August 2006 Old Blog Posts
August 27
Josiah's First Pedicure
Oh Lord. I just turned around from e-mailing Hans and found Josiah covered in OPI's "You Rock-Apulco Red"! My brand new nail polish is everywhere. Apparently he has been paying attention when I give myself a pedicure and wanted it done for his toenails, too. He actually didn't do too bad a job on his right foot. His left foot looks more like someone stabbed his toe and he bled all over the place. Oh, and he tried to do his fingernails too. He's so ambitious.
Thank heavens we're throwing out this rug. It was pretty considerate of him to wait to do something horrifying like this until we are four days from pitching the rug.
Not much else to report. Oh, there are a million little things going on. There always are when we are about to move. Just nothing to report. I have very little left to do except sit here and patiently wait for September 2nd to roll around. We're in the house with our beautiful government loaner furniture until August 31st, then we'll move onto the base and into the Navy Lodge for two nights. Next Saturday, the kids and I will get on the bus to Yokota Air Base and start the long journey home. I'm getting more excited with every passing day.
Other than that, things have been quiet. I'm just trying hard to stick to a routine to keep the kids from going nuts. They know that there's something going on. All of their things are gone, most noticeably, their gigantic TV. They have to watch DVDs on the portable player and regular TV on a 19" TV. Oh, the pain!
The next time I blog will probably be from St. James. It's going to be a little while though. Probably around the 11th or so.
Now I have to go scrounge up some polish remover from someone and bathe Josiah in it!
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August 19
Moving On
Wow, I've got a couple of minutes to myself here. Think I'll sit down and take a little break and blog.
It's another steamy hot afternoon in Japan, so we're sticking close to the house. The kids have been asleep since 12:30 (it's 3:00 now). I tried to take a nap, too. Usually I can, but I've got so many things going through my mind. Sleep has been hard to get for the last week or so. I keep remembering something that I should pull out of a cupboard or closet somewhere--something that I don't want the movers to pack in with our household goods on Monday. I keep wandering through the house, trying to imagine every possible life scenario between now and when I will see all of these things again. Should be sometime in mid-October.
I guess the big news is that the lease is signed on the house that I wanted. I was worried there for a couple of days because the owner was trying to decide whether she should sell or rent. Thank goodness she decided in our favor, though there were other houses that would have been just as adequate. It's just such a Rachel thing to get fixated on one particular thing and want only that one particular thing. Once I see it and love it, I have to have it. It's how I got Hans. And credit card debt, back when I was a single girl. But that's old history.
If you want to see the house, go to www.prunewport.com (wow, it made a link for me!!), go to rentals, scroll down to "YEAR ROUND" 3 bedroom, it's the second house down. Number TSEU. If you put the mouse over the picture of the house (don't click) the picture changes and you can see some shots of the main floor. According to the realtor, there are three big bedrooms upstairs, a new marble bathroom (Chinese checkers anyone?) and newly refinished hardwood floors. Ack. I'm in heaven. It is a little expensive for this frugal girl, though my husband keeps assuring me that we can afford it--I feel like I'm going to have to start clipping coupons again and buying lots of mac-n-cheese. Of course, that is the favored meal of the LCDR. Select, sorry honey.
Speaking of honeys, I'm going to try to attach some pictures that Hans sent me from Kuala Lumpur. They were there the last couple of days. Hans got to go into the city and get a hotel room for a couple of nights and do some sightseeing and shopping. I'm glad for him. I think I'd pretty much go crazy being cooped up with the same 300 people in a tin can out in the middle of the ocean. The best part was getting to talk to him on a regular phone line. When he calls me from the ship, there's a time delay and beeps and voice echos and we get cut off a lot. Not that I'm complaining, because I will take a call from the ship any day over not getting to talk to him. Anyway, he enjoyed Kuala Lumpur, said everyone spoke English and everything was cheap. And he got to eat at McDonald's. We've decided to do a picture project where we gather together his pictures of McDonald's from around the world and put them into one big frame. It could be pretty cool, actually.
