Toddler Child the Tattoo Artist

My house is slowly turning blue. And pink. A little bit of purple.  And any other color Toddler Child can get his little hands on. I keep throwing away markers, but alas the child has already mastered some fierce ninja skills and somehow manages to find more.

It's not just markers. Oh no, my ivory couch has been tatted with black ink as well as a lovely blue swirly marker design. The door to my office has some sort of green chalky substance smattered about on top of his trademark blue.

Even the floors - my lovely hardwood - has not been spared. No, here and there you will find a speckle of color. A dab of whatever he could get his hands on, even some of Oldest Child's lipstick made it's non-facial debut.

So, what's a mother to do? Squelch his artistic ability? Scream and put him in more time outs than his little toddler brain can comprehend? Beat him within an inch of his life? eh hem, calmly explain that we do not have an art room but we'll be happy to accommodate his freedom of expression in other ways?

For now, this mother is stocking up on Resolve Upholstery Cleaner and hoping the phase passes soon. But, be warned: if you see this kid - HIDE ANYTHING THAT CAN LEAVE A MARK!

Future Picasso, or Tattoo Artist in the making? You be the judge.

I'm Almost Back!

I'm back! And doped up. So, you know, the reading should be fantabulous today. Mis-spellings, mis-punctuations, all that good stuff you look forward to in a blog.

Where to start? My hiatus has been for several reasons:

1. My adult onset ADD has kept me away from the computer and too inattentive to type more than a sentence at a time.
2. Vacation - we visited the hubs' family in Europe earlier this summer... don't worry a blog about that will follow, once I'm coherent again (which should be sometime this week).
3. Sinus surgery (hence being doped up on pain killers while typing this)

With the splints coming out today I should be back to a semi-normal state tomorrow and then the blogging shall resume! You've been warned. Feel free to duck and cover.

The Mayans Were Wrong - The End is Now!

I heard a few seconds of a sound bite on the news last night about the end of the world coming May 21. I didn't pay much attention. Chaulked it up to yet another crackpot who found a way to get airtime. But then, my former college advisor had a quip about regretting sending in his car payment, since the end was upon us and I thought this might warrant some investigation.

Of course, investigation on my part these days means googling things (I can hear all my former pr/journalism professors gasp that I'm too lazy to get off my chair and actually WORK at investigating - that is if I haven't already killed them by the misplaced punctuation that's rampant in my blogs). So after typing in "judgement day 2011" I found this lovely billboard:

                    

Nice, isn't it? I'm thinking this isn't doing such a great job of winning over people to listen to their station... unless it's to make fun of them.

OK, OK... that was harsh. But here's what I believe (and I'm not going to quote the Bible or anything so my non-Christian friends can relax), when the end of the world is upon us it will happen unexpectedly. None of us can sit here and proclaim to know the end of the world.

Besides, I doubt it's going to be next Saturday. The crazy, ranting street preacher downtown told me it was going to be last month, we're all still here. I have a European vacation next month that I've already paid for, dammit - I am not allowing the end of the world to happen before I get my monies worth!

"But wait, Beth, how can you be so sure? "  Yes, I hear your thoughts. How can I be sure? hmm... does January 1, 2000 ring a bell? We all just KNEW the end was upon us then... heck I know some folks who thought they needed to stockpile canned food b/c their refrigerator was going to go kaput. Guess what? At the stroke of midnight nothing happened and the world continued as usual. Finally, we all know that we've got until December 2012. Didn't you pay attention in history class when you studied the Mayans?

But, just in case the end IS upon us  I think I'll go shopping today... plenty of Manolo Blahniks and Christian Louboutins are in my future. Think of how many fabulous shoes I could have if I didn't have a mortgage payment (shh... don't tell the hubs)! 



Why can't it be 70 everywhere all the time?

After shovelling about a foot of snow off the driveway to get out, I find myself in sunny So Cal for a sales meeting for work. If it weren't for the pesky earthquakes, fires and mud slides I might actually like this area. It's a beautiful part of the country and the weather is gorgeous - especially if you're used to being blinded by the white glare of the sun bouncing off the snow.

For those of you that follow this who are also clients or industry friends - look out! We have an awesome line for fall 2011, and I can't wait to share it with you. I get home late tomorrow night and will be planning my road trip for the upcoming travel season. Just think, those of you who thought my perils in LA last October, and subsequent strange happenings in TX (lizard room mates, random border patrol searches, etc) - all these occurrences and more are about to start up again late February/early March.

This travelling mama is sure to have plenty of weird stories to report. So until then, in my best Ron Burgandy voice, "Stay Classy, internet readers."

The Weather Outside is Frightful!

Thanks to my Weather Channel App, I know it's a balmy -9*, and feels like -28* right now. Hey, that's a heatwave, considering I woke up to -12, with a feels like temp of -32!

