Looks like a go.

I won't believe it until we are actually driving North with all our junk in tow, but it looks as though God is opening all the doors for us to move to Portland. Neither of us has felt that living in L.A. was 'in sync' with our dreams/vision for future family life. Last August our dreams became more concrete as we fell in love with Portland--for many reasons.

But everyone has different priorities and things that matter in choosing a place to settle--and peace be with that!

At the risk of offending anyone who loves living in So. Cal, (blogging was supposed to be such a liberating endeavor), we long for a place where the pace of life is slower, the air is cleaner, recreational living is right outside your door (without having to drive hours in traffic to access it), where people know their neighbors and actually socialize with them, where people are at least slightly less concerned with how you look and what you own, where people drive vehicles commensurate with what they can afford (imagine that!), where every kid you meet at the park is not a child-actor/model appearing in ??? or every mother an aspiring stage mom. To illustrate, a true story: my hairstylist told me that her boyfriend really wants to move back to Oregon, where he is originally from. She really loves it there and would also like to move, HOWEVER. (And this is precisely what she said)--' in all honesty, I would never make near the kind of money I make now, anywhere else. In this (cosmetic/hair/style) world, it's a well-known fact that no where, but in California, is it common for women to spend so much money on their hair.' Ouch.

Yes, there are the gorgeous mountains (when you can see them), beaches (if you have the hours to drive or the bucks to afford living there), hiking trails (if you can breathe for the smog), nice shops (if you can read the signs)...ok, I'll stop now that I've permanently p.o.'d everyone that loves CA. Suma sum arum: it's just not for us.

One more thing: last, but definitely not least, we have desperately missed being a part of a church community. We have really, really tried...and so as not to disparage any part of the body of Christ, I won't get into that. But let's just say, on the very positive side, that we both felt a unity of spirit and hope for this area of our lives, when we have visited two churches in Portland that are both places we could could join wholeheartedly.

So we've prayed and prayed that God would make a way for us to live in a community we feel is....more 'us.'

Now let it be said that our #1 con to moving, is the people we love here. There are many souls, very dear to us, who will happily remain in CA. And that will definitely be a loss...and they will be missed. But some of these souls are also moving, others of these souls have very busy lives and we don't get to see each other often anyways. As such, we've had to wrestle with the consequences of missing occasional get-togethers...versus stuff that also really matters to us, and is missing, every single day of the year.

One other thing: we are so grateful. SOOOOO grateful. God is SOOO good to us, and we love the lives that He has given us. We deeply appreciate our health, the joy of our marriage and family. We adore our house. But these other things, the daily community life in which one lives, have huge long-term impact on all of these things as well.

So here's a nutshell of what happened recently. We took a trip to Portland a few weeks ago, just for fun, together with Denise and Matt. Thinking that the first domino that needed to fall was for us to find a tenant for our house here in CA (since it's such an awful time to sell), we were not planning on doing anything other than looking around and having a jolly time. First morning we are there, we walk around the corner for breakfast at a tiny place called Fat Abes. (We were staying in the neighborhood we'd like to live in)... the place is packed and we're asked to wait. Then the hostess offers that we can also share a table with another family, if we're willing. So we get sat with a couple and their two adorable little girls. We're talking amongst ourselves for a while, and then begin chatting with the couple we don't know.

Having noticed that there is basically no homes for rent online in this particular neighborhood, I ask the lady where she would suggest looking, when the time comes down the road, that we are actually looking. So she smiles sheepishly and says....'well actually, our home is going to be for rent May 1st.' She then goes on to explain that they are moving to the UK for 3-5 years (her husband is British) so that their girls can know their grandparents there. But they love their house, all their best friends live on their street, etc. and so they definitely want to move back into their house when they return. She then offers that we can come see their house if we'd like. We do...and while smaller than our current house, it is adorable, perfectly located and just even better than we'd dared hope to find. Knowing that the homes are all older and therefore smaller in most Portland neighborhoods, we were already prepared for the downsizing and believe that it's totally worth it for the location.

