In honor of Neuroticfitchmom's return to xanga, today's blog will take the form of a numbered list:

1. Despite our old mother Hubbard-like kitchen (today's payday--food run is in order), I've been managing to take in more than my fair share of calories.  Remember when I posted at 20 weeks, that I'd only gained 9lbs. the whole pregnancy?  As of 25 weeks, my chart reflects that I've now gained 24lbs.  HOW could I have gained 15lbs. in 5 weeks, you ask?  First, I was wearing heavy clog-type shoes, instead of my usual foamy sandals.  Second, I was wearing a leather coat, over my clothes, that must account for a pound or two.  And third, I ate a stinking lot of food.  My precious doctor says 24lbs. in 25 weeks (that's a nice way to look at it) is just fine and that it's great that food is no longer the enemy.  "You deserve to enjoy food again," were his exact words.  God bless that man. . .But you can bet I'll be taking my shoes off for the next weigh in.

2. Who came up with the brilliant idea to give patients a cotton ball to hold over their finger, after having it stuck?  Didn't they used to use gauze?  I have issues with cotton.  Well, I have issues with cotton sticking to dried blood on a teeny-tiny cut, and then having to pull it off.  It leaves shreds of cotton all over the little boo-boo.  It's kind of like when you have a really bad snag on your fingernail, and it keeps gettting caught on everything.  Or worse, when you have a snag, and you're removing nail polish, and the cotton gets all stuck in the snag.  Blech.  O.K. I'll be quiet.  I'm giving myself the willies. 

3. I'm considering retiring a pair of overalls that I've had since college.  The beautiful thing is that before I owned them, my roommate owned them.  And she bought them at a thrift store, so someone else owned them before her.  These overalls have seen me through 5 pregnancies.  Although the first pregnancy was the only one during which I could wear them for the whole 9mo.  The brand name on the buttons is "Big Mac."  They're the real thing, the kind actual farmers wear.  I generally hate overalls that were made for women.  I'm 5'10" and very broad shouldered, so the bib of womens' overalls tends to be way too narrow for me.  And don't even get me started on maternity overalls.  You would think THEY would have a wide enough bib to accomodate the ample pregnant bosom, but not so.  So yesterday, Bananna and I watched Anne of Green Gables, and I noticed Matthew Cuthbert's overalls looked just like my faded, old "Big Macs."  I almost ran to get them out of the give away bag.  The problem is that they are ripped from seam to seam (and then down-- like a T-shape) on one of the knees, and the other knee is just breaking through.  And they're pretty much thread-bare up both thighs. . . Who knew I had so much to say about my overalls?

4.  Apparently, we don't get out enough, b/c I've failed to communicate to my kids that nose picking is socially unacceptable.  Now don't jump to the conclusion, that I sit around the house picking my nose all day. But the fact is, that if you have a booger in your nose, picking it out is a pretty effective means of evacuating it from the nasal cavity.  I realized that I don't always use a tissue or excuse myself to the bathroom, when I said to one of the kids, "Why don't you go get a tissue and do that in the bathroom."  There's nothing like kids to make us aware of our inconsistencies. :)

5.  Lastly, we get to go to a dinner party in the neighborhood tonight.  It's a double bonus, because I get to have a date with Papa Bear AND hang out with other grown-ups.   Must go find a babysitter. . .And drag everyone to the table for school work.  Happy weekend!