Sharing The Joy

Within a span of several weeks, I now know of eight other people who is due to give birth between November 2008 to February 2009. Four of those eight are coworkers from work, so needless to say, year-end will be a busy time for those not as fortunate to be on maternity or paternity leave. This is probably the most expectant parents announced at one time that I know of. I'm really excited that our baby will have so many playmates close to his/her age, but unfortunately, that also means more competition on the daycare wait list at work. Hopefully I beat some other people to the punch, but not likely since I've been dragging my feet on this (took the tour around the daycare almost a month ago), and I just submitted my application form and the $100 registration fee earlier this week. In any event, it's kind of cool to be able to share pregnancy stories with other moms-to-be going through similar experiences.

So... who's next???

Lancaster, PA

M and I had a good time at Lancaster this past weekend, although I am in a lot of pain now, reasons for which I will go into later. We started our day early on Friday morning, taking a drive down to Nottingham, PA to make it to the Herr's Snack Factory Tour, which I made reservations for at 11:00am. We took the scenic route with our trusty old-fashioned maps at hand and got there right on time... it took a lot longer than it should've (about three hours), but that's the price we pay for avoiding tolls, even if it means driving down local one-lane roads with lights for 100 miles. The tour was pretty interesting. Herr Foods is a family-owned business since the 1940s, and employs about 1,400 people at their factory. What I found really admirable is that they have a no-layoff policy... if someone's job got eliminated as a result of automation (or anything else), they'd find a new position for that person elsewhere in the company. It gives me a whole new respect for when I see their potato chips on the supermarket aisles now. At least this is one item that is truly still made in the USA.

We stayed at the E.J. Bowman House bed & breakfast, which I absolutely loved. This is probably one of the better B&B's we've been at, and was very reasonably priced. The owners, Alice and Murphey, are very friendly, and Murphey has a sarcastic sense of humor that can be interpreted as snide and rude if you didn't know better, but both were very helpful and knowledgeable in the town's history, things to do, and restaurant recommendations. Murphey also gave us a lesson on the differences between the Amish and the Mennonites. I'd probably stay there again if we were ever back in Lancaster.

On Saturday, we went downtown to the Central Market in Lancaster, but it was a bit disappointing. It didn't seem like anything actually came from a "farmer's market" so we ended up not getting anything. We walked around downtown for a bit, and came across the Heritage Cultural Museum. The sign "FREE" caught our eyes, and that was all the convincing we needed before going in. There was one floor dedicated to the history of the Amish, which I really enjoyed. I'm amazed at the simple lives these people lead, content with what they have, the constant focus and priority placed on family and their community... If only more people shared their values, we'd be in a more peaceful world.

After downtown Lancaster, we went to the town of Intercourse (M kept making fun of its name the whole drive there), where I did find my yummy mushrooms at the Intercourse Canning Company. But ironically, I ended up not getting it. It was kind of expensive, and I figured I can get something similar at BJ's for half the price. Besides, I'd rather maintain the memories I have of how good it tasted years ago; I'm sure if I had gotten the jar of mushrooms this past weekend, it would not have been as delicious as I remember it to be.

On our way back, we stopped for a game of mini-golf (our weekend trips are never complete without one). M must've been having a really off-day b/c his performance was lacking its usual luster... he even hit the ball into the middle of a pond at one point. There were no nets around to fish it out, so he had to go back to the main office and ask for another ball. He lost by so much that I felt bad and didn't even take advantage of my bragging rights. After our game of mini-golf, we spent the rest of Saturday outlet shopping. Sunday was more shopping (at another outlet) before the long drive home.

Now onto why I am in so much pain... I think pregnancy does make one more clumsy and injury-prone, as was demonstrated by my actions this past weekend. At the start of our mini-golf game, my foot took a misstep a couple of inches too far past concrete and landed on the grass lower than the ground we were on, almost resulting in a near accident. Then about five seconds later, as we were descending down some steps to our first hole, I placed my foot on a step that was uneven, and my flip flops went one way while my ankle twisted another way. Ouch! I couldn't move my ankle at that point. I did manage to hobble over to a nearby bench; M spent the next couple of minutes massaging it for me, and it felt better. I was able to get up and walk without limping, so I didn't think much of it until that night when we were having dinner. I looked down and saw that my ankle was twice its normal size, and the pain had started coming back. It got progressively worse throughout the night, and I kept waking up in the middle of the night b/c it hurt so much, but I just dealt with it.

