Four Things Meme

From Emma:

Four places I go over and over:

• Library
• Target
• Outside to play
• Mass

Four people who e-mail me (regularly):

• Emma
• Kat
• Mom
• My sister

Four places I would rather be right now:

• Amazon.com's Book Warehouse with an unlimited budget
• Wegmans
• The gym
• Angels Camp, CA

Four TV shows/programs that I watch over and over:

• Friends
• Mad About You
• Masterpiece Theater
• Weather reports

Four things I have for breakfast:

• Eggs
• Yogurt
• Toast with Peanut Butter
• V-8

Four animals I like best:

• Cats
• Lions
• Kangaroos
• Penguins

Four beaches I’ve been to:

• Sylvan Beach, NY (barely counts, ha!)
• Bougainvillea Beach Resort, Barbados
• Somewhere near San Francisco
• Somewhere in Rhode Island (I was about eight)

I live right on Lake Ontario, yet have not gone to a "beach" here yet. Maybe next summer!

Labor Day Meme

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer has posted a Labor Day Meme. If it applies, please participate! Let's all relive the fun...for me, my latest was just over a month ago!

How long were your labors?

1. DS1 was less than 10 hours. Water broke at 7:15 PM and he was born at 4:55 AM.
2. DS2 was 15.25 hours. Water broke at 2:45 PM and he was born at 6:03 AM.

How did you know you were in labor?

My water broke. Out of nowhere with both boys. Just like on TV-- huge gush. Both times I was lying in bed reading.

Contractions started 2.5 hours later the first time (with active labor, transition, and delivery lasting 4.5 hours) and over 10 hours later for DS2 (with active labor and delivery lasting just under five hours).

I had my midwife a little concerned with baby #2. In NYS, if your labor hasn't started 18 hours after your water breaks, you MUST have IV antibiotics for Group B Strep and you MUST deliver within 24 hours or so. (Of course, if you homebirth or just don't contact your care provider what can they do?) Based on my experience this time, I fully intend to NOT get in touch until contractions start, especially if the fluid is clear and there's no sign of distress. This baby was having a grand old time in there, rolling around and kicking merrily away until things got moving after 1 AM.

Where did you deliver?

Typical Labor and Delivery Unit the first time. Okay experience.

Hospital Birthplace second time-- three bed unit (I was the only one there during my stay), LDR all in one room/one bed. Let you leave, come back, eat, where what you want, labor how you like, deliver in any position, early discharge. As close to a homebirth as my husband will let me get. It was phenomenal. Labor was actually pretty fun.

Drugs?

Nope. One word: water. Works wonders, especially for those of us blessed with back labor.

I agree with Emma. Recovery is sooo speedy drug-free. I felt great immediately after birth-- totally like myself again. (Of course now I'm a sleep deprived, milky mess.)

C-section?

No, praise the Lord.

Who delivered?

Me! A doctor attended our first, and my beloved midwife the second.

Tagged

Emma tagged her readers:

What I was doing 10 years ago:

Homeschooling, playing my flute, and dancing.

Five things on my To Do List today (since it's so late, here's part of tomorrow's list):

1. Laundry: finish bedding, diapers, DS’s clothes
2. Make yogurt
3. Exercise
4. Tissue paper collage with DS
5. Nap!

Snacks I enjoy:

Cheez-Its (so bad but oh-so-good)
Water
Empire Apples
Oatmeal Muffins

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

I would pay off our mortgage first. Then I would set up trust funds for our children and make sure ours and our family's retirement was secure. Invest some, donate more.

Five places I have visited:

Washington, D.C.
Central/Northern California
Barbados
Montreal
Iowa

Five jobs I have had:

Tour Guide
Resident Assistant
Library Clerk
Teacher/Librarian
Mother

Six Unimportant Things Meme

Earlier in the week Emma tagged me for this meme.

The rules for this meme are: (1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

This was really hard. I'm just not very exciting.

