner for Deaner started in the crockpot, I mean, I can't let him starve!). I was delivered to the curb in Frankfurt about 7:25 or so and this is really where the fun began! I always get so emotional the airport. I know I was only leaving for a short time but I was sad to say goodbye to my husband so of course I ALMOST cried. Once I got in the line to check in this older couple from the States started talking to me and then decided that they were going to stick to me like GLUE for the rest of the journey. Even when we got to the empty terminal they made sure to sit right next to me and talk my ear off before boarding the plane. We left Frankfurt on time and I only had to explain to the Germany couple sitting next to me once that in fact, I did have the aisle seat booked and no it was not possible for me to sit by the window with how many times I was going to have to get up to pee! The flight was long and pretty uneventful minus the screaming child across the aisle from us. It made me feel really anxious for our travels home in December with a little baby. However, this child was like 1 and a 1/2 and I think the mother could have done a better job with bribing her to stop crying. Who cares what it takes? When you are on a place with 400 people, give that baby whatever they want to make them be quiet!

When I got to Atlanta the circus began. Despite me having called Cingular/AT&T from Germany the day before to have my stateside phone turned on, it was not working upon my arrival. Not only was it not working, I was not able to call AT&T either, which was highly obnoxious. So I resorted to turning on my European iphone because I had to let my parents know I was home and to come and get me. Guess what didn't work either! I have no idea what is wrong with that phone but it wouldn't make a call ANYWHERE. The only thing that worked was my email. I knew it could take awhile for either parent to check their email so I had to email Deaner IN GERMANY to call my parents and tell them I was here. It took forever to get my bag and get outside but I finally caught my dad on his 6th lap around the airport. Whew! It was nice to finally be caught up with someone.

It took Deaner about 3987 tries to reach me on one of my parents cell phone for one reason or another but finally I got to talk to him and tell him everything was sorted out. I got home and talked to AT&T who finally figured out the issue of my phone and then my mom and I were off. First to get pedicures and then to shop a little bit before my enormous dinner at Mellow Mushroom. It has been since Christmas since I actually got a pedicure and my toenail has been hurting this week. The lady actually said to me "you no look right now" as she dug in to "fix" my toenail. It killed for a minute before instant relief flooded over me. Why can't I have these places in Germany!?

I was up at 5:15am this morning after conking out at 8:15 last night. My mom and I are hitting up some estate sales this morning and then heading out to shop. I am picking up my college friends at the airport around 5:45 or 6 and I can't wait to see everyone! My baby shower is in the morning and I think that it will be a blast. I'll be sure to post lots of pictures and keep everyone updated on my Atlantafest 2010!! Stay tuned!

I did it all by myself!!!

I woke up this morning to a beautiful day so despite all the things on my "to do" list I first had to sit up on the top balcony and soak up the sun for about 2 hours. It was so warm that I finally had to throw in the towel around 1pm or so and decided to get on my chores for the day. I started laundry (so my husband will have clean clothes the whole time I am gone) and then set about unpacking the crib so that it would be laid out and ready for Deaner to put together when he got home from work. The crib mattress did not arrive today, which was semi disappointing, but I figured I would want to see the crib put together anyways before departing. One thing led to another and after putting the crib together backwards, not once, but twice, I put the whole crib together by myself!And finally......Taaa daaaa!Doesn't it look great even without the mattress? I can't wait to see it with ALL the bedding but I just couldn't resist a sneak peak. Isn't the lamb bench to the right super cute? Here is a close up shot of him.I am so happy that Deaner talked me into getting him because he is SO cute. Hopefully when I return the mattress will be waiting for me and I can put the finishing touches on the room. I think I will buy the closet at Ikea and then start the search for a glider. Then all I have to do is wait for the bambino to come!