It's a charming house built in 1925, very well-kept, with 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a big office and a huge useable basement. There's a charming yard filled with trees and all kinds of beautiful plants & flowers that will soon bloom--including, hydrangeas, for cryin' out loud! (my fave). The rent is reasonable and the time frame is do-able. In the meantime, we return home to find 2 sets of renters who are interested in our home--one of them our neighbors, who we really like.

Can you believe it? It's CRAZY. And as I said, I'll believe it when we're actually driving out...because it could, of course, all fall through at any moment (life has taught me that this is a very real possibility.) But on the optimistic side, it seems that one door after another is opening and we have surely committed all our plans to the Lord, so it's in His hands no matter what.

Here are a few pics of the house in Portland. I'm only posting the outside ones out of respect and consideration for the privacy of the owners, who graciously allowed us to visit without notice.

It's located in the Sellwood Moreland neighborhood, just around the corner from tons of cool stuff, including a wild life refuge just down the street, the 400 miles of Portland bike paths, 15 minutes bike ride from downtown.

Play-Doh



Audrey and I were playing with Play-Doh this morning and it got me to thinking...



1.) If you're gonna play with Doh on a regular basis, one must keep short fingernails, the way that guitarists do. Also notice PD in hair.


2.) Can anyone tell me why some parents used to make homemade Play-Doh when we were kids? Was it really that much cheaper? or just for the fun of it? As I remember it, the homemade stuff was coarse, stiff and smelled like salt. The real stuff smells really good, as Audrey discovered and kept trying to stick up her nose and eat.



A few other fun pics from recent weeks...

A played in the fountains and road the train at Victoria Gardens on a recently warm day. (For those not familiar with VG, it's a local outdoor mall with all kinds of fun stuff for kids. Alot of people actually come prepared with swimsuits, etc. Not planning ahead, we just did it white-trash style in the wife-beater onesie.)





This little getup was actually Mike's when he was the same age; his mom bought it for him while they were living in England and recently brought Audrey home in it after she watched her. Quite a shock to meet one's little toddler at the door dressed in knitted knickers.



More details on Portland forthcoming, I promise; we are awaiting some vital confirmation on a few things.

What Julianna Could See

Have not posted lately for 2 reasons:

1.) Haven't felt like it. for a few reasons i will not get into.

2.) Have been quite busy with all manner of mundane things (also known as 'monks work') as well as very exciting happenings.

Portland was ÜBER rad. Very fun being there with D and M, staying in our cute little place on Ogden, walking to Fat Abe's and Papa Haydens for breakfast/brunch, strolling Washington Park, on and on...Love it more than ever and am very excited about things that happened while we were there.


Got the coolest, sweetest and most beautiful book for A at the coolest toy store, 'SpielWork' in Sellwood: 'What Julianna Could See'
She must now have it read to her at least 5 times daily.

Felt so hopeful to visit two really great churches where we can actually see ourselves feeling at home (Imago and Mosaic). Mosaic is a really neat church with a sincere, down-to-earth vibe, and the new pastor there gave an inspiring message on tapping into the power of God and watching Him do incredible things in spite of our own inadequacies. Kelly's dear friend Abby was also gracious enough to meet with the 5 of us for coffee and share her experience so far with living in Portland. As kind as ever, she looked like a million and seemed extremely relaxed, even while managing 3 active boys. How, exactly is that possible? I will never know. I have one tiny, relatively calm and reasonable girl and already look disheveled and worn-out.

Imago Dei is also extremely cool and pushing the boundaries of church the way Weinershnitzel is 'Pushing the Boundaries of Taste.' (an aside: ...am feeling very guilty that I still owe Rick McKinley (of Imago) a review on his book, This Beautiful Mess--which I finished in November. Am a bit overwhelmed by how to concisely articulate all that this book means...have sat down to write a review many, many times only to feel intimidated by the task. ) Seriously though: what can be said about a church where the Sunday Morning sermon is on Social Justice? You can click here to download this inspiring and challenging message that was tag-team preached by John Perkins and Paul Metzger.

Being a part of two vibrant communities like that for just one week, makes you feel renewed. Being in a city where people are actually nice and inclusive, actually know their neighbors, care about the environment and even walk around with sweats and messy hair sometimes is just plain good for the soul. To be able to walk to get your breakfast is the icing on the cake.

