Every day life and occasional adventures of Emily Snow and Family

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I Looked Out My Window and What Did I See?


More snow!

If you look closely, you can see the Mini in the picture. Not that it's an extreme amount of snow, but it is still coming down. And, my parents will be here in about 25 hours...I was hoping for sunshine and green!

Today, I am tying up all loose ends, which includes a trip to the base to buy new queen-size guest sheets...I thought I knew where they were, but once I unfolded them, I realized they were twin sheets. I could turn my entire house upside down and still not find them, since we do have storage in Virginia...not that the sheets were supposed to be put in that storage but neither was the box that had all the hardware to our furniture!

So, I'll drop Thomas off at preschool, head to Mainz Kastel to pick up the sheets, then drive to Hainerberg to get a few groceries at the commissary and do anything else that I can think of before picking up Thomas. I think I might pick him up early today. Then, we'll dash back home to do whatever I can!

Until later,

Emily

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Commissary Baggers

The subject of Commissary Baggers could be like opening a can of worms especially since I know a lot of people that read this blog also have experience and, undoubtably, their own opinion on this....

I had never been to a Commissary until we moved Germany. I had heard about the baggers working "strictly for tips", but never gave it much thought because it didn't pertain to me.

Then, I moved here and got to experience it first-hand. I suppose I pattern my tips by what my friend that took me there for the first time, told me she does. "Give them 2 or 3 dollars". I have since discovered that there are many different systems to tipping...25 cents a bag, $5 no matter what, whatever loose change you have, etc, etc. My system is I give them $2 for $100 or less, and then an extra $1 for each $50 that I spend. If I am only going to get a few things and take the groceries out myself, I will load Toby into the stroller and hand the bagger 50 cents to a dollar at the check-out stand. We also have self-check, so if I was really opposed to the baggers, I could do it all myself, but I'm not, so I don't!

However, for all the things that I will NOT miss about having to shop on a military base, I will truly, truly miss the baggers. While you are in the store, it seems normal, I mean, in the US, 99% of places will bag your groceries and you put them back in your cart. Except at the commissary, the baggers bag your groceries and then load them onto a special cart made especially for hauling out groceries.

Now, this is not the case when I am shopping "on the economy" but I do not shop much on the economy...but when I do, I bring my own bags, bag my own items and put them back into my own cart, which I have had to insert my own euro to unlock it out of line in the first place, then push my cart to my car and back to the line again where I position the cart correctly and can get my euro back (it's actually nice because there aren't any random carts floating around the parking lot because you want your euro back).

But, the main reason that I like having a bagger follow me out to my car is because I don't have to push the cart back. Not only do I not have to push their cart back, but they will also take the shopping cart that I have been pushing Toby in, if I forget to take him out as I exit the store and carry him on my hip. Let me further explain: they don't have a designated area in the parking lot to leave your carts, you have to push your cart back to the store which is actually further away from the parking lot then we are used to. There is a wall dividing the parking lot and like I mentioned, it is far away. Far enough away that I would have to take my kids back with me to the store to return the cart. I will have to admit that it is also nice having someone put your groceries in the car. I used to try to help the baggers but realized that they have their own "system" so for the most part, I just get Toby in his car seat, make sure Thomas is buckled in and kind of organize my front seat, make sure I still have my military ID, etc. By the time I do all that, the baggers have usually unloaded his or her cart, I tip them (or sometimes Thomas likes to do it) and we are on our way!

Until later,

Emily

Monday, March 24, 2008

Coconut Poke Cake

A couple weeks ago, I meant to buy coconut milk, but came home with cream of coconut instead. I had no idea what I was going to do with it...until a friend recommended a coconut poke cake. I added my own little Easter twist to it and it was a fun and yummy addition to Easter dinner!






INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 (14 ounce) can cream of coconut
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 ounce) package frozen Cool Whip, thawed
1 (8 ounce) package flaked coconut

DIRECTIONS
Prepare and bake white cake mix according to package directions. Remove cake from oven. While still hot, poke holes all over the top of the cake, I used a straw.

