not dead, just somewhat irritable

Long rant regarding gestational diabetes redacted. Short version: ( this really is the short version, I promise! )

Aside from stupid modern healthcare systems (and really, I wouldn't trade a few weeks of annoyance at lowest-common-denominator education for a world with things like smallpox still in, so whatever) I really don't have much to complain about on this late-pregnancy thing. I've got a little intermittent lower back pain (it's like I'm carrying around an extra 20 lbs with muscles originally slung for support from a horizontal spine or something...) which increases if I wear non-flat shoes, my sleep cycles are slightly off, my brain doesn't focus as well as I'd like on writing-type things, and I'm seriously tired of having to cut my fingernails twice as often as usual. These... are not serious problems. There's still time to have crazy swelling or something else off the list of fun symptoms, but so far so good.

So, what else has been going on? I'm retiring from in-aquarium volunteering after next monday, though I may continue sorting bugs with the master naturalist group next month, and hope to be able to pick up some reclaimed-wetland monitoring at Masonville Cove next year (15 minutes away by backroads! Potential low-impact tasks that can be done once or twice a week in short periods of time, possibly even with baby attached! We'll see how young Miss Radiator co-operates on that one, but it sounds promising.)

Nano... well, I won't say it wasn't worth trying, as I wrote a little over 10k that I wouldn't otherwise have done, and have the shape of one of the three last-book plotlines, and a new angle on one of the others. And I wrote at least a little every day for the first 2/3 of November before kind of falling off that. But not so much on finishing the series, or even working out all the bits I need to know for it. My brain is much better suited to short story writing or editing just now, I think, although admittedly the last time I tried to work on a short story I stared at the computer screen for half an hour working out the actions for the next five or six paragraphs without actually typing anything. Focus comes and goes, and for some reason my brain is convinced that certain other things are more important just now. It might even be right.

The moderate late-fall weather and the desire to get up off the couch after meals to boost glucose processing has meant that I'm doing a bunch of end-of-season gardening. Turns out that about 50 degrees is lovely weather to be outside in when there are two of you cohabiting the same body. (I'm expecting late winter to be *freezing* by comparison.) So, I'm making up for a bunch of the summer gardening I didn't do because it was stupidly hot out-- I've moved the ridiculously large asters from the front garden to the side of the house that's theoretically supposed to be meadow (had they come with tags mentioning that they'd get 7' tall by their second year, I wouldn't have planted them in front of the blueberry in the first place), planted a handful of the things living under the porch in pots, raked & mowed the leaves from the parking area for next year's mulching needs, and moved a bunch of rocks from the neighbors' abandoned rock garden to start "paving" the labyrinth. I also got a bunch of library books out about mosaic techniques, so there may be some fun & decorative paving stones one day, as well.

Poking at various quilt & sewing projects; potential for pictures as things get finished. Christmas promises to be pretty low-key, with just us and my parents, and the only one of that company with large stuff needs hasn't been born yet. Target has mini solar-powered light strings this year, which is useful since the very nice one I got from Home Depot stopped working after about four days, and they don't seem to bother stocking more than a case of 5 per store all season. So we have rainbow multi-colored lights for the back deck as well as the two short strings of white and two multi-colored out front, and next year I hope to get an actually working long string for the back and move one of the other pairs to the arbor. We're skipping card-mailing, with intent to make up a year-in-review letter and address & stamp envelopes in the next month, with space to add baby arrival info & print and send when appropriate. Lofty goals...

not dead, just somewhat irritable

Long rant regarding gestational diabetes redacted. Short version: ( this really is the short version, I promise! )

Aside from stupid modern healthcare systems (and really, I wouldn't trade a few weeks of annoyance at lowest-common-denominator education for a world with things like smallpox still in, so whatever) I really don't have much to complain about on this late-pregnancy thing. I've got a little intermittent lower back pain (it's like I'm carrying around an extra 20 lbs with muscles originally slung for support from a horizontal spine or something...) which increases if I wear non-flat shoes, my sleep cycles are slightly off, my brain doesn't focus as well as I'd like on writing-type things, and I'm seriously tired of having to cut my fingernails twice as often as usual. These... are not serious problems. There's still time to have crazy swelling or something else off the list of fun symptoms, but so far so good.

So, what else has been going on? I'm retiring from in-aquarium volunteering after next monday, though I may continue sorting bugs with the master naturalist group next month, and hope to be able to pick up some reclaimed-wetland monitoring at Masonville Cove next year (15 minutes away by backroads! Potential low-impact tasks that can be done once or twice a week in short periods of time, possibly even with baby attached! We'll see how young Miss Radiator co-operates on that one, but it sounds promising.)

Nano... well, I won't say it wasn't worth trying, as I wrote a little over 10k that I wouldn't otherwise have done, and have the shape of one of the three last-book plotlines, and a new angle on one of the others. And I wrote at least a little every day for the first 2/3 of November before kind of falling off that. But not so much on finishing the series, or even working out all the bits I need to know for it. My brain is much better suited to short story writing or editing just now, I think, although admittedly the last time I tried to work on a short story I stared at the computer screen for half an hour working out the actions for the next five or six paragraphs without actually typing anything. Focus comes and goes, and for some reason my brain is convinced that certain other things are more important just now. It might even be right.

