May-OH-naise

Mayonnaise, it may not stir excitement in many minds. It doesn't really do much for me. But when I spied the expiration date on the side of my Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil, my heart leapt. Not because I realized that I had been spreading spoiled sauce on my sandwiches, but because I could keep spreading mayo from this container until 16 March 2010!!!



I am so accustomed to buying my condiments with maybe a week or two to spare, and that's if there was a date! That's just what was available, and I dealt with it. But now that I don't have to, I feel luxurious. I feel privileged. I feel like I'm back in the States. It's the little things, really.

Sunday Quotations

Something to ponder on this fine Fall Sunday . . .

Where are we going?

*CLAP*CLAP*CLAP*

Where are we going?

*CLAP*CLAP*CLAP*

Where are we going?

**And if you don't know the Dora song, lucky you!**

YouTube Tuesday

For lack of creative juices flowing in my grey matter, I have decided to share a favorite YouTube video on Tuesdays. That and it's quite alliterative. YouTube Tuesday, YouTube Tuesday, say that five times fast!

Matrix Ping Pong

*P.S.*
I'm glad that they finally started offering a smaller format so it fits on my blogger page, but it is sooo small! You can click on it to see it bigger.

My camera is awesome!

No, I don't have a fancy-schmancy (meaning expensive) camera. But wow, I am impressed. No, it's not new. I've had it for two years now. Three? My memory is escaping me. Maybe three. Either way, I can definitely recommend it. Look at this picture.


I was outside, rolling the garbage bin to the curb. As I turned around toward the house, I spied a sliver of the moon over yonder apartments. I ran back inside for my camera. It took some creative balancing of the camera, too. See, my camera is great. But at dusk or low light times, it just sucks. There are enough toots & whistles on this thing that I could probably solve that, but I can't figure out how. I have messed with a couple things, but not liked the results and, thankfully, been able to change it back to the original settings. So at times like this, I have to either pull out my tripod or get creative. I propped the camera up on the utilities meter on the side of my house, snagged a couple shards of bark from my neighbor's landscaping and set the timer. Voila! Non-blurry so-clear-you-can-see-craters-of-the-moon picture. I only wish I could have zoomed further. That's the other beauty of my camera; it has 12x optical zoom. What is that, you ask? There is optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical is the one you want and it's the highest zoom factor in a non-DSLR camera. (as far as I know. It was 3 years ago when I bought it.) Enough technical stuff, I really don't know what I'm talking about! Oh, my camera? Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 Got it on NewEgg.com, great deal. Geez, I sound like a commercial? I need to get paid to do this!

An Apology

This is kind of how I feel right now.

I'm sorry. There, I said it. It's kind of an apology to myself, too. I just haven't had the energy or bandwidth to blog. Too blah to blog, I guess. When is it all going to be over? Never. When will our clothes be in a permenant place? Who knows? By the time I get all of our minutia where it goes, it will be time to ship off again. When? Next summer. Where to? Well, a select few know, but that's what I'm saving for another post. A post to blow you out of the water. Really, I swear. It's not too surprising, but still exciting, nonetheless.

I do have a special visitor coming next week as well! One more reason for me to get off the computer and back on track. Will everything have a place? Probably not. Will there be a working bathroom in the formerly cavernous, unfinished basement? Yes. Yes there will.

I wish

If only, if only, in my wildest dreams, could I draw like this. Just freakin' amazing!!



Now, if he did a Desmond picture . . . oh brotha!

I thought it was behind me

Usually, people associate sandstorms with desert-y places; i.e. from whence we came. Egypt had some whoppers. Though Spencer has reported that there has been one in Baghdad that put the biggest whopper we ever saw in Cairo to shame.

In Cairo, the air would be even worse that usual. Visibility would be reduced to barely being able to see across the street. The air would be yellow and your mouth & other orifices filled with grit. Sand & dirt would sneak in through every available crack in the house; through the bathroom fan, under the doors, in windows, etc.



