Ooh, so high-tech!

I've created a "flickr" account, which is basically an online photo album.

Eventually, there will be baby pictures there. And other stuff too. For now, there is the belly progression.

This is the link that you click on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7589857@N04/sets/72157600037344442/

I'll post a new link here whenever I update something nifty.

Like baby pictures. Or something.

The (clay) baby is home!

Yes indeed, our clay projects from prenatal classes have been fired, glazed, & fired again. We now have a lovely little clay baby, & a labyrinth that I'll likely use as a trivet to put my teapot full of raspberry leaf tea on. Thanks to cousin Ty for his help.

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The raspberry leaf tea? Yes, we're still waiting for that darn baby. The babe is fine, just slow, and on Monday (assuming we're still pregnant at that point), we'll trundle to an ultrasound lab & check to make sure that the babe is hale & hearty & some other stuff that the midwives explained but I already forget. Essentially, making sure that the fish & the fishtank are both still sound & stable.

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I had intentions of posting pics of the clay baby & labyrinth, however, I've again been foiled by my camera. Shame. I was also going to put up a picture of the excessively awesome meal that the man & I made the other night - I made fresh egg noodles, which he cooked with scallops & tiger prawns in a garlic-infused olive oil. It totally rocked. Of course, the photo wouldn't do it justice anyways. Too bad smell-o-vision never took off - that would give you more of an inkling of the splendour.

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I was also going to post a pic of my increasing profile. As noted, my camera foiled me, so here is a quick self-portrait.

Now I'm going to go & further hone my stunning artistic skills.

Overtime has Begun!

Yes, there is still no baby. And if you call the house, there is still no baby. I even went & checked in the baby's room; still no baby. We're only in our first day of being overdue, which, for my time sense, is practically on time, really, so... maybe there will be a baby later today. Or tomorrow. Rest assured, I promise we'll call when we do find that darned baby.

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Yesterday's funniest event:

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me: "Gee it's super nice. Come help me hang the big hammock up."

the man: "But you can do that yourself."
me: "Yes, but I can't move the planters that are underneath where the hammock should be."
the man: "Oh. Right."

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So we hung the hammock, in the lovely sunlight, & I thought we had it set at about the right height. I cautiously clambered onto the hammock. At the moment the man cautions me not to hurt myself, to be careful, my full weight hits the hammock.

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And I slowly, majestically, sank to the ground. And started laughing. Was it the first hammock stretch of spring that got me? Or the unanticipated extra poundage that screwed with my idea of the appropriate hammock arc?

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Regardless of why my arse hit the brick deck (slowly, majestically), the only harm possible would be a) laughing myself into a hernia b) spraining my ego, or c) trying to get up by myself.

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Luckily, the man helped haul me up. I was still laughing. He thinks I've cracked. We readjusted the hammock & the second run was much more successful.

Regulation Time: 2 Days...

Yes indeed, that's a sports reference. Overtime starts on Sunday.

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I'm well, the man is well, the kid is bigger & stronger every day, just mulling when to make the grand entrance, I suspect. I keep mentioning that there's lots of room out here in the world for all the kicking & arm waving, but so far, still reviewing options.

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Speaking of options, there's all the endless things I can do with my days! So far, I've done quite a bit of sewing, a little baking (you all remember the cookies), a little cooking, cleaning, of course, and a little knitting.

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What did I knit? Well, I made these little mitties so the baby won't be scratching the baby's face with the baby's wee sharp fingernails. (I'm not feeling clever enough to refer to the baby in alternating pronoun genders today, thus, as you may have noticed: third person! The bayyyyyy-bee!)

I find them quite hilarious. Of course, I'm a little more into tattoo culture than some of you: other "knuckle tatt" options included: "ROCK" & "ROLL", "KNIT" & "PURL", "LEFT" & "LEFT". The last one is especially funny if you've ever tried to paddle a canoe or drive through a strange city with me. ("I mean the other left! Crap!")

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What have I sewn? I can't remember. Lots of stuff, all baby oriented. Today's completed project is essentially a big hairnet for the playpen to keep the cats & bugs out. I had something more high-tech & engineered in mind, more tent-fly-like, with zippers & other moving parts, but as I was preparing to commit to that course, it occured to me: a big hair net will be just as effective & much easier & quicker to sew. Thus, hairnet.

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You'll just have to imagine it; I'm using my little (free) (crap) camera, instead of the man's good Canon, as the Canon is getting a little dodgy with the opening & closing of the lens cover. Still takes brilliant pics, but after how many years & vacations, the camera is clearly feeling that it needs some servicing. Reasonable enough; we promise to take it in. After the baby shows up. Until then, we're not using the Canon, & well, I can't hold still in a bright enough light to take a decent playpen hairnet photo with the L.F.C.C.

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(And just to keep the Canon from getting too high & mightly, we've borrowed the man's coworker's super-ultra-mega-snazzy-camera, in case the Canon craps out. Of course, I'm terrified of the S.U.M.S.C., so that's why I put batteries into my L.F.C.C. )

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AND I'm going to put film into the real camera - how's that for kickin' it old school?

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And I'm going to go & eat something. Too bad I can never think of clever closing segues; you'll just have to suffer! Oh wait - a clever clsoing segue that involves suffering! Hah! And also starts with "and"! I can hear english major's brains exploding! Wheee!

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And here's a third person play-by-play: Kourtney (baby included) will be going upstairs, to peruse the fridge, & then Kourtney (baby included) will be eating either leftover lasagna, soup, a fruit/yogurt smoothie, or something else! And the crowd goes wild!

