The Moment You've All Been Waiting for....

So for those of you that don't know.....James and I are expecting a baby. Yikes!! I'm still getting used to the idea and trying not to spaz out a bit. Working up towards the excited and will eventually get there. So my sisters are of course all over me to keep this updated since they can't be here to go through all the fun?? I'm not so sure that is the term I want to use for this but work with me here.

We went in on Thursday and I was 7 weeks and 5 days so I am due January 9th they are telling me. Here is a pic of Baby Fleischman...the book says it is the size of a blueberry during week 7.


We are anxiously (and not so patiently) awaiting the 20 week mark when they'll tell us what we are having. James is convinced that due to my family's lack of testosterone that it will be a girl. I'm not so sure. In one book it said if I am eating all the time statistically it is a boy. I am eating so much it is ridiculous. No real morning sickness yet....only nausea if I don't eat, and so far no strange cravings. Not exactly sure when all that starts since I'm kind of new at this. So I'm doing lots of snacking and hoping I don't end this thing 80 pounds heavier than when I started.

So I haven't posted much lately but we did go to AZ to see my family and have a Lund reunion before Kalli and Steve moved off to the middle of nowhere.....Boston. We had a great time and got to spend time with Dad who was recovering from surgery. Not so fun for him. Good food, good fun and really warm Phoenix weather. Here is our pic from Mother's Day with all the girls dressed up.
And a pic of the Galapagos turtle we saw at the Phoenix zoo. Not a bad zoo if it isn't hotter than heck out there.

Meanwhile all of James' family got together to celebrate Mother's Day and my mother in law Marlene's 60th birthday. We were sad to miss out on that but they all had a lot of fun at the canyon. Happy Birthay Marlene!

And my nephew Branson also turned 9. I can't believe it has gone by that quickly. When James and I started dating he wasn't even a year old yet. Time sure flies and he isn't even my kid!!! Sorry Susan it must be that much quicker for you.

Then last weekend James and I spent Memorial Day in Lubbock. I saw the in laws, went to the lake, saw my best friend Ash who I don't get to see nearly enough and got to see my cousin Tirey who I haven't seen in a really long time. It was a really nice weekend. Here are a couple of fun pics from the bbq at the lake with Grandpa and Macy dancing and Dan and Macy dancing - I borrowed these from you Susan so they might look a bit familiar. :-)



And James was able to get his car mostly finished but that is a whole different story. I'll be glad to see it done. Here are a few pics of the progress so far.


So that is it for the Fleischman home right now. I'll be posting some periodic updates for the sisters so if they bore you I'll try to give you advance notice and you can skip over that post. :-)

8 Things

I was tagged by my friend Keri http://thecrazyjacksons.blogspot.com/ to do this post.

8 Things I look forward to:
1)5 pm
2) Vacations of any sort
3) Saturday
4) Bunco
5) October through December - I love all of the fall holidays!
6) time with James
7) James being done with the '57
8) Owning land and building our dream house

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1) worked
2) went to bunco
3) overslept through my alarm
4) slept
5) made corn dip for bunco
6) wore my super cute purple heels :-)
7) emptied the dishwasher
8) went to lunch with the girls at the office

8 Things I wish I could do:
1) Go to Europe
2) Get a new car
3) Vacation
4) Lose 20 lbs.
5) Play an instrument
6) Own my own cafe
7) Go back to school and get a degree in Interior Design or architecture
8) speak a different language

8 Shows I watch:
1) Bones
2) The Office (best show on TV.)
3) Burn Notice
4) CSI
5) CSI New York
6) CSI Miami (I have a problem)
7) NCIS
8) One Tree Hill - totally a teeny bopper show I know

8 Bloggers Tagged:
1) BrieAnn http://jakeandbrieann.blogspot.com/
2) Kalli http://steveandkalli.blogspot.com/
3) Kiersty http://skloughness.blogspot.com/
4) Brittany http://lundlife.blogspot.com/
5) Rushelle http://megerlefam.blogspot.com/
6) Larae http://merrittmemories.blogspot.com/
7) Teresa http://treeabbott.blogspot.com/
8) Susan http://macyinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

