Feeling kind of bummed for no reason. I'm sore from yoga yesterday. She had us do a deep plie and hold it and I felt like I was going to keel over. She said, "I know you can do this!" We also practiced hanuman again, the splits, but supported by a bolster. I really like it. I don't think everyone in the class agreed, but to me it felt really good. The one which is hard for me now is the arm bind where you intertwine your arms in front of the chest. I used to be able to do it without a problem, but apparently since my shoulder injury I can't do it in either direction. I'm sure I'll be able to work on it and get some more release in between my shoulder blades.
At least it's a nice gloomy day today. That helps. The hail woke me up last night. It didn't seem to last very long.
I can think of lots of things to be doing but I feel like such a bump on a log. Ribbit.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Acting Challenges
William and I saw August Rush the other night. I liked the idea of it and the main actor (a little boy who was also in Finding Neverland--thought he was British) but I got kind of nitpicky about some details. I can't help watching actors playing stringed instruments, particularly cello and bass, with an eagle eye and being critical. Six years of string bass will do that to you. The main problem is usually they don't get their fingertips perpendicular enough to the strings. Also good bowing is hard to imitate. If I had to fake playing the saxaphone I'm sure I'd mess it up. One great cello acting job was in the movie about Jacqueline du Pre, Hilary and Jackie. Emily Watson absolutely looked like she was playing, to me, or simulated it so well I didn't even pay attention to that. But then Emily Watson is pretty extraordinary in general. One of my favorite parts of that movie is when she puts her priceless cello outside on the balcony in the middle of winter, to torture it.
Katharine Hepburn talked in her autobiography about getting a crash course in simulating playing the piano, which she had to do for a Broadway play. The director made her do it with the keyboard facing the audience, because he didn't like her, she thought. Actors have to be brave. I'm always impressed with the ones who can act naturally around horses even when they haven't been around horses much. I think it usually takes years to get so comfortable and natural around all the movements and habits of a large animal like that. Clive Owen hadn't ridden before King Arthur. A crash course in riding and then they stick you on a Friesian or something and you have to gallop at top speed across a field wearing Arthurian clothing and no helmut? Pretty bold.
Katharine Hepburn talked in her autobiography about getting a crash course in simulating playing the piano, which she had to do for a Broadway play. The director made her do it with the keyboard facing the audience, because he didn't like her, she thought. Actors have to be brave. I'm always impressed with the ones who can act naturally around horses even when they haven't been around horses much. I think it usually takes years to get so comfortable and natural around all the movements and habits of a large animal like that. Clive Owen hadn't ridden before King Arthur. A crash course in riding and then they stick you on a Friesian or something and you have to gallop at top speed across a field wearing Arthurian clothing and no helmut? Pretty bold.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Silly
I thought of a new analogy for the baby. It's like playing Boggle! You press on my stomach and Pop! The baby kicks.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Over the Moon with Toile
What's with all the injured digits? Is a toe a digit? I burned my finger on the oven rack so I have an owie finger to match my owie toe.
Yoga was great today. Concentrated on hips and I got a deep stretch in my hips doing the splits (!). We had bolsters beneath us so it wasn't the full splits like my cousin Laura and Gary's mother Eleanor can do, but I was able to go farther than I thought. I asked the teacher if she knew of a DVD that had that sequence in it. She said no but she felt fine with me practicing it at home, which made me feel good. We had a group discussion after class about this whole having a baby thing. Several women said they think pregnancy is a pain in general. That kind of surprised me. It's good to be honest, though. One women started crying and talked kind of incoherently about being an only child and everyone wanting to help her. It made me wonder how coherent I sound all the time. Other people are having a better time of it (including me). I talked about having depression in the past and how I feel so much better now. It's kind of scary to talk about that with strangers because you never know how people will take it. I don't want people to see me through that limited prism. But I thought there are surely women there who have gone through the same thing. Many of the women have stressful jobs and say it's not good for their careers. The teacher, Laura, said she gave up working after she had her baby, which is kind of funny because being a yoga teacher is work, too!
