A driving first

We were driving today. Nothing unusual with that. But then a red car pulled beside us at a stop light. Still nothing weird. Nothing weird until I noticed he was brushing his teeth. Full on, scrubbing his pearly whites. He continued even when the light turned green.

I've never seen that before. Air drumming check. Lipstick applying check. New one to my list: tooth brushing.

a marriage first

What is the first movie you can picture Anthony Edwards in?

I'll give you a second to think about it...

OK , if you said "Big Zapper" you cheated, and used IMDB.

If you thought "Fast times at Ridgemont High"... really??... REALLY??!... he had such a bit part.

No, no... if you thought to yourself... Revenge of the Nerds... NOW I believe you.

Wasn't that a GREAT movie? 1984 it came out... I can't even think about counting how many I've seen this movie. I'm sure at least once it included the HBO theme song... me running to ask Dad if it was OK to watch an R rated movie... probably waking him up to do so... him mumbling "what movie is it?" and then a sleepy reply of OK.

Remember Poindexter, Wormser, Takashi, Lamar... and who can forget Gilbert and Louis. WAIT, don't forget Booger... the king of all burpers. Great characters... great movie.

I've seen it a bunch... Lucas has seen it a bunch. We quote the movie, reflect over memorable scenes... but we had NEVER seen the movie TOGETHER!

That is until two nights ago when we were both suffering from some insomnia. Guess what movie came on at 0200... on HBO? You're right... You're no dummy... it was Revenge of the Nerds... Not one of the stupid sequels... the ORIGINAL.

We of course watched the entire thing... reflecting, laughing, remembering... what a great flick... even 24 years later!

I am a nerd. Lucas reminds me of this weekly... Lucas is also a nerd, but he's a closet nerd... doesn't think the title fits him, but just ask him about planes or cooking... the title fits.

So, just remember as we nerds do Sudoku, the crosswords, read a book, play a game of scrabble or read airliners.net

"no-one's gonna really be free until nerd persecution ends."

They should have sent a poet

It was a beautiful day in Hillsboro... the sky was blue, it was almost 60 degrees... it was very "springy". Unfortunately, Lucas and I both worked tonight, so we slept away the beautiful day... no worries, there will be other sunshiny days.

Tonight on our way into work Lucas wanted an Iced Latte. As soon as he said it, my mouth began to water, a small tear welled up in my eye... I wanted an Iced Latte too. It has been MONTHS since I've had coffee... and an ICED latte, on this beautiful blue day seemed so perfect.

Let me pause here a moment... I agree that first trimester you shouldn't have caffeine. But after that, I'm really not opposed to coffee during pregnancy. Maybe not a pot a day, or even a cup a day... but some caffeine never hurt anyone. I, however, have not been drinking the nectar of the gods because once I drink it, my stomach curses me for hours. Since there are not enough Tums to make my stomach feel better sometimes...I have not had coffee in FOREVER!

Back to tonight. We were driving into work, and Lucas pulled into my favorite drive-thru coffee shop... Coffee Rush. He got his 16oz iced latte. I caved in and got a "baby" coffee. A 12oz, one shot iced latte. My first sip was everything I thought it should be. It was cold, on my lips. The coffee taste was perfectly balanced with the milk. All I could think of was when in "Contact", Jodi Foster quoted Carl Sagan: They should have sent a poet.

Words cannot describe how good this latte tasted. I won't even try. But it was heavenly.

I didn't even gulp it down. I savoured each sip through that pink straw.

I finished while were were stopped in rush hour traffic. Even the traffic didn't bother me... I was on cloud 9... or even a higher cloud if they make 'em higher.

Then it happened... right around the exit to the zoo... my stomach revolted. The acid built up. The lining started peeling away from its edges. I could not get to my Tums fast enough (yes, I am now that pregnant lady that carried Tums (the Berry variety) in her purse). I was in minor mysery.

I cannot say the perfect non-fat iced latte wasn't worth it. I still drool when I think of that perfect taste... but I will say that I don' think I'll be ordering another latte anytime soon. Unless I can get a non-fat Berry Tums latte... and well, that doesn't sound good at all!

To all the coffee drinkers out there... have one for me and baby Friedler.

by popular demand

You can see my pregnant belly. Officially the first day of my third trimester... it's gone both fast and slow. It seems like forever ago Lucas and I were in Europe (where we found out), but June seems so soon!

