Saturday Update.

Verdict: thyroid ultrasounds are way less exciting than baby ultrasounds. But I had a good appointment with the endocrinologist yesterday. I even got to see my carotid artery pumping blood! (I thought of dad.) I think I may switch doctors within the practice - the guy I saw yesterday did a better job of addressing my pregnancy-related concerns. Also, he's in the office on Fridays, which is far more convenient for me, and I like that he's barely 5 feet tall, has adult braces, and is a UCLA grad (because you know I wouldn't go see a Trojan doctor. NOT TO BE TRUSTED.)

Last night Tim and I met up with Don and Eileen at their friend Kathi's house in Irvine. Kathi is permanently moving up to her zany chicken farm in Central California, and is selling her house, and many of the possessions within. We got to preview the garage sale and steal things at random. View the bounty:

From right to left: a cake plate with lid, a cake plate without lid, a cute little bowl, two cookbooks, a fabulous cookbook stand, and a Queen Elizabeth pitcher. That fabulous piece of porcelain was marked at $25, but for us, Kathi was willing to make a deal. And by deal, I mean she just gave it to us. HOW AWESOME IS KATHI? Very awesome. We are trying to find the appropriate place in the house to make sure the Queen is reverently displayed, in a fashion fitting her majesty.

Speaking of decorating, this is on our mantle and makes me laugh every time I walk by. The vase on the right is mom's - she brought it over because I've often admired it. The vase on the left is mine - a gift from a friend a few years ago. The pinecone mom left in the kitchen for me once after doing yardwork, and I thought it deserved to be displayed. This is how the Thiel girls decorate.

Have we discussed what a beautiful job mom is doing with our yard? I mean, I have helped a teensy tiny bit, but she deserves all of the credit. Check out her work - when we moved in, that planter box was EMPTY.


She also planted some of my favorite flowers under what we think of as Mr. Kay's tree. Mom feels like his family must have sprinkled some of his ashes under it before they left. If it's true, he's been very nice about sharing his house and yard with us. We appreciate it.

This morning we undertook a whole house scrub down. Another small thing I miss about renting is that it took us way less time to clean our tiny, crappy little apartment. But with teamwork, it didn't take too long, and I always feel better when everything is neat and tidy. Tim even used an attachment to vacuum all of the cat hair off of our comforter. The sad thing is that this place will look like a dump in fifteen minutes, once the cats finish shedding off another layer of fur. They are just asking to get shaved! I do love our house though. I feel so lucky that we live here.

Tonight Tim and I are heading up to UCLA to see "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." A comedy tonight!

We're definitely glad to have the little comedy break. We found out this morning that family friends lost their month old baby daughter to bacterial meningitis last night. We've been keeping Brad and Shannon in our thoughts and are so sorry to hear about their loss. It puts life a lot more clearly in focus, and makes us want to give all of our loved ones the hugest hugs we possibly can.