Wanderings

5 tomato plants
4 pumpkin plants (courtesy of Wendy, who saved her seeds for me)
3 $15 cantaloupe plants (I have a post about the origins of these seeds ... )
5 "Pride of Wisconsin" cantaoupe plants
5 cucumber plants
2 big rectangle planters of carrots
3 ruffly, red lettuce
3 round, ruffly red and green lettuce
some swiss chard, still in infancy
some arugula, ditto
4 red pepper plants
4 yellow pepper plants
1 strawberry plant (have to feed the son)
oregano
chives
cinnamon basil
6 onion plants ... although, maybe it's just 6 onions, growing?
several trays of lovely flowers from bulbs
some cacti
some succulents
dirt
tomato cages
happiness.

After spending a frenetic 2 hours getting ready for a fabulousss...ly slow lovely brunch with the 4 and 2 year olds, I have a few thoughts on what would make a truly great Mother's Day.

Top of the list is peace and quiet. I love my family, don't get me wrong - but they are always there; we're always together. Work doesn't count, because it's a little bit of a guilty pleasure ,in that you're legitimately avoiding your family to gain something (cash) then those two-three hours after work are filled with 'how was your day,' 'eat your peas' and 'get in the bathtub! don't forget to brush your teeth ...' before you have a couple hours of time that needs to be spent bonding with one's spouse. So after weeks of that on end, just a few hours alone would be great.

Nearly as important is a maid. I clean all week long. At least do one load of laundry a night, dishes, tables occasionally the floors (today, even cleaned the windows.) Really, I don't want "Thanks." Nope, that gets me nothin'. I'd much rather have someone else to do it for me, even if it's just one day. Better yet - spouse just steps up and does it all, even if it's for just one day. Kitchen counters, cabinets, floors, dishes, stove, rugs. Household floors and rugs. Kitchen table, windows inside and out. Bathrooms - shower, tub, floor, sinks, mirrors, rugs and toilets. CHange the spare bed, change the kids' beds, change the sheets on our bed (note to self ...) ... water the plants, dust if you feel like it (not high on my priority list) and maybe take the trash and recycling out too. Not that he doesn't do some of that already - he does, regularly, even. But for one day I'd like to see someone else do it all top to bottom and let me go do my thang ...

cafe with a book
walk in the park
hike
shopping ... oh wait, no shopping on Sunday in Germany =)

a close third would be a neato craft fromthe kiddos. I love that stuff. When they are older, I'll ask for them to be on their best behavior all day, we'll see how that works.

in the meantime, hubby is golfing & the kids are in bed (one is napping, the other just there.) It's quiet for now...so I think I'll go make the bed.

I'm taking a German class - it's basic, grammar etc. German - and it's going pretty well. Except for the fact that I need to hit the memorization hard - my vocabulary of nouns is too small!

What's nice is with my English background I have something to compare the various cases and tenses to, and when I 'get it' it's a lot easier for me. For example, we learned the 'dativ' case last Thursday ... which I think translates into the 'prepositional phrase'. Hey, I'm pretty good at English and all, but a requireent to remember all the terms isn't part of that :) Even better was when she was doing the sentence diagramming (German style) I knew exactly how that would lok in an Englush-diagrammed sentence.

For example:



only we were using sentences such as

Die flasche | ist
\
\ unter den tische

Very exciting. : P

****

My class is very interesting in general, though. We share no common language - you must realize that most people taking a host-nation language are learning it because they want to become citizens or at least live there for a while. We have two Polish women, a Romanian woman, a Hungarian man, girl from THailand, a girl from Portugal, an Italian couple, three other American men - one with his Moldovian wife, and my American self. Of all of us, only 3 people, besides the Americans, speak English. Including the teacher. It's a great situation, forces us to learn and speak the language.

On my way home Thursday night, Achari - the Thai girl - and I rode our bikes home (until we turned off) and had a great conversation, in German, about our families and why we were here. It was very cool. It was cute when she mentioned her little daughter (Tochter) then corrected herself with Schwester (sister) and I tried to ask her if she'd ever eaten at the Thai restaurant in town. :)

Granted we both spoke very slowly, but we communicated.

Very cool.

Getting a head start on the cantaloupes this year.  Remember the $15 cantaloupe?  Well, I planted the seeds and had a half-dozen softball sized 'loupes by the time the frost killed them.  So this year, I've planted the remaining 6 seeds EARLY!  We'll see how they go.