My birthday was really great. Of course, I miss having my husband here, and my family. I missed Mariska--she's in Hawaii with her family. The best part of the day was telling Josiah it was my birthday and hearing him say "Happa Birday Mama!". That was my favorite birthday present. The rest of the day was nice, too. Alexis and I and the kids went to Daiei, took the kids to the balloon room, ate at the mall, then went shopping at the 100 Yen store. I feel relieved to get to check that off my list of things I have to do one last time! Later on, Alexis made me an excellent supper and gave me a very cool pedicure complete with shiny little jewels on my toenails. It's pretty cute. If I take good care of my toes, I should be able to show you all in a few days!
Warning: One of the photos is of a graphic nature. Please have all children leave the room. Unless they are still breastfeeding.
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August 14
Mama I'm Comin' HOME!!
Well, as you can all see, I have changed the blog up a little. There's no longer an Asian theme...now it is a wide open field. Blue skies and a windmill. More...Minnesota. Because I'M COMING HOME!! Even though, technically, I'm not coming home to Minnesota, I'm coming home to Newport, Rhode Island. Close enough.
Hans got orders last Thursday. I was busy before that, but I've been crazily busy since we got word. Last Wednesday, Mariska, Alexis, Stephanie and I went out to TGI Friday's to celebrate my birthday. A little early, true, but Mariska and her family just left for Hawaii for a couple of weeks. We had a great time. As you can see from the pictures, I had some enormous fruity drinks studded with cherries, orange and lime slices and containing enough alcohol to numb a donkey. I had two of these drinks, and surprisingly, didn't feel anything other than the desire to talk more than usual. One would think that since I never imbibe anymore, I would have simply eaten the cherry and fell over. Bizarre how alcohol can affect you in different ways on different occasions.
Anyway. I had kind of rough time with the babysitter when I got home. I have (had) this thirteen-year-old girl who had been babysitting for us. She did an O.K. job. By O.K. I mean that I could tell she really wasn't the type who played with Josiah or interacted with him much. She was pretty much here to make a quick buck and would do only the barest level of care. I had my suspicions about things like diaper changes. I warned her everytime that she may have to change a dirty diaper or two. She had it pretty easy, in my opinion--I usually had everything set out for her, the kids fed, the bottles pre-made, the pajamas on the bed, etc. On Wednesday night, I left, feeling pretty good--I had a babysitter that I (for the most part) trusted and could finally get out and about.
I asked her to do just a few things for Josiah: put his pajamas on. Change his diaper, brush his teeth, read him a story, turn on his nightlight and shut his door tight to prevent wandering. When I got home at 10:00, I paid her and then went up to check on them. I found Josiah fast asleep in his clothes, in the pitch black...and worst of all, in a dirty diaper. OK. I calmed myself, woke him, changed him, put his PJs on, turned the nightlight on and tucked him back in. Earlier in the evening, before I left, I had put a little mark on Annika's diaper to see if the sitter would actually change her. Sure enough, when I went in to check on her, I looked and she still had the same diaper on. Now I was seriously mad. I called up the sitter's mother (who incidentally is a very nice woman and I know was shocked and upset by my call) and told her what had happened. All the while I can hear the sitter in the background saying that she changed the diapers and that Josiah must have dirtied his after he went to sleep. Absolutely untrue. I had warned her that Josiah would go before he went to bed, but that he wouldn't sleep until he was changed. So, most likely, the poor kid was up there, dirty and trying to get her attention, in a dark room, until he finally got tired and went to sleep. Grrrr. The sitter had been going to come back on Thursday morning to sit while I got my hair done, but I fired her butt! You're FIRED!
It's so hard to find good help. And I was paying her $7.50/hr to watch these two for about one hour before they went to bed. Frustrating.
The good news was that on Thursday morning when I got up, there was an e-mail waiting in my inbox with Hans' orders. So I've been going, going, going since then. I have our moves scheduled. The movers are coming on August 21st to pack out our household goods and again on August 31st to do a smaller move of essential things we'll need until the last moment (much like they did when we left San Diego). Hans is working on getting flights for me and the kids. I've faxed in information to have our car released from storage. I've picked out a house in Newport, filled out the application and e-mailed it back. I'm making list after list after list of items to pack, items to send home, items to put in our suitcases. There's a lot to do, but a lot less than when we came to Japan.
We're hanging in there. It won't be too much longer now...it feels strange that it's all coming to an end. I know that I'm going to miss Japan. I'm going to miss the friends that I made here, especially friends like Mariska, who has been with me throughout this entire tour. Even through it all, I very often would pause and think how lucky I am to have gotten this experience. I still shake my head in wonder that a girl from small-town Minnesota could end up making her home in Japan for a year. I never thought that would be me.
