curious aside

Party Neighbor

2012-01-18T18:21:00.001-06:00

Every now and again I profile a neighbor. Party neighbor is not the "hey we had a rockin' time at his house" kind of party. Party Neighbor is the flag waving, love my candidate kind of party. He's super huge supporter of what we call the "Bull Party" because their logo is a red background with a black pull. I can't remember the letter abbreviation at the moment but their number is 28, I think. Every political party has a number here and I think it has to do with their position on the ballot, but I'm not clear on that entirely. No matter, we're getting side tracked from the fun that is Party Neighbor.

Party Neighbor renovated a very derelict house a few years ago. There was a tree growing through the roof of the thing. His family started the renovation process and went fast and furious on raising it the house and really making it into a nice home. They made some style choices that to a western eye are absolutely crazy but they aren't western people. They put their water tank high and in the corner of their house, just like ours, it's a tower. It's THE WORST PLACE to put a water tank. It's nearly physically impossible to get to later on when you need to clean it or put a flapper in it. Their garage is super weird; it doesn't look like it holds a car but it does. Just.

When Party Neighbor moved in, he scowled a lot. He would walk the streets of our neighborhood and sometimes, just our street and scowl. He looked at everything very suspiciously. Then our neighborhood started getting bumper stickered in party stickers. They stick these things to anything that doesn't move. Then the party flag would go up at his house, like all the time. Very strange. No one in our neighborhood is very outwardly political or patriotic.

Over time he has mellowed. His son is growing up and his wife and family can be seen a bit more often. They have a dog now. He still walks the neighborhood but he doesn't scowl anymore. He definitely seems more at home. But now he has bumper stickered the front of his own house. And he has had some word stickers made that he has also stuck to the front of his house. They are party slogans. What's funny is that they are behind the trees and the wall so no one else can see them.

My favorite Party Neighbor story though is the celebration of holidays. It's customary here for each party or major business to put up a sign for whatever holiday wishing people success and happy whatever the day happens to be. It's normally with a picture of whatever predominant candidate is supporting it. Party Neighbor gets one of these banners for each holiday. Huge, raise it high above the street banners. And the banner inevitably goes in front of the house that is directly across the street from his house. No one lives in that house because it's low and get flooded with the rains. Party Neighbor puts up his banner sometime about 5:00a.m. They sits in front of his house and looks at it. Throughout the day you'll find Party Neighbor looking at his banner. Just staring at it. Not interfering with anyone else, or passing out literature. Just staring at his party banner.

tired

2012-01-07T07:53:00.001-06:00

My eyes are tired. I think I am tired. It's been a bit of day and its Saturday. I hate it when Saturday becomes a day. I finally really decided today that I have to fire my houseworker. It's been coming for a while- like shortly after I realized that she was working here full time I realized this relationship wasn't ideal. Since we've been back it's been WAY less than ideal. She sleeps about an hour a day and then moves at snail pace. Actually, that isn't fair to the snails. This week after speaking to her about how sleeping when you're at work isn't acceptable, she was grumpy. And slower. On Friday, in the 6 hours she was here, she swept, mopped, washed dishes, wiped down a window, wiped off the dining room table and cleaned the bathroom. That is 6 hours. So yeah, slow. It's all we've been able to talk about since we came back. And today I realized, as we were talking this over for the 100 billionth time, I need to fire my houseworker. The thing is she has no other real income and I think she leads a fairly unhappy existence. I hate that I'm going to make that worse. And that is what has kept her employed for 2 years. But it's so inevitable. So I talked with a friend today. She kind of helped me remember that this isn't the first time we've had this conversation and I kind of need to get it together, bite the bullet and get the job done. This helped a lot. After that conversation I have a lot more peace about what I need to say and why. It helps to have a friend that has walked a rode before. So that is what I'm doing on Monday.

I took @ around to swim lessons today. It was raining which always seems like a reason for a child not to go swimming but here its kind of the other way around. Unless its lighting, which it normally isn't, you should go swimming. Its normally still fairly warm and you're getting wet anyway. So @ went swimming and he loves it. It was good to see his teacher again. He's a nice fellow. A school teacher. And I can tell that he would be a great teacher too. I liked watching them together. Then dark cloud came rolling in and I got a little panicky. I looked around and no one else seemed bothered. And I realized for the first time why I get effecte by these dark clouds and no one else does- I'm from the Midwest. Dark clouds barreling in with a pickup in wind means a nasty storm is coming. You could have a tornado. You should go to your basement or sit in the bathtub. Dark clouds mean none of those things here. There is no tornado, no basement and no bathtub and nasty storms are super unusual. So I got over it, I pushed aside my Midwestern-ness.

! cried going to bed tonight. It scares me when she cries too long at bedtime. I begin to see the wee hours of the morning and she's still crying and we're not able to consol her and she's wailing and no one will ever sleep ever again. Our trip back here was a little like that. ! has a banshee wail that sounds like the same cry another child would give when you cut off a leg. But now she's quiet. She did cry for 20 minutes on and off though. Normally its more like 3. I have irrational fears sometimes. I don't know where she get the high drama from…

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T18:01:00.007-06:00

Forts were in Santa's sleigh this year for the kids at our house. Some months ago I saw this on pinterest and thought @ needed a reading nook. I put it in the back of my mind as something I could probably put together without a problem once we returned home. Jonathan saw it and he wanted one too (who doesn't?). So once we were home he started searching out the best size pipe and tweeking the design a bit.
A friend of ours had to get a new fridge a few weeks back. They kept the box thinking perfect ! fort. A day or two before Christmas we cut into it, opened up an end and put a porthole in the top. We been finding both children inside of it and ! has decided its her secret lair for things she knows she's not supposed to have- like daddy's day planner.

What we thought was going to be the BIG surprise of christmas was kind of a yay, middle surprise. Someone at church was selling their Wii that they didn't use much. So we jumped on it- this was back in the summer. We brought it back here, put it in the drawer and finally got it out for Christmas. I'm happy to have the drawer back. The Wii is ok. Our 7 yr. old @ can be a bit of a no it all because he's played the Wii before but he learned from 4 yr old, which increasingly becomes obvious as he really needs to settle down a listen to directions. The first day was full of us wondering why we had brought this evil to our house. The second day was much better. Jonathan and I learned to use it a bit, set up the internet connection so we can read the morning news. Last evening we played bowling and tennis and it was a little like being on a date. So we're learning to enjoy it and @ is learning to be patient with himself as he learns to play games- he was a great bowler though!

I'll get a finished product picture of the fort in his room later but this is the fort with his stocking underneath. The design on the site we saw had the fort entirely wrapped with sheeting. No way were we doing that here- way too hot! My first idea was to take some material and use binder clips on the sides, or to hot glue the fabric stretched over the top. Jonathan remembered this sheet set we were given- its roughly a queen size sheet but the elastic fit perfectly over the corners.

cookbooks and crockpots

2011-09-30T08:09:00.002-05:00

So we've been in the US over a year and the date of our departure is still fluid (that's a nice way of saying we have no clue). We've been trying to use our time well and be thoughtful of what we leave in storage. So we've been packing over a series of months, partly because we have thought more than once our departure is pending and partly because we have a policy of work avoidance. We'd much rather procrastinate decision making. But now we are getting down to it. The easy stuff has been decided. Towels we obviously keep. Clothes and books that must go back home with us. For some things its clear we leave it hear. I have small kitchen appliances, pots, pans, baking things that all stay in the states in case the next time we're here we don't have a furnished home. But a few of my appliances I knew were nearing there last leg when we came home and I've kind of decided to kill them just so we don't have to store them any longer.

My mixer is a fine example of deliberate kill. My wrists don't stir heavy things anymore. Anything requiring kneading or heavy stirring - like cookie dough, I pull out the mixer. Thus the paddles of my hand held mixer don't stay locked in anymore= Pitch. My crockpot has been wonky for months. I pulled it out the other day to give it once last go. It tried to burn a hole through the counter top and didn't cook the beef stew after 7 hours = Pitch. My blender continues to serve well. I blend all of !'s food, grind grain, and make frozen smoothies all the time. Blender = Keep! My coffee grinder. Given to me by someone I worked at wal-mart with who died too young. The coffee grinder always makes me smile because of the memory of the friend and the fact that I love the coffee. Still serves faithfully = wrap back in the original box, pat it on its top and place kindly back in the rubbermaid, look forward to seeing it again in 3 or 4 years.

Cookbooks have been harder to decide. I have 4 that are my favorite Go To's. Simply in Season, More with Less, Extending the Table and Madhur Jaffery's Indian. I adore these. More With Less gets repurchased and given away everytime we're stateside. I have a copy at home that stays there. The Indian Cookbook, Simply in Season and Extending the Table go back and forth. The other cookbooks are hangers on from by gone eras. 2 from Eureka IL, where we lived when we were first married. They have very americana recipes in them. Things with Cream of Mushroom soup, spaghetti noodles, cream cheese or cool whip. I don't make anything out of them often but I keep them as unusual treat books for the states. I have an Asian cookbook that has helped me keep current on my language but I don't cook out of often in the states because the ingredients here aren't quite the same. And then there is Jonathan's cookbook contribution to our marriage. A source of constant disgust and debate. This cookbook I think came from his high school PTA and the recipes are a riddle of mistakes and false starts. Completely confusing. Its small but the repeats are ridiculous. 8 recipes for Broccolli Casserole. 4 for Monkey Bread. 3 for Avanti's Bread. And they are the SAME RECIPE but from different ladies. I have one recipe I pull out of it and Jonathan has one too. I've written it elsewhere and I ask Jonathan if we can part with it. No, its a memory. So it goes back into storage and lives to fight another day. But we won't be counting as a cookbook any longer as it really provides no instructive cooking advice.

Baby Food How to

2011-09-26T08:33:00.001-05:00

In general my baby fooding goes something like this:

1. Find super deal on whatever is in season or on sale. So at the grocery, if there are carrots on sale, carrots we buy. At the farmers market, zuchini seems to always be a good buy. Eggplant too.

2. Take it home and wash it good. I've been washing most things in baking soda, it seems to take off some of that waxy film. I scrub them down from there.

3. For the most part I try to leave skins on or at least partially. I chop things into chunks that will steam up pretty well. If its potatos, hard winter squash or eggplant, they go in a slow roasting oven and I use the oven heat to make dinner with too. For green beans, spinach, peas etc they go in the top of the steamer. I steam things one right after the other, making a pretty rich broth in the bottom. Don't steam brocolli or asparagus with other veg, they make for a rather strong flavored, sometimes bitter broth.

4. I separate each of these things into separate bowls to cool while the next thing steams. So while carrots are in the steamer, green beans are being stemmed and spinach has just come out of the steamer and is cooling in a bowl.

5. Now we get out the blender and start blending. Its better if you have a food processor but I don't so the blender it is. Dump in the veg, either whole or portions and start blending. Add a little bit of your broth as you blend to keep things moving through the blender.

***If you're introducing baby to a new food don't steam that veg with the veg baby has already had. You want to make sure you know what baby is getting when in case you come across an allergy. So for the new veg, make sure you keep that broth separate. I rinse my blender between veg to keep things separate. Again you want to make sure you know what the reaction is to something new. ***

6. Rinse your blender between veg and put blended veg aside in a separate bowl.

7. Now get out a bunch of old ice cube trays. Best to have made ice a day ahead of time, otherwise your husband may wonder why there is no ice and no ice cube trays. Spoon blended veg into ice cube trays. Its good to wrap them in plastic wrap too. Freeze

8. When you have trays full of frozen veggie cubes, get out your sharpie and quart size freezer bags. Write when and what that baggie is for, seal it up and Ta-Da, you have baby food for a while.

When its time for baby's breakfast, lunch or dinner, grab out the cubes you want. Pop them in the microwave to defrost a minute. I add cereal to most of !'s food. But the mix is all up to you. If you microwave the cubes, stir them around and give them a minute to cool, no burning baby. If you are going out for the day, put the cubes in a bowl and they'll be thawed out when you're ready for them.

For chicken and beef, make sure you boil or roast them through. No rare meats for baby. For beef, I roast stewing beef with carrots, potato, onion and sweet potato. You could crock pot it. Beef takes some high powered blending and a lot of added water or broth. Be patient with it.

Something to take note of- Americans tend to serve bland food to baby. For the most part, there isn't a reason for this. Baby has been tasting spices in the womb. I put cinnamon in baby! applesauce, rosemary in the chicken and bay leaf in the beef. But that's up to you. Just something to think of.

Ode to baby food making

2011-09-26T08:29:00.001-05:00

The last few weeks have been full of false starts and getting our hopes up only to be put on hold again. It's been frustrating. One of the things that has made me feel good when I begin to feel sorry that we haven't been able to take our children back to their real home and we haven't started real school yet for @ (and next week is October!) is making baby food for baby !. I made baby food when @ was a baby. In fact back then I had a cookbook of baby food recipes, hints and tricks. When @ was a baby, the cloth diapering made me feel like a better mom on the days when we were uncertain about where we would be living. Something about a clothesline full of bright white cloth diapers made me happy. But with ! its baby food.

The summer has been nice for buying fruit and veg at farmer's market. We have a nice one in the town I'm living near. Both Saturday and Wednesday at the fair grounds and then during the other days I can go around to the road side stands. We've been hit or miss with staying in town so the roadside stand guy has gotten a bit of my business. It's nice to be able to buy a silly amount of zuchini or peaches and then process them at home into whatever I want. As a family we've eaten a fair amount of zuchini this summer and then I've steamed alot to put into the blender for !.

A few weeks ago we were getting ready for a road trip. We go on a lot of those these days. And when on road trips by and large we use jarred baby food. It's hard to travel with a bunch of frozen cubes for an extended length of time in the car. Eventually even sweet potato cubes melt. So I was in the store reading labels and trying to think of what we had introduced ! to and what we hadn't and what she was ready for. This is a huge memory task while being overwhelmed by the grocery experience. So I'm there forever. Young mothers (I'm guessing still in high school) come through and she begins grabbing all manner of things and I overhear her talking with girlfriends (also High School age) about the expense and how silly it seems, certainly baby food making has to be easier. I couldn't help explaining to her in like 3 sentences that really it is super easy. Like if you can boil water, you can make baby food. She's a young girl, there are a lot of ways for her to spend her money and it seems like a cart of baby food just isn't it. I wanted to tell her to come home with me and we could whip some up straight away but I resisted my own oddity. Here's hoping she went through and bought a fresh vegetable, boiled it and blended it.

Yeah, I love Libraries

2011-09-26T08:11:00.001-05:00

Toronto Public Library's Human Library Project

Flipping through Pinterest and found this. Now my wheels are turning about a fun new way to get me out of the house and visiting with people (preferably over coffee, i'm much better with a cup of coffee).

The college reading list

2011-09-06T07:22:00.001-05:00

When I was in High School, I somehow got place in the Honors English Section. I really have no idea how it happened. And straight away I should mention that it sounds like a bigger deal than it is- it really wasn't a big deal. I was a pretty average student and a very average writer, especially for high school students- I mean the drivel that comes out of high school students- ICK! But the Honor's English program was full of these very intense women teaching English. Seriously intense. At some point during freshman honors english, Mrs. Neal handed out the reading list for college bound readers. UGH! So I'm a rule follower and I'm obsessive and now I feel like to be a good person, to be able to breathe the free air I must read all of these books. I think there were 50 or 100 of them. Now, I like to read, don't get me wrong. I always have. But I am a SLOW reader. I just am. I was a slow reader in the second grade. I was a year behind in reading and I knew I was behind but I kind of enjoyed talking to my neighbor more than reading in school. Now I'm given this reading list and I think we were supposed to pick a book off the list, read it and compare it to something. And in my head I realize, she doesn't want us to read 1 book now I have to read 2- and there is this time frame and I'm a little intense and obsessive myself and so immediately I get up inside my head and I'm never going to finish this assignment. I did but the whole time I was crazy uptight. Throughout high school these crazy intense women kept coming at us with this reading list, which I quickly started looking at as a list of reasons I'm never going to get into college. Now nevermind the fact that each time I read one of the books off this list I found that I had a new favorite book (I'm not giving these crazy intense ladies the satisfaction of knowing that they did their job- i'm resentful like that). Oh, except for Jane
Eyre and Ethan
Fromme, I'm still damaged from having to plod through them both. Ethan
Fromme really does take the cake for the WORST book I've ever read and the fact that Mrs. Wheeler thought it was worthy of teaching is beyond understanding. How many good books did she pass over to make us spend 2 weeks on Ethan
Fromme?

Fastforward to present day, I went to University and did just fine. I, like a large number of college graduates, am doing something completely unrelated to my field of study, which of course had nothing to do with Ethan
Fromme or many of the books on the college bound reading list. But still I think I have a copy of the reading list and still I'm working my way through it. I read other stuff but I always come back to it when I'm looking for a book to read. My husband (who happens to be an English Professor and is a little crazy intense when it comes to books)sometimes asks me what I'm going to read, or what I am reading and inevitably its off the list. I explained this to him once and he said those lists are entirely subjective. They are put together by publishers and organizations to suit their own agendas. This just aggrivated me. He pulls out all kinds of different lists. Now I have all of these lists to read off of! A few of my real all time favorite books are on the list To Kill a Mockingbird is probably my favorite still and I was made to read it by my Sophomore Honors English Teacher. My favorite author however is often not on the lists, any of them. I adore Graham Greene. Never read anything I didn't love from Graham Greene. I've found that I love G. K. Chesteron - The Man Who was Thursday is wonderful.

So since buying my Nook at christmas I've been uploading the list. What's fabulous is that by and large, the list is free because they are old books that no one wants to spend money on. If I pay money its .99$, which means I can buy lots of books. The problem is that the list is as full of great books as it ever was. It keeps me up at night and the Nook doesn't loose my place and I don't need a bookmark and I can read in bed at 2:00a.m. when I can't get back to sleep after baby ! woke me up. I find myself thinking more of those crazy Honors English Ladies and growling. What were they thinking of?

Grandma took the 6yr old to a rated R movie

2011-08-02T09:04:00.001-05:00

My mom likes to take @ for special grandma/ grandson times, so when she comes we normally try to think of a time for them to do something special together. We hadn't seen Cars 2 yet and neither had she so that seemed like a reasonable date. The only time to see it was Monday at 11:25- I guess its been in the theater a month and so there aren't a lot of theaters that are showing it at multiple times. This AMC was showing it only the one time on Monday. Mom needed to leave from the theater so we took two cars and @ got to ride in mom's sporty red Jetta. We got to the theater early so we drove around to the Dick's Sporting Goods (jonathan needed to pick up something to strap down the kayak to the van). Mom and @ played ball and when we got to the front to leave the staff suggested we wait a bit, apparently someone had committed suicide by gun in front of the movie theater. Yeah, the movie theater we were going to. So we waited a bit. Turns out it wasn't in front of the theater but just off to the side. The fire trucks were leaving and the ambulance had left so we pulled to the far side of the theater and dismissed it with @ as "probably an accident happened". He wasn't thinking much about it because hey we're going to see Cars 2! We got into the theater, mom and @ climbed toward the top of the theater, Jonathan and I took the wheelchair accessible seats to give ! a spot to roll around. The previews started. "The Change Up" a PG-13 movie. Lots of language and sexual content. Um…really? Cars 2? My 6 yr old? "30 Minutes or Less". Rated R, lots of language, lots of "adult situations". I especially appreciated the "Rape kit" scene. Yeah, um…Cars 2? Jonathan and I are fuming. My mom's covering @'s eyes and ears. "Crazy Stupid Love". Lots of adult situations. Thankfully its rated PG-13, which is an improvement. Jonathan walks up to take @ out and the preview for "Saw Dogs" (I think that's the title) very Rated R. Jonathan is having a conversation with the manager about G Rated movies and G Rated previews. The manager apologizes profusely and is clearly confused, "Normally we are very careful to make sure that previews are appropriate to the movie." Yeah, not so much today. "50/50" is previewed, the best we can hope for. I think its PG-13. I wouldn't have flinched too much, there wasn't sex or much in the way of language, just kind of an adult subject matter movie with the young man getting cancer. Another preview starts "Friends with Benefits" and I'm thinking we're going to watch previews for everything that is rated R coming out in the next year! Wow, this is an adult movie. 100% you shouldn't have your 6 yr. old in this movie. Another dad goes out to complain and comes back with the explanation "they put in the wrong movie." Nice, thanks guys. Movie stops, because in fact we were watching friends with benefits. Groan of relief from the audience. Manager comes in to beg apology and says "We'll have free movie passes for you after the movie." A few minutes later Cars 2 starts, with its very family friendly previews. Previews like "Happy Feet 2". Thank you. Cars 2 was a fine movie. I love Pixar. Ideally I could do without the guns but its ok. He's 6, nearly 7 and we've seen gun movies. It wasn't Pixar's best but Pixar are on not as good of a day is still better than many other kid movies very best day. I've found that I can take @ to a Pixar movie without pre-screening it because they are going to be family friendly movies. Now maybe next time, I'll prescreen the movie theater.

An Open Letter to Washington from Your Mother

2011-07-14T06:33:00.002-05:00

I've been listening to your goings on enough. All I've heard for weeks is arguing and complaining. The last time I talked with you both, all I heard was blaming. Now enough! You two need to sit down and be kind to one another. If I hear one more time about you two not geting on. One more rude interrupting. One more blame. One more "he said". One more "everything is his fault". I will come up there and knock both of your heads together. Now sit down. Treat each other kindly and respectfully. Start thinking of other people. You are both so busy in thinking of your own selfish selves you haven't stopped to think about other people. Now hush it and get to work. And if you don't, so help me I will come up there.

Make mom and dad proud.
All our love,
Mom

P.S. Clean your room.

benchmarks

2011-07-03T08:50:00.001-05:00

I have these ideas of time. I work out a balance in my head of easy/ hard, good/ bad, desireable/ less desireable and then I work out how I can few time in relationship. I think everyone does this. When we first came back to the states, I went shopping and decided I could buy the big shampoo and the big conditioner. I had long hair and we were in the states until April. No problem. I can definitely use that. I did that with lots of things. Whole wheat flour (buy the 10 lb bag), spices (go ahead and buy the big one). Around Christmas I started to have a bit more hesitancy. I was thinking that maybe the smaller size was a better choice for things we couldn't bring back to Asia. So I started buying the 5lb bag of flour and not replacing spices that didn't really seem as necessary. So we lived that way until March. Kind of wondering, living on hold.

We made a plan to take @ out of school at the end of March when the school let out for spring break. We scheduled a last round of visits in April. We started packing things we didn't feel as necessary. I bought some of the things we wanted to take back with us. As the end of March approached, we had heard nothing about our return to Asia, we decided it was better to keep @ in school for consistency. I had to rethink the buying of the big shampoo again. We made a few tentative appointments for May. I decided the week of the Spring Carnival that I could volunteer for a post. I told the lady at church that I could bring meals for families in May. We packed a bit more. Winter clothes could go to goodwill.

June approached. We still had nothing in the way of a timeline. We packed up my dishes, our pictures; less of the "us-ness" in the house we're borrowing. We realized there are a few odds and end things we haven't done in the states. Our brother and sister said "come stay in our beach cottage" Sounded good, we didn't have another plan. So we went and had a lovely holiday. We signed @ up for the book club at the library. We made plans to see a few friends and go around to family reunions. But still, we couldn't make plans for the 4^th of July. Surely we'd have something. Jon's aunt asked us to come to FL with her family in late July, we had to beg off. We had to believe that we would be back in Asia by that time.

I ran out of salsa earlier this week. I decided that if I bought the big jar of expensive salsa, maybe our visas would come through just to spite my frivolous excess. I also decided to make a big jar of coffee concentrate, I'm experiencing an iced coffee revival.

Last night I sat and watched fireworks with friends. It was a lovely evening. They put on quite a show (Indiana has great firework laws). But underlying the whole thing is the feeling that I shouldn't be here.

I think for this 4^th of July I'll sit and watch fireworks with my expensive salsa and iced coffee.

