Fall down, go boom

Ice storm hit last night. The walking and road conditions were just terrible this morning, but by mid-day were manageable. Unfortunately -- or fortunately, as the ice were -- I got sick in the am so crawled into work around 10:30 am instead of the usual 9.

My supervisor left early today to pick her husband up from the hospital: as they were leaving the house for their morning commute, he says "Be careful, it's slippery," and proceeds to fall down the steps and break some bones in his hand. Yikes. Double poop since he's an artist owning his own business and it was his right (dominant) hand. It's scary walking up and down the hills in these parts with the ice the way it is. Especially after hearing stories like that.

There are salt stains on my dress pants now from walking downtown ... not too cool since this is one of the last pairs that fit my growing mid-section.

Homemade pasta fagioli's on the menu tonight. I can't wait!

Shopping

I'm doing some online holiday shopping today, partaking in more consumption than I probably do all year. I try to keep the gifts handmade, through iGive, or edible. And I definitely try to minimize the number of gifts I buy, for financial and environmental reasons. Luckily, I've managed to convince my fairly large family to do a Secret Santa with a $30 limit, so we've had that going for a few years now. It seems to make everyone's lives easier, even the people who enjoy consuming like there aren't any tomorrows.

Ahh, back to finding a used CD for my brother-in-law.

Shea butter

I have the best hubby. He bought some pure shea butter for me today and now he's rubbing my feet with it. Ahhhh. Simply the best.

Another mail merge work day. I also got to start on a trillion InDesign award certificates. It's kind of sad how impersonal the whole award thing is. Yea, you won, good job, now let's "personalize" last year's template with a click here, copy, paste there, and look at that. A piece of paper you'll keep for years.

I just saw a Tampax commercial promising to donate tampons to Africa's poor. I'm sure that's just what they need. Why not throw in some Chia pets and gold-plated rims for good measure?

My feet are greasy.

Reading the nice people who post comments on my blog makes me smile. Thank you.

Chilly chili

I just finished a big bowl of steaming hot chili, a relief after crawling through the slush-covered blocks downtown on my way to the crowded subway. Thankfully I nabbed a seat despite the bulky winter jackets taking up an extra half seat by themselves. The woman next to me played a video game all the way to Davis Square. I still find it too funny how everyone is everywhere but where they are.

Mail-merge work day, and now kitty is pitter-pawing on my lap.

Slush

The four inches of slush on the ground is my reminder to buy some winter boots.

Vomity morning today, not fun especially when there's nothing in your belly to come up. It is a strange sensation to be simultaneously hungry and sick to your stomach. I am feeling more and more pressure to return to work full-time. My disability coverage ran out on November 15, and our savings is running out now. I'm lucky to have had time off, especially since this job is only a few months old. I just wish I felt better.

My single, childless friends don't seem to know how to handle this pregnancy concept, and certainly not feeling sick. One of them keeps asking when I'm going to go out. Not anywhere near in the mood for bars and smoke and late nights, thank you! I'm not sure what they don't understand about the phrase constant vomiting, but I wish they'd hurry up and understand. I feel guilty, like I'm ruining friendships by being sick. I know I shouldn't, but I do. I guess I feel the same about my job.

My parent-friends, however, seem even more excited than I do sometimes. As one of my co-workers wrote in a congratulatory note, "Welcome to the club!"

A little more snow and a thick layer of ice has covered over the slush from Sunday/Monday. It has made for some weird car sounds outside my window. I'm not sure what it's like to walk in, being sick, but it certainly looks dangerous. So far most of the neighbors haven't cleared their sidewalks at all. I wonder if that's another symptom of this Boston rudeness. I live on a fairly steep hill and will have to walk it to get to the bus ... scary for a pregnant woman due to the risk of falling. Not looking forward to that.

Back to my previous post on sprawl ... wondering how to avoid moving further out. There isn't anything to really downsize or sell ... I've always paid attention to urban design and affordable housing issues, but it seems that having an article addressing that the issue of families moving out of the urban center is as far as they get. I still think moving to a cheaper city is the best solution so far, but will have to wait at least a year for that. I'm not planning to spend buckets of money on the baby like the industry would prefer (I've always been of the mind that a good child's toy is an empty pot to bang on or some trees to swing from), but I still realize we'll need a little more moola. Hell, even now we're spending a bit more money simply because I'm hungrier, doctor co-pays, etc.

