Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner, as promised, though very very late.

The Christmas turkey, which we cooked in the Crockpot. It came out really nice. Stephen even commented on how it came out looking browned on the top, as though we had roasted it in the oven.

The turkey ready to eat.

Brandied sweet potato casserole. No pecans, and the marshmallows here are different. They melt into liquid quickly, and brown, but never puff up. I'll have to practice this recipe.

Our veggies - fresh asparagus and Brussels sprouts. Very nice, though I did a little too well at making sure they were fresh and crunchy. The asparagus was perfect, but the sprouts could have used a bit more steaming.

Lovely mashed potatoes. The debate in our house was whether we were having mashed or roasted potatoes. I wanted mash, Stephen roasted. He graciously let us have mash this year. I'll have to return the favour.

Stuffing balls. I don't think they are as good as the stuffing we would make in the States, but they are nice.

The wine Stephen chose for us. It was nice, for wine. I am not a big wine drinker. He enjoyed it, though.

Our dinner table. soon before we sat down. In addition to the pictures you've seen, there was cranberry sauce and a really lovely giblet gravy that might well have been the best giblet gravy I have ever made. And notice that there is no stuffing on the table. That is important, because when I realised it was missing, I went back to get it...

...and came back to find someone had snuck onto my chair! This is Jamina, and I was so excited that I screamed and threw the stuffing balls into the air. Scared Ashley badly because she had not seen Stephen sneaking Jamina into the room.

My completed giraffe family, cuddling together on the chair. Jamina, Jo-Jo, Girard, and Jonah, from left to right.

I have been thinking a lot about giraffes and writing and stories, and I am so tempted to start writing stories based on my giraffe family. I will tell you more about Jamina soon, as she has quite a distinct personality, as does Jonah, and there is a lot to tell. Until then, I am missing all of you and plugging along with this degree. I must confess that I am so tired. So very very tired.

Christmas Morning

8 AM Christmas morning found our door creaking open and Ashley crawling into bed with us for morning time cuddles. She had been waiting so patiently. She woke up at 3 AM, then again at 4, and finally at 7. She confessed to having snuck in to look at the tree and presents before coming in, but she swore she didn't touch anything. It amazes me that a 16 year old girl is still so excited about Santa and Christmas that she can't sleep. Possibly this stems from the fact that the last 2 years we have boycotted Santa and an elaborate Christmas.

Santa apparently did not appreciate the fact that we had not set up the tree or done anything nice with the living room, because when we walked into the living room, it was all done for us. All the presents were laid under the lighted Christmas ficus.

Ashley's Santa gifts were nicely laid also, and she must have been VERY good this year because there were two of them. Stephen and I must have been very bad, because we didn't get any from Santa at all. We have decided to write a letter of complaint.

Stephen must have been right when he said he had an in with Santa, and that he wanted Pringles and beer this year, because all that was left was crumbs. At least he put the bottle on a coaster.

This is a screen shot of the Santa-tracking site we used this year. It was how we knew when we had to get to bed, and we must confess that, while Ashley was in bed and asleep in plenty of time, Stephen and I waited until Santa was in North Africa before we slipped into bed. Maybe that's why we didn't get presents from him.

Ashley opening her presents. This one was a book from Santa. She ended up with quite a few books, some DVD's and a new screen for her iPod, plus a chamomile/lavender scented heatable fuzzy duck (amongst many other things.) She has expressed her happiness and is currently begging Stephen to install the new screen while her nose is stuck in one of those new books and the duck is stuck to her chest.

Stephen had the fewest presents (2) but they were dense. And it might have been a good thing, because he really is delightful when he opens presents. It takes at least 10 minutes, and involves examination and observation of detail, coming to a hypothesis and testing it before he actually opens the gift. He walked away with 5 new games and a new case for his Nintendo DS. He is now happily ignoring Ashley's pleas for her repaired iPod by burying his nose in the new games.

After having opened an incredibly beautiful and massively heavy granite mortar and pestle, Ashley couldn't bear the excitement about this gift for me any longer. Being birthed from the wrapping is a giraffe. I was informed that his name is Jonah and he is a hot water bottle cover. He is lovely and intends to torment Girard and Jo-Jo with the fact that he gets more of my cuddles than they do. He doesn't have much of a giraffe neck, though, so I suspect that the balance is maintained.

Jonah and I wishing you a happy Christmas!

Handsome Stephen looking forward to breakfast.

Ashley and her duck, whom she has named Droopey (for now at least.)

Breakfast was French toast made with seeded multi-grain bread and syrup. Dinner is on the stove and the turkey is roasting in the crock-pot. I'll post pictures and the further story later today. Right now the extended version of Lord of the Rings calls to me with its irresistible siren song.

And Since I Said It Once...

I have been so so busy....

I finished my papers, did a day of mock interviews, studied, memorized a paper including bibliography, took an exam, wrote up a research proposal, did a lot of research, brought home 18 books and 30 articles to read in the next 2 weeks, and today started my placement at a school.

It is a good school, and I keep mentioning to them that I want them to hire me. I wonder if it can be said too much. Methinks the mouth must work on staying shut.

The plan: be completely done with schoolwork by the 3rd of January. Have A BREAK from then until the 11th. Re-invigorate and re-vitalize and breathe a lot. Then jump into teaching 5, 6, and 7 year olds with a vengeance baby!

Hope I can stick to it.

Wish we had a fireplace so when my head repeatedly whispers 'The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful' it would actually be accurate.

There are packages under the Invisible Christmas Tree (TM) and a holly wreath on the front door. (It's there so people think we have Christmas Spirit. It's just a façade, really. Bah-humbug and all that. Walk into the house and the image dies as the front door closes, except for the Invisible Christmas Tree (TM). Maybe I should market it.)

It's not that we are not Christmas-y. Just way too busy. This time next year, I'll be just as busy in a completely different way! Woo-hoo! I'll be teaching busy rather than studying busy. I've convinced myself there is a difference.

And a random moment for the day -

New Stuff in Time For the New Year!

Hola everybody!

I have recently come across a wonderful song called River Flows In You by Yiruma, it's a lovely piano piece so if you're interested you can check it out at:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_ebSseEq8

So in other news, my amazing mother took me to get my hair cut last week!! It's not short like I originally wanted, Sort of last minute I decided I wanted medium length. So now It's lovely with gorgeous layers and goes down just below my shoulders. 

