Gratuitous Imagery

What you've all been waiting for. Me at 35, 36 and 37 weeks.
35 weeks - This is the night I started having regular contractions and Aaron in a panic began snapping unflattering pictures of me in the fear that we wouldn't have a single pregnant image. I was not feeling co-operative. Notice the house. We look so ready.
36 - in Georgetown.
The last one is this Saturday night. Pretty pregnant. The baby's getting big! That or mini spooners (Generic frosted mini-wheats) which I eat for 2/3 of my meals sure pack on the pounds.

Broadening My Horizon

Be forewarned: This is a rant and as such has the potential to offend.

Last night I went to the first meeting of my new ward's book club. I felt apprehensive because I am a person who cares deeply about what I read. I have very strong opinions about what is worth reading and what is sentimental fluff that isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

I've noticed when I get around other women interested in being part of a book club, a lot of them seem inclined to read what I would categorize as "fluff" - this is any book that is described in the following way: "Oh! I loved that book! It was soooo sweet/romantic!....and afterwards we can watch the movie!!" Some of these books aren't bad. They were required reading for your eighth grade English class, like Jane Eyre. Good book but we all read it, we all liked it, lets move on. Aren't we ready for something a little meatier? We're adults now.

In my opinion its absolutely worthless for a book group to pick "an easy, fun" read. Why have a book group about a book that gives you nothing to talk about? That doesn't challenge you? But I guess, I get excited about a book group because of the book aspect, not so much the socializing. And in a way being part of such a book group really makes me step out of my comfort zone and pick up books I would NEVER EVER choose to read myself. It broadens my horizons, which is a good thing. SO why does the broadening feel so similar to dumbing down?

Things are said in book groups that make me feel really uncomfortable, things like: "I just can't read Shakespeare. It doesn't make any sense!"
"I read really slow so lets not do that." - Would you go to a running group and feel okay about telling the whole group that the pace shouldn't go above a walk??
"I just don't understand those books. They just get so dark." - This is usually said about books that I didn't find dark at all. If you want dark...
"That would be such a good book. I've read it like a thousand times" (So have we!!)

I heard all those statements and more last night. And they make me want to say really snarky things which makes me feel like I'm a bad person. Which makes me think I should not go to the book group, but stay at home and narrow-mindedly continue to read the books which lack plucky Victorian heroines.

I'm a winner!

So I'm trying this ebay thing out. Here's my first "win." I hope it fits some day.

Priorities

I got invited to attend an Obama rally tomorrow. It just happened to be at the exact same time as my scheduled Dr. appointment. Since I'm now about 36-37 weeks I suppose it is theoretically important for me to go, even though all the tell me is how much I weigh and that I need to make friends. It's like all of middle school condensed into a 10 minute conversation. (I'm not joking about the friends thing. Everyone keeps telling me I need to make friends so I won't be so lonely - the doctor, the other doctor, the midwife, my mom, Aaron, my mom again, etc. But I really don't feel lonely except when people keep pointing out how friendless I am.)

Anyway, I considered the options and decided I rather go to the rally. I think I may try to dress up (a la Cindy Sherman) as an elderly Jewish woman from Florida so I could get picked to sit behind the stage. Or maybe I can go as myself and hope that the Obama people want to win the votes of young, white, very pregnant women. Maybe if I could look like a teenager who chose to keep the baby...Think if I wore my high school sweatshirt I could get picked?

Pole

I painted this watercolor a week or so ago. I wanted to paint a lonely windswept telephone pole after rereading the opening chapter of O Pioneers by Willa Cather. You can read it here. I'm fairly pleased with it. It's been hanging out on the kitchen table with the aforementioned male nudes. I know if I don't do something soon it will get spilled on or torn but it's a strange size, about 8x8, so I don't know what to do with it. Any ideas?

Ebay

My mother and sister are expert ebay-ers. They get all kinds of steals on great stuff, especially baby stuff. I've never managed to get into ebay, preferring to browse dusty thrift stores and rummage sales in person. But with the high turn-over rate of baby supplies I think I may need to get into the game. Does anyone else use ebay?

Soft October Nights

Under the full moon, these last "soft October nights" I have begun to have my first contractions. I'm trying not to panic, but I NEED more time. I'm not ready. I feel completely unprepared. I'm supposed to have another month!
And so these lines of "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" have been running through my head over and over again, as I want time for you and time for me and time yet for a hundred indecisions and for a hundred visions and revisions...

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

You can read the whole poem here.

What's in a Name?

Want to waste some time? Here's a great site: The US Social Security's Top 1000 Baby Names from 2000 to 2007 Some of my "favorites?"
154. Gage- And the next one will be named Sprocket!
241. Chance - This is name that says "I should have gotten a dog"
791. Aryan - What??
824. Maxim - Naming your kid after a magazine?

My favorite name for a boy, Levin, which Aaron doesn't like because he says its too obscure didn't make the top 1000. But his favorite name for a girl, Petra, which I don't really like didn't make the top 1000 either. Ha!

And since everyone is asking, the names on our short list:

Reuben
Abraham
Peter
Levin

What do you do?

Lately people, people I haven't ever met before, have started coming up to me and asking what sounds to me like "What do you do?" I think, "how nice" or on my good days, "I guess I look really interesting and artsy and they want to get to know me better." Then I launch into an explanation of my job and what it involves and as I elaborate I see them begin to look confused and their smile fades away. Then I realize that once again, someone has asked me not "What do you do?" but "When are you due?" And I tell them mid-November and try to think of an equivalent question for them, like "So when is your next big, life changing event?" or "Any personal experience coming up that you would like to discuss with a stranger?"

Run Eliza! Run!

I started reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Goodwin and am really enjoying it. The book references Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe several times which made me realize I hadn't ever read the book that by many accounts helped start the Civil War. (It somehow didn't make it into the SC curriculum.) I expected it to be overly sentimental and dated and while there are passages that fit that description I've been amazed at how gripping a story it is. I've been listening to it on librivox (here) while I work. Several times it's brought me to the edge of my seat or close to tears. The one down side is every time I mention it to Aaron he starts singing selections of The King and I and then I have "Run Eliza! Run!" or "Pooor Eliza" stuck in my head.

All The Men

I started my figure painting class at the local art center last week. I've gone twice now and have returned with over a dozen large watercolors. Most are pretty bad but there a few that aren't terrible. It's nice to get the practice and I'm enjoying the challenge.

Aaron took a look at my work and asked why all my paintings are of men. I'm not sure why, but so far all the models have been men. And I'm starting to wonder what I should do with the growing stack of male nudes floating around the apartment. I sat down to breakfast and found them scattered all over the table. Getting dressed I bumped into a couple laying over the dresser. There are several more cluttering the office. I feel like I should do something with them but I'm not sure what. Hang them on the wall? Use them to decorate the nursery-closet? Begin distributing them to friends and family members as early Christmas gifts? Any ideas?