Enjoy the pics and stay tuned for further information about THE MOVE 2006.
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August 08
Hayama Beach
Just a quick entry.
We all got up very early yesterday morning and went to the beach. At long last. I have been meaning to go to the beach for ages. I really don't have a good excuse why we've never gone. I guess the heat was a factor. It's been so hot that I think the sand on the beach would be forming sharp edges, if you know what I mean. We wouldn't be going to the beach to swim. None of us can swim, mother or children. Oh, I try to flail around, but I definitely can't swim. Josiah likes to "swim" in the bathtub, but I doubt that if a big wave came up, his skills would come in handy. Besides, who knows what kind of sting-y, poke-y, slimy, bitey fish live in the Sea of Japan? Not willing to find out.
But, we can walk on the beach and Josiah can dig in the sand, fall in the sand, eat the sand, rub the sand in his eyes, and generally become encrusted with sand.
The time to go to the beach finally came after a visit to my friend Stephanie's on Sunday. Sitting on the top of her bar was a big glass vase filled with enormous pottery shards. I can't describe it well...but I was intrigued. She picked them all up at a beach in Hayama. It's like sea glass, only it was colorful pieces of pottery. She said that she and her kids just walked along the water line and picked up a big bucket of pieces.
That sealed it for me. I was going to the beach, come heck or high water (nice pun, Rachel...).
So, I packed all the bags the night beforehand, put everyone to bed a little early, and came up with a plan of action. We got up with Annika at 5:30 and were at the beach by 6:10 a.m. I knew that I wanted to spend a couple of hours there before the sun got really high and we started to fry. It worked out really well. We walked up and down the beach, climbed around on some rocks, dug in the sand, and picked up a bucket of pottery shards.
We don't really know why the beaches have pieces of pottery on them. Steph was speculating that maybe at one time there was a pottery factory somewhere that dumped its waste into the ocean. It must be tons and tons of stuff if it washes up everyday. The stuff that I picked up wasn't as great as Steph's, but it is still pretty neat. Lots of blue and white, some green, a few big brown pieces. Some pieces have bits of pattern. I told Hans that I think it would be really cool to go back regularly and pick up buckets of the stuff until we have enough to do mosaic on a little tabletop or something. Hans has always been interested in mosaic (I know, a little-known fact about my husband. Store it away for trivia.). It would certainly be a different keepsake from our time in Japan.
Searching for pieces of pottery in the sand made me think of the summer that I spent in my grandparents' grove on the farm, picking up bits of broken dishes. The grove had been kind of the dump in the past, so I'd go in and find old bits of broken plates and try to piece them together or bring them back to Grandma. Sometimes she remembered the long-faded pattern on the shard and would say "Oh, that was my mother's!" Sometimes I think I should have been an archeaologist. Oh, and for those of you unfamiliar with the Midwest, "grove" refers to a thick shelter of trees planted for use as a wind and snow-break around a farmhouse. So, our grove was kind of a mini-forest. Or at least, it seemed so when I was little.
Anyway, we had a fun time. Annie rode in the pack. I got my squats in with that nice, 20 pound weight on my chest, bending over to pick things out of the sand. Josiah got to tear around, dig holes, climb on rocks and get dirty--little boy heaven, in other words. We were back home by 8:30.
Enjoy the pictures. Josiah had some fun playing with a Pampers box yesterday, so I had to take some pictures. We used to play in Pampers boxes when we were little, too. Gen, Eli and I, I mean. I swear, why do we spend money on toys for them?
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August 05
Whatever...
I have completely run out of cute titles. Either that, or I've completely run out of imagination. This is a distinct possibility.
Hopefully Hans won't be disgusted by me sharing his news on my blog. He was just selected for Lieutenant Commander. We just got the news yesterday. He wasn't too surprised. In fact, he told me that he would have had to have done something pretty bad not to get promoted. But to me, it's still a big deal, a big accomplishment. I wanted to run out and shout it from the rooftops, but people around here seem a little sensitive about issues of rank, so I'll just keep it to myself. I mean, I told Mariska and Alexis. No one was too surprised. I'm just glad that it's said and done, at last!
