Preludes And Nocturnes

I got to wear a pretty dress and marry this very nice boy in a wonderful far away land (click for our wedding webpage).

I’ve been somewhat home sick for the past two days.  I’ve still managed to get in a walk with mom and a stint at the gym this morning.  But otherwise I’ve been taking it easy on the couch and trying to get around this exhausting nausea.  On the upside, mom and dad lent me season one of Boston Legal.

I am loving it!

It has actually made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions  - which is awesome.  I had not ever seen any episodes before, so being confined to the couch without the luxery of snacking away my time has been made much more managable with this to watch.

If you have not seen it, I really recommend season one.  And I was impressed when I realized that Alan on the show is Steph (Steff?) from Pretty in Pink.

You know, the BAD rich boy in comparison to the wussy romantic rich boy.   Molly should have either just gone for Ducky or nobody, but I digress.

Well I made it through the night last night, and that was sure a relief. I think it makes a huge difference just sleeping straight through to the morning.

It wasn’t all good to start. I had gone to the gym in the later evening (from 8-9) and felt really good after that. I actually find that the gym is something I really like to do right now if I have the energy. I’ll give you some weird details I didn’t know before (as I’ve not been pregnant before). Those who have had beebs can certainly feel free to offer up their take on any of this as I’m not saying it is universal. I don’t have enough data yet to be making universal statements Anyhoo, I like going to the gym because what I have found out in the last week and a half, is I am continually aware of my tummy/uterus. CONTINUALLY. You know the little pops and twings you get just before your period -(this is obviously for my girly readers right now), well with pregnancy they just get even more poppy and zingy. So much so that I started to worry I wasn’t really pregnant or that it was going to go away because I really felt like my period was coming.

My uterusy-region is heavy. And solid. And feels like a small melon inside me already. I can feel it pulling on my lower back, and I feel kind of nauseated with the stretchy, pully pressure all the time. My legs are kinda crampy, and I get sore in my hips already.

So in a way the gym is nice because for an hour, I can think about some other part of my body. I can think about the muscles in my calves, the burn in my bicepts, or the work of my butt as I walk up an incline. It is 60 minutes of “not thinking about my uterus and how noisy it seems ALL THE TIME.” It is like a constant chatter. And working out drowns that out for a while.

Not that I don’t like knowing I’m pregnant. I’m thrilled non-stop knowing I’m pregnant. I know my students must be starting to wonder because I cannot help touching my tummy and being amazed that this is real. I sometimes think it can’t have happened this fast. But with all that said, there are times when I like being able to “relax” into non-uterus time. And that pretty much can only be assured by working out.

Anyway, I got home last night and felt awesome. That was great as I had felt like shit before going to the gym. About an hour later, I felt like crap again, though, and decided to just go to bed. I was curled up on my side (having taken my pill for the Sickness) and was thinking there was no chance I could sleep. I was aching and feeling like I was on a rocking boat of doom. This is pretty much what I’ve been waking up with at 3am, so I knew it well. The thing is, it isn’t just upset tummy, but it is also just a really discomfort.  Like having the flu.

But the part where I have the best husband ever? He (of course) was trying to help out and got me some ginger ale and a cracker. Then he gently started rubbing my lower back for a few minutes.  He made sure it wasn’t making things worse as sometimes when you have an upset tummy being touched can make it feel worse.  But no, not worse - and after about two minutes the heavens opened, angels sang, and the upset tummy went away. TOTALLY AWAY. You know that moment of relief when you stop feeling like you are going to be ill?  That most beautiful moment of calm and peace?  Oh yeah.

And I slept through the night.  What a good husband *love*.

I’m sick.

Again.

I have a cold this time (no antibiotics needed this time, thank goodness) (no barfing my guts out this time, thank goodness). Just a garden variety snuffly red-nosed cold. I’m rather tired of being sick. Really, this is just silly. In the past month and a bit this is sickness number three. My body is telling me something - and I think it is that I’m to stay in bed and read the rest of my Sarah Waters book tomorrow (Fingersmith). My husband agrees with my body about me taking it easy and keeps bringing me tea and biscuits. Tonight he made me tabouli and falafel. I’m a lucky girl. Aside from the red nose, that is.

