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• You may have noticed what will hopefully become a new feature, just before this: Song of the Day. Eventually, I'll update the sidebar so you can find them all easily--for now, there's just one, and you can find it (and future ones until I update the sidebar) on the Index.
  
  
• We just got back from a trip to the North Sea over spring break. Poindexter (the new GPS--so named because he's a snotty know-it-all) said it would be a 5.5 hour drive. It ended up being more like 8 hours.
  
  
• Last Saturday, we took Diva to the kennel in Wuerzberg (not to be confused with Wuerzburg). It was a bit of a zoo... heh... lots of people there to walk dogs. They remembered Diva, and she seemed happy enough to see them. On the way home, we stopped by our favorite ice cream place in Erbach. I had the Odenwald sundae--vanilla and strawberry gelato with a lot of fresh (!) raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and currants, topped with raspberry syrup and whipped cream.
  
  
• Then Sunday was our niece Emily's confirmation. There was dinner at an Italian restaurant. I had a salad of baby greens, rucola, grilled chicken, tomatoes, onions, little balls of fresh mozzarella, and a thick drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. Nice. Afterward, there was coffee and cake at the house. The weather was great--sunny and mid-70s. It was tough leaving, but we still had to pack.
  
  
• Packing took longer than expected--it always does, so I don't know why our expectations are so short. We took Carl's mom and Camden's friend Andre along. Rented a vacation house in Bensersiel. Long drive. I sat in the third row seat, wedged in by the cooler, because Carl's mom's motion sickness is even worse than mine. Thank goodness for Dramamine. And for my new iPod shuffle, which appears to have more storage space than my old one.
  
  
• Nice thing about our timing: German schools don't start spring break until next week, so we had the place mostly to ourselves.
  
  
• We arrived at the vacation house pretty late, unloaded the car, then headed off to find food. We opted for an Italian restaurant and had pizzas. Mine was a veggie something--I was too tired to remember much, except that it had black olives and artichokes. Camden and Andre had seafood pizza--Camden's usual, and a first for Andre. He looked a little askance at the tentacles on his pizza, but ate them anyway. Ah, teenage testosterone.
  
  
• The plan for the week was breakfast and showers, then shop for food while the boys got up and showered, lunch, then off to some activity. Tuesday we had Nuernberger bratwurst, broetchen, potato salad, cucumber salad, and cabbage salad. The rest of the week we had sandwiches and the rest of the salads.
  
  
• Our timing was a little off--we walked along the dikes on Tuesday afternoon, and it was excessively windy.
  (Camden and Andre) (Doris) (Carl) Carl estimated 60 mph wind. It nearly blew us off the dikes. Once we gave up our pride and pulled up and tied our hoods, it was a little more comfortable walking. Carl's mom was really tired afterward, so she stayed at the house and the rest of us went to a Greek restaurant for dinner. I'd wanted moussaka, but since there wasn't much business (every restaurant we went to in Bensersiel, we were the only patrons), they didn't have it. So I had bifteki instead.
  
  
• Wednesday, we drove to Wilhelmshaven and visited the Aquarium and the Naval Museum. (Naval Museum--picture of the sub taken from the deck of the destroyer) Then on the way back, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant with a buffet and a Mongolian grill. The create-your-own-stirfry was a little annoying, because they didn't use the little clothespins to identify your plate and deliver it to you--you had to stand there and wait. Still, they had a great variety, including whole cuttlefish, kangaroo, and ostrich, in addition to the usual meat and seafood. And it was a new experience for both Andre and Doris, and they enjoyed it as well.
  
  
• Thursday we went to the beach, and intended to take the ferry to one of the barrier islands. That was our one fiasco--not bad for a mostly-unplanned trip. First we arrived at the ferry ticket office only to find that one ferry had just left and there wouldn't be another one for an hour and a half, which would leave us just 30 minutes on the island before the last ferry would bring us back to the mainland. Carl asked for the prices, and "how much all together?" The answer was 20 euro for the adults and 12 for the students. I'm sure you can see where this was going, but we're thinking 32 euro total. So we spent the hour and a half checking out the beach and a souvenir shop, then came back to buy tickets. Give yourself a brownie if you figured out that the total cost would have been 84 euro, and another one if you said we decided the guy at the ticket counter was right--it really wouldn't be worth it.
  
  So we went back to the beach, where the tide was out, and you could walk pretty far. It was the best weather of our trip so far, so it turned out to be a good plan. The boys took off their shoes and ran. (this was taken on the first trip to the beach--before they took off their jackets and shoes)
  
  Interesting thing about North Sea beaches--instead of umbrellas on the beach like you have elsewhere, they have what's called a "Strandkorb"-- "beach basket": Here's a picture of an open one:
  
  We decided a trip to the North Sea wouldn't be complete without eating fish, so we went to a seafood restaurant. Camden, Doris, and I had the fish plate special with four kinds of fish.
  
  
  
• Friday morning we packed up. The rental agreement said we were supposed to turn in the keys at 9 a.m. (!), but since they didn't have new tenants arriving until Saturday, they said we could take our time. On our way out of town, we stopped by the "Life on the Sea" museum in Esens. Like everything else, it was empty, and the young guy at the door asked us if we wanted a tour. Unfortunately, his English wasn't good enough to explain things to the boys, but we adults learned a lot of interesting things about the area.
  
  
• Stopped at McDonald's a few towns later. I got an Italian Bagel and a cappuccino at the McCafe. I don't know why I never think of getting my lunch at the McCafe--it's so much nicer than a burger and fries, and most McDonald's restaurants in Germany have them now. Coffee, of course, but also nice bakery desserts and interesting sandwiches. All served on real dishes. Here's a post that tells a little more about it: =>LINK<=
  
  
• There was a lot of traffic, so it was taking us longer than expected to drive home (see above, re: the amount of time we expect things to take), so we stopped at an old-fashioned rest stop restaurant for supper. I had split pea soup and a broetchen. Got back home around 9 p.m, unloaded the car in record time, and then pretty much just crashed.
  
  
• Carl and Doris went to the flea market in Metz, France this morning--they intended to leave at 6. I don't know what time they left: I was asleep until 8:30!

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 4/16/2011 12:22:00 PM 1 comments

• It's come to my attention that I'm shamefully behind in keeping in touch with... well, with just about everybody. So rather than try to catch up individually, I thought I'd post what's been happening, and then go on from there.
  
  
• The busy-ness started this spring, when Manfred, Carl's mom's husband, and pretty much the only grandpa my kids knew, became ill. The time between his first hospitalization and his death in April was shockingly short. At the last, he was transferred to a specialty clinic here in Heidelberg, which was a godsend. Doris was able to stay with us, and Carl was able to visit Manfred daily.
  
  Telling Dagny and Curran about their Opa's death on the phone was one of the hardest things I've done as a parent. I still tear up thinking about it.
  
  Since then, we've made a point to try to visit Doris more frequently, which is something we're glad we're able to do, but it does add to the amount of activity. Mostly, we're thankful we were still in Germany so we could be here for her, and for Manfred in his last days.
  
  
• Around the same time, Camden joined the high school track team--the first of our kids to ever join a school sports team. He had a rough time with shin splints for the first month or so, and tended to skip practice at least once a week. Still, he improved with every meet. He ran long distances--1500 and 3000 meters, and finished middle-of-the-pack.
  
