Word of the Day: asperse Written last night, 19 July, at work: IT's really sad when I'm at work and I've got so little to do that I'm typing out an entry. I brought a book, but it's pretty hard to get into. It's A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. JD recommended it to me after becoming tired of me reading the same books over and over because I'm, firstly, too cheap to buy any more books and, secondly, too lazy to get out of the house and get a library card. Come to think of it, when I first moved to Victoria, we went to get a library card for me, and I never got it in the mail. Yeah--I remember that, we went to the library and the girl who tok my information was rude. Any road, that was over three years ago, probably closer to four by now, so I guess I should try again. The book is hard for me to get into because it's a travel book--this kid is on a journey to find this magician, but he keeps getting sidetracked. Not only that, but the narrator is longwinded with things. So I'm not really enjoying it, but I'm trudging along because JD said it was good. Normally when it's boring at work, I play on the internet, mostly reading manga. In fact, I was doing that today when the internet just suddenly cut off. It was really irritating because a few minutes after that, I needed to get in touch with our maintenance man and give him an order. He speaks very little English and I speak minimal Spanish, so I usually use an internet translator to figure out what I'm going to say. It's good practice for me since I don't use my Spanish frequently, but it's also frustrating sometimes. However, without a translator but with a map instead, I got my point across. The past three weekends have been like uberhell here at the hotel. We still don't have a real system, but genius Simon made a set of spreadsheets that keeps up with who's in-house and prints out presentable registration cards and receipts. We're still not able to keep real records or keep track of reservations apart from handwritten ones, but it's a bit easier. But these three weekends were ridiculous. There was a family reunion each weekend, wedding parties, a bowling tournament, all these people who said that they had reservations but who really didn't since our system is gone. It was really stressful, and last weekend I was convinced I was going to have an anxiety attack, complete with chest pains and breathing problems. All I got out of it all, though was a few sleepless nights and a sore throat last Sunday, the end of it all. I was so angry because we weren't prepared at all and nobody wanted to take responsibility. It would have been much easier with a real system, but I can't get a straight answer as far as if or when we're getting one. It would have been easier if Donna, the sales manager, would have called these people before hands, explained our sorry situation and asked them to remake the reservations. It would have been easier also if Theresa hadn't been acting like a crazed psycho, yelling at everyone and acting like she was fixing everything. For me, work is nothing but a constant set of problems to fix. Then again, that's probably what work is anyway. Down here, gas hasn't passed $4.00 a gallon as of yet, I don't think. Maybe for a couple of days, but if it did, it surely didn't last long. Thursday night when I was driving home from work, gas was at $3.89 a gallon. JD sent me a text message a few hours ago saying that it's nor $3.69 at the station near our hourse. How amazing is that? I hope prices are going down that quickly everywhere across the country. Of course, I know that it definitely won't last, but it's nice when it does. Even though people try to predict the economy, there are still surprises. It's like weather in that respect. We go have what is hopefully the ultrasound on Monday. I've arranged it so that my mother can watch Patrick in the waiting area since children aren't allowed in the testing room. I'm really glad I was able to get exactly what I asked for because I know my mother will be immensely please being one fo the first to know the sex. Since I've already had two ultrasounds, this one is pretty much a 'who cares' one for me apart from the gender information. However I know I'll be excited on Monday after we're done with the ultrasound, just because I can finally go to Hobby Lobby and get yarn to start on the blanket I've been wanting to knit for years [maybe two years at the very very most]. More on the baby front--people have begun noticing that I'm pregnant and not just lumpy. I even bought a couple more shirts, even though I really needs pants. I can't find any pants, thought that are more or as comfortable that the jeans I got from Old Navy, which I wear pretty much every day at home. I have a few pants from when I was pregnant with Patrick, but they don't fit me yet since I pretty much refused to buy maternity clothes until I was really far along. Luckily, there's never any managers here during the weekend, so I wear my jeans to work sometimes. I wear nice-looking shores, at least. So they're just going to have to work with me or buy me a work maternity wardrobe because I'm not spending money on maternity trousers when hardly anyone sees my legs anyway. I'm not really worried about it, but I got on the scale this morning and it read a rather unbelieveable 155. I'm pretty sure that's what I started out weighing. Quite obviously to me, my scale is wrong in the first place [because at my last appointment about two weeks ago, their scale said 158], but it should still catch weight gain. I'm not worried just yet because I've been eating, better than usual actually. I'll bring it up with the nurse practitioner next month if their scale shows the same or just a little more than the 158 from last time. As far as my health is concerned, I feel quite well. I have more energy, though I'm stil cranky at times if I'm tired. Recently, I'd been waking up in the ealry mornings with a backache and I'd toss and turn until JD had to get up, not able to get sufficiently comfortable. I'd been sleeping with a pillow beterrn my knees, so I decided one night to sleep without it, and I woke up like I hadn't in weeks, feeling nice and comfortable other than the regular elbowing from my husband and baby. A couple of days ago, we had an unexpected storm blow in, and that evening, my right eye started watering. It's still water, and it sometimes leaks a thick, cream colored excrement from the duct. My eye isn't really itchy unless I've been messing with it or wiping it often, and I don't have any other allergy symptoms, like my other eyes watering, sinus pressure, water nose, nothing. Just this one eye. It's kind of frustrating because my allergy eyedrops don't really help, and my under-eyelid is raw and tender from patting the wetness away. I feel no need to see a doctor about it since it's more of a bother than an actual pain, but if it lasts I might have to call the clinic just to be sure. So, I don't know what it is, but I've been in the baking mood lately. Not baking sweets like cakes or brownies [oooh, fudgy brownies...] or cookies, but bread and things like that. As per my last entry, I made some scones. They turned out more like sweetish biscuits, but they were super good with butter and strawberry preserves. Next time i make them, I want to put the strawberry preserves straight in the dough and see how that comes out. Or maybe some vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Or some orange zest or some citrusy flavor. I also made a loaf of bread and have been eating bread and butter for breakfast. I'm not one for baking, and I just figured out how to use a rolling pin and make dough correctly, but I do like handmaking bread. It's simple and so tasty. It's been about two hours since I started this and still no internet. A huge group of rowdy kids with drinks in their hands just got dropped off by a Hummer limo to go to a party in one of the banquet rooms. I say kids, but they're all around my age, I think. I'm so old--mind-old, not age-old. I'm 24 going on something around 45. *************************************** Five months