I am still recovering from watching this movie. I feel almost as disturbed after watching this movie as I have watching movies about human cruelty. I'm still detoxing. I went to the fridge for some skim string cheese and a tangerine afterwards, but I feel like I won't be a whole woman until I've had bell-peppers or something.

Practice with the early mornings

Steve went hiking this morning so he was up at 5. I woke up about 5 min. before his alarm went off for my routine bathroom trip, and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided, what's vacation if not a chance to get up and make pancakes in the "wee sma's"? I'll head back to bed soon for a nice, satisfying sleep-in while I still can, especially because early morning L.A. news is dismal.

Today before my NST appointment I will probably go in to work and start getting my stuff packed up to come home. I've been in that office for 6 1/2 of my 7 1/2 years, which is more than I've lived in any one place since I left my parents' house. It will be so strange to pack up that part of my life. I don't think I could have really prepared this change. I have so identified myself as a working woman that making such a huge career change will be a bit of a shock.

In other news... a San Bernadino County Jesus is missing. Basically someone took a bolt cutter to the life-sized Jesus and have taken him away somewhere. Surprisingly the local media is outraged.

The first of 3 Christmases

I think we're lucky to only have 3 Christmases... The La Mirada Earles, the Sørensens on Christmas Eve, and the Earles of Almaden (San Jose) on Christmas Night. Luckily I no longer have to have Christmas with the Brunswicks or the extended Sørensens. It just would be too much.

This was my favorite Christmas gift from my husband this Christmas. I wondered at first why he chose purple until he told me that amethyst is the February birthstone! I'm telling you, this guy pulls out the stops. The Christmas before our wedding, he knew I was trying to find pearls to borrow, and I was starting to stress out about it, so he bought me these beatiful pearls. What a guy!


Today we had our traditional aebleskiver with our cousins, and the afternoon has consisted of picking tangerines and oranges, making blueberry pie, and breaking in Mom and Dad's new SWEET leather recliners while watching football. People keep insisting I get off my feet, which doesn't take much convincing. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas.

Snow in L.A.

This is in response to Sarah's question... thought it deserved its own post.

The last time it snowed in L.A. was January 10, 1949. This is 8 days after my mother's first birthday.

Happy first day of winter!

For Stuck in OK

Just thought you should know it got up to 80 degrees today. I put on the air conditioner in my car. Currenly it is 57 degrees. Might be time to pull out my scarf. I feel very at home here when all the palm trees have lights on them. This is one of those days I would have loved to be at Disneyland--they make their own "snow" there at Christmas, and it's fun to see it come down in So Cal temperatures.

Optical challenge

I had a hard time seeing the face in all this... but notice the face takes up the whole picture. The bright spot over the top is the curve of her head, the bright spot lower down is the bridge of her nose and you can see the eye slits. She's laid back with the top of her head to the right. It was so sweet... she was sucking a little bit while she slept. Even the Ultrasound tech let out an "awww!"

Bad days, good endings

I had one of those days today. Some unpleasantness in the morning, then a yucky meeting in the afternoon. I was a bit of a hormonal disaster anyway, and I got a little rough with someone in the meeting. But the weird thing was, everyone in the meeting was proud of me instead of rebuking me. I stood up to someone who had been speaking out of turn (idealogically, not like "Roger's Rules of Order"), and just didn't want to muck around anymore. I should have known it would be a mucky day when I hit not one, but TWO trains on the way to an appointment, not to mention every conceivable red light between point A and point B! However, the evening was wonderful, with a wonderful husband, a sweet little brother, and some good Sweedish Meatballs. What else could I ask for?

My new education

This wasn't our teacher... this lady looks a lot more normal.

Tonight I began the shift from higher education--supporting Masters degree students and learning about graduate subjects myself--to being educated about how to clean poop. Welcome to my new life. Actually, I learned more in the first 5 minutes than I expected to learn all night. I learned you only swaddle an infant for the first two weeks, that you sponge bathe the baby until their umbilical cord falls off, and that I'm REALLY glad I'm having a girl... no fountains of joy.

Those of you that know my spouse would have been proud. He did quite well. I only had to correct him once, but I think it will be easier to remember to fold the diaper top down when there's a crazy umbilical stump sticking out there to remind him.

Ah, December

We learned a new Christmas tradition this year from Rick Steves. Apparently the Norwegians make rice porridge and an almond is hidden in one of the bowls. If you find the almond, you win the Marzipan Pig. I suppose some of our little traditions must sound equally random abroad...



