I love hand me downs!

Monday a woman I work with asked if I wanted to borrow some maternity clothes. This surprised me a little since she hasn't been pregnant recently. Turns out a friend is a shopaholic who had six bags of clothes needed to get rid of but couldn't do herself. So she gave the clothes to my co-worker. I am now the proud temporary owner of eight brand new maternity tops. This has more than doubled my maternity wardrobe. Unfortunately some the tops are one and two sizes bigger than I usually wear. I'm not worried, I'm just going to keep getting bigger for the next two months. The tops one size too big only hang a little, the ones two sizes too big will probably fit pretty well next month. I'm really happy about having new clothes. Especially since I didn't have to pay for them.

We've also been fortunate and received several hand me downs for Emmett. A friend from my last job brought over some of her son's clothes last month. Another co-worker had a boy in November and just keeps bringing diapers in for me. As his son grows out of them, I get the left overs. It's fabulous. They've also given us clothes their son has out grown and since this baby is their last, we'll pretty much be getting anything they don't want to keep around the house anymore. SKN is coming through town again in March with hand me downs for us too. And My mom just unloaded a swing and toys her co-worker's daughter was giving away.

We're very fortunate to have such giving friends and I hope we have the opportunity to help our the pregnant women we know as Emmett starts outgrowing his diapers, clothes and toys. Of course, since we're planning on having another, we still need to save a few things for baby #2. When I look around our nursery, I'm excited for Emmett to arrive. I think we're finally ready. Or ready until it's actually time to bring him home. Then we may feel more panic than ready but we'll just have to jump off that bridge when we get to it.

Sympathy pains

The last seven months have gone very smoothly for me. The worst thing that happened was my stomach virus during the first trimester. My last post was about the less attractive side of pregnancy, but none of those things make life difficult for me. As crazy as it seems, some days I feel like I've had it easier than Crys these last few months. She of course thinks she has it easier than me and I don't complain about that at all. Here is what has been going on with Crys.

• Some unpleasant bouts with heartburn. Mine has been infrequent and luckily, mild.
• She had the flu for two days.
• She had a cold that took almost two weeks to go away.
• Cravings. I have these vague "maybe I want something like this" cravings and some aversions. Crys has full blown cravings but since I'm the pregnant one, when we eat together, we eat what I want. She has been craving Chinese food for the last few months and that just doesn't sound good to me at all. There have been a couple of times that I've told her to go get take out and I'll fend for myself, but she doesn't take me up on that very often.
• She has cried far more than I have during this pregnancy. There have been a couple nights when I'm really tired and start thinking about something sad or upsetting that I've started crying. Usually being tired is what sets me off. But really, sad movies rarely get to me and I don't cry for no reason at all. Usually, she's sitting next to me crying and asking why I making her watch sad movies.
• Crys has had more mood swings than I have. Luckily, she hasn't had that many.

It seems like there have been a few other things over the last seven months that have some up. But I'm still the one with the crappy pregnant memory. Maybe next time around I'll try pawn that symptom off on her too.

Pregnancy is sexy

So that was sarcasm on my part. Luckily, Crys loves me and actually does think pregnancy is sexy. This post is dedicated to the more "pleasant" side of my pregnancy.

I talk about peeing. A lot. It's gotten progressively worse since the first trimester because the number of times I pee has gotten progressively larger regularly since the first trimester. I try to reserve this conversation for Crys and my pregnant friends.

On the subject of bodily functions, I've starting to tell Crys when I'm constipated because if I'm constipated for too long, its accompanied by a backache that renders me useless until it goes away. And I talk about it until the backache goes away. Luckily this doesn't happen very often. But it might now that we're in the homestretch. So far this is the only time I've absolutely refused to leave the couch.