Okay, today has been… interesting. I’m sick. I had to teach this morning and work other job all afternoon. International movers call LAST NIGHT to say “we’ll be at the customs office at <some random wrong address> tomorrow at 8am, meet us there with international money order you just keep lying around your house for a few thousand dollars USD and here’s a blank-air spot where we’re probably saying our cell number.”

So, um, today has been interesting. Yes. Jim trying to explain where they need to go for Customs (we had already researched all this and I think we’re the only people in northern BC who knows the right place). There was the totally wrong place, the old place, and the new place as of last year. We knew the right one. At the airport - how random is that? And how FREAKEN FAR OUT OF TOWN!! I’m at work as I have to teach. Jim has no car to access. Airport is 20 min away.

Jim manages to catch airporter as it was right around the corner on it’s route. WHOOT! Nine bucks instead of 30. When he gets there the movers are kinda grumbly at Jim about, well, whatever.  They are just kinda poopy and demanding and wanting him to have been there quicker (wha? we couldn’t have driven there quicker..).

They all go in to Customs and then they a got finger waggled at them by the customs dude (ha!) as they should have arranged things better - there is only one dude and if he was out or sick or if a flight had come in that could have meant waiting hours or even DAYS….  He tells them their company is not organized and this is not how they should do things.  Not totally the moving dude’s fault, but a bit of a confirmation that the gong-show-ness is not from our end.

Then they have our wrong home address. That is taken care of. Then they won’t unload without full payment, I’m busy teaching enough of my class that they feel they got a class (our last week of classes), I’m using my lunch hour super early to run down to the bank and get the money order and run home, they’re threatening to charge us “waiting time” for at home and at the airport (WTF??) claiming they gave up 24 hours notice to get our side in order (not).  I arrive to a pacing husband and a sister hearding kitties into the basement. Husband has phone the head office and made it clear how he feels about all this and the notion of a fee for waiting.

The movers? A dude and this little tiny lady. FOR REAL!

So they start taking stuff out and I hang for a minute to see if anything is going to explode. They are unloading all this stuff from other moves (huge truck) and we’re like - okay, if they couldn’t unload our stuff without payment (I dunno, fair enough) they certainly could have staged things a bit with the five other households between the end of the truck and our stuff….

I have to get to work. There is furniture all over the road and our lawn. I’m thinking “garage sale”, but have to get to work. I see this little old couple coming down the road who will probably try to buy something. Almost worth seeing what they want, but little old people at garage sales always just offer you way too little for things. I once had a lady once try to get me to drop the price on a little figuring. She kept pointing out it was chipped. I kept pointing out I was only charging twenty-five cents.

So yeah, Jim just called. The stuff is in the house. The movers are loading up the lawn furniture. The kitties are out of the basement and climbing everything. There was no demand for waiting fees so Jim’s call to head office paid off. Jim kept saying what a bummer of a birthday this had ended up being for me with the stress and the running around (let alone the sick and the working two jobs).  But I’m just thinking, for the first time in all of this courtship, in the years and years of paperwork and everything, finally  Jim and I have all our things together. We are totally living together, our stuff is together, we’re together.

Is a good birthday.

Well, Jim and I have decided to take our relationship one step further. We figured after the years of living in sin, the year of being married, we are now ready to both be married AND live together. The kitties and the Bears all seem very excited about this new development. Not to mention me and Jim, too.

In preparation, I’ve cleaned the house, made soup, and am going to buy some groceries as I’m not really sure what I’ve been eating for the past week. (I do know, fruit. I bought two big trays from Costco and have pretty much had that and frozen fish & veggies all week.)

Also in preparation I’m trying to get more course prep done. My class starts next tuesday and I’ve pretty much got the first week sketched out - but I’m going to do up the full on teaching outline for myself and confirm the stuff I need photocopied for the whole week. Get that done Monday as I won’t have time throughout the rest of the week. I teach Tu, We, Th, Fri from 8:30-11:30 and then work my regular job. So, might not be too much blogging for the next three weeks.