The quick updates:
* Steve loved his bike! I even got a few features I didn't realize he really wanted, like the chain guard and nice, fat fenders.
* Narnia was wonderful! I will say, it still doesn't compare to reading the book. There are so many places in the book where I am so deeply moved by the interaction with Aslan, but really I'm not complaining.
* I did a pass at Kringler, a Danish sugar pretzel cookie thing, but realized my mom is still the expert.
* We go in tonight to learn how to care for an infant. This should be comical. I have my old cabbage patch doll to assist.
* Tomorrow (hopefully) we will finally have our doctor's appointment to find out about my marginal placenta previa, and what this means for the next 8 1/2 weeks of pregnancy for me.
* 8 1/2 weeks, and only 5 more pounds allowed... don't think I'll make it under the wire with Christmas coming up!
* Training one of my "replacements" this week and next still. I am nervous about covering it all... but God has been faithful thus far.

Happy Birthday, Beloved!

Today is a good day!! On this day many, many, many years ago my dear Steven came into the world. He is a wonderful, loving husband, and upright and righteous man, and one of the most FUN people I've ever known. I'm thankful daily that God broke Dan Maltby's computer so that I could bump into this guy. Have a wonderful day, Love!

The stuff in my head today

1.) Feel sorry for me. I have six family birthdays between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Okay, the last one is on January 2nd, but still, I had better have a gift ready by then. And the real bummer is one of them is my husband's birthday, so while I'm running around trying to get ready for Christmas, I still want to try to make his birthday special and not an afterthought.

2.) I spent time tonight on the "La Leche League" website, just trying to figure out how in the world you nurse in public. I want to get a few shirts that allow you to nurse without giving public offense.

3.) I'm training the second new employee who will be taking over my position. The first person is pretty well trained now, and I'm confident about the 2nd. Training is a lot of work though.

4.) Would Condi be a good candidate for President? I don't know enough about her, but she is an amazing communicator. I would kill for her poise.

5.) Do the Seahawks have a chance at the Bowl? Could the West Coast have a new conquistador?

O Tannenbaum!

Okay, this isn't the tree... I can't find my cord to upload the pictures, and I don't have it decorated yet anyway, but I thought I needed a picture to commemorate the getting of the tree. We went back to the Douglas this year... it's so much cheaper and smells just as good. The whole house just smells divine. We looked into fakey trees, but we discovered that it would take 9 years of real trees to catch up to the price we pay for our little Doug. We might look for a fakey after Christmas to see if there's a deal to be had, but so far we're back to the real. Besides, Hans would have ben appaled had we gone fake!

New loyalties

As of today, I am now officially a Seahawks/Sonics/Mariners/Huskies fan. I've been moving that direction for some time, and I've always been partial to Seattle, but now my own blood is flowing in the beautiful state of Washington. My sister and my two sweet nieces landed within the last several minutes in their new home, to be greeted by their daddy (the girls' daddy, not my sister's daddy). I was surprised at how teary I felt all week thinking of their departure, even though I said my goodbyes on Saturday. I will miss them so much! But we have always been a tight family, and she and I are daily email/ichatters, and plenty of phonecalls too. And I'm so happy for them. This is the right career for J, the right company, and a city they've wanted for a long time. But I still get a little choked up when I think about my mom standing in the airport saying goodbye.

Welcome home, Wallies.

Earle and Habbestad give it two thumbs up!

Or was that two tissues up? Had no idea I would get teary in this movie! I went in skeptical, but they nailed it. A few places to nit-pick, but why bother? It was a beautiful movie visually and audibly. The characters were just right. I think what struck me most was the subtleties that were brought out in the film. The BBC version will always be the classic, and reminds me now of a stage play. But this new version has captured my heart and, once out on DVD, will become a permanent part of my favorite collection.

Thanks, K-Day, for the great girls' night out!

The "All About Me" Show

Biola has had an Employee Spotlight section in their on-line Employee Newsletter, and I thought I'd steal their questions.

What do you do?
For another 26 workdays, I am the Administrator of Student and Faculty Development for the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership at Biola University. (Talk about a mouth-ful!) After that, I will assume an on-call consultant role with the MOL which will translate into a few hours a month while I assume my REAL new career as a Mommy. (P.S. I'm looking for a kick-butt description of what a Mom is... like "Primary Care Giver, Spiritual Advisor, Chef, etc."

Years working at Biola?
7.5

Height?
5'6"

Home Church?
Grace EV Free, La Mirada

Favorite thing about Biola?
The Community. I appreciate that this school is increasingly concerned about the importance of solid academics, and the marriage of academics with character.

Where did you work before you worked at Biola?
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

What time do you wake up in the morning?
6:45a.m.

Do you hit the snooze button?
Heck yeah!

What did you eat for breakfast today?
Wheat English Muffins

What was the last movie you watched?
Harry Potter... and Pride and Prejudice tonight!

What book(s) are you reading?
Just finished "Til We Have Faces," working on "Your Pregnancy Week by Week," "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer," "Tears of the Giraffee" (part of the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series"), and thinking I might give myself the treat of re-reading a Jane Austen.

