that's in my book

Farewell Blogger

2007-01-01T14:37:00.000-06:00

In utter disgust I am leaving Blogger and joining the Typepad family.

My new blog site is http://debbiebrenner.typepad.com/.

See you there!

Catch Up

2007-01-01T12:06:00.000-06:00

I have received a few harassing comments about my lack of posting. I have been a little bit busy. Doubling your household seriously cuts back on your free time for blogging. In many ways blogging is a Catch 22. When you are busy enough to have something interesting to blog about, you are too busy to sit down and actually blog.

Christmas went off without a hitch. The boys got great new bikes which they promptly rode to school and back in seven minutes flat. Sam got an easel and a plethora of art supplies. She also got an Easy Bake oven that her grandparents brought all the way from America. She made a cake all by herself and then ate it all by herself. She was so proud. Helmut got me a cool cable so I can play my iPod over the car stereo.

We spent Boxing Day at the MauritsHuis Museum admiring all the Vermeer paintings. It was a thrill to see “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” in real life. It is truly beautiful. We tried to go to the mall and the grocery store, but we could only find one store open in the whole city. In my opinion, Boxing Day isn’t even a real holiday.

On Thursday we took a short train ride to Delft. Helmut had visited Delft when he came for his job interview and loved it. We were not disappointed. The town square was all decked out for a weekly market full of all kinds of local fare…everything from cheese, sausage, bike repair supplies and fruit. After a quick shopping spree, we decided to climb the church tower of one of the churches on the square. What were we thinking? It was a LONG 384 feet climb on 8-inch stairs straight up a narrow spiral staircase. I knew we were crazy when we got half way up and realized the stairway was two way and we had to squeeze to one side to let some other tourists by (a little too close for comfort). We finally did make it to the top, but Helmut refused to set foot outside when he realized how high up we were. It was a beautiful view of the city and probably worth all the trouble.

Friday we left for Dusseldorf, Germany. We got there and started our trek to the hotel. I then realized why our hotel room was still available (when every other Best Western in the city was booked solid) and it was such a great price. We were in the heart of the gay part of town. Let’s just say the kids were forced to watch the sidewalk very closely while walking by many of the shops. On the positive side, the hotel was very nice and the rooms actually seemed to be “non-smoking” rooms. We took a walk down the shopping street which was full of every designer name you can think of. We had the best German food for dinner and then turned in for an early evening.

The next morning we took the train to Koln (Cologne) to see the famous Koln Dom. It is the hugest cathedral I have every seen and the largest Gothic structure in Germany. I am not much for touring churches, but this one was worth the trip. We had some more yummy German food for lunch, hit The Lego Store and then headed home.

My family left this morning at 4:30 AM. I am sure they were ready to head home and sleep in their own beds. We made sure we packed their two week visit completely full. It was great to have them and we will miss them being here.

Paris, France

2006-12-25T13:40:00.000-06:00

On Thursday we decided to take it easy and get all our ducks in a row for Christmas. I took the family to the mall. I use the term mall very loosely. It is essentially a row of stores that are covered so if it rains you don’t get soaked until you try to get back to your car. Don’t get me wrong…I am grateful for the opportunity to shop even if it isn’t a mall by US standards. Trust me, I still found a way to spend my money.

Thursday was our big trip to Paris. When Matt and I went to buy the tickets at the train station she had a few special tickets left. Since we were taking kids on the train, it was cheaper for us the buy kinderspecial tickets for 1st class than it was for us the travel 2nd class. We had great seats all together (except for Helmut who was fogged in at the London airport and couldn’t buy his ticket until the last minute for fear he would never make it back to Holland). We made a few stops along the way, but we never had to change trains which made the whole trip hassle free.

We arrived at the train station and had to figure out how to buy a Metro ticket to our hotel. Nothing was in English and we could not find our Metro stop on the map (I am pretty sure Helmut thought I had made the stop up and was not happy about it). Matt, Helmut and I were walking all over the train station trying to figure it out while Mom, Dad and Maria were trying to keep the kids from going crazy. The train station was full of people and I had my first rude Frenchie experience. I accidentally walked right into a guy and he just stood there and stared (about three inches from my face) at me as if it was my entire fault. I did not back down, I held his stare until he walked away and then tripped his roller bag for good measure.

We did find our Metro stop with the help of a nicer French woman and arrived at our hotel after a quick tram ride. We set out for the Eiffel Tower. Due to a political protest of some sort, the line to go up the tower was relatively short. We waited in line about half an hour and then took the elevator up to the top. It was SO COLD! I could not stand the motion of the tower swaying back and forth and could only stay at the top for a few minutes. We went down to the 2nd level and looked around some more before we went back down. By the time we came down the sun had set and the tower was lit up. As we walked away from the tower, the small lights started to flash. It was one of the prettiest sights I have seen.

The next morning we woke up and ate at a delicious bakery for breakfast. We walked down to the Champs Elyse and the Arc de Triumphe. Maria and I went into the Louis Vuitton store but when I couldn’t find a purse for less than 600 euros, I realized I am more of a Coach Outlet kind of girl. Sadly the only shops we bought anything at were the Disney Store and the Gap. I know, how pathetic. There are no Gaps here in Holland and it was a sight for sore eyes. Judge if you want, I don’t care.

After a quick lunch, we headed for The Louvre. I did not realize what an enormous museum it is. There is no way you can see the whole thing in one day. I would venture to say you would need at least four days to be able to see it all. Sam was not into it and that hindered my perusing quite a bit. I hit the high points…Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, Napoleon apartment, etc. It was pretty amazing and I would like to go back some time.

We had a great time and Paris ended up being all that I expected it to be. I wouldn’t say that traveling there with all the kids in tow made it feel like the “city of love” but I loved it all the same.

Brussels, Belgium

2006-12-25T06:05:00.000-06:00

Today we had the adventure of a life time. We woke up early and headed for the train station. We had no prior arrangements or plans, just the idea that we would spend the day in Brussels, Belgium. After transferring to a larger train station we bought our tickets for Brussels and set out on our way. Much to our dismay, the train was packed and it looked impossible for our party of nine to sit together. We walked through train car after train car and then finally gave up hope and sat in various seats. Sam was sitting in my lap and I was not happy about the prospects of holding a five year old in my lap the whole two hours. Each time the train stopped a few passengers got off and we would jockey for better seats closer together. I almost had to smack down with two Old Dutch ladies trying to squeeze Josh and Helmut out of the seats they had OBVIOUSLY been waiting for. By the time we reached The Netherlands border we were all sitting together and enjoying our train ride to Belgium.

We arrived in Brussels with no map, just a Europe travel book with a very small Brussels section and the name of a location for the “famous” Christmas market. No problem…we are grown people and can figure things out. We marched ourselves out of the Brussels Central Train Station (which is horribly disgusting and dirty by the way) and found a map of downtown Brussels. I couldn’t help thinking, “this is what it would be like if I was ever on The Amazing Race” (minus all the kids).

We wandered into a hotel gallerie of shops and looked around at all the upscale shops and chocolateirs. The kids were starving so we started to search for a place to eat. We passed a charming alley lined on both sides with restaurants, French, Asian and otherwise. A man dressed in a chef’s smock approached us to explain a fabulous three course lunch menu they were offering for just 12 euros a person. I resisted the urge to carry on until we found a McDonald’s (I wasn’t sure I could face Helmut’s ridicule) and the group agreed to eat at the Lobster House. The roaring fire was toasty and the food ended up being super tasty.

The Christmas Market was located near the Grand Place which is the town square surrounded by an old cathedral and beautiful buildings built in the 1600’s. At this point we realized it was freezing outside and none of the kids had gloves, scarves or hats. Perhaps I tried to pack a little too light for this trip. Sadly, the Christmas Market was not all I had imagined. There were a few stalls with European Christmas decorations, but the rest were mostly cheap crafts and trinkets. There was a few that sold yummy smelling local cuisine, but we were full from our stop at the Lobster House. Don’t get me wrong, it was still fun to look around and the kids had no problem finding something to spend their money on. We bought a few interesting chocolate desserts and then gorged ourselves on hot homemade Belgium waffles.

No trip to Brussels is complete without the purchase of some authentic Belgium chocolates. We headed back to the hotel gallerie and chose Corne chocolates to buy from. The shop was full of delicious looking chocolates…with no labels. The grumpy looking shop owner walks up to the counter and asks, “Wha wooood you liiiike (must be said in your best snooty French accent)?” Ummm…we didn’t know because we weren’t sure what they had. “Do you have lemon truffles?” NON! “Do you have caramels?” NON! We muddled through selecting 500 grams of chocolate and walked out of the shop less than satisfied. Even worse the chocolate doesn’t even taste that good. URGH!

Sam’s hands were close to frozen off, so we decided to head home an hour early. We all trudged down into the train station and patiently waited for our train to appear on the board. No problem…we were certain the train to Amsterdam would leave from platform 5 at 4:44. The trains were running late, but we sat and waited. 4:44 came and went. We finally asked a man if he knew when the train to Holland would be coming, “it left four minutes ago.” Evidently all that French gibberish over the loudspeaker was more important than we realized. We trudged back upstairs to the information booth and we were assured the next train did not leave for another hour, but would say Amsterdam on the board (yeah right). We boarded a train headed for Antwerp Central at 5:39 and crossed our fingers we were on the right train. This train was new, nice and clean and we settled in for a comfy ride home…until the train stopped and then turned off a few stops later. What??? Evidently we were supposed to switch trains at the previous station. Clearly we did not ask enough questions or the right questions at the ticket booth. We waited for the train to power back up, rode it back a station, disembarked and waited for our next train. Long story short (or not so short) we arrived home six hours and eight trains later.

More Photos from Day 2

2006-12-20T01:02:00.000-06:00

Scroll down for mores pictures of yesterday and all about yesterday.

Day 2

2006-12-20T00:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we started out the day at the Clara Maria Farm. We powered up the TomTom and followed his every word until we arrived in Amstelveen 30 minutes later. The Clara Maria Farm is a working cheese farm. The nice lady there told us all about how they make the Gouda cheese and showed us around the small factory. Then she showed us how the wooden clogs are made. Once you got over the smell, it was a really fun time. After the tour and many exciting purchases at the gift shop (including some really delicious wheels of cheese) the kids headed out to the barn to play in the hay maze and swing from the barn rope. Matt and Grandpa even joined in the festivities and helped Sam and Lucas swing. Maria couldn’t resist getting into the action and joined the group at the top of the hay stack. I turned around just in time to see here making her way down from about 15 feet up. She took a step down and the hay gave way and she fell head over heels completing at least three somersaults before landing with her feet in the air and bumping her head on a wall board. She was a little dazed and confused but not seriously injured.

Next we made our way to the Kastle De Haar about 30 minutes away. Imagine the trip around the English countryside Jane Bennett took in Pride and Prejudice with her aunt and uncle. It was beautiful. Once again the TomTom saved our lives. I would have turned back long before getting there thinking for sure we were lost and had ventured too far into the country. The castle was closed for the low season, but we were able to take a walk around the gardens and see the outside. I will be sure to go back in the spring! It was so amazing and the gardens (mostly roses) must be spectacular when in bloom.

We finished off the night with the season finale of Survivor that I downloaded off of iTunes. Perfect end to a perfect day.

Serve All Love All

2006-12-18T14:14:00.000-06:00

Today was day one of what promises to be many days of wild and crazy site-seeing. We started off by taking the two trains and one tram to the Anne Frank House. This was my second time to this museum and it is one of my favorites. The kids and I had read a version of her book written for younger children earlier in the week. They seemed to like it and more fully understand what they were seeing. Sam even kept it together. Next we walked to the Hard Rock Café for lunch. We finished up the day at the Van Gogh Museum. By that point the kids had reached their limit. Lucas fell asleep and Sam was grumpy and bored. She got in trouble from the security guard and calmed down for a while. She was sure the ropes in front of the paintings were to “keep people from touching the paintings because they were still wet.” Our trip home of a tram and two trains was relaxing and pretty quick.

IKEA II

2006-12-13T14:07:00.001-06:00

Just a few pictures from our weekend. It was full of basketball, birthdays and IKEA furniture. Helmut and I put together a total of ten pieces of IKEA furniture over the weekend. Amazingly, we did not get into one fight. I was his dutiful “getter” (which is how he likes it) and I was glad to do it. I would do anything to get those boxes off my floor and assembled into something I can store my “stuff” in. Many of the houses here lack any sort of built in storage space (closets, cabinets, etc.), so since we have moved in we have been to IKEA many times looking for various storage solutions. We have one more bookshelf in Sam’s room to assemble and a wardrobe in Helmut’s room as well. I started putting the wardrobe in Helmut’s room together on Monday as a surprise to Big Helmut. I think when he gets home from London on Friday night he will be glad to see a portion of his IKEA chores (which I need him to finish before my family arrives at noon on Saturday) are already done. I am praying he doesn’t think I did a sub par job. Sadly, it will not be 100% complete as it weighs about two tons and the boys and I are unable to lift it off the ground to stand it upright. I feel pretty proud of myself for finishing it this far. I never thought of myself as a handy person, but I guess I was wrong.

IKEA

2006-12-13T13:59:00.000-06:00

i fought the law and the law won

2006-12-12T09:28:00.001-06:00

Today was the dreaded meeting with Helmut’s Science Teacher. For those of you who don’t know the whole story, here is a quick catch up. I was checking Helmut’s grade on-line the other day and to my utterly horrified dismay discovered Little Helmut is getting a 70 in Science. This is the boy who loves Science and has never gotten below a 98 in the class. I looked through the meager four grades he had so far this quarter and realized the teacher had given him a 60 for “Materials for Science Project.” We had only been in this school for about 10 days on the due date and where still living in the hotel. I stewed about it for a day and then wrote her an email explaining my concern and frustration over his low score. She replied that she had “looked at him disapprovingly when he told her about his project, but that he insisted he could do it.” (Hmmm…I can’t imagine an eleven year old not picking up on your non-verbal communication).

So today I met with her and I did not achieve complete satisfaction on the subject. She refused to discuss the specific grade with me because it was not my grade. I disagree since it is impossible for an eleven year old to hop in the car and drive down to the hardware, electrical and stationery stores to buy his supplies. She told me, “We will have to agree to disagree.” I don’t like being told that. She did tell me his project is going well and she thought he was a bright boy. Blah, blah, blah. I really just wanted her to tell me he would not fail his class and get kicked off the basketball team; in fact she is sure he can raise his grade to a B by the end of the quarter. No such satisfaction granted.

Christmas Program

2006-12-11T00:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the Christmas program at church. Each of the kids had a part and the Primary sang the majority of the music. Helmut had a short duet with a seven-year-old girl from the ward. On the way home I complimented him on how well he sang and he tartly replied, “I know, my beautiful voice totally drowned out her squeaky little voice.” I like to teach my kids confidence, but perhaps I need to work on their confidence to humility ratio a little more. Josh also got up and recited his part perfectly and sang the words to every song despite momentous distraction. What momentous distraction you ask. I am sure in an effort to keep a five-year-old’s stage fright at bay; they seated Samantha next to Josh during the program. Although their intentions were genuine, they could not have made a bigger mistake. She poked, pinched, prodded, punched, pestered and spit at him for most of the program. After a few minutes of this horseplay, Helmut marched up to the front of our VERY small chapel and sat on the front row in an effort to deter her horrible behavior. It didn’t work. He finally was forced to walk up on stage and whisper a very stern talkin’ to in her ear. I am not sure what he said, but it worked. For the rest of the program she stood in front of her seat with her arms folded, eyes squinted in anger and her lips pursed in utter disgust. Of course her turn to speak came and she reluctantly walked up to the podium and stood the exact same way while the leader said her part for her. That girl really knows how to make her parents proud! Once the program was over and the kids were allowed to return to sit with their parents, Helmut asked her why she was being so naughty up on the stage. At that point, she just broke down and sobbed for the next ten minutes.

She spent the rest of the day at home nicely singing all the songs she missed and perfectly reciting her part. Oh well, there is always next year.

