Undressed!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this web column -- and this end-of-year fashion disaster list is delicious...Take a look at this picture, then this little teeny snippet courageously stolen from the website, and head on over to see the whole mess.

It's my little corner of cyberspace that keeps me from buying In Touch and Us Magazine.

Here it is: Undressed!

"Cher descends on the ceremony in her post-Armageddon finest, wrapping the crumpled remains of a Toyota Prius around her waist and draping herself in a moth-eaten mesh and chain-link blouse that's the height of medieval chic."

Nora Meets The Big Guy...

This takes a few minutes, but it was a fun afternoon with Nora and Bestema. Enjoy!

Phone Pix

We went to the post office to mail something for Brian the other day. Nora likes to hang out in the hallway where people are BOUND to see/talk to her, and she can run rampant without Mommy worrying about her finding anything grosser than whatever's stuck to the floor...

Nora makes the gruesome discovery that socks do NOT roll down the viaduct quite like a ball does...

We went to the store, where I shopped for cereal. When I found a spot that was open, I crawled in it.

Bestema took Mommy and me to the mall to meet Santa. We hung out and listened to music.

I sure love my Bestema. She's like my Mommy, only even more patient and says even nicer things about me.

This is me and Santa Claus. He was pretty cool. It wasn't busy since other kids apparently don't come late in the afternoon, so we hung out. His beard is real. I tried it out.

Mommy bought me this pair of badass Converse All Stars at Goodwill.

It's how I roll.

Nora Meets The Big Guy...

This takes a few minutes, but it was a fun afternoon with Nora and Bestema. Enjoy!

Cute Picture Of The Day

Nora and I were cleaning out closets, and I got this shot of her as we played with all my shoes.

I'm getting rid of a bunch, but the vintage Stars & Stripes Converse AllStars I bought at Deluxe Junk in Seattle stay.

There Aren't Any Words For This Kind of Love...

Brian's crazy busy schedule has let up enough to let him be home a few times a week at night BEFORE Nora goes down for the night.

They read. They play. When I came home from turning my final exam in, I saw Nora airborne in the living room and her grinning at the open door as she saw me coming in mid-air.

These past few weeks especially, Nora has become not just a Big Fat Fan of Daddy, but I would venture to say, "Daddy Obsessed".

I didn't realize how many frickin PICTURES there are of Daddy around the house until Nora (who's recent skill set includes pointing and lunging) throws herself towards one wall or the other, and says "DADADAD!"

And then tonight when Brian walked in the door, Nora heard the door open, and she came toddling through the kitchen, and wiped out on the newly mopped kitchen floor.

I picked her up, and she was OFF.

Nevermind the wet floor and the fact that I just wiped out, DADADADAD is HOME!

When she saw him, she put her hands up to her face, like she was having a shy moment (not possible, but it was LIKE that) and she just kept repeating "DADADADADADADADADA" and then threw herself at him.

I'm telling ya.

There aren't any words for the kind of love that exists between this father and daughter, and I suspect Daddies and little girls everywhere.

I just LOVE being able to see it with my own eyes.

Brian Says I Need To Blog, So Here It Is...

Pass me the Bad Mommy Award Of The Day.

I broke her.

Our kid is broken.

First blood drawn that wasn't a result of a doctor.

She loves playing on the bed.

She LUNGES for it when you walk by our bed, because she loves bouncing around and pronouncing "DADADADA" because that's where she finds him sometimes on the weekend in that exact spot over there.

Well, today she wanted on there, and I was just out of the shower, and so I put her on the bed, turned to get a piece of clothing, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her move.

I lunged back, and caught my right ring finger on the table, but she was ahead of me.

So, here's her shiner.

And if it makes ANYONE feel better, the bruise on the knuckle of my right ring finger is huge and hurts like I broke it, except that it still works.

She bled very little. The scrape looks worse than it is.

But dang, she went back to the bedside table a few times today and pointed at it, and I said "BAD TABLE!" and she walked away like she couldn't have agreed with me more.

A Note To My Chemistry Prof:

This week I have spent about nine hours working on my take-home final exam for my Chemistry class.

I am not a C student.

I am not a B student.

I am 2nd in my class behind some chick named Jacqueline, and we're both getting A's.

So today I went to the library with my computer, so I could look stuff up on the web and e-mail my professor with questions, of which I had several.

