Our trip to Switzerland went off well. We didn't have any problems traveling, except for indecision on what kinds of snacks to buy en route. The train is not the cheapest option, but it is not that much more expensive than gas and toll fees and parking fees if we were to drive. Plus, it is WAY less stressful. Navigating on the German/Swiss highway systems is not that difficult, but there are always little surprises lurking, plus the famous German traffic jam (Stau). We left home on the first day of the fall holidays in our state, and the train was full enough; I can imagine what the roads must have looked like. So we saved ourselves a lot of frustration with the train.
You also get a better view of the scenery from the train compared to the highway. Of course, when I pointed that out to John en route, we immediately went into a tunnel. Talk about unfortunate timing. But we didn't spend too much time in tunnels. We did get to see the Rhine Falls from up close, though. When we went to Italy a couple of years ago, we stopped there and climbed down to them, but on the other side. Either way, the view was spectacular.
When we got to Baden, our friends met us and showed us around a bit. There was a way cool playground tucked under a tall bridge. Looking at it from an American perspective, I could imagine it being a lodestone for lawsuits, but from the perspective of someone who's lived in Germany for a while, it was cool but not out of the common way. The town reminded me a lot of Heidelberg, on a slightly smaller scale. There are thermal springs there (hence the name, "bath"), and John and I drank some of the water. It tastes like the liquid inside the shell of a freshly boiled egg. Not something you'd want to drink a lot of, so you'd be sure to get well quickly, if you were drinking it for the health benefits.
Then we headed for their village a little ways outside Baden. We had delicious a Indian dinner, sent the kids off to bed, then stayed up chatting until about midnight. It was nice to visit with friends from back in the day in Austin.
The next morning, I realized I had neglected to pack a change of pants. I could have sworn I had folded them with the rest of my clothes, so I assumed I had just not managed to grab the bottom item in the stack of clothes slated for the suitcase. I imagined I would get home and find a giant pile of cat hair on my cords because they had been lying on the bed unattended for 3 days. Turns out, they were still in the bottom of the laundry basket full of clean clothes. I had gone over my mental list so many times, I had just imagined myself folding the pants. D'oh!
At 6 that evening, we were descended upon by a swarm of little kids. Karen (a Brit married to an American) had put up a sign in their apartment building warning the residents that they would be visited by marauding children in search of sweets and had arranged to have children of their acquaintance from the building, the kindergarten, and the playgroup come by so they could trick-or-treat in a pack. Hannah had bought some black fairy wings* and sparkly make-up and dressed up as a Goth butterfly fairy. We also had a pirate princess, a regular pirate, a regular princess, a teeny teddy bear, a wizard (who went around roaring like a dinosaur--he wasn't too sure about things), and a cat. Hannah has determined that the key to getting a good haul (either at Halloween or Mardi Gras) is to have a cute, tiny kid with you so you can siphon off the bulk of their candy. They won't know the difference.
*The wings were decorated along the top edge with black fur and silver tinsel and came with a headband topped with a circle on a stick (also covered in black fur and silver tinsel), making us joke that next year she can use it to dress up as a Goth Teletubby.
Then the next morning, but not too early, we headed back home. Since we got to the train station early, we had time for a cappucino and to buy some lunch to take with us. John managed to find chips that have the texture of Funions but are bacon flavored. Riiiight... Then when we got back to Heidelberg, John got approached by an old lady while I was busy buying bus tickets from the machine. She was offering to sell him a ticket that would be good for the rest of the day, but that she didn't need any more. All for 2 Euros (a one-use ticket for 90 minutes is 1.90). When we took a closer look at the ticket, it was for Bern, which is in Switzerland. I am pretty sure it isn't valid in a town more than 2 hours north of the border. Oh, well--you live and you learn. John learned that sweet-looking little old ladies are not to be trusted. I could have told him that.
Nee in Germany is related to little old ladies of that kind
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Off for the Weekend
Just to keep people in the loop, we are going to Switzerland for the weekend to visit friends and will be back Monday afternoon. It feels a little douche-y to announce we are flitting off for an international jaunt, but my family yells at me for not letting them know if we are going to be gone.
I am going to spend the afternoon finishing up a BIG translating job I have been working on forever *cough* so I can send it off and enjoy my weekend with a clear conscience.
Hannah is supposed to be stopping at Claire's after school to put together a few pieces that should culminate in a Halloween costume of some kind. She tried to tempt me hither with the suggestion of a little mother-daughter time, but she just doesn't have the guilt-trip chops yet to get me to abandon my so-close-to-being-done translation.
I've finished the laundry already, so this evening we just have to throw a few things in a bag, then we'll be catching a train at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Ciao!
I am going to spend the afternoon finishing up a BIG translating job I have been working on forever *cough* so I can send it off and enjoy my weekend with a clear conscience.
Hannah is supposed to be stopping at Claire's after school to put together a few pieces that should culminate in a Halloween costume of some kind. She tried to tempt me hither with the suggestion of a little mother-daughter time, but she just doesn't have the guilt-trip chops yet to get me to abandon my so-close-to-being-done translation.
