I would love a big, fat, greasy, juicy hamburger about now. I haven't been to Lion's Tap since last May!

I'll be leaving at 8:00am tomorrow morning for 4 days of nonstop scrapbooking in Wisconsin! *squee*

I won't be able to cut loose as much as the rest of the ladies this year, but that's OK. I'm just looking forward to getting away from home for a few days with nary a care in the world.

Today at work I was suddenly thinking about how I hadn't seen my old high school English teacher in the library in a while. Five minutes later he walked in.

*eerie music*

Until Beaver Camp!

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to escape with a bunch of other ladies to a cabin in Wisconsin for 4 straight days of non-stop scrapbooking.

In other news...

...I'm completely pumped that I got my iPhone calendar application to sync successfully with Google Calendars. Yay, technology!

...Reclining on the couch and staring at my own belly can be very entertaining. Watching the ripples and bulges it's easy to imagine that what's actually inside is a seething mass of alien life forms.

...I treated myself to a bottle of Julmust with dinner tonight. It's that time of year.

We finished up the nursery this weekend. This morning we hung two mirrors, and in the afternoon Mom delivered the rocking chair she used when I was a baby. That means that, except for actual clothes and supplies, the room is COMPLETE!

More photos of the completed room begin here.

I feel some relief. Now Piglet could arrive any day and I'd feel ready for her, although I'd really prefer that she wait until February.

Have I already mentioned how much I'm enjoying the Wii Fit so far? Who knew I would have such talent for leading a marching band and doing kung fu? Haha! I'm trying to incorporate as much variety as I can among aerobic, strength, balance and yoga, but there are a number of exercises that are uncomfortable because my belly gets in the way. There are more than enough other choices to keep me entertained and active, though, and so far I have been doing at least 20 minutes each day.

I've also heard good things about EA Sports Active, so I'd like to try that eventually, but I should probably show some restraint and not purchase too much at once here.

13 days until Beaver Camp!

Has anyone noticed how perfectly the winter holidays fall this year? It couldn't be better: December 24-25 are a Thursday/Friday combination, so there is a 4-day weekend. The following week, January 1 is a Friday so that's a 3-day weekend. Not one to let an opportunity like this pass me by, I requested off Monday, December 28 through Thursday, December 31. Those four days will garner me 11 days off in a row! SCORE!

I haven't received an official response for the time off request yet, and heck -- I don't know exactly what I'd do for 11 days, but it was just too perfect to let get away.

We received at least 142 little goblins at the door last night -- a good year! Almost ran out of treats, though, which is partly why I'm posting this. (Reminder for next year: Buy treats for at least this many kids!) Surprisingly, our 100-calorie bags of microwave popcorn were a hit, especially among older kids. Sneakily healthy!

We finally bought a Wii last night, including the Wii Fit. So far it's pretty cool.

As part of the setup, it gathers some basic info, weighs you and has you perform some balance and agility tests. One thing it can't take into consideration is a health condition -- like pregnancy, for example.

It asks my age/height/etc.
I get on the scale.
Wii Fit says, in a disappointed voice: Ooooh, that's overweight!

Gee, thanks.

I finally got around to uploading photos related to my pregnancy. So far, everything, including ultrasounds, belly pics and nursery construction, is in this Flickr set. We've actually made further progress on the nursery than is shown in the set, I just haven't finished processing the most recent photos -- stay tuned.

Last month I noticed someone had created this cute snippet of magnetic poetry on the back of one of the book trucks at work.

Finally completed processing and upload of our vacation pictures from the cruise. That project kind of dragged on, I should have finished it a month ago. Now I can focus on some more recent pictures. I might even post a belly shot, but I'm not sure yet how public I want those to be! :D

Happy birthday to my nephew Michael, who turned 4 today! I'm cutting out of work early tomorrow in order to make his party. Missed it last year because I worked the exact same weekend, but pulled some strings this time around.

Jonas put all of the baseboards back on in the nursery this afternoon, which makes that room project more or less complete. It looks fantastic! The closet doors still need to get put back in place, but it's essentially ready for furniture. Mom generously offered to buy a crib for us. We had already picked out the Leksvik crib from IKEA, which earned high ratings from Consumer Reports, so she came along with us last Tuesday to make the purchase. (Read a few posts back to see the other furniture we're putting in the nursery.)

