Monday, September 27, 2010

I really do intend to blog again.

Eventually. I have no real excuse. My schedule is a little different than it used to be, with Paul's sister, her husband, and their three-year-old living with us now. :-)

I'm freelancing during some of my "free" time.

And of course there's my ongoing evening sickness.

Which is not all bad!

I mean, it sucks and I'm so ready for it to be gone, but I'm looking for the silver lining, here. I'm not losing weight like crazy and the baby's not in danger and I'm getting plenty of nutrition, etc.

But I did discover that all of my old maternity pants are way too big so I went out to buy myself an under-the-bump pair of jeans to tide me over until the giant over-the-bump tent pants fit again.

The next day I returned them. And tried on two more pairs before I realized that I'm a few sizes smaller than I thought I was. Hip hip hooray! (More accurately: smaller hips, smaller thighs, hooray!) Granted, these are elastic waist maternity pants. But they're still "boyfriend" jeans and they're still a size I haven't worn in lo these many years, since way before I started having babies.

Maybe I'll even feel well enough to go out for a jog tomorrow.  If I do, I might reward myself with a "running for two" tech shirt.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Announcement

"Sarahlynn, it's great to see you. You have a certain glow about you!"

This is how my OB/GYN greeted me at my annual visit this summer and is how I learned I am pregnant for the third - and, presumably, final - time.

Officially.

Because I'd sort of known for a couple of weeks already. I got suspicious when my period was late. But I was having fun on vacation. Until one day I ate some onion rings and my body revolted.

Then the altitude in Wyoming started really bothering me.

I tired quickly.

I grew nauseous if I went more than two hours without eating something protein-rich.

Then I was just exhausted and nauseous all the time, period, even after we returned to sea level.  The heat made me whimper and cower indoors.

And then I went in for my annual well woman visit and learned that I am a very well woman, indeed. And hopefully I will remain so until about . . .

April Fool's!

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Family Togetherness

Preparing for the ride to the top of the arch. Imagine: all 6 feet, 4 inches of Paul in the tiny available seat on the left.



Dance class! (Ellie in pink, Ada in purple.) "Can we go back again tomorrow, mommy and daddy?" Ballet, tap, and tumbling in a relaxed but structured environment. Perfect. Bonus: another little girls with trisomy 21 in the class!

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Reading and Cooking

Over the past week or two I've read:
Like mother, like daughter!
  • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
  • March by by Geraldine Brooks
  • The Heretic's Daughter by by Kathleen Kent
  • Sanctuary of Outcasts by by Neil White
  • Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
  • probably a couple more I've forgotten,
  • like Case Histories by Kate Atkinson,
  • and gotten ahead on my Newsweeks.
This one, too.


One of Ellie's all time favorite dishes is pearled couscous and she's always thrilled to help prepare it. Also served with this meal: Greek salad, spanakopita, and roasted chicken and potatoes seasoned with basil and rosemary. (I didn't make the spanakopita from scratch; that would have cut too far into my reading time!)

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This week for Barrie Summy's Book Review Club I've chosen The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

"Sarahlynn - See what you think? Carol"

Perhaps every other book club in America has read this novel sometime in the past two years, but neither of mine did. I'd never heard the title until my mother-in-law passed the paperback to me. We're both avid readers, but our tastes don't always overlap (hooray Diana Gabaldon!) so I wasn't sure what to expect. And I waited about a year before picking it up.

Then I really really enjoyed it.

As a fledgling writer who never seems to get quite as much writing accomplished as I set out to do, I was touched by the author's story. Mary Ann Shaffer wrote for years and years and years, probably her whole life. She belonged to writer's groups and researched and wrote diligently. But she never finished a book to her satisfaction until this one, which she sold when she was 74 years old. She died before the final requested rewrite, and her niece - also an author - finished the project. Both of their names appear on the cover.

But I read all that later, after I'd finished the book and needed to know more about who wrote it. The book itself - the story, the writing, the characters, the style - grabbed me and made me not want to finish.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a novel told in letters between an immediately post-World-War-II English author and her friends. Right off the bat, this is not a subject that causes my breath to quicken (except, perhaps, in hasty retreat).

But the main character, Juliet Ashton, has a voice I simply adored. I want to be her friend. I want her to be alive and real today so that I can be her pen pal. I'll even learn to respond to letters, I promise!

The novel tells the story of the German occupation of the British Channel Islands (between England and France) during the Second World War. No, but really. The history just provides fascinating snippets scattered along the way of the real stories, all of which were far more personal.  Individual growth, relationship building, priority setting, and even a mystery.

I have no idea how Shaffer and Barrows managed to write about such sad, indescribably painful, terrible things without making light of them but while still keeping a bright, funny tone to the novel. That feat alone was masterful. While some of the letters were extremely hard to read, I always ended up laughing somewhere along the way. And since there are no chapters, just a series of letters, naturally I read straight through to the end. It's a quick read.

Carol, I enjoyed this one very much; thank you for encouraging me to read it!

--Sarahlynn

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