ALso went crazy at seedsavers.com and have onions, carrots, another melon, two types of tomatoes, red peppers, yellow peppers and cucumbers, and something called strawberry spinach which has the leaves and a strawberry-looking fruit that is also edible.  I figure what the heck, give the kids something else to taste.  :)  I also have a home canning kit coming with my friend's household goods in June.  :)  All for that.

Totally love growing things ... had my aunt's whole backyardto do with what I pleased in Michigan ... I edged the entire yard about 2 feet, and we had everything from hosta to roses to petunias to raspberries to pole beans to you name it, we had it.  Loved growing things.  Still do.  My daughter made me help her plant her seeds from an apple she ate.  We have two seedlings poking up;  we'll see how many apple trees grow from them.  I'll have to find somewhere to put them here!!!

It's all good.  I love this growing stuff. 

So I'm making cabbage soup, chopping me some cabbage, and little fingers reach up - of course right while I"m choppin' EEK - and grab some cabbage.  "MM, mama, this is good!  It's sweet, like fruit!" says the girl child. 

Sweet?  Smels sulfury, bleck.  So I taste, sure enough sweet.  Maybe not like fruit but definitely sweet.  Then the sulfury taste gets me, and I'm scrambling for SOMETHING to rid that from my mouth ... thank goodness for the other veggies. 

But hell, if the kiddo likes more raw veggies, I'm all for it.  She did that with cauliflower too.  Not sure where this child came from - must be the papa genes.

...

So he asks for cabbage soup.  You must first understand that his definition of cabbage soup comes from a memory of someone pre-surgery losing fat to keep him or herself safe in the O-R.  Cabbage and broth. 

Well, while I"m all for losing fat - can you sing me halelujah? - I'm not about the 'bag and broth.  So my cabbage soup looks like vegetable soup, with a white cabbabe majority and a colorful melting pot minority of peppers, carrots, green beans, and whatever other vegetables might be sitting around, looking guilty.  The first time, he was suspicious.  Had to pull out a nutrition guide to prove this was a fat-free soup. 

He believed.  
He ate.
He was content.

He wanted this for a week.  Well, I need a little more - hence the garbanzos.  I find out, 6 months later, he's not quite into chick-peas as we all thought.  So this time it's pintos.  He's all for the pintos, little mexicali introduction there  So today's is a little sassy, stewey, tasty cabbagey.

...

bout 1/3 cabbage, cut into little thin slices (think those narrow egg noodles)
2 small onions, sliced long and half-moon
3 carrots, cut into 1/2, 1/2 again, then sliced ... ok, that means dreiecks.  /_\  :)
Handful of snow pea pods that were hanging out in the fridge, chopped
spoon o' garlic
handful green beans, chopped
one red and one yellow pepper, chopped (sans a few slices that went to the boy child)  (love these veggie-crzy kids!)
think that's it ...
about 6-8 cups vegetable broth
dash shoyu (soy sauce to you haoles)
1 T sesame oil
1 T butter 'cause it's good
dash Maggi
parsley
salt and pepper
cayenne 'cause the spice heats up your bod
1/3 cup barley
1 can pinto beans, rinsed

I sauted the onions and cabbage in the butter and oil, then added the carrots for a while with a cup of the broth until it was tender.  Then I dumped everything else in and ooked it for a while.

I've found that sauteing the cabbage first gives it a better flavor and texture - I choped it into squares the first time I et it, but sauted (whatever shape) it really makes me think I'm eating thick egg noodles.  I can get past that I"m eating cabbage.  Strange but true ...

I'm a big fan of cayenne.  Holdover from growing up; my bother eats it for breakfast.  The nice spice is supposed to help boost the metabolism, too - also a big fan of this.  

Note:   oolong tea has that effect too - gives your metabolism a 10% boost for about 10-12 hours after drinking a cup; green tea has a similar effect, but only a 4% boost for like 4-6 hours

But the soup is filling, healthy and the more veggies the merrier!  Beans add a nie protein and flavor, the barley gives your teeth something interesting to work with.  I've used leftover veggies from the night before (use a lot of Calif. mix) or whatever is hanging out.  I'll generally use a can of stewed tomatoes too, but he is watching his sodium too and has pointed out to me many times that there is a lot of sodium in canned tomatoes.  I told him too bad in normal, everyday cooking; but didn't want to upset him on the request food  :) 

Yummy stuff!  Here's to no fat!

So now, it's been 3 times up on the mountain ... on that fantastically oblong wax-bottom girl called Burton.  I am LOVING it.

