eee!

So a while back, sunbrae was poking at people to come back to LJ, and this morning I have a little bit of free time, so here I am. Hi, sunny! Hi, missrachael! Hi, anyone else who may still be here!

There's been a lot going on in my life since I last posted. Both of the kids had birthdays, which went well. MDR came first -- he's now two -- and we had a Kung Fu Panda themed party for him. He didn't really seem to grasp what was happening, but he knew to try to blow out the candles on his cake. Then VEE turned five and we had a DC Superhero Girls party for her. She got so many gifts. Holy Pete. Being the only granddaughter/niece on both sides of the family makes for a very spoiled little girl.

She's doing great in preschool. She's READING. Like, legitimately reading. Now every night at bedtime she insists on reading a book herself (which makes the bedtime routine last much longer than it should, but she's reading, so I shouldn't complain). I'm really so proud of her. And MDR is starting to talk a little more than he was a few weeks ago. He's very tight-lipped, but he likes to try to recite the alphabet along with us. He's also lately obsessed with Super Why on PBS, which is fine by me. I'm convinced to this day that VEE's obsession with that show is why she knew her alphabet at such a young age.

So the big event that happened in my life recently is that I had THE BEST WEEKEND EVER last weekend when my sister came to town. Many, many months ago, I got an e-mail from deeablo saying that a friend of our mutual friend was trying to get a group together to go in on early group sales for Hamilton in Chicago. So I called my sister, who said if it was a Friday or Saturday she'd fly in from RI to see the show with me (considering she can't get tickets in NYC). It turns out our group got tickets for last Friday, so on Thursday night she flew in after work. We spent Thursday night at home playing with VEE's Fashion Plates together. Friday morning we took her to preschool and then afterwards the four of us, MDR included, went to Portillo's for lunch so yakgirl could get a Chicago-style hot dog. Then we came home and played Wii bowling with VEE and got ready for the show. We dropped the kids off, then headed downtown.

It was pretty awesome to see how genuinely excited yakgirl was to be back home in Chicago. She's lived in RI for so long, but Chicago's still home. She kept snapping photos of the skyline (which is the most impressive skyline in all of the US -- sorry not sorry, NYC) and she got pictures of all the congratulatory Cubs World Series signs. We found parking right near the theater and then walked over to the Palmer House Hotel so she could use the bathroom in the lobby. Dear God, that hotel is swanky! I've always heard of the Palmer House but never went in. It's all mosaic ceilings and gilded statues holding lanterns and wow. The hotel was a block across and over from the hotel where we were seeing Hamilton, so she got a bunch of photos of that to show people at home. Then we walked over to Daley Plaza to go to the Christkindlmarket, which she'd never done before. We looked at all the little shops, bought mugs of mulled wine, and then she got some candied nuts (amaretto and rum flavored). THEN we found a vendor selling baked apples filled with marizpan, nuts, and raisins and glazed in cinnamon sugar. OMGGGGGGGG yum.

After that, we headed over to Italian Village, a mainstay restaurant downtown, for dinner. She hadn't been there since her senior year in high school, 1992. It's where she and her BFF went for dinner before prom. We kept laughing that he tried to ask for the wine list and the waiter just snapped back "NO!" and walked off. She was all "Do you think we could get wine tonight?" and that made us giggle. Maybe you had to be there... So we had dinner there and then headed over to the theater to meet our group at 7 for the 7:30 show. It was me and yakgirl, deeablo, xica_s, mei_x, and a last-minute fishdoctorpost. And of course deeablo's and my friend who set it up, along with her son and then two more acquaintances. We were all geeking out the whole way inside, and then there was the requisite buying of merchandise. (I got a t-shirt with the Chicago flag on it, except all the stars are replace with Hamilton stars.) Our seats were way high up, but it was actually not bad at all, as the higher seats gave us a chance to really watch all the choreography (which was non-stop -- get it?) as well as watch how the turntables worked. The show was A.MAY.ZING. I can't even tell you how great it was. And the cast in Chicago is TIGHT. Migeul Cervantes, the Chicago Hamilton, is really good. The man can rap AND sing, which is great. Both of the Schyler Sisters were phenomenal (and Peggy). Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette were good, though the guy who played Lafayette was better as Jefferson. Washington had a great voice (though he's no Chris Jackson, but NO ONE can sing like that guy), and Burr... Wow. The guy playing Burr had a different take on it that I expected. He played the role more angry. You could physically see him start to rage out and then he'd just pull it back in, and dear God his voice. Wow. When he finished "The Room Where It Happens," I honestly thought he was going to get a standing ovation right then and there. It's just SO GOOD. If any of you get a chance to come to Chicago to see the show, DO IT. Afterwards yakgirl and I hung out by the stage door for autographs. We met Hamilton, Washington, and Jefferson. It was a really great day all around.

