I Can Do It

Today was (and still is) a bit tiring. The baby was up every two hours or less and then I left to go swimming. Yesterday I started back into the marathon training and I decided I would swim for exercise on the days I'm not running. Basically, I'm pretty hashed. I know I'm not the only woman in the world to be juggling a baby and working. However, some days I feel like I deserve my own theme song.

Part One: Moral Imperatives

I generally frown upon making political commentary on my own blog. However, I'm still going to do two of them, but they won't name any names. Sorry. I'll make them as painless as possible.

Society has laws for two reasons. The first is to discourage behavior that is morally wrong, such as murder, kidnapping, embezzling, etc. The second is for the public good. Examples of this are speed limits, taxes, and sanitation laws. See the short video below for another good example.

About a week ago I was looking through headlines and saw something about how a certain politician answered a question about abortion. He had to apologize (don't they all?) because his answer didn't treat the question with much gravity as it deserved. A little further down the page in the article it gave a quote from another politician, who answered the question much more successfully. This politician's religious views state that abortion is flat out wrong, but he supports pro-choice legislation. I was interested to read his answer, which is as follows:

"I'm prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is my judgment," [Politician] said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "For me to impose that judgment on everyone else who is equally and maybe even more devout than I am seems to me is inappropriate in a pluralistic society."

At first I was impressed with the answer and thought it was well thought out and tolerant of others' views. However, there was still something that bothered me. After thinking about it for a few minutes I realized what was putting me off. Aren't our religious beliefs supposed to be those that we hold more dear and sacred? Are we not supposed to stand up for what we believe to be true? Then I wondered what other beliefs this politician would put aside if religious beliefs were so easily cast off. That worries me.

We have a moral imperative to stand up for what we believe to be good and true, as well as to denounce what we believe to be wrong and immoral. If we simply allow things we believe are wrong to enter into our legislation, we allow our society to crumble. What would stop us from becoming like this?

And by the way, a pregnancy is not a choice, it is (except in the case of rape) a consequence of your actions. I know, I've been pregnant twice.

Labor Day

Labor Day weekend was a busy one. Usually I don't have so much go on, but I guess this weekend was special.

Saturday was my 28th birthday. Eric made me a great breakfast and presented me with a couple of lovely gifts. Like last year, my mom took me out to afternoon tea. When we finished with that I stayed at her house to continue working on the baby's blessing dress.

Sunday was the baby's blessing. I was actually more excited for that than for my birthday. We had several people come for the meeting and stay through to come to lunch at my parents' house. Ours is way too small.

Monday was supposed to just be a relaxed day with nothing planned other than a trip to the store to get a few things. My parents invited us to a barbecue at their house with my brother and his wife, as well as my grandparents. I love invitations to things that mean I don't have to cook. We brought the Wii with us and that went over well. The best part of the evening was when my 70-some-year-old grandma declare she and grandpa were going to "go home and make love." She was completely oblivious to the meaning, but the rest of us were not. Grandpa turned a gorgeous shade of scarlet before Grandma caught on.

Grandma is the inspiration for this week's video, the difference being she needs to be careful how she uses her English.

Magic Moment

This week's video is in honor of my first days back at work. That's because the outcome is actually about what you would expect. I'm just glad it hasn't made me cry to bring Eliana in to work. If I had to leave her with someone I would be crying 24/7 and be worthless at work. She had a hard day on Monday and did much better today. Eliana also slept for 7 hours last night. That always brightens my perspective. I'm so glad I can bring her with me. She makes me happy.

Diminished Mental Capacity

So one of the things I did not mention in my last post about baby showers was my obvious lack of brain power. It manifested itself several times. Perhaps I can blame it on my desire to get the opening of presents over with. Not everyone enjoys watching someone else open multiple gifts and exclaim over them. I am one of those "not everyone." I thought that the guests would probably appreciate me hurrying through the process, considering the table was pretty well piled. I was mistaken. There were several requests to hold each and every gift up high for all to see. Anytime I forgot I was promptly reminded to hold it up. I digress.

Anyway, my loss of proper brain function was quite noticeable as I held up gifts for everyone to "ooo" and "aah" at. With at least two clothing items (I think there were actually three) I held them up and declared what cute little pink outfits they were. One was, in reality, green and another was yellow. I think there may have been another of a different color. The other mistake was when I held up what was obviously a towel embroidered with ducks and said how cute the blanket was. Everyone was, at the very least, amused with how terribly my mind has been lost.

