huh?

So I had a weird experience this morning. My husband had the day off after being out of town working for several days including the weekend. So, I got up at my normal time and started getting ready. The hubby was awake, but still in bed. I casually asked what he thought he might do today. He replied that he had a vastly full day of very important things that MUST be done today. I sort of feel sorry for him and ask him what he feels is so vital that he can’t have a day to do nothing! He replied that there are bills that need to be paid online, he needs to file some papers, and do laundry. Hmmm…. not exactly what I would call a full 8 hours, but hey, I didn’t work all weekend. So, feeling generous, I remind him that he paid all the bills before he left and that none came in the mail while he was gone. Item one – check. That I did laundry two days ago so he would really only need to wash what he brought home. Item two - check. Man, am I being helpful or what?! He will be able to read, watch a little TV, and whatever it is guys do to relax, right? Seems my thoughtfulness didn’t land.



Worse than that, he started with “why are you shouting at me?” Shouting, WTF?! Was I shouting? No, no I don’t think so. I thought I was being nice. Hmmm, failure to communicate. I tried to say, no, I am not shouting and I just want to help you have to do less. I already took care of the laundry; don’t waste your time rewashing what I already did. We have all these hand towels that nobody ever uses that we leave hanging up. We normally wash them once a week just in case someone decides to use them… don’t wash those again. I think “all better”. Oh no, this time he says that I am “attacking” him. By this time I am completely baffled and starting to get a little pissed. I proceed to tell him he is a big baby and should learn the difference between helpful and hurtful and that he is an over sensitive ninny. Let me just tell, that didn’t help matters! Not the right answer.

Somehow we manage to just forget. Several years of marriage will do that to you. We just get tired of arguing and decide we’re over it and move. There was no real resolution. But I will tell you, I will not offer to take away tasks so that he can relax anymore. Let him wash the damn towels twice next time! Lesson learned.

HELLO

I realize it has been a little while since I have posted anything. I really don’t have a good reason. I guess nothing has struck me as blog worthy. I have gardened, painted a room, and continued on toward the Master’s Degree. Nothing really note worthy.
With the lack of a nice transition, I am just going to plow ahead like I haven’t a missed a day! For my husband’s birthday I got him a subscription to NetFlix. He immediately signed up for like 100 disks that is an old TV show he watched back in Germany in like the mid-eighties. It is a Vietnam War show that I had never heard of. I don’t mind war shows though so I gave it a try. It’s call Tour of Duty. Ever heard of it?

I doubt it. Anyway, I very quickly became obsessed with the show. I love the cast! Well of season one…. some changes in the second season that I just can’t get used to.
I have become completely obsessed with the LT. He is so freakin cute. Check him out:



Kind of HOT right. Well the pictures aren’t great, but they are from the 80’s so cut me a break here! You would have to watch the show to see his attitude and then you would love him too!
Well in my stocker-like obsession, I decided to google the show and see if it ever even aired in the US. Well, it did. I found out that my hunk was born in Cleveland, OH! WOW, I am from Ohio. I also found out that he is very OLD. Well, for me anyway. This is him in 2005….

Not really the same : ) I NEVER should have looked! But you may know him as Stephen Caffery who was in All My Children in the 70’s and then apparently has been on CSI: Miami and several other shows.

The moral of the story: Let the hot guy on TV BE the hot guy on TV! Being nosy gets you nowhere!

Eavesdropping

I realize it’s been awhile since I have posted anything, but I guess I just haven’t had anything say. Imagine that?!

Anyway, I was eavesdropping today and heard a conversation that I just had to share. These two men were sitting in a restaurant (no this isn’t a joke) and talking about how they BOTH lost their divers license for a year. They BOTH lost it for drinking and driving. Now, there aren’t a lot of things I am really against people doing, but drinking and driving is one of them. These two men were going on and on in the booth next to me talking about how it was not their fault! You can see why I had to keep listening to find out just who’s fault they thought it was. Well, nobody ever said. But they both agreed that the thing they got pulled over for had nothing to do with all the drinking they had done. One guy had crashed his motorcycle and felt pretty strongly that this was someone else’s fault and had nothing to do with the fact that he was drunk, driving a motorcycle, and had only one good eye and one glass-eye. The same guy said that he was planning to drive AGAIN THIS TIME. Apparently, he had lost his license not once before, but twice before. He had also been caught for drinking and driving twice in between and had been let off. He was fighting this DUI too and was planning to keep driving because he was not going to let the government tell him what to do. Both men went on and about how unfair this was. I was sitting there silently telling myself not to get involved, these people were not talking to me. I actually had to get up and leave after the man said something like if everyone would just ignore the punishment after losing their license for drinking and driving the courts would stop doing this! I knew I had to leave before I got myself into a fight with two grown men!

