Today I Called the Jail

I just did something so exciting that I've never done before and I just had to tell you about it.  I called the Jail.  Granted it is the jail for Malibu/Agoura Hills (ritzy areas) but still, it's the Jail!  In my boring little world, this is hot stuff folks.

Why did I call the Jail?   I am currently trying to complete my Certification of Fitness to Practice Law Application for the Georgia Bar.  Most people think about becoming a lawyer and they think, "I'll just go to law school, take some big test at the end, and, viola, I'll be a lawyer."  Wrong.  There are so many hoops to jump through just to get to the Bar Exam.  The Cert. of Fit. goes into that category of "things that consume a ridculous amount of time and energy that no one ever told you about becoming a lawyer."  This thing is a beast. It asks for 10 years of employment history, 5 years of residential history, a complete record of all student loans, lines of credit, all driving violations, among other obscure things.  And since the State of Georgia seems determined to make sure I fail my exams this semester, they've made the due date for this enormous document next week, right in the middle of finals.  I've actually finished filling out the forms, but I still have to get fingerprinted on special fingerprint cards that only the State Bar of Georgia can send you.  But where do I get fingerprinted?

The Jail, of course!  Actually, I called the Sheriff's Office first and asked about fingerprinting.  The lady on the line quickly said, "I'll transfer you to the Jailer."  I wanted to scream, "Wait - the Jailer???  What have I done?!?!"  But instead I stumbled out a shaky "oh-oh-okay."  And then a voice on the other line picked up the transfer and simply said, "Jail."  Ahhhhhh. 

Turns out I have to make an appointment with the Jailer first.  So it appears I will be going to the Jail to get fingerprinted some time in the next 2 weeks once my special little cards come in the mail.  Crazy.  In one month I will have talked to my very first Jailer and visited my very first (and hopefully last) Jail.  Ah, Law School; what new and joyous experiences you've brought me.

The Rest of the Holiday Weekend

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was spent doing various holiday activities.  This year we didn't carve a pumpkin for Halloween.  Leah is too young to appreciate it and it was really just too much work at the time.  So we decided to keep our pumpkin whole through Thanksgiving as a decoration and then afterwards make toasted pumpkin seeds.

On Friday, we tackled the pumpkin seeds.  As usual, Leah was sous chef.

We started by pulling the seeds out of the pumpkin

 

It was all fun and games for the Peanut until I told her that her job was to clean the pumpkin goop off the seeds. 

Once the seeds were cleaned, we salted, boiled them, and spread them out on a cookie sheet to put in the oven.

Pretty seeds

Of course, once the seeds were in the oven, my sous chef quickly lost interest and her shirt.

After 10 minutes or so they were done.  We have regular salted, and cinnamon-sugar.

And to kick off the Christmas season, we watched everyone's favorite holiday movie; that timeless Christmas classic ... that's right, you guessed it, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!  For some unknown reason, BA's family loves this movie.  When I first watched it I thought it was the dumbest movie I'd ever seen.  Well, I have known BA for over eight years now, and over that period of time, we have watched Christmas Vacation every year.  It's an Aaron family tradition.  And I still think it's the dumbest movie I have ever seen.  And FUNNY!  I'm not even ashamed to say that I requested to watch it last night.

And it wouldn't be Thanksgiving weekend without some football and cheering on the Seminoles!

"Okay, Leah, let's try this again.  It goes ... 'you gotta fight, fight, fight, for FSU ...'"

Thanksgiving

How did you celebrate Thanksgiving?
This holiday was special for us in two ways. It was our first major holiday with Leah and it was the first Thanksgiving that BA and I didn't travel to be with family. It was just the three of us in California this year. Because our lives are complicated enough, we decided to simplify the food by buying some items and making others.

We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, mac-n-cheese, cabbage, fried okra, corn casserole, and blackberry pie. Notice the three beverages on the table - they all came from a bottle :)

We enjoyed our semi-homemade feast and then quickly slipped into a turkey-induced coma.

Look at my chubby munchkin!  Her neck seems to disappear when she's reclined. 

We had a very nice celebration. And we were able to Skype with both sides of the family back east. Leah was able to chat with (smile at) a lot of her extended family, which was fun. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Trying on our new winter sweater-dress

Video Flashback

Here are some videos of Leah from way back when.  It took us a while to figure out the camcorder, and it took us even longer to figure out how to upload the videos.  So even though these are a little late, here are some flashbacks from Leah's younger days.


This first one was taken in the hospital when she was 1 day old.





Here's how she avoided burping with mom.





And how she avoided burping with dad.





Leah waking up on her wedge.  She's about 2 months old here - and does not want to wake up.  Notice all the pacifiers she's hidden around her :)

No TV in the House ... Except

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under the age of 2 spend no time in front of the TV because it slows their brain development.  We agree.  Leah watches no TV, ever.  Except when I have to file her nails.  Then I flip on HGTV and she is instantly mesmerized by dreamy Scott McGillivray on the show "Income Property."  I'm done in two minutes flat.

Watching the TV while mom files her nails with an electric filer (much faster).

Look at her.  Completely zoned out.  Works like a charm :)

BA's Corner: English Please?

I received a "Breaking News" email alert the other day that struck me. It said:

“New York Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman has ruled not to extend a temporary restraining order that prevents the eviction of protesters who were encamped at Zuccotti Park, long considered a home base for Occupy Wall Street demonstrators.”

Honestly, can you read that once and understand what's going on?  Who writes this legal stuff?  If I'm going to be married to a lawyer, I better practice translating these legal quotes into English.  Let's see if I can follow the logic on this one....

1. People are doing something that some people think is wrong.
2. People are protesting those people doing that thing that some people think is wrong.
3. People are trying to evict the people protesting the people that are doing the thing that some people think is wrong.
4. People are trying to prevent people from evicting the people protesting the people that are doing the thing that some people think is wrong.
5. People are trying to temporarily restrain people from preventing people from evicting the people protesting the people that are doing the thing that some people think is wrong.
6. A judge has now said that he won’t allow people to try to temporarily restrain people from preventing people from evicting the people protesting the people that are doing the thing that some people think is wrong any more.

So I still don’t know what’s going on….I’ll have to read it again.

<Reading again>

Ok, I think I figured this out.  We’re going to allow people to prevent people from evicting the protesters, right? Did I get it?

So we’re going to allow the protests. Alright, carry on….

BA's Corner: Day Care Pickup

A couple of weeks ago, when I picked Leah up from daycare, this is what I found...

I knew they had been putting her at the table with blankets around her head to protect her, and we'd been trying to get her to hold her head up more and more. But this was the first time I had seen her at the table unassisted like this. I had to snap a few pictures because I knew AA would be disappointed that she hadn't seen it.

Leah was as happy as a clam in her little chair, just swinging her legs and watching all of the other kids run around. It was a wonderful sight. Our girl is growing up!