Somewhere in Tunisia, 10 years ago

Long ago, in another life, I went to Tunisia on vacation. Here's a shot from somewhere in the Sahara which I scanned and converted to black and white. I quite like it.

Waiting & Other Bits

I'll technically be 'full-term' on Monday which means the little man could arrive at any point, although his ETA isn't until the 14th of August. I'm waiting to unplug the above phone because of punch-drunk-baby-induced-fatigue.

There's a theory that first timers are more likely to be overdue which is why I'm invoking the spirit responsible for The Natural Law of Wishes, wishes that don't come true.

The law: If you wish for something it's very very unlikely it will come true.

My wish: To be really overdue, 14 days in fact.

Now, since I'm far from lucky and The Great Spirit of Wishes will surely not grant me my 'supposed' wish, I'm hoping I've bypassed this law of nature. On the other hand, if my superstitious ways prove to be true, I probably just ruined it for myself by confessing that I'm trying to outwit 'the system.'

Other bits:
I submitted another lot of photos to my agency for potential sale--54 in total--we'll see which, if any, of them they want. It's sort of my last photography hurrah for a while since I doubt I'll have much time to do such things in the near future.

The weather is now fabulous--in the 70s and tolerable.

We picked up Sushi's ashes at the MSPCA today and well, there's not much left of him, about a cup of gravel really. I was dreading doing this and of course it created another breakdown but at least it's done. Something very weird: The various colored chunks of him--there's one pebble that's a robin's egg color.

The baby room is done, painted, set up and clean. I went against Dr. Nosey of Yumont Hardware's advice and exposed myself to paint. I'll post photos someday soon.

Bags for the hospital are almost packed.

*Badeee badeee, that's all folks!

Bainbridge to Seattle Ferry

See these people? These people are comfortable. It's about 70-75 degrees and they are not sweating like pigs. Oh how I wish I was there........

Rhubarb

Nothing much to report so have this pretty picture I took a year ago.
I'm officially on pregnancy 'confinement' as my mother terms it. What's pregnancy confinement? Think house arrest and what's arresting you is heat and discomfort. Only 32 days left before the little man is due to arrive.

She's On The Job!

KiKi, Retail SuperHero has made contact with the Nordstroms and all is well. Read about her selfless and amazing retail adventure which is making our material world a better place!

Galaxy In My Glass

Three Years Ago Today

July 5, 2003

Baby Knats

JP: The Center for Prenatal Advice and Predictions

Macho seems to be the consensus from the baby bump experts. Saturday, at the hardware store, while waiting for Alex I sat down to give my bear paw feet a rest. A very friendly woman from the Dominican Republic decided to join me, grope me, and give me her opinion on what I'm having. Her opinion: "Que macho!" Bingo, but she could have just asked me.

Although the above baby oracle is clearly knowledgeable about boy vs. girl bumps her declaration required groping whereas the man in a wheelchair, going top speed down Centre Street, who passed and yelled "You're having a boy!" Needed no hands-on time to make his judgment—he wins the blue ribbon.

The same hardware store with the groping lady also has a full time Dr.--call him Dr. Nosey. If you posses no medical care and need a quick consultation look no further than Yumont Hardware. Although I do have medical care I was totally oblivious to the dangers of paint. Did you know paint will melt your baby's brain? The hardware store doctor has personal experience with all sorts of brain damage-- "When my mother was pregnant with me she drank and now I have OCD." I wanted to add to his list of issues but wimped out and couldn't tell him to shut his trap and give me my paint so I could go home and guzzle some whiskey and bask in paint fumes.

33 weeks

Yeah Ghana!

Who's the most unpatriotic American you'll probably ever meet? Me, yes me. Sorry if you're offended but I have 2 reasons to be super duper happy that Ghana beat the US.

1. Alex, the dear, is from Ghana. Alex's parents still live in Accra.

2. Who doesn't love a triumphant underdog?

RIP Sushi

Sushi Mallet Loved Boxes

Achhhh. My heart. It hurts oh so badly. Our dear cat Sushi had to be put to sleep yesterday. Here's a link to Alex's ever so sweet tribute and another photo of Sushi.

http://alexmallet.blogspot.com/2006/06/sushi-mallet-111998-6182006.html

Bare Foot is to Pregnant as Leather is to Rock Star

I now understand why pregnant women and bare feet go together like rock stars and leather. Here's the scoop: When your appearance prompts people to say "Wow you look like you're going to pop!" chances are you feel that way and have limited range of motion as a result.

