Sweetpea's Patch

Christmas Card 2011 Edition

2011-12-10T21:21:00.001-08:00

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

NaBloPoMo Post #30 - Zapped Again

2011-11-30T22:10:00.000-08:00

Stella and I are awash in cold virus nastiness, and Rick ate something that made his mouth and tongue angry. A plumber is coming in tomorrow to fix both shower knobs - one is broken and hardly lets any hot water through to fill the tub, which doesn't fill because the plug is leaking, and the other won't quite stop dripping. There are lots of things to be annoyed about but, at the end of this month of blogging and daily posts of thanksgiving on Facebook, I know that am still so very blessed. My problems are primarily first world in nature. I have family and friends who love me. I have the promise of eternal life because of the love of a Father who will never give up on me. In the end it's all going to be OK.

Good night, my dear Internets.

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NaBloPoMo Post #29 - Brushes with Greatness

2011-11-29T23:23:00.001-08:00

Weird Al shook my hand after a concert and thought he recognized me from somewhere. Considering the guy is brilliant and has an incredible memory (really), I'm thinking I must have an identical twin somewhere. He also left me a polite voice mail, with his regrets that he would be on tour and unable to be a judge for Songfest.

When I was but in single digits, my uncle by marriage was the mayor of Fresno, and had a bit part in the Fresno miniseries. I missed meeting Carol Burnett, who played a main character, by all of five minutes. Coincidentally, I watched Annie today just so I could enjoy her performance; she's hilarious.

We sat behind dick Van Dyke (lovely) and his wife (grumpy) at a Swingle Singers concert at Pepperdine. A true triple threat, he dissected each final chord and all but sang along at times; it was so much fun to be near someone having so much fun!

We saw Zach Roloff at the Portland airport. I recognized him and a couple of his friends from TLC's Little People, Big World.

I recognized zero famous people in all my time hanging out in Malibu while working at and attending Pepperdine. I must be clueless, because that town is lousy with them.

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NaBloPoMo Post #28 - Generic Posts are Awesome!

2011-11-28T23:10:00.000-08:00

I don't have much for you tonight. The camera is full of pictures from August on not yet downloaded. MetaFilter was boring tonight. The new Pottermore website is in beta, and I can't get on yet. I'm annoyed by something on Facebook - a mommy drive-by that is irritating me. Our Sticky Notes practice went well tonight; why do we sound so good when Diane shows up and waves her arms around while we are singing? I enjoy working on intonation and phrasing, because the "before" and "after" are so different.

So, there you go. 28 days down, two more to go. Cheers.

NaBloPoMo Post #27 -

2011-11-27T23:14:00.000-08:00

This is what we did tonight - just shy of a dozen songs at the Community Christmas Tree lighting ceremony for Rancho Cordova. Not pictured are the super-slide stage left, the Ferris wheel across the parking lot, and the bazillion people there enjoying nachos and kettle corn etc. We couldn't hear ourselves (but otherwise sound was very good,) holy COW it was cold, and the stage was wobbling ominously the entire time we were up there. Still, it was a very successful event, and I am proud of how involved our church is in our community. Thanks to Coy our DM and all-around awesome dude for the post on YouTube within minutes of us leaving the stage!

NaBloPoMo Post #26 - Zap

2011-11-26T23:08:00.000-08:00

My first experience with a microwave was in the smarty pants pull-out program of my elementary school. There was a new one in the teacher's lounge, and our little group tried a recipe for fortune cookies made in the microwave. I don't remember how they tasted - I have a vague recollection that they were inedible - but I remember the teacher making us stand all the way across the room while it was nuking the little disks of batter. I thought that it may explode or cook us where we stood, and was a little afraid of the radioactive food that came out.

We got a microwave in the late 70's, I believe, and it was HUGE. A large melamine bowl on top held fruit occasionally but usually contained a cat, napping in that warm and protected spot. Vegetables went in frozen or tepid from a can and came out steaming. It was a very large appliance for warming a mug of water.

When Grandma would serve a meal, her plate would be made up last and almost always take a trip through the microwave - she liked her food piping hot, and "zapped it" until it was steaming. She also taught me to warm up Twizzlers for a few seconds in the hot box.

Combination convection oven-microwave oven units confuse me. Is it a microwave or not? Can I keep that metal rack inside or does it need to be taken out? Will things brown or what?

The Pampered Chef has several microwave cake recipes that steam a cake in something like 12 minutes. They also have a wonderful deep dish baker that will cook dozens of delicious recipes with a decidedly mid western flair, theoretically getting dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less. I didn't try the main dishes, but I liked the microwave cakes, and I do have the deep dish baker. I also have a recipe for a microwave brownie in a mug that is ready in one and one half minutes. It sounds great and I'd love to make it immediately, but...

I didn't realize how much I used our microwave until it sort of kinda exploded and I had to deposit it on the patio for a few days until we could take it to an ecycling facility. I would warm up a lot of Stella's food and the same mug of coffee several times over every day. It defrosted a pound of ground beef rapidly with the touch of one button. I could tell it how many potatoes or slices of cold pizza were in there and press go, and it would take care of business. I could add one minute any time I wanted to. RIP awesome microwave. The counter looks bare and weird without you there. You served us faithfully, your radio waves and multi-directional carousel faithfully agitating water molecules for almost six years. I didn't appreciate the black smoke coming from all your vents in the end, though. Microwaves are such dramatic appliances.

NaBloPoMo Post #25 - Plus One

2011-11-25T23:06:00.000-08:00

Number of teeth Stella had yesterday: 7
Number of teeth Stella has today: 8

NaBloPoMo Post #24 - Thanks

2011-11-24T22:11:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting on the floor, watching Stella wipe her nose over and over again with a saline wipe. Rick is half-dozing a few feet away. We are winding down, having survived another family Thanksgiving, with all the noise and craziness and wonderful togetherness that ties and binds and sometimes annoys...I'm thankful for family, far and near.

We did a little art project today - I showed the kids how to do rubbings of leaves, on which they wrote for what they were thankful, and attached them to a paper tree drawing Rick concocted. We were thankful for Grace, for Jesus, for leaves and our puppy dogs. One niece wrote she was thankful for her sister ("sometimes"), a nephew was thankful for Love. Rick was thankful for whipped cream. We were all thankful for being together, to share a meal that was fussed over with love, at several tables because there's just too many of us for one normal table, and isn't that wonderful in itself? I hope you have days like this, my dear Internets, ordinary blended with realization of how the "ordinary" isn't so common, but precious. Happy Thanksgiving.

NaBloPoMo Post #23 - Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

2011-11-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

Things I've Won, A Life List:

1. A tambourine, circa 3rd grade
2. A three pack of holiday flavored coffees, two weeks before crippling morning sickness made it necessary to DITCH the stuff unopened, untried, unmourned
3. An Ella's Kitchen insulated lunch bag, yesterday

NaBloPoMo Post #22 - Last Weekend, As Promised

2011-11-22T23:52:00.000-08:00

Saturday: Leisurely breakfast, good girlie napping, and then out the door by 3:00 for the church where our singing group was performing in a concert for Agape Villages, a private foster care organization. The 20+ members of Sticky Notes (the name is another story) crammed into a space about as big as my kitchen with a whole lot of microphones aimed in our general direction, and gave it our best shot. The audience was vocal and surprisingly enthusiastic. It's exciting to be a part of a group with an overall good deal of talent, able to do events like this, singing meaningful music.

The second group came from the Bay area, and one of its members, the baritone, was running late, but as they say the show must go on. They sounded good, but it was obvious something was missing. Halfway through their set, the missing member trotted down the aisle and right up on stage, and it was as if a different group was singing. Within five seconds I had squinted at him and murmured to Rick, "He sounds just like Robert," a friend with whom we had sung in the past who is now teaching in Liberia (as in Africa, where the malaria is - it turns out he's back in the US for a few months to be treated.) Then the baritone laughed a bit in between songs and we both squinted at him...he laughed just like Robert. He looked just like Robert, but not exactly. Someone leaned over and informed us that we weren't crazy, he was Robert's son Stacy...running a bit late, just like Robert!

Sunday: Up early, but never quite early enough to not rush to worship team mic-up and sound check at 8, followed by first service at 9 am, class at 10:20 am, and second service at 11:30 am. Sundays are hard on Stella, but it helps that she LOVES class and Teacher (her "Ti-tr" Miss Vivian even looks like the teacher in the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book.) So, she basically skips her morning nap and gets a late lunch. Lunch out with friends at 1 pm, then home, theoretically for a nap for Stella which she skipped, before doubling back to practice at 4:30 pm for the Christmas tree lighting event for Rancho Cordova in which we are performing next Sunday. After a brief devotional at 6 pm we dove in again until 7 pm. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

Monday: Migraine day, what joy is mine. We had a normal weekly Sticky Notes practice at 6:30 pm, this time preparing for our pieces in the Christmas Cantata on December 11th. We finished on time, at 8 pm. Last night's wind-down included a rather large cup of herbal tea.

NaBloPoMo Post #21 - We Interrupt This Post...

2011-11-21T23:25:00.001-08:00

...for a day-long migraine. Tomorrow, my dear Internets. Pinky swear.

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NaBloPoMo Post #20 - Ugh

2011-11-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

My dear Internets, you're on your own tonight. I'll tell you about this crazy weekend tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo Post #19 - Avast, Ye Scurvy Dogs!

2011-11-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the short post last night - I had to go swab a poop deck.

While working in Student Activities at Pepperdine, I was ~~suckered into~~ accepted a request to become the faculty/staff advisor for the Swashbuckler Society, a group of "pirate aficionados" whose primary activities would be eating rum cake and watching pirate movies. It wasn't as weird as it sounds, truly, and the students organizing it were good peeps. The sole rum cake I was aware of was ordered with club dues early in the year, came through our office, and was inspected for its actual rum content (Pepperdine being a dry campus) before being passed along. Even the president of the club was overwhelmed by the powerful rum stank and passed it up. I was familiar with a grandmother-made rum cake that was more like a vanilla bunt cake with a bit of a glaze...this thing was lethally infused by people who meant business.

Anyway, the club lasted a year, and participated in one big event - an SGA sponsored showing of the newly-released first Pirates of the Caribbean movie in Alumni Park. The night was cool, and the fog illuminated the projector's beam onto the big screen in front of us in a delightfully eerie way, adding to the deliciously spooky feel of the opening of the film. The Swashbucklers dressed up and sold "grog" to benefit their charity, the Military Widows and Orphans Society (because dead men tell no tales, and they don't bring home a paycheck, either.)

