Spacelady's Planet

Back By Popular Demand

2010-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

Certainly not my own popularity, but this unborn child of ours seems to have quite the fan base--especially among those who are eager to get a look at his new digs. You know, the ones he'll move into once he vacates the good ol' uterus. While the nursery has been complete for several weeks now, I have been lazy and unmotivated to take and post pictures. But with time running short (17 days to go till the due date, but our doctor is doubtful I'll make it that far--head low! 2 centimeters!), I figured the first day of his birth month would be an appropriate time to debut his Very Own Room. So here you go.

This is the view from the doorway, featuring the blackout roman shade which was an--ahem--investment, to say the least. But we've been assured by other parents that it is money well spent, as it pays out in hours of sleep for tot as well as mom and dad. Also seen in this shot is Matt's childhood toy chest under the window, which he refinished and painted especially for our little boy. It's not finished yet--once he's born Matt will customize it with the baby's name and some other cool stuff he has planned. (Don't worry, once the kid is mobile we'll move it out from under the window so he doesn't fall out.)

After much debate over what to do over the crib (Do any other fault-line-dwelling parents out there obsess and fret like I did over hanging framed art over a crib? Of course it doesn't bother me at all that we have three very heavy and pointy-edged pieces of art above our own bed.), I finally found a company that makes decals that work on textured walls. So we chose a quote by William Blake: "Sweet dream, form a shade o'er my lovely infant's head ... sweet dreams of pleasant streams by happy, silent, moony beams."

In these shots is also my current Most Favorite Item in the entire house, which was discovered and promptly purchased on Etsy: This felted mobile handmade by AndreaBeth.

I fell in love with this the moment I saw it, it was the first thing I bought for the nursery, and the bedding and all other colors/decor were chosen to compliment it. And when it arrived in the mail it was even more lovely and precious than I expected. If the kid doesn't like it, it's moving into our room so that I can enjoy it.

Friends for the little one. This monkey is actually mine, but I'm willing to share. For some reason the green in the bedding is coming out kind of dingy in these photos, but it's actually sage and a muted lime. Not nearly as drab as it appears here.

A view of the other side of the room, featuring the ultra-comfy chair that glides and also reclines to a nearly flat position. Matt and I have each already spent one night of sleep in it, and it is cozy. (No fighting--he went in there when he couldn't sleep and I went in recently when I was horribly sick with bronchitis and couldn't bear to keep Matt awake another minute.) Above the chair hang my Next Most Favorite Items in the entire house: These prints from Elizabeth Soule's The Little Zoo collection. I actually saw these first in her Etsy shop at least two years ago and knew immediately that when we finally had a baby I had to have them.

And we end back where we started--at the door. I include this otherwise boring shot just to show you the growth chart--also found on Etsy, this one by a.e. wilder--custom-made and personalized with The Name. Don't get excited, though, as I blacked it out! You sneaky snoops who've been trying to figure it out for months now (you know who you are) will just have to wait a little bit longer. (The blacked-out blob on the bookshelf is this wooden plaque of his first initial from Restoration Hardware. I love that it looks like an old-fashioned typesetter's block.)

This last item technically doesn't go in the nursery, as it will be in our room, but several of you know the saga of how we acquired it and have been curious to see why I was so determined to get it. While we are exceedingly grateful to now have this darling item in our possession, it was a Huge Pain to get this bad boy here from Portland, Oregon, where we initially bought it from Molly. Apparently her Miss Brennan didn't care for this lovely bassinet and barely slept in it, so we happily took the nearly-new item off Molly's hands when she put it up for sale. And then we found out it was impossible to have the darn thing shipped down to us. Seriously, IMPOSSIBLE. Thankfully, B and Mike were willing to hold on to it for us for a few months while we tried to come up with a solution. Then God saw fit to shine His face on us and some friends from church drove it down for us after being up there to drop their own "baby" off for her first year of college. And now it is ours and we can't wait to put our own little bundle in it!

Hello

2009-03-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

If any of you are still coming back here to see if I've made new posts, I'll be amazed. But here I am at home alone at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, sitting on the couch waiting for my darling to get home from work and feeling bored.

Also? Lonely. I suppose I should feel blessed and fortunate that we have SO MANY fabulous friends and dearly-loved ones that there are enough of them to be scattered all about the country and still have some left here near home. But I don't. I want all my favorite people within walking distance. Is that too much to ask?

If I had my way, right about now I'd head over to Kelly's for a late afternoon photo walk. Then, for sure, I'd be off to B's for a scrumptious homemade dinner and fresh made bread. After that meal it would be time for an evening walk with the Popes. And then? To Carol's for one of her famous pies. And Christy would be there to have it with us. (If you happen to be reading this and are wondering why your name didn't appear, I'm walking to your house tomorrow.)

But instead, I'm watching HGTV and missing people.

Year-End Thoughts

2008-12-31T12:27:00.000-08:00

Though I haven't made an appearance here in some time, the last day of the year and the 35th anniversary of my birth seems like a natural time to revisit this space and share some words to close out the year.

It's been a growing season, this 2008. And for the experience I'm 75% grateful and 25% borderline post traumatic stress symptomatic. My vision of who I am and my ability to shape my own character and worldview were shaken this year in a rather humbling and sometimes frightening way. But the benefits have been enormous: trust, love, honesty--with myself, with God, with friends who I now know love me far more than I ever had imagined before. And that has made it worth it. So much energy throughout my life has gone into building a facade of independence and strength. Finally having to admit and accept that I'm fragile has been freeing. I'm learning to be kinder to myself, and as a result it's easier to be kind to others. And that's a good thing.

I've also witnessed suffering in others that has left me without words. The breakdown of marriages due to infidelity and horrible cruelty. The loss of loved ones from old age or disease. Illness and frightening diagnoses of cancer, diabetes.... My heart is heavy for these friends and acquaintances whose lives are being changed forever. And I am more grateful than ever for good health, while realizing it's not something to be taken for granted.

Friends moved away. Some of my favorite people who I can now no longer see and touch and smell and just BE with on a regular basis. They are family, and I miss them.

So it's been a sad year in ways. Scary at times. But above all, tranformative. In a good way. People I loved a year ago I now love more deeply and more honestly, if only because I realized at last just how much we need each other and how much sweeter fellowship can be when you stop trying to take care of everything yourself. I appreciate my husband's love and patience and kindness more. I trust God in a way I never have before--some days actively relying on Him for each and every breath. And my prayers are genuine and urgent and, in a word, real.

I hope that you are well and healthy, that you know you're loved, that blessings abound, and that 2009 brings all of those things and more.

Honk if You Have a Love/Hate Relationship With Bumper Stickers

2008-09-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing these yellow and blue "=" sign bumper stickers for months and months, but never remember to research what they mean. My mind can rest easy now. They're distributed by Human Rights Campaign to promote equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender folks.

I'm not a bumper sticker person. Are you? I'm not against them in any way--I get that they reflect one's personality, values, etc. and frequently they keep me quite entertained on the road. I just would never put one on my own car. Wanna know why? Well, I'll tell you:

I'm a private person and don't necessarily want to advertise how I feel about things to everyone and anyone.
I hate conflict. Really, really hate it. And by putting my opinions out there I'm automatically opening myself up to hear people's differing views. Even people I like and don't want to disagree with.
There are crazy lunatics out there who wouldn't think twice about doing something stupid to me and/or my car simply because they don't agree with a sticker.
As soon as they start to look faded and worn, I think they look tacky. (What can I say? I'm a product of the American consumerist culture.)
They're a pain to get off, right? I mean, I can't know for certain because I've never had one. But I imagine it's a laborious task.

I do, however, keep an unofficial running list in my mind of which bumper stickers are proudly displayed on a virtual car in my mind. This one is now on it. Alongside these:

(By the way, these stickers are all available on Cafe Press.)

Does anyone else do this? Or do you emblazon your actual car with stickers? If so, which ones do you have, or would you have if you were brave enough? Or cared enough?

See, Rich Food is Good For Us!

2008-09-25T08:43:00.001-07:00

(Photo borrowed [ahem] from People.com.)

Is it just me, or is this the best Gwyneth Paltrow has looked in years? Glowy, healthy, cute hair, and a gorgeous dress in the most luscious shade. I used to hate orange, but lately I'm loving it! I read somewhere or other that she's no longer such a die hard vegan or whatever it is she was for so long that made her look ashen and stringy. Eating her way through Europe with Mario Batali for their new show has done her good!

To Prove My Point...

2008-09-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

...I had to show you a side-by-side of that tiny, delicate Rowan Kidsilk Haze next to a typical yarn. See what I mean?

The Gift is in the Giving

2008-09-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

Now that the item in question has been completed and handed over to the recipient, I can safely reveal the secret surprise project I hinted at in a previous post. Tada! It was a lacy shawl crocheted especially for my friend Suzanne, who recently celebrated her 40th birthday. Thankfully the yarn called for in the pattern came in Suzanne's favorite color and shade of all time! It's 70% fine kid mohair and 30% silk. If you don't know much about yarn, all you need to know for the purposes of this blog post is that this stuff is SUPER fine and light, like crocheting with fuzzy sewing thread. It took some getting used to (read: it was a pain in the arse), but was well worth it for the light airy quality and softness it gave to the finished piece. This is quite possibly the simplest and most basic crochet pattern one could possibly follow, but I must confess that it was tedious work. I took it with me on our recent trip to visit BAM in Portland (post on that to come soon) and worked on it nearly every spare moment I had, and yet I still didn't make it all the way to the pattern's recommended 29.5" width. (Seriously? Did the pattern writer really think that last half inch was so important?) I stopped at 25" wide, which turned out to be a good thing. Suzanne is a tiny little thing, and at that shorter width it fit her petite frame perfectly. I finished off the two shorter ends with tiny glass beads, which added a little flair and sparkle. In the end I was quite pleased--mostly because Suzanne was so surprised and delighted. Hooray, a successful gift!

Guilty as Charged

2008-09-11T10:05:00.001-07:00

You know that lame youth group or party ice-breaker game where everyone stands up and someone starts by saying something they've never done--like, say, "I've never kissed a kitten or puppy"--and then everyone who has done that thing has to sit down? Well, I can no longer use as mine, "I've never received a traffic ticket--not even a parking ticket." Because, folks, I am now officially a recognized traffic violator.

I received my very first ticket Tuesday afternoon from the Most Disinterested, Unsympathetic, and Bored-Looking Police Officer in All of Pasadena. All I have to say for myself is that I did it, yes, but it was a trap. He was hiding out just waiting for someone to go straight at that ridiculously mundane little backroad intersection with the totally illogical "Right Turn Only" sign. In fact, the guy driving right behind me also went straight. But who got the ticket? I did! It was sexism, I tell you.

So I was feeling all bad for myself that now I'm going to have to pay a fine and go to traffic school. Not to mention coming to terms with the ugly reality that I am not perfect. It's hard to accept, you know? In fact, can we have a moment of silence to recognize the demise of my driving record perfectness?

**********MOMENT************

But then I started telling people at work or friends on the phone about my law-breaking shame, and guess what? Every single one of them has had at least one ticket. One coworker who shall remain nameless even got THREE speeding tickets in the span of about 2 months! Knowing that I'm not alone made me feel tremendously better.

So how about you? How many tickets have you received? Did you go to traffic school? If so, did it serve pizza (an amazing number of people have mentioned attending a "pizza driving school"--who knew such a thing existed?)? Have you ever successfully talked your way out of a ticket? Please share your secrets.

Illiteracy and a Meme

2008-08-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

So apparently the NEA thinks that the average American has only read six books from the list of 100 titles below. Only six?! This makes me sad, sad, sad. Because 1) so many Americans are non-readers and that makes their worlds and their minds VERY small and then they go out and are allowed to do things like dictate what can be in school libraries and, say, vote for our next president. And 2) I've obviously spent years and years of my life on a couch or in a bed or in a nook with my nose in a book. This helps explain the width of my arse.

So someone out there on the web turned this list into a meme (I only recently realized that that means "me! me!"), and of course I had to steal it and share it with you guys because I am a book whore. Here's what you do:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline (or mark in a different color) the books you L.O.V.E.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia complete series - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (en Francaise, no less!)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Engage-a-versary

2008-08-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

It pleased me more than is probably appropriate that y'all liked my littled knitted projects! Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. (Let's see if you all still like it once you're saddled with wearing things I've made that maybe don't turn out quite as cute.) I've already started my next item, but it's a secret/surprise so you'll have to wait for details and pictures.....

Meanwhile, in other news, two years ago today my sweet Matthew asked me to be his wife. Saying yes was the best decision of my life. Thank you for "choo-choo-choosing" me, Bug. I love you.