So that's what's been keeping me up and running this week. Which, considering my children's sleeping habits, is good. As for today, I have to finish cleaning the house, straightening the kids' room and the playroom, and then start getting ready for our Christmas party tonight. It's supposed to start snowing this afternoon, so I wouldn't be surprised if people start dropping out because they don't want to drive in the snow. We'll see. We have the house all decorated and it looks very nice. Hopefully we'll be able to get everything ready for tonight in time. Which means I really should get off the computer and start cleaning up.

I hope you're all well. If I don't post again before the holidays, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas or Hannukah this year. And best wishes for a wonderful New Year. 2016 has been a shitshow, and 2017 doesn't hold much promise, but fingers crossed! Take care, y'all.

I haven't posted in FOREVER. I'm sorry. What I should do is figure out how to get my Twitter feed to show up here every day. I know others of you do this, but I don't know how. I suck.

So let's see, what's been going on? Well, first off, I've become completely addicted to playing Neko Astume. Worse yet, I told another girl at work about it, and she told about ten people, and now there's a whole bunch of us at work who are addicted and try to share tips on how to get the rare cats to show up and how to get more fish. I think we're all just soooooo exhausted with our company that we need something fun and happy to get us through the workday. Because honestly, morale is just SHIT right now. And I miss my old boss. I hate walking past his office and seeing it all empty. We've e-mailed a few times. I hope he's doing okay.

Wow, that got sad quickly.

Okay, what else? The February holidays are coming up, which is fun. This weekend the zoo is doing a Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year) celebration, which should be fun for the kids. Then there's a Superbowl party on Sunday. The next weekend is Valentine's Day, so the Scientist and I will be celebrating by attending the Winter Wine Walk that afternoon. In the evening we'll do something fun with the kids, and the next morning I've promised to take VEE out for breakfast. Of course, the Scientist and MDR will come, too. Then later in the month is the Academy Awards, so of course I'll be having local people over for that. Though this year I'm really not giving a crap about any of it other than Mad Max: Fury Road. How I would LOVE IT if that movie somehow won a bunch of awards, just because.

I am absolutely exhausted today. Last night the kids both kept me up for hours and it was terrible. I ended up sleeping on the couch for a bit, because my daughter's coughing was keeping my son awake. I spent an hour getting him back asleep and then he woke up 15 minutes later and I just could not deal with it. So I put him in bed with the Scientist and went downstairs to cool down. Once I fell asleep on the couch I ended up having this terrible nightmare about spiders everywhere (including going down my throat) and it was just terrible. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep at all and I woke up with a splitting headache. So I called in today. The kids are with their grandma as usual, and VEE has preschool right now. I asked the Scientist if I should feel guilty dropping the kids with his mom and not telling her I'm staying home to sleep, and he was like "Nope!" So there we are.

Otherwise the kids are okay. My daughter's been pretty whiny lately, which is getting old fast. She seems to run in cycles. One week she's great, then the next week she's a bratty monster. I don't get it. She's going to make one hell of a teenager. As for MDR, he's fine. He's starting to talk a bit more, which is great. He'll say "bye" and wave when someone leaves, he'll say some phrases along with his favorite books (mostly "oh no!" when we read Going on a Bear Hunt), and he's cute as a button. He still likes to throw things, though, which is no good when it's food (messy) or board books (painful).

