CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Wednesday, April 29

A makeover

So, the ol' blog is about to be revamped, spiced up and pretty-fied. Well, not pretty-fied since Adam sees it as representative of himself and he doesn't like to look all girly.

I am layout shopping this week. I don't like what I'm finding though. After cruising around and reading blogs and blogging for awhile, I have an idea of what I like and don't like--but no clue on how to make it all myself. So, I'm left tweaking something that is as close to what I want...which takes a lot more time than the kids want to give me. It may be awhile in the making, but I'll get there.

In the meantime, does anyone have suggestions on where to find free layouts? I've checked with Pyzam, blogger and Lena.

I would also love (when there is time) to put in links to friends' etsy shops. I'm just so impressed with everyone's creativity. If you'd like to be included, send me your info. and I'll see what I can do.

Chau for now.

What would you do?

I compulsively bought an 8 oz package of cream cheese a few weeks ago. It was the first I'd seen it since our move down and I couldn't help myself. I won't even tell you what I paid for the imported goodness of Philadelphia.

Now, nothing seems quite "worthy" of such a purchase and I need your ideas.

What is your favorite, tastiest, most scrumptious way to use cream cheese?

Tuesday, April 28

I'm going to talk honestly about...

Diapers.

So, that's fair warning for anyone not interested in that kind of potty talk, or has too much of it in their lives already to waste precious free time on the computer to read about it too.

When we headed down to Bolivia with a five month old in tow, I was stocked and almost mentally prepared to cloth diaper her little hiney. After we settled in, I realized that I didn't have a good way to wash all that cloth goodness. EVERY laundry detergent here contains perfumes and additives which will eventually cause the cloth to stop absorbing--not a result I was going for! So, I was relegated to hand washing them in very hot water with laundry bar soap. This worked well enough but was obviously time-consuming, back-breaking work. Which is fine, but there was a better way.

We ended up returning to the states for a couple months last fall. While it wasn't our primary purpose for returning (those pesky visa requirements and a potential political coup are responsible there), I saw it as a prime opportunity to stock up on homemade laundry soap ingredients. (I won't go into a "how to" post here, it's all been done very well by my friend Jeana at "Frugally Green".) already.) I'm sure Adam loved that we ended up bringing back an entire suitcase of Fels Naptha soap, Borax and washing Soda! But it has been truly a blessing and the cloth diapering fell into full swing upon our return.



Until...I just got tired of it. It was frustrating.

But not for the reasons you might think. Once I figured out how to fold and "pin" (which you don't do these days because we have snappies.) the actual changing of the diaper wasn't any harder than a disposable. It wasn't a big deal to take the diaper into the bathroom, rinse it out and put it in our diaper bucket. I loved the satisfaction of knowing I wasn't putting *another* diaper in the trash! It smelled a lot better than several dirty disposable sitting in the garbage too. Plus it was kind of therapeutic to see all those white diapers hanging out on the line.

Relaxing and energizing almost.



No, the worst part of all was that I was the only person who would use them. I guess I forgot, as I told Adam about my beautifully environmentally friendly plan, to ask him if he'd like to join my on my cloth diapering journey.

So, we've had a few weeks of disposables recently. But now I'm ready to go back to cloth. I'm looking forward to that next freshly laundered load of whites!

Monday, April 27

My brain is running circles around me today. (Not that the two cups of coffee had anything to do with that!) I have thought of quite a few things to write about, but mostly my thoughts keep returning to two things:

1. My parents are coming to visit!! We've been trying, literally, for months to figure out how to get our homeschool curriculum here from the States. Well, Mom and Dad decided they'd just bring it down and stay a couple weeks. A great air fare from Miami to Santa Cruz and free tickets to Miami helped a lot with that decision. God bless air miles! So we are super excited. Now we just have to figure out how they will pack everything since they graciously gave us their larger suitcases when we moved down last summer. Anyone have an old duffle lying around they can borrow? We'll throw in some Bolivian gift and send it back to you!!

2. We have prayer meeting tonight. Every other Monday a group of missionaries "of like mind" meet and pray together. Tonight it is at a home across town from us. I've been there before, but Adam was with us and gave directions. I'm a bit nervous going solo this time, especially since I do not know the landmarks (or their Spanish names!) very well. So, I'm off to find the place on my map, translate my directions into Spanish and look for cab fare (oh, and the kids would appreciate being fed somewhere in there, I'm sure!) Chau!

Saturday, April 25

more pics

And some more fall photos from November in Kansas City.





Fall is approaching here in the southern hemisphere. It's hard to tell. It's almost as if trees are neither deciduous or evergreen here. There are no leaves changing colors or falling to the ground. The weather has changed only slightly, though we are not acclimated enough yet to really appreciate the change. In remembrance of fall, I'm posting some photos of the kids from last November taken while we were in Kansas City.