What CD is in your player right now?
CD? What's that? My husband gave me permisssion to buy a Christmas CD today... and at the moment I'm listening to The Nutcracker, which is just vintage.

Favorite cartoon character:


Favorite flavor of ice cream:
Anything with fudge, anything with caramel. Cookie dough. No nuts.

Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi:
Pepsi for sure! (I miss caffiene!)

Do you prefer coffee or tea:
Coffee!! I love tea, though.

Favorite type of food:
REAL Italian food. Best meal ever was Ravioli in Sorrento.
or GOOD Seafood. the OTHER best meal ever was Crab-stuffed lobster at Legal Seafood in Boston

Favorite smell:
Christmas Tree

Favorite kitchen appliance:
KitchenAid!

Favorite color:
Depends... Red half the time, muted blues and greens other times.

Favorite holiday:
Christmas Eve

Favorite movie:
Tough one! Probably the Lord of the Rings movies, but Narnia could sweep them.

Favorite sports team:
My poor 9'ers. I still remember the 80's and 90's guys.

Favorite TV show:
Scrubs, except that it gets a little too raunchy occasionally.

Favorite travel destination:
Europe

Book you think everyone should read:
The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia. They have taught me more about God than any others I know of

Family
Where did you grow up?
The San Joaquin Valley

How many siblings do you have?
One older sister and one younger brother.

Are you the oldest, youngest, or a middle child?
The middle is definitely the best!

Do you have kids? How many?
1 daughter-to-be

Do you have any pets?
Not presently. Maybe a dog one day if it doesn't give me allergies.

Are you related to anyone famous?
Eric the Red
Tim Salmon (sort of)

The Unusual
What is something that most people would not know about you?
That I can actually be kind of shy sometimes. If I have to go to a party where I don't know anyone, I am extremely shy. I also really like being alone. Not all the time, but I enjoy my alone time.

What are your hobbies?
Piano, reading, crochet, travel, being with my friends and family, listening to good music, watching good movies

What is the most unique or random concert that you have attended?
Lowen and Navarro, which was held in a guitar shop in Santa Monica. It was really intimate feeling and the music was fantastic!

Have you lived anywhere unique?
One mile from the Capitol Building of the United States.

Have you had your 15 minutes of fame?
When I was in the 8th grade I reported for and produced a 1/2 radio show for a Fresno PBS station about the Yosemite Institute, which is a Science program for elementary school kids held in Yosemite Valley.


What place have you never visited but wish you could?
Benton, PA

Let's All Go to the Moooo-vies

I'm very much looking forward to this one. I had previously been skeptical of it because, hey, how can you beat the BBC version with Colin Firth? How can you do this wonderful book in 2 hours? But two Jane Austen fans (notice I said Jane Austen FANS, not Jane Austen FANATICS) have told me they really liked the movie, so I'm set to go. The Wonder Woman is my companion this evening, and we look forward to sipping our Starbucks and falling in love with Mr. Darcy all over again.

Ultrasound news

It's confirmed... it is in fact a girl. =) She gave us a really nice butt shot that left no doubts. Thank goodness... I have enough pink that's been given to me to last a lifetime! She is also a big baby... 3 pounds, 8 oz. already! This puts us either at having a big baby, or else it puts us a week ahead of schedule. We'll see. She is healthy, and so far seems content in there.

The other news is that my placenta has not moved up from the cervix. It was expected to grow upwards with my uterus, but it has not moved. Ther is no threat to the baby, but does mean we will need to talk about delivery options. What this would have meant if we didn't know about it is that there would have been quite a bit of bleeding, endangering me more than the baby. However, because modern medicine knows to check for this, it's really not a big deal. There is a chance, possibly a good chance, that I will need to do a C-section. We'll see... I find out Monday. I am not worried, though.

The Baby Wash

Thanksgiving week was officially a success. After an evening drive up to Selma on Tuesday, we had an early "feast" (as Emma calls it) with my sister and brother-in-law before he left Thanksgiving Day for Seattle. (He arrived safely on Saturday and starts work on Monday morning).

Then we had a nice time on Thanksgiving Day with Steve's brother's girlfriend's family in Oakdale. Mom Earle and I declined the Black Friday shopping and enjoyed sleeping in. The major hilight, of course was when Jamie's dog ate two of our host's chickens. The Hershey visitor center, on the other hand, was a big disappointment.

Then back to Selma/Reedley for my "Danish" shower. My aunt put on a really nice tea for me with the Danish relatives invited. I love this group... we just sit around and gab and gab. They really spoiled me, too, and I just keep hoping there are no surprises when this baby is born, because if it turns out to be a boy, he's going to have a very pink identity crisis. =) We get another ultrasound tomorrow, so I will get to check again. Emma was sort of the mascot of the shower. She couldn't remember that it was called a shower, and coined the term, "Baby Wash." She was my little helper with the gifts, which was so cute. And I just have to say, I ROCK... my thank you's are finished already!

