finally!

The Amazing Race went to Stockholm, Sweden, where the contestants had to go to IKEA to perform a task (count 2304 items or put together a desk) and also search for clues in bales of hay in the Swedish countryside.

Quite thrilling!

Fox and Froooops

When E.D. and the rest of the Fox and Fridiots were interviewing Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake about the whole Oil for Food mishap this morning, the lovely desert background suddenly shut off and a nice blue DVD screen showed up instead. Funniest thing I've seen in a while on this horrible channel.

This is how lousy it is: I get more intellectual stimulation reading the random news ticker at the bottom than listening to their actual stories.

PS - The power went out at the gym today - it was kinda cozy - especially since I had moved on to non-electrical equipment by that time...

how i feel...

tired, mentally exhausted, worn out, hungry, anxious, ready to crash...

will it ever end?

camera fun

I have a relationship with my camera... Kinda like I have a relationship with my laptop and probably soon will with my phone (we're still in the exploring stage)...

It entertains me at various events such as games, concerts, parties, decorating the tree, etc... I actually like decorating the tree, but taking pictures of some of the ornaments (like "Drunk Santa" here) was really fun too...

My renaissance man friend Brian recommended this camera to me and I am forever grateful (thanks!). He takes lots of nifty pics with his Minolta and puts some of them in this nice little gallery.

Anyway - it has an amazing zoom, captures movement better than anything I've ever seen, and yeh - it just provides lots of good fun.

it's annoying...

...when people complain about your pizza suggestion, order half the pizza with some alternate disgusting topping (like pepperoni), and, when the pizza finally arrives, decide that your side looks tastier and eat it...

we did it!!!

It was cold, it was gruelling, but we pulled each other through the 1oK Habitrot and ended up under our goal time - 57:29:47 (unofficial)!

On the way home we stopped by the new Krispy Kreme to pick up donughts for the non-runners at home and received free, fresh-from-the-oven samples. Oh my - it was amazing.

Now the turkey is in the oven (it's much easier to get all the stuff out of it when it's fully thawed - this year was the best thawing job yet) and I am showered, dry, and ready to get started on the precise science that is getting all the parts of the Thanksgiving menu done at the same time.

I had a nightmare about cornbread making last night - I hope it's not a bad omen. However, the problem in the dream was that they confiscated my cast-iron skillet at the airport security checkpoint (I was on a business trip). So it should all be good.

happy things

I'm really tired of bitching about how tired I am and how much I have to work these days...

Soooo - I'm going to talk about two happy things that happened in the past 48 or so hours.

First of all - Todd spent Sunday afternoon putting together a "Just-for-Tabita" Christmas CD when he should've been reading boring church history books and surprised me with it. Hole-in-one for him... I love surprises, I love Christmas music, and I love "Just-for-Tabita" CDs. :)

My design team will be very tired of this lovely collection very soon, but I love it!

Secondly, today I found "filmjölk" in this country for the first time since emigration nearly 10 years ago. This is huge! I love filmjölk and didn't think I'd ever find it. Here it is called Kefir (cultured milk) and you can get it at Wild Oats (I should've known). It's kinda like drinkable yoghurt and has a very fresh taste. Todd hates it (his description is "sour cream used as milk"). Anyone who didn't grow up with it probably hates it. Kinda like salt licorice or pickled herring.

Anyway - I had some for dinner - and it was marvelous.

So a couple of things to be thankful for during this holiday season - more to come...

i'm so lucky...

The house is cleaner that it's been in a looooong time - and I didn't lift a finger (they're stuck to my laptop keyboard).

Thanks family - I love you!

intergender friendships

This morning I watched the first 90% of When Harry Met Sally in the cardio cinema while I ran my last intense run before the race on Thursday. What a great movie that is!!! Of course, when watching movies at the YMCA, one is forced to watch them through the editing lenses of "Clean Flicks" which in this case meant that the entire *faking it* scene was cut out. Bummer.

But I disagree with the main premise of the movie that men and women can't be *just friends*. What is the deal with that? Working in the software world, there's not a whole lot of female friend options, so basically I have two options:

1) Be friends with men
2) Have very few friends

I choose the first option. People can say what they want, but it's very possible to be *just friends* - I do it every day.

There you have it.

i love...