Sleeping is a new experience. I've always been a bit of a drooler when I sleep, but pregnancy has kicked up the amount of drool I produce at night. It's gross. I'm also congested pretty much all the time. It's the worst at night. The last couple of nights I've woken myself up from that half asleep, half awake part of sleep because I was breathing out of my noise. It wasn't a snore that woke me up it was just the sound that you make when you breath through a plugged noise. Not the best way to wake up. I've snored for several years. Thankfully Crys is used to it and has a hard time sleeping when I'm not sawing away in my sleep. But a few nights ago it was so loud I woke her out of a dead sleep. I'll be buying some breath r.ights if it happens again.

Discharge has been my constant companion since about fourteen weeks. I wear pads all day, every day. Otherwise after a few hours, it's like I peed my pants.

Stretch marks have also been my constant companion since early in the pregnancy. Honestly, this doesn't bother me very much. I've had stretch marks on my hips for quite some time and when I still had them, all over my breasts. When we were at our first appointment at my OB's office, the one where the nurse just asked me a lot of questions and give me information, she told me stretch marks are inevitable and I could just have them surgically removed later. I laughed at her and told her that wouldn't be necessary. I've never understood the obsession our culture has with perfection. But that's a rant for another time.

Cravings or my lack thereof is one of the few things that drives Crys nuts. We'll be at the store and I'll have a craving but only a vague idea of how to satisfy it. It'll be something like, I want something fruity but I have no idea what kind of fruity I want. I rarely crave something specific. Its worst when I can't figure out what I want for a meal. Luckily, we only eat meals together on the weekend because she works until 7pm. If we had to eat together every night during the week we'd probably fight constantly about food.

And that my friends, is the side my pregnancy that until now dared not speak its name.

Day care revisited

Last week I learned a few things about the university day care. One, it's expensive. This center is supposed to provide day care for students, staff and faculty but based on the price, it seems like faculty and administration are more the target group than students and staff. The price is high because they are hiring teachers with two and four year degrees to run the different rooms. But there are other centers in town whose teachers are just as educated but the price isn't as high. Second, the woman who put my name on the waiting list failed to mention that there are more infants on the list than there are spots. As more people find out the price, this may change, but she decided to let me think we would have a spot in August rather than being up front with me. In my original e-mail I asked if we would have a spot and she said I was on the list. I should have asked for clarification.

So now what? We decided to stay on the list, just in case we can't find another alternative and I'm already on about 8 different waiting lists. A guy I work with recently moved his kids from a chain center to a not for profit center run out of a church in my old neighborhood. They love it and we decided to check it out. When I called the woman couldn't guarantee us a spot but she's the only day care director that offered to give us a tour. And when I asked if there was a problem with us being a lesbian couple she just laughed and said, "goodness no, we have another lesbian couple bringing their children here." She thinks they'll have a spot for Emmett since they do most of their moving kids around to new rooms during the summer and they're going to try open a new room. She asked us to visit a few more day care centers so we know for sure if their center is right for us and to fill out the application.

Some of the benefits about this center are...

• The average number of years staff have worked at the center is 20. The two women in the infant room have been there for 13 and 14 years.
• My preschool teacher is now teaching at this center, but she's just part time now.
• They go outside for play time year round. The director told us it takes a little longer in the winter than when the weather is nice, but it's worth it. The do stay in when it's really cold, but try to get out as much as possible.
• They have a cook who prepares homemade meals and they serve the kids family style. I liked that a woman with down syndrome works in the kitchen too. It means that from a young age, the kids at this center are learning that different isn't bad and seeing an adult with a disability working in the community. That's not something I saw when I was little.
• Crys asked what they'd do if any children made fun of Emmett for having two mommies and the woman said that not only is behavior like that not tolerated, but it would be a teaching opportunity. She likes have lots of different family types at the center because it gives them a chance to teach children about those types of families.
• They have clear commitment to teaching the kids about a wide range of things. Chinese dragons came in for the Chinese New Year and families were invited to watch. The kids go to yoga and music once a week. The preschoolers were making volcanoes while we were there because they'd been to a natural history museum recently and there were posters up about an upcoming trip to the circus.
• They have a low teacher to child ratio. There are a lot of kids, but they have multiple rooms for each age group. I think we counted three rooms for the three years olds, each with 8 to 10 kids.

