I love you, you know.

2011-10-17T19:57:00.001-07:00

What a Joke.

Seriously- I am such a joke at blogging. Perhaps it is time to shut the thing down....no one even reads anymore, to be sure!

In the meantime, it's a good place to share lyrics from my favorite songs and other sentimental musings for which I have no other outlet.

Tonight- one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

'Taend et lys for mig' - a duet by Anne Dorthe Michaelsen og Bjorn Eidsva. I feel like crying each and every time I hear this song.

Det undrer mig, du stadig er her
så mange gange jeg har bedt dig gå.
Det - og den store vide verden -
er mer', end jeg kan holde rede på.

Når mørket har lagt sig,
har fanget mig i sit garn.
Og jeg står her som et barn
uden een erfaring
er der kun dig.

Tænd et lys for mig,
send et brev, når jeg
ingenting kan forstå.
Knyt et bånd til mig,
hold min hånd, vis mig,
hvilken vej jeg skal gå
gennem vinternatten.

Hvor er den sol, som skulle skinne?
den allermindste stråle se herned.
Det er, som livet lukket inde,
man tror, det varer i al evighed.

Når mørket derude
har bragt mig væk fra mig selv.
Så jeg kun kan sige farvel,
taler som en djævel,
er der kun dig.

Tænd et lys for mig...

Nu står vintermørket for min dør.
Jeg er tom og trist som aldrig før.
Vis mig en vej - bare en lille sti -
ud af mørket som jeg er fanget i.

Tænd et lys for mig...

2011-04-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Aloft

Ahhhhhh.

FINALLY done with all that house-crap. At the risk of repeating myself: moving sucks. But thank goodness, that is all behind us now. As of about 5 hours ago. Now, crawled up in bed at the W Hotel, Aloft, PDX, life is good again. This hotel is sa-weeet. Had dinner at the bar, room temp is set at 75. We all have pink cheeks and we have cracked open the bottle of champagne meant to be opened yesterday for M's 40th.

I think we're enjoying it more tonight (even though K-man is having a tizzy because he doesn't want to go to sleep while Daddy's still up watching the Laker game.)

Tomorrow's agenda: breakfast at the IHOP next door to the hotel and head to the airport. Oh- and bummer that I'm missing Joby's 'Watch The Royal Wedding Party' so I might have to catch the highlights on CNN.

Good night. Sleep tight.

2011-04-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

5 days.

Our house looks like a refugee camp. Seriously. Ok, minus the other refugees. It's just the four of us, which is a pretty roomy refugee camp. But it's pretty grungy, nevertheless.

Hilarious happenings this week:

- Audrey saying to me, in all seriousness (and with this very grown up look on her face): "You are CREEPIN' me out, lady." (after I asked her whether the snail she'd been playing with outside, had hitched a ride inside on her clothing.)

- Kellen grabbing my cold coffee and attempting to drink it when I turned my back for 15 seconds. It was ALL over him. I took a picture- which is hilarious. But unfortunately, I accidentally took it in a 'mode' that I haven't figured out how to export from my camera.

- Kellen figuring out that 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease' and really finding his 'squeaky voice'. Holy cow. Life was much easier before he figured this out. He is getting FEISTY.

Tomorrow is Easter and I have a very sad feeling about being so absorbed with moving and getting ready for this trip that I have neglected to prepare my heart for - and really absorb the meaning of these 'holy' days. Yes, I know that all days can be 'holy'. But over these past 10 or so years, I have really come to treasure the season of Lent and how it helps me to get re-centered on the things that really matter. Mainly, internalizing that still Inner Voice of Love...and letting it change the way I live.

Instead, this year I have been focused on organizing, purging and buying stuff. Old stuff, new stuff. Packing tape, clothes and so on. I'm looking forward to a time of retreat at Taize. Of course, it won't be the way it was when I went there pre-kid. Still, M and I are going to trade off going to the prayer services and just being in such a peaceful, beautiful place is very conducive to solitude.

2011-04-14T15:04:00.001-07:00

15 Days...

...-well, almost 14 until we have the last of our things moved, and then on to Europa.

Several friends have requested that we revive the blog for the occasion so that we can send out updates from our trip along the way.

It is strange to be taking a trip without going to Denmark...also strange that it still feels in so many ways like the home-country of my heart and yet I've now been back in the U.S. for nearly 9 years! It's very, very hard to believe. Time does indeed fly.

Back to our trip: we start in Paris, then to Taize, then on to Italy- where neither of us have ever been. We've been dreaming of it since our honeymoon. Not sure we ever imagined that our first visit would include two wee-ones, but we are just so excited to be going, and to be sharing it with them. Obviously, none of this would be possible if we weren't able to do our work from just about anywhere. The time-difference makes things a bit challenging, but very doable.

In Italy, we're staying in Lucca for a month, where we've rented our good friend Michela's aunts' house. Then we're taking a ferry to northern Sardinia where we'll stay for two weeks, then drive to the south, where we will also stay for two weeks. At the beginning of July, we'll visit Rome for a week, and then back home to Portland.

So there you have it. The quick run-down of our plans.

Wanna come?

P.S. This pic of K-man and I was taken yesterday at A's preschool. My little dude.

2010-08-05T20:36:00.001-07:00

Deleted.

For those of you who may have checked this blog earlier today and seen a posting that has now been deleted, I will tell you why: despite my outrage at the popularity of the insane demagogue, I simply could not tolerate the sight of Glenn Beck or his network's logo on our blog so...

delete.

2010-07-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

This could be one of my favorite pictures of ALL TIME.

(Taken, of course, by Kelly.)

2010-07-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Swimming Lessons.

The Sellwood Pool- our local wading hole.

Starting her climb in the 'swimming hierarchy' as a Goldfish, Audrey had the time of her life in her first swim lessons. The fact that we got a snow cone almost every day probably didn't hurt either.

She has now graduated to become a Penguin. Stay tuned...

2010-07-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

Mila's Daydreams

These are incredible.

2010-07-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Sib Love.

My dearest Gitte is always saying that siblings are the best gift you can ever give your children and I must say that I am completely blown away by how quickly a special bond has formed between Kellen and Audrey. He has a special smile when she is around and she is the most tender, loving sister. Seeing them together brings tears to me eyes and makes me laugh out loud. They are amazing and my heart positively breaks with love.

2010-06-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Audrey knows what a mullet is.

.

2010-06-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Happy

...belated Fathers Day to my honey.

It brings tears to my eyes when I consider the incredible father, husband, man, that you are. Loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled--all the fruits--plus wicked smart, fun, and hot too. A modern man who knows that housework is a shared responsibility, not 'women's work'-- (even if it doesn't bug you as much as me when the house is dirty. :)

You're the kind of man I hope Audrey marries and Kellen becomes.

Soooo grateful that you are ours.

Yours,

Audrey, Kellen, b.

2010-06-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Kelly...

Photos of our babies...and family

*not seen in this photo is Kellen's mommy in an uncomfortable squat, hovering just below the frame, with hands up the entire time.

* You may, or may not be able to see how extremely tired the parents in this photo are.

Isn't Kelly so incredibly talented?

2010-06-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I give to you...

The Violet Garden Preschool Class of 2010.

Classmates, from left to right:

Back row: Calvin (Maki; 'the dreamy Calvin'), Angus, Kennedy, Gideon, Zachary

On sofa: Ms. Annette, Eleanor, Ruby, Ravi, Nola, Ms. Jody, Calvin (R.)

Front: Ms. Meg, Tessa, Lucy, Leighla, Anna, Audrey

2010-06-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

Kellen @ 5 weeks

* This picture courtesy of Molly Winn- our friend, best friend of Kelly, and photographer/proprietor of Molly Winn Photography.

Our little guy is already 5 weeks old!

In addition to being delicious enough to kiss constantly, our guy seems to be a fun mix of easy going (in spite of some discomfort--more on that later) and feisty at the same time. A total love bug.

He's a keeper.

P.S. More pictures of Kellen soon to arrive from Aunt Kelly! See one more here.

2010-05-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

PSA

Public Service Announcement

We interrupt these festive tidings of the recent birth of our newest family member to bring information valuable to the public broadcasting audience: how to remove Flubber from hair. (Flubber is a gelatinous, sticky material made out of water, white glue and borax. Extremely strange stuff.)

A couple of weeks ago, Audrey received a small container of Flubber in a party favor box. Ecstatic, she had only held it in her hands about 60 seconds before she just HAD to put it on her head. Bad idea.

Flubber absorbs its way into hair about as fast as water would. Unlike gum, it didn't need to work its way in--it was just automatically a gooey mass of hair, completely inseparable.

So what does a mother do? Laptop, please. Google search: 'how to get flubber out of hair'. Results? Turns out good old fashioned mayo does the job. You have to massage it in for a few minutes, dissolving the glue bond in the Flubber, then shampoo & rinse. Then you get to have greasy hair for several days because mayo is a deep conditioner of sorts.

2010-05-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday...

Kellen Henri Morris

Born at 12:58 am this morning, May 7, 2010.

7lb. 140z, 20 inches.

Precious.

Seeing Audrey and he meet for the very first time was one of the most adorable scenes that I have ever witnessed in my life.

2010-05-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

Sad.

For the past many months I have been very aware of the fleetingness of these last precious moments together with Audrey as my 'only child.' Every little thing we do together seems extra special and almost every time I look at her throughout the day, I feel teary and nostalgic. Appreciative.

What an amazing little person that calls me 'mommy/mama.' As Henri says, "Children are honored guests." Indeed they are and my little daughter is truly an angel come to earth. (I'm not claiming she's perfect...just that she is a heavenly gift.)

When I think back to how much she has changed my life...inspired me to be so much more than anything or anyone else before her, I feel guilty. That first week after she was born, I recall what mixed emotions --bliss and absolute, total love! Annoyance, resentment, misery. Sleep-deprivation, hormones and wondering if life would ever be 'normal' again...whether we'd ever sleep or watch a movie in peace again. Dreading the future stretching out into endless diaper changes, feedings, baths, laundry. Oh the mundaneness of it all. And hence, the guilt. To be honest, surrender is a long process. One will probably always be underway. But somehow there was a definite turning point when it occurred to me: what other better or more worthwhile thing did I have to do? Was anything in my former independent life more worthwhile or significant than sacrificing for, investing in-, loving and nurturing this little person entrusted to me for such a short time?

Oh sure, I can still long for the control of a structured workday, work clothes, the kudos of a job finished and well-done. The paycheck :) I miss reading a book without interruption and being the master of my own day with few responsibilities for anyone outside of myself. The sleep.

But what is all of that worth compared with the flowers and weeds that my little girl picks for me every single time we're on a walk? Her 'gifts' --feathers she finds ("feathers that eagles left"), drawings. Her laughs or deep appreciation for the smallest of joys a fort in the living room, digging in the dirt, a craft together...or perhaps best of all those tight little hugs and sighs when she nuzzles up to me and says "Ooooooo I LOVE you mommy." The stories she tells. How she tries to help me with everything...I could go on and on.

Every time I give her a bath or dress her I marvel at how this strong little child-body was once as small and flailing as the one inside of me now. That tiny newborn is now a kid. A bona fide kid. How quickly life passes. And baths and stories and diaper changes and hugs and kisses and feedings. This is life. A million tiny moments strung together like beads on a string.

I hope that this second time around, I can slow down enough from the very beginning to treasure each and every one.

2010-05-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Message to 3 people.

3 responses.

Last night, after watching 'Lord, save us from your followers!' on Netflix, I was overwhelmed with the urge to name our coming son, Bono.

I mean, seriously: Bono ROCKS. Ok, truth be told I know next to nothing about what he's like as a husband, father, etc. But as an artist? Genius. As a force for change in the world? Social Justice? Philanthropy? Being for the things Christ would be for? Absolutely.

For those of you who don't know, we have really struggled to decide on a boy name. There are lots of 'nice' names but they're either too common, don't sound right with our last name, already used by close family and friends, and so forth. We've got our short list, but just haven't had that 'Yes! This is it!' experience.

So last night, I was thinking what a cool name and namesake Bono would be. Even so, I can't see pulling the trigger on that one but for fun I sent out an email this morning to 3 friends:

Subject line: Found a name.

Body of email: Bono (Jude?) Morris.

Each response was hilariously indicative of the personalities of each of these beloved people. (Responses are in quotes below.)

First, the ever diplomatic but forthright Kelly:

"I dig. Very cool. He's gonna have to have major cool-cojones to wear it, but I think your kid could pull it off."

2nd, blatently frank and hilarious Lindsay:

"No. Try again."

3rd, the ever-supportive and earnest Mish:

"That's awesome!

Yay for finding a name!!!!!"

To say that I love these 3 is a massive understatement.

