When we lived in New Zealand and my friend, Makereta, was expecting, she thought about food a lot. We spent quite a lot of time together, so I was fairly in-the-know in regards to her pregnancy progress. I remember that she had been scheduled to have an ultrasound to find out the gender of her baby. I went to her house that afternoon, walked in and said, "What are you having?" She replied, "An egg sandwich." "No, I mean, is your baby a boy or a girl?" Then she told me that the appointment hadn't been scheduled properly and they had to reschedule.
On the afternoon of her actual appointment, virtually the same scenario occurred again.
"What are you having?"
"Spaghetti bolognese!"
"No, what is the gender of your baby?"
"Oh! A girl!"
I am beginning to understand that now. I'm frequently hungry and quite often contemplating when my next snack will be and what I should have. Eric is still the primary shopper around here, and he does a great job of keeping lots of healthy options available for me to munch on. He also does a great job of helping me figure out what I want at any given point in time:
"Bread?"
"No, I should probably have some fruit."
"Banana?"
"Yuck. I have been disgusted by bananas since the middle of April."
"Apple?"
"If you can guarantee that it will be awesome. How do I know it will be juicy and crispy? How do I know the peel won't be gross?"
"Orange?"
"If you'll peel it for me. Don't worry, you can tax it." (That means that he gets a portion of the orange since he was the one who peeled it. This is our system. It is basically the only way I eat oranges.)
And then whatever snack has been decided upon is served to me. Seriously, my husband is amazing.
One evening a few weeks ago when he was not home, I cried because I was hungry and didn't know what to eat. I'm not making that up, and I'm not exaggerating. Pregnancy makes me irrationally emotional. Also hungry.
30 June 2010
28 June 2010
Can't we be obsessed with a more exciting sport?
No blogs that I read have said anything about the World Cup. Nothing whatsoever. Is nobody following it?
Okay, let's backtrack. I spent the first week of the World Cup gagging and wanting everybody on Facebook to stop talking about it. Soccer is boring. Most of the games end in ties. What kind of game is that? They play for ninety minutes and hardly score at all. SNORE.
But, I love international competition. It's part of the reason I'm so crazy about the olympics. Some time in the last few weeks I started caring about this event based around a sport I hate. How did this happen?
Now, just to be clear, I haven't watched a single game, nor do I intend to. (Again, snore.) But I think I really started to get interested when my English co-worker (who for the first few weeks literally recorded every game and then went home each day and watched them before finding out the results) told me that New Zealand would be lucky if they didn't lose all three of their first matches. They tied their first game, and all of a sudden I started having this strange feeling of wanting to know what was going on and who was doing well and which countries would go home early and which countries I should hate. I can't quite explain it.
In case you were wondering, I've been cheering for New Zealand. Of course, they didn't advance (but they also DIDN'T lose all three of their first games! They tied all three, which isn't quite winning but is far better than losing.) I liked to cheer for the African teams because I like to see African countries do well; but now only Ghana is left. And yes, I DID cheer for them against the U.S. on Saturday. It helped me feel a special kinship with my old Ghanaian callers. And besides, the Ghanaians deserved to win; they actually CARE about soccer all the time, not just once every four years. Also, I cheer for Brazil and the Netherlands (this may pose a problem since they are playing against each other in a few days) and Mexico (but they're out, thanks to Argentina, who is definitely the ENEMY of all good countries). Germany is also high up on my list, but only because Eric likes them.
I have a very set routine to my website checking when I get up in the mornings. Looking up the World Cup scores has become a major part of my day. What will I do when it's over? How will I fill this void in my life? And why, oh why does the World Cup have to happen in the same year as the Olympics? Can't they make some effort to spread the joy?
Okay, let's backtrack. I spent the first week of the World Cup gagging and wanting everybody on Facebook to stop talking about it. Soccer is boring. Most of the games end in ties. What kind of game is that? They play for ninety minutes and hardly score at all. SNORE.
But, I love international competition. It's part of the reason I'm so crazy about the olympics. Some time in the last few weeks I started caring about this event based around a sport I hate. How did this happen?
