The Wrong Cord

I realize that I have been lax in my blogging duties lately. I usually do my blogging on our laptop. (It's the better, faster, newer computer - and it has all of my pictures on it.) Unfortunately our laptop computer cord had compatibility issues with the electricity flow in Italy. (Apparently the whole 220 Volts thing is just a "suggestion" for the Italians - just like lanes on the freeway are "optional.") Anyway, the laptop is supposed to be fine on anything from 100-240 volts. It has been fine in Germany, in England, in Belgium, and in the Netherlands. In Florence it was fine. In Varese it was not. To make a long story short, now the electricity isn't making it from the wall to our computer.

Big deal, you may say. So what! Order a new cord. Get it fixed.

Ha.

If only it were that easy. Ben spent a good couple of hours on the phone with the lovely people at HP only to be told that they could not ship a power cord directly to our APO address.

Hmmmm....

This is not the first time we've had trouble with our laptop cord. We had one shipped directly to us only a few months ago. It made it here in record time - something like 5 days for an overnight shipment. Not bad.

This time, however, the cord was not replaceable under the warranty. I guess that makes a difference in the shipping policy. Go figure. Anyway, we got HP to ship the cord to Ben's parents, who in turn shipped it to us. It took about 2 weeks to get here. We opened the box and what did we find? THE WRONG CORD!!!!!!!

This is after Ben CLEARLY explained to the guy on the phone which cord we needed. (That guy was a customer service rep who then CLEARLY (hahaha) explained to the sales people which cord we needed.)

So, now Ben is on the phone AGAIN with the HP customer service people who are AGAIN insisting that they cannot ship the cord to an APO address. Despite the fact that they've done it before. Despite the fact that this mess is due to their own egregious error.

Boo on HP.

I think this calls for some chocolate.

Fabulous Fasching

I know that many of you are anxiously awaiting Italy pictures....well....it's going to be a couple of days. I really want to keep this in chronological order and I have a few things to post first. So, today I'm going to try and blog about Fasching and Bruges (in separate posts). Hopefully tomorrow I can start on Italy (which will most likely have to be split up into multiple posts as well). I really need to start blogging about these things as they happen so that everything feels more fresh. Unfortunately, life gets in the way. (Dratted laundry!)

Fasching is the German version (I believe) of Fat Tuesday, or Carnival. It takes place right before the start of Lent. The Germans celebrate Fasching with parades, by dressing in costume, consuming large amounts of alcohol (don't worry - I didn't share with the kids), and parties. Basically, as Ian so aptly put it, Fasching is like Halloween, but EVEN BETTER.

There are two Fasching parades nearby, one in Schwetzingen and one in downtown Heidelberg. I decided to take the kids to the Schwetzingen parade for a several reasons. 1 - I had to take them by myself. 2 - I had to take them by myself. And 3 - I had to take them by myself. (Don't you think that the Army should give Ben German holidays?)

So, our Fasching experience....

We took Flat Stanley along for the ride. Actually we took Flat Stanley and Flat Sarah. Stanley and Sarah really liked the parade - especially the part where they had kilos of candy chucked at their heads. I hadn't realized how much candy would be thrown. Fortunately a kind German woman behind me handed me a bag to hold our loot. Unfortunately that meant we brought home a lot of candy. We still have a huge bag full of Fasching candy that Stanley and Sarah have yet to eat. Maybe if it had been chocolate...






Ian had sawdust dumped on his head by one of these Buzzel-Hexe. (I think Buzzel-Hexe means ugly witches. It's what they had on their sign. Any thoughts on this?) Fortunately, Ian thought it was funny.


And finally...amazing costumes. The people in blue (not sure what they are) painted the kids' noses blue (not sure why).








Because it was colder than I had expected, and the kids didn't have their coats with them, we didn't stay for the entire parade. From what I hear, that may have been a good thing. I think by the end of the parade the hard liquor was starting to catch up with people. (One of my favorite moments was when one of the beauty queens (while on her float, mind you) chugged back a shot of something potent. I had to laugh.)


