A(nother) Meme

(because it's Friday and I need some fun)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Auntie Em in the Wizard of Oz. Do Not Laugh. The fact that it is a Seminal Movie In My Life is incidental.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope. But only my pumas have laces, anyway.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Ice cream in ANY incarnation, but I love dark chocolate peppermint that I mix up at Coldstone Creamery. And yes, that's my sugar allocation for about a week.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? hair/clothes

15. RED OR PINK? Pink.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF? What, I'm not allowed to like everything? (kidding)

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My family, my godbaby (OK yes he's 10, but give me a break)
18. What shoes and bottoms are you wearing now? My blue and pink pj pants and socks.

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A Buckeye. :)

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothin'. But Idina Menzel is in the car.

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? blue.

22. FAVORITE SMELLS? things cooking in the over, garlic sizzling in the skillet, roses, flowers in general, the air by the ocean, my Coco Mademoiselle perfum.

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom.

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football (high school, college, and pro), college b-ball, hockey, and occasionally golf and tennis. And I love the Olympics!

25. HAIR COLOR? blonde.

26. EYE COLOR? blue.

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yup.

28. FAVORITE FOOD? Pasta. Pasta. More pasta.

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? To quote Fauna, "I just love happy endings."

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Becoming Jane (bien sur!)

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? pink

32. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer.

33. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.

34. FAVORITE DESSERT? You put chocolate in it, I'll eat it.

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Let's make that books. "A Year in Provence", "Searching for Jane Austen", "Confessions" (St. Augustine), "The Interior Castle", "Orthodoxy"

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I got myself an iBook, therefore no mouse pad.

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Fox News with Brit Hume.

38. FAVORITE SOUNDS? great music. Babies laughing, cooing, whatever. Kids playing in the swimming pool.

39. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? I have no opinion.

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Orlando.

41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Besides being obsessive about movie quotes? (:-)) my music--singing, especially. My piano playing is about par, but I think it's special given that I mostly taught myself. :)

42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Columbus, OH.

Happy Valentine's Day!

OK, so even though I have no love life to speak of, I did get Becoming Jane from my parents for V-Day. So that makes me happy. :)

Wow

OK class was awesome. Really. Seriously.
Because the local weather guys are predicting gloom and doom, there were only three of us at class (and one observer). Normally, the receptionist told me, you get a pretty good turnout. I was in the middle, age-wise. One girl looked to be in high school and the other seemed to be in her early 30s.
Julia (our teacher) was great. We started with a quick mat warm -up, then we did barre, which, amazingly, had not totally deserted me. The teacher liked my ronde de jambs (for you non-French people, those are leg circles). So go me. :) After that we did some more stretching (which is important when you're older), and then center work. OK center work was not quite as cool, given my sense of balance is a bit, um, wobbly. BUT I didn't do too bad on some of the combinations that didn't involve balancing on one leg.
I could not believe how hard I worked. I mean, seriously, treadmill has NOTHING on ballet class. I am going to need some new leotards or I'll be doing laundry every day, especially if I take class twice a week. (They offer Ballet Intro M and Th at the Gahanna school, but this Thursday I've got other meetings.)
Anyway, I didn't fall down and I didn't totally embarrass myself. I bought 12 classes, so I have 11 more to go. And after that, I am going to look awesome. :-D Seriously.
I cannot WAIT for my next class.
(Oh, and tx note--I would NEVER have been able to do this class pre-tx. NEVER.)

Spreading the word

Organ donation seems to be getting a lot of press/notice lately. A few things I've seen:
--Two "Donate Life" stickers on cars (if you want one, email me! I have them!)
--the man next to me at the ballet on Friday was wearing a "donate life" wrist band.
--Organ donation was highlighted in a special section of the Dispatch over the weekend. Buckeye football coach Jim Tressel had an event with three athletes who happen to be organ recipients. One of them said that the 98,000 people currently waiting for a donor represent roughly the capacity of Ohio Stadium. So if everyone in the 'shoe on a Saturday watching the Buckeyes was http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifan organ donor...we might be doing better in the numbers race.
--And my mug has been plastered around Columbus TV and internet sites are part of Lifeline's new awareness campaign. It's an old picture, though. :)

Of course, if you are NOT yet a donor--you know what to do. Or go here.

Tonight, tonight

won't be just any night. (A little West Side Story for your edification)
I am going to my first ballet class in, oh, many, many moons.
I am a bit nervous. I am going to BalletMet's open teen/adult Ballet Intro class. It's taught by honest to God professionals, not the nice "Miss Robin" I had when I took ballet before! So gulp.
I went out on Saturday and bought a leotard, pants (apparently adults can wear dance pants in class) and ballet flats. I was ridiculously excited to purchase those.
Hopefully it goes well, because I am excited. :)

Culture Cat: Lovestruck

Last night I saw BalletMet's Valentine-themed show, "Lovestruck", which was a bunch of different pieces in three acts.
The first act consisted of a few pieces from their "30x30" performances in August, which involved 30 different choreographers creating a 30 different dances over 30 days (1 per choreographer) to kick off BalletMet's 30th Anniversary Season. "Maquillage" (French for Make-up), a woman's ensemble piece, was the "30x30" selection for the first act. This was followed by Adam Hunt's (a BalletMet dancer and budding choreographer's) piece "Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", a pas de deux set to a Nancy Sinatra song, which I thought was quite well-done. "Everyday people", a solo danced by Jeff Wolfe, was next. It's nice to see male solos every once in awhile, and this was was well-executed.

The highlight of the evening for me was the "Sinatra Suite", a pas de deux by Twyla Thwarp that was originally choreographed for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Elaine Kudo. Tonight Jaime Dee and Jimmy Orrante (two of my favorite dancers) danced to this set of five Sinatra numbers, which included "Strangers In The Night", "All The Way", "That's Life", and "My Way." It concludes with another male solo, set to "One for my baby" (I think). Dee and Orrante were pitch-perfect. Both are wonderfully expressive dancers, and this piece gave them the opportunity to showcase those talents, especially in "That's Life". I could watch them all day.

The second act was a world premiere--"A Different Drummer." Well, different certainly applies here. The entire company was involved in this piece, which I think ran about 15-20 minutes, and was based on the poem of the same name by Thoreau. Vastly different in tone and style than the previous pieces, it grew on me as the dance progressed. Carrie West and Jackson Sarver, in particular, were my favorites.

The third act consisted of three pieces: "Two of Us" and "Sweet", pieces from "30x30", which I had seen being created back in August. "Sweet", danced by Annie Mallonee and Justin Gibbs, is one of my favorite pieces in BalletMet's repertoire and I'm always excited to see it performed, especially by these dancers.

The program wrapped with "Bolero", set to music by Ravel, which had Indian undertones. Emily Ramirez, as the solo dancer, did a fantastic job. She was wonderfully captivating. The sensual nature of this number was a perfect fit for the program.

Fighting the sandman...

This whole flu recovery thing, to use some slang, sucks. OK, yes, it's been worse (duh!), but this constant feeling of "I could close my eyes and sack out for about 12 hours right now" is not the most productive thing in the world.

ON the plus side--I did over a mile on the treadmill today (25 minutes) doing intervals. Woohoo! Laura could hardly believe I'd been sick. So that was awesome.

And yes, my boy Mitt is out of the race. :( Tear. There's always '12. (Is it just me, or does that look really funny?)


And Lent is here, hence the Lenten colors...bring it on!

This weekend: Another Culture Cat--the ballet! And Richelle's 25th birthday party at Martini's (one word: YUM).

Work

Back to work today--woohoo! :)

:-D

I am full of schaeudenfreude right now. It's awesome. :)
Go Giants!

Gee, guys, I'm speechless

Nutmeg says I'm



I concur about everyone on my blogroll. So give yourself a button!

The Huge Culture Post

So when you're barred from interacting with humanity for almost a week, you have a lot of time to read, watch, and listen to things. So I give you my massive review round-up (inspired by Amy Welborn).