I wishlisted a ton of recommended kiddie books on BookMooch, and requested a bunch that were currently available. It's nice to finally have something to spend my points on! I had given away a lot of books but requested very few. I wish more people used that site. It is teh awesome!

Attended the MNGCA fall event this afternoon at Afton State Park. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was shining at least. Elections for the 2009-2010 board were held, and Jonas was re-elected Secretary. This will be his third year, and I have mixed feelings about the commitment with the expected changes in our lives in the coming year, but we'll see...

I haven't posted lately because I haven't had the energy to really compose my thoughts. I should just post tiny tidbits as they occur to me, at least then there would be something!

We've been hard at work on the nursery. Just tonight we finished putting up the border. Something as simple as applying wallpaper to a painted wall is a totally new experience! It probably took twice as long as it should have, but when we next renovate another room at least we'll already know what we're doing.

Piglet has been pummeling me daily, for which I am thankful. It's reassurance that she's still in there (where else would she be?), and that she seems to be thriving. Sometimes it can be excessive to the point of distraction, though, and will probably only get more intense in the next few months. Now that the weather has become unseasonably chilly, February doesn't seem all that far off.

Just a few weeks until Beaver Camp, exactly one month from today! I'm really looking forward to a few days off, kicking back and relaxing with the other ladies, even if I can't drink this year. I still have a ton of prepping to do to make sure I'll have enough layouts planned and supplies along.

Work is OK, except we still don't have enough staff due to budget cuts.

We've settled on décor for the nursery. You'll have to use your imagination some, but I'll try to describe it.

We started by choosing a border (image below) to go around the midway point of the walls, and then matched paint colors to it. It's difficult to tell from the sample photo, but the letters are done in a sort of antique chalk style and each is different from the next. Above the border is a light, earthy gold, and below is an earthy blue-green. Both colors can be seen in the border sample's "B."


We've opted for a hard floor instead of carpet, and chose a birch laminate from IKEA. Jonas tore out the existing carpet and all of the baseboards tonight (handyman!).


Finally, an array of some of the IKEA nursery furniture we've got our eyes on:


I work all weekend, so Jonas is going to take that opportunity to get started with the painting. This is good since I'm supposed to avoid paint fumes like the plague.

Does anyone else use the iGoogle portal?

For the last week or so my calendar preview shows up completely empty.

Here's a snippet of the excitement that went down at work late last week: Threatening notes at the Eden Prairie library lead to charges

Ah, libraries. All we do is sit around reading books, you know.

I had my 20-week ultrasound this morning, and it turns out that Piglet is actually Piglette! Of course, they caution that it's impossible to guarantee the gender 100%, but the ultrasound tech seemed pretty confident. We both had a hunch it was going to be a girl. Yay!

In the morning the ship arrived back in San Juan, where we had started a week ago. Our flight wasn't until mid-afternoon, so we signed up for a bus tour to El Yunque National Forest, the only rainforest in the US National Forest system. After that, we had to fly home -- boohoo!

Some of the day's highlights:
* Our last meal on the ship! :(
* El Yunque! Our tour stopped at La Coca Falls and Yokahu Tower, among other places. We also got to do a little bit of hiking in the rainforest.
* Bamboo growing in the wild!
* Rainforest ferns -- very cool to see when they unfurl a brand new frond.
* Jonas trying Malta India at one of the pit-stops and finding it an odd experience. It's a non-alcoholic malt beverage that's meant to be drunk like pop.
* Flight home. Not really a highlight, but it was nice to get home.

The rest of the photos from day 9 begin here.

On St. Croix (USVI) we signed up for a snorkeling tour at Buck Island Reef in the morning, and had the afternoon free for strolling around the port. It was the final port of call on the cruise.

Some of the day's highlights:
* Buck Island Reef National Monument. Great snorkeling and just a fun experience overall with the delicate corals and colorful fish. Several snorkelers reported spotting a nurse shark, but I never got to see it.
* Hiring a taxi to take us a short distance outside Frederiksted so that we could find a geocache in the US Virgin Islands. The cache was hidden in the stately banyan tree in the photo to the right. The taxi driver thought we were crazy.
* Shopping in Frederiksted.
* Yummy ice cream from a cafe near the pier.
* One of the ship's communications towers getting struck by lightning!
* Farewell show in the ship's theater.
* Tonight's dinner: Spinach dip, tomato, basil and mozzarella calzone and chocolate brownie sandwich for me; and [coming later] for Jonas.

The rest of the photos from day 8 begin here.