So. That's my pirate story. I always wanted them to organize a campus-wide sacking of the dorms, coordinated with the fencing club, that involved fundraising to avoid having the dorms scuttled or the resident advisors taken hostage. Can you imagine the (prearranged and rehearsed, of course) hysterical theatrics of a sword fight on the overlooking hallway above the dorm lobby, and wenches being carried off?

NaBloPoMo Post #18 - The One About Pirates

2011-11-18T23:51:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, I'm going to tell you a tale of pirate afficinatos and their exploits on a foggy coastal evening. But not tonight.

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NaBloPoMo Post #17 - Long Nights

2011-11-17T22:54:00.001-08:00

Due to two teeth making their appearance, Stella has *such* a big Sad! Daytime naps are generally fine, with a little help from teething tablets or a bit of ibuprofen, but nighttime sleep is hard right now. I wish I could explain to her that it will be better soon. It's humbling to know that my mere presence is enough to comfort her. With that, I'm off to bed, to try to catch an hour or two before I'm needed again.

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NaBloPoMo Post #16 - Memory

2011-11-16T10:04:00.000-08:00

I volunteered at Saint Agnes hospital as a candy striper (that's "stripe-er", not "strip-er", thankyouverymuch!) and had access to a few perks they had set up for employees and volunteers. The best was a Disney discount club, through which we booked a vacation when I was 15. Three nights in the Disneyland Hotel, three-day passes to Disneyland, and three excited people - me, Mom, and Grandma.

The highlight of the trip, for me at least, was taking Grandma on Star Tours. It was fairly new, so we were in line for a while. Mom and I would look at each other nervously when we passed the mandatory warning signs explaining that this ride simulated a turbulent trip through space in which disembowelment was likely and riders could expect to be folded, spindled, and mutilated, yadda yadda etc. etc. etc. Would this be too much for her? Would she be hurt, or hate us as she hurtled through space toward her doom doom doom DOOM? We exchanged a last look as we strapped in - too late to back out now.

Grandma cackled and screamed with delight through the whole ride, and exited laughing and wiping away tears.

I miss you, Grandma. Happy birthday last Saturday.

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NaBloPoMo Post #15 - Hello, Waldo

2011-11-15T23:15:00.000-08:00

I don't like the fact that every move I make and every action I take with my iPhone is tagged with my location at the time. I don't know why this makes me a little jumpy. If I wanted everyone in the world to know where I was when I commented on your silly video on Facebook, I'd leave it in the comments.

THAT SAID...I stalk my blog statistics during NaBloPoMo. I've had readers from Hungary and Australia, and there are lurkers skulking about on a regular basis. Howdy. Thanks for reading. My blog statistics are a free package so I don't have loads of data on you all, and wouldn't know how to interpret it if I did, but I'd love a ping in the comments from time to time, if you so choose. Here - I'll give you a topic.

The perfect cup of coffee is...

My answer is either, a) a cappuccino while sitting in the perfect window seat of a small cafe in an achingly charming little European city which overlooks a bustling outdoor market, with a vacation of at least two weeks stretching in front of me, or b) a grande three pump toffee nut latte accompanied by a warmed up morning bun at Starbucks with my guy and girlie on a Saturday morning, on the way to somewhere fun, like Costco, or Ikea, or the bank.

NaBloPoMo Post #14 - Breaded

2011-11-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

I grew up eating Roman Meal bread. It was brown and sort of squishy, but nothing like the airy pillows of Wonder Bread many of my friends ate. My friend Isabelle was the exception, as her mother was French and they had to-die-for bread whenever I visited, along with pain au chocolate and other wonderful discoveries. They also introduced me to mustard that wasn't bright yellow. French's, it turns out, isn't all that French.

When she stayed with my dad and I while I was visiting him in London, my Granny Stella's breakfasts fascinated me. She would start with toast with jam and then transition from sweet to savory, next having toast with Marmite. It seems that Marmite is like cilantro - one either loves it with almost religious fervor or abhorrs it. It may also be genetic. I dig Marmite.

Did you know the strain of yeast in the famous San Francisco sourdough bread is local to that area - "lactobacillus san francisco"? When the Boudin bakery opened a branch in Sacramento, the starter received a police escort from the Bay. That starter has been alive and burping for over 80 years, I do believe.

When we win the lottery, I will stock at least six different flours in the house at all times - AP (unbleached), whole wheat, bread, self-rising, and pastry/cake (low-protein). I'll also rotate in specialty flours as needed. One of my goals is to always be within a few hours of a really, really good loaf of home-made bread. The No-Knead Bread Recipe first published in the NY Times and Cook's Illustrated's version, Almost No-Knead Bread, both fascinate me with their alchemy of gluten production over time in a very moist sponge, little yeasty beasties happily burping away as the strands of gluten form, align, and relax into the perfect mesh to contain all that CO2. The crust has just the right crunch, and the interior is craggy and chewy as if someone spent a lot if time massaging that dough into submission.

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NaBloPoMo Post #13 - Variation On a Theme

2011-11-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

Apple cupcakes:

White cake mix or follow your favorite white cake recipe
Icing tinted red-ish or green-ish
Red or green decorative sugar
Green fruit leather or green taffy strips
Thin pretzel sticks
A handful or so of chocolate chips
Gummi worms (optional)

Bake white cake cupcakes. When cool, poke three chocolate chips to the center of each cupcake as "seeds" and embrace the divet you made as the top of the apple. Ice with frosting tinted red-ish or green-ish, and then sprinkle liberally with red or green decorative sugar. Now, cut leaves from the fruit leather or mold them from the taffy. They should be a bit longer than normal, perhaps 1.5" wide. Break a pretzel stick so that two thirds remain - eat the other third. Poke the leaf into the cupcake with the broken end of pretzel stick, leaving the nice side up as a stem with a leaf. Depending on your target audience, place gummi worms on top of the apples. Done and done.

There are dozens of variations on decorating these, with a bite taken out and seeds showing, with marzipan or fondant leaves, with multiple leaves, with apple spice cupcakes...

NaBloPoMo Post #12 - Perfect Day

2011-11-12T23:42:00.000-08:00

Very few things could make today more relaxing or enjoyable than it was. Until now. I want to go to sleep, my dear Internets; instead, I am thwacking my head against my desk in frustration for want of a good topic. Here -our favorite broccoli recipe, schlepped to a potluck party tonight and frankly devoured:

Steam as many broccoli florets, 1-2" long, as you want to serve. Heat 2-4 T olive oil (depending on your broccoli volume) in a large skillet, and either mince 4-6 cloves of garlic or put them through a press. Anthony Bourdain says if you can't be bothered to chop your garlic yourself you don't deserve to eat it, but he's an over-opinionated stinker and I like my garlic press. Drain the broccoli well and toss into the hot pan with the garlic. You can add some hot sauce (Chinese ketchup - the one with the rooster on the bottle) to the oil just before adding the broccoli if you wish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until there are browned bits on the broccoli but don't burn the garlic - it gets horribly bitter. We often top this with a shaving of fresh Parmesan.

NaBloPoMo Post #11 - Eleven Eleven Eleven

2011-11-11T21:39:00.000-08:00

Please go read this from two years ago. Then this, from a few years earlier.

One of the books we collected for Stella is a "patriotic primer" - V is for Valor, shown by those who've kept us free. The page lists dozens of of the thousands of Americans who have been awarded the Medal of Honor since 1863, when it was first presented. The president gives the medal of honor as this nation's highest decoration, recognizing, "gallantry at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty." Accounts of the valorous service of Medal of Honor recipients can be found on the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's web site, www.cmohs.org.

Thank you, veterans. You all deserve medals, and parades, and families and doggies and a grateful nation running to meet you when you finally come home.

NaBloPoMo Post #10 - No, Really

2011-11-10T23:57:00.001-08:00

Tonight was my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group spa night - massage students, chocolate tasting, mani/pedi station, foot soaks, warm neck wraps, good friends, and good conversation - it all made for one relaxed mama, even when my freeway exit was closed and I had to go six miles out of my way to get home.

We moms are used to putting our wants and needs on the back burner; too often they're left there to smolder and overcook. No time to flesh this topic out - suffice it to say I needed this break tonight. Rick's three day weekend without any specific obligations or plans will help, too. More tomorrow.

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NaBloPoMo Post #9 - Why There Was No Eight

2011-11-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

I seriously can't remember what day of the month it is lately. Now that I have Friday mentally fixed as the 11th, the rest of the month will be much smoother, posting-wise.

What a difference a year makes:

Apple cider donuts at Rainbow Orchards.

Stella got some of her own this year. Next year she may demand a whole one, or two. You betcha, Cricket.

NaBloPoMo Post #9 - Reading

2011-11-08T22:58:00.001-08:00

In my bedside bookcase (yes, a bookcase, a table would groan and collapse):
- Anne of the Island (Montgomery)
- Understood Betsy (Canfield)
- Joy In the Morning (Smith)
- The Jesus I Never Knew (Yancey)
- My Utmost For His Highest (Chambers)
- three different Bibles
- Mansfield Park (Austen)
- The Arabian Nights (Burton translation)
- a couple of Pride & Prejudice spin-off novels that are pure trash
- A Year With C. S. Lewis
- The Cost of Discipleship (Bonhoeffer)
- Interweave Knits magazine, Fall 2009
- Tea Time For the Traditionally Built (McCall Smith)
- A whole lotta yarn

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NaBloPoMo Post #7 - Why There Is No Six

2011-11-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

I was tired and forgot what day of the month it was. The end.

So! I missed that Saturday was National Candy Day. I should have posted this:

Because I love commentaries and extra goodies on DVDs, I should have then posted this:

Good night my dear Internets.

NaBloPoMo Post #5 - Birthday Insanity, In Pictures

2011-11-06T22:36:00.000-08:00

If I have any readership at all, I left you hanging at eleven months. Stella's twelfth month was a whirl of travel and two parties - one in Riverside, sharing Uncle Andy's birthday party on the 21st, and another at home the weekend before her actual birthday.

I admit I may have gone a little nuts for Stella's first birthday party. I wanted to thank and celebrate with the people who were part of Stella's first year. It was her party, of course, but it was really for the people who came. So - pink lemonade, but also iced coffee. Nibbles that would appeal to adults as well as the kids. I also wanted an excuse to run crepe streamers through my sewing machine to make them ruffle.