Skype

2006-12-06T23:22:00.000-06:00

It is 6:01 AM and I have just dropped Josh off at swim practice. I had plans of coming home and catching a few more minutes of sleep, but thought better of it. Yesterday was a busy day. After I picked up Sam from school, I took her to Bubble Jungle with a large group of Moms and preschoolers. Bubble Jungle is a huge indoor play place in a building the size of Costco. She had a great time and I had fun chatting with the other Moms. I was the only Mom there with older kids and I found myself wondering why I was starting this “play date” thing all over again…been there done that. Then I realized that all the other Moms are my age, they just waited longer to start having kids. So I will continue to force myself to interact with these people despite the overwhelming deja vu feeling it gives me.

In the afternoon Josh, Sam and I went to pick up our new TV while Helmut was at basketball practice. The TV is beautiful and gets a really clear picture, but when I plugged in the cable the picture was horribly fuzzy. I was hoping my experience with Casema Cable would defy the laws of Holland nature and finish itself off without a hitch. Not so. I will have to call them today and see if I can’t communicate with them well enough to solve this problem. It still makes me feel good to see it in the living room and know that some real TV watching is in my not so distant future.

The boys had their Winter Concert at school last night. They both got up there and sang their hearts out (this coming from two boys who almost had a bloody fit when the counselor told them Choir was required for all students K-12). Josh informed me later that he didn’t mind trying hard in choir because “he was getting graded on his effort.” I suppose since everyone is required to take the class you can’t really make fun of anyone else for being in choir. They sang great and the teacher had done a great job getting them ready for the concert. The true test of Little Helmut’s singing ability will come this weekend when he signs a duet in Sacrament Meeting for our Christmas program. I am super nervous for him.

My friend Holly W. loaned me her Skype phone and I got it all hooked up and running last night. It works great and the reception was almost perfectly clear. I loved the feeling of being able to call home again without it costing a fortune (Skype is free if you are talking to someone else on their computer and 2 cents a minute if you call to a regular phone) or having to wait until Helmut was in town. Skype is my new favorite thing!

Wednesday Update

2006-12-06T00:19:00.000-06:00

It is already Wednesday and I haven’t even blogged this week! How time flies when you are lazy…

Helmut got home from Russia on Sunday afternoon after his flight was delayed for over three hours due to extremely windy and rainy weather in Amsterdam. He was exhausted from the 13+ hours he spent on two substandard aircraft.

Monday morning he went into Dutch immigration and got us all squared away there. Then we took the kids out of school to register with the Wassenaar (the little town we are living in) town hall. Now once all our paperwork gets to the moving company, they can really start getting out stuff processed and out of customs. I am anxious for my stuff to arrive before my Christmas Company, but trying not to get stressed over it.

Monday afternoon Helmut and I took a trip to IKEA to try and solve some of our closet/storage issues. Houses here are built with no closets (much the same as they were in Asia). Our landlord has had two built in the halls of the second and third floor, but this is not enough for a family of five. The kitchen needs a pantry with a tall storage space to store the vacuum, ironing board, etc. I am sick of seeing them lying around the house.
Yesterday was the Sinterklaas Eve celebration day. Helmut left for London a day early (I was none too happy about that!). Sam had a party in her classroom with Sinterklaas as the special guest. All the children had learned tricks to perform on a small wooden see saw for him. It was so cute! The Moms stayed and helped decorate Sinterklaas cookies and had snack. The rest of my day was spent cleaning and picking up kids.

I have discovered a great secret about Wassenaar. The town butcher makes a huge wok full of dinner every night for Moms (like me) who don’t want to or don’t have time to cook. Last night we enjoyed his Dutch Pea Soup. It was so tasty and the kids loved it (probably because I refused to tell them it had peas in it until they had already eaten it). Combine his main dish with some bread from the bakery (which is cheap, delicious and fresh made that day) and you have a ready made meal. Tonight I am looking forward to his Spinach Penne Pasta!

Sinterklaas made his appearance last night. Rather his Piets dropped off a sack full of toys, rang our door bell and then ran away before anyone could catch a glimpse of them. Sam was thrilled and loved every minute of it. The boys seem to be a little too old to embrace a new “belief” but enjoyed the toys all the same.

It is 6:47 AM on a Sunday morning…

2006-12-03T00:19:00.000-06:00

And my entire family is awake. We cannot seem to get used to the sunrise/sunset issue here. The Sun goes down by 4:30 PM each night and the kids are tired and want to go to bed by around 7:00ish. I don’t mind the extra time at night to myself one bit. On the flipside, they are awake and ready for the day on many occasions before 6:00 AM. One positive to this situation is that I never have to drag them out of bed in the morning for school.

I am writing to give you a thermostat update. A little knowledge is a very dangerous thing. I broke down and got out the Dutch/English dictionary and started translating the instructions. Let’s be honest, a word for word translation doesn’t always work. Words have more than one meaning and some words weren’t even in the dictionary. I did figure out how to override the programming and got that puppy cranking up the heat. When I woke up this morning, it was so hot! Somehow in the course of my fiddling I had reset the thermostat, so when it was actually 73 degrees in the house the thermostat was reading 60 degrees and the heat was going strong. Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful for the heat, but I am sure at some point it would have become close to unbearable. I located the reset button and I think we are back on track.

Deck the Halls

2006-12-02T14:24:00.000-06:00

Helmut is flying home from Russia and will lay over in London for the night and return home to Holland on Sunday morning. That left me home all weekend doing the single parent thing. The kids were up at the crack of dawn so we decided to go look for a Christmas tree. There is a huge garden center across the highway from our house, so we headed there first. I was impressed with all their selection and beautiful and inexpensive flowers. They had some Charlie Brown looking real trees, so we opted for an artificial (much to Josh’s chagrin). We ended up with a 7 foot slim line tree (I figured a slim line was better in small living space).

Sam was dying of hunger so we stopped at Bagel Alley for lunch. Then the day took a turn for the worse. I stopped by the phone place again to see about getting a land line. We are having a ton of trouble with phone and internet connection because the previous tenant never cancelled their service and are still paying their bill so the internet company can’t turn off their account and switch it over to us. What a pain! The guy at the phone place said he would call around on Monday to see what else could be done about it. We ran around the Langstraat (our town shopping street) and picked up an iron, ironing board, crock pot and some groceries.

We came home all pumped to put up the tree. I am taking the crock pot out of the box (bear in mind I had to pay US$154.00 for this “specialty item”) and I drop the glass lid on the floor. It shatters into a million pieces. I felt like lying down on the kitchen floor and throwing a fit. The lady at the store said she would contact her supplier and see about getting a replacement, but I am not holding my breath. A favorite phrase here in Holland is “not possible.”

I pulled myself back together and we started putting up the tree. The lights I bought are ridiculous. It is hard to explain (and quite honestly, hard to comprehend when you can see them in person) but they start at the plug on one strand and then branch out into three strands that loop back around into the plug. So once they are on the tree, it pretty much looks like you wadded them up into a ball and threw them at your tree. Needless to say, I was not a happy Mom. Bah Hum Bug! We did get our tree up with the lights and a few ornaments I bought to tide us over until I real ones come in the shipment. The kids went on and on about how beautiful it looks, but I really think they were trying to coax me out of my dark place.

I am looking forward to a new week. Helmut will be home on Monday and Tuesday to get some government paperwork done. I am hoping and praying for good news about the timeliness of our shipment arrival. We have the Sinterklaas celebration on Tuesday night, the boys’ choir concert on Wednesday night, Sam’s birthday on Friday and Little Helmut’s basketball tournament in Rotterdam all day on Saturday (not to mention a sports practice of some sort on every day but Friday). On second thought maybe I am not looking forward to a new week.

Settling In

2006-12-02T02:47:00.000-06:00

It has been a rough and very busy week. I had to take a break from blogging because I was exhausted every night.

We are in our house now and I am really enjoying the extra space (luckily our neighbor has an unsecured wireless network we can “borrow” until we get ours hooked up). The furniture rental place brought all the necessities of life. It is definitely not anything I would choose to buy, but it is doing the job. I will admit that the house is not as warm and cozy as I had imagined or would like it to be. It doesn’t really feel like home without our things. The rental place brought the bear minimum…somewhere to sit in the living room, just no table to set your drink on while you watch TV (oh yeah, wait a minute, we don’t have a TV). The second problem is that the Dutch have horrible lighting in their homes. Each room has one, maybe two, overhead lights with no more than a 25 watt bulb. Since it gets dark here around 4:00 PM, it makes it a very long night squinting to see across the room. I need to find some lamps to help with that. The last problem, and probably the biggest obstacle against this house reaching its maximum coziness is the thermostat. The house has radiators in each room that heat with hot water running through them. They are all controlled by a thermostat on the first floor. This thermostat has instructions on the inside cover but they are completely in Dutch. This is only a problem because the previous tenant put the thermostat on a schedule and the highest the temperature ever gets is 16-19 degrees Celsius (62-66 degrees Fahrenheit). I promise, my Christmas time guests, that I will have this problem fixed by the time you get here.

Little Helmut did make the basketball team. He is very excited and has his first tournament next Saturday in Rotterdam. We will all go down for the day and enjoy a new Holland city in between basketball games.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

2006-11-28T14:13:00.000-06:00

What a day! We started out our day at 9:00 AM at the ABN AMBRO Bank ready to finalize out car loan. Much to our dismay, the loan officer we had done all the preliminary work with had injured his knee in a hockey game and was out for the week…he would not be able to make it to our scheduled appointment. His colleague, Christian, would be right with us. An hour and a half later, we sat down with him. He got the loan processed and we were good to go to the car dealer. UHHH, Ruurd, at the Volvo dealership wasn’t expecting us until Thursday and couldn’t possibly have the car ready today. After much cajoling, massaging and alternate possibility suggesting, we made an appointment for 1:00. Our next task, find someone who will loan us their Dutch drivers license for a few hours. Evidentially you have to have a Dutch driver’s license to register a car in Holland (despite the fact it takes close to 4 months to get one). Debbie Lands (our RS president from El Paso was nice enough to oblige). We get the car dealer and drive off with the car. Now to return the rental car…we pick up kids at the school at three different times and head to The Hague. We drop off the car and head home (my head is throbbing by this point as I have only had three crackers and a roll to eat all day). We get all the way home in rush hour traffic and realize our only house key was on the key ring for the rental car. We drive all the way back to The Hague to get our house key. Ahhh…home at last. But wait, we still have to drive back to the car dealer to return one last piece of paper. Twelve hours later, Helmut returns home and the purchase/exchange of our car is complete. I am beginning to understand why Holland is such a slow paced laid back society and it is driving me nuts!

Signing Off

2006-11-27T07:07:00.000-06:00

I have just packed up all our stuff from the hotel and made three trips to the house with more stuff than we should own. I am not sure when I will get internet access. They say it takes 2-4 weeks and I haven't even started the process, so I am not sure when I will be able to post again. Wish me luck and sanity!

A Day of Swimming

2006-11-25T03:05:00.000-06:00

The kids were off from school yesterday and we had a full day. In the morning Holly W. came over with her twin girls that are Sam’s age and we all went swimming. Sam loved having friends over to “her house” and they had a good time playing together. In the afternoon Holly B. came over with her boys that are 13, 11 and 10. The boys were thrilled to finally being doing something they wanted to do. I am sure that since we arrived in Holland they feel like they are constantly being dragged on one errand after another. Holly B.’s 13-year-old son is a school basketball star and a really sweet boy, so the boys love being around him. I think they may have a boy crush on him. He is a great kid so I don’t mind it too much.

We had a truly European experience yesterday. We were swimming (in the morning with Holly W. and her twins) when a group of about five Dutch women came in to use the sauna. About 20 minutes later one of the ladies came out of the sauna for a dip in the pool…sans her bikini top! Of course the boys spotted this first and it was all I could do to keep them from laughing out loud and pointing. It didn’t help that this lady was at least 65 years old. Josh’s turned to me and said, “Jeez, keep it in the sauna, lady.” I am 99% sure she didn’t hear him. Both boys got out of the pool and handed me their goggles saying they would prefer not to have underwater visibility at the moment. They both ran over to the “Pool Rules” placard and then ran back to inform me she was in direct violation of rule number seven – “Swimwear is mandatory in the swimming pool and optional in the sauna.” I assured them that I couldn’t exactly walk over there and tell her she was breaking the rules. They would have to avert their eyes and hope she left quickly. CRAZY! She left but they were still appalled for some time afterwards.

We are off today on a bazillion errands getting ready for our move in on Monday. The kids will be thrilled…

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T10:28:00.000-06:00

Well today is Thanksgiving. Sadly it doesn’t feel much like Thanksgiving here in Holland. It is a work day as usual and since we are still in our hotel room and Helmut is in London we have had a fairly ordinary day. We got up this morning and dropped off our laundry at the Splash Washerette for the last time (knock on wood). I took the kids swimming as a celebration for Josh making the team. I met with our landlord at the house in the afternoon. She was really nice and seemed to be easy going. Hopefully that will continue throughout our relationship. We closed out the day by watching videos and picking up our laundry. We are having Thanksgiving dinner here at the hotel (they are putting on a special Thanksgiving buffet with all the fixings) with some friends I met at Sam’s class. Hopefully the kids will behave and we will all have a good time.

To reflect on this special day of the year I asked each of the kids to write down the five things they are most thankful for…

Helmut
1. Sintaklaas
2. Family
3. House
4. The Holiday Inn
5. School

Joshua
1. Books
2. A house to live in
3. Family
4. Christmas
5. My Computer

Sam
1. My Family
2. My Stuffed Animals
3. God
4. My Art Supplies
5. Toys

Mom
1. Sweet children that will sit all day in a hotel room and watch DVDs all day if needs be.
2. itunes – all the US shows I am missing for just $1.99 an episode (seems to me like a small price to pay when I am half way around the world)
3. A loving husband that works so hard for our family and still makes me laugh.
4. The opportunity to live here in Holland and travel around Europe.
5. A great extended family that makes my life more interesting and fun.

ASH Trojans Swim Team

2006-11-22T12:20:00.000-06:00

HE MADE IT!!!!! The coaches posted the lists on the school website for the kids who made the swim team this afternoon around 3:00 PM. Josh and I were at the school and tried to look it up on the computers in the library, but they weren’t up yet. As we walked out the door to go home, a boy Josh knew told him he kinda, sorta thought he saw his name on the list. I told Josh to be cautiously optimistic and worried the boy was thinking of another Josh the whole way home. When we got home…there it was! He was so happy, jumping around doing a happy dance. It looks like that Speedo he made us go out and buy after the first day of tryouts worked (nothing like a bit of peer pressure to make you do things you never thought you would). He was one of only six 5th graders to make it on the team of 24 kids (102 tried out). He misses the Under 10 league by just 23 days and is in the Under 12 league. That puts him as the youngest on that team (that is why I was so worried he may not make it…shows you what I know). He starts practice on Monday morning at 6:00 AM. I am so happy for him. I know this will be a great opportunity to make new friends and feel a part of his school. Now let us all hope and pray that next Wednesday’s posting of the basketball roster will bring just as much “happy dancing” in our home!

Now I am going to slip into a more negative place for just a few minutes. I am so sick of this hotel! The kids are living on top of me and the food is horrible (or at least it seems horrible the 20th time you try to choke it down). Something happened today that just pushed me over the edge. Our room is on the second floor facing a huge indoor atrium (tackily named the “Holidome”). Most of it is set up with tables and chairs for the restaurant and conference center. Today they were holding some kind of conference that filled the whole place. I am not over exaggerating when I say…all 100+ participants sat in that “Holidome” and chain smoked all day long. I could smell it seeping under our door and when I opened my door to walk to the parking lot I thought I may have to crawl to keep from collapsing from smoke inhalation. I realize that Europe it known for its smoking culture and there is really no way to totally escape from it. I am just looking forward to having my own home where I can at least escape it while I sleep!

Tuesday

2006-11-21T15:36:00.000-06:00

Sorry about no post yesterday. To be honest, I was waiting for something interesting to happen.

Josh started his swim tryouts yesterday morning bright and early. He did really well. There are about 40 kids trying out for 16 spots. He is one of the oldest boys in his age group and seemed to be keeping up with the fastest. We are crossing our fingers around here because he really seems to have his heart set on making the team.

