Uh-Oh, Tulo

SAN FRANCISCO -- The happiness over the Rockies' all-hands-on-deck, 3-2 victory over the Giants on Tuesday night was tinged with concern that shortstop Troy Tulowitzki's upper left quadriceps strain -- the cause of much of the scrambling -- could be an ongoing issue.

Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger said Tulowitzki will fly to Denver on Wednesday morning, and the club hopes to arrange an MRI for him by the afternoon. He's likely to be placed on the 15-day disabled list.

"He is in a lot of pain and discomfort, and a lot of spasm after the injury," said Dugger, who refused to speculate on how much action Tulowitzki will miss.

Tulowitzki limped off during the bottom of the first inning, leaving the Rockies to put catcher Chris Iannetta at third base for the first time as a pro and move third baseman Garrett Atkins to second base -- for the first time in his life. Clint Barmes moved from second to short.

The reason a catcher ended up in the infield was Jeff Baker, who was supposed to start at second with Barmes at short while Tulowitzki (batting .152) sat, suffered a broken blood vessel in his right middle finger while throwing a ball during workouts about a half-hour before the game. There also is no speculation on when he can return.

Add those to the Rockies' other injury situation that arose Tuesday. Right-handed relief pitcher Kip Wells, who has a history of circulation problems and once underwent surgery for a blocked artery, was sent to Denver on Tuesday morning for "diagnostic tests" on his right hand for what appears to be another circulation issue.

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle announced that infielder Omar Quintanilla has been called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs, and was making his way to San Francisco from Nashville, where the Sky Sox were playing Tuesday night.

Adding Quintanilla (.329, one homer, eight RBIs in 20 games at Colorado Springs) corresponds with the Rockies' decision to option left-handed starting pitcher Franklin Morales to Colorado Springs.

The club figures to call up a starting pitcher at some point and would need to replace Tulowitzki if he goes on the DL. The Rockies may also need to replace Baker if the swelling doesn't subside and he needs to be put on the DL as well.

Hmm .. I must be pregnant!

One of my co-workers just got done watering plants near my desk. As she grabbed one plant down from the high wall where it's hanging, some dirt dropped to the floor. It's still sitting there as she's gone around to water all the other plants before cleaning up any messes made along the way. I could walk over, pick up the dirt clump and throw in the trash. I mean that would be the responsible, or even nice, thing to do, right? Wrong. I am enjoying the smell of the dirt clump so much that I want to keep it there. Heck, maybe I should even go and grab it and bring it closer so the smell is stronger. Just kidding. At least I didn't take a bite, as some pregnant women do. I know I couldn't bring myself to that. But, the smell? Divine.

P.S. I know .. I'm crazy! But, I'm also four months pregnant!

Piecing it together

Over the weekend, we picked up a couple 25-piece puzzles for Brooklyn. Her pediatrician told us at her two-year-old checkup back in December that it would be terrific and a great way for her to advance in her skills if she were to learn how to put puzzles together.

We let her pick out the two puzzles that she wanted to get. She chose a Five Little Monkeys one and a Winnie the Pooh one. She was more than excited when we got home and opened the boxes the next morning after breakfast. We're sure that she just wasn't too sure what to expect, because when all the puzzle pieces fell out, she had a confused look on her face. With some explaining and guidance for what a puzzle is and how you go about getting one pieced together she started smiling and snapping the pieces in one at a time. Once the first one was done, she had to move onto the second one and that meant tearing the first one apart as fast as she could. She started getting the hang of how to do things a little better once we began the second puzzle, although she still wanted to stick the edge pieces in the middle.

She's learning though, and that's what matters. Some day she'll be able to put puzzles together without anyone's help. Maybe once that happens, we'll have to buy a 1,000-piece puzzle for the whole family to be involved with. It could be fun!

As I was finishing this post, my little prccious daughter walked in the room with a pair of my heels on. Isn't she just so cute!?!

What will you spend it on?

Some exciting news..

Starting in May, 116 million American families are getting economic stimulus package checks from the government. To receive a payment, taxpayers must have a valid social security number; $3,000 of income and file a 2007 federal tax return. Eligible people will receive up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples), and parents will receive an additional $300 for each eligible child younger than 17.

The economic stimulus payments will be issued according to the last two digits of the main filer's social security number. People who use direct deposit also will be among the first to receive the payments starting May 2. Paper checks will be put in the mail starting May 16.

Here's the schedule for when to expect yours to come:
DIRECT DEPOSIT (transmitted on date)
00 through 20, May 2
21 through 75, May 9
76 through 99, May 16

PAPER CHECK (mailed by the date)
00 through 09, May 16
10 through 18, May 23
19 through 25, May 30
26 through 38, June 6
39 through 51, June 13
52 through 63, June 20
64 through 75, June 27
76 through 87, July 4
88 through 99, July 11

One of the purposes of the stimulus checks? To strengthen the middle class, to create jobs and to turn this economy around, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California.

I've seen quite a lot of deals being made by businesses such as Best Buy, Sears, etc. to appeal to the consumer on how to spend this extra cash. I work for a newspaper in the advertising department, so we're reaching out to our clients to get them interested in running a similar ad saying come spend your stimulus check with us! It's all about spending the money as soon as you get it, huh? I guess that's the hope.

So, what are you going to do with your check? Save it? Or buy that plasma TV you've been dying to get?

Wanna go swimming??

