This news came as a very unwelcome shock. Octavia Butler died after a fall on Friday. She was 58. I don’t usually mention such deaths, but Butler is by far one of my favorite Sci Fi writers. Her books are classics and in particular Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, Kindred, and the whole Patternmaster series are amazing. Heck, she was just a perfect writer. Pay her a little respect. Read something she wrote.
I’m not sure I can match my lament to the joy of cheese I made in my last entry. I did however have a lovely hunk of brie mixed with cashews and maple syrup served over toast on Saturday. My mouth waters just thinking about the glorious nature of that appetizer.
Hmmm…I feel so old. JT and I are just wrapping up our back family room. We changed the walls from boring off-white to “Brown Bag” and painted the trim, door(s), and ceiling all a sparkling white. We also added fancy trim around the french door to finish off the look (I figured trim was easier to deal with than blinds or curtains or a valance). We moved our big ugly leather off white love seat to that room because it almost looks like we intended it for that location. I’ve also printed up and framed six of my flower photos–they are in walnut colored floating frames. I’m mounting them on the wall in two rows of three each. Finally, on Friday night we picked up a new fan to replace the ugly fan that once lived on the ceiling in that room. Jeremy kept on insisting that fans were too expensive. I finally said, let’s at least look. Well, it turns out for what we wanted they were all under about $100.
Now that this room is pretty much done save for a little scraping and detail work, JT and I have begun (finally!) work on the second story. The nursery will be in one of the bedrooms while the other bedroom will be the combo “library” (sans the vast majority of my books) and guest bedroom. We’ve just started weeding crap out, throwing crap out, moving crap around, and generally being disgusted at how much crap is up there. There has been the slightest bit of progress though…
On Saturday my parents called wanting to come down for the day. It’s a 2 hour trip for them and it had been a while since they had seen me. We agreed. Our house was in shambles and seating is at a premium, but we warned them of that before they left home. My father kept on looking at me and saying “I can’t believe you still have three months to go!” I admit, I look pretty round, but I didn’t know I looked that round. My mother of course was kind enough to remind me that she was 9.5lbs at birth and my grandfather was 14.5. Jeremy and I were both 8lb babies (on the high side of normal I suppose) and my little sis, born six weeks early via scheduled c-section, was already that weight. I guess she was going to be the hulk-child at full term. We’ll see. I bet this kid will be 8lbs if he goes full term just to spite those who think he’ll be gargantuan. My parents also showed up with his first little tool kit–basically a stuffed plush tool box with a crackling screwdriver, rattling hammer, and squeaking wrench. Very cute.
I like cheese. It is my friend. I could live on cheese (and maybe some jalapenos added for texture). Then again, if I lived on cheese I would be approximately 400lbs. While the prospect is certainly tempting, I will stick to salad. Boo.
It seems that my addiction to buying books and music has been somewhat stunted by my addiction to my growing child. This weekend I found myself at the outlet mall (in Howell) visiting stores like The Children’s Place, Carter’s, Little Me, Old Navy, and Gap. The only place I didn’t find anything was Old Navy. Talk about a sucky selection. In any case, I’m convinced my son will have absolutely the cutest wardrobe on the face of the Earth. My mother said something like “this kid is going to be a yuppie!” To that I replied, “Well, yes, look where I live.” He has almost zero chance of being anything but a yuppie. I can think of much worse lost in life.
I can’t wait to take lots of photos and share them here. You know I will. Plus, we have a volunteer to take portraits assuming I can set them up. Thanks Jim!
Jeremy had roughly the worst day in history yesterday. First he went to work late after a surprise (but not scary) visit to the hospital for me. Then he was sideswiped by a Brit driving a PT Cruiser. Fortunately the guy wasn’t mad. Unfortunately it was in Jeremy’s work vehicle. Then, while at the police station, the officers informed him that M-59 was closed for a stretch he had to be on to get home because of the stupid President. You know. Bush. So he had to drive all the way around to hop on another expressway just to find out that it was backed up all to hell. The poor guy. Now he’s coming down with a cold. The even poorer guy.
I’m a monster. A big, round monster. Here’s proof of my current state at nearly 24 weeks. I am definitely getting larger by the day (or is it hour or even minute or millisecond?).
