Crushin' on me

I know as of late I've posted a lot about my little man, Grant, but he's just saying the best things right now. We were talking about when we grow up. (I'm still getting there) What will he do, what will be his job, where he wants to live, etc. I know where this conversation is going. You can have this conversation with any little boy and they will answer the same thing. I just wanted to hear it from him.

"So, what are you going to do when you grow up?"

"I want to be a man like Daddy."

"Really? And what does Daddy do?"

"He grow up & get married & go to work."

"Who are you going to marry when you are a man like Daddy?"

"You, Mommy!"

Aww, Mommies just need to hear that! So I posed the dilemma back at him,

"But I'm already married to Daddy."

"Then I marry Mairyn because she my best friend."

I'm just pleased that he would call his sister his best friend. Something is getting through to that little brain of his!

**We did continue the conversation and discuss the social no-no's of marrying ones sibling or mother. He'll get things straightened out eventually!

Sunday Quotations

'Tis the season for Christmas movies like "It's a Wonderful Life". We tried watching this and other such films with the kidlets. "Tried" being the operative word. Some of the flicks went over better than others. Here's a quiz: Given the choice between 'Elf' or 'It's a Wonderful Life' which do you think held the kids' attention longer? If you chose the former, you would be right. Although I remember gradually warming up to the latter such film as the years passed. It's a gem. The following quote isn't actually uttered in the film, but is in a frame underneath Father Bailey's picture in the 'ol Building and Loan office.

"All you can take with you is that which you've given away."

George and Uncle Billy are faced with the closure of the family business and George glances at his father's picture and framed quote. This is when George puts up $2000 of his own money to keep his friends out from under Potter's thumb. No truer words could be hand-stitched for posterity. Later Clarence, George's angel, reminds him of this ever important phrase.

"Remember George, no man is a failure who has friends."

Truer words could not be uttered. In these times of worshipping material possesions, we need to remember we can only be truly wealthy if we surround ourselves with the best of friends and the warmest of feelings. Merry Christmas!!

Four foods on Friday 60

Yes, yes, I know that it is Sunday. I got up Friday to finish my Four Foods and there wasn't any internet! An underwater cable in the Mediterranean was severed somehow. The cable that supplies the Middle East/North Africa with internet! This happened earlier this year and when they fixed it then, they said something about making it stronger, less susceptible to incidents like this! Oh well.

#1. What’s your favorite crunchy food?

Gotta be nachos. Put down one layer of chips, then some shredded, sharp cheddar cheese, then another layer of chips, cheese and then the microwave. Remember the randomly placed sliced jalapenos on top!

#2. How often do you try new recipes?

Every week! I'm so stuck in a rut right now, so I'll try anything new! But I will find new recipes all the time and make a one-two serving experiment with it, to see if we like it.

#3. Name a food that you almost always have in the house.

Pick one? One that we eat every day is cold cereal. Yeah, boring.

#4. What kind of food do you leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve?

Cookies, duh. One year we hadn't made any cookies (I was pregnant and insanely ill) so we left marshmallows and pretzels for Santa and his reindeer.

50 questions

I have discovered something. I think I like memes. Shocking, most of all to me! Or maybe it was just a great distraction for this afternoon when I was avoiding addressing Christmas cards and NOT making the Christmas goodies that I've got every ingredient for, including Peppermint extract, cocoa powder and melting chocolate. This one has also sparked some new blog post ideas for me!


