As of today, I�m now wearing maternity pants, if you can believe that. My goddess friend, Kris, brought me all her sister�s old maternity clothes. I love you, Kris! I now have an insane amount of maternity clothes to choose from. They are really cute, too! Possibly my favorite item is a pair of jeans. The cut, fit, and color are near-perfect. I�d probably wear them even if I weren�t pregnant!

One thing I don�t understand at all is why I feel incredibly sore every morning after getting out of bed. I feel like every bone and muscle in my body has been crushed by an SUV... or a mini-van (same difference). What is up with that?! Thank goodness for hot showers.

I am now sporting a scary outbreak of acne all over my back, just in time for Halloween. I�m serious: My back looks like something out of a horror movie! Even M was aghast. While examining my back, he told me in a voice of disbelief and concern, "I have never seen anything like this!" We�re going to a Halloween party next week and I�ve been thinking that maybe my costume should be a simple backless top.

As for my face, thanks to Colz for turning me on to Mario Badescu products. I filled out the questionnaire, they sent me several product samples especially suited to my problem areas, and I started using them about 4 days ago. Already my face is becoming a less pimply. I�m not sure if products alone can completely clear up my hormone-induced eruptions but the products are definitely helping. I have an ob/gyn appointment tomorrow and I�m going to ask the doc if I can pretty please use benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid products. I sure hope so because my beauty situation is becoming dire. I�m feeling very unattractive these days.

And now for a little bit of fun, courtesy of Ms. Foxx:

What song...

-reminds you of an ex-lover: Both "Tear In Your Hand" by Tori Amos and "November Rain" by Guns N Roses remind me of breaking up with Steve.

-reminds you of an ex-friend: "Natural One" by Folk Implosion

-makes you laugh: "Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate, "Mongoloid" by Devo, and "Big Mouth Strikes Again" by The Smiths

-makes you wanna dance: "Kiss" by Prince, "Devil Inside" by INXS, and "Quiche Lorraine" by the B-52s. I�m obviously stuck in the 80s....

-you wish you wrote: I could/should have wrote "Tear In Your Hand" by Tori Amos. The lyrics were dead-on in describing my breakup with Steve... even down to my friend named Neil. Even now, more than 10 years later, I still cry when I hear the song because it reminds me of the anguish I felt. Tori wrote it perfectly for me. Isn�t she brilliant?

-you never want to hear again: "Let�s Get This Party Started" by Pink. It�s just downright silly. I would be happy never hearing it again.

-sums up your teenage years: ??? I don�t know what "sums up" my teenage years, but almost anything by Duran Duran, The Cars, Prince, and early Depeche Mode reminds me of that era.

-you like to wake up to: I wouldn�t mind waking up to Massive Attack every morning

-reminds you of your first crush: I fantasized about James, my high school heart throb, for most of my high school career. My junior year, I finally got up the nerve to ask him to dance to Madonna�s "Crazy For You" at a school dance... with my friends cheering me on. Now the song will forever remind me of him.

And here's even more fun:

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've got a much better life than they do. In fact, they're probably just jealous.

You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and others. �If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be the perfect person.
Take the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid

I knew it! But, for the record, I�m not that big of an ice hockey fan.