Helmut started his basketball tryouts today after school. He felt like it went really well. He has the advantage of being one of the oldest kids in his age group so that always helps. He is also really counting on making the team, so we are hoping for the best.

We got great news today! Our house will be ready to move in by Monday. I have arranged to have some temporary rental furniture brought in Monday as well. They bring everything you need from the beds, couches and chairs down to the dishes, sheets and towels. They set it all up for you and then when you are finished with it, they come back and take it all down for you. Shell will cover the cost for us since they have no temporary housing available. We will also get our car this weekend. By Monday night we will feel almost settled in. Helmut is planning on staying in town to help out which will be nice. We have a ton of paperwork to complete at various government buildings which he obviously cannot do while he is in London all week.

Trains and Sinterklaas

2006-11-19T11:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning we hopped on the train and went to Rijswijk to pick up something from Helmut’s office. The kids loved the train ride and the countryside scenery was beautiful. We had lunch at a fun restaurant at the train station and then headed to Wassenaar for the arrival of Sinterklaas. The canal was packed with people ten deep. Sam loved it and I got some great shots. The Netherlands royalty even showed up for the affair. The crown prince, his two daughters and his wife watched the festivities about three feet from where we were standing. At first no one seemed to notice, but by the time we were ready to go, a huge crowd had gathered around. It was my first Holland celebrity sighting!

We came to an agreement on the house. If all goes well with the paperwork, we can move in on Friday. Our shipment will not arrive for a few more weeks, but I am going to look into renting furniture for the interim period. It will be nice to have some extra space again. I am a little overwhelmed at all the things I need to buy to settle into the house, but I have time to do it now that all the kids are in school.

T.G.I.F.

2006-11-17T15:03:00.000-06:00

Today was our second day of “Understanding the Dutch.” It was still interesting and informative. The Dutch have some funny customs and mannerisms. A Russian woman told the story of receiving a gift from a neighbor. The gift was still in the grocery sack and when she opened it, it was a plunger! Evidentially they are really in to giving practical gifts, regardless of cost. Another weird thing is that it is very common for them to give a gift and put the receipt in with it. They are not offended if you tell them you already have it or would like something different. So crazy.

Helmut and I went to the Volvo dealership yet again to look at a 2002 V70. It is very gently used with low mileage. It is perfect because it has the double seat in the back that folds down for when we have guests or need to cart around more than our usual five people.

We put an offer down on the house on Deijlerweg today. We are willing to pay the asking price but offered just a little bit less along with a long list of things that needed to be finished, fixed our updated. Hopefully we will hear something soon. I am feeling more relaxed about the house situation because I know for sure we will be getting this house, it is now just a matter of coming to an agreement on the price. The living area is a little bit smallish and Helmut and I agreed that most of the furniture we shipped over for that room is too large. We are going to store it and buy furniture that is on a smaller more contemporary scale. I am not too upset about this because we all know I love to buy new furniture! We found some things we liked today.

Sam is doing great at school. Her teacher Jane told another mother that it is nice to have a new student who is already “school wise.” As we were picking her up today her teacher Scott (she is always sure to remind me, “not Mr. Scott just Scott”) told me he could not believe how perfect she was in class. I was proud, but at the same time told him she is definitely saving her best behavior for school.

Josh seems to be adjusting to Middle School. He is a little bogged down with homework at the moment. Dutch seems to be giving him a hard time since he missed the first nine weeks of instruction. Yesterday he was learning the Dutch way of telling time which was difficult since he missed the section on counting. We are contemplating getting him and Helmut a tutor to help get them caught up. Josh signed up to try out for the school swim team next week. The practices will be murder…three mornings a week from 6:00-7:15 AM. I hate getting up early, but I will do it for him. The final swim meet is in Norway in the spring, so that would be a fun family trip. I hope he makes it. It would be a good way for him to make more new friends.

Helmut is getting along well. He signed up to try out for the school basketball team next week. I hope he makes it because he told me he is very nervous about looking stupid. I am sure we can all remember Middle School and the constant fear of “looking stupid.”

Tomorrow we are taking our first train ride to Rijswijk to pick something up from Helmut’s office. The kids are very excited about it and I am too. Then, of course, we will be back in Wassenaar by 2:00 for the arrival of Sinterklaas. I hope to have lots of fun things to share from that. Happy Friday.

Humble

2006-11-16T23:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, Helmut and I attended “Understanding the Dutch” class. It was not what I expected, but interesting none the less. I was hoping for a little…this is where you can buy peanut butter or real diet coke…this is who you call if your toilet backs up…this street sign means you are entering a bike lane. Instead it was more of a human behavior analysis of the Dutch and how their nation’s history (politically, religiously and otherwise) has made them the way that they are. It was interesting and I am sure it will come in handy at some point. At this point, I have actually met very few Dutch. Our realtor is Dutch, but I think she deals with enough Americans that she knows how to handle us. I think the class is most beneficial for Helmut as he is working on a daily basis with quite a few Dutch. They tend to be very straight forward, rule oriented and correct you whenever you do something wrong (which we all know Helmut loves!). My favorite factoid from the seminar was this most famous Dutch saying, “Be normal, because you are already strange enough.” Going way back to Calvinism, the Dutch feel very strongly that all people are equal, no matter the circumstance. This saying basically means to them, “I don’t care who you are or how much money you have, you are not perfect and therefore the same as me. Don’t show off your fancy car or big house or how smart you are or how fast you can run, because you are the same as me.” In other words, be modest and humble no matter how much you have. I am sure we could all learn to be more humble.

Surfing

2006-11-15T16:35:00.000-06:00

Well, we found out this afternoon that we did not get the house we were hoping for. The owner actually replied to our withdrawal from negotiations with, “I won’t come down on the price and on second thought, I won’t be out by the middle of December.” If you ask me, he doesn’t sound like he would have been the easiest landlord to work with. The house was also at the top of our price range and we are better off with something a little cheaper. In essence, they saved us from ourselves. I am now setting my sights on the Deijlerweg house and happy with that. We have scheduled a walk through tomorrow so we can be sure to include any repairs and upgrades we want in the initial contract.

I broke down and paid the 200+ US dollars today so I could get unlimited internet access for the next month. I am not sure we will be at the hotel for that long, but it was cheaper to do it that way than by the week. I have literally been on the internet all afternoon long, and have enjoyed every minute of it. It is amazing how hard it is to be limited to only a few minutes of internet a day, but I am back on track to surfing the hours away.

Run

2006-11-14T14:17:00.000-06:00

I had my first Holland run this morning. I dropped Sam off at school this morning (and yes she was still into this morning) and when I got back to the hotel, I realized all my excuses were gone. All the kids were in school, I didn’t have any appointment and nothing I needed to get done, so I forced myself to run. It actually ended up being a decent run. Of course it was hard and tiring since I haven’t run in close to two months, but the scenery couldn’t be beat. It was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit outside and a little windy. I jogged out one side of the hotel and stuck to that street so I wouldn’t get lost. This place is perfect for running. I ran for a full 45 minutes and never ran out of sidewalk. I passed some very fluffy sheep lying in an incredibly green pasture, some English style horse riders, an old grey-haired man driving a horse drawn buggy, an WWII war memorial, a old cemetery, a draw bridge, three canals, scores of houses, a few businesses, tons of cyclists (some exercising but most just going about their day) and passed under two highways.

It looks like we won’t be getting the Windlustweg house. They agreed to be out by December 11th, but would not budge on the price. Our offer was near the top of our budget, so we feel like it is best to go with the other house on Deijlerweg (pronounced dial-er-vegg). It is a great house too and probably suits our family better. It is super close to the school so the boys can hop on their bikes and be there in less than five minutes. Josh will be thrilled to not ride the bus. He came home yesterday and reported there was far to much cursing out of the high school bus riders.

Monday

2006-11-13T08:58:00.000-06:00

I decided our hotel room needed a little pick me up, so I bought flowers at the flower stall today. They have so many beautiful arrangements and wreaths. I can’t wait to get in my house so I can take full advantage of what they have to offer. I am excited about finally living in a place where I can have a live wreath on my door and it won’t die from the heat!

Last night, Sam was having trouble falling asleep. I think she was anxious, nervous and excited about her first day of school. She jumped out of bed bright and early (6:30 AM) this morning, picked out her clothes, brushed her teeth and brushed her hair. As we walked out the door to breakfast she exclaimed, “First day of school, here I come!” When I dropped her off at the kindergarten playground, she never looked back. She had Mr. Scott (her teacher’s assistant that I am pretty certain she has a little crush on) by the hand and he was helping her make new friends.

Sam rode the bus home in the afternoon and was the last one off the bus. As you can see by the picture, she was on the bus with a driver and a bus attendant. To my surprise they were both men in their forties dressed in three piece suits (they kind of reminded me of butlers). She said they were both very nice.

After dropping Sam off this morning, I went to a meeting of the Monday Morning Networkers. This is a class that meets each Monday and discusses different subjects about Holland or settling in. Next week we are taking a trip to an Antique Shop and the next meeting we will be discussing Entertainment/Travel. Today our discussion was on Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is sort of the Dutch equivalent of our Santa Claus. The real man was a bishop of the Catholic Church in Turkey way back in the day. He was well known for his kindness towards children and generosity towards poor people. The celebration starts in early November when Sinterklaas begins his journey from Spain to Holland by boat. He will arrive in the harbor of Wassenaar this Saturday at 2:00 with a big celebration and parade. From there he will continue up to Amsterdam and onwards. After that day the kids are supposed to leave a shoe by the fireplace a few nights a week (I suppose we will use the front door since we have no fireplace) and Sinterklaas will leave a small treat inside. The big Sinterklaas celebration ends on the night of December 5th. One of Sinterklaas’s helpers (a black man named Sinter Piet – he was originally black to represent the moors that worked for the original Sinterklaas, but now the P.C. explanation is that he is black from going down so many fireplaces) drops off a jute bag full of a gift for each child. Each gift is wrapped in a special way and includes a personal poem poking good fun at the child. I think it will be fun to celebrate this Dutch holiday, but will also be a lot of work for me. Now that the kids are all in school I suppose this will give me a fun project to work on.

Helmut and I put an offer in on the house on Windlustweg today. We are just waiting to hear whether they accepted the amount and the proposed move in day. We are crossing our fingers!

8 days

2006-11-12T13:46:00.000-06:00

When we went to meet Sam’s K1 teacher, she informed us that the children needed a pair of indoor shoes to wear around the classroom. Evidently, in an effort to keep the classroom clean, they wear their “outdoor” shoes to and from school and at recess and they wear their “indoor” shoes inside the classroom. Some kids had slip on tennis shoes, some had flip flops and some had slippers. Sam chose a modern adaptation on the classic Holland wooden clog. They have these adorable fuzzy slipper style wooden clogs at the gift shop in our hotel (which was a perfect location in my estimation). They are cute and Dutch at the same time.

The weather here has turned really cold and rainy and windy. Mom, Dad, Matt, Maria and Lucas, make sure you bring warm clothes!

Helmut and I went to look at all three houses yesterday. He hated the first one we looked at (which was the third one on my blog and the one that most of you voted for). On my second trip there, it didn’t seem as great as I had previously thought. All the ceilings were really low and the house was too chopped up. The house on Windlustweg was even better than I had thought before. The kitchen was great with a double oven (still small by American standards), six burner gas cook top, built-in frig and dishwasher and an extra frig/freezer and storage in a pantry room right off the kitchen. There is a huge balcony off the master large enough for a table and chairs (not sure why we would ever put one up there for, but it is big enough). The masterbath is incredible with one of those showers that sprays from three sides! Clearly, this one is our favorite. The only problem is that the owners are still living in it and we are not sure they can vacate it fast enough for out liking. I will talk with the realtor tomorrow and hopefully we will find out pretty quickly. We also went and looked at the house on Deijlerweg (which is way better than it looks on the internet, by the way). Helmut also liked this one. It doesn’t have as much character and details like the other one, but we could be happy with it as well. Like I told Helmut, “I will be sad if we don’t get the Windlustweg house, but I can be happy with the Deijlerweg house.

We ventured out to the Volvo dealership and in true Dutch fashion we still don’t have a car. The dealer is a low talker and seems to be in no hurry for us to buy a car. I have decided to stop worrying about it, what will happen will happen.

Helmut is off to London again tomorrow and won’t be back until Wednesday. I have nothing to say about that really, just thought you should know.

So we have been in Holland for eight days now and in some ways it seems like we have just arrived and in other ways it seems like we have been here for months. Here are a few interesting things we have learned about this new country over the past week.

Each time we went to McDonald’s they asked us how many ketchups we wanted (no self serve). It took us a few visits to realize they charge .35 euros (.46 US cents) for each packet of ketchup. How crazy is that? Even in China (were they charge you for toilet paper at some places) they didn’t charge you for ketchup. I am seriously considering writing an email to McDonald’s corporate. It’s not the money; it’s the principle of the matter.

Weird thing number two: it is pitch dark here by 5:00 PM and I hear it will get even earlier as the year nears an end. Evidently the sun stays up until around 10:30 PM in the summer. It is very hard to get used to.

Crazy thing number three: They regularly drop the “F-bomb” on television. I have finally just taken the remote control away from the kids and they are doomed to watching DVDs for the next few years.

Despite those weird things, we are adjusting and still enjoying the beautiful scenery in our new home.

Man Blog II

2006-11-11T14:08:00.000-06:00

Working in London has been a real eye-opener. The Brits have a fundamentally different approach to the work environment. For instance, the open display of pornographic photographs in the work place is not considered de facto sexual harassment. Rather, its just good fun and only a girly boy would object. Only if someone makes a formal complaint and the employer fails to remove the offensive article does he or she have a case for a harassment charge. Another quaint custom is freaky-casual-dress-four- hour-Friday. The Brits somehow convince themselves that they work 9 hour days – trust me, Bechtel works 9 hour days in Houston, and what they do in London is nothing of the sort. So each Friday they show up at work in their trendy blue-jeans, crazy Euro-footwear and other nightclub worthy apparel and leave promptly for their weekend at noon. And this is all fine by me. I just take an early flight back to Holland and have diner with the family. However, today was a bit special. I had a late flight and could only leave the office at 2:00 pm. Needless to say I was there all by myself for several hours. I decided to have a quick bite to eat at the company canteen. The company store carries all sorts of healthy eating options as well as the traditional artery clogging British pub food. I chose a delicious looking and healthy smoked mackerel – beet root salad. Back at my desk I started to pry open the clear plastic dome that covered the salad and casually noticed that a fare bit of the crimson red beet root juice had migrated to the seam of the container where the clear plastic dome met the black plastic bowl. A fraction of a second later the seal on the bowl burst opened and spewed a not so fine mist of red beet juice all over the front of my brand new, French blue, Ralph Loren dress shirt. Argh!!!!! This was pure disaster. Desperately I stripped my shirt off and ran to the bathroom. I began furiously scrubbing the spots and eventually removed the great majority of the stain. But now my shirt was soaking wet. Lucky for me the Brits are very keen on the environment and insist on paper-saving devices like hot air blowers in the lu. So I spent the better part of the lunch hour doing my laundry over a sink in the bathroom. Lucky for me, no one was there, except the janitor who had a good chuckle when he saw me feverishly working over my shirt in the bathroom sink. He asked me what happened and I told him I was minding my own business when this bloody beet root salad attacked. The beet root salad went in the round file in the office next door. Didn’t want that mackerel stinking up my office.

Happy Birthday Jenny

2006-11-10T09:03:00.000-06:00

Today is my big sister Jenny’s 37th birthday. In her honor, I am listing 37 things about her and our lives growing up together (some are well known, others are not).

