Melarky

We’ve lived in our condo for 5 years now. And for 5 years we’ve put up with the cruddiest hot water pressure you could ever imagine. Taking a hot shower at our house was similar to having someone stand there, spitting hot water on you, using some sort of sprinkler action. Okay maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it was pretty bad.

Trying to do multiple house chores like washing dishes and washing clothes at the same time was impossible. Filling up the washer alone, sometimes took an hour. So doing a load of whites took some planning.

Having a hot steamy shower, the temperature kind, not the sexy kind, never really happened. You could take a hot shower, but the water pressure was so bad, that the hot water trickling out, almost made it seem colder.

We’ve put off getting it fixed for fear the plumbing bill would be astronomical. We figured we could just put up with it a little longer, and every year we said that, “just a little longer”. Well, we’re done waiting. We decided that this tax return would be used to get the plumbing fixed. I wasn’t too excited about using our tax return for something responsible. Mark is the responsible one, me, well I wanted to spend our tax return on something frivolous. No super-duper foot and calf massager for me this year!

After mentioning our plans to our brother-in-law Gary and asking him who his employer Darrell’s would recommend, Gary very enthusiastically said he’d look at it for us first. Well I don’t know if he was THAT enthusiastic, but he was very willing. Gary is not a plumber, although he managed to redo all of the plumbing in his house. Even though he is not a professional plumber, there’s one thing you got to know about Gary, he’s got bucket loads of confidence, which is great, but sometimes scary, because even if he doesn’t really know how to do something he just jumps right in. (Oh, and by the way Gary isn’t for hire. He’s ours, don’t touch him!).

After Gary and Mark fiddled with the hot water heater for a good fifteen minutes or so, in an awfully tight, too-close-for-comfort closet (you’ll never know two more homophobic guys). After looking on line and basically getting the whole utility closet floor wet, they found the problem. I’m not sure which pipe it was, but it turned out to have a massive amount of scale build up. They said it looked similar to cement, closing over the pipe, making a kind of seal. It was a wonder any water was getting through at all. They broke through it with a screwdriver and a mallet. It took some time, but the hard scale build up broke up into pieces and the pipe was soon cleared.

We went from a small trickle of hot water to fire hydrant-blasting water pressure. Now it doesn’t take an hour for my washer to fill up with hot water. We can now take normal showers, even the hot steamy kind!

I took a shower yesterday and it was like I had won the lottery and was now living in the life of luxury. I really don’t know how we put up with it for so long.

I’m so happy about the hot water pressure and now the possibility a foot and calf massager. Thanks Gary, you rock!

REPORT TAKEN FROM KSL.COM
“A toddler was killed after a TV fell on him.

Four siblings under the age of 5 were in a bedroom with their parents in a home near 200 East and 4100 South Sunday morning.

Investigators say out one point, the children ran out of the room, and moments later, the parents heard something fall. When they went to investigate, they found the toddler under the television.

Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Lt. Don Hutson says the child suffered major head trauma.

Hutson says it was a terrible accident and a reminder to parents to secure heavy items in their homes. ”

Wellington has a little obsession.

He reads about cars, plays with them, watches shows about them, sleeps with one in his hand, his fruit snacks are even cars.

He can even calls them out when we’re driving down the road. He recognizes and can name ones like, dump truck, tractor, ambulance, jeep, snow plow and a bus.

MY BABY COUNTER I would love to put one of these on the Melarky side bar, but that would involve getting Mark to do some java script for me, and I already have a long list of things to nag him about when it comes to this baby and having him do some code for me is low on the list. High on the list; carrying heavy to slightly heavy objects, building shelves, rubbing my feet, and painting the hallway.

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT BEING PREGNANT

1. Standing up and not being able to see my feet.
2. Bending over, then realizing it was too far as I’m falling to the floor.
3. Stretch marks.
4. “Harry the Henderson” legs from lack of shaving.
5. Waking up every two hours to use the bathroom.
6. Acid indigestion.
7. Not fitting in restaurant booths.
8. Not being able to lay on my stomach.
9. Having an incredibly scary knowledge of which public bathrooms are clean and which ones are not.
10. Waiting 9 months.