Friday, April 24

Ever have one of those days?

It's not horrible, terrible or very bad. It just is.

The baby refuses to sleep (cutting the last canine, I believe).

The boy refuses to use the toilet.

The girl refuses to be nice to the boy.

Both toilets are broken (the seat on one and the innards of the other).

I have no idea what to make for dinner.

Just another day. I think I'll have some ice cream and start over.

Thursday, April 23

Saturday we visited our landlords (also our friends!) who live two blocks away from us. They had five one-month old cocker spaniel puppies. Elias has been talking about "his" black puppy since then. He is really stuck on having a black dog. Poor guy. Our pup is white and brown.

Playing in the sandbox with their daughter. Elias came to me afterwards just filthy! I asked him what he was doing. "I made sand angels, Mommy!" Oh, right.

Ana with one of the cute little black pups.

Having a bit of tea. Well, more like grapefruit juice and chicken salad sandwiches.

Oh, yes and Elias with the jaguar skin. He was VERY impressed with this! (We were too. Edgar bought it from a friend, but it was a Bolivian jaguar before it's demise.)

Wednesday, April 22

The Exterminator has come

The fumigator was here yesterday. It was a very long day. Adam basically had to take the day off, though he studied quite a bit in the neighbor's yard. But, he had to let the guy in, let him out, wait two hours to open up the entire house to air out, then wait another two hours until he could let us and the dog back into the yard. By that time, the kids and I had been out of the house for over four hours--Ana had completely skipped her morning nap by then. And then we had two hours of cleaning: sweeping all the floors, and washing every unprotected surface.

It was quite a chore as I was already sore from exercising at 5:30 that morning. (Why, oh why did I pick that day to start exercising??!!) Thankfully, Ines was here to help otherwise it would have taken me three or four hours. While we were cleaning, Adam took the puppy to the vet for his shots and to get rid of his ticks, fleas and niguas (little sand fleas that burrow in his feet, lay eggs and form a painful, white pustule). We didn't want him to bring all those insects right back into our de-bugged yard.

While I knew the fumigation was necessary. I hate chemicals, but when there are harmful insects around it's a requisite evil. The funniest moment was when the fumigator arrived. He had just finished our neighbor's house, so he was already "in gear."

Elias did NOT want him here! We were waiting by the gate for our taxi, when he arrived. Something about a guy in full gas mask, backpack full of chemicals and gesturing with his bazooka as he spoke muffled Spanish just didn't sit right with the poor kid! The dogs didn't really like him either!

The biggest blessing has been a day without ants in the kitchen! I'd gotten so used to them I didn't think I really needed them exterminated. But now I realize how stressful it was to not be able to prep a meal without ants crawling on the cutting board. ...to not be able to leave a dirty dish near the sink without being covered in the little guys when you washed the dishes after the meal. It is truly a blessing!

Oh, good, it's a Stihl.

Tuesday, April 21

Ow!

I have two words for you: OW-wwwww.

Okay, the words are really: Krav Maga.

It's good stuff.

But, boy, am I feeling it right now.

Again, let me just say "Owwwwwwww."

Thanks, I just needed to whine.

Monday, April 20

How to eat my mom's lasagne, by Ana Sophia

Ana would like to show everyone how to eat her mommy's yummy lasagne. She realizes that her plate is clean. This is just for demonstration purposes only.


"Watch Closely"


"First You Stab"
She likes to stab her fork repeatedly until something sticks. This way you ensure you eat all the yummy pasta first, then mommy has to help with the cheese, meat and tomatoes left on your plate.


"Then you eat"


"Don't be afraid to lick your plate if you need to!"


"Good Stuff!!"

Sunday, April 19

The Exterminator has been called

It is a moment I've been anticipating and dreading for months now: calling the exterminator.

As mentioned in the previous post, I don't like bugs. And we have a lot! The worst offenders to me have to be the ants, scorpions (we've only had one, but the fear remains), and the very occasional cockroach...oh, and the ticks. The fleas aren't so fun either. Okay, they all bug me!

So, the line has been drawn and the exterminator is coming Tuesday. Now for the part I dread. I hate chemicals! I was loathe to call them any earlier from the thought of my sweet baby crawling around in nasty chemically badness. But, the baby is walking and I'll have someone to help me clean up after the guys with the spray guns leave.

I also have this horrible image of them spraying down the drain or somewhere sinister and a hoard of cockroaches (we've really only seen three in the last four months) comes spilling out only to die a twitchy death all over my kitchen counters and floor. Bad things man, bad things!

That said, there is NO WAY I'm going to be here when they let their spray guns blast forth. I will be taking the puppy to the vet to be de-ticked. Then I'll take the kids out to lunch. Then I just might stay in a hotel until I'm sure the bugs are dead. And cleaned up. Perhaps a week will do the trick. Let's just hope there's internet access.

