A Gender Reveal!

I am 23 weeks pregnant today!

. . . Which means that we had the "big ultrasound" almost 3 weeks ago. And we kept a secret from everyone, until Thanksgiving Day. (If baby hadn't been 100% healthy, we wouldn't have kept any secrets.) My parents had come up for the holiday week, and we were doing the big feast at B's aunt's house. I figured it would be the perfect time to announce if Cora would be getting a brother or sister.

For my sister and her family who live in GA and weren't with us in person, I made a word search and emailed it to them! There were a LOT of kinks in this (repeated words, etc.), so just know that if you want to go that route. I used this website, though, and this right here was the actual word search I sent if you feel like doing it. (You'll probably find some errors or such, but you'll figure it out.) The leftover letters tell you a phrase with the answer. It's easiest to do these types of searches if you circle each individual letter instead of the whole word.

As for the rest of everyone present at Thanksgiving dinner, we did a balloon pop. There were a lot of kinks in this plan, too. (Can anything ever be so easy for me??) But here's the video, and with the sound on you can hopefully figure it out (even though B accidentally had his finger over the mic for the first part):

We did pink and blue balloons so people could pick a side (since it wasn't actually a gender reveal party where people come dressed for their 'team'). All of the blue ones got chosen, as I think people were just hoping for the one-and-one. We had to fill the wrong ones with white confetti (confetti being torn-up crepe streamers) because you could totally tell if the color didn't match. Some things I'd do differently if I use this idea again:

• Use helium-quality balloons. They're more opaque. The crappy blue balloons I got at Wal-Mart for a buck were basically clear and we had to dig out some other blue ones from our party stash.
• Don't use pink and blue balloons. Maybe black and purple and designate which goes for which, and fill them all with the correct color. People had no idea what the white meant, since all I told them was "you'll know if you're right."
• Maybe only use black and make people get into teams on each side of the room.
• Have people hold the balloon in front of them or over the head. Just trust me on this; I had done a practice balloon on my dad, and he held it above him and it was awesome. Plus, he clearly could see the color because it was falling on him.
• Have someone help me pass out stuff (B filmed the whole thing, and I ended up cutting the video down because it was rather boring and you couldn't hear anything because his finger was over the mic). Also figure out a way to give the pins out quickly, since his aunt accidentally popped her balloon while I was still passing pins out. (White confetti came out and nobody knew what it meant). I had threatened that if anyone popped theirs early, they would have to clean up the mess. (That was moot because all participants did a good job of cleaning up!)
• Another idea I kept seeing when doing research: only one person gets the 'reveal' balloon. Everyone else has white confetti so that one person gets to shout it out.
• Get a better videographer. (Sorry, B.)

Maybe the proverbial next time we'll just do a cake like everyone else, but I think everyone present thought this was a fun activity to throw into the Thanksgiving celebration.

playing picta-phone online!

I found something new online last week, and I just have to share this with y'all!

On my blog stats, one of the most-used search terms to find my blog is "pictaphone" game.  See, I wrote a post about a new game I learned at a party and posted a how-to guide.  The friends at the party just called it "the best game ever" but I called it "picta-phone" and apparently others do as well (or "drawing telephone" as a book I read dubbed it).  Check out my old post if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Well, now you can play it online!  With strangers!!  The site just launched last week, so they're still working out some bugs, but head on over to http://drawception.com/ and join in the fun!  You can just log in with your Twitter or FB account and start playing right away!

Here's a game I started and where it ended up:

Hilarious, amirite??

miscellany monday

So I did Music Mondays for a while, but then there became a major blog-hop on Thursdays dealing with music, and I started feeling sheepish linking up my Monday posts on Thursdays. And then I got pretty quiet here for a while, so here's what I'm doing today.

Yep, a link-up for complete randomness of thoughts.  I think that will work for me today, as I can't think of anything coherent.

