Bring a dish/appetizer/dessert to share.

In normal time, I don't really mind this request. However, I find it really annoying this time of year, simply because I just can't keep up. I've skipped a few things simply because I don't have the energy to come up with anything to bring, let alone make it. There are or will be seven events in 2.5 weeks that fall into this category. Two thoughts about the two that are left:

1. Ghiradelli (I can't spell) brownie mix
2. Various wonderings about if it's possible to somehow use the Annual Christmas Deluge of Parishioner Foodstuffs in this capacity without too many ramifications.

Pictured is the Mr's Sour Cream Pound Cake... Yum!
***
Book #51: The First Christmas, Borg and Crossman. It's pretty good. I read it and realized how little I know about Roman history and mythology (or, rather, how much they know). Also helpful for Advent 4/Annuniciation sermons, First Sunday after Christmas sermons (chapter on archetype on light and darkness), and Second Sunday after Christmas sermons (massacre and/or magi).

I have a draft of The Christmas Eve sermon. It's a little wordy, but now I have something to revise, which is infinitely easier than pulling something out of my brain in the first place.

Book #52: The Audacity of Hope, Obama. He definitely wrote this; he writes just how he talks. I enjoyed reading it. It was sitting in my in-laws' living room over Thanksgiving, and I was pretty sure they weren't actually reading it but just had it out for show. I borrowed it, in partial passive aggressive retailiation for this incident. My suspicisons have been confirmed; they would be asking about it if they missed it.

Book #53: The Wonder Years. AAP's thoughts of different facets of childhood development.

I'm now reading Birthing from Within.
***
I feel better, mainly due to readjusted expectations. I'm now wearing this wildly attractive item, whose usefulness outweighs its annoyingness, much to my dismay. Don't be jealous. The way this model is... modeling this reminds me of the guy in my high school ballet class who accidentally wore his dance belt (think ballet jock strap) over instead of under his tights.

I've started feeling faint, short of breath, and generally exhausted. I called the OB this morning, and apparently the blood work they did on me last week was all normal, which I suppose means there's nothing wrong with me other than the fact that I'm pregnant. Crap. I was really hoping they could just give me some iron pills or something.

I have lots to do today. I can't seem to remember what I have to do, except for my 10:30 and 12 noon appointments-- the only two I managed to write down.

***
The Mr's Dad: "The Mr can't borrow that book (on the father's role in childhood development) yet, because I want to read it."
me: "Are you kidding?"
MD: "No."
me: "So you're going to read a book in the next month or two hat you've had for the past thirty years but still haven't read for a job you've already done."
MD: "Yeah."
me: "Right."

It was probably written at the earliest in the 70s anyhow and thus is ridiculously dated. But still.

***
Book #50: Taking Care of Your Baby and Young Child, Ages 0-5, AAP. It's hard to judge things that I don't know much about yet. Guess I'm about to get a crash course in about 14 weeks or so, give or take a few.

Books

• #48: Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood. I normally find Atwood's work a little strange in a good way. In this novel, the weird factor is off the charts.
• #49: Time Traveler's Wife. It's a romance, just not the bodice-ripping kind. Good, fast read.

Bullets:

• Did I mention living in a swing state is surprisingly gratifying? Feeling like your vote counts is really weird. My county went blue for the president for the first time since... since I don't know when. I've felt the need to be somewhat mum about my political leanings, being in a relatively small city (not tiny, but this is not a metro area, either).
• Things at work are still completely insane but may be looking up. Somewhat.
  
• I'm 23 weeks pregnant (full term is 40-ish or so). I wore maternity pants for the first time yesterday. I've been doing the whole bella band thing, but suddenly, everything just felt way too tight all over the place (and was really dirty and wrinkly to boot).
• We've been doing lots of cleaning up and out. Jeff is refinishing some stuff, building bookcases, and such. I cleaned out a desk this past weekend. I did a lot of our Christmas shopping for our families online. I love shopping online.

Reading Challenge:

• Book #43: FDR, Jean Edward Smith. You know I like biographies. FDR was a complicated man and his political record is much more uneven than I knew. Also, I didn't know there are only two photos that they've been able to find of him in his wheelchair.
• Book #44: Baby Bargains: I read it in day and am now terrified that I'm going to kill the baby with a faulty crib or something. It made me add and take a whole bunch of stuff off of my registry, though, so that's a good thing.
• Book #45: Paris to the Moon: This had been recommended to me by several people. It was written in the late 90s, though, and some chapters feel quite dated.
• Book #46: Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Good. I felt like I needed to read it after I recommended it (flippantly, not thinking he would do anything like actually buy the book) to my therapist and he loved it. I could have written part of it. How'd he get there first?
• Book #47: The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. This is normally referred to La Leche League's baby. It gave me a taste of a- how difficult breastfeeding can be at first b- some of the crap that I'll have to get used to for going back to work.
  

Remember when you were a kid and didn't want to go to school? I feel that way about work today. I don't wanna go. It's more than likely because I let the parish administrator go yesterday and don't feel like hearing about it. Apparently, accepting mediocrity/incompetence from other employees is what some people want.

In the meantime, I have a preliminary appointment with a pediatrician this morning. Whoo.

In more southern news, the Mr. and I went to the county fair last week. He grew up going to them. I couldn't go because of ballet during the week and because my mom refused to go on the weekends because she didn't want to see her students.

Of note at this fair:

• If you ever want to win a prize for something you've made, enter something to your county fair. A vast majority of the crafts I saw had a prize, with one major exception being this extremely sad little store bought hand towel whose only claim to craftiness was that someone stitched a rather small red Christmas stocking onto it.
• Surprisingly entertaining--> duck racing. How's that for a mental image?
  

***
It's possible that I'm up since 3 a.m. because we have the ultrasound at 8:45 a.m., and I'm nervous/excited/hungry. In other pregnant news, I apparently have a first trimester symptom-- food tasting really weird. Work now knows. They seem to be excited. I don't know that I can handle all the excitement.

***
Book #41: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Written from the perspective of a 15yo boy with autism. It's pretty good.
Book #42: Moby Dick. I listened to this book for hours on end (as in, more than 24 hours total) in the car. I didn't like it. I think it may not lend itself to the audiobook format. Alternatively, I just didn't like it.