Peppermint mocha's and Blink 182 on the 15 Freeway South...

Oh no! I shot my eye out!  A plan, a plan...aha!  Blame an Icecicle!

I had fun playing around with my still-new camera last week when the snow started.  I was particularly pleased with this shot of an icecicle on the porch.

So yesterday I woke up super-early (4:30am) to go down to San Diego for ALA Midwinter (American Library Association).  I was excited because normally Midwinter is held in off-season sorts of places.  The past three years, for example, it was in Philadelphia, Denver and Boston.  In 2006 it was in San Antonio, so that was another warm-spot.  So I guess once every five years they find somewhere warm to bring 12,000 librarians.

Since it was relatively local for me, I balked at staying in a hotel.  I hate hotels.  In 2004 when I was a national sales manager I spent something like 250 nights in hotels, which pretty much put me off of hotels in general.  I don't care of they have pillow-top mattresses.  Give me my own bed with snuggly cats any day of the week.  Hence, the 4:30am wake up call.  I'm going back down tomorrow, but my first appointment isn't until 10, so I get to sleep in until 6:30.

It was a little tough because I saw people that I only see at these things, who knew I was pregnant, but didn't know I lost Baby T.  First thing in the morning I saw a woman who said, "Oh!  I didn't get to see you with a belly!  Did you give birth already!?"  I didn't feel like going into it, so I just said yes, and when she asked if it was a boy or girl, I told her it was a boy.  Not a lie.  It was all true.  I just didn't say that he wasn't with us anymore.  I just kept on walking and avoided any follow-up questions.

So I was kind of sad for the rest of the day.  I had been looking forward to having a triumphant big belly at this ALA - I knew I'd be able to attend because it was local and I wouldn't have to fly, so even though it was only a month from my due date, I'd have been able to make it.  I looked forward to walking through the exhibits proudly showing off my belly, and having people I only see twice a year congratulate me, and tell me how much I was glowing.  As it was this time, it was just more of the same.  Blah blah.  ebooks.  Mobile catalog apps.  blah blah blah.

I was anxious to get out of there and back to the safety of my home.  Along the way I stopped at the Super Target in Temecula - because I can't resist a Super Target - and bought the super-fancy ovulation prediction kits.  I had been buying the cheapies where you had to test at 4pm, and limit your fluids for 4 hours beforehand, and then you had to deduce if your line was as dark or darker than the test line, and it was all getting a little frustrating.  I spent $37 on the Clear Blue Easy ones that are digital.  There's a smiley face if you're ovulating, and no smiley face if you're not.  And you can test any time of the day, so first thing in the morning is ok.

If J and I didn't have a sense of humor, and if we weren't really good friends to begin with, all this timing, charting, temping, peeing on ovulation prediction sticks, etc., would be really stressful.  As it is, we laugh about it, but we generally are able to find the funny in anything, so it's bearable.  Here's hoping it works this month.