01.30.09 (Week 25, Day 7): Are We Prepared?!?!

Dear Friends and Family,

As the weeks tick by, Mr. mouse and I have shifted gears from blissfully enjoying the pregnancy and worrying about Pioneer's physical development to being grateful that the symptoms remain manageable and worrying about geing ready for Pioneer's eventual appearance.

I continue to feel changes in my weight distribution and balance - mostly awareness, little discomfort. The burps and the slow digestion continue. And, this week, it was accompanied by the feeling of a small and sour stomach. Pioneer may be beginning to displace my digestive tract more now that they're growing more.

Now that the holidays and the party are behind us, we've begun thinking about dedicating our next couple of months to baby prep. Time for more reading and research.

Baby
Your baby measures about 9.2 inches from crown to rump and weighs almost 2 pounds now. Its hearing is fully developed. As the fetus reacts to sounds, its pulse increases. Your baby will even move in rhythm to music. Lungs are still growing but are not yet mature. Patterns of your baby's brain waves appear like a full-term newborn. It also has patterns of sleeping and waking.

Mom-to-Be
The baby's constant movements should be reassuring. You'll be putting on weight at the rate of about 1 pound per week now. You may be feeling some rib pain as your baby grows and pushes upward on your rib cage. The pressure may also be causing indigestion and heartburn. You may even be feeling stitch-like pains down the sides of your abdomen as your uterine muscle stretches.

Tip for the Week
If you're planning to return to work, you might want to begin checking out the availability of child care in your area. Nannies cost about $250 to $600 per week, group day care typically ranges from $100 to $200 per week, and home day care runs from about $75 to $125 per week. But keep in mind that you might change your mind after your baby arrives.


Cheers!
mouse

Darling Little Snowflakes

Dear Friends and Family,

I was waiting for my bus yesterday morning. And, it was snowing. And, it was cold.

And then I noticed, on the jacket and bag of the person in front of me... darling little snowflakes... perfectly formed... each one different from the last. You could see the details in each flake. I was entranced. And, before you knew it, the bus came.


Cheers!
mouse

Getting the Mouse Pad Back in Order

Dear Friends and Family,

Last night, Mr. mouse and I tackled more house clean up.

We took down all of the decorations minus the two in the living room that need the tall ladder. We moved the lava lamp. We cleaned and packed the buffets. We moved the food table. We sorted and stored the wine. We moved the kitchen island/drink table back to its original home. We continued loading the dishwasher with our reusable dishes. We re-stacked the folding chairs. We took the cooler downstairs. We sorted through and stored the beer. And, we unpacked our two boxes of random papers.

Still bits and pieces left to do...

• take down the rest of the decorations
• finish off the dishes
• move the lamp
• pack the karaoke machine
• clean all of the surfaces
• deep clean the floor
• return left over alcohol
• move table

Actually, the list isn't too bad. Guess we've made more progress than we're giving ourselves credit for. Hopefully, it's all back to normal by this weekend.


Cheers!
mouse

01.27.09: Chinese New Year Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

Another year, another Chinese New Year party.

This year's party was perfect, size-wise - enough people to make a party, but small enough that I had a chance to spend a few minutes with everyone. I had to pace myself to keep from getting tired and made it to about 10 before petering out. At that point, I was able to collapse with a couple of girlfriends and regroup for the night.

I have to say, my winter cabin contingent made my evening. Our neighbors came out and stayed with us and helped us prep for the party. And, Trixie and G drove/flew out for the evening. It's our regulars that really make the party what it is.

Speaking of which, a couple of Mr. mouse's friends are always here and always fun. Two of them did me proud with their decision to join Weight Watchers. They look amazing! Our shot master lamed out on us two years in a row now. Hopefully, he can make it next year.

As for clean up, it's slower this year with reusable bowls and cups and Mr. mouse not wanting me to tire myself out. And, prep was a little more chaotic this year with Mr. mouse and the Dad showing up an hour before the guests with the liquor and the barbecue. Sigh. Last year will probably take the cake from an organization and prep perspective.

And, now, it's Tuesday and I need to muster up the energy to get ready for work.


