jury duty

Yesterday I went into the courthouse to do my civic duty and do the juror-thang.

I was really dreading it. let me repeat. really, really, really dreading it. out of the 173 people who showed up, I was among the lucky 50 who didn't get to go home at 9:30 am; because, as the luck of the draw would have it, I was in the jury pool. yippee!

First, we each had to introduce ourselves and give specific information about ourselves as dictated on a sheet handed to us when we walked in. See:

1. Sarah (Sorry)
2. jr. high english teacher (just quit my job, but they don't need to know that)
3. my husband is a helicopter pilot for the marine corps (he hasn't actually flown a helicopter for about 2 years or more, but that's still technically his working title so....)
4. Children? currently pregnant with my first
5. I've never been a juror before
6. I don't see any reason why I couldn't be fair

That's all they knew about me. The lawyers did each get 15 minutes to ask us specific questions. They didn't ask me any, though. Those initial 6 answers and this honest face landed me as juror #3 on a criminal trial.

yippee again!

Actually, after I wasn't sent home at 9:30 am with the other 125 lucky bastards (pardon my french) I kind of figured I might as well make this thing worth my time and get picked. I mean, I don't have anything better to do except float in my pool and read books. Why not make myself useful and help make sure that justice is served?

The trial started almost immediately after they decided on their jury, and we've already heard one witness. and I'm already going insane because the prosecuting attorney (a seemingly educated, intelligent woman) has bad grammar. I kid you not. I think she used the exact phrase "had went" at least 5 times during her questioning and opening statement. It's distracting, and I have to physically hold myself back from screaming every time she says it.

Ex. - Prosecutor: At this point you had went back into the house?

grrrrr....

If I can get past my bias against this attorney's improper grammar, I do believe I will manage to be a fair and impartial juror. I look forward to learning the rest of the evidence of this case and working with my fellow jurors to come to a decision. Wish us luck.

to tip or not to tip

there's a question that has been bugging me for quite some time now. as a "single" person, cooking is not always my favorite option for meals. it's really hard to shop and cook for one person. despite great intentions a lot of food goes to waste (or to my dogs' doggie dishes - thus the reason why they fully expect to be fed every time I turn on the oven).

for this reason, i often find myself resorting to take out. yum.

thai food is one of my favorites, and it is at this particular restaurant that i face a predicament.

i pay by credit card - always - and on that darn receipt is a place for tip. i don't usually give a tip, but the question of whether i actually should be giving a tip has really begun to bug me. i reason that the restaurant hasn't done any service beyond what mcdonalds does every minute of every day, so why do they deserve a tip? but then i always feel bad. really bad. are they expecting a tip? i am the annoying customer who doesn't leave one? does their heart sink when i hand my receipt over and they see a big stinkin' $0.00 in the space for tip?

so i pose this question to you, 3 readers...
should i tip or shouldn't i tip for take-out?

i will leave this decision to you.

Paranoia Paranoia

I must be subconsciously freaked about all the earthquakes we've been having lately. Last night, after I had fallen asleep (for who knows how long) I was jolted from my sleep by an "earthquake". I shot out of bed ready to head outside to ride out the "earthquake".

It took me a minute, but I soon realized that my earthquake was no earthquake. One of my dogs had run into my closet door causing it to shake loudly and then jumped onto my bed. THAT was my earthquake.

Wow. Am I paranoid or what?

Well, yes, actually I am.
I am almost convinced that the world is going to end in 2012. I'm sure this has nothing to do with my raging pregnancy hormones. Nothing at all.

Yesterday, I made the mistake of watching The View and have regretted it ever since. They had this CIA lady on there saying that Iran is developing nuclear weapons and that Al Qaeda wants nothing more than to get their hands on them and use them on US.

That night as I went to my peaceful slumber, I actually considered convincing my East Coast family (especially my DC sister) to move out here to the West Coast. I reasoned that they will most likely attack the East Coast, specifically Washington, DC.

Now you know why as a general rule I don't watch the news. EVER. Little did I know that the ladies from The View would take a break from arguing about Lindsey Lohan and actually hit on something that might scare the CRAP out of me.

And as I mentioned before, I'm sure that this crazy paranoia has absolutely nothing to do with raging pregnancy hormones. Nothing at all.

from the crazy mind of a pregnant woman

It's hard to write these days, because though on the surface it may appear that I'm living the easy, lazy life this summer there's actually a lot going on...

in my mind.

My parents are gone now. Boo Hoo! Though I gave them a hard time for never relaxing for even a moment while they were here, I do truly appreciate all the hard work they put into helping me get my physical surroundings in order. I'll never forget, the summer before I got married I was living back at home with my parents and one day my mom did a major clean of my bedroom. Because everything else in my life was in chaos at the time, it was her theory that having my physical surroundings neat and orderly would help. She was right. It did.

So I think that their trip out here this summer was along the same lines.

Being sick (1st trimester), insanely busy, and even on crutches for a while (stupid foot injury) I really hadn't kept up with anything at my house pretty much since Michael left in March. I'm generally not a very good housekeeper, but I'm never that bad. It feels really great right now bc my house is in great shape, everything to it's place, and all I have to do is keep up with it.

The best part? I actually feel good enough to keep up with it. Not to mention that I actually have the time.

So far it really does seem like Mike is going to continue to be deployed for the original 12 month timespan. I'm nothing but mixed feelings with all of this. Totally annoyed that the 6 month option ever even had to come up and get me all excited. Nervous to abandon my house for such a long period of time. Happy to be moving back to my parents' house where I will be surrounded with not just people but family. It's easy to get used to being alone, but you don't realize how hard it really is until you have people around and then they leave. But I adapt quickly.