Since she started solids, our little tater tot has eaten mostly organic, whole grain, and nutrition-loaded fare, so it only seemed right to plunk a devil's food cupcake (box mix - sorry, Aunt Carolyn) with frosting (from a can, oh dear) and sprinkles in front of her. She was remarkably methodical in devouring it, and then she ran in circles in the family room with her cousins for twenty minutes, flapping her arms like a loonybird. This was also an opportunity to start some traditions. For instance, every year Stella will have a Mom-made party hat. If she has been particularly obnoxious, it may just have five inches of fringe or a few rows of bobbles at the bottom.

I concocted reusable fabric bunting and Ikea paper napkin flowers. Hooray for the internets, and all the simple but fancy ideas to decorate for a party! I owe particular debts to Made, a new favorite site for inspiration and sewing tutorials, and to Julie Nervo and her garage of party wonders, from whence came cupcake towers and a gargantuan drink dispenser for the pink lemonade.

We threw lots of pictures on the wall and, most importantly, filled the house with family and good friends. It was a Party.

NaBloPoMo Post#5 - It's Here!

2011-11-05T23:47:00.000-07:00

My second favorite day of the year is here. My very favorite is the day it first rains after a long, dry summer. This one is almost as monumental - the end of daylight savings time, and an extra hour of sleep, glorious sleep. As a cherry on top, it's raining - double plus good. Good night, my dear Internets.

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NaBloPoMo Post #4 - Phoning It In

2011-11-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not actually phoning it in, because suspect Stella found and hid my iPhone - if I'm lucky, it isn't in the diaper pail. Tomorrow morning we have a session with a real photographer, taking real pictures, for the first time, well, ever. I've admired this photographer's work from other friends' posted pictures, and we get her all to ourselves in Old Town Sacramento for a "mini-session" of 25 minutes, with a CD of some good ones and reasonable pricing for any further prints we want made. It will be chilly, under 50* F during our session, so I decided to go insane and knit a hat for Stella tonight. I have one inch or so to go. Believe it or not, this is the first thing I've knit for Stella. My cousin's daughter, four days older than our girl, got a lovely sweater when she was born for which I have the yarn to knit another, but haven't started. I have a lot of yarn and so many fun patterns to choose from; it's time to get cracking. Speaking of which, I have a hat to finish!

(We just found my phone - it had tipped out of my purse earlier this evening.)

NaBloPoMo Post #3 - Interview

2011-11-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

(No, I don't have a job interview.)

I once read a set of interview questions that a child's parents were asking each year on their kidlet's birthday, and liked the idea enough to file it away for future reference. I don't think I'll be putting something as crazy as this together, but I'll try to be interesting!

An adorable birthday book published by a favorite author does a great job with this, and I recently found another - a children's clothing catalog, of all things (Boden again! Lurve them!) asks the models questions and prints answers by their pictures. Here's a selection:

I love the word ______.
Cure for sadness: _______.
My mother will agree to almost anything if: _______.
Daydream destination: _______.
Best present: _______.
Parent's favorite saying: _______.
My worst habit: _______.
The nicest thing someone's ever done for me: _______.
A real friend will: _______.
If I ran the world: _______.
Holiday/vacation treat: _______.
Animal I'd like to be: _______.
The biggest difference between boys and girls is: _______.
My most embarrassing moment: _______.
My favorite daydream: _______.

Do you have any you would add? I'm collecting!

NaBloPoMo Post #2 - Uniform

2011-11-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

As part of my job search, I am in the position of needing to rebuild a work wardrobe - things are not as they have been, post-baby, and I've been out of a business office with a dress code for quite some time. I've decided that the entire Boden catalog will do just fine, with a spattering of Anthropologie and a heavy-handed dash of Zappos. Rick suggested a couple of crisp white button-down shirts, and asked me if women's suits could be purchased with a skirt and trousers, like a man's suit might come with two pairs of pants. I blinked a few times, and was strongly reminded of a cookbook's recommendation that, if I did not have two whole eggs, I might substitute three egg yolks. It simply did not have a grasp of my problem.

Part of the problem is that I like wearing pretty things. My height and impossible shoe size - thanks, Dad! - make locating said pretty things well nigh impossible. I have been earnestly searching for a pair of simple, low-heeled boots in black or brown for five years. Sweaters rarely reach my wrists. Standard tees, which are reluctantly my uniform of the moment, are hard-pressed to fall comfortably past my waist. Tops with a bit of style rarely come in "tall." So, I rotate through my small collection of mom-wear and do laundry frequently.

It comes down to this...I feel frumpy. Dowdy. Lightly coated with Cheerio dust and mystery smudges of unknown origin. This is my current work wardrobe. Once I have a paycheck, I have some shopping to do.

NaBloPoMo Post #1 - Quiet

2011-11-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's quiet, except for the sound of the gusting wind that is whipping the leaves off of our black oak and scattering them in our neighbors' yards. Stella had a second dinner at 8:30 and was out by 9:15. I'm on my way to read in bed for a bit and go to sleep early tonight, and Rick is going to take the time to watch a movie that's been languishing in his streaming Netflix queue for a few months.

Yesterday, Stella added a word to her vocabulary - "please", in ASL (American Sign Language.) She doesn't understand it yet but makes the motion whenever she wants something or when cued to say "please", and I have hopes it will stick as a "friendly asking word", and a "way to show her good manners". We reinforce it with cheers, and try to oblige her request whenever she uses it, even if it is for yet another reading of Happy Hippo, Angry Duck. She has several words, understands dozens more - probably loads more than for what we give her credit - and is building her ASL vocabulary as well. There is a small Deaf community in our congregation who are eager for news of Stella's ASL progress, and they will love this one. I'm excited to be learning to sign with her, and hope to build my vocabulary and ASL language proficiency beyond basic baby ASL communication.

Rick abandoned his movie, as he was nodding off. So am I...g'night.

Month Eleven

2011-08-16T23:36:00.000-07:00

Three things from month eleven:

Houston, we have a walker! Stella is able to amble wherever she pleases (insert Greek chorus, wailing for the poor cat.) Crawling is more efficient, but she is getting good at popping up without pulling up on anything and walking where she wants to go.
We have caught Stella singing to herself in the car or while playing by herself. She has also matched the tone of a crying child across a room more than once. It's a little scary!
She prefers self-feeding, and as long as its the right size I feed it to her. She has learned the motion of dipping a spoon into a bowl of food and bringing it to her mouth with guidance, and is practicing using utensils during some meals. She likes everything.

Words!

2011-08-16T07:43:00.001-07:00

Mama
Dada
Kitty ("kih-eh!!)
All done ("ah deh!")
And probably fifteen others we don't understand.

Sent from my iPhone

Month Ten

2011-08-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Three things from month ten:

Road trip! We now know how Stella reacts to over 11 hours in the car in one day. We took a little jaunt up to Kirkland, WA to visit dear friends over a long weekend. We also introduced our girlie to friends in Sherwood, OR; their daily prayers over our pregnancy were almost tangible and truly sustained me in some rough patches. Their joy at squooging her at last was so great. It was satisfying to spend time with our friends and tote our little adaptable kidlet along. Total mileage roughly 1550. Subtract about 250 miles off of that and that's Stella's car trip limit. Sigh. The end of the day, after so many hours, was often rough. Still, she bounced, and so did we.
Mom visited the week after her birthday (yay!) and soaked in the babylove. Stella investigated an interesting sparkly thing near our table at Joe's Crab Shack, and ended up tweaking our waiter's rear. "Fresh baby!"
We're not imagining it - when the cat meows, Stella is meowing back at him!

Month Nine

2011-08-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

Three things from month nine:

Siiiiick baby. Stella had a nice toasty virus for a couple of days. Then she was All! Better! It was the first genuine bug she'd had, and she was so pathetic. She did a lot of hanging out on the couch with me and extra sleeping for a few days. I had a temp too, so it was just some random bug.
We went to the zoo for the first time, and enjoyed staring at the animals and just hanging out. The Sacramento zoo is nice and shady, across from a good little kids' amusement park area, and botanically interesting. The food, however, stinks.
New house gutters quickly followed by baby's first hailstorm. Osama Bin Laden was killed. Temporary cease fire negotiated with the cat. Tooth #3 popped out on 5/30, with three more to follow in the next week. It was an eventful month!

Month Eight

2011-08-13T01:51:00.000-07:00

Three things from month eight:

Sundays are hard on our girlie. She's off-schedule napwise, she is sometimes stuck in the nursery, where her reputation is that it's the crying destination, and when we're on worship team we're there almost all day. Separation anxiety at its finest. Still, she's easy to soothe, and in the end it's all ok.
We had our first real baby sitter (an adult friend who's a professional nanny) and went to see a production of Young Frankenstein with Rick's parents. Funnily enough, tonight - well, yesterday, as it's well into Saturday as I type - was our sixteenth anniversary, and the second time we've had a real babysitter. Stella was a trooper and had a fun time tonight, and we got to have a good conversation and a nice dinner.
We rapidly blew through two settings and lowered Stella's mattress to its lowest possible level, after coming in to find her standing in her crib with the rail below waist height!

Month Seven

2011-08-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

Three things about month seven:

We have organized crawling forward! Poor cat. Now, if he'd only move more than a foot away when she is bugging him...
Stella's six month immunizations really hit her hard - two days fever and vomiting. There's nothing quite like the grip holding your sick baby has on your heart. We rocked and rocked until one in the morning, with her sweaty little head on my shoulder, until I was sure she wasn't going to throw up again that night. She looked to me for comfort and found it. I prayed, and found my comfort there.
On March 30th, Stella had no teeth. On March 31st, she had two, on the bottom. I gave her a taste of whipped cream from my drink at Starbucks, and she grated those suckers along my finger! Helooo!

Phoning It In

2011-08-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

There are so many little things I'd easily forget if I wasn't intentional about making a note, or taking a picture. I still cringe looking at the note I made about "harmonica breathing" - an intentional wheezy, screechy, annoying sound Stella would make while inhaling to amuse herself in her car seat. I would have never remembered that in her first months she would tuck her thumbs in between her index and middle fingers, or the exact date I first contemplated cutting her out of an outfit instead of taking it off (TMI? Oh well!) I'm glad for Facebook and its record of my bleary-eyed posts, and I'm happy that I'm still trying to keep my daily five lines in a five-year diary. It's gone by so fast, and I didn't want to miss anything.

The monthly countdown continues tomorrow.