I've finished the laundry already, so this evening we just have to throw a few things in a bag, then we'll be catching a train at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Ciao!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
One reason I consider myself liberal
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.-Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)
Friday, October 15, 2010
My girl, again
I love that Hannah is so close to us. She could be a raging teenager already, and who knows? Someday she might be. But for now, she comes home and chats us up, and since I'm working upstairs, she regales her dad with everything that is going on at school, including dishing the dirt on people's love lives and what's up today with her nemesis. This even after we have urged her not to be so mean (if mostly in her head) to said nemesis.
Nee in Germany is a lucky mom
Nee in Germany is a lucky mom
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
My big girl
Hannah and I have been on our own for a couple of days while John is away on business, and I've really been aware of how mature she's getting. She had an orthodontist's appointment on Monday, and afterward we had to run by the grocery store for a few forgotten items. She insisted on carrying them even though I offered to carry the toilet paper, saying her dad would insist that she carry it for me (since I am sooo frail, duh), plus my stuff, and his stuff, too, while she was at it. I love her understated sarcasm. I told her I was surprised she didn't think her dad would want her to carry me, too; I fit on her back.
She stayed home sick yesterday. She wasn't violently ill like in September when I was in Texas--John sent her to school with an upset tummy, and she barfed on the bus before she even got there--but she had a loud, wet cough that would have been a distraction to her and her classmates. She was already sounding better yesterday afternoon, though, and told her dad on the phone last night that she'd be going to school today.
Then this morning she told me she was enjoying school more this year, now that she has gotten away from certain teachers and has more interesting subjects, which includes chemistry, physics, and a technology class. She even learned something in music class! (Instead of doodling SpongeBob, which has been her usual m.o., I learned.) And when she left, she was perfectly pleasant, unlike the surly dwarf I used to send out the door last year.
This afternoon she is going to stop off to pick up another forgotten item at the store. She even took it upon herself to make a reminder in her cell phone. She's getting so dependable! That's one of the things I like about living here: our town is set up in such a way that Hannah can get herself around and help with errands and such while staying in a fairly circumscribed area. I think that has contributed in large part to her burgeoning independence.
Nee in Germany is all verklempt
She stayed home sick yesterday. She wasn't violently ill like in September when I was in Texas--John sent her to school with an upset tummy, and she barfed on the bus before she even got there--but she had a loud, wet cough that would have been a distraction to her and her classmates. She was already sounding better yesterday afternoon, though, and told her dad on the phone last night that she'd be going to school today.
Then this morning she told me she was enjoying school more this year, now that she has gotten away from certain teachers and has more interesting subjects, which includes chemistry, physics, and a technology class. She even learned something in music class! (Instead of doodling SpongeBob, which has been her usual m.o., I learned.) And when she left, she was perfectly pleasant, unlike the surly dwarf I used to send out the door last year.
This afternoon she is going to stop off to pick up another forgotten item at the store. She even took it upon herself to make a reminder in her cell phone. She's getting so dependable! That's one of the things I like about living here: our town is set up in such a way that Hannah can get herself around and help with errands and such while staying in a fairly circumscribed area. I think that has contributed in large part to her burgeoning independence.
Nee in Germany is all verklempt
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Patience is a virtue
I was hoping to have the results of my 24-hour EKG earlier this week, but my doctor was out of the office, and today, her first day back, she was already booked, so I have to wait until tomorrow to go over it with her.
Having to wait kind of sucks. I've been pretty calm about things up to now, but I'm still having the fluttery feeling, plus some new annoyances that may or may not be side effects of the medication I'm on, and my patience is getting a little thin.
It's boring to me and to my family to always be paranoid about every little twinge or burp. I'm trying not to complain too much, because John gives me this look, like he's torn between worry and thinking I'm a hypochondriac. :) But this is my blog and I can complain here if I want to.
Most of the physical annoyances are right there on the package insert, so I haven't let myself get too worked up over them. Oddly, I haven't experienced any of the symptoms on the "very frequent" side effect list. But headache, shortness of breath during exertion, stomach ache from the "frequent" list, and pains around the heart area and muscles cramps from the "occasional" list? Check, at least in small doses off and on. As long as they go away again within a day or so, I chalk them up to the medication and don't worry about them. But there is one spot right between my shoulder blades that hurts (and I kept accidentally whacking it against the edge of the kitchen counter while sitting on a stool in there this morning, grrr); it could just be from working at a desk, but I don't like it.
I have also developed a burping problem. Laugh if you like, but it is extremely annoying. Water makes me burp. A banana makes me burp. Not eating anything for over an hour makes me burp. The icing on the cake was some bad reflux last night while sitting on the couch, upright, after one of the healthier meals I've made in a while (baked fish, rice, and stir-fried veg). Now I just need to find out if the chalky antacid I have is ok to use with my medicine. I guess it doesn't matter, because I had to use it last night, and I'm still here this morning.
Maybe tomorrow I'll get some useful news.
Having to wait kind of sucks. I've been pretty calm about things up to now, but I'm still having the fluttery feeling, plus some new annoyances that may or may not be side effects of the medication I'm on, and my patience is getting a little thin.
It's boring to me and to my family to always be paranoid about every little twinge or burp. I'm trying not to complain too much, because John gives me this look, like he's torn between worry and thinking I'm a hypochondriac. :) But this is my blog and I can complain here if I want to.