deep thoughts

I have this habit of checking out the trashy mags while waiting in the check out line. I noticed the other day that Jennifer Gardner, who I love, said something like "I am so married. Nobody will ever flirt with me again". It struck me. I never thought of some beautiful person who is married to some other beautiful person as feeling that way too. I often think about being married, forever. That's a long time! Don't get me wrong, I love my husband. I couldn't have picked better. But don't you sometimes think man, I will never have another first date or first kiss? I will never have those butterflies in my belly about someone new again. That's kind of sad. It certainly makes me feel old!! I try to remember that I also will never have a boyfriend cheating with my "best friend" or a valentines day without someone to share it with. I have traded in superficial relationships for someone who really cares and knows more about me than I do. But really, that doesn't stop me from being sad about ever having this big romantic encounter! OHHH.... I know, a little deep for Easter Sunday when I should be very thankful for all the wonderful things in my life. Maybe it's all the ham and candy! I should take a nap like everyone else : )

Friendship Award from Needsleepy

Thank you Needsleepy! Your the best! I am supposed to post this poem with my own picks:

The Friendship Award is given to blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to those bloggers who must choose at least 5 more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

My picks:
1. Life in Chauncealot
2. 52 Weeks in Korea
3. Chasing Cars
4. Life in the Slow Lane
5. Life the way I see it...

SPRING TIME!!

I do NOT have a green thumb. Or the time to try. I was so excited when some pretty flowers (maybe Tullips) came up already this year. The family we purchased our house from had spent some time planting some really pretty flowers and bushes around our house. We were hoping that if we didn't touch them, they would just come back. And they did!






There were tons of these pretty flowers in many different colors in front of our house. I noticed in the morning before I went to work. I was so happy, I took this picture. I wanted more, but was running late for work!

When I came home later that evening this is what I found:




How sad is that?! Nothing left! Lots of pretty green stems. Barn those deer and bunnies! They eat everything!! I am so glad I didn't put in the effort to plant those. Imagine how upset I would be then....

Crazy Idea

Myself and two of my co-workers decided we would agree to give up caffeine for 90 whole days. What a terrible idea! I am like three days into it and am finally not feeling like a crazy person. The first two days I felt like I could fall asleep at any time. I was so grumpy to everyone! At one point my husband begged me to just “go have a coke”. Which ended in me telling him how unsupportive he is…. I think I actually said “would you tell a drug user in detox to go use something to make them more bearable”? Like this is the same thing…
The first two nights when I came home from work I had a nap right away. I had great difficulty focusing on homework. I sat there for 20 minutes looking at words on paper, but could not focus on what they might actually mean. By 7 PM both nights I had a splitting headache. The good news is, I slept like a baby both nights and woke up feeling wide awake and great. But by 9 or 10 that morning, I would be dragging like crazy.
I really didn’t think I drank that much caffeine to begin with, but jeez, I guess so. I haven’t really craved the taste of coffee or coke (my drinks of choice) since the first day. I have always drank a lot of water, but now it’s pretty much all I have. On the plus side, I am a lot less hungry.
People have said how great I will feel after a few weeks of no caffeine… less tired… less grumpy… I don’t know, but I will just go back to feeling “normal” as in before I decided to take all the good stuff away..

yummy cake

I made this really funny cake that I just have to share. I have an uncle Kenny that we have always called “Cat”. I guess because he grew up in the 70’s and often said someone was a “cool cat” or a “sly cat” when he was younger. To this day he calls people “cat” as in “that cat needs a hair cut”. So, for his 60th birthday/ retirement party I made him a kitty litter cake.
Isn’t it cool?

