I'm Baaaaack! (With News!)

Wow. I took a much longer break than I intended. I was scared that this would happen. Once I got out of the habit of writing regularly I knew it would be hard for me to jump back in.

I haven't been feeling like myself for the past couple of months, and I think that not writing has had a large part to do with it. There are some other factors too...like a little thing called a BFP. Don't know what that is? Look here:

Yep! I am pregnant! This is an ultrasound picture that was taken at my first prenatal appointment at eight weeks. There is a real live baby in there with a heartbeat and everything!

I am now twelve weeks, and we are officially out and notorious with the pregnancy. My husband and I have both made announcements on Facebook, and you don't get anymore official than that, folks. I would post the picture from our appointment this week, but it's not very good. The baby was moving around so much that it made it difficult for my doctor to take a picture for us to keep.

How cute is that?! My baby was moving, swimming, and flipping around my womb! Ahhh! I could die it's so cute!

Other than the new addition I have no news to report. I made all As in my classes last semester! And since then my days and nights have basically been filled with lots of yawning and talking about how tired I am. I hope that since I'm closing on my first trimester that I will get some energy back. Luckily I haven't had any morning sickness, so I shouldn't complain too much.

I hope now to be writing again regularly. It's always difficult to put the first post up after being out of it for awhile. I've had a few ideas bounce around my head for future posts, so I hope to write them soon!

Time to Take a Break

Okay, remember how I told you guys that things are crazy for me right now with school, work, activities, etc.? Yeah, the crazy train has hit it's peak. Here's what I have going on from now until the end of April:

Lady Gaga Concert
One exam for my Criminal Law class
Two tennis lessons
Five page research essay for my English class (the topic, you ask? Oh, something light...like sexual abuse among women in Native American society.)
A project for my Criminal Law class (again, a light, breezy topic....write a three page paper analyzing the case against cop killer Jaime Hood and write up a five count indictment against him)
Two final exams: one for Criminal Law and another for my Technology in a Law Office class
4 day trip to Savannah, GA
4 day trip to Charleston, SC
And a partridge in a pear tree....

Oh, and the promotion I got at work (with no extra pay, btw) is taking up a lot of my time. I'm loving my new responsibilities, but, holy shit, can a sister get a break around here?!?

I have an obsession with grades. I have to get As. I must have a 4.0 GPA. Since my miscarriage I have developed an obsession with being perfect and a complete aversion to even the slightest failure.

It's bad.

Earlier in the semester I received an 85 on an essay for my English class. It was almost the end of the world:

"It's half way between doing good and failing!" I moaned.

"But my husband said it was an A paper!" I cried.

Yes, I recognize how annoying that is.

But I followed that essay up with a 97 on the next and a 99 on the one after it.

In YOUR FACE Professor! Give me an 85?!? HA! I'll show you!

And if it wasn't for one wayward semi-colon that 99 would have been a 100.

Dammit.

I HATE YOU SEMI-COLON!

Anyway.

This post isn't about that.

It's about this, I need a break. I have to make it through this month somehow, some way, and as much as I hate it I'm not gonna be able to keep up with blogging along with everything else.

My reader has a gazillion unread posts and my Tweet Deck maxed out at a trillion.

I adore the social media world but right now it's over-whelming me.

I love blogging and tweeting so much that it's important to me it stays fun and doesn't become an obligation.

So, I'm taking a deep breath and stepping away for a few weeks.

I'll be back the beginning of May and I'll be blogging, commenting, and tweeting up a storm, I promise.

Please stick with me.

When I return I'm gonna dive back into moving and changing up my blog, so soon everyone will have a cool new place to visit and watch me spew the "F" bomb.

I promise.

Now, I gotta go make those As.

I'm Still Janky and Now I'm Broke

In an effort to be like my too legit to quit friends I have decided to make a change with my blog.

