well.notes

I’m trying to write more, and that means writing more about what I actually do in my life instead of just what I think may be interesting to others. So … sorry if it gets boring.

One of the things that I do is teach 2-year-old Sunday School at church. It can be quite the challenge, trying to find a way to relate a lot of abstract concepts about God to something that makes sense to a preschooler. I realized today that it would be a good idea to have notes about what’s worked well for some of the recurring lessons that we have. I’ve tried looking up other Sunday School lessons online, but it’s hard to work through the truly horrible clip art and lessons that talk more about stories or characters rather than the character and actions of God (which is what the whole point of the stories should be).

My favorite so far has been when the lesson was about Jesus healing a sick boy. I tell the story in a couple of ways throughout the morning and then ask the kids questions to see if any of it sticks. So I told the story (Jesus healing the centurion’s servant), and asked, “Who was sick?”

“JESUS!”

Um … no.

Anyway, today’s lesson was about Jesus feeding the huge crowd with food shared by a little boy – the five loaves of bread and two fish. If you’re not familiar with the story, a huge crowd of (around 5000, according to traditional tellings) people were listening to Jesus teach all day and didn’t bring any food. Jesus saw they were hungry, and wanted to feed the people. The disciples told him that not even a year’s wages would feed all these people. One boy had two small fish and five barley loaves, and offered them up. Jesus thanked God and then told his disciples to start passing out the food. They ended up with 12 baskets of leftovers.

What I loved about the lesson today was that it focused not on the boy and how he shared (which most tellings do), but instead on the fact that Jesus saw that people had a need and wanted to meet it because he cares for people. Excellent, excellent message, and the miracle part of it is a bonus. We got to talk about ways we could help people when we see they need something.

Then we colored cut-out fish and bread loaf pictures and decorated paper bags to make baskets. We all put our fish and loaves in our baskets, and then we had a snack on a picnic blanket in the room. First we had five “loaves” (pretzel squares) and two fish (goldfish crackers), and then they had extras after they ate the first part. The craft and the snack actually seemed to help convey the idea of Jesus making a lot of food out of a little bit. It also let us talk about (again) how Jesus saw that people were HUNGRY and wanted to help.  (We said the word “HUNGRY” very loudly.)

I’m just glad that this one went well. Some of the other lessons are just WAY over their heads, but we keep trying!

23 weeks!, originally uploaded by dormousie.

Oh wow … it’s been nine weeks since I’ve updated, and that’s a long time in the life of a developing baby! The picture is from two weeks ago, but just imagine a little more roundness added to the belly.

How far along? 25 weeks, 2 days

Total Weight Gain: +11. Not too bad, since I’m mentally adding the 12 pounds I still had left from Seth. (Which would make it 23, if we’re all adding together.)

Maternity Clothes? Oh, most definitely.

Stretch Marks? No new ones! The Palmer’s Skin Therapy Oil has definitely helped reduce the ones I already had.

Sleep? Thank goodness for the Hypnobabies tracks. They help me get to sleep, stay asleep longer, and get back to sleep.

Best Moment This Week: Feeling the little tiny baby knees, elbows, or feet pushing out against my abdominal wall.

Movement: Lots of it!

Food Cravings: I still want bagels, but now I only want Everything bagels.

Gender: We still think it’s a girl

Labor Signs: No, but I’m definitely feeling the Braxton-Hicks this time. I never noticed them with Seth. I especially feel them when I walk or stand too much, or after bending over a lot.

Belly Button: Streeeeetching out. I may yet have an outie with this one!

What I miss: I still miss sushi alot, and the great weather is starting to make me miss margaritas!

What I am looking forward to: the end of the second trimester – it’s coming faster than I expected!

Weekly Wisdom: I shouldn’t expect to drive home from a glucose tolerance test.

Milestones: Starting to see and feel the little baby parts poking on the outside of my stomach!

15 weeks, 4 days, originally uploaded by dormousie.

How far along? 16 weeks today

Total Weight Gain: (?) since pre-pregnancy. I have no idea, really. My face is thinner, I can still wear most pants with a Bella Band, and I don’t think I’ve gained much, if anything.

