Wednesday, June 15, 2011
He's Eleven
Yesterday was Alonzo's birthday. He is 11. How the heck did that happen? Surely he was only like 6 last year. Although there was no party I believe he had a great day. Dave was able to to take most of the day off, he had few things at work that couldn't be avoided, but was able to get back home quickly so he and Alonzo could hang out together.
We went to African Habitat gift shop where he picked out a a cool little statue of a woodpecker, then out to lunch for pizza. For dinner he requested Dad's special chicken nuggets, the ones that taste like Chick-Fil-A only better, and fresh green beans cooked so they taste like the canned ones. I am guessing I'm not the only one missing convenience foods. I make almost everything we eat here from scratch. My sister-in-law called to ask what kind of foods we were missing so she could stock the pantry for our visit and my answer was anything that comes in a cardboard box from the freezer section. Fish sticks and tator tots, Yummy!
Most of the day was spent playing video games. He played by himself, against dad, and with his bothers. This is a rare treat, I am usually the video game nazi queen. If the sun is shining no video games, if it is a school night no video games, if you are fighting with your brother no video games. To have all day access to the video games is a huge deal around here. The highlight of the day was finally beating a few of Dad's high scores on some of Wii fit Plus games. Dad's not worried, he says now he has something to do while we are in the states, reclaim his titles.
Of course no birthday is complete without cake and presents. Alonzo asked for a snake cake. If you do a google search for snake cakes you will come up with some very cool cakes, but I am in Africa and the confectioners sugar, or icing sugar as they call it here, is much coarser than the stuff in the states. It doesn't make great decorators frosting. It is always gritty no matter what I do. One of these days I am going to have to try making cooked buttercream where you whip hot boiled sugar syrup into eggs so I don't have to worry about finding or ordering decent confectioners sugar. It is supposed to be great stuff, but a birthday cake is no place for experimentation so I played it safe. I triple sifted the sugar and did the best I could. I opted out of a sculpted cake that I might otherwise try and stuck with a basic chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and used Wilton's decorator frosting to create a snake. The texture of the frosting was still gritty but the end product lived up to the expectations of a happy 11 year old.
After stuffing his face full of cake he finally got around to checking his e-mail where he got happy birthday messages from family and found an e-mail from dad.
Yep! Alonzo will soon be the newest member of the Cyberbones toe shoe club.
We went to African Habitat gift shop where he picked out a a cool little statue of a woodpecker, then out to lunch for pizza. For dinner he requested Dad's special chicken nuggets, the ones that taste like Chick-Fil-A only better, and fresh green beans cooked so they taste like the canned ones. I am guessing I'm not the only one missing convenience foods. I make almost everything we eat here from scratch. My sister-in-law called to ask what kind of foods we were missing so she could stock the pantry for our visit and my answer was anything that comes in a cardboard box from the freezer section. Fish sticks and tator tots, Yummy!
Most of the day was spent playing video games. He played by himself, against dad, and with his bothers. This is a rare treat, I am usually the video game nazi queen. If the sun is shining no video games, if it is a school night no video games, if you are fighting with your brother no video games. To have all day access to the video games is a huge deal around here. The highlight of the day was finally beating a few of Dad's high scores on some of Wii fit Plus games. Dad's not worried, he says now he has something to do while we are in the states, reclaim his titles.
Of course no birthday is complete without cake and presents. Alonzo asked for a snake cake. If you do a google search for snake cakes you will come up with some very cool cakes, but I am in Africa and the confectioners sugar, or icing sugar as they call it here, is much coarser than the stuff in the states. It doesn't make great decorators frosting. It is always gritty no matter what I do. One of these days I am going to have to try making cooked buttercream where you whip hot boiled sugar syrup into eggs so I don't have to worry about finding or ordering decent confectioners sugar. It is supposed to be great stuff, but a birthday cake is no place for experimentation so I played it safe. I triple sifted the sugar and did the best I could. I opted out of a sculpted cake that I might otherwise try and stuck with a basic chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and used Wilton's decorator frosting to create a snake. The texture of the frosting was still gritty but the end product lived up to the expectations of a happy 11 year old.
After stuffing his face full of cake he finally got around to checking his e-mail where he got happy birthday messages from family and found an e-mail from dad.
Happy Birthday !!!!