  This was a good thing--it was good for him physically and for his self-confidence, and he made a lot of new friends, as well as having something to help deal with being the only kid left at home--but it added a lot to our schedule at an already-busy time. Track meets, every Saturday for a couple of months, last the entire day.
  
  
• For those who didn't already know, Dagny's working on her teaching certificate. She has her English degree, but needed a bunch of extra classes. Because she's trying to finish up, she had to take some classes in the summer term, which meant that the only time she
  was able to come visit was in May, and she could only stay a couple of weeks.
  
  At least Dagny and Curran were able to arrive at the same time, but Camden was still in school, which made things a little difficult. We pulled Camden out of track the last two weeks of the season, so he could spend at least a little time with his sister, but he still had
  school.
  
  So late spring was really busy, but thankfully Dagny was still able to visit, even if it wasn't for as long as we'd have liked, and the timing wasn't the best.
  
  
• While Dagny was here, she joined me at the gym. Then just before she left, Curran started coming, too. I do a half hour of Nautilus, and then about 45 minutes on a cardio machine almost every day. I started going September '09, doing just the weights, and s l o w l y building up on the cardio. I'm very proud of my progress--for someone with CFS, this much activity is just amazing. Plus, I'm focusing on strength and endurance, which is why I'm still going. If I were focusing on weight, I'd have given up a long time ago. I've lost a whopping six pounds in 13 months. *sigh* But I'm really strong.
  
  I do love going to the gym, but, well, that's an extra hour and a half out of my day.
  
  
• In July we went to Italy again. Did our usual "spa vacation"--gym in the mornings (which was really nice--the gym had been expanded and had all new equipment. Though some of the new equipment was Life Fitness, and let me tell you--however much more Nautilus costs? it's worth it. The Life Fitness machines were anti-ergonomic.), beach in the afternoons, and all kinds of fresh, healthy food. Pisa on Sunday--I got a new purse, Carl got another mask.
  
  The coolest thing was that we ran into a family we hadn't seen in 23 or 24 years. The military can be a very small place sometimes.
  
  
• Then just in case everyone was getting bored, I decided to spend a night in a German hospital Intensiv Station (ICU).
  
  We were on our way to Carl's mom's. We were in Moby, Carl was driving, Curran and Camden were along, and we were listening to Death Masks. Nice and relaxing. My left arm started aching, but I figured it was the a/c, so I put my jacket over it. Then my
  chest started to feel tight, and I squirmed a little, thinking maybe I'd worn too tight of a bra. Mostly, I was just trying to ignore it and listen to the book. But it kept getting worse--the pressure turned into pain, and I started sweating and having trouble breathing.
  
  So Carl pulled over... and dialed 112. Which was almost more shocking than the chest pain. The ambulance arrived right away (we were only a couple of blocks from the hospital), and they asked a few questions and loaded me into the back of the ambulance. How embarrassing.
  
  Turns out my blood pressure was something like 200/105, which is a wee bit alarming for doing nothing but riding in a car. Death Masks has some exciting parts, sure, but even if this were the first time I'd read it, I don't think it would have that sort of effect. So they called the Notarzt (emergency doctor), in a helicopter. They explained to me that it was in case they needed to send me to a hospital other than the local one, but in retrospect, we suspect the helicopter was because we had Tricare, which translates here as the magic words of "private insurance."
  
  So, overnight in intensive care, and of course it was the one time I didn't have a book along. Curran had a Bible along--he's been reading it--and his iPod, and he let me keep both, which was a real sanity-saver (I read the bit about Noah putting a curse on his grandson because his son saw him naked when he--Noah--was drunk and passed out.).
  
  
• Health-digression: I'm trying to be chronological here, but this is an ongoing thing, so I'll stick it all together. It's reminiscent of when I first got CFS: nobody's been able to figure out what's going on. So I've had a bunch of tests and doctor appointments since, half of them with the cardiologist in Landstuhl, which is a good hour-plus drive, depending on the traffic, so it's time-consuming. The cardiologist put me on blood pressure medication, increased it when she had to stop my stress test early (my blood pressure went up to 235/56), and the increased dose made me feel like I was having a CFS relapse. It seems to be slowly getting better, but I was decidedly Not Happy about it. Not to mention being a tiny bit freaked out because that stress test was a lot less work than I do at the gym.
  
  The fatigue is again a factor. Maybe it's all been from the medication, or maybe it was just creeping up because I kept increasing my time on cardio machines (I was up to almost an hour), but it started dawning on me that once I got home from the gym, that was pretty much it for the day. I could sit and click silly Facebook games, but concentrating on anything, even answering email, was strenuous.
  
  So that's where I am with that. Back to the chronology.
  
  
• In August, Carl's brother's father-in-law died suddenly. We didn't know him well, but we'd known him for over 20 years. It was especially hard on our nieces, who lost two Opas within four months. And of course on his wife and daughters. Just a real rough time for the family.
  
  
• After summer semester, Dagny had a little time off, so she and Andrew decided to take a road trip from Texas to Michigan to visit her grandma, my mom. They took Andrew's Audi as the more reliable of their cars, and the two dogs.
  
  Unfortunately, on the way home, the car broke down near a small town in Indiana. To make things worse, they'd left early because Andrew's aunt had died. Long story short, they ended up stranded in Indiana for several days before it became clear that the car wasn't going to be fixed before they needed to be back for work and school and they got a rental car (thank goodness Dagny's 25 now!) and drove home, then Andrew, Curran, and a couple others drove back together to return the rental car and pick up Andrew's.
  
  
• This is (finally!) Dagny's last semester of coursework. In the spring semester she'll be doing her student teaching. It's a pretty rigorous program, with high expectations and a ton of fieldwork (including tutoring, mentoring, etc.).
  
  On top of a full-time load of classes, she's working at least 30 hours a week at KidSpace, a drop-in daycare center where she's assistant manager, which means she has to do more than just show up and watch the kids.
  
  Any of you who are parents of adult kids know why this is in my list of why I'm so busy. Even though (or more likely because) she lives on another continent, we spend a lot of time on the phone. I'm really glad we do, but there's not a lot I can do while talking on the phone besides Facebook games. Maybe I should see if I could find a phone with a headset.
  
  
• Camden did cross country this fall. He initially went to stay in shape for track, but now he likes it a lot more. I only had to drive him to practice one day a week (the rest of the week he just stayed after school and took the sports bus back home), but there was a pasta party every Friday and meets every Saturday. Of course, I couldn't just take frozen lasagna or a baguette or pre-made cake from the commissary, so I generally spent most of Friday cooking. And even though the cross country meets were shorter than track meets, they still ended up taking up most of the day.
  
  
• Halfway through the season, and ON HIS SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY, Camden got the flu. He was out of school for almost a week, missed practice for almost two weeks. He'd planned on having friends over for his birthday, and we cleaned the house, including his room, in preparation. Which we repeated two weeks later when his friends did come over.
  
  
• Then someone ran into Curran's car at the university parking lot. A week later, while he was in the process of dealing with the insurance companies and making appointments to get the car fixed, he got hit again, sideswiped, further damaging the same side of the car.
  
  Lots of phone calls from here to Curran and to insurance companies, particularly after the second accident, to figure out who should pay what. Of course the two drivers who hit him had different insurance companies. Fortunately, because it was an insurance claim, they allowed a 20-year-old a rental car.
  