We were just really impressed with everything we saw and like that this center has been around for so long. We'll still try to do what the director suggested and arrange to visit a few more centers in town but we're hoping for a spot at this place.

Wills and POA and guardianship...oh my

We met with our lawyer and her legal assistant to sign our wills today. It was a little like closing on our house, a lot of stuff we understood only when dumbed down for us and a lot of signing things. We just didn't get a key to a house this time and two witnesses had to sign off on our wills, trusts and power of attorney documents.

We asked the lawyer about establishing guardianship for Crys. The legal assistant is the one who suggested it last time and the lawyer told us she doesn't think it's a good idea. She was a little vague about the consequences but I think she was getting at a problem if I have a big falling out with one of my family members. Like if my parents want to take Emmett away from me, they could argue that I don't take my parental rights seriously because I gave rights to Crys and then argue that Crys is a bad parent or influence or person or whatever. Now, this is worst case scenario and highly unlike at that. But that's what I got out of what she was saying. She also said that guardianship is granted in cases where the parent is incapacitated or at risk for becoming incapacitated and it's not something we want to mess with. Maybe if we feel strongly about it after Emmett is born, we'll seek a second opinion.

Instead of guardianship for Crys, we have a durable power of attorney that I have to renew every six months. I only have to sign it in front of a notary every six months but the whole thing drives me a little crazy. Why is it such a big deal that we want to raise a child together and we both want parental rights? I mean, who does it hurt? No one. But we have to come up with work arounds and second best options because too many people think all this is wrong. Stupid.

But enough of that, it just give me a headache. Sometime in the last month Crys took or first belly shot. Here it is...

Random things

Crys and her sister were just having a text conversation. Apparently her sister got drunk and slept with a guy she hasn't known very long. I asked if she used protection, Crys said she'd just asked that herself. The answer we got back was vague and evasive, so that's a big no, which isn't good. But it did amuse me that the first question we both asked was about protection.

Valentine's day we spent at birthing class, waiting forever for a table for dinner (because we decided at the last minute neither one of us wanted to cook and we didn't want fast food) and visiting my parents. My aunt and uncle we passing through town and mom asked if we'd stop by. They'd been drinking for awhile by the time we got there and my dad and uncle were arguing over who had the most common blood type in the family (they have nine other siblings). So we spent the evening laughing at my dad while he drunk dialed his siblings to find out who had which blood type. Before we had a chance to leave, my dad starting getting all sentimental and emotional over Emmett telling us that Emmett is already a real person to him and he has big plans for his grandson and he wants to spend a lot of time with Emmett. It was sweet and a little bit awkward. But mostly very sweet.

Today I talked to HR about what Crys can and can't do with her time off if she is granted guardianship of Emmett. She still can't use sick leave after he's born but if he gets sick, she can use sick time. That was nice to know. It's not the only reason we want to establish guardianship, but it was something I was curious about.

We're 30 weeks, it's hard to believe we're three quarters done with the pregnancy. The third trimester is going pretty well so far. There are little things that do come up. It's getting harder to roll from one side to the other at night. I get winded on stairs even easier and I'm starting to really feel this pregnancy in my upper back. Crys give me back rubs every couple of days and it helps a lot. I think I've had some BH contractions but it's hard to tell.

Those are really the highlights from the last week. Not too much is going on. We're just trying to spend as much time together before Emmett comes and turns our regular routine upside down and inside out.

The plan

I was surprised on Thursday when the doctor asked if we have a birth plan. I had always thought doctors were at best lukewarm on the idea of women having a written plan for how they want labor and delivery to go. From the sounds of it, she may not think most of the plan is particularly helpful but she does think some parts are useful, like are we okay with students being in the room and other details like that.

