The Costa Concordia On Better Days

I’ve been traumatized this week by the Titanic misadventures of the Costa Concordia. Just over one year ago, WE were on the Costa Concordia. It’s not just a tragic nautical accident. For some reason I’ve take it very personally and have suffered much distress.  Yes, all of those pleasure-seeking passengers have had a nightmare of a ride. (The boys asked me if they would be offered refunds.)  My heart goes out to every one of them. But I think what really worries me is the thought of the crew.   Yes, we took a cruise to see all of the famed cities at the ports of call, to be carelessly whisked across the Mediterranean in the lap of luxury. What we ended up doing was loving the time we spent interacting with the crew (our servers, cabin crew, Mariachi band members, pushy photographers, et al) who truly made the cruise memorable and eye opening.  To begin with, most of the crew, aside from the captain and the other ship officers, are citizens from third-world countries. They usually live in the bottom of the boat, in tight quarters, and don’t get to get off the boat when it stops. They work long hours, without holidays, and probably rarely see their families, to whom they faithfully send their paychecks. The worst part is that they have to deal with uppity cruise tourists, like us. They have to cook, clean, sing, wait on, smile endlessly, and much more, for probably pennies, (still more than they could make at home) and so they carry on. And now, the ship has sunk. So much lost.

Our dinner server, Marcus, from India

On a happier note…Each day I complain about the kitchen. I have strong words for it.  Hate is one of them. It actually got pretty cold this week. It really snowed…like two inches!  That was enough for me to put on my new snow boots.  Well, back to the kitchen. The cupboards, like the sink, were designed by a man, who apparently had night vision, because about 50% of the storage space receives NO light whatsoever. There could be a body back in there, and I wouldn’t know it. Anyway, since it was cold, the cupboards got cold. After finding a headlamp, I discovered that my olive oil had fogged up…in the cupboard. I hate my kitchen.  Only a few more months left!

Topic #3 The boys have started basketball. They are on the same team. Gus is the youngest, but he isn’t the smallest. I think he is doing quite well, though he still has an attention problem and is often staring off into space or goofing around when he shouldn’t be.  This brings me to our other sport d’jour: racquetball.  Thanks again to Liz, Matt and Jackie and Kelly for outfitting us with the needed things. Bryce has found something, other than Risk, to love!  I can’t stop laughing long enough at Andy to actually play. He is as proud as a peacock of his sweatbands. 

This year we decided to spend Christmas with Andy’s family, in Cache Valley. Woo Hoo!  On the way there we stopped in Boulder, dropped off the dog, and did a little skiing. I had forgotten how much I like skiing. I hope we end up some place where there is snow, and mountains.  (like Germany!)

We went to Preston first.  It was fun staying with Andy’s mom and siblings and meeting Liz’s new pet, Penny the bunny. She was a lot of fun for the boys, despite the shedding, and so soft.  Andy tried to teach the family some Tae Kwon Do moves. We went to Kings, Bob’s Mart, watched a Preston High School basketball game in the new gym (hilarious!), went sledding at the farm and spent a day in Logan shopping.  Andy was able to go with his friend Boone and chase cougars.

We spent Christmas Eve and Day with Andy’s dad in Logan. On Sunday morning we went to church with his dad. After being introduced, the  nice lady sitting in the pew in front of us turned to the boys and asked them if Santa had come and brought them any presents.  Bryce said, in a very solemn and serious voice, “No. My mom put a flame thrower up the chimney.”  Neither of the boys cracked or laughed.  After a long, awkward silence, the lady stammered, “Well, it must have been after he came to our house.”  Then she turned around and stopped talking to us. Andy tried to pretend he wasn’t part of our family.  I just hoped there weren’t any Santa-loving children listening. Maybe my ideals of Santa-free Christmas wasn’t turning out how I’d hoped.

We tried to have a decent family photo taken after church, but, I guess a nice picture would be totally out of character for us.  One of us is always messing up the picture. In the afternoon we visited with family. The boys had a great time playing with their cousin, shooting Nerf guns and wielding swords. Shirley was so nice to turn a blind eye, on top of feeding us fabulously.  Thank goodness they didn’t break anything.  Don’t take this the wrong way; it really was lovely spending the holiday with family. But for the sake of my nerves, veins and teeth, I think we’ll spend the next holiday at home.  Less potential for collateral damage.

For New Year’s, we celebrated alone. We missed spending the day with our friends, the Damschens!  We stayed in and watched old black-and-white Sherlock Holmes DVDs with the boys. We toasted with some sparkling apple cider, much like Apple Schorle, and were in bed in time to get up for church this morning.

I feel like 2011 was a whirlwind of a year, full of change, trips, travel, and a roller coaster of emotions with moving, working, and school. We were truly blessed and guided in all of our adventures.  (I surely wouldn’t have done it this way.)  And from where we stand, 2012 looks no different.  Ready or not, here we come!