Next year I think we'll have Ben take the day off and attempt the larger (and probably rowdier) parade in Heidelberg. Maybe. We'll see. Then again, the Schwetzingen parade was pretty good....

An Arrival

The Wii Fit has landed....I repeat, the Wii Fit has landed. My faith in the United States Postal system is (somewhat) restored. Signing off.

Oh, and just to let you know, I'll be doing some pretty heavy duty blogging in the next couple of days. Keep your eyes peeled! (Whatever that means.)

All I Wanted Was To Get My Mail...

Today was a busy day. Wednesdays are always busy days. I have kids to get places, errands to run, and, oh yeah, it's the day I teach all my students. Today was no exception, and, to add to the chaos I had a rehearsal this morning while Naomi was at pre-school.

Hauling a cello around is never an easy thing. It is awkwardly shaped, it is large, and I never like to put it in my trunk (rear-endings being the most common kind of accident). Today, as usual, I put my cello in the passenger seat. (The most annoying part of this transportation solution is when the cello sets off the passenger seat belt alarm - the beeping goes on FOREVER!) Anyway, after my rehearsal I decided to stop and get my mail.

And now (or those of you unfamiliar with the APO mail system) a little explanation. Our mailbox is not at our house. We have a German address, and a German mailbox here, but we rarely get any mail here. Our APO address isn't even in our neighborhood. It's actually located at a central mailroom on another Kaserne (a Kaserne is a small post, several of which make up the area's military community). We lucked out - our mailbox is on the same Kaserne where Ben works, so usually he can just pick up mail after work. Many of our neighbors and friends have to drive to completely random locations to get their mail.

Anyway, Ben is out of town this week, so I've been driving over to get the mail. I've been especially diligent because we are expecting our Wii Fit (which, by the way, I'm beginning to think some unscrupulous mail person may have stolen - we ordered it a month ago!) and I want to pick it up THE DAY it arrives. Because my rehearsal was near the mailbox, I thought it would be an ideal time to stop by. (I wasn't thinking about my cello at the time.) I drove through some crazy construction (did you know that in Germany all the road construction workers wear blue?), made a wrong turn (there are some really, really, really narrow two way streets in Germany) and finally made it to the gate.....and got pulled over for inspection. AAARRRGGGHHH!

I had to wait while they inspected me, my car, AND had my pull out my cello and open it up. I wouldn't have been so annoyed but I swear the guard was just curious to see what was inside the case. I'm pretty sure he knew I wasn't a terrorist. I understand that it's all "for our safety," but man, it sure annoys the heck out of me when I get pulled over. It annoyed me today, it annoyed me when I was deathly ill and was trying to get home as quickly as possible, and I'm guessing it annoyed my friend when she was taking her son (who had a head injury that was bleeding copiously) to urgent care. Really, all I wanted was my mail. And all I got was a bank statement. What a day.

Portrait of a Princess

Naomi, like about 99.873% of 3 to 4 year old girls (and I'm sure there are statistics to back this up) loves all things princess.  She loves princess movies, princess music, princess clothing, princess dolls....if it has to do with princesses she's bound to enjoy it.  (She still loves lizards, bugs and dinosaurs, but for now they've taken the back seat to her princess fixation.  I will forever remember Naomi treating Ian's model T-Rex to a makeover one day with her Lipsmackers.)  So, when we celebrated her 4th birthday in January, OF COURSE we had to have a princess party.  I think the girls (and boy) that came had nearly as much fun at the party as I had putting it together.  We decorated crowns.  We played princess bingo.  We played pin the horn on the unicorn.  (Pin the tail on the donkey is such a versatile game!)  We had a treasure hunt.  And we did it all within the confines of our 1100 square foot apartment.  (I consider that the greatest achievement of the day!) 

Here are the princesses (and prince) that attended our grand festival...

(I have to insert here that Ian just wandered into the living room blinking and bleary-eyed and muttered "Guten Morgen."  It's 10:16 p.m.  While his timing is off, it's nice to know that he's learning something in his German immersion program.  How long is it going to be until he can be my personal translator?!)