1.  I lost my glasses at some point when we were traveling over Christmastime.  It's not a huge deal, since they're for distance and just help me drive a bit better (no stipulations on my license).  But B had been bugging me to go to the optometrist and get some new ones though, so I finally went last week.  I went to the Naval Hospital here, and the guy I had was great!  I even told him that I plan to order my glasses online, and he knew of the sites and had nothing bad to say.  He even gave me my pd length.  Maybe I'll even get some prescription sunglasses (never had those before!) if these turn out well.  If not, hey it was only $30.  The pair I lost set me back at least $150.

2. I really want some visitors down here.  I think I've gotten a bit lonely, or at least want a familiar face.  I've also been trying to think of places for us to take weekend trips and am drawing blanks (we've already done New Orleans).  At one point, we had wanted to go camping, but now it just feels to hot and sticky to want to spend all night outside.  I guess we could just go to Destin or Tallahassee.

3.  Adding to my list of picky foods, rosemary just got the official ban.  I made pork chops the other day using this recipe from WikiHow.  Great recipe, but the only major herb was rosemary (dried), and I hated it.  I thought this day might come, since the only time I used it fresh (3 years ago!) it made my nose run in the middle of July, and the smell of the foccacia bread I was making made me gag.  I think I can still add it to things with other spices (like chicken with thyme and oregano and such).  I don't understand my palate sometimes.  Does anyone have an herb suggestion to go with pork chops?

4.  I don't usually talk about B's job, but I just want to mention the difference between "duty" here at this shore command versus back on the sub.  He stood duty every 3-4 days on the sub, and with that he had to get there super-early and then stay overnight.  For most of his sea tour, we weren't married, so I just did my own thing those nights.  Here, his duty lasts an entire week and involves him carrying a Blackberry around and coming home as usual every night.  Oh, and he has to check the locks in the building, too.  It's still pretty ridiculous though, as he ends up having to "play detective" more often than not for issues that have little to do with his actual command.  He calls this "an HR job," and for that industry, the idea of duty is definitely an odd one.  He only has duty a few times a year though, and he's still getting sub pay every month, so no complaints from me. 

5.  Facebook games have been sucking all of my time lately.  I had already been playing Family Feud and The Price Is Right on there, but in the last week I have added Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and Rummikub.  I was even able to play Rummikub against my mom in live-time.  Technology is awesome.  And I'm so good at Jeopardy! that I haven't even needed my friends' help yet.

and now for a quiz

One of the slightly more useful things I've learned from my husband's military job is the existence of the ICAO alphabet.  We actually just call it the "(standard) phonetic alphabet," and sometimes I annoy B by trying to rattle the whole thing off on my own.  There's always a few I can't remember, and he holds out on me until I cave.  Whether I can remember them or not, I can recognize immediately who knows it and who doesn't when I'm conducting phone business or whatever.  A is not for Apple, and D is not for Dog.  If you know anything about this, check your knowledge with this quiz over at mental_floss.  This picture to the right should help jog your noggin!

And if you know nothing about it, read up on it over at Wikipedia and start memorizing!  It will help your life, I promise.

the best game ever: picta-phone

A few weeks ago, I found myself at a friend's house, celebrating her big 3-0, and playing this game that was perfect for our late night crowd.  The people I was with only called it "the best game ever," which is annoyingly nondescript and makes the actual game itself hard to remember.  It's kind of like a pictorial game of telephone, and it's a hoot!

You will need:

• At least 6 people (8-12 is probably ideal)
• Enough index cards or quarter-sheets of paper for (number of people)^²  -- we had 8 people, so we needed 64 cards

 These puppies got me through college, so of course I always found bargains!

• And 1 writing utensil per person 

I love my lambie pen from my '08 Easter basket!