Super-Flu Sunday



Ok, wasn't gonna go here, but sister: you have thrown down with your comment on Spacelady's blog and trying to shirk responsibility as the carrier. Yes, you were strongly encouraged to attend by certain guys (who are currently hacking). In response to your 'argument', I was sick with a cold last week--not the flu--and abstained from several fun events during the week, so as not to infect anyone.

This is absolutely my all-time #1 Pet-Peeve and I must rant because I've been wanting to for about 2 years: people, when you are sick with a contagious illness, stay home for gosh sake. Last year, on this very same Super Bowl Sunday weekend, I was sick with a flu and stayed home, so as not to infect anyone. May be this is why I escaped this round (good karma) or may be it will overtake me at any moment (just deserts/ fatalism/realism) (please God, no.)

This is why I simply do not understand arriving at many functions where people, who shall remain nameless, came with wicked coughs, the chills, and straight out knew they had a flu or similar, but valiantly proclaimed: "I'm just staying over here (1 foot away) so no one gets what I have." Seriously? Seriously? Or their kids cough on my baby and inadvertently let it slip that they have a fever or have been sick all week but their mom's decided to go to the get-together anyway.

Come on, people. I have talked to Mike's Nanna about this and it seems to be a recent warped societal phenomenon, in the same busted vein with people who are strapped for cash buying Coach handbags. If you're sick, stay home. If you feel like you are getting sick, stay home. If your kid is sick and has a fever and you gave them Tylenol and now they are hopping around just fine, this does not mean that they are well or no longer contagious, it just means that they are drugged. If people volunteer to come to your house, bring you soup, etc., let them do it because they know what they are getting into. But do not attend parties, send your kids to school, etc. unless everyone who you'll be around knows the risk they are facing and is ok with it. You will not die from missing a few days of school, work, or a family get together. No, you cannot possibly avoid all illness. But you can avoid spreading it when you know you are sick. If everyone was a little more considerate, we'd all be sick a heck of a lot less. Wanna know why it seems like everyone gets more flus these days? Because everyone gets more flus these days and STILL GO OUT. SUCK IT UP AND STAY HOME, PEOPLE.

P.S. I still love you to the moon and back, sister. And if I lived down the street from you, I would still bring you chicken soup and oranges.

Disgusting



The new limited edition flavor, 'Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper' embodies everything that is wrong with this country today.

In fact, I think Jesus even said something to the effect of 'and if thou drinkest Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper, thou shalt surely not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.'

Oh--and remember that the most real of reality shows needs your vote today. (New feature! Now you can even cast your vote via text message with emoticons! Simply send the name of your favorite candidate, or alternatively, the first lady (or first-man) who would best represent the Idiocracy worldwide by carrying the most fabulous handbag, to 'stpdamrkn#' and press Send.

"Rest. Rest. Rest in God's love. The only work you are required now to do is give your most intense attention to His still, small voice within."

--Madame Jeanne Guyon

Hey Molly: It snows here 2.

We may not have big pine trees, bay windows or Yosemite near by, but it snows here in tract-homes-R-us too, Molly.



Close up of real life snow on grass:


On another note, this little kid of mine is good for new laughs every day.

Yesterday, M and I are talking in his office. Notice which book A picks from his bookshelf:



Her two newest words are 'Oprah' (pronounced: 'O-puh') and 'question mark' (pronouned: 'qwemuck.' She has never seen the Oprah show (poor kid has loser parents with no cable) but became obsessed with her on the cover of an old 'O magazine' issue on my nightstand. She kept pointing at her (this is my cue to name what she's pointing at) and so I said, 'lady' but this was not the answer she wanted, 'uh, swimsuit?' I tried again (Oprah was in a pool). No, this was not what she wanted to know. 'Oprah?' I queried. 'Opuh!' she exclaimed. Man, how we underestimate the intelligence of these little people!

