Put the boots back on, sigh...
It was a quiet weekend. On Saturday it was warm and rainy. We managed to get out and purchase a kitchen scale, a food mill, and general groceries. We went to a fabulous kitchen supply place with aisles of everything you can possibly imagine for a kitchen, and more. Steve had to drag me out!
Sunday was cold and snowy. We stayed in and I made cookies for a friend that came over to play with Steve. Today I had to bring my shoes to work in a bag, how depressing.
Going to see the doctor again today, get to listen to the baby's heartbeat and see what's what. I forgot to start drinking a ton of water this morning, so now I'll really have to chug if I want to be able to pee in a cup!

My child or Jack the Pumpkin King?

I smells something
I woke up this morning smelling curry. Steve couldn't smell it. Must be a weird prego thing. I am going out for Indian food at lunch though. Perhaps I have developed some strange form of ESP with my nose?

Joys of Spring
I know that I'm jumping the gun a little, but I've been wearing my shoes to work all week. This is probably tempting fate, but I don't think that there is a better feeling at the end of a long, cold winter, than slipping on shoes and walking out the front door. I am free from the bending,lacing, unlacing,and those silly paper shoes that they give you when you go to the dentist.
I'm doing conversions today, so very dull.
I was looking at a cooking magazine last night that was showing some yummy pictures of fresh spring lettuces in salads. Can I grow leaf lettuce in window boxes? Does anyone know of some good types of leaf lettuce?

Nice bundts

Insert bundt pictures here
I completely forgot to put the pictures of the bundts up on the site this weekend. I will do it tonight, I promise! The cakes were a big hit and there was much asking for the recipes and seconds and thirds, which always confirms that people actually liked them and weren't spitting stuff into their napkins. There were even a couple of pieces left for hubbie to try!
The weekend was rainy and grey, perfect for catching up on sleep and being a lump. We went to see the accountant (tax time!) and did some house work. Sunday I downloaded the 30-day trial version of Paint Shop Pro's photo organizer. I now have about half of my photos in the searchable database. The program also allows you to burn cds of slideshows that you can play back on a DVD player. That will probably come in handy for sending hundreds of kiddie pictures to the grandfolks!
I dreamed last night that I had the baby. It was a cartoon baby, very expressive and seemed to know what was going on. Steve and I were in a pharmacy because we realised that we had no baby supplies at home - no diapers, etc. We were staring at a long aisle of diapers (it must have been about 12 feet high) trying to figure out which ones to get. The baby was looking at us like we were stupid, but seemed good natured in general.

Adventures in baking
One of the things that I almost never check in a recipe is baking time, and this time, it really bit me on the ass. Many of you probably know this, but bundt cakes take at least 70 minutes to bake. That's a long time when you have two to bake in one night. The last one was cool enough to glaze at around midnight, so I got to bed at 12:30. Of course I had been "testing" the chocolate glaze, so I was sugar wired and couldn't sleep. I'm a bit out of it this morning, but did manage to remember to bring the cakes in to work. Hope that they turned out! That's the problem with cakes, at least with cookies you always know how they taste before you foist them on your friends.

Mmmmmm, coffee
For the first time in over four months, I smelled Steve's coffee this morning and wanted some. I had a sip, and it was good. I haven't wanted coffee since I found out that I was pregnant, not because of the caffeine (I normally only had a cup a day), but because the idea of coffee made me sick to my stomach. Today, I liked the idea of coffee. Too bad the coffee here at the office is terrible. I think I'll start with a cup of decaf on the weekend and see how it goes from there. Steve got me a cocoa butter stick from The Body Shop for my tummy. I'm prone to stretch marks, but we'll see what happens, it certainly feels wonderful and smells divine!
Everyone wish me good cake karma tonight, think moist, tasty thoughts :-)

The tale of Sleeping Greasy
Went out for chocolate milkshakes with Bill last night, yummy! I also had a cheeseburger and fries. I made it halfway through the cheeseburger, ate all the fries, and an hour later I was incredibly sleepy. I had a bunch of weird dreams too, in one that I remember, I foiled a group of vicious raspberry smugglers. Do you think that my dreams are going to switch into rated G mode now that I have an audience? Can babies sense your dreams?