How to play:
1. Each player gets a set of index cards (divvied up evenly, of course)
2. Use the blank sides of the cards, if applicable
3. Each player will write a phrase or a saying on the first card - keep it a secret what it is!
4. Once everyone has written their phrase, each player will keep their phrase card on the top and will pass their ENTIRE STACK of cards to the person on their left.
5. The receiver will then read the phrase and then DRAW a picture of it on the next card.  So, if the card said, "The cow jumped over the moon," then the receiver will draw their best rendering of that.  6. You cannot use words or symbols in the picture.  Move the phrase card to the back of the pile.
7. When everyone is done, the cards pass to the left again, with the picture on top.
8. The new receiver will now WRITE what they see.  Don't look at the phrase card in the back, just write what you see in the picture.
9. Game play passes to the left again, alternating writing and drawing until you get your original phrase back in your hands.
10. Then it's show-and-tell time!  Everyone gets a turn to show the other players the "journey" that their phrase has taken.  This game is probably even better when combined with alcohol* (what game isn't?).

When we played this, my "On Wednesdays, we wear pink" (a quote from Mean Girls) resulted in an old man doing his laundry because he is out of clean clothes, and the phrase "30 and Flirty" evolved into a bawdy scene so controversial that I can't even post it on the blog!  And to think I was playing this with my good lil' Catholic friends!


*Please only drink legally and responsibly!

i am not celebrating the 4th of july . . .

I am celebrating America's Independence Day! Which happens to fall on July 4, since that is the date on the Declaration of Independence.

No, we're not the only culture that does this. B's boat was actually in Norway for their Constitution Day, which Norwegians like to refer to as "Syttende mai," or 17th May.  As for the U.S., John Adams actually wrote a letter to his wife Abigail on 3 July 1776, predicting that we would be celebrating the 2nd of July.  Why?  During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June.  Adams' prediction of our fanfare was mostly accurate, minus that whole date fiasco:

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

Alright, Mr. Adams, let's see how we're doing:

Pomp and parade?  Head on up to our nation's capital for their annual one

Shows?  I hear there's a jazz ensemble playing down at Town Point Park

Games and sports?  An American competitive eating tradition, of course:  Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest    American Joey Chestnut FTW!

Guns, bells, bonfires, illuminations?  Let's be American and blow crap up!  Scared of drunken injuries?  We can even do it digitally!

Happy Birthday, America!  You hardly look a day over two hundred and thirty-three.

hurry up and wait: my day as an extra

Today I had the opportunity to help a friend who is in film school at Regent by being an extra in her newest project. I believe it's a pilot episode for a TV show.  I'm usually a singer (although not much of a soloist) and have done a very small bit of acting, but lately I've started to feel the acting bug.  And as they say in 'the theat-ah', "There are no small parts, only small actors," so I'll take any gigs that I fit into my not-so-surprisingly empty schedule.

If there's one thing I've learned about being an extra, it's that most of the time you have NO IDEA what is actually going on in the scene. I couldn't hear the actors talking, and I hadn't read the screenplay so I didn't know the plot either. Nor did I really even care. All I could really tell is that this project was slightly comedic and there would be bowling alley scenes (since that's where we were).  The only sounds I could really hear above the din of falling pins were "Speed!" (said after by the sound person I think?) and that lovely clicking noise of the clapboard.  Also, sometimes the extras just have to make up some dialogue to pretend like you're talking in the background. We had a few "How 'bout the weather today? I want to order a hot dog. Now where is my 8 pound ball?" conversations.

After we shot and re-shot and re-shot the scene where I walked by and picked out my ball off the shelf, all I really cared about was whether we were "pretend bowling" (for noise reasons) or I could actually  throw my ball at some pins.  But we did eventually get to bowl . . . a lot.  I bowled five games with a complete stranger, a retired Air Force man who looked remarkably like my father.  My new BFF extra/father figure and I ended up discussing everything from our history in glee clubs to his recent lap-band surgery (ew) to our experiences at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Beyond the reminder that there certainly isn't such a thing as a 'free' lunch, probably the most important lesson I learned from this experience is that rented shoes actually hurt like hell after about four hours of relatively non-stop bowling.  And for those of you keeping score at home, my best game was a perfect . . . 100. Ouch.

Those five games pretty much tuckered me out, but all told, it was a great way to spend a Friday.  And that's a wrap.