Struggle

I am thoroughly frustrated. I have had a sore throat for about 3-4 weeks now. I've been to the doctor and had 2 strep tests. Both were negative. I went back again to the doctor, because this sore throat has been keeping me up at night. So after going back again, what do they tell me? They tell me that it could be a sinus infection, or a virus. The option is to either take an antibiotic or just wait it out. So I opted to give the antibiotic a shot, just because I am so sick of this sore throat. Its the only real symptom and it puzzles me. So, I wish that at my work, I got paid to make random guesses and just hope that it turns out ok. I mean what if I told parents, here is this new staff person. They may, or may not be harmful to your children. The only way to find out is to put them with the kids for awhile and wait it out. We'll see what happens. Its just frustrating, and I'm tired enough as it is. I did realize though, through some discussion with my small group tonight though, that I have not been venting to God about this issue. Perhaps there is a reason that God has me dealing with all of this while being pregnant and working. I haven't taken the time to really talk to Him about it, so I think I'll have to spend some time in prayer. I think I need to slow down and be alone for a bit. It might help.

Tagged

I guess I got tagged. Is that the same as punked? I hope not. I am posting the rules as Molly as requested. http://bloggingmollyr.blogspot.com/

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post. (I don't know HOW I will do this!).
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Just so you know though, I'm not sure I know 6 bloggers to tag, but I'll try.

1. I wear a necklace almost every day that has a little bit of my mom's ashes in it and I once called it grandma jokingly and now Maggie calls it grandma. Way to go me.

2. I love to cook.

3. One of my favorite books of all time is Blindness by Jose Saramago, and I just found out they made a movie and it comes out next weekend. I am beyond pumped, but a little afraid they won't do the book justice.

4. I hate orange flavored things. By this I mean artificially flavored orange. So by default I do not eat the orange skittles, starburst, fruit snacks, gummie bears or anything else like that, I pick them out. Luckily Jeremy does eat them otherwise we would be wasteful.

5. I've been with the same employer in a different capacity for almost 8 years now and it makes me feel old.

6. I think I'm fed up enough with my dog to get rid of her. Does that make me a terrible person or just terribly pregnant?


I am tagging:

1.Charissa
2. Lucas
3. Kurtis and/or Jess
4. Abby Breyer
5. Milli
6. Amber

Post away you guys. You better or else.

Halfway there

So the much anticpated wedding took place yesterday evening. It was a day of mishaps that ended with a beautiful ceremony, a gorgeous bride, and a really fun reception. So now we are halfway through our weekend marathon. Through this trying weekend, what else is going on but a hurricane right smack where our family is in Houston. So say a prayer for Houston, and for the rest of this weekend. I also feel like I might have strep throat so, its been a weekend of challenges so far. I need a couple of days off to just sleep!

Life is a party

I spent last night with a bunch of girls in the city doing a bachelorette party old school style. We all met up at the bride's house to park and then went together to Cesar's, home of the killer margaritas. Let's not fail to mention that the Guiness Oyster fest was going on about 2 blocks from her house. Also, I passed by about 3 or 4 different block partys. Suffice it to say, finding parking was a horror of horrors. Now I am by no means a city girl, and driving to the city by myself is a big feat. Driving by myself in these conditions is like a different version of the show Man vs. Wild, but more like Sam vs. City. I drove up and down the streets trying to figure out what to do. Of course, my hormonal pregnant body cooperated by sending me into a tizzy of tears as I tried to find a spot to park, passing by spots too small, and inflatable jumpers blocking huge sections of street parking. Finally though, I spot a guy leaving, hooray! I'm pumped, but to my dismay, there are five cars behind me that will have to suffer through the atrocity that is Sam trying to parallel park. As luck, or God would have it, I back right in, and do one correctional adjustment. I ended up about 5 blocks away from the house, but I FOUND A PARKING SPOT AND PARALLEL PARKED IN THE CITY BY MYSELF! We were only an hour and a half late for our reservations to Cesar's. After taking the brown line, which was interesting with a bunch of us suburban folks, we walked about 10 blocks?. (Half the ladies didn't know how to buy a pass and insert it through the turnstile.) We did end up at the home of the killer margaritas, with yours truly unable to join in the drinklicious festivities. I had a sweet tea and a burrito bowl, and tons of delicious chips and salsa. After a couple of hours we headed back the other direction. We had a good time,and it took me an hour and a half to drive home due to crazy traffic at 11:30 at night. My ankles are a bit sore, but we had fun! Good times for all. I think the party continued after I left, as they were opening gifts and going out to a bar afterward. I figured the pregnant lady should head home for some much needed sleep. I was right.