If I sound crabby, it's because I am. Identify with me here ladies: ever have one of those weeks (no not one of THOSE weeks) when you can't find a decent thing to wear, your hair doesn't cooperate? I still am breaking out. I'll be 32 in less than two weeks. This means I've been battling with my skin for half of my life now. Probably longer than that. I can't believe that scientists haven't figured out a way to end acne yet. Especially as it seems to be appearing in more and more adults. I don't doubt that Josiah, Annika and I will be sharing the Clearasil. Jeez. It just gets so old. I mean to have a chemical peel when I get home to get rid of scars and dark spots from pregnancy, but we still have a ways to wait for that (getting home).
As for not being able to find something to wear...I have such a dilemma with my closet. The first problem is that I'm really just a jeans and T-shirt girl. Maybe khakis and a T-shirt. But I just can't accept myself as such. I watch "What Not to Wear" and they always nab the lady wearing jeans and T-shirt and demand that she start wearing smart jackets, blouses and heels every day. I know, what a thing to worry about. Hello--war in the Middle East, North Korea, global warming?! I'm in this conundrum: should one buy a large quantity of semi-quality clothing in current styles? Or should one pay more to get higher-quality pieces and just get a few classic things? Errrr, it irks me. I tend to go the former, rather than the latter, but then I have a day when everything in my closet looks like cheap crap. Well, cheap Gap crap. Then, I start worrying that I'm dressing too young for my age. Or that I'm dressing too frumpy and I'm stuck in a rut. Our choices of where to shop are pretty limited here too. I couldn't go out and buy jeans, for example, because they're not usually long enough for me. I'm pretty much stuck with the Gap because I know exactly how their pants will fit me.
Also, I think I've officially fallen out of trend-dom. I mean, have you seen the stuff that's appearing for Fall? Ugh. Leggings. Sweet Marie, leggings! What's next? Stirrup pants? I'm shivering in repulsion. Leggings under a short skirt. I've already blogged about the skinny jeans. I guess there's nothing left for me but screen-printed T-shirts and high-waisted jeans with elastic backs and Keds. It's all over. Snif.
I know, you're all shaking your heads at me. But at least I feel better having vented this stuff out. Thanks for listening! And let me know if you have any good online places to shop other than the Gap. I can't wait to get home and SHOP!!
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Josiah's First Pedicure
Oh Lord. I just turned around from e-mailing Hans and found Josiah covered in OPI's "You Rock-Apulco Red"! My brand new nail polish is everywhere. Apparently he has been paying attention when I give myself a pedicure and wanted it done for his toenails, too. He actually didn't do too bad a job on his right foot. His left foot looks more like someone stabbed his toe and he bled all over the place. Oh, and he tried to do his fingernails too. He's so ambitious.
Thank heavens we're throwing out this rug. It was pretty considerate of him to wait to do something horrifying like this until we are four days from pitching the rug.
Not much else to report. Oh, there are a million little things going on. There always are when we are about to move. Just nothing to report. I have very little left to do except sit here and patiently wait for September 2nd to roll around. We're in the house with our beautiful government loaner furniture until August 31st, then we'll move onto the base and into the Navy Lodge for two nights. Next Saturday, the kids and I will get on the bus to Yokota Air Base and start the long journey home. I'm getting more excited with every passing day.
Other than that, things have been quiet. I'm just trying hard to stick to a routine to keep the kids from going nuts. They know that there's something going on. All of their things are gone, most noticeably, their gigantic TV. They have to watch DVDs on the portable player and regular TV on a 19" TV. Oh, the pain!
The next time I blog will probably be from St. James. It's going to be a little while though. Probably around the 11th or so.
Now I have to go scrounge up some polish remover from someone and bathe Josiah in it!
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August 19
Moving On
Wow, I've got a couple of minutes to myself here. Think I'll sit down and take a little break and blog.
It's another steamy hot afternoon in Japan, so we're sticking close to the house. The kids have been asleep since 12:30 (it's 3:00 now). I tried to take a nap, too. Usually I can, but I've got so many things going through my mind. Sleep has been hard to get for the last week or so. I keep remembering something that I should pull out of a cupboard or closet somewhere--something that I don't want the movers to pack in with our household goods on Monday. I keep wandering through the house, trying to imagine every possible life scenario between now and when I will see all of these things again. Should be sometime in mid-October.