Sunscreen

2011-06-09T09:52:00.001-05:00

I went down some weeks ago to see my sister in New Orleans. It was sunny and warm, at least warmer; Indiana had been rather cool at that point. To celebrate this new found warmth, we broke out the shorts, t-shirts and, for !, sundresses. I had bought a fair number of sundresses for ! thinking we would be back in our home in Indonesia by the first of May. Needless to say, I had been itching to put ! in a sundress. So our first day in NOLA, ! came down in a strappy blue plaid sundress. WE were off to the zoo and I thought it the perfect thinking. My pretty little niece is 2 and has the most charming blond ringlets and ivory skin. My sister had the same fair skin but L seem to have taken it a step farther. Jennifer has long kept herself slathered in sunscreen and wearing hats and the same goes for L. No irresponsible sundresses for this little girl. But I realized Jennifer was right, a day in NOLA sun, my kids should wear sunscreen. So we all applied and put on hats. And then while inside a building we reapplied. The kids did a pretty good job at keeping their hats on during the course of the day.

When we got home, I took a wash rag to @ & ! and it was time for naps and quiet time. Later that evening, we looked over the kids. @ & ! were still their white selves. @'s nose and cheeks were a bit red but that happens anytime he's excited or hot (his grandma does it to the point of looking worrisome). Little L was bright pink all over. It reminded me of my sister as a girl. But then I remembered that Jennifer had very diligently and thoroughly covered this girl in sunscreen, maybe 3 times. Jennifer said she just can't seem to keep ahead of it. The only answer she's really found is sunscreen with long sleeves, which hardly seems fair in the pretty NOLA sun.

We talked about sunscreens. I like Neutrogena and Aveeno for my face. Jennifer has researched out sunscreens that have high percentages of zinc oxide, which seems to block the sun the best for her fair skin. Happy Housewife shops at uvskinz.com. She says they make durable spf clothes that keep the spf rating. Jennifer is thinking of taking stock for little L if it works. I bought sun hats from them for all of us. I like that the hat has a drawstring to cinch it tight to your head on windy days. I'm hoping the sun hat keeps from burnt ears and forehead, my most common burn spots.

Free writing

2011-06-09T06:24:00.001-05:00

Jonathan and I went to a homeschool conference back in April. We figured it might be good to gather up some ideas before @ really gets into the upper grades of elementary. We did homeschool kindergarten and it went ok. So we attended sessions on different things. I wanted to feel a bit more secure about Math and Reading in particular and I wanted to generate a bit more focus in the way of art and music. @ loves art and music and I feel bad that I don't have more focus. Anyway the art and music workshops didn't generate a lot of ideas. I needed more focus on early elementary than art history for high school/ college prep. I think I was able to generate some of my own ideas while listening in the workshops so the brainstorming was worth it. The math workshop made me embrace Singapore Math all the more and the reading workshop encouraged me that @ is doing just fine.

Jonathan and I saw a workshop on Saturday morning for writing. I had been to a writing workshop earlier in the conference and I was thinking on filling in the gaps. The first writing workshop was really excellent and encouraging. We woke up early, dressed, tried not to disturb anybody and hustled to this workshop. I was so ready for it be wonderful like the first one. Jonathan was ready for it to be wonderful, he didn't go to the first one with me. It wasn't. In fact it was completely AWFUL! It was antithetical to everything Jonathan and I believe about writing. No kidding. One of the suggestions was to stand over the new writing child and correct with every mistake. Literally every mistake. Crazy.

So for example. "The cat sat."

When child start to write the 't' , if child doesn't make upper case 'T', we send back to the beginning.

This is dictation so when child misspells "The", we send him back straight away to correct it.

When child start 'cat' and the 'c' is too close to the 'the' well, we make that child erase and give proper space.

We've corrected child 3 times and they haven't gotten to the second word! Crazy! And this is going to make my child want to write? No, actually that isn't the goal necessarily. The child may never like to write (quite obviously) but they should have to do it correctly.

Oh and what's better, we should do this kind of correction every time child puts pencil to paper. Every time! Even for fill in the blank science! And so Jonathan and I are scoffing silently in the back. I'm only half paying attention so that I don't end up throwing a chair. Jonathan as a writing teacher is at once dumbfounded and angry. So during this someone asks about journal writing. And the speaker lets off on journal writing. It's pointless. It's a waste of time. Scowling and muttering takes over for the Moore's. She just told a roomful of homeschooling parents that their child writing out their own ideas is pointless and counterproductive. Great, thanks for that. A generation of kids we don't need to worry about blogging I suppose. What bothers me more are all the women (homeschool writing workshops are 75 % women) writing this down. Well by the end of session, Jonathan and I were grumpy. Getting an elevator was a grumpifying process (more on that another time). I went and got expensive coffee and we agreed the next foreign language workshop would be better.

The foreign language workshop was better. It was great. The room was crowded. The speaker was electric. Jonathan shed his grump and I was on my way until my eye happened to see the notes of the woman next to me "Journal writing is a waste of time." In big letters on the middle of her page. My blood pressure shot up and my expensive good coffee was gone. Grumpy all over again.

All this to say, every afternoon @ and I will be journal writing. Why? Because it's pointless? Because I want @ to learn to enjoy the process of reflection. The process of refining. To see progression. I'm a believer in practice makes progress. It also means I get to practice my writing as well. Thus more blog entries riddled with grammar and punctuation errors that maybe I won't go back and fix!

This started out to be a comment

2011-05-16T16:04:00.001-05:00

A few minutes ago I was reading a friend's blog post about her need for a schedule. She was saying she needed schedule and she is typically pretty resistant to it. I was thinking about it while balancing ! on my lap and glancing over at the Verizon bill that I just received and wanted to write a check for and I was remembering that I hadn't yet put a new book of checks in the check book so that would need to be done first and I was noticing that the table (and its surroundings) are a MESS from ! sitting, grabbing, and dropping. Then suddenly in a fit of energy I put ! in her bouncy chair, which she promptly shouted her dismay about, I picked up her toys from the table area. I put away a few things @ had left laying in the dumping ground of the table. I grabbed up a few papers that had been left out following some phone calls I had made previously. I picked up a few papers from my doctor's appointment earlier in the day. I took a few burp cloths back to the laundry room and realized we have a few things laying on the laundry room floor and they needed to be washed. I threw it all in and started the washer. I realized the rug on the laundry room floor had been moved, I picked it up to straighten it and the dirt all fell on the floor. Grabbed the broom and swept the kitchen floor and the laundry room. Saw some recycling, put it in the recycling bin. Remembered I needed a pen to write that Verizon Check with. Its in my planner and my planner wasn't in the exact place it belonged (I'm surprisingly exacting). The place was full of letover stuff from the weekend. I cleared my space and put it all in its place. ! has stopped crying, need to keep moving because quiet time is golden. The dishes need to be put away. While putting away the dishes, I see a bag with a half slice of pumpkin bread in it, munch pumpkin bread, clean out the coffee maker. Think about my husband and what I could do for him to help him today. Finish putting away dishes which he has washed. Think that I would get in a serious tussle with anyone who thought they might have a better husband than mine (a serious throw down even, my husband is that wonderful). Decide to lay out a few things for dinner this week that I know my husband would like. Not for tonight though. Realize I have free minute, I could write a blog. Come to write a blog. Stopped midway through a write that check. New checks with that carbon copy thing- interesting. Think about making rice pudding for my @ again- he likes rice pudding and I have leftover rice. Come back to finish writing the blog and the lady on the TV says she is making a rice pudding too. Indian rice pudding… hmm sounds good. Realize that I've rambled through another blog post and need to get moving towards something else. I do believe in a 15 minute clean. Now ! is bouncing again- she woke up from her 20 minute nap. Rice pudding, yeah…

Easter Dresses

2011-04-24T14:40:00.003-05:00

This morning as I was getting ! ready for church I realized that I hadn't bought her (or made her, for that matter) a special easter dress. She's growing like a weed and I've just been keeping up at keeping her in any clothes at all. I went around a few weeks ago and bought a bunch of summery dresses for our trip to New Orleans and pending our return home but I hadn't thought specifically of Easter. As I was grabbing for her pants and onesie, I thought better of it and pulled out one of her pink dresses. Still, it was cold so I went ahead and slid on some pink pants.

When I was a girl, my sister and I always had Easter dresses. They were made by my grandma or by mom. They were fiercely impractical for Easter but I've come to realize that that is something of a rule. I remember many Easters of waking up at crazy silly hours (something like 5a.m. a lot of years), dressing quickly and off to church for Easter Sunrise Service. We had to be there early because mom was always helping with the breakfast. And then the WORST thing possible would routinely happen. The pastor would get the inspiration that we needed to have Easter Sunrise communion outside. Easter in Illinois typically means morning temperature in the upper 40s. Trotting outside to stand in a circle for communion is all good and well for men- they're dressed in pants and shoes without holes. Women and girls are dressed in thin cotton dresses and sandals. We could have woolen stockings on and it would still be freezing. So, yeah, I have bad memories of singing an extra chorus of He is Risen while freezing. Yes, I could have worn a coat, but the coatrack isn't in the path of the door and its encouraged that we all go out together. Terrible. Freezing.

I've learned something over the years though. Easter rolls around and women find new dresses, new sandals, shed stockings and coats. And there we have it. Women traipsing into the church with no sleeves. Girls with poofy dresses as blue as the ribbon on their dress. Numb, the whole lot. And so again, I wore a skirt and sandals. I did have the good sense to put on a sweater. Instead of little pink bloomers, ! got a footy pants under her dress.

Easter was a hard day all the way around. We were at church for Sunrise service. Then breakfast, then regular church and Sunday School. We were allowed a bit of candy from our Easter basket but by time we got home we were hungry and had the sugar shakes. Then after lunch we ate more candy. I associate Easter with feeling vaguely sick from being too tired and having too much sugar. Easter normally meant that I was in trouble by 4:30 in the afternoon.

So this morning I allowed @ one piece of candy and made him sit for a solid breakfast. Then there was no more candy until after a solid lunch and then candy intake has been limited. I've given him plastic Easter eggs with candy which I'm hoping encourage portion control. So far, so good. We'll see.

Death and Dying

2011-03-20T13:31:00.001-05:00

I was in elementary school when my mom went back to school for her masters in social work. She had all kinds of classes with strange boring names. She was gone a few nights a week but when she was home her evenings were spent with her nose in a book. Stacks of books, a highlighter and her reading gasses sat next to her rocking chair. Most of the titles I don't remember- they really were obscure but I remember one clearly. The title, Death and Dying. Yeah, sounds like great reading. It was a thick book and mom trudged through it seemingly forever. I was like 9 so everything seemed forever. Bu Death and Dying made me alternately laugh and feel just a bit sad and curious.

I was 6 when my Grandpa died. I don't remember much about it really. I spent the day with my sister at Nancy and James' house (Grandma's neighbors). Grandpa had a heart attack. Mom and Grandma spent the day at the hospital and then with the funeral home I think. The funeral was lots of people I didn't really know. I was bored- remember I was 6. It didn't really occur to me at the time. Grandpa was gone a bit to work and mostly my days were spent with Grandma. Over the next few weeks it set in a bit more. Grandpa wasn't there for walking through the garden. For sitting in his rocker. For catching fireflies on summer evenings. His absence was out of place to me. It was unfamiliar.

My Grandma died the end of January. She had been ill and in quite declining health for some time. To some extent it's a blessing that she is no longer trapped in her illness. But she was different than Grandpa. He died quite suddenly on a summer day. Grandma went through a process of dying. Overtime she died. And it made me remember that Death and Dying book.

At the time that Grandma died, I was really overcome with relief. Really, she had been ill and doctors weren't helping. Just new meds and new side effects but still not Grandma. But over the weeks I've been missing her. My computer screen saver shuffles through all the pictures on the hard drive. Every now and again Grandma scrolls up. Grandma with @ on her lap, laughing. Grandma watching @ play with a puppy. Mom and Grandma eating pie together. Grandma holding !. And then in my mind's eye… Grandma with Jennifer and I at the beach in Shelbyville- splashing in the water. Grandma and I eating picnic in the backyard. Grandma making lunch for me after kindergarten. Waiting for me to finish my times tables at the kitchen table. Finding jars for fireflies. Walking to see the horses. Making coffee from the red can of Folgers. Laughing at Jennifer and I trying gooseberries. So many pictures in my mind's eye. Not the dying but the living. Grandma was good at living and that's what I remember.

I suppose her dying was easier for me. I'm away for so long. I only see her in snippets of visits once every 3 or 4 years. It's also been harder that way. I didn't get the slow progression, just BAM- old Grandma. BAM- Grandma sick. Bam – Where is her sparkle? And perhaps that's what makes her dying easier. I make peace with it being the last visit every time I leave. My Aunt Marie (Grandma's closest sister) took to saying "Goodbye" every time we left the country. She always told me she thought it was very possible that it would be the last time she saw me. Eventually, of course, she was right. She died this last November after being quite ill herself. But those Goodbyes are easier. I have happy laughing memories. Good times and lots of time memories. I guard that time I've had with them. I think it reminds me with each visit how important time is. There is never enough but time is in the living. It's to revel in. Dying is just under the surface but it's the living that plays in the movies of my mind.

Cloth diapering…again

2011-03-18T16:59:00.001-05:00

I used them with my son, @, when he was a baby- that was 6 years ago. Cloth diapers have changed A LOT since then. Mostly in that they have become much more mainstream. When I started with @ it was out of necessity, we were living in a country with access to disposables but they were SUPER expensive ($50 for about 50 diapers). We still used disposables at night then but we didn't have some of the cool diapers available now. My girlfriends gave me their stashes of plain old gerber prefolds, the kind you find at the Wal-Mart or Target in packs of 12. My friends had had good intentions of using cloth with their first kids but the covers for those diapers weren't great- those funny plastic pants. After being given lots of diapers and receiving tons from shower gifts, I ended up with something like 60 prefolds- more than enough to hold about 4-5 days between washings. That was great because we didn't have regular access to water either. Prefolds and plastic pants were ok but not something I wanted to continue to do. When we came back to the states, @ was being potty trained and I gave up my cloth diapers. By then there were some neat new products but I didn't want to reinvest.

With ! I wanted to use cloth again and I knew they had come along way. My girlfriend in KY researched the cloth when she had her daughter a year or so ago. She shared her results and I began searching the web. I found several good retailers but didn't entirely understand what they all did. There are a lot of new products with even more fabrics. Very confusing if you don't understand the absorbency of fleece, bamboo, terry, cotton etc. Well when I came back to the states before having !, I asked Karen what she thought and where she shopped. She gave me a pretty good list and that combined with what I had researched renewed my confidence. Karen very kindly sent me a stash of things that she had used but for one reason or another weren't working for her daughter. I think some of these are seconds but they still gave me the trial stash I needed to try some new things. So let me hit some highlights:

Diaper Cover and Prefolds

I still have about 20 of my gerber prefolds. I think these cloth diaper shops online would laugh at them but they worked for me. I needed covers. Karen introduced me to Bummis Whisper Wraps. I lay my prefold into the cover. Wrap cover around ! and Velcro closed. I use 2 or 3 of these throughout the course of a day. When she's wet, I take out the prefold, toss it in the diaper crate, and hang the slightly damp cover to dry. I just rotate them if they are a little damp inside because they don't get wet on the outside. My gerber prefolds with a cover I think will work until she potty trains. I've just bought covers in bigger sizes.

Diaper Liners

I use a diaper liner when I know ! is proned to a big poo. The diaper liner is like a soft version of paper towel or a durable soft Kleenex. They lay inside the prefold and can be thrown away with the big poo. Meaning less mess in the diaper to clean out. Without a liner inside its good to rinse the prefold of the poo. What I normally do if there is a mess in the prefold is to rinse the poo into the toilet. If we were living in this house longer I would attach a kitchen sprayer to the toilet water line. That is easier to do than it sounds (you can do it without help from your husband) and it isn't expensive.

All in Ones

Now these are the sweethearts of cloth diapers. Really this is a reusable disposable diaper. The outside is kind of polyester that stays dry. The inside is a bunch of layers of cotton, terry or fleece. They have snaps or Velcro. Some of them you can adjust the sizing for. Some you can stuff with extra padding if you've got a heavy soaker kid. These are super cool! Dads, nursery staff, etc can use these without a thought. Karen gave me some of these as seconds- still they are awesome. I've laid my prefold in them to keep them from leaking (these seconds I think are a little leaky sometimes). But I started looking around at prices because I love them so much I thought I might splurge. All in ones will generally set you back about $15/ diaper- yeah, pricey. But cottonbabies.com has a sale on the BumGenius 3.0 – $9.95/ diaper. That's a great price in my mind and the sizing on this brand seems to be pretty reliable- they advertise that these should work for kids up to about the time they potty train. ! is just 4 months old but I can see that that would be true and possible. I'm excited about seeing how well and long these last. I've been using them for 7weeks and I really like them.

The truth

I used disposables with both kids, pretty well exclusively until they were about 2 ½ months old. My prefolds were too big for a newborn and frankly I was too tired and out of routine with a new baby to think about another load of laundry that needs special care. I think that is a good thing though, for me anyway. It gave me some time to settle into routine and feel confident before I took on another thing. Cloth diapering was easy after I settled down into my new routine of life. It also is easier to wait because babies jump through those early sizes of diapers pretty quick. Babies grow out of those newborn and size 1's pretty quick. Once they get into size 2 and 3 they slow down and the cloth sizes remain the same for awhile. There's less guess work with cloth once they are a little bigger.

It should also be said that I know nothing about fabric or absorbency. I don't really sew (another story for another day) and I'm not real fabric savy.

Some sites to check out

Greenmountaindiapers. com

Simple Mom- this a blog site and she did a series on cloth diapers

Cottonbabies.com- they seem very down to earth

Laundry

I wash every other evening. Our washer doesn't have a setting for hot wash- it just washes. So I add 2-4 kettles of boiling water to make the water warmish. You're washer probably has a setting for hot and cold. I use Tide Free and a half scoop of oxiclean (we're on well water and its really hard and rusty) to keep the colors from going too orange. I give them an extra rinse too. I then put them on a clothes rack and let them dry overnight. The prefolds and covers dry quickly, the all in ones take longer to dry. You can dry them but I'm trying to be thrifty with the dryer. Now, if you read through the sites about washing cloth diapers, you will have a stress induced anxiety attack. Its like they are trying to confuse people. I don't know. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but so far so good.. Now if your baby has allergic reactions to detergent you may want to use more specific careful instructions. With @, I just used whatever detergent I could find and I was thankful for it- we were in a harder living environment then. They also recommend not using diaper creams etc because it can decrease the absorbency of cloth. After switching to cloth, @ never had a diaper rash. ! hasn't either. Both are/were breastfed so maybe that helps. But breastfed baby poo doesn't stink until you add solids so cloth diapering is kind of nice for breastfed babies.

Wipes

Now I've kind of gone full tilt. Disposable wipes were bothering. So I went searching around and found that you can buy cloth wipes. And when I started looking at them it made me self conscious. I don't know anything about fabric but what they were advertising were 12 -10 inch squares of flannel for $12. Really? And I said to myself "I've got pajama pants I could cut into 10 inch squares." And then I asked around and I've been given about 9 yards of flannel. I spent a bit of a couple of evenings cutting 10 inch squares. I asked by mom to break out her sewing machine and turn over the edges. I have 48 flannel wipes that cost me a spool of thread. I'm sure you could do the same thing. I have a recipe for a wipe solution that I keep in a container on the diaper table.

Wipe Solution

2 Cups Warmish Water

1 T Baby Oil (or maybe you're into olive oil)

1 T Baby Shampoo or Baby Wash

A drop or 4 of lavender oil or tea tree oil - this is completely optional. I've been using the lavender for its nice smell. I've read that tea tree oil has an antiseptic quality to it. I might try it in the future.

That is the evolution of cloth diapering. I love cloth diapering. You will too if you give it a little chance and you won't feel like you're throwing away money with every diaper change. I hated taking out the diaper trash because I felt like I was throwing away a bag of $20 bills. Washing $20 bills is better.

scouting

2011-02-20T08:21:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of the school year the local boy scout leaders came to the school and led an assembly for the boys. They got the boys all hyped up about scouting and the wonderful times of campfires and camping that they would enjoy. @ came home on cloud 9 about scouts. "All the boys are going to be scouts, Mom." After checking his backpack for a note about the scouts and finding nothing, I asked how he knew all about scouts. "Oh, they had all the boys come to the gym and they told us about." and he rattled on about the wonders of scouting. Jonathan and I chatted about it and Jonathan, who had a good scouting experience as a boy, said maybe, we'll see. A day or two later we got a packet about the scouts and when the information meeting would be. So the boys went and @ came home a scout. It wasn't expensive and Jonathan said he had made it clear we wouldn't be selling anything (Jonathan and I aren't into kids selling stuff because it normally is parents selling stuff). We went around to the boy scout store and bought the uniform and generally enjoyed looking through the store. And I kind of sold myself on the wonders of scouting- envisioning father son camping trips back home in Asia.

Over the months scouting has been fun for @ and a constant source of mystery for me. I put scouting under Jon's responsibilities knowing that come a new baby my memory for extracurriculars would be gone. So I've never really kept track of the meetings or the details of scouts. Jonathan is in charge of scouts. I've sent the cookies and the drink and gone to a few pack meetings. That has been nice.

Last weekend they organized a bowling trip. Jonathan and I were really pleased because that was something we had meant to take @ on while we were in the states and had forgotten. @ and Jonathan had a great time bowling and we agreed we'd do it again before we left the states. The troop leaders wanted the boys to go to a radio station. The radio station they wanted to visit didn't return phone calls and they wanted to get it done before the awards banquet. Thursday we went out and the boys got a tour of a small town radio station. Fortunately Jonathan's brother had worked in radio during High School and College so Jonathan asked some leading questions to extend the tour to 15 minutes. The boys liked making there voices sound funny.

Our troop leaders are two moms that are exceedingly kind and patient. They've organized good lessons for the boys while not entirely understanding the details of scout structure. Scout structure seems to be and enigma to everyone except that insurance and scouting rules mandate lots of strict training for parents- to protect boys from predators. Those are good rules but they can be a little confusing to follow. We have a den where the dads are always able to be with their son and so the rules are a bit easier to follow.

The thing I haven't loved about scouts is the by products of being in a testosterone fueled environment. @ has learned to be crude. Fart jokes and burping. I know that sounds like a mom, doesn't it? And @ was bound to learn those things anyway, maybe, maybe not. But scouts certainly seems to encourage it. Oh, and my favorite thing he could learn, how to objectify women. The first pack meeting I went to, for the entertainment portion, the Webelos had a top ten list of boy scout pick up lines. No kidding. 8 yr olds with pick up lines. Most were light hearted fun. The stand out of the evening "I know 100 ways to tie knots." think about it a minute. @ didn't get it, he didn't get any of them fortunately but I don't want to explain that to my 6 yr old.

So last evening was the banquet. I'm a little confused why the end of the year banquet was in February but not a big deal. @ got his belt loops. He has done fairly well. This morning as we were going through the belt loops he had earned we saw the good manners belt loop. For the most part @ has Good Manners but the last week he's been a bit of a creep so Jonathan and I held back the Good Manners belt loop. We told him he has to earn that one back. The creepy behavior really has nothing to do with scouts, just being a 6 yr old checking boundaries. Still if we can use scouts to rid the house of creepiness, so be it.

my nook color part 2

2011-01-26T19:49:00.002-06:00

In December I finally got Jonathan into a Barnes and Noble. I left him at the nook booth that greeted him when he walked in the store. The friendly attendant gave Jonathan the same easy sales pitch- Sold. I came back (after having bought him a birthday present) and he was going through the same lovely features in his head but in a more conservative bent. So we started talking about it. We went to every store that sells a nook or a kindle or any e-reader. We made everyone run us through the sales pitch. Why this one over that one? We read the websites. We asked the opinion of friends. We checked in with our local library to see the formats that they support. The more we came back to it, the more we were sold on the nook. And then we had friends that bought a nook after doing the same homework. Buying the same thing your friends have seems silly but think about it, you want something in common with a friend (or we do). Then the question became 2 or 1. Something I know about myself is that I don't share well. Jonathan does ok but I don't. And I had in mind that this would be a homeschool reader, meaning it would be in competition with Jonathan's work and study schedule. So we took the plunge and ordered two. They arrived perfectly in time to be wrapped and put under the Christmas tree.

