Busy Busy!

Just a quickie today.
This is another busy baby week. Yesterday was a regularly scheduled prenatal appointment. All went well and because Gak closed yesterday, he was able to go. It was nice that he was able to go. I really do want him to be as involved as possible with this. I know he wants to be involved, but schedules stink. This morning we had another ultrasound. Boo is still a boy. He's measuring at about the 46th% for growth for 28 weeks. This means he's right on target for 28 weeks, or a little big for 26. Either way, I'm not sure it matters. It means that at the doctor's 40 weeks, he'll be at about the "right" size. (Of course, I just looked at the ticker and it says only 80 days! EEEK!!)
Tomorrow I have my 3-hour glucose test. I'm not overly worried about it, except for the fact the doctor this morning said Boo's belly is measuring a hair bigger than the rest of him, which could be an indication of glucose issues. The fluid levels look great though, which is also another indicator. So, as with everything, mixed readings. Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you I "failed" the 1-hour test. The cutoff is 130, and well... my reading was 130. Normally my doctor would just do the 1-hour test again, but since I'm heavy to begin with... better safe than sorry. Oh well, it'll give me an excuse to crochet or play on the DS for about 3 hours.
Tomorrow night is also our 2nd baby class. Should be interesting.
Thursday through Saturday I'll be in Minnesota. This is my last flight for a while. It is both good and sad at the same time.
Well, some people are getting ready to head out to lunch and I'm going to join them. I've got a funny/sad story from Sunday to post, but I need some pictures.
Peace to all and may you be pleasantly busy.

Find!

My mom has been a godsend. Again. Or maybe it is still.
I told you she wants to pay for Boo's nursery furniture. Well... I think my mom was just handed the deal of the century.
One of her customers was in earlier this week to get a small repair job done. She brought her little boy with her, he's 2 or so. Well, of course Mom and her got to talking about the fact that Mom is going to be a Gramma soon. When the customer came back, she offered to sell Mom her son's crib for.... get this... $75! What's amazing is the fact that this is normally a $450-500 crib new! (And that's for just the crib, add another $50-100 or more for a mattress!) This is high quality furniture, that even with Mom's mini-windfall paying for things I wasn't even going to think about looking at. And she's offered a lot of other nursery and baby stuff as well. Mom's going to talk to her today to see what all she has and what she wants. I guess now, we'll definitely be able to afford a really nice rocker or glider instead of one that "will do".
I just can't believe the luck Mom has some days... and that I'm lucky enough to be her daughter. The thought of how lucky Gak and I are just chokes me up. I know a good part of it is from the hormones, but I just can't believe how wonderfully things are working out. I feel like there really is a light at the end of this tunnel of uncertainty. I'd share a picture of the crib, but the email Mom sent me with it is on the other computer, and I'm not booting it up just to fetch a silly picture. You'll get to see it when I post a picture of the nursery when we get it all set up.
I'm really getting excited now.
Tuesday we're moving our bed into the other room, so our current room can officially become the nursery. It will take a little getting used to sleeping in the other room, but that's OK. That reminds me... I've got to get a new curtain rod for the new room so we can hang the curtains. Maybe if I time it right, I can get Gak and Andy to take care of it Tuesday evening...
Well, I'm off to take a short nap. It is gray and raining and just plain ick today. Warm, but ick. Although, it sounds like my neighbor boy is up and running about, so I may not get that much sleep. Oh well. They're moving soon. I think I'm actually going to miss Aidan running back and forth. That is until we start having all kinds of baby chaos around here.
Peace to all and may you all have wonderful finds in your life!