I had great plans for the day, take the baby to the sitter, go downtown and have my hair done, maybe even get lunch somewhere I don't usually get to go. Instead the schools are closed due to record breaking cold and I'm stuck inside with three crazy kids and an even crazier dog. Yeah, even with her coat Diva Dog refuses to go outside in this mess. There's only about 2-3 inches of snow on the ground, nothing major, but she just sits there and stares at us like, "no way, lady. You go do your business out there and see how that feels."

Needless to say, there's been lots of hot cocoa made today and I'm thinking we'll have some sort of stew for dinner. It was going to be beef, but I can't decide. We have a family visitor from Salt Lake coming over for dinner tonight before attending a conference downtown tomorrow so I might get creative. Who knows? Depends on if I'm brave enough to venture to the grocery store.

Since moving out here I've thought a lot about the pioneers. I don't know. Maybe it's my obsession with Denver native author Sandra Dallas and her books, which are all set in or around the Midwest and several in Colorado mining towns. When it's this cold I find myself thinking, "how did they survive?" Gives you a whole new respect for the awful things our ancestors went through to give us the comforts we have today.

Yes, My Hair is Naturally Dark... I Just Do or Say Stupid Things.

Ever have one of those moments where you say something, and the second you do you just know it was stupid? Well, that was me last night... and it was published out in cyberspace for all to see. I thought I'd be smart and sassy responding to a friend's facebook post.

This was her post (names left out to protect the innocent):

Every State of the Union makes me think of the time I made my sister watch and asked her government questions. Me: "Do you know what the Attorney General does?" Her: "Um, tells you not to smoke?!"

My response, in my most "intellectual" typing voice:

He/she also tells you not to drink when preggo. What? Did I miss something? ;p

And then, a lightening bolt hit me, and I attempted to redeem myself:

Oh wait... That's someone else. Lol. Surgeon General's warning... Now everyone knows why I went from poly-sci to something more creative.

Of course, we all know that the Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice and is considered the chief lawyer of the USA. But for a moment, I just knew he was the guy who said if you drink during pregnancy your kid will come out with three eyes and 16 toes.

Believe it or not, I have a rather high IQ, and my college entrance exams were in the "impressive" category... even if my every day actions leave you to wonder... "Is she the girl the dumb blond jokes are written about" and why are they blond jokes if she's so obviously brunette?

So, now that I've opened up to the world and shared my most recent stupid moment, what's yours? Come on... one of my 15 followers has to have something much worse than this they can share and make me feel better!

Danger: The Office Monster May Still Be On The Prowl

My friend Audreya's post today was about how we all have rooms we don't want our friends/family to see when they visit our homes. You know, like my office that may eat you alive if you accidentally wander into it. This has been a greatly debated topic in the Copic househould lately. You see, it's time to start the passport process for the baby. And the passports the older two have are expiring this year.

Since we are planning to visit the hubs' family in Europe this summer, then it's kind of important that I get off the couch begin the paperwork process. The problem is, I picked such a "safe" place for our special documents, that I have no clue where I've stashed them.

I spent most of yesterday looking for them. I checked all the usual places. Found all our old tax returns, some checks for bank accounts we no longer have, random pictures of our college days (yeah, those needed to stay hidden) but not the passports - or the baby's birth certificate.

So,clearly I still have some work to do.  But it may be safe for a quick thinking adult to wander into the office now... still too risky for small children. The office monster may still be lurking.

An Open Letter to my Blackberry

Dear Blackberry,

We've had a long relationship. It's had it's ups and downs; however, we always worked out our differences and you just seemed to compliment me so well. That said, I'm seriously beginning to question how much longer we can keep this up. You see I'm being courted by newer/flashier versions of you... not to mention the iPhone and the Droid. They are seducing me with glitz and extra apps that you don't offer.

It's true, I did have an on-going side  relationship with the iPhone a while back. Since I broke it off  I've had withdrawl from what the iPhone offered me during those months. And, you can't fulfill my scrabble fantasies.

Lately your service to Facebook hasn't been that great; and then today... horror of all horrors, you just stopped allowing me to read my texts. I'm not sure how to break this to you, blackberry, but once the baby wakes from his nap I'm going to have to go to the AT&T store to have a discussion about our relationship. I'm giving you full warning. Maybe between now and then you can snap out of your funk and return to the loving blackberry I once knew. If not, I'm unsure of our future. At this point it is in "the plan's" hands as we'll have to see what is covered and what isn't.

Thank you for the memories. And I hope we can work it out.

With a heavy heart,

Beth

Me VS. The Weekend

The weekend went by too fast. But, with it's end I'm on the downhill side of the hubs being in Kentucky for work so I'm not going to complain. The weekend was fairly typical in the life of the Copic house. Soccer game, trip to the zoo, plenty of TV time. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

Saturday was our hectic day. J had his second soccer game of the season. He's on a pretty good team; however, the hubs is his coach. With Andre in KY until the 24th that meant a sub. Since this is a public forum and I don't know that they can't google and find me I will not go into details of my let down of the game. I will just say that we lost. A huge loss. It wasn't due to a lack of skill or because they were outplayed. It was because his team was not organized. And organization is the coach's responsibility. When the coach doesn't coach/mentor the kids, a breakdown happens. And that's exactly what we experienced Saturday. OH well, we have six more games this season, and not everyone wins 100% of the time. So, we'll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and go back out there. in Wild Dogs vs. Wolverines, Wild Dogs won. But Wolverines learned how to be good sports even when they don't win. So, I'd say it was a moral victory.

