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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel | Thoughts

   Published : 2021   ||    Format : print   ||    Location : Colombia ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆   What was it about the country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy? The previous month, on its own soil, an American man went to his job at a plant and gunned down fourteen coworkers, and last spring alone there were four different school shootings. A nation at war with itself, yet people still spoke of it as some kind of paradise.. Thoughts : Infinite Country follows two characters - young Talia, who at the beginning of this book, escapes a girl’s reform school in North Colombia so that she can make her previously booked flight to the US. Before she can do that, she needs to travel many miles to reach her father and get her ticket to the rest of her family. As we follow Talia’s treacherous journey south, we learn about how she ended up in the reform school in the first place and why half her family resides in the US. Infinite Country tells the story of her family through the other protagonist, El

The Sunday Salon: Happy Mother's Day

The Sunday 
Salon.com

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mommies and would-be-mommies out there! I like to believe that my daughter (still getting used to saying this) wished me this morning by giving me a rude wake-up call in the form of a weird twisty punch in my sides.




Work

Last week has been one crazy week thus far - this has been my story for a while I guess. The crazy seems to be the new normal. Work has been insane - this bothers me somewhat because within the next couple of months, I will have to figure out how to gracefully step down from my responsibilities and slowly delegate work. Last Friday, I spent a good amount of time writing some documents at work and then that night, I had a nightmare that I was in labor. The first thing I worried about at that point (in my dream) was all that work sitting on my desktop that no one was going to have access to. I know reality will be very different and work will be the last thing I think about but that was still one rude shock.


Appointments

This past week has been pretty busy with appointments - one with the obgyn and then we had two days worth of childbirth classes. I was a little worried about the classes because a friend told me she didn't like them at all, but the husband and I absolutely loved ours and for the first time since I got pregnant, we have been actually thinking about L&D. Until now, I've been brushing that topic away to deal with later. This coming week, I have a dentist appointment, another class to attend, and an appointment with the pediatrician I hope to have for our kid. (Please tell me we are not the only ones going to meet a pediatrician before we actually have the baby.)


Life

I'll be 31 weeks this week. Not that long to wait now. Until now, I have been waiting for the weeks to fly by but now I sort of want to put a brake on it all. I don't think I've ever really thought much about the changes that are coming and the prospect of giving birth - something I am absolutely terrified about. I just keep telling myself that bazillion women have been doing this for millenniums and continue to do so today.

The husband has been working on our yard this past week. Some of our plants have bloomed this year and that was a pleasant surprise - I didn't know they would bloom so the burst of pink and red flowers has been a beautiful sight to check out every day. This week, we are planning to get our vegetable garden started. Last week, we discovered that our apple trees have some tiny fruits on them (we weren't expecting any produce for a couple of years at least), but the biggest surprise has been a fully-grown cilantro that we had completely given up on because it didn't sprout at all last year. Sneaky plant has probably been growing all winter!

I spent most of the week cleaning out our closets. Everything is neatly folded or in hangers and I can now see all of my (ill-fitting) clothes. It doesn't take long for this closet to become a mess all over again, but I'm determined this time to prevent it. It's way too much work to keep fixing it up. This week, I'm planning to move on to the kitchen and also get started with the playroom.


Reading

I've turned barely a page this week. I'm about 30 pages through Flowers for Algernon. For some reason, I expected this book to be a slow read but it's turning out to be quite intriguing. I'm also couple of chapters through A Visit from the Goon Squad - have I mentioned before that the writing is very beautiful and I could easily get lost in some of those pages? Both are books I'm reading for two readalongs and I'm hoping to make a lot of progress this week or I'll end up suffering from the didn't-read-often-enough-hence-lost-interest syndrome, which has happened to me with many books.


Today

I'm planning/hoping to stay home today, except for maybe a little porch plant shopping at some point. I have some office work to do, and then decide what crib we want to buy. Maybe I'll also squeeze in some chores while at it. And oh yeah, make a huge dent in the two books!


Comments

Diane D said…
Happy Mom's Day to a soon to be mom:)
Trish said…
Happy mother's day Athira! That graphic made me laugh because in some ways it's true. But they're still a blessing and I wouldn't want it any other way.


I'm about 30 pages into Algernon, too. I don't know much about the story so I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes (except I don't think it goes anywhere good...).


Hope you have a great day and week. I can totally understand wanting to put on the brakes. Those last few weeks it starts to get real! xo
Andi said…
Happy Mother's Day! I hope it's a wonderful one as you count down!
Wait, did I know it was a girl? Anyway, congrats again. Girls rock!!!!

31 weeks! So soon!!
JoAnn @ Lakeside Musing said…
Happy Mother's Day! So many exciting things going on for you right now...


The library did not have a copy of Flowers for Algernon last week, so I'll pass on the readalong. A Visit from the Goon Squad was excellent on audio.
Ti Reed said…
I hope you had a nice Mother's Day!


I didn't learn much from my labor and delivery classes but the Hub did.


Work is such a drag lately. I'm sure you are ready to be done with work. My co-worker is 37 weeks today and she left at the beginning of the month, afraid she would go into labor and get caught here I guess.
Happy happy Mother's Day! At least know that when you do have the baby, you have a whole internet cheering section sending you all best wishes!
Vasilly said…
Yay! It's a girl! I hope your Mother's Day was a fantastic one.
Care said…
Happy Mother's Day!! (yea, I'm late, sorry.)
Belle Wong said…
Late with my happy mother's day wishes too! These are such exciting times for you!
Lisa Sheppard said…
Make sure to take time for the two of you in the next few weeks - it will be a very long time before you can really do that again!
iliana said…
Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day -- soon! :) I know easier said than done, but try not to worry about work. It'll be there when you go back to it! I hope you have a good team/boss who will step up and help out while you are out.
Athira / Aths said…
I have heard that a LOT!! That no matter how many classes you went to, by the time you are in labor, it goes all out your brains!
Athira / Aths said…
I only get 6 weeks maternity leave starting from the day I start the leave, so I am planning to go to work until labor strikes. But I have to be clever about what work I do so I don't end up with all that work unavailable to others. (I write code, so it wouldn't help if the code I write just stays on my box).