Most of the physical annoyances are right there on the package insert, so I haven't let myself get too worked up over them. Oddly, I haven't experienced any of the symptoms on the "very frequent" side effect list. But headache, shortness of breath during exertion, stomach ache from the "frequent" list, and pains around the heart area and muscles cramps from the "occasional" list? Check, at least in small doses off and on. As long as they go away again within a day or so, I chalk them up to the medication and don't worry about them. But there is one spot right between my shoulder blades that hurts (and I kept accidentally whacking it against the edge of the kitchen counter while sitting on a stool in there this morning, grrr); it could just be from working at a desk, but I don't like it.
I have also developed a burping problem. Laugh if you like, but it is extremely annoying. Water makes me burp. A banana makes me burp. Not eating anything for over an hour makes me burp. The icing on the cake was some bad reflux last night while sitting on the couch, upright, after one of the healthier meals I've made in a while (baked fish, rice, and stir-fried veg). Now I just need to find out if the chalky antacid I have is ok to use with my medicine. I guess it doesn't matter, because I had to use it last night, and I'm still here this morning.
Maybe tomorrow I'll get some useful news.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Beans, beans--they're good for your heart...
Maybe I haven't eaten enough beans, then.
Right now I am undergoing some tests to try to pinpoint the reason(s) for some odd feelings I have been having--a slight tightness in my chest, a fluttery feeling in my chest and neck that comes and goes--and a fast heart rate and higher-than-normal blood pressure my doctor found. So far, all of the tests--blood work-up, ultrasound on my heart, EKG--have come back normal, but I am waiting on the results of a 24-hour EKG before we can make any more decisions. I am on a beta-blocker to bring down my heart rate, but at a fairly low dose.
I haven't had any shortness of breath (outside of climbing the stairs) or dizziness, just the occasional slight headache, which can be a side effect of the medication I am on. And the funny chest feelings.
After the last month, I am willing to accept that it could be stress-related, although I normally react to stress with sleep problems and an eye tic.
One thing that really got to me in all this was my enforced uselessness over the weekend. When I saw my g.p. on Friday, she immediately rushed around taking blood, hooking me up to the EKG, and giving me meds, but then I was supposed to take it easy when I got home and try not to overdo it. John was the iron-fisted enforcer of this advice, and his gentle but firm remonstrances when he found me sitting on the floor, trying to sort laundry put me in tears. One would think that having doctor's orders to do nothing would be the cat's pajamas, but it was driving me crazy. After dropping off the EKG device yesterday--and having no new directions to the contrary--I started adding some activity back into my day. I drove the few blocks down the street for my turn at catsitting duty, cooked a simple dinner, scrubbed out Hannah's toilet, and put away some clean dishes. Surprisingly, I felt both tired and slightly manic afterward. Who knows what that is about, but I will continue to try to pick up my daily activities without pushing myself. If I feel weird, I will stop, as I already promised John.
And Hannah was so good with helping to pick up the slack in chores and such, I got her a little Wars calendar she had already begged me for. Each month has a photo of a different character, plus sketches from the planning stages. The Leia photo will help if we manage to get around to making a Leia Halloween costume for Hannah.
Right now I am undergoing some tests to try to pinpoint the reason(s) for some odd feelings I have been having--a slight tightness in my chest, a fluttery feeling in my chest and neck that comes and goes--and a fast heart rate and higher-than-normal blood pressure my doctor found. So far, all of the tests--blood work-up, ultrasound on my heart, EKG--have come back normal, but I am waiting on the results of a 24-hour EKG before we can make any more decisions. I am on a beta-blocker to bring down my heart rate, but at a fairly low dose.
I haven't had any shortness of breath (outside of climbing the stairs) or dizziness, just the occasional slight headache, which can be a side effect of the medication I am on. And the funny chest feelings.
After the last month, I am willing to accept that it could be stress-related, although I normally react to stress with sleep problems and an eye tic.
One thing that really got to me in all this was my enforced uselessness over the weekend. When I saw my g.p. on Friday, she immediately rushed around taking blood, hooking me up to the EKG, and giving me meds, but then I was supposed to take it easy when I got home and try not to overdo it. John was the iron-fisted enforcer of this advice, and his gentle but firm remonstrances when he found me sitting on the floor, trying to sort laundry put me in tears. One would think that having doctor's orders to do nothing would be the cat's pajamas, but it was driving me crazy. After dropping off the EKG device yesterday--and having no new directions to the contrary--I started adding some activity back into my day. I drove the few blocks down the street for my turn at catsitting duty, cooked a simple dinner, scrubbed out Hannah's toilet, and put away some clean dishes. Surprisingly, I felt both tired and slightly manic afterward. Who knows what that is about, but I will continue to try to pick up my daily activities without pushing myself. If I feel weird, I will stop, as I already promised John.
And Hannah was so good with helping to pick up the slack in chores and such, I got her a little Wars calendar she had already begged me for. Each month has a photo of a different character, plus sketches from the planning stages. The Leia photo will help if we manage to get around to making a Leia Halloween costume for Hannah.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Munchies
John discovered that the "American-style" chocolate chip cookies* at the store were only 88 cents, so he bought 2 packages. After we had hovered up most of them, there was one left, and since we are fair-minded people who knew we had had our fair share, we left it for Hannah. Only she automatically assumes we are not fair-minded, despite us telling her that we left the last cookie for her, and so we got this:
If you can't read it, it says, "Hannahs cookie Paws OFF!" This, after she licked *both sides* of the cookie in front of me.
