Another Year Passes By

2004 had one very sad event and one very happy event for me (and all sorts of things in between). April 30, I lost my beloved cat of 10 years to cancer. That was extremely sad and difficult to handle. I still miss Rishi. Just a month later, I found out I was pregnant (the happy event in case you're wondering). I'm so glad it happened when it did because it gave me something to focus on besides losing my cat.

Christmas was interesting this year. Due to the 8 inches of snow that we received and temperatures in the negatives, our family Christmas parties had to be postponed. James and I had a nice Christmas at home for a change. He completely shocked me with a diamond ring for Christmas. The set up was very clever... the first gift I opened was a deck of cards. The second gift was a couple of pairs of socks with diamond patterns on them. At that point, I was thinking "hmmm... that's odd" but remained grateful. The third gift was an electronic hand-held baseball game. I was really questioning what was going on at that point. The fourth gift was a Greatest Hits of Neil Diamond CD. I don't like Neil Diamond, so this was especially funny. The last gift was very heavy. It contained some books that I recognized from James' collection, but hidden in some newspaper was the little ring box. I never would have guessed! It's a beautiful ring with a half a carat diamond and a white gold band. Thankfully, he remembered that I prefer to wear silver. I gave him an X-box wireless controller, Morrowind game, two sweaters, a book light and a book, a Sherlock Holmes mug, a Jeep keychain, the Scene It boardgame, and some gloves. Santa was very good this year... our last Christmas as "dual income no children" people.

Here we are, about to start 2005. The baby will be here sometime in the next 4 weeks. I expect this year will be quite exciting with the new addition to our family. We are ready!

Santa Is Truly Magical

At a recent Christmas party, I overheard a woman talking to her daughters about Santa Claus. She said "Santa has to know every language, like French, Spanish, Asian, and European."

If Santa can speak Asian and European, he is truly magical. I wonder if he can also speak Klingon.

Putting Things In Perspective

Like most working people, I get stressed out about my job once in awhile (ok, a lot). I also get irritated with traffic, long lines in stores, slow waiters, and the fact that there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Then I feel the baby kick, and I am reminded that the most important thing is this little life growing inside me. That's really all that matters. Funny how the pregnancy hormones really do change your thoughts.

Instant Karma

John Lennon was shot 24 years ago today. I wonder what musical masterpieces we are missing out on because of his death. I also wonder what bands he would like if he were here now.

I bought a Double Fantasy album at Half Price Books once, and inside the cover I found several newspaper clippings from December 9, 1980. Being a huge John Lennon and Beatles fan, I was thrilled to have these (I was 7 years old when he died... hardly old enough to really understand). Yet another example of when karma worked in my favor.