So I will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Well, not THAT early, since it is actually light that early these days. Deaner will take me to the airport on his way to the office in the morning. I am sure I will be super sad to say goodbye but I am definitely looking forward to my trip home. So many oppertunities to buy things for Evans! Not to mention how much I am looking forward to seeing all my college friends! I don't even know if I have mentioned but I am having a baby shower on Saturday the 1st and 5 of my college girlfriends are flying in and staying with me at my parent's house. I can't wait to see everyone! I'll be blogging all week so y'all can follow along with my vacation! Wish me luck on my never ending flight!

Busy Day

I don't normally blog so late in the day (It's 9:20pm here) however I thought I would give a quick update. The crib came today and I ran over to pick it up at our PO box. Unfortunately the crib mattress didn't come yet so I can't exactly put all the bedding together. Deaner and I both got our hair done today (well, I got mine DONE and he got his CUT) and then we had a very nice dinner at Vapiano with Steph and Jon. It has been WAY Too long since we have hung out with them but we have all been so busy traveling lately. Steph came over earlier this afternoon to see the baby's room and we were able to put together the cutest lamb bench ever that arrived from Deaner's dad. She also had some really cute goodies for baby Evans! I'll take pictures of everything tomorrow and post it. Just haven't had a chance yet! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the mattress comes tomorrow in time for me to do the bedding before I head to the states. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow! I can't believe I only have one more day until I leave for the States!

Baby's Room is Nearly There!!!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that everyone had a fantastic weekend. Ours was certainly full of events. After my doctor's appointment we came home and it was so nice to be home after being in a hotel for a week. When we were headed down to the wine stand our friends called and asked if we wanted to meet them at another weingut in the next little town over. It is Schlemmerwochen in Germany which means Gluttons Week (it lasts for two weeks) and all the weinguts open and serve wine and food and most have live entertainment. We headed over to meet our friends and had a great time. Even though Deaner spilled an enourmous glass of wine on my lap (I swear even my socks were wet) it was a lot of fun. So much fun in fact that we had a group of people over on Saturday night to hit up the weingut next door to our house. There was a great band and everyone had a blast. In fact, the same guy is playing at a weingut down the street next weekend and everyone already wants to go back to see him again. I'm sad I'll be out of town but definitely looking forward to flying home on Thursday!

So besides our Schlemmerwoche festivities we also managed to work in the baby's room. We were really nervous about the way the carpet would turn out but we took the plunge and started gluing on Saturday afternoon. After about 45 minutes it became very clear that we had not bought enough glue and it was BACK to the hardware store we went. Deaner finished it up on Sunday and I could not be more thrilled. It looks AWESOME! All those bubbles?? Gone. I don't know how he did (I don't think he knows either) but it looks fantastic. By last night I had vacuumed, cleaned out all the tools etc and we had the baseboards and door back on the walls. I took some pictures and they are a little dark but I know y'all would want to see them!Doesn't it look awesome? I'm so happy with it. The crib and mattress have not arrived yet but the changing table has and Deaner has promised to put it together. I have picked out a closet/armiour from Ikea that I think will match and I'll buy it when I get back from the States. I can't wait to see how the changing table looks!

In other news, Deaner called me from work a little bit ago to tell me that he recieved a speeding ticket in the mail for ME! Ha ha! I would deny it but it had my picture attached to it!!BUSTED!! And guess how fast I was going? A whopping 3 miles over the speed limit. RIDICULOUS if you ask me. At least it was only 10 euro. Unfortunately I think I have another one on the way. I'm off to fold laundry and do some other wifely duties. 4 more days til I leave for Atlanta!!!