In Zimbabwe, Africa, you will find the magnificent Victoria Falls at a height of 416 feet. The location is known as "The Devil's Swimming Pool." During the months of September and December, people can swim as close as possible to the edge of the falls without falling over! These falls are becoming well known amongst the 'radical tourist' industry as more and more people search for the ultimate experience.

Would you dare?

A Blast From the Past

As I was on a website searching for something work related, a web ad to the right of the information I was looking at caught my eye. It was for a local drugstore, but it was advertising their body spray line. I had to do a second take. I examined the bottles that were shown, and after a few minutes, I started to smile. This is what I was looking at.

Do any of you girls remember these? I used to love them and I can totally remember my mom buying them for me when I was younger. They are bottles of body spray that are mimicked after an actual perfume line, but for way less money. I wanted to reach through my computer screen and open the cap and sniff one. I bet it still smells the same.

Bring The Rain

I've been following a blog about a family of five with another little girl on the way for some time now. Their story is heart wrenching and they are experiencing a pain I cannot even fathom. But, through it all, they have turned toward the Lord and believe whole heartedly that His will has been done. They thank God for the 2 1/2 hours they got to spend with their precious newborn daughter before she went to heaven.

Today as I checked the blog, I found this letter that Angie, the mom, wrote to her daughter Audrey Caroline. Angie gives everything to the Lord. She truly believes that He has a purpose and reason for taking her newborn daughter to heaven, and she is at peace with that.

This whole story just makes me so very grateful for my precious, loving daughter, and it reminds me just what a miracle it is to bring a baby into the world. It's also is reminder to me to cherish every moment with my little ones in the flesh and in the womb.

We're having FUN!

Lately, our life has been a whirlwind of fun activities with the promise of more fun to come!

We got to go to the Rockies home opener on April 4th, and even though our team didn't walk away with a win, we had just the best time. Kevin and I have never been to opening day, and the buzz on and off the field was amazing. The weather was perfect. Our seats were perfect. Brooklyn even had a great time - her highlight: getting to see and hug (over and over again) Dinger in the third inning.

April 5th was our 5th wedding anniversary. We spent the morning (almost three hours) at an amazing swimming pool. Not only did the pool have a kiddie section, but also a kiddie butterfly slide, a waterworks area where water dumps all over you, water fountains, a lazy river, two fun two-story water slides, a family/kid hot tub and an adult hot tub. The best part was all the different sections of the pool connect so you didn't have to get out to go to another part. Brooklyn complete with her water wings, swam all on her own even in the lazy river. She became very comfortable at the pool and would head up the butterfly slide stairs by herself and then slide down and go again and again. She loved the larger slides too. Of course, Kevin and I went with her, but even we had fun on them.

After leaving the pool, we headed home for naps and showers, and then began the second part of our day - fondue time. Kevin and I love fondue and have been wanting to introduce it to Brooklyn for a long time now. We figured our anniversary would be perfect and we could take our time with it. We didn't go to a fondue restaurant, we stayed home and made our own fondue. We started with a cheddar cheese fondue dipping bread chunks and apples. Our next course, was the meat and veggie fondue. We choose to cook chicken, steak, mushrooms, squash and zucchini in the hot oil and had six different dipping sauces to accompany them. Our last course, was s'mores chocolate fondue dipping strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and angel food cake. We had to take breaks in between each course, but we all enjoyed all of them so much. Brooklyn got a real kick out of dipping into the cheese and chocolate and she loved all the sauces we had for the meat and veggie one. We watched one of her favorite movies "Enchanted" while we dipped and ate. After rolling or rather putting her into bed, Kevin and I enjoyed some alcohol-free white zinfandel while we finished watching the Rockies game on TV. It was just one of those perfect days from start to finish.

Sunday, Kevin and his friend went to the Rockies game. They had a good time, even though the team didn't win again. Brooklyn and I met Kendall (our niece) and my mother-in-law at the zoo. We spent nearly three hours walking around looking at the animals. The cutest part was when the girls held hands when they were being pushed side by side in their strollers and when they were walking hand in hand to see the next exhibit. Kendall wanted to give Brooklyn hugs and kisses all the time, but Brooklyn didn't really want a part in that. If you know Brooklyn, you know she's usually the first to put her arms around another kid, try and pick them up, caress their cheek with her hand, give them unsolicited kisses. The difference on Sunday, Kendall is a year older and Brooklyn likes to be the older kid smothering the younger kid and doesn't like it when the tables are turned. But, the times that they did hold hands or give each other a hug, it was very sweet. And, they loved watching the duckies in the pond together.

Monday brought the Pop Goes The Wiggles concert. Brooklyn and my grandma are avid watchers of The Wiggles and when news that they were coming to town broke, my grandma was all over it. She bought tickets for us to go with them to the concert. They put on a very good show, and even threw in some humor for the adults from time to time. They don't take themselves very seriously and I think that's what makes the show so good and entertaining. Brooklyn had a great time jumping and dancing to all her favorite songs. Brooklyn loved it when Jeff came out on stage and Wags the Dog too.

It was sad to say goodbye to this fun, event-filled weekend because we were looking forward to it for months. But, we do have quite a few things to look forward to in the months ahead.
• My parents are renewing the wedding vows on their 30th anniversary later this month and my sister and I are planning everything but the ceremony. We're having fun getting things together. I can't say much about it though because I don't want to spoil the surprise for them as they read my blog.
• We're going to Estes Park over Memorial Day for a wedding.
• We're going to Glenwood Springs in June for our last getaway vacation just the three of us.
• And, of course, preparing for our new bundle of joy to arrive later this year!