J is a fairly good little goalie. Here he catches the ball before the opposition scores.
Me vs. the Weekend, take 1 - weekend wins.
But I'm claiming moral victory for kids learning how to be good sports when they loose.

We went home, relaxed a bit and decided that we'd take a family outing to the zoo. Sure, that doesn't sound difficult. But have you ever tried doing this alone with a passel of kids? I loaded up the car, stopped at Target for snacks and the four of us took off to the Denver Zoo.

It was a nice outing. The weather was gorgeous and most of the animals we wanted to see were out. J always bugs us for a train ride and we never want to wait in the line, but this time it wasn't too bad so me and the three kids piled on and rode around for a bit. The zoo has had quite a few babies born this year, and we saw the baby orangutan and mountain goats up close. The only complaint to be heard was from J because I don't do the reptile house, so he had to skip it. Oh well, his dad can take him in another time. We did catch the sea lion show and that was entertaining. Baby Man really could care less; however, and took a nap during the second half of our excursion.

Mama Orangutan with baby on her shoulder. I couldn't catch her up close.

J & H outside of the sea lion exhibit. Baby Man was sleeping by this point so he's not pictured.
Me vs. the Weekend, take 2 - I win.

That evening after the Baby went to sleep I escaped with the neighbors to grab a movie down the street. They wanted to see Devil. I don't do scary movies. I especially do not do scary movies when I'm alone. They joked that I would go home and put all three kids in bed with me. They didn't know that was probably true, and I'd sleep with every light in the house on. Instead of doing this we saw The American. Look for a movie review later. Don't be shocked when the review is not good. The plus side of The American is George Clooney is lickable. That's about it.

A brooding well toned George. Best thing about the movie.
Me vs. Weekend, take 3 - me because I didn't get up and leave, and I managed to stay awake.

Sunday was what I like to call a lazy day. We lounged around the house and watched movies. Letters to Juliet is adorable. And the premier of Broadway Empire came on last night. My kids managed to play nice and not kill each other. All and all it was a good day.

So, All told the final score was Beth - 2 (plus a moral victory), Weekend - 1. I'm saying that's a resounding defeat to the weekend!

When Did I Become Old?

Today was registration day for oldest child. Let me tell you.... nothing makes you feel old like having to take your child to register for school. In the back of my mind, I'm still the young cool kid I once was (OK, I'm cooler in my mind than I really was because while not a nerd, I never sat at the popular table. Even though several of my friends did, I was one of those kids that "floated" from clique to clique). Anyway, in my mind I'm not old enough to have a kid that'll be 15 this weekend - and starting her sophomore year in less than two weeks. Walking around campus and looking at some of these rejects err.... youngsters... made me feel older than I really am.

Registration was uneventful. Except for the pictures part. Dear Daughter choose to wear a summer dress she bought herself a few days ago. It's cute. It's a little brighter (hot pink & white) than I'd normally go for, but age appropriate. Her dress has thin straps. Not spaghetti straps, but thin straps. They are about an inch wide. She goes to a public school. I knew this wouldn't fly at her previous school (a strict Catholic primary school) but when I asked and she said it'd pass here I didn't argue. I thought she sees what other kids wear everyday she'll be fine. She's fairly conservative in her tastes so I didn't think I should push the issue.

We get to registration. We are surrounded by girls in daisy dukes, so I'm not terribly worried about the dress anymore (it's an appropriate length). There's one girl a few kids ahead of us with some studs in her face (this is clearly against school policy but who am I to judge). There's several spaghetti strapped females. We go through the lines. Teachers who know H comment on how she's gotten taller over the summer (yep, she stands a whopping 5'1... we're a tall family, what can I say).I spend a small fortune at various lines and complain about how public school is supposed to be cheaper than private - why the heck do I always spend so much at registration, blah blah.

We get to the pictures. There is a lovely school security man standing there "inspecting" the girls before he lets them take their pictures. Mr. Security Man decides that H is in violation of dress code. He hands her a ridiculously hideous very fashionable black bolero sweater to cover up with. H is not amused. A small hissy fit ensues. Not to Mr. Security Man's face, but enough to where other parents were giving me the stink eye. The camera man laughs. He tries to cheer her up by hitting on her telling her what a lovely young lady she is. I give him the stink eye. Needless to say, we didn't order school pictures this year, but her student ID is truly one of the more "interesting" ones I've seen. Yes, a black bolero sweater jacket over a white and hot pink sundress is definitely a fashion statement to be reckoned with.