    

Umm, I get out of school for the winter holidays this friday, which is nice. I have two tests when I come back though. An exam in Biology and an End of Unit test is Chemistry, ooh fun! Hehe, Not. In all actuality I don't have much to report at the moment, so I guess that the end of my update! Bye everybody!!

Xoxo
Ash

My List of Things

Here is my list of things to get done in the next 2 weeks.

Complete and hand in Science paper by Friday, Dec 12. (Forces and Bernoulli's Principle)

Complete Reference Pro-forma and turn in by Friday, Dec 12.

Prepare and memorize Inclusion paper (including Bibliography) by Monday, Dec 15. ("To what extent do the models of difference influence teachers' abilities to overcome barriers to participation?")

Math research proposal to turn in on Tuesday, Dec 16. (An assessment of children's views of what a mathematician does and looks like.)

Set up placement files by Wednesday, Dec 17.

In placement school Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Dec 17 - 20.

Set up format for online PDJ (and learn how to use pebble pad) by Friday, Dec 20.

Then I have a BIG paper due the 16th of January, which needs to be done by New Year's since Kelley is going to be here for a visit and I really should not work while she is here. And I start School with the kids on January 12.

Busy Busy!

I'm shouting it!

Happy Thanksgiving!


We had tuna for dinner. :)

Rememberence

Nedra Grey
April 8, 1920 - November 24, 2008

I will always love you, Grandma.

In Review, kind of a bad few weeks.

Benny, my very old Grandma's husband, and therefore my step-grandfather, went into the hospital on 6th of November. He had cancer, and the tumour had spread to his liver and he was bleeding internally. They did an endoscopic surgery in the 7th to stop the bleeding, and he died on the 8th of November.

Kelli called to tell me on the 9th of November that my mother had overdosed, either accidentally or purposefully, on prescription painkillers.

On the 10th of November the hospital said that it wasn't an overdose. On the 11th they said it was congestive heart failure. On the 13th she had an angiogram which,while showing normal blockage which was taken care of, was not enough to explain her symptoms. On the 14th she told me that they wouldn't come right out and say it, but that it was a stroke.

On the 16th Stephen's mum called to tell us that his abuela was back in the hospital. Daily updates left us still not sure what was going on, besides age. On the 20th Stephen received a 5 am text message from his mum saying that his abuela had died. He left last night to fly to Spain for an unknown period of time to spend time with his mum and go to the funeral.

I am sad for all the sadness in our families. While I am so glad, I am also just a tad jealous that Stephen is able to go and be with his family during this time. I didn't get to. I am a bit mopey because I do not do as well when he is gone. I don't sleep as well, I remember my disturbing dreams more, and I have a lot more nightmares. And I can't help but wonder if the old adage about death coming in threes will be true this time also. All this is added to by the fact that Stephen and I have no way of keeping in touch besides the telephone (he usually takes his laptop and we chat often, but there is no internet where he is) and we don't know when he will be home. I know he will come home, though.

So this weekend, while I do have a bit of work to do for school, Ashley and I are going to hang out. I stocked up on junk food yesterday, an almost unheard of treat coming from me. We ate pizza and cookies and talked. Tonight I am taking her out for dinner, and tomorrow, as sad as it makes me, I am taking her to get her hair cut. I hope that we get the whole house clean this weekend, a task that I haven't even touched in weeks since things have been so hectic with school and I have hardly been home. I'll feel better when it is all done, and we will benefit from having some intense time together.

These last few weeks I have really wanted to go home. Not to stay, but to visit. To mourn. To spend more time with my Grandma. To see my mother and Kelli and the girls and my daddy. To hold onto Tristan so tight and make him remember how much I love him. To make him feel it. And maybe so I can feel it too.

Blog, Beards, and Barak...

Blog

It used to be that my blog posts were interesting. I spoke of politics, and thoughtful insights, and other such things. I sounded young and vibrant and intelligent. I don't know if time has mellowed me or if I am just being too careful about not being offensive. But now, I think I might be boring to read.

Granted, this blog is not really the place for me to go all soap-boxy. However, if I had wanted to play it ultra-safe I wouldn't have made this blog public.

I am not really sure what I'm saying. Perhaps I think about being more risqué, but I worry about what family will think if I am too risqué. I think about stating my position and going all activist, but I can imagine how many people might get annoyed. Possibly this is not yet something that I have thought through enough to decide what I want to do.

Beards

The cold weather is upon us, and the dark of winter is here. (Even though technically it is not yet winter.) I can now say that there is a pattern: Stephen likes a beard when it gets cold. It is not yet as long as it was when he shaved it last year, but I am delighting in it.

I was pondering why it is that I like his beard so much. I know it is a little unusual: I haven't even met anyone that I can think of that enjoys the idea of their partner having facial hair. I know that partly it is a feeling safe thing. My daddy had a beard, and part of it is the feeling of being little and loving daddy. Part of it goes hand in hand with my idea of what an intelligent man looks like.

Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci.

Last but not least, a huge part of it goes hand in hand with my love of hippie culture. All hippie men, at least in my mind's eye, have beards, and I just find it extremely attractive. Yes, I suppose that means I have a 'thing' for hippie men. No, Stephen is not one. But he floats my boat when he rubs my cheek with his beard.

John Lennon, Jerry Garcia, Jim Morrison.

Part of me doesn't like to admit that I have such levels of fascination and identification with hippie culture. It feels somewhat silly, in today's modern age. But I look at my life thus far and it seems pretty obvious that it has always been that way. My mother told me, when I was a teenager and borrowing my daddy's shirts because I liked them far better than I did girl clothes, that I was her polar opposite. She spent the 60's and early 70's resisting and fighting against everything that being a hippie stood for, while I spent the 80's and 90's trying desperately to be one.

(One of my absolute favourite shirts is one I stole from my daddy way back when. It is blue, long sleeves, with mother of pearl snaps at the wrists and a pocket on the chest. I call it my "70's National Geographic photographer" shirt. It looks just like you imagine. Google Image it, too. Someone is wearing one.)

Since being an adult I have struggled to try to find the commune of my dreams. Reading about The Farm in Tennessee made me desperately want to go and live there. I always had a house full of people, and living with Dar and George was pretty much a happy commune situation. Sometimes I miss so many people around.

Barak

This election has been quite an interesting one for me. I thought it best explained when I responded to a friend's blog.

Hear, hear, and Huzzah!