The kids loved it! They just thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. The best part is the guests ate every last bite of it.
It was super easy to make. Just a couple of cakes all broken up and mixed with vanilla pudding. And of course, tootsie rolls for poop! It was a lot of fun to make too. I would highly recommend this cake for Halloween or for someone who just really likes cats.

You know you live in Appalachia if….

Driving home from work yesterday I got stuck behind an accident. It looked like a deer jumped out at the car in the right lane. That driver swerved into the left lane, but there was already a car there. So they were taking up both lanes. I had to wait about 5 minutes (yes, this is a traffic jam where I live) behind the cop. The cop was standing in this little ditch off the left lane next to this poor deer. The deer was on it’s back with all four legs in the air. He did not look good. It was pretty obvious it was dying. The cop just stood there next to it. Then I noticed this really old guy with white hair and a long white beard. The cop was actually guarding the deer from the old guy! The old guy started shouting at the cop “just shoot it”. The cop was saying I can’t, I can’t. At this point I turned down my radio and rolled down my window because the scene in front of me was so much more entertaining!
So the old guy is really getting worked up. I mean the deer really was in pain. So the old guy gets mad and says “well give me your gun; I’ll shoot it!” (there a large amount of profanity that I won’t share). Of course the cop says he can’t do that, right. Well that really makes the old man mad. He starts shouting like crazy about how he paid for the bullets in that gun with his taxes and how the cop wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for him! The cop really looks upset and like he’s not sure what to do. He just keeps saying “I’m sorry sir, I can’t do that. And I can’t shoot it”.
I was cracking up laughing. I thought the old guy was going to explode. More cops came to the rescue and cleaned up the scene enough for me to get by. So, I had to leave. I really wanted to stay and see the rest of the show, but I thought they may not like that seeing how they already had one crazy person to deal with.
Later that night we drove in town right past where the deer had been. It’s not there anymore…..

Men are such babies…

The worst finally happened. Dirk has a COLD. You would think the man is dying! He has a cough that does sound pretty yucky. But it is a COLD! He came home from doing some things on Saturday morning and went right to the couch. I had a Tupperware party to attend (oh joy) and when I got home like 3 hours later there he was still on the couch. Whining about how he was hungry, but didn’t want anything “heavy”. We have no soup in can that he was willing to eat. I ended up making the man homemade chicken noodle soup, pouring his glass after glass of juice, and adjusting the heat over and over to suit his whims. Why am I doing this you might ask. Because it is so much easier to just do it than let him keep whining!! Now, it really wouldn’t bother me if I received the same treatment when I am sick. But oh no. When I had a small out patient surgery I came home and made dinner! I often hear “suck it up”. He gets to cry around of two days and do little else. At one point I said something about his needing to remember this when I am sick. Later he said, “you realize you’ll never get this back don’t you?”. Oh I could have poured the soup on his head, but he already ate it.

My mom and I went out to run some errands and I got some extra strength cough medicine that is for night time. My mom noticed and reminded me that Dirk doesn’t like to take drowsy medicine because he doesn’t like “medicine head”. I offered that she go take care of him if I can’t knock him out. He is much easier to deal with when he is sleeping it off in the bedroom. Where is he now? Sound asleep since about 9 last night! Thank you Nyquil.

Small things in life

I have a few odds and ends that I have been thinking about for a few days, but just haven’t had time to blog about.

First, just a funny story I have to share. I was driving to work the other day and listening to the radio in the car. The song by Patti Smith, Because Tonight (Belongs to Us) came on. For some reason, I love that song. I have no idea what the woman is saying half the time, but I love it anyway. For once, I thought I might try to actually understand what she’s saying, boy was I wrong. I could have sworn she says “loves is a pancreas” and “can of tuna, can of tuna, can of tunnnnaaaa”. Ummm no. I figured they weren’t the right words, but I just couldn’t hear anything else! As soon as I got to work, I looked up the words. Turns out she says “love is a banquet, on which we feed” and “Can’t hurt me now, can’t hurt me now, can’t hurt me nooowwww”. Hmmm. I so don’t hear it.
While we are on the topic, a few weeks ago my husband had the radio up loud (which we almost always have). He was singing rather enthusiastically. He was so into it that it took me almost the whole song to realize he was saying “paved paradise, put up a f****ing lot”. I said WHAT?? No, no, no. “put up a parking lot”. His face fell and he said, “man, I’ve been signing it wrong for 20 years!”. He was heartbroken.
Another funny (shorter) story happened late last night. We had been playing a NASCAR video game. I really HATE racing games. But he likes them. So, I try. Well, I had tapped his bumper to push him into the wall, which I think is freaking hilarious. I don’t care about winning, but causing a wreck is too fun. Dirk told me “all gambling is cancelled”. I said WHAT? He said yep, cancelled. It took me several minutes before I busted out laughing. “All bets are off”? Yep, he meant all bets are off…. All gambling is cancelled. Too funny!