As for the video, I wish I could blame my increasing stupidity on muscle relaxant, but I haven't taken any in...at least nine months. But that doesn't mean I don't feel (and act) like the guys in the video. This is one of my favorite in my collection.

Daydreams

No explanation, just two related videos I like. They have English subtitles, so watch for those.

De-Evolution

Don't hate me for my reasoning behind this video. To protect the identities of people who don't actually read my blog, I'll just say I was privy to a conversation between a couple of guys I know. The subject matter had to do with their frustrations with their girlfriend/fiancees. I was a bit surprised that they were so completely naive and had to bite my tongue not to tell them why I thought their significant others were acting the way they were. The one who had already worked through the problem gave his expert advice to the other. Luckily for him, his method was successful (even if I thought his reasoning was faulty). I say it was lucky for him because I didn't expect that kind of success, considering the words I hear coming out of his mouth most often are "dude"and "sweet". He can, however, carry on an articulate conversation about the pros and cons of creatine in weight lifting. So, the video has to do with intelligence working backwards. And I think the video is fun.

Too Hot!!!

It's a good thing I work indoors because the heat is a problem. Even when I get to work, however, it's still too hot. When I opened the building yesterday the thermostat registered a toasty 80 degrees inside. If I could figure out what I'm doing wrong with the air conditioning it wouldn't be a problem, but I'm usually there Monday, Wednesday and Friday a half hour to full our before the person who knows how it works shows up. He didn't know what I was doing wrong, either. I think I need to bring in a fan. Those are pretty straightforward.

The heat can be a little comical, too. All anyone needs to do is take a look at my feet and ankles to get a good laugh. When i put my sandals on yesterday they fit me just fine. Halfway through the day I looked down and saw balloon animal feet. I've never seen them squish out that much. On that happy note, here is your video of the week. I warn you ahead of time you may be grossed out by it. I, on the other hand, laughed like a fool when I saw it the first time. It's in Spanish, so be prepared to read subtitles.

That's What I Think

This video, in connection with an e-mail I got today, reminds me of a scene from my mission. I was in district meeting and we were playing our district leader's favorite discussion memorization game. I don't know what he called it, but I call it torture. The game consisted of him giving the player three numbers and the player responding with the answer. The first number was for the discussion, the second number for the principle in that discussion, and the third number was the paragraph in that principle. We had to give it perfectly from memory. There was no reward for getting it right, but there was punishment for getting it wrong. We were forced to drink a glass of chinotto, which is both an assault and an abomination to the tongue. The only time in my life that I've had difficulty memorizing anything was on my mission. Because of that, I ended up drinking more than my fair share of chinotto, while not making any progress on my memorization. Double the pressure with none of the reward for doing well. To put it quite mildly, I hated that game with a passion fiery enough to scorch the earth straight through its crust.

One particular week during district meeting I flatly refused to play the game. I told everyone it wasn't helping me (the only one who hadn't already passed off the memorization) and it only served to make me angry. When my district leader did not accept that answer, I merely kept silent when it was my turn. To avoid argument, I began simply drinking my glass of chinotto and staring down my district leader. Usually I'm much more kind than that, but I was provoked beyond my limits that day. At one point I was so upset by the continuation of the pointless "game" that I was concentrating more on not yelling at my district leader than I was on other social niceties. The gas in my stomach from the carbonation finally built up enough that a burp had to come out. I didn't realize it was there until it escaped, but I knew it had been loud enough that there was no covering it up. Rather than excuse myself or apologize I said, "And that's what I think of your stupid game." Not my finest moment, but it got the point across.

As for how the email I got today plays into reminding me of the video, I'll just say that someone who made part of my life a misery (no, not my old district leader) made a request to come back in, though in a very small way. This person is one of three people there have ever been in my life that I have been unable to get along with. I tried, I really did, but I was unsuccessful. I guess this person was unaware of my dislike, which was the way I tried to keep it. I have not yet responded at all, but spent the day wondering if it would be mean to just ignore the person. After advice from my husband and a friend (they both know this person and my feelings), ignoring seems the best thing to do. The video is to say what I think of the email. I'm sorry to be so mean and blog about it, but I'm much more restrained than I could have been.

Use Sunscreen

For the first time this summer I went swimming. My first time out in the sun generally leaves me with a yucky sunburn and I forgot to purchase sunscreen. We stayed in the shady part of the pool, so I came away just as pasty as I went in. Now that you've read that pointless story, here is the accompanying video.

Ice Scream

Last week I realized how truly infatuated I am with this upcoming baby. It's almost like when you just start dating someone and they seem perfect in every way. You feel so beautiful and bubbly and giggly and excited. I'm happy to feel all these things, but I also realized I may need a bit of a reality check. Here it is in all its reality.

