10 on the 10th: January 2011

So it's one day late.  Mrs. B, my pre-school teacher, had it right: 'struggles with prompt completion of task.'  Oh well...I'm getting better!

1.  I don't have any formal Resolutions for this fresh new year...but I do have some goals:
A.  Continue plugging away at the calendarizing organization.  I struggle with remembering obligations, with planning ahead, with completing tasks.  I've got to stay on top of my calendar or everything falls apart!
B.  Lose all the baby weight + more by the end of this year.  Baby's coming in March (if he's late, it might even be April!), and I'll have 9-10 months to lose all this mass + more.  I have a secret goal in mind (I told my husband the number, but nobody else knows), and I'll let you know how it goes.
C.  Document more.  I have a Baby's First Year calendar that has stickers (I love stickers!  The fad in 4th or 5th grade was collecting stickers in sticker albums and that was awesome!) and I realllllllly want to stay on that.  I also want to document my own feelings, emotions, and responses to what will be a Very Momentous Year.

2.  Today is Day 2 of 2 Snow Days.  Yesterday was a nice treat to sleep in and hang around all day with my husband, but today I'm getting a little cabin feverish.  Sheesh.  Plus we're getting low on milk, so I may have to cut back on one of my pregnancy cravings: a bowl of Crispix cereal every evening.

3.  Speaking of Pregnancy Cravings, I can't say as I've had any new/unusual cravings.  (Pickles and ice cream?  Bean burritos?  Nope.)  I can report that EVERYthing tastes better (blame it on all that estrogen in my body) so I'm savoring everything.  I can still gobble down the cookies/candy/sweets, but I've really been enjoying a few things in particular:
A.  Store Brand No-Sugar-Added Apple Juice.  So. Good.  It tastes so apple-y!
B.  Crispix with milk.  In the evening.  Instead of dessert after dinner.
C.  Apples.  Fuji apples in particular.  Juicy, crisp, crunchy, tart, sweet....oh man.

4.  The nicest thing about this snow has been the way it reflects the sky.  Instead of a drab brown ground, the ground has been coated with lovely snow, which changes color all day long.  It's starting to get that bluish tinge right now: it's almost 5 and the sun is going to bed, bringing the blueness of the night winter sky with it.  Bonus:  There is still snow on the tree branches, making the sky-snow blueness echo on the tree limbs as well.

5.  My favorite thing about winter is the loveliness of the leafless trees silhoutetted against the sky.  It's particularly wonderful in the evenings, when the sky changes colors and looks like a watercolor wash.

6.  We've been busy as bees, cleaning out boxes and boxes of Stuff, making room for our new family member who already has a lot of stuff (and we haven't even gotten his crib yet!).  Anyway, I came across some memorabilia from That Time I Lived in Hawaii.  I used to buy myself postcards, date them, and write something memorable on them--something descriptive--something I wanted to remember.  I found a sheaf of Hawaii Postcards and the memories I'd written there and I'm so thankful to have documented those thoughts!  I had a Very Sanctifying Life Experience while living there and am still sorting through repercussions of the sins committed against me, the same way boxes of old memorabilia need to be sorted through and purged.  But--what a blessing to have good memories documented on those Hawaii Postcards.  Because that season, like all seasons, was a mix of sanctifyingly hard and memorably happy.

7.  Other memorably pleasant things:  when I was a child and was home sick, I got to watch daytime TV.  Some very rare times, Dad was sick too and stayed home with me.  We watched The Price is Right together.  I still think of those sick days when I watch The Price is Right.

8.  You know what else Dad and I watched together once, that season when I lived at home after I graduated from college?  We watched an entire season of The Bachelor together.  Yes, yes we did.  And we both got into it.

9.  I came across the season premiere of The Bachelor the other day and it made me wish I could live near my parents again, because I'd so totally watch this season with Dad.  He'd join me too--last week when I was still on Christmas Vacation the TV Network was promoting the crap out of it (*slap!* 'That's from every woman in America!' spoken in the voice Barbie would use if she had a voice) and we had a reminiscing moment.  Oh yes, we would totally watch this season together if we had the chance.  We'd pop popcorn and watch intently...the whole 9 yards.  Hah!

10.  Also, during my childhood, we watched Miss America every year.  Mom and Dad and Sister and Grandma and I all gathered around with pizza and Coke (or pizza and milk, if you were me) and even scorecards.  It was great.  And then that time I lived in Hawaii (I was so lonely!), Mom recorded it and we watched it 'together' by phone.  I watched the broadcast and she watched the tape and we were on the phone together for three. whole. hours.  Oh yes.  And I'm going to watch the crap out of it this Saturday, too--you can bet your bottom dollar.  Holla.