*hugs*

But can we have a hurr-rah as the husband’s household items are now In Transit to here!  Husband will arrive soon too.

My WMST class starts in less than a week.  I have the syllabus done, the reading list done, and really - that kinda is a whole lot of the work.  I have pretty much mapped out the big picture and I’m gathering really good info for the individual class content/structure.  I will sit down over the next couple nights and plot out the first week (four classes of three hours each) and that gives me this weekend to plot out week two and three.

*head explodes*

But even with the head exploding - can I just say how much I freaken love teaching?  It makes me happy.  I’m sitting with the soundtrack to Once More With Feeling playing on my little speakers and mapping out the readings and the in-class assignments and the movies and shows we’ll watch with the questions they’ll have for considering during the shows and the topics we’ll break into groups for… and I’m really excited.

Tired, but excited.

Not as tired as poor Jim.  It has been a rough past couple of days and now he’s got the typical sore throat to go with the stress.  But the stuff is moved out and out of his hands, so now he will just visit with his parents and then he can arrive here and relax!  Yay!

Ohhh, ahhh - I have now discovered buying stamps online. A package arrived Monday afternoon. I’m peeing my pants in excitement about actually having some time to stamp. First I’ll show you what I’ve done last week and this weekend with the stamp Carmen ordered in with her order (we swap off ordering because then we can pretend we aren’t spending as much).

Last week’s stamp and cards:

And the cards I made:

And my new stamps from Monday. There was a ‘yarn’ stamp and a set of letters that I can form into words - here’s the combo of those two things:

See what I mean? Peeing. My. Pants.

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. Awwwww. I lurve my husband and I will see him soon. How exciting is that!! A year ago we were in Costa Rica and it was the most magical two weeks I’ve ever experienced. I will make another post just about my husband and being married and everything - hopefully actually make that post tomorrow, but we’ll have to see if work is as much of an ASS SUCK as it has been this week. Thanks for all the hugs and love and words of support. I sometimes come here during the day and read your comments from under my desk when I’m hiding.

xoxo

My hubby made me carrot cake before he left and put it in the freezer for me to have on Valentine’s Day.

Awwwwwww.

So today I have TWO big pieces in my lunch.   In fact, it has replaced the spot of sammich for today’s lunch.  Why?  Because days like today need lots of cake.  Especially cake made with lurve.

And just so the categories of today’s post can be a rather interesting mix, I’ll also mention that today and tomorrow are supposed to be THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS re: uni jobs, etc.  I’ve heard Black Friday thrown about and so on.  Programs to be cut, people to be cut, yadda yadda.  And can I just say “get the hell on it!” - if we’re getting laid off, let’s just get laid off for the love of the sweet baby jesus.  Because, um, productivity at times like this?  Rumor mills?  Inability to really get into bigger projects because one is unsure who to list as the contact - yeah.   Woud any of you throw it back in my face if I said I might just be up for being laid off right now as I’m tired of the uncertainty and I really don’t know HOW this place will function/be any fun once it is all done?

Now, on to last night’s crafting: holy moly am I loving this new technique where I print the sayings directly onto cardstock and then trim (ie: replaces having to buy ninety million stamps for everything under the sun for now).  So I’ve done up Happy Easter, Happy Mother’s Day, Happy Birthday, With Deepest Sympathy, etc.

Any more suggestions?

I’ll put up some pictures this weekend.  And I think I’m going to open a little online store soon!  WHOO!

Jim just phoned to say he got in to nyc okay. Started opening a letter as we talked. Read out to me the letter TELLING US JIM IS APPROVED FOR IMMIGRATION!!!!

Yes, we got through Stage Two (the 4-15mos stage) in 6 weeks! over Christmas!

This is the passport request where we get the stuff and the stamps and the stuff!!! The next time Jim arrives on Canadian soil (carpet?) he will be allowed to stay for longer than EVER BEFORE!

I am so happy. But I am also so exhausted. Oh yeah, and PMSing as well. HA!

hee!!