I liked her class so much I'm going to go to her regular class, which is at another, closer location. She is a teacher who seems both deep and light at the same time. Yoga does great things for people, is what seeing her made me think. The founder of Yoga Yoga, the place I go, says, "Do yoga once a week, change your mind. Twice a week, change your body. Once a day, change your life." Probably true.
I found a couple patterns of toile both William and I like for the baby's room. One is called Central Park toile, the other is Over the Moon toile. We picked out some pale colors for the walls and trim, variations of white. I'd love to use more color on the walls, but the more neutral color seems like it would go better with those fabrics. Maybe we can use color for painting our room. Moving downstairs is going to be weird. I like being upstairs. The first of many compromises, I'm sure! Luckily there are compensations like baby cuteness.
For some reason yesterday the baby reminded me of William. It kept kicking at places on my stomach where I pressed. It likes games already, I thought. I have noticed this pattern for a while; I don't think I'm just imagining it.
I found a gently used maternity bathing suit for eight dollars. Woot! They mostly cost between forty and eighty dollars new.
I saw Brett on Skype today. He said he had a week of tough adjustment to living abroad. It is difficult going through culture shock, language shock, and job withdrawal all at the same time. I remember the first month in Germany being hard. Then it got so awesome. The adjustment coming back is much harder than the one going over. It's a surreal feeling switching cultures. I remember hanging on a strap in an airport bus in Chicago feeling like, "Who in the hell are all these people?" The first time I went back into a Target it felt like I was on another planet. I kept staring at the shiny floors. If I had the chance to live in Europe again I would definitely go. I think William would love it. His personality is laid-back and flexible, which is just right.
Yoga was great today. Concentrated on hips and I got a deep stretch in my hips doing the splits (!). We had bolsters beneath us so it wasn't the full splits like my cousin Laura and Gary's mother Eleanor can do, but I was able to go farther than I thought. I asked the teacher if she knew of a DVD that had that sequence in it. She said no but she felt fine with me practicing it at home, which made me feel good. We had a group discussion after class about this whole having a baby thing. Several women said they think pregnancy is a pain in general. That kind of surprised me. It's good to be honest, though. One women started crying and talked kind of incoherently about being an only child and everyone wanting to help her. It made me wonder how coherent I sound all the time. Other people are having a better time of it (including me). I talked about having depression in the past and how I feel so much better now. It's kind of scary to talk about that with strangers because you never know how people will take it. I don't want people to see me through that limited prism. But I thought there are surely women there who have gone through the same thing. Many of the women have stressful jobs and say it's not good for their careers. The teacher, Laura, said she gave up working after she had her baby, which is kind of funny because being a yoga teacher is work, too!
I liked her class so much I'm going to go to her regular class, which is at another, closer location. She is a teacher who seems both deep and light at the same time. Yoga does great things for people, is what seeing her made me think. The founder of Yoga Yoga, the place I go, says, "Do yoga once a week, change your mind. Twice a week, change your body. Once a day, change your life." Probably true.
I found a couple patterns of toile both William and I like for the baby's room. One is called Central Park toile, the other is Over the Moon toile. We picked out some pale colors for the walls and trim, variations of white. I'd love to use more color on the walls, but the more neutral color seems like it would go better with those fabrics. Maybe we can use color for painting our room. Moving downstairs is going to be weird. I like being upstairs. The first of many compromises, I'm sure! Luckily there are compensations like baby cuteness.
For some reason yesterday the baby reminded me of William. It kept kicking at places on my stomach where I pressed. It likes games already, I thought. I have noticed this pattern for a while; I don't think I'm just imagining it.
I found a gently used maternity bathing suit for eight dollars. Woot! They mostly cost between forty and eighty dollars new.