1. She is a very good listener
2. She drove me everywhere when I was a preteen and she had her license (one of the perks of having an older sister)
3. She never hesitated to set me straight (don’t feel bad for me, I usually needed it)
4. She is a realist
5. Her favorite song at the age of twelve was “Hard Habit to Break” by Chicago (as per her Rose Prom questionnaire)
6. She was an incredible travel companion on our crazy cross country Greyhound bus trip to Idaho when she was sixteen and I was thirteen
7. She has stuck up for me on more than one occasion (i.e. Denver bus terminal snack bar)
8. She is the best big sister in the world
9. She allowed me to go to all the Stake Dances with her despite my undeniable beehive geekiness
10. She is a great soccer player and played on a select team for many years
11. She won the majority of the trophies in my childhood home (much to my chagrin)
12. She hated for my mom to dress us alike and freaked out at the age of eight when my mom bought us matching boots (I was crushed)
13. She is a “tell it like it is” kind of gal
14. We used to make tin can phones to communicate late at night when we were supposed to be asleep
15. She is a patient and loving mother of three beautiful kids
16. She gave me such a bad eyebrow job on the night before her wedding that I laughed until I peed my pants
17. She worked her way thru college (10+ years)
18. She is a laundry specialist (due to her many years of working at a dry cleaners)
19. She is a great artist
20. She plays a mean recorder (Eye of the Tiger is her most famous tune)
21. She used to iron my hair flat in high school (not with a fancy flat iron like you see these days, with a real clothes iron on the ironing board)
22. She has always supported me in my decisions
23. She was a great double date partner
24. She was kind enough to let me come and stay with her over Spring Break her freshman year in college
25. She has always had a strong testimony of the church
26. She was an expert flag twirler and officer of her squad in high school
27. She always included me at Young Womens, despite being older and cooler than I was
28. She was great about sharing all her clothes with me (even thought she usually had better ones than I did)
29. She taught me everything I know about makeup
30. She was a great Escadrille pal
31. She is a true blond
32. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education
33. She loves Mexican food
34. She is a true Texan (no matter where she lives)
35. She is a sweet wife
36. She was always a good babysitter to us kids when we were growing up (as the oldest sibling, she got this job more often than I am sure she wanted it)
37. She is a great friend

Happy Birthday Jenny, I love and miss you! I wish we didn’t live so far apart.

As for our live in Holland today, we haven’t done much. We slept in, had a late breakfast at the buffet and the kids went swimming. Tonight we have been invited to go over to a member of the wards house for pizza and then go to a Middle School play. The kids are bored, but I am enjoying some down time.

See How They Run

2006-11-09T12:37:00.000-06:00

Well, I have solved the problem of the laundry. I finally called up the Splash Washerette and although the guy I talked to spoke very little English, I was able to communicate with him. He let me know I could drop my laundry off, have it washed, dried and folded for 7.50 euros per 5 kilos (about 10 pounds). Josh was my navigator on this trip, and having been there before; we found it with no problem. Finding a parking space was a different story. The parking “alley” right next to the washerette was full except for two VERY small parallel parking spaces. The next lot over was blocked off by a delivery truck that had no intention of moving anytime soon. We navigated our way back over two canals and down a few one way streets back to the first parking “alley.” Of course by the time we got back around both of those parallel parking spaces were gone. When I saw that the delivery truck was still blocking the lot, it was time for desperate measures. We ended up parallel parking in the back alley of the block. Easy right? These spaces were in a very narrow (no more than 15 feet wide) alley with row houses on one side and a canal with a steep 10-foot straight down drop on the other. Josh opened his door so I could see better and we managed to parallel park a mere six inches for the edge of the canal. Sam was freaking out the whole time sure we were going to fall in the water rental car, Cinnamon (her stuffed animal) and all. Once in the parking spot, I was not sure what the parking situation was…legal or not, coupon needed or not (of course I had no coupons)? We decided to sprint to the Washerette and risk it. I, of course, was not wearing shoes appropriate for a sprint down a cobblestone alley. We dropped off our laundry to a very helpful and trying-his-best-with-his-English attendant who let us know it will be done around 6:00 PM. Then we sprinted back to the car to find it ticket free. The drove home was incident free, except almost hitting a blind man in the cross walk (which Josh could not stop laughing about…I think it was a nervous laugh). I made it through this whole ordeal without one curse word passing my lips (no comment on whether they crossed my mind).

We drove over to Wassenaar to get my cell phone voice mail changed into English and I bought more minutes for my phone. (I must have a pay as you go phone until we find a house and I am able to register with the town alien police.) Then I took the kids to Bagel Alley. It was tasty, with homemade bagels, homemade baked goods and US made soda.

I went out again the look at houses with the realtor. She showed me one stand alone house near the school and Central Wassenaar and then four other houses that are in South Wassenaar. South Wassenaar is about an eight minute drive from the school (about the equivalent of driving from our house on Carols Way Drive to Del Pueblo). Helmut is not really interested in living that far away and none of the houses were really worth the location. I have narrowed it down to three houses…starting with the least expensive…(if this is too boring to read, just skip over it…it is really a list of each houses pros and cons for my own decision making sake)…click on the address for pictures on the Dutch realtor website

Deijlerweg 102 #S
This one is only a five minute bike ride from the school. It is the middle house in what is essentially a three house wide town home (I prefer not to use the term duplex). It has recently been completely redone with a new kitchen and hard wood floors on all the stories. It has a large living/dining area and space enough in the kitchen for a table and chairs. It has two large rooms on the second floor and two medium size rooms on the third floor. It has a pretty back “garden” (or in US English a back yard) and a garage and bike shed. The front and back porches have just been redone in a pretty natural stone with lots of potted plants. The only con I can see with this one is that it is stuck between two other houses. It doesn’t seem to make a big impact on the light and bright feeling on the inside of the house. Each room has a big window or two in it. At 4100 euros per month it is a great price.

Windlustweg 18 #S
This semi detached house (on the left of a two house town home) sits just one block away from the charming city center. You can actually see the town windmill from the front sidewalk. It sits right across the street from a fruit and vegetable stand and a bakery. The house has been completely redone with an amazing kitchen and roomy living area. It is also close to the school (about a ten minute bike ride). It has a largish master bedroom, one medium sized room and three small bedrooms. The finishing on the house is top notch and it is super charming. It is listed at 5500 euros per month, but they are willing to come down.

Prinses Marielaan 32 #S
This is a stand alone house on a very picturesque tree lined street (about a 10 minute bike ride from the school). The owner has it decorated to the nines. It has a great living area with a small study off to the side. The kitchen is fantastic with French doors into the dining room. It has a large master bedroom and three small bedrooms on the second and third floor. It is more expensive at 6200 euros a month and has only been on the market for three weeks, so I am not sure if they will be willing to come down on the price.

If you would like to weigh in on the choice, just leave a comment. Helmut and I are going to look at three places on Saturday morning and will make a final decision then. Wish us luck.

First Day of School 2006 - Take Two

2006-11-08T15:15:00.000-06:00

We were up bright and early this morning for the boys’ first day of school. We had to get there 30 minutes early so they could get their schedule and get a locker assignment. The middle school follows a block schedule which seems to be a little confusing. Plus today was a short day. After talking to the Relief Society President yesterday, I figured out every Wednesday is a short day that ends at 2:45 (good thing she told me or I would have showed up 45 minutes late to pick them up). Each boy was met by an “ambassador” who was assigned to stick with them all day and help them get from class to class and to answer any questions they might have. Josh’s ambassador was Ellis, a boy from Korea, who Josh deemed a nerd that didn’t help at all. Evidently he showed Josh his own locker (which was of no use to Josh) and didn’t do anything for the rest of the day. In Josh’s defense, the boy didn’t seem that into it when I left them at the office. Helmut’s ambassador was Andy from Rome, Italy. Helmut reported he was nice and helpful.

Josh started out with a light day of Social Studies, IT (computer), lunch, P.E. (a fun hour of rock wall climbing) and then his split block of Choir and World Music. Helmut had Choir/World Music, Spanish I, lunch, Language Arts and Math. They both agreed that they like their new school better than their old school (which I see as a good sign).

I do love the stories these boys come home with. Josh said a boy came up to him during P.E. and said, “If you are scared, you aren’t the only one. I am really afraid of heights.” Then the boy started to cry. Evidently he had a previously bad experience with a rock climbing wall falling on top of him. I may have cried myself it I was him. He did however, overcome his fear and climb to the red line on the wall. Josh informed me he climbed all the way to the top “and really quickly.”

I went and looked at a few more houses this afternoon. It is the same story here as in the States. One has a great kitchen but the rooms are kind of small. The other has big bedrooms but the kitchen needs updating and the finishing is cheap. One house is great but the location is bad, the other is in bad shape but in a great location. If only you could combine them all and make the perfect house. I have a few more to see tomorrow with high hopes for one of them. It is a single dwelling home on a good size lot in a pretty and quiet part of the neighborhood. I did find out that the asking price is more negotiable than I had previously thought which is great! I am hoping to narrow the choices down considerably and then Helmut and I will go look on Saturday and hopefully make a final decision.

Helmut is out of town in London so the rest of us topped off the night with dinner at McDonald’s. The boys are going to Activity Days with Holly from the ward. They are looking forward to getting out of the hotel.

Holly also stayed at the Leiden Holiday Inn for three weeks, so I called her to find out about the expensive laundry situation. Sadly, the answer was…she did it in the bathtub and hung it out to dry around the room. As I type, I am doing my first load of whites. Helmut thinks it is ridiculous, but has offered no other viable option. He doesn’t think they will get clean enough, but I’ll show him. Fun times of living in the hotel!

Quite an Adventure

2006-11-07T13:32:00.000-06:00

What a crazy day!

The kids and I started out this morning by going to the school to buy their school supplies. The school was having their book fair which the boys could not pass up. We walked out of there 90.00 euros later. We came back to the hotel and gathered up all our dirty clothes and set off to find the Splash Washerette. Armed with a city map and Little Helmut as my navigator, we headed towards Leiden. This place was not easy to find. The streets here are hard to “read,” is it a bus lane, or a one way street or just a small road. I cannot count how many times I turned onto a road today and thought for sure I was going the wrong way on a one way street or even worse, barreling down a bike lane. At one point Josh asked me nicely to stop cursing because he was sure Sam was going to start to copy me.

We finally found the Laundromat and found a place to park. When we walked in all of the six machines were being used by one old lady who had at least 20 bags waiting to be washed. We drove all that way for nothing. What a frustration…and our clothes are still dirty!

We salvaged the trip by stopping on the ride home and walking around. We all took pictures and enjoyed a more close up look at the village we have been living in.

In the afternoon our realtor took us to look at four houses. Three of the four were either too dingy, too small or too ugly. I did find one I thought would work. It has just been renovated with a brand new kitchen. We are going out again tomorrow to look at more places. I am feeling positive about the prospects.

ASH

2006-11-07T13:31:00.000-06:00

What a long day…we got to the school around 10:00 AM and didn’t leave until close to 3:00 PM. I had meetings with the administrators, counselors, teachers, transportation coordinator…you name it. In the meantime, the kids were supposed to sit quietly and behave. Of course, that didn’t happen. By the time we met with the Elementary School Counselor, Josh was drawing pictures of dead stick figures surrounded by own pool of blood. I am sure he was psycho analyzing him and deeming me a horrible mother in the process. The bad news is that this Thursday and Friday there is no school due to Parent/Teacher Conferences. The boys can’t start school tomorrow because that is “short notice for the teachers.” The boys will go on Wednesday for one day. Sam on the other hand will not start school until next Monday. I am a little bummed that the kids will have to be home over the next week while Helmut is in London Wednesday thru Friday and I am trying to pick out a house and get a mobile phone and such.

Tonight we went to the Volvo dealership to look for a car. Let me just say, things here in Holland don’t move at American speed. We all know that when you enter a car dealership in America, they want to do anything they can to get you to buy a car before you leave the lot. We looked at a few cars and asked a few question of the ONE dealer before he let us know he would “work up a few proposals” and get back with us. “It may take some time and I hope to get back with you by the end of the week.” Luckily we have the rental car until the end of next week. I am hoping we can get this all sorted out by then. I am leaning towards the sporty station wagon and Helmut is leaning towards the SUV.

Tomorrow we are going back to the school to buy the kid’s school supplies. After that I am planning an exciting adventure to the “Splash Washerette” which I am hoping is a Laundromat. The hotel will do the laundry but it is crazy expensive. To launder a pair of socks costs US$2.25. Hopefully I can find the Laundromat, buy some detergent and that it will all be less expensive!

Church is the same around the world

2006-11-05T09:19:00.000-06:00

It is already 3:45 PM and I am not even tired yet! Yeah! Last night we all went to sleep around 8:00 PM. I woke up around midnight thinking it must be morning. Sam woke up around 2:00 AM crying that she wanted to go back to Houston. I am not sure what time I was actually able to fall back asleep, but I woke up with a start at 8:45 AM. We had 45 minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast, get the address to the church and find it. We did find it and only arrived 15 minutes late (and in the process figured out that Helmut and I would not be good partners on The Amazing Race).

There were probably 60-75 people in Sacrament Meeting. It was fast and testimony meeting and although the long grey haired no shoe wearing 60 year old man didn’t get up, no one said anything too crazy. I met a few ladies who seemed pretty normal. They had lots of information to share about finding a house and living in Holland. I am definitely feeling better about being here after talking to them. Holly (one of the ladies I met) is from Kingwood and her husband also works for Shell. She has been here for about a year and a half. She seems like a possible friend candidate.

Helmut and I already received callings. I am the new nursery leader and will move up with the kids at the end of the year to be their Sunbeam teacher…yeah for me…I am trying to be positive about it. Helmut has been called to be the Primary teacher for the kids that are 4-7. That seems like a large age span to teach a lesson to, but I am sure he will figure it out. He seems really pleased with the calling and is looking forward to being Sam’s teacher.

This afternoon we went to McDonald’s for lunch (I am embarrassed to admit that is the second time we have been there in two days). Afterwards we drove around downtown Leiden and around the school. The city center is super charming with an old windmill, lots of row shops, a canal and cobblestone streets. I can’t wait until I can go back with my camera.

Right now Helmut and I are sitting in the “Jungle Club” watching Sam play. On the weekend nights from 4-8 PM it is “manned” by a nanny to play with the kids and do little art projects. I am down here to post to my blog as I get no WIFI reception in my room…bummer. If I am slow to answer your email that is why. I am looking into getting a mobile broadband account soon. Stay tuned tomorrow for our first day at ASH!

Day One

2006-11-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

We made it!

The flight didn’t start out so well. We arrived at the airport with five people, seven pieces of carry on luggage and ten pieces of checked luggage. I am sure we looked like a motley crew. The porter was really helpful and tried to get someone to help us with our check-in, but no luck. Evidently, the Continental Business First class check-in is self serve. When we got our boarding passes, Sam was assigned to sit three rows back from everyone else. We tried to get help from three different people to sort it out, but they each told us to essentially “negotiate with the other passenger to switch seats.” Helmut was not happy with this answer at all and got pretty upset with more than one person. We finally did end up asking the passenger to switch places and he was happy to oblige. Finally the flight attendant came up to help and once he found out we had already taken care of it, he actually had the nerve to tell us we should have let him do it. “Sometimes the other business class passengers do not take kindly to being asked to move, so we prefer you give us the opportunity to take care of it.” At that point Helmut’s ugly American behavior surfaced. There was loud talking and talk of the horrible state of the airline industry in United States, I was thoroughly embarrassed. It all got worked out. The rest of the flight went great. Sam ate her dinner and then fell asleep for the rest of the flight. I tried to sleep, but didn’t have much success.

The drive from the airport to our hotel in Leiden was beautiful. The landscape reminds me a little bit of Idaho, except instead of cows there were sheep and instead of truck stops there were windmills. It was mostly farmland with a few thatched roofed houses interspersed. We saw lots of tree lined canals and streets (very much like the drive into Twin Falls). At this point, it is all so new and interesting to look at.

The Leiden Holiday Inn is living proof that you can make something look way better on the internet than it is in real life. It reeks of cigarette smoke and is kind of grungy, but it is close to the school. I have new resolve for finding a place to live with lightening speed.

We took a taxi over to The Hague to pick up our rental car and happened to pass the kids’ school on the way. On our way home we stopped by and looked around. We couldn’t do too much looking around because security was tight, but what we saw looked good. There were tons of kids out playing soccer and a fleet of charter buses from Germany here for a tournament. It seems like I will be able to get my sports fix here.

At that point it hit me…like a ton of bricks…

must.go.to.sleep!!! I had been up for over 24 hours and my body was revolting. I hate that jetlag feeling, in my opinion it is the worst thing about taking an overseas assignment.