I'm not doing much in the way of entertainment. Despite all the Oscar-bait in theaters, I have no interest in seeing most of the movies that are out right now. I did see a sneak preview of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies a few weeks ago. As someone who hates zombies, I thought it was fun. I'm looking forward to Deadpool. Otherwise I can't really even remember what I've gone to see in the past few months, which is pretty sad. Of course there was The Force Awakens, which I'd like to see again sometime. The nerds at work are constantly coming up with new theories on the characters' backstories. Heh. As for TV, we're lucky to watch anything that's not on PBS Kids or Disney Junior. We've watched some Supergirl, which I like okay. It's got some issues, but it's fun. I've missed too much of The Flash to watch without a major binge/catch-up. I think Castle comes back on next week; I hope they fix what they messed up in the first half of this season. People don't want to watch for Castle/Beckett angst. We had seven seasons of that. Can we just have them solving crimes and being fun for this (probably final) season? Man, losing their showrunner really put a dent in that one... What other TV is good? Obviously we still watch Lip Sync Battle ever week. That's probably the only show we get to watch with regularity. Some day I'll watch Jessica Jones on Netflix and a bunch of other stuff people have recommended, but for now, it's more Wild Kratts and Curious George.

Okay, I'm really exhausted now. I'm going to sleep for a bit. Y'all take care. Hopefully I won't be a stranger as much as I have been.

I figured it's about time for a real update, so here I am.

I am officially in my third trimester of pregnancy. It feels very strange to have physical limitations due to my belly. It's getting hard to bend certain ways, I lose my balance putting on pants while standing up, and picking things up off the floor is a pain. Lord help me if I actually sit on the floor. Getting up from that low is not graceful at all (as if I ever were graceful?). But my nesting instincts are starting to kick in. I want to get the house prepared. Next week aj's parents are coming to take the bed from our guest room, and then I'll be able to turn it into the playroom. All of the toys and books from VEE's bedroom will move in there and then we'll have to get her a bed of her own and put the crib back together before the baby arrives. Last weekend we went to IKEA and we got VEE this duvet for when she gets her big-girl bed. I think the Scientist thinks I'm nuts for buying bedding for a bed that doesn't exist yet, but it's one more thing I can mentally check off my list of stuff to do before the baby comes.

My sister will be in town next weekend with her family, which will be great. I can't remember the last time I saw all of them. We Skype occasionally, but not enough. VEE is so excited to see her cousins in person. yakgirl will be bringing us boxes of baby clothes from when her boys were little, so with the bed gone from the guest room I'll have a place to store them temporarily. The Scientist is going to repaint/refurbish a dresser that we got off Craigslist which will go into the kids' room and will hold all of VEE's stuff. Then the baby's clothes will go in the big dresser that we're currently using. I have three boxes of baby clothes that I'll be giving to fava_bean for her daughter, so that's more stuff that will be gone from our house. Phew!

Otherwise things are going well. This summer has been really nice, outside of the PLAGUE OF MOSQUITOES we have near my house. Honestly, I don't remember when they've been this numerous. I got bit on my face, right by my eyes. Not good, mosquitoes, not good! But otherwise it's been a nice summer. Uncommonly mild lately, which means no trips to the pool. Ah well. This weekend is another pool party, so we'll see if we can win another prize. Heh. There haven't been many zoo trips lately, but we'll be going with yakgirl and her clan in a few weeks, as well as again in August for a member breakfast.

One thing that's stunk about this summer is a distinct lack of movies I'm interested in seeing. We saw How to Train Your Dragon 2 a few weeks ago, and that's been about it. I have zero interest in Transformers 4, Dinobots or not. Though I feel badly for the Scientist, as he wanted to go. I thought he'd go see it with his brother, but they weren't able to find a time to go together. I've heard good things about the new Planet of the Apes movie (directed by the Felicity guy who's not JJ Abrams!), but I never saw the first so there you are. Right now Guardians of the Galaxy is the movie I'm most looking forward to seeing, specifically because I have no freaking clue what to expect and it looks totally whacked out and cracktastic. And I'm all for Hollywood making movies that aren't the usual cookie-cutter, by-the-books films that we've been seeing so much of lately. So yes, please give me a movie with a talking raccoon and a walking tree and green Zoe Saldana and Bright Abbott from Everwood looking like a DGAF antihero in space. YES. I am all over that, because it's NUTS.

