Random Thought Thursday...

When we arrived in Germany, and to be more specific, when we arrived at our home, I was dismayed to see all the weeds in the front of the house. You see, it is German law that landlords are to turn their homes and yards over in immaculate condition and then we, as renters, are to turn them back in the same condition. But, unfortunately, I have an old, grumpy German landlord who thinks he is above some of the laws--so the weeds were left up to me. I thought, no problem, I needed some weedkiller, there were many weeds with sharp, prickly thorns and I wasn't about to start pulling. Turns out, that was a problem, weed killers here aren't very popular and they certainly aren't very strong. I asked two of my neighbors what I could do (they are German) and both of them kind of gave me the same answer. "Oh, yes, the weeds have been very bad this year and they are hard to kill."

So, what does any girl with a problem that she can't solve on her own do? I called my mom, of course! Mom worked on a package to be sent out to me from the States but in the meantime, found a "homemade" weed killer recipe. It works! And, it works fast! The other great thing about using this kind of weed killer, is that I can have Thomas "help" using a spray bottle of his own and know that he's going to be OK. Of course, he knows he can't put his fingers near his eyes while doing this job, but other than that, it is safe.

So here is the recipe:

Homemade Weed Killer

1 gallon white vinegar
1 cup table salt
1 Tablespoon dishsoap

Directions: remove two cups vinegar from the gallon, add salt and soap, mix gently. Add back in removed two cups of vinegar.

Until later,

Emily

4:04 AM

4:04 AM. The exact minute that my good nights sleep ended. Thomas came into our room and I thought, "oh, no James' illness has spread". But, not yet. Thomas has a bad head cold and was complaining of not being able to breathe out of his nose. Before rolling over, James was so very helpful in suggesting that I give Thomas some medicine(do ya think?!). It took about 30 minutes for the medicine to kick in but by that time Thomas was awake. It took about two hours for him to go back to sleep. He went from our bed, to his bed, to the rug in our room many times before sleep finally kicked in.

Our HHE delivery has been rescheduled for Friday. Our shipment "is too large" to be delivered today. If I have to be reminded one more time that we shipped out too much stuff I think I am going to scream. I know, I know, OK? But, all in all, I think a Friday delivery is going to work out fine. The army furniture will be picked up on Thursday so our house will be nearly empty on Friday when our things from the States are delivered. Which means, we're going to have our own "sleepover adventure" Thursday night when James, Thomas and I get to sleep on the floor (Toby has been sleeping in a pack-n-play, which is ours, so it's not going anywhere).

Until later,

Emily

Happy Fall!

Fall is officially here! Although, it has felt like Fall to me almost from the first day that we arrived in Germany. It is beautiful here with all the trees and the foliage. I take Thomas to preschool on the autobahn but each day as we come home, I choose to take the "scenic route" and look at the leaves (it's only five minutes longer).

James is back from his trip to Russia. He will travel again on October 14 and will be gone for a week. He has been very sick all weekend long. He has to stay close to a bathroom, if you get what I mean. For all our sakes, we hope it is from something he ate while traveling. I will be cleaning bathrooms and disinfecting like crazy today in effort to keep the rest of the family healthy, in case it is a virus.

On a positive note, I had the wonderful Hans and Helga over last Thursday to hang curtains in the house. They were here for 4 1/2 hours and hung all that I had. I was short a few curtain rods, (I thought there were multiples in a box, but there weren't and the next day, they came in the mail!) but the place seems better now that we have some curtains.

We also got the spectacular news that our HHE (our goods that came by ship) have arrived!! I found out this morning that it will be delivered tomorrow (Tuesday). James will be given Tuesday and Thursday off to unpack and organize all of our belongings... but I think it will take at least a month to get organized. We brought out too much stuff, we just know it. And, it always seems to take forever to get things hung up on the walls. And, unfortunately, we will have our stuff and the army stuff here in our little house for a few days which should prove to be tons of fun!

Yesterday, was the Primary program in our ward. Primary is the children's organization in our church. Last year, Thomas wouldn't even sit up in the front and sing the songs, not to mention do his little part. We were very proud this year, when he happily went up front and fully participated. When it came to the individual parts--he even went first!! Way to go Thomas!

