Well, between the midwife apt, snow days, the traveling museum programs, the grant writing, and the museum overnight I have tomorrow night its been a crazy week! I have churned out $6000 worth of grant requests in the last three days, so hopefully at least some of that will be funded (of course I won't find out for a couple months). My belly keeps expanding, too: new belly pic.
Well, how about a Tarot reading? Tomorrow I need to file all the quarterly taxes and such, and then I go and do the overnight at the museum. I really don't know what kind of day to expect. I hope that I can at least sleep late, though - todays been a long day already and its not even 6pm!
Energy: The Lovers
Surprise: Three of Cups
Preparation: The Emperor
Wow! Looks like a pretty good day! The energy of the day is The Lovers, that doesn't sound too bad. I generally interpret that card to mean a deepening of a relationship, or making a decision involving a relationship. The Three of Cups is the card of feminine friendship - I think Erin has the day off, so perhaps we'll do some girly-type-bonding. And finally, in order to prepare I just need to be as super-organized and controlling as ever. No surprise there!
I finished the quilt last night! There are pics up at Photogrove. I'm really pleased with it. I have a few squares left over, so I think I'll attach them to the bumpers on the cradle...
And so it begins...
Actually its an old obsession: quilting! After looking at how expensive cradle bedding sets were, I decided that if I was going to blow that much money I'd rather have something that would (1) last for decades and (2) mean something to me and my kids. So, I bought the basics: white sheets, white bumper, and mattress pads. Then I went and got gorgeous fabrics - the quilt will use five different fabrics. The backing and the wide outer border will be a white-on-white floral patter, the inner thin border will be a hunter green (as will the ruffle on the bumper), and the three colors for the squares will be three leaf patters in varying shades of green. Here's a picture of the quilt pattern: Click Here. Nifty, huh? I'm terribly excited about it...
I have the sweetest husband in the whole world, too. He put together the cradle for me today! The changing table came in the mail (had to order it) and he was going to get everything all set up. Unfortunently, the shipping crate had apparently fallen off the truck and been run over! It was horrible! All the pieces are torn up and in terrible shape. So, another is on its way. But the cradle is sooo nice!!! I even found a little mini-canopy to fit over the top of the cradle. It won't work well once there's a baby in the cradle, but it should work well enough for the next few months to keep the cats out of the cradle.
Well, I'm officially stumped as to whether I'm going to have a boy or a girl. I always thought I would just intuitively KNOW, but I have no clue at all. Nana dreamt it was a girl, David thought it was a girl at the beginning, I always thought I would have a boy first, the other night I dreamt it was a boy, but I still have no clue. So I asked the cards, and I got: The Seven of Pentacles. This card shows a man in a garden, so my first instinct was boy. BUT, the cards meaning is that its time to wait, to be patient. So I have a feeling that the cards are telling me just to wait.
(By the way, don't anyone ask me the STUPID question of "What are you hoping for?" I'm hoping for a healthy baby - I would love a boy or girl equally and would treat them the same.)
But not really... I've been doing important stuff this week! I worked a ton of hours Tues-Fri, and then I've been researching baby stuff the last couple of days. Since I'm officially halfway through the pregnancy, I feel the need to start getting everything in order. I thought I had decided on a carseat, but (of course!) Target is in the process of discontinuing the pattern I wanted. Bleah. I think I'll go to Babies R Us or Baby Depot now. Plus, I changed my mind about the bassinett (no crib for the first few months, just a basinette by our bed since we plan on co-sleeping). The one that I really liked from pictures on the Target website seems to be made mostly of cardboard - WHAT?! So I found a nice wooden one at Babies R Us for only $7 more. Plus I don't have to wait for it to be shipped. Now I'll have to find all the bedding I want, though. I think I want to do all white bedding to match me and David's bedding. Well, white and hunter green. I guess I'll wait until we get in the changing table/dresser before going to buy the crib. I'm anxious, though, since I seem to be very good at picking out things moments before they're discontinued.
Anyway, here's my reading for tomorrow:
Energy: Two of Pentacles (juggling your life)
Surprise: Three of Cups (the bridesmaid card)
Preparation: The Empress
Hmmm... The 2 of Pents and The Empress have both shown up recently. (For anyone wondering, when I put cards back in the deck I seperate them first - so its not my re-shuffling practices that caused the same two cards to pop up again.) Looks like it will be a busy day at the museum tomorrow - I'll have a lot to juggle task-wise. Not surprising, since its a holiday, we have a preschool program, special events, and I need to send out a ton of field trip confirmation letters. But the surprise of the day seems to be friendship with other women - maybe I'll hear from a good friend or spend some quality time with Erin. The preparation card is The Empress. Hmmm... I guess I just need to be sure to be taking care of myself and my baby tomorrow. Pregnancy does require a lot of special attention, I've found.
It will be hard to top last Monday though - finding out that I got the grant and THEN a family foundation agreed to match all grant funds and private donations that come into the museum $.50 to the $1.00 per year up to $25,000. That means that if I bring in $50,000 in grants they will donate an additional $25,000. And I think that's completely do-able, especially with me working from home more!
I wrote a pretty last-mintue grant before leaving on Thanksgiving vacation in November to a local foundation to get a grant that the museum is DESPERATE to get (to fund a new exhibit). Every other request for this money has been declined so far, but the that last group called today to tell us they were funding it at the $10,000 level! Yay!!!! I rule!
Happy Birthday, Katie!
I wish you all the best, both in this year and every year hereafter. I love you!
It was a a crappy day the other day! Work was frantic, but I didn't argue with anyone at work - I argued with everyone at home and really made myself sick with being so upset... Anyway, the cards (unfortunently) nailed it.