So my sales pitch to you:
- The color is stinking fun. There you have it, I'm vain.
- google books is super user friendly just like most everything google does.
- nook supports Epub files, document, excel and pdf. jon's using it at a conference this week.
- if your friend has a nook, you can lend books to each other. kindle maybe able to do this now too.
- slide an sd card into the nook and you have as much storage as you could imagine.
- when you are in a BN store, you can read any book for an hour for free. nice if you live near a BN store and tend to hang out there.
- we need brick and mortar support and amazon isn't a brick and mortar deal.
- my mind is to buy books from a bookstore, not the same place you buy toys and toilet paper.

Some articles:
PC Magazine has a comparison article

Project Gutenberg

e-reader comparison this article loves the kindle.

google ebookstore

I'll probably write a bit more about the nook in the months ahead. We're certainly still in the honeymoon. Jonathan has gone off to a conference and before he left he loaded all of the pdf files sent to him onto the nook. He's hoping to be able to use it for notetaking inside the pdf documents. If this all works out as planned, we hope to take another step in eliminating paper.

my nook color

2011-01-20T07:59:00.002-06:00

I've been asking/ telling my husband that I thought he needed a kindle/ nook/ ereader for over a year. I had read a little bit about this "miracle of technology" (i'm sure someone has said that before me) and knew this was the destiny of my husband's book habit. See, he is a voracious reader. He reads anything. He has preferences certainly but when push comes to shove, really he'll read anything. Normally he wants a rarely heard of much acclaimed author or for fun a Tom Clancy or David Baldacci. But I've seen him reading my how to be a good christian mother books or how to be a good homeschool mom books. Needless to say, when we start buying books to feed his appetite, we also start needing to buy furniture to keep some of these books in. Some of the books we can let go of but he is an english instructor so some books he does need to keep for teaching. The last bookshelf we bought was actually listed as a shoe cabinet but it was way better as a bookshelf, unless you're Amelda Marcos. That purchase brought to light another fact, we're running out of space in our home for bookshelves. And again I suggested an ereader type device. My husband continually said there was no need. I sighed and wondered how we could strap a bookshelf to the ceiling or if one could pull up out of the floor.

Then my friend Lisa showed us her Kindle. We were at a conference together and Lisa pulled out her stylish machine. I sat next to her during a session and distractedly looked at her glide through pages. SO COOL! Lisa's a voracious reader too and so we talked about it. I was sold. Jonathan needs this machine. "Oh, no. I really don't, " said Jonathan. Sigh...

Then we came back to the States. While in the Barnes and Noble, I stopped at the Nook booth. Just curious to hold one and I really wanted to hear the sales pitch. Sometimes a good pitch helps talk me out of things as well as anything else. I know when I'm in over my head with technology and that is typically the juxt of a sales pitch "Oh, just look at the technology. All you need is to learn to do 27 new things with words that you don't know what they mean and then you can use this little lovely." Well, the nook booth lady wasn't young and she didn't tell me about cool technology. She simply slid around to a book and I knew all the words she was talking about. Sold. Then I started thinking about my homeschooled son with a literature based curriculum and I thought about the bill for shipping all of these very cumbersome (by weight) books. Sold again! Now how to sell my husband.

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stories to tell- baby naming

2010-12-09T10:48:00.003-06:00

Over the last month I've had stories to tell. Lots of them. Stories of being the mom of a infant again. Of watching snow. Of watching @ become a real boy all the time- he's a nice boy but there is very little left of him being a young child. Of enjoying days laughing with my husband. Of realizing that our time in the US ebbs and flows- somedays we've been here an eternity, others its a blink of an eye. Of making new friends and hearing there stories and collecting them (I do kind of collect people).

I think I'll tell the story of naming baby !. Her middle name is Irene. I knew when we found out that I was pregnant that her name would be !. It was a certainty. I knew that God had told me her name because it was the story we were living. We were living our year of !. We've come to a place where we are well settled. We've been provided for in so many ways and we have been restored. And I knew we should celebrate that. Her middle name came harder. With @ we had thought that if we were having a girl her name would be Irene Ann but @ was a boy. So we tossed around both Ann and Irene as middle names for a girl named !. Irene is my grandma's name and Ann is the family middle name. Ann was a problem however. Her name would be prone to the nickname LeeAnn and I'm not a nickname person. I didn't want her nicknamed LeeAnn because I want to hear her name all the time and be reminded of the specialness of her name. But Irene seemed like a lot for a middle name. I didn't want my grandma's nice name getting lost behind baby's first name. That would be too bad. But really nothing else felt very right too me and I'm a believer in names singing themselves into existence. When you've found the right name I really do believe its irresitible, like there is a choir from heaven the resonates the name's rightness for that person. That really is how we chose @'s name. So we hemmed and hawed and finally ! Irene was born.

And here is where you find out just how self centered I am.

I hadn't really thought about my grandma's reaction to hearing we had used her name as great granddaughter's middle name. I think maybe some months ago I might have given a fleeting half second thought. That was it. My grandma is getting older faster. It seems that age has finally won the race to catch up with her. She's lost a fair amount of ground over the last two years. She's in a nursing home now and I don't know that alot of days she understands and remembers things. And its hard to think of a once active and alert lady declining. So it didn't occur to me that 1. she would remember me and 2. that I had a new baby. And I was ok with that for the most part. It is what it is, its sad but its the course of life. Anyway, my mom called my aunt and my aunt while visiting with my grandma told her about new baby. And my aunt said that grandma suddenly became clear. She heard her name and she knew that name. "Well that's my name." And that was special to her and for a bit she was clear. So I sent my mom around with pictures of baby ! and @ to take to grandma. But what surprised grandma and my aunts is that grandma has remembered about baby !. "Did you know I have a baby named for me?" she tells people. Its something that has stuck in her head and its been awhile since something has really stuck in grandma's memory. Its baby! Irene. And that is very nice news to add to the year of !.

getting up off the mat

2010-11-13T17:19:00.002-06:00

The last week has really been lovely. I had a deliciously brief labor. I sat around in the maternity ward as the only patient (no one else on the ward the entire time I was there). I and baby ! were completely healthy and had 2 nurses with no other mission for their 8 hour shift than to serve me. I had restaurant style (and quality room service). My mom and adoring husband took care of @ and after getting him off to school, they came to join in the seemingly neverending service of me. On Tuesday when I went home a nice friend brought us dinner. I sat around in lounge clothes all day Wednesday. I shuffled about the house putting things away. Folding. My mom happily busseled doing laundry. Jonathan and mom were eager for dish duty. Wednesday another dear friend brought dinner. Thursday my mom went home and I began to think about getting my life together to do more than nursing a new baby. But yet again, dinner arrived on Thursday. On Friday we took for granted that dinner would come (not that we needed it). We took a late afternoon walk, visited with friends up the way and by 5:30 we began to wonder where our dinner was. Well, dinner didn't come. And I began to grumble a bit inside myself. Where was my manna? Where was my group of neverending servants? And then I began to realize, I can still function for myself. I'm in no pain. I'm not sleeping a ton but the quality is better than when I was pregnant. I have no job. My son is pretty self sufficient (within limits). I really don't need a constant attendant doing my laundry. I can make my own food.

Today I spoke with the dear friend who has been organizing this shower of generousity. She wanted to make sure things had arrived in a timely manner and to let me know that tonight (Saturday) would be our last meal. My last supper. Delivered to me by a kind woman and her two teen daughters. The kind woman said "Dessert will be good but I'm not a very good cook." Delicious chicken chili, complete with tomato, cheese, and tortilla chips. Even @ liked it (and he has decided this is the week to grump about all food put before him). But as I went about this evening, I've found the response of "What!? I can't cook my own dinner. What will we eat? How will I pull this together?" And I remembered that I am capable. I'm a functioning adult. I need to adapt to the new routine of having a slightly larger family and its new dynamic. I've adored the kindness of all of these people but I don't need to abuse and take for granted their kindness. Their kindness is best spent on someone else now. I've adored the grace to slowly restart life. Its such a mercy. But its better for me to walk back to the other side of the table. Too much being served can be dangerous. It is Thanksgiving though and so I think I will add this week of my life to the list of things I'm crazy thankful for.

the postpartum files: Kids

2010-11-11T19:44:00.003-06:00

I'm going to be processing this life change for awhile and since its my blog and you can go elsewhere, I'm feeling free to do my processing here. You see, its been said that I might not be the most flexible person on the planet and having a newborn again after 6 years is kind of the definition of needing to be flexible.

I should mention at this point that I'm really doing fine but realizations have been sweeping over me quite a lot lately. Not bad ones, just things I hadn't thought of.

Kids. The word "kids" got me the other day. "Children" too. I have kids. Plural. I have children. Again, plural. We've long been a family of 3. I had one kid. "My son is 6." "You just have the one child?" "Yes." Now I have kids. And so that changes. A few weeks ago we went around to the Children's Muesuem here in Indianapolis. We decided to buy a family membership figuring that it would pay for itself if we went as a family 3 times. Then we remembered that soon we would need to add a child because we would have kids. And that was strange to me.

I put in the new car seat late last week. We have car seats in the car for our kids. We talked about the best location for the each kid's car seat. See before it didn't matter, @ could sit anywhere. We put him on the side with the automatic sliding door. He's going to stay there because he can take care of getting himself in and out. Its nice having a kid that doesn't need car seat help. Baby ! goes behind the driver because there will be times when no one else is in the passenger seat and the driver doesn't want to walk around the far side of the car to get ! out. This isn't a big deal thing, just something we thought through that intrigued me. It was one of the things we didn't think about the 9 months we were waiting for her. We'll make lots of decisions like this in the days and weeks ahead. They aren't big deal things but they are the little things that remind me that our lives have changed.

"nesting" and why I don't really believe in it

2010-11-03T15:13:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is my technical "due date" for baby. But I don't believe in due dates either. No one really delivers on their due date or at least very few. And I'm no exception to the rule. Tomorrow's my due date but we're going to have to see a lot of action for that to happen.

I don't believe in nesting either. I haven't been nesting. Jonathan suggested I might be and he was greeted with scorn. Its not nesting to put away the laundry. Thousands of people do that everyday. Its not nesting to realize that your floor hasn't been swept in awhile and someone should really get on that before your family shows up. My sister came from New Orleans last weekend and it occured to me that maybe she could sleep on fresh sheets- not nesting, hospitality. My mom is planning on coming to stay with @ for a few days while I'm at hospital, should I clean out the fridge of the scary stuff? Basic human kindness, not nesting. I ad matched and couponed at Target for a morning for the toilet paper, paper towels, detergent, soap, etc. I know Jonathan doesn't really want to do that (he would if I asked) and maybe I don't want to take newborn 35 minutes into Indianapolis to do that job. Not nesting, just getting life done. The fact that all of these things happen to fall within the same week might lend itself towards nesting but it has more to do with the fact that I've taken sometime off doing those jobs previously and really needed to get back on the stick.

So tomorrow, when you hear that I've cleaned the bathroom, picked up a stack of papers or mopped the floor, let's chalk it up to deciding not to be that scary hoarder person you see on TV, not so much nesting.

the wee small hours of the morning

2010-10-17T05:49:00.003-05:00

Its not quite "wee" at the moment, but I've been up for a while. I laid in bed for a while trying to breath laying down but it didn't seem to be in the cards. Breathing is easier sitting up. The boys will be asleep still for another hour or so and it is really dark in Indiana at 6:30a.m. I made the coffee, hoping the smell doesn't wake Jonathan- coffee has that effect on people, even non-coffee drinkers. Jonathan and @ are both recovering from a cold brought on by allergies. The farmer cut the corn behind the house earlier this week and I handed Jonathan the claritin. There has been lots of snoring at our house this week. But as I was up and the coffee was bubbling, I remembered being up in the wee hours when @ was first born. He wasn't one of those bad sleeping babies, he has always been a perfectly fine sleeper. But I was still up with call to prayer and found that it was easier if I started the morning on my terms, while it was still quiet, and the coffee could be allowed to bubble and the morning sounds were quiet. And that is what I find this morning. The furnace kicked on, the coffee has finished bubbling and is now sighing and in a few weeks a new baby will hopefully still be snoozing in the borrowed cradle in our bedroom. And those are all very happy, hopeful thoughts I think. And the coffee tastes lovely. Wondering if I should risk the smell of cinnamon rolls to really add icing to the mornings tranquility? Maybe in an hour or so.

If you have adopted, you should follow the link

2010-10-14T07:27:00.002-05:00

I don't think I have a huge following of adoptive parents but I know there might be one or two. Chances are those one or two already have this information but I would be quite sorry if they didn't. Follow the link around to Owlhaven for information about 2010 Adoption Tax Credit.

Adoption Tax Credit Changes

weekends

2010-10-04T08:11:00.003-05:00

For the last month our weekends have been spent mostly on the road. We knew when we choose to live in Indiana it would mean a lot of trips back and forth to Illinois to see family and friends. We don't really regret the decision. We have this really beautiful spot to live for the year. @ gets lots of time to play in the woods (he's now taken to biking the back trails). Jonathan loves kayaking in our pond. Deer come up to our house. I have put out a few mums. We try to have people over on Friday nights (when we are home) for cookouts. We're each perfecting our individual s'more (s'mores are better with reese's cups or dark chocolate). But September has found us developing a rather curious- live out of the van routine.

Friday goes something like this:
- @ chooses out clothes before he goes to school.
- Jonathan and I load up the van with host gifts, pictures, suitcases, water, car snacks, books on cd, back seat toys/ books
- We pick up @ from school just after 3 and then we head out of town.
- Normally there is a stop for gas on the west side of Indy and or dinner. Then there is the break at a rest stop. @ has choosen a few really nice ones.
- Then we stay with family or frineds on Friday night.

Saturday is a day of visiting with family or friends and being thankful for one day of not driving.

Sunday we spend the morning visiting. Then the question comes (and Jonathan and I feel the pull) if we stay for lunch and we start talking, we're never going to get home. If we're staying in East Illinois, its 3 hours + 1 to get home. If we're in central Illinois, its 4.5 hours +1. Indiana is an hour ahead. So spending too long at lunch and it gets to 3:00 means we're not home until 7:00 or 8:00. And that is before stopping for breaks and gas. Now that is the problem. @ gets home from a lovely weekend, exhausted, needing to immediately go to sleep so that he can wake up for school in the morning.

Its Sunday lunch that kills us. We have the worst time walking out the door, saying goodbye, getting in the car. No kidding getting in the car is impossible. We're talking with the door open. This is the pull of our time in the states. Another minute to visit, to share a story, to play with the nieces and nephew. That is the pull.

We're going to be home for the next 4 weeks or so. We're not planning on making another trip until Thanksgiving. After the baby comes anytway. Then the pull is going to be worse. A few more minutes with baby and family.

I propose you all come live with us at our tree farm (if I know you for real anyway). Then you won't have to go home and I won't have long van ride trips.

school lunch

2010-09-03T17:06:00.003-05:00

School lunch has been my obsession of late. I've been reading over the last year the very sad state of the US school cafeteria (check her out Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project) and the idea of @ going from eating a healthy balanced lunch to hamburger, grapes and ketchup (no kidding that was today's lunch) was just depressing. So I decided straight away that lunch was going to continue to be healthy and balanced and that didn't allow for a steady daily routine of PB&J and chips. So I started surfing around online. I discovered Lunch in a box and her efforts with bento lunches for her pre-k kid. I started surfing through her FAQs and site links, many of which seem to be only marginally maintained, and then started doing some brainstorming. What did I really want to see @ eating at lunch everyday? Healthy and Balanced but what would that look like when I made it in the morning and it sat around till noon-ish? I'm fortunate in that @ has NEVER been a picky eater, we just really never thought of it as a choice in our family and he isn't strong willed. I made a list of ideas. Here is a partial of that list:

- Chicken and rice (rice packs nicely on top of the thermos)
- Curries and rice in general seemed like good options - he always been ok with them
- Quessadillas- refried beans store well in the fridge and putting them together is as easy as a sandwich.
- Muffins- store up in the freezer and thaw by lunch, made at home means whole wheat
- yogurt, granola and fruit- really its one of his favorite things

So with that in mind, my thoughts turned to how to package the stuff. A good quality lunch box was a must and I was pleased to find those on sale at the wal-mart with back to school stuff. His has a swift "garage" compartment where a ice pack or frozen bottle of water can chill the stuff up top. Its roomy enough to hold a lunch size thermos and a baggie or two of other stuff. The thought of baggies became depressing though. I've gotten a little crunchy green since living outside the US and my concious is bothered by sustainability and responsibility. I have a lot, a lot should be expected of mem, but that is a blog for another day. So I started surfing around and found reuseable bags. A huge market of reuseable bags. I started to see some agreement and a post from Simple Mom sealed the deal. So I started looking at reviews and different places to buy reuseable bags and prices. The prices were a little spendy, admittedly. $8.95 for a reuseable velcro sandwich bag gave me pause and I had to slow down on my ideas. I'm still a pretty frugal girl even when my concious bothers me. So I surfed some more and I found a 25% off coupon from Oprah, apparently she had done a special about back to school. So I went ahead and took the plunge. I choose the Lunchskins Sandwich bag and Snack bag. @ came in to choose the colors and designs he wanted and we talked about how these would not be thrown away. These could come home every night and be washed. I read about how sometimes they develop a chemically smell but the reports weren't consistent. We've been using them for 3 weeks solid, with daily use, and no smell. And they have come home in his box everyday. Nothing in @ lunch is disposable so we don't have to worry about him taking anything to the trash. We're thrilled. I just ordered another set of Lunchskins Sandwich bags and Snack bags, one for me for my purse (pregnant girls get the munchies sometimes at the most inconvienent times). I've been packing strawberries, grapes, apple slices, blueberries, trail mix in the snack bag size. No problem so far with them leaking or staining. I was really surprised about the staining thing too.

Go ahead and begin to rethink lunch boxes. They really can rise above PB&J and chips and not take anymore time to prepare. And you'll feel good about it to.

summer

2010-08-01T06:37:00.002-05:00

We'll do a little recap of the things going on in my brain over the last few weeks.

- America is full of hand sanitizer. And its in some really illogical places. Some good ones, like next to the computer station at the public library. Some less clear, inside and outside the hotel entrance. Leaving me wondering which one to use.

- America is full of surveys. We've been buying a fair number of things this last month as we try to put together a house, maternity clothes, back to US kind of things. Every reciept begs the honor of my opinion, for which Target, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Land's End, Walmart, Sears, Kohl's, CVS, Walgreens etc would like to pay me.

- Since coming back to the states, I've longed for a clothesline. I got one put in and when I'm home to do laundry, its rainy and overcast.

- We have been on the road a bit in the month of July and we're hoping to settle down a bit in August.

- I have misgivings on a daily basis about putting @ in school this year. I liked Sonlight SO MUCH and I know as a statistical reality that it was a great schooling program for @. I'm ordering the sonlight catalog anyway because we'll use those as our family read alouds this year.

- Not knowing what school @ is supposed to go to only makes the school/homeschool problem worse.

- Americans are gloomy these days (or at least the national projection is). And that is too bad because good ole' America is still doing ok. People are still basically good. They are generous and kind. They are clever and smart. They still have alot even if it isn't in the way of jobs and money. Cheer up America, you still have a lot left you in. That's the kind of girl you are.

- America is hot. I love going places and there is free wireless everywhere- and its unlimited service.

- My bananas go bad to quickly in United States. And I know how to be choosy about bananas. sigh.

- I love cereal choices in United States. I really could just eat cereal everyday and be a happy girl. And with coupons and adverts, I get to make lots of choices.

I think I'll go make a cereal choice just now.

I don't know how to be an American parent and other insecurities

2010-07-24T14:27:00.002-05:00

What really strikes me since coming back to the states is that I don't know how to be a parent of child in United States. @ has never really had many friends before. We've tried but somehow it just doesn't seem to work out. So this whole idea of @ going out to play with the boys up the way, I just don't know what to do. And honestly it isn't trying to over mother him, its really I don't want him to be in the way of the other mom. And he probably isn't but I don't want to be that mom that is always dumping my kid on someone else. They're welcome to play here but they always seem to wander there way up there. So that is kind of my thing. @'s really, all in all, for a 5/6 yr old boy, very trustworthy- and he isn't a gifted liar, his nature is honest so he's easy to see through. And the mom is a nice lady but I haven't had a chance to visit with her much so that she will know that I'm not that lady from some other place that is a moochy mom. How is non-moochy momness communicated in United States?

Actually I think that is the only thing I'm feeling insecure about at the moment.

getting back to the US- part 2 of a 2 part story

2010-07-13T07:31:00.001-05:00

The next morning bright and early we repacked our carry-ons to be on time for our Delta flight to Detroit. We found our counter but couldn’t believe the line. It was wrapping down the concourse; surely that isn’t for us, we just need boarding passes. I tried the self check in but it had screwy seating for our family, even though I had carefully lined out our seats when we booked. So we stood in line. A trainee came along and wanted to know if we were going to Tokyo. “No, Detroit” She put a sticker on us and moved on. No information just a sticker. Slowly as we moved along in line over the course of the next 2 hours we learned the basics of the story. Our flight was delayed 15 hours; meaning our 9a.m. flight wouldn’t be leaving until midnight. The attendants at the counter were rebooking where possible and otherwise just checking in, while listening to lots of howling and moaning from increasingly irritated passengers. We overheard from other passengers that this wasn’t something that just came up. Delta knew about this days in advance and several businessmen had rescheduled off this flight for just this reason only to find themselves somehow back on this flight.

We got to the counter. Explained that really arriving anywhere in the Midwest would be fine, we can drive home. Nothing. One possible was flying Cathay to Minneapolis then to Chicago but they wouldn’t be able to get us a flight to Bloomington for a day. In the end, we asked for our hotel room back and meal coupons. They rebooked our hotel and gave us food vouchers for inside the airport. We got back to the hotel and they gave us food vouchers for the hotel. Yay, no wandering back to the airport! We laid low in the hotel room for a while. We found the kid’s playroom (this huge space converted from the steam works of the hotel) which was bright, friendly and huge. @ ran. I snoozed. After lunch we took a big family nap. By 10p.m. we headed back to the airport for our 12 pm departure. Jonathan began trying to use our airport food vouchers at the starbucks for mugs and coffee. Coffee ok, Mugs aren’t food. So he bought coffee and I sipped on a nice cup of mint tea and @ found the playground to be delightful. Jonathan also bought several bottles of water for me as I have a tendency to seriously dehydrate on long haul flights. The called for boarding and told us to get rid of all beverages and empty all water bottles . I have 3 new unopened bottles of water. So I set off to find the mother @ had struck up conversation with a few minutes previously. I explained the situation and asked if she would like these water bottles. They were unopened and she had 5 kids. She thought Delta and security were crazy and gladly accepted water bottles.

The 14 hour Delta flight went well. @ slept the first 5 or so hours. I snoozed intermittently, Jonathan slept awhile. We watched movies. Talked over meals. I stayed hydrated! No one was sick. We arrived in Detroit feeling ok. We had 5 or 6 hours in Detroit before our flight to Bloomington. When the bagel shop opened I went for bagels and coffee. We took it in turns to go to the bathroom and freshen as best we could (the delay in Hong Kong had taxed our back ups in our carryons). Still a washed face and brushed teeth were a good start. And daylight helped us feel vaguely more alert.

Even with the delay in Hong Kong, this was our best trans-pacific flight to date.

getting back to the US- part 1 of a 2 part story

2010-07-13T07:26:00.000-05:00

I haven’t written a story for awhile and our trip back to the states seems to be a good story.

