oh my gosh
i'm going to hawaii!
i leave in three days!
sewing two swimsuits!
packing minimal amounts of clothing!
bringing lots of film!
coping with flight anxiety!
will be back
brown and beautiful
on december 13!

over-stuffed

thanksgiving was terrific. around twenty people came to our house to share food and love and alcoholic beverages. our tiny tiny kitchen was in a perpetual state of food-making chaos (food-making chaos is my favorite kind). i baked four pumpkin pies from fresh pumpkin!

a list:
tofurkey - a lot better than you'd think. thank you, gena.
mushroom gravy - hearty and meat-free.
real turkey - purchased for under $3. soaked in apple juice brine for two days. perfect.
mulled wine - yum!
garlic mashed potatoes - the best. ever.
stuffing - with meat and without. okay!
birthday present - samurais in literature form. one graphic, one not.
neighbors - without them, none of this would have been possible.
bill and ted - they were excellent to each other.

as always, i regretted not being able to eat more than one plate of food. i wanted to, i willed myself to, but it just didn't happen.

and now... pie or fried mashed potatoes for breakfast?

gena's never seen my blog!

my brother will be home for thanksgiving.

i won't be home for thanksgiving.
i mean, i will, but it won't be with my parents.

i'm addicted to sufjan stevens.

voice lessons are good - now i can keep up with the fadels without going horse.

downside of punk rock tattoos: improper healing which causes love to look like faded red sharpie on the inside of my wrist.

less than two weeks till hawaii.

21+3, in no less than a thousand words

love is good art

lately i've been enjoying life. work with the babies can be draining, especially by the end of the week, but thiel and abby are wonderful, gorgeous children. i'm teaching them to count to five, and we're working on colors, and we go to library story time every week. yesterday, after the library time, i brought them back to "mimi house." i showed them pictures, we played records and danced (kansas, baby, kansas), and looked at books.

i love my house. it makes me so happy that our traveling friends stay with us for extended periods of time, and that we'll be having a huge thanksgiving party with love, food, and fire.

church is good, too. this sunday i'll be singing with todd and angie again (the power team), and my parents are going to come for the occasion. yes! i met with deborah this morning; the is the smartest woman i know. listening to her sermons makes me want to go back to bible school. we're still looking for a new building. dang.

and seriously, last weekend, i had the best weekend of my life. or, at least, the best weekend in the past several months.
thursday: beach cabin with matt, sara, and jason. we had hot toddies and got caught in a torrential downpour.
friday: dinner with my parents, matt, and carmen. my dad was happy to see carmen. really happy.
saturday: carmen and i got matching tattoos! punk rock style, in the basement of someone's house. then dancing and drinking at the holocene, and more drinking at the river city saloon. this last place is where i totally lived up the 21+3 life. the bartender announced "we have a 21er!" over the PA system, and my beloved friends wrote on my arms with a sharpie once i had had too much. janaki and bryce had me at my house by 2:30, and poor matt sat up with me in the bathroom till nearly four. he's a dear.

speaking of matt, check this out:

me=nanny=marry poppins
matt=my boyfriend=chimney sweep=oh my gosh, can you believe it?!

today nick said to me, "you know matt's totally in love with you, right?"
yes, yes, i know. and he's amazing. i enjoy him so much.

sick sick sick

it's times like these that i almost can't handle my job. i'm sick, the babies are sick. they haven't been introduced to TV yet at nearly 20 months of age. most of the time that's great! right now it is awful. my shoulders and chest have been smeared over and over again with tears and green snot trails. on top of all of that, thiel choked on some oyster crackers yesterday during lunch and threw up everywhere. i yanked him out of his highchair in case the situation got worse, but i just ended up with vomity crackers all over me.

you know.

hopefully i'll be well by saturday! since it's my birthday! 21+3!

i've sent the details via myspace. bob and lita: i am so excited to hang out with you on my 21+3 birthday. adam: it's too bad that you won't be in town for this event. i have two words for you:

nick. koch.