So, today is my day off (while there are 10 parties at the museum!) and we're going to do some reorganizing at home. I ordered a baby dresser/changing table online last night that should get here in about 2-3 weeks. So, the plan is to move the bookshelf from our bedroom to the dining room, buy a new bookshelf for the dining room, unload the boxes of books out of the utility room, put away all the Christmas boxes that are now in the corner of the office, and then I want to organize my closet. (Box up all pre-maternity clothes and organize all the stuff the baby has gotten so far.) Simple enough, no? Plus, I think I want to go see a movie this afternoon.
So, the reading for today is:
Energy: Five of Cups (focusing on regret)
Surprise: The Empress
Preparation: Two of Pentacles (balancing act)
Hmmm... The energy of the day looks pessimistic - focusing on what I don't have rather than on what I do have. I think if I know that I'll have a tendancy to do that then I'll be able to avoid it. The Surprise of the day has to do with the baby! The Empress is the the card of pregnancy - maybe I'll feel some good kicks (or, even better, David will be able to feel the baby kicking - he hasn't yet). The way to prepare for today is to be ready to juggle/balance everything that is going on. I can do that...
in which nothing got acomplished. Bleah.
The hard drive self-destructed immediately apon being removed from the old computer at the museum - before it could be transferred to the new one. I forgot the email passwords and had to call the web hosting group. But first thing this morning, I worked for about an hour on de-icing my car and failed miserably... David had to come do it for me in the end. But not before I'd exhausted myself trying. I forgot to eat lunch and the baby started kicking me about 3:30 to remind. (Isn't it cute that the baby does that? It seems most active when its hungry or when there's loud music.) I guess I should have paid attention to my reading last night and taken time to rest. I was sooo anoyed with everything this morning, though, that I spent my spare time cleaning house. David and I are going to go curl up in bed and he's going to start reading the Anne McCafrey series "Harper Hall" to me, so that should be a nice restful end to the day. So here goes the reading for tomorrow:
Energy: The Nine of Swords (making yourself sick with worry)
Surprize: Five of Staffs (arguments, bickering)
Preparation: Three of Staffs (waiting for good things to come to you)
YUCK! Now I am definitely not looking foward to tomorrow... I'll be stressed and worried all day, bicker with everyone at work... It looks like the best way to prepare is just to patiently wait for things to get better. Well, hopefully knowing what's on the horizon will help me to roll with the punches tomorrow. Maybe my extreme tiredness at the moment is casting a sour light on my reading of tomorrow's events.
Yesterday and today have been great... very relaxing, a lot of lying around and not doing much. Plus, David and I went and looked at a few places for baby stuff. So far, we really like Target's selection, so we'll probably register there. How fun! But looking at everything that's available made me realize how completely overboard most parents go. All the baby needs the first few months are diapers and breasts, you know? The rest is pretty unneeded.
The other day at work went well, no mad theiving as I feared from the reading. It seems my usual interpretation was more correct: a thief of time/energy/effort. The group that donated the new computers to the museum apparently didn't do a FULL install on Windows NT, so I had to spend hours online trying to find all the .dll files in order to install the printer (which I had to install in order to print out the mailing labels so the weekend staff could put the labels on the mailing so I could take it to Bulk Mail on Monday). It was a huge waste of my time and energy, because someone had been lazy. David finally brought me an NT installation CD so it was worked out in the end, but I ended up working until 8pm. Bleah! I definitely neede the extra balance and patience! (as indicated by the Temperance card) But it was a day of starting the new year off - I worked some more on the new network system, finally got the printer installed, and also bought new phones for the museum.
So here's the reading for tomorrow:
Energy: Four of Swords (card of rest)
Surprize: Four of Staffs (partnership/celebration)
Preparation: The Hermit
Looks like a pretty good day! A good day to try to get some rest, and not push myself too hard (according to the 4 of Swords). The surprize - looks like an unexpected romantic lunch or something! (Here's hoping!) And, finally, the Hermit reminds me to trust myself, to look inward, and to focus on learning all that I can.
Hmmm... Dare I make a New Years Resolution to update my blog more often? We'll see.
My daily spread format will be as follows: shuffle cards, cut the deck, lay out three cards left to right. First card is the energy of tomorrow, second card is what will surprise me tomorrow, and the third card is how I should prepare for tomorrow. (Pretty nifty spread, I just made that one up.) So, here goes:
Energy card: The Fool
Surprize card: Seven of Swords (thief card)
Preparation card: Temperance
Interesting! The Fool is a "new beginning" energy - how fitting for my first work day of 2004! It also shows a need to keep your eyes open to avoid accidents, so I'll have to be very aware of what I'm doing. The Seven of Swords is an ominous surprize card. As I stated in my recent entry, I tend to interpret this card as a "metaphorical thief" but I'm beginning to doubt that. Now I wonder if I'll need to be careful of someone stealing from me or from the museum tomorrow! I'll keep my eyes open for that. And, finally, to prepare for tomorrow, I need to work on maintaining a sense of balance and patience. I think I'll set my alarm a few minutes early and do some yoga first thing in the morning to help balance my energy for the day. With two Major Arcana, it makes me think tomorrow could be a very big day.
General life update: all is wonderful! We had a lovely Christmas and New Years, travel was good, food was good, presents (both given and received) were fabulous. My midwife appt went great this week - all is well, though I'm already measuring HUGE! (with less than 10 pounds of weight gain - I'm just going to be all uterus by the end) The baby is very active and healthy, and our ultrasound was probably the most meaningful half-hour of my life. Seeing my baby kick, stretch, suck its thumb, move its mouth... it was amazing. You can see the pictures from the ultrasound and our various Christmas celebrations on our online photo album at PhotoGrove.
