On Waking A Sleeping Infant

In the words of TS Eliot:

"Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

(From "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" Lines 45-49)

13 Ways to Induce Labor

It's been awhile, no?  And, a lot's happened.  While there's almost too much to write about, I'll bring you the highlights from the last (gasp) two months in the next few posts.  Then I'll get back to the adventure found in each new day.

Nine months pregnant: when waddling replaces walking.

This list, originally meant to be a parody of Wallace Stevens "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,"* sums up the last week of my pregnancy.  (*Except when I reread this poem, I realized I remembered liking it more than I actually like it.  Hence, not spending the time giving it a shout out via parody.)

1.  Host an open house party.  (Ours involved ice cream.)

2.  Eat take-out Indian food based on the rumor spicy food kicks off contractions.

3.  Go to Babies R Us and casually park in the expectant mother parking.  Who knows how much longer you'll be able to take advantage of this perk.

4.  Take an extra nap just because you're worried you'll never sleep again after your baby's born.

5.  Make a tray of chicken enchiladas for the freezer and eat the other one.  Mexican food qualifies as spicy, right?

6.  Run an errand to the local baby boutique to exchange one item for the same item in another color.  You must coordinate the baby's dirty diaper bags after all.

7.  At the last minute, host overnight a couple who are friends of friends.  Bonus if one guest is also nine months pregnant.

8.  Spend some, um, quality time with Husband.

9.  Walk to the farm truck and carry all of the produce you purchase home.  Extra points if the bags weigh more than the average combined weight of a newborn and a car seat.

10.  Get up in the middle of the night because you feel "weird" and haven't finished recopying your "Books to Check Out" list.  Nursing will be a one-handed activity, right?

11.  Date night with Husband at a fancy Turkish restaurant.  Come on spicy food!

12.  Go to the grocery store so you can waddle around somewhere with air-conditioning.  Park in the "Customers with Infants" parking spaces because you figure you're close enough to meeting the criteria.

13.  Browse a bookstore looking for the perfect notebook to kick off your next project for all of the free time in your life.

Waverly Farmer's Market

Saturday morning at Baltimore's Waverly Farmer's Market in pictures.

 

 

 

The bounty I brought home.  Fried zucchini blossoms for dinner.

What's your weekend's flavor?

Worse Than Doing Laundry

The one thing worse than doing laundry is having laundry to do.

Old, mismatched machines.

Monday morning I threw the brand new organic cotton cloth diapers in the washing machine (apparently cloth diapers need to be washed/dried a few times to maximize absorbency).  I expected to walk away, feeling maternal, as I listened to the pleasant chug-chug-chug of progress.  Instead, an awful grinding sound begged for mercy from behind the laundry closet doors.  Frantically, I rescued the diapers from the cantankerous sudsy pit.  While Husband rinsed the prefolds in the tub, I marched to the leasing office full of pregnant indignation.  The washing machine is on its third round of maintenance issues.  And, the replacement dryer's setting--like on/off--have never worked.  Note: we've lived here less than two months!

Fast forward a direct conversation with the complex manager about the problems (including a moment of pointedly smoothing my shirt over my protruding belly) and a visit from the entire maintenance team to validate my complaints.  Goodbye old machines.

  

The icky linoleum under the machines.           Sherbet inspects my rushed cleaning job.

Hello new, energy efficient models.  

All these knobs and settings to learn ....

Time to triumphantly throw in another load.

Have you overcome a challenge lately?  Or, are you procrastinating laundry day?

Synonyms for Adorable

In the midst of the crazy heat wave on the East Coast, I'm falling in love with knitted and crocheted baby clothes.  Confession: I made the denim blue blend hat and booties, but the rest are gifts from friends.  How can you not fall in love with these even if it is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside?

Which one should Ramlet debut first once autumn arrives?

Showered with Love

My shower contribution: Lemon Blueberry Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

Mom outdid herself hosting a baby shower for Ramlet and me this past weekend.  Platters of homemade finger sandwiches, salads bursting with summer's best produce, and enough carrots on the veggie platter so assure all attendees might get to eat one before I polished off the rest.  (Note: I told Husband the other day carrots had a better crunch and a more complex flavor than potato chips.  Conclusion: Definitely pregnant.  Concern: How many pounds of carrots does it take to turn Ramlet orange?)

Friends from all stages of my life attended or sent greetings.  Those present decorated onsies for Ramlet, guessed my belly's circumference (the shortest strings won!), and laughingly remembered nursery rhymes.  My three-year-old niece kept the gift unwrapping moving at a brisk pace.  The generosity of friends and family overwhelmed me as each package revealed something adorable or practical (or both) for this next part of life. 

