Anna Be.

Nick and I chose today to lift the embargo on the juiciest, most game-changing information in our lives: WE ARE HAVING A BABY BEYER!!! For weeks I have been barely able to speak to anyone, because what would I talk about if not this? Yes, the axis of the earth shifted to be centered directly through my womb. (For a tiny taste of what we were going through before EVERYTHING CHANGED you can read some private blogging I did here: annaseggdrop.blogspot.com ) So, with way more than a little effort on the part of at least a dozen people, the miracle of life occurred inside me, and revealed itself through many home pregnancy tests, blood tests, and panic attacks.  At six weeks, we saw a heartbeat, which did not make Nick cry. (Allergies. Dry air.) At eight weeks, ultrasound showed an indecipherable peanut, and I could even hear the heartbeat. Now at 10 weeks (pictured above), we are all still cool, staying strong on a diet primarily made up of saltines and diet ginger ale. T...

Poser: My life in twenty-three yoga poses Claire Dederer I picked this book up from the clearance table at Book People , Austin, TX. (By the way, Nick and I will drive to Austin just to go to Book People and the record store across the street.  We are hardcore book/record tourists.) This was a spontaneous purchase, a book I had heard of when it first came out and vaguely considered reading.  It proved to be one of those genuinely entertaining hipster memoirs that some of us like to think we can relate to.  Even though some of us are not freelancing moms obsessed with yoga in the great northwest.  For sure, this book is not about yoga.  I love yoga, but nothing here inspired me to do it any harder or more often.  Really, yoga is just a device for Dederer to tie together stories of her childhood, maturing as an adult, and finding home. I think I use the word "compelling" a lot to describe books I like, but to me that feature is so important t...

Nick and I are in the market for our first grown-up dining room table. I imagined something dark, heavy, and rustic (anything by George Nakashima) . Nick would prefer "modern". Could we really find something to agree on? Well, yes, we agree on this unattainably obscure style in Atomic Ranch Magazine : My challenge is to find a similar affordable option. I've found similar, but affordable is still up for grabs. Here are 5 awesome tables I would think twice about if they were suddenly 75% off. 1)  Nuevo Nico Dining Table 2)  Modloft Astor Dining Table 3)  Terra Dining Table 4)  Minguren II Table 5)  Tahoe Dining Table

First the good news: my diabetes has gotten even better in the last three months, despite the stress and compromised activity of pre- and post- neck surgery! I'm even going off one medicine. The weird news is the reason I ended up at the doctor this morning. I have been swelling up like a balloon lately and last night discovered I had gained 10 pounds in a week ! Every part of me is puffed up, including my sad face. You know there's something wrong, right? I went to my endocrinologist this morning, certain my kidneys are failing and it's time to fare thee well, cruel world! The nurse practitioner was a little more practical and sleuthed that it was probably one of the medications I've been taking for my neck! You know, the one that causes peripheral edema and weight gain? Yeah, the one I just started taking more of last week! So we're going to back off on that one because my neck pain is pretty much gone anyway. I was just taking it for the associated nerve...

Image by Cassey via Flickr I've found out this week that confinement ("cabin fever") leads to some strong psychological distortions. First, let me explain my confinement. I can't drive, but I have this whole big house and the back yard to spend my time. However, I have spent 90 percent of it between the bed and the sofa next to the bed. I've read a dozen books and watched a dozen movies, and stared at the ceiling a lot. There you go. But here is the mind-grinder that is plaguing me since yesterday: the floor between the bed and the sofa-by-the-bed really needs to be vacuumed. I can not vacuum. This is a magnifying cycle: the more devastated I am to not vacuum, the more the floor seems to need vacuuming, the more devastated I am to not vacuum, the more the floor seems to need vacuuming. That is just an example. There is also the desperate need for mopping in the bathroom. Do you know the last time I mopped the bathroom? No, me either. Decades ago. But n...

It is a condition of my convalescence that I can not drive for six weeks, a side effect of having to wear this cervical collar ever time I leave my bed or sofa. There was another time about 15 years ago when I didn't drive for three months, spent a whole summer working around my grandmothers' houses and serving my penance in other ways. This time it is not punishment, but concern for my delicate little vertebra and their delicate little fusing process. This time around it means any nearby person's willingness to take me out of the house is a highly enticing offer to me. I will take a shower and put on lipstick to ride with you to CVS. Otherwise I'm house-bound for another 4.5 weeks, at least. But at home, I'm clicking along according to my little system. I'm reading, walking on the treadmill, career planning, napping, etc. All of those enjoyable activities that don't require lifting anything or bending over. Related articles Laser Spine Surgery for Spi...