peach soup

We took my parents out to dinner last night to thank them for letting us use their van while we waited for our cars to make it across the Atlantic. We went to China Road and came back here for dessert and show them our house.

My peach souffles turned out to be more like peach soup in little ramekins. While they were baking Yago chased the midget through the kitchen and they collapsed. There were two left standing when Schmitty ran through, he took care of those. They bubbled instead of cracked but I finished baking them, sprinkled them with sugar, and served them anyway. I didn't mind too much, I like my rambunctious boys.

Tonight we leave for OKC, we're going to a family reunion. It'll be a long drive but we always have fun. I'll be back Tuesday-ish. Happy Labor Day weekend!

lacking

Today I'm lacking. Lacking in motivation to work out, put things away and recycle.

It was storming out this morning, complete with thunder and lightning so I drove Schmitty to school. Ralph has been a bear since he woke up and when I put him down for a nap I didn't feel like running downstairs and, well, running. I should though.

I've been trying to figure out how I require so much closet space when I don't feel like I have a lot of clothes. I can't find a way to neatly organize everything. Why do we have so many blankets? What are we going to do with them all? It's ridiculous.

I'm also lacking a lemon to make peach souffles for dessert tonight. I'll have to pick that up later because I don't feel like going out in public right now. (Note: I'm not very good at making souffles. They never turn out right but that doesn't keep me from trying.)

Tomorrow we're leaving for Oklahoma City to go to a family reunion. I should be doing laundry and packing. Ugh. I've done a lot but I don't feel like I've accomplished anything. There are still huge piles that look only slightly diminished.

I really love our house though. I really think it's perfect for us, I just wish everything was unpacked and decorated. (We got rid of the boxes but not all the piles.)

secret's out

I guess it's not really a secret that kids can be a giant pain in the behind. After enduring and afternoon of errands with Ralph yelling at me almost the whole time, I got home and discovered he'd lost a sandal somewhere along the way. I'm not even attempting to retrace my steps.

This morning on the walk back from school he threw his sippy cup out of the stroller. Of course I don't know where it is, I just know it wasn't in his stroller when we got home.

I really don't think he likes me.

i did it!

I finally finished reading The Three Musketeers! Holy crap, it took a long time. I was reading that book when I was pregnant. Most of my readers will remember me lugging it around last summer when I spent a couple months in the states while my husband was on vacation (in Iraq).

I want to run (on my treadmill) today but I'm seriously lacking energy and motivation.

Oh, something else we did that I didn't think was possible... we emptied all the moving boxes. That's not to say everything is in it's place yet but we're having all the boxes picked up this afternoon. It's mostly credited to Yago's herculean efforts.

Well, I've only got a few more minutes of Ralph's naptime to enjoy so I'm going to go do something.

complete chaos

I hate moving. The initial euphoria felt after receiving the phone call that our stuff was here has been replaced by inundation. I feel like I'm drowning in crap, my crap.

Yago has spent hours posting books and DVDs on swaptree. That makes him happy but I'm still feeling completely overwhelmed.

We found our scale last night. In two months my hair has grown about 7 lbs. I can't think of any other explanation. Ugh. Yago and I are starting the ol' diet program today but he is much more fastidious about it. He logs every calorie consumed or burned where as I procrastinate and forget. He also burns 600+ calories riding his bike to work which means he can eat a lot more than I can. It really stinks come dinner time when I don't feel full and he's drinking a beer and eating his second helping. Sigh.

big day

Yesterday, we went to the airshow and saw the Thunderbirds. It was a lot of fun, mostly because Schmitty had such a good time. Ralph startled when a jet flew by and ran to Schmitty, hugged him and buried his head in Schmitty's belly. It was very funny.

I got a good sunburn on the backs of my legs. Yago noticed I was burning and I applied SPF 50 but it was too little too late. My ears and neck got it pretty good too. The boys were slathered up good and early so they're fine.

Today's the first day of school. We walked. Oh my goodness. We left at 8:15 and I got home at 9:30. Pushing Tubby in his stroller, on the grass, at a side incline, up and down hills... not the best way to start my day. And I'm supposed to do it again this afternoon? I'm reconsidering my options, already. We showed up all sweaty and panting. It was actually a little humorous.

I enjoy the mornings with Schmitty and don't want to spend it with him sitting behind me in a car. I think it's mostly because of how much I hated dropping him off at daycare when he was two and three years old. Now I enjoy our talks in the morning. Eventhough Ralph is there, he's usually pretty quiet in his stroller and it feels like it's just Schmitty and me.