Finally Home

It has been a rough past 24 hours! Last night about 6pm my doctor e-mailed me and said she would just feel better if I went ahead and came in to see her this morning. Would have been easy if we weren't in Belgium, huh? Not to mention that her office closed at 12:30pm today! Oh well, I was really sick and tired of feeling bad and Deaner and I decided it would be best if he missed his meeting this morning and headed back to Wiesbaden as early as we could. Neither of us slept well because we knew we had to be up at the crack of dawn to make it back. My doc was already working me in and I didn't want to make her late to pick up her kindergarten daughter! SO......we drove at the speed of light this morning and made it to her office at 12:15pm, which was fine since she told me that she could wait for me until 12:45pm or so. Too bad her office was packed! I was scared that I wasn't going to be seen at all after all that driving. Thank goodness for a great doctor! Not only did she see me, she went ahead and did my whole exam so that I didn't have to come back on Monday morning. She did an ultrasound on my kidneys and everything that she was worried about, looked completely fine. I am on 6 magnesium pills a day for the next 8 days to help loosen up the muscles in my back. I am really ready for it to work!

Baby Evans is looking good! She said she was really pleased with how things were going. He weighs 1.2 pounds now and is in the 51st percentile for something I didn't quite catch. Oops! I was just so relieved that everything looked good! The ultrasound pictures stunk because he was moving around so much so I am not even going to bother posting them. Just looks like a head with giant eye sockets and it is sort of scary!

My doctor said that I am good to go to Atlanta next week and looking good for Greece. Thank goodness! Oh yeah, I even gained weight this time! 2.6 pounds! I'll take it!! The baby's changing table came in while we were gone but no signs of the crib or mattress. I will pick it up on Monday. I'm so glad it is Friday and I am looking forward to getting this carpet fixed this weekend! And I can't wait to start getting ready to come home! Hope everyone had a great Friday!

Last Full Day Belgium

I would totally be lying if I said that I had a better night last night. After dinner we came back to the hotel where my back started hurting before I even fell asleep! Normally at least it waits for me to fall asleep for waking me up in pain. So around 9pm Deaner changed from his pajamas back to his normal clothes and we went walking. I don't think it helped too much but at least it got my mind off of it for half an hour. I took tylenol before falling asleep and then didn't wake up again until about 3:30am or so for more. After that I was okay. I've been talking to my doctor today and we are in the process of deciding whether we need to leave Belgium tonight and go home so I can be seen tomorrow or if I am okay to wait until Monday. I don't get the impression she thinks it is all that serious. Which makes me think that there isn't much she could do for me anyway. Not the best feeling but we will see!

On our little jaunt around the town last night we passed a few cute stores and I was able to peek through the windows. I saw a little sheep toy thingie in one of them that I had to go back and check out today. No surprise that I bought it today! I just think it will look cute on a dresser or something.Plus, I get to tell people I bought him in Belgium. I'll just leave out the part that it was during the most boring and painful week of my life! There might be one small problem. As I was checking out the lady in the store, who was very nice and helpful, was asking me if it was a lamb or a sheep. I said probably a sheep because it looks a bit bigger but you could call it a lamb too. She said she always calls it a lamb because when she sees it she thinks of Silence of the Lambs. Nice huh? I hope that I am able to shake that thought because I certainly don't want to think of that movie everytime I look at it!

I'm so excited to be heading home tomorrow. It's too bad that Deaner has a meeting in the morning because that means that I will probably have to go with him and sit in the car. However, I had to do this once and I was able to pick up wireless from the school. :) Could be worse. This weekend I hope to figure out the carpet issue and get it fixed. I'm also crossing my fingers that the furniture came while we were gone. The only problem is going to be that when we stop to check the mail on the way home, we will be in the Crossfire which would NEVER fit all the furniture. I have proposed we walk it over to Deaner's office, store it there, and come back with the Jeep on Saturday. We can't pick up mail on the weekends so we only have one shot at getting it on Friday. With my luck, it probably won't even be there!

Cross your fingers for a better night for me!!!

