a different kind of summer

Less of this...

& more of this...

(ok, well, I'll be drinking rootbeer)

.

As it turns out, I am still waiting to hear about the big grant that I applied for last Nov. The one that I had hoped would fund my last field season this summer. Data collection for what would potentially be my final chapter.

In the world of federal grants for scientific research, No News is not really Good News, and it is probably either Bad News or On The Fence news. On the fence meaning that maybe the panel is still trying to find some last scraps of money to fund it, so it hasn't been kicked to the curb yet, but things aren't looking good.

At first I was getting pretty bummed out about this, as I had submitted what I felt was a killer proposal that fit the guidelines to a T. But, you never know who the reviewers are going to be, and the topic I'm dealing with can be a little... well, not controversial, but it makes some people a little bit touchy. Going against dogma makes reviewers nervous. Especially when you are a graduate student.

By now I've wrapped my head around the fact that it's probably not going to happen this year. I'm in the good position of only needing one more summer of fieldwork, but I have two more summers to go, so I can always reapply for next year and get a ton of work done analyzing and writing my other chapters in the mean time. And that whole growing a baby thing. That too.

In a weird twist of fate I am also not scheduled for any summer fieldwork for my Research Assistantship either.

So this all leaves me in the incredible position of having NO FIELDWORK all summer, for probably the first summer since college. It is a bitter pill, really, as fieldwork is my favorite part of this job. But the side benefit of all of it is that I will be around home the whole summer! My garden might actually make it all the way through! I might get to actually participate in fun summertime activities! No leaving Adam to attend bbq's and festivals alone! I might have a chance to actually get out of the city once and a while and go exploring. And I will have time for all of the baby-relating nesting that is coming down the pike (painting, making, buying, fussing).

Oh, and also-- not being alone in the desert in June while 5 months pregnant is a probably a nice thing too. It probably would have taken me twice as long to collect all of my samples...

Point being: if I am going to make this whole plan to reapply next year and still graduate on schedule work, then I am going to have to keep my nose to the grindstone this summer. I have two manuscripts in the hopper, and data from last summer that I haven't even looked at since last fall. And an overdue grant report too!

WRITING WRITING WRITING!!! ANALYSIS ANALYSIS ANALYSIS!!

An in between all that work???

SUMMER!!!

please take my survey

Remember this, from way back in Feb?

Now we're looking more like this:

But even better, really, because all the dishes are back in the new cabinets, the trim is (mostly) done, floors are finished, etc. etc.

All we are waiting on is countertops. We've been waffling on countertops since before we even started this project, and now here we are--- everything else is done and we STILL cannot decide.

So, I am putting it to you. I'll spare you my ramblings about how I much I hate granite, but also seem to hate everything else too, and resale value, blah blah, industrial processing of composites v. mining something that's shipped halfway around the world.

Our choices right now are these:

1. Buy recycled product from BIGBOXSTORE

2. Buy non-renewable resource (granite) from LocalIndependentBusiness

OR,

3. Buy also non-renewable, but really the whole earth is covered in this stuff so it's not going anywhere (quartz) from LocalIndependentBusiness

Support the little guy or support the globe?

it was a colorful sunday

a little crazy, but totally true

spiderwebs
Originally uploaded by gigirose

In times like these, when the weather is almost a little bit too perfect, I am hit with a breathless feeling of melancholy nostalgia. And a feeling that I really must try very hard to squeeze every last bit of wonderful out of the day, but that I surely will miss a few drops.

lock up your daughters

... it's a boy!

via superbomba on flickr

Life these days

The rollercoaster in my brain is running along a track that includes (but is not limited to):

• doula interview questions
• chromosomal abnormalities of the plant evolution variety
• (but then the brain goes, of course, to those of the unborn fetus variety)
• day care centers
• greenhouse experiment protocols
• cabinet installation
• cloth diapers
• manuscript edits
• countertops
• 18"dishwashers
• paint chips
• 25 pound bag of urea fertilizer
• ultrasound
• statistical code
• arborist
• tomato plants
• mobiles
• kitchen faucets
• pants
• broken headlight
• fixed bike
• mom arrival
• clogged gutters
• data entry

Sounds like Life to me, anyway.

hindsight

Note to Self:
Going shopping by yourself for maternity pants at 6pm on a Sat night
when you haven't eaten since that Vietnamese sandwich* at lunch is
just a recipe for disaster, and near total meltdown.
--------
In other news, I now own pants that I don't have to jerry-rig with a
rubber band.

*MamaPho's grilled pork Banh Mi? Oh. My.

pregnancy diet

What I ate before 10am today:

• english muffin
• 1 mango
• grape juice

(brief pause to walk the dog)

• veggie sausages
• clementine
• granola bar

(brief pause to walk from house to car)

• organic Cheetos

(Have you had them?! Holy geeze, man. GOOD.)

Other things that I can't get enough of:

• apple juice. I could drink it allllll day.
• fish. but i don't get to eat it enough bc we are still washing dishes in our bathtub, which puts a serious crimp in my creative cooking.
• eggs.
• South Beach peanut butter granola bars. PROTEIN packed, but tastes suspiciously like peanut butter rice krispie treats (thnx to my sis for these).
• HAMBURGERS.

What I can't seem to eat:

• Any members of the Brassicaceae family, including my beloved brocolli.
• peanut butter (what?!)

all in all, though, it seems worth it

Things they don't tell you about pregnancy until it is too late:

-heartburn & bloating

-the crazy peeing schedule starts immediately

-acne!?

-curly hair that was finally starting to get long and more wavy abruptly changes course & becomes more curly and frizzy

Also- in these early months, I have this feeling of a lack of control. Like, all I can do is eat and sleep and hope all is going well down there. Shouldn't there be more to it than a few vitamins and a bag of almonds & apricots? And shouldn't I have to go to the doctor at least once a week for... something? a pat on the back at least?

FACT: The people who will be the MOST excited when you tell them you are expecting (aside from the future grandparents) are people who have already kids.

And there will be lots of exclamations about how "Having kids is Just Great!"

This is very encouraging.

Although in hindsight those same people were all just complaining on facebook about cleaning poo out of their sandboxes, so maybe they are just excited to have company at Camp KidsWorld, but still.