The dreams continue

Okay, this time I dreamt that the pope was shot. My family was invited to the funeral, and while there I discovered that I was in possession of the gun! I knew I hadn't shot him, but didn't know what to do with the gun. I was trying to take care of my little niece, Abby, and she was a handful, so I never got around to telling anyone about the gun. The longer I waited, the more nervous I was that they were going to think I did it! Steve asked if I was feeling threatened by Catholocism...

Two Day Week!

I'm working a little later tonight, but it doesn't bother me at all, seeing as how I work only 2 days this week. Today I go do academic advising at our Orange County site, which should be fun. This seems like a nice group. I have several other groups who are very demanding. This one seems to understand that if you have a question or concern, you ask politely. Go figure.

I had the craziest dream last night that kinda freaked me out. I dreamt that I looked outside and this white VW Jetta was sitting outside our house, and a guy who looked a lot like Jack Nickelson was just staring at our house. (Of course it was late at night in the dream.) I went outside--for some reason I went through the window--and the guy pulled a small machine gun out on me. I got back inside the house in time, and he didn't shoot, but apparently I wasn't to leave my house. I woke up still feeling like I was supposed to call the cops.

Then I dreamed Steve and I were going through our wedding ceremony again, and I hadn't done my hair, and couldn't find my wedding dress and shoes.

In cinematic news... Harry Potter, two thumbs up with a special thumbs up for Patrick Doyle's new score... Scrubs took a little while to warm up, but is still quite funny, though I'm still bummed they have to let it be crass once in awhile... and Madagascar was cute.

The weekend!

Only 1 hour and 43 minutes until the weekend! I'll start out the weekend at the Chorale concert tonight. It was supposed to be an alumni reunion, but it's been put off until the Spring so they can get a proper mailing out. I hope to at least see a couple of locals there. Always strange to see old friends with a new belly.

Then tomorrow morning... Horray for Harry! Looking forward to this one big time!



So rare that there are so many good movies I want to see. Walk the Line, Narnia, Harry, Pride and Prejudice... not to mention the home-front, where Scrubs' 2nd season is just out. All in time for Thanksgiving!

Update

I am muchly reassured. The hospital was much better than expected. Certainly not a Four Seasons, but definitely a respectable Best Western, and not a crappy Motel 6. The atmosphere was calm, and I heard NO ONE crying in the delivery room. The nurse who led the tour was a cutie and really did a great job of reassuring and encouraging all of us. It's nice to have a picture in my mind of where we will go and what it all will look like. I was glad to find out that if my mom makes it down here, she can be in the delivery room with me, and if BOTH my mom and dad make it, they can both be in there. That's my dream... for me to have labor start on Saturday morning so that my folks can both make it down in time to be there. I would love for my Dad to be there in the room to help me think through things and tell me what's going on. At any rate, it was a good experience.

The biggest double standard works to my advantage...

Why is it that women can think men are cute and talk about them and it's not sexual? I don't know, but it gives me the right to come up with top 10 lists.

My sister and I were trying to remember all the people on our "top 10" list of cuties. So far...

Colin Firth
Viggo Mortensen
The guy from Sweet Home Alabama (Josh Lucas)
Ewan McGreggor
Christian Bale (Batman/Laurie from Little Women)
Peyton Manning
Sean Connery (he'll be cute until he's 90)
Oliver Wood (the chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team--is it bad that I'm, like 8 years older than him?)


George Stephanopolis gets an honorable mention, even though he's "blue."

The long, dark corridor

I'm about to go visit the hospital in which I will experience the worst pain of my life. It's called "The Stork Tour," and it is a tour of the hospital where little "Pearl Earle" (as my office-mates are calling her) will enter the non-liquid world. I am not a total whimp, but I wouldn't say I'm the toughest girl out there either. On two ends of the spectrum are my sister, who voluntarily performs surgery on her own feet without so much as a wince, and another member of the family circle who, God bless her, cries every time she gets her blood-pressure checked. So I figure I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm definitely in the "use drugs if possible" camp. When I broke and dislocated my baby toe 7 years ago, the E.R. doc said, "Can we try this without the anesthetics first?" I naively said yes. Many tears later, he went to get the shot. So how will I do? I don't know, you tell me!

Oh, and...

We just got tix to go see the Narnia red-carpet premiere at Downtown Disney. Woo-hoo! Looks like a nice birthday for Steve!

Monday Update

Wow, what a busy week back. Steve's sister moved into town last week Monday, so we've been helping her move and making sure she had a place to hang out. It's hard being new in town, and we wanted her to know she's always welcome here.

Monday last week I had a routine check-up, and was totally stressed about the weight gain. Luckily I had only gained 3 pounds in 5 weeks. I was hoping she would jump up and down or at least say, "good job," but instead she says, "well, I guess that's okay." I say again: Never tell a woman she's gained too much weight... you will never be forgiven. Of course, I was so stressed out about the weight gain, my blood pressure was too high. Can't win!