I guess the big news is that the lease is signed on the house that I wanted. I was worried there for a couple of days because the owner was trying to decide whether she should sell or rent. Thank goodness she decided in our favor, though there were other houses that would have been just as adequate. It's just such a Rachel thing to get fixated on one particular thing and want only that one particular thing. Once I see it and love it, I have to have it. It's how I got Hans. And credit card debt, back when I was a single girl. But that's old history.
If you want to see the house, go to www.prunewport.com (wow, it made a link for me!!), go to rentals, scroll down to "YEAR ROUND" 3 bedroom, it's the second house down. Number TSEU. If you put the mouse over the picture of the house (don't click) the picture changes and you can see some shots of the main floor. According to the realtor, there are three big bedrooms upstairs, a new marble bathroom (Chinese checkers anyone?) and newly refinished hardwood floors. Ack. I'm in heaven. It is a little expensive for this frugal girl, though my husband keeps assuring me that we can afford it--I feel like I'm going to have to start clipping coupons again and buying lots of mac-n-cheese. Of course, that is the favored meal of the LCDR. Select, sorry honey.
Speaking of honeys, I'm going to try to attach some pictures that Hans sent me from Kuala Lumpur. They were there the last couple of days. Hans got to go into the city and get a hotel room for a couple of nights and do some sightseeing and shopping. I'm glad for him. I think I'd pretty much go crazy being cooped up with the same 300 people in a tin can out in the middle of the ocean. The best part was getting to talk to him on a regular phone line. When he calls me from the ship, there's a time delay and beeps and voice echos and we get cut off a lot. Not that I'm complaining, because I will take a call from the ship any day over not getting to talk to him. Anyway, he enjoyed Kuala Lumpur, said everyone spoke English and everything was cheap. And he got to eat at McDonald's. We've decided to do a picture project where we gather together his pictures of McDonald's from around the world and put them into one big frame. It could be pretty cool, actually.
My birthday was really great. Of course, I miss having my husband here, and my family. I missed Mariska--she's in Hawaii with her family. The best part of the day was telling Josiah it was my birthday and hearing him say "Happa Birday Mama!". That was my favorite birthday present. The rest of the day was nice, too. Alexis and I and the kids went to Daiei, took the kids to the balloon room, ate at the mall, then went shopping at the 100 Yen store. I feel relieved to get to check that off my list of things I have to do one last time! Later on, Alexis made me an excellent supper and gave me a very cool pedicure complete with shiny little jewels on my toenails. It's pretty cute. If I take good care of my toes, I should be able to show you all in a few days!
Warning: One of the photos is of a graphic nature. Please have all children leave the room. Unless they are still breastfeeding.
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August 14
Mama I'm Comin' HOME!!
Well, as you can all see, I have changed the blog up a little. There's no longer an Asian theme...now it is a wide open field. Blue skies and a windmill. More...Minnesota. Because I'M COMING HOME!! Even though, technically, I'm not coming home to Minnesota, I'm coming home to Newport, Rhode Island. Close enough.
Hans got orders last Thursday. I was busy before that, but I've been crazily busy since we got word. Last Wednesday, Mariska, Alexis, Stephanie and I went out to TGI Friday's to celebrate my birthday. A little early, true, but Mariska and her family just left for Hawaii for a couple of weeks. We had a great time. As you can see from the pictures, I had some enormous fruity drinks studded with cherries, orange and lime slices and containing enough alcohol to numb a donkey. I had two of these drinks, and surprisingly, didn't feel anything other than the desire to talk more than usual. One would think that since I never imbibe anymore, I would have simply eaten the cherry and fell over. Bizarre how alcohol can affect you in different ways on different occasions.
Anyway. I had kind of rough time with the babysitter when I got home. I have (had) this thirteen-year-old girl who had been babysitting for us. She did an O.K. job. By O.K. I mean that I could tell she really wasn't the type who played with Josiah or interacted with him much. She was pretty much here to make a quick buck and would do only the barest level of care. I had my suspicions about things like diaper changes. I warned her everytime that she may have to change a dirty diaper or two. She had it pretty easy, in my opinion--I usually had everything set out for her, the kids fed, the bottles pre-made, the pajamas on the bed, etc. On Wednesday night, I left, feeling pretty good--I had a babysitter that I (for the most part) trusted and could finally get out and about.