Cheers!
mouse

01.23.09 (Week 24, Day 7): 24 Down, 16 to Go

Dear Friends and Family,

Somewhere in the next couple of weeks marks the end of the second trimester and the start of the third. I think I'll go with the end of week 26 as the end of the second trimester - like fiscal quarters, 13 weeks a piece.

Pioneer continues to move about, but nothing unpleasant yet. Just feels like wriggles and nudges. I like it. It's our way of communicating with each other, at least for the moment.

Baby
Your developing baby now measures about 8.8 inches from crown to rump and weighs 1.5 pounds. Skin now becomes opaque instead of transparent. Its body is still covered with folds like a puppy dog that need to grow into its skin. Heartbeat can be heard through a stethoscope or, depending on the position of the baby, by others putting an ear against your belly.

Mom-to-Be
Besides your uterus growing upward, it may be getting bigger on the sides of your abdomen. You may be experiencing hemorrhoids, which are dilated blood vessels in the rectal area caused by increased blood flow, constipation, indigestion and heartburn.

Tip for the Week
To soothe hemorrhoids, apply an ice pack or witch hazel, or try a sitz bath (soaking your bottom in shallow warm water) or over-the-counter suppositories and/or medicated wipes such as Tucks. Don't take laxatives or mineral oil.

What's Happening Inside You?
By the end of the sixth month, your baby is about 12 inches long and weighs about 2 pounds. His or her skin is reddish in color, wrinkled, and veins are visible through the baby's translucent skin. Baby's finger and toe prints are visible. The eyelids begin to part and the eyes open.

Your baby may respond to sounds by moving or increasing the pulse, and you may notice jerking motions if baby hiccups.

If born prematurely, your baby may survive after the 23rd week with intensive care.


Cheers!
mouse

01.22.09 (Week 24, Day 6): Busy Day/Quiet Day

Dear Friends and Family,

I was running like a chicken with their head cut off yesterday.

On the other hand, Pioneer had a super quiet day with nary a peep out of them. I was getting worried since lack of movement could be a bad sign, but I felt a couple of nudges and wriggles - enough to postpone any full fledged panic. They revived a little after dinner. And, seem to be back to normal this morning.

Hopefully, nothing to worry about.


Cheers!
mouse

The Killers at UIC Pavilion - Set List

Dear Friends and Family,

Pioneer's first concert and they danced with the best of them. I had fun and so did Mr. mouse.

Here's the set list:

1. Spaceman
2. Losing Touch
3. For Reasons Unknown
4. Somebody Told Me
5. Smile Like You Mean It
6. This Is Your Life
7. Joy Ride
8. I Can't Stay
9. Bling (Confessions Of A King)
10. A Dustland Fairytale
11. Neon Tiger
12. Human
13. Sam's Town
14. Read My Mind
15. Mr. Brightside
16. All These Things That I've Done

The encore:

1. The World We Live In
2. Shadowplay
3. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
4. When You Were Young

Cheers!
mouse

Life in a RAID 0+1 Configuration

Dear Friends and Family,

Friends have asked if either of us are planning on taking "extended time off" with Pioneer once they're born (i.e. if either of us going to become stay at home parents). And, the answer, most probably, is no. We both enjoy work. But, more importantly, with the sad shape of the economy, we are each others back up plan.

We live life in a RAID 0+1 configuration.

Huh?

A RAID 0 (also known as a stripe set or striped volume) splits data evenly across two or more disks (striped) with no parity information for redundancy. It is important to note that RAID 0 was not one of the original RAID levels and provides no data redundancy. RAID 0 is normally used to increase performance, although it can also be used as a way to create a small number of large virtual disks out of a large number of small physical ones.

Translation: Neither of us brings home a huge paycheck. But the two of us combined bring home enough to make life comfortable for the both of us. That's life in a RAID 0 configuration.

A RAID 1 creates an exact copy (or mirror) of a set of data on two or more disks. This is useful when read performance or reliability are more important than data storage capacity. Such an array can only be as big as the smallest member disk. A classic RAID 1 mirrored pair contains two disks (see diagram), which increases reliability geometrically over a single disk. Since each member contains a complete copy of the data, and can be addressed independently, ordinary wear-and-tear reliability is raised by the power of the number of self-contained copies.

