Potatoes in the Mist

Third trimester is, in a way, the most dastardly of all...the energy and well-being of second trimester has fled...now I'm lugging around a bowling ball and trying to find the energy to go about everyday life. Deep fatigue and insomnia are a hideous mix. On the bright side...I love feeling him move. Sometimes he even does it when I walk now (formerly a quiet time for him). And after dinner he wiggles all his limbs, as if to say, "Yay! I just had some potatoes!" It's endearing. One of D's cousins gave me a copy of Belly Laughs... Jenny McCarthy's account of her pregnancy...not something I would have picked up on my own, but I enjoyed it. Who knew a celebrity could be so relatable? She even gained 60 lbs to my 43 (a total I am trying not to raise, although the carrot cake did win the carrot cake vs. popsicle battle tonight). At one point, she says she baked a pan of brownies each night and ate the whole pan by herself...D said, "And she only gained 60 lbs??...

Tidbits from today: 1) I went swimming this morning. A while ago, I asked myself, "Who are you trying to impress?" and gave in to the urge to use a pink noodle under my arms while I do the breaststroke. This way, I can do 30 minutes of laps and not get tired. Anyway, the old man I was sharing the lane with said, "You move at a remarkable clip! I thought I would have to pass you, but you were always ahead of me." I wonder if it's that I was fast (thanks to a little help from my pink noodle friend) or he was slow. But it was a nice compliment all the same :) 2) I was contemplating my toenails and realizing I should clip them, but this is a Herculean task that is just not going to get done -- by me, anyway. I'm still shaving my legs but even that involves gymnastic contortions, and toenail clipping requires fine motor skills in addition to the contortions (shaving just requires broad strokes). And I'm too much of a germophobe (and cheap/frugal/whatever) to ...

Not too much going on here. In lieu of other news, I'll tell you that I'm really enjoying Turning Tables by Heather and Rose MacDowell. I tend to like books set in the restaurant industry ( Waiting by Debra Ginsberg and Girl Cook by Hannah McCouch are other examples), but this one is especially fun. I also like the font. Isn't it funny how that can make a difference? I think it's the same font they used in Because She Can by Bridie Clark. (D can often identify a font just by looking, because he does some design work as part of his computer job.) E is still moving around, though hopefully staying with his head down. We felt something round and hard a few inches above my belly button the other day. We think it was his bum :)

I finished the Anne of Green Gables prequel. I thought the author did a good job of imitating Anne's voice, tastes and character. It reminded me of Syrie James' book, The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen , in that regard -- it didn't sound exactly like the original author, but close enough that you didn't mind. The only thing that bothered me about the book was that it was DEPRESSING. Not consistently so, but by page 350 I was thinking, "Please, let something good happen. Please." One of my favorite things about the series was that it was so positive, and any setbacks that did occur were mild -- Marilla giving Anne plain dresses, etc. At first, Before Green Gables had that cozy, escapist feeling, too; but after a while, to borrow Anne's words, it was "mired in the depths of despair." Fortunately, it had a happy ending. I don't think I'm giving anything away (but stop reading if you're worried) when I say that it ends with her heading towar...

I picked up a couple of books today -- Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (a light-hearted mystery series) and Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson. D was skeptical at first ("Is it written by a guy ?") but I assured him it was written by a Canadian woman. The series could hardly be continued by an American or a man, now could it? Purists may be offended, but it looks good and I'm looking forward to reading it. Of course, these continuators have an enormous advantage as long as they can write, because they have a cast of well-known characters and a legion of built-in fans.

I'm a little mad at my local library. They were closed today. It's not a real holiday. Feh. Then tomorrow they don't open until TWELVE. There's a book on the hold shelf waiting for me, and I'm currently bookless; I just finished what I was reading ( A Version of the Truth by Kaufman & Mack; they also wrote Literacy & Longing in L.A. ...both were good.) I don't want to go to the bookstore and get a new book when there's a free one waiting for me. Plus, the bookstore is further away. Oh, and they're closing on March 31st. Someone is definitely out to get me...

So knitting is back with a vengeance. I'm working on E's light green blanket...there's a whole pound of yarn and when D saw it, he thought it looked like an egg. It does look a bit like an Easter egg, one of the pastel painted ones. After that, I'm planning to make him a number of hats, maybe starting with this one . I'm not so fond of the double-pointed needles, so I need to remember to buy 12" circular needles. I'd like to use this yarn , in the shade "Seafarer." I'm on a really good streak with books lately...I've improved my heuristic for picking them out...basically, I go with authors I've read before, recommendations from people I trust, or I read the first 5 pages in the bookstore. The only problem is, when everything I'm reading is so good, I tend to whip through the books really quickly. So if you've read anything you loved lately, let me know!