I am so cute. In the last two or three weeks I’ve gotten large enough that random people are asking me my due date. I only got looks and whispers before, but now it’s obvious that I’m pregnant. I respond something like June 8 but I’ll be surprised if I go that long. They’ll pause, and then say something like “you’ve got a long way to go!” No shit Sherlock.
I was walking down the hallway yesterday and these two girls were handing out gum for something…I don’t know what. They asked me if I wanted any and I responded “no thanks.” As I walked by the second girl she caught a glimpse of my round belly (I look pregnant from the side, not the front really) and exclaimed “you are so cute!” All I could say was “thank you.” It definitely brightened my day. Seriously–I feel fat and completely unable to do anything. At least those personal issues don’t seem to seep into how I carry myself (yet).
Speaking of yesterday, my cell phone broke. I don’t really like it anyway (none of the group of us who got it do) but it is still a gigantic pain in the butt to have to trek over to Verizon and explain that I can’t get the charge cable to actually charge the phone (nix that–I can’t get any of the umpteen cables we have to work). I don’t know if they will just hand over a new one, but regardless I do need to pick one up. I’m not much of a phone gal. Heck, I don’t like talking on the phone at all. But I still think it’s reasonable to have a cell phone when I’m doing all this commuting and when we have this still nameless kid.
Speaking of the kid, JT and I picked up a lovely cottage-ey oak changing table (it looks like a dresser) and chifferobe. We also got a gliding rocker. We haven’t actually picked them up from Flint Babies r Us yet, but they are definitely purchased and ours. Every little thing like that makes this whole “having a baby” process seem much more real. I kind of like it. By the way, as with the bedding the furniture was something else that JT had a definite opinion about. I like that. I almost always go with what he wants when he is so specific–it is a rare, rare thing.
Courtesy of Toothpaste for Dinner:
This probably doesn’t make sense to anybody but my sister (who sent this to me) and me. Why? Well, robie was this yellow and black automatic bank who you fed your change. You put it on his hand, he put his hand to his mouth, it disappeared. The little guy would also “do a dance” when you fed him. He had a tongue. It was red and flicked from side to side. Here’s a photo of the real Robie (a toy from Radio Shack from the 1980s).
Robie makes me smile.
I picked up asparagus and barbeque sauce last night at Farmer Jack. While in the condiment aisle I noticed a mother and her son by the peanut butter. She first picked up some Jif and then grabbed for something off the top shelf. Her little boy cooed “chocolate” so I looked over to see what she’d grabbed. Nutella. I suppose it is chocolate-esque but it’s not exactly like the real stuff. That got me thinking about the way my parents hornswaggled me into thinking certain things were yummy when in truth, they weren’t vaguely so.
My favorite example of this was the fact that we never had sweets or chips or anything like that in our house. We always had dessert but these dishes had less to do with chocolate and cookies and sweets than fruit and pudding. Oh yes–while my hubby was busy getting “husky” on homebaked goods my sis and I remained skinny and svelte. We had applesauce, peaches, pears, fruit mixes, and butterscotch sugar free pudding for dinner. I know we were weird that way. We did, however, get malts and ice cream on Sunday nights (just before we and my parents had to go back to school). Yum.
I don’t recall ever saying ‘yum chocolate’ to the fruit though. Go figure.
I had the strangest, most obsessive dream last night. As some of you may or may not know, I own and operate a little forum on the internet called Epinions Music Source. As you can guess, it is for people who write at the “mother site” and who love music. The topic is simple enough and the membership grows on a daily basis. I’ve been pleased with the site’s success. There have been a few minor glitches but overall it has run smoothly for the past four years.
Last night I imagined that somebody (I’ll get to that in a second) hacked into the site and deleted all the membership and all the messages. I was mortified. I was especially mortified when I found out who that someone was. Once upon a time I had a friend who got in a car accident. It was senior year of high school and she had a severe enough head injury that she was in a coma for a long while. It happened on the afternoon of Homecoming and I even recall hearing the sirens and thinking “that sounds like a bad car accident.” She was among my three closest friends. It was a very troubling experience to say the very least.
Anyway, she eventually went on to college but she was never quite the same. At college she started dating a guy from a neighboring town. He was a bit of a weasel-looking fellow. Nobody really liked him. She is still dating him or is married (I’m not sure which). In any case, in my dream it was this greasy guy who hacked into EMS. I haven’t talked with that friend for a good 7 or 8 years and I somehow doubt that her beau would have the capacity to do so, but it was weird none the less.
