Author Archives: Kara

Seven Quick Takes

Posted in Seven Quick Takes by

1. I told (well, emailed) my boss finally and told him that I’m pregnant and he congratulated me. Who would’ve thought it would so scary telling your boss that you’re pregnant and eventually going to be leaving for a good chunk of time? Regardless, I’m glad I got it over with and he knows know. His exact response was, “Congratulations! I’m assuming it’s a good thing at least.” Priceless and pretty much sums up the humour my boss has. (Which is a good thing!)

2. I bought Sarah’s Key yesterday and am looking forward to reading it! I’ve heard a lot of great reviews and I haven’t actually read a new book since late October, so it will be nice to snuggle down with a book on the weekends.

3. Kyle and I bought Kinect for the XBox 360 and can’t get enough of playing it! We just have a couple games right now, but it’s a lot of fun and ou really get a workout! My legs were sore for a couple days after playing Kinect Adventures against my brother. And – if you’ve never heard of Kinect, it’s basically like a Wii but instead of moving the controller, it senses the motion of your body, so you control everything!

4. How is it already the end of the year? I don’t even know how it went by so fast – but I guess I did keep myself pretty busy this year! I’ll probably do a Year in Review post sometime next week.

5. Kyle and I have made a decision (I think) on whether or not to find out what we’re having! But – you’ll have to wait until Monday’s pregnancy update post for what we’ve decided.

6. This 3-day workweek of mine dragged on. I’m pretty sure there’s still turkey tryptophan in my system because I’m sooooo sleepy, and that’s certainly not helping. That’s what happens when you have three turkey dinners I guess.

7. I bought this dayplanner/agenda for 2012 yesterday as well and can’t wait to start filling it up with plans! I just know next year is going to be just as eventful as 2011!

Have you read Sarah’s Key? Did you like it?
Have you even played Kinect for XBox? What about Wii?
Did you work this week? Did it drag on or go by fast?

Alone at Midnight

Posted in Holidays, Kara and Kyle by

Via Pinterest

For the first time since we started dating, Kyle and I will be spending New Year’s Eve apart.

With his 4×4 shift work, NYE is his first night shift, so while he’s working away to bring home the bacon, I’ll be celebrating with friends at a dinner/dance party here in town. I know I won’t be alone alone, but there’s something about not having your significant other with you at midnight that just makes me feel a little down inside.

Everyone else I’ll be with will have their boy or girlfriend with them, so midnight is the time of night I’m not particularly looking forward to. The traditional “midnight” kiss will be full of awkwardness as everyone around me makes out. Making it even more awkward will be the fact that I’ll also be stone-cold sober for the first NYE for as long as I can remember as well. Nope, I can’t even drink away the awkwardness.

I even think the guy who I bought my ticket from over the phone felt bad for me. When he told me the final price for a paid of tickets I had to correct him and let him know I was only buying one ticket. The response to that was a long pause and, “Ooooh …. okay.” Thanks buddy.

Of course – there are some perks to being alone, pregnant and sober on NYE. For one – it will be a hell of a lot cheaper! No booze = No ridiculous bar tab, and I won’t have to pay for a cab ride home. It will also give me a great excuse to just sit and people watch for parts of the evening instead of killing my legs and feet dancing all night (“Not feeling well, the baby didn’t seem to like dinner too much!”).

In the end though – I really don’t mind being the only sober and alone one out of the bunch. I’ll get to come home shortly after midnight to my own house and be greeted by my lovable dog and Kyle will be home in a matter of a few hours. Really, being apart from my husband during holidays and events like NYE will make me love and appreciate him more. He sacrifices holidays so we can live comfortably. After all – we have a lifetime of NYE’s ahead of us.

Have you been apart from your significant other during the holidays? How did you deal?
What are you NYE plans? Having a low-key night or are you going out with friends?

Christmas Coma

Posted in Family, Holidays by

First – I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas this past weekend!

My Christmas celebrations are still going on! Tonight Kyle and I are headed to his mom’s for (another) turkey dinner with his mom, her boyfriend, Kyle’s sister (I think), and his aunt and uncle. It’s always fun time with lots of laughter, so I’m looking forward to it! I’m also making a delicious spinach dip to devour share with everyone.

The thing is, while I love spending time with family during the holidays, by the end of it all, it’s too much and both Kyle and I are exhausted. Because both of our parents are split up, more often than not we end up having four Christmases, and sometimes they are just as traumatic as the movie.

Of course, we’re not exactly keen on flying to some tropical paradise every time Christmas rolls around, so we try and schedule everyone’s dinners on different nights so no one is left out. It’s hard. We said last year that it was going to be the last year of four Christmases, but this year, we have three of them. By tonight, I’m sure I’m going to slip into a coma.

This year, I swear, is the last year we’re going to everyone’s house for Christmas. This time next year, we’ll have a 6-month old (which is so surreal to say!) and I just don’t think I’ll feel up to packing up the kiddo and going out every night around Christmas. If people want to visit me and the baby, they can come to my house!

That being said – I still don’t know what we’ll do as far as creating our own traditions. We’ve yet to host a holiday dinner (I’ve never cooked anything bigger than a roast) and with  all the men in the family working shift work, it’s hard to coordinate everyone. (Kyle, my dad, my step-dad, and Kyle’s mom’s boyfriend all work at the same place but they’re all on different 4×4 shifts!) As of right now, Kyle works Christmas night, so it doesn’t look like Christmas dinner will be at our house next year anyway!

I think in a couple years we’ll start making our own traditions. The baby won’t be old enough to realize what’s going on next Christmas, and maybe in a couple years Kyle will be working on a different shift, or will have enough seniority to get Christmas Day off. We’ll see! I know it seems like such a long time into the future, but time only seems to go faster these days.

Questions:
Have you started any traditions with your significant other?
How do you find balance during the holidays?