SisuLiz

It's A....

We went to the doctor's this morning for our sonogram and to find out whether this little one is a little boy or a little girl.  And....we're about 99.9% positive that we will have a little girl in May! 

Everything else looked great; the baby is healthy and is progressing as she (so fun to say "she" rather than "it"!) should.  My original due date was May 10, but based on the baby's measurements my new due date is May 11.  So, that really doesn't make any difference, especially since the due date is far from an exact science!

We have a VERY active little girl.  She was moving around so much, that the doctor was having a hard time getting pictures fast enough.  I don't know if this little one just really likes the Odwalla protein drinks I have every morning (drank it right before the sonogram), or if we're getting a little preview of things to come!

Either way, we're thrilled.  But, we would have been happy either way!  It's just good to know that everything is progressing well so far.  Now...it's time to start some serious online shopping and registering!!

Sad News of a Stranger

I wrote  this last Thursday.  Sadly, that happened to be the last day there was an update to the Advent Calendar.  I just saw news today that Leslie Harpold, the creator of that lovely Advent Calendar, passed away over the weekend.

Reading through blogs like this and this and other posts today, its clear that there was a huge amount of people who admired her.  I can only say that I knew her through the Advent Calendar each year, which now appears to be such a small piece of the presence she had online.

Thoughts and prayers go out to her family.  Here's hoping that she's somewhere now creating new happy holiday memories.

Merry Christmas from Scrubs and Charlie Brown

I came across this today on TV Squad.  If you are a fan of the TV show Scrubs, this is pretty great.  If you've never seen Scrubs and you're a fan of A Charlie Brown Christmas, this may be, well...disturbing.

 

Counting Down the Days

I've visited the following site every year for the past 3 years or so.  Each year, Leslie Harpold puts together a lovely online Advent calendar.  Each day in December is clickable (of course you can't click on a date before it actually arrives - no cheating!), and it includes a daily surprise, a fun link, and a Christmas memory.  Leslie has posted her own memories in the past years, but started posting "Guest Memories" last year (I believe).  Each day is a fun little 5 minute diversion from the normal grind.

Hope it helps to get you into the holiday spirit and that you have a little fun with it in the days leading up to Christmas.

Advent Calendar - 2006

Fun Cold Weather Activity Time

I started knitting again this past weekend.  It's something that I learned about 4 years ago and fell in love with immediately.  However, I'd always fall in and out of it because I have this weird thing about only wanting to knit during the fall and winter.  There's something about knitting that just makes it a cool weather activity.  Holding skeins of yarn, no matter how lightweight it is, in 80 degree weather really just isn't appealing. 

I fell out of my knitting routine for a solid break about 2 years ago though.  At the time, I was working on knitting a blanket.  A simple project; yet one that would take some time, just due to the sheer size of it.  I had begun to make some progress on it, when I was given a blanket very similar to the one that I was knitting as a Christmas gift that year.  I couldn't bring myself to continue knitting the blanket, when there was a fully completed one just staring back at me, and I didn't want to go buy new yarn for a new project since I had just bought a ton of yarn for the blanket.   Needless to say, That was just enough to extinguish my knitting mojo for awhile.

But finally, this past weekend, I had the urge to head into the yarn store again.  Seth was away for the weekend, and I was enjoying some quality "me" time.  I had big plans for an evening of Indian takeout (Seth hates it), Netflix (had a movie Seth would never watch), and knitting.

Since it was an impulse decision to go into the yarn store, I didn't have a pattern or project in mind, so I decided to get started again with a simple scarf.  I know that I'm going to have to get a new coat this winter, as my regular coats will only fit me for so much longer, so I didn't have a base color to help me decide what type and color of yarn I should get. 

I ended up with a variegated wool with shades of dark grey, camel, burgundy, and light blue.  I loved the color variations and thought it would look good when it was knitted together.

I ended up not starting on Saturday evening, as I had planned, but instead I sat down on Sunday night and started to cast on the first stitches.  Before I started I wondered if I would really remember how to do everything, but it came back to me without a second thought.  Before I knew it, I was knitting away and wondering why I had stopped for so long. 

I love knitting because its something you can really do anywhere, at anytime.  The repetition of each stitch is very calming and has a wonderful cadence to it as it goes along.  With each completed row, you begin to see progress and see your project take shape, literally. 

Here's the scarf so far; I need to pick it up again tonight, but its moving along pretty well so far:

 

And here's one with my little knitting buddy, even though you can't see the details on the scarf as well in this picture:

Hilarious

Came across this today; fun way to start your morning:

We Will Rock You

What if they were real?

Came across this fun post today.  I completely agree that there are some characters you watch on TV that you feel you actually know and exist somewhere real outside of that show.

I didn't follow the same rules that TV Gal set (some of my favorites are from shows no longer on the air, I've named multiple characters from the same show, and I only have 8 instead of 10), but here's my list:

1. Veronica Mars on "Veronica Mars":  If you're not watching this show, you should.  I just started getting into it this year, and still have to catch up on the previous seasons, but I love Veronica to pieces.  She's the type of girl you'd love to have as a friend.  Fun, smart, adventurous (sometimes to her own detriment) and always has a fun comeback or clever line.

2. Jim Halpert on "The Office": OK, this is a duplicate from the list linked to above, but you can't help but love Jim.  Between the pranks he plays on Dwight and his relationship with Pam and Karen, he always has your attention.  Besides, how can you resist those smiles?  Sigh, I love Thursday nights!

3. Pam Beesly on "The Office":  Clearly, I am on Team Pam rather than Team Karen.  The scenes between Jim and Pam just make me smile.  Outside of that though, Jenna Fischer can steal the show with just one look or expression.  You root for her to do something other than be a receptionist at Dunder Mifflen, but would miss her if she wasn't there. 

4. Ed on "Ed":  This show isn't on anymore, but Tom Cavanagh was charming and sweet as the big town lawyer who went back to his small home town and opened a law office in a bowling alley, all so he could have a chance with his high school sweetheart, Carol Vessey (a favorite of my husband's)

5. Angela Chase on "My So Called Life":  Maybe this is just a result of how old I was when this show was on, but I absolutely loved Angela.  The TV network "The N" still shows reruns of this show occasionally today and I still love her just as much.

6. Nate Fisher on "Six Feet Under":  He made the mistakes that you knew he was going to make, but really didn't want him to, but you still loved him anyway.  My heart broke when he said "Narm!"

7. Sydney Bristow on "Alias":  Not so much in the later seasons, when the writing got a little goofy, but definitely in the first few seasons of the show.  She made you believe she was a tough spy, working in a covert branch of the CIA, while you cheered her on as she balanced her relationship with her friends and grew closer with dreamy Vaughn.

8. Sayid on "Lost": Tough for me to pick a favorite from this show, as I love so many different things about so many of the characters.  But, as much as I didn't love Shannon, I loved Sayid's relationship with her and seeing him deal with her death (sorry if that was a spoiler, but you have to figure that was over a year ago now).  We haven't seen much from him this year, but I'm hoping for some scenes when the show comes back from break.

I feel like I'm missing someone big, but that's all I can think of right now.

Who are your favorites?