Man, I'm rambling.

That's really all I've got. I hope you're all doing well.

I don't have to go to work tomorrow! Well, normally I would, but tomorrow my mother-in-law can't watch the baby, so I'm taking the day off to watch her myself. Yay! So looking forward to hanging with my girl all day. :D

As for the baby, she's doing well. 25" long, 15.5 lbs. At for months she's outgrown most of her 3-6 month clothes. She's going to be tall like me and her dad. She's hitting all her milestones, save for the ones you learn from tummy time. But she is rolling on her side, so she's getting there.

I currently have hummus, tortilla chips, and wine. Life is good.

The Scientist and I just finished the second season of Fringe. So good! Poor Olivia! Poor Walter! Poor Peter!

It's stupid-hot in Chicagoland as of late. Last night it was 81° in our house. NO GOOD. Where's our cool/cold March? I don't want this. Summer is for heat, not March. Ugh.

Oh, I saw John Carter and quite enjoyed it, critics be damned. Frankly, I think their talk of it being a flop before it even opened helped to sink the movie. It's being praised for inspiring the great sci-fi movies of our time and than gets paned for not being "original." HELLO?! It's better than it's given credit for; I'd recommend it.

That's all I've got for now. Love to you all - Castle is coming on!

Hello, people! It's been FOREVER since I posted a real post, it seems. I do check LJ throughout the week, but it's usually while on breaks at work. (What I wouldn't give to get LJ off the stupid filter...) Anyway, I promise you that I am reading your posts, but it's very hard to comment using the stupid tiny telephone swipe pad.

Also, sunbrae, thank you so much for the card you sent. That was SO thoughtful and sweet of you! Thank you.

Things that are going on around here... This weekend I made a VERY brief trip up to my parents' house with the Scientist. My uncle was in Michigan from California for his 50th high school reunion, and he stopped at my parents' house for a few days. So we drove up on Friday night after work to see him (and them), and then came back home yesterday afternoon. But it's the second time in two weeks I've gotten to see my parents, so that was nice. Hopefully once the baby comes we'll see more of them. Perhaps they'll -- gasp! -- even spend the night eventually. That would be a shocker.

Work is going okay. The Scientist has an interview tomorrow for a contract job. That's about all I have on that front.

Right now it just seems like a lot of my life is anticipation about the baby coming. I'm definitely in my third trimester now, and I'm finally beginning to show. The baby kicks quite a bit, which is fun. I mean, if she's kicking, she's doing okay in there, right? Right. The Scientist can talk to my belly and it makes her jerk around, which just about melts my heart that his voice gets her going. We're still trying to put the nursery in order. Right now there's just too much stuff and not enough space, which is funny considering we don't have a whole lot. I think there just needs to be some major rearranging. Today we put together the baby swing -- it's freaking huge.

I'm simultaneously really excited about the baby and also scared out of my gourd. I have no idea if I'll be able to handle it. What if I lose it completely and just sit on the floor and cry? What if the kids from Sixteen and Pregnant do a better job of parenting than I do? And then I think to myself that I'll be just fine, because this baby is something we wanted and not a surprise. That makes a difference from the start, just the mindset. But being a mom is something I've always wanted, and I'm going to do my best to make sure my kid gets all the love and support she needs to grow up healthy and smart and confident. And a geek. I'd rather have a geek daughter than a bitchy little princess, you know? Heh.

Anyway, that's about the state of things here. Just everything's kind of in limbo for the time being. But right now I need to go to bed so that I'm not all exhausted at work tomorrow. I hope you're all doing well, and that you've had a nice weekend and will have a good week at work. I'll catch up with you all later!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone reading this. May you all have a happy, fun, and safe New Year tonight.

Okay, so it's rainy and pooptacular outside (as always, Chicago weather is a big WTF), which means I've been inside all day. I started a new cross stitch project last night, one which will surely take me several months. So far today I've done about 3 square inches. Maybe less, I'm not sure. But I feel accomplished nonetheless.