  Too bad it hadn't been just one insurance company--they might have totaled the car, and then we could have got him a new one. Dividing the repair cost in half, though, put it under the limit.
  
  
• As of October 1st, or 15th, or November 1st, depending on which set of orders you read, Carl changed jobs. He's actually still in the process of changing jobs, and has been doing both jobs for the past month. His new job is the European Regional Medical Command's Director of Force Health Protection, and the challenging part is that they're restructuring the whole thing. Big ego boost, because he's got people calling up wanting to work for him, but it's also a lot of headaches, a lot of phone calls, trips, and late-night teleconferences (because of the time difference, any teleconference involving people in the States takes place in the evening here).
  
  
• I'm sure there are other things that I'm not remembering. As an illustration, here's what we did this last weekend, which was not at all atypical:
  
  • Friday--last cross country pasta party. I made pumpkin pie Chex mix, which only took an hour to make, but we also volunteered to take wrapped baked goods and candy for the concession stand on Saturday, so that was a trip to the commissary.
    
    
  • Saturday--cross country European championships. Camden wasn't running--it's the top 7 runners from each team, and he ended the season around #10 (out of 20), but as the championships were held here in Heidelberg, the entire team had to attend, for support, and to help out. Camden was a course marshal. Took Camden out to the course by 9 (it's here in Heidelberg, but it's at least a 20-minutes drive, so just driving him there takes close to an hour), then went out ourselves at 11.
    
    The meet was great--absolutely perfect weather--clear skies and 60s, and apparently we made a killing on the concessions, which is why the kids got all new uniforms this year and could keep their nice Puma warmups for just $25 (the price tag on each piece was around $40). We left around three and had to go to the PX for supplies for a project Camden had due on Monday.
    
    Then I made an early dinner (bacon, spinach, and tomato salsa sandwiches--they were a huge hit), so we'd be finished by the time trick-or-treating started at six.
    
    Starting shortly after six, the hordes came. We just sit outside the door because there are so many kids you never get a chance to close the door. Carl and I took turns handing out candy while the other one got dressed and ready for going to a play with friends. This is the shirt Carl wore to pass out candy.
    
    Camden's friends arrived with one friend's nephew, so there were three 16-year-olds in silly hats and masks (Camden wore a Mexican wrestling mask and his antique top hat) taking one toddler around trick-or-treating. One of our neighbors asked them to do tricks for their treats, so Camden juggled candy, for which they gave him extra.
    
    We'd intended to leave at seven, but it was really hard to find a lull in the onslaught--you just cannot shut the door in kids' faces--so it was almost ten after when we left, and the play started at 7:30. Fortunately, our friends picked up our tickets for us.
    
    We'd pre-positioned the car over by the gym, a 5-minute walk away, because our street is NOT navigable by car during trick-or-treating. I'd forgotten this, and wore boots with 4-inch heels. Even so, we got to the theater with five minutes to spare.
    
    We saw Titanic - The Musical. They always do a nice job, and this was no exception. I was impressed with how well they managed the small space they had to work with. But it wasn't my favorite of their productions. The main thing was that it was nice to get out and spend time with friends.
    
    
  • Sunday--Camden had to work on his project for Honors English/History. We'd planned on going to Carl's brother's house in the afternoon, but his wife was sick, and Carl and his brother decided to meet at their mom's and put the winter tires on her car for her. I'd intended to go along, but all the activity the previous day had wiped me out, so I stayed home and helped Camden with his project (I'm mostly relegated to proof-reading. Carl's the one who helps with the artistic stuff). Good thing I did, too--Carl didn't get home until an hour after our bedtime.
    
    
• So that's kind of what's going on with me. I'm not really sure if we are actually very busy, if it seems that way because we're not used to being this amount of busy, or if it's just that I don't tolerate this level of busy because of the CFS. Regardless, it's made it difficult to keep up with all sorts of things. Getting up at 5:15 on school days doesn't help either.
  
  I'm a little ashamed that it took me so long to realize I needed to do something about it. Hopefully you'll have noticed that I'm trying to keep in touch better lately--if not, you should notice it soon.
  
  

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 9/21/2010 10:51:00 AM 2 comments

• So it's been two weeks since my last update, but there's not a whole lot to say.
  
  
• The big thing is that Camden came down with the flu. H1N1, we presume, since he had the flu shot a few weeks before he got sick. Poor kid was really sick for about three days, then miserable for another two. He's been back at school since Tuesday, but he still has a residual cough.
  
  
• Carl has a mild form, we think--he's got a cough and a low-grade fever. It was worst on Thursday, since Wednesday night he was at work until midnight because of a video teleconference with somebody back in the Pentagon on... (cue irony music) pandemic influenza. A lot of people were chastising him for going in to work on Thursday and Friday, and I have to say I see their point. He's the local subject matter expert on pandemic influenza, telling everyone to stay home if they're sick, but he goes in to work. Granted, he has an office to himself and can limit how much he exposes other people, but still.
  
  
• I, on the other hand, had one day when I had a mild temp and a scratchy throat, and that could have just been sleep deprivation. I'm trying not to be too proud of my immune system for fear that karma will kick me in the butt with a horrible case of flu. But I did read an article on Spark.com that said that people who exercised daily got sick less often. And it's been 7 weeks now that I've exercised daily, still going to the gym every other day and doing Callanetics on the off days.
  
  I still haven't lost an ounce--in fact, I gained a pound--but I'm getting slimmer. The biggest thing I noticed was when I put on thigh-high hose. Instead of going up to mid-thigh, they went all the way up. And then there was.... if any of my kids are reading this, STOP NOW TO AVOID FURTHER TRAUMA!!! I definitely noticed a difference during sex. Okay, I'm not going to get into details. But it was very cool. I even had more stamina, and I was only up to six minutes on the dread elliptical. Talk about motivation! I've even noticed a lot fewer of the age-related aches and pains. It's not as difficult to get up and down from the floor, and (okay, what does it say about me that what follows is what embarrasses me?) I don't grunt anymore when I bend over to tie my shoes.
  
  I realize I'm in danger of becoming one of those tiresome people who preach vigorous exercise to everyone, but just in case you're interested, it took six weeks of working out daily to get such noticeable results. Message: don't give up.
  
  
• My mother-in-law did indeed have a gallbladder infection. They kept her in the hospital on IV antibiotics to get the infection cleared up, and then were going to operate on Monday morning. Unfortunately, they neglected to tell her that, and they neglected to tell the nursing staff, or her nurse made a mistake, one or the other, because they served her breakfast Monday morning, and she ate it. Of course, you can't have surgery with a full stomach. What's irritating is that the doctor was told that she refused surgery--sounds like the nurse trying to cover up her mistake. Anyway, she's back home and scheduled for surgery on the 16th.
  
  
• Halloween is going to be very laid-back this year. The brother- and sister-in-law and nieces won't be coming, because they're going out to dinner for a friend's birthday. I'm really rather peeved. It's not like we can postpone trick-or-treating for the kids, but mostly I'm offended that a last-minute dinner invitation takes precedence over plans we made with them a month ago.
  
  They are coming over on Sunday, but now we have to come up with something to entertain them, rather than having the Halloween festivities to do so. I'm also annoyed that we're expected to be content with conversation and grilled burgers when we visit them, but that we have to provide some sort of entertainment for them to visit us. Argh.
  
