We have a few different varieties of lantana growing in our front yard. Lantana has tiny blossoms clustered together to make up what appears to be a big blossom; I think the botanical term used to describe this type of flower is umbelliferous. The cool thing about them is that you can have a single cluster that features several different colors (yellow, orange, fuchsia). I love them because they bloom all summer long and the butterflies visit them.

Lucas recently picked some lantana flowers off the bush and dismantled the clusters into their tiny flowers parts. Then he left them in a dish of water outside so that the water fairies could enjoy them.

Lucas told me all about fairies during this process. I learned a ton of stuff I didn’t know before. I’ll sum it up for you here:

* water faires like gifts of flowers
* water fairies are in charge of keeping all the water fresh and clean; they also make the morning dew
* there are many varieties of fairies, including dust fairies, crystal fairies, grass fairies, flower fairies, light fairies, air fairies, fire fairies, rainbow fairies
* “There are many, many dust fairies at Burning Man, Mom.”
* the fairies work to keep the world healthy, safe, and happy
* the fairies work in conjunction with gnomes who help the roots of plants grow into the earth, mine for minerals and crystals, and generally keep our earthy foundations strong

Being pregnant has certain weird effects on one’s brain. A common complaint among pregnant people is that pregnancy makes you forgetful.

In my case, this forgetfulness most often occurs in the kitchen. I have a particular knack for ruining pots and pans. When I was pregnant with Lucas and shortly after his birth, I ruined no less than three pots on the stove. I’d start cooking, walk away, and completely forget about the culinary project of the moment. And I mean ruined. Like, we threw them away after that, crusty charred food and all.

This time around, I have only ruined one pot. However, I’ve burned the shit out of at least three meals/pots and pans. Fortunately, the pans were salvageable with a lot of vigorous steel-wool scrubbing (and teasing) on Ian’s part.

Another goobery thing I do now is ruin clothes. This is pretty sucky since I don’t have tons of garments that fit me at present. Know how when you eat, you put your napkin in your lap? Know how that’s supposed to protect your clothes from stains in case food falls while you’re eating? Well, my tummy extends out over my lap and intercepts any dropped morsels. I have stains on many of my maternity shirts now—right on the front of my belly, where everyone’s eyes are naturally drawn anyway.

So, not only am I round, I’m slobby and low on cooking pans to boot.

I just love it when I go to sleep on Sunday night thinking, I hope I land a new project this week, and then at 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning a new client calls and offers me one. The icing on the cake? No test to take! The power of positive thinking? Fantastic!