I'm sitting on the kitchen floor this morning, peeling peanuts. Nilesh roasted them last night, and today gave me the job of de-skinning them, and then chopping them into small, teeny-tiny chunks for use as a topping on various meals throughout the week. Anyway, I'm sitting there, on the floor, listening to NPR, peeling peanuts, and smelling the awesome smell of my vegetable stock simmering on the stove. A story comes on the radio. It's actually part of a series called StoryCorps. This week a group of junior high students in Philadelphia interviewed parents and grandparents of some of the 35 kids murdered in the city this year. It started out alright. I was listening, feeling empathy, and still skinning those peanuts. And then a father said something and his voice broke and I started sobbing. I continued sobbing until the morning hosts came back on the air to ask me for money.

I'm pretty sure this was a hormone induced response, as I've heard pregnant ladies often cry at hallmark commercials, and this was much more powerful than a hallmark commercial. But, the sobbing caused a problem because I had to choose either wiping my eyes and then finding a way to thoroughly dry my hands, OR just let the tears stream and blind me as I peeled away. I was a blind peanut skinner. woot.

As to my lovely smelling vegetable stock. My friend Bek got me started on saving bits of fabulous vegetables in the freezer. Kale spines, skin of carrots, brocoli ends, that chunk of purple cabbage I chopped off because it was a bit wilted, ends of jalepenos and other various peppers... etc. All these bits get tossed into a plastic bag in the freezer until I feel like I've got a pot-full. I add some spices, and simmer the whole she-bang for a couple hours. Let it cool, strain it and then use it to cook something else. Today's something else is going to be some lentil beans and kale. mmmmm. Maybe we can top it with peanuts.

See... planes

Yesterday we went to the downtown lakefront to see some planes do tricks in the air with at least a million other chicagoans. Hey... it was free. And it was a beautiful day to spend sitting by the lake. Plus, when I was going to drag Nilesh to a homebirth meetup group at a yoga center today, I figure I could cheerfully go with him to watch planes.

In totally unrelated news, we are currently celebrating the fact that after a week of effort Nilesh finally got the lid off his shoe polish can. I think he ended up hammering a hole in the lid and prying it off, but this was after he used my hair dryer to try to heat the can, and we both attempted various grips and chisel positions to get that damn lid off. I told him to just barely set the lid on the can this time and we'll use a rubber band to keep it on, so we never have to go through this ordeal again. But, then I remembered, there's already a hole in the lid, we can just pry it off again in the future.

This past weekend, Nilesh made his version of potato pancakes. Basically mashed up potato with hot peppers, some onion and other spices. Then, separately, he makes a dough out of flour, water, and other spices. Rolls out a little ball of dough. puts a little scoop of potato on the rolled out dough, wraps potato up like a little package, rolls the whole thing out very thin and flat and fries it in a pan. They were tasty.

There was leftover potato. So, yesterday I made my version of potato pancakes. Add an egg, some milk (though, we were out of milk so I added yogurt and water) and flour. Mix. Fry up fluffy pancakes. They were tasty. But even moreso when Nilesh thought to eat them with some of the coconut chutney we've got in the fridge. My god. never before has a weekday breakfast tasted so damn delicious.

This morning he's just getting an egg sandwhich. BUT, tomorrow... I'll make poha. woot!

Happy independnce day, India!

And in other news of my world, I'm currently exploring all the lovely parenting books and ideas out there. Attachment Parenting is definitely what we're going to try to do with our upcoming baby. I've been reading about a lot of those theories for years. Breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing, etc. But while reading the Mothering website, (It's currently my homepage and I cannot tell you how excited I am to get my first magazine in the mail. woot woot.) I stumbled across this thing called Unconditional Parenting. A parenting style devised(?) by Alfie Kohn and explained in his book by the same name. No time-outs. No gold stars and candy. No taking away priveledges for bad behavior. No saying, "Good Job." No punishments or rewards of any kind. Just unconditional love. At first, it sounds harsh and really weird. But I've read more of his articles on education and parenting and stuff on how bad competition is for people. Everything I've read makes complete and utter sense. So, Nilesh's homework assignment today is to get the book from the library. Hopefully it will actually be on the shelf and I won't have to wait 2 weeks for it to be put on hold and sent and whatever has been taking the last book I wanted to get to me. Anyway. in the meantime, I've found a message board on the topic, and I'm sure I'll find other sources of information because hey... the internet is huge and fabulous.