  
• Last weekend, we went to the play The Mystery of Irma Vep with Carl's boss and his wife (S&R, who I mentioned in the last Weekend Update). It was very funny, once I figured out what to expect. I felt really bad that Camden was too sick to attend--he'd have loved it.
  
  

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 10/31/2009 10:27:00 AM 1 comments

• Okay, I've given up on catching up. If I remember anything pertinent, I'll add it. Otherwise, this is just going to be recent stuff.
  
  
• For five weeks now I've been exercising daily. I'm so proud of myself. Every other day I go to the gym and on the alternate days, I exercise at home. The gym is my favorite. We always go when we're in Italy, and I always just did Callanetics and then a few exercises with dumbbells. But the gym here doesn't have a big selection of free weights. What they have is Nautilus machines. Lots of nice, new Nautilus machines. And then a variety of disgusting cardio machines (heh--actually, they're new, too--I just hate cardio).
  
  Five weeks ago, I went to check out the gym with Carl. It's only a 5-minute walk from the house, but I'd never been before. There weren't many people there, and I got Carl to show me how to adjust the machines he knew how to use. Then on Monday I went back. I remembered how much I love weight training. And it occurred to me that I'm 48 years old. Even if I never touch weights, I'm not going to have skinny arms and legs, and even if I could--who cares? I'm old enough to do what I want. I've been going every other day since then, and despite the fact that it ends up taking me at least an hour and a half, I look forward to it. Yesterday, I didn't even mind walking there in the rain.
  
  I may not have lost an ounce yet, though my clothes do fit better. What's cool though, is that I feel strong, and I love it when I can move the weight peg down a notch. Unsurprisingly, my favorites are the ones where I can move the most weight--the triceps (95 pounds!), the leg abduction (outer thighs--155 pounds!) and the dip machine (shoulders, triceps, and upper back--125 pounds!).
  
  I did start adding a few minutes on the elliptical machine (an effective torture device, if you ask me), but it's been slow going. Took me a while to realize that the blinding headaches it was giving me were due to overheating, so now I make sure I drink a lot of water first and that I get a machine next to a fan, and it's a little better.
  
  I do Callanetics on the alternate days (like today), and that seems to be going well. I haven't gotten bored with them yet, but I've got a couple dozen exercise videos to use if and when that happens. I'm pretty sure it's the Callanetics that made my outer thighs and triceps so strong.
  
  
• Sorry for going on so long--I'm just really excited about it. And weekends, Carl always goes with me, which is fun. It's nice having a workout partner, and it's always... ahem... inspiring to watch him workout.
  
  
• A couple of weeks ago, Carl's new boss S invited us over for dinner. It was very nice--almost too nice. I was a wee bit intimidated by the things like cloth napkins and napkin rings, but they're so friendly I got over that. His wife R is about as shy as I am, so it was a little low-key, but I hope we'll be doing some more things together.
  
  They went away for a week to Garmisch and asked Camden to pet-sit for them. They have four cats and a bird. I can't remember the type of bird it is--it's a small parrot of some sort. He doesn't talk, but mimics sounds, like the doorbell, the microwave chime, the phone, and if you whistle at him, he'll repeat your whistle back to you. He's very entertaining, though R says he can get on your nerves at times.
  
  
• S is even more into antique clocks than Carl is, so I can see this might be dangerous. The post had its annual holiday bazaar last week (it's early so people can ship gifts back to the States), and there were a couple of antique dealers there, and Carl did buy another clock. This one's about 100 years old, which is pretty cool. What's interesting is that the dealer was starting up an antique clock club for enthusiasts--not just to hang out and talk about clocks, but also to learn some of the repair and maintenance. Seems useful to me, and something he might enjoy. Hope he goes for it.
  
  
• Can't believe it's only two weeks until Halloween. I'm thinking we need to start getting more than just two bags of candy a week. Last year, we ran out after about a half hour. It was ridiculous. So we've been buying two of the largest bags we can find every week, trying to stock up, but I suspect we'll need more.
  
  Since it's on Saturday this year, we're hoping Carl's brother and sister-in-law and their girls will be here earlier, so we can carve pumpkins and stuff as well as do the trick-or-treating. They always enjoy it, so I'm expecting to have a good time. Not making caramel apples this year, though, unless somebody can tell me why the caramel keeps sliding off the apples. It's far too frustrating, though I LOVE caramel apples. HELP!!
  
  
• I've already started Christmas shopping, thank goodness, and discovered the crafts store on post so I can get fabric to make a stocking for Dagny's boyfriend, who's coming to visit at Christmas along with Dagny and Curran. I think I'll have to do it right after Halloween, because time flies so fast after Thanksgiving.
  
  
• Went to see the movie Zombieland last night and enjoyed it a lot. I'll try to write up something about it soon--maybe if I hadn't spent so much time writing this....
  
  
• Just found out Carl's mom's in the hospital--her husband wasn't real clear on what was wrong other than stomach pain and vomiting, but she said last weekend that she'd been having trouble with her gall bladder, so we're guessing that's what it is. Carl's going there today to take Manfred to visit, and then we'll all go visit tomorrow. Will keep you posted.
  
  

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 10/17/2009 01:40:00 PM 0 comments

• Last week, I talked about our trip to Prague. I'll try to get a little more catch-up done today.
  
  
• The rest of the time Dagny was here, we took day trips locally, to Dilsberg, Neckarsteinach, and the Frankfurt Zoo. The Four Castles at Neckarsteinach wasn't quite as nice as we'd hoped, because it was a hot and humid day, making hiking up to the castles less than pleasant.
  
  It was hot at the zoo as well, but we enjoyed it anyway. The only problem was the monkey house, which was enclosed and definitely gave us a feeling of being in the jungle. We kept wanting to leave because we were so miserable, but the chimps had two little ones and we couldn't tear ourselves away. The slightly older one kept showing off and trying to distract the adults' attention from the baby, and it was just hilarious, and very human.
  
  
• We saved our annual trip to Italy for after Dagny left. Which sounds mean, except that she only had time for one trip, and Prague suited her more than Italy.
  
  
• Italy is our "spa vacation." We drive to Camp Darby, which takes about 12 hours in Moby. The drive is part of the fun. In the 24 hours of driving, we finished listening to Jim Butcher's Summer Knight (finally!), listened to (an unfortunately abridged) Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich, and I'd brought along a variety of music CDs for the captive audience, including Stray Cats, Savatage, The Raspberries, 10CC, and Thin Lizzy. The biggest hit (after Summer Knight) was the two George Carlin CDs I brought along. I've already started looking for comedy CDs for next year.
  
  
• While in Italy, we always do the same things. I'm always up first, and I have coffee and cereal out on the porch. When Carl gets up, we walk to the gym and work out for an hour or so. I do about 40 minutes of Callanetics, then work with dumbbells for 20 minutes--the machines there use free weights, and I find them a wee bit intimidating. Rinse off and relax for a while, then go get some lunch.
  
  In previous years, the mess hall was open and they had great food. But the mess hall has closed, so we alternated between the little Italian restaurant on post and the bowling alley (which served Greek food--go figure). After lunch, we'd drop the boys back at the cabin and go to the commissary to get food for dinner. Then another hour or so of relaxing--we usually used this time to watch an episode of Planet Earth, which is very cool--I highly recommend it. The best part of those was the end: the "Planet Earth Diaries," which showed just how much trouble the film crews went to to get some of the scenes. Just amazing.
  
