Saturday, November 01, 2014

Week in the Life: Day 5

“It has been said that next to hunger and thirst, our most basic human need is for storytelling.” 
-Khalil Gibran

This is the story of Friday... Halloween:

I was really running behind this morning... I tried to fit too many things in. In addition to my regular morning routine, I prepped our Halloween-themed pizzas for dinner tonight, ran around trying to find the picnic blanket (only to text Rob and find out it's still in his car), and then set up the self-timer on both the camera and my phone to get a good photo of my Halloween shirt.


Baby B is 27 weeks' gestation today... that means we've reached the 3rd trimester!! And, oh my goodness, but only about 13 weeks left to go. The pregnancy apps on my iPhone say Baby B is the size of a cauliflower and weighs about 2 pounds. Keep growing big and strong, Baby B!


There is a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop just around the corner from work, and I had my fingers crossed that there might be doughnuts around the office this morning. And, sure enough, Dr. Paulman sent an email around mid-morning with a witty Halloween poem... "All the candy they take / Leaving us only to scheme / To keep our… / Krispy Kreme!!" There was nobody around when I went downstairs, so I treated myself to two... ssssshhhh... don't tell... it's for the baby!


After my Facetime chat with Mama was cut short yesterday (last night she, Callie, and their husbands were at the Municipal Auditorium to hear President Carter speak for the 20th anniversary of Community Renewal International), I was glad to get a moment to chat with her on GoogleChat this morning. Fridays are usually really slow at work because none of the doctors are on campus, so after posting the videos from yesterday's lab, I worked on posting yesterday's photos to the blog.


For the last three years, Lesa and I have been wanting to do a Halloween picnic in the cemetery right next to campus. This year we were determined to make it happen. Surprisingly the other people we asked looked at us like were were crazy... some even turned us down. Luckily Gail was a good sport and agreed to join us. We ordered a pizza and cheese bread from Mellow Mushroom, and I ran to pick it up just before noon.


We spread out sheets and blankets on the grounds of Magnolia Cemetery to enjoy our picnic. We shared tales of spooky encounters and Halloweens past, and I showed them pictures of my niece's and nephews' Halloween costumes that my talented mama crafted. [See here and here.]


Gail was still a little nervous about walking around the cemetery, but we set out to find the oldest tombstone and to get some inspiration for baby names (Gail is pregnant, too!). Many of the stones had been worn down due to nature or broken due to vandalism, but we took turns reading the inscriptions that were still legible. Most of the graves date back to the mid- and late-1800s. Apparently there are many local politicians, educators, and civic leaders buried here, but I didn't recognize any names. It makes me want to brush up on the history of Spartanburg.


After working on the St. James website most of the afternoon, Dr. Williams asked me just before 5:00 to go upstairs to the lab to take some photos for his lecture next week. Once I was sure that he wouldn't need anything else from me, I headed out, stopping by the church on the way home to prep the graphics for Sunday's early service. I had the slides ready, but I needed to match them with the songs and scriptures in the EasyWorship software.

The Fellowship Hall has this great stained glass window on the stage that gets the best light in the late afternoon. I like to take a few moments each week to bask in the stillness and the quiet and to fully appreciate the light streaming through.


Traffic was terrible on the way home... the lights on Reidville Road don't seem to be timed right. Knowing I had the pizzas prepped and ready to go at home, I texted Rob to ask him to preheat the oven. When I arrived home, I saw that the oven was on, but I couldn't find Rob... turns out he was curled up on the sofa with a blanket over his head taking a quick nap. I threw the pizzas in the oven and whipped up the guacamole for a festive Halloween dinner.


After the neighborhood kids damaged Rob's car a few months ago (we think a kid wrecked his bike into the passenger side, but no one ever came forward), he has been a grouchy neighbor and said he wasn't in the mood to hand out Halloween candy this year. So instead, we turned out the lights and curled up in the living room for the first session of our online Birth Boot Camp class. Rob was able to figure out how to stream the videos from the XBOX, so along with the instructors' laid-back conversation, it really felt like we were sitting in a live class. But with the added advantage that we could make sarcastic remarks to each other, check our phones, and Rob could hide his head under the blanket through the birth videos at the end... he's still a little squeamish. Hence why we're taking the class!


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