Cont'd
So let's see, for the first two weeks after I found out that I was pregnant, I was so freaked out that I couldn't talk about it. This of course meant the Steve had no one to talk to about it, which if you know Steve, practically killed him. I went to my regular doctor, expecting a whole bunch of tests and stuff, but she just gave me a quick go over and gave me a list of obstetricians she recommended. Apparently, the home pregnancy tests don't leave a lot of room for error. I found an obstetrician, but it was harder than I thought. A lot of the names of the list were attached to very mean receptionists who rudely informed me that the doctor was not taking more patients. When I finally found a nice receptionist, I jumped at whoever she was working for, luckily, the doctor seems like a nice man with a sense of humour, I'm not sure what I would have done if I hated him.
During the trip to New York I found out what "morning sickness" is. I was travelling with my male boss and had no intention of telling him what was going on yet. I'm not a permanent employee, and I was still hoping that they would be able to make me one in January. I was afraid that if I told anyone that I worked with that it would greatly decrease my chances. It wasn't easy to pretend that I was fine, but luckily it was a guy after all, so it was probably easier than I thought at the time. The hardest part was eating lunch and dinner with him and trying not to be sick all over his plate. At the end of the trip, we were waiting at the airport and he said that he was going to get something to eat. I was quite happy to hang out alone with the bags and relax. Instead of eating at the food court, he returned with a fast food meal and sat down next to me and ate it. The smell of a whopper and fries when you can't stand the smell of food, is probably the worst thing ever. The best part of the trip was visting Kuan and finding out that she too is expecting. Her due date? Approximately two days before mine :-) Couldn't have timed that better even if we tried, what a shame that we live so far apart.

I know where the heck I'm goin' and I "don" wanna go to Toronnah.

While Dina may have wondered where the heck she's been on the Blog lately, it compares "somewhat" favourably to where I have to go tonight...(Read the title if you haven't already guessed.)

Anyway, I may find out (or not) whether I am leaving a) at the end of March or b) in May or c) some other time. I'm interested in the answer naturally, but am not interested in what I am doing to get that answer. Anyway maybe I'll know more by tomorrow, or maybe not...Nobody seems to know anything right now. Which inspires me to quote " Look at anything in trouble and you'lll discover a problem of knowledge."

The good news is I am actively preparing for my eventual exit and I hope I won't need to gestate on this project for too long. (Speaking of new projects.)

Where the heck have I been?
Sorry about the huge gaps between posts, but work is uber busy and I was sick last week, and even when I'm not doing anything else, I'm gestating, which takes more energy than you'd think.
So, Steve and I found out before Christmas. We told the sets of folks when we saw them. I made Steve go out and scour Montreal for ornaments that have space for writing, then I wrote, in the best writing I could muster, "Grandma & Grandpa, 2003" on them (I also did ones for "Uncle Scott" and "Great Grandma"). Then, after the present exchange, we gave out our last present. Steve's mom takes the record for high-pitched enthusiasm, and my dad takes the record for longest to figure it out, but everyone's very excited. Dad's trying to build us a cradle, but I'm going to try to pull him toward a nice oak toy chest so it becomes a keepsake that our child can keep forever. The baby room is going to be our junk room across from our bedroom. Steve's started cleaning it out, but I figure we have lots of time. I already have some ideas for painting the walls.
More tomorrow! Back to work!

My new project
Steve and I have embarked on a new project.
Project launch: Aug 4 (tentative)

As one of our friends pointed out, no documentation, no design specs!!!

Well, since Dina seems to be busy these days, I'll post something just for the heck of it.

I am sick today, and going home early. It's the first time this winter that i've got sick, so I'm doing pretty well, considering my family has had a rough time of it, catching everything that comes along. It seems to me that this winter has been a particularly bad one for flus and viruses and whatnot. Has anyone else noticed that?

Poor Dina has to work like a devil this week even though she's really sick. I'm lucky I'm not so important! It just seems wrong to me to have to work even when you're really sick. I mean, if anything should get you off work it's being a virus-infested germ-bag spreading the plague through your office. (No offense, Dina, I'm sure you're trying to keep your germs to yourself!)