I find it particularly interesting that so many people that I personally know feel profoundly affected by not only the physical act of voting, but also the results of said election. I have no previous memories of people crying for sheer exhilaration and joy, but that is what I see and hear happening. And, truth be told, I am feeling it too. I don't think it is Obama per say, at least for me it is not, but more the possibility of coming out of what has been seen as a very dark time. The glimmer of light in the tunnel ahead effect, I suppose.

While I have always been proud to be an American, the last year of living in a foreign country and seeing what the world thinks of us has been quite an eye opener. We made a huge difference this election. It might even make it so Americans don't have to hide their heads when leaving the country.

What I am saying is that I'm right there with you, my friend.

While I chose not to use the blog as a place to push my own personal politics, I am going to say that I am really quite happy with who won the election. Stephen stayed up late the night of. He let me sleep until it got exciting, then woke me up. We cuddled in bed and watched until the BBC called the election for Obama.

The next day, Tristan asked me while I was on the phone with him who I voted for. When I told him, he told me that it was a good thing I voted the way I did, because if I hadn't he would have been angry with me. Silly boy.

Back into the Olden days.

So Stephen did something wonderful yesterday. I know: strange, that Stephen could do something other than pin me to the floor with a one minded fierce determination to tickle my feet no matter how loud I could scream, how hard I could hit, or how much I tried to wiggle my way free, right? No, this Saturday was different, this Saturday Stephen took me on an adventure. Poor Mom was busy studying away (and apparently getting kicked out) of the library, working on whatever it is the she needs to work on for University. Meanwhile, at nine-in-the-drizzling-morning, I was making my way to the train station with my backpack filled with card games, bottles of water, gummies for snacking on, a camera, and tons of batteries.

Have you figured out where I'm going with this? Stephen took me to be tourist-y. He took me to Leeds Castle. If you have never been or heard of Leeds Castle, then I feel very, very sorry for you! It was wonderful!! The grounds were huge with tons of trees and green grass, lots of lakes and streams: this castle had everything! It had a Maze, an Aviary, a kid's park, and a kid's maze. It had land trains to get you from place to place, and most importantly, It Had Ducks! I'm not talking like a dozen ducks. Oh no, I'm talking TONS of ducks! Ducks with black swans, white swans, geese, moorhens, and coots; and it was just Ashley Heaven!

Here's the hitch, it was raining.

Not nice drizzling rain like it was doing in Canterbury, no-sir-ee-bob! It was POURING! Throughout the whole day I had to suffer and fight because my camera lens kept getting wet; so I have lots of blurry wet spots in my photos. It was amazing how wet it truly was. It just drenched us from head to toe. Especially toe. My shoes happen to be coming apart (they need to be re-glued) so any time I happened to walk into a puddle my feet got the full blast of the cold wet-ness. But it was such a lovely day! The castle was brilliant; we had to enter from the cellar and work our way up. We got to see bedrooms and dining rooms and the library. For anybody who doesn't know, Leeds Castle is built on two little islands in the middle of a lake, so to get from one part of the castle to the other you have to cross a bridge. Of course this bridge is covered so it wasn't draughty or anything, but the people who built it had a hard time dealing with straight lines. The windows were all perfectly straight, but the floor kept getting lower and lower. It was very curious, first you'd have the window come up to your elbow, then your shoulder, then your nose, then the window was too high up for you to even see out of (even on tip-toes!), it was highly amusing.

The maze was terrific fun as well. Since it was raining the pathways were basically gigantic puddles. In certain areas you pretty much had to wade through (that's an exaggeration, but you get my point.) So for me there was a lot of frozen toes and sloshing around. Stephen and I ended up splitting up early on, trying to find the middle. Well, it seems I found every single dead end possible. Stephen and another guy kept running into each other in this maze, so they would tell each other which ways weren't the way to the middle and by elimination, they ended up finding the middle and directing the rest of us through the maze.

In order to get out of the maze (without having to go back through it) you had to go under it, where there was a nifty little grotto. The grotto was made to be spooky and ominous with flashing lights and menacing laughter. The walls and floors were made with seashells and rocks in very interesting and pretty designs. Add flashing color onto them and you've got pretty interesting works of art! It was very nice. And dry....

You Say I'm not Patriotic?

You may consider yourself lucky, if you will.

I value the joy that is voting, perhaps more than I should. (So some would say.) I proved it this week.

I am still registered to vote in New Mexico, therefore I have to request and vote via an absentee ballot. Not a big deal, one would think. But in all actuality... let's just say that no one can call me unpatriotic and tell me that I don't love my country. Here's what happened.

My absentee ballot came with an affidavit of electronic transmission, which stated that I understood that I was giving up my right to a secret ballot, that I really was eligible to vote, and that I wouldn't show up on election night and try to vote again. I understand that this is to protect my vote from some sneaky vote-stealer who might try to pretend that they are me on election day, but it is an annoyance that I have to have this form notarised.

Notarising a document is actually not that big a deal in the States. You go to the bank. You sign up and wait a bit until the notary comes and does their thing. They don't charge you anything at all if you go to your bank.

Here, it's a bit different. Granted, the US Embassy will notarise documents for US citizens for free. But that involves missing a day of work or of school, plus the cost of the train, plus the cost of the tube since the Embassy is in London. Not really much of an option. Then I discovered that there are notaries in England too. BUT... notaries are a type of lawyer. They do sign documents, but they charge you lawyer fees also.

So I had a choice to make. I could pay about £50 and miss work/school to go to London to get the affidavit notarised, I could pay about £50 to go to the notary to get it notarised, or I could just not vote. Some, perhaps, would have chosen not to vote. But like I said earlier, voting is important to me. So I went to the notary.


This photo was taken in the waiting room at the lawyer's office. These are yearly additions and clarifications to the law code. This bookcase went from the floor to the ceiling, and there was another one just like it across the room, partially full of these books. The books are more current and in better condition at the bottom of the case, and the last book in this case was from 1974. The books at the top of the shelf were obviously old and falling apart. Some of them were so old that I could not read the dates. But I could read the date on the first book in the case... 1864.

I was a little shocked. Were they decorative? Another case in the room was full of signs. Old building signs with the law firms name on them. Maybe 7 or 8 of them. And some of them were extremely old also. So I asked the receptionist, who told me that this law firm has been in existence since 1864. Wow.