I saw Brett on Skype today. He said he had a week of tough adjustment to living abroad. It is difficult going through culture shock, language shock, and job withdrawal all at the same time. I remember the first month in Germany being hard. Then it got so awesome. The adjustment coming back is much harder than the one going over. It's a surreal feeling switching cultures. I remember hanging on a strap in an airport bus in Chicago feeling like, "Who in the hell are all these people?" The first time I went back into a Target it felt like I was on another planet. I kept staring at the shiny floors. If I had the chance to live in Europe again I would definitely go. I think William would love it. His personality is laid-back and flexible, which is just right.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Bad Wednesday
Did I ever get blindsided yesterday. I had my glucose screening at the birth center. I went in there, all innocent and cheerful, not knowing what was about to hit me. I drank this big bottle of orange liquid sugar: "Chug it," she said. Then we had to wait in the waiting room an hour until they would take my blood. I wasn't feeling so good in the waiting room. The staff put Madagascar on the bigscreen and I could barely lift an eyelid at it. I kind of keeled over on my side into the couch pillows. I was feeling nauseated and the baby felt like it had been given a stimulant (which it had) bopping around in my stomach. The midwife touched my shoulder finally and we went back for the blood draw.
On the drive home I felt like vomiting was imminent. That horrible feeling when it's kind of heaving up inside you but you can't actually do it. William stopped for breakfast burritos and a paper bag (since I had been fasting for the test). I couldn't eat, however. We got home and I collapsed upstairs. I finally was able to throw up and felt a little better for a moment. That passed. I lay like a corpse most of the day feeling sick. Then, strangely, the sick feeling went away and I immediately felt hung over. William said I was crashing from all the sugar. I didn't feel any better until about 9:30 at night.
No one told me there could be side effects from the gluscose. Not happy about that. I also feel like I never want to take that cursed test again. I looked it up and the only flag I have for gestational diabetes is being over 25, so I'm hoping we can bypass this thing next time. Ugh.
It turned out I was feeling better just in time. William got a call from his sister that his mom had fallen and hurt herself. We got out to Georgetown to look after the kids while Tammy took Linda to the emergency room. They were gone a while--after a couple of hours William looked at his phone and realized Tammy had been calling him. She left a message that they'd just gotten out of the emergency room when Linda, on pain medicine, had fallen again right outside the hospital and hit her head pretty hard. So they'd gone back again to fill out a report and get a CAT scan. What a night for Linda! Luckily she didn't have a concussion, though she did break her nose. There's some surgery she could have on her foot that might help her maneuver better. Tammy's going to try to get her into a orthopod this week.
I'm feeling much better today. I bet Linda's feeling pretty darn crummy, though.
On the drive home I felt like vomiting was imminent. That horrible feeling when it's kind of heaving up inside you but you can't actually do it. William stopped for breakfast burritos and a paper bag (since I had been fasting for the test). I couldn't eat, however. We got home and I collapsed upstairs. I finally was able to throw up and felt a little better for a moment. That passed. I lay like a corpse most of the day feeling sick. Then, strangely, the sick feeling went away and I immediately felt hung over. William said I was crashing from all the sugar. I didn't feel any better until about 9:30 at night.
No one told me there could be side effects from the gluscose. Not happy about that. I also feel like I never want to take that cursed test again. I looked it up and the only flag I have for gestational diabetes is being over 25, so I'm hoping we can bypass this thing next time. Ugh.
It turned out I was feeling better just in time. William got a call from his sister that his mom had fallen and hurt herself. We got out to Georgetown to look after the kids while Tammy took Linda to the emergency room. They were gone a while--after a couple of hours William looked at his phone and realized Tammy had been calling him. She left a message that they'd just gotten out of the emergency room when Linda, on pain medicine, had fallen again right outside the hospital and hit her head pretty hard. So they'd gone back again to fill out a report and get a CAT scan. What a night for Linda! Luckily she didn't have a concussion, though she did break her nose. There's some surgery she could have on her foot that might help her maneuver better. Tammy's going to try to get her into a orthopod this week.
I'm feeling much better today. I bet Linda's feeling pretty darn crummy, though.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Pamper Yourself, Chefs!
Registered at Target and Babies R Us. William and I both exhausted by walking around scanning stuff all day and trying to find the rare gender-neutral items. Doesn't sound like it would be so tiring, does it? We tried to find a kick-ass going-home outfit for the baby but no such luck. The closest thing was a black onesie with an environmental slogan on it in sequins. Maybe will have to look online, or William's suggestion, Hot Topic.
