Swollen

As if I needed another reason to be… well, less than excited about a summer pregnancy in Boston, my hands are so swollen that most days I can’t actually get my hands closed into a fist. Knitting is largely out of the question.

Lucky for me, the lovely wry punster thoughtfully suggested that I do some sharing!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was six months into my first “real” job (at the company I work for still, actually). Jon and I were living in a lovely apartment in a pretty terrible town, and generally enjoying being grown-up.

The big news was that we were just starting to plan our wedding, having been engaged for a couple of years at that point. We planned the date around our photographer’s availability. She was a dear friend and former colleague of Jon’s (he worked in an independent photo lab during high school), and if you’re in the Maine area I would recommend her without reservations.

(Image copyright Leigh Kelly-Monroe and the Unforgettable Moment. Don’t copy it, hoser.) It’s a little bittersweet to post that photo, actually. We were so young! Not that we’re old farts now, of course… but life sure was different.

2) What are five things on my to-do list for today?

1. Play with Jacob at the awesome playground next to the preschool building before summer camp starts. Check.
2. Get an ultrasound to make sure the baby is simply large, not godzilla-sized. Check. (Everything’s fine.)
3. Pick up our first meat CSA at the farmer’s market this afternoon.
4. Manage to get organic fruit & veggie box off of the porch before it either (a) gets drowned by another round of freak thunderstorms or (b) all of the chard wilts into nothingness. (Mmmm. Chard.)
5. Watch the Sox get trounced again by the Rays. While trying to knit and keep my hand from going too numb. SIGH.

You know, writing that list, I’m realizing that none of those things would really have been possible in Monterey (though I loved Jacob’s Montessori school there with the heat of a thousand suns). Pregnant or no, depressing Sox games or no, I’m so happy to be back here.

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Right now?

*cough*

More generally, though, here’s a sampling.

Um, yeah. What can I say? I love good food. And vinegar. Don’t forget the vinegar.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

I’m far too pedantic for a question like this. But I’ll try not to be too irritating about my answer. I think, aside from changing careers and doing something like getting a degree part-time in food science or nutritional anthropology, our lives would look much the same. There’d be no mortgage for me or my fam, of course, and there’d probably be more travel. But I like our life, and wouldn’t want to change much about it.

So where would the money go? A foundation of some kind, I expect.

5) Places I have lived:

Small-town Maine

Claremont, CA. This was our dorm. I think the architecture is called “neo-brutalist”. Not the most photogenic place, I know. Scripps was much more beautiful.

Lowell, MA. Okay, okay. This is Ingonish, Nova Scotia. I never lived in Nova Scotia, but trust me. You’d rather look at this picture.

The Camberville area, MA. Yay! We’re back!

Monterey Peninsula, CA. Ties with Maine for the most beautiful place I’ve lived. Too bad my experience wasn’t great there.

6) Jobs I have had:

I’ve worked since I was 12, at one thing or another. So this is far from exhaustive. But it tells an interesting story about my life, I think.

1. Maid in a coastal Maine resort
2. Dairy Queen countergirl and snarker extraordinaire.
3. Mathematics research assistant
4. Information security engineer specializing in formal methods
5. System administrator
6. Manager of information security engineers and director of security research program
7. Mother

Cliche of the day: Guess which job is the most difficult?

Please do play along if the mood strikes you. I love reading stuff like this.