Finally, a clean and organized kitchen

Part of getting ready for Baby

was getting the dogs, Henry and Big Ear, out of the house. Partly because they needed to be in their kennels out of doors, partly because our kitchen was extremely cramped with the 2 dog crates in there. Another major pain in the rear end was that because they slept in their crates indoors at night, they would bring in a day's worth of MAJOR dust into the house, and shake it off all over the kitchen area, and on to the living area.

Which is not good on so many different levels.

So finally, the week before we left for Vegas, the dogs were finally out of the house, secure in their outdoor facilities, and I could embark on the massive task of reclaiming my kitchen. In fact, because of the dog crates, there were parts of the kitchen floor that I hadn't seen and cabinets ( that had been obscured/blocked by the crates ) that I hadn't been able to get things out of, in years!

When we came back from Vegas, I started the task of slowly cleaning the kitchen, corner by corner, cabinet by cabinet, bit by bit, getting all the dust ( that is sooo insidious and EVERYWHERE ) and grime off of everything, and reorganizing the cabinets. Of course the first thing I did was break down the 2 dog crates and had David cart them off into the shed.

Yesterday, I cleaned out the last of the cabinets, and I have to say, it is such a wonderful feeling to not have to grouse/worry about dog dust or the helpless feeling of knowing that even if you cleaned stuff up, they'd only get dirty/dusty again the next day.

NO MORE OF THAT !! WOOHOOO!!!

Now I have to muster up the energy to go on to cleaning up the living room. ( which will be no easy task, believe me - there's a whole different story attached to why it needs cleaning up so badly )

*sigh*

Oh well....slow and steady wins the race. I have to be realistic and know that I can't do this overnight. It may take me a several weeks or even several months, but I WILL HAVE A CLEAN HOUSE before the baby arrives :)

So much to be thankful for

It's been a blessed year

and we have so much to be thankful for. I pray that I never forget to count my blessings and constantly give thanks for all the many wonderful things and people I have in my life right now.

This year, Thanksgiving was a very lively affair at Walter's house, with just about everyone in the family showing up, and we even had 2 other families - the Londons and the Foxes - join us for lunch in the "sun room".

I made a couple of chocolate pies ( they didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, but oh well ), and David and I made some Cranberry relish







The Crowd









The Grub






After-lunch "entertainment"/board game






David and I set up a Christmas Tree at Walter's house, and put our presents for the family under it for festiveness :)

A Milestone ... and a Sneak Peek

I finally mustered up enough courage

to post pics of my baby bump.. BUT still not THAT courageous to publish it on THIS blog. I guess having just gone through the halfway point of 20 weeks justifies a "little bit of bare flesh" tummyness over at the Preggo Blog.

So for all of you who have been waiting to see letti in all her preggo splendour, hop on by to the Preggo Blog :)

Linky Link right HERE

Christmas Shopping

Woohoo I'm done

I usually have my Christmas shopping done ( way ) before this, because I have to send stuff back to Malaysia, but Cindy and I went to Hobby Lobby today and I did the last bit of Christmas shopping I needed to do. Yay!

This year, the gifts aren't quite as big or extravagant, nor as numerous, and I'm sure everyone can understand how it is this year. But everything is still from the heart and with love and will have a personal touch :)

Dallas Trip

It's been a pretty intense couple or three weeks

First came the long road trip to and from Vegas for my cousin's wedding, coming home on the early morning of the day we needed to go to the doctor's for a detailed ultrasound scan of Junior.. and then yesterday, David and I had to get up before the crack of dawn to drive to Dallas for firstly, an appointment with the ( subbing ) attorney, and then on to THE INTERVIEW. Yeah, the long awaited one for my adjustment of status in the application for a green card. Don't ask us why it took so long for this to happen - the interviewer was just as curious. It's a long story :)

It went well, and the our attorney said that he could see no reason why we shouldn't be getting my green card in the mail in a few weeks. We did drive around Dallas and the surrounding areas to "sight see" for a change. Hurray for GPS receivers!

Ooo and we're having duck for Letti Thursday tomorrow. Yummmmm...

I'm officially Outnumbered

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday

and everything looked great, and the doctor was happy with everything he saw, and said we had nothing to worry about. In fact, Junior was a few days ahead of what he should be, length, weight etc- wise ..

And... it's going to be a little boy :)

Praise the Lord :)

A Brief Respite

There was a reason for this pause in blogging

David and I had been on a "road trip" to Vegas for my cousin's wedding last weekend, and on the way home, we stopped by Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon. We also had a doctor's appointment today ( right after we got home yesterday )... more on the mini vacation and doctor's appointment to follow but first, I have to watch some Survivor Gabon. LOL!!

Emotions gone amuck

It's been a very stressful few days

Both David and I have been high strung for several reasons - will not burden anyone or even this blog with the sordid details, but suffice to say that with all that stress and all these hormones surging through me, I was either on the verge of, or crying for a big part of the day.

But both of us have calmed down, and most, if not all of the issues we have had to tackle and were worrying about for the past few days have been resolved, but now I'm exhausted from this emotional roller coaster and need to go lie down.

*sniff*

It's getting too dark too early

See ya next year, DST

We set our clocks back an hour on Saturday night/Sunday morning before going to bed. Although we theoretically had an hour extra to sleep in before church, both David and I kind of squandered it by staying up later than we should have. Bleh.

Now when I get up, it seems way too bright & the sun seems to high in the sky, and it gets dark at about 6.30 pm, which at the moment is messing with me as to when dinner should be.

I guess I'll get used to it in a week or so.

Mumena Mission Benefit Dinner

Another night when I didn't have to cook,

courtesy of my FIL and the Mumena Mission Benefit Dinner. My FIL had sponsored a table and tickets for his kids and their spouses, at the dinner held at our church multi purpose room. Read all about the Mumena Mission HERE.

Part of the big crowd of supporters that showed up tonight





Table Decoration/CenterPiece





I said to David, "that disembodied head is watching me", and he moved it so it would look at HIM. *laugh*

Baby's First Purchase & A Birthday Cake

It's nothing earth shattering

but it's something that will keep baby's delicate newborn skin from chaffing from all the mandatory child seats that it'll have to be in for a good number of years.

We celebrated Svjetlana's birthday at bible class on Friday, and Cindy made her a very moist and delicious chocolate cake.. Yum.. She used pecans to "decorate" the cake, and there was not enough room to write "Happy Birthday Svjetlana", so it ended up being "Happy Svjetla-Na ( on next line )". I jokingly threatened to send it in to Cake Wrecks.. Hehehehhehe.. Of course I didn't :)