Classes, From Both Sides

All I have to say is, I'm tired.
It has been a looong week. These week long seminars take a lot out of you on a good day. When you're in your 3rd trimester and are tired to begin with... ugh. Luckily I was both able to wrap up this afternoon and they decided not to go to dinner. This means tomorrow I get to go in at my "normal" time and I got to come home and crash until it was time to pick up Gak from work.
Yesterday was our first "prepared childbirth" class. It was interesting. There are 7 other couples. I think one other couple is due later than we are, but not by much. Most are due early May. I also think we're either the oldest or second oldest couple. That's OK too. It was weird, but Gak and I touched more than most of the other couples. I'm not sure if it's that we're just that way with each other or they're just too self-conscious. Whatever, not the main point of this... I'm not 100% sure how useful it will be. It will definitely give some good information. Hopefully the breathing/relaxation techniques will be useful now and in the future. The biggest problem is, I don't breathe right to begin with. We did some "guided imagery" relaxation lying down. It would have worked wonderfully, except for the fact I wasn't breathing quite right and I kept getting hung up on that. We'll see. Like I said, I'm sure we'll get something out of the next 4 weeks. If only to give Gak a bit more of a feeling of being involved. He hasn't been able to make any of the appointments (and I haven't pressured him too either...) and I still have too much belly blubber for him to really feel Boo kicking and squirming about. (That and usually Boo starts acting up right after Gak leaves the room...) The one thing I took away from last night's class is a confirmation of just exactly how much of a team Gak and I really are and how connected we are and how strong our bond is. We're in for one hell of a roller coaster ride soon and I know we're going to survive just fine.
Well, I'm exhausted. I'm going to get ready for bed and crash.
Peace to all and may you have loved ones in your life.

Goodbye Gygax

I got some sad news today. Gary Gygax, creator of D&D, forfather of all modern RPGs, failed his saving throw. Gary has left this world for the next. Anyone who enjoys RPGs of any description, owes him a moment of thought at the least. Without him, there would have been no D&D. Without D&D, there wouldn't be any of the other "pen and paper" games. Without D&D, the MUDs, MUSHs, MOOs and MMORPGs computer gamers have come to know and love (and hate) over the last decade or so wouldn't exist. (I guess it's not all good... I mean, you can trace WoW back to Gygax.... hmm....)
Good luck and God speed Gary Gygax. The gaming world is deminished without your light.

In other news, my class this week is going well. We've got 9 people all told for the first half. It seems to be a good group and things are going well. They're learning a lot from eachother as well as from me.
Tomorrow Gak and I start our "prepared birthing" classes. I have no idea how useful they will be or if they're really worth it. Some people have told me they're a waste, others thing they're a good idea, even if I end up having to have a C. I guess we won't know until it's all been said and done. We will see.
Well, I'm tired and mostly just wanted to say something about Gygax's passing.
Peace to all and may your dice be good to you in this life and the next.

Weekend Review

This was a good weekend. Even though Gak had to work most of it.

First I want to publicly say THANK YOU to my swap partner from Crochetville. I actually got this package last week, but I didn't get the photos uploaded until the weekend. I decided to partake in the Kitchen Swap this year. It was quite a bit of fun. My partner made me some amazing things and seems to be happy with what I've sent her. I may just have to sign up for another of these some time there's a theme I'm interested in...

Friday night Gak and I thought about trying to go see Spiderwick Chronicles. We were supposed to go the Friday before, but it snowed an with everything else, it didn't happen. Well, we end up having dinner with Kat, Zoe and Scott at the dinner and by the time we wrap up there, neither one of us were awake enough to go to the movies. That's OK. I really want to see this one, but I'll probably just wait for it to be on DVD at this rate.

Saturday was a semi-lazy day for me. Gak had to be in to work by 2, so the morning was spent fiddling around the house. It took me forever to get the laundry done for some reason, and it wasn't crowded either. I wandered through the grocery store, but not very successfully. I was tired and just wanted to go home at that point. I did make some really yummy mac-n-cheese for dinner though, with plenty of leftovers for lunches. I actually spent most of the evening watching the NCIS marathon on USA. I think that's the most TV I've watched in a long time. I enjoy that show when I catch it.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Mom came up. We worked on the surprise project for Boo most of the day. Well, we started out looking at patterns, and figuring things out, but then we had to run a few errands. Of course we had to go to JoAnn's and pick up some things I'd forgotten to get. We also had to drop something off with Gak at work. Since I didn't do such a good job going through the grocery store Saturday, we decided to go over to the Q-Mart and pick up something for dinner. Needless to say it took a lot longer at Frederick's than planned. But, we got some really good food for dinner. (Gak's always happy when I bring home beef...) The rest of the afternoon was spent giggling and sewing. The project isn't quite done, I hope to finish it this week and you'll see. But until then, I'm just going to leave you in suspense.

Yes, I can be evil.