Death By Muscle Spasms

Do you think that anyone has ever died from severe muscle spasms in their back? If not, I am thinking that I might be the first. Again, I was up at 1:30am and at 7:00am with radiating pain in my side/back. Both times I took tylenol and held my breath until the pain subsided. This is getting really old. Only one night in the past five I have not woken up in awful pain. Today I went on a long walk and hopefully that will help. I also got a huge bottle of water to drink today in hopes that hydration will help too. Otherwise I don't know what to do. I have emailed my doctor in Germany and she said that it could possibly be my kidney. Not a good thing to hear when you are in another country and can't get to the doctor's office to get checked out. At the very least, I have an appointment on Monday, but I just don't think that there is anything that can be done. Any suggestions are welcome but keep in mind my limited resources in a hotel room! Poor Deaner has been woken up by me wrathing around in pain the past 3 nights!

Needless to say, I am ready to get back to Germany and my own bed! At least then I can leave the bedroom if I need to get up and walk around! I'll be ready to hit the road on Friday. So, on the way here I decided to document a German phenomenon I have been noticing lately. Apparently, Germany has a very high rate of hubcap theft going on in the country. I have never seen so many cars without hubcaps! Nice cars, junky cars, old cars and new cars! There is no discrimating on what kind of hubcaps these theives perfer! On the way here I decided to snap some shots of hubcap-less cars.


It was pretty humorous trying to take these pictures with my iphone before passing the car. Hopefully no one noticed my snapshots! I'd say that if the hubcaps got stolen off of either of cars, we would have to replace them. It just isn't attractive with no hubcaps!

Today has been uneventful but I am halfway thru the week! I walked around this morning and stopped for lunch at the pizza place with the good appetizer. I read my book there for about an hour before returning to the hotel. Now I will just kill time until Deaner returns! If only I could be home working on the baby's room!! Soon enough though! We are going to work in there this weekend and I am really crossing my fingers that the baby furniture comes this week while we are gone! Hope everyone is having a Happy Wednesday! A special birthday shout out to my dear friend Sarah Kate!!!!

Seriously? It's Only Tuesday??

This is going to be a long week. I didn't know exactly how long until we arrived in Mons. While the city center is pretty and picturesque, there is only so much looking at it you can do! Yesterday was a long day with Deaner gone. I slept in, got up and showered and headed out for lunch. I ate on the Grand Place at a little outdoor restaurant and really enjoyed sitting out in the sun! Here were my views from where I was sitting.Not too shabby. I was even given this appetizer which I was very excited about!It is the small things in life to a pregnant person! I had a good lunch and enjoyed the people watching before walking around the rest of the city. There is not a whole lot to report on but y'all imagine my surprise when we headed to the Grand Place the first night and this was the first thing I saw!Isn't is sort of sad that I am not all that excited about it because I can no longer partake in the margaritas? I'm sure we will dine here at some point JUST BECAUSE it is here but I'm not that thrilled about it! Last night we ate at a really nice pizza place over looking the Grand Place and had a nice dinner. I am really savoring my time with Deaner when he gets home from work because of my long days in the hotel alone! I'll be happy when Friday rolls around!

On a different note, I have been waking up the past few mornings with the worst muscle spasms in my back/side and it is not fun! Our bed in this hotel SUCKS but it happened the last two nights that we were in Germany as well. I'm just hoping that it is only muscle spasms! I can deal with that! Cross your fingers for me!

I'm off to read in hopes that Deaner comes home from work soon! Happy Tuesday and come on Friday!!

