Sleepless in Seattle. Except For the Part Where I Don't Live in Seattle

**Update: Though I was wide awake last night, I was clearly not very sharp. I made the mistake of putting up two blog posts in quick succession. So once you're done reading this one, please continue scrolling and read the [much shorter] post below. I think you'll find it quite amusing!**

It is the middle of the night, and I cannot sleep, so I decided I'm going to blog instead. In no particular order, here are all the things that are on my mind, or that I've been meaning to blog about:

1. Pregnancy/Baby - I posted on Dec.5 that I haven't had any heartburn, and that the ligament pain hadn't returned. Wouldn't you know it, the very next day I got heartburn, and it's been here ever since. Thankfully, it's not been that bad, although it is one of the things that is preventing me from sleeping right now. In my determination not to pop any antacids, I have found that avoiding spicy foods, eating smaller portions, not eating too late in the evening, and chewing gum after meals all seem to help. I've also been propping my head up at night, which usually keeps it at bay.

So why is it bothering me tonight? Because I ate spicy food. I made the most delicious Paleo lasagna (this particular version contains a bit of cayenne pepper), and we had leftovers, and I couldn't resist. Plus, I paired it with tomato soup. Talk about a recipe for disaster. Next time, I'll make the lasagna without the pepper, and maybe I'll pair it with a glass of milk instead.

Oh, and the ligament pain is here again. Last week I realized that I no longer feel large at all. In fact, I feel rather small for being 6 months pregnant. Then I wondered if that meant I was going to have a growth spurt soon. Sure enough, last Thursday I felt that familiar ache. This time it's much higher on my tummy, but thankfully, not as bad. (Last time I could barely move because I was in so much pain.) I expect it to stick around for a couple more days. Which means that by Christmas, I'll be more comfortable again.

One more thing of note: the kicks and movements are getting stronger, and I can feel them all over. I am now convinced that I'm pregnant with an octopus. There is no way there are only 4 limbs in there. On second thought, maybe an octopus crossed with a kangaroo.

2. Work - Our office closes for two weeks over the Christmas break, and those two weeks began yesterday. It's going to be really nice to have a lot of free time on my hands. A coworker and I found out that we share a mutual love of puzzling, so we exchanged puzzles last week Friday. Now we each have a new puzzle to do during our long, wonderful workless days.

One of the upsides about this break is that it doesn't matter that I'm awake right now. It's not like I have to go anywhere tomorrow morning. So if I can't sleep, it's not a big deal. Very thankful for that.

The major downside about this break is that while it's mandatory, it's also unpaid. Permanent employees will be paid for one of the two weeks. But I'm not permanent, so I don't get paid at all. However, they did inform us that we may apply for unemployment for the two weeks. So that's what I did yesterday, and that's what I'll do next Monday as well. It won't be much, but at least it's something.

If you're wondering why on earth they would not pay their employees for a two week mandatory furlough, it's because they kind of have to. The company has been struggling for a few years now, and will continue to struggle for another year or two. They have plans to get themselves out of this rut they're in, but right now it's just bad news.

I could go on about all the ways in which their employees are being kind of screwed over (forgive my language), but there's no point. It's not like anyone is being forced to stick around. We're all free to leave and seek better employment. I was preparing myself to do just that this past July, but then I peed on a stick, and my plans changed. I decided I would stay put, and you know what? I don't regret that at all. There was no point in trying to find a new job knowing I would be quitting in 7 months. And aside from the companies' financial difficulties that I have to put up with, I really like my job!

3. Nesting - I know that nesting is only supposed to happen in the few weeks right before I give birth, but why can't it happen sooner? I had time, energy, and opportunity a couple of Saturdays ago. Art was away at an all-day bachelor party (don't worry, it was with a bunch of Christian guys), so I had the apartment all to myself, and I took full advantage of that. I cleaned and cleaned, and organized and reorganized, and filled boxes, and emptied boxes, and moved boxes, and I may have moved some furniture as well please don't kill me!

It felt really good to put a little more order into our closets and bedroom, and to have fewer drawers designated to random items. I still plan on reorganizing the cupboards at some point. But I'm quite proud of all that I accomplished on that Saturday. I was also pretty sore by the time evening came around. Unfortunately, once I get going, it's hard to stop, and I may have kept going, but thankfully some friends decided to stop by. I rested, and also got to show off my sparkling clean home.

4. I finally put up our Christmas tree!



I would have put it up sooner, but "The Big Clean" had to happen first. This table is the only place we could put the tree, but it was full of stuff that used to be in a desk, and then we got rid of that desk, so the table was the only place those items could go. I ended up buying a basket to put all those items in, and that basket is right beside and below the table. I'll be sad when I put the tree away and the table once again fills with clutter, but I try not to think about that. Right now I'm just enjoying how pretty it is.

We keep the lights on during the night, which makes getting up in the morning so much easier. It's nice to wake up to this soft glow. 5:30 am doesn't seem so bad when I'm greeted by this.

There are no presents beneath it yet, but that's just because I haven't wrapped them. I think I will do that later today (hopefully after I've had some sleep!).

5. I did some Christmas baking for the first time. One of my favorite holiday traditions is making Christmas cookies with my mom. To me, there is only one Christmas cookie: molasses cookies, topped with various colors and flavors of icing, and decorated with sprinkles. Now that I live so far away from my mom, I must carry on the tradition myself. However, I made sure to involve my very good friend Sozan. What could be more fun than decorating Christmas cookies with a friend?


We set up a cookies decorating station and had ourselves a hay day.


Kudos to Sozan for really embracing her inner child. These cookies are so full of sprinkles that the sprinkles won't stay on! Every time you pick up a cookie, you end up dropping sprinkles everywhere. Which is exactly how it should be. :)







I was planning on doing more Christmas baking this week, but my husband asked me to refrain. He's trying to eat healthy for a few weeks, because he has to drop a few pounds by the middle of January. He's going on a very important trip to Crossfit competition that will hopefully gain him a ton of business, and he wants to look (and feel) his best. So I will defer the baking for a little while.

Well, it is now 3:30 am, I have been blogging for an hour and a half, and my poor husband who also can't sleep would really like me to come back to bed. I may not have to work in the morning, but he still does. So goodnight!