Secondly, I would like to talk about transportation. Our car broke down a few weeks ago. This didn't change our lives that much. Chris already bikes to work. The grocery stores, mall, church, Subway sandwich joint, playgrounds, and pharmacy are about a five minute walk away. We were only planning on being here until January so we figured that we would just try and go without a car. There was just one fly in the ointment.
DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS.
Sophie's doctor and my OBGYN are pretty close. I would have no trouble walking to them by myself, but Sophie is no longer too keen on the stroller. She wants to walk. But instead of walking in a straight line she insists on stopping every few steps and shoving sticks and bugs into her mouth. If only she could do that AND walk at the same time. Oh well.
So, today we took our first ride on STARTRAN Lincoln, Nebraska's bus line. I was a little nervous. I checked and double-checked the schedule. I made sure I had exact change. I packed about 95 outfits for Sophie in the diaper bag, in case she shoved a stick too far down her throat and vomited, or in case she wanted to play tennis, or go to a ball. We got to the bus stop 10 minutes early which, it turns out, was the only hard part about the whole deal. It turns out it is hard to keep a toddler on a street corner for 10 minutes.
Riding a bus in Nebraska was just like every experience I have had with public transportation It's easy. Sophie loved it. I loved it. In fact, it was better than driving because I hate driving. And, except for the bus driver I had in middle school, I love bus drivers. (This is what I remember my middle school bus driver looking like, except he wasn't Asian, and I never saw him from this angle. But this is the general idea.)
I also like having little bus conversations with people.I only regret that nothing exciting happened because I would be able to write a more exciting blog post.
Out first bus trip to my doctor was a wild success (Oh, by the way, my unborn child seems to be doing fine), so tomorrow Sophie and I will take our second bus trip to a bus station thing to get month passes. Then we will try some trips to the library and perhaps Walmart.
Today, when I was not braving the city buses I read the book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It was for a book club and I was prepared to be bored by it, but I loved it. I read the first chapter yesterday and the rest today. My house is a mess but I am pretty happy. Sometimes when I read a book all day I feel sick and grimy, like when I watch movies all day), but this book left me feeling refreshed. The title made me think that it was going to try to be all girly, cutesie like the traveling pants book movie (I didn't read the book but I didn't like the movie at all) but it's not like that at all. It's got a lot of history in it--it takes place just after WWII and it talks a lot about the German occupation of the British Isle of Guernsey, which I didn't think I would find fascinating, but I now do. It's written as a bunch of letters, which I thought would be annoying, but was fun. Also, there is a love story but the author doesn't ram it down your throat, which is nice.
I have just considered all the people who may read this blog and I think you would all like it. Go read it. Chris and I are both reading the Wimpy Kid Series as well. They are a little funny, but very much like reading a comic strip in that after you have read it (even 5 seconds after) you never think of it again. Chris has a lot of cool books he's reading now. Maybe he will blog about them some time.
Now I am worried that no one will read my post because I get carried away typing and type to much. Dang it. Oh well. Please enjoy this picture of us at our local grocery store (which we walked to).
* So you know, the lemonade was from powder. There definitely was no real lemon in it.
** Don't worry, I also had some healthy stuff. After all, there is a little tumor of love growing inside of me right now that shouldn't get to enjoy my hard earned Halloween candy.
8 comments:
1. I read your whole post and I liked it.
2. Bryan and I read the Wimpy Kid series too and we like them too, but I agree that I never really think about them. Except that I love saying "Zooie Mama!" all the time. Try it. You'll like it. A lot.
3. At a glance it kind of looks like Soapers has skeleton legs. Sweet. And jeepers creepers.
4. I was imagining you guys just brimming with leaves. In my imagination you still did have a lot more leaves, but there was a strong wind. So I feel okay about your scanty supply. And I love the bananas. :)
I starting read the Potatoe Pie Society book but then it was due back at the library and I couldn't renew it because someone else had it on back order. But, I'm glad you wrote about it because I can put it on hold again.
I'm glad the Boapers liked the bus. I really like public transportation. I wish I could take it more and spend that time reading and having those little conversations.
Sometimes I think life would be so much simpler if we didn't have a car: no need for insurance, gas money, car seat, scraping ice off of the windshield in the winter, and so on. But it feels like a necessity when things are far away. I guess the bus is a possibility, but with a baby and groceries, it seems like an impossibly daunting task.
Hooray for public transportation. I'm learning to ride the MAX train to my night class at PSU, and I like it a lot more than I thought I would.
I'm mad that Katie commented about Soapy's skeleton legs first. I thought that, and had to click on the photo to make it larger and reassure myself that she was ok.
I want to have time to read cool books about Guernsey, but for now I'm grading papers and trying to keep up with my PSU homework. Oh, and reading blogs.
I loved that book, too. Even though it was an epistolary novel. I didn't want it to end because I really enjoyed hanging out with the characters. I'll have to check out this Wimpy Kid stuff.
I've never read any of the Wimpy Kid books.
But I did just request the Guernsey book from the library. I'm #13 in line, but the library has lots of copies, so it shouldn't take too long for my turn to come. A trick I sometimes try is to request the large print copy, because those sometimes have a shorter waiting list. But this time, there were twelve people in that line, too. And only two copies.
Glad you two had such a fun time on the bus. I'm just envisioning all kinds of new adventures and the stories you'll tell.
Yea, I'm so glad you are going to post everyday. I have missed you :)
Oh, and congrats on the baby parasite!!! When are you due?
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