I have been teasing her about the incident all day. She's complained about how other girls slipped through the line. I tried to cheer her up by saying the girls that slipped through looked like Marla from A League of Their Own and Mr. Security Guard didn't notice them, she told me I was being mean.

I've also caught myself giving her case in point scenarios from my days in college - as referenced in other blogs, I went to a small private college with a very strict rules. I was attending a press event with the journalism group and my advisor banned me from getting on the bus until I changed. I was in a suit. A non-revealing suit. But apparently my skirt was 1/2" to short and I was sent to change. She didn't really care that I lived an hour away. I had to go rummaging through a friend's closet to find something to wear, by that time I missed the bus and had to drive myself to Memphis (2 hours away) to attend the event. My mother was not thrilled when she found out I drove myself to Memphis (she really would have been mad to find out I made the trip in record time - even though I got lost in the ghetto along the way - exactly the reason why dear daughter will NOT have a sports car when she's old enough to drive).

But now dear daughter knows that maybe I'm not crazy when I question what she's wearing. And, she's even shown me her planned first day of school outfit for approval. Each year gets a little more disturbing, and each year I realize that how few school registrations are left before I'm helping pick out decorations for a dorm room. And, that in itself makes me feel aged beyond my years!

The Week in Repairville

Many people laugh at me when I say I have the worst luck ever. But, it's true. Take for example this week. It started out harmless enough. Middle child in the groove of school, oldest child and baby man chillin' at home. Just your average week in the Copic household.

Then Wednesday afternoon hit. Something as simple as warming up a hot dog for oldest child caused sparks to fly. Literally. Our home is 10 years old. It has 10 year old appliances in it. We put a new dishwasher in earlier this year, and every time we go into a home improvement store I eyeball a new oven. However, I never really expected the microwave to be what would bring a spark to my daily routine. First, I accused the kids of somehow managing to put something metal in there. It wouldn't be the first time a genius in the house put a thing of baby food in the microwave and didn't take all of the seal off the top. However, that was not the case this time.

Then, because you know I just wasn't sure, I had to clean it and try again. Yep, still sparky. So, I've been doing my internet homework the last few days. Finding out what to buy, where to buy it, who has the best rate at installation, etc.

Feeling confident in my decision we head out to Home Depot. Of course our evening can't end there. The hubs and I have to go to a couple other places and eyeball some items we're considering for the kids' birthdays later this month.

We leave the store, get in the car, the car doesn't start. hmm... of course, right away I go into full anxiety riddled Beth mode of how we're stuck at Wal-Mart and can't get home, in the middle of the night, and why is our car a piece of crap (mind you, it's never given us any problem and is probably one of the most reliable car types on the road). I then go on and on about how we're going to get killed and our kids are at home by themselves, but it's a good thing they aren't with us because then they'd die, too. And oh! We haven't written our will yet. And the house isn't clean enough for family to have to come in and pack it up to decide what to sell and what to keep. blah blah blah... (now you see why it takes a special kind of patience for the hubs to live with my neurotic self.) Oh- and for those of you who don't live here, I probably live in one of the safest neighborhoods around. There is a 99.9% chance that the guy who was looking at us from his parking spot across from us was weighing in on if we'd kill him if he offered to help, he was not a threat in the least bit. This is an area where we can go walking/running at midnight if we want and will be safe. But I had to have my usual freak out!

So, today I'm a little calmer. But still irritated. Now I not only have to buy a new over the range microwave (why the &^*% are those three times as much as a normal microwave), but I have to rescue the car from Wal-Mart and get a new starter installed.

Here's looking forward to a girl's day at the pool tomorrow, lots of fruity drinks, and forgetting about that little black thundercloud that follows me around. Unless of course, it decides to brew up a thunderstorm and chase us from the water.

It's Never too Late to Learn

The hubs and I have been married 9 years. In this time I have learned very little of his native language. I mean, in my personal opinion any language which actually considers the pairing of "Lj" as a single letter is not really comprehensible.

I have randomly made fun of his language saying it didn't have nearly enough vowels in it (citing especially the word for finger "prst" see? No vowels, that can't be a word, right?). But, it's somewhat hard for me to argue that my kids need to learn the language of their grandparents and me not learn it.

Of course, this was relatively impossible when we were in Arkansas. There were no other Croatians in Arkansas - at least none that we knew of. However, there is a large population of them here. Once a month we attend a Croatian language mass. In attending we've met quite a few friends, and I've been happy to realize that I am not alone in being the "spouse who only speaks English". So, a group of us have decided to get together and attempt to learn.

"Class" started last night. "Students" range in age from teenagers to an elderly couple (i.e. in their 80's). We started with the alphabet... yep all 30 letters of it and a few simple words. We'll see how this goes...

I took 4 years of Spanish in school, it started out as my minor in college. Today I know enough to count, say colors and get myself to the police station and/or hospital in an emergency. Hopefully, I'll fare a bit better in the memory skills with Croatian... In the meantime, I guess I'd better go study because moj Hrvatski je los (my Croatian is bad). 