The rest is a blur. Got the carpet in! Finished the pool! So much to do... have to Christmas shop, finish registry, get ready for T-giving, etc.

The trip

Okay, the trip. Here are just a couple of pics from our trip.


Fun with cameras. While we were taking this picture, a helicopter was flying over all the mall buildings looking at the roofs. Later we discovered they were preparing for the Rosa Parks viewing that night.


One of two really cold days. The rest were really nice. It was great to be out in the cold air and actually feel like it was FALL!



This is on the way to see the place where I lived for a semester in college. What a walk to work it was!


I love this shot. I think this was my most meaningful trip to Arlington. Possibly because I wasn't trying too hard to make it meaningful.


Aren't we cute? =)

It was a great time together, tons of walking, really looking at our capitol. Some hilights were getting to hear part of a Supreme Court case, and actually seeing Cheif Justice Roberts in the mix. We heard a news report on that case later, which was really cool. I really liked Arlington this time around. It was beautiful, and I felt we really got to experience it. We were walking on a road, just the two of us, and some Army guys came riding along on horses with a casket pulled behind on a wagon. It was an amazing moment. We did a lot of pictures of law enforcement and military. It seems to be a theme with us when we travel... we're interested in the uniforms, the tasks, and the people. Other hilights... seeing the Marine Marathon in DC. Races are so cool. I love all the people on the sides cheering for the runners. It is one time in our culture where just about all you experience is encouragement.

I loved seeing "my" old city with my beloved. In many ways, the magic of the city was broken for me and I became again a tourist instead of someone with a DC address, (however short term). But it was a beautiful week and it was neat to compare the snapshot of my life with my life then. I can't help but praise God for where my life is now. He has protected me and given me so many joys. To stand in the same spots 8 years later with a wonderful, loving, faithful husband and carrying my unborn daughter was something to make me catch my breath.

A tribute to Ruth

She'd kill me if I put up a picture of just her, so let's just say she is in this picture. Today is my good friend, Ruth's last day here in the office. She was someone who dropped out of the sky for us 4 years ago when we needed a Marketing Coordinator, and has since become a dear friend. She is moving on to be the Director of Public Relations for the Southern California branch of the Special Olympics. I think I"m avoiding feeling anything because I know it is going to hurt when she is gone. She is the person here who really "gets" me, the one that I bounce everything off of, the one I go to when I need to process, and the one I HAVE to talk to after I've watched one of our shows on TV. She laughs easily and often and is one of the kindest people I know. She can be tenacious when it really counts, too. I will miss the dayliness (how do you spell that??) of just telling her the dumb stuff like, "Our carpet came in last night!" or "I made these rockin' scones yesterday." She always gets it. I will miss hearing about her doggies and her everlasting decision-making.

Here's to you, Ruth, and a wonderful career with the Special Olympics. Love the socks off of those guys.

Off we go!

We are D.C. bound! Have a great week, the two of you that read this (wait, one of you is coming with me...).

Inspired by Stuck on you...

I'm inspired today by the Stuck on you blog's story to share a memory of my lowest low while planning my wedding. Rule #1: Any time you make something for your wedding instead of buying it, you will have 10 times the work and 100 times the stress. I would do it again... I loved my invitations. They were goregeous and innovative. At the time no one did anything like our invites. But alas, they were the thorn in my side. From driving twice to San Fransisco for paper, to late nights with a giant cutting board at Office Max to the dreaded printers.

My low moment came when I was using our printer to print the addresses (the vellum envelopes we'd bought wouldn't allow you to use any kind of pen... go figure). We finally found a printer that worked on the vellum, and I set out for an evening of working on the addresses.
Steve: Do you want me to help?
Jenny: No, it's a one person job. But I want you close by in case something goes wrong.
Steve: Can Zeke and Eric play Settlers at your apartment?
Jenny: You bet.

Time passes... Settlers play begins... Printing commences... all running smoothly

Jenny: (Bloodcurdling scream... my mind escapes what triggored it)
Steve: Are you okay?
Jenny: No!
Zeke: Can I pray for you?
Jenny: No! I'm not feeling very spiritual right now!

Silence reigned.

We're all still friends, but Zeke never played another game of Settlers at my house again.

My sister and her husband are stopping off briefly at my parents house in between the end of the PhD and starting the new job, and in the mean time they've been helping my folks out with some home improvement. One of the projects deemed necessary was my old room.
Here's the before:


And the after:








Apparently "Princess Emma" is bummed that it was painted "skin" instead of "pink." But hey, what are you going to do?

How I intend to spend Thursday and Friday

Tomorrow our office is being painted. They did some touch-up work and discovered, "Um, we don't even HAVE that paint color anymore!" So we get to pack up the whole office today, then "work from home" tomorrow and Friday.