They will be waiting for you at Uncle Danny’s house
Yep! Alonzo will soon be the newest member of the Cyberbones toe shoe club.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Slightly Confused
Grayson is wandering around the house singing very loudly and off key "Country roads take me home to the place where I live."
In an attempt to share a bit of musical interesest with his baby boy David pulled up John Denver on itunes and played the original Take Me Home Country Roads. Grayson enjoyed it but when it was over he insisted that John Denver had the words wrong. Quote, "He doesn't know the real song does he, right?"
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Paperwork Nightmares
Paperwork is the bane of the Foreign Service life, it is however a necessary evil, and as such is the subject of this week’s FS Weekly Blog Roundup. Becky at Small Bits is hosting this week so make sure to click over on Friday to read about all the paperwork that goes hand in hand with living the FS life.
I am very, very lucky in that my husband, the employee, has control freak tendencies when it comes to paperwork so I rarely have to deal with it at all. He does it all for us. Just one more reason I love him.
Right now we are dealing with two ongoing paperwork issues. One issue concerns Dakota, and the other one concerns our pets. To be fair only one of those paperwork issues is State generated but both are beyond belief frustrating.
Let's start with the animals. Due to all sorts of things going wrong our animals ended up being left behind at my mother's house last summer. I am one of those people who is never really truly happy without her fur kids, so number one priority this summer is getting the cat and possibly the puppy* to post. The problem is the animals are in Texas, and due to heat issues they can't fly as accompanied baggage or cargo this time of year, it’s simply too hot. No problem! We'll take the cat in-cabin as a carryon, not ideal considering the length of the flight, but better than no cat. The other half of the problem occurs when the flight lands in Africa, Johannesburg does not allow animals to arrive in cabin, they must arrive as cargo. ARRRGH! I know of at least one other family going round in circles trying to get their animals to Malawi. You would think no one had ever brought a pet to post before. There has got to be a way to get at least the cat here with us. I am hoping for a miracle in the next 6 weeks.
The other paperwork issue is even more frustrating. As long term readers know Dakota left for bootcamp in early December. When a diplokid grows up and heads off to college they get a college shipment. It is a small shipment, only 250 pounds, but enough to at least get their clothes and a few personal items to campus. Recruits are not allowed to take anything to bootcamp, so we didn’t even think about this at the time. Now that bootcamp is over Dakota would really like to have his stuff back. We really didn’t think it would be a problem to get stuff sent to him using the college shipment, we were wrong. Why we thought anything would ever be simple I have no earthly idea.
To start with Dakota left Malawi on Navy orders, with a ticket bought by the Navy. Standard procedure for recruits reporting to bootcamp. We had no idea what a headache this would cause later. When we tried to arrange for the shipment we were told he isn’t eligible for a shipment since he is still at post. Explaining that he isn’t at post but in the states serving in the Navy didn’t get us far. There were no orders cut, no ticket bought with State funds, therefore he is still at post and doesn’t need a shipment. David has had this conversation in many forms, with many different people, and at this point it doesn’t appears as if this situation is going to be resolved any time soon. I will be hand carrying the most important items home with me this summer, and that may be all he gets. I know it is bit unusual, but surely Dakota isn’t the first diplobrat in history of the Foreign Service to join the military rather than heading off to college, there has to be some way to get his junk our of our house and off to his barracks room.
If anyone out there has any idea how to solve either issues please Please PLEASE let us know!
*The cat we have had for 10 years and he is much beloved. The puppy was a new addition to the family last summer but at this point is no longer a puppy and has never been around kids, except for a brief time last summer when he basically terrified of my boys, but he was a little puppy so he could be socialized and trained adapt to the kids. We will have to see how he handles the rowdy boys this summer, but also we have to consider that he is shorter than the gap under the security gate so he will be a high maintenance kind of pet, never able to go outside alone or even off leash. There are packs of scary dogs and the occasional hyena that roam the streets around here at night. It would be bad to have to explain to the kids that a hyena ate their dog. I am thinking we will be finding him a good, loving home this summer. Anyone want a not-a-puppy-anymore Japanese Chin?
I am very, very lucky in that my husband, the employee, has control freak tendencies when it comes to paperwork so I rarely have to deal with it at all. He does it all for us. Just one more reason I love him.