P.S. On a totally different note: MAJOR stroke of luck today. After getting my haircut, stopped into the Gap where a big sale was happening (not sure why I did this since I am obviously not fitting into normal-sized clothing at this point in time. I think it had something to do with feeling like this was a final moment of freedom, probably for a long while.) Found a super cute $89 sand colored light canvas trench on the sale racks marked down to $6.99. Asked sales lady what was wrong with it since it was marked down so severely. 'Oops!' she says. 'That's supposed to be $69.99!!!' They offered it to me for the marked price. SOLD and MAJOR SCORE!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-28T13:05:00.001-07:00

White bread

Commercial sandwich bread has changed alot in my lifetime. When we were kids, most wheat breads were dry and exceptionally heavy. For the most part, my mom bought the best-tasting of these 'wheat' bread varietals: 'Home Pride' or, if she was really on a health-kick, 'Roman Meal' both of which, in retrospect, are actually white bread with small flecks of wheat and some caramel-coloring. Kinda funny.

I don't remember having every kid's fantasy-Wonder Bread in our house, but we must have at some point because I remember how smushy and thin it was. (Side note: am I the only one who despised (still do) room temp lunchbox sandwiches? Made in the morning, but by lunch time disgusting? Lukewarm turkey or ham...all curled up...dry and translucent mustard and mayo. Bleck. Even PB&J lost all it's appeal by noon. But I digress...and feel a separate blog posting regarding this issue coming on...)

Wheat bread has come a long way since then. Nowadays when I buy sandwich bread, I look for one that has minimum 4 grams of fiber per slice and no high fructose corn syrup, etc. (Gotta get that fiber in to compensate for the LC's , right?!) Modern technology has made it possible to have this high fiber bread with excellent taste and still nice, moist and fresh tasting.

In my adult years, with the exception of buying french or sourdough loaves, I don't think I've bought a loaf of true white sandwich bread. It has been a very, very long time since I've had a sandwich on white, unless it was a baguette or something like that.

Until February. When, for my friend Kara's shower (a tea), I bought Country Potato or Buttermilk or something like that to make English tea sandwiches on. Standing in Costco, I asked a couple buying such loaves, whether it was 'good bread.' With a look of annoyance, the wife said, 'I buy it for him (pointing to a happy looking, chubby guy standing next to her.) But to me it tastes like cake.'

So I bought it and sure enough: chicken salad on cake, cucumber cream cheese on cake, egg salad on cake--and so on. Admittedly tasty, also definitely not as filling/satisfying as a sandwich on wheat (need I even mention, less healthy?) And we do really like good wheat bread in this house. In fact, when I had the white bread in the house for the tea, I made Mike and Audrey some toast with it--but she wasn't having it. ' I want my wheat toast!!!!!' she implored. A proud moment for a mom. When kidlet wasn't listening, hubby confessed how delicious it was and how it made French Toast infinitely superior to that made with wheat bread.

Incidentally, I confess to being very embarrassed to having white bread in my shopping cart. Nowadays, it's kind of like having cigarettes in your basket. Another confession: I almost never buy wheat hot dog or hamburger buns and yet never feel any embarrassment about that. I ponder the hypocrisy...

Nevertheless, today at the market while shopping for sandwich materials (we have no use of our kitchen sink as the surrounding area is being re-tiled), I found myself buying one loaf of wheat...and one loaf of white. Is this the slippery slope to the good old-fashioned American malnutrition and/or obesity? I know a couple friends are rolling their eyes at what they might see as 'holier than thou' food philosophy while others are shrieking in horror, having lost all respect for my culinary discretion. But when all else fails, I ask myself WWTDID? Translated: 'What would they do in Denmark?' And in Denmark it is a well-known fact that 'French loaves' are served alongside the heavy Rugbroed (Ryebread of a particularly dense variety). Ok, so sensible Danish consensus would be that only children and unhealthy souls eat more than one piece of the 'Franskbroed' at a sitting.

Do you buy white bread?

2010-04-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Honey!

Today the love of my heart turns 39.

An incredible father and husband...Audrey and I are two of the luckiest girls in the world.

I hope you will live a long, long, long time babe. And me too. Because despite your noble wish that I remarry and be happy if you die before me, my friends have sworn a solemn vow to make sure that you never remarry. Moreover, I would haunt you. I'm just selfish and immature like that. :)

2010-04-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Pink

Two pink things going on in our home:

1. Pink muscat grapes = YUUUUUMM.

If you've never tasted them, you must. New Seasons Market has them right now. Somewhat tough skins but an incredible, fragrant, honey-like jelly-ish center. A work of art straight from nature.

2. Pink eye = YUUUUUCK.

***I considered it but will spare you the photo after all***

Audrey contracted her first case of it on Friday. Talk about DISGUSTING! In the space of just a few hours, her eyes went from watery looking, to oozing yellow goo and then crusting shut and red, swollen and blood-shot. Antibiotic drops hastily improved the situation but when her mommy woke up with an ever-slightly-sticky eye, she immediately got herself a prescription as well. Call me paranoid but I do NOT need another malady with the birth of our baby imminent.

If you've never had it, it looks pertty darn ugly.

I'm not so sure about this preschool thing. Feels like paying 100% tuition to send your kid 20% of the time and catch disgusting diseases the other 80%.

2010-04-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Invasion of the body snatchers.

It's a baby invasion, in case you didn't know it. It's kind of crazy, actually. Just among my own friends, here they are (those who are ready to admit it, anyway.)

These are in order of (expected) arrival...

Kara and Ainsley Bea (born in January)

This was taken at the shower I hosted for Kara, after Ainsley Bea's arrival. Ainsley is Kara's 3rd daughter!

Myself

First belly shot back on our anniversary in September--taken in Vancouver B.C.

Funny, how I felt so huge already at this point. Silly, silly girl.

Mrs. Sonja Barclay-Schloss

Ok, this pic was taken last August at Audrey's birthday party and I should show a more recent pic but I'm way behind on keeping my photo albums current.

Sonja's due 2 weeks after me, having a wee-girl--her 2nd daughter. Firstborn, Ava Moon, is super pumped.

My dear, sweet, Gitte

A very, very old picture because I cannot find a newer one. We were last together last Winter, at which time I think we were just happy to be seeing each other amidst the happy rush of Marian's wedding and the depressing overwhelm of all of our kids taking turns being sick. I think we just forgot to take any pictures.

At any rate, Gitte is a very brave (read: crazy) woman who is about to give birth to #4 in July. She's already got one son and 2 daughters. I think she's about to make it 3 little ladies in the house. Just my hunch.

Mrs. Phoebe Elizabeth Fillmore

This picture was also taken last summer (man do I need to take more pictures, or what?) (photo ruthlessly stolen and edited from Phoebe's blog, to crop out her husband. The original photo was given to Phoebe by the photographer, my sister, Kelly Ry who, I'm sure will deeply appreciate her work being massacred like this.)

Anyway- Phoebe is also a brave (read: crazy) woman, daring to bring child #4 into the world--coming summer 2010. She's mama to Henry, Calvin and Agnes. And I think it's gonna be another girl.

P.S. Phoebe says that her Vietnamese manicurists have a 100% accurate gender-prediction rate.

P.S.S. How do these people (Gitte and Phoebe) not want to know whether they're having boys or girls? It kinda bugs me that they won't find out just to appease MY curiosity.

Mrs. Bong. Lindsay Bong.

Just back from Indonesia and one of my favorite peeps here in Pdx, Mrs. Bong is expecting her first child at the end of September. She is already quite sure that her progeny will be gifted due to strategic inter-racial breeding and her birth plan is to have an epidural started before labor begins. Her loving and adorable husband, Koes, read the book 'The Expectant Father', in its entirety, the very first weekend that they found out they were about 4 weeks pregnant. SOOO cute.

Mrs. Julie Braden

This mommy and her hot new hair-do are baking up this long-awaited baby #2, due this Fall. Big sister Sarah is overwhelmed with anticipation and Julie's husband, Matt (Mike's we-almost-can't-explain-how-they-are-related-cousin), is suuuuuper excited about recent health-care reform which will mean that his new baby can now be born into a world where no child will be excluded from insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions. : )

2010-04-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Lucky Charms Philosophy.

Man, I am on a roll.

A blogging roll (hahaha). I figure I might as well go with it while it lasts.

I just have to follow up on this Lucky Charms thing. I had a major revelation about myself and how I've changed...and how I eat Lucky Charms is a true microcosm of that change.

You see, when I was a child and we occasionally got to eat Lucky Charms (it was only a rare occasion. Mom cared that we had 'healthy' cereal most days unlike some 'cool/relaxed mom's' that I know who's initials are K.P. and who always, always has L.C.'s in stock), I always ate the 'boring' oaty-cereal parts first, leaving all of the charms for last. Seriously, I would eat around the marshmallow charms and save them for the end.

As an adult, I just scoop em right up at the same time. I don't save them--no way. Why should I? Life is too short to play it safe and prudent, saving the best for last. Nah, I say eat your charms right away because who knows whether you will even be around in 4 minutes? And if you die before you eat your charms, how lame is THAT?!

* I used to do that with my burgers too--saving the middle for last. And so on and so forth with many things in life....but it's just too darn short.

P.S. I think that there might be a biological reason as to why baby is craving L.C.'s--and it can be found on the packaging, as shown. Folic acid and Iron. It's 50% of my daily requirement of the former and 25% of the latter. I mean, everyone knows that pregnant ladies are supposed to take extra folic acid. And my blood test results showed that I am anemic and need to boost my iron intake. So the way I figure it, these are practically medicinal. Right? (Help me out here.)

2010-04-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Don't you wish...

...that you lived right down the street from me so that you could come over and have a piece of this delicious cake that I made just this afternoon?

It's Pioneer Woman's 'Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.' recipe. It is deeeeelicious. * I left out the nuts on about half of it, adding nuts + coconut for Mike on the rest. It's the kind of cake that you eat hot out of the oven, directly out of the pan with a spoon. No joke.

Baby wanted cake and like Jesus says: if your baby asks you for cake do you give him a vegetable? (Or something to that effect.) Baby has also wanted Lucky Charms lately which, if you know me at all, is against everything I believe in and know to be right with the world. But somehow they just taste sooooo right. And yet, am I walking a very fine line...am I on a slippery slope of hypocrisy since I have to eat them secretly while my daughter sleeps? I'm just not ready to explain why Lucky Charms are like wine or beer. Nutritionally void and not for kids. So until further notice, I sneak a bowl in the office with Mike while she naps...or after she's in bed at night. Man, do I sound like a crazy pregnant woman or what?

2010-04-20T15:55:00.001-07:00

Final Days...

Our little pumpkin (still baking.)

I have been getting some serious heat-not only for not blogging but for not sending any recent pics of prego-me. So here you go, friends: a picture taken just a couple days ago, of me and ma' beg bellay.

Realistically, I guess that my being so bad at blogging this past year and a half or so means that there's almost no hope whatsoever that there will be any new posts once our little guy arrives...but like my honey says, 'it's good to set the bar really, really low because then you can only be pleasantly surprised!' Good advice, methinks. So there- the bar has been set very low and neither you, nor I will feel let down if these postings remain scarce. Anything's better than nothing, right?

Admittedly, part of it has been a conscious decision to work on being more 'in the now'--and it's hard to be in the now when you're constantly seeing life through a photo lens or envisioning every happening as a prospective blog posting. But since I'm not on Facebook and I do, dearly want to keep our out of town friends, I'll do my best. I sure miss you guys, by the way...

Update: was just at the midwife today and all looks good. Despite feeling like I am ready to pop, it doesn't appear that I will. At a time when I cannot see any body party below my tummy, am daily asked 'are you having twins?' or 'you really look like you're ready to have that baby!', I will revel in the compliments of my midwife who told me today that she would have 'killed to have a pelvis like mine that was just perfect for birthing babies!' and 'what a lovely, soft and perfect cervix!' One takes what one can get, people.

On a different note, I am quite in love with my midwife, Hellen. If ever I've had a female hero, it must be her. She is an absolute miracle--so kind, loving and nurturing --and WHAT AN EXPERT! Her experienced hands told me that baby's head is very low, that he is laying on his side, and that, despite my 'feeling'--he's not a ginormous child whose birth will make it into the Yahoo! news headlines. In her exact words, "no, he's not a peanut. but he's also not particularly large." We'll see. My nedre regions certainly hope she is right.

Here are a couple recent pics of Audrey--

On Easter--which turned into a 'princess party'...(strange how inborn that stuff is.)

At her first dentist appointment

...and with her Daddy, right after naptime, munching cookies. This happens to be the weekend, but 6 out of 7 days, when she wakes up on the afternoon, Daddy is the only one she wants to see for about 15 minutes. Lucky girl has a Daddy who lets her snuggle up for a cuddle--even in the middle of a work day.

