Catastrophe (Part 2) and Partial Resolution

I suppose that no comment means no happy vibe. I flunked the glucose test, as well as the protein "dip" on Friday. What does that mean? Well, not to give too much information or anything, but suffice it to say that I had to do a 24-hour urine collection and now have to suffer the four-hour glucose test ... which is absolute torture. I don't have the urine results yet, but at least I'm not showing any of the other signs of pre-eclampsia. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that it all works out ... I'm taking a very Scarlet O'Hara approach to the whole thing, namely because we're heading out for an unexpected four days at the beach starting tonight. Hubby and I figure that we need to do this soon for the boys ... in case I end up delivering early or ending up on bedrest.

That's only part of the catastrophe that has been my life (though admittedly, things do work themselves out fairly well -- even though I stress uncontrollably). I'm not the most pious person out there, but I do believe that everything happens for a reason and sometimes it takes a bolt of lightening to get things done.

I honestly can't remember if I've shared the continuing saga of our 95 Honda, other than telling everyone how it overheated and gave us a fit last year just before Christmas (smack in the middle of the holiday season). Our friend the mechanic checked it out and unveiled a leaky water pump, which we nursed for as long as humanly possible before finally going in to get an estimate on repairs last Thursday after it overheated again. It wasn't just the water pump -- the crimps on the radiator were leaking and it was going to cost more than a grand to get the stupid thing fixed. Now keep in mind this is a two-door car that I was using to haul two growing boys around and it was really only a matter of time before we had to take the plunge into "we have a car payment again" territory. We bought the car on a lark from friends when they couldn't get a reasonable trade-in for it two years ago -- and we did it primarily so that I could finally learn to drive a manual transmission (something I've wanted to do since I learned to drive!). The car served its purpose, and it was time for it to go bye-bye.

So last Friday I left the world of "sporty mom with a stick shift coupe" to "elementary school mama with a minivan" ... It feels very odd to drive something so much larger, and stressful to have the burden of a car payment (and more expensive insurance), but we'll be OK. The yarn budget will likely suffer (though I've been building a nest in yarn, so this shouldn't be a tremendous buzz-kill for the knitting), but the van is lovely and I'm very happy. The best part was that my husband trusted me to handle the whole thing since he couldn't get out of work last week and knew it had to be done (he always trusts me, but this was a big purchase and I was very nervous).

Wanna see?

And on another note, before we found out that L'il I was on his way, we had discussed the possibility of getting new furniture for our living room. We decided against the purchase not for monetary reasons, but rather because babies are messy. In an odd twist of fate late last week and early this week, we've managed to procure yet another big thing:

Again, very lovely. It's a pretty green plaid, and it cost a song. It's new to me, and in my eyes, it's in perfect condition. It also looks great in our Cape Cod's living room and it complements the spinning wheel :)

Blogging on knitting will return next week after our beach trip -- the socks are progressing. First waving lace sock is complete and the second one coming along; I'm on the gussets for the first "Go with the Flow" sock, which I'm also quite happy with. I'm trying not to start another sock until the Summer of Socks starts next Thursday!