Take 2 was a manic snow-dumping day-off Tuesday with the husband.  By snow-dumping I mean that it was take two of a 3-day dump, broken up by one free Sunday-Monday combination of sunshine and chill.  (followed by 4 more days, ending with about 4 feet of snow on the valley floor and loads of lovely fluff on top!)

But I digress.  The take-2 went well enough, slowely, scaredly - I was still learning the turns and the crazy snow was in my face!  Can't see with the yellow goggles, can't see through thewhite snow otherwise.  I sat, pouted, slid down and drank gluhwein.  Gluhwein helped.  Eventually made it down to the valley, grumbled at the hubby a little (poor sport, especially taking lessons from the man-at-hand) but all in all, was a gorgeous day.  Wasn't even too fazed when we realized everyone else at work got a 'snow day' while we took leave! ! 

The following weekend, I think, we had a break from the downward dumping.  Good for the snowplows.  Friends came down, following the other skiiers, and the babysitter wandered over, and we hi the slopes for Take 3.

I rocked Take 3.  I can turn edge-to-edge, I can go swooshy back and forth, and I only tumped backwards two or three times.  (yes, thanks to the hubby for insisting on the helmet!)  This is third time up, folks.  I am the boss.  I will ignore the painful up, down, up, down trek dwn the long and winding road, because afterwards I rocked it again. 

Along with learning I can snowboard like nobody's business, we learned that skiing is technical and snowboarding is balance.  Friend T decided he was done trying to force-learn skiing.  They might be sold soon, or perhaps he'll take that lesson.  But he quickly went back to the truck for his board.  :)

Love it.  Now we're gazing at the recently re-sprinkled mountains (and the gray, melted-snow streets) and wondering what the powder is like today, what the babystter would cost tomorrow ...

in the meantime, I'm going to sleep.

What a nice Friday night!  One Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier for dinner (with steak and veggies) one lovely Murphy's black and tan at the Local Cure bar (plus two sides of tequila) for dessert. 

Perfect mix, great timing, the night was FUNNY.

The only downside to that much humor, and let me tell you it was a rollicking good time, reminded me of life pre-kiddos! but the downside was waking at 3am to my poor girlchild needing a complete bed overhaul and shower.  Pickled brain=forgotton pullup.  ;)  Poor baby

Funny, tho, I'm real good at the quick changes.  Had a bedroom next to my little bro and every time he'd wake up wet in the night, well proximity and all.  But back then, I was meaner (or just valued my sleep more!) and put down a towel.  Now I change the bed.  Maybe all that practice ... :)

The point was ... um ... oh, yeah, loving the tequila, the murphy's, tne paulaner - the right mix and loopy was a happy camper.  Good night out.

Got a comment on a post with a link to the aforementioned site, saying you'll get $ if you make less than 120k/year.

Being a little suspicious of free money, I googled the site and saw three pages with the site referenced - all of them were blog posts (comments) with the same wording, different amounts of money.  I'd guess the site isn't a good one to go to ;)  Probably not safe.


If you get a post / comment with that site, delete it is my recommendation.

... as I'm typing this, my son is running back and forth from his room to the kitchen and back, shaking his sippy cup.  Here he comes again.  :)  He stripped down today and put on his spongebob jammies.  Monkey.

Yep, break from the normal, everyday post for a gratuituous (did I spell that right?) post about a wonderful contest!

http://makingmyamericandream.blogspot.com/2009/01/fuzzi-bunz-giveaway.html?showComment=1234121340000#c9207096003899987674

Chance to win two free fuzzubunz diapers from "Piece of Me" at makingmyamericandream.blogspot.com

I read up on the fuzzibunz and they seem pretty cool - http://www.fuzzibunz.com/new_to_cloth.php

I would have done cloth, but there wasn't the option for a service for the girl (and the man said no washing by him!) and it wasn't cost-effective for the boychild (ditto from the man - hey, he stayed home with them, gets a voting share.)  But if I can save some landfills for the lastyear or so, I"m there.

my little dude has an inherited little frog-shaped flashlight. it ribbits when you push a button on its head, its eyes flash red, and it's mouth is the flashlight. he just shined it all over my hand in some bizarre 2-year-old ritual before running off to join his big sister by the french doors, with their bedroom blankets.

