In Which I Fail a Test

Earlier this week, I couldn't sleep. Chuk and I were...well, not fighting per se, but had been generally irritated by each other's presence for a couple of days and it was getting hard to take much more of. To complicate matters, my period was late, which I hadn't told him about since we weren't talking to each other very much.

I got up at 1:00 in the morning and walked into our second bedroom where Chuk was at his computer. I said, "I can't sleep. I have a lot on my mind."

He said, "Me too."

I asked, "Do you want to talk?" He did. So we talked for a little while about what was going on in our relationship. We hadn't really resolved anything, but he told me what was on his mind and then asked me what my thoughts were.

I said, "I think I'm pregnant." This was not how I imagined telling him. I started crying and we hugged. I told him that two months ago I would have been so happy if I was pregnant but now with things not so great for us I had been hoping for a week and a half I wasn't. He told me he hoped I was pregnant. (We purposely did not use contraception the night of the possible conception. We talked about it both before and after "the act" and we were both cool with it. So this isn't totally out of the blue, but I think it is probably always kind of a surprise no matter the circumstances.)

Then, in the middle of the night (it had to have been after 2:00 am) I sent him to the 24-hour CVS to buy a pregnancy test. He is awesome and did it. He came home and I took a test and it was negative. And even though I had been hoping it was negative, I was still kind of sad.

My period still hasn't started and I'm not really sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it would suck if I was pregnant because we live in a very small apartment and I don't have a job, therefore we can't afford another person. On the other hand, it would be kind of rad because I don't have a job so I'd be able to spend a lot of time taking care of myself and the baby and I have been dreaming about having a baby recently.

To you parents out there, did you have mixed emotions upon becoming pregnant? I'm so worried this ambivalence isn't normal and means I'm going to be a bad mom or something. Also, when should I take another pregnancy test? Are pregnancy tests ever incorrectly negative? Do you know of any medical conditions that would cause my period to be two weeks late but exhibit no other symptoms? In short, do you think I'm pregnant or not?

This Kills Me

You remember a while back when I said I try to waste nothing in the kitchen, not even the tiniest scrap of food. Well, I'm eating my words (but apparently not me potatoes) today. So sad!

Major fail!

Random Acts of Kindness

Source

I try to practice a random act of kindness everyday for the simple, selfish reason that it makes me feel smug and generous. Paradoxical, no? Also, I believe in karma and I've been on the receiving end of many random acts of kindness which have saved me in times of desperate need, so I feel like I need to send that positive energy back out into the universe. (Why yes, I am from California.)

We've all heard about paying for someone's bridge toll behind you or some such thing, but that's not exactly frugal and we can't all afford to do such things on a regular basis. Some things I do frequently include:

1. Complimenting strangers on the subway.

2. When I see people standing on the street looking at a map I ask, "Can I help you find anything?" and then give them directions.

3. Guerrilla couponing.

The last one is my favorite. It's so simple and free and I know it would make my day if it ever happened to me. I cut out coupons for products I know I'm not going to buy and then leave it on that product in the store. Then when an unsuspecting shopper goes to pick up some brand of laundry detergent I don't use, voila $1.00 off! Think how excited you would be if you found a $1.00 bill on the ground. It's almost as good.

I don't subscribe to the newspaper so I don't get tons of coupons, but I do get some in the mail weekly. It takes me less than 5 minutes to cut them out and then I just sprinkle them around the grocery store as I'm doing my own shopping. It also adds probably less than 5 minutes to my trip.

Random acts of (frugal) kindness work for me.

Catalog Living

Like a lot of you, I love looking at catalogs and blogs for home decor inspiration. The only downside of this is that sometimes it leaves me feeling dissatisfied with my home. A friend sent me a link to this site, which is hilarious. I don't normally link to other sites, but this one is too good not to share. If you have ever experienced Pottery Barn longings, you must visit this site to remind yourself this is not how real people live.

Are You Freaking Kidding Me: Hand Towel Edition

Have you seen the new disposable hand towels for home use yet? How germophobic can we get as a country? I like clean hands as much as the next person, but this seems excessive. In my opinion, it's a manufactured fear.

According to the manufacturer's website, "People in the U.S. dry their hands on cloth bathroom towels approximately 200 billion times a year." So instead we should just add 200 billion pieces of paper to landfills? Are you freaking kidding me?

Drying Berries Without Crushing Them

I don't know about you, but we've been eating berries like crazy around here. To improve the longevity of your berries, you shouldn't wash your them until right before you eat them. After washing, use your salad spinner to dry the berries. It's works so well and doesn't damage the fragile fruit at all. It also works great on cherries.

It works for me!

Fourth of July

I usually do the grilling, but it was so stinkin' hot that I let Chuk take over this time. He did a fantastic job.

Mmmm. It was so good and now we have enough food pre-cooked to last us all week.

Mango popsicles are so refreshing and so easy.

Blueberry cake decorated with fresh berries.

Fireworks in our nation's capitol.

Chuk got us great seats. These photos were taken without any zoom. We were so close that we could feel the vibrations from the boom and got ash on us.