And finally, the presidential address. I know, I know. I am not supposed to talk politics. And I won’t. I promise no mention of policy. Just the freaking hilarious things I saw last night. I loved that show. It was better than a sitcom. First, did you see Nancy wiggling around in her seat?! The woman could not sit still! Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy she is excited and all, but jeez. I think Joe was getting a little upset about the up, down, up, down. That speech would have only taken 20 minutes if Nancy could stay in her seat. I could not stop laughing at her rocking around like a little girl.
I also found it pretty funny when Obama said something about not leaving a large debit behind for future generations. For the first time all night, the Reps clapped something crazy. I believe there were many catcalls as well. Obama even laughed at that. Then he said something about the debit that he inherited from the last administration and the Dems had a chance to clap like maniacs and make a few catcalls of their own. When he said something about not spending money in Iraq, I heard several groans from the Rep side followed by a standing O on the Dem side.
As I was watching, I was really wishing I had the computer out so I could type away. I had so many things to say and of course I can’t remember it all today. But the back and forth across the aisle often happens at these things. I always think it is too funny. I was also surprised at the wide variety of facial expressions by on the Rep side. They were not shy about showing their discontent with the President. I saw John McCain stand up to applaud something while making snide comments out the side of his mouth. The Rep response afterward was terrible!! Like watching paint dry. Why do they let that guy from LA talk?! I had no idea someone from LA could be so dull!
Politically, I was pretty happy with the speech. Obama is a great speaker and I agree with nearly all of his politics. But I could not stop laughing. I hope everyone got to see it.

slowing to a drizzle here

Well ladies, this is my last hot guy alert. I had a lot of trouble picking my last guy today. For one, everyone seems to have about the same taste and are taking all the good ones (Will Smith was my first pick today). As I am sure you have all noticed, my picks are not solely based on looks alone. I mean they are all good looking, but for me HOT only comes with some kind of attitude (sweet guy, bad boy, whatever). So I made my pick today based on a nice body, cute guy, and BIG attitude. He is Russian born and moved to the US as a child. Most of you know Max as a dancer. Which is true. He started dancing at about 3. What you might not know is that he broke his leg as a child and was told that he may never dance again. We know differently now! You also might not know that he owns several dance studios in New York and is one of the creators of a non-profit agency in New York that supports and trains young dancers. I am sure you have guessed by now that I chose Maksim Chmerkovskiy:


He is so freakin' sexy when he dances! But it's something a pic just couldn't get. It's all that attitude. Hot, right!
Happy Friday!

Thursday night- the best night

Today I have lucky number 4 on my HOT GUY ALERT. These have been in no particular order BTW. But in honor of Thursday night I have chosen a hot guy that also falls into the bad boy category. He started as a model from my home state of Ohio and has been in several movies that I have never seen and The Wedding Planner. Most recently he has starred in Grey's Anatomy. I have chosen

Justin Chambers. Too hot huh?

Some fun facts:

Justin and his wife Keisha have five children. From oldest to youngest, Isabella (b. 1997), twins Maya and Kaila (b. 1999), Eva (b. 2001) and Jackson (b 2002).
Was discovered by a modelling scout on the Paris subway.... subsequently represented Calvin Klein in fragrance campaign
He has a twin brother named Jason. He and Jason have one older brother and two older sisters.
He is from Springfield, Ohio.
1 of 5 siblings of Irish and German extraction.
Wife Keisha is a model agency booker that he met while he was modeling with Calvin Klein.

I will enjoy watching some Justin Chambers tonight. I will be back tomorrow with my newest hot guy.