There was a parent that was walking her child in to the school wearing pajama pants. I absolutely hate people wearing pjs out in public. We went to Panera Bread for breakfast yesterday and a guy was wearing his Husker pajama bottoms. It's so tacky, I don't understand it. It doesn't pass as clothes and it's not cute. Please, let's put a stop to it.

waffle wednesday

Last night after dinner Yagopuchae attached Tubby's bike trailer to my bike and so began Waffle Cone Wednesday. We rode our bikes to the ice cream parlor/Subway down the street on the corner. (It's a Subway restaurant that has an ice cream counter.)

I have to say I was nervous about riding my bike, especially towing Tubby. I also don't think I've ever ridden along a road with real traffic. (And as stated in yesterday's post, there's no shoulder.) Anyway, we all got there and back in one piece and Ralph loved it.

I got my windshield fixed today and I'm really happy with the result. Now I can get my car registered and people can stop staring at my European plates.

Tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation, I'm a little sad. I'll miss hanging out with Schmitty.

you must be kidding

I've had a relatively busy day. After I went to lunch with my sister I stopped by Schmitty's school to see who his teacher was going to be. I also wanted to talk to someone about the bus situation.

I politely asked the front office what I could do about getting Schmitty on a bus. I found out the back corner of my subdivision is over 1.5 miles away and gets transportation. I asked if it would be possible for Schmitty to get on the bus if it wasn't full. Nope. I can try to enroll him in a different school outside our district that is further away. Then I could qualify for a bus. But, I argued, I want him to go to this school for several reasons that I researched and I live in this district. He's seven years old and there's no sidewalk or safe way for him to walk. There's not a shoulder or anything and it's 1.3 miles each way. If I walk with him I'll have a baby and a stroller and still no sidewalk. I don't get it. There's a bus that runs a few blocks from where I live that comes here that would be safer. Why can't he get on the bus is there's room? Nope. Liability issues. Is there a waiver process? (Can you tell I'm former military?) Nope.

It really doesn't make any sense to me. I'm trying not to think about it too much because the more I think about it the more extreme my thoughts get. (Keep reading.)

I also took Sam to a piano lesson today. Mrs. Meyer complimented him several times on being a good listener. She said, "I bet you like to read, don't you?" He said it was one of his favorite things. She asked him if he had all his school supplies ready for school and I told her that the school said they're providing everything this year and didn't give me a list. Mrs. Meyer said it was because of a lawsuit a few years back where a father said if he paid taxes and sent his kids to public school everything should be provided. He apparently won. That got me to thinking about suing for a safe walk to school.

I know it's not a big deal, I should just suck it up and drive him everyday like everyone else does. But I don't want to do that. It's not that I'm lazy, I walked him probably half a mile to the bus stop every single day in Germany. Happily. It's that they think it's okay for a kindergartener to walk 1.3 miles to school without a sidewalk? They keep harping on me about carpooling but I don't have a huge SUV or minivan. There's space for one more kid in my car, that's it. And when I walked Isaiah to the bus stop last year his mom was always late. Serenity now. I need to stop thinking about it.

son of a .... gun!

I went to St. Louis with Schmitty yesterday to pick up my car, woohoo! We flew out at 7:30 and arrived at 8:30. I'm not really sure why but I was on edge all day. It was an effort not to lose my cool for no particular reason which isn't the day I wanted to have. I got my car and we drove to the arch but there wasn't any parking, it was all roped off and plastered with no parking signs. I was thoroughly annoyed and left, I decided to just drive straight home (443 miles). I think I was cranky because I was tired, I can't think of any other reason. Maybe sometimes I don't need a reason...

Saturday afternoon/evening Yago and I tried our hand at canning tomatoes. We bought a big box of them at the farmer's market that morning and looked forward to preserving some fresh food for later use. We also shucked, cut from the cob and froze a couple dozen ears of corn. I just read Greek Tragedy and she canned fresh tomato sauce. She made it sound idealic and homey, she left out the part where you drop a slippery tomato on the floor and make a huge mess (stain) on an area rug or where you ruin a t-shirt. (It looks like I tried hacking a small cat to bits.) She also forgot to mention the part where at the end you wonder if you're doing it right and yell at your husband. Will the jars seal? Is it going to spoil because I accidentally touched something after it was sterilized.

And lets not forget about the pesky baby that wants to be in the kitchen with four pots of boiling water on the stove and all sorts of things to get in to. I guess her twins are more boring than my Ralph.

I almost forgot the best (worst) part of my story about picking up my car. I was within NINE miles of home when a construction vehicle in front of me kicked a rock up on to my windshield. I have a big ding and crack in my windshield. Grrr.