Getting in Touch with My Inner Caroline Ingalls

2008-08-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

People, I have a new obsession: Knitting. Carol taught me while we were in Colorado last month and I got started straightaway on a beautiful baby blanket. Which I promptly tore out after I'd completed about 5 inches. They say that baby items are good projects for beginning knitters because they're small and you get the satisfaction of completing a project fairly quickly. But they should clarify that baby blankets don't count, because man do they go slowly. And when you're done with all that hard work basically all you have to show for it is a big square. What fun is that? Answer: No fun. So I tore out my blanket and started over on a simple boat-neck (read: no shaping around the neckline, so easy-peasy) baby sweater. I knitted up the front, back, and two sleeves in no time flat. See the sort of wonky stitches here and there? My new BFF knitting teacher at Unraveled yarn store in Monrovia assures me that those will magically straighten out after the first hand washing.Next came blocking, which is when you pin out the pieces to their correct dimensions and either steam them or dampen them and let them dry in place. As you can see, I went a little overboard and used like a million pins. Because I'm a perfectionistic freak and wanted it to be just right. Then I sewed the pieces together, which required a little in-person assistance (hence my bonding with the gals at Unraveled last Friday afternoon), and voila! A baby sweater! It looks sort of drab and plain displayed such, so Henry came down to model for you. Look at that perfectly shaped cuff. I made that, people! Henry was especially excited about the next project I'd started--a little baby beanie--so he wanted to give you a preview. But then, being the anal retentive obsessive type that I am, I finished said hat a couple of hours later. So here it is, too. My second ever knitting project completed in one afternoon.How cute is that? After seeing it, Matt asked if I know how to make anything in "normal sizes," so yesterday I went out and bought a big book of hat patterns. For grown up people heads. So if I know you, you can pretty much count on getting a big wooly hat or cap from me sometime in the future. And I don't care if we're in California where it rarely gets below 60 degrees on the coldest afternoon of the year: You will wear it and you will like it.

Dr. Horrible

2008-07-16T11:52:00.001-07:00

Are you a Joss Whedon fan? How about Neil Patrick Harris? If so, welcome to my circle of love and friendship. And then go here and watch Act I of Dr. Horrible. Not a fan? You will be. (Be advised, the free online airing of this web series will only be available through Sunday!)

Spacelady Resurfaces

2008-07-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry to steal a Dooce-ism, but I owe you an apology, Internet. You've been neglected and downright ignored for far too long, and I'm sorry. Sorry that my online peeps have had to come here looking for an update and instead seen nothing but rusty mailboxes day after day. Can I confess something? I've been slacking off on more things than just blog posting. My Project 365 photo challenge? I haven't taken a single photograph in well over three weeks. And I'm not even sorry about that. My exercise regime? Nonexistent as of late. Matt and I went swimming the other night and I swear I thought my lungs would collapse after two laps. My bathroom floor? Thick with toilet paper dust bunnies (why does toilet paper generate so much dust?). Truly, it's a sad and pathetic state of affairs. On top of that I just haven't . . . well . . . how do I say this nicely? The truth is I just haven't felt like talking to you, Internet. Blogging hasn't turned out to be like what I expected it to be. I thought I'd feel free to rant and wax philosophical and be funny and deep and sincere--all the things I'd like to think I am at the truest core of me. But instead I've come to view this blog as yet another place where I need to censor myself. Be careful what I say and how I say it, because who knows who's reading it? I don't worry about the people I don't know at all who somehow found me here in my little corner of the web, or the friends-of-friends or distant acquaintances. But what about my parents? A coworker? Friends? Will they be offended? Think I'm full of myself or hateful or unkind? Or, worse yet, affected and insincere? And another thing, Internet? I'm not a very trusting person. I'm pretty guarded and private, actually, and have always been extremely careful about who I let splash around with me in my kiddie pool of neuroses, fears, traumas, and even joys, successes, and spiritual insights. So I'm just not sure I'm capable of opening up to you, Internet, and really being myself. This last year has been one of the most transformative and spiritually enlightening of my entire existence, yet I haven't shared any of that here. I wonder if I could, or if I even want to. Because do I really want to deal with all the people in my life who read this blog knowing that much about what I'm thinking and feeling and then commenting on it whenever I see or talk to them? Maybe the only way I could be that honest is if I started a new totally anonymous blog and told not a single soul that it was mine. Just put it out there, and if people stumbled upon it and connected with something I had to say and wanted to comment or dialogue about things, then great. But if not, so what? On the other hand, I think that kind of blog has already existed for eons, and it's called "a diary."

Project 3six5: Day 31

2008-06-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Something we see when we walk through the more rural equestrian areas near our house.

Project 3six5: Day 30

2008-06-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Flowers from my sweet husband and candlelight make for a cozy evening.

Project 3six5: Day 29

2008-06-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Praise band rehearsal tonight.

Project 3six5: Day 28

2008-06-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Gas prices suck.

Project 3six5: Day 27

2008-06-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is what you get for your daily shot when at 11:00pm you realize you haven't taken a single picture all day.

Project 3six5: Day 26

2008-06-06T20:47:00.001-07:00

Our kitchen is done. Thank you, God.

Project 3six5: Day 25

2008-06-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Evening sky from the parking lot of our second home (aka Home Depot).

Project 3six5: Day 24

2008-06-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Suds for the evening's dinner dishes.

Project 3six5: Day 23

2008-06-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

Home through a rain-splattered car window.

Project 3six5: Day 22

2008-06-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

Rain makes everything look better and more interesting--including a balcony railing. I also love that I didn't have to edit this photo at all.

Staggered It Is!

2008-06-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

Thank you Liz, B, Molly, Kelly, and Summer for your sound advice regarding our giant living room wall problem. Thanks to your input we decided to add a third shelf and hung them staggered. Hope you guys like the end result!

Rejuvenate Kitchen, Part 2 (Otherwise Known as DONE)

2008-06-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know. I haven't made an appearance here in ages. But you're about to see why, because kids I've been working my heiney off trying to get this kitchen rejuvenation (not quite a remodel and not quite simply redecorating) done. Ok, Matt helped, too, but since I was the Project Manager on this venture (remind me later to post about my ingenious system for avoiding killing your spouse when tackling home projects together), the onus to wrap things up was squarely on my shoulders. But now...We. Are. Done. Praise Jesus, hallelujah, and amen. Remember this post from when we started? If not and you're too lazy to click the link and go back to review it, let me refresh your memory of what the kitchen looked like before.

[Shudder.]

But a new floor, wall paint, artwork, cabinet paint, hardware, roman shade and tile backsplash later, and voila!

Needed: Design Help

2008-05-22T19:37:00.001-07:00

Ok, all those of you out there with better design sense than I, please offer your opinion on this. Before we got our new floors in the downstairs, we had an old embarrassing monster-sized tube tv in a big giant entertainment center. The whole thing was ginormous, but it worked because we have cathedral ceilings and that wall needs something to break up the tall and wide expanse of nothingness. But now that we upgraded to a fancy new flat screen and moved it to a different wall, we need something on that big papa-sized wall. We bought two of these shelves (in black-brown) from IKEA and came up with the idea of hanging them on that wall over the credenza. They'll be used mostly for decor and to add visual interest to that wall--and NOT for displaying tons of knicknacks. At the most I'll display on them a small handful of books, probably my two Kate Spade crystal vases, and maybe 2 or 3 framed pictures. My question is, how should we hang them? One directly above the other like this? Or with them staggered off center like this? What say you all?

Project 3six5: Day 21

2008-05-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

I love it when pictures come out entirely differently than what you'd expected. This is a piece of plywood I'd just finished painting with black chalkboard paint. Light from the window introduced this crazy, beautiful blue.

Project 3six5: Day 20 Help Me!

2008-05-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Charlyn was sweet enough to invite Kelly and me over for a yummy dinner at her swank pad, but I can't decide which version of this shot I like best for today's 3six5 pick. What do you guys think?
A:
B:
C:

Project 3six5: Day 19

2008-05-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

I keep these strange little mossy balls in a glass bowl on the table.

Project 3six5: Day 18

2008-05-21T21:32:00.001-07:00

The sky had some great colors tonight, but I was surprised to find that I prefered this shot in black and white.

Project 3six5: Day 17

2008-05-21T21:30:00.001-07:00

We L-O-V-E our new floors.

Project 3six5: Day 16

2008-05-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

One of the good things about being stuck upstairs while new floors are being installed downstairs is having a good excuse to get In-n-Out for lunch.

Why Didn't We Do This Sooner?

2008-05-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

We're not finished taking our photos and whatnot back out, and we still need to re-hang the curtains on the French doors, but I knew if I didn't post an updated photo of our new floors some of you out there would be unhappy with me. We couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Now everybody come visit us! (Er, how many of you caught the appearance of that fancy new HD flat screen tv in the last shot? Sigh. The rest of the downstairs just looked so good that we couldn't bring ourselves to defile it by bringing our old, ugly, ginormous tube tv back in. Movie nights at our house from now on! In part because we can't afford to go out ever again.)

Project 3six5: Days 8-15

2008-05-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

I'm going to get kicked out of this 365 group if I don't get better about posting my photos regularly, but I just haven't been in the mood lately. Here's another round of catch up photos. Don't forget you can always look at all of our pics here.

DAY 8: One of the great advantages of marrying a nerd who was into painting models as a kid is that if you ask nicely sometimes he'll paint your toes.
DAY 9: The chicken chili didn't taste so hot, but I was happy with this shot of the beans boiling. DAY 10: Booze was imbibed at the Buble concert.DAY 11: It was a happy Mother's Day with my mums, even if the Lakers did lose. She couldn't take her eyes off the tv....DAY 12: It rained. In California. Yes, it did.DAY 13: Self portrait from the car. Don't worry, I was parked. And listening to NPR. I loves me my NPR.DAY 14: Awh. These bears live at my office.DAY 15: My coworker, Minas, is a ham and loves getting his picture taken.

1:20 Flooring Update

2008-05-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the starting point. We packed up and moved out everything we could do on our own so that the guys could get to the actual laying of the floor as quickly as possible. I ran out to do a couple of errands, came back an hour later, and they'd already done all this. Then just a few minutes ago we peeked from the landing and saw this.

Sequestered

2008-05-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

Today M and I are stuck upstairs all day while our first floor is totally transformed by the installation of new laminate flooring. Goodbye to the old, stained ivory carpet. Hooray! Farewell strange mystery stain that appeared out of nowhere in the living room. So long horrible eyesore created that infamous day when I dropped a bottle of orange oil cleaner onto the rug and then scrubbed it in vain so long and so vigorously that the carpet stretched and developed a wrinkle. Arg. And adios embarrassing transition from the kitchen into the dining room. You've been hidden under a throw rug so long I almost forgot you were there. Almost. And lest we forget the spot that started it all, hello tear in the linoleum. Nice knowing you.

The two downsides to this day are 1) it's supposed to be 103 today and we're stuck upstairs and can't use the a/c because all the doors and windows are open downstairs, and 2) I have to find someway to entertain myself up here all day long. Here are my various plans and projects:

Nap
Go to Home Depot and get supplies to transform an old corkboard into a chalkboard for the kitchen
Make a dent in my stack of Netflix movies, including 27 Dresses and The Business of Being Born
Did I say nap?
Update my 3six5 photos before Kelly kicks me out of the club
Post periodic updates of the floor installation
Bug Matt and keep him from getting anything done (he's working from the home office today)

Project 3six5: Days 1-7

2008-05-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

For the last week I've been in Portland, Oregon, helping the Morisses move into their new home. I'll post more about that later, but first I need to catch up with Kelly and Jan and John-Arne on our Project 365 postings. You can see all of our shots so far here, but I'll also try to post my daily shots here for those of you who don't want to have to visit Flickr all the time. So here are my day 1-7 offerings.

DAY 7: My first day back to work after a week-long vacation. Ugh. DAY 6: Before leaving for Oregon, I hid this note so that Matt would find it in the sheets when he went to bed that night. Because I'm sweet on him.DAY 5: After dinner we spent a cozy time around the table drinking martinis and B's homemade liqeur. Yumminess. And, uh, deep sleep that night.DAY 4: The Morrises have a great old Dutch door leading to the backyard.DAY 3: I wish I was sitting back on their front porch this very minute.DAY 2: Audrey screeches like a torture victim when she's being tickled, but if you stop she makes the sign for "more."DAY 1: Portlanders are so cool, and it's reflected in their front porch still lifes.

About As X-Rated as We Get

2008-04-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Ooowee, my first trip to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire was an eye opening one, although at times I wish my eyes had been firmly closed. As Kelly alluded to in her post, there were boobs. Many of them. On full display. Oddly distorted boobs, no less. Shudder. Kelly's pictures from the day were so beautiful that I didn't even want to post mine, but for those of you who want to see more here's the link to mine on Flickr. All completely G-rated, I promise.