That was the least of it. On Sunday, we stopped at Ruby Tuesday's for lunch before heading home. There was a small wait, so we went to plop ourselves down at the waiting area. I chose some booth-like seats by the window, and apparently, the actual seats were smaller than I had expected, b/c I went to sit my butt down full-force, and smacked right into the wooden window ledge. That hurt even more than the ankle! And that is the main reason why I am in so much pain right now. The foot seems to have gotten better after soaking it in Epsom salt last night, but my tailbone - that is one area that is hard to treat. I don't even know what I can do for it. The pain is constant... it hurts when I'm not moving, and it just hurts more when I do move. I heard that there was a special on Dateline where they said woman lose about 8% of their brain cells when they become pregnant. In my case, I'd be lucky if I still had 8% of my brain cells functioning!

Memories of June 18

June 18, 2005: On this very day three years ago, M and I entered into holy matrimony at the lovely Russo's On The Bay. It was a busy day, and everything happened so fast that most of the details are now a blur, but this was the one day that I could afford to overlook the details... because on this day, M and I made a vow to each other that precedes all else - to spend the rest of our lives together. And for that reason, and that reason alone, June 18 will always be a special day for us.

June 18, 2006: We spent our first year anniversary at the Finger Lakes in Skaneateles, NY. M surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers at the B&B we stayed at. The weekend was spent in the outdoors, visiting the Cayuga wine trails, taking a stroll in downtown Ithaca, and we even managed to go to service on Sunday morning at the First Baptist Church in Skaneateles.

June 18, 2007: For our second wedding anniversary, we went to Cape May, NJ. Unfortunately, M was sick this weekend, so much of our time was spent at the B&B resting. We did manage to fit in a game of mini-golf, take a stroll down at the beach, rent a surrey (those two-seater bikes), and visit the Cape May County Park & Zoo on our way back.

June 18, 2008: Unfortunately, today is a Wednesday, so here we are, slaving away at work (well, at least one of us is... I'm just blogging along). This year's anniversary trip will be to Lancaster, PA, home of the Amish. We were there many years ago, when I was still working for PwC and had a client in that area (M came to meet me for the weekend). I remember picking up the best jar of marinated mushrooms I've ever had at some Farmer's Market. Hopefully we will be able to find it again.

June 18, 2009 and onwards: Who knows what the future holds for us and how long we'll be able to continue these weekend trips? As we grow older, the aches and pains that ail our bodies become more real each day. And as we get ready for parenthood (yikes!), the worries we have will only be compounded by the second. But I just remind myself... "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." - Philippians 4:13

Achy E.

I feel achy all over today. I don't know why. It's not like I had a strenuous weekend or anything. Early Saturday morning, we took Pearl in for an oil change, then headed out to NY after that. We picked up EC in Chinatown (along with my order of $1 dumplings) and proceeded to Sunken Meadow State Park in Long Island for a barbecue in celebration of little SC turning two years old. The drive was quite long... Exit 53 off the LIE, then another few miles north all the way up the Sunken Meadow Parkway until we hit the last exit. It was hot, but at least not as brutal as the weekend before. I stayed in the shade pretty much the entire time, and didn't even bother taking a walk down to the beach (though I did have good intentions to do so). M was more energetic than I, and threw the ball around with my brother and EC. Everyone started heading out in the late afternoon, as did we, since I made dinner plans with SW. There was a bit of traffic on our way back to Queens, but we still managed to get to the restaurant early. SW, her hubby, and little JL got there soon after. It was nice catching up with them. Little JL is so big now, and he's such a good boy!

