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February 28, 2007
for the price of a cup of tea
after the cat and dog, this kid is going to be a breeze. It probably will, at least, be less expensive.
For the third time in two months, we'll be dropping off one of the animals for surgery. First it was the lump removal of the cat. Then the spaying of the dog. Then Monday night Ben noticed that the cat's ear was swollen. I took her in to our favorite vet. (i do love to see her.) I expected it to be a draining and sending us on our way visit. Turns out it is a blood clot in her ear. She said it will probably require surgery to go in and close up the ear to prevent the blood flow. She did drain it and said it if didn't come back we wouldn't need surgery. Of course, since our cat is never normal, the stuff they drained looked infected, pointing toward the cause being a puppy bite.
The puppy tries to play with the cat and does love to nip at ears. Why the cat doesn't hurt back to protect herself is a mystery. But the ear is swelling back up and so Monday morning, I'll be dropping her off at the vet.
Too bad the vet isn't a publicly traded company, as we should buy stock. I should ask about a frequent costumer card. : ) but, of course, we would do anything for our pets. especially ones that have lost .5 lbs since we were in there last week.
Posted by christina at 8:51 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2007
it's beginning to get to me
Well, it is a day that we thought would never get here. The 12 week mark, the moment when you can breath and tell the world.
I'm pregnant.
I've been blogging about it, inspired by Sarah's friend Jen. I'll start posting them starting now.
Jan. 2, 2007
At the end of November, I got angsty about my career plans and decided that I didn't want to wait another year to start trying to have a baby. We had been planning to have one right after I graduated from my Master's program. After years of hearing stories of the trouble people have conceiving, I decided that I really wanted to avoid sitting around trying to get pregnant. I would go insane.
So we decided to start "trying", thinking that it would take a couple of months. Thinking that if a year passed, then we could get "help".
I've been queasy a lot of this month (dec), but I attributed it to the flu shot I got. The excuse was wearing thin as the weeks passed and the queasiness did not. I chalked it up to my brain playing tricks.
On New Year's Eve, I took a pregnancy test, two days "early" in hopes that it would clear me to drink. The faint shade of blue perpendicular to the negative line did no such thing. It left us in that grey area. No liquor for me to toast in the new years. My past two runs have showed an elevated heart rate - i.e. my heart beats faster with the same amount of exertion as before.
I tested again today and got up to test my first pee of the morning at 5 am. I had to go. And so I had to test. And the blue line perpendicular to the negative sign is not so light. Not so light at all. It is definitely there.
Of course, I couldn't go back to sleep. I couldn't wake Ben, as he has to work today. I consulted the internet for those questions that were keeping me up. Yes, I can extend my insurance, even though I'm planning on taking the fall off and the baby is due right after my insurance expires for this year. I am due Sept. 10, according to the babycenter due date calculator. I've already read a whole bunch on running and pilates during pregnancy, so I am cleared to continue with my usual activities.
Mostly, I am freaked out. I didn't expect this to happen the first month. I will admit, I expected to have problems. And hopefully I won't. But i am also excited. The timing works out as I will be really pregnant in the summer and can take fall off. I can definitely go to school in the winter, spring, fall. Thank goodness Rachel is moving up here. This is exactly how I wanted to have babies - with family close by. but yes, the whole thing freaks me out. i am trying not to freak out about how I am going to go back to school with a 3 month old, but I can do it. It will be okay.
Posted by christina at 7:03 AM | Comments (4)
February 23, 2007
i'm getting ready to let you go
I love downtown (the loop, not stupid michigan mile).
I love the reflection of the business people in the glass of the windows.
I even love the starbucks every block, knowing that the towering buildings provide the people who need coffee.
I love the flagship old navy with 25% off a pair of sweatpants I'll soon not live without.
I love how close we live to the el and how anything in the loop is not far from a station.
I love Cozy, the Thai place i just had to stop at for lunch on my way home. Their "baby egg rolls" had my number.
Posted by christina at 2:27 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
tell me that you'll open your eyes
puppy loves to spend the mornings under the covers as i work out.
i am loving my new snow patrol album.
i am also so interested in the debates in congress. I skipped civics in high school in favor of AP US history. My lone history class must have glazed over a fact that is enthralling to me. The fact would be how law making is actually not a majority rule event. It is a super majority rule . The filibuster point in the Senate requires that any bill needs a 3/5 majority support to make it out. The presidential veto requires that 2/3 of each chamber needs to support a bill if the president does not. You might have learned that, but though i knew about veto majority and filibuster points i never really though, whoa, no majority rule here....