BOOKS:

--Liberal Fascism: I cannot say enough good things about it. Get thee a copy immediately.
--Wives and Daughters: Still working on this one, but I love Molly and Roger.
--Orthodoxy (still)
--The Interior Castle (again, still)
--The Big Stone Gap series (re-reads)
--Spe Salvi (the Pope's new encyclical)

MOVIES:
--Northanger Abbey (Yes, Jane obsession is in FULL SWING)
--La Vie En Rose: I finished it. I liked Marian Cottilard's portrayal of Edith Piaf, but the film itself I found rather episodic and disjointed. If you are already familiar with her life and career, you will probably find it less disjointed than I did (I knew nothing about her when I started watching it, other than she was a French singer in the 1940s and 50s). But as this movie is in French, and made for a French audience who is (presumably) much more familiar with "The Sparrow's" life and career,
it was not necessary for the filmmakers to give us a truly exhaustive bio-pic.

CDs:
--Idina Menzel, I Stand. I Love her voice, and it's in wonderful form on this new CD. So far "My Own Worst Enemy" is my favorite track.
--Renee Fleming, I Want Magic! (With James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera orchestra): American opera arias (read: it's in English!) with Fleming's glorious voice backed by a phenomenal orchestra.

PSA

A thought--
if you're one of those people who don't get flu shots for WHATEVER reason, can you, please, get them for the rest of humanity? If this week has been any indication for me, the flu without the shot must be infinitely worse than getting it with the shot.
Thank you. :)

YAY!

Over at CF Husband:
Tricia is on a "regular" floor and out of the ICU! HUZZAH! :)

I'm "normal"

Well apparently it's just a normal virus that everyone gets--nothing special for me! So Dr. A says that in a few days it will work itself out.
Whew.

BLAH

So I think I got the bug that's going around--oh the joy. Which means bonding time with Todd tomorrow. Even MORE joy.
But it's Oscar season. And every Oscar season I end up at the Resort. Seriously. So we'll see what happens.

From the Corner--too funny.

Perfect.
From the Derb--

Gas Attack [John Derbyshire]


I dunno, I must be missing a gene or two. Everybody, including even some conservatives, is telling me what a fine uplifting orator Barack Obama is. All I see is great gusts of hot air. When he says something that actually has any semantic content, either it is just false, or else it is naked socialism.

I was just looking through Obama's latest oratorical masterpiece. It strikes me as obnoxious, where it is not just flatulent.

… we've got young people all across this country who have never had a reason to participate until now.

The "reason to participate," for people of any age, is the sense of citizenly duty. This sense didn't exist before Obama showed up?

We're up against the belief that it's all right for lobbyists to dominate our government, that they are just part of the system in Washington.

But lobbyists are part of the system in Washington. It says so in the First Amendment: "… to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Obama wants to repeal the First Amendment?

We're up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House.

That's the conventional thinking? So how did Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush get elected President? None of them had any "longevity in Washington" — not even as much as you, Senator. Sure, I understand, this is throwing some of Hillary's stuff back at her, but it's still nonsense.

… real leadership is about … the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

Not just cant, but Leninist cant. We are a republic of free people, not the tools of some "leader" pursuing a historical "purpose." What is your "higher purpose," Senator? And what happens to those of us who decline to rally around it?

… there are people all across this great nation who … can't afford another four years without health care, that can't afford another four years without good schools, that can't afford another four years without decent wages because our leaders couldn't come together and get it done.

A doctor visit costs no more than a name-brand pair of sneakers — less, probably, in relation to average earnings, than ever in our history. Hospital emergency rooms treat anyone. The theory that spending a ton of money gets you "good schools" was tested to destruction in Kansas City, 1985-97. All that KC got out of it was the most bloated and corrupt educational bureaucracy since Imperial China's (and increased dropout rates to boot!) And why should employers pay "decent wages" to Americans, when they can pay in-decent wages to illegal immigrants? — those illegal immigrants whose unlawful presence in our country you are just fine with, Senator?

And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words: Yes, we can.

Cynicism towards the kind of vaporous flapdoodle Obama trades in is fully justified, and ought to be encouraged. Doubt that an Obama administration will be able to do any better with the nation's issues than a Clinton, McCain, Romney, or Paul administration, is likewise fully justified, given Obama's lack of executive experience, or of experience in any real job; as is doubt that the things Obama says he wants to do, are desirable. Fear that an Obama administration will just take more of our money to sluice away on bureaucratic extravaganzas, ditto.

The man's a hard-left socialist, for Heaven's sake. Anyone falling for this stuff learned nothing from the later 20th century.

And still...more Jane :)

So I watched Mansfield Park last night. Did you???

Popcorn: Juno

If you've been reading my blogs since the beginning (i.e., college) you know I love the Oscars. Love them. Am sort of obsessed with them. :) And this year, even if there may not be a "show", is no different, so I have begun the annual trek to see all of the nominated pictures, but this year I am also going to try to see all the nominees for the acting awards as well, which makes the list substantially longer.

I have already seen Ratatouille (up for Best Animated Feature), and I am watching La Vie En Rose at home, which has netted Marian Cottilard a nomination for Best Actress. Yesterday I saw my first Best Picture Nominee--Juno--with my parents.

Ellen Page (Hard Candy) stars as Juno MacGuff, a 17 year old Minnesota teenager who gets pregnant after sleeping with her boyfriend, Paulie (Michael Cera). At first, sh visits an abortion clinic, but the attitude of the receptionist, along with running into a classmate protesting outside the clinic, makes her consider adoption. She and her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) scan the papers for parents, finally settling on Vanessa and Mark Loring, a young, wealthy couple. After Juno breaks the news to her parents (JK Simmons and a superb Allison Janney), she and her father go to meet the family and arrange fro an open adoption.

As the pregnancy progresses, Juno spends more time hanging out with Mark and sharing their mutual love of music. She also becomes closer to Vanessa, whose desperation to be a mother touches Juno. She wants a "perfect" family for her baby, but as the film progresses, we see that Mark and Vanessa may not be this family after all.

Ellen Page gives an authentic, nuanced and extremely funny portrayal of a teenager who wants to the do the right thing by her baby but is also trying to be a "normal" high school kid. Oliva Thirlby and Michael Cera hit just the right notes are her bubbly best friend and the somewhat shy, bumbling boyfriend. Page's nomination for best actress is truly deserved.

Director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) directs another ensemble cast in a quirky take on modern America with an indie guitar soundtrack, unusual cinematography, and a fantastic cast.

One nitpicky note: Mark asks Juno how she got her name, and she says her father named her after Zeus' wife. Zeus' wife is Hera, and they are from Greek mythology. Juno is Jove's wife, in Roman mythology. Yes, a picky English Major note. :)

Bien Sur!

You Are New York

Cosmopolitan and sophisticated, you enjoy the newest in food, art, and culture. You also appreciate a good amount of grit - and very little shocks you. You're competitive, driven, and very likely to succeed. Famous people from New York: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Tupac Shakur, Woody Allen

What American City Are You?

Happy Happies!

Happy birthday to:
--Alex
--Sarah
--Matt

who became one year older today.
Since I promised not to serenade you, you get a virtual shout-out here. :) :)



Alex and Sarah at my August Apples to Apples Tournament.

The iPod meme

Put you iPod on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up:

1) "My White Knight" from The Music Man (Rebecca Luker)
2) "Crusin'" from the movie Duets
3) "Losing My Religion" REM
4) "Mary's Boy Child" Charlotte Church
5) "I'm All Alone" from Spamalot (Tim Curry and Michael McGrath)
6) "On This Night of A Thousand Stars" from Evita (Madonna and Antonio Banderas)
7) "Dear Old Shiz" from Wicked
8) "He Was Despised" from The Messiah
9) "Traditions of Christmas", Mannheim Steamroller (A Fresh Aire Christmas)
10) "Sun and Moon" from Miss Saigon (Lea Salonga and Simon Bowman)

Now, write the meaning/associations (if any) these songs have for you:

1) The first musical we did in high school. And the lyrics fit what I want in a man so perfectly:

My White Knight/ Not a Lancelot/ Nor an angel with wings/ Just someone to love me/ Who is not ashamed of a few nice things/ My white knight/ What my heart would say if it only knew how/ Please, dear Venus/ Show me now./ All I want is a plain man/ All I want is an honest man/ A quiet man, a gentleman/ A straightforwrad and honest man to sit with me/ in a cottage/ somewhere in the state of Iowa/ And I would like him to be/ More interested in me/ than he is in himself/ and more interested in us/ than in me./ And if occasionally he'd ponder/ what makes Shakespeare and Beethoven great/ him I could love till I die./ Him I could love till I die./ My white knight/ not a Lancelot/ nor an angel with wings/ Just someone to love me/ who is not ashamed of a few nice things./ My white knight/ Let me walk with him while the others ride by/ Walk and love him/ Till I die/ Till I die.