It started pouring on our way home Saturday evening. I don't think we've ever driven on the road with that much rain before (except maybe the week before when we had dinner with TY and BT, but that was brief). We made our way out of Queens, into Chinatown, through the Holland Tunnel, expecting the rain to stop by the time we got to the NJ side. Of course, things rarely happen the way you'd want them to, so it was still pouring when we got out the other side of the hole. We should have taken the NJ Turnpike to go home, but the more frugal side of us took over, so we opted for the toll-less Rt. 1 & 9 instead. As we approached the Pulaski Skyway, we slowed to almost a complete stop. We thought there was either an accident, or they closed one of the lanes for construction and didn't open it back up. It was only when we got closer that we realized we'd have to take Pearl through a river of water a foot high in order to get any further. We made it through, and decided to take Rt. 1 all the way home to avoid Rt. 22, since flooding was pretty frequent on that road. The rain stopped for a while, but once we approached our town, the torrential downpour started again. We eventually got home, like three hours later!

Sunday involved a little bit more exercise, but still nothing strenuous. After church, we walked up Broadway to Crate and Barrel... not that we needed to buy anything. We just felt like taking a walk, and it's been a while since we headed that way. I was a little disappointed to see that Pottery Barn on the corner of Houston St. and Broadway had closed down... not that I was a frequent shopper at that store, but they had some nice stuff and I always enjoyed going in to browse. We stopped by Dean & Deluca on the way back in hopes of picking up some bread, but nothing really looked appetizing. On our way out, we happened to see the prices for cherries - $10 a lb! That's insane! I couldn't believe how expensive they were! You walk a couple of blocks down to Chinatown and can get them for less than half the price - it all comes from the same place anyways. We also stopped in at Sur La Table and picked up another set of tongs and a cutting board. It's not that we actually needed those things, but we still had money left over from a gift card, so thought we might as well use it.

We had Father's Day dinner at my parent's place that night. My mom took the day off, so she was home, and brother, sister-in-law, and little AM came too. It's been a while since we had dinner with everyone in the family present, so that was nice. And I just love seeing my nephew every opportunity I get. He responds to me with a hug and kiss when I ask for one now, and he actually listens when I tell him to give a hug and kiss to his Uncle Mice too... makes me so happy that he can call me Doo Doo for as long as he wants.

Well, that was my weekend in a nutshell (kind of). After much rambling, I go back to my original thought at the start of this entry... why do I feel achy all over?

New Camera

We ordered a new camera using M's reward points accumulated from his credit card spending, and it just arrived earlier this week. We got another Canon, since I'm a fan of the brand. We haven't fully tested it out yet, but I can't wait to use it this weekend and next. Unfortunately, it only came with a 32MB memory card, which allows us to take like 15 pictures, and is not compatible with the memory card (or battery) in our old camera, so we're going to have to get another card before fully putting it to use. I started looking into it on Amazon and shopping.com, but just get overwhelmed with the different brands and wide range of prices. I do think that it's much cheaper getting it online than at the store. I was thinking of getting a 2GB one... hopefully that will be sufficient for any pictures or videos we'd take. Any suggestions on vendor, memory size, brand, or other accessories like camera bags and spare batteries? Please feel free to add a comment. Hopefully we can order one soon and receive it by next weekend before our trip to Lancaster. If not, we'll just have to carry two cameras with us. Too bad we couldn't trade in the old one... we did look into it briefly on B&H's website, but it's not worth anything anymore. I guess it doesn't hurt to have it as a backup. Or maybe we'll include it in the garage sale we keep telling ourselves we'll have later this summer.

Tomato Salmonella Scare

There has been an outbreak of salmonella resulting from eating raw tomatoes. The source of the outbreak is still unknown, and the illness seems to come from raw red plum, red Roma, or round red tomatoes. Cooking your food at 145 degrees or more will kill the salmonella. Some additional information from the US Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html.

M and I were over at my mother-in-law's place on Sunday afternoon. She was preparing dinner and cutting up some tomatoes to be included in a pasta salad. M told her about the salmonella outbreak in tomatoes, and she immediately had M's brother look it up online. Unfortunately, not a lot of information was yet available on the types of tomatoes affected, so she ended up taking out all the chopped up tomatoes already in the bowl, piece by piece. I guess better safe than sorry. I didn't think much of it, but this past Monday, McDonald's reported that they've stopped serving sliced tomatoes at their restaurants. For a big fast food chain to announce something like that, I'm a little more concerned now. The next time I order my veggie wrap for lunch, I'll need to get it sans tomatoes.