The Iraq war resolution is interesting as the House version is two sentences and was passed. No one could amend it. In the Senate, anyone can amend it and the resolution has a bunch of amendments and it is being filibustered. Obviously, the dems, though have a majority, don't have a super majority.
My run went well after the month+ on the elliptical. It was still quite icey so it took me ~10 extra minutes since I had to gingerly walk over parts of the trail. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Posted by christina at 8:11 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
the earth is warm next to my ear
puppy napping in the sun
i miss the puppy. she is off at spa vet for her female surgery. It turns out that her asymmetric nose isn't so bad and therefore we must live with the snoring. But she is microchipped and with freshly clipped nails. It is weird not to have her around.
Turns out that the cat "please take me to the vet" has an ear infection. Thankfully they were able to get her in the afternoon. Thankfully not b/c it seems to bother it (she is not bothered), but because ben has the day off and so can take the kitty. He has all the pet duties. Considering I got all the pet duties during christmas break, it is all good. he is off at the vet which i try to ready about truncated regression models. Obviously, it enthralls me.
It is currently 45.7 outside the window. I am SO HAPPY. I am so happy that i didn't wear a coat earlier when we ran some errands. I am also so happy b/c the snow is melting. Clear sidewalk plus not below zero temps means that I am going running tomorrow. I am so excited to use my garmin. I've only got to use it a couple of time since Christmas and I am antsy to get some use out of it.
Ben spent a good chunk of yesterday and some of today repairing the toilets in the apartment. He had issues with the running (the front one) and the not filling as fast as he would like (the back one). He replaced all the insides of the back one. And it works! So handy. Of course, though, he broken the front one while trying to fix the running issue and so today, after 3 trips to home depot, he fixed the leak he had created. All in all, pretty impressive.
Posted by christina at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2007
bye, bye miss american pie
more snow. stupid snow.
my hope lies in the weather forecast where starting monday there is not a day under freezing for as far as weather.com can see. Bye bye piles of snow over a foot.
We watched The Departed last night. It was good. WAY better than Babel. But no females really. Though it was about the organized crime, and from what i know from the Soprano's, it is an inherently sexist organization.
I've started doing the food shopping on Friday morning, because the parking at the Whole Foods has become impossible on Saturday morning. The major problem is the lack of a second person. I get a lot of funny looks when i get in the self-check-out line at the Jewel with 20 bottles of vitamin water plus our usual groceries. We have really cool self-checkouts that have a belt so you can check out with as many things as you want. I use the self-checkout b/c I use our reusable WF bags for all our groceries. I am so tired of bags. And i would feel weird about having the checker use them, so I self-check. Plus, I just like it. I like to bag things according to when they have to go upstairs - immediately or later.
At the beginning of the school year, the second years warned that the 2nd quarter of your 1st year was the worst. I disagree. This quarter is way more chill than last quarter. Partly b/c i have stuff due every other week rather than every week. And the reading is way more interesting. And I am use to the cold.
oh, and i fixed the setting so when you click on comments from the main page it actually takes you to comments.
Posted by christina at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2007
the comic game
And so that was no fun.
It took me just over three hours to make me normally 25 minutes drive home from school.
If you haven't heard, we are getting a major "winter storm".
If I was at NU, I would have just taken the el. But UC doesn't have an el stop. Taking the el means getting off in a really bad neighborhood and taking a bus.
I had to go to school today because I had a midterm this morning at 10:30. I left at 9:15 and got down there in 45 minutes. The roads were not bad at all, so I decided to stay for my 1:30 class. Yeah, it had been snowing all day, but it snowed all day last Tuesday and the drive home fine.
Today. NOT FINE.
A far amount of snow had fallen in Hyde Park. Lake Shore Drive (LSD) was not moving, so getting on there was very slow. I skidded making a turn and so I started the drive freaked out. I figured once I got out of HP, I would be good to go on LSD.
NOT SO MUCH.
It wasn't so much the snow that was falling or had fallen, but the 40 mph wind gust that were blowing the snow off the lakefront on the road. Traffic turned out to be bad getting on LSD b/c after 0.5 mile, the road was so covered with snow that there was just one lane to be driven on and the blowing snow was making it impossible to see. I was not sure i was going to make it. I drove sooooo slowly and worried about skidding and getting stuck the whole way. I kept thinking it would get better, but it really didn't. It got better downtown where the road is protected from the blowing snow, but it was bumper to bumper stop and go. And then past downtown it got snowy blizzard again. It was the worst. Thankfully Ben got home and then was available to come get me if necessary, which made me feel better.