*To be fair, they are really similar to Chips Ahoy. Usually when something is labeled American-style (or it is implied by the obvious red-white-and-blue packaging), it tends to be American in name only.
Despite her bogarting the cookie, I must tell you how much I love this girl. She was looking in a German teenie magazine and was asking about the difference in two words she thought were synonyms. Turns out, they are only very similar in meaning, just like their English counterparts--jealousy and envy. John pointed out that God says in the Bible, "I am a jealous god." Hannah asked with a straight face, "Which Bible?" I can see that 4 years of religious instruction in elementary school were not wasted on her. :^)
Finally, I got the horrible munchies this afternoon, and all there was left to eat was a very slobbery chocolate chip cookie, so I dug into the pantry and whipped up some cookies. Ingredients: butter, marzipan, flour, almond slivers for decoration. Yum! And in a serendipitous turn of events, the marzipan had been sitting, unopened, in the pantry for who knows how long, and I managed to use it up a mere week before the expiration date, without even looking at the label in advance. Not bad for a sugar-fiend.
Then I came back to my desk and finished 2 documents totaling 3 pages of loosely spaced text. Yay!
If you can't read it, it says, "Hannahs cookie Paws OFF!" This, after she licked *both sides* of the cookie in front of me.
*To be fair, they are really similar to Chips Ahoy. Usually when something is labeled American-style (or it is implied by the obvious red-white-and-blue packaging), it tends to be American in name only.
Despite her bogarting the cookie, I must tell you how much I love this girl. She was looking in a German teenie magazine and was asking about the difference in two words she thought were synonyms. Turns out, they are only very similar in meaning, just like their English counterparts--jealousy and envy. John pointed out that God says in the Bible, "I am a jealous god." Hannah asked with a straight face, "Which Bible?" I can see that 4 years of religious instruction in elementary school were not wasted on her. :^)
Finally, I got the horrible munchies this afternoon, and all there was left to eat was a very slobbery chocolate chip cookie, so I dug into the pantry and whipped up some cookies. Ingredients: butter, marzipan, flour, almond slivers for decoration. Yum! And in a serendipitous turn of events, the marzipan had been sitting, unopened, in the pantry for who knows how long, and I managed to use it up a mere week before the expiration date, without even looking at the label in advance. Not bad for a sugar-fiend.
Then I came back to my desk and finished 2 documents totaling 3 pages of loosely spaced text. Yay!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Today was rough
Really, really rough.
I talked to my mom on the phone last night and came away pissed at my almost 18-year-old nephew.
Got up and got a doctor's appointment for some minor breathing problems I've been having. I was able to concentrate and get a solid hour of work in before going to the doctor, but then I had a hard time keeping it together.
Then this afternoon, I read this entry at Regretsy, which had me a little teary, but when I got down to this comment
I started bawling and couldn't stop.
I can't explain it... Shannon would have been able to put it into words...
I talked to my mom on the phone last night and came away pissed at my almost 18-year-old nephew.
Got up and got a doctor's appointment for some minor breathing problems I've been having. I was able to concentrate and get a solid hour of work in before going to the doctor, but then I had a hard time keeping it together.
Then this afternoon, I read this entry at Regretsy, which had me a little teary, but when I got down to this comment
#22 Kate V. :
That is so incredible! I’m actually inspired to make my own urn now. My family’s lazy, and if I don’t they’ll just pour me into a coffee can.
I started bawling and couldn't stop.
I can't explain it... Shannon would have been able to put it into words...
Friday, September 10, 2010
Hannah's new look
Hannah was in the orthodontist's chair on Wednesday while I was landing in London at Heathrow. Here's the results:
She's on a soft-food diet at the moment, due more to the pressure on her teeth than to any pain, but she's handling the yoghurt drinks, soups, apple sauce, and overcooked noodles pretty well so far. Hopefully in another day or two she'll be able to chew a little better.
All of this coincides with a big pile of goodies I brought back with me at the behest of Hannah and John. Actually, my mom wanted to send John a care package for his birthday, but first we were in Sweden and then her back got all jacked up, so it fell to me to arrange a calorie-laden birthday box. If Hannah's teeth don't get better soon, she'll miss out on the corn chips and Reese's pieces. I managed to convince her not to open a couple of things so they won't go stale before she can eat them, but it is a real test of her intestinal fortitude to forego all the treats.
We haven't managed to get out of the house since I got back around 9:30 pm on Wednesday, so tomorrow we really need to get out and procure the new tooth-care items her doctor has recommended, as well as some school supplies and groceries. The first day of school is right around the corner again!
She's on a soft-food diet at the moment, due more to the pressure on her teeth than to any pain, but she's handling the yoghurt drinks, soups, apple sauce, and overcooked noodles pretty well so far. Hopefully in another day or two she'll be able to chew a little better.
All of this coincides with a big pile of goodies I brought back with me at the behest of Hannah and John. Actually, my mom wanted to send John a care package for his birthday, but first we were in Sweden and then her back got all jacked up, so it fell to me to arrange a calorie-laden birthday box. If Hannah's teeth don't get better soon, she'll miss out on the corn chips and Reese's pieces. I managed to convince her not to open a couple of things so they won't go stale before she can eat them, but it is a real test of her intestinal fortitude to forego all the treats.