...how Rebecka still wears her *I wouldn't vote for Bush if I were you* t-shirt in public.

role reversal

This morning I found myself in the kitchen, still unconscious, being kindly lectured on how to get Rebecka ready for her field day, including what she should wear (red gecko t-shirt), bring for lunch (nothing - they're having a pizza party), and hairstyle (pull her hair back so it doesn't get in her face).

And it struck me - I am now officially the dad and Todd is the mom.
I kinda like being the dad...

ps - i'm going to listen to the music from love actually all day at work, because it makes me happy.

ps2 - i think i'm about as addicted to my morning post as i am to my morning oatmeal - scary.

coping

I luv my hubby - he bought me the soundtrack for our favorite movie, Love Actually, and it arrived today - yay!! It is helping me get through an evening/night of UI flow creations... I've designed 15 so far - approx 5 to go. Anyway - this soundtrack is to die for. Amazingly terrific. I think my favorite right now is Here With Me - but they're all awesome!

Simon and Garfunkel are helping out as well. I enjoy Scarborough Fair... Did a sweet arrangement of that with my choir, Common Souls, back in Texas.

Todd also went out to the Walmart Neighborhood Market for some Smart Ones Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Sundaes to get me through this ordeal. He rocks.

Anyway - on a slightly related and happy note - looks like Colin is hoping to be the next 007.

Oh please God, let it be so!

i will never complain about my big buttocks again!

My dear bro-in-law "Anonymous David" sent me this interesting article about running. It describes how the human physique developed from the need for our body to support the act of running. Apparently we developed big buttocks (compared to apes) to keep from falling flat on our face with every running step.

I love the first part of the title: "Humans Were Born to Run" - indeed!

On another running note, Todd declared today that he is going to run the 10K Habitrot with me on Thanksgiving morning. This is an historic event in the life of the Greens in that it will be his first race and, hence, the first race we run together. Btw, we're shooting for a manageable sub-hour finish time honey... ;)

Finally, running on a treadmill while still under the influence of Benadryl is interesting. But boy is that stuff awesome! I slept 9 straight, wonderful hours last night. I'll be taking it again tonight, and the night after that, and...

hives galore

I went to lunch with my friends Pete and Emi at one of our favorite restaurants, Royal Thai, today. I had my usual Coconut Soup for starters and then the Pad Thai (no chicken, extra tofu).

When I got back to work I sat down and started catching up on emails that had found their way to my inbox during the 1 hour lunch break. As I was sitting there, I started feeling kind of itchy, especially around my ears, neck, and chest. I looked down at my chest as saw big bug bite type red blotches forming all over the place. At that point I got the attention of the other people in the room and asked: "Is it just me, or am I breaking out?"

"Oh my Gosh!" was the response. Yeh - basically all of me, from head to toe was starting to break out into these bizarre hives. I went to the restroom to check out the rest of the body... Not a pretty sight. My boss went out for benadryl (well, actually Wal-dryl) while the others told me I needed to go to the doctor. I gave in and drove down to the dr's office where they took one look at me and pretty much saw me right away. They couldn't really tell me anything, but armed me with Zyrtec and sent me on my way. Funny quote from the nurse: "If you start feeling your throat swell up, this is a medical emergency. That means you need to dial 911." Ok - yeh - got it...

On the way back to the office it all started going away and soon you'd never know that I'd even had this happen.

So now the question is - do I go back to Royal Thai? - do I have the Pad Thai again? Or is this just stress-related? Or what?!?!? Time will tell, I guess. I sure do love Pad Thai.

dry contacts...

The time is 7:57 am and my contacts are already telling me that I've been staring at a computer screen for too long...

It's going to be a looooooong day...

(But the Preacher's Wife soundtrack is playing in my headphones making life really happy... I'll just be blinking a lot.)

more awesome music

LOVE Fred Hammond - especially this album.

And Kirk Franklin is also swell.

Black gospel rocks.

do something different

This morning when I got to the gym, I could not find an empty locker that had two empty lockers next to it (I like to spread out) in my regular area. So I took a deep breath and ventured into the unknown vastness of the adjacent locker room space. Perfect - a whole row of empty lockers.

This little event spawned some thinking about how habitual we really are and how some little changes in how we do things can make an ordinary day turn into an adventure.