Now, just to be clear, I haven't watched a single game, nor do I intend to. (Again, snore.) But I think I really started to get interested when my English co-worker (who for the first few weeks literally recorded every game and then went home each day and watched them before finding out the results) told me that New Zealand would be lucky if they didn't lose all three of their first matches. They tied their first game, and all of a sudden I started having this strange feeling of wanting to know what was going on and who was doing well and which countries would go home early and which countries I should hate. I can't quite explain it.
In case you were wondering, I've been cheering for New Zealand. Of course, they didn't advance (but they also DIDN'T lose all three of their first games! They tied all three, which isn't quite winning but is far better than losing.) I liked to cheer for the African teams because I like to see African countries do well; but now only Ghana is left. And yes, I DID cheer for them against the U.S. on Saturday. It helped me feel a special kinship with my old Ghanaian callers. And besides, the Ghanaians deserved to win; they actually CARE about soccer all the time, not just once every four years. Also, I cheer for Brazil and the Netherlands (this may pose a problem since they are playing against each other in a few days) and Mexico (but they're out, thanks to Argentina, who is definitely the ENEMY of all good countries). Germany is also high up on my list, but only because Eric likes them.
I have a very set routine to my website checking when I get up in the mornings. Looking up the World Cup scores has become a major part of my day. What will I do when it's over? How will I fill this void in my life? And why, oh why does the World Cup have to happen in the same year as the Olympics? Can't they make some effort to spread the joy?
25 June 2010
"Do you take her out dancing just so you can hold her tight?"
This is how I know Eric loves me:
I know what you're thinking. It's kind of a weird way to manifest his love. But I love this cereal. Makereta said that I would not miss them when I got back to the states, but she was wrong. And one day Eric happened upon them in his grocery shopping, so he bought them for me. He likes them too, but they are rather expensive, so he just buys them for me. And then I became pregnant, and I loved them even more. They are high in fiber, protein and iron - all of which are things that my body really needs and craves right now. On mornings when I am out of wheat biscuits or the milk has gone bad, I literally do not know what to do. My morning sickness came back (boo), and it's really important that I eat something light but filling in the mornings. These do just the trick.
And like I said, they are kind of expensive. We could definitely buy other breakfast foods for cheaper; but Eric continues to buy me these. Because I love them. And that is how I know he loves me.
I know what you're thinking. It's kind of a weird way to manifest his love. But I love this cereal. Makereta said that I would not miss them when I got back to the states, but she was wrong. And one day Eric happened upon them in his grocery shopping, so he bought them for me. He likes them too, but they are rather expensive, so he just buys them for me. And then I became pregnant, and I loved them even more. They are high in fiber, protein and iron - all of which are things that my body really needs and craves right now. On mornings when I am out of wheat biscuits or the milk has gone bad, I literally do not know what to do. My morning sickness came back (boo), and it's really important that I eat something light but filling in the mornings. These do just the trick.
And like I said, they are kind of expensive. We could definitely buy other breakfast foods for cheaper; but Eric continues to buy me these. Because I love them. And that is how I know he loves me.
21 June 2010
Review: Netflix
We are patrons of Netflix. We love it. We are on the plan where we can have two DVDs out at any given time, and we can cycle through an unlimited number of DVDs in a month. This plan is about $15 per month, and to us it is worth it. DVDs comprise almost 100% of our entertainment. We don't spend money to go to movies or concerts or even restaurants very often, so Netflix is a worthwhile expense for us.
I have never rented a movie from redbox or any of its similar competitors. The idea of actually going somewhere to pick up a movie and then having to actually go back to drop the movie off just doesn't appeal to me. I'd much rather have the movies delivered to my mail box and have the shipping already in place for me to mail them right back. I know some people swear by redbox and the free codes, but to me it is just too inconvenient.
Not to mention the fact that redbox only has new releases, and we watch a lot of older movies, foreign films, documentaries and otherwise non-new releases. We perhaps could rely on the library to fulfill this need, but we find the hold lists for the library to be too long for our tastes, and again, the availability just isn't the same. You can get anything from Netflix. Anything. It truly is amazing.
I love that Netflix allows us to rate the movies we've seen (although sometimes it is tricky to agree on how we will rate certain movies) and then recommends others that we might like. We have seen some seriously awesome films this way, particularly foreign films.