Mix cream of coconut and sweetened condensed milk together, heat slightly in the microwave to mix easier. Pour over the top of the still hot cake. Let cake cool completely then frost with the whipped topping and top with the flaked coconut. Keep cake refrigerated.

(Note: I didn't use all the Cool Whip or the coconut--I just did what looked right to me).

Until later,

Emily

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Easter 2008




Tailer came to check out the goodies in Toby's eggs!



Boys on the run to see who can get the most eggs!
For the record: Thomas 22, Toby 2.














The bunny got tricky this year!







Our first Easter in Germany--complete with a skiff of snow!

Until later,

Emily

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Is It Easter or Christmas?

When Easter falls in the month of March you never can be sure of what kind of weather you're going to get...funny thing is we didn't have snow on Christmas Day last year (but we did have cool ice crystals), so it's a bit ironic that it has been snowing on and off for the past four days. But, then it rains an hour later, so it all melts...and then it hails...and then it snows...and then it's sunny for 15 minutes...and then we have some sleet...it's all quite interesting, I've never seen so many kinds of weather in one given day! Except that it's been like this for four days in a row, so I guess I should take that back!

Consequently, the Easter Bunny will be hiding eggs inside. And, the boys will be wearing matching polo shirts (The Children's Place is AWESOME, and even better I found out that they deliver to APO boxes!) but with khaki pants instead of shorts to church. I had saved a new shirt for myself to wear tomorrow to church, which I had planned to pair with one of my "springier" skirts, but it is short-sleeved, so I'll keep saving it and I'll probably wear a wool skirt and a turtleneck sweater...again, kind of like Christmas!

It also actually looks like Christmas at my house right now because, I FINALLY have my table and chairs that I "got" for Christmas today! Well, right now, I have one chair and nine other boxes (seven more chairs, and two boxes for the table) but that is beside the point... I wish I would have had a video camera today when it sunk into James that I said I wanted eight chairs. I don't know why that was so surprising to him, I've been saying it for months now that I want six in the dining room always and two more that we can bring up if we have guests. But, he had his moment, "EIGHT chairs! Did you say EIGHT chairs? I can't believe you want that many! That's A LOT!" Consequently, there was very little discussion...it's obvious who won this one. :)

Onto other news, Toby cut his third first-molar sometime over the past few days. That makes three first molars in less than a week! Poor kid!

Well, Easter morning will be here before I know it...I'll try to post pictures tomorrow night or on Monday!

Until later, (& Happy Easter!)

Emily

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Toby: Path of Destruction


So busted!

Literally, a "path" this morning!





Completely, 100% proud of himself!



Until later,


Emily

Egg-stra Special Day!






After patiently waiting half the day to dye our Easter eggs (since I forgot to boil the eggs last night, so I had to boil them this morning and then wait for them to cool down), Thomas got to do the thing that he has been so excited to do. Toby woke up at the very end and I know would have loved to get a "turn" too...but I knew better! Maybe next year...or the next!

Until later,

Emily

The Final Product



When Brand Names Do Matter!

I was looking over some of my older posts, and realized that I never followed-up on one of my follow-ups!

You might remember that I got a new camera for Christmas. I have a Sony Cyber-shot with 8.1 megapixels. I was really excited to have a new camera but started having problems with the pictures or rather, the memory stick almost right away. I bought a second memory stick, hoping that I just got unlucky and bought a faulty stick. Within a week, the second stick was doing the same thing as the first. The store warranty was up on the camera and I was really worried that I was going to have to start dealing with Sony and send my camera in for a repair.

