Wow.

Another month has flown by. A few days ago I had the idea to try to post a poem a day for the month of December. Unfortunately, as is the norm lately, time got away from me. And now it's super late, so I will do my best to make up for it tomorrow with a string o' haiku.

Stay tuned!

2 months left.

Today was the first really warm day we'll likely have here this spring/summer, and I have a feeling I'm really in for it. Heat zaps my energy even when I am not pregnant, but being heavily pregnant I am certain will amplify the sedative effect.

Before we realized how warm it would turn out to be, we agreed to meet some friends and their toddler at a conservatory to check out the flora. It was beautiful, to be sure, but it was definitely HOT in there. Luckily the second part of our outing was to a terrific soul-food restaurant, where I finally got to try chicken and waffles. I heartily approve, particularly if they are washed down by a tall glass of sweet tea.

The boy enjoyed the trip, particularly his meal. He downed half a Belgian waffle and an entire cup of grapes and honeydew melon. Immediately upon returning home, he ate half a mini bagel, half a graham cracker, and the remains of his breakfast waffle and turkey sausage. Methinks we might be in a growth spurt!!

Again, I apologize for my lameness in not posting very often. Even when the temperatures haven't skyrocketed, I am feeling a severe lack of motivation to do much of anything apart from basic living activities. I hope the energy comes back sometime, I'm getting tired of being such a slug...but I'm not sure how to help myself out of it. Sigh...at least I physically feel pretty good still. Baby boy is starting to stretch out rather uncomfortably from time to time and my bathroom trips in the middle of the night have increased (he is super low most of the time), but otherwise I am counting myself lucky! The last ultrasound with growth measurements will be this Thursday; I am curious to see if this little one has as big a head as his brother did at that point. The 3d ultrasound I had at the beginning of the month showed that he bears at least a bit of a resemblance to his brother; we'll have to wait to see if the coloring sets him apart or not.

Anyway...hopefully I'll be back later in the week with another post. I'd love anyone to pitch in a late attempt at the Mother poems, since no one has taken a crack at it yet...

It's Wednesday, isn't it?

And it's already 10:15?? Drat!

Such is my life lately that I actually did not register that it was Tuesday yesterday until about 11:45PM. Hence my utter failure to produce a poetry challenge. I am not sure how many times I will have to apologize for my utter mental meltdown lately. I can only point to my intense but worth-it experience with NaNoWriMo last month.

With that, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. With next week comes some help with my little boy, since we will be headed for Grandma and Grandpa's for the holidays on Sunday. Whilst there, I hope to provide a few holiday treats for what readers have doggedly hung on during my dry spell: my top ten favorite Christmas songs, as well as the ten that belong in my Hall of Shame. I realize I promised that last year too, but I really will do it this time.

As a heads-up, for the next Poetry Challenge I plan on doing a "Night Before Christmas" tribute poem. As in, I will co-opt the rhyme scheme and rhythms of the classic poem but write my own twist on it. That is much what Dr. Seuss did to arrive at "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." So if that strikes your fancy, go ahead and get to work!

Sluggishness.

This winter seems to have slowed my blood. It is so bitterly cold the last few days, it has made me loath to go outside or do much of anything other than sleep and burrow under blankets. I apologize for the lack of poetry challenge this week; I promise to be better next week. I figured it would be pretty pointless to put it up on a Friday night.

By my mom's request, here is the link to the recipe for the Macadamia Nut Butter cookies with dried cranberries. They are really good and don't take long to make, I recommend them so long as you have a food processor of some kind to grind up the macadamia nuts.

Haiku News

Centenarian

believed to be murdered by

roommate, nintety-eight.

"Sins of my Father"

features druglord's son's attempt

to make some amends.

Slacker.

Sorry about this, but I keep getting wrapped up (no pun intended!) in Christmas prep work lately and it has been hard to remember to come by and update my blog in a timely manner. For instance, earlier today I realized I was intending to do a poetry challenge today, but I waited WAY too long for that, my brain is mush now. So I guess I will try again with that tomorrow. My sincerest apologies.