So far I'm enjoying the job I'm working on. It's very stimulating, with a lot of variety and quite a lot of responsibility. Apart from researching and writing, I'm doing some event-planning, so that's something new to add to the old resume. I miss being with my kids during the day, but knowing that hub is there makes that okay. The kids are adjusting to the change very well. The fact that he does things like baking bread and cinnamon rolls and makes a hotwheels racetrack over the entire living room and dining room seems to be easing the sting of separation from mommy (who, let's face it, just sat on the couch and yelled and ate bonbons all day).

Now it's your turn to write something on the blog.

I had a strange dream that I parked my car in Verdun, and when I came back, the motor was missing. Any idea what that means?

Return from the vet
Well, I can honestly say that it went as smoothly as it normally goes. We got two into the carriers almost right away, and then spent 20 minutes chasing Stan around the apartment until finally we had her cornered. She can be very slippery when she wants to. The car ride was like riding on the outside of a screaming ambulance, but that was expected. Steve got a giggle when I started yelling at them, which of course only makes them louder. The vet said that for an old lady, Oopsa's in very good health, and was extremely pleased to see that she was still completely insane and cranky with him. She hissed and growled at everyone, even the cute little girl in the waiting room. The other two were less combative. Woody was his usual charming self and Stan when we managed to catch her and get her on the table, put up surprisingly little resistance. The vet scraped some plaque off their teeth, we really have to start brushing their teeth a bit. It was really gross, the sound was awful! All three of them also went into panic shed, so we were covered in hair by the time the exam was finished. Woody and Stan apparently have very tiny heart murmurs, but not big enough to worry about. They really got the bad end of the gene pool, heart murmurs, plaque, Woody is a touch asthmatic and they both have tummy waddles. We took them home, and suddenly they were back to normal and happy and had forgotten all about the ordeal 30 minutes later.
Today I am buried in work and hoping that I don't have to come in on the weekend.

A piece of advice
Don't eat raw broccoli followed by a bean salad and then expect to work comfortably for the rest of the afternoon....

This won't hurt a bit
I'm taking the cats to the vet tonight for their check ups and shots. I have two carriers, a single cat carrier, and one that's good for a small dog. I put the calico in the single carrier (she's a very good traveller, but she won't share her space), and the big fat tabby and his sister in the other. The tabby has grown despite the diet food, and I'm wondering if I'm still going to be able to squeeze another cat in. The tabby hates the car and will yowl from the moment the engine starts until we stop and I open the door. When we get to the vet, the tabby is great, but the calico always refuses to move from the carrier, and I almost always have to take it apart to get her out. When she finally does come out, she hisses and spits and growls and bites until you put her back in. I wish my vet still made housecalls....

And for a totally minimalist, zen garden look for your fridge interior, there's Bonsai Potato. Starkly beautiful, audacious in its condemnation of all kitchen excess and ostentation, it needs no other setting than your top fridge shelf, as a potent, tuberous objet d'art.

Now there's a lust object for the naughties.

It was only a matter of time, the web fridge project.

Monday
Had a very quiet weekend with lots of snoozing, my favorite kind. Spent some time cleaning and cooking and shopping, but otherwise relaxing was the name of the game. I found out last week that I wouldn't be able to bug the developers on my project until the 16, this puts me even farther behind schedule than I already am. I'm trying to do everything I can without be able to ask questions, it is quite challenging, and I'm very tempted to start making things up. Maggie's got herself a pretty new/used car; I went over and saw it on Friday. In other news, I just found out that my mother-in-law is sending a goodie package our way-woo woo! There better be date squares in it. That's it, I have no life....

Welcome to da Working Week

After 7 or 8 years of working on a part-time basis, I pretty much thought I'd never really work full time again if I could manage not to.

Well, I'm working full time now. This past Monday, I started on a five-day-a-week gig. Initially, it's only a two-month contract, but I'll have to keep up the pace after the two months because my hubby finally liberated himself from the highly dysfunctional workplace in which he has toiled for the last seven years. In other words: he quit, with my full support and approval.

