honestly

The thing is, I had honestly forgotten how to log in to the blog.  No joke.  We've kind of had this wild swirl of activity in the last 7 months.  Undefineable ups and downs.  Serious downs with some peaks really.  Then the computer crashed- which is the high tech version of your dog eating your homework.  And here we are.  Good news, apparently my resurrected computer and my new start page from google really want me to blog because it puts it front and center and somehow I'm already logged in- which is probably a security problem. 

So let's start for today. I've had this stomach ick for about 3 months.  And its the burping, I'll save you the details but I could make high school boys fully loaded with carbonated drinks blush.  I sound awful.  So I've been flipping through my head and my diet and my diet isn't great.  I just need to do better.  The months of highs and lows have been months of highs and lows in the diet too.  I cook a ton but I'm baking more than I'm stir frying.  Meatless Mondays have become "I'll remember that next week."  I have started green smoothies and I think that has staved off worse problems.  I'm going to try to buckle down a little this week, buy some brocolli and tempeh and make a stirfry with rice. 

We've also been kicking over every rock we can find for a visa.  Now, folks, visas for us are like kryptonite, we can't touch them but they strip the life right out of us.  I'm praying for some serious long term victory in the visa department but I'm clinging to hope.  Its never good to be skin of teeth on hope. 

Oh and we moved.  We moved about 10 times in the last 7 months to be exact- no kidding.  Several of the moves were shuttling between hotel rooms.  The next 6 months looks to be more of the same, less hotel rooms hopefully.  But probably a whole house move. 

So welcome back to disconnected blog chatter, I've missed you.

the mornings

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...

Feeling Challenged

Spent yesterday feeling sick all day and really did nothing. Today I woke up way late and have slowly gathered steam and energy, but I've been starving all day. Go figure.

For couch Sunday School this morning (something we do regardless of where we go that week) we watched the Compassion video and talked about our child sponsee, we talked about that the lil children and being thankful. Jonathan & I did a little of our own reading while @ watched "Madame Blueberry" and we talked more about thankfulness. We've been doing thanksgiving slowly all month with @ as we had the dinner with friends earlier in the month. Thanksgiving day will be a school day for @ and so we're doing a month instead of a day.

The boys got haircuts and then baths. I made pasta sauce for tomorrow's Veg Lasagna and made @ a quessadilla for lunch. The Veg Enchiladas got a bit crazy spicy the other day and Jonathan and I had to dare each other to finish them. Worked on homework with @.

Now its resting time and I've been flipping through Foodie/Crunchie mom blogs.
Reading about making muffins
Thinking about homeschooling, Exploding the Code and verse memorization.

some new friends

My favorite scrapbook store has a new blog. If you are in the Continental US, you should go into Daisy Lane. They are great ladies that act like they have nothing but time to help you. Its a mammoth store and with tons of stuff. Scrapbook stuff, craft stuff, art stuff. Its hard to leave the store actually because there is something you didn't get a chance to see.

Then the Stampin Up! lady that I shop with in Indiana also has a new blog. Mandy has been growing her business and skill for a little while. She's very clever and teaches some bang up classes. Her blog also is giving some helpful little how to's into card making. I'm not much of a card maker but she makes me want to do it.

If you are in the scrapbooking scene, look them up.

where i blog

Just Pete and NASA Janet are newly returned from Hawaii (returned to mainland US, from not mainland US), note they didn't come to real tropical islands. They sent a link to pictures of them enjoying Hawaii through a Facebook account. Somehow in the course of me wanting to see these pictures, I now have a Facebook account. I'm still trying to figure out the whole thing. With a connection speed of 31.1 I may get it figured sometime in 2012. Its already kind of nifty, all of these people that may not really remember who I am (I've already missidentified one person, (sorry Alena) but it's kind of nice to know they are alive and by and large doing ok in life. The problem for me is that I'm now trying to keep up with different sites. As you may have noticed, I only manage making the digs here at curiousaside only so-so in the 3 years I've had it. Not as Daily shouldn't be allowed to have the word "Daily" in its title as weekly is hopeful. But the facebook I fear is really going to be the abandoned child of the blog family. So if you are stopping in here from Facebook, bookmark this one. I'll do my best with the facebook and I still love my little fledgling "Not as Daily" but "curiousaside" is where my roots lie and my creativity boileth over (or didn't you already notice?).