Freckles July 27, 2009

I noticed today, while talking with Jael about birthmarks and freckles and such that I have significantly more freckles on my left arm than my right arm. I have never noticed this before (that I remember). Weird, huh?

Red Pepper Hummus…because it’s freaking amazing! July 22, 2009

1 can cooked chickpeas 1/8 C tahini (sesame paste) 1 T lemon juice 3 cloves garlic, mined (1 ½ tsp.) 7-oz. jar roasted red peppers, well drained 4 sprigs fresh basil (or a generous shake of dried basil) 1 ½ t dried Italian herbs 1/4 C tomato paste 1 t paprika generous splash or two of balsamic vinegar 1 t salt ¼ t hot sauce (optional) 1/8 – 1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil Place the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, roasted peppers, basil, Italian herbs, tomato paste, paprika, vinegar, salt, hot sauce, and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade, and puree until smooth. ( I actually put all the ingredients in my blender and it turns out fine.) This dip can be stored for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.

Cochem Castle July 16, 2009

A couple of months ago we drove to the city (town) of Cochem to see the Cochem castle. We got a little lost trying to find the parking. The castle was easy to find, seeing as how it was at the top of a hill in the middle of town. But find parking we eventually did. Then came the hike up the hill. It was a long hike.

Here are some pictures of the castle:

The backside of Cochem Castle

Our camera batteries died about half way through the tour so there aren’t very many pictures but here are a few:

Some normal sized armor with Israel for scale

Some really fricking big armor with Israel for scale. They said the man who wore it would have been almost seven feet tall.

The view from the castle restaurant

And after touring the castle (in German but with an English printout) we had lunch at the restaurant. Our dinner at the restaurant was one of the best eating out experiences we’ve had in Germany. The service was wonderful, the food delicious, and the atmosphere lovely. We ate out on the patio until the wind started blowing over glasses and the staff ushered us inside. Then we ate inside and it was still lovely.

We walked back down the hill and drove home without incident. A successful German trip.

Goddess of Horses July 16, 2009

She stood up and putting her hands in the small of her back, stretched, arching her back and letting her dark hair cascade down her back. She straightened and pushing damp curls away from her face, smiled at me. My brown eyes locked on her hazel ones as she extended a calloused and dirty hand to me. I took her hand in mine, marveling at the strength in it. I saw her beautiful, full lips moving and knew she was asking me a question but my ears heard nothing. I knew I was staring and also knew I would stare at her forever if she’d let me. As I felt her begin to pull her hand out of mine, I snapped back to myself and my brain registered what she was saying. As she asked again, what she could do for me, her voice was strong but gentle at the same time. Exactly the type of voice you would expect a goddess of horses to have. As I stumbled over myself, trying to explain about volunteering at the riding school for disadvantaged kids next door and asking if she was looking for any extra help, anything at all, I felt my hands begin to sweat and my face begin to flush. As I inhaled, trying to still my racing heart, she smiled, brightening the dark stall. “I’m always looking for good help. Let’s go into the office and see what you are interested in.” As she walked past me, I caught the scent of soap, both body and saddle and it made my stomach do flip-flops. When I walked out of the office twenty minutes later, a copy of my work schedule in my hand and love deep in my heart, I knew without a shadow of a doubt this was going to be the best summer of my life.

I wrote this for my writing class. Israel asked if I was writing about a lesbian love story. The answer is, “What do you think?”

Car Repairs and Communication July 15, 2009

I took my car in to the shop today for some suspension work and left with a feeling of language acquisition accomplishment. When I walked in, I remembered to say “Guten Morgen,” or, “Good morning.” An employee came out of the office and returned my greeting. I asked, “Wie geht es Ihnen?” or “How are you doing?” He answerd, “Gute,” and then asked, in German, if I was dropping off the Volvo. I said yes as I attempted to separate my car keys from my house keys. He said, “Schwer” which means “hard.” I grinned and said, “sehr,” very. I handed him my keys and he handed me a form and asked for my phone number. I didn’t catch what he said the first time so I asked “Wie bitte?” “Pardon me?” He repeated it and I caught “Telefonnummer.” After writing down my number, I asked, this time in English how much it would be. He said, in German, that he didn’t speak English. As I fished in my brain for the German question, the customer who had come in behind me asked for me. As the employee was figuring it up, I said, “Ich habe VAT form,” letting him know I had a VAT form. (As service members we don’t have to pay some of the German taxes and the VAT form is what gets us out of them.) As I walked out, I realized that I’d asked him in English without really realizing it because we had been communicating. It just seemed natural that we would be able to continue to communicate if I switched a little bit to English. It was kind of weird but fun, too. I left feeling really good. I would have been able to do the entire conversation in German if I’d needed to. It took me a couple of minutes while driving home to remember how to ask “how much” in German but I did finally remember. “Wieviel costet das?” “How much does that cost?” Not perfect but good enough for communication, which is what I aim for.

Tip of the day #1 July 13, 2009

Choosing a Pineapple When choosing a pineapple, you want a ripe one. But how to tell? You can’t tell by color or by smell or by squishiness. The only dependable way I’ve found is by pulling on a single leaf. If the leaf pulls out easily, it’s ripe. If it doesn’t, keep looking. If you can pick up the pineapple with one single leaf, don’t buy it. It’s not ripe and it won’t get ripe. Since I started using this method I’ve never gotten anything but wonderfully ripe and juicy pineapples. Enjoy!

