Out and About

So much has happened... where to begin? (Just kidding...)

But really- we have officially done TWO touristy things in the last couple of weeks. The first was to attend the Loudoun County Flower and Garden Festival in downtown Leesburg. Think Art Fair meets Gardening, and you get the idea. This is apparently the biggest tourist attraction in Loudoun County (where we live), so you know we were glad to not miss it. I have to admit that aside from a few rather impressive displays of landscaping transported to downtown streets, I was paying more attention to the different types of strollers than to the different types of plants. *sigh* I guess that's what happens when you're significantly closer to having a baby than to having a garden.

Incidentally, we found out about this *event* as we were browsing through one of the local mini-newspapers that we get periodically in our mailbox. The weekend before, we were desperately looking for something to entertain us on a Saturday night and resorted to this newspaper thing. Upon finding the info for the Garden-thingy, we decided to put that on our agenda for the following weekend without delay. However, it didn't help us solve our current evening's dilemma. Instead, we settled for a movie at the theater nearby. It was so good that I can't even remember what it was. The important thing, however, is that as soon as we got home and I started poking around the internet for random things, I discovered that we had just missed this event:

Join ADORE Ministries for an evening of Eucharistic Adoration, Praise
& Worship and a powerful teaching.
Cost: FREE! Offered to all in preparation for the Holy Father's visit to DC. Donations accepted. Who: Traveling with the ministry will be musicians: Matt Maher band, Kelly Pease, Josh Blakesley, and Paul George will be speaking. Sponsored by Catholic Relief Services.

Matt Maher pretty much being one of my husband's favorite people... in town for an evening of praise and worship and adoration and ... we missed it! If only I had been doing my poking around online before we headed out (instead I was probably busy cooking dinner or something). *sigh*

Anyway, the second touristy that we did was to visit Mount Vernon (after a morning trip to IKEA, of course) last Saturday. The weather was gorgeous, so it was pretty crowded. We opted not to wait in line for the mansion tour (it being over 80 degrees and us not feeling very patient), but we pretty much saw everything else on the grounds (including George Washington's dentures- definitely a highlight). We had been watching the HBO miniseries about John Adams in past weeks, however, so some of the historicalness of everything was that much more interesting for us at this point. (Baby watch: Fewer strollers this time, but lots of pregnant women, as noted by my husband.)

And so this week I'm trying not to be too efficient, as I don't really have a whole lot to get done. I've got one sewing project at the moment and a few phone calls to make, but that's about it. I would like to have someone fix our kitchen sink, which is quite good at releasing hot (very) water, but rather inept at the cold water part. And by "rather inept", I mean that it doesn't really have cold water (except perhaps the very first time you turn it on in the morning). It might also be good if they could make our dishwasher stop sounding like death. At least it works (sort of).

By the way, for all of you concerned family/friends: we were not affected by the recent tornadoes in Virginia. They hit the lower/East part of the state for the most part and we were totally in the clear (it may have been raining that day... that's about it).

**Edit**

Never mind the sink; I just fixed it myself using my amazing plumbing capabilities (i.e., noticing that the knob for the cold water was turned a different direction from the one for hot water... I turned it to match, and now I have cold water!). Never mind that I only made this observation because I was cleaning up under the sink for when the maintenance people showed up. :-P

When Barbara Gets Bored...

Yesterday was kind of a blah sort of day. I didn't feel like doing much and acted accordingly. However, one important thing did happen: I had an inspiration. Not sure why it took me so long to figure this out, though. See, I've been thinking that I can start making "nursery" type things (bedding, etc.), but was having a hard time figuring out a color scheme and what-not. Yesterday as I was going through my growing stock of fabric leftovers, however, I realized that I still have a ton of fabric that matches the bedding in our bedroom. Since Elmo will likely be sleeping in our room for awhile, I decided I could use that other fabric to make him a matching bedding set! haha... I really am a nerd.

So I started today. I made a dust ruffle for his bed that looks the same as the one on ours. I'm excited to put the crib up someday so that I can use the thing, but that will come in time. But I've got lots of extra... what other baby stuff can I make with it? Fake pillows and duvet that he can't use? Basket liners? This could be a fun game.

That project, alas, only took the morning. So this afternoon, I occupied myself by making my own ravioli. This was my first attempt at homemade pasta, yet alone homemade filled pasta. We'll see at dinnertime how it turned out. :-)

I'm looking forward to some IKEA shopping tomorrow... should be a good way to spend the afternoon after a morning of doctor stuff. Hooray for the glucose test!