The notary was very old and very sweet. He had me hold a bible in my hands while I swore that I really was who I said I was. He wrote that his commission to be a notary expires on his death. And he tried so very hard not to ask who I was voting for. I could tell he was dying to know. He mentioned that he wasn't asking more than once. And when a different secretary came in to take me to pay for his time, and she flat-out asked me; he expressed sadness that they weren't allowed to ask as he told her off for asking me. (I did tell them. My ballot wasn't private anyway, and pretty much everyone knows who I am voting for, so it wasn't as though it were going to be a secret. And boy, did it make him happy. I think he might have been waiting for an American to come in just so he could talk about the election.)

Going to pay was an experience too. It was raining, and the finance department was in some other building. So she picked up an umbrella and I followed her. It took about 5 minutes to get there, through side streets and in front of what looked like houses. The grounds were lovely, though the paths were narrow and some had high walls on either side, so there really was no room for me to share the umbrella. She talked about how miserable it is in England, and how she wants desperately to move to Florida. (I don't know what it is about Florida. Every Brit that I have talked to, when talking about going to the US to visit or to live, talks about Florida. Florida is NOT THAT GREAT!) I asked her whose houses we were passing, to be told that they were not houses, they were offices for the lawyers that worked for this firm. The whole area was the law office. I had no idea that it was that huge. Perhaps a 6 or 7 minute walk from one side to the next. Wow.

After paying, I walked home in the drizzle, and it was so pretty. The trees are changing colour, and it dawned on me that I hadn't yet taken pictures to show all of you. I wanted you to see things while they were green, so I took some pictures with my phone on the way home.


This is the view from the first bridge that I have to cross to get home. The river is called the River Stour, and it splits into two at one side of the town, flows through the town, then meets back up with itself on the other side of town. The bridge is a footbridge, and this is the large part of the river. Perhaps thigh deep at places, but mostly knee deep. The white splotch in the middle is a young swan that moved in this summer and doesn't yet have a mate.


This is the path on the other side of the bridge. At night, this path is a little too creepy for me to walk along by myself. The tree overhang the path and it is very dark. But during the day it is beautiful, and perhaps my favourite part of the walk home. The foliage to the sides are mostly stinging nettles, but there are blackberry bramble growing among it, and these trees are elder, so there are lots of berries to pick on this part of the walk in the summer.


This is the building that our house is in, taken from further down the street. Our flat is the one with the hanging planters on the balcony. So yes, we are on the top floor. I like it. Good exercise going up and down the steps, and an attic for storage.


And last but not least, this is the view of our street looking out of the French doors and over our fake balcony. You can see the misty grey of the sky from the rain. It was a lovely walk home.

Religion and Politics

By the way, Amy said yesterday (she actually spoke these words within hearing distance of me, so don't scan down the page thinking you missed her 'blogging this comment) that a 'blog shouldn't contain views on religion or politics, as she didn't want readers offended. (Amy says: I actually had three things on my list. Politics, religion, and sex. Thank goodness he only talked about the first two, I suppose!)

Do you know how sorely tempted I am to now post about religion or politics? Especially as I have such strong views that will no doubt offend the majority of readers!!

Of course, that would take my valuable time, and require me to actually post to the 'blog, which is something you all know I don't do.

So, do me a favour.

Delve into your deepest beliefs about religion and politics...

... take a moment to clarify in your mind the exact nature of your beliefs and opinions...

... add them all together into a single entity that uniquely defines you...

Now, (to be fair, probably all of you) realise you are totally wrong. Your beliefs are ridiculous. Your opinions laughable and self-contradictory. There are fundamental facts and clear irrefutable evidence that prove that what you think is right, is actually wrong. The very core of your life up to this point that has been influenced by these thoughts should be carefully gathered up, taken out back, and humanely put down like an old blind sheepdog. You need to reassess your beliefs or opinions, and this could well take you the rest of your short life to do so. Even then you might never get it right.

But, I'm a caring person. I don't want the rest of your life to be the waste that your life up to this point has been. You've done me a favour, saved me the time by gathering up your own beliefs and destroying them to save me the effort, so I am going to save you time also. You don't have to spend the rest of your life fighting to work out the truth. I'm going to let you share my thoughts and beliefs instead. If anyone asks your opinion, just say you agree with Stephen.

There you go, don't you feel better now, knowing you're finally right?

Tweets - Our aggregated Twitter feeds

The observant regular reader may have noticed that there is a new 'block' on the right-hand side of this 'blog labelled Tweets.

For those curious as to what this is, let me explain.

I recently attended a 'Handheld Learning' conference where I was persuaded (against my better judgement) to get a Twitter account. Twitter is a micro-blogging service with multiple input channels, designed specifically to allow mini updates to be submitted. Twitter has a 140 character limit on each update, that phone text/sms messages are often limited to 140 characters is not a coincidence - Twitter updates can be submitted via sms, the twitter website, as well as a variety of other 3rd party applications.

As I generally don't spend much time writing to my 'blogs (I have four that I regularly don't use), I never really saw the point of having a micro-blog to ignore also. However I was pleasantly surprised, a micro-blog does not serve the same function as a 'blog, and is actually far better suited to the needs of those of us who don't have the time (or are too lazy) to 'blog 'properly'.

The 'rules' of micro-blogging are also significantly different. There isn't the space for a lengthy meandering trail of ones inner thoughts and angst. No time for long deep, dark, poetry that truly reveals the value of one's inner soul as having more merit than the cruel word gives it credit*. Instead a twitter update is supposed to be a short, punchy, to-the-point response to the question "What are you doing?"

Yes, there may be a tendancy to update too much on what one is thinking as opposed to actively doing, but as space is limited, you the reader don't have to put up with too much inner reflection - phew!

Also, if one 'follows' other twitter users (I follow several that work in a similar field to my own), you get some insight into what they are up to, a nice way to keep up with colleagues, friends, or even the awesome Stephen Fry**.

Right, so I've told you what Twitter is, but there's still that thing on the right that may need explaining. Amy, Ashley, and myself now have Twitter accounts. Amy thought it would be a good idea to import the latest 5 updates from each of us to display on the 'blog. Amy found some code that did it, and she pasted it into the site, all well and good. I decided however that it wasn't good enough. I wanted to take the three individual and separate twitter feeds and merge them into a single list. I wanted to have them appear in true mixed reverse date order rather than sorted by author before date. It wasn't too difficult to do, at least not at first. It worked in Firefox, then I found it didn't work in IE. I fixed it for IE, then it didn't work in Safari. Then I fixed it in Safari and one of our regular readers DARED tell me it didn't work in IE or Firefox for them. I checked, it does work, it works for me. If you the reader are having any problems, it's either the fault of your computer, or your eyes.