I took an hour long nap and felt like I could make it a few more hours. We hopped in the car and drove around until we found a grocery store. When I walked into the store, I got an overwhelming feeling of dread. I had forgotten how hard it is to shop in an unfamiliar country. All the meat was in Dutch…I need to get a phrase book so I can make sure my ground beef is really ground beef (by the way I lost my Holland book somewhere in the move…ugh!).

So here I am living in two tiny hotel rooms that open up right in front of the “kids club” (very loud), paying for the internet at 35 cents a minute and eating out of a mini bar. Remind me why I thought this was a good idea…

Moving Day

2006-11-02T14:53:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the big day. The packers arrived around 8:00 AM (a full hour before I expected them) while I was still in my pajamas. What a crazy day. The kids went to school which simplified the process. Helmut and I were left to decide what would stay in the house, what we would pack to take on the flight, what we would send to Holland in an air shipment and what we would send to Holland in a sea shipment. Most of the things were easy to organize, but the clothes were complicated. The surveyor who came to the house a few weeks ago predicted we would get our sea shipment around the middle of December. I am hoping the sea shipment makes it in time for all the Christmas things I shipped. I suppose what ever happens, happens.

Josh had his last football game last night. They had to win to still be mathematically eligible for the playoffs. We got pretty far behind in the first quarter and then the weather turned cold and very rainy. The boys kept with it and played really hard. We won with a touchdown in the last 11 seconds! The Sampson Seahawks still have to lose their last two games for our team to make it to the playoffs, but it was a great win.

Right now I am so tired, but I still have to finish getting the house clean and pack before we go…this is too much work!

more of the same

2006-10-30T21:25:00.000-06:00

The drudgery of the “to-do list” continued again today. We hit Macy’s, Best Buy, Target, Petco and Wal-Mart. We are probably 90% finished with the list. Tomorrow is a big day. Besides it being Halloween, we have to pick up Helmut’s visa at the consulate and pick up the rental car at the airport. Tomorrow we are selling our car at CarMax. It makes me a little sad in a way. Besides its undying dependability, sheer comfort and being incredibly easy to drive, we have had a lot of fun times in that car. That car drove us all the way to Utah and back as well as to countless school and sporting activities.

I suppose I am getting a little sullen and apprehensive about the move. I went to the scrapbook store today to get some things for my Christmas card and I actually felt a little sad. Trust me; this scrapbook store is nothing to be getting sad over. I guess it is just the fact that we are to the point of…this is our last time to do this, that and the other.

My biggest stress right now is the move day (Wednesday). Don’t get me wrong, I am so lucky and grateful that Shell is paying for a crew to do a full-service move. Thinking about the logistics of it all is what is keeping me up at night. It is going to be so hard to make sure everything goes to the right place. We have some things staying in the house, some things going to The Netherlands in an air shipment, some things going to The Netherlands on a surface shipment and the things we will pack in our luggage to take on the flight over. It will be a modern day miracle if something major doesn’t end up in the wrong place. Ugh…I have to go practice some avoidance via the DVR and sleep!

Catch Up

2006-10-29T17:40:00.000-06:00

Long time no blog…I have been up to my ears in things to do before we go, plus I have been very busy ignoring those very things.

Helmut and I have hit the mall, target and other stores to procure the goods we need before the move. The biggest problem with these shopping trips is that as well as finding the things we needed on our list, we see a world of other things we may need as well. Needless to say we will be loading up our full 40-foot container.

We still have not received a phone call from the Houston Dutch Consulate to say that our visa has arrived back from Miami. Technically we don’t have to have the visa until Friday afternoon, but I would appreciate it earlier for my peace of mind.

This week begins the deluge of tasks and small details that must be handled before we go. We have to get our Odyssey sold and our rental car picked up. We have to get all our stuff packed up with the movers and well as pack our own suitcases. We have to get the boys all withdrawn from school. We still have to change all our billing addresses to our new P.O. Box address. Ugh…I am not ready for this!

My parents and Matt and Maria and Lucas came down for the weekend. The men folk put up crown molding in our master bedroom (evidentially the one project Helmut could not stand to leave undone). It still needs to be painted, but looks great. Aside from the home improvement project, we had a fun weekend. We hung out around the house and went out to eat for just about every meal. We even hit the Berry Hill Taco Shop two nights in a row. They are good sports for coming down for the weekend on such short notice. I will miss having them so close by when we are in Holland. Saturday night we made a token drop by of the church Halloween party. Sam and Lucas had a fun time playing with the balloons. Helmut and Josh had an even better time running around with their friends. I have very fond memories of running around the school carnivals with my friends. Good times.

Enough rambling for one day…enjoy the picture of Samantha as The Dancing Barbie Princess named “Genevieve.”

Visa Day

2006-10-23T21:32:00.000-05:00

Let the preparations begin! Helmut, Sam and I drove downtown this morning to drop off his passport at the Honorary Dutch Consulate. It was a small office atop the Compass Bank. We were sandwiched in line between the Iranian family and South African gentlemen trying to get their visas as well. By the look of the stack of the Iranian family’s paperwork, it is more difficult to get a visa if you are from Iran. The consulate will send Helmut's passport onto Miami to have the visa put in. The nice Dutch lady at the window assured us it would be back to us by Friday.

We also went down to Sam’s Club and bought the boys’ new mattresses. When we got to the parking lot, we realized two mattresses and two box springs will not fit into the back of a Ford Ranger. Helmut and Sam drove one set home while I hung out on the sidewalk with the other set.

All in all, there is nothing too exciting to report here. We are slowly making our way down our to-do list.

Gladys

2006-10-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

I am exhausted. I have spent all day cleaning this house. Helmut comes home tomorrow and he has pretty high clean house standards. Part of me has resented scurrying around the house all day to clean up for a man. The other part of me realized I couldn’t really move without giving the house a good deep cleaning, so I am killing two birds with one stone. The part of house cleaning I hate is what I call the “iceberg factor.” You get started and realized you could only see 35% of the dirt and the other 65% was lurking down below. As a result, it always takes longer than you thought it would. The upstairs is done and I am hoping to tackle the downstairs this evening and tomorrow.

I got a call from Little Helmut at school today. He had tried me on my cell (because my landline is still not working…going on day four), but couldn’t get a hold of me. He called Sarah and Big Daddy in an effort to reach me. Of course I was thinking the worst. The first thing he said was, “I am not in trouble. I am not in trouble.” He had gotten a 100 on his Science Unit test and won the privilege of bringing home the class pet for the weekend. He needed a ride home from school, because of course you can’t bring the class pet home on the bus. Meet Gladys, the class rat.

I am hoping the weekend of pet sitting goes off without a hitch. When I was in elementary school my brother Matt got a turn bringing home the class gerbil. Somehow the gerbil got loose and we spent a good portion of the afternoon looking for it. Sadly, we found it by way of the deadly-to-gerbils rocking chair. I don’t remember any blood and guts, but I remember a dead gerbil. I will have to ask Matt how that Monday at school went for him.

More Pumpkin Patch pics

2006-10-18T21:29:00.000-05:00

I should have been doing laundry, but this seemed like more fun!

Happy Birthday Carrie!

2006-10-17T17:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Carrie! I am so disappointed you aren’t in town to give this special day its proper celebration. This working thing is really getting in the way of my good times! Hope you have a great day. Thanks for being such a good friend.

Two Day Total

2006-10-16T22:23:00.000-05:00

As you may have noticed, I did not post to my blog yesterday. I had nothing to report and hoped for something more interesting to share today. Alas, no such luck. However, I now know that Mr. Box, as my 6th grade Math teacher, taught me a very valuable lesson. It has all become crystal clear. You really do use Math in your everyday life.

0 X 2 = 0

Doing absolutely nothing interesting for two whole days still equals absolutely not one stickin’ thing interesting…

Just as a side note, I did find out this morning that Helmut changed his flight to come home early and will be arriving back in Houston on Saturday afternoon!

Game Day

2006-10-14T18:24:00.000-05:00

Josh’s football game this morning went great. We beat a team ranked above us and to top it off, it was their homecoming!

Josh is off to a friend’s house and Sam is spending the night with Big Momma and Big Daddy tonight. Helmut is here, and very depressed at the prospect of hanging out with his mom all evening.

It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time

2006-10-13T16:39:00.000-05:00

Sam and I went to the Pumpkin Patch today. It felt a bit strange to be there without the boys, but they are getting too old for things like that. A “cold” front moved through last night, so she and I dressed up in our autumn attire and pretended we weren’t too hot. We were only at the patch for about 15 minutes, but that was plenty of time to pick out the perfect pumpkin and snap a few photos.

Over the last two days, it has really hit me how quickly we will be leaving, and how much I still have left to do. I am making good headway on my list. I called Dr. Lu and got an appointment to get on some cholesterol medication (so my kids can stop asking me if I am going to die). I called our insurance agent and made all the changes for our move. I called the boys’ schools about their withdrawal date. I let Sam’s preschool know when she would be leaving. The list goes on and on…

Helmut is in Aberdeen today and will travel back to London for his last week there before returning home. We may even get him home as early as next Friday. We are ready to have a Dad again.

Thursday

2006-10-12T18:46:00.000-05:00

Whenever I have a mental block against what to blog about, I like to change up my banner...hope you enjoy it!

Boring

2006-10-11T21:53:00.000-05:00

My day was boring but productive. I got the whole house picked up at the same time and got the laundry done. I even got the laundry all put away (that has been a challange for me in the past). I even returned some things at the mall. We topped the day off with football practice and Boy Scouts. All in all a boring day, but such is my life...

You Have to do it Yourself

2006-10-10T18:08:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, I made lunch for Helmut and Samantha and asked Helmut (who, by the way, is two months away from being 12) to rinse their dishes and load them into the dishwasher when they were done. This is what I found when I came back downstairs. I guess when you want something done right...

First Installment of the "Man Blog"

2006-10-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

In the past, Helmut has rarely (if ever) read my blog and I got the feeling he found the whole "blog craze" rather silly. Now that he is living half-way around the world and feeling quite lonely, he seems to have changed his mind. I received this entry in my email inbox this morning entitled "potential blog fodder." Enjoy.

Almost two years ago Debbie, the kids and I returned to Houston after a lengthy overseas assignment. It was great to return home and reunite with family and friends. We bought a house, settled-in and enjoyed the comforts of home life. Unfortunately, things were not going well on the professional front with my job. The problem seemed to emanate from the radically different working environment I found myself returned to. While in Asia I had many challenging and rewarding assignments. Work life back in the home office was mundane to say the least. To add fuel to my disgruntlement, one day I observed a note, thoughtfully posted in the men's bathroom. The note read, "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be neat and wipe the seat." The nerve! Talk about demeaning and childish! This was typical of the bar-b-que eating, good ole boy culture that permeated the office. It was just too much. I vowed then and there to "get a real job", a "grown-up" job. This was a watershed event. No one was going to tell me how to do my personal business and get away with it!

Eventually I left my employer of 11 plus years to work for a new, more "sophisticated" company. Obviously the posting in the bathroom wasn't the only factor, but it was definitely time for a change. My new job would take me far from the Bayou City. Interviews in Holland, travel to England, a flurry of new sights and experiences. Finally, the deal was done and I reported bright and early on my first day of work. My new location was situated in a quite, green suburb, amongst well-appointed European office buildings with modern, stream-lined architecture. A typical Nordic-Bauhaus construct, my building was part of a larger "campus"
which was purpose-built to maximize employee convenience, efficiency and engender a sense of pride and satisfaction, thus contributing to greater productivity and efficiency. This was the anti-thesis of my previous employer's approach to the workplace environment. It was clear, I had arrived!

As I strolled down the solemn hallways of my new fortress, I could hear the hushed tones of conversations in English, French, Dutch, Russian & German. Discussing deep intellectual issues of tremendous global importance (no doubt). How stimulating! So many different cultures and experiences to absorb! I was thrilled. After a whirlwind tour and orientation I was left to organize my work and gather my thoughts. Eventually I was drawn back to the more mundane, but necessary, logistics of daily life. "Where is the copier? Where is the water cooler? Oh, fresh fruit for me? How nice." Everything was in its place, and waiting for my attention.

"Excuse me, which way to the men's room?"

Need I say, it was immaculate? Modern and outfitted with an efficiency commensurate with the architecture of the building. Further, it was sub-divided into completely enclosed "throne-rooms" to ensure each guest the utmost in privacy. As I slowly opened the door to my new kingdom, I was greeted by a neatly typed and laminated placard installed in each room. Yes, you guessed it, "...sprinkle..tinkle...argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calgon take me away...

2006-10-06T18:12:00.000-05:00

It amazes me how much of Motherhood consists of being the one in a family who is willing to pay attention to the details and get all the small things done. Of course there are plenty of big things required…driving children here and there, cleaning laundry to ensure the family is clothed, buying and preparing food for sustenance, the list goes on and on. Lately, however, I am bogged down with all the little things that rest solely on my shoulders. I am sure there are Mothers in the world that let these kinds of things slip through their fingers, but I am determined not to be one of them. I am better than that.

Earlier this week, one of these “small things” almost became my mental undoing. As you know, Josh has rejoined his football team after we found out about our delay in moving to Holland. Because of his brief time away from the team, we missed the part where the dutiful team Mom takes all the jerseys on behalf of the other very busy parents on the team and has the last names put on the back. Therefore, this “small thing” trickled down to me…No, problem, I’m glad he is back on the team and this small chore will be no problem…

First, every store I called said they would be glad to do it, but could not get it back to me in time for him to play his next game. After his game on Saturday, we rushed directly to the store to ensure it was done in a timely manner. Nooooo, the jersey was a smidge dirty and they refused to do it. Three games played, still no name on the back of his jersey. Finally, after his game on Monday night, I came home from the game and immediately washed his jersey so I could take it to the store first thing the next morning (bear in mind we did not get home from the game until after 10:00 PM). Buzzer rings…I open up the dryer…Where can I get some Prozac, because this can not be happening right now…Little Helmut has left a whole package of gum in his pants pocket and it is now all over the drum of the dryer! I spent the next 45 minutes using every household-cleaning product I own (with chemicals mixing and I am sure killing brain cells) to get it clean. At about 1:00 AM I felt like burning those evil jerseys that were conspiring against me, but I was too tired to find any matches. On a more positive note, everything seems a little better in the morning light, and I did not burn the jerseys. I took them to the sporting goods store and got the names put on them like a responsible Mother should. I reiterate, I will be a “small things” Mom (just as my mother was), because my children deserve it.

Morning can be hard...

2006-10-05T22:29:00.000-05:00

Josh’s football game last night went great. He played some linebacker and tight end. He is really enjoying himself and seems to be learning some real football skills. I’m loving every minute of it.

That late night football game made for a very grumpy Samantha this morning. I let her sleep as late as possible, but when I woke her up to get ready for school she was beside herself. She was crying and saying she didn’t want to go to school…I just miss you the whole time I am there (sadly I could not return the sentiment)... I forced her to get dressed, wrangled her while doing her hair and lectured her about school being her full time job for the next 17+ years. All the while, she is crying and whining. Once I finished doing her hair I asked her to pick out a bow for her ponytail. She picked out a blue, white and black soccer ribbon to go with her Kelly green shirt and pink skirt…don’t you want this green one instead…no, I want the soccer ribbon, it’s my favorite (more crying and whining). I was trying to decide how to handle the situation when three words popped into my head (whether they came from my mother, a parenting magazine I read upon arrival of my first child, or Dr. Phil, I can’t remember)…chose your battles…Sure, wear the mismatched ribbon… I swear to you, it was like I turned on a light switch. She was all smiles and didn’t give me another problem all morning. I am not sure if this was a reward for good parenting skills or a sign that she needs to see a psychiatrist about her Multiple Personality Disorder, but I am going with parenting skills.

Let the transition begin...or continue...

2006-10-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s official. Keith from Grabel Movers came today and surveyed the house for the move. He did come bearing one bit of good news. We had originally been told we would be allowed a 20-foot container for our surface shipment, but Shell changed its policy to a 40-foot container on Sept. 1st. That means we can take anything we want. I am still going to keep it light because I am not sure how big our place in Holland will end up being. The movers are scheduled to pack us up on November 1st and we are making our flight reservations for November 4th. Keith made it sound like getting your shipment out of customs was a long and complicated process, but at least I know what kind of time frame we are looking at. I guess this means we really are moving to Holland.

