I'm not feeling inspired today. Not that I need bursts of inspiration while I'm at work, mind you - there's really not a lot of creativity needed when building spreadsheets and providing feedback on possible patterns. I have one report on my To Do List today, and even that - which is almost finished - hasn't inspired me. [sigh]
Today I'm going to Jen's house to make hors d'ouevres for Sunday night. I like to have everyone over for New Year's; it's something I picked up from my mother. She always said that she'd rather we be at home drinking and carrying on than at someone's house, where we would ultimately have to leave to come home. Not that I've been doing a whole lot of drinking lately. It's jsut a safety issue.
Anyway, I can't even think of any hors d'ouevres or other menu items that sound tasty. I'm wondering if part of it is because pregnancy has made me a very picky eater (and thus a picky cook?), but I'm really just not feeling it.
What is one of your addictions?
Submitted by Paperheart.
I love paper products. If I can use it for making cards or scrapbook pages, I want it. If I can use it to store said supplies, I want it. If I can even use a little scrap of something, it takes all the willpower in the world to say, "Let it go. You have 30 more tons of paper that you can use, so let it go." The worst thing about it is that I started scrapbooking when I was a poor student with very few funds, and scrapbooking wasn't the gigantic multi-billion dollar industry it is today. Back then, scrapbooking really meant getting creative with scraps (go figure), so you really didn't want to throw anything away.
So, between the new paper designs that come out every season, all the cutting templates that come out seemingly every month, embellishments, books, tools, and everything else in the scrapbooking aisles of my favorite Big Box craft stores, it's a wonder I've been able to decipher (in most cases) the difference between, "I have to have that" and "I need to have that."
Of course, with the baby coming, I have more important things to buy before I (finally) break down and buy the Cricut machine. But then there's the Cuttlebug, too...
One of my very good friends called me last night to let me know she and her husband are expecting! I'm so very excited for her. Our kids will be about 3 months apart in age (she is due at the end of July; I'm due at the beginning of May), so we'll have lots to talk about, comparing notes and what-not. I told her that I'm so excited to have a friend who is pregnant with me so that I'm not pregnant by myself (which, really, I never was nor will be, but sometimes it feels like you're the only woman you know who is going through this - everyone else has already done it or has no idea what you're talking about).
After we were talking for a while and I told her I was knee deep in researching the creature comforts for my son, she said that she's glad she got pregnant after me so that she can benefit from all of my thorough research! Even funnier about that, though, is she is just as much of a geek as I am, so I refuse to believe she won't be doing research of her own.
It was also nice to compare notes on how we were feeling... She's entering Week 11 at the end of this week, and I'm at Week 22. We talked about ill-fitting clothes (I gave Motherhood Maternity, my favorite maternity clothes store, a recommendation - there's an outlet not too far from Walt Disney World and they have cute clothes at reasonable prices) and when we started to feel our normal clothes getting tight. I went through my journal and found that it was in Week 8 that my clothes just weren't working anymore, and that I went shopping in Week 9. She said that made her feel a whole lot better because everyone she was talking to said they didn't start to show until the 5th month! I told her that was bunk; she may well end up carrying the baby all up front like I am now, and that's probably why I developed a little paunch so early.
So I'm really very excited for her and her husband. But I'm also super psyched to have a pregnant friend, too!
What were your New Year's resolutions for 2006? How did you do?
Oh, I am so proud of myself when it comes to my 2006 resolutions. Here they are (with results!):
1. Make - do not purchase - all my stationery. This included birthday cards, wedding invitations, thank you notes, Christmas cards, etc. I am pleased to say that I successfully made all of the above. My husband actually commented the other night that a part of him expects people to make their own Christmas cards because he sees me doing it. That made me smile (and reaffirms that he truly is the best husband in the whole world!).
2. Be more active and lose weight. Okay, so this one really didn't work so well, but I was on the right track until I got pregnant! I became more of a label reader (staying away from high fructose corn syrup whenever possible) and I take the stairs at work as often as I can, in addition to walking laps at least once a day when I need to get up from my desk and stretch my legs. I may not have lost weight (I weigh more now than I ever did), but I can say that I'm more active than I was last year.