I love that if we decide we want a Netflix break, we can put our membership on hold for up to three months. We won't lose any of our preferences or the movies in our queue, and when we're ready to pick it up again, it's very simple. We did this during the winter when we were house-sitting, and to be honest, we've considered doing it again during the summer when the weather is lovely and we should be spending more time outside.
We can also stream movies online, and this doesn't cost extra, nor does it count against our allotment of movies checked out to as at a given time. We don't do this very often, but I've done it now and then with movies that I knew I would want to watch and Eric wouldn't want to. Of course, the quality isn't as good, but I don't mind that. Plus, if I don't like the movie, I won't have wasted precious days to get the DVD in the mail and then send it back. (Of course, we find that if we put a DVD in the mail on Monday, the next DVD in our queue is usually sent on Tuesday and arrives on Wednesday. So the wait time is never horrible anyway.)
A downside of being a Netflix patron is that you feel obligated to watch movies, and if you let your DVDs collect dust, you feel guilty about the money you are spending on them. If you are not really into movies, then Netflix is probably not a good option for you. We love movies. And we tend to like to spend our evenings at home, so it is a good fit for us. It certainly is one of those things in our budget that could be easily cut if we needed to cut back, but for now it is something that we both really enjoy.
I have never rented a movie from redbox or any of its similar competitors. The idea of actually going somewhere to pick up a movie and then having to actually go back to drop the movie off just doesn't appeal to me. I'd much rather have the movies delivered to my mail box and have the shipping already in place for me to mail them right back. I know some people swear by redbox and the free codes, but to me it is just too inconvenient.
Not to mention the fact that redbox only has new releases, and we watch a lot of older movies, foreign films, documentaries and otherwise non-new releases. We perhaps could rely on the library to fulfill this need, but we find the hold lists for the library to be too long for our tastes, and again, the availability just isn't the same. You can get anything from Netflix. Anything. It truly is amazing.
I love that Netflix allows us to rate the movies we've seen (although sometimes it is tricky to agree on how we will rate certain movies) and then recommends others that we might like. We have seen some seriously awesome films this way, particularly foreign films.
I love that if we decide we want a Netflix break, we can put our membership on hold for up to three months. We won't lose any of our preferences or the movies in our queue, and when we're ready to pick it up again, it's very simple. We did this during the winter when we were house-sitting, and to be honest, we've considered doing it again during the summer when the weather is lovely and we should be spending more time outside.
We can also stream movies online, and this doesn't cost extra, nor does it count against our allotment of movies checked out to as at a given time. We don't do this very often, but I've done it now and then with movies that I knew I would want to watch and Eric wouldn't want to. Of course, the quality isn't as good, but I don't mind that. Plus, if I don't like the movie, I won't have wasted precious days to get the DVD in the mail and then send it back. (Of course, we find that if we put a DVD in the mail on Monday, the next DVD in our queue is usually sent on Tuesday and arrives on Wednesday. So the wait time is never horrible anyway.)
A downside of being a Netflix patron is that you feel obligated to watch movies, and if you let your DVDs collect dust, you feel guilty about the money you are spending on them. If you are not really into movies, then Netflix is probably not a good option for you. We love movies. And we tend to like to spend our evenings at home, so it is a good fit for us. It certainly is one of those things in our budget that could be easily cut if we needed to cut back, but for now it is something that we both really enjoy.
20 June 2010
Oh, my fathers
I have had the pleasure of having some really fantastic fathers in my life.
The blissfully soon-to-be:
The father of the groom and the father of the bride (left and right, respectively):
I am one lucky girl.16 June 2010
Keepers
Eric's folks are moving, and right now they are in the get-rid-of-stuff phase. Hence, this collection of books given to us. There were actually several more than this, but these were just a few of the paperback classics they had. Some I've read; many I haven't. I'm very excited to get started on these.
I didn't reduce the image size, so if you're interested, you can click on the photo to get a clearer view of the titles. Some of them were Eric's picks (why, hello Panzer Battles) and others were ones I've been wanting to read and just never had. Then there were a few that I've already read and adored and am very happy to have my own copy of.
I didn't reduce the image size, so if you're interested, you can click on the photo to get a clearer view of the titles. Some of them were Eric's picks (why, hello Panzer Battles) and others were ones I've been wanting to read and just never had. Then there were a few that I've already read and adored and am very happy to have my own copy of.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)