Qwemuck comes from one of her favorite books, 'Alicia's Best Friends', where Alicia's friends try to force her to pick one best friend and this forces poor Alicia into crisis. On one page, there is a giant question mark above Alicia's head, as she ponders which of her friends she will choose. It's been over a month since we last read that book together, at which time I pointed out that this was called a question mark and that it meant Alicia didn't know what to do. So yesterday, as we're reading the book again, Audrey points to the qwemuck and say's 'hmmmmmm.....?' while tapping her chin. I just stared at the child in disbelief.

Other funny things.... (anyone still even reading this?)

She L-O-V-E-S looking at Thomas Keller's 'Bouchon' cookbook...
(oh--and points to his picture on the back cover so I'll say, 'Thomas Keller.'



Is obsessed with being pushed around the house in her doll-stroller. (And climbing into anything that is too small for her, in general. A few days ago she tried to sit in a regular-sized shoe box (literally.)



And is completely addicted to all stuffed animals. This is Jay the giraffe, being forced to wear mommy's headband--which he does not like, as you can see.

What lives for more than 900 years?



We probably all understand, on some level, that our choices impact the world around us. However, until seeing these numbers in Tuesday's edition of USA Today, it hadn't really hit me, what a significant decision, 'paper or plastic?' really is.

Before now, I've bought the re-useable bags to sack my groceries and remembered them only about 5 out of 10 times. Storing them in my car helps significantly. But still, sometimes my memory is lazy.

As Anne Lamott said of our fleeting lives: "100 years from now? All new people."

Which sparks another thought: "900 years from now? All my plastic bags, still here."

P.S. Neither of us are very politcally adamant or active, but last night M and I had fun taking a quiz (out of several, this one was definitely the best and most comprehensive), which quantifies your political alignment with various candidates based on issues. Since we are so adamantly against going with the current tide of voting based on 'cult of personality' or empty rhetoric, we found it extremely helpful and interesting. Completing this quiz might help you see who you should really vote for--it did for us! Click here to take the quiz.

Cooking



Help! I can't stop baking cupcakes. And the main problem is that I'm not taking them to share with my kids' class or a book group or anything. We're just eating them. Yesterday, M requested yellow. What is the technical definition of addition again?

On another food note: tonight we had a dinner that just really hit the spot: Creamy Asparagus Soup and Pumpkin Apple Struessel Muffins. Yummy, easy and comforting in this cold weather.

You can recreate it in under 30 minutes (prep time). Here are the recipes:
(P.S. Don't get hung up on precise measurements. (Precisely the reason I don't post 'recipes' more often. I suck at it.)

Creamy Asparagus Soup
1. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a pot
2. Sauté 1 finely diced shallot (or onion, but shallot is better)
3. Add 1 bunch of asparagus chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (remember to trim off the ends of the spears first as they give a certain undesirable flavor.)
4. Add about 2-3 Tbsp. flour and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly so as not to burn the roux or make it clumpy.
5. Add 2 small (or 1 medium) finely diced potatoes
6. Add 4-5 cups of chicken broth and simmer on a low boil for a while... (30-45 minutes?)
7. When potatoes are very tender, purée the soup using a handheld/immersion blender until completely smooth.
8. Just before serving, add about 1 cup half&half and a few (1-2?) Tbsp. soy sauce (only Kikkoman!) and bring just to boil. (Don't let this boil ferociously or for long. You're just reheating with the cream, etc.)
9. Add salt & pepper to taste.
10. Stirring in a 1/4 cup or so of plain yogurt or sour cream, just before serving, adds a very nice flavor to the soup.

Apple Pumpkin Struesel Muffins
* This recipe is a tweaked version of one I found online
In a large bowl combine:
1 1/4 cup pumpkin
2 cups finely diced apples (tart ones are especially nice in this)
2 eggs (slightly beaten)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

In another bowl, whisk together:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar (raw cane sugar is always best, but white will do!)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix lightly, only until just moistened. (Over mixing is the #1 reason for consistency problems in muffins.)

Fill muffin cups or greased muffin tins until about 2/3 full.

Make struesel topping:
Mix together 2 Tbsp. butter, 3 Tbsp. flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (you could also add chopped pecans if you'd like.) Sprinkle this mixture on top of muffin batter.

Bake for about 30 minutes on 350F. or until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy warm and with good butter!