I asked her to do just a few things for Josiah: put his pajamas on. Change his diaper, brush his teeth, read him a story, turn on his nightlight and shut his door tight to prevent wandering. When I got home at 10:00, I paid her and then went up to check on them. I found Josiah fast asleep in his clothes, in the pitch black...and worst of all, in a dirty diaper. OK. I calmed myself, woke him, changed him, put his PJs on, turned the nightlight on and tucked him back in. Earlier in the evening, before I left, I had put a little mark on Annika's diaper to see if the sitter would actually change her. Sure enough, when I went in to check on her, I looked and she still had the same diaper on. Now I was seriously mad. I called up the sitter's mother (who incidentally is a very nice woman and I know was shocked and upset by my call) and told her what had happened. All the while I can hear the sitter in the background saying that she changed the diapers and that Josiah must have dirtied his after he went to sleep. Absolutely untrue. I had warned her that Josiah would go before he went to bed, but that he wouldn't sleep until he was changed. So, most likely, the poor kid was up there, dirty and trying to get her attention, in a dark room, until he finally got tired and went to sleep. Grrrr. The sitter had been going to come back on Thursday morning to sit while I got my hair done, but I fired her butt! You're FIRED!
It's so hard to find good help. And I was paying her $7.50/hr to watch these two for about one hour before they went to bed. Frustrating.
The good news was that on Thursday morning when I got up, there was an e-mail waiting in my inbox with Hans' orders. So I've been going, going, going since then. I have our moves scheduled. The movers are coming on August 21st to pack out our household goods and again on August 31st to do a smaller move of essential things we'll need until the last moment (much like they did when we left San Diego). Hans is working on getting flights for me and the kids. I've faxed in information to have our car released from storage. I've picked out a house in Newport, filled out the application and e-mailed it back. I'm making list after list after list of items to pack, items to send home, items to put in our suitcases. There's a lot to do, but a lot less than when we came to Japan.
We're hanging in there. It won't be too much longer now...it feels strange that it's all coming to an end. I know that I'm going to miss Japan. I'm going to miss the friends that I made here, especially friends like Mariska, who has been with me throughout this entire tour. Even through it all, I very often would pause and think how lucky I am to have gotten this experience. I still shake my head in wonder that a girl from small-town Minnesota could end up making her home in Japan for a year. I never thought that would be me.
Enjoy the pics and stay tuned for further information about THE MOVE 2006.
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August 08
Hayama Beach
Just a quick entry.
We all got up very early yesterday morning and went to the beach. At long last. I have been meaning to go to the beach for ages. I really don't have a good excuse why we've never gone. I guess the heat was a factor. It's been so hot that I think the sand on the beach would be forming sharp edges, if you know what I mean. We wouldn't be going to the beach to swim. None of us can swim, mother or children. Oh, I try to flail around, but I definitely can't swim. Josiah likes to "swim" in the bathtub, but I doubt that if a big wave came up, his skills would come in handy. Besides, who knows what kind of sting-y, poke-y, slimy, bitey fish live in the Sea of Japan? Not willing to find out.
But, we can walk on the beach and Josiah can dig in the sand, fall in the sand, eat the sand, rub the sand in his eyes, and generally become encrusted with sand.
The time to go to the beach finally came after a visit to my friend Stephanie's on Sunday. Sitting on the top of her bar was a big glass vase filled with enormous pottery shards. I can't describe it well...but I was intrigued. She picked them all up at a beach in Hayama. It's like sea glass, only it was colorful pieces of pottery. She said that she and her kids just walked along the water line and picked up a big bucket of pieces.
That sealed it for me. I was going to the beach, come heck or high water (nice pun, Rachel...).
So, I packed all the bags the night beforehand, put everyone to bed a little early, and came up with a plan of action. We got up with Annika at 5:30 and were at the beach by 6:10 a.m. I knew that I wanted to spend a couple of hours there before the sun got really high and we started to fry. It worked out really well. We walked up and down the beach, climbed around on some rocks, dug in the sand, and picked up a bucket of pottery shards.
We don't really know why the beaches have pieces of pottery on them. Steph was speculating that maybe at one time there was a pottery factory somewhere that dumped its waste into the ocean. It must be tons and tons of stuff if it washes up everyday. The stuff that I picked up wasn't as great as Steph's, but it is still pretty neat. Lots of blue and white, some green, a few big brown pieces. Some pieces have bits of pattern. I told Hans that I think it would be really cool to go back regularly and pick up buckets of the stuff until we have enough to do mosaic on a little tabletop or something. Hans has always been interested in mosaic (I know, a little-known fact about my husband. Store it away for trivia.). It would certainly be a different keepsake from our time in Japan.