So our plan. Crys has some pretty simple requests. She doesn't want to have to fight with the nurses or other staff to be with me or Emmett and she want me to have what I need and want. I don't want interventions. No IV, no pitocin, no epidural, no c-section. That said, I'm will to have an IV started but locked off so that if they do need to hook me up to fluids or medications, I'm ready to go. As for the rest, if it's necessary, it's necessary. In the end we want a healthy baby. If getting a healthy baby means giving up some of my expectations for labor and delivery, I'm okay with that. Our doctor told me I'm being incredibly realistic. That was nice to hear.

The one thing that's been difficult for me is letting go of having him naturally. Our doctor isn't going to force an epidural on me, but I have to be practical. She thinks he's going to be nine pounds or more. In first time moms delivery can last from 16 to 18 or more hours. First time moms delivering a baby more than 8 or 8.5 pounds tend to have a difficult time during the delivery. So if there's a good chance that not only will I be in labor for a long time but that the end will be difficult then I really to need to be more flexible about my attitude towards an epidural. My plan is to play it by ear. If everything is moving quickly, I'm going to try make it without one. But if I'm in labor for a long time, I'll probably get one so I can rest a little before pushing.

Yes, natural childbirth with a large baby is possible. I just have to ask my myself how important it is to me. That's something we won't know until the time comes.

Celebrate love

This is the last day I'll be blogging for freedom to marry week. Sometimes I hate to admit it, because it's bit corny, but our anniversary is Valentine's Day. We were introduced to each other the week before Valentine's Day and so it was fitting at the time for our first date to be on Valentine's Day. This year we celebrate ten years together. We were both 19 when we met and in many ways, we grew up together. It's hard to believe that ten years ago we were scrapping together our money on weekends to buy alcohol with friends and sharing my twin bed in the dorms.

We used to talk about a commitment ceremony, but after a few years of living together decided nothing was really going to make us anymore married and we just didn't know how our families would take a ceremony so we decided not to go that route. Even though we never took vows, legal or otherwise, we've been together in sickness and in health and in rich or poor (mostly poor).

We've had arguments and full blown fights. We've had to deal with crisis together. We lived through years when it seemed like we'd never have enough money for more then our little one bedroom apartment. We've had dates and endless hours of pillow talk. We've shared inside jokes and now we're having a baby. We've had a good ten years.

*****
This week I'm participating in freedom to marry week. For more information check out The Other Mother.

Something blue

Despite the fact that my few ventures in dating prior to meeting Crys were always with brown eyed people, it shouldn't surprise me that I ended up with a blue eyed girl, I've always been a sucker for blue eyes. My infatuation is why Elijah Wood was one of my favorite actors from a pretty young age and the reason (or so I suspect) for more than a year of tormenting by a boy at my jr high when he caught me staring at his eyes one too many times.

But Crys isn't some actor who lives in Hollywood and she isn't some mean kid, she's my partner and she doesn't care how often I look at her eyes. I love her and can't wait to start our next big adventure...parenthood.

*****

This week I'm participating in freedom to marry week. For more information check out The Other Mother.

Something borrowed

For nine months, my body is on loan. Not only is it on loan, we're sharing it. Everything I do effects my son and most of his movement can be felt by me. I never gave much thought to this part of pregnancy. Sure, I knew I'd have to give up drinking alcohol and eat healthier food. But that's easy. But there's a person growing inside me. Sometimes that's a strange thought to have. In our birthing class, there were picture of what a woman's body looks like during different parts of pregnancy. Not only did the picture show the baby, they showed all the woman's organs. Each month the position of the organs changed a little. By the ninth month, the intestines and bladder were almost non existent. Sometimes I wonder where my intestines are right now. In the end, I know it's all going to be worth it.

We had an OB appointment today. She still thinks he's going to be nine pounds. She said he isn't going to be a scrawny little thing. We found out that our doctor will likely be the one to deliver Emmett. She said that she and the other doctors at her practice are too old to be on call, they all just go to their own deliveries. While I would have been okay with another doctor doing the delivery, I was still happy to hear this news. My blood sugar was tested again today and the test came back just fine, I just need to watch my sugar intake from now on. All in all, it was a good visit.