We haven't managed to get out of the house since I got back around 9:30 pm on Wednesday, so tomorrow we really need to get out and procure the new tooth-care items her doctor has recommended, as well as some school supplies and groceries. The first day of school is right around the corner again!
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Shannon
As most of you are aware, my best friend Shannon Coad died last week.
I am not ready to talk about it.
I have read the outpouring of love and support for her and her family online, but I am just not ready to do it in that format. I spent a little time with John and Sherrie last weekend, and they know what is in my heart. That is all that matters.
Right now losing her is a big gaping wound whose edges don't even meet, much less starting to scab over or heal.
Someday I will find words, but for now, there are just tears.
I am not ready to talk about it.
I have read the outpouring of love and support for her and her family online, but I am just not ready to do it in that format. I spent a little time with John and Sherrie last weekend, and they know what is in my heart. That is all that matters.
Right now losing her is a big gaping wound whose edges don't even meet, much less starting to scab over or heal.
Someday I will find words, but for now, there are just tears.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Only in our family
John and I* have this shrieky voice we use when we are going to say something offensive to the other person without really meaning it, or meaning it with love. Yesterday, John shriekily told me to “shut the hell up!” Hannah, who knows our weird ways, said sort of wistfully, “I hope I have a marriage like yours someday.”
While considering how to tell this story, it occurred to me that some things are just really hard to put into words without giving people the wrong idea.
Hannah is getting into the groove of our weirdness. The other day, John said something about the bigness of his butt (in the context of trying to navigate our long, narrow kitchen with all 3 of us in there), and I quipped that his butt is so big it has its own gravitational field, and Hannah chimed in that his butt needs its own weather forecast. I high-fived her for that one.
* I have generally moved on from the shrieky voice and play it straight. John finds it hilarious when we’re chatting in bed and he says something annoying and I tell him to fuck off. It’s twuu wuv!
While considering how to tell this story, it occurred to me that some things are just really hard to put into words without giving people the wrong idea.
Hannah is getting into the groove of our weirdness. The other day, John said something about the bigness of his butt (in the context of trying to navigate our long, narrow kitchen with all 3 of us in there), and I quipped that his butt is so big it has its own gravitational field, and Hannah chimed in that his butt needs its own weather forecast. I high-fived her for that one.
* I have generally moved on from the shrieky voice and play it straight. John finds it hilarious when we’re chatting in bed and he says something annoying and I tell him to fuck off. It’s twuu wuv!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Red is Blue
I am sad.
A friend's husband has just found out that the surgery and months of chemoradiation he suffered through has basically not made a dent in his cancer, and even a radical surgery that would leave him without a tongue or vocal cords would only have a 25% chance of completely getting rid of the cancer. Hospice has been called in, and he is not expected to make it more than 6 months.
Every time I think about it, I start to cry. He's only 46. My friend is going to be a widow at 37.
It is so fucking unfair. I want to scream at the universe, hit something, put the pain somewhere outside my body.
All I can do is tell her I love her and hold them in my heart.
A friend's husband has just found out that the surgery and months of chemoradiation he suffered through has basically not made a dent in his cancer, and even a radical surgery that would leave him without a tongue or vocal cords would only have a 25% chance of completely getting rid of the cancer. Hospice has been called in, and he is not expected to make it more than 6 months.
Every time I think about it, I start to cry. He's only 46. My friend is going to be a widow at 37.
It is so fucking unfair. I want to scream at the universe, hit something, put the pain somewhere outside my body.
All I can do is tell her I love her and hold them in my heart.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
For the first time in living memory,
...we are out of tomato paste. Please bow your heads before the enormity of that statement, because it means that the impossible has just become possible. John may not know how much milk, toilet paper, or coffee we have in the house, but he knows that civilization just may cease to exist if he doesn't come home from the store with a tube of tomato paste. Many's the time when I've fallen on my knees before him, shopping list in hand, "For the love of all that's holy--no. more. tomato paste." I was understandably panicky when I realized that the last 2 tablespoons of tomato paste in the house were stored safely in the vegetable crisper--just before I squeezed them into some carne guisada. Now I feel unanchored from reality, floating along on a tomato-pasteless tide. How will I survive until John is able to unleash his tomato paste-buying propensities on Saturday?
-Nee in Germany gets a bit emotional about tomato-based products
-Nee in Germany gets a bit emotional about tomato-based products
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A little of this
Hannah is off on her class trip. She wouldn't let me help her pack, so she forgot the folding fan I bought her and her retainer. I hope 4 retainer-less nights won't cause a big setback in her dental progress; probably not. A couple of days before they hopped on a train for their 1-hour tip, there were a couple of instances where the A/C went out on some trains and caused some students coming home from a class trip to suffer heat stroke. That's *just* what a mom wants to see on the news while preparing to ship off her kid.
I also had to sign another form for her to be able to do the climbing wall [this was the thing we were fighting about in my last post] and email it to the place. The original one got misplaced between my signing and their arriving. *sigh* We haven't heard from Hannah since then, so I hope everything is under control. She'll be back about 2pm on Friday.
