The art of counting

I talked to Ryan and decided my last day of work is going to be October 5th; exactly one month before my due date. Initially I asked Ryan when he thought would be an acceptable time for me to quit and he said that was not his decision to make. I let him know I would leave now if it were permissible. He laughed then agreed one month early is just fine.

I was so antsy to have my final day written in stone because I wanted to start a count down on my calendar that I stare at all day long at work. I made three separate counts. Month, week and day. There are 3.5 months left, 16 weeks and 76 days. The months and weeks are of actual time that will have to elapse until I leave. The day count however is just work days. That means weekends, holidays (Independence Day & Labor Day) and vacation are not included.

My friend Jenn became a little annoyed with my artful counting system when I didn't give her the manual for April countdowns. I kept telling her the ultrasound, where we find out the sex of the baby, was in 2 weeks. Well, 2 weeks in a countdown to something as exciting as finding out what we are having calls for my special counting method to soothe my impatient self.
Here is what I learned as a 5 year old when counting down the days to Christmas and all the glory Christmas entails:

1. Never count the day you are in - even if it is 5 a.m. It doesn't count.
2. Never count the day of the holiday. What's the point?
3. As the day draws closer the count down excludes Christmas Eve - which is another great day in and of itself.
4. When you are about a week out you don't count the following day to the one you are currently in.

I know, it's five year old logic but hey, it works for me. Now I could care less about Christmas presents, now I just love spending time with my family and eating all of the black olives and pickles from the relish tray. Although these days I have to share the salty treats with my niece and nephew. They are SO lucky I'm such a kind, benevolent auntie that I bestow upon them the privilege of eating from the relish tray. I must allow the little ones to carry on the tradition of olive fingers as lo, my fingers do cause the olives to split in half.

Since we are so far out in the count down we are also able to shave off the week we are in and the last week of the count down. So that leaves me with 14 weeks. Fourteen sounds like so much less than Sixteen, don't ya say?

Last Friday Ryan and I ate dinner at Red Robin on the waterfront. I feel like such a tourist when I go down there. One of the shops had scrubs with the names of doctors from Grey's Anatomy stitched on the front. I thought that was really funny. Who is going to buy those? Grey's Anatomy isn't actually filmed in Seattle. Lame. If you are one who would like to own a pair of scrubs with a pretend doctors name stitched on them, I'm sorry. Really. Just hide them when I come over so I don't have to tease you.

There isn't really any point in me telling you where we ate as it was what happened afterwards that is so funny.

We were walking back to the car - which we totally scored on free off street parking, by the way. Oh, that reminds me. It's time for PSA (public service announcement).

If you are out of town visiting the big city - listen up Tennessee, or was it Kentucky or Pennsylvania? Anyway. After an exciting day of touring Seattle, watching fish fly, going to the top of the space needle, maybe even a ferry ride and it is time to get in your car and go back to the hotel, airport, cruise terminal etc. and you hop in your car - do NOT put your key in the ignition until you are ready to leave the parking space. See, when you put your key in the ignition and you are parked on a small hill you will want to put your foot on the brake which illuminates the break light which signals other drivers you are leaving. IF you do decide to put your key in the ignition - check your rear view mirror to see if anyone is waiting for your coveted space - or take your foot off the break. Also, word to those who do not have to practice their parallel parking skills often - slow, smooth movements are preferable to lurching forward and backward, slamming on your brakes after not cranking your wheel enough.

Back to the other story. On our walk back to the car parked in a free spot I looked down at my ever expanding belly and said something to the baby. I said, "What do you think about that, little what's your name?" Ryan heard, "What do you think about that little Jermaine." Sure I come up with new names quite often but Jermaine? I laughed so hard - then told him what I said - then he laughed with me. We had not yet come up with a name for the baby. Everyone else calls theirs peanut or pumpkin that I didn't want to follow suit. Now, we have a name for the baby until it gets here. So from here on out if you see a post or comment on Jermaine you know I'm writing about the baby.

Argh! Bob is driving me nuts!!! She keeps trying to break through the locked cat door in the kitchen (that leads to the basement). I know she is not that dumb. It's locked, Bob! No matter how many times you ram it with your your cute little head it is going to stay locked! I had to give the cats a bath last week. Yes, I used cats and bath in the same sentence. Bob & Gwen are long haired cats. You figure out why they needed a bath. In order for them to stay clean we had to keep them out of the sawdust in the basement until they dried. I was going to unlock the cat door last night but Ryan reminded me the furnace people are coming tomorrow and the cats will need to be upstairs anyway. Poor Bobbi. She freaked me out the other night when it was just me in the house - Ryan was in Yakima for a conference. Bob chose to try and break into the downstairs when I went to bed. I hear is something rattling the kitchen door. I know it's not someone trying to break into the house that managed to get in through the highly secured basement - but you never know. Did I forget to lock one of three exterior doors? Did Ryan leave a window open? I figured it was Bob after she started grunting and whining.