Maternity Clothes? I’m definitely in the maternity clothes now or stretching my regular pants with the Bella Band. That’s actually starting to get really uncomfortable, though, so I think I’ll be switching to just maternity pants soon. The shirts are a definite; my regular shirts are snug across the middle or just not long enough.

Stretch Marks? I get occasional red marks but no lasting stretch marks. I started using the Palmer’s stretch mark therapy oil to at least help the ones I already have.

Sleep? I’m starting to wake up early in the morning and have trouble getting back to sleep.

Best Moment This Week: Going to bed early and getting a little more rest!

Movement: I do feel little jabs and squirms, especially when the band of the maternity pants presses against the baby.

Food Cravings: Einstein Brothers asiago cheese bagels, toasted, with a little cream cheese. Mmm. Otherwise, I keep getting strong aversions.

Gender: Still thinking girl

Labor Signs: Nope

Belly Button: Becoming more of a crater than a button. Seth likes to poke at it in the mornings.

What I miss: Sushi!

What I am looking forward to: Hearing the heartbeat again on Monday during our appointment.

Weekly Wisdom: You kind of have to remember to eat enough food, or you don’t feel good.

Milestones: Four months completed!

Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I think I set my expectations too high for this book. I thought the idea was fascinating, but that fascination didn’t carry throughout the book. The two main characters were just sort of “eh” for me. I sort of liked them, but I just didn’t care that much about them. It’s hard to be interested in a three-book story arc if the characters don’t grab you. I might give the second book a try just to see if the plot development helps me care more about the characters. It won’t be a huge loss at this point if I can’t find the second book.

View all my reviews >>

My Christmas cards went out a little late this year, but we were trying to time them to get to family first and then friends. However, I was later than I intended!  To make it up to everyone who hasn’t received it yet, and to share with everyone online, here’s a special version of the card.  Be sure to click through to the end!

Make a Smilebox greeting

About a year ago, an unhappy accident occurred in our house. My sweet husband accidentally knocked my laptop, an IBM ThinkPad, off a tv tray that I (or he – I can’t remember) was using as a desk. Crash, boom, bang, and the laptop wouldn’t boot up completely anymore.

We finally got around to sending it off to my uncle, a wizard at rescuing data and restoring broken machines to working order. (He should be a wizard at it; after all, that is his job.) He installed a new hard drive, cleaned the data up as best he could, and sent it back to us. We just got it back today, and I was so excited.

It boots, but it won’t allow me to reset my password. I logged in as the Administrator; it won’t even open the User Accounts window, or the Windows Update window, or pretty much anything else. I can, however, access all of the data files under my real profile. I’ll be backing those gobs (that is what GB stands for, right?) to DVD all night long.

You see, after gnashing of teeth and frantic Googling, I think there is only one option left. That is why I’m now creating recovery discs that will restore the laptop to factory settings.

The joy of machinery, eh?

Please don’t ruin my Christmas cheer by saying I wouldn’t have any of these issues with a Linux, Apple, or Sumerian Cuneiform system. Seriously. Why kick someone when she’s down?

(Written on 12/22; published on 12/28)

I saw this pregnancy milestone tracker idea at Delia’s blog and loved it. I’m going to try to blog more through this pregnancy than I did during Seth’s. I haven’t decided if I’ll do the Project 365 again, but I’ll at least do a weekly picture. I loved having the visual record of my pregnancy with Seth, but not so much the self-induced pressure to take a semi-interesting picture every day.

How far along? 12 weeks, 5 days

Total Weight Gain: (-1) since pre-pregnancy. This makes me happy since I still had about 12 pounds left from carrying Seth.

Maternity Clothes? I feel like I’ve “popped” over the last week. I’m still attempting to wear looser pants, but I think I’m going to have to go all maternity pants or Belly Band.

Stretch Marks? No, but I feel like the ones on the insides of my legs (from Seth, post-delivery) are a brighter purple than they used to be. I need to find a rich lotion I like since the smell of the Burt’s Bees stuff is making me sick.

Sleep? I feel worn out all the time.