2010-04-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

Feet on fire.

I wish I had a picture to show you of how heinous my feet look right now. 6 whole days after removing tape that a physical therapist put on the top of my feet, I suddenly broke out with a severe allergic reaction exactly where the tape was placed. Having showered daily and even been swimming 3 times, it is a total mystery to me how this is even possible. Not to mention the fact that although I've always had somewhat sensitive skin, I have never had any specific latex allergy, etc. No medical professional or specialist has been able to figure out what is going on or cure me. No systemic or topical ointment, natural cure, etc. has helped. Not even a tiny bit.

Can I just tell you how miserable it is to be mega-pregnant and have your feet burning and itching all day and night long, without any relief whatsoever? For 7 days so far. Really, really fun.

A true case of 'when the cure is worse than the disease'. The taping was done to ease my sciatica. Yeeeeeha.

2010-03-30T18:39:00.001-07:00

Room Makeover

Well, we needed some serious intention to figure out how to fit two children and all their stuff into this not-so-big room. Step one was lightening it up with a brighter color. The yellow we chose may not represent well on screen and is slightly greenish at night (not the desired effect) but looks very cheery and bright during the day--which is the most important thing in a small room with no direct sunlight, right?

Best buddies

And Ta-DA!

My loving husband painted quite a few coats of yellow to cover up the green (who knew green was that tough?) and I painted the little mural to match A's bedspread, as well as the things above baby's crib. I can't draw or paint worth a darn so it's kind of shocking that I undertook this. It was basic, so I'm pretty happy with it.

The 'reading corner'

A good reminder for anxious mommies....:)

Very simple, modern crib minus bumper. Had one made but it just didn't fit or look right. So we've decided to stay minimalist.

In addition to what you see, we converted our coat closet to a wardrobe for A's clothing (yes, even little women seem to need more space than men) and the built-in in the actual bedroom is organized for toys + baby's clothing.

Mission accomplished!

2010-02-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

Peeking into the innermost parts...

We almost didn't have a 4-D scan done of this little guy...It was really fun and special to have done it with Audrey but it did also feel like we were potentially seeing something that we were not meant to see....something so hidden and intimate--the weaving together of someone in my innermost parts!

But my loving husband pointed out that this was also a very slippery slope...the sad destiny of the second child. The first? Full baby book, 4-D scan, pictures of mommy's tummy growing week by week, natural childbirth, etc. The second? One tummy picture and an epidural right from the start (just kidding but who knows?). Anyway, for that reason alone, we decided to get the 4-D scan and it was amazing and so sweet. Can you believe he's yawning? * For those of you who aren't used to seeing ultrasounds in 3 or 4-D, the baby might look a little freaky (and who knows, he might be!), but the distortion and blurriness you see in his features is due to the fluid. For example, up by his left eye, that is the umbilical cord causing the blurriness.

2010-02-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

7 months.

Poor baby #2--here we are, 7 months into this pregnancy and just doing my first blog posting. May be he is a private person?

At about 2 1/4 lbs. he weighs the same as a Chinese cabbage, can blink his eyes and can see light filtering through my womb. Passed my glucose test (hurray for not having gestational diabetes-- i hear it sucks and means no more donuts) but need more iron (no wonder I've felt extra exhausted--hurray for needing more cheeseburgers in my diet!)

Never thought we'd have such a hard time choosing a name, given how obsessed I've always been with baby names but, alas, nothing has seemed like 'the' name--as it did with Audrey.

Suggestions? (Restrictions: no 'm' names and it must go with 'Morris.')

2009-09-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone even checks this anymore since I never post. But isn't this cupcake cute?!

Fall is slowly coming to Portland....my little girl is obsessed with riding her Skuut bike and wearing flip flops. Yes now that summer's over, she finally learned how to wear them and insists on having them on 100% of the time.

2009-07-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Public. Private. Public.

So we've had so many issues adding people to the permissions thing which didn't always seem to work for some reason (so sorry for those of you who were never able to come on even after we added your names) that we decided to go public again.

Not that we ever even post.

I guess there've been myriad reasons for that, which are well-covered territory, but nevertheless here they are again:

1.) Time.

Time on the computer is almost always 'stolen'. Stolen from my hubbie, Audrey, or God, just good-ole-quiet alone-with-me time, or calling friends & family (which is already hard enough to find uninterrupted time for!)...or reading time (all those books that are calling my name!)...or exercise...or sleep...or email time...

2.) Interest.

I guess it seems a little boring to write about the every day trivialities of home life and at the other extreme, a little too...exposed to air out more personal thoughts, etc. ...and when I did, I found myself censoring too much so as not to offend the views of people who (used to) read this blog so....it just got stale.

3.) It takes too long to upload pictures.

Which is really the main reason that people look at blogs anyways, isn't it? I found myself getting behind...and then getting discouraged and then I'd make vows and promises to 'catch up' but never did...and then it just became another chore.

So why am I even keeping this thing? I'm not sure. Can I find a reason to keep it, the mojo to make it happen, and the moderation to not feel guilty that I'm wasting precious seconds of my day ?

A mission. A purpose. That's what I need. A Purpose-Driven Blog. I can't see it now: t-shirts, hats, pens, journals, coffee-mugs. Yeah, that's it.

But there are so many blogs out there. What is there to say that hasn't everything already been said?

In some ways it feels like there is nothing new under the sun and all is vanity, as the writer of Ecclesiastes once aptly said.

Before closing, I'll tell you about some recent happenings (within a week or so) that you could probably care less about:

- Our beloved McCormicks came and visited us over the 4th of July weekend. We did all kinds of fun stuff like a jet boat ride on the Willammette, a kiddie-parade, watching Audrey playing in the Jamison park fountains, eating way too much and just generally sitting around eating and drinking too much. And getting into a funk when they left.

- New good friends here in Pdx, Sonja and Luc, were married. It was a fun-filled week of bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinners, and a beautiful and sweet wedding in Forest Grove, Oregon. Lovely people, loverly day. G.K. Chesterton said something that I feel is excellent and wise, even if it does reveal some jaded shadow to my own heart: "The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost."

- In an effort to help my friend save some $, I baked and iced about 160 cupcakes for the wedding. And though I've baked many a cupcake, I never did understand why many caterers charge an outrageous $7 or more per cupcake. Now I do. I had never piped so many freakin' flower petals in my dern life. Three kinds: carrot w/ cream cheese icing, dark chocolate w/ ganache & a rose-water buttercream, and last but not least spice w/ maple cream & bacon. yes, bacon. You gotta try it. Weird but it works.

- My friend, Jen and I, went to a Coldplay concert. FANTASTIC. But now I'm haunted by a few songs that I cannot seem to get out of my head.

- Today Audrey and I biked over to a playgroup where they threw sand at each other and loved it...and to my dismay (and probably to that of every single person we passed on the street) she cried the whole way home because it was past nap time and her mommy waited too long to leave. Darn it that we're both so social.

- Tonight we had friends over for dinner which is all well and good (European Peasant dough makes excellent Naan, we discovered), but best of all we had Roed Groed med Floede. Do you know what that is?

Literally translated from Danish it's 'red porridge with cream'. In actuality it's a red porridge with cream. Or more specifically: you puree red berries (+ I added some cooked rhubarb) with sugar and top it off with whipped cream (laced with real vanilla beans & a splash of almond extract). Serve in a bowl. So simple, so incredibly delicious. Except for one problem.

It makes me miss Denmark even more than I already do.

Yes, I still do. And I feel so guilty about it because God is, as always, soooo generous and good to me. (Although now that I've said that, some tragedy is just bound to strike. That's my theology in a nutshell.) Married to an amazing guy (who is so great that he actually 'gets' my missing DK and isn't even threatened by it at all), blessed with an angelic daughter, faithful friends here in the U.S., love Portland and our life here...but Denmark. I can't seem to get it out of my heart, like an unfinished gestalt. I miss people and things...and I can just picture Gitte and Marian at Oasis camping in the Danish summer night right now. Camping in a way that only Danish people know how to camp. With preaching and singing and lots of bbq-ing and smoking and wine and beer. Yes, all at a church camp. That kind of says it all and I miss it. And I also realize that all of this is part and parcel of living in a broken world. As Larry Crabb put it in his book 'Inside Out', that even when our lives are happiest and without tragedy, we walk around with a sense deep in our hearts, that all is not as it is should be. Nor will it ever be. Not on this side of heaven.'

Still, I ache to be there...that place where I grew up and spent such precious, growing years of my life...sitting outside of an old camper (where Audrey's already sleeping), together with Mike and our friends and a glass of vino...watching the sun not go down. Not all the way.

2009-06-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Best cocktail EVER.

I know, I know: I suck at blogging now. No one probably even checks to see if I've posted anymore.

But just in case: we were visiting Kell in Chi-town this last week and while there had the best cocktail ever. Here were the ingredients: (lots of colons in this post) Plymouth Gin, splash of grapefruit juice, lavender simple syrup, elderflower liqueur, mint--served straight up in a martini glass. Amazing.

It was good to see sister Kell again in her new environs. Her place is small but cozy and she was so generous as to have us crash with her while we were there. We had fun eating out ALOT (more than any of us ever had, I think), seeing some sites and even went to a Cubbs / Dodgers game (not that the timing of that was in any way accidental. M is a huge Dodgers fan.) Aunt Kelly took Audrey to the American Girl store for tea and even bought her her very first A.G. baby, which she has named Meg. (I guess we'll need to call her Meg II, since she already named one doll Meg.) Anyway, hopefully a pics will follow, but I'm not promising anything.

Btw- for some strange reason I'm feeling weird about having a private blog after all. As if I was going to post something scandalous. Might undo the private thing but am considering the pros and cons.

2009-03-02T14:53:00.001-08:00

Pretty

USA Today has an article about a series of German studies attempting to unravel the mystery of what 'beauty' is, why certain face and figure types are considered more attractive than others, as well as investigate the dangerous relationship between attractiveness and social power.

It's really nothing new that teen age boys couldn't already tell you but nevertheless still quite fascinating. And lest you feel bad for the first person you see labeled as 'unattractive female' or 'unattractive male', rest assured: the faces are composites derived from morphing software, based on numerous factors deemed 'attractive' or 'unattractive', not single individuals.

A few things I found interesting- the unattractive people didn't seem very unattractive to me. That is to say, I could see the difference between the attractive and unattractive faces, but the differences seemed very subtle and I would have thought that they would have picked more divergent examples. But perhaps that's the whole point--to see what subtle differences get voted as more and less attractive. I don't know about you, but I would be just fine having any of the figure types shown in the ratio examples.

The most alarming finding was about the social perception of attractiveness. Go read it and come back to tell me what strikes you as interesting.

P.S. The main site is in German but there is an English version of all the main pages so make sure to click on 'English version' in the upper right hand corner.

2009-02-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

Big Girl Bed

About a month ago, Audrey started sleeping in her very own 'big girl bed.'

A week later, she shed her pacifiers, leaving them all on the front porch for the 'Pappy Fairy' to pick up and deliver to all the newborn babies. The Pappy Fairy left her a really cool Winnie the Pooh sticker book and Daddy and Mommy bought her a kite. This is a HUGE sacrifice that deserves a little bribery.

Playing in the rain....

On a different note, I am telling you that the 5-minute bread dough is incredible. Not only does it turn out amazing loafs, the other recipes are incredible too. We used the Boule dough for their Caramel Sticky Buns and the European Peasant Bread dough for pizza dough and both were the best I've ever made.

2009-02-24T14:26:00.001-08:00

Nudity goes with alot

--Edit: July 15th: since there are so many creepy people on the Internet and we've made our blog public again, the nude picture is removed. You still get the general idea.---

A homemade scarf and platinum shoes look good with nudity.

Or you for evening, you can never go wrong with a glamorous black/metallic scarf and your birthday suit.

Bar-b-que ribs are such a mess anyway, I say why not eat 'em nude?

And when you're using glitter to make your Valentines, it's much easier to make them whilst naked and just shower off afterward.

2009-02-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

You know your child

needs a sibling when....

...when they carry around a ceramic statue (that you bought at Ross for $8), cuddling it, wanting to take it to bed and calling it her "baby sister."

Man kids know how to push the 'guilt button.'

2009-02-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

The Violet Garden

Toward the end of January, Audrey and I started taking a Parent/Child class at a Waldorf preschool here in Sellwood. We have several friends whose kids attend the preschool itself and L-O-V-E it, but since we don't have plans for A to attend P.S. quite yet, we thought it could be fun to join this instead.