So I picked up 4 books at the library today: Exit Ghost by Philip Roth. So far it seems to be primarily about incontinence, but what the heck. I generally like his books except when he's in rambling, hyper-political mode. This one seems to be in concise, pithy mode. Intuition by Allegra Goodman. I kept seeing this book everywhere so it nudged itself into my consciousness and I put it on hold. I don't know if the science angle will grab me...but hopefully the characters will be interesting enough that it won't matter. Acceptance by Susan Coll. I've had this one on hold for a year and a day. Not literally. But long enough. The Birth House by Ami McKay. Historical novel about midwives...probably not as good as Bohjalian's Midwives, but then again, what is? :D Went to the restaurant with the Justin Timberlake shrine last night. Somebody defiled the glass case with the Justin figurine inside. They scratched something in graffiti language into the glass. So management ret...

So I meant to go swimming today, but I couldn't because I wasn't able to put down Towelhead by Alicia Erian. It was definitely riveting. When I originally bought it, I thought it was a memoir, and quickly saw when I got home that it was fiction. I'm glad that it was! Anyway, the time melted away as I finished the book, and I never made it to the pool. I felt the need to do some exercise before dinner (other than the walk D and I took earlier, to a Thai place for lunch, and my walk to the library), so I popped in a yoga DVD. I've found that pregnancy is somewhat limiting with yoga...some of the poses are out, either because of discomfort or because different books advise against them. And also, I just found myself gravitating toward swimming. But I did enjoy today's yoga. I think I can embrace it in this different form, even if I like being in the water a little better. On that note, I should probably get the salsa dancing DVD, because some days I won't be able t...

So here are some highlights or just noteworthy events from the holidays, '07: Sunday. D and I took Amtrak to get to Boston, and the ride was uneventful. However, the drive home from the Alewife T station was not. Mom has a penchant for getting lost on the way home (and blaming me for it!) So I micromanaged her driving from then on. She also collided with a snowbank and started heading to Providence at one point (though I averted that disaster). The high speed on the highway also made me nauseous. So, let's just say - I'm happy not to have to drive in New York! I'm a walking kind of gal. Mom told us a story about my aunt (on my father's side) and her cat. One night Mom went to check on my aunt, who is 91, and found her anxious about her cat, Sophia. Aunt: I'm going to stay up with Sophia. She's having a problem with her leg and she can hardly walk. [Sophia strolls by, without effort.] Mom: She looks fine to me. [Sophia sprints up the stairs.] Mom: I think yo...

Since I'm up freakishly early (the bebe is an early riser), I've decided to compile a list of my favorite books of 2007 (titles only, since that is how All Consuming does it). I've added the author if I remembered his/her name. Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy Getting Rid of Matthew A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (a novel) Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What To Do With My Life and Started Driving a Yellow Cab by Melissa Plaut The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine About My Sisters by Debra Ginsberg (you can't go wrong with anything by her). Still Life with Husband by Lauren Fox Tiare in Bloom by Celestine Vaite An Abundance of Katherines by John Green Because She Can by Bridie Clark Momzillas by Jill Kargman Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert Love is a Mix Tape (sad. But good.) The Return of Jonah Gray (I think this one squeezed in on the basis of quirk. By "return," they mean "tax return".) Secrets of the Model Dorm (soapy. But ver...

I just started Karma and Other Stories by Rishi Reddi. Some readers have criticized her for being too similar to Jhumpa Lahiri, but I think she is good in her own right. The first short story is about a man who orders a bean-and-cheese burrito at a fast-food establishment, and they bring him a beef-and-cheese burrito instead. He feels the cashier was rude to him, as well as violating his vegetarian preferences, and decides to sue! That sort of thing happens to us fairly often - D will order penne a la vodka and ask them to leave out the prosciutto at this one place, and sometimes they'll include it anyway. Or we'll ask for split pea soup, the waiter will assure us it's vegetarian, and it'll arrive with chunks of ham floating in it! Of course I wouldn't sue them (and it never occurred to me that someone would). I want to see how the lawyers handle that, in the story.

Gah. I got sickish, maybe allergies, maybe a cold, and my Claritin just wasn't cutting it. So I took a Benadryl. They are both Category B* drugs, but I got nervous because I had taken Claritin 9 hours before. D reassured me that it was okay, and it seems to be. Moreover, the Benadryl actually worked. Of course, Nyquil would have really vanquished the cold, but it's Category C and hence out of the question. Am enjoying The Abstinence Theory Teacher by Tom Perrotta, though he definitely switched from writing about more personal things to Ideas at some point. I don't mind the change entirely, though it can make his characters cartoonish, or at least a little caricature-y. It's like they're symbols rather than real people. The Wishbones is my favorite book of his, written when he was younger, but I guess people run out of that fund of personal stuff to write about and he has settled into a nice groove. The book also has plenty of comedic scenes that you know are going ...