This is going to be a looong week at work. It is my regional seminar and I have 9 people all told signed up, 2 for only half a week. Tonight I'm supposed to take them out to dinner. Oh, that reminds me, I've got to stop and pick up afternoon snacks on my way into the office! Anyhow, they don't start until 1 today, which is good because I've got a few things to clean up and get off my plate first. I just hope it goes well. I know there will be some tough questions that I may or may not have the answers to with regards to the new reporting format. Actually, I know that I won't have the answers about the reporting format. Oh well. It could always be worse.

Well, I'd best get a shower and get out the door. Ugh.

Peace to all and may you have good friends, good times and good things to keep you occupied.

Random Thought of the Day

I'm sitting here enjoying a soft pretzel. It's a Friday tradition in this office, but I don't usually partake. (I enjoy them, but often times I'm not here on Friday or just don't feel like having one...)
In this part of the country, Philly really, it is tradition to put mustard on them. Usually a fairly good dark yellow mustard, but most people end up just using plain, old, boring yellow. Some weeks I do, some I don't.
Today I did.
The random thought:
"I used to make fun of my brother for eating 'mustard sandwiches' (two pieces of white bread with mustard in between), but here I am, essentially eating the same thing... a bread products with nothing but mustard on it." (I'd removed most of the salt as most days it's just too much...)

So, with that bit of randomness, I shall leave you to go work with a couple of the guys here in the office on using the software. This has been a busy training week for me!

Peace to all and may you enjoy a bit of randomness from time to time.

Run Away Yarn?

Well, I've finished up training our two Indian programmers. It was quite a lot of fun. I'm not sure I've really enjoyed a training session this much in quite a while. They asked great questions and are fun people to begin with.
Last night, most of software development took them out to dinner. I knew about it Tuesday, but didn't realize I was invited as well. So... since Gak was closing, I went too. It was a good time. I think this is the first really social thing I've done since Michelle came up for New Year's, and I was sick at the time. Oh, wait... we did go over to Kat's one night and played games with everyone. I'm trying to remember if that was before or after New Year's though. (I'm sure I could look it up in past posts, but I'm being lazy...) It was a good time. Rick and Uday also came. It was good to see them again. They both seem to be doing well.
Of course, because I went out last night, that means that any projects I was thinking about working on last night didn't happen. That's OK though. I'm waiting until Saturday to try and attack the sleeves again. I need daylight and brain power. The few other things I'm working on should go quickly. Especially once I get the yarn back for Mom's afghan. I really want to get it done in the next few weeks so she'll have it by her birthday. That and it'll still be cold enough to want to use it! It won't take me all that long to do, it's a fairly quick and easy pattern.
My friend Chelsea (see links) is taking a speech class in college right now. I'm sure if I'd had an entire class on it in school, I'd have been terrified and done horribly. I really don't mind speaking (look at what I do for a living!) but having to do "formal" speeches and things like that, I'm not very good at. It's the whole prep thing. Just look at how badly my senior seminar(s) went for my degree. Of course, I didn't really have topics I was interested in... so that made it even more challenging in my little world.
Anyhow, back to Chelsea. Go read her outline for this speech. It's sounding pretty good. She's talking about the social aspects of knitting. It's true, and it doesn't just hold for knitting. Crocheters are that way too. And this isn't anything new. Don't forget all the church sewing/quilting circles of the past, and the prayer shawl ministries of today. It's not just little old lades doing it either. Fiber arts of all kinds are becoming popular and trendy for all ages. I'm glad. There is just something about having a hobby that makes things, that expresses your creativity. Mind you, stamp and coin collecting and things like that are great hobbies too and have their own communities, but there's something about making something tangible with your time. It gives you a whole new window on the world. It makes you feel useful and productive and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you learn something new or finish a project. It makes your heart swell to bursting when you gift someone with something you've made and they can't thank you enough. (Although, almost every crafter has had the exact opposite experience... putting in all the time and effort into a hand made gift only to have it looked down on and tossed aside... that hurts a lot.)
I'm not going to go into all the evidence that older people with hobbies that engage the brain live longer, happier, healthier lives. I'm not going to say I'd rather go hang out with my mom in the sewing room helping mend or alter things than sit in front of the TV.... I'm not here to preach about the evils of TV and turning off your brains.... so I won't.
Anyhow, I'm rambling again. I had a different post in my head when I went to bed last night, but after reading Chelsea's blog, I guess I had to share my own thoughts and support her thesis. I wish her all the luck in the world with this class and this presentation.
Peace to all and may you all have something that keeps your hands and your mind busy and brings a smile to your face.