It is soooo cool. Enchanting and peaceful. Not like any other sort of storytime, playgroup or date we have ever joined. (I leave feeling like I've had a glass of wine.) 'Ms. Jody' leads the class which starts each week with quiet song while the kids grind grain for the bread that they make for their own snack. Then, the children play in her beautiful playroom which is furnished with all kinds of traditional wooden toys, dolls, etc. --all very well-worn and loved, while the mommies sit and work on a craft (materials provided) and fold linens. (Everything in Waldorf is intentionally done.) Later, we sit at the pint-sized wooden table where the kids knead and form their dough into buns, adding raisins (or eating them all) and even making a roll to take home to daddy. Then, we go back into the playroom to tidy the room, sing songs and listen to rhymes, returning to the table to eat the bread with cinnamon-butter and tea. After that it's time for a puppet show and then outside to play in the uber-cool yard that is covered with hay and contains all manner of fun spots for kids' imaginations to run wild. There are even chickens. It is an absolute kid-heaven. (There's no regular preschool on Thursday's so the only children are in the P/C class, which is limited to 5 couples.)

Pictures below are in reverse chronological order.

Audrey and Delilah hold hands on the swing

A eating bread dough. No, not bread. Dough. You'd think I never fed the child.

Audrey eating raisins instead of putting them in her bread.

Ms. Jody and Audrey grinding grain for the bread

Kneading the dough...

The kiddies 'clean up' after each activity, to the tune of a very mellow song about a gnome who said 'let's clean up our room'

2009-02-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

I wasn't sure that I believed it, but it's true. In the quest to bake artisan-quality bread, I stumbled across this book: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

I bought it from Amazon, wondering how any book could get SUCH rave reviews and incredulous that it is actually possible. Well it is. And let me tell you, I've now read quite a few books on bread baking and most of them do require a good deal of time, effort, equipment and materials to be on par with what the authors call for. This book, on the other hand, couldn't make it easier. AND, perhaps the thing that I love most is that they have eliminated every possible step that is not needed--including kneading. (Pardon the pun.) It's CRAZY. You can even mix it in one bowl. The authors may not like me for telling you the secret, but here it is: they have developed a very simple dough recipe that has a very wet consistency and therefore can be stored for up to 14 days in the fridge. So all you do is mix together water, yeast, salt and flour(s)--just barely mixing, no need to knead, let it rise and then store in the fridge. Then you just take a blob out every day, letting it rest for 20 minutes before baking. And bake. And let me tell you-- we baked our first loaf today and devoured the entire thing while still hot. And it actually even looked like the cover of the book. SO SIMPLE! And there's enough dough in the fridge for 5 more loaves. (I made one batch of boule dough and one of European Peasant dough). Several other super cool things: 1.) Supposedly, the bread only gets better and better as the dough ages in the fridge, creating it's own 'sourdough.' 2.) The book is chalked full of simple variations on the basic recipe (rolls, sweets, etc.) and includes recipes for using bread as a main ingredient, as well as uses for stale bread. 3.) It's a quick read and they completely demystify many of the things that prohibit the common man from attempting artisan bread (that you need fancy, expensive ingredients, etc.) At $4-$6 a loaf for artisan quality, think of how much money you'll save!

I HIGHLY encourage you to purchase the book yourself. In the quest to eat healthier and avoid all those breads with so many preservatives, etc.--this book makes it SUPER easy to bake fresh bread as often as you'd like. Not to mention the fact that making the dough really and truly does only take 5 minutes and you don't have that annoying flour-mess all over your kitchen and multiple rising times, which, for me, has been the primary deterrents from baking bread more often.

Oh--and a few tips: I have only just discovered the virtue and pleasure of shopping for kitchen stuff at restaurant supply stores. HOLY COW--where have I been all these years? Buh-bye William Sonoma and no--not even Target can beat these prices, not to mention the fact that restaurants expect higher quality than regular consumers. Flour & bread dough storage containers that retail for $16 each (plus lids!) at KingArthur.com sell for $3.50 at my local restaurant supply.

- I still used my cast iron skillet method, rather than a baking stone + water as recommended and the magical crackle was still there. Will definitely do a showdown test at some point.

- Instead of a pizza peel, I used my wooden cutting board to save a few bucks. On second thought- given my propensity for serious burns and mishaps, may be that would be money well spent.

In any case, the 5 minute artisan bread baking is a truly groundbreaking discovery for domestic life.

2009-02-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

A revelation.

Everyone around me has probably always known this but has been far too kind to break it to me: I am a dork.

I have always known that I am a goof, a bit unconventional...and unique in my own way. But isn't everybody?

Over the past few weeks, however, I have suddenly realized that this is far beyond the realm of normalcy.

I think I may have a mild version Turret's syndrome. You know- the disorder where you blurt out cuss-words and have tics (spelling?) Only in my case, I blurt out abruptly direct questions/comments, etc.--not cruel or even meant to be rude-- just without much filter. Things that no extremely nice person would actually say (Denise!) even if they are thinking them. You may not believe it, but to me this trait has just always passed as openness/sincerity. And instead of twitching, I'm just extremely ungraceful and clumsy, obsessively multi-tasking, to the peril of each and every task. Just now, for example, while I was writing this, I heard a huge splash out in the kitchen. Assuming that it was my very low-end and loud dishwasher, I continued writing. When the lovely smells of lavender and burnt sugar wafted into my senses, I suddenly remembered that I was infusing a pot full of honey on low heat. I ran into the kitchen only to discover honey boiled out onto my entire ceramic cooktop. Burning and scorching...creating yet another mess for myself to clean up.

This is starting to sound like a different disorder altogether. When I was a kid my favorite cough drop was Sucrets. So I think I'll call it that.

I am a dork and I blame it on my Sucrets.

How is it, exactly, that I have any friends?

I am a dork, suffering from Sucrets. Admitting it is always the first step, right?

2009-02-08T14:52:00.001-08:00

Coolest Kids Furniture EVER.

An article about fun kids furniture in the Oregonian highlighted some seriously fun stuff. The Sobey Dresser and Anne Armoire at Straightline Designs are our faves...Bridge cabinet is SUPER clever as are many of their other pieces. Wonder how much they cost? Probably slightly pricier than IKEA. Darn.

P.S. Audrey sleeping in own toddler bed. New posting on this to follow.

2009-02-03T14:18:00.001-08:00

Found this hilarious pic taken in Las Vegas- 2002, I believe.

Elvis is alive peeps.

2009-02-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

Symphony of Crackle

"How can you tell how good bread is without tasting it? Not the smell, not the look, but the sound of the crust. Listen. [bread crackles] Oh, symphony of crackle. Only great bread sound this way."

- Colette (Ratatouille)

If you love bread, this tip might just rock your world.

I am by no means a bread-baking expert. That being said, I have baked quite a few loaves and buns in my life. Most Danish people bake their own bread regularly and consider it no big deal. But most my breads & rolls, while tasty, have lacked that elusive and tell-tale crust of true artisan textures.

On a NY Times blog, I have discovered a tip from a famous NYC baker that has completely revolutionized my crusts. And best of all, it is super simple. It is no feat to create culinary masterpieces with tons of time and/or money. Most artisan bakers have amazing ovens, stones, equipment, etc. Simple rocks my world.

See sidebar, 'What's Cookin Hot Stuff' for the tip.

I am on a quest to learn how to make awesome but super quick/easy breads, so that we can have fresh bread more often. If anyone has tips or is interesting in joining me, let me know.

2009-01-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

Choosy Moms Choose Jif

It may be packed with fat, sugar and sodium, but it won't give you salmonella my friends.

Recent Peanut Butter recall does not include Jif.

So anyone who eats Jif does not have to worry.

Don't believe me? See here

Oh and did I mention that I am banned from doing Zumba, or from walking any more than absolutely necessary for 4-8 weeks?

2009-01-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

Susie Homemaker's

Favorite Things

January 2009

Tied for First Place:

1.) Zumba. My new favorite way to dance off stress and fatigue. I LOVE it. Not only is it great exercise, but it's a totally fun way to turn off your brain and shake ya bootie.

1.) Waxed paper bags. Unbleached and compostable, these bags are the green choice and best alternative to regular plastic sandwich & snack baggies (which, in interest of full disclosure we still use when necessary).

But put all that eco stuff aside. The very best thing about them: the delightful, crispy sound and feel the wafer-thin waxy paper makes in your hand. $2.95 for 60. Try 'em, you'll love 'em, I promise.

2.) Electrolux Ergo Rapido

It's a stick vacuum so I don't have to choose between leaving oodles of crumbs and fallen food on the floor or getting down my heavy upright (which I still love, by the way) for every little mess. This thing rocks and is available at Costco.

3.) My good old crockpot.

It's not even a fancy one. The $19 spent over 5 years ago is worth $millions, in my book. Not only is it a mega time saver, but you can make so many fantastic things in it (and not just WT food, either). Which brings me to.....

4.) Gourmet Slow Cooker I & II

These books are awesome. Even if you don't want to follow the exact recipe, they give great ideas for what's possible for the old girl.

2009-01-12T12:52:00.000-08:00

Susie Homemaker, MBA

I'm discovering that once you've (for the most part) made peace with the decision to stay home with your young child, it's all about embracing the role with all your heart while trying to stay out of the sanitarium, with all your mind. (Which is why I, a total gym h-a-t-e-r, have finally resigned myself to my fate of becoming a member as I cannot, for the life of me, get my usual pilates routine done without interruption during the course of a day.)

I read a really interesting article in Wondertime magazine once. The female author lamented how she wishes someone had told her how painfully...and fleetingly short this season of life (staying home with young children) would be. Apparently, she'd spent alot of time struggling with the worry/fear that the rest of the world (read: career world), was passing her by...leaving her behind. And what nonsense that turned out to be. So I took her words to heart over the past year and have really decided to enjoy and be fully present in this season of my life--which I have chosen, by the way--rather than trying to straddle so many things that I feel I am doing none of them well. Alas the temptation to do too much is not absent, even from the realm of a stay at home mom, be it via unrealistic expectations for how clean the house should be at all times--to abstaining from some of the fun things to do in our neighborhood.

Whatever place in life we find ourselves, truer words were never said than these: "Our hearts are restless, until they rest in Thee."

2009-01-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

Dinner: Groundnut Stew

Since my breakfast recipe is taking up nearly the whole sidebar, I've decided to post our dinner plans here.

Have you ever had Groundnut Stew? It's an African Dish aka peanut soup. Super easy and suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper yummy if you, for example, are a peanut satay-sauce lover.

Here's the basic idea. Today I've made it in the crockpot.

- Brown whatever chicken you have in some butter for just a couple minutes on each side (I usually use either a whole chicken or thighs which have more flavor and stand up to long, slow cooking.)

- Add some chopped onion and garlic (1 or 2 onions, a few cloves...whatever with the exact measurements!) and sautee until tender (a couple minutes)

- If I have them, I also usually add some chopped bell peppers, carrots & celery to the sautee mixture; if you don't have it, don't sweat it but you know how it is: the more veggies, the better.

From here, you have a few options:

-If you want to make the whole thing stovetop, just do all the sauteeing in a stockpot and add the remaining ingredients, simmering for a few hours.

-If you're using the crockpot, I recommend greasing it and using the low setting for 6-8 hours.

- Either way, add your chicken, onions, garlic to the crockpot/pan

- Using an immersion blender (always my preference), a regular blender or a wire wisk and bowl, blend 1 cup peanut butter (I only use Jif chunky cause I wanna stay nice and chunky) with 2 cups boiling water or chicken broth and add to the chicken. (I often make double sauce cause it's sooo yummy.)

To that add:

- Asian Sweet chili sauce (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup)

- 1/8 cup soy sauce

- salt & pepper to taste

...and a few other options:

- Adding some coconut milk/cream will make your sauce richer

- You can add a can of chopped tomatoes for a slightly more tangy version

Then just let all this yummy goodness sit on a low boil/simmer for a few hours. If your sauce looks too thick, add some more chicken broth or water.

You can actually add rice to the stew and cook it directly in the sauce, but Mike adores rice plain so I usually serve atop rice in bowls.

A tangy cucumber salad goes really well with the reach peanut stew. (Thinly slice cucumbers using potato peeler and marinate in a 'dressing' made of vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper. Dressing should be tangy & sweet at the same time. Refrigerate.)

Extremely simple, extremely good.

2009-01-08T13:57:00.001-08:00

That's what she said

Audrey cracks us up nearly every single day now with the things she says. Lately she works in the phrases, " Actually....", "What the heck" and "In fact" as much as possible.

Other recent utterances...

Situation: Mike trying on funkadelic sunglasses.

Me: singing 70's bow-chicka tune

Audrey: "Sexy!"

???Tell me where in the heck she got that!!!!!!!!