Weekend Statistics

This past weekend we joined our friends Sara and John, and Jennifer and Heather for the Newport Seafood and Wine festival. We drove down on Friday, and then home on Sunday. We had a great time. Here are some fun facts from the weekend:

• Close estimate of Oysters ate by entire group (excluding myself)- 200
• Close estimate of oysters eaten by Lucas- 75
• The best food at the festival (my own opinion)- crab melt (ate two and a half... I had to make up for all the oysters I wasn't eating)
  
• Number of bottles of wine bought by entire group- 14
• Number of bottles of wine bought by us- 5
• Time that our hotel stops serving food in the bar: 9:00pm
  
• Amount of money spent at Taco Bell (5 drunk people, one pregnant one)- $57.79
• Amount of money the 6 of us spent on Sushi- $260
• Approximate number of pieces of sushi $260 will get you: 110
  
• Number of pieces of sushi left after we gorged- 3
• Number of hours until I was hungry again- 10
  

Overall, a very fun weekend. I can't wait until next year when I'll be able to drink some too!

I am my mother's daughter

We decided to turn our "guest room" into the baby's room. By guest room, I mean it did have a queen sized bed, and Jill will attest that it did work for sleep. But I also doubled for our storage room for the past 5 years. So whenever we needed to use the room for a guest room, the large amount of junk and prized possessions moved from the bed to the closet, the floor, under the bed, or anywhere else in the room, so that our guest could sleep in the bed.

So, one weekend, two truck loads of stuff to Good Will... and a few storage bins packed with stuff sent to our garage, we had a clear and clean room... the carpet is BEAUTIFUL... (amazing how clean it can stay if there is a layer-o-stuff on top of it!!)

So, the next step... decoration. We bought a very cute border from Baby's R US that matches our bedding... It said it was easy to install... but knowing the story of mom and dad putting up wallpaper, I knew that even though it SAID it was easy... not to believe it!

So Lucas and I got to work... we washed the walls, and set up our supplies... water, straight razor, cardboard, level, towels... and we brought our patience too.

The first 6 feet almost caused divorce... it was not easy, it wasn't even close to easy! Making the dang stuff stick to the wall... in an even line... quite challenging. We almost gave up... does little Baby Friedler really want borders!!??

But we tried again... we cut the next piece... I was in charge of aligning the seams...

Let me stop here a moment... I am not a perfectionist. That's my mom. I am not super anal when it comes to straight versus crooked... matching things perfectly again... that's my mom....

But when it came to aligning those seems... with its little green gingham pattern... my "mom's genes" came through... it was PERFECT... little white square to little white square... little green square to little green square... you can't even tell there IS a seam... except by feel! YUP... I may have patience with knot's from my dad... but I have wallpaper perfectionism from my mom!

Mom v. Dad

Let's start this story with a little preface. I just finished working seven nights in a row... call it greed, stupidity, or poor planning... but I survived (just like Gloria Gainer said I would). Lucas also did a seven night stretch, he also survived.

Lucas and I carpool into work. It's a little awkward, since I start at 1800 and he starts at 1900, but it works. I have gotten into the habit of taking my knitting to work with me, so that when I clock out at 0630, I just knit for the hour until he comes and gets me. I works nicely. And we save some money on gas, and the environment one trip to work at a time.

After working night number six, I started a new package of yarn. The theory goes, grab the innards out of the skein, and it will not tangle. Although this theory has worked in the past, on this beautiful blue skein, it FAILED miserably. I soon had about a 5 foot stretch of yarn tangled into a big mess. I tried to untangle it at work. I worked on it for about 15 minutes, I am sure making it worse than it started. I was VERY tired. I was about to just cut out the big knot, when a co-worker suggested I try again when I wasn't so tired.

The Knot sat in my bag two days.

So today, after I actually slept, I tried again.

The Knot reminded me of tangled necklaces which my mom would give to my dad to untangle. He has endless patience. The Knot also reminded me of times when a comb or brush would get caught in our hair growing up. My mom would either just cut it out, or drive us to dad's office for him to untangle it. Again, he has endless patience.

So, there I was, on the couch, with my 5 feet of tangled, knotted yarn.

On one shoulder was my dad "just work on it, it will come out just have PATIENCE"

On the other shoulder was my mom "just cut it out, it will be faster, then you can start knitting again"

Cut... patience... cut... patience... cut... patience...

Five minutes passed... I couldn't tell if I was making it better or worse.

FINALLY a breakthrough... I saw the path to un-tangle-ness. I worked for about 10 more minutes. Finally my dad's voice coming through... yes PATIENCE prevailed! (or you could call it stubbornness) I beat the Knot. I won.

Yes, today I show yet again I am my dad's daughter.

(I think this also counts as passing Yarn-ology class 104. Just one more step into my yarn-ology master.)