cleaning = good

since i've been back at home again, i've picked up the habit that jadeejf suggested of doing a little bit of housework each day. the chores i do weekly include: sweeping, laundry, and cleaning the bathroom. it's made such a difference! i feel our house looks cleaner, the time it takes to complete each chore isn't as long (b/c of less build up), and we have less spiders! :) (i know, the last one is kinda weird, but last summer when i'd only sweep the floor every month, we had lots of spiders in our house--YUCK!) anyways, i really only have to spend about 30 minutes per chore, and i usually just do one chore every other day. it's made me happy to see these results! :) now, i just have to maintain it! :)

back to books

i've began reading my children's/teen fiction again. :) here are some of the books that i've read recently that i've really enjoyed:

the goose girl by shannon hale
the seer and the sword by victoria hanley
the titan's curse (book 3 of a series) by rick riordan

i've found that if i really like a book, i usually finish it a couple of hours. :) also, i've found that i really enjoy reading fantasy books, particularly those that take place in modern day settings. i've found it hard to find new books to read. usually, i go to amazon.com and type in a book that i liked and see what other books they recommend. i wish they had something like that on our library's catalog. i also wish they had a "history" which lists all the books i've checked out before so i can recall which ones i liked!

saying goodbye

come this august, we'll have attended our current church (which we love) for 2.5+ years. it doesn't seem that long, but i feel like we've been apart of the church for awhile. i think it's b/c of all the relationships we've built up and being involved in our church.

one thing that i've realized this summer is that our church has a pretty high turnover (partly due to students, both undergrad and grad, graduating). we haven't really witnessed this turnover rate until this year. by the end of this month, 7 members of the church will have moved. :( i've been sad to see them all go. fruittart has tried to keep many of them by overdosing them with sugar, but it hasn't quite worked. :P i guess we'll have to think of another retention method, either that or be thankful for the times we've had fellowship with them and pray for where they are currently. :)

my first (maybe last?) afghan

yay! i finally finished my first afghan! it's about 5 months late* for the baby i intended it for, but i've managed to finish it before i've gone into labor and before the baby and her mom move to texas! :) here is the finished product:


* crocheting the afghan was fun for the first 2 weeks, but then i got sick of it/disinterested in it (much like my other hobbies i've tried to start!). i'm not sure if i'm going to start another afghan, but if i do, i'm hoping that it will be smaller, use bigger yarn, and require a bigger crochet hook. :)

toilet humor (literally)

here is an exchange that is becoming a little too familiar for my taste:

me: A-CHOO! oh no....
nat: did you sneeze out pee again?*
me (groaning): yes. i need to go change now.


* just fyi, this hasn't been a problem that i've always had. just since the last trimester of pregnancy. :)

happy belated

i was ready to start dinner tonight, when nat (with a mischievous grin) said, "i want to show you something before you start dinner". he led me to the living room, where he had his laptop opened. "here's your birthday present, sweetie!"*. nat had made a slideshow for me! i had wanted to have one for our wedding, but things got too hectic, and i didn't want to scan the pictures that i wanted in the slideshow, and nat had remembered this. :) (he's such a sweetie!).

nat had spent time gathering all the pictures and putting together the slideshow (with background music). what a time-consuming endeavor! :) the slideshow is divided into pictures of me growing up (baby to college), nat growing up (baby to college), our dating/engagement time, our wedding, our marriage, and pictures of our baby (well, mostly my tummy growth progression and sonogram pics). seeing the slideshow brought tears to my eyes as i saw all the love and time he put into it! :) thanks nat, i love you!

* i had been bugging nat almost weekly about what my "surprise" birthday gift since he told me about it 3 months ago. every time i asked, he said it wasn't ready and he didn't know when it was going to be ready. :)

diabetes update

praise God that my gestational diabetes has been going well the past 3 weeks or so! :) not only have my sugar levels been great, but i've been feeling full almost everyday! i'm not sure if these things have come about b/c my body has finally gotten used to my new diet or that i've found some decent low-carb bread and cereal (both of which i can eat more for 1 serving of carbs) or the combo of both.

also, i haven't been craving/missing the carb-filled foods as much lately.* i wonder how much of this low-carb diet will stick afterwards. ;)

*though yesterday, we saw how jelly belly's were made, and i was definitely wanting a big ol' bag of jelly belly's right about then. :)

old vs new

the past 5 weeks, i've been apart of a women's Bible study where we've been studying about worship. it's been a wonderful experience reading the Word and marking certain words that are repeated. what's been very encouraging to me is seeing how the various components of the tabernacle in the old testament relate to Jesus Christ. i've never really seen the connection before this study and God has used this to grow me in my knowledge of the "true tabernacle in heaven" and the "shadow of the true tabernacle".

summer fruit

i love summer fruit! some of my favorites are blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, nectarines, and cherries (both bing and rainier). i've bought nectarines every week for the past 3 weeks, and i'm still not tired of them! i wish we could have these fruits all year long (especially in the midwest where our fruit variety drastically goes down come fall and winter).

there are other subtropical summer fruit i love, but i don't know the names of them. :P i'll try to remember to take pictures of them when i'm in taiwan next time in the summer.

packing

starting tomorrow, i will be considered "full-term". i haven't packed my labor bag or my hospital stay bag. in my (silly) mind, i think that if i don't pack, the "labor" part won't come. at the same time, i like to be prepared. so tomorrow, i've resolved my household chore to packing. :)

i'm not at the point where i'm dying to have the baby come out, but i am very curious to see what it looks like. i wish i could see through my belly and look at our baby. :P

racing with my cousin

i have a cousin who is about 5 months younger than i am. she got married one month after i did. she just delivered her baby this weekend. :) score of being first in doing something: ramona 2, cousin 1. (i know it's not a contest!) :)

congratulations shiao wen for your baby girl! :) the first golden piglet in our family! :)

summer heat

over the past couple of months people have begun to ask me when i'm due. i tell them at the end of july, and i get some comments from mothers who had their baby in july about how unbearably hot it is to be pregnant in the summer. i think God has been pretty kind and gracious to me b/c i haven't felt unbearably hot this summer. take the past couple of days, for example. the lows at night have been in the upper 50s, lower 60s, and i've actually slept with some sheets on me b/c it was so cool! :) of course, there have been nights where i have no covers and i have felt a little damp with sweat. but usually on those nights, turning on a rotating fan does the trick to cool me down.