I started looking at Sony's site, which is really well-done and noticed that there was a mention of the Cyber-shot's being very sensitive and that they recommend only using Sony brand memory sticks. There was also a mention of "counterfeit" Sony memory sticks problem going on right now, but that didn't pertain to me. I had, knowingly, gone out not once, but twice, and bought a non-Sony memory stick "to save money". Well, this time, it blew up in my face, two memory sticks later, over $80 later, with a lot of cute pictures lost forever, I bought a Sony brand memory stick and haven't had one single problem!

I think it is probably safe to say, that when it comes to digital cameras, whether I buy a Sony or not, I will probably always buy the brand-specific item from now on!

Until later,

Emily

P.S. Now that the memory stick problem is solved, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the camera!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Cultural Shock

I returned home this afternoon to find the free, city paper that is usually crammed in the mailbox, laying out on my front steps, because the wind probably blew it out. Shockingly, the page that was on the top was the "Kulture" section which had an "artistic" panorama of a topless woman...I snapped a picture of it, but then I ran it by James and he doesn't think it would be appropriate for me to include the picture (I was going to warn everyone first and give you the option of scrolling down and then remove the picture 24 hours later!).

It reminded me of the trash they hand out in Las Vegas. But there is the strip and then there is the suburbia... We are supposed to be living in a nice, quiet little "family friendly" neighborhood. I think there were about 20 different poses of this woman, who thought of every facial expression and angle that she could to exhibit her large breasts. While she wore quite a bit of makeup and some gloves.

It's just a lot more "open" here. When you go to Real (like a Walmart), they have topless calendars there with the puppy and kitty calendars--you know, because they are all calendars so of course they belong together!

So, like it or not, delivered to my front door...we have soft-porn! Along with that, probably because of my reaction, I also got the privilege of having my first conversation with Thomas about this. I told him it was a naughty way for a grown-up girl to take a picture...but he wanted to see it, not just be told about it. He's so innocent...so what did I do? Well, at first I told him no but then I thought that might make him more curious so I showed him...he seemed to understand right away (which kind of disturbed me even more) and didn't ask to see it again or object to me throwing it away. And that was that. Good times at our house today!

Until later,

Emily

It Makes Sense Now!


Last week, if you will recall, both of our kids were sick. They were both pretty much on the mend by Wednesday though. Thomas bounced back immediately, without any problems. Toby was a different story...although he seemed physically fine, he was in a terrible mood, the rest of the week! This is a kid who is generally very happy and easy-going and he was a big grouch all week long, with hardly a smile on his face and just seemed like he was mad at the world! Sunday, "the Toby that we know" returned. I put my finger in his mouth to check the progress of the first molar on the bottom left that has been trying to come up for probably months now, and there still wasn't any part of the tooth emerging...then I accidently touched the top of his mouth and there was the top first molar! So, maybe that had something to do with it...and then I took a second look at that bottom first molar bump and felt so bad for him because it really was swollen and looked so sore. Then, yesterday, I checked it again and FINALLY there is a point coming out of his gums on the bottom! So, I think he had two first molars working really hard to come out at the same time--which may very well explain his foul mood last week!

Until later,

Emily

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Super-Sweet, Sticky Stuff


What you'll need:

1 stick butter
3/4 granulated sugar
3/4 light Karo syrup
2 cups Golden Grahams
3 cups Corn Chex
3 cups Rice Chex
1 cup coconut

Heat butter, sugar and Karo syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to boil. Let boil on low for two minutes. Pour over dry ingredients. Mix well. Then, mix some more. Yummy!

I added Easter sprinkles for fun. I've also made this with less cereal and added pretzels and/or M & M's as well.

I made this Sunday night to take to my Visiting Teaching sisters yesterday. We only had a little left over and Thomas was very disappointed. He asked me to make some more this morning...so now we have a whole batch just for ourselves...it is so yummy but don't even think of making it if you are counting calories or watching your sugar intake! And, believe me, you can't stop with one bite, either!

Did I mention that it is yummy? :)

Until later,

Emily

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Price of Gas?

