Writing about hedging foreign investments is boring

Good morning!  It's cloudy and rainy this weekend here, how is it where you are?  The weather here is so weird - it's really hot and dry in the summer, so everything dies, and then it all springs to life in the winter.  Our  yard is ridiculously green right now (All weeds), I just can't believe it.  Then my friends post pictures of 8 inches of fresh show, and talk about the first big accidents of the year that coincide with the first big snow of the year, and I remember why we were so happy about a move to California:  easy access to snow without having to live in the snow.

I really don't have much to say today.  I'm avoiding a paper that I'm working on about the documentation a company must have when they elect to hedge a foreign transaction.  Yes, it is exactly as boring as it sounds.  You know what isn't boring though?  The fact that if I just buckle down and work, I will be done with my Bachelor's degree in December 2017!  There is light at the end of this tunnel!

 

Also, we have wild turkeys that live all over the suburbs out here.  This is across the street from a school and a shopping center.  Totally unrelated to anything, but funny, right?  They all mysteriously made themselves scarce about 2 weeks ago - I'm thinking they started fearing that they would end up on someone's table, and headed for higher ground.

 

 

In other random news, I have been craving the steak salad from Costa Vida so hard lately.  In fact, I had one for lunch Friday, and another one yesterday.  They were both magnificent.  The baby is doing this really fun thing lately where he/she makes everything sound revolting except for one food.  Generally at lunchtime.  If I try to convince myself to think about eating something else, I get nauseous and start gagging.  So instead of fighting it, I roll with it.  Please don't judge me.

And speaking of baby, we're already bumpin' a little bit around here.  I'm almost 14 weeks now, but this was taken a few days ago.  It's hand to believe that in such a short time my stomach went from being mostly flat to looking like I've been eating Thanksgiving every day.  I'm curious to see how much more pronounced it is at Christmas, when I'll be about 19 weeks.  I'm already transitioning into maternity, and haven't been able to wear pants that weren't leggings for almost 3 weeks now. 

Anyway, that's it.  I should get back to foreign currency financial instruments, because this baby is not going to bring its own money with it.  Unless he/she is ridiculously adorable, and becomes the next Gerber baby or something...  We can all have hopes and dreams, I guess.

Guest Bedroom reveal

Guys, we did it!  We finished our guest bedroom quite a while back, and it's already had visitors in it TWICE.  Granted, it was my parents the first time and just my mom the second, but it counts, right?  I've literally had this post in my drafts since June, so I thought it was time to show off what we did.

Before:  Vertical blinds, builder beige, and stains galore.  Out of all of the spaces in this house, we knew it would be a big win for us to get this done, and an easy place to start, if a bit time consuming. Carpet is staying for now, so it was a matter of sprucing up the walls and getting rid of the ugly blinds.

After:  I mean... Wow.  We impressed ourselves on this one.  I wanted to create a homey space, that almost anyone would feel welcome in.  I realize that lovers of ultra-modern would probably loathe to spend the night, but luckily, we don't have any super-hip ultra-modern friends or family.

First up, I spent 4 hours scrubbing the heck out of the walls.  It was brutal, but paid off in huge dividends.  There was so much stuff on the walls, that it would have been a  nightmare to try to cover.  This is that same corner shown above.  Look Ma, the black stains are mostly gone!

Next up, I painted the ceiling and we primed the walls.  Ceiling painting is my FAVORITE thing, guys.  I don't know why, but I really, really like doing it.  Plus, who doesn't love being covered head to toe in paint spatter when you're done?  We ended up doing 2 coats of primer - the walls soaked up a ton of primer, and we were also covering over paint samples, which took some extra attention.

We were amazed just how much brighter everything looked once the beige was gone!  Also, pro tip:  just go ahead and buy your Kilz (primer) in 5 gallon buckets.  If you're doing more than one room, you will definitely use it, and it applies really thick, so it doesn't go as far as a gallon of paint does.

We also did 2 coats of paint.  It's a pretty standard sized room that holds a queen, and we used about a gallon of paint for both coats. The color is a super soft, pale blue by Glidden called Blue Frost.  Yep, like the gatorade flavor.  But the paint color is soooooooo much prettier than the beverage color.  Trust me.

From there, everything else was pretty simple.  We found the headboard on Wayfair, and added in furniture we already had:  The nighstands were our old ones that Ammon made to match our old bed.  We found the rocking chair and the dresser at our favorite thrift store back in CO.  There's still some small details missing, like a mirror to go over the dresser, and something for the top of the dresser.  But really, this room is ready for any guest who wants to come visit.

If you want to come next summer, though, you might need to get in line - apparently the new baby is quite the draw with our close family and friends.

Becoming "that" blogger

You know that blogger who used to blog all the time, and then life got boring, so they stopped.  And then!  Out of nowhere that same once boring blogger starts blogging again because BAM they're pregnant?

Yeah...

I pulled the ultimate blogger stunt and convinced my husband to take an ultimate blogger picture with me, with my favorite blog-friend turned real life friend behind the lens.  All so that if I decided to suddenly be a preggo/mommy blogger, I was prepared.

Side note - getting a pregnant woman onto a tree branch 6+ feet in the air isn't super hard, but getting her back down is.  That was probably unwise.

I guess now is where I tell you all how blessed we feel and how overjoyed we are.  Yes, all of that.  Mostly Ammon really, because he's the wonderful, caring, and romantic one in this relationship.  I'm over here just feeling fat, nauseous, and exhausted, and asking the OBGYN every time we go in if it's actually a real baby in there.  Suffice it to say that while I'm thrilled by the idea that we will have a kid in the near future, it really hasn't hit me with quite the same force that morning sickness and general malaise have.

 

 

But thank goodness for this guy, who has totally stepped it up lately.  He's remodeling our half bathroom for me, doesn't let me carry groceries, and insists on indulging my food whims and wants.  It's a little embarrassing how much I've let him spoil me.  He's even suffered through the dreaded pregnancy hanger which is infinitely worse than regular hanger.  I had no idea.

That's a great book idea, in fact:  "Pregnancy... I had no idea".  It could literally fill volumes.

Oh, and if you're wondering, we're due May 23rd.