Situation: I was vacuuming up Christmas Tree needles

Audrey: " Are you sucking up the Christmas Tree grass, mommy?"

2 minutes later when she is suspiciously quiet...

Me: " Audrey--where are you honey?"

Audrey: "I'm over here feeding the air."

Me: Quickly turns off vacuum and runs to see what the heck she's talking about only to find her stuffing cinnamon sticks into our floor vents which are blaring warm air.

Side note: could this be an ingenious alternative to room fresheners?

2009-01-06T14:42:00.001-08:00

Oh gosh.

The FluSTAR^® system is now tracking moderate levels of flu activity in your area. Doctors report treating an increased number of cases of flu, and you may be at risk of catching it.

ALERT: PORTLAND, OR

Today's Influenza Levels: MODERATE

Stuff like this is not healthy for people like me to read.

I knew it was coming when I saw Phoebes recent post...

2009-01-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

What's cooking, hot stuff?

I will be adding a new section to my blog. My sister Kirsten and I will often chat in the late afternoon and ask each other, 'what are you cooking for dinner tonight?' It's really helpful if one of us hasn't already figured out what to fix so I thought that it could be fun to open it up for others to post what they're making (not necessarily every day, just whenever) and thus provide inspiration for all of us. Feel free to jump on in!

Addendum: Ok, it was a nice idea but I can't seem to figure out how to add a gadget that will allow everyone to respond. Can anyone help me on this?

2009-01-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

Bacon Geeks: a day for you

(Torsten, can we get an 'amen!'?)

Calling all bacon lovers: check this out!

I saw it on Yelp!

January 17, 2009.

If you can get here, you've got a place to stay.

Masterbacon

Have you ever wanted to get together with a bunch of other bacon geeks and just geek out about bacon? What if there was an event specifically catered to bacon geeks to be able to share their favorite bacon treats with the world? Wouldn’t it make sense to make it a competition complete with trophy and prizes? Of course it would.

Masterbacon is just such an event.

One Yelp! reviewer says: "I've never been so sad that I didn't live in Portland."

I wonder if Paula Deen will attend?

2009-01-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

Adventures of a 2-year old...

Riding Tonto around the house, naked.

Clog boots from the Hanna Anderson outlet. Cute idea, impossible to walk in. Only bought them because they are clogs; I am otherwise vehemently opposed to heels of any kind, or height, for little girls. No way, no how.

Audrey and Meg

Audrey "putting a little lotion on."

'Helping' daddy with a plumbing repair.

(To which I reply, 'welcome to my world.')

Driving a tractor at the zoo

Seeing the new baby elephant

Learning how to go on the potty

Picking out her first panties (Thomas the Tank Engine boy briefs

(What was I supposed to say? They were the first thing she picked up at Target, declaring, 'mommy these are beauuuuutiful!!!')

2009-01-04T21:37:00.000-08:00

Anniversary

3 Precious, unforgettable, redeeming, adventurous, growing, fun, passionate years with my beloved.

For our anniversary on September 17th, Mike planned a day of fun surprises. First, we went to breakfast at a very unique portland venue: Jace Gace. Part restaurant, part rotating art gallery, the place serves waffles--sweet and savory, beer and coffee--and that's it. It was fantastic! I'd never done the whole 'morgen bier' thing before and oddly, it works well. Somehow the icey cold beer works well with coffee and gravy-slathered waffles.

Then, he'd planned for us to visit Benton Lane vineyard which ranked on the top 100 wines of the world! Even crazier, when there we got a personal tour from the owner himself. AWESOME.

...then after a tour and tasting, my beloved had planned a scrumptious picnic for us in a nearby State Park.

Meanwhile, Audrey was having a blast with her babysitter, Kara (who we met as a nursery worker at Imago.)

2009-01-04T21:31:00.001-08:00

Beeeeeeeeeeeep

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.

I hereby interrupt this catching up from many months of happenings to address a request (?) received from Mike's cousin, Matt Braden.

Are you requesting an Obama rant or is something circulating in the family scuttlebutt?

2009-01-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

More catching...

These pictures are in reverse order but I simply cannot be bothered to upload them again. This is one of things impeding my desire to blog as well: uploading pics is a pain in the butt and has only gotten more difficult after they changed how the pics get dumped into the bottom of the screen. Can anyone explain what's up with that?

Back to the subject at hand...

Summer was filled with too many happy days to catch but a few more highlights include...a trip to Seattle. The Lindbergs (from Denmark) were on a family vacation around the U.S. and we met up for dinner at Salty's--so fun to see them again.

Cecilie and Audrey got on just fine

Jesper (Lindberg) has grown to be quite the charmer, but Audrey was most taken with Tina

Michael and Michael talked non-stop about what's going on in their businesses

We also had a great time hanging with friends we hadn't seen in a few months--the Holt family. (You may recall that Lone, Eric and their two girls Danica and Maddie moved back to the U.S. a year and a half ago from Aarhus. They bought a house in Snohomish, close to Eric's family, about 40 minutes outside of Seattle.)

In typical Lone style, she has decided to paint their fireplace/chimney post-box red. Not merlot red, R-E-D. And it looked cool. She's got crazy ideas and always pulls them off. Amazing girl!

Lone prepping some food....

Notice that Maddie and Audrey are raiding the fridge in the background.

2009-01-04T20:56:00.000-08:00

More catching up from summer....

Off for another bike ride...downtown for a free Oregon Symphony concert at the waterfront--a tradition to open the season.

Permit a proud moment: those of you who know me well, know that I don't always make things as easy as possible for myself. An example: in this situation, I would have normally packed some sort of elaborate picnic dinner blah blah. On this occasion we got burgers to-go from one of our favorite spots- VQ (Veritable Quandry.) If you haven't been there, you must go.

Then later that evening our beloved Matt and Denise came in for a Labor Day visit! We have dismally few pictures to commemorate the event (none of Matt, except for his feet--the white socks crossed at ankles, pictured below.)

Nene crocheted diligently while Audrey ate a popsicle.

It was a lovely visit--very relaxing and hyggelig. We miss them and wish they lived here too....

2009-01-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

How Summer Ended

There's so much to catch up on that it would be impossible to do, so I won't even try. As mentioned earlier we have been so busy living & enjoying life to the fullest here in Portland that we haven't had time to keep up with it.

The Summer lasted much longer than anyone expected, transitioning into Indian Summer...

Scarfing down the last of the tomatoes and other veggies in the yard...

Audrey's an Oregon fan (doesn't she look like a 'big girl' here?)

After Marian and Peter's visit, Jeanie, Jay and Meika left Topanga to come hang with us. It was a grand time; among other things we took them to the Columbia River Gorge & Falls and a Jack Johnson concert in Mt. Helens. Gosh we love these guys and even though they're technically family, they're also very good friends.

2008-12-30T22:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Happy Happy

Birthday to our dear, sweet friend, Denise (aka D, Dean, Spacelady)!

It would be impossible to say how much you mean to us.

In honor of your birth, I cannot decide which to make you:

Mental Raspberry Grand Trifle

or...

Mental Croquembouche

or may be...

Mental Carmel Pear Terrine

Hope your birthday's as sweet as you and everything you deserve.

Is that spaghetti from scratch, or what?

xoxoxo

2008-12-30T22:10:00.000-08:00

I am so sad

It's been a while--not only since I've blogged, but since I've spent more than 30 seconds checking out ANYONE's blogs. So imagine my surprise when I visit one of my absolute faves, 'Simply Breakfast' only to discover that Jen is shutting it down at the end of this year. As in tomorrow. Boo hoo..... I'm bummed. Seriously, when I look at her simple, nourishing breakfasts served beautifully, with a simple cloth napkin on that smooth, rustic wooden table, I take a deep sigh and resolve to start my own day that same way. In peace and quiet. (Only in my world I have someone saying ' hey mommy: I want another banana. hey mommy: can I have more milk? hey mommy: can we watch a video? hey mommy: where's daddy? hey mommy: you drinkin' your coffee?--and seriously, she says all of this within one minute.)

Back to simply breakfast:

She even takes her coffee the same color as me. :(

Boo hoo. I might have to buy her books.

2008-12-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

2008-12-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

Long, Long Time -- No See.

Sorry everyone, I know that it's been a very long time since I last blogged.

Right now we are in Denmark for the wedding of our friends, Marian and Peter, and it's been grand.

FYI: I have decided to make this blog private, which means that you can no longer read it unless I add you to my list of 'permitted' people. If you want to be added, send me your email address.

2008-09-30T15:01:00.001-07:00

Other favorite Summer memories...

What's not to love about living in Oregon?

2008-09-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

Burritos in the garden

This is one of my favorite memories from this Summer.
While Marian and Peter were here visiting, we sat outside as much as humanly possible. This evening was one of several where we actually laid blankets on the grass on ate picnic style in our own yard. It was taken at about 9 in the evening.
Europeans just know how to enjoy the little things in life. They did not think this was weird in the slightest.

2008-09-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

How We Became The United States of France

You just have to read this intriguing and insightful article in Time about how we are WAY more like France than we'd like to think. Only without all the perks.

Click here to visit the article 'How we became the United States of France.'

2008-09-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

Questions.

In lieu of going private at this point in time, I have decided, in solidarity with my good friend Denise, to stand up for some things during this political season. As far as I know, I still have the rights to think my own thoughts and even to express them and I think--technically at least, there's still a constitutional separation between church and state.

To start with, I have a few questions:

-When did political zeal become a 'Christian' value?

- When did we as a nation become so dumb? I mean it. Really and truly. I'd like to know. Can anyone please tell me how our collective intelligence, attention-span, and critical thinking skills have degraded to imbecilic levels?

To be honest, I can see why many non-believers blame it all on evangelical Christianity. Yes, I certainly can.

If only they knew : Jesus never did this.

Thanks.

2008-09-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Seen on a Portland Bumper Sticker Today:

"Doom is the new hope."

Hilarious...and so true.

Speaking of which, in the interest of actually finding blogging interesting again, I am seriously considering making ours private in the near future.

2008-09-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary To Us!

We've had 3 wonderful married years and are hoping that God will give us at least 60 more together. What a great day...planned by my honey. More on that soon....hopefully.

I love you, darling husband.

2008-09-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Separating the crap from the crap.

If you're having a hard time figuring out which political claims, ads, etc. etc. are true and which are not, check out Politifact.com

It's one of several fact-checking sites that investigates claims, attacks, ads, and even chain emails, getting to the bottom of whether or not they're actually true.

The 'Truth-O-Meter' indicates 'True,' 'Mostly True', 'Half True,' 'Barely True', 'False', or 'Pants on Fire!' Quite Handy.

2008-08-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

Ode to Paula

Can I just interrupt my 'catching up streak' to say that Paula Deen kicks absolute culinary butt?!

I mean, come on. Pretention, vegetarianism and health-consciousness aside: the woman loves butter almost as much as Audrey and me. She wraps just about every freaking thing she makes in bacon and then usually also coats it with batter or cheese. As if this wasn't enough, even her 'healthier' sweets--such as trail mix, contain sweetened condensed milk. Seriously, people. Pontificate on the virtues of haute cuisine; truth be told, if you were stranded on a deserted island and could choose only one person to cook for you for the rest of your forsaken life, no reasonable person in this universe would choose anyone but Paula.
I was reminded of this because I borrowed a DVD of her Food Network series from the library.

Though Jesus is building His church on Peter, I am 100% certain that He gave Paula the keys to the culinary kingdom and that she will be standing next to old Saint Pete at the pearly gates refusing admittance to all of the people who use light sprays of PAM and profess to love salad without dressing. So don't bother complaining to the management when you get turned away; Jesus has already said, in so many words, that He will say to you, 'I was hungry and you gave me Wasa. Paula, on the other hand, gave me deep-fried, bacon-wrapped macaroni balls. An act of love equal to pouring oil on my feet. Away from me you anorexic, culinary Pharisee! I know you not!'

God bless Paula Deen's bacon-wrapped heart.

2008-08-12T12:45:00.001-07:00

August 9, 2008--A.M.

Wake up and help mommy frost 60 cupcakes.

Have breakfast at Fat Alberts (MM pancake!)

Head to Shady Dell Train Park. (We lucked out this year because this event was arranged by our Sellwood Playgroup months ago) It's a miniature train park where the kids ride real, running trains--over bridges and through tunnels too! They were in absolute kid-heaven.

At the train station...all aboard!

Here the come round the bend!

Audrey's buddies Julia, Aram and Gideon, pictured with their (grand) parents...

