every part of my body seems to be stretching to the point of collapse. everything except my brain, that is. i’m not sure what’s happening in the old noggin, but i’m willing to guess it’s not pretty. can this explain my blogging absence? or should we attribute it to the extreme cold? (really. it is extremely cold.)

and. for those of you who read this blog because you know me and care about what happens to me and mine, here’s the GPR update. joe’s top program (iowa) pulled out of the match this year–so we heard on wednesday that joe was accepted! however, in a stab of roullette not very characteristic for either of us, joe turned down the acceptance. yes, that’s right. we’re going to play the match game and see if we can catch a place in denver or ann arbor. the match doesn’t come out until january 26th, so we’ve got a few (minor) things on our plates before then.

we also passed another milestone. the books i checked out of the library today aren’t due until after the baby’s “due date.” (i say “due date” because i don’t believe such things actually exist. really, who are we to tell a little fetus person when he/she is ready to be born–especially when doctors still don’t even understand what starts labor. that said, i wouldn’t mind if this baby came out on her “due date.” or sooner. sooner would be fine too. i don’t think there’s room for the two of us in here.)

and lastly, i found a recipe for russian cabbage soup that made my day. i’ve tried to make this soup a number of times but i never hit it quite right. now i know what i was doing wrong. sauerkraut! it’s genius. i highly recommend this on a cold winter night. especially if you have a strange, inexplicable affinity for cabbage.