So, to summarise, the Tweets 'block' on the left contains the latest 15 Twitter updates from Amy, Ashley, and myself (5 each). There's a chance we might actually Twitter more than 5 times in a day, so if you don't want to miss out on our 140 character comments on the nature of existance, the taste of our dinner, or the colour of the sky, you'll have to visit this 'blog several times a day.

*You know that the cruel world is right, don't you? You don't have a soul. That thing you think is a soul is just your inner voice that's too terrified to realise that the universe is a huge place and your role within it is insignificant. So your poetry is ultimately futile, and your time spent writing it wasted. That time spent can not be recovered, you pointlessly wrote yourself closer to death. Deal with it!

**If you don't know who he is, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Wuv... Twue Wuv...

Firstly, I want to point out that I am completely head-over-heels in love.

Well, yes, with Stephen, but that was not who I was talking about. I was talking about Jamina (as I have named her.)

Jamina is a giraffe.
To be specific, she is an Anne-claire Petit giraffe that sits behind the window of the BabyLove shop that we walk past all the time. I love her. She NEEDS to come home with me. This is not a want - she says they do not feed her behind that glass window, and that no one loves her the way that I already do.

I have spoken to Girard, (my resident male alpha-giraffe who makes quite a good living as a doctor and who wishes me to point out that not only is he rich, but he is also quite cool as he has only 1 ear pierced and wears a groovy hoop in) and he has decided that he will marry Jamina. JoJo (my much smaller and newer male not-alpha giraffe) disagreed and stated that any female giraffe would be his for the taking; but quickly changed his mind after Girard head-butted and bit him a few times. There was much giraffe grumbling for a few days following said conversation, but it has gotten better.

Oh, but the agony! You see, for all that I NEED to bring Jamina home, I just can't bring myself to frivolously part with the money to do so. And it is an interesting thing, the UK tends to frown on shoplifting. Goodness knows I can't stand to be frowned upon by matronly English women. They are seriously scary when they frown like that. So for now, Jamina the wonderful English lady giraffe sits locked behind a glass window, Girard gripes at me to hurry up and bring his wife home, and JoJo pouts about not being an alpha-giraffe. Maybe someone will rescue her in my name for Christmas and all will be right in the giraffe world again.

Secondly, there are lots of exciting things happening with our family blog. Stephen, the computer deity, has added the sidebar with our Twitter feeds. Right now it is just mine and his, but I suspect Ashley may be adding one in a few days time also. Then you can see what the whole family is saying at any moment.

I want to say a few things about this that I consider to be a phenomenon. I have known of Twitter for a bit: I read some other blogs that have Twitter feeds on them. I, to be frank, thought they were silly. Micro-blogging seemed like a bit of a waste of time. But Stephen, after attending this year's Hand-held Learning Conference last week in London,

(yes, *moan* I was abandoned for three days! Woe! Woe is me!)

came home not only with a Twitter account, but excited about it and something else he called 'picto-chatting' on his hand-held video game device thingie. (Don't ask me which one, I can't remember. The name has a DS in it, it is rectangular and black, and you can write on it with a special pen. It has sudoku. And 'picto-chatting', apparently.) He told me basically that, if I want to read what he writes, I had better get my own account. So I did. And to be honest, I love it.

Writing a blog is a huge deal, requiring lots of planning and lots of time. I usually start them a few days before in a separate file and add to them as I go. If I sit down to write one from nothing, I can count on a few hours slipping by while I write, rewrite, and edit. Micro-blogging takes me maybe 30 seconds! Which means that I can do it more than once during the day without losing a lot of time. Time is a commodity with me lately, especially while I try to write papers and finish this degree.

If you want a Twitter of your own, follow the link on the side. It won't lead you directly to us, but if you want my Twitter info, and I know you, email or message me and I'll give you details.

And finally, the actual stuff that is going on with us. Because I know this is really what you wanted to know anyway and the rest is just you all putting up with my inability to shut my mouth.

The linen closet is still leaking. It is now leaking badly enough that we have put a 10 gallon trashcan under it and we must change it 3 to 4 times a day. We have started turning off the water in the house at night because it was overflowing by the time we got up in the morning, even after emptying right before crawling into bed. We now have the plumber's direct number, so Monday perhaps we can get ahold of him and get it solved.

Stephen has been sick since he got back from London last week. Poor him, running a fever of 101 and being all yucky. He stayed home from work, which I think was a good thing. He had a cold a few weeks before that, too... and I haven't been sick. Last year was a terrible year for me health wise, and I am so very glad to see that my immune system has gotten itself picked up and back into shape. I really want to stay healthy.

Ashley has a new boyfriend, which I see she has neglected to tell any of you. His name is Michael and thus far he seems to be fairly gentlemanly. Last night I overheard him telling her off because she was putting her required amount of study off until the last minute. He told her she was being lazy. Considering that previous beaus didn't really care if Ash studied, I am very grateful that this one is pushing her to do well. Of course, I haven't made my mind up entirely... I reserve the right to continually evaluate him. She is, after all, my little girl.

The weather has been pleasant, though it is easy to tell that we are heading through fall and into winter. The leaves have started changing colour on the trees. The sun rises later and sets earlier, and the wind is cold in my ears. I have moments where I am absolutely swept away by the beauty of where I am living. I am very blessed and very grateful for my life right now. I still miss my Boo-bear, though.

Dinner for Stephen's birthday went wonderful. The food was perfect. The house was completely clean, and smelled lovely. (I LOVE smudging. I used white sage, and it worked brilliantly.) It was crowded, but went very well. The company was very nice too. Stephen's nephews have grown so much. It was nice to have little ones around.

Stephen's mum had a lovely little Spanish fan that she used when the house overheated, and I liked it. The way she would let it fall open with a practised flick of the wrist was beautiful, as was the fan itself. I mentioned that I would love to have one, and asked if she would be willing to pick one up for me the next time she went to Spain. Instead she sent one home with Stephen when he came back from his conference. I have been practicing opening it so that I can be as beautiful as she is when she does it. I'm not convinced I ever will be, though. She has had her whole life steeped in the culture that created those movements, and it shows. I am, and ever will be, a foreigner to the movements of the fan.