As a trivial example, consider a RAID 1 with two identical models of a disk drive with a 5% probability that the disk would fail within three years. Provided that the failures are statistically independent, then the probability of both disks failing during the three year lifetime is 5% squared.

Translation: Both of us bring home enough of a paycheck that we can stretch it to make ends meet. We can live on one paycheck if needed. So, if there's a 20% chance of either of us losing our jobs (20% squared is 4%) there's a 4% chance of both us us losing our jobs, assuming the one who lost their job doesn't look to find a new job - much better odds than 20% with only one of us working. That's life in a RAID 1 configuration.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: Sorry, the inner geek in me couldn't let go of the analogy - especially with several close friends at different points on the job search spectrum from just found out they were laid off to looking for a new opportunity to looking to launch a consulting role.

PPS: Source: en.wikipedia.org

01.19.09: Basement Work Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

This weekend was originally slated for house clean up and party prep. But, we decided to use it to continue work on the basement.

The weekend started with a trip to the doctor's office to check-in on Pioneer's progress. I didn't have much new to report and the doctor thought things were going swimmingly and didn't have much new to add. Easy enough. Next appointment in four weeks. We have a gestational diabetes screening at that point along with another ultrasound and another thyroid check. Then, we go to every two weeks for appointments.

On the way home, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up paint chips. They have a new Freshaire Paint line by Glidden. No volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which means no paint smell. It goes on beautifully. I'm a convert. I love it. Granted it's about $20 more a gallon which isn't trivial. But, for the fact that the house didn't reek of paint all weekend, and we only needed one gallon - I'm sold.

We painted one of the walls in the basement. I didn't want to paint the whole basement this past weekend. But, we wanted to put up shelving and I did want to paint that wall. So, we decided to go with an accent wall. That way, when the rest of the basement gets painted, we can go with a different color and not worry about matching or anything. We're so clever sometimes ;)

Then, while I met with our homeowner's association to figure out our snow removal woes, Mr. mouse went to Ikea to pick up our shelving system. We went out for Chinese Saturday night. Afterward, Mr. mouse removed about a foot of carpeting by the newly painted accent wall area since our shelving would be a lot more solid on bare floor than carpeting (which is eventually going away anyway).

Sunday, we put up the shelving. Then, we started moving stuff around in the basement. It's like those games we used to get as party favors where you've got to get all the numbers in order, but only have one space free and you need to move a million and one pieces to get the first number in place. I fell asleep close to midnight with a sense of accomplishment, but thinking there's still a lot more work to be done.

I woke to find it all done beyond anything I could have imagined in four hours. And, Mr. mouse reorganized the kitchen to boot. This, I need to rewind the tape and explain some.

Our electrical company was offering a $25 incentive for old refrigerators and freezers. Granted, we used ours for storage and it wasn't plugged in, so it wasn't consuming electricity, so I'm not sure we were their target audience. But, we figured it was a good opportunity to have someone haul away the fridge for free, in fact for a $25 check that'll be arriving in 4-6 weeks. They picked up our fridge on Friday.

We needed to move all the stuff out of the fridge and into boxes. And, once they took the fridge, out of boxes and into a kitchen island we have. And, we needed to clear out a bookcase from the guest room, soon to be Pioneer's room, and bring it downstairs for the stuff that used to be on our island. With me so far? Well, in addition to the basement, Mr. mouse did all of that last night as well.

Granted, the house still needs to be cleaned for the party. And, there's still a third of the basement to get through. But, it feels absolutely AMAZING to see the progress. And, for the third that we still need to get through, half of it is designated sell/donate, we just need to get it on it's way, so it's really a sixth of the basement that remains. Whoopee!


Cheers!
mouse

01.16.09 (Week 23, Day 7): Milestone of Sorts

Dear Friends and Family,

Let's see. Where are we?

Still some burping. Still some dry skin (which may just be winter). Mostly just enjoying feeling Pioneer go about their day. There's some stretching as they get up in the morning, some jostling throughout the day, a chicken dance here or there, and some nudging and kicking when they feel like it.

This week marks a huge mental milestone. Pioneer's been busy with lung development and sometime in the past week went from no chance of survival to some possible chance of survival. Granted we're all hoping they go full term, but there's a sense of comfort in knowing we've hit a milestone of sorts.