Flower Fields Forever

2008-04-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up bright and early (6:00am alarm on a Saturday morning!) and headed down to Carlsbad with Kelly to visit the Flower Fields. The ranunculus--my second favorite flower after peonies--were beautiful. But my favorite shot of the day was of Kells. More pics can be found at Flickr.

Operation: Rejuvenate Kitchen, Part 1

2008-04-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

When I moved into my house [gulp] ten years ago, one of the things I loved most about it was the new kitchen, complete with granite countertops. Coming from a tiny 1940s-era duplex with a nearly original stove and fridge, this was a big step up in the world, believe you me. With my mom's help, I set right to decorating it.

Oh, you want a better look at the fruit-themed wallpaper border, you say? And as for that lovely shade of yellow, doesn't it remind you of cold mustard and ham sandwiches on Wonder bread that you savored as a child? Or pollen from a big summer blossom of some sort? What's that? Did I hear you correctly? Baby dookie? Hmm. I suppose that, too. But I like to think more positively. Surround myself with goodness and light and all that business........ Ok, people, cut me some slack. It was the mid-90s, and wallpaper borders were still in. Sorta. And at the time I really liked this fruit pattern. I cannot deny my past! The point is, though, that some time ago I stopped liking it. And I never liked the color and cheap construction of the cabinetry. It's hard to tell in these pictures (you mean I have to focus, compose, AND pay attention to lighting and such?), but they have a purply-pink tint to them that is just...unpleasant. It used to be worse, though. The knobs were shiny brass. Ugh. A couple years ago I spray painted them all silver--a temporary fix. But the time has finally come to do something about this sad, outdated, worn out looking kitchen. We started by choosing a paint color for the cabinets. Here are our two test patches. We chose the darker taupey-gray color on the left to complement the granite. And last Saturday we tore the kitchen all to heck and got started. You know some of you out there who confess to me that your house is a mess, and I say something like, "You should see mine! I'm living like a crazy hoarder on a Jerry Springer special!" and then you guffaw and say something like, "Yeah, right! Your house is never a mess." You can't say that anymore. I have photographic evidence right here. We removed the cabinet doors, and painted the facings, walls, and the ceiling. Here's the new paint color next to the old. And here I am wedged behind the fridge. Gads, this is an unflattering picture. Oh well. Just keeping it real here, folks. Matt was in charge of painting the walls, and I must say he did a fine job of it. Every single exposed hair on his body was matted with paint by the time he finished, but he never spilled and the walls looked beautiful. Again, my cruddy photography makes it hard to see, but it's a really nice neutral off white with a touch of beigey-gray. We also tore out our old, ugly oven hood. That sucker was a pain in the arse to tear out (at least, er, it looked from my vantage point sitting at the dining room table with a cold beverage like Matt was having a hard time of it), so Matt was especially happy when it finally came loose and went straight into the trash bin. (Please don't ask about his t-shirt. Someday I'll do a post on his shirt collection, but until then I don't want to talk about it.) Installing the new one was no picnic, either. It involved going to Home Depot and buying some round saw attachment thingy for our drill, which we used to spray wood shavings all over the dadgum house. I mean, er, to drill a hole in the existing cupboard. We don't own any safety goggles, so we improvised by using my old $7 Target sunglasses. But once we'd done that, everything else went smoothly and before I knew it I was the owner of The Quietest Kitchen Fan On the Planet. Now all we have left to do is:

Paint the baseboards
Paint the door and doorframe
Find lovely artwork for that big white wall
Get a new roman shade for the window
Install a travertine backsplash all by our lonesomes (!!!!)
Install new flooring.......know why? This is why:

Refrigerator + linoleum + gravity + friction = a more expensive kitchen remodel than we'd anticipated. Stay tuned for more progress reports!

Belated Yet Still Heartfelt Thanks...

2008-04-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

...go out to all those who sponsored me at the Annual MS Walk that Matt and I participated in two weeks ago! I easily surpassed my fundraising goal, and our little team of four raised almost $2000 for Multiple Sclerosis research and services for people living with the disease. People like my fabulously brave and smart and funny friend, Barbara. It was a beautiful day in sunny Pasadena--a little overcast and not too hot, which was lovely. So the actual walk itself was pleasant and not very strenuous--although it was a little bit more work for Matt, who was sweet enough to push Barbara's wheelchair most of the time. (My husband has mutual platonic lovefests with so many of my closest friends! It makes me feel truly happy and blessed to know that he loves my favorite people almost as much as I do, and they love him back. But then again, how could they not?) Seeing men and women with canes and walkers along the route, slowly making their way along but determined to do it on their own two legs--however unstable and wobbly--was not only inspiring but convicting. I mean, how often do we acknowledge and thank God for the simple fact that our bodies work the way they're supposed to? That they get us from place to place and process the food we eat? Usually I only notice my body when something's not working right or--more commonly--when I don't like the way it looks. Shame on me. But thank You, Lord, for my health. Praise God! Getting back at the topic on hand...this is Barbara's brother, Reynold--another special friend of ours. I've actually known Reynold longer than I have Matt, and I love him so much that I could have married him. That is, if he wasn't, well, into guys. I made him put on his commemorative MS Walk t-shirt, even though it was too small so that I could take a picture of him and Barbara together. After he squeezed into it, he asked, "Does this look gay?" Yes, yes it did. But then he had to get out of said too-small shirt, which proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Yes, we laughed at his expense. A lot.

Jeepers, Creepers

2008-04-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

I've long been a fan of P-Dub, and it was the amazing photography on her site (as well as the fact that she taught herself to take these awe-inspiring shots within a year of owning her camera) that inspired me to eventually invest in my now beloved Nikon D40. Anyhoo, I've always wanted to try out her Photoshop trick for making eyes pop. Problem is, I didn't have any good pictures of anyone's baby blues or browns or...you get the idea. So the other day my dear friend, Kelly (one of the most gorgeous women I know--inside and out), agreed to let me take some shots of her stunning hazel peepers. They were already striking straight out of the camera, but then I applied Pioneer Woman's eye tricks, and voila! Beautiful, beautiful girl.

Product Review: Denise Austin's Shrink Your Female Fat Zones

2008-04-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, first let's just address the title of this workout dvd, shall we? I find it somewhat offensive, but I can't place my finger on what it is exactly that ruffles my feathers. Is it the direct reference to and acknowledgment that I have fat? Is it that it's female fat, which automatically makes me think it has to do with girly parts? Maybe it's just that it's so direct and to the point: Females have fat and it needs to be shrunk. Except, of course, the females on this video. There are about five of them working out around Denise Austin, and all of their body fat combined would probably be about as much as what I'm carrying around in my left leg alone. But moving on...I picked this video to balance out my primarily walking-only workout regime because I read multiple reviews online that it was a great one for battling the dreaded tummy fat. [Boo, hiss.] I just did the full 40-minute workout for the first time, and while I thought about being totally honest and "keeping it real" by photographing my sweaty brow and drippy hair at the base of my neck and posting them here for you to see, I realized I was way too vain to let anyone see my hair sweat. Here's what I am willing to let you see: Oy, taking my shoes off at the end is my FAVORITE part of any workout. (That's my poor, abused balance ball off to the left. Pray for it.) What I liked most about this workout is that she's constantly switching from working the arms to the abs to the butt to the legs--never staying too long in one spot, so you don't get overly tired or jelly-muscled. She works it, moves to something else while those muscles get a rest, and then comes back to them. The first half uses hand weights and the second half uses the balance ball, which I like a lot. And I only fell off my ball once. Well, maybe twice. Unless you're in really fabulous shape, you will definitely feel like you're getting a workout with this--especially if you use weights appropriate for your fitness level. Mine are, uh, three pounds. Each! But, honestly, I could have handled heavier ones. The only downside, really, is that Denise Austin is possessed by Satan. As evidenced by this photo: Not convinced? Ok, this one. And this. But if you don't mind her demon eyes burning into your very soul and her constant demands that you "show [her] your smiling face!" then I'd recommend you give this poorly-named yet well-organized workout a go. By the way, if anyone out there has some favorite dvds to recommend, please mention them in the comments!

Goodbye, Hello

2008-04-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello, mid-1990s dining room light fixture. Maybe at some point people thought you were fashionable, but I think now is the appropriate time for me to be honest and tell you the truth: I never liked you. Sure, you provided a nice little breeze on a hot summer afternoon or when the oven was on. But how can I put this delicately? Hmm, I can't. Because the truth is you're butt ugly, and it was high time for you to go. Goodbye. Good riddance. Now....hello, lovely! Don't you want to come over and eat with us now?

Tweaked

2008-04-02T20:31:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I wrote anything about Photoshop, but don't be fooled into thinking my obsession has passed. Now that I'm taking so many close up shots with my new camera, my Photoshop adoration has only increased. Remember this favorite of mine that I posted last time? I loved the simplicity of the flower, the muted and delicate colors, the bits of dew on the petals. But I knew it could be better. Here's how it looked after cropping and using some Photoshop tricks. Wow, huh? Mind you, I didn't add or enhance any colors at all--just tweaked the contrast. Here's another favorite of mine from the day, this one taken by Kelly. Everyone get it out of your systems and let out a collective, "Awh." Ok, moving on. This is a fab picture, yes, because my husband is The Most Adorable Man on the Planet and the way my face is nestled into him you can't even see my second chin. (Sigh.) But it's a little gray and blah in the color department. Know what I mean? This is no reflection on Kelly's photography skills, which I think we'd all agree are admirable. The grayish cast is just something you have to deal with in digital photography, or so I've read. But looky what happens when you move on over to Photoshop and adjust the contrast, correct for skin tone, and add a cool burned edge effect. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I have so much fun experimenting with this thing that if you have a beloved photo you'd like to have enhanced, send it on over and I'll give it a go! Come on, don't be shy. But no boudoir shots, please. You know who you are.

Snap Happy

2008-03-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I visited the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena with Kelly and spent the whole glorious day experimenting with our new cameras. Kelly had her snazzy Nikon D80--complete with a borrowed macro lens--and I was breaking in my new yet already adored Nikon D40, the smaller, lighter, and cheaper (yay!) little sister to the D80. By the time the day was done, I'd taken a whopping 478 shots. That's more than I took on our entire weeklong honeymoon trip to Tahiti. But by the time I got home, downloaded them to the computer, and weeded through the blah and blurry shots, it was down to a much more manageable 255. You know how photographers say that you're lucky if you have a full day of shooting and end up with one really great shot? Well, I'm choosing to be encouraged by the fact that of those 478 pictures I ended up with not one but two shots I truly love. Ready to see them? Here you go. This little rose was up high on a bush, so I passed by it at first, thinking I couldn't get a good shot. Then Kelly came by and held it down for me so I could snap away happily. I got this one after changing my camera setting to "more vivid." I love the yellows it brought out in the foliage and the contrast it added to the bench. Thanks to Kelly's urging, I started a Flickr account to keep track of and share all these photos as I learn to use my camera. I haven't figured out yet how to add fancy slideshow links and whatnot to my blog, but if you're interested in seeing 30 or so of my other favorites from the day, visit my Flickr page here. I'll get around to adding a permanent Flickr link to my sidebar later. Enjoy!

Surprise Makeover!

2008-03-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning feeling unexpectedly inspired to do some blog housekeeping--starting with a pretty girly makeover. Hope you like it!

PS: I took that banner shot with my much-loved new camera, which I'll post about later. Happy Friday, everyone!

TJ's, I Love You. But . . .

2008-03-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who can't stand other shoppers at Trader Joe's? Really, is it just me being an anal-retentive, type-A beeyotch, or are they the most disorganized, self-absorbed, clueless shoppers this side of the closest Pic & Save? Sorry, Big Lots? (Yes, that's so much classier.) I get why the stores themselves are always on the small side, even though it annoys me to no end that the lines for the checkout extend into the aisles of organic corn, bean paste, and whole wheat penne. I even understand why people are so pokey and indecisive as they scan the wide selection of cheeses (sharp, extra sharp, New York, Wisconsin, swiss, light, organic, herb, the list goes on and on). But come on, people. Why do you have to do it while your cart is jutting all akimbo out into the middle of the already tiny and cluttered aisle? Or better yet, why do you think it's ok for you to just abandon it right in front of the arugula while you mosey on over to peruse the selection of tomatoes on the vine? Why? Why? Why? Can't you see that there are like 50 other people milling about? Because, really, that's the source of my frustration at TJ's: People don't really shop there in the sense that I shop--that is, by going in with a good idea of what I want or need, a mission to find each item as quickly and efficiently as possible and then, oh what the hell, do something crazy like LEAVE. No. Instead, the typical TJ shopper mills about somewhat aimlessly, standing for what seems like hours in front of the tower of fresh bread, their cart blocking 2/3 of it while their body blocks the other 1/3 while they read each and every single label. Panini! Crostini! Peasant! Baguette! Just pick one, please! Or at the very least be aware of me standing beside and slightly behind you, waiting patiently at first, then swaying back and forth as I transfer my weight from foot to foot, then staring right at you, willing you to look at me, notice me, affirm me, dammit! Sigh. Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me?