Saturday, April 18

A bit on bugs

Here's the thing about bugs: I don't like them.

And when I say I don't like them, I mean they give me that leg hair growin', heebie jeebie givin', creepy crawly icky feeling that makes me want to scream and climb the nearest piece of furniture.


But the darn things LOVE me! It's like if you don't like cats and you visit your great aunt and twenty of her cats are purring and kneading your lap the whole time. It's like that, except the bugs are trying to eat me alive.

Even the strictly vegetarian ones will give up their lives of veggie-eunichism to come have their fill of my sweet, sweet blood.

Oh, and if you've forgotten, I live in the Amazon rain forrest. We've got bugs.
Current population is: Ants (so tiny you can barely see 'em, pretty tiny and completely invading and devouring anything remotely sweet or protein based in my kitchen, regular U.S. sized ones that live somewhat peacefully in the yard until they are on my sandal clad feet (then the biting commences), larger leaf cutter ants that love to show you how unproductive your life is as they cut, carry and devour an entire hibiscus flower... or bush, and these huge purpley/brown ones with ginormous heads and mandibles that look like tin snips, weird brown mole-like half mutant termite/ant crosses from a misguided bio-engineering program.....and that's just the ants. We also are trying to break the Guiness Book's record for largest number of Daddy longlegs in a single habitable residence (our ceilings are really high, so they're difficult to reach). We've seen so many beetles that we really only notice them if they have big rhino horns. One of those stayed on our screen the entire day last December 25th.
Natasha now asks, "Will we have a Christmas beetle visit us again next year?"

Oh, let's not forget the other arthropods: scorpions, silver dollar sized spiders that come out at night and crawl through the grass (or under our front door), a plethora of moths and butterflies (finally something fun!), ticks, fleas, centipedes, millepedes. If you've seen it on Discovery Channel, we can probably find it on our 4,000 square foot bit of land here in Santa Cruz.

Friday, April 17

Here's your sign

A friend, Kristal, has a cute etsy shop where she sells customized handmade distressed affordable signs. I love them! And now if you leave a comment today on her blog, you might win two of them. Or, you can just buy one!! There affordable, like I said.

Wishing I was in Clatskanie

This weekend a lot of people I really, really love will be gathering in Clatskanie to talk, laugh, remember, cry and mourn Todd Howard. Oh how I wish I was going to be there!

Todd has been like a big brother to me for over 20 years. His family graciously--almost scandalously!--took my dad in as a border when we made the move from Woodburn to Clatskanie in the late '80s. Houses were really hard to find and Dad had to report for work, so instead of living in a hotel for a few months, Todd's mom, Jeanette, offered an extra room at her house. I felt really weird and uncomfortable about this. After a few visits to Clatskanie as a family, however, it was clear to all that we were destined to be surrogate extended families.

Todd was ten years older than I was and a nineteen year old to a nine year old makes for a strong impression! The same went for my brother. If I was at my parents's house I'd dig up photo after photo of us together for countless Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas celebrations--along with just as many hunting trips.

Todd was like most big brothers to me: relentless teasing, hugs, fun, driving too fast, words of advice, the occasional misunderstanding or disagreement, but most of all I knew that no matter what, He loved me like a sister and always would. I knew that he was proud of me. I knew that he cared.

It is strange and surreal to be over 5,700 miles away when someone you love has passed away. The hardest part is knowing that so many people I love are hurting and grieving together. I wish I could be a part of all the story telling, photo sharing, service planning and hugs. I don't always know what to say, but I always have a hug ready. I'd give one to Jeanette and Tracey, Mom, Dad and Mike, Don and Fran...and there's no way my eyes would be dry as they are now because my heart can't seem to accept that he's gone.

One thing I do know is this...he is not here. He is with our Lord.

I love you, Todd.

Snapshots


I wanted everyone to see this girl's beautiful curls. They are such a foreign idea to me that I'm constantly touching them to make sure they're real. And apparently, she really liked my lasagne.

Ah, a clear picture of Elias. He decided to dress himself today. This is such a step in the right direction--He wanted to get dressed. He did it himself. He was very proud of his humorous choice. I decided to just go with it. Backwards uniform shirt, spaceship pajama pants and all. And I do mean all....as in commando.

After an afternoon of playing "makeover" with Mommy, we had a little photo shoot. I labled this one "Daddy, Get your gun."

And this is here to remind me that through all the craziness and mayhem we have travelled and have yet to traverse, there are lucid and clean moments. I cherish them. (Even if they're all squinting and the taxi is honking outside our gate waiting for us.)

First things...

First things first: I am so sorry. For the few out there that actually read this blog, I have been a very poor contributor. Should this ever happen again (and you even care) please email me a very chastising, accusatory note...reminding me that this is the only way I will ever journal for posterity (i.e. my kids's future curiosity) what life was like for us.

There, I said it. Now let's get on with life!