Gideon is one of Audrey's favorite friends in the neighborhood (and we like his parents alot too). Gid is the pensive and sensitive type. Collects flowers and such. Yes, his folks know he's sporting a mullet. They can't bare to cut his hair and hearing them wax poetic about the extra inches blowing in the breeze when he does this and that, can almost make you pee your pants. A grouchy old man even confronted them on it recently. The codger said something like, 'that's quite the hair-do he's got there.' To which Cheyenne, his mom replied with a laugh, 'yeah, we think it's cute.' To which codger replied, 'well that's certainly a matter of opinion.' People can be so rude.

It was a lovely and merry celebration with friends...and cupcakes too.
Pistachio, cherry-chip, chocolate, chocolate marshmallow, spice, bacon and muffins for the nutritional lightweights.

The cupcake you see below, next to blueberry oat muffins, is an idea shanghaid from Kelly's Voodoo donut experience. It is a spice cupcake with cream-cheese maple icing and crispy bacon. Amazingly, it worked. One parent at the park said it was better than the donut. Hurrah! (Note--for those who might try this at home: you will not achieve a 'mapley' enough icing using maple syrup. You must resort to imitation maple extract. Unfortunately, the taste we have become accustomed to on maple bars cannot be achieved through natural means. Nature is just not that mapley. Oh--and on my test run the day before, the icing was too thick and overwhelmed the flavor combo. So keep it modest.)

2008-08-12T12:39:00.001-07:00

Very bad blogger

Sorry, I have become a very bad blogger. Always erratic in this sphere, my posts have become increasingly rare since moving to PDX. I think it's a good sign though- we're too busy living life to write about it. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it. At the same time, it is an excellent way of keeping in touch with the lives of those in our extended community, so I'm sorry for not doing my part.

There is so much to catch up on that I think I have to work backwards. Starting with today, going to A's bd, and then to our fun-filled visit with Marian and Peter.

This morning, I noticed that Audrey has created tactile art in our kitchen:

I have these little Chinese tea cups on a shelf in our kitchen. A loves to play with them, but today I saw that she is stashing these in case of emergency (since she's really only supposed to have them when she sleeps.)

2008-08-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Punkin'

To our amazing, sweet and funny little girl...we are so lucky to have you in our lives these two years (+9 months).
Precious beyond all words in the entire universe.

2008-07-18T12:41:00.001-07:00

Fleeting

Photo courtesy of KellyRy

The days of summer are fast and fleeting. To those who are disappointed by my failure to keep current...sorry. It seems that one day takes the next--breakfast, laundry, guests, walks, watering the lawn and just barely keeping up. (Am I the only one that feels this way?) Alas, blogging has fallen by the way side.

Highlights from the past weeks:

- a 4th of July children's parade in our neighborhood. Hilarious and delightful. Droves and droves of children in their wagons, on foot, on bike--all decorated with patriotic fanfare. We all circled several blocks on Reed College Pl.
Incidentally and curiously- we live just a few blocks away from Reed and every time we pass it, Audrey says, 'church!' Curious because Reed is one of the academic environments most hostile towards faith of any kind. It's a really beautiful campus and I plan on auditing a course or two this Fall.

-Gelato, ice cream, popcicles and more gelato

-if you're looking for us on Wednesday nights, you'll probably find us hanging out with our new friends and neighbors at our local Farmers Market. In addition to buying yummy stuff, everyone hangs out and eats dinner while their kids play on the grass.

Photo courtesy of Kellyry. Oh wait a second, I took this picture.

- a delightful but painfully brief visit from our precious Kelly...soon on her way to Chicago. Ever losing my camera, Kelly's photos of her recent visit are far superior anyhow. We also had the pleasure of a relaxing afternoon with Phoebe and her sweet babes....See Kell's photostream from her visit here and some family photos of us too. Man is she talented, and man am I looking old.

-among the highlights of Kelly's visit were finding a collection of minature dinasaurs hidden in a neighbors landscaping...

Photo courtesy of Kellyry

Photo courtesy of Kellyry

and a trip to Voodoo donuts (a renowned Portland establishement), where Kell so bravely ordered a Maple Bacon Bar which she declares to be 'probably the best donut that she has ever had in her life.'

-first time we hosted playgroup at our house. pretzels and popscicles everwhere. oh-and thank goodness for that slip-n-slide we bought last year. it has already earned it's keep.

-Audrey told me I was 'stinky' for the first time, after we had been outside in the hot sun (thanks alot).

-another visit to Seattle to see the Holts (Mike has stories to tell about a death-defying hike and river-crossing with Eric) and dinner at Salty's with the Lindbergs (from Denmark, on a 6-week tour of the U.S.).

-Mike played in the Imago Dei McKinley Kickball Tournament. His team lost, but they sure did have fun.

- a failed levain liquide (a French sourdough starter). Besides my determination to learn the art of artisan bread-baking, it was actually a secret litmus test to guage the readiness of whether or not I could manage the responsibility of an additional child. The answer: resounding 'no.'

It was going so well and I followed instructions religiously...for the most part. I fed and watered the dang thing for 10 days; it looked very hopeful and at times promising, but could not carry it to term. Well, at least I know what went wrong. The problem is that I like to keep my house cool and aired out; as such, I could not achieve the constant temperature of 75-80F, necessary for successful fermentation. With my windows always open or the aircon. on those especially warm days, it was just always closer to 70 or so.

-when not walking or biking around, we've been experimenting with taking the bus--downtown and to Woodstock. Super easy and convenient. The closest busstop is 3 minutes away.

-0n biking-we LOVE it. our bikes especially like to visit Stacatto Gelato and Speilwerk--the coolest toy store ever.

This weekend, we are looking forward to the arrival of our dear friend Marian, together with her fiancée, Peter, from Denmark. They'll be with us until the end of the month. YEAH!!!!!!

2008-07-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

K's Day

Klever Kelly is kommemorating in Katalina while kayaking, konsuming kool kocktails, kute kupcakes, kalling kongenial kohorts and, konceivably, kissing karousing, koy kads.

Happy Birthday, sis.
In honor of you, I made mental cupcakes that look like this:

Men-tal cup-cakes
- noun
1. a small cake, baked and decorated only in the mind
* origin: b. morris

2008-07-02T20:50:00.001-07:00

Denver- PDX

The other day we were at a Skt. Hans (Summer Solstice) party with a bunch of Danish people. Among the crowd was a 'top meteorologist' who told us that despite its reputation for 'bad' weather, Oregon actually had some of the 'best' weather in the entire country. Many people at the party concurred, saying that the Oregon summers were reason enough to live here (who knew?!).

Apparently, long-time Oregonians also call the rainy season the 'rinse cycle.'
It purges all of the crappy people out of Oregon. A restaurant owner in Downtown Portland and California native told us the same last August.

So if anyone happens to be looking at real estate in oh, say for example, Denver, you've got 90's and muggy. We've got 80's and... 'moist.'

You can still make it here in time for a cold Widmer, brisket tacos and fireworks down by the river.
Denver to PDX- $239.
For everything else, there's Mastercard.

2008-06-19T21:04:00.001-07:00

$1

You may recall that on our most recent trip to West Africa, one of the most urgent issues facing our partners there, was the lack of clean water. It was haunting and heart-wrenching to see fellow humans actually drinking water we would consider too muddy, even for washing our cars. Lack of clean water is an ongoing crisis over most of the African continent; recent flooding, drought, and seasonal factors have only made things worse.

In order to bring more awareness to the issue, writer Donald Miller is riding a bike across the U.S. during June and July. You can check out his site to read more about it or check out his video plug below. You might even consider sponsoring his ride--all proceeds will go to Blood: Water Mission, a non-profit started by the band, Jars of Clay. Donations will help fund the drilling of clean water wells.

$1 will pay for water for one African for an entire year.

Often we say that all we have is Gods'.
But can He really trust us with His money?

2008-06-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

Our guy.

Dearly beloved
Daddy
Hero
Lover
Best friend
Hottie
Comedian
Helper
Protector
Provider
Runner
Reader
Companion
Encourager
Listener
Human
Man seeking to follow Christ into every day

We are so blessed
by God
to be
your girls.

2008-06-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Granma and Granpa

Two of Audrey's most favorite people came to visit from CA-- Granma and Granpa! And what a time was had (unfortunately, not many pictures were taken...)! We had fun showing them around our new neighborhood and town.

We had a nice, relaxing visit that included long walks, golf & the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, fantastic meals at local establishments, and lots of chit chat .

...they even brought a Dora the Explorer phone that calls Audrey by name

and Lederhosen that once belonged to Mike at the same age!

2008-06-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

Arthouse Cinema-
Cooler than cool.

M's parents are visiting and so we had a date Sunday night. Having heard about this phenomenon of 'Art House Cinema's', we had to see for ourselves.

If you've never been to one, let me tell you--this will revolutionize our lives forever. Seriously, why aren't there more of these everywhere?

Super cool, old vintage theaters are still used for movies--but now they have tables at your seat, where you can eat while watching the movie! The Laurelhurst theater we went to serves gourmet pizza slices, microbrews and soda by the pitcher or glass (a pitcher of soda cost only $3!), candy, popcorn and donuts. Movie tickets cost only $3. Seriously, how cool is that? And there are 3 or 4 of this in SE alone!

2008-06-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Lisa, sent this to us. Funny.
The fatally short attention span of American goes for alot of things.

2008-06-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

Helmet

Since you've asked--this is what my helmet looks like:

M's is matte black. Both of our bikes are black. We're so adventurous.

2008-06-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Have you ever...

...seen anything more adorable or hilarious?

Audrey and mommy went shopping for her first bike helmet and, according to the salesperson, she was unusually good and cooperative in the buying process (unlike her mommy with clausterphobic tendencies who kept wanting a bigger helmet with a looser chin-strap, which apparently goes against what's safe; i detest anything even slightly constricting around my neck and chin. All those biking years in Denmark, I never wore one, but then again hardly any girls did, so as to avoid 'hat hair' and such. But, now, i must set a good example (argh) so my girl's cranium will be protected. )

She loves her new bike helmet so much that she wants to eat with it on.

I let her pick the color and will confess to trying to talk her out of the pink options. Despite my attempts to be nonchalant about the matter, I ended up exercising mommy-veto-power by nixing the ' Girly Doggy Glamour' helmet, and let her get the pink bunnies instead. Gag. But ok.

2008-06-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

Morgenhygge

Audrey and I were having a 'hyggelig stund' this morning, so I am finally able to satisfy requests for more pictures of the house. Speaking of hyggelig--our visit with the Winn family last night was just that --(sorry there's only this one pic; the rest were no good.)

Brennan Winn (such a doll) double-fisting peaches

This is the coolest picture of Audrey that ever has, or ever will be taken. (From our lovely friend, Denise....whom we miss desperately.)

The living room...from a few angles...

The dining room...

The small, but functional bathroom...

Audrey's bedroom...
(not quite sure what she's doing to Angel the mouse; I think he might be getting frisked.)

Our boudoir...

Pictured here is the famed wardrobe from IKEA that Denise and Mike wrestled into existence. Holy cow--what a mammoth project; and these are two very adept and experienced assemblers, let me tell you. It was no small thing--but there was almost no closet space so we appreciate it every day.

Hopefully we can take pictures of the basement (including office and guest room once the boxes are cleared enough to actually see anything down there.)

2008-06-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

Composting

An embarrassing story:

One of the first things we noticed upon our arrival to this house was the EXTREMELY small trash barrel. And the fact that there was only 1 of them. Plus a few assorted containers for recycling and yard debris.

This was shocking because at our other house, we had 2 GINORMOUS barrels and we stuffed those puppies to the gills every single week. I'm afraid to say that despite our efforts to reduce packaging, yada, yada--we were definitely doing our part to furnish the landfills. And this was with us taking our glass and aluminum to the recycling center.

So here we are with our with 1 barrel, roughly the size of our kitchen trash can--which we literally emptied every day. Serious panic time. And we ask the neighbors what the recycling system is and how on earth people get by with such little trash bins--even if they do recycle. Jen, our neighbor, looks at us with a dubious look, explaining that ours is even the 'large' barrel and that it's really no problem for most people. I doubted.

But I am AMAZED to report that it is TRULY incredible, how much less trash you have if you both recycle and compost. INCREDIBLE, I tell you. The homeowners already had one of those compost bins hidden behind the garage, so we just bought a countertop composter (shown below), which we fill with all organic materials (food scraps (coffee grinds, eggshells, etc., but not meat or dairy), Audrey's diapers (one of the kinds we use is compostable), and so on.) Then with the paper, glass, aluminum and plastic in the recycling bins, to my shock and awe--we don't even fill up the 1 trash can every week!

May be it's just me, but to think that at least 75% of the stuff I was putting into my trashcans could have gone elsewhere, is mind-boggling. WOW. I am especially amazed by the amount of compostable stuff and paper we generate.