The question was asked, "What does gas cost over here?". Since we buy it by the liter here, I couldn't answer that automatically...so I found out how many liters are in a gallon and now I can answer that question accurately!

There are 3.7854 liters to a gallon. I filled up my car (half a tank) yesterday, with mid-grade and it was $0.902 a liter. That cost $23.00. Which means, I paid $3.41 a gallon.

Until later,

Emily

Friday, March 14, 2008

Piggy Bank

Look at my piggy bank after I bought gas today!



(Thanks, AK)

Until later,

Emily

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Soccer Mom Sign-ups

No, I didn't really sign up to be a "Soccer Mom", but I did sign Thomas up for soccer this spring. He has a best friend in preschool, R, who played last fall. Actually, his mom asked me then if I was interested in signing him up but at the time, I really didn't want any more on my plate and I didn't think Thomas would even play. This was the kid who got intimidated if there were more than five other kids playing in his sports class at the YMCA last year and would sit on the sidelines and "just watch" if there were. Fast-forward six months later and Thomas has a lot more confidence and loves, loves, loves R. R's mom and I went to great lengths to get them on the same team, but we did it.

Thomas will have practice twice a week and games on Saturdays. Which means my Monday's and Wednesday's will be even longer...we will leave the house at 12:30 for preschool and won't return again until evening since practice ends at 6 PM. I'm glad this isn't a year round thing...

Until later,

Emily

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

P.S.

Toby turned 14 months old yesterday! Too bad it wasn't a very good day!

Until later,

Emily

Living in Paradise...

First of all, now that he is home, I can say that James has been out-of-town since Monday. So, just a quick three day, two night trip. He went to Belgium.

Monday was smooth-sailing until that night when I noticed Toby was fevered, not extremely high, 101, but still a fever. I medicated him but he was restless all night until about 6 AM, when he finally conked out until about 10:30 AM. The same morning, Thomas woke up, at about 8:00 and complained that he had a tummy ache and a sore throat. He basically went from his bed to the couch and pretty much stayed there all day long. I didn't think to take his temperature until about noon, and was surprised to find out that he had a 104 temp. Then, I started to medicate him and he kind of came back to life for an hour or two before returning to the couch for more movies and cartoons. All Toby wanted to do was eat and sleep yesterday, it was like having a newborn again!

In the meantime, I managed to wash all of the bedding (sheets, blankets, comforters, bumper pad--Toby) in my room and Toby's room (I had done Thomas' the day before), the dryer was going non-stop for over 12 hours and I started to knock out a lot of the cleaning and the organizing upstairs that I have wanted to do for months now. I didn't really get anything "finished" but I am working on the master bedroom, bathroom, hallway and Thomas' room all at once! But, I made considerable progress!

Today, my kids seem to be on the mend, I gave Thomas the "option" of staying home from preschool to rest but he didn't bite (I was kind of hoping he would so I could continue to work on the upstairs!), he was ready to go back to school. They had Parent-Teacher conferences on Friday and Monday so he hadn't been to school in a week.

Until later,

Emily

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tylenol & Ibuprofen Regimen

I have a friend, MW, who after reading some of my recent posts, emailed me to remind me of a "treatment" that her sister-in-law, who is also a nurse, told her about when her oldest, H, was an infant. I have also used this "treatment" myself when my kids have been really miserable or running a high fever that I have wanted to keep on top of. Here it is: (Thanks, M!)

(Even if you don't have kids or they are grown, this could be applied to pain and fever in adulthood, too!)

Tylenol and Ibuprofen are different drugs and therefore can be given at the same time. Due to this and to her recommendation, I give one medication every three hours and thus they are constantly medicated and hopefully easier to handle because they feel good. So, for instance, I give Tylenol at 8 a.m., Ibuprofen at 11 a.m., Tylenol at 2 p.m., Ibuprofen at 5 p.m., etc. It seems to work for my kids!