House of Brides Revisited

I have to touch on a topic that I have already discussed previously. I have already voiced a major complaint about House of Brides, but I must revisit the topic once again.

First let me say that the customer service at House of Brides is far from service. We ordered dresses from them in April, for a wedding scheduled on September 12th. Just before we ordered them, we found out I was pregnant. They told us our options were to buy a different dress or just as easily order 2 yards of chiffon fabric and they will do the alterations. They never stated that it would be additional to the flat rate of alterations ($80). So we opted for orderiing the extra fabric. Then, they ordered the dresses in the wrong color, and did not contact anyone to let them know. They simply shipped them back to the company that they ordered them from. The bride happened to call and check on the dresses to see if they were in, and only then was she told that they had ordered them wrong and that they had to re-order them. That left us with four weeks to get alterations done. So we took our dresses to someone else to see if they could be altered by them. The said they couldn't do anything because House of Brides did not order the liner that was needed to fix the dress. So we spent a week leaving messages with the alterations department at House of Brides to have the dress looked at. Fast forward to today, a mere 13 days prior to the wedding. The alterations department finally calls and tells me to come in at 10 today with the dress so they can look at it. Its fixable, but it will be $125. Plus they tried to claim that we never paid for the additional fabric, so they wanted to charge us an additional $50 or so bucks for the fabric, which has been paid for once already. We can't prove it though, because they did the order over the phone and never sent us the receipt they were supposed to send. So the bride, once before already had to pull her credit card statement to show that she paid for the fabric. So after some discussion about all the problems, the manager finally shows up to talk to us. (We'd been there for an hour and half already.) She can't seem to come up with any way to remedy the situation. She wants to know why didn't just order a bigger dress and have it taken in. That was never given as an option to us. So finally she tells us the $125 is a discounted alterations rate, and its the lowest she can go. Plus its due up front, and in cash! Has anyone ever heard of alterations being paid for before they were made? And in cash?! So the groom is with us, and he starts asking some simple questions about receipts and orders, and the manager says, I am done answering your questions. You need to leave. So he asks her another question, and she has an associate call 911 to have him escorted out of the store, but before the police can arrive, we exit the building, dress and fabric in hand. The police then go into the store and we are told by him that they no longer want us as customers, and that they refuse to do our alterations. The wedding is in 13 days! So now I am on a mission this afternoon to find a maternity dress that needs no alterations. Most of the bridesmaids have already had their dresses done, all but one I think. So our solution is to just go get me a different dress and leave it at that. However, I am so discouraged by the service there, that I want to do everything I can to make sure that no one I know gives them any business. I think I am a little in shock as to how they have handled everything. I could understand if the groom had yelled or threatened anyone, but he merely asked some questions, and now they are completely refusing services. I will be reporting this to the BBB.

What does my heart break for?

I'm trying to figure out where God is leading me. I think of the words from the song Hosanna:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from earth in
Eternity

I don't know what God wants me to do, but I know he wants me to get more involved. Its a struggle for me. Being pregnant and having a small child, makes it difficult to figure out my place. I don't feel completely whole unless I am serving in some way, but I can't figure out where God wants me. I want my heart to break for the same things God's hear breaks for. I want everything I do to be for the purpose of helping people find God. I want to love people. I just don't know where my talents and passions are. Thats one thing I've always struggled with in my life. I have never found my true passion, besides loving God. I have never found that ONE thing that I do better than the rest. My heart breaks for many things. Where to start though?

Lifes little dilemmas hit you in a big way

So, I am taking a moment to vent on the horrible, terrible, no good service at House of Brides. I begin with the fact that I am in a wedding in September. The 12th to be exact. We ordered the dresses about a month before we found out I was pregnant with number two. So we called them in the nick of time. They told us we had two options, which were both easy. Either come in and try on the maternity dresses and pick one out, and they would exchange the first one for that one no problem. Or we could order additional fabric and have the dress altered. I figured, being the lazy person that I am that we would just order the fabric. Enter mid July, dresses come in, in the WRONG color. They have to be shipped back and re-ordered. Thus they are. We receive them last week. That puts us at about 5 weeks pre-wedding. I pick up the dress today and head to the tailor that will alter it, along with the designated fabric. She begins to fit me and realizes they have only ordered fabric for the sheer layer of the dress, and not for the liner. Thus, alterations cannot be done on this dress. Dilemma? Now we have two choices, go back to incompetent HOB and see if they can order the liner, leaving a very short period of time to get major alterations done on a dress, with major costs for the alterations as well, or try to get them to take the dress back and still exchange it for a maternity version that we will have to buy directly off the rack in order to have enough time for alterations to be done. I thought David's Bridal was bad when I got married, but clearly, HOB is worse. Do I have time for all their crap? I would say no! :)