Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Nice visit from Doug & Myla

This past weekend, Bobby's brother and sis-in-law came by to visit us here in Tulsa. Unfortunately, it rained both days! We were able to catch a basketball game on Saturday - University of Tulsa vs. UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso). Tulsa was not playing very well and the fans were yelling at the referees for some bad calls. Within the last 5 minutes of the game, fans were already starting to trickle out of the stadium. It was a terrible sight to see!
During this trip, Doug & Myla taught us how to play a card game called Euchre. It was tough at first but I think I finally got the gist of it on the second night!
As for the guest bathroom - I only got as far as primer. By the way, seal first - then even out with plaster and sanding, then primer! And I couldn't get behind the toilet so looks like I'll need to take the water tank off to seal and prime that area. I may take a little break first though before getting back to fixing the bathroom!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Third Trimester - 27 weeks!

This is the home stretch! So far, I've gained 20lbs and there's still 3 more months to go!
In the meantime, it's been 8 months since my hair buzz for charity. I can actually tie my hair up in a little baby pony tail now :-)

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Guest bathroom update

The guest bathroom is coming together very slooooooowly. I was trying to clean the stains in the shower enclosure but these stains seems to be completely stained into the fiberglass. Then, I was attempting to change the shower control and the sink faucet but that didn't happen either. It seems more complicated than it had originally looked.
So after finally pulling off all the wallpaper (by the way, the trick is to use a steam iron! Obviously too late according to Bobby)... I started to plaster the wall where the brown paper/wall was coming through. Needless to say it was the wrong step. The brown paper was bubbling through the plaster! So after a day of sanding yesterday (what a mess!) the walls do look better. I will be sealing today, which was suppose to be the FIRST step and then priming and hopefully I'll have enough time to paint before Bob's brother and sis-in-law show up this Friday night! Will post pics if and when I'm done! I suppose if I didn't sleep so much, it would be done :-)

Monday, February 15, 2010

Nice weekend - Valentine's & Chinese New Year

My weekend actually started very nicely on Friday - when a package arrived on the front steps. Thanks to a very AWESOME friend, the box said "Graeter's" on it. Yup... Graeter's ice cream - shipped all the way from Cincinnati!!! My first taste of Graeter's ice cream was last year when I was in Cincinnati during the Futures Tour event.
There are a total of 6 pints of ice cream, packed in dry ice - two of which is the popular flavor of Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip. YUM!!! Bobby had never heard of this ice-cream brand but he is obviously now very familiar with it. He's been devouring the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip!
Saturday's weather was warm enough for Bobby and I to go out and play some golf. I was 3-down after 3 holes! I should have known it would have been a tough day when I shanked my first wedge shot during my warm-up on the driving range! By the end of 9 holes, I was 2-down, although I did earn myself a lobster dinner when I got it up-and-down from the bunker on #17 (we started on #10). Yay! Things were not looking any better when we made the turn. I shanked another wedge shot on #3. Bobby and I did have $20 bets in between but finally, on the last hole... with the temperature was dropping, I told Bobby that if I made par on the long Par 4, I would earn myself $40. And sure enough, despite losing my match 4 down, I ended the day with a lobster dinner and $40 richer! :-)
On Sunday/Valentine's Day - Bobby and I both exchanged cards and Bobby surprised me with a gift! I love his originality in wrapping the gift. I later found out that he had forgotten to put the bow on it when I found the bow in the plastic bag today. Anyhow, I love my gift! It's a recipe book holder. I've been wanting one for a while now and I guess bobby got the hint! I've been wanting to get a rug for the dining room and also a gas stove too... hmm... guess I need to work harder on those hints! I am trying to save for the rug and have obviously added $40 to my collection!
This past Sunday was also the first day of Chinese New Year - year of the Tiger. Mom would have been 60 this year. Sis is born in the year of the Tiger too and looks like we're adding another Tiger to the family - with our little boy! No dumplings or long noodles yet to celebrate the new year. Thankfully Chinese New Year goes on for 15 days, so I have 13 more days starting tomorrow to at least make some dumplings!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Professor Robert Pridgen!

Drumroll, please.... Put your hands together, for our new professor in the Pridgen-Lee household... Professor Robert Pridgen!!!!
Yup, believe it or not, Bobby is now a Professor at Rutgers University! Well, an adjunct professor to be exact, but of course, a professor nonetheless! He was so excited when his offer letter came in the mail yesterday, with the word "Professor" next to his name :-)
For the past 3 years now, in early Spring, Bobby would travel to Rutgers University in New Jersey to teach a 1/2-day class on International Business. His focus is mainly on China since he had worked and lived there one point in his life (For those that didn't know, that's where Bobby and I met - in Beijing - during a golf tournament). Anyhow, guess he must have been doing an excellent job and made a really good impression on the Dean! Needless to say, he is taking the Dean up on his offer of professorship... and I have to say, the money ain't bad either! More spending money for me! Yay! Did I say that out loud???
Honey... I'm truly proud of you! Really am!!! :-x

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wall art in baby's room done!