Last night we went down to Oak Park to visit with my friend Natalie. She's pretty much the only friend I made at U of I in classes. (Everyone else I either met at the dorm, apartment, or via fava_bean.) Anyway, Nat and I took poetry together, and then a horribly boring English class, and we just kept taking classes together because we got along so well. Now she lives out in LA, but she came back to Illinois to visit family and had a few nights up here in the burbs with friends, so we all met up in my old neighborhood. Literally, we were next door to my old apartment. So it was nice to see her, even if it was just for a few hours and there were a lot of other people there wanting her attention as well. Still, nice to see her.

What else is going on? I guess because it's New Year's Eve, I should make at least one resolution. I'm being realistic and giving myself a resolution I can actually achieve: READ MORE BOOKS. yakgirl gave me The Hunger Games and I need to continue with that. (I'm at a good stopping point right now -- I know once I pick it up again I won't be able to put it down. And there are two more books after that.) There are new Patricia Briggs books coming this year, and in March she'll be doing a signing in nearby Oakbrook for the next Mercy Thompson book. Garth Nix has a new novella in June (and a new Old Kingdom book due in 2012, yay!). And now that the first half of the last movie is out, I think I can finally, safely begin working my way through the Harry Potter books.

And in regards to a resolution that isn't a resolution but instead a Change In Lifestyle, I'm going to force myself to do at least 1/2 hour of exercise per day. I am not a person who enjoys physical exertion, especially if it occurs in front of others. Yes, that includes my husband. But I figure if I force myself to do even 1/2 hour of SOMETHING every morning, over time it will become a habit and something I'll like, and I'll stick with it. I read that you have to do something daily for 90 days in order for it to become an actual habit, and something you miss if you don't get it. So rather than say I'm going to do this every day, I'm going to say that my resolution is to do it for 90 days, and hopefully by then it will become a Change In Lifestyle on its own. That's the plan.

First off, last night marked the return of Burn Notice. My opinion: not enough Bruce Campbell! The entire show should be subtitled "Needs more Sam Axe." Jesse didn't annoy me, as he had at the beginning of last season (this season? I don't know, the half-season schedule confuses me). I like how he's not ready to roll over and play nice with Mike and his team, you know? As for Michael Westen himself, I enjoyed that he wasn't willing to wait to get better if it meant innocent people would die. Despite his being so dedicated to being un-burned, his dedication to helping others even at his own physical expense is his best quality. I also enjoyed watching Jeffrey Donovan act in this episode. Normally when he takes on an "undercover persona," it's as if he's playing Michael with an accent. But yesterday his entire demeanor changed, which isn't as common to see on the show. Jeffrey Donovan did a good job with that.

And in other news... I'm getting a new car after work today. Yup. It all happened rather quickly, and so I haven't wanted to talk about it until it was a done deal. My father was at his friend's dealership and saw a PT Cruiser on the lot. He did some asking around about the cost, and with his employee discount, he was able to secure a good price for me. I signed the paperwork on Wednesday night, and tonight I'm driving to Joliet after work to trade in my 2001 Cruiser for a 2010 model. (It's funny that I got one of the first Cruisers around, and now I'm getting one of the last ones -- the model is being discontinued this year.) Originally, the Scientist and I weren't going to consider another Cruiser for when my car eventually crapped out. We were hoping for something more fuel-efficient. But the final price was too good to pass up, and what we're saving on cost will even out with gasoline prices. I honestly don't know if my 2001 Cruiser was going to make it through the winter, and I know there's at least $2000 worth of repairs waiting on it (much more than the $500 trade-in value on the car itself). So we're getting the new car, even if we weren't really expecting it.

I'm kind of sad about turning in my 2001 Cruiser. It's the first new car I've ever owned and the first car I ever purchased for myself. And that car is kind of my calling card. Heck, just the other day aj texted me to say she saw a purple Cruiser and thought of me. But the purple color is no longer offered, so I'm getting a black one. Still, I'm kind of sad about giving it up. I know the car's just going to be stripped for parts, which means that no one else will buy it and drive it and love it like I did, which makes me depressed a bit. But I'm trying to think of it more that it's like an organ donor for other cars, and it will help other people's well-loved cars live longer lives. Or something.

Anyway, new car tonight. AND I get to keep my Buffy-themed personalize license plates, so that's a bonus. I'm such a geek.

Blog update.

Work, tooth, life update. In that order.