We are off to Josh’s football game…

Project Complete

2006-10-03T15:11:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is the picture of the “Order of Operations” mobile that Helmut and I (with a little licking help from Josh and Sam) completed this weekend. It turned out how I had envisioned it, and Helmut seems pleased. Strangely, the hardest part was licking the Tootsie Pops down to the right size. A few times we would forget what we were doing and bite into it. Josh was really the best at it. I think he finished eight out of twelve all by himself. Towards the end he was looking a little sick in the face from all those lollipops…Talk about aversion therapy.

The week has started, yet again. I did run last night for the first time in about two months. I hate starting all over again. I ran the track while Josh practiced for football. After practice I asked him if it was embarrassing to have your mom running the track. He answered, “No, but I wouldn’t really call it running, more like aggressive walking.” Thanks a lot! There is nothing like a ten year old to keep you in touch with reality. I suppose I have to start somewhere.

Football, Football and more Football...

2006-09-30T17:35:00.000-05:00

We have had a day full of football. Josh had a game this morning at 11:00 against the #1 team in the league. They are undefeated and haven’t been scored against this season. We actually did really well. The boys did well at driving the ball down the field and making their first downs. Late in the third quarter we got a touchdown. We lost the game 20-7, but I was proud of the way they played.

Tonight we are going to the Berry Center to watch Cy-Creek play Cy-Falls. They are the #1 team in our district, so it should be an interesting game.

So, football all day…my dream come true.

Shoes

2006-09-29T17:30:00.000-05:00

Today was Sam’s day off from school, so she and I spent the day at the mall. I had a 10% off coupon for the Loft that expires tomorrow and I didn’t want to see it go to waste. Normally, I would never even go into that store with Sam in tow, but desperate times (like an expiring coupon) call for desperate measures. We packed her a bag full of crayons and coloring books and she actually did quite well. With a few reminders of her promised reward of one item at the dollar store, she behaved herself.

We stopped by Stride Rite on the way out to see if we could agree on any shoes for her. She has very sparkly, shiny taste when it comes to shoes. The last time Helmut and I took her shoe shopping it ended in kicking, screaming and crying. I am all about letting her show her own personality, but I have to draw the line at black suede boots studded with rhinestones in every color of the rainbow. Today we compromised on the cute pair in the picture. I originally had a cute plain brown pair picked out, but she talked me into this pair. She also got a new pair of running shoes because she has already outgrown the pair I bought her in July! I inherited my love for shoes from my mom and I am all too happy to pass it along to Sam…

Late Night Sarcasm

2006-09-28T23:30:00.000-05:00

FYI. It is now 11:24 PM and I have just finished putting together Helmut's science project...Gee, I sure hope I get a good grade!

All-Nighter

2006-09-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

Oh the woes of being a sixth grader. Compound that with a frustrated and grumpy mother and you get lots of tears and agony.

We are deep in the throws of school projects around here. Helmut has two projects due in the very imminent future. For Math he has to complete a mobile illustrating the Order of Operation, complete with a theme, workable equation and decorations. How this helps him more fully understand the Order of Operation is beyond me. This project is not due for another two weeks, so I am keeping my comments to myself (and of course sharing them with my blog readers) and getting on board with the project. Stay tuned for the best-looking “How Many Licks Does It Take to Get to the Center of a Tootsie Roll Pop” Order of Operation Mobile this teacher has ever seen. I promise to post pictures.

The second project is not going as well. Earlier this week Helmut mentioned in passing a science project in which he had to explain (in story form with illustration) the journey of a water molecule through an animal, into the soil, back to an animal, up in a cloud and ending in the ocean. No problem, right? This is where the frustrated and grumpy Mom comes into play. He didn’t really start working on it until tonight!!!! It is due tomorrow!!!! Needless to say, I have come down out of my state of hysteria and we are trying to work it out. He is working on his second rough draft (the first one did not cut the mustard) and we will complete this project tonight. I hate to introduce him to the concept of the all-nighter at such a young age, but the sooner he learns this time management lesson, the better.

Clearly, I owe my parents a big thank you (or a big apology) for a fabulous castle made completely out of sugar cubes…and the working solar panel constructed only of Styrofoam cups and trash bags…and the science quiz poster board complete with working light bulbs that lit up when you touched the right answer. Thanks Dad!

Which One Are You?

2006-09-26T17:40:00.000-05:00

We are settled into a new week around here and things are going well. Josh had a game last night, which they won 18-0. That’s sounds a lot better than it really was. We must have fumbled the ball more than ten times. As the night wore on, it got more and more humid, therefore, the field got more and more wet and the ball got more and more slippery. Luckily, we were playing the worst team in the league. Josh had a good game personally. He made one really great tackle that probably saved the other team from scoring a touchdown (a very proud Mother moment).

This morning I woke up to a dirty house piled high with laundry. The party weekend is over and reality is setting in. I tackled this problem with one of my favorite problem solving skills…avoidance. I called up Sarah and we went to lunch.

As an adult, I have found the confrontation vs. avoidance issue a truly interesting study in human nature. I will gladly admit that I employ avoidance ten times more often than confrontation. I am not sure if this stems from heightened maturity, cowardliness or laziness. But figuring out whether someone is an avoider or a confronter can tell you worlds about their personality as a whole. The other day I was grocery shopping when a man and women walked past my cart. I am not sure why I noticed them at all, but something seemed peculiar about the situation. He walked right up to the front of her basket (blocking her escape) and said, “You have NO right parking in a handicapped space.” To which she replied (in a very agitated New Orleans accent with an attitude), “You has no idea what is or is not wrong with me.” They both went at it for the next two minutes. I sat there stunned not knowing whether to turn my cart around and walk away or walk past them to get to the ice cream I needed just beyond them. Instead, I sat and stared very intently on the wonders before me in the frozen vegetable case.

I realize this is an extreme example…but comical as well as educational. I decided right then and there that although confrontation might sometimes be a quicker and better end to my means, I would continue being an avoider. I have enough stress in my life already!

Weekend Review

2006-09-25T17:48:00.000-05:00

I just got back from taking Helmut to the airport. He was here for a quick weekend visit and now is off to London again. It was fun to have him here, but quite stressful to cram two plus weeks of Dad time into just one weekend. This trip looks like it will be even longer. He is scheduled to be in London until October 13th and then has a meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland. We are hoping after that he will be able to come home and get us all ready to move. There are a few loose ends he has to be here for at the end, which should take a week or so. We talked it over and decided we would leave for The Netherlands after Josh finishes his football season. That gives us a definite date and we can just make more definite plans.

We had a good weekend. My parents came down from Dallas to see us for one last goodbye (after the last time they just thought was the last goodbye). We had dinner at Del Pueblo, went to Josh’s football practice, watched some football and baseball and did some shopping. It is always fun to have them. They are the two most laid back people I know, which makes them the perfect houseguests.

On Sunday night we went to Rebecca’s 9th birthday party. There was lots of good food, lots of people, and the kids had lots of fun. I took this picture of the big cousins out in the cul de sac. I can’t believe how old they all are getting…

Sick...

2006-09-19T15:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry about my lack of posting over the last few days. I came down with a bad case of strep throat on Sunday night and was laid up all day yesterday. I did get myself to the doctor and have been on antibiotics for almost 24 hours. I am beginning to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. It has been a while since I've had strep throat, and I forgot how bad it really hurts. It did make me lose my appetite for a few days which is always good for the waist line.

Joshua is officially back on his football team again. The work visa is taking longer than we expected and our whole family was getting bored with no extra-curricular activities to keep us busy. He had his first practice last night and has a game on Wednesday night. I am sure he won't get a ton of play time, but he has to start somewhere.

Black Cat

2006-09-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Sam’s day off from school, so she and I went to the mall with Carrie. Sam likes to get new clothes, but she is not a fan of shopping for them. I promised her the Halloween costume of her choice if she would happily go along. She decided she would like the be a black cat because, she informed me, “All Halloween cats are black.” We searched Gymboree, The Disney Store, The Children’s Place, Dillard’s, and Old Navy, none of which had the desired perfect black cat costume (their’s were all “too weird”). We finally ended up at Target where they had a really cute cat costume…but then she saw the princess costumes and changed her mind. She finally settled on the “Barbie Starring in the 12 Dancing Princesses” costume, BLECK! We got the whole shebang, the dress, the ballet slippers, the tiara and the long curly blonde wig. We got home and tried it on and she loved it all, except for the wig. She came out of bathroom with that wig on and said, “I think we better return this, it’s too weird.”

Helmut is still working in London. He seems a little lonely, but making the best of it. On Thursday night he finally had the energy to go out to dinner instead of ordering room service. He went to a restaurant by his hotel that is known for their Celebrity Chef. He said the food was really good and tasty. The next day I was checking the bank account and I noticed his dinner had been good and tasty to the tune of around US$90.00! Good thing the company is paying. Today he rode the subway down to the VA museum (which stands for the Victoria and Albert Museum not Veterans Association) to see a Leonardo DiVinci exhibit. I am glad he is finding things to stay busy, but jealous at the same time.

Cookie Streak

2006-09-12T23:40:00.000-05:00

As you can see, I am keeping up with my cookie streak. This time it was Oatmeal Scotchies. Sam freaked out saying she didn’t like that kind of cookie, just like she did when I made the Snicker doodles. Once she tasted the dough, she changed her mind. To be honest with you, they aren’t my favorite kind of cookie, but I already had all the stuff. I am really trying to use up my pantry storage before we leave.

It is looking like we won’t be heading out of Houston until sometime in mid October. They haven’t been able to start Helmut’s work visa application, because they are waiting for his birth certificate to arrive back from Miami via Austin with the official Apostille stamp. Now that we have a clearer vision as to when we will go, I should just sit back and enjoy all the good TV coming up!

9/11

2006-09-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. I was six months pregnant with Samantha at the time and living in Singapore. It was late at night (there is a twelve hour time difference between New York and Singapore) and I was checking my email right before I went to sleep. My Yahoo homepage had a one-line intro about a plane flying into the World Trade Center. I assumed it was a small commuter plane that had lost control and bumped into the building and figured I would read more about it in the morning. I turned off my computer and crawled into bed. Just a few moments later I got a call from Shauna asking if I had heard the news. She was on her way home from picking up Eric from the airport and had heard the news on the radio and wanted to know what they were reporting on CNN. I ran downstairs and turned on the television moments before the second plane hit the other tower. I stayed up for hours watching CNN just shocked by the images and information they were showing.

Helmut was out of town on business in Kuantan, Malaysia (a predominantly Muslim country). His company halted all travel for a week not allowing anyone to fly home or anywhere else. The Muslim Extremists in Malaysia were calling for all Muslims to join the Jihad, which made his situation and location even more dangerous. Kuantan sits in a region of Malaysia that is ruled by the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (or PAS party), known for their extremist activity and associations. His company set a group of locals and Americans in charge of devising an escape plan if an attack occurred in a nearby area. It was pretty complex and involved helicopters, boats and airplanes to get them back to Singapore safely. Days after the 9/11 attacks the man in charge of the escape planning did not show up to work. After management asked around as to his whereabouts, it came to light that he was a high ranking PAS party official (probably not the best person to put in charge of the foreigners’ escape plan). Helmut continually reassured me that he felt safe and nothing bad was going to happen, but I was a stressed out, pregnant mother of two trying to keep it together by myself.

My two boys attended Singapore American School at the time, which sits right inside the border between Singapore and Malaysia. The American Embassy saw it as a marked target and closed school for a few days. Once school reopened, Gurkhas (Nepalese/British Military Police) guarded the entrance to the school armed with large machetes and machine guns. It was a very frightening and confusing time for the boys (they were seven and five at the time).

I often think of the ways these terrorists acts have changed our lives, seemingly forever. A few weeks ago we went to the Mickey Leland Building in downtown Houston to renew our passports, much like we had in 1997 before going overseas the first time. The difference was night and day. You can only enter the office with an appointment. You are solemnly greeted on the ground floor by three armed officers and shuffled through a metal detector one at a time. Once you enter the office upstairs, there are two more guards in the room in addition to one at each of the exits. The kids kept asking me why there were so many policemen there. How do I really tell them without scaring them? I assured them it was only for our safety and protection.

I am reminded every time I have to take Helmut to the airport too many hours early for his flight. I have often sat in the security line at the airport myself and thought, “In a way, the terrorists have won. We are living our lives in continual fear and terror.” Then I snap out of it, as I have to take off my shoes as well as make sure all my kids’ shoes are off and they are waiting quietly for their turn through the metal detector. Our lives may be changed forever, but I see it as my job as a mother to protect and keep my children safely naive of that fact for as long as possible.

Late Sunday Night

2006-09-10T22:53:00.000-05:00

We are still here without a Dad…

I was talking with Helmut on the phone this morning and Sam walked in while I was hanging up the phone. She commented, “You really miss Daddy, don’t you?” I responded with a yes to which she replied, “He just needs to come home and get us to Holland.” I couldn’t agree more!

Toll Roads

2006-09-09T22:32:00.000-05:00

Weekends are hard when the hubby is out of town. It is a long two days without another adult to shake things up a bit (or at least to take over some of the disciplining).

I did make it out of the house for a few hours without the kids this afternoon. Sarah and I went and hit four restaurants for her review gig with AOL. It was fun and we had some tasty and cheap sushi along the way.

We took the toll road all the way to 59 and that got me thinking about how much I enjoy the toll road. I am a pretty impatient person, and sitting in traffic is one of my all time least favorite things to do. In comes the toll road. Quite often in Houston the major highways will be backed up and the toll road will remain fairly normal. When we moved back to Houston and the boys had baseball games all over the city, I went down and got two Toll Tags for our cars. This just heightens the whole toll road experience. You don’t even have to slow down to pay, just whiz right through. Plus, it is 25 cents cheaper with the tag! It is like you are part of an elite club saying, “Mrs. Brenner, you appear to be in a hurry, please drive right on through.” Okay, that may be a little bit dramatic, but I do seriously LOVE the toll road concept.

My mom tells a great toll road story that happened right after she and my dad were married. They were headed to their honeymoon (more on that later) when they came upon a toll road. My dad didn’t want to pay the 10-cent toll, so they drove around for the next hour trying to find an alternate route. Back to the honeymoon part...I am not sure it can really be called a honeymoon. They spent the entire summer working on a lookout tower in a National Forest. They shared a twin size cot between the two of them…you know, the wake up the other person so you can turn over kind. Mom says at one point she walked for a couple hours trying to find her way out of there, but had to give up and walk the couple of hours back.

Friday

2006-09-08T17:02:00.000-05:00

I have had a pretty busy day today. Sam had a friend from her preschool over this morning to play. It went really well (except for the five minutes they both bawling their heads off…evidently Sam hurt Claire’s feeling and made her cry…then Sam started crying because she felt bad that Claire was crying). They played and then we all made Snicker doodles together. I am on a new kick lately of trying to always have homemade cookies made for the kids’ school lunches. So far this week I have made gingersnaps, chocolate chip cookies, the before mentioned Rice Krispie Treats and now Snicker doodles. My mom always had homemade chocolate chip cookies in our lunch and they packed a heavy bit of trading power. I can remember one time trading two cookies for a kid’s entire hot lunch! I can only hope my kids meet with the same kind of success.

I actually got two scrapbook pages done today. One is for Josh and includes an interview I had with him a couple weeks ago. The other one is for Sam. It is a hybrid paper/digital page. It turned out all right, but it was a little out of my comfort zone. The more I look at it, the more I like it.

PWT

2006-09-07T20:21:00.000-05:00

Helmut is away on business and we are living it up around here. The boys have been begging me for quite some time now to make Hamburger Helper for dinner. Neither one of them has ever had it before, so I am not sure where the allure began. We started out our night of Poor White Trash fun with a tasty meal of Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff. What better dessert to compliment such a meal…Rice Krispie Treats! The kids were in heaven. What can I say? I try to be the best Mother I can be! We topped of our Poor White Trash evening with a double header of Fear Factor. Good fun was had by all. It really is true what the box of Hamburger Helper says…One pound. One Meal. One happy family!