I remember, vaguely, things I did and said, people I knew when I was 4, 5, 6 and so on ... but I can't remember what I thought about, the things I imagined - I wish I could. I wonder what goes on in those two little heads, sometimes. I know for sure their faces are way more expressive - it's incredible watching my daughter's little round, pale face (It's been more than a year since Hawaii - we're all pale now!) - the eyes widen, the eyebrows quirk up, a little turn up of her mouth or a quick little grin. Him, with his slightly darkening teeth (showed up a couple weeks ago, FYI the dentist says it could have been from trauma a year ago!) but his face, usually limited to a couple big expressions - giant grin, eyes squinty with laughter or mouth open, eyes squinty with the effort of crying LOL.

I remember this stage from big sister, but somehow the boy does it more dramatically and puts a lot more effort into it.
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OpusFest is back! March 13 - 15, 2009 at Red Lion Hotel (I-70 and Quebec) Denver, CO. Come meet Ilona and Gordon Andrews, Gil Bruvel, Stephen Segal, David Boop and many others. For more info visit: http://long-shot1986.livejournal.com/2709.html or: http://www.opusfest.com/index.html

1. What is OpusFest?
OpusFest is Denver's premiere fantasy convention offering live music, workshops, demonstrations, competitions, gaming, a variety of merchants, and an art show. We offer a friendly environment for artists, writers, performers and the fans of Fantasy to come and interact with each other.

2. When / Where is OpusFest?
OpusFest will be held on March 13 - 15, 2009 at the Red Lion Hotel in Denver Colorado. You can reserve your room for OpusFest at the discounted rate of $79.00 per night. (+ Taxes) Just make sure that you tell them you are with OpusFest to get this rate. Call (800) 733-5466 to reserve your room today!

3. How much are tickets?
If you purchase your tickets before Feb 13th, 2009 you can get a discounted rate on your tickets. The discounted rate for an adult ticket is $15 for a day pass and $33 for a weekend pass. The discounted rate for a childrens ticket is $6 for a day pass and $15 for a weekend pass.

I'm always amazed when I read up on this, that it exists in the form of my biological mother. Makes for an interesting childhood and a unique set of paranoia about my own children. :) Most pointed is that she meets all seven criteria without fail, without any hesitation, absolutely.

I of course came out perfectly normal.

_____________________________________________________

Antisocial Personality Disorder symnptoms: This disorder is characterized by a long-standing pattern of a disregard for other people's rights, often crossing the line and violating those rights. This pattern of behavior has occurred since age 15 (although only adults 18 years or older can be diagnosed with this disorder) and consists by the presence of the majority of these symptoms:

1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others
6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another

Criteria summarized from: American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

I sometimes sit in my kitchen and am amazed at the ease with which my floors are covered with scattered bits of food and more specifically how the damn black Ikea rugs get so darn covered with the bits!

I think that maybe I should get floor-colored or otherwise patterened rugs to somehow hide the mess that amasses nearly daily despite frequent vacuuming by the Dyson or the 2-year-old. Then I think about how much dirtier it would be if I couldn't see how much was on those carpets, that thank goodness for the black rugs or I wouldn't remember to sweep it up until it was crunchy underfoot.

ok, maybe it wouldn't get that bad, but I do have a similar problem with the flagstones in the house. 200 sq meters of flagstones to be precise, and they are either nicely neutral or maliciously patterened to match dirt. It's nice that it hides the dirt until it reaches that prophetic "tipping point" and I'm on my knees with a rag wiping the whole damn 2100 square feet wondering if the damn mark will come out if I get the scrub brush or if it's another of those silly swirls masquerading as dirt.

done with that rant ... keeping the rugs.

am reading "Your money or your life." Check it out from the library - Financial Independence. The words mean what they mean and it's honestly pretty achievable. Unbelievable achievable.

Pretty cool.

I must say, I am surprisingly not dead beyond belief! Yesterday my neck still hurt. OK, today it still hurts a little, but not whiplashy. Just sore as in "I tumped on da ground" sore.

Thanks to Wendy for the pic:




I took a minor spill right after that was taken, but did more of the same later on. I was pretty proud of myself ... especially for dragging my a$$ back up and sliding down all the way to the bottom of the hill! Ok, boarding, snowplowing, some sliding (voluntary sliding,mind you) and a short bit of walking. (hill, the wrong way, no upward momentum.)

My shoulders are another story entirely ... it's one thing to be undressed erotically and in a lovely way. It's another thing entirely to ask my husband to take off my bra because my arms simply wouldn't go that way. (testing ... nope, still hurts.)

So hopefully another healing night of sleep, for all of us actually as the kiddos topped out at 103 just a bit ago. We dosed them up and put them down, and guess I'll be thanking all of you taxpayers (myself included) for my sick leave :) to sit home with the poor things. Good side effect of sick is cuddly 2-year-old boy, but two sicko kiddos means a hot mama sandwich!!