We left our city at 8a.m. local time. Right on schedule. Jonathan had wanted to cushion our departure just in case it was delayed and as anticipated it wasn’t. We arrived at 9a.m. to begin waiting for our 3 p.m. departure to Hong Kong. At first it didn’t seem like a bad idea. We had to wait for our luggage from our domestic flight. Then upstairs, through the security line and then to hunt for Cathay Pacific’s counter. We walked to the end of the airport terminal and found nothing. So we stopped to ask again. It seems that Cathay’s counter’s don’t open until noon. The morning hours belong to Saudi Arabia Airlines. It was 10:15a.m. So we sat down to wait. Or more accurately, I sat down to wait. Jonathan doesn’t sit in airports. I made myself a nest of 2 luggage trolleys, my water bottle made into Pink Lemonade, and the Asian Reader’s Digest. Jonathan and @ took and walk and returned with Krispy Kremes! Then @ and I listened to “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” on Ipod audiobook. At 11:45 we decided to head out in search of the area of the Cathay counter. We could tell that it was getting ready to be set up but as yet nothing was ready for check-in. So we waited. And watched as more Cathay attendants arrived and began to get out the counter junk. Slowly but surely Saudi Arabia Airlines attendants began to surrender ground. They were still trying to check in the last of the travelers to Mecca for the Haj and apparently some of their baggage was giving them trouble. Cathay checked us through to Bloomington, reminding us that we would have to re-check them in Detroit after clearing TSA. No problem.

Now inside the international terminal there really isn’t much to do. It was lunch time so we had sandwiches at the Starbucks (and as a travel tip: Starbucks is always a pretty safe place to get food in an international airport). As we were finishing, they began to call for our flight- 90 minutes early. So without haste, we finished lunch, went to the bookstore, stopped for a bathroom break and meandered down to our gate. The attendants were there for check in but for the life of me I can’t figure why they called it so early. @ and I settled down to play a game of memory on the floor, Jonathan wandered. When it was actually time to board, we were eager to see what Cathay service would be like on board. Cathay has been one of the best ranked airlines in the world. There’s a reason for that. @ was thrilled with the kid’s bag of activities. I was thrilled at the seat spacing and Jonathan was happy for more leg room. Then they turned on the inflight TVs and @ was over the moon. YAY for kid friendly selections and adult friendly selections. Everything about this flight was lovely. We arrived in Hong Kong feeling good but ready for our hotel room.
Hong Kong’s airport is MASSIVE. We walked for 30 minutes from our gate to immigration and that included 2 one minute speed train rides. Its crazy big. When we finally found our way out of immigration control, we were exhausted. The Regal Transit Airport Hotel was waiting for us. We finally got there after another 15 minutes walk. We got up to our room, washed up @ and he promptly fell asleep. Jonathan and I were hungry, so we called for room service and paid an unknown amount for fish and chips. I’m still foggy on the exchange rate in Hong Kong.

something like 24 hours

2010-06-25T18:33:00.002-05:00

I know, look at me, coolly blogging away time I should be finishing preparations. I think we're in good shape. Jonathan did lots of putting away things yesterday while I took @ to see Toy Story 3 (which will be the subject of a future blog). It was a good use of time because he needed a reason to get out of the house so that someone could get work done. @ is trying to stay entertained but we can't be in charge of entertainment and pack at the same time. He's helped some when I've given him direction but sometimes I have a hard time defining what I want him to do. Oh well.

Today's jobs:
- bring selected toys to a friend's house. She has kids over sometimes and thought it might be fun to freshen her toy shelf while we are gone and no one else is using them.

- Store @'s toys in his room- i think this will be during play time this afternoon. Just inside the wardrobe and throwing a sheet over the bookshelf.

-Pack carry ons and be realistic.

- Send Jonathan to the airport with 2 rubbermaid containers to see how frightfully overweight they are. I am a REALLY GOOD packer (for airplanes, I don't do domestic moves). Therefore I can get 70+ lbs in a 20 gallon rubbermaid. And, what's worse, I can still lift it. I can't lift 70lbs at any other time but if its luggage at the airport, you'll see me moving rubbermaids like a bodybuilder. Once I packed a refrigerator box full of baby things to take to Africa. I was sure it wasn't 70lbs because I could lift it. It was 110lbs. I had to unpack it at the airport counter and repack into another bag. But now the airline limits are 50lbs and I know I'm in trouble. We have plenty of bags we can take its just I'd like to take the minimum number of bags. So off Jonathan goes to the airport to check these 2 rubbermaids.

- Oh, and someone is going to take away my computer today it needs to go into storage.

8 days

2010-06-18T07:34:00.002-05:00

We leave for the US in 8 days. And that isn't traumatizing to say. And that in and of itself, is a miracle to say.

The last time we left a country we had a little bit more than 8 days to figure out how to leave for good and never come back. That was not easy and was very traumatizing. But now here we are and I have time to write a cool and mostly collected blog. So nice. We've thought alot over the last month or so how far our healing has come, how grateful and thankful we are for healing; how (to some extent) this has worked together for the good. We're thankful.

So what's on the docket for 8 days?
- Farewell party with friends from University (because I've learned how infinitely important saying "goodbye" is).

- Casual get togethers with other friends on different days. For lunches, for coffee.

- Having a man come and look to see if the water tank can take an easy fix or if its going to be the hard fix. Really praying for the easy fix. The hard fix involves repiping part of the house. We're blessed with friends who will oversee that while we're gone, but not really something you want to have to have done. This is actually weighing on me quite a bit.

- Packing, need to sort out the luggage and set up the folding table for the staging area of the pack zone.

- Putting away- the computer, the stackable trays, the last of the homeschool materials

- Take the baby mattress somewhere and have sheets ordered for it. Meant to get that done this week but I did silly other things like establishing auto-debit at the bank for all of our bills and changing our internet and satellite service.

Yeah, I'm trying to think of other stuff but that's pretty much it. Loving that. I have a couple of bins of stuff to give away and a couple of bags that need to be thrown away. Still none of that is stressful.

I've thought about the snacks and drinks I want to bring on the airplane (I'm pregnant and often thirsty). I've thought about the clothes for @ for the airplane. I guess I could think about my clothes for the airplane. I had a brillant idea for a father's day gift for Jonathan but kind of have put that off on the idea that I'm flying him to the USA and that seems like a lot.

Yeah, for 8 days, life is good and all in all blessed beyond measure.

how i know homeschooling worked out ok this year

2010-05-29T20:52:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning is kind of a relaxed time of our week. We have a leisurely breakfast together. Read news. Play games. Color. Couch Church. Maybe a little laundry. Tell stories together.

This Sunday @ sat at the project table while I cleaned Dorothy's fishbowl. Jonathan polished on a final exam. Itunes played. @ was busy inventing a game that consists of sliding playdoh containers into a large tower of playdoh containers. I asked about the game. He explained that this game actually came from Southern Chile. He went to our world map and proceeded to point out the region of Southern Chile it came from and yes, he found Chile on an unmarked map. Then he told me about a similar game played in Greenland (child points to Greenland on an unmarked map) but they stack dice in Greenland instead of playdoh containers. Then he explained about how the Northern and Southern Countries play different versions. Correctly pointing to North and South.

@ is 5. I'm feeling pretty awesome about the decision to homeschool.

civic order

2010-05-10T08:15:00.002-05:00

Something you should know from the outset: I get oddly excited about all things related to proper civic order. When governments and institutions work according to the prescribed guidelines- it just makes my heart flutter. Its enough to set me happy for days on end. So when I saw the adverts that our nation would be having a national census the month of May, I was hopeful and a little doubtful all at the same time. I didn't get counted in the US and I wasn't sure that they would count us here either- as we are foriegners.

Tonight I came down from putting @ in bed and saw Jonathan sitting on the front porch. I went out to investigate- we don't sit outside at night with the light on because that is a good way to get moquito bites, and what's more the season finale for The Amazing Race was on, he shouldn't be sitting out front. He was talking with 2 census takers. He was just finishing giving them each of our names and so I sat down to join the fun- also thinking that 2 heads thinking through the language of the questions is always better than 1. Our names, birthdate,our religion, city and country we were born in, our tribe, where we lived in 2005, our schooling completed, job held- those were the questions for both of us and for @.

The questions at the end were a bit different: fuel we use for cooking, the source of our drinking water, and access to internet. These reflect a national conversation that seems to be in constant flow. The government is trying to switch people from kerosene and wood cooking to natural gas- its been a costly switch frought with headaches. Use of safe drinking water is making good advancement throughout more urban populations but it has a ways to go. Safe drinking water is becoming more affordable though, slowly but surely. There is a push for more access to internet and getting the public sector online to speed along government. They're doing a good job overall but change is slow.

There is a push away from corruption here. They are trying so hard and in a lot of ways they are making real strides. So when I see nice, polite, courteous, efficient census workers, well, I do back flips. The 2000 census was plagued by problems and the official results have never been released to the public. There is a lot of nay-saying that the 2010 census will suffer the same fate. It might. But at the moment I'm hopeful. Only problem, I didn't grab my camera while they were here!

guest speaking

2010-05-04T19:40:00.003-05:00

The plan for today was for me to sleep until noon- something I have never done in my life, but the last few days have been busy and full. Last night as I was watching TV with @, Jonathan and I talked about that Wednesday I have nothing on my schedule (just an airport pickup) so I could sleep till noon. And I told @ that I was sleeping till noon and that he should too. He may have taken me up on it because it past 7:30 and he hasn't stirred from his upstairs nest.

A few weeks ago, a lady I dance with asked if I would be available to be a guest speaker at a conversation club at another university here in town. She had asked Jonathan and another American colleague and neither of them really had time in their schedule but Jonathan suggested that I might do it. My thought was a visit a time or two with a conversation club would be fun for me, so I agreed that she could give my phone number to her friend at the other university. A few weeks went past and finally the university contact sms'd and we set up a time for us to meet. I thought it would be sometime to talk about the club and to set a time. I sat down to meet with the dean, the head of the department and 2 other english teachers. We visited for awhile and they had lots of questions about obtaining information from the US Embassy to get an American Guest Instructor- a subject I really know nothing about and was quick to share with them. The first meeting did not establish a schedule so much as it established a week that I could be available for the club. I was understanding that the club coordinator wanted to make sure she chose a time that would work for the students so that they would be able to attend. But still I was clear that once maybe twice would be all would be all I could meet with the club.

A week or so went by and my contact called me again (Ms. N). In her sms she said that it would be better to meet to set up a schedule because it was too much to sms about. I understood that, sms-ing for lots of information can become wearisome. So I went in and we began talking about the schedule. She got out her laptop and showed me a week's listing of classes. CLASSES! How is that anything like a CLUB? And I reeled and said "These are classes. We had talked about a conversation club. Not classes. That's different." We had also talked about the fact that I was available in the afternoon because Jonathan teaches in the mornings and we have a son at home. But these were largely morning classes. So I looked at the schedule and told her I could do those classes when Jonathan was available for being home, Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. And Ms. N whined. So I looked at the morning classes on Monday and remembered that our friend Marilyn and @ were wanting to have a movie time together and thought that might cover me for the Monday morning sessions. I wanted to be helpful even if I knew I was being a bit walked on. So I agreed to the Monday morning sessions too. Then she came at me with another schedule from the other faculties (departments) at the University that wanted a native speaker. So I looked at the schedule: a Chinese class and a Japanase Literature class. I said a very FIRM: NO. And I laughed at the idea of why anyone would ask an english speaker to guest lecture in a chinese or japanese lit class. When Ms. N whined, I explained to her that isn't what I do. We were in the english teachers office, and sensing Ms. N was loosing, 3 english teachers rushed to her aid, to bulster her illogical desire to have an english speaker come talk to the chinese and japanese lit classes. The chinese class wasn't actually a "language class", its an IT class. Still I argued "a subject I know nothing about". We did this for a while and I finally wore out. Thinking I can entertain myself with a Chinese and Japanese Lit class. And they are in the afternoon, so I'm available.

So the Monday morning arrived. I was there on time and the instructor for the course was too. He was ready and waiting and he was also the dean I had met with some weeks ago. So he initiated me into the theory he has embraced. Something about Natural Language Acquisition through Listening. I tried to be agreeable although the theory seems full of holes. I really don't know alot about theories of Second Language Acquistion and decided to look past the holes to the teacher who really desires to teach well- a trait that is hard to come by in the University teaching professions. After hearing the theory, we went to class- Speaking 4. I did an introduction of myself and how I got to living here and then left it to questions. And the students did a lovely job peppering with question for the next hour. They asked a lot about language and culture learning so I was able to have them help me with some of my language and culture questions. It was nice to let them think about their language and flesh out some of the complexities of their language in english. And they did a nice job. I went on to Speaking 2, the students were younger (freshman) and it showed. Less of a stirring conversation/ Q&A period but still good enough. Monday and Tuesday morning were lovely.

Tuesday afternoon brought Chinese IT and it went as expected. The class was 25 boys and 1 girl. I've never felt so bad for a girl in my life. The coordinator, Ms. N, had suggested that their english will be lower so perhaps this short You-Tube video and a little discussion would be a better fit. Yeah, it wasn't. They were at a low rumble of laughing through the whole thing and when prompted towards discussion they raised the tember of the of their lauging and talking to one another. After 10 minutes of really nothing about the video, I switched tacks. The introduction/ Q & A idea seemed like it may work way better. And it did. I had about 6 students engaged in questions and conversations during the remainder of the time and these students were troopers because they had to put up with alot of jeering and laughter. I was able to quell it some, I have a stellar scolding teacher look.

The best outcome of the hour was my conviction that I wouldn't be coming for the Japanese Lit class. No way! and no amount of whiny or gang whining was going to change that. So I was fully prepared for telling Ms. N "never again" but fortunately I found her apologetic and embarrassed. She was ready to cancel my Thursday speaking classes too. I told her I was happy to come for the speaking classes but they needed to do a better job preparing the students before I came back for the other faculties. Come to find out, these were freshman too. I encouraged them that this might be a better plan for older students.

All in all, its been an ok week. And I've enjoyed the students and interacting with them. And I've learned alot and I like that too.

Twin size baby crib

2010-05-01T08:10:00.001-05:00

We started some crib shopping the other week. Meaning we went into the only place that we know of that sells kids furniture. Straight away we found something that interested us- not something that we wanted to buy or would by any means be safe to put a baby in. It was more the idea. The shop had a selection of baby beds that used a twin size mattress. The outside rail (which had cut out shapes for the baby's head to get stuck in) double hinged down. The idea being that it could hinge down easily for putting baby in to sleep and then had a secure lock at the top. The second (mid section) hinge would go down to act as a toddler rail. Eventually the whole side could hinge down and be the twin bed your child would sleep on. I've not seen crib size mattresses for sale here. They have foam that could be cut for a crib but the foam is hot and isn't a firm baby bed. I need to check but a friend said to check the catalogs at baby furniture dealers because they may not have them but they may be able to order them. But in my head it seems a better idea to avoid the whole crib mattress issue and get straight to the deal. A twin size mattress would have a lot longer life span. So I spent some time searching around online and chalked up another win for wasted time- I found nothing. Surely if they are selling them here someone has had this idea before. Have you heard of this idea? Do you have a website I could see such a thing? Our thought is that we could have a carpenter build the thing cheaper than buying one and have a sturdier, safer crib.

nesting but not really

2010-04-17T00:07:00.003-05:00

We couldn't be happier about expecting baby #2 sometime in the fall. Really, we're very happy. But we have a problem. We've kind of forgotten about babies.

We had @ in Aug 2004 and returned to what we thought was going to be our permanent home for years to come. We brought stuff with us so that @ could grow up there. Not expecting to return to the States for probably 4 years. So we brought along baby stuff, toddler stuff and even some young boy stuff. No kidding, when @ was a new born I bought him one pair of pajamas in every size up to 5T (by the way, I should start out with, I'm kind of nuts and I like to have a something like a plan). He just started wearing those 5T pajamas. After our idea was closed down in Dec 2005, and we returned to the states we were sad. Sad. And to some extent I especially went inside myself and mourned the loss of our home and our dream and our family. And I wondered how we could be a family without our home because I couldn't imagine ever really finding a home like that again.

But time and life went by. We picked up what we had and pulled together and our family was still our family, just different than we had imagined when @ was born. And I learned that home really is where you make it and it can be remade. Home is where my boys are, and we've made a nice one here. And we're thankful. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't sit at our dining room table and say "I love our home". We have friends again and people who care about us. There are crazy neighbors and kids to play with and a garden to weed and a laundry line (I love laundry lines). By no means is the house perfect. The street floods and the roof leaks but still its where we are happy.

Now that we have been here 3 years, we're getting ready to take some time to go home. Jonathan is going to switch jobs and we'll need new visa etc. so its a good time to go back to the states and catch up on our family there. Its all very exciting. We have 3 nieces at present that we need to meet and there is another niece/ nephew yet to be determined arriving just about the time we arrive home (yes, that did help us choose when to come home). My mom's accidentally remodelled her house while we've been gone. All of these things. And in looking at our full life and the happiness that we have been given a second time, we thought maybe we could have a second baby to fill life even more. And God was gracious and we're 3 months in. All good and all wonderful but there is a fly in the ointment. We don't know anything about having a baby.

We return to the states in just over 2 months as a family of 3. When we return here sometime next spring, it will be as a family of 4. So I'm cleaning and sorting and organizing our house for the person who will live here in the meantime and I'm realizing a hiccup. The baby doesn't come for a long time (1st of November is really a ways away) but the baby comes HERE just as soon as we do. So I need to leave this house with some readiness to have a baby in it. Does that make sense? Probably not. I'm not worried about the baby stuff for the states- we have loads of time once we get back there to figure that out. But the baby stuff we need here, I need to do/ get now so that its ready when we get back here. I know it sounds like I'm creating a mountain out of a mole hill. I know. And I think its the idea of going back to the states is more the problem than the baby. We've never re-entered the states nicely. When we re-entered the states last time it was as this huddled sad mass of sadness. I think having the time to think ahead and plan has probably made me a little addled.

All of this to say, if you can think of something I should have ready in my home for 6 month old baby, would you let me know? I've got "crib, sheet, bumbers" on my list. Oh, and that's the other problem, I'm trying not to bring everything and the baby sink in a suitcase back from the states- that's going to get spendy, fast.

in which i rattle on

2010-04-06T06:27:00.002-05:00

I haven't really thought about much lately. Not to sit and notice the world. My brain has been kind of absorbed on the incessant queasey feeling in my stomach. Trying to figure out why it is queasey and how I could avoid that in the future. Its really not getting many anywhere. I've slogged through meal planning and frugality because I really don't feel like it. I've done ok at prepping homeschool everyday because I really can't get in the mood to be excited about anything when I'm queasey. And I'm bothered by that. I like frugality, meal planning and homeschooling. But March has been a protracted break.

Today I thought about homeschooling math programs. @ may very well be in a school building next year but I think he would still have fun with Miquon Math. And it would keep his head in the game for homeschooling when we return here.

I was proud of myself for thinking through a spreadsheet problem patiently.

I stood in line for 20 minutes at the KFC mostly because I was too lame to solve the dinner problem after being at dance in the afternoon. At the KFC I was the oldest person in the room by 15 years. It seems KFC is a choice afterschool hangout here for the teen set. Would I ever think that the KFC is a place to hang out?

Jonathan has been teaching a film class. Its all he really talks about. He gets excited when he gets to teach something new. I think it makes teaching the other old subjects more fun for him. But the film class is something that @ gets to participate in too. This week Jonathan needs to review "The Wizard of Oz" before teaching on Thursday. So @ is suggesting things for Jonathan to teach his students, questions to ask them. Some of them are very insightful questions.

I haven't drank coffee in a month and I'm sorry about it. I miss it a bit. Not because I'm having withdrawal just because it seems such a friendly routine. Actually Jonathan commented on how nicely I've stopped drinking coffee. It was just all of a sudden one day I didn't make coffee. Mom says drink tea. Tea doesn't seem as friendly of a morning routine for me. I put my morning glass of milk in a coffee mug this morning. Maybe I just need the mug. It helped a little. The mug is familiar. I think I'll be able to go back to it in another week or so. Maybe I'll try it with with milk. I take my coffee black but I can be flexible. Its decaf for heaven's sake, obviously I'm willing to make due.

@’s thoughts on babies

2010-03-25T22:03:00.001-05:00

At morning snack time:

@: This baby is going to be so cute.

A: You think so?

@: I heard that sometimes girl babies and sometimes boy babies are so cute.

@: I hope this baby is born today. Not today today but today.

A: You mean on a Friday? You were born on a Friday.

@: Yeah, I've always wanted a baby to be born on a Friday.

Working together to get the job done

2010-03-04T19:02:00.001-06:00

Op-Ed Columnist - Learning From the Sin of Sodom - NYTimes.com

On the homeschooling front

2010-03-03T22:53:00.001-06:00

We've been trying to think about the next year of schooling for @. Homeschooling kindergarten was exactly the right move for us. He's learned a lot. We're able to do WAY more fun stuff and family vacations than if he had been a school schedule here. Every week still has good opportunities for socialization between language lessons and playing in the neighborhood. We've kept up on academics and concentrated on things that were weak skills. I noticed today that his handwriting and cutting has definitely improved. Both were all over the place when we started and the bad writing habits he had learned from school are pretty well gone. Yay no more typewriter a's that are impossible for 30 yr olds to write. So that is all good. But that leaves us wondering about next year.

We'll be back in the states for 9-10 months while we work out details for switching jobs here. A visa change like means going out and starting over and since we haven't been in the states for 3 yrs we thought we would put that altogether. We be home in July, plenty of time to get use to the US before school starts, but we're not sure what school looks like for @ next year. Indiana has a rule that kids have to be 6 by July 1 to enter first grade. @ doesn't turn 6 until 20 August. Kids under 6 can take a placement test. Problem is @ has never really sat for a test and I don't know what would be on the test. Academically he is doing great but I don't have a grade card to show, maybe I should/could make one. And I don't know that the academics @ knows will be on the Indiana First Grade Placement test. He can name and place the 7 continents and 4 oceans but is that on the test? We're working addition and subtraction math facts but is that on the test?

I saw that a number of my teacher friends are gearing up for testing this week and in the weeks ahead. So in the spirit of testing I thought I could do a little check up on @. I looked at some basic kindergarten guidelines the other day and today we did a little pop quiz. Identifying colors, shapes, writing numbers to 100, sounding out a list of sight words, placing sounds to letters. He's got all of that stuff pretty easy. I'm not real obsessive about the whole testing thing but as we're getting ready for a move and the changes that brings, it seems like a good idea to have a benchmark.

a deep committment

2010-02-24T07:34:00.001-06:00

There are things that come and go. Things that just are blips. There are lots of blips. I read something about a speedskater at the Olympics that made the most costly error anyone in his sport could make. Its like a 10million dollar mistake. He'll run the highlight reel for another week or so but really, he's a blip. And its been 6 weeks and so I'm hoping there are things that aren't blips to you. I'm praying this doesn't become a blip for you. HAITI STILL NEEDS YOU. For real. They need you.

My good friends over at Compassion have put together a concert. I know. That's so been done, right? Yes, sort of. Hollywood can put that stuff together overnight but they had funding. Compassion has it worked out as non-for-profit as it comes. They've also been kind of busy. Finding kids, parents, schools, churches, water, food, safety. For people. But I just recieved email about this concert. Do you live in Nashville? Do you live in the greater Nashville area? And by "greater Nashville area", I mean, the United States of America. Because that's close, comparatively. You should go to Nashville 27 February to see Help Haiti Live. What I like about this line up is that its people who can write lyrics. I'm a sucker for good lyrics. They could play it on a washboard (which I don't think they are) but if its strong lyrically, I'm in love. You should go. Or you could watch online. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to scrapbook and watch Help Haiti Live and dig out my bank information.

Haiti isn't a blip for Compassion. They've been there for 40 years. That's longer than I've been on the planet. They help to care for 60,000 kids. 60,000. That's 3 times the size of my hometown. They had projects ongoing and they have projects rebuilding. There in it for the long haul. They're committed. They don't do blips. They're using their power as people to make a difference. You have that power.

And you don't want blips in your life.

why i homeschool and you can too

2010-02-17T18:55:00.001-06:00

An article on homeschooling I really enjoyed this morning. Reminding me that I'm not messing up the kid and even if we don't press science as much one day because we are busy making our own intrepretation of Picasso, its really ok.

