As I type this, there are two deer on my front porch (less than 20 feet away from me) nibbling at the remains of my planters. Beautiful, majestic and seemingly not that bright to be so close to a human. Still, kind of cool.

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We had an earthquake yesterday afternoon - 4.5 on the richter scale. It was a little strange, to say the least. I'm not at all used to these sorts of things and for a second or two I couldn't figure out what was up. Thought perhaps it was my heater blowing up or maybe a small plane came down somewhere nearby. Once I did figure out what was going on I couldn't remember what one is supposed to do. Head down to the basement? No, that's a tornado. Put gloves and granola bars in the car? No, that's in case of a blizzard. Wait, wait, I know! Stand in a doorway. Of course, by the time I worked through all of this, the whole thing was over.


I'm feeling a little fluish today, which has me a bit alarmed. I'm not really afraid of the flu itself, it's just that I can ill afford the distraction and potential downtime at the moment. Between the holidays, work committments and trying to get ready for the baby I simply do not have the time at the moment for anything resembling illness. Although I am pregnant I did not receive a flu shot - not out of laziness or cheapness, just because there wasn't any room in the schedule for schlepping to my primary care physician's office. Not every gamble pays off, as we know, so my number might be up. We'll see.


The Christmas tree is decorated and looks lovely, as usual. This is the first year our son has been able to help and what he lacked in ability he more than made up in enthusiasm. He chose a couple of low lying branches and festooned them with dozens of ornaments apiece. I have since gone around and redistributed, filling in blank spots left by the misallocation of decorations. The only thing we're missing is a garland. We use a red wooden bead garland but don't have enough to cover this tree properly. Since I don't want it to look half-assed I haven't put it on yet at all.


Of course, I've been looking to buy more, but haven't been able to find any that is not made in China. As a general guideline, we try not to buy Chinese-made products because we object to (among other things), forced labor and human rights lapses. (Yes, we realize that poor manufacturing conditions exist in other countries.) We are particularly concerned about Christmas related items made in China since, although Chinese citizens are technically guaranteed freedom of religion as stated in their constitution, the reality is somewhat different. Chinese Christians are not generally able to celebrate Christmas freely and/or openly and, for that reason, I cannot in good conscience buy Christmas merchandise made there. Of course, Chinese Jews and Muslims face similar challenges and I would eye any product designed to serve a religious purpose with suspicion.


And don't even get me started about children working in factories to make toys destined for the playrooms of Western kids. I took my son to buy some toys for our local Toy Lift and had a bear of a time finding things to buy. The boy wanted to buy baby dolls, kitchen toys, race cars and more, but everything was made in China. So we ended up buying several boxes each of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders and lots of Legos. Not quite the variety I would have liked, but at least I'm reasonably confident of the manufacturing conditions. Time to do some research into manufacturers who share my values on this subject - the biggies just aren't cutting it any more.

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Gwyneth Paltrow is copying me again. I cut my hair, she cuts her hair. I grow my hair, she grows her hair. I get pregnant, she gets pregnant. It's a shame when such a lovely, talented woman needs to find fulfillment in dogging the every step of someone she doesn't even know (is she stalking me?). Let's feel sorry for her rather than angry, though, o.k.? I mean her latest film opened to mixed reviews so maybe she's finding meaning wherever she can - even in the life of a 30-something working mom in central Virginia.


In other news, our house is a mess (again, still, always). In addition to the three Sunday papers we take cluttering up the living room, there are a bunch of boxes labeled "Xmas Tree" strewn about and what seems like dozens of cups, glasses and other dishes. Are there really only three people living here? I'm reminded of that children's story The Borrowers where tiny people live in the floorboards and life off of the detritus of the "regular" people who live in the house. Except that, if I had Borrowers living here with me, I doubt they'd be the ones using 16 oz. cups and littering them everywhere. The tree has been decorated (with the enthusiastic, if not accomplished, assistance of my three year old) and so at least the boxes can go away tonight. I still have to do something about the kitchen, though. Cookie mania is ongoing, but I'm finding I just can't live with the baking stuff out, as I thought I could. It seemed like it would save time, but it's just making me nuts.


Tonight is the second Sunday in Advent. In a few minutes we will sit down to a dinner of herb bread and potage a la bonne femme and light two of the purple candles on our wreath, the one from last week and a new one tonight. If you'd like to join us, here's the soup recipe - highly recommended for cold winter nights when the sun has long disappeared and you have lots of more interesting things do to other than making a super-involved dinner:


Bring 6 cups of broth or water to a boil (I've used veggie broth, chicken broth - both homemade and commercial, or even water). Add three cut up potatoes, two cut up carrots (all scrubbed but unpeeled), some peppercorns and about a teaspoon of salt. Reduce heat and simmer until veggies are soft. Add a couple ribs of celery, cut up (add in some of the cut up celery leaf, too!) and about two cups of shredded cabbage, along with some thyme or rosemary (all scrunched up). Cook until the cabbage is translucent and soft. Remove from heat and puree the soup - either by removing the veggies into a processor or blender or by using a rotary egg beater right in the pot. Adjust seasonings and serve with plain yogurt and shredded cheese if desired.

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