In No Particular Order

1. Yesterday I subbed for a Latin and Greek teacher at a local high school, and it is official: I like teaching about one thousand eighty bajillion times more than being a graduate student.  I mean, I already knew this, but an extra reminder every now and then only confirms my belief that a PhD is likely not in my future.

2. Y'all!  At 17 weeks, I'm finally starting to look a little bit pregnant!  As in, I have a belly that is (hopefully) obvious as a baby bump and not just as extra weight!  Let us all rejoice.  Here's a ghetto Photo Booth picture that I just took (as surreptitiously as possible...I'm at my carrel in the library).  I don't know why I'm looking at the camera so suspiciously.

3. Ness has decided recently that if there is something she wants and can't have, the solution is to bark unceasingly until a) she is given what she wants, or b) we hide it from view.  This is exactly as annoying as it sounds.  Example: the last time I made M&M cookies, they were sitting out on the counter to cool.  I left the kitchen and a few minutes later, heard Ness barking.  I ignored it for a minute or so, but when it continued at regular intervals, I went into the kitchen and found Ness sitting directly below the counter, waiting for us to come and feed her M&M cookies/for the cookies to fly directly into her mouth.  She also does this when there's a toy she wants (but which is from SANTA, and which she can't have till Christmas morning), when Callie is blocking her way from room-to-room, or when she wants to get on the bed and there's no room by our pillows.  If our children are this bratty I might actually die.

4. Because I'm writing this post in the library, every time that I hear someone about to walk by my carrel I immediately click over to my Word Document so that I can at least pretend I'm working (in my defense, I HAVE been working this morning).

5. I'm getting awfully tired of having a private blog.  I'll revisit this in 2011 (after all my papers are done and I have slept/cleaned the apartment/etc.), but there you have it.  I don't think I can do it much longer.  Google Readers, get ready.

6. Yesterday I fell asleep sitting up.  Seriously.  One minute I was reading an article at my desk, and the next minute I felt my head snap back up.  There was an enormous pink blotch on my paper where my grip had slackened on my highlighter and it had bled through.  Classy.

7.  I have approximately 37 pages to write in the next week-ish.  Currently I have 0.  BLURG (and lots of other inappropriate words).

8. Back fat.  Can we just discuss how annoying this is?  SO ANNOYING.  I haven't had back fat in years, and it is back (ha! pun not intended) full force with this pregnancy.  Boo hiss.

9. Yesterday at Target I bought a (much-needed) new bra that is approximately the size of Alaska.

10. My Mom sent me baby gifts last week!    Including baby socks!  Which the dogs immediately wanted to eat.  Here!  See this lame video (Nevermind.  The computer won't load it.  Blurg).  Let's see if it will upload this lame video from Thanksgiving instead.  [EDIT: My videos aren't uploading and I'm giving up.  But, believe me, they weren't that exciting anyways.]

11. The best gift she sent up was undoubtedly a copy of "Goodnight, Moon" for the baby.  I actually have my childhood copy in Bryn Mawr with me, and when I pulled it out, could compare my Mom's inscription on the book from 1985 (when she and my Dad gave it to me for my first Christmas) to her inscription in the new book from 2010.  So neat.

12. Tonight Preston is chaperoning a dance, so I'm home alone (although I obviously miss him when he's gone, I do love having the apartment to myself every now and then).  I plan on ignoring my work (but only for the night, I assure you), watching Little Women, drinking hot chocolate, and addressing our Christmas cards.  I am pretty excited.

13. I think I'm getting sick.  Boo.  It pains me to think about heading into cold/flu season (though Pres and I both did go get our flu shots, like the semi-responsible adults that we are) without the relief of powerful cold medicine drugs.  

14. And now, having said that, I feel like a drug addict.  Excellent.

15. I have done almost ALL of my Christmas shopping.  Since I did 90% of it online, it was actually a really painless process totally lacking in holiday frenzy - awesome.