Movin' Out, Part One

Today we got the keys to our new apartment. Thanks to a co-worker who had a few friends and a truck, we were able to get a fair amount transferred tonight. Talk about a lifesaver! It really helped a lot, especially since one of Eugene's brothers has several exams next week and won't be able to help us after all. Luckily, a friend of mine also offered to help, so hopefully we'll be able to get it all done. It's much appreciated, since I can't do much. I can carry small things and clean, but obviously I can't lift anything. We have until Monday to finish, but we're working that day.

The new apartment has smaller closets than this one, so storage will be a challenge. The kitchen cabinets are deep, but narrow. At least the storage locker is much bigger. Also, we'll have a dishwasher--something I haven't had in an apartment in years. (I would always tell people I had a human dishwasher--Eugene.) But the important thing is that Baby A will get a nursery. That's more important than us having an office now.

The Dreaded Drink

I try not to say too much about my pregnancy, but today's visit to the doctor was worth blogging about. Today was the day for my gestational diabetes test. It's a simple one: you drink some orange liquid they give you, wait for an hour, then have your blood drawn. I've heard people complain that the liquid is sickly sweet, but I didn't think it was that bad. Eugene sniffed the bottle and thought that just the odor was bad enough. At least I didn't get nauseated, but that's why the doctor's office recommends having something to eat beforehand--as long as it isn't sweet. Hopefully I'll pass the test; if I don't, I have to do a special three-hour fasting version. But in the meantime, everything seems to be going well. The only thing is the baby doesn't want to move for Daddy. I'll call Eugene over when I feel the baby kicking, but of course the kicking stops as soon as Eugene touches me. OK, I admit it; the baby gets its stubbornness from me. ;) It's that Irish-German heritage of mine. Should be interesting to see how the Filipino-Irish-German all comes together.

Harmony Sweepstakes

Sorry I've been MIA the last few days; between work and packing for the move, I've been too tired to do much on the computer. I'm only now catching up with reviews and e-mails and so forth.

Eugene and I did get to go out last night with a friend of ours. We attended the Harmony Sweepstakes, a regional contest for acappella groups. I'm pretty sure I blogged about this last year, but in case you've forgotten, several groups perform for ten minutes in front of a panel of judges and a general audience. The winning group gets to attend the national contest. This year there were several groups, including one from Madison. I'm afraid Eugene and I were disappointed with their performance. Their songs weren't as good as the sound clips on their site, and they were very stiff on stage. We preferred a group called Home Free. They introduced their set as "all the wrong songs to sing in the Harmony Sweepstakes," and it was quite funny. We will never sing "YMCA" the normal way again. But the group that stole the show was Nightwatch, the 2003 Harmony Sweepstakes winners. They had a new act parodying Broadway musicals--and they performed in costume. (A witch, a cat, a masked man in a cloak, and a knight in armor. Hopefully you recognize the shows.) We think Home Free was in first place until Nightwatch came on. They won both the popular and judges' vote.

We spent most of today packing for the move, but since we ran out of boxes, we needed to get out and run some errands, which gave us a chance to enjoy the weather. I hope it's this nice this weekend too.

Catching Up with Friends

Today I did something I've been meaning to do for a while: I contacted several of my friends. A few of my friends don't use the Internet or e-mail much, if at all, so I wrote them brief snail-mails with our new address. I also e-mailed someone I've meant to contact for a while to see how she's doing. When you're busy treading life, it can be easy to let people you don't see every day slip away from you. I tell myself every so often I should call my friends, but it can take me a while to follow through. I imagine once the baby comes it'll be even harder. It's still important, though.

Visiting My Parents

It's amazing how quickly time can pass without you noticing it; recently Eugene and I realized we hadn't visited my parents since Christmas Eve. Their anniversary (#48!) is this coming Wednesday, so it was high time for a visit. We therefore drove up to see them and my grandmother today. They wanted to go to Red Lobster for lunch, so we met them at the house and then all went up to Madison together. It's too bad we didn't get farther than East Towne. After lunch (which they didn't let us pay for), we stopped at a Babies-R-Us to show them some of the items we'd picked out. Mom already has a bunch of clothes already for Baby A. At least I won't have to do laundry so often. We hung around to have dinner with them as well and talked for a while before heading back. We got in about an hour ago. It's too late to pack tonight, but maybe I can catch up on my e-mail and work on my outline.

Packing Update and Cold Cards

Tonight we finished packing my paperback collection. It took about a dozen boxes. This does not include my hardcover fiction or nonfiction, let alone Eugene's collection of cookbooks, history books, or photography books. No wonder he said we should start our own library!

Cold Cards: Today during lunch one of my coworkers discovered someone had left a couple of business cards in the freezer. He also left them there because he thought it had been done for some reason. Later on, while I was making my mid-afternoon snack of half a bagel with cream cheese, I put the cards on the lunch table because it made no sense to me that they stay in the freezer. I'm sure this says something about our characters, but exactly what I'm not sure. I guess I need to blog before 10:00 at night.