2) This is a great driving song. I love to play this one in the summer with my moonroof open. :)

3) LOVE this song. My college boyfriend and I would play it all the time. Still love it.

4)At the 8:00 Christmas Vigil Mass at my parish, the cantor always sings this piece before the Mass. Reminds me of being a kid again.

5)This is just too funny. Saw this musical with Cindy and cracked up the whole time!

6)I went through a massive "Evita" phase where I memorized both discs and got all the lyrics down. This is one of my favorites, when Eva is trying to convince one of her lovers to take her to Buenos Aires.

7) Wicked is my second favorite musical (it is very close on the heels of Phantom), and this is the song that opens the story after the scene-setting "No One Mourns the Wicked." I love the choral harmonies. Reminds me of college and see this with my best friends during my first transplant anniversary trip to Chicago in'06.

8) This is one of the Alto arias from Part II of The Messiah. I absolutely love it; it quotes some of my favorite passages from Isaiah 51-53. It's gorgeous.

9) Reminds me of driving to Midnight Mass with my family, the air crisp and cold and the stars shimmering. We always listen to this CD on the way to Mass, and now I do the same thing, since I drive separately to prepare for the choral pieces ahead of time.

10) I got this CD for my high school graduation and immediately began to memorize it. Kim is a great Alto/Mezzo (although much more Alto) role and I fell in love with the score quickly. This is a wonderful duet from Act I, after Chris and Kim realize they are in love.

I tag--anyone with an iPod. :) So I better see lots of responses!

I Am

I am the baby born in Columbus, Ohio to Carmen and Michele,
Who took me home to Red Coach Lane, where I had a Bambi-themed nursery and scribbled on wall paper.

I am the child who played Little League and princess dress-up and took ballet classes.
Who loved The Wizard of Oz and reading and Barbies.
Who stored art projects in my treasure box
Who dreamed of being a ballerina and never thought she would lock herself in her closet. :)

I am the teenager who sang,
Who wore jeans and sweaters and loved musicals and English class and hated math.
Who skipped class (once!) and then graduated with honors.
Who dreamed of music and knew she would succeed in college.

I am the woman who got engaged (and then not).
Who loves God and my family and my friends (highest priorities in life)
and whose moments of perfect bliss come when hearing good music.
I am the writer who loves writing about ideas and avoids too much filing.

I am the woman who is optimistic and wry and conservative.
I am the person who had a lung transplant and then pulled out all the stops. :)
I am the woman who still loves music and books, but never math.
Who still longs to learn Italian and Latin.
I am the person who dreams of traveling to Europe and writing the Great American Novel and is grateful for every single day
and who hopes to do everything with joy.

As promised

More L&A--installments 19 and 20.
Go here.

Wahoo!

Great news on the tx front--Todd doesn't want to see me for another two months! I don't have to go see them until March. :) :) :)
I am very happy about this. :) :)
And--Pulm Rehab continues apace. Last week Laura started me on interval training, which is awesome, but hard! Today we did a minute for 2.5, then a minute at 3.5, and back and forth for 17 minutes (20 minutes total with the warm-up and cool down). That's longer than we did last week. We're also continuing the weight training (today we did chest lifts, which were cool). So whew.

Book Club: In This House of Brede

It is long-awaited book club day! :)

(If you have written your own response on your blog, leave the address in the comments and I'll post it.)


I love this book (well, no surprise, since I picked it!). It speaks to me on a variety of levels, first being it's a good story about a group of people you wouldn't normally thing to write a story about--cloistered nuns. The novel vividly illustrates the fact that even though they're nuns, they are still human, with all our faults, failings, and petty jealousies that go along with that. The characters of Mother Hester, Dame Veronica, and Sister Julian bring out these qualities in all of the sisters; they are touchstones, so to speak, of their humanity. While everyone loved Mother Hester, she made mistakes. Dame Veronica just aggravates me to no end (I share that with Dame Agnes!).

Sister Cecily is my favorite character. I just adored her--first for her single-minded commitment to God, and, of course, her music. But her evolution as a character is so strong. She goes from her desperate entrance (her desire is to "come in") to the mature Dame we see at the end of the novel. She has realized what she is giving up by being a nun--husband, family, all those things she thought she didn't want, or were secondary to her calling. She finds, instead, that a vocation--any vocation--requires sacrifice.

I do like Phillipa, our protagonist. Her background is a lot like mine (although my job doesn't require nearly the amount of responsibility hers does!). As I was re-reading the novel in preparation for our discussion over Thanksgiving, it was her journey, and her (eventual) openness to whatever she was called to do, that lead me to re-consider my own vocation and begin the inquiry process into becoming a sister (which has led to a vocational retreat next month). She is "of the world" in the beginning. She has known great loss and has closed off part of herself. By the end of the novel, she is open to God's call, even submissive to it, as she never thought she could be. She lives more deeply.

The novel is rich in wonderful incidents and episodes; it's one of those books that could've gone on forever, in a sense. What happened to Phillipa and the Japanese postulants? (Anyone want to write a sequel? :)) Did they ever get back to Brede? The novel carries you along with its wonderful writing and characterizations. Even though there are many characters, Rumer Gooding brings each of them to life, so that you feel you know them and could go talk to them at Brede today.

I also enjoyed the nuns' solidarity with one another, and I think that's portrayed the best in the episode where Phillipa asks the nuns to pray for Penny. The author notes that Dames Maura and Agnes, who are rivals, are in the chapel at the same time, praying for the same thing, together. No matter what the nuns' personal differences (and there are many), they join around the common causes--prayer, life in Christ, and devotion to His church. It is an excellent lesson for all of us.

Big plans. HUGE.

I've got a three day weekend ahead of me. That means BIG PLANS!
Tonight:
--making proscuitto and lamb burgers and chocolate espresso cups, courtesy of Everyday Italian. Giada says it's her movie night menu, so, since it is movie night, I'm making it!

--Movies:
Waitress
3:10 to Yuma
La Vie En Rose
Persuasion (yes, again!)
**What is not watched tonight will be watched tomorrow. Or Sunday. Or Monday!

--Baking! A "Dark and Stormy" Pear Crisp, cookies (perhaps, we'll have to check). If I can find lemon extract I'm making some lemon chocolate cupcakes (Lemon with chocolate icing).

--Working on L&A, so check that blog.

--Reading:
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Liberal Fascism
Orthodoxy
**All of these are AWESOME so far.

--Music practice
--Faith Sharing Group on Sunday night
--THE NEXT JA INSTALLMENT! Northanger Abbey on PBS Sunday at 9:00!

Read it!

Continue to read Nate, Tricia and baby Gwyneth's story over at CF husband...
It's so great!

Updated thought:
Some of the reasons I really like this blog:
1) Nate is great--the kind of man I think every CF girl (or girl, period) would want to marry. :)
2) Their story is life-affirming: They decided to "keep" baby Gwyneth. They chose life. That is truly inspiring. And what a beautiful girl she is!
3) Tricia sounds a lot like me--so I like that. :)
4) It reminds me of what it's like on the "other" side of CF--the side of the people who have to watch. I was in a drug-induced coma (like it sounds like Tricia's in now) to recover from the MAC bug in '01 (there's a post about it in the archives). And it is truly beyond bizarre if you're the one experiencing it. But if you're watching it....wow. Can't imagine. Glad I can't. Because, y'know, I thought I was in California, and that was pretty awesome. :)
5) I love babies. :)

BOOK CLUB!

