Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chunk Walnut Cookies

As a bonus, here's our littlest one:

Rose

Traffic Court

I never even made it to the courtroom today. All that was involved in traffic court was marking "Not Guilty" and signing the summons on the back. They'll send me a new summons for a hearing in the mail in four to six weeks. At any rate, I'm prepared for them now.

Rose

Civilized Girl

Dinner with Civilized Girl and Civilized Man turned into three hours. We had salad rolls, green curry, red curry, pad thai, and sticky rice with a fresh mango to crown the meal. After that we walked around town and chatted. It's special when you find friends that you fall into such an easy pattern with as if you've known them forever.

Rose

jumbled thoughts

I feel tired after a full weekend of work. We are meeting new friends this evening for Thai food. Tomorrow I have traffic court for a speeding ticket. I spent today on the telephone, running batteries dead on all the cordless phones. Thoughts go out into the universe for a close friend who fourth pregnancy coincides with some major changes in life.

Water is falling from the sky.

Rose

Jazz- book review

That I have loved only you, surrendered my whole self reckless to you and
nobody else. That I want you to love me back and show it to me. That
I
love the way you hold me, how close you let me be to you. I like your
fingers on and on, lifting, turning. I have watched your face for a long
time now, and missed your eyes when you went away from me. Talking to you
and hearing you answer- that's the kick.

~Toni Morrison Jazz

The descriptive and imaginative writing is bound together by an ever present thread. In the end, it is an improbable love story that rings true on many levels.

Rose

Little Miss Sunshine- movie review

Anti-Hollywood

Individuality

Family

Unconditional Love

Inspirational

Spring Is On Her Way

Brownie- dream journal

We were on some kind of school bus trip. Everyone but Brownie and I had gone somewhere and it was just the two of us on the bus cuddling. Just like always, it didn't go anywhere at all, but it felt very comforting and companionable. Then I confessed my lack of rhythm and he offered to teach me to dance.

(Brownie was the boy I had a schoolgirl crush on for so long I'm embarrassed to admit it. We were barely friends, probably because I was too tongue tied to speak in his presence. I heard that he's married with a bunch of kids now.)

Sronnoc Esor

lazy day

I was put on call both days this weekend. I got called in at 0500 Sunday to work for only a few hours. I had just gotten to sleep when they called and I didn't feel like going to bed when I got home, so I stayed up all day, taking a short nap in the afternoon. I guess that justifies staying in bed all afternoon, right? The only problem is that my hands are cold from playing on the computer. What I need is computer gloves, right?

I did speak with Mother and Father. This is the second week now that they've been mum about their pastor leaving, which I found out from Big M. I wonder how long they'll wait to mention it. I wonder what Father's role in it might be.

Our housing situation is moving. I can't say anything because I don't want to jinx it. I'm keeping my cold fingers crossed.

Rose

My Inheritance

I received this beautiful framed needlework in today's mail. Granny made it and it always hung on her wall. It will always be a lovely reminder of her.

Rose

The Illusionist- movie review

link

I'm a real sucker for a love story, and this is nothing if not that. Add intrigue, mystery, suspense, and just plain confusion and you've got a winning story. The sets, costumes, and effects were pleasing to the eye. jc felt that it was pretty slow in the middle, but I saw no such lack. The story leaves enough ambiguity at the end for the viewer to believe what they wish, and spend a little extra time wondering about it- maybe even watch it again....

Rose

A Walk in the Rain

Skunk Cabbage

Skunk Cabbage- again

the Lighthouse

Misty Lake

Rose

The Science of Love

Check out this story from CNN for modern day, MRI explanations for why being in love feels so good, why breaking up hurts, and why sex has less to do with it than you thought.

rc

Clawed- dream journal

I pointed out a red-tailed hawk to a friend. She lured it with a treat, which it came and ate. Then she wanted to touch it. It came close and she and I both touched it gently. It reached over, seeming to want to return the gesture, and touched me on the hand. As it removed its foot, its claw caught in my hand and the skin tore. All the layers of skin tore off my hand like a glove, leaving a bleeding piece of meat. I saved the skin, approximating it as closely as possible, and applied a pressure dressing. I wondered whether to go to the emergency room or wait for office hours and go to the doctor's office. I remembered a clinic nearby and went there. A nurse practicioner sewed my skin back on. We had just moved into a new house and I was giving a house warming party. I couldn't cook anything because of the injury, so there was nothing to eat. While the guests visited with each other, I was busy trying to clean up the nastier messes that the previous owner had left.