  Then around 3 p.m., we went to the beach, a tradition we've developed after years of experience. We go late in the day for several reasons. First, parking and umbrellas used to be half price after 3 p.m. They aren't anymore, darnitall. Second, most people go to the beach first thing in the morning, and if you go early and aren't one of the first people there, your chances of getting an umbrella are pretty slim. Third, the beach really tends to get old after 4 hours or so. Fourth, we never end up with sunburns when we go later in the day (even when using sunscreen, that mid-day sun can be vicious).
  
  We even have a routine at the beach--get an umbrella and ditch our stuff, then go play in the water. I usually call it quits first, and I go back, shower off the salt, then read a while. The boys all come back, shower off, then go get french fries (I stick to the snacks we brought along). Then Carl and I go for a walk along the beach for an hour or so. When we get back, the boys go back in the water, and I may or may not--it depends. We never leave the beach until they're ready to close it down.
  
  Then after the beach, it's showers and dinner. We eat really well in Italy--the fresh fruits and veggies are great there. This year, it was a little more challenging because our antique camp stove (it had belonged to my surrogate grandparents who'd used it about 60 years ago) died. Fortunately, the cabin had a microwave, and even more fortunately, I'd thought to bring a microwavable bowl.
  
  After dinner, we watched an episode or two of South Park, then crashed. A few nights, we'd go into Tirrenia and get gelato and wander around the market, and we went out for dinner one night. Italy is definitely great for night owls. Everything's open very late.
  
  Sunday we always go to Pisa, mostly for the market, but also for dinner. Carl took a bunch of pictures with his camera, and got some pictures of the people having their pictures taken in front of the tower. It's a tradition--everyone who goes to Pisa gets their picture taken holding up the tower. So when you're walking along, there'll be dozens of people all posing with their arms straight out to one side. It makes me smile--it's definitely an equalizer, because everybody does it.
  
  
• When we got back from Italy, Carl's dad came for a visit--the first time he's been back in Germany for... a decade at least. And the first time we've seen him since he visited us in San Antonio about 10 years ago. It was a nice visit, though he didn't stay long. He stayed with Carl's brother Mike, and we went there one day, and they came to our house once.
  
  
• Also coming by that day was Carl's new boss, noteworthy in that he's the doctor who delivered Camden, here in Heidelberg, almost 15 years ago. It's a small world.
  
  
• This summer's been a rough one for Carl. Back in May, he turned 50. Shortly afterward, he started having doctor appointments. He has flat arches, and they finally got to the point where he couldn't run, so he had to make several trips to Landstuhl to get orthopedic inserts for his shoes.
  
  
• And then there was the skin cancer on his face. He got the phone call from the doctor confirming it as we were leaving for Italy. Good thing I brought those comedy CDs along! He ended up being sent back to the US for microsurgery to have it removed. Because it was on his face, they wanted to use microsurgery to minimize scarring, and because he's active duty, they sent him to the US instead of to a German doctor. He asked for and got San Antonio instead of Walter Reed, which was nice. And it would have worked out really well--he had a conference in Albuquerque the week before, so he planned on just going from Albuquerque to San Antonio.
  
  But that's not taking bureaucracy into account. If he'd come back to Germany from New Mexico and flown back to Texas the same day, they'd have been fine with it, but since he was trying to streamline things (and, incidentally, save the government about $1000), they wouldn't allow it. Something about the two trips being paid for by different units, and for some bizarre reason they charged all the travel to the conference, and that unit wouldn't allow the extra charges. It could have been worked out eventually, but he didn't get the orders for the medevac until Friday, and he was supposed to leave for the conference on Monday. So he canceled the conference.
  
  Which added a few more problems. He and Curran were going to be on the same flight to Dallas, then connect to San Antonio and Albuquerque. Several phone calls later, we got Curran's flight delayed another week, so they could fly back together. Curran wasn't too upset because it meant he got to see his girlfriend one more time.
  
  
• The surgery went well, though Carl ended up missing Camden's first week of high school and the neighborhood picnic, and he's back and slowly getting over jet lag.
  
  
• Hmmm. I'm nearly caught up. I think I'll stop now and try to catch up one more time next weekend. I'm sure I've missed a few things.

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 9/12/2009 12:11:00 PM 2 comments

• It's been a very long time since I've done one of these, because it's been a very busy summer. I'll try to catch up a little today.
  
  
• Dagny wasn't able to stay very long when she visited this summer, because she's taking classes to get her teaching certification, and was taking one class summer term. So we tried to make the most of the time she was here and did a lot of touristy things.
  
  
• The biggest thing we did while Dagny was here was a three-day trip to Prague. Dagny did all the research, even found the hotel online: . It was a boat-hotel, which was cool and interesting. There was a fancier-looking boat hotel upriver, but our location was much nicer, because we could walk to all the places we wanted to see. The other "botel" would have added a mile to our walk every time.
  
  
• We drove--about a 5-hour trip in Moby (), and were a little worried about parking the beast, until a helpful parking lot attendant pointed us to the parking garage of a mall, where they had a special section for larger vehicles. That's a common problem in Europe, by the way--most cars are pretty small. We had quite a time trying to ask how we would retrieve Moby on Sunday... it didn't occur to Carl that the mall would be open on Sunday, since in Germany everything's closed on Sundays.
  
  
• It rained the first day, but not hard, and we didn't let that slow us down.
  
  
• We saw the Communist Museum , which was fascinating. Carl took a lot of pictures inside, but I didn't take any, so the sign is all you're getting. Sorry about that.
  
  
• We also saw the toy museum, which was in parts creepier than the Communist Museum. Take these dolls, for example: . Wouldn't they give you nightmares? They had a Barbie anniversary exhibit, which Dagny and I enjoyed--they had several that are in Dagny's collection, but there were some I'd had as a child that they didn't have... but perhaps they didn't sell "growing-up-Skipper" in Europe?
  
  
• We went up to the castle , of course, and the Charles Bridge , which was undergoing some renovation work, so it wasn't as impressive as it might have been.
  
  
• We took a river tour, which was interesting. Everything was described in at least six languages--Dagny was happy, because she could understand what they said in English, German, and Spanish--the rest of us had to be satisfied with just English and German. LOL The tour boats were all over the place. There were dozens of them: . I don't think it was possible to get a picture of the river without at least one tour boat in the frame.
  
  
• The food was the biggest adventure. The first night, we were tired and since the hotel's restaurant was closed for a party, we just went to the closest place we could find. It was a very nice restaurant on the river and rather pricey, but the food was impressive. I had goulash in a bread bowl, which sounds dull, except that the goulash was great and the bread was so delicious I could have made a meal of just the bread. Carl, Curran, and Dagny had a seafood lasagna that they loved. Camden had salmon with couscous, and he wasn't as happy with his--he tends to be adventurous, so the results are mixed. But I traded him some of my bread for some of his couscous, making both of us happy.
  
  
• The second night, the kids were a little worried. There was a guy on the street advertising this restaurant, so Carl said "sure," and we followed him into the basement of this building. It was cave-like, and their trademark was having a huge variety of meat, which upset the kids quite a lot--zebra, rattlesnake, probably some things they really shouldn't have had. I just tried not to think about it. We stuck with the tourist meals--a really nice spicy sausage for Dagny and me and goulash for the men.
  