We have our monthly doctor's appointment tomorrow.

Baby
Your baby, now about in its 22nd week of development, is 8.4 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 1.2 pounds. It is starting to produce white blood cells, mostly for combating disease and infection, and may respond to your touch or sounds. If you haven't felt hiccups yet, you might feel some jerking motion now.

Mom-to-Be
Your uterus is about 1.5 to 2 inches above your navel. Expect to gain about a pound per week this month. Glucose screens for detecting gestational diabetes are given between this week and 28 weeks.

Tip for the Week
Dad-to-be might be able to hear the baby's heartbeat by putting his ear to your abdomen.


Cheers!
mouse

Credit Card Debt Paid Off

Dear Friends and Family,

You're probably just as stumped reading that title as I am writing it. Credit card debt, seriously? Trust me, we're usually fascist about paying credit card debt off each month. But, we didn't in November. Why?

First, Mr. mouse bought a whole bunch of "spare" tickets for our trip to the Seychelles. I won't go into the craziness of why. Suffice it to say, he knew and I knew we'd only use one combo and the rest would be submitted for refunds. Second, we were using points when we stayed at Le Meridian. But, when we went to check out, there was an issue and they said we needed to settle it back in the States. But, in the meantime, they were going to charge us for the room and we'd have to get a refund later - thought it'd be a major hassle, but one call and one email and it was settled.

This is how we walked into a balance in December. High probability it'd be all sorted out, but no guarantee. Then, in December we had Christmas shopping which isn't a lot of money, but still gets charged nonetheless. And, Mr. mouse's car needed to go in for repairs which turned out to be a lot less expensive than we dreaded. Fortunately, the refunds started coming through.

January - Mr. mouse gets a quarterly bonus. Between that and the refunds, I was 95% certain we'd be able to pay everything off and get back to good. But, I wasn't 100% positive. I just did the math. We're good. The cards are back down to zero and we have some money left over. I'm glad we didn't need to carry a piece of it another month. And this much mental trauma over two months debt? I'd go crazy if we had a continuous credit card debt burden. We've been there before, it's not fun.

Now, despite the market bruising our retirement account took, again, I feel like I'm in a decent spot. We have no credit card debt. We have a rainy day fund. We have another lump sum headed towards the mortgage center at the end of this month. I must be one of ten people in the country who loves getting their mortgage bill each month.


Cheers!
mouse

Eating Core, Day 2

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, I did better than I thought I would under the circumstances.

I had my orange and my banana for breakfast. And, I fought and skipped the breakfast treat. But, then, I was famished by 10 with both an 11 o'clock and a noon meeting. So, when I was offered a birthday cookie and caramel bar, I had a cookie. But, I skipped on the caramel bar.

Lunch was at 1:30, grilled chicken with mixed greens and some apricots. And, I was still hungry and fighting it. I made it until 3:30 when I stopped by to talk to some old friends. And, I split a doughnut with a friend.

With a last minute fire drill, I ended up in the office until 7 and picked up Mr. mouse at 7:30 for dinner. I was tired and hungry and felt a sense of victory even if I didn't eat core for dinner. In just one day, I had eliminated a muffin, a caramel bar and half a doughnut. Shows how far the mighty have fallen.

Well, today's day 2 of core. We'll see how I do.


Cheers!
mouse

01.13.09 (Week 23, Day 4): Eating Core

Dear Friends and Family,

I didn't want to obsess about my weight while pregnant and I had gotten out of the habit, so I've been off of Weight Watchers for the past ~20 weeks. But, I think I need a little more discipline and guidance than what my pea-sized brain can dedicate to wellness.

Thus, my decision to revisit some of the tenets of Weight Watchers as I wallow through the second half of my pregnancy. I'm not going to start counting again. But, I am going to switch to core. Core is about eating from a prescribed list of foods. And, eating if you're hungry and stopping before you're stuffed. I don't think any doctor would be heartbroken if I told them I've decided to eat more chicken and vegetables and less junk food.