Postitive Body Image

This week's video is prompted by two things. The first, I went to my parents' house Sunday to email myself some pictures (see my pregnancy blog to get a look at those) from their computer. My brother and his wife were there, as well. He took one look at me and said something along the lines of, "Wow. You're looking really pregnant." Then his wife hit him. I thought it was pretty funny.

The second thing that inspires this video is my approaching 10 year high school reunion. I've had this conversation with a lot of people, but it baffles me why there is so much anxiety attached to it. The only anxiety I had wore off a couple of years ago. I worried about all the weight I've gained since high school and people thinking I was fat. Then it occurred to me that most people gain weight after high school. That made me feel better. I had wanted for a long time to see if I could slim down before the reunion. However, I have no choice but to be fatter than I have ever been in my life, with a waistline like Porky Pig's. As a side note, after Eric's reunion last year (that I practically forced him to go to) I saw that you associate with your friends, chat with your acquaintances, and actually meet new people. Everyone is nicer and no one cares about the little things.

Back to my original topic. My body image recently has been better than it has been in a long time. I knew babies were good for something other than cuddling. I revel in my round shape, even if I do whack it every now and then with a door or gate I'm standing too close to because I forget the belly's there. I'm not a bit self-conscious about my protruding figure, so I feel a great spiritual connection with the people in the video. Also, I like pie.

Simplifying Summer

Memorial Day, to me, marks the true beginning of summer. The pools open and barbecues become much more common. I had to work this Memorial Day, so it wasn't a true vacation day for me. On the other hand, I work very close to a fabric store that was selling patterns for a buck a piece, so I bought patterns for the nursery bedding (I can't allow myself to pay $150 for that when I can make it for less than half the cost), baby outfits (you should see the little bathrobe), and a maternity pattern that I probably won't get around to during this pregnancy.

What I didn't get to do that I had been hoping to was swim. My grandparents pool (the one I can use for free--just my price) opened, but I doubt anyone had the guts to swim. I've been looking forward to that for months. Also, the evil old people at the complex decided that, even though my mom is an owner of the condo, she can't swim there or bring guests because she's not living there. So I can only go when my grandparents are there at the pool with us. Sad. They are leaving for Canada (or so I assume because they'll be gone for two weeks) today and I won't get to wear my cute maternity suit unless I pay to go somewhere. Sigh. But I can at least celebrate the onset of summer with one of my favorite videos. Be sure to follow its guidelines closely to avoid embarrassment and have a great summer.

I Can't Get No Satisfaction

This video, while it doesn't accurately portray why I'm frustrated, goes along with my current irritation. Sorry for the TMI, but I can't help it. I've known for many years that, as I come to the end of a pregnancy, the frequency of trips to the bathroom would go up significantly. That has officially happened, but that's not even the big problem. What annoys me is the utter lack of satisfaction. At any other time in my life, an urgent trip to the bathroom resulted in blessed relief. However, my bladder is now squished enough that, rather than feel that blessed decrease in volume, all I feel is that I just don't have to go anymore. It irritates me. But there are worse situations in life. Hence the video.

Political Video

This was on TV this morning as I was avoiding going in to work. I laughed a lot and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Video

I almost forgot this week's video. This one is inspired by my new bedtime: 9:30. I thought that would be a great thing, except that now my body wakes up in the 3 a.m. hour and won't go back to sleep until 5-10 minutes before the alarm goes off. At 5:30. This morning I just dealt with it and got up around 5:15. I was fine and wide awake until about 6, when my body decided it wanted more sleep. Maybe it would help if I had an awesome bed like one in the video.

Video

I actually have a really good story to tell, but no time today to do so. Instead, the next video:

Anyone else feel like this in the morning?

Don't Judge Too Quickly...

In honor of my doctor appointment, these videos have to do with things not being as they seem.

Boycott the Snow!

I'm all about peaceful protest and plan to simply boycott the snow. Once I figure out how that can be accomplished I will invite you all to join in the cause. At least it's helping fill our reservoirs. Unfortunately, that's all I can say for it. And I was so ready for spring. At least it's not as bad as in the video.

Cats and Dogs

Eric and I were watching TV the other night and saw an ad for kitty litter that changes color when wet so you can see clumps before you smell them. We decided we would never have that problem, as we choose never to own a cat. We're dog people. So, for this week's videos you get one apiece for both cat lovers and dog lovers. Well, some dog lovers might not approve.