Best Moment This Week: Finding out that not only is the baby growing and moving just fine, but I’m actually two days further along than I thought! My last ultrasound (8 weeks) put my due date 10 days beyond what I thought it should be, which had me worried. Yesterday’s nuchal translucency ultrasound showed a healthy, very active baby who measures two days AHEAD of what I thought! Official due date: July 1!

Movement: I’ve thought I felt occasional movement, but I could be wrong. I didn’t feel Seth until about 14 weeks. After seeing how active this baby was on the ultrasound yesterday, though, I could really be feeling movement!

Food Cravings: The peanut craving seems to have subsided. I’ve been all about the Wendy’s Spicy Chicken sandwiches, though.

Gender: I feel like this baby is a girl. Will thinks so, too, and swears that Seth said, “SISTER” during the ultrasound yesterday.

Labor Signs: Nada

Belly Button: the same

What I miss: Sushi, and being alert!

What I am looking forward to: Life getting back to a more normal pace and schedule in the second trimester.

Weekly Wisdom: There’s nothing to be gained by worrying, but prayer never hurts.

Milestones: Nuchal translucency ultrasound looked great! Baby’s heartbeat was around 159.

Obviously I haven’t really been feeling the Holidailies obligation. Oh well: I’m over it!

I spent tonight frogging* and reknitting one of the Leyburn socks I’m knitting for my mom. These blasted socks have been in progress since I was pregnant with Seth. I do at least have one sock done and have started the second; that’s more than I can usually say for my sock knitting.

* Frogging = ripping out knitting, because you rip it, rip it, rip it. Yes, knitters are punsters. Ho ho hee.

The problem is this second sock. I have frogged and reknit so many times that I can’t keep track. I know I’ve taken the heel out at least twice, and I think I’ve frogged the ankle twice too.

I’m hoping this is the last time around. These really are lovely socks, but I’m starting to hate the pattern. It’s easy enough, but I keep having to tweak it so it won’t be too baggy or too tight. I also have one Leyburn sock half-knit for me, in a different yarn. It was way too baggy in the ankle, although it fit fine in the foot. Grr.

Like I said, I’m starting to hate the pattern.

I don’t think that Twitter is really the death of blogging as we know it. I think that if anything is going to kill blogging, it’s going to be much more mindless:

Facebook games.

As I sat there, mindlessly “harvesting” circus peanuts from elephants, angora wool I can never actually knit with, and grapefruit that is fruiting next to red maple trees, I thought, “What the heck am I doing?”

I could be writing something fascinating or heart-baring, or I could be making Christmas cookies. Oh, well I can make cookies or pies or cakes in Facebook’s YoVille game, so that’s taken care of. And those baked goods won’t increase my hip size!

I could go visit friends, go dancing, or go run races with them. I forgot, though: that’s what Pet Society is for, because we can all do those things as our animal alter egos and wear cute costumes and live in a house decorated with things we could never afford in real life and have the added bonus of not needing dusting.

Speaking of Pet Society, I actually had a nightmare last night that was based on Pet Society. Not that I’ve actually logged into that game for months, probably, but I dreamed that it was all REAL and that people were living in this huge building with different tiers of suites based on progression through these levels and it turned out these levels were all based on some sort of worship of this weird alien/demon thing and it was my job to disconnect the server that was funneling all the propaganda material in and the whole place was watched over by a guy in drag with really heavy make-up and … well, I think it’s obvious that Will and I just spent a week watching series 2 of Doctor Who, isn’t it?

So if you don’t see me around for a while, stop by one of my Facebook restaurants or cafés, or check on my farms, and I’ll probably be by once in a while. Because, you know, that’s the easiest way to be brain dead and still act like I’m interacting with people.

So last night I started this whole running commentary post while Will and I watched the first few episodes of the first season of Buffy. I typed along on my little iPhone, giggling to myself.

Then the app ate it. Yay.

It’s been a grey, foggy day in Houston- town. If it were cold, I’d think (as a friend said on Facebook) the dementors were circling.

I’d say more, but look at that: the app ate half my post again. I think that means it’s time for bed.