Jon Won!!

I don't think I let the two people who read this blog know that my brother won the contest for his band to play at the Rothbury Festival. Here is a link to see him play the last song of their performance:
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/mornings/The_Vault__The_Tom_Butwin_Band and here is a news story about it:

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/entertainment/music/090703_butwin_band_debut.

Thanks to all that voted!

38 Weeks and still pregnant!

I thought I'd take pictures every two weeks hoping that this will be my last picture but thinking it might not be! I really don't think this kid wants to join us, not that I really blame him!! He seems pretty content in the belly. I've realized I need to completely slow down and just rest. Last weekend I did too much and on Sunday ended up not feeling so good. Food is starting to make me sick again so I need to be careful as to what I eat also. I've finally brought a couple of bags down so I can pack for the hospital. I still need to get a few things. I guess I'm not in a huge rush myself. I'm physically ready to give birth; emotionally and mentally not so much. My life is going to change so much and I just never planned for this. Never thought I'd be pregnant. I'm looking forward to the change because I know it will be the best thing ever but also scared. I swear if there was a color wheel for emotions I'd be every color: scared, excited, irritated, bored, etc.

So here I am at 38 weeks:

36 Weeks Baby Bump

I can't believe I am at week 36! I'm not completely convinced that he'll be early but I'm making sure I get certain things done by the end of next week just in case!

For the most part I have enjoyed being pregnant...for the most part. Hated the first trimester but the second and third have been pretty good. I've got energy and my appetite is back (except for chicken - ew!). Right now though the ankles are becoming a problem. By the end of the night I don't have ankles anymore but instead cankles. I try to keep them elevated but at times I'm a little too busy to even sit and do that. I wanted to do some shopping today and made it to one store and said, "Forget it!". The heat doesn't help either though. I've got fans going all the time and would probably have the air conditioner on all the time but it isn't that hot and I like the fresh air.

So that is my big and only complaint about the pregnancy. My little bugger is doing good! Kicking a lot and letting me know he is getting ready to make his entrance whether or not I am ready!

Book Reviews - Gillian Flynn

I just finished reading the first two books by the author, Gillian Flynn. They were both rather dark books. The first book is Sharp Objects. Here is a little bit from the inside cover: "WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls." Camille is a cutter who instead of just randomly cutting herself she cuts words into her skin. She goes back home to cover these murders but it isn't easy since she doesn't have a good relationship with her mother and doesn't know her half-sister at all. Fully understanding these different twists you had to read several pages into the book.

Her second book entitled, Dark Places is just as dark but maybe not as dark as the first one. Here is the blurb from that book: "Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her." This one I wanted to keep reading so I knew what really happened. Did Ben kill her family or was it someone else like the Kill Club suggests.

As mentioned both books are rather dark and not necessarily light reads. Both women in the book are damaged characters who act out sexually, violently, and other ways to keep the hurt and past at bay. Both have to come to terms with their past in order to move forward and heal.

Recycle Your Cell Phone!!

I think it was in the issue of Real Simple where I found this website where you can send your no longer used cell phone in to be recycled for free! Go to: www.recyclemycellphone.org. They take care of your postage AND it is tax deductible!

Cell phones are potentially hazardous waste because they contain lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic. If thrown in the trash and sent to incinerators or landfills, environmental contamination can occur from combustion and leaching into soil and groundwater.

Sadly, less than 2% of old cell phones are being recycled today!

Some alarming facts about cell phones you might not know:

*The EPA estimates cell phones will be thrown away at a rate of 130 million a year by 2005 that equals 65,000 tons of waste containing toxic metals!
* There are more than 500 million used cell phones in the U.S. sitting in people's drawers or in our landfills.