This Crazy World

Just a quick post this morning before I head off to the office. I'm still working with the two from India. They're really good people and asking really good questions. They are really beginning to see things from a customer point of view of why things are the way they are. Today is going to be hard though, because it's not just customer use that needs to be explained, but some reg stuff as well. Hopefully I won't melt their brains or mine too badly. But, like I said, they're good people and friendly.
One thing I forgot to mention on Monday was an email I got from my oh-so-wonderful, Fortune-500 company... They messed up a lot of people's W-2s and have given us corrected ones. They messed up the federal and state withholding on the W-2s themselves. Great. If a big company like mine can't get it right.... If we'd waited two weeks to get the taxes done, it wouldn't be a problem. Now I've got to make another appointment with H&R Block to see what we need to do to fix it. I'm glad I didn't mail out the tax payments yet. (Although, federal was only $25, it is local that's killing us...)
Everything seems to be going well with Gak and the job. He had off yesterday. Friday is inventory, so that'll be fun. And yes, he still has to work Saturday close. Maybe he'll have Sunday off. Hopefully he'll have next Saturday either off or opening.

On a non work-related subject, what is it about second sleeves and set-in sleeves? It took me two tries to get the second sleeve right, and I thought it might be easier to set in sleeves in crochet... not with this pattern. Ugh. I tried to do it Monday night, but didn't get very far because I was too tired to line everything up right and not have it move around on me, even with some pinning. Maybe I'll get it right tonight, as Gak's closing again. (I like crocheting when he's not home... I don't feel guilty for ignoring him and we get little enough time together some weeks as it is...)

Anyhow, I've got to get dressed and get into work.
Peace to all and may your work be interesting.

Where Was I...?

Well, this weekend was a bit of a bummer. It slowly but surely turned into one of those weekends. It wasn't drop dead horrible, but it sure wasn't a good one.
Friday night Gak only had to work an extra hour, which was good. If not, I'm not sure he would have gotten a break at all that day. Talk about a grumpy troll! We ended up going out to dinner to Red Robbin. I have a love/hate relationship with that place. Their food is sooooo good, but it is sooooo bad for you! It was OK when the closest one was up by the airport. Then the one by the new movie theater opened. Now, now there's one in the same parking lot as Target. I am doomed! We've been trying to keep it to special occasions, but these days, pay day sounds pretty special some weeks. Needless to say a little bit of food therapy did Gak and I both some good. (Their bruchetta chicken sandwich is sooo yummy! Of course, I didn't eat both halves of the roll, so I missed out on some of the flavors... but that's OK.) We also went to Target, since we were right there. We splurged, just a little. We got a new dragon, who is sitting on the printer at the moment, and I got a new keyboard. I'd been looking at "gaming" keyboards since about October or so. Well, they had one of the ones I liked in stock and it was at a good price. Gak told me to buy it. I'm really happy with it. The real test will be tomorrow night though, when I take it for a spin on a raid. (That and full 6-person groups is why I wanted the programmable key pad on the side... to make things just that much quicker...) Oh, it is a Logitec G11. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles as some, which is just fine. It has the bells and whistles I wanted.
Saturday originally Gak was going to have to work, then he traded with Joe, but Joe had a family commitment and had to trade back. We were originally going to go to Yuengling Brewery with Kat and some others, but since Gak had to be at work by 1 (2 since he worked that extra hour...) it just wasn't going to work. That made us both cranky. This isn't the first thing we've had to turn down because of him having to close. I mean, he's had to close every Saturday since before the end of the year.... It did not help things any that he got yelled at by Tallon when he got there. Some of it was justified. But Gak isn't some 16-year-old teenager who won't listen to anyone and you have to yell at to get them to understand. He's 35 and understands responsibility and will own up to his mistakes when they're pointed out to him. It really didn't help that some of the things he was being yelled at about weren't in his control. I mean, something not getting done that should have, fine, that's a problem... only problem is the supplies for said project didn't come in until Wednesday, when Gak wasn't even at work! (He had Wednesday and Thursday off...) This put Gak into such a royally bad mood. He was barely sociable for two days!
Sunday Gak had to work again as well. This just kept him cranky. It's a good thing I love him and knew it wasn't me he was cranky with. (I did have to remind myself not to be a bitch and gripe at him about nothing a few times last night though....) I think he started using full sentences and paragraphs sometime this morning.
Meanwhile, I didn't get a whole lot accomplished this weekend. I did attempt to find most of my desk... at least getting rid of all the crap hiding behind my monitor and printer. Now I just have to deal with the rest of it... I will get it under control one of these days. I have to, it's in the living room for all to see.