  
• The third day, we were up at the castle when we had the worst lunch ever. Ordered from the lunch menu--ham and cheese sandwich for me and sausage and potatoes for everyone else. My sandwich was two slices of stale white bread (not even good bread--like Wonderbread, but without the "wonder" part), a tiny square of processed white cheese, and a sliver of ham. Even so, it was better than the sausages, which had huge globs of fat in them. By this point, we'd discovered that you could pay in dollars, euros, or Czech crowns, so we asked how much for each. It was something like $103 if we paid in dollars. Needless to say, we pulled out the crowns.
  
  
• And that evening, we stopped by another place that offered tourist meals--supposedly typical Czech fare--and had a mediocre dinner. They have a lot of dumplings, which none of us were very impressed with.
  
  
• Exchanging money was another big adventure. There were exchange places everywhere, but you had to pay close attention, because the rates could vary drastically. Often, it ended up being more prudent not to exchange money at all, but to pay in euro or dollars. We'd heard a lot of horror stories about crime and pickpockets, but despite not being particularly careful about flashing cash, we had no problems.
  
  
• The coolest part was one evening as we were walking back to the hotel, the kids were bickering, so we stopped at a park along the river to talk it out, and just as everything got settled, fireworks started going off. So we sat down on benches and had the best seats in the city--they were shooting them off directly across the river from us, and we saw them right above the castle. Just gorgeous. Carl got a lot of nice pictures of them, and Dagny got a couple, but again, I didn't take any.
  
  
• I was surprised by how many people spoke English, and how much American stuff there was there--Coke and McDonald's, you expect, but I took pictures of several other things that I'll probably do a Thursday Thirteen of.
  
  
• The old town was beautiful, and I was fascinated by the sidewalks--took a bunch of pictures of those, too, with another Thursday Thirteen in mind. They're all cobblestone, but in a variety of patterns.
  
  
• They're apparently famous for marionettes, and we bought one--again, I didn't take pictures. Dagny and Carl did.
  
  
• On the way back to Heidelberg, we took a little detour past Seybothenreuth, where we'd lived from 1995 - 1997. A lot has changed, and a lot hasn't changed. The lot that was flooded every winter for ice skating and curling is now a day care, and the big open playground is now all overgrown and broken down. But there were still plenty of memories for Dagny and Curran, and we're glad we went past there.
  
  
• Grafenwoehr, the post, has changed dramatically, because a lot of units have relocated there. We initially thought the elementary school had been torn down and rebuilt, but we did find it. The building where Carl's office had been was gone, though, without a trace, and the old commissary was now a post office and a bank (which tells you how small the old commissary was).
  
  
• So it was a very nice trip. I have a bunch of pictures I plan on posting for Thursday Thirteens.
  
  
• That's about all I have time for today. I'll post this now and try to write a little more next weekend.

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 9/05/2009 11:46:00 AM 2 comments

• This has been a very busy week. We took a couple of walks last weekend, where usually we only do one.
  
  
• On Saturday, we drove to Alltrip and took the ferry across the Rhine, then parked the car and walked about an hour to the Rhineblick (Rhine view) restaurant we'd found on an earlier hike (from the opposite direction, which was a much shorter walk). It's a very good restaurant, and was especially welcome after the long walk. Camden and I had souvlaki; Carl and Curran had gyros.
  
  
• Then Sunday, we'd intended to go to the Alsbach castle, having visited the neighboring castle, Auerbach, the weekend before (pictures of which were to have been in this week's Thursday Thirteen, but I didn't get it finished). But the road up to the castle was blocked--they were having some sort of event up there. It was a German holiday weekend: Pfingsten, whatever that is. So we went to Frankenstein instead.
  
  Frankenstein was also packed, but we've been there dozens of times, so the castle wasn't the main draw anyway. I spotted a trail leading from the parking lot, and we set off. Funny, even though we've been to Frankenstein castle so many times, we never explored the trails at all. There are a lot of them. It was a very warm day, but cool and shady in the woods, and the crowds were all up in the castle area itself. Lots of fun. Unfortunately, I thought I'd recharged my camera, but both the camera's and my e-reader's batteries were dead. I hypothesized a battery-draining imp residing in my purse.
  
  
• Thursday was Curran's 19th birthday. Unfortunately, Carl had also made an appointment to take Diva to the dog groomer Thursday evening at 6:30. And apparently, it was the day for haircuts, because Curran and Camden went to the barber shop when Camden got home from school.
  
  Curran got his hair cut very short and close to his head as he always does--then he doesn't go back to the barber until it's so long it irritates him, usually 6 months or more. He definitely takes after me. Camden only got an inch cut off because he didn't want it too short, but he's not happy with it. It's too long in back, and he doesn't like the way the sides look. We'll have to try to figure out how to describe what he wants better--it would probably help if he knew what he wanted.
  
  So when they got back, and Carl got home from work--before 6, for a change!--we gave Curran his presents... well, most of them. His biggest present hasn't arrived yet. My fault, because I'd assumed it would be available at the PX, but it was sold out. *sigh* Anyway, he got a Lego train, a mini RC car, and a bunch of clothes from us, a couple Lego sets from Camden, and a T-shirt from Dagny, which arrived in the mail just in time.
  
  Then Carl and I took Diva to the groomer, leaving Curran and Camden assembling the Lego sets. That was.... and ordeal. We'd waited far too long to take Diva to the groomer--we'd had a regular groomer nearby in Miesau, and Carl kept saying we should take her there--an hour and a half drive to get the dog groomed?? Anyway, he'd found a groomer at one of the pet stores, so he made an appointment.
  
  Granted, it was definitely our fault for waiting so long, but I can't help faulting the groomer's "no-restraint" philosophy for the ordeal as well. Instead of using a harness to keep Diva still, she had us hold her in place. Personally, I think that was more stressful for her than being held still in a harness would have been. It took 2 1/2 hours, and at the end, Carl and I were covered head to toe in dog hair. And she charged us 85 euro because it took so long--over $100. Ouch. It didn't help that we felt like the world's worst pet owners.
  
  Diva after the haircut:
  
  And then we felt like the world's worst parents, because by the time we got back home, it was 9:30, and with Camden having school the next day, the birthday dinner had to be postponed. So we went to McDonald's. *sigh* To cap the evening, we got searched when we came back in the gate.
  
  The cake turned out pretty good: angel food cake with fluffy frosting with crushed Heath bars, but nobody was hungry enough or awake enough to eat much. (It's since been mostly eaten.)
  
  
• Curran went to visit his girlfriend yesterday; Carl had a trip to Stuttgart, then an office picnic at 4 p.m., for which we were to provide a rice salad. I got the rice salad made (minus the celery, which was nasty at the commissary this week), got showered, but was too wiped out when Carl got home at 4:30 to go with him. Not to mention that it would have taken me a good half hour to get ready, and he was late already. So now in addition to feeling like the world's worst pet owner and parent, I also feel like the world's worst officer's wife... which I knew anyway, so... *shrug*
  
  
• I think it's the weather that's making me so gloomy. Our summer is now over, and it's back to being cold and rainy. I don't know why I thought the gorgeous weather in April and May would continue. Summer is always cold and rainy in Germany, but spring tends to be beautiful. There's probably a meteorological reason for it--something about the mountains and rivers and air currents--but it's like this every year.
  
