Planes, transits and minivans

The travel summary:

3-transit rides
2-planes
1-crowded minivan

22-hours (from our door to the in-laws door). Sigh.




We are in the US! If we don't melt, we just might make it to the next link of our trip!

It was a long, grueling trans-Atlantic trip, where we made some enemies with our crying baby. Eh, oh well. It was warm on the flight and 9 hours is a long time to be cooped up. We did all that we could do, but our patience wore out.

We only had a little over an hour between flights, but we were doing great with collecting luggage , going through immigration and customs, re-checking the luggage, and taking a tram to the next terminal at Chicago O' Hare airport until we came to a screeching halt in the looooong security line.......and then missed our connecting flight. Bummer. They initially told us that we would have to take a flight in the morning!?! What? No way. They managed to get us onto the next flight and we were on our merry way a few hours later. A white minivan greeted us for our next journey to get to the In-Laws house. It was late, but they waited up and made the kids a snack.

We are now visiting the grandparents and having a great time. The kids love playing outside with the balls, golf clubs and bats under the trees. Grandma is getting fit chasing after them, too.

We also spent a day with great-grandma. It was so nice seeing her smiling face, getting hugs, and sharing stories. If I have half of her energy at ninety-one-----I will be thankful. She loved seeing the kids-some of them she met for the first time! She sparked Ashlyn's interest in sewing, so hopefully she will have some nice creations in the future. I am just not into sewing, and I don't even pretend that I want to be. I love other creative projects, but sewing is just not one of them. My mema would be disappointed, I know.

We have also managed to spend a day shopping at T@@rget and Old N@@vy , two stores whom I have only had the pleasure of seeing online. It was great to see them in person again! The girls were actually excited about visiting W-mart also! They cannot remember going to one when they were little. Hehe. It's the little things, right!?!

Today we went to the county fair. It was a fairly warm day, but the kids had a great time on the rides. I think their favorites were the haunted house and the sack slide. Logan even rode the carousel and the tea cups. He loved it and kept saying "whoa-whoa". We had a DQ on the way home to cool-off...... it was another first for them.

We have a visit to the Cincinnati Zoo and a wedding before we leave for our next leg of the trip. I hope this post wasn't too spacey. I think maybe the humidity is clouding my thinking. That, and jet-lag! I miss corresponding with many of you! I will do my best to catch up and comment, but forgive me if I don't in a timely manner. I will try and post some pictures, but that also means finding the cable amid the luggage. Aack!

Not much new here

Okay, not much is going on here but errands, packing, cooking, cleaning, rinse off kids, and repeat.

With this week being looong days of sunlight, that means I can get loads done, right?
Seriously, the sun is coming up at 4:40-ish A.M., and stays up until 10:00. That gives me ample time to get things done! So, here I am at 10:40 P.M.at night still doing laundry, checking blogs, and making a long (er) to-do list for tomorrow. And shouldn't I be doing that super-thick kindergarten packet? Absolutely. There it still sits on the kitchen island. It occasionally makes me feel guilty for not finishing it-but then I get over it.

On a funny note: we were at the commissary picking up a few things today and Nick pushed Ryan down and called him a "Cry Baby". I told him that he was not allowed to play Wii when we got home (add this to the other bothersome things he was doing to others-he deserved losing it). We were telling Daddy tonight why he couldn't play the Wii (they like to play a game of golf in the evenings), and he corrected me. "No mom, I didn't just call him a baby. I called him a cry baby". I guess it was worth it to lose the Wii privilege.

Just trying to fit in

We occasionally have bouts where we try and fit in with the locals. I had one such occasion this week when I had to attend a parent's information night at Ryan's kindergarten, where he will start at the local school in the fall. I have hopes that he will pick up the language quickly and be our family translator when we go to restaurants ;). I knew that one of Ryan's class teachers would be there, and she speaks English (ahh, yes).

The school is only a mile away, but it is located in the town, along steep hills and twisted, narrow streets. Even with the GPS, I managed to miss a turn, ending up on a one-way street, barely missing being side-swiped by a car since I forgot to yield to the right as I glanced back at my missed turn. Argh! I then had to go along the one-way street through the whole town and start again. All of this resulted in me walking in the school doors at 6:05. Germans are famous for being timely, and they were true to form on this occasion. So I walked in....the late American. Ugh. They were friendly though and I had to say my name and my son's information out of turn, being the late one.