Before I get to the Hot Guy Alert again, I first have to apologize for being so slow. I just can’t seem to blog everyday. I don’t have it in me. My excuse? I work a regular full time job and by regular I mean I travel all over Ohio a couple times a month to visit kids. I have to be available if one of them does something wild and crazy which seems to happen a lot. Anyway, I am also a Master’s student… so between work, school, friends, family, and Dirk I don’t have a lot of time. But enough of my whining…
Since I missed yesterdays Hot Guy I have two today. This is getting pretty hard for me. I mean there are plenty of cute guys, but HOT. I have trouble making the commitment!
First is David Beckham. You might notice that I do not have any pictures of him playing soccer. I know he looks good sweaty, but he sucks at soccer. Everyone seems to know except us silly Americans. But he looks good while playing so whatever. I didn’t bother looking any info up on him. We all know he move LA in a sad attempt to get the soccer community going in the US. And that he is married to Posh, has some kids, and is more of a model than an athlete.

Second is Colin Ferrel. I noticed I might have a type… what do you think? Anyway, he is a hottie from Ireland. Again, sexy accent and bad boy image. I really loved him in S.W.A.T. I like him as the good guy.

Well, I will attempt to do better at keeping up. But I have no idea who I will pick for my next one. Stay tuned – only three more to go!

My HOT GUY ALERT - Robbie Williams

I was tagged by Needsleepy to participate in her “It’s Raining Men” blog. I am supposed to post some pictures of someone (a celebrity not a RL person) that I think is super HOT. I have to say I knew exactly who I wanted to post right away. I’m not sure if I would say this is the hottest celebrity I have ever seen… I mean there are a lot of them. But, I chose Robbie Williams. Anyone who knows me at all knows I adore him.
Most of you have probably not heard of him, so let me tell you a little…
He was first in a Boy Band. Yea, lame, I know. The band was Take That. He was young and they started in the early 90’s. Rumor is he left the band first because of lots of arguments about image and what not. He left in ‘95. He released his first solo album in ’97 and has been going strong ever since. Now he is like in his 30’s, I would guess. And is so SUPER famous in all of Europe. He actually moved to LA to be AWAY from the media. Crazy huh. It was like the only place on Earth he could go and not be noticed. Needless to say, I was excited about him being here. Though, I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not like I have ever been to LA. But anyway, I guess I was hoping for a North American tour… which ever happened. Sadly…. Anyway, he is back in the UK now. Oh yea, he is a Brit. So the sexy accent only adds to his mysterious allure.

He is so freakin’ hot. If you don’t think so, listen to him sing. You will for sure change your mind! It’s the whole badass attitude and sultry voice. That’s why he is my pick for HOT GUY ALERT.
I hope everyone takes a second to post something about the guy you think is hot enough.

I'd like to thank the academy..

Wow! Thanks NeedSleepy! If I were a little more like Maki over @ w/ Love, Sincerely - Posh Mom's Diary, I would have noticed your comment a long time ago!

Anyway, NeedSleepy gave out several awards that a pretty cool. I would have never found some of those blogs without it!

The less poo attempt

I pride myself on trying new things. So, when Danielle comes to work one day talking about how she is trying to embrace her “inner-hippy” I thought hmmm maybe I should get in on that. I checked out her “No-poo” blog and decided to give it a shot. (For more info check out Danielle and Mason’s blog). The short story is that Danielle has found some information about how you should not use shampoo on your hair and gave it up as an experiment. Ok, I’m not all about that. I shampoo my hair every single day. I also blow dry and flat iron; all of which is on the no-no list.
You might be wondering why I would try this out. I used to have very thick full hair. In fact, I used to have to have it thinned when I got it cut because it gave me headaches. Not so much anymore. Every time I brush my hair like a pound of hair comes out. It’s so bad that Dirk has to use a screwdriver every few weeks to clean out our drains!! Awful, I know. I thought cutting back on the washes would help with the hair loss… otherwise I will be bald very soon.
I decided that I need to take baby steps to the no poo. For about two weeks I have only been shampooing about three times a week. The other days I either just kind of massage my scalp in the shower (water wash) or use just conditioner. I thought using just condition would make my hair so much more oily, but it doesn’t. It’s actually great.
I really thought this would be harder than it has been. The first time I didn’t shampoo it got a little oily. In fact my whole face felt pretty oily all day.