When's the last time love overwhelmed you?

$10 Beautification Project

Flowers fascinate me.  Their petal shapes and coloration, their fragrances, and their distinct surrounding greenery.  Their names: petunia, daffodil, gladiola, chrysanthemum, lavender, begonia, black-eyed-susan, gardenia, daisy, tulip, dandelion.  In my dreams of permanence, I long for a yard more than a house.  The backyard will be for grilling, vegetable gardens, raspberry bushes, and room to run through a sprinkler.  The front yard will be reserved for a mammoth perennial flower garden punctuated with walkways, benches, and a gurgling fountain or a mysterious statue.

Impatiens.  My favorite shade-friendly small flower.

Until then, Husband and I are content with our huge, though a tad ugly, porch.  The slab concrete floor and solid wall (instead of railings) make the space feel contained for being outdoors.  One trip to Lowes for a bag of dirt and a few forlorn impatiens brighten the atmosphere.  Now hot pink and terra cotta blossoms invite me onto the porch for early morning tea or late afternoon writing.  Meanwhile the half full bag of dirt promises a future gardening adventure, wherever that may be.

Houseplant refuges from the terrors of Sherbet.

What's in your dream yard?

The War on ... Silverfish?

An Update, from SC Ramsey.

Adhering to the designated withdrawal date outlined in the Lease Treaty, the Ramsey Apartment was vacated during a lull in the invasion from ANTS.  Only by many rounds of chemical warfare were the counteroffensives from the ANTS and from their airforce allies, the FRUIT FLIES, repelled.  Another security force now oversees the province and only time will tell if they can maintain sovereignty over their territory.

I'm not sure why this sign, from the Philadelphia Zoo, strikes me as funny.

The New Ramsey Apartment, currently, is ANT-free at this time.  Yet the Ramseys found about a half dozen SILVERFISH over the last week or so.  Will a new battle emerge to preserve their domain from all things creepy and crawly?  Will their large book collection escape the binding-glue hungry SILVERFISH?  

Stay tuned for further updates.

In my rental history there's been the place with the speedy black spiders, the mega-cockroach (one sighting was enough!), the million-legged nightmares, and the persistent ANTS.  Does every inhabitance hide a crawling menace?  What are creeping across your walls and ceilings? 

Unfortunate Anniversaries

A few years ago, Husband & I went on a date.  It looked something like this:

Hours later, when we went to drive home, we found this:

Not the best of times.  Thankfully, no one was injured when our car spontaneously combusted in the parking lot.  Also, our insurance covered everything--including the $100+ taxi ride home.

Despite the shock and logistical challenges this wasn’t the worst of times, either.  Remembering difficult situations, and how I pulled through them, helps me to shelve an attitude of entitlement and to focus on living a full life regardless of circumstances.  Or, so I like to remind myself on these anniversaries....

Do you have any not-so-ready-for events that remember each year?  Why do you acknowledge them?

Won: One Excuse to Host a Party!

It’s not every weekend you move AND win a guess-how-many contest.  Looks like Husband & I found a new piece to decorate the apartment with until we can host a party to get some help eating all of this.  Note: the plastic coke bottle was full when I carried it home.  Better set a date soon!

Besides candy, what else should I serve?

Moving Casualty

Glass jar holding Q-tips meets tiled floor.  Explosion!  Shards of glass glitter across the entire uneven bathroom floor.

Estimated clean-up time = packing three boxes.  At least it wasn't the decorative vase.

What's been broken (or lost) when you've changed addresses?

Parking Signs: Solution Posted

Still pondering the parking sign dilemma from earlier this week?  Now check back to see the solution to this drama.

Parking Signs: Pop Quiz Edition

Pop quiz, Readers!  Only one question, and it's multiple choice.  Post your selection and reasoning in the comments.  Good luck!  Discussion and solution written below.

It's 4:10pm and you should have been at the event at 4pm.  But it's hot--97 degrees radiating off of the city streets--and no one moves fast on a day like this.  As you wipe the sweat off of your forehead, you realize you'll have to leave the AC-comfort of your car when you park said vehicle.  The streets are somewhat empty since it's a holiday instead of a business-as-usual Monday.  Now where to demonstrate your mad parallel parking skills?

A. At the street meter near a sign.  Hmmm... a valid option, but got quarters?  Coin-only parking meters are seem like relics from last decade.  Where's the Pay To Park that accepts credit cards?  Drive on.

   

B.  Between the 3-part, small-print signs next to a bus stop.  Wait.  Do city buses run on holidays?  Does "holiday" impact (read: void) these parking signs?  Better safe than sorry with the 10 minute parking between 9am-8pm....  Drive on.