I do understand where the boys are coming from with their love of a meal made from a box. When I was growing up, my parents didn’t get to go out as a couple very often. Money was tight on an engineer’s salary with five growing kids. Anytime they did get a chance to go out, Mom would feed us Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. I thought it tasted like pure heaven. Forget the fact that she slaved over a hot stove every other day of her life to make us a tasty homemade meal. That Mac and Cheese was just so tasty. Kids are so ungrateful! In hindsight, thanks Mom for all the yummy meals you worked so hard to prepare. Now that I am a Mom myself, I realize what a sacrifice it really was.

So there you have it, my entry for the day…a little Poor White Trash…and a tribute to my mom!

New Beginnings and New Phases

2006-09-05T23:13:00.000-05:00

Today was Helmut’s first official day as a Shell Employee. He spent the whole day in orientation, or as they call it, “Onboarding (not sure if that is even a real word).” His description of the meeting sounded very similar to a high school pep rally…it’s so great to work here, we pay so much, and we have so many benefits, rah, rah, rah! I will let you know if they live up to all the hoopla. He did come home with a free coffee mug, so it is looking promising. I was impressed to find out that anytime he goes on a business trip that lasts more than four days, he is given an extra daily monetary compensation on top of his per diam. This is meant to make up for the hardship placed on his family during his prolonged absence. I have affectionately nicknamed this compensation my “Thanks for taking such good care of the house and children while I was gone jewelry and clothing fund.”

Helmut is now in his third week of Middle School, and it shows. It seems as if overnight he has turned into all the geeky preteen boys that drove me crazy in Middle School. He says weird stuff and acts strange a good majority of the time. I am biting my tongue and trying to be a loving and understanding Mother, yet at the same time keep him from making a complete fool of himself. The last few days have been particularly hard for him. He was so upset when he found out that Steve Irwin died on Monday. He really looked up to him as a fellow lover of reptiles and such. He even has an adorable fan letter he wrote a couple weeks back all ready to go with the address on the envelope just waiting for postage. Today he came home from school and burst into tears as he told me of the passing of his 5th grade teacher Mr. Dobbs. Mr. Dobbs was forced to leave school in the middle of last year when he found out his cancer had come out of remission. Little Helmut was incensed that the other kids at school didn’t seem to care at all. I assured him that they probably just didn’t want to cry at school. I am sure his preteen hormones and the fact that we are moving any day now don’t help his emotional stability. Poor guy.

We did get the Letters of Acceptance from the American School of The Hague today. The boys had to fill out a “New Middle School Student” form complete with their personal email address and all the likes and dislikes. I had an interesting conversation with Little Helmut as he filled out his. It went something like this…

Helmut: Hum…my likes…Can I right down girls?
Mom: WHAT?!?
Helmut: Okay, how about cheerleaders?
Mom: I don’t think so, you are only eleven…

I felt sick to my stomach. I KNOW I am not ready for this!

Sick

2006-09-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

Sick. Our whole house is sick. Josh woke up Friday morning with a hacking cough but went to school anyway. By the time he made it home, Big Helmut was in the full throws of a horrible cold. Two Dayquil and Two Nyquil wouldn’t even bring relief. Saturday Big Helmut slept most of the day while the rest of us milled around the house trying to keep our sanity. I am just praying he feels better before he has to leave for Europe on Wednesday.

This morning Sam woke up coughing as well. No church for us. I told Little Helmut that he was welcome to go to church with Big Momma and Big Daddy, but he was worried I may need help taking care of the sick folk (he is so considerate that way).

Last night we went to a going away party at Big Momma and Big Daddy’s house. The whole family and the Nicols were there. The kids had a good time swimming and then watched movies while the adults played games. I love to play games, but married a man who hates them, so I don’t get a chance to play very often. Of course, he didn’t play last night, but the rest of the adults had a great time. We played a little Oh Heck and Catch Phrase.

I have to go…the sick ones need me. Ugh.

Shell Health Services

2006-08-31T13:00:00.000-05:00

It is only noon and I am already wishing it were bedtime. I got up early this morning to get the kids and myself ready before I had to be out the door at 7:30. Helmut and I had an appointment at the Shell Health Services office at 9:00 AM for our pre-hire/pre-Netherlands physical. Big Daddy was nice enough to come over and sit with the boys while they waited for the bus and then he took Samantha to school. She seemed very excited about him taking her. I will be sure to get the full scoop from her when I pick her up. I jumped on highway 249 and traffic started backing up at the Grant Road exit! Luckily Helmut taught me the trick of staying on the Beltway all the way to highway 59 North. It cut about 20-25 minutes off the drive.

The physical went routinely. I had a TB test, polio booster, EKG and some blood taken. The doctor did give me a hard time about my lapse in getting a proper female checkup. I vowed to resolve the issue ASAP. It was interesting to step into the Shell world for the first time. The Health Services office is located on the 10th floor of One Shell Plaza, which sits right across the street from Two Shell Plaza. Both are huge buildings and must hold thousands of offices and employees. From best we could gather, the Health Services office functions somewhat like a school nurse’s office. In fact, while we were there a guy was laid out in a room resting until the nurse made him go back to class… I mean work. He seemed to be suffering from a headache. How crazy is that? All the places I have worked didn’t care how you felt, work or go home. I am still milling the whole thing over in my head. Is it better to give your employees a place to recoup and then return to work, or does that encourage trips to the nurse’s office? Either way, it is a totally foreign concept to me.

Helmut has to go back at 1:00 for an expat orientation. I lucked out of it since Sam needs to be picked up from school by 2:30 and our second house appraiser is coming at 4:00. Things are moving along. Helmut officially starts work at Shell on Tuesday. I am sure information will be more forthcoming once he is there on a daily basis. Oh yeah, he leaves for The Netherlands and London on Wednesday. Hopefully he will be able to get some more answers about our work visa while he is there.

Hurry up and wait!

2006-08-28T16:19:00.000-05:00

We are stuck in a holding pattern here. I have always known that patience is not my strong suit (my kids remind me of that on a daily basis) but this move has really solidified this fact for me. I am constantly wondering to myself, “why can’t I just relax and enjoy the time I have left in Houston instead of being so anxious and stressed out about how long this whole moving to Holland process is taking?” I suppose we came into the whole process with the wrong mindset. The managers in The Hague that hired Helmut wanted him to start work ASAP. The division here in Houston working to get all the visas and paperwork together doesn’t seem to share the same enthusiasm. I am sure they aren’t doing anything to drag their feet, but evidently these things take time.

We did make one step towards Holland today. Emily’s aunt came and picked up Murphy. She seemed really nice and truly excited about getting him. I know he has gone to a good home. I am sure Josh will be sad, but he seems okay about it. I will see how he does after school today when Murphy is no longer here. I could pretend to be all broke up about it… but I’m not… so I won’t.

1 summer

2006-08-27T18:32:00.000-05:00

The paper is Fresh by Ping Designs and the fun tag is by Gina Gabrera

Meet the Teacher

2006-08-24T16:04:00.000-05:00

Sam seems to be loving her teacher and all things preschool. She did whine a little this morning when it came time to go, but once she got there she was fine. I am hoping she will keep it up, but also trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

Moving...again!

2006-08-23T14:06:00.000-05:00

We are moving the Holland! Where do I begin…over a year ago, Helmut posted his resume to the Shell website. Evidently they take your resume and plug it into the jobs they have available that match your experience and qualifications. I am not sure if they didn’t have anything at the time or if it really takes a year to process these kinds of applications, but we didn’t hear anything. But I was none the wiser; because of course he never even told me he sent them his resume.

Fast forward to mid July. Helmut hears from the HR department at Shell. They want to set up a phone interview. Over the next couple of weeks he has a few phone interviews with various HR people and a few Engineering Managers. We also receive a phone call from a headhunter about a job for BP in Alaska. I was very clear from the beginning about my total lack of interest in moving to Alaska (I didn’t want to get backdoored into that deal). Things continued to progress with Shell and they ask him to come into the Houston office for an interview. Then they call back and change their minds about the interview. They want a videoconference with Helmut, the Houston Engineering Managers, and The Hague office. Helmut convinced them a face to face with the people in The Hague office would be much better.

We got him all outfitted with a new suit, new shoes, new belt, new socks, new shirt and new tie. He flew to The Hague and gave his 20-minute presentation and then answered question for the next hour and a half. They verbally offered him a job in The Netherlands the next morning.

Right now we are waiting for our visas to clear. Of course we have so much else to do as well…coordinate with the movers, get everyone’s passport up to date, complete the school applications, sell the van, and the list goes on and on. It looks like we should head out of Houston around the second week in September. Helmut gave notice at Bechtel on Thursday. I know it was really hard for him. They are so busy with work right now that his absence will leave them terribly short handed. He has also made many friends at work over the past thirteen years that he will miss.

At first we had hoped the Shell job would be with the office here in Houston. The boys have only been here in school for two years and I wanted them to have a little more time here before we asked them to move again. Once I started researching living in The Netherlands, I started getting really excited about going. I have never even been to Europe before and I am really looking forward to the chance to explore it over the next two plus years. I have almost memorized my Holland travel guide and I have ordered a bunch more on Amazon.com. I am a little nervous about starting another adventure, but I am trying to only look at the positive points (trying to forget about not knowing anyone, not being able to speak or read Dutch, not knowing where anything is, hunting down American groceries, figuring out all the ins and outs of living in a new place, I’d better stop listing them because it is just depressing me).

The kids are incredibly excited. Sam talks about her room in Holland all the time, yet has no idea what that really is. Josh is looking forward to “being back to our old traveling selves.” Helmut was very upset at first, but has jumped on the bandwagon. Let’s hope we can all keep it up when the going gets rough. In the meantime, we are anxious for the visas to clear and the next chapter of our lives to begin!

Worth Every Penny

2006-08-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

Today was Sam’s first day of preschool. I remember last year she was excited about going, but very nervous about leaving me for so long. This morning she woke up in a good mood and looking forward to the day. She was even more excited when I reminded her about her new school outfit (which was way too hot for the weather, but she wore anyway without complaint).

She had a great time and came home full of stories to share about the fun activities…making real letters for the postal carrier to send home, going to “chapel” with the “holy cow,” pouring her own glass of water, etc. I am glad she is enjoying herself at school, because I was definitely enjoying myself while she was at school!

What a Day...

2006-08-21T22:20:00.000-05:00

Laundry, laundry and more laundry. It doesn't seem to matter how long I spend on the laundry, it is never ending chore. How dare these people expect clean clothes!

The rest of my day was filled with paper work. I am trying to get all of the applications filled out for the kids' new school. Living in three different countries and going to countless different doctors makes the immunization record a real challenge. I think I got it all sorted out.

Sam's first day of preschool is tomorrow, Yippee!

Digital Scrapbooking

2006-08-20T19:57:00.000-05:00

First Day of School

2006-08-16T20:43:00.000-05:00

Well, the first day of school is over. Helmut popped out of bed this morning around 6:45 AM and was dressed and ready in no time. I had a grand breakfast of biscuits, bacon and eggs planned, but he turned me down. He refuses to eat breakfast on most days. His bus picks up at the end of the street and I was politely asked not to accompany him. I begged for the privilege of driving my car down there and parking discretely on the side of the road. I promised not to get out of the car and my wish was granted. Only one other girl (a VERY cute girl by the way) was at the bus stop. He gave her a slight head nod when she walked up and then they sat in complete silence for the next fifteen minutes. At one point a lady from our church passed by walking her dog and very enthusiastically greeted him. He gave her an even smaller head nod and then got a totally mortified look on his face after she passed.

He came home around 3:45 PM with only good things to report. He loves being in Middle School with all the “grown up” privileges it affords. He could walk to class with whom ever he wanted, sit anywhere for lunch and the locker was a huge hit. He told me, “Having your own locker is so cool. Sometimes I would open it between classes even though I didn’t need anything out of it…just ‘cause I could…and it looks real cool.” I hope the joys of Middle School last him the whole year long.

Josh went out to wait for the bus around 8:30. We waited until 8:45 (Five minutes before school is supposed to start) and then I just drove him. We found out later that the bus never showed at all. He said he had a good day and that everyone thought his outfit was cool. He was not so happy about his bus ride home. Evidently the driver is real grouchy. She refused to stop in front of our house (even though she passed right by it) and dropped him off down the street instead. He also claims there is a whole lot of yelling coming from her as well. Poor guy, everyone hates a mean bus driver.

He's Keeping Me Guessing

2006-08-15T17:01:00.000-05:00

Just one day left. My only trepidation about the first day of school is the fact that Sam doesn’t start her school until next Tuesday. This summer she has become an expert at bossing around her brothers (for example, they are both in their room right now piecing back together a plastic bead project she put together and then accidentally knocked over). I am afraid if they are gone, she may take to bossing me around. That scenario makes me tired just thinking about it.

This morning was Josh’s Meet the Teacher. It did not go at all as I expected. We got there fine, but as soon as it all began, he started acting like a caged animal…”how much longer is this going to take…can’t you write any faster…I already met my switch teacher last year, I don’t need to meet her again…I’m sure I still have money in my lunch account, we don’t need to check…(upon exiting the building) that was the biggest waste of the day…that was so boring.”

Josh is normally my "get along boy", the one who is just happy to be going somewhere. I am hoping this is just his way of expressing his disappointment that summer is over or his anxiety over the start of the school year. I don’t think I can handle it if this is a new permanent hitch in his personality!

He was amicable enough to let me do a first day of school outfit photo shoot this afternoon. He is my most fashion conscious boy and picked out this very hip outfit at Abercrombie. I think he is a little worried about what his friends at school will say, but I assured him that if he becomes uncomfortable, he can always take off the oxford and put it in his backpack. I personally think he looks great!

Token Posting

2006-08-14T22:45:00.000-05:00

I have been the lamest poster lately. I have been in somewhat of a funk. I have so many things to do and have made the subconscious (and sometimes conscious) decision not to do any of them. Posting to my blog has fallen into that category.

I did have a very productive day on Saturday. I went to Sofie’s birthday party in the morning and then went home to clean house. As soon as I walked in the door I could almost physically feel the pull of the computer and DVR…but I resisted. I headed straight for the cleaning supplies under my bathroom sink and got to work, sort of. When I looked under my sink, I completely forgot about my lofty goal of dusting the entire downstairs (where my knick knacks easily number above fifty), sweeping and mopping the downstairs, vacuuming the downstairs and cleaning the downstairs bathroom. Instead I spent the next hour cleaning out the cabinet under my bathroom sink and the two linen cabinets in the master bedroom. I am sure this is another manifestation of my avoidance issue. But hey, those cabinets are clean and completely free of any expired lotions or OTC medicines. I did stick with the cleaning and finally finished all the jobs on my checklist sometime around 7:30 PM. I had quite a feeling of accomplishment, but my body pretty much ached all over.

I realize this is all quite boring, but I haven’t done much else with my time in the last few days. Summer is winding down to its last day and I couldn’t be happier. I picked up Sam’s backpack from the monogram shop today and it turned out really cute. I even made it out of there for less than twenty bucks. Josh has "meet the teacher" in the morning. After that I will continue to work on (or avoid) my to do list.

Goodbye Summer

2006-08-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

Summer is over…there may be eight days until school starts and the weather is definitely hotter than two hells, but summer, as far as I am concerned, is over. How do I know? When I looked at my Yahoo Calendar this morning and could hardly find a free space for the next month was my first indication. The list was the dead give away. I have a to do list a mile long right now. Yup, summer is over. I can remember days this summer where I hardly knew what day it was let alone the date.

Don’t get me wrong. I am looking forward to the kids going back to school and running this household with a little more structure. I am not looking forward to the juggling act of driving the kids all over creation, keeping up with the house, homework and feeding four mouths on a daily basis. Haven’t I been counting down the days until school started all summer long? I suppose the grass is always greener…

Road Trip

2006-08-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we drove up to College Station with Big Momma and Big Daddy to visit Luke and Emily. On the way there, we stopped in Hempstead for some small town Texas goodies. First we stopped at the Exxon to pick up some Krolczyk’s sausage. Don’t let the fact that we bought it at an Exxon throw you; this is delicious sausage (and convenient, you need gasoline for your car or tractor and some dinner, no problem). Our next stop was DiIorio Farmer’s Market. I’m not sure the prices are any different than a grocery store, but it sure is fun to go and see that much produce in all its colorful glory. I love to go so I can indulge in a Dr. Pepper made with Imperial Pure Cane Sugar every once in a while.