Right now we are dealing with two ongoing paperwork issues. One issue concerns Dakota, and the other one concerns our pets. To be fair only one of those paperwork issues is State generated but both are beyond belief frustrating.
Let's start with the animals. Due to all sorts of things going wrong our animals ended up being left behind at my mother's house last summer. I am one of those people who is never really truly happy without her fur kids, so number one priority this summer is getting the cat and possibly the puppy* to post. The problem is the animals are in Texas, and due to heat issues they can't fly as accompanied baggage or cargo this time of year, it’s simply too hot. No problem! We'll take the cat in-cabin as a carryon, not ideal considering the length of the flight, but better than no cat. The other half of the problem occurs when the flight lands in Africa, Johannesburg does not allow animals to arrive in cabin, they must arrive as cargo. ARRRGH! I know of at least one other family going round in circles trying to get their animals to Malawi. You would think no one had ever brought a pet to post before. There has got to be a way to get at least the cat here with us. I am hoping for a miracle in the next 6 weeks.
The other paperwork issue is even more frustrating. As long term readers know Dakota left for bootcamp in early December. When a diplokid grows up and heads off to college they get a college shipment. It is a small shipment, only 250 pounds, but enough to at least get their clothes and a few personal items to campus. Recruits are not allowed to take anything to bootcamp, so we didn’t even think about this at the time. Now that bootcamp is over Dakota would really like to have his stuff back. We really didn’t think it would be a problem to get stuff sent to him using the college shipment, we were wrong. Why we thought anything would ever be simple I have no earthly idea.
To start with Dakota left Malawi on Navy orders, with a ticket bought by the Navy. Standard procedure for recruits reporting to bootcamp. We had no idea what a headache this would cause later. When we tried to arrange for the shipment we were told he isn’t eligible for a shipment since he is still at post. Explaining that he isn’t at post but in the states serving in the Navy didn’t get us far. There were no orders cut, no ticket bought with State funds, therefore he is still at post and doesn’t need a shipment. David has had this conversation in many forms, with many different people, and at this point it doesn’t appears as if this situation is going to be resolved any time soon. I will be hand carrying the most important items home with me this summer, and that may be all he gets. I know it is bit unusual, but surely Dakota isn’t the first diplobrat in history of the Foreign Service to join the military rather than heading off to college, there has to be some way to get his junk our of our house and off to his barracks room.
If anyone out there has any idea how to solve either issues please Please PLEASE let us know!
*The cat we have had for 10 years and he is much beloved. The puppy was a new addition to the family last summer but at this point is no longer a puppy and has never been around kids, except for a brief time last summer when he basically terrified of my boys, but he was a little puppy so he could be socialized and trained adapt to the kids. We will have to see how he handles the rowdy boys this summer, but also we have to consider that he is shorter than the gap under the security gate so he will be a high maintenance kind of pet, never able to go outside alone or even off leash. There are packs of scary dogs and the occasional hyena that roam the streets around here at night. It would be bad to have to explain to the kids that a hyena ate their dog. I am thinking we will be finding him a good, loving home this summer. Anyone want a not-a-puppy-anymore Japanese Chin?
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Petty Officer
Yesterday I got a phone call from Dakota. That in and of itself wasn't all that unusual he calls at least one a week. It was a bit strange that he called midweek. Generally his school and the time difference make midweek phone calls a rarity. He called because he had to tell someone that he made rank. I am now the proud momma of a Petty Officer Third Class.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Kelly Kits
Kelly is one of my dearest friends back in San Antonio. I literally wouldn't have survived the initial pack-out and move to DC without her, she totally held my hand during the whole sell the house thing. Thank heavens for good friends! I am really looking forward to seeing her and the rest of the gang this summer. Girls night out here I come, but that's not what this post is about.
Kelly is not only a great friend, but a talented artist, a mom, and now a business woman. She started her own business called Kelly Kits selling self-contained art kits. Everything you need to complete an variety of art projects with your child is included. Currently she offers two kits, each with five different art activities ranging from printmaking to sculpting. It would be a great item for a babysitter, scout leader, homeschooler or just to keep your kids busy for a little while this summer.
