Smatterytag:www.smattery.com,2008://12008-07-02T21:10:52ZMovable Type 3.35A day I never thought would arrivetag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.2062008-07-02T21:02:56Z2008-07-02T21:10:52ZI kind of can't actually believe it, but I just made the last payment on my student loan. Whoa. Too bad I couldn't get this done before getting knocked up so I could actually do something frivolous with the extra...
I kind of can't actually believe it, but I just made the last payment on my student loan.
Whoa.
Too bad I couldn't get this done before getting knocked up so I could actually do something frivolous with the extra money I'll have now! Looks like it will be going straight into a college fund for the Muppet. Darn responsibility.
The Story Behind The Muppet, a.k.a. Blobby McGeetag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.2052008-07-01T21:30:47Z2008-07-01T21:40:22ZKind reader Erik sent me this and it's so fantastic I have to post about it immediately. Alas, the Flickr user doesn't allow people to blog his photos, so you'll have to click through to see for yourself. Trust me,...
Erik sent me this and it's so fantastic I have to post about it immediately. Alas, the Flickr user doesn't allow people to blog his photos, so you'll have to click through to see for yourself. Trust me, you won't regret it.
2007 Kentucky State Fair Blue Ribbon-Winning Muppet Cake
One thing I guess I never explained here is how Brad and I came upon The Muppet as a descriptor for our progeny. It's one of those things that doesn't come through in blog form very well, but sometimes when I'm acting goofy, I apparently sound like a Muppet. You'll have to take Brad's word for it, I guess. So I guess that means I'm gestating a little Muppet-to-be. Many people in our lives have grown attached to the nickname The Muppet, although to tell you the truth, Brad and I more often refer to the fetus as Blobby (as that's about all it looked like at our 8-week ultrasound).
So there you go.]]>
Not feeling the magictag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.2042008-06-30T19:32:46Z2008-06-30T19:46:51ZLast week we had our monthly checkup and got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time (much louder than I ever expected it to be; that was a surprise). The good: I'm healthy, baby seems to be doing...
everything in that blood test). The not-as-good: I lost 2.5 pounds since the last checkup and apparently the scale is supposed to go in the opposite direction. Will have to work on that.
I'm at 11 weeks now, which means that in a couple more weeks I'll be officially done with the first trimester. Everyone says the second trimester is when you start to feel better, and I'm almost afraid to hope that they're right. And things haven't even been that bad for me compared to a lot of pregnant woman, but I'm still so tired of the low-grade nausea day after day, the hypersensitive nose (I caught a whiff of KFC a block away the other day and almost threw up), and of course the exhaustion.
This weekend was particularly miserable. I did manage to accomplish the amazing feats of one load of laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning the refrigerator. And I watched two discs of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. And moaned quite a bit.
But see, the good news is that today I feel sort of... normal. I woke up this morning and my mind was fairly lucid. I actually began to think about the week ahead of me instead of burrowing my face into the pillow. My stomach only hurts a little, and only since lunchtime. Maybe I'm just having a good day but maaaaybe I really am headed for second trimesterland.
I know a lot of women say they love being pregnant, but I'm just not there yet. I hope I do get there. In theory, it's an amazing and special experience. In practice, so far it feels sort of like abuse.]]>
You really want to know?tag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.2032008-06-23T22:19:11Z2008-06-23T22:42:16ZNow that I'm pregnant and everyone in my life knows about it, I've noticed I get asked "how are you feeling?" more than any other question (at least once people know the due date). So my unofficial study of the...
Now that I'm pregnant and everyone in my life knows about it, I've noticed I get asked "how are you feeling?" more than any other question (at least once people know the due date). So my unofficial study of the situation tells me that people really want to know how pregnant women feel. I suppose part of that must be because most people realize pregnancy is fairly gruesome way to spend 40 weeks of your life (not to mention the postpartum stuff) and are strangely and morbidly fascinated by it.
If everyone hadn't already been asking how I'm feeling, I would spare you the gory details. But since so many people seem to want to know, I'm going to assume that you The Internet won't mind hearing about it. At least as long as I don't go on and on about it to excess.
I'm feeling pretty decent. There are the standard pregnancy symptoms everyone hears about. Yes, my stomach is bothering me (thankfully, not too badly). Yes, I am completely and utterly exhausted. The interesting symptoms, though, are the ones you don't hear about that often. Excessive salivation. Constantly. A fountain, a geyser of saliva. My mouth is like Old Faithful. The juices are flowing 100% of the time, but get really excessive when I think about any number of tangy foods: grapefruit, pickles, sour cream. Sour cream is my one big craving right now (*gulp* ... just typing the words "sour cream" kicks my already overzealous salivary glands into super overdrive). I could eat quesadillas with sour cream every day. I actually couldn't sleep last night because, even though I wasn't hungry, I couldn't stop thinking about sour cream and every time, my mouth would instantly fill with saliva.
