Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

But this is pretty cute. I can stand cats in the kitten phase...it's when they grow up and get shifty-looking and cranky that they lose appeal. Completely. Josiah and Annika made me play this 78 times this morning and giggled hysterically all 78 times. I was checking out the Roomba more than anything. Anyone have one of these? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTxW3GWZ5hI

Mr. Heidelberg offered $10,500 as his starting bid. Well, that problem is solved.

So, here we are in Heidelberg. Wheee, a whole different set of barracks! No, actually, this community, Patrick Henry Village, is pretty nice. They have the best park I have ever seen on a base...seriously, I wish I would have brought my camera. It's all tubes and tunnels and slides. It looks like one of those dealies that hamsters play in. I'm going to take my hamsters over there tomorrow and let them tunnel around. Pray that I don't lose them in there because I'm very claustrophobic. The nice people (damn, why do they have to be so nice ?) came at 4:30 and drove the station wagon. They were so darn nice. They asked me lots of intelligent questions about the car, all of which I think I answered succinctly. They drove for almost an hour...I think they like it. Hans made me promise to mention the fact that the first party was possibly still interested. I don't think I'd make it in sales...I don't have the nerve for it. My friend from the bank calle...

I just finished making my first loaf of bread in about eight years in the breadmaker my ex gave me that one year. You know, the year I thought he was going to give me a diamond ring? And it turned out to be a breadmaker? That was sooooo hot. Notice how I moved on...but I hope if he ever does a vanity Google, he'll find this. The guy wasn't great, but the bread sure is.

I'm beginning to realize that I never would make it in the cut-throat world of business. I'm just way too concerned with not disappointing people or appearing to be a callous jerk. Oh, whatever am I rambling about now? Why, selling my station wagon. Remember, we got a new car (and I love my new car very, very much)? So now, I'm trying to sell the wagon. We own it, I'm holding the title, it has a clear history, it's a nice car with low miles and in excellent shape. We had a buyer give us an offer only $1K less than the asking price. I had inflated the asking price a little anticipating that people would underbid. Well, at least I've got that bit of business acumen... They asked me for a "bill of sale" (check, found it online, filled it out, printed it), and a Carfax report (check, found it online, paid $30 for it (grrrrr), printed it). I even made a photocopy of the title for them. They stopped and picked it up on their merry way to the bank. T...

Make sure you check out the creepy doll link on that BBC page. Creeeeepppppyyy!!!

All right, I know I said I was going to take a break until February, but this was just too good not to blog about! Can you ever forgive me? Last night we were watching BBC when this documentary came on. About Reborn dolls. I'm posting a little clip from the show. We watched about forty minutes of it, all four of us. It was fascinating, it was creepy, it was a little heartbreaking. We couldn't tear our eyes away! Here's the scoop: the documentary was about three women. The first has four children and creates the Reborn babies in her special "nursery". People (mostly women, I'm guessing) order the dolls from her. Some women just place an order, say a "caucasian newborn girl with blonde hair and green eyes". Other women bring in pictures of their actual children or grandchildren and have replicas made. The Reborn artist can paint birthmarks, make the hair exactly the same, and even make the baby the exact length and weight it was when newbor...

Guys, I thought I mentioned that I was going to take some time off from the blog. There isn't much to report right now, though I know that you usually appreciate even the most mundane details. I have a bunch of other projects that I'm working on that are taking up a lot of time. I will be back around Valentine's Day, just in time for Annika's 3rd birthday. Thanks for your understanding.

Weighing in at 4,950 lbs and measuring 200.2", we introduce Miss Nessie Turbonia D4. It was snowing like crazy today, so we didn't actually get to drive anywhere, just around the base a couple of times. We're thinking that if the weather is nice this weekend, we'll head down into the Black Forest and see the sights. Love that new car smell!

Just a couple other random things before I sign off for a few days (however shall you three people survive?): Our new Audi arrived last week. Hans was so excited when we saw it that he opened the door right into Annika's nose. It was beautiful. The only complaint that we have is that it is a lot less red than we were hoping. It's more burgundy than red. It sure looked red from the paint sample in the brochure. I guess it's one of the bad points of buying a car sight unseen. It is still a lovely, lovely vehicle. You guys should see the manual for this car...first, it comes in this little portfolio thing that is so cute, I want to get dressed up, put on high heels and use it as my little "clutch" bag. Second, there are so many gadgets and gizmos in this thing that we need a tutorial DVD. Hans read the entire thing. I tried and got very quickly confused and bored. Oh, did I mention that we can't acutally get Nessie until tomorrow? She's being detaile...

An unusual glazed-tile ceiling at Santa Croce An action shot of Josiah at Santa Croce Galileo's tomb at Santa Croce OK, let's wrap this whole Italy thing up and put a nice ribbon on the top. I'm ready to be done and I'm sure you are too. Hans insists that I complete the miniseries with this final segment about Florence. You already know that it was miserably cold there. When we came out of the hotel in the morning, there were snowflakes in the air. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Minnesotan...snow doesn't really phase me. It was the fact that we weren't equipped for snow that made me nervous. Hey, on a positive note, we had really awesome room service at the hotel in Florence, there was a bathtub for the kids, and best of all: scrambled eggs and bacon at breakfast, in addition to the usual rolls, salami and cheese! I never thought I'd be so happy to see a big dish of runny scrambled eggs... Anyway, I've already described how cold it was and what we d...

Post-Vatican, pre-bus ride to Florence basement pasta The dome inside St. Peter's Basilica I still don't know what's proper: Vatican or St. Peter's Square? Illicit pictures of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (yes, that's Michelangelo's famous portrait of God creating Adam in the center) Inside the Vatican Ditto In one of the Vatican courtyards I wasn't able to pay any kind of attention to any of the tours during this trip. I relied on Hans to update me with information afterwards and hope to remember some of the details. I was on duty keeping the chilrun happy (or trying to, anyway...not succeeding in some cases). This was our last day in Rome. We ended up back at the Vatican for our tour of the buildings there, including St. Peter's Basilica. We actually (GASP!) had a good tour. It was super-crowded, but my big German buggy helped to clear a path. We had to carry the buggy up and down a few steps, but we're used to that. It's better than ...