I then politely sat through a 30-minute information session given by the Head Teacher. I think I did a great job of looking interested, even though I had no idea what was being said. Sure, I heard some familiar words like May/English/music/October/weekdays, etc., but I didn't know the context. This is a really nice school that offers different themes each day, along with music lessons, swimming (and English lessons, LOL). They can eat breakfast at school, and a hot lunch is eaten together as a class. After the session we broke up into groups and went over paperwork with the teachers.

Two hours after I left, I returned home with a 30-page information packet with pages to complete and return to the school--all of it in German. The teacher did go over it with me, and I made some side notes, but it is going to take me hours to look up words so that I can answer questions and fill out papers (some of it redundant). Help!?!

I am debating whether to ask my next-door neighbor to help me translate, and it can be completed much quicker. It all depends on our level of "noisiness" this weekend. If we are noisy, she might not be so willing to help.

Those days are coming

A few days ago the phone rang and a young boy told me his name and asked to speak to my ten-year-old daughter. What? Who is this guy? Surely not?!?

I asked her later about the call and she said he was just asking about a test. It was the last week of school! What are the chances that a test is scheduled?

This evening the phone rang again, but before I could answer it, it was quickly picked up on the third floor, by someone in "The Princess Suite". (There really is a two-bedroom area up there with a separate bath for the "princess", as I sometimes graciously and frustratingly call her).

Hmmm...I need to do some more investigating. I'm really not ready for my daughter to receive calls from boys for anything other than school related work. School is over for the year, by the way. It's time for some quick intervention.

Blood, Sweat and T-shirts

I'm just feeling thoughtful after viewing a documentary on BBC , "Blood, Sweat and T-shirts". You can check out a more detailed synopsis here , but it basically involves allowing young, spoilt adults who either enjoy or are interested in fashion to see just where clothing originates, and the processes involved. This show exposes the harsh realities of extremely poor labor conditions, third world labor and fair trade, and child labor.

The participants actually travel to countries that manufacturer clothing for both High Street (high end) and discount clothing stores in the UK and U.S. They live and work in the workers' conditions, and see what happens at the low end of the totem pole in the fashion industry. You can read about some of their experiences here. It is truly amazing and sad, to put it lightly, the conditions that workers experience. The cotton fields, cotton factory, sewing factories....they are indescribable. However, it is also emphasized how important these jobs are to the livelihood of the people. It's just a vicious cycle.

I think Martin Buttle's opinion of the issues of ethical trade are very relevant. So, where am I going with this?

I enjoy fashion, shopping and finding cute, affordable clothing for me and my family, as do many others. I sometimes note the country of origin as I look at washing instructions, but never really gave it a second thought. Now I am feeling a bit of guilt for supporting this economy without really being educated in this whole process.

It also emphasizes a silly fact about me. Whenever I buy clothes, I always wash them before wearing. I have had some questionable looks when I am OCD and insist on washing items first. I mean, why would a woman who has loads of washing already just add more? Sometimes one of my daughters will beg to wear it sooner, but I usually refuse. I believed that there were chemicals that were on the clothes that needed to be removed in the wash. After viewing this program, and seeing the unsanitary factory conditions and dirty workers' hands......uh, no way are clothes going on a body before they are washed. Remember-these factories produced clothes for both cheap and expensive brands/stores. Reassuring, eh?

What is the solution? I really have no clear answers. I only have more questions and concerns. I believe that one of the young participants stated that she couldn't condone the conditions, but also couldn't condemn them either since the workers depended on those jobs to maintain their life-as difficult and sad as it existed.

Just something I am thinking about.
I'm feeling a little more appreciative for my life.
Thanks, BBC for this thread and insightful program.

Just a thought

If you are in a recipe rut....like us.....consider this idea. Lately, some of our favorite recipes have come from the back of a product! We absolutely love the "Parmesan Crusted Chicken" recipe on the jar of Hellmann's mayonnaise. It's so simple and tender! The other fav that has graced our table is the "Classic Baked Ziti" on the Mueller's ziti box. The great part is that you can pick up the ingredients while you are at the store. This is a "no-brainer" for us parents who just want to get into/out of the store in as little time as needed.

Now that my darlings are out of school as of today, and summer vacation has started. I need sanity-saving methods, like NOW.

Any ideas are always welcome. Anytime.

It was bound to happen sooner or later

If you haven't noticed, I seem to have a bunch of, well, crap, to deal with lately. Either that or I am just letting it get to me.

Well, as I probably stated before, we live in a "majority" of our house. It used to have five apartments, but has been converted to a single house, well mainly. When we signed the lease the landlord was using 3 ground floor rooms for his office and storage area. He has acquired nearby houses that he is renovating, and needed a place to keep materials and where his workers can congregate. Fine. It didn't occur to us to ask him if the area would ever be anything other than offices, like someones apartment. Big mistake.