Naughty

2008-03-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Audrey. I have my Uncle Matt and Auntie Denise (otherwise known as Ung and Nene) wrapped around my little finger on account of my being so cute and all. This weekend I was at their place, and Nene snapped a whole mess of pictures of me with her new camera (which she'll blog about later, I'm sure). She caught me doing some of my favorite things. Like loving on my bestest pal, Bling. And reading, of course, which is one of my all-time favorite things to do. I'm telling you, kids, I L-O-V-E love books, and I really get into them. Which is why Nene should have known better than to put me down for my morning nap while my crib was pushed right up against her bookshelf. When she came to get me, I'd pulled a bunch of them down to peruse and was deeply engrossed in this one: Did I mention that it was Easter Sunday morning? But for those of you out there who are judging me right now, thinking that I'm naughty, shouldn't the real question be why would my Nene keep such a book in a home where a toddler is present? For shame, people! For shame.

1 Year Plus 1 Day = Wedded Bliss

2008-03-25T10:48:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was our one-year wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a casual dinner out, creme puffs and mini eclairs from the French bakery that made the croquembouche for our wedding, and a bottle of red wine gifted to us from friends Tim and Karen Bren. I have been a married woman for one year and one day. Lordy. In some ways it feels like this has been the fastest year of my life, and that the wedding and honeymoon and endless planning and phone calls and scheduling were all just two months ago. But on the other hand it also seems like another lifetime ago. And I can hardly remember what life was like before being married to Matt, which according to my mother-in-law, is a good sign. Indeed.

Shameless Plug

2008-03-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

Do you know my friend Barbara? If not, you're missing out, because she's one remarkable woman: A great laugher, strong, compassionate, and one smart cookie. She also happens to have MS--was diagnosed two years ago--which sucks royally. Sunday, April 6, Matt and I are participating in the MS Walk at the Rose Bowl. Care to join our team and come walk with us? Or to make a donation to the cause? If so, check out my MS Walk donation page.

Ok, Ok. I'm Back. Again.

2008-03-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

I know. I've let you down again. Blogging just hasn't had any appeal to me lately, despite the fact that many things have happened to blog about. We went to Portland and had a lovely little vaca. My sweet husband celebrated a birthday. I got (and still am) sick AGAIN. We visited my parents out in the boonies and actually had snow. A whole mess of happy, exciting things (minus the sickness part)! But somehow the inspiration and motivation to blog any of it has eluded me. Perhaps answering Molly's personal tag will jump start me back into it.

10 years ago I was...
Just starting work at my current job--and thinking it would be a "temporary stepping off point" to something else. Sigh.

5 things on my "to do" list today:
1. grocery shopping
2. lunch meeting with a printer
3. 1 hour total on the treadmill (1/2 hour already done this morning!)
4. pour gallons of Liquid Plummer down the shower drain
5. going to bed early because I didn't get enough sleep last night and as a result I'm a Cranky McCrankerton

5 things I would do if I became a billionaire:
1. Invest for ourselves and loved ones so that their material needs on this earth would always be met
2. Donate anonymously to various causes and individuals
3. Start a not-for-profit business of some kind so that I could invest energy into something I care about
4. Have one of those whole body scans done where they examine all your organs for traces of disease, so that I can stop obsessing about the tiniest ailments
5. Buy a quaint, moderately-sized house somewhere lovely and live a modest, quiet life

3 of my bad habits:
1. Procrastinating
2. Worrying
3. Laziness

5 places I've lived:
1. San Dimas, CA
2. Glendora, CA
3. Lake Arrowhead, CA
4. Waco, TX
5. Covina, CA

5 jobs I've had:
1. Editor
2. Assistant to a successful and uber-rich yet mean, nasty, and hateful investment banker
3. Counselor at a boarding school for kids with emotional and behavioral problems
4. Barista
5. Assistant in a medical office

Things that most people don't know about me:
1. I'm still madly in love with and terribly sentimental about my childhood stuffed animal, Teddy 2. I can't resist any WE or Lifetime tv movie--especially Christmas-themed ones
3. When I was in jr. high I was obsessed with reading fiction books about kids with cancer
4. I'm afraid of fish tanks
5. I once quit a job after my very first day of work (one word for you: retail)

Basking in Barry's Glow

2008-02-25T14:57:00.000-08:00

As B commented in my last post about Audrey falling asleep clutching her very own Barry Manilow glow stick, I have these pictures to share from our recent trip to Portland with the Morrises (more details and pics to follow soon, I promise).

Barry ManILo(w)veMyHusband

2008-02-25T10:20:00.000-08:00

Maybe you think that your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend loves you more than my husband loves me, but I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. So wrong. For Valentines Day Matt surprised me with tickets to see Barry Manilow (I love you, Barry!!!) at the Staples Center. I couldn't have been more thrilled. Glow sticks were handed out. Then promptly waved in the air with excitement and anticipation as the lights went down. And then, Barry was among us, bathed in a cloud of smoke. He writes the songs that make the whole world sing, you know. Thank you, Bug, for the wonderful gift. I love you!

Sickos

2008-02-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

In response to B's recent post on her pet peeve about sickies going out and infecting the innocent, I, too, have noticed that this seems to happen a lot more these days, with people bringing their kids out even though they are sick or very recently were sick. As in, "Oh, poor Timmy woke up spewing vomit this morning, but by lunch we were all going stir crazy being inside, so here we are! Happy birthday!" The other place I notice it big time is at work. When I came down with a head cold just days before my wedding last March after not one but two coworkers (one of them a fellow manager who usually complains about people coming in sick) showed up at the office with hacking coughs and sneezing, I was beyond pissed. When I issued an offhand complaint about it to my boss later, he said "If everyone stayed home when they were sick, we'd never get any work done!" Uhm....and we do get work done when the nastiness is spread through our tiny office like a stink bomb and two days later twice as many people are honking their noses, coughing up their own toenails, and infecting their friends and family at home so they then have to eventually call in sick to care for their own children? (Keep in mind that this is the same brainiac who said this to me recently. I also caught the barfing/diarrhea flu from him last year when he came to work with it insisting it was a reaction to his vitamins. Uh huh.) So this is one of my biggest pet peeves, too. Of course, I also understand the temptation to go out or have someone over when I'm sick. I know I've even done it before. The fact of the matter is it sucks to be sick, it sucks to be alone in your misery, it sucks to be lonely and bored in bed or on the sofa when all your friends are out at an event. So it's easy to justify to yourself that you're no longer contagious because your phlegm is now more "dandelion gold" than "spring green" or that the fever you thought you had an hour ago was really just a freak early-onset menopausal event. But then you do go out and suddenly everyone you know is sick with it and instead of being comforted in your misery, you're even more alone in your suffering because everyone's too busy refilling their humidifiers, barking like dying seals, and blogging about you being an epicenter of germiness or a nasty Outbreak monkey to pay you any mind. So is it worth it? No. But we still love that sick little monkey. Ever so much.

Super Bowl Blowout, aka Germapalooza 2008

2008-02-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon, 7 innocent friends and 2 lovely babies gathered in our home to 1) stuff our faces with dips and chili cheese dogs, 2) imbibe, 3) gab, and 4) watch the Super Bowl (in that order, just about). Much fun was had by all, especially Jacob who had a ball showing off his stair-climbing abilities . . . . . . Matt, who just loves having his picture taken (can't you tell?) . . . . . . B, who managed to enjoy a quiet reading moment with her baby . . . . . . Audrey, who discovered that loving on Jacob made all the adults in the room fall into fits of oohing and awing . . . . . . and Denise who could hardly contain herself, having not one but TWO footie-pajamaed cuties in her house. But as we all laughed and munched and cheered for the Giants, little did we know that an enemy was in our midst. THE AFTERMATH (can you guess who was the epicenter of germiness?): Note for future post topic: Why was B spared? Is she an alien from another planet?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2008-02-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

I know I should be glad that my chauvinistic and nearly 80-year-old boss likes me. He dotes on me, gives me privileges he wouldn't extend to anyone else, and for the most part lets me do what I want. But along with that I have to accept that he views me as a granddaughter, needing his constant protection and interference so that I don't get trampled in this mean old working world. I swear, sometimes he has to restrain himself from patting my head and pinching my cheeks. Today he actually told me--no joke--not to "worry [my] pretty little head" about something. As I told Matt later, I wanted to strangle him to death with my bra strap. I may pull the "I'm a delicate flower" act with my husband all the time, but at work? Not so much.

Oh, Lord, Help Me

2008-01-31T10:59:00.001-08:00

I just thought of another of life's joys that I will no longer be allowed to indulge in thanks to my newly-discovered food allergy: Kung Pao Chicken. Somebody hug me.

I Feel Like This Sometimes

2008-01-31T08:40:00.001-08:00

Dear Friend With Whom I'm Supposed to Go Shopping Tonight,

2008-01-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

I feel I must warn you: You're going to be embarrassed to be seen in public with me tonight. You see, normally I leave the house for work at 7am, but this morning--because it was cold in the house but warm and cozy in my bed and my husband is working from home today so he was still there, too, and all fuzzy and huggy, but also just because I'm lazy--I didn't get out of the bed until 7am. Then I took a fast shower but had no time at all to do anything to my hair. And because it's rather wild and frizzy if left unattended, today it's sorta kinda contained in a ponytail with bits sticking out at odd angles and some short ones hanging down against my neck in the back. Don't get me started on the bangs. Thank the good Lord for headbands, huh? Then there's this other matter of not being able to wear eye makeup because of the whole getting over pinkeye thing.... So my eyes look like two teensy tiny little cranberries on a big old plate-sized pancake of a face. It's bad, and I apologize. Oh, one more thing: Because I was running late and was already feeling homely and disheveled with the hair and the lack of makeup, I threw on an old shirt that I discovered later has a stain on the front. I'm sorry. I'll understand if you want to pretend like you don't know me.

Your friend,
Denise

Nooooooooooooooo!

2008-01-30T12:28:00.000-08:00

I was a sickly little kid. I was that poor, pathetic, perpetually red-eyed and sniffly-nosed kid (every class had one) who had to stand against the wall of the gym on the blacktop while everyone else ran around on the freshly-cut green grass. I was the one who sneezed and hacked her way through every field trip to the zoo or--God help me--the arboretum. Hay Fever Hattie, that was me. If it grows in the ground, sprouts, or buds I can pretty much guarantee you I'm allergic to it. And from the time I was about 7 until I was 18 I endured numerous torturous "scratch tests" to confirm that yes, indeed, I was still allergic to pine pollen and allergy injections to try and improve my sorry, sad-sack state. On the bright side, I had very few food allergies.

Until, that is, about a year ago. The place: The home of my future in-laws. The time: Christmas. The offending food: Black walnuts. The result: Horrible itchy red welts all over my cheeks.

I'd begun to suspect over the last few years that I might be developing some new allergies to various foods, but this was the first time I'd ever had such an immediate and unexpected reaction. (The last time was a scary incident many years ago involving all-you-can-eat jumbo shrimp and an inability to breathe. Needless to say, I'm careful about shellfish now.) So I resolved to see an allergist straightaway and get checked out. And, oh, a little over a year later (that is, a few weeks ago) I finally got around to it. (I'm a procrastinator.) And today I got the results.

And mourn.

Yes, friends, in addition to avocadoes (goodbye sweet guacamole!) and shellfish and eggs (curse you, eggs!), I am allergic to pretty much all nuts. When he first told me this I thought, Well, I've never really loved nuts. So ok. But then it hit me. Peanuts. PEANUTS. As in my beloved and and !!!!!! How can this be??? I truly don't know how I'll live without my peanut butter toast sandwiches. Oh, Lord, and what about peanut butter and jelly on fresh Wonder bread????? Or peanut butter cookies? You may as well kill me now. If I have to die, it may as well be at the hand of my sweet, beloved Simply Jif Creamy.

So I asked the doctor, "How does this food allergy thing work? Can I eat peanuts today and be just fine, and then one day next week or next month I taste one tiny morsel of nut and I immediately can't breathe and die? Does it happen that fast, or will I work up to a stronger and stronger negative reaction?" He responded by saying, "I'm going to prescribe you with an epi-pen that you should carry with you at all times along with Benadryl." Uhm, what about my question???? Why did he not answer me??? Did he know that what I was really asking was, "If I go to the store right now and buy a jumbo bag of Peanut M&Ms and gorge myself on them as a final farewell to my former life as a happy and fulfilled peanut-eating person, will I die?"

Vintage Weight Watchers Recipe Card Hilarity

2008-01-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

Total crack up. You will not want to miss out on this.