*****
This week I'm participating in freedom to marry week. For more information check out The Other Mother.

Something new

Last night I told Crys about blogging on the freedom to marry theme this week and that I wasn't sure what my something new should be. Her first suggestion was Emmett, I said no because I blog about him regularly. Then she suggested some of the bigger purchases we've made over the last year. Nah. But there really isn't anything else. So Emmett it is. Well, kind of.

Recently, Emmett has been the cause of some swelling. Luckily, my ankles don't swell very much and the swelling goes away during the night, it's not constant. While I'm pretty sure my hands are swollen too, it's slight. Enough we can't buy rings (something we've been meaning to do) like Crys wants to for Valentine's day but not enough so that it bothers me.

Yesterday a draft of our wills came in the mail. Emmett seems to be putting on the pressure to do things that we've been meaning to do but never got around to. Our name change is another one of those things. We've talked about wills and changing our names for years, but never really felt an urgency to do anything about either. I guess a baby will do that to you. Soon, we'll be the proud owners of a fire proof safe to go with our wills.

Emmett discovered my ribs recently. If I slouch, he corrects my posture with a little jab. And every once in awhile I am very aware of where my ribs are located. I think it means he has stuck an arm or leg up there and it feeling around. The ribs on my right side seem to be his favorite. It's an entirely new sensation.

Last night we went out and bought lavender lotion because Crys has decided that I need massages before bed. In our birthing class she learned that lavender can have a soothing effect. This is one new ritual you'll never hear me complain about. I'm starting to feel the extra weight in my legs and shoulders. I enjoy the massage but more than that, I enjoy having time together. Something that may be in short supply in a few months.

*****
This week I'm participating in freedom to marry week. For more information check out The Other Mother.

Something old

It's freedom to week so I'll be blogging on that theme. Here is the list for the week:

Tuesday, Feb. 10... Something Old
Wednesday, Feb. 11... Something New
Thursday, Feb. 12... Something Borrowed
Friday, Feb. 13... Something Blue
Saturday, Feb. 14... Valentine's Day: Celebrate Love

For more information, check out The Other Mother.

My something old is a homemade jewelry box, my first cabbage patch kid doll, various homemade doll clothes and my pierced ears. They don't seem that significant, but these are the things my godmother gave me while she was alive. She died of breast cancer when I was seven.

Why is Becky so special? She was my mom's identical twin sister and she always had time for me. As the second of four kids, I didn't get a lot of attention when I was younger. But whenever we went to visit Becky's family or they came to visit us, she always had time for me. Some of my first memories are of Becky always wanting me to sit with her and braiding my hair, something my mom didn't even attempt because my hair was so thick. Becky had two kids of her own, but they were a little older than me so whenever she was around she was just like my mom, only without three other small children to distract her. She looked just like my mom and was just as nice as my mom.

When I was five, the only two things in the world I wanted were pierced ears and a cabbage patch doll. The doll was easy enough for her to give me. I got one that year for my birthday. The pierced ears were a little tricky because my dad decided I need to earn pierced ears by quitting my habit of biting my nails. After Becky died, my mom told me that every time she saw my dad, Becky asked if she could take me to get my ears pierced and every time he told her no. The last time she asked, she was dying. We were visiting her so my mom could spend time with her sister before she died. My dad told me there was no way he could say no to a dying woman. So on that visit, Becky took me out for an early birthday present and I got my ears pierced. She died less than a month later.

I didn't know her very well, but I miss Becky. I miss having an adult in my life who always makes me feel special, even though I'm an adult now myself. I have very few pictures of us together or things from when she was alive. What I do have are some of my oldest most important possessions.

Night Owl

We discovered one of the reasons we don't feel Emmett very much during the day. Friday night I went to bed at my normal time, about 10:00 but Crys wanted to stay up late and play video games. By the time she finally got around to coming to bed, I was fast asleep. When she spooned me, she but her hand on my belly and discovered that Emmett was having a party in my uterus. Actually, she said he was dancing a little jig. I've never been able to use that description for his movements. Sure, I'll feel him move around a lot in a short period of time but it's more like him just randomly hitting, resting for a bit and then randomly hitting me again. But nothing very constant.