1. Do you like cheese? Yes, stinky cheese.
2. Have you ever smoked? Nope.
3. Do you own a gun? Technically, no. Will I? Yes
4. Do you like listening to Christmas music? Of course!
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Depends on the reason for the visit, but sometimes, irrationally so.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Those sticks of calories can rest on my hips anytime!
7. Favorite Christmas song for all time? Oh, um, heh, ah, Sleigh Ride by Harry Connick Jr. and then Silver Bells by Elvis Presley. Best version ever.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Ah, a protein shake after my workout.
9. Can you do push ups? Little girlie ones!
10. Who is your favorite Grey's Anatomy Character? Grey's who's anatomy?
11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? These hanging round sparkly ones from Avon
12. Favorite hobby? Taking pictures & reading
13. Do you eat "exotic" foods? You betcha!
14. Do you have ADD? If you mean that I'm easily distra . . . ooh, something shiny!
15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? My disorganization
16. Middle Name? Claire
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? I should be making Christmas goodies. I need to get those dang Christmas cards addressed and in the mail. Finally, Jacqui is down for a nap.
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Sugar, whipping cream, salt (for the christmas goodies I should be making)
19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Diet Coke, and Milk.
20. Current worry right now? Do I have to pick just one?
21. Current hate? Egypt
22. Favorite place to be? Camping in the mountains.
23. How will you bring in the New Year? With a fiesta!
24. Where would you like to go? Australia
25. Name three people who will complete this? Whoever wants to
26. Do you own flip-flops? One pair I use for public showers
27. What shirt are you wearing? One I bought in the Denver Airport when Jacqui got chocolate pudding all over me on the plane. It says, Rocky Mountains est. 1876 Colorado
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Never have tried it, but I would like to!
29. Can you whistle? Yeah sure, you betcha!
30. Favorite color? Olive or sage green
31. Would you be a pirate? Only if I get a flag tattoo that ripples when I flash my muscles!
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever is currently on my iPod mix. (as of late, Hot n' Cold by Katy Perry. Pretty appropriate for our water heater.)
33. Favorite girl's name? Lauren Charlotte
34. Favorite boy's name? Hayden Marc
35. What's in your pocket right now? No pockets in these pants.
36. Last thing that made you laugh? Grant's response to Santa's gift. (see previous post.)
37. Best bed sheets as a child? Um, clean ones?
38. Worst injury you've ever had? Does 10 years of inflating and deflating due to pregnancy count?
39. Do you love where you live? I have to agree with TypO, Love is a strong word.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? Two.
41. Who is your loudest friend? Friends, who needs friends? Ah, Jamie Probert from college! Love ya, gurlfriend!
42. How many dogs do you have? In my dream life or now? Now = none. Dreams = 2 chocolate labs
43. Does someone have a crush on you? Yes, my little boy Grant! I'll be posting about that story soon.
44. Do you get embarrassed easily? Nope. With 4 kids, not much fazes me now.
45. What is your favorite book? Again, that's like picking a favorite child.
46. What is your favorite candy? Twix
47. Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince theme song? Yes ma'am! If you'd like to hear it, come to the shower next week.
48. What song do you want played at your funeral? Each Life that Touches Ours for Good
49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping. Wow, that's amazing.
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Ah, it's vacation and I am sleeping in. Any other day? Crap, it's morning.

Take it or leave it

Santa came to visit Grant's school yesterday. It was a big deal. Santa brought presents for everyone! Actually, they asked the parents about 2 weeks ago to bring a covert package so that each kid could have something from him. *sigh* I've already done my Christmas shopping. I'm done. Finito. Jalas! That was one thing I was on top of this year. I had already bought a bushel of books for stockings and presents, so I did some present rearranging and put one of his Christmas morning presents in a gift bag and took it to his teacher.

Yesterday, the motivation for him going to school was that Santa was coming to visit. Yay! It's a bit hard right now to get him out the door because his sisters are out of school already and just lounging at home. Anyway, Grant got to school, I went to the gym and through the rest of my day. 3pm comes; it's time to pick up Grant. I go pick him up and get home. We're taking off shoes in the entryway when I ask him about the Christmas party at school.

"How was the party with Santa today?"

very unenthusiastically, "Okay."

"Really? Did Santa bring you anything?"

"Yep."

"Well, what did Santa bring you?"

"I don't like it."

"What? What was it?"

"He bring me a book and I don't like the book. I want a toy."

Oooo-kay. "Well, bring me the book, let's see what it's about."

"I don't like it. I leave it at school."

He didn't like the book, so he left it at school. This started my thought process running. Where would he leave it? What would he do with it? Did he throw it away? We got to school this morning and I started scouring the book racks for his book. It's a fun book, I remember it from my Reading Rainbow days, it's called 'Gregory the Terrible Eater', about a goat that doesn't like to eat junk and wants to eat vegetables and spaghetti. I hunted high and low and could not find that dang book anywhere. I was about to go ask the teacher when I remembered that each child has a paperwork cubby. I pulled out the drawer and voila! There is it, gift bag and all. I may have some last minute shopping to do. Maybe Bakier stationary has some Spiderman paraphernalia. Really, anything with Spiderman on it will win this boy's heart. I got it! A book about Spiderman! Now where will I find that in Egypt? Hmmmmmm . . . . .