Anybody want an update??

So hey everyone!

How've y'all been??

I had school photographs yesterday. It was immensely aggravating. Seriously, the photographers they used were horrible, I could easily do much, much better! In the photographs they have no sense of placement, or the levels the students need to be in, in order for everybody to been seen. In last years photographs most of the students had their heads but out of the photos because these photographers but short people standing in the back and tall people standing in the front. It was so annoying! Not to mention the light placement that they have is absolutely absurd, it makes a large majority of the students are in shadow (again due to the placement of the tall people before the short) it was annoying. Also I decided to dress up for these photos, so I completely dress up, slacks, make-up fancy shoes, the whole nine yards! *Cough* I've never worn those shoes before, and so what ended up happening was that I got blisters the size of quarters in my feet, before I even got to the school! It was too painful to wear those shoes anymore, so I went the entire day barefoot.

If I were doing a poll on the effects that footwear has on the people around you, I think I could be a millionaire. Men for the most part didn't really notice the fact that I was barefoot, unless I mentioned something about it, but women picked up on it immediately. It's part of the woman to woman assessment, Examining what the other woman is wearing. The point is that it was cold, I hate dressing up, I'm very pissed with the photographers that the school idiotically hired, and my feet were killing me! The pain of just standing on them was excruciating! So today, I am wearing flip flops. I can't wear actual shoes yet, and the school told me that I can't go bear foot unless it's unavoidable.

Uh.... Oh yes! I'm doing a new photography assignment, one on ageing. A very common theme but one I can get lots and lots of individual research on. The photos are standard black and white frontal viewed portraits. occasionally some of them have colour in the eyes, but usually it's not a very noticeable thing, just something that I do for myself. A large portion of the photos were taken during my trip back to America, although the range jumps around as the models grow older so I have lots of places that need to be filled in with new photos. My photography teacher saw the beginning of these photos (the first five I printed out) and he loved them, so once I complete the series we're going to choose favourite pieces (There's not enough room for them all) and he's going to frame and hang them in the school entrance. Which is an amazingly big deal!!!

Some of the photos are on my Deviant Art if anyone would like to see them the link is www.redpaperflower.deviantart.com But yup. That's me in a nutshell. Anyone want to know anything else? Love you all!

-Ash

God said 'Let there be Drama!' and lo and behold...

So let's talk a bit about closets, shall we? Say, specifically, hall closets?

I have one, and after not having one in our last house, I am grateful for the joy that is hall closets. I appreciate a place to put my dry towels and my blankets. And the hall closet that is our current joy shares space with the hot water heater, which means that my linens not only stay nice and neat and dry, but also warm and fresh smelling.

That is, until there was a leak.

We discovered the leak about a month ago now, when we went to put a warmer duvet on the bed. Our very nice down duvet, safely stashed in the hall closet, came out smelling of mildew and mold-stained. The whole house smelled as we pulled out 4 blankets that had been wet for god-only-knows-how-long and set them to dry. Lucky for us there is a cleaner close enough to our house that 1. we could walk our duvet to, and 2. was able to get all of the smell out and most of the stain. And all things considered, they didn't charge us all THAT much.

We informed the landlord of said leak, which wasn't really that bad, put a pan under the drip and waited.

A plumber came, perhaps a week or so later, to 'look'. "Oh, that's easy!" says he. "It's the water softener that needs replacing. It only needs new parts. I can't do it today, but I'll get back to you." He hasn't been back since.

Soon, after 1 instance of forgetting to empty the pan under the leak, there was water covering the carpet on the floor. The next time, it was not having forgotten to empty the pan that led to water on the floor. It was due to the leak getting worse. And since then, it has gotten progressively worse. A week ago, we put a mop bucket under the pan. (Due to some pipes, it can't actually drip directly into the bucket. It has to drip into the pan and then fall into the bucket.) The first night it was fine. When we went to empty it the next day, it was overflowing. The day after that, it was overflowing by the evening. Yesterday, it was overflowing after 8 hours. Last night, it didn't make it 6.

The closet door is propped open and the house smells like wet carpet. I can't get the hall closet dry, and touching it you can feel the water in a layer over the carpet. I've taken to putting towels down under the bucket, and they come out drenched. Obviously, not all the drip is getting into the bucket, but there is nothing else I can do. The two fine small pipes that run a few inches above the floor ensure that nothing can sit on top of them and they are directly under the leak.

I am worried about the flooring under the carpet, not to mention the carpet itself, being ruined, and being blamed and charged for the damage. Being on the third floor, I worry about the water getting into the ceiling of the lower floor and being charged for that damage too. I worry because Stephen's entire family is coming to our very tiny, wet carpet smelling house for his birthday (it was on Tuesday) dinner on Saturday. There will be 10 people in the house, including 3 children. I have to make a good impression. And I can't close the hall closet door. I worry that this all reflects poorly on me somehow. That my fancy-schmancy roast venison dinner with sweet potatoes and butternut squash won't mean anything at all next to our rinky-dink house that smells and leaks.

I really thought we were doing the right thing by leaving the last house, as it was so much bigger than we ever really needed unless there were people staying over. But now that there are people staying over, and we don't even have room to put the table out, or enough chairs to seat everyone...

I think that the facade of my being the perfect hostess in the perfect house with the perfect stuff and the perfect timing is going out the window this weekend. I kind of hope that no one notices, but I know for a fact that they all will.

And During this Break...

A video that I thought I might share.




Personally, I hope you do vote.

It Happens Everytime...

Every time I go to post a new blog, something gets in the way.

Today I was going to have my only opportunity to blog, along with the kazillion other things that I need to do in order to not fall behind. I didn't plan to work today so that I would have a day to do it.

Well, now I'm working.

When it comes to everything in the world going on, it seems that the blog takes a back seat. :( Kelley has threatened to do mean things if I don't update more often. And I'm sure a lot of you agree with her. I'm sorry that the blog is not alway my focus. I want it to be...

Ashley has a new beau. I will have to make her wax poetic on that topic. Stephen's birthday is coming up, and that brings dinner plans and what-do-I-do-for-a-present panic. I think of a million things that would be just perfect during the year, and don't write them down, so when crunch time comes, I am clueless. Pathetic. University started for me this week, but previous to that, I have been working between 40 and 50 hours a week, plus trying to keep up on the house and laundry, etc, etc. The dishes are winning the war.