So I'm beginning to wonder if this is why I wake up so frequently to pee during the night. Last night I was up every hour (I'm not kidding). He moves around enough that it wakes me up and once I'm up, I realize I have to pee and can't go back to sleep until I do. This seems like as good a reason as any for my frequent night time trips to the bathroom.

Hopefully he won't have his days and nights mixed up after he's born. But what are the chances of that?

Picture yourself floating on a cloud

Today was our first of two seven hour birthing classes and I kid you not, I heard the phrase, "picture your self floating on a cloud". We were learning relaxation techniques while we practiced breathing and the nurse was listing different images we could focus on. I almost lost it when she said that though. Only about 20% of the information was useful and that was when we were learning massage and breathing techniques. Some of the highlights included...

When the nurse was introducing everyone, she said "and next we have Mandy and..."? On the registration form I'd listed Crys as my partner but I guess I could have been talking about my birthing partner who might be someone like a friend or my sister. It still made me laugh a little.

Crys was the first partner who volunteered to wear the empathy belly. I almost said it was sad that she was the only one man enough to do it, but decided not to. Eventually two other guys gave in and tried it on too.

Three of the four men in the room were wearing cowboy boots and baseball hats. Welcome to Nebraska.

After we learned the basic massage and relaxation techniques, the nurse introduced five additional techniques. One was for the partner just to put a hand on the woman in labor to help her relax. A few weeks ago I told Crys it would be funny to mess with the nurses when I'm in labor by putting her hand on my forehead and start saying lines from an exorcism. So for that technique she kept giggling, thinking about that. Then the nurse started talking about stroking, which made me laugh. Crystal started in when we found out that it's basically petting, something she does to me when I'm being an ass or when I'm upset about something stupid.

When Crys was giving me a back massage she was also supposed to "kneed my buns", something neither one of us could sit through without laughing the entire time.

Luckily the nurse had a sense of humor and ignored us when we thought something was funny. Of course, we managed not to laugh too loud. I swear we can be like twelve year old boys sometimes. At least we amuse each other.

Legal stuff

Before we get to the legal stuff, yesterday marked the first day of our third trimester. I can't believe how fast this is going and I'm starting to get anxious for Emmett's arrival. Hopefully the last three months will go as fast as the first six.

Today Crys and I took the day off to do some name change running around and because we had an appointment with lawyer #3 this afternoon. If you remember from previous posts, we had to contact three lawyers before actually getting an appointment with someone. We spent the morning going to the county courthouse (for our certified copies of our approved name change decrees), the social security office, our bank and the DMV.

The bank was by far the funniest visit. We went up to the teller and after giving her our name change decrees, I told her that we have joint checking and savings accounts and both of us changed our names so we'd like to update our accounts. She just stared at us, then at our papers, then got our account number and looked up our account information. Then she stared at us again and finally told us she'd be right back. While we waited we were joking about her reaction and trying to decide if she was shocked because we're lesbians (this is the Midwest after all). Crys said she could see the woman going back and forth between two offices in the hallway I had my back to. I would assume women with accounts at this bank get married and change their names from time to time so it can't be that no one knew what to do, this teller had probably just never processed a name change before. When she came back out she was much nicer and we managed to get everything changed. New ATM cards and checks are in the mail.

At the social security office we stepped into a room that looks like it belongs on a low budget TV show, it was a drab, partially full, depressing little room. Luckily the line moved pretty quickly and we only had to wait a few minutes. The woman who helped me asked 20 questions to verify I was the person I claimed to be. Crys said the woman helping her didn't ask any questions. We decided either the woman helping me wanted to hear me say Fargo (I was born there) or I didn't look very trust worthy. But in the end, we both ordered our new social security cards. The DMV was thoroughly uneventful.