Until later,



Emily

Monday, March 10, 2008

Bitter-Sweet News

As many of you know, we conceived Toby through in vitro or IVF. Actually, we conceived him on our third try of IVF, and during that third cycle, I also started seeing an acupuncturist, Ethan Borg, who I will always believe made the "difference". I have always planned on seeing him again when we go through our one "frozen" cycle (we have two frozen embryos waiting in Rockville, MD to give them a chance). So, I was saddened this morning when I found an email from Ethan that started out like this:

I have some bitter-sweet news to share with you that will mean a dramatic shift in my practice. My wife has accepted a new academic position in my home town of Rochester, NY that begins this August. I am sad to say that May 30th will be my last day of treating patients in Frederick.

Of course, in life this is what happens, Ethan stated that he will research around and find other good fertility acupuncturist in Frederick which is so nice of him. But it is still sad for me.

Until later,

Emily

Sunday, March 9, 2008

99 Balloons

A friend of mine, RL, sent this to me last week. It is a real tearjerker! And, the tears seem to flow even harder each time that you watch it...at least they have for me! But it is so very touching and I can't get it out of my mind. If you have six minutes and a bunch of Kleenex, please go to:

http://www.ignitermedia.com/products/iv/singles/570/99-Balloons


Until later,

Emily

Friend to Friend

A friend of mine, AS, passed on some great information last week when I posted about "Tylenol--the Miracle Drug". I thought I'd share it as well:

"Just a little tid bit that my Dr told me about teething and meds-- Tylenol is great for pain. It will relieve that but he told me recently that Ibuprofen or Motrin will relieve pain and relieve the swelling of the gums. It is more effective he told me."

Until later,

Emily

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Nightmares on my Street?

So, evidently, something was "in the air" last night with my kids. BOTH of them suffered from nightmares in the middle of the night! Toby woke up screaming twice. I picked him up out of his crib and he immediately started to settle down and relax, getting drowsy within a couple of minutes. So, I guess it was nightmares... Thomas, since he is five, told me himself that he had a "bad dream". He was awake from 12:30-2:30 AM, too nervous to fall asleep, wondering what every single sound was in our house. He's been going through this a lot lately, but it is usually at the beginning of the night when he's trying to fall asleep. I empathize greatly with him because when I was a kid, I was scared of the dark and had a hard time falling asleep. Truth be told, I still don't really like the extreme dark. For instance, if I am in our basement and the light accidentally gets shut off, you can be sure that I shout out and I even close my eyes until that light is turned back on! I don't know why this comforts me but it does! I have also always had vivid dreams that stick with you.

Toby is awake, but thankfully, he slept until 8:00 AM and Thomas still sleeps on. Part of me thinks I should wake him, but he is so cranky when he doesn't get enough sleep and the kids are "all mine" today. Today is not a preschool day and James is going Home Teaching again tonight without coming home from work, so they will probably both be in bed by the time he gets home.

Until later,

Emily

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Tylenol, the Miracle Drug

Last night, at about 3:30 AM, Toby woke up. I fixed him a bottle, he drank two ounces and seemed sleepy again. I put him back in his crib, but he had a hard time settling down. I'd hear him whine occasionally and I could hear him tossing and turning quite a bit. At about 5:30 AM, he started SCREAMING, and I ran to get him. I was hoping he was just thirsty again. I offered him another bottle and he wouldn't take it, I rubbed some Orajel on his gums and he calmed down for about five seconds. We live in a duplex, so I am oftentimes worried about whether they can hear us, especially Toby, especially at night...but tonight, I was worried that the whole neighborhood could hear him crying. This was hysterical crying. The thought entered my mind, "Well, here goes our turn to go to the emergency room..." James and I (by this time James is also up and trying to get Toby to stop crying) managed to get a dose of Tylenol in him. And, we watched the miracle of Tylenol take place...I don't know if Toby had a toothache, an earache, a headache or something else but by 6:30 AM he was relaxed and sleepy again. I took him to his crib and he still sleeps...

