I Passed!

After sitting in the doctor's office for nearly 4 hours, drinking a nasty, gross flat orange soda-like substance full of sugary sweet, and being stuck in the arm for blood 4 times, I passed my glucose test. No gestational diabetes!

Hooray!

I celebrated with a variety of ethnic food this week-- which has been my craving with this pregnancy. Tuesday with Pho Ga and shrimp spring rolls (YUMMY), Wednesday after the test was sushi (my doc said I can have it, so don't worry) and Thursday as Pei Wei (tried a new dish-- Thai Dynamite -- I highly recommend it!) Do you see a pattern? I had a lady ask me if my baby daddy was Asian. I said, "no, he looks like Opie Taylor!"

Thanks to everyone who was thinking of me while I endured the test. :) Baby Ray is getting close to making his/her debut.

DAMN YOU, GLUCOSE TEST!!!!!!!!

I had to take the dreaded glucose test last week and yep, you guessed it, I failed it. Granted, I didnt' fail by much, but they said any level above 140 is failing, and I had a 147.

Great. Now I get to go on Wednesday and have the 3-hour glucose test. I can't eat anything past midnight and I have to be there at 8:45. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Do you know how hard it is for a pregnant woman not to eat? Especially in the morning when I am the hungriest?

Oh well, my fantastic hubby is going to take me and sit with me for 3 hours for fear I might pass out. (But at least I am in a doctor's office if I do, right?)

Damn, you glucose. Damn you (potential diabetes.)

High School Confidential

The other night my family went to visit my mom overnight, which meant I spent the night in my childhood bedroom. It doesn’t look the same anymore, my mom has redecorated and it even has different furniture, but as I lay in bed, I couldn’t help but think about growing up in the bedroom.

You may (or may not) know that I hated high school. No offense to the school, my friends from then or my parents, but it was just horrible. Of course, at the time, I didn’t realize it was that awful, but I knew something wasn’t right about. Sure, I had some good times here and there, but for the most part, I HATED it.

Now, keep in mind, I grew up in Halls, TN, population 2,000 (think they may have overestimated it a bit, but whatever.) There is one stop light (right at Main Street, course) and several 4-way stops. My high school had 400 people in it, with my graduating class being the largest with 120 students. Yeah, the class of 1994 rocked.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about high school quite a bit, and even more so since I am active on Facebook. I’m friends with a lot of folks from high school on Facebook, but not in real life. It almost makes me feel like a “poser” and also a bit sad, at times. Probably the folks that knew me then thought I would keep in touch with everyone. But I didn’t even go to my high school reunion.

So rather than lamenting over the fact that I wasn’t that fond of high school (one might say detested with the white, hot intensity of a thousand suns,) I thought I would take a look at the things I enjoyed and jot them down. Besides, most people would rather read happy stuff, anyway.

Things I Enjoyed About High School:

1. My friends: not those superficial relationships I and everyone else had, but the ones that were really my friends. The one that would go anywhere with my in my green car (and her sister); the ones that practiced cheerleading with me (at school or at each other’s houses), the one that watched the same damn movies with me over and over and over again. The ones that talked to me for hours about crushes that would never in a million years go out with me. The one that always had a boyfriend (even as she had just broken up with one, she had another). The one that always had boyfriend trouble (and the certain boyfriend of hers that always had girlfriend trouble.) The ones in other grades that I hung out with. The ones that needed help with their homework.

2. Listening to rap songs thinking we were the coolest white girls around.
(okay, we were the coolest white girls around!!!!) Songs, artists and albums included, but certainly weren’t limited to: Whomp There it Is; OPP; the entire Chronic album from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg; Today was a Good Day by Ice Cube; Arrested Development’s Tennessee; 2Pac Keep Ya Head Up; Tootsie Roll; Eightball and MJG; Diggable Planets; Naughty by Nature; Warren G Regulate; Salt n Pepa; Sir Mix a lot; Vanilla Ice (Ice, Ice Baby, anyone)…. Sometimes I can frighten my husband to no end by singing rap songs. It’s a gift!