We'll see how this week goes. Fun times.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: Done with my work compulsions. I've got my map, two lamps, my crate and two pairs of shoes left in the office. I can carry those out the door in one trip if needed. And, it's a short enough list of things no one in their right mind can contest are personal belongings. Now, just need to keep my personal files updated. What is wrong with me?

01.12.09: Quick Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

We needed to get a lot done this weekend, but, unfortunately, we didn't.

We needed to get the house cleaned. And, I wanted to continue with the amazing progress on the basement. And, I brought home work. And, well, we got a lot done, but not nearly as much as I had envisioned. Okay, I admit it, I probably had unrealistic expectations.

Saturday morning, we slept in. Mr. mouse headed out for mail in the snow. He also needed to return some ipod cables we purchased over Christmas that didn't work with our ipod. And, he was going to pick up some larger sized underwear for me (wow, that feels sexy, writing that.) Well, tack on an hour for snow and an hour for each errand, and it was literally a four hour errand.

I used that time to do some work I had brought home and to let Pioneer catch up on their zzz's with an afternoon nap. Saturday night, I can't recall what I did, but Mr. mouse headed out for groceries and scoped out baby merchandise at Target.

We woke early on Sunday. And, I hit my stride with my work and cleared through a ton of stuff on my to do list - which is good, because this week would have been overwhelming otherwise. And, Mr. mouse took the morning to clean house and the early afternoon to set up for our annual tree photos. Then, we dismantled the tree and dropped it off for mulching and I put away ornaments while Mr. mouse cleared up all of the stray needles in the house.

We had leftovers for dinner and I spent the evening trying to convince Pioneer that kicking me in the kidneys is not a good idea. Pioneer seems to be in a position where most of the kicks are down and to the back, with a couple to the right to keep us guessing. Why?

I guess next weekend becomes the serious cleaning weekend to prepare for our party.


Cheers!
mouse

01.09.09 (Week 22, Day 7): Mark another Month Off

Dear Friends and Family,

No new news to report this week. Mr. mouse and I both agree that considering all of the possible symptoms we could be dealing with, we can't complain. Minus a couple of burps, having to be more diligent with lotion and lip balm, and a little nasal stuffiness, there's not a lot to write home about - not that either of us are complaining mind you.

Today marks the end of month five and tomorrow the start of month six.

Baby
Your baby is about 8 inches from crown to rump and weighs almost 1 pound. The body is becoming proportioned more like a newborn, but skin is still wrinkled because your baby still has more weight to gain. Lanugo hair on the body sometimes turns darker.

Mom-to-Be
Your round belly is definitely noticeable by now. Weight gain will be about 12 to 15 pounds. Vaginal secretions that are typically clear-to-yellowish with a faint smell increase during pregnancy. Check with your practitioner if the color or odor changes significantly since it could signal an infection. You may still have aches in the small of your back. Lying down, massages and applying a heating pad or hot water bottle to the area can help.

Tip for the Week
As your skin continues to stretch, it may become dry and itchy. Keeping it moist with lotions or cream can help reduce these symptoms.


Cheers!
mouse

PS: Brought home all of my juice bottles and coffee mugs yesterday. What's wrong with me???

PPS: Had the best roasted chestnuts last night. I love roasted chestnuts.

Discreet Cubicle Changes

Dear Friends and Family,

Work is going through a round of right-sizing and so begins my prep routine. It's funny, we've been through it so many times, Mr. mouse doesn't bat an eye when I begin my ritual coping mechanisms.

I bring home my laptop and backup my personal files. And, I start discreetly clearing my desk of personal miscellanea and anything I would be loathe to lose. Tuesday night, I did the laptop. And, last night, I brought home a funny certificate of accomplishment that I love because it has a spelling error on it, a bag of almonds, two pairs of shoes, my lotion, and a hammer my former department gave me when I left.

Today, I return to work with an emptier bag... and continue the discreet migration of stuff that for some reason I compulsively do. I guess that's the thing about habits and coping mechanisms, they bring a measure of comfort and security even if they don't always make sense.

Now, to discreetly "lose the badge" and get a replacement badge so I have my usual keepsakes - old business cards and my old badge.