Luxor Part 3

Ok, third and final section of our trip. On Friday, we went on a day cruise arranged through our amazing hotel. It left at 7am and returned at 7pm. The cruise covered 42 miles downriver (meaning north) to Qina near where the temple Dendera is located. It was quite early for us lazy bones who had been enjoying the sleeping in till whenever we felt like it (but getting up before breakfast was over, hey, we still have some priorities!) It was surprisingly chilly, the boat crew passed out blankets and beach towels to whoever wanted them. It took about 4 hours to cruise there, got some great pictures on the way. You'll notice on the third row down, end right picture is this Michael Jackson-esque person. When we stumbled on the boat at 6:45am, he was at the entrance filming away and telling everyone to smile and wave! We figured out that he was probably making a DVD of the "experience" and then whoever wanted to buy it at the end, could do so. He picked out some people, and then would film them exclusively for a while. Suckas! He was quite hilarious!

Once we arrived at Qina, we all piled onto tour buses, divided by language. Apparently there was a big Finnish group in attendance, they even had their own tour guide. There was also a French contingency and then the English speaking group. We had our own bus. Dendera is one of the most well preserved temples in Egypt. It is a favorite of researchers, archaeologists & scholars. The colors are amazing & still vivid. The structure itself is still standing, hardly any reconstruction. There are stairways, passages and roof access. All of which you can explore. There are sub-terrain catacombs, ladders leading up to secret offering rooms, and chamber upon chamber every which way you turn. I could have explored for days! We wandered away from the tour group. Hey, we knew where to meet. Besides, the guide was sub-par at best. I don't like tour groups anyway. I like to be able to wander, ponder and take pictures at my leisure. I do my homework before the trip, find out history, etc. and just take it for what it is once I'm there. There is also something else about sight-seeing that isn't in any guide book. You will reach a saturation point. You can only take in so much and then the cut-off point comes and no matter how many more sights or information you cram in, you will not care! That said, we were at Dendera for 2 hours and it was just enough time. Not too long, not too short.

Then it was back to the boat, lunch in the dining room as soon as we boarded and a 6 hour cruise time till Luxor. There was a pool on the boat as well. We brought swimsuits, but it was too cold. In the collage, you will notice there are two boys frolicking in the water. They were Finnish, I'm sure it felt like the middle of summer for them! After a beautiful sunset, the full moon came out and it was such a peaceful ending to our amazing 2nd honeymoon! Whew, I'm done. I sorted through over 650 pictures to pick out some of the best. I'm also putting some into albums on my Facebook account. Tip: If there is only one book you buy for touring anywhere in the world, it is the Rough Guide. It was invaluable! It has everything in it; recommendations for every budget for lodging & food, opening & closing hours of sites, their prices, history and synopsis of everywhere. Don't leave home without it!

Luxor Part 2

So, the second part of our trip. We were going to go to Aswan for 2 days, but decided that would make the trip too hurried. We wanted to have a relaxing week, so we stayed in Luxor for Wednesday and Thursday. We did the Karnak temple and it's Sound & Lights show that evening. The show is on our video camera and I'm not tech-savvy enough to get some clips on here. It is the best sound and lights show in Egypt. Very interactive. You walk through the temple grounds and the narration is a little cheesy at times, but very enriching. Luxor wouldn't be complete without that show! Thursday we did the Luxor temple. We got there about an hour and a half before sunset. It's open from 9am to 9pm, so it's one of the few ones where you can stroll during dusk. And that provides great lighting for magnificent pictures. Although we were all prepared to walk back out the entrance, to catch the sunset over the Nile, and they pointed in the opposite direction. WHAT? So we hiked to the other side of the complex to exit. It's a scam, I swear. There are vendors right there waiting for you. We barely made it back to the banks of the river to get some sunset pictures. So plan accordingly. And, every night we had dinner at this great little Italian restaurant called Pizzeria Romancero. It's on the grounds of the Iberotel, so convenient and affordable. And there is no extra charge to add your tab to your room bill. (usually there is) Other than the expensive water (12 LE bottle = $2.17) the food is very affordable. They bring you this basket full of gourmet bread with a dipping dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We had the Quattro Formaggio pizza for 40LE ($7.24) every night. We split it. Although I could have eaten a whole one by myself! The best pizza I've ever had. Period. Thin, crispy crust, not greasy, loads of cheese and yum! Anyway, I'll wrap Luxor up tomorrow!