My Aunt Rita came to visit for the weekend. I wish we'd been able to spend more time together, she's pretty funny. Sometimes I'd like to go back to NY to visit but I don't have anyone to stay with, I'm not really close to any family back there anymore. It's been years since I've been back and seen people.

Time to make Schmitty breakfast and enjoy the few moments left before Ralph wakes up.

i called it

As predicted, I've been compulsively checking my email to see if the biological has responded with updated contact information. He hasn't. I need the info to have him served with paperwork but I know he doesn't much care.

I'm trying to just relax about it. I'll give the lawyer the address from Dec 06 and we'll take it from there. If he doesn't respond it probably won't matter anyway. The lawyer said even if he tried to contest it (which I REALLY don't anticipate) it'd be hard for him because he hasn't been involved whatsoever in the child's life.

In other news, my Aunt Rita is coming to town to visit for a weekend. We're all going to Mistress of Moomoo's house for enchiladas, I'm bringing stuff for peach mojitos. Yago and I realize we can't drink the whole pitcher ourselves this time, that was one nasty hangover!

I got Schmitty a couple of 3rd Grade workbooks to do, he's less than thrilled.

who says lawyers are all bad?

We found a lawyer in Florida that will take our case and says he can start right away. I'm VERY excited, I'm mean we're very excited. The only thing now is getting the biological father to email me back with updated contact information. That'll be a challenge.

I got Schmitty enrolled in school a couple of days ago. It's 1.3 miles away and the bus won't pick him up if he lives within 1.5 miles of the school. There isn't even a sidewalk for him to use, he'll have to walk along the side of the road. That irritates me. I guess a normal person would just drive back and forth everyday but I don't want to do that. I'm trying to teach and live conservation which leaves me one other option. I could walk with him to and from school everyday, a total of 5.2 miles everyday. That doesn't sound so great either, especially with Ralph.

I got a MESS of chigger bites a couple of weeks ago and I'm still scratching. I've never had chiggers before, it's awful! I can't even describe my misery a couple of Sundays ago. I had fullblown hives and was in tears it hurt/itched so bad.

We're meeting Yago for lunch today so I've got to get in the shower. Ciao!

adopting frustration

I'm spending the morning researching stepparent adoption. Yago and I started talking about it two and a half years ago and found that we couldn't do it while stationed overseas. I find it very frustrating that we could have adopted a baby from China but Yago couldn't adopt Schmitty while we were stationed in Germany. It ticks me off. (Seriously. My former boss adopted a daughter from China while we were there. There are provisions for that but there isn't a state that will consider jurisdiction in stepparent adoption while overseas.)

In Nebraska we have to wait until we've lived here a year, so we can start in 49 weeks. Ugh. I heard Oklahoma has some of the easiest adoption laws in the country and since Yago's from OK I called. The child has to live in OK for six months. Hmph. Now I'm waiting for a call back from an attorney in Florida, Yago is a legal resident of FL. This stinks.

It really irritates me that the delay is caused by Yago being in the military. If it weren't for that the adoption could have been done a couple of years ago.

Whew

We finally made it after many adventures and missteps. I can start with our last mass.

Schmitty and I were all psyched and ready to announce to the congregation that we were attending our last mass, they always ask new people to introduce themselves and leaving members to stand and say goodbye. Anyway, Schmitty was very excited and afraid the priest wouldn't ask if it was anyone's last mass before leaving. I had to reassure him several times that they always ask and we would stand up.

We didn't have our regular priest but toward the end of mass he asked the Huff family to come forward. Huh? Crap! I have no idea what you're supposed to do when you go up there! Everyone always bows when they approach the altar but I don't know if it's because they're part of mass or if you're supposed to bow within a certain distance of the altar... I go to church every Sunday but I have no idea what people are doing most of the time and don't know half the prayers. I just show up and take Schmitty to CCD.

Anyway, I got all nervous and flustered when the "Huff Family," consisting of only Schmitty and me, went up there and I started bowing and making the sign of the cross out of nervousness. I did't know what to do!!! The priest presented us with a plaque and thanked us for our service to the church. He said he felt a little strange because he didn't normally serve our church so he didn't know us but could tell we must have contributed an awful lot and been very involved for our congregation to want to say goodbye to us in such a way. Nope. Like I said, I don't even know half the prayers we say during mass. It was VERY embarrassing. I spent days thinking about it afterward, kind of kicking myself for looking like a retard up there not knowing what to do. Ugh.