Speaking of frugal and simple lifestyles, there's the issue of a baby shower. My mom didn't realize that oftentimes it's in her corner, but now that she has, she's talking about a shower near my IL hometown. Problem is, I don't know if I actually want all that stuff. I do need basic items, yes, but not necessarily new ones. Also, I've been to enough baby showers to realize that you don't really get the things you actually need (diaper wipes, breast cream), you get the things that are fun to buy (elaborate outfits, plastic toys with flashing lights that probably cause ADHD). Although I'd like to celebrate the baby coming, I'm not sure I want to contribute to all that buy-buy-buy overconsumption, let alone travel across the country to do so.

I should probably tell my mom this soon - before she invites all her friends I've never met.

Pondering, wandering thoughts

I'm sitting on our make-shift couch (three cushions atop a headboard) waiting for the predicted gallons of snow and listening to classical music. I'm not much of a classical music fan: I find it pretty but it just puts me to sleep. I'm also not, as you may assume, listening to the music for Fetus; it's all hubby's doing.

He's making black bean burritos and he's the one responsible for putting on this Modest Mussorgsky. What a name.

I may not totally buy into the classical-music-for-baby hype, but it is pretty neat to know his/her ears are developed now and it is beginning to hear things in the womb for the first time. I wonder if those first few noises are scary? Is it even capable of being scared or feeling emotion now?

It has been interesting telling everyone we're expecting. There were the normal reactions, of course, but then there were some surprising questions and tidbits of advice, too. Like, "was it an accident?" Well, we weren't abstaining, obviously ... Or, my favorite, "were you celebrating something?" As if you need a celebration to have sex, and furthermore how do you possibly feel you have the right to ask that question?? Privacy continues to go by the wayside.

The snow is still not here yet. The weatherperson predicts it will hit around 9 pm and continue through mid-Monday. I've found the Boston weatherpeople to be wholly unreliable, though, so I'm thinking ounces, not gallons, and Tuesday, not Monday. If it snows at all. Seriously, though, the weatherpeople out here have no idea what's going on and their forecasts seem to change from hour to hour. I don't know why I bother paying attention anyway. I kind of appreciate the fact that nature will do its thing, and it should be a surprise other than the oh-look-at-those-clouds-rain's-a-comin' type of common person's predictions.

I have so far been amazed at the number of pregnancy books willing to "tell you everything no one else will" (they all confide in me that I will fart more) ... and yet I have found only one book that deals with an expecting couple's emotions. All of the other books dismiss the whole thing into a sentence like "you may experience some 'baby blues,' but rest assured this is normal." Postpartum isn't the only time you experience fetus/baby-related emotions! And the wide range is astonishing.

Mhmm I smell food.

The Nest of Arlington

I live outside of the Boston/Cambridge area in an inner suburb that realtors still consider "hot." The Boston Globe recently published an article toting this tidbit. It's not that surprising, considering its proximity to the city. Having recently moved here, I can say I'm relieved to be living here and not where we were before, now that I'm pregnant. This town is very family-friendly. But as much as that's a relief, it also concerns me. From what I can tell, as the town becomes more affluent, the typical results surface ... rich, white neighbors with moderate or conservative values. This certainly isn't Wellesley, but it's also not very us. And it's getting more expensive by the minute, in an already overpriced city and housing market. When the baby comes, we may have to move again. And it may be further out from the city. This is not the pattern I value, this sprawl. But as long as it takes my husband to finish his degree, we have to be near Boston, and with a child, that might mean further out. I keep dreaming, as I have for years, of going more rural, having my own organic veggie garden, raising our kids on nature and sunshine and friendly neighbors without any serious worries about money or having a traditional job. All of this preferably in a contemporary, sustainable small home in the middle of a beautiful wooded area but near enough to neighbors "just in case." And now that this baby is coming, I feel this dream even more strongly. I want this nest to be ideal, and ideal isn't a cramped, expensive attic-floor apartment near public transit.
I also have an overwhelming desire to find some secondhand furniture. How can we bring a baby home when we don't even own a couch? Silly I know, but that's how I've been thinking. And I've been researching places like Marlboro, Vermont; Madison, Wisconsin; Asheville, North Carolina; Fort Bragg, California; etc. like a madwoman. Especially mad since hubby has at least a year and a half left of school.