The moderate late-fall weather and the desire to get up off the couch after meals to boost glucose processing has meant that I'm doing a bunch of end-of-season gardening. Turns out that about 50 degrees is lovely weather to be outside in when there are two of you cohabiting the same body. (I'm expecting late winter to be *freezing* by comparison.) So, I'm making up for a bunch of the summer gardening I didn't do because it was stupidly hot out-- I've moved the ridiculously large asters from the front garden to the side of the house that's theoretically supposed to be meadow (had they come with tags mentioning that they'd get 7' tall by their second year, I wouldn't have planted them in front of the blueberry in the first place), planted a handful of the things living under the porch in pots, raked & mowed the leaves from the parking area for next year's mulching needs, and moved a bunch of rocks from the neighbors' abandoned rock garden to start "paving" the labyrinth. I also got a bunch of library books out about mosaic techniques, so there may be some fun & decorative paving stones one day, as well.

Poking at various quilt & sewing projects; potential for pictures as things get finished. Christmas promises to be pretty low-key, with just us and my parents, and the only one of that company with large stuff needs hasn't been born yet. Target has mini solar-powered light strings this year, which is useful since the very nice one I got from Home Depot stopped working after about four days, and they don't seem to bother stocking more than a case of 5 per store all season. So we have rainbow multi-colored lights for the back deck as well as the two short strings of white and two multi-colored out front, and next year I hope to get an actually working long string for the back and move one of the other pairs to the arbor. We're skipping card-mailing, with intent to make up a year-in-review letter and address & stamp envelopes in the next month, with space to add baby arrival info & print and send when appropriate. Lofty goals...

Xposty from dreamwidth.

food...

Having to pay attention to my diet (which, on the whole, is probably good for me-- not in the weight or overall nutrition sense so much as in remembering to plan meals before "crunch time" as it were) has kicked in the winter reading of cookbooks phase a month early. This year it begins with pulling Cookwise off the shelf, and the first few pages have already solved a couple mysteries about flour & liquid interactions. I might post things about pancakes (which I may have done once already) due to a new understanding of the chemistry involved.

Anyway, I have also got questions!

*Has anyone got a pumpernickel bread recipe to recommend? All the ones in my cookbooks seem to have weird things like coffee added, and I am skeptical. (also, not a fan of coffee.)

*ditto on a recipe for orange rolls-- I want something like cinnamon rolls, only with orange icing instead of cinnamon; fairly whole-grain friendly or at least dense, with a moist & buttery texture. When I was a kid these were the Christmas morning special treat; I got them for the first Christmas with grauwulf, and we both kind of felt like the first half-roll was really good and then they rapidly became slightly less substantial & food-like than marshmallows. There has got to exist a nice filling sweet roll recipe which could be used instead. (This year's fall-back choice is these pumpkin-cinnamon rolls which also have a coincidental link to a pumpernickel recipe that might be worth trying; thank you to mrissa for mentioning the site.)

*Does anyone have favorite things to do with mustard greens, besides basic baked greens or chop-up-put-in-soup? I got a couple bunches at the farmers' market on sunday because they looked so green and happy, but aside from the above and then slicing up the rest to freeze for future soups, I'm not sure I know what to do with them. I am new to this cooking greens thing, so I'm sure there's stuff I haven't thought of.

food...

Having to pay attention to my diet (which, on the whole, is probably good for me-- not in the weight or overall nutrition sense so much as in remembering to plan meals before "crunch time" as it were) has kicked in the winter reading of cookbooks phase a month early. This year it begins with pulling Cookwise off the shelf, and the first few pages have already solved a couple mysteries about flour & liquid interactions. I might post things about pancakes (which I may have done once already) due to a new understanding of the chemistry involved.

Anyway, I have also got questions!

*Has anyone got a pumpernickel bread recipe to recommend? All the ones in my cookbooks seem to have weird things like coffee added, and I am skeptical. (also, not a fan of coffee.)

*ditto on a recipe for orange rolls-- I want something like cinnamon rolls, only with orange icing instead of cinnamon; fairly whole-grain friendly or at least dense, with a moist & buttery texture. When I was a kid these were the Christmas morning special treat; I got them for the first Christmas with grauwulf, and we both kind of felt like the first half-roll was really good and then they rapidly became slightly less substantial & food-like than marshmallows. There has got to exist a nice filling sweet roll recipe which could be used instead. (This year's fall-back choice is these pumpkin-cinnamon rolls which also have a coincidental link to a pumpernickel recipe that might be worth trying; thank you to mrissa for mentioning the site.)

*Does anyone have favorite things to do with mustard greens, besides basic baked greens or chop-up-put-in-soup? I got a couple bunches at the farmers' market on sunday because they looked so green and happy, but aside from the above and then slicing up the rest to freeze for future soups, I'm not sure I know what to do with them. I am new to this cooking greens thing, so I'm sure there's stuff I haven't thought of.

Xposty from dreamwidth.