Responsible Adulthood? Nah... Let's Spend Irresponsibly!

In the last two days I've had two different friends post on Facebook about balancing their checkbooks, or that they finished the month a little more in the black than normal, etc. This has led to some interesting conversations about how even as adults we still look forward to spending our money irresponsibly and not necessarily on what it *should* be spent on.

My family spent more than I'd like to admit on visiting family, having get togethers at the house and other not actual "necessities" this month. When I spent two hours this morning balancing the checkbook and paying bills I was like "hmm.... maybe we'll be eating leftovers and not going out as much this month as we have the past couple months."

As these two threads (by two people who have never met and don't even know they each exist) progressed I was amused by some of the things that were posted. I think my favorite was:

A friend of mine just got into a fight with her husband last week because she found out that he hadn't paid some bills and they had more than enough money in the bank..his intelligent response was, "there's no way I'm wasting all of our hard-earned money on bills!"

To which the original poster of the thread responded:

it reminds me of Friends...



Chandler: Rent is (this much) per month Joey: That's *every* month? Chandler: Just the ones you... actually want to live here.
 
The post on the other friend's sight reflected not only these sentiments, but also how cash is becoming obsolete.
 
I never carry cash. I use my debit card for everything. So, I have to look online and see how much $$ I have.
 
To which that was responded by:
 
internet banking = my best friend. I think I've forgotten what cash looks like in real life. :)
 
Most of the comments were humorous to me; however a few made me stop and think about how different I am now than I was just a few years ago. I used to have my hair appointments scheduled every six weeks on the dot with at least 2 appointments in advance scheduled. Now, I just go whenever the whim hits me... after all, I don't see actual people every day so who cares? I've also went from a mandatory shopping trip at least every other week on my day off to I don't even know when the last time I bought myself something full price was.
 
I think it's mostly the kids' faults. They've slowly crushed my will to spend. Which the hubs delights in - but I still plot ways to escape and spend irresponsibly... There's birthdays and back to school shopping to be done over the next month... I bet I'll figure out a way to squeeze some nonsense for myself in there somewhere! Responsible adulthood is over-rated anyway, right?

Dinner Party Croatian Style

Saturday I hosted a dinner party with a great group of friends. We get together every other month and watch a movie, and prepare a meal based on a theme. We've done Julia Child (Julie & Julia - recipes from The Art of French Cooking) and Giada De Laurentiis (Under the Tuscan Sun - all Giada recipes). When it came for me to host I wanted to expose the group to Croatian food. Not a lot of people are familiar with it, and it is fabulous. There's not a Food Network chef (or any other one that I could think of off hand) we could dedicate the night to, but I have three Croatian cookbooks and knew it could be done.

I think the group was a little taken aback when I suggested it - but they humored me and followed the theme anyway. Croatian cooking reflects it's diverse geography and history. Croatia is in Eastern Europe, it has a rich culture and history as part of the Roman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, as well as being part of former Yugoslavia. They do a lot of seafood - a large part of their geography is along the Adriatic coast, and then their continental cuisine is rich in lamb, chicken, pork and beef. Fresh produce plays a big part of their meals as well. Due to shellfish allergies (and the lack of availability of really fresh Sea Bass or Squid in a land locked stated 1/2 way across the world from Croatia) we did a more continental dinner - which is fitting as it would be more similar to what would be cooked in homes near the capital city of Zagreb - the region where the hubs' family lives.

OK - enough background... on to dinner! We started at noon. I thought this was a little early, but a lot of the dishes, while easy to prepare are time consuming. We had three appetizers, a soup, salad, main course and dessert. 

For the appetizer Leibe prepared a Swiss Cheese and Radish Dip (Umak od svicarskog sira i rotkvica)as well as a Roulade of Smoked Salmon (Rulada od dimlejenog lososa) and Colin made a Mushroom, Bacon and Pepper Dip (Umak od gljiva, slanine i paprike). Each of the appetizers was really good. I must admit - I hate radishes... so when I found out that one of the apps was going to feature them, I was a little hesitant. But, I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was!

Swiss Cheese and Radish Dip
Umak od svicarskog sira i rotkvica

Roulade of Smoked Salmon
Rulada od dimlejenog lososa

Mushroom, Bacon and Pepper Dip
Umak od gljiva, slanine i paprike

Next was our soup. Caroline prepared an amazing Peasant-Style Vegetable Soup (Seoska juha od povraca) of pureed potatoes, leeks and carrots garnished with spinach.

Peasant-Style Vegetable Soup
Seoska juha od povraca

Caroline's soup had a great flavor. With everything pureed together it was smooth and the baby loved the left overs! This is a soup that can be used either as we had it - a prelude to a meal - or it could easily stand on it's own as a meal itself during a crisp fall day. Couple it with a heart bread and you have yourself a meal!

Course three was Joanne's Spinach, Pear and Pomegranate Salad with toasted walnuts and feta. Since pomegranate is hard to find this time of year, she substituted dried cranberries. The contrast of flavors and textures in this salad was really good - and I will say, I'd like to eat just the walnuts (toasted in olive oil) as a snack anytime!

