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!