Signs I’m getting a little older

2010-02-17T01:31:00.001-06:00

I'm 33. Or so I'm told. I routinely forget how old I am. I was born in December and so right as we're getting ready for a new year, I have my birthday. Thus when I subtract from the year I get confused. I also got married on my birthday and so from time to time when asked my birthday, I write 1999 for the year. I wasn't born in 1999.

So last night I went to the dentist. I wasn't sure I really had a dentist appointment because when I went to schedule it the attendant told me the first available was 22 February. When I sighed and told her the nature of my problem, I think I cracked a tooth while flossing around an old cavity. She went through the book and penciled me in at 6:00p.m. on the 16^th. But it sounded like a "Golly, I don't know. But we'll try to squeeze you in. I'll let you know if it's squeezeable" kind of appointment, which is very common with this dentist. She's the priciest dentist in town and that is the kind of thing you want here. Actually her office is wonderful because they normally call to confirm appointments- that makes it worth the money. And she speaks in English; you don't want your dental needs to suffer because they were lost in translation.

I didn't get a call so at 5:00; I called the office to see if I was indeed "on" for an appointment at 6:00. She said "of course", like how could you not know that and so I ate a bit of dinner, brushed my teeth and got around to the office. I brought the Video Ipod because the dentist is notorious for hour or so long waits even when you have an appointment. When I arrived there were maybe 2, 3 people waiting (tough to tell because the dentist doesn't let family members and/or nannies into the office). I grabbed a magazine and thought I'd save the production of getting out the ipod etc. It was a local language home design magazine and mostly instructed me in how to make even the smallest space in my home more "feng shui". Half way through arranging pillows in a "feng shui" way, I was called in.

Then dentist took a look at it. Agreed the filling was a million or 2 years old, pronounced there to be a secondary cavity L, and proceeded to take x-rays. All the while explaining that most likely I was looking at a root canal and crown which would be expensive (you wouldn't agree if you are reading this from the US). Sure enough, the uber-cool computer x-ray which tumbled onto the screen, told us root canal and crown. And I was thinking "but it's not hurting right now, so maybe we do this whole root canal crown thing another day?" I'm thinking this while Super Dentist has tools in her hand to begin numbing me so that she can drill. So obviously we're not going with my idea. I close my eyes, cross my hands tightly (white knuckle fashion) across my stomach, and begin twiddling my shoes. I'm in full panic mode when I see the shot, and begin humming at the thought of the drill. I hum all the way through the drilling, waiting to hurt. Practicing that pregnancy breathing I learned and reviewing what the teacher in prenatal class told us "You only really feel pain if you're tight and you stop breathing. Keep breathing and you're not going to hurt." Still I'm humming because that is my stress response. Super Dentist asks if I'm feeling pain. I give her a thumbs up- so far no pain but I want to be prepared.

But during this I'm thinking "I've never been scared at the dentist before. Why am I scared at the dentist?" And the grown up Amanda says "Because you're in the developing world getting a 20 yr. old filling yanked out of your head by someone who speaks passable English and you know that tooth is going to be cracked through." And I was sorry with myself for being afraid. When I was somewhere in adolescence I remember Life Long Dentist filling that tooth. I remember because for the first time Life Long Dentist had forgotten to put the sunglasses on me that kept from seeing the WICKED HUGE SHOT they use for dental procedures. I remember very clearly whimpering. Then Life Long Dentist got me the sunglasses but I was already scared. And now here I am in the developing world getting my teeth fixed again and that doesn't sound like something normal people choose to do. And I thought to myself "You're kind of getting to be a scaredy cat in your old age." And so I am.

Super Dentist did a fine job. This office isn't a chit chatty dentist office. Life Long Dentist has a chit chatty office and everything takes forever. I don't know that I've had a root canal before but everyone talks about it taking forever and being painful. This was neither. I left the office without paying a dime, "Later" it's not culturally appropriate to talk about money much and called Jonathan. Super Dentist gives the same prescription drug cocktail and I was pretty sure we still had some from last time. Sure enough we had the pain reliever and the anti-inflammatory and I was off at 8:30p.m. to run into the pharmacy for the antibiotic. Got to the apotik and they were packed. Pharmacy or Apotik has doctor and or dentist offices attached typically. Got my antibiotics. On my way home. Parkir hassles me out into busy traffic, trying to get my seatbelt pulled across, remember to turn on my lights, check all three mirrors, look behind me, miss the bicycles/ motorcycles/ pedestrians and as traffic lets up I think of plugging in the Ipod. Reaching into my purse at a stoplight, I can't find the Ipod. I pull over and make a search of my purse, nothing. Weaving back into traffic to the dentist office. Check the parking lot, check the office (still patients sitting in the lobby). Go to the Apotik, same thing. Call Jonathan who kindly says "look a little bit longer but don't worry, it's just a thing." I boo-hoo. I go back to the dentist. Checking parking lot, checking office (last patient being drilled in the other office). Leave my name and number with the attendant. Parkir kindly says "tomorrow morning you'll find it in the car." Back to the Apotik, leave my name and number. Parkir looking around. Drive by dentist office, Parkir isn't playing with new Ipod. Drive back by the Apotik, Parkir isn't playing with new Ipod. So I go home. Where my kind husband suggests I take my medicine and get a shower. He goes out to the car with a flashlight. I go to get the emergency back up light. As I come out, husband meets me on the porch with my handphone and the Ipod. It had fallen out of my person on the passenger side. It was up in the top of floorboard. I couldn't have seen it from the driver's side or with the light of my handphone.

I'm so looking forward to going back to the dentist next MondayJ

Too many thoughts

2010-02-15T05:10:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking on different things that I need to tell the story of lately. But when I sit down to the computer I have a nasty habit of being sucked into facebook and then not making time to tell my own story. Some of the things I've been glancing off of mentally:

NBC is the Olympic Nazi. Our country doesn't have any athletes competing in the winter Olympics in Vancouver, but why should I not be able to see them? Because NBC bought the rights for a million years and the little TV station in developing and slightly more developing countries can't afford to pay for them. I think to pay for the rights for the most unpopular event, every person in the country would have to sell their children and then that might not be enough. I can't even view highlight reel of the opening games. Still photos yes, but nothing in video. Even the Olympic.org website can only show me interviews.
I'm mad at China again for allowing more poisonous milk to reach the marketplace. In 2008 when they had the problem initially, the government wasn't in charge of overseeing the destruction of poisonous milk. Somehow, wonder of all wonders, it didn't all get destroyed. I find endangering the lives of children appalling. In truth, its better not to get me going on that one.
My neighbor started a reading library next door. I'm all for kids reading. I'm not so crazy about kids parking their bikes in the middle of the street and standing watching cars that honk when they can't get down the street. What is hard to figure out about that? Patience. Maybe when they are reading a book they will happen across the concept roadway and parkway.
President Obama will be coming to our country in another month or so. Traditionally you call men Pak and their first or last name ie: Pak Jonathan or Pak Moore. If you are familiar with them and they invite you to do so you can call them "Om", Uncle. Jonathan has decided all of our countrymen (who adore Obama), should begin calling Obama "Ombama". It's better than "Barry", which is what they call him now.

I'll come to more things later, this is what I had time for just now.

overheard @ bedtime

2010-02-06T06:32:00.002-06:00

@ seems to be in a growth spurt so I went through his underclothes basket while Jonathan was reading the night time story. I pulled out the smallest looking 4Ts and opened up a package of 5Ts in his cabinet.
@: "Dad, let me know what color underwear you're wearing in the morning so that I can wear the same color. "

a public apology

2010-02-01T00:42:00.002-06:00

When I was a child we lived in a small town. Once every couple of months we would head to a larger town that had a mall and a wal-mart. While in the stores I would inevitably get lost. It was a confluence of events really. I was born curious and, I suspect, prone to being an extrovert. My mom is not the tallest person you will ever meet. I was not and am not currently a tall person. So you see, it was inevitable that I would get lost at the K-Mart. We'd get into the maze of clothing racks. I would linger longer over something and turn around to find that I couldn't see my mom. And then adventure and tears normally ensued. The one time I recall the best was that I finally gave up trying to find my mom and wandered to the customer service desk. My guess is that it was with the encouragement of some nice K-Mart employee. And there I would whimper my mom's name "Betty Way"and they would ask me again because that doesn't sound like a person's name and "can you understand what that little lost girl is saying?" and I would again say "Betty Way" and they would call for "Betty Way" over the intercom and my mom would come to the front half furious and half relieved and then when she saw little whimpering girl, she just felt relieved. The thing is that "Betty Way" is not my mom's name. See I had a real problem with the /r/ sound for nearly forever and my last name didn't help matters.

So today I was at the grocery store. @ was desperate to go see pets. I needed to stop and read lightbulbs so I sent him ahead to pets (at the end of the next aisle over) and told him to stay there, I'd be there in a minute. I called Jonathan about the lightbulb/ extension cord he wanted. I walked to pets. And you guessed it, kid is gone. So I start looking and see his red shirt darting by at the end of the aisle, by lightbulbs. So I run, but he is too. Then I see him duck down the milk aisle, So I run. And now I'm calling out my child's rather unique name. Now if you were an adult and you saw a noticeably different boy running the wrong way from a noticeably different mother yelling a name, you'd grab that kid and point to the woman right? Well you weren't around. Not a helpful person could be found in the store. Then I saw the kid run through the produce section. Then I saw him run through the lightbulbs and then I couldn't see him anymore. Until finally I hear over the intercom my kid's name looking for his mom. And then I'm running to the customer service desk.

Now your saying, why didn't you go to the customer service desk? Because my kid doesn't listen to it and I don't think he would know what to do necessarily. Because I'm a bad mom that hadn't taught him what to do if he got lost. This is the first time I ever let him out of my sight in the store. And the thing is he normally refuses to use his language, so I wasn't sure how he was going to tell someone he's lost. For real, we've done our best on the language front but I can't make the kid produce it. Anyway there was a happy ending and he somehow knew what he was supposed to do.

But all of that to say, I'm sorry I was a frustrating kid mom.

So Proud

2010-01-25T18:15:00.001-06:00

Rent out tigers in order to save them? - World environment- msnbc.com

going on a road trip

2010-01-25T17:55:00.003-06:00

After 10 years of marriage, we are going on our first truly free form road trip. Jonathan likes the idea of them but it doesn't always work out so well for him. But we've gotten comfortable enough with all things local here that we can pretty well take it where we want. We have a rough sketch of where we are going. Haven't made reservations because we can't find information for the places that we've been told are there. So we're going to take it as it comes. The idea is that we will spend a day or so on the south coast seeing what is there. Apparently that won't include a lot of ocean swimming as the rip on the south coast can be pretty awesome. So wading and rock walking are the plan. Really I think if we are going to take a child to the south coast, 5yrs old seems like the perfect time, before he is old enough to think he really can swim against awesome rip and before he believes he can surf. We're also thinking on trying to find a cave where they play music with the stalagtites and stalagmites. Don't get mad at me, they've been doing it for centuries, wether or not I come and see it. So we thought we should go and see it. The colors are supposed to be amazing too.

So we're going south and it really is as free form as it gets around here. That being said. I have checked the maps. In fact I have a bag of maps. And I know what you are thinking, "if you have a map that isn't a free form road trip, rhea". Not true. When we're in the states we don't need maps, there are signs and the reasonable assurance that if you get your mini-van up a hill there will be a road down on the other side. That isn't true hill. Roads do suddenly terminate into bamboo foot bridges over rivers. And its a road that you were getting your minivan down just fine 2 seconds ago. Roads do go up a hill with no way to turn around or get down the other side. This has happened to me now on two continents. Backing uphill 100 yards isn't easy kids. So I have maps to try to keep on roads that stay roads.

Inadvertently over the years I have developed my road trip clothes. Its a uniform good for all weather conditions in equatorial regions. Longish flowy cotton capris, tank top, over shirt, hiking sandals. Its hot but if we get out of the car and stop at a temple and they won't let me in because I'm in a tank top and my shoulders or knees might tempt away the faithful holy masses, well I have an overshirt and flowy capri pants. I don't recommend trotting around the world in the Nike sports tank that the girls on Amazing Race always seem to embrace. It isn't the best way to make friends and influence people in more traditional countries. The overshirt and capri pants is a nod to cultural respect and thus walking through centuries old temples.

So here's to free form road trips

Haiti

2010-01-14T23:43:00.004-06:00

I've begun to understand a bit more about earthquakes in the last few years. We moved to earthquake country and by and large they don't ruffle too many people here. Understand that folks are still effected and traumatized. People mobilize to help and give whereever they can but its not something that is really surprising. People don't say "How could that happen? We've never had an earthquake before." Rather, on the contrary, people tend to compare notes from past earthquakes. I suspect its a little like Gulf Coast and Florida residents when it comes to hurricanes.

I think that is what gets me about an 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti. They haven't had an earthquake of any real magnitude in over 200 years. That's crazy. Jonathan and I were talking about it and really earthquakes are something. You can't prevent them. Its difficult to guard against there effects (even earthquake proof buildings give at some point and condition). You can't predict them. It really is a little like a bus falling out of the sky.

You'll notice at the top of the page in the sidebar is a widget for Relief Aid to Haiti. Let me assure you, if I give you a link its something I've already done. I take giving very seriously. I want you to also. If you have ability to give of your time, of your things, of your money. Please do so. Giving should be part of everyday life and not reserved for diasters and crisis. If you have a organization you already give to, Congratulations! You're already experiencing joy. If you do not, please let me suggest Compassion International. Compassion has been present in Haiti since 1968. Partnering with churches to provide for the basic needs of food, health care and education for children and their families. They have a million children in their sponsoring system worldwide and have consistently recieved top marks for accountablity with finances. That's important folks. Compassion is ready on the ground to aid the people of Haiti.

If you are giving through another organization, I encourage you to check their financial information. Really if you ever give money, check the financial information. 501(c)(3) is a tax designation for charitable/ non for profit organizations. If you are giving to a 501(c)(3), you should know that you can deduct the gift on your yearly tax returns- that maybe something you are interested in. But beyond the tax status, do a little homework. Know where the money is going and how much is going. Certainly a percentage may go toward a central office or other types of overhead, but if you are giving to the people of Haiti, you should know how much of that money is getting to the people of Haiti. Ask the who, what, when, where, why, how and how much. Get some answers to that before you write a check. That's not stingy, that's wise.

Some organizations I would recommend and I have given to:

World Vision- In Haiti for 30 years working in child sponsorship.

International Disaster Emergency Services - providing food and financial support to work worldwide. If you are interested in being a physical help, go to the IDES website. They have a food packing site for relief work. They don't put too many limits on the size of groups to come and pack food. Anyone thinking roadtrip to Indiana?

swimming lessons in the rain

2010-01-12T06:58:00.000-06:00

@'s first swimming lesson started out on a dry day but half way through the rain started. But rain isn't something so concerning when you are in the middle of your firts swimming lesson and your mom doesn't stop you from playing in it. In fact for @, rainy swimming lesson was more fun- mom allowed him to splash and play in the puddles (because the puddle was the kiddie pool). It was a great lesson, @ had a great time and is excited that mom calls this part of homeschool!

the culture of swimming lessons

2010-01-04T18:24:00.002-06:00

Some months ago we had talked about putting @ in swimming lessons. He's so assured that he can do it by himself that he really won't let us help in the water for more than minute. The problem was that we were anticipating a trip out for visa work and then as the visa work dragged on it took a life of its own. Swimming lessons floated to the background.

We spent a day at the pool with some friends and @ really wanted to swim with the big boy. He borrowed goggles from friends and tried everything the big boy did. He continued to talk about it the next several weeks so for christmas, @ got goggles with swimming lessons tucked inside. We've been talking about swimming lessons since christmas with the idea that after the new year we'd go around to some of the local pools and find out details.

Understand I knew things wouldn't work like traditional summer swimming lessons in the states. I think with that you sign up at the pool. Its so many mornings/ week in the summer. They put the kids in the class based on age and ability. And its a set cost, paid upfront.

There is no real summer here. There is the end of school break in June/July but kids don't take lessons then, they go on holiday. Kids take lessons all during the school year. For all kinds of things. For swim lessons, you go to the pool of your choice (we have 3 within a mile of us) and find out the details of when the swim teacher comes. I checked into 2 different pools. At Royal Family (its the name of the housing complex, we'll come to the funny at another time), you pay the entrance ticket to the pool and then you pay the swim teacher/ month. At SMG Beautiful (translation), its the same deal. But any arrangement for the lesson is made with the instructor, not with the pool.

We decided on SMG Beautiful. They have a better pool for lap swimming, it provides some shade, and its a bit cheaper of entry. We watched a young man give lessons for about 30 minutes. He was kind, got involved with helping child position his body, gave feedback as the child went along. Mostly, he seemed to have a kind happy face. We spoke with him for a while in Local language and found that he was able to respond a bit in english. A definite plus as @'s language is still very basic. And @ will begin swimming lessons next monday afternoon at 3:30. Swimming lessons are always in the afternoon here. Locals would never swim in the middle of the day- too hot, too sunny. Lessons are always after school, normally starting around 3 or 4 and kids will take lesson into the evening hours 7 or 8.

Thus the culture & language lessons of swimming lessons

new year sales by amoore · 365 Project

2009-12-31T04:04:00.000-06:00

new year sales by amoore · 365 Project

365 projects start randomly

2009-12-30T17:51:00.002-06:00

I like the idea of New Year's Resolutions. I don't know if I like them so much as I don't find them offensive in anyway. But I'm realistic enough with myself to know that if I think of something that I'd like to change or do around december 15, I really shouldn't wait until 1 January to get the ball rolling. Strike while the iron is hot is kind of where I'm at on resolution. Some years ago I thought I need to read the bible all the way through. I bought a one year bible and started on sept 23. Not exactly starting at the beginning I understand but it didn't make sense to wait and I knew I'd get confused by the starting at the beginning. I'm a distractible puppy like that. So wrote the year of the start date next to sept 23 and when I got around to it again, it had been one year and I had finished the bible- right in the middle of Isaiah.

So for the last month I've been playing around with things I want to do. I've got this silly pain in my hip - doctor here said its arthritis but its hard to say if you ask me considering I don't think she did enough to find this out conclusively. I've read about it a little and for some reason it seems walking might be a better form of exercise for it than the biking I ususally do. Websites told me to walk 10,000 steps a day. So for Christmas, Jonathan and I got pedometers. I think its like low tech interactive video gaming. Jonathan and I check our steps throughout the day - so far I need to practically double the amount I'm walking but its only the first 3 days, I'm working on it.

I love the camera I have, except for the fact it doesn't have a remote. I love cameras with remotes. But I've been thinking about a picture a day. Over the next year we're going to be around alot of places and do lots of transitioning. So I'm working on 365 photo project. I'm working on thinking of a venue for sharing them. I don't think that will be here. I've thought about facebook but I don't know that they have much of a format that would lend itself to that. I'm looking at opening a site at 365project. Problem is I have a mental hangup about opening another site. I did that with livejournal and it just didn't take. The thing is that this isn't necessarily about you but about me. I'd like to take nice photos. I'd like to keep pictures of where we go and what we see because I'm a believer in everyday magic. I don't really want to get hyper tied down to captioning for other people, so much as captioning for me, if I want to.

I want to learn local cooking. I bought a cookbook here toward that end. Figuring it'll facilitate language learning in a different way and let me play around with local ingredients with a little more understanding.

I've got a few other thoughts but I'm being called in to look at a superior bed nest and watch restaurant makeover- that is what school holiday's mean for @.

moving to a tropical island paradise

2009-12-27T05:47:00.002-06:00

"Its record setting freezing outside. There's a foot of snow in the driveway. The wind is blowing 50mph. Not sure if the electricity is going to stay on. Man, that Amanda must have it made living on a tropical island. I wish I could move to a tropical island." Kids, moving to a tropical island ain't all its cracked up to be.

This is the one where I explain in whining detail that the grass is just as green on this side of the fence.

So the clouds came in dark and nasty. Fine, something about Christmas day marks the get nasty point of the rainy season. Only draw back- our roof started leaking Christmas Eve (happy christmas to me!). Our landlord is sending a guy around on monday. We've hooked up a tarp system to run the water to the drain and i have buckets and rags on stand by. 5p.m. Jonathan position tarp and @ yells "The water is going down on my shower." I making dinner. Jonathan finishes the tarp and goes to check @'s issue. In fact their is no pressure. I check the kitchen sink and Jonathan check the water pump. No water going to the roof- which is how we get pressure into the house. I bring in a bucket. @ dries off. Jonathan begins opening the housing for the pump. Break for dinner. Rain turns from sprinkles to crazy downpour.

Resume activity after dinner:
@ begins yelling and running- storm fever. Jonathan turns off the shut off to the toilet. I reposition rags/ buckets, sop up water from the floor then bucket wash dishes. Jonathan continues to labor on the pump- getting no where because his tools are upstairs cordoned off by tarp systems catching the bucket loads of rain coming in. While working on the pump the electricity goes out. Now we have no running water in the house, no electricity, flood water rising in the street and a leaking roof. Give up on pump. Light candles. Shut off very noisy battery back up to the computer. Reposition/ Sop up water with buckets and rags. Child is given stern warning that death awaits running, yelling children (death would probably result because of mom and dad spontaneously compusting).

Once family is settled in with the electricity off- Jonathan grading quizzes (mindless activity), @ sitting with Ipod watching old Grinch (God Bless the nice people who made the Ipod), I decide to shower- with my trusty bucket of water.

After getting out of bucket bath by candlelight, lights begin to flicker. Rain is slowing. I check the buckets and rags, wring/reposition/sop. No one moves to turn things on or off for 5 minutes after the power comes back on, don't want to jinx these things.

Good news:
-There is a man supposed to be coming tomorrow to look at the roof.
- After rain stopped, Jonathan went up for his tools. Got the rusted cap off the pump. Primed it- we'll have running water soon.
- Electricity is back on so the AC is cooling off bedrooms- Praise God for AC and beds.
- This is all fairly typical but fortunately it all happened before we went to bed, much better than when you're really at the end of the day and want the AC
- Child calmed down with the end of the rain. These claps of thunder and lightening can be so loud it gets everyone on edge- even otherwise nice children.

an open letter to the people at Pixar

2009-12-25T07:07:00.002-06:00

Have you seen the movie "UP"? Well then what are you doing? Go! Go, now! Go see this movie. Break into the Pixar building if you have to (try not to tear anything up). Bring your kids. Bring your 85 year old Grandma. They're all going to love it. Its that good.

We picked up the DVD for christmas. It was supposed to be the christmas present for the 5 yr old boy but really I should have given it to my husband as an anniversary gift. We laughed, began to tear up. And while I was washing dishes I realized, we didn't screen that movie. Normally we try to pre-screen movies just in case they aren't 5 yr old appropriate. Everyone who saw it said it was great and so we didn't think about pre-screening. And it was safe. It was family friendly through and through. And that is a rare quality people. Something that is funny for grown ups generally doesn't entertain the 5 yr old. And often if it does, its because its stoops to the basic and lower insticts- relying on gas humor and inuendo. But this was funny and nice and clean and...sigh...happy family movie.

And as I reflected on Pixar in general, the movies I remember from them all are "family friendly". They're nice.

So, thanks Pixar! You were our movie highlight of 2009. And we're really proud of your content, not just your kickin' movie production.

about my uncle george

2009-12-10T22:04:00.002-06:00

When I was little, my sister and I stayed out at my grandma's after school and during summer break. Grandma would make a trip over to Pana to see her sister, my Aunt Marie, once a week. My sister and I would play out in the yard and try not to get in trouble or fight in the house. Sometimes Uncle George would be home during the day but normally he was out hauling rock or water. He made a business for himself hauling rock and water and whatever else in some big old trucks and he did it longer than people can remember. Being self employed and frugal, he kept a close eye on everything and kept a book for it all. He did his own billing and his own taxes and knew just every cent the state or the feds wanted from him. And he paid them, grudgingly sometimes but my guess would be always on time. That's who Uncle George was.

