Derailed

At least I'm blogging today. It's one of those days. How does the saying go, 'The best laid plans, something something. ' The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. That's a good summary of the day so far.

We got back from Thailand Friday night. The same night, we find out that while we were gone, the Embassy made the decision to move all the families in our area for safety reasons, which I completely understand. But there is a timeline and it's chugging right along.

This morning, I went to wake up Grant and Jacqui for school. Jacqui rolled over and her cheeks were speckled with bright red dots. Those dots continued down her neck, chest and tummy. Ok, guess she's not going to school. I got the kids off, got ready and waited for the Health Unit to open. They had an opening first thing, so we got in the car and took off. Right before we got to the Health Unit, the management head walked by in the hall and asked if I had a few minutes after my appointment to talk about the move. Oh yes, I have all the time in the world for that! We saw the doctor who prescribed some antibiotics, (he thinks it's a strep rash, will know more after tests confirm/deny). Then my little buddy and I headed across the hall to discuss our future housing.

Fortunately, they are being extremely accommodating, considering the amount of families to move and the time frame they have to do it in. In about an hour, I found myself driving to two different housing complexes to see what could be our future residence. I'm torn. It's going to be a tough decision. It will be smaller, in comparison to what we have right now, but there are other pluses. So that's how it got to be noon and none of what I had planned to get done is done yet. I have to decide by weeks end. Wish me luck!

Oh, and not to leave anyone hanging, here's another Thailand picture!

These are little statues at the Big Buddha shrine. I likey.

Back to Back

We're back. Back from Christmas break and back to school. I've got a memory card with over 1300 images and videos just staring at me, needing to be weeded through. I have this plan to break it down into manageable chunks. I jotted down little notes just about every day, so that when we got back, it wouldn't seem like this huge, unmanageable memory of a dream to conquer.

It was a great vacation. We've never done anything like this; go somewhere for Christmas. But I'm glad we did it; I think the kids are finally starting to appreciate and remember these kind of experiences. Last summer, when we camped in the Redwoods, visited great-grandparents, and exposed them to all things wonderfully Southern Oregonian, something sank in. It is the first of the shared memories by all of the children, from oldest to youngest.

So, I'm going to sort through the photos and notes and get 'er done! Tomorrow, "The Journey to Thailand".

First stop on one of the day tours: Kata View Point, Southern Phuket Island

YouTube Tuesday: Mr. Fancy Pants

Yep, pure and unadulterated childishness. A little Army of Darkness and a music video starring hilariously manipulated World of Warcraft characters. (I think. I've never played WoW, but that's my best guess.) Enjoy.

O Christmas Tree

I love putting up the Christmas tree. I wasn't planning on doing it this year, though, because we are going on vacation. Yep, we're going on vacation. Where to? Somewhere we've never been before. It feels too exotic to even say. Ooo, a destination Christmas! I feel embarrassed even mentioning it. We *don't* go anywhere for Christmas. We already travel in the summer. And, contrary to popular opinion, we do get sick of airplanes. Our options were a bit limited because we did *not* want to deal with jet lag. I didn't even want to deal with a trip at Christmas, but when you are practically handed tickets, we couldn't pass it up. So, we'll be in Thailand for two weeks. Boom.

A Phantastic Pho

"Phở is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef (phở bò) or chicken (phở gà). The soup includes noodles made from rice is often served with Vietnamese basil, mint leaves, lime, and bean sprouts are added to the soup by the person who is dining."



This is the soup that will be served in heaven. This is not a picture of the soup I made. I wish. My first stab at making this seemingly simple soup went surprisingly well. At least it was edible.

There is this great chain of restaurants in Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland called "Pho ___" (insert random number) They all have a different number; 75, 43, 88. I don't know if there is a system to the numbering, I just know they have awesome soup. The clear beef broth is flavored with onion, cilantro, ginger and various other spices I don't even know the names of. You pick two meats to put in the broth. There are also noodles. You are given a plate with bean sprouts, cilantro, lime and a carousel of sauces including Srirache and soy.

As I was wandering through the produce section of Jawad's (the local supermarket) I was struck with a moment of inspiration, or insanity. I saw all the ingredients in front of me and decided to try making Pho that night. Once I got my shopping bags home, I unloaded my loot. I had looked up a few recipes and decided to try the most simple one. I had even devised a plan to remedy the potential "Ewws" and "It's too salady!" responses from the kids.

So when I put the colander in the sink with the intention of draining the noodles, imagine my surprise when I looked down at my hands and saw that I was on auto-pilot and draining my broth down the drain! I lost about a quarter of my liquid gold! Oh well, there's always next time, right? Everyone actually liked the soup. It wasn't up to true Pho standards, but it'll do. We definitely will be trying this again.

Happy ABC to me!

There was a furniture & antique auction/fundraiser at the school a couple weekends ago. I intended to go, but didn't have the opportunity. The week after said event, I read in the school bulletin that they were having an after auction sale and selling items at 30% off the beginning bid price. Sweet. See, inaction does pay! I got to stroll through the two rooms that were jammed with mountains of stuff. I say 'stuff' because most of it we could all live without; they'd just clutter up someone else's house. I had a few items in mind, from the picture sheet they emailed me. I'd had my eye on these scroll benches since before the auction. (they sent out a catalog) The little price tag said $175; so 30% less than that is $122.50. After seeing them in person, I knew they were meant for me! (yes, there are two benches.) Happy Anniversary, Birthday & Christmas to me!

The Epitome of Calvin

Picture taking is just my hobby, I don't profess to be a professional. I have no formal training, I just like taking pictures. You learn quite a lot about yourself when you engage in any sort of activity. I've learned that I'm not that good with people; taking their picture, I should say. I prefer a sweeping landscape or lush garden or inanimate objects. So I've pushed myself outside my comfort zone whenever I take pictures of the kids or people. Like school picture time, when they come home with the sheet of thumbnail pictures and I don't like any of them. I say to myself, "I could do better!" And then myself replies, "Yeah, but you didn't! Will you?" I have to tell myself, "Yes, yes I will." And the whole task of getting their Fall school pictures done before Spring is upon me. So I usually fold and go with the school pics. But this is just one example in a whole string of instances. The point is, I am pushing myself to do new things and improve upon what can do.


I really can't complain when it comes to the kid department. My kids are so tolerant of my picture hobby; they can cheese it up when the need arises. I've also learned a lot from them. You can't force a smile or pose, they have to want to do it. So I encourage the face wiggles and even have spontaneous non-serious "picture time". Here is what I have to work with. The other day when we were out, I told Grant to sit down and let me take a few pictures. He took the whole "face wiggling" exercise to a whole new level. I've erased more pictures of him than I keep. Oh well, at least be grateful for the ones I get.