You may think that I have once again failed in my aim to blog at least once a month, but that is not so! Ohsofancy, I’m afraid I’ve been cheating on you.

Yes, it’s true. I’ve succumbed to the shiny world of YA book blogging, and so I’ve technically posted 10 times in December. Yes, I know you never got that much attention ever. I’m afraid that starting you without a specific theme or audience in mind kind of doomed me before I started. I was never sure what to post about!

I’m not going to stop posting here altogether. I have lots of thoughts I want to get out that don’t fit onto a book blog, and hopefully my habits of posting there will translate into additional posting here!

I just thought it was time you knew the truth. Hugs?

Heartburn bad. Kitty Cuddly.

I am up at 4 in the morning. This is not nice. I woke up at 12:30ish because of the evil heartburn and haven’t been able to get back to sleep. And I do promise that I haven’t been down on my computer the whole time. There were 2 hours of tossing and turning and grabbing more pillows and almost killing a snoring husband in there. Grargh.

But that isn’t a very interesting topic. At least I know that my heartburn is only because of pregnancy and will go away in about 3 weeks. (paniku!) Pregnancy gives me lots of sympathy for people who just get heartburn in the regular course of life. Hugs, people. That must blow.

Hmm. So what else do I have to talk about? There is a kitty contorted in my lap right now. That may not sound like much, but given that I have my knees pulled up and a giant pregnant belly, I don’t actually have a lap right now. It makes it even sweeter. D’aw, thanks for putting up with my laplessness, kitty.

I have read lots of books lately! I read a whole book during my 2 hours on desk this afternoon actually, I’d heard really great things about it and was really drawn in so it went super fast. I did like it, but it wasn’t my top read of 2010 or anything. Shelfari link in the sidebar!

Not to freak anyone out with talk of my ladybits, but I am already dilated! I was 2-3 cms yesterday at my appointment. I am greatly pleased since this helps me feel confident that I will avoid an induction this time, but it also makes me kind of paranoid about travel. I mean, we only have 2 more trips to Louisville, both within the next week, and I know I am totally not likely to go into labor for a good long while… it is just an irrational concern.

Since I haven’t been posting regularly, nobody knows about the bubble wrap saga, but rest assured it has been safely brought to a close and the cutest craft ever is good to go. Whoo!

That is all for now. I’m off to take 2 tums and hopefully go back to sleep (for 2 hours until Malcolm wakes up.)

Happy failure!

Well, I briefly mentioned my list of 27 things to do while I’m 27 in a previous post. Unfortunately, one of the items on my list was to blog at least once a month. It sounded so simple, so ridiculously doable! Well. As you can see, the month of October managed to pass me by.

Ah well. Since there are no official rules for personal goal lists, I am stating that I have the ability to make up the October post by posting twice in another month. I sincerely hope that it will be in November, but as I’ve learned, optimism can be unfounded.

But, one of the reasons that I was a totally lame slacker in October was that I have returned to work! Huzzah! I am once again a proud member of the CCPL staff, now as a part-time Youth Services Librarian. Whoo! I can once again refer to my love of YA literature as work-related, rather than a powerful addiction that directly led me to pursue children’s librarianship in the first place.

In other news, it is barely a month until my second adorable baby is due! Crivens! If you can stand to re-read the shamefully few posts on this blog, you’ll note that it was started just a bit after the arrival of the incredibly handsome Mr. Man, who is now the cutest 20-month old I know. He is smart and huge and sweet, and while I sometimes worry about ruining his life with the addition of what we began referring to as “BabyTroll” while in Iceland (yes, we’re mean), I do know that siblings are awesome and that he will adjust! And hopefully the transition to 2 kids will be less overwhelming than the transition to one and I will be able to keep posting here and not try to make 10 make-up posts in August.

I’m telling you now, future Karen. Even if you are making the rules yourself, that would just be lame. Don’t do it!

Ooh, pretty!

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater!

You can pre-order your signed copy of the final book in the Shiver trilogy now!

Hockey

This past Friday Brian and I once again left Malcolm to the wiles of his Grandma and headed off on an adventure!. Not quite as big an adventure as Iceland, of course, but still totally awesome times.

For my birthday, I may have possibly gently hinted to my dear husband that I’d like to head up and see a hockey game. By telling him that about 40 times. Subtlety is a terrible idea unless you’d actually be okay with not getting what you want.