The Last 2 Days in Review: San Diego, Aminals, and Slime

2008-01-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning Matt and I drove to San Diego. It rained on and off on our way down, but by the time we got here it was beautiful. In fact, the sky looked like this: We scooped up his parents at the airport after their flight came in from Denver, enjoyed a long leisurely lunch on the beach at Island Prime, checked into our hotel, played a rousing game of Phase 10, and then all collapsed into our beds. See how committed I am to being better about blogging??? I'm out of town on vaca and am still taking the time to post. Kudos to me. Yesterday we had a phenomenal breakfast at The Mission. (I had the most scrumptious cinnamon french toast with berry puree, artfully presented and oh so delicious. Wish I'd taken a photo.) Then we headed off to the Wild Animal Park where we walked and walked and walked and walked . . . . and saw a whole mess of aminals. I mean animals. This isn't an animal; it's my husband. But moms out there, bring your kiddies 'round the computer screen, because here are some beasties. It was pretty unique and dare I say spiritual to see all the different species roaming freely together--which is something we usually see only on the Discovery Channel or something. Of course, the guide assured us that they only house herbivores together. After all, they don't want a tram full of tourists coming upon a bloody zebra carcass or anything. This is one of only 8 remaining white rhinos in the world. How sad is that? And only one of those remaining rhinos can still reproduce, so they will be extinct, for sure, in our lifetimes. This old timer is already a few years beyond the average life expectancy. Thankfully, the park has stored their DNA, so perhaps one day science will allow them to bring the species back. He's all, "Hey, I'm nearly extinct, move out of my way." "Don't give me the evil eye, water buffalo. I weigh more than twice as much as you, too, so look out." "Thanks for keeping this spot warm for me, losers. Zzzzzzzz . . . " Ooh, now check out my attractive in laws. I was really taken with this giant yellow hot air balloon. Isn't it a happy color? And so big? They didn't have it operating, though, because it was too windy. Did I mention that we walked a lot? Gads. My legs were jelly by the end of the day. We felt bad for all the moms and dads we saw pushing their lazy kids in strollers up and down all those hills.Hmm, thanks for the warning. I took like a million pictures of these gorillas, and the whole time I kept thinking, What the heck am I going to do with all these pictures of gorillas? And then one of them would scratch its head or--wowzers--inhale, and I'd snap away. Click click click.I'd been staring right at these guys for like 10 minutes when Matt came over and said, "Hey, Hon, did you see the sign about not making eye contact with them?" Uhm, no, I didn't. Then suddenly they were all looking right at me. See what I mean?Seriously, it freaked me out and I had to leave. But the highlight of the day was this baby elephant. CUTENESS. "Hey, Mama, pay attention to me!" "Didn't you hear me calling you? Here, I'll lie down right on top of this pile of hay you were trying to eat." The mama says: Sigh. I never get a single moment to myself anymore.(Matt would say this kind of behavior reminds him of a certain gal he's married to, but he's a fibber. You can't believe a word he says, for crying out loud.) I bet right now you're thinking, What a fabulous day you had, Denise! Whatever do you have planned for today? Well, let me start by saying that it took me two hours to write this post. Why? Because I had to sit with my eyes 4 inches from the screen so that I could see it through the layer of goo and slime that is covering my right eye. Yep, that's right. I woke up this morning with PINKEYE! So while Matt and his parents are out exploring Coronado Island and Balboa Park, I'm hiding out in our hotel room like a leper, squirting liquid sulfur into my eyeballs every two hours, developing hand-washing OCD, and disinfecting every surface of our room with Lysol wipes.

What I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

2008-01-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

Having the stomach flu.
Attending Jacob's first birthday party and being thrilled that our little stuffed lion was his favorite present of the day.
Celebrating Kelly's graduation from APU. Woohoo!
Being sick again.
Learning to say "Praise God" when I mean it without feeling like a holy roller.
Missing being with Carol on her birthday (but still being grateful that she'll always be older than me).
Celebrating a low-key Christmas with family in Long Beach.
Ringing in the new year and turning 34 (egads) with the Morrises, who spoiled me with thoughtful gifts and yummy food.
Spending a small fortune on office visit copays and prescription drugs.
Staring at pictures of Elaine and her new baby sister, Natalie.
Developing an addiction to Wii "Dance, Dance Revolution." Yes, really.
Planning a trip to Portland for February. Yay!
Keeping up with the blogs of friends, friends of friends, and strangers and thinking about how much more interesting my own blog would be if I had a kid, a pet, a hobby, a fascinating job, or was Mormon and crafty.
Missing Friend.
Oh yeah, getting sick--again--and spending literally an entire week in bed.
Falling more in love than ever with Audrey.
Using enough Kleenex to overflow a landfill.
Missing my husband while he was in Baltimore on business. (Note to murderers, rapists, and robbers who might stumble upon this blog: He's back now, so I'm no longer afraid of you.)
Fielding questions about why I haven't been blogging.
Wondering why I no longer seem to have any interest in blogging.
Slowly coming to the realization that I have a responsibility to the four people who meander over to this little corner of the web on a regular basis, hoping to find some inane and useless commentary from me. I will try to do better. I promise.

One Week Ago Today . . .

2007-12-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

. . . Natalie Jane joined our extended "family." I've taken it upon myself to share these photos, because my dear and fabulously brave and strong friend, Carol, is way too busy raising an energetic (and chatty) 2-year-old and nursing/burping/diapering/placating Natalie to update her blog for a while. Could this little peanut be more perfect???

Christmas Tag

2007-12-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Kelly for this fun idea.

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, because I think it's more festive and looks more quaint when the gifts are all piled up under the tree. Bags tend to be too tall and therefore have to be placed next to the tree, which just isn't the same. Unless, of course, there are so many presents crammed under there that they're pouring out from underneath. That's a different story altogether.

2. Real tree or artificial? Was this question included just so that I'd have to defend my fake tree again? Dammit.

3. When do you put up the tree? Nearly always the weekend after Thanksgiving. The longer it's up the better, in my opinion.

4. When do you take the tree down? I like having it still up for my birthday (the 31st), so usually I take it down in the first week of January.

5. Which do you prefer: Hot chocolate or Apple Cider? Hot chocolate, mmmmmm.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My mom was a single parent at the time, and I don't remember how much Cabbage Patch Dolls cost back then when people were pulling guns on one another and whatnot in store parking lots just to get their hands on one for Christmas, but it was too much for my mom to afford. Or so she told me. Christmas was on a Sunday that year, and my mom was so excited for me to get the doll that she let me open it the night before on Christmas Eve. I begged her to let me take it with me to church the next morning, she refused, I pleaded some more, and she finally agreed to let me bring it but I had to keep it in a paper shopping bag. Every two minutes or so I'd lean down from the pew and peek down into the bag on the floor to make sure Nicolette was still there . . .

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, handed down to me from my mom and dad when my grandparents passed away and they inherited their's.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad. The man has no hobbies!

9. Easiest person to buy for? Uhm, myself? Usually during my shopping I find a little somethin'-somethin' for myself. Just a token.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? A coworker who had never before given me anything at the holidays gave me a Wheel of Fortune wristwatch. You pushed a button on the side and the face lit up and the theme song played. It was really awkward. I didn't know if he meant it as a gag or what. He acted as though it were perfectly serious.

11. Mail or email Christmas card? Definitely mail.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? If I had to pick only one it would be A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's iconic. Or The Year Without a Santa Claus (the stop action one with the Cold Miser and the Heat Miser). Or White Christmas. Oh, oh, or Meet Me in St. Louis. But I'll watch and find enjoyment at just about any cheesy Lifetime or Hallmark Channel holiday movie. It's a guilty pleasure.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When the mood strikes me. Sometimes that's in November, and unfortunately sometimes that's around December 22.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Uh, yeah. But not anything you've ever given me.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade fudge. And when I say "homemade" I mean fudge that someone else has made at their home and given to me. Without nuts.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear. But Matt really likes the small multi-colored ones. I have to admit that this year when I saw the Rockefeller Square tree lighting I thought the colored lights looked festive.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't think I have one favorite. I have some dreaded ones that I hate, though: "The Twelve Days of Christmas," pretty much any cheeseball/spoof song ("Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" and its ilk) . . .

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Right now I guess I prefer being at someone else's home--namely, my parents'. But there's something cozy and sweet about being in my own house, sleeping in my own bed, too. I imagine once we have kids we'll prefer being at home.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Yup, but only if I sing them in my head.

20. Do you have an angel on top or a star? I have an angel, the one that belonged to my grandma.

Arg

2007-12-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

5:10am: I woke up this morning.
5:45am: About when I got my lazy butt out of the bed.
6:15am: Approximate time at which I got dressed.
6:50am: Got in the car and left for work.
7:45am: Arrived at work.
7:46am: First potty break of the day, during which I examined carefully my appearance in the mirror.
7:50-9:20am: Many interactions with coworkers.
9:30am: Another trip to the bathroom, another look in the mirror.
9:35-11:59am: Many more interactions with coworkers.
12:00pm: Bathroom. Mirror-looking. You get the drill.
12:04-1:40pm: People. Everywhere. Looking at me with their perfectly good eyeballs.
1:41pm: Bathroom, mirror yadda yadda yadda.
1:42pm: The time at which I discovered I've been wearing my blouse inside out. All. Day. Long.

Still Here

2007-12-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

No, dear friends, I didn't fall off the planet. I felt like it, though, and was hanging on for dear life there for a while . . . but I'm still here. Just been under the weather for the last week. Now that I'm feeling better I'll post again soon. Have to do some work first, though. (By the way, did you know a nasty stomach virus was going around? If so, why didn't you warn me?)

My 100th Post!

2007-11-28T12:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, kids, it''s true: I've managed to find 100 different mindless, inane, oftentimes uninteresting things to chatter about aimlessly. What's even harder to believe is that many of you keep coming back to read about them. Because Bossy of i am bossy and Craig of Puntabulous are so much wittier and entertaining than I, to commemorate my 100th post I'm sending you away from my little old blog to read this hilarious post. (I think Bossy won the debate, but I vote for Craig because I heart vanilla more than chocolate. How about you?)

Thoroughly Chastised

2007-11-27T12:31:00.001-08:00

God has a way of hitting me over the head with things sometimes. But I can't complain, because more times than not I really deserve it.

I have a ton to get done at the office today, and this morning nothing was going right. I kept getting interrupted by the phone (one good call from a friend and all the others annoying), and then I couldn't access the work website to write the e-newsletter or do my updates for December--which, of course, is the number one most important thing I need to get done today. (It's still not working, by the way.) So I was in a cruddy mood when a coworker popped her head in my office doorway to tell me that we were having an impromptu staff meeting to hear David Jeremiah speak to us. I know who he is through my work, of course, but I don't listen to his radio program or watch him on tv. He's also the pastor of a huge megachurch down in San Diego.

Ugh. This was the last thing I wanted to do. So I went into the lunchroom with a bad attitude, annoyed that I had no advance notice, miffed that some people were acting like we were about to be blessed by a visit from Christ Himself, and just pissy in general because--in all honesty--I thought I knew what he was going to talk about, and frankly I just wasn't in the mood for more mutual back-patting, meaningless antecdotes about the (now deceased) founder of my organization, and empty chatter about how important our work is blah blah blah . . .

Sure enough, he started with a bunch of "I remember when . . ." stories about our founder, and internally I rolled my eyes and stewed, thinking about those darned web updates. But then the unthinkable happened: He started talking about something relevant. And meaningful. And--dare I say it--different from what we usually hear around these parts. His talk was all about how Bible-teaching churches have focused all their energy on fulfilling the Great Commission (that is, teaching the gospel message at home and abroad) and have pretty much ignored the Great Commandment (to love God above everything else and to love your neighbor as yourself [Matthew 22:37-40]). This spoke to me right where I live lately, trying to find a balance between being a student of the Word and at the same time be of some earthly good to other people in need.

We may not be saved by good works (salvation is by grace alone), but we're saved for good works! The world should be able to look at what we do, hear what we say, examine our bank accounts, monitor our free time and from all of that know that we're Christians. As believers we're not supposed to hole ourselves up in our towers of biblical knowledge. We're supposed to be out on the street feeding the poor, clothing the naked, nursing the sick, etc. I know all of this, but I've got to say it was refreshing to hear it coming from a solid, conservative, Southern Baptist (can you believe it???) Bible preacher.

He's just published a book on the subject called Signs of Life: Back to the Basics of Authentic Christianity, and he gave us all signed copies. It's a series of 40 mini-lessons on living a life marked by "relevancy, surrender, authenticity, generosity, and compassion" and, in so doing, transforming yourself, your community, and our nation. Imagine that--Christians mingling with and thinking about people outside of their circle of church friends!

So ok, Lord, consider me thoroughly chastised. Yet again I vow to not doubt You in the future. But You know as well as I that I will. Sigh.

