Being pregnant is an amazing time.  Between the physical changes, inability to hold down food, and the cravings, there’s this neat time of wonderment as you gaze at ultrasounds, think of the future, and plan for their college financing.

One of the things that you have to decide early on is whether or not you’re going to find out the pregnant baby gender—are you having a boy or a girl.

Now, some people don’t like to know, and when my parents were having me, I’m not sure they could find out with the degree of accuracy that they can today.  Basically, that ultrasound is full-proof.

What’s neat is that there also other methods available to you—in case you can’t wait to find out whether you should be painting that new nursery blue or pink.

Meet the gender predictor, or gender test.  It operates much like one of those tests that told that you that, yes, you were indeed pregnant.  Only this one will tell you whether you should start expecting a boy or girl.

So, I guess it’s all about how much patience you have and whether you like surprises.  Do you want to find out what you’re having before you hear the doctor tell you?  Would you rather wait for an ultrasound?  Or how about taking a test?

In any case, be glad for the bundle of joy—even though it’ll keep you up at night for the next 18 years.

Even us plums have battles with weight.  I mean, you don’t want to be too plump and juicy or you end up getting picked!  That just doesn’t end well.

Have you looked into an HCG Diet before?  This is a fat release system that is orally administered and totally homeopathic.  HCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin—which is definitely a mouthful (no pun intended!).

The HCG Diet system works by using the HCG hormone to regulate the body’s natural system of handling nutrients and fat—it actually tells your body to digest the fat that you’ve been storing.

Take a look and see if it’s right for you!

The problem is, being a VeggieTales superstar doesn’t exactly bring with it a big paycheck.  I mean, it used to be that new DVDs were $14.99, and now they’re only $9.99!

So, where does Pa go to get his eyeglasses inexpensively?  Zenni Optical!

I have to admit, I was skeptical at first.  When Pa told me he had ordered a pair of glasses for $8.00 I told him that they couldn’t work.  I spent the time it took to get them from China mocking him, and asked him where he’d ever heard of such a thing.

He pointed me to this web review from the Examiner.  Sure enough, these things were the real deal, and they saved Pa a bunch of money.

What’s more, Pa was telling that the added features that you usually get—things link UV protection etc.—are really cheap there as well.

Like I said, I was skeptical, but the day came when they arrived in the mail and Pa shouted “Hallelujah, I can see again!”

If you’re not looking to get your glasses right away, and you want a cheap pair of glasses that do a good job, check out Zenni Optical, and tell them that Pa Grape sent you!

Here’s a fun freebie to start your week! Sign up for the e-newsletter from Big Idea and choose 1 of 3 Veggie Tales DVDs. Just pay shipping, $2.99.

It’s never too early to start Christmas shopping, right? There is no coupon code necessary, and you can even pay via PayPal.

It’d be something if vegetables had hands—I mean, there’d be all sorts of neat things that we could do, like wear wristbands.

That’s right, there are so many neat wristbands out there that we could wear to remind us of things or to just carry around identification.

One of the wristbands I really like are those that reminds us of Jesus—WWJD.  Now, that phrase has been twisted many different ways—with all sorts of people trying to say that what they would do is what He would do, but it still carries a pretty powerful meaning.

And then there are the “Livestrong” ones that remind us to do our best.

It turns out that you can even create your own Custom Tyvek Wristbands where you can have your own message.  I’m thinking of getting one that says “Vegetables are more than ‘What’s for dinner’”.  What do you think?

How do you know when you’ve found good web hosting for your website or your blog?

How do you know when you should be on shared hosting or a dedicated server?

There are so many options out there, so many different places to choose from, and if you stick to only one criteria the odds are that you won’t choose the best choice.

That’s why, when choosing a host for your site, you have to look at more than price.  Price is a factor along with Space and Traffic—but you really want to know what they do for support and e-mail.

To me, if I can’t send e-mails with some degree of confidence that the person is going to receive it, then I might as well not send the e-mail.

