On my way to work today, I saw a truck slogan that made me laugh. In huge blue letters it read,

"We Remove Asbestos and Reinstall."

In the tradition of last year's ban of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, another ridiculous childhood item has been taken away from our children. First, I am still annoyed that PB&J is banned. Lots of children are allergic to peanut butter so if one has this contraband, they can smear it on another child and he or she will have an allergic reaction. And this is because when we were in school no body had allergies and children constantly smeared the contents of their sandwiches on each other. Why not grass on a playground or chocolate? Once again I have digressed. The recent ban of playing tag has taken place in several schools. Tag. The reason? Children are emotionally affected by being labeled "it." Ohhhhhhh.... That's why we have all those serial killers and lawyers in the world. Geez, what is wrong with people that a subject such as playing tag is bad for children and hey, they like to smear peanut butter on eachother comes up a PTA meeting. We should let kids be kids, after all if you "protect" them all the time of things that have no serious threat, everyone will need their mommies to walk them through life. You know, back in my day, we had peanut butter and played tag in school and look how we turned out.

I would put lots of paneling like Denis Leary's dad. We have already outgrown our apartment. Can we have a new house now please?

I have this wedding picture of Bryan and I kissing behind two trees, courtesy of my brother-in-law, proudly framed on my desk at work. I think it is my favorite of the millions of pictures Bryan and I have taken. It reminds me of our first kiss our on first date. The best day of my life. Bryan took me to a rock show and I was so nervous. I kept stepping on his feet! I wanted to cry when it was over, but our date turned out to be forever. Our wedding was exactly one year later and our first anniversary is in two weeks. Every kiss is our first and most wonderful. As I look at our picture each day for inspiration, I know that I will always feel that way more and more every day. Bryan will always be the softest, sweetest, most wonderful person. Thank you for being my husband, Bryan.

Here are some of the most interesting things I have eaten in my hormonal induced cravings:

16 oz can of corn
2 large McDonald's French Fries
blocks of parmasan cheese, and then cheddar, and then white cheddar
2 pounds of strawberries
three quarters of a box of Golden Grahams Cereal
a whole bag of lolly pops
a whole bag of chocolate chip cookies, followed by three pudding snack packs
a half box of saltine crackers
half head of lettuce

And we never have leftovers from dinner anymore.
My cravings are going away little by little, I am not so imulsive and impatient.

I have gained three pounds so far.
And I have thirty one weeks left.

As everyone knows already, Bryan and I are expecting our first child. This is what we know so far:
It is not a multiple birth.
I am eight weeks along.
My due date is expected January 18, 2003.
Bryan and I have decided not to find out until the baby is born if it is a boy or girl.

We thought it would be interesting to see who would know the most about our baby. So, Family and Friends how cool would it be if everyone will take a guess when the baby will be born and what it will be. Whomever does, wins! (100 beans.)

I, being the mommy, hope that my motherly instinct helps.

I think that the baby will be a girl, born after noon time, and about ten days after my due date, since I never do anything on time.

What do you think? Please guess!! This should be so much fun!!

I am proud to announce that there will be an addition to our branch of the Gillet family. We have found officiallly today that Bryan and I are having our first child. I am totally pregnant. The doctor says about eight weeks, and on Tuesday after our sonogram, we will know exactly how many weeks the baby has existed. This is so exciting! I don't know what to say or do first. In case you are wondering, my coworkers and I have changed my workspace around. I will have even better ventilation so the fragrances and solvents will not bother me. Bryan has been so great for the last couple weeks getting me french fries--RIGHT NOW and specific candy--RIGHT NOW. Well, Bryan has always been an outstandingly wonderful husband, but I admire his patience lately. He will definately be a great father. Wow! I'm going to be a mom!

Here's a clear demonstration of what a total geek I am. I was looking for a specific structure and I came across some crazy names accidentally. These are real molecules with super silly names. Some are quite funny. Also, for those who are behind in their Molecule of the Month, here is the list of the past MOTM's.

I finished my very first sample at work today. After much grueling effort and trial and error and trial and error... finally...yeah! I have prepared tons of samples and been given practice interprtations, but this is the first that I was assigned to interpret the Mass Spectrometry and Gas Chromatography data for an actual outgoing sample. With a due date. It was absolutely difficult since so many of the peaks are could represent so many possibliities and combinations of ingredients. My supervisor checked and asked me to correct my designations and then I had to reinterpret so the corrections make sense. I, therefore, made my own formula. Then, I compounded the fragrance, which was a fabric softener from Germany. More trial and error to match the fragrance to the original. The final report was written by the director of commercial products and I entered the tables of ingredients. The report was printed and I proudly placed my signature on the front page before sending it to shipping.