Okay, back to Princess Naomi.  I really think she had a good time at her party.  It was so gratifying to me to see her enjoy herself so much.  Here she is opening presents:

                                    

Here is the princess castle cake I made her:

                                    

And here she is about to blow out the candles:

                                   

I must insert that I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my cousin Holly for her help in figuring out how do do this cake.  I saw a picture of her infinitely better version and begged her for help which she most generously bestowed.  Thanks Holly!  I think next time I will try using bigger cake pans.  The center rounds were just not quite large enough to support the weight of the towers.  (You may have noticed that the center tower has a decided tilt.  I think it gives the cake a distinctly Italian flair.)  If Naomi is anything like me, I'm pretty sure there will be a next time.  My mom must have made me a heart shaped cake every year from the time I was 8 until the time I was 18 (thanks Mom!).  I'm actually looking forward to trying again.  It was a fun experiment.

Here are some recent pictures of our beautiful, smart, kind, compassionate, sweet, determined, feisty, adventurous, obstinate, loving, expressive, silly, precocious, dramatic little girl. 

Ballet class with Miss Arianna...

             

Balancing exercises during warm-ups...

                                      

Naomi's first snow angel...

                          

Ian was off sledding with the boys from the building and their dads (Ben was in Chicago taking the boards) so Naomi and I had our own little snow day.  We built a really, really cute snowman which I was unable to photograph because my battery died right after I took these two pictures.  Unfortunately, by the time my battery was charged, some really nice neighbor kids had knocked it down.  Gosh I love living on post. 

Anyway, Naomi - Happy Birthday!  We love you.  We are so glad you are a part of our family.  You are a very special little girl!

Merry Christmas!!!

Well, I suppose we're a little bit late here.  I know that it is more than slightly ridiculous to post something about Christmas more than 2 months after it has passed, but I can't help myself.  Christmas happened, after all, and it does need to be documented.  Actually, there are quite a few things I plan on blogging about in the next week or so.  And I really do mean to do it.  We've got a bunch of trips coming up and if I don't get caught up now, I never will.  So, Merry Christmas from Germany!

We had a very nice Christmas.  Ben's work schedule was pretty lame (he had to work both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve) so we kept it pretty low key.  We were invited to spend Christmas Eve with some friends from our ward, we had dinner with our next door neighbors on Christmas Day, and we visited my aunt and uncle in Schweinfurt the Saturday after Christmas.  We really appreciated having so many people reach out to us and make us feel welcome during the holiday season.  It is sometimes hard to be so far away.

We did, however, enjoy the chance to spend some quiet time with the kids.  We decorated gingerbread cookies (evidence to follow), we opened presents, we played together, we cooked our very first Christmas goose (traditional in Germany), and, right about New Year's Eve we got sick together.

                            

Note the finely decorated decorated cookies.  I know Ian did the gingerbread Santa, and I think that Naomi did the star, although I'm pretty sure she had some help.  Just a guess.  Those sprinkles look just a little too even...     

I think Santa enjoyed quite the treat, don't you?                    

                            

Excited kids on Christmas morning - we didn't actually open presents until about 8:00 in the morning.  Heaven. 

                              

And finally, our genuine, home cooked, day-after-Christmas German feast:

                                                  

                            

We had (as aforementioned) a lovely Christmas goose, complete with sauerkraut stuffing.  We had rotkohl (red pickled cabbage - kind of a sweeter version of sauerkraut), and potato dumplings.  (The peas were an afterthought - I just couldn't stand the thought of only having cabbage/sauerkraut as our only vegetable for the evening.)  For those of you who have never cooked a goose (hahaha) I'd recommend NOT buying one, or rather, not sending your husband to buy one at a European grocery store on Christmas Eve.  I think that by the time the goose was cooked (sorry, just can't get enough of that) and all the fat had melted off, and by the time we had our cooked goose (last time, I promise) carved, we had about 3 pounds of cooked meat.  I figure the cost was about $25/lb. of cooked meat.  I wish I could say that eating said goose was a gastronomical delight never to be duplicated (and worth every euro cent).  I can't.*  The experience we had researching and preparing our traditional meal, however, was.  We'll probably try another traditional German Christmas meal next year, but I think I'll substitute a turkey for the goose and focus our attention on some yummy Christmas desserts.  (This year it was store bought Lebkuchen.)  And there you have it.  Christmas in March.  I'm really not doing too well at keeping current, here, am I.  I resolve to to better!