Lots of Odds and Ends

I just didn't have the heart to blog about the carpet installation that occurred on Thursday evening. It is safe to assume that things didn't really go according to my plan. My plan being that everything be easy and turn out perfectly, that is. At first it appeared that everything was going smoothly as Deaner cut the carpet to fit the room.Yes, we decided to lay the new carpet over the old carpet for a few reasons. 1. Apparently Germans don't really have carpet padding. A bit odd I thought but since there is only concrete under the blue carpet, I thought that it might be best to use it as the padding. I consulted a few people who said that they thought it would be fine to do this. 2. George has that blue carpet glued to the concrete within an inch of it's life so unless I wanted to be scrapping glue off the floor for two days straight, it was just put the new over the old. So, we get the carpeting laid down only to have to deal with air pockets that just would NOT GO AWAY. I almost cried over them because I think they look so bad. Keep in mind, in these pictures the baseboards are still not on the walls so it looks particularly bad, but really, in real life, it doesn't look that much better!See what I mean about the bubbles? We just didn't know what to do so we left it like that. We didn't glue the carpet down or anything drastic yet so all hope is not lost. You can really only see the air pockets when the light is shining in the windows but still, I can't have them there. Deaner thinks that after a week of laying flat the carpet will smooth itself out. I think that is wishful thinking. Also we were going to use carpet tape to put it down but I think now we will switch to glue. His idea is to bring the topper to our heavy poker table upstairs and after we glue, lay it on top on the newly glued area. I don't know. I just want it done and I'm leaving for Atlanta soon.

Speaking of which........I'm a little nervous about my flight to Atlanta being cancelled. This would be just about the worst thing that could happen. If this damn volcano doesn't stop erupting over Iceland, I might be boarding the QE2 to get home! All airports in Europe are closed. That's right, all of them. Since last week was Spring Break I have friends stuck in Qatar, Egypt, Rome and Turkey. With no signs of getting home anytime in the near future. What a drag. Say a little prayer that I get to come home. Surely this will be over in 10 days time? That's exactly how long until my flight leaves.

Anyways, I have a lot more to share but might need to wait until tomorrow. Deaner and I drove to Mons, Belgium yesterday afternoon since he has to work here this week. I am thinking that it was a big mistake for me to come here with him. It is going to be a really long boring week. There isn't much to do here and I would rather be home subbing for all the teachers that couldn't make it back from Spring Break! I've already toured the city etc and I'm afraid that it doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of entertainment for the week! I have some pictures to share with y'all tomorrow so stay tuned!!

A bit off my game

Hello everyone! What's up? I am feeling a bit off my game today for some reason. I got out of bed this morning only to discover that I am actually really starting to feel pregnant. Before a week ago or so I could confidently leave the house and know that if I so chose, no one would really be able to tell I was pregant. Not anymore my friends. I think my stomach has officially "popped" now at 21 weeks and I'm not so sure that I love it. Before anyone gets mad about me saying that I have to clarify that I am THIRLLED to be having a baby but not so sure I am thrilled about getting this huge belly. Get a load of this!I think I will start taking wagers on how much weight I have gained since my last appointment. Ugh, all that being said, hopefully I am no longer being mistaken for just plain chunky!

So today has sort of been a weird day. I got up this morning and hung around the house not really doing much of anything before I showered and went to Ikea. I successfully found a pillow insert for the baby's crib pillow but it is ugly as sin. I promise to take a picture of it but it is upstairs right now and I just can't go back up there! I also might have found a closet/dresser for the baby's room. I just need to get the furniture in there so I can tell if it is going to work or not. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it comes before I leave for Atlanta on the 29th but wouldn't it be great if it was there when I checked the mail tomorrow? Probably won't happen though.

Deaner is currently on his way home from work (late) to supposedly start installing the carpet. This could get dicey folks. I sure hope that it goes off without a hitch. I'm going to help as much as I can but like I said, I haven't felt that great today. I even fell asleep on the couch for over an hour, which isn't like me at all. Wish us luck!! He is here and we are starting!!

Ta-daaaaaaaaa!

And after about 15 hours of work we are finished with the tree. Anne admitted to me this morning that when she left last night she wasn't thrilled with the way that the tree was looking. By the time we started getting the second coat on it today and making the leaves a bit thicker, we were both THRILLED with the way that it was looking. I feel like I probably don't want to hold a tiny paint brush in my hand again for a long time but I am really happy with the way the it turned out! Here is a progression of how things went from start to finish!!And finally, drumroll please!!!!!! The finished product!!Eat your heart out Pottery Barn Kids! How great does this look? I am so excited with the way that it turned out that I can't even explain it. I knew Anne could do it but she outdid herself! I even surprised myself with my ability to help. I was definitely happy to have it done.