One Heart Umbrella Campaign

Ok I'm stealing this from my friend Leslie's blog. It is a great cause and if any of you or anyone you know might be interested and able to help, their family would really appreciate it. This is her post below and here is the website: http://www.oneheartumbrellacampaign.org/

So I know that most of you know about my nieces, but for those of you who don't know let me fill you in. I have 2 year old conjoined nieces. They are attached at the breastbone to the belly button. They each have two arms and two legs. They are very precious. ok, the reason for this little dialogue is for this: I was reminded today about a fund raiser taking place right now that I think is SOOO COOL!!! It is OneHeart Umbrella Campaign. The Chair of this campaign is the one and only Debbie Reynolds!!! How they got her to do it is beyond me. But this is the deal, they have recruited celebrities from all over the place (movies, tv, sports, and theater) to help out. Such celebs as : Jessica Alba, Kevin Bacon, Sean Astin, James Brown, Joah Groban, ASU Suns Basketball Team, The Phoenix Suns, Alice Cooper, HUGH JACKMAN, Michael Phepls, Cast of the Today show, the cast of: The Phantom, Singin in the Rain, Chicago and sooooo many more!!!!! When I read through all 75 participants I was amazed!!!. And what they have one is signed and decorated umbrellas. Now the purpose of all those umbrellas is this, they are being auctioned off on ebay!!! Is that not just the coolest thing ever!!! I am amazed at the generosity of others. It reminds me that there are good people out there. If any one is interested you can look them up on ebay or via google. Just google "oneheart campaign". And you can bid online through ebay. This really is an amazing thing to be part of.

Pinks All Out

A little education first - Pinks all out is a show on Speed TV where cars drag race for cash. My little sis thought it was a track meet for breast cancer. So the original name came from the fact that guys would race their cars for the pink slips -ownership of the vehicle. Now they race in this tv show for $10,000 cash and a tool chest.
It starts out with about 400 cars and they run usually 2-3 qualifying runs to get their time slot and eliminate those that don't win. Then Rich - the host - chooses the most common time slot where there are at least 16 cars within a couple hundreths of a second - and those are the ones that race in the Sweet Sixteen. These guys race in the finals that night and try to win the money. Here is Rich, the host, ranting about racers with antifreeze in their cars. It takes forever to clean up the track after a spill so we had 2 back to back and Rich threatened a lifetime ban from any of his shows if you violated this.
So my father in law - Ralph - took his 1958 Edsel that he has completely rebuilt and likes to race. It has a 514 engine and nitrous so it is pretty stinkin' fast considering how heavy of a car it is.
James and I drove up from Austin to the Texas Motorplex in Ennis. We didn't get to stay for everything because James had to work on Sunday at 8 am, but we got there around 9 am Saturday morning and left around 9:30 pm.
Here are the Fleischman boys with the Edsel.



Above is Ralph gearing up to race and burning the tires.
We spent the day at the track watching Ralph race as well as a lot of other cars. We also got to spend the day with Dan and Susan and the kids and then Mark and Lori were kind enough to let us hang out at their RV to watch the races. That was way more comfortable than the metal stands in the sun. Thanks Mark and Lori! Uncle Merlin and Cousin Scott both drove up early on Saturday morning to see all the excitement and races. It was fun to spend time with them. Dan and Scott were catching up while waiting on the food.
Here is a picture of Pat helping guide Ralph on to the dragstrip.

The Fleischman boys were all so excited to see the Edsel do a wheelie on the strip.

And he is off down the quarter mile.
There were luckily only minor issues that had to be fixed. Here is Pat hard at work.
The boys pushing the Edsel into the lane for his elimination round.

Rich liked the Edsel a lot too. I think it is just very different from the cars that are normally on the show. It was even a featured car which means that Ralph got interviewed and hopefully will be shown on the show this summer.