Yuletide Cheer

2007-11-26T20:48:00.000-08:00

The last several weeks it's been too danged hot to get into the holiday spirit, but I've been trying to muster some up nonetheless. The cooler temperatures the last few days have helped tremendously, but so has putting up the tree. Ah, pretty. And hanging the stockings and putting out the little wooden Rudolph helped, too. My grandpa Christensen designed it himself, handmade them, and gave one to each of his sons and their families. But this is the original that he kept for himself. After he and my grandma passed away it was given to me, and it's one of my most cherished things.
My dad is a fireman (well, a retired fireman), which means real, live Christmas trees all sticky with sap and smelling of yummy pine were a big no-no in our house. So I have a fake tree. Deal with it. I've tested all of the brands of Christmas tree scented candles out there and found the best: Illuminations. It keeps the house smelling like fresh-cut tree all season long. I usually go through 2 each winter.

Ah, that's pretty, too, is it not?

I was born on the last day of the year--2 weeks late, which means my mom and family missed out on celebrating Christmas that year with brand spanking newborn little me. But that didn't stop my Aunt Jill from initiating what has become an annual tradition: Gifting the still in utero Spacebaby (me) with her first Christmas ornament. Every single year since then (and sometimes for my birthday or other occasions, too) she has given me an ornament, so that by now (being as I am in my 33rd year) I have quite a collection. Especially since years ago I began collecting them for myself as meaningful and memorable tokens of my various travels. Here's a tour of the tree, highlighting a few of my favorites.

My Nutcracker ornament was from Aunt Jill. It's made entirely of wood and is hand painted. As such, it's a tad heavier than your average ornament and almost always lives at the top of my tree each year where it can perch upon a lower branch. She gave me this lervly little hand-blown glass ornament the year I bought my house. I wish my house actually looked like that and was, say, nestled on 3 acres in--oh, I don't know--Portland or the Rocky Mountains. But whatever.This pretty blue and white porcelain orb I bought for myself at the Rijkesmuseum in Amsterdam a few years back. Looking at it makes me think about how proud I was to traipse around the city all by myself for 4 days, doing what I pleased when I pleased. What a great trip that was. Aunt Jill gave me this cutie earlier this year at my bridal shower to commemorate . . . well, I guess it's obvious. I got married. Finally. She'd probably been holding on to this baby for a good 8 or 9 years. In this shot you can see a few of my favorites. First there's the sparkly Eiffel Tower. No, I haven't been to Paris--yet--and when I do get there I'll pick up another French-themed ornament. But this one I got in Denver quite a number of years ago while out shopping with Carol. This one's bittersweet because while I love the ornament, whenever I see it I think about how much I miss my sweet friend in Colorado . . . Then there's the official White House ornament that I got at the JFK museum in Boston (the oval one behind the candle). And one of my all-time favorites of the tree every year: The little gold candle holders and candles (juleys!) that B sent to me from Denmark what seems like a lifetime ago. (I even light them sometimes. Ssssh, don't tell my dad.) Every year when I place them strategically on the tree I'm reminded of how much I'm loved and how grateful I am for bosom friends.This one of Pooh and Christopher Robin was from Aunt Jill, and I've had it for many years. It's a longtime favorite and I imagine always will be. At the end of every Christmas season I'm loathe to pack it up again for another year and am always tempted to keep it out. Something about the soft pastels and the heartwarming pose just make me feel soft and cuddly inside. Perhaps someday if we're blessed with a little Spacebaby of our own I'll take it out for good and display it in the nursery.For me, though, the highlight of the tree every year is the angel. She belonged to my grandma Christensen who always displayed her on the entryway table at their house, sourrounded by angel hair "snow." So when we'd arrive on Christmas Eve, she'd be one of the first things I'd see as my grandma and grandpa (along with their little pup) came to the door to greet us with hugs. Seeing her each year is like having a little piece of my grandparents back again for the holidays.Merry Christmas, everyone! May God bless us all.

Thanksgiving, O.C. Style

2007-11-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Dana Point at my parents' condo timeshare. They figured recently that they've owned the place for about 20 years, so many a happy memory has been made there over the years--several of them over Thanksgiving meals enjoyed as we all gazed out at the ocean. This year we sat down to eat just as the sun was setting. Just beautiful. And a truly enjoyable time with family. I hope all of your Thanksgiving days were just as blessed and your meals just as satisfying . . . .

Looking to Make a Love Connection?

2007-11-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

ANNOUNCER: “He enjoys drooling when he laughs and poops in his pants. He lives with his parents and likes a girl who will ‘tickle his stomach and butt.' Please welcome to the show . . . Jacob!” Now before anyone accuses me of being mean, let me just say that this is posted above exactly as it was sent to me by his loving mother and father (with just the name of his city deleted, because I'm a dork and nervous about revealing too much personal info). I don't know about you, but I'd take a date with this handsome fella anytime.

Recipe Review: My Mom's Pumpkin Nut Bread

2007-11-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

It's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's pushing 90 degrees and smoggy. Those of you out there in Wisconsin or other snowy locales who watch the Rose Parade on tv every year and dream of sunny, warm Christmases, trust me on this: Endless days of sunshine can be just as depressing as rain, especially when it comes to this season when fuzzy sweaters, sipping warm cider in front of a fire, hot ovens filled with yummy things, and snuggling under blankets all contribute to engendering the ever-elusive Holiday Spirit. When you can't comfortably have or do any of those things without risking heat stroke, how are you supposed to get all cheery about the winter holidays? It's a challenge. But I've been trying. It helped tremendously that yesterday the fabulous Miss Kelly hosted her annual Turkey Party--an event that is fast becoming my all-time favorite holiday. But my attempt at holiday cheer first began a few weeks ago during a brief spell of cooler weather (highs in the 60s, woohoo!) when I baked a batch of my mom's pumpkin nut bread. The Best Ever.

Here's what you'll need:

My mom's recipe (See it there all stained with years of repeat performances? It makes me happy just to see that worn-out old scrap of paper. You can't have it, but you can have the recipe.)
1 large can of prepared pumpkin
5 cups of flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 cup shortening (Uhm, I never said this bread was healthy.)
4 cups granulated sugar (Yikes! I hope my whole-grain-loving mother-in-law isn't reading this...)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 eggs (Oh, Lord, help me.)
1 cup water (There we go. Water is good for us.)
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat your oven to 350. (If you have a diabolical oven that hates you and lives to make your culinary life a living hell like mine does, then you should set it for 275-300 and pray that it eventually settles at around 350.) Cream the sugar and shortening together in a big bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and blend well. (Ooooh, that looks like cake batter, doesn't it? Now I want cake. Sigh.) Sift all the dry ingredients and spices together. If you're like me and don't have a real one, you can use the poor girl's sifting method. It works just fine and is waaaaay easier to clean than my mom's old hand sifter that has little pebbles of dried flour stuck in it that have probably been there for 30 years. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the sugar and egg mixture. Add water, pumpkin, and the nuts and mix well. Pour the mixture into three greased bread pans (or a whole mess of mini bread pans or like a million muffin cups). Bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (I start checking it at 45 minutes, but it usually takes a lot longer than that to be done). When you're all finished, you'll have these gorgeous ladies smiling up at you from your counter. Yumminess! This makes a great gift and it also freezes well--we still have two loaves in there now waiting to be taken out and thawed for Thanksgiving with the fam.

Dear Audrey

2007-11-18T20:40:00.000-08:00

Do you recognize this butterfly? You left Mr. Chewtoy under our ottoman this weekend, and now we're holding him for a ransom. If you ever want to see his smiling face or gnaw on his soothingly chilly wings again, you'll have to make your parents bring you over to visit us again. The payment is three blow kisses for each of us and cuddling. Lots of cuddling. Oh, and you must wear footie jammies, too, because they're adorable. (B, we also found a little blue Gerber cap that looks like it goes on a bottle or something, so if you're looking for it we've got it.)

Another Depressing Post

2007-11-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, B and Molly, you asked for a new post, so here you are.....

Today, after sitting in traffic for an hour and 15 minutes (may I remind you that the distance from my front door to my office is a whopping 19 miles), I arrived at work with a raging cramp in my calf (because Matt and I have had to trade cars so I'm driving his manual transmission) thanks to the incessant stopping and starting and upshifting and downshifting and braking and tensing as I cursed silently at at least 23 different drivers who at various times cut me off, rode their brakes for no reason whatsoever, nearly changed lanes into me, and otherwise just pissed me off by the simple fact that they existed and were breathing in such close proximity to my cranky self.

That was a long sentence.

I should say that I didn't start this day off in a bad mood. I was quite chipper, as a matter of fact, having slept soundly all night thanks to my beloved Tylenol PM. But then I lost track of time while getting ready and ended up leaving the house late. Some of the things that caused me to be late:

1. My longstanding love/hate relationship with the snooze button.
2. Sometimes I just cannot tear my eyes away from the local morning news. It's like passing a bad accident on the highway or seeing an obvious plastic surgery addict--you can't look away despite the shame you feel for staring.
3. I remembered I have a dentist appointment tonight and the 'stache had not been tended to in weeks, so out came the wax. I'm meticulous, therefore this ate up a lot of time.
4. Once the upper lip was de-haired, my eyebrows looked like a bushy mess and demanded some love and attention. Did I mention I'm meticulous? Therefore, this also ate up a lot of time.

Then, 10 minutes into my drive I realized I'd left my lunch at home in the fridge. Normally this wouldn't bother me too much, as I usually welcome any excuse for "having" to get Panda Express or Rubio's or even Taco Bell for the noontime meal. But last night at the market I picked up these scrumptious looking mini baguettes and made turkey sandwiches for Matt and myself to take to work today. When I sliced them I just knew they were the perfect combination of chewy crust and airy interior. But now come lunchtime Matt will be smacking his lips on that tasy sandwich and I'll be swallowing my own drool while my belly rumbles.

So now you have an idea of the mental state I was in upon my arrival at work. I entered through the back door which opens into the kitchen and there on the dry erase board was scrawled this message:

CONGRATULATIONS, DENISE, ON YOUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY!!!!!

Ok. For those of you who don't know, I've hated my job for, oh I don't know, maybe the last 9 and a half years. So while this was supposed to be a nice gesture intended to show my company's appreciation for me, instead it made me want to crawl into a ball and cry while pulling my hair out in small clumps. I hate to say that I feel like I've wasted the last 10 years of my life, but . . . I feel like I've wasted the last 10 years of my life. The only upside to this? My boss is ordering lunch for everyone, in part, to honor me. The downside? He will present me with a check in the amount of . . . . ok, wait, brace yourselves for this . . . . $100!!!!! as thanks for my 10 years of service, and I will have to smile and sit through this whole lunch acting as if I'm delighted and happy beyond belief.

Sigh.

So before I go to this thing (which is scheduled to begin in 13 minutes), I must take a moment to adjust my attitude by counting some blessings:

1. I have a job, which provides me with enough money to live a comfortable life. Thank you, God, for that.
2. I also have a very generous insurance and benefits plan, almost unheard of these days.
3. My husband is an encourager and never tears me down. I complain in IM and he writes things like: "Try to think of the fact that we will be moving on, and that the future looks good . . . I love you, and I know that we'll be happy no matter what happens."
4. Friends: I have true ones.

Farewell, Beloved Modoc Lane

2007-10-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

This morning on the channel 4 news I saw the ashes of my old house in Lake Arrowhead, just north of the Arrowhead Country Club. The helicopter camera showed that our entire neighborhood is gone. Completely. Aside from a small cluster of homes just west of our old house, there's nothing left. Just dirt and burnt tree stumps. It was heartbreaking, and quite strange to think that our lovely old home is no more. Of course we feel blessed and grateful that as far as we know everyone we still know and love up there evacuated safely, and the pain and shock are much less than they would be if we still owned that home. But still. I'm surprisingly emotional. I'm still working from home this week, but maybe next week when I return to the office I'll scan and post some pictures in tribute to our beloved house and the memories we made there. I know some of you visited us in that house and loved it, too. Sniffle.

Gesundheit

2007-10-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

This one was also from Dr. Jon. We laughed until we cried. And then we played it again and laughed and cried some more.

Punkins from Dr. Jon

2007-10-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

Fun for Country Music Lovers and Haters Alike

2007-10-19T18:38:00.001-07:00

Since Matt's been bedridden all week, some of our friends have been nice enough to send us funny emails and videos to help keep him entertained. Some of them are too good not to share, like this Brad Paisley video.

I'm Just Saying . . .

2007-10-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

zombie: (n) A reanimated human body devoid of consciousness. In contemporary versions these are generally undead corpses.

Matt: (n) My husband and 36-year-old recovering surgical patient.
___________________________________________________________
Zombie Fact #1: They're usually brought back from the dead by supernatural or scientific means.