Also, I wanted to say that if you all are interested I would be happy to share the "traditional cookie" recipes that I've been making annually for my little family. Just let me know in the comments and I will reproduce them here. I make my husband's mother's bon bon cookies and chocolate crinkles--they are very good! I'm also trying out a few new recipes this year but haven't gotten to them yet.

So, I am lame today but hopefully will redeem myself tomorrow...hang tight, sports fans!!

Writing is hard.

I took a few hours this evening to try and make a dent in my ridiculous NaNoWriMo goal. When you take on the challenge, you're supposed to write 50,000 words by the end of the month of November. Given that I started nine days late, I am already at a bit of a disadvantage. But I am struggling now with how to give coherent form to my "bag of ideas" that I started with. I had a main character with a big idea for him, and a bunch of ideas for incidental characters, but no way to really unite them all. So, I am starting to wing stuff here and there. It's a bit like taking a leap off of a cliff. I'm afraid I'll end up crumpled in a heap somewhere, so my brain starts to try to freeze instead of letting things flow. Plus every little thing starts to distract you. You know, like when you get an assignment for school and you try to find all kinds of things to get out of doing it. Oh, the irony! I'm doing this because I want to, yet I'm procrastinating when I'm already behind?? Ugh. I am going to try and work more on it during the day starting tomorrow. I'm afraid my blog will have to come second for the rest of the month; I am not doing haiku news today to attempt to get enough sleep tonight, and I'm postponing the poem analysis until at least next week. Sorry, folks!!

Word Count: 5,123/50,000 (1/10th of the way!!)

Today's post delayed...

Sorry, dear readers, but I have zero energy left after a long journey to visit my hometown. I will write a quality post tomorrow, I promise. My apologies.

A glaring oversight...

So, in my rantiness last night, I completely forgot to do another section of the vocabulary test from the eighth grade final. I will complete that shortly; my apologies.

My son has, over the past two days, developed a strange pattern in his sleep. He wakes up and screams before he is really ready to be awake, both in the morning and at naptime. I have figured out that if I go in fairly quickly and calm him, then lay him back down in his crib, he goes back to sleep. I just wish he didn't do it to start with...I have no idea what is bothering him. Sigh. 

Vocabulary Geek-Out #2

What are elementary sounds? How [are they] classified?

Again, I'll have to go straight to looking this puppy up.

There are forty-two elementary sounds in the English language. They are (to the best of my knowledge on reading their classifications) the basic sounds that letters or combinations of letters is/are capable of making in the language.

There are three classifications for elementary sounds: vocals, subvocals, and aspirates.

Vocals are sounds made with the vocal cords open, and consist of pure tone only, as man.

Subvocals are sounds obstructed by the vocal organs, in the process of articulation, as man.

Aspirates are mere emissions of breath, articulated by the lips, the teeth, the tongue, and the palate, as he. 

As educational as that was, I don't feel like going into the long list of all of the sounds, but if you want to see them, you can check out the OLD (1900) grammar book I found on Google Books here.

Haiku News

Lockerbie bomber

released on "compassionate

grounds;" none for victims.

Twelve most annoying

Facebook users list is out;

I try not to be!

Rehearsal footage

of MJ now a movie--

LA should get cut.

It's official.

I am probably among the lazier people on earth. I am posting later than usual tonight because I just spent quite awhile folding my clean laundry that I have been avoiding. On the plus side, I am happy to find that I own more clothes than I remembered. 

Please check out the lovely cinquains (and a few haiku) submitted since yesterday!

My in-laws will be in town this weekend, so my posts will likely be shorter than usual, but never fear, I will post nonetheless. 

Haiku News

Von Brunn's computer

also harbored child porn.

How much evil here?!

"Jon & Kate Plus 8"

will feature an "announcement"

Monday; those poor kids...

Continental flight

lands after its pilot dies;

passengers don't know.

Ahmadinejad:

"only meant the violent

losers were nothing."