Book club! Here! Next Monday!

I'm going to adapt the format slightly from last time--instead of mostly having reviews and summaries, I'm going to post my thoughts and then have a few questions. While it is important to have a bit of summary so that those of you who didn't read, but want to know what the book was about, are in the loop, I'd like to see if we can get more discussion going, especially since this book has so many varied and interesting characters--including some that drive you MAD! :) (OK, well at least me)

So get the book. Read it. Link on the sidebar...

Watchin' Jane

Persuasion on PBS right now! And until April....all 6 novels, including THE Pride and Prejudice (COLIN!) and 1997's Emma from A&E.
Andrew Davies, who wrote the P&P screenplay, as well the one for as Bridget Jones's Diary, did the adaptations.
Watch them!

UPDATE: Watching Persuasion, which is a highly excellent adaption (I am totally buying these on DVD. Totally.). It just reminds me even more why I love Anne Elliot as a character. Of course, Lizzie (P&P) is my favorite, but Anne is older, more thoughtful, and so in love in Wentworth but despairs of ever again receiving his attentions. And she has one of my favorite lines in Austen: "The only privilege I claim for my own sex...is that of loving longest...when existence of when hope is gone." Her family neglects and abuses her (except for her sister's husband's family), but she is so steady and lovely.

UPDATE 2: And just to make Anne more perfect in this adaptation, she plays Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" as Wenthworth is listening in the doorway. It is the perfect piece to express lost love and melancholy (and was, in fact, written by Beethoven to express just those upon the loss of the Countess Julia, to whom the piece is dedicated).

UPDATE 3: Andrew Davies is the man for writing Jane Austen adaptations. The sense of romantic tension he puts between his characters is amazing. The scene in the rain in the shop between Anne and Wentworth--I totally wanted to see them make out. Totally. (I hear that's coming, though...)

UPDATE 4: Wow this should be really good....Lady Russell just got totally dissed by Anne. :)

UPDATE 5: Not really like the whole Harriet in the street thing, since she's supposed to be an invalid, but I guess we can let that go since this is the entire point upon which the plot turns...and courting Mrs. Clay at the same time!!! GRRR!

UPDATE 6: Ahhh the running through the streets motif.

UPDATE 7: Oooh the note!
Love this: "Are you quite well Miss Elliot?" ANNE: "Thank you. "
What Anne should have said, "Well, buddy, I just ran through London's streets like a madwoman looking for my man...NO I'm not all right!"

UPDATE 8: More running through the streets--market this time....(Man I love Wentworth)

UPDATE 9: AAAHHH! Now he's going in the opposite direction!!!!! So back trough the Market Anne goes (if she doesn't collapse first...)

UPDATE 10: Again: Charles: Anne, is anything the matter? Anne: (panting and about to die) I'm quite well.

UPDATE 11: OK now she's breathing normally again. And his hat's office....and wow he wants her. She is "minded to accept the proposal." Wow. Nice. "Are you quite certain?" "I am. I am determined. I will. And nothing, you may be sure, will ever persuade me otherwise." Oh, kiss time! (OH GET ON WITH IT!!!) Finally! (WAY too short, as usual)

UPDATE 12: Anne and Wentworth in a carriage, her eyes are blindfolded....ahhh, back at the family stomping grounds. Her "wedding present". And a much better kiss. A few of them. And a few more. OK 12 years apart, I'd be doing that too. Dancing on the lawn. Ending titles. :)

Now I am off to re-read Persuasion. Ha! :) First installment: Excellent. :) And only 85 minutes, if that!
Oh, and if you want more on Jane, go here.

CF stair climb in Columbus!

The Winter fundraiser for the CFF/ Columbus CFF is coming up! Here are details:

January 11, 2008

We're off and "Climbing" to new heights for CF research funding in 2008. But we need your help to get the right participants for our upcoming 27th Annual Climb for a Cure fundraiser scheduled for Saturday, February, 23, 2008 at the Rhodes State Office Tower in downtown Columbus. Climbing 40 flights of stairs isn't for everyone....but I'm counting on the fact that YOU know a lot of different people and maybe there are a few that just might take the "VERTICAL" challenge for CF research! Just as important is the fact that these special people know of your commitment to funding CF research and your personal "ASK" is what I am counting on. Here are a few details:

From 8:30 - 11:30 AM on Saturday, February 23, participants can climb the 40+ flights of the Rhodes State Office Building (the tallest building in Central Ohio) as many times as they want. The stairwell closes at 11:30 AM for the commencement of timed events.

All Participants are encouraged to bring additional pledges on the day of the event OR to use the CFF web-site to get on-line donations.

Timed events categories include 4-person relay, Timed single ascent, Heroes Division, and Firefighters Challenge. Relay Teams registration for 4 persons starts at $200.

The Challenge to fund all of the promising research to unlock the many mysteries of CF is upon us. We invest your donations quickly to fund the research that will answer the mystery of CF and help us "Add Tomorrows Everyday."

Registration and fundraising is just a click or phone call away:

Option 1 - Participants Register and pay your $50 Participant fee online at www.cff.org/chapters/central/ohio/ . Online fundraising ideas and capabilities are right at your fingertips!

Option 2 - Call our chapter office at (614) 846-2440 and ask our staff to register you over the phone. We can then note that you'll pay the registration fee by check or cash by event day. However, you will now be able to utilize the web site to fundraise for additional pledges from your family, friends, and other e-mail contacts.

We are busily planning for the food, fun and festivities that await our terrific climbers. We are working towards having many new climbers and appreciate any help that you can give us. Thank you for supporting our life changing mission. Your enthusiasm and dedication to maintaining health for those with CF inspires us to help "add tomorrows everyday" for those with CF.

Please call, e-mail or Morse code me with any questions that you may have. Please e-mail my contact info to any contacts that you may have. We already have Fire Department teams coming from throughout Ohio. We would certainly enjoy having any new fitness enthusiasts take the CF Vertical Challenge!

Best Wishes for 2008!

I am not the world's best stair climber, even 29 months post tx (yes, it is 29 months today! Ha ha!) But if you would like more info, let me know! I know plenty of folks (my dad included) who have done this before, so if it's your thing...

The Great Strides Walk (the BIG CF fundraiser) is coming in May--I will post as I get more info. That one I can probably handle... :)

It's Q&A time!!!

So I've been writing this blog for over two years now, and I've covered a lot of different aspects of transplantation and CF life.
But are there still the Great Unanswered Questions? Things you've just been dying to know?
If so, shoot me an email at capchoirgirl@aim.com and I will answer any and all questions (within family-friendly boundaries, of course!) here.
Or, you can just post something in the comments.

You MUST read this

(Or I'll know and track you down. ha ha)

Seriously.
This blog, and the story it tells, is just amazing.
I want to clone this man--ha ha.
Please pray for this family. They are simply amazing.

A long meme :)

That I was tagged for by Adoro, since I have a cell phone AND an iPod. :)

