Callie Ann

This little girl, I tell you ... she does amazing things for my productivity levels :). These past few days have been full of nesting. I spent 4 hours cleaning our bedroom and bathroom yesterday, scrubbing walls and dusting lightbulbs, without even feeling overworked. I thought it might be a fluke, but today I'm baking .... from scratch ... which has happened all of 5 or 6 times in my life. Seriously, I hate baking.

I know it's not LITERAL nesting, like painting her room or other things that directly affect her, but they're still "mama" based activities. So, let's hope this keeps up! I slept MUCH better last night, despite discomfort and back pain, out of sheer exhaustion. Thanks, Callie :).

In other news, I FINALLY downloaded anna netrobko's opera album (and Madame Butterfly, too). I was trying to figure out what music I would like to bring to listen to when I'm in labor, and I since find opera incredibly relaxing, I thought I'd download some new stuff. All that new music definitely brightened my morning of baking :).

Now I'm about to go get ready for John's promotion ceremony - I'm so proud of him! Lieutenant Commander Kollar :). Since, apparently, all 04's are just mindless drones that obey the will of the skipper, he's been affectionately referring to this ceremony as the "lobotomy." So, cheers, John, to your lobotomy :)!

tembo :)

I just wanted to post this fun photo of John and me riding a tembo (!!) at the renaissance festival.

Tembo pole pole :)

2-DAY SCHOOL WEEK...

... and, for John, a 2-day work week ... хорошый!!!! John and I are headed to Florida on Thursday to spend the weekend with his mom and step-dad. Not only will it be great to see them, but I'm not gonna lie, someone sunshine would be very nice right now. So, Happy Thanksgiving to you, dear reader, wherever your travel plans take you.

Though this pictures holds no relevance to anything, it's one of my favorite pictures of my девочка, моя собака, Scarlett. Could she BE any funnier looking in this one?? This was on our snow day last year. We could go sledding down this little hill we have and the weims would take off running behind us, as fast as they could, looking crazed. The other is a picture of Clark Gable, looking adorable after having eaten a nutritious meal of ... snow.

Up

I hated Up. John and I rented it tonight, thinking it would be a light-hearted children's movie full of ponies and rainbows.

IT WASN'T.

It had:

blood

death

tragic loss

disillusionment

violence

angry dogs

murderous "good" guys

nearly scary adventure elements

bitter old men

and probably more things. You start out the movie with this young boy and young girl who fall in love, and you think oh this will be lovely ... then they show them growing up, unable to have children, and when he finally tries to make her dreams of exploring come true,

SHE DIES.

Isn't that awful?

Bottom line: avoid it.

And so it begins

I've never had a blog, never thought about blogging, never wanted to blog. But there are many times that I think to myself, gee, that's an amazing quote, or that's an amazing photo, and I would like to share it with everyone.

SO

I'm going to give this a try.

I would give you a quote from the book I am reading currently, but that might put you to sleep. "Scraping By," a book on wage labor, slavery and survival in early Baltimore. A book read NOT for pleasure, but for a ridiculous (supposed) women's history course. Scarlett is enjoying it though, because the 120 (!!) pages I am required to read tonight means she gets to stay curled up on my lap for hours, while Clark wanders aimlessly around the house, occasionally walking up to me, woofing (a small bark), then returning near the kitchen to stare at the refrigerator, tuck his tail, and look nervous.

Call me crazy, but something about that makes me feel quite unsafe.

Oh clark.