Today is "Parent Observation Day" at ballet. This means that parents are expected to go watch a session of their child's ballet class, cringe when their child is not doing something correctly, and be completely unable to discuss any of it with their child until the end of the class, at which point the child does not remember most of the class.

I'm a little skeptical of parent observation day. Today, however, my mother is likely going to be the adult observer. In theory, we could both go - there is no limit on the number of adults - but in practice, you are strongly urged not to bring siblings, and Jacob is exactly the type of sibling they are wanting to exclude.

I'm not sure what we're going to do about ballet next year. I am not 100% confident that she'll even want to continue, but assuming she does, I don't know if we'll go back to the same school. It's a great school. The teachers are wonderful. It has an excellent program for learning dance. I'm just beginning to wonder if it's not a little too focused for what Gillian wants. I don't know. It would definitely be easier just to keep going there than to find somewhere else.


Jacob is asking to watch "Safety Dance" on youtube now, except that he calls it "we can dance," which I suppose makes sense.

I need to eat breakfast. I fed him and didn't feed myself. Whoops.

The back bathroom (the one attached to mine and Sam's bathroom) has a clog in the pipe. Stab. We've used Liquid Plumber once so far, but now we need to go get more to use it a second time. We discovered all of this last night, just as we were going to bed. At 1 am. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just one of the things back there, but the clog is past where they join, it seems, so the toilet, sink, and shower all are out of commission. I am not impressed.

We watched V for Vendetta last night, which I hadn't seen, and did enjoy. Tonight I'm going to watch 'The White House Pro-Am' (this week's episode on ww_renaissance). I should watch Syriana, which we also have from Netflix, but I don't think I will. Tomorrow, maybe.

I am really tired. I have no idea why, but I have been for a few days. So, no, it's not last night's one am thing, I was tired yesterday and Friday and Thursday all. Weird.

This is weird. The new update box, I mean.

What is auto-formatting?

Gillian was in a little Christmas concert tonight. She cannot sit still nor can she be quiet, bless her heart. She's also tiny compared to most of the other first graders. They sang a few songs, she 'bullied' my parents into coming to it, and that was that. Jacob didn't know quite what to think.

Why do sites default to sans serif fonts? I love serif fonts. I must be weird.

The cat loves me. Everyone should have that cat-love or some equivalent.

I think I need sleep. I was up early. *snoozes*

A movement at the door from this room to the backyard just distracted me - so I looked up to find a huge pale orange cat staring in at me. The cat looked more shocked than I did, to be honest. Last night (was it last night? Maybe it was earlier tonight. I can't remember.) there was a crying sound outside, and a black cat was visiting. Then there is the fact that my parents and Gillian saw a possum (live, mind) on the same patio Saturday night. The possum isn't, really, that odd - primroseburrows, remember the one we saw back in July when you were here? - but the cats are. We normally just get visits from 'One-Eyed Jack' (so named because one eye is clouded over) and another grey tabby that wears a pink and white flea collar. These two cats from the last 24 hours are different cats. If I didn't know better I'd say Daisy was in heat... except of course that she's spayed and everything.

Oh. Hmm. The neighbours have a kitten that's about six months old, and she spends time outdoors. Could she be going into heat at this age?


... okay, I swore to myself that I would go to bed early tonight, and here I am, less than thirty minutes away from my 'usual' bedtime. Oy.

I decided I wanted to try my hand at writing an article. It might never get published, mind, but the exercise of it would be good anyway. So, I'm soliciting for any comments any of you might have concerning competition in parenting/mothering/anything related. From the obvious developmental comparisons in the first year to the more strange ("I breastfed for 3 1/2 years!" "Oh, I only breastfed for 2 1/2 years"...), anything would be appreciated. :) And if you feel like linking to this, I'd be obliged. :)

Kelly, I missed you by all of fifteen minutes, I think. Maybe less.

It was cold and yet I stood outside talking to two other people after my meeting tonight, because this starbucks closes at 10 pm, which is just ridiculous. Ten! I am used to the ones in less suburban parts, still, where they are open until at least 11 pm. I do not think I could survive living any farther out than I do, unless I moved onto a big-ass farm or something. Either way I have to become rich, to either find a nice house in a city that still has a yard, or buy lots of land and have goats and horses and chickens. But for now where I am will do nicely because I am *sort* of in a suburban area, but I'm not really close to the *really* suburban part and I'm close enough to the perimeter than I can get inside it easily. I really wasn't made for suburbia.

I got a new jacket. It is black and fleecey and feels nice and soft. And it is warm. Hooray!

it was grey and foggy here today, which was not fun to drive in. I didn't get everything done off of my to do list today. Luckily I didn't have 'make tomorrow's to-do list' on my to-do list, because that would just have added another thing I didn't get done. Or something like that.

good night, all.