Turning It On Again

My first concert was Genesis back in 1992, at Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. It was the summer after graduation, and I was working up in Madison and spending time with friends. We went as a group to the concert. Later on, I bought the live CDs to relive that time. So, fifteen years later, as the group reunites, Eugene and I knew we wanted to go see them again if possible. We missed the presale, but I updated my account information on Ticketmaster and hoped I'd be able to log on when tickets went on sale.

For some reason Ticketmaster didn't update my e-mail address, so it took me several tries to log in this morning. By the time I succeeded, there weren't any tickets left, even though it was still just a couple of minutes after 10:00. Still, I kept trying (and mistyping the verification code), hoping something would change. Something finally did, but it wasn't what I expected; they added another date. I immediately checked for tickets. Something else I never thought would happen did: Ticketmaster offered me tickets on the main floor. Despite the high price, I was tempted for a moment. If the seats had been closer--within the first ten rows or so--I might have taken them. But I figured I might not be able to see from twenty-one rows back, and I couldn't justify the price. So I let them go and found another pair on the lower level. They were still top price, so I searched on price and found a more affordable pair, still on lower level. This time I bought them.

The concert is in October, which will be about three-four months after the baby is born. Hopefully Eugene's parents will be able to babysit. (It's a bit strange having to worry about that.) If it doesn't work out, hopefully we'll have a chance to sell the tickets and get our money back. But it would be even better to go, as I'm sure we won't be doing any more concerts for a while after this one.

Accomplished

You know you're getting old when Saturday becomes a Chore Day, and it doesn't help when you can't even sleep in. I was up at my normal time during the week, so I just stayed up. But I did get a lot done today. First, I brought the car in to have the emissions checked (it's an Illinois thing). The last time I had to have this done was about five years ago in the summer; I had to wait for half an hour or forty minutes. This time, there were more attendants than cars, and I was done in less than ten minutes. (The car passed, which was no surprise, since it's not really that old and still has fairly low milage.) Then I picked up a few things at Target, bought groceries, and filled up the tank. After lunch, I ran a few more errands. By that point, I needed a break, so I finished a chapter review. I reviewed Sue's latest chapter and worked on a novel outline while we were at the bookstore tonight. And of course I bought several more books to add to the Towers of Unread Books. At this rate, I'll never read them all, as I can buy them much faster than I can read them! Now if I can only sneak a Book Day back into my life....

Running Willy-Nilly

I've meant to blog in the last few days, really I have, but sometimes I'm too tired at the end of the night or too busy trying to work on outlines for my stories. But sometimes you just have to post.

For reasons I'd rather not discuss online, we've put off buying a house. Unfortunately, this means that we're still living in a small apartment. But last night, as I was discussing our lease with the landlord, I found out that there's a larger apartment available at a lower price. It's still a two-bedroom, but they're roomier than what we have now. (And the kitchen is bigger too!) That apartment would be available April 1st. After discussion, Eugene and I decided to make the switch. That means we have three weeks to pack and move. I can pack some things, but obviously I can't lift anything. Good thing Eugene's brothers are available to help us. Add to that the fact that we're starting childbirth/childcare classes next month, and it's no wonder that we're outracing headless chickens. I just hope this move doesn't turn out to be an April Fool's Day for us.

Visiting the In-Laws

Eugene and I visited his family today. We haven't seen them since January, and he wanted to show off my growing baby belly to them. We also brought over some things to put into storage. Space is already at a premium in our apartment, and with a third occupant coming, it's going to get crowded in here very quickly.

On the way, we stopped at a nearby baby store to check out a mattress for the crib. (The crib shipped to work last week, but Eugene still needs to pick it up.) We also looked at bedding; we're not quite sure what pattern we're going to get, but we'll probably buy it there instead of online. Now if we could only make up our minds about which stroller to get, we'd be doing well.

Sure enough, Eugene's parents oohed and aahed over their future grandchild. They didn't even notice my haircut until later, when we were having a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant. We hung out with his brother for a while and discussed a couple of other things with his parents before returning home.

No News Is Good News

Remember a while back I posted a blog entry about how some attention-seeking people ought to be shunned as punishment? Turns out out least some media sources are trying the idea. AP ignored Paris Hilton (a name I never thought I would use here) for a week to see what would happen. You can read about it here.

I'm a little disappointed it was a non-event in some ways, as she didn't do much that was newsworthy during the blackout. It would have been interesting to see if the ban would have had more impact. Again, I'm not sure if something like this would ever work, as it goes against human nature. But isn't human nature something we're supposed to rise above?

New Link

"Topical Heat," Maria Zannini's writing blog, has now moved to Blogger under a new name, "Maria Zannini." Check it out!

(Ironic, isn't it, that I'm now using LJ for my writing blog? Someday I have to figure out how to add links to that template.)