It would also be a great item to order for your kids as you head out to a new post. How nice would it be to have an all-inclusive art kit arrive in DPO* the first week at a new post while you are waiting for all the kids toys to show up in your HHE? They could enjoy creating some art and use it to start decorating their new rooms. What a nice way to spend a few hours that first rough week or two.
Kelly appeared earlier today on the local TV show SA Living. Check out this video of her appearance and get a peek at some of the activities in the kits.
If you have, or know someone with kids, a Kelly Kit would be great fun.
Kelly is not only a great friend, but a talented artist, a mom, and now a business woman. She started her own business called Kelly Kits selling self-contained art kits. Everything you need to complete an variety of art projects with your child is included. Currently she offers two kits, each with five different art activities ranging from printmaking to sculpting. It would be a great item for a babysitter, scout leader, homeschooler or just to keep your kids busy for a little while this summer.
It would also be a great item to order for your kids as you head out to a new post. How nice would it be to have an all-inclusive art kit arrive in DPO* the first week at a new post while you are waiting for all the kids toys to show up in your HHE? They could enjoy creating some art and use it to start decorating their new rooms. What a nice way to spend a few hours that first rough week or two.
Kelly appeared earlier today on the local TV show SA Living. Check out this video of her appearance and get a peek at some of the activities in the kits.
If you have, or know someone with kids, a Kelly Kit would be great fun.
*I'm not sure how much liquid is in a kit so I didn't say pouch, only DPO. I will be checking with Kelly and updating this post once I know if it will meet pouch restrictions. My guess would be that it is fine. I can't imagine that a kit has more than 16 ounces of liquid.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
This Is My Life
It's no secret that Colin aspires to grow up to be Jeff Corwin or Dr. Brady Barr. He spend hours watching Nat Geo Wild and the Discovery Channel. He memorizes animal books. If I want to know what kind of pretty bird is in the back yard I ask the kid. He won't tell just me it is kingfisher, instead he will tell me it is a MALACHITE kingfisher. Then he will give me a run down on similar species, how to tell them apart, diet, and habits. He can happily entertain himself for hours with a pair of binoculars or a camera stalking the animals in our yard. He isn't happy just catching a turtle. He has to know that it is a Bell's Hingeback Tortoise.
You would think all this focus would be a good thing. And it would be if he would stay focused on birds, turtles, lizards and other non-scary, relatively harmless creatures. His new fascination is spiders. Big hairy spiders! Baboon Spiders! I have mentioned previously how I feel about these things. He is even using the spiders to terrify his big brother, going so far as to put a spider in his shoe. EEEKKKK! I will be checking my shoes from now on or maybe only wearing flip-flops. Have you ever seen the movie Arachnophobia? I haven't, and after the last week I don't feel like I need to, I have lived it.
He will scoop up a spider with his bare hands and then let it walk all over him while he continues to hunt for more spiders. It is at once fascinating and horrifying. No one can figure out why he doesn't seem to get bit. His brothers and the maid's 3 daughters follow him around the yard as he collects more and more spiders in a sort of macabre parade, although no one else seems anxious to have the spiders crawl on them. I have lost count of the number of times he has walked up behind me and said "Mom?" just so I will turn around and find him with a huge sider sitting on his head or clinging to the side of his face. I know I shouldn't scream but I do, every time, which of course just eggs him on. I can't help it, I HATE spiders.
I tried to take a video of Colin today when he had only (ONLY!) two (TWO!) spiders on him. I figured I could handle it, but I didn't count on 9 year old little boy humor. Check it out. Unless I can get Dave to take some video this is all there is because I'm not voluntarily getting this close to Colin and his horrifying hoard of arachnids ever again. Oh, and for the record I make him release them AWAY from the house every evening before he comes in for dinner. There will be no repeat of Stanley with a baboon spider. Stanley the camel spider was kinda cute, these things are....ICK!
You would think all this focus would be a good thing. And it would be if he would stay focused on birds, turtles, lizards and other non-scary, relatively harmless creatures. His new fascination is spiders. Big hairy spiders! Baboon Spiders! I have mentioned previously how I feel about these things. He is even using the spiders to terrify his big brother, going so far as to put a spider in his shoe. EEEKKKK! I will be checking my shoes from now on or maybe only wearing flip-flops. Have you ever seen the movie Arachnophobia? I haven't, and after the last week I don't feel like I need to, I have lived it.