Oh, and, while the tepid tubby thing works, it doesn't work if it=shivery kids. Shivery negates the effect and heats them up. ARGH. Need to keep the bathroom door shut next time, to keep it cozy in there!!

Cheers all.

I'm committed...or being committed, or maybe just should be.

Left butt cheek bruise - check
Left knee bruised and swollen - check
Right knee less so but still a little - check
Neck muscle pain - check
Small crunchies when moving head - check
Shoulders sore, weak and tired - check
Ditto arms, but add shaky and weak - check.
Windburned - not so much, too little speed.

But, it was pretty fun. I can turn, I can snowplow down the hill on the back edge, I can even go straight (as it was meant to go) and get up from my butt and from my front. Although, it's scary for me to go backwards (on the front edge) so I'll practice more later. Only one really bad fall (hence the neck pain and crunchies) and I was thankful for the mandatory helmet supplied by the man. I walked some, too.

Conclusion - must continue (the man bought the board for me) and it's absolutely out-of-control. Skiing is much more controlled. Must update will ...

... update on previous post - the following day was 0518, but today was about 0555. We'll see how this progresses. The later bedtime might be working.

... I woke up this morning to my alarm clock.  Then I hit snooze.  Seven minutes later, the noisy claxon awoke me again; again the snooze (evil_firmware</lj>  of course slept through all three).  At 6:14 a.m., my-alarm-clock-in-Garmisch-time, I got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, dropped trou, steamed the shower and stepped in.  I was almost done - about 6:30 when my son walked in, rubbinb his eyes.

when I realized, he slept in till after six o'clock. 

I am not speculating on the cause.

I am not going to be hopeful ...

I dare not pray (although I might consider thetravis_george</lj> method of animal sacrifice)

... but I think maybe there might be a slim possibility, a gleam of light - a tiny ray - that the 8 pm bedtime will work.

Cross your fingers. 

I did go home early - our guy-in-charge told me so.  So I did, with little complaint, the two rugrats in tow.  Although they were having a good time running through the halls ...

Bro and sis inlaw made it safe and have enjoyed their first full day here.  We walked downtown and had gluhwein and a wurst (spicy one!) and much chocolate.  Today we had a lovely breakfast at the bakery with the kinder, and took the gondola up to the Zugspitze.  It was - still is - a gorgeoud bluesky day and the view was absolutely magnificent.  It was great.  The kinder were tired and grumpy and eight handfuls, but my patience held and they made it home alive.  Little man fell asleep in the car for a mere 10 minutes and ruined our afternoon - the powernap kept him going.  He's still going.  Little turd. Cute little turd, but a turd nonetheless.

Papa got to escape up on the hill, snowboard in hand, up the train to the zugspitze as well (fair pay for staying home with kinder Mon-Wed)but crashed a couple times to the dismay of his ribs.  Don't appear to be cracked, fortunately.  Now he's gleefully networking .. no, really, with a server, two switches, two routers, a firewall and four computers he's practicing his skills so he'll be ready for the CCNA test Jan 12.  I"m all for it.  It will lead to a CCIE, which is substantially a better income than me.  With creative financials, I might be able to stay home and do what I want... (crossing fingers)

Last night Ry and Jess were introduced to Wii Rock Band, and it was a blast.  jet lag notwithstanding, Ry picked up the drums post haste and jess got the hang of the mike and we rocked.  More to follow tonight.  I am the queen of this guitar; eevil_firmware is not too pleased as he's the guitar here of this household ... that was on the PS2.  THis guitar has my name all over it.  (His new one is in the mail.)

Tonight more wurst.  Cheers!

... the fact that I bought the fluffy white seat cushions was bad enough.  The price, worse, at about 8 Euros per stuck, and the exchange nearing one and a half $ to the Euro.  But I dove in, thinking comfy thoughts to top the wooden seats I have around my dining table, and tossed six of 'em in the cart at Ikea ... this was, oh, sometime back in January. 

Now I cringe as I wash and bleach them twice and still see the schoco muffin, the Rorschach milk blots, gravy or skettis - you name it, it's stil there.

In my defense, once dried they will retain that newborn pillowy fluffiness, surfaces flannely soft and smells-good, and one day they will hold the indigo, rose or grassy green of a RIT box in a desperate attempt to camoflague those mementos of my eating and playing monkeys ...