It's raining and lovely

I love the rain and dark days, which is why I am perfectly suited for the PNW. I don't seem to have SAD; although, I do get bummed at times. It's usually not so bad that a good bit of chocolate...or sex... won't make it all better.

So I was perusing through various blogs searching for Bradley stuff (yes, this is in lieu of actually working), and I came across a blog from a guy in Bellevue who took a Bradley class. He is in a band and was beginning a gig, when he got the call that his wife's BOW had broken 5 weeks premature. He finished his gig and met her at the hospital since PROM doesn't always mean labor is going to start right away. Anyway, I click one of his band links, and it leads me to a band that is fronted by my husband's old guitar teacher. Very funny!

Yesterday, I was on my cousin's myspace, and I saw she had Himsa as a friend. Himsa is fronted by a guy I was friends with in high school, and I decide to see if he has a myspace, which he does. From there, I end up on a group for present and former Salish Lodge employees and came across another person I went to high school with. It's all very tangled and intertwined. I guess that's the point of myspace, though.

My sister was contacted via myspace yesterday by someone from her past. It's scary. Scary weird, you know.

It's still raining hard and steady. It's the kind of rain that leaves slashes on my windows. I love the sound of rain beating strong against glass. It's comforting on some level.

I think I'll leave the house today. I was home all day yesterday except to run Wayne's PT clothes to him and to get dinner. I have a desire to spend money this day.

btw, it has taken me three tries to get this damn post posted properly. text keeps getting deleted upon publishing. ARGH!

It's over

Christmas is over!!!
The weeks leading up to Xmas are always so stressful for me; I'm happy when it's over, and I am so ready to put all the Xmas decor away for another 11 months.

That is what I got for Xmas from Wayne. It is so sweet and so confusing!!! He went waaayyy over our agreed upon budget for each other. I think he likes to make me look bad. But I'm not complaining because it has taken me 6 months to save the money for this camera, and now I can find something else to buy with that money! Like, a book that tells me how to use the damn thing. Or classes on using such a complicated piece of equipment.

I bought him a PSP and a couple of games. Lame compared to the Canon Rebel XT.

The kids got a ton of stuff, but Paige said that one of her friends got "12 Abercrombie outfits, a pink razor phone and a snowboard." She was highly disappointed that her Xmas wasn't as bountiful as her friend's, I think. I may be wrong. I hope I'm wrong.

I am gearing up for a class starting January 9th. I have an almost-full class: 4 couples. I have room for one more and two couples who are interested in filling the slot. It's a matter of whose deposit gets here first!

I have a lot of stuff to do before class begins. I'll try to not save it all for last minute, which is what I usually do!

Paige and Britt are now with their other parents (OP) for the rest of vacation, which means it's just me and Maya. Life is more laid back without the older two because they always need to be driven to places and need money. It's exhausting. I'm actually still in my cozy jammies that my mommy & daddy gave to me for Xmas.

So Wayne, Maya and I went and saw Narnia last night. It was so good! It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid, and I really didn't see the Christian-ness of it. Now I am grown and an admitted agnostic married to an admitted Atheist, and the Christian-ness of the movie was a little gag worthy. It's still a good story, though. I'm a bit inspired to re-readthe book, but that's what is said when LOTR came out. I never read Tolkien before (he was an author for those D&D dorks), and I still haven't. I really would like to, though. Honestly, I can't even get through an issue of Vanity Fair before the next issue comes out. How ever am I going to read Tolkien?

'Tis the Season

AAhhhh!!!!
Christmas is almost here, and I don't even have to look at the calendar to know-- I can tell by how much I've been grinding my teeth at night. Yuck.
I think we're almost done shopping. I have some stuff that's already paid for but needs to be picked up, and I have to get the parentals and the grandparentals a little something. I don't think Wayne has anything for me yet; he says he's clueless about what to get me, but I think he's BSing me.

So, with Christmas comes people with their panties in a wad. I am totally annoyed with the people who are protesting at Wal-Mart (hate W-M, BTW. refuse to shop there) for using "Happy Holidays" Instead of "Merry Christmas." How ridiculous is that? Do the protesters really think that Christmas is the only holiday this season? That's exactly the kind of person that drives me batty.

I can tell you that we celebrate a very secular Chrismas in my house. You don't see Jesus anywhere here. No crosses. I do have some angels (one on the tree and one on the mantle) and an affinity for Mary, which Wayne thinks is crazy but I chalk it up to the remnants of my Catholic upbringing. He was raised Baptist and all that Catholic idolatry freaks him out.

Anyway, our secular Christmas is rich with traditions and stories and is very meaingful to us. Maya has been singing Chritmas songs, and she's been reading the Grinch enough that she knows it verbatim. My mom is coming over today to take Maya to her house, so they can make a gingerbread house. Thursday, mom and I will do some Christmas baking. We have duelling Kitchen Aid mixers. It's fun.

The kids are on winter break (not Christmas break:-) until Jan 3rd. Yeah! They are all still asleep. Love it!

I am a childbirth educator. I teach The Bradley Method® (see links to the right). Recently we had some drama amongst teachers in our area, which resulted in one teacher getting her certification revoked. It was pretty gnarly. I was really afraid that would impact my business-- my classes-- in a negative way, but it's just not so!

I am so happy that I have a full class this January.

I was at a birth last week that was so awesome. My friend and colleague was birthing her second child at home in the water. It was a beautiful birth, and I was so happy to be there. She had a baby girl about 21 hours after her BOW ruptured and after about 4 hours of active labor. I was there from Weds.6am-Thurs.3am. Long day but very worthwhile.

It was one of those births that has me on a high for days.

I was filling out Xmas cards last night (Damn! We have too many to send out!), and I was just yearning for a baby for some reason. I must be ovulating. My youngest just turned 5, so pregnancy/birth/newborn amnesia has settled in on me by now.

Lots to do today, and it's noon-thirty already.

Yay!

Here I am.
I was using my space to blog, but I didn't like it there. It only allows you so much space for blogging, and it seems kind of slimey.

I was at a preschool board meeting the other night, and online journaling came up. It really creeps out a lot of people. I think it's pretty cool, but it's definitely different than my private journals, which will only be released once my death has been confirmed and verified.

shan