At the end of one of my questions I couldn't resist the following comment:

I have to say that nasty polypeptide question still looks like Greek to me after several staredowns. You have a knack for writing horrendous tests. And now that I'm nearly done I won't suggest you to change a thing, just don't expect to see me again in one of your classes. :)

I have a four-year degree from the University of Washington (so I feel I can judge, HA) and have taken a fair amount of math/science over the years, and you win the award for worst/best take-home test ever after this one.

You've unseated my calculus professor's take-home final from 1995..Congratulations!

Julie

Professor's response:

Wow...that's quite a compliment. Although, I have to give the award to my Physical Chemistry professor at Willamette University. After every one of his take-home exams I needed extensive therapy.

And just so you know, I resisted the urge to say what went through my mind that moment, which was "You may have needed it but you didn't GET the help you needed, now did you?"

I'm saving that til after my grade is in and he can't change it.

Discover #3 The Joy Of Grocery Stores

Nora and I go to the grocery store a couple of times a week, usually a big trip, and then a smaller one to get fresh fruits for her especially.

As Nora gets bigger, she has less interest in riding around in the cart and MUCH more interest in getting out and walking around.

She just LOVES looking at stuff and touch it all, of course.

On our most recent trip, we ran into a little girl and SHE was nearly two years old, and our Nora was just as tall as her! Nora looked at her and walked right up to her and practically smooched her.

Both the Dad and I got a good laugh out of that, and when I said "Nora!", he realized our Nora had his daughter's name! Only she's Norah with an H.

I learned very quickly that the aisle with the TP and the diapers is the best aisle to have her wander around in.

The reason is twofold (or is that two-ply?): She likes the pictures of baby faces on the packaging, AND she can't break anything!

And Since Someone Asked About The Pink...

Doesn't this pose make her look like she's being artistic in some way? Book in one hand, building block in the other...So here's your proof that there are plenty of times when Nora doesn't wear pink.

But my baby clothing connection (my friend Delois in Denver, who has two girls) said it best as she shipped me a pair of Evil Barney Slippers along with the clothes of her girls to pass along to Nora: "You can fight it all you want, but it's HARD to find stuff that isn't pink. Eventually you just give in and don't mind it so much."

So yeah. Sometimes Nora wears black, and blue, and green, and whatever else colors are available.

Then she looks like this: Cool, funky, Guatamalan even.

Dashboard Pictures From Brian

Brian's on the road a lot this week, and he found himself on a farm somewhere in the outback of Oregon, passing some wild animals that you usually don't find in these parts.

Brian's been there before, and had to talk one of the other guys in who was supposed to meet him.

"Go past the zebras, and at the end of the road you'll get to the buffalo."

He said there's camels out there too.

I can't wait to find out where he has been and take Nora there some day.

Discovery #2 The Use of Pillows & Blankets

Nora's never really used a blanket for it's original intention.

Since she was born, they've been used on floors to keep her from the dangers of our berber carpet, but she's never really used one in her crib since it's considered dangerous for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

So one day, I had this recently purchased blanket I got at Goodwill out of the wash, and I thought I'd throw it over a chair and see what Nora thought of a "tent".

Well she LOVED IT.
She spent SO much time running in it, out of it, and knocking it down, that Mommy soon tired of trying to reassemble the easily collapsed blanket/pillow tent, and decided to put the pillows on the ground and throw Nora on top of it.

Now THAT was hilarious.

We now have a pillow bed on the floor in the family room, which Nora routinely throws herself onto in a fit of giggles. She laughs even harder when I throw myself onto the pillow pile because for some reason, Mommy falling all over the place is twice as funny as her doing it.

What a kid.

When Mommy's Not Home

So Brian starts sharing pictures with me the other day.

I didn't look at them closely. Nora is, after all, about 14 1/2 months old and about 7000 pictures have been taken of her.

I CANNOT physically focus on them all and still raise my daughter.

So then Brian points out a couple of the pictures.

And notes that "This is the fun we have when Mommy's not home."

Somehow, my daughter got into the kitchen sink fully clothed.

Mommy is suspicious that she had help.

Then somehow, that turned into a bath in the kitchen sink.

Yeah.

Good times.

Sorry, Nora. You're Stuck With These Girls...

These are Nora's "double cousins"...Miriam (on the left) and Hannah (right).

Brian's sister Judy is married to my brother Jeff. They have these two beautiful girls.