Lane didn't like being left out so he is showing what a great crew chief he can be.


Ralph won the race for qualifying runs and wasn't eliminated.
They finally announced who the racers would be for the final 16 and Ralph missed it just barely. We were so hopeful that he would get in. Dan and Susan had a friend who made it into the final 16 and then one of their friends from the Mustang club in Amarillo also made it. Here is Casey - one of the friends racing. His brother raced in San Antonio last year and actually won. Unfortunately both of the friends were eliminated pretty early but there is always Houston!

Bathroom Remodel

I haven’t blogged much lately. Not a whole lot of exciting stuff happening. But James and I did spend Saturday remodeling our guest room. I got a great deal on the stone at one of the “yard sales” at work. I also have stone for my master bathroom but that will be a bit further down the road and then I hope to do my kitchen someday. But for now my guest bathroom is done. So it is almost done exactly as the vision in my head looked.

First off, I love, love, love my new sink - also a great bargain at the yard sale - normally it is a $175 sink which I got for $30 because it had a small scratch. I dare any of you to find the scratch by the way. It is so awesome.

I convinced James that I had to tear out the old stuff, and he helped me do that and then install the new countertop. But of course once I had done that, then the paint looked terrible, so I spent Saturday night until midnight masking off and repainting the walls in the guest bathroom. Then none of my bathroom accessories – shower curtain, floor rug, trash can, toothbrush holder, etc. or my towels matched. So I found a great deal on the towels and rug at Walmart and then it was time for the shower curtain.

I really had it in my mind what I wanted but I was not able to find exactly what the picture in my mind was. I did finally find one yesterday that although is not what was in my head, works perfectly. I really wanted a fabric one with the sage green background and the pattern to be a red swirly pattern. I know it was really specific. But instead I found a gold colored one that I am going to iron ribbon onto. Since I do not sew I figured ironing it on would work. So today it is off to Hobby Lobby to find a matching red ribbon and a green ribbon that is just a bit darker. Then the whole bathroom will be tied in together because I also found this great picture at Hobby Lobby on clearance that was $22. I love the 66% off aisle. They have some great bargains.

I still have a few things in there I want to replace but I’m pretty satisfied with everything for now and new fixtures are a ways down the road. So enjoy my little project and James’ handy plumbing work. All in all I felt like I was quite capable. For a day. Next time my faucet breaks and James is out of town again I’ll go back to feeling helpless, and have to call Brent to come save me from the overflowing tub. But for a day I felt like I was pretty handy around the house.

Crazy Me!

I have been slacking and not updated in a while so here is a quick one.
James and I hosted dinner at our house after church tonight for a couple of families from church - I made brisket, sausage and cookies and they brought the other sides. It was a lot of fun but they all think I am crazy because each of them have 5 kids so we had 10 children 13-almost a year, 6 adults, 2 dogs and a lot of food. Here are pics stolen from their blog. This is the Scott clan - Kylie is the one with curly blonde hair and we are best buds. I am known as Snow White around their house.

And this is the Claridge family. Kristin is my hair colorist so I see her family pretty regularly since she does this out of her home. I'm still getting to know all of them but they are quickly learning to love my desserts. I think Travis would live with me if I kept the cookies around. :-)

It was actually a lot of fun and I didn't mind the craziness at all. I must be nuts right? No, I think it is great because I can send them all home at the end of the night and then they are back to being their mom and dad's problem, once I have loaded them up with ice cream and cookies. :-)

I haven't had a whole lot of other excitement lately. James drove to Amarillo last weekend to pick up his engine for his convertible and the truck broke on the way there. Apparently we are not meant to visit Amarillo with all of our car issues.

I spent the weekend here at home, with a fun surprise party for a friend at church on Friday night and then I watched the Scott' 5 cute little blonde children on Saturday while they were in San Antonio. That was fun but it made me grateful that kids come one at a time usually.

