Old Cake

Today I ate the last piece of our wedding cake. When J and I cut into the top layer of our cake last week, which had been sitting frozen for the past year in my in-law's freezer and then hauled through three airports and two flights from Virginia, we were hesitant, to say the least. J even said, "I don't think this is supposed to be good. I think you just sort of suffer through a bit and then toss it." Two pieces of cake (for him) later, we were singing the praises of the ladies who worked so hard to create a carrot cake that tastes like it was made yesterday...over a year ago. It even lasted a week in the fridge! I can honestly say that I did not eat the whole thing - the cake consuming was split pretty much 50/50, no small feat for my husband who said the other day, "Is this brown rice? You eat rice with potatoes??" :). Yes, J. Welcome to my world of carbs.

Thanks again to everyone who worked so hard to make our wedding amazing. It occurred to me today that even the baby got to have some of the wedding cake, in utero though it may be. Nifty.

I love lists

Favorite things...

J being home. Even the kitties seem happier when he's here.

Afternoon thunderstorms. South Florida has been in an extreme drought since long before we moved here but the past few days have seen good, drenching rains. For the first time the pond in our community has water! The cranes, egrets and cormorants are out as soon as the rains stop, happily picking their way along the edges of the waterways*. I'm just waiting for the day it gets all Discovery Channel off my back patio and one of these poor birds gets snapped by an alligator in the canal...it's coming, mark my words. Yikes.

(*Thanks, Mom, without you I wouldn't know the difference between a crane and egret, much less that there are such things as cormorants.)

Taking care of business. It feels good to put your affairs in order, yes? Even if it means saying bye bye to the monies. Such is life.

Our midwife. She is one of the most peaceful persons I've ever met...there's no other way to describe her.

Baby is due on Rosh Hashana! How appropriate considering we're naming him Judah Adlai Mateo Abraham Harper Kahlil. At least half of those names are Hebrew in origin.

Mangoes. Strawberries. Spinach. Butternut squash. Yum. Yesterday, as I was cooking dinner, I was hit with the worst hunger pains. It was so crazy. One second it was, "La dee da, cooking dinner," the next my body was like, "FOOD FEED FOOD TO ME NOOOWWW." After I was all, "What the...what is this feeling...what...oh my GOD!" I literally grabbed for the nearest foodstuff that wasn't boiling or didn't involve peeling...thank God for saltine crackers. I nearly died, people.

The Perfect Pregnancy Workout DVD. I fell off this wagon for a good, oh, two months, but we are back on it! And feeling better and stronger than ever.

Pinterest, my ongoing obsession. If you're a member, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, please join so I can follow you and together we can pin to our hearts' content. Amen.

My first post would be about my cat

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed... When I was little one of my favorite books was Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, sweet, imaginative poems for children. It didn't hurt that my copy was beautifully illustrated...I can still see those soft, pastel images in my mind. Anyway, this poem, "My Shadow," was one of my favorites and has popped into my mind at least once a day over the past week as I've discovered that I do indeed have a little shadow...one evil kitty named Silas: (No red eye removal needed...that's just his true nature showing) I spend a great deal of time at home. Mostly because I don't have a job (soul-searching continues), it's a billion degrees and humid here in Florida, and well, I love our home and have a list of projects I'm working on to get it ready for baby/make it ours. You would think the cats would get bored with me but it seems Silas has made it his mission to be at my side at all hours of the day. This is sweet, most of the time, but often leads to mischief and mayhem when I'm doing things I'd rather he not be around for. These include: sweeping (piles of dirt! Fun!), using the bathroom (fascinating, apparently, invasion of privacy, definitely), watering houseplants (we're already down one potted bamboo - it tasted too good and was too much fun to knock over onto the ceramic tile and shatter into a billion pieces), and eating (cat has NO table manners...what's mine is his, so he thinks). Justin asked me the other day if I talk to the baby when he's not around. I said, "Well, I yell at Silas." Uh. Not good. All this baby hears half the week is me yelling at the cat? So in an effort to be kinder to the cat, and therefore the baby, I've been trying to speak more words of affirmation...ok, so I'm just talking to the cat, but...I think it's working. I feel like as a whole we (Silas, Lucy, baby and me) are happier and less destruction is being wrought on the house. Of course, I haven't replaced the bamboo plant. When it comes to this bad kitty, live plants seem to be the ultimate test of good behavior.