Holiday travel plans

Two things of note for our holiday travel this year, during which we'll spend two days snowboarding in Breckenridge with my sister, brother, and brother's girlfriend. First, we didn't get to spend one single day on any mountain at all last winter because I was pregnant. Needless to say, both my husband and I cannot wait to give it a go!! Second, my parents will be keeping the Bug for two nights. They're thrilled, and my initial nervousness has given way to really looking forward to a couple of nights off. Ironically, though, we won't be catching up on sleep... we'll have to let my parents continue with breakfast feedings for a couple of days after we get to their house... I haven't slept past 7am in months!

Finally, we have done an annual trip with my sister, spending a few days up in Keystone and hitting the various mountains up there. It's always a blast - we have a great time on the mountain, and a potentially even better time cooking dinner, soaking in the hot tub, and drinking bourbon, wine and beer. This will be the first time doing the trip with my brother, which is awesome! Plus, the only time I have spent with his girlfriend was the weekend that the Bug was born. I must say, she was a trooper to bail on her Memorial Day weekend plans with my brother and spend it instead with family that was focused not one bit on her - I don't think I had a single conversation with her amid all the insanity. So it'll be great to get to know her a little!

After the little snowboarding mini-vacation, we head to the farm for four days of very intense family time. My husband anticipates starting drinking just a little earlier each day. I just hope that Santa can find us there.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Buffy and Angel - the comics

If you are a fan of the show, but for some reason haven't started to read the comics, let me first tell you that the Buffy: Season 8 issues have been great so far. It's nine issues in or so, and I'm totally into it. I don't love it as much as I love the show, but sometimes you gotta take what you can get. Since I also loved Angel, I was really excited for the first issue of Angel: After the Fall.

I am not really a comics reader, as evidenced by something I completely missed. No spoilers here for those of you who are looking forward to reading it yourself, but there was a major plot twist for a major character, and I missed it entirely. I actually went to an online forum because I thought I didn't quite get what had happened... and "quite" turned out to be an immense understatement. Luckily, when I learned what was apparently obvious to every other reader, it certainly shed some light into what I'd thought was a totally confusing book. I think I'll re-read it tonight and see if I can catch on.

My apparent lack of comic book reading comprehension aside, I am now enough of a regular for my comic book guy to show me his super-secret cool-stuff stash. My inner nerd is now my outer nerd.

Cuddle party

Until I was pregnant, I was never much of a napper. I just find nighttime sleep to be more than sufficient, and napping always made me a bit groggy. Plus, I like to accomplish things, and you can't accomplish much while sleeping.

This weekend opened my eyes just a bit wider to the joy of napping. I'm pretty sure that taking a nap while cuddling a baby is one of life's sweetest pleasures.

My new favorite word

It's "polterwang". I had to look it up when I saw it on Go Fug Yourself.

I can't stop cracking up.

EEOC, part 2

I've decided to at least explore whether or not I have an EEOC case against my employer, and have called to open a file. The first step is pretty innocuous - you give a person some basic information over the phone, both about yourself and your employer, and they mail out a questionnaire which asks for additional detail. I have not officially filed a claim until the EEOC field office receives this document, either by mail or an in-person meeting. In New York State, I have 300 days from the initial action taken against me to do so. The person I spoke with is an "impartial party", so was not able to give any reaction as to whether or not I have a case here.

The reason for my taking this step? I called our disability insurance company to inquire as to why I have only received four weeks of disability pay thus far, and was told that our coverage is only for a total of six weeks if a woman delivered vaginally and eight weeks for a Cesarean delivery, the first week of either of which is completely unpaid. I reread our handbook, and really feel that the language was misleading. Technically it doesn't say that we are covered for 90 days, but I really believed that to be the case. So I was pretty angry and decided to do something about it. Hence, the call to the EEOC.

Santa

The Bug saw her first Santa Claus at Stew Leonard's yesterday. She absolutely hated him. She did the full-on lower-lip pout and started to cry. I couldn't even get her to go to him, and she loves people!

We picked out a tree while we were there. It's a really good one, although for some reason I was feeling like a smaller tree than we usually get. This one is about 8 feet tall; we usually go closer to 10. But with an Exersaucer and a Jumperoo vying for space in our little condo, it seemed wise. I know that the Bug won't care either way, but I cannot wait for her to see it covered in lights and ornaments!