Almost every blog I read is on Wordpress. These blogs have beautiful, custom designs, and easy to read layouts. My blog design is janky. I want a pretty blog that reflects me and I don't want to fit in a standard template of the twenty or so that Blogger offers.

Goodbye Blogger, hello Wordpress!

Since I'm moving I've decided to re-think the blog name. I turned twenty-nine this year. If you suck at math, that means next year I'll be thirty. Is 20-something shenanigans really appropriate for a 30 year old?

I thought I could rock it, like be forever young sorta thing. But, I'm sure after I turn thirty there's gonna be some jackasses in the blog world reminding me that I'm not a 20-something any more. And I'm pretty sure that's gonna piss me the fuck off.

I picture my 30-something self as having a short fuse.

Also, "Shenanigans". Yeah, I dig the word, but it makes me feel like I should write about impish pranks.

Of which, I have none.

Anyway.

So, I came up with a new name! Yay! And I think I dig it!

And I bought a domain with the new name on Word Press!

And I got a Gmail account with my new name!

Go Me!

Except, I'm screwed.

Holy shit. This Word Press thing is HARD y'all.

And not in a good, rock your body, hard either.

I messed with the Word Press themes, some font program, and tons of other shit.

And wanna know something?

It looked like shit.

I checked out the themes other blogs use. I don't have a lot of money to invest so I need something that can be customized by me and won't cost an arm and a leg.

One theme (thesis? design? I have no idea the proper lingo here) that stood out to me was DIY Themes. I looked at their website and watched their tutorial. It seemed simple to use, the installation was straight-forward, and they are known for great support. What could go wrong? I saved my pennies and bought the DIY Theme last weekend. Sweet! I'm in business, right?

No. Not Quite.

Apparently to load DIY Theme I need an FTP client.

Huh? What is FTP?

I do some research and download the FTP Client.

Awesome! Ready to Launch!

No.

I need to know the Host server name or some shit to get the FTP client to work.

Fine.

I spend a jazillion hours googling, "What the mother effin-fuckety-fuck is Word Press's fucking host what-the-eff-ever's name?!?"

Word Press doesn't provide that information, so I have to pay some company to host my blog.

Okaaaaay....

I look into a host and the cost is reasonable, only $4.95 a month for hosting.

Sweet! Sign me up!

I have to select a 12 or 24 month plan. The rates are the same for both.

Whatever.

I select the 12-month rate. Sure, "Host" charge me $4.95 a month for 12 months. I can swing that. I put in my credit card and cha-ching! I look at my receipt, and it doesn't show $4.95.

No.

It shows $59.40.

The ASSHOLES charged me for the whole 12-months upfront!

Fifty-nine Fucking Dollars and Forty Holy-Abe-Lincoln Cents!

OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO KICK SOME HOST ASS!

Deep Breath.

At least I have the info to put in my FTP thing-a-ma-jiggy.

I'll explain the over-draft fee in my personal, play-money bank account to my husband later.

I enter the Fifty-FUCKING-Four Dollar password. In the dumb ass FTP bullshit thing.

FTP connects and I'm in like Flynn!

Hell Yeah!

I go back to my DIY Themes instructions to get started.

Wait.

I have to install Word Press since I'm now "self-hosted".

Jesus Christ.

I figure out how to install the Word Press.

It's installed.

Hallu-fucking-llujah.

Back to my DIY Themes instructions.

Annnnnnnd, the folder I need to start with isn't there.

I have no idea how to get it.

Since accounting is so much fun, let's tally my investment:

Tally of Amanda's Mother Fucking Blog Shit that still Doesn't Work
URL on Word Press: $18.00
DIY Themes: $87.00
Self Host WTF Thing: $59.40 (Assholes)

Total: $164.40

I'm in the em-effing poor house and I have nothing to show for it.

I better find some impish pranks to write about.

Shit.

I Swear I'm not Whining

Sigh.

It's been awhile.

It really has.

I decided a long time ago that I wasn't gonna be one of those bloggers who constantly wrote about being too busy to blog.

