At the risk of being a link-dump...

I have to say this blog that a friend at work called my attention to is really funny, although very shallow. A genuine jab at pale Americans. The post on moving to Canada is probably my favorite... right up there with #55 on apologies.

Note: Not personally responsible for any questionable blog content. I didn't read ALL the entries.

The One Month Countdown

My pregnancy road is rapidly nearing the end. Today marked the beginning of my last month... should Morenna come neither early nor late, but on her due date. Highly unlikely. :-)

But with this one month countdown comes the urgent reminder of all that I have left to do to get ready. Here's the list as it currently stands:

• Pick a pediatrician
  
• Wash all the new baby clothes
• Finish decorating the nursery - low priority (pictures in the post below, if you haven't seen them)
• Write thank-you notes for all the sweet baby items
• Pack the diaper bag
• Stock the changing table (diapers - check; soap - check; need: wipes, etc.)
  
• Pack my hospital bag
• Complete the childbirth education class
• Freeze up some meals
  
• Train my replacement at work and submit employment paperwork
• Sleep, sleep, sleep!!!

Will all these things get done? Probably not. But I sure am gonna try... especially with the last one. :-)

La De Da

I know it's been a little while since my last post. Sorry 'bout that. Last weekend my parents came to visit and bring over the baby furniture that M and I had received as Christmas gifts. Although my poor Dad was recovering from the flu, they all made it over in one piece... dog included. :-)

While M and my Dad put all the furniture together, Mom and I headed over to a friend's for a lovely baby shower brunch. It was so nice to get to celebrate the coming of Morenna with so many good friends (including many old roommates) and my Mom.


Here's a showing of the ex-roomies who were able to come. It says a lot that they are all still my friends. :-) More pictures from the shower can be seen here.

After the shower (which carried on for almost 4 hours as we were having so much fun!) my Mom and I trekked home to check up on the boy's improvements to the baby nursery. We were not disappointed. And after just a few minor tweaks and decorating additions, we had ourselves a nursery. The video below provides the best view of the nursery, but I've also included some pictures (you can click on the slideshow to view the pictures individually).








So after the busy weekend, M and I spent President's day quietly at home together. This weekend was rather quiet as well. Friday showed every possibility of being a snow day... but alas, the bad weather was skittish. To boost my spirits, though, M treated me to a wonderful steak dinner. *sigh* My husband is so sweet to me. On Saturday we spent some much needed time with friends, tidied up the house, and got the rest of the nursery in order. Sunday we relaxed... and watched our childbirth education videos. Ack! No further comment.

Meme's Galore

So I was tagged by a friend to participate in this latest meme. But before I do I must discuss the some sentiment on the practice of memes.

It's been my experience that most bloggers tend to fall into one of three major categories concerning memes:

1. Those who appreciate them about as much as they appreciate the senseless chain emails that float about in their inboxes. You know, the ones with the sob stories that demand you forward the email to ten of your friends or else half of the children in Africa will die and God will stop loving you.

2. Those who neither like nor dislike them. If a friend tags them, they are more than happy to participate, but they don't often initiate them.

3. Those who think they're a world of social networking fun and would be happy to participate in one daily. Not to mention they like the word itself. Meme.

That said, it's safe to announce I'm in the second school of thought. But I hesitate to tag others for fear that they might be in the first school and terminate our friendship. :-) Therefore, I'm going to do something a teensy bit different with this meme. No one will be tagged at the end, but if you read this post, haven't participated in this meme before, and belong to the first or second school of thought... then please personally respond to the questions in the comment section of this post. I'm thinking specifically of Sandy S., Brittany/Alecia A., Cami, Aunt P., etc. You guys don't have blogs, but I know you read mine... so make yourself known. ;-)


And the rules are...

1.) Show some cyber-love to the person who tagged you. -- Well, I've never shown anyone cyber-love. That sounds rather sketchy. But here's to my friend, SEM, who has the most darling little girl and is a fantastic, well-rounded Mom to boot!

2.) Post the 5 Meme Commandments on your blog so no one cheats. -- You're reading them.

3.)Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself without grossing anyone out. Below.

4.) Tag 6 random people at the end. -- Change of plans, as mentioned above. So I guess that means I'm cheating... but it's all in good fun. :-)

5.) Let the lucky winners know by commenting on their blog. -- What if they don't have blogs? ;-) Who wrote these rules, anyway?!

And now for the the real reason you've kept on reading:

1.) Last year I posted seven random facts about myself (my meme of 2007 :-) and I grossed a couple people out with #1 and #7... so I guess I can't restate that one here or else I would be breaking rule number 3. :-)

2.) When I'm trying to wake up in the morning I usually hum random made-up melodies with my head buried in my pillow until I'm more awake. My husband thinks it's cute.

3.) Through my entire pregnancy I've had a STRONG aversion to chicken and a craving for Pop-Tarts and Toaster Strudels.

4.) On Christmas Eve I still leave out milk and cookies for my :cough: Dad and insist that the Christmas Tree stay lit throughout the night. It's been that way since I was a little girl.

5.) When I was younger I used to wake up in the middle of the night and be terrified that I was the only one in the whole world who was awake. (Excuse: we lived in the country so it was pretty darn quiet at night.)

6.) I drew the cover illustrations for the book, "The Penguins of Penguin Town", for a local library contest when I was nine. Seven years later the librarian who organized the contest discovered the book when the library was getting ready to dispose of it and saved it for me. It now will be part of Morenna's new little library.

Browsing the Shelves

At the risk of being overly random, I thought I might mention the two books I'm currently wading through:

Whitewash by Brent Bozell


The Faith by Charles Colson (No, I'm not kissing up. Chuck gave me a signed copy so of course I have to read it in case he stops by my desk to ask me how I like it... which he will. I'm not complaining, though. It's been a great book so far.)

A Bummer of a Weekend

It's been a bummer of a weekend. My cold turned overnight into a full-blown sinus infection, which led us to cancel our trip to Ohio. The baby shower didn't happen... or rather, it did happen, just without me. :-) My family was so sweet to have the shower even though I wasn't there, and they called me on the phone while they played games and celebrated and took lots of pictures. The cake looked absolutely adorable and covered in cherry blossoms. It all made me feel so loved.

My hubby took time off work to get me feeling better, too. It's been such a blessing to have him home. Plus the Giants won the Superbowl, so I guess this bummer-of-a-weekend still has some good points.

Now I'm hoping I can get back on my feet after spending 5 days in bed! It's no fun being sick but it's so nice to be waited on hand and foot. :-)