So I'm the breadwinner, at least for the time being. I can't believe my luck, really, because I have such a great job, doing stuff I really enjoy among people I really like and admire. The money isn't hot, but we're used to being poor, so it's not too big a deal.

And my hubby gets to spend some time at home with the kids, something he's been dreaming of for a long time. He's happy and he really needs a little while to just be happy.

But it's going to be an adjustment, lemme tell ya. I miss my kids and it's hard to turn the administration of your business (in my case, my home and kids) over to a new person. But at least he knows the ropes, and is eager to please.

Wish me luck, gals!

After an all to brief lunch with Elizabeth, I am back to the mines. The only thing keeping me going is that I will be seeing Ents again later this evening.......

A review!
Maggie went to see the Stones last night (rolling? kidney?), and has written up her review of events. Sounds like she had a good time despite the fact that Mick didn't see her and invite her up on stage. You know that he would have Maggie, but he probably didn't have his glasses on :-)

Tethered to the desk
I'm not under anything heavy, I'm just too freakin' busy to have anything interesting to write about.
Work will be all encompassing until the end of the month, this is good because it means overtime, but bad because it will deny me my life and make me more of a drudge than usual. That said, we're going out with Guislaine to see the Two Towers again Thursday night - yay!!!
I discovered Le Commensal frozen meals - the couscous and vegetables is perfect for lunch and I am going to try to duplicate it at home very soon, when I have time, oh, I probably won't get to it until spring.........

Check out Zefrank's direct line to Santa. There are quite a few different things on the list.

Zzzzzzzz.....
Back to the grind, officially, as everyone else is also back and demanding mountains of manuals. Who else could really use a nap right now? :-)

Holidays, holidays, holidays
Christmas was the usual exhausting, but enjoyable ride.
It started with the annual trek up to the townies to see my folks. The drive was nice and sunny with dry roads, always a treat. We spent Christmas Eve at my grandmother's place, my aunt made a big supper and we all ate until bursting. It was the first Christmas Eve that my other aunt was not at the table. Christel is sick and now spends most of her time in a hospital bed in the room next to the diningroom. It was very sad and the idea of her not being there at all next year was present in all our minds. My father decided to be difficult and had a spectacular outburst before the gift giving that ended with him leaving in a huff, but we managed to get over it quite quickly, we gave out gifts and laughed and made the most of it. Fortunately, my Dad was over his foul mood by the time we got home and we just ignored his attempts to restart his original rant and so he had no choice but to forget it.
Christmas Day was more gifts, more food, some phone calls and a little bit of visiting. I was looking forward to seeing Caroline's folks, but missed them this year. On Boxing Day we headed back into town and rushed around getting everything organized for the trip to Windsor the next day. We got up very early to catch the 6-something train. The trip to Toronto was great because they seated us in one of the new Renaissance cars. More leg room, more padding on the seats, curtains on the windows, and a wider angle of recline make for a much more comfortable trip. I had hoped that we might not have to change trains in Toronto, but of course we did and ended up waiting for 20 minutes out on a freezing cold and windy platform waiting for another train, this one without the comfy seats. I was really bummed to get in an old seat with two degrees on recline and next to no padding. Add to that the fact that we were over an hour late getting to Windsor and you have a pretty cranky Dina. Steve's brother and Dad picked us up and we were soon back to our cheery selves. We stayed with Scott, but Steve's folks live just upstairs, which is convenient for us. We saw The Two Towers, watched DVDs, played games, ate, ate, slept, and went out to a big construction site where Steve's Dad works. Had lots of fun. The trip back was hellish to Toronto because of the American teenagers going to Toronto to drink in the new year. Does everyone from Detroit dress like Eminem? The trip to Montreal was better, but no good seats and it was late by the time we got in. I couldn't wait to get back to my comfy bed and the kitties, who showed us how much they missed us by barfing on many flat surfaces while we were gone. By the time we cleaned up and sat down, there was no hope of going out for New Years, so we fell asleep before midnight. What an exciting life we lead :-)
I went in to work today where many things have gone wrong and the movers lost my chair. I have a meeting on a rush project this afternoon, and all I can think about is having a nap. Good thing it's Friday!