Fika!
Last month another writer here suggested that the department get together for a fika pause every Friday. A fika is a Swedish coffeebreak. This week, it's my turn to bring the goodies. What's a gal with a kitchenaid mixer to do? How about a chocolate-sourcream bundt cake? I'm thinking that may not be enough if everyone shows up though, so I probably should also make a vanilla-lemon cake too, right? Come by on Thursday and I'll let you lick the spoon (and maybe do some dishes) ;-)

My little leprechaun
Went in for my second ultrasound today. This time, my doctor did the ultrasound and pointed out all the things he was looking at. At one point, we could see the baby playing with its toes! Perfect little hands and feet, perfect little head, and heart, and body, and liver, and gallbladder.... you get the picture. The baby even moved around for us.
I am now officially half-way through the baby-making process. Doesn't seem like it's been that long, does it?

Is there a draft?
I bought some maternity jeans on ebay and they arrived yesterday. They have a stretchy panel in the front. When you put them on, you feel like you're walking around with your pants wide open with your gut hanging out. Actually, I guess that I am. Not a very flattering look without a long sweatshirt...

Cat update
Woody finally supplied a sample and the vet couldn't find a trace of infection, only an elevated ph level which could possibly cause some discomfort. He sent me home with a case of special canned food to feed him for three weeks. On the way home I figured out the plan: I would give Woody his canned food in the bathroom and feed the other two their regular kibble in their regular eating area. Woody's a big eater, so he would demolish the canned food, so I'd leave him in there for a while until the other two finished and then let him out-no problem. That was the plan.
I opened the can to a captivated audience (cat's are genetically programmed to respond to the can opener), put the food in his bowl, and put Woody and the food in the bathroom and closed the door. I fed the other two, they were a bit disappointed with the lack of canned food, but quickly recovered. 3 minutes later, Woody's crying at the door. Turns out, he doesn't want the canned food and he doesn't want to be locked in the bathroom. I tried to get him to taste it, which he did, but he still wasn't interested. I left him in there for a bit longer. The other two cats went to investigate the cause of the crying and scratching on the other side of the bathroom door. Solution? I took the two cats and put them in the diningroom with what was left of their food and let the whiner out and put his food back in its normal place. After two hours, he still hadn't touched the food, so I let the other two out of the diningroom (they were napping) and they wolfed down his food in no time flat. At least I know that it doesn't taste bad. We went through the whole thing again this morning. He's hungry, but he refuses the yummy soft food. Let's hope that tonight he'll be hungry enough to eat it.

We're number one for "juicy fruit song"! At least four people, or one very forgetful person, have googled and arrived at our site. Welcome juicy fruit song lovers! Perhaps we should start a club?

When you don't gotta go...
I took one of the cats in to the vet last night because he was having some "accidents" over the weekend, which has never happened before. You can't be too careful when it comes to male cats and their urinary tracts. The vet needed to take a urine sample, but darned if the cat didn't go before we left the house, so I brought him back in this morning. At the vet's request, we fed him and then put him into the carrier until I left for the vet. This was supposed to hopefully force him to cross his legs so to speak until we got there, at which point he should have been quite eager to oblige. He bawled the entire time he was in the carrier, spilled the tiny bowl of water that I put in there with him, and basically did the equivalent of the metal-cup-on-the-bars routine until I got him to the vet. I just called to find out how he was doing and he hasn't peed yet! Other than that, he's just fine and dandy. Could he be like those people who can only pee in their own homes?

Fashion police
Feeling decidedly sleepy today. Perhaps it's the slow down at work again, but I'm ready for a snooze! It's a beautiful, if cold, sunny day out, and I bet you that there are sunbeams just waiting to be napped in. I think that I was just channeling one of my cats.....
Scott, my favorite brother-in-law, sent a video tape with more Six Feet Under, he's so cute! We even have the first episode of this season! He's single ladies!! He's also able to dress himself properly.
My office mate is heading off to near Dallas this week for business. I think that I have managed to talk him out of packing his regular wardrobe, which consists of jeans (too tight, too short, with bleach stains on the back) and t-shirts and sweatshirts that he's seems to have had since he was 18 (all ill-fitting, with holes, and in unflattering colours). I can't think of anyone who would show up to represent their company dressed like that, am I wrong?