What our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage.

Also... the bit about Pirates Population decline leading to global warming almost made me spit water all over Nilesh's laptop. ahhh... I want the t-shirt too! Link.

I just got an email from Senator Obama Baraka. I hadn't yet realized he was now my senator. This is the time on sprockets when Tracy does a happy dance. Not only does my Senator kick ass, but he was a co-sponsor of the bill I was writing in to have him support.

So, even though I've been up since 4:30 am listening to my lovely partner talk to his car insurance and sit on hold with his credit card's god-awful smooth jazz hold music for just over 2.5 hours... life is good.

I've just uploaded some more pictures, and this one was taken just for JB.

I am a peeing furnace.

That is what Nilesh calls me. Because I am constantly hot to the touch, and have to pee every 20 minutes. Yay pregnancy! I just like the image of a standard basement furnace climbing the stairs and toddling around the house marking its territory like a dog. That's me.

Walking to interview a midwife yesterday and I blessed the starbucks gods because exactly when I was about ready to drop my pants and scurry behind a bush in a residential neighborhood, there was that green logo telling me that there was a restroom nearby for which I did not have to buy anything. In thanks, I almost stopped there for a latte on my walk home. But my better sense prevailed and I kept my money in my pocket to use at the cute little local shop just down the street from my apartment.

Though I may be a human furnace, and temperatures here have been in the 90's and higher, I am trying to live without the air conditioner on all the time. I'll turn it on for twenty minutes if the apartment starts feeling like an oven. But, in general, I find that positioning myself under the ceiling fan keeps me fairly comfortable.

Oooooh. I was such a happy homemaker yesterday it scared me. I fixed a kale, broccoli, carrot, corn tortilla, chicken casserole. THEN I got on my hands and knees and cleaned the kitchen floor with soapy water and a sponge. After cleaning, I rinsed the floor and toweled it dry. While on my knees and feeling very much like Cinderella, I also cleaned the fridge, the walls, cupboards and stove. My family knows me. I am not known for being miss clean. I think I can now be called a peeing furnace going through a nesting phase. whee!

And in news that is sure to make Lori a jealous monster, Nilesh's boss is taking his whole office to the Cubs/Phillies game at Wrigley Stadium today. I am not jealous. I only know who's playing because Nilesh asked me to look it up before he left for work. The boy also has my digital camera. This makes me nervous. I'm sure it'll be fine, but... eep. my digital camera is attending a sports event.

In general, I was unaffected by my trip to IKEA on Sunday. It was mostly as I had expected. Generic looking furniture and shelving in very blah colors. We ended up buying a lamp and bulb, spending a total of $25. But, there was one item that has snagged my imagination, and I've dreamed of it in my living room two nights running. The Poang chair. mmmmmm. Poang. mmmmmm.

Thinking ahead to the time when I'll have a baby spitting up on everything I own, my daydreams are leaning towards the more expensive leather models. With ergonomic footstool. mmmmmm.

It may not look like much. I sat in it as a joke, attempting to show Nilesh how it might look nifty, but probably was as uncomfortable as everything else in IKEA. I was wrong. I never wanted to leave the slightly bouncy, perfectly placed headrest, uber-comfy chair.

He tells me that IKEA often has sales in November and December. That's months away. In the meantime, I sit in my hardbacked, non-bouncy, kitchen chairs and drool over pictures of a poang.