So aside from checking some email and the phones now and then, and a few small projects, I plan to:
* Sleep in
* Actually MAKE breakfast
* Go for a walk
* Shower at noon. Scratch that. Take a bath.
* Make the kind of dinner that it takes awhile to make, like a roast or something
* Paint my toenails (while I can still reach my toes)

Feel free to make suggestions...

Vacaciones!

THIS is where I'd like to be right now! So I will go there in a few weeks, just because. I'm in the middle of getting the planning done. I hate choosing hotel rooms. However, I think I've found a way to get us there pretty cheap, but still somewhat nice. I'm so excited to go see the places I went when I was in school, and actually experience FALL!

29 for the first time

Well, folks, here's to the big 29. It feels sort of like the closing of an era. I've been reflecting on what wonderful years my 20's have been. I've had the wonderful opportunity more recently to be able to mentor a couple of young women, which has given me a great opportunity to really reflect on how I've grown as a person. I am about to embark on a journey that will likely humble me, knock off my roughest edges, and make me wonder if I was mature at all before this began, but it is a good feeling to reflect on life and see how God has taught me and stretched me and blessed me.

So since I can't have any alcohol to toast to the last birthday of my 20's, how about a picture toast?



This is the day that my father delivered me in a closet. That's the literal truth... My dad was working at Valley Medical Center in Fresno, and because I was a "bargain baby" and there was no room in the inn, they cleaned out a supply closet for me to be born in. My dad writes an email to me almost every year that talks about how he went home late that night while my mom slept and just sat in the dark and thanked God for me. I swear, it makes me cry every time.



Here I'm probably age three or four. Do I look like my dad or what?? It's that square, Danish smile.



Okay, take a look at those HUGE eyes! My sister says they used to scare her, and called them "cow eyes." I think my head grew later and they started to fit a little better.



This was one of the best days of my whole life until my wedding day. I remember feeling like this day belonged to my whole family. None of my grandparents, aunts or uncles or cousins have graduated from college, so I felt that this was something my family sort of owned together.


This was the only day so far that topped my graduation. To finally walk down the aisle on my father's arm and belong to my best friend for the rest of our lives... to put it in Steve's words, "I was overwhelmed with God's goodness to me."

So here's to almost 3 decades of God's faithfulness!

Who cares?

Just posting a pet-peeve. Why do news organizations ask people what they think about world events? Who really cares what Joe on the street thinks about an evacuation of the Washington Monument? He'll say, "Um, bad." I suppose that most athlete interviews fall into roughly the same category. "We went out there and just played football and had a really good game and then we won." Am I right? Coaches are usually more articulate, so I'm alright with that. Maybe an occasional quarterback won't bore me.

Happy weekend!

Love my In-Laws!

Aren't they just the cutest ever? They are here this week helping Steve and I with the house. I go off to work, and then when I come home, things like baseboards appear and dinner is being prepared... it's fantastic! And although the title seems to imply serious sarcasm in our culture, I actually mean it. I get along well with Steve's parents. The only thing I don't care for as much is that Steve works very hard while his dad is here (which is great), so that I don't see a lot of him (which isn't quite as great).

Tonight we choose the carpet we'll have for the NEXT 15 years. Everyone is voting for darker carpet. I love light carpet, but I know better.

I love my job...

This is what I did at work yesterday...
Notice how I snowed my boss. However, another employee got 175,000, so I shouldn't brag. But she has an annual pass, so it doesn't count!

The quick explanation is... we have 3 October birthdays, someone gave us money to go to lunch, so we all went to lunch at Downtown Disney, then ditched the two guys (who don't like Disneyland anyway) and we "girls" all went to the park. We have a student that works for Disney who signed us in.

I sooo love my job.

Stay Tuned...

Every time I go home to my parents' house I come back nostalgic. I have been trying to get through a couple of boxes worth of old letters and fun things from my childhood, so that my poor mother can have my closet back. I haven't lived there in 11 years, I ought to move out, don't you think? I found notes written back and forth with my cousin Kevin in church on the back of the attendance registry paper. I found old balloon slips (in my high school, you could buy a balloon for a dollar and have it delivered to someone in their class), old letters I wrote but never sent. I found a letter from my cousin in Denmark who had sent me a pendant taped to the letter. I never took it off, so it's been in there for 15 years! I pulled it out and wore it to church on Sunday. And look at THIS beauty below: (See # 8. Oh, and # 10 is my sister, and #12 is my best friend from high school... we met when we were 6 years old and sat together at this recital.)

Baby Bookey

Well, tomorrow is the day! (Shh... don't tell my mother-in-law... we're going to surprise her.) We go in tomorrow about 11:45 for the hour-long ultrasound to find out who this little one is going to be. I'm NOT looking forward to the fact that they make you drink a bunch of water and then prohibit you from "voiding." I think you can figure out what that means. I mean, isn't that cruel to not let a pregnant woman, um, void? But regardless, I am looking forward to this first little bit of learning who this little person will be.

