qeonos

Today is my baby's first birthday, and I've been reflecting.  I wish I had been writing about it on here, because the memories fade, especially to the sleep-deprived new parent.  A bucket full of pictures does help, though.
What a vibrant, cheerful & bright little person she's become! 
A year ago today, my whole world got flipped around.
I don't think I knew what real joy felt like, before she arrived.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning.
Not because I wanted to, or don't need the sleep, I just woke up.  And stayed awake.
Finally, at 5:00, I got out of bed & proceeded to take my overstuffed recipe box & neatly file & organise every loose recipe I've amassed in the past several years into plastic sheets, in a binder.
I'm tired.
But now I want to work on more things!!!  Planning out the new basement layout on my brand-new pad of graph paper, measuring everything & making little cutouts of the office furniture & the furniture that's already down there to determine where the new walls will go.

I guess my nesting instinct has officially kicked in-  Hardcore.
Oh god...
And this was my last day off before a 5 day stretch of working misery...  Blech.

Today is our anniversary!
Our 7th anniversary-  Whoa!
It is also the first time in 7 years that we(we being Dana)actually remembered, before the day had already passed.
Good for us!(him)

We neglected the first few years that I was always the one to remember, because Dana would say "anniversaries only count and should only be celebrated when a couple is married."

Guess with the house, the baby on the way, and the butt-load of years & troubles & joys we've stuck together through, this one should definitely be celebrated.

He's taking me out for lobster tonight.
I will be wearing pink.

(p.s. I'm already finding it too hot in the house, outside, and pretty much everywhere-  Uh oh!)

My horoscope for today:

"You might feel like going out and having a little fun right now, but there could be some responsibilities or obligations you have to other people that might be holding you back. Your desire to have a good time might be tempered a bit by your sense of duty right now."

Well, one other very tiny person.
Yeah, sense of duty-  Sure.

Frig.

I don't get it.
I went from going out whenever I could to staying in on a saturday night, my first weekend off in ages, writing in LJ.
How freakin' sad.
I could be there, out with everyone else right now, there's really no good reason not to be.  I've gone out to a bar & not drank before, it's really not that bad-  Lots of people do it.
The difference?
My ever growing belly.
Other people's perceptions of what I should & shouldn't be doing.
My own social insecurities getting shoved to the forefront.

The last two times I've gone out to a bar since being pregnant have been fun-  The only thing that was different was other people.
I feel singled out-  Treated differently-  Like a pregnant woman in a bar-  Even if she stays sober-  Is some kind of big taboo-  Like a leper in a  swimming pool.  I feel like I shouldn't be there.
So I'm not.
And I don't know how to knit...

Hey there, LJ land!   I lost the map to get here for a while-  And as much as I have a big-assed bomb to drop, I'm gonna wait a couple of days to tell people in person first.  Then I'll be writing about it, probably lots, too.
Muahahahaha.....

I know, I know-  I didn't adhere to my "1 entry per day" rule.
I'll be better in the new year, I promise.

Last summer we picked up two gorgeous hibiscus topiaries.  We planted english ivy at the base.  In their pots, they stand nearly as tall as me-  A long slender trunk with a round bush on top, pink flowers the size of dinnerplates when in bloom.  I love them.
Then the kittens.  Then frost.
We had to bring the trees in, they would not survive our harsh winter.  But...  the kittens!  They will surely destroy them...  We took our chances.
We pulled out the english ivy(poisonous to cats)and replaced it with bougainvillea(paper flower plant- non-toxic, hard vine, spikey & small pink & white flowers- rather expensive exotic plant)thinking the spikes would keep them from digging in the dirt.
Nope.
They have been eating the bougainvillea, spikes & all-  Poor plants look like hell, all the leaves chewed off-  But new ones sprouting-  They're not quite dead, yet.  Just very harshly pruned back.  By teeth.
Once they had "pruned" the bougainvillea enough, the digging began.
I would walk by & notice heaps of dirt on the floor(usually right after cleaning it)on a fairly regular basis.
Tried the bitter spray stuff- No luck.
Tried sowing hundreds of toothpicks in the dirt, sticking up, and although it was effective for a while, they managed to slowly pluck almost all the toothpicks out with their teeth, and the digging began again.
The other night, I went to check out a noise.  It was after midnight.  I saw a big pile of dirt on the floor again.  I got the dustpan, gathered it up, dumped it back into the pot, like I had done so many times before-  But something was different...
"sniff sniff-  what the...  no way... oh no.... UGH!!!  THEY POOPED IN IT!!!!"
So, I donned a glove and began my search for the golden turd.  It was still warm when I found it.
Internet searching revealed coffee grounds & cinnamon deterred cats.
It sorta did, for a couple of days-  But at 7 a.m. this morning, Dana woke me up on his way to work.