1. Do you wear a name tag at work? No, but I keep my badge clipped to my keys, since it opens doors. :)
2. What kind of car do you drive? '01 black Honda Civic EX (AKA "Lilo")
3. What do you order when you go to Taco Bell? Chili cheese burritos, baby.
4. Have you ever had a garage sale? Ha! No!
5. What color is your iPod? blue. :)
6. What kind of dog do you have? stuffed ones.
7. What's for dinner tonight? ham and cheese sandwich on asiago peppercorn bread :)
8. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had? hard cider at Fado. Yummy.
9. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone? Lost it. :(
10. Last time you were sick? That's sort of an odd question for this blog, eh??? :)
11. How long is your hair? Below my shoulders.
12. Are you happy right now? Yup.
13. What did you say last? "argh!" (yelling at the TV)
14. Who came over last? My parents on Saturday
15. Do you drink beer? No
16. Have your brothers or sisters ever told you that you were adopted? Nope. Bryan and I told Mel that, though. We also told her that other cities were actually states in their own right.
17. What is your favorite key chain on your keys? My CR bottle opener. :)
18. What did you get for graduation? College? A ruby ring from my parents and a Cap afghan from my siblings. High school--pearls, I think; my Miss Saigon album; lotsa cash; "O, The Places You'll Go!"; my first scrapbook kit.
19. Whats in your pocket? lip balm
20. Who introduced you to Dane Cook? Who?
21. Has someone ever made you a Build-A-Bear? YES! I love them! I have a whole bunch! My favorite is my bear dressed as Dorothy, with Toto, ruby slippers, wig and all!
22. What DVD is in your DVD player? Chronicles of Narnia
23. What's something fun you did today? Read "Miss Spitfire."
24. Who is/was the principal of your high school? Mr. Smith
25. Has your house ever been TP'd? Well, my parents' house. Not my apt. (I imagine that might be tricky)
26.What do you think of when you hear the word "meow"? Catfight. (My friend Branden does this all the time when he thinks us girls are being mean)
27. What are you listening to right now? The OSU game.
28. Drinking? Chocolate milk
29. What is your favorite aisle at Wal-Mart? photo developing.
30. When is your mom's birthday? June 22
31. When is your birthday? April 9
32. What's the area code for your cell phone? Like I"m going to tell you that! :)
33. Where did you buy the shirt you're wearing now? Victoria's Secret--it's a PJ top. (Boys, don't get any ideas!)
34. Is there anything hanging from your rear view mirror? my Yankee Candle car jar.
35. How many states in the US have you been to? Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, West Virginia, Virginia. --15 (not counting the home state, all)
36. What kind of milk do you drink? 1%
37. What are you going to do after this? Watch OSU, read magazines/Salt of the Earth and eat my tostitos. :)
38. Who was the last person you went shopping with? Richelle and Christine--OnPaper in the Short North on Saturday.
39. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
40. What about your favorite dessert? Does it have sugar in it? I'll eat it.
41. What is something you need to go shopping for? Dress pants...storage bins...what is this "Need" coupled with "shopping" ? :-D
42. Do you have the same name as one of your relatives? Nope.
43. What kind of car does one of your siblings drive? '96 Honda Accord (which he and I learned to drive on!)
44. Do you like pickles? Yuppers
45. How about olives? Black ones.
46. What is your favorite kind of gum? I prefer mints or, even better, Altoids cinnamon mints dipped in dark chocolate.
47. What is your favorite kind of juice? Lemonade or Pomegranate
48. Do you have any tan lines? No. I avoid the sun like the plague (ha cliche alert). I don't need skin cancer on top of everything else, and I'm at a higher risk (thank you, immunosuppresants)
49. What hospital were you born in? Old St. Ann's


And I tag...anyone who likes football.

This is great!

The Recovering Dissident Catholic: The Basics: A Post for A Dissident Catholic Friend

ARGH!!!

Mike Huckabee is really, really naive about our health care system.

I"m watching the GOP debate (well, was; now it's Steeler playoff time!) and the last topic before the commercial break was about health care, which I'm just a tiny bity interested in.

Mike Huckabee gave some of the worst answers I have EVER HEARD. First, he says that 80% of health care costs in America are caused by chronic illness, so we should do things to "prevent" these illness.

Well, OK.For things like type II diabetes, what are you going to do? Eliminate all McDonald's? Have exercise squads policing our physical activity? Exactly how are we going to enforce these things?

Second of all, things like CF and MS come under this 80% umbrella. So short of killing people, we can't prevent these, Mike. Sorry. (I bet Ann Romney just LOVED Huckabee's answers throughout this.)

Then he says we need to have a health care system that "prevents visits to the hospital." OK, again, nice idea. But what about those of us who, um, need hospitals? Who sort of live there, but not by our own volition?

I know that there's some substance to what he says (that yes, many of our health care problems,--obesity, etc.--come about by personal choices). But really, everything with cancer or CF or MS or anything genetic, etc. gets ignored by Huckabee. It's classical Protestant "The Lord helps those who help themselves" stuff.

And we all know what I think about that.

My boy Mitt did better. Talked about MA's plan, where you can buy private health insurance. Deductibles went from $300 to $180 a month. If you don't want to buy in, you don't have to. But then you're paying if you get sick.

Oh, and drug companies aren't the devil. Thanks for that, Mitt. :)

Vive la France!

They are on the anti-rejection case:

French scientists develop new strategy to stop transplant rejection

[Date: 2008-01-04]

French researchers have developed a new therapy which successfully prevents transplant rejection while avoiding many of the side effects of the drugs currently given to transplant patients.

The results, carried out by a team led by Joost van Meerwijk of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) are published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Controlling the body's extremely strong immune reaction to transplanted organs remains a major challenge for modern medicine. Immunosuppressant drugs have improved survival in the first year after transplant by effectively preventing acute rejection of the new organ. However, they are less effective at preventing chronic rejection which arises much later and affects a significant number of transplant patients. Furthermore, as immunosuppressants block the entire immune system, patients taking them are particularly prone to opportunistic infections and the development of certain cancers.

In healthy people, special cells called regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) ensure that the body's immune system does not turn against itself. For a number of years, Professor Van Meerwijk and his colleagues have been investigating ways of taking advantage of this regulatory role of Tregs in transplant medicine.

In 2004, they showed that regulatory T lymphocytes effectively inhibited the rejection of a bone marrow transplant in mice. However, until now they have proven less effective at preventing the rejection of skin and heart transplants. Undeterred, the researchers designed a new experiment based on the fact that a bone marrow transplant makes subsequent organ transplants easier.

The first step of the newly designed protocol involved placing regulatory T lymphocytes in a culture with cells from the organ donor. Over a two week period, the T cells effectively 'learnt' to recognise the organ which was to be transplanted.

The scientists then carried out a double transplant on the recipient mouse, involving both bone marrow and an organ (either skin or heart). At the same time, the mice received an injection of Tregs from the culture.

The experiment was a success, with neither acute nor chronic rejection of either transplant taking place. 'In conclusion, we have demonstrated that adequately prestimulated Tregs can be used to protect skin and cardiac allografts from acute and chronic rejection,' the scientists write.

'This cellular therapy has two major advantages: an effective prevention of chronic rejection and a specificity of immunosuppression towards the transplanted organ, thereby avoiding a large number of undesirable side effects,' commented Professor Van Meerwijk.

The next step is to find out if the same procedure could be as effective in humans. The researchers note that the induction of tolerance to organs or tissues should be feasible using their protocol or a modified version of it. Furthermore, with some adjustments it could also be used to induce tolerance to transplants taken from dead organ donors.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
http://www.inserm.fr

New books!

More books!:

--St. Augustine's Confessions (The OUP, which is supposed to be a better translation than the last one I read and didn't like)
--Salt of the Earth--an interview by Peter Seewald with B XVI, before he became B XVI. Looking forward to it, since I liked the later God and the World.

Watching:

--The Prince of Egypt--I finally found it on DVD!!! :)
--Waitress

Pulm Rehab: Day One

Today was my first day of Pulm Rehab (PR). Since I've done this two other times, I knew that the first day was just prelims--that is, setting base standards, deciding what needs work and what is good, and deciding where to go from here.

Some results:
--My six minute walk (6MW) was good. My pace was nice and fast. :)
--The strength tests (which are pretty basic) were fairly good. My left thigh muscles are stronger than my right (which struck me as odd, since I'm right handed), but Jennie, my PT, said that post-transplant that's pretty common. So whatever. My ankle muscles are pretty weak but the calves are strong (woohoo!) Arms: shoudlers and biceps are good, but the triceps are weak (I knew that, since I hardly ever work the triceps. I just hate doing the kick-backs. Curls and shoulder raises are easier. :))
--Flexibility is good, since I can touch my toes now! Woohoo!

Upshot: Jennie thinks my right hip is weaker, so that's causing the thigh issues. We're going to work on setting up a cardio program, a strength-training program (well, building on what I already do), and working on some more flexibility/stretching ( as always, even though the yoga is paying off!).

We also do a stair test, which involved stepping on a stair step (one of the Reebok things you see in an aerobics video) to a 120 tempo (using a metronome). I did OK--I got about halfway through (1 1/2 minutes out of 3) before my left thigh gave up. Which was weird, because it's supposed to be the stronger one. Whatever!