Around 4:30pm or so I had to give up working and head to the carpet place to meet Deaner to pick up the new carpet. I was a little bit worried because no one had called me to tell me that the carpet had arrived but I headed over with my fingers crossed. Thankfully it was in stock but unfortunately they sort of laughed at the prospect of us strapping it to the top of my Jeep. Just as I started to panic, the guy (who spoke English and was NOT available to speak with last week!) who was working there said that they could have it delivered to us tonight for only 28 euro. Fine, I was completely happy to do that. True to their word, they arrived around 7:30pm and now we have the new carpet. Now to figure out the best way to install it. That is going to be another story all together. Apparently they don't use carpet padding here? We are debating laying the new carpet over the old carpet, since it is SO thin and glued to the concrete floor within an inch of it's life. We just don't know what to do.

Alas, this is something that will probably keep me awake all night tonight since we decided against tackling it tonight. When Deaner gets home from the gym tomorrow night we will give it another go. I am desperate to get it put down. Then I can do all the really fun stuff!! Tomorrow I think I will head back to the carpet store to pick up one thing we forgot and then maybe brave Ikea to look for a dresser/armiour for the baby's room and for a new light fixture. Please say a little prayer that we can get this carpet down without any hideous setbacks. We are going to need it! Happy Wednesday!

Tree Progress Part I.

Today was the big day! I have been SO excited about painting the tree on the nursery room wall and I was eager to get to work this morning when Anne got here. To my amazement Anne showed up with the tree already cut out of a huge piece of mailing paper. She had taped together three pieces of large manilla paper together, drawn the tree, exacto knifed the tree out, and brought the "stencil" with her to tape up to the wall. First we laid out the stencil on the lovely blue carpet.Then we taped the stencil up to the wall.After tracing the tree onto the wall, we took down the stencil and starting painting. The work was a bit tedious since we had to use TINY brushes and everything had to be outlined but we started and several hours later we had made some progress. At least you can start to see how it is going to look!Anne is coming back in the morning to do some more work with me. We obviously have more painting to do but we got a really good start! I am really excited about it as I think it looks great. Tomorrow we have to trace and paint the bird and the baby birds in the nest on the tree branch. I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product!!!

Weekend Recap

Hello everyone! I hope that everyone had a great weekend! Friday night we headed down to the wine stand and then out to dinner with a coworker of Deaner's, who we happen to see there. It was a nice evening and we came home pretty early to hang out and watch some TV. Saturday there was a festival/fair going on in Wiesbaden that Deaner wanted to check out. Really, I think that he just wanted to eat a bunch of sausages and drink some beer! He was looking pretty happy long about his second sausage!!Since the festival was more of a fair with rides etc. we really didn't stay too long. The weather was beautful so after a few laps around the platz we headed home and took up residence on our top balcony to read and sit in the sun. It was so nice and warm that we stayed outside until about 6pm or so. Saturday night we feasted on mexican steak fajitas and white cheese dip! Doesn't get much better than that but, oh wait, we also had the Masters!! We were watching it on AFN in the crappy broadcast quality when Deaner just so happened to flip over to our British satellite dish and it was on an HD channel with NO COMMERCIALS!!! Awesome! It doesn't get any more beautiful than Augusta National.

Sunday was a laid back day. We went to the commissary and got frozen pizzas for dinner since neither of us felt like doing much more than that. We got to eat them and watch the Masters. What a great day to be a Phil Mickelson fan. Not a great day to be living on the other side of the world from all the action because there was no way we were going to be able to stay up and watch until the end. However on one of my many trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night was able to check my iphone and see that Mickelson won.