  
• Actually, there's a more stereotypical reason for the gloom. I never had much of a problem with PMS until I turned 40. That's when my cycle became regular for the first time, and I started having horrible cramps and moodiness. *sigh*
  
  
• Carl's mom was going to come visit today for Curran's birthday, but we've postponed it until next weekend. Thank goodness. The house is definitely not company-ready, and the weather's too nasty to sit outside and show off the new pond and garden.
  
  
• Speaking of gardens... something has eaten all my herbs. I'm so upset. I planted six, and initially it was just eating the basil. I think it was bugs of some sort, because there were holes in the middle of the leaves. That has since moved on to my sage and oregano . My cilantro drowned, and I think the bunnies have been eating the parsley, because there are just bare stems left . The chives are just kind of limp, but they're sort of hanging in there. Maybe I should try the kitchen window, but that's pretty full of other plants...
  
  
• Tonight Carl and I are planning on going to see Adventureland at the theater on post, just the two of us. I hadn't heard anything about it, but the reviews look good--it also doesn't look like anything the boys would be interested in seeing with us. Which is kind of nice. Now that Camden's older, and with him being the only kid at home for 3/4 of the year, we don't do as much adults-only stuff as we used to.
  

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 6/06/2009 11:51:00 AM 2 comments

• I know I just said I didn't have time for Weekend Updates. This definitely doesn't mean I'm going to keep up with them every week, though.
  
  
• This is really the busiest time of the year in our family. From Mother's Day until Dagny's birthday in July, there's either a holiday or birthday every two weeks. At least the Fourth of July isn't a gift-giving occasion, but since we're planning on inviting the in-laws to come and enjoy the fireworks with us, it'll be just as busy as the other weekends.
  
  
• I had my usual Mother's Day meltdown, but this time it was on Mother's Day eve. I do this almost every year--Mother's Day makes me depressed. Carl, bless his heart, talks it out with me every year, and every year I think I've got a handle on it, but every year I get depressed all over again.
  
  I'm not really sure we've gotten to the bottom of it, though Carl's comments this year about my relationship with my own mom did resonate pretty strongly.
  
  I feel fairly good about my own mothering--my kids are all wonderful. They're not perfect, and there are some things I worry about for them that keep me up at night, and heaven knows I've made mistakes, but for the most part, I don't think I've screwed them up too badly.
  
  There's the social and media focus on Mother's Day, which always gets to me. The moms "they" admire are so different from me that we might as well be separate species. I'm not a single mom; I don't work three jobs and still volunteer to make cookies for the entire school; I don't coach soccer; I don't even keep track of how many minutes the kids spend doing things. So there's that. What I do for my family seems so ordinary, and definitely not something that requires recognition. It feels like rewarding someone for getting dressed in the morning.
  
  Probably the problem is that there's so much emphasis on everyone idolizing their own moms. And I just don't. My mom isn't horrible, but... Okay, here's the story: my parents were divorced when I was 14 or 15. I didn't see my dad again until my high school graduation, and didn't see my brother for two years, and then saw him occasionally in the hallways at school. I lived with my mom, but I never saw her either--she worked nights, and when she wasn't at work, she was at her friend's house. Mostly our only interaction was her complaining about me being a slob. Fast-forward to the early 1990s, and two years when we lived within a two-hour drive. When we lived that close to Carl's mom, she expected a visit at least twice a month. With my mom, more often than not, she'd say she was busy when I asked if we could visit. In those two years, we visited maybe half a dozen times. So I just don't idolize my mom. And when people say their mom was abusive/alcoholic/workaholic/whatever, but they always knew she loved them, well, I feel like I'm wrong, wrong, wrong for not going all weepy and nostalgic thinking about my mom.
  
  And then, of course, there's the voice in my head that says "get over it already," and that argument probably causes the meltdown. Sorry for the whining. It's a once-a-year thing, thank goodness.
  
  
• Anyway, Mother's Day we went to Carl's mom's. I got a toaster (argh!! I know I've said I like getting practical things as gifts, but not something I'd have bought anyway), sundress, and an orchid plant from Carl, and a John Oliver DVD from Camden which is LOL-funny. When Curran arrived later in the week, he brought the present from himself and Dagny--a photo album they'd made from our drawer-o'-photos and from digital pix they had, and a framed photo of the two of them and their dogs.
  
  Are they not adorable?? Dagny even wrote amusing captions for most of the pictures in the album. I get teary-eyed whenever I think about it.
  
  
• Curran's back for the summer from college. It's really nice having him home again. He and Camden are getting along really well--better than they did before. I think it's because they both have their own lives now. Curran's spent a few days taking the train to Kaiserslautern to visit his girlfriend, who's also home from college for the summer. I haven't met her in person yet, but I've chatted with her online and briefly on the phone. So far, so good.
  
  
• Carl turned 50 this year. He was not very amused. It's easy to see where Dagny gets her drama-queen tendencies. So we kept the celebration low-key: dinner at home (rouladen--his request) and raspberry jello cake (his favorite). We did do dinner out with his mom the next day.
  
  On his birthday, he enlisted the boys' help and put a goldfish pond in the back yard. Not my idea of celebrating, but it was something he's been talking about for a while, and it provided opportunities for male bonding, so that's good.
  
  I did have to smack him, though, when he told his mom he probably only had 20 years left. She’s 71.
  
  
• Just to add to his dismay over turning 50, the foot problems he's been having since last summer came to a head, and he had to have his first profile (doctor's excuse) for missing a PT test in his 26 years in the Army. Really demoralizing for someone who's prided himself on always doing well on the PT tests. Even worse, he's got a skin cancer under his eye that he'll have to have removed. Appointments for both are scheduled for next month.
  
  
• Since I'm on the subject of Carl, I have to mention Swine Flu. It came up when Carl’s boss and half his office was away on an exercise. For two weeks, Carl didn’t get home until 8 p.m. at the earliest. Video conferences with Pentagon bigshots, etc. He was actually having fun along with the stress–pandemic influenza is his baby--he wrote the USAREUR (USArmy EURope) manual, so this was putting his work into action. Unfortunately, bureaucracy doesn't stop for little things like international health emergencies, and not only did he have all his own usual meetings and paperwork, he also had his boss's meetings and paperwork, and in addition had extra tasks as part of the exercise the rest of the office was doing. It would have been easier to have him gone for two weeks, seriously.
  
  
• Last weekend, Camden went to the 8th grade dance. He looked very handsome: . Here's Carl tying the tie for him: & . Camden says he danced, but he's been very close-mouthed about the details.
  
  
• Wednesday was Camden's band concert. It was much nicer than the last one, although, sadly, not up to par with his previous school's band. This is a smaller school, and I think the other school's band director was better at motivating the kids and keeping them interested, especially with more interesting/modern music. But this time there was a better mix between solos, small groups, and the entire band--the last concert, there were more pieces played as solos than as a band, and the soloists didn't always actually, you know, practice.
  
  Also cool: the jazz band played two numbers. I've got pictures and a couple of videos, but the computer isn't letting me upload them for some reason. If I get them uploaded later, I'll edit and add them.
  
  
• Other than that--we've been spending a lot of time with the in-laws: first Mother's Day, then Curran arriving (for which we went to our favorite ice cream place in Erbach!!), then Carl's birthday. Also on Carl's birthday weekend, we went to his brother's house. Mike (Carl's brother) has a big pond in his yard, and had several goldfish he'd promised to Carl. It was only supposed to take an hour or two, but Mike's pond is really deep, and the goldfish kept hiding, so he had to drain about two-thirds of it to get to them.
  
