I would like...

To kiss the following products which have become indispensable to my life:

1. Method lavender-scented all-purpose cleaning spray
2. Method window wash in mint scent (mint! It smells like I clean with mouthwash)
3. Method (hmmm, is there a theme here?) Wood for Good almond-scented furniture polish. I'm sorry, Jan, but this stuff cleans WAY better than Pledge and it smells awesome.
4. Clairol Root Touch-Up hair dye...I tried this yesterday and it is GREAT! I don't know what it is about the colorants or the water here or what, or maybe it's just my hair, which lives on my head solely to be capricious and hate me...but color is just not lasting very long. I just had my color done four weeks ago and my roots were rearing their mousy heads. This product comes with a little brush and tray, I just brushed it on my part and along my temples and voila! Ten minutes later my the mousies were banished. I'm not sure if I would try it if I had longer hair that I could wear pulled back, because that would require doing the back of your head, which could be tricky.
5. Lamisil foot lotion...I guess with age, my feet are getting more hoof-like or something. Definitely developing more calluses and such, but this stuff, along with a little sloughing in the shower, is keeping my tootsies so nice and soft.
6. Neutrogena mineral-powder foundation. Goes on quick and even, has SPF 15 and is mineral, which I guess is better for your skin. I also use Neutrogena's SPF 45 Helioplex moisturizer under it...love that stuff, too. Thank heavens for drugstore.com.
7. Also, Neutrogena's Fresh Cooling Body Mist sunblock, SPF 30. I wish it was a little higher SPF, but this stuff is awesome. It's just a mist, as the name would imply. No lotion to rub in, no mess, just hose everyone down (yes, I'm also using it on the kids) and you're done. Oooh, and I just noticed that it's non-comedogenic. Andrew, that means it doesn't clog your pores.

The method products are all-natural, which I like. The scents are so nice and pleasant and I like that I don't feel like I have to wash my hands every time I use them, like I do when I clean bathrooms and have to use my Lysol cleaning spray. I'm also using Seventh Generation lavendar-eucalyptus laundry detergent and lemon-scented dishwashing liquid. I guess Hans hasn't noticed these eco-friendly additions to the house because...he never cleans anything. Oh OK, Kit, you did put away a load of dishes a couple of weeks ago. Don't pout!

Not much news to report from here. I'm patiently waiting until 10:00 p.m., which is when I will start watching the live streaming video of graduation at Minnesota State University, Mankato (go Mavericks!!), my alma mater. My mother is receiving her Bachelor of Science today, in Sociology. I think. Holy crap, I don't know for sure. I'm about 99.9% sure that it's sociology. Eeek. Anyway, my dear mother has been attending classes one at a time for 16 years. She has an almost perfect grade point average and is graduation something cum laude. I am so proud of her, I can't express. She is the first and likely the only person in her family to hold a degree. I am so happy that most of our family will be there to cheer her on on this important day...I sure wish that I could be there. But hey--streaming live video is the next best thing.

The neighbors will probably wonder why the hell I'm screaming and jumping up and down late at night. Especially since Hans is gone. Read into that whatever you want to read into it.

We are getting quite tan here in Germany. Remember how it rained constantly for about three months? Well, it has been sunny now for a couple of weeks. Sunny and 70 degrees. It's like San Diego, for goodness' sake! Thus the new Neutrogena sunblock. It seems like we've been running around like mad for the entire time Hans has been gone. Josiah is wrapping up school. Annika went to the CDC twice this week. I had my Red Cross meeting and reading at the CDC and the library. We went to the "big slide" German park with Jen and the boys the other night--gads there were a lot of Muslim women there...all staring at us in our shorts. Were they envious or murderous? Hard to tell, but it made me squirm a little. But let's not talk politics. Yawn.

So, that's about it for now. Everyone is in bed, everyone little anyway. Tonight I went to our cage in the basement and brought up the fans. We need them not so much to cool, but to drown out the sounds of the kids whose parents love them and let them stay up past 8:00 p.m. to play on the playground right outside our windows. I had to explain to Josiah about 46 times tonight that the kids outside were quite a bit older than he is and that's why they get to stay up later. His argument is that he's going to be four in about a week.

Nice try, little buddy.

Oh, and as for that last entry...sometimes I just get a little overexcited. Why? Well, explaining could take all night. Get some coffee and settle in.

There's a guy outside playing acoustic guitar. I feel like I'm on the set of "Gilmore Girls".

The end.