“You can lead a child to the bathroom…” July 11, 2009

My daughter was three years old when she decided she was terrified of automatic flushing toilets. She had been potty trained for over a year and had never had a problem with the auto flushers until my sister and my niece came to visit. My niece was five years old and was traumatized every time she was forced to use an auto flusher. My daughter, Jael, witnessing an episode of tears and screaming decided she too, must be afraid of them.

We were at the San Fransisco Airport, a couple of months later, waiting for a flight to Chicago. Our plane had been delayed and our two hour wait had been increased to four. Tugging on my hand, Jael said, “Mom, I need to go potty.”

I turned to my husband, Israel, and said, “Hey, I’m taking Jael to the bathroom. We’ll be right back.” Glancing up from the magazine he was reading, he gave us a wave. We walked to the bathroom and after a short wait, into an available stall.

Jael, spotting the automatic flusher, turned around. “I don’t need to go,” she said, trying to walk out the door.

“Oh, yes you do,” I said, closing the door behind me. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” She shook her head. “I’ll cover the sensor so it won’t flush while you are on it.” Another head shake. I crouched down so I could look her in the eye. “Jael, this is the only bathroom available. Every toilet is going to be an automatic flusher. There’s no where else to go.”

“I don’t need to go,” she insisted.

“Here, I’ll go first so you can see that there’s nothing to be afraid of,” I said, standing up.

“No, I don’t need to go,” she said again.

Crouching down again, I sighed deeply. “Jael, you said you needed to go. Now you are saying you don’t need to go because you are afraid of the toilet. It is not going to hurt you. Now, you are going to get on the toilet and go potty so you don’t have an accident. You can’t hold it until we are on the plane so you are going to go on this toilet.” I reached out to help her with the snap of her jeans.

“NO!” she screamed, pushing my hands away. “I don’t need to go!”

Embarrassed, I hushed her. “Shh. It’ll be easy. Dad will be so proud when you tell him you went on an automatic toilet like a big girl!” I reached for her again and she began wailing. “NO! NO! NO! I don’t wanna go! I don’t need to go! I’m scared!”

“Be quiet,” I hissed through clenched teeth, intensely aware of the other people in the crowded airport bathroom. I didn’t want security called because my daughter was screaming but I also desperately didn’t want her to pee her pants as we got on the plane. “You are going to go to the bathroom. You are not going to live your life in fear. There is nothing to be afraid of. Now go to the bathroom,” I ordered.

She shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “I don’t need to go potty. I wanna go back with Dad.”

I trembled with frustration. “Jael, we are going to be here for three more hours. You are going to have to go at some point. Let’s just get it over with. Come on, I’ll help you.”

“NO! I don’t need to go!”

I sighed in resignation. “Fine,” I said, standing up, “but make sure you tell us if you need to go. You are not allowed to pee in your pants.Understand?” She nodded, her face streaked with tears. I felt like crap. “What kind of mom tries to force her three year old to pee?” I asked myself. I went to the bathroom and the toilet flushed automatically when I got up.

“See, it didn’t hurt me at all. Are you sure you don’t need to go?” I tried one last time.

“I don’t need to go.”

I sighed and opened the stall door. We washed our hands. I dried mine under the automatic hand dryer but Jael, distrustful of all bathroomgadgets, insisted it was too hot, and dried hers on her pants. I pushed the door open with my hip and let Jael out. We walked back to her dad.

“What took so long? I was starting to get worried,” Israel asked, pulling Jael up onto his lap.

“Well, you know what they say,” I said, settling down next to him. “You can lead a child to the bathroom but you can’t make her go.”

Busy, busy, busy July 1, 2009

There are a couple of things I want to say. Number one is that all my old blogs from Yahoo 360 are on here now. Import worked great. So go ahead and check them out. There’s about a year of blogs I think…maybe even two years. I’m not really sure.

Second thing, I am taking two classes. Introduction to Political Science and Writing 101. They are taking more time than I thought they would. And they are taking more of my brain than I thought they would. I didn’t realize I had a limit to how much writing and thinking I could do in a day but apparently I do.

Third, I am working on a number of art projects that hopefully will look good in pictures (provided I ever get them posted). A dragon journal for a swap. I signed up for it three months ago but desperately don’t want to do it now. But I’m getting through it. Luckily I only have to do ten pages and I’ve got three done already and a fourth almost done. That means only six more to go. WHHAAAAAHHH!!!

The other’s are surprises. But I think I’m going to make two of the one surprise and keep one for myself. We’ll see.

Oh, and I got my hands on a truly horrible child rearing booklet that I’m going to alter into something hilarious. Not sure what but it’s just too funny to not do something with. Israel thinks something S&M themed but I’m not sure I could pull it off. We’ll see.

We got our passport stuff in today. WHEEE!

I gave blood today. Took about five minutes to actually drain a pint out of my arm but that was after waiting almost 45 minutes to actually get a needle in my arm. They were just…incompetent. I was a little nervous about letting them stick me with a needle but it all went fine and I’m glad I didn’t flee in fear.

Not much else going on. There is a chance my sister is comin to visit in September. *crosses fingers* I am incredibly excited about this. I will cry for days if she can’t come (no pressure).

Well, I’ve got a paper to write. I will try to post pictures soon.