Matt Fact #1: Ok, so maybe he was never actually dead-dead, but he was knocked out for a good three hours by some powerful drugs that made him "dead to the world." And he was brought back by scientific means. Because doctors are scientists, right?

Zombie Fact #2: They eat the flesh or brains of the living.

Matt Fact #2: He eats what I bring upstairs for him. If he was hungry enough and I brought him sweetbreads, I think he'd eat them. And he has eaten hot dogs, and those are pretty close, no?

Zombie Fact #3: They have very limited intelligence.

Matt Fact #3: Is this in comparison to their level of intelligence before they became zombies, or no? I'm just asking. More info is needed to answer this one fairly.

Zombie Fact #4: They're slow, uncoordinated, and walk in a wooden fashion with their arms outstretched.

Matt Fact #4: Matt is slow, uncoordinated, and sorta teeters on his crutches when he hops one-legged to the bathroom and back.

Zombie Fact #5: They have limited ability to communicate and, lacking the ability to form words, often moan loudly instead.

Matt Fact #5: When he sleeps Matt makes an unearthly racket that sounds something like: GRUUUUGH GRUUUUUGH GRUUUUGH. And when he's awake it's not at all uncommon for him to moan to himself.

Zombie Fact #6: They frequently have open and/or oozing wounds.

Matt Fact #6: Ugh, yes, he has those too.

Our New Family Member

2007-10-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

So early Monday morning Matt went into the hospital for surgery and later that afternoon we came home with a new family member: his new ACL. ACL replacement involves cutting open the knee, taking out the old torn up ACL (the muscle that runs vertically up the center of your knee behind the kneecap, and which gives your knee its stability), grafting a new muscle in its place, and closing you back up. The replacement muscle can either come from your own hamstring or from a cadaver. Matt chose the later--hence the addition of a third member of our marriage, whom we've named Zombie Sam. In his former life, Sam was someone's achilles tendon. But now he's been reanimated as Matt's new ACL. Hopefully he'll be happy with us, make himself cozy, and result in Matt being able to jump and play like a real boy once more! As for now, though, he keeps pretty still. Mostly because it hurts like heck. While the surgeon was in there he was also able to repair a torn meniscus (the cushiony stuff in your knee joint that keeps your bones from rubbing against each other--owie). That was a nice surprise, but it also makes the recovery a little longer and more difficult because now he can't put any weight at all on the leg for 2 weeks. Oy. Here's his leg brace. It weighs, oh, maybe a million pounds. Several times a day we take it off and Matt bends his knee gently about 10 times. It hurts a lot. Here's his nifty little "bag of joy," aka a device that pumps numbing solution through a tiny little catheter inserted in his knee. Later today we have to remove his dressings and I have to pull that "tiny little" catheter out. Something tells me Matt isn't going to think it feels "tiny" or "little." Which is why we're putting it off and haven't done it yet. Here's his Iceman. It's a souped up Igloo cooler.I fill it with ice and water, plug it into the cold pack in his dressings, turn it on, and it circulates ice water around his knee. It's our friend and we want to keep it forever. But if we had to choose between it and Vicodin, we'd pick Vicodin. We heart it a bunch.

Confessional

2007-10-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Inspired by B's "dirty little food secret" post and spurred on by Molly's plea that I shape up and make a new post already, I offer up this: A confession of my secret childhood drug habit. Yes, you heard me right. I was a preadolescent druggy, dope fiend, strung out on drugs of all sorts. There, I said it. (And I apologize now to all the mothers out there who will read about this and from this day forward live in terror of their precious little ones being just like me.)

Ah, I feel better now.

What led me to make this confession now, you wonder? I found out I wasn't alone in my secret shame. Nope, I've discovered I have a kindred spirit, a sister sufferer right in my very own circle of friends. Here's how it all went down.

Yesterday morning when I should have been devoting my time to working like a good little office bee I instead found myself trading emails with a friend who shall remain anonymous. This woman is an attractive, clean, respectable, upstanding citizen as (on a good day) I fancy myself to be. The conversation began innocently enough: I mentioned that Matt is one of those "strange anti-medicine people" whereas I am more the type to pop a Midol at the very first sign of PMS bloating, 2 (or 3 or yes, dammit, sometimes 4) Advil with just the slightest twinge of a headache coming on, etc. After all, as I told her, "If God didn't want us to take drugs why'd He invent Nyquil, the sweet nectar of sleep? Hello?" She replied that her husband is also, like mine, one of those odd creatures who shys away from drugs--prescription or otherwise.

Then the floodgates opened and before I knew it we were making confessions to one another about our own secret shame: Childhood drug addiction. (Ok, maybe that's a little strong. We're not Drew Barrymore or anything, after all.) I revealed that as a kid I would sneak sips of the grape and orange flavored Robitussin. And to snagging one or two of the kiddy aspirins that tasted like chalky cherry goodness. And to munching on the chewable orange-flavored Vitamin C tablets my mom kept in a big jar under her bathroom sink. Thinking I was dirty and shameful and sick, I tentatively hit "send."

Then in her reply she made her confession. And I let out a sigh of relief. For, friends, I believe her addiction was deeper than even mine! Not only did she sneak gulps of the cough medicine and snack on the chewable vitamins like mad because she "thought they were candy," but she'd also eat the aspirins "by the handful" and chug the Chloriseptic when her mom wasn't looking. Gads!

For those of you who may be reading this, utterly horrified and thinking this was the most irresponsible thing in the world and how our moms should have been arrested and that my friend and I should have forced sterilization so as not to ever bring more pill-popping babies into the world, take a deep breath and relax. We turned out just fine. Yes, we did. And in discussing it we eventually remarked on how dangerous this behavior truly was, blah, blah, blah, and how when we someday have kids we'll have to keep all drugs under lock and key and so forth. So don't worry.

But how about you? I'm sure some of you engaged in similar behavior. Or perhaps you have some other childhood confession to make. Let it out, you'll feel better. If you do and then don't feel better, take a swig of Nyquil and go lay down for a nap. When you wake up everything will be better. I promise.

A Brilliant Idea

2007-10-02T12:25:00.001-07:00

In an effort to expose a new generation of moviegoers to old movie classics, some organization or other (their website blows goats and gives very little info) has instituted "Old Movies for Young People"--a program that will show one classic film every Tuesday night for the next 6 months. The showings are at the AMC Century City, and reservations are required. The first showing is tonight when they'll be screening 1955's Mister Roberts starring Henry Fonda and James Cagney.

You Can't Leave the Lights On

2007-10-02T12:06:00.001-07:00

While listening to NPR on my drive in this morning, I heard a piece on "Lights Out L.A."--an environmental awareness campaign that's organizing a city and county-wide voluntary blackout on October 20. Here's the deal: They're challenging all businesses and homeowners to install one compact flourescent lightbulb and turn off all non-essential lighting from 8-9:00pm on the 20th. They estimate that doing so will save 10-15% of the energy consumed on an average Saturday night. At the original "Lights Out" event in Sydney, Australia, back in March, 2.2 million people participated, resulting in a 10% drop in electricity use. It also reduced 25 tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to taking nearly 49,000 cars off the road for 60 minutes. L.A. is piggybacking their event along with San Francisco, which has been planning for 6 months (they'll be shutting off the lights on the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and other landmarks), but L.A. has to get the word out in just a matter of weeks. So start passing it on, friends! We've already replaced most of the bulbs in our house with CFLs and I'm fanatical about turning off lights, so it won't be much different from any other night at our house . . . .

Iron Man

2007-10-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

I love eye-candy comic book movies, even ones for books or characters I've never heard of. Which is, well, most of them.

Fridays Are My Saturday

2007-09-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

I love Fridays. It's 9am, I'm still in my pjs, watching Marnie on AMC (ooh, Tippi Hedren and a yummy young Sean Connery) . . . . . . and looking through cookbooks for something tasty to make my man for dinner tonight. Which reminded me of that huge dutch oven we got last weekend. And I started wondering what might fit inside it. My beloved dvd of Gone With the Wind surely does. As does a gallon of milk (one of my other favorite things). And the complete works of Shakespeare fit quite nicely, too. But my trusty compy? Not so much. So, friends, what do you make in a dutch oven? Any recipes or ideas you'd like to share with me, because I'm at a loss here.

Rufus Loves Judy and We Love Him

2007-09-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday night we went to the Hollywood Bowl to see Rufus Wainwright's as-faithful-as-a-gay-guy-can-get recreation of Judy Garland's famous 1961 Carnegie Hall concert. Did I go to this show thinking I couldn't possibly love Rufus more? Yes. Was I wrong? Yes, indeed. Lordy, did I enjoy myself. (Matt said he could tell because I sat there with a goofy grin on my face the entire time.) As usual, we parked in Pasadena and caught the shuttle bus (you'd have to be insane or a masochist or both to drive yourself to the Bowl and face that parking/traffic hell--seriously, what are those people thinking?). My sweet husband knew he was in for an interesting night as soon as the other passengers started boarding the bus. A little bit of backstory here: Matt was actually the third person down on my list of people to invite to this concert. He likes Rufus well enough and all, but enough to enjoy a concert? Of Judy Garland tunes no less? A recreation of an insanely popular and well-known Judy Garland concert revered and nearly worshiped by millions of gay men worldwide? Many of whom were sure to converge upon the Hollywood Bowl in states of near hysteria at the prospect of seeing Rufus Wainwright of all people (a modern gay icon) perform as Judy (a historically gay-embraced icon)? Mmmm, not so much. So being the nice and thoughtful wife that I am, I figured I'd let him off the hook and give him a free night at home to watch "Mythbusters," gorge himself on red meat a/o fried food, play WoW, and scratch his feet or whatever to his heart's content. But then the unimaginable happened: Neither of my dearly loved gay friends wanted to go (one because our seats wouldn't be good enough--he's a bit of a snob, but in a lovable way). Which is why my dear and supportive husband was seated next to me on that Bowl shuttle as the men started streaming on board. Finely-groomed, hair-gelled, hand-talking men, some of whom were dressed quite fabulously. Like this fella who was wearing a tight black and gold stripe sparkly sweater (that I swear to the good Lord above my grandma owned) and giant black Nicole Richie-esque sunglasses. Incidentally, he was with another guy who looked a lot like a chubbier Perez Hilton. Once everyone was settled, we pulled out . . . and made it as far as the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, where we were promptly stopped by police and CalTrans workers informing us that the road was closed due to a mudslide caused by that little bit of rain we had last week. Thankfully, one of the other passengers--we'll call him Helpy McHelperton--knew an alternate route, as our poor bus driver was without a clue. He stood up front and directed her where to go. Coincidentally, he was wearing a jaunty driving cap that matched his jacket.So after a short delay caused by our detour, we arrived at the Bowl. This is where I had my first hopping-in-my-seat-with-excitement moment. Because I'm a bad and lazy wife and didn't feel like packing a picnic dinner, we spent nearly $30 on two sandwiches, a small bag of chips, and two waters, and then made our way to our seats. In due time, the lights went down and the show began. Rufus came out wearing white tailored slacks, a navy velvet dinner jacket, a ruffled tuxedo shirt, and a gigantic rhinestone corsage. (It was at this moment that Matt had the revelation: Rufus Wainwright is gay? Apparently he hadn't known that before and thought the high male attendance was due to the Judy factor alone. Hehe.) He looked fabulous and started the show off with "When You're Smiling."If you're not familiar with his music, he's well known for his songwriting and also his unique tone, various vocal affectations, and powerful full-throat delivery. He wasn't in top form this night, I'll admit; it sounded to me like he was a bit under the weather and was on the verge of losing his voice. But he was also singing all of these songs in their original keys--the ones in which Judy performed them, and that's no easy feat. So he missed a few of the high notes, but he handled it with a sense of humor and came off as quite charming. But the real excitement came in the second half. First he invited his sister, Martha (a pretty fantastic and unique performer herself) to come up and sing "Stormy Weather." The crowd loved her and she received the first standing ovation of the night. A bit later he invited his mom, Kate McGarrigle (of the McGarrigle Sisters fame), to join him on the piano while he sang "Over the Rainbow" while seated indian-style on the catwalk. (In Judy's concert, she performed it sitting on the edge of the stage.) Then the best part . . . . At one point during Judy's original show, she stepped into the audience where Rock Hudson was seated and gave him a kiss. Rufus did the same, but this time the guest of honor was none other than Debbie Reynolds! Heavens to Betsy, at this point I was hopping in my seat like mad and slapping Matt's knee, squealing repeatedly, "It's Debbie Reynolds! Honey, Debbie Reynolds!" Here she is with Gene Kelly in a publicity still for Singin' in the Rain.No joke, people, I had tears welling up in my eyes. Matt, on the other hand, was sitting back and clapping politely. He leaned over to me and asked genuinely, "Who?" Oy! (Later, on the way home I tried to fill him in, but nothing was ringing any bells until I remembered that she played Grace Adler's mom on "Will & Grace," an episode of which we happened to have just seen a couple of weeks ago. He was still unimpressed. Sigh. That is until the following day when it dawned on me that there was one bit of info that would impress him: Debbie Reynolds also happens to be Princess Leia's mom, and I'd read online that Carrie Fisher herself was at the concert, seated right next to her lovely mother. That got his attention. Men.) So I was beside myself with happiness, thinking it couldn't get any better when Rufus began singing "After You've Gone" towards the end of the show, and then invited someone to come out and join him for a duet. Out waltzed Lorna Luft, looking gorgeous in a hot pink gown. To borrow a phrase from Pioneer Woman, "lawsy mercy!" The crowd went wild and I was yet again hopping up and down and jerking my head back and forth from Lorna to Matt back to Lorna then to Matt, looking to see if he understood what he was seeing. He didn't. I said, "That's Judy Garland's daughter!" and his face brightened a little and he said, "Oh." That sweet boy, he tried so hard . . . . Ok, so this post has gone on way longer than I intended, so I'll wrap it up the way Rufus did: When the second half was over and he came out for the 5-song-long encore, he was dressed in drag, wearing this famous costume of Judy's from Summer Stock. What fun! I wish I could go back and see it all over again.