Here are just some of the things one can do to liven things up a bit:

Go somewhere new for lunch (yep -doing that today with my sweet friend Katherine - Puffy Muffin - doesn't that sound like a fun place?), take a different route to work, use a different perfume, park in a different place (Ok - maybe not, this could cause car finding issues...), wear those bright green socks that your mother-in-law stuffed in your stocking last year (if you wear boots nobody will notice, if you're wearing birkenstocks you'll get reprimanded by your daughter), try a new position (often), if you take the elevator - take the stairs (if you take the stairs - keep taking the stairs - it's better for you), listen to a different radio station or cd in the car (just watch out for those conservative talk shows - they'll make you throw up and you don't want to have to clean that mess up)...

See - the possibilities are endless...

music beyond the imagination

My good friend Brian introduced me to the music of Jonas Hellborg maybe a year ago and it has been playing in my laptop and car on and off ever since. Right now he's on in my car and - man - is he and his music amazing.

This music takes you to some place where all is well and thoughts are clear. The pieces are so long that you have time to get to some really deep place - unlike most music, which abruptly forces you to some other place every 3 1/2 minutes. Even the different pieces flow into each other, so it's more like a long, wonderful story.

Listen.

and on the seventh day God rested...

And on the seventh day Tabita went from task to task and from activity to activity from 6 am to 9 pm non-stop at which time she collapsed into bed and slept like a baby until 5:58 am the next morning...

I want a sabbath. Is one per month too much to ask?

publishing fun

Congrats to the husband for the Lutheran Quarterly publishing his book review on "A Church History of Denmark" in the Autumn, 2004 issue.

For all of you who have been dying to know more about the church history of Denmark (and especially Lutheranism in Denmark) - you're finally in luck, because:

"Any scholar interested in Lutheran history and theology will find this book to be a most helpful resource."

I'm happy because...

more publishing == a lesser likelyhood of ending up at some worthless college in the Deep South.

rambling

I took some time out this morning to treat myself to a 2+ hour workout. Yes, I realize that to some of you this would seem more like torture than a treat, but trust me - it was just what I needed!! Ran my first long run since the 1/2 marathon back in April (8.40 miles). My thighs and arms are shafed (you're not a real runner unless some part of your body is permanently shafed... ;) Doing the leg extension machine after that many miles is slightly horrific - but in a good kind of way...

Unfortunately, I had to watch Fox and Friends during the run.

75% was about the Peterson verdict - they held up a paper where the header said "Frey Him!" Why are we so thirsty for human blood?

15 % was about Fallujah - what a mess.

5% was about Blair's visit to the White House - I don't really care.

5% was about random stuff including a two-headed snapping turtle in England (that was my favorite part).

On the way home from the gym I noticed that Brentwood is being decked out for the Christmas Holidays... What the $^#%$?!? It's not even Thanksgiving yet!! Can we just do one holiday at a time - please?

ps - I'm just out of the shower, in fleece pants, eating oatmeal, and writing in my blog... Could life be any better??

i'm running out of everything...

hair spray, steam, trash bags, clothes that rebecka can fit into, expensive smoothing stuff for my crazy troll-like hair, soy milk, blended face powder, baked goods...

and i have no time to get more - i need a personal assistant!! (or a stay-at-home-dad... ;)

ps - i fixed my hair today - the husband will be thrilled.

ps2 - jackson 5 rocks - if that music doesn't make u happy - nothing can...

hugh hates acting

My husband and bro-in-law David both informed me of this tragedy... How am I to move on?

Well, I guess there's still Colin... :)

Can't wait to see the new Bridget Jones Diary movie - just have to get through this insane crunch at work... For those of you who get out there this weekend - lemme know what you think!

The Kerry voter: A blue night, a red-letter day

This is an awesome story on one of my favorite friends' mom. "Brianna" is one of Rebecka's best friends and the artist who drew the above poster that decorated our front door on election day.

On a personal note - I've worked 24 hours in the past 36 hours and am about to pass out... More later.

morning reflections

CNN was finally on in the Cardio Cinema today... Until towards the end when some guy on the elliptical machine asked one of the YMCA dudes if he could switch it to Fox... I didn't complain, because I was on my way out the door - thank God...