Today was much better than the weekend, all things considered. (Other than the fact I haven't slept right in a few nights... might as well get used to that fact...) I did the 1-hour glucose test this morning. I had the lemon-lime drink. It really wasn't that bad. It tasted like very flat sprite. I like sprite. I like sprite with bubbles even better. I'll get the results back in 7-10 days. They also drew blood to check my iron levels as well. I hope I don't have to go onto iron pills... I really don't need to add that to the list.
This week we have a couple of people from our development team in India here. They're good people. I'm working with them today and tomorrow on the software from a user's point of view. They've both been working on the software for about 4 years, but as developers, they don't have to know how it works in the "real world" to do their jobs. Hopefully, by learning how it's used and why there are certain requirements, they'll be able to make it even better. It went quite well actually. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to wrap up my portion of things.
Apparently today Gak got a chance to talk with Tallon. It apparently went well, because the message he left me on my phone wasn't pissy and cranky, but relieved. I truly hope they worked some things out. Gak really does like that job for the most part and really does it well most days. He's a good guy and will gladly fix honest mistakes once he knows what's wrong. He's a gentle soul. You don't need to beat him into the ground over things. Tallon is young, but he'll learn. (I say apparently because it's Monday and Gak is at Warhammer, so I won't see him for a couple of hours yet...)

Well, I'm off to get some crocheting done and poke around at a few things. I've got a really cool project in the works that I can't wait to show you. Mom knows what it is and she's going to help me with it. I hope it turns out as cool as I think it will. I know Gak's kinda excited about it too.

Peace to all and may your weekends be good, and your bosses have brains that work from time to time. (I know, I ask a lot some days...)

Nursery Surprises

The world works in mysterious ways. I'm quietly panicking about getting Boo's room all set up and Mom is finishing going through Gram's paperwork including some old insurance policies. Well, Mom found a goldmine of sorts today. Gram had taken out a policy on Mom when she was a pre-schooler. It still existed as unclaimed property with the state, and Mom was able to claim it.
Guess what she wants to spend her mini-windfall on? Furniture for Boo!
I can't begin to say what all the emotions are.
There's relief that this is possible.
There's amazement that this money even existed.
There's gratitude for having a Mom that loves me, her son-in-law and her grandson so much. I mean, she could have easily used this money to fix stuff around her house or even trade in the little red car for something new (or newer). There are lots of things she could have spent this money on for herself.
There's the sense that Gram is still looking out for me, and her great-grandbaby even now. I think that's what chokes me up the most. I know that Gram would more than approve of this money going to Boo. Family meant so much to her, and making sure kids have what they need.
I'm fairly overwhelmed. This is just what I needed today.

Today we woke up to snow. Snow is good. Snow, unfortunately makes life and driving fun. This means that I still had my doctor's appointment, but Monday is my glucose test instead of today. (The appointment went well, by the way. Everything looks good, the heartbeat sound nice and strong. We won't know about a C-section or not for a while yet...) Because of my appointment this morning, I "worked" from home. Mostly I was home, and pretended to work. Much more comfortable than trying to be busy at work. It also means that Gak might be stuck at work for a double. That means he won't have to work tomorrow, but it means for a very, very long day for him today. (It also means I can't figure out what to do for dinner quite yet... if it's just me, I'll probably be lazy and finish off last night's pizza...)
Unfortunately, just like every other snow we've had this winter, it started out as snow (we probably got about 4-5 inches total) and then changed about mid-day to sleet/freezing rain. The streets don't look too bad right this minute, but that could change, especially once the sun goes down.

Well, I guess I'm going to wrap this up. I'm still in a little bit of shock (in a good way) about the nursery furniture.
Peace to all and may you have pleasant surprises and wonderful family in your lives.