This Wednesday, James and I will be taking a "Welcome to Germany" course along with the two other "new couples" at James' work. It is an eight-hour class. Day-care has been arranged on-site that we have to pay for, but at least we didn't have to come up with our own arrangements. Then, that night I have a meeting at our church house, as I have been asked to be a Relief Society teacher, which means I will lead the topic of discussion once a month, on Sunday, to the other women who aren't serving either the young children or the teenagers in our church.

So, as you can tell, we are going to be very busy this week!

Until later,

Emily

Random Thought Thursday...

A Hairy Situation:

Eight months after giving birth to Toby, I am happy to announce that my hair has stopped falling out in near clumps each day. Some of you may know that I was starting to get worried in May-June when this didn't seem to be slowing down and my pathetic pony tail was getting tinier by the week. I had some blood tests done in June and was hoping that something would show up--but no, it was just the body adjusting! So, now, I have about a ba-jillion (it's my blog--I can make up words if I want to!) 1/2 inch to 2 inch strands shooting out from my head. My hair's still pretty lifeless but it will get better over time.

Until later,

Emily

Not Quite the Day I had Planned...

James is in Russia this week, gone on his first assignment for DTRA since moving here. He will be back late Thursday night. To break up the monotony of the days, and because Thomas doesn't have preschool on Tuesdays, I had planned to get out the door hopefully by 10 AM to do some shopping at the local IKEA and perhaps check out the Toys-R-Us next door. The whole family shopped at IKEA a couple of weekends ago, but since James was with us and we had other things to do, we didn't get to stay nearly long enough! I had told Thomas of the plan and he was excited because, for some strange reason, he loved our IKEA experience. He was all for shopping, eating lunch there and shopping some more. We drive by there every day on our way to the preschool and he always asks to go there.

Alas, the shopping "on the economy" was not meant to be today. Either Toby is coming down with another cold, or his teeth are bothering him or more teeth are coming--or a combination of all--but he was not happy at all this morning! There was no way I was taking the screaming baby out if I could help it. To top it off, it rained all day long.

I ended up just cleaning the house when Toby was having a good moment or when he was asleep. His mood got better after 4 PM and then I was really able to get a lot done. Thomas was a good sport about not going out today. I was also able to cut his hair. He's had three haircuts since we moved here! I cut it a little shorter today in hopes that I won't have to do it again for at least a month.

Until later,

Emily

P.S. Thomas' face is not dirty. His lips are chapped.

A First...

So, this morning, at about 10:45 there was a ring at my door. I opened the door to a dark-haired woman dressed in robes, every other tooth capped in gold, big gold hoop earrings and she was holding a plastic sack. She started speaking to me in a foreign language, but that's not uncommon these days. She handed me a card that was in German. I had no idea who she was, what she wanted or what she was selling. Luckily, my friend, Ute, who works for the relocation service that works for us (Koenig Relocation Services)had dropped by to give me a replacement to the broken knob on my oven. Ute stepped right in, started yelling at her and started shutting the door. The woman started pleading, "Please, oh please" and Ute kept shutting the door. Initially I thought Ute was being rather rude, but I let her do her thing because I was clueless.

Once the door was closed, Ute informed me that I had just had my first encounter with a Romanian beggar! She was pleading for money! She asked for 10 euro then 5 euro then change. And Ute said more than likely she (the beggar)had parked her Mercedes around the corner! Ute told me it is completely illegal and we could call the police and that if the woman were to hang out in the neighborhood for long, Ute was sure the police would be called by someone. She told me that she never answers the door when she sees someone like this. Sometimes they can get violent even though this woman did not. Lesson learned.

