Being Sung Awake?

I'm feeling quiet today. I have a couple of posts rattling around my brain but my thoughts are too disorganized. I think what I really need is a nap. Being off the Lyrica means I'm not sleeping as well as I was. I'm not as groggy but now I keep waking up a couple times each night.

R singing in his sleep doesn't help either.

I don't have time for a nap this afternoon, but maybe I do have time for some Wii. Moving is good.

An Experiment in Friendliness

So yesterday I walked the 20 minutes to the mall. I could have taken the train the two stops but the thought of lugging the stroller up the stairs at the station WITH Bean in it was too much (our elevator is under repair until Saturday- three whole weeks of no access). Besides, I needed the exercise- I always need the exercise. I went to the mall to see if the Wii Fit was in yet. It was not. My Mom suggested calling first, but that would have derailed the whole getting out of the house bit. Still, I was saddened that I still have no Wii Fit. (sigh)

A friend of mine met me there with her little boy in tow. He's five days younger than Bean. We walked around for awhile, feed the babies and then I was tired and decided to head home. Bean was having a hard time sleeping and I knew she needed her crib right about then.

As I walked home (I forgot my bus tickets- oops!) I encountered a lot of people. I was thinking about how isolating it can be to just exist in the world and shut away everything. We are on our cell phones, talking and texting. We walk down the street with our iPods on, listening to great music, yes, but shutting out the world around us too. I've been guilty of this many many times.
I also considered how rarely I made eye contact with people when I go for walks. So I wondered what would happen if I actually forced myself to make eye contact; and smiled even.

And that's what I did.

And you know what? As I always remind myself, people can surprise you. For the most part, simply making eye contact and nodding at people, or smiling, resulting in a connection. Often people smiled at me back, or at least acknowledged my existence. Of course there were those that didn't respond but it was rare that someone would catch my eye contact and quickly avert their eyes.

How refreshing.

So give it a try the next time you're out. Make eye contact with the random strangers you encounter. See what happens. You may be surprised; and you get that warm gushy feeling inside too. No kidding!

Delurking Week

What do you know? It's International Blog Delurking Week! I never hear about these things until they're over, but lucky for me, I found out that it starts today. So.. January 4-10, 2010, is your chance to say hi if you haven't before (or even if you have). Leave a comment, let me know you're here, tell me what you think of my new space (suggestions welcome) or tell me what's on you mind. If you've got a blog, leave your url and I'll make a visit myself.

Cheers!

The Anti-Scrooge

People can still surprise me.

I'm at my in-laws place for Christmas. My MIL and I run to the store to pick up a few things because I was going to make fudge tonight and dinner on Monday (mmm, Tagine). We had to run to a second store because the first was all out of the mini marshmallows needed to make the fudge. The second store didn't have it either so I opted for regular marshmallows and would cut them up.

I get in line to pay for them and put them behind the items for the guy in front of me. He looks at me, grabs the marshmallows and puts them with his order. He says that he'll grab them for me. I said I had change but he said not to worry about it, so I said okay, and thanked him for being so generous. They only costed $1.39 but it was the point that counts here.

An elderly lady gets in line behind us and puts her few items up on the conveyor belt. He looks at the cashier and asks how much she thinks her items costed. She said about $25.oo. He motions to her items and says, "these ones too". The elderly woman looked very confused at first but when he explained that he would pay for her groceries, well, you should have seen the look on her face. She gave him this big hug and even kissed him on the cheek. He laughed and then frantically rubbed his cheek to remove the bright red lipstick away. He asked us if he had gotten it all off and sure enough he did. I could just picture him going home to a wife or girlfriend and what would have happened if he didn't get it all off.

He wished us a Merry Christmas and there was a round of hugs. I think we all had a bounce to our step as we left.

I don't even think I bothered to put on my gloves. I didn't even notice the minus 5 degree Celsius chill.

It's nice to know that simple generosity still exists. I do wonder though, was it a random act on his part or did he plan it? Did he leave for the store saying, I've got a little extra money, why don't I pay for someone's stuff? I'll never know and you know what? I don't think it matters.

Merry Christmas. May we all find a little generosity this holiday season- whether financially or just in love and friendship.