According to CNN there's some new/experimental *miracle* pill out that will help people stop eating, stop smoking, and thus help with cardiovascular health... I cannot stand these companies that come out with these different magical solutions. Eat and exercise in moderation and you're good. And please don't tell me you don't have time to work out, because if I have time, anyone has time...

Alright, step off the soap box... I have recently discovered a great way to add 15 more minutes to my day... No more hair styling! It's great. I mean, think about all the time that is saved. Over 11 8-hour days per year. Of course, I (or the people around me) will probably soon tire of me looking like a college student studying for finals every day, but for now it's working.

I just had a chocolate cupcake with a reeses peanutbutter cup in the center. It was fabulous. Our PM loves us.

one week later

still so much unrest

angst

and hoping that it's all just a bad dream - knowing that it's not.

part of me wants to keep dwelling on it all, but a bigger part of me wants to move on... this is our reality - make the best of the situation. be positive and appreciate the good things in life.

like having a warm home, family, friends - many good friends

a job - a challenging and rewarding job - intense, but good

music - i have a piano - how lucky is that? - and i have friends to make music with - anytime i want

running - i'm not fast - and i'm pretty sure watching me run is pure comedy - but my legs are strong and i can go and go until i run out of time

and a church that embraces all of God's children indiscriminate of their sexuality, race, theology, or socio-economic status - now this is rare

it'll still be hard. whenever i see a friend that i haven't seen since the election, we greet as if someone just died. "how are you?" "well, aside from still being in mourning..." or "well, except for our country going to shit..." or "well, except for being scared to death..."

it's nice to be surrounded by people who are also in this weird state of disbelief, to be able to share feelings, and be heard... let's keep talking, but at the same time try to be hopeful that everything's gonna be alright...

blue states are healthier...

A recent study ranks the 50 states by how healthy they are (sorry to point you dear readers to the Fox and Friends website, but that's where I heard it - can't help what's showing in the cardio cinema...).

The point of interest for me is that out of the top 10 healthiest states, 8 voted for Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. Out of the 15 un-healthiest states, 14 voted for Bush.

I would say this speaks for itself... ;)

I'm wondering if mental health is also part of this study...

electronic giving

Right now is Stewardship time at our church (and maybe in most churches - what do I know?). Anyway, for you people who don't visit churches very frequently, this is when the church asks you to pledge for the next year so that the session (or whatever the governing body is called) can estimate what kind of budget the church is going to have.

Today we received the pledge card in the mail along with a document describing how to sign up for Electronic Giving. I have been wondering for years when it would come to this... The way they try to sell it to you is that you don't have to worry about bringing checks or cash to church every week/month, you don't have to worry about forgetting about it, and it's safer than checks...

And true - this is totally convenient. Any business that offers electronic payment - I'm all over it. But for church? I mean, will we get to a point when the offering part of the service is erased from the order of worship? There is something spiritual about bringing gifts to share with one's community of faith.

I'd like to hear what you, my friends, have to say about this...

purse tragedy resolution

well, i threw it away. just now. sob. it was like throwing away your favorite pair of jeans, or selling a beloved car, or moving away from a homey home (ok - maybe not that bad...)

anyway - in the interim i am using my backup purse which my dear husband bought me when our child was small and i needed to be able to fit diapers, wipes, toys, snacks, juice, extra clothes, etc in my purse... it's humongous, but it works.

and one of these days i'll have time to shop for a new one and it will be great. :)

well, of to the grocery store... the fact that i'm buying groceries right now indicates that i am about 30 3/4 hours behind where i should be according to the typical weekend schedule.

oh well.

soccer

My team (Comfortably Numb) just won two games in one... :) Yes - the team for the second game didn't show... Sweet!

This is the first game where my foot hasn't been hurting horribly after the game... Very exciting. I feel like going running now... Maybe I will. Weather is gorgeous.

It seems criminal to stay inside when the weather outside is so lovely. Sometimes I want it to be ugly outside during the weekend so that I can stay inside guiltlessly and get some stuff done. But not this weekend. Maybe next??

purse tragedy

Today my purse of 13+ years broke. I purchased this purse at an outdoor market somewhere in England in the summer of 1991. It has been my steady companion ever since. It's not too big and not too small. It has the right number of compartments to avoid confusion and it is unique.

