Silent night, holy night

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

If you have a moment of spare time in all this hectic Christmas hubbub, learn more about Christmas' origins here.

Maria and Carlos swim again!

Ah, young love. Maria and Carlos, out for a midday swim.

Since we've moved to Oregon...

I haven't posted many (any) photos yet of our time here in Oregon, so the forthcoming post will be all about our time here so far. When we first arrived at the beginning of November, the trees were in the midst of their gorgeous fall beauty pageant. (Of course, we didn't get to enjoy any of the colors on our drive over; it was past midnight by the time we finally arrived.)

I was still working for ATA, doing data entry from the house until about the end of November. Jesse and I decided then that it was the perfect time to take a trip to the coast. Dani was recovering from her surgery, and dad had stayed up in Portland with her, so Jesse and I took their dog, Molly, to the beach with us. The drive was awesome!

The day was sunny (and warm, which for the Oregon Coastline is saying something), and soon we saw the ocean.

We had Molly on the leash for awhile but since no one else was around, we snapped the leash and she was off like a shot!

For the most part she did really well. She'd *RUN* as far and fast as she could, and then zip back toward us. It was like a scene from "Born Free".

Tuckered out girl.

Jesse and I were starting to get hungry, so we headed back to the car and started for home. Things were a little dicey on the drive because I'd forgotten to gas up the car before we left. We were basically running on fumes when we pulled into a gas station along the way. BUT! My car didn't run out of gas, thereby maintaining my title of She Who Never Runs Out of Gas.

A few weeks later it was time for the annual gag gift party for mom's side of the family. We had our potluck dish ready, so we hit the road a little early. It had snowed a wee bit the night before, but as you can see from the photo, the roads were very clear.

We showed up at Joe and Jessica's new house in Eugene and noticed there weren't any cars in the drive, so I got out my cell phone to call Joe and saw I had missed a text message. "From Joe: FYI, party's been cancelled." ARGH! We had driven 45 minutes to get there, only to learn the party was cancelled. We were PISSED. Apparently some folk thought the snow was too much of a problem to make the drive. ANYWAY....

About a week later, we got the heavy snowfall. I woke up one morning and we had a good four inches on the ground.

Portland and the surrounding cities have been hit pretty hard. A lot of accidents happening. Actually, in the above photo, dad and I were taking grandma to the airport in Portland, a drive that should take maybe an hour and fifteen minutes. It took us about 3-3.5 hours to get there. We saw grandma safely on her plane, and then it took us anoter 4 hours to make it home. At one point, the interstate was down to one lane; the right lane was filled with semi truck that had to stop and put on chains. It was a very long day.

So there you have it. Other than that, we've just been applying for jobs like crazy (well, I have been, not too sure about Jesse). The economy in Oregon is pretty poor at the moment, and everyone seems to be full up with their Christmas help, so we're trying to take it one day at a time and just not spend too much money...always a treat at Christmas time. If you don't hear from us by then, Merry Christmas!

Another day, another child

The Duggar family welcomed their 18th child today. Does anyone else think this family needs to start thinking of the big BC? And by that, I mean birth control. Seriously. Condoms are about as cheap as they come.

I know that their faith plays a big part in their decision to keep 'em coming, and that supposedly they are debt-free and so aren't a burden on society, but I feel it's unresponsible to have so many children. I understand that it is every person's right to do with their bodies as they wish, but I truly believe so many of our crime problems stems from there being too many people on the planet.

I don't think we should become like China and have a mandatory limit on children, but I do feel people should cap things off on their own. Personally, Jesse and I will probably only have two children, one to replace each of us. It just makes sense, resource-wise. Maybe there should be a tax on those who have more than, say, five kids. Maybe that would be an enticement.

I'm not saying we should have less sex. Go on, have all the crazy animalistic sex you want; I'm saying we should think about the end result.

Attempt at Mock Apple Pie, take one

I tried my hand at making a low carb (LC) mock apple pie this evening. It actually made with zucchini instead of apples. I didn't have enough zucchini's on hand, but if I had I think the dish would have turned out quick nice. As it was, the zuccs had the same mouth feel as cooked apples, and a little tweaking with the Splenda will definitely help.

I also attemped Mock Twice-Baked Potatoes, using cauliflower. I'm happy to report that the dish was *very* good. Jesse liked it, I liked it, what more could we want?

We have the annual family reunion/gag gift gathering tommorrow, and that should be fun. It's being held at Joe and Jessica's new house in Springfield and everyone is supposed to be there.

You know, I used to be quite good at blogs, blogging whatever was on my mind in a witty fashion...I think that sort of thing takes practice or else you lose it. Honestly, why would someone want to read about my culinary efforts? ... Yeah. This is definately going to be a work in progess.

Time to begin anew

Well, since most of my fans aren't on MySpace to read my blogs, I've decided to go pro. Please forgive me in the next few days, as I will be slowly learning the ropes of Blogspot.