Thankful Thinking

I know that most "I'm thankful for..." post end up being all the same, but I feel that I must share what I am truly thankful for. Like everyone else (well maybe not "everyone" but you get the picture,) I'm thankful for my husband, family, friends, life, food, etc. but one thing in particular really stands out: my Monster.

I am so thankful that I had an OB who wasn't opposed to an overweight gal getting pregnant (like the NP I went to for a very brief period of time,) and that she helped me stay strong as we struggled to diagnose my issue and did all she could to help us get pregnant. I am thankful that once she ran out of resources, she sent us to RSONM. I am thankful that our RE didn't jump to the more extreme (and expensive) procedures, like so many RE like to do, when the first go failed. I am so thankful that the second round took and they caught my low HGC levels early enough to do something to get them up. I am thankful that the pregnancy stuck, the Monster grew right on schedule, and my second OB rocked. I am thankful that the Monster arrived at 38 weeks even though I was at risk for PTL, and he was born complete healthy. I am thankful for an awesome pediatrician, that the Monster got past the SIDS period unscathed and is developing on track.

The past year has been filled with anxiety, disappointment, and heartbreak, but it also had such joy that words will never begin to describe. I know I complain a lot about a lot of different things, but I would not change a thing about my life. Being a mother is the greatest thing in the world and I will never be able to thank those who made this possible enough.

If you don't understand the acronyms, google them.

WWI, You're Depressing Me, Please Stop.

This semester I signed up for a class on WWI- not because I'm really interested in the war, but because there was very little to choose from this year and WWI seems less depressing than the Holocaust class Sarah is taking. Though I still think I made the right choice, I had no idea how depressing WWI really was. And now I have to read Unknown Soldiers which is about three soldiers-- a Brit, German, and American-- who died in the war, but whose bodies were never recovered, how the felt about the possibility of their deaths, how their family found out they were MIA and presumed dead, and how their family and nation mourned them.

I'm definitely going to have to start taking my anti-depressants again.

Work

A couple of weeks ago, one of my former bosses offered me a job (via the facebook, which is kind of funny.) Its just for the holidays and only on days they really need me (and I think I'm on call for most of those). I'm kind of excited to go back, but yet I'm really nervous. There is a part of me that likes retail. There is a bigger part that hates it- I'm no good at signing people up for rewards cards, and even worse at getting them to sign up for credit cards. Also, the last time I worked there I had more self-confidence than I knew what to do with. This time, not so much. I hate the size I've grown to and though I will not be the largest person working there, I won't be one of the thinnest either (like I was the last time.) I also have a haircut from hell (formerly called "not the greatest haircut" but it has now grown to that weird stage, where it's not quite long enough to go back and looks horrible down). Thankfully I don't have to dress-up today, so I'm hoping someone will walk me through what's in style now because I really have no idea. I'm guessing it won't include my awesome Vibram fivefingers, which I'm going to wear today. At least I know that I will have both the coolest shoes and the coolest watch. Ha.

Oh... and I discovered last night that one of the paintings I used for my research paper is considered Renaissance (which is bad since it's for a medieval class) but I don't remember seeing a whole lot of paintings that included panthers, so unless the professor lets me keep it, I will most likely have to find another animal (which will take a lot of time) and the stupid thing is due tomorrow. Bah.

**UPDATE: The professor said I could keep it since it still falls within the time frame of our class. I think I love her... ok not really, but I'm super relieved.**

Ariana Franklin- Damn you!

One of the few good things about working at Borders was that employees could get advanced readers-- copies of new books before they edited for a final time and released for the public-- for free. A few years ago (two or three? I'm not really sure now) I managed to get my hands on a copy of Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death (info can be found here.) The book is really good, as are the three that follow it, however, this last one (A Murderous Procession) left me on such a cliffhanger that I want to go find Ariana Franklin and kick her in the shin! How dare you do this to me! And the worse part: I can't find anything that says that a fifth book is in the works.

On that note: I highly recommend this series to everyone! (Especially Sarah.)

My thoughts on the events of November 2, 2010

I don't generally like to talk politics because, one, I don't feel that I have enough information to make any type of statement about politics and be able to defend it (poorly or otherwise) and two, my grandfather was/is a politics nut- but not any nut, a nut who doesn't really know what he's talking about, and I may not know a lot, but I know enough to know that he doesn't really know what he's talking about (confused yet? So am I) and that turned me off on the whole debating thing.

However, in light of recent events, I need to speak my mind but I wanted to do so in an environment where if I offend anyone, the issue can be dealt with in a much more private manner than other environments (i.e. facebook or the SUB) would allow.

I am very disappointed in NM, especially those who are between the ages of 18 and 30. I voted and I think that if you are not comatose, you should vote to. It's you right, yes, but one that is too important to not exercise. Half of Bernalillo county (the most highly populated county in NM) didn't vote on Tuesday and only 11% of NMicans between 18 and 30 voted.* Seriously? Are you really that busy/lazy/indifferent? Ok, I guess I'm not really surprised.

What really rubs me the wrong way is the crazy number of college students I'm friends with on FB and those I don't know, but overheard at school who were complaining about the results but didn't vote themselves. The common thing I've heard- "I hate that people are all-'you have to vote' but when I ask them why they don't have an answer which means that they don't know what they hell they're voting for, so why should I?" (direct quote overheard on the bus yesterday). It really isn't too hard to find out what there is to vote on and you don't even have to turn on your TV and watch those terrible campaign ads. You're just lazy.

So for all those students who are mad because the new governor (who I will not rant about, as much as I would like to since I've chosen to be positive about that situation... even though it is looking like an impossible task) isn't going to do anything for students, I say this:

If you would have voted, more money may have gone to higher education, but because you didn't, Bond D was voted out by mere tenths of a percentage. Yeah that's right, the ballots contain more than just "who do you want to be governor, sheriff, etc.," they contain bonds that affect the things around YOU. So thanks to your lack of interest, something I greatly care about (and you should too) lost out on something really important. That means less hiring of professors, TA's, GA's, clerks, etc.; more people without jobs and, therefore, more people you will be competing against for jobs when that times comes. My education may suffer because of your indifference. Thanks.

At least the GO containing money for libraries passed. Maybe the literacy rate will start to increase and the next generation will be a little smarter than those in mine.

*I'm not 100% on those numbers, so if I am incorrect, I will update accordingly.