"Jen?  Umm...  It's... The hibiscus."
"wha?.."
"The kittens knocked it over last night."

So I got up & dealt with that-  Dana had put it back as best as he could, but it had been uprooted & tossed over.
Dammit!!!

My groggy mind started to cycle through all the things I had tried, and any options I had left-  I sat there staring at the tortured trees...
My coworkers face started dancing in front of me... "drown them!  you were so proud of those hibiscus, and they came first.  Have you tried drowning the cats?  That would work.  *grin* Or...  bamboo skewers, maybe?"
"Jen?"
"Drown them..."
"Jen?!"
"Huh- Oh- Sorry Dana.. I..."
"Jen, try the chicken wire.  I know it won't look nice, but..."
He's smart, that one.
So that's what I spent the morning doing.  And the skewers too, for good measure.

*sigh*

And we're actually thinking of putting up the x-mas tree this year?
f*ck.

things like this make cold medicine fun.

ughh- when will it end?  my nose is constipated.
i should be outside-  starting my x-mas shopping & whatnot-  but sick sick sick.....
i miss fun.
:(

Yesterday- Woke up at 5:30 a.m. with an impossibly stiff neck & headache- Took an advil, went back to bed.  Woke up with stiff hips AND back/neck/shoulders, chills, all day-  Followed by a fever of 104(according to a meat thermometer-  I just couldn't bring myself to use the rectal thermometer mom gave me- echhh)that finally broke around midnight. Felt very, very dizzy...
Today, weak like kitten- Sore throat, muscles & hips still achy-  Went to the grocery store for twenty minutes to pick up vacuum bags & creamer, held on to Dana like a child holds onto a parent.  Got home, called work to let them know I wouldn't be fit to come in tomorrow.  Had an argument about whether or not I could use a vacation day for tomorrow, with x-mas coming up I really can't afford to miss work.  They will get back to me on that. >:(

Found a trojan horse on my computer.
Super.

Had our sewer roots cleaned out again today, and now the whole house smells like a giant fart.
It's really, really stinky.
The fact that I can smell it is pretty amazing.  That's how nasty it is.

Stupid roots.  We don't have a tree in our front yard, yet we have to pay to have roots removed every year.  I'm trying to go after the city for it, (city tree in neighbor's yard most likely culprit) but the guy I'm dealing with has yet to return my message...

I'm cranky.
bleh.

the other day, lactam showed Dana & I these two Basshunter videos, because they're funny.  It's a Swedish DJ with a penchant for chat rooms, video games & hot chicks.
Nerdy-techno.
fun!

Problem is, what lactam didn't know is that these videos were the lovechild of three of my most embarrassing guilty pleasures:
-The internet & it's games & timewasters
-Bad techno
-Cheese

And maybe a dash of hot nerdy boys, 'cause hot nerdy boys will rule the world someday.

So the songs inevitably got stuck not only in my head, but also in Dana's-  So once one of us has forgotten all about Basshunter & his cheesy beats, the other will start humming it- Thus infecting the brain of the first, and it's been passing back & forth between us (along with cussin') for days.
I'm putting the videos here in the hopes of ridding us of this curse.
Enjoy.
(suckers)

Dota

Boten Anna