ME AT 29 WEEKS (today)

10 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT BEING PREGNANT

1. Feeling the baby kick.
2. Having a cute pregnant belly.
3. Seeing the baby during ultrasounds.
4. Still being able to get some sort of sleep.
5. Satisfying each and every food craving.
6. Washing, folding and organizing the tiny baby clothes.
7. Baby showers.
8. Rubbing my tummy, sounds weird, but true.
9. Watching baby shows.
10. Playing such a big role in the miracle of life. It really is a miracle! It amazes me how in such a short time a thinking, breathing, little human full of personality is created.

FAVORITE BABY MOVIES TO WATCH

• She’s Having a Baby (my very favorite)
• Baby Mama (second favorite)
• Nine Months (funny but sometimes Hugh Grant bugs me)
• Knocked Up (I like this one a lot, but your have to lower your standards for it, it’s (R)ated for sexual content, drug use and language.)

FAVORITE BABY LINKS
Chinese Gender Prediction Calendar
Baby Name Wizard
Baby Center
Celebrity Baby Names
Babesta.com

SUPER OOEY-GOOEY SONGS Here are a few songs that remind me of motherhood and babies. The first one, Baby Love Child, I guess isn’t too gooey, I just really like it. I used it for one of my Wellington Slide Shows on youtube. The song by Kate Bush is actually from the moive She’s having a baby when the husband is waiting helplessly in a hospital while his wife gives birth in the next room. That song and part in the movie make me cry every time! Do you have a song you like?

SeeqPod – Playable Search

The house renovations have been moving forward full steam ahead, and I’m posting a whole bunch of pictures so that family and extended Stevenson family members who don’t live in town, can see what is happening with the house. The improvements to the house are super exciting, but I’m sure if your not part of the family this post will mean nothing to you. If your wondering, this isn’t our house, the house belongs to Mark’s parents, and it’s been in the “renovation mode” for over two years now.

THE FRONT ENTRY AND STAIRS
The biggest changes to the entire house are the paint and light fixtures. The front entry is so bright and light. The stairs now have the cherry stained wood going up both sides of the steps. The banister is close to being put up and should look amazing. There is also a brand new beautiful light fixture above the stairs. And just off the entry are new built in cupboard where the linen cupboard and drawers used to be.

UPSTAIRS BEDROOMS AND BATHROOM
The upstairs seems brighter and more spacious. The upstairs has also seen a new coat of paint as well as new fixtures. The bathroom seems bigger and has more cupboard space. The two bedrooms now have closets which they didn’t have before. The trim around the windows look great!

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Mel suprised me with a trip to Salt Lake City last night. We have been wanting to see how Welly would do with a “sleep over” without us, so his grandma stayed over night with him in Logan while we galavanted all over SLC. It’s sort of a test to see how he’ll do when we have the new baby and can’t sleep over in the hospital with mommy and daddy.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick picture of the painting hanging over our bed at the hotel:

Two important things to share. First of all the new south Arby’s is opening Thursday the 15th at 10 a.m. I’m pretty excited, I love Arby’s with all of my curly fry heart. It looks nice in there from what I can see. There were too fancy floral arrangements (might be for the grand opening) and I think I saw two tv screens in the dining area (great we wont have to talk during dinner).

The second news and much more importantly, my cute niece Olivia, is selling Girl Scout cookies this Saturday! She is a daisy in the Girl Scouts and very excited about her first time selling cookies. Her Mom has said if you’d like some cookies, they are willing to come to your door!

Make this girls cookie dreams come true and stuff your face with thin mints while your at it!

Make your order this Saturday and know that money is ONLY collected when cookies are delivered in early March. Cookies will arrive between Feb. 28th and Mar. 7th.

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I Can’t decide what to post about, my minds all over the place, so here is the most random, illogical mesh of subjects ever!

-A few pictures of NOT Wellington, all ones I took.

-Item I can’t live without while pregnant
The Pregnancy Wedge. I bought one with my first, since then it’s been lent out twice, and now being used with my second pregnancy. It’s great. I guess you could just use a pillow, but this seems way better than a normal pillow.

-Songs I want to listen to recently.

SeeqPod – Playable Search

-I’m a blurker (not posting comments, just lurking around quietly) on the following blogs;

• Caley’s
• Walker’s
• Hogan’s
• Hibbert’s
• Kennard’s
• Elggren’s

-A wish.
I wish with all of my little girl heart I had a calf and foot massager.

-Questions.

1. If a paper toilet cover is available, will you use it?
2. Can you really trust a skinny chef?
3. People of Logan, will you shop at Macey’s or Walmart?

