Cass!

Aimee, good for you, with the krav. Yay for MM's new job. Emeline is gorgeous as always, and how did your audition go?

Thanks for the good thoughts for Chris. Now we just have to wait and see how he did. I think he did well, but don't know. I did not have an anxiety attack, which was a great and good thing.

Sort of...My friend Denise offered to go to the classes with me and I'm happy to have her so I don't feel so "on my own." I am leaning towards natural childbirth so I have hired a doula to be there with me. If everything goes as planned, Joe should be there for the actual birth, but he will have missed all the classes, so that's why I have the doula. But she doens't go to classes, so that's why my friend is coming.

Stephanie, that's good. The doula won't need the classes, anyhow, but it's nice to have someone to go with. Joe just needs to know that he needs to advocate for you with the nurses, and to cater to you where he can (touch you if you want him to, back off if you don't). You can probably explain the breathing exercises to him in a little time, at home.

We took the classes, and I prepared for a natural delivery, but made an agreement with myself that I could change my mind. With Ben, I took the epi, and I think it interferred with my ability to push, but I couldn't stand the pain. They eventually had to use the vacuum extractor to get him out. With Julia, they put the epi in and then shut it off immediately, because I went from 7 to 10cm in the time it took to insert the medication catheter into my back. I had a numb right thigh, and that's it. With Chris, they didn't have time to give me anything.

I'm fascinated by iaido -- it's the art of drawing your sword and killing someone. Not swordfighting, just draw->kill.

Discover deep, philosophical truths about the human condition and transform conflict into beauty.

All this, and stabbing things too.

Aimee, good for you, with the krav. Yay for MM's new job. Emeline is gorgeous as always, and how did your audition go?

My audtition went really really well. I stil haven't heard about it, but I find myself being happy about how I did, but not overly anxious about if I got it or not.

Discover deep, philosophical truths about the human condition and transform conflict into beauty.

All this, and stabbing things too.

Yeah, pretty much. And if they had a class where you could skip the deep philosophical truths and get straight to the slashing and stabbing, I'd take it.

I'm fascinated by iaido -- it's the art of drawing your sword and killing someone. Not swordfighting, just draw->kill.

Ooooooo.

Susan, insent.

Hubby gave me a hand-and-a-half longsword for Christmas many years ago. Everyone said, "Oh, it's one of those 'give your wife the present you want' things, huh?" To which he replied, "Not hardly, she won't let me touch it."

It's called Present. It's heavy and slices snowmen in two very sweetly. I got Sting for Christmas two years ago, and that's a lovely sword in the hand. It's fast and light and does a nice job on snowmen, too. And, no, my neighborhood does not suffer rampages of butchered snowmen every winter. Because Hubby won't let me and there seems to be a law against going into other people's front yards swinging a sword.

How many swords do I, personally, have? Present, Sting, Red ... that doesn't count the daggers. Hubby generally contents himself with Fang, a short sword on the Roman glaudius model. In my house, there's never a sword or dagger more than three steps away from any place in the house. Yes, that includes the bathroom.

I nearly severed my thumb with a paring knife once. So swords, for me, really not an option.

Backsent, juliana.

I'm debating whether or not to call in sick today. I was violently ill last night but am feeling much better this morning. My tummy is still tender enough that I'm worried about how long the 'feeling much better' is going to last.

Oh, I'm so sympathetic, Anne. (I had food poisoning this weekend.)

Aimee's house is beautifully well kept and she has an excellent design sense. It was so fun getting to see her and MM in their natural habitat and meet Emeline, who is wee - oh she is the tiniest little pretty sprite in the world. She fussed with me, so I mostly got to talk to Ollie the Dog, and JZ bounced Emma to sleep (after some mother's milk).

Ollie, I have decided, is not actually stupid since the Miracleborns have trained him to do a number of tricks which he does with alacrity. My theory is that he's autistic and gets overstimulated. He doesn't get calm unless you physically press him down, and then he needs a lot of ear-rubs to maintain his zazen.

From the site PostSecret, where people send in anonymous postcards that tell secrets [link]

One that throws me just a bit

[link]