Cheers!
mouse

01.07.09 (Week 22, Day 5): Independent Taste Panel, Great

Dear Friends and Family,

Mr. mouse read a book yesterday over lunch that mentioned Pioneer is developing their own taste buds at this point and can begin to distinguish between foods I eat. This brings a couple of things to mind...

1. Time to re-start eating healthy so they grow up liking foods that are good for them, not junk food. I'd fallen off the bandwagon because, well, no good reason, really. I guess because I wasn't feeling well the first trimester and the doctor told me to focus on anything I could keep down and refined carbs definitely helped settle the stomach. And, then, I just fell into bad habits over the holidays. Sigh. No time like the present to motivate me to get back to good habits.
2. Time to make sure I eat a variety of flavors. Don't want a picky eater, so it's a good time to make sure we get a lot of different flavors in, and all of the different cuisines we like. It's a tough job, but I'll take one for the team. Um, let's see, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, not to mention NY deli, pizza, southern, barbecue, tex mex, southwestern, oh, the list is endless, I'm not sure I can accomplish this in 18 weeks...
3. Time to recognize Pioneer has preferences that will continue to limit my choices. They didn't like onions the first trimester and they're showing a dislike of garlic this trimester. I'm not going to make a huge effort to eat around it, but I will make note of it.

Good times.


Cheers!
mouse

Cost of Living Adjustment

Dear Friends and Family,

2008 was a great year. We were finally able to save enough money to have our rainy day fund fully funded. (It's one year's worth of cash should both Mr. mouse and me lose our jobs.) And just when I felt a sense of accomplishment, I realized it wasn't over. Because interest rates are so low, and we have the money in a money market account, it won't keep up with cost of living adjustments unless we add to it each month.

So, I did the math and I took a margin of error that's probably way too high, but that's okay, and decided we'll funnel an additional $200 into the account each month. That'll require a little extra budgeting on our part, but to be honest, compared to building up the fund, it's not bad at all. As with all things in life, it's much easier to maintain than it is to reach the initial goal.

We made our January contribution so we're all up to date.


Cheers!
mouse

01.05.09: Mouse Pad Time

Dear Friends and Family,

We made measurable progress against the basement/new guest room over the week we had off. Sadly, after seven days of non-stop work, there's still more to be done. We've dropped off countless carloads at the Salvation Army, taken out bags and bags of garbage and recyclables, and moved piles of stuff into other rooms (e.g. boxes into the garage and photos into our bedroom). And, there's still more to be done. We have about a dozen more boxes to go through. Then, we need to find a storage solution (e.g. shelves) for the rest of the stuff that's staying down there. Still, we made progress which is a good thing.

What else did we do this weekend? We ate in a lot and we restocked the fridge. We watched a little football and folded a lot of laundry. We went out for waffles only to find that the place we went to didn't have waffles and had Swedish pancakes instead. We slept in. We enjoyed our last two days of the longest time off together that we can recall in the past ten years.

The one downer was on Sunday night, I realized I forgot to buy the 2008 US Mint annual coin set. They go for around $30 on the official site and are available for six to nine months. I could have sworn I purchased them, but it looks like I didn't. And, now I'm stuck on the secondary market where they go for closer to $60. I have no one to blame for myself. I'm refusing to let it get to me. Better to end the weekend on a high note.


Cheers!
mouse

01.02.09 (Week 21, Day 7): 21 down, 19 to go...

Dear Friends and Family,

Pioneer's been busy this week. We've had enough movement now to know what they feel like. In addition to rolls and wriggles, we've felt some definite nudges. Other than that, no big news. Mr. mouse continues to ensure I'm careful on snow and ice and about running to get out of the cold and about heavy and/or awkward lifting. But, besides all that, it's been a quiet week.

Baby
Your baby measures about 7.6 inches and weighs about 12.3 ounces. The muscles are getting stronger every week now, and the eyelids and eyebrows are developed. Your baby's acrobatics are pretty constant, and since he responds to sound, rhythm and melody, you can try singing and talking to him. After he's born, the same sounds will soothe him.

Mom-to-Be
Your uterus is continuing to grow, but you're probably feeling pretty good -- no more morning sickness, and your abdomen isn't so large that it's getting in the way very much. You may still be getting leg and foot cramps, as well as mild swelling of ankles and feet.