The same boy who was talking about becoming a lawyer or DJ told me that once his mom made him go to a show about the Nutcracker where there was no talking and only music, and it was “sooo boring.”  Well, that’s pretty much what my boys thought about it after seeing it.  They were pretty good for the first half, but had a hard time lasting through the second part where there is just a display of the different dancers from around the world.  Conversely, Andy enjoyed the second part better since there was no ‘difficult’ storyline to follow, just dancing.  I can’t win with any of them.  At least they can say they’ve been to a ballet now.

School for the past two weeks was pretty wild as everyone was so excited about the break, and holiday parties, and stuff, but we all survived!  I’m tired of all of the candy and sweets already and we’ve still got a week to go. On Friday we packed up our things and on Saturday we headed to Colorado.  It was a long, boring drive. Kansas is so flat!  In a few days we’ll be on the road again, headed to Idaho and the wildest dreams that await us there.  55.

I love this time of year, especially in Germany, but it’s pretty nice everywhere, I guess. (What  I don’t like is the added stress of shopping, decorating, social obligations, etc.) I have so much to be thankful for at this time of year. It’s nice to have the boys old enough to pull out the tree and all of the decorations and set them up all on their own.  I love that my oldest son said it’s ok if all of his presents come after Christmas, as he realizes that we might not get a chance to get him what he wants in time.  (He should get extra presents for that !) And I love that the boys usually have only one thing on their ‘must have’ list, and tell me that if I get them so-and-so, I won’t have to get them anything else from their list.  And most of all, I’m lucky to have the greatest husband, who asks for little, eats anything, and takes good care of us, even when we’re naughty. Thanks, Sweets! XX

Gus: Mom, have you ever had a real job?

Mom: (While trying to suppress thoughts somewhere between “What are you talking about?” and “Were you born yesterday? and “As if being a mom wasn’t real enough”) Real like what?

Gus: Like a fireman, policeman or astronaut?

Mom: No.

Gus: I am so glad I’m not a girl!

So, am I to conclude that girls aren’t allowed to have the aforementioned jobs? What about the job I have now? Is it not real? Are there only three ‘real’ jobs in the entire world? Does “Mom” not count as job in his mind? Have I failed to drill into his head that every single day of my life is filled with WORK for him? Whose kid is this, anyway?

A few days later in the lions’ den (aka kindergarten classroom) several kids were having a discussion amongst themselves about what they hope to be when they grew up. One girl said she wanted to be a doctor. She is very studious at age 5, and will probably become one. The little boy I work with said he wanted to be a fireman. (Interesting, since he doesn’t like loud noise, unpredictability, or physical contact.) And my favorite…one boy said he was going to be a lawyer… or a DJ. Lovely!

And here’s a whirlwind summary of the past few weeks:

After Andy’s birthday, (we got him a TV for his birthday, though it came two weeks late), Bryce finally got his cast off, only to be put into a splint for four more weeks. The boys had an open house at the school, which was very cool. Their school is cool. All of the leaves fell off of the trees in the backyard, finally. My parents came for the Thanksgiving break. We picked up a turkey at a local farm, and spent some time visiting with the farm family. It was a nice visit. We went out for Thai food, Mexican food, and of course, KC BBQ. We visited Liberty, MO, and Adam-Ondi-Ahman. For Thanksgiving, we ate our 26 lbs. turkey and invited our neighbors from Bangladesh over for dinner. The boys put up the Christmas decorations. We visited the National WWI Museum and Monument. (Usually I hate places like that, but I actually enjoyed this museum.) We replaced the Wii that we made the boys sell when we left Germany, to go with the new TV. We watched the movie Johnny English, Reborn, and all loved it. We had a great time while my parents visited, and were sad to see them go. The boys both said their favorite thing about having grandpa and grandma visit was making hats. I cannot disagree. My status as the favored daughter is now indisputable. Thanks for the hat, mom!

After my parents left, we resumed our crazy life. In our continued training for the Octagon, I’m proud to report that we are all undergoing testing to advance up from our white belts. Next step: flag pants! We took the dog to the vet, attended our ward Christmas party, and had tithing settlement. We went to the post tree lighting ceremony. It was a very “Whoville” experience. Last night we had a good time looking at clips from National Geographic Channel’s Big Cat Week and seeing our hero, Boone, track down some big kitties with his friends.

This week we will have a few dentist/doctor appointments, haircuts, family photos taken, our car tuned-up, the annual Gingerbread House party, and we are going to see the Moscow Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. I also plan (ha ha) to get out some Christmas cards, so if you think we don’t have a good address for you, please send it to us so you can get our card this year. It’s been several years since I’ve sent out cards, and it could be a few years until you get another one, so take advantage of the offer!

This week we were also planning a trip to the temple at Winter Quarters (Omaha) with our bishop from Germany and  his family, but they spent the week fighting a stomach bug and pulled out at the last minute.  We  decided to go anyway.  We went ahead with our plans to send Rosie to a pet ‘resort’ for the time we were gone. It was relaxing without her, but we missed her, and I’m pretty sure she was stressed out to be there by the way she behaved when we picked her up on Saturday afternoon.