Sooo... any bets? My father is CONVINCED that it's a boy. He was right about my sister, me, and my two nieces, so he's 4 for 5. My brother-in-law Jamie is also in the boy camp. My neighbor across the street and my cousin Lisa are SURE it's a girl. So I gotta know... who thinks it will be what? I might have to think of a reward or something for whoever is right. I mean, you've got a 50-50 chance. And I want to know WHY you think it's one or the other, even if the why is just "Because."

And I think we will tell people what the gender is, but not until after we talk to our parents. =)

The storms may come, the storms may go

For those of you who don't live in Southern California, we had some serious storming tonight. Not so much wind, but the kind of lightning I wish I could photograph and sort of rolling thunder. The Biola kids all came out when it started raining big fat drops, and then a huge cheer went up when the sky lit up with the brightest lightning yet. Some of them must have been watching Monday Night Football, too because another cheer went up when Brunell launched that amazing pass down to Santana Moss for the tie. (They got the extra point to break it.) Game is still going with a minute and a half left with Redskin possession at the Dallas 43. I have high hopes for a Redskins victory.

More Home Improvement

Here's the "live" version of the desk. I had an old, brown chair with this faded pink, sort of corduroy seat which I painted black and then covered with that toile fabric. I'm actually not going to keep the toile, but want to get a red stripey fabric that they have at IKEA. But for all practical purposes of the weekend, Walmart was a lot closer than IKEA is, hence the toile.



And here is the window that Steve put in this weekend. Yay!! Still a bit of work left to do, but we're so happy with it! I'm keeping a lot of before and after pictures of our house so years from now we can show potential buyers all the work we've done.

A first

Tuesday, for the first time EVER, I actually put a call in to my doctor's office. I'm the child of a doctor, so you just ask Dad. I had never actually called my doctor with a question before in my life. Well, with this pregnancy thing has come heartburn. I used to think that heartburn came under the category of, "Who's dumb idea was it to have movie popcorn for dinner on Friday night?" But then I gained 10 pounds in 2 months and my organs all relocated and I got to learn what REAL heartburn is. I'm not kidding, we're talking swallowing razor blades. So I call Dad, dad says, you can take Pepcid AC, but call your doctor and make sure it's okay with her first. What? Call my doctor? What do you do, just, like CALL them? You don't need an appointment? I wish I could impress on folks how WEIRD this is. Of course, not being from my family, you also won't understand why I have a hard time actually purchasing lemons, oranges and nectarines (or any stone fruit for that matter). You just never DO that at my dad's house when there are perfectly good trees on the farm just 9 miles away with FREE fruit! So I suppose I'm "growing" here.

Fun with furniture

This is the desk Steve and I just got from Ashley furniture. I was happy with the price, but I can't say that we got a steal. It's not what I would call "quality craftsmanship." However, it's a nice looking desk, and goes well with our black and red decor in the "library/conservatory." =) Now, if we had bought the green piano... I'm glad to get a desk, too, as we were sort of using multiple stations to process our paper stuff, and now we can start clearing some things out of the baby's room.

Speaking of the baby's room... here are a few ideas I have for a boy's room:






And for a girl's room...

Weird Dream

I was inspired by "the Wonderwoman Files" (for those of you don't know, my blogging inspiration and particular friend) to share my weird dream from Sunday night. I dreamt I was the executive assistant to the outgoing mayor of New York City, who happened to be Nicholas Cage. He and I apparently got along great, as I discovered when I was handing him his whisky on the rocks. However, the incoming mayor was much more serious, and there was suspected foul play with the new mayor. That's really it, but I thought it was a pretty funny dream.

Democracy

I don't know enough about John Roberts to give him my support to the death, but I will say that I've been impressed with his answers so far. I love his baseball analagy: "Judges call balls and strikes, they're not there to throw pitches." I also like how he addresses the senators. He shows a lot of respect to the branch of government which brings the will of the people to law. He seems to have a very sober understanding of the role of a judge as well. I also think it's pretty comical that the senators' questions are longer than Judge Roberts' answers. The senators get all riled up, too, and Judge Roberts answers in a really calm, collected way. It really bothers me that everyone wants to bring up Roe v. Wade, because all they want is for Roberts to agree with their position. This isn't really the forum to discuss the merits and demerits of pro-choice vs. pro-life. Anyhow, it's a really interesting process, much as I generally HATE political confrontation.

Saturday with a credit card...

I saved my pennies and went to Old Navy. Tons of stuff on sale, things that finally fit me, since I am done with my last pair of normal pants as of this last week. I love the feeling of saving my money so that I can go try a bunch of stuff on and then actually buy more than one thing. Thank goodness for Old Navy. Seems like everywhere else is either super expensive or just ugly. I mean, when did designers decide that great-grandmas and pregnant ladies should wear the same clothes?