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Month Six

2011-08-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

Three things from month six:

We started limited solids this month - oatmeal, pears, carrots, simple things, and not too much, as she was doing very well nursing. Stella thoroughly enjoyed everything we placed in her little piehole. After six months with no "real" diaper pail, we had to go get one. These two events are connected.
Rick got a ManCold(tm) and shared it with me, but Stella didn't get so much as a sniffle. I was glad she was still nursing. The only times she had been sick were the day following immunizations.
Events included baby's first shuttle launch, Grandpa Trimble's visit, and beginning to go to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) at church. The nursery there became known as the place Stella would go to cry. She would typically last 20-30 minutes, enough time for me to grab some coffee. I never really minded it; part of her reaction was normal age-related separation anxiety, some was just that my little girl needed to be with me. Fast forward four months - she loves the nursery, enjoys class time, and engages and goes willingly to other people. A strong attachment, and the knowledge her mom has her back and comes when she needs me, gave her the confidence to be outgoing and, well, confident.

Month Five

2011-08-08T23:27:00.000-07:00

Three things about month five:

Stella's newfound mobility was in one direction - reverse. She would see a toy or the cat and all her hitching and wiggling and scooting would propel her further away from her goal, puzzling and frustrating her to no end!
She moved into her own room at night, but wouldn't always stay there. Most of my nightly terrifying, heart-pounding "disappearing baby" dreams stopped when she was no longer sleeping in the portacrib next to my side of the bed. They all but stopped when we started cosleeping from her early morning wake-up until our normal wake-up time. The four month sleep regression was kicking my rear. It is not to understand, but to endure!
More hair! Long eyelashes! Swoon!

Month Four

2011-08-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

Three and a half things about month four:

Stella became quite the acrobat - rolling over, assuming a piked position by grabbing her legs by whatever clothing she's wearing, snagging and slurping noisily on her toes, and twisting and turning every which way. She'd found her body, and was experimenting with all the ways it could move that she was able to manage. She also slept almost exclusively on her tummy. I know, I know. Without the harness, and with her new-found mobility and mad Houdini swaddle busting skills, she wouldn't sleep any other way.
1.5 Speaking of the harness, her orthopedic appointment went so well, with such normal x-rays, that she was released as a patient with no follow-up required. Not bad for a girlie whose loose hip joint had the doctor admit later that she had been worrying about her!
Hello, little miss personality! The "fourth trimester" of growth and development ended, leaving us a little girl eager to check out her world and interact with it. So! Much! Fun!
The height of weird hair loss coincided with Christmas family pictures. Oh well. :)

Today was a banner day - Stella had peanut butter for the first time. In small doses, I'm glad to have another source of protein to add to her self-feeding diet. She prefers feeding herself, and is becoming efficient in clearing her tray. If I help her load a fork, she can usually get the contents to her mouth. I'm teaching her the ASL sign for "all done" - hold your hands out palms up, then flip them palms down - but she seems to prefer banging on her tray until I notice she's eaten all she wants to right now, thanks Mom, with Cheerios bouncing and raining down on the kitchen floor. She is also very proficient in using a sippy cup; we skipped bottles entirely, thank goodness. While doing errands, my purse usually contains a sippy cup of ice water (she likes it cold) and a fine layer of Cheerio dust at the bottom, the baggy of Os being the preferred form of bribery to get us through a shopping trip at Costco or the grocery store.

Month Three

2011-08-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

Three things from month three:

All that cute fluffy hair started falling out. By the end of of the month little strands would be sticking to Rick's goatee after he held her. By Christmas she had an old man fringe around the back and the makings for a fantastic comb over.
Right fist discovery was rapidly followed by left fist discovery. I would watch her rotating a fist slowly in the air while staring at it for fifteen minutes.
My dear friend Holly visited at the beginning of the month, and we visited Nana in Fresno at the end of the month for Thanksgiving. While in Fresno, we took off her hip dysplasia harness a few days early; it needed to be adjusted after a growth spurt and she was obviously uncomfortable. She slept well that night for the first time in weeks.

I would write more, but The Force is strong with this child tonight - she's still up, hours after she should be in bed, even after a car ride down the freeway and back again. She's cheerful, she's talkative, she's AWAKE.

Month Two

2011-08-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Three things from Stella's second month:

The quantity of lint she managed to stash in between her fingers and in her belly button was fascinating. We were thankful she was not a spitter, so there was no "neck cheese" to deal with...
Sleep was all over the board, but developmentally right on track. I was glad to discover The Wonder Weeks, a week by week guide to intellectual development in a baby's first year or two - stormy times indicate big surges in development and can be predicted, explained, understood, but most of all, endured. Anyway, I was given one night of 6 1/2 hours of sleep in a row this month, and haven't seen one like it since. It's okay. Coffee is my friend.
Stella gave up her spot as youngest grandkid with the birth of Tim and Tonya's youngest boy at the end of the month. She'll show him the ropes, like a good older cousin.

Month One

2011-08-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

Three things that helped us in her first month:

The Happiest Baby on the Block - Fantastic book and DVD on how to understand and soothe a baby to sleep and contentment in its first three months. The five S's saved us! (Swaddling, Shushing, Swinging/Swaying, Side/Stomach lying position while being held, and Sucking.) Stella was in that accursed but necessary harness for three months so our swaddle was modified, but it WORKED. Aiden & Anais muslin swaddling blankets are wonderful. They aren't too hot, they're huge and stretchy, and so useful (nursing coverup, lightweight blanket, sun shield, lovey) that even a year later I almost always have one in Stella's bag. Gotta love a good multitasker.
Starbucks. A whole lot of Starbucks. Andy and Carolyn sent us customized gift cards, with Stella's statistics, and we blew through those things mighty quickly. We now know where all the drive-through Starbucks are in a ten mile radius.
Rick took six weeks off. The first was spent staring at me and waiting for me to go into labor, but after that was golden time. Having him here the month of September was awesome. He was able to spend time getting comfortable as a daddy, and it shows in how confident and hands-on he is now. He also made sure my needs were met, so that I could meet Stella's needs. Now, the same week Stella was born, his Kindle shipped, so when he wasn't taking care of me or Stella, he was plowing through one of the six (6!) books he read that month. Stella spent a lot of time nursing that first month, so he had a little time on his hands!

Our Story So Far (part two)...

2011-08-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

(she is becoming increasingly difficult to photograph!)

Our Story So Far (part one)...

2011-08-02T23:04:00.000-07:00

31 Days

2011-08-01T23:28:00.000-07:00

In one month mah bay-bee turns one year old. It seems like a few months, tops. I can blame a good chunk of the lost time on sleep deprivation and its accompanying amnesia, which assures the species will continue - This isn't so bad! Let's have another! - but the rest? I sit in wonder and start at her little face, boop her on the nose, grin at her giggle which is just emerging, as her development seems to be catching up to her sense of humor. How do you sum up a year in 31 days? Stay tuned, my friends.

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Remembering

2011-01-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas or Thanksgiving, Grandma would come with her trunk of wonders. She would arrive with shallow boxes full of of goodies - cornbread and biscuits already baked and ready to be made into dressing, par-baked pie crusts, a Ziploc baggie or two of persimmon cookies, and the best pecan pie ever. I remember waking up to the smell of baking and concocting in the kitchen, and the sound of Grandma and Mom discussing whether the dressing needed more salt or not. The giant stainless steel bowl seemed to hold gallons of the stuff. Later, Grandma would play piano with me - chopsticks, or Heart and Soul. She taught me the bass line for both.

This one is more shadowy, as I was so small. When we went to visit Grandpa and Grandma, Grandpa would walk the block to Shafter High with me and basically let me raid the student store he managed. I remember marbled Life Savers lollipops and chewy beef jerky, riding on his shoulders, and the smell of burning leaves in the air.

Be It Resolved

2011-01-04T23:12:00.000-08:00

I wanted to, really. Every time I went online, though, intending to post things like this, and write about how great it is that Daniel is a nerd too (squee!) and on a more serious note, my first experience in Chemistry using E=MC^2 and my fascination that it worked, and how interesting it is that they are going to be retooling the Periodic Table to reflect relative weights of elements in different states -

I ended up watching things like this. Unfortunately, the worst of the language is in the preview pane.

I admit, not one of my finest moments. Posting energy has been in short supply. While I want to talk about Stella's first Christmas, all the normal drama and the gift-tastic cra-zee that was our family's gathering, I'm distracted by a diaper emergency, and perhaps my need of a cup of coffee or two to get through our girl's latest night of disjointed sleep (oh my dear Internets, the horror, the horror) and then my sentences ramble on off into the bushes where I want to show you how I can gather berries and, really, get through most of my day using only one hand, the other being occupied holding a wiggling four month old (hey, Kaiser and your appointment checklists? BAD MOTHER ALERT!) over whom I am DRINKING a cup of HOT COFFEE. Oh, coffee. You are proof that God loves us and wants us to be alert.

Please note that Stella is consistently down for the night between 8 and 8:30 without much fuss at all. We had people over last night, which pushed her bedtime to 9:45 or so, and it took all of five minutes to get her down for the night. She often wakes around 3:30 though, and wants to chat! and play! and whiiiine! for about an hour before going back to sleep. Did you know there's a 3:30 in the morning? The things kids teach you!

So! Resolutions! Do you have any? I am writing in my new five year diary - each small daily page has spaces for five years of memories, just a line or two each year. Yesterday's entry was, "D&D night at our house - I got swallowed by a toad. Stella is suddenly wearing 6 mo. outfits - when did this happen?" I like the idea of the mundane events of a normal life becoming something interesting in bulk some time in the future (see Samuel Pepys.) I'm also resolving to neglect you no longer, my dear Internets. More updates, more pictures, more awesomeness. AJean loves us intensely and gave us a Wii for Christmas, and we sprung for the Wii Fit shortly thereafter. I am hereby resolving to use that little board of wonder to flap like a chicken, ski jump, and yoga/stretch my way into some core strength. Since Stella's birth, my back and stomach muscles have been conducting intense negotiations over who should be responsible for holding me upright, with no end to the deadlock in sight (I should have never let the suckers unionize.) My first week postpartum was almost laughable; I could hardly sit straight. I also need to just take walks - there is a big park within walking distance of home, and Stella is almost ready for her first swing ride. I'll take a picture for you.

All the News That's Fit to Print

2010-11-21T00:14:00.000-08:00

Lori, a student who worked for me at Pepperdine, sent me a few choice tidbits ripped from the headlines of her rural Iowa newspaper during the summer of 2003. She wrote, "I got promoted today to Reporting Intern - the other intern was sent home because of an enlarged spleen. So now, instead of typing the old lady news, I get to take pictures of old ladies. Everything is going well besides my job (or maybe I should say in spite of...). My sisters and I are starting a bluegrass band (we all live in different states which might be a small problem), I'm having fun planning stuff for our youth group, and hopefully I will start writing my memoirs soon."