Until later,

Emily

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Stairs and One-Year Old's Don't Mix!

First of all,

Toby is fine.

However, the little boy that is six weeks older in our ward is not. Apparently, he had a big fall last night, probably scared his mother half to death, had a bump on his head and a good cry but he seemed fine. This morning, he fell down the stairs again and fell on the same spot on his head. He'll be in the German hospital for at least two nights and they are worried about blood on the brain. Of course, his dad is gone on a work trip so his mom is there by herself...but not really, all the RS sisters are rallying around her and she'll be taken care of. He has a 3-year old sister that looks like will have some sleepovers. And you know the food will come pouring in once they are home... James is one of the Home Teachers so he and his HT partner will go over tonight and give D a blessing.

If this has you wondering about our own stairs, or rather our own safety gates, after three months of regular nagging, ordering various parts from the States, spending a small fortune, only to find out that the things I ordered weren't quite right, which required a trip to the local Hornbach's (Home Depot) to buy one more supply-- the gate blocking my stairs was FINALLY installed on Saturday, all the while I could tell James thought it might have been a waste of his time. (I'm still hoping to get a gate at the top of the stairs, but until I do Toby is only upstairs to sleep or bathe or we shut a door to whatever room we're in so he is safe.) I had a pressurized gate up at the foot of our stairs for some time. Last Thursday, Toby discovered that if he put his weight into it, he could knock it down eventually. And he did--twice--and then attempted to climb over the gate to get to the banned stairs! (Can I say, "What a kid!, What a kid!" again!) Basically, I informed James, that there were no excuses left, we had all the parts and materials and the only thing that he needed to do on Saturday was install the thing! Then, something like this happens, and you know the first thing that came out of his (James) mouth: "I'm glad I got our gate put up."...well, I am too. It's not like falling down the stairs is contagious...but isn't that how we all think when something like this happens to someone you can totally relate to?

Thoughts and prayers with D and his family.

Until later,

Emily

Sunday, March 2, 2008

We Have a "Cry Room"?

Toby has entered that time in life where he is extremely difficult to handle in church. Well, if it would be acceptable to let him crawl all around the chapel he wouldn't be hard...but, that's not the way it works in church!

So, today, I found myself spending most of the time in the hall with him. I have to admit I do find myself wishing that he could walk on Sundays, because I don't like the thought of his little hands on that floor, so I try to keep him in my arms. But, carrying around a 26+ pound baby after a while does start to make my arms literally burn so there came a time today where I had to let him go. For about five minutes and then I scooped him up again!

Sacrament Meeting was nearly over, about ten minutes to go, when another mom/friend came out in the hallway with her two-year-old that had had it and she started walking down the hallway, when she stopped dead in her tracks and came back to me and said, "You do know we have a cry room, here, don't you?" NO! I didn't know! So, I quickly followed her into what is actually used as our Relief Society room but they have the chapel piped in during Sacrament Meeting...so nice... and there were two other moms (besides my friend and I). I gave my friend a hug--she probably thought I was nuts--but it was such a relief for me to realize that there is and will be a better place for us while Toby is in this hard stage! In other words, I will probably be hanging out in the "Cry Room" for the next year to year and a half of my life...

Until later,

Emily

Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Best Kept Secret in Town...


...is the bowling alley at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield! We discovered last Saturday that it isn't very busy there on Saturday nights. We went there last weekend for a birthday party that Thomas was invited to and on the way out, I asked one of the workers there if it was normally that quiet and he said that it was. We don't like crowds, so to hear that a place like that isn't all that busy, we were excited! So, we invited another family to join us tonight and we had the whole place to ourselves the entire time that we were there!

It's funny, because we figured out that the last time we went bowling was November 1998, so we certainly can't say that we go often, but now that we've found this place, if it continues to stay quiet, I could easily see us going there at least once a month!

Until later,

Emily