Today in Rexburg, I had a bit of dejavu. We had a little sandstorm. And I think some people in the neighborhood thought the end of the world was coming. The mommies were rounding up kids cowboy style in the streets; urgently pushing them indoors for fear of being blown away like Dorothy. Kids came running from far corners of the neighborhood covering their heads and screaming like banshees. Seriously. My kids, on the other hand, ran out to the porch and said, almost lovingly,

"Awww, it's a hamseen just like Cairo!"

(a hamseen is a sandstorm, but also used to describe the sandstorm season; about 50 days, hamseen)

Well, not really kids, but it's quite impressive for Rexburg, ID. We just like to keep things interesting here.



P.S.
I've added a new label: 'weather'. It occurred to me that we will be seeing a new variety of weather here; SEASONS!!! Leaves are already starting to fall, the mornings are crisp and afternoons lovely. Fall, come on in, I've been waiting for you!

In Remembrance . .

This morning, we all got ready, ate breakfast and started loading into the car. Mairyn noticed that there were flags in every other yard along the street. She asked me if it was another Labor Day. (Because that's the last time a bunch of random flags were in the lawn) No, I said, it's September 11th. That did not ring any bells with them. I KNOW I've told them about it, but, I guess it takes a couple of times to sink in.

I tried to be tactful; I really wasn't prepared for an extremely in-depth analysis with them. And truthfully, they wouldn't be either! So, I told them about how terrorists --

"What's a terrorist, Mommy?"

"They are people that want to scare and hurt other people on purpose."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

So, the terrorists took the planes by force and crashed 4 into different buildings. The Pentagon --

"A Pentagon is a five-sided shape!!" Eliza offered.

"Yes, yes it is."

So they crashed one of the planes into the Pentagon, two in the World Trade Center Twin tower in New York City --

"Oh, the ones that Philippe walked between?" (there is a book we got about a man that walked a tightrope between the twin towers. caldecott winner, great read.")

"Yes, that one."

And on we continued, me talking, them injecting random thoughts & comments. I think it made some kind of impression. But it's something that will always be in their history. It wasn't always in mine. In the end, Mairyn tried summing it up,

"So the tourists crashed planes -- "

"Terrorists, Mairyn."

"Yeah. Right. Terrorist crashed planes . . etc."

I didn't want to assign a nationality to who these particular terrorists were. We have lived in the Middle East for most of my children's cognitive memory. They see Arabs differently than most people do. And that is one thing that makes me so grateful for the oppotunity we've been afforded in living overseas. Sure, it sucks that I don't have many "American conveniences" at my fingertips. (I still love you, Target. You know that.) But when I reflect upon the impact and impressions that are being made upon my children, it makes it all worth it. That I can teach them to see more than just a label; "a terrorist" or "Arab" and not have the connotations that some people conjure upon hearing those words. They hear "Arab" and go, "Oh yeah, Tamer was my best buddy, he was the best at hide and go seek." or "Muslim" and say, "Muslims pray 5 times a day. The art teacher, Ms. Gharib had a cool colored prayer rug."

September 11th will always stir strong feelings in me. Feelings of patriotism, sadness, mourning and the longing for something lost. It's hard to put a finger on the exact emotions, but I do know that I will never forget exactly where I was & what I was doing when that day unfolded. I don't hold any grudges, just a desire to make the future a better one for my children.

4th of July, 2009

Last September

I wrote this last September 11th, but never posted in on my blog. Don't know why.

I want to say that I am proud to be an American! The first 4th of July, after moving to Egypt, we were in Rexburg. We went to the 4th of July parade and it began with the JROTC cadets carrying the colors down Main Street. I must say, I got choked up ( and not just b/c I am a hormonal mommy!) seeing my country's flag being proudly displayed for all to see. Spence and I were talking about the significance of today, remembering what we were doing when we found out about the attacks. We were asleep in our little Wymount apartment and the phone rang. Our downstairs neighbors said to turn on the T.V. b/c a plane had crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. We turned it on and also found that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center Towers. Then the first tower came crashing down. I remember the speculation of the newscasters that a plane had gone astray and that this was all an accident. Then Flight 93 in Pennsylvania was reported and they began circulating that this was no accident, but an attack. My grandparents were flying that day. They were flying from Oregon to Florida. Their plane was grounded in SLC of all places! They were stranded in SLC for a few days, there weren't any rental cars available. The airline arranged for a huge Greyhound bus to take people back to their place of origin. They had a 20 hour bus ride back to southern Oregon.