Of all the many ways my body has changed so far, this has been the oddest and is starting to become one of the most annoying. Also, I'd really like my taste for sugar and coffee back, please. ASAP.
Getting old isn't pretty (and I'm not even talking about myself)tag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.2022008-06-23T14:18:12Z2008-06-23T15:39:05ZThe weirdest thing that happened on my birthday yesterday: We were driving home around sunset and coming around the corner towards our house. There was a woman standing next to a bike talking on a cell phone and an old...
The weirdest thing that happened on my birthday yesterday:
We were driving home around sunset and coming around the corner towards our house. There was a woman standing next to a bike talking on a cell phone and an old man sitting on the street, bleeding from the face, the nose, and from the back of the head, one shoe lying next to him and his tiny dog lapping up a pool of blood. She'd been out for a bike ride and came across him lying in the street; at first she thought he was dead.
We stopped the car and donated a box of Kleenex to help staunch the blood and we stayed around until the ambulance arrived, since the man was determined to get up and walk home despite the blood spurting from his nose and flowing from various other places. And despite the fact that he lives alone, so there wouldn't be anyone there to give him some first aid. He kept saying, "we're okay, we're okay." And he smelled strongly of wine, according to Brad (I didn't get close enough to notice).
I hope he's okay.
Other than that, it was a lovely birthday.
On turning 30tag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.2012008-06-18T20:31:53Z2008-06-18T20:58:31ZMy 30th birthday is just around the corner (on Sunday). I always thought I'd make a big deal out of my 30th, that I'd have a big celebration with lots of people and feel somehow different. However, this birthday is...
different. However, this birthday is farther from my mind than any other birthday I can think of.
Rather than doing anything terribly exciting, I'll be going to a graduation party, then to my parents' house for dinner with the family. Not too different from any other Sunday in the summer. I will probably still be comatose from going to Rock the Garden the night before. Andrew Bird doesn't come on till 8:30, which is about a half-hour before I can no longer keep my eyes open anymore.
I'm not sure turning 30 makes me feel any older at all. Being pregnant makes me feel unfathomably older, and I still sort of feel like it's impossible that I could actually be at an age when one has a baby. I always thought I'd have to have everything figured out before taking that step and then sometime in the recent past I realized I will never have everything figured out and, by the way, nobody else will either. It's sort of freeing to realize that some amount of cluelessness is just part of the human condition.]]>
Code name: Project Muppettag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.2002008-06-16T21:17:44Z2008-06-17T01:57:08ZAs I alluded to in my last entry, I've been working on a project for several weeks now and it's been consuming a lot of my time and energy (both physical and mental energy). But it wasn't quite at a...
As I alluded to in my last entry, I've been working on a project for several weeks now and it's been consuming a lot of my time and energy (both physical and mental energy). But it wasn't quite at a point where I felt like I could talk about it yet. So my entries have been sparse lately, as you've noticed. It was sort of hard to figure out what to say here when there were HUGE things going on that weren't ready for public consumption. I guess it was sort of like an elephant in the room, keeping me from saying much of anything.
But I think it's time to unveil it at last....
In the past month, I've felt amazed, terrified, hopeful, overwhelmed, exhausted, grateful, sick, confused, happy, and many shades of gray in between all those emotions. And often all on the same day. Can you believe this little blob will be a baby on or around January 19th? I still can't quite believe it.]]>
This, that and the other thingtag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1982008-06-06T21:47:22Z2008-06-06T22:01:33ZIt seems I can't be bothered to post here nowadays, but I'm still posting on Flickr, photos with commentary. Really, I blame my lack of posting on being busy all the time lately. I need to take up meditation or...
Flickr, photos with commentary.
Really, I blame my lack of posting on being busy all the time lately. I need to take up meditation or something because even when I do have a few minutes of calm, my brain is in no shape to form coherent paragraphs or decide on an interesting topic to say something about.
At least I'm not posting because my life is full and interesting, rather than because I really have nothing to say.
Random things going on:
We finally replaced the last appliance that was original to the house: the oven. Well, I guess the term is "range", though that never sounds right to me. And now all the bisque has been banished, and I will finally, FINALLY be able to bake decent cookies again. Theoretically, anyway. I haven't tried it yet. It just got installed today.
