Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2006 October

Getting even more excited for our new little addition. We spent the weekend in Bakersfield with Rachel doing practically nothing. We went to Target and looked around at baby stuff. I can't wait to put some of those ruffle-butt tights on my little girl!

I haven't had a chance to mention all the cool stuff I got for my birthday. Leonard and Sumana sent me an awesome, waterproof, lose-proof (well, almost) key drive. Rachel brought me back a fishie windchime. I also got some books and DVDs, which a girl can never have enough of. I'm so spoiled.

Accessory things I really like about my new position:

-Not being tied down to the reception desk for 2 hours a day.
-Being able to come in late
-Not having to babysit all the new employees
-Dealing with number problems instead of people problems

Yay!

October represents the first of many exciting things to come. First we have cooler weather, fall, yummy food and Halloween. Halloween is a lame holiday when you're a young single adult, but still fun. I made a BOO! decoration for my cubicle the other day, and then (with John's inspiration) a couple Halloween cards for our nieces and nephews.

I'm excited to make lots of yummy soup and pumpkin-esque foods to warm us up throughout the fall and winter. By the time that gets old comes Thanksgiving, when we get to take a week off of life and fly to NYC to visit Leonard and Sumana and many yet-to-be-determined sights. NYC! woo hoo! Then I can get all jazzed for Christmas and the real holiday season. I love buying stuff for people, more yummy food, and we get to spend it in Utah where there will be kids. I miss the kids.

In January I'll come back to work for a very long two months before Beet decides to come out of her warm, cozy, spicy home and let John have a turn holding her. I'm so excited!

PS: Tammy was joking about the ocean-view birthing room I'll have at the hospital (which is right off the PCH).

I can't stop eating Taco Bell.

"October 27, 1985, Los Angeles

Nowadays Roy is often away on business. Rachel requests the lullaby:

Bye baby bunting, Daddy's gone ahunting
To get a little rabbit skin
To wrap the Baby Bunting in.

She puts her lower lip out and sometimes actually sobs. When I come to the end she doesn't want me to stop.

"Sing it again" she pleads.

I can't figure out if she is unhappy because Daddy is gone or because the rabbit got skinned. But tonight she is sleeping with three toy rabbits in her bed."

Yesterday's quote came from a neat journal I found while looking for Mom's journal during her pregnancies. The journal was from November 1978 to November 1985 and was written in by my dad on the left and my mom on the right. Our "Richardson Family Funnies" may be missing, but there were plenty of cute things we said as kids recorded in this journal. So cute that I had to call Leonard yesterday just to tell him how cute he was.

I wanted to go home and take a nap after work, but I decided to go to the store. On the way to the store I decided to get my haircut. When I got home, I put the groceries away and made a cheeseball. Then I went through the Voter Information guide we got in the mail to see what I thought. Then I figured I'd better do the dishes (John doesn't like when I take naps with a messy sink). Then I took a shower, sorted out some new deliveries for Coordinates Collections, made a few paper add-on kits and, since I still hadn't taken a nap, worked on my quilt. I finished putting together the top (or bottom) half. Tonight I am going to put together the other side, then I will be nearly done!

By this point it was 8:00, so I decided to read a little bit (I am reading Angels and Demons, which John bought me for my birthday) and go to bed at 8:30. Then John came home, so I got to snuggle with and talk to him for a while. So, I'm still tired but I got a lot done. I am excited to FINALLY finish a quilt. I like doing the tying part. Mom's sewing machine doesn't get "stuck" as much as mine used to - and that's what makes sewing take a long time.

I really like my new haircut. It's about at my chin, with just the bottom layered. I have bangs too, which I don't like, because they won't do what I want. I want them to be cute bangs like Rachel has, not ugly bangs like I have. Oh well.

We got some free tickets to Universal Studios and are going on Saturday with Rachel and her friend Rob. Rachel and I have never been before. I'm not going to take Beet on most of the rides, but I think they have a lot of shows and fun stuff, and the weather should be nice.

I'm starting to get to a really uncomfortable place with my clothes. My stretchy stuff still fits, and most of my shirts, but I don't have very much stretchy stuff I can wear to work. John bought me a few maternity things at Old Navy, but they don't quite fit yet.

I almost did this yesterday and didn't. Then I ended up shopping and calling Leonard anyway. So here goes:

Since we don't know how many if any of us will be together at Christmas, we want to take advantage of our trip to New York to exchange gifts/stocking stuffers (but no opening!). So tell us what you want! Post a list on your blog or update your Amazon wishlist and let us know. I'll get mine up in a bit.

If you don't think I'm talking to you (going to buy you anything), you should make a wishlist anyway. Wouldn't you rather get what you want?

Ok, here is my boring wishlist:

Stuff for Beet
CDs
White non-flipflop sandals
Pearl earrings
Scanner
USB mouse
USB keyboard
gift certificates for restaurants

I also updated my Amazon wishlist. Beet is making a list too ("one poke for yes, two pokes for no") but she keeps falling asleep and isn't done yet.