Main course time came around and it was my turn. In selecting items, I wanted something different - that you wouldn't have every day, but still reflected meals the hubs would have back home. He tells stories of how they would frequently roast meat over a spit outside. Well, I wasn't going to build a spit in the backyard; however, slow roasted lamb is something not a lot of people cook and I thought it would be a treat to make for the group. The recipe I chose was Leg of Lamb Banovina Style (Banovacki janjeci but) which is leg of lamb seasoned by inserting slices of bacon, rosemary and garlic into small slits in the meat and then roasted at medium heat for about 2.5 hours. You serve it with a gravy and it suggested a potato side dish. Which I did Potatoes Braised with Spinach (Krumpir sa spinatom). Both of these recipes were from either the region he is from, or a neighboring region. I had him look at them in the cookbook and he said that yes, that would be something they would occasionally make there. So I was sure to be authentic!

Somehow I neglected to take a picture of our dessert, but let me tell you it was excellent! Kirsten treated us to a Hazelnut Cream Cake (Krem torta od ljesnjaka) and I brewed some Turkish Coffee (Turska kava) , we enjoyed dessert while watching our movie Harrison's Flowers -  about an American photojournalist who goes missing during the war in the early 1990's.

Of course, what dinner party isn't complete without wine? Croatian wine is hard to come by here, unless you order it from the internet and pay more for shipping than you do for the wine. I did, however, luck out and find a store in town that could get some Croatian red wine. We had this with our salad and main course. And, I bought some Cockta (a Croatian drink similar to Coca-Cola), which we made Bambus with. Bambus is a mix of part Cockta and part red wine. It sounds weird - but it's very good.

Hopefully by eating the food and watching the movie they learned a little more about that area of the world. And what it brings to the table!

The Lost Art of the Letter

I admit it, one of my TV shows is Family Jewels with Gene Simmons. I am not a KISS fan, but I am a Gene fan. Once you get past the fire eating, demon of death he's actually a pretty nice guy. I digress.

I watched an episode the other day (it was on demand, so probably a rerun from I don't know when) that really made me think about what a toll cyberspace has taken on our lives. Sure it's great for instant news on Lindsey Lohan's drunken escapades, and we can find out what's going on halfway around the world with us in the click of a button, but what about our ability to communicate?

In the episode I'm referring to Shannon (G's wife err... long time girlfriend of 20+ years and mother of his children) buys a writing desk and finds a stack of love letters inside. She goes on a quest to find the woman they are written to and return them to her. She finds the lady in a retirement home and returns the letter. The lady isn't really excited about the letters, but she tells Shannon that her favorite picture was with these letters, or maybe in a hat box somewhere... Shannon sets off on a needle in the haystack hunt for the picture.

She finds the buyer of the hatbox, and low and behold - there's the picture hidden inside in a little compartment! She returns the picture to the lady amid many tears from everyone around - see playmates and rock stars can be compassionate! We find out why the lady wasn't excited over the letters - her son is there and explains he's a prop master on movie sets and he wrote the letters using his parents names, addresses and a few true details to make them seem authentic on set. The desk Shannon bought was in some movie @ one point, and then he kept it for his mom - forgetting the letters were in there (who knew such detail went into a set, I mean those letters were probably never actually shot on camera).

But the whole time you're watching this show you are thinking these are real letters between real people. There have been books released about love letters between John & Abigail Adams, Ronald & Nancy Reagan, and many other famous people who corresponded when they were apart. The point to my blog today is that these things don't exist as much now that the Internet is taken over.

A deep heartfelt 3 page love letter has been replaced (many times) with a quick email or text saying Luv U, TTYL, etc. It's becoming rare that we even receive hand written letters or anything other than a signature inside a card at birthdays and holidays.

So, this is my long rant warning everyone that this year I'm going to be one of THOSE PEOPLE. You know, the ones where you roll your eyes because when you get their holiday card every detail of their lives are documented. Ha ha... well, maybe I won't document everything, but I do think I'll include a letter to most people giving them the scoop on what they missed out on this year. My living tribute to the lost art of the letter.

Proud to be an American

For those of you who don't know, the hubs came here as a sophomore in high school for a one year stay as a foreign exchange student. His host family was kind enough to agree to sponsor him to stay longer. This turned into finishing his high school studies here, staying on for college, meeting the most wonderful, kind, loving woman in the world me and sticking around for good.

If you don't know the process, it can be long and tedious. I won't bore you with the details - just know that it's something that he started before we met. He got his green card just prior to our engagement in September of 2000 and went through the naturalization process from there. Fully becoming a citizen yesterday.

Those of us who were born here take many things for granted. We freely talk about how messed up our government is and what it should do differently. We get into heated debates with others who don't share our political viewpoints, without fear of punishment. Our military is not a mandatory organization in which armed men show up at the doors to take our sons, fathers, brothers, etc. into service. We can choose to worship (or not) whatever deity in whatever form we want and have no repercussions. And, most importantly every citizen over the age of 18 has the right to vote, whether they choose to or not, for whichever individual they feel is best for the job.