3. Driving my sweet 1981 green Honda accord (note photo below,but my car was green.) I loved that car so much. (I told my husband I eventually wanted another one just like it, color and all, restored to mint condition.) The seat belt got stuck, the radio worked sometimes, but damn, I loved that car. It went everywhere and hauled almost everyone. (I even had one friend whose parents wouldn’t let her go anywhere unless I was going.) We had some good times in that car, riding around our big town or down to the “bottom”. (for you city folk friends of mine, the bottoms are the Mississippi River bottoms located about 13 miles from Halls. It is the farm land and subsequent roads located near the Mississippi River. Also, there was a grainery and a boat dock.) Now I’m not admitting to drinking underage, but that’s where it happened (if I were to have hypothetically drank while underage.) I’m just sayin’…

4. Baseball games: even then I had the baseball bug. I loved it. I never missed a game unless I could absolutely help it.

5. Ms. Warren: loved her! Favorite teacher and I was lucky enough to have her 3 years in a row for English.

6. The icky Dyersburg movie theater: yep, your feet stuck to the floor, and it was an old, ugly white building with 3 screens and 2 movie times—7 and 9 – but I didn’t care. We could go to the MOVIES! Didn’t really matter what was playing, we’d go see it anyway. I went on (very few) dates there, but mostly I went with a bunch of girls. Just a sampling of movies I saw there over the course of my lifetime: Ghostbusters, 9 to 5, Steel Magnolias, batman, Days of Thunder, Grumpy Old Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to name a few.

7. The airbase: it used to be an airbase in WWII; in the 60s it was where kids went to drag race. Now, it’s just a big open concrete slab. We used to ride out there, learn to drive stick out there, build a bon fire, hang out, whatever. It was fun (though I’m not sure exactly why)

8. First day of school: yes, I know, such a geek. But the first day of school always brought new hope in my mind. New hope that things would be different for me. New hope that exciting things would happen. New hope that some new boy would move in and fall madly in love with me. (that never happened.) By the end of the day, I had figured out it was just another day at school and no new hope was possible, but I sure did get excited about it.

9. Building a Homecoming float: this was the chance to show our creative chops and build awesome floats. We always went to the Pugh shed and had a great time. Of course, there were only a few of us that actually built the floats, but they were always really good and we had a great showing during homecoming week.

10. Cheerleading camp: so much fun. I went to Lambuth and UT Martin and it was always a blast. It was nice to get away from everyone with the other cheerleaders, learn new cheers and routines and pick up pointers. We always stayed up too late and laughed a lot.

11. Camping out: so we didn’t do it often, but we certainly had a good time. Most of the time, someone snuck alcohol, but hey, at least we weren’t driving! (I mean, for those that were drinking, of course)

12. Watching the same movies over and over and over again: typically, I watched the same movies over and over again with the same friend. Amber and I spent lots of time watching movies and music videos. (I still know the words to those movies and they are still some of the most quoted in my repertoire.) Wayne’s World, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with Kristy Swanson), Singles, Shag, Steel Magnolias, Sliver, Dirty Dancing, the Thriller video (I love that dance), Say Anything, 16 Candles, Flowers in the Attic, Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, One Crazy Summer, When Harry Met Sally, Boyz n the Hood, Karate Kid, The Lost Boys… I know there are more, but these are the ones I remember the most.

13. Spending a summer away in North Carolina: I met so many cool people that summer and it likely contributed to the unhappiness I felt my senior year of high school, but I loved it. I got a taste of what being away from Halls felt like. And I never looked back. Amber, you experienced that same thing at the same time. It really made a difference, didn't it?

14. Finally meeting someone interesting who actually liked me for me: yep, the principal’s son. He was older, wiser, didn’t know me when I was five, didn’t know my family and didn’t know me when I was awkward at 13 … It was awesome.



But of course, I can’t mention the good, without the bad, but I decided to limit the things I didn’t like to just a few. I am sure I could go on and on about things I hated, but will just keep it short.

1. The way my brother’s girlfriend treated me: she was mean to me, called me fat, left me nasty notes in my locker and made up stories about me behind my back. She made my 10th grade year absolutely miserable. Enough said. Thank God she didn't become my sister-in-law (whom I love dearly)

2. When my really great (guy) friend turned into the biggest horn ball I knew. It happened in the 10th grade. We went from having fun and have interesting conversations about life, school and baseball, to him talking about sex and girls, and gross horn ball things. I won’t name names… He eventually became more like my friend, but that was a weird time in our friendship.

3. Proms and Dances: gees, I hated them so much. But you had to go. If you didn’t, people would look at you weird and talk about you. I never really had any fun. Probably the most fun was my junior prom when I went with Tim Davis—no strings attached, just a nice time.