Maybe at least I have a reason to be dreaming strange things. See, my darling JT was tickling me all night long. I suppose he could have done like I do when he snores and kick him so he turns over…but he was a bit kinder. From what he says my breathing is a bit labored at night. Usually I sleep silently–that’s not the case as of the last month. Maybe the tickling caused me to think of strange, random thoughts. Then again, I always get the biggest kick out of randomness.
I had yet another lively (uh, or not) weekend. It’s not like I can sit for long enough in a movie theater to be comfy or that I’m much for going to a bar as of late. I would, occasionally at least, like to get out to a restaurant that doesn’t start in Taco and end in Bell. That said, Saturday was spent registering for the little fellow growing in my belly. We need pretty much everything so it was a long, tiring process. My cousin Melissa helped out–she was great for suggestion about quantities and what things you need vs. what things you don’t need. JT and I are certainly greatful.
If you want to buy him things, you can visit either the Target or Babies R Us registries. We like presents and as such the little bloke will likely lovely presents (the louder and brighter the better).
After that marathon scanning session, I slept incredibly well. Too bad that Sunday was filled with lots of, uh, medical related un-fun-ness. I’m not any sicker than I was last week but I had to stay around the house doing nothing (aka playing Dragon Quest VIII) peeing in a jug. Like I said, it was no fun. Even worse? I had to keep it in the fridge. The brown jug was neatly kept in the door between the chocolate syrup and Pillsbury crescent rolls. We’ll see soon enough how my blood tests and THAT test went. I’m hoping for the best but wholly expecting the worst.
Yesterday the funniest item came in the mail. It was from Boyne Highlands and was something of a “get well soon” card to my head-injured hubby. On the front it says something to the effect of “You looked great two seconds before it happened.” I opened it up and serious laughed my ass off. It’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. I realize that Boyne is trying to cover their butt and I appreciate they are doing so with humor.
JT and I are FINALLY getting around to working on the house. The back room is entirely empty save for the fish tank (impossible to move very far). We took down all the pictures, lights, and fan. JT spent yesterday evening painting the ceiling (we may as well) and he’ll soon move on to the walls. I’ve chosen a color called “brown bag” which is a lovely warm medium tan. In looking at our hand-me-down furniture I realized that most of it will no longer work. Plus, the couch is just about ready to fall apart. Depending on how you push it it also FEELS like its going to fall apart. I suggested to ye olde hubby that we check out Value City and get a couch to replace that one in addition to a recliner for the front room (where we are tossing another crappy couch out). I figure if we do that we’ll at least have decent looking furning without spending a fortune. Plus, it would certainly work in our future home in the basement or family room.
In any case, yeah…we’re getting our butts in gear. I think with my recent health excitement, JT is beginning to realize that he’s got to get moving. I’d put money on the fact that I’ll be down within a month or two. It’s a scary, although necessary prospect.
This whole pregnancy thing is just a joy. A few days ago I mentioned having a migraine. Well, it happened again but this time I actually called the doctor. Well…to make a long story short I ended up making a trip in and came out with two prescriptions. One is for my headaches and one is for my high blood pressure.
In addition, I found out a lot more. I was referred back to the nephrologists to check out my kidney function. It seems that this is the likely culprit of my blood pressure woes. I personally just hope my one remaining kidney is functioning well enough. My swollen ankles? Edema…and since it’s kind of early to have that kind of swelling they are worried about that. I also discovered I have an “anterior placenta” which basically means I can’t feel the kid until he’s a bit larger because “it’s like he’s kicking a pillow.” I was also told to go back on the caffeine because it helps headaches. Finally, the doctor measured me and there is a good reason I feel fat–I AM FAT! I measured between 2-4 weeks ahead of schedule. I’m 22 weeks and feel and look somewhat larger.
I was also given the big talk about pre-eclampsia (toxemia) which is pregnancy induced high blood pressure. Because I have chronic problems I’m at a much higher risk for developing this issue. Of course I’ve already done my research so nothing the doc said came as any shock. I am being checked for all the signs already–this problem this early in pregnancy is apparently not a good thing.
In any case, I’m broken. Again. Forever.