The state notified my Uncle George some years ago that their house and land would be taken should the state ever get around to expanding the road the that ran in front of his house. I think initially it was concerning to them. It was his home but also his business. But as the years past and the state had other projects, the road in front of their house ever getting widen looked REALLY unlikely. The odds were quite good that it would be there kids problem and not theirs. Some 15 years later (by my guess), Marie and George were notified that the state was ready to widen the road and it was time for them to sell and find a new place. Uncle George still hauled for people but he was pretty well on in years and it was mostly water to fill tanks for little old widows. It was with a good bit of sadness that they moved. And within a few years, my Uncle George died.

But what was problematic upon their move and his death was his record keeping. Not because it was messy or hard to decipher but because it was complete. It was thorough. He could tell you how many gallons of water he hauled to Mrs. Smith on a particular date in 1975. How much rock went to XYZ project. How much, When, Where, To Whom, Why, and the price. It was all down. And it wasn't just his business. My Grandma went around to play cards (Rummy is the game of choice) with Marie and George at least once a month for countless years. George has a book that can tell you who won and by how much and because of which dealer in August of 1983. Every game that he ever played or conducted on his premises or vicinity, he has a record of. Generally is a1 subject spiral bound notebook. And the question comes: what does one do with 20+ years of notebooks full of record keeping on card games? Think that through for a minute. You could throw them away but it seems a shame when we're talking about a person's passion. Record keeping was Uncle George's hobby. Do you throw away a person's hobby? Even if its a bit obsessive, its represents the diligent work of a man.

I don't know what became of the notebooks. Aunt Marie has needed to downsize a fair bit. She's on her own and her health isn't great. But what I learned from this, and why I'm telling you this story is that there is a virtue in good honest record keeping. I have a fairly good memory. But if I write something down, I remember it far better. And if I need to validate or prove something, you'd better believe I'm going to write it down.

The paper man stopped delivering our paper after his holiday bonus. I had written down when he came with the last paper and when we called to cancel the paper. The next month a man came along to collect for paper delivery. I got out my calendar, showed him when we cancelled, when the last delivery came, how much the bonus was and instructed him that if he needed money, he needed to contact the delivery man. You can't argue with that.

We've been wrestling the Telekom for 3 months since we changed our internet service. I've written down and saved every bill and the contract dates. Again this month I took it all in. It was easy to correct and hopefully they really put it in their computer correctly (computers were not George's thing and he had a more than healthy distrust of them).

We've been working through the world's longest renewal of visa which has required phone calls, papers sent and delivered and to various offices and then visits to various offices. I have written down in my dayplanner every time Jonathan or I have done something with that process and what it was. Every extension filing, how long it took, and when. So when Jonathan was told he needed to pay the cost for facilitating our visa, he was confused. Because if we haven't been facilitating the visa, then what is all that work. So today he went in and explained this to his boss. With my calendar full of dates. And (Jonathan just called) sure enough he doesn't need to pay the facilitator. Now I don't know about my suggestion that they pay us for the facilitating, my guess is Jonathan left out that bit. But it makes me happy. Not because I get to save my money, although that is CERTAINLY very nice, but because it reminded me of my Uncle George and the virtue of honest, diligent work.

homeschooling week 19

2009-12-06T22:21:00.003-06:00

We've passed the halfway point of homeschool with our Sonlight Curriculum. Actually I just realized that if I wanted to return it (which I don't) that deadline passed last week also. With Sonlight, if you get halfway through it and decide you don't like it, you can return it and get your money back. Is that awesome or what?

So we're halfway through. @ loves it. I love, love, love it. We have a pretty good schedule and I've gotten comfortable enough with the schedule and the curriculum that I don't go crazy if the day changes and something else needs to get squeezed in. We can get to it later or if I'm organized I remember to pick up what I need (the sound cards, a pencil, a spare bit of paper) and we can do it wherever we are going. How great is that?

History:
This week we are concentrating on World War II. I'm somehow trying to get across the gravity of the thing. The damage of it all. But somehow still be 5 yr old friendly. Today is Pearl Harbor Day and so we'll watch a bit of a video. Screening it now to see where to stop at. Later this week I'd like to show him a few picture of German Jews with their Star of David patch. The Holocaust pictures, even the ones of the kids with their serial number tatoos are just way too grim. We've read a wonderful book called Twenty and Ten and we'll review it a bit this week too.

Geography:
@ is able to identify and name the 7 continents. We're working on the oceans. Oddly he has a hard time finding the United States. He can use the Compass on the map to help find where countries are. He is able to find our nation on the map and where we live.

Math:
I like Singapore Math. Each lesson involves talking through the problem and writing to solve the problem. Presently he is in the middle of the Early Bird KB book. We're combining number bonds to make addition sentences. We're going to skip the end of this book because it wants us to work US Money. We'll do a bit on local money but I'm not planning to push it hard.

Language Arts
@ started his 10th book today, Rob's Cap. He struggles with b,p,d reversals and it seems more pronounced the more we add. I like that the curriculum had us take a break in adding letter for about 3 weeks so that we could concentrate a bit more on sorting things out. It takes time and I'm not worried but we were ready for a slow down. We need to get more into his handwriting material but its a point of oppoosition so we're taking it easy.

Science
We seem to stay ahead on science. The experiments are good but we have a hard time doing some of them here. We have no heater so its hard to show how a balloon place over a heat vent rises fast. We tried the inverse with the fridge door but that didn't work terribly well. Seeds on a wet napkin in a jar don't always grow here- sometimes they mold. But take that same seed and throw it at the ground- chances are it'll grow. Little things about living in the tropics are a drawback. But then we also live in the tropics on a volcanic island. Want to study dirt, growing, volcanoes, earthquakes? we're all over it. Ocean currents, wildlife, habitats, flooding, beaches? Check!

We've taken lots of hiking excursions and trips to the marina. Through the first of the year we're going to be doing lots of christmas decorations and lessons about Advent and Hannukah. Then in January we'll do a good bit about Chinese New Year.

We're also getting in bits of art projects, some music, some P.E., and language lessons. Those aren't things I worry alot about. @ likes to dance and sing, run and play, and he's always eager to help with crafts. We've tried to make sure he gets opportunities for that and we don't necessarily need to call it school. He told me a few weeks ago he's going to be an artist.

If/ When you want to know more about Sonlight, just let me know. I'd be happy to help you get a discount by mention me as a referral- little something for you, little something for me.

rising tides

2009-12-06T18:44:00.003-06:00

I saw this photo report on the Maldives this morning. Maldives is the lowest country on the Earth, sitting just 3 ft above sea level. The photo essay documents the very man made problems effecting the Maldives and their potential to be the first nation on Earth to loose their country to the sea. Looking through the essay, I could see we have the exact same problems.

"Rising Ocean Levels Threaten Maldives"- from MSNBC's series Picturing Climate Change

Meal Plan

2009-11-30T23:35:00.002-06:00

Trying to figure out what to do with leftover turkey. Its not that its a nuisance, its more of a problem of how special it is. We don't do turkey often - once a year- because starting price for a turkey is 30USD. That's kind of pricey. I have a nice box of it leftover but I've been trying to think of special recipes that we can't really make very often. We've had just thanksgiving leftovers a few times but i want to make sure I use every bit of it well. Presently I'm boiling down the carcass in the pressure cooker. Thinking of boiling it down a second time because i think there is still some goodness in there and my thought is that turkey broth will make white rice way more fun.

Monday noon: beans & rice and carrot (need to get rid of a jar of beans in the fridge and make something fast)
Tuesday noon: Turkey pot pie with leftover gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots
Wednesday noon: Gado-Gado, Rice cooked in turkey broth
Menu: personal size BBQ Turkey Pizza (per Jonathan's request)
Menu: Meat loaf patties, leftover mashed potatoes, leftover veg

Thinking that dinner menus will feature turkey, biscuits and gravy one night this week. And I want to put some turkey in the freezer.

I have a long list of leftovers that I'm working at knocking off too. I got out a box of freezer pickles for our local guests the other day. Pickles are familiar to them and people enjoyed them. The olives did not go over so well. But I love olives. I made one of the teachers try 1 olive (she had never had it before and it was in keeping with the spirit of the day) one of the funniest faces and strongest reactions i've ever seen on a person. It was just so immediate. She was a good sport about the whole thing but I think that will be it for her and olives. So I have a jar of olives to eat by myself- that is not a complaint, just probably not the best news for my blood pressure.

between thanksgiving

2009-11-28T05:55:00.002-06:00

yesterday we had thanksgiving with friends up the mountain. its lovely to go there because they have a house with a lovely tropical garden cut out of the jungle. and you sit in front of the picture window with a cup of coffee...its terribly relaxing. i brought the turkey and (for my own future reference) we packed it in a rubbermaid box. Carboard lining, then the Illini fleece blanket, then a layer of newspaper. turkey wrapped double in foil. then wadded up newspapers. i also put in the broth from boiling down the neck and a separate container of dripping from the bottom of the turkey pan. also for future reference a 16lb bird shouldn't be put in a large cooking bag- it needs the fuller sized turkey bag if its available. it did ok but more room is really needed.

today i went around to market, bought 6lbs of potatoes, 2lbs of green beans, 2lbs of onions, eggs, celery and bread. i made 2 pumpkin pies, cleaned the green beans and washed the potatoes. we dug out the serving dishes, wiped them off. found the extra plates and silverware. wiped off the glasses. cleaned up the kitchen a dozen times and washed dishes at least as many. went to get water. i did as much prep work for tomorrow as i can really get away with.

tomorrow we have somewhere between 6 and 16 people coming for thanksgiving. we're pretty sure we're going to hit 12 but everything is soft until you see the whites of their eyes. lunch isn't until something in the ballpark of 3ish so there isn't a big rush. i'll need to wash out the fridge after taking out the turkey. its a drippy thawed out mess in the crisper drawer at the moment. i need to do something about cleaning out a few million plastic containers but that will come as lunch prep comes together. jonathan will be in charge of peeling potatoes and i need to think of some locally inviting way to make green beans. i suspect it has something to do with oil and chilis but i wish there was a way to make locally pleasing and healthy. probably not going to happen.

but now i'm off to rest. i love having people over but turkey is stressful. there's to much "not killing your guests" talk associated with it. that isn't something i normally have to factor in to having people in for dinner.

meal planning, homeschooling and the feast of the sacrifice

2009-11-26T05:24:00.002-06:00

I made a meal plan this week and we stuck to it just fine. Only thing is that it was very short and constituted eating whatever would get in the way of the defrosting turkeys in the fridge. The good news is that I had plenty of room because i've been thinking ahead- good on me.

Presently I'm trying to remember what I did last year with the whole cook a turkey and travel 1 1/2 hrs thing because it worked terrifically. Only problem is that I don't remember exactly how I did it. So I'm a little up in my head about the whole thing. Just harrangued Jonathan about finding an empty rubbermaid so that I can wash it out tonight. We have some newspaper and I remember the fleece Illini blanket being involved along with the motherload of foil. I have the same Large Cooking Bags. Problem is that this year's turkey is substantially bigger...hmmm...

@ had school this week. We weren't real fussy about the whole thing. Monday - Wednesday we did all subjects. Today we held back and just got in the Bible, History and Reading bits. We made a few turkey crafts too. Including a crazy turkey hat for the crazy hat dance that is something of a tradition amongst our friends (its a rather odd story, surely I'll come to it). We also made a rather complicated turkey can but no link because it took too much modification to make the link worthwhile. And we'll do some more pilgrims and indians stuff tomorrow as we are in the car.

And tomorrow, while we celebrate thanksgiving, our across the street neighbors will be celebrating Eid Al Adha, the feast of the sacrifice. Tonight while I was making dinner, I heard a vaguely familiar wail in front of the house. A little like a man dieing but maybe not. Sure enough, the goat was being delivered. I took note of the fact that my neighbors aren't home, their house staff is. My guess is they will be at prayer most of the evening, not sleeping, but also not enduring their goat. While I am at home, also praying, but for sleep, while enduring their goat. The goat has settled down a bit with night fall but he's still a bit skittish. Painting a picture in my head presently of a grumpy me awake in the morning while my neighbors, who have by then sacrificed their goat, sleep. I need to raise the turkey myself next year.

Meal Plan 16 Nov

2009-11-16T05:37:00.002-06:00

The last two weeks I just haven't made time to post meal plans. I've made them, but sitting to post it hasn't happened. Jonathan started back to teaching and trying to catch up for 6 weeks in 3. And presently he doesn't have a motorbike license which means a lot of trading off vehicles and child and back and forth. But we've eaten. And more than expected, we've eaten at home.

Monday noon: Orik Arik, Rice, Tempeh
Monday p.m.: Curried Chicken Salad - you should try this!, toast, grapes
Menu: Spinach Tomato Omelet, Naan
Menu: Grilled Chicken Breast, Sour Cream Noodle Packet, Steam Veg
Menu: Baked Potato, Brocolli, Shredded Carrot, Cheese
Menu: Ful, Naan, Feta

Apples were on sale last week so applesauce is on the dessert and treat list.

I got a chance to make Granola the other week- heavenly.

I bought cucumbers by mistake the other week, happiest mistake i've made it a while. Pulling out the last box of freezer pickles this week. May need to make that mistake again.

Ful is easy to prepare if you have beans ready. 35 min in the pressure cooker. Pack into old peanut butter jars, cool, freeze = 1 can of beans.
Stew chicken 20 mins in the pressure cooker and make the chicken salad.

I shred carrot on top of everything (not really) but shredded carrot is pretty.

Go on over to India Snacks. You don't need a recipe for Chai, but you should refresh your memory at how deliciously easy it is. And then use their curry powder recipe (which is how i stumbled onto the site). Then try some kind of other goodness. These are pretty user friendly.

We'll be alternating Mango Lassi's and Chai for the next few days...

A vacuum cleaner

2009-11-15T03:08:00.001-06:00

@ comes into room carrying his loose change. Mostly 100 and 200 Local Currency coins , worth 1 to 2 pennies.

@: look at all the money I have.

Me: that's a lot of money. You're rich.

@: I'm bigger rich.

Me: what are you going to do with all that money?

@: I'm going to buy stuff when I grow up.

Me: what kind of stuff would you buy?

@: a vacuum cleaner.

Me: A vacuum cleaner. Why a vacuum cleaner?

@: to clean the house.

Me: what would you clean with the vacuum cleaner.

@: the floors in my house.

Me: Do you need a vacuum for the floors in your house.

@: I will.

Me: What kind of floors will you have?

@: I don't know.

@ has lived in a carpeted house for maybe 9 months of his 5 years of life. Where he got the idea that he needed a vacuum is beyond me. Vacuum cleaners are one of my least favorite appliances and I never miss not using them.

never good to turn up on BBC

2009-11-07T23:51:00.004-06:00

Last week while flipping channels on a very hot afternoon we came across a program on BBC called Hot Cities. Last week's program was on Bangladesh and the rising number of climate migrants flowing into already crowded urban areas, thus decreasing the quality of life for everyone. They promoted the next week's city- our capital city. You don't want your capital city to turn up on the BBC, nothing good can come of it. Well we happened to catch a portion of it again this week. It was fun to hear the professionals being interviewed because we could understand them without the subtitles at the bottom. They were only echoing things we had been percieving in our city also. The rains maybe starting later but they are also coming at odd times throughout the year. And the tide is getting higher and things that were once percieved to be safe and high enough, aren't anymore. All of this just spells disaster on the health front. Dengue Fever (here called Blood Fever) and Malaria are occurring at times in the year that never used to be possible and at elevations that used to be safe. All very discouraging news.

Last month they started lifting another road about 6 blocks down from us. They are raising the road in front of the church we attend and the pharmacy we go to, a meter. That's 3 feet. The parking lot to our church has a 3 foot wall bordering the street. The church will be 3 feet below the road 12 feet away. I stopped in at the Pharmacy yesterday. All they can do is given a weak smile and sigh. They have no idea what they are going to do.

We've been hearing rumors since the close of last rainy season that there was a plan in the works to raise roads and install new pumps and deepen the canals. They've only really just started on some portions of the plan. We live 2 blocks from a major Artery Road that loops around the city and they've already raised that road on the other side and there looks to be a deepened canal and pump. I have no idea where the water that will be pumped will go as the neighborhoods are still lower. This week we got a for sure verification that the main street 2 blocks from us that is our connection to town, will be raised in the next month. They are planning to raise it a meter, 3 feet.

The last few months as we have seen these projects begin we've had a little sense of anxiety creep into the back of our minds. Our contract on the house we are in runs through Jan 2011 and we have every intention and desire to stay in this house. We love our landlord. We have a terrific house and yard at the world's most ideal price. We have neighbors and friends. But the house in our neighborhood don't sell, they barely get renters. Everyone knows it floods but the question is how much deeper will the water be when the raise these main roads. No one believes the pump installations will help. They can pump whereever they want but it doesn't change the fact that the lowest guy will still get water when the canals they are pumping into are filled.

So we have been sighing a fair bit lately. We know there is a limit to the amount of time we will stay in this house. The demands of Jonathan's job location will inevitably pull us away. But the thought of having water come into this house that we've made into our home... its happened to our friends and watching their sorrow was impossible. Sigh... and we're powerless against it.

But we find ourselves waiting for rainy season, if only to confirm or but to rest our concerns. Either way, we'll ride it out. We're still in a good position to help and encourage our neighbors. But sitting in this crazy heat makes me wonder what's to come...

adding to the mayhem

2009-11-02T22:58:00.002-06:00

Its been a bit of a day and its not quite noon yet. Feel free to skip because really this is a long winded sigh...

The electricity has been spotty in the kitchen for a day or two. A friend clued us into the possibility that its probably just the circuit that is dead- not the wiring for the house going bad as I had feared. After snap, crackling and popping at me this morning after Jonathan had gone to class, I shut off the electric to the whole house- when in doubt, better not to burn down the house. Jonathan came home from work today, he found an electric shop open, bought a new circuit and got it installed. So far, so good, the electricity is staying on and there is no more snap, crackle, pop. That's good, because it is wicked hot and the fan is doing its best but still its just blowing around warm air.

On another front, realization has been setting in that @ and I don't have paperwork from Immigration and our last extension expires tomorrow. Probably that means something should be done. Thing is we are waiting on the national level office to click 3 things for each of us in the computer before the local office can complete our visas. Its been like 10 or 12 days and they haven't done it so I'm not counting on them finishing before tomorrow when our extension keeping us legal, expires. So I got out to the local office to see what needs to be done. I tell them that we aren't clicked yet but my extension expires tomorrow. Funny thing, they are in a quandry too. There is no procedure or rule for this kind of thing. So they check the computer, just to double check our statuses, not that they don't believe me, just they too are hoping against hope. Well it seems that sometime in the last hour the national office did a little work- I have my clicks from the national office, now I'm just waiting on one click from an office across town. So they give me the phone number and name of that guy in the office across town- this shouldn't be a problem they say. Then they check @'s status from the national office. Seems the national office quit work after all that hard work clicking my name and they haven't done anything for the 5yr old. So the question remains, but now its taken on a real element of the ridiculous, tomorrow does the 5 yr old need to leave the country alone because he doesn't have his paperwork/clicks from the national office? Should we petition the justice dept for another extension for the 5yr old? Because we are out of extension technically according to the immigration office, we would now have to ask justice for special permission to extend longer. Do you see how ridiculous this is? After only 10 months this is how far we've come...
SIGH...

Good news: I have a houseworker who makes this awesome crazy addictive fried chicken. I was smart enough to have her make it while Jon was doing electric and I was doing immigration. Very good decision on my part.

knock-off pumpkin spice latte

2009-10-29T19:39:00.002-05:00

see, i put up with a lot. i've got every other tom, chris and jason telling me about the wonders of their pumpkin spice coffee. singing its praises for all of its restive benefits. and here i sit in 90 degree heat at 7:30 in the morning with no pumpkin spice coffee for hundreds of miles. my friend an hour away isn't even running her coffee shop regular hours and thus it really is hundreds of miles. then dear Owlhaven links to this lovely lady's site. Now, mind you I don't have a can of pumpkin. But my morning plans now involve going to the store to buy a pumpkin, roasting said pumpkin and then storing the pumpkin puree so as to have homemade "canned" pumpkin. but i have a sneaking suspicion that it is going to be SO worth it!

Just Like Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte
Makes 1-2 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons sugar or sugar substitute – adjust to taste
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee (or 1/4 cup of espresso if you have an espresso machine)

Directions:In a saucepan stir together milk, pumpkin and sugar. Cook and stir over medium heat until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice, transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds or until foamy. I don’t usually bother with the blender and just whip the mixture really well with a wire whisk.
Pour into a large mug or two mugs if you decide to share. Add the coffee or espresso on top.
Optional: (But don’t even think about skipping this step. I mean it). Top with whipped cream and sprinkle pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon on top.

meal plan- watercolor edition, oh & burying the lead

2009-10-26T02:44:00.003-05:00

Yesterday @ was watercoloring at the project table. He really wanted someone to work with him. I did a sunset and painted another picture. He wasn't done. I needed to get on to some list making and thinking for the week ahead. But it occured to me, what hinders me from watercoloring my grocery list? I wrote the menu plan in crayola marker but the grocery list is in watercolor. Seemed like a good use of time and energy.

Sadly the menu plan is already somewhat sprained. I planned to do Zuchini Garden Chowder today for lunch, but somehow the zuchini's I bought turned out to be cucumbers. Not sure how that happened. So the Cukes become freezer pickles along with the last red onion. Perhaps this week i'll have better luck at buying Zuchs instead of Cukes.

From the oven this week:

Granola- been meaning to make it for 2 weeks

Mango/ Applesauce- thought it sounded like something to try

Monster cookies and Choco-Raisin Cookies- for Jonathan to take back to school for his students.

**Jonathan just walked in and he has a work visa, his police book, and his passport in hand! He is officially finished with immigration!!

Now if only @ and I could get our paperwork...

about christmas

2009-10-24T21:06:00.002-05:00

I've started to kind of vaguely think about christmas. A friend sent me a christmas stamp set so that I could switch up some of my christmas cards. I have a bit of fun making the cards but then it comes to addressing them and posting them and somehow the magic dims a little. I started playing with the stamp set yesterday after having them sit on my desk for 2 weeks. Wasn't feeling clever enough to have such pretties so it took me a while to work up the courage. I made some little lovelies- at least in my estimation.

Last week we were up in our first town and i stopped at the ribbon shop that i like to go to. Its small but things are out on the shelf so that you can touch them. That's kind of unusual here. Small things are often kept in a cabinet and you have to ask the keymaster to open the cabinet and tell her which one you want to touch. If you're window shopping, as I often do, this gets a little on the tedious side. Having someone stand there waiting for you to either buy or ask for something else. Anyway, I came away with a few meters of ribbon, some slicky paint to finish off stockings and some fake poinsettas. I'll add them to wreathes and homemade christmas ornaments this year.

Jonathan and I have entered into idle discussion of christmas for @. He's 5 and we are going back to the states 7 months after christmas. He's WELL STOCKED for toys and oys seem silly because we aren't bringing them with us. He has a bike. A list of the things we've talked about as family presents:

We've talked about a keyboard for the family- I like to play, or attempt it, and we've both thought @ should learn and instrument. Jonathan's family all play something or had a lesson when they were kids. So for Jonathan its how kids grow up. I've just always fancied the piano. A keyboard would start somewhere around $120.

We've talked about a camera for @. I know that sounds wasteful but we will be in the states for a good 8-10 months. Meaning the 5yr. old will be without the bedroom he's used to, in the house that he is used to with his bike and friends and toys for 8-10 months. That's kind of a lot it seems like to me. We walked by a display of Fisher Price 1st cameras when we were in Singapore some months ago and as was the display's intention, it got us thinking that might be a way for him to take some memories with him. What he wants, not just what I take pictures of for him. But then i read the reviews and it doesn't sound like its much of a decent camera. We've talked about buying his a cheapy here ($50) but then that seems silly too. Or I could just take pics of what he tells me to- which is what we already do and it seems to work just fine.

We've talked vaguely about a handheld video game system for the family. They are everywhere here. Our thought is that we have 30 hours in the air back to america, another 30 to get back here and countless car trips in the states. Maybe a game of tetris would be pleasing to everyone. We haven't looked at them or really even talked about it more than in passing but i think they would probably start at $175.