From Tuesday, June 24:
Headline: Officials investigate theft of fire extinguishers
Judy Leger took Marvin Hansen, Celia Poldberg, Gladys Boysen, Verna Kloewer and Lady (the dog) for a van cruise around Irwin Wednesday afternoon
The Lutheran VCR tape was watched by the Lutherans Friday.
The Harlan City Council reduced the speed limit on 19th St. this week to 25 miles per hour, from the previous 30 miles per hour...
Come to the Shelby County Fair and see the Promenade Square Dancing Tractors!"

More recently, the following were ripped from the police blotter in a city named Rochester.

Sunday, Oct. 24
12:48 a.m. — At Slim's Tex Mex Cantina, groups are yelling at each other and an outbreak of fisticuffs is feared.
1:10 a.m. — Walgreens would like two shoplifter wannabes moved from the parking lot.
2:08 a.m. — On Academy Street an officer pays his respects to the remains of a pumpkin.
4:12 a.m. — A North Main Street building is plagued with wall-bangers.
11:42 a.m. — A disturbance waxes on Ela Street with an unwanted person at the epicenter.
2:20 p.m. — A woman wants to speak to an officer regarding her teenage son who is seeing a woman approaching her 30s.

Monday, Oct 25
3:41 a.m. — A loose Chihuahua on Charles Street evades the clutches of two officers.
5:36 p.m. — Screams erupt on Lafayette, with tinkling glass. A fight? You bet.

Thursday, Oct. 28
1:02 a.m. — At Lilac Mall there is a truck, where sleeps a man down on his luck, he's homeless and has little dough — he's moved along, where did he go?
9:35 a.m. — Mailboxes on Loon Lane are kissed by a baseball bat.
11:35 a.m. — A cat called Tiger with a raccoon tail is missing from Shaw Drive.
12:07 p.m. — An unwanted former student appears at the high school.
12:24 p.m. — On Laura Drive a pickup lettered with "Do good, donate" arouses someone's suspicion.
10:58 p.m. — On Oak Street, a man hears muffled shots that sometimes sound close by. He calls back to say it was loose siding being blown into his house.
11:11 p.m. — A fist fight featuring females flares in front of Three Dogs Pub. A large crowd gathers.

Saturday, Oct. 30
9:29 a.m. — On Crown Point Road a big white rooster, called Duke, ain't crowing like it used ter. It's missing.
7:04 p.m. — At Halloween upon a street where youngsters go for trick or treat, a worried parent calls the cops, his kid's been handed Hall's Cough Drops. (A curiosity has gripped us — cherry, mint or eucalyptus?) Dad makes the point it's medication and not the stuff of celebration. Police check out this plot of terror and find it was simple error.
7:20 p.m. — In a different part of town there is another cause to frown, trick or treaters are all shocked, for after a man's door is knocked, he answers it not how he should — he keeps appearing in the nude.

The Other Part Of My Day

2010-11-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

When I said, "I do mommy things all day," that wasn't quite accurate. I'm also looking for a job. "Searching frantically" is closer to my current status than the leisurely occasional peek at the job boards "looking" can imply. I hate that we need my income as well, to pay the bills and try to climb out of debt, especially since Stella's birth. I can't be emphatic enough to describe my dislike. Debt is slavery. We are slaves to our debts. That's why I need to work. I try not to be discouraged, and I refuse to be scourged and cowed, miserably thankful for whatever employment I can get (although, don't mistake me, I will be thankful to land a good job in this economy.)

There are so many things I am good at - teaching and training, writing, administrative and HR functions, giving people the tools and information they need to do their jobs. I am adaptable and resourceful. My last position was an Associate Governmental Programs Analyst with the State, and I've found the job duties of open AGPA positions suit me rather well. They are often more specialized and require use of my mind, not just my typing speed. They often include developing and documenting policies and procedures, not just trudging through each day, checking things off of a never-ending to do list.

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes wrote, "...when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift of God." (Ecc. 5:19-20) There's also this:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Colossians 3:22-23

It would be hard going to work every day without a "why" in mind - that right there is mine. So, whatever task is in front of me, I need to work at it with my whole heart, and enjoy it if at all possible. I think holding on to that mindset is the only way I will be able to pack up Stella for hours of daycare, and miss her and miss her all day, knowing for how much of her first year I will be absent. I know that is what gets Rick on to his train to work every morning, when sometimes he'd much rather stay home and cuddle his daughter.

If Blogger Was Twitter

2010-11-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

Stella's eyelashes are red. Her hair is coming in blonde/red. Buying stock in sunblock company now.

Pickwick is confused by the attention given to the Other Cat in the house. It doesn't even have a tail.

Coupons this time of year are fantastic but make me hungry. Cookies were baked completely accidentally tonight.

Realizing I wasn't a nerd in high school, I was a nerd groupie. Not nerd enough for the Stanford rejection party in AP Bio senior year.

I have my own set of D&D dice now. -1 Str +1 Chr, baybee.

Sent from my iPhone

Excuses, Excuses

2010-11-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

I missed Friday, completely. Excuses about not blogging bore me, so I won't go there. I'm a mom and wife and all sorts of other things, and while Blogger is up there it isn't that high right now. Nothing odd happened; Stella had a great night last night but is coming down with a bit of Rick's cold, we think (oh noes!) I really don't want my blog to be all baby, all the time, but that's where my brain is right now, and it's boring, I fear. So, I do mommy things all day. I'm definitely up to remembering the last time she pooped. Her bath time is a highlight of my day. She's moving up to three month sizes, because her torso is so long, like her mommy. I'm happy to be kind of one track right now, knowing my sweet squishy baby will too soon push away from cuddles and exclaim, "I do it!" at every opportunity. This time of helpless trust is so fleeting and important. I stare and stare at her little face, mouth open in sleep (just like her daddy), and notice so many changes in the two short months of her life - rounded cheeks, another chin, a toothless smile that makes my day. Laughing is just around the corner. We can't wait to hear it.

More tomorrow.

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Thank You

2010-11-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

...State of California, for retaining Veteran's Day as an employee holiday. I had a nice day hanging out with my favorite guy.
...Cold germs, for staying away from me and our little punkin and finally starting to leave my favorite guy alone.
...Veterans, to whom I've expressed gratitude every year in this spot for the last five years (see archives!) and will continue to remember, every year, as long as I have a brain in my noggin'. They have given so much, to so many who appreciate it so little, with no regard for their own comfort and liberties. Thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.

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Again With the Photos

2010-11-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

I mentioned the no-knead bread recipe a few posts down - really, it is positively corking. I'm posting this late because it just came out of the oven and we descended upon it like zombies on brains.

Total effort on my side? About five minutes. When I took it out of the oven, the crust made crackling noises as it cooled, an audible sign of really good bread.

I'd like to call your attention to the blog Smitten Kitchen, linked on the right. Besides having one of the cutest kids on the interwebs, its author knows how to photograph a recipe for all its worth. I want to hang her pictures in my kitchen and nom her son's tummy. She has a tremendous database of recipes without pretention, normally using the ingredients handy at the time and fresh in our local megamarts and farmers' markets. I like searching her site by season and ingredient. Smitten Kitchen inspires me to monkey around in the kitchen, and gives me good ideas. Most of the time I sit and sigh over pretty pictures and recipes but don't actually try them, because SOMEONE in the house is a bit...austere...in his food preferences. Oh well, a girl can dream!

A Study in Contrasts

2010-11-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming, Stella...


No, your aunt said she won't be giving you a pony.

Reason #507

2010-11-08T21:16:00.000-08:00

...that Holly and I seem to be the same person.

Purchased at totally different times, two states away. Same color, virtually the same shape and style. Yeah.

Generic NaBloPoMo Post #7

2010-11-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

Some time this month, I am going to go through my years of blogging and tag some of my favorite posts. There were times when my muse reached over and turned down my suck button, and I was able to really write something. It's interesting to note how many of these instances happened during NaBloPoMo. The month gives me the opportunity to do what NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - 50k words in 30 days) does for budding writers - to just get words on a page, every day. After a while, the daily exercise pushes me enough that I find later I've hopped over the wall keeping me from accessing the words I want to say, not just the ones that come to me at the time, and my writing becomes more expressive. Or something. I don't know. I'm a mommy running on little sleep right now. It's quite possible that those NaNoWriMo writers access that creative spot out of sheer exhaustion at cranking out thousands of words on a page every day.

Holly is gone, and all is gray and boring except for the ray of sunshine who went down for the night at 9:30 tonight. The time change is brilliant, and this opportunity to mess with Stella's sleep schedule is one more reason that "fall back" is my favorite day of the year. I have many lovely pictures from the weekend, but Blogger can't handle loading pictures right now, so y'all are going to have to sit tight for a day or so.

Failure is In the Mind of the Blogger

2010-11-07T00:41:00.000-07:00

Ever tried
Ever failed
No matter
Try again
Fail again
Fail better
--Samuel Beckett

According to every clock in this house, it is still Saturday. That's because Rick already changed them to reflect the accurate time starting at 2:00 am tomorrow. NaBloPoMo fail. My first in six years. Boo.

We went to Apple Hill and had a fantastic dinner afterward. Stella had an interesting diaper and an impromptu bath. Apple crisp made with Pink Lady apples is fantastic.


"They sounded so alike." "They still do!"

Lazy Day

2010-11-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

Holly is visiting from Washington this weekend. The last time she was able to come, her kindergartener twins were under three, and her two year old, wasn't. I'm so glad to have her here - to introduce our girl to her, to have a cup of coffee and a leisurely morning chatting with my friend, and most of all, to have a yarn shop buddy! We are knit from similar stuff. We think alike, we know the same odd orchestra/musician jokes (How do you get two piccolo players to play in unison? Shoot one.) and we are blessed that our husbands are good friends too. We also share our faith and almost exactly the same shoe size. True dat.

Today, we hit Babbetta's yarn shop, made a pilgrimage to In-n-Out for lunch, and spent the afternoon on the couch hanging out. Holly bought some lovely laceweight yarn for her first adventure into knitting lace. She came to knitting later than I did, but has always been both more adventurous in her projects and able to churn out more of said finished projects than I ever have. At least we both have similar cases of second sock syndrome (they never get done!)

It is so satisfying to have friends who you know, without a doubt, will be part of your life for the long haul. Sorry, Holly, you guys are stuck with us!