Yesterday it was hot all day, to the point where I had to move my computer downstairs closer to the oscillating fan, but then a delightfully violent summer storm blew in in the evening and pelted us with rain and hail. John had tipped the upstairs windows, and rain managed to blow in across half the length of the room, so I had to run upstairs to mop up. This is what it looked like outside afterward:
At one point, we couldn't see anything beyond the tan house at the bottom of this picture because it was raining and hailing so hard.
It's been much nicer today. We've had just enough cloud cover and wind to make it comfortably warm as opposed to murderously hot. I wish I could paint. I would only paint clouds.
-Nee in Germany doesn't know her cumulus from her cirrus
I also had to sign another form for her to be able to do the climbing wall [this was the thing we were fighting about in my last post] and email it to the place. The original one got misplaced between my signing and their arriving. *sigh* We haven't heard from Hannah since then, so I hope everything is under control. She'll be back about 2pm on Friday.
Yesterday it was hot all day, to the point where I had to move my computer downstairs closer to the oscillating fan, but then a delightfully violent summer storm blew in in the evening and pelted us with rain and hail. John had tipped the upstairs windows, and rain managed to blow in across half the length of the room, so I had to run upstairs to mop up. This is what it looked like outside afterward:
At one point, we couldn't see anything beyond the tan house at the bottom of this picture because it was raining and hailing so hard.
It's been much nicer today. We've had just enough cloud cover and wind to make it comfortably warm as opposed to murderously hot. I wish I could paint. I would only paint clouds.
-Nee in Germany doesn't know her cumulus from her cirrus
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Yesterday
Yesterday was stupid.
I got up prepared to wage battle against my computer. Tuesday afternoon, my anti-virus software started giving me warnings every single time I changed web pages. Just checking my webmail was a travail. Tossing the alleged culprit from my temporary internet file folder--multiple times--did nothing. Ran the anti-virus software without it actually finding anything. Gave it up and decided to do it Wednesday morning.
I got up, started my computer in safe mode, started the virus check. While that ran--for 2 hours!--I washed the dishes, watered my plants, and vacuumed the entire house. When it was done, I discovered that it still hadn't found anything virus-y on my machine. It just didn't like that script running, apparently. Anyhow, through the power of my big brain and a quality I like to call stubbornness, I finally figured it out and got rid of the source of annoyance. By this time, it was close to noon.
I worked a bit on my translation, but it was hard to get into it. The elation of the previous day, when had I finished 1.5 times my normal workload, and the morning's triumph over my computer made it hard to settle down.
Then Hannah came home and accused me of not signing a form she needed for a rock-climbing event her P.E. coach had arranged (to take place in two weeks, I believe). We disagreed about that for a bit, then when she went to the bathroom, I checked her school stuff in her room. Where I did *not* find the form, but I found a different form that she had never shown me about tutoring in Latin. Not to go into too much detail, but I was immediately incandescently angry. The kind of angry where you completely shut down lest you choke the living shit out of someone. Yes, that angry.
So I made her go eat lunch and put the finishing touches on the presentation she is giving today on Texas. I was too mad to concentrate on working, so I just gave up and went to help her with her handout and slides. Which is when our new printer ran out of ink for the first time. *sigh* I should have known. So John took her stuff into town for copying this morning and will meet her before class to make the drop. I'll have to take the ink cartridge into town tomorrow to be refilled (refillable--yay!).
I figured I wouldn't be able to get to sleep with the Germany semi-final game starting at 8:30, so I stayed up farting around on the Internet when I had intended to write or blog. It was surprisingly quiet--a lack of goals will do that--with only the occasional sound of a dispeptic cow in the distance (aka, someone who can't make his vuvuzela work).
All in all, the day was a bust, minus the workout my circulatory system got from the rage jolt.
-Nee in Germany has hope that today will be better
I got up prepared to wage battle against my computer. Tuesday afternoon, my anti-virus software started giving me warnings every single time I changed web pages. Just checking my webmail was a travail. Tossing the alleged culprit from my temporary internet file folder--multiple times--did nothing. Ran the anti-virus software without it actually finding anything. Gave it up and decided to do it Wednesday morning.
I got up, started my computer in safe mode, started the virus check. While that ran--for 2 hours!--I washed the dishes, watered my plants, and vacuumed the entire house. When it was done, I discovered that it still hadn't found anything virus-y on my machine. It just didn't like that script running, apparently. Anyhow, through the power of my big brain and a quality I like to call stubbornness, I finally figured it out and got rid of the source of annoyance. By this time, it was close to noon.
I worked a bit on my translation, but it was hard to get into it. The elation of the previous day, when had I finished 1.5 times my normal workload, and the morning's triumph over my computer made it hard to settle down.
Then Hannah came home and accused me of not signing a form she needed for a rock-climbing event her P.E. coach had arranged (to take place in two weeks, I believe). We disagreed about that for a bit, then when she went to the bathroom, I checked her school stuff in her room. Where I did *not* find the form, but I found a different form that she had never shown me about tutoring in Latin. Not to go into too much detail, but I was immediately incandescently angry. The kind of angry where you completely shut down lest you choke the living shit out of someone. Yes, that angry.
So I made her go eat lunch and put the finishing touches on the presentation she is giving today on Texas. I was too mad to concentrate on working, so I just gave up and went to help her with her handout and slides. Which is when our new printer ran out of ink for the first time. *sigh* I should have known. So John took her stuff into town for copying this morning and will meet her before class to make the drop. I'll have to take the ink cartridge into town tomorrow to be refilled (refillable--yay!).