We have a leak in our hot water closet, which is also our linen closet. The lightweight down duvet was covered in mold and mildew from having secretly been leaked on for months. Lucky for us, the laundry, after having charged us an arm and a leg, salvaged the duvet. The house smelled (and sometimes still does smell) of mildew. There are 4 other comforters that I need to decide what to do with. They are all too big to fit into our washing machine. It pains me to think about throwing them away.

My (last year's christmas tree) ficus has scale. In a major way. I have no idea how it got it: I have no other house plants. And my herb boxes came home post-scale. I have a recipe for a spray to help with it, but it involves rubbing alcohol. I can't find rubbing alcohol. No one sells rubbing alcohol. At the last place I checked, I was told, "People here don't use that sort of thing." I don't know how they function when their plants have scale. Or when they need to strip their hair. Or when they sterilize a needle to pull a splinter. I still have to check out the actual chemists. (pharmacy) That will happen on the proverbial day when I have time.

The past few weekends have been equally as busy, what with friends and family coming down. Our much smaller house, while perfect for us everyday, is a bit tighter when there are stay-the-night folks. Ashley was very sweet to give up her bed in the name of the cause. (Granted, she got a weekend at a friend's house out of it... but that doesn't diminish her sacrifice. Really.)

That's it in a very tiny nutshell. I hope to have more time later, but we will see what happens. I miss all of you. I miss blogging. I graduate in 9 months. That will be one less thing to stress about.

A funny - because I can't be bothered to write a real update.

Kelli sent me a funny, thinking I would enjoy it. I thought you would too. It is, of course, not at all true. But the story of its untruth is quite amusing in and of itself. The link to the snopes article is HERE. You should read it. I will post an update. I promise. Soon...ish.

Dear Citizens of America,

In view of your failure to elect a competent President and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
Her Sovereign Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy), as from Monday next.
Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up “aluminium,” and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour’, ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix “ize” will be replaced by the suffix “ise.”

3. You will learn that the suffix ‘burgh’ is pronounced ‘burra’; you may elect to spell Pittsburgh as ‘Pittsberg’ if you find you simply can’t cope with correct pronunciation.

4. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up “vocabulary”). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

5. There is no such thing as “US English.” We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of “-ize.”

6. You will relearn your original national anthem, “God Save The Queen”, but only after fully carrying out Task #1 (see above).

7. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but to be celebrated only in England. It will be called “Come-Uppance Day.”

8. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun.

9. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

11. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric immediately and without the benefit of conversion tables… Both roundabouts and metrification will help you understand the British sense of humour.

12. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling “gasoline”) - roughly $8/US per gallon. Get used to it.

13. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call french fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called “crisps.” Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with malt vinegar.

14. Waiters and waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

15. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as “beer,” and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as “Lager.” American brands will be referred to as “Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine,” so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

16. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors as English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was an experience akin to having one’s ear removed with a cheese grater.

17. You will cease playing American “football.” There is only one kind of proper football; you call it “soccer”. Those of you brave enough, in time, will be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American “football”, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of Jessies - English slang for “Big Girls Blouse”).

18. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the “World Series” for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable and forgiven.

19. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

20. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due, backdated to 1776.

Thank you for your co-operation.

The Post-Trip Update (A Long Time Coming...)

Well, it is about time that I catch you all up on what is going on in my neck of the woods.

The trip to the States was nice. I enjoyed seeing my family. I enjoyed spending time with Tristan. I enjoyed the weather and driving on the right side of the road. Tristan’s birthday was wonderful, and I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that he is 7 years old. That is practically grown up.

Boo had a bit of a hard time with the amount of time he was with me. It is so hard for kids to transition back and forth, and he was very homesick. I understood: I was homesick too. I didn’t expect to be, but I was.

We did quite a bit of shopping, and Ashley should be all set up with new clothes and new glasses for the year. Tristan got a lot of new clothes too, and I even splurged and ended up with some new work clothes and a few tops. I stocked up on things I can’t get in the United Kingdom; things like Malt o’Meal, corn syrup, and green chiles. To be honest, I didn’t foresee that packing two empty suitcases wouldn’t be enough, but after I left Ashley 3 boxes of Malt o’Meal to bring back with her, I only had ½ lb. to spare in 1 suitcase. The other was packed up tight and exactly as heavy as it was allowed to be without paying extra.

There is a story to go along with the topic of suitcases: in London before I left Stephen and I discovered that one of the wheels on my large suitcase was almost broken. We readjusted the packing, and the plan was for me to have it repaired in El Paso. Well, El Paso does have a repair shop that does not service my type of luggage under warranty, so I had to pay for it myself. Plus, they couldn’t give me a time line because they had never worked with that company before and were not sure how it all was going to happen. 3 days before my flight home I called them to find that they had sent a wheel, and it was the wrong side, then sent another one that did not fit. The put a different brand's wheel on it as a stopgap for me.That wheel didn’t even make it to my landing in London, for when I got the luggage off the luggage rack, the wheel was completely gone. So the 2 hour trip home from Gatwick airport involved a 50 pound huge suitcase with an essential wheel missing, and another 50 pound suitcase, plus a backpack and a laptop bag. By the time Stephen met me in Canterbury, 2/3 of the way home, I was exhausted and sore, and the wheel on the smaller bag was broken. By the time we actually got home, it was trashed. There is a lesson here:Pierre Cardin luggage is rubbish.I hope Ashley does not have the problems getting back that I did.

There is an ending to the computer story from an earlier post also. My computer did not arrive back in time, though it was en route. (A few more days and it would have made it back in time.) They allowed me to exchange it, and I had the amount of money that I originally paid for the old laptop. Since laptop prices have gone down significantly in the last few years,I have a new high-end laptop, and I only had to pay the amount of the 3 year extended warranty that even covers accidents.It was a small investment for a new laptop. I ended up with a Sony Vaio, which apparently Sarah and some other family members also have. Stephen approved, and is happy with the choice.He occasionally putters on it and seems content.