I'm nervous for my dogs -- another huge change in their lives. I'm worried Mike won't be there for the birth of the baby... or worse yet... the baby will be late and on his 2 week r&r mike will only be able to see me as a 9 month pregnant miserable whale and not get to meet his baby...

In the end, though, I just have to believe that things will happen how they're meant to happen. As long as at the end of all of this Mike comes back from deployment safe and sound and we have a healthy baby it will all have been worth it.

It's a BOY by the way. Which is super exciting. Some of the family members seem to be a bit disappointed... since both my sister and mike's sister have 2 boys and no girls to be seen yet on either side of the family. We're happy, though.

I feel the baby move all the time now. It's awesome. I get nervous on the days when I don't feel the baby move as much. But that's suppposed to be normal, soo....

Tomorrow the teachers at my school are throwing me a little baby shower. My belly growth is slow but sure. You get used to the movies where one day the mom's belly is flat and the next day she has the belly of a 7 month pregnant woman. You don't see the inbetween stage. The stage where people look at you for a moment and you can hear them wondering, "is that lady pregnant... or does she just have a round gut?" that's the stage I've been in for quite some time now, and though I'm ready to leave it behind I'm also seriously concerned about getting stretch marks so maybe this bigger/but not quite big enough to be obvious belly is ok with me for now.

ahhh.

so I really must get the heck off of this computer because I am sure the more I write the crazier I seem. Yes. my mind is ALL OVER THE PLACE.

But I'm happy.
I swear to you, I am.

working on a baby room

My parents arrived in San Diego last Tuesday and since arriving have created dramatic change in my house... in my tiny, tiny 1100 square foot house.

I didn't think it could be done, but my computer room has been completely emptied out and all the furniture in that room has been moved to my living room. The serving table that was in my living room is now in the kitchen. A dresser from my guest room has found its new home inside my bedroom. And my elliptical machine is now residing comfortably in the guest room. Who knew my tiny house had all of this room for shifting furniture? I sure didn't. All that and we only had one furniture casualty - a chaise lounger that I was not at all sorry to say goodbye to and that was picked up off of my sidewalk after only 20 minutes or so thanks to a little sign attached to it that said FREE.

My dad worked hard cleaning the carpets in both my bedroom and the baby's room and painting the baby's room a pale green. I desperately wanted a white crib and changing table, but alas it was not to be. I did find some white cribs but they either cost over $300 or they were not to my taste whatsoever. Finally, I went with the style of crib I loved and opted for a cinnamon wood color instead. It is very pretty and it brings out the pale green of the walls.

We're waiting until July 9 when we find out the sex of the baby to put the finishing touches on the room, so I will wait to post pictures until it is all set.

However, I can tell you that my plan is that if it's a girl the accent color will be a pale purple and if it's a boy the accent color will be a deep brown.

I am very excited.

I am also excited about the fact that my belly has grown significantly just in the last week or so. On Saturday I will be 19 weeks pregnant which according to the pregnancy calendars is the start of my 5th month of pregnancy. 5 months?! Holy Cow time is flying by! (and I don't mind one bit!)

Stay tuned for pictures later, but for now I just thought I'd stop in and let you know what I've been up to.

that's more like it

la la la la la la la.
now that's more like it.

I awoke to an email from Mike this morning... it went a little something like this:

"bad news. It might be a year. (random marine group) is fighting it. it's an ongoing battle. so you should plan to move East for now."

That sounds more like the marine corps I know and.... know.

I guess I'm just not going to hold my breath either way. I hope he comes home early. I'm annoyed, because I had been all set for a year and now have hopes for shorter. such is life, though.

onward I go...

good news... i think!

So here's the latest...

apparently, Mike has a replacement. apparently, the marine corps might do to mike's year depoloyment that which is basically unheard of: cut it short. turn it into a 7 month deployment. wow.

I mean. I can't say that it is a total shock. Going into the deployment the goal of his command was to bring everyone home after 6 or 7 months. They told us not to count on it. They assured us that replacements were few and far between - difficult to find.

Despite what you may think, the marine corps doesn't actually want their marines deployed for an entire year. They are actually aware of how much of a strain this is for the marines and their families. But really? How often do you hear that a deployment has been cut short? You hear about extended deployments. all. the. time. But shortened deployments? no ma'am. I've never heard of one. ever.

So that's the news. He apparently has a replacement and will probably be coming home October-ish (we think). But that's all we know. It hasn't yet been set in stone. There is not a definite return date. It's all still a little bit too much up in the air for my taste.

But I'm trying to be patient.

Because..... I mean it's good news. I can wait a little longer to get more clarification on this good news. For now, I will just have to be content with this news and not freak out about it too much.

However, here's the thing. There's this other little human involved in this whole military life now and things aren't as easy as they were before. My plan was to move back to the East Coast at the end of this summer and be there until Mike's return in March. Now that Mike will probably be back in October, aka before the baby is born!, it doesn't sound like moving to the East Coast is such a great plan any more.

We need to know for sure, though. We need to know for sure that Mike is coming back early and for sure that he will be here before the baby is born. We need to know these "for sures" so that I can make plans for our baby.

I guess I just have to make a couple of plans and go with the one that seems to make the most sense when it's time for action. I wasn't planning to move until the end of August anyway, so we have a couple of months to figure all of this out. I am doing my best to be patient. It is not easy. I'm managing, though.

In any case, the idea of Mike for sure being here when I go to the hospital to deliver? Priceless. So, I suppose I can take a little uncertainty for a little while if the end result is him being here for that very important day.

Until then......
pray for my sanity... and mike's early return from Afghanistan.