We've had nothing but rain and storms lately. I should be well into biking season, and I've only been out on my bike three times this year so far. Bah, humbug.
Several people I know have been going through some scary health crises in their families. I've been going through a lot of helpless feelings lately, wishing there was anything at all I could do to help and knowing that there's nothing.
I've been working on a secret project lately and I'm almost ready to finally tell y'all about it. But first, I apparently must tease you by letting you know I have a secret and then not telling you what it is. That's actually the main reason I've been quiet here lately.
That is all. I'm off to enjoy yet another rainy weekend. But my sister will be visiting from Boston and she has a pretty sunny disposition, so I guess that'll help. Cheers.]]>
Dispatch from my bomb sheltertag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1972008-05-27T17:22:38Z2008-05-27T17:54:33ZWe're finally getting the water damage inside our house repaired this week. This was from the storm we had last August, when golf ball-sized hail destroyed our roof. We got our new roof months ago, but it's taken AGES to...
It's so cold in our basement, I've had to dig out the winter weather gear. I'm actually quite cozy now. I feel sort of like I'm hanging out in a bomb shelter, what with the winter gear, the stores of foodstuffs I've stashed down here, and all the necessities. Am I the only one who went through a phase as a child where I thought it would be REALLY COOL to have to live in a bomb shelter for a while? Yeah, I thought so. I'm really weird.]]>
Starting againtag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1962008-05-19T02:44:38Z2008-05-19T02:48:46ZAfter quite a long hiatus, I'm starting anew with my photo-a-day project. Starting as of yesterday. I'm also going to get all my Ireland photos up, by June 7th at the latest (June 7th because that's when my sister will...
photo-a-day project. Starting as of yesterday.
I'm also going to get all my Ireland photos up, by June 7th at the latest (June 7th because that's when my sister will be in town and we'll need to sit down and share photos and stories of our trips - me to Ireland and her to Prague).
Today I planted my container garden (I'll probably plant a few more next weekend, though) and went on my first real bike ride of the season. Have I mentioned yet how much I love spring? I'm waking up from hibernation.]]>
So many things to look forward totag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1952008-05-17T15:44:08Z2008-05-17T15:50:02ZI think this weekend will be the pinnacle of spring in Minnesota. The temperature is in the 60s-70s, a few benign white clouds float by, trees are bursting with new leaves and blossoms, tulips and daffodils are everywhere. It is...
Happy Gnome, which I've been wanting to check out since they opened. We just bought tickets to see Spamalot when it's in town in two weeks. And in three weeks, my sister will be in town to visit, and there will be much celebration of birthdays, since lots of the birthdays in my family all stack up in May and June.
Speaking of which, my 30th birthday is in about a month. It's always exciting to hit a birthday milestone and I really don't mind the zero at all.
I just love this time of year and that optimistic feeling that always seems to come with it.]]>
My mentally ill cattag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1942008-05-15T03:09:55Z2008-05-15T03:31:31ZHe chases his tail vigorously, often spending several minutes just glaring at it, sighing and occasionally hissing in its direction. The only way we can take him to the vet for his annual checkup is to give him a hefty...
permanent effect on his mood. Each year after taking him to the vet, he's been noticeably less anxious when we've had friends or family over. His hissing and growling has diminished, not slowly over time but instead in stages, each time after a visit to the vet. Makes me wonder what he'd be like if we gave him this drug more often (an experiment that will not be carried out, thank you).
If we play with the laser pointer, he likes it at first but after a while he starts acting paranoid. Twitching and jerkily looking all around as though the SPIDERS! THEY'RE ALL OVER HIM! GET THEM OFF, GET THEM OFF! It takes him at least an hour to get over the jumpiness. We don't play with the laser pointer anymore.
He chews everything and excessively licks furniture and doors.
I'm quite sure Indy is beyond weird and is a mentally ill cat. But he's our mentally ill cat.]]>
Coming out of the closettag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1932008-05-09T00:37:26Z2008-05-09T00:51:34ZSo sometime while I was in Ireland, one of my coworkers (hi, L!) found my Twitter name which obviously wasn't difficult because I used my standard email address in my Twitter account. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to go...
So sometime while I was in Ireland, one of my coworkers (hi, L!) found my Twitter name which obviously wasn't difficult because I used my standard email address in my Twitter account. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to go from there to here because I put this URL in my Twitter account as well.
I was expecting said coworker (or one of several others who also use Twitter) to say something about this, but so far there has not been a comment. I suspect this has something to do with the fact that a different one of my coworkers found a previous website of mine years ago in kind of an odd way and it spooked me enough that it probably was one element in the later demise of that website.