(The counter-top compost pail is just an interim stop so that you don't constantly have to run outside. It's really just a pail with a charcoal filter in the lid to eliminate odor.) And that compost is going to make incredibly fertile hummus--so just watch and see as the Darth-Vader of gardening turns back to to the light.)

2008-05-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Teitur and Sambo's

There is so much to love in Danish culture--old and new. But if you don't know the musician Teitur, you are REALLY missing out. In fact, he and his band played at the Doug Fir Lounge last night and we were SO lucky to see the show. He was OUTSTANDING. Both M and I were seriously impressed. Wow, what a talent. You really see what people are made of in live shows and Teitur is just so freaking talented... and HAPPY...and funky.
And for those who might be curious- he likes girls.

BTW- little did we know: apparently the Doug Fir is one of the coolest spots in PDX. This is strange, because it happens to us again and again. So we asked ourselves: how is it that we seem to coincidentally end up at all the coolest places? I guess we are just THAT cool. What else can we conclude? We aren't really ready for the consequences of what this epiphany means. We aspire to be like the desert fathers and Brennan Manning, but can't seem to escape being sucked into the cool-vacuum. And before you protest--I think the desert fathers would have really dug Teitur. Advice anyone? Another BTW- this restaurant and lounge was originally a Sambo's Restaurant, way, way back when. Does anybody else remember Sambo's? My most vivid memory of the place was an ice-cream dish I was extremely fond of; I wish I knew exactly what it was; it was something with little animal crackers stuck on top of it.) But I digress.

Teitur's music is quirky, eclectic and difficult to describe. I got to know him in DK (he's from the Faroen islands) and he's HUGE in Europe, little known in the States. He has a new album out this May called 'The Singer' (which we haven't listened to yet)--but we highly recommend 'Poetry and Aeroplanes'. Last night Teitur called his two biggest hits in the U.S. 'teenager songs to be found on mix tapes'; whatever he calls it, I love them (songs, 'Josephine' (about a childhood playmate) and 'I was just thinkin'.)

Aside from the aforementioned ballads, his style is difficult to describe. That band was SURE having fun, let's just say that.

Check 'em out.

Oh--and opening for Teitur--a girl we'd never heard of who was FANTASTIC--Jessie Baylin. Also hard to describe...kind of Norah Jones but even more soulful and eclectic. Amazing voice, great stage presence and fantastic songs (which I think were her own). Her first album comes out here in June. M and I are very curious how full productions of her songs will sound because Jessie and her guitarist were way more than enough to make us fans. Sometimes full-scale productions can overwhelm core talent and make it sound cliché. We'll see....

2008-05-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

A poem.

It is extremely difficult to 'translate' art of any kind. So I hope that the phenomenal Danish poet, Benny Andersen, will forgive me for attempting to give you some of his words in English. But they are so beautiful, so poignant, that I cannot resist.

About Time

It's about time
the water's boiling
the earth is burning
the world is waiting
when Alexander was Caesar's age
he was already The Great
when Caesar was my age, he was already finished
they wasted no time
and time didn't waste them
they used time like a shirt
slept with it on
were buried in it
and here I sit
holding a newspaper
holding Christmas
holding back
letting opportunities pass me by
in hopeless resistance to discovery
the world doesn't wait
when Mozart was 5 years old
when Jesus was 12
when Columbus raised his anchor
when Homer
when Rembrandt
when Pasteur
when Darwin
when Dalgas
when Da Vinci
when Gama
Damocles
it's about time
it's way past the time
my hat
my coat
my pant-leg fasteners
it's now or never

If this were a cheesy radio station, I would dedicate this poem to Marian, Gitte, Michela, Aarhus....and Denmark. I am always missing you. and you are always in my heart.

2008-05-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

Oh yes,
I am a farmer.

Or alternatively:
'Visualize whirled peas'

Those who know me well, know that I did not inherit the green-thumb of my mother and grandmother (not sure how my sisters fare at gardening.) This is despite my long-time dream of owning a vineyard. You see, besides faring decently with potted culinary herbs, I have, literally, killed many-a-succulent. No one asks me to house-sit their plants more than once.

But here in PDX, it would seem that I have found my niche. A fresh start. Turned over a new leaf. (I pretty much despise punning so why did I have to go there?) Check out this vegetable garden, which Audrey and I planted from seeds just 2 short weeks ago:

People, this is real stuff growing. I think the stuff is summer squash and snow peas, mainly. (And don't you dare write comments about how squash and peas could grow well in the Sahara desert.)

If I were to divulge my newfound secrets to successful gardening it would be this:
#1: have very low expectations. I expected for nothing to ever come up and look how pleased I am. I will be even more pleased after we catch and kill the cat that we saw digging in my precious lettuce earlier today. Cats are from the devil. If you like them, we cannot be friends.

and #2: live a place where stuff grows.

These roses are also from 'our' garden. Hey, I cut them myself, ok?

For you doubters here are pictures of our actual milkman experience.

The delivery...

The eggs, cream and yogurt...

and finally...
The Milk.

2008-05-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Oaks Amusement Park

It's no secret we think Portland is an extremely cool city. But what continues to amaze us is how many cool finds we make on walks in our very own neighborhood.

Oaks Amusement Park opened in 1905 (making it one of the oldest in the U.S.). under the Sellwood Bridge, close to where we live (1.8 miles to be exact). There is NO ADMISSION CHARGE and it's open from Spring to Fall (except for the skating rink, which is open year-round). You just pay for rides, etc. As with many Portland attractions, it's located right on the Willamette, offering ample picnic-ing opportunities.

There's even an old-fashioned Dance Pavilion and Skating Rink.

We felt like our lives crossed a new threshold when our tiny little baby willingly and happily went on two rides by herself. Sniff, sniff.

Do you remember how when you were a kid, you really believed you were steering the car yourself? I did.

We rode the carousel, which Audrey found only mildly amusing compared with driving her own purple vehicle.

2008-05-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

We Have a Milkman

Move over, people--we have a Milkman. And he delivers milk.

I recently discovered that we have a first-rate, local, organic farm that delivers fresh dairy right to your porch. The Noris Dairy is run by an Austrian couple in Salem, OR and I read about them online (their motto is 'purity in food'), so we were curious how good the products would actually be...

AMAZING. I have to say that Audrey drinks whole milk--so you expect it to be creamy. But PEOPLE, if you are used to nonfat tasting like 'the water the milk towers are rinsed with' (as a friend in DK says), then you have never tasted Noris nonfat.
Oh.my.gosh. this stuff is so TASTY and creamy(but not gaggy), you would actually think that you were indulging. And the fresh whipping cream has an indescribable decadence and flavor. The yogurt is European style, and Audrey thoroughly approves. They also sell organic ice-cream, beef and cheese.)

The milk and cream is in supple glass bottles and EVERYTHING!

And get this: it's no more expensive than your local grocery store! I placed my order via phone, with owner Franz Noris (my new dairy guru) who talked me out of transitioning Audrey to 2% (which someone recently told me I needed to do); he said that he is in his late 60's, has lived on the richest farm-fresh dairy, and his doctor says he has the health (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.) of a young man. In fact, his doctor asked him how he can get such good health himself; Franz told him to consume full-fat dairy and stay away from American processed foods. (Not being a soy-expert, I was surprised to learn from Mr. Noris that soy-milk is a 'processed' food; I'd actually never thought about it. Needless to say, Dairy-Yoda, Franz, is mega-anti-soy.)

Must be tasted to be appreciated.
If you have a local dairy, you might consider giving them a try for the amazing quality and to support your local farmers.

I know what you are thinking and, no dear friends, a Subaru cannot be far behind.

But for now, we're off to Seattle to visit friends and clients...in the Ford Explorer. (Which, fyi because of it's small size, is surprisingly fuel-efficient by today's SUV standards.)

2008-05-22T09:21:00.001-07:00

Not gonna do it-
wouldn't be prudent.

Even though I really, really want to, I am not going to rant about what happened to us last night. Ranting causes cancer.

.........................
......................

Ok, this is SO HEINOUS, I cannot abstain. And we need to paint a realistic picture of Portland, not leaving out the fact that there are clueless, inconsiderate people here too.

We went to our very first 'Home Community' group--a local group gathering of people from the church we've been going to. And no joke, someone brought their VERY sick kid. And I asked what was wrong with her and the mother (apparently, a doctor, who used to live here but is just visiting from Kansas) answered: 'she has a fever and has been vomiting since last night.' 'Oh,' says I. (Audrey had not been near the kid--we'd only been there a few minutes.) 'She was around some sick kids last week,' says the mom. The poor child looked MISERABLE, and was wrapped up in a towel, laying in her mom's lap.
'That's a very long incubation for a flu,' says I (absolutely freaking out that someone with a kid with the flu would bring them around 12 other kids. 'Oh, it's not the flu,' says she. 'What is it?' asks I. 'Probably the Rota virus,' says she. 'Does she have diarhrea?' asks I. 'She will tomorrow' states the lady who I don't know, very matter-of-factly. (For those who don't know it, Rota-virus is an intestinal virus accompanied by PROFUSE diarrhea; it won't harm adults, but which is extremely serious for young children because of dehydration. Over 80,000 young kids in the U.S. are hospitalized every year as a result of it.)

Immediately, Mike and I had a huddle outside and decided that, despite our desire not to offend anyone or be unkind-- Audrey and I would leave immediately.

I'm sorry, people, call me paranoid but if a kid contracts something and there is no way you could have foreseen it, that's just life. And yes, it is a rampant and common disease. But seriously, HOW COULD I STAY AND LET MY KID BE KNOWINGLY EXPOSED TO THE FREAKIN' ROTA-VIRUS?

AND WHAT IN THE SAM HELL IS WRONG WITH PARENTS OF OUR GENERATION WHO TAKE THEIR KIDS OUT WHEN THEY'RE SICK????????????????????

Last week, we did not attend this event because Audrey had a cold and we didn't want to get anyone else sick.

Am I the only one that thinks this is sheer insanity and the absolute definition of inconsiderate?

Ok, I want to go on and on. But I won't. Thank you for indulging me in this brief, cleansing rant. Hopefully, it will cleanse the cancer-causing anger out of my colon.

2008-05-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

Rally on the river

So this was one of those crazy things we couldn't have planned.
At the Farmers Market Saturday, we saw that Obama was having a rally the next day at the Waterfront Park and decided that it might be fun to check it out. Not that we expected to actually get in or anything; but we could take a picnic and it would still be fun. Originally, we did plan on getting there an hour or so before the event would start. We ended up parking about 5 minutes before.

To our amazement, a volunteer on the street told us to get in 'that line' and that there was still room in the event (which was a large, sectioned-off part of the park). We thought it was too good to be true but looked for the end of the line. And looked. And walked. Block after block, that line wound--and there was no end in sight. So we asked a policeman how it could be that such a long line of people could still make it in for the event. And he said 'honestly, I don't know because it starts in 2 minutes and the line goes all the way back to PSU.'

So we quickly abandoned that idea and headed back to the waterfront with other masses of people streaming toward the park...and were directed, and directed, to stay left....then right...and then cruelty of all cruelties, us--part of the the meandering, aimless wanderers, were directed to join up with the dutiful people waiting in line. And there were thousands I tell you. And this was not our intention at all. We felt soooo bad, but were just going where we were told and then ended up actually getting into the event. Literally, Obama came onto the stage just as we reached the grass. It felt like that story where Jesus says that the laborers who worked all day for the wage that the laborers who worked only part of the day shouldn't complain, because it was His prerogative. (But I am ashamed to admit that had I waited in line all day, I would have been SO mad at the injustice of coincidental masses like us got in without any effort whatsoever.

Anyways, it was an inspiring speech and very fun to be a part of. Audrey was stealing all of the attention around us because she would sincerely and enthusiastically clap and cheer every time the crowd did. It cracked people up--her parents too.

Believe it or not, these people are at the rally too. Right on the Willamette.

Here he is. We zoomed in as much as far as it could go.

We don't know these people. Audrey made friends with them and offered the woman chicken--which she bravely ate.

So graceful and poised in her swimsuit.

2008-05-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

Food poor-
Those farmers got all my money.

As mentioned, in last posting, there are oodles and oodles of Farmers Market's here in the Portland area featuring local produce, dairy, bread, pastry, meats and wines. But probably the most famous one has completely lived up to its' name, in our opinion. It's held Saturdays from April to September at Portland State University. We went last week for the first time and it was fantastic.

Start with the fact that the location is stunning--PSU is located at the head of what's called 'the park blocks'--a long row of park with genormous trees that form an archway leading to the market.

This was one of our more unique finds: Lavender Boysenberry and Lavender Raspberry Chipotle Jams. That night, we basted our bbq'd chicken with the chipotle variety and rhubarb coulis with fresh cream on marzipan nests. DELICIOUS!