I figured I wouldn't be able to get to sleep with the Germany semi-final game starting at 8:30, so I stayed up farting around on the Internet when I had intended to write or blog. It was surprisingly quiet--a lack of goals will do that--with only the occasional sound of a dispeptic cow in the distance (aka, someone who can't make his vuvuzela work).
All in all, the day was a bust, minus the workout my circulatory system got from the rage jolt.
-Nee in Germany has hope that today will be better
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
New sub-title
John called me that--"militantly anti-sentimental"--and it was perfect, so I stuck it up there with my title.
I used to worry that I was too unemotional, but that is not exactly true. I cry at yoghurt commercials and that one scene in Return of the King and that one song on the Wiggles. I just don't get worked up about getting old or dying or experiencing other calamities. That's just a part of life. Part of that I get from my grandmother, who used to say that she had gotten her 3 score of years and the rest was gravy. She was a pragmatist, and I picked up on that. Part of it is just me. And that's ok.
I used to worry that I was too unemotional, but that is not exactly true. I cry at yoghurt commercials and that one scene in Return of the King and that one song on the Wiggles. I just don't get worked up about getting old or dying or experiencing other calamities. That's just a part of life. Part of that I get from my grandmother, who used to say that she had gotten her 3 score of years and the rest was gravy. She was a pragmatist, and I picked up on that. Part of it is just me. And that's ok.
Monday, July 05, 2010
I'm baaack
Last week was dreadful. It was hotter than Satan's oven, and I had the last of those articles to finish copyediting, and my office is on the top floor of an attic apartment with windows facing southweset, and it is hard to think when all of those factors conspire against you at the same time. But luckily, it cooled off a bit over the weekend and is now delightfully overcast, so my brain is functioning properly again and I can tell you all about all the non-thinking things I have done in the meanwhile.
Due to the mind-numbing heat, I have had to be extra-vigilant about watering my balcony plants. I don't know what this is, but I got it as a little gift from a guest, and I bunged it in the pot with the walnut tree and the dead mice for want of a better place for it, yet it is thriving there.
I have a variety of flowers growing from seeds, none of which I know the name of.
This is some cilantro I let get away from me. Apparently, you are supposed to use it before it puts out flowers. The leaves near the flowers don't taste good, but maybe there are still some bigger leaves lower down that are still edible. John is making guacamole tonight, and baby needs some cilantro for it!
Someday, this will be chamomile. Right now, it is just some disgusting green stuff. God help us if that is how the tea is supposed to taste. (I don't drink it anyway, but John does.)
There's also the mystery citrus plant. Every year, I drag it indoors in the fall, and it gets scraggly and droopy and its leaves fall off if you look at them, and I do a little creative snipping on it, and when spring comes, I drag it out on the balcony and say, "The hell with it." Then it puts out a bunch of healthy leaves that you can't get off with pliers. Still no fruit, though.
Here's another victim of my long-term gardening. This poinsettia still has a few faded pink leaves from when I successfully forced it this last winter. And look--a bud!
Finally, we have the biggest disappointment of my 2010 gardening attempts. Looking at the thick, healthy leaves, you'd think I was well on my way to a motherlode of flowers. Well, you'd be wrong. Wondering what was up with the mystery plants (because I always neglect to label the planters), I dug out the seed packets I had saved and discovered I had planted carnations. Yay! Carnations! My favorite flowers! And then turned over the packet to discover they only put out flowers in the second year. What a blow.
After I got my editing sent off Friday evening, I devoted myself to a weekend full of watering and cleaning. John was disappointed on Saturday that I would rather stay at home with a bunch of cat fuzz and caustic chemicals than go swimming with him, but really, the house needed it and I had been planning it for half of the week. It takes me that long to build up to these things. John didn't give me half a week to embrace the idea of swimming, which I don't care for that much to start with. Plus, he was happy to have been gone when I told him that Cry-Baby came on tv, AND I WATCHED IT. Luckily, I had a lot of stuff already sprayed or washed and drying, so I could devote myself to the deliciousness that is a young Johnny Depp. I must have watched this movie once a week the whole time I was preggers with Hannah and during her infancy (I think Jooge turned me on to it--how can I thank you enough?!), so it is probably melded with her DNA somehow. Anyhow, when I wasn't getting all hot and bothered over Johnny Depp in his tighty whiteys (let that image sink in, ladies), I was scrubbing the shit out of bathrooms and the kitchen. Major spring cleaning type stuff.
On Sunday, Cry-Baby came on again, so Hannah got to enjoy the beauty of it first hand (she had accompanied a friend shopping on Saturday and so missed out on the glory). John avoided it by washing the dishes, slowly and thoroughly. Afterward, I put together a new bookcase and got my side of the closet a little bit neater by moving all the books out of it and into the new bookcase. I also got my office neatened up now that the one project was over but before I got back to the other project. It made it nice to get back to work this morning.
Then Hannah wanted me to cut her hair. I told her that she'd have to get in the shower right after dinner if she really wanted me to do it. Normally she has achieved a mind meld with the television at that point and requires a blasting cap to get her moving, but I must have come across as sufficiently serious for her to get a move on. She has thick hair, like her dad, and she was getting annoyed with "sweaty neck", so off it came, all but a section that she is braiding and pushing behind her ear so she looks like a Padawan learner.