In other shopping news...

I think I may have finally found a color scheme for my living room. I gotta say I LOVE Cost Plus!

Steve should never go away again and leave me with money...

Out of L.A.

My husband leaves early tomorrow morning to get back into nature and go backpacking. Thankfully, his "host" is a former Eagle Scout, so my mind is much more at ease. I made sure he had a CD with him in his bag to attract emergency attention if necessary. Say I'm an overprotective wife, but it's just plain common sense! Oh, and would-be burglers... I have a brother, and I'm not afraid to use him!

In other news, I enjoyed the first NFL game of the season. Ah, the drama. I wish I knew more about the game because I love to watch it. I think because the action is isolated but still active, the pace of the game feels good to me. Some hilights were the Raiders breaking the Pats' 31 game hold against kickoff drives. I think it was within only about 3-4 min. Laughing at Madden's infatuation with Randy Moss, and Moss disappointing us all. I suppose I was going for the Pats, but Brady doesn't do much for me. He's a cutie and all that, but he just doesn't strike me as exactly bright. I'm a Manning kind of girl. Or for that matter, really, still a Montana girl.

Aaaand, it's Reedley by a nose!

I had a little informal bet with myself that once I released the news to the hounds from my hometown in late August of my pregnancy, it would come back around by September 1. I kid you not, I got an email September 2 from a friend (who I'd told) saying that a mutual friend had brought the news around the evening before. Do I know my hometown or what!

6 years and counting!

We sort of stumbled on the fact that our first date was Sept. 2nd. I think we'd forgotten, but when we remembered, it was a really nice moment. It is so great to think that the things I initially really liked about Steve are the things that I now love more and more each passing year. We decided to celebrate by skipping Bible Study to nurse the last of the week-long colds we have, and eating bad Chinese food in front of the TV. (We actually ate good chinese food on our first date.) And while I will be going to bed in the next 5 minutes (that's right, BEFORE 10pm on a FRIDAY night!) while Steve and my brother beat the snot out of each other on a video game, I have to say that I thank God more and more for bringing Steve into my life. I love him more now than I ever knew I could. And he tells me he feels just the same.

America's Test Kitchen

Scones
Originally uploaded by earlegirl.

Mom, I apologize in advance for what I'm about to say. Tonight I made some kickass scones!! I can describe them no other way. The British would make me a national hero! Tears of joy and thanks go out to America's Test Kitchen, cooking show above all cooking shows.

Thumbs Up!

Ultrasound9-1-05
Originally uploaded by earlegirl.

Well, I don't want to completely flood my blog with these, but I thought this one was pretty cool. I had to get a blood test today to discover the risk of things like Down's Syndrome, etc. But apparently my kiddo wanted to let me know everything was okay... Thumbs up, guys!

What could have been...

Dannon Yogurt
Originally uploaded by earlegirl.

My Senior year at Biola I had an assignment to create a product and explain my marketing strategy. I decided to create a smoothie for a yogurt company that had a focus on being fast and fit. I designed a really great looking package... it was curvy like a fit woman's body, and the packaging was pretty to appeal to a woman on the go. Last week I bought the product in the picture at the grocery store... looks strangely familiar! I'm wishing I'd gone to the yogurt people and sold my idea! Well, at least I got an A...

And then there were... well, 3 less of those buggers!

Flip-Flop Fly Swatter
Originally uploaded by earlegirl.

I seriously hate crickets. But I almost don't have the energy to hate them after the battle we've had with the ants lately. Granted, I'll take these two pests over cockroaches, moths, and spiders, but I still hate them. As I sat responding to KDH's blog, I see something out of the corner of my eye. And at that moment, I wished I had one of these puppies! I grabbed the nearest Birkenstock (with my husband, there's usually one close by) and that little bugger knew his last. As I went for a napkin to shroud my little enemy, I saw ANOTHER one, who met his end soon after. The THIRD guy I saw on my way to the napkins proved a worthy foe, but still, the whole no central nervous system thing didn't work out so well for him in the end.

By the way, I've seen these fly swatters at Z-Gallerie, and if anyone doesn't know what to get me for Christmas, throw one of these in.

P.S. Sickness update: ferferfly getting better; my two boys are now both sick. Lucky dogs have cooler temperatures forecasted tomorrow.

It begins

It begins
Originally uploaded by earlegirl.

It is so counter-intuitive to start to gain weight and watch my stomach grow... I feel like I'm supposed to start losing weight and kicking up my exercise or something. Instead, I can only do weenie exercize, and I'm eating a ton more.

Updates to come as I get bigger.

Artifacts of my day

ArtifactsofmyDay
Originally uploaded by earlegirl.

I already griped... but thought I'd show it in picture form...