Wordy Wednesday-SIXTEEN!

My baby is 16 today!  I don't know how that happened because I know I am not old enough to be the mother of a 16 year old boy. Or would that be man?  Hmmm...

If we were still living in the states Dakota would be getting his drivers license this week and our insurance rates would be going through the roof.  Thank goodness we live overseas!  He has to be 18 to drive in Germany, YIPEE!  Two more years of not worrying if he wrecked the car.

Of course he had always hoped that he would get a car for his 16th birthday and I wouldn't want him to be disappointed so he is getting a car cake!  Hope he likes it.  I thought the road kill candy was a nice touch! 

In His World!

Friday afternoon I was at the boys swim lessons. In an effort to make Alonzo pay attention to his own swimming Coach Frankie had separated the boys. It didn't work even with a lane and a swimmer in between Alonzo continued to watch Colin instead of paying attention to his own strokes. In a burst of speed Alonzo finished a lap well ahead of Colin. He popped up out the water and announced, "I'm winning!"

"It's not a race." I reminded him for at least the 100th time.

Alonzo grinned back at me and replied, "In my world it is! It's a race and I'm winning!"

Guess it's all in how you look at it.

You can take the girl outta Texas....

Well this post proves that I may have moved to Indonesia but I am still me. It also explains why when I said I wanted to join the choir the choir director needed to "take a moment" actually I think he needed a stiff drink but that isn't such a good idea in church. Additionally it explains why this was such a very bad idea! I did however amuse a number of drivers hanging out in the carport because I forgot I had opened the window earlier in the day and they could hear me singing along with George.

Wordless Wednesday-Henna Tatoo

I've been blogged!

I spent Sunday afternoon with my bloggy friend Jenny enjoying a champagne brunch at the Ritz. I just love saying that! I had brunch at the Ritz! Ooo La La! I would post pictures but I forgot my camera, again. Darn! Fortunately she was better prepared and has posted pictures of all the fun! You can check it out at Jenny's blog, just click here. I can't wait to do it again (although with a bit less champagne, perhaps!) Next time we will take the kiddos so they can play at the kids club while we enjoy a grown up lunch. Everyone else's kids had a blast. My poor babies left out again.

Jenny has also posted some pictures of our first meet up at the St Patrick's Day Ball. You can see the group of us in all our fancy formal ball attire by clicking here. Jeez don't we look so elegant and lovely? That was so much fun, and I must say finally meeting Jenny and her friends in person made my evening.

Dirty Rotten Little Scoundrel

Anyone out there remember the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin?  There was a scene at the dinner table where he asked, "Excuse me, can I go to the bathroom?"  Then proceeds to pee in his dinner chair, smiles and says "Thank you."  

Well Grayson must be channeling Steve Martin!  We were at the club this morning for swimming lessons.  After the lessons were over and I had already changed him into dry clothes and we were on the way out when he announced (loudly) "Mommy! I need to pee!" I sighed and said "OK let's go".  The little monster stood there stared right at me and peed his pants then announces, "OK Mommy all done!"

You know, I didn't think it was funny in the movies either!

Wordless Wednesday-Spiderman Spiderman

I am a Bulldog!

I am still avoiding blogging the rest of spring break. We did so much more than visit the island and go to the botanical gardens. Soon I will post about the volcano, the hot spring pool, and Dave's visit to the realms of Dante. I will even include pictures, I promise.

In the mean time here is something fun I stole from my friend Jae:

Bulldog

The Comedian

You may look like the troublemaker of the pack, but it turns out your tough guy mug is worse than its bite. You're really a softie, loyal to your friends and family and A-OK with meeting new pooches, but you prefer to do so with a high-five instead of a paw-shake. Proud of your great sense of humor, you've got a whole litter of jokes you draw from to keep the mood playful and the positive energy alive. A perfect afternoon for you involves a leisurely stroll with a pal, followed by a little downtime in an easy chair with a frosty can of brew and a remote control within easy fetching distance. You shed accusations of being lazy, knowing perfectly well that you're kenneling the energy you might need for... well... something. Learn more »