But here we are.

I feel a bit conflicted. I have over-committed myself this year and I've wanted to write about how I feel like I'm juggling 3 bowls, 2 apples, a sword, a steak knife, and a can of mace but I haven't had the time and I don't want to sound like I'm whining. However, this is my blog, a place for me to write about what's happening with me so I should just do it, right?

Right.

But then I think about the women I know that work, have kids, go to the gym, and they still manage to post every day. It boggles my mind how they do everything. The things I've got going on are all things I've chosen for myself.

So what's my problem? I decided to do all of these things right? I chose to spread myself too thin.

SO I'm definitely NOT complaining, but, I am so freaking busy and I hate it and love it at the same time. If I can make it through to the end of this month I'll be golden. Seriously.

Last year I started college in pursuit of my paralegal degree. I took two classes last semester and made As in both. Since I did so well that semester I decided this semester I could totally handle three classes along with my full-time job.

Yeah. Three classes is WAY harder to juggle than two. On Mondays and Wednesday nights I go to two classes and I get home around nine. My third class is an internet class, so I have to find time to do it during the week and weekend.

Tuesday night I've been in a bowling league with a group of friends. The bowling league ended last week, so I finally have Tuesday nights free.

On Thursday nights I have my tennis lesson.

So, yeah, this has been my reality for the past few months. I'm taking an English course so I'm writing essays, reading stories and a book for class, and in my Criminal law course I'm studying for exams, trying to memorize crazy ass Georgia laws, and legal jargon.

It's a lot of shit.

And my online course tends to slide to the wayside, so I end up scrambling every week to keep caught up on it.

Top all this off with my work life which has been extremely hectic the past few weeks.

I work for a small company and one of the guys in my department just had his first baby so he has been out for the past two weeks.

And did I mention I'm getting promoted?

Yep, I'm going to be in charge of the department.

It's great news, I'm really happy, and I've wanted it for a long time. But...it feels like one more weight added to my buckling shoulders.

My school semester ends May 2. Please pray that I make it through.

With a 4.0 GPA.

Things I Know

TTC - Trying To Conceive

OT - Ovulation Test

BT - Basal Temperature

BFN - Big Fat Negative

BFP - Big Fat Positive

OT - Ovulation Test

AF - Aunt Flo

These are terms I wish I didn't know. They define the struggle to conceive. Women write these terms on message boards in hopes that their sore boobs and irritability are an early symptom of pregnancy and not a sign of PMS. Last year I was apart of this group.

How many times did I Google, "Early pregnancy signs"? Too many to count.

How many times was it PMS? Every time.

Except once. Surprisingly, that was the one time I didn't take to the internet to analyze my sore boobs.

When I was in school and Sex Ed was taught they made it seem that if you kissed a boy AND he had his hand on your boob YOU WOULD GET PREGNANT.

Bullshit.

They also taught us that you could get pregnant while on your period.

Bullshit.

You could get pregnant while dancing. While singing. If your mom was pregnant! If you used the same toilet as your pregnant neighbor. Pregnant! It's everywhere! Like a virus spreading wildly - watch out!

It's all bullshit.

I now know that there is basically 12-24 hours each month that the stars align and you can get pregnant. Most hit this at day 14 in their cycle. I hit mine on day 18. It's better to try before your "magic day" hits because sperm can live in your body for a few days. Yeah. That's not creepy AT ALL.

If you wait 'til after your "magic day" you're screwed.

Getting pregnant is not as easy as they teach in the schools.

So sleep around girls!

Joking.

Gimme a break. I have five followers.

Thanks to nature I count my life in weeks.

Casey does a good job of explaining it here.

I'm an expert stick pee-er. I've got the technique down.

Pregnancy Test Sticks?

Check.

Ovulation Test Sticks?

Check.

This week I'm going to buy a new pack of ovulation test sticks.

I'm finally ready to start peeing again.

I mean trying again.

Wish me luck.