I decided to go back to Africa for the summer. I signed up with the same group I went with before. They accepted my application and we started having preparatory meetings. Part of the training was learning to play softball.

Sronnoc Esor

Songcatcher- movie review

link

A delightful story about a music professor from England who discovers ancient preserved ballads among the mountain people when she goes to visit her sister in Appalachia after a professional disappointment. The characters are well developed and believable and experience real personal growth throughout the course of the story. The costumes and sets are well done. But most of all, the music is great. Reviewers treated this movie harshly, but I enjoyed it completely.

Rose

More Options

What if we bought a commercial building with attached living quarters and jc opened a personal training gym?

I'm all for it. How soon can we move in?

RC

creepy class- dream journal

I must have been a teacher's aide for a third grade class. Both the teacher and I were brand new at the job. Strange things were happening. Then the teacher discovered an old yearbook hidden on a dusty shelf. She looked up the third grade and the faces were all the same as the students we had now. Somehow we both knew that this was a very bad sign.

I woke up startled. And with a good idea for a ghost thriller.

Then I walked many miles to the house of people I used to know. There were two big black dogs in the yard. One was barking, but the other one looked mean. I knocked on the door and asked the woman who answered if she knew where the Jones family was living now. She looked at me strangely and tried to get me to leave. I told her that I was there on almost a daily basis when the Joneses lived there and she invited me right in. When I looked around the house was completely different from before.

Another sequence involved driving through a field filled with slushy snow and something about religious books.

I got tangled up in the Christmas tree lights. Most of them weren't working anyway.

Sronnoc Esor

Why so Quiet

I haven't felt like posting much lately, mayble largely because I've been doing a lot of thinking about our future. We now have only two and a half months to find somewhere to move into at the end of April. We've been spending a few days a week scouting a neighboring town.

The town we've been living in for the past two years since we moved to Oregon is starting to show it's seamy side. The Mill used to be the major employer; since it closed five years ago or so, the town has seen a steady downward spiral. Now everyone either draws welfare or gets their check signed by the state, with some exceptions. We hear numerous complaints about how much better life was when the Mill was still here. The dropout rate at the school is high. Top activities for kids are skateboarding and duning (ATVing). There is a paucity of nice restaurants.

We had fine tapas at a restaurant in Neighboring Town this week. I had a cheese plate and jc had, according to him, the best chowder he's had in Oregon. We walked around the shops and just generally enjoyed ourselves. There's nowhere to do that here.

I've also been doing some serious thinking about my career. I've always been interested in labor and delivery. The hospital I work at now doesn't deliver babies. A move would make exploring that career path possible, with the option of becoming a midwife if I find that I really like it and want to continue in that direction.

If we buy a home in Current Town, we're no longer confident that property values will rise in a satisfactory manner. The homes in Neighboring Town are selling for similar prices, but the neighborhoods are much nicer and the homes seem nicer.

People from Current Town have always scorned Neighboring Town as being too "uppity" and "expensive". We're still looking for options, but we're obviously leaning in that direction.

Rose

I made a Zwinky

PMS is over

For once, I feel better now that my period has arrived. I went canoeing with Self-Powered Man today. I've stayed comfortable all day with just a Thermacare wrap for my back. SPM then came to the house (he treated us to Japanese food) and we watched a movie. I got hungry and baked an applesauce spice cake. Now we're comfortable and happy and the kitties are playing.