Reality- Part 2
Audrey & Anne

On the list of women I admire, Audrey Hepburn and Anne Lamott are at the top. Both experienced unbelievable heartache, but survived with impeccable grace, albeit in very different ways.

Audrey was private, disciplined and demure, handling herself with enviable nobility and grace in any situation. Anne is shockingly honest, irreverent and self-revealing, channeling the source of her grace through side-splitting writings.

Audrey was kind and always looked perfectly stylish. After a lifetime of battling hopelessly frizzy bangs, Anne has surrendered to dreadlocks. Having read extensively about the lives of both women, I could go on, but will present my conclusion instead:

Though I envy the regal Audrey H., my reality is much closer to Anne's. I like them both, but am sure that Audrey would be embarrassed of me; I eat too much and say unrefined things that I later regret. Anne and I would have a hoot, if it weren't for the fact that she probably already has enough friends and is likely wary of people wanting to be her friend just because she's famous. Not me, even if she loses all her fame and never writes another word, I'd still take her out to lunch or let her stay in our guest room is she needed a place to stay. I'm pretty sure she'd like my other friends, too.

Reality



Reality is much less idyllic than Disneyland and Winnie the Pooh. It's more like when you are in a department store shopping for a sweater for yourself, only to notice that your child's toes are jammed up against of their shoes, WHILE they're sitting in their stroller, (ones I SWEAR we only bought in November). So you feel bad and walk to the kids shoe department to get them some new ones and then your kid starts saying they are hungry, right in the middle of the aisle, and so you pull out a handy-dandy string cheese...quickly pick out some footwear, try them on the kid, and as you are trying to enter your pin code to pay for them, your kid starts gagging up a wad of cheese (because she's stuffed 3/4 of it in her mouth at one time.) Not so gracefully, you reach your left hand out to grab the expelled dairy while still punching the pin code at the same time. The salesmen smiled patiently and still gave Audrey a balloon, even though her mom was sweating and holding a wad of cheese. Proceed back to women's sweater department, only to discover in the dressing room that you have an urgent situation, which shall remain nameless. Thank goodness for baby wipes. Try on sweaters only to notice that you are already sweating (at 10am) and your white t-shirt is no longer white, but you are meeting a friend for lunch in an hour. Dig in bag of random things in car, to find only short-sleeved shirt: a pajama top (it's much warmer than it was when we left home 2 hours prior).

Reality is that you barely get a moment to eat when you're having lunch with a friend AND your precious 17-month old baby. Reality is that other kids think your kid looks like she's dressed up for Halloween, even when she's not. Reality is that your kids' diaper slides down their leg and makes them look like they have elephantitis when it contains approximately 2 pounds of pee, cause you are a bad mom. and you keep wondering why their pants are falling down. it's just too much to ask of ANY diaper.

Look very closely at the bulge in these pants.


Notice how the diaper is at her knee?
Thank goodness for good friends, who can laugh with you about it and distract your kid from the fact that the hoot is at their expense, by feeding them bites of Panera brownie.

Honeys



We are attempting to get our money's worth out of the Disneyland passes we bought last year for Mike's birthday. They expire in April and we'd been twice, before this last week; once just M& i, and once with A, in October. (Unless you fork out the dough for the mega-pass, pretty much the entire summer is blocked out. But as M says, who wants to go to Disneyland on a day they're blocking out due to heavy attendance, anyway?!) Having the pass is great, because we can bring Audrey for just a few hours and leave before we hit the point of diminishing returns.

This time we visited Adventureland, Frontierland and Critter Country. She L-O-V-E-D the Enchanted Tiki Room (don't think I've been to that show since the 70's) and the Jungle Cruise.








Indiana Jones and Baby Indie

She found the Davey Crocket Canoes extremely boring (her parents too; gimme a break: something is wrong with an attraction when you've got to rope people into going on it. Plus, there's just something wrong about a large riverboat, pirate ship and canoes sailing in a 'lake' the size of my parents' backyard.)