I've had both of the PTs before, and Jennie has worked with my sister. Whitney (the other one, and the coordinator for PR) just had identical twins girls in September, so I'm glad she's back! The girls are adorable!

In addition to the work out part, I also get massage (yes!) and visits with Kathy once a week. Massage is truly awesome. I mean, who doesn't love that? (Jennie says there are people who don't. I don't get that. At all.)

The program is six weeks, so I'll be doing the gym rat thing until about mid-February. I'll keep you posted!

Hawkeyes

I DO NOT understand them. I just don't.
Huckabee of all people?????
Let us pray that better sense prevails in New Hampshire...because we are NOT electing a pastor-in-chief, folks. And even if we were, Huck would not be my choice.

Bloggy Book Club

Here. January 21.
In This House of Brede is the book (which played a major role in my vocation decision).
It can be bought here

New L&A installments!

Here!

Caucus note

Iowa caucus is tomorrow--woohoo! :-D :-D
(Yes, I am a political nerd!)
I am a Romney supporter. Some of my fellow Republicans don't get this because he's a "flip-flopper."

Here's my thought on that: in order to be a flip-flipper, one must flip and flop. Like so:I

Statement A: "I believe in a woman's right to an abortion."
Statement B: "I believe in protecting life from the moment of conception."

That would the the flip. The flop would be:

Statement C: "I used to support the pro-life position, but now I find that a woman's right to (blah blah blah) is an important right that we must protect."

That would be a flip-flop. Or, John Kerry.

A: Voted for the war.
B: Talks against the war.
C: I was before the war before I voted against it.

Um...OK.

With this in mind, Mitt hasn't "flip-flopped" yet. He's just changed positions; like Reagan, H.W., and other. That's OK. Deciding to go the other way again is not.

Scar tales

I got a new beauty product catalog in the mail today and, of course, found a whole bunch of lovely things that I would just die to have. (I know, I know, Christmas just ended....)
But one of the things made me think. It was an item that said it would reduce scars, with the product description saying things like "No one likes to see scars", etc.
Well, let me tell you, I've got quite a few. There's the surgery scars (which no one can really see, unless I'm naked, because even a bikini covers them), the big burn scar on my right arm, the PICC scars all over the inside of my upper arms, and then the ones I just got through life experiences (non-medical). They've never really bugged me. Seriously. Even the scar on my arm, which, while healing, is very visible, and I still get questions about it. But I figure, it's not going away. I'm not going to go all bonkers trying to cover it up, especially when it's 90 some degrees out. I'm going to wear a tank top and if people have a problem, too bad!
I was reading a fashion column in the Plain Dealer awhile back, and a woman wrote in with a problem similar to mine. She wanted to cover it up. And I'm thinking, "honey, there's no way you can cover it up all the time. Just go with it. It's part of you, and do you really want to be uncomfortable?" I've found that when it was covered with gauze or bandages or whatever, people noticed it more as opposed to when it was just there.
Now, if I ever got married, I may want a wedding dress with lace sleeves or something. But really, who knows? It doesn't bother me. I'd rather have the scars than be dead,I'll tell you that. :)

Pulmonary Rehab...

Begins tomorrow at 3 in the NEW (well, to me; it's a few years old now) Pulmonary Rehab gym! Oh the joy!
I would like to say that on Sun. and Monday I walked 1.4 miles on the treadmill with my trusty iPod. I am eating well. I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.
Whew.

Outdoor hockey

I am loving the outdoor hockey game being shown on NBC right now. The fact that my Penguins are in it just adds to the enjoyment. :)

(And I love the old-school uniforms!)

UPDATE: Pens win in a shoot out!
This is why I love hockey. :)

Happy New Year!

I don't normally make resolutions, so this is about as close as I get.

To add to that:
--Exercise will happen. At LEAST 3 times a week. (I think. I hope.)
--I will finish L&A (to read it thus far, go here)

And...

Lest you think I spent all day in Austen land, I also:
--Went to the gym for 40 minutes! (the new iPod is a great motivator, let me tell you)
--made chicken and spinach rice for lunch
--made a creamy orzo for dinner, but I'm not eating the whole pan so it's OK. :)

Tada!

I give you...

The Jane Austen Project

(the first draft, anyway).

My compilation of notes, background, genealogy, and other JA trivia.

In defense of Jane

Over the reunion, Di, her husband Matt, and myself were browsing in Barnes and Noble, the three of us being bookworms of the first degree.

Whilst in the fiction section, Matt made the mistake of trashing Jane. I hit him for that ( :-) ) and then responded, "at least she's better than the Brontes!"

"They're the same thing," said Matt.

Um, no. So here I post a very, very brief compare/contrast of the two.
Jane is, of course, the better. :)

Ahhh, family

Some pictures from the reunion:







1) Grandma, Paige and myself.
2)Some of the cousins: (L-R) Michael, Jack, Jenny, Courtney and Ryan (my godson, who, unbelievably, is 10 now)
3) Me and Paige with Patricia the Bunny
4) Me, my cousin Diane and her husband Matt at dinner
5) My brother with his godson, Brendan (who does not pose!), and Brendan's sister, Paige (who mugs like mad for a camera).

Merry Christmas to All!

While I wait for the arrival of relatives, I thought I'd do some quick blogging.
First off, here is the 2007 Branden Christmas party picture--10 years running:



I can't believe the party has been going for that long--or that when it started, we were all high school freshman. Yikes! By this time next year, at least two of the couples will be married!

Midnight Mass was phenomenal. Remember what I said about the night bringing out the best in us? It surely happened. Our pastor told me after Mas that it was "marvelous." The Mass itself was marvelous, with Msgr. Funk incensing the creche, the altar, the ambo, and the gifts at Communion. And his chant is always great.

Mass ended a bit after one, and I was in bed around 2, with everyone up and assembled 'round the tree at 9. It was a great Christmas, complete with Mom's yummy cinnamon rolls and sausage breakfast and the Christmas Ham at dinner.

One of my favorite Christmas gifts? An iPod nano, which hooks up to my CI via a cable that came with my CI. It is so awesome! I'm listening to it right now. :)

Today begins the Heilmann Family Christmas Reunion at Easton, so I am looking forward to that. My grandparents should be arriving in about an hour, and my Uncle John and his wife, my Aunt Sue, came in last night. We had dinner with them at Brio and saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets afterwards (good movie, very fun).

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season--I'll see you on Saturday!

Oh, books!
The books I got for Christmas (at least thus far)
--The President, The Pope and the Prime Minister by John O'Sullivan
--The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir
--Son of Dust (part of the Loyola Classics series)

I've finished the Weir book and the O'Sullivan book is not far behind...

Gloria!

Tomorrow is The Big Day, or, if you prefer, The Day Before The Big Day. Since I sing Midnight Mass, Christmas Eve always feels like The Day to me, since it’s a long day. :)

Singing Midnight Mass is one of the privileges of being in the parish choir. This, with the Triduum, is our most intensive Mass and one that requires months of preparation. Tomorrow, along with the baking, celebrating, and traditional events, there will be much practicing of the cantata we are singing before Mass, as well as the Mass music proper.

Praising God in song and chant is one of my favorite ways to pray. While I have developed a love of contemplative, silent prayer, singing is a true release, an expression of my soul and what I really feel in that moment. The Christmas and Triduum Masses are especially prayerful, since the music tends to be the same every year, so I can truly delve into the mysteries of the lyrics and the Mass without being distracted by my part.

My choir has about 35 people, give or take. Tomorrow night we will meet and begin singing our program at 11:00. For about an hour our voices will set the stage for the Mass we are about to offer to the Lord. The music is not perfect, but it may well be tomorrow; the atmosphere has a way of changing us, motivating us to offer our best on this night. I, of course, will be pacing up and down the choir room and the vestibule, as is my habit, until we begin warm-up. I am always filled with nervous energy.

The Mass begins at Midnight, and our new pastor has an affinity for chant, which I love. So I imagine the Mass will be a bit longer than usual, but who cares? Midnight Mass is truly a joy to attend. Singing “Joy to the World” as the recessional is always a high point, as organ, flute, trumpets, and voices join together to praise The Word Made Flesh.

