Secular Confessions

[Smplyme89]

Aww Chrissy, your such a good mom

[3andMe]

I love Aaron Elkins and Jeffrey Deaver.

Suja, have you ever read The Alienist by Caleb Carr? You would probably like it.

[Gwenn]

Mandy I didn't know you painted eggs (don't know how I missed that) those are absolutely beautiful and I'm sure you will do fantastic!!! You are SO talented (which of course means I am extremely jealous )

Katy (girlwonder) makes the eggs, not me. Hopefully I'm talented, too, but I know I'm not as talented as Katy is!

Katy, congrats on your write-up. That's great that you were picked as a staff pick. Totally deserved, of course.

I read a lot of trash, too. I think I snapped sometime in grad school and started reading a lot of chick lit like Helen Fielding, etc. Plus I've been reading a lot of bios/autobiographies of rock stars as "research" for my own trashy novel and they've become an addiction, too. I loved Slash's book! Definitely one of my favorites.

Jennifer, one of these days I might ask you if you're kind enough to do a lit search for me for work. I want to look into a particular topic and don't know where to start.

Off work today! I'm going to the PT and then maybe I'll have lunch nearby. Such a great feeling.

[Cosmosmom]

This is interesting. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45194344...alth-diabetes/

Talks about how they think that 1 out of 3 adults might have diabetes by 2050 vs the current 1 in 9.....and how they are seeing it more and more in thin young adults.

I know I get tested yearly because I'm fat, my dad has it, his brother has it and has it bad (does insulin shots and lost an eye due to it), their father had it. So far I have always been fine. But even though I'm fat, I have a better diet than many with protein, whole grains, veggies, fruits. I don't have a sweet tooth....but I do have a carb tooth. I have been working to not have pasta so much (I could seriously have it three times a day every day).
But I suck with exercise. I really need to get in gear and just force myself to go down and get on the elliptical (which is named too BTW....Orbit LOL). If I could just get in the habit of doing that most days of the week, I think I could avoid ending up with diabetes.

Mandy, I could give a search a shot for you.

[Gwenn]

Thanks, Jennifer. I'll send you a PM or fb message about it.

[Suja]

Suja, have you ever read The Alienist by Caleb Carr? You would probably like it.

YES! I loved it. I used to live in NYC, so the setting was particularly appealing to me. I didn't like his follow-up book at all (to the point where I don't remember the name and don't care to look it up).

[Smplyme89]

Katy (girlwonder) makes the eggs, not me. Hopefully I'm talented, too, but I know I'm not as talented as Katy is!

See thats what happens when you try to skim pages of convo and remember what you read I thought it was kind of weird the name said Katy, but I was thinking hm... maybe Mandy's a nickname

[demigraf]

L & Suja, I wonder if you'd like this one book called The Professor and the Mad Man. I have a hard time reading suspenseful plots because it takes a long time to shake off the disturbed feeling I get from them, but this book had a lot of good things going for it - intrigue, history, vocabulary ... Plus, the process-oriented person in me was fascinated by the approach taken by the team to compile the first Oxford dictionary.

I've learned a great way to get DH to read a book I recommend is to leave it in the bathroom for him. He just finished SuperFreakonomics and now he's on the 2nd chapter of Nurture Shock. I'm only slightly annoyed at the fact that I've been trying to instill the message of the first chapter (The Inverse Power of Praise) in him for the last couple of years, and only now that he's read it is he all excited about the ideas. Oh well. At least we're on the same page there now. He's also now the main reader of The Economist in this house. It was originally my air miles subscription, and he used to think it was a dry magazine about finance. But now it's his primary source of news & current event analysis. And it all started with the magazine lying around on the kitchen table and him being bored with nothing else to read.

[AbbeysMom]

Got the results backfrom my second beta... 53!!! It quadrupled! I'm trying to be cautiously happy.

U/S on the 29th.

[missychrissy]

Good news!! I'm very happy to hear this

[Suja]

Got the results backfrom my second beta... 53!!! It quadrupled! I'm trying to be cautiously happy.

U/S on the 29th.

YAY! Great news!

[AmeriBrit]

Molly, that's fantastic!

[girlwonder]

Got the results backfrom my second beta... 53!!! It quadrupled! I'm trying to be cautiously happy.

U/S on the 29th.

fingers crossed!

[Cosmosmom]

Molly that is great!


I was thinking about it....and I could end up maybe in the same birth month as you or Myles if you get going. They don't really like to match until more like third trimester...maybe 7-8 months along. So my baby could already be say 16 weeks or 26 weeks or just being conceived right this minute or maybe next week.

[3andMe]

So excited for you!!!!!!

[Gwenn]

Got the results backfrom my second beta... 53!!! It quadrupled! I'm trying to be cautiously happy.

U/S on the 29th.

Fantastic news!

[Gwenn]

I tried very hard to get a good picture of Nero today. My camera doesn't seem to be able to take a decent picture anymore, so these are from my phone.

Nero inside, in his usual pose, in his usual spot. It's really dark in this room so I had to play with the editing features. And apparently the flash blinded because he's in the process of closing his eyes defensively.



Nero outside, wanting a rawhide chewie (he gets one when he comes inside).



And totally unrelated, my first pair of Danskos, bought this afternoon on all of your recommendations. Historic moment.

[Cosmosmom]

I'm wearing my danksos right now! I'm really liking this one http://www.dansko.com/Womens/Footwea...ack%20Pull-Up/

Your's is cute but the heel would be a bit too high for me. Mine's not as cute but oh so comfortable. and has a lower heel.

[Gwenn]

I don't find the heel to be too high because it's wide and stable. I can't walk in "heels" but a broad heel is usually quite easy to walk in most of the time.