Luke and Emily’s apartment is really cute and the new sofa looks great in their living room (and is bigger than it looks on her blog). We went to lunch at Freebirds, which was tasty. I had never been before and liked it better than Chipotles. The boys loved it, but Sam did not enjoy the burrito. We got her chips and queso instead. About half way through the meal, she spilled Sprite all over herself. Evidently, her dad reacted too loudly, because she was mad at him for at least a few hours after the fact. I saw it as a great opportunity to head over to the Old Navy and get her some new clothes. The store wasn’t too crowded considering it was tax free weekend and I found a cute outfit that should work for the rest of summer and into the fall.

We went back to Luke and Emily’s apartment and let the kids drive Luke crazy for a while (hovering over his fish tank, paying Tilly too much attention, etc.) and then headed back to Houston. We had a great time and the kids are begging to go back.

Photoshop Fun

2006-07-31T19:16:00.000-05:00

Just a fun Photoshop Trick I learned today from SpragueBlog...

Productive

2006-07-31T17:21:00.000-05:00

I have had a very productive day! I promised myself I would get the boys’ closet cleaned out this week. So I woke up this morning and decided to get it out of the way. Four hours and six huge trash bags later, it is finished. We ended up getting the whole room clean. I even went through all of Sam’s clothes and gave away what doesn’t fit her anymore. It is amazing what you can accumulate in just two years. We loaded it all in the van and already took it down to the donation center. Now I have a better idea of how many school clothes they need (or don’t need, really) and I won’t trip when I go into their closet to put their clothes away. Now my job for the week is done and I can play all week without any guilt (shhh…don’t tell my husband) That concludes the "excitement" for the day…

Issues

2006-07-27T17:50:00.000-05:00

Last night I took the kids to Hido (one of those Japanese Hibachi Restaurants where they cook the food in front of you) with Big Mamma, Big Daddy, Jenny, Sofie and Bobbie. The boys were having a great time…Sam was not. She is having a hard time splitting “her boys’” attention with another friend. She was hiding under the table and flipped her chair over at one point. Once the chef came out and started making the dinner, things improved dramatically. All the kids thought it was great and he was a really good sport with the kids. They loved all the fires and egg tossing, but their favorite part was when he threw the chicken up in the air for them to catch in their mouths. All the boys caught theirs, but Sam refused to participate (she said she was too embarrassed). Sam would not allow me to use my chopsticks, because she was too upset that she couldn’t master them herself. That girl has issues.

Today, the boys played and played and played. Then after lunch I took all the kids swimming over at Big Mamma’s house. They swam for close to three hours. They should sleep well tonight.

A Visitor

2006-07-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

Our long awaited visitor has arrived! The boys have anxiously and not so patiently been looking forward to Jack’s visit. He is a close friend of our’s from Singapore. They are so excited about all the fun they are going to have over the next few days.

It continues to rain and rain and rain here. Jack’s flight was delayed a few hours because of it. He was flying as an unaccompanied minor, so his mother and I were worried about how he would do. Shauna walked him to his gate and watched as the plane pulled out. What she couldn’t see is that the plane taxied around the corner and then sat on the runway waiting for approval from Houston to take off for over an hour. It took so long that the plane had to taxi back over to the hanger and refuel. Finally after a three hour delay, the plane was able to take off. He had a short delay once the plane landed and arrived around 1:45. He seemed pretty happy to see someone he knew when he stepped off the plane.

The boys have been running around all afternoon, playing PS2, watching movies, riding bikes (in between the drizzle), shooting BB guns and trying to avoid the wrath of the four year old sister. Should be a fun weekend!

The layout sketch is by Jen Caputo and the paper is by Ping Designs. I scraplifted the idea from Raven Edwards.

layout

2006-07-25T18:41:00.000-05:00

This was my second attempt (the first one was lost when Photoshop froze up). Not sure I like it, but I wasn't going to do it a third time!

Jericho Mile

2006-07-24T07:59:00.000-05:00

It’s Monday morning and I can hardly remember where the weekend has gone!

On Saturday morning I was in charge of the Jericho Mile Fun Run at our church. Eric Pearson handled all the run section and I was in charge of the food and decorations. It ended up being a really fun event despite the overwhelming heat and humidity. We had about 40 people who ran the race. Ryan Pearson just barely edged out Pat Dutton to win it with a smoking 6.10 minute mile. My Josh did pretty well and took first place for the primary kids with a 8.30 minute mile. I had ordered 21 dozen donuts from Shipley’s for breakfast. They were tasty, but that was way too many donuts. We ended up giving away two dozen donuts to each of the three families that had their whole family in the race. We still ended up taking home around five dozen donuts. Oh well, live and learn.

Big Brother

2006-07-20T17:18:00.000-05:00

I am just whiling away my afternoon, playing around on my computer and such...Here is another digital scrapbook page I finished. The digital sketch is by Jen Caputo and the paper is by Heather Ann Designs.

A Break

2006-07-19T23:41:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up late and then watched some TV in bed. It is summer, and I need to take advantage while I can. I finally dragged myself out of bed when I heard Sam’s blood curdling scream. She was freaking out because the boys weren’t letting her play PS2 and crying about wanting to go back to Gamestop and pick out a game of her own. There goes my hopes of a PS2 induced peaceful remainder of the summer.

Josh lucked out and was invited over to a friend’s house while Helmut, Sam and I went to the grocery store. Helmut is home this week, so he expects dinner. We ended up having a very yummy Rachel Ray Thai Pork and Noodle Salad.

I did get a much needed break from the kids today. Sarah and I left the kids with Helmut and Madison while we went to the Memorial City Mall. She needed new clothes for her trip and I went along for the ride. I have come up with the best money saving technique. If you go to the mall with your body all unshowered and your hair all greasy, nothing looks good on you and you don’t buy anything. Sarah, on the other hand, did find some cute things for her trip. I came away from our shopping trip realizing that just because it is summer, that doesn’t mean I can stop showering…testing, testing, testing

Trading Up

2006-07-18T23:27:00.000-05:00

I took the boys to Gamestop today and they traded in all their Gamecubes, controllers, games, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Advance, carrying cases, cables, etc., etc. They both wanted to go back to the Playstation 2 system that we had few years ago. I was a little worried that I might have to make up the large difference between what they needed and what they got. But every once in a while, something happens that restores my faith in the consumer world. They got $250.00 in store credit for their stuff! They were able to buy the new gaming system, a few accessories and two games and they still had over a hundred dollars in credit left. For the next few days they will be playing a lot of MLB the Show and Cabela’s Hunting. Once they master those, we can go down and get some more. Summer is nearing it’s end, and I think we have found our gap stop measure!

Digital Scrapbooking

2006-07-17T20:28:00.000-05:00

I have been dabbling in the digital scrapbooking world for a while now and thought I would post my latest project. I used a digital sketch from Jen Caputo, which made it a whole lot easier. The paper is from Two Peas in a Bucket.

Garage Sale

2006-07-17T20:26:00.000-05:00

We had a big garage sale at the in-laws over the weekend. Helmut was the instigator of the whole thing. He loves a garage sale. I, on the other hand, would rather be almost any place else. He was selling stuff left and right. At one point I brought over all my old maternity clothes to sell. A family with a young teenager walked up and he turned to the teenager and said, “if you’ve got any friends that are pregnant we’ve got some great maternity clothes for just 50 cents a piece.” Clearly, he needs some lessons on what is appropriate to say and was is not. Overall, the garage sale was a success. We got the inlaws garage cleaned out and she earned enough money for a new ceiling fan and a new garage door. We made a little money as well and made a lot more space in some of our closets.

Gummi Bears

2006-07-12T09:32:00.000-05:00

I have recently rediscovered my love of the gummi bear. Sam picked them out at the store as her “pool treat.” They were so tasty cold right out of the cooler, so now we are keeping them in the frig. I know other brands turn rock hard when they are cold, but the Brach’s brand doesn’t. As I was getting one out for Sam yesterday (okay…for myself), I actually looked at the gummi bear and it got me thinking.

I can see a candy chef coming up with a gummy blob of tasty, colorful candy. The part that seems odd to me is that they would then decide to mold it into the shape of a bear and that would make everyone want to buy and eat it. I always wonder how those types of Ad Agency meetings go.
I flashed back (I must be getting old because that is the second time in one week) to my preteen years when flipping the collar of your Izod/Polo shirt was really cool. The rage was to lick the back of a gummi bear and stick it right next to your Izod/Polo logo and wear it there all day. I don’t remember if we ever actually ate those gummy bears or just threw them away at the end of the day. At the time I assumed it was a worldwide fashion craze. When I started thinking about it last night, I wondered if everyone did that or if it was only going on it my little world. Let me know if you think I am crazy.

FYI> In order to be completely thorough with my Gummi Bear entry, I did some research on the history of the Gummi Bear…

The Gummy Bear originates from Germany where it is hugely popular under the name Gummibär ("rubber bear"). The German company Haribo from Bonn first produced bear-shaped sweets in 1922 and introduced its Gold-Bear product in the 1960s. The success of Gummy Bears has spawned many gummy animals and objects: worms, frogs, hamburgers, cherries, cola bottles, sharks, apples, oranges, and even gummy ampelmenn. Many knockoff gummy bears are available on the market. Trolli is a well-known knockoff gummy candy manufacturer and was the first to introduce "gummi worms" in 1981.

Cybil

2006-07-11T22:24:00.000-05:00

I swear, sometimes I think we are living in this house with a four year old Cybil. Sam woke up in an okay mode and went down hill from there. There was lots of crying, screaming, whining, fighting, yelling, etc. By 2:30 PM I could not take it anymore and made the entire household sit on their beds for an hour. She was not happy about that at all. She fell asleep and woke up an hour later. She was laughing, cracking jokes, smiling, hugging, kissing, and giggling. By tonight, she was back to her evil twin again. As I tucked her into bed, I kissed her and told her I loved her. Her reply was, “I don’t love you very much.” Calgon, take me away!!!!!!!!

Relish

2006-07-10T21:26:00.000-05:00

We had a fairly quiet day around our house. Helmut left for Borger today and won’t be back until Thursday night, so all the pressure is off. No meals to cook and no need to REALLY clean until Thursday. I took the kids swimming at the YMCA with the Jones and Pearson clan. Carrie, Sarah and I baked in the sun for a full three hours. It was pretty hot and miserable, but I was trying my best to enjoy the process. I applied my SPF 45 sunscreen at least three times, but probably should have done twice that much. I am feeling burned tonight, but not fried. Sam, on the other hand, is not fairing as well. I put tons of sunscreen on her as well, but her little cheeks are VERY pink. She has blisters on about seven of her toes.

I cannot tell you how much I love the baby Wal-Mart (it is actually a Neighborhood Wal-Mart that the kids nicknamed the baby Wal-Mart to distinguish it from the Wal-Mart Super center). I ran to the store this morning to pick up a few things. I was contemplating whether to buy the small vlasic jar or the large store brand jar of sweet relish when the large jar slipped out of my hand, bounced off the cart handle and crashed to the floor. Sweet relish and glass went everywhere. All of the sudden I flashed back to high school. (This is really getting off the subject, but a good story. My sister and I had stayed after school for Drill Team and Flag Corp practice when I started feeling really sick. We told the director and Jenny was walking me to the parking lot to take me home. All of the sudden I could not fight the urge any longer and threw up all over the hallway just in front of the student center. I just sat there mortified. Jenny snaps me out of it with, “don’t just stand there like you are the one who did it, let’s get out of here.” She was always a little quicker on the draw than I was. I was so thankful for a big sister at that moment.) So I am standing in the Wal-Mart pickle aisle once again mortified. I am now 34 and realize I should go find someone to clean it up. The two nicest Wal-Mart worker ladies came over and cleaned it up. They assured me over and over again that it was no big deal and would not let me help clean it up. I love the baby Wal-Mart. Low prices and great customer service.

Santone

2006-07-09T19:26:00.000-05:00

Back to our trip to San Antonio…we had a great time and ate our way from one corner of the city to the other. We ate at El Taco Tote (great corn tortillas and a salsa bar “on crack”), Los Barrios, The Longhorn Café, Rudy’s, Whataburger (in her birthplace Corpus Christi), Wendy’s, etc.

We went to the outlets in San Marcos twice and got some great deals on Jimmy’z jeans and tees. We hit the flea markets and saw all kinds of interesting sights. The kids’ favorite was the man selling centipedes, tarantulas, snakes, scorpions, lizards and more. The collage contains a crazy picture of him with a scorpion on his nose, a boa around his neck and tarantula in his hand! We left the market with the worst three toys for sale: a LOUD play cell phone that sang in Japanese, a laser pointer (which I am constantly worried is going to blind someone) and a BB gun shaped like a pistol. Talk about a momentary lapse of parental judgment! We also went to Market Square and picked up some Mexican pastries and candy. Matt let the boys shoot off his paintball gun and Sam and Lucas played in the kiddy pool. On the fourth of July, we waited for the torrential downpour to stop, and then set off fireworks in a constant drizzle.

The highlight of the trip was our trip to the coast. Matt and I had discussed driving to Corpus Christi to give the kids a chance to play at the beach. Once we told the kids of our plans, there was no going back on our word. We woke up bright and early on Monday morning and threw on our swimsuits and packed the car. As we are walking out the door we realize it is very overcast. We consulted Yahoo! Weather and realized there was a 90% chance of rain on the coast. We had some naysayers in the group, but I would not be deterred. The closer we got to Corpus, the darker the sky got, but I was still determined to have fun. We decided to go a little further to Port Aransas in hopes of a cleaner beach. We hopped the fairy and four wheeled our way to a nice clean public beach. We played in the rain and the ocean for the next three hours and loved it. The water was warmer than the air, but the kids had a blast. I would have preferred a sunny day, but we made the most of it, and I think it turned out to be a pretty great day. I can’t wait to go again.

Thanks Matt, Maria and Lucas for a great week!

Rockstar: Supernova

2006-07-06T12:38:00.000-05:00

We just got back from a weeklong trip to visit my brother Matt, his wife Maria and their son Lucas in San Antonio. I have lots of fun pictures to share and stories to tell, but I am trying to get unpacked and the house back in order. I had to share this crazy unrelated story really quick.

Those who know me really well, know that I am a TV junkie and more specifically, a reality TV junkie. I have my reality TV favorites (Amazing Race, Survivor, American Idol, etc.) but I will watch almost anything. Last night was the new season premiere of Rockstar: Supernova, The Tommy Lee Project. I watched Rockstar: INXS last summer and loved it! I am a bit of a closet rocker girl. I will also admit publicly that I watched the Tommy Lee reality show last summer about him going back to college (I wasn’t kidding when I said I will watch all things reality TV). Tommy Lee was actually funny and likable. So when I heard he was going to be on the new Rockstar series I was excited.

Helmut and I sat down to watch the first episode last night. (For those of you who watch American Idol…this is totally different. The “rockers” are a bit older and have usually been working at making a rock and roll career for themselves for 10+ years. They can sing and perform well.) Each of the fifteen “rockers” was introduced in a short video before they sang. “Rocker” number ten or so comes up and she is from Houston. Hmmm…interesting. They show her and tell about how she is from South Africa…hmmm, she looks really familiar. It hits me…she was at our garage sale about 18 months ago. Crazy, I know. She and her mother were walking by (which now has me wondering if she or her mother lives in our neighborhood) and stopped by. She wasn’t your normal suburban type (lots of tats, piercings, and wild hair), but she was really nice and chatty. She mentioned that she had recently moved here from South Africa and was pursuing her singing career. She told us about a club she was singing at that weekend and gave us her website address. Bizarre coincidence…I am rooting for her, she is a little extreme (if you saw the show you know what I mean), but hey, she’s been to my house! Go Dilana!