4. Being chastised for my weight: yep, you all know who you are. I never claimed to be a skinny girl, but I wasn’t really fat either. I was called fat quite a bit by both boys and girls, and you contributed to my poor self body image and self esteem (I’m over it now, but it really took me a while.)

So, didn’t want this to be a bitch session, but this stuff came to me when I was visiting my mom. Probably not too surprising. Maybe you learned something about me.

But hey, it can't always be a ray of sunshine, right?

T-I-G-E-R-S......TIGERS!!!!!

Our Memphis Tigers are back in action tonight and I couldn't be happer about that. We take on Tulane tonight at 6 p.m. in the Big Easy-- boy don't you know it smells down there after all of the Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras festivities?

Anyway, we are coming off a big win in Tulsa over the weekend, with a fantastic showing by Elliot Williams (thank goodness he transferred from Duke-- sweet Mama's boy that he is) and Angel Garcia.

That Angel Garcia hasn't played hardly at all -- okay, he has played in only 2 games, but boy he really showed us Tiger fans something this past Saturday, AND on ESPN2.

Let's hope the Tigers came to play and Coach Paz can get a little aggressive in his coaching. Do you think he ever slips up and says an expletive in his head and then says "gosh darn?" nah, probaby not.

Go Tigers!

Whatcha thinkin', PHN??!!??!??!???!

If you know me even a little bit, you know I am a Memphis Tigers Basketball fan. You also know that we are in the middle of a true rebuilding year. Our Coach McDreamy, um, I mean, Pastner, has done a heck of a job considering the mess he was handed in April by the snake oil salesman. (I know I said I was over it and not bitter anymore, but occassionally, the bitterness rears its ugly head.)

Last night the U of M announced that native Memphian Pierre Henderson-Niles is no longer a Tiger. The decision was mutual, the statement says. We wish him the best, sthe statement says. We will help him as he presses on to graduate in May, the statement says. But its not what the statement says, so much as what the statement DOESN'T say. (of course, this is my speculating what has actually happened, so take it for what it is worth.)

So, here is what I would say if I had written the statement.

"After much discussion, we are sad to announce that Pierre Henderson-Niles will be leaving the men's Tiger basketball program effective immediately. Henderson-Niles has been a member of our team since he was a freshman, and frankly, didn't see any playing time under John Calipari. Coah Pastner has given him quite the chance to prove himself, by starting him nearly every game, but honestly, Pierre hasn't given Coach, or Tiger fans, much in return.

Henderson-Niles has been shown up the last few games by juco transfer Will Coleman, and has not taken it very maturely. At Saturday's Gonzaga game, when the Tigers needed all of the support and morale it could garner to overcome a deficit, Henderson-Niles refused to participate in a time out huddle.

Thus, after much discussion about obeying team rules, not being a team player and not respecting Coach Pastner's decisions, Henderson-Niles has decided to make the stupidest, most immature decision of his life and leave the team with only 8 regular season games remaining.

We wish him the best, and are pleased to help him succeed in graduating in May. He's certainly going to need that college degree, because he doesn't have a basketball career ahead of him."

Okay, so hopefully you have detected the sarcasm in that statement and know that NO GOOD PR PERSON would ever release something like that, but that is what we all want to hear. It is what we Tiger fans know is true.

Grow up, PHN. You don't always get your way and Coach Pastner has been the best thing to ever happen to you and your basketball career at the U of M.

Snow can be a Ray of Sunshine

What a surprise! Waking up to unexpected snow on a Monday! It's cool when it isn't expected. Of course, I live in Memphis, so it is never expected. Bet TDOT was keeping that one snow plow busy.

Tripp had a great time yesterday in the snow. Uncle Jeff, Taylor and Jordan came over and Tom and Tripp built a snow man with them. The snow man (which Tripp named Charlie) tumped over at about 4 p.m., but he gave us something to look at in the afternoon out of the window.

Of course, I thought for sure we would be home today (why do I listen to weather casters again? haven't I learned?) and let Tripp stay up until 9 p.m. But, we are back to normal again today. Some pretty white stuff on the ground today, and a bit cold. But it is February.

Enjoy it while it lasts, kids. It will soon be Spring (thank goodness!) with snow no where to be seen.