Sweet

Check out my brother's website - it's awesome!

In other news, still pregnant. Yeah.

This is what we pay taxes for?

So get this - the city sent us a letter a few weeks ago, stating their intention to replace our water meter and desiring us to set up an appointment for said replacement. Fine. Whatever. Appointment made.

The friendly lady from the water department came, attempted her work, pronounced it not good, and announced that, prior to replacing the meter, we would have to shell out for a plumber to come replace a valve (also involving the tearing up of concrete around selfsame valve). If this work were not completed in a timely matter, friendly lady informed, our water would be summarily shut off. We would then still have to pay for a plumber, and from thence the meter would be replaced and our water restored.

So, curiosity being what it is, I inquired as to the reason behind replacing the meter at all. Friendly lady said she didn't know, it was possible it was faulty, but more likely, said she, was that "some of the new girls in the office were just generating random lists".

WHAT???????

Come on!

I mean, seriously.

Dear old Rabbie Burns

Many thanks to the Mother of all Jurries, who alerted me that yesterday was the birthday of Robert Burns, the Bard of Scotland, and therefore the holiday known the world round as Burns night. Unfortunately the Birns did not have a traditional Burns dinner, though if we had...

We would have dined in style on cock-a-leekie soup, haggis, tatties and neeps (mashed potatoes and rutabagas), clootie dumpling pudding, and other such Scottish delicacies. All of this washed down with adequate amounts of the "water of life" (Scotch whiskey, naturally). We would have read the Address to a Haggis, with appropriate amounts of irony and humor, of course.

A time of "immortal memory" would have followed, with reminiscences of Burn's life and works expounded on at length. Steve would've proposed a toast to the lassy who had prepared the meal, along with sharing his views on womankind. I would then return the favor, with a toast to the laddy and a general ruminating on the shortcomings of men. This done, we'd have read our favorite Burns poems, sung our favorite Burns songs, and danced the Highland Fling. Festivities over, we'd have sung Auld Lang Syne, and called it a night.

Sadly, we didn't do any of this. I did make shortbread for prayer meeting though. It was good.

Selkirk Grace

Some hae meat and cannot eat.
Some cannot eat that want it:
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Finally!

At long last I get around to putting the ultrasound pictures. We're so glad that our son seems to be healthy and well. He certainly is an active boy, with an apparent enthusiasm (and corresponding lack of talent) for dancing, particularly (but not limited to) between 2 and 4 in the morning. This dancing of course stops as I want to have Steve feel the baby's movements. A very stubborn boy, our Stuart.

Early this morning while the baby danced himself silly, I laid awake thinking big, ponderous thoughts. Well, honestly, most of my thoughts were of how much I wanted to be sleeping, but I did have some good thoughts. And the thing that strikes me about the middle of the night is how it's a perfect time for prayer. There are none of the distractions (well, besides rhythm-impaired infants) that exist during the day. No chores to be done, no blogs to be checked (it's been 2 minutes - there might be something new!), no errands to run, no calls to be made, no barking and dissenting dogs to discipline, no pretty, sparkly, brightly colored objects to be distracted by. It's 2 in the morning, it's dark, the bed is comfy and therefore a better alternative to being up, and things are generally pretty peaceful.

I won't say all that I prayed for, except to say that there were very fervent thanks to God for the man who invented Tums (I'm very grateful to this man, whomever he might be). I will say that I am very grateful to God for all His blessings in my life, including unborn white boys who can't dance. :-)

It's a boy!

Yes folks, it's a boy. Stuart Mark Birn is due April 27, 2007, and those who know such things inform me that he is healthy and well and developmentally on track. We give thanks to God for this blessing, and covet prayers for continued health.

Ultrasound pictures are forthcoming.

BTW - I think little Stuart would look really cute in one of these (and for those of you who were sure it was a girl and wanted to order one of these, remember, Stuart might have a sister someday :-) )

Mmmmmmmmmm. Let's eat.

Well, well. You've all done very well. Your suggestions for local eateries all sounded good, and were mostly within the boundaries of the rules. I was pleased to see some of my favorite spots recommended, some more than once. As I said, I figured this out earlier. But.... now I've rethought it several times. So the revised list goes as follows:

Breakfast: Now this is hard. I happen to love Wolfgang's Eggs Benedict, and though I've never tried them at Real Food Cafe or the Red Geranium, I'm sure they're scrumptious there as well. Still, all things considered, I'm going to stick with Brandywine. The Brandy Benedict is amazing (loaded with chicken, spinach, tomato, and cheese - yum), and comes with potatoes. Since I'm boring and only drink water when I go out, my total here is $7.50.

Lunch: Again, I am conflicted. I love the Cottage Bar (no one else in town makes better burgers, except of course my dear Mr B), enjoy Two Choppers (the almost Soup Nazi-ish style of ordering is worth it when you've got a yummy gyro to show for it), and am partial to the Real Food Cafe (I'm convinced they make everything with a stick of butter. How bad could that be?). I have to give a shout out to Russ' here, and say that as long as you don't order the hot turkey sandwich, most of the sandwiches are delightful. However, I had a big breakfast, and want something light. Therefore, a trip to Marie Catrib's is in order, where the hummus and tabbouleh pita is delish. I can't remember exactly how much that costs, but I'm going to guess it's in the neighborhood of $7.00.

Snack: A little slice of happiness in the form of Arnie's Dutch Chocolate Torte. It's dark chocolate, so it's good for you. Yeah. Costs somewhere around $3.00.

Dinner: San Chez is really really good. So is Tre Cugini. So is Pietros. And One Trick Pony, and Yen Ching (though sadly, as noted before, the good Yen Ching is closed), and Osta's and so many more. But right now I'm in the mood for chicken vesuvio, and no one makes it better (if they make it at all) than Olive's in East GR. The large portion goes for about $14.00, and comes with yummy potatoes and artichokes.

Dessert: The only no contest question. Any of the yummerific confections at La Dolce Vita, taking out that last $8.00. Yes, I know I got cake for snack. Shut up. It's good cake and I ate a light lunch. And La Dolce Vita is not to be missed. It's fantastic. Seriously.

Total cost:
$39.50

I think I want cake now. In fact, I think I need cake. The baby needs cake. Mmmmm....