1.  2 months til my official due date.  I’m in my 8th month of pregnancy, no matter how you look at it.  Unless of course, you’re eyeballing me (& therefore guessing at my due date), in which case you’re probably convinced I’m going to pop tonight.

2.  Connecticut wasn’t exactly restful – really damned hot, bed’s too uncomfortable for words, and one of the 5 dogs in the house was nosing its way into the bedroom all during the night.  Got almost no sleep, and I’m more tired now than I was Saturday night after a full week of work, and I have a full week of work ahead of me.  But.  It was lovely to meet the Boy’s aunt.  She brought Thor all kinds of presents from Butler University (The Boy’s last name is Butler, and Thor’s will be, too) – teddy bears wearing “Butler!” sweatshirts.  A onesie with “Butler Baby” writ across the chest.  Way cute.  Beyond thoughtful. Adorable!

Plus, it was her dog who stood up on his hind legs to steal the last of the filet from the sideboard as we were all eating dessert.  Which makes Nellie look exceptionally good.

We laughed a lot and I really enjoyed meeting her and her husband and their two grandkids who were on the road trip with them.  It was a good, if exhausting, day.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

3.  Speaking of filet…

I was a vegetarian for almost 20 years.  For various reasons, when I moved to New York, I started eating meat again.  It’s still not something I go out of my way to eat, but when it’s put in front of me, I’ll eat it happily.  And, as long as I’m eating meat, I want my red meat RED.  We’re talking, still cold in the middle, still mooing, RED.  Which means I haven’t been eating much red meat during this pregnancy.  Even though it sounds really good, because well done beef or lamb?  Blech.  Why bother?

Well.  I’ve mentioned before that my MIL is a domestic goddess, among her other talents.  And so when she cooks a beef filet for 13 people, it’s going to be good – in part because she buys better cuts of meat than anyone I’ve ever met.  She was very disappointed last night because the gigantic hunk of filet she bought & prepared was so unevenly cut that it was hard to get it as uniformly rare as she likes it.  I, of course, was delighted since having a few well done pieces meant I could enjoy it without having to nuke my perfectly-cooked steak.  And this filet?  It was so tender, so deliciously perfect, even cooked til it was brown, that it was wonderful.  I didn’t even miss the sound effects.

Damn, I wish I had another piece of that steak.

4.  I get to sleep tonight in my own bed, and since last night was such a penitential experience, I have every reason to believe that I’ll sleep soundly tonight.  Like maybe even 4 or 5 hours in a row without waking up to pee.  Damn, it’s gonna be nice.

5.  This might be my last full week of work coming up.  I haven’t yet finalized my official “last day” but if I’m still feeling this chronically exhausted by the end of the Italy trip, I will probably try to not go back to work at all.  And right now?  God, that just sounds heavenly.