Then, there was our last evening out in Germany. Yago and I went to the spa up the street from our house. That? Was an interesting night. It was a textile free sauna, I can't even describe it. Lots of naked people roaming around. Inside. Outside. You name it. There was an indoor/outdoor pool that you can go in. Basically skinny dipping in front of a couple hundred naked people. There were all sorts of different saunas, with different infused scents. One was a pretzel sauna, we went to that one and they poured some liquid on the hot rocks that really made it smell like a baking pretzel. Another one was chamomile or something and then you step back outside and rub rock salt all over yourself (for exfoliating purposes) and then go back in. It was crazy but fun.

Well, I'll save the Alburquerque and Topeka stories for another day.

We still don't have our furniture but we got our household goods so we have pots and pans and stuff like that. We really like our house, it was a good choice for us. I'm going to go look at a couple of schools today and figure out where to enroll Schmitty. I have to get on the ball because school starts next week!

Tchuss

Goodbye, Internet. We're packing up the computer and disconnecting everything. I'll have lots of stories to tell in a month or so. Our last mass here and the sauna are good ones to start with. Bye.

15 luv

Pete Sampras and Venus Williams we are not. The last two days Schmitty and I have gone to the tennis courts to play our version of tennis. It's more of a game of chasey chasey but we try.

The midget wanders around the courts completely unafraid. I guess he's comfortable in the knowledge that in the unlikely event one of us hits the ball over the net we couldn't hit him if we tried.

mojito mojo

Schmitty's party went off without a hitch on Saturday. We'll just say we were glad when it was over but we played lots of games. We played pin Schmitty on the map, fill the cup with spoonfuls of water, yard darts, water balloon toss, and make your own sundae.

The funniest part was after the water balloon toss we had a full on water balloon fight. One of the girls accidentally hit Yago in the privateers with a balloon. I saw it happen and the delayed reaction on his face. He fell to the ground and all the kids ran over and started bombarding him with water balloons. He was soaked and helpless, it was hilarious. Another mom and I just stood doubled over we were laughing so hard.

Last night Yago made homemade peach mojitos. He peeled and chopped the peaches, picked the mint from our backyard and I squeezed the limes. We stuck it in a blender and it was delicious! We drank 10 servings between the two of us. We were a teensy bit hungover this morning. Certainly worth it though. Well for me anyway, maybe not for Yago who had to ride his bike to work this morning. He also didn't get to sleep in until 9:00.

Yesterday, we shipped Yago's car. This week the gov't will start picking up appliances on loan to us like a fridge, washer, dryer and microwave. It's really happening. I hate moving.

You know, I was thinking about Mickity's comment on the Omaha mansion. I'd like to point out that she owns THREE properties.

Yago's inspection is over and they're receiving their debrief this morning. I'm making chocolate mint bars to take to his flight. I know Mistress of Moomoo would love them, I think I'll make them for her for her birthday or something.

I'm really hoping the weather holds out tomorrow for Schmitty's party. If not I don't know what we'll do. Yago is sooo NOT stressed about it. He doesn't feel the need to entertain them. "They're kids. They'll play and have fun." Man.

treading water

Today is the last day of school, Schmitty has a half day. Yesterday was the last piano lesson, we're done with baseball, CCD, and den meetings. Whew. Two more days of swim lessons.

Swim lessons. I'm kind of mad at myself about those. I somehow mistakenly put Schmitty in the same class he had last year which means he's not learning anything new. He can't really swim, he can stick his face in the water and kick really hard but he doesn't go anywhere. He pops up to breath, touches the bottom of the pool and pushes off again. It's my own fault because I told his teacher when I enrolled him that he was afraid of the water again since he hadn't been in a pool since last August. She put him in the Level 1 class again so he's not being pushed. He's the biggest kid in the class and he's fine with that.

shopping companion

I finally realized what I'm reminded of when I shop with Ralphie. Walking through a store with him holding my hand is like walking with E.T. He clomps around unsteadily, leaning too far left then too far right, and it reminds me of when the kids took E.T. trick or treating.

finders keepers

Oh my gosh! I almost lost Ralph today while mowing the lawn. I was mowing the back and he was hanging out with me. The bag on the mower filled up so I went out front to toss the clippings in the composter and went back to mowing. At some point I realized Ralph wasn't outside anymore but I wasn't too concerned. I figured he had wandered back in to the living room. Then I saw that I'd left the front door open! I went running in the house yelling Ralphie and then out the front door to the street. I didn't see him anywhere! Thankfully he popped out from around the entertainment center. Whew. I don't think Yago would be too happy with me if I lost him.