More Bad Habits

All right. I like America's Next Top Model. I love it. I might marry it, but a) I'm already married, & b) they haven't had any polygamists on the show (YET). I get a rush of irrational glee over it. It's so... so... trite? Superficial? Staged? Ridiculous? The man does not even remotely comprehend why I enjoy it so. "It's not even 'reality' tv", he says. That's totally its charm - there's nothing realistic at all about this. I honestly didn't think that there was anything out there that could possibly heighten my enjoyment of ANTM, but I was wrong. You remember the guy who took the funny pictures of his cat? He 'reviews' each episode of ANTM.

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If you've never seen ANTM, you could probably skip this. If you are deeply offended by ANTM, skip this too. If you find Tyra's judgements of the skinny pretty girls weirdly compelling & addictive, check it out:

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http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2007/03/prude_awakening.html#more

Things That Have Impressed or Entertained Me, Lately

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list. And has no cohesive narrative.

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First: The pinking wheel for my rotary cutter. As God is my witness, I'll never use pinking shears again!* Really. This gratified & amused me.

*delivered with Scarlett O'Hara accent.

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Next: The mortgage burning party! It was awesome fun, well attended, & we only had a lot of leftover food, not a ton. (Excluding the liquids - we don't need to buy hard liquor, mix, or beer for quite some time. Where are all of our hard drinking friends??? Right... Saskatchewan...)

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This is the mortgage, burning. (The mortgage had been tucked into the dessicated arms of our Xmas tree. Hence the inferno effect. Let this be a cautionary tale - check your real Xmas tree's water at least TWICE A DAY when it's inside!!!)

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And here is Pat & I, laughing in relief that the tree did not light the house on fire. Because that would not have been funny. Ironic, yes, but not funny at all.

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As well. This is me, in a sundress that my mom made in '76 or '77, to wear over either my younger brother or I. Of course, if it was '76, for myself, then she wore it over both of us. At any rate, it was plumb GORGEOUS on Sunday, so I sat on the deck in the sun for quite some little time.

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Eh, what's that? You can't see my belly very well in that photo? Hard to tell if the kid has dropped? Well. Here you go then, this is from yesterday:

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And no, it's not a plastic belly - the gleam is because of all the various body butters that I carefully smoosh onto my belly two to three times a day.

See? No stretch marks.

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Now, I'm going to go & do some filing, which while not exactly enthralling, does keep me sort of entertained. It's better than daytime tv, & it makes the man happy.

Dear S_____,

Hi! I hope you are having lots of fun in Turkey with your dad. The emails sound like you are; congrats on not mowing down anything alive in your attempts to find your hotel.

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I have to get something off my chest. You can never, ever leave the country again and at the same time leave me the recipe for your "Dad's Chocolate Chip Cookies".* You see, I miss you, & so last night, I made a double batch. I must say, I knew how long this would take. I made approximately 6 mazillion (or at least 9 dozen) cookies last night.

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The problem is that I'm eating them. Lots of them. Often. With joy. I shudder to admit to the people who read this blog & will scold me, but I've eaten a serious quantity of them. But they're so good! And they've got more oatmeal than flour! And I used whole wheat spelt flour! And dark chocolate! Which makes them practically health food! And coconut, which has to be good for something too!**

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Except that even allowing for all of those "good" things, I still shouldn't eat more than a dozen in any 24-hour period, and well, I'm jonesing. If you were in phone reach, I could at least call you, & think of some way to rationalize increasing my cookie ration, or get you to talk me down.
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But you're not. So at home I sit, with my weak will & at least 7 dozen cookies left (I sent a dozen to the man's office). I miss you. Come back soon. If you're in time, there may be cookies left...

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Love,
K.

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*Really, you being out of the country has nothing to do with this. It's more um, well, okay. It's me. It's all me. And now, with the cookies, there's a lot MORE me.

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**I'm not even going to talk about the cookie dough that I ate. Gleefully.

Oh, If I Knew How,

I would totally be doing this to pictures of the cats. Possibly pictures of myself, the man, & anything else that wanders by too.

My favorite is the mean bunny rabbit/even meaner bunny rabbit.

http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2007/02/faces_of_winsto.html#more

(And in case you suspected, yes, that's the noise of nothing really noteworthy to blog about. Although I did pick up some cute hand towels from Winners with to kidify the upstairs bathroom. Housewife, you say? Why yes! I had just returned a purchase of my husband's at Costco...)

Developments, Large & Small...

So! I'm finally on mat leave, so exciting. I had a nap today, & I took the man out for an EXCELLENT italian supper last night to celebrate.

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I'm sure there's a clever segue I could use, but I can't think of it, so here's some belly pics.

Does that portray the belly clearly enough? No? Well then:

I particularily like how my arm looks like it's about 10 inches long altogether, & wider than my head. Oh well. And those are from a week ago, so the next post will feature a newer belly pic.

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I think we're sort of all together & ready for the baby. Prenatal classes are done, I'm not going to the office anymore, I am increasingly bulky & awkward, and I went & got the itty-bitty baby diapers that newborns require.

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They're tiny. Here's a 1L jug of milk wearing it, with a roll of duct tape. I could say that the duct tape was included for scale purposes, but it honestly didn't occcur to me to move it. That's all. Thus, "Still Life of Milk in Diaper with Duct Tape".

My pregnancy addled brain is enjoying the irony of this - the diapers will eventually be filled with products created from milk! Ha ha ha! No cows milk, of course - I know. No cow's milk for the baby until for least a year.

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I'm off to create more art now! I promise I will try & post more now that I'm not looking at a computer 9-5 (well, 8:30 - 5, ish), M-F. I can't guarentee I'll have anything to say, but that'll be the subject of another day, right??? Right!