Comfy shoes and brownies
There are very few things in life that are more satisfying than a comfortable pair of shoes. I found said shoes at the mall on Sunday. I wasn't really looking for them, but other stores that I normally go to didn't have the plain style that I was looking for. It was love at first sight, but the price wasn't right, so I talked to the sales guy and tried on several other lesser shoes before he checked his pricing list and told me that he could let me have them for a more affordable price. They are loafers so I will not have to bend down to tie anything up this spring and summer :-) Ahhh... true love!
Prego Update: The tummy is progressing nicely. Without the sweater covering my gut, it's pretty evident that there's something going on. I've managed to gain the weight I was supposed to, and some extra! Gotta lay off the butter now.....
I made brownies for the bookclub last night. The last time I made them, they were really bad. This time I followed a new recipe and they were very much improved, although I have to find a store that carries better chocolate than Baker's. According to the cookbook, Hershey's semi-sweet is very good, but try to find it in Montreal stores! I guess I will have to go to the market and have a look, any ideas?

Another post inspired by TV

I have a question: In the new Juicy Fruit commercials with the guy playing guitar and singing the old Juicy Fruit song ("Get your skis shined up, grab a stick of Juicy Fruit, the taste is gonna move ya") why is he so badly treated? There are these other two guys, who I guess are supposed to be cool, and they smash his guitar in one spot and suck him into a garbage truck in another. Now, I don't claim to be super-cool or anything, but I'm totally into the guitar guy and harking back to those great Juicy Fruit ads from the 70s or 80s or whenever. If I came across that guitar guy in real life, I'd be smiling and tapping my foot and feeling like a big ole stick of Juicy Fruit. Are we supposed to relate to the mean guys instead, who, remember, earn their living driving a garbage truck? Sure, they're snowboarders, but you never see them do anything worthwhile, like snowboarding or playing guitar or singing. They're just useless and mean. It seems like really bad advertising to say "oh, Juicy Fruit ads from the past were so lame, and in fact maybe Juicy Fruit itself wasn't as good as it is now in these new blister packs". It would have been much more effective to go with the guitar guy and do a whole new version of the Juicy Fruit song for a younger generation, with a nod to the retro style and aesthetic of the original.

And, is it just me, or does Rob on Survivor: Amazon look like the love-child of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin?

Hooked on 6 Feet Under
I have become thoroughly addicted to this tv show. It's smart, funny, tragic, and real. It's about a guy who returns home and decides to help out with the family funeral home. It's also about disfunctional families, relationships, sexuality, and death. I don't get the channel that it airs on up here, so I borrowed the first two seasons from some tv buff friends. It is wonderful! Steve and I have been trying to stretch out the second season so we don't go into withdrawal. The first episode of the third season just aired this Tuesday, but we will try and wait until our friends have a full tape before asking to borrow it. I don't know if we'll be able to hold out. I doubt that it will air on any regular channels here because of the language and nudity.
I'm doing very dull work today and the weather looks absolutely horrible. Sure could use a comfy sofa and a nice fire about now.

The long wait is now over

After 14 months of moaning and groaning I finally got my marching orders last Friday afternoon (at 3:00). My last day will be April 30th. While being informed on a Friday afternoon like that really sucked, the timing for being laid off really couldn't be better. This morning I got my letter which told me about the "goodies" I'm getting and now is the time to get organized and ready to move on. After the initial shock I'm getting over it. (I know, I've known forever,so why get upset? But when the rubber hits the road it moves from being something that could happen to something that is about to, one's lizard brain kicks in and screams that it doesn't want change...the status quo will do thank you!) It was just a little tough being all alone over the weekend. (Incidentally, my husband is in China in Mongolia, of all places and will be back next weekend). However today my spirits have improved (I also over ruled the lizard brain) and I feel for the first time in a very very long time even as I stare down the abyss that at least I know I can start to make plans for the first time in I don't know how long.

Speaking of new beginnings, when I saw Dina and really, she isn't fat. If anything she looks thinner than she did before she got pregnant. She just has a little bump on her belly now. She may think it's big, but really it's still small and nobody would really guess yet that she's working on building a baby.

When you're in the mood for looking at cutely distorted baby animals.