Now understand, we don't do lots of presents for christmas or birthdays. Normally its one present and then some books or a new set of markers, paints, etc. The grandparents send the child plenty of stuff! Indeed, presently we need to work through some of his stuff again to get rid of some of the things. We try not to buy him things that he will grow out of quickly. And these are all items for the most part that will be family gifts- even the camera to some extent because I'd love to see what his eye sees.

So tell me, what do you think? What do you do for christmas gifts? Tell me about your kid and taking pictures? Am I just crazy on that idea?

back to the immigration saga

2009-10-22T06:31:00.002-05:00

So for the most part we've left immigration to handle itself. It became apparent that going out to the local immigration office was unprofitable- they are waiting on the national office to finish their work and send it to them for the next step. No amount of hassling at the university has seemed to work- turtles can only move so fast and they are waiting on the national office too. So what can we do? nothing. Once a week Jonathan's checked in to see if they need anything or if they've heard anything. The first of October we heard we had permission from Manpower and they were sending that to national immigration. Then a week and a half ago we heard that national immigration had approved but weren't finished with the appropriate documents.

We'd been thinking on a vacation but we had been waiting on the process. Not wanting to be out of town when they called and said they need a signature or a stamp or some obtuse piece of paper. This last week I had had enough and felt that it was time for us all to get away for a few days. We decided to leave on Saturday and be back on Monday (just in case they called). Lovely time was had by all and no calls came regarding immigration.

Finally this morning, we got a call - Go out and get pictures and fingerprints done at immigration! This was great news. This was the call we'd been waiting on that really signals that they are nearly done. So we went - ready to pay for @ and I and they said "Jonathan's paperwork is ready. It seems Amanda and @ haven't been cleared by national office." WHAT?! WE'RE DEPENDENTS! A 5 yr old and a housewife. So Jonathan proceeded. He'll have his final work permit card on Monday. @ & I, well we're a risk, I suppose. But what was fabulous- The immigration officer gave us our Computer ID #'s for the immigration system. He gave us the website and when I asked "How will we know when its ready? Should I call or just come out (30 min drive)? " He said "No, just check online. When you see that you are check marked to #16, we're ready for you to come here." How cool is that! So he walked me through the website and when I got home I checked it out here. No kidding, it works!

New favorite thing = checking my immigration status

Immigration officers thought is that it was a clerical error and so we expect to be moving along in the system in the next few days.

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment on Vimeo

2009-10-15T19:44:00.000-05:00

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment on Vimeo: "

You really need to see this video. Then you really need to go and get one of these kids. Come on, you got a little superhero in you. You just forgot.

why i'm not a happy housewife

2009-10-13T20:20:00.002-05:00

So normally @ calls the shots on breakfast. Sometimes his ideas are thrown out on account of time or availability but for the most part he chooses within given choices. So today he called out waffles. And we all like waffles. I had come back from an early successful bike ride. I was feeling good (and already you know what we're in for). So i set about making waffles from a fellow blogger. The recipe looks lovely and you put everything in the blender- perfect for borderline carpal tunnel girl. I've made this recipe 5 or so different times- its always given me trouble but the last 2 batches from each recipe gives perfect beautiful waffles. Thus i persist in trying. So today i loaded the waffle iron with extra oil and set the timer. The waffles were so badly stuck that it pulled the griddles out of their locked position. Jonathan and i each took a griddle and started scraping. @ ate the bowl of crumbs. I poured in more oil to the freshly washed, reheated griddles. Slightly better, the scraps retained their waffle shape but without a middle. The project i started at 7:00a.m. has yeilded 4 waffle scraps and the need to rewash the griddles and its 8:30a.m. I haven't showered or started homeschool. Past angry, the waffle batter becomes pancake batter. The pancakes sticks to a well heated Teflon pan- no kidding folks. Now there is no happy housewife in me, there's is crazed manic killer housewife with a vendetta. And thus, the recipe is in the trash. And no i'm not going to link to it. Generally I like people, I wouldn't wish this on you.

Meal Plan

2009-10-12T06:34:00.002-05:00

Last week we finished off lots of odds and ends. I cooked a bit but mostly it was adding something to an additional leftover to make it a meal. Lots of repurposing going on in the fridge. But in all of that I remembered an old friend, Homemade Tomato Soup. When we were in Africa, I made tomato soup all of the time. I even made the tomato sauce and paste. But here I don't make as many soups. Yes, its hot and that doesn't put you in a soup mood necessarily but I make and bake all manner of other wintery things. Anyway, Jonathan was going to be gone. We didn't have much in the way of real leftovers at that moment but I remembered 2 bag of tomato paste from half used jars (don't ask how that happens). It also happened to be the day that @ was supposed to experiment with yeast for his science experiment- thus Tomato Soup and Fresh Bread was born again in our hearts. I don't think I had made it since being in Africa and @ loved it- he'd never had it before, or at least not that he could remember. Happy day for everyone. Jonathan got home later and was thrilled to fine an old friend on the stove.

Monday noon: smothered pork, naan, leftover steamed veg
Monday p.m. BBQ Tempeh, Baked Potato
Menu: Ful, Naan, Feta Cheese (found it at the store again finally)
Menu: Potato Pie (from @'s homeschool lesson), Indian Meatballs, Green Veg
Menu: Polish Sausage and Kraut (hold over from 2 + weeks ago)
Menu: Tortillas, Refried Beans, Taco Meat (in the freezer), Salsa
Menu: Pumpkin Soup, Bread (might become tomato soup)

Planning to roast a pumpkin this week to make pumpkin pie and will probably have some leftovers to go into a soup. In homeschool we're covering the Native Americans and Early Colonists and some of the things they ate. The books come with some rather British interpretations of Pumpkin Pie. They say its how the early colonists made it but I don't know. Going to give it a try because it doesn't sound bad, just a little more complicated.

Also found discount Apples at the grocery today. They're bruised but that means good saucing apples. Jonathan and @ are both rather fond of homemade applesauce and cheap apples are way cheaper than the can stuff here.

the mornings

2009-09-30T19:08:00.002-05:00

Jonathan normally gets out of bed a minute or so before I do. He starts the computer (*beep* says the backup battery) and then emailing/ facebook checking begins. I get dressed and go for a bike ride. I come back 30 minutes later, @ is varying states of wakefulness (today: "come see my track) at 6:15 a.m.). I start the coffee, and the hot water heater for Jon's tea. Turn on fans, open curtains (the windows never close) and then Jonathan surrenders the computer. I begin checking email/ facebook and depending on time I run through a set of blogs, women who inspire me, make me curious etc.

Gretchen-Got to check in on the fam
Owlhaven- 10 kids, for real
Ali Edwards I should take more pics
Tanya - I miss Africa and she reminds me of life there
Nienie- another brave woman
The Happy Housewife- i still need lessons
Journey Mama- she makes me wonder at the world, much more brave and daring than i am
Singapore Photos- its one of my favorite places to visit and he takes great pics

at the same time I scan a few newstories today's list
Indonesias latest earthquakes
60th anniversary of China
Chicago's Olympic bid

My computer time normally take about45 minutes, Jonathan's takes 20. I try to get everything in before breakfast because i probably won't get a chance to come back to the computer for a while (homeschooling) but I also get interrupted every 2 seconds. I read every sentence twice because I need to "stop mom, and see this" "mom look what I'm doing" "actually..." That is at least half of my 45 minutes.

Now I've been trying to write for 5 minutes, I've stopped 3 times to see the tower of rice krispies to tell @ where the cereal container is in the cabinet and to ask @ not to lean on the cooler lid. Suppose I should get breakfast started now...

Meal plan 28 Sept

2009-09-29T00:01:00.002-05:00

The holiday finished way earlier than i thought it would. Meaning things are open again and the crowds and crazy seems to have pretty well gone too. Amazing. I'm going to foray into the grocery I normally go to later this afternoon just to test things out.

Breakfast
Eggs& Biscuits, Oatmeal, Fruit & Granola w/ Yogurt, Pancakes

Lunch/ Dinner
Monday noon: Beef w/ Green Pepper & Onions, Bombay Rice leftovers
Tuesday noon: Orik Arik, Tempeh, Rice
Menu: Sloppy Joe, Fried Potatoes, Corn on the Cob
Menu: Tasty Tuna Burgers, Homemade Mac & Cheese, Brocolli
Menu: Maple Grilled Tempeh, Rice, Stir Fry Veg
Menu: Polish Sausage and Saurkraut, potatoes for the boys

From the oven
thinking about some kind of yeasty donuty time thing but haven't come up with it quite yet
chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
not necessarily from the oven but i think i may give pudding a try again this week too.

Id al Fitri get stuff done list

2009-09-21T05:01:00.002-05:00

This time of year involves a lot of sitting at home unable to go anywhere. And its also nearly the time of year we start to change seasons, if we do that here. The rains are thinking about starting, in the last 2 weeks we have probably had 5 rainy evenings. And so it happens that I get a little urge to do what others might call Spring Cleaning. My houseworker is off work, meaning I do my own housework and see just how thoroughly my houseworker is doing her job. Generally it makes me think of firing my houseworker. Here's a list of some of the projects that I'm hoping on getting done this week:

-Picture Hanging- need to decide on where they go

- Closet cleaning and sorting

- Wash curtains in @'s Room, Iron

- Financial Statements

- Start making Christmas Cards

- Scrapbook pictures sitting on my table

- Sun Furniture Cushions and pillows- makes them a wee bit fresher

- Kitchen cabinet clean up, reorganize- meaning: find all the things my houseworker pushed to the back of the cabinet

- Touch up ceiling paint in dining room- we've had some leaks that have been fixed but they need a new coat of paint so that we can see when new leaks start this rainy season

- Try making medieval pouch – homeschooling- @ thought it was cool

We'll still be homeschooling everyday and really doing everything in our normal routine – just hoping to add in some of these things to get a little caught up. We've been home since Thursday so we are starting to get a little stir crazy. Planning on going around to our favorite coffee shop here in town and throw them a little business. They're one of the few places open during this holiday.

Called Out: Belgian Milk Farmers!

2009-09-16T19:30:00.005-05:00

I know, could I be more obscure. Because when you woke up this morning you were thinking "Blast those flipping Belgian Milk Farmers!" But we have a problem here people! I was just going to go and shut down the computer and make my family a healthy breakfast but I have a nasty habit of checking the newswire and this is what I see.

These farmers are DUMPING a DAY'S worth of milk production on the field's of Belgium to protest low milk prices. The prices, they say, don't cover production costs. Now, people, we here at Curious Aside feel for the farmer. Really, we do. We grew up with farmers always wondering how to make ends meet. Sweating planting season, praying for weather and against weeds and bugs. We like to think we begin to see the plight of the farmer. BUT THIS IS MILK!!! Babies need it to survive. Mother's need it to support babies and children. Do we have to remind you, in the most trite way "THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING IN AFRICA!" and other parts of the world. And you're throwing MILK on the ground in a sign of protest. Sigh... obviously someone isn't getting the message that we're all human together. Heck, babies in China didn't get the milk they thought they were getting. They got plastic instead. Could we protest in some other way. Maybe you could throw sugar on the ground, the world would be ok with a little less sugar. But Milk. Couldn't they put in a thermos and send it somewhere instead? I'm trying to stop my mind from thinking of all the different NGO's that would gladly come to them and pick up the milk they want to throw on the ground.

I frankly, have no solution to for the farmers, nor how to stop this madness. But I have my little humble soapbox to yell from...sigh...

2 Brownie Reviews and a winner

2009-09-15T07:37:00.003-05:00

I've tried two more brownie recipes over the last few weeks.

All Recipes Fudgy Brownies: In some respects, these are the clear winners. They get first prize if you're looking for a easy throw together with what you have in your cupboard brownie. I didn't make any substitutions here because I easily can find all of the ingredients- and for me that is a big deal. Translating ingredients and instructions is not my favorite thing. But by far, these are also the biggest loosers. They are simply NOT the fudgy brownie I'm looking for. If I'm looking for a brownie for non-westerners on the spur of a moment-I'll serve these. But for Americans, well Americans expect more from a "fudgy brownie" and they would be let down by this recipe. And my batch looked nothing like the batch in the All Recipes picture.

Annie's Eats- Chewy, Fudge, Triple Brownies- These are the winner so far. And after having made them they make up very similar to my friend Becky's brownies. These are a really lovely fudgy brownie. I wasn't able to make them precisely to Annie's Recipe. I can't figure out by reading the labels here the difference between Unsweetened Chocolate and Sweetened Chocolate. More than once I thought I was buying unsweetened, only to get it home and find that wasn't the case. So, instead of 5oz Semi Sweet and 2 oz Unsweet, I used 200g Sweetened Chocolate. I also cut the sugar to 1 Cup instead of 1 1/4Cup. My thought was that with the sweetened chocolate, less sugar might be a better thing. I don't know for sure but the end product was lovely. The main difference between Annie and Becky is that Becky doesn't use the cocoa powder. Becky's also makes a slightly thinner brownie in a 9x13 vs Annie's thicker brownie in an 8x8.

But as a side note, I think I'm going to ditch Smitten Kitchen's recipe until I can find Cake Flour (and work out what that means here). If I can find my substitution sheet, I may give it a try. Its just too hard standing in the store reading box labels from 3 different countries and neither english nor local language is the primary language on the box.

But the winner for the real deal in Fudgy Brownies is Annie's Eats- Chewy, Fudge, Triple Brownies

Meal Plan- the extended edition

2009-09-14T23:41:00.001-05:00

Over the last month we've been stocking up everyday things. Extra boxes of milk, flour, sugar, housecleaning items, cereal, canned goods etc. Yesterday I went to the stored armed with a list for meats, cheese, yogurt that will get us through the next 2 weeks hopefully without a desperate return. I think we'll be good till some of the crowds clear out around the 27^th. I need to go to a neighborhood grocery and buy ground beef. I still try to make bike trips to the market for fruits, veg, and eggs. Not sure what the action at the market will be like after Sunday. My guess is it'll still have some sellers during the holiday. The holiday should be Monday, Tuesday and maybe Wednesday.

Breakfast

"Healthy Breakfast" (Granola, Fruit, Yogurt), Whole Wheat Waffles, Pancakes, Oven Baked Oatmeal, Biscuits, Singin' Hinnies

Lunch/ Dinner

Monday: Orange Chicken, Rice, Snap Peas

Tuesday: Spinach Bacon Quiche

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie, Mashed Potatoes

Menu: Mexican Rice & Beans

Menu: Beef w/ Onion & Green Pepper, Naan

Menu: Veg Curry, Naan

Menu: Ham & Spinach Pizza (if I can get the yeast to be yeasty)

Menu: Smothered Pork, leftover Veg Curry, Naan

Menu: Veg Fried Rice, Lumpia (if I can find someone selling it, probably not a problem)

From the Oven

Apple Pie for my neighbor, Apple Crisp for my house, Date Bread for the other neighbors, Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookies

Getting around

2009-09-14T18:54:00.001-05:00

This week marks the beginning of pandemonium. Its internationally agreed, for 2 weeks there is no worse traffic anywhere on the planet. All because of a holiday that has become nationwide family reunion week (or 2 weeks depending on how long people decide to stay away from work). The capital city is home to millions of people who aren't really from there. They go for work, or in hopes of work, but long to go back home to visit family and friends, and spread the wealth. Its what you do. And most of them are from little villages here. My city happens to be the intersection of major North/South and major East/West highways, thus the intersection of the universe. As we go throughout the week, traffic gets a little thicker. Drivers become more urgent, tired, hungry, excited.

Today I went out to take a friend around to get her internet set up. Traffic was heavier but people were still patient. Not the honking, yelling and life-threatening reckless that will take over on Friday. The Police have set up their outposts at major intersections and particularly troublesome spots. Barricades have started going up randomly to try to ease/ streamline the flow of traffic and prevent the worst of the bottlenecks. The police outposts are funny because they aren't necessarily to control traffic. They are there in large part to move barricades and give drivers a place to pull over and rehydrate if necessary. They do some policing but it's pretty limited here at the beginning of the week. While driving down past one of the malls the two lanes going the opposite direction were packed with cars, so the motorcycles decided to use my lane. Driving towards oncoming traffic showing no fear. My options are to stop and go nowhere on the road, neither able to UTurn or go forward, or to forge ahead in neutral blinking my lights and honking my horn, essentially signaling that I will be moving forward and you should get out of the way. It's a game of chicken and it takes and exhausting level of nerve.

I saw only one accident of mention. Taxi is trying to turn out against traffic, he's edging, traffic is letting him cross, he thinks he's clear. Motorcycle comes barreling down against traffic. Taxi hits motorcycle before he sees motorcycle. Completely not the taxis fault. Taxi becomes angry. Yelling and hollering ensues inside the cab. But motorcyclist clearly hasn't learned anything. He pulls ahead, laughs it off, speeds away, coming towards me stopped with nowhere to go. This young man is destined for the ER before the end of the next 2 weeks. Had this been a real accident with injury, who would have been responsible? The taxi. Why? Because he's bigger. And the "rules" are that the bigger guy is at fault. Nevermind that the taxi was barely edging in to what appeared to be a clear lane. Nevermind that the motorcycle was across the lane divider, speeding against traffic. And that is why the taxi (and I) were so angry. We're responsible for the other guys negligence by virtue of the fact that we happened to be on the same roadway. Sigh…

So when I get ready to go somewhere. I first turn the car to get the AC going really good. Then take the time to adjust all mirrors. Use some hand sanitizer. Put on chapstick. Make sure the cup of water is handy. Make sure I've responded to and finished all conversations via mobile phone. Made sure the parking money is out and accessible with the parking ticket. Fill the change cup for the beggars at the stoplights. Plugged in the Ipod with the battery charger. Checked the sound levels. Found the right playlist for my mood and the estimated time to arrival at destination. Checked with @ for needing snacks, water, music selection, if he's in the car. Make sure my hair isn't annoying me. The AC vents are in the right spots. I can see my Driver's License and Registration in the glove compartment. Adjusted my pants so they don't get sweaty. Made sure my sandals aren't too tight. Adjusted my sleeves, I don't like it when they get tight around my upper arm. Pray for the traffic and that I can control my anger inspite of their seeming deathwish. Found my sunglasses. Now I'm ready to go…

homeschooling update

2009-09-07T05:18:00.002-05:00

We started week 6 of continuous homeschooling today. And overall its good. I find myself banging my head against the project table, sighing and then being amazed at how smart the kid is normally within about 1 minute. I'm beginning to learn a few things:

- don't call off school for anything. 5 yr olds can smell weakness. getting restarted is way harder than going slow.
- handwriting and 5 yr old boys are not always the dearest of friends- Rome wasn't built in a day.
- Rome is fascinating to study. As is Ancient Egypt, Greece and the Vikings.
- math is fun when manipulatives are in hand.
- kids need a minute or two to zone out every so often. It just seems like that is always the time when i'm asking the comprehension question.
- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow- if only i could make the kid understand the concept everyday.
-kid with broken arm now colors with both hands at the same time.
-i need recess as much as he does, but i think i need to hire a recess teacher.
-kid with scissors is scary- i know i'm going to loose an eye.

Overall school is going really well. This week and next we are combining Consonants and Vowels to start reading- something I think the kid will be entirely ready for. Now to know what is actually getting in the kid's head for real.

Meal Plan 31 August 2009

2009-08-31T02:59:00.001-05:00

I found whole wheat flour in the store the other day. I suspect its due in large part to the holiday season so I bought several bags. Maybe I create demand… not holding my breath though on that one. I have been finding good fruits in the market and so many of our breakfasts have gone back to fruit, yogurt and granola/cereal. That's just who we are I guess.

Breakfasts

Pancakes, Biscuits, Cereal & Yogurt, Waffles, French Toast (renamed Roman Toast from our homeschooling lesson)

Lunch/ Dinner

Monday noon- Beef with Spinach

Tuesday noon- Vegetable Croquettes & Sesame Spinach Salad (from Extending the Table)

Menu: Ful, Naan, Hard boiled Egg, feta cheese (if I can find it)

Menu: Vegetable Adobo w/ Chicken, Rice (from Extending the Table)

Menu: Chili with beans and ground chicken

Menu: Butternut Harvest Stew, Biscuits & Honey (from Simply in Season)

Update on the Brownie Throw Down

My friend Becky gave me her recipe. She promised, promised, promised it was fudgy chewy. She wasn't lying. I only used half the chocolate (its what I had on hand) and still fudgy chewy goodness. Here's her recipe:

Becky's Fudgy Chewy Brownies

Melt Together:

2 C Chocolate Chips (I used semi sweet baking chocolate bars- its what you can find here)

1/2 C butter

Allow to cool.

In a separate bowl, mix together:

2 C Sugar

4 Eggs

Then Add chocolate and mix. Add

2 C Flour

1Tbsp Vanilla

Pour into greased 13x9 bake 30 minutes at 350F/ 180C/Gas 4

What your friend wants for her birthday

2009-08-26T03:10:00.002-05:00

And that isn't me. We're all good here. But I had a realization yesterday that I thought I should share with you.

It's rough economic times. We read the US news and we've read largely about stimulating everything under the sun. How people are cutting back. Reevaluating wants and needs. In general the American public is coming to her senses and that's a very good thing. And that made me think about some of the blessings we have received here. People like to send us things. They really should stop because it's too expensive but grandparents can be surprisingly hard headed. But we get all of these treasures that people in the US don't necessarily think are treasures. Case in point:

Monday the day got away from me. I hadn't slept well. My houseworker called in sick. Jonathan was at the university all day. @ was surprisingly involved in homeschooling. I talked too long outside to the neighbor. I needed to water the grass. I didn't give myself enough time to make dinner. Come 4:30 I had a vague idea but not the time to do it in. What's for dinner? I reach into one of my storage boxes. Some months ago as a birthday or Christmas package, someone (I think Gretchen) had sent me 2 boxes of Suddenly Salad. You know, the $2.00 box of pasta salad you pick up for the church potluck in the summer. That's something Jonathan can make while I take care of jobs outside and get moving on another project. We had Creamy Bacon Pasta Salad for Monday night dinner and it was just what the family needed and it was all thanks to the kind soul that sent us that birthday/ Christmas present. They saved dinner! Our Heroes!

Need another example:

A friend asked us to "talk" with a group of kids she worked with this summer. I chatted with her online for awhile one day. For some reason, in return for our chatting (because it was incredibly hard work), she sent me cake mixes. Why did she send me cake mixes? Because we can't get them here and she was being clever. I hope its because her local grocery was having a sale on cake mixes and she got them for next to nothing, I don't know that that was the case though. But she sent me this very heavy box of 10 different cake mixes. What a lovely gift! We have friends that are moving into a different house while their house is lifted. It's a stressful process to say the least and I thought I might bake them some funfetti cupcakes to help them get through the hard days ahead. My kind friend has also supplied me with favorite birthday cakes for the next year! How great is that!

Are you picking up the point? Maybe not. What I'm suggesting to you is that you look at some of these "everyday things" as presents. Why couldn't Gretchen give a couple of nice boxes of Suddenly Salad to her neighbor for their birthday? You're thinking "Because that's weird." Why is it weird? It's not weird. You're giving your nice neighbor friend a night off cooking or thinking about dinner for the cost of $2.00 (if they are a small family like mine). And that sounds like a birthday present to me. Why can't my nice friend give her nice friend in the US several cake mixes? Her nice friend probably could use a surprise cake that she wouldn't otherwise buy herself.

I know we're all trying to move out of buying so many ready-made box mixes. Oh, they're expensive; they're not really as healthy as they could be etc etc. But sometimes a mom needs a box mix. Can I get an AMEN!? Sometimes mom needs to have a night where the dinner isn't in the freezer and the dad needs to cover and we could order pizza or have a box mix. I'm thinking the box mix might be closer to healthy than the pizza.