The other thing I did today was go to my favorite French Cafe (the PT's office, cafe, and shoe store were all really close and since I had the day off I decided to make an afternoon of it). I was craving french onion soup since seeing that thread. So I went in and sat down, and the waitress came up to take my order literally just as I sat down. I told her I knew I wanted the soup but wasn't sure what else. She told me she'd bring the soup and I wouldn't want anything else because it was really filling. So she disappeared, brought me the soup, and left again. Then came back to bring me the bill and said, "It's really filling, right?" Then she rang me up and said, "Aren't you really full?"

I actually wasn't - I didn't eat dinner last night or breakfast this morning and I'm actually starving. But I wasn't about to order more food when she basically told me I couldn't or I would have been a total pig. So all I've had to eat so far has been a bowl of beef and onion broth. Ugh. I did stop in the bakery next door and buy an eclair while I was at it...

[daylilies]

LOL at the French onion soup! I don't find it filling unless it has tons of bread and cheese. And then it's too bad for me to order (but I sometimes do anyway ;))

Yay Molly!

I love those Danskos! Very cute. I badly need new shoes. All I'm working with is an old pair of sneakers and my winter boots which I have to take to get waterproofed before it snows.

[Cosmosmom]

Well the problem isn't walking...it's standing in my other dansko. I have bad balance or something because it's happened more than once where the ankle twists a bit and I topple over. Talk about embarassing!

What a bad waitress! She should have asked if you wanted anything else. I would have done what you did too I think!

[Cosmosmom]

I don't do french onion soup. But isn't that basically just broth? It helps but not all that filling! Only really filling soups that are meals alone to me are my homemade ones which tend to be almost more like stews they are so loaded with meat and veggies and pastas or barley.

[daylilies]

I can't walk in those backless clogs. I've fallen in those, at work

[demigraf]

Got the results backfrom my second beta... 53!!! It quadrupled! I'm trying to be cautiously happy.

U/S on the 29th.

[Bridget]

Molly, that is such great news!!

Nero is really beautiful. I'm cracking up that that waitress made you be full.

Do you all remember that awful substitute I had doing my daycare during my maternity leave? Her supervisor just contacted me and said they have a woman who has completed all of her required classes to work in a daycare and they want to place her with me for job training. They pay her full wages and I just let her work with me. They will also have a job coach on call for her to use or not to use based on my feedback. I'm so excited to have an extra pair of hands and help someone get started in the field. I just hope she's truly interested in child development and didn't just blindly pick one of the job trainings offered to her through the program like the other girl clearly did.

[Gwenn]

Well the problem isn't walking...it's standing in my other dansko. I have bad balance or something because it's happened more than once where the ankle twists a bit and I topple over. Talk about embarassing!

What a bad waitress! She should have asked if you wanted anything else. I would have done what you did too I think!

LOL ... I don't find them difficult to balance on but apparently I have good balance. The PT had me standing on a balance board and he said "I might be a natural" at it. But I CAN'T walk in heels. Whatever - makes no sense!

I don't do french onion soup. But isn't that basically just broth? It helps but not all that filling! Only really filling soups that are meals alone to me are my homemade ones which tend to be almost more like stews they are so loaded with meat and veggies and pastas or barley.

Yes, it's just beef broth with onions, and Kate it did have bread and cheese on top. But still, it's not meant to be a meal. I don't find soup to be an adequate meal. Stew, yes, with lots of veggies and grain.

I can't imagine the owner would be happy to hear the wait staff was telling people NOT to order more food!

[Gwenn]

Molly, that is such great news!!

Nero is really beautiful. I'm cracking up that that waitress made you be full.

Do you all remember that awful substitute I had doing my daycare during my maternity leave? Her supervisor just contacted me and said they have a woman who has completed all of her required classes to work in a daycare and they want to place her with me for job training. They pay her full wages and I just let her work with me. They will also have a job coach on call for her to use or not to use based on my feedback. I'm so excited to have an extra pair of hands and help someone get started in the field. I just hope she's truly interested in child development and didn't just blindly pick one of the job trainings offered to her through the program like the other girl clearly did.

That sounds awesome if she's a good match for you! Good luck.

And thanks about Nero! He knows he's gorgeous.

[daylilies]

DH is home! He brought me roses, and a Capt. America/Wolverine comic book with action figures for Josh. And he smacked my laptop and got it working again. Wish I had tried that.

[Gwenn]

Yay, yay, yay, and yay!

[missychrissy]

The other thing I did today was go to my favorite French Cafe (the PT's office, cafe, and shoe store were all really close and since I had the day off I decided to make an afternoon of it). I was craving french onion soup since seeing that thread. So I went in and sat down, and the waitress came up to take my order literally just as I sat down. I told her I knew I wanted the soup but wasn't sure what else. She told me she'd bring the soup and I wouldn't want anything else because it was really filling. So she disappeared, brought me the soup, and left again. Then came back to bring me the bill and said, "It's really filling, right?" Then she rang me up and said, "Aren't you really full?"

That's simply appalling.

Do you all remember that awful substitute I had doing my daycare during my maternity leave? Her supervisor just contacted me and said they have a woman who has completed all of her required classes to work in a daycare and they want to place her with me for job training. They pay her full wages and I just let her work with me. They will also have a job coach on call for her to use or not to use based on my feedback. I'm so excited to have an extra pair of hands and help someone get started in the field. I just hope she's truly interested in child development and didn't just blindly pick one of the job trainings offered to her through the program like the other girl clearly did.

ooo...I hope this works out for you!! How long will she be with you?

DH is home! He brought me roses, and a Capt. America/Wolverine comic book with action figures for Josh. And he smacked my laptop and got it working again. Wish I had tried that.