Jeff & Judy are the two oldest kids from the M & P families.

Brian and I are the two middle kids from the same M & P families.

Yes, it's legal in all 50 states.
Because they come from the same grandparents set, this IS the closest Nora will ever come to having sisters.

When these pictures were taken, we were joking around about how Miriam, who's 13, is on the verge of out-growing her 17-year-old sister. Hannah still has her by a nose.

So Miriam's got time on her side. Hannah's no shrimp either. She's gotta be 5'8 or more. But in our family of tall Swedes, 5'8 isn't the tallest (but thankfully, as long as we have Bestema, it's not the shortest either!)

Goofball #1 and Goofball #2.

But aren't they pretty?

And I assure you, they're as smart as they are gorgeous.

Discovery #1: The Tummy

The past few days especially, Nora has been showing more and more comprehension of things we say. At some point, I asked her "Where's your tummy?" and she immediately went to her tummy.

And it's not enough that she show off HER tummy...the important thing is...


Getting Daddy to show off HIS tummy too.

And sharing a laugh about it.

Tummy Time!

Tom Kha Gai Soup

Brian's been dying for me to try and make his favorite Tom Kha Gai soup.

After perusing several recipes off the internet, I finally made a hybrid that turned out so well, I asked Brian if there's anything he'd change, and he said it was fantastic!

AND, if he WERE to make any changes, he'd have to go down to the Thai Restaurant in town to make a side-by-side comparison...

So here it is:

2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into bite-size pieces and cooked.
2 14 ounce cans coconut milk
2 cups water
6-8 mushrooms, sliced
2 TBSP minced ginger root (I bought the stuff in the tube at the grocery store and it worked fine)
2 stalks of lemongrass, cut into one-inch lengths (this is optional, but I found some in an Asian market here in town).
4 TBSP fish sauce
1 TBSP loose brown sugar (Thai secret to fish sauce is to offset the salty fish stuff with a little sweetness/It WORKS)
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 TBSP cayenne pepper
1/2 TSP ground turmeric
2 stalks of thinly sliced green onion
1/8 cup of chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) Cut chicken and saute in oil for a few minutes til cooked
2) In a pot, bring coconut milk and water to a low boil. Reduce heat. Add chicken, ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, cayenne pepper and turmeric and mushrooms. Simmer 10-15 minutes.
Sprinkle with scallions and fresh cilantro and serve.

Serves 4-6, depending on how big of a bowl you want.

Thanksgiving With The Branhams in Gig Harbor!

Turkey Day...At Her Cousins...

OK, so we're at Jill & John's house for less than 30 minutes, and my daughter is walking around shirtless, with a turkey balloon strapped to her. You know, so you can tell where she is and all.

AND it holds up her pants.

And Just Like That, Black Jack Is Back.

Well, Brian wasn't home for 45 minutes tonight and he was the hero of the hour and found our missing kitty.

Turns out Jack was trapped in the neighbor's garage across the street this whole time!



Brian gave Nora her bath, then he decided to just walk outside a bit with her in her jammies and started calling for Jack, and you could hear Jack WAILING from inside the garage.

AND we tried to get the neighbor, and she wouldn't answer the door, and I could SEE HER IN HER CHAIR, NOT MOVING!!! I yelled and yelled, and nothing, so I went back to the house and started to call 911, and while I was on the phone with them, Brian just WHALED on the door and finally woke her up! She was in some sort of TV coma in her easy chair!


Anyway, Jack is back, he's ok, and very skinny and just talking up a storm about his adventure. Poor little guy, it was so cold these past few nights, I think another night or two we could have lost him!

I fed him a little food, and he's whining for more, but I'm not sure how much to feed him right away.

He's spent the whole night parked on my lap, and as you can see he's not going anywhere.

Welcome back Jack. You talk too much, but we missed ya, buddy.

Jack, Jack, Where Are YOU?

He's been gone for three days (this will be his third night) now.

I JUST put his collar back on now that the big Hopper has stopped kicking his a$$ and taking Jack's collar off. I'm grateful for that, so at least if someone finds him we might get a call.

Man, this is the one thing I hate about cats...you just never know if they're on a walkabout in the Outback, or if they're dead somewhere in a ditch.

I keep looking out the doors and calling for him every now and then. I'm just sad. He was my lovey dovey kitty cat.

:(