This morning I got up around my normal time (which is not to be disclosed) showered, went and switched cars with Deaner, went to the post office on the airfield, went to the commissary for the week and then came back home. I'm currently doing laundry and changing sheets. All in a days work! My friend Anne is coming over tomorrow to paint this tree on the nursery wall.I am so excited to see how it turns out!! Then the new carpet should be here on Wednesday! Things are starting to come together! The furniture has finally been shipped and should be here at least before I leave to go home. I can't wait to post pictures of the progress so stay tuned!! I'll post tree pictures tomorrow!!

Gloomy

I was really hoping to get to lie out again today but no such luck. There is no sunshine today! Supposedly it will be back tomorrow and it is probably for the best since I did get a little pink yesterday. Y'all have no idea how great that feels when you have been in the land of paleness for the past 6 months!! Hopefully tomorrow I can get back to it. I am planning on having lunch with Deaner and may or may not head to Ikea afterwards. Guess it will depend on the weather!

Today I have not done anything fun or exciting. I cleaned up the downstairs of our house which was in desperate need of some straightening up. It looks much better now! Now I'm just waiting on Deaner to get home from the gym. Does anyone thinks it is sad that I am ready for dinner at 4:54pm?? I think I'll have to have a piece of toast to tide me over.

Sorry to be so boring today. I'll leave y'all with some pictures of the new clothes that were sent to my parent's house for Evans. I can't wait to see them in person!
I think he will be well dressed! :)

The Fright of My Life

Well today I had a bit of a slow start. I was able to call my little brother with I woke up this morning to wish him a Happy 21st Birthday. It was 2am his time and I am quite certain that he was having a grand time. I just wonder how he felt this monrning? I really had no plans for the day and I was pretty much bored right off the bat. As the day was shaping up to be beautiful I ate my lunch outside on our back patio and had the brillant idea to lay out on our top balcony. So I changed into shorts and a tank top and hauled my beach chair up to the top balcony of the house. It was SUPER pleasant up on the 4th floor of our house and right as I was starting to relax I realized I left my drink inside. I jumped up to get it and almost stepped on THIS!I nearly screamed bloody murder. As a child I was very afraid of road kill and would always have nightmares about it. This bird was just about as bad. I was almost afraid to step over and go back into the house. I decided I was going to be a grown up and settled back into my chair.....for about 2 minutes before I couldn't take it anymore. I just COULD NOT sit there with that bird that close to me. I packed up all my stuff and headed down to the balcony off our bedroom. As soon as I set up there I got afraid that the wind might blow the bird down on top of me. I grabbed one of the baseboards I just recently painted and tried to push the bird off the balcony but I just couldn't. It felt too gross touching that bird body. I have goose bumps just thinking about it.

I settled with the balcony off our bedroom. Deaner will definitely be discarding the bird when he gets home because it is supposed to be a beautiful week coming up and I plan on spending some time on that top balcony! I even blew up a single blow up mattress so that I could lie on my stomach for awhile but when I got on it I could hear air rushing out of it from somewhere so guess that isn't going to work out!

Hope everyone is having a Happy Humpday. I'm planning on us having dinner outside tonight and hope that it stays warm. This is the perfect weather for Germany because it isn't hot enough to make our house uncomfortable yet! Let's just hope it stays like this!!

Carpet Anxiety

Today has been quite a day for me. I believe that I have probably burned off half a tank of gas this afternoon. This morning I headed out to Hornbach to buy the last of the paint the I need for the tree in the nursery. That was a pretty easy task, especially since the paint counter wasn't closed this time! I glanced around at carpet while I was there and found a few that I think could have worked but that just weren't all that nice. Deaner and I did not want to spend an arm and a leg on new carpeting so I found a few that may have worked. From there I headed to a carpet store that I have passed a few times. I was afraid that everything in the store was going to be over our budget but decided it was worth a look. Immediately I found about 6 different wool berber carpets that I would have loved to have but they were super expensive. The best price that I found was about 25 euro for a square meter. We needed roughly 16 sq. meters. We were not interested in spending around $600 for new carpeting. Ugh. Then I found a table where I found a really nice wool carpet that was marked down to 17.99 euro. I started to get a bit excited because it was exactly what we needed. 288 euro total was a bit more reasonable.