Peace to all.

Only in the Wee Hours

The TV options available after midnight are limited. You've got a Late Show and then often a Late, Late Show. Which is silly really, since they all seem on time to me...

I know, I know, groan. Sorry about that. Occupational hazard of being married to a man who can spit out puns as easily as he breathes. After over 6 years together, it was bound to rub off eventually. Now where was I? Oh yes, TV.

I have to say that TV at the turn of the day is infinitely better than when I was usually getting up for a night feed: 3 am. At this time, most of the channels go off the air or have "Paid Programming" selling some ridiculous items that people really don't ne... oh wait, are you serious? You mean that gizmo, will give bottles AND change a diaper? I better write down that phone number. Wait no, I haven't gotten that phone number down yet!

Damn it! Oh well, maybe next time. But with my luck, it'll be yet another food chopper/mincer/slicer/knife sharpener/cutting board and storage contraption for only 3 easy payments of $19.99. Like I said, not much on at that time if the morning.

This particular morning sees the wife getting up instead of the husband because of course, she's been listening to the baby wake up for the last five minutes and knowing that the bottle in the fridge will take a few minutes to warm up, someone should get up NOW to place said bottle in hot water so that it's ready BEFORE the baby gets into a her "I'm so hungry, I'm going to perish" cry (which is a good one if you ask me). Anyway, so the wife gets up because her husband half asleep says he's not sure if he can get up, and promptly continues sleeping through Baby Girl's noises.

So the wife gets up, only mildly irritated at the whole exchange since she's now wide awake due to accidentally making regular coffee instead of decaf early that evening and drank it anyway since it's a crime to waste such a precious liquid that is coffee.

Stay tuned to see what time the wife actually gets back asleep and if the baby decides to sleep too. There are fair odds in her favour since the bout of hiccups that ensued while this was being written is over and Baby Girl is once again working on the last of her bottle.

Wish her luck...

And other things...

I went back to my old email finally to clean things up. I don't seem to have the option of simply canceling account, which annoys me to no end. But I did finally unsubscribe myself from all the emails I used to receive.

It's funny... now that I started with a fresh new email, I never even missed all that crap I used to get. Those I wanted to keep (like my Air.miles updates) , I changed over to the new email. When I went into the old account, take a guess how many unread emails I had in there since April...

652!!!

That's insane. It took me 3 hours to clean it out and makes all the changes. 3 hours I needlessly gave away to junk. How very sad. Luckily it's over.

In other random news, I had my OB appt on Thursday. All is well with both Bean and I. We got the results of our growth scan from a couple of weeks ago. The official word from my OB is that (and these were her exact words):

"You are not going to have a 12lb ginormous baby!"

I am thrilled to no end as you can well imagine. Bean's head measured in the 5oth to 90th percentile (hence the techs talking about being ahead in measurements) and her abdomen is 50th percentile. Completely average.

An "average" sized baby at 40 weeks term is 7.5 lbs. I'll go with average! I told my Ob about my gut feeling about going early and everyone else going really early around me. She didn't say much except that we aim for 37th weeks. Really didn't expect her to say anything else. Guess we just see what happens after all.

Meanwhile I feel like my body is breaking down on me. I have had such excruciating hip pain. I know I've gotten off easy with this pregnancy but I feel like my body is breaking down on me. Not a comfy feeling for someone with a chronic pain condition in Remission. It scares me a little.

Which reminds me that it is 9:15pm and past my bedtime. My hands need a break since they seems to ache along with my wrists when I type too long. Yay for hints of pregnancy induced carpal tunnel. I've had issues due to the fibro before so I know how to deal with it.

On a funny but not so funny note. I lost one pair of maternity pants on Friday. I have 3 that actually fit me right now. Somehow I had worn them out in the inner thigh enough that they ripped 6 inches widthwise across my thigh. Boy was I lucky no one could really see it unless I showed them. I'm 7 bloody weeks from having a baby and I had to go buy more pants this weekend to get through 2 more weeks of work! Agghhh! Very very annoying. And yes, I have laughed at this. It's too ridiculous

It makes me very very glad to be off work soon. 9 work days and counting.