Until later,

Emily

Saturday Shopping

For the most part, we have spent every Saturday since we arrived here, shopping. Mainly, we have done regular shopping--grocery shopping and gathering things for our empty house. But, since I now have wheels (and dare to use them) my goal has been to get us out of that rut! I am happy to tell you all that we didn't do any regular shopping at all yesterday! And yet, we still spent a good portion of the day....shopping. But, it's OK because this was fun! We went to a big bazaar at the Ramstein Airforce Base. We got to see all kinds of foreign goods. We came home with quite a few bags and lots of ideas about "next year" and "the next time we go to one of these things". The weather was wonderful--in the 70's and sunny. Thomas had a great time, we bought him a toy dog that is hooked to a pole that has flappy feet and he walked the darn thing the rest of the day. The only downside was that strollers weren't allowed. So, we had to carry Toby all day long. He is a 20-pound lug (I'm guessing)! Fortunately, we knew this ahead of time, so I brought my Hotslings baby carrier. They allowed strollers on Thursday and Friday so I told James to make a mental note that next year we will go on one of those days because there is no way we're not putting Toby (as a 20-monther)in a stroller--that would be a total nightmare!

Until later,

Emily

A Few Pictures...

Here are a few pics taken on August 18th. This was when it was still somewhat warm. This is in a different region of Eppstein, about 10 minutes away from our home. We spent the afternoon walking around the town, touring the castle and having lunch.

Until later,

Emily

The Air Freight is Here!

It's here...it's in our house! It came on Monday. It's been like Christmas here. Literally, it had left our presence so long ago that we had forgotten what exactly we had packed. Mainly, it was clothes and jackets which were much, much needed. Our linens. Toby's exersaucer was in it. It's been so nice to have something else for him to "do". Luckily, I've had the Johny Jumper for a while, but if any of you noticed in the pictures, even that has had to be tweaked. Our doorways in this house are much shorter than our home in Maryland. I had to knot up the johny jumper for it to work. I packed my drying rack, my laundry baskets and my hampers--hooray I think it's hard not having those things. I didn't pack bathroom rugs which I wish I had. Some of our kitchen things came and I packed cookbooks. I never thought I'd actually say I missed cooking but after eating frozen food and box-kits for over a month, I'm ready to cook a meal or two!

Onto a different subject, I had a rough night last night with Toby. He has a head cold. :( Prematurity set aside, he has been a really easy baby and I have had so few sleepless nights--so when I do have a sleepless night, it hits me hard. Also, I feel like I'm getting the same cold, so getting no sleep isn't going to help. I think it will be an early Diet Coke morning!

Until later,

Emily

Toby's 8-month birthday

Happy 8-month Birthday Toby!

Poor, Poor Toby!

Toby woke up this morning with a second tooth. So now, he has the two bottom teeth in the front. Poor baby!

Until later,

Emily

Milestone Moment...

Today I discovered that Toby got his first tooth!

Until later,

Emily

Toby and the Magic Carpet

Here is Toby on one of the four Turkish rugs that we purchased on Monday. Our house has all tile floors/hardwood floors so we have a lot to cover. As I've mentioned before, Toby is just about ready to crawl. He has been so happy since we got these rugs. This one and it's twin pretty much cover our living room. And yet, he still manages to find the few areas that don't have rug covering and that's when I hear the cry. . . I must "rescue" him 100 times a day.

Until later,

Emily

First Day of Preschool

After all the worrying, Thomas was able to start preschool yesterday--just as planned. Yesterday morning was hectic, with his health assessment appointment which resulted in him having to begin a Hepatitis A shot series (I felt REALLY bad because I promised him that he wouldn't have to have any shots), then we went over and had the preschool orientation, which was helpful but a little long. By the time we finished up with that, we had 45 minutes until the start of preschool. I loaded the kids up in the car and drove to the food court for a quick bite to eat. And when I say quick, I mean quick. I should also mention that the food court isn't handicap accessible so I have to pick of the stroller with Toby in it (it's not too fun but I am getting strong) We had 12 minutes to scarf down lunch so that I could again, load up the kids, park and unload them yet again.

I walked Thomas into the classroom and he was a little nervous. One of the teachers asked him if he would be her helper today and that seemed to do the trick. I stuck around for another couple of minutes, but I don't think he even noticed me leaving. When I returned three hours later, he had a smile on his face and I knew everything had gone well.