Searching for pieces of pottery in the sand made me think of the summer that I spent in my grandparents' grove on the farm, picking up bits of broken dishes. The grove had been kind of the dump in the past, so I'd go in and find old bits of broken plates and try to piece them together or bring them back to Grandma. Sometimes she remembered the long-faded pattern on the shard and would say "Oh, that was my mother's!" Sometimes I think I should have been an archeaologist. Oh, and for those of you unfamiliar with the Midwest, "grove" refers to a thick shelter of trees planted for use as a wind and snow-break around a farmhouse. So, our grove was kind of a mini-forest. Or at least, it seemed so when I was little.
Anyway, we had a fun time. Annie rode in the pack. I got my squats in with that nice, 20 pound weight on my chest, bending over to pick things out of the sand. Josiah got to tear around, dig holes, climb on rocks and get dirty--little boy heaven, in other words. We were back home by 8:30.
Enjoy the pictures. Josiah had some fun playing with a Pampers box yesterday, so I had to take some pictures. We used to play in Pampers boxes when we were little, too. Gen, Eli and I, I mean. I swear, why do we spend money on toys for them?
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August 05
Whatever...
I have completely run out of cute titles. Either that, or I've completely run out of imagination. This is a distinct possibility.
Hopefully Hans won't be disgusted by me sharing his news on my blog. He was just selected for Lieutenant Commander. We just got the news yesterday. He wasn't too surprised. In fact, he told me that he would have had to have done something pretty bad not to get promoted. But to me, it's still a big deal, a big accomplishment. I wanted to run out and shout it from the rooftops, but people around here seem a little sensitive about issues of rank, so I'll just keep it to myself. I mean, I told Mariska and Alexis. No one was too surprised. I'm just glad that it's said and done, at last!
If I sound crabby, it's because I am. Identify with me here ladies: ever have one of those weeks (no not one of THOSE weeks) when you can't find a decent thing to wear, your hair doesn't cooperate? I still am breaking out. I'll be 32 in less than two weeks. This means I've been battling with my skin for half of my life now. Probably longer than that. I can't believe that scientists haven't figured out a way to end acne yet. Especially as it seems to be appearing in more and more adults. I don't doubt that Josiah, Annika and I will be sharing the Clearasil. Jeez. It just gets so old. I mean to have a chemical peel when I get home to get rid of scars and dark spots from pregnancy, but we still have a ways to wait for that (getting home).
As for not being able to find something to wear...I have such a dilemma with my closet. The first problem is that I'm really just a jeans and T-shirt girl. Maybe khakis and a T-shirt. But I just can't accept myself as such. I watch "What Not to Wear" and they always nab the lady wearing jeans and T-shirt and demand that she start wearing smart jackets, blouses and heels every day. I know, what a thing to worry about. Hello--war in the Middle East, North Korea, global warming?! I'm in this conundrum: should one buy a large quantity of semi-quality clothing in current styles? Or should one pay more to get higher-quality pieces and just get a few classic things? Errrr, it irks me. I tend to go the former, rather than the latter, but then I have a day when everything in my closet looks like cheap crap. Well, cheap Gap crap. Then, I start worrying that I'm dressing too young for my age. Or that I'm dressing too frumpy and I'm stuck in a rut. Our choices of where to shop are pretty limited here too. I couldn't go out and buy jeans, for example, because they're not usually long enough for me. I'm pretty much stuck with the Gap because I know exactly how their pants will fit me.
Also, I think I've officially fallen out of trend-dom. I mean, have you seen the stuff that's appearing for Fall? Ugh. Leggings. Sweet Marie, leggings! What's next? Stirrup pants? I'm shivering in repulsion. Leggings under a short skirt. I've already blogged about the skinny jeans. I guess there's nothing left for me but screen-printed T-shirts and high-waisted jeans with elastic backs and Keds. It's all over. Snif.
I know, you're all shaking your heads at me. But at least I feel better having vented this stuff out. Thanks for listening! And let me know if you have any good online places to shop other than the Gap. I can't wait to get home and SHOP!!
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