When I make and post videos like Mel Vs. Heidi, I know strangers are going to see them, something that absolutely doesn’t bother me. I know they’re going to see me dress up like a pirate, gag on a jelly bean, humiliate myself and hopefully crush Heidi in the process. So when I purposely publicly post these videos on youtube I want and expect people to see them.

I feel like I’m somewhat outgoing in these videos, I don’t really care what people think of my pogo sticking skills, my unattractive close-ups (I mean hot, my super hot close-ups). Not only in the videos, but in life I consider myself to be outgoing and somewhat fun to be around. Sometimes loud and occasionally witty (I know your thinking, “Her?”). But somehow I’ve turned into this shy, reserved, guarded person at church. I’ve become the total opposite of pirate Mel.

It kinda hit me at church today while walking down the hall. A girl had stopped me in passing and said,

“Aren’t you Melanie?”

“Yes”, I said.

“I just want to call you Melarky.”

She started to tell me how she was kind of a snoop (Ummmm….aren’t we all??!) and how she had watched some of the videos I’d posted on youtube.

I thought it was fun that she had seen them (Victoria, I’ll let you know when the next Mel Vs. Heidi is) but it made me realize that most girls in the ward don’t really know the pogo sticking, outgoing, funny Mel.

Now I’m not saying I’m the life of the party, but at church, I’m not myself. I sit in the back, I’m worried what others think of me, I don’t participate, I don’t comment, I don’t even try and make friends.

I’m not sure what changed. I used to do all of those things. It may be hard to believe but I even had the occasional friend. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a Melanie sob story, I also don’t want anyone who is in my ward, who might be reading this to feel they need to befriend me out of some sort of pity. But understand that I’m going to make a sincere effort to be more myself. I will try to be less guarded, less afraid of looking stupid, a little more like pirate Mel.

P.S.
I understand that everyone has insecurities, there’s a good chance even the other girls in my ward that seem to be perfect and have they’re act together, probably don’t. I want to make it clear as well, that all of the girls in my ward are super nice to me and always have been, my lack of confidence is my problem and no one else’s.

P.P.S
Heidi I’m totally destroying you in the next competition!

A week before Christmas we sold our couches. We had been wanting a change for a while and although the couches were still relatively nice it was time to sell them. The biggest reason we sold them was space. Because of the recliners, the couch was pulled out a few inches away from the wall, so that when they were fully reclined the wall wouldn’t get bumped. I didn’t expect them to sell so soon, it only took two or three days of being up on KSL classifieds before they were gone.

This is a picture of them when they were brand new (about 5 years ago).

We sold them with the plan that after they were gone we’d go pick up our “on-hold” couch at Palmer Home furnishings. We were under the impression that the sectional was waiting for us in the back. so when we went to pick it up, we were surprised to find it had to be sent in from somewhere, I’m not sure where, probably Timbuktu cause it seemed to take forever to get here.

It wasn’t so bad I guess. We set up our air mattress and piled it with pillows and blankets. It was actually kinda fun, like one long, never ending sleep over, but it began not being fun about two weeks into it. Our living room soon started to resemble a messy bedroom, and a quick episode of our favorite show Judge Judy turned into a lazy induced nap (it seemed like we were always falling asleep cause we were laying down). Plus I don’t know if you’ve tried to get up from an air mattress lately, it’s never graceful but when your big and pregnant, it’s an awkward spectacle of rolling off onto all fours.

Sorry for the poor quality, this is a cell phone picture. This is after we took down the air mattress.

Although Palmer’s was very sympathetic about the problem, even offering a couch for us to borrow, we were without anything to sit on for three weeks.

Well today they finally came. Hooray! We sure love them and we’re happy to finally have something comfy to sit on. We ordered an ottoman to go with it and that should be here soon.

Hard to tell what the color is I guess, but there they are.

The couch seems to fit way better in our small living room, I love the new color, and the style. And even though we had a small hiccup with the couches getting here, Palmers was great to work with and really no one can beat their prices.

In efforts to make even more space in our living room, we’re selling our TV. We’d like to get a flat LCD screen that can be mounted on the wall. I’m hoping that this TV change will make even more room in our condo. I’m actually kinda sad to sell our current TV, its a nice one plus its kinda hard to see something go for so cheap after paying so much for it only 5 years ago. I’ll be listing the TV on KSL soon, and with our fingers crossed it will find a new home.