When we got in the car and I had a chance to talk to Thomas, he reported that he liked his new preschool and was excited to go back tomorrow. Too bad I only signed him up for three days a week, he can't go back until Friday! Perhaps I'll consider signing him up for five days a week in the spring(it is an option).

I am also happy to report that I believe we have solved most of our voicemail problems. The relocation service that we work closely with called the phone company and they, in turn called me so that I could request that our voicemail service be switched to English. Now it sounds like Morgan Freeman is answering our phone!* We also have the number to check our voicemail so--to our parents (you are the only ones that have called us so far)but also to anyone else, if you call us, and we don't answer, you can leave a message and we will receive it!

Until later,

Emily

*Since originally posting this, I have been able to change the automated message and leave my own message.

The Feeling of Frustration is Slowly Taking Over My Body!

Thomas was supposed to start preschool tomorrow afternoon. I got him on "the list" over two weeks ago. I thought it was a little strange that I never heard anything from the preschool last week about the first day of school, especially when the head person had mentioned that she was going to have an open house sort of thing. Today, I thought I'd make a phone call myself to find out what was going on.

Well, they did have the open house last week and apparently, we missed it. And we missed it because we didn't know anything about it! He's now not on the list and we have to start over with the whole process! I am supposed to call tomorrow morning at 6 AM and talk to Miss Ginny about making an appointment. If there are any openings, he may start tomorrow but not before we meet with them first.

Now, I bet you all think I'm frustrated at the preschool. But, no, I'm actually not. They tried to call, they might have even left a message, which I may or may not receive today, tomorrow or sometime this month!

We still do not have our fancy-shmancy phones from the phone company and our voicemail is set up in German. We have discovered that some people are leaving messages and then, to their frustration, we don't call back. Or, like with the preschool, I am sure they assumed that we were no longer interested and that we didn't even bother to call them and let them know. But,
we don't know how to access our voicemail, not to mention switch the language to English. I'm going to try to contact someone at our relocation service (German) to help us with the phones. Enough is enough!

Adding to my frustration is trying to get in touch with James while he is at work. He doesn't have voicemail at all at his work and a lot of times, when he is away from his desk, it will ring a few times at his desk and then be re-routed to one of his coworkers that works on the same team. His co-workers seem very nice, but when I am trying to get in touch with James, I don't want to make small talk with his workmate and then leave a message for James to call home! What is worse is when everyone is away from their desk! I don't like the feeling of "what if this were an emergency? I have been calling every 10 minutes for the past 30 minutes and I can't get a hold of anyone!"

Gee. . . this is great therapy!

Until later,

Emily

Second Car Update

It looks like we will be renting a car for quite a while, more like seven weeks. Because, apparently, that's how long it takes for a custom-ordered Mini Cooper to be delivered!

Pentagon Sales offers a pretty good deal on BMW's and Mini's. Our Mini Cooper will be Pepper White (cream) with black bonnet stripes and a black top with many extras that we wanted but without some things that we felt we could live without too. I guess that's what custom-ordered means, right? It will have American specs and part of the deal is that Pentagon Sales will ship it to the states when we move back.

Until later,

Emily

Similarities. . .

Yesterday we attended church. We attended the military ward again. This is most likely the ward that we will attend regularly. It is very small. It takes about 30 minutes to drive there. As we sat down during Sacrament Meeting, I took a look at the congregation. I think it's so funny that you can find people that remind you of people that you already know. For instance, when we moved to Frederick, I immediately thought Guyanna S. reminded me of my Aunt Barbie, except Guyanna is blonde. When I was introduced to Leah L., I immediately associated her with my childhood friend, Heather L.

There is a woman in the military ward that could be Maren V.'s sister. But she also reminds me a little bit of Lynette S. There is a blonde family that could rival the Lund family, there are even three kids in that family! Something about the Bishop reminded me of Bishop Duke, I think it was his voice. Another girl reminded me a lot of my cousin Monica. And, I've made a friend, Amy, who reminds me of my two cousin-in-law's, Taleesha and Tiffany put together.

Until later,

Emily