Wrapping coal...

There’s nothing like waiting until the last minute. We purchased and put up our tree yesterday. It looks gorgeous, and we didn’t have to deal with huge crowds. :-) There’s something to be said for last minute tree shopping. Everything else is done, Tim’s in the other room “Wrapping my coal” he tells me.

Smooch the cat loves the tree. She came in today and actually played with the race cars on the track Tim set up. (He did a great job; the track meanders under the tree and around the presents and makes it an interesting course.) Smooch is quick and catches the cars more oft than not. It’s fun to see her play.

Tonight we plan on just relaxing and catching up on some holiday films… Last night was the Powerpuff Girl special. (Our neighbors and baby came over for their first outing, and I think we have a new Powerpuff fan.) Tonight I think it will just be the two of us watching Billy and Mandy and Sponge Bob specials.

Merry Christmas!

Sugar and spice...

We saw our neighbor's baby on Saturday. She's delightful. (She slept the entire time I held her, which was a good thing.) Tim was worried about how I'd do, but I didn't cry once while there and felt more like my normal self, which was good. We were the first non-relative visitors, and we felt quite honored. I was glad my emotions were in check. (So was Tim.)

It’s funny how sensitive I am with the fertility treatments! It’s hard to remain calm and unstressed when the slightest thing can bring a swell of emotions that you didn’t even realize were there! Thankfully most of my holiday purchases have been online this year, and I’ve been avoiding stressful situations as much as possible. Hopefully that will keep my emotions in check.

Baby blues

Our neighbor had their baby on the 14th. According to old wives tales, a boy was predicted. She looked great throughout her pregnancy. (Which is a sure sign it's a boy, as girls supposedly suck the beauty out of you when you're pregnant.) They didn't want to know what they were having until the baby was born. Her husband, painted the new baby room blue with a fish theme. In fact it was kind of funny how they planned things. We're completely different in that way, I am a total researcher/planner and know I would have everything ready months ahead of time. Our neighbor was rather laid back about the whole thing, figuring she could buy things later. Her primary concern was looking for a HUGE chair so her husband will have something to sleep in once the baby arrived and took over his office. In fact they seemed more overwhelmed than excited. (I don't think they thought things would work right away.) Instead they got pregnant almost immediately. She had the baby earlier than scheduled. (Boys usually arrive late, 'cause according to my Aunt "It takes longer for the tassel to grow.") Instead the baby arrived about a week early and 8 minutes after they got to the hospital! She had a total of a one hour labor. According to proud papa, both mother and daughter are doing well.

I am very happy for them, but at the same time very emotional about the fact that I want a baby girl!!! I was shocked at how sad I was. I never felt sad when my other friends and even my family had children. I suppose the shots are not helping matters, but it was pretty depressing. I don't know why things have to be so difficult! Oh well, guess that's just the way it goes. I'm off to stick a needle in my belly.

I'm doin' it for you right now...

If you haven't already figured it out (from my quotes like the 12 oz Mouse one above, or the Milk Chan pictures) Tim and I watch Adult Swim. I'm sure sooner or later references to Squidbillies, Boondocks, Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen, Venture Brothers, etcetera will make it to this page in one form or another. Lately I've been watching Big O, since it's on the box. (TIVO equivalent) I like Dorothy and think if we end up not being able to have children, we'll have to figure out how to make an android.

Which brings us to round two. My doctor upped my dosage for the first 3 days. But only by 25 units. Shots the second round haven't been too bad. Yesterday's hurt, but I was tired. Tim thinks I might want to consider taking some time off for myself over the holidays, and I just may do that, since I tend to get wound pretty tight about the silliest things. Hopefully I can relax if I take the time off, since that's my other major problem. I'm a workaholic and a computer nut. Not a good combination. I'm way too competitive to play our Xbox for relaxation either. There have been threats of taking the controller away when I get too upset. The last game that wasn't too bad was Destroy All Humans, except Tim finished the game accidentally for me. It was pretty short. For weeks we kept saying, "Crypto!!!" "What?!?!" every time something went wrong.

Computer Clueless

Working in a construction office has me shocked at how little most people know about computers. I can understand the older generation not knowing about them, and am ok answering their basic questions like where did my "triangle" go. (AOL Icon on the desk top.) Or what happened to my excel sheet? (Accidentally clicked on page two of the workbook.) I can even handle the occasional question from the guys in the field on how to send web based email. (They put the email address in the web browser's Address bar and not the email TO: field and they didn't know why it wasn't working.)

What I can't understand is that people 10 to 15 years younger than me not knowing how to use a basic email program (Outlook), MS Word, Excel, Power Point, etc. I'm not even going to mention the more advanced features of these programs, I'm talking basics! These people have gone to college and they are computer clueless!

The funny part is their resume always states they are familiar with computers and all the basic programs. I believe this translates to, "Yeah, I saw them on a shelf a few times while shopping". To get the full effect, say this while chomping gum.

I don't understand how you can get through school and not know anything about a computer. Shutting it down at the end of the day... "Oh how scary, won't it break?" I used computers in High School, and that was in IOWA! Hello!?! We were usually two years behind everyone else, and I won't say how many years ago that was. What are the schools and colleges teaching these days? It isn't etiquette and how to function in society because that is about as messed up out here as the lack of computer knowledge. Nor is it how to drive or ride a bike. But I'll save that for another day.

Tim and I have come to the conclusion that there are going to be two types of people in the world. Those who understand the technology and how things work, and those who unless it's SPELLED OUT in DETAIL, just won't get it. In fact there were a few people in our office that typed in ALL CAPS, because it's easier. "OMG You use the shift key to type? Isn't that hard?" Doesn't matter if it's a letter, a contract, an email, or a contact they SCREAM it.

So anyway, Friday is computer training day for the two new office admins at our company. Guess who gets to do the training?

December dilemmas

The forecasters are predicting a lot of rain today. The sky seems to be backing them up, as it was bright red. "Red in the morning, sailors take warning... Red at night, sailors delight." For some reason this seems to hold true almost wherever you are, since I learned this in Iowa, and we really don't have a lot of sailors there.

I have been debating on if we will send a letter with our holiday cards this year. (I usually write an annual letter that surmises our adventures, often customizing it for each person we send it to.) Over the past few years, it seems to be something that is becoming less of a tradition, as everyone's lives get busier. This seems bizarre to me, since with Instant Messenger programs, email, blogs, cell phones, etc... communication venues have multiplied immensely over the last 15 years. Instead everyone seems to be busier than ever, and I find that I know less about the happenings of our friends and family! Oh well. I suppose I shouldn't complain since they still send cards at least. (Maybe more people will send things this holiday season to use up their 37 cent stamps before the postage increase to 39 cents on January 8th!) The last time I didn't send letters, people did write more. But it was usually only a sentence asking where our letter was!?! I guess everyone has a pet peeve or two and this is one of mine.