I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten, but I need to go start dinner, so farewell, friends and loved ones, for now.
Due to the mind-numbing heat, I have had to be extra-vigilant about watering my balcony plants. I don't know what this is, but I got it as a little gift from a guest, and I bunged it in the pot with the walnut tree and the dead mice for want of a better place for it, yet it is thriving there.
I have a variety of flowers growing from seeds, none of which I know the name of.
This is some cilantro I let get away from me. Apparently, you are supposed to use it before it puts out flowers. The leaves near the flowers don't taste good, but maybe there are still some bigger leaves lower down that are still edible. John is making guacamole tonight, and baby needs some cilantro for it!
Someday, this will be chamomile. Right now, it is just some disgusting green stuff. God help us if that is how the tea is supposed to taste. (I don't drink it anyway, but John does.)
There's also the mystery citrus plant. Every year, I drag it indoors in the fall, and it gets scraggly and droopy and its leaves fall off if you look at them, and I do a little creative snipping on it, and when spring comes, I drag it out on the balcony and say, "The hell with it." Then it puts out a bunch of healthy leaves that you can't get off with pliers. Still no fruit, though.
Here's another victim of my long-term gardening. This poinsettia still has a few faded pink leaves from when I successfully forced it this last winter. And look--a bud!
Finally, we have the biggest disappointment of my 2010 gardening attempts. Looking at the thick, healthy leaves, you'd think I was well on my way to a motherlode of flowers. Well, you'd be wrong. Wondering what was up with the mystery plants (because I always neglect to label the planters), I dug out the seed packets I had saved and discovered I had planted carnations. Yay! Carnations! My favorite flowers! And then turned over the packet to discover they only put out flowers in the second year. What a blow.
After I got my editing sent off Friday evening, I devoted myself to a weekend full of watering and cleaning. John was disappointed on Saturday that I would rather stay at home with a bunch of cat fuzz and caustic chemicals than go swimming with him, but really, the house needed it and I had been planning it for half of the week. It takes me that long to build up to these things. John didn't give me half a week to embrace the idea of swimming, which I don't care for that much to start with. Plus, he was happy to have been gone when I told him that Cry-Baby came on tv, AND I WATCHED IT. Luckily, I had a lot of stuff already sprayed or washed and drying, so I could devote myself to the deliciousness that is a young Johnny Depp. I must have watched this movie once a week the whole time I was preggers with Hannah and during her infancy (I think Jooge turned me on to it--how can I thank you enough?!), so it is probably melded with her DNA somehow. Anyhow, when I wasn't getting all hot and bothered over Johnny Depp in his tighty whiteys (let that image sink in, ladies), I was scrubbing the shit out of bathrooms and the kitchen. Major spring cleaning type stuff.
On Sunday, Cry-Baby came on again, so Hannah got to enjoy the beauty of it first hand (she had accompanied a friend shopping on Saturday and so missed out on the glory). John avoided it by washing the dishes, slowly and thoroughly. Afterward, I put together a new bookcase and got my side of the closet a little bit neater by moving all the books out of it and into the new bookcase. I also got my office neatened up now that the one project was over but before I got back to the other project. It made it nice to get back to work this morning.
Then Hannah wanted me to cut her hair. I told her that she'd have to get in the shower right after dinner if she really wanted me to do it. Normally she has achieved a mind meld with the television at that point and requires a blasting cap to get her moving, but I must have come across as sufficiently serious for her to get a move on. She has thick hair, like her dad, and she was getting annoyed with "sweaty neck", so off it came, all but a section that she is braiding and pushing behind her ear so she looks like a Padawan learner.
I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten, but I need to go start dinner, so farewell, friends and loved ones, for now.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
John got home Sunday night, tired but happy. Since then, I've been busily working away, and everyone else has been busy, too, so not much has been happening to report on. John had over 400 pictures(!) from his Russia trip, but he managed to weed them down to somehere in the 200s. Last night he got them posted, but not completely labeled, to Flickr.
Hannah is suddenly eager to work on her school project about Texas because otherwise she has to study Latin. Rather than make her wade through a bunch of stuff online, I bought her a book to use while I was in Texas in March. It's a rather simple book, but the project is for English class, and her classmates haven't gotten so good in English yet that they could follow something too complicated, so I guess it will work out.
-Nee in Germany, not dead yet
Hannah is suddenly eager to work on her school project about Texas because otherwise she has to study Latin. Rather than make her wade through a bunch of stuff online, I bought her a book to use while I was in Texas in March. It's a rather simple book, but the project is for English class, and her classmates haven't gotten so good in English yet that they could follow something too complicated, so I guess it will work out.
-Nee in Germany, not dead yet
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Wisdom of Hannah
Walking to the bus with Hannah on one of the play nights last week, I asked her about her grades. She told me that her Latin teacher thought she could get her grade up if she put in some more work. Then, she said the most amazing thing: "Mom, will you help me?" I told her that was the first time I could recall her asking me for help with school (usually I just boss her around, unasked). Then I mentioned that I had just bought a book for her to help with Latin (I do that a lot--our collection is quite extensive). She moaned and groaned. I pointed out that she *had* asked for my help. "Yes, but I didn't say I wouldn't complain." That was so Hannah, I just burst out laughing.
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