FAMOUS BULLDOGS: Ellen DeGeneres, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Black, George W. Bush

LIKELY PROFESSIONS: Comedian, Firefighter, Racecar Driver, Bartender

What makes this funny is when I was a kid my first dog was a brindle bulldog named Momma Dog. She slept with me every night. She was the first in a long line of bulldogs we owned over the years. My parents even had a kennel breeding and showing bulldogs. I graduated from Marion High School home of the Bulldogs, and although I graduated college as a SWT Bobcat, my first two years of college were spent at TLC home of the Bulldogs. We even owned Telsey the school mascot. I used to take him to the games back when they had a football team. If I could have any breed of dog it would be an English Bulldog.

David wants me to note that he (like Jae) is a Labrador Retriever . Faithful and family oriented!

We Forgot the Camera!

Last night we went to the American club to see a performance by some belly dancers. We took Cody with us. Yes I took my teen age son to see belly dancers. It was really funny to watch him trying to look at them without looking like he was watching the show.

The lead dancer was staring at Cody so intently as she danced that people at the next table turned to see who she was looking at. When it came to the part of the show where they get the audience involved she walked straight to Cody. He was the first audience member pulled up onto the stage. The only down side is WE FORGOT THE CAMERA! No pictures of my baby with a scantly clad dancer trying to wiggle his hips and look cool.

There is only one solution. We will have to take him to Anatolia for his 16th birthday later this month. It's a fabulous Turkish restaurant and they have belly dancer's every Saturday, and this time we won't forget the camera!

I Love This Country!

Some days I just love Indonesia!

This week we discovered that Fluffy has been peeing on the library chairs. Yes, I have a library room (sorta) get over it. The only thing that is saving his cat life right now is that he peed on the chairs and not our oriental hand knotted rugs. (My husband has his Samsung flat panel TV, I have rugs!!) If the cat keeps this up I may leave his Big Fat Fluffy self in Kentucky. Teri if you are reading this disregard the previous sentence!!! I didn't mean to imply I was leaving him at YOUR house this summer.... OK maybe I did, but you are the self confessed crazy cat lady. He could give Kitten someone to play with.

To deal with the mess we called the upholstery cleaners to come fix it FAST! That was yesterday. Today they showed on time at 9 am with 3 men, 1 woman, buckets, scrub brushes, cleaning solution and a shop vac. OK for just a second I thought "I have a shop vac and stain remover" (absolutly NO idea why David shipped it to Jakarta but I have a shop vac), "I could have done this myself." Of course it would have taken at least 9 hours and created a huge mess. A mess so big Dwi would probably quit. They have been here less than an hour and are on the very last chair. I should mention that since they were here I decided to have them clean the dining room chairs** (all 8) and a couple of foot stools as well as the 2 smelly wing chairs. Two guys scrubbed with brushes, one ran the shop vac, the woman pretreated all the stains and sprayed water during the vacuuming out to make sure all the cleaning solution was removed. She also cleaned the wood work on the chairs and made sure to keep floor tidy where they were working. How much did this cost?? It was a little expensive by local standards: rp 45000 each for the 8 dining room chairs and the foot stools and rp 60000 each for the wing chairs. In American terms that is about $4.90 a dining room chair and $6.50 each for the wing chairs. Altogether less than $65. It would have cost hundreds of dollars in the states, they wouldn't have shown up on time, at it would have taken all day, and hopefully they would clean up the mess but I wouldn't count on it.


**Someone, somewhere in the state department decreed that all dining room chairs should be upholstered, preferably in cream or white brocade, instead of sensible plain wood. I devoutly hope that same person now has quadruplets all dripping spaghetti sauce, chocolate ice cream and purple koolaid onto those same upholstered chairs! First thing I am doing when we get to Frankfurt is making a trip to IKEA to buy cheap chairs for the kids to sit on so I don't have to worry about the stupid government property chairs!!

