Yes, yet another baby announcement from friends. My old highschool buddy – Felix – and his wife are expecting their first this summer. Thankfully, they aren’t one of those annoying couples who refuse to determine the sex of the kid. I just hate buying uni-sex baby stuff. It isn’t nearly as much fun as shopping with a gender in mind.

I am, however, quite excited. I’ve been trying to get them to leave the Bay area and move up to Portland. Now with a baby on the way, I have a much stronger arguement. Better schools, cheaper housing, and very family friendly city are all here in the northwest. They’d be a fool to try and raise a kid in the overcrowed, polluted, expensive San Jose area. Yup, I better start looking for some prime real estate because I figure it’s only a matter of time before they’re knocking at my door ready to become the newest CA transplant.

It’s funny because just last night Kevin was talking about how all of our married friends have kids right not. This thought depressed him. Yesterday, I was able to point out that Felix & Kathy were still childless and this cheered Kevin considerably. I don’t know how he’s going to take the news of a little Lin on the way.

Last night, Kevin & I (and our hodge podge assortment of pets) were all lounging in front of the fireplace. Kevin had just added the 6th log to the inferno he calls a file when he turned to me and asked…

“How soon can we get our Christmas tree?”

I almost fell out of the sofa.

Kevin, Mr. Humbug, Ebenezer himself, looking at me all excited at the idea of a Christmas tree! This was the same man who went on a three hour trek last year and returned with Charlie Brown’s pitiful tree. This was the same person who once sniggled and said we were killing a tree for Jesus.

Now before me stood a whole ‘nother person. Sure, he looked like Kevin and he built a fire like Kevin but I wasn’t quite sure who exactly it was.

“Well, we should probably wait until after Thanksgiving if we want it to last….” I began before Kevin cut me off.

“But if we cut it fresh it’ll last much longer.” I swear to you, he was rubbing his hands together in glee.

Suddenly, I felt like the Scrooge as I informed my reformed husband that we had to wait until December to get our tree. Kevin sighed, settled back on the sofa, and picked up his book. I think I hid my glee very well. Finally, after five years of pleading, it appears that Kevin has captured the spirit of Christmas. Yippee!

I haven’t told him yet but this morning, as I was walking the dog, I happened to look through the window of a house and there in its living room in all its glory was a beautiful Christmas tree. I couldn’t tell if it was real or not without walking up the lawn and pressing my nose to the window glass but I guess Kevin isn’t the only one who can’t wait for tree season.

I just hope I can hold him back until December

I loved Calvin and Hobbes. I totally identified with little crazy Calvin and his tiger Hobbes. Just the other day I was rummaging through some old highschool boxes when I came across my Calvin and Hobbes cartoon collection. Of course, I immediately plopped down on the sofa and spent the afternoon re-reading all those great comic strips.

One of my favorite gags was the Dad Poll that Calvin was constantly working on. Here’s a few examples or two. (Sorry about the quality but our scanner isn’t hooked up so I have to use the camera.)

In many ways, my blog is my Husband Poll. During the week, Kevin comes home grumpy from a long day of work. He mumbles and grumbles and vent his frustration on me and the pooch. Now, I’ve learned better than to try and fight back. Instead, I listen patiently and then scamper down here to vent my frustrations via this blog.

Now, Kevin is a very good guy and he realizes (on some level) that he’s a major grouch during the week and that I’m not to blame. So on Saturday morning, he wakes up happy and refreshed. He takes his time and moses down to the basement where he reads my blog. This is how he finds out where he stands on the Husband Poll. Some weeks are bad while others are mere minor dips in ratings. But he goes into the weekend fore warned as to how far he’s sunk and how much he has to pamper me. Somedays, that means donuts for breakfast or Kevin cooked eggs and bacon. On a particularly rough week, he may even go so far as to clean the kitchen or have a bouquet of flowers waiting for me.

All in all, I must say the a blog is a very non-threatening, non-controntational method to communicate with your husband. Of course, this only works if your husband a) reads your entries and b) can see the writing between the lines.

In true Calvin form, I’d have to say that Kevin has lost a few points in the last poll. A random polling of the wife revealed that she is feeling like Kevin is belittling her efforts. Most damaging was the statement Kevin made last night the “you don’t do anything all day” when, in fact, he had come home to a cooked meal, cleaned house, fresh laundry and walked dog. Such rash statement will always result in a sharp drop in the husband’s numbers. Luckily, Kevin still has over nine months to his current term as husband (which expires on our anniversary) so, with a little sweet talking to his constituents, he should be able to recover from this latest blunder.

That assumes, of course, that he remembers to read this entry on Saturday morning.

The latest Baby D update is still sitting warm in my inbox and two things concern me.

First, how is it possible that the kid is still managing to get cuter. Here he is after his first hair cut.

Second, it’s the middle of November and Suzy/Dan are dressed for summer. How is that possible?? I just came in from walking the pooch and my sneakers are soaked. I saw five people during my 20 minute walk and each and every one of them was bundled into raingear and attached to a dog. And yet, a mere two hour plane flight away, my sister and nephew loll about in shorts and t-shirts. It’s outrageous. Simply outrageous.

I don’t know what concerns me more. The cuteness or the blatant disregard for fall weather. Grrrr.

As much as I love Blogger, I’ve decided it’s time for a change. So, here it is. Welcome to the world of Movable Type.

Of course, more options mean more things to go wrong so this ought to be interesting.

For example, any photo I uploaded before September 2002 no longer works. It appears I have to change the path manually. Also, our nice floating menu bar is, sadly, grounded so it was removed.

But, the comment system appears to function! This will have to suffice until I figure out how to implement a guest book. Please leave your thoughtful and spell checked comments as you desire. Hee hee.

I think Artie has begun chain smoking behind my back. This morning, he jumped up on the bed at 4:30am and sprawled across us as usual. Then he proceeded to hack up a lung. Hooooooack. Hooooooack. Hoooooack. He sounded like a 70 year old man who’s been smoking a pack a day since he was 16. Of course, neither Kevin nor I could sleep so instead we lay awake in bed listening to our dog hack for 20 minutes.

Hoooooack.