3. Organize - and use - my scrapbooking supplies. I didn't sit down to scrap as much as I wanted to, but I did use my supplies a lot more this year making my stationery - and I thoroughly enjoyed it, too! My husband helped me put up a cabinet in the office (soon to be nursery) closet, and after quite a bit of purging (I made my older niece an impressive First Scrapbooking Kit with my existing supplies), I had it fairly well organized... until wedding projects took over and I developed an affinity for stamping, too. [sigh] At least the bulk of it still fits into the closet.
4. Start a new job. I didn't create this resolution until the spring when my old company got acquired by an evil empire. But, having learned from other past lives, I wasn't about to jump into a new company/career without being 100% certain that this was the place I wanted to hang my hat (so to speak - no one really wears hats anymore, do they?) for the next 20 years or so. Well, I found my place in the universe this summer, and I couldn't be happier!
5. Purge my closet. This was surprisingly difficult for me, only because I realized I have attachments to certain articles of clothing. Getting pregnant at the end of the summer actually helped me with this resolution because I was able to look at items and ask myself realistically, "This hasn't fit you since last year - do you honestly think you'll be able to squeeze into it once the baby comes?" Harsh, yes, but effective. Three trips to Goodwill later, my closet is much lighter. My shoes, on the other hand...
So, there are still things to work on (hence resolutions for 2007), but I got started on the right track this year for most of them. On my list for 2007: (1) Find friends who scrapbook (to help me use my supplies - and take away those things I probably won't ever use), (2) Eat healthier (and lose the baby fat once he is born), (3) Keep up with friends' birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions, etc., (4) Purge my library (I have MBA books that I really ought to part with and a number of self-help books I've almost memorized - not to mention all my scrapbooking magazines that I still haven't sorted), and (5) Keep up with housework. I may need to rejoin Flylady for that last one - at least on a more scaled-down level, anyway.
What's the best present you gave this year?
I'm very pleased with my gift-giving this year, if I may say so myself. For one thing, I started buying my husband's "big present" in May, so I was able to do more than if I had just waited until the last minute (and it didn't hurt my wallet so much!). I also decorated scented candles for my coworkers' presents, and made all my Christmas cards, so there was a whole lot of the "giving of myself" thing going on there.
But, I think the best Christmas present I gave this year was one of my husband's smaller presents: Guinness pint glasses and some Guinness to drink from them! It wasn't a planned present by any means, but it will look good in our Tiki Bar (whenever it gets finished - hopefully February?) and requires very little effort to use and enjoy!
How did you find out the secret behind Santa Claus?
Submitted by Carinish.
Okay, this is too funny because I just had a conversation with my husband about how long he'll let our son believe in Santa Claus. His response: he won't lie to him and insist that there is a Santa, but he'll let him figure it out on his own.
Why, you ask, did this come up in conversation? Well, you can't watch TV without seeing a version of Santa Claus somewhere, and it made me consider my childhood (and preadolescence, if I'm going to be totally honest here) notions of the jolly old elf.
I was really late in discovering the truth about Santa. I like to say that for someone as smart as I am, I'm really very stupid. Gullible, really; I'm quite trusting of others, especially my parents. After all, my husband had to debunk the idea (put into my head by my father, I must say) that Space Mountain is not a roller coaster. For 15 years I believed Space Mountain was not a roller coaster because it was indoors, all because my father said so. The fact my husband (boyfriend at the time) did not run screaming when he learned of my idiocy was proof that he loved me. But I digress...
I think I was in 3rd or 4th grade when I realized that Santa's handwriting looked suspiciously like my mom's and the wrapping paper was the same paper on presents from my parents the previous year (yes, even at that tender age, I had good recall when paper products were involved). When I asked her about it, she gave me some sort of explanation (which I don't remember but amazingly believed), and I continued to believe there was a Santa Claus until my cousin's children came to visit many years later - I was already in junior high, I think. Anyway, as we were leaving for Midnight Mass, my mother told my cousin to take the kids out to the car, then asked me to help her get the presents from Santa under the tree.