My Little Buddy

I just wanted to share something: I'm really enjoying being pregnant.

For one, Elmo has given me a reason (however contrived it may appear) to leave work early. No matter that I get a little bored at home... this, too, shall pass.

As far as clothing options, I've found that maternity clothes aren't so bad... if you steer clear of the "real" ones. Granted, I now own TWO pairs of maternity pants (but still wear regular ones most of the time), and a couple of tops. But the spring/summer fashions for women/juniors this year are perfect for maternity wear. Love it. :-) Funny story- Sometime in my last week of teaching, a couple of girls stopped by my room. One I knew, the other I didn't. The random girl wanted to know if her shirt made her look pregnant (I'm guessing she'd gotten some comments). I laughed to myself and (not really answering her question) told her that I, for one, was enjoying the current trends because I was pregnant and they worked well for me. Her friend understood what I meant and continued teasing her about looking pregnant. Ahh, high school.

Also on the subject of maternity clothes- here's a fun little thing that happened recently. With the reward $$ from my Discover Card (thank you wedding expenses), I ordered a gift card for a maternity store, thinking that would be a good way to spend some of the money. After a month, the card still hadn't arrived so I asked Discover to cancel the old order and re-issue it. Which they did. A week after that one arrived, I got the original one. So now I have $100 to spend on clothes without feeling (too) guilty!

Of course, my favorite thing about being pregnant is that I have an ever-present buddy. He goes with me everywhere and we have a lovely time. I've always been the type of person to talk to myself on occasion (or all the time), but now I have someone else to talk to. And of course, he wiggles and squirms and moves around in my abdomen, so we have some physical interaction, too. (Mostly me pushing him out of the way if he is preventing me from leaning over or something of that nature) If you've not ever been pregnant, I'm not sure that this makes sense to you. But really, I love it. I think I enjoy this all the more because we have a "name" for the baby (Elmo, in case you hadn't noticed) and I know that he's male. I'd hate to refer to him as "it" all the time.

***Note to self: two or three months from now when it is unbearably hot and Elmo is making life ridiculously uncomfortable, remember fondly this happy time.***

Happenings

Four. Count 'em... four chambers in Elmo's heart. Good boy, Elmo! We had the long ultrasound today where they measure and catalog everything. Seems he's pretty much all there, although he really didn't want to show us his left foot. And the tech seemed to have a hard time with the brain (I think it's just cause he's too smart and there's too much information already packed in there). But I was happy that Matt was able to come, too. Especially when the lady left us there for 20 minutes while she went to go check everything with the doctor. Fortunately, everything appears to have checked out ok. Excellent. :-)

Last night we went to our first Life Night at St. Theresa's. There were seven adults there, including us. And five teens. The "core" assured us that this was the smallest group they've ever had, and that they normally get at least 15-20. (I'll believe it when I see it, I guess) There are a couple of younger people on the team, one of whom teaches 8th grade at the parish school and is probably going to single-handedly pump up the attendance next year (this is the first year for the LifeTeen program at the church). She's the same age as I am, which is good because I think she may well be the only other 20-something person that I've met here in Ashburn. In any case, the LT program is going to be *evaluated* by the pastor in a few weeks to see if it's worth continuing next year. So I guess we'll hang out for a little while and see what happens next.

Also, I went on a women's retreat this weekend with the church. Figured it might be a nice way to connect with some other women in the parish, you know? It was a day-long retreat, with a few talks by a visiting priest, Mass, and confession. And, of course, food. The sacramental parts were great, as was the food. The talks... were a little scattered and not entirely helpful. But I did succeed in sitting at a table which attracted the only other under-40 ladies in the group. There were two of them. Is it odd that I'm starting to consider anyone under 40 to be young? We had some pleasant conversation at the table throughout the day, though, and at least I'm starting to recognize a few faces around the church. It's a start.

Since it's pretty much spring now, Matt and I took a trip over to the Home Depot and bought ourselves the makings of our very first "garden." We started small... with a flower box on the balcony. If I get brave (or bored) enough this week, I may plant some herbs also. I think that would be fun. Now I'll just have to remember to water the things on occasion, eh? Neither of us knows anything about gardening, so we're sort of curious to find out how long it will be until we manage to kill the flowers. So far, they've lasted two days. I'll keep you posted.

A Virginian

I surrendered my MI drivers license yesterday. sigh. After an afternoon of getting the mandatory emissions/safety inspections and filling out paperwork at the DMV, I guess I'm official now (and so is my car... almost). They didn't make me give up my license plate, so I'll hang on to that for a few more days, or until my husband decides he wants to help me put the new plates on. Yes, that would be plates, plural. I think it may take some interesting maneuvering to get a plate to attach to the front of the car (seeing as there's very clearly not a spot for it), but that's what tools are for I suppose.