We will praise God with our litugry, our “work of the people”, as we welcome His Son to earth. And I can think of no greater privilege than to welcome His Birth in song with my choir mates.

Christmas Zoo Trip

Checking the list...

Today's accomplishments:
--Oil change: 1
--trip to a frenetic grocery store: 1
--total meals supplies purchased for: 4
--cars washed: 1
--Batches of fudge made: 1 (YUMMY!!!!)
--Loads of laundry done by Mother: (thanks, Mom!) at least one


Still to come:
Dinners to attend: 1
Christmas gifts to give: 1
Crazy zoo trip with crazy friends: 1

:) :) :)

Christmas Countdown: T-minus 3

Gifts to give: 3
Gifts to buy: 0
Gifts received: ?
Thank you notes written: 4
Songs to practice: An ungodly number
Floors to clean: 2
Floors to vacuum: 1
Height of Mt. Laundry: Approaching Everest

But at least I got Monday off!

Dr. W visit

I saw Dr. Willett (my ENT) yesterday; no big deal. He said my sinuses looked a little dry, but not as bad as he'd seen them. He did a wash and took some cultures (always lovely and fantastic fun!) but otherwise, not to bad. He'll call Dr. A when he gets results.
And that, hopefully, is the LAST doctor visit of 2007. :)

HTP! (Hail to Pitt!)

GREAT men's basketball victory tonight in NYC over Duke in OT--a 3 pointer with three seconds left.
It was beautiful. Merry Christmas to Pitt Nation. :)

Christmas gift for you

Go out and treat yourself to this.

You will not be disappointed. Seriously.

Eeek!

Tonight is the LAST choir rehearsal before Midnight Mass!
Yikes!!

Book club reminder!

WHO: You :)
WHAT: Online Book Club (or, as Nutmeg calls it, the Bloggy Book Club)
WHERE: Right here!
WHEN: January 21, 2008
WHY: To talk about great books!

THIS MONTH'S SELECTION: In This House of Brede, by Rumner Gooden.
Link here, so you can go get it! Go! Now! It really is a great book!!
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=27445279&postID=6933918849508261596
Future books:
--February: The Poisonwood Bible
--March: The Christmas Box
--April: A Thousand Splendid Suns

And it continues!

I did more yoga AND my cardio video.
I am proud. :)

Starting the regimen

I just did yoga for the first time in like a month. Yay! :)

Todd report

OK so I'm still OK. PFTs, etc. holding steady while the NiOx has dropped significantly, which means any inflation that was happening in the lungs is resolving itself. Dr. A thinks that I need to have my sinuses checked (which means setting up an appt with Dr. Willet) because they might be what's causing my issues.
He also wants me to start pulm rehab again to stretch out my lung tissue and expand the lungs, since he thinks that might be causing some of the obstructive defects we're seeing in the PFTs. Yes, forcing Emily to stick to an exercise regimen--oh the joy!

Desperate rationalization

Scene: My apartment, the kitchen table.

Tiffy and I are pondering the very large chocolate and caramel covered apple I am about to slice into.

Me: (to tiff) Want a piece?
Tiff: (pretending to ponder) Yup.
(I distribute pieces)
Me: This is really good. (looking at the rest of the apple) I guess I'll have to eat it all soon, though.
Tiff: Yeah, because it will go brown.
Me: And that's not good.
(We continue eating)

(I have since had one more slice. There's still 3/4 of the LARGE apple to go...)

Da Baking

Continues unabated...

--Tiff and I did a number on the Snickerdoodles. :) :)
--More Peppermint Meringues! (But only 12 today, b/c it was a humid and that affects the volume of the egg whites.)
--And Toll House Chocolate Chunk cookies are coming out now because I had a serious chocolate craving. They are soo yummy--and I get to eat the batter!! :) :)

(Hey, I'm NPO after Midnight until Todd's done w/ me tomorrow, so I better stock up now...)

Todd again!

(Back to purple....)

Another Todd visit tomorrow.
Yes.
Another one.
This weekly pattern is getting old...

"Make it pink!"

We're pink for Gaudete Sunday, folks!

"Rejoice in the Lord, always. I say it again: rejoice!"

(And if you don't know what movie the title is referring to, go here)

Culture Cat: Nutcracker

Just got back from BalletMet's production of The Nutcracker. Since I haven't seen it since junior high, I was looking forward to revisiting an old favorite. I especially love the score (but we can thank Fantasia for that!).

The cast rotates at each performance, so I can't really give a definitive appraisal, but the cast we saw was excellent. I've been attending BalletMet productions regularly (I've been a subscriber the past two years and have seen three of their four productions this year), and they are technically and artistically a very talented company. The cast also includes many of the kids from their Academy, who were unanimously charming (even if there were a few flub-ups here and there--they're kids, and they handled them very well.). My favorite groups of kids was a tie between the pages and Mother Ginger's children. All of the principles performed beautifully. The dancing was accompanied by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra who did a glorious job with Tchaichovsky's familiar score. (I love live music. Love it.)

The company splits the role of Clara into child Clara (Act I and Finale) and "grown-up" Clara (end of Act I and Act II), which is not always done. Tonight we saw Sarah Wilson and Jaime Dee play the roles, respectively. Miss Wilson did an excellent job, demonstrating great artistry and technique, and Ms. Dee was, as usual, superb. (She's one of my favorites.)

Other company standouts:
--Adam Hundt as Herr Drosselmeyer
--Jimmy Orrante as the Suger Plum Fairy's Cavalier and Herr Stahlbaum
--Emily Gotschall as Grandma Stahlbaum (hysterical)
--Bethany Manley as the Spanish Doll--she really danced like a doll. You totally believed it. Incredible.
--David Tlaiye as the Nutcracker Prince
--The Snowflakes/Flowers--awesome!
--Emily Ramirez as the Sugar Plum Fairy. Her solo and pas de deux were just wonderful.
--Jaime Kotrba and James Pierce in the pas de deux of the Arabian Dance. This can be very boring and static if not done correctly. The innovative choreography and talent of the dancers made this a highlight of the night.
--The men who made up the Dragon--very cool.
The Nutcracker runs until Dec. 23 at the Ohio Theater. You can get tickets at the link I posted above.

Surburban snow...

So what did I do all day?
Go here.

Update: the Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper was really good!!! :) AS were the Snickerdoodles (which are wrapped in cookie tins, awaiting the meringues that will join them tomorrow)

Off to the Nutcracker!

New layout!

As you can see, I've changed my layout--time for something new round the bucket.
I'm going to try to keep the colors liturgical. :) We'll see how that goes.

More tree

More tree art:






1. "That what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown"--this ornament talks! Linus tells the Christmas story just like in the TV show.

2. Ariel (who also talks!)--my second favorite Disney movie.

3. Lucy goes through the Wardrobe (she's my favorite Narnia character)

4. A church with "O Come, All Ye Faithful" on the side--that's the first Christmas song I remember singing.

5. The Peanuts and Snoopy play "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". Mom got this for me--I love it!

Christmas pics and countdown:

Gifts to give: Five
Gifts to buy: One
Cards to write: Um, a lot.
Gifts received: three
Edible gifts received: one (a huge, chocolate/caramel/nut covered apple was on my desk at work!)

Pictures:







Top to bottom:
--The S'mores nativity!
--The Tree. Note on the tree: I try to buy only ornaments that have some significance to me. So when I post pictures of the ornaments, I'll explain why I have them.
--Remy from Ratatouille, since I loved that movie, love Pixar and love to cook.
--The Grinch--a childhood favorite. (Dad was the Grinch, Bryan was Max, and I was Cindy Lou Who. Mel wasn't born yet when we did this.)
--Rudolph and the Misfit Toys--I love this Christmas special and can still sing all the songs (ha!) next to Glinda the Good Witch. I LOVE The Wizard of Oz. When I was a little kid I watched it constantly. I bought this last year, firstly because I loved the movie and secondly, I had seen Wicked in Chicago with some of my friends that year to celebrate my first t/x anniversary. In the first scene of the musical, Glinda descends upon the Ozians in a big bubble contraption. :) (I also bought this for Milia, since she went with me on the trip).