Let’s see… what else. For my birthday, Dan and Christie gave me a Palm Pilot, and it is being put to good use. Stephen was quite happy to find 300 or so games to put on it. It is synched with our home computer, and he is still looking into ways to connect it with my Google calendar. There is time yet to figure it out. The airline didn’t care at all about my birthday, and actually didn’t even look closely enough at my passport to discover that I was flying on my actual birthday. The man at airport security noticed, though, and told me to have a nice day because of it. I got lucky in sitting on the plane, too. The first short flight from El Paso to Houston, the man who was sitting in MY aisle seat told me that he was ‘packing heat’ and then showed me his gun. He was a federal marshal. He didn’t give up my aisle seat, so I sat in the window. Thank goodness for scopolamine, because otherwise I would not have been able to get to the toilet. The flight from Houston to London I was sitting next to a very nice gentleman flying to Dubai for a skiing trip. He was very friendly… but took off his shoes thus releasing intense foot smell, had severe body odor, and snored emphatically the entire flight. He must have slept very well. I didn’t.

Jet lag has been kicking my tush. I am still having a hard time falling asleep at night and waking up in the morning.

The house unpacking thing is coming along, slowly but surely. Poor Stephen must have been just drowning in boxes. I am not yet comfortable posting pictures of the new house, but I intend to eventually.

Ashley should be getting her A-level results in the next few days. I’ll let you know how she did.

I cut my hair. It ended up being between 8 and 10 inches chopped off. To be honest, no one has noticed.

Stephen left yesterday for his 10 day family holiday in Austria. I have to be honest and state that the biggest reason I didn’t prioritise an ‘I’m home’ post was because of wanting to cram in as much time as possible in the 5 days that we were both home together. Being in the house completely alone is a little nerve wracking, but I am surviving. I know things will get done around the house because there is just nothing else to do. And work is nice because it means that I have something to do during the day rather than just sit at home and mope. I have been invited to a BBQ this weekend, and may go. Plus, as of today there is a first aid class I am being sent on in another city.

So Stephen comes home on the 25th or so, Ashley comes home a few days after that, and then we all gear up for school again. Fun fun, I tell you. But being my last year of school for a little while, I can suck it up.

Good Grief (Myspace Blog)

Old story told again. For the first one, read THIS POST.

Now, I certainly don't mind people talking to me and having interesting conversations with me. And I welcome new friends, which is why my page is public. But come on... at least take a moment to READ my page. Obviously happily involved with someone, obviously not only literate but also eloquent enough that people want to read what I have to say. What could possibly make someone think that the way to my heart (a direct route through Stephen, may I point out) is through something like this:

hey u huni. wud love to have a chat with u sexy. du u have msn babes.x

Come on. Get real. Like I am going to just swoon and immediately give you my MSN because you call me sexy. And yes, that is copied and directly pasted from the message.

Today must be my lucky day, because not only do I get that one, but this one too!

how are you?can we meet?pls anser me.are u really 33 ?:))
u look like a model?

If I was 12 and received this, I certainly hope that in today's world I would already know that the answer is H**L NO I am not going to meet you! I don't even know you! Even if I am thought of as pretty (which some days is a very debatable thing...) I am most definitely not stupid. Messages like this are, and sadly people fall for them all the time. I feel it is my duty to point them out and say that these people are not worth even replying to. Perhaps being blatantly shown how silly they sound will convince them that English is a language to be salvaged, and perhaps the next people to message me will actually take the time to read what I have on my page.

Shesh. Just... shesh.

Dear god

I do not know how to let him go. And my heart is already being torn out of my chest thinking about it.

Computer Adventures, Among Other Things

So, yesterday was a busy/good day.

I went to lunch with Chris and Marianna at a Thai place in El Paso. I had green prawn curry (though they didn't know what prawns were, and I forgot to just say shrimp.) It was HOT. Way hot. So hot I wasn't able to finish it and I'm not sure that I want to touch it today. Yum... but ow! We went to their favourite bakery afterwards for empanadas, and I had their 4 year old Ciara in the car. And wouldn't you know that I left my phone behind.

Since I had Ciara and didn't know where we were going, I couldn't turn around when I figured it out (almost immediately.) So I drove all the way to the bakery before turning around to go and get it. The people in the restaurant had it... but there is a funny story that I didn't know about until later. While my phone was AWOL, the people who found my phone called my sister Anna to ask if she knew who my phone belonged to. She said that she did (thank goodness this was not one of those times that she disowned me!) and asked them to leave it with the Thai restaurant people. She then sent my nephew Pat to go and fetch it. I beat him to the phone.

We still can't figure out how they called Anna's number. It was not the top number, nor was it in my called list. Strange.

So, back to the bakery for pumpkin empanadas, which are my favourite. I think I will have to make some at Samhain this year. I'm guessing that Stephen and Ash both will enjoy them. I brought home apple ones too, but not pineapple, because Anna is "allergic" (meaning she hates them.) Mom was upset at the lack of pineapple. They are her favourite. I can't win for losing with the empanadas. ;)

In the afternoon Anna and I went to Best Buy (to deal with broken laptop stuff before my warranty expires on the 25th of August) and Barnes and Noble. (They are right next door, and Anna goes gaga over books. Not me, of course. Never me.) The lines were long at Best Buy but to make a long story short, they took my laptop to repair it. It is not due back until the 24th... BUT since I fly back to the UK on the 7th, if it is not back by the 5th then they will give me a brand new one, free. I will be able to buy an extended warranty on it also. It may not be the best that they have, but they agreed that none of the specs will be less than what I had on the old laptop. They can, and most likely will, be better. I also found out that, if need be, they can make repairs overseas.

The downside is this: I couldn't lose my documents folder, and had no way to back it up at home, being that it was about 27 Gigabytes large. The least expensive external hard drive they had was more expensive than it would have cost for me to have Best Buy back up the folder, and the offer they extended to me was not going to happen if I didn't leave my computer then, so I felt that I had to pay them to back up my documents. It is money I didn't count on spending, nor is the money that I will spend for the extended warranty on a new computer (if it works out that way,) but I think both were/will be vital.

Barnes and Noble afterwards was nice because it was the first time I have gotten time to spend /with/ Anna. We browsed; she bought a whole lot of books. I ended up with two. This trip has been heavy on the reading, and I am really enjoying being able to read for pleasure rather than reading to learn. Perhaps another post I'll give you the lowdown on what I have read and what I think of them.

Tristan and I are really enjoying our time together. I am starting to dream of packing him into my suitcase and taking him home with me. I have dreamed things along those lines every night for the past 4 nights. I don't need a dream interpreter to know what that means. I am really going to hate leaving him.

Enough for now.
*kisses*