Also-have been watching the Bachelor with a group of ladies each Monday night at 9 and eating junk food and making fun of these insanely crazy women. This has made me decide that if James were to keel over suddenly, I would stay that way instead of facing the piranha pit of dating life again.

I suppose that is enough updating and boring you all to tears for tonight and I am about to pass out so off to sleep I go. Hope you are all doing fantastic and I'll try to post something more interesting as it happens. :-)

Fleischman Christmas/New Years

Happy New Year to everyone! James and I spent the new year with his family this year. We didn't have things work out quite like we had planned but we made it.

So going back to my Christmas present of the GPS so as not to get lost. Make sure you read all instructions before using is the lesson we learned. We left for our drive to Amarillo at about 3 pm. That should have put us there around 11. We got to Brownwood and in playing around with the Garmin found a different route that we thought might be a quicker way to get there.
So we start off. Apparently if you don't have the right settings and miss a turn, the thing recalculates and sets you on a different course. So about 2 hours away from Amarillo by our reckoning...we find ourselves on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. No stores, other cars, or even homes really. Lots of fields. And it is pitch black. And we hear the sound that no one wants to hear....a blowout. Wouldn't be a problem when you are married to a Fleischman right? They are all about cars and always have tools around.....except on this night.
James had just replaced my brakes which involves removing the wheel...which requires a wheel lock...which was sitting on the work bench at our home.....hours away. Ok not to worry we have cell phones, we'll call a tow truck. Except we are in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!
No cell service except to 911. So we call them to see if they can send a tow truck. They can't find us on a map. So with all the technology that we have 911 is still using a map.
As luck would have it after 30 minutes or so of this, a truck speeds by us and doesn't stop but shortly after a sheriff drives by, sees our hazards on and stops. He calls 3 different tow trucks to get them to come out, but it is New Years Eve and the drunks going to jail offer more money than us so they all can't come. I call my insurance who says I can pay them $228 but they can't guarantee someone will come. Not to worry we call my brother in law Pat, in Lubbock to see if he can come get us in Floydada. Most of you didn't even know that there was such a town right? We were 8 miles outside of there.
So the sheriff drives us to the sheriff's office and we wait for Pat to come get us, then spend the morning of New Year's Day going to Sears (Thank you for being open on a holiday Sears) and getting the necessary tools to go fix our tire to drive to Amarillo for the Fleischman family Christmas.
Needless to say by the time we made it to Christmas dinner, an hour late from the original plan, we were wiped out. So not a lot of pics. I'm stealing these two from Michelle's (sis in law) blog.
Meredith and Macy being quite the ladies and playing the piano.

This usually doesn't last too long and they are wrestling like the boys.

They are quite the entertaining. The boys were actually quite well behaved in the basement with the X-box.
We had a great Christmas and enjoyed getting to hang out even if it was during the Nebraska game. If you know the Fleischmans there isn't much that will get in the way of a Nebraska game. So we all turned off the cell phones, avoided tv and computer until we could get to Dan's house to watch the DVR'd game. It was a good game with Nebraska winning.
On Friday I went to see Marly and Me with Susan and Michelle after getting 4 new tires for my car. For those of you that have no idea what this movie is about, or who are dog lovers....go prepared with your kleenex. You will need it. It was a good movie and I always enjoy getting to spend time with the sisters in law. We missed Krista though. She had to work on Friday so was back in Lubbock.
Saturday was pretty laid back - Susan and Macy and I went to a girls day at the movies and saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua. As you can imagine this was a Macy choice. She thought it was quite entertaining though.
We made it home Sunday without any issues which was nice for a change. Stopped in to see Ashley in Lubbock and have lunch on the way home and made it home before midnight so we could unpack and get ready for the next week.
Now that all the holidays are over I'm sad because I have to wait until May for another holiday off of work. :-) Isn't that how it always goes?
But I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and are looking forward to a great new year. I need to get started on my resolutions and then resolve to actually keep them this year.