I heard on the radio during the last hour of my drive that the police had closed the one part of south LSD that was horrible.
I am just happy to be home. There is so much snow behind our building, and on the ground. We are suppose to get more tonight, but they've decreased their expectation of 3-6 inches to 1-3 inches. I am NOT doing that again tomorrow morning. A micro lecture is NOT worth it.
Stupid snow. Stupid hyde park isolationists who didn't encourage an el line to their campus. Yay for my little saturn who got me home safely.
Posted by christina at 6:40 PM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2007
my snow white queen
my dog sits like a person.
the thermometer outside the window reads 29.8. It is a heat wave! Too bad it won't last. Temps are dropping all week to a high of 10 on Thursday.
I am having all sorts of concentration problems studying for my stat/regression midterm. i find it straight forward, which probably means that I will not do well on the midterm.
Tom and I watched Babel on Friday. I don't understand why it was nominated for best picture. It was good, but not great. Little Miss Sunshine was much much better. I'm trying to figure out what else i think is better, but it is hard to remember all the movies I saw last year. Especially b/c since I stopped going to evanston, tom and I's friday night are split b/t the theatre and watching a dvd or on-demand.
ben made cookies today b/c he likes to tempt both of our will-power. And mine is pretty low lately.
I am really enjoying the tv show House. We are netflixing it. It makes me think i have all sorts of weird medical condition. My thigh hurts and I am convinced that I have those worms you get from pork.
Posted by christina at 1:50 PM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2007
you're shaking my confidence baby
ben watching football.
another year has come and gone and i am the ripe old age of 28. Being back on quarters for classes, I found myself in the familiar position of spending my birthday studying for midterms. Midterms during the day, the superbowl during the evening. Not that I really watched the superbowl, but i enjoyed eating superbowl foods and chatting. It was nice. and I am glad that i didn't stress out about my micro midterm. It was pretty straight forward. Now I just have stats (regression) next week. It is definitely going to be a little more challenging.
On the midterm i bitched about last time, I ended up doing a fair amount better then the average, but i would really like to see a distribution (or a median). I'm just mad for data. I'm glad that i did well b/c i really messed up the first problem set in relation to the average (need to learn how to read directions better). : )
all in all, WHY DO I CARE?
mostly, as i pondered this thought today in class, because I don't have boys to obsess over.
so i am obligated to take a moment to bitch about the weather. I'll start by saying that this weekend our thermometer routinely said 0.X. Sunday and Monday the wind chills were at 30 below. and just when i was convinced that it was too cold to snow, we got 2-3 inches of snow today. It made my drive to school suck. but the drive home wasn't so bad.
stupid winter.
Posted by christina at 8:28 PM | Comments (1)
February 2, 2007
let's waste time / chasing cars / around our heads
finally, i know you have all been waiting for it, a pick of the shaved kitty butt
I love the feeling of wasabi burning my sinus. It seems weird, but I heard a story on NPR a while back about a study the found that that burning realizes endorphins in your body, hence why people like it. Whenever I do my Whole Foods shopping, I get some shrimp rolls from their sushi "bar". They are yummy. I did all the grocery shopping today because the stores will be crazy tomorrow b/c of the superbowl on sunday.
Plus it is even suppose to be colder. I heard on the radio it was a high of 2-4 degrees with wind chills of -30 degrees. That is way way way too cold for me. I do not plan on leaving the house. I am lucky that i have a good roommate who takes out the dog most of the time when he is home. As long as he is not in bed, he'll take the dog out. Thankfully, the dog is not a fan of cold either, so she is usually fast.
I had a midterm yesterday. It was mostly memorization. I hate memorization, especially when the prof picks the more obscure things to ask about. I just don't memorize well. It is why i also used to say that history was my least favorite subject. i feel kind like i am bad in undergrad when I take these kind of tests. I hope that it is just a factor of the core courses and once, like engineering, I get into the electives it will be more interesting. We'll see after next quarter when I have two electives (yay!). If not, i can always just up and graduate in June.
I have a midterm Monday, which i should get my act together and study for, but it is hard when you have a shrimp roll to make you happy.
Posted by christina at 1:46 PM | Comments (2)