So D and I tried out Pushing Daisies , the new show about a guy who can bring back people from the dead (usually temporarily) and solve mysteries with their assistance. I liked it. D thought it was "fun and weird," and was surprised it got funding because it was a tad inaccessible. I hope it lasts! In other news, Dave Eggers is coming out with a new book in 2008. It's an adult version of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I'm looking forward to reading it. And...Sophie Kinsella is coming out with another book in 2008 as well! Not in the Shopaholic series, but I'm happy about it anyway.

So T and I saw The Jane Austen Book Club today. It was good, though it seemed a little long and disjointed. Sometimes scenes were glossed over, and we agreed that they probably ended up on the cutting room floor. I was pleased with the casting, though. Everyone looked and acted pretty much the way I expected from the book, although my memory of it was fairly dim after 3 years. On the way to the movie we saw about 80 dogs gathered on the steps of a church. I patted one West Highland terrier and stole a peek at its mother's flyer -- "The Blessing of the Dogs." Cute.

Tonight D and I visited Rainer. He was quite glad to see me, and rubbed his head across the front of my jean jacket. He also looked at my hair as if he might want to eat it. He didn't, but some dogs actually do that (especially pugs). He stayed on my lap so long, snoring gently, that my legs fell completely asleep and I had to grab onto D's hand to get up. At the bookstore, D purchased Paddington on Top, a non-sexual book about Paddington Bear. He read me bits on the way home. I didn't know Paddington was from "darkest Peru," did you? Near our apartment, we saw a guy wearing a fluffy red felt hat with dice markings. It was probably inspired by Mystery; he recommends wearing unusual hats as a way to stand out. But if everyone takes his advice, the hats will become the norm, and presumably no longer effective.

I was at Barnes & Noble tonight and came across evidence of a dastardly crime! I was in the crafts section, thumbing through books. There was a table covered with bargain books, and I couldn't help but notice that most of them were marked down for a reason. Isn't that always the way? So I moved past the bargain table and perused the regular shelves. I took down the Yarn Girls' new book of knitting patterns. I've looked at it before, and came across the illustration for a cabled pocketbook that I think is particularly cute. But then something struck me as strange. There was the picture of the pocketbook, but no pattern. Someone had torn out pages 139 to 144. And there were the stubs of ripped-out pages to prove it (as well as the jump in page numbers). So the moral of this story is: always look through a knitting book in its entirety before you buy it. Or get it from Amazon.

I'm reading a book called The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine. I'm really enjoying it, despite the slow pace. It has a lot of fun observations. For example: "She was easy company, possibly because she was somewhat inattentive." That startled me - would you enjoy somebody's company more if s/he wasn't paying that close attention to you? And then I realized: maybe. We have probably all been in situations where we felt scrutinized, and inattention might be more relaxing. There are two dogs in the story: Howdy and Beatrice. There are also little sketches of dogs scattered throughout the text, which I like. Part of the novel is set during the 2003 blackout in New York, which brought up my own memories of the day. I was actually sunning in Central Park, decided to walk home, and then I noticed that none of the street lights were working. As it turned out, our apartment is on a different grid from the rest of the city, so we didn't lose our electricity at home. Bu...

Inspired by Roxanne 's fun striped bag, I'm working on a purple-and-pink knitted pocketbook. I've been doing various projects to use up the yarn I have, without adding new skeins to the stash. It's funny, I haven't made anything on straight needles in a while, since I make hats in the round. It feels like going back to nature or something ;) D and I tried a new Indian resto with AT. The portions were small and the flavors were interesting. They even had a blueberry tapioca dessert which was delicious, but not heavy. D did not fare as well -- his fried cauliflower with sweet-and-sour sauce (recommended by the waiter!) tasted disgusting to all three of our palates, as if it might have spoiled. They did bring him something else, fortunately, but he still gave the food a B minus. I'm hoping he'll go back; I'll steer him toward better choices on the menu ;) In the background, a Bollywood movie was playing. I'm reading The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. ...

So at Whole Foods, they have my favorite yogurt in the world -- Wallaby . The only hitch? Some of their nonfat yogurts cost $1.19, others cost $1.09. As a conscientious objector, I bought only the $1.09 flavors. But they kept ringing up at $1.19. After going through the whole price-check ordeal on several occasions, I asked for a suggestion slip. I explained the foregoing and added boldly, "Make them all $1.09!" This was last week. I went there tonight and they made all the prices uniform. They're all $1.19. Bet you could see that coming. In other news, my college roommate is going to visit this weekend on her way back from music camp. Since she shares an initial with another friend I've mentioned before, we will call her CR. In book-related news, I finished Girl Sleuth (about the creation of Nancy Drew) and really enjoyed it. My LibraryThing review is here .