I owe people responses to comments... I promise they are coming. Just not until at least tomorrow. This is my ten-twenty minutes where I theoretically have nothing I have to be doing. Theoretically.

I thought that I had finished up most of my Christmas shopping yesterday. When I was at the bookstore and looking for a book to finish up Gillian's present, I happened upon a book that I had had on her amazon wishlist for - no joke - two years. So I said to myself, Self! I think I shall buy this!

So I did.

Then I came home and signed on as her to delete it from her amazon wishlist, and wouldn't you know? Someone, in the less-than-a-month since I last looked, has bought that book off her list. So. Tomorrow I have to go back to the bookstore and return the book.

Other than that, and hoping I win an ebay auction, I am done with Christmas shopping. No malls involved after Thanksgiving (and barely before), no shopping after November 30. Now I can actually enjoy the rest of the season. And wrap leisurely, and all of that.


I had a midwife appointment this morning. Everything is fine, yay. It's v. hard for them to hear the baby's heartbeat because the placenta is implanted right smack dab in the front middle of my uterus. So they can definitely hear the placenta well. :P I'm measuring right at 24 cm, which is correct for 24 weeks. Overall, I am disgustingly normal. ;) My bloodwork came back and it's normal too, except my neutrophiles were elevated. Which makes sense, since I had the blood drawn about a week after I had that massive nasty virus. Other than that, also disgusting normal.

Then we left the midwives and got cinnamon biscuits from Bojangles, at Gillian's request. She cracks me up some days. We came home and finished up preschool for the day and then each had a biscuit. We were sitting down eating them when the schoolbus went by. I was awake this morning (not for good!) when the schoolbus went by picking up kids. I can't imagine Gillian being gone for that long during the day. I mean, the bus comes by at 7 am, and returns at 2:30 pm. Even if I were to take her and pick her back up, it'd still be just before 8 am to just at 2 pm. That's a long time. Especially since if she did go next year, she'd barely be five. Whatever happened to half-day kindergarten, I'd like to know? *sigh*

Bleh. Clothes are dry, which means I have No Excuse not to leave the house and go buy stamps. Whinge. I should have gone to the grocery store today too but sometimes there just isn't enough time in the day. Tomorrow. Tonight I am going out and I have to be at Tracey L.'s house at 5:30 to carpool. Eek.


Random comment - occasionally, I feel like I'm making a political statement when I drive. Not because of my bumper stickers, but because of the sheer fact that it's a car and not a minivan or a SUV, even though I have a kid. I will feel even more this way come March, I suspect. I think it's kind of sad that I'm that unusual around here.

Reading my flist reminded me that I had a very strange dream last night involving myself, a Victoria's Secret superstore (with a playground in the middle of it), the character Catherine from CSI:, and aegeus. Don't ask me.

My car is once again legal. I forgot to get my renewal before my birthday so I had to go get its emissions tested and then pay the lovely tag fee + ad valorum tax to get my little '2005' sticker. Now, they were replacing plates this year, but because the state budget is in such a bad place, they changed their minds around June or July, so the rest of us get to keep our old (prettier!) plates. Hooray for a autumn birthday, I say.

The bad news with that, though, is that if I want a vanity plate whenever we get another car, it will be in the new style. Ah well. I want a vanity plate rather badly. Silly, but eh.

I thought I had an appointment this morning for blood work, so I went upstairs to check last night around 11 pm. Turns out I was wrong, the appointment was yesterday at 11 am. Oops. So now I'm going to have to wait yet again to get my bloodwork done. I'll be lucky if the midwife doesn't think I'm deliberately avoiding bloodwork. I swear to god I'm not.

I feel like I should write something tonight, but I'm just not sure what. We shall see.

If you honestly think Harry, post-OotP, would be consumed by guilt over Sirius's death, please comment and tell me why. I really don't get this tendency to make Harry suddenly feel guilty. Whether or not he SHOULD feel guilty is a different issue, but making a 15 year old look at things that way? I just don't get it. Convince me, if you think you can.

(Of course, if you agree with me, you can tell me that too. :D )

I got up at 7:30 this morning. I went to Publix by 9 pm. I went to Old Navy. I went to Payless. I went to the ATM. My ATM is closing!! :(( I came home. Unloaded car. Did not put up groceries. Did preschool with Gillian. Went back out to Kmart, then Harry's. Swung by home, put perishables up, went to Other Publix to get a couple of other things. Came home. Unloaded car. Sort of put up groceries. Placed order online*. Thought about placing another order.

Still have to return many books to library, exercise, shower, finish preschool with Gillian, go to ATM again, place other order, and go to dinner.

Am crazy. Feet hurt.


*Have gotten confirmation email. I am order 1964. I wanted to be a different year in the 1960s, dammit!