The Pregnancy Test Came Back...

NEGATIVE.

Yep, I took a test today. Is that crazy or what??? I felt confident that I wasn't pregnant simply because I've always FELT pregnant before when I really have been. I haven't FELT that way, but the other indications meant that it was possible... And even though I've been 99% sure that I wasn't pregnant, for some reason when I lay down at night my head just starts spinning wildly out of control with all manner of baby thoughts. What if I AM pregnant? When would I be due? What would that mean for Camp next year? Convention? The Assembly? What about the whole "starting over" thing? I mean, my youngest just turned 6 years old! My kids are half grown, you know?! Anyway, though I already felt pretty sure I wasn't expecting, it was worth the $11 to me to go ahead and buy a test today so I'd be able to put the crazy baby thoughts away and get some sleep tonight! Ha! I've had at least three sleepless nights thinking, "I'm sure I'm not pregnant... but what IF..." So I'm looking forward to some good sleep tonight. :-)

After I took the test that James didn't know I had bought (!), I told him to go into the bathroom and look at the counter. Ha! I knew he'd have a bit of a panic attack just seeing such a thing. (I hadn't said a word to him about the possibility--just wanted to wait until I knew for SURE.) I followed him in there so I could witness his heart skip a few beats then start pounding out of his chest. Just those few moments before he realized that the test was negative were worth the $11, even if my sleep doesn't return. ;-) He asked if I had thought that I really was pregnant and said that the possibility had crossed his mind as well. He then admitted that he had had mixed feelings about it--which is quite miraculous, I think! (His feelings have never been mixed about the issue of more children! Ha!) To be quite honest, my own feelings were pretty mixed as well! There was a part of me (a very big part!) that was SCARED TO DEATH at the thought of having another baby... now!!! And then there was a part that was so excited to think about having another one--my kids aren't nearly as cuddly as they used to be. ;-) And I'm built opposite from Emilee. I usually don't know what to do with other people's babies, but I adore my own! Ha! Anyway, I don't feel disappointed at the result of the test though I'm sure I would have lived through a positive test and eventually be come excited about it. Since it was negative... honestly, I'm a little relieved. It was going to take some serious adjusting to get my mind around the "a new baby" thing! I'm mostly just happy to KNOW so I can get some rest tonight. :-)

So that's our big news of the day. We took the day off of school to go to town because the thrift store was having a big 30% off sale today. We were able to get a snow suit for each of the kids (James found boots for them there yesterday) and two denim skirts for me. Crazy to buy new skirts and a pregnancy test in the same day (no way to wear them if it would've been positive!), but they were great skirts at a great price and I was already pretty sure. Now I'm REALLY glad I didn't pass them up! After that we went and selected some glasses for me--they should be ready by tomorrow. Wow, I'm so far behind on blogging. I didn't ever mention that I got contacts a few weeks ago, did I? Talk about crazy!!! I've been wearing glasses since I was 13, I think, and I am sooooo sick of them--and especially the deep little grooves in my nose from those little plastic pads. I've thought about getting contacts for years, but never was sure I could actually put something on my eyeball. I finally decided to give it a try. I'm not very good at it... it took a whole 30 minutes that first time and the lady finally just put them in for me! Ha! I'm still not great at getting them in (for the first week I just kept thinking that I don't have TIME to wear contacts--who wants to get up an hour early every day just to put your eyes in?! Ha!), but much, much better. They're not flawless, but I do lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ove not having glasses on my face all the time. What a relief!!! It's still really strange to look in a mirror and see what I look like. I've never seen myself without glasses, you know?! I was always blurry before if I didn't have my glasses on, so now I know for the first time what I look like without them. Man, I wish somebody would have warned me! Ha! It's especially great just after I've been jabbing myself in the eyes for 20 minutes trying to get my contacts in and I've been bending over, crying, sniffling, rubbing and wiping my eyes... then I finally get them in and see myself with my face all red and splotchy and eyes puffy and swollen... Ha! How can people actually think they look better without glasses?! I know I sure don't! And I've discovered that I look more like my Dad without my glasses on. I have his eye bags. Ha! Anyway, we went and picked out the cheapest glasses we could find today (I didn't know you could buy frames for $19.99! Too bad that doesn't include lenses...) just for back-ups when I'm not wearing my contacts. I was determined to not get glasses with the little nose pads because I'm DONE with them, but that means you have to get big, chunky frames instead of the thin wire-like ones I've had for many moons. I don't care--I can do the geek thing if it means giving my nose some relief!

We went to the Olive Garden for lunch because we had a gift card. That means our fantastically delicious meal cost us $8 plus the tip. Love it! Then it was off to Hobby Lobby, the Christian book store (such as it is) and... hhmmm. A few other places, but I can't remember where. I know we ended up at Best Buy and walked out with a TV! Whoa! We haven't had one of those since we packed up to leave Texas almost two years ago. We don't watch very much, but when we're in the mood it does get old trying to gather all the kids around the laptop, squeezing in to try to see! Ha! So we had a pizza party complete with Totino's, specially mixed sodas, and popcorn, and we watched a great family movie on the new TV. It was fun! And nice to spread out instead of pile up! Ha!

Uummm... plenty more to write about, I'm sure, but this is probably enough for tonight. I've got some proof reading I really need to work on anyway. I'll TRY to blog again soon. It's SO much better than that OTHER thing everybody does nowadays... ;-)