August 31, 2006

The Cure for Boredom

In case you're wondering what has become of me lately (or rather, what has become of my posting), it's been busy. Being on the verge of giving birth to our first born child just isn't enough excitement for us. No, we really need big change in our lives. After getting the letter from our apartment complex about our increased rent, we stepped up our search for a house and we found one! We've spent the past few days negotiating a price, and are now under contract. If all goes as planned, we will go to closing and move into the new place the week before I'm due. We may be crazy, but here we go.....

Posted by Kitty at 07:45 PM | Comments (7)

August 16, 2006

The Cost of Living

Well, I've been putting off our search for a new house for a number of reasons. Mostly I've been focused on my pregnancy and everything that goes with it, but also I've had trouble finding any houses that we like that we can afford in this rediculously overpriced housing market. It seems our house-buying schedule has just changed.

Today, we got a letter from the property management for our apartment, stating that when our lease expires next month, they will be increasing our rent by $150 a month to compensate for rising insurance costs post-Katrina. Our rent will then be about $100/mo less than our mortgage used to be. This rent increase will take effect exactly five days before the baby is due.

Well. That's perfect timing.

Posted by Kitty at 08:17 PM | Comments (3)

August 10, 2006

Kid Lit

I've had my fill of pregnancy related books these days, so I decided to splurge and buy a *gasp* hardback book that has just come out. I don't normally do that (I never know if I'll like a book enough to commit to hardback, and I prefer the experience of reading paperbacks more anyway), but I made an exception. I ordered Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marcia Pessl. I've been waiting for it to be published -- we'll see if that was a good purchase.

My book buying and reading combined with the impending arrival of our baby has got me to thinking about books I enjoyed when I was growing up. The following are a few I can recall, in no particular order:

  • From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. How can you read this book and not want to visit a museum? It reminds me of a girl scout trip I took when I was in grade school, where a local science museum stayed open all night and let local girl scout troops have a lock-in there. There were lots of classes you could take and midnight snacks for all. I'm definitely pregnant when I can't remember the names of the other girl scouts, but I can remember what we snacked on.

  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. This was Harry Potter before Harry existed.

  • The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. If you've never read this book before, click the link (or head to your favorite bookstore), buy it and love it.

  • The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I loved the Chronicles of Narnia series. I think my favorite was the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

  • The Choose Your Own Adventure series by R.A. Montgomery. These books rocked. They could keep me entertained for hours and they were well suited to both boys and girls.

    And when I became a pre-teen....

  • The Grounding of Group 6 by Julian F. Thompson. It struck the right chord of dark, interesting and funny, which was perfect for a junior high school aged girl. Loved it. It was like The Secret History for a younger set.

    Posted by Kitty at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)

    August 05, 2006

    Bigfoot

    From the annals of More Things I Wasn't Expecting From Pregnancy: fat feet. Yeah, I'm picky, but still. My feet have swollen up so much they resemble sausages. I look like I have the ankles of an 80 year old. I normally wear a size 6.5 narrow shoe. I can still fit in them, but barely. I told my doctor about this (read: I whined about it, hoping he could fix it) last week, and his response was, "Yep. You're pregnant. Drink water. Elevate your feet. Stay away from salt and boiled seafood. It'll go away after you deliver." I told my mom-friends about it, trying to commiserate with them. Some stared at me blankly, while others said, "Oh, I know! My feet swelled up like balloons when I was pregnant. That happens to everyone." That only leads me to wonder why I wasn't prepared for this phenomenon.

    In other pregnancy news, we started our pre-natal classes on Tuesday evening. The first class covered labor & delivery, which was interesting. We even enjoyed the film of the live birth, which appeared to have been recorded in 1978. My only question: why aren't hospitals healthier? And by that I mean, why don't they serve healthier food? They had a great nuruse who was running the class Tuesday night, and she was lamenting the fact that she had ordered snacks for our class (anyone who brings together that many pregnant women without food has a death wish), and she got Hubig's fried pies. Sure, they're tasty, but I'd expect much healthier fare from a health care facility. Am I just naive?

    Posted by Kitty at 06:56 PM | Comments (3)