Potatoes in the Mist

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 ...

So D and I went to a birthday party tonight. A couple of noteworthy things happened: 1) A drunk girl, also celebrating her birthday, came over, high-fived the birthday boy, and distributed party hats to our table. 2) I met a French girl named France (one of the birthday boy's friends). She said matter-of-factly, "I am France, that is my name." May I also mention...unrelated to the above...there is no advantage to having a heightened sense of smell? None. The *only* time it is an advantage is when I walk by the pie place near my pool...D thinks they are purposely wafting the scent of freshly baked goods onto the sidewalk. Other than that...not so good. I remember, before I even knew for sure I was pregnant, the subway car smelled like they were roasting peanuts on it. I thought I was losing my mind...and then I saw that the man next to me was eating a small packet of peanuts. Also, I am a little jealous of the seniors in my building! They have such a good time. They have s...

So I went to the doctor this morning. Good things are happening, I continue to inch up the scale but E is free of Down Syndrome and spina bifida, and his heart is pumping away like a good soldier. It is fun hearing it through the doctor's little Doppler device. The doctor cheerfully told me that the next two months are the "honeymoon period" -- very little muscular/skeletal pain, I can feel the baby moving so that's reassuring, and then she dropped the bomb -- I will gain 70% of my pregnancy weight during this period. Egads. I guess I just need to "let go." In other news, a friend of D's...well, I'll back up. This friend is fond of extravagant gifts out of nowhere. Once he bought a foosball table for D's office (D is a foosball fiend, though he kindly lets my nephew win) and once he surprised us with Billy Joel tickets. Well, he's going to be in town on Sunday, and asked if we wanted to go to dinner. We said yes. Then he sent an email that li...

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...

If you live in Seattle, can you please adopt Cornelius ? Thank you. Doesn't he look dapper in his bow tie? Today D and I had lunch, and a couple of women at a nearby table offered us their bottle of wine. They couldn't finish it. We had to refuse, seeing as I'm preggers and all, and D is taking some meds for his hands (sometimes they tingle), but we ended up chatting with them. I asked them where they were from and resisted the urge to add, "Texas?" in case they weren't. Then they said, "Dallas." Am I smart or what? ;) I could tell because of the accent and it's a particular brand of friendliness. After a while of being too nauseous to knit, I picked up my needles again to finish a scarf for a family friend. It will take me a few days to complete, but I'm over the hump, so to speak. I met a new cat friend. She is very close to the pool where I swim. She lives in a deli. Her name is Nina. Her legs are a little too long for her body (I suspect ...

So D and I went to a par-tay tonight in Brooklyn, which involved a somewhat lengthy subway ride, and the cars were filled with Santas! At first we thought they were Salvation Army folk, but some of them were in full drag, complete with red stilettos, and others were in "blueface" (like Blue Man Group). Apparently, some of them were chanting, "Ho Ho Ho" at one station, and it was described as "amusing and intimidating." The party was fun; the dogs were a little over-excited, and a stray paw on my stomach made me nervous, but nothing happened. The food was yummy. I tried a date/semolina/rosewater concoction that was like an upscale Fig Newton. Anyway, it turns out the Santas were part of a convention, called Santa Con, and they have a parade. Around Halloween, there was Zombie Con.

I discovered a new frozen yogurt place called Pinkberry. Actually, it's not that new. But I never tried it before. It's very yummy. I had the green tea flavor with fresh strawberries on top. The only sour note was the croup pair. This little girl kept coughing everywhere without covering her mouth. Serious coughing. Then she went to the toppings bar and coughed on that. There was a sneeze guard, but still. I expected the mother to say, "Cover your mouth, dear," or something along those lines, but then the mother started to cough up a lung. Without covering her mouth. Mystery solved. I noticed something strange about the ads I see in Hotmail. They used to ALWAYS feature girls in bikinis (they were ads for match.com, eHarmony, etc. They almost never showed men). Now they ALWAYS talk about weight loss. Maybe they figure it's holiday season, not bikini season?