Yesterday, the hubs stood with a group of people from 23 countries - from all continents (except Antarctica, we're not letting the penguins immigrate) - and swore allegiance to the U.S.A. I posted on my facebook that he'd finally accomplished this. My friend, Audreya, joked that she was sending him a virtual serenade consisting of "The Star Spangled Banner," "Proud to be an American" and "God Bless America". This was fitting because looking over the program, these songs were played to the new citizens, as well as a welcome video from the President.

To me, and my odd patriotic ways, the timing couldn't have been better. We go into this weekend celebrating our country. It stands as a beacon to the rest of the world for freedom and democracy. For free enterprise and individuality. Hundreds of thousands have flocked to our shores because they believed in the greatness of this nation and the opportunity it had to offer. Another vast group of people - many of whom are/were immigrants, or their descendants - risked (and in many cases gave) their lives to preserve these freedoms that so many of us take for granted. Let us not forget that. Let us not forget them, or the blood, sweat and tears so many of them poored into making this country what it is.

This Independence Day - remember the meaning behind even the very name of the holiday... freedom from tyranny. The freedom that we take for granted here, regardless of what some pundints in the media will make you believe, is still sought after in many places around the world - and was gained by a roomful of people from 23 nations yesterday.

<--Me & The Hubs with the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA. January, 2009.

Memorial Day - a Day of Reflection and Honor

As we head into this three day weekend, let's remember what it means. While we are enjoying a relaxing weekend full of graduation parties, bar-b-que's, and boating remember the millions in our history who have sacrificed themselves so that we could freely continue in a democratic society.

Stop and reflect on the colors of our flag - Red for courage, White for purity, Blue for honor. Memorial Day isn't just another day off from work, to sleep in. It's a day of reflection and thanks to those who sacrificed themselves for the cause - a cause bigger than themselves - a way of life.

Politics aside, whether you agree or disagree with our military involvement around the world I encourage you to join in at 3 p.m. on Monday, May 31, for the national moment of rememberance.

And if you see a member of our armed services, please take a moment to stop and thank them for what they do for us. If it weren't for them, you might not have the choice to agree or disagree with current events.

When Good Neighbors Go Bad

As many of you know, I am a hermit. I prefer it that way. I know a few people on my block and we get together fairly frequently for dinner, movies, drinks, etc. But we aren't all "up in your business". Days can pass without anything more than a text or random comment on a facebook page, or nothing at all. Just the way I like it.

Enter the neighbors across the street. For all I knew they were just like us, hermits who didn't venture out much. I vaguely knew what they looked like - didn't know their names. Didn't really care to. Just so long as they kept up their yard and stayed quiet, that's all I really care about.

Now, these this couple have dogs. I don't know what kind of dogs - some sort of english setter is what I'm guessing. They are pretty dogs. But, they are NOT controlled dogs. We'd heard reports from various folks on the block telling us that one of the dogs is aggressive. But we'd never had any experience with this. That is until recently.

As you know, the spousal unit is quite active. He's always running or biking, or doing some other physical activity that hermits like me think are senseless. The end of April, he was finishing a run when one of the dogs ran out and lunged at him in what we could politely refer to as an aggressive behaviour. If you are a runner or biker, you know that from time to time these things happen. You also probably know how to fend for yourself from said rabid dog. He yelled at it, kicked at it (didn't physically kick it, just made it think he would), etc. Dog went back home.

After his run, he went over and asked the owner to follow the leash laws. To which he was told (rather rudely) they would not. Since then he's had a couple convos about it, and found out that several other neighbors have also asked them to keep a handle on the dogs. I shot of a lengthy letter to my HOA reporting them for breaking ordinances - because you know, that's the passive aggressive type of thing I like to do. Fast forward to earlier this week.

Spousal Unit and Oldest Child are out running - she starts Cross Country conditioning in a few weeks. Don't want her to be too out of shape, so they've started running together in the evenings. This time dog goes after H. Now, I figure the hubs can fend for himself - but have a snarling, barking dog lunge at my child, and you've got problems.

The hubs confronted the neighbors again. Again he was told they wouldn't do anything about the situation. This time the speckled their response with profanity. Yep, for people who have such a pretty house, they obviously have no standard of decency.

So, last night Animal Control was by to take our statements. Another neighbor signed the petition. And at some point soon AC will be serving our lovely neighbors with a ticket. I have no idea how much the ticket will cost, but the AC officer informed me that if the dogs continued to run rampant in the street and jump on or at people they would loose their dogs. I don't want it to come to that. I have my own little diva dog over here that I'd hate to see anything happen to, but hopefully this will show the neighbors that we're serious and they need to get a handle on the situation.

BTW - these neighbors are known to report everyone in the neighborhood for stupid violations of HOA policies i.e. sign in the yard, grass an inch to high, etc. This should be an interesting summer.