Now, there is nothing inherently secretive about this website. I don't say anything here that I wouldn't say elsewhere. I haven't hidden it from friends or family or anyone. I just don't advertise it because for some reason I can't quite fathom, it embarrasses me. I get very self-conscious about it. Which seems like an impossible thing; after all, what's more public than a place where my every word will be cached and accessible even if I decided to delete it yet again? But it is what it is.
It's funny because another one of my coworkers has a blog she shares with her husband and she's totally cool about it. I read the blog and I talk about it with her on a weekly basis and it's just not a big deal. Yet in all the time that I've been reading her blog, I haven't even mentioned that I had one. If I were her, I'd think that was pretty odd, and a bit awkward.
It is what it is.
Well, instead of getting cold feet, I thought I'd just take a second to say hi to any coworkers who happen to come by here. Don't worry, coworkers, you can talk to me about my website. I probably won't have anything insightful to say about it because I really don't know why I have it. More than anything else, I think it's because part of my job is to make websites, and it would feel odd to not have one of my own. It's sort of comforting to know it's here and I can use this space to play around with anything I want. Even if I can never find the time for it, I like just knowing it's here.
Time is out of jointtag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1922008-05-07T20:59:14Z2008-05-07T21:16:55ZI've just recently become aware that I have this neurosis about wanting to do things in the proper order, and I think it extends to many aspects of my life. What ends up happening is that if I get stuck...
one day's worth of photos to Flickr. Other things keep coming up and I keep telling myself once I finally get around to those photos, I'll post something. After a while, I just sound like I'm making excuses, and that's something I'm growing to dislike doing even more than I dislike doing things in the wrong order.
So I've finally come to the conclusion that I have to learn to break out of this kind of thinking because it makes me feel stuck and it often prevents me from accomplishing things (again, I'm referring to many more important things in my life than whether or not I update this site).
So, now's as good a time as any. I'm currently sitting in a hotel that's way too uppity for me, in Pasadena, California. I have a view of palm trees and misty mountains and lots of green. It's a bit surreal. Last week, I suddenly got an opportunity to attend the Art Center Design Conference, which starts today. After reading the list of speakers, I jumped at the chance. Never mind that things at work seem to be imploding (it's been a week of Mondays) and I have deadlines I don't know how I'll make now that I'm missing three days of work. Never mind that I was in the middle of a home improvement project that has been put on hold because of this, or that I had to cancel plans with a friend who I've neglected too much lately anyway. I know that all those things will get done, even if they don't get done in the way I'd planned (I never knew I'd grow up to be such a control freak).
It feels weird to be doing things in the wrong order. Weird but sort of good, like when your muscles hurt from exercising, but not so badly that you know you've been injured.
Anyway. I've heard that some of the talks from this conference will be posted on the TED website. I'll link to them if and when I find out about that.]]>
Adventure, excitement and obsessive-compulsive sink scrubbingtag:www.smattery.com,2008://1.1892008-04-07T03:49:04Z2008-04-07T04:05:32ZOne more day and then we're off to Ireland. The last few days have been a rollercoaster. I'm usually a basketcase before flying anywhere simply because of the whole phobia thing and probably some control-freakishness thrown in there for good...
different. The horror. I've been planning for and looking forward to this particular itinerary. An itinerary that involves arriving in Dublin and having the entire next day to explore and recuperate from our flight before we go all the way across the country to Galway. Now we have to travel across the country the day after we arrive, giving us no time to catch our breath. Change is bad!
However. Part of this point of this entire trip is to get me to do something exciting and memorable and unpredictable, so I know logically that I need to be okay with this little hiccup, because it will probably be the first of many hiccups in the next couple of weeks. So I am taking deep breaths (but not to the point of hyperventilating, thank you very much) and I am not crying. I think this is a good first step.]]>
In the past month, I've felt amazed, terrified, hopeful, overwhelmed, exhausted, grateful, sick, confused, happy, and many shades of gray in between all those emotions. And often all on the same day. Can you believe this little blob will be a baby on or around January 19th? I still can't quite believe it.]]>
It's so cold in our basement, I've had to dig out the winter weather gear. I'm actually quite cozy now. I feel sort of like I'm hanging out in a bomb shelter, what with the winter gear, the stores of foodstuffs I've stashed down here, and all the necessities. Am I the only one who went through a phase as a child where I thought it would be REALLY COOL to have to live in a bomb shelter for a while? Yeah, I thought so. I'm really weird.]]>
