My Special Day

Okay, so I lied. I'm posting today, on my birthday... and Meryl Streep's. Here is a shot of our stockpile before last weekend's martini party. It was a huge hit but unfortunately I couldn't enjoy the evening's "theme" because of the following picture.... if you can make it out.... the most important observation is the lack of a little three letter word "not."

Yep, I'm four weeks pregnant. Though it is only four weeks along and one is not supposed to tell people before the end of the first trimester, we're just too damn excited and for once in my life I have decided to adopt an optimistic, positive attitude because I really think that the success of a pregnancy has a lot to do with mental health. So everything is going to go swimmingly and despite a few days of panic attacks, I'm not going to be scared.

Take a good look. We won't see this physique in quite some time to come so I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Both J and I are really excited and are having a lot of fun researching stages of development and such. I have a few symptoms... a couple of which I've had for weeks... thus prompting me to take the test 4 days early (even then it was positive!).... but for the most part I feel okay. I feel the best during the day especially because after the gym I go to the pool and cool off. It has been over 100 degrees F for the past week so cooling off has become a necessity!

I don't know how this event will change the tone of this blog. Maybe it will turn into one of those "this is my pregnancy experience" or "look at how cute my kid is...he/she is better than yours" but if either of these is the case, I will still try to make it interesting for you non-baby folks.

As per the stereotype, I want a girl and J wants a boy. I used to only want boys because I grew up with two brothers and mostly male cousins, but in the past year or so I've started to fall in love with the idea of a little girl..... a "mini-me" if you will. Stop shuddering.

So now I need to devote my time to figuring out just how much exercise is safe (there are many conflicting opinions) and all the ins and outs of healthy child-bearing. Also, I intend to get back to practicing. I was practicing before the big news but have taken a bit of a hiatus.

Oh ya, and I finally got a bank account with one of those cool VISA/debit cards. (They don't exist in Canada.)

In summary, everything is coming up B these days.

Next week: The awesome-o presents I got.

Stand-by

I'm still alive, just very busy with life. Will post next week sometime....

Habla Stupido?

My husband came home with a news story he heard the other day about vendors in US/Mexico border towns, on the US side. Apparently they want to start accepting pesos as payment. Makes sense, everyone just wants to make a buck and make it easier for the bulk of their customers. There is, however, a lot of protest..... most likely by the same people that protest bilingual signs and anthem singing. My husband also pointed out that these are probably the people that, when abroad, try to pay with American dollars. And they wonder why the Russians are calling them Imperialists!

Speaking of people that protest Spanish/English bilingualism... I don't know if you've noticed, but my husband is of Mexican descent. He doesn't speak Spanish, but that is at least half of his racial make-up. His sister once sent him an email with a petition for the halt of any bilingual motion. She's his biological sister.... he is of Mexican descent... in Mexico they speak Spanish.....2+2=5?

Maybe it's because I'm from Canada where we are officially bilingual, that I don't think this is such a big deal. And really, even in Canada, the bilingualism doesn't extend much beyond official lines. In no way is it an inconvenience or even visible in most provinces with the exception of groceries like milk cartons that have calorie counts in both languages. Oh no!

Besides, I am constantly grateful to the fact that I was able to do all my schooling in a French immersion program and hope that my kids will have a similar opportunity... in any language. Those fruitcakes that say immersion programs stunt the learning of the English language in kids whose entire lives outside of the classroom are in English are the bain of my existence.... I can't even begin to point out the idiocy in that argument.

Polly Want A....?

Obviously I'm not at the temples of Agrigento, nor am I on the white sand beach if I'm here, typing this post. J got called in to work last minute.... and I mean last minute.... so we definitely missed the departure with our friends and depending how long he is required to sit on his a** and watch other people do things then we may miss the whole trip. This is such a frequent occurrence that I no longer get upset or annoyed........ Meh.

Last night at dinner I called a Black man a racist for suggesting that I need some sun. Oh yes, I went there.

I get these "suggestions" from people pretty much on a daily basis. Because I've been so damaged by the sun in the past (Virginia Beach 05 was especially bad) I feel like they're saying...."hey, you could really use some third degree burns and maybe even a touch of skin cancer." I know they're not even thinking about these things before they say them but if you do think about it, it's quite ridiculous. Not to mention, who decided it wasn't okay or attractive to be white? Was it the Victorian era when people put white powder on their faces to look more white? I wish the fashion powers that be had resurrected this trend in lieu of the mullet. (Oh, it's back.) If this kind of unsolicited commentary continues I may have to start "Caucasian Rights Association Covering Concerns in Every Region."

Note: If anyone is ignorant enough of my Canadian political correctness uber-sensitivity to actually take me seriously in this rant..... spare me your indignation.

June Newsletter

I'm a sleepy flower and the day has just begun....

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. As you can see, last week we had a special visitor and took a day trip to Taormina. It was great to see my people and I look forward to future visits from the peeps.

J is back and has been for a couple of weeks. Claiming since I've known him that allergies don't exist and he certainly doesn't have any, he recently found out from the doctor that indeed he does have them. Pretty much everyone that moves here develops some sort of seasonal discomfort before the end of their tour. Poor J... swollen eye, ear infection and nasal congestion.
I called the IRS AGAIN and some nice fellow personally stuffed an envelope with a printout of our tax return which clearly displays my ITIN. Today I will make the trek to the bank in the hopes that this will suffice. The official "letter" has yet to arrive though they claim to have put out a notice to have it issued three times. Three lies if you ask me. Either that or my postal service karma is in really bad shape.

Tonight we have a dinner thing to go to and tomorrow we hope to join our ital/polish friends in a trip to Agrigento and the nearby beaches.... that is if J doesn't get called in to work. Next weekend is my birthday/martini party so we're busy busy busy for the next while. I'm still trying to sort out my trip to Hungary/Transylvania and it's proving to be quite difficult since there is no predicting when and if J will be able to join Jim and I. If he doesn't come I might be tempted to run away with a gypsy band deep into the Carpathians and then how would I be able to post blog updates?

Div-antastic

Only 22 shopping days until my birthday (21 if you're on this side of the Atlantic).... so get on it.