Yummy food!

Tomorrow is St. Lucia's day, and in her honor, I have made St. Lucia buns.
My family loves these. Try them, if you've got a few hours to kill (since they involve two risings).

More shopping...

For those on your list that you don't know who to buy for, pretty soaps are always great. And the Cloister Gift Shoppe, of the Dominican Nuns in NJ, do a great job! I just ordered their Cloister Garden, Natale (Christmas soap) and Oatmeal soaps to give out as gifts.

bookshelves

For Christmas, I obviously get a lot of books. Here's what I've gotten/read so far:

--Ann Tyler, Digging to America (from Mel): the title is a take off on the idea of kids "digging to China." One of the little girls in the book asks her grandfather is kids in China "dig to America."
The story follows two couples, Bitsy and Brad Donaldson and Sami and Ramia (I think that's her name, anyway), who have each adopted a little girl from Korea. Sami and Ramia are Iranian immigrants (Sami was born in America, while his wife immigrated in high school), while the Donaldsons are born and bred Baltimore residents. The novel chronicles the families' interconnections, their very different child rearing approaches, and how they interact as couples and with their families.
Tyler does an excellent job demonstrating the family dynamics and presents many varied, rich characters for our dissection. The author of Back When We Were Grown-ups and The Accidental Tourist does another great job here.

--Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: (bought at the Book Loft): A biography (published last year) about the life of reclusive writer Nelle Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird and friend of Truman Capote (who did a great deal of unacknowledged work on his most famous work, In Cold Blood). The biography is richly detailed, especially considering that Lee wasn't interviewd for it, and covers her live in Monroeville, her family background, her time at college, her work on In Cold Blood, time in New York City, the writing of Mockingbird and the film adaptation, and her life after the novel. A good read, with a few pictures, and paints a very nice picture of the witty, solitary Lee.

--The Daring Book for Girls(Bubby got me this): This is awesome! You MUST buy this book if you are a girl, have girls, know girls...whatever! It covers basic things like how to change a tire and first aid, as well as basic sports rules (basketball, etc.), history (a list of female queens/PMs, etc.), royalty, and other great things. It is simply awesome!

No tent-pitching--yet

So I go to see Todd today and everything is "stable", so I just need to give the antibiotics time to work. OK sure. Todd "suggested" I take a few days off so that my body can just do what it wants, which right now mostly involves sleeping. (and not eating, surprisingly--but I'll take it!) So that's what I'm doing for the next few days.

Todd--again, and then...not

OK so I called clinic on Friday asking if my symptoms were supposed to be getting better after a week on the two-drugs combo. Megan said that they might take awhile--give it the weekend and then call back.
So I called back today. Apparently Dr. A wants to see me tomorrow. Oh. The. Joy! So we'll see what happens. I'm preparing both for work (we have session tomorrow, the second to last of this year) and a bronch, because that may be in the offering, and if it is I usually end up staying. So I'll want to pack some stuff. (Minimally, anyway)
Sigh. I want this figured out--Christmas is too close for me to be pitching a tent in the Children's lobby!

weekend update

What I Did This Weekend:

--Made two batches of Peppermint Meringues (go here--hat tip to Danielle! )

--Made biscotti for gifting purposes

--did 11--count 'em, 11--scrapbook pages! NYC, Tiff's birthday, and the Parish Picnic are now documented.

--Read Innocent Traitor and Light a Penny Candle (I'll try to get bookshelves up ASAP) and am now reading The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen.

--Went to Joann's (twice!)--it's insane!

--Made a Christmas gift for a certain girl I baby-sit for. :) :)

--Bought Nutcracker tickets for next weekend

--Went to my Bon Vie Christmas Party--Richelle, Brian, Shirley, Rob, Alex, Sarah and Branden. Lots of fun with yummy profiteroles!

--Found out Liz is having a baby!!! Yay Liz and Grant!!! :)

--Napped. :)

--Exchanged Christmas gifts with Bubby and Melly. :)

Christmas meme!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper, even though I am a rather amateur wrapper.

2. Real tree or artificial? Fake.

3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Epiphany. When the Christmas season is "over".

5. Do you like eggnog? Um....haven't had enough to make a call.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The Care Bear kitchen set. I was about five and I opened all my gifts, and no kitchen set. We have photos of me looking very bereft. But then,lo and behold, Santa had left in in the basement! Tricky old guy. :) And we still have parts of it, so it was a very durable gift indeed.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Yes. They're "S'mores" figurines--as in, the baby Jesus is a marshmallow in a graham cracker manager with a chocolate blanket. It's super cute, but probably not the most reverent. :)

8. Hardest person to buy for? My mom.

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I always receive good stuff. :)

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? REAL CHRISTMAS CARDS, i.e., snail mail. And they go to just about everyone I know.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas (both cartoon and live action) and A Christmas Story.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? August.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Peppermint bark and Mom's Christmas breakfast--sausage and cinnamon rolls. Mmmmmm.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Color!

16. Favorite Christmas song: "O Holy Night", "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We stay at home for Christmas day proper now; when I was little we used to have CHristmas at home early (it was AWESOME) then spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Pittsburgh with relatives. Fantastic. Now Mom's family all comes down here the 27th and we take over a hotel. :)

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer. Dasher, Dancer, PRancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzer, Rudolph. :)

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who try to eliminate Christmas carols, creches, etc. from every single place on Earth other than a Church. LET'S GET REAL!

Pet peeve--grammar

OK wonky grammar post ahead:

"Alter"--to change. "I altered the dress to fit my sister."
"Altar"--the "table" in a church. The place where the Eucharist is consecrated. Whatever you want to call it. "The servers approached the priest, who was at the altar."

THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. THANK YOU.

PS--I would also like to add that one is a verb, the other a noun. So they are REALLY not interchangeable. You cannot get up and "altar", as my seventh grade English teacher would say. You can, however, get up and "alter" something.

Babies!

So many of my friends are having babies in the spring! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. :)

And, to those having girls, Emily is a great name. Really fantastic. :) :)

Christmas prep

Is rapidly reaching conclusion. Only three more presents to buy! :) :)

Todd redux

Another day, another Todd visit--
--PFTs: Some up, some down.
--NiOx: up, to about 19. This measures inflammation, so you don't want it to be up.
--CXR: same.
--CT scan: confirmed findings of CXR.

Results: New antibiotic (minocycline) added to levoquin since the bug I am apparently growing is tricky so we'll hit it with two things. Ha!

Next up: Appt. next Monday to see if these drugs are doing their job.

Whew.

varia and Todd tomorrow!

--YAY PITT! (OK had to say that again)

--My kitchen is a disaster. In the past 36 hours I have made a Coca-Cola cake for my Choir potluck (last night) and I just finished making cookies for the Parish Counil potluck (tomorrow night) an hour ago. Whew. My sugar stores are severely depleted.

--On the plus side, I did some digging in my cabinets (looking for cream of tartar, which was on the spice rack, where it should be--DUH Emily) and I found three bottles of cooking wine, two containers of bread crumbs, a whole pound of confectioner's sugar and a bunch of unsweetened/bittersweet chocolate. Also two boxes of chicken stock and enough pasta to last me until at least February. So I don't need to go shopping for awhile now.

--Why can't the Steelers just go ahead and win a game? Why must they torture me so?? Why?!

--Happy New Year if you're Catholic--First Sunday of Advent!

--Todd tomorrow--eval to see how the levoquin is working. Gotta tell you, I'm not really feeling it. Oh well. Pains in the right lower lobe, where there were "shadows" on Thursday, when I wasn't feeling pain there. If I'm feeling pain there now, I can't imagine that's a really happy thing. Maggie (the boss) Is aware of the doc appt. so at least I've got work covered. And I'm putting all my Parish Council stuff, including the cookies, in the car tomorrow so that if I get bronched I am prepared. Whew.

--I love my Christmas tree. :) :)

Now...

if Kansas City could beat Cleveland... :) :)

WOOHOO!!!!!

Pitt beat WVU!!!!!!!
YES!!!