This was our first Thanksgiving IN THE HOUSE. This oven and I are still getting to know each other, so some dishes came out better than others. Some pies came out better than other pies. The turkey took longer than expected. Still, not too shabby for a couple of sickies.

Yesterday, I just slept and sat on my arse for most of the day. Too sick to do anything else. Today, I watched a movie and finished carving the turkey – right now, I am making turkey stock for soup and replacement gravy.

Oh, the gravy! Sonnets should be written about this gravy. You would give me your firstborn child for this gravy. But you can keep it, because I would not want a kid instead of this gravy.

Tomorrow, I will bake some bread and make some turkey soup. Tom will put up Xmas lights. I will feel better (?) or possible get overwhelmed about Xmas prep and how I should have finished gifts a month ago. But the good news, no matter how you slice it, is that now I can listen to Christmas Music every single day and only the Jews I work for will complain.

Ha ha!

Rachel’s comment, from the post below:

Just so everyone knows, Leira was indeed born to Empire Strikes Back. My labor went so fast we didn’t make it through the entire movie. So fast, my actual doctor didn’t deliver the baby. I believe they had to bring in the ER doctor. INTENSE.

I’m an Aunt. It’s official. I’ve kind of been a lower-case aunt for Sam, but this feels very different than when he was born. Leira is someone who I feel a real sense of duty towards and thank goodness that the Kleins came to visit over the weekend because I would have been a ball of guilt and anxiety without them around to distract me. It’s kind of settling in now and I really wish I could be there with Rachel, even though I would just be a seat filler.

Poor Arrow was really thrown for a loop with other people in the house. She seems to be recovering nocely today, Tom took her out to the ranchito for a run with the desert dogs, and she’s muddy and happy and napping.

We had a lot of fun having our BFFs over – they hadn’t seen the house since we just moved in, so they could see all the work that’s been done and reminded us that we’ve actually gotten a bit finished. Also, Annika is proving that pregnancy is a very good look for her, yet again. Sam is proving that age 3 is a strange, yet, simple age and that you must take the time to assess the situation. And Will is proving that beer is a breakfast food and whiskey is for dessert, and that Nick Cage movies are always worth watching.

Tom managed to cook breakfast for all of us and prove that you can, in fact, use a pancake mix and rely on technique for the World’s Best Pancakes.

I’m sure I proved something or other, but what it could have been, I have no idea. I have fallen into watching the “Later… with Jools Holland” marathon on Ovation (a show that I have never seen before) and I’ve bookmarked the Wikipedia page for it. I will be searching for video of that past 33 series in the coming months, I suspect. Oh, live performances, I don’t need to like that band or that song, but I never get to see bands anymore, so I’m starved for it. UKers, you have no idea how lucky you are to have had this show.

Oh, and we watched the movie Hot Rod on Saturday. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It is very funny and I am a fan!

Rachie is in the hospital, and she has requested Empire for her labor viewing pleasure.

She’s about halfway dilated and having some painful contractions now. Being faraway sucks.

I can’t work under these conditions! It’s exhausting!

The baby has dropped and there has been dilation. I can’t believe I’m going to be auntie soon!

It’s been hilarious to see how excited the boys in the family are – and my mom is excited, but she’s had three kids so she know this could go one for another week – they are all convinced that Rachel is going to give birth ANY SECOND NOW.

She’s doing a hospital birth, which I am opposed to in all forms, but she’s a strong woman who will listen to her body, so I’m not too worried about the Medical Industrial Complex ruining her birth experience (I AM SO worried about it), and I’m not having the baby so WHATEVER, KATHERINE.

We have a pool going for when it will happen, and I was going for the 9th, but I think that since everyone (except me) is so anxious, she’ll probably go to the hospital sooner rather than later, and I won’t win. I’m still crossing my fingers for winning the length and weight categories, but I was really counting on that extra week to add some ounces! For the record: 21.5 inches, 8 pounds. Originally, I was going to guess 24 inches and 6 pounds, but that would be a crazy looking baby.

So now I’m just trying to get my knitting organized and finished for this kid. Because I’m so far away.

No, I’m not bitter.

I don’t what possessed me the morning of May 18th, but I went online and started looking at dogs available for adoption from the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. And I looked at the pictures and there was one that just looked… good. So I called Tom and asked him if I should go look and, after a little hemming and hawing, he said sure.

So I went, and the one I liked was gone. But there was another puppy that looked okay. A boy dog, and I thought, “Well, I’m not feeling some kind of magic, but he seems okay and he needs a home.” And so I started the paperwork.

But then the people that had taken the puppy that I had seen online BROUGHT HER BACK (also, her male litter mate). Our eyes met… and I told the shelter people that I wanted to take a (closer) look at that puppy.

There was just something about her, her vibe, that made me think, “This is a good dog. This is my dog.”

So I ditched the male dog I had been working on getting and got this girl dog instead.

And I am so glad I did.

In the three months that we have had her, Arrow has just been fantastic. She is the perfect dog for us. She is incredibly social and loves to play, everywhere we go people coo over her like she’s a baby, she travels really well, but most importantly, Tom adores her (and spoils her) – we are a pack and I am the alpha and we made it through teething without losing any shoes.

And you know what? I haven’t had an allergic reaction AT ALL.

For a Flickr set of pictures, click here.