Case in Point: I made a trek to Macy’s today (I usually avoid department stores but to date I require a Neapolitan shopping experience: water fountains, bathrooms, and A/C all in one) to get some comfy walking sandals and a piece of clothing that has long been extinct in my wardrobe, shorts. It's just so freaking hot, humid, hazy and hellish that I've decided baring my pillars and shoes for comfort are necessities.

Anyway back to the shoes. I ask the Macy’s shoe man to bring me the shoes I have in hand, which he promptly dumps on the floor in front of me and high-tails it. I thought he was going to get himself a little shoe salesperson stool but that was not the case. He decided to stand around and gab with the other sales people while I grunted my way to the floor to pick up the shoes before me. Out of the box they came but that’s about as far as they got—I can’t reach my feet anymore, so I just sat there until he came back. To his credit, he did eventually put my shoes on for me, but very grudgingly. It was an all-around embarrassing experience, for both of us.

Today's Lesson: Don't do self-service shoe shopping when transporting another human.

Popsicle Woes

New and Improved FDA Recommendations

What food deserves its own group and a large portion of the FDA food pyramid, or whatever the hell shape it is now? Popsicles. Yes, Popsicles.

I want popsicles, and damn the NE and its obsession with ice cream, I can't find one anywhere. Well, that's not totally true, I have found 2 varieties but neither are suitable for my pregnancy-induced lust for frozen calories on a stick.

The First: A Lifesaver Pop, which is a frozen toxic concoction of corn syrupy dregs from the bottom of the juice cask in colors resembling crayons. If partially hydrogenated oils were appropriate popsicle ingredients you can bet these would be chalked full of em.

The Second: A Tragic Joes Pop. Don't get me wrong, I love TJ's but they've got the popsicle thing all wrong. Alex, the dear, brought me home the lime version-- they're sitting in our freezer gathering a protective ice glaze. Way too sweet with a hint of 'if-I-were-to-melt-I'd-be-in-a big-ol-glass-with-Tequila-and-salt' just aint working for me—oh what I would do to have the melted version…..

Today’s mission: take the bus to a super duper grocery store and find some damn popsicles

restored

Me and the shrimps (aka my mom and sister)

Industrial

Hi-Rises

Smile from Seattle

List of the Latest

3 weeks left at the Institute for Extraterrestrial Humans, which is great because commuting is becoming laborious and working here seems to be getting more dangerous by the day. First, walking to and from the T, switching trains, walking across campus, all in the heat and humidity, is far from fun, especially when you have chub rub (yes, my inner thighs have recently become acquainted). Second, the scary-lady-with-the-way-too-calm-voice-alarm and the air raid horn that sounds after she kindly asks you to 'exit the building immediately' is a big frightening. There's a lab a couple of doors down that keeps having toxic gas leaks--yesterday was the second time in a month the alarm sounded. Things seem to have gotten more serious; this morning there is yellow 'Police Line Do Not Cross' tape across all the lab doors.

13 images new of mine are about to loaded onto AGE's site, adding to the 10 images I already have with them.

The 'childbirth' classes start next week and I'm far from gung-ho given I'm not much of a 'group' learner and right now the whole 'let's-all-bond-even-though-we-are-complete-strangers-having babies'' feels like it's going to be one gigantic blind double date x 10, revolving around a topic I'd like to keep private. Besides, this class is generic and 'mainstream' and we're planning an alternative approach, drug-free using hypnobirthing.

Just because we're on an 'alternative' birthing/childrearing topic, I'll add this to convince you that I'm truly crazy.
After searching and searching for a cloth diaper service in Massachusetts, I finally found one, yes only one for the entire eastern portion of the state. Anyway, we're doing cloth. It's much cheaper and better than plastic throw aways. They'll come once a week and drop of a load of clean diapers and take the 'used' ones away.

The lack of cloth diaper services here brings to mind the thing that just keeps coming to me about the East vs. West Coast: There are so many things about the East Coast that are far from progressive. Example: The lack of businesses that accept depit cards--I never ever carried cash until I moved here.