Blocked-Update

Youtube is back now.

Blocked!!!

I rarely have anything unfavorable to say about Indonesia. I have found it to be a place of incredible beauty, startling contrasts, and some of the nicest people anywhere. I am glad we came here and I will be incredibly sad when we leave. This weekend, however, I wasn't feeling so friendly. Here's the story.

Saturday I tried to view my blog (as I do EVERY morning just to see who has been there) and it wouldn't open. No problem. I got another cup of coffee and browsed some of the other blogs I check daily. After a bit I noticed a trend, none of the blogspot sites would open. "Blogger's down, again" I grumped at my husband (as if he could fix it). Shut down my computer and went on with the day. Later in the morning I checked back, still down. On a whim I tried getting to blogger's home page, it loaded fine. I could even get to my personal dashboard, I simply couldn't view my blog, or the blog of anyone else using blogger. Frustrated I called my husband (a.k.a. personal computer geek) to come check out the problem. Deep down I was worried it was another case of USER ERROR, the most common computer problem I encounter.

David said, "That's weird!" and after doing pretty much the same things I did, with the same results, he went to the help board and ran a search to see if anyone else was having problems. He quickly discovered the source of the problem: Indonesian Government! Apparently there is a recently passed law banning pornography and they are implementing web filters. As the parent of a teenage boy, I can tell you it isn't to work, he is way more computer savvy than a bunch of bureaucrats any day. Anyway blogger was a casualty of the filter. AAACCK! Oh No They Didn't! This is my sanity, my creative release, my link to home, family and friends. How dare anyone mess with THE BLOG!

Sulked all weekend. Periodically checked to see if it was working, no such luck. Finally Monday morning my blog reappeared, but when checking other blogs I noticed typepad was not accessible. Never have I more appreciated the freedoms we take so much for granted.

To amuse ourselves in the absence of THE BLOG over the weekend David and I watched the Achmed the Terrorist at youtube.com, really if you haven't seen this yet you MUST go to youtube immediately and watch it. It is just too too funny. "Silence, I kill you!" Oh my, I get the giggles just thinking about it. I would post it here for you but guess what?? Youtube isn't working. Quick google search. Youtube has been blocked because they refuse to remove videos critical of the Qoran. Myspace has also been blocked. I don't go to myspace often and I didn't think that youtube would affect me too much since I generally confine my computer addiction to blogging. I was wrong, every freaking blogger seems to use youtube to post videos on their blogs leaving big blank holes in their blogs when I view their pages.

I don't think every Indonesian supports this move, anymore than I think every American supports Bush. Some do, some don't. Oh well as Dakota says:
"It's no problem Mom, just use an epoxy site."

**Yes I know it is proxy NOT epoxy, but he doesn't, teehee.

Wordless Wednesday-Wheee! This is fun!

What were they thinking??

Last night David and I went for a walk, ALONE.  We left the little ones with Dakota for just 30 minutes while we had a little grown up time.  When returned we found this:

Wordless Wednesday-What's so interesting?

April Fool's Day

David thinks he is funny. Today was his day. This morning I stumbled out of bed, dragged myself downstairs, and dropped on the sofa clutching my coffee.

"Hillary dropped out of the race." Dave announced with glee.

"Uuuh, ok" I responded. David is morning person. I, obviously, am not.

"That's it? This is huge, it means Obama is the candidate. Do you think he can take McCain?" Dave seemed awfully excited for 5:45 am.

"I dunno" I answered wondering why I married a morning person. Thankfully about that time Grayson appeared and distracted David. I didn't catch on that it was April Fool's day until the boys were eating breakfast and David was trying to convince them that they have school this Saturday. You could practically see the light bulb go on over my head. When he left for work he was happily texting a coworker to see if he could hook another one with the Hillary line.

As for the boys, Alonzo claimed he knew it all along. Colin came home from school all upset he couldn't sleep over at his friend's house because he has school Saturday. Alonzo explained it all to him, "It's April Fool's DUH!"