One friend suggested that I take it to a cobbler. Another friend suggested duck tape. I'm thinking it's shopping time... :)

love actually

just finished watching this movie for the umpteenth time...

it is so swell. i mean - hugh, colin, and my favorite - andrew

whew - awesome. and the music is terrific.

if you haven't seen this movie - please do. you will laugh and cry and laugh some more. and it's hilarious with the commentary turned on with hugh bashing colin every time he is in a scene...

ahhh...

i'm home - it's friday night - and rebecka just gave me a makeover...

life is good. :)

random thoughts

i'm really busy...

fall is back! bring on the corduroy, fleece, hot chocolate, soups, and boots. walking outside this morning was pure joy.

it's friday! amazing, but true...

still speechless - but this kinda sums it up.

i'm playing soccer on sunday - two games back to back... hope my foot doesn't break.

i want to go to sweden... right now. but i have to wait. patience is such a cool gift. i don't have it. i'm working on it.

i want to lay on the couch tonight and watch a good british movie - colin firth is hot.

no more field trips for three weeks. joy.

life is running away from me - i need to catch up, but slow down at the same time. how does that work?

ridiculous

So, I received the new Victorias Secret catalog in the mail the other day. It is fabulous... Possibly best selection ever.

But - ok - there's a bra in there that costs $10,000,000. I'm sorry... That's just absurd. It's not even that spectacular... And how uncomfortable would that be...? And how many third world countries could you feed with that amount of money...?

ps - honey, i really like the shirt on p. 153... ;)

on trial

Alright - this story has to be told:

Yesterday I came home from yet another field trip to N.C. around 7 pm. A stuffed dog greeted me at the door with a note that said: "Come to your room right now!" So I dropped everything and went straight up to my room.

Becka motioned me to sit down in a chair facing the bed that was covered with books and other random items to create a court room. The family was on the bed with Fluffy, a stuffed cat who hates my guts... ;) Fluffy was dressed up to be the judge with rollers strapped to her head to symbolize the wig.

As the trial unfolded it became apparent that I was on trial for at some point during the previous night throwing Fluffy on the floor. I honestly had no recollection of this and was wondering why she was in our bed in the first place. Also, I realized halfway through this event that the victim and judge was the same animal. That didn't seem fair.

In the end the court found me guilty even though I pleaded insanity and any other things that I'd heard people plead in the movies. However, there was no mercy... "We're in America - we don't show mercy here" were the final words...

My punishment was to clean up the mess created on our bed and some other things that I refused to do... :)

Ok - how bizarre is my life?

ps - Fluffy, if you're reading this... You should really consider a make-over, you're starting to look really shabby...

cute beer

I didn't know that Heineken came in these little 7 oz. bottles...! It's the cutest thing ever - and just my size... :)

I'm excited.

swedish colony

After the events of the last few days, I am seriously considering founding one... I've got several takers already and for those of you who are new to the concept:

http://expatsinsweden.com/

It'll be great! Good (highly taxed) beer, hot babes (doesn't help me much), lots of skiing, 5-6 weeks of vacation, 1 1/2 years of maternity leave (again, doesn't help me much - but it's not all about me ;), universal health care, blueberry picking in the woods, bicycle lanes everywhere, yummy chocolate, and cheap saffron.

Any questions? :)

i'm speechless

four more years... hmmm... well... guh... %@$#!!!!

how about those pistons, eh?

pessimist or realist?

There are two people very close to me who I consider to be pessimists (they call themselves *realists*).

Funny thing is that the democrat obviously thinks that Bush will win and the republican thinks that Kerry will win... So - they can't both be realists...

Let's hope the republican is the realist... :)

more to eminem than meets the eye...?

We've discovered at our house that there is actually some depth to this rapper... If you haven't already seen his new video, please check it out here.

An excerpt:

"No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our soil
No more psychological warfare to trick us to think that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country we're patronizing a hero"

cardio cinema woes

Having to watch Fox and Friends on Election Day is like having to listen to the Norwegian commentators during an olympic cross-country skiing race.

If ya know what i mean...

...and if you don't - it SUX.

post halloween trauma

ok - so i'm supposed to be finding information about christopher columbus for becka right now, but i just had to mention this:

i have had more junk food in the past 48 hours than i usually have in a month! and it makes me feel GROSS!!! i hate halloween... ;)

basketball fun

So here she is - the next female Michael Jordan (or something)...