1. I hate ladybugs.
2. I almost always make supper first thing in the morning. As in: make DS his egg then cook in my pajamas. In the winter, it helps warm up our cold house, and in the summer it's nice to have it done before it's too hot out.
3. I have a secret desire to rid my house of every belonging we own and live in glorious empty spaces with one spoon and bowl each and only one change of underwear. (Okay, maybe not quite that drastic, but close!)
4. I almost never leave the house if there's any hint of poor weather. Since I live in snow country, this means I don't get out much six months of the year.
5. In a strange contradiction, though, I enjoy walking in the rain (when it's warmish).
6. I wear my comfy robe over my clothes almost every day during the winter. Our house is cold, yes, but it's a very comfortable article!

Since this Meme has made the rounds, I'm going to break the rules and not tag a soul. Unless you read this and feel like sharing, then feel free.

My Privileges

My Privileges

A very interesting meme.

From What Privileges Do You Have?, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.

Bold the true statements.

1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child [kid’s work is original!]
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
25. You had your own room as a child
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family


Puts things in perspective! I always considered my childhood fairly "average." Though I've always thought the world of my parents and what they did for my sister and I, I'm even more thankful now.

Five Things I Love about Jesus

Mayogi tagged me for this Meme.

Here are the Rules:

• Those tagged will share 5 things they "dig" about Jesus.
• Those tagged will tag 5 other bloggers.
• Those tagged will provide a link in the comments section here with their name so that others can read them.
  

I'm not crazy about the name of the tag (I "dig" Jesus), so I'm going to say five things I love about Jesus. This was really hard because I can think of so many things, but here's what came to mind first.

5 Things I Love about Jesus:

• Enduring death on the Cross to redeem mankind.
• The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
• His Church.
• He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
• Though we may turn our backs on Him, He never turns His back on us and will always welcome us home again.

I tag: Emma (when she's done moving!), Chrissy, KitKat, Erika S., and Mimi.

Random Meme

I was tagged by Kat for this. It seems to be the week of the Memes!

Here's how to play...

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names

1. I cannot own just PART of a series, whether it be books, movies/TV shows, or even toys. I also like each part of the series to look the same. A few examples:

• Pamela Aiden wrote a trilogy of books focusing on Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's perspective. I bought the first two when they were first published, then there was a large gap before the third was. Evidently it was a small edition, and went out of print quickly, and I never managed to locate a copy. In the meantime, sequels, etc. to P&P took off, and the entire series was reissued by a major publishing house with different covers, design, and size. I bought the third one since I already owned the first two and NEEDED to have the third, but it physically pains me that the editions are different. It is taking all my self control not to purchase one and two again so they match.
• The baby was a toy from Fisher-Prices line called "Amazing Animals." We bought the "starter" toy, and as I can find them, I'm adding the others to our collection.

Yes, this is a serious problem. I dunno; guess I like things complete. The flip side is that I make sure I really like something and I'm committed to it before purchasing!

2. I bite my nails. This is mostly related to stress, but I only bite them in the shower. Aren't showers supposed to be relaxing?

3. I'm addicted to peanut butter. No matter the form, I'll eat it.

4. I'm not as fond of peanuts, though.

5. I'm fairly thrifty except when it comes to areas such as #1. I'm also not a huge fan of waiting until sales to buy clothes. If I'm lucky enough to find something in my size and it fits, I'll buy it.

6. I sometimes wear an old pair of pointe shoes around the house.

7. Lilacs are my favorite flower.

8. I didn't get my driver's license until a few days before my 19th birthday.

Rather than tag 8 specific people, I'm going to break the rules and say, if you have the time and inclination, go for it!

Literary Meme

Emma tagged me for this one!

How it works:

1. Grab the book closest to you
2. Open it to page 161
3. Find the fifth full sentence
4. Post the text of the sentence to your blog
5. Don't search around for the coolest book you have, use the one that is really next to you.
6. Tag five people to do this meme.

The book on the top of my pile at my desk is Mexico, Mother of Towns.

Here's the fifth sentence on page 161:

"At this point listen to Sally Smith Davis as she tells their story: 'Mr. Calvin Tiffany, his wife, and one child, Rufus, myself and husband started from Hartford Connecticut the last week in January 1799 to come to this country.'" (Punctuation original, just so nobody thinks I've forgotten basic grammar!)

I tag:

1. Kat
2. KitKat
3. Chrissy
4. Erika S.
5. PrairieFlower

I'm always interested to see what people are reading!