Then I hit the jackpot. I found a wool berber carpet that was for some reason marked down to 5.99 a sq. meter. Of course I didn't have my color swatches with me so I couldn't tell if the two colors in the carpet were right. This was extremely frustrating. I figured I would just go home and get them and come back tomorrow. So I headed home. When I got here I realized that there was no way in hell that I was going to be able to sit at home and think about it all night SO I did was every reasonable person would do....I drove back. Much to my surprised, I thought the colors worked out great. See below.I think that it is going to work out perfectly. I talked my friend into coming to look at it with me tomorrow for a second opionion and I headed home again. Once I got here I decided that I had to have the carpet today. I mean, what if someone bought the rest of it and I couldn't get it? I talked Deaner into meeting me there after work so that he could help me strap it to the roof the Jeep. Back to the carpet place I went for the third time in one day. When we got there it was a bit of a challenge with language barrier since NO ONE in the whole store spoke English. However, did had the carpet available but it had to be sent from Nuremberg. It is ordered, paid for and will be here next Wednesday!! I'm so relieved. Now if I could just have a little faith in my husband who claims that he is going to install it with no problem. I'm trying to believe in him I'm just a little skeptacle! I'll have to keep y'all posted.

I don't have much on my plate for tomorrow so we will see what I can accomplish with a day wide open. Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

Belly Picture & Awesome Win

In honor of being 20 weeks pregnant, and therefore HALFWAY through my pregnancy, this week I decided it was time for another belly picture. Really it was only because I was actually clean, showered and dressed today since we had dinner at some friend's house. After a week of painting the baby's room, this was a major feat! And yes, I understand that I am wearing the same outfit that I was last time but my wardrobe these days is limited and it will be until I can get home to Atlanta! So the bump is getting bigger I think? At my doctor's appointment last week I still hadn't gained any weight but I find this nearly impossible to believe. I believe that all the fat on my body is relocating to my belly. I am also expecting this month to be THE month of the "big gain". Guess we will see! I honestly don't mind that I haven't gained any yet because I feel certain that it is right around the corner!!

Now that y'all have had your fill of my belly I have to share that I won an AWESOME blog giveaway last week! One of my oldest friends on earth, MMM, hosted a giveaway on her blog Magnolias, Marriage and Manhattan and I was the lucky winner!! She even swears that I was given no preferential treatment! :) Anyways, I won a monogrammed wipe case for Evans from Katiebug Boutique!!! Y'all have got to check out this Etsy Shop. It has the cutest gifts! Here are two pictures of the wipes case that I chose.I am thrilled with how it turned out!! What a cute shower gift for someone! I have a feeling it won't be my last purchase from this cute shop! The wipes case was sent to my parent's house and my mom has raved about it. I will have to wait til the end of month to check it out but I know I already love it! There are tons of fabrics to chose from and I would recommend everyone check it out!!

So I hope that everyone had a great easter weekend!! Friday night Deaner and I had dinner out in town and then I got a special ice cream treat. Saturday we celebrated Easter with a bunch of friends and had a great dinner. Sunday we made our own dinner of tenderloin, hashbrown casserole, garlic bread and salad. I even took a picture of it but I think I'll spare y'all! Now it is Monday and back to the grind! I am heading over to Steph's house in a little bit to get some touch ups on my hair before she leaves town for the next few weeks. Then I have to head to the commissary to shop for the week. I have take great care today to make a detailed list so that I can't possibly forget anything! Guess we will see how that works out! Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!!