We had our Pampered Chef party yesterday and it was wonderful. Great to see some people I haven't seen in a long while, such as Lena from Barnes & Noble days. Wren is looking awesome after losing all kinds of weight on Atkins. She brought some excellent chocolate crinkle cookies for all the rest of us to eat excessive amounts of. I overdid the cleaning on Friday and was so exhausted Saturday morning I didn't know if I'd make it through the party. But I got a second wind from all the great people and felt fine the rest of the afternoon. I hadn't slept much on Friday night and Saturday morning I thought, "One of God's worst punishments has got to be making you unable to sleep when you're tired." To lie there, exhausted, but so far from sleep, is torture. Last night I slept. Thank God.
I wonder if I'm going to be able to resist seeing Fast & Furious?
We had our Pampered Chef party yesterday and it was wonderful. Great to see some people I haven't seen in a long while, such as Lena from Barnes & Noble days. Wren is looking awesome after losing all kinds of weight on Atkins. She brought some excellent chocolate crinkle cookies for all the rest of us to eat excessive amounts of. I overdid the cleaning on Friday and was so exhausted Saturday morning I didn't know if I'd make it through the party. But I got a second wind from all the great people and felt fine the rest of the afternoon. I hadn't slept much on Friday night and Saturday morning I thought, "One of God's worst punishments has got to be making you unable to sleep when you're tired." To lie there, exhausted, but so far from sleep, is torture. Last night I slept. Thank God.
I wonder if I'm going to be able to resist seeing Fast & Furious?
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Happy Thursday
Yoga this morning. I was going to buy an unlimited monthly pass, but it turns out they were having a special last month when I inquired about it and now the special is over, so I will go weekly instead and pay as I go. Lots of the women in the class are having sleep trouble. That made me feel better about it. Yesterday I aggravated my hip while I was cleaning and it's bugged me since. I'm hoping the yoga helped some. The teacher, Alice, also gave us some poses specifically to help sleep. I'll try them; I'll try anything!
William and I had a nice lunch at Satay. I'm logging all the food I eat this week for the Bradley class. I think my diet looks pretty good. They want you to eat between 75 and 100 grams of protein a day, which is a lot, but I'm on target. The record does help me decide what else to eat to help round out my day. I'm a little low on eggs and green vegetables.
I got to sit in on part of one of William's meetings at work today because I was waiting for him and the meeting ran over, so they asked me in. It was very interesting to see some of what they do. It reminded me of when I worked at MCI. I got to meet his boss, Donnine, who was down from Dallas. It's pretty exciting what they're trying to do with the company. Apart from considerations of William's job, I hope they succeed because I like rooting for the little guy with the big idea. They have also been very good to William and are much more thoughtful than most of the companies I've worked for. They seem to care about him as a person, not just a cog in the works. That's a long-sighted view that should serve them well.
Our Pampered Chef party is coming up this Saturday. We should have ten or more people. I kind of hurt myself cleaning the bathroom yesterday (hip) but I have the other, bigger bathroom to clean today or tomorrow! Bathrooms are the most cleaning-intensive rooms in the house.
It's been beautiful weather lately. And they even stopped hammering on the new roof down the street so it's very peaceful at the moment.
William and I had a nice lunch at Satay. I'm logging all the food I eat this week for the Bradley class. I think my diet looks pretty good. They want you to eat between 75 and 100 grams of protein a day, which is a lot, but I'm on target. The record does help me decide what else to eat to help round out my day. I'm a little low on eggs and green vegetables.
I got to sit in on part of one of William's meetings at work today because I was waiting for him and the meeting ran over, so they asked me in. It was very interesting to see some of what they do. It reminded me of when I worked at MCI. I got to meet his boss, Donnine, who was down from Dallas. It's pretty exciting what they're trying to do with the company. Apart from considerations of William's job, I hope they succeed because I like rooting for the little guy with the big idea. They have also been very good to William and are much more thoughtful than most of the companies I've worked for. They seem to care about him as a person, not just a cog in the works. That's a long-sighted view that should serve them well.
Our Pampered Chef party is coming up this Saturday. We should have ten or more people. I kind of hurt myself cleaning the bathroom yesterday (hip) but I have the other, bigger bathroom to clean today or tomorrow! Bathrooms are the most cleaning-intensive rooms in the house.
It's been beautiful weather lately. And they even stopped hammering on the new roof down the street so it's very peaceful at the moment.
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