She actually did ok with Pirates of the Caribbean, but get a hold of this folks--Audrey's least favorite attraction: Winnie the Pooh. Yeppers, she freaked out the entire time. I must say, it was quite a cacophony of noise and confusion. Very psychedelic and not at all enchanting. Afterwards, we saw the live characters and she wasn't too keen on them either.



Despite my best efforts, Pooh freaked her out too.




Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? We are!

Confessions of a famous mommy blogger

The following are passages are from an article entitled , 'Confessions of a mommy blogger,' published in the February issue of Wondertime magazine. Written by Catherine Newman, who apparently has several parenting blogs, the article had me rolling with laughter. I'll definitely have to check out her blogs. But in the meantime, here are some pieces of Newman's wisdom on blogging:

On connecting:
"If there's a single fact to take from the 70 million blogs that inhabit the Internet it's this: Whoever you are--however thrilled or frantic, bored or despairing, buoyant or afflicted with love like an aching in your bones--someone out there understands. Especially if you're a mother. Someone out there is still awake with a restless toddler. Someone out there has swigged the last of the cooking sherry, or dotted a nursing newborn with Doritos fallout. And someone is writing about it."

Postcards from the Edge
"It's the dirty details, the follies and foibles, that satisfy the sharpest bloggy cravings...The blog entries of mine that people like best: the time we forgot to strap Ben into his car seat because we were too buys splitting a raspberry Danish; the time I left baby Birdy in tears, waiting to be nursed while I shoveled cold and guilty mac n cheese into my face, which I called the equivalent of 'putting on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.'

Blogging is the underbelly of scrapbooking, its tantruming, scatalogical doppelganger...If scrapbooking is the urge to put it all together, blogging might be the urge to take it all apart. Blogging might not make life tidier, but it keeps life in your memory, and keeps it real."

B here: I have never scrapbooked and I never will. Who has the patience to spend 2 hours and $20 on one page? I can't even get it together and get pictures developed. The closest I come is putting together a digital photo book.

On what she's not blogging about
"Some of the most significant events in our lives are ones I haven't been able to write about--friends who've been gravely ill, others who've divorced--and I always feel strange about that, waffling on about string cheese while my heart is breaking. Similarly, I don't tend to write about the darkest places in my relationship with Michael because, well, my relationship is at stake. But as a result Michael often sounds kind of sickly perfect (which he often kind of is). I never fret publicly about my parents aging because they are as hale and hearty as oxen, not to mention they are loyal readers and would kill me. (Being read by one's parents changes things, doesn't it? When I use the word 'bong', even jokingly, I cringe.)"

On being a famous blogger:
"Do I worry about being stalked? I always laugh when people ask that; the only people who stalk me wear dirty nursing bras and mashed yams. They are, in other words, my people."

Anyone can cook*
(*not necessarily well)


'Don't know about you, but I LOOOVED the movie, 'Ratatouille.' (Gusteau, R.I.P.)

This past week, 5 lassies joined an evening Hip Cooks Class (great initiative, Kell!) where we learned to 'chiffonade' and prepared a meal for 15 consisting of: Tri-colored potato salad, Moroccan Chicken and a Chocolate Tart with purple butter, which we all got to enjoy, once prepared. A very fun time, indeed!


Kelly arranged the evening for Ginger, in honor of her birthday.


Sarah toasts with her third vodka, straight up.


The others students stare in disbelief. (Hi Carri & Will!)




Some of us student chefs were getting cranky that it took so long to serve the fermented grape juice.


Denise and her look bear a striking resemblance to Collette, from Ratatouille. I wonder if being a gourmet chef just tends to bring that out in people?






Sarah, Denise, the Moroccan Chicken.

Ginger, our teacher Erica, and Kelly.

Meanwhile, Mike, Audrey and Matt played Golf Wii at the McCormicks...


The next evening, in complete rebellion to my newly acquired culinary knowledge, we had Belgian waffles (complete with homemade, naturally colored and not overly-whipped cream) for dinner, before watching another episode of Pride & Prejudice. (Mike may need to listen to some heavy metal to compensate for lost testosterone in the coming week.)


Not sophisticated, perhaps. (I'm still willing to bet any of the Hip Cooks would have traded their Moroccan Chicken for one of these babies Friday night. )