So we saw the Jackets play the Penguins in a preseason matchup, and I got a sweatshirt and we had nachos and donuts! It was such a fun night. I, of course, forgot my camera so I will just have to trust myself that I’m completing the items on my 27 things to do while I’m 27 list. I haven’t posted it online, though I initially planned to. Maybe later. I’m doing fairly well on it already.

Anyway, the game was fantastic! Except for the Jackets’ execution, because they are the kings of sloppy passing, and lost 4-5. Regardless, we’re now up to one reason I wish I lived in OH. Maybe I should check the job listings up there just in case…

Iceland

Okay, I now accept that this blog will lack a formal structure. Thinking about the structure makes me itchy, and then I don’t post! Sadness. Since there are currently no readers, there is currently no need for the structure. This space exists solely for me to record some memories, and to keep my writing skills from completely atrophying.

So, moving on from that… I went on vacation! And this is far beyond any vacation I’ve taken before – we’re talking international, 8 days, leave your son with his grandma real live adult VACATION. Of course, we’ve been planning this for ages and it ended up occurring to commemorate the end of my first month being unemployed. Ideal, no. But I refused to let the worries I have about finding a library job overshadow the joy of heading off into the unknown with my husband, my favorite adult in the world.

Iceland was wonderful! It is an absolutely gorgeous country, full of mossy countrysides, distant mountains, waterfalls, black sand beaches, and glaciers. SO PRETTY. We are far from expert photographers, but I am still excited to print and display some of our snaps around the house.

The culture is wonderful, too! Very friendly and relaxed, we were utterly spoiled by the high levels of English proficiency in pretty much every adult we encountered. Our early fumbling attempts at Icelandic eventually gave way to a ‘Takk!’ at the end, which is the only thing I would change. Be brave, speak their language!

If we could, I think Brian would move there tomorrow. I can’t even remember all the little things that made us say “It’s like this county was made for you!” but I know the weather is Brian-ideal, they have a very literary culture, don’t watch much TV and eat a lot of lamb and fish.

Plus, all the toddlers in the traditional ring sweaters are aDORable. That was the one souvenir I couldn’t bring myself to buy, as even the tiniest sweater was over $90. But OMG, the cute. It definitely inspired me to work on my knitting skills so that I could one day achieve the cute.

Of course, you just want the pictures. Who could blame you? I’ll try not to overwhelm.

How to enrage a baby:

Put up a gate (which he hates) to keep him safe while you “play” with the vacuum (which he loves) on the stairs (which he also loves.)

No greater betrayal has ever been perpetrated, he’d gladly tell you.

I’m getting slightly into the groove of getting things done with a toddler around, which is good since I’m currently unemployed with a 17 month-old, but vacuuming the stairs had baffled me. And you could tell, because they were gross. So I penned him in, plugged it in, and ignored the wails.

It’s a good thing toddlers are also quick to forgive.

I’ve been doing…

I made this adorable little bunny-ette from a felted goodwill sweater, some embroidery thread and some scraps from Malcolm’s quilt (which I still need to complete.) I was thinking it might be for a niece or nephew due in Oct., but Malcolm is my bunny, and he seems to have taken a liking to it. We’ll see if it holds up to some toddler loving, and if it does I may make another (with gender-neutral ears) for his coming cousin.

In a funk

back later…

Still this week.

There I was, just last week, complaining about the Tiny Man not sleeping past 6:15… and this morning he didn’t get up until 7:20. I was downstairs, BEFORE the baby was awake! How did this miracle occur?!

Well, I actually used my brain. You see, prior to my current library job, I worked 7:30-4:30 5 days a week at an insurance company. Laughs aplenty , but no sleeping in if I wanted any time to say hello to my sister when I dropped off the baby before work. And being as we’re sisters, we generally ended up saying a lot more than hello. SO, it was fine that the baby always woke up at 6:15! If he slept later, I had to go wake him up at 6:30!

But now, I have only 1 day a week I have to get both of us out the door early. ALL those other days… I wouldn’t mind a little more time in the mornings. So, I actually paused, and thought. And you know what I realized? 6:15 is right around sunrise. Malcolm has wooden shades, and an adorable little jungle theme valance, but nothing to actually block the light. So last night I threw up some brown velvet-ish material I had left over from a project, and BOOM. 7:20 am.

I, sadly, feel like a genius. Moment of personal triumph!

In other news, I did yoga yesterday, and I’m thinking about DDRing soon. Movement is good! Sometimes I forget that. I have been totally jealous of Brian’s soccer league, and while I can’t do that while pregnant, there is no reason I have to sit around like a lump. Hooray moving.