I remember it was on a Tuesday. On Thursday, President Bush addressed the country and encouraged us to show our American colors. I went to the craft store and bought 3 little spools of ribbon in red, white and blue. They had miniature grapevine wreaths on sale for .45 cents and I wrapped the ribbons around and through it and hung that little symbol from my rear view mirror. It stayed there until we sold our car in D.C. It was also the first meeting of a Mommy Baby swimming class that I had with Eliza. It was a little surreal to be floating around in the pool, listening to this instructor, trying to block out what had happened that day. I didn't do a very good job!

These attacks came 2 weeks into a new semester. Spencer had most of his classes canceled as well as many other classes around campus. They flew the flag at half-mast for a while.

I can't believe how fast the last 7 years have flown. Back when we only had little Eliza. And I got pregnant with Mairyn the next month. I was so thrilled to have a baby with a 4th of July due date. She was born just one week after our first post 9/11 4th of July. It was quite a celebration in Provo. If you couldn't tell, I was listening to Proud to be an American, By Lee Greenwood before I started this post. It's a great feel good song. Love you all

State Fair Fun!

From the backseat . . .

When we drive to school, there is a lot of scenery. The kids have spotted a heron's nest on top of the bridge trestles and proclaim, "NEST!" every time we pass it. Just Wednesday, when Jacqui & I were driving back from Idaho Falls, I had put on a Dora DVD for her since no older kids were in the car to protest! ;) And suddenly, roused out of her hypnotic state, she shouts, "NEST!" then resumes Dora watching.

Well, on the route to school, there are lots of farms. Hey, this is Idaho. Corn fields, plowed wheat, horses and cows. A few days ago, the kids asked why that farm had so many cows. I told them that they probably raised the cattle.

"What do the do with them?" they asked.

I asked them what they though the farmers did and they rattled off: selling the milk and maybe selling the cows to make into meat and hamburgers. Ok, that's probably it.

So this morning, we go over the bridge, "NEST!" and past all the farms and finally past the cows.

Mairyn pipes up, "Hey Mommy, that cow is standing up on another cow!"

"Really?"

"Yes, it's two hooves are on the back of the other cow who is standing on all four hooves and it's jumping! I didn't know cows could jump!"

"Really?"

I couldn't talk. I was just busting up inside, trying to contain it. Mairyn was being just so honest and straightforward, like she always is. But sometimes, she can tell when she's being impertinent. Not this time. She quieted down and just kept wondering to herself, "What were they doing?" Oh honey, welcome to country life!!

Painting

I'm going to show a whole bunch of pictures showing the basement finishing process. Promise. It's just not how I want it yet. But . . . I can't wait to show you how the "green" color came out. It's called Rejuvenate by Behr and it's the Paint & Primer in one. I'm painting the laundry room and the bathroom this color. It will all be accented with brushed silver hardware (faucets, knobs, lighting) and dark dark wood cabinets.

And below, is the view from the far corner of my family room looking back at the stairs. Before the wall looked like this:


Now, it looks like this! Casey made this lovely cut-out for me. This will be the computer/homework corner.

Gardens

I didn't have much opportunity this last month for any creative release. Finishing a basement & moving in really suck up the time. We did manage to escape to the Ricks Gardens. Yes, they are the lush and wonderful gardens on BYU-I campus, but they are named The Thomas E. Ricks Memorial Gardens. Plenty of area for the kids to run and for me to stop and smell the flowers. Of course I took plenty of pictures, but only came out with a few decent ones. Which is how it usually goes.