Kinda gross huh? I mean besides the terrible roots... I know, I need a little dye! And Dirk would not help me take pictures; excuse my attempt and photographing my own head! It was not easy.
By the end of the first week you could hardly tell anymore.
The good news is that I am losing way less hair now. My hair feels much more soft and healthy. The next step is to cut back even more and wash only once a week. Then cut out that shampoo at the wash. I will try to remember to take some more pictures so I can show you how it goes.

Wood burner mayhem

It’s four o’clock and I am finally home from work! I walk into the house and what a surprise! Smoke came billowing out of the door. I’m not kidding. It was like a freaking Cheech and Chong movie. My first words “Damn Dirk”. Here he comes wondering out of the back office (where he has been playing video games) and says “is it smoky in here?”. Well yea, it’s smoky. It was so heavy, I could taste the yucky chemical taste.

I begin to panic and run around opening all the windows and doors. I swear he just stands there. So, I start shouting “What the hell, I mean seriously WHAT THE HELL!”.

Well, he had decided after more than a year to try out our wood burner for the first time ever. I guess it didn’t work.

He had the phone book out and open to a certain page and says call that guy. It turns out that guy is the guy we bought the house from. He realized at some point he needed help, but didn’t actually call for any. The smoke was actually coming out of our heat vents.

He says he has no idea what is wrong it other than the smoke keeps coming and the blower on the back won’t start.

I have been home about two minutes by this point and am calling “that guy”. Turns out he is in a meeting and will call us back. I call my friend Sheri (because she has a wood burner and right now is the closest thing to an expert that we have). Sheri tries hard, but isn’t sure what to do because 1. she can’t see our problem and 2. she has a different kind of wood burner. I feel like a big jackass for calling her : ) She does say that sometimes you have to open the ash tray to let the fire get hot enough to get the blower to work.

That seems to work. As far as getting the blower to kick on.

By this point, I have only been home about 20 minutes and am still wearing my coat and shoes from just walking in. The house is now like an ice box because all the windows and doors are open.

I begin to get really pissy all over again. I just kept shouting what they hell were you doing and why didn’t you fix this!! As I am walking around closing everything back up, I notice Dirk is still playing his video game in the computer room. I really wanted to rip the computer out the wall and throw it at him. He didn’t seem to think any of this was a big deal. Later he says that he tried for THREE HOURS to fix it and was tired of trying and fresh out of ideas.

It all worked out in the end. I talked to “that guy” on the phone for about 15 minutes while he explained all the tricks of making this thing work correctly. We still aren’t exactly sure how to use it, but the house is nice and warm again and, thankfully, smoke free.

I found out later that Dirk actually started the fire at like 1:00 so it had been burning about four hours and had not gotten hot enough (for a number of things he didn’t realize he was supposed to do) and the house was so full because he just let it run for about 20 minutes with the smoke pouring out.

Maybe this wood burner thing isn’t such a good idea!

Yucky Idol

It is once again time for American Idol. I always knew it got on my nerves. I couldn’t really figure it out until this season started.
First, is it me or is this show on ALL OF THE TIME?? It’s on for hours in a row like three days in a row. That is just too much for me.
Second, I think it’s kind of mean to laugh at the stupid people. Don’t get me wrong. I do laugh at them. But it just really isn’t enough to amuse me for two hours at time. I know it’s lame, but I kind of like it once it gets narrowed down to the good signers. Last season though- all my favorites were voted off early in the season. So I didn’t watch at all.
I also don’t think Simon is mean enough for it to have any effect on me. I don’t think Ryan is funny and Paula….well…. not high quality TV.
Mainly my problem is that Dirk watches this crap (laughing out loud so loud I can hardly hear). Then decides that HE should try out for American Idol. He knows he can’t sing at all. Suddenly he thinks it’s funny to pretend that he doesn’t know he can’t. So, three nights a week I listen to his terrible off key singing. As I am sure you have all heard me say before he never knows the words to songs (See Danielle and Mason’s blog). I hear “pave paradise and put up a f***ing lot” (should be “parking lot”). Last night it was Amazing Grace for two hours…. He knows one line!
I can’t wait until American Idol season is over!!