There was every fresh, seasonal food that your heart could desire. Mounds of rainbow chard, rhubarb, asparagus (the precious white asparagus has arrived!), berries and breads, cheeses and locally raised meats and dairy (even buffalo!) The place fairly stunk with the perfume of tomatoes and herbs--heaven!

Audrey enjoying a violin performance by two very talented young ladies.

Having a daughter who is a tomato addict, how could we leave without our own plant? The farmer said this one would be prolific. With my black thumb, we'll see. Hopefully Farmer Mike can keep it alive.

Below, a view of the river, crossing over on the way home.

This was our bounty (shown below on our porch bench.) With this kind of sumptuous abundance available on a regular basis, I am sure we are destined to become food-poor.

By the way, someone (who shall remain anonymous), has asked whether we miss CA at all. The answer to that is: NATURALLY, we sorely miss our precious and beloved family and friends there. We just think that they should all move here.
And another very bad thing about living in Portland is that there are very large goose turds because there are many geese. So there you have it.

2008-05-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

These are a few
of my favorite things

So many things to love, but here are a few of our recent faves:

Audrey's recently learned skill of doing the famous 'Blue Steel' pose:

Watching Audrey play with Basil the gnome

Our cozy new backyard

Being able to walk to this park for weekday lunch, in under 5 minutes

My good-smelling and sweet husband

Our new neighbor, Avery.

and how sweet she is with Audrey

Ravenous consumption of oatmeal and very short bangs--that I cut MYSELF.

The Portland Farmers Market.

...which deserves its own blog entry.
To be continued.

2008-05-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Slowly

It hit me the other day that I needed to find time for the important things, like scouring my bathtub. Yeah, bathing your baby in a tub that is filthy with a soap scum ring and the little prickly bits of hair from your shaved legs, well it kind of defeats the point.

It feels like it's taking forever to get unpacked. We are having so much fun being here, but truth be told, we haven't made much progress in creating order since Denise left. I'm trying to call to mind the good advice of those who know and love me to give it lots of time and that enjoying life is more important than order and perfection. So in the meantime, the house is a mess. But hey.

This is also what has kept me from blogging because I keep waiting for a time when everything will be finished so I can give more pictures of the perfect order that never will arrive. So here are a few pics of the process.

Albeit significantly smaller and older (and despite some unholy swearing trying to fit all my stuff into it), I love our 'new' little kitchen. We are still working on putting it all together creatively and functionally, but this is what's done so far-thanks again, to the handiness of Denise and Mike... (while my ideas are endless, their patience, precision and know-how makes stuff actually happen.)

We wallpapered the backs of a few open kitchen cupboards to add a bit of vintage pizazz where wall-space for decoration is otherwise scant. Also, we installed basic magnet strips for knives and spices.

I love an eclectic, but clean blend of old and contemporary together, so we were pleased with the results. And everything you see is 100% functional stuff that we use on a regular basis because, as you know, me-no-likey knick-knacks.

Yes, my spice collection is extensive and yes, I actually use them all.

The plastic play kitchen and shopping cart are really messing up the look of my Breakfast Nook. I should have gone with the cuter, wooden kitchen. Not to mention the fact that supple, colorful wooden food is just so much nicer to touch and put in one's mouth, as A has discovered.

More pics still to come for those who've asked to see our new nest.

2008-05-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

Mothers

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
~Elizabeth Stone

How true that is.
Happy Mothers Day to the mommy's reading our blog!
In no particular order: Mom, Chris, Laurie, Gigi, Kirsten, Gitte, Michela, Diane, Jeanie, Swanny, Deanna, Yesenia, Lone, Erika, Lone, Dina, Pearl, Laurel, Julie, Mindy, Jill, Phoebe, Molly, Abby, and anyone else I may have forgotten--so very, very sorry.

For me, this day has been a precious celebration of the gift of being Audrey's mommy. Embarking on the journey of mothering, has been one of the most exciting and stretching chapters of my life. I could never have imagined how rich life could be despite less time, sleep and freedom than prior chapters. Though I admit being ready for a break by the time bedtime rolls around each night, I also confess to actually missing my little girl while she sleeps-- and looking forward to cuddling her warm little body every morning. What an honor to welcome and shepherd such a miracle through life.

A few other fun quotes on motherhood...

The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.
~William Goldsmith Brown

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George Cooper

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

It would seem that something which means poverty, disorder and violence every single day should be avoided entirely, but the desire to beget children is a natural urge. ~Phyllis Diller

Who fed me from her gentle breast
And hushed me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.
~Anne Taylor

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!

16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me."

- Isaiah 49: 15 &16

2008-05-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Why we love it here

The reasons that we already love living here are the same reasons that we decided to move here in the first place. Here are a few, in no particular order:

1.) THIS is the view from our living room window:

2.) THIS is the view from our dining room:

3.) People are nice and just normal and friendly. They go on walks, mow their lawns, look you in the eye and say 'hi'. Other kids even wave freely to Audrey (usually she's waving at other children who turn away because they're supposed to be suspicious of strangers.) We were only here one day before we got invited to a birthday party.

4.) Today we have gone to grocery shop, the hardware store, buy coffee and a fantastic dinner, all without getting into our car once.

5.) The nearest park is a 5-minute walk (1/4 mile)--has geese, a pond, gorgeous old trees, old playground toys and no punk-$%^hoodlum teenagers intimidating other kids and blocking the slides. Just nice, normal people drinking coffee and watching their kids play.

There are tons of other parks within walking distance and the trailhead for Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is a 10-minute walk from our house. This trail, which borders the Wilammette river also leads to a historic, super-charming old amusement park still open in Spring and Summer: Oaks Park (opened in 1905!).

6.) We were here for 5 days before we saw someone's boobs hanging out.

7.) There aren't just restaurants within walking distance--there are excellent restaurants within 5 minutes from our house. Because it's been 'vacation' while we were moving in, we've eaten out alot. We have discovered fantastic Mexican, Thai, Greek, Pizza and Bakery's within 5 minutes--and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Mike went to check his email and discovered a cool Irish Public House with live folk singing. And while there are a few she-she places mixed in, most are reasonably priced and have outdoor dining.

8.) We got to go to a really great church, and do this on the way, because we were early:

and this

and this

9.) Lots of people ride bikes, drive fuel efficient cars, and take public transportation.

10.) People leave their window shades/curtains open--even in the evenings.

...to be continued.

2008-05-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

The long journey 'home'

Audrey in our new front yard...

After much ado (seemingly endless packing of boxes, packing of truck, driving, unpacking of truck, unpacking of boxes....tbc), we are finally getting settled into our new home. And we already L-O-V-E it.

So much has happened along the way so catch-up is definitely in order:

First, MUCHO thanks are in order--

To Mike (my dear friend Deanna's dad) (and his crews), who worked so hard to lug our crap from one state to another. He went WAY above and beyond taking care of us; he even took our roses out for some sunlight and TLC on the journey northbound. THANK YOU!!!!!!! Smooch.

To M's Mom and Dad--for babysitting during critical last days, patch-painting, cleaning, hauling, etc. For your loving support and willingness to lend a hand wherever and whenever possible. And for gourmet cooking ready at 9pm on moving night.

To Kelly- who put together a super-helpful roadtrip planner for us with kid-friendly stops and alternate routes that included organic dairy farm tours, etc. (Unfortunately, because it was going so well with A, we mainly high-tailed it down the road, but are definitely keeping visiting more of the stops on future trips.)

To Audrey--for being such a trooper throughout the entire move and especially on the looong drive. For so happily and trustingly embarking on this adventure with your daddy and mommy.

To Summer, Gigi and Uncle Greg--for a wonderful and relaxing visit in No. CA...much-needed rest, laughs and love. Not having seen each other since returning from Africa, this was a sweet, sweet reunion.

And last, but certainly not least, the TRUE-FRIEND MOVE VIP: Mrs. Denise McCormick. Seriously--how many friends will fly up to help you move in? How many women with Lit. degrees and Chief Editor titles can change diapers, put together tedious Ikea wardrobes, wallpaper and install all manner of fixtures? Oh--and did I mention she did all of this tirelessly for an entire week--day and night? There are absolutely NO words to express how grateful we are, Néné.

Thank you, EVERYONE, for your help. We could not have done it without you.

And one more thing: we are never, ever moving again. When the homeowners we are renting from try to come home in 3 to 5 years, we simply will not let them in.

Deanna and Marilyn noshing some In-n-Out

Audrey hugs her good buddy Maxwell (born only 1 day apart; their mommy's shared a hospital room)

Perspective...if you think that you 'really are moving towards minimalism', moving is a humbling reality check. This truck did contain our other car.

A very cool place for a pit-stop: Bravo Farms Cheese (just south of Visalia) who would have thought you'd find an enchanting dining garden, great food and store right in the middle of nowhere?

Cobblestone Cottages--a very cool B&B we stayed at in Medford. Only a few bucks more than a Ramada and MILES more heavenly. The owners were so gracious and are actually selling the place to retire down the street. M and I agreed that one of our mom's should buy the place. It was charming, impeccable and bordered organic strawberry fields. HELLO!

2008-04-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Trails

Yesterday was moving day--busy, hectic, fun and productive. Thanks to alot of help, our house is now empty and clean...our belongings on their way to Oregon. Spent the night at M's parents...are about to have breakfast and then hit the road. Headed to Aunt Gail's today in No. CA...with sadness, grattitude, and excitement at what lies ahead.

2008-04-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

1 1/2 days

We have now officially begun our goodbyes...this weekend with the Mc's:Cormicks and Master's. Sunday, M's fam (sadly, Audrey and I missed that due to a high fever on her part.) Tonight, b's fam. Thanks to all of you who, over the course of the past few months, offered to have goodbye parties and such for us; and for understanding that we preferred the opportunity for a less dramatic departure...to say our goodbyes in a more personal and relaxed way. We appreciate the thought...

2008-04-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

Ice Cream Trucks and Crunch Time

Here we are awaiting the Ice Cream Truck this past weekend. (We is Natá and Mike Hendershot-our neighbors and soon-to-be-tenants, and the McMasters who with their servants' hearts, offered to come and put some elbow grease into our move. And holy cow did they earn their ice cream. Mike says he simply would not have finished everything outside in time without Scott; Dina dusted and cleaned inside like a hummingbird on crack. 1 million thanks, friends.)

Did you have an ice cream truck circling your neighborhood when you were little? (Speak up, Lurkers!)

When we first moved here, M and I were delighted to hear the tinny-tunes of our local ice cream van. How cozy and fun, we thought. Sweet memories of childhood...of rainbow sno-cones (scant syrup), 'mystery grab bags' (remember those?), Push-Ups and how any popsicle from the ICT just seemed to taste 1,000 better than the ones in your mom's fridge?
Memories...light the corners of my mind....but back to the story:

Enter Audrey. Sweet and precious, the apple of her parents' eye. Also a laughably light sleeper. Awakes at the slightest crack of your ankle walking down the hall. Simply cannot sleep through ANYTHING (and yes--we tried everything to change this--banging pots and pans to make the house less quiet, putting her to sleep in her stroller while in public places. Alas, no. Our first lesson in the realistic ratio of Nurture: Nature.)

And then, in the distance, the call of the very same ICT bringing hell on earth to the lives of exhausted and sleep-deprived new parents. 'Please, no. Please, turn the corner--just not down our stree----ah CRAP. Ok, then at least just drive quickly by. But nay--how many times did she park her mobile crack-mobile right outside Audrey's window, tune reeling and reeling while our newborn waled her heart out, having finally just fallen asleep. And so this would go: the early afternoon round, the late afternoon round, and finally, the post-dinner round. Ah, perspective.

As Audrey became a toddler, the ICT still awoke her from naps. But slowly, slowly, it also became a source of amusement for A to hear the tunes coming down the block and she would dance happily as they passed. Until. Until the day that we bought our first ice cream (in her presence) and yes--you guess it: there is no peace once again when the ICT is near. With the hearing of a bat, Audrey jumps up and down--positively SQUEALING with ecstacy that the 'uhm-man' is coming. Obviously, we don't get an ice cream 3 times daily--or even every day. But when we insist 'yes, ice cream is yummy, but none today', she runs pitter patter to the door, begging to at least wave to the driver as she/he passes by.

2008-04-18T10:02:00.001-07:00

Bust a gut

As most of you know, we are nerds that haven't had cable-tv for the past 18 months. Nonetheless, when we have the time and inclination, we'll catch a show here and there online. One of our favorites is the Colbert Report. Fiercely intelligent, thought-provoking, witty and hilarious. If you didn't catch the episode Thursday night, it is a MUST SEE (click here). Hillary, Obama and Edwards all make guest appearances while Colbert himself steals the show, as always.