Honestly!

I'm terrified of writing and marking down the days. I just sort of hold my breath and hope that one day leads to the next, and the next, without anything drastic or life-changing happening. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Hubby and I went out yesterday though and added items to our *gulps* registry. I fly home in about one month and some people there may wish to give us a gift if Mom decides to hold some sort of a shower event. And as my mom said, how can those people do that if they don't know what we want? So we've created a registry at the major baby chain store to make things easy. Along with that, we're starting to clear out "the room that shall not be named" in order to make space for the furniture I've ordered. It's en route (thanks for the tip Pam!) and ought to arrive in the next week or two. I ordered five pieces: a crib, toddler rails (the crib is a convertible to toddler bed, daybed and eventually double bed), combo dresser, four-drawer dresser and a removable changer tray for changing Petit when the time comes. I need space to put all of this though, even if it is in boxes, and so I needed to clear out that bedroom so that I have somewhere to put those items when they arrive. I figured I better do this now anyway before time slips away from me and moving furniture becomes rather difficult!

And a huge "Thank you sweetie!!!" and virtual hugs go out to Bodhi Ekah because she ever so thoughtfully nominated me for an Honest Scrap Award!

Here are the rules:

1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

So here are my nominees!

We Make 3 (pw protected; success, TTC #2)

The Rylan Reader (success)

Of Course You'll Get Pregnant! (success, TTC #2)

Big P and Me (success)

What IF? (TWW)

Life and Love in the Petri Dish (stims)

Into the Womb (p/g)

And as required, here are 10 random honest things about myself. I hope you enjoy the read!

1. Much like the wonderful woman who nominated me, hubby and I met on the Internet. It was back in 2000 when meeting people on the Internet was still very much frowned upon and in the process of meeting him, I had to kiss a number of frogs in order to find my prince. I was hesitant to even tell my family how I'd met him, and I think early on in the game when Mom asked me where I'd met him, I told a white lie and said that he was a LAN admin at work! Yes, he was into tech and LAN work, but not at my office, that's for sure!

2. I am still a Durannie at heart. I would give my right arm to have a few hours of John Taylor's time. However, I have a variety of musical tastes from dance (Iio, Goldfrapp) to classical/opera (Paul Potts), to... well, I've no idea how best to describe Placebo, but I love their music. However, you diss Duran Duran, you die.

3. I love to travel. Travelling and experiencing other societies, cultures, traditions and lifestyles is something that rejuvenates me and I cherish it. As of August, I expect our travelling will be somewhat curttailed, however I have chosen a diaper bag that will certainly come in handy when we recommence travelling again!

4. I have one tattoo, but I'd love a second. My tattoo is on my outer right ankle, a couple of inches high and it's the Japanese kanji for love (pronounced "ai"). Even my character in the online game that I play is devoted to Erollisi Marr, the Goddess of Love. I think in many ways, we need more love, tolerance and understanding in our world and I would hope that my child is tolerant of others as much as my husband and I are, or moreso.

5. I used to sing in both the church choir and the school choir. I love to sing though I don't think I'm particularly good. Get me in a car alone though, and crank something good, and I'll sing along at the top of my lungs! I hope Petit enjoys it!

6. I have no favourite food or drink. I prefer juices or milk to carbonated drinks and there are a number of foods that I really like, but no one favourite really, over all the others. One of the most disgusting foods that I've ever tried is natto... fermented soy beans and the darn stuff looks like what might come out of a lung after a bout of pneumonia. Horrid! Absolutely horrid!

7. I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. When my friends were at the age when they started taking that up, I was swimming on a team and had I begun the same habit, I never would have been able to get myself to the end of the pool, let alone complete a 200-lap swim-a-thon!

8. Even to this day, swimming is my favourite exercise. We have an in-ground pool in our backyard and that was a major selling point of this house. It's a heated pool too, so I can use it for quite a number of months. In the summer, I love to get out there and just do lap after lap, zoning out and enjoying the rhythmic pace of the slap of the water and steady breathing. By the end of the summer, I am usually swimming about 100 laps of our little 35-foot long pool.

9. Years ago, when I was a member of the Girl Guides/Pathfinders, I was selected to attend a Governor General's garden party back in Newfoundland and there, I had the opportunity to meet Princess Diana and Prince Charles. I found her to be enchanting and genuinely interested in those she spoke to. He, however, was a total fop and very much a dullard.

10. I am terrified of having to have an IV during childbirth when/if that time comes. I will do anything in my power to avoid it as with an IV, my anxiety, blood pressure and nervousness rises exponentially. Because my veins are so small and deep (I've been told that they're worse than a drug addict's veins by one phlebotomist), it's physically painful to get them in correctly and continues to remain painful while they're in me. I understand that I'm not supposed to feel it, but I DO. And damn, it hurts! Once, after surgery, I pulled out my own IV. And the times when I've awoken from surgery with one in, I've made sure that the site where it's in my skin is covered by a bandage or gauze because just SEEING it makes me weak and nauseous. It's terrible. So my recent research surrounds how to avoid having an IV for childbirth and what conditions necessitate an IV (and how to prevent those conditions from occurring, if I can at all). All in all, that's scaring the hell out of me. Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice? Let me know!