  
• Well, that's probably enough for this week. Hopefully it didn't put you to sleep. More next week, maybe--Curran's birthday is on Thursday; we should have some more pix.
  

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 5/30/2009 10:01:00 AM 0 comments

• Wow. It's been a long, LONG time since I've done one of these--since before Thanksgiving! I'm not going to try to catch up on everything we've done since then--it would take too much time.
  
  
• I do have a bunch of pictures that I'd like to share, but I'll start with current events and see how much I can add in the time I have available today.
  
  
• The biggest thing is that I'm having a CFS relapse. It's not terribly severe, possibly because I caught it early, but it is frustrating, because I'm not sure what caused it this time. In the past, relapses have been caused by overdoing it--like the time I shoveled snow for over an hour. *rolling my eyes* At any rate, I'm dealing with it the way I usually do: being sure to take frequent rest breaks, and slowly increasing my exercise every day.
  
  
• The good thing about the relapse is that it seems to have broken my reading lethargy. Since Christmas, I'd been reading about half as much as I normally do, but now I'm back to my usual 5 - 7 books a week. This makes me happy, because the TBR mountain was threatening to take over the computer room, so much so that I didn't order my must-buy books for March yet.
  
  
• The bad thing is that I can't spend as much time on the computer as usual, and since I was already horribly behind on everything I do online, it's getting ridiculous. I'm trying to be ultra-organized in response; hopefully that will help a little.
  
  
• I'm also falling way behind in housework, but, well... I do that sometimes when I'm feeling fine, too.
  
  
• Last week Carl went on his first TDY (Temporary DutY--in this case, like a civilian business trip) in quite a long time. He went to Geneva, to an international conference on Avian Influenza (his favorite--not). Good thing it was paid for, because Switzerland is seriously expensive. Although he's a little tired of being the expert on Avian Influenza, he did enjoy the conference, with people from a lot of countries.
  
  A little oddity while he was gone: for a day and a half, our phones (both the civilian line and the DSN military line) were dead. Carl tried calling, and got what sounded like ringing, but no answer. I tried calling him, but there was no dial tone, nothing. Then just as he was about to send someone by the house to check on us, the civilian line suddenly started working again. The DSN line started working again the next day. Very odd, and a wee bit spooky.
  
  
• Carl's other big thing lately has been suicide prevention--they've been jumping through a lot of hoops after a report that suicides have increased in the Army. He did some tweaking of the plan put out by the Pentagon, and found himself going back to work at 9 at night for a live teleconference with the assistant chief of staff of the Army in Washington. He was a wee bit freaked by that.
  
  This job is high profile and stressful, but he is feeling like he's making a difference... that is, on the days when he can do something besides going to meetings.
  
  
• Well, this is as much time as I've allotted for my update this weekend. I'm thinking it might work best if I just post short updates every weekend rather than waiting until I have time to catch up completely. We're planning on seeing I Love You, Man at the post theater tonight. Assuming Carl and Camden get back home from buying a new bike in time. Heaven only knows what we'll be doing for supper.

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 3/28/2009 05:19:00 PM 5 comments

• It snowed last night! This is how the back yard looked this morning. It's mostly gone now, but since it didn't get much above freezing all day, there's still some left.
  
  
• Carl's been outside all day, working on the yard, raking the last leaves, etc. I feel so guilty. Then again, he did sleep in until 12:30. I wish I could do that. I try, but the latest I can manage is 10, and that's if I'm extremely exhausted. Most weekends it's more like 8 or 9.
  
  
• Last Sunday, we went back to Neckarsteinach to visit the Schadeck (Schwalbennest) castle that we'd missed the last time. To get to it, you had to walk past the Hinterburg and along some pretty steep and leaf-covered paths. It was great. We had more of a hike this time, but still got there too late to try the longer hiking paths. I can see we'll be going back to this area quite a lot. By the way, in case you were wondering, here's how you find your way in the woods, as some of the paths aren't all that wide or obvious: .
  
  We took a LOT of pictures: wildflowers, which were surprising, since everything else seemed to be dying off, and one of the trails was called the "art path," and we took pictures of the art along the path. Then lots of the castles. I have at least two, probably three Thursday Thirteens worth. Maybe I should just double up one week. Or skip some. But I love sharing the pictures.
  
  
• Monday was our neighborhood book club meeting... and I missed it. I forgot that we'd changed it to Monday from Wednesday, even though I got an email reminding me. Darn.
  
  It was a busy day, anyway. Camden had an orthodontist appointment in the morning, and I had a follow-up mammogram and ultrasound in the afternoon. That turned out fine, by the way--I've got a lot of cysts, but it was nice--they had the radiologist come in and interpret the ultrasound while the tech was doing it, so there was no waiting for results. Reassuring, especially for Carl, who was mildly panicked (understandably so: his mom had a mastectomy two years ago).
  
  
• Thursday morning, there was an awards assembly at Camden's school, and the jazz band provided the entertainment, so Camden had to dress up: black slacks, white shirt, black tie. He looked very handsome and grown-up, but I completely failed to take a picture. Argh.
  
  The jazz band was really impressive, and larger than I'd expected. I'd been concerned, because the school is a little smaller, and the regular band is smaller--they had to combine intermediate and advanced band--but the jazz band is larger, and boy, could they play!
  
  Camden received a gold honor roll award (3.5 - 3.99 GPA), and Student of the Quarter.
  
  
• They did the Student of the Quarter presentation on Friday... at the bowling alley. Six kids from each grade (about 180 students in each grade). They got a pizza lunch, and some prizes, and then got to bowl a couple of games before walking back to school just in time for the end of the day. Nice thing for Camden: several of the other kids there were his friends. Which really made me happy as a parent--not only did his teachers recognize his "dedication to academic excellence and outstanding citizenship," but he picks friends who are great kids, too.
  
  I'm still not thrilled about the amount of homework he gets, but I'm gaining respect for the school administration, and I'm starting to understand their point of view. The principal in particular is so enthusiastic and encouraging, and they're all very dedicated to helping all the kids excel, and rewarding their efforts.
  
  The only bad thing was that the weather was turning--it was warmish and windy in the morning, and got progressively windier, and colder throughout the day. I took a sweatshirt to the bowling alley for Camden to add to his T-shirt and jacket so he wouldn't freeze on the way home. He needed it. The bowling alley is about 2/3 of his way home from school--he walks past it every day--but he didn't have time to collect his stuff before they walked to the bowling alley, so he had to walk back to school, and then walk back home again. Poor kid. He did have a great time, though.
  
  
• Tomorrow we're going to be planting our winter stuff, if the weather holds. The post gives us a 50-euro gift certificate to a local garden store so we can keep our yards looking nice. Pretty cool. We went Thursday night, in the rain, and got quite a bit of stuff. Only spent about 15 euro of our own, too.
  
  
• Tonight, though, we're going to go out to dinner and then to see Quantum of Solace. Yay!
  
  
• Oh, and yesterday, I bowed to pressure and joined Facebook. It appears that it's a huge time-sink, though, so I'm not sure how much I'll use it. I'm "Darla Stokes," though, if you want to check it out.
  

Labels: about me, weekend update

// posted by Darla @ 11/22/2008 04:42:00 PM 2 comments