Tip for the Week
To reduce cramping, increase your intake of calcium and potassium. Have a glass of milk before bedtime or snack on potassium-rich foods, such as grapefruits, oranges and bananas. If you do get a leg cramp, try forcing your toes back toward your face and pushing down on the knee to straighten your leg.


Cheers!
mouse

Looking Backwards and Looking Forwards

Dear Friends and Family,

Good morning! Well, it's 10:30 at night, but I had lunch with B and Chef M at one, and then fell asleep until about an hour ago. So, good morning!

Where to begin? It's tough to encapsulate 2008 into a single coherent year. It started off as a series of lazy, hazy days where Mr. mouse and I got to enjoy life in general and even if it wasn't exciting, at least it was entertaining. And, it ended with a series of monumental changes that feel like a step function change from before, like someone stomped on the gas pedal.

I could go category by category. But, frankly, I'm not inspired. If 2008 was a year of breadth where we got to wallow in a bunch of different experiences, 2009 will be a year of depth where we get to dive into a couple of focused experiences.

What's falling off the plate? Or being put on the back burner? Hmm... Let's instead make a list of what's staying on the front burner and process of elimination will tell us that's moving...

baby... maybe: Now that Pioneer's settled into a routine that's primarily focused on growth, we've shifted gears from pregnancy books to baby books.

clutter diet/mouse pad: A temporary focus for the next couple of months as we make space at the mouse pad for Pioneer. The second bedroom will become Pioneer's room. And, the basement is being converted into an upgraded guest suite - with sleeping space for four. I'm actually more excited about preparing the guest room than I am about preparing Pioneer's room. I guess it's because I'm looking forward to having people over. I'll be more excited about doing Pioneer's room once we start working on it.

wellness: I've been lax with my wellness routine because I don't want to go to the other extreme and get obsessive about it with Pioneer. I've gained 12 pounds so far of a recommended 25-35 pounds. I've been giving some thought as to how I want to tackle this once we have Pioneer. Everyone's right, May is a perfect time. The weather will be good. I'll be able to take some good walks. I'm looking forward to it.

money matters: With the economy what it is, and with our jobs continually at some risk, it's tough not to keep this one on the list. We've been good about building up the rainy day fund. And, 2009 will be a year we work obsessively at paying down the mortgage. But, taking time off for Pioneer may toss a monkey wrench into it all. And day care will as well, I'm sure. We'll manage somehow. I just hope the economy plateaus. I'm realistic enough to not hope for a bounce back. But a plateau would be nice.

work: Taking a week off has been good. Work is good. I enjoy my job and all. But, a couple of things concern me... the viability of the company... I can see an implosion in about 18 months... what it means, I don't know... And, more immediately, they made a change to our 401k plans restricting contributions to 5% of gross pay. I had to deal with that at old work and it frankly &%$#@! so bad it was a determining factor in deciding to pursue opportunities elsewhere. I'll focus on work for now. But, after Pioneer and time off with Pioneer, I may decide differently. We'll see.

And, I see a common thread to all five topics - Pioneer. It's tough to predict how the year will evolve. And, we'll take it as it comes. I have a feeling I'll chuckle in a year's time when I come back to this post. But, for now, it is what it is.

Happy New Year!


Cheers!
mouse

New Year's Eve Past

Dear Friends and Family,

Before I dive into my "big" post, Mr. mouse and I spent a fair bit of time last night trying to remember all of our New Year's Eves Past. Here's what we came up with (with the help of digital recall this morning):

• 1995: in my first apartment, after my wallet got stolen
• 1996: at Mr. mouse's, after Southwestern for dinner
• 1997: at Mr. mouse's, after Spanish for dinner
• 1998: in DC
• 1999: in New York
• 2000: in Bangkok
• 2001: in Seoul
• 2002: at my apartment by the winter cabin
• 2003: at the mouse ranch, blackout
• 2004: at the mouse winter cabin, huh
• 2005: at the mouse winter cabin, really?
• 2006: with our neighbors, right after moving
• 2007: spring, with lots of alcohol
• 2008: spring, with lots of toasts, but very little alcohol

We were wrong on several of them, but we were close on many of the earlier of ones.


Cheers!
mouse