On Monday, my wonderful husband called me as I was leaving work and said, "Come straight home, I have a surprise for you." He had brought home Pizza Hut (free), a DVD, and a little packet of Nerds for me. "Happy half-way through pregnancy," he says. He had also cleaned the house. Too cute!

Yesterday I finished putting together my quilt, stuffed, and started tying it. Turns out the quilt batting I've kept under our bed for the past two years is actually pillow stuffing; I used it anyway.

It's nice to have a job that I enjoy again. Today our director brought in bagels, just because she likes us (and we got donuts last week). My new boss is also very cool. Noelle teases me about the time, about a year ago, when I said I didn't like her; I came back five minutes later to say that I had changed my mind. She told me to order a privacy screen for my computer, since I am in a big cubicle and people can walk in behind me, and said "besides, then people can't see when you're on the internet."

I got up to go to the bathroom at 3:00 this morning. I think this was the first time I was successful at killing a cockroach in the middle of the night. Then I went to bed and Beet kept me up hiccuping. I was only up for 1/2 hour though - sometimes it takes me an hour to fall back asleep. That's really why I hate getting up in the night (and the cockroaches).

Last night we tried to see if John could feel Beet kicking and she happily obliged (loves her daddy). She was kicking me so hard, I thought John was poking me! When I asked if John felt it he says, "I felt you twitching. It felt like you were passing gas." See, he knows exactly what it feels like!

Also when I said his daughter was happy to kick when he had his hand on my tummy, John said, "That's right, she's my daughter; She's just staying at Hotel Susie for a while."

I am so used to dreading work: last night I kept reminding myself today would be a good day. And other than extreme tiredness (for some reason I was unable to sleep in this weekend), it has been. I am still enjoying the work and challenges presented by my new position, and oh-so-glad not to be in my old one.

I guess the bad news would be that I didn't have a great lunch and I don't have great dinner plans. I'd better think of something fast!

Another entry on how great my husband is?

John hasn't complained about the not-quite-as-clean house. He's been doing the laundry with me and the grocery shopping so I don't have to carry too much (he even helps fold the laundry). And even though I haven't made a real dinner more than 5 times in the past month, he still does the dishes for me. He kindly complied when I asked to go out for Mexican food, and when I wanted to take a walk when he got home, even though it was already dark.

In Primary on Sunday, he let me finish playing a game with the kids so he could take control of our hyperactive boy with Down Syndrome (the kids were fed cookies before class). He lets me go to bed insanely early, even when he wants to watch TV. Beet and I are so spoiled!

Today I got an email asking if I'd done my visiting teaching. My supervisor is an older woman, but I guess I shouldn't have been suprised to see her using email; she works in the stake family history library, and wears her key drive around her neck at church.

I'm wearing a "new" skirt today. It's so much fun to fit into new clothes every week! Last night John and I went to dinner with the new EY BYU "club". I love when spouses are invited. I enjoyed talking to a guy John didn't know and his wife, and meeting a few people from EY I had heard about. Here's a quote: Waiter: Did anyone order an ice tea refill? BYU Alumni: *Silence*

Tonight we are going to a dinner for people on John's project, so I will have heard about most of them, and that will be fun. Plus the food might be better than last night - thumbs down to Buca di Beppo.

As my navel is starting to look different with my growing tummy, John and I got into a whole discussion on belly buttons. I showed John a picture in a pregnancy magazine, which didn't make him excited about the concept, and I hope my belly button will return to somewhat normal after Beet comes. He claimed he had never seen anyone with an "outie" and challenged me to think of someone. Well, the only belly buttons I can think of are Leonard's and Rachel's (both innies), but later I happened to notice one of our Primary kids has an outie. I suspect my nieces and nephews all have innies, thinking I would have noticed otherwise, but perhaps this is egocentric?

This led me to wondering how many people have outies, and if it is actually less than the number of lefthanded people (a more obvious trait, at least in my circle). I can name a lot of people who are lefthanded.

I've also been wondering what happens to the 1/3 full toilet paper rolls that get removed from restrooms. Are they thrown away? Do the cleaning people get to take them home? Imagine closets full of nearly empty TP rolls...

I called Rachel today since she hadn't responded to some emails, and because I'm a caring sister. She says, "Oh, I was going to email you to tell you I used up that lotion."

John took me to the LA Temple on Saturday. We had a fun day being out-and-about together. He has to work the next few Saturdays, so I am going to Bakersfield to spend time with Rachel this weekend.

I am being Piglet today for Halloween. I've got my ears on, two pink shirts, John's grey PJ bottoms and pink striped socks. I even made a sign for my cubicle that says "TRESPASSERS W", but it doesn't appear that my coworkers are into children's literature.

Kathy came in and said, "you're a pregnant pig!" which didn't sound altogether flattering. Besides, Piglet is a boy. I brought a huge bag of chips for the potluck and I really want to eat some (8:53 AM). Oink.