 

C.  Safely in the Pay to Park zone.  (Don't forget the really, really small print on the meter.)  Fine print's no friend of mine (see the red box on the Pay To Park meter).  Get back in the car and drive on.

 

D.  At the last possibility within one block's walk.  The hours look good even if it is Pay to Park.  Not likely to snow anytime today.  Is that the LAST open spot that car's pulling taking?  Drive on.

 

E.  There's always another city block with more signs.  Well.  Two blocks away isn't so bad.  Especially when Husband drops you off so you can take pictures of the ridiculous parking regulations on your way into the air conditioned auditorium.

The Presstman Preachers' show made all the trouble worth while anyway.

The War on ANTS

The skies are overcast, and rain is threatening near the Ramsey Apartment in Baltimore.  Here ANTS are beginning the latest phase in what seems to be part of a larger plan for world domination.  Previous assaults at the Bathroom Window were repelled, twice, by what experts believe is a new development in chemical warfare.  This toxic gas may have also led to ultimate triumph over the ANTS at the Kitchen Sink and Light Switch Wall after a combination of road blocks and internal sabotage (ant traps) failed.

.

The Kitchen Sink was clearly targeted as a strategic resupply hub for essentials, such as water, to which the ANTS tunneled along pipes from another apartment.  The assault on the Light Switch Wall, however, worried senior intelligence officials as it demonstrated the versatility and resourcefulness of the ANTS.  This location was reached by repelling from the roof along the electric lines.  The exact intentions of this offensive remain unclear, although some argue minuscule food crumbs may have been found at the adjacent Kitchen Counter.


Now ANTS are invading the Wall Behind the Microwave as the latest step to execute a hostile takeover of the Kitchen.  This strike's specific objectives are not yet known, but covert operations are preemptively moving supplies, mainly food, from the area and launching air raids employing precision tissue-squashing technology.  Chemical warfare may again play a role in repelling the ANTS, but it remains to be seen if this will be enough to deter further counter insurgencies.

This is SC Ramsey, live from Baltimore.  Good Afternoon.  

Anyone deployed effective anti-ANTS tactics?

Ready, Set, Sharpen Your Pencils

Figure Drawing Class starts today.  I'm not prepared--it's been a long time since my last art lessons or since I spent any serious amount of time drawing.  Also, I'm not really sure what to expect: instruction and tips, or just diving in?  Time to find that pencil case....

What new project are you diving into, ready or not?

College Education Preferred

In the office jobs I've held "other duties as required" translated, at least some of the time, to paper shredding.  Ironically, there's a lot of responsibility in this mundane task.  Every time I shredded paper, I was the only one to go through the files and determine what duplications were no longer vital.

Moving preparations: Taking care of business at home.

Despite prestige of the shredder--how else can a temporary employee silence the rest of the office besides overpowering conversation with the shredder's ravenous whir?--I'm still not sure I really needed my college education to adequately accomplish this task.

What's the worst job your college degree qualified you to do?  

Gone ... Until Next Year!

Distinct flavors in vibrant colors.            

I've nibbled up all of the Starburst jelly beans already.  These little gems pack serious punch.  More sweet, more tang than the I-hope-it's-not-buttered-popcorn Jelly Bellies in my opinion.  The Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs hide in the freezer to delay their impending demise.

What's the first thing to disappear from your Easter basket?  Or, if Easter basket's aren't part of your tradition, what's your preferred candy of choice?

Birthday Month

Some people begin to shun their birthdays as the years pass, but I'm the opposite.  I've convinced myself, and sometimes my husband, I deserve a full birthday month.  I'll find a bouquet on my bedroom dresser one day; I'll get a free pass on washing dirty dishes another.

Today we doubly celebrated: a Centerstage play of one of my favorite novels and front porch banana splits.   Nothing like contemplating redemption while nibbling my way through a bed of fresh banana slices covered with scoops of peach and cherry vanilla ice creams topped with chopped walnuts.

How do you commemorate your birthday?

Destinations or departures?

Unique street signs, with the exception of fine-print parking quizzes, add a little smile to my day.  There's something like Narnia or Alice in Wonderland about a 1/2-street tucked away in plain sight on the traditional city grid.  When I pass this sign my curiosity wonders what story, what other world could be found in a place I never stop.  And, where would this diversion lead me?

Vibrant Pocket Garden

An unexpected surprise found when driving down an urban alley.  Gone are the days of light gray clouds dropping frivolous snowflakes on a frozen city.  How the hibernating soil untangles shoots of green that burst into colorful flowers never ceases to amaze me.  Welcome Spring!