Here are some tips on taking extra care when eating fruits and vegetables: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_re_us/salmonella_safety;_ylt=ArwOQP65qs17uXmD2e3dtaMazJV4.
Most of them just seem common sense to me, like washing your fruits thoroughly.

A Not-So-Great Adventure

Saturday was spent in the sweltering heat at Six Flags Great Adventure with 95+ degree weather. Tenth Avenue North and MercyMe, two contemporary Christian bands, were performing there, so M planned a big social event for our church. The turnout was great - we had 39 people sign up to go. Unfortunately, the heat got to be a bit too much; a few people we knew suffered from heat exhaustion, so most folks decided to leave the park mid-afternoon. M and I were just walking around aimlessly, being that I couldn't go on any rides. We did our best to stay in the shade and keep ourselves hydrated. Meanwhile, we kept getting calls from people checking up on me, making sure the pregnant lady was okay. Around 3:30pm, we were so bored and hot that we also contemplated on leaving to go shopping at the Jackson outlet, but by that time, it wasn't worth it to leave, so we toughed it out for the next two and a half hours until the concert. We were down to about 15 people from the original 39 we started off with. The concert was good, but it was outdoors, so we were still suffering in the stifling heat. M and I left a little before it ended to beat the traffic and to grab some grub (these days, my hunger is accompanied by bad stomach pains). We stopped by Applebee's on the way home, and still got back at a decent hour. Overall, the day was okay... not quite what I expected with the heat and humidity, and a little disappointed that people didn't enjoy themselves as much as I would've liked, but it was an experience and I'm glad we went. And it was M's first time to Six Flags, so at least now he can say he's been there.

Dinner at Houlihan's

M and I had dinner with TY and BT (or maybe it's BY now) last night. M took the train out, so I left work at 7:00pm to pick him up from Princeton Junction. I didn't even need to use an umbrella on my brief walk to the parking lot, but in my 10-minute drive to the train station, the rain started to trickle down. By the time I got to Princeton Junction, it had turned into a full-blown thunderstorm, with no end in sight. M's train got to the station about 15 minutes late. Good thing I had my trusty Palm Pilot (which I fortunately charged right before I left work) to keep me entertained while I waited for him, only I kept losing my concentration in the midst of my Solitaire game, disrupted by the loud and constant plick-plock sound of the raindrops hitting the car. In the 100 yards or so from the opening of the train doors to where I was parked, M got completely soaked from the waist down. Times like this, no umbrella would have done any good. Note to self: consider investing in a big yellow banana (a.k.a. poncho) for M.

We were about 15 minutes late getting to the restaurant, which wasn't bad, considering the horrific weather conditions we were in. The bigger problem came when we had to look for parking. The entire lot was full. We circled around the complex several times and couldn't find any open spots - and at this point, we weren't even close to the restaurant anymore. We finally got lucky (as I drove down the wrong way of a one-way aisle) and saw a car pull out, so I immediately turned on my signal to take the spot. Unfortunately, it was a pretty long trek to Houlihan's, and the rain was still coming down like there was no tomorrow, so we decided to stay in the car until it slowed down a little. Ten minutes later, we were still sitting there, listening to the Yankee game, waiting for that glimmer of blue sky that was not to appear. I felt bad having TY and BT wait in the restaurant, so we decided to brave the rain and make a run for it. We made it with no casualties, but were both soaking wet.

I ordered a chicken fajita for dinner that night. The plate of chicken came out sizzling hot, but maybe a bit too much b/c a lot of it was burnt. M ordered a burger, but it didn't come in with the rest of our food, so our waiter told us he'd look into it. After a minute or so, one of the managers came by, and apparently, M's burger was given to someone else (M guessed it right - he kept insisting that someone ate his burger). The manager said they put in an order for another one, and that it would be taken off the check. We didn't even complain about it or anything, so it was nice of them to do that. It took a while for the food to arrive (I think they were just really busy yesterday, which is surprising for a Wednesday evening), but the service was good. That was my first time going to a Houlihan's, but I think I'd go back... the menu is similar to a TGI Friday's, where they offer a little of everything.