Joy!

As you may have guessed, this post is all about me.

...


Okay, just kidding. It may be a tiny bit about that baby, the baby who, as you can see, is toddling now. Can you believe it's been seven months since this was taken?

Joy, of course, refers to a happy almost-one-year-old wearing a new dress, lovingly knitted by her Aren'ty Em. (I'm like an Aunt, but I Aren't.) And did you notice the band around the bottom of the dress?! The band that is knitted with TWO COLORS?

Yes, I have learned stranded knitting, and I am rather pleased. Who wants a lesson?

Not even close!

The breadth of their guesses is a testament to my friends' creativity - and I think it is a testament to my lack of gardening skills that it didn't occur to anyone as a possibility! Here are my wee bebes one week ago:
Wee seeds are hiding in that earth, waiting to turn into FOOD for me to EAT! Right there from the dirt!

A couple weeks ago Nadine and I took a short gardening class on the base, taught by a woman of many talents. If you have a baby or know someone who does, click on this link and buy some of her homemade kimono bibs - you won't regret it. Tara gave us a handout and walked us through planting herb seeds, repotting, watering and sun practices, and where to plant what. Nadine brought some basil seedlings she'd bought, so we got to repot those with Tara and learn the ropes - and Nadine sent me home with two of my own.

And it's a good thing! Do you know how LONG a week feels when you're obsessively checking little pots of dirt for signs of life? Egad! Luckily, my seeds are special, and with my TLC they now look like this:Haha, just kidding! But that tomato plant was only 100 yen, and it is HARD to wait for seeds to grow! So Big Betty there is planted in the blue pot and, along with the basil seedlings, is going to have to tide me over until harvest time. (What's up, caprese salad?)

I do have some signs of life from the seeds though! If you look in the lower right quadrant of this basil pot - yes, I want six basil plants - you can see a wee green nub...
and the spinach is teacher's pet at the moment, showing off and sprouting up like a champ.
FOOD FROM THE GROUND. It's like a miracle.

As for the prize, I guess it will have to wait until the next poll is released...maybe it'll be a basket of vegetables and herbs!

That is, of course, if I can resist pulling them all up right now to see if spinach sprouts taste like spinach. Only time will tell.

New project

In light of the hurry-up-and-wait non-news from the doctor this week, I've discovered that I have two choices during the day: remain incredibly busy, or lay around and cry. I'm going with busy, for now, so I've started a new project! Whoever guesses it right in the comments gets a prize - and sorry, Mom and Nadine, you can't vote because I told you already.

Good luck! Polls close sometime over the weekend, whenever the mood strikes me.

Am I okay?

Well, it serves me right, I guess. Yesterday I say that I'm all trained and need someone in crisis, and today my world goes to shit. I had a followup appointment with the gynecologist who took about a quart of my blood two weeks ago, an appointment in which she was supposed to tell us why we keep having "recurrent pregnancy loss," also known as three goddamn painful awful heart-wrenching miscarriages in less than eighteen months.

There is no answer. The blood tests were all negative or normal, and there's nothing they can do to help us at this point, other than prescribing a daily baby aspirin for me (I always thought that meant it was FOR babies, not that it helped MAKE them) and suggesting we start ovulation monitoring.

I can't tell you how frustrating, and sad, this is.

Are you okay? and driving

I did it! I managed to drive to and from Yokota Air Base this weekend, without having been there before, by myself, with no Mapquest and no interstate. Whew! Yokota is 73km or about 45 miles away - anybody want to guess how long it takes to drive there?

Anyone?

TWO HOURS. or more. Two hours or more, to go roughly the distance to Marathon, if you're in Key Largo, or up to Rockpoaaahhhtt for the lobstah festival from Baaath, Mainers. Technically there's no interstate in that part of Maine either, but you get the idea.

It was a long drive, especially since I didn't change the cds in my car and there is only one English radio station, but I was proud of myself for making it there and back with no problems. I was in Yokota for the weekend for an American Red Cross training, which went really well. I'm an official caseworker now! That means I'm authorized to deliver Emergency Communication Messages to Americans serving over here - if there's a death in the family, an illness, or a baby is born, the Red Cross verifies the info and passes it along to the servicemember or civilian, and frequently to their command too.

The bulk of the training was about intake and initiating new cases, providing service to whoever makes the initial call about the emergency. As you can imagine, that's pretty rare here - most of what we do is delivery. So now I've got all this information and enthusiasm to counsel people in crisis and refer them to services that can help - and no one to counsel! So, anybody got any problems? I'm here to help.

That class?

The one I mentioned earlier today, with the great instructor who was so supportive and encouraging and not at all aerobics-scary? Yeah, that did not go well.

That instructor was out of town today, so another filled in. She taught a great class - that is, a great intermediate, aerobic-ish, POWER class. And I discovered that I am a weak, flabby mass of goo and not even as flexible as I thought I was. I stuck with it for the hour, and my muscles feel good and worked, but I'm hoping it's a little less intense next week. There wasn't even any ab stuff! Just lots of repeated, difficult thigh exercises that I couldn't stick with, baby baby.

Oh, and can I mention a pet peeve? Classes and meetings that run over their allotted time for no reason. I had to rudely walk out in the midst of yet another series of tough poses, several minutes after the scheduled end time because I had, you know, scheduled things for after the class. Rrgh.

But enough complaining! I had a nice time working on lace with my friend/student, then got my hair cut and stopped in to see Beth for a bit. I finally used my stand mixer to make whole wheat bread which is a lot easier to knead by machine! The loaves didn't bloom like I'd like, but it's a start. Now I'm knitting away and kind of envying Josh's Master's work...do they make a Master's in knitting?

Self-care

I've got kind of an indulgent day today - a morning yoga/pilates class, teaching a knitting lesson to a student who has become a good friend, a haircut, and then I'm planning to spend the evening baking bread and knitting.

I'm a little nervous about the class, actually. I've never taken pilates, which is all about making your core stronger (read: burning your abs). But the instructor stood in for my regular teacher last week, and I was the only student who showed up, and she taught a great lesson. I've never been fit, but I gained about ten pounds when I was traveling on business all the time, and I've lost that weight and am working on getting into better shape.

The fact that the teacher kept telling me how fit I am definitely influenced my decision to take her class again, ha ha ha. Yes, I am that simple a creature. I hope this goes well.