Quoted!

"They quoted me! They quoted me!" I screamed laughter erupting in my voice. "I called National Geographic 'drivel' on national TV." More exciting than that is the fact that ABC news teams read and reacted to my writing! As a budding writer, this is very exciting. Who needs to get published? Charles Gibson has already read my work! Hahahahahahahahah Well, I won't go that far.

Blech

To answer your question, no I don't feel well. I've been sick with all those delightful pregnancy woes since before I knew I was pregnant. Some days are okay, others are dreadful. The only things that seem to help are guava juice, hot & sour soup and candy canes. So you can imagine what I've been eating.

The due date is July 19, but that's going to change being this one will arrive via C-Section and that's a Saturday. I haven't a gut feeling if it's a girl or a boy. From the time Adam was conceived, I knew he was a boy. But with this one, it's anyone's guess. Some days I think it's a girl, others a boy. So we'll see come March-ish.

Other than feeling awful, I've just been getting ready for Christmas. I finished my shopping at 4am on Black Friday which was a lot of fun. Mom and I saw a lot of my friends and had a good time. By 7am we were back home in bed and visions of deals danced through our heads. Woah, where'd that come from? Somewhere in August I decided to make Christmas presents, so I still have a couple to finish, but as for stores, I'm done. Honestly, had I known I'd end up pregnant, I would have forgone the homemade idea and gone shopping. But it's fun.

Well, that's all the news to report.

October's Over

I flipped the calendar today and nearly passed out. November. How can that be? Didn't we just celebrate Christmas and now it's nearly here again. Since there's only 60 days left in the year, I'm wondering where my time has gone.

Now that fall is here -- and close to half over -- the sweat-inducing work that is my garden has come to an end. We winterized our yard two week-ends ago even though we haven't had a hint of snow yet. Speaking of my garden, it turned out to be pretty productive. I had more cucumbers and tomatoes than I knew what to do with and most of the tomatoes were green, a result of my late planting. But, that's okay we had fried green tomatoes a few times and the rest I forced to ripen. There was also an abundance of banana peppers, cilantro and basil. But I ran out of time to pickle and can. The most exciting harvest was definitely the pumpkins and gourds. Now that I have some experience, I am ready to plant earlier in the season and with greater confidence.

MOPS is also keeping me busy. I'm on Steering for MOPS serving as Publicity Chairperson and also acting as co-coordinator. Our group is new but we already have 20 moms registered. Very exciting!

The one question we always get since our move is: how's the weather? I like to say we're two-stepping our way into winter. Yesterday it was 76 and today it barely made 56. I'm finally understanding why the weather is such big news up here: it changes constantly! At noon today, a high wind advisory was issued but it was completely still. By 2:30pm however the winds were gusting and bursting enough to blow things through our yard. It's raining tonight and who knows what morning will bring.

The other question I get is about my writing. Yes, I'm writing! Mostly for our MOPS newsletter, but still I'm writing. I've been working on a book idea for a few months now, just here and there, as I get time. Busy but not discouraged I'd say.

So that's the news at 8. Tomorrow is Halloween. Adam is so excited to wear his pirate costume to school. Need I say more?

Still like it?

So, now that we've been here a year, the question du jour is "Do you still like ND?" This is usually followed by "Are you still glad you moved?" I speak for all of us when I say, "YES!" Personally, I love it here more every day. It's not without its problems, namely 50 mph winds and biting flies, but in the scheme of things, those are minor. I love everything else about it here and the rest of the family does too. Honestly, I can't think of ever leaving ND. It just feels like home.

Still Happy!

Last night, I went out with friends and as we wandered the aisles of the new TJ Maxx, I thought, "How blessed am I!" Here I am in North Dakota, land of my ancestors, hanging out with two friends who are so much like me. By the time we got home, my cheeks hurt from laughing and I was ready to face another day of mommyhood. Not that I was having a rough time, but it's good to recharge.

A lot of folks ask me if I still like it here and if I'm keeping busy. Yes! I've never been happier in my life. As for keeping busy, my family collectively refers to me as the Socialite. There's MOPs, Republican Women, Avon, story times, play groups, and Bunko to fill up my days. As if that's not enough, I just got my ND license to practice massage and I'm a co-coordinator of a new MOPs group starting this fall. God's blessed me with inspiration and time to write, so I'm working on a few projects. In the meantime, I'm planning my vegetable garden and compiling a recipe book.

Stay-at-home mom

Well, I'm wrapping up my first month of full-time "stay-at-home mom" status. Though I haven't worked (at a job) since we got here, Scott was home too so I never really felt like a "stay-at-home mom". The days have gone fast but it's hard to believe February is over.

Mostly I spend my days the same way. Get up, do some household chores, send Scott off to work, feed Adam and Castle, take a shower and start my day. I usually go for a walk with my mom and Adam, maybe run a few errands and then come home. Adam loves to go to the library (so do I) so we go there twice a week to check-out books and videos and play with their puzzles. Sometimes we have friends over or sometimes we go to a friend's house. While Adam naps, I write or work on projects and then we make dinner. It's actually pretty nice and I can't remember what it was like to go to work. Our house is clean, the laundry is done and I'm making a dent on projects. And Adam seems really happy to have my full attention.

I'm working on a new writing project on transplants. A transplant is someone who moved to ND from some other state. There's quite a few transplants in my group of friends. Their home-states include Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon, DC, Florida and California.

Well, today it's yucky outside. We've been on blizzard watch since yesterday but the storm is petering out. Folks up in the Grand Forks area (5 hours north-east of Bismarck) were hit hard with two feet of snow. I think we've gotten six or seven inches. We were supposed to get a foot, but that didn't happen. And come Sunday we should be on a warming trend with temps in the 40s. I'm amazed at how well I've handled the cold and snow. If you know me, you know that I hate being cold. Hate it! But, I've done really well at adjusting up here. There have only been a few times that I've been cold enough to complain about it but I really hate the dry skin and static electricity. I'm shocking myself all the time and no kidding I have dead skin falling off my legs and feet! Yuck! It's so dry up here that people walk around scratching their snake-skin. Spring is around the corner though, and I'm eager to see my tulips and hyacinths bloom.

Snow Angels

A couple of folks have emailed to ask about the Snow Angel Record breaking attempt, so I thought I'd tell you about it.

In 2002, Bismarck established the snow angel record with 1,791 people simultaneously making snow angels on the Capitol grounds. The record stuck despite a few attempts from NY residents to break it until 2006 when Houghton, MI broke it with 3,784 people. So, the goal was to have 5,000 people at the state capitol here in Bismarck to break the record.

Adam and I went since Scott was working and met up with some friends there. I foolishly thought that we'd have time to register then visit the Heritage Center before making snow angels. But when we pulled into the capitol grounds, I realized I had been crazy! We parked and hiked up the hill (yes there are hills in Bismarck) to the Heritage Center where we registered with a volunteer dressed as an angel. There was hot cocoa and cookies for sale as well as snow angel t-shirts. I wisely didn't bring my purse.

Promptly at 1pm, all 8,911 of us dropped into the powdery snow and flapped our arms and legs. The official count is supposed to be released this week by the Guinness Book of Records, but the event organizer gave the count as 8,911. Governor and Mrs. Hoeven were both there as was a lady celebrating her 99th birthday. Evidently the story made national news and even the big papers. I forgot my camera but here are some photos taken from atop the capitol building:

Notice the clever folks dressed in red forming a cross? Bismarck people are so cool! Adam and I are somewhere in the blurry whiteness towards the top of the smaller picture. The funny thing? For a few minutes, the capitol lawn was the 10th largest population center in ND!