Alright, I'm done. I apologize for any typos you may encounter; I'm exhausted. Night.

A Random Exchange

He bounds into the apartment last week with a big smile on his face.

"How's my baby?"

"Which one?"

"I only have one baby... you're my Woman."

Oh, I see. I'll have to remember that. Suffice to say that the statement got a good laugh from me.

A Random Occurrence

I was walking to the Skytrain and decided to walk a little longer to Waterfront Station and catch my train from there. Got to the light to cross the street when police on motorcycles come racing along the street. One stops in the middle of the intersection and halts all traffic. One rather elderly Asian women crosses the street anyway and he rushes over to walk her back across the street so she doesn't get hit. More motorcycles come racing along and then down the street I can see black cop cars with their lights flashing.

What in the world is going on? Is there some parade I didn't know about? I thought to myself.

The cars stream by and in the middle of the pack is a black car with Japanese flags waving out front. Definitely someone important I guess, a dignitary of some sort. The people around me are all muttering similar things. Then as the car passes us we see a face smiling out the window. A lovely older Japanese women is waving to us (the five of us standing at the corner). We wave back. A girl on a bike with her two friends are chatting about it.

"Oh, I know who she is. It's the Empress and her husband the Emperor. I heard they were coming for a visit. It's been like 50 years since they were last in Canada".

Curiosity piqued, I Goo.gled it just a few moments ago and found this article:

http://www.canada.com/news/Japanese+royals+visit+Canada/1750772/story.html

They intrigue me with their non-traditional ways. But it's her, that gets me. Her face was very clear from the car. Her smile was genuine today, at least it seemed to me and I was struck by how pretty she is, especially given her years. There's a kindness in her face.

I hear people talk about how they once saw this Royal visit or that one, but having never experienced one myself, I could never relate. There's a part of me that's fascinated by the people in these positions, most of which are figures of political power rather than real sources of it. Still, there's so much history embedded, how cannot we not be at least the tiniest bit awestruck when we come across such an individual?

Today, it's not about history or who they are that I'll remember, but the wide beaming, genuine smile of a women I momentarily locked gazes with.

Something New

I feel good that I'm mostly caught up on my blog reading. It's only taking how many weeks?

Just a random thought that occurred to me today. Here at 21 weeks, if I stand up straight and look down, I can no longer see my toes...

And yes, it is funny, so feel free to have a laugh...

To hot to post...

Ugghh, it's 7pm right now and 30 degrees Celsius. I had been trying to post the meme I've been tagged on but it's too hot. Going to go have a cool bath...

Urban Dictionary

My friend Dave came across this site (where do you find these things anyway?): urbandictionary.com. Interesting what you find when you type in your name...

Here's what came up for Lindsay:

1.a girl who is hotter than the flames of hell
2. the marvelous and mysterious temptress from the land of eternal joy
3. a girl who is smarter than albert einstein but as gorgeous as Helen of Troy (you know the one whose beauty started the epic war)
4. this girl is in NO way affiliated with Lindsay Lohan. Lohan simply stole this girl's name.

See that smoking hot amazing girl over there? Yep, she's a Lindsay.

As for accuracy, well, you know... ;)

It's the Little Things

"Ah, these are all mint!"

"What about bubblegum?"

"Oh, that'll help. It's right up there with Bubble Blast and this fruity concoction." Although I have to say the Dis.ney princesses on it were fun.

"There's more over here."

In the end I settled on taking a chance on Cinnamon Rush.

There's nothing like finding a toothpaste that doesn't make you throw up. Yay for being able to brush one's teeth!

A Little Bit of Random

For once I don't have much to say... crazy I know. I'm still pregnant as far as I can tell. I'm 6 weeks today. Ultrasound is in two weeks. My pants are feeling tighter and I have the feeling I'll be bringing out the maternity clothes I bought last time sooner rather than later.

Here's a photo to make you smile: (I love the Vancouver Aqaur.ium)

Just for Fun

My hubby listens to CBC radio pretty much every day and now and then hears a few gems worth mentioning.

You have to check out this blog. It's so funny and REAL!

Hmm, maybe I should try the same. Maybe I'll trade my fertility goddess...