Finally... after days of drawing and painting (and double painting!), the baby's room is done!
The walls were originally the darker beige color and we decided to paint half of it a baby blue. How did boys end up with "owning" the blue color anyway???
Anyhow, the idea of the "Forest" theme came about when I saw a really cool print on a lace panel in a magazine. It's called the Rabbit Hollow Lace Panel. With no real chance of owning them, I figured why not draw them on the wall instead!
I started with the rabbit and a few trees and a bird... and ended up with Bobby's request of a monkey! He is really getting into the monkey that was in the movie "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs". STEVE! The monkey was not part of the panels but I think it turned out pretty well! :-)
And last night, Bobby came home with a baby teether in the shape of, yes - you guessed it - a MONKEY!
On another note, I'm actually sitting in the waiting room of a medical lab right now - waiting for my 4th and thankfully final blood draw! My first glucose test taken this past Monday was high so now I have to go through an extended version of it. I haven't eaten since 10pm last night and I'm really surprised the baby isn't complaining! He's probably on a sugar high from the glucose drink I had to take at 9:20 this morning. My right arm is a little bruised now, probably because the other technician missed my vein. We've moved on to my left arm now and it's already feeling quite sore. Well, hopefully by the end of the day, the results will be what we want to hear. I don't want to see another needle! :-s

Monday, February 8, 2010

Bobby feeling baby kick for the first time...

... priceless!!! Last Saturday, Bobby and I were watching a movie at home and the baby was busy kicking in my belly. So I told Bobby to put his hands on my belly. I've tried to have him feel the baby kick a few times now but every time he has his hands on my belly, the baby goes quiet. But this time, just as I said "it might take a while", the baby kicked! And Bobby took both his hands off my belly and had this look of astonishment on his face like "wooooaaaaaaAHHHH..!!!". It was so funny that I laughed so hard I was crying. Tears of joy, of course. Bobby finally experienced a little bit of what I've been feeling these past couple of months.
And at 26 weeks of my pregnancy, the doctor's appointment went well today. Again, we just heard the baby's heartbeat through a heart monitor. We could hear the baby busy moving around as well in my belly. Our next ultrasound will be at our next appointment - first week of March. After that, our monthly appointments will become bi-weekly appointments. We'll be signing up for childbirth education classes too. We're getting closer! :-)

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Hot water back on!!!

The pilot light of our water heater hasn't been staying on these past few days/nights. Bobby was not a happy man when he came home after the gym a couple of days ago, only to walk into a cold shower! Thankfully Bobby was able to relight the pilot light a couple of times, so I was still able to take a somewhat lukewarm shower. We sure take those hot showers for granted! The serviceman did come by this morning and replaced the gas valve - so hopefully that will solve our hot water crisis! The reviews on the internet of our water heater model/manufacturer was not a good one!
We actually had a problem with our furnace prior to our Malaysia/New Zealand vacation. And of course, it had to happen on a weekend! To save cost, we decided to wait till the next business day - being Monday and being our date of departure for our vacation! Thankfully the serviceman arrived earlier in the day as promised and was done with the job in less than 10 minutes! I can only imagine seeing icicles in the house when returning from our trip. Haha!
Can't believe that we've been in this house for almost 1 year now. And we've yet to have our house-warming party! Eventually.... someday... it will happen ;-)

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I shall name you...

STEVE!!! Ok, I guess that was an inside joke between me and Bobby... but if you've watched the cartoon "Cloudy with a chance of meatball", you just might get it :-)
So what do you think of my snowman??? The "mound" looked so pathetic when I came home from grocery shopping yesterday so I thought I'd finish my masterpiece. A head, couple of twigs for his arms, baby twigs inserted into his head for eyes, another twig for his mouth, and of course, some fresh pine needles as his hair piece! I think he looks great! And quite funny too - I couldn't stop laughing when I got done! Hehe! Well, at least Bobby upgraded him from a snow "mound" to a snow "goblin". I think he looks very cute, especially with those 3 big buttons. How very classy! ;-)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Winter Wonderland!

So after all that ice, we had about 8" of snowfall that same (Friday) night! Remember that icicle on the shrub...? Well, this is what it ended up looking like!
Everything is starting to melt now. There is a constant dripping sound around the house - like rain. Almost all of the ice has melted off the tree branches and thankfully no other damage has been done to the trees. Oh, the pine tree in the backyard by the creek did lose a branch as well.
Here's a closer look at all that ice and snow!
A view of the back of the house:The deers coming back to feed:
And guess who I spotted today up in it's nest! I guess they didn't migrate south for the winter! (The other hawk was further up in the branches on that same tree)
My attempt at building at snowman... or what Bobby referred to as my snow "mound". The snow was too powdery! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! :-P
And finally, here's a pic of the little creek at the back of the house. Looks so pretty with all the snow!

Since there was no golf to be played on Saturday, we decided to go out and do something. We've been wanting to watch Avatar in 3-D for the longest time and so after checking the times online, it finally looked like there were some open seats! The IMAX version had been sold out since the movie first came out! But by the time we got to the theater, the tickets were sold out! We couldn't believe all the people that were out on the road despite the road conditions - especially after seeing about 4 accidents on the freeway on the way to the movie theater!
Anyhow, we ended up going to Babies "R" Us to update our baby registry and after that, off to the mall. Bobby wanted to get a new frying pan but after some convincing, we walked out with a brand new set of pots and pans! I'm so happy! The old pots and pans have been with me since the first week of college... that's 16 years of service!!!
Here's Bobby (pic below) making our lunch on Sunday (and telling me to get out of the way!). We bought a new cookbook recently called The Pioneer Woman Cooks - the Pioneer woman being Ree Drummond. The recipes so far have been easy to follow and yes, yummy!!! The blueberry cobbler especially is delicious! I don't think I can pay for another one at a restaurant!And what's that you see? YES!!! I finally have my first KitchenAid mixer! I told Bobby that EVERY kitchen needs one. And he's like... why not this other brand? It's half the price! And I said nope! It has to be a KitchenAid! So after contemplating for the longest time, we finally bought one before leaving for vacation last Christmas. The prices kept coming down and it was too good to pass up! Thanks, honey!!! :-) I LOOOOOOOOVE YOU! :-x