German odds and ends

My friends have been asking me to post a little something about my recent trip to Germany. I have been back for just over a week and still I just can’t figure out what to say. Basically this was a family visit, not a vacation. You all know what I’m saying. There was no site seeing or lazy days. It was pretty much what you might expect for a visit to a family members wedding. Lots and lots of decorating and meeting with Dirk’s old friends and family. Nothing too exciting. So instead of telling about the trip, I thought I might point out some of the things I had forgotten about Germany.

First, I guess I had forgotten what a LONG flight that is. Maybe I am getting older and just don’t travel as well, but this trip felt so much longer than before. It didn’t help that we had what felt like 50% children on the flight. I had a particularly sweet little boy behind me the whole trip that wouldn’t shut with the stupid “kid” questions. You know, how do planes fly, what if it cost a million dollars for a plane ticket, that kind of thing. Then he kicked my seat for most of the trip. Right next to this kid was a crying baby. Good fun. Not to mention, Dirk did not travel as well this time either. Those of you who know him, know that he is a tad high strung, right. The whole time he was like we only 3 hours to be at the gate, we better hurry! He was constantly checking his watch and telling me to hurry. I wanted to lock him in a bathroom and leave him there!

Some things I think my memory blocked out for good reason. For instance, how awful it is to have to depend on Dirk for information. I realize that is my fault, I could have learned more German. But I didn’t. So, I am pretty much stuck with whatever information Dirk feels I need to know. For more than a week I had no idea what we would be doing that day or the next day. I just went along… kind of fun now that I think about it. But not so much at the time. More German came back to me than I had expected though. I had forgotten that all Americans use many German words because we don’t have American words for the thing. Like Rouladen. This is like really large blinds that are on the outside of the house and can be moved up or down from the inside of the house. These things will black out even the brightest sun. They are great. But we don’t have these things. Rouladen is a plural word in German, but it doesn’t sound like it to American ears, so we call them Rouladens. I had forgotten how much I love those things. You can sleep anytime of the day.

I had forgotten a lot of really great things too. For instance, everything is an event. Coffee in the afternoon. This is a several hour event with nice china and fancy platters with the cream and sugar. Normally with really great cake. Dinner is also several hours long with lots of good food and desert and coffee. The plates are prepared as little pieces of art. You almost feel bad to mess them up.

Most of all I had forgotten how soccer is a way of life. My husband actually made me drive to the soccer stadium and has his picture taken because he is afraid he will forget what the stadium looks like. We have about ten different pictures of the place.

Isn’t he cute… He has been going to games at this stadium with the same group of friends since he was in diapers. Everywhere we went people asked about which team he watches now and how he gets updates on the Monchengladback soccer team… He hasn’t been home for two years and THIS is the first question people ask.

I had also forgotten how crazy driving is. It’s so much fun to drive on the autobahn, which is what everyone asks about. But those are just highways with no speed limit. Town driving is the hard part! The picture below is a road in Dirk’s hometown. And yes, this road is made for two cars to drive at the same time.

You see, cars can park pretty much anywhere they want. The black car right in front of us is NOT moving. So, if a car is blocking you and another car from passing on the street, one of you must pull behind the parked car and let the other pass. It’s very much like a game of chicken. There are also these “obstacles” in the road when you come into or leave a village. It’s almost like puzzle pieces that are used to make people slow down. I didn’t get any pictures, but it is the same idea of one car letting the other pass.

This is a photo of a “round about”. This is in place of a four way stop. The idea is that it moves traffic along faster. The cars in the circle have the right of way. So, if you come to a round about, you wait until you can get in and the go all the way around. If you want to make a left hand turn you go right around the circle until you get to you left side turn. Actually they do keep traffic moving faster.

The only thing from the wedding I wanted to share (because this is getting a bit long) is this cool heart painting. It is just a large canvas that had squares sketched in. Each guest used paint at the reception to paint in a heart for the bride and groom, who had the painting framed and hung in their new home. Pretty cool huh.

Otherwise the wedding was pretty much a wedding. It was a two day event with the legal ceremony, lunch at a restaurant, then cake and coffee at a second location on the first day. Then a large evening reception on New Year’s Eve complete with fireworks and champagne outside at midnight.

It was a pretty good trip and I am sure not the last. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas and New Years!