Wait - what? Presents from Santa? Doesn't he bring them while we're at mass?
My sister's response: "Eileen, don't be stupid!"
So, yes, I believed in Santa Claus for a long, long time. In a way, I kind of still do - it's the spirit of giving that we picked up from Saint Nick as kids that makes Christmas as joyous as it is as adults. It's what enables us to grit our teeth and be nice to the people we normally can't stand for the rest of the year, even if it's only for a week or a day (or a precious few hours you're stuck at their house).
Of course, I think it's one thing for my son to grow up with a generous nature, but I agree with my husband that I don't think we should lie to him and insist there really is a Santa Claus. Of course, I'm not entirely sure my response would be the best either - I would want to ask him why he thinks there may not be a Santa Claus and how it makes him feel. Chances are he really won't care, but for my peace of mind, I'd like to walk him through the process of discovery and deal with any potentially negative feelings on the spot.
So, not only am I totally gullible, I'm pretty neurotic, too. Years of therapy will do that to you.
I had to run a quick errand at lunch (to pick up the last piece of my husband's Christmas present), and I stopped off at Michael's on the way back to the office. For one thing, I needed to use the restroom (it seems my bladder doesn't hold as much as it used to); for another, it's been a while since I went to Michaels to really look at the new scrapbooking products they have.
As far as new scrapbooking products, there are a few things that are really cool, but nothing that I desperately have to have. In fact, I really didn't see anything that I even wanted to put on my birthday wish list (which, for those playing at home, is only 13 days away). There were some cute papers (a lot of which were on sale), and the Christmas card-making stuff was already 50% off.
So, I browsed... and browsed... and browsed some more. Really, I needed to stretch my legs (and abdomen) because I was getting a bit sore sitting down at my desk all morning. But the point is, even though I picked up a few things as "I'll think about it" items, I didn't buy anything!
Those who know me (and especially those who have been to Michael's with me) can understand the magnitude of this. I was extremely proud of myself.
Show us your desktop.
Submitted by Anthony.
Here's my desk at work, taken in August. It's actually a little more crowded now with Christmas cards (I really ought to hang them up), and I've moved my phone closer to my monitor, but I really like my space.
And if you can't tell by the stickers on the bulletin board hanging on my wall (which I've had since college), I really am a big KROQ fan. Last year they didn't have a calendar (hence the Harry Potter calendar hanging on the other bulletin board), but I'll be replacing it in a few weeks with the 2007 KROQ calendar (courtesy of Cherry, the Queen of All That is Cool!).
I went back to the doctor yesterday to have some more measurements done on my little boy. It appears he is running a little older than initially calculated (5 days), which isn't a big enough deal to change the due date but definitely explains why he put on 3 additional ounces since my last visit on Thursday! I, on the other hand, weighed one pound less than I did last week (which, for those math geeks following at home, means a net loss of 19 ounces to me, since he took 3 of them). I'm not concerned. I'll manage to put that pound back on, I'm sure.
So, my little baby boy, while still little for now, is apparently not going to stay that way for much longer. The doctor said he looks very healthy, and he's very active (a good sign) and everything is where it should be right now. Oh, and I got confirmation that, yes, my baby is, indeed, a boy.
My mother doesn't think I'm going to make it to May; she reminded me that all three of her children were born at least 3 weeks earlier than expected. I'm just enjoying this for as long as I can. There's something strangely comforting about feeling your baby moving inside you, and it's intriguing to watch my belly undulate a little when lay down and patiently wait for his movements. I've noticed the past couple of days that he is very good at reminding me to use the bathroom often; I think he enjoys kicking my bladder when it's full. Chris says it's because it's taking up precious real estate in his son's already crowded abode.
My belly is growing so fast, it's like somebody spiked my food with Miracle Gro. I measured it right before bed last night: 36.5 inches. On Thursday it was only 35; last Sunday it was 34. And I know that I'm only going to get bigger in the weeks and months to come. It's exciting, though - it means my baby is growing. The kicks are the most reassuring thing in the world, even if they may wake me up at 3 am. Sure, it's a little much after a while, but really, I like that he's making his presence known.