He will scoop up a spider with his bare hands and then let it walk all over him while he continues to hunt for more spiders. It is at once fascinating and horrifying. No one can figure out why he doesn't seem to get bit. His brothers and the maid's 3 daughters follow him around the yard as he collects more and more spiders in a sort of macabre parade, although no one else seems anxious to have the spiders crawl on them. I have lost count of the number of times he has walked up behind me and said "Mom?" just so I will turn around and find him with a huge sider sitting on his head or clinging to the side of his face. I know I shouldn't scream but I do, every time, which of course just eggs him on. I can't help it, I HATE spiders.
I tried to take a video of Colin today when he had only (ONLY!) two (TWO!) spiders on him. I figured I could handle it, but I didn't count on 9 year old little boy humor. Check it out. Unless I can get Dave to take some video this is all there is because I'm not voluntarily getting this close to Colin and his horrifying hoard of arachnids ever again. Oh, and for the record I make him release them AWAY from the house every evening before he comes in for dinner. There will be no repeat of Stanley with a baboon spider. Stanley the camel spider was kinda cute, these things are....ICK!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Cultural Differences
One of the great things about living overseas is experiencing different cultures, and for me that often takes the form of food. So far I haven't had much experience with Malawi foods. Okay, that isn't totally true. I have had some utterly delicious meals at Nature's Gift Permaculture center when I was taking classes out there. They really need to convince Carol to start offering cooking classes, I would be first in line to sign up. Otherwise, I haven't really had a chance to try much in the way of Malawi cuisine.
To be honest after I found one of the guards collecting these for lunch one day,
and different guard collecting these for dinner one evening,
and my maid collecting these for dinner tonight,
I'm really not all that anxious to experience more of Malawi food.
Call me chicken if you want, it's all right with me. After all you are what you eat, and I had a very nice roast chicken for dinner.
To be honest after I found one of the guards collecting these for lunch one day,
and different guard collecting these for dinner one evening,
and my maid collecting these for dinner tonight,
I'm really not all that anxious to experience more of Malawi food.
Call me chicken if you want, it's all right with me. After all you are what you eat, and I had a very nice roast chicken for dinner.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Last First Tooth and a Spider Too
Today Grayson lost his first tooth. He's my baby. This is the last first tooth any of my babies will loose. It's the beginning of the end of an era.
He looks so darn cute with the little gap in front.
Tonight while I was cooking dinner Colin walked in the backdoor, I heard him giggle, he was happy about something. In hindsight that giggle had an evil sound to it. I turned around to find this in his hand.
That my friends is a baboon spider. In other words an African tarantula. A real live nightmare that lives in my backyard.
I screamed, the boys, including my husband, made fun of me, then took the little horror outside for a photo shoot. Oh thank God they took it outside! Apparently it is a budding spider super model because David took dozens of pictures while it obligingly posed. Meanwhile I decided I was too traumatized to continue cooking, poured myself a glass of wine, turned off the oven, and figured it was about time I updated the blog. Everybody managed to feed themselves so I guess it was a reasonable reaction.
No one was bitten, I have no idea why. I know for darn certain that if I ever lost my mind and tried to pick one of these up I would end up getting bitten and probably die on the spot. Here are a few of the pictures so you can have nightmares too.
He looks so darn cute with the little gap in front.Tonight while I was cooking dinner Colin walked in the backdoor, I heard him giggle, he was happy about something. In hindsight that giggle had an evil sound to it. I turned around to find this in his hand.
That my friends is a baboon spider. In other words an African tarantula. A real live nightmare that lives in my backyard.
I screamed, the boys, including my husband, made fun of me, then took the little horror outside for a photo shoot. Oh thank God they took it outside! Apparently it is a budding spider super model because David took dozens of pictures while it obligingly posed. Meanwhile I decided I was too traumatized to continue cooking, poured myself a glass of wine, turned off the oven, and figured it was about time I updated the blog. Everybody managed to feed themselves so I guess it was a reasonable reaction.
No one was bitten, I have no idea why. I know for darn certain that if I ever lost my mind and tried to pick one of these up I would end up getting bitten and probably die on the spot. Here are a few of the pictures so you can have nightmares too.
OMG do you see those FANGS?!?!?!
The seductive pose.
I think it is smiling with its eyes.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
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