We receive all kinds of things that people wouldn't think about giving us if we were in the states. Dried fruit, chocolate pop tarts (oh, how I love chocolate pop tarts), Lipton soup mixes, ranch dressing packets. Maybe you're a super coupon lady. Maybe you're friend isn't. Why not give off some of your ranch dressing packets to your good best girlfriend that you know loves ranch dressing packets but she might not want to buy them for herself? Why can't that not be weird?

By the way: this was in NO WAY a request to get you to send me stuff. We're really pretty good here. Your neighbor friend, maybe not.

Moosewood Fudge Brownies

2009-08-24T03:05:00.003-05:00

I made the Moosewood Fudge Brownies yesterday. I used 74% cocoa chocolate. In general they're ok. They are not Fudgey. Not at all. They're a nice cake brownie but not exactly what I'm looking for in the decadent fudgey brownie department. That's kind of what I expected really. Moosewood makes great food but I haven't found any of their food to be decadent.

Thanks for all of your extra recipes. I'm probably going to try one of the recipes with cocoa powder next. I have a good bit of that, have to go get more bar chocolate.

Maybe a picture of the moosewood's. Going to need to give them away probably so that I can make more brownies

The Brownie Throw Down

2009-08-23T07:41:00.003-05:00

I like brownies. And they don't need to be fancy brownies. That .99cent box brownie is fine by me if you make it with the fudgie recipe. Much prefer fudgie to cake brownies. Problem is I don't have a box brownie that I can buy here. Actually that isn't entirely true, there is something purporting to be a brownie but it makes overcooked cake brownies look fudgie.

So I've been on something of a hunt over the years to find a fudgie brownie recipe that I could make from scratch and find all of the ingredients here locally. And that last bit is the catch, ingredients I can find here. I can find chocolate chips but not easily. I can only find them in SL3 and I'm not there to visit often enough to keep an adequate stash of chips on hand. I don't know how often I may need brownies. Problem is that in the blogosphere everyone thinks they have the right recipe.

I've been looking through some brownies for a while and trying them rather haphazardly. Over the next few weeks we're going to waiting out a rather stressful ultimatum to get our visa, we have a guest arriving, and I have neighbors that I think need to experience a good brownie. Ultimately the winning variety maybe the gift for neighbors observing the fast.

Annie's Eats- Chewy, Fudge Triple Brownies

Smitten Kitchen- Classic Brownies

101 Cookbooks Moosewood Brownies- these are the ones I'm most doubtful of. I love moosewood but they're not the people you go too if you want decadent, begging for diabetes, chocolate city brownies. They're who you talk to for the most amazing bean salad or veg dish. We'll see though.

All Recipes Fudgy Brownies

This is what I'm going to start with trying. I'll let you know how it turns out.

if its in my neighborhood

2009-08-22T03:03:00.001-05:00

its for sale.

I went through the hood last evening and took some pictures of just a few of the houses available for sale or rent in my neighborhood. We had pretty severe flooding in Febuary 09 and as the rainy season ended houses started undergoing construction. Many of them are being lifted. Many were already on the market and the realization has set in that they won't sell if they aren't lifted. That leaves some homeowners in a really hard spot. Can't afford to raise and it won't sell. Some of the houses are real success stories. Owner has taken the plunge and raised crumbling house 3ft above the road. Now they have a really nice, should be safe from flooding house.

Take for instance the 2 above. They'd sat empty for over a year. Sometimes extended family would come and stay in them for a day or two but they were only used as extra sleeping space for a few nights. Then one day bamboo goes up in front of the house on the corner- this one we suspect is being lifted 6 feet off street level. The one just inside from the corner, sheet metal goes up and they are making better time than the neighbor next to them. But what could they do- both of their neighbors would be higher than them, sure thing the flood water would be well inside their house.

Now look at some of the guys who have lifted. The above house looks like a palace. Their house still isn't selling. Everyone in the city knows what happens to the neighborhood. Even if you house were the ark and would float, no one wants to or can drive to the house. Meaning that until the water goes down in the street you can't leave your house- unless you want to walk through waste water.

Meal Plan 17 Aug 09

2009-08-18T01:37:00.001-05:00

Monday was a holiday (Independence). Thursday is @'s birthday. Depending on the calendar you adhere to, Friday or Saturday is the beginning of Fasting for a majority of the population here. And my houseworker has decided not to come in until Thursday. She told me on Friday as she was leaving that she was going out of town and wouldn't be at work until Thursday. It's the manner in which I was informed that I object to. I'm not sure what to do for @'s birthday because the normal house help I have may or may not come through for me. Sigh…

Breakfast

Cranberry muffins, cereal & yogurt, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles

Lunch/ Dinner

Monday noon: Veg Curry and Naan

Monday p.m.: Sandwiches and Fruit

Tuesday: Chicken Korma, Veg Curry, Naan

Menu: Eggs w/ Fresh Green Herbs, Toast

Menu: Spinach & Cheese Calzone

Menu: Hummus, Foccaccia, Hard Boiled Egg

**Menu: Hotdogs, Campfire Bananas, Smores—This is probably @'s Birthday dinner. I haven't confirmed with him the details on what exactly he wants but I'm guessing Hotdogs will be the request. We're trying to put together a proper campfire hotdog roast because he's never done that before. We brought Marshmallows back from Singapore (can't buy them here- not Halal) with the thought of initiating @ into the great cultural tradition that is Smores. We're having a hard time putting together roasting sticks at the moment though.

homeschooling with a broken arm

2009-08-14T20:29:00.002-05:00

No kidding, I'm nearly positive @ fell on his ear and broke it. Wednesday we didn't really make an attempt to get homeschooling in. What kind of parents make there kid go to school when they broke and arm the evening before and had really terrible sleep? We read the Bible passage and reviewed the memory verse. I didn't think it would be a problem to pick up on Thursday, maybe not an aggressive catch up schedule but certainly with a slower version of the same routine. Little did I know an arm break gives you school amnesia. The child barely remembered his name. I grumbled through the day- trying to extract a memory of anything we'd talked about over the last week.

"Remember the dinosaurs from last week and cool video's we watched" --blank stare, crickets chirping.

"Remember drawing lines and matching the same objects" - hmmm

Note: New homeschooling mother did NOT kill child.

We slogged through Thursday. I skipped most of the phonics/ language arts stuff entirely- sequence a 4 step story- yeah, right. Thinking Friday we'll really get back on the horse. Not so much. Apparently it takes 3 days to recover the ability to turn on the brain. Math, normally one of his favorite lessons, couldn't manage 1 to 1 correspondence for counting! HELLO!

All of this helped simplify the decision, we aren't taking Monday off for the holiday and in fact we are doing review on Saturday. If we don't I'm pretty sure the child will never be able to turn his brain back on.

how @ broke his arm

2009-08-14T20:23:00.002-05:00

@ broke his arm Tuesday afternoon on his bike. Just after 4p.m. he fell on an uneven patch of street. He's fallen a million times before but this time he landed just right. We brought him inside and iced his arm for about half an hour and when jonathan checked on him again he let out a cry. We looked at his arm and it didn't look obviously broken but everytime we moved it he yelped. So we loaded into the car (water, snack, change of clothes, baby book, passports, extra money, bank cards, mosquito repellent, ice packs, pillow to prop his arm) and went around to RS Elizabeth. Went into ER and by time Jonathan had returned after parking the car we were going into exam. I got out the whole story in local language. They touched around on his arm and he didn't yelp but when they went to straighten it a bit he let out a cry and we went down the hall to x-ray (paying for the ER visit 1st- 35,000 = $3.50). Paid for the x-ray ($16.00) they let me go in with him and we talked about wearing the heavy smock. Shot 2 pics of his arm- sure enough a fracture of the right arm above the elbow. Back down to ER to have the dr. read the x-ray. Then to Orthopedics, after making another stop at the cashier for an appointment fee ($12.50). Upstairs orthopede looked at x-ray, wanted to cast and sling him for 2 weeks. Into exam room for the cast. Setting the bone again in the permanent splint got another YELP CRY! Then after it was wrapped and splinted we were fine. Got him in a sling- found one that fit and then back downstairs for another trip to the cashier ($38.50 for the splint, cast, sling) and we were free to go. So for something like $70, @ got some of the best care in town for a broken arm! Really thankful for how easy the whole hospital thing was.

He was a trooper the whole way. I had given him a bit of children's panadol before taking him to help take some of the edge off the ride and the jostling. He spoke politely to the ER nurses and told them without dramatics when it hurt and when it didn't- I was really impressed how well he handled the pain of having it moved. And Jonathan was able to tell him what was going to happen and what they were going to do.

Got home and he was so tired- after 8:00p.m. and no dinner and an irritating sling. He finally just started crying from sheer exhaustion. Jonathan washed him up, got him dressed for bed. I made him a sandwich but he wanted to lay down so we gave him some more children's panadol, said his prayer and turned off the light. He tapered off crying, laid still (he hasn't wanted to really move much since the break) and was off in 10 minutes to sleep. Having it be the right arm is really inconvenient for him because that's the side he sleeps on. He tossed and turned a good bit of the night but after the children’s motrin it seemed to settle down a bit.

Now 3 days on and its an inconvenience for him but overall the cast and sling don't seem to be much of a problem.

Meal Plan 10-16 Aug

2009-08-10T03:44:00.001-05:00

With the addition of homeschooling into the schedule, I think shopping may wait till Tuesdays. Monday I need to get a jump start on the week and the thing that takes precedence at the moment is homeschooling. But we are coming up to a crazy holiday season here so I think I'm going to try to stock up on some things. Next Monday is Independence Day here and then later that week the majority of the population will begin fasting for the month of Ramadan. Having Ramadan fall so early this year (normally it falls in September/ October) has sort of thrown off my thinking. Fasting month is a little like Christmas shopping in the west- only more on crack. Because everyone is shopping and everyone gets a bonus and everyone is travelling. Its pandemonium.

That's neither here nor there on the meal plan, just an insight.

Breakfast

Waffles, Eggs & Toast, Baked Oatmeal, Oven Pancake, Cereal, Sweet Potato Biscuits

Lunch/Dinner

Monday noon: Tuna Burgers, leftover mashed potatoes, glazed carrots

Monday p.m: Sweet & Sour chicken, rice, vegetable

Tuesday noon: Garbanzo & Veg Curry, Naan

Menu: Spinach & Cheese Pizza

Menu: Spinach Pastries, Upside Down Company Platter (from Extending the Table)

Menu: Veg Stir Fry, Pork Egg Rolls, Rice (I've never made egg rolls so we'll give it a try)

We have to get out to the fair one night this week too. Can't miss the State Fair- although it doesn't seem to promise much in the way of funnel cakes or lemon shakeups.

first 3 days

2009-08-05T06:38:00.002-05:00

We've finished our first 3 days of homeschooling and I kind of REALLY LOVE IT! Its 3 days. And they've been good easy days. And I know that there will be lots of hard, slogging through the mud kind of days. But the freedom of the thing just drives me wild. Its so great. We've started to already fall into what I'm guessing our schedule will look like. At least until Jonathan goes back to teaching.

6ish-I get a bike ride by myself (the last three days have had a delicious almost chill).
7ish- @ wakes, maybe a little before, maybe a little after
7 hour- we breakfast, get dressed, shower, make beds
8:15 ish- start the homeschool day at the project tab

Bible & Memory Verse (lots of singing)
History lesson- The Usborne Linked Children's Encyclopedia- potentially one of the coolest books in my house at the moment- go buy this book, even if you don't have kids.
Math - trying to work 2 sections from these opening units, they are a very beginner review
Phonic/Language Arts/Handwriting- Handwriting without Tears and Get Ready to Explode the Code (I'm loving the instruction in both)

11ish Stop for Lunch prep/ playing time

12 Lunch

12:30 Come back and hit Science, mostly using the Encyclopedia or a science experiment book

1:00 Explore Internet links to the history or science lesson

2:00 Resting/ alone play

We've been taking a mid morning recess break too. Some friends are getting ready to renovate house so we've gone down a few mornings to help move things around or tidy up. between 9:00 and 10:00 is normally a recess/ snack/ help friends break. But I love how fluid the day is. I'm not all hyped up on hitting every subject or every bit of the lesson plan laid out. We did the I Spy activity the lesson plan suggested for phonic in the grocery line the other day. Lot more /f/ words there. So far we've hit everything well without any pressure.

And @ has loved it. He's completely geared up every morning to start the day. He's not grumped once - and I know that won't last. He's taken to getting dressed without being asked so that he can be ready in his "homeschool uniform" and making his bed. We have never asked him to make his bed because he only has a fitted sheet on his bed. There isn't anything to "make". But he's asked for a sheet so that he can pull it up and "make the bed". And his stuffed animals now go in an interesting order.

Remind me when we're slogging sometime that the first 3 days were great.

Meal Plan

2009-08-03T19:21:00.002-05:00

Homeschooling prep took priority over the weekend so meal planning didn't happen. Nor did a trip to the grocery on Monday. For some reason Jonathan thought it more valuable to take the car and spend the day running errands to get our visa to stay in the country where I buy the groceries. But that bought me some time to get a meal plan and a list ready to run to the market this morning.

I've been buying our veg and fruit from the traditional market over the last few weeks. Its saves somewhere in the ballpark of $3.00 and its much fresher. I also get the added benefit of being in the hood and riding my bike. I'm still making trips to the store for other things- milk, flour, sugar, etc.

Meal Plan
Monday noon: Mexican Rice and beans, leftover fried chicken cut up, homemade salsa
Monday pm: Leftover BBQ tempeh with bean and rice (wierd but it worked)
Tuesday noon: Spaghetti & Ground Chicken
Menu: Leftover frozen Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos, homemade salsa
Wednesday noon: Smothered Pork, Naan, Steamed Veg
Menu: Orik Arik, Rice, Tempeh Goreng
Menu: Meatloaf patties, green beans, mashed potatoes
Menu: BBQ Chicken, leftover mashed potatoes

The Smothered Pork is something I didn't get to last week. We had some friends that were leaving town so instead of making spaghetti last week I made Lasanga. I had the ingredients and a lasanga makes enough for the crowd (6 adults, 4kids). The lasanga was big enough for leftovers, thus no smothered pork. No matter, still have the ingredients for it too.

Love from the oven:
Butterscotch Bars
Applesauce
Cookies- of some type

Breakfast: May revert more back to cereal this week as we are trying to get a jump on homeschooling at 8ish. @ has also had a later wake up time the last few days, no idea why, but I have a strict policy of not waking up sleeping children.

homeschooling starts today

2009-08-02T19:06:00.003-05:00

and have I mentioned I'm excited.

We're using Sonlight's Core K with the additions of Get Ready, Set and Go For the Code, and Singapore Math - Earlybird KA & KB. We're using Handwriting without Tears to correct some of the crazy handwriting instruction @ has had while in local school.

I'm not sure how the schedule of the day is going to shake out. This is kind of a crazy week in that we have to start application for a visa extension today. and in truth, the extension being granted isn't an absolute lock. We wouldn't be at all surprised if it wasn't granted. Which would mean homeschooling would get put on serious hold while we try to figure out where to go until our working visa comes through (promises, promises).

But I wanted to have a soft launch to homeschooling because there are some things we need to work on reviewing and getting ready for before we start into the full load of everyday. The handwriting and the phonics will need a little extra time because his instruction at local school may have only served to confuse him, especially when it comes to vowel sounds and vowel letter names.

Best get in gear if I'm really going to start the day.

Meal plan

2009-07-28T23:02:00.001-05:00

Beginning to really get the hang of making breakfast in the morning. We wake up in the 6a.m. but thankfully no one is bent on having breakfast the minute they wake up. So we normally don't breakfast until at least 7:30 or 8:00 leaving me ample time to make a breakfast other than cereal.

Breakfast:

-Pancakes

- Baked Oatmeal- I tried my recipe with a ½ can of cranberries- delicious

-Baked Pancakes- essentially the recipe for Swedish pancakes

- Sweet Potato Biscuits

Lunch/ Dinner Menu

Monday noon: Leftover BBQ Chicken, Tuna Burgers, Mac n Cheese, Brocolli

Tuesday noon: Ayam Goreng, Rice, Stirfry Veg

Wednesday noon: BBQ Tempeh, Baked Potato

Thursday noon: Spaghetti and Meat Sauce (ground chicken)

Friday noon: Taco Salad for picnic out of town, fruit

Over the weekend: Smothered Pork, Naan

Leftovers of Rice, spaghetti & sauce, BBQ Tempeh

the goings on

2009-07-25T19:26:00.003-05:00

-School has started for the kids around town again. All except my @. We're both eager to start school but we really can't start yet- not officially.

-We have guests who have had a baby-lots of back and forth to the hospital for me. They are thinking on leaving here around 15 August. Good and Bad. Good: they need to get home and settled. Bad: its been nice having them around. But everyone needs to get back to real life eventually.

-We have guests leaving on Tuesday- lots of good-byes and "one lasts" in store for the next few days.

-Jonathan has the mumps. Lots of wait in see with this one.

- I need to have a conversation with my houseworker about housework. I think I'd rather do the housework myself than have another conversation where she looks at me like I'm crazy. I think its her way of understanding my language but it doesn't make me feel smart or good.

-I'm reading a wonderful book Wild Swans. You should read this book. Its your responsibility as a world citizen. Go to the library now and get the book.

-I need to work up a budget for 2010. That has to happen this week but after the guests leave on Tuesday.

- My husband made a dentist appointment for me. My teeth aren't bothering me. I don't feel the need to go to the dentist. Especially on Monday. The day before the guests leave and he is supposed to go to see Harry Potter. He says I should have a check up. I don't really want a check up- I don't know what that means. When I go to the dentist they make my not hurting teeth, hurt.

-I need to buy replacement rechargeable batteries. I use them non-stop and the 10 I have presently all seem to be dying at the same time. Probably because I bought them all at the same time and thus they are all dying. With the power outages I find myself in more need of batteries.

-I'm really eager to start homeschooling. I have a schedule that says I don't need to start until 22 August but I think we'll start before. After I get things figured out...

acclimation

2009-07-23T21:14:00.002-05:00

I like flannel pajamas. I'm not picky about my flannel pajamas in general. I'll take shirt and pants or floor length nightgown. It was a point of some humor while I was in college that I still wore a floor length flannel nightgown to bed. It was very little house on the prairie, so much so that my friends borrowed it as part of their Ingalls family costume. My body temperature plummets at night and I'm always cold without flannel pajamas. Since moving here that hasn't been so much a problem because my city is a bit like living on the sun. Its silly hot, really all of the time. And then we add in humidity of living on the coast. Nice.

We have air conditioners in our rooms for sleeping. We turn them off during the day but it would be hard to sleep without an AC at night. Everyone has a magic number that they sleep at. @'s room we set at 25 C- something like 76F. We've tried to find the number for him that he can sleep but get too use too the cool. For us, we sleep at 23C (72F). We can sleep at 24 or 25 but I like to have a sheet. Jonathan sometimes still finds 23 isn't low enough for him. When we have guests that stay upstairs we encourage them to not set the AC any lower than 24. The guest room upstairs is well sealed and the room gets rather cold at 24. I should say our bedrooms downstairs are not well sealed. We have screen vents over the doors and our windows don't shut tight (wood and humidity don't mix) so we loose a bit more cool air. Our friends are 24s. We have some guests that have turned their AC down to 18C but they leave their bedroom door open too much.

Recently I wasn't sleeping well. I was rolling around at night. Pulling the blanket on and off. Too hot, too cold. And in evaluating my problem I realized my pajamas were the problem. Here I have never slept in flannel pajamas. Touching flannel is too hot. The thought of touching flannel is too hot. I sleep in a tank top and shorts. Maybe you've seen some pictures of me. My residual self image now only wears tank top and shorts. The lady who goes out of the house wears capri pants and t-shirts but the minute I return home I change back to tank top and shorts. But with the cold and hot problem I realized the problem was the pajamas. I tried out a shirt with short sleeves. Still too cool. And then I knew. It was time to get out the flannel pajama pants. I have adjusted to the climate here enough that 23 is cold. Jonathan is still the same and so we're keeping the temp at 23 but for me that means wearing flannel pajamas again.

I walked out of the bedroom the other morning in my flannel pajama pants. I made the coffee. Sat down at the computer. Realized I was warmish. Turned on the fan. Still not cool exactly. Realized still wearing flannel pajama pants. Changed in to tank top and shorts. Perfectly cool and lovely. Checked the house temp. 82F before humidity at 7a.m. Ahh, life on the sun...

Meal Plan & a recipe

2009-07-21T06:28:00.003-05:00

I've been meal planning over the last few weeks, just not taking the time to post. Thinking maybe it isn't "essential reading". But today I tried a new recipe and Jonathan said "you should post that on your blog." which i'm not entirely sure that means "This is AWESOME!" or "show my family how much I've grown in the vegetable eating department." Its a little of both. But now that some of the busy-ness of summer has passed I'm trying to make some deeper strides towards eating less meat again and cooking more breakfast.

Breakfast at our house is cereal 8 times out of 10. Personally I love cereal. American cereals more than the cereals here. There are only so many rice krispies and frosted flakes a person really needs to eat. And the chocolate cereals nearly turn my stomach here- something not right about the amount of choco they put on the Chocolate Krispies here. But cereal is expensive here- considering the price of other goods, and the size of the box. The most common box size is half the size of a stateside box of cereal. The three of us can easily eat a box maybe 1 1/2 in a morning. And for @ and I we're hungry again by 10:30. So I've been making a point of going through the cookbooks to find some things that would be good breakfasts for us. I normally try to make extra waffles to put in the freezer. Pancakes are just as easy to make fresh as to freeze in my estimation. Baked Oatmeal is going to be featured more often as in a Fruit Oven Pancake recipe I have from Simply in Season.

As for the meal plan:

Breakfast
Baked Oatmeal, Fruit Oven Pancake, Eggs & Toast, Pancakes, cereal in there once too

Lunch/ Dinner - we often eat our main meal of the day at noon
Monday noon: BBQ Chicken, Roasted Roots (potato, carrot, onion)
monday pm: Black Bean Sweet Potato Burrito
Tuesday noon: Tuna Burgers, Glazed Carrots, Applesauce
Menu: Veg Pizza (Garlic Butter, Brocolli, Onion, Cheese)
Menu: Tacos- refried beans, meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese, salsa,
Menu: Indian Meatballs, Veg Curry, Naan

leftovers: beef rendang, rice, bbq chicken, burritos

and the recipe:
Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos**
3 Cups diced, peeled Sweet Potatos
1/2 lg. onion- 2 smallish ones chopped

Saute in 1 Tb oil until tender, adding water, apple juice or bean broth to keep it from burning and sticking.

Add and cook until heated through:
2 C cooked beans (just whatever ones in your fridge)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Divide bean mixture among tortillas. Sprinkle in whatever cheddar like cheese you have and roll up approximating a burrito shape. Place in a baking dish, spray with oil (very lightly but not at all necessary). Cover pan with foil, put in a 350/180/ #4 oven for 20ish minutes. Top with all kinds of wonderful burrito things, a nice quacamole if you have access to an avocado.

**I'm thinking of my friend Tanya who can sometimes find a sweet potato at her local market but would know that she had died and gone to heaven if she found an avocado.

a return to meal planning

2009-07-06T05:23:00.002-05:00

I've been meal planning but getting a chance to post has been beyond possible the last few weeks. We started hosting the interns and had a week of holiday english club. Once that was over the interns were in and out to a language tutor and we've been covering childcare for friends in the hospital this week. Needless to say more than a few meals of sandwiches- so much so I think last week we went through 5 loaves of bread (only about 12 slices of bread/ package).

This week is looking a little better.

Monday noon: Food Court- running errands for visas
Monday p.m.: Mexican Beans & Rice
Tuesday noon: Orik Arik, Rice, Tempeh Goreng (if my houseworker returns)
Tuesday p.m: hummus, Baba Ganoush, hard bread rolls
Wednesday: Kofta, Naan, Veg Curry
Thursday: Brocolli or Spinach Quiche (depending on what i find at the market)
Friday: Beef Rendang, Rice, Veg

I'd also like to do a little food of love this week, but I'm not sure how much I'll be in the kitchen. The last few weeks I've been trying to buy a little time to make more pancake mix and it hasn't happened so i don't know of if baking will be possible.