There are supposed to be a bunch of neighborhood garage sales this weekend. I hope it doesn't rain... the forecast hasn't been right so far, so I won't count on it starting now. It could be fun to get out and the see the neighborhood a little bit more. It should be today, though, because it's beautiful and warm and summery today. Speaking of which, I should be outside and NOT in here writing anymore. And go I shall...

Friends at Mass

I have two new best friends. One is an 81-year old woman with arthritis who is trying to recruit me for the Legion of Mary (or trying to find the brown rice and trying to sell me a house in her neighborhood that is up for foreclosure... depending on the venue). The other looks like Joyce Meyer, is planning the women's day of prayer (mini-retreat, I guess) for the parish, and is hoping that Matt and I are the answer to her prayer for someone to get the youth group going. I pretty much know her entire life story at this point (she has five daughters, the youngest is leaving for college in PA in the fall, and she has given up working for Mary Kay so that she can go back to school to become a nurse... I even somehow know her current class schedule).

It all started yesterday after Mass when I went to sign up for the women's retreat thing. I figured it would be a good way for me to get to know some people and make a few connections. Linda (aka Joyce Meyer) was very excited to meet me and invited me to come to daily Mass the next day (since I still owed them money). Wouldn't you know it, we arrived at the same time this morning and so she sat by me. I stayed with the other old ladies to pray the rosary afterwards (at which point the Legion of Mary lady spotted me), then hung around chatting with Linda for awhile afterwards. She told me that she'd been pushing for a LifeTeen program at the parish for awhile, but right now they are only getting about 8 kids coming each week. Apparently none of the people involved, including the youth minister (whose fiancee died about six months ago... why this was relevant, I don't know), can relate to teenagers and the whole thing is pretty lame. So of course Linda has been praying for some "new blood" in the program to get things rolling, and she now thinks that we are it. Maybe we are, who knows?

Anyway, only an hour and 15 minutes after Mass started (Mass, rosary, and much talking in 75 minutes? crazy), I left to go grocery shopping, armed with two invitations to join in parish ministry and two new friends. Charlene, the older one, was also at the grocery store and so we chatted again for a few minutes. Nice lady... she also thought I was about 18 and couldn't believe that I was nearly 6 months pregnant. Is this the story of my life, or what? She thinks I could find a job teaching pretty easily, but right now I think I'm content to focus on getting Elmo into the world in one piece. I'll save the teaching for later. :-)

Going Home

Goodbye, Ann Arbor. It's been fun, but I guess the time has come to move on. Today I walked into and out of Lincoln for the last time (weird) and tomorrow morning I will be on the road for Virginia. This time, it's real.

I got a lot of questions today from people about how I felt about leaving. Sad? Happy? I think for most of the day I was actually somewhere between anxious and relieved. Anxious about getting everything lined up and in place for the 4th quarter and relieved that by the time I left, I would be finished with it all. Fortunately, everything seems to have fallen into place pretty well and I think I left my classroom in good hands. My sub has been ecstatic with the prep work I've done for her, which I guess is something. I can't help but feeling like I'm leaving things unfinished, though. Which is, of course, because I am. I may or may not hear from them with questions in the coming months, but at this point there isn't much else for me to do. It may bring you some satisfaction to know that I got a little choked up while writing a note for my students on the board before locking up the last time.

Saying goodbye to my hometown is a little different. Not that I'll never come back here, but I may never live in this area again. As I was driving around this evening I was thinking about how easy it is for me to get around here. I don't even have to think about where I am going. I know just where to go to get anything that I need; I know how long it will take me to get there; I know how long they're open. I have friends here, and friends of the family, and even just acquaintances. In Virginia, I know exactly three people: my husband, his friend at work, and my doctor. I've never had to settle in a new place, so it's a little terrifying. I don't know that I will ever again in my life feel as much a part of a "community" as I have felt being here... where everywhere I go, there is someone who knows me or my family or something along those lines. And yet, moving like this must be a very American thing to do, since we have settled across so much of the country. I mean, communities like this one had to have started somewhere, right? I guess now it's time for us to be a part of something new in a new sort of place. Well, Ashburn... here we come.

I am really not such a fan of LOTR, which is playing loudly only a few feet away from my computer. And so, I think I'll go to bed and try to get some sleep before hitting the road in the morning. Pray for me and Elmo as we set off together for our new life. :-)