This Shouldn't Hurt - You've Been Through Worse

First, let me say that I have a great optometrist office. In case you don't follow me on facebook, or if I haven't talked to you in a few days, you may not know that I am currently suffering an eye injury. Nothing too awful (although it sure felt that way Sunday night and all day yesterday). I have a corneal abrasion. These can be serious, but thankfully mine is located out of my field of vision so as long as I follow doctor's orders it shouldn't be more than just a healing process now.

I was outside a lot this weekend and apparently got something on/in my contact lens. (I hate the outdoors, and now I am reminded why.) My eyes were itchy when I took them out Sunday evening, but I really thought just getting the contacts out would improve them. It helped one eye - it hurt the other. As soon as the contact was out of my left eye, immense/excruciating pain began. I spent the evening with a series of compresses on my eye, and at one point debated if I should make Andre take me to the ER. I suffered through til morning and then called the 24 hour hotline at my optometrist's office. The doctor on call was nice enough to meet me at 7 a.m. to see what was going on in my eye. He confirmed that I did have a "corneal abrasion" a.k.a. tear to my  cornea. He medicated my eye and gave me some prescriptions for treatment and told me to come back today. Apparently corneal abrasions can be serious and they want to watch me pretty regularly to make sure no infection sets in.

So, today I go in and am being screened by the murse (yes, I mean murse, it was a man nurse - are they called nurses or assistants in an optometrist office?). Well, my murse is a nice guy. He's playing with child #3 and asking me how many kids I have, etc. He goes to put the dilating drops in my eye and says, "This shouldn't hurt. You've been through worse."

hmm.... it doesn't hurt, and having worn glasses/contacts since 5th grade I really am not afraid of anything going near my eye, but I though his comment was odd. Then he goes on to say "I mean, with three kids, you've been poked/prodded enough that a little dilation shouldn't be a big deal."

he he he... I thought of all kinds of dilation quips I could have made, but decided I'd just say them in my head instead of out loud. I hope I get the murse when I go back next week - he made my doomed vision a much more pleasant experience.

My Not So Handy Husband

I have to tell on the spousal unit... he wasn't what you'd call "handy" before we moved. However, since we've been out here he's taken on plenty of do it yourself projects. And, I have to admit, he's done a pretty good job with most of them. However, I've had two instances to laugh at him this week.

Rewind a bit to last fall. The Boy Scouts came around and winterized our sprinkler system. It was some sort of project for their troup, plus it was a fairly economical way to get this service done. And, since I'm typically a push over for nonprofit organizations involving kids we let them do it. Fast forward to about a week ago, and you have Andre de-winterizing the system. He tells me to pay attention to the sprinklers during the day to see if anything is acting up. Since we'd never had a system before we weren't real sure what we were doing... well, the sprinklers would pop up, but not water anything. We couldn't figure it out. We were getting ready to call someone and pay to have them look and see what "damage" the scouts had done.

Then, it hit me. Like a ton of bricks. Andre and I were taking a walk and I suddenly had a thought.
Me: "Umm... did the scouts turn off the water to the sprinklers?" Andre: "Yes. Why?" Me: "Did you turn the water back on when you reset the system?" Andre: stops walking, blank stare, odd smile creeps across his face "uh, we'll have to check that out when we get back home."

Crisis averted. Water turned back on, sprinklers working great now.

Now if only I'd been so thoughtful for the second instance. At some point during the winter, my neighbors were leaving my house and commented on how dark it was outside. Only our entrance light was working on the outside of the house. I commented that the other three bulbs had burned out and we'd replace them soon. Well, we went out to replace them and new bulbs didn't work. Since we are "garage people" meaning we are never outside after dark and always park in the garage, the idea of the lights has eluded me. Until Now. You see the warranty that came with the house is going to expire soon. We're quickly approaching the 1 year anniversary of the date we purchased this home, so the warranty we purchased will expire on that date. Since the cost of said warranty is no 3xs what we paid for it, we are not renewing. As you can imagine, I am getting my monies worth and having everything covered by the warranty repaired before it expires.

So, the lighting issue has been front and center on my mind. I got online last week and filed a claim for them to come out and fix it. Repair man comes out yesterday. He's outside 15 minutes, comes back in and says "You're all fixed up. That'll be $XX for your deductible." Me: "Umm... that was pretty quick" Repairman: "Yep. All your bulbs burnt up. And the middle one didn't have any juice runnin' to it." (Yes, I apparently had the one southern redneck repairman living out here, I felt like I was back in Arkansas.)

So, I paid my deductible and called the hubs. After a good laugh at the fact that we could have saved the deductible and probably had a nice date night with the money instead, we decided that it was worth it since neither of us would have known how to fix the "juice" without electrocuting ourselves. Bulbs on the other hand, we could have replaced fairly simply. However, that may be the last time I call out a repairman based of the hubs' info. Next time I'll probably check the bulbs myself.