Shopping Spree

2007-09-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

You know what's fun? Getting married. (Clarification: The actual getting married part, not all the planning and leading-up-to parts.) You know what else is fun? Getting wedding presents. But you know what is even more fun than that? Waiting until months and months after the wedding excitement has died down and then one day collecting all the gift cards you were given and going out and buying a whole bunch of stuff with them. Since our 6th Lunarversary and Matt's knee surgery are fast approaching, we decided on Saturday to brave the mall and close out our wedding registries while our discounts were still valid and Matt was still able to walk without the use of crutches and, you know, do manly things (i.e. carry heavy bags). We came home with a carload of stuff. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. Matt was slightly less excited. This is what he looked like while I was a mere 5 feet away on the living room floor, ripping into the many boxes and packages. Seriously, how could he remain so blase? When I was done, this is what we were left with to wash and put away in the kitchen. And this is what we were left with to stuff into the recycle bin. Another nice thing about all of this? Being reminded yet again what truly outstanding, generous, loving, thoughtful friends and family we have. We're so blessed. And so happy to have new pots and pans.

Birthday Girl

2007-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday wishes (and love and hugs and kisses) to Elaine, who turns 2 today. Here she is when she was just a little bitty thing. So sweet and tiny. (I bought her that outfit--adorable, huh? I've seriously considered giving my own kid an "e" name just so that I can have it back.) But she's not a baby anymore! I didn't have any 2-year-old photos to share, but then just last night Carol sent me some pictures of E's first pigtails. Too cute! She's probably off enjoying her day on the train with her mom and dad right now.... Uncle Matt and I love you, E, and wish we were there with you. Happy birthday!

Danske Dinner

2007-09-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

If you read Kelly and B's blogs, you already know that this last Saturday we all converged on B&M's to partake of a very special meal. (They're both much more on top of things than I am.) B has lots of drool-inducing photos of the yummy food. But I have these adorable shots of Audrey with her aunt Kelly.Aren't those precious? Worth waiting for, right? As usual, we had a wonderful time visiting with our friends and loving on Audrey. I especially liked sharing her quiet, soothing evening routine before bedtime.

Tagged

2007-09-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

I had to follow Kell and B's leads, join the fun, and throw out into Internet abyss my contribution to the "one word description" tag list:

Your favorite item: Teddy
Yourself: Blessed
Your partner: Adorable
Your hair: Flat
Your dream last night: Unmemorable
Your favorite drink: Milk
Your dream car: Solar
Dream home: Spotless
The room you are in: Uninspiring
Your fear: Abandonment
Where you want to be in 10 years: Parenting
Who you hung out with last night: Myself
You're not: Patient
One of your wish list items: D80
The last thing you did: Typed
You are wearing: Basics
Your favorite weather: Fall-ish
Your favorite book: Engaging
Last thing you ate: Provolone
Your life: Luverly
Your mood: Placid
Your best friend: Abundant
What are you thinking about right now: Friends
Your car: Otto
What are you doing at the moment: Procrastinating
Relationship status: Sadie
What is on your t.v: Wii
When is the last time you laughed: Today
When is the last time you cried: Forgotten

My Old Friend David, the Sperminator?

2007-09-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

I just received this email from David Anderson:

Subject: Anderson 3-peat, the quiver is full!

Yesterday during the ultrasound we saw 3 bodies and 3 heartbeats. Nancy and I are going to have triplets. Praise God! We are very excited and very anxious. Pray for these 3 wonderful lives that God has given us. Pray that they would live and they would love Christ. She is only 10 weeks along.

Holy &^%*. I'm speechless. I immediately called David on the phone, wondering if maybe he was pulling my leg as I'd just spent the morning with Nancy on Saturday and she told me she was pregnant again but didn't look any bigger in the belly than any other nearly-12-week pregnant woman. But nope, it's for real. And an au naturale impregnation, to boot--no drugs! David asked specifically for prayer that all three babies would thrive and live, as this is of course a risky pregnancy, and also for Nancy's state of mind. When these little Andersons join the world outside the womb they'll be making it a family of SEVEN--with all 5 kids under the age of 5. If I were Nancy I'd be going lead-in-the-hatband cuh-razy right about now . . .

Public Service Announcement

2007-08-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting inside my nice air-conditioned house, browsing my daily blogs, listening to the new Britney Spears single online (out of curiosity only, I assure you), and sipping on a fresh fruit smoothie. Meanwhile outside in my hotter-than-hades garage......a very nice and bearded older gentleman named Gerry is sweating up a storm sucking 100 pounds of lint and dust out of my dryer and dryer vents with his giant shop vac. (I would take pictures to post, but I'm too shy to ask him if I can take his photo for my little blog.) I had no idea what a big job it is to have your dryer cleaned. So after he'd been at it for about 15 minutes and thinking surely he must be nearly finished, I went out to ask how things were going. He replied, "Well, I only just got started...." (Uh oh. I immediately felt shamed and dirty, dirty, dirty.) He was in the process of reattaching the front panel of the dryer itself, having just finished vacuuming out all the interior mechanisms. And guess what? There'd been a little fire inside the dark inner recesses of my dryer! "Just a little one," Gerry assured me. But not a good sign. See, that's what these dryer fires are all about--the lint accumulates, gets really hot, ignites, and then if the conditions are dry enough and it gets enough oxygen, all the built-up lint in the unit and in your vents bursts into flame. And then you and all your belongings are crispy critters! Ok, maybe not, but it can be bad. Very, very bad. Not to mention expensive. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that there are 24,000 lint-related dryer fires in the United States each year, resulting in $96,000,000 in property damages. So considering this dryer is 10 years old and I've never had it serviced before, I'll gladly learn from this close call and be grateful that's all it was. So my PSA for today: Call someone to come clean out your dryer vents! Gerry said it should be done once every 5 years. I used Machado Environmental, in case you're interested. They were very nice and professional, called last night to confirm my appointment time, Gerry arrived 5 minutes early, spent a solid hour working, didn't leave a mess, replaced two duct clamps that had corroded, and it all cost $120. Well worth it, I assure you. Oh, and as he left, he asked if I'd be "willing to read about common sense living." Thinking it was a little booklet on household safety precautions, I replied with a hearty "Sure!" After he'd pulled out of the driveway I looked at the flap, and it's a Scientology book called "The Way to Happiness." Oy.

Thursday Morning Meltdown

2007-08-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

Latimes.com headline: Big-rig Crash Slows 210 in Pasadena "Slows"? Slows?!?!?!?!?!! It took me 2 and a half hours to get to work this morning. And it's a 19-mile commute. 19 miles!!! Thats 7.6 miles per hour, in case you were curious. And for, oh, I'd say about 18 of those miles I had to go to the bathroom. And had cramps with no Advil anywhere within the confines of the car.

Needless to say, I'm in a bad mood.

And my hatred for big-rig trucks has deepened considerably.

The Comet

2007-08-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

When it comes, after all the waiting in
darkness over many days, over years and
centuries, all who saw it last will be gone,
as all who see it now will be.

When it dips and its tail flares a million
miles of light, ask yourself how much pain
is worth it, because when this comes again
you will be nothing. Nothing you know
will exist, nothing you felt, no one you
touched.

When you see this streak blurred like a
spotlight in clouds against black infinity,
hesitate, then pick up your guns and go on,
but never blame this moment for what
might have been. What might have been is
always at hand a crucial second before
passing, in reach long enough to change the
course.

There's nothing romantic about love.
Romantic is a description of ways in which
we treat one another, but love is the equal
of death and life--everything ends and
everything starts at its touch.

--George Evans

Office Pet Peeve #982

2007-08-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

When a coworker enters your office to deliver a piece of mail, document, fax, requested item, [fill in blank of inconsequential office work-related item here], etc. and while you are busily typing up a storm or talking on the phone or picking at your cuticles or whatever they stand there holding said item out to you--their hand literally hovering over your tray clearly marked INBOX--and wait for you to stop what you're doing to physically reach out and take it from them and drop it into your own inbox. Grrr, arg.

Movie Review: Miss Potter

2007-08-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

There are times of the year when I get more than my money's worth on my Netflix subscription. But most of the time I'm pretty sure I end up spending $10 or so per dvd because I let them gather dust for weeks and weeks without watching or returning any. I try not to think about it too hard, because I love the convenience of Netflix, "shopping" for movies, making lists (I love lists!), and frankly I just don't want to admit that it might not be all that cost effective. For the last, I don't know, five weeks or so I've had the same three movies stacked on top of the player, waiting to be viewed (just did the math: that's $7.08 per dvd--ack!), and yesterday I blew the dust off one of them and sat down to watch.

Miss Potter is based on the life story of Beatrix Potter, the British author of The Tales of Peter Rabbit and many other beloved children's classics. It stars Renee Zellweger as Beatrix and Ewan McGregor as her publisher and mustachioed love of a lifetime, Norman. Honestly, I don't have a whole lot to say about the movie itself. It was pretty run of the mill British period drama, kinda slow paced and a little dull at times. But fans of her illustrations might like the bits of animation sprinkled throughout the film, although I personally found them to be awkward and inconsistent. They also served to highlight something that grated on me the whole movie: Either Renee Zellweger failed completely at capturing "endearingly quirky" in her portrayal, or Beatrix Potter was across the board cuh-razy. She kept telling everyone that her drawings were "real," called them "my friends," talked to them, scolded them for being cheeky, etc. I think the intention was to be cute, but instead it was disturbing and creepy. And the way Renee played it, I wondered if the movie was going to end with her being commited to an asylum. (Or a "sanitarium," as I suppose they would have called it back then. In case you're interested, that doesn't happen--despite one highly-justifiable bout of depression.) So I felt pretty blah about the story, script, and all that. However, I do have some things to rant about.....

One, that promotional poster? It has to be doctored, because Renee Zellweger's eyes are like half that size. And throughout the whole first half of this movie they're more like one-fourth that size, because she keeps her face screwed up into a prissy, tight, painfully pursed expression nonstop. I think it's in Breakfast of Champions that Kurt Vonnegut draws an illustration of what he thinks an anus looks like (sorry, I know this is too crude for some of you, so forgive me), and it looked something like this: That's what Renee's face looked like for a good full hour. In fact, this illustration was just about all I could think of whenever I looked at her because, kids, her mouth looked exactly like that. I mean it.

The second half of the movie she looked like Frumpy McFrumperton, a la Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (remember how bad she looked in that???): This photo has to be doctored, too, because she doesn't look all that bad. But I'm telling you, in the film the girl looked broke down. Hair all akimbo, complexion rough, skin red and splotchy like a spanked behind..... Was their budget so low that they couldn't afford hair and makeup people? She's a beautiful girl and quite capable of looking radiant and lovely. Why, then, does she so frequently appear in movies looking like a boiled chicken? I truly don't get it.

Let's see....what else bugged me......? That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'll post a revision should anything come to mind......

All Spruced Up

2007-08-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Being ten years old, it was time for our townhome complex to receive a fresh coat of paint! BEFORE: Dated color scheme, water-stained stucco, faded greenish-teal trim. AFTER: Hello, lovely.

Grandma and The King

2007-08-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Thirty years ago today, Elvis Presley shook his markedly unholy pelvis right on through the pearly gates. It's also the third anniversary of my maternal grandma Leona's passing, but I never realized until today that they had the date in common. As I was driving in to work this morning listening to the radio djs reminisce about The King, I imagined him there in heaven sharing a porch swing with my fine, strong, midwestern grandma, winning her over with some good old gospel tunes. And I had to smile. (Photo credited to the AP)