The lawyer we were supposed to meet had a conflicting appointment so we met with her legal assistant (I'm going to call her LA from now on) who was going to be do our paperwork anyway. I would guess the lawyer made the appointment for when the LA could meet with us and had no plans of being there. No problem, the LA is cheaper than the lawyer and we really liked the LA. The LA told us what we already knew, there is no way Crys can adopt Emmett in Nebraska. Nebraska is one of three states where the courts have decided that our adoption law excludes same sex couples. Forget that the law says second parent adoption should take place when it is in the best interest of the child. Clearly, it only means in cases where the parents aren't the same sex. Whatever. We were happy to find out that we can set up co guardianship. The LA said it's more expensive to process and involves court approval. She recommend a form that I have to renew every six months instead. After Emmett is born, I think we will establish co guardianship. It's good until Emmett turns 19, doesn't change my rights and is more legally binding that what the LA suggested. But that can't happen until Emmett arrives. For now, LA is putting together our wills and living wills.

After our appointment and running around, we went out grocery shopping and I was spent when we got home. In fact, I'm still tired. Crys had to cook dinner because I couldn't get off the couch. Tiredness aside, it was an excellent day with Crys.

Current present and future non-bio moms

Mombian and Art Sweet have posted a request by a masters of social work student for current and non-bio moms to complete a research survey. Here's the information for anyone interested.

I would like to ask for your help in finding participants for my Master of
Social Work thesis research on anonymous donor preferences of non-genetic
mothers. I am excited to have this opportunity to give voice to the experiences
of women starting families in this way.

Participants in my research must meet the following criteria:
(a) self identify as a woman partnered with another woman,
(b) neither woman in the partnership has previous children (i.e., through
birth, foster-care, adoption, or step-parenting),
(c) participants have selected an anonymous [id release okay] sperm donor
in the past 36 months, and
(d) participants are not be the genetic (i.e. egg/ovum) parent.

The research consists of answering an anonymous online survey which
takes about 30 minutes. The survey can be found at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=WeKJ3vzrhjjQzXxpNd9Szg_3d_3d

Please forward this information to any friends, family members, and
other professional or personal contacts who might be eligible to
participate.

The student's contact information is available at the survey site.

You can get larges for only a dollar more!

We went out this weekend. Twice. Friday we went out for dinner. And not the cheap fast food we usually get. We went to the Italian place we went on our second date. Our first date was on Valentine's day but I paid because Crys didn't have any money. So she insisted on taking me out later that week when she could pay. After that we didn't so much date as hang out a lot. But I digress.

Dinner was fun and Saturday I still felt like getting out of the house so we went to a movie after Crys got off work (she works every third Saturday). We saw the new U.nderworld movie. The plot was full of holes but fun to watch anyway. We did our usual and split a medium popcorn and soda. The friendly concession stand boy told us we could get a large of each for just a dollar more! This always bothers me. If it's that cheap to go up a size, why is it so freaking expensive to get pop and popcorn in the first place? Not to mention, I can read the prices, I'm perfectly aware that a size larger is extremely cheap. But I don't need the larger size. I don't need the popcorn at all, but Crys likes her movie theater popcorn so we buy it anyway. This is why I love N.etflix.

While we were walking from our car to the theater I commented that it was unfortunate the ultra conservative religious guy with the big white cross wasn't on the corner by the theater yelling at all us sinners. You know the kind of guy. He preaches about how homosexuality (among other things) is a sin to people who really don't care. And he shows up outside the theater at least once during the weekend. I told Crys if he was there it would be fun to introduce myself as a pregnant lesbian. She didn't agree and when he was there on our way out of the theater, she told me I couldn't do it. Now, I have a mind of my own. I can do whatever I please, but sometimes I rely on Crys to be my censor. I can be a little rash, like I always have the urge to flip off stupid drivers, but she tells me it's not worth it. Or she lets me know when I'm turning into an obnoxious drunk and tells me to lay off the booze (this hasn't happened recently). Tempting as it was to talk to the cross guy, he was talking to someone at the time and I didn't feel like waiting so we kept on walking. Maybe next time...