We drove up to Omaha and took turns attending the temple on Friday afternoon. Then we stayed at Offutt AFB over night, and went to Cabela’s on Saturday morning. I think it was the boys’ first time at Cabela’s, with mixed results.  I was surprised when Andy suggested the activity.  He likes shopping the least in our family. Regardless, looking at stuffed animals and guns doesn’t really float 3/4 of our family for very long. The best part of the store was watching the fish in the aquarium. There was a huge blue catfish who would come up to the glass and “kiss” you if you tried to kiss it and were close enough, which I was.  He was pretty cute, for a fish.

Sunday was Andy’s birthday.  At precisely 12:04 AM I was awakened by Gus telling me he had puked. He was up and down for the rest of the ‘morning’ so by the time the sun was up, we didn’t want to be. I had all these nice plans to make breakfast in bed, or at least something special, for Andy, but I didn’t have time or energy for it.  He did get to stay home from church with Gus, though.  After church I was secretly hoping he’d have dinner ready (ha ha ha) but I guess he is excused since it was his birthday.  I made him a special dinner by request, dessert and all..and no lentils were involved.  I’m so lucky he is low maintenance, easy to be entreated, and very forgiving. I’m still working on a card and gift. Click to view slideshow.

So the excitement this week came from the dog. Gus left his Halloween candy box on the floor, and the dog got into it while we were out and ate a lot of it. We came home to find wrappers and half-eaten treats dragged all over the house, upstairs and down. She seems to have a particular affinity for dog-poisonous chocolate sweets, but also enjoyed some Tootsie Pops, Smarties, Nerds, and Peanut M&Ms. Of course, no story involving our boys would be complete without finishing out the digestive cycle, so…We had the missionaries over for dinner last night and the topic of dog-candy-eating came up. The dinner table seemed like the perfect time for Gus to mention that he had found the tootsie pops, reincarnated, in the backyard, wrappers included. I think I was the only one who found it a distasteful table topic. The missionaries jumped right in with investigative questions: what kind, did you unwrap it, etc?

Also this week Bryce had a concert at school. His grade played xylophones and sang patriotic songs. It was fun to watch, and only lasted 1/2 hour. My kind of concert!! Pics to come soon. They are on my phone.

And yes, I did dress up to hand out candy…as a Japanese vampire.  No pictures, though, as I look pretty much the same every other day.

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/25/magazine/playing-god-in-the-garden.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

I’ll post more about our Halloween adventures after tomorrow, so stay tuned.

So proud of his new fashion accessory

On Friday, after parent teacher conference, I drug the boys visiting teaching for two hours. Once we got home, Bryce told me that his thumb was feeling numb, and had been feeling numb for the last 2-3 days. DAYS! I was ready to deliver a pile drive to the face. Why didn’t he tell me? Anyway, we drove to the doctor, had his cast cut off, and examined. Sure enough, there was a pressure point inside his cast causing the numbness. They re-casted his arm, and we spent the afternoon in and out of the clinic checking for the returning of feeling to his thumb. (Maybe if I hit it with hammer he would get some feeling back.) I had to stress to both boys the importance of their telling me of any injury/abnormality concerning an injury ASAP, not 2-3 days later.

Andy went camping with the other YM/Scout leaders for some sort of BSA certification where they learned how to start a fire by farting, or something, so I had the boys all day Saturday, too. I took them to RS Super Saturday all morning. In the afternoon, I humored them by getting them Halloween costumes, pumpkins and decorations.

And today, on the way to church, we passed this video store. I had to laugh when I saw the marquee. This isn’t the first time this same message has been displayed. I guess it’s a reminder we aren’t too far from Missouri.

On Tuesday my class at school took a field trip to the Fire Station. It was rather uneventful. Everything went smoothly. But let’s just say that last night I had a dream that I was on a field trip with the class and one student fell off of a boat into the river. I tried to jump in to save him, but woke up trying to figure out the best way to get my cowboy boots off fast enough.

I think Wednesday was a full moon. There is a reason for the word lunatic. It seems to bring out the “best” in people. (See following pic of Gus in his latest get-up) This week my student was said to be up all night concocting a complex game that involved waking everyone else in the family. (After this, why would you send him to school??) Anyway, I had the school call his mom and pick him up after lunch.

On Friday it was “Pumpkin” day for the kindergarteners. It was a very looong and messy day. I was looking forward to coming home and relaxing. Except, Andy had a social function planned for shortly after school, and Bryce had an impromptu soccer practice. So, after chasing away the neighborhood boys, and making Bryce get his cleats on, and loading up all of the junk for Andy’s event, and yelling at the boys to get in the car, Bryce still doesn’t make it. He somehow manages to injure himself by tripping and falling on the concrete patio whilst trying to exit the backyard fence. The description of events is rather elusive and hazy, so we aren’t really sure what happened. I’ve found some clues to a possible incriminating chain of events, but no confession has come forward. Nonetheless, after dropping Andy and Gus off at his function, Bryce and I spent the evening in the ER taking x-rays and trying to understand the Russian doctor on duty. Lovely.

Throw in a primary program practice (Sat) and program (Sun), a birthday party, loads of laundry, home teachers, dishes and this week’s food prep, and there goes the weekend. Somehow work this week is looking a lot more relaxing than staying home. And yes, that is underwear on his head.