Giant Beary bucket o corn.

Yesterday I dug out our stash of graph paper, measured all our new furniture (things we didn’t have in the old apartment) and the walls, and now I have what Jake calls a 2D dollhouse. I love that I had some of our furniture already prepared in graph-paper shapes, saved me a touch of effort. I had to work out how we could fit the crib into our room. I think I have it worked out now, and because of finding out how big it is, I know I’ll have to construct it in our bedroom because it won’t fit through the doorway. I made Jake look at the plan so he could share his opinion, and also because he’ll be doing most of the moving around of stuff anyway. At least it is easier to move stuff on wood than it is carpet.

Yesterday after the restaurant closed, there was the staff christmas party. There was a bowl of chips right next to where I decided to sit, and the bit that was in there when I sat down was staaaale. Thankfully when the bowl got topped up it was fresh and delicious chippies, but bleh.

I finally got to meet Marion, a lovely lady who works as a cook once or twice a week. Jake talks about her a lot, possibly because when she makes his lunch-salad it is obvious because she puts mushrooms in it (although Laurie does that now too, but she got the idea from Marion, so whenever he tells me he had mushrooms I think of Marion). She was also who Jake had as a secret santa, and after meeting her we really did pick good things for her. Early in the party she was talking about her woobie (something she apparently bought for her grandkid but kept for herself) and then whenever someone got a gift that was soft she’d compare it to her woobie (Russ makes everyone open gifts one by one so they can show it off) and when she finally opened her gift and found a big soft blanket, she was like "my woobie has competition now!" and cuddling it. And then she saw that we got her a mug-and-cocoa kit and she was all happy because she finally had a mug for herself to keep at the restaurant. All that made Jake very happy and he kept looking at me and going "I’m SO GLAD she liked her gift! Eee!" because he’s adorable too. At the end of the party, Marion said that I looked familiar and so she wanted to know my maiden name and whole backstory and stuff, which amused me because haha I’m not from around here. But it turns out she has either a sister or a cousin (I forget…) living in Melbourne. I don’t know why that would make me familiar, seeing as she said she’s never been there, but I thought that was pretty cool. We were hanging out in the same corner of the room as Marion, that’s why most of the evening featured her.

Jake (and I! People gifted to both of us, and Meg even got something for me…. although really for baby. Soft purple monkey blanket!) got a bunch of cool gifts that I can’t remember much about because I’d already put them away, and Russ gave out bonus ‘checks’ ($100 note) to everyone and then told us all it was time to leave. I love parties with a set ending, I never know if I am overstaying my welcome or leaving too early.

Today, I was going to try and move the bookshelf from the bedroom to the lounge (to make space for the crib!) but I never got around to it. Instead all I’ve done is prepare for tomorrow (fold laundry, write a grocery list…) and put away baby stuff. We got a HUGE basket of baby goodies from Gale and Nancy (Jake’s Dad and stepmother) that when they gave to us looked like a thing you would buy at the store as a whole, but once we opened it I realised Nancy had gone out and bought all these things herself. Everything was pink (ugh, why must everything be PINK?) but so cute. Lots of clothes, including an adorable set with monkeys on it (or was it two sets with monkeys? Either way… MONKEYS!!) and a super-soft blanket and some bibs and a bouquet of ‘flowers’ made of socks/gloves/etc that is so cute I wouldn’t ever want to take the flower-things off. There was also a baby book, and a ‘boo boo bunny’ (looks like a flannel folded up to look like a bunny, with a re-usable icecube in the centre), and a figurine, and a weird bent spoon for some reason, and the creepiest thing of all – a big singing baby bottle that comes with a pen so people can sign it. Like what some people have around graduation time but for… baby arrival or baby shower? I don’t know. Either way, creepy. I don’t like things that sing.

We had pasta for dinner tonight, covered ina butternut squash puree. It was pretty yummy, but I kept needing more salt and pepper. But that is baby’s fault, she likes her food well seasoned. Well, she likes MY food well seasoned. So it wasn’t as good as it could be, but it was pretty good. Then I ate me-as-a-gingerbread, and now I’m sad because we are so close to out of delicious cookies.

Title: The other gift we got from Jake’s Dad.