Rose

More Sundries

Work- I showed up at work Saturday with a headache after minimal sleep. Various staff members were making loud jokes about a difficult patient who had just been discharged. I interrupted to remind them to be discreet. Coworker ZsaZsa walked into the middle of it and piped up that her sense of humor allowed joking publicly about patients. We locked horns on that one. I reiterated my position and stated that I wasn't trying to cause trouble. I hoped that everyone else couldn't see how badly I was shaking. Nothing but the silent treatment from ZsaZsa for the next several hours. Dr. ChickenFarmer came back and asked for extra help in the ER, and I took the opportunity to escape momentarily. Morgen, the ER nurse, was nice enouh to notice that I looked shell-shocked. After a bit, I had a moment to sit and sip a cup of tea, and thus recovered.

PMS- The past several days I've had a nearly constant headache, combined with the expected breast tenderness and general moodiness that served to make the above described situation into a catastrophe. jc is the picture of understanding.

Smoker- Our Meco barbecue smoker arrived Friday. A pork roast has been smoked. Look for news on the pending turkey smoke.

Rose

Twelve Monkeys- movie review

link

If you don't buy time travel, stay away from this one. I personally get a big kick out of messing with the space/time continuum, preferably when it doesn't involve a time machine or a spaceship. Wormholes, unexplained phenomenon, stuff like that: it's all great. Twelve Monkeys completely sucked me in, entertained me, jarred the cogitator, there was even a little intense bit or two. I had to rewind the first ten minutes or so and watch it over because I wasn't paying close enough attention.

The best part of it all, perhaps apart from Brad Pitt's wacky impersonation of a lunatic, is the choose your own ending. (Spoiler here) Since James Cole is present at the airport at age 8 and also as an adult, even though the adult is killed, the boy can grow up, go underground, and come back to try to save the human race for a limitless number of times, potentially until he gets it right. Who knows, after enough attempts he may even live happily ever after. On the other hand, all Witchy Lady Scientist has to do is slip a little poison in Bioterrorist's champagne, assuming that is, that he didn't already release the virus, which he almost certainly did. But that would potentially save al the other cities. Just pretend Philadelphia is a house with termites and tent it.

Rose

Miscellaneous

A) Living Arrangements- Following a friend's tip, we made the short trip to a nearby town to look at a house for sale. We're still basically at the drive-by level at the moment. The house is in a development planned by the home owner's association. All the landscaping is au natural- native trees and shrubs. The homes are relatively new, most not visible from the street, and on largeish lots for the area. We're waiting for a call now to move forward, but let's just say that it looks promising. One way or another, we're out of here in the end of April. If the house doesn't work out, we rent somewhere else.

B) Employment- With the impending move comes the choice of commuting to the old job or looking for a new one. There aren't so many hospitals around here, so looking isn't too involved. I had tossed around the idea of signing up for a 13 week travel job including housing/stipend. That doesn't look like it's going to pan out unless I'm willing to majorly relocate, which I'm not. (Confession: Got a little snippy with the recruiter who called at 8:20 AM today- says she makes all her calls at that time. I let her know that it's just basically rude to call before nine.) I'm looking forward to the possibility of working somewhere that delivers babies. I'd like to have the option to get into that area at some time.

C) TTC- I continue to use the progesterone cream during the luteal phase. In addition, I just started taking Vitex Agnus Castus aka Chasteberry. It is supposed to have the effect of balancing estrogen and progesterone. That's been shown in studies to relieve PMS and possibly allay menstrual pain. An undocumented claim is that it promotes fertility. The hypothesis is that Vitex also reduces prolactin levels. Hyperprolactinemia is a known culprit in infertility, although little talked about. Basically it prevents implantation. If Vitex lowers the prolactin level to normal, pregnancy may be possible for me. To be frank, that's a tenuous hope, though. We're in cylce 33 this month since I went off BCP's. Statistically, that gives us a pretty low likelihood of success. And I'm pretty okay with that. I decided awhile ago not to be emotionally crippled by infertility or childlessness. Our life is too good for that.

D) Birds- A Great Blue Heron got an awful fright today when I startled a Red-Winged Hawk into flying over it. Great Blue flew off and squawked like a chicken before settling its gangly legs into the mud in a nearby spot. Red Wing sat there as if nothing at all had happened. After all, Great Blue is a bit big for him.

Rose