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I Love The Internets - Exhibits One and Two

2010-11-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

1. The Old Spice commercials keep getting better.

1.a. The parodies are pretty great too.

2. I have a Cook's Illustrated subscription but not an "internet" subscription, yet I'm still able to share my favorite bread recipe with you, their no-knead bread that kicks supermarket "fresh rustic loaf" to the curb and sits on it. The small quantity of beer, a lager, is there because the fermentation for lagers is done with the same type of yeast you would use for bread. You can't taste it in the final loaf at all. Have I already mentioned that it's AWESOME?

Placeholder

2010-11-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

Real post tomorrow. Fussy baby, feeling meh, cat misbehaving but hasn't thrown up on the rug out of spite - yet. Husband made of solid gold, vacuumed the baby to sleep. Smooches.

Sent from my iPhone

Two months! Two!

2010-11-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

Stella survived her two month appointment with her usual plucky disposition largely intact - the nurse who administered the three injections and one oral magic potion no longer has socks, as Stella charmed them right off. She also reassured me that all the moms cry when their kiddos are having injections; she did with all five of hers. So, our daughter is in the 98th percentile for height (two feet and one half inch) and somewhere in the middle for weight, at 11 lbs. 7.5 oz. Cricket slept most of the day and ran a slight temperature. She went to sleep on time tonight and I expect her to be out cold for at least six hours.

For my next feat, I will walk under five ladders while spilling salt, shattering a few mirrors, and stepping on all the sidewalk cracks.

Two month photo shoot!

Generic NaBloPoMo Post #1

2010-11-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Huzzah! It's NaBloPoMo again! Certain family members (coughAuntieJeancough) look forward to my daily posts, the rest of you (crickets...) get to wade through thirty days of posts to find a nugget or two worth reading. As I'm typing away, Stella is slurping noisily on her left fist, whinging a bit and winding down for the night, and Rick is watching Top Gear with Dustin, who chauffeured us to and from the hospital when we had Stella.

(insert half an hour of walking and feeding a fussing baby, who just dropped off in a wrap on her daddy's chest.)

So, what's been going on in the last month? October 29th was a big family news day, when Stella relinquished the title of youngest grandchild on the Power side to Tim and Tonya's new baby boy, whose nickname has not yet been chosen. Nephew #4 is a healthy boy who is just as wiggly out as he was in. We are so happy he has finally arrived. Tonya had a challenging last month or so, and this baby has three siblings (and a Daddy!) who have been eagerly waiting for his arrival. During Niece #1's birthday party last week, her little brother gently patted Stella's head and kept exclaiming how sweet and cute she is. We know he's going to be an great big brother. Their family of seven is a family of six - we're thinking about this baby boy's big sister a bit, missing her and wondering what she would have been like, knowing she's OK even though she's not here. Our family lost two little girls before Stella was born. Nephew #1 prayed every day for these two new infants, because he knew that sometimes babies don't get to go home with their parents. The loss doesn't dampen our joy, though - I think it reminds us of the preciousness of each of these little punkinheads, and we hold them close, with thanks.

(insert half an hour of baby feeding, a little crying, and the unceremonious plopping of one baby into a swing to be lulled into unconsciousness - we hope.)

Stella is now two months old, and will be going in for her first big round of immunizations tomorrow morning. We want her to have them, for her own protection and to contribute to the herd immunity, but I'm not looking forward to the unhappy baby we may have on our hands tomorrow. I'll bring the infant Tylenol to the appointment, and perhaps a set or two of earplugs...

(insert plan to swaddle fussing baby whose limbs keep moving, since she's learning to move them, and whose little noggin is full of things to process, since she's so new, and keeping her awake. Daddy is now doing the bobbing walk that seems to be genetically programmed into adults holding infants and shushing her gently so I can finish this post.)

Pictures from the last month, pithier content, and more organized blogging in general tomorrow! Oh - don't forget to vote!

Stella is unimpressed with the available candidates.

One Month

2010-10-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Stella,

The first time you smelled rain was on Sunday, September 19, 2010. We went out to lunch with Harry and Diane, and a brief rain cooled and scented the air on our way there. It is possible a raindrop or two brushed your cheek on our way in to the restaurant. You listen to the sound of rain often on your Sleep Sheep, but this was the real thing.

The first time you heard the song "Mexican Radio" was at a Sonic drive-in on Saturday, September 24th. We drove there because you were having a hard time sleeping, desperately needed rest, and the Sonic is at least 35 minutes from home by the freeway. You slept on the way there, through most of our dinner in the car, and all the way home (after a brief diaper change and nursing session in a quiet corner of their parking lot.)

Your first day at church was on Sunday, September 5th.. Your Nana was very worried about taking you out when you were only five days old, but we desperately needed to be there, to have our peeps love on us. Your first checkup two days earlier was jarring, with the doctor pointing out your pound of weight loss and the yellow tint to your skin. She expected your billirubin levels to be in the danger zone - they weren't, not even remotely close, curse us for dressing you in a yellow onesie, we hate the color on you now. She sent us down to the lab, where I held you down, my three day old daughter, as they stuck your heel for a blood sample. You didn't even cry, my brave girl. We then rushed to your orthopedic doctor appointment across town, where you were diagnosed with hip dysplasia and fitted with a Pavlik harness.

We are not pleased.

My poor little Cricket. I was much more traumatized by the day than you were. You are dealing with it all with grace, since you don't remember life without the harness, but it makes you so warm all the time. We can't wait for cooler weather to come! Your follow-up appointment was fantastic, and we anticipate you will be out of the harness by December at the latest, and that you will start weaning off of it very soon. We make the most of the 15 minutes a day you are allowed without it, to bathe and cuddle our little girl.

Has it really been one month since you came? In the wee hours of the morning, when I'm tired and out of ideas to comfort you and make you go to sleep, oh please, it seems so much longer. Thirty days isn't long at all, Stella Rose, yet you seem to have always been a part of our lives. Twelve years of waiting, but right on time.

Coming Up for Air

2010-09-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

We have a baby.

To quote Julie, everything is different now forever.

There will come a time when I won't blog much about our daughter. Now is not that time. Stella Rose Power was born on August 31st, at 2:06 in the morning. She weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long.

I love the epidural man. {fin}

New News

2010-08-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well no, not really. We are at 39 weeks as of yesterday, and still waiting for our little girl's appearance. I can't wait to nom-nom-nom her toes and squish her little cheeks into that "baby fish mouth" face for a picture, which I will of course post here for your viewing pleasure. Family and friends are on high alert, and every telephone conversation starts with, "No, this isn't THAT call!" Believe me, people, you may be breathless with eager anticipation for this kid's arrival, but not nearly as ready as I am!

(Pop!)

I'm officially on maternity leave as of yesterday, holding the couch down (they do tend to float to the ceiling and bob about if not properly anchored) and attempting to get small projects done before THE BIG DAY with the DRUGS and the PUSHING. I'm gearing up with some knitting projects, which keep me occupied. Rick, friends and family worked on the largest projects over the last few months, fixing up the small bedroom to become an adorable, peaceful nursery.

Rick and Andy contemplate the bead board

Rick has a man card and isn't afraid to use it!

The finished ceiling

Dresser - lamp from Mom, music box from cousin Devon, Lambie from Rick.


Bookcase - this will be mounted on the wall and will have a bin of books underneath it.

Hello. Welcome to my crib.

Nesting? Yes, please. Our kitchen stays clean, and household smudges make me twitch a little. I sort and organize, toss and stack. Most pregnant women complain about how sensitive they are to scents, and while I've noticed the nasty ones more than usual (restaurant kitchen vent blowing downward on the daily walk to and from the parking lot, I'm talking to YOU), I've been positively delighted by the nummy ones. The freeway passes over a lumberyard on our route to work, and it has been all I can do to keep from hanging out the window in puppy-like happiness as we go by. The scent of an early summer morning is intoxicating. My favorite scents by far, though, are all cleaning potions and sprays. The countertop spray I've been using, an all-purpose cleaner made by Charlie's Soap, is teh awesome. It is technically unscented and definitely mild, as are all their products, which is a good thing as my sensitive skin has ramped up throughout this pregnancy and I can't even handle the scent of Dreft without getting a headache. Charlie's Soap is amazing for laundry and really does clean well.

(Rick just informed me that I am allowed to go into labor now as the camera battery is charged. Thanks, sweetie.) Rick has been having fun documenting my belly-ness. Some of the shots are downright cute.

So, we are waiting. We aren't the only ones - our SIL Tonya (see her blog link on the right) is due in late October, and I am actively engaged in a staring contest with my youngest cousin Rachel in Alaska over the miles, as she is due this week too. Tonya and I agree that this has been a brilliant summer to be pregnant, as the heat waves and sweltering nights we were dreading never materialized this year. It's August 21st, for Pete's sake, and at 2 pm our windows are still open to the delta breezes that have kept us comfortable all summer. The marine layer the breeze toted in from the bay is just starting to burn off.

I've updated links and a few things on the blog, as it's a crying shame I haven't kept up with it over the last months. Some blogs I once linked to went away, and I am a regular follower of many I don't link to here. I'll try to keep you better posted and be generally more amusing, my dear Internets. Everyone wants news, am I in labor yet, would I just post a picture or two, what's going ON for CRYING OUT LOUD and, in short, it's exhausting. I have so many thank-you cards to write to all of the people who love us so much, whose generosity in the last few months - both with gifties like home-made quilts and enthusiastically expressed, genuine joy - makes me a little teary and overwhelmed. Almost every day I stop short in wonder - this, too? This, for us? Really?

It's all grace. Thank you.

Flash Opera

2010-05-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

"On Saturday, April 24th, the Opera Company of Philadelphia teamed up with the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival for a large-scale "Flash Opera" event! Over 30 members of the Opera Company of Philadelphia Chorus and principal cast members of LA TRAVIATA performed the famed "Brindisi" in the aisles of Reading Terminal Market..."

I love watching the reactions of the ordinary people around them as they realize what is going on. Enjoy!

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

2010-05-15T22:01:00.001-07:00

From this, on January 10, 2010 ...

To this, on May 14, 2010 (25 weeks).

Yeah, I'm showing, all right. The picture outfit may not make it to my delivery date.

No content tonight - it's late, and baby wants a Popsicle.

Because I Liked It

2010-04-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Mrs. Kennedy and Chookooloonks...

Daughter #1

2010-04-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

Thank heaven for little girls, they grow up in the most delightful way...