I mean, when I get that great silly song forward from Larry the Cucumber and I want to pass it on to my friends, if my e-mail is ending up in the spam box, my friend Leticia the Lemon won’t be able to see it—because she hardly ever checks the spam box.

And if you don’t have good support, you may get hacked or your site may go down, and it might be days before it gets back up.  That happened to Tilly the Tangelo down in Accounting.

So take it from me, do your research, read up on the forum, and spend the money if you have to in order to get reliable service with great support.  You’ll be glad you did.

So, my boss had an crazy idea the other day.  You know how VeggieTales recently did an episode that was based on Wizard of Oz?  Well, he wanted to write an script based on Alice in Wonderland and try to pitch it to Bob the Tomato and see what he thought.

So, he’s got me looking at Costumes on the Internet to see if I can find something that will fit someone like Petunia.

Fortunately, there are many sites out there that have Mens Costumes and Womens Costumes, and you can find them with deals even when it’s not Halloween.

So, the basic gist of the story is this: Petnia is Alice, who’s walking around her house following the little white bunny.  Not quite sure who will play the bunny…  Perhaps Junior.  I could see him saying that he was late for an important date.

As far as casting goes, I think that Mr. Lunt would make a great Cheshire cat, but I’m not quite sure who to cast as the Mad Hatter…  I started to think Larry, because he is the goofy one, but that’s not necessarily insane.

I can definitely picture Madame Blueberry as the Queen of Hearts, and I can hear her French accent saying “Off with her head.”  But that may be too rough for our audience?  Of is that a good time for a gag about a head of lettuce?

In any case, it’s the core moral that matters—VeggieTales stories always have a moral—any ideas what the moral of the story could be?

As you all know, I blog as well as have a day job.  It’s neat, in that I can express myself in words at night—enjoying the creative freedom that comes from that expression—while during the day I can solve complex mental puzzles—like the physics of how a vegetable can move things without hands, and what kind of soda a tomato would drink.

In any case, having a blog means that I have to find webhosting, and fortunately this Plum has contacts.  They helped me find the company I’m with.  Do you know what to look for in a web hosting company?  I can say that I didn’t know all of the things—most of the time people are just focused on price.

Seriously, when looking into web site hosting, you have to consider support and consistency.  You have to look at reputation and how much benefit you get from the company.

Make sure to do your research, because although there are a lot of deals to be had, you want to make sure that you have something that will not leave you without a sight during your peak reading time, and someone that has high reliability.

Now is not the time to have debt.  That’s being said from the Plum that just signed his life away on a new house and still has an old one!

But seriously, debt is a serious problem with many people, and tax debt can be especially brutal.

Every year around tax time many people are either really happy or really upset.  Some have loaned money to the government and will get it back in terms of a refund.  Others will find out that did not put enough in, and that they owe.  And then there’s those that have IRS Debt, and are hoping for an extension or some way to get out their debt.

Fortunately, there’s a way out of debt—and the sooner you can get out the better.  Many places will work with you, because it’s better to get some money than none at all, and you just need to apply yourself.

However, whichever of the people you are above, take this time and the slowing economy to evaluate what you’re doing and what your financial status is.  Don’t find yourself without an emergency fund or without a plan should something unforeseen happen.

As Dave Ramsey would say, live like no one else so you can live like no one else.

So, part of the challenge I have is writing for vegetables that will say my lines.  That presents a few challenges, because, as you know, vegetables don’t have hands—and some of us don’t even have eyes.

So, the other day I was tasked to write a dialog between a Grape and a Decorative Gourd (much like Pa Grape and Mr. Lunt) and it was copy that was talking about the new glasses that the Grape had purchased.

What’s neat is that, in my research, I found that there are really inexpensive frames if you just do a little shopping around.  These frames I pictured above are only $12.95 from Zinni Optical, a place that was featured in the New York Times!

They have all sorts of eyeglasses to choose from, from as low as $8.00.  That’s simply amazing when it comes to eyeglasses.

So, if you need some eyeglasses, do your homework and find a good deal.  For me?  It’s back to trying to figure out whether the Grape should have transitions or not, and just how they see anyway.