About six weeks ago he was working in the next door apartment. This was evident by the loud hammering and drilling that echoed throughout the house. The walls are cement-ish/stucco, and the tile floors do nothing for sound absorption. You can hear a Lego or Hot Wheels car being dropped on the third floor, from the ground (or first) floor. It can be frustrating some days to maintain a sense of quiet (see previous post). Anyway, he then told us that he was renting the apartment to a girl who was having a baby in the fall. Her mother lived nearby, and wanted a place where she could stay and still be near family. Did our landlord even consider the implications of having a person share a house with seven people? Especially an older house that has poor acoustics? No. He has a hearing loss and I really doubt that he could hear sounds around the house. So, we have had a "next door neighbor" since last month. You can see where this is going, right? I can occasionally hear sounds, but not much from her side.

Yesterday morning the boys were being annoying with fighting and just being loud. Logan has been teething and has been needing frequent diaper changes as a result. In other words-it was a prime time to share some complaints with me.

I was busy with those issues when someone knocks on the door. This young woman said something in German, and then asked me (in German) if I spoke German-to which I replied "no". She then explains to me that every morning at 6 a.m. she hears a "boom" on the floor and then stomping on the floor, and that she is having a baby and that she needs to sleep.

Sleep? What is that? Does she not realize that the end of blissful sleep as she knows it is coming to an end?

I basically apologized to her, and told her that Nicholas (who has the room above her) gets up around 7 a.m., but I didn't know about the stomping. I did tell her that we can hear all sounds throughout the house-even small sounds, and that I didn't think there was much to be done. I told her that we would never have rented a house that had common walls because we were a bigger family with small children. I told her that I was frustrated with our landlord because he told us that space was his office, and changed his mind (why miss out on a money-making opportunity?). So, we would try to be more quiet in the morning. The conversation basically ended at that, and I don't think she was that happy. It was frustrating that she was complaining about normal every day noises, not loud shrieking and "kids playing" noises.

I called the housing office after she left just to see if we would be able to get on-base housing if this continues to be an issue. I was told that the wait was 24-months for 4-5 bedroom housing (wait....that's how much time we have left here!), and that it would be the stairwell-type housing where we would have the fourth floor. Back to square-one since that would be the same living situation. Can I just add that it will be so nice to own a house again and not deal with all of this?

Yes, we could get lots of thick area rugs (for $400.00 + each!-no thanks), but we don't want to supply that for all 9 rooms. We have smaller rugs, but they are mainly for decoration.

I then saw her later in the day and talked with her again. I think she was happier about it, and realized that the house just echos everyday sounds. She seemed nice, at least. After observing Nick get out of bed-he does make a thump when he gets out of bed. He does have a high bed and this is to be expected. I listened to Ryan this morning walking across the floor in his bare feet and I could hear his footsteps. I can imagine that they also can be heard down below in her apartment. I'm not sure what we can do other than constantly remind them to tiptoe in the morning, and don't play with toys, or drop things, or well.....basically live in our house. There is also the reverse issue that she will have a crying newborn in the fall, which she can't do much about. How many times will we hear that during the night?

This irritates me because we moved further away from Allen's work so we could have a bigger house-one that we could live in comfortably. Today, I feel like a prisoner in my house. If I want to yell up the stairs, I can't. Or play music loudly (her room is next door to the family room area), or watch a movie at night with loud sound. Part of me feels like a brat and I want to make noise just for spite-and the fact that we were living here-in a house-not a duplex. I feel like I will always be telling the kids not to drop toys or run on the second floor, because that is above her. How do we solve this? Allen says to just live in the house. He says noises at 7 a.m. are much better than stomping at 5:30 a.m., and that there are other outside street noises at 7 a.m., too. His idea is that we are just making normal sounds and not super loud screaming and playing (well, only occasionally). I just feel bad that she has to live with our noise, even if it is just normal living sounds of a family of seven. Maybe I really should have a word with the landlord, but I don't really have a solution-just frustration. I know that many people here live in "stairwell housing" and deal with this daily. I now know how frustrating it can be for others, but we pay extra money for our housing, extra money for utilities, and drive a longer distance (with gas being so expensive!) to live without having to worry about it.

Until now.

I'll just add this to the list of issues going on lately. I'm glad that we're getting away soon. Oh yeah! I told our neighbor that we were going away on holiday, but that the landlord and workers would be here repairing some water damage on the third floor and tiling our stairs while we are gone. It seems even then she won't get a break.