Nephew #1

2010-04-06T22:02:00.001-07:00

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure. --Mark Twain

Nephew #2

2010-04-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

One of the best things in the world to be is a boy; it requires no experience, but needs some practice to be a good one. --Charles Dudley Warner

Niece #1

2010-04-02T23:02:00.001-07:00

Girls are giggles with freckles all over them. -- Author Unknown

Nephew #3

2010-03-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. -- Mark Twain

Niece #2

2010-03-07T21:36:00.001-08:00

It is rare that one can see in a little boy the promise of a man, but one can almost always see in a little girl the threat of a woman. ~Alexandre Dumas

A Breath of Fresh Air, a Change By and By

2010-02-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

Black March
a poem by Stevie Smith, 1902-1971

I have a friend
At the end
Of the world.
His name is a breath

Of fresh air.
He is dressed in
Grey chiffon. At least
I think it is chiffon.
It has a
Peculiar look, like smoke.

It wraps him round
It blows out of place
It conceals him
I have not seen his face.

But I have seen his eyes, they are
As pretty and bright
As raindrops on black twigs
In March, and heard him say:

I am a breath
Of fresh air for you, a change
By and by.

Black March I call him
Because of his eyes
Being like March raindrops
On black twigs.

(Such a pretty time when the sky
Behind black twigs can be seen
Stretched out in one
Uninterrupted
Cambridge blue as cold as snow.)

But this friend
Whatever new names I give him
Is an old friend. He says:

Whatever names you give me
I am
A breath of fresh air,
A change for you.

:::: :::: :::: ::::

Two things:

1. I have a job, starting Monday. It is temporary, only two months, but establishes me in the AGPA (Associate Governmental Programs Analyst) position, and it's through Rick's office, so we get to commute together and work in the same office. We have worked like this before, and once again, this job follows our rules: We don't report to or work directly with one another, and we are under no obligation to spend every break or lunch time with one another. The prospect of working together again is awfully nice.

2. I'm 13 weeks pregnant. Little Nubu (Simlish for "baby") is just fine, and while I've been battling morning sickness and stepped-up migraine activity, I'm just fine too. I'm in wonder. Last night, in the ER with a migraine and dehydration I couldn't get ahead of, its little heart rate was strong and just fine. I have no doubt that in late August our world will be turned upside down. We can't wait. I'm looking forward to meeting this little person.

What I Did on my Christmas Vacation

2009-12-30T12:50:00.001-08:00

I won some coffee thanks to a random number generator and a fortuitiosly placed comment on a favorite blog. Yay me! The last time I won something outright was a tambourine, when I was in third grade.

Christmas knitting overwhelmed me, meaning it stuck a chloroform-soaked cloth over my face and stuffed me in a closet. I didn't get the sweater done, my sister in law got nothing at all from us for Christmas, I sit in sackcloth and sprinkle ashes on my head.

We finished performing in the Christmas play, and had four days afterward to decorate, shop, ship, and shovel Christmas cheer into the house. It worked.

Mom got a tummy bug and struggled through Christmas. She had a day in the ER, and still feels ick, but she's managing on her own so well we schlepped her home yesterday. She is so happy to be home, two months to the day from the date of her first surgery. The house feels large-ish without her here. She was a blessing, not a burden. It was an eventful two months.

And finally, as always, chaos theory reigns...things become increasingly chaotic until they reach what can be called a criticality or a critical mass of sorts, and they re-actualize into a new, higher level of order. We found out about something wonderful on Christmas Eve. Stay tuned. August 2010. I have a lot of knitting to do.

Sent from my iPhone

Just Asking

2009-12-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Mom had a great six week appointment with her surgeon in San Francisco on the 10th. The x-rays looked so good he will be using them with his med students at UCSF. Mom has found, in the last four days, that she is able to control her pain and move around a bit more; she can see that there will be a good result at the end of all this. I think she will be able to go home after Christmas or some time in January.

Mom has supplanted Rick as Pickwick's favorite person in the house. If she's walking around or sitting outside, he stares at her through the glass door and mutters to himself, or paws at the door frame. He naps next to her, and "heels" as she walks down the hall. Sadly, I'm now #3 in his book.

I had my first Pampered Chef show last night - it was a success, not because of sales (a little low) but because of the four bookings for future shows, two of which were with people I had never met before that day. If I want my business to succeed, those bookings are critical, especially with people outside my circle of friends and acquaintances. I have all the support and materials I need...the rest is up to me. One of the things I've learned is that no one minds if you ask - it's OK to ask if I can do a show with them, ask if they have ever thought about doing what I do, ask if they'd like a cutting board to go with that food chopper. If I believe that what I have is valuable, and that others will benefit from it, it would be unkind for me to withhold the opportunity from them! So, here it is. If you have thought about a part-time job, in which you can make your own hours and set your own schedule and workload, whether for the opportunity to knock out one major bill a month, talk to adults every once in a while, or own everything in the catalog, consider The Pampered Chef. Personally, I'm on the "pay the bills - go on trips all over the world completely paid for by Pampered Chef" plan.

In other news, everyone's telling me what I want for Christmas. My dentist says I want a super fancy-schmancy Sonicare toothbrush. The garage says no, what I really want is new tires and brakes. They didn't ask me what I wanted. Bah humbug!

So, my dear Internets...what do you want for Christmas?

Christmas-ish Awesomeness

2009-12-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Remember the 12 Days of Christmas? I told Rick, on the way home from a particularly marathon-like play practice this evening, that I could really use some Christmas cheer right about now.

Here. You're welcome.

(Only 19 more knitting days 'till Christmas!)

Edited to add: The national weather service is predicting 100% CHANCE of SNOW in SACRAMENTO tomorrow morning. One inch. Callou, callay!

All We Want To Do

2009-12-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

(In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, listen to this.)

Landing

2009-11-30T20:17:00.001-08:00

Mom has good days and bad, depending on how much she tries to do any given day. Things are best when she stays on top of the pain and avoids too much activity when she is feeling good. She will be here at least through the 11th, possibly through Christmas, depending on how her appointment on the 10th goes.

Well, THAT was fun. NaBloPoMo year #4 wasn't what I thought it would be, but that's OK. I have been doing what I should be doing.

In the last month I've made significant progress on some Christmas knitting. I made a pig's ear of a section last week by accidentally yanking my needles out of a cabled section - the horror! - but some time in the knitting store gave me the confidence I needed to sit at a table there and pick up the stitches again. Until then, the thought of fixing the mess that I had made of that project almost made my stomach hurt. I'm back on track, and I like it again. It only took five minutes. I seem to know more than I think I do. I can handle things when the wheels fall off. I'm learning to take a wee time-out and then dive in again. Knitting is paralleling life and teaching me, among other things, that It's Not Always All That Bad. Thank you, my dear internets, for reading and being my time out during a crazy month.

Take your needle, my child, and work your pattern - it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that...one stitch at a time, taken patiently. - Oliver Wendell Holmes (thank you, Posie!)

Launch

2009-11-29T13:01:00.000-08:00

If you can get past the truly awful credits in the beginning, this is an amazing video compilation of the recent STS-129 launch highlights. Many camera angles were of stuff I've never seen before. Enjoy!

STS-129 Ascent Video Highlights from mike interbartolo on Vimeo.

Looking for Christmas

2009-11-28T22:20:00.001-08:00

So, for understandable reasons, I'm just not in the Christmas spirit. Pretty much no money for presents, things have been stressful...how do you, my dear internets, get that "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" warm and fuzzy feeling?

I'll be pulling out It's a Wonderful Life and all my iterations of A Christmas Carol this week. I have Christmas knitting that must must must be done. It all feels like tasks to be done, with little of the magic and joy. Friends have already decorated and put up their trees, put lights on their houses (we've been here in our first house for two Christmases and haven't put up lights yet), and one insane woman I know is done with her shopping. If you are one who poo-poohs the twinkle and shine of the season, please don't dump your gloom into my comments. I understand the deeper meanings, thank you. Tomorrow is the first day of Advent. Right now, however, I'm on a twinkle-shine hunt. Bring it.

Thanksgiving Pix

2009-11-27T19:12:00.000-08:00

Five nieces and nephews, five liquid amber trees, and a yard that hadn't been raked in a week.

Give Thanks

2009-11-26T21:48:00.001-08:00

I'm thankful for all I've been blessed with - family, friends, and an eternal Father who knows me and loves me anyway. I'm thankful for the Sharp family yeast roll recipe and that Thom made a quadruple batch. Im thankful we all still cram into one room and sing together, and that we can cover all four parts well. I'm thankful that there was pumpkin pie in Atwater and pecan pie in Sacramento. I'm thankful for seat warmers and light traffic. I'm very thankful that family got together today, and that Mom was not only able to go with us, but had a wonderful time.

Sent from my iPhone

Yet One More Thing

2009-11-25T22:33:00.000-08:00

Mom called the SPCA in Fresno and scheduled a time for them to go collect her kitty. She hung up the phone, and we hugged and boo-hooed for a while. I have come to learn the cat is not all that nice - she tends to scratch and nip at Mom, and dive under her feet. The cat needs to go. Still, she is mom's kitty, and Mom is heartbroken.

Pickwick, with his own kitty sense of what is going on, has taken to sleeping next to her feet all night. Good boy.

Another Post! A Second One! Two Tonight!

2009-11-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

1080p. You're welcome. Smooches!

Taking Care of Bizness

2009-11-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

I'm so thankful for Walt and Llona Fennel. They came to visit with Mom today, made her laugh, and prayed with her. I did not fully realize how much history she has with Walt, who would make patient visits when Mom worked at Sierra Hospital while I was just a toddler. Despite Llona's recommendation, I'm not sure my crafting skills are up to hot-gluing a sequined ornamental bustier onto Mom's brace, but I might give it a go if it will make her laugh like that again! In other news, she woke up from an afternoon nap and, other than a little tightness here and there, she didn't really have any pain at all right then. Yeah. It feels like she turned a small corner recently - a corner on a dodecahedron rather than a square, so there are a lot of corners to turn, but still, it's encouraging.

I raided many boxes in the garage this evening, and scrounged up all my Pampered Chef goodies. Yep, I'm signing up again! My Pampered Chef years were great, and I enjoyed my kitchen shows. Moving to Calabasas when Rick started grad school made starting up again too difficult - our apartment was only 740 square feet and had a 1 1/2 butt kitchen, with not really enough room for two full butts. I didn't have room for most of my regular equipment, let alone what I needed for PC. There are seasons in our lives. It has been almost ten years (!) and I'm ready to launch again. I've decided to go with a local director rather than my director in Fresno; my new director is a National Executive Sales Director and trainer, has been with Pampered Chef for 19 years, and is as excited as I am to help grow my business. One of the reasons I respect this company is their mission - "We are committed to providing opportunities for individuals to develop their God-given talents and skills to their fullest potential for the benefit of themselves, their families, our customers and the company." Sorry, guys, you're third on the list. Perhaps second, if we are related.