*The goose was tender, and quite tasty.  I just didn't think it was fantastic enough to warrant the purchase price.  Maybe they're cheaper in the States.

25 Random Things

*Warning* This is a picture- free post...

25 random things about me….I have a hard time doing something like this because I can’t imagine someone actually reading it clear through to the end. I’m really not that interesting. But, I have been tagged approximately 25 times (okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration) so I guess I’ll give it a go.

1. I am compulsively responsible. This guy I dated in college complained regularly that I wasn’t spontaneous (I retorted that I wasn’t STUPID) because I wouldn’t do things like take off in the middle of the night for Wendover with him. Who wants to go to Wendover, anyway?
2. I am a night owl. This started in college with post performance highs and has continued with child free hours post bedtime.
3. I am embarrassed that I am not speaking German yet.
4. I really, really, really want to learn to play the banjo.
5. Or maybe the mandolin.
6. One of the things that makes me happiest is watching my children really enjoy something and/or seeing wonder in their eyes when they discover something new.
7. I enjoy baking. Not cooking so much, but baking. I really love making fancy desserts – especially ones with a high chocolate content.
8. I started watching Stargate SG-1 with my husband and by Season 3 was hooked. (The first couple of seaons were lame.) We now own all 10 seasons.
9. Despite having been raised in a cold weather climate (UT) I don’t like cold weather. Or snow. I like skiing and sledding, but only for a day or so. I miss the weather in Georgia – humidity is a pain, but it keeps my hands from cracking and bleeding which is a definite bonus.
10. I am NOT athletic. People think that because I’m a musician I’m coordinated. Well, just because I can move my fingers does not mean that I have any gross motor skills. Let’s just say that PE ruined my 4.0 in high school. I think that they should have remedial PE for people like me.
11. I am looking forward to taking some tennis lessons this spring. There’s a tennis club here on post with clay courts, so that should be interesting. The difference between tennis and other sports is that I can be bad at it and enjoy it. I never enjoyed basketball.
12. I LOVE GERMAN YOGURT!
13. AND CHOCOLATE!
14. AND CHEESE!
15. I’m having to exercise more here as a result of numbers 12, 13 and 14 to keep the weight off, and it is totally worth it!
16. I don’t like to exercise.
17. The thing I hate most about Germany is my stupid, tiny, cramped apartment.
18. I feel like something’s not right with the world if I’m not in the middle of a good book. I always have a stack of books on my nightstand, and I can’t fall asleep unless I’ve read for a little while before bed.
19. I like numbers and statistics. Lately I’ve been addicted to the CNN Money page – the price of oil and the Euro/Dollar conversion rate are my latest favorites.
20. I truly believe that something worth doing is something worth doing well. So, when I do something, I go all out.
21. As a result of number 19, I sometimes get overambitious and overextend myself. Fortunately I have a fantastic husband who is willing to help me out of the fixes in which I so frequently find myself. I’ve dragged Ben into cooking projects, baking projects, MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC, sewing projects, Relief Society Projects…..poor guy.
22. I love period dramas. Pride and Prejudice, North and South (not the Civil War one), Bleak House, Emma, Martin Chuzzlewit, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion are among my favorites. I love to read the books, and I love to watch the movies.
23. The thing I miss most right now (aside from family and friends, which goes without saying) is my Symphony job and the performance opportunities I had in Augusta. I’m having a very hard time finding places to play here. (Refer to number 3.) Hopefully now that Naomi’s FINALLY in pre-school I can work more on my German and work harder on finding a group to play with.
24. I want to work on my singing. I get asked to sing in church a lot, and it would be nice to feel like I was better in control of what comes out of my mouth.
25. I have the greatest husband and kids on the planet. (And yes, I really believe that.)

So, there it is. More than you possibly ever wanted to know about me. If any of you made it through all 25 I should give you a prize. There’s always chocolate…..