So, I am booking for December, January and February shows! I don't have a stitch of information for you yet - there are monthly specials, featured products, and host/hostess bonuses galore. My blog will not be All Pampered Chef All The Time. However, if you need a few good cutting boards that can go in the dishwasher or a multi-tasking stoneware baking dish, know that I've got your back.

An Update, and Three Random Things

2009-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

Mom talked to her doctor today, and cleared up a few things that should help her be more comfortable. I think they changed up her meds a bit, and clarified what she can and can't do. Every day is different. Every day is a teeny tiny smidgen of a little bit better.

1. When I am shopping for yarn, I smell it. I like sheepy yarn, and silk has its own lovely scent. If it smells strange, whether from its fiber content or the factory where it was manufactured, it doesn't go home with me.

2. Rick inherited his Granny's startlingly loud sneeze. It sounds painful. Nephew #1 did a mean impression of Granny's sneeze when he was three.

3. There is no three, because I have a migraine. G'night.

Edited to add: Oh, gosh, today is Rick's dad's birthday! They had a nice chat earlier tonight. My favorite memory of him is from shortly after I married Rick. We drove to Atwater, and he stepped outside to meet us at the car, asking loudly, "Where's my girl?" Then he gave me a big hug. I loved that. Thanks, Dad. Happy birthday.

Also, there seems to be a wormhole midway between Sacramento and San Francisco.

The Wheels on the Bus...

2009-11-22T18:53:00.000-08:00

...didn't fall off this evening! The key is MORE REST. A lot more rest. If Mom takes to her bed like a delicate wee Victorian flower in the morning and the afternoon, things seem to go better. Oh, she needs to also keep taking those good, good meds.

We are in our church's Christmas play again this year. Normally, we rotate play-cantata-play-cantata, but this year our illustrious director Diane "Oh Captain, My Captain!" O'Laughlin wrote a new play a few short weeks ago, and we said, "Well, why not. Who needs months of rehearsals? Not us!" It is lovely, my dear internets. Our best tenor grew up as a missionary's child in Africa, and the story plays off of that, relating his youthful conversations with Sister Patricia explaining the squares in her Christmas quilt, starting with Adam and Eve, going through all the "begats" in between the highlight reels of major Biblical characters' lives to end with the birth of Jesus and God's plan to make it all right again. Rick plays Adam, one of Jesse's sons (all the guys in the cast are in that scene, because we don't have a lot of people), and the UPS man/Gabriel. He delivers messages, and says, "Sign here, please." He leaves a post-it on Joseph's forehead. I'm Eve, the Egyptian princess, and one of the two sopranos. We hold our own, don't worry! Interestingly enough, we don't sing a single note of traditional Christmas music.

The writing is humorous, it tells a deeper story simply, and it is going to be a lot of fun. We will be performing on the 19th and 20th. Details ~~can be found~~ will soon be up on our church's web site. It's free. Please come.

Second Verse, Same as the First

2009-11-21T21:16:00.001-08:00

It's all about perspective. Take an airplane ride as an example. From a distance of 30,000 feet, things look small, cities and landmarks close together, and details indistinct, even unimportant.

What is a few hours' ride can be a week's journey or more at ground level. In a few months we will look back on all this and agree it was a horrible time. But right now, this close, obstacles are huge and the hours are long.

This is the worst of it, the worst of the recovery time. It will get better. It has to get better.

I would love to say that my faith is sustaining me right now. Really, my faith is tested by days like this. Is God so far away that these details are unimportant? I feel very small. I can only imagine how Mom is feeling.

(Un)Comfy

2009-11-20T20:46:00.001-08:00

Mom can't get comfortable. Every chair is too low, the couch is too soft, the futon is too hard. It hurts to walk, it hurts to stand around and twiddle her thumbs, it hurts to sit and to rise again. None of our chairs but the rocker have arm rests. The rocking chair, at times, is almost comfy.

It became a cool autumn while she was in the hospital, and most of the clothes she packed are too thin for the outdoors - not that she is going out much - and they certainly don't fit over her brace. The brace is huge, which makes her feel claustrophobic and therefore it needs to GO every once in a while. Time without the brace, carefully managed, is almost comfy.

There's only so much I can do, and I guess that's good enough.

Almost.

Generic NaBloPoMo Post #19

2009-11-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

Mom is hanging in there. I am hanging in there. Other than that, I've got nothing, people. Nothing. You're so demanding.

Good night, my dear internets.

To Boldly Split Infinitives...

2009-11-18T23:08:00.001-08:00

We planned tonight's shindig weeks ago, and Mom said it was still perfectly fine when we found out she was to be released sooner than we had originally anticipated. Tonight, we had the gang over for chili, cupcakes, and the new Star Trek movie. The food and friends were great, but a bit overwhelming for Mom, who retreated to her room midway through. A newer pal, Patrick, manages a Boudin bakery restaurant and brought over bread bowls for the chili. I knew it was a success when he asked me for my recipe! Holly knows; it involves a box and a few cans.

Anyway, the movie and the prospects for an entire new Star Trek movie franchise just thrill me. My reaction to action movies boarders on amnesia when things become too intense, so many scenes were pretty fresh to me, and I liked it even better the second time around. Also, the BluRay movie has over two hours of additional scenes, documentary information, and candid interviews of which we've only scratched the surface by loading up the gag reel. It's one of the best I've seen!

Mom is settling in, trying to keep her pain under control as much as possible, and moving around as comfort and four pages of hospital discharge instructions permit. We are relearning our old talent of dancing around each other in the kitchen and reading each others' minds, which is fun. Please keep praying for her healing and strength. She has a long road of recovery ahead of her. Things are already better than before her surgery, when she was in pain, virtually shut in, and losing strength daily. I'm proud of her courage and determination.

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Please Hold

2009-11-17T20:23:00.001-08:00

This is not a blog post, it's a placeholder. We left Sacramento at 8 to fetch Mom, and pulled in to town around 2. Since then, we have been trying to get her settled and figure out ways to adapt what we have here (chairs, pillows, trays) to fit her needs. I also made a really nummy dinner. Her pain is currently controlled, and she's in the living room singing along to an oldies song commercial. As I posted on Facebook, I'm plumb wore out! More tomorrow, my dear internets.

Three Things

2009-11-16T22:19:00.001-08:00

1. Today is my dad's birthday. I love him very much, and hope his family, who I also love very much, made sure today was special. In tribute to him, I drank coffee way too late tonight.

2. Mom's being discharged tomorrow!!! Yay!

3. What is your secret chili recipe ingredient? Pretty please? I'm making chili for 12 on Wednesday and need all the help I can get.

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Generic NaBloPoMo Post #15

2009-11-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

Things that Tend To Irk Me, Item #527: The car in front of me brakes and slows down for no discernible reason while the light is green. It proceeds through the intersection as the light turns yellow, and I have to stop. I catch up, in a matter of speaking, in the left turn lane at the next intersection, where the same car slows down at the green light, leaving five car lengths between it and the car in front of them, which trips the sensor. The light turns yellow as it proceeds through the intersection, and I have to stop. I catch up, in a matter of speaking, on the freeway entrance ramp. Lather, rinse, repeat.

All the Good Things That Nobody Did

2009-11-14T22:22:00.000-08:00

Mom took it easy today, as she was pretty sore and over-tired from the week's activities. We're discussing logistics in preparation to have her here, and I will be calling her discharge planner for any additional tips on Monday before her discharge on Tuesday. She has been so pleased with the staff at St. Mary's, and the comfy feel of the hospital that is not like a hospital at all. I'm excited to have her here.

My right knee has been killing me for the last three days. I just discovered (in the last 45 seconds) that I've been pressing it up against the underside of my keyboard tray while composing my NaBloPoMo posts - blogger down! I'm off to take a hot bath and a couple of Aleve. The rest of this post was originally composed way back in April of 2007, but never published for some reason. Here it is.

In Trenton, NJ, a grossly overweight woman was finally rescued and taken to the hospital, after months of inability to get downstairs and an eventual injury. They had to cut a hole in her home to lift her down. Her neighbors said that they normally keep to themselves, but the emergency response might just have changed their minds. "We, as neighbors, should have been more abreast of what goes on," one was heard to say.

A strange smell in one corner of our apartment in Calabasas while Rick was in grad school was attributed to something that had croaked in the walls. A block of four apartments complained, and the source was eventually found to be a neighbor, dead for weeks, undiscovered and unmissed by anyone. We didn’t share a wall, but some who did had to move.

Rick's brother Andy checked on their elderly neighbor during a storm and power outage. She had gotten up in the middle of the night and, disoriented in the dark, was lost in her own house. Her front door was unlocked. She lived alone.

The police should do something about the homeless guy who sleeps in my office building entryway. I pay taxes for that kind of thing to be dealt with!

The house on the corner burned down – I sure am glad the Red Cross came to give the family who lives there a bag of clothes and a cot to sleep on tonight. I don’t know their names, but they drove a junker and their dog barked too much. Did they have kids?

The high school group really is directionless. What are we paying that youth minister for, anyway?

Why aren’t we more responsible for our neighbors? I’m horribly guilty. I step over people and situations that inconvenience me far too often. Why do we go through our days keeping distance from the people around us? Why are we more patient with circumstances than people? Are our hearts hardened, or are we so overwhelmed by the magnitude of need we are afraid that they will break if we care too much?

What breaks is what’s brittle.

I am increasingly frustrated at people – myself included – who see a need and comment that they should do something about it. “They” could be the government, local charities, the elders, the benevolence ministry team, the management, anyone but us.

Whose hands are we, anyway?

I don’t want to get my hands dirty.

HOLYCOW

2009-11-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

Mom is being released on TUESDAY. As in, a mere two weeks after a major bone graft surgery, her third in six days, which had her in ICU for 36 hours. After only one week in the rehab hospital. The rehabilitation director of said hospital came to visit her and told her she was the most inspirational patient he had ever had, considering what she has gone through, her progress, and her attitude. Well, yeah. Meet my mom.

Today she got to go outside, and